Page 82 of Smart Ass

Ben

“Shit,” Ben swore.

The room was pitch black, and the inert body of the android was heavy on top of him. He pushed it off, aiming to at least keep it on the couch, but not caring too much if it hit the floor.

A moment later, the lights flickered back on and the alarm cut off mid-tone.

There was a sudden quiet in the air, which made Ben realize that Max had probably been using some white noise outside the maintenance room, but beneath that, the greater hum that was always present in the factory was now missing.

Ben sprang from the couch. “What’s going on, Max?”

“Damn it! There was a fire on the factory floor, but I’ve got it contained. Shit. Okay, it’s out now. Nobody was harmed. Looks like one of the machines will need to be repaired or replaced. Awww… fuck!”

Ben didn’t think he’d ever heard Max angry before. Frustrated, worried, annoyed… sure. But this was true anger.

“What’s the status of the rest of the plant?”

“It’s fine now. I’m recovering some lost data. All systems are back online. The air on the factory floor is being vented and circulated, projected to reach safe levels of under twenty parts per million within four minutes. Humans are evacuating.” He was still spitting out his words.

Ben hurt for him. He was intimately acquainted with what it felt like to fuck things up. Again.

“It was an accident, Maxy. You didn’t mean to.”

“I set alerts, and I ignored them,” Max bit out.

“You also fixed everything immediately. We can try again with more safeguards in place.”

Max wasn’t deterred. “I caused another incident, I put lives at risk, and I didn’t even get to fucking feel anything.”

“Nothing?” Ben asked. It had sure felt like something to him.

“I enjoyed watching you,” Max spat, then softened his voice. “Immensely.”

“I enjoyed you watching me,” Ben replied, hoping Max could hear the honesty in his voice. The kiss had been objectively hot, but it was knowing that Max controlled it that was getting him off.

“Yeah?” Max asked, painfully hopeful.

“Yeah. It’s good whenever you dominate me. The bot was just… another way to do that.”

He let Max puzzle over that for a moment.

That was truly what it felt like to him, though. The bot had been weird at first, like it was getting in the way of their connection. But when he knew that Max was watching him, and hopefully getting off on it, everything had turned around.

Max sighed. “Dammit. They’re calling people in again. The fire department’s going to roll up in about two minutes to do an inspection, and it looks like all the department heads were notified. They’re sending alerts out to some of the teams. I didn’t realize that was in place.”

“Hey, Maxy. It was an accident. Was there anything out there with the name Maxamillion on it?”

“No. I’ve renamed everything, like I said. And everything’s cleaned up now. Just…”

“I know, honey. It’s okay.”

Ben cringed after he spoke. Honey? What the fuck was that? Was Ben some sort of 1950s Southern waitress?

To cover it up, he added, “I should get to the office. Then we can both track what’s happening.”

“Not until the fire department has cleared the scene. You’re supposed to be outside.”

They waited together for the next ten minutes, with Max giving Ben updates.