by Dante Steel
She didn’t even smile.
“Sorry,” he said. “I keep making jokes.”
“You’re fine. It’s fine… It’s so not fine.”
“Did Olivia talk to your family?”
“She did. I wasn’t about to come here to Vampire War until after Olivia got back to me since I don’t know if she can cross over or not. It’s possible that gamers can’t and only humans can.”
Gary’s chest grew tight. Damn it. He hadn’t thought of that. Only Smaug would be able to get through, then, not Olivia, not Nicoletta if she were to ever put on the headset and gloves and re-enter the game.
“I sure hope the portal is shut then if that’s the case,” Gary said.
“Me too.” Elena didn’t say anything else.
“How did your family take the news?” Gary asked.
“She never… She learned… Gary… My mom died. It was sudden, a heart attack, and, Gary, I can’t. I mean, I just can’t.”
“Shh,” he said, hugging her to him. “You don’t have to say anything.”
For a while, she didn’t. He just held her, being there for her. There was a lot he could say. He could talk about how his parents had died, how he had been an orphan, how he had struggled to get by all of his life. But he didn’t want to make her feel as if her pain wasn’t important. He didn’t just want to give her a story. He didn’t think she wanted to hear anything right now.
And, besides, he already knew how she had felt about her mom, which was why this was hitting her so hard. Not because she and her mom had been super close. The opposite in fact. Elena’s champion had been her father, who had died a long time ago. If Gary remembered correctly, he’d died from a heart attack, too. It was a good thing Elena was fit and in shape. She had some terrible genes when it came to her ticker.
“I just… my mom… I loved her. Despite us not getting along the best, I loved her. I can’t tell you the last time I told her that. I don’t… What kind of a daughter does that make me?”
“You’re human,” he said.
“You don’t understand,” she said.
“I lost my parents when I was young. It was terrible. There’s nothing like outliving your parents.”
“You adored your parents, though.”
Had he told her about them before? He couldn’t remember. Maybe she could tell just based on his tone. Yes, Gary had been close with his parents. Losing them had been devastating.
“It doesn’t matter if you were close with her or not. It’s going to affect you. I’m sorry. I hate that you can’t be with your family right now.”
“They need me, and where am I? It’s not… If I had just said no, if I had stayed out of the game… I would be there. I could help with the funeral. I could say goodbye to my mom. I could move on past all of that. I… my uncle has always been a blabbermouth, and he told Olivia about the will and how much money I was to get, and, Gary, it would’ve been enough. I could’ve started my bakery. I could be setting up my future to start living my dream.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, knowing his words weren’t enough, would never be enough. “Losing a parent is impossible.”
“It really is. It’s not the money. It’s not about the bakery. It’s just… My mom’s dead, Gar. She’s dead, and I wasn’t the daughter I should’ve been. We talked maybe twice a year, and that was because she would call me. I stopped reaching out once I moved out. She tried. What if she had changed? What if she would’ve been the mother I needed but I was too stubborn to give her a chance?”
“You can’t worry about that. Worry about what you do know.”
“I know I was a failure of a daughter.”
“You were not.”
“How can you say that?” she exploded.
“Because I know you, and I know you won’t accept being a failure at anything. Why do you think you regained power in your hand again? You’re so strong, Elena. You’re stronger than you know. Yes, it hurts now, and it will always hurt. My parents, they’re still with me. Your dad is. So is your mom.”
Elena just shook her head and began to cry again. He didn’t have the words for her. He didn’t have a magic word to take away her pain. He couldn’t do anything for her.
That wasn’t exactly true.
Gary had to stop her from crying. He pulled her closer to him, and she folded onto his lap, leaning her head against his chest. He looked down to make sure she was settled, and she pulled back slightly to kiss him. It started out soft, almost a whisper of a kiss, but then she was kissing him hard, with passion, and fire, and zeal, and she was struggling to get her clothes off and to undress him and Gary wasn’t sure they should, but it didn’t matter because she was already riding him, and he wasn’t about to deny her whatever she needed. He knew and understood. Losing someone affected you, even if you weren’t close with that person. She wouldn’t be the same after this, not because of them forging a bond by making love again, but because of the loss of her mom. It wasn’t a terrible change. Life was a series of ups and down, and right now, he was trying to help her navigate one of those many downs.
He couldn’t handle it anymore. She was riding him so hard that he was going to come, and before he could warn her, he exploded.
Fuck. He didn’t have a condom, and the amount he had come was impressive. He could tell.
But she wasn’t done, still riding him, forcing him to remain hard with how tight she was, how wet she was, and he just let her continue, and somehow, someway, when her walls collapsed around her as she orgasmed, he came a second time too.
She collapsed against him, holding him, his cock still inside her, and he rubbed her back. Gradually, he glanced up, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Someone was there, watching them. An enemy? Someone else? He thought he saw dark hair, but he couldn’t be sure, and since no one approached, he just focused on the broken woman in his arms, wanting to make her feel as put together as she could be right now.
Chapter Eleven
It didn’t take long at all for Elena to pull back and begin to kiss him in earnest again. Gary was willing to help her as much as she needed, and he grabbed her hips, guiding her, thrusting against her, allowing her to take in as much of him as she needed and wanted.
Just then, Elena stopped. She just paused.
Gary had closed his eyes to take in the sensations of her wet tightness. Now, he opened his eyes to see hands on Elena’s boobs.
His hands were still on her waist.
Whose hands were they?
Olivia’s. She was squeezing Elena’s boobs, teasing the nipples.
“Get the hell off of me,” Elena cried, shoving Olivia away.
Olivia backed away. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I just saw you two, and…”
Elena burst into tears. She buried her face into Gary’s neck, and he looked helplessly up at Olivia. He didn’t know what to do. Olivia just jumping in like that might’ve done so much to damage what he wanted, what Olivia wanted, but right now, it had to be about Elena. Watching was one thing. Had Olivia overheard their conversation at all? Did she know about Elena not being in a good place right now? He hoped and figured Olivia hadn’t overheard because that wasn’t Olivia. She wouldn’t do something like that when she knew someone was hurting.
Olivia nodded. Her gaze dropped to where Elena was still connected to Gary, and she nodded again, giving him permission to continue to make love to another woman. Not that he needed her permission, but then again, hadn’t he said he wasn’t going to make love to one of them until they all were on the same page? Maybe Olivia thought he had kept his word.
God damn it. He was trying to make things better, and he was making things a hundred times worse.
“Is she gone?” Elena murmured, her words muffled against his neck.
By then, Olivia had melted into the darkness. Had she left the game or merely walked away? He couldn’t tell.
“She’s gone,” he whispered. “I—”
“Don’t talk,” she begged, and she
pushed her tongue into his mouth, as she began to ride him again.
It took Gary a long time to be able to come. Because he already had so many times? The interruption was most likely the culprit, but Elena kept on riding him, even though she had given him a huge grin when he had orgasmed. Clearly, she had felt it, but that wasn’t enough for her. She was being so damn greedy, but he loved it, and coming again wasn’t as hard as that first time.
Thankfully, she fell asleep then, and he dozed off, too. He was exhausted.
When he woke, he was still holding Elena, and his cock was still inside her. It actually wasn’t the most uncomfortable position in the world, even if his back was against a boulder.
All Gary worried about was Elena. He wanted to help her as much as he could. Anything and everything she wanted, she would get. Which meant that for now, he had to lie there since she was sleeping against him. When she woke, she immediately began to ride him again. If she wanted to use him to make herself feel better, he wasn’t going to stop her. Anything to help.
Eventually, she fell back asleep without saying a word to him outside of screaming his name when she came. As much as they brought a smile to his face, he wanted to frown. He was torn and so very upset.
Elena never should have come here.
Haru never should have asked her to even consider coming.
He hadn’t seen the developer since he had come here. That had to change.
Gary slipped Elena off him. His cock was sore, his balls ached, and not because he wanted to come. He was exhausted, and all he had to do was let her ride him. He hadn’t even been the one to do any of the work. That had all been Elena. Fucking incredible. You never could tell how a girl would be in bed just by looking at her. Elena was a fierce tigress.
But right now, she needed more than just him. She needed her family.
Gary slipped into his clothes and then walked a little bit away from Elena. He wanted to keep an eye on her, but he didn’t want to risk her waking up and finding him gone either.
“Haru?” Gary called softly. “Come on, man. We need to talk. I know you’re watching. Or at least listening. Haru?”
Footsteps sounded, the sand shifting beneath shoes, and Gary turned to see Haru approach. Hmm. Interesting. Gary was almost positive that Haru always walked over to him rather than appearing right in front of him. Couldn’t the developer enter this avatar anywhere he wanted? Then again, Gary wasn’t a gamer. He certainly wasn’t an expert.
“Why the hell aren’t we out of the game yet?” Gary demanded, talking quietly but with plenty of anger.
“Well, isn’t that a pleasant hello. We are doing the best that we can. Allow me to assure you of that.”
“You can take your assurances and shove them up your ass,” Gary said. “Listen, we’ve been patient, as patient as can be, but this is ridiculous. Elena never should have been entered into the game. Her mother has died. She needs to go to the funeral. Get her out now!”
“I understand your frustration, and I sympathize—”
“That sympathy can go up your ass, too,” Gary grumbled. “Are you making any progress at all?”
“We are doing everything we possibly can to get you out of the game. We have tried to run other tests. We have tried to take out sand and rocks. That has failed.”
“Well, maybe that’s because the sand and the rocks aren’t real.”
“In the game, they are,” he said.
“The game isn’t real!”
“It must be if you and your entire body and conscious are within it,” Haru said, the man almost sounding annoyed. He was not the kind to be ruffled easily. “That is why it is so difficult to bring you back out.”
“Fine. The sand and the rocks aren’t originally from the real world. Is that why you can’t get them out of here?”
“I suppose that is possible.”
“So put a dog into the game and get the dog back out. Something living,” Gary suggested.
“Oh, no! We can’t subject an animal to testing like that! It is far too dangerous.”
Gary wanted to strangle the man. “Too dangerous for an animal but not too dangerous for Elena! Is that what you’re saying?”
Haru audibly swallowed. “I… I suppose that you could think that, but honestly, Gary, we cannot in good faith—”
“You know where you can shove your good faith, too,” he grumbled.
“Please, sir—”
“Back to sir, are we? Getting a little hot under the collar, are we?”
“Are you,” Haru countered. “You can rake me over the coals as much as you want for not having gotten you out of the game yet, but we are trying.”
“Try harder. You have a deadline now. Elena has to be back before her mother’s funeral.”
“I do not see how—”
“Fine. No dog then how about a cat? They’re assholes, right? Even cat owners think that sometimes.”
“Mr. Johnson—”
“Don’t you ‘Mr. Johnson’ me!” Gary shouted. He glanced over his shoulder, worried he had woken Elena, but she didn’t stir. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want excuses. You need to find something, anything, alive to bring into the game and then take out. You can’t be certain without tests, right?”
“We are running tests,” Haru started.
“What kind? You aren’t telling me anything specific! All I have is your say-so.”
“And that is all you are going to get, Mr. Johnson. Given your level of education, you wouldn’t understand the depth and breadth of the experiments we are conducting. Trying to explain them to you would be a waste of time. My coming here was a waste of time. I need to go—”
“You need to make this right by Elena. She trusted you all to get her out of her sooner rather than later. Now, because of your incompetence, she might not be able to attend her mother’s funeral. You have to fix this!”
“I understand,” Haru said.
“I know you’re saying you’re trying hard, but it’s not enough. Not nearly fast enough. Not good enough.” Gary couldn’t help himself. He knew he was being a hard ass, but nothing had changed. Yes, they were in a new issue, but they weren’t any closer to getting home, and he was livid. He was going to apply as much pressure as he needed in order to get Haru to the results they needed.
“I did not want to say this,” Haru said slowly.
“What is it?” Gary groaned. “Another problem? Another setback? Has someone else entered the game, someone outside of you and your horde of incompetent developers?”
“There has not been another breach like Samuel August at least. No, there is merely another glitch in the game. Do not worry, though. It shouldn’t affect your gameplay at all. We are working on it.”
“Nothing ever goes smoothly with you, does it?” Gary asked.
“Allow me to assure you that we are doing everything in our power…”
Haru’s lips were moving, but Gary wasn’t listening anymore. He was too angry, too upset, too furious. This was terrible, so very terrible, beyond terrible.
Gary wasn’t normally a violent man. At least he hadn’t been violent before the game. Right now, though, he curled his fingers into a tight fist, and he punched Haru in the face as hard as he could. The developer landed flat on his ass, and he scrambled to his feet.
“Mr. Johnson, that was uncalled for.”
“I can give you a whole list of items that were uncalled for,” Gary said.
“I will not return until we have news for you.” Haru nodded stiffly and walked off into the darkness.
Gary couldn’t help but realize that the Japanese man had said news. He hadn’t specified if he would only come for good news.
I’m sure that the next time I’ll see him is when he has more bad news to share.
Chapter Twelve
Gary returned to Elena and woke her. “We need to find some water and food. I haven’t been able to locate a town yet.”
Elena blinked and stared at him. Then she glanced
down at herself and covered her boobs. “Did we…”
“You don’t remember?” He asked. His heart sank.
“I do. I just… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you. I can’t believe I did that to you.” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Elena. Believe me. You know I want you. I was worried about letting you because I didn’t want you to feel like you were taking advantage of me. You didn’t, though. All of it was consensual.”
“Except for…”
Gary winced. “If you want, we can talk about that now.”
“I’d rather not.” She stood and stretched.
Gary glanced away.
She laughed. “You can look,” she teased.
He did, but at her face, not her boobs. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
“It’ll take time.”
“I know. Dad was worse, of course, but this is hitting me harder than I thought it would.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Still naked, she crossed over to him, lifted onto her toes, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, Elena.”
She grinned. “Yeah, more than most guys, huh?”
“You could say that,” he said, his cheeks growing warm with embarrassment.
“You really can shoot a load into a girl.”
He swallowed hard. “I just… ah… should we? I don’t have any condoms.”
Elena stilled, her eyes opened wide, making her look like a deer in headlights. “I can’t get pregnant. Not now. Not with being in the game.”
“I’m sorry.”
She started to get dressed. “You’ll just have to pull out then.”
He grinned. She didn’t want to stop making love to him, and he didn’t want to stop making love to her.
Even though he should. He really, really should.
Elena had just finished getting dressed when a newcomer approached.
“I can’t believe we aren’t even superheroes anymore,” Nicoletta complained.
Gary jerked, startled to see her. She looked as hot as ever in her fiery superhero outfit, and his cock jumped. Damn it, would his cock ever give it a rest?
