Chapter 15: Return of The Mack

I hadn’t been on Harmony more than a few seconds before my beautiful blonde Caretaker leapt upon me with the ferocity of an adorable tiger. The small wave of dizziness hit me - the residual effects of Traveling - but it was easy to ignore with Lila, so sweet and so fair, trying to eat my tongue. She latched her mouth onto mine and moaned into me, her intensity rattling my teeth and sending shivers down my spine. When she finally broke free, I was even dizzier, drunk on Lila.

“Oh Duncan baby, you were so good out there,” she said, showering me with kisses like a lovesick teenager. “I knew you could do it. I knew you had it in you.” I grabbed her by the waist and soaked up the love. It feels incredible to be appreciated, but my elation wasn’t entirely due to Lila.

Something magical happened back there on Discord 11. I know that what I did was simply an application of advanced technology, but that didn’t change the way I felt helping those people, or the way they must have felt having a beloved child being given back to them. The sheer emotion of the act had made me weak in the knees. It was magical - my own storybook adventure, and yet, part of what made it so special is that it was simple act of kindness from one person to another.

Father Hoebotten had told me that he never would forget what I did for him, and likewise, I would never forget the look on his face, having his joy, his world, returned to him. Even after giving five years to the army, and serving two tours in Afghanistan, it was unquestionably the greatest feeling I had ever experienced, being able to finally help someone who truly needed it. So this is what being a hero is all about... The additional perks weren’t bad, either.

My entire body seemed to tingle as Lila’s wriggling body atop mine began to give me pleasure of an altogether different persuasion. She leaned back and cradled my face in her hands, looking at me like I’d just cured cancer, even it was only a bad case of gangrene. There were tears in her eyes.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said, and I could see from her expression that she meant it. I pulled her close to me, and gave her a big smooch, just to let her know that the feeling was mutual.

“I could never have done without you,” I told her. “Your timing was clutch, and those words ... you wrote all that. That was all you. I just handled the delivery.”

“Well, you handled it expertly,” she said, “though they should give me a medal for that bit with the sunbeams and clouds. You’d think altering the weather would be simpler than reviving a dead girl, but you’d be wrong.”

“You were incredible,” I said, kissing her again. “Damn, that felt amazing.” I had joined the army to help people like that but it always seemed disconnected somehow, never this direct. This was an physical act that I was able to do for another, not my military button-pushing from a thousand miles away ... and it felt really, really good. Lila smiled brighter, and snuggled her butt against my crotch with a little more force.

“And now it’s my turn to make you feel really, really good.” She stuck out her tongue playfully. “Computer, bring up the score screen.” The wall behind her lit up with numbers and statistics, framed by a backdrop of Foggy Bottom seen from above. “Now let’s get this over with quickly, so I can fuck your brains out.” Instant erection.

“Yes ma’am,” I said. “Please proceed.”

“You don’t mind if I continue sitting here, do you?” she said, swiveling atop my lap so she could see the screen. She turned 45 degrees and draped her legs over the arm rest, before grinding her booty back into place. “You’re very comfortable.”

“You can sit anywhere you want,” I replied. “My face is really comfortable, too.” That made her laugh.

“Anyways!” she began. “It was an easy mission so you earned five points there. And then there are three to five tertiary areas of performance that vary depending upon the mission. For this trial, they were “Application” or effective administration of the miracle, “Showmanship,” which is how convincingly you performed the miracle, and “Psychological Impact,” the amount and quality of the happy vibes your miracle instilled in the populace.”

“That’s very interesting,” I droned, and took the liberty of reaching behind her as she spoke to work down the zipper of her jumpsuit. By the time she got to “happy vibes,” her back was bare to me, and I could think of nothing else but banging some happy vibes into Lila for the next several hours.

“Suffice it to say, you earned a “Flawless” in all three disciplines, earning you an additional ten point bonus for perfect mission performance.”

Once finished with the zipper, I snuck my hands into the folds to reach around her back and grip onto her perfect breasts. Flawless indeed... I gave her nipples a little pinch, eliciting a whimper. “You’re not gonna let me finish this, are you?”

“Not my fault. These need squeezing.” She swiveled back around toward me and started pulling her arms free of her sleeves.

“Actually, it is kinda your fault. Remember the Caretaker Selection program? While it’s true that you didn’t create me, and rather selected me from an available pool of girls in cryosleep, it is also true that Caretakers are physically modified by your choices.”

“So this ass...” she wiggled her butt against my rapidly responding shaft, “looks the way it does because of you. And these...” She peeled her shirt down to her waist, revealing perfect breasts capped with excited ruby nipples, “ ... are precisely your fault.”

“Neat,” I said. “Best two mistakes I ever made.” I leaned in and latched onto a nipple with my lips, but Lila playfully slapped me in the cheek hard enough to sting a little.

“Down boy!” she said, giggling. “You need to let me finish so you can unlock me officially. Otherwise, it would be against the rules.”

“Oh come on! What are they gonna do? Give me a slap on the wrist?” I didn’t know who “they” were in this case, but surely Harmony had a governing body or authoritative “wrist-slappers” of some sort.

“They will kick you out of Harmony,” she said. “Forever. The rules are simple and relatively easy to follow but the punishment for breaking them is severe: permanent, non-negotiable ejection from Harmony.”

“Yowza,” I said, releasing her boobs and raising my hands. “I’ll behave. I swear.”

She winked at me “Not too much.” She turned her back to me again and grabbed my hands, bringing my palms around to her breasts with a smack. “Now, you may squeeze, but we gotta finish this before we get down to brass tacks.”

“Brass tacks?” I said, amused by her choice of words. “Is that how we’re going to refer to my balls?”

We were interrupted by a soft chime and the voice of the computer assistant. “Lord Prince is without, my Lord. Shall I permit him entry?”

“You shall not,” I said, irritated. I just performed a miracle, for crying out loud. Can’t I have a private moment with my Caretaker in peace? “Tell him to come back in an hour.” Despite my protest, the door swooshed open and Prince walked in wearing a towel around his waist, once again flanked by the most beautiful man in the universe, Adagio.

You know, I totally dig chicks, but if I HAD to be gay, you know, really HAD to...

“Thanks a million, computer,” I said, removing my hands once more from Lila’s lovelies. “Traitor.”

“Apologies, my Lord,” the computer responded, actually sounding hurt. “I told him but...”

“But I’m Optio Candidatus,” Prince said. “I can do whatever I want.” He suddenly smiled wide. “But super job out there, buddy. Honestly. That was the best trial run I’ve ever seen. Well done!” Both he and Adagio gave me some lighthearted claps. Then “C’mon,” he jerked his head toward the door behind him. “We hold debriefings together in Courtney House. Kai’s waiting. Get out here.”

“But I...” I looked at Lila pitifully. “But we...”

“Let’s go,” he said. “We’re just going to the bathhouse. Lila can come too.” They turned around and went back through the door.

“But the ... score summary?” Lila hopped off my lap, laughing, and turned to me.

“Oh, so now you want to do your score summary, huh?” She quickly shimmied her catsuit the rest of the way down, before pulling her legs through. Once I managed to pull my jaw off the floor, I struggled to find the words. My beautiful lady stood before me wearing nothing but a smile.

“Oh my ... you are stunning!” Despite having seen her the night before, she was even more breathtaking in full lighting. She was completely bare of not only hair, but stubble as well, and her lips were glistening with arousal; both sets.

“Thanks. Now let’s go. No clothes allowed in the bathhouse. Courtney House rules.” Finally, some rules I can get behind... She skipped cutely over to the doorway and leaned against the frame sensually, jiggling the ass I had apparently designed in selection. I’d chosen well.

“Coming,” I said, stumbling to my feet. Or will soon, hopefully... I chased her through the doorway like a horse after a carrot.

On the other side, the waters of Courtney Bathhouse awaited, the large lima-bean-shaped pool steaming and smelling faintly of lilac and ... something else. What is that? Gooseberries? The patterned emerald and black bricks rose on all sides to form an irregular Byzantine dome at the top, but they only let in enough light to grant a relaxing, sexy glow to the room. As before, there were several naked girls lounging at the far end. One pointed at me as I entered and they fell into giggles and hushed whispers. I looked to Lila.

“Is that because of Gerald?”

She smiled in return, giving me her best teenager impression. “You’re like totally famous.”

We walked around the pool to where Kai lounged on the steps of the pool, cute little Piper leaning against him. Prince and Adagio approached the nearest wall, untying their towels and hanging them onto a set of pegs there. I’m not sure what I had expected, but Adagio actually wasn’t that large. Still, it was a very handsome penis.

I swallowed my pride and disrobed, hanging my clothes next to theirs on the pegs, and quickly followed my goddess into the waters of the pool, sitting aside the steps like the other two heroes. The waters seemed to be effervescent, bubbling around my skin like a giant tub of Alka Seltzer.

As I sat, I felt the bubbles tickling under my balls. It felt amazing, and I remembered Lila saying that these waters were infused with healing properties similar to the red goopy slop of the rejuvenation tubes.

Lila sat next to me, and Kai actually smiled and gave me a bit of half-assed applause. “Well done,” he said. “Truly.”

“Uhh ... thanks?” I replied. I hadn’t expected congratulations from him after his petty bullshit earlier. “I really can’t take credit,” I said, turning to Lila. “I had good support.”

“I wasn’t talking about the miracle,” he said. “I was talking about designing your caretaker.” He whistled at her. “Very sexy.” I felt a surge of schoolyard rage at the catcall. DON’T YOU BE TALKIN’ BOUT MY LILA! He narrowed his eyes at me, challenging me, daring me to call him out. I was close to falling for it, too.

“Just ignore him,” Prince advised. “Shit’s so typical. Mad at the world like every teenager. Next, he’ll be wearing black eye-shadow, listening to emo pop, and screaming about how no one understands him.”

Kai looked like he was about to make a retort but Prince cut him off with a look. “Stop,” he insisted, “Or I’ll suspend you for the week.”

“Before tonight?” Kai spat. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Look, I don’t know who you owe money to or why, but are you really prepared to ask them for another week?” Kai said nothing, and not so quickly averted his eyes.

“That’s what I thought.” He turned to me and smiled. “So Duncan, great fucking job man.”

“Again, thanks,” I said. “Look, can we make this quick? I...” I looked to Lila. “Sorry. We really need to celebrate.”

“This won’t take long,” Prince said. “And you actually earned yourself a few hours of down time, but I’ll get to that in a second.” He turned to Adagio. “Bring it up, please.” Adagio flicked his wrist in a half-hearted manner and a giant 12ftx12ft hologram of my score screen appeared in front of us, floating above the water.

“So you kicked some serious ass just now,” he said. “And earned a good chunk of change. Good thing too, because we need to make a few purchases if you expect to survive tonight. So, first things first, you’ll need to purchase the Earpiece and Translator bio-implants immediately. I take it that you understand how critical they are now?”

“Yes, definitely,” I said. After seeing how helpful Lila could be on Discord, I’d imagined it would be quite disabling to be without her support. “Agreed.”

“Alright, so I know you think 54 coins is a lot but it’s going to go very quickly. That’s 20 coins right off the top, 10 per.”

“Shit,” I said, starting to worry. “Alright, what else do I need?”

“You’re going to need Tier One weapons and armor packages in order to bring them on missions, which is another 5 coins each, and you’ll also need a skill-pack so you can wield the weapons with any sort of ability. Skill-packs are like ... uhh ... you ever see the Matrix?”

“I know Kung Fu?” I offered.

“Exactly,” he said. They alter your so-called muscle-memory and some other shit to give you the coordination and balance to fight like someone who knows how to wield ... well, whatever you want to wield ... It’s weird, you don’t know why you can fight better, you just do.”

“Nice,” I said. “Do I get to pick the weapon?”

“Sort of. You’ll need to choose from the three basic packages - scratchers, pokers, or beaters. Those will be your standard swords, spears, and maces and it will run you another 10 coins. If you choose to go exotic at a later point in time, like Kai with his katana or me with my glaive, that’ll be a further 25.”

“Wow, this stuff is expensive as hell. What’s that, 40 coins already?”

“Yep,” he said, scratching behind his head. “ ... and we’re not finished. You’ll need access to the Courtney Bathhouse eventually, but like the Earpiece last mission, this first usage is free, so that can wait another mission or two. Same goes with The Commons, so you can’t order more milk or power-ups until you can afford the entry cost.” Power-ups?

“ ... that’s not such a big deal, but it also means no more Juju, which will limit your available missions. Luckily, we’re going to Discord 13 tonight, which has a safe atmosphere, so that can wait another mission as well.”

“Ok...” I said. I was beginning to see how heroes like Gerald go could go on mission after mission and still have things to purchase. I suppose, in that way, it was like the real world. People never had enough money for everything they wanted. I was just hoping to have enough for what I needed. I looked at Lila anxiously.

The effervescent waters were affecting me just as the healing vats did, and underneath the surface, I was hard as a rock. Lila snickered beside me and scooted closer, wrapping my arm around her waist. She then made a reach for something else but Prince got her attention before she could torture me.

“Lila.”

“Yes?”

“Have you chosen Duncan’s Retinue yet?”

“Yes, my lord,” she purred into my ear. “I was planning on introductions after this debriefing.” She snaked out her tongue and licked me in the ear.

“Excellent,” Prince continued. “Duncan, you’ll need to unlock your Quartermaster for this next mission. She’ll be your outfitter and will allow you to utilize purchased weapons and armor. The other two members can wait. Lila will fill you in on their details later.”

“How much will that run me?”

“Another 5,” he said. “And finally, you’ll need your dress blues for Gerald’s funeral.” He lowered his eyes. “ ... which is another 5.” Wait, does he ... No!

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “That leaves me with 4 left and...” I looked at Lila, semi-panicking. “No, dude! I need this!” Prince gave me one of those “tough shit, kid” looks that you see on cops when they hand you speeding tickets.

“I know it sucks, man, but you can unlock Lila tonight after the bossfight.”

“Nope,” I said. “Not happening. One of those other purchases can wait.”

“You know, this is actually your fault,” he said. “Most heroes have to complete three trials to achieve Hero status. The third - The Monster Slayer - was scheduled for two hours from now, but you had to go and bust out a Legendary on your second, thus negating the need for a third. Well fuck, everything’s my fault today, isn’t it...

“So sorry bud, you’ll just have to wait.” My dick swelled angrily but Lila pressed herself against me and whispered into my ear.

“Don’t worry baby,” she said. “We’ll get you taken care of, I promise.” She kissed me on the neck, making my situation even worse. I had a boner of heroic proportions. With great power, comes great blue-balls.

“You’re asking a lot, dude.”

“Am I? Yesterday, you had no idea this place even existed, and now I’m telling you to wait a few hours to have sex with a gorgeous woman who is crazy about you.” Lila was nuzzling against me like a kitten.

“This is for your own good, Duncan. If you go out there tonight without weapons training or armor, you will die. This is not a possibility but an indisputable fact. These are not bandits, dude. This is the real deal.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “If I’m going to be so useless in this fight anyways, then why bring me at all? Can’t I just sit this one out?” He shook his head.

“Boss-fights are worth a ton, but require a 6-man team. You have to go.”

“In all seriousness,” Kai said, “Poofter has a point. From what I’ve heard, Silvermen and Unshackled are very, very nasty. And both are likely to turn on us if we hit that convoy wrong. You’re gonna need some sort of edge.”

“ ... and the only edges you can get in the next ten hours cost coins,” Prince continued. “So if you want to unlock Lila, go right ahead, but just make sure that you enjoy the afternoon, because it’s the last sex you’ll ever have.”

“OK! Damn it. Ok.” This is fine. I can deal with this. “You don’t have to get all dramatic about it.” I sighed heavily, feeling deflated, mostly because half of my blood supply was now in my dick. Fucking hell...

“But hey, it’s not all bad news,” Prince said. “You’re now a Hero. Let me be the first to congratulate you. Tomorrow, we’ll call up The Heroes of Iron City back on Earth and make it official.

“Yay,” I said, fist bumping Lila. “Speaking of that, Heroes of Iron City was in my monologue earlier. Is that just another way of saying Courtney House?”

“Different thing,” Prince said. “So, like, since Harmony began, families have moved closer to one another for support. And now, some thousand years later, a lot of families are clumped into specific parts of the globe. A few Hero epicenters of have arisen. There’s one in Osaka. There’s another in Cairo, a handful around Europe, and one in The United States, right here in Pittsburgh. There’s eight active houses within fifty miles.”

“Gives a whole new meaning to the City of Champions,” I said, feeling clever. Kai groaned.

Prince sighed. “Only heard that about a thousand times...”

“And it’s seven,” Kai corrected him. “Piedmont was destroyed two weeks ago.”

“Oh shit, that’s right.” Prince said. “Scratch that. Seven active houses in the greater Pittsburgh area.” I thought about asking how House Piedmont was destroyed, but I didn’t want another go-around like with the Luvian Debacle. I really couldn’t handle another Luvian Debacle right now.

I looked at Lila. Then I looked at Lila’s jubblies. Goddamn it all...

“So back to sex,” I said. “You’re saying there’s no way I can unlock my girl here before tonight?”

“Are you really in that much of a hurry?”

“Surely you jest!” I yelled. “Do you not see this girl?!” Lila gave a little wave.

“ ... and these waters aren’t helping matters. By all that is holy, I can’t think with my dick this hard. What is with this shit?” Kai smiled but Prince just shrugged smugly. “This third trial that I was supposed to do before I was so awesome. Can I still do that?”

“No,” Prince said. “Afraid it isn’t possible. Your trials have been concluded.” Kai grinned at me from where he sat.

“He’s lying to you,” he said. “You can still do it. He just doesn’t want you to.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kai!”

“ ... it just wouldn’t be a trial,” Kai continued. “Meaning, you would have to go it solo on a monster hunt. He’s afraid you’ll break a nail.” Prince glared at him.

“He could break something much more substantial than a nail...”

“Oh, quit being such a pussy,” Kai said, “ ... Somebody has to kill the bloody thing. He could earn more coins to unlock his girl AND better equip himself. He would stand a better shot tonight with more upgrades, would he not?”

Prince turned to me. “This is a bad idea, Duncan. It’s not worth it. Is getting laid really that important to you?” Well ... kinda...

“What’s the target?” Kai asked. “Basilisk? Prairie Bull? R.O.U.S.’s?”

“Rodents of unusual size?” Prince answered. “I don’t think they exist.”

“What then? Pygmy dragon? Red nettler? Rumble bear?” Prince stayed silent so Kai kept going. “Shellback tor’tor? The ghorn? Corinthian hippo?”

“Dude, just stop talking. It’s not happening.”

“Troll? Rock Gobbler? Snapjaw? Oh oh oh, I know. Is it one of those newt-looking motherfuckers from nineteen?” I took a moment to absorb what he was saying. Trolls? Pygmy dragons? Even after everything I’ve witnessed, it seemed a bit of a stretch.

“Are dragons seriously real?” I said. “Prince said something earlier about them being lazy and stupid but c’mon. Really?”

Surprisingly, Kai answered me. “It’s not what you’re thinking. A monster,” he said, giving me air quotes, “ ... is just what Harmony calls a creature that is utterly incompatible with mankind. Some are sentient, some are just violent animals. Earth probably had a bunch of monsters back in the day as well, but the expansion of mankind wiped them out with the spread of civilization.”

Prince nodded, looking almost impressed. “Somebody’s been reading the bestiary...”

“Yeah,” Kai said. “Loulou left a copy in the downstairs bathroom. It’s been my poopin’ book, but don’t change the subject. Ghoul? Shadow? Banshee? C’mon, gimme a clue. Is it undead?”

Prince tried to hide his smile and failed. “No. Undead are never used for trials.”

“Hmm, Homunculus?

“...”

“What about a churl? Or one of the dowager queens of twenty-four? I hear those are real nasty.”

“...”

Kai glanced at me. “You see this shit?” he said. “He’s actually giving me the silent treatment, like we’re in third grade or something. Well, it didn’t shut me up then, and it won’t shut me up now. Thoracian humbugs? Book wyrms? A Crone of Bogodan?”

“No, and I’m pretty sure you just made that second one up.”

“Faerie?”

“Nope.”

“No, of course not,” Kai smiled. “The faerie’s sitting right here.” Prince’s smile faded. “Doxie? Poltroonish Chit? Fuck ... it isn’t a whippersnapper, is it?”

“I’m done playing games with you, Kai.”

“Then just tell me! I’m just gonna go check on the computer anyway.”

“Fine,” Prince said, finally relenting. “It’s a Flatworm of Slye.” My skin suddenly itched and my heart skipped a beat. Oh no... I fucking hate worms.

“Oh, hot damn! For real? You can’t let that thing live. You know how those things get a taste for humans.”

“Better to let it live...” he replied, “ ... for now.”

“Seriously? This from the boy scout? Better to let the monster continue to terrorize these poor assholes? Some kind of hero you are.”

“You know,” I said. “Moose-fucker has a point. If missions only come about when there is a need for them, then there is obviously a need to get rid of this creature. If I don’t go get rid of it, who will?

Prince looked sheepish. “Someone else will take up the mission in a day or two after you decline it.”

“But the need for a hero is now, Prince! I have a sacred duty to rid these good peoples of ... wherever this is...”

“I think it’s on five,” Kai offered.

“Whatever,” I said, placing my hand over my heart. “Monsters are bad. They need my help. I can’t just turn my back on them.”

“Oh horse shit,” Prince replied. “The only thing you’re trying to help right now is your dick.” As if that isn’t a worthy cause in itself... “If you really want to do this, then go ahead. I can’t stop you. But let’s stop lying to ourselves and call a spade a spade.”

“Only if you agree to call a square a square,” Kai said, “You fucking square.”

“Oh forget you assholes,” Prince said, standing up. He had a massive erection as well but considering how many of Harmony’s technology actively promoted the boner, I supposed that heroes got used to this sort of thing after a while. “But when Rufus gets here and punches you in the dick, I’m just gonna let him.”

“Yeah, you’ll probably jerk off to it you sad little homo.” Kai must have been the most narrow-minded prejudiced son-of-a-bitch I’d met in a long time, but damned if he wasn’t kind of funny too. There was no malice to him; he was just a dick.

Prince shook his head and asked me one last time. “Are you sure you want to do this? Those last two missions were “easy,” this one’s a “medium.” It’s a step up, and there will be no one there to protect you. Besides, with the computer misfiring recently, how can you know what to expect out there?”

He looked pointedly at Lila. “You called them hiccups before, but what are you gonna do if he runs into something he can’t handle out there? Something unexpected? Forcing an evac is costly...” Lila began to nibble on my ear.

“Duncan will be fine, Prince.” Her breasts were pressing against my arm and her nipples were like little eraser tips. “He’s not allowed to die until he’s had sex with me.”

He shook his head at her before looking to Kai. “Speaking of evacs, I didn’t get a chance to ask before. Why’d you evac your last mission?”

Kai sighed. “Right. So we need to talk about this,” he said. “The intel was a little off, but that was fine. I could handle that. But once I moved to secure my charge, two unknowns lit me up with arrows.”

Prince looked grave. “Hostiles? A roving band? Thieves? Who was it?”

“Do you not understand the word “unknown?”” Kai replied. “They didn’t even register on my scanner.” He paused and Prince shook his head.

“This is bad,” he said. “There’s enough worrisome dangers in the equation without these hidden variables.” His cock was rock-hard and pointing right at me. Doesn’t this bother anyone else?

“There’s more,” Kai said. “It couldn’t have been anyone there by accident. They opened fire from two different positions and their aim...” he shook his head, unbelieving. “They hit me twice, and eliminated my ability to Travel and then to run. I barely made it out.”

“What are you saying?” Prince asked.

Kai looked at me quickly and seemed to stutter before answering. “I think I was attacked by heroes.”

Prince smiled awkwardly and spat. “That’s crazy. Once a hero embarks on a mission, it becomes locked to other houses. Plus, why would a hero want to attack you?”

Kai raised his arms. “I don’t fucking know! I’m just telling you what I saw.”

Prince rubbed his chin. “Well, whatever it is, it will be addressed after the funeral tonight. I’ll have Rufus petition the council. But until then, Duncan, this a is terrible idea. I know you’re feeling godlike at the moment after your success, but you’re flesh and blood. Are you honestly willing to risk your life for some quick release?”

It was a fair question, and Prince had logic on his side, but as they conversed, my mind kept jumping back to the miracle at Foggy Bottom. The looks on their faces when I arrived were heart-wrenching, and their hopelessness shook me to the core. It reminded me too much of my own past, and of losing Kaylie. I still remembered what that felt like, and if it was in my power to prevent others from experiencing that kind of pain, then I simply couldn’t stand back and let them wait it out for a more opportune time. I didn’t have it in me.

“No,” I said. “But I’m willing to do it for those people.” Prince widened his eyes and his nostrils flared like he was about to lose his mind.

“We’ve been through this! This is about your ego, not those people!”

“Call it whatever,” I said. “But isn’t this kind of thing what we’re here for?”

Prince shook his head at me in disappointment, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kai nod at me ever so slightly. Any further doubts I had were quashed the second I turned to Lila and saw her scrunch up her nose at me. I knew the look in her eye. She was proud of me. And it felt overwhelmingly good to have someone look at me like that.

... and as juvenile as it was, I must admit that getting into her pants a few hours sooner did have a powerful appeal to it. I shrugged at him.