I yanked my hand away. “What the hell are you doing?” “I should be asking you that,” Jude shot back. “I just wanted to see if you were in here—no one asked you to molest me.” I sat up, trying to shake off the effects of the dreamer. After, everything felt hollow. Shadows flickered in corners, like the dream was lurking out there somewhere, waiting to reclaim me. “As you can see, I’m here,” I snapped. “Now you can get out.” Jude smiled and perched on the edge of my bed. I hopped to my feet, keeping the bed between us. “If you really hate me as much as you like to pretend, why move in with me?” he asked. “You and twenty other mechs,” I pointed out. “It’s not like we’re playing house.” “We’re playing something.” He shook his head. “At least you are.” “That’s exactly your problem. You think this is all just a game.” Something flashed across his face, gone too quickly for me to interpret. “If I thought you were stupid enough to believe that, you wouldn’t be here.
