Stories in this collection:
A Night Off or: Come and See
The Sanctuary
A Night Off or: Come and Seeby draight
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“Why are we walking?” Belle’s voice was a low grumble.
“What, you want to spend a half hour just trying to find parking?” Victoria’s musical voice shot back. “Be my guest next time.”
“We could’ve gotten a ride-share.” Faye’s tremulous tone attempted a conciliatory manner. “That way we’d be there already, and we wouldn’t have had to park.”
“Heaven forbid that we use our own legs for once.” Victoria shouted her down, “Exercise doesn’t kill you.”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry.” Faye mumbled.
“And I’m bored!” Belle agreed.
“Lord give me strength…” Maura whispered to herself. In her even, no-nonsense speaking voice she continued; “We are out to have
fun, to
relax, got it? It’s been way too long.”
“When does the fun start?” Belle groused.
“We could race,” Victoria checked her complaining friend in the side. “That would liven it up a bit.”
“You would…” Faye started, but her reedy voice went unheard as Belle recovered from Victoria’s blow and swiveled to grapple with her.
Maura let out a long sigh, running a hand through her hair. A little bit past shoulder length, it was a pale blonde with a tint suggesting that it had at one point been dyed with green highlights. She stopped and turned to watch her two friends. Already passers-by were directing curious glances at the two women, but shyness was one quality that they had never been accused of having. Subtlety was another. In contrast to Maura’s conservative long sleeved grey top and ankle length patterned skirt, for their outing tonight Victoria had dressed in a short golden skirt and a sleeveless cream blouse. Her body stood on full display; ropes of sinewy muscle covered her bared limbs, standing out in sharp relief as she struggled against Belle’s grasp. Even locked up with her current adversary, a broad smile spread across her face and her big blue eyes twinkled with delight. High cheekbones, a slim nose, and a sharp jaw completed a face that Maura thought she might be jealous of if she were the sort to feel jealousy. All of this was completed by a cascade of straight hair that fell almost to her waist, and while Maura’s hair was a pale blonde, Victoria’s was as white as snow, contrasting with her tanned brown skin.
Her opponent would possibly have an even harder time hiding in a crowd if that was possible. Victoria wasn’t a short woman, but Belle towered over her. She had dressed tonight in black boots, jeans, and a black leather jacket. Her thick neck supported a broad face topped by short, spiked, blood-red hair. The hair, combined with the darkness of her attire as well as her height and the width of her physique created an impression not unlike an erupting volcano; a comparison which Maura would readily admit was fairly apt. From a short distance Belle created a striking image, up closer one noticed the crook in her nose suggesting it had probably been broken at least once.
Just now she had managed to envelop Victoria in a bear hug, arching her back to carry the other woman off her feet and apply bone crushing pressure. Keeping her wits about her however, Victoria tucked her head into the other woman’s broad chest and pressed against it while pushing backward with her trapped arms as hard as she could. This maneuver succeeded in creating a small pocket of space which she used to slip free. The two eagerly surged back towards one another, ending up with their arms extended, hands locked. Belle pushed downward, trying to take advantage of her greater height and weight but in response Victoria set her feet and resolved to hold her. As she planted herself, her legs swelled with muscular power, the triceps of her upper arms flaring into diamond hard horseshoes as she pushed. Despite her exertions, she maintained her confident smile, directing it at Belle’s fierce grin.
“Are we done yet?” Maura asked as the two reached a relative stalemate. “I guess we’ve got all the time in the world, but I don’t know if I feel like spending it here.”
“Yeah, come ooooon…” Faye had wandered a little way down the street to lean on a lamppost. Tonight she wore a dress as black as her hair. The garment was small, but even still it somehow seemed to hang off of her frame. A polite individual would describe Faye as slender or skinny, Maura generally went with emaciated. Nonetheless, she possessed a certain type of ethereal beauty with her pale skin, delicate bone structure and large dark eyes.
Belle and Victoria paused in their exertions, eyeing one another up; Belle fiercely, Victoria serenely. “Fine.” The redhead grunted and the two broke apart. “I had you though.”
“Never yet.” Victoria said confidently.
“Are we feeling all better now?” Maura asked as she glanced at her watch. “Achieved what we needed to achieve?”
“Yes.” Belle grumbled.
“
I haven’t.” Faye called from a ways down the street.
“Alright.” Somehow Victoria’s hair had escaped from the brief melee untouched. Nonetheless she took a moment to assess her reflection in a storefront window. “Enough hedging already. Where are you taking us Maura?”
“I thought that we could do something a little cultural for once…” Maura began to root through her bag.
“You wouldn’t…” Belle said weakly.
“Shut up. We did your thing last time. I… got us tickets to a play.” Maura’s hand closed around an envelope and drew it out as she looked back up at their faces. “For crying out loud Belle, you’ll survive. There are a couple fight scenes.”
“Tragedy or comedy?” Faye had re-appeared by her side, trying to get a closer look.
“Tragedy of course.” Maura replied.
“Oh good.” Faye smiled softly.
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“Well?” Maura prompted as they stepped back out onto the bustling street, theatergoers streaming out behind them.
“I think we’ve seen that one before.” Victoria shrugged. “Way back when.”
“We have.” Maura admitted, “I guess that it’s still one of my favorites.”
“There was only
one fight scene. And it was all the way at the
beginning.” Belle sounded peevish. “I had to sit through the whole rest of the show hoping that there would be another.”
Maura sighed deeply, turning to her final friend. “Faye?”
“Hm?” Faye seemed lost in thought. “Oh, it was good. It was all terribly exciting when they sentenced her to be sealed up in that cave until death by thirst or hunger or whatever, but it was a little bit of a letdown when she just ended up hanging herself.”
The group had wandered aimlessly during their conversation; it was a calm, pleasant summer’s night and the city was still pulsing with life and they had nowhere in particular to go.
“Well?” Faye asked after a while.
“Well what?”
“Well what now? It’s still pretty early.”
“Oh.” Maura seemed taken aback at the question. “We could go find a club or something. I’m always up for dancing.”
“That would be fine with me.” Victoria affirmed.
As one, the three women turned to look at Belle. She scratched her chin pensively before shrugging her massive shoulders. “I’ll find some way to entertain myself.”
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Generally, Maura figured that she should be smart enough not to take suggestions from Belle when deciding on where to go but it had seemed to be the easiest way to mollify the woman after forcing her to sit through the entirety of a drama. And in fairness to her, it seemed that Belle had at least tried to meet her halfway. The Hunting Grounds, as the establishment was called, was
not an upscale place; the bar was old, the floor stained and scuffed, the drink selection simple. However, tonight at least they had brought in a D.J., and popular dance music mingled in the air with the scents of tobacco, pot and beer to create an atmosphere which was bearable if not exactly her preference. Several couples moved together to the music but the clientele was predominantly male; young professionals seated at tall tables around the edges of the room while a rougher crowd, presumably the original patrons of the place, crowded together at the bar. Eyes turned to observe as Faye and Maura led the way inside, followed by hungry grins and a few whistles as Victoria entered behind them. She cast a considering look around the room and smiled, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. The reaction to Belle as she stooped slightly to enter, however, was one of shocked silence.
“Damn, look at that huge bitch!” A voice exclaimed from the bar, carrying over the music. Belle instantly zeroed her gaze in on the culprit, balding, mid-thirties, jeans and a t-shirt. She gave herself a barely perceptible nod. Nonetheless, she allowed her friends to carry her along with them to a table. Victoria continued to look around, her gaze finally settling on a table of men in business casual dress. By their demeanor, she guess friends, not colleagues. A dirty blonde man in a blue shirt and khaki’s was staring directly at her and she gave him a flirtatious smile before turning back to her friends. However, none of them had noticed what she was up to; Faye was perusing the drink list and menu while Maura was looking towards the dance floor, bopping her shoulders. Belle was still looking towards the bar with heavily lidded eyes.
“Hey!” Victoria nudged Maura gently.
“What?” The blonde looked back around. “Did you want to dance?”
“I know that you like dancing…” Victoria began.
“It is one of my weaknesses.” Maura admitted.
“But no,” she jerked her head towards the table she had been assessing. “What do you think?”
“I see some guys.” Maura said flatly after a quick glance.
“And what do you think?” Victoria continued. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Maura looked back again, giving a longer consideration.
“Or are you more in the mood for the fairer sex tonight?”
“Makes no difference to me.” Maura shrugged. “There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of that option here though.”
Their conversation was interrupted as a harried looking young woman rushed up to them, pad and pen in hand. “What’ll it be?”
“Cabernet.” Victoria said promptly.
“The same.” Maura said.
“Anyone want nachos?” Faye cut in.
“Stout, whatever you have on draught.” Belle said.
“I guess just me then?” Faye looked around. “Yeah, nachos and a margarita.”
“Great.” The woman bustled away. Victoria re-applied herself to her flirtation, exchanging glances with the man across the room, who could hardly seem to believe the luck he was having. The drinks came after a short delay and Maura downed hers quickly before heading over towards the D.J. by herself. She wound her way between several couples and started to move herself to the music, quickly losing herself.
Back at the table, Belle watched until Maura slipped into her preoccupied dancing before pushing herself back from the table with an “Excuse me.” Victoria and Faye waved vaguely as she stalked over towards the bar. One of her large hands descended on the shoulder of the man who had made the earlier outburst, and he swiveled around on his stool.
“Oh.” He looked up, and up, at her, before giving her a toothy grin. “Is there something I can help you with sweetie?” His companion, a tall, paunchy man with dark coarse stubble across his face turned to observe.
Belle took a moment, feeling his shoulder with her fingers. The body underneath was hard and tough. A glance at his bare arms showed that they were rough and well-muscled, maybe a construction worker or similar. “I just thought that maybe we could get a bit better acquainted.”
“Sorry,” the man shrugged her hand off. “Not interested.” He gave a leer over towards the women’s table. “Although if you’d like to introduce me to one of your friends I might not mind.”
“Am I too much woman for you?” This came out in a low growl.
“Are you actually a woman at all?” He looked over at his friend, who chuckled.
“Oh good.” Belle grinned. “And here I was worried that tonight was going to be a complete waste.”
“What was that?” Both of the men stood to their full heights; Bald’s eyes were even with her shoulders, Stubble was slightly taller.
“I said, it looks like this huge bitch has found herself a
little bitch.” Belle snarled.
“What, are you looking for a fight?” Balding said. As he looked around he realized that his peers at the bar had turned to watch, inebriated grins plastered to their faces. Machismo waged a brief war with the small spec of chivalry he possessed. “Fuck it. You feeling tough?”
Belle took a step back, spreading her arms wide. “Come and see.” She nearly purred.
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As Faye happily chowed down on the recently delivered plate of nachos, Victoria was growing frustrated. Despite repeated eye contact and a quirked eyebrow or two, blue shirt still had yet to make any concrete moves. She took another sip of her wine, reflecting that intimidating men was one of the risks that one sometimes ran by being too beautiful. She had begun considering that she might just have to make the first move when the men suddenly put their heads together and one, dark haired in a red shirt, stood up from the table and began walking towards them. Her relief quickly turned to annoyance however as he passed them by and continued towards the ersatz dancefloor. She snorted out loud.
“Something up?” Faye looked up from her task.
“Ugh, don’t worry about it.” Victoria tossed her head.
“Fair enough.” Faye glanced back down.
“… But seriously, I feel like I’m doing my part here.” Victoria continued. Faye sighed heavily and put down the nacho she had just lifted to her mouth. “It used to be that men would sacrifice almost anything just to get me to
notice them.”
“I’m pretty sure that he
has noticed you.”
“Right; but the pursuit, the challenge, is half the fun. If I just have to walk over there and throw myself at him, what’s the point?” As she complained she noticed Belle slipping out of the bar, followed by two men.
“Does everything always have to be some kind of contest with you? Like Maura said; tonight is supposed to be our night off.”
“Yes, it does have to be a contest.” Victoria’s eyes burned into Faye’s until the raven haired woman simply shrugged.
“Good luck with that.”
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Maura twirled gently in a circle. Although she was the only one dancing alone no one seemed to pay her any mind, and she wouldn’t have noticed if they had. She always enjoyed when she got to do this; her mind simply emptying and letting her body do its thing. Indeed, this was about the only time that her mind ever had the opportunity to go blank. She was, therefore, understandably taken by surprise when a hand gently tapped her on one shoulder. She completed her spin to find a man with long, dark hair, in a red shirt and dark slacks. An inch or two taller than her 5’8,” he favored her with a small smile.
“Can I join you?” He asked.
“You want to dance with me?” Maura continued moving from side to side as she sized him up.
“Do you not want me to?” Even as he asked he began to move, matching his feet with hers.
“Its… a bit unusual for people to ask is all.” Maura finally returned his smile. “Not unheard of, of course.”
“Um, yeah…” He said, now sounding a bit uncertain.
“But certainly, you may. I’m Maura.”
“I’m Chris.” He took a step forward into her space, allowing one hand to gently graze at her hip. She looked at him searchingly for a moment before placing her hand over hers, holding it firmly against her, her touch cool on his flushed skin.
“You’re a very good dancer.” He said after a while. She had quickly taken the lead of their movements.
“Thank you.” She executed a deft dipping move before snapping back up, her body against his.
“Did you use to take lessons?”
“Hmm? No. I’ve just been practicing for a while I guess.”
“Oh. Were you into the punk or goth thing?”
Without stopping their movements or breaking their hand contact she stepped back slightly to smile at him curiously. “Why do you ask?”
“Your hair.” He gestured. “The green…”
“Oh, right.” She nodded. “Yeah, something like that I guess.”
“One of your friends has been giving one of mine the eye since you guys got here.”
“I’m sure she has.” Maura observed dryly. “Do go on.”
“So I thought that I should take my opportunity make your acquaintance solo.”
“I’m flattered I’m sure.” She shook her head. “I guess they didn’t really feel much like dancing.”
“I guess not.” He smiled. “The two of them seem pretty happy just hanging out, although the one seems to be trying to goad John into approaching her.”
“She does that.” Maura said with a chuckle. “It’s kind of her thing. It would go best if he makes the first move.” A beat. “The two of them?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Ugh… damn it. Excuse me a moment.”
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Faye had finished her food was relaxing, leaning backward against the wall as she made progress on her second margarita. “Finally had enough?” Victoria asked in a peeved tone.
“Yeah, for now. Thanks for asking.” Faye replied as Maura, stone-faced, stalked past the table with her dance partner a step behind.
“No, seriously. Just stay here. It’s best.” The two heard her say to the man as she kept going out the doors. He stopped, seemingly lost for a moment before rejoining his friends. A moment later Victoria’s spirits perked up as blonde hair finally stood and approached them.
“Hi,” he extended a hand. “I’m John.”
“Victoria.” She replied, accepting the handshake.
“And I’m Daniel.” Victoria had been focused enough on John that she hadn’t noticed another man had come with him. A bit on the short side, she guessed him to be of Korean ancestry, with a stocky muscular build and short spiked hair.
“Charmed.” She replied, excited for a moment that things were getting interesting, but a bit disappointed when Daniel politely asked if he could sit next to Faye and received a yes.
“I admit, I couldn’t help noticing you earlier.” John drew Victoria’s attention back.
“Is that right?” She feigned surprise. “What got your attention?”
“You look incredible.” He gushed, seemingly unable to hold it in. “You must work out right? What do you do?”
“What, these?” She asked in a smoldering voice as she put her right hand behind her head, tensing the bicep until it swelled to the size of a baseball, her skin pulled to paper thinness over the cut mound. “All kinds of things I guess. Wrestling, horseback riding, archery…”
If any of these struck him as odd, he didn’t show it. “Sure, but I mean for workouts? Lifting and things like that.”
“Oh, uh… crossfit? Yeah, crossfit.” Victoria relaxed her arm, placing it back on the table.
“Well, you look strong as hell.” She smiled at his bluntness, deciding that she had judged correctly. Sometimes men these days lacked a certain… directness, too concerned with new ways of doing things.
“I like to think so.” She said.
“What do you say?” He placed his elbow on the table, putting his right arm into an arm-wrestling position.
“You
are bold, aren’t you?” She laughed. “How about you buy me a drink?”
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“I swear…” Maura muttered to herself, stepping out into the night. “You take your eyes off of her for one minute.” She stood on the sidewalk for a moment listening. The sounds of scraping gravel and labored breathing came to her from the left side and she followed them to the mouth of a nearby alley. Faint light provided by a streetlamp showed a hulking silhouette down at the far end.
“I swear Belle!” She called, stomping down the alleyway. “It is my
fucking night off!”
The silhouette pivoted to look down the alley at Maura, quickly taking on the features of Belle as her vision adjusted itself. She had removed her jacket at some point, revealing a white tank top underneath. The piece of cloth clung desperately to the contours of her monstrous body; pecs and abs taking on the appearance of sculpted armor. Seeing Maura approaching she lowered her arms and unclenched her hands, the massive, scarred, vascular limbs hanging limply at her side.
“Hey Maura.” She said guiltily. Maura was gratified to catch a note of nervousness in her tone. “Don’t worry. They’ll live.”
“They fucking better.” Maura looked down at the men slumped against the wall, slightly surprised to find only two tonight. The slightly shorter, balding man seemed to be out cold; his face was heavily puffed and bruised as he reclined against the wall, unmoving. His companion sat next to him nursing his side, a grimace spread across his broad features. “All right. Fine.” She massaged her temples. “Are you ready to go back inside and behave yourself?”
“Yeah.” Belle straightened back up to her full height. “I just need to find my jacket. I’m not sure exactly where I left it…” She swiveled her head about, peering into the darkness.
“For crying out… it’s right over there.” Maura indicated where it had been carelessly draped over a trash can.
“Ah, thanks.” Belle bent over to scoop it up. As she did, the grimacing man leapt to his feet with a surprising burst of speed, one hand closing around a length of pipe from a nearby rubbish heap. With a wordless shout he raised it over his head with both hands to bring it crashing down onto Belle’s expansive back. Everything seemed to freeze as the man’s shout died away; him, Belle and the pipe forming a silent tableau. Then, disregarding her jacket, Belle stood back to her full height, turning to face the man. He screamed again in rage, aiming a baseball swing of the weapon into her corrugated obliques where it landed with a meaty thud. He looked up hopefully, but Belle’s right hand simply trapped the pipe against her side before carelessly swiping it from his grasp and tossing it over her shoulder to land clattering on the pavement. Her left hand seized the front of his shirt, hoisting him up into the air until they were eye to eye.
“
You.” She chuckled. “I
like you.” The man’s mouth fell open, words failing him as he stared at her. She cocked back her right arm, the limb bulging with muscular power. It released like a spring, her massive fist hurtling to within an inch of his face before Maura reached out to grab her wrist, arresting the blow as though it had hit a wall. Belle looked over at the blonde, who arched her eyebrows at her. “Fine.” She grunted, tossing the man carelessly against the wall where he slumped down once more. All thought seemed to have fled his mind, and he simply stared as the behemoth scooped up her coat and followed her friend back down the alleyway.
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“Your… friend is a bit of an exhibitionist isn’t she?” Daniel asked quietly. On the other side of the table John and Victoria had locked up arms. Despite beginning their match over a minute ago neither had seemed to make any progress; their hands still held upright in neutral position. John gritted his teeth as he pushed, head down. Victoria simply watched him, a hungry look in her eyes.
“Friend, roommate, yeah.” Faye nodded, looking over. “But seriously, she just feeds off of it, don’t pay any attention to her.” Indeed, the contest had quickly become a focal point for much of the establishment’s clientele; many of the men at the bar now catcalling at Victoria or shouting deprecations at John’s inability to quickly close out the match.
“Ignore them.” Victoria murmured to her opponent as he looked over distractedly at the peanut gallery. “Focus on me. Give me a challenge.”
“What?” He said through his teeth, looking up to lock gazes with her.
“I said focus. Here.” Her eyes gleamed as they bored into his. “You have to want it.” With a cry he heaved against her with all his might, throwing his weight behind his arm. “Mmm, yes. Show me how strong you are.” She whispered. Her hand began to tip slightly and he surged against her again, his gaze locked back on their clasped hands. Slowly, inch by inch, her hand dipped towards the table and he almost cried with relief as it came to rest, quickly breaking his grasp to shake out his aching arm while Victoria smiled calmly at him. “Well done.” She said simply.
“Well done!?” A man called from the watching crowd and was greeted by laughter from the others. “He was barely able to put you down!”
Victoria stood up, casting an imperious look around the room before raising both arms into a double bicep flex. The meaty chunks of her arms surged with power, the steely cables of her muscles flexing to full prominence. “Anyone else want to take a shot?” She called out the challenge.
“I’m going to need another drink.” Faye said dryly in the sudden silence.
“I’ll get one for you.” Daniel volunteered, standing up. “What do you want?”
“Maybe a Manhattan.” Faye grimaced as several men from around the room climbed to their feet in answer to Victoria’s call. Daniel simply nodded and moved towards the bar. Nearly as soon as he had vacated the seat, Maura appeared and plopped down into it.
“So we’ve reached this stage of the night have we?” She asked Faye, looking at the small queue of men lining up at the table.
“Yeah, it’s getting a bit crowded over here...” Faye trailed off as Chris appeared behind Maura.
“You’re back. Was everything okay?” He leaned down to whisper into her ear.
“Yeah, fine.” Maura stood up, taking him by the hand. “Let’s go dance some more. Faye, would you like to join us?”
“Sure. We’ll be with you in a minute or two.” Faye waved them off as Daniel returned with fresh drinks. His eyes widened as she grabbed the cocktail and upended it into her mouth, gulping the entire thing down in one go.
“That thirsty?” he asked as she winked at him and popped the cherry into her mouth. Her jaw moved in a complicated pattern and she spat out the stem into her hand, neatly bent into a little heart. “Wow…”
“It might be the liquor talking…” She leaned in toward him. “But that isn’t all that this mouth can do…” she nipped sharply at his ear.
“Is that right?” He shot back, emboldened. “What else can it do?”
“If you want to find out… you’re just going to have to come and see.” She took his hand and led him to the dance floor.
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Belle slouched back over to the table, largely for want of anything else to do. “How’s everything going over here?”
“Just fine.” Victoria responded carelessly. With each arm she was wrestling against a straining, huffing man. The one on the left was powerfully built, in a tank top and baseball cap. His face was beet red from his exertions, veins standing out in his neck as he pushed. The man on the right was dressed in a collared shirt and seemed like he may have come over more out curiosity than any expectation of defeating the woman. Nonetheless, he too had ramped up his efforts, bringing both hands to bear against the amazon. Her biceps had expanded to sharp peaks, the striations of her individual muscle fibers creating a rough surface under her razor thin skin now that she had apparently achieved something approximating a warmup. Behind her John stood in a state of disbelief, trying to work out how he had managed a victory. “Aaaand…” Victoria quickly slammed both men’s hands to the surface of the table. “Sorry guys, better luck next time.” Both crept away, heavily favoring their arms. “Next two? Oh, looks like there’s only one left” She smiled at the last man, who seemed to be seriously re-considering his next move. Coming to a snap decision he simply shook his head.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah…”
“Ok.” Victoria shrugged and turned back to John.
“That was… something.” John stared down at the seated woman, her hair still immaculate, skin unflushed, breathing even.
“Yeah, I guess I did pretty well, didn’t I? I guess losing to you inspired me to try harder.” She winked at him and cocked her arm into another flex, muscle erupting to mount higher and higher.
“Yeah…” He sounded uncertain. “Can I... feel?”
“I think you’ve earned that much. Come here.” She gestured toward the peak with her free hand and he fell to it, wrapping his hands around her upper arm and squeezing with all his might. The muscle was harder than stone, harder than steel, but warm under his touch. In awe, he traced along the individual muscle fibers with his fingertips, feeling them pulse and twitch with the effort of her flex. “Do you like that?” She chuckled.
“Yes.” He panted, his hands continuing to roam, unable to bring himself to let go as she laughed with delight. He moved one hand up to her forearm, tracing the deeply cut grooves between her flexors. They were
harder than steel, they had to be, yet this woman simply swiveled her hand for him, causing them to jump and pop for him. Eventually she removed herself from his fervent adoration despite his best efforts and waved over his shoulder. He turned to follow her gaze and found Daniel and Chris returning with her two friends. The small group formed a huddle around their table.
“Oh, jeez, is Mark still sitting over there by himself?” Chris suddenly asked. John looked over to find that yes, their fourth friend was in fact still sitting by himself, beer to hand and face locked onto his phone screen. “I’ll go get him.” Chris broke off.
“So… it’s getting a bit late.” Faye said with a tipsy smile up at Daniel.
“Would you ladies like to keep the party going?” He said in response.
“Um…” Maura began.
“Sure!” Victoria chimed in.
Chris returned, Mark in tow. The final member of the men’s party was tall and athletic, lean muscle evident under his fitted clothes. Despite this, he seemed shy as he rubbed a dark hand through his hair and smiled before speaking in a soft but deep voice. “Hello.”
Belle looked him up and down. “Sure. You’ll do.”
“Wait, what?”
“We were thinking about heading out with the ladies…” Daniel explained.
“Why don’t you guys come back to ours?” Victoria volunteered.
“Sure!” John didn’t wait for any deliberation. He leaned in to Victoria to whisper. “Do I get to feel the rest of that body?”
“You can look all you want.” Her voice dripped with sex. “But if you want to touch, you’re going to have to earn it.”
“What does that entail?” He grinned cockily at her.
“Come and see.” She cooed.
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The men had to admit to themselves that they hadn’t exactly been sure what they expected when they accepted the invitation, but it hadn’t been this. “Really, you live here?” Chris asked as he craned his head back to look up and up and up at one of the tallest residential skyscrapers in downtown.
“Yeah, come on.” Victoria led the way as the doorman held the entrance open for them, leading the way into the lobby.
“It’s a bit extravagant I admit.” Faye said of the marble and gilt décor. She hit the button to summon the elevator down to their level. “But the location is convenient, and the view is pretty much unmatched.” A small *ding* announced its arrival and they crowded in, Belle’s mass bringing up the rear sheparding everyone forward.
“Let’s see…” Victoria pulled out her key ring and found the appropriate one, sticking it into its slot and turning as she pressed the button for the penthouse level. Behind her the men exchanged glances with one another as the elevator accelerated upwards. A second small *ding* sounded and the doors smoothly parted, the doorway opening directly into the apartment. The party stepped out.
“Holy shit…” The men seemed to speak as one. Their eyes were met by an expansive living space; an open floor plan with furniture and rugs mostly done in greys and eggshell. Three of the walls were glass, the fourth wall serving as the setting an entertaining area with bar, couches and a television. A staircase over by that wall presumably led to a second floor above.
“It’s so big.” Chris said out loud.
“Well, I need a lot of space.” Belle responded. The other three women glanced at her in surprise, trying to work out if she had actually attempted to make a joke.
“Uh, come. Sit. Make yourselves comfortable.” Maura wandered to one of the couches and patted invitingly. The men followed mutely.
“How do you afford this place?” Mark asked quietly. “Um, if you don’t mind my asking.”
“Oh, we’re… fortunate to have done well.” Maura responded. “I work in accounting.”
“Corporate law.” Victoria said. “Takeovers and acquisitions.”
Faye perched herself on the edge of the sofa. “Commodities trading.”
“Government contracting.” Belle stated after a long pause.
“Uh…”
“We’ve also got a fifth roommate.” Victoria added.
“Oh? Where is she tonight?” Daniel asked.
“She never goes out, she’s always sick.” Faye responded. After a moment she added an unconvincing “Poor thing.”
“That’s too bad.” Chris volunteered.
“Can I get anyone another drink?” Victoria had wandered over to the bar. “We have just about anything you could think of.”
“No, thank you. I think I’ve had enough.” John’s head already felt as though it were swimming. He had the strange idea that he had somehow gotten
more drunk just since entering the apartment but that wasn’t quite right, his lucidity, if anything, had sharpened. The other men echoed his refusal.
“Fair enough.” She returned to John, took his hand and effortlessly pulled him to his feet. “I think it’s time for you to earn it.” She drew him away towards the stairs.
“On that note, I think that there was something I promised to show you earlier.” Faye whispered into Daniel’s ear and giggled. “Come on.” They followed.
Mark found Belle looming over him, her shadow blocking out the light from the lamps above. “Only one thing to do after a fight.” She grinned. “Time to make a man out of you.” With a look that was equal parts hesitation and curiosity he stood and followed her.
Chris and Maura were left alone, seated next to one another on the couch. Her cool hand took his in a firm grip, and he looked over at her to find her eyeing him contemplatively. She didn’t say a word, and for several minutes they sat in silence.
“What happens now?” He finally asked.
“Well.” She looked steadily into his eyes. “We stay here and talk, I call you a cab and you go home or… you come and see.”
