Read Online B785 by Eve Langlais - Free Book Online Page A

straightened with a wide grin. “She’s staying with you? Good for you, dude.”
    “Why is that good?”
    “Because. Isn’t this part of your master plan to seduce her and live happily ever after? She did call you her prince charming.”
    “Her continual reference to the fairy tale is obviously a sign of trauma to her central core. I’ve already filed a mental report to run a full evaluation on her programming to root out the obvious defects. As for assigning her other quarters, as I mentioned, I tried. She wouldn’t let me.”
    “Why not?” Seth asked as he pummeled the punching bag in a blurring rhythm no one could match.
    “She says reassigning troops would cause resentment and that she trusts me to share my quarters with her.”
    Halting his rhythmic punches, Seth turned to face him. “Ugh, dude. That sucks.”
    “Why? I do not mind sharing the space. It is more than ample for the both of us.”
    “Not that. The old I trust you bit. You know what that means.”
    “You are alluding to something that I think goes beyond her actual words.”
    “I am. It means she thinks you’re not going to put the moves on her. That she sees you as a friend. ” Seth’s nose wrinkled.
    “How is that bad?”
    “Because how are you going to get in her pants if she doesn’t think of you as something more?”
    Einstein wisely didn’t point out the obvious. One, she didn’t have any pants, and two, why would he want to get in them? Wouldn’t the sharing of slacks be uncomfortable? Sometimes, it was just easier to act as if he understood. “If having her as a roommate proves too disruptive, then I’ll just reassign her to other quarters. I’m sure I can devise an excuse if required.”
    “Or she’ll shack up with another cyborg on her own.”
    Familiar with that particular bit of slang, Einstein, in the midst of doing pushups, lost his rhythm and hit the mat—with his face. He waited for the laughter and when none came, lifted his visage to see Seth facing away working on another exercise device.
    Spared the embarrassment, he rolled to his back and proceeded to stretch and work his abdominal muscles. “If Bonnie chooses to form an attachment to an onboard unit, then I will respect her choice.”
    “Will you?”
    “Of course. Why would I not?”
    “Because you found her. Because you kissed her awake.”
    Because she’s mine. Where did the random thought come from? As if Einstein, or any cyborg for that matter, owned anybody. As free-thinking entities, they belonged to themselves. “I have no need for a female in my life.”
    “Says the virgin,” scoffed Seth.
    “I am not a virgin. I’ve experienced coitus. I just don’t see the big deal.”
    “Then you didn’t do it right.”
    “I ejaculated.”
    “But you didn’t come.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    “If you’d truly had sex, I wouldn’t have to explain it. Lucky you, though, you’ve got the prime opportunity to finally get rid of your pesky inexperience. Bonnie is prime girlfriend material. And if you don’t do something to make your interest in her clear, she’s going to find someone else.”
    Taking a page from Seth’s book on humanisms, Einstein replied, which was to say, he didn’t answer at all. “Whatever.”
    A blasé response, but it shut Seth up. They continued their work out, switching their conversation to other topics. However, Seth’s words kept repeating themselves over and over. For some reason, they bothered Einstein. He couldn’t have said why. His existence didn’t require the addition of sex or a female to complete or enrich it. He was perfectly content with his current status. If that was the case, though, why did he imagine he could hear a loud buzzer of denial every time he told himself that?
    An answer to that question remained out of reach, no matter how hard he worked his body and attempted to remove the excess adrenaline from his system. Opting to use the shower in the gym to sluice off, and the spare clothes