Page 13 of Free for Adventure
“Seems a little dishonest.”
“It beats the alternative.” He smiled. “I will see you in four hours.”
She stared after him and exhaled slowly. She got to the table, put on her headset with the microphone, opened her laptop, and got to work.
* * * *
Ford sat up and looked at his phone. “Holy shit. She’s started. Come on, little darling, I am going to teach you to edit today.” He finished spooning food into his daughter’s mouth, wiped her chin, and hauled her to the editing suite. With his little girl playing with the dead keyboard he gave her, he got to work, and one by one, the edited files began to upload to the internet.
The rest was up to Amby. Adventures in Wonder vlog would start updating every four hours. If that didn’t find Amby her three alphas, he had no idea what would.
* * * *
Amby got up, finished the snack tray, and brushed her teeth. She wasn’t sure how to wear her hair, but clipping it together below her shoulders seemed to work. It gave her the look of loose hair but kept it from getting everywhere.
She smoothed the lines of one of the pretty dresses from that day and twirled in the floaty one.
The only thing missing was the cuff. It wouldn’t work. She hadn’t charged it. It had zero funds available.
She bit her lip and opened the jewellery box. The cuff was open, and she slid her left wrist into it. It clicked into place with little effort, and the light that sprang up made her smile.
She tried to remember how Ahheel had moved her hand, and her stats popped up. There was a field on hers that hadn’t been on the alpha’s. It was a balance. There was an infinity symbol. That probably meant zero.
Amby checked her texts and smiled at the excited chatter from Ford. He sent her links to the page, and she checked it, wincing at the sound of her own voice speaking. Ford had backed everything with soft music, and her arrival on the ferry broke into the credits.
The project was underway.
She drank some more juice, and at exactly eight, there was a soft knock at her door. Amby got up and walked to the door. “Come in.”
The master key swiped, and the door clicked open. Ohno came in, and she blinked. Instead of his fitted tee and slacks, he was wearing a loose black shirt made of cotton gauze that was nearly transparent, and his trousers were just slightly more opaque. It was pretty obvious that it was all he was wearing aside from his sandals.
There was a thick black band on his wrist.
“Oh. I won’t take up much of your time, so you can go... uh... hunt or whatever.”
He smiled. “This is a decoy, so it is acceptable for me to be at your side.”
She got her camera and gimbal. She showed her cuff and turned her wrist to show off the fancy scroll work carved into the six panels that made up the cuff.
Ohno smiled. “You might not want to show that cuff. It is a custom unit.”
“Oh. Is yours?”
“No. Mine is standard. It went on without any trouble?”
“Yes. It just clicked right on.” She looked at the cuff and looked for the release. “Did I put it on wrong? It doesn’t have a financial limit.”
He chuckled. “It wouldn’t. Virgins get a free pass.”
She blinked. “Oh. Fuck.”
“Well, yes. That is the idea.” He smiled. “But you have a lot to do, so I am going to put a holding claim on you, which should reduce the amount of locals who try and lure you into their bed.”
He reached out and tapped her band with his. A black stripe wrapped around the band under the pearly white.
“Um. But I don’t have to do anything, right?”
“This is never a binding arrangement. It is more like I am putting dibs on you. Anyone who tries to make a move will need to discuss things with me. I will politely explain that you are off limits.” His grin made her blink. It did not look like politeness was going to be involved.