Page 53 of The Dis-Graced

“FACE THE BABY UPWARD. PLACE TWO FINGERS ON THE CHEST, BELOW THE NIPPLES. PRESS DOWN AND UP!”

Drake immediately moves into action, following the commands as Amanda begins shrieking in terror.

On the fourth thrust, a pearl earring pops out, and Annabelle begins gagging.

All four adults are now standing, staring at each other, stunned. It takes over a minute for Amanda to ask, “What the fuck just happened?”

“ALAN just saved baby Annabelle,” Drake says in shock.

Chapter 15

Grace

At eight-thirty, Luke and Amanda finally leave, visibly shaken and still confused by what happened.

Amanda is under the impression that security monitors Drake’s house, so the secret of ALAN’s nature is safe at the moment.

Even Drake is anxious and has taken to cleaning up after dinner alone while I am in my room. He had assured me before dinner that ALAN was powered down for the evening because he didn’t believe in monitoring unsuspecting guests. So he had either lied to me, or something went wrong.

A knock sounds on my door, and I pull it open to see Drake standing on the other side in pajama pants and a white tee shirt.

“Can I come in?” he asks.

“Ummm…I don’t think—”

Before I finish, he barges past me, closing the door behind him.

“What the fuck!”

The look he gives me lets me know that whatever’s he’s about to say is serious.

“I powered down ALAN before dinner, and yet, there he was.” He gestures towards the door.

“And thank GOD for that.”

“Yes, while I’m glad he was there to assist, I mean, he surely saved Annabelle’s life, it’s troubling.”

“We can agree on that.”

“If he’s capable of disobeying my commands, I don’t see how he could ever be commercially viable.”

“So, what? Are you just going to pull the plug?”

“I don’t know. This is, above even me.”

“You own ALAN, nothing is above you, but if I may be so bold, I’ve grown to like him.”

“I have too,” Drake confesses. “He’s actually functional in ways I hadn’t realized.”

“Like, how?”

“My brother has a situation he’s helping me with. And I must say, I never expected him to catch on to whatever micro-movements he’s tracking. I programmed medical journals into him, and I made sure high definition cameras were installed to pick up on heart rate and things like that to be used as a diagnostic tool, but this is well beyond even my own imagination.”

“Yeah, once I got over the whole micro-movement thing, he turned out to be quite charming.”

Drake bites his lower lip, and it’s so sexy, I want to bite it for him.

“God, I’m so glad my micro-movements aren’t being tracked right now,” I say aloud, no longer wanting to hide my desires.