The companions acted pretty much as I expected. They were upset. I paid close attention to their reactions when situations were critical. It offered an incredible opportunity to note what stimuli they could handle and what needed work.
Charles, Phillip, and Adrian were quiet and quick to jump in and help lift Darcy out of the box and carry her into the laboratory.
“What happened?” Adrian asked, while the other two stood silently, watching.
“Apparently there was an accident.” I glanced up when Maggie appeared in the doorway. If I told them the truth, I’d be sending a crying companion up to the mansion. My stomach tightened with anger at the thought of making Maggie replace Darcy. “She’ll be fine.”
No one said anything, but they didn’t leave me alone either. Curiosity was one of the easiest programs to master. And I didn’t mind the company. They all jumped in eagerly when I asked for a certain tool, or for extra light.
When I took her shirt off and rolled her to her stomach, Maggie hurried over and pulled a hospital gown out of the closet then walked over to the table. “She’ll die if you turn her on and she’s half naked in front of all of us,” she informed me quietly.
I accepted the gown and covered her torn flesh with it. Anger ripped through me at the welts on her body. No woman, machine or human, should be abused like this. It pissed me off even further thinking about sending Maggie to the brutal assholes who’d done this to Darcy.
For the life of me I didn’t understand why anyone would turn down Maggie. I’d designed her after a girl I’d had a serious crush on in college, the first woman who dumped me. Now there was a line of women that was endless. But not something I planned on dwelling on at the moment.
“You’re a sweetheart, Maggie,” I told her, smiling.
She immediately grinned back at me. “I just know I’d die if I woke up with a bunch of guys staring down at me naked.”
“Really?” I asked, half teasing, and waited for her response. I needed to take the back panel off of Darcy, but that wasn’t something I would do in front of the other companions. No one liked watching one of their own kind being opened up and repaired.
“Well,” she said slowly, matching my teasing expression, “maybe it would depend on the circumstances.”
“Kind of what I thought,” I grumbled, but then grinned at her. “Okay, all of you, Darcy and I need some privacy,” I announced and then watched as they slowly left my laboratory. “Oh, Maggie.”
“Yes?” She turned around, her pretty blue eyes so bright.
I hated telling her this but kept my emotions intact. My companions didn’t always read emotions accurately, but they mimicked them beautifully. I didn’t want her learning resentment.
“Head over to the mansion and take Darcy’s place for now, please,” I said calmly.
My insides twisted further when her face lit up. “Really? Did Rose ask for me?”
What I wouldn’t do to strangle the life out of Rose. “Yes, dear. Actually she did.” I couldn’t look away from Maggie’s delighted expression. “And Maggie?”
“Yes.”
“If Mr. Holloway tries to hurt you, kick his ass.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Maggie nearly skipped out of the room, calling after the other companions to announce her exciting news as the laboratory door closed behind her. I closed my eyes, vowing silently to turn Rose off if Maggie came back to me in the same condition that Darcy was in right now.
Although, there was only one way to turn Rose off. I wasn’t a murderer, but imagining it sometimes sure seemed easier to do the longer I worked with her.
I placed my hand on the middle of Darcy’s slender back, focusing on how warm her skin still was, and the smoothness of it. My companions were perfect, better than human in almost every way. I stroked her blonde hair, and a rush of pride filled me. It also hit me how long it had been since I’d been with a woman. The five-finger lover sure as hell wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, especially when too much time had passed since the real thing. There wasn’t anything morally or ethically wrong with fucking one of my companions. But anytime I tried letting my mind drift there, something stopped me.
“She’s your creation, part of you,” I explained to myself, knowing that was the reason why I couldn’t have sex with Darcy, or Maggie, or any of my females. They were my children.
Clearing my throat, I walked away from Darcy and over to my computer on the other side of the room. “A few notes,” I began, pushing the record button that automatically started typing everything I said. “Note that when Maggie experienced embarrassment over being teased about waking up with several men staring down at her, she managed the appropriate expression, but that was it. Memo to self to work on brain receivers acknowledging embarrassing moments and creating color alterations under the flesh so that companions will blush.”
There was something sultry about a woman blushing. I should experiment with that some, possibly find one of the guests and toy with them a bit. Once again, the young lawyer from Chicago, Natalie Green, popped into my head. I turned back to Darcy and stroked her blonde hair away from her face, but saw Miss Green with her brown hair that she’d pulled back in a hair tie at her nape while fucking Nicolas and Tomas. I wondered what it would look like down.
My cell phone rang and I reached for it, more than willing to send it to voice mail if it were Rose. “Smart bitch,” I muttered, recognizing Jonah’s number. Rose knew I wouldn’t refuse Jonah’s calls. “What can I do for you, old man?”
“Are you through with Darcy yet?” Jonah asked, his scratchy voice one I’d love to be able to copy someday. “Lord is stuttering. I’d say it’s rather entertaining, but Rose disagrees.”
“He’s stuttering?” I didn’t know a dog could stutter.
“Don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like he’s barking with the hiccups.”
I shook my head, and turned to Darcy. “I’ll be right up, old man.” Hanging up, I caressed Darcy’s bare shoulder. She’d been abused pretty badly and I wouldn’t rush to fix her. “Enjoy a nice nap, my dear. I’ll be back and get you up and running in no time.”
The ocean brought in a moist breeze that almost had my hair damp as I rounded the side of the mansion in the golf cart and parked alongside Jonah’s cabin. Bright yellow hibiscus almost blinded me with the sun shining on them as I parked and climbed out.
Our guilty culprit came leaping toward me with a tongue and tooth greeting. “How you doing, Lord?” I asked, squatting down and allowing the dog to greet me with a tongue bath.
Lord, who was something close to a collie-spaniel mix I’d made for Jonah when he decided Pluto needed a companion, barked eagerly, and showed me what it sounds like when a dog stutters. I laughed out loud, the malfunctioning voice box so entertaining it was tempting to leave him like this. Pluto bounded out of the cabin, running around me and Lord with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.
“You like how he sounds too, don’t you, Pluto?” I asked, reaching to scratch behind Pluto’s ear.
“I got a chuckle out of it, too,” Jonah said from behind me. “Needless to say, you and I are the only ones who find Lord’s unique condition entertaining.”
“Come here, boy.” I patted the golf cart seat and Lord eagerly jumped into the cart, his thick long tail wagging a mile a minute.
Lord looked from me to Jonah, as if to make sure we both knew that he was ready for the ride, and excited to embark on any adventure. Lord and Pluto were one of my prize pieces of work. In fact, if I