Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

Ari couldn’t help but smile. She’d never heard anyone use the word phooey before.

Jewels turned. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you not working today?”

“I did a good job, so they gave me the afternoon off.”

“Then why aren’t you happy?”

Ari picked at the hem on her suit, unable to answer that question. The maid didn’t push the issue, but with a humph, continued cleaning. Lost in her thoughts, Ari wondered about her contract again. She knew it was a five-year contract, but with a no-compete clause and whatnot, she didn’t know where to go next. Maybe she could talk to Tessa and work for her? There had to be something else. Maybe tell Niomi she refused these assignments. There had to be different work someone with her abilities could do.

“Jewels, can I ask you a question?”

The woman continued cleaning. “Does your mouth work?”

“How long have you been working for VisionTech?”

Jewels paused for a minute. “Four rainy seasons now. I didn’t want to work at first. Hated VisionTech for taking over our island. I stayed home and watched my grand babies.”

“They took it over?”

“Yes. They gave big money to our chief, and that man had only eyes for gold. He gave up almost all our land. Now we work for them. Slaves so we can play their fancy computers and games.” She spit on the ground to show her displeasure.

A small machine came out from under the coffee table to clean it up. Then she spit on that too. When it parked, she reached down to clean it off.

“Do you like working for VisionTech?” Guilt simmered for not keeping her room cleaner and making Jewels work.

“Yeah. I’m used to taking care of babies, kids, and my husband when he was alive. Work is good. Work keeps you alive.” Jewels gave Ari a sideways glance. “So does eating, you know? You are getting thinner. Eat more. Maybe I will cook for you, not this garbage computer food. You need pig fat. It will fill you out in no time.”

Ari couldn’t contain her laughter. “I’m sure pig fat will do that.” Instead of getting straight lard though, she grabbed an apple from the bowl in front of her. Maybe her headache was due to lack of real food. The patch can’t be that good for you. She bit into the apple and continued to listen to Jewels tell stories of the island when she was a child.

The next morning it was back to Kari’s life again. Ari did catch up on her sleep yesterday, but she still felt the lingering effects of her headache, like she was hungover or something. She sat down in the chair ready to go.

“I almost forgot. How were you feeling yesterday?” Niomi turned from the computer.

“Fine, I guess. A bit of a headache.”

“Good to know. We’ll take the rest of the week out of the VR and work on your training to mix things up.”

“If training is the alternative, I feel great.” Ari pulled up her hair to make way for the cord, but something caught her. “Is the VR why I had my headache?” She didn’t remember getting them at school.

“More just being inactive. That’s why we workout so much. Your body would deteriorate if you were plugged in all day getting your nutrients from a patch.”

“Makes sense.”

“Also, everyone was very excited over the information you gathered. They approved a visit with Tessa since we still haven’t found your family.” The way Niomi said it made Ari think Niomi knew something of her previous visit.

“Sounds great.” She wasn’t about to get Vinh in trouble. If VisionTech couldn’t find them, maybe that was for the best. Ari rubbed the base of her neck, which was sore from laying down in this chair so much. “See you on the flip side.”

Kari’s day dragged on. Replying to emails and scheduling meetings made Ari realize she never wanted to be a secretary. Maybe it was how active she had been with Niomi that ruined her for a boring desk job. There were a couple memos from the aftermath of the vote which Ari carefully forwarded on to Niomi.

When lunch came around, she forgot about Antoine, but hadn’t heard anything from him either. At this point she didn’t think blowing Kari’s boyfriend off for one day would hurt, but Ari wanted to go back to the restaurant and see if Hailey was there. After contemplating the pros and cons all morning, Ari decided the more she knew the better. Then she could decide whether to include Hailey in her report.

Ari strode through the market, watching people visit and talk. The sound of foreign accents transported her all over the world in mere seconds. Walking into the restaurant, she spotted Hailey in the back reading again. Ari headed towards her.

“About time you showed up?” Antoine’s voice traveled through the large room.

Turning, Ari found Antoine at the bar, and her face warmed as all eyes turned on her.

He stormed across the room. “First you don’t answer my calls yesterday. Then you blow me off. Today you show up and didn’t even notice me.”

Alcohol wafted from his breath. Ari wanted to shake him, tell him to pull it together. The booze wasn’t even real, but that didn’t matter, his brain thought it was.

Instead Ari tried to explain. “It was—”

“Don’t even say it.”

She reached out and grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She didn’t have time to blink before she was enveloped in a hug. Antoine leaning down to smell her hair. Ari really wondered what Antoine’s and Kari’s relationship was based on.

Ari pulled back, wanting distance. “I have a work meeting today, so I can’t stay and talk, but I hoped to see you.”

He lifted his dejected face. “So, you’re not breaking up with me?”

Placing a hand on his face, she struggled to keep the facade of romance together. “Of course not. The session ends soon. Then we’ll go on vacation and make up for