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xoxo,

Clover

HIS MIND, HER BODY

Man Becomes a Woman

Clover Cox

CHAPTER 1

Nathan was trying to convince a barista that his phone was sending him subliminal messages when Lori walked in, ordered her usual, and froze. She hadn’t seen him in nearly a year—not since she’d walked away from the mess they’d made of each other. But now he was staring into her eyes, looking exactly like the kind of trouble she’d promised herself she wouldn’t chase again.

“Lori! What are you doing here?” Nathan asked. The barista looked relieved to escape the conversation he was having with Nathan, racing away from the counter. “I haven’t seen you since…”

“Bali,” she said.

A mutual understanding sparkled in their eyes. All those late nights entangled together while the waves crashed outside of their cabana window. Their short affair had been some of the best weeks of Nathan’s life, but he messed it all up by going out with another girl when Lori had to spend the day working. He never expected Lori to get so angry. They were both on vacation. Having fun. He sighed, wishing he could take away the hurt in her expression.

“It was a wonderful time.”

“It was,” she relented. “Until it wasn’t.”

“C’mon, Lori. You can’t stay mad at me forever. That was a summer ago! Surely, you’ve been with a guy or two since then.” Nathan pushed a hand through his thick, dark brown hair as his face lit up with a smile. His hair was long and wavy and made him incredibly attractive. “You still can’t be mad, can you?”

She could and she was. “It doesn’t matter,” she said sharply. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get my coffee in silence.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing here?”

“I assume you’re writing for your travel blog,” she said dryly, doing her best to act like she wasn’t remotely interested in what he had to say. She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead, but she could feel Nathan watching her. Judging her. She wasn’t the friendliest person in the world, but what did people expect from a woman who worked high-stress jobs? She expected people to show her a little more respect than going out with another woman after a night of passion.

“Please don’t hate me, Lori. I’ve been missing you, and we’re both from Halcyon Ridge. Don’t you remember? Actually, maybe you could help me with my app.”

“No!” the barista hollered from behind the counter. “Please don’t get him started again.”

Nathan scowled at the man. Lori smiled, intrigued. “What app are you talking about?”

“Pulse,” said Nathan. “It’s supposed to help me focus more during the day to work out and handle my tasks, but I don’t know… I feel like it’s starting to do more than that.”

Lori’s interest was thoroughly piqued. She was an investigative journalist and had been working on a piece to expose this new app Pulse. It was quickly becoming one of the most popular productivity applications, but there were weird reports that it could get people to do things they hadn’t planned on doing. Lori heard of one report of a man driving three states before he snapped out of what he called a ‘trance’.

“Actually, do you have a minute? I would love to talk to you about your experience.”

Nathan narrowed his eyes. “Wait, why are you so eager all of a sudden? You were acting like you hated me just a minute ago.”

“Can’t a girl have a change of heart without getting the fourth degree? I just want to ask you a few questions.”

“Ah, what if I tell you that I won’t speak on the record?” Nathan asked playfully, remembering what Lori did for work. They were both writers but with much different attitudes and assignments. Nathan spent most of his time writing long-form pieces about cities he visited while getting a bunch of stuff for free along the way. He made most of his money from endorsement deals.

It was a charming life by all accounts, but he was looking for more structure in his days. Sometimes he could spend weeks doing nothing between assignments while his bank account dwindled. It never got to the point where he couldn’t pay the bills, but sometimes he wondered what he was doing with his life, which was what led him to download Pulse. It was great at first. It sent him reminders, and the AI chatted with him about his day, but it started acting strange a few weeks ago. He was honestly curious to hear what Lori had to say about the app but wanted something from her in return.

“I would just be wasting my time if you won’t speak on the record,” Lori said and picked up her coffee from the counter. “I can include you as an anonymous source, but you have to talk to me on the record, and I’ll have to verify your application usage with news sources if I go forward with this article that I’ve been working on.”

“Fine,” he said begrudgingly. Nathan was skeptical of the offer. The last thing he wanted was to get caught up in some type of scandal. He much preferred a calm life. One where he could travel without worry and write with a clear mind, but he would be lying if he said that everything had been peachy and perfect in his life recently. He was struggling with moving from place to place while writing. He missed having a home. He missed knowing there was somewhere where he could leave all his things.

They took a seat with their drinks, even though neither of them had plans to sit around the coffee shop, especially not with an ex-lover. “This is interesting…” Lori said as she sat across from Nathan. “I shouldn’t have been so quick to react.”

“Now or in Bali?”

“Definitely in Bali, but now too.”

Nathan knew she only wanted him for her story, but it still felt good to be wanted. It didn’t hurt that Lori gave him some of the best nights he’d ever had. When he was on the road, it was easy for him not to get attached. He had spent so long moving from place to place that it almost felt second nature to abandon everything to start anew.

“I shouldn’t have gone out with that girl. I’m sorry if it hurt you.”

Lori sighed. “Truth is I was working on a piece at the time that had my mind in knots.”

“And now you’re working on another one?”

She gave him a pointed look but couldn’t deny that she was trying hard to take down Winston Smith, the CEO of Pulse. There was something insidious about this new focus application. She heard far too many stories coming out around the world.

“Has anything strange happened since you started using Pulse?”

Bizarre happenings passed through Nathan’s mind. Ever since he downloaded the application, he found himself doing things he didn’t plan on doing. Once he came out of a trance with a razor in his hand, halfway done with shaving his legs. He was going to let it grow back until someone complimented him on the new look. Then he shaved again and got more looks. That was only the first change of many. He felt like he was losing control of his mind.

“There’ve been a few things.”

“Please tell me.”

Nathan went through how the application had changed his look and habits. She listened carefully and took notes. Nathan felt like he was exposing himself, but he trusted the woman sitting across from him, so he told her everything and even showed her the chats he’d been having with the AI from the application.

“It’s more advanced than others I’ve seen,” she said as she scrolled through the messages. “I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like it.”

“Have you tried the app?”

Lori shook her head. “Too risky.”

Nathan’s eyes widened. “Too risky? Why in the world am I using it then if you won’t even use it?”

“You downloaded it. Did you research the application first?”

His face went stone cold. He didn’t appreciate Lori’s tone. Did she take him for some type of fool? “Who researches an app before they download it?” Nathan shot defensively.

Lori folded her lips. They both knew that it was common practice to do a few seconds of research before trying something new, but she needed Nathan for his experience with the application. “Look, if this goes well, I’ll make sure you get compensated handsomely.”

Nathan could use the money. He got lots of free rooms and experiences, but sometimes it felt like he was a few broken fingers away from losing everything. “Fine. Only because I like you.”

“Thank you,” Lori said and stood. “I have to go, but I would like to get together in the next week to talk in more detail. It was good seeing you again, Nathan.” Lori let her gaze linger on him for a few seconds, reminiscing about those nights by the beach, but she couldn’t get distracted. She had to focus on her piece.

“Bye,” he said.

She waved and walked out the door.

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