“It’s okay. I understand. I will fix my hair today. You should have told me before now,” Lucy said tightly.
“Lucy, I really didn’t mean to offend you. Please don’t misinterpret. I’m just a stupid guy.”
She shook her head, turned, and headed to the bathroom. Eric sighed. Now she was going to check her hair in the bathroom mirror. Who knew what action she would take about fixing it?
“Don’t change the color or the texture or anything like that. Just make it a little smoother… a little less kinky.”
When there was no answer to his statements, he sighed again. Damn. Damn. He sucked at being careful with women. He’d never stuck with one long enough to get any practice.
“So can I tell Nero Aja and Meara can visit you? Aja is going to drive everyone crazy until she sees for herself you’re okay.”
He heard a short, terse “Fine” from the recesses of the bathroom. Then the shower cut the rest of their conversation off.
Sighing with a male frustration that he now totally understood, he lifted his wrist com and reconnected to Nero.
Chapter 19
“May the gods have mercy on us. They’ve got Lucy locked away in a fecking dungeon. It wouldn’t surprise me to find a dragon at the bottom,” Meara said, walking down the third flight of stairs.
Aja snorted. “It’s an underground bunker meant to contain explosions. She’s here because of her bomb, Irish. Otherwise, they’d stick Lucy in a soulless apartment like they have us.”
Meara nodded. “Give me another week, Aja. I’ve been casing several shops that put their wares outdoors. I believe I can make our apartment have all the soul it needs with a wee bit of time.”
“Why don’t you just wait until we get our UCN blood money? We can legitimately buy what we need then,” Aja said flatly.
“Spend blood money on everyday stuff? Why would I do that? I don’t even want the money, but if they insist on giving it to me, I can do much better with it than buying pots and pans. Besides—I prefer living by my wits. It’s not like the shops don’t have enough insurance to cover the minor losses I’m going to cause them. Most might not even miss the stuff. There’s gluttony in our area of the world.”
Aja laughed to think Meara would prefer to steal something other than buy it. It felt strange, but it also felt good. She really was going soft. Next thing she knew she’d be making tea for someone. May all her gods forbid such a fate. She was a warrior now—had made that choice long ago. She was going to have to find some usefulness for her soldier skills before she accidentally maimed someone she shouldn’t.
She smiled wickedly. “You know Irish, your klepto ways could one day land you in a dungeon just like this.”
“Not if there’s a guard I can blow…”
Aja stopped and turned around. “Meara MacDonald. You will not be trading sexual favors for freedom or anything else ever again. That is behind us now. Promise me. I’d rather you kill the shop owners than lower yourself that way ever again.”
Meara chuckled. “What do ya take me for, Aja? I was just having another go at ya. I haven’t dropped to my knees in years. The last time was just before we got our brains fixed. Nice bloke though for a cyber scientist. Took me about two minutes. Nothing major.”
Aja turned back around and started her downward trek again. “Speak no more about those dark days. They are behind us. Wasn’t it you who said we were starting over now?”
“I did. But the darkness will always be there lurking to alarm ya when ya least expect it to. Ya need to cultivate a keen sense of humor to beat it back,” Meara declared.
Aja snorted, thinking of her argument with Nero. “Yes. I need to develop a sense of humor. So I’ve heard many times.”
She thought of Nero kissing the knuckles of her cybernetic hand with its missing fingernail. It was merely a manufactured sensation she had felt—she knew that. Why then did it still have the power to make her stomach flutter?
They walked down another flight. She glanced back when Meara’s steps slowed. “What’s wrong, Irish? You’re practically hissing.”
“Are ya as nervous about seeing Lucy as I am? She wasn’t very friendly the last time we got this close.”
Aja nodded. “Yes. I am wary. But I’m also tired of taking everyone else’s word about her. I want to judge for myself. I am well aware that the last time I saw the woman awake she kicked my ass. Maybe I want to see if I’m ever going to have a chance to get even. I’d like to think I’m better than that, but who knows?”
“Go on with ya, Aja Kapur. I know ya don’t mean that. Lucy could have killed us, but she didn’t. I want to think on some level she knew it was us and would never have done so,” Meara said.
Aja let a tense breath out slowly. “That’s a very pretty story, Irish. Don’t get your hopes up though. Lucy isn’t Lucy anymore. She’s something the gods never intended her to be. If anyone ever deserved our compassion, it’s her, but by damn, I still get angry when I think of everything the cyber scientists did to us.”
They got to the cut off bars and made a face at them. Their appearance validated the story Peyton had shared about what had happened. They stepped over the broken barrier and down into an area much more comfortable than what they had been issued by Norton. Both of them gaped at the giant wall com and at the comfortable couch before they actually saw the man sitting on it.
Meara smiled in greeting. “Oh, hello Eric. Nice to see ya again. We’ve come to visit Lucy.”
Aja nodded, relieved when Eric nodded back without addressing her. She really wasn’t in the mood to be more polite.
“Lucy is getting dressed,” Eric said cautiously, looking at the bathroom door that hadn’t opened since their hair discussion. “Uh… I sort of made Lucy mad at me.”
“That I can easily believe,” Aja stated, taking immediate offense for her missing friend. “Did you make Lucy do something she didn’t want to do? If so, we’ll be taking this discussion outside to be settled.”
Eric dropped his head and shook it. “No. I would never do anything like that, Aja. All I did was accidentally insult her hair this morning. She’s locked herself in the bathroom and won’t talk to me. I apologized, but it hasn’t done any good.”
Meara laughed her tinkling laugh. Aja looked like he’d punched her.
“What?” he asked. “Why are you both looking at me that way?”
“Boy-O, ya stepped in it deep. Lucy hates her fecking wild woman hair. It was always wiry and coarse. Her mum said her da was Caucasian, but I beg to differ. The woman has ethnically challenged hair. It needs oiling, or some genuine conditioning with heat. Mine would be a frizzy mess if I let it go like she has hers.”
“Frizzy—that’s the exact word I used,” Eric said, snapping his fingers. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded though. I did put conditioner in her hair when we showered… sorry, too much information. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m tired and my tongue is not working properly today.”
To his complete astonishment, both women laughed hard, looked at each other and laughed some more. He couldn’t help staring at Aja. Laughter transformed her face into some kind of exotic princess. No wonder Nero was so drawn to her. He wanted to comment on the change, but feared for his life.
Great sex—of a kind he’d never had before—had obviously erased all his politeness filters. He couldn’t think about forming polite sentences when he couldn’t stop thinking about the next time he was going to get to be with Lucy. It had been a whole two hours since he’d seen her and he was already going insane.
He laughed at his dilemma and ran a hand through his blond hair that Lucy professed to like so much. Even that reminded him of her. Man, one night was all it had taken for him to be completely obsessed.
“I’m fucked like all men are when they screw up, aren’t I? Lucy is going to spin on this no matter what I say. I swear I don’t give a rat’s ass about her hair… not really. She doesn’t even remember that I said she had cute toes too. She had such a
human reaction to what I said… and I know because I’ve dated a lot of one hundred percent human women. Lucy is my first ever cyborg.”
Eric stood when the women stopped laughing to stare open-mouthed at him. He laughed nervously and felt his face get hot. He had given them too much information—again. He never blushed. Never. And rarely got embarrassed.
What the hell was happening to him? It was Lucy—just Lucy. “I think maybe I need to…”
“Go topside and let us talk to your woman for you,” Aja interjected, narrowing her gaze as she smirked. “Maybe some time away from Lucy will rest that tired tongue of yours. Perhaps the words will come out better then.”
Meara’s giggle made his face flush red again.
Eric nodded. What else could he do? “Okay. I guess even Private Higgins can’t hate me as much as Lucy probably does right now. She’s been in there for a couple hours. Just please tell her I really didn’t mean to insult her hair. It’s that damn New World Companion programming. She thinks she has to be perfect for me… well, she doesn’t.”
“Stop. For the love of the goddess—just go, Boy-O. We got this. Lucy needs a little girl time,” Meara said, pointing at the stairs.
Eric nodded and started up them at a trot, sort of wishing he’d done the pulse healing as his aching muscles made themselves loudly known on the climb. He had to laugh though when his pain just made him miss Lucy even more.
***
They stared at each other and listened until Eric’s footsteps faded.
“His tired tongue?” Aja said finally.
Meara nodded solemnly. “That’s what I heard. Are ya thinking Lucy should be happier if it was true?”
Then they burst out laughing again, their mirth going on so long they doubled over with it. When they calmed, they turned their attention to the bathroom door.
“Ya know she hears us out here. The captain is pinging like all hell’s on fire,” Meara stated.
Aja nodded and walked to the door. She knocked on it briskly. “Lucy, we know you’re just hiding in there. Stop sulking and open the door. We sent your boy toy away to rest his tired tongue.”
Meara dissolved into giggles. “Ya should have seen his red face, Lucy. Did ya hear him say ya were his first cyborg?”
The door opened and out stepped a completely naked, red faced, but dry-eyed woman.
“I didn’t come out at first because I don’t know who either of you are,” Lucy said flatly. “I don’t remember. All I have are story files from a woman who no longer exists. Why would you want to come see me?”
“We’ve all been tinkered with, captain. Ya not knowing crap doesn’t matter a whit to us,” Meara said, shrugging. “Ah feck this stranger stuff. I can’t keep it up.” She stepped into Lucy and hugged her stiff body. “I forgive ya for hibernating me against my will. I know ya was following some stupid protocol. I’m very glad Nero fixed it so ya can’t anymore.”
Aja lifted her chin and stared as Meara backed away. “I can see you can’t even communicate with us because you’re chewing on something stupid. Go ahead. Tell us what it is,” she ordered.
Lucy lifted her chin. She had to fight not to let it wobble. For some reason, she didn’t want to share it with these strangers, but what other choice did she have? She did not want to bother Peyton with something trivial. She was afraid Dr. Winters would think she needed to be rendered unconscious. If she ever wanted to face Eric proudly again, she was stuck with accepting their help.
“If you must know, I am not conducting myself as a proper companion. I don’t know why Eric’s opinion of my hair even mattered to me. I am programmed to filter such insults. I experienced an over-reaction that I cannot seem to get under control. I couldn’t come out of the bathroom to discuss it with him because I did not want Eric to think I was more defective than he already thinks I am. And I have no idea what to do about my hair. I’m not allowed to leave this place. How can I possibly fix it without a professional?”
She held up an arm and showed them her wrist com. “This keeps me a prisoner… of sorts. I understand it is for the safety of those who interact with me.”
Meara inspected it. “Nice style at least. What’s it do? Sound an alarm if ya exceed yar boundaries?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes. The current in it would restrain me long enough for them to tranquilize me again. I thought it best not to test the limits until I needed to do so… no, that’s not true… I…”
“Didn’t want to leave Eric at all?” Aja finished. She saw the truth flash through Lucy’s gaze.
Lucy nodded and dropped her head. “No. I did not want to leave. He is my contract, but I don’t hate him like I did the others. Instead, I want only to stay with him. It is against everything I have in my files. Last night he gave me many pleasant memories.”
Meara snickered as her gaze met Aja’s wicked one. She turned her grin Lucy’s way. “I’m guessing Boy-O’s tongue wasn’t so tired when ya two started out.”
Lucy snorted. “You have a strange way of speaking, even when stating a truthful conclusion.”
Meara heard Aja laughing genuinely again. She wanted to fist pump in the air, but that would have given up all she’d worked so hard for. And it wasn’t what either of her tough friends needed to hear.
Meara sneered at Aja for good measure before swearing. “Ya can go to fecking hell and roast. I would never stop ya.” She turned her glare to Lucy. “And I can’t believe I’m getting insults on my speech from a woman with frizzier hair than mine ever dreamed of being,”
When she got a glare for her statement, Meara reached out and punched Lucy gently in the arm. “Ya need a fecking sense of humor, woman. Blessed be, ya and Aja are still two of a fecking kind.”
“We are twins?” Lucy asked, searching Aja’s face. “If that is a truth, then why do I not have hair like black silk as well?”
Meara cracked up. “Oh Aja, I wish I had taken a picture of yar face when she said that. I’ve got to get away from ya both. I can’t take this literal shit anymore. No good will come from me rolling around laughing on the floor. I’m going to the kitchen and see if I can find something to make a deep conditioning treatment. All I need are some oil and eggs. Everyone keeps those in their cupboards.”
Lucy watched her walk away. She turned to her alleged silken-haired twin. “I am learning sarcasm from Eric. Was she jesting about us?”
Aja grinned and held out a brown arm and put it next to Lucy’s pale skinned one. “No. Of course we’re twins. Look at us. Don’t let that crazy Irish woman fool you with her slang and her constant running dialogue full of nothing that makes sense. When we fix your hair, you’ll look just like me.”
Aja grinned when Meara’s tinkling laughter filled up the kitchen. She turned back to see Lucy glaring at her. “What’s the matter, Lucy?
“You have a faint Indian accent,” Lucy said, studying Aja’s secretive smile. “I think you are lying to me. We’re not twins. Your accent places you in the New Delhi district. It is not wise to anger me, Aja Kapur. I can be quite unpleasant when my temper is roused.”
Aja laughed, unconcerned. “Well, Shiva be praised. I’ve pissed you off finally. Glad to see you’re still alive in there, Lucy. I knew those bastards hadn’t killed the real you off completely.”
Lucy figured it out then. She figured out that they really were part of her history. But what was she supposed to do with two women she no longer remembered?
She searched Aja’s gaze and saw only concern. Meara walked out of the kitchen humming. The Irish woman carried a bowl with some raw concoction in it that she hoped she wasn’t expected to eat.
“Are you truly my friends?” Lucy asked.
Two instant yeses released something long held captive within her. A tear escaped one eye and slid down one cheek. The code forbidding her to cry was no longer active, but it was so uncomfortable she still avoided it. She’d come close with Eric a couple of times last night, but so far had managed to avoid releasing the floodgates.
Meara sighed. “Before we upset ya further, let me put this on yar wild ass hair. It needs about an hour to do any good. I don’t see yar boy toy waiting any longer than that to come back.”
“Take as long as you need. I’ll keep the man from seeing you until you are ready,” Aja said firmly.
Lucy grunted. “Okay. Thank you both for helping me. I still don’t understand why you’re doing so, but I am very grateful. I hate being this worried.”
When Meara swore an oath in Gaelic, Aja reached out and put a warning hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I know. I don’t like her this way either, Irish. But it’s what she’s become. Fix her hair. That’s how we can best help her right now. I’ll keep Eric from busting in until it’s properly tamed.”
Meara frowned and shook her head as she watched Lucy walk head down back into the bathroom. “What do ya think I’m running here, Aja? A fecking hair salon? Once Lucy would have eaten someone like Eric for breakfast.”
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