having a real relationship
instead of actually having one, but it had seemed like the best
solution at the time to a problem that couldn’t be
resolved.
Because she couldn’t have the man she
really wanted.
She hadn’t considered that it would
just make her feel worse, but it did. She thought it might not have
been so bad if she hadn’t had to prompt Devlin/the cyborg to behave
like her lover. She could’ve pretended it was real then.
She frowned. She shouldn’t have had to
tell him, damn it!
He was supposed to have come already
programmed to adore her!
Not that she had anything to complain
about regarding his performance! He’d really knocked her socks
off!
But it had been tainted by the
knowledge that she’d prompted him and she just couldn’t enjoy it
like she wanted to knowing it was a performance to prevent Trude
from reporting him as defective and her as a nut case.
Not that she was at all certain that
there was any way to avoid that particular threat anymore. She
didn’t for a minute believe that Trude had been convinced there was
the possibility that their disagreement might escalate into
violence instead of ending in a round of makeup sex. She’d known
that Devlin was laboring under a good bit of distress because she’d
been there during the very unhappy reunion with his sister, but he
had seemed completely in control by the time they’d reached her
apartment—not on the verge of going berserk!
And she didn’t believe Trude wasn’t
able to evaluate the situation or that the surveillance system had
been thrown by her reference to makeup sex.
Trude had simply decided to use the
override protocol to snoop!
She would’ve been worried about her
state of mind herself at becoming suspicious of the HESS except
that the comments Trude had made hadn’t sounded mechanical and
unemotional at all as she’d come to expect.
“I’m in trouble,” Brenda announced as
soon as they’d reached the secure location. “Actually we might all
be in trouble.”
Jerked abruptly from her own thoughts
of trouble brewing, Carly stared at Brenda in dismay, wondering for
several moments if Brenda had heard anything about what had
transpired at her apartment. “In trouble?” she echoed. “How? What
kind of trouble?”
Brenda’s lips tightened. “The door
wasn’t shut! I think we compromised that entire location when we
used it for a meeting place. The group does too and they’re totally
pissed off with all of us for using it as a personal rendezvous and
possibly compromising everybody’s safety.”
Carly held up a hand to halt Brenda.
“Wait a minute! You’re saying you’re part of the rebel
alliance?”
Brenda gave her a disbelieving look.
“How do you think I got that info for you? How do you think I knew
about secure meeting places?” she demanded sarcastically.
“Honestly, Carly! You need to get your head out of your
ass!”
Carly glared at her indignantly. “I
didn’t think you were in the middle of it! I thought you just knew
people that knew about rebel hangouts!”
Brenda shook her head. “That’s not
important now. The important thing is that we compromised the
location and it was our primary meeting place—well, connected to
it. We actually met a lot deeper in the labyrinth, but it’s still
too hot to meet there anymore.”
“Why do you keep saying we?” Carly
demanded indignantly. “We didn’t do anything! You’re the one that
jumped Devlin before he could even get in the door!”
Brenda’s face darkened. “He caught me
off guard when he called me Bunny. Nobody ever called me that but
Dev and it used to totally piss me off!” she added in an irritated
mutter.
“Don’t start that again!” Carly said
angrily. “I don’t know how he knew it! You never told me that so
there’s no way I could’ve known and I don’t know why it would’ve
been in the companion Sim. Actually, I don’t know how it could’ve
been in any of his records. Why would they make a note of
instead of actually having one, but it had seemed like the best
solution at the time to a problem that couldn’t be
resolved.
Because she couldn’t have the man she
really wanted.
She hadn’t considered that it would
just make her feel worse, but it did. She thought it might not have
been so bad if she hadn’t had to prompt Devlin/the cyborg to behave
like her lover. She could’ve pretended it was real then.
She frowned. She shouldn’t have had to
tell him, damn it!
He was supposed to have come already
programmed to adore her!
Not that she had anything to complain
about regarding his performance! He’d really knocked her socks
off!
But it had been tainted by the
knowledge that she’d prompted him and she just couldn’t enjoy it
like she wanted to knowing it was a performance to prevent Trude
from reporting him as defective and her as a nut case.
Not that she was at all certain that
there was any way to avoid that particular threat anymore. She
didn’t for a minute believe that Trude had been convinced there was
the possibility that their disagreement might escalate into
violence instead of ending in a round of makeup sex. She’d known
that Devlin was laboring under a good bit of distress because she’d
been there during the very unhappy reunion with his sister, but he
had seemed completely in control by the time they’d reached her
apartment—not on the verge of going berserk!
And she didn’t believe Trude wasn’t
able to evaluate the situation or that the surveillance system had
been thrown by her reference to makeup sex.
Trude had simply decided to use the
override protocol to snoop!
She would’ve been worried about her
state of mind herself at becoming suspicious of the HESS except
that the comments Trude had made hadn’t sounded mechanical and
unemotional at all as she’d come to expect.
“I’m in trouble,” Brenda announced as
soon as they’d reached the secure location. “Actually we might all
be in trouble.”
Jerked abruptly from her own thoughts
of trouble brewing, Carly stared at Brenda in dismay, wondering for
several moments if Brenda had heard anything about what had
transpired at her apartment. “In trouble?” she echoed. “How? What
kind of trouble?”
Brenda’s lips tightened. “The door
wasn’t shut! I think we compromised that entire location when we
used it for a meeting place. The group does too and they’re totally
pissed off with all of us for using it as a personal rendezvous and
possibly compromising everybody’s safety.”
Carly held up a hand to halt Brenda.
“Wait a minute! You’re saying you’re part of the rebel
alliance?”
Brenda gave her a disbelieving look.
“How do you think I got that info for you? How do you think I knew
about secure meeting places?” she demanded sarcastically.
“Honestly, Carly! You need to get your head out of your
ass!”
Carly glared at her indignantly. “I
didn’t think you were in the middle of it! I thought you just knew
people that knew about rebel hangouts!”
Brenda shook her head. “That’s not
important now. The important thing is that we compromised the
location and it was our primary meeting place—well, connected to
it. We actually met a lot deeper in the labyrinth, but it’s still
too hot to meet there anymore.”
“Why do you keep saying we?” Carly
demanded indignantly. “We didn’t do anything! You’re the one that
jumped Devlin before he could even get in the door!”
Brenda’s face darkened. “He caught me
off guard when he called me Bunny. Nobody ever called me that but
Dev and it used to totally piss me off!” she added in an irritated
mutter.
“Don’t start that again!” Carly said
angrily. “I don’t know how he knew it! You never told me that so
there’s no way I could’ve known and I don’t know why it would’ve
been in the companion Sim. Actually, I don’t know how it could’ve
been in any of his records. Why would they make a note of
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