We couldn’t even sleep in the same bed anymore. We’d tried the first night, but after being woken up by the device burning through my nerve endings every time we ended up tangled together in our sleep, I’d started sleeping in my own cube again.
“That’s going to hurt like a bitch…” Jay’s brows were pinched together, and his eyes were haunted.
“Yeah. But I don’t know what else we can do. Nothing we’ve tried has worked to disrupt the signal… We’re going to need to try more invasive methods.”
I shivered just thinking about how much it would hurt to cut the device out of me, but I was at my wits’ end.
It didn’t just punish me for touching Jay. It fired off for all kinds of things.
If I brushed against people by accident, it zapped me.
If I ventured near restricted areas on campus, it began to burn.
Worst of all, if Luke ever requested a meeting with me for an update on the manipulator, any delay at all resulted in mind-numbing,excruciatingpain.
It was like an electric dog collar. I didn’t even want to know what would happen if I tried to leave campus. I assumed it would burn so bad I might black out.
“I have to assume it’s going to fire off if I try to use the manipulator on Luke in any way that he might perceive as ‘harmful,’” I muttered. “We need to get it out now if we’re going to do this.”
For what felt like the thousandth time, Jay reached out to cup my face, only to stop short. We both flinched as his hand hovered inches from my cheek.
My face burned with the desire to turn my head into his hand and accept the comfort he so badly wanted to give me.
I hated this.
“I don’t… I don’t know if I can hurt you like that, Milo,” he whispered. He looked absolutelytorturedat the thought.
“You have to.” My voice was equally as soft. We stood there, staring at each other, Jay’s fingers still hovering so close I could feel the heat of his palm.
I swallowed. “Just… do it as quickly as you can. The pain won’t kill me… I don’t think… It wouldn’t benefit Luke if his…employeesdied from the implants…” I said ‘employees’ like it was the lie that it was.
I wasn’t an employee anymore. I was a prisoner. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
“Are you sure that it won’t? Kill you, I mean?” Jay’s face was tight with worry, and I knew he was thinking about his dad.
I bit my lip, hoping I was right.
The few times I had taken too long to go to Luke when summoned, it had hurt so bad I’d worried I might actually die… but… so far I hadn’t, and we were running out of time and ideas.
“I don’t know. Like… 90% sure? If I pass out or something, I guess stop, and we’ll have to figure something else out. But this might be our one chance to use the manipulator on him; wehaveto try.”
Jay stepped closer to me. His hands twitched with the need to hold me. My whole body was screaming at me to wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest, but my arm throbbed at the thought. It was as if even thinking about touching him triggered the device, and it heated slightly in anticipation.
“You’re so brave, Milo,” he whispered, and my cheeks flushed.
“No one has ever accused me of that before.” I laughed softly, but Jay’s expression darkened.
“Youarebrave, Milo. What you’re doing here is incredibly selfless and… I don’t know many people who would have the balls to fuck around with Luke’s head like you’re about to do. You’re fucking incredible.”
I shrugged, feeling my face turn an even brighter shade of red at the praise.
“Well, I can’t just leave you here, imprisoned by him. You don’t deserve this. Neither does Sebastian. If I can free you, I have to do it.”
Jay closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath before nodding once.
“Alright. But you’re taking a painkiller first… and I’m getting you something to bite down on…”
He began rummaging around in one of the drawers under the large black desk in the center of the lab.
