The Athlete

by Elin Peer

  Shelley’s eyes softened. “Of course not. But it would be nice if you could stop stressing about my mess.”

  Marco laughed and looked over at me and Finn. “It’s a mystery to me how someone as intelligent as Shelly can’t seem to remember the most basic things. I swear, sometimes I get in the kitchen and find food on the counter and five of the cabinet doors opened.”

  “You know how I am when I get a sudden burst of inspiration. I run to my office.”

  While we continued discussing the subject of roommates, I ordered takeout and when Emanuela came home, I introduced her, “Everyone, this is my roommate and captain, Emanuela Cervicci, who also happens to be the sister of Jonah Cervicci, the new Council member.”

  That last piece got their attention. “Whoa, congratulations. You must be proud of your brother for making history like that. Who would have thought we would ever have a man on the Council?”

  “I’m very proud. He had his first day yesterday and I’m still pinching my arm. There were at least eight other men who came close to being elected, and Jonah says that if he does well, the council could have a new wave of ten or twenty men joining for the next election in three years.”

  I smiled. “Jonah is pretty cool for a Motlander.”

  Emanuela beamed. “Of course he is. He’s my brother.”

  “Anyway, you might remember Finn, and these are my friends, Shelly and Marco. They used to be assisting mentors at my old school.”

  Emanuela walked over and greeted them. “It’s nice to meet you again, Finn, and I’ve heard a lot about you, Shelly.”

  “What about me, have you heard about me?” Marco teased her.

  “Only from Hunter.”

  “And what did he tell you?”

  “Ehh…” Emanuela looked to me and back. “I heard that you like soccer and that you married Shelly.”

  Marco swung his head to me. “That’s all you had to say about me?”

  Finn grinned. “At least it was accurate. You should hear the rumors I’ve heard about me and Athena.”

  “What rumors.”

  “That Athena is a witch.”

  “But weren’t you the one who started that rumor?” Shelly asked.

  “Yes. But it was so outlandish that I can’t believe anyone believed it.”

  “Did it upset Athena?”

  Finn chuckled and shook his head at my question. “Have you met Athena? A few silly rumors wouldn’t shake her world.”

  Emanuela gave a sympathetic sigh. “I’ve learned that it comes with fame. There’s been a lot of rumors about me too over the years.”

  “So you didn’t buy a puppy to distract people from a case of inappropriate communication?”

  “I did. That rumor is true.”

  When Finn looked around she quickly added, “Tiny lives with my family. She has a better life at the park than here with me.”

  “Why? Are you mean to puppies?” Shelly looked serious.

  “No, but I travel a lot with the Dolphins and my family lives by a forest and they have other dogs for her to grow up with. Anyway, did you already eat? I’m starving.”

  “No, Hunter ordered some take-out for us, right?” Shelly was looking at me.

  “I did; it should be here any second and there should be plenty, but how come you’re not out to dinner with the rest of the team?”

  “I was planning to but Donna and Amy pulled me aside to discuss an action plan.”

  I let out a deep groan. “Let me guess, it had something to do with me.”

  Emanuela came to sit next to me on the wide windowsill where a soft cushion made it a nice reading nook. “Your name came up.”

  “What now?”

  “Are you sure you want me to tell you in front of your friends?”

  I shrugged. “Just spit it out.”

  “Management would like for you to start dating.”

  Shelly lit up. “Ohh, that’s a great idea, Hunter. You could be one of my first test persons.”

  “What are you talking about?” My question was for Emanuela, but it was Shelly who answered.

  “I’ve been working on different ideas for pregnancy prevention. My initial idea was to combine it with a way for women not to have their period. It seems unnecessary that millions of women suffer each month when such nonsense was an easy fix hundreds of years ago, but once I began looking into it I found a series of discarded ideas in our database.”

  Emanuela pulled her chair closer. “Whose database?”

  “Advanced Technologies. I work for them. Some of the ideas were outlandish, but we made prototypes of the ones that had merit and they should all be safe. At least the tests we did in the laboratory deemed them safe. What I would love your feedback on is the consumer experience.”

  Finn sounded like a proud father when he spoke: “Shelly is on a mission to bring back some of the technology that was lost after the war.”

  Shelly gave him a smile and turned her attention to Emanuela and me. “Would you two be willing to test some products for me?”

  Emanuela and I exchanged a look before I answered, “What kind of relationship do you think we have?”

  Shelly blinked her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, I just assumed that since you were roommates you were having sex.”

  “Why would I be having sex with my roommate?” My heart started hammering. These past ten days, my attraction to Emanuela had only intensified, but I knew for a fact that she still wasn’t interested. Twice I’d pretended to be sleeping and lightly touched her arm. Both times, she’d moved away.

  “It’s my mistake. It’s just that when Marco and I were roommates, we experimented.”

  “You did?” This time it was Emanuela asking.

  “Yes. I’m a curious person and since it was my job to develop sex-bots for the Nmen, Marco agreed to let me get some practical experience with him.”

  Finn’s laughter filled the room. “I can’t imagine that it took you long to talk him into that agreement.”

  “Actually…” Marco had a soft smile on his lips. “Shelly forgot to ask me before initiating her experiment. I thought I was testing the world’s most natural-looking sex-bot and only later did I realize that I’d had sex with a real woman for the first time.”

  “No way.” Emanuela’s eyes were large. “But, Shelly, if you didn’t get his consent that would constitute a sexual assault.”

  Marco leaned back and placed his arm around his wife while looking at Emanuela. “I assure you that I’m not traumatized. Why do you think I volunteered to continue the experiments?”

  I shifted in my seat. “But, Marco, weren’t you afraid of falling in love?”

  “I don’t think I really understood the danger. Not until we found out that Shelly was pregnant and I realized that she could take my son or daughter and move back to the Motherlands without me. That’s when I panicked for real.”

  Shelly caressed his hand. “Which is why I suggest that if you two start experimenting you should use one of the products to protect yourself from pregnancy. I brought some because I figured that you would be having a lot of sex, Hunter.”

  I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. “You were wrong?”

  “But I saw all your fans at the stadium. I’m sure you could have a new woman every night if you wanted to.”

  Shelly’s words and the way she looked at me, like it was a given that I wanted sex with a variety of women, made me feel flustered and hot.

  “Actually, next week my brother Cole is taking Hunter to a sex club called Experi.” Emanuela straightened up as she told them. “It’s short for experiment and it’s operated by my family.” She turned and looked at me. “If you think you have the ability to make a woman pregnant naturally, be sure to use the sperm-killing sprays they have standing around.”

  “Right.” I licked my lips and scratched my nose. “But the thing is, I’m not sure I’m going.”

  “Why not?” Finn asked.

  “Because at first a sex club sounded excit
ing but the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

  Shelly gave me a smile. “It’s normal to be nervous before your first time.”

  “That’s not it.”

  “Ah, are you afraid you’re going to come too fast and disappoint the women there.”

  “No, Shelly.” I scrunched my face. “And before you ask, my cock isn’t deformed either.”

  Shelly leaned back and looked at Marco with her eyes wide open. “I wasn’t going to ask that. I really wasn’t.”

  “I know, honey.” Marco took her hand and gave me a curious glance. “So what’s holding you back then?”

  I sighed. “I’m not sure that I can separate sex and feelings, and I don’t want to get hurt.”

  “That’s a bummer.” Finn scratched his beard. “No Nman has ever had the chance to experiment with multiple partners.”

  “I know, which is why I’m torn. I mean what man doesn’t want sex, but I’m not sure I trust myself to not get attached.”

  Emanuela got up to open the door for the delivery robot and brought over the different boxes and some plates.

  “You know, Hunter, there might be a way for you to have sex with different women in the club without falling in love with any of them. If you use the sensory deprivation room you would never have to see their faces.”

  I was about to set my teeth into a slice of pizza, but froze.

  Finn leaned forward. “What’s a sensory deprivation room?”

  “It’s a room for people who enjoy being deprived of their normal senses while having sex.”

  Shelly moved to the edge of her seat. “Interesting, tell us more.”

  “Well.” Emanuela looked around the room. “There are different variations. The most extreme one I’ve seen was a woman tied up, blindfolded, and with earplugs. It made it impossible for her to touch, see, or hear her sex partner.”

  “But why?” Shelly’s tone was full of wonder.

  “I asked the woman that same question and what she told me was that the flow of adrenaline she got from being vulnerable added another element of excitement. Also, being deprived of sight and hearing makes the touch from your sex partners feel more acute. Apparently, it enhances the sexual pleasure.”

  Shelly and Marco turned to look at each other, and Finn leaned back in his chair again with a smug smile on his face.

  “Are you sure you weren’t that woman?” I asked Emanuela. “You sound awfully experienced when it comes to sex.”

  “That’s because I’m great at observing things.”

  “She’s right, though,” Marco pointed out. “If you are blindfolded, you wouldn’t have to worry about falling in love.”

  “Hmm.” Finn stabbed his fork in the container of pasta salad he was holding. “But would you be willing to give up control like that? Athena once tied me up, and I hated it.”

  “Athena tied you up?” Shelly smiled with excitement. “This is turning into the best conversation ever. Why did she tie you up?”

  “To make sure I didn’t touch her while she was sleeping.”

  Shelly straightened up. “That’s odd. I mean you’re married and have three children together.”

  Finn groaned. “She doesn’t tie me up now. It was before we got married. It was my own fault for tying her up the first night I met her.”

  Emanuela looked at me with a glance that I interpreted as Who the hell are these people? So I hurried to say, “I think I told you that Finn married Athena, one of your priestesses, didn’t I?”

  Finn added, “We had a rough start to our relationship but it wasn’t my fault. You see, my best friend Magni had just kidnapped Athena and I was asked to keep her safe.” He placed his hands on his knees. “Anyway, that’s all water under the bridge now. The point is that my wife isn’t into soccer and chose to stay home with the kids. But maybe you and Hunter can visit us soon. You’ll love Athena. Everybody does, and I’m proud that she calls me her spiritual gangster.” Finn squared his chest with pride and laughed. “I’m telling you, Hunter, if you can find a woman like mine, you won’t need any blindfolds or sexual experiments with other women.”

  “I second that,” Marco chimed in. “I think you should consider the dating part. Fucking strangers doesn’t sound half as fun as falling in love and starting a family with the woman you love.”

  “I’m not interested in giving my heart to a Motlander who doesn’t appreciate it.”

  “In that case the sensory deprivation room sounds like a good alternative,” Finn concluded and took another bite of his pasta.

  “Talking about weddings.” Shelly tilted her head to one side. “Willow and Solo’s wedding is this weekend and we can’t figure out what to give them. Do you have any suggestions?”

  “No.” I looked down.

  “Willow didn’t tell you what they want?”

  I knew what my sister wanted. She wanted me to forgive her for marrying the man I had spent seven years protecting her from. She wanted me to come to the wedding and be happy for her. “No, I don’t know.”

  “What are you giving them?”

  I coughed a little, feeling the pressure in my chest increase. My sister had called me endless times and I knew from her many messages that they had already postponed the wedding once in the hope that I would come around. A few times I’d been close to picking up the call, but the truth was that I hadn’t spoken to Willow at all since I left the Northlands.

  Emanuela sensed my unease and changed the subject. “Donna and Amy wanted me to tell you that they are collecting a list of suitable women for you to date.”

  “How is that going to work if you don’t want to fall in love?” Marco was looking down at his plate and pushing the broccoli to the side.

  I turned and frowned at Emanuela. “Can’t it be enough that I am sharing an apartment with you?”

  “Those are two different things. My role is to help you feel at ease around women. But I can’t give you what all Nman want.”

  “Which is?” I raised my eyebrows and kept my tone flat, as I found it ridiculous for Motlanders to assume that ten million men wanted the same thing.

  “You would know that better than me.”

  “I think she means a family. We all dream of having our own family.”

  “Thank you, Marco.” Emanuela gave him a sweet smile. “That’s what I thought.”

  Two hours later, Finn, Shelly, and Marco said their goodbyes, telling Emanuela that they hoped to see her again soon.

  “Hunter, you should bring her to the wedding,” Shelly suggested. “I’ll bet you’ve never seen a wedding, have you?”

  “No.” Emanuela looked from Shelly to me. “I would love to go, if you’ll take me.”

  I was still struggling with the whole idea of the wedding, and so the expression on my face wasn’t the nicest one and neither was my answer: “Don’t count on it.”

  Emanuela kept up a polite façade in front of our guests but as soon as they were gone, she disappeared into the bedroom.

  For half an hour, I sat in deep thought in the living room before I called my sister.

  CHAPTER 11

  Hunter’s Secret

  Emanuela

  There was only so much I could take in one day.

  Pacing my bedroom, I thought about going for a run to release some of the anger and frustration I felt, but my feet were tired from the game we had played today.

  Hunter might be dating soon and I couldn’t even comprehend how that would complicate things between us.

  After the game today, Amy had asked me to sit down with her and Donna to talk about Hunter. I was so tired of being dragged into his issues, but at least today’s meeting had shed a bit of light on what had messed him up to begin with. With a deep groan, I sat down on my bed, my thoughts going back to today’s meeting.

  “I know you want to go and have dinner with the team, Ema, but I’ve had a request from Hunter’s sister and I thought we could take a minute to discuss it.” Amy signale
d for me and Donna to sit down on one of the colorful stools in the brainstorming room.

  “What was her request?”

  “The thing is that she’s concerned about him.”

  “Okay.” I waited for her to continue.

  “The sister’s name is Willow. She’s a Motlander like us and very nice. Anyway, she cares deeply about her brother, which is why she has asked for our help in making him happier.”

  Donna nodded and smiled. “But of course, that’s what we’re here for.”

  “Yes, that’s what I said.” Amy’s body had been swallowed by the mega cushion she sat on, and from the way her shoulders were pushed forward she looked like she didn’t have a neck. “Willow suggested that he might enjoy his time here more if he found love.”

  “Love?” Donna’s eyes rounded as she straightened on the large ball she was sitting on.

  “Yes, love. Which is why I’ve agreed to help Hunter by setting him up on dates.”

  I scrunched up my face. “Are you even sure he wants to date?”

  Donna gave me a not-so-patient look. “All Nmen are obsessed with the idea of finding a mate and starting a family. It’s in their DNA. I too have worried about Hunter; I think we all have. This is an excellent idea.”

  Amy nodded. “Willow gave me some input on his taste in women.”

  “Did she? And what are those?” Donna leaned closer to Amy.

  “I noted it down. Oh, here it is. Blonde hair, blue eyes, with generous curves. If possible a dancer.”

  I tensed up at the description of a woman my exact opposite.

  At the same time Donna brushed her blonde hair back and smiled with satisfaction. “Sounds like he should be dating me. I’m a great dancer and I fit the description.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Amy fiddled with her hands.

  Donna dismissed her. “I think it’s an excellent idea, and don’t forget that Hunter and I are both adults.”

  I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Yeah but you’re, what, fifteen years older than him?”

  Donna’s tone hardened. “Nine years older. Which gives me a maturity and confidence that I’m sure he will benefit from.”