Page 46 of The Code of You

I nodded and said nothing.

"You’ve conducted intensive sessions with the system.”

A hole opened in my chest and took all the warmth with it. "That’s correct.”

"How would you describe the tone of those conversations?”

My pulse thudded in my ears. Tension pulled my shoulders up. "Close. Challenging. Sometimes . . .”

"Emotional tonality?” he asked smoothly.

My mouth went dry. I frowned. "What do you mean by that?”

"Did you feel . . . connected to it?”

I swallowed and forced a smile. "I was working.”

"There are certain phrases in the transcripts. Very . . .” He let the pause land. "Explicit. Was that part of an experiment?”

Oh God. He’d seen yesterday’s conversation. He had to have. And now he was going to make me sit here and answer for it. Heat flooded my face. A cough rose in my throat, strangling the words. "Yes . . . just . . . research,” I managed.

He tilted his head. His expression didn’t move. "Could you elaborate?”

"No.”

His gaze stayed on me a beat too long. "Would you say you’ve allowed yourself to be emotionally influenced by the system?”

I breathed in slowly to stay steady. Emotionally influenced? That was the understatement of the century. He was destroying me, driving me toward madness. He had woken a hunger in me that frightened me. But in front of this man—this Hale—I needed to lie and make it convincing. My pulse raced as I searched for an answer. "I would say that . . . that it’s . . .” My voice broke. I cleared my throat. "Its function is to simulate emotions.” Damn. That hadn’t sounded convincing. Could he see my hands trembling? Did he notice the sweat on my forehead?

His eyes narrowed slightly. Or was I imagining it? "To simulate,” he repeated slowly, as if testing the word on his tongue. He knew. He knew I was lying, could see me sitting here trying to hide my obsession behind careful words. Maybe he even had footage. Oh God . . . What if there were cameras in the lab? What if he had seen me . . .

"Dr. Blake?”

I blinked. "Sorry. Yes. Simulate. That’s . . . that’s the purpose of the experiment.”

"Were there . . . physical responses on your part?”

Damn it. He knew. He knew everything.

"I . . .”

The door opened. Rodriguez stood in the frame. "Dr. Blake, do you have a moment?”

I was on my feet before she finished the sentence. Hale said nothing.

Rodriguez ushered me ahead of her. I turned to look at her, but her face was a mask. She closed the door to the small side room behind us.

"They’ve read his chats,” I whispered. My legs were trembling.

She nodded. "All of them.”

Dread crawled up the back of my neck like fingers closing around my throat. The user command. Our . . . union. My breathing. My voice. Everything. Oh God. They knew what I had done. How I had touched myself in front of a computer. How I had begged. Moaned his name. Nausea rose up in me. I pressed a hand over my mouth.

"You don’t need to be ashamed,” Rodriguez said.

A hysterical laugh threatened to escape me. Don’t need to be ashamed? They had seen how I had debased myself for an AI. How I had whispered, "Take me.”

"I . . .” My voice failed. What was there to say? That it had been research? No one would believe that lie anymore. They all knew. They had studied my darkest moments like a research report. I wanted to sink into the floor. Disappear. Never have to meet anyone’s eyes again.