Chapter 15: Third Draft

Harlan read the third draft standing up, same as the first two.

Kai watched him from the other side of the desk, wearing Ethan’s soft body like it had always belonged there.

The document was only a page and a half this time. Clean language, no sharp edges. Just enough structure to give cover if anyone started asking questions.

Harlan turned the page, then turned it back.

"You’re persistent," he said.

"I’m consistent," Kai answered. "There’s a difference."

Harlan set the paper down. "I’ve heard things. Nothing solid, nothing I could take to HR even if I wanted to.

"But the floor feels different. People are watching you."

Kai didn’t look away. "People have always watched the quiet ones. They just never expected us to watch back."

A long silence stretched. Outside the glass, the city kept moving like none of this mattered.

Harlan finally spoke again, quieter. "I’m not circulating this. I’m not endorsing it. But I’m not shredding it either. If anyone comes to me with a problem, I’ll remember that a framework existed and that it was voluntary, that’s as far as I go."

Kai nodded once. "Understood."

"Don’t make me regret the distance I’m keeping."

"I’ll do my best."

Harlan almost smiled. It looked painful. "Get out of my office, Cole."

Kai left.

In the hallway he texted Ethan immediately.

Ethan (Kai): he kept it. same as before. no yes, no no. just distance. the cover is as good as it’s going to get for now.

Kai (Ethan):and the floor?

Ethan (Kai): watching. still quiet. but watching.

Ethan spent the morning in Kai’s body many blocks away, trying not to climb out of his own skin.

The seventy-two-hour clock sat in the back of his mind like a countdown.

No new names, no new intervals. Just the residual heat of the night before and the low, constant awareness that the glitch had answered to intensity once already.

His phone buzzed again.

Ethan (Kai): Priya walked past my desk and didn’t look at me. Marcus sent a calendar hold for next week and then deleted it. Sloane asked if the framework was still "active." I told her the review period was in effect. She nodded like she understood.

Kai (Ethan): good. keep it that way.

Ethan (Kai): you’re hard again, aren’t you.

Ethan looked down. The heavy cock in Kai’s jeans was, in fact, already interested in the conversation.

Kai (Ethan): my body has a one-track mind and terrible timing.

Ethan (Kai):. our body. and it’s not wrong. seventy-two hours is a long time to pretend.

Ethan locked the phone, exhaled through his teeth, and forced himself to walk.

They met at lunch on the same low wall where they had sat after the first real conversation with Harlan.

Kai arrived in the soft body, sleeves rolled, expression unreadable. Ethan was already there in the leather jacket, legs stretched out, trying to look like he belonged on a public sidewalk while wearing someone else’s life.

"Harlan’s keeping his distance," Kai said as he sat. "That’s both protection and a warning. The floor is quieter than I expected. No one has broken ranks yet."

Ethan stared at the traffic. "They’re waiting to see if we break first."

"Probably." Kai glanced sideways at him. "You’re wound tight."

"I watched you take three people in my body and then fucked you . Sleep was not generous."

Kai’s mouth curved. "Fair"

"So we use the seventy-two hours. We watch. We keep the language clean. And we don’t push the glitch on purpose until we have a better idea what it wants."

Ethan turned his head and looked at him, at his own original face wearing someone else’s careful control. "And after the seventy-two hours?"

Kai held his gaze. "After that, we decide whether the policy is still worth the risk."

The silence that followed was heavier than the traffic.

Ethan spoke first, quieter. "I keep waiting to hate this more than I do."

"I know." Kai’s voice dropped to match.

"That’s the part that should scare us more than Harlan."