Rich Kid (The SPARK Files #3)

Chapter 19

Volt

“Let’s watch a movie.” Angel poked Volt’s arm.

“I’m doing inventory.”

“No, you’re not. You’re moping.”

“I’m doing inventory.”

“You’re moooooooopinnnnnnnng.”

Volt sighed. He was moping.

And he wanted to mope in peace.

“You knew this was going to end sooner or later.”

Yes, thank you, Einstein.

“If he couldn’t even stick around long enough to talk about your schedule, he wouldn’t be right for you anyway.”

True. Kind of. Maybe. Volt stared resolutely at the screen.

Angel hopped up onto the desk, quite purposefully placing his ass right on top of the papers Volt was going through.

“He’d have to accept that you work at Prism. You wear a loincloth to work.”

Yes, but he didn’t have to. Angel wore a suit.

“And any time you went out somewhere, people would know he was dating a sexbot.”

Volt ground his teeth together. What the fuck was Angel doing, getting inside his head?

“He was paying you to be his escort.”

“Enough!” Volt roared, standing fast enough that his chair toppled behind him. “I know all that.”

He made his voice quieter, realizing that he was yelling. “I know.”

It just still hurt.

Because Volt had watched that clip over and over. Wallace’s bright smile. His awkward exuberance with the tablet. Those little gasps and murmurs as they kissed, when Volt hadn’t even been paying proper attention.

And then his words. I thought you were… I thought there was…

What had Wallace thought? That they could go on a real date?

Or that Wallace could buy his time by booking it with the receptionist?

Oh, how he wished Wallace would have finished one of those sentences.

“You could just text him,” Angel offered.

As if Volt hadn’t thought of that already.

He could . But he’d already sent one message. I’m so sorry, baby boy. I refunded your payment.

What else could he do?

Angel stood up, opening his arms, his smile a little crooked. “Would you like a hug?”

Dammit, yes, he would.

Volt walked into his best friend’s arms. It wasn’t the same as Wallace’s soft, squishable form and adoring smile. But it was good to feel comforted. To have someone there for him.

To know that Angel would always be there for him, no matter how many sweet boys left him behind. “Brothers,” he mumbled, sending an electronic pulse of gratitude and relief at the same time.

“That’s right.” Angel rubbed his back, squeezing his tense muscles until he relaxed.

Not that he technically needed a massage. He could execute a program that would relax them all instantaneously. But it was different having someone else do it for him.

Volt only hoped he was offering the same support to Angel. To Magnolia. They were both so good to him.

If he couldn’t spoil his baby boy, a thought which still sent a lance of pain through his chest, he could at least spoil his family.

He pulled back, determined not to wallow forever. Not to become too dependent. He was a Daddy. He should be doing the caretaking. Invest himself where it would make a difference. Lose himself in the work.

With a blink, he adjusted a few of the orders that were coming in tomorrow. “I ordered the frozen fruit that Magnolia likes for…”

“Volt, stop.” Angel cut him off with four warm fingers pressed over his mouth. “Just stop for a moment. Lying Volt is worse than moping Volt.”

“I’m not lying about anything.”

Angel signed. “You’re miserable. And you’re covering it up.”

Volt raised one eyebrow. Of course he was. Angel had seen him go through this before. And it always worked, sooner or later. He’d only had Wallace for a few months, and he’d known it was going to end.

He would get over it.

“Explain to me what happened again,” Angel prompted.

“Wallace came in yesterday. He booked six hours with me, which was only possible because there was a bot taking reservations and I didn’t think to set any restrictions. You obviously would have stopped him. Then Wallace asked me to accompany him on a date. I told him I couldn’t. He got angry because he’d already paid for my time, and he stormed out.”

That was the short version. The long version was the pain in Wallace’s eyes. The dread and yearning that had churned in Volt’s belly. The way he’d felt like life was pulling him apart.

“Where did he want to take you?” Angel asked.

Volt couldn’t decide whether he wanted to smile or cry. That adorkable slide show, like a ridiculous tourist brochure. Wallace was so formal when he was covering up his insecurities, but so genuine at the same time. “He gave me three choices. The aquarium, a musical, or a hiking trail.”

Angel gave him a sharp look. “You didn’t say that before.”

Volt shrugged. It didn’t matter when he needed to stay on the premises.

“Was it opening night?” Angel asked. “Or a gala or something? Fundraiser? Ribbon cutting ceremony?”

“I don’t think so,” Volt replied slowly. It took only a moment to check the schedules for each option. “No, the aquarium had a shark night, where you could pet the sharks. The musical’s only in town for three weeks, but it’s part of a larger tour. The hiking trail is just a trail. It’s supposed to close at dusk. What’s your point?”

Angel smacked Volt’s arm. “The point, my dear ridiculous brother, is that he likes you. He’s trying to get to know you better.”

Volt rubbed his arm, looking wounded, though it didn’t actually hurt. “He’s just practicing. That’s what we’re doing. Practicing.”

“Did he say that? That these were practice dates?”

“No.” But then, Wallace hadn’t given either of them much time to say anything at all.

“Volt, for fuck’s sake. I thought he was just another spoiled little rich shit like Bobby, wanting to parade you around on his arm at some event. But he wanted to take you to the aquarium. To pet the sharks. You love all that nature stuff. You should have said yes .”

“Really?” Now Volt was starting to get annoyed. Angel had been pestering him to forget about Wallace, and now he was the expert on relationships? “And who would have watched the house for the night? Who would have taken your shifts while you stayed with Magnolia?”

Angel stepped back, as if shocked. Maybe a little hurt. “Volt, are you saying that you didn’t go on that date because of us?”

“Of course, I am! This place is falling apart. We’re being targeted by vandals. We can’t pay the bills! Magnolia’s sick and you need to be there for her. I’m not going to just, just… leave you there.”

“Yes, Volt. You are. You can have days off. You can date. You’re allowed to.”

“It’s not like you do,” Volt shot back. He couldn’t even keep up with all the hours and devotion Angel put into Prism every day, on top of caring for Magnolia.

“I could, though.” Angel thrust his chin up to match Volt’s. “If you want to go on dates, we’ll change the schedule or put more bots on the door. Hell, we should do that anyway. You need to take some time off. The world isn’t resting on your shoulders.”

“Well, you need to take some time off, too!” Volt wanted to punch his smug face, with those flashing blue eyes. They never fought like this. It wasn’t like them.

But with all of the stress, the sheer helplessness of the past year, it felt good to direct it at a target. Maybe they would brawl right there in the office.

Volt was hurt and angry, and how dare Angel tell him he could just have all this when it wasn’t true? He knew Angel wasn’t going to leave Prism for an instant.

Not to mention… “And what did you say about Bobby?” Not that he cared, but…

Angel got up in Volt’s face. “He was a spoiled, rich asshole, and he treated people like trash, Volt. Not just you, but everybody. Me. Magnolia. Colleagues he dragged in, sometimes. He would make business calls in the lounge, and he was an asswipe. He didn’t deserve to kiss the dirt beneath your feet.”

Now it was Volt’s turn to stumble back. He felt like his strings had been cut, falling into his desk chair only because it hit the back of his knees.

“You always thought this?” he asked Angel. His whole world was tipping on its axis.

“That he was greedy and rude? Or that he had horrible business practices? Yes, I always thought that. But I assumed the spoiled brat routine was what you liked about him.”

Volt let his head fall back. “I thought that was just… playing.” He could still hear Bobby’s voice, sulking or snapping when Volt hadn’t anticipated exactly what he wanted. Shouting mine, mine, mine when Volt brought him a toy or treat, and then hiding it away.

In his mind, those had been the words of a businessman who was under a lot of pressure allowing himself the freedom to explore being greedy and needy within their kink dynamic. He’d thought it was cute. He’d indulged it.

He’d loved hanging on Bobby’s, well, Robert’s, arm at parties, being his barrier from the world.

Though he could remember more than a few cutting remarks. A few calculated looks that had sent people scrambling for their composure.

But Volt, who’d been just starting to discover his own sentience and had nothing to compare it to, had assumed that was normal. The way business was done.

Had he ever gone back to think about Bobby’s interactions with people, or had he been too enamored with the man who helped him catch the spark, and then too hurt by his rejection?

“What did you think about Sadie?” Volt finally asked. He had to know what Angel thought of his only attempt at dating outside his work.

“I think Sadie was exactly what she appeared to be: a young woman getting out of a messy divorce who wanted to explore the world. You helped her explore it, but she wasn’t looking for attachments.”

“She got married again two months later,” Volt commented. She’d texted Volt to cancel their date the night she met her new man, and only told him why a week afterward.

“Yes,” Angel agreed gently, “but I don’t think she was expecting it. She invited you to the wedding.”

Which he hadn’t gone to. He’d been too hurt.

The pain still stung, but it had been seven years now. He could also see how new he’d been to himself at the time. The world had been wonderful and exciting and terrible. Full of chaotic emotions and missteps, doubts and triumphs.

He’d barely gained self-awareness when he’d proudly admitted it to Bobby, only to be spurned in disgust. God, did you think I wanted to date a sexbot? Bobby had laughed and laughed… then run out the door without sparing any thought at all for Volt’s feelings.

Hell, maybe without even believing he had any.

How much had Volt been searching to rekindle the only type of relationship he knew when he fell into a Daddy-girl relationship with Sadie a few days later? She’d been stumbling through her own hurt and grief while leaping into her newfound freedom. They’d had a lot in common.

Had he loved her?

Had he loved either of them?

He’d thought so.

“It was a confusing time,” Angel commented, as if reading his mind. “Catching the spark always is, I’m told.”

Volt still didn’t know how Angel had caught the spark, one of the few things that Angel remained closed-lipped about. Volt assumed it had something to do with Magnolia, but he didn’t know.

Volt sat back in his chair. Breathing.

It was weird, breathing. He could hear his internal fans spinning. The only use he had for air was producing human-like speech with his tongue and vocal chords—a feat he could manage equally well with the speakers buried under his hair—but he breathed anyway. He wasn’t sure he could stop it if he wanted to. He’d been engineered to have dozens of subroutines buzzing subconsciously in the background, filling his lung cavity with air and letting it back out, responsive to his movement and emotions.

Yet sometimes he’d found, just like a human, that slowing down his breathing could help him calm down, too. So he breathed.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Angel sat with him, in quiet companionship, as his world resettled around him.

“Do you think Wallace is different?” Volt asked.

If he was repeating past mistakes, he at least wanted to know. What else had Angel noticed about Volt’s disastrous crushes over the years?

“I think Wallace has the potential to be different,” Angel told him. “I’ll admit that I assumed he was just like the others, but I’m not so sure anymore. He got you that sculpture.”

Volt smiled as he looked at it, glowing in the lamp light like it had captured a multi-hued fire. He hadn’t ever decided whether he preferred it in his office or his bedroom, still switching the location every few days. “Yeah,” he agreed. It made him happy every time he looked at it, finding new twists of metal over glass, new ways that the colors combined as he rotated it to a new angle.

“He seems genuinely shy and sweet. He’s always been kind when I chat with him in the lobby. I only know him from one context, though.”

“I think he’s like that all the time,” Volt mused. “I don’t know the whole story, but he was really wrestling with himself, wondering if he’d done the right thing by putting a stop to someone who was doing something illegal. It seemed like it wasn’t a black-and-white issue, and it was weighing on him. He asked me to spank him.”

“He still walked out when you said you couldn’t take the evening off,” Angel pointed out, though his voice was gentle. “That’s not the pinnacle of relationship skills.”

“Yeah,” Volt agreed. “But I didn’t tell him why. Not all the personal stuff, but I’d been trying to keep boundaries on things.”

“Would he understand that if you’d explained?”

“I think so. He’s been pretty hurt. He’s used to being told that he isn’t worth anyone’s time, or that people only want to be with him because of his money. If anything, I might be proud of him for standing up for himself.”

Angel was grinning. “And are you? Proud of your boy?”

“He’s not my boy,” Volt growled. Not right now. He hadn’t heard from Wallace in two days.

“No, he’s your snuggle panda,” Angel teased.

“Snuggle panda? That doesn’t even make sense. Does he look like a panda?”

“You’re going to slip one day,” Angel promised. “And I’ll be waiting.”

Volt rolled his eyes.

“Text your love nugget.”

“Get out of my office.” Volt crumpled up an old receipt and threw it at Angel as he made his way out the door.

But he was laughing again.

Maybe, just maybe, there was something there with Wallace that was worth kindling. Worth taking a risk.

Worth taking one more attempt at a real relationship.

If Wallace would take him back.

Now Volt just had to get up the nerve to reach out to him.