Playing Dirty
Chapter nineteen
Cya
Sitting on the edge of the pool, Cya let their tail drift through the water with the current created by all the bodies swimming around as they enjoyed the sun baking their skin.
Summer was their favorite time of year, and for years, they’d spent their July break with their old friends at the country clubs or boating in the Dark Sea as they snuck liquor from the cabinets in the yacht kitchens.
Lying out on the deck or in the shallow, heated pools or on the sand of one of Envy’s many exclusive beaches had been one of their favorite pastimes.
In recent years, they’d settled for sunning themself alone on the veranda as they listened to music or read smutty books about burly men and the women they yearned for. Still enjoyable, but lonely. It was so nice to share the sunshine and warm weather with friends again.
A furry body settled beside them, and Cya straightened automatically as Dex’s mother sat and dangled her legs in the water. She had blue eyes, shortly groomed white fur, and a thin tail. Her face was weary from a life hard-lived, but her smile was kind.
“Lovely day for it,” she said, gesturing at the sun, and they nodded.
“It is quite beautiful.”
Unsure what else to say, they looked around for Dex in hopes he could rescue them from their own social ineptitude, but he was nowhere to be found. To be honest, they hadn’t seen him since he’d called Rusty over to join his conversation with Jude, and that had to have been over half an hour ago.
It looked like Cya was on their own.
They folded the corner of their sarong, smoothed it out, then folded it again. “So, Mrs. Triever—”
“Please, call me Ellyn,” she interrupted with a soft touch to the bend of their tail.
“Ellyn,” they echoed. “Dex said you’re a nurse.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway. “I am. I’m the charge nurse for the emergency department at Gluttony hospital. It’s intense, but I like being a source of support and comfort on the worst day of many people’s lives.”
“Dex likes helping people too; he must have learned that from you,” Cya said, and his mother’s tail gave a gentle swish against the tile. “He always speaks so highly of you, of how hard you work to take care of them and others. It’s admirable.”
Ellyn’s ear twitched. “I wish I could have done more, so he didn’t have to carry so much on his shoulders.”
“He doesn’t resent you,” they said, and they’d never believed anything more thoroughly. “I think he understands exactly why things happened as they did, why you made the choices you had to make. He’s very good at seeing people, at seeing situations for what they are, without all the bullshit.”
They winced at their curse, and she chuckled. “He is. He’s not always the smartest boy in some areas, but he is so wise in others. I’m so proud of him.”
“Do you tell him that?” The skin around Ellyn’s eyes tightened, and panic seized Cya’s chest. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not my place—”
“No, it’s… I probably don’t tell him enough.” She reached out and tucked a strand of their hair behind their ear. “I should prioritize it more.”
“It means a lot, knowing your parents are proud of you,” Cya said, ducking their head.
And perhaps Dex had inherited his ability to see people from his mother as well, because her gaze softened with uncanny understanding.
She didn’t offer false sureties or comfort.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around their shoulders and hugged them.
She was practically a stranger, yet there was something so achingly comforting about it.
The embrace of a mother. There was a safety here Cya hadn’t known in a long time, maybe never. It was nice. It was warm and lovely and nice. Which meant they could barely stand it.
They couldn’t bring themself to hug Ellyn back. They wanted to; they even tried, their arms jerking, hands twitching, but they couldn’t. It was too close, too much of what their heart yearned for but had always been denied. So they didn’t hug her back.
“It’s important to want to make the ones we love proud,” she said, rubbing Cya’s bare back. “But it’s so much more important to make ourselves proud.”
Hemersyn had said the same thing, hadn’t he? Perhaps, they were both on to something.
“I’ve been trying,” Cya admitted, fingers gripping their sarong until they trembled.
“Good.” Ellyn released them and turned back to the ruckus in the pool, like she knew they needed a reprieve and wanted to offer it.
In the pool, Liel was perched on Oliver’s shoulders, and Toni was on Gem’s, and they were playing a dangerous-looking wrestling game Oliver had called Chicken.
Glyma cradled Quin in her arms, the two bobbing about as they laughed at the antics.
Avoiding the splashing water, Enfys lounged on the tile, gray skin turning pink from the sun, especially on the globes of her ass exposed by her bikini thong.
Feeding nuts and fruits into Krul’s open mouth while he sat on the pool steps between her tree trunk legs, Willow spoke animatedly with Yve.
Hemersyn fitted an umbrella into a weighted stand between two lounge chairs where Abi and Jasmyn sat, passing Abi’s phone back and forth in typed conversation.
The umbrella opened wide, casting Abi—who was still fully clothed in long sleeves and pants—in shadow, and the Ophys offered Hemersyn a shy smile and a quiet thank-you.
“Of course, my boy,” Hemersyn said with a friendly pat to Abi’s shoulder, and Cya swore the Ophys melted a little.
Dex, Rusty, and Jude were still nowhere to be found.
It only took another ten minutes for Gem and Toni to notice too.
At first, it was a passing observation, dismissed under the assumption they’d gone inside to explore or use the bathroom or play billiards in the den.
But when none of them returned, worry set in.
Toni and Gem called their partners to no avail, and Ellyn texted Dex, her brows furrowing when he, too, didn’t respond. She used the family app to track his location to a store nearly two miles away. With that discovery came Hemersyn’s confession that Dex had requested car keys.
“So they just… drove away?” Gem asked.
“Was something wrong?” Ellyn asked.
“Something had to be wrong. Rusty, Jude, and Dex? That’s a weird-ass threesome,” Toni said, fins twitching anxiously.
“No one was hurt, but they appeared… stressed,” Hemersyn said carefully. “I didn’t think it prudent to ask details.”
Gem crossed his six arms over his torso. “We should go get them.”
“Dex wouldn’t ignore my texts without cause,” Ellyn said soothingly. “I’m sure they have a good reason—”
“Or they’re dead!” Toni cried. “Two Mammylions and a human? In Pride? They probably got jumped.”
“Or arrested,” Gem said, feeding off Toni’s panic. “And no matter what Rusty says, I don’t think he’d do well in jail!”
Toni’s hysteria glitched. “Not gonna lie, I think Jude would.”
“You’re probably right,” Gem agreed. “Thank gods he’s with them. He can keep them protected in exchange for Dex’s physical prowess and Rusty’s sex skills—I mean, street-smarts.”
“I doubt they’re arrested,” Cya injected, but no one listened to them. “Or dead.”
“How about we take another car and drive to the pharmacy to check on them?” Hemersyn suggested, and Toni and Gem nodded their agreement.
To Ellyn, he said, “If you would entrust me with your son’s well-being, I suggest you stay here with your daughter.
We don’t want to cause unnecessary worry for the rest.”
Hemersyn, Gem, and Toni left, and Cya followed Ellyn back to the veranda, a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach. They’d had high hopes for this party, but with the dwindling guest list, they feared it was doomed for failure.
Of the six people who had disappeared, only two returned. Dex and Hemersyn rejoined everyone, but instead of explaining what had happened, all Dex said, “Uh, everyone’s safe. Jude wasn’t feeling well, so Toni took him home. Rusty and Gem… went with them?”
It was clearly a lie, or at best, a half-truth, but no one pressed for more details beyond voicing concern for everyone’s well-being.
Before the vibe could deteriorate, Hemersyn announced that the food was ready, and everyone gathered around the long table to eat.
Spirits lifted as they all shared a late lunch of slow-cooked meat, grilled vegetables, salad greens, and, yes, quinoa.
“Kwinoah,” Dex breathed in awe. “I feel so fancy right now.”
“Oh, it’s pronounced, keen-waa, actually,” Yve corrected.
The Lupyn frowned, then he spun on Cya, mouth agape in betrayal. “You let me walk around calling it kwinoah. You monster!”
With a self-satisfied smirk, Cya shrugged. “Oops.”
After lunch, Oliver—who’d been chatting with Dex about dyscus—suggested a low-stakes scrimmage, and he was met with surprising enthusiasm.
Quin took a seat in one of the lounge chairs as Hemersyn dug around in the shed until he found an old, but rarely-used dysc.
He handed it to Dex, then joined Quin on the sidelines as the rest split into two teams: Dex, Willow, Jas, Glyma, Liel, and Yve in one team; Krul, Oliver, Abi, Enfys, Cya, and Ellyn on the other.
Dex explained the rules for those who were unfamiliar, and Oliver nodded like he recognized some of them. “So, like football meets ultimate frisbee.”
“No tackling,” Dex announced as the teams lined up facing each other. “Two-hand touch is enough.”
“You hear that, babe?” Oliver asked Liel, and the Gymnot grinned, almost viciously.
“You know I have selective hearing,” he said primly, sparks crackling between his fingertips. “Watch your back, Mr. Barnes.”
The human pointed at Liel, addressing his team. “Seriously, guys, Liel will cheat. He’s going to try to tackle me.”
“Never heard you complain before,” Liel said innocently.
“Aye-oh!” Dex snickered at the innuendo. “Sex tackle high-five.”
The Gymnot grinned and slapped Dex’s palm with his own as Oliver blushed bright red.