Interlocking Hearts (10 page)

“Eeeeeeeee!”

Paisley’s life would have flashed before her eyes, but her brain was too full of cuss words for any kind of rational thought. Until her forward progress stopped under the weight of two very strong hands.

“You could have just left them in front of our door.”

Paisley was pushed upright. Her legs slid back over the balcony and her feet kissed the wooden slats with gratitude.

After she made sure she had both feet on the ground she looked up. Ben was standing there dusting off his jacket. She handed his roommate’s hoodie over.

“At least I’m not naked this time,” she mumbled.

“That does make this meeting a bit less enjoyable. Well, that, and you nearly falling to your death to avoid confrontation with me.”

Paisley opened her mouth to apologize, but shook that crap off in a second.

“I appreciate you saving me, but our interactions have not been under the best circumstances.”

The man she’d set out to seduce upon meeting him was a lot less appealing as he frowned at her.

“All I did was stop Jon from having his way with you for ulterior motives. I would think you’d be grateful.”

“What makes you think I wasn’t using him?” She gave him a second to make sure he was listening. “What makes you think I didn’t need some vibrating delicious cock shoved inside me, and I didn’t give a damn who it was attached to? Sometimes women need to scratch an itch. Just because he didn’t trust me doesn’t mean he couldn’t fuck me.”

The shock on Ben’s face let her know she gave him enough to think about, and frankly she was exhausted. She went back inside and shut her blinds.

She wasn’t going to think about how his pants tented under the pressure of a hard on that gave the one she’d just encountered a run for its money.

Chapter Nine

There are places you enter and know immediately, you don’t belong. The air feels thicker, the walls feel like they are leaning in on you, and for no real good reason, you want to get the hell away. That was how the office felt.

Yep, the office was just as horrible as she’d feared. There wasn’t any gossip she could get into yet. Being the new kid on the block,
she
was the topic of gossip, and she was pretty sure she was the most interesting one they’d had in a long time.

Paisley never did find the other pieces of her suit and bra that had been ripped from her body the night before. Either Jon had cleaned it up, or the maid staff had gotten just as much of an insight into her love life as the bartender. The new digs from the tailor in the lobby had arrived in time, and Paisley was lucky the shop did good work. She was decked out in a stunning black suit with a pale violet striping. It would look black from far away, but up close—and against her purple blouse underneath—the details popped.

As it turned out, the government wasn’t anything like the palace. She was pretty sure most of the women in this office had never heard of a contouring powder, and if she tried to get them anywhere near a tattoo parlor, they would have run screaming for the hills.

It also didn’t help that she was one of the younger people here. In actual years, she was probably only five to ten years younger than the median office population, but the way they acted aged them all a good three decades.

Paisley tried to strike up a conversation about the last club she’d gone to when she was refilling her coffee, but they looked at her like she was telling them about her favorite corner to hook at.

On the bright side, when she needed a night out trolling for someone to climb aboard and ride their rocket, it most likely wouldn’t be anyone she’d run into in the hallways the next morning.

When lunchtime rolled around, Paisley was hoping to have Coral come along to a nearby restaurant. Unfortunately, her best friend had a date with meetings Paisley couldn’t in good conscience ask her to skip. When a sandwich cart rolled through, Paisley chose the least offensive item and walked outside to eat.

Paisley braved the security checkpoint and tumbled on mechanical humanoid hangout supreme.

There were three different robots with their chests pointed to the sun. They were recharging the solar panels that hooked into the outlets at their wrists. From a distance, they might have looked like old-fashioned women with the tanning boards trying to help the distribution of skin cancer to their faces.

But these people didn’t have skin, and although their features appeared feminine, Paisley knew not to use male or female pronouns unless the bots told her how they gender identified. It was just rude.

They all turned to her and opened their eyes. They must have all been really low on charge because their eyes were bright red.

“Mind if I join you?”

“We have no authority to stop you,” one said. “You are the one who would be able to tell us to leave if you so choose.”

Paisley had to look around the other two bots that went back to sunning themselves to address the angry one.

“Hey, I just want to eat my sandwich, you want to soak up some sun to power your cells, I figure we could share space.” Paisley took a big angry tear at her sandwich. “I shouldn’t be surprised I guess. Everyone here has made me feel like a complete alien. Why should the bots be any different?”

The only robot who cared to speak hopped down from the cement half wall and stood in front of Paisley.

The bot’s eyes whirred and moved up and down Paisley’s body. For a second, she got a very uncomfortable reminder about her night last night, and wondered if the android would hit on her.

“You are human. Why do you address us as if we are as well?”

Paisley took her time chewing her bite. Seriously. Everyone needed so many specifics in their lives. Was she the only one on the planet who was happy to move through the world without a label?

“She does a lot more than talk to robots as if they were human.”

Paisley looked up to the sky. Sure enough she’d pissed off some deity to no end. Her almost one night stand was walking up to the building.

“Why are you here? My day hasn’t sucked enough? You have to try and make it worse? I gave you back your clothes—you have no reason to bother me.”

The three bots next to her all turned their heads at the same time to get the data from this conversation.

Great.

Robohippie looked at her and then turned to address the robots next to her. He looked at the two who obviously didn’t have the same attitude as bot number three before addressing the more vocal one as he would a classmate.

“I was told to not speak to this human again. Should I risk disobeying an order?”

The bot cocked its head and analyzed his words.

“If the human doesn’t own you, I see no reason to obey the command.”

“No one owns me. I’m applying for my certificate.”

The bot that had given up its solar panel in favor of an argument laughed out loud. “You really have poor assessment skills.” It pointed at Paisley. “That one is the one that you have to go through to get your application in the first place. She is the new secretary for Miss Sechshundert. To even attend an appointment, you have to talk to her.”

Robohippie frowned.

His disturbed look refreshed Paisley’s attitude and cleared some of the cobwebs. She had the power to make him just as miserable as he had made her last night. Either he was too mechanical to feel and her messing with his application process would make no difference to him, or he was human enough that she could piss in his Cheerios.

“Paisley, I’m sorry I didn’t fuck you last night. Please don’t hold it against my application process. That would be very unprofessional of you.”

Yep. This was going to be the highlight of her day. Her knees sported some nasty bruises from her gymnastics on the balcony. She’d had to use makeup on her thighs. The night before, when she’d tried to relieve a little sexual frustration, her neighbors suddenly made noise and completely killed her train of thought. She refused to masturbate to the bastards, and so she’d gone to bed without the orgasm she wanted.

She was grumpy, and what she did to torture this guy would be of little consolation the rest of her shift. But life was all about the little things, and she was going to make the little things count today.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have the ability to grant you any certificates myself. You have to schedule an appointment with Coral.” Paisley patted her pockets. “Which I could do if I could
only
find the appointment book to put you on the schedule.”

The bot looked back and forth between them. “You pissed off the secretary before your appointment? That was not an intelligent move.”

“He pissed me off by not giving me an orgasm and falsely accusing me of crimes I didn’t commit.” Paisley pouted.

The bot shook its head at Robohippie. “Orgasms are important. Didn’t you read the contents of Coral’s Bill?”

Paisley laughed. Maybe she
could
have some friends in this place.

Robohippie rolled his shoulders back before advancing. His legs carried him closer and closer until he reached the wall and jumped up to grab Paisley. He lifted her onto her tip toes and she had no choice but to go with his momentum.

He called over his shoulder. “I gave her two orgasms before she even touched my dick, and that was after she crawled all over me covered in lube and naked. I’d say I have the restraint of a human monk.”

He pushed her toward the back of the building and they slipped into a small crevice between the exterior siding and the sidewalks.

He pressed her against the wall but he wasn’t looking to repeat last night. He was looking to save his ass. Desperation would have been an appropriate response, but Paisley heard none of it in his voice. If she had to guess, it was more like conviction.

“Look, lady. I’ve seen the worst of humanity in the best of places. If you really aren’t leading the rallies, I’m sorry to have accused you, but I was trying my best to get to the bottom of who is trying to take away the right to become human.” He held her shoulders a little more gently. “That’s not so horrible is it?”

She waited for him to let go before she bothered to respond. As his hands slid away, she pressed the wrinkles down on her blazer. Her body warmed, remembering what happened to the last suit, but her body was not connected to her brain, and she shut the arousal down. She had the power again. This was how she worked best. This was how she survived the world and everyone in it. So this was how she would take back her life, even if it wasn’t any fun anymore.

“I enjoyed myself enough until you misrepresented yourself. Up until your roommate interrupted my good time, I was perfectly pleased to let you show me exactly what kind of upgrades you possess.” Paisley took one more bite of her sandwich and then tossed it into the trash can next to the door. She wasn’t all that hungry anyway. “I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to push papers and get enough money to buy food.”

“That you throw away before finishing?” He kept watching her. “The amount you consumed won’t sustain you for the remainder of your work day.”

“I’ll make do.”

Robohippie pursed his lips but didn’t say anything else before he walked away.

Paisley knew better than to expect manners from the guy now that she knew what he really wanted her for. The jig was up. She looked over her shoulder at the sunshine band still filling their solar cells.

When they heard the lapse in conversation around them, they’d all looked toward Paisley. Their eyes had turned yellow. A few more minutes and they would most likely be recharged enough to finish their day. Not hearing any commands, the two non-AI bots resumed sunning themselves. The angry one kept staring.

Paisley shouted to the one that kept looking. “I don’t like labels. If you don’t want to talk to me because I’m human, that sucks, but it doesn’t make you a bad bot—it just takes you off my Christmas card list. I thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to while I ate.”

Realizing she sounded more lonely than confident, Paisley just decided to call it a day for the conversation attempts. Frustrated as hell, the only thing that sounded good was an orgasm. Considering her good minivibe was back at the hotel, there wasn’t much she could do about that in the last five minutes of her break.

This shift was going to be a long one.

* * * * *

It got even longer when Robohippie sat in front of her. He had tucked in his shirt while he walked up. Even Paisley knew it was better to make your adjustments before you came up to a professional setting.

He was still tucking as he looked up at Paisley. “I have a one-thirty appointment with Coral.”

Of course he did. Paisley looked at the date book. “Miss Sechshundert is finishing up with her previous consultation”—she double-checked his name before she continued—“Mr. Bond, is it? You are free to wait in the area by the water dispenser. There are also lubricating pods in the Keurig that are specially made for Robotic Humanoids if you prefer.” Paisley waved her arm and dismissed him.

Then she thought about it for a moment. Since he didn’t move, she decided she might as well ask. “Is your name really Jonathon Bond? And how do you have a name if you are here applying for your CoH?”

He frowned. “I haven’t been addressed by my model number for quite some time. I was used by the CIA for missions that required my expertise. That was the name assigned to me, and it was easier to keep it than fight for a new one.”

Paisley could not help laughing. “Wait…you were a bot for the CIA and they named you Bond?”

Her laughter got louder.

He did stand up then. Of course the door happened to open with the magistrate and Coral watching her make a fool of herself.

“Paisley, what is so funny?” Magistrate Winters asked.

“My name, apparently,” Mr. Bond answered. It was a good thing he filled in too. Paisley couldn’t catch her breath.

Coral was not at all fazed by Paisley. This was the perfect job for the former maid if you didn’t count the government part and the other-employees part. She was still near hyperventilating when Robohippie extended his hand.

“I’m Jon Bond.”

Paisley lost it again.

The magistrate grabbed the files she held out to him on his way from the office. He shook his head as he looked down on her, but Paisley was pretty sure he was also looking down her blouse. She sat up straighter, which only arched her back and stuck her chest out.

Coral looked from Paisley to Mr. Bond and back again. “Is this the man who accused you of being a traitor after he failed to perform during a sexual episode?”

Paisley really hoped Coral’s recorder was on, because she wanted a picture of his face to put as a background on her phone.

Not that she wanted to ever see him again. She just really wished she had gotten laid out of the whole deal.

“Yep. He’s the one who tried to orgasm information out of me.”

Coral did what she did best and ignored proper etiquette to gain new information. “Is this an instance of him using you? Should I be angry at him for you?”

Paisley thought about it. “The only thing I’m really angry about is that I didn’t get to finish having sex before I found out he only wanted information.”

“Did you have an orgasm?”

“Two actually.”

Coral frowned and paused for a second, before replying, “Did he have an orgasm?”

“Nope.”

Coral smiled. “Well, then he is the one that should be angry at you. That was not a mutually pleasurable trade. You got to orgasm and he didn’t get to climax
or
have the information he wished.”

“He was using me. You’re supposed to be upset for me.”

“Weren’t you using him for sex too?”

Paisley hated it when Coral got all logical. “That’s not the point. The point is, you’re my friend, not his, and you should be on my side on this.”

“Even if it’s illogical?”

“Especially if it’s illogical. That’s when a girl needs the most backing. When she doesn’t make sense on her own.”