by Dante Steel
“I’ll talk to them the first chance I get,” he said.
Olivia finally pulled up her black leotard, not that her boobs weren’t bulging from the top anyhow, but at least now her nipples were covered. “Not the first chance you get,” she said. “They aren’t ready. Wait until they seem open to it, or else you’ll lose them forever.”
Gary swallowed hard. No matter what happened, he could not lose any of them. Being stuck in the game had only been bearable because of all three of them, and the thought of having only one left him depressed. Yes, he loved Olivia, and she had promised to always be there for him, but he had a feeling she would be just as devastated as he would be if they couldn’t make this work.
“It’ll happen one day,” he informed her.
“It better,” Olivia said, “because I don’t like one-on-one relationships. They aren’t for me.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“Good.” Olivia winked and glanced down at his bulge. “I just hope you don’t die from blue balls before it does.”
He groaned. She had a point because his balls were ready to explode.
“Then don’t tease me,” he complained.
She shrugged and grinned broadly. “But it’s so much fun!”
Chapter Six
As much as Gary wanted to make an excuse to hide away in a room somewhere so he could take care of his, ah, issue, he didn’t. For one thing, Olivia would never let him live that down. For another, he had to do what was best for himself and for the girls as far as the game went. It wasn’t all about their sex lives together. Life and death were still hanging in the balance, especially for him and Elena.
“We have to take care,” Gary said.
She frowned, clearly confused. “Take care?” she repeated. “That sounds… off.”
“Smaug, Samuel August, he’s still out there. We have to be careful. The developers haven’t figured out how to get me out of the game, and now, they have to get Elena out too—"
Olivia winced. It seemed Nicoletta wasn’t the only one miffed that Elena was the one in the game with him.
“They came up with something else to help, at least. They made a new issue of the game called Vampire War.”
“Vampires?” She grinned. “I’ve always enjoyed vampires.”
“Not the hot kind,” he warned.
“Good. I don’t want to bang ‘em. I want to kill them. Ever since I first saw Dracula. Seriously, everyone who romantizes a creature that solely lives by killing others is disturbing if you ask me.”
“Right up your alley, then. To enter the portal to move on, it’s due north. A blue thing. I don’t know how long they’ll have it available, and I want you to come with us.”
“Of course.”
“I just need one favor.”
“And that is?” she asked suspiciously, crossing her arms, which lifted her boobs, making them even. More prominent somehow.
“Ah, uh, I need you to tell Nicoletta to join us, I mean, to go to the new issue. Can you do that?”
“You want me to talk to Nicoletta? I think she might be more on board with… everything… quicker than Elena. Maybe. Maybe I can get her to join us all right.” Olivia grinned. “I’ll think about it because maybe I would be happy if it were just you and me, after all. Clearly, you must be a crazy good lover if you’re making the other two fight over you.”
“I…” Gary honestly was at a loss for words.
Giggling, Olivia stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and swayed her hips, rubbing against him, grinding him. He nearly came right then and there.
“I… I thought…”
Shut up, Gary.
But Olivia was already pulling away. “Yes, yes. I do believe I said no kisses, though, and I didn’t kiss you so…”
With a wicked grin and a wink, she stepped back and then disappeared as she left the game.
Gary’s cock was ready to explode. Desperate for release, he practically ran back to the tavern and bumped into an NPC on his way up to a room. The first one he found, he rushed inside, and he leaned against the closed door so no one could enter. He stripped, grabbed his cock and stroked himself. As he jerked off, he thought of what it would be like to finally have Olivia. To have her and Nicoletta together. To have all three of them pleasuring each other and him and the thought of so many lips and tongues and wandering hands and pussies, and he came so hard that he couldn’t move afterward for a minute.
Cleaning up was fun—not—but he managed. Rubbing himself with the bed sheet to clean up made him hard again as he pictured himself getting entangled in the sheets with any one of them, and he began to stroke himself again. He might not be able to come a second time so quickly, but it sure as hell felt good. Gary closed his eyes, wishing someone else’s hand or mouth was stroking or sucking him.
The door opened, and he paused, grateful his back was to the door.
Footsteps approached, and he tried to cover up, but his clothes were strewn all over the place, and the sheet was wet from where he had cleaned himself, and it didn’t matter anyhow because Nicoletta yanked the sheet away.
She smirked at his erection. Not because he was small. He was eight inches and thick, too. No, she was smirking for a different reason.
“I would suck you,” she said.
His cock twitched, hearing that. He wanted that so fucking badly. He would grab her head, run his fingers through her hair, return the favor by licking her pussy…
“If only I were actually here,” she said, “but I’m so… Sorry, no oral sex for you.”
“Ah, yeah, um, that’s okay. Ah…” Gary dashed about, grabbing his clothes, trying to get dressed quickly.
Nicoletta leaned against the wall of the small room that contained only the bed and a window. He hoped no one was watching from outside. Deep down, he figured the developers were watching him and now Elena everywhere they went, everything they did, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t about to stop living his life the way he wanted to simply because others might be watching. He had too much at stake here, and he was now forced to live a game. He wasn’t going to ignore the sexual part of his life just because of others.
“You could’ve finished,” Nicoletta remarked once he was fully dressed. “That looks painful.”
He squirmed and tried to readjust so it wasn’t quite so agonizing. “I’m fine,” he muttered.
“You were really going at it,” she said.
“Can we talk about something else?” he muttered.
“Why?” She giggled.
“Because it’s embarrassing.”
“To be walked in on while masturbating? Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that.”
“Never been walked in on, huh? Don’t worry. It’ll happen.”
“No, it won’t. I lock the door when I pleasure myself.”
“You masturbate often?”
“Not something you need to know,” she said, cupping his face before gently tapping him, not quite hard enough to be considered a smack.
“I would rather…” He shook his head.
She threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah? Not ready to talk about all of this?”
“I don’t know where to begin or who to begin with and maybe I need to talk to you all together, but there is something we need to discuss.”
Nicoletta drew back, instantly serious. “What is it?” she asked.
He appreciated that she could do that, switch from being playful and flirting to being serious. Olivia tended to not be serious enough at times, and Elena wasn’t as flirtatious as the others.
“The developers haven’t been able to figure out how to get us out, but they have determined a way to keep us safe from Smaug at least.”
“How? Trap him on an island and not let him leave it?”
“I wish,” he said. “Actually, maybe I should mention that to Haru. Anyhow, there’s a new issue of the game. We can go there, and Samuel August won’t be able to follow. We’ll be there, safe and sound. All you
have to do is head straight north. There’s a portal and—”
“Gary.”
“Yeah?” he asked, not liking the serious tone or her frown. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure I can worry about all of that.”
“Worry about Smaug and the new issue? You don’t have to worry about supervillains anymore. Instead, we’ll be facing—”
“You’ll be facing,” she murmured. “I need to focus on my future. I can’t keep spending so much time playing this game.”
He winced and hung his head. Gary was so confused, but he didn’t want to upset her.
“I… I know it’s hard for me to keep track of time in here, but isn’t it almost summer?”
“Yeah, it is. The semester is over. I don’t have classes again until the fall, but seriously, Gary?” She sounded so very annoyed, and her eyes were narrowed so much they looked like dark slits. “You think my future only involves the school year. You think I can just drop everything for you. That’s not how the real world works.”
“I never meant to make it seem like I think your life doesn’t matter,” he protested. “I just thought—"
“Your life matters. It does. I’m worried sick about you being trapped in here, in the game. I’m furious as hell at the developers for being willing to put someone else in but still not being able to take you out. It’s wrong. It’s infuriating. It’s ridiculous. At least you’ll have this, though. At least you won’t have to worry about Smaug. You’re a strong enough level now that you should be able to handle almost everything you come across, especially in the beginning of a new issue. It should be relatively easy in the beginning. Just be careful, okay?”
“Is this because of me and Elena?” he asked quietly.
“Maybe it’s about me and what I need to do with my life,” she said coolly. “Like I said, I need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’ve been going to college for three years, just taking a bunch of courses, but I’m still undecided. I can’t earn a degree if I don’t figure out what to major in, and most likely, I’ll have to start taking summer courses once I do figure it out.”
“Can we… Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what, Gary? My future is more than my sex life, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
“No. I meant your future. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think I should be talking to a garbage collector who managed to get trapped inside a video game.”
Gary flinched.
She winced and hung her head. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s the truth. Do you think I wanted to be a trash collector? You think that was my goal in life? News flash. It wasn’t. You don’t give your cousin a hard time about being one.”
“Actually, I do. I tease him about it all the time.”
“How is Jorge?” Gary swallowed hard. He felt so far removed from his friend, from all of his friends, from his life. The more time he spent trapped here, the more this felt real and his old life like a dream. “Is he still with that girl?”
“Yes. He loves her. He’s bought her a ring already.”
“It hasn’t even been that long!” Gary protested. “He’s never been in a long relationship. How can he be certain she’s the one for him?”
“He claims that because he’s dated around so much, he knows what he wants and what he doesn’t want, so he knows he wants her. I’ve convinced him to not propose yet, but he doesn’t always listen to me.”
“Crazy,” Gary muttered.
“You and him both,” she said lightly, but she wouldn’t look at him.
“Nicoletta, please. Let’s talk about your future. What do you want to be?”
“I have no idea, okay? I’ve tried and tried and tried to figure it out. Since high school, I’ve been thinking about this, and nothing ever seems right. Nothing makes me happy.”
“Not even me?”
“Not always and we’re talking about my future, my work, not you, remember?”
The hint of hostility in her voice made him wish he hadn’t said that, even though he had meant it as a joke.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m sorry, too. It’s just… I’m confused and scared, and I can’t afford to go to college forever. I need to figure something out.”
“You’re young. You have time.”
“I don’t have a lot of money, and debt is piling up already. I need to figure this out, Gary.”
“What do you like?”
“I like to read. I like to play video games. I like to argue. I like to run. I’m competitive. I don’t see how any of that helps with anything at all.”
“You could be a writer,” he suggested.
“No guaranteed money and I would’ve wasted all of the money for college because I don’t think you need a degree to self-publish.”
“No, but you can draw from your experiences.”
“Yeah? And write about a guy named Gary who has a harem with every woman in the world?”
“Only those who game,” he said.
She smirked and rolled her eyes. A soft laugh escaped. “I don’t think so.”
“So write the story for a video game. Or can’t you be a video game tester?”
“I think that’s something, but I wouldn’t know how to get involved with that, and again, that would make my college experience pointless and a waste of money.”
“I can’t help with the money, but I can talk to Haru. The least he can do is to get you a job.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m kind of sick of the whole thing.”
“You and me both.”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”
“You and me both,” he repeated.
Nicoletta smiled wanly.
“Arguing… you could be a lawyer.”
“And go to school for a gazillion more years? No thanks.”
“You could… I don’t know. I think you can do anything you put your mind to.”
“Thanks, but that’s not nearly specific enough. I know I have an excuse to knock down everything. I know I’m just being unreasonable, but this is huge. It’s my future.”
“It’s important,” he said. “I don’t care what you do. If you don’t play this game again. I just want you to be happy.”
Nicoletta managed to smile as tears filled her eyes. Gary held out his arms, and they embraced. He rubbed her back.
“Don’t cry,” he murmured. “You’ll figure everything out.”
“I want to. I just don’t know how. I wish I knew the future.”
“Me too.”
“I… I should go,” Nicoletta said.
He swallowed hard. “Okay,” he said, but he didn’t stop holding her.
She kissed his cheek. He wanted to turn so it would be on the lips. He wanted to throw her down onto the bed and show her just how much she meant to him. He wanted to talk for days and nights until she figured out her future. It didn’t have to be only sexual.
But he said nothing, only embracing her until she was no longer in his arms.
Gary swallowed hard and hoped that wouldn’t be the last time he ever saw Nicoletta Rodriquez.
Chapter Seven
Feeling isolated and all alone, getting a headache from all of the drama with the girls, wanting to get away from it all, Gary bought a few more supplies from the various shops in the town. Then, he headed due north.
It took him longer than he expected to come across a glowing blue blob in the middle of a desert. This must be the force field Haru had mentioned. All Gary had to do was walk directly into it, and the portal would bring him to Vampire War.
He didn’t hesitate and strolled right through it. The glow surrounded him, and then the strangest sensation filled him. He felt cold and hot a
nd like he was flying through darkness, and then he was screaming, but he couldn’t hear it.
When Gary was next aware, he opened his eyes and glanced all around him. The landscape appeared similar from what he could see. A desert still surrounded him, but the portal was no longer in sight. In fact, not much was in sight besides sand. The entire place was so very dark. Nighttime had fallen, which was interesting. In the first issue of the game, it was day the vast majority of the time.
Gary figured it was most likely the opposite here, given that the main villains were vampires.
Just then, a screech sounded, and something small and dark flew toward Gary’s face. A bat. There had been a fair number of bats in the beginning of the first issue, and Gary used his mind to cause a rock to lift into the air and smash against the bat’s face. The creature dropped to his feet and died.
Gary smirked. Bats wouldn’t be able to hurt him. They were too simple to kill. They hardly even gave him any experience points.
He glanced around and tried to get his bearings. There had to be a town somewhere nearby if he could just figure out where to go to reach it.
To his right was a wall of darkness. No, wait, not a wall. A mass of darkness. A mass of bats. There was an entire horde of them, and Gary had to spend the next half hour if not longer killing them all. He used more rocks. At one point, he even made a few collide so hard into one another that they became dazed and possibly concussed. They weren’t sure what was what, and they began to attack the other bats for him.
Finally, the last one dropped, and Gary patted his hands. To the right seemed clear now. There was a hill of there, a tall one. Maybe the higher vantage point would help him find a town.
Gary took one step and winced. He’d stepped on something squishy. Not a bat. No. On bat dung. Ugh. He wiped his boot on the sand, but that didn’t help much. As he stalked toward that hill, the stench of the bat dung stayed with him.
Bat dung was the worst.
The hill was a lot farther away than Gary had anticipated. The shadows and the darkness made it difficult to gauge distances. He finally climbed the peak and glanced all around. More dark specks were heading his way. More bats? Most likely. Well, better bats than vampires, he guessed. After he fought a crapton of bats, he almost would’ve preferred a vampire just to have a different foe.
