Peyton 313 (10 page)

“Damn it. I’m going to lose my mind prowling around this cage while dwelling on this shit. I destroyed the bed the moment I came to consciousness and remembered everything.”

Peyton swept a hand over his head.
Human action of frustration
, his mind reported, even as his cybernetic implants hummed and scanned for things to help him escape. He laughed harshly at the irony of his awareness. He was emotionally back to the day he’d left the war zone. What had happened since was like watching a movie in his head. The data of the last decade was fully accessible, but there was no emotion attached to any of it that made it worth thinking about for more than two seconds. Data about his other
wives
was just stored and catalogued. All it provided was proof of how much and for how long he’d been fucked over by the country he’d served.

“You know, I wish you had just left me like I was yesterday, Doc. I think I was actually happy for a few minutes. Fucking hell—I didn’t sign up for this when I let you mad scientists combat modify my brain.”

Kyra tucked her hands under her legs to stop them from shaking. “No. You didn’t sign up for any of this. Bend the bed back into a normal shape after you calm down. You can do it if you focus your thoughts on channeling your strength. It’s going to take a bit of time for your cybernetic enhancements to learn to follow your human will instead of some programming order. Based on the organic access work you were already doing, I think this is the golden opportunity your brain has been waiting for. It should race to create new synapses now that there is nothing to prevent them from developing.”

Rising slowly, Kyra walked to her desk and then to the cage with the breakfast tray she had prepared. She lowered a thin slide welded to the bars and locked the tray to it before sending it through the opening.

“I brought you a lot of protein. Your body has undergone a huge trauma. The integration process will work more efficiently if you eat and rest as much as possible.”

“Before you go traipsing away, there’s one more thing I need to know—are you keeping anything else important from me? Don’t fucking lie to me, Doc. I can’t take anymore deceit,” Peyton commanded.

Kyra crossed her arms. “Yes. I’m keeping some things from you still, but only for the purpose of helping you adjust slowly—not to keep you in the dark about your life. I’ll tell you everything in time. One day soon you’ll be able to research and learn things on your own. Then you can determine for yourself whether or not to trust what I’ve said to you. No matter what you think of me, I do intend to give you full freedom. You have my word on that, Captain Elliott.”

When he was silent and had turned away, Kyra turned to leave. It was obvious how he felt about her now. The sight of her probably sickened him. Her earlier worry about her clothes now mocked her.

“Hey Doc—wait.
Fuck.
I hate asking this, but damn it—I need to know.”

Kyra turned back to find Peyton glaring at her hard.

“You were right about the sexual training. Apparently, there was a programming chip installed just for that work. Did you purposely leave that one in me? Or am I just supposed to believe it was a scientific oversight?”

Kyra winced internally, but nodded at his comment. It was a reasonable question. And he was right, she had left it to give herself an edge. Peyton would just have to add it to her list of sins.

“I left all secondary chips because I didn’t want to confuse you any more than necessary. I only changed out the primary ones and the processor. Later on, we’ll remove any chips you want gone, including the one with my info on it. If it’s any consolation to your newly reawakened male ego, the chip isn’t the only indicator of what you found on it. You were the only man in the Cyber Husband program with a five star bedroom rating from all ten of your wives. That obviously indicates a high level of innate skill. Cybernetic software can only enhance abilities that are already innate. Removing the chip won’t change that. It will just remove your knowledge of me.”

Peyton snorted. “I’m sure that would be scientifically disappointing for you. Want to do some hands on research to find out if you agree? Apparently, lots of women have. I don’t know why you turned me down before. Why should you be the one exception?”

Kyra didn’t know which of them was more surprised by his snarky offer. Peyton dropped his gaze from hers right after asking.

“Thank you, but no thank you, Captain Elliot. I have my BOB. He takes care of any physical needs I have in the bedroom.”

Peyton’s scanning mechanism sent out signals searching for another cyborg or droid in her home. No signals were returned. Maybe all signals inside the lab were scrambled. “Did you experiment on him too?”

Kyra rolled her eyes at the accusation in his tone. If the whole discussion hadn’t been so traumatizing for her, his question would have been hysterically funny.

“No. BOB is already fully mechanized. Not exactly a droid, but there’s no chance of improving him. I have to make do with his current abilities. I find they suffice for my occasional use.”

Peyton caught the amusement in Kyra’s voice and thought about what she was saying as he looped his arms around the bars. He realized then that he had been too pissed to think clearly. He ordered himself to calm the hell down and start collecting data from Kyra Winters in a more rational manner. When he had achieved that state, her veiled inference instantly came to him.

“Oh, that kind of BOB. Why make do with your old-fashioned mechanical toys, Doc? A woman as hot as you needs the kind of vibrator that comes with an imaginative brain. I bet I’m bigger than your mechanical boyfriend too.”

Kyra snorted at his audacity. He was certainly a lot different than Marshall or Alex.

“Random outbursts of human emotion, such as the typical male bragging you’re doing, will be filtering through your mind and out your mouth for several days. When everything finally settles though, you should find yourself experiencing less of those outbursts.”

Peyton laughed at her calm assessment. “Outbursts? Oh hell no. This conversation is no fucking outburst. You missed seeing the outburst this morning. I’m just pissed at you now because I remember every one of those women who bought me and the memories are not pleasant. Nine of them were evil bitches that I derailed whenever I could. I had no choice but to fuck them on command and part of me hated them for it—and still does. I can’t believe any government would condone such a thing. In my book, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do to a soldier. Hell—to any man period. Same goes for women.”

Kyra nodded, her face flushing with shame. “Yes. I’m sorry it took me so long to rescue you from that life. I didn’t have fifteen million dollars when I needed it. Raising money took years, even with Jackson’s inheritance. I did the best I could as fast I could. When I couldn’t buy you at first, I bought the others thinking that trying something was better than doing nothing. All my experiences in human restoration of cyborgs has only increased my guilt and shame for participating in such a heinous process to begin with. But it’s far too late for wishing I had never started.”

Peyton ran a hand through his hair, feeling the strands push up. On the right side, he felt the small compartment that provided access to his cybernetic components. Whether Kyra Winters was truly repentant or not, she was the only person he knew who held the secrets to his return to something resembling normality. Without her, he’d still be waiting for another bored rich woman to buy him. Guess it was better to be at the mercy of the evil science bitch he knew, than some unknown female he was painfully programmed to obey.

He sighed as he met Kyra’s concerned stare. “Whatever the hell you did to me, I do finally remember every woman I’ve ever been with, including my fiancée which is the last decent memory I have before I got the cybernetics. As messed up as you are as a human being, thanks at least for giving me back control of my body. From all the data stored in my brain, I can see that never would have happened if you hadn’t had your attack of conscience. I hate you for being alive, but I applaud your attempt to reform.”

“Thank you for that concession, Captain Elliott. Now I know what being damned with faint praise feels like. And let me just say again that any reasonable human would be very angry in your situation. No matter what anyone did to you, you’re just as human as I am. Never doubt it,” Kyra ordered softly.

Peyton studied her sagging shoulders. The women who had bought him seemed to bother her as much as anything else that had been done to him. He might be still pissed at the situation, but at the moment he had a lot of respect for Kyra Winters holding back when he was begging her for sex. He had clear and distinct recall of just how badly she had wanted him. Even now after all he had learned, memories of her hot kiss had his dick twitching despite his disgust at the reaction.

“I remember everything about our sexual exchange, Doc. I remember you climbing into my lap to kiss me until I was hard as a rock under you. I remember how much we both wanted that kiss to go on and on. I told you I wasn’t going to forget it. That apparently was a promise I’m able to keep. Thanks for that too. Focusing on my sick obsession with you is at least helping me put memories of those other evil bitches away.”

Kyra shook her head. “Stop patronizing me. Just erase the memory of us kissing. You have that ability back now. It would actually be a good thing for both of us if you did because your shitty situation with me is just getting started. Soon we’re going to be up to our necks in it. We’re never going to find a time and place for anything like that kiss to happen again.”

Peyton shook his own head, mirroring her denial. Maybe he didn’t remember everything perfectly, but he was sure Kyra Winters was one of the most depressing women he’d ever been attracted to. His fiancée had been a curvy, happy-go-lucky yoga teacher. Maybe his strong attraction to Kyra was just gratitude that she had literally saved what was left of his ass.

“You don’t know what will happen for sure, Doc. No one knows. Life is full of surprises. I escaped one hell and woke up in another. This isn’t the first time either. At least I’m alive and so are you. I’m still pissed but don’t let that stop you from being truthful. I want to hear what you have to say.”

Peyton frowned when she rose from her seat and headed to the door. He found himself speaking to her back as she tried to shut him out. “Hey, Doc—I know I’m in a pisser of a mood, but don’t be a stranger from the lab today. I’m not real keen on being alone right now. It would give me too much time to hate the world.”

Kyra nodded but didn’t turn around. She needed a break from witnessing his unhappiness.

“I’ll be back to see you in an hour. If you fix your area so you can sit, I’ll bring you a reading device with some more documents. I’ll work here and stay available to answer your questions about what you find out.”

After hearing Peyton’s softly spoken “okay”, Kyra slipped quietly out of the lab and took a few cleansing breaths. His reaction of extreme anger was dangerous, especially given his cybernetically enhanced strength. But his anger seemed healthier than the instant depression she’d seen in both Marshall and Alex. She was going to consider it a positive sign that his restoration was working.

Pushing her hair back, Kyra picked up her pace and headed to the kitchen. Once there, she picked up her handheld com and dialed. She had to be careful in case the call was being recorded. She fully expected it was. The connection completed but there was no human answer on the other end. She’d gotten his recording.

“Hey Nero. How’s the gaming going? No line pickup so I guess you must be absorbed in something. Guess what? A real Prince Charming finally arrived on my doorstep. I have high hopes because Peyton 313 is way superior to the other two duds I bought. Wait until you see the guns on this one. I can’t wrap both hands around one of his upper arms. And before you ask, the answer is no—Peyton is not well behaved—but I don’t care. I like bad boys, even if they are cyborgs. So how do you feel about a little get together to meet him? Call me back when you get out of the game.”

She disconnected and frowned. It would have been preferable to wait a couple more days until she was sure Peyton was adapting fully. But her instincts were singing and that was never good. The last time they sang this loudly, Jackson had asked for an official divorce so he could take a Cyber Wife without looking bad to the UCN.

Before the forms had gotten through the legal chain, Jackson’s first Cyber Wife had moved in with him. She had spent the first week of her new single life working with Nero to reset privacy codes throughout the house and lab to respond only to her. When Jackson had come back to the house to get something a few days later, he’d had to wait for her to get home from work to get inside. His shock at her actions to protect herself had been great, but he’d soon adjusted to her new autonomy—as had she.

By that point she’d accepted that she was never in her life going to be able to forgive him.

It didn’t take long after that epiphany for complete apathy to set in about how Jackson was living.

Now she was about to change her life again, only this time she was going completely off the grid. To do the best job of that, she needed to create a side trail of research that would lead any investigation away from Peyton’s true changes to something far less interesting.

Once he’d had a chance to calm down, maybe she could convince the angry Marine to help her.

Chapter 7

Kyra sat at her desk downloading the last of the notes and video from Peyton’s restoration onto the special encryption disks Nero had made for her. In the cage, Peyton used his thumbs to flip screens on a large handheld. She knew he was comprehending about eighty-five percent of the data because she was still wirelessly monitoring his brain activity. Whether he was taking it in with full understanding or not was yet to be determined, but according to his EEG readout, the man was a reading machine.

His occasional grunt of disbelief, followed by a short-lived outburst of swearing, was the only thing that occasionally broke the silence between them. She was bit startled when he finally spoke.