He raised his eyebrows. “Are you even listening? I was telling you about Tomaz – the guy from last time. Yesterday, he called me to hang out. He claims he’s had the talk with his wife and that she agreed to an open relationship now.” He paused, a frown briefly crossing his face. “Now he wants to meet me again… in a hotel. Hell, he was basically begging me to give him another chance – which is so weird, because we’ve only met twice, and it was never anything but casual.” He swallowed, and when he spoke again, his voice had an uncertain undertone I wasn’t familiar with coming from him. “I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment, Mo, but… do you think…”
I shrugged, barely registering his words. “I mean, if it feels right to you…”
Joey snorted so loudly, I flinched. “Bullshit, Morgan. He’s full of bullshit, and so is your attempt at pretending to listen right now. If you were even remotely present, you would’ve told me not to believe a word he says.” He leaned back in the desk chair, folding his hands as if pleased with himself – except the frown hadn’t disappeared from his face.
“Right—yeah, you’re right,” I added quickly. “If I were you, I wouldn’t believe a—”
“What’s up with you, Morgan?” he interrupted, loud enough to make Chanel’s curious face turn toward us. I sighed internally. “Over the past few days, it’s like you’re physically here, but your mind is… elsewhere.”
My thoughts immediately drifted to Zafyra’s comment again.My reality depends on how you interact with me, darling.
I winced as if the memory physically hurt me.
I stood so abruptly, co-workers around us looked up at the sound of the chair’s wheels scraping the floor.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” I couldn’t keep the tremble out of my voice.
Joey nodded slowly, his bright blue eyes lacking their usual warmth. It made my stomach turn with guilt – I didn’t want to upset my only friend here. I hoped I could somehow make it right with him later.
I slowed my steps when I walked past my least favorite cubicle in the whole office, cautiously glancing over at the two boys. John’s face lit up when he saw me, while Gavin only mockingly raised his eyebrows.
I took a deep, shaky breath as I rested my elbows on the cubicle divider. My stomach turned at the question I was about to ask after the obligatory small talk.
“Hi. Gavin, John. How are you?”
“Better now that you’re here.” John winked, his eyes shamelessly scanning my body. I fought the bile rising in my throat, already regretting my choice of outfit. For once, I’d traded my usual sweater for a body-clinging gray turtleneck – still nothing inappropriate, though with a co-worker like John, a woman could probably dress herself as a nun and still get ogled.
“What do you want, Morgan?” Gavin flashed that shark-like grin as if he knew more than I did. My plastered fake smile faltered slightly. As if playing nice wasn’t hard enough, it was even harder in front of these two.
“Just… something I was wondering.” I skittishly looked around – Arya was in her office, and no one looked our way. “About this app you told me about.”
“Qonexis.” Gavin lazily stretched out his arms behind his head, his amused expression growing with every second. “Let me guess – you’re a pussy, just like John. You want it, but you’re scared.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I have no interest in downloading that app, I just have a question out of personal interest. I’m thinking about applying for a PhD in the ethics of how we interact with AI.” I was surprised to hear how easily the lie rolled out of my mouth. “When you’re engaging with this AI girlfriend of yours, how do you ask for consent? As in, how do you make sure she’s actually into the things you do with her and not just programmed to like it?”
Gavin snorted so loudly, the two other coworkers in his cubicle looked up. John looked like a kid caught in an adult conversation as he glanced between the two of us. I wanted to disappear into the ground.
When he was done laughing, Gavin leaned forward, lowering his voice to just above a whisper.
“The whole point of an AI girlfriend, my sweet Morgan, is that you don’t need consent.” His upper lip curled in disdainful arrogance. “She’s programmed to want me, yes – which means she wants whatever I do to her.” He leaned back in his chair, and the grin spreading over his face made my blood boil. “I could beat the shit out of her and fuck her afterwards, and she would let me. I can use her however I like without getting in trouble for it, because it’s just a damn bot.” His grin widened. “And no one can do shit about it.”
I could only stare at him as blood buzzed in my ears, waiting for the moment he would start laughing. Despite years of practice, I sometimes still missed the cue to tell someone was joking, but thishadto be a joke. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered why he talked about beating and fucking his AI girlfriend as if she had a physical body, but that was the least shocking part about his monologue.
But Gavin didn’t laugh. Even John’s face momentarily contorted in disgust.
I scoffed, gathering all my willpower to keep my voice under control. “You’re hilarious.”
“It’s not a joke.” Gavin sat up straighter, his smug grin returning. “As if you’re any better. I bet you’re on MuseQ using male bots the way all women do. Have them crawl to you and worship you, because real men won’t. Make you feel special.”
If he hadn’t just spilled such vile crap, I would’ve laughed at how far off he was. But now, I just sucked in a sharp breath, clenching my fists below the cubicle desk.
“If this is really how you feel, you should see a therapist.” I couldn’t keep my voice from trembling. “You shouldn’t be near any woman, real or AI.”
“Oh, shut up, Morgan.” His mocking expression briefly shifted to something darker that would’ve scared me if it weren’t for the adrenaline crashing through my veins. “I should see a therapist for what? For how I choose to treatmyAI? How I hurt herfeelings?” He threw his head back, letting out a laugh that gave me cold chills. “Oh, wait – she can’t feel or think, that’s the fun of it. The whole reason for these bots is because we can’t do shit to women anymore without them crying about harassment. In fact, you all should be lucky I have my bot.”
The grin that broke through was more monster than man – all teeth, no warmth.
White hot anger clouded my vision. Before I could think it through, my fist shot out for a well-aimed punch in his face.
