There’s a beat of silence, like collectively they’re waiting to see who wants to answer this one…
Jace sighs. “Once we saw you in person, we recognized you. We didn’t know your name, though.”
“How?” Curiosity is going to get me killed one day, but I can’t fucking help it. “Are you saying you saw me in person before you hacked my phone to follow me around?”
“You go to the same cafe I visit sometimes.” Jace scratches his jaw, a slight grimace on his face. “I’ve never seen you sit at the same table or talk to anyone except your red-headed friend.”
My stomach twists. “Roo. Her name is Roo.”
“We know her name,” Silas adds, tipping his head toward the wall of windows. “You used to run past our building every morning at seven. You rarely missed a day, even on weekends. Then it dwindled to a few days a week until recently… Then it became none.”
“Stalking ex,” I mumble as an explanation because I can’t tell them why my exercise routine went from a posh indoor gym at my apartment complex to a sweaty gym in the warehouse district.
“And me,” Kieran says quietly, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I used to live in your complex. Two floors up. I moved out last year, but I saw you come and go a few times. The entry is still the same. They never deactivated my fob, so that’s how we got into the building last night.”
I blink at him, my eyelids moving in slow motion. “You lived in my building?”
He nods once, and I frown, feeling exposed for all the wrong reasons. They haven’t yet mentioned anything that leads me to believe they know what I do for a living, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know.
And if they know, who else does?
Have I been that sloppy?
No. No, I haven’t.
I shake the thoughts away, redirecting the conversation. “And none of you were going to say anything? Like then… or now, if I didn’t ask?”
“We didn’t think you wanted strangers walking up to you,” Jace replies with a snort that he tries to hide with a cough. “You don’t exactly… invite conversation.”
I fight a grin, my cheeks burning with the effort.
They weren’t stalking me before the app. They were intrigued, and my resting bitch face made them hesitant. So, they just watched me…
Watching isn’t stalking.
They’re miles apart in definition.
Or millimeters.
Depending on the perspective.
“And the app?” I inquire. “How much of it was… you?”
“It’s a real AI application we built as a boyfriend simulator,” Silas elaborates. “Still is for every user who has downloaded the app. But the system flaggedyouas an anomaly because you didn’t follow the prescribed route. Once we saw how you responded to the prompts, we stepped in.”
“In shifts,” Jace adds. “We were curious at first, hoping it wasn’t a suicide watch kind of moment, because I couldn’t find any information on you without hacking into your phone.”
“You pretended to be it,” I fill in, nodding.
“No,” Kieran corrects. “We spoke through it. Normal users don’t normally interact with Locke unless they have a problem the admin team needs to fix. Messages about updates and new features come from Locke. Users get the option of renaming the AI boyfriend they build, and of including preferences and biometrics. Occasionally, they don’t rename him, but that’s not important.”
I think his explanation makes it worse somehow.
Maybe better?
Terrifying?
I don’t know how to feel about this yet.
