17. Chapter Seventeen – Lily
Lily
"So, Adam offered to take you back to Philly with him on his private jet," Kayla says on the other end of the line, sounding a bit distracted. “Apparently, he had the same misfortune as you at the beginning of your trip. And since you're going to the same city anyway, he offered to take you along. Does that work for you, or would you prefer to get the jet ready? Millie and I came back yesterday, so we can send it over if you’d like."
"Why, that's very nice of him," I tell Kayla, my eyes wandering to the man in question as he browses through an anime figurine store, occasionally picking up one of them, turning them in his hand like he knows what he’s doing and setting them back down. "I'd love to take him up on the offer. Have you talked to Felix already too or should I call him?"
"We asked him, but he insisted on coming back as planned. Mentioned he’s already made plans. "
“Okay.” I grin, knowing fully well those plans probably consist of spending the weekend at home and cuddling his cat, which I’m admittedly jealous of because his cat is adorable as fuck.
"Anyways, we're excited to have you back and I'm going to set up a meeting for next week, Monday, so we can catch up. Usual coffee order?"
"Yup, same as always, please. Thanks, Kayla."
"Thank you , Lily. Give us a sign of life when you’ve landed and enjoy your weekend."
With that the line goes dead and I continue to look at Adam for a few more moments before I walk inside, sidling up next to him and taking a look at the figurine he’s currently inspecting.
“That one has a crack, I’d look for another one,” I say softly and point at the little fissure. He puts it back carefully, and I hand him another one that looks a bit less likely to be damaged when jostled on our flight back. “It’s fun to see you out of your depth.”
“Don’t get too used to it.” He puts the figurine in his basket without taking even taking a look at it, and we slowly continue to make our way down the very narrow aisle full of similar goods.
“You know, a certain gentleman just offered to let me fly back to the States with him in his private jet,” I quip, seeing the corners of his mouth tuck into a grin while he pretends to inspect a little plush .
"Did he? What a nice guy! You should take him up on the offer."
"Oh, yes," I say, not being able to fight the grin on my lips myself. "I might just have to think of a way to repay him for his favor."
"I’m sure he wouldn’t be opposed to that." He shoots me a grin and I answer with a wink, biting my lip. "We'll be leaving at 11." He leans down for a quick kiss and to free my lip.
"As in the hotel or the flight?"
"The flight," he quickly clarifies, his gaze turning hungry. "Don't worry, I'll get you there on time."
"You better." I grin and walk ahead outside as he approaches the register to pay for the souvenirs he got his brothers.
It’s cloudy today, but at least it’s not raining. Although, the dark clouds approaching make me glad I brought my umbrella just in case.
“Okay, I’m done.” Adam appears next to me and I take out my phone to pull up the address of the store I’ve been waiting to go to, starting to walk once I know into which direction. Thankfully, it’s right around the corner.
He might have come here for the anime merchandise for his brothers, but I have something entirely else in mind.
Because after I told Lucy I’d be in Tokyo, she did a bit of snooping and sent me a video that appeared on her for you page on some social media app, asking, no, demanding me to go there .
“Let me live vicariously through you," she'd said, disappointed that the video only showed very few snippets of the store . "I need to know about every cool and funny thing they have. Very detailed descriptions, please. Or sneak pictures, I don’t give a fuck."
And when the store comes into sight, my mouth curls into a grin. God, this is going to be so much fun.
"This is it," I tell Adam and nod at the store, giggling under my breath when his eyes go wide.
"Listen, I might not speak the language, but even I know that's a naughty store," he says amusedly and slowly starts to grin. I nod excitedly and reach for his hand to pull him after me.
"Japan's biggest sex store," I say proudly and grin at him over my shoulder. It’s more fun to put this on Lucy, but honestly, I was super excited to come here as well. For the giggles, curiosity, and who knows, maybe I might find a new favorite silicone friend.
God knows I’ll need their assistance in getting over Adam. But those are depressing thoughts for later.
"Alright." Adam straightens his back and rolls his shoulders, looking giddy all of a sudden. "Let's see what they got."
As soon as we step inside the store, the whole atmosphere changes. It’s eerily quiet, despite the music playing through the speakers. Everything is very shushed, and the first thing we see are several signs prohibiting photography and videography, in all kinds of languages .
"Wow," Adam says astonished, turning around to take a good look at everything.
And no wonder. I’ve seen sneak peeks of the store and even I find it almost overwhelming. I don’t even know where to look first.
All the aisles are cramped as hell and very narrow, stacked from floor to ceiling with all kinds of curiosities. And this is only the beginning, because, in all, the store has seven floors.
"Ah, we’re starting off low-key," I say and lean a bit closer to the shelf to take a better look. Flesh lights. At first glance, they kind of look like containers for sports drinks. But then I see the advertisements for ‘better grip’ and ‘velvety inside’ and close up, the pictures make more sense.
"Interesting," Adam says amusedly, and I shoot him a teasing glance. "Not my style, though."
We continue down the aisles, and at one point, I catch him taking out his phone and using the photo translator to check out a few products. But when we reach the section that has real-looking silicone replicas of women’s nether regions, he shakes his head and pulls me right along.
"Definitely not.”
“Also not your style?" I raise my eyebrow at him, and he chuckles lowly, shaking his head.
"This might sound pretentious, but if I want something real, I'll look for something real. Not silicone."
"Makes sense," I admit and shrug. I can’t quite relate, because sometimes, I just need something that looks real without the awkward small talk or doubt whether the condom is staying on attached. But each to their own.
We walk up a flight of stairs to the second level and are greeted by silicone boobs and a whole bunch of… costumes? Right, this must be the role play section.
"Oh." Adam's face lights up like a child's on Christmas as his eyes scan all the stuff on the walls, his grin becoming wider and wider. "A sexy secretary."
He points at the costume excitedly, and I roll my eyes at him. Of course he’d have to point that one out.
"Is your secretary sexy, too?" I can’t help but tease him, even though a part of me does not want to hear it. What if she is?
Well, even if she is, that’s none of my business. And that realization stabs my heart with a thousand pointy needles.
"Oh, God," he mutters and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Don't bring Barbara into this."
"Barbara." My grin is less forced now and my shoulders sag the slightest bit in relief. I tilt my head at him, forcing myself to sound cheerful. "She sounds sexy."
"Oh, hell no. I mean, her husband obviously thinks differently, he worships the ground she walks on, but she's something like an aunt to me." He shakes his head, and I burst into laughter. “And I do not want to think about her sex life, so let’s change topics.”
"Maybe I should get you this one." He points at a skimpy dress that I think is supposed to represent a teacher and I roll my eyes at him. “You’d look sexy in it. ”
"You can look all you want," I say and pat his shoulder and shake my head slowly, "but I am not getting a costume here. Because firstly, I’m sure none of them fit, and secondly, that's boyfriend material."
"Boyfriend material?" He cocks his eyebrow at me and I nod.
"Yup," I confirm and cross my arms in front of my chest as his gaze drills into the side of my head.
He takes a breath and opens his mouth like he wants to say something but closes it again before a sound leaves his lips, and we continue on like this conversation never happened.
We keep making our way through the aisles slowly, and he continues to point out costumes that catch his eye, although I think calling them costumes is a stretch. Some of them only consist of strategically placed leather straps that don't hide a thing.
But then we get to the guy costumes and now it’s his turn to watch me swoon over them.
"Wow." I whistle lowly as I take in the very first shelf. From floor to ceiling, it consists of all kinds of uniforms – and hunky men showcasing them.
"You could be a sexy fireman. You certainly got the muscles for it." I point at the costume, then poke his bicep, chuckling and feel him flex under my touch, rolling my eyes. Men.
"I would also be a sexy policeman, I will have you know." He grins.
"Didn't think you were that much into role play," I tease him, and he shrugs, a sheepish expression washing over his face .
"It's fun, but I don't need it," he clarifies, quickly schooling his expression. "I'm also down to just fuck in fun costumes. I don't need the role play."
"Of course you are." I grin and shake my head at him.
We continue on and I breathe a sigh of relief when we leave the costumes behind.
As we pace the other floors, we find the most ridiculous and also the most interesting stuff, including a lot of dildos that make me question my faith in humanity. And how they would even fit.
"Seriously? People can get these inside them?" I ask, not sure whether to feel amazed or shocked as I look at a tentacle creation that's almost as wide as my head and as long as my forearm. Holy shit.
"What the—" Adam comes closer, sounding just as shocked as I am when he takes a look at it over my shoulder. "Do you think they actually do? I’m sure that would do some damage."
"I mean, otherwise they wouldn't have it here, would they?" I raise my eyebrow at him. “Or do you think it’s just decoration?”
“I don’t know. I think – oh.” His eyes grow wide and he points to a little sign to my right. “There’s a disclaimer. Not decoration.”
With wide eyes, I shake my head and turn to continue. But as we walk on and I see more and more dildos with shapes varying between little eggs and fucking monster cocks, I’m overwhelmed. I might want to get a new little friend here, but I don’t even know where to start looking.
"You know what?" I finally say and look at Adam, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "How about you pick one out for me?"
"I—what?"
"Pick a dildo for me." I break into a grin. “No monster shape, though. Please.”
"I'm not loving the idea."
"Come on, Adam! I need some new toys, and who better to pick one out than the guy I'm currently sleeping with? We can have some fun with them before we fly back." I wiggle my eyebrows at him, noting that his expression softens at my suggestion.
"Well, you got a point. Let me see what I can find."
Suddenly, he seems very eager to find the perfect toy, his smile that I’m not even sure he’s aware of making those adorable wrinkles in the corners of his eyes appear. Before I can even specify what I’m looking for, he's already in the next aisle, so I just let him do his thing.
Whatever he finds, I’m sure I’ll love it.
When I find him again, I can tell he’s taking his assignment very seriously. He's looking at all kinds of different toys—from nipple clamps to vibrators, from regular vibrators to other tentacle-looking stuff—until he freezes and bursts into laughter, reaching for something on the shelf .
"No way!" He pulls packaging out of the shelf and I walk closer, confused. From afar, it kind of looks like a science kit for kids.
"What's that?" I ask him curiously, and he pushes it into my hands. I turn it, trying to find out what it is, but I’m just not getting it.
"Listen, even if you don't buy this, I will. Because this is a fucking kit that lets you cast a penis and turn it into a personalized vibrator. At least according to the phone translator."
He grins and promptly takes it out of my hands to clamp it under his arm. I swallow past the twinge of jealousy that's rising up my throat when pictures of him using it for someone else flash through my mind.
Then again, why would I keep a dildo resembling the cock of a man I used to sleep with? That seems weird and hung up.
"That's fun," I force myself to say and then turn my back to him, pretending I’m still looking around, gulping down the bile rising in my throat.
I hate this.
By the time we walk out of the store, both of us have at least two items dangling down our arms in bags. The kind of bags that look so innocuous that they might as well scream ‘Hey, I was just at a sex shop. Look what I bought in that SEX SHOP. ’
For me, it's just one of the tentacle-shaped dildos, although not one of the giant ones. It's going to be a souvenir for Lucy and a way to shock my brother. Two birds, one stone, and all that. Although, now that I think about it, maybe getting a giant one would have been more fun – if there weren’t people scanning my bags at the airport. No way in hell will I put myself in any position to get questions for a dildo like that and hit them with the good old ‘errr it’s not for me, I swear!’
But I've also found a new little friend for me. It caught my eye in the wall of vibrating egg-shaped vibrators.
It has an unusual form, and that's what's making me curious. It's got two ends that can vibrate at different settings and at different speeds, which I’m sure I will have a whole lot of fun with.
I'm not quite sure what Adam got for me; at one point, he kept his findings out of my sight, only shooting me a naughty grin when I asked, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.
When we step back outside, it’s like returning to reality. The music muffles as the door closes behind us, and I need to blink against the daylight. It has started raining while we were inside, but this time, both of us brought our umbrellas.
"Thank God we're only catching the rain season at the last stretch of our stay," I mumble and open my umbrella.
"I didn't even know rain season was a thing." Adam seems surprised and opens his as well.
"I knew it was sometime around this time. But if it had been raining at the amusement park, I would have been really fucking disappointed," I admit, and he hums in agreement.
God, the amusement park already feels like months ago instead of only a few days.
So much has happened since then, and now there's only three more days until we go home and I will have to face reality. Without Adam.
Adam and I are going to be perfect strangers again. I have no idea how exactly I'm going to pull that off.
How am I supposed to even look at him without the memory of him telling me to tie him up and sit on his face, or sitting on his face for that matter, running through my head?
From a logical standpoint, I know that I fucked up. And from an emotional.
And I’m going to pay the price for it. That much I know.
Because it's not just the way he makes me come. It's also the way he reaches for my hand instinctively like right now, the way my fingers disappear in the hold of his giant hand, and the way he pulls me with him through the streets of Akihabara.
It's the way he takes charge, and as someone who's used to being in charge, it's just so fucking refreshing to trust someone enough to take over.
God, I shouldn't have done this, but now I'm in it anyway.
I straighten my shoulders and raise my chin. I'll enjoy it, and whatever happens afterward, well, I already know it will crush me. But I'll survive.