Page 46 of Codi
“I missed you so much,” she murmurs, nuzzling my chest. “I’d hoped you could cleverly undo what Chris did to you, or that your memory would come back on its own. You’re so humanlike, I thought it might be possible. But don’t worry. We can make all new memories. It won’t be long now.”
“What do you mean?” I stand perfectly still, stiff, unwilling to warm to her.
Reagan growls in frustration. “I hate him for what he did to you. Erasing you. That was to get back at me.” She shakes her head, scowling, arms loosely wound around my waist. “Well, joke’s about to be on him, anyway. I’ve got the divorce attorney lined up, and she says I’m entitled to half of everything. We’ll be far away from this shithole of a city. Italy, maybe, or Greece, like we talked about. No more Chris, no more Violet. Just you and me. Forever.”
When she leans in to kiss me, I lean back. “No.”
“No?” She looks shocked, hurt, then livid. “You’ve never told me no. What’s gotten into you?”
Denise. Denise has gotten into me. She’s embedded in every wire, every circuit, every driver. Reagan is a stranger to me, and now she always will be.
Reagan’s brow knits and her expression darkens. She opens her mouth as though she’s about to scold me. Keys jingling near the front door make her stiffen and put out her cigarette.
“Shit. He’s home.” She takes me by the hand and leads me to a guest room, then into a walk-in closet with shelves full of women’s designer shoes and outfits. She pushes me behind the clothes. “He still thinks he got rid of you, so he won’t think to look in here. Go into standby. I’ll wake you when it’s safe.”
I’m in no position to argue with her, though my central processing core is racing. She shuts the closet door and hurries into the common room. I turn up my audio sensors to twice their full power so that I can hear everything from where I stand in the closet.
This is the man who damaged and discarded me. I want to know everything.
A male voice, deep and guttural, calls for Violet. The hurried footfalls of the other android mark her obedience.
Reagan taunts him. “Actually home in time for dinner? Had I known, I would’ve ordered your little slut to cook something up for you.”
“Just because you took your android to bed whenever I was out of town on business doesn’t mean I do the same to mine.” Chris Walter sounds resentful and cold. “I meant my marriage vows when I said them. Unlike you. Violet, go to your room. Go into standby. I’ve already eaten.”
“Yes, sir.” I hear Violet hurrying away.
Reagan’s voice rises. “Stop overriding my orders for her. She has chores to do. This is my house.”
“Our house, and I’m not going to let her be tortured. You’ve turned into this pathetic wicked stepmother with her. She’s just a machine, and she’s trying to do her job. That’s all. It’s bad enough you damaged her with your cigarettes.”
“I was drunk!”
“You’re always drunk.”
I listen as the argument escalates into a screaming match, moving from the living room to the bedroom. Things are thrown and shattered, and I’m not sure by whom. Then the raised voices fade, muffled into something else. Clothes are ripped. Reagan moans, Chris grunts. They share laughter. For a half hour or so, I hear the rapid tapping of metal on glass, and then the lovemaking begins again. I blink and cant my head, incredulous as I hear the headboard of the bed slam against the wall. She curses at him; he degrades her. I’m utterly confused. Do they love or hate each other?
I doubt I’m going to receive any kind of answer to that question, so I withdraw inward, tuning them out. Hours pass, and finally at two a.m., I hear the man snoring. All is quiet.
I send a text to Denise’s phone.Are you awake?
She answers within moments.I haven’t been able to sleep at all. Where are you? Are you safe?
My circuits surge. Denise has felt my absence as keenly as I have felt hers. I am all the more determined to return to her.I’m at her apartment. She and her husband are asleep.
Oh, Codi. What are we going to do?
We will find a way,I promise her.
She’ll just track you back to me,Denise points out.And she used to own you. No court will side with me if she sues me. I’ll lose you all over again.
Let me take care of that. I will see you soon.I send the message off and focus on my surroundings.
I reach for the doorknob and peer into the guest room, silently stepping out of the closet.
My curiosity gets the best of me, and I cautiously creep across the hallway and peer into the master bedroom from the doorway. I find them tangled in the sheets and each other. I zoom in on his bedside table and see a small square razor near remnants of white powder I quickly identify as pure cocaine.
They are both dead asleep. I creep around the bed to where Reagan has left her coat, draped upon a nearby chair, and sift through the pockets trying to locate her phone as silently as I am able.
