Persistence of Memory by J.M. Snyder

Author:J.M. Snyder [Snyder, J.M.]
Language: nld
Format: epub
Tags: erotic MM, Romance MM
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Over dinner Tobin tells the others about the chip. I see by the distrustful way Ashe watches me eat that our little talk this morning didn’t change his mind in the least about me. As long as I have this chip, as long as I don’t remember who I was before the culling, he’s going to expect me to bolt. But he wasn’t at the facility; he doesn’t know what it’s like. And he doesn’t have Tobin fawning over him—he doesn’t feel these small touches or see these covert smiles, these twinkling eyes meant for me alone. I’m never going near the facility, ever again, and I’m never letting Tobin out of my sight. But Ashe doesn’t realize that.

Naphalie does. She smiles at us from across the table as if 50

PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY

she knows Tobin’s hand rests high up on my thigh and the touch tingles through my jeans, as if she can read my thoughts and see I’m thinking back to this afternoon when he and I cuddled on the floor, waiting for our heartbeats to grow even again as we stared into each others’ eyes. She winks at me when Ashe isn’t looking, just a quick gesture but it makes me feel welcome, even if Ashe still glares at me. I smile back at her and cover Tobin’s hand on my leg with my own.

“You can hear the voice still?” Naphalie asks.

With a nod, I tell her, “I’ll get used to it, I’m sure.”

Ashe snorts. “You can get used to anything, can’t you, Joah?”

Scowling, Tobin demands, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ashe shrugs, but his words are directed at me. “It took you five years to escape?” He looks at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Naphalie looks from him to me and back again. “Ashe, stop it.”

“Five years,” he continues, as if he didn’t hear her or doesn’t notice her frown. “And what did you do all that time?

You knew your name. You knew someone else knew who you were. Why did it take you so long to break out?” When I don’t reply immediately, he prompts, “You had grown…what’s the word? Comfortable? With the soldier’s life. You didn’t want to leave, is that it?”

Tobin stands up suddenly, anger clouding his face. “What the hell’s your problem, Ashe?”

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PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY

Naphalie pushes back her chair, scraping it along the floor with a loud screech that cuts the tension in the room. “Stop it,”

she says, glaring at Ashe. Then she turns to Tobin. “Sit down and eat. Both of you just stop this right now, you hear?”

I tug at Tobin’s sleeve. “Please.”

He glances at me before easing back onto the bench. I watch him for a minute, watch the way he stares at Ashe, refusing to look away first. But Naphalie begins clearing the table and when she leans down between them, his gaze shifts to me and then to his plate. He’s fuming—I can feel the ire radiate from him like waves of heat from an open flame.

When I look at Ashe, he cocks an eyebrow, waiting for me to say something, any thing, but I turn away.

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