Chapter 6

Of the two identical-looking letters with the return address of the clinic, I took the one addressed to me. I’d been expecting it—it was early August, and the report was due about now. Opening it, I read, with a sinking heart but no great surprise, that neither my genes nor Andrew’s exhibited any predispositions to any known diseases that would make reproduction dangerous. Andrew had asked the clinic to link his results with mine, resulting in a report on the advisability of the two of us having children.

I sighed, thinking I might be the one person in the world who wouldn’t think a letter like this was good news. I was sure it would make Andrew’s day. Destroying his copy of the letter before he saw it was pointless. He’d just call the clinic eventually anyway.

I’ve got to do something fun to get my mind off this. I called Scott’s number, but it rolled over to voicemail. Must be in class or a dead zone. Then it occurred to me I hadn’t been to one of the hook-up clubs in a while. That idea sounded better and better the more I thought about it.

I lay back against the end of the bathtub in the rented hotel suite. The man sharing it with me soaped my breasts with a sponge. I closed my eyes and sighed. “This was a nice idea, Giles. Thanks.”

“You looked like you were tense about something. I know a warm bath always relaxes me.”

I opened one eye. “I looked tense? Compared with what? You just met me.”

He smiled. “Lean forward, let me do your back.” He reached around me and ran the sponge over my back, his other hand rubbing my overtaut muscles. “I saw you a few times before in the club. I kept meaning to say hi to you or something, but you always got with somebody else first.”

“I guess I always feel like I have to work fast. I don’t have much time left in the outside world.”

“When was it you go to the Academy?”

“I’m supposed to hear from them late next week. Definitely by Friday, anyway. The fifteenth. But classes don’t start until September.”

“Well, tomorrow’s Friday, so that’s exactly a week. No wonder you’re nervous. Lift your leg up.”

I sighed as my new friend spread soap on my thigh, using both hands, stroking slowly. I thought about bringing up the extra reasons I had for feeling tense, but I felt too nice right now to want to think about Andrew. He hadn’t said much to me since that day he’d told Dad I was going to be his slave. Maybe he’d run out of new ideas for tormenting me. He’d find out my future next week when I did. “What about you, when do you report to your studio?”

“A couple of weeks. It’s funny, before long we’ll both be slaves. With about the same life expectancy, I’d guess.”

I had a sudden chill. I’ll be a slave, yeah. But whose?

Giles caught my brief shiver. “Should I run some more hot water?”

I shook my head. “I want to get out pretty soon anyway.”

He frowned. “You’ll stay here awhile though, won’t you?”

I smiled and stroked his cheek. “Don’t worry. I just mean my skin is getting all pruny. Anyway, yeah, we’ll be slaves. That’s part of why I wanted to be with somebody like you tonight. It’s getting so close to the time, I don’t want to start any relationships I can’t keep. We’re both in that same boat.”

He nodded. “I just want to have some fun before I go there.”

I raised one eyebrow. “You’ll have lots of sex making those movies, won’t you?”

Giles giggled. “You won’t exactly be celibate where you’re going either. But you know what I mean. It’ll be the same actors and actresses, all the time—well, except for the starring role. That’s nice in a way, we can have relationships of a sort, but I wanted to...”

I leaned back once more, smiling. “I know. You don’t have to explain.” I looked at Giles’s trim body, thinking how much of the rest of his life this boy would spend doing sex, on camera and off. “How many films?”

“The usual deal is two, snuffer in one, snuffee in the second. But I’m a topper. Not many of us are willing to do the snuff scene. So I got a special deal: five movies. And I get laid in my final scene. I’ll have a lot of fun, and my family will get royalties for all those films, not just the last one.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun.”

Giles grinned. “It will be. I never really knew what I wanted to do until I saw the ad. As soon as I did, I realized this was what I was meant for, topper or no. And the signing bonus let me have this great suite and other neat stuff.”

I rubbed his hip. “Yeah, I know you’ll do great.” I leaned forward and kissed him, and then stood up. “Let’s dry off. Hand me that towel behind you?”

We rubbed each other down with the towels, left the towels on the floor, and came out into the huge bedroom, naked, holding hands.

Giles, his eyes looking down, said shyly, “So ... what do you want to do?” He was smiling.

I turned to face him and put both hands on his hips, drawing him towards me. “Let’s make a baby.”

Giles laughed. “Silly, we can’t! Seriously, I’m sterile.”

I giggled. “Well, we could try.” I pulled Giles with me and fell onto the bed; he whooped with surprise. I rolled on top of him, tangling our legs together and covering Giles’s mouth with my own, loving the feeling as I began rubbing myself against his smooth, soft skin.

I bent over the bed, presenting my pussy. He came up behind me and shoved right into me. I came in about two minutes, and he came inside me a few seconds later while my cunt was still spasming. He helped me onto the bed and I fell asleep wrapped in his arms.

I squinted at the sunlight coming through the blinds. Giles stirred sleepily on top of me, his left arm and left leg draped over me, his chest against my breasts. My upper right thigh was rubbing up against his crotch, my right hand caressing his left buttock. I kissed him, and the his lips curled up in a smile. He squinted at me and said “Hi” in an early-morning voice.

Then he twitched in alarm. “What time is it?”

I looked at the clock. “Nine-thirty.”

He sat up abruptly in panic. “I have to be at the restaurant at ten! I forgot to set the alarm!” He jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes along the way.

“Do you need a ride?”

“No, it’s just downstairs in the hotel restaurant.”

I got out of the bed and started looking for my own clothes. As I dressed, I said, “I really did enjoy it last night.”

Giles came out of the bathroom, looking hurried but smiling. “Me too.” He had brushed his teeth and combed his hair. “I guess I’ll skip taking a shower. We got clean enough last night.”

“We got kind of sweaty afterwards,” I chuckled.

He echoed my chuckle. “Yeah, but it won’t matter.” He’d pulled on a shirt and a pair of slacks, then a way-retro Nehru jacket. It actually looked good on him.

Giles stood uncertainly in front of me. “I’m so sorry I have to get out of here so fast. Forgive me?”

I smiled and brushed a stray strand of his hair back in place. “Of course. Listen, have a wonderful life at the studio. Lots of sex, and great movies.”

“And you have a wonderful, satisfying life at the Academy. I know you will, though.”

“Thank you.” I kissed him, my lips lingering on his.

He sighed, his eyes closed. “If you keep doing that I’ll never get out of here.”

I gave him a hug and let go. “I’m feeling the same. But you better go.”

He took my hand as we walked to the door, and kept it until we reached the front door, where a valet already had my car waiting. He turned to face me there, and gave me one last peck on the lips. “Bye.”

“Bye, Giles. Good luck.”

“You too!” Giles called out as he ran back into the hotel.

I sighed as I got in my car. I felt very warm inside. I thought for a moment about seeing Giles one more time before he left for the studio, but again, I didn’t want to get too attached to any outsider. And I was sure Giles felt the same way. Today would be something nice to look back on.

I had hardly driven a block before my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. Shit. Pushing the Talk button, I said irritably, “What do you want, Andrew?”

“That’s what I like to hear, but maybe in a different tone of voice.”

“Live with it. What are you calling for?”

“I’m glad to see you finally got moving. I thought you’d stay there all day.”

I was puzzled for an instant, then angry. “You said you weren’t going to track me!!”

“I said I didn’t care where you spend your time. Today I did. There’s something I want you to see. I’ll give you directions for getting there.”

“Like I’m going to drive where you tell me to?”

“You’ll want to see this, Amy. Trust me. It’s just a little piece of property I’ve got a line on. You didn’t think we’re going to keep living with Dad, did you?”

Somehow I hadn’t given it much thought. “So you’ve found a place?” The idea appalled me, not so much for its unexpectedness, but as a reminder of what loomed over me if I didn’t make the Academy.

“Yeah. You’re almost to Highway 81. Turn south on that.”

“It’s out of town?”

“A ways, yeah.”

“You’re there now?”

“I’m at home. I wanted you to get a first impression on your own. There’ll be a lady there to show it to you, though. I’ll call her as soon as I get off the phone with you to tell her you’re on the way. She’ll be waiting there.”

“And I should do this because...?”

“Like I said, you’ll want to see this. Don’t do it for me, obviously. Do it because you’ll get some valuable information.”

I remained dubious, but I didn’t have anything else planned. It was ridiculous to think Andrew might be directing me to kidnappers. He had no reason to do that at present, and in any case kidnappers could find me easily enough no matter where I was, with Andrew’s help. They didn’t need me to drive to them.

It was just like Andrew to make a big production of this. Well, just one more week and he’ll be off my back. “I’ve turned onto the highway...”

“I know.”

I gritted my teeth. I had given almost no thought to the tracker since that night. It infuriated me that Andrew could tell exactly where I was at any moment. “So what now?”

“Keep going. Fifteen miles out you’ll come to a little road named Plum Lane that goes to the right. Turn on that when you get there. Now let me get off and call the lady.”

“Glad to.” I drove on, steaming inside.

I reached Plum Lane, finding it was a barely paved road that wound through densely packed trees. In a moment my phone rang again. “I guess I don’t need to bother to tell you where I am.”

“No. You’re coming up on a little car path on the left. It doesn’t have a name. See it?”

I slowed. “Kind of a dirt path with ruts?”

“That’s it. Turn there. You should find a car parked about a half-mile down that. Tell the lady you’re Amy Cameron. She’ll show you around.”

Around the forest? I couldn’t imagine there were places to live out here. The path bounced the car from side to side. It was easily wide enough for one car, but two would be pushing it. I wondered if I’d have to back up to get out. “I see the car.”

“Okay. Talk to you later.” His smirk almost visible through the phone, he broke the connection.

Shit. I put the phone away and stopped my car behind the other one.

As I stepped out of the car, a woman in a suit got out of the other one, turned towards me and held out her hand, a professional smile on her face. “Hi, I’m Tara Berkley.” She shook hands with me. “You must be Amy.”

“Ummm, yeah.” There still weren’t any buildings in sight.

“Let me show you the place.” Tara laughed. “There’s not much else to do out here.”

We walked about fifty yards, winding through the trees. Suddenly, a house did come into view. It was a small one, single story, obviously only a few rooms. I asked, “Is that it?” I cringed at hearing myself ask such a stupid question. What else could it be?

“Well, not the part I was going to show you, no. That would be Mr. Cameron’s house.” It took me a moment to figure out she was referring to Andrew. “This is the part Mr. Cameron wanted you to see.”