Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
CHRYS
Margot is mildly terrifying.
It felt that way with a computer screen and a bajillion miles between us.
It’s so much stronger with her right there.
“You’re taller than I thought,” I say, because I can’t actually tell her she scares me.
“It’s the boots.” She kicks her feet, and I look down at boots that do not have that tall of a heel on them. “When you have to constantly threaten to crush the nuts of a guy who’s six-nine, it’s easier to do when you’re close to their height and look like you’d enjoy doing it.”
Margot presses her lips together, smiling at me like she knows a secret, and then slips off the desk to stand again. “Is there a fourth Ardem sister back on Earth? I bet we could get her here so fast.”
“No, just Jess, Laurel and me.”
“You three could be the basis for an argument that falling in love with Sian men has a genetic component. Anecdotal, of course, and Jessica wouldn’t like that.”
She laughs and holds her hand out, gesturing in the opposite direction to the one Arc went.
Falling into step beside me, she says, “Obviously you’re not allowed upstairs. Unbonded women don’t get to go play.” She smiles like there’s a joke in that statement.
“I’m fine to stay down here. There’s no one up there I want to play with anyway.”
“I didn’t think there was.”
We reach the end of the curving hallway and Margot hauls open a pair of doors, waving me through. I only walk far enough inside that I’m sure she won’t run into me.
“Wow.” I look up at an impossibly high ceiling for—what I’d assumed was—a basement. “Where are we?”
There are poles off to one side, a basketball court in the far corner, a full bar, and a wobbly circle of random chairs and sofas close to it. Further on, around the continuing circle of the hall’s path, there is a line of lit mirrors and fancy stools.
“It’s a lounge space, training room, chemistry lab…
Whatever we want it to be, really.” Margot says from behind me.
“We have smaller sitting areas with the dressing rooms on each floor, but this is the place we keep fully separate from the club for us. It’s where we do ‘girl’s night’ away from the Zone, too.
So, you’ll be back again with your sisters. ”
“Assuming Jess doesn’t kill me when she finds out I’m here.”
“Come meet Leah and Sari.”
She introduces me to the two women, both of them in gorgeous lingerie.
Leah stands and comes to me with wide eyes and a wider smile.
“My goodness, you love color, don’t you.” She spins me around and giggles a little. “The guys upstairs would take one look at you and they’d all want to taste the rainbow.”
“Isn’t it a bit much?” Sari asks, squinting like I’m a light source shined directly in her eyes.
It’s not a malicious question, but I answer it the same way I always do. “It’s funny, whenever someone told me I was ‘a lot’ like it was a bad thing, I just thought: I can be more.”
“I love that.” A redhead in a long black robe walks directly to me. “I’m Hannah, it’s so nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
She looks me up and down, and her smile is sly. “No wonder they are keeping you hidden away. Your sisters are going to flip out.”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve seen pictures.” She winks at me and walks to the bar. “Drink?”
But Margot holds up one of the two she’s just made. “On it.”
“Of course you are.” She blows Margot a kiss and hums a strange song as she makes herself something purple and sparkly.
She pauses, suddenly, and looks up at me, eyes narrowed. “They know I’m going to tell Hazard, right?”
“They do.” They wouldn’t have let me come here without warning if they didn’t. “I would appreciate it if you asked him not to bring it up to the others.”
“Oh, he won’t. He loves keeping secrets.” She smiles and it makes my stomach twist, because… I know she’s not Hazard’s mate, but she loves him.
I’m not cruel enough to ask how that works.
Taking my hand, she leads me over to a large circle of chairs near the lit mirrors, but not with them.
I’m introduced to the three women who arrived while I wasn’t paying attention, now sitting on both chairs and the floor. Nina, Hazel, and Ochi, and then Sari again. Margot is already there, lounging in her chair with one leg over the arm and smiling at the screen in her hand.
“Ooooh,” Hannah says, letting go of my hand to plop down in a chair of her own. “When she smiles like that, I know it’s her mystery man.”
“My bondmate is not a mystery man,” Margot says, putting the device away. “He’s just the only part of my life I don’t share with you.”
Hannah waves her hand, “Potato tomato.”
“Oh my gosh. I just realized who you are,” Leah says, rejoining us with her own drink. “You’re Jessica’s sister!”
I glance at Margot before I answer. “Yeah… But we aren’t going to tell her I’m here.”
Leah waves that away. “Oh, I don’t even think I have her number. I just love her for adding a fun little twist to the day.”
“What twist?”
“She’s studying the bond or whatever, which means we get to collect samples.” She snorts and wiggles down in her seat. “First load in the cup, second for me.”
I shake my head, “Jess collecting sperm samples wasn’t on my bingo card, but maybe it should have been.”
They laugh, like that’s an inside joke, and then Nina says, “So, you’re bonded to one of the brotherhood?”
“No,” I say, and even though I want to add “Not yet,” I don’t.
It’s a long story, and I don’t know what parts of it I’m actually allowed to tell.
She doesn’t look satisfied with that, but Margot interrupts. “Chrys works for the Agency in the marketing department. She’s probably seen more dicks than you have.”
That’s very possible, and I pounce on the chance to change the subject. “Yep, who knows, I might be the reason some of you are here.”
“Are you the one who pitched the idea of Playlien? Because that’s the reason I’m here,” Hazel says with a smile that tells me she’s not joking, and then she blushes, like she may not have meant to say that.
Nina nudges her. “What she means is she took one of the ‘aliens next door’ quizzes and then the guy she got was in her matches the next day.”
“I mean… that was fate. And fate was very kind indeed.” She chuckles. “Griz suggested I come work here after I had our second, and I’ve never looked back.”
Nina leans forward and mock whispers, “She basically edges him all day at work.”
I laugh with them, but no. “I didn’t pitch the concept of the magazine, but I have done a few layouts for them.”
“Well, if you need any information to help sell future bondmates on the perks of this life, you can let any of us know.” Ochi waggles her brows. “We could probably write a dissertation at this point.”
“It would be more fun than the one I did write.” Sari snorts.
“She has a PhD in Criminal Psychology,” Hannah tells me.
“Which was great until I realized that the only real way to use it was to work with cops.” She pulls a face and then pretends to vomit.
“You could have started a podcast,” Hazel offers.
“I do not have the voice for that.”
Nina disagrees immediately, but Margot interrupts her, “And now, she works for me, spending half of her time being loved on and the other half of her time on the lookout for red flags.”
“Wait…” Nina sits up straight and glares at her. “Your degree is in human criminal psychology. Does that mean you’re watching us?”
“Yep.” Sari winks at Nina. “You’re good. I’ve only bumped into a few women so far who raised questions.”
For half a second I think she glances at Leah… but I have to be imagining that.
“Most people are weeded out by the Agency’s screenings,” Margot confirms.
“And it’s not a one-to-one cross over, but if I see certain things in Sian men they tend to be a pretty good indicator that something’s wrong.”
“I hate that.” Nina takes a drink to hide her scowl.
“So, tell me what you do love,” I say, wanting to get away from the negative turn we’ve taken.
“Dancing.” Nina smirks. “Flirting.”
Hannah raises her glass. “The glorious sensation of being with men who want you so desperately and will stretch you to your absolute limit.”
“Because of the Vitamin S?” I guess.
“The more you take, the more you can take.” She winks. “If you get my meaning.”
“How much can I take?” I ask. “Is there a point when I’d like… OD?”
“Greta?” Margot calls out. “How much Vitamin S are you taking now?”
A tiny woman with artificially blue hair that I didn’t know was here pokes her head out from behind a mirror. “I’m actually down to a half bottle a day. But I have taken as many as a bottle and a half before, so… like forty-six?”
“Any side effects?”
“Other than being the horniest person in two galaxies?” She laughs and twists her hair around her fingers, coiling curls that stay, miraculously. “Nope.”
“So if I wanted to enjoy three Sian men at once, how much would I need?”
I swear I hear Margot whisper “greedy” under her breath, but Sari says, “Like… eight pills a day should do it.”
“Only eight?” I look at Greta. “I thought it would be more.”
“We don’t talk about what she got up to that one infamous week.” Hannah puts her finger on my chin and pushes me back to looking at the circled group. “But if you want to take your three cold boys at once, eight will be enough. You can take ten pills if it would put your mind at ease.”
Margot pulls up her screen and taps in a few things before turning it to me. The absolute monstrosity of a dildo that appears on it, spinning like it’s on display, makes me blink.
“I can have this made up if you’d like to try it out ahead of time. Just to be sure.” It’s three merged into one… it probably would do the trick.
“That’s okay, I think I’d rather work up to all of them the… less terrifying way.”
“Figured I’d offer.” Margot winks at me like she never expected me to want it.
“I’ll take it!” Nina licks her lips.
Hannah leans close. “She likes taking things home to scare her mate… I secretly think he gets a kick out of it.”
“How many are you taking right now?” Margot asks me, back to tapping things out on that tablet.