Page 14 of Codi
She smiles at me. “Are you in pain?”
“Pain?” I ask. “What do you mean?”
“Your injuries. Is it like ours, where you feel pain?”
I take a moment to think of how best to respond. “I can feel pain within the moment of an injury, like a pulse through my body. But it doesn’t linger like a burn or a soreness. It just is.”
“I wish I knew who did that to you,” Denise says quietly. “I’d clock his jaw. Or her jaw. Whomever. They had no right.”
“I wish I could remember.” I shake my head. “Sometimes there are things that seem just out of reach. Familiar, somehow.”
“Do you think your memory could be restored? Returned?” Denise asks.
“No. Not in the way it can for you,” I reply. “My memory wasn’t lost. It isn’t like amnesia. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Wiped clean.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not,” I say quickly, turning to her and motioning to the dent in the back of my head. “If this is the kind of existence I left behind, I’d rather do without it.”
“Fair enough,” Denise agrees. “Oliver will stop by with your pants tomorrow. I’m going to go shower and relax. Is there anything you need before I do?”
Again, I am surprised by how Denise speaks to me. She cares about my needs? “Not that I am aware of. If there’s nothing else you require, I can shut down until morning.”
Denise giggles softly. Her laughter is like music to me. “I require a lot of things. Not sure you can give them to me, though.”
That piques my interest. I stare at her quizzically. “Like what?”
Denise just smirks and walks away from me, her hips rolling and catching my attention once again. “Good night, Codi.”
“Good night,” I call back to her. “Denise.”
She pauses in her bedroom doorway and turns, then gives me a beautiful, genuine smile before shutting the door.
NEW CARNEGIE TIMES
MARCH 27, 2069
STRIKES IN NEW CARNEGIE SKYROCKET UNEMPLOYMENT
As strikes across New Carnegie’s industrial sectors continue, city officials are expressing their alarm as unemployment climbs from a staggering 16% to 18.2% practically overnight in the greater metropolitan area as many businesses have no choice but to be shut down.
“There are 1.6 million people living in the city,” Mayor David Trent said during a press conference last night. “Eighteen percent may not sound like much, but that’s closing on close to three hundred thousand people without jobs.”
The rise in unemployment is attributed to the Edison-Hill Plant, the largest factory employer within city limits and the headquarters of the famously affordable self-driving car line. When employees walked out of the plant to show their support, unprotected by unions, they immediately lost their jobs.
“It’s no secret Edison-Hill has been in direct talks with Schroeder and the gang over at BioNex Corps,” says Robert Carson of Humanity First, one of the loudest supporters of these protests and who picketed the factory gates with over two thousand supporters carrying signs that read “Death to Androids” and “We Are Not Machines.” “When these hardworking people stood up and said, ‘I won’t be replaced by a computer,’ the company terminated them. People say it’s just business, but it’s unethical and immoral. Working to provide for your family isn’t a privilege; it’s a human right.”
“The government doesn’t have control in situations like this,” he says. “It’s not a secret. Big businesses control the government, so it’s these giant monopolies that control the people. And they are screwing us over right now. We’re on the verge of revolution. Either they listen to us and stop signing these contracts with BioNex to replace warm-blooded Americans with a bunch of tin cans, or we hit them where it hurts. Their pocketbook. Edison-Hill’s factory is at a standstill because there’s no workers churning out their cars. They’re getting boycotted all across social media. We’re hearing reports that their dealerships are getting vandalized.”
When asked what “revolution” means, Carson says, “Humanity First has warned everyone that something bigger is coming. We don’t know what it is, but we know a breaking point when we see one. And society is coming dangerously close to it.”
3
Denise
For the rest of the week, Codi is a godsend. I didn’t know what the hell I was missing out on until he showed up. A deliciously sexy man who can cook, clean, organize, and keep my kid entertained all day? Where the hell has he been my entire life? Oh, that’s right—in a BioNex lab. Silly me.
The morning after Codi’s first day of taking care of Lucas, Oliver showed up with several outfits for Codi to wear. I’m grateful and regretting my request at the same time. Codi’s ass looks amazing in a pair of dark-wash jeans, so much that when I’m at home and he turns away from me, I’m looking. And I never considered myself an ass kinda woman. I’m more of a handsome face, broad shoulders, big arms girl. Oh, wait. He has all of that too.
