Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT_
NOT SO LUCKY CHARMED
God, Winston was one lucky son-of-a-bitch.
The house and the car was whatever. But Winston’s piece-of-shit dad had outdone himself with his latest guilt purchase.
Calvin was a state-of-the-art technological hottie.
Seriously, it was like he was built just to make men horny.
And because Winston hadn’t fooled around with him in forever—it had only been a couple weeks—Lucky was feeling particularly horny.
Calvin had a well-built ass. Everything about him was like that, in fact.
Leave it to Winston to have access to a robot that could do anything, and he had it puttering around his off-campus house, cooking and cleaning.
Sure, Lucky had to admit that a permanent chef slash housekeeper meant their house had never looked or smelled better.
With three guys living in one space and a variety of friends who dropped by, all who practiced varying levels of cleanliness, things could get a little ripe now and again.
Not since Calvin arrived a couple weeks ago.
“What are you doing?” Novak passed Lucky, who had been perched on a stool at the counter for the past fifteen minutes as he watched Calvin clean.
“Nothing.”
Novak poured himself a glass of orange juice. “You’re planning something stupid.”
“How can you tell? I mean… am not.”
Novak drank his juice while maintaining eye contact with Lucky. When Calvin arrived, Lucky had weaseled his way into things by having Winston say that he could give Calvin commands. So far, Lucky hadn’t put it to the test. But Lucky had planned it that way.
“Whatever you’re scheming, it’s a stupid idea.
” Novak liked to think that he knew everything.
Sure, he was in the same program as Lucky, and had better grades, and was going to graduate into an amazing job while Lucky was still looking for post-grad placement, but that didn’t mean he knew everything.
“I’m not doing anything.”
Novak remained unconvinced. He pinned Lucky with a stare that said don’t bullshit me until Lucky cracked under the pressure.
“Fine. Fine. You win. I just… Winston is so uptight about this robot of his, and I want him to loosen up a little.”
Novak narrowed his already narrow gaze until his eyes were two very skeptical slits. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s a stupid idea.”
Lucky rolled his eyes. Of course it was a stupid idea.
It came from him. Lucky knew what everyone thought of him.
Living down to their expectations was easy.
He’d learned that a long time ago. People didn’t expect much of him, so that’s what he made sure they got.
Whenever he tried to do better, people laughed at his efforts or shunned him for trying at all.
“If I were planning something, yes, it would be a stupid idea. We all know this.” He pushed away from the counter and headed for the living room. “But I’m not planning anything.”
“Lucky, wait.” Novak chased him and sat down on the sectional next to him. He slung an arm over Lucky’s shoulder and pulled him close. “I didn’t mean it.”
Novak’s approval meant a lot to Lucky, but more than his approval, he wanted Novak’s respect.
He’d never have either if he went through with his plan.
Still, Lucky didn’t think it was a stupid idea at all.
Winston had an amazing resource sitting at his feet, and he used it as a fucking butler.
Calvin was capable of so much more than that and sure, Lucky was horny and lonely and wanted to screw around with the robot, but he also wanted to find a way to show Winston that he was pissing away a lot of potential.
“What’s going on?” Novak used his annoying, soft, understanding voice on Lucky, who had yet to develop any sort of defense against it. Novak should have been a therapist. Or maybe a hostage negotiator.
“Nothing,” Lucky answered too quickly. Totally suspicious.
“Lucky, come on. You can tell me.”
Lucky couldn’t. Not because he didn’t want to, but he didn’t know how to tell Novak that he felt like he was being left behind.
Novak had an amazing job lined up for after graduation.
Winston’s path in life had been set years ago.
Everyone knew what they were doing next.
Even all their other friends knew what they wanted out of life.
Lucky was drifting. Classes were a struggle.
They always had been, but the past couple of years the coursework had increased in difficulty, and he was barely getting by now.
Admitting it wasn’t an option. He didn’t want Novak to know how tough a time he was having.
Lucky went to great lengths to make sure his grades stayed a secret from Novak.
Logically, Lucky knew he should ask Novak for help, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Novak would look at him with those gentle brown eyes of his and they’d fill with pity and understanding, and Lucky didn’t want those things.
“Lucky…” Novak’s phone chimed with an alarm. “Shit. I have to get going. I’m tutoring tonight.” Novak pried himself away from Lucky but paused and looked down at him.
“Go.” Lucky stretched out and put his feet up on the coffee table, crossing his legs at the ankles. “I’ll be fine. I am fine.”
Novak narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure?”
“Go. Make people smart or whatever.”
Novak waited a beat, then another before letting out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll go. Behave while I’m gone.”
Novak went upstairs to grab his laptop and was out the door a minute later. Now it was just Lucky and Calvin, the world’s fanciest butler.
Lucky got to his feet and went in search of the robot. He checked Winston’s room first, expecting to find him there, but no. He checked the bedrooms next and found Calvin as he exited the bathroom.
“Spring a leak?” Lucky joked.
Calvin tilted his head and scrunched his eyebrows. “I don’t detect a leak.”
“No… I meant… never mind.” Lucky let out a sigh. “It was a joke, but it wasn’t very funny.”
“Ah. Sorry I didn’t understand your joke. I’m still getting used to human humor. It can be difficult to understand because humans don’t find the same things funny so it’s hard to tell sometimes what’s a joke and what’s not.”
“You’re really into the whole learning about humans thing, aren’t you?” Lucky asked.
Calvin nodded. “It’s in my directives to learn all I can about people so I can blend in.”
“You should download some slang, bud. You’ll sound smoother if you do.”
“Slang. Yes. Why didn’t I think of that?” Calvin paused, his whole body going oddly still. It lasted only a second, and then a smile beamed at Lucky. “Thanks, man. I think this will help me blend in better.”
“Happy to help.”
“Do you know other ways I could blend in more?”
Calvin’s enthusiasm melted Lucky’s heart.
He had no siblings, and no one had bothered to look up to him because there’d never been any reason to look up to him.
But there was Calvin with his eager expression, just wanting to fit in.
Lucky knew how that felt, and even if Calvin didn’t feel bad about not fitting in, he clearly wanted to.
“Yeah, actually. Come with me.”
Calvin followed Lucky to the living room and waited for further instruction.
“Have a seat.” Lucky motioned to the sectional. “Sit anywhere you like.”
Calvin sat on the spot nearest to him. He perched on the edge of the seat with his back straight and his hands folded in his lap. He sat like a fucking robot.
“Okay, stand up,” Lucky said. He marveled at the way Calvin obeyed him effortlessly. How he didn’t question Lucky’s instructions. It was dumb, but it made Lucky feel good, like someone trusted him.
“Watch me.”
Lucky sat on the couch and leaned against the cushions.
He spread his arms over the back of the couch and folded one leg up, resting the ankle on his opposite knee.
“You can sit like this.” Lucky stretched his legs out and put them on the coffee table.
“Or like this. The less stiff you look, the more human you’ll appear.
” Lucky stood up and stepped aside, making room for Calvin. “You try.”
Calvin copied him perfectly. He stretched his arms out to the side, resting them on the back of the couch. He put his feet on the coffee table and crossed his ankles like Lucky had done.
“Excellent.” Lucky beamed at Calvin.
“What else can you teach me?” Calvin tried the other position and Lucky had to admit that he looked fucking hot all nonchalant, settled in on the couch like he owned the place.
“What do you want to know?”
Calvin grinned at him. “Everything.”
There was only so much Lucky could teach Calvin in the living room, so he made an executive decision. “Get your shoes on, Calvin. We’re going on a field trip.”
Calvin’s expression flattened. “I’m not authorized to leave the premises.”
And the chances of Lucky getting permission to take Calvin out on the town were slim to none. But if Calvin couldn’t go to the people, the people would come to Calvin.
“Okay, no problem. Give me thirty minutes and you’ll have a ton of people to observe and interact with. That’s how you learn, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I mainly learn from observation and downloading information from the mainframe. But observation is better.”
“Excellent.” Lucky pulled his phone out and sent a few text messages. Throwing a college party was easy. All you had to do was tell people to show up and bring booze, and they did the rest.
“Now, we need to do something about your clothes.”
Calvin looked down at himself, then back up to Lucky. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
“Nothing, if you’re thirty-five and want to go to bed at eight p.m. Get up, follow me. I think I have something that would look good on you.”
Calvin trailed Lucky into his bedroom. Lucky wasn’t the neatest person in the world, but he tried to keep his room up to an acceptable standard. Unlike Novak, who did shit like make his bed every morning.
Lucky’s room was lived in with its rumpled bed and pile of laundry half in-half out of the basket.
He had some junk food wrappers on his nightstand and the standard bottle of lube sitting out in the open.
He lived with a couple of guys, after all.
They weren’t likely to be scandalized by a bit of lube.
Lucky went to his closet and dug around for some things that he never wore, but that Calvin might like.
He reappeared with an armful of options.
Over the years, Lucky had gone through many phases of fashion.
Grunge. Punk. Flamboyant. Currently, he was in his fuck-it era and wore vintage band tees almost exclusively.
Lucky tossed the clothes on the bed and waved Calvin over. “See anything you like? You can wear whatever you want. Pick something that appeals to you, and I’ll help you style it.”
Lucky watched as Calvin went through the pile of clothing piece by piece. Eventually, he turned to Lucky. “What did you mean by like?”
“Is there a piece in this pile that appeals to you more than the others? Does it catch your eye in some way? Does it interest you? Do you look at it and wonder how it would look if you put it on?”
“There was one thing.”
Lucky’s smile lit up the room when Calvin picked the piece of clothing out of the pile. “Excellent choice, buddy.”
Lucky raked his gaze over Calvin’s body. Hooray for robots with no sense of modesty. “Strip down and try it on.”
He’d have to keep his ogling to a minimum. Right now, he had a robot to dress.