Chapter 24 · Echoes in the Static

"Don't touch that door."

Jaxon's hand stopped one inch from the metal panel.

A red line blinked across the lock. Then another. The room had only one exit, no windows, and a wall-mounted screen that kept flashing the same warning: MEMORY PURGE IN PROGRESS.

I grabbed Jaxon's wrist and pulled him back.

He looked down at my fingers. Then at me. "You just saved my hand."

"Don't make it sentimental."

"I wasn't going to."

"Good. Because if that door opens, we're both dead."

His mouth tightened. "You said the purge was contained."

"I said I was trying to contain it."

"That's not the same thing."

"Congratulations. You can still count."

He turned his wrist under my grip and caught me instead. His fingers closed around my forearm, warm and hard, locking my hand against the center of his chest. The thin fabric of his shirt shifted under my palm. Beneath it, his heartbeat stayed annoyingly steady.

Mine didn't.

"Let go," I said.

"You first."

"I will break your thumb."

"You already threatened that twice."

"I meant it both times."

He stepped closer. The room was too small for the distance he wanted, and he knew it.