“Still rocking around with the Hallowed Kings?” I asked judgmentally, “Burning guild halls and locking off cities?”
“No, actually,” Rachael replied with a look over my shoulder, “I’ll tell you about it after I finish, I should probably go find some real clients.”
“Who says we’re not real clients?” Jane asked with a smirk, pulling a small wad of hundreds from her purse.
“Where did that come from?” I blurted out amusedly, quickly dismissing the thought that she had a disguised bag of holding.
“I didn’t have any singles around,” Jane replied with a shrug before turning back to Rachael, “so, thoughts?”
Rachael seemed genuinely thrown by the cash for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and accepted the money, “Right this way.”
For some reason, I’d expected Sam and Jane to have a quiet little argument on our way over to the roped and curtained off area in the far right corner of the club, but if anything Sam seemed more excited by the prospect of a private dance than her Warbuckian partner.
It almost felt like they’d had a conversation at some point about what they were going to do if they ever found themselves in a strip club, and throwing all their money at the first girl to come their way was a part of their plan.
I wasn’t really thinking through it too much though.
It wasn’t my money and, if I’m being totally honest, after a few seconds my eyes had locked onto Rachael’s toned ass as she led us sultrily into a large private room, something that earned me a discreet little wink over her shoulder after she’d handed the wad of cash to the bouncer just outside.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” she said, gesturing to the curved couch in the corner, “and we’ll get this party started.”
Abandoning any semblance of poise and self-control, Jane and Sam zipped around the circular raised platform in front of the couch, apparently forgetting I was there until they sat and saw me.
“Do you two want me to just head on out?” I chuckled as I stood there with my hands in my pockets next to Rachael, “I’m sure our dancer for the evening won’t mind if I keep the car running.”
“Get in here.” Jane scoffed, shuffling to make room for me between the ecstatic girls.
“As you wish.” I replied before walking over, stepping over Jane’s legs and practically flopping into the space, spurring both the girls to get as close as possible.
“Now,” Rachael said as she stepped up onto the small stage and started dancing, “what would you like to know?”
“For starters, what happened with you and the halos?” Sam asked distractedly, her eyes locked on Rachael’s eyes even while she sensually dipped and swayed, “They’re dicks for sure, but sticking with them would’ve had to have been a whole lot safer than whoever you’re with now.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Rachael chuckled as she ran her fingers up through her hair and slowly turned, “there’s a group even the halos won’t mess with, mostly because if they do they’ll have an uprising on their hands. And as to why I left… Well, let’s just say that I was made aware of just how crappy they were.”
“Still though, wouldn’t it make more sense to join up with us over at the Damned Legion?” Jane murmured, clearly having trouble stringing her thoughts together, let alone a sentence.
“There’s a difference between joining an established guild in the city and outright defecting to the enemy,” Rachael replied matter-of-factly after somehow managing to undo her bra, drop her ass all the way to the floor, and pop back up without snapping her heels or putting her back out, “there’ve been a couple who’ve done that and they aren’t exactly in the most comfortable of living quarters right about now.”
“Then why not just revolt?” I suggested, pretending I wasn’t anxiously waiting for her to turn back around, “Have to imagine there are enough people to at least take a nasty swing at the Hallowed Kings from within.”
“Not everyone’s as brave as you,” Rachael explained as she slowly twirled to face us, her forearm covering her breasts while her free hand held her bra, “or crazy.”
“I don’t appreciate being called crazy,” I chuckled before Rachael limply tossed her bra at Jane, “I won’t deny it, but I don’t appreciate it.”
“Then maybe stop doing crazy things?” Rachael replied amusedly as she stepped off her platform and, after thinking about it for less than a second, turned her body to Sam.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but at the same time I’m not sure I would’ve been able to maintain my composure if she’d come for me, especially not after she’d sultrily moved her arm away and fully revealed her sizeable, gravity-defying breasts.
“So, I hear you three are somewhere in the city,” Rachael said with a smile after Sam had finally given in and looked south of the stripper’s face, “can’t imagine you’ve got a way out, especially now that they’ve got anti-air placements along the docks.”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with something,” I replied, managing to keep my eyes locked with Rachael’s as she delicately put her hands on Sam’s shoulders and dipped her truly awe-inspiring breasts mere inches from her face, “got away from that little force, didn’t we?”
“True,” Rachael agreed, again smiling at how she’d practically hypnotized Sam, before quickly spinning around and half-sitting on her lap, “but the bay security is completely different to some run-of-the-mill patrol.”
“How so?” I asked while watching Sam struggling to hold back her smile as Rachael once again dipped and swayed her mesmerizing ass, “Kill the halos on the AA, fly home.”
“AA doesn’t work like you think it does,” Rachael explained as she got up and rotated over to me, pushing her breasts into my face with what seemed like genuine eagerness, “it runs on the halos’ energy, sure, but they can operate independently as well.”
“Really?” I just barely got out without any sort of vocal cracks, fighting the urge to put my hands on Rachael’s hips after she’d climbed onto me, “Seems kind of risky, doesn’t it?”
“All the best things are.” came Rachael’s whispered response as she discreetly grinded against my unpreventable and obvious erection, “But no, not really. Hits everyone and everything flying that isn’t rocking a halo. That’s why you’ll be hard pressed to find any seagulls within five miles of the shoreline.”
“Damn…” I muttered as Rachael sexily slid down my body without breaking eye contact, her chin grazing against what I hoped Jane and Sam would just think was a bunched up section of my jeans, “Well, I guess we’re taking the water route then.”
“Good luck with that,” Rachael scoffed after whipping her hair back, getting back up to her full height, and turning her ass to me, “you’ll have to nab something from one of the docks, and that’s where all the halos are.”
“If I didn’t know any better,” Sam piped up, having apparently worked through some of her initial stunned silence while Rachael grinded her ass against my ever tightening pants, “I’d assume you were telling us there’s no way out of the city.”
“I never said that,” Rachael replied before shifting her attention to Jane who oddly seemed as disappointed as me about the change, “all I’m saying is you’ll have trouble doing it on your own.”
“Would I be correct in assuming that this new guild of yours might be able to assist us then?” I asked.
“Not directly, no,” Rachael said as Jane, after a few moments of apparently wanting to see her with me some more, finally fell under her hypnotic spell, “but there are people there who can help, and most of them aren’t even in clans.”
“Rogue elements then?” Sam suggested while Rachel brushed her nose up the nape of Jane’s neck and then gently nibbled on her earlobe, “Do you think they can be trusted?”
“I’d say so, yes,” Rachael replied after pulling away from Jane, whose eyes were still fluttering and teeth were still lightly biting her lower lip, “from what I’v
e gathered, they just want to be free to have fun, and they can’t do that with the Hallowed Kings running the show.”
“And they think we’ll be better?” I chuckled, “Seems like a leap of faith on their behalf.”
“Not really,” Rachael disagreed as she stopped and the song I didn’t even notice was playing slowly faded away, “even if you do take on some kind of grand leadership role, you’re still a chaotic element who’s clearly on the warpath to anarchy.”
“They want that?” Jane scoffed, handing Rachael her bra as she did, “We’ll be at the top and even I have concerns about it.”
“Anarchy is the ultimate freedom as far as everyone’s concerned,” Rachael explained after whipping her wig out of her face and doing her bra back up, “no curfew, no patrols, just people having a good time.”
“That’s the hope, anyway.” I said, getting to my feet and pretending for a moment that I’d thought that far ahead, “Well, this has been fun.”
“That it has,” Sam agreed while Rachael and I shared a little smile, “you walking home?”
“I’m not a huge fan of getting kidnapped and eaten, so no,” Rachael half-joked, “I’ve got a bike out back.”
“Like… a bicycle?” Jane asked.
“Like a motorbike,” Rachael chuckled, “can’t go as fast as I like on bicycle, and I definitely don’t get to feel that warm engine rumbling through my thighs and vibrating my whole body.”
Typically, that would’ve been when I pulled the trigger and asked if she was hitting on me, but given my girlfriends were at my shoulders and I wasn’t quite clear on how far that ‘open relationship’ thing went, I didn’t want to go causing trouble.
“So, I guess I’ll see you guys in Echo then?” Rachael asked after a few moments of somewhat tense silence.
“Sure hope so.” I replied, “Where should we go to find you and your guild?”
“Where do you think, spastic?” Rachael laughed, looking over her shoulder at the bouncer as he parted the curtain and politely tapped his watch, “This place hasn’t just got a good reputation out here. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”
And with that, she left, giving myself and the girls a few seconds to collect ourselves before heading out and making for the exit.
The whole thing had been an experience to say the least, and as we stepped out into the cold night air I couldn’t help but feel like it brought us closer together as a couple.
Well, short of the borderline infidelity, I was giving myself a pass though, if only because it wasn’t my idea.
“Crap.” Sam muttered under her breath as we rounded the corner that led to the car.
“What’s wrong?” Jane asked, obviously baffled that any of us could be anything less than giddy at that moment.
“The buffet,” Sam sighed disappointedly, “we didn’t try the buffet.”
“Don’t worry,” I chuckled, wrapping my arms around both their shoulders and pulling them close, “there’s always next week.”
24
“Hey…” Sam sang innocently as we entered the girls’ apartment, “do you think there’s any chance we’d be able to go on a little adventure tomorrow?”
Naturally, I was somewhat confused by the question, not least of all because I figured on our way back we’d all but agreed to get straight into Echo when we got home.
“What kind of adventure?” I asked, trying and failing to hide how exhausted I was with false enthusiasm.
“Well, you know how you own ten percent of Ripper?” Sam replied while Jane and I clumsily got our clothes off, “My boss kind of wants to have a little conversation with you about that…”
“Does she think he doesn’t have a claim to it or something?” Jane yawned, “Because you can tell her to go right to Hell.”
“Nothing like that,” Sam replied, shaking her head almost too violently, “it’s just that she thinks you two could come to an agreement that’s… mutually beneficial.”
“If this is about what I think it’s about, I’ll have to talk to…” I trailed off as I struggled to remember the dev’s name, “It was something manly and Brutis-Bruce! Yes, Bruce. I’ll have to talk to Bruce about it first.”
“I mean, you don’t have to,” Sam said with a shrug, “they are your points.”
“Sure, but I still feel like it would be kind of crappy of me to sell off what I have without talking to him first.” I replied assuredly, “Besides, it’d be good to touch base with the guy.”
“Alright,” Sam agreed somewhat begrudgingly, “but do you think you could talk to him before tomorrow?”
“I’ll try my best.” I chuckled before getting hit with a panicking realization, “I have work tomorrow. Not ‘til midday, but I kind of need to be there.”
“Why?” Jane asked after handing me my login nipple on our way to the bedroom, “Sorry if that’s a weird question, but you seem to have been covering literally everyone else’s shifts, why can’t you have tomorrow off?”
“It’s Saturday,” I replied, briefly baffled by her not immediately knowing what that meant for a chef, “calling in sick on a Saturday would be like… I don’t know, ditching the party on raid night.”
“It’ll be fine,” Sam said after somehow stripping and beating both Jane and I to the bed, “boss likes to get things out of the way before lunch anyway. She’s tough though, and cunning.”
“I’ve seen Dragons’ Den, I know what billionaires are like.” I joked before giving up on being remotely shy and stripping down to nothing, “Anyway, you guys have fun tonight?”
“Are you kidding?” Sam laughed as Jane and I finally joined her under the covers, “Honestly, I struggled not to try and get her to come home with us.”
“You too?” Jane gasped, “I thought it was just me.”
“Really?” I scoffed with a smile, “You didn’t seem all that into it.”
“I was,” Jane replied, her cheeks going a faint pink as she did, “I just… There was something about the way she was with you that just… I can’t put it into words.”
“Maybe stop using ‘just’,” Sam chuckled, “seems to trip you up a bit. For real though, she did seem to have a bit of a thing for you. Do you know her?”
“Eh, not really.” I replied nonchalantly, pretending that Sam’s observation hadn’t piqued my interest, “But you two would really be down for that? Getting someone else in on our fun little trio?”
“Maybe,” Jane said with a shrug before letting a cheeky little grin spread across her face, “would probably want to get a bigger bed first.”
“Yeah, heh…” I huffed amusedly as I got the login device in position, “See you guys down there.”
25
To my surprise, I was absolutely brimming with energy once I landed in my digital body, like I’d just pounded a sixer of Red Bull simultaneously and started snorting sherbet.
“You guys feel that?” Sam asked as we all shot out of the bed, “That… buzzing?”
“I think the game knows we’re in dangerous territory,” Jane replied, “that or someone’s been injecting us with pure go juice.”
“Let’s assume the former,” I chuckled as I bee-lined for the door, “I’ll meet you guys in the hall.”
“Where are you going?” Jane called after me, “Shouldn’t we be sticking together?”
“I’ve got to get a shirt that isn’t torn to shit,” I shouted over my shoulder without stopping, “and I’m assuming you guys’ll want to change as well.”
I think Jane said something after that, but I was still tingling after the pulsing reintroduction to the game and was more focused on not having a heart attack.
Thankfully, the pinging sensation waned as I got dressed, like my body was accepting that I was prepared for a fight if it came, which seemed to be shared among all of us once we met up at the top of the stairwell.
“No guns?” I asked.
“Out of ammo,” Jane replied with a shrug, “plus, I figured we’d probably want to avoid drawing too
much attention to ourselves.”
“Good call.” I agreed before turning slightly serious, “From this point, no stopping. We’ve got to get to the club as quickly as possible, and we can’t afford to get ourselves killed, especially not Jane.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Sam replied confidently, tapping one of the pistols under her arms, “and I’m assuming that there’s a reason the club was chosen as the safe place because, you know, it’s safe.”
“I know,” I agreed, forcing myself to calm down a little more, “I just feel like we’re close, so close, and the last thing we need is to have the rug pulled out from under us now.”
“If you keep pinging like this, you’re just going to trip.” Jane said reassuringly, “Now come on, we’ve got to get home.”
It felt good to be on the same page as them, and it felt even better to have two people there to keep me chilled, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something very wrong.
A ‘You cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby’ kind of wrong.
“You hear that?” Sam asked, grinding us to a halt just outside a familiar door.
“I don’t hear anything, let’s go.” Jane replied, tugging on my arm as she did as if I was the one who’d stopped us.
“Listen…” Sam whispered before taking a step closer to the door, “It’s like… breaking glass?”
“There’s probably breaking glass then.” Jane murmured somewhat indignantly, “City’s been kind of messed up since Carl went Ark of the Covenant on it.”
Then I heard it, a smash followed by a giggle.
“That!” Sam near-silently exclaimed, her eyes and smile widening, “That sounds like a hostage to me.”
“No, Sam!” I called out quietly.
I was too late though, Sam had already busted the door open and forced us to get ready for a shootout.
“Hello!” the female Elf let out cheerfully as she noticed us, turning away from her collection of smashed plates and cups, “Did Carl send you?”
Echo Online 2 Page 11
