Page 29 of Black Reign

“She beat you?”

“Once.”

Drew puts both hands over his heart.

“Oh, that burns.”

“I can still throw you into the water.”

“Naked?”

Vale groans.

“Please stop encouraging him.”

“We started talking,” I continue. “Eventually built a private encrypted room—NULL.”

“Messaging?” Jalen asks.

“Essentially. Except neither of us can trace the other through it.”

Drew stares at me.

“You built a chat room you can't hack?”

“We built it together.”

That shuts him up for almost three seconds.

“How often do you talk?” Leo asks.

“Depends.”

“Meaning?”

“Sometimes every night.”

The mood changes again.

That's the problem with people who know you.

Eventually they hear the part you didn't say.

Vale looks down at his Scotch.

“How long?”

“Several years. Off and on.”

Drew's expression shifts.

“Years!!?”

“Yes.”

“You've been talking to a mystery woman for years and never told us?”

“You didn't ask.”