Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas

She crossed her arms, observing the party with me. “It is
an art how quickly you can make everyone want to kill you.”
I shrugged, hearing the smile in her voice. “I just can’t
help myself.”
I took another drink, kind of wanting to kill myself for a
second, too. The shit that came out of my mouth. All for
Winter’s sake, because she was my sole motivation in
everything I did, and I was kind of fucking ashamed she had
that power.
I didn’t have to explain myself to Alex, though. She knew
what I was doing. I respected her, because she was no
nonsense and made no excuse to do what she needed to do to
get what she wanted. The world respected people who didn’t
crave approval.
“How’s the job going?” I inquired, glancing down at her.
Her brow shot up, looking dissatisfied. “It’s almost not
worth what you’re paying me. That old fuck is agonizingly
boring, Damon,” she told me. “And pompous.”
“I know.”
Michael’s father had information I needed, and I doubted
he’d care that I put Alex into bed with him to get it. It was for
a good cause.
“Are you getting close?”
She pulled a flash drive out of her bodice and held it up to
me. “I was able to grab this. But there’s more,” she pointed
out. “GGimme a few days.”
I took it, hoping lots of good things were on it. For all our
sakes. Her computer science minor was definitely a perk for
this job.
“Make it two,” I told her, “and you get a bonus.”
I held up the flash drive, looking at it and pleased that
everything was coming together. All the ducks. “Quack,
quack,” I mumbled, feeling fucking great all of a sudden.