Page 23 of The Genius
“What did he say?” Storm asked, and because he was leaning over me, I pulled back, lifting my beer and turkey drumstick out of the way.
Hunter gave us a satisfied grin. “Tristan told us to meet him at the VIP entrance after the race.”
“Yes.” Storm lit up. “That’s what I’m talking about. Not that it should be necessary if you would play your celebrity card.”
Hunter was a star soccer player; we could never go anywhere without him being surrounded by fans. He’d already taken pictures with several people on our way to our seats. If he wanted to go backstage all he had to do was go down there and throw his name around, but that wasn’t Hunter’s style.
“Where is Tristan?” I asked and turned around in my seat.
“Four rows from the top, in the middle – do you see him?”
I squinted my eyes. “No. Is he the one wearing a drone hat?”
Hunter laughed and pointed but there were at least fifty rows between us and the top. “He’s four… no, five seats to the right of that guy.”
“In a yellow t-shirt. Yeah, I see him.” I frowned. “Wait, is that a female next to him? Is he with her?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t ask him.”
“Storm, give me your sunglasses for a second. They have zoom function, right?”
“Of course.”
I pulled them off his face and he protested.
“Hey, be careful, don’t break them.”
“Where do you zoom on these things?” I felt for any buttons on the side.”
“Here, let me do it.” Storm showed me how to zoom in and I looked up at Tristan again, this time seeing him as clearly as if he were sitting right in front of me.
“What the fuck?” I kept staring at the sex-bot sitting next to him.
“What is it?” Hunter asked.
“Tristan is with… ehh… a woman.” I took the glasses off and Storm was quick to snatch them.
Taking a look for himself, Storm whistled. “Damn, she’s a pretty thing. Who is she?”
“Let me see,” Hunter insisted and when he got the glasses on, he kept looking at Natura. “Nah, not my type.”
Storm slapped Hunter’s shoulder. “What do you mean she’s not your type? She’s hot.”
“Nah, she looks a little masculine.”
I gaped at him. “Masculine. Are you high or something?”
“Don’t mind him.” Storm rolled his eyes. “Hunter is screwed up when it comes to women. I hope she’s one of Tristan’s sisters and we can get him to introduce us to her.”
My knees bobbed up and down with restless energy while my head was spinning to find answers. Tristan worked for Advanced Technologies, but not with sex-bots. At least not as far as I knew. Why was he with a prototype? Was this part of her training to interact with real people? Had he taken Natura out on a field trip of sorts? Was Tristan one of the engineers working on her, and if so had he seen me having sex with her?
My jaw tensed from the thought of being watched by someone I knew. That would be weird.
“Storm, remember I told you that I tried out that prototype last week?”
Storm’s head was leaned back, his eyes on the large screen. “The natural sex-bot. Sure, why?”
“It’sher.”
