The customer fumed. “This idiot of yours-”
“Uh-uh,” Horace interrupted, raising a finger. He was firm but polite. “Please, let’s not call people names. Now, my employee Martha did...” he let it hang for him to complete the sentence.
The customer eyed him angrily. “The idiot,” he repeated, “brought my kids sugared ice cream. My daughter is diabetic! She can’t eat that.”
“I see.” Horace kept his cool. “Did you ask for non-sugar during your order?”
“Of course I did!” the customer spat out. “What did you think I was, some ignorant father who doesn’t know how to take care of his kids?”
Horace looked around the man. No mom. Two kids, seriously unkempt. He sighed softly. Leave a man talking long enough and he’ll negate exactly the thing that is true by himself. Martha would never do a mistake like that, so it was the customer’s omission. “That is a serious problem, and I’m terribly sorry it happened. Please, let me bring you non-sugar ones.” Horace smiled and remained polite as he picked up the ice creams into a tray.
The customer hesitated. He seemed like he himself couldn’t believe he’d won this unfair argument. Then he screamed, “No!” slapped down the tray and sent ice cream and bowls all over the place. And on Horace’s face.
Horace heard a slap behind him. It was familiar somehow, but he couldn’t remember when he’d heard it before.
“Kick that fucker’s ass,” an angry female voice came from behind.
Horace turned around and saw a familiar dwarf. She kept pounding her small fist into her other palm. “What are you doing here?” he asked, wearily.
“This guy disrespected your woman. Kick his ass in front of his offspring and flaunt it for everyone to see,” Ira said, showing teeth.
She couldn’t be serious, could she? “I’m not gonna do that,” Horace deadpanned and walked back inside, pulling the dwarf by the arm.
“Oh, I see. Let him drop his guard, then sucker punch him. Good plan,” Ira said.
“No,” Horace shook his head, “no plan. Bad plan. Sit down here.” He pushed the angry dwarf lady in a chair. “George, will you please go outside and clean the mess up? Martha, please prepare the same order but with the stevia ice creams? Thank you, both.”
“You’re too fucking polite,” Ira scoffed at him. “How are you supposed to rule with an iron fist with all those please and thankyous?”
“I will not, ‘cause this is just an ice cream shop.”
“Yeah! Soft and weak. Look at him! Don’t you wanna go out and punch his smug face?”
Horace did, actually. But he wasn’t gonna admit that to the insane little lady. “We don’t punch customers in their smug faces.”
“I can see that. And that is precisely why they think they can get away with behaviour like that. They wouldn’t last two minutes if this was 1457.”
Horace felt a migraine climbing the side of his skull. He sniffed. “What are you doing here, Ira?”
“I came to help you carry all that ice cream back home.”
“Gula. Right. Well, let me bring out the leftovers and throw out the tubs.”
He looked around for the garbage bags. They were nowhere to be found, nowhere! He always left them right th-
Fucking George, man.
Chapter 21: Horace
The entire gang went shopping for groceries. It was nice and cool late in the evening. Horace brought ice cream back home with the help of Ira, then they all went out to the supermarket.
They had fun. Acedia called shotgun on the shopping cart once again, and Ira was promptly banned from pushing it, after a close call with a pile of canned food.
“It’s not my fault I can’t see over the cart,” she complained, her face frowning from top to bottom.
“Calm down, sister. I’ll push, you bring the goods to me,” Lux offered and it all went smoothly after that.
Gula wanted to buy everything. Chocolates, candy, frozen meals, frozen pizzas, frozen pies, cornflakes, biscuits, potato chips, ham, croissants. Horace winced at that, but thankfully he’d gotten an advance pay from Zillions and it was all going to evaporate. As the manager, he was getting five times what he’d earn normally. It wasn’t that bad. All in all, the girls had made a mess of his life but the benefits were showing. He felt more confident.
So he just shrugged and piled a ton of food for the chubby woman. She had the sort of begging smile that you couldn’t say no to. Acedia leaned forward and with careful motions piled the things properly so they’d fit.
The chatted and laughed all the way to the cash register. Ira wanted to beat up an old lady who had lost her debit card and was taking too long, but they all held her down. No casualties.
Horace paid for the groceries and it was pretty much what he expected, his entire pay for the day plus ten euro from his debit.
They divided the bags to everyone. Ira carried pretty much everything, she was so strong so they put her to use. Gula opened up chips and munched on them all the way back, Acedia carried the eggs and just the eggs since she was the most careful of them all, and Lux carried her vegetables and beer.
She also teased Horace and he didn’t know how to handle it.
Walking beside him, she winked at him. “You got another token from me. Congrats for scoring yesterday.”
Horace would have rubbed his neck but he was carrying groceries. “Uh... thanks, I guess?”
“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a prude. Sex is a wonderful thing.” She then raised an eyebrow at him.
He liked that look. Or shouldn’t he? Was he with Acedia? This was so confusing.
He turned his head back to Acedia. She walked slowly behind them, both hands on the egg container. She looked animated, having fun, chatting away with Gula.
“Um, Lux, can you tell me something?”
“Anything,” Lux breathed out. The simple reply was like an invitation.
“Not that I’m not having fun with all you around, but is your other sister also coming over to stay with me? Superbia, the one I met a few days ago?”
“Yeah, she’ll come too.”
“And, um, that one has a weird name... Avaritia?”
“Her too. Is that a problem?” she asked, the final word betraying the Russian accent.
“Actually, no, we have room to spare. I’m just asking, you know. Organise things,” he chuckled awkwardly.
Four girls living with him. Plus two more.
He fumbled with carrying the bags over to one hand. He’d need to get his keys ready anyway, he was a the bottom of the steps of the apartment building.
“Let me,” Lux said nasally and slid her hand into his pocket. That gave him a warm, clenching feeling in his crotch. She casually fished out his keys and jingled them in her hand.
Horace grunted. “Thanks, Lux.”
She sauntered ahead and gave him a good look of her ass. She was just wearing blue jeans, but she filled them up nicely. Actually, Luxuria was the kind of woman who would look good in anything.
Dinner was nice. Everybody helped and then they had tons of ice cream, which made Gula’s tummy ache but that didn’t mean she stopped eating it.
They cleaned up and played a board game. Ira kept getting angrier and angrier at her unlucky dice rolls, and everyone else glanced at the others and made a silent agreement to let her win.
She was real happy about winning that night.
Crisis averted.
Everyone went about to prepare for the night. Pyjamas, tooth-brushing, toilets, the proper amount of windows left open, mosquito repellent, music or no music, bags splayed open. The apartment was finally so energetic after such a long time of being just him. Gula came up to him and hugged him goodnight. He was surprised for a second, then hugged her back. He liked hugging her, she was very soft, like hugging a feather pillow. Horace waited for the girls to finish up with the two bathrooms and situated Ira in his parents’ room. He never used it and it was mostly left untouched. It was a bit dusty and Horace apologised,
but Ira didn’t mind. She opened the windows, looked for a duster and only asked for him to do the surfaces that were too high for her.
He did that and she rewarded him with a hearty punch on the arm.
Ow!
Horace stopped at the corridor and checked his stats.
Evil Thought
Tokens
Gula
2
Luxuria
2
Avaritia
1
Superbia
1
Invidia
0
Ira
2
Acedia
3
He thought about their meaning. More specifically, he stared at that ‘2,’and thought about what Lux had said about the three tokens. A rush of smells hit him again from this morning, hair product and patchouli. And a pair of thick, red lips offering anything he wanted to him, as they pursed up to wrap around a beer bottle.
He thought about those lips wrapped around his dick.
Walking to the sofa, he hugged Acedia. She pulled her platinum hair behind her ear and looked up at him, smiling.
“Hey, wanna sleep with me tonight?” he asked softly, kissing her on her thin lips.
Acedia sighed audibly and looked towards his room. “Oh, wow... All the way over there?” she said as if he’d just asked her to traverse the Sahara desert.
He snorted at that. “I’ll carry you. Is that okay?”
“Wow, yes!” she said, excited. She opened her arms, allowing herself to be picked up.
Horace carried her to his bed. She was so light. He could carry most girls, but Acedia was like a feather. He put her down on the bed. She had already changed back into her pyjamas as soon as they came home, and had already taken a couple of naps, one during dinner, and at least one during the board game.
He shut the door and sat next to her. He kissed her softly on the lips, despite his full on lust. He felt like pressing her down on the bed and having his way with her, but she looked so fragile. She kissed him back, hungrily, he noticed. She sucked all of his breath. He pushed her back on the bed and pulled her top up, revealing a pair of small, perky tits. He cupped them and bit on their tips, and she moaned softly, writhing slowly under him.
He knew he’d have to do most of the work, but he didn’t mind. He was so horny after Lux’s constant teasing that he could fuck Acedia two or three times in a row.
But he controlled himself and planned to make passionate, hot love to her. He asked her if she was okay and comfortable plenty of times and she simply said, ‘yes,’ moaning in his ear. So, he pulled her pyjama trousers off and rubbed her pussy. It was warm and wet and inviting. He pulled his own pants down and pressed his tip on her lower lips. She made eye contact with him, excited.
He rubbed the tip of his penis around and he enjoyed teasing her, making her shudder. He leaned down between her thighs and licked her pussy. It had a thin line of blonde hair on top, but was otherwise smooth and delicious. “Paying you back for yesterday night,” he told her and carried on. She squealed with delight as he tasted her. When he couldn’t take anymore himself, he put on a condom and plunged inside her.
She was tight but wet. She felt great around his cock. As he pummelled her, could feel her bony pelvis rubbing on his skin. She came immediately after a couple of thrusts. He let her enjoy it, moving in and out of her slowly as she rode out her orgasm. She pulled his head towards her and he felt her warm, caught breathing as she moaned softly. She bit his earlobe and whispered, “Keep going, I want you to finish too.”
Horace propped himself up from his forearms and had his way with her. The small movements she made drove him crazy, he loved it so much. The woman was so motionless normally that it made him hard just watching her react to his love-making. The only reason he lasted so long was because he was numb from having a semi-erection all evening.
Finally, he came, and he laid beside her, holding her in his arms. She leaned forward a couple of centimetres, kissed him softly on the lips and took a nap right as she was, chin forward. A soft snore came immediately afterwards.
Horace snorted at that and arranged the bed sheet on top of them both. He felt nice, content. Sleep was washing over him.
But something bothered him. Was he forgetting something?
Chapter 22: Horace
He mulled it over and then decided it would be the best course of action. He announced his decision to the sleepy ladies in his apartment and tried to get ready for work.
He severely underestimated how long it took for four women to get ready.
Half an hour late, he was there for work. Thankfully the store was running smoothly for months now and there were no crises to resolve so early in the shift.
He sent the ladies to a table outside to hang out and he went inside.
George was rearranging the ice cream tubs.
“Ugh, good morning, George. What are you doing?”
The man frowned and kept looking at the tubs as if it was a particularly tricky game of chess. “Putting the surplus in the middle, and the flavours we’re about to throw out in the middle and right of the customer. That way they’ll be more likely to pick them. Also, I’m putting the ones that have historically better sales with children like banana and strawberry and cookies in the front row, so they’re right at children-height. That will increase sales on those tubs, and I should make a note for inventory to order more in the next shipment.”
Horace opened his mouth, then shut it with a click. Well, that was certainly a verbose and convincing reply. He pointed at the man like an appreciative manager and said, “You do that,” and moved on.
Martha was cleaning the equipment. Waffles, soda machine, smoothie machine, they all had to be scrubbed each day. Horace had done plenty of that scrubbing and he felt delighted he didn’t have to do it anymore, but a tad guilty as well.
He had skimmed some management books and scrolled through some videos before, but now he wished he had paid more attention to them. He realised he never did so because he didn’t think he’d get a position like that. But now he had, after growing a backbone. He said good morning to Martha and tried to decide what the management books said he was supposed to do.
Scold them for not doing it properly?
Instruct them politely but firmly, since he actually knew how to do it himself?
Inspect their work, hovering over their heads, keeping them on their toes?
Nah, he hated that last bit with every inch of his fibre. He hated when managers did that to him. Just give me a clear task and let me do it, for fuck’s sake!
But he kinda was doing that now, standing there.
He decided to go with his gut. He stepped beside Martha and started scrubbing the equipment next to her. “The both of us will have this done faster, right?”
She hesitated, looked up at him, then said, “Right, Horace. Thank you.” Then went back to scrubbing with twice the intensity.
Opening the store went smooth. Nico called to check in and Horace went through the entire list of preparations he made with the others. Nico begrudgingly admitted that he felt satisfied and announced he was going to the beach with his family.
“I’m starting to realise why I spent so much time away from them,” the man grumbled over the phone.
“Have fun! Don’t worry, I’ll call you immediately if anything happens at the shop,” Horace said on the phone.
Nico mumbled something and hung up.
Right. Now, onwards to actually manage the shop.
It went smoothly for the entire morning. George and Martha handled everything, Horace stepped in at all tasks when they needed to be done quickly, like helping out a customer with lots of orders or cleaning up a table that had stayed a mess for too long. He didn’t mind doing it. The mere fact that it wasn’t his obligation to clean up made it just a thing to be done. If a boss had forced him to clean the tables up, he’d fuss and moan and hate every second of it while doing it to the tee.
; But now, he had responsibility. He took in a breath, looking around the customers who lounged around, enjoying the spot of cool in a hot, summer day. Couples ate from the same cup, teasing each other and looking into each other’s eyes with longing and lust. Families chased their little kids around, trying to contain the mess they made. A few older people came and tried out some new flavours.
Everybody loves ice cream, young and old.
And Horace was responsible for the shop. He felt the burden Nico had placed on his shoulders like a physical thing. It was scary and exciting at the same time. He’d never felt like that before. He had been assigned team leader in a couple of projects in his earlier workplaces but they were in name only, just the guy who reported back to the boss regarding the project. No real responsibility. The owner was away. He had to maintain everything, keep the customers happy, make sure the employees didn’t sit on their asses, handle every little crisis that might show up.
At some point Lux stopped him. He was taking out a trash bag, which he noticed George had placed in a better spot. They were under the cart they used outside and you could just pry one out and start throwing things inside instead of going all the way back. She picked one up and walked beside him. “I noticed you staring at that girl,” she teased.
“What girl?”
“You know which one. Martha. She has a nice butt,” the Russian girl said, clicking her tongue at him.
How could she be so sexy, even when carrying out the trash? This was too much. Horace finally said, “Uh-I guess she does.”
She chuckled. “Look at you, getting all red there on the cheeks!” She threw the trash bag in the green bin. “Let’s make it a bet: If you manage to nail her, I’ll give you one more token.” She poked at his chest with her finger and showed the tip of her tongue.
7 Deadly Roommates Page 6
