Page 102 of CHOICE Lover
Dear Electra has taken MSP by storm . . . giving out advice, encouraging relationships between humans . . . with Electra’s advice, will manupartners become a thing of the past? . . . only time will tell, but in the meantime, this reporter plans to get the exclusive.
He finishes the article and shoots out of the chair. “I’ll take care of this. Then I’ll get that inspector in here and deal with GROW and our public trust issue.”
As the SAT zips across the city, he can’t stop thinking that she’s not only putting herself and his company at risk, her column is impacting his sales. If MSP found out she was a manupartner and that they’d brought her back more or less intentionally, NHOS would fine him at minimum. Possibly shut them down. That means no more CHOICElover, the thing he’s worked tirelessly on his entire life. Plus, he’d lose the chance to bring Jerme back.
Two more chances. That’s all he has left. Yet after the last heartbreaking failure—the look in his brother’s eyes as he whisperedMake it stop—his throat constricts.
But he’s come this far. He can’t give up now. So what if it takes every last sample to get it right? He owes Jermethat much. He owes it to himself because, for one fleeting minute, having his brother back gave his life meaning.
The memory evokes the same jolt of meaning he felt later that night. He’d fallen into welcoming arms, and they’d tethered him—almost like he mattered. Like his existence meant something to someone. Like he mattered to her.
Damn it, Electra.He can’t let anything happen to her.
Suddenly, all the doubt and dread he pushed aside flood back in. By the time he exits the SAT, he’s practically trembling with a dangerous mix of anger and despair.
He throws the door open only to come face-to-face with the man he’d do anything to bring back.
“Hi Res6. You don’t look good. Would you like to sit down? We can talk about it.”
His heart thuds painfully. Then it hits him. His gaze slashes to the closed door of Electra’s room, then to the spare room. The door is wide open. His stomach drops to his knees. Shit.
Take a deep breath. Maybe it isn’t what you think.
Slowly, he asks, “How’d you get out?”
The body double warily glances at the closed door. “I met Electra. Are you upset?” The manupartner’s attention drifts to where his fists are clenched at his sides.
“I am upset.”
“Good.” Res6 doesn’t turn his head away from the manupartner, but he can sense Electra standing in her doorway, staring daggers at him. “I’m upset too.” Her voice is a mirror of his own, full of venom-laced agony.
“Unit, please go back to your room and give us a moment.”
The manupartner walks by, placing a hand on Res6’s shoulder. It’s so like what Jerme would have done, he has to bite back tears. When the door finally closes behind it, he turns to Electra. She’s clearlypissed at what she thinks she discovered, but he doesn’t care. She’s been lying to him too about her column. Now she’s breached his trust by breaking into his locked room. He’s never felt so violated. She opens her mouth, but he doesn’t give her a chance to start.
“You trespassed! You’re writing an advice column that undermines my life’s work. You’re splattering your likeness and name across the network, putting both of us at risk of getting caught for what you are. Did you think no one would connect that the woman writing the trendy new column has an avatar that looks a lot like my latest manupartner?” he hisses, watching as her cheeks redden with anger. “What do you have to be mad about?”
Her eyes narrow as she steps into the room. “I’m so glad you asked.”
34 – Good Enough for Human Love
Electra
“You are the most thickheaded man I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing!” Electra shouts. They’ve been going around like this for ten minutes. It’s like he’s listening but not hearing what she is saying. “I told you; he kept knocking, so I found a way to open the door.” How isn’t important, so there’s no need to mention it. From her perch on the couch, she watches him pace. “Until that, I had no intention of opening it, I swear.” He doesn’t immediately respond, and she’s leery of throwing out accusations as flippantly as he did. She takes a deep breath and asks, “What is going on, Res6? That manupartner told me you sometimes call him Jerme.”
“What I do with him isn’t any of your business. But you just couldn’t leave it alone.”
His accusation feels like a thousand spiders using silk made of rage to weave a web around her brain—it might implode. Still, she takesanother deep breath, mentally renewing her commitment to keep a calm voice. If this conversation doesn’t move forward, they’ll be here all night. At least the column is out in the open. Based on what Sister Xelna said, she won’t be able to keep it a secret much longer anyway. Res6, on the other hand, still hasn’t admitted his intent with the Jerme-shaped manupartner or the failed experiment in the closet that he doesn’t seem to realize she knows about—or he knows and he’s in denial. “I’m done with the lies. If this is going to work between us, we have to be honest from now on.”
“That’s rich coming from the woman who's been hiding her very public advice column,” he snaps. “The only thing I did was have a locked room that you labeled a Sex Dungeon, and it’s decidedly not a sex anything!”
“I can’t believe you’ve been reading my journal when I explicitly told you not to!”
“It saysDear Reader,” he says, staring her down as if his point is valid. “Besides, I stopped after you told me. How was I supposed to know?”
“You should have brought that up when we talked about it.” Oh God, what else did he read? “Those were my private thoughts. I can’t believe you did that and have the nerve to accuse me of a violation of trust.”
Thunder crashes. The particle panes behind him display a storm scene. His silhouette is stark against the bright lightning.
