Disruption by Jessica Shirvington Read Free Book Online Page A

speechless. ‘I … I …’
    Gus looked up, eyebrows raised inquisitively as if he didn’t know exactly what she was about to say.
    ‘Negative,’ Quentin said, his tone low, lost.
    When Ivy remained speechless, Gus took a visual verification from her before returning to his computer, entering the numbers. ‘Mr Mercer and Miss Stevens?’
    My M-Band gave me the exact same reading for our compatibility as it did for Quentin. He knew what the answer was just as much as I did. In my peripheral vision, I could see Ivy watching, mouth agape, and Nathan looking increasingly smug. I was glad Nathan and I were incompatible.
    Quentin looked up and was about to say the word when I jumped in. ‘Eighty-two per cent.’
    Ivy gasped. I had to refrain from shaking my head at her. Instead of being relieved for Quentin, she looked disappointed. By rating so well with me, it meant she couldn’t blame their neg result on him.
    Quentin’s eyes cut to mine, overflowing with fear and questions. I held his gaze, challenging him once again. He needed to corroborate the rating.
    Seconds felt like an eternity as he looked at me, wondering what game I was playing. If only he knew …
    Finally, and slowly, Quentin nodded and cleared his throat. ‘Eighty-two per cent,’ he confirmed.
    My insides flipped. Hooked .
    ‘Right,’ Gus said quickly, entering the data into his report. ‘Well, unless you want to stay behind with any questions, we’re all done here.’
    Nathan was out the door in a flash. While it was going to be impossible for Ivy to keep her rating with Quentin a secret, I could tell Nathan wouldn’t be advertising his one neg rating.
    Ivy looked longingly at the door and then back at Quentin. ‘I should … you know, get back to class,’ she said, avoiding his eyes.
    Quentin nodded distractedly. ‘Catch you later.’
    Wow, was that their way of breaking up?
    When it was just Quentin, Gus and me in the room, Quentin took a nervous step in my direction. ‘Can we talk, outside?’
    Instead of answering him, I turned my attention to Gus. ‘Mr Reynolds, could you please confirm for me – is a history of our ratings kept on file anywhere?’
    ‘Why is that, Miss Stevens? Hoping not to leave an electronic trail of lust-matches?’ Gus replied, working hard to suppress his smirk.
    ‘Not at all. Just wondering if there is some tech-perv sitting in a room somewhere, watching over my relationship status.’ I threw him a tight-lipped smile.
    His eyes narrowed, but this time he stayed on script. ‘There is no history recorded anywhere. The Privacy Act guarantees that your results remain your business, unless of course you trigger four or more negative readings in any one-month period. Then, well, it’s a different ball game,’ he replied, reminding Quentin that if he received one more neg rating this month he would be up for investigation.
    Investigations didn’t end well.
    ‘Anything else, Miss Stevens?’
    ‘No. That’s it.’ I made a show of adjusting my M-Band to turn off the Phera-tech and finally glanced at Quentin, who’d been listening to the exchange. ‘You might want to do the same,’ I said quietly.
    He nodded and followed suit.
    Gus glanced up at Quentin. ‘Sorry about your neg ratings, man. I mean, with your girl and all. You have money riding on that?’
    Quentin was still watching me as he shrugged and mumbled. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
    Gus glanced at me one last time, his sparkling eyes saying enough. Yeah, it was a mega payday for us. I’d put almost all of my savings, plus a big contribution by Gus, against Ivy and Quentin being compatible. And the odds had definitely been in our favour.
    Not wanting to delay anymore, I headed for the door. ‘See ya round,’ I said, smiling when I heard Quentin hurrying after me.
    ‘Wait, we need to … Can we talk? What you did back there … I mean …’
    I slowed and looked at him.
    ‘Thank you,’ he rasped. ‘If Thomas had been there …’ He rubbed his