What Lies Behind: A New Adult Dark Science Fiction Romance Read Online Free PDF

masculine,” Cass joked.
    Brandon laughed. “Is it that obvious?” he asked.
    “You seem like the type,” Cass told him. “Slender hips. Small hands.”
    “Seems like you’ve been getting pretty familiar with my physique while I wasn’t looking.”
    The whirring in her stomach kicked up another notch and her hand jerked. The car shuddered to the side and Brandon laughed at her, placing his hand on the wheel to steady the car.
    “Bruce told me,” Cass said.
    “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you certainly aren’t taking us to Natalia’s,” Brandon said. “Where are you taking me? Out in the forest to kill me? You going to introduce me to your secret tribe of robots that are aiming to take over the world?”
    “I didn’t know you were a conservative,” Cass told him as she frowned. “And I’m taking us home. The green dot points toward home, and I’m following that.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t want to argue with your green dots, but this isn’t going home,” Brandon chuckled.
    Three green dotted path was starting to get lighter and steadier. They were almost there. Cass eased down on the lever, slowing the car to a halt. She pulled back on the steering column and the car drifted down easily onto an old, cracked driveway.
    “Where is this?” Brandon asked sitting up straighter. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “I recognize the neighborhood, but I don’t know this place.”
    Cass shook her head. “I’m not sure,” she told him.
    It used to be a house, that much was certain, before it had burned. Whoever had lived here hadn’t bothered to rebuild. The two-car garage was mostly unscathed, but the house was blackened and crumbled all around the foundation.
    Cass unbuckled her belt and pushed open the door. When she stepped out into the open air, it was almost as if she could hear the screams all over again.
    “Cass! Save me!”
    Cass looked around. “What was that?” she asked.
    “I didn’t say anything,” Brandon said. All traces of his mirth were gone. He was looking at her funny again, almost like he did in the doctor’s office.
    Her hand began to shake.
    “I remember this place,” she said, taking a step forward, but her knees were weak and she had to lean against the car for support. “From before.” Her voice was dull, distant.
    “Cass, are you okay?” Brandon asked. His voice was distant too, almost as if she were hearing him through a tunnel. He raced around the front of the car as the air around her darkened. Shadows were settling at the edges of her vision. Cass was lost to darkness before she fell into Brandon’s arms.
     
     

 
    The following morning Cass woke in her closet at the edge of the living room as if nothing had happened the day before. In fact, for a moment she thought maybe nothing had happened but she could remember the course of events, and robots didn’t dream.
    Her morning routine was mindless, and like every morning before Cass went through the motions. What was different about this morning was Cass had thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about the day before; the visit with the doctor, flying the hover car to the strange burned out house, and the way Brandon acted toward her.
    It was Wednesday, which meant Natalia would want a pants suit. Cass sat out her owner’s favorite black suit and turned the shower on to the perfect heat. When Natalia’s alarm clock went off, Cass was already in the kitchen making her breakfast of chopped fruit, egg whites, and wheat toast with no butter.
    The holovision over the fireplace clicked on at the prescribed time to the news channel Natalia liked, but Cass wasn’t sure her owner truly heard any of it.
    “It’s another warm day out there today,” the news broadcaster said. She was a petite woman with dark hair and a pale face. “And while it’s warming up outside, the tensions are mounting in the station over something that’s gained a lot of attention lately, android rights.”
    “We