Page 63 of Brutal Savior

“You’re rich. You can get me new ones.”

Seriously. Why can’t I shut the fuck up?

He lands a hard slap on my ass in answer, and it lights up the welts from his crop again. He can punish me anywhere anytime. No one in this place would give a shit if he bent me over and spanked me in the street. I’m just his property.

A shiver runs through me at that thought, punctuated by another pulse of the vibrator. It’s seriously working against me right now.

“Where are we going?”

“To see someone.”

Informative as ever. “Any particular someone?”

“A weird guy. Brace yourself.”

Lovely. The cold hits me as we step outside, and I wrap my arms around myself. “I need a sweater.”

“What, and hide the beautiful mess of that top? Never.” He shoots me a sidelong glance as I try to tug the crop top lower. It’s covered in chocolate smears and suspicious white stains. “Did you wear that tarty getup just for me?”

“No.”Yes, but I’m not admitting it.

“Good. You’ll be glad to show it off, then.”

Mercifully, we manage not to bump into anyone Jacob knows as we walk to see the “weird guy.” A few people give me odd looks, but I keep my head high. Let them look.

The randomly buzzing vibrator is a different matter. I have to force myself not to double over every time it pulses. God, Ihope this doesn’t take long. We reach a new building, this one a utilitarian block without the architectural flare of the rest of the place.

“This is where the Brotherhood’s computing power lives, underneath here.” Jacob taps his foot on the ground. “I don’t use much for what I do, but some Brothers are a different matter. Like Seb.”

He presses the intercom button, but the door slides open before he gets a chance to speak.

“What does Sebastian even do?” I can’t imagine him involved in anything too intellectual.

“Trading algorithms. He’s a genius with it.”

Huh. Suits him. We step into an elevator, and I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirrored wall. Oh, good God. I look like a whore on her fifteenth trick of the night. I scrub at my face with my hand whilst Jacob watches smugly. Then the vibrator kicks to life, and my face contorts in a very obvious way. I thought I was hiding it better than that.

My cheeks burn as we approach a door that slides open without Jacob doing anything. Weird. Do they have cameras? The room inside is as boring as possible, just a bunch of screens in a circle surrounding a desk. A man turns when we enter, an annoyed look on his face. “Candice, we talked about this.”

One of the screens flashes to life, and the man and room fade into insignificance. A woman appears on the screen, perfectly human but just…not. Something about her tips me off that it’s not some video feed, I don’t know what. Maybe I’ve spent enough time playing games to have a sixth sense about it.

She pouts, and I’d swear her irritated look is real. “Don’t be silly. These are our guests. And we have someone new! What’s your name?”

She smiles at me, and I’m transfixed. She’s amazing. The most lifelike AI I’ve ever seen. I smile back, and her eyes brighten atmy attention. She must be able to see me through some sort of cameras. “Quinn. What about you?”

“Well, don’t you have beautiful manners? Most people pretend I don’t exist. I’m Candice.”

“Candice,” I repeat, mesmerized. Her voice has a hint of an accent. “Where’s your accent from?”

She beams, white teeth showing. “A little bit of Scottish, diluted by a whole lot of US.”

I walk to her monitor and seat myself in front of it. It presses the plug into my ass, but even that isn’t enough to distract me.

“Quinn,” Jacob warns, but the other man interrupts. He sounds excited.

“No. If it’s okay with you, please let them converse while we talk. My creations unnerve most people. It’s good for Candice to have another girl to chat with.”

His creations. A creepy word for something amazing. I ignore him and focus on Candice. “What are you? An AI like Cortana inHalo?”

---