Heather Killough-Walden [Killough-Walden - I, Android: A Different Model

I, Android series, book one: A Different Model

by H.K.Walden

Copyright 2019 H.K.Walden

Cover art by Neytirix.deviantart.com

I, Android series

by H.K.Walden

Book One: A Different Model

Prologue

The school hall was dark, quiet, air-conditioned and hollow in sound when Cole claimed my lips with his own. It was the perfect kiss, just hard enough, almost rough but not quite painful, demanding but giving. Yet, even as I sank into the kiss, surrendering beneath Coles all-too-expert ministrations and finally allowing him to breach the defenses of my lips, I had a nagging feeling that I wasnt supposed to be there. It was all wrong.

We were allowed to be there. We werent breaking any rules, so that wasnt the issue. The school had granted my friends and I twenty-four-seven access to its classrooms, halls and labs long ago. We had the codes for all the locks. Not that we couldnt have figured them out ourselves. And maybe that was one of the reasons theyd just decided to give them to us.

Plus, tonight was the night of the Victory Dance bonfire, so there were tons of people outside around the fire drinking. The legal drinking age may have been lowered significantly with the onset of the electric highways, but that didnt alter the natural age of maturity any. There was lots going on out there to keep chaperones and cops busy.

And it definitely wasnt that Cole didnt feel amazing pressed against me, tall and hard-angled, built from years of scrapping with bullies, and a great deal of good genetics. It wasnt that I didnt like his hands curled firmly around my wrists, keeping me pinned to the wall so my surrender would be that much easier for me to finally give him. And it certainly wasnt that his kiss didnt sear through me like fire, unfurling fingers of heat deep in the pit of me so that a moan rose up through my throat and waited there.

It was that Cole wasnt the one I wanted to be doing this with. Not really. At the mere age of sixteen, Cole Byron was dangerously hot. He was tall, trim, always dressed in leather, and possessed a natural swagger that invited both trouble and fun. He was fast and strong, he was smart as a whip, and everyone and their robot dog knew he was experienced enough to satisfy any girl. But as crass as it sounded, Cole was frankly my second choice. There was no other way to say it.

It was his brother Nicholas that I had always fantasized about. Not that I would admit it to anyone ever . I barely admitted it to myself. Nick was, to me out of my league. He was as fiercely beautiful as Cole, but that beauty somehow seemed colder. His blue eyes were intensely light like ice, always keenly clear, always reading and deciphering and cataloguing. His gaze was acutely sharp edged, to the point of discomfort. His height and build were similar to Coles due to martial arts training which I admired. But where Coles movements owned everything around him, Nicks were measured, graceful. Careful.

Cole always had a tan; he enjoyed the outdoors. In contrast, Nicholas was fair, almost eerily pale, due to the fact that he was always indoors working on something in one of the labs. His raven hair was a shade darker than Coles pitch-black, making it seem more stark against that complexion, especially when it set off the blue of his eyes with its blue-black highlights.

To me, Nicholas Byron was ephemeral. Like some kind of dark, fallen angel in his teen years. Nicholas was a bonafide genius and never suffered fools; it wasnt in his nature. This made him stand-offish to some extent, despite his inherent beauty. His aloof stature in turn broke countless girls hearts. But Cole Byron was always more than happy to pick those hearts back up off the floor and glue them back together with his own brand of genius.

And that was what gave me pause as Cole broke past my common sense barricades at last, held me fast against the wall, and took full advantage of the wine coolers in my system. I knew, even as I couldnt help but kiss him back, that I was doing this because of Nick. Because I was positive I couldnt have him.

Not that Id ever tried to have him, in all fairness. Nick and Cole had been by my side since I was ten. Wed met at an astronomy camp and become fast friends. Nick was the older of the brothers by a year, but Cole always managed to let his own intelligence show just enough to get what he wanted from the system, which in this case was access to a camp for kids older than he was.

From that point on, the Byron brothers had been my constant companions, my guardians, my defense against bullies, and my shoulders to cry on. When it came to Nick, I was too terrified to ruin the friendship we had to even try to go down any other kind of road. I kept my distance in that respect and left the juicy thoughts of him to my dreams. Such glorious dreams they were, too.

Dreams where Nick was doing to me what his brother was doing right now.

No, no, no, no. This isnt right!

I pulled at my arms, trying to break Coles grip on my wrists. He let me go; this wasnt non-consensual, after all. So I braced my hands against his strong chest, fully intending to push him away, but Cole chose that moment to deepen his kiss. His skilled hands, now free, gripped my waist possessively as his knee nudged for a brace against the wall between my legs.

The sensation of his advance was bewildering to me. I had never been kissed before. Not once. My body simply didnt know how to react to the flood of chemicals white-washing my ability to think. I faltered, and a sliver of that waiting moan slipped out of my throat and past my lips.

He smiled against me as he swallowed the sound and his grip on my waist tightened.

Oh God , I thought. He feels good . This kiss felt so good. But distantly, I experienced an entirely different thought. This is wrong! It will ruin everything! A voice was screaming at me from far away, somewhere down that long road of logic and good judgment in my mind. That voice of reason knew that making any romantic moves with Cole would not only jeopardize his friendship, but perhaps Nicks as well. That tended to happen when a friend became something more.

Worst of all, it would give Nicholas the entirely wrong impression. It wasnt Cole I wanted to kiss! It was Nick! What would he think of me if I started getting it on with his brother? Would he believe I had romantic feelings for Cole instead?

Would he even care?

I startled inside at the sudden wash of fear I experienced with that thought.

The fierce hope I had that Nicholas would care because he had feelings for me as well, despite his cold nature was one of the things that kept me going day in and day out. If there was even the remotest chance that he did, then this right here could be the Enola Gay bomber that destroyed everything.

The voice down that road was closer now. It had gained ground, and was speaking clearly directly into my ear: I need to stop. Now.

I had already unsuccessfully tried to nudge Cole away and end the kiss with a gentle push at his broad chest, so now I opened my eyes, intent on trying harder. But what I saw when I opened them spiked my adrenaline to the core, making me dizzy.

Now I gave a desperately hard shove, and at last Cole broke his kiss and straightened, pulling away just enough to look down at me questioningly.

His dark blue eyes were shining, heavy-lidded with nothing short of the lust Cole was infamous for. But when he saw my wide-eyed expression of horrified surprise and my nod to what was waiting over his shoulder, Cole raised a brow and let go of my waist. He took a step back and slowly turned around. The move was so casual, so unconcerned, I wondered if hed already known what he would find waiting there in the school hall.

By all means, dont stop on my account, said Nicholas Byron. My best friend. My other best friend. And the boy Id crushed on for the last seven years.