As It Was

As it Was

He met her at their favorite dive bar. It was the sort of place where you could order beer and shots at a discount, but where you’d get laughed out of the establishment for ordering anything more complicated than a rum and coke.

The wooden floors were sticky, the options limited, and the food was strictly there to absorb liquor. But anyone could put nearly anything on the jukebox, and best of all, they had a large, wide dance floor.

Jake found her sitting in a booth off to the side, a pitcher of beer and a full pilsner glass in front of her. From the looks of it, it was her second.

As his shadow fell over her, Hannah looked up and smiled. She was radiant. Her brown hair was brushed out in fine waves that fell to her shoulders, and she wore a tight fitting, retro style dress with a tight fitting short poodle skirt that clung to her generous hips, in a seafoam green that made her eyes sparkle.

“Hey there, stranger,” She said. The gold wedding band that matched his own winked in the low light. “You’re late, buddy.”

Jake shrugged with a grin.

“I was busy closing a $1.5 million deal,” He said. “I think you’ll be happy with our commission on it.”

Hannah gave an exaggerated roll of her green eyes.

“I’ll have you know I closed a $3 million condo,” She said. “You’re bringing home chump change, buddy.”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. Real estate was still red hot, while he was still in a bear market; never his strong suit.

“$3 million in Manhattan. What is that?” He teased, taking a seat and filling the empty glass opposite her. “A closet with a pool?”

Hannah shrugged a bare shoulder with that playful smile that never failed to melt him a little.

“You know the rules, baby,” She said. “No work talk.”

He nodded. It was Thursday. Through most of the decade they’d been together, that was date night. Even now, two years into their marriage, they worked to keep that tradition alive as often as they could. Little adventures, even to familiar dives like this, were crucial to keeping the magic alive.

“Fair enough,” He conceded. “What do you wanna talk about instead?”

She steepled her hands, and rested her chin on them.

“What makes you think talk is what I want out of you right now?” She asked.

The music stopped, and the first bars of the new one started. Jake, whose musical taste hadn’t really developed since his mid twenties, recognized it as some pop thing from a few years ago.

But Hannah lit up immediately.

“Ohmygod, I love this song!” She said with the girlish glee that always came when she was excited.

In one fluid motion, she popped from her seat. Jake followed her out of the booth, and let her drag him over the dance floor.

There was no DJ tonight, so the music came entirely from the jukebox. The floor was populated by a few couples, and a gaggle of girls dancing seemingly for the fun of it.

Hannah twirled, her skirt fluttering up to reveal her shapely hips and thighs. Jake followed, grabbing her wrist and spinning her back to him as he let the music guide his music. Without even realizing it, he was grinning like an idiot.

The sparse population began to make way for them now as the two fell into a rhythm, and a much better one than anyone else on the floor. The beat was 80s adjacent and drove hard. Jake and Hannah, always excellent dancers, kept in time effortlessly as the song sped up, then crescendoed, eliciting a few cheers.

The song died down, replaced by a slower one. They stayed on the floor as it gradually repopulated.

“Thank you for that,” Hannah said, pressing close. “I think we drew a bit of an audience.”

He put his hand on the small of her back and drew her into a kiss.

“If by that you mean half the bar, then sure.”

Hannah shook her head.

“I was actually referring to the bartender checking me out over there.”

Jake made a show of eying the guy behind the bar. Taller than him, which was an achievement, but stouter and older.

“Him? Not much for competition,” He said with a smirk.

“Ass!” Hannah teased, giving him a playful, backhanded swat to the chest. “I meant the other one.”

“Oh, her,” Jake said, as though he hadn’t known the whole time. “Silly me.”

“The Other One” was a girl. Younger than the two of them, and from the looks of it, by quite a bit. She was leggy, and in good shape, with perky breasts and a heart-shaped ass that rivaled Hannah’s. She was naked, but for flowing gold and pink hair that fell all the way to her thighs in thick, beautiful waves. Something about that felt odd to Jake, but damned if he could figure out where to place it.

“Sorry, babe. I was confused,” Jake said. “She’s was clearly checking me out, after all.”

Hannah rolled her eyes and took his hand, leading him back toward the booth.

“We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”

Jake felt a flutter of excitement. Hannah was up to something, and likely something sexy. But he wasn’t sure what. As they settled into their seats, Emily approached their table.

“Hey guys. Can I get you anything?” She asked. “Our special tonight is pizza. $8 for a large.”

Emily was playing the part of a helpful waitress. A stranger. That was interesting, but if she was committing to the bit, Jake would do his part, too.

“I think a pizza sounds great,” He said. “Pepperoni, extra cheese and green pepper?”

He looked to Hannah for approval, and she nodded.

“Anything else for you guys?” Emily asked.

Hannah took a sip of her beer. She addressed Emily, but it was Jake she was looking at.

“Actually, we were wondering if you could settle a bet between the two of us,” She said. “We couldn’t help but notice you were watching us dance earlier.”

The look Emily gave the two of them was both knowing, and playful.

“You did make quite the sight,” She said. “What’s at stake?”

Hannah ran a finger along the rim of the glass, thinking that over.

“Hmmm…good question,” She said.

Jake opened his mouth to suggest something, but before he could, Hannah added, in a low voice.

“Control over you for the next week.”

Naked as she was, it was easy to see Emily shiver at that. Even Jake had to struggle to keep his jaw off the floor.

“Hannah. You know we’re supposed to share, right?” Jake murmured.

“That’s what makes a monopoly so special,” She said, swirling her glass before taking a drink.”Although, if you wanna sweeten the pot, let’s say the winner’s at the top of the hierarchy.”

Now that was an intriguing proposition. Emily enjoyed submitting to the two of them as equals, but one of them clearly being in charge? That was a tweak to the Arrangement worth experimenting with.

He looked to Emily for any objections, but found her grinning, a playful twinkle in her eye. Whatever was happening here hadn’t been totally planned out in advance.

“Okay…What’s the wager?”

“Which one of us did you enjoy watching the most?” Hannah asked.

“You do NOT have to answer that,” Jake said.

“Oh, stop being such a Boy Scout. This is fun!” Emily objected.

But before she could answer, Hannah raised a finger.

“Don’t tell us. Show us,” She said. “Under the table.”

“What? Hannah!” Jake began to object.

“It’s okay,” Emily said, gathering her hair back behind her and pulling it into a ponytail with a band she wore around her wrist. “There’s a tablecloth here.”

There was, which Jake also felt was more than passing odd. It stretched all the way to the floor. He couldn’t put his finger on why it was odd, anymore than why Emily’s casual nudity was.

She gave a quick look around, then, when she seemed sure nobody was looking, disappeared beneath the table cloth.

“So, I was thinking about having Lacy and AJ over,” Hannah said.

Beneath the table, Jake could feel her unzipping his pants, and freeing his cock.

“I…uh…what?” Jake stammered, stupidly.

“AJ. Lacy. Friends.” Hannah said. “It’s been a while since we had a nice dinner party. You should ask Megs to come, too. God knows she could use a break from school.”

Emily’s hands disappeared, and Jake could hear rustling from the other side of the table. A moment later, a hand emerged to stuff a pair of panties into Hannah’s purse sitting beside her.

They had to be Hannah’s. Emily couldn’t wear any.

“Uh. Yeah, I’d like that,” Jake said.

He was starting, barely, to recover his wits. This was a show. It was supposed to be like Emily wasn’t even there; an absurdly hot idea given what he knew was coming.

“What about Jenn. Think she’d be down?” Jake asked.

Hannah wrinkled her nose.

“I love my sister, but she doesn’t approve of the Arrangement,” She said, dropping her voice. “And all kinky stuff aside, I’m not hiding Em from anyone.”

He loved her for that. He reached out over the table, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

…And then jerked. A pair of lips was suddenly around his cock. It was all hidden, but he felt a sudden surge of panic, anyway. Before he could frantically look around though, Hannah leaned over the table to put a hand on his cheek.

“Relax. Enjoy yourself,” She said.

Jake moaned. As Emily began to tease his cock, first with her lips, then with her tongue, he decided this was good advice.

“Anyway,” Hannah said, refilling her glass and Jake’s. “How does Saturday sound? I checked our calendar and I don’t think we have anything going on.”

“S-saturday,” Jake agreed with a moan. “Sounds good. I’ll text them…in a minute.”

She raised her glass, it took Jake a moment to do the same. Emily was hungrily bobbing up and down on his cock, and he didn’t seem to have enough brainpower to process this and anything Hannah was saying at the same time.

“To the Arrangement,” Hannah said, clinking the two together.

Jake moved to drink, then gripped the table as he spasmed in pleasure. He felt himself release into Emily’s mouth.

Emily emerged a moment later, undoing her hair to spill over and conveniently censor her body. Not that it hid her obvious arousal. As she stood, she dabbed something off her thumb, sucking on it, and the realization of what it was made Jake stiffen all over again.

Had he really just done that?

“To the Arrangement,” He agreed with a sigh.

“Is there anything else I can get you two?” Emily asked, back to pretending she was just another waitress who hadn’t just blown him on the job and in public.

“We’re fine, thank you,” Hannah said, before adding quietly. “See you when you get home, gorgeous.”

“Try to leave him enough gas in the tank for me to have some fun, too,” Emily whispered.

“No promises,” Jake rasped. “That was incredible. Jesus.”

“Don’t worry,” Hannah said with a sly smile, “If he can’t help you, I certainly will. I owe you some payback for picking him.”

As Emily began to walk away from the table, Hannah gave her ass a very indiscrete smack. It was loud and obvious enough to draw disapproving looks from other tables, though despite giving a little yelp of protest, Emily didn’t seem harmed by it at all.

“You two are something else,” Jake said, shaking his head. “Try to go easy on her. She probably picked me mostly to mix up the dynamic at home.”

“Oh, I’m just teasing her,” Hannah said, stretching. “When that pizza arrives, you wanna get it to go? I'd like to take the rest of this date someplace private.”

*****

“That was so much fun!” Emily said as Jake stood beside her scrubbing dishes.

There were a lot of them. The full roster of guests had included AJ, Rachel, Lacy, Megan, and AJ’s new girlfriend…Well, Jake couldn’t remember her name, but those five plus he, Em and Hannah had produced quite a mess.

Oddly, he couldn’t seem to remember anything about the details of the party, or even the days leading up to it; as though there was a hole in time between date night at the bar and now. That should have struck him as odd, but it didn’t.

“It was fun,” He agreed, hands wet to the elbows in scalding hot water. “God, I really love those guys. And it’s awesome to see Megs coming out of her shell finally.”

He handed a scrubbed plate to Emily, who dried it off and put it back in the cupboard.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to get the dishes?” Hannah asked.

“Absolutely,” Jake insisted. “You served all night, and Hannah cooked. It’s the least I can do.”

Splitting the housework was something he’d insisted on. He liked having a wife as well as a girlfriend, but he had no interest in either being his

maid.

“If you insist,” Emily said with a roll of her baby blue eyes. “You know I enjoy it though.”

Yeah, He thought. Too much sometimes.

But he was in a good mood. The party had been a hit, everyone had a lovely time, and with Emily’s help, he might even get the dishes finished while still awash with that pleasant wine buzz.

Suddenly, Emily leaned over and gave him a cute peck on the cheek.

“I really love this,” She said. “Even Rach seems to be coming on board.”

Jake smiled, pulling her close and giving her a longer, fuller kiss on the lips. When he withdrew, he saw the soapy handprint he’d left on Emily’s ass.

It stirred something primal in him. He’d marked her.

“Yeah. I can’t believe it, but it’s going really well.”

Emily tilted her head.

“The Arrangement?”

Jake nodded.

“I’d have never thought either you, or me, or Hannah could go for something like this. But I’ll be damned if it’s going really well.”

Emily gave him a warm smile then. It lit up her pretty, freckled face.

“Of course it’s going well,” She said. “We’re three cool people who like to have a good time.”

She slid her hips into his, giving him a friendly bump.

“Now hurry up with those dishes,” She said. “Showing off for you two all night has me good and excited.”

As though the thought had summoned her, Hannah came in wiping her hands on an apron.

“Well, the dining room and living room are all cleaned up,” She said. “You two about finished?”

“Someone’s impatient,” He said. “I’ve got a few more dishes here. Including the dutch oven.”

Hannah rolled her eyes.

“Let it soak. We can get it tomorrow,” She said.

It was comically unlike her to leave a mess. She must be feeling as antsy as Em was.

“Hold your horses,” He said. “I’m almost done.”

Rather than heeding his advice, Hanna walked over to Emily and placed her hands on the younger woman’s hips. Emily giggled, turned, and wrapped her arms around Hannah’s neck. The two kissed.

“Better hurry up,” Hannah said, a hand exploring one of Em’s perky breasts. “We might have to get started without you.”

Jake stiffened, which they knew he would. It was their go-to tactic; play with each other to help get him going.

Tonight, though, he thought he’d play back a bit.

“Em was just telling me how well she thought this whole thing was going,” He said. “I agree, but there is one problem.”

“Oh yeah?” Hannah asked, cooing as Emily slid a hand up her thigh and beneath her skirt. “What’s that?”

Jake made a show of stretching and yawning.

“I’m just one guy, and you two take a lot of energy,” He said, “It’s hard to keep up sometimes.”

Emily flipped up Hannah’s skirt, grabbing her ass beneath her panties. She was making a show of it.

“I suspect you can manage,” She said.

“It’s never stopped you before,” Hannah agreed.

He rubbed his belly.

“Nah. It was a big meal. I’m still a little wine drunk, and I need to finish up here,” He said. “I’m gonna take a quick nap before we get into it, I think.”

The playful show being put on for him intensified, Emily unzipping Hannah’s dress to reveal her creamy backside.

“A nap? Where’s the fun in that?” She teased.

Jake only shook his head, allowing himself a grin of his own.

“The fun comes later. Rest comes now,” He said. “But don’t worry, I won’t completely leave you hanging. I was thinking about that bet we made earlier this week.”

Now he had their attention. They were still wrapped in each other’s arms, but the teasing had stopped.

“What did you have in mind?” Hannah asked.

“Using that place you gave me at the top of the totem pole to take a nap,” He said. “And when I’m done, I’ll have all the fun with you I need.”

“Not exactly a thrilling **** of power,” Hannah challenged, though she was still smiling.

He finished scrubbing the big Dutch Oven, and sat it upside down in the dish rack to dry. He wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Oh, it could be,” He said. “I want you two to keep each other excited until I’m ready. However long it takes.”

“Oooh, now we’re talking!” Emily said with a smile.

Hannah looked less sure, though he could tell through a decade of observing her posture that she was aroused.

“What if we go too far?” She asked. “Wear ourselves out while you’re resting up?”

“You won’t,” Jake said. “Because you’re not allowed to. No cumming. Anyone who does has to follow my rules for another week, and I will not be gentle about it.”

This was wildly unlike him. Arrangement or no, and in spite of Em’s obvious proclivity for obedience, Jake wanted the women in his life to be his equals.

At least the rational Jake did. The Jake who’d seen that soapy hand print and watched the girls’ little show for his benefit, wanted something else tonight. Besides, it was all in good fun.

“Challenge accepted,” Hannah said, pulling Emily close to kiss her.

“Another thing,” Jake added. “Lose the dress and underwear, babe. For the rest of our little wager, you won’t wear anything more than she does when you’re here at home.”

“Mmmm…I like the sound of that,” Emily said, helping Hannah out of her dress. “Ready to see how the other half lives?”

Hannah continued undressing, while Emily hopped up on the countertop.

“Mmm. This is really fucking hot, baby,” Emily said, giving him a kiss.

He brushed a thumb over her nipple, then reached out with his other hand to Hannah, rubbing her now naked pussy with two fingers. She moaned, and squirmed.

“Last thing,” He said, “Keep it down. I don’t want to hear a peep out of either of you. Whatever you do to each other, you do in silence. Or as close to it as you can. If you can’t, same penalties apply.”

This last was unnecessary. He was a pretty heavy sleeper.

“Jake…” Hannah said, but he silenced her with a finger.

“Do your thing,” He said. Withdrawing from the two. “If I’m not up in an hour, come in and wake me.”

He left them like that, listening to the kisses, pants and light moans he’d allowed them as he made his way to the bedroom. Really, he didn’t even think he needed to sleep now. The sudden power trip was intoxicating, and he was so turned on himself he doubted he even could.

Yet when he lay down, he thought he must have, because he lost an indeterminate amount of time. Afterward, he couldn’t recall sleeping, but it was like an hour went by anyway. One moment he was laying in bed by himself, the next, two quiet, naked shapes were slithering up the bed at him.

“Oh, hey girls,” He said, smiling.

Neither said anything in reply. That’s when he realized that he hadn’t actually given them permission to yet. Remaining silent, Emily slipped up beneath his arm, tracing a finger along his chest. She kissed his neck, sucking on it hard with a moan, before biting on his ear. It was her wordless way of saying how badly she needed him. He responded with a hard squeeze of her ass that made her squirm and moan beneath his arm.

He felt Hanna move between his legs. When he looked down, the thin street lighting filtering in through the lines revealed her heart shaped face sheened in sweat and obviously needy. She nuzzled his now rock hard cock, her tongue flicking out to tease its length.

“Jesus…” He muttered. “You two are amazing…”

Hannah beamed and raised herself to a sitting position. As if in sync, Emily pulled herself free. The two women held one another as they presented themselves to him.

“Em. I’ll start with you.” Jake breathed. “Call it a reward for Tuesday night.”

Hannah made a disappointed pout, and Emily bit her lip with a soft giggle. She gave Hannah a reassuring squeeze on the ass and a peck on the cheek. Hannah returned with a more passionate kiss, and pinched Em’s nipples in a way that promised future, if playful, retribution.

Jake began to sit up to take a position behind Emily, but she and Hannah crawled along beside him and pushed him back down. Ever the soul of forbearance, Jake decided to lay back and see where they were going with this.

Emily took her own position, facing him as she spread her legs around his hips. As his girlfriend hovered over his cock, Jake’s wife moved between them, her shapely thighs straddling his waist in a reverse cowgirl position that allowed her to face Emily.

As Emily impaled herself on his cock, Jake was treated to the sensation of the two women enjoying each other at the same time. He couldn’t see much more than Hannah’s backside (which was, Jake thought in all fairness, easily her good one), which was enough to see Emily’s slender hand reach around to give it a squeeze. He could feel them come together on top of him.

Emily gasped in pleasure, throwing her head back. Jake let out a groan and felt a pre-orgasmal spasm of pleasure as she rode home with all the wildcat vigor she always brought to her lovemaking. But she slid off of him before he could finish, leaving him groaning in frustration.

“R-really?” He moaned.

Emily gave him a sly look as he sat up. Now he could see the two women together in more than just his imagination. The playful, almost choreographed teasing they’d given him earlier was gone now, and they groped and kissed another frantically. Jake sat up between them, watching as Hannah’s lips descended on Emily’s nipple, suckling it as Emily moaned and ran rough fingers through the older woman’s hair.

“Fuck me…” Jake groaned.

No longer nearly finished, this new show put a renewed fever in him, which he supposed in his lust-fogged head, had been the entire point.

Emily pulled Hannah off of her and gave her ass a slap before sliding aside. Hannah, squirming with arousal, lay at the foot of the bed with her legs spread. She massaged herself with one hand, and gave an impatient wave to Jake with the other.

He needed no further coaxing. He lunged at her, and the two shared a long, passionate kiss as he shoved himself inside of her. No command could stop her from crying out at that point, and she did so back arched and loud enough that their neighbors’ neighbors likely knew what they were up to.

As he took Hannah, Emily’s arms wrapped around his waist, and she kissed his neck and face from behind, every bit as frantic and hungry as Hannah beneath him. For one, delirious moment, Jake couldn’t tell where he, Emily or Hannah started or ended. And then he lost all sense of everything as he exploded inside of Hannah.

The three fell back together into a puddle, Jake barely aware of which direction was up or down. They lay together moaning and breathing, and with or without the kinky foreplay, it was a long, long time before any of them could recover the power of speech.

*****

The novelty of having Hannah lounge around the house in the same state wore off quickly. In fact, the way Hannah dressed herself, always impeccable, and with a terrific understanding of how different outfits brought meshed with her makeup and jewelry, was one of the keys to her beauty.

But having two perpetually naked women who were as into each other as they were him at his beck and call was something more than alluring. The fact that she was like this because he told her to be was even moreso.

She seemed to know the effect it had on him, as she sauntered into the living room with a huge bowl of popcorn, making a show of swaying her hips as she planted herself next to him on the couch. Emily sat under one arm, and Hannah leaned against the other, Indian style, with the bowl of popcorn in her lamp.

Their evening viewing was that of Glengarry Glen Ross. It had been Jake’s pick, which Hannah had enthusiastically gone along with, and Emily begrudgingly accepted.

“You got back in time,” Jake said, patting Hannah’s thigh. “Alec Baldwin’s about to show up.”

“Ugh,” Hannah said. “I hate that scene.”

Jake sat up, a bit sharply.

“What?! It’s a great scene!” He said. “There’s like, 30 Oscar nominations and 6 wins in that scene.”

“Okay,” Emily interjected. “Alan Arkin doesn’t even have speaking lines in it. He doesn’t count.”

“I mean…whatever,” Jake responded. “It’s still a masterclass.”

Hannah shrugged.

“It’s acted well enough. That’s not why I hate it,” She said. “Every ‘Hustle Harder’ douchebag uses it as an aspirational thing, and that’s not the point of the scene.”

Emily snapped her finger, now sitting up herself.

“Yes! Thank you!” She agreed. “It’s Fight Club bullshit. A movie about what these systems do to men, that too many guys watch and say ‘oh man, that was so badass’.”

Jake sighed.

“Boiler Room,” He said by way of agreement. “Ugh.”

Hannah giggled, but Emily looked confused.

“You were a little young for it,” Hannah said. “It’s a film about junior Wall Street brokers. It was about 10 years old when Jake got into the industry, but it’s the same sort of deal. It was a critique of the culture that a lot of those guys latched onto because Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck were cool.”

“Okay, so Fight Club,” Em repeated. “Tyler Durden’s supposed to be the bad guy, but a lot of people miss it because he’s cool.”

Jake felt the sudden swell of pride he often did around the two. He had two smart, beautiful women, who could go toe to toe with him intellectually, and who liked each other almost as they did him. And despite how odd their lifestyle was, it just felt so normal, and so goddamn good, to enjoy a movie with his girls.

He gave each a squeeze, then kissed them on the cheeks.

“You two are amazing,” He said. “I’m a very lucky man.”

Hannah returned the kiss with gusto, then set the bowl aside and stood, stretching in a way that accentuated her short, shapely form.

“I’m gonna grab a drink. Does anyone else need anything?”

Jake smiled.

“Could you…”

“Get me a beer” would have been his next words, but then he thought better of the optics.

“Grab a fizzy fermented malt beverage for me,” He said. “Please.”

Hannah gave him a knowing smile.

“Only if you buy me something pretty,” She said.

He rolled his eyes, but was still smiling.

“Alright. Deal,” He said.

As she wandered off, Emily pulled herself up straight, then pulled a blanket across her body.

“Hey, baby,” She said. “We need to talk. No dream bullshit. Just the two of us.”

Jake blinked, and as he did, the illusion of the dream fell away. He remembered the show, the pressure they were all under, and all the true history of their relationship. In a second, the illusion he’d been under for nearly four hours had shattered.

“Oh…” He said dumbly, “Ooooh. You guys were…wow. What a good dream set up.”

“Thank you,” Emily said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “But that’s not why I need to talk. Like, for real, y’know?”

Jake nodded, though he wasn’t sure he followed.

“Okay. What’s up?”

Emily bit her lip.

“I…need to confess something,” She said. “You know I gave you the Hall Pass and all. And that me and Han have hooked up.”

He nodded.

“Old news,” He said. “We’ve talked about all this.”

Emily grabbed a long strand of hair and began winding it between her fingers.

“Well…the timeline on that…” She said, then took a deep breath. “It’s…maybe not…”

She closed her eyes, then exhaled.

“I slept with Hannah before I let you off the leash,” She said. “I cheated on you first.”

Jake drew back, considering her. For a moment, he felt a flare of indignation, but he crushed it with an effort. Hearing her out was more important.

“Okay. How much sooner?”

“The night before,” She admitted. “It was pretty organic. My changes activated hers, which inflamed mine. Then one thing led to another…”

Emily had been making a close inspection of her lap, but she turned her eyes up to meet his.

“I won’t apologize that it happened. It was partly our fault, but it never would have if they hadn’t turned us into what they did,” She said. “But I am sorry I wasn’t honest with you about it.”

Jake considered. Emily’s dishonesty stung. It was the last quarter he’d expected any from.

“Em…why didn’t you tell me?” He asked. “I could have forgiven a mind borked hookup, but what didn’t you just come clean about it from the start?”

“Because I’m scared shitless,” She admitted.

Jake looked for any affectations on her part, and found none. He remembered what Lacy had said to him. And AJ. And then he let out a sigh.

“Okay…I can get that, I guess.”

“I know I should have told you,” Emily said. “But after what they’d done to Amelia. And what they’re clearly trying to do to me…”

He looked at her, puzzled.

“What do you mean?”

Emily gave a bitter little laugh.

“Look at me? I’m stuck naked, everyone’s having wet dreams about me, and I get wet just thinking about people telling me what to do.”

She spread her arms.

“They’re turning me into the team sex toy. One piece at a time,” She said. “I’m losing myself and becoming some thing anyone can pick up and play with.”

Jake embraced her.

“You’ll never just be that to me,” He promised. “Whatever happens, I’ll take care of you.”

She kissed him, but her smile was tired.

“I know you want to mean that,” She said. “But it’s not something you have control over. If the game decides everyone has to treat me like a toy…”

She shrugged.

“Anyway, it was cowardly. And I was a liar. And I’m sorry,” She said. “I was just afraid of losing points over it. Becoming more like this.”

Jake considered that, then nodded.

“I get that,” He admitted. “Hannah might get bumped off this round because I lost my temper at her. It’s pretty fucking unfair.”

“I hope she doesn’t,” Emily said. “She’s been amazing to me. I mean, yeah, she’s enjoyed what’s happened to me, but she taught me to find joy in it, too. And she taught me to stop feeling ashamed of myself after this happened…”

She gestured to her naked body, and Jake felt another flush of shame at having done that to her, however inadvertently.

“I don’t feel like a freak every day. I feel sexy, and cool. Hannah’s the reason why,” Emily continued, “She’s got every reason to hate me, but she’s actually helped.”

He felt a sudden pang of sympathy for his ex at that. Admiration, too.

A thought occurred to Jake.

“So, you two did this dream together, didn’t you?” He asked. “I know you guys can collaborate if you want to.”

Emily nodded.

“We did,” She admitted. “She even let me set aside some time to come clean with you.”

She bit her lip.

“I think we’d both be okay with this,” She said. “In the long run. We both…at least I love you. And…”

Whatever she said next was lost, the illusion of the dream beginning to collapse around them.

Jake awoke in the silvery bed on the platform that had once overlooked the contest staging area. The sun was lower in the sky than when he’d gone under.

He was overcome by a strong sense of unreality, torn between the hyper real experience of his pretend life with Emily and Hannah, of having the former in his arms, and this lonely wakeup in his swim trunks on a stage with no one around it.

He ran his hands through his hair.

“How am I supposed to get back to sleep no-”

But as the words left his lips, a voice came from the bed.

ADMINISTERING SLEEPING AGENT

“The fuck?” He muttered, looking around.

Then he felt a sharp jab in his ass, and a fuzziness overtake his mind. It was powerful, whatever it was, and soon, he was drifting off, the dreams consuming him once more.