Page 4 of The Genius
“Eww.” Charlie scrunched up his face in shock.
“Katoptronophilia is for people who enjoy sex in front of mirrors, and we already talked about podophilia.” When Charlie looked lost, I added. “Foot fetish, remember.”
Charlie’s chest rose in a slow inhalation before he exhaled audibly. “And you find thisinteresting?”
“You don’t?”
“No.” He shook his head vehemently. “I find it bizarre.”
“It’s no different from the Motherlands. Our test groups show similar findings.”
“Hmm, I wasn’t aware of that.” Charlie rubbed his forehead.
“How about you? Do you have any fetishes yourself?” I asked out of curiosity.
His hand flew to his chest and he protested, “Shelly, that’s a very inappropriate question to ask.”
My eyes fell to his collarbone, avoiding his disapproving eyes. “My apologies.”
I’d done it again. Crossed a social boundary without wanting to. An awkward silence stretched between us.
“Ehm, all right then.” Charlie cleared his throat. “I’ll check in with you in a few days again.”
“Okay.”
“Keep up the, ehm…” He looked to the film of Mindy and test subject 44. “Keep up the good work, Shelly.”
“Thank you, Charlie, I’ll do that, and say hi to the others.”
With a wave of his hand he was gone and that was when I noticed the red light blinking an alert.
CHAPTER 2
A Fucking Favor
Marco
Two steps into my apartment, my low growl was growing to a shout. “Storm, where the fuck are you?”
I slammed the door behind me with my foot and stalked straight for Storm’s bedroom banging on his door.
The deep bass from the music grew in volume when the door swung open and Storm raised his chin in a silent greeting.
“What did you do to my kitchen?”
Leaning his head out of the door, Storm looked at the gigantic mess in the open kitchen and shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up in a minute.”
“How many times have I told you to clean up after yourself? I didn’t agree that you could live here and trash my place.”
“No one cleans anymore; it’s so old-fashioned. Why don’t you get a Home-Bot?”
“Do you have any idea how much those things cost? If you want to get one, be my guest, but until you do, clean up your shit.” I didn’t stay around to argue the point further.
Storm had needed a place to stay after his wife, Gennie, filed for a divorce five months ago. The two of them had been a mismatch from the beginning and after meeting her a few times, I agreed with him that the woman was crazy. The first month he lived here, I’d been sympathetic to his grief, but now my patience had run dry.
If Storm had been such a messy pig when he lived with Gennie, it was no wonder she had been arguing with him all the time.
With bare feet and only a pair of pants on, Storm began to clean up the kitchen while I made myself a cup of coffee.
