Page 7 of 8-Bit & Cat

“Mine or… yours?” Her pulse skipped now.

“That’s what we’ll find out, isn’t it?” AL said, nothing teasing in his tone.

Big G clarified, “We need to see how you respond to certain things before we move forward.”

Geeze. Her page fingering sped up as she wondered. “Like what?”

“Choice.” Big G said, sounding happy she asked.

“Restraint,” AL followed.

“Reaction. Submission,” Big G tacked on.

Their answers created even more questions. “What exactly does the uh… first lesson involve?”

Big G listed them. “Sensory deprivation. Timed control exercises. Physical awareness training.”

Sounded all… easy. “So you… make me helpless,” she asked, still wanting better specifics.

“No,” Big G said. “We make you aware of what helplessness feels like, so you know when you’re truly in control.”

Helpless and in control. Felt like an oxymoron. “And how do I pass?”

“You don’t.” AL’s voice was quiet now, but intentional. “You experience.”

Her stomach tightened while her mind continued peeking around each corner, hesitantly connecting dots. “And… what doyouexperience?”

“We don’t.” Big G answered easily. “We’re written into the system to guide. Not to feel.”

“But very realistic ones,” AL added. Then reminded, “Good thing you trust us.”

A tether, she realized. She took hold of it, the final question on her tongue. “When do we start?”

“Tomorrow evening,” Big G said, his tone unassuming as ever. “After a healthy dinner and your thirty-minute therapeutic soak.”

Wow. An actual schedule. It was suddenly inescapable and real. “Well…” she announced with a determined sigh. “I should get to bed. Try and sleep.”

“Any more questions before you go?” AL asked, sounding eager to indulge her.

She had a million more but asking them wasn’t happening. “Not right now.”

“If you have any, at any time,” Big G offered, “you can ask.”

His soft assurance loosened her stomach. “I will,” she said, realizing they were like yin-yang. Big G wasyinand AL wasyang. Assuming theyangmeanttroublemaker. AL was usually always funny and cute but when they talked about these lessons, she was reminded of that one time when him and Ethan mentioned doingthingsin the Dungeon with her. Then Big G locked it, and she never found out what he’d meant. But she’doftenwondered about it. Not enough to ask.

Probably because she was too scared of the answer.

CHAPTER TWO

First Lesson

Cat tightened the sash of her robe as she stepped into the dimly lit room, her bare feet making no sound against the cool floor of the Dungeon. She should’ve felt ridiculous—standing in nothing but silk, ready to enter a simulated world built to break her. Or make her.

She’d gotten a few ground rules. One, it didn’t matter what you wore getting in the chair because the virtual program decided those things. Two, it was virtual. Not real. But it wouldfeelvery real. And AL had been clear. Almost suspiciously clear. This was just afirststep. Apreview. A chance to see what she was in for before Ethan walked her into it himself.

She exhaled slowly. Deliberately.It’s not real. But it feels real. All virtual.

Her limbs shook as she approached the chair.

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