Chapter 17
It took a long time, but I was finally able to fall asleep, and when I woke the next morning, Sadie was still fast asleep in my arms. I wasn’t sure what time it was, and there weren’t any windows in this room, so I couldn’t even tell if it was still nighttime or not.
So, I just stayed right where I was and savored the moment.
Eventually, Sadie stirred in my arms, and when she finally opened her eyes, she gave me a sleepy grin.
“Good morning,” she murmured in a lazy tone.
“Morning,” I chuckled. “Did you sleep alright?”
“Better than ever,” she replied, and her dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “I wonder why that is?”
“I’m not sure,” I played along. “Did you do anything differently last night?”
“Well…” Sadie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I guess there was this one guy…”
“I hate him already,” I said with mock-jealousy.
“Yeah, you probably wouldn’t like him,” she giggled. “He was tall, strong, handsome, and absolutely incredible in bed.”
“He was really that good, huh?” I asked as I playfully lifted an eyebrow.
“He gave me the best night I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Sadie sighed wistfully.
“Wow, come on,” I complained. “You don’t have to talk about other guys like that. I’m right here.”
Sadie giggled and dropped her act to peck me on the cheek.
“Did you sleep alright?” she asked.
“Well, I certainly have no room to complain,” I said with a grin as I looked over her naked body. “I had incredible company.”
Sadie flushed, and her nipples pebbled again, but I doubted we had enough time for another round, so I restrained myself.
“Wait, what time is it?” she suddenly asked as she sat up, and I kept my eyes trained on her face to avoid watching the way her boobs jiggled with the movement.
“I’m not sure,” I replied. “But I think it might be morning, assuming we actually got a full night’s rest.”
“We should probably get dressed and see what’s going on, then,” she said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.
As much as I wanted to just lay there and admire her glorious body, I knew she was probably right.
So, I let out a heavy sigh and stood up as well.
But I didn’t stop myself from admiring the way Sadie’s ass looked as she bent over to retrieve her bodysuit from off the floor, or the way the fabric hugged every little curve of her.
God, I needed to keep my eyes to myself, otherwise we’d never leave this room. Aliens or not.
I quickly got myself dressed as well, and once my bodysuit was firmly in place, I reached into my pocket to ensure the metal ball was still in there.
Thankfully, it was.
Sadie and I had gotten dressed just in time, because as soon as we were both fully clothed, the robotic voice echoed around us.
“Please report to the lobby,” it instructed.
Sadie glanced at me with a concerned look in her eyes, and I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, as well as a quick peck on the lips.
“It’ll be alright,” I assured her. “No matter what happens today, I promise to make sure nothing bad happens to us.”
“Okay,” she murmured.
Then I opened my bedroom door, and we both stepped out into the hallway, hand in hand.
Parker was just stepping out of her own bedroom across the hall when I opened the door, but she paused when she saw Sadie and I.
“Good morning,” Parker greeted both of us with a knowing smile. “Did you two sleep well?”
Beside me, Sadie blushed, but I kept my face calm and pleasant.
“We did, thank you,” I said. “Did you?”
“Mhmm.” She nodded.
Even though it was extremely obvious why Sadie had spent the night in my room, Parker didn’t look the least bit upset or jealous. Instead, our sudden intimacy seemed to have put her in rather high spirits.
“Um… I’m going to go see if there’s any food out in the lobby,” Sadie murmured, and she gave my hand a quick squeeze and shot me a meaningful glance before she wandered down the hall alone.
I instantly knew what she was doing. She was simultaneously showing me she was okay with our earlier discussion, while also offering Parker and I a moment of privacy. And I was very grateful to her for that.
“So…” Parker said as soon as Sadie was gone. “I take it you told Sadie everything.”
“I did.” I nodded.
“And I take it by your obvious night’s activities that the talk went well?” Parker raised an eyebrow and leaned against her doorframe.
“She was much more… open minded than I thought she’d be,” I admitted.
“That’s great,” Parker replied with a small smile. “I’m glad it all worked out.”
We stood in awkward silence for a long moment, and I didn’t think either of us were sure what to say.
“Listen,” I finally said as I shifted awkwardly on my feet. “I’m still not entirely sure how this will work or how well it will go…”
“Liam, you don’t need to worry about me,” Parker cut me off. “I know this relationship is fresh, and I know this is all… new territory for all of us. We also have much more pressing matters at hand, so I don’t expect to just rush into a relationship right off the bat.”
“You don’t?” I asked as I furrowed my brows.
“I just really like being around you,” Parker explained with a shrug.
“So, I’m fine waiting and just starting off as friends.
Maybe, if we survive these damn games, we’ll decide to pursue something later, or maybe you’ll decide to just stick with one woman, but at least now you know you have the option if you ever want it.
And with full support from everyone involved. ”
I’d been so worried about making the correct choice in our bizarre situation that I hadn’t even processed the fact that I didn’t have to choose right now.
“Huh, you’re right,” I chuckled. “I guess I never really thought about it like that before.”
“Let’s just be friends for now.” Parker smiled at me. “We’ll see where things lead from here.”
“Alright,” I agreed, and my heart tightened in my chest.
I couldn’t fathom how happy I was at that moment, despite all the horrible things that had happened over the last few days. Because regardless of what I chose, and no matter what happened, I had two beautiful and incredible women in my life.
“Come on.” Parker reached out and gave my hand a quick squeeze. “Let’s go get some food.”
We walked down the hallway together, and when we reached the lobby, everyone was already seated at the big table. Sadie had saved us the two seats beside her. She smiled when she saw us, and I shot her a grateful smile and hurried over to claim my seat.
The table was filled with every possible breakfast food I could imagine, including about twenty different versions of eggs, and half of them looked completely foreign to me.
I stuck to the classics and loaded up my plate with waffles, fresh berries, and cream, as well as crispy bacon, crispy hashbrowns, and fluffy scrambled eggs with chunks of gooey cheese.
When I tasted each item on my plate, I was blown away by how perfectly cooked everything was, and as I savored the individual flavors, I quietly hoped this wouldn’t be the last time I was alive to taste food like this.
Tyler and Claire gave me pleasant smiles when I sat down at the table, but nobody was particularly talkative, and I was sure everyone was probably tense and stressed about the upcoming trial.
Even Kyle appeared to be more brooding than usual, though I wondered how long his silence would last. In high school, he tended to bounce back from sour moods rather quickly.
Then again, in high school, we didn’t have a bunch of aliens trying to kill us, so I was sure that made a difference.
We still had no clue what the final game would be, and I wondered if knowing would even make much of a difference. If the trial was as dangerous as I felt it was going to be, perhaps knowing would actually make us feel worse.
We ate our meals in silence, and when the robotic voice instructed us to report to the transporter room, we all stood in unison.
I hadn’t seen anything that looked even remotely like a transporter room since we’d gotten to the resort, but before I could voice my question, a panel on the back wall opened up to reveal a large, metal platform.
I wasn’t even surprised.
We all moved silently to the room, and as soon as we were all on the metal plate, the disembodied voice echoed through the room.
“The final game will begin in five minutes. The final trial is a maze, and the rules are very simple…”
A maze? That sounded both not as bad as I had pictured and, somehow, even worse.
“The goal of this trial is to reach the center of the maze,” the robotic voice went on. “If you reach the center, you win the final round of the games.”
Reach the center, that sounded simple enough. But we’d be in a maze, so how would we know when we actually got to the center?
“Teams are optional for this round,” the voice went on. “Accelerated elimination is encouraged…”
Accelerated elimination? What the fuck did that mean?
I exchanged nervous glances with Sadie, Tyler, Parker, and Claire. It appeared none of us liked the sound of that, but Kyle’s face was completely unreadable.
“There can be an unlimited number of winners, any actions in the maze are free from repercussion, and any items are allowed,” the robotic voice continued, completely oblivious to the obvious stir its explanation had caused. “There is no time limit. Survive, reach the maze’s center, and good luck.”
Any actions in the maze were free from repercussion? It almost sounded as if the aliens were encouraging us to take out some of the competition ourselves. Also, no time limit? We were just expected to run around the maze indefinitely? And what did it mean by ‘survive?’
What the hell was in that maze?
“The trial will begin in one minute,” the voice announced.
Sadie reached for my hand, and I quickly squeezed it to assure her I was right here. Nothing would happen to her as long as I was still breathing.
“The game will begin in five seconds,” the voice spoke again. “All contestants will be separated at the start of the trial.”
Wait, what?
I squeezed Sadie’s hand tighter as the familiar humming began throughout my body, and I quickly shut my eyes.