Epilogue
E mmeline – six months on
Deadwater River glittered in the afternoon light, and Annie and I strolled along the cobbled bank, Bess trotting at our heels, the puppy sniffing here and there at interesting smells.
We passed glass-fronted buildings which mingled with converted warehouses, housing Deadwater’s wealthier residents, and across the water, I spotted my old apartment block. Not that I ever went back there; this walk was the closest I’d been in months after I had decided to rent it out. I’d considered selling it, but had the idea that one of Malachi’s daughters might want to live in it in future, considering how close it was to the centre of town.
Looking at it brought back fond memories of that fateful night I’d first seen the hot MMA fighter who would end up becoming the centre of my entire world.
Annie followed my gaze. “Do you miss living in town?”
I gave a mock shudder. “Not at all. It’s so peaceful where we are, and there’s no real issue with the commute now I don’t have to make midnight flits to the hospital.”
“The new job suits you.”
“I love it. It feels like everything changed in the space of one month. Malachi, my home, my job. And all for the better.”
Bess’s lead tugged where she’d stopped to examine a bench. We both halted to let her.
Annie heaved a sigh. “You make me so envious. I mean, I’m happy now my divorce is finalised, but I don’t actually like the free time that much. I don't think I'm cut out for being single. I miss having someone of my own. The kids don’t care how my day went. I don’t mean that in a bad way, they’re kids, they’re not supposed to worry about the emotional state of their parents, plus they’re gone half of the week to their dad’s.”
I tilted my head at her, wondering how soon was too soon in suggesting she find someone new. Once, she’d joked about taking part in the game herself. I just wasn’t sure she meant it. She’d also considered going back to work, but quickly dismissed the idea after a visit to the hospital had opened her eyes to the true workload of a medic.
Movement caught my eye in a nearby apartment block, sectioned off from the river path by a low wall. A woman stepped out a door, her glossy brown hair with a familiar undercut.
“Aw, check out that baby bump.” Annie was staring as well.
“I know her,” I said.
The woman glanced up and blinked at the two of us gawking.
I took a step, Bess coming with me. “Peonie?”
“Yes?”
It was her.
I put my fingertips on my chest. “You might not remember me. I’m Emmeline. We were in the game together.”
Her confused expression morphed into a polite smile. “God, yes. I don’t think we spoke then, but I saw you and your guy…”
She’d also seen Malachi claim me. I’d witnessed the same with her getting screwed against a wall. What a weird experience to have in common.
She hustled to continue. “I mean, I watched his proposal. I think half the country did. Then I saw you married last month. How was it?”
“Dreamy. Honestly, Malachi handled most of it as I was busy at work, and it was the perfect May wedding. How are things with you? I can see you’re doing fine.” I gestured to her bump.
Peonie stroked her rounded belly. “Unbearably happy. This happened right away. Jacob thinks we got pregnant that first night, though we certainly put in a lot of practice in the month we were locked away together, and since.”
Her gaze slid to Annie, and her cheeks pinkened as if she worried she’d said too much. In my interview with Shade, he’d made it clear that we couldn’t openly discuss the finer details of the game. Not with strangers. It operated on a fragile legal basis—though all contestants gave their consent, the inability to withdraw that once the game had started was…questionable at best.
Annie flapped a hand. “Don’t worry on my account. We’re best friends. I know what went on in that basement. In fact, I’ve been considering doing it myself. I’m just not sure they’d be interested in me.”
My jaw dropped. Peonie’s did as well.
“Why would you say that?” I asked. “You’re beautiful.”
“Every man in there would be fighting for you,” Peonie agreed.
Annie raised a shoulder. “I’m a divorced mother of three. Even with my tummy tuck, I have stretch marks no amount of expensive cream can fix. I’m the wrong side of thirty?—”
I cut her off. “You’re the same age as me. Stop inventing barriers.”
She toed the ground. “Okay, fine. Is it weird that the minute my divorce settlement came through, the first thing I thought of was your game?”
Delight fizzled inside me, and I suddenly got why Annie had asked to come here for our walk. At the end of the cobbled boulevard was the warehouse.
“Then let’s go sign you up now,” I said.
Peonie clapped her hands. “Yes! Do it. I swear you won’t regret it.”
The door opened behind her, and her man came out. I recognised Jacob instantly by the tumble of dark hair falling in his eyes, and from how he instantly looked for his woman.
He curled a protective arm around her, one eyebrow raised in question as she turned to him.
“This is Emmeline. She and Malachi were in the game, remember? Then her friend, sorry, what’s your name?”
“I’m Annie.”
“Annie is going to sign up as well. Isn’t that incredible?”
Jacob’s expression shifted to a self-satisfied grin. “I can recommend it.”
Peonie searched in her bag and extracted her phone, approaching the low wall with it held out. “Put your number in, Annie. I want to know when you’re going in. We’ll walk down to celebrate you when you leave. We’ve done it with a couple of other games over the months, as it’s just a short distance away.”
Annie blushed but tapped out her details on the screen. “People do that?”
I remembered my exit, just about, though it was lost in the sensation of being in Malachi’s arms. “It’s a party. Don’t forget people will be watching the whole thing on screens in the warehouse, too. Though they’ll be doing their own kind of celebrations.”
An older couple strolled down the river path, and all of us fell silent until they’d gone by.
Jacob lifted his chin. “One time we went, it was when that girl stabbed her man with her heel.”
I stared at him.
He laughed. “You didn’t hear about it? He’s some billionaire, and she has a temper for days. They were still fucking while he wrestled her to his car, covered in blood. I’ve heard stories about them since.”
Annie gasped. “They’re still together?”
“Of course. Apparently, she’ll stalk into his meetings because he’s pissed her off, and he’ll have her over the conference table almost before the execs have had a chance to scatter.” He grinned, clearly loving our shock. “We’d better go. We’re buying baby furniture today, and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say until I laid eyes on Peonie. Good luck in the game, Annie. Nice to meet you, Emmeline.”
We called out farewells, and Peonie mimed Annie texting her before they walked away to their car.
Left alone with my best friend, I faced her. “So, are we doing this?”
Annie’s eyes shone. “Oh God. I can’t believe I’m going to say this. Yes. The worst they can say is no.”
An hour later, I circled the warehouse for the fourth time, waiting on my friend who was inside. She’d texted to say that she was waiting outside an office. I remembered doing that, and my nerves. But I’d heard nothing since.
“Come on,” I said to Bess.
My puppy licked my ankle. I stooped to stroke her velvet-soft fur.
A click had me spinning around on the spot, then Annie hopped out of the warehouse door. She held a hand up to block the sun then spied me and jogged over. We met her halfway.
Annie was buzzing, her hand shaking. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t…”
“Shade said yes, right?”
Her frantic gaze shot to mine. “He did! I told him all my faults first. I even lifted my top to show him my belly, though he said it was unnecessary. He said that they try to match the potential pairings up as best as they can. For example, if a woman is completely against having more children, and half the men really want a baby, they probably wouldn’t put them in the same game. Same with me. I said I didn’t want a twenty-year-old catching me, so he said I’d be in the game with older gentlemen. I had no idea they arranged it like that.”
“Me neither. Out of interest, what did you say to the baby thing?”
Her lips tugged outwards. “I’d love more kids. I’d fill the house with them, if I could. Do you know what’s even stranger? While I was waiting to go in, my ex-mother-in-law emailed me to demand that they be allowed to take the kids away for three weeks over the school holidays. I think she thought I’d put up a fight, and while it’s going to be a wrench not seeing my babies for that long, the timing is perfect.”
“You would be childfree exactly when Shade had a game slot for you?”
Her nod was agitated. “Exactly. Could there be a better sign that this is my path to happiness?”
There couldn’t.
In the weeks that followed, we went into full preparation mode.
Annie threw herself into a fitness schedule so she’d be in peak physical form. We jogged together twice a week, and she came to ours to use Malachi’s home gym, seeking his help in strengthening her body, and enjoying his healthy and delicious meals.
By the time at mid-August came around, my excitement levels had reached fever pitch.
After my last patient left on Friday afternoon, I high-tailed it in a taxi from the hospital to Annie’s, my heart thumping hard. When I arrived, a serene version of my friend opened the door.
The place was spotless, her children gone earlier in the day, and Annie led me out to sit in the shade on her veranda, a jug of fresh lemonade waiting.
I eyed her. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”
“I’ve done everything I can. The house is clean, the toys are all put away, I have enough food in the fridge and cupboards to last a week if my person decides to stay here. Equally, I’m happy to go to his and my home will be fine.”
Her gaze distanced for a moment, settling across the garden on a blooming flower bed, and she twisted a strand of blonde curls around her finger. She’d spent a small fortune on hair and beauty in recent weeks, bringing herself back from being the neat suburban mum and more like the friend I’d met in med school. She’d found herself again. I loved that for her.
“I think that’s the reason I’m so calm. I know this is going to happen. I don’t know who he is or what he looks like. I don’t even know his name. Only that he exists, and he’ll be working as hard as I am to fall in love. Isn’t that…everything?”
My panic on her behalf dissipated. I took her hand and held it. “Completely. That’s what we sign up for. No testing each other once you’re out. No withholding affection. You say you love each other and you make yourself mean it. The sex helps a lot in that respect.”
She smiled. “I can’t wait. I’m ready.”
So she was. We finished our drinks as the sun set, then she got changed into a little black dress, no underwear, and just a small bag with her keys and phone that she’d leave with Shade.
Malachi picked us up and drove us into town.
As expected, the hot summer evening had brought a crowd to the warehouse, bigger than the one I’d seen on my night. Neon pink signs glowed and music thudded.
Annie stared out the window then took a breath. “Thank you both for being there for me. See you on the other side.”
Without another word, she exited the car and walked to her destiny.
We watched her go, then Malachi made a low sound of need and slid his car seat back. He reached for me, hauling me to his lap.
“Is being here bringing back memories?” I kissed his cheek, my body warming.
His fingers stroked circles on my waist. “A little. I worried that they might not be good ones for you.”
“Oh no. I choose only to remember the parts with you.” I squirmed on his lap. “Then again, just being here is making me think of that first time. The rush. The people around us who could do nothing but watch.”
“Are you sad that you won’t see the action?”
I pulled a face. “I do not want to see Annie have sex. Is it weird that I want to see everything else go down though? I kind of wish we could recreate the mood, just without the danger.”
“Good thing I bought us a room, then.”
I stared at him. “You did not.”
“I did. It’s your choice if we go in and use it. We can look away when Annie’s in the frame, but it could be fun to watch the rest.”
Damn him and his good ideas. His fingers eased up my thighs, taking my dress higher until I blurted my answer.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
With his usual swagger, Malachi bypassed the queue outside the warehouse, leading me straight to the front where he fist-bumped the skeleton-masked bouncer. The red rope barrier was moved out of our way, and we were admitted. Another helpful member of the skeleton crew took us up in a lift and out to a floor like a hotel. We were shown to a room that had a huge TV, two smaller screens, a massive bed, and an impressive selection of sex toys.
The masked man caught my stare. “All of those are new. The room is soundproofed. If you need assistance, there’s a buzzer on the wall panel. Otherwise, the game starts in thirty minutes. Have fun, folks.”
The door closed after him, and Malachi locked it.
He prowled my way. “All day at the gym, I had this moment in mind.”
My blood heated even more, and my lady parts tightened in anticipation. “What did you picture, exactly?”
“Being balls deep in you when the buzzer sounds. You’d already come at least twice, then I’d make you scream for me another couple of times before they unlock the doors.” He tilted his head. “Going to make this easy for me or hard?”
Excitement danced over me. “Definitely hard.”
“Get on the fucking bed.”
“Make me.”
As an afterthought, I stripped my dress. If he tore it, I’d be walking out of here naked. Although that went with the vibe of the night, I was done with exhibitionism.
I tossed the material to the corner, and Malachi’s eyes darkened. He took a step. I equalled it, moving backward. Then he growled and snatched out for me. I squealed, twisting to evade him, but my huge MMA fighter was far quicker.
I’d never had a hope when it came to this man.
He caught my waist and lifted me with one arm, tossing me to the mattress. I bounced in the centre and scuttled back. He grabbed my ankle and pulled, removing one of my shoes then the other with practised ease.
Under his grip, I panted, my body coming alive. I loved how he looked at me, his gaze all over my curves in the pretty underwear I’d chosen with him in mind. Malachi smirked and switched his attention to the shelf of toys.
“One, two, or three?”
I knew what he was doing. “Two and three.”
His eyes flared with my answer. “Good girl. Close your eyes.”
I did, my senses alert for every touch. Malachi moved away from me then returned, and something silky touched my cheek.
“I’m going to blindfold you until the game starts.”
“Do it.”
I lifted my head so he could slip the silky blindfold over my eyes. Then something touched my wrist.
“And tie you up,” he added.
I swallowed, trusting him but also slightly nervous. “Okay.”
A pause followed. His lips touched mine, and I echoed the soft kiss. I needed him so much.
This time, when he spoke, his voice held more concern. “You know I would never do anything you didn’t like. Trust me?”
“Always.”
“You’re such a good girl.”
Damn, but those words made me melt.
Neatly, he tied my wrists to constraints I hadn’t noticed on the upper corners of the bed, then did the same with my ankles. It left me spread out for him. With being unable to see, a riot of sensations passed over me.
They intensified even more when Malachi brushed a knuckle over my waist. I shivered, and flexed my limbs. His lips followed, drawing a trail over my belly and my breasts.
He bit my nipple through the lace of my bra. “Tell me how this feels.”
“So good.”
He didn’t mean the kisses. A light buzzing sounded, then Malachi lifted my bra cup and inserted something inside, a flat and soft disc. He repeated the same on the other side, and whatever small devices I’d chosen vibrated against both nipples at the same time. I moaned and rolled my shoulders, focusing on the sensation.
He rumbled approval, then laid a deep and drugging kiss on my aching lips. Other than his mouth, he barely touched me, and every inch of my skin was awake and ready for him. My whole body yearned to be touched, and the vibrations only made it worse.
Malachi left my mouth and peeled back one cup to suck on my nipple. I cried out at how good it felt.
“They’re rock-hard. You love this, don’t you?”
I nodded, my words failing. He sucked again, the vibrations not stopping. I writhed under his touch, a wave of pleasure close to cresting through me. Could I come like this? Probably, if he kept up the good work. I’d never known anything like this feeling.
“Not yet, angel.”
He pulled away, adjusting the disc toy back in place and reinstating my bra cup.
Then his touch skimmed my legs. Malachi adored my body. He told me so often. He particularly loved my thighs, often driving with one hand under my skirt. He sometimes wrote me dirty messages at work, telling me how he wanted to lift up whatever dress I was wearing and touch the soft skin other people could only imagine.
Now, his fingers and mouth explored, his tracing digits on my inner thighs driving me even crazier.
He moved away again, the dip of the mattress telling when he left and got back on the bed.
“Your second choice.” He shifted my underwear to place a bulky and cool object inside. It had to be a vibrator from the size, though he left it gaping my knickers open, and only lightly resting against me.
He touched it, and the toy rumbled into life. This was a heavier vibration than the discs. A steadier wave-like roll. I tried and failed to get closer.
Malachi didn’t keep me waiting. He took hold of the end and rubbed it over my aching core, though steering clear of my clit.
“You chose well, angel. That’s going to be inside you in a minute. Does it feel good? You should see how you look, all laid out for me. You’re so wet and ready.”
“I want you,” I begged.
“You’ll have me. But I get to play first.”
He toyed with me, soaking the device in my wetness and dragging the end over my centre until desperation had me gritting my teeth. Only then did he press the blunt end into me. I almost sobbed in relief.
In slow torture, he inched forward then withdrew, inched and withdrew. I tried to anticipate him. He knew. His teasing was elite level.
“How badly do you want to come?”
“S…so much.”
“I need to hear that pleasure as I give it to you. You heard the man. It’s soundproofed in here. I want you to call out for who owns you.”
“Malachi, please,” I begged.
“That’s it, angel.”
He tapped on the toys in my bra, upping their power. Then he did the same with the vibrator spearing me open, finally setting a rhythm that had me moaning in one long undulation. He went in deep. The warning signs of my orgasm had my whole body taut.
“I want it to be you I come on,” I pleaded. “Nothing ever feels as good as you.”
Malachi groaned and changed his position. A snap came as he tore my underwear from me. Then the toy was out of me and he was sinking in.
I whimpered in relief. He was bigger than the vibrator but filled me perfectly, the sensation unbeatable.
His voice turned gruff. “This what you want?”
“Only ever you.”
He kissed me then gave me exactly what I needed. A slow and steady fucking. When I was close again, Malachi used the vibrator on my clit, capturing the sounds of my cries with his kiss when I splintered and fell.
The wave I’d been riding crested. The sensation broke in brilliant electricity over me, and I clamped down on his dick, the orgasm so intense that tears leaked from my eyes.
I came down to earth with Malachi ridding me of the toys and tugging up my mask. He was still hard inside me, the night nowhere near over for either of us. But it was my gaze on him he needed. My mumbled words of love while he kissed me and praised me.
On the opposite wall, the TV sprang to life.
Onscreen, the camera displayed five women in the bright changing room. Instantly, I checked for Annie. She had that same poise as earlier, though was pale. Another woman rubbed her arm, and I was glad for her comfort.
Malachi ducked to kiss my shoulder. “She’s fine.”
“I know. I was the opposite in there. I wanted you, but I didn’t think you’d come.”
“I’m so sorry for that.”
The two other screens blinked to life and revealed the caged men, most already wearing skeleton bandannas around their lower faces, giving them a terrifying look.
Malachi grunted. “When I was in there, I thought you hadn’t come either. What a mistake.”
“It worked out in the end, that’s all that matters.”
I scanned each face, my gaze lingering on a tall man with brown hair and a neat beard. He wasn’t tussling with the others, and hadn’t yet put on his mask, but stood back and watched with an intelligence in his eyes. I didn’t know why, but there was something about him that matched with Annie’s energy.
“I’m calling it. Second camera, guy in the top right corner,” Malachi said.
“That’s exactly who I spotted for her.”
We gazed at each other.
With a wail, the siren sounded and the cages clanked open. Up until this moment, I hadn’t really felt any negative effects of the game, though inside that basement, I’d been petrified. The memory of that fear rushed back.
Malachi kissed me until it stopped. He kissed me while he fucked me, then made me look as a stunning woman with pretty braids past her shoulders was claimed by a thick-muscled man.
I hadn’t expected to get turned on by others having sex, but something was working for me. I came again before they did.
Then Malachi was between my legs, licking me clean with fevered urgency and finding another toy, the neglected choice, to coax me into a third orgasm that left me whimpering.
The second and third couple were claimed, and as Malachi returned up my body to slot into me again, his breath heaving with how badly he needed to come, Annie appeared on the screen.
A pack chased her.
“Don’t look.”
Malachi stole my breath with a drugging kiss.
I broke it when a woman cried out. But it was the fourth, a different pretty blonde. Three men fought over her, the winner capturing her then making his ownership clear with an urgent, frantic claim.
That left my friend as the last woman standing, just as I had been.
I closed my eyes. “Tell me when it’s over.”
Malachi started slow strokes into me. “Eyes on me, angel. Whatever happens down there, it will be okay. All I need right now is to come. I can’t do that if your attention is elsewhere.”
My focus left the pack of men who hunted my best friend and clung to my beloved Malachi. “Untie me.”
He did. I rolled him to his back and climbed on to ride him.
I loved him. There was nothing that could beat what we’d found. The game had given us that, as it would to anyone who took part. Everything else faded while I rode Malachi until he was gripping my thighs for all his worth.
“I love you so much,” I said.
As always, it was his trigger. He bucked into me and came. It triggered my fifth orgasm of the night, I rode it out as much as I could before collapsing onto him. Spent. Exhausted but exhilarated too.
The buzzer in the basement demanded our attention return to the screens.
On the main one, Annie was the arms of the intelligent-looking, bearded man we’d picked for her. He carried her in his arms out of the door, passing a cheering crowd that included Peonie and Jacob.
A laugh flew from my lips. Malachi’s joined it, and he rolled and hugged me.
All was right with the world. All was exactly as it should be. I couldn’t wait to see my friend as in love as we were.
The End.
Want to read about the game couple who ended up bloodied from their passion? Order The Game: the Billionaire and the Spiked Heel now.
Want more of the game and the skeleton crew? Read the Body Count series now, starting with Arran’s Obsession .