Wireless by L. A. Witt

Author:L. A. Witt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, m/m, gay, dystopian, SF
Published: 2015-04-25T07:00:00+00:00

* * * *

Hours after I talked Graeme out of returning to the wireless lounge, I rested my head on Aiden’s chest while we caught our breath. We clung loosely to each other, arms and legs draped over one another just like the sheet lazily draped over our sweaty bodies.

A low rumble rattled the building. The ground shuddered under us, shifting back and forth, and the walls creaked. I shifted my gaze up to the I-beams and concrete above the swaying light bulb, and prayed this wouldn’t be the tremor that brought this building to the ground.

It was just a low-grade quake, though, and when it stopped, the building hadn’t crumbled and the world was again still and silent.

Almost silent.

After a while, I whispered, “I can hear your heart beat.”

Aiden stroked my hair. “I can feel yours.”

We didn’t move. We didn’t speak. Our hearts beat, and we breathed, and the universe spun around us, but we were completely still and silent and warm against each other.

Guilt gnawed at me. Had I really sent Graeme away from this? Hypocritically condemned it while I’d been counting down the hours until I could indulge myself?

“You okay?” Aiden asked. “You’ve been a little distant.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “My, uh, co-worker admitted he came here.”

“To you?”

I nodded. “I don’t think he suspects a thing about me, though. He was freaking out, sure his wife and the government were going to find out, so I told him in no uncertain terms not to come back.”

“Good idea. People who commit adultery here almost invariably get caught.”

“They do?”

“Yeah.” He turned on his side, facing me. “Either their conscience catches up with them, or their spouse realizes something is up. You just can’t sneak under the radar when you live with someone else.”

“Good point.”

“Things like that honestly make me glad I was never approved for marriage.” He half-shrugged. “I appealed it once, but then decided it wasn’t worth pursuing.”

“Why not?”

“Because I think going wireless ruined me for marriage. What are the odds of the government pairing me with a woman who’s also gone wireless? Chances are, whoever they eventually approved for me would be someone I’d never touch outside of a simulation.” He sighed. “And quite honestly, I’m not sure I want to raise children in a world where they can never legally know what it’s like to touch or be touched.” He paused, then quickly added. “I don’t mean sexually. I mean at all.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I understand. I guess I hadn’t thought about it before.”

“A lot of people don’t think about it anymore. I didn’t.” He blew out a breath. “Can you believe that a hundred years ago, people didn’t think twice about hugging their kids? They might’ve been wrong about a lot of things back then, but they sure got that one right.”

“It’s hard to imagine, you know? Being allowed to…” I slid my hand up his arm, marveling at contact that generations before us had never questioned.

“Yeah, it is. Physical affection didn’t used to be a crime.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.