Love Bytes by Dahlia DeWinters

she was clicking on the right file.
    Nothing but gibberish. There were no neatly indented lines of orderly characters that made sense. Everything was gone.
    “Pete!” She called across the divider. “Are you having trouble with your files?”
    “If trouble means that the shit is gone, then yes.”
    “ Sugar .” Alyssa drank some soda. “Where’s Rogers?”
    “I’m right here.” He stood next to her, a cup of coffee in his hand. “All my stuff’s gone too.”
    Alyssa typed frantically on her keyboard, hoping against hope that she’d made a stupid mistake and saved it under another name. After a few minutes with Rogers breathing over her shoulder, she sat back in her chair, defeated.
    “All our shit, all that hard work, all that is friggin’ gone.” She turned to look at Rogers. “What the hell happened?”
     
    ****
     
    The bad news left Violet stunned. Yesterday, she had been on top, they had beaten whoever was trying to beat them. Now? They had nothing.
    When the office door opened, Violet didn’t look up from where she was crunching figures on her computer. There was nothing left to do, really, but decide how much longer they were going to be able to pay the lease on the place as well as their employees.
    “Francis, we have to decide if we’re going to keep the programmers or give them their two weeks’ notice. I’m not sure if we can still carry the lease, but that’s in the business name, so that’s not a big…  What’s this?”
    The huge purple arrangement that Francis placed on her desk was beautiful but the look on his face was less than pleased. “You tell me.”
    “They’re not from you?”
    He jammed the card in her hand. “They’re from ‘a friend’,” he said. “Who is he?”
    “I don’t know who they’re from.” She glanced at the card and dropped it to her desk. “And I don’t appreciate—”
    “Are they from Joe?”
    Now that made her angry. “Jesus God, Francis, I just said I don’t know who they’re from!”
    Francis gave her a speculative look. “I say that because you and he were rather cozy there. Free coffee and all.” His tone was mild but direct. “Talking and chatting with each other.”
    What could she say to him? “That’s all it was, talking.”
    “Apparently it means more than that to him. Word around was that he was into you.”
    Violet snorted. “Don’t tell me you listen to idle gossip from those airheads in the design school. I thought you knew better than that.”
    “I thought I knew you better than that.” He glanced at the flowers. “This is why it’s complicated for you?”
    “I don’t know who the flowers are from. What else can I say to you?” She needed to show him clear-eyed reason. Then they could go back to how they were. “This is why I should have never had dinner with you. You’re acting possessive. Aren’t you more evolved?”
    Francis stared at her, his cool façade crumbling before her eyes. “Do you think I’m some kind of machine?” He leaned toward her, over the desk, lowered his voice. “You think I can fuck you for months and not feel something for you? If that’s evolved, then throw me back in the Stone Age.”
    Violet pushed her chair back and grabbed her messenger bag. Francis’ show of emotion unsettled her, made her feel shaky and weak. It was as if a dam had broken and everything burst forth in a wild display of sloppy feelings. She fought to keep her voice steady and unemotional, though she was trembling and on the edge of tears. “You are free to see anyone else you want. That was the deal.”
    “Like you have? Your friend?” The calculating Francis was back, his eyes sharp and focused behind his lenses. “Are you seeing coffee shop Joe, hmm? Tell me the truth, Violet. All I want is the truth.”
    Her voice was quiet, emotionless. “No, I’m not seeing him. I don’t know who the flowers are from.” She picked up her messenger bag and placed the strap on her shoulder, rubbed at her