17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Cody
Wednesday finally arrived, but Cody still had the entire day to fill while Morgan was at work.
He really needed to get brainstorming on some sort of hobby to keep himself busy.
This retiring at twenty-eight thing wasn’t quite as amazing as he’d hoped it would be.
He always thought he would love kicking back, canoeing, fishing, and hanging with his girl…
but sometimes the hours in between dragged, even with the Cottage Country game stuff to keep him busy.
He still hadn’t touched his Steam Deck or laptop and had no hankering to do so.
But he was ripping right through his grandfather’s collection of smutty beastkin literature.
The Cornerstone Public Library didn’t have any romance books by the same authors from Grandpa Sam’s collection, or anything remotely close.
Librarian Lexi had looked at him like he was a fucking weirdo for asking for books by the same author who penned Married to the Mousekin Maids.
He’d have to look into buying some online.
Or he could write his own book? His experiences in Velasarin gave him plenty of firsthand knowledge about beastkin women.
A story like that would fit right in with the stuff on Grandpa Sam’s shelf.
To fill some hours, Cody walked into town and had lunch at Frank’s Diner, where Doris showed him the latest pictures of her grandkids.
Doris was basically his surrogate grandma now, and he really didn’t mind chatting with her.
But she was the only one he had reached Full Friendship with.
Well, her and Morgan, but Morgan zipped right through to Romanceable after their first date.
So far, his only theory was that it was because they’d already had the foundation of a previous friendship and relationship.
Cody needed to go meet those other two Residents, even though they worked in Temica’s shop.
That meant he would possibly run into the goddess-witch-bitch herself.
But he decided he had to get it done. He wanted his life to return to normal.
No more game shit. Just Morgan and everything else having that a life with Morgan entailed.
He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he definitely saw marriage and kids in their future, or at least that was what he was hoping for.
And…now would be a moment where Knife would probably have something dick-ish to say about settling down and only banging one woman for the rest of his life and becoming a boring dad.
But Knife said nothing. Cody did his best to shake off that empty feeling he got every time he expected Knife to say something and was met with silence.
He reached the gift shop and stepped inside the pink monstrosity.
He did a quick survey of the shop, elated that there was no sign of Temica or her creepy parrot.
The Resident with white-blonde hair was working.
She was wearing a sleeveless white sundress and had a way of moving that looked effortlessly graceful, almost like an elf.
He knew from the Resident List that this was Yana, which was a name that did sound kind of familiar.
She was about to greet him but stopped short, her brown eyes going wide.
“Oh, gosh! You should not be here!” she said.
“What? Do we know each other?” Cody was still unable to shake the feeling that he’d met this woman before, somewhere at some time.
Yana’s brown eyes shifted side-to-side, looking both nervous and thoughtful.
“Um…Nyrah has been in a bit of a mood lately, working extra busy retail shifts and all, and I don’t think she’s in the right frame of mind to speak with you at the moment.
She’s in the back unpacking stock. You need to go. Now.”
“Uh…who exactly is Nyrah?” He knew it was the brunette on his list, but the way Yana said it, it was as if he was supposed to know who she was.
“Oh, bother, this whole thing is a mess,” Yana mumbled. “We should have never come here. I’m trying to reel Nyrah in, but…she is very, um…determined.”
“And does this have anything to do with Systemica? The lady who runs this shop?”
Yana nodded. “Yes. She’s the reason we’re here.”
“Wait, do you mean…?”
“Yes, we’re from Velasarin. But Nyrah could return from the stockroom any minute now and Temica left us on our own today. I really don’t want anything crazy to happen while she trusted us with her beautiful shop, even if she is a horrible boss lady who barely ever lets us have breaks or days off.”
“You’re from Velasarin,” Cody repeated slowly, feeling dumbfounded. “Why are–”
“Please leave!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and guided him back out the door.
The young woman was surprisingly strong.
Even if he wanted to push back, it felt like she would win that contest. Once she finished shoving him out of the shop, she slammed the door shut behind him.
Cody looked up and saw Doug, watching him through the window of the Food Mart, just across the street.
Doug narrowed his eyes at Cody and crossed his arms over his chest.
Great, Cody thought. The perfect person to witness him being shoved out of a girly gift shop.
Cody spent the rest of the afternoon fishing and agonizing over how he knew Yana and what it meant if Temica was bringing other people from Velasarin to Cornerstone.
Were these two women her so-called ‘minions’?
What exactly did that mean? Why did Yana talk to him as if they had met before?
Why did she seem vaguely familiar? Who exactly was this Nyrah chick he had on his Resident List?
And, most importantly, why had Yana been so scared of him being seen by Nyrah?
He thought about apologizing to Knife and asking for advice, but he decided against it. Knife had been a dick. He was almost always a dick. And Knife probably saw him struggling and making the conscious decision to not apologize, so was still giving him the silent treatment.
Cody was low-key hoping for a ‘Getting Ready for My Date’ montage to happen so he could breeze through all the boring getting ready stuff, like showering, shaving, and getting dressed.
But there were no notifications, no cheesy songs, and he was forced to do it all in real time.
Finally, he drove over to Morgan’s apartment, parking behind the grocery store next to her car, as she had previously instructed him.
As he was heading to her door, he pulled some wildflowers out of his Inventory and made an impromptu bouquet. They looked just as fresh as the day he picked them and stashed them away. Having a personal inventory might be the one thing he missed if he ever broke free of this game nonsense.
He climbed the metal steps at the back of the building, which led up to her door, and knocked.
When Morgan answered, her eyes went from his face to the flowers, and she lit up with a smile.
Morgan looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a form-fitting denim dress that showed off her curves and cleavage.
Her bright copper-colored hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and she had done her makeup fancier than what she wore to work, with some light gold eyeshadow that matched the golden frames of her glasses and made her blue eyes really pop.
“Wow…” Cody said.
She grabbed him by the hand and tugged him inside, shutting the door behind him.
“Same.” She unabashedly gave him an elevator look, taking him in from head to toe.
“These are for you.” He did a little bow as he presented her with the flowers.
She accepted the flowers, smiling. “They’re beautiful! Thank you.”
Cody followed her into the kitchen. He noticed she had a glass vase in the middle of the table, full of water but empty of flowers. She carefully put the wildflower bouquet into the vase.
“You were prepared?” he asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, it’s almost like we’ve dated before and I knew what to expect.”
She walked over, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking up at him expectantly.
“Is dinner–” Before he could finish his sentence she pulled him into an eager kiss.
She moaned into the kiss, pressing her body against his.
He grabbed onto her waist, holding her nice and close.
Morgan started walking backwards, refusing to unlock her lips from his, until they were all the way in the bedroom.
They bumped up against the bed and Cody broke free from the kiss.
“What about din–”
“I want dessert first.” She removed her glasses, placing them on her dresser, and then started unbuttoning the gold buttons that ran all the way down the front of her dress. “Don’t you?”
“Are you my dessert?”
She smiled softly and nodded, unbuttoning her third button.
It was enough to set her breasts free, and she wasn’t wearing a bra.
The boob-pic she had sent didn’t do them justice.
Her nipples were a soft pink, only a few shades deeper than her pale, creamy skin.
They were the kind of breasts that might look too big on a tinier girl, but Morgan’s generous curves made them look just right.
Cody mentally blocked Knife. Even if they weren’t talking, he was still in there, and Cody wanted Morgan all to himself.
“God, I missed dessert so fucking much.” Cody palmed her tits and she moaned as his fingers dug into the soft, warm flesh of her breasts, her nipples pebbling under his palms. He only stopped the boob massage so he could help her with the rest of the buttons and peel the dress off.
He was pleasantly surprised to find out she hadn’t only opted out of bra, she also decided to skip underwear.
“Now you.” Morgan’s hands went to his shirt buttons. He noticed her hands were shaking a bit, and he clasped them in his own.
“You okay?”
She visibly swallowed but looked up at him. “I mean, I am nervous, but I want this. I want you.”