8. Volt
Volt
“Everything looks like it’s up to code.” The new inspector tapped a few things in his tablet as he looked around one more time. “One of the cleanest operations I’ve seen, truth be told.”
Volt pasted a smile on his face. Wallace had already been waiting in the car for him for twenty minutes. “Thank you. We sanitize all rooms and objects accessible to guests with UV light between each use, and each of our bots can irradiate potential contamination on the spot.”
“What I can’t understand,” the inspector pondered, “is why I got the call at all. I saw a string of reports and only half of them had been followed up on, so I thought there had to be something fishy going on. People pay off inspectors, you know. But this was a surprise inspection, and I think I could eat off the floor.”
Volt forced back the sigh, keeping his expression chipper.
“You probably could eat off the floor, though I’d suggest one of our offerings at the bar instead.
We get a lot of false reports, which our previous inspector knew about.
She was trying to trace them to the source, but they’ve always come in anonymously.
She should have left notes in the file.”
The inspector tapped through his tablet again. “Oh, yes. I see them now. Sorry about that. I wasn’t looking in the right place. Do you have any sense of who’s making the reports? Or why?”
It mystified Volt how naive some people could be.
The inspector didn’t look that young, and he’d moved through the inspection efficiently, so Volt assumed he wasn’t new to the job, just to their sector.
But he could explain it again. “Some people are morally opposed to the services we provide. Some are opposed to those services being provided by bots. I’m sure there are other reasons for people to object to our business, but they can’t fault our commitment to health and safety regulations.
We also get regular false reports to the police. ”
The man looked up sharply. “How often?”
“Maybe five or six times a year?” He intentionally didn’t categorize them in his storage banks, because he didn’t want to know.
“And you’ve got thirteen unfounded health violation reports in the past twelve months. You know that’s not normal for the sexbot industry, right?”
Volt drew back. “Really?”
“Maybe once or twice might happen to any company with a disgruntled customer, but I inspect dozens of these places across the city, and this isn’t normal.
The anti-spark and anti-sex trade protestors are more likely to hold up signs or try to block the door.
This activity means you’re being targeted. ”
Volt could feel his engines stalling as his brain went in too many directions at once, skipping and glitching until he could get a handle on things. He’d known it on some level, but hearing it from someone with expertise was a whole different story.
“Damn,” he whispered, still too stunned to think. “Uh… Is there anything else you can tell me?”
The man shook his head. “Only that all the reports have come from different numbers, and they’re all anonymous.
That could mean that they’re not even real numbers and they’re using a number generation tool.
But someone has it out for you. I flagged your file in a different way, so maybe the next time it happens the call center will be able to get a bit more information. ”
Volt shook his head. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem.” The inspector held his hand out to shake.
“The next report we get, I’ll give you a call to see what we can do.
You shouldn’t need another inspection for a year, and I can probably set it up for you to submit photos or video footage for the next violation report instead of wasting your time meeting with me. ”
Volt shook, then enclosed the inspector’s hand between his two palms. “Thank you. Really. This means a lot to me.”
The man smiled. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, is all. I’ll let you get back to your evening.”
They said their final goodbyes and Volt saw him out the side door onto the sidewalk.
Angel sent him an interrogative tone.
With a sigh, Volt snipped the last few minutes of his personal recording of the conversation and sent it over.
He was walking down the corridor to the back service entrance when Angel finished parsing it and sent him an upset burst of static.
I know, he replied. What do we do?
Nothing? I’m not sure what we can do.
I’m not sure if knowing really changes anything.
They were still completely helpless, and still had no idea who was doing it.
It was only Volt’s anxiety levels that were shooting through the roof, each of his sensory inputs flooding him with meaningless data as he stood alert to the tiniest mote of dust in the corner and the hum of distant music from the lounge.
It was one thing to suspect that they were being targeted, but something else entirely to know for certain.
His question was, why? Why the hell would someone do something like this? Who had any of them pissed off? What was so much worse about their establishment than anyone else’s?
Are you okay? he asked Angel.
Sure, Angel sent back, but that word was hardly enough to convey all of the emotions he must be feeling right now.
Do you want me to come out there with you? Volt asked again. I could hang out in the lounge tonight. He wanted Wallace with him more than anything, but after something like this, Angel came first. If he had to, he would send Wallace home.
There was a pause of almost five seconds. No. Go find your cuddlebug. I’ve got the door, and things are starting to wind down out here.
Volt sent back a string of loving emojis, setting them each to play a melodic chime.
Angel sent back an animation of two cartoon robots hugging each other.
It was more of a comfort than Angel probably realized. At least they had each other.
But now he was hyper-alert and jittery.
And he realized, with a pang, that he’d just left Wallace outside in the car, unprotected. He raced the last few steps through the door and ran down the stairs, only to find Wallace calmly reading in the car, his face lit a soft blue by his tablet screen.
He startled when Volt tapped on the window, then looked up with a grin.
“How did it go?” Wallace asked as he climbed out.
“Fine. No citations, just a nuisance. The inspector said it’s one of the cleanest places he’s seen and even put a note on our file that we can just send him photo footage if someone makes another report.”
That wasn’t all he had said, but it was all that Wallace needed to know.
They hadn’t even been dating a week, and Volt was supposed to be Wallace’s Daddy, not another source of stress.
Even if the new information was eating him alive inside, cycling through decision trees that never came to any conclusion, it didn’t mean he ought to burden Wallace with it.
“That’s amazing!” Wallace chirped. “Not that I’m surprised or anything, but I’m glad they recognized all the hard work you do running this place.”
Now Volt felt a thousand feet tall. “You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
Volt wrapped Wallace in his arms, pressing him against the side of the car so he could devour his mouth. Wallace whimpered obligingly, submitting to the onslaught so beautifully that it almost made Volt want to cry.
“Daddy!” Wallace gasped, when Volt finally released his mouth, only to trade it for the luscious skin along his neck.
“Creampuff,” Volt growled, rubbing his face along the slight scruff of Wallace’s chin and breathing in his unique scent, musky and masculine with a gentle floral note that drove him wild.
This was what Volt needed.
With Wallace safely enveloped in his arms, his skyrocketing emotions finally started to settle. His hyperawareness of the alley melted away until all of his focus was on Wallace, his sweet boy, who was giving himself so beautifully to his Daddy.
He lifted one of Wallace’s voluptuous thighs, wrapping it around his waist so he could feel Wallace’s arousal and meet it with his own hardness.
He wanted to fall to his knees and suck that beautiful cock until Wallace was screaming his name to the heavens.
To absolutely lose himself in his baby’s whimpers and moans. To drink in the taste of his skin.
“Inside?” Wallace begged, his breath shuddering.
Volt almost disagreed. He wanted Wallace now.
But inside… Oh, inside they could do a whole scene. He could already envision the brightly-colored ropes digging into Wallace’s lush flesh. Or perhaps he could introduce his baby to a soft flogger, since he’d taken so well to the spanking last time.
But first, he would need to dress his pretty girl in the presents he’d bought. He’d nearly forgotten, but now he was dying to see Wallace, all soft and blushing, his pink skin showing in tempting glimpses between the scraps of satin and lace.
Volt’s cock surged, eager and hungry. It wasn’t just the image of this thick, delicious man all wrapped up in delicate fabrics that did it for him.
It was the trust. The sweet vulnerability. The way that Wallace was sharing a side of himself that no one else got to see.
It made Volt feel powerful. Charged, like he’d just gotten a brand new battery and a memory upgrade, and he could take on the world.
He would stretch out Wallace’s pleasure until his sweet girl was needy and whimpering, begging for release, but so good, so obedient, that he wouldn’t let go until Daddy gave him permission.
“Inside,” Volt agreed. He lifted Wallace’s other leg, eliciting his favorite little eep! from his precious hamster.
Wallace clung to his neck, combing fingers through his hair and sending shivers down his spine. Just that little touch made him moan, the simple act so different when it was Wallace gazing at him with adoration instead of one of his many customers using his body for their pleasure.