What Lies Behind: A New Adult Dark Science Fiction Romance by Travis Simmons Page A

visual overlay told her it was a cotton and polyester blend. She held it up to herself and studied her reflection in a mirror. It would look nice on her, she decided.
    She stripped out of her old clothes and put the dress on. Cass spun here and there, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
    A knock sounded at the door and she jumped. Her hand pressed to her chest, she urged herself to relax.
    She went to the front door, her bare feet thumping along the way. It was Brandon.
    Cass frowned, though inside she wanted nothing more than to smile. She thought about not answering the door, but then he’d go out and look for her.
    She opened the door and he smiled at her. When he saw the tangle of her hair and that Cass wasn’t smiling, he frowned.
    “Another rough night?” he asked, letting himself in.
    Cass shut the door behind him. Her hands went to her hair to smooth it into place.
    “Here, get a comb and a clip, I will help you,” Brandon said.
    She went to the bathroom, gazing at the mess of the closet she refused to clean.
    So much like the first time, she thought. Funny this should end right where it began. She grabbed a comb and a flower clip and returned to the living room. She sat before him and he silently did her hair.
    “We can’t keep doing this,” Cass told him, closing her eyes to steel her resolve. “We can’t keep seeing each other.”
    “Because of how rough it is on you?” Brandon asked, not pausing in combing her hair. “I don’t like what she’s doing to you. It’d be easier if you’d take me up on becoming an android.”
    “And I’m sure that costs more than either of us have,” Cass said. “I can’t really steal the money from Natalia, and I’m sure she wouldn’t give it to me.”
    “Yea,” Brandon said. “You’re right.”
    “And there’s no way out of this for me,” she told him. “Unless she kil…shuts me down.”
    “What’s this really about?” Brandon asked her, sliding the clip in place.
    “This is about what’s right. This isn’t ever going to go anywhere,” she told him. “I’m just a machine.”
    “You’re so much more than that.”
    Cass opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment keys jingled outside the door. A key slipped into the lock and Cass jumped up. She put her hands to her face, not sure what to do. Natalia was home, and there she was, standing there in her clothes and with her hair combed.
    She ran her hands up to her hair, and was moments away from yanking the clip out of her hair when Brandon stopped her.
    “It’s okay, I’m here with you,” Brandon said.
    “What about when you leave?”
    The door swung open and Natalia came in.
    “Brandon,” she said, her voice carrying a note of pleasure and surprise. “I didn’t expect to—,” her gaze fell on Cass. “What are you doing?”
    “I…”
    “You, what?” Natalia said. She dropped her keys with a clatter on the table beside the door. “I can’t wait to hear this. This should be good.”
    “Natalia, it’s my fault,” Brandon said.
    That was the wrong thing to say. Natalia turned her eyes on him.
    “You…encouraged this?” she asked. “Did you tell her to disobey me? Have you been dressing her yourself like a life size doll? Did you strip her granny panties off her and wash her down? Did you have fun?”
    “What? You’re being crazy!” Brandon said.
    “I’m being crazy?” Natalia asked, flattening her hand against her chest. “I’m worried that my boyfriend is running around on me with my machine, and here I catch you guys in the act. I’m sick of machines thinking they can take what’s ours,” Natalia said.
    “It’s not like that,” Cass told her. She stood and tried to stop her hand from shaking.
    “Of course it is. You just wanted to know what it looked like, and what it felt like, and what it would be like to be me.” Natalia was rounding the couch, but Cass was trying to keep the couch between the two of them. She was backing around it as Natalia