For fuck’s sake. Why am I talking to her about this shit?
“OK,” she says. And then she smiles. “But I’ll still need that auto-shopper code. Unless you want me walking around in your boxer shorts.”
I laugh, picturing that. Then frown, picturing that. Because I have a sudden urge to kill anyone who looks at her. And if she walked out of here in shorts, everyone would be looking at her.
“Sure,” I say, throwing the covers off me and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll program it now.”
I pinch my fingers together in the air and open up a screen, then punch all the required tabs to give her permission to shop.
“How does that work?” she asks.
“How’s what work?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. She’s propped up on one elbow, long blonde hair spilling over her bare breasts like spun gold.
“Those air screens you guys use here.”
“Oh,” I say, looking at my still-open screen. I swipe my hand through it and it disappears, then pinch the air with my fingers and open it up again. “I’ve got an implant in my fingers,” I say. “And there are nanobots in the atmosphere here that respond to them. ALCOR’s magic. I don’t really know much other than that. But I’ll get you one. If you want. Every Harem citizen has one. In fact, we should do that first. You can’t be walking around without a connection.”
She gives me a funny look, then her fingertips go to the collar around her neck that displays my name as her responsible party.
“What?” I ask.
“Yesterday I was your slave. You wanted to send me back to the harem. Now you’re giving me citizen privileges?”
Yeah, that’s weird. But then again, it’s not. It’s like me wanting her to go to the memorial service with me. And the thought of sending her back to Crux makes my chest hurt in a weird way I can’t explain. “I just want to keep you safe,” I say. “That’s all. Don’t read too much into it.”
“OK,” she says.
“OK,” I say, not looking at her. “Well. Find something to wear and we’ll get going. Lots of things to do before my brothers start arriving.”
I get up, grab a t-shirt and pants from my closet, and go into the shower to clean up. Making a point not to invite her to join me.
CHAPTER TWENTY – LYRA
The auto-shopper is top notch. And my access is amazing. It’s like… he put no limits on it! I could’ve gotten anything I wanted. But I controlled myself and just got some gray pants, a loose, pink, long-sleeve blouse that flares at the wrists, and a pair of sensible pink slipper flats. Which was all delivered in less than ten minutes. So I was ready to go by the time he came out of the bedroom dressed in his usual black tactical pants, white t-shirt, and boots.
I was serious when I said I loved auto-shopping and I would be perfectly happy just loading up my virtual shopping cart. Back home I never went out to buy things. But back home was not a fun place to be. And that’s kinda what I expected here.
Except Serpint seems to think it’s a pretty great place and wants to show me around.
Which excites me a little.
So strange how things can change so quickly. I’ve been here one day and so much has happened.
We had sex three times. And each time was better than the last.
Of course, that’s new-people sex. Usually it starts out great, gets better and better, then things always fizzle.
I hate thinking about the inevitable decline of our relationship. It makes me unreasonably sad for some reason. Even though we don’t really have a relationship. I am still his slave, as evident by the fucking collar I’m wearing with his name on it.
But then again, we’re sitting in the harem medical office waiting for me to be fitted with a fingertip implant so I’ll be connected.
Weird.
“Lyra,” the harem master says from the hallway. “Come with me.”
I look over at Serpint and frown. “Want me to come with you?” he asks.
“Yes.” I nod. Which is dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I do not need a man to hold my hand while they prick my finger.
And yet… I do need him to hold my hand while they prick my finger.
I think about last night as Serpint and I walk down the hallway to the same room I was in last night.
I’m pretty sure everyone in the office heard us going at it. So that kinda sucks. But no one says anything, so they are either super polite or super antisocial and don’t give any fucks at all about what we did.
“Have a seat,” the cyber master says, pointing to the examination table.
Serpint holds my hand while I climb up and even though I’m only here to get an implant, I’m nervous. I don’t like doctors.