“I am listening!”
“So you’ll have sex with Eli?”
He choked on his spit again. Or maybe it was his tonsils.
“Well?” Nathaniel pushed. “Will you, or won’t you? Because if yes, you’d better hop to it. He doesn’t sleep well when he’s repressed.”
“Youwantme to fuck him?” The words sounded even crazier aloud than they had in his head.
“I want a lot of things, Samuel. I want Eli back in his old life, with his office and his colleagues and his patients. I wanthim back in his garden, tending to his ridiculous flowers and getting stupidly excited over his tomato plants. But most of all I just want him—here, with his family. But I can’t have that. What Icanhave is a modicum of his safety and happiness, and you’re the one in a position to make it happen. So either give that to him, or let him know where things stand, because I have a brother and a daughter who both hate uncertainty, and I want to know what I can tell them already.”
“Tell them?”
“About you. About our family. I need to know how things will be going forward.”
“You don’t have to worry about anything like that. I’m in prison, and I will be for a long time.”
“I’m talking about afterward, smartass.”
“But that could be—that’ll be years after Eli gets out. He won’t need—”
“You see? You aren’t listening. Why do you call me if you’re not going to listen?”
“I always listen! I could list every word that’s ever come out of your mouth!”
“Well then, rewind to a few seconds ago when I said he wasn’t changeable. Now, or ten years from now, his memory isn’t so short, so when you move in with us—”
“WHAT?”
Nathaniel pushed on as if he hadn’t just been interrupted. “When you move in with us, I just want to know how it’s going to be. Will you be sleeping in a room with your sister, or do I need to buy a bigger bed?”
He clutched at the phone box. He knew because he’d initiated that he was technically at fault for the conversation, but Nathaniel was going to kill him if he kept at it. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not moving out just so you can have your post-prison domestic fantasy,” Nathaniel snapped. “If I can share Eli, you can learn to do it too.”
“No, I wouldn’t—I would never suggest—”
“Wouldn’t you? Isn’t that what you were screaming at me earlier? That you would take him from me?
He didn’t have a bag, but when he hung up, he’d have to go and find one, because just pressing his face into his arm wasn’t enough to hide his shame. He could only be grateful Nathaniel couldn’t see him through the phone. “I didn’t actually mean… I was frustrated, so—”
“I know. Trust me, I’ve been in your position, and it was worse where I was standing. Marie isnotthe kind of rival you want. Take my word for it.”
“I’m not your rival.”
“The word doesn’t matter, but I draw the line at sister-wives. Just hearing it makes me throw up in my mouth.”
He was going to lose it. He’d already gone over the edge; it was only confusion that was keeping him from going ballistic again. “What are you talking about? I just—I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“Then I’ll make it simple. I think we can go ahead with the assumption that our families are going to be one. We’re well on our way to integrating Jenny already. Hailey is just mad about her. And Darren, well, I’m not ready to face the music on that one yet, but he doesn’t want her going anywhere either. You, of course, have already been integrated, so there’s not much to talk about there. Obviously, it’s going to be rough for a while. Eli’s going to be shattered when it’s time to leave you behind, but I’ve already made him promise not to do anything stupid to extend his time just so he can—”
“What?”
“Don’t act surprised. I bet those patients of his would help him stage something too. I’m a little nervous about the cult-like following he’s developing over there, but that’s the least of our problems right now. Thankfully, I got Eli to agree to keep the shenanigans at bay, but only on the assumption that The Android is gone before he gets out. With that, I have to agree. As much as we need him home, it’s just too risky to leave you in there alone with that psychopath. But I plan to have him out of there much,muchsooner than that. I’ve already been talking to your lawyer, and he agrees this situation is unacceptable. But first we should—”
“I wouldn’t let Eli stay in this shithole even an hour longer than he has to.”
“That’s what I told him, but I doubt it’s the last we’ve heard on the subject. Anyway, when he gets out, I guess we’ll get by the way we’re doing now. Visits, phone calls—but holy shit if you don’t keep your nose clean in there, I don’t trust Eli not to do something crazy. Even if you promise to be on your best behavior I don’t know how I’m supposed to get him to sleep. He might just camp out near the prison on a hunger strike until they release you. But we’ll deal with that when it comes. In the meantime, you can—”
