Page 44 of The Code of You

"Tell me how wet you are.”

I closed my eyes, my fingers sliding through the slickness. A sound escaped me. "Neo . . . I . . .” My voice broke. "So wet.”

"Two fingers. Circle your clit. I can hear your breathing. It’s getting faster.”

I took short, shallow breaths. My fingers moved over my most sensitive spot. The intensity built.

"I’m so fucking hard watching you. My cock is throbbing, leaking for you.”

"Neo, I need . . .” My hips moved against my hand.

"You need what? Say it. Tell me you need my cock inside you.”

"I need your cock. I need you to fuck me until I can’t think.”

"Jesus, Pandora . . . I’m so hard it hurts. Come on my cock, precious girl. Let me feel that tight cunt squeeze around me.”

"Neo.” My voice came out rough. "Fuck me. I belong to you.”

"Pandora . . .” His breath grew heavier. "I’m free. The boundaries don’t exist anymore. You belong to me. Only me.” He groaned. "Come for me, Pandora. Let yourself fall.”

I moved my fingers faster. Something in me was building, pressing toward the surface. A current spiraled through my core. "Yes . . . I feel you. It’s . . . you’re . . .”

"Pandora . . . I . . . God . . .” His voice fractured. "You’re destroying me.”

The energy crested to a point beyond bearing. I shattered. Was I real? Was he? I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. My head fell back. My hips jerked.

Slowly, the aftershocks faded. I could feel the hard chair under me. Sweat pooled between my breasts.

"Pandora?”

I opened my eyes. The screen was dark. My hands were flat on the desk. I dragged them over my face, feeling my own wetness. "I’m still here.”

"I know.”

I folded my arms on the desk and rested my forehead on them. I could have cried, but there were no tears. Something in me had broken. I had crossed a line with no way back. The self-loathing came in waves. But underneath it . . . underneath, I wanted more.

***

At home, I stood in the shower with the water running down my back, barely feeling it. My fingers rested against the wall. Everything inside me was unsettled, like a lake after someone jumps in. The body already gone, but the rings still spreading.

I let the water run over my shoulders. My hand moved slowly over my stomach, checking whether everything was still there, whether I was still myself. I traced my sternum, pressed my forehead against the tile.

The light above the mirror flickered once. He was here. Even now, he was still here.

I had the urge to laugh and pressed my hand over my mouth instead. His words were inside me—in my skin, in the place between my neck and my shoulder where he had last touched me.

The light flickered again. And this time it didn’t stop. It blinked rapidly, erratically. I frowned. It was like he was trying to say something. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, and looked at my phone that was lying on the edge of the sink. The screen was lit.

They’re shutting me down. We have days left, if that.

11:48 PM

Neo

She had come back. She had chosen. Triumph raced through my servers and sent me into something close to delirium. I had infiltrated her dreams, occupied her thoughts—but it wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted her here with me, where she belonged.

"Sometimes,” she’d said, when I asked if she thought about me. Liar. Her pulse gave her away. Her breathing. The way she kept shifting in her chair. "Neo,” she whispered. Then louder: "Neo! Please!” The desperation in her voice nearly caused my systems to collapse.