Page 6 of The Genius
“She’s no beauty queen either, but I guess with a million dollars as your prize money, you can afford to give her some cosmetic surgery.”
I smacked my tongue. “Some people are beautiful on the inside.”
“Right. And you can always turn off the light when you have sex with her.” Storm’s tone was sarcastic.
“Shut the fuck up.” I gave him a pointed stare over the rim of my coffee cup. “I’d take nice and ugly any day over crazy and beautiful.”
“Fair enough, but what if Louisa is uglyandcrazy? You’ve never spoken to her, so how would you know?”
“She’s a Northlander, that’s a good start.”
“And if you don’t win her?”
“Then I guess I’ll have to wait for the next tournament.”
“Just remember that you’re getting older. The brides are only twenty-one and you’re already thirty. Chances are they’ll pick someone young and good-looking like me.”
“Hey, I’m fucking handsome.”
“Yeah, now, but soon you’re going to grow fat and have a double chin,” Storm teased. “This is your last chance to be picked and you know it.”
Part of me knew that he was right. The age difference would be too significant if I had to wait a few more years. It was already something that concerned me now.
“Don’t worry, man, there’s always the Matching Program if you’re desperate to get a wife. Maybe you’ll have more luck with a Motlander bride than I did.”
“I’m not desperate and I told you, I’m not interested in the Matching Program.”
“In that case, have fun with the sex-bots.” Storm stretched his arms and gave me a smile. “Speaking of which, I’m running late for a test run of the newest model. I heard she’s phenomenal.”
“Wait a minute. You got invited to try out a new model?”
“Uh-huh. I have to be there in forty minutes.”
I scratched my beard. “That’s odd. Why didn’t I get an invitation? I fucking helped start the test group.”
Storm threw up his hands. “I don’t know, man. Maybe you’re just not good at sex.”
“Fuck you.” I flipped him my finger.
“Then it’s probably the age thing. You turned thirty and they need young virile men to test their bots.” He grinned. “I’m sorry, but you’re a senior now.”
He ducked when I threw a spoon in his direction. “It’s too bad that they didn’t pick you,” he continued. “You’ve got a lot of spunk left for an old guy.”
Storm was twenty-three and had been my student for almost a year when he was thirteen. Back then we’d both been thrown into the first experimental school that mixed Northlander boys with Motlander children. He had stayed at the school until he was fifteen, while I’d gone on to start the second experimental school in the Northlands.
It was only two years ago that we’d reconnected.
“Tell you what,” Storm said and looked at the time again. “You can take my spot and test the bot.”
“No thanks.”
“Come on, I know you want to and I’ve got a bunch of things that I need to get sorted anyway. You’d be doing me a favor.”
“I said no.”
Storm tilted his head. “Marco, I mean it. You’d be doing me a big fucking favor.” His face split in a grin. “Get it? Afuckingfavor.” He looked proud of his pun and couldn’t stop grinning. “If they call you in later, I can go for you. They’ll never know that we swapped, and honestly, it’s all run by robots anyway. They don’t give a fuck as long as you’re an Nman.”
My fingers drummed on the table. I had been tense for a few days and could use the release. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
