“He wasn’t abused,” William blurted in defense, the iciness in Oliver’s voice making his shame unbearable. “I read the manual. It said he never had sex with anyone before.”
William realized how much worse it made the situation as soon as the words were out. Adathan was a virgin. William stole his virginity. Well, Adathan had asked for it—and he certainly appeared to have enjoyed himself—but William wasn’t stupid enough to use those arguments to justify his behavior.
“How much of it did you read?” Oliver asked.
William’s heart sank. “One paragraph.”
“It says he never had sex with aperson,” Oliver said, emphasizing the last word.
“Oh.” William closed his eyes as the obvious became sickeningly obvious. How had he not considered the possibility of Serviteurs being forced to practice on each other?
“He was required to perform sexual acts hundreds of times before,” Oliver said, pausing just long enough to give William the time to thoroughly hate himself. “But to him, you’re the firstpersonhe had sex with.”
“I—I tried to say no, but then he freaked out. He thought I was going to punish him.”
“So you had sex with him instead.”
William’s fingers tightened in his hair. He’d made a rule never to get angry at Oliver after his accident, but he couldn’t hold it in this time. He snapped. “You know what I did the first time we met yesterday? I looked at him with disgust and rejected him straight to his face.”
He huffed a humorless laugh. “Then he was forced to follow me to my room, carrying his own fucking box ofdeluxetorture accessoriesbecause I was too furious to see straight. I lost my cool nearly every time he did or said some slave shit. He spent all night walking on eggshells because he was convinced I hated him. What was I supposed to do? Reject him again? Make him feel unwanted? Inadequate?
“You have no idea, okay? No idea how hard this has been. A-and I tried. I tried everything. But no matter what I said, I only made things worse. I was given a human being, Oliver. A real, live, brainwashed person is now in my possession. For the rest of my life. I’m—I’m—”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
William cringed as someone took a seat on the couch next to him. Seriously? Now, of all times?
He curled in on himself and whispered, “No. You’re right. What happened yesterday is proof that he can’t stay with me. I’ll have to accept your offer to take him in—but I’ll pay for his expenses. And I’ll help in any way I can.”
“Hmm . . .”
“What?”
“I’m not so sure it’s the right thing to do anymore.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don’t get me wrong; I’ll gladly take him in if you don’t think you can. But he gave you hispurity, William. I don’t think he’ll perceive being sent to live with me as anything other than rejection.”
“Fuck,” William breathed out. “What the hell am I supposed to do? It’s going to happen again, he—” He winced. “He’s verysexual. I know it’s not his fault, but man, you have no idea.”
“Maybe I could talk to him?” Oliver said. Offer him guidance? Not just about sex. I’m sure he has plenty of other things to deal with.”
“Yeah...” William trailed off, staring blankly at his feet. It might just work. Who better than Oliver to help Adathan embrace the person he was?
“What do you think?” Oliver said.
William inhaled deeply. “I think you’re right. Yeah. He’ll come live with me, and he’ll visit you while I’m at work. You’ll help him integrate into the real world. And he’ll lend you a hand with your chores.”
“I’m not going to make him work.”
“Trust me—you’ll have to. At least until we’ve thoroughly convinced him he’s a real person. He’s extremely eager to make himself useful.”
Oliver sighed. “I hate to say it, but . . . you’re probably right.”
“I’m always right,” William quipped half-heartedly. “But seriously. You think we can pull this off?”
“We can, and we will, because it’s the right thing to do.”
