by D. R. Rosier
He looked around the room, “Does anyone not understand or approve of the approach we’ll be taking, if so now is the time.”
I shook my head, “I approve of the approach but I have a question about the timeframe. I have to be back in divorce court in seven weeks, I understand why you’re holding back on the court side, but I’ll need that injunction Paul mentioned before then so I can’t be ordered by the court to sell Aisa.”
Hainsworth frowned, “Yes, I know about that and it’s unfortunate. The medical and biological testing should be fast and done in a week or so. All we need to do there is prove that they are truly biological bodies outside of their brains. I’ll let Dr. Lawrence know of the time limit, I’m not sure how long a full psychological assessment takes, but I imagine we’ll have plenty of time.
“From what I understand there will be a lot of question tests, I imagine Aisa, Aida, and Cal will fly through those. It’s the interactive interview portion that will take time. Others I’ve seen done usually only take a few days, but I believe Dr. Lawrence intends to be as exhaustive as possible. The plan is to present overwhelming proof.”
He shrugged, “Anything else?”
I took that long speech to mean he didn’t know but expected it to be done within my timeframe. I didn’t really like that. I supposed I must have looked rather distressed about it.
Aida looked over at me and her eyes softened, “Worse comes to worse I’ll have father pay Marilynn off for her half. As long as the suit goes forward, he won’t mind doing that I don’t think. You won’t be selling my sister.”
Hainsworth nodded, “So if there are no further questions. Once that is all done, we’ll start filing, and I’ll leak some information to the press.”
Aida asked curiously, “Why do we need to do that?”
Hainsworth shrugged, “I don’t think we can try it in the press, the courts will decide what they decide. But it’s a… shield of sorts. You, Aisa, Cal, and your siblings are rather remarkable Aida, and valuable. I believe putting a spotlight on you will prevent the government from doing anything drastic, like coming around to collect you and figure out how you work. Right now you’re merely property, and the government has no problems citing national security and seizing property. We need to… make that option less appealing to the power that be.
“Of course, by the same token we’ll be putting you at risk from other threats, like technology companies, or anti-technology whackos, so once that stage starts try not to go outside unless you need to.”
Aida nodded soberly and shivered.
I couldn’t blame her for being frightened of that thought, Aisa was squeezing my hand tightly under the table. She was obviously nervous as well.
It was becoming clear to me exactly what I was risking, my life, but that didn’t seem to matter to me. If I could help it, I wouldn’t let anything happen to Aisa, even if it ruined the rest of my life in the process. No one had any more questions, so we said our goodbyes and went home. There was nothing to do yet but wait to be contacted by the M.D. and the psychiatrist, so we fell into our daily routine and got to work on the newest project.
Chapter 13
Aisa and I were working late that afternoon when I started to smell something burning.
“What is that?”
Aisa grimaced, “I think Aida’s cooking. We should go… now.”
I laughed and stood up at the urgency in her voice, and I remembered to save our progress as we left my office and headed straight for the kitchen.
Aida had a panicked look on her face, and the oven had smoke pouring out of it. Aisa pushed her aside and grabbed some towels and pulled out what might have been a roast, covered in black flakes. It was definitely burnt.
I looked over at Aida, she was dressed differently from this morning, she had on a tight pair of short shorts, an extremely tight pink t-shirt, and though her C cups stood up proudly I was positive she had no bra on. It was all I could do to keep my gaze above her neck, her hardened nipples showing clearly through the fabric was calling for a more direct gaze.
“What happened?”
Aida looked at me like a deer in headlights, her usually sexy voice was upset, “You two seemed busy, I thought I’d try my hands at cooking again, but…” she trailed off with tears in her eyes and fled the room.
I shook my head confused, “What was that about?”
I didn’t see the big deal, it was just a burnt roast, nothing to cry about. And why the hell was she dressed so sexily?
Aisa shrugged, and put the burnt food down the reclamation chute.
“I’m not sure, maybe… let me talk to her about it. Can you start dinner.”
I grinned, “Sure, how about pizza?”
I liked cooking, but every once in a while a nice hot delivered pizza was called for.
She smiled and kissed my cheek, “Fine with me love,” and she chased after Aida.
Cal came in the kitchen a moment later.
“Can I ask you some advice?”
I raised an eyebrow, we never got a chance to talk alone, since most of the time Aisa was right with me. I wondered how long he’d been holding back, “What about?”
He shrugged, “Karen, she wants me to come over tonight for dinner.”
I nodded, “I see, and you…”
He frowned, “I like her, and not just because she… you know. But I really can’t tell her what I am, there was a reason we were in hiding, still is. At least, I can’t tell her until I’m free, or forever an object to be owned if it doesn’t work.”
I shook my head, “You should never give up, if Hainsworth fails, we do a media campaign to get congress to create a new law and go that way. Or hell, why not just go to the world congress and do it there. But back to the other problem, you can’t tell her in case she talks, but you don’t want to lie to her.”
He nodded, “And if I put her off until a decision is made, she might move on.”
How the hell was I qualified to give advice on that?
“That’s a tough one. Hiding it worked for Aisa, but it could have backfired. It would have if I’d thought she’d deceived me from the beginning on purpose, and not just from a misunderstanding. You could take a middle road. Tell her you need to keep it casual for a while, and you can’t legally talk about why but you want to tell her, and will when you can. It might piss her off, but it’s better than lying or ignoring her. Either way, you’ll know where you stand.”
He made a face and I shrugged, “Sure, I know it’s crappy advice, but it’s not an easy situation either.”
He laughed and clapped my shoulder, “True. Alright, I’m out of here. Don’t let my sisters drive you crazy.”
I asked, “Any idea what’s up with Aida?”
He shrugged, “Probably just wants to feel useful. She and Aisa helped raise the rest of us, and then the last six weeks before we got here it was just her keeping an eye on us. She didn’t cook, but she did run the house, order stuff, and kept track of projects for father. His memory isn’t what it used to be. Here… she doesn’t really have anything to do, except help with this case, and so far not much has happened that way.”
I nodded in thought and thanked him, and he left to meet up with Karen. I started to set out three plates and cups on the table, for when the pizza got here, while I thought it through. What he’d said sounded right, but not completely, there was more to it than that, and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach I knew what it was. Especially considering her choice of seductive clothing and the look of humiliation she’d given me before she fled, it wasn’t that she wanted to simply feel useful, she wanted to be useful to me, and seemingly wanted to be with me even more now.
The most confusing part was there was a part of me that was coming to care for her, and wanted to go comfort her, although I was sure that was the worst possible thing I could ever do.
It was a problem. I knew Aisa said she was willing to share, but I was almost positive the unexpected jealousy that she would have as a res
ult of it would eat her alive, I could never hurt Aisa. I cared for Aida, or was starting too, but Aisa was my priority. If I had to choose one of them to spare pain, there was no question who I’d pick.
But of course, life isn’t that easy, Aisa will suffer if Aida suffers, and that was clearly happening. Plus, we were all living in the same house, which made it that much worse. I was getting a headache just trying to wrap my head around it all. A simple solution would be to send Aida back home, she’d get over her first crush I was sure, but it wasn’t an option since we needed her here for the case.
Then, the most seductive hope of all was that I was wrong, and Aisa could handle sharing me. That I could have it all, both Aisa’s love, and Aida’s. Aida had a hot body, and she was a good person, and living around her constantly the way we were was an ongoing temptation. No, I didn’t love Aida yet, but it wouldn’t take all that much to get there I didn’t think. I was sure though, this last option was nothing but my dick doing my thinking, and it would ruin everything. I felt a little panicked at the idea of losing Aisa.
The other part of course was the whole monogamy thing. Sure, maybe one relationship for the rest of my life was overly optimistic, but one at a time wasn’t. It was what I always believed, I’d seen open relationships and marriages, and they worked for a while, but always failed faster than a one on one relationship. There were of course, exceptions, but they were rare.
That said, if I had permission, no… not permission, she’d practically asked me to be with her sister, so it wouldn’t be cheating. But then there was also the fact it would be hypocritical, because I’d fucking lose it if Aisa ever kissed, much less slept, with another man. No doubt that would extend to Aida once I’d had her as well, she’d be mine as well in my mind, so how screwed up am I?
Fuck, I needed a distraction.
I told the house A.I. to let up the pizza guy when he got here, and went back into my office and started testing the new changes we’d just made. Hopefully my mind would settle down before the pizza got here, and Aida and Aisa came out from the guest room…
I took a bite of my pizza in the tense silence, and washed it down with a sip of beer. This was what I’d been afraid of, damned if I do, damned if I don’t. It had gotten to the point that Aida was truly not happy, so Aisa wasn’t happy, which meant I wasn’t happy. So I was left with the choices of either riding it out to see if it got better, or taking a chance that Aisa could handle it like she said.
Assuming that was even an option. Aida had changed again, this time wearing loose sweat pants and a loose shirt, her hair was up in a ponytail, and she hadn’t looked at me once since they’d come out. I assumed she was trying to look unattractive, but of course she completely failed. Women never believe it, but other men know that a beautiful woman in baggy unsexy clothing with no makeup is still attractive. Perversely, sometimes even more so.
I couldn’t even throw Cal under the bus and use him as a subject to fill the silence, not that I’d do that, guy code prohibition. But they hadn’t even asked about him, and were no doubt in constant contact with him right now anyway. Somehow I doubted a Cubs Verse White Sox discussion would go very far either since they weren’t native Chicagoans.
When we finished eating Aisa suggested a movie, and we moved out to the living room. Aida chose a seat the farthest from where Aisa and I sat, and as the movie started Aisa didn’t cuddle into me like she usually does. She was sitting stiffly next to me with an uncomfortable look on her face. Well, I’d had enough of that.
“We need to talk,” I grabbed her hand and led her toward the bedroom, thank god she followed me.
When I shut the door I said, “What’s going on Aisa, I mean with you. What do you want?”
She sighed, “We talked about it, you refused. I’m sorry, but I felt bad about hanging all over you, Aida… she’s miserable and jealous. That whole thing in the kitchen was for your benefit.”
I pulled her into my lap on the bed, and she cuddled into me.
“I know. But do you really want what you asked? Have you thought about it? I can’t stand seeing both of you miserable like this.”
She asked in a truly confused voice, “What do you mean? I already said I wouldn’t mind sharing.”
I blew out a breath, “But have you thought through what that means? She’s falling in love with me, do you think I won’t fall for her too? Did you think about that, or just think we’d fuck every once in a while and that would be it? She’s different from you, in a lot of ways, but she’s beautiful, and has the same sweetness and innocence that attracted me to you. What about sleeping arrangements, will all three of us sleep together? Will I swap nights? Because you have to know this won’t be just a fuck, right?
“I mean you don’t want your sister to just be my casual lay or mistress do you? She deserves better and it would never work that way. You’d both be mine. I wouldn’t want either of you sleeping or even kissing another man. Is that what you want, can you live with that? Can she? Because once I sleep with her, we can’t go back, ever. Sure, she may leave at some point, find a new guy, but… Can you live with that?”
I shook my head, not quite believing I was having this conversation, it was crazy.
She leaned back and looked up at me, “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear. All of that. As to why… I love both you and my sister, I know you find her attractive, and I know how she feels about you. It would make me happy to see both of you happy. And I already told you, I chose you long ago, I won’t want another man.”
She frowned, “I have all the same emotions as a normal human does, the same rush of love, lust, sadness, tears, all of it. But at the heart of my mind I am an A.I. Do you understand that? I chose you, and unless you want me to leave, I never will. That doesn’t mean I won’t argue or fight when I’m pissed off, but it does mean I won’t give up, as long as you don’t.
“I am not… fickle, and I won’t let jealousy destroy what we have, and who I am. You are mine Tony Sanders, and sharing you doesn’t change that fact. So feel free to love and cherish my sister as well as me, because I can’t think of anything else that would make me happier right now. As far as sleeping arrangements, I think I’d be okay all sleeping in the same bed, but having sex with my sister in bed next to us would be… really awkward I think.”
I snickered, “Really?”
She bit my shoulder, “Be nice. Yes, it would. I’m not attracted to women at all, and she’s my sister, so it’s kind of a double no there with a yuck added in. But, I wouldn’t mind us both cuddling you from either side as we fell asleep.”
I sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me all this before? It would have saved me a lot of grief.”
She giggled, “I love you, and I’m okay with it, but I didn’t want to come across too strong, I didn’t want to force you into something you didn’t want, so I guess I was a little too subtle. I didn’t want you taking her for me, only if you wanted her, and I’m sorry about tonight being so miserable.”
That… didn’t really make sense to me, but then I didn’t have to understand everything, women are an enigma after all. I still had doubts as to the wisdom of this course of action, but she didn’t seem to have any at all, and there was still that whole all of us being miserable thing if I didn’t give in to what we all wanted. It seemed stupid not to at this point.
“Alright, but I’m taking her out for a while first.”
She tilted her head and looked up at me again, “Why?”
I shook my head, “She’s in a bad mood, and it will give us some time alone to get to know each other better. If I’m doing this, I’m doing it right, I’m not just going to bend her over and take her.”
She giggled, “That kind of sounds like fun, will you do that to me later?”
I hugged her tightly against me and said in authoritatively, “When you least expect it, I’m going to bend you over and take you hard and fast. I’m going to use your hot little body for my own pleasure, and you’re going to like it.�
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She leaned up and kissed me, her eyes a little glazed with lust from my words, and then she smiled coquettishly, “You say the sweetest things…”
I rolled a little and she slid off me, I spanked her and snickered as I rolled out of bed.
“I love you baby,” I said sweetly as she glared at me.
I made my way back out to the living room, Aida was still staring at the movie looking miserable, so I went over and sat next to her, and she still didn’t look at me.
“Aida.”
She finally turned my way and raised an eyebrow.
“Would you like to go out and grab a couple of drinks with me? We can talk, in private?”
Huh, as I said the words I realized it wouldn’t be private at all, she’d probably be feeding Aisa a blow by blow account of our night. Oh well, I’d get used to that idea eventually.
She tilted her head questioningly, “You want to go out? With me?”
I nodded, “Yes, as in a date. I know there’s already this thing between us, but we haven’t had a chance to be alone really, and considering today’s drama I thought it would be nice to get out of here at the same time, give us a clean slate to start with.”
She nodded, “Let me go change.”
I added, “Something casual, we’re going to a local pub so we can actually talk, clubs are too loud.”
She smiled back at me shyly, and I was relieved to see the light back in her pretty blue eyes, “Alright.”
I went into the bedroom to change as well, and Aisa kissed me passionately, and seemed truly happy…
Chapter 14
Aida was wearing the short jean shorts, and tight white shirt that conformed to her body, but this time she had a bra on, as well as a partially see through gauzy red blouse over it, and a pair of sandals with two-inch heels. She looked sexy as hell and her eyes twinkled at my obvious look of approval.