Group photos

(John's PoV)

What a day! It's not even done. Maria's off to the gym to train Cotton and Rita. I have some free time before I meet them this evening.

Mat's out shopping, so I call up Alex and invite him to meet me at the local pub. It's been a while since I've seen my friend. It'll be good to catch up.

The pub is near work, so I get there first. I grab a table and order a beer and an appetizer. While waiting for him, I take the opportunity to check Harem Management.

Wait! How did that happen?

Manage Harem

Harem slots : 3/3
Harem goals completed : 0/3
Exclusivity : 95/100
Members :

Maria Finocci - Goal: Go viral on Starsgram as a fitness influencer
Satisfaction: (101)

• Emotional 80
• Financial 65
• Sexual 130

Mattison Weaver - Goal: Get vtuber channel sponsored
Satisfaction: (21)

• Emotional 20
• Financial 60
• Sexual 5

Cotton Newman - Goal : Make varsity cheer and volleyball squads.
Satisfaction: (60)

• Emotional 90
• Financial 50
• Sexual 50

Potential Members :

• Rita Torres

How did Cotton take my last slot? That was for Rita!

Idiot! Think! When did I get the harem interface? It wasn’t when I had sex with Maria, it was when she agreed to join me in the sauna. Mat was added after we had our big talk. Of course Cotton would be added when I told her "I want to be by your side".

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Okay, time to fix this. What do I have to do to open a slot for Rita?

I tap Harem slots hoping for an explanation.

Harem slots become available as you prove you are able to satisfy your current harem.

Requirements:

• Satisfaction ratings average 125
• At least one Harem goal completed for each member since adding a slot
• Exclusivity between 75% and 95%

The requirements are pretty steep! I wonder why the exclusivity has to be less that 100%? I'm more worried about the Satisfaction ratings. I can't do much about my income as a librarian, so I'll need to use my harem points to improve my financial situation.

My beer arrives and I take a sip. It’s a spiced pumpkin ale for fall. Delicious.

Now to check the store.

Harem Store:

Available points: 9

Emotional:

• Masculine Approval - 2
• Listening Ear - 2
• Foreplay skills - 1

Purchased:

• Commanding presence
• Foreplay skills x1

Financial:

• Larger bed - 2
• Additional bedroom - 2
• Larger Kitchen - 3
• Upgrade Apartment - 4
• Improved bathroom - 2
• Better neighborhood - 4
• Vacation home - 3
• Spa day - 1
• Investment income - 10
• Upgrade Wardrobe - 1

Purchased:

• Larger bed x1
• Larger Kitchen x1
• Upgrade Apartment x1

Sexual:

• Penis length - 1
• penis girth - 4
• Testicle size - 1
• Refraction period reduction -1
• Sexual Stamina - 2
• Height - 1
• Muscle Mass - 2
• Muscle potential - 1

Purchased:

• Muscle potential x3
• Penis girth x3
• Refraction period reduction x2
• Sexual stamina x1
• Ejaculation taste

10 Harem Points for Investment Income! That's the highest cost I've ever seen. It shouldn't surprise me that the nepo-baby, Cotton, has expensive taste. Expensive in both money and points.

Based on my plans for the next couple days, I'll buy:

• Masculine Approval
• Upgrade Wardrobe

I want to save some points for surprises.

Looking at quests, everyone is busy except Rita. I know 3rd year engineers are looking for internships. Let me help her out with her future.

Rita will receive the following advanced quest:

• Talk to your professor about internship opportunities.
• Apply for 3 internships

Select a reward from the three choices:

• Internship is paid
• Guaranteed acceptance to one internship
• Improved chance of getting a job offer after internship

Reward: Internship is paid

Rita's mentioned how tight money is and I'm not ready to be a full-on sugar daddy just yet. Quest-daddy will have to do.

I put my phone down and focus on my mozzarella sticks. Alex should be here soon. Wonder what’s up with that dude.

“Jooohn! What a good surprise!” Alex is here. I dap him up. And he takes his seat. “Something’s different about you. You got news for me?”

I don’t feel any different, but trust an old friend to notice something.

“It’s clothes, bro.” He responded to my confusion. “You look like you girlfriend took you shopping. It’s a good look on you! Also, you feel solid you been working out.” He makes a goofy lifting gesture. I’ll use that out.

“Yeah. A coworker invited me to join her at the gym and I found that I like it.”

“Finally taking my advice? I’ve told you since high school, the ladies love the quiet, buff black guy.”

He’s not wrong. While he’s talking the waitress comes by and he orders his drink and some boneless wings.

“Real men eat wings with bones.” I tease to shift the topic.

“Not when they’re wearing clothes that are dry-clean only.”

From there the conversation settles into comfortable banter and in-jokes. I tell him about the recent interest my book has gotten from Miss Summers’ publisher contacts.

“So you’re finally doing it! Good for you!” Alex stands up. Uh-oh what is this fool doing?

“Attention please! Everyone! May I have your attention!” The happy hour crowd looks over at our table. What did I expect from Alex? “Raise your glasses for my boy John, the author! He’s publishing his first book! Three cheers!”

The happy hour crowd feeds off his energy. Might as well go along with it. I raise my glass.

“Hup! Hup! Huzzah!”

“Hup! Hup! Huzzah!”

“Hup! Hup! Huzzah!”

For some reason the spotlight bothers me less. Maybe because I just had sex.

(Maria's PoV)

I am on the rowing machine when the girls arrive together in matching jerseys paired with yoga pants. Rita in blue with white stripes and Cotton in solid white.

The pair draw attention from the various gym goers as they make their way over to the locker room. I keep rowing while they put their things away. I hear their girly chatter before I see them come over to me. They're giggling and having a gay ole time. When did those two become so close?

I finish my rowing and stand up. I hope they interpret my wobbly legs as being from my workout.

I greet both girls with a big hug and kisses. I don’t remember Cotton’s chest being so much bigger than mine. It’s obvious that John is up to something with this girl. I wonder what happened after she interrupted us this morning? He disappeared for a while after that.

Rita’s height (or lack thereof) means she gets sweaty boobies in her face when we hug. It’s hard to tell if that bothers her when she returns my hugs with such excitement.

Cotton gives me a knowing grin over Rita’s head. Her eyes dart from my lips to messy hair to my waist. She bounces her eyebrows twice and winks. Is it that obvious?

"Before we get started. I have an offer. I was talking with Katya Kass, I convinced her to host a twerk class at the gym. I'm hoping you girls can help me invite others to join." I invite the girls to join me.

Rita bounces with excitement at the news. "Katya Kass!? I've followed her since her early days." Rita puts her hands on her knees and starts bouncing her ass, one cheek at a time. The quiet girl has impressive muscle control. "You really got her?"

"Ey! Ey! Go girl!" Cotton starts hyping up Rita. "I didn't know you could dance!"

"I grew up dancing Samba with my family." The short stack girl shifted from her bent posture to standing up right. From twerking to gyrating in samba rhythm. Her hips never stopped moving. It's mesmerizing.

"Katya will be here on Tuesdays, starting next week."

"I'm in." Rita switched back to popping her sizable ass at Cotton who finally joined in. "Blondie, you should join too. You need to learn how to do more than bounce your tits for a crowd."

"So, learn to bounce my ass for a crowd?" Cotton awkwardly tried to copy Rita. They both giggled.

"Learn both so you can be perfectly balanced as all things should be. That's a perfect segue to today's workout. We are going to work upper body. As always, we’ll finish with glutes.”

“The boys like when I finish with my chest.” Cotton smirked and shimmied. “Where do you like to finish Miss Maria?”

“If you can talk, you aren’t working hard enough. Let’s get going.”

For the next hour, I make sure both girls are working to hard to ask silly questions.

After we finish the bonus glutes exercise the girls are on the mat breathing hard. I'm impressed with their work ethic.

"Bag." Cotton points at her bag. Maybe she needs some water. I pick up the bag and bring it over to her. "Look in. Jersey." Confused I open the bag. There's a Beaumont Bucks jersey. I pick it out.

"Put pant it pant on." Rita points to me. "Need picture." She reaches out for help to her feet. Cotton grabs her hand and helps her up.

I pull the jersey over my head. Cotton immediately rolls the bottom of the jersey up so the band of my workout shorts shows.

Rita has a tripod in her bag, because of course she does. She sets up her phone to take the pictures.

Cotton and I stand together and pose, waiting for Rita to join on my left. Rita bounces up to us looking at me with what is for her, an unusual, mischievous look.

“You’re in my spot, blondie.” Rita told Cotton

“What are you talking about? We’re already po-“

“Move!” Rita interrupted Cotton with a hip-check that sent her flying. "Let's take some more exciting pictures." Rita bounced her ass at Cotton and made kissy-lips at the camera.

“Hey! Watch your fat ass!” Cotton recovered and posed on Rita’s other side. Instead of presenting her ass to the camera she bent over to show her cleavage.

"You love my fat ass." Rita responded. “I can take the pictures from my watch. So let's get some shots!"

I assume the position and we all get caught up in Rita's energy and take a bunch of silly pictures. Once we have enough, we all walk over to the phone and look at the pictures to pick out the best ones to post.

“That one’s good, I like the second one.” I point out my favorite. Maria scrolls past to a picture we didn’t know she was taking. The one where she hip-checked Cotton. It’s hilarious.

“Hey! Delete that one!” Cotton demands, reaching for the phone.

Rita moves it away from her. “I dunno. I kinda like this one.”

“If you post that! I’ll kill you.”

“Maybe I’ll just keep it as your contact photo.” Rita was pleased with herself. She continues working her phone to post the photos.

It’s time to wrap up. I should invite Rita over tonight to meet up with John. I start heading to the locker room. The girls follow me.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m getting hungry.” Now to ease into inviting Rita over.

“Hungry?” Cotton asks. I her tone says she’s going somewhere with this. “Didn’t you have a protein shake just before you met us?”

Protein shake? I haven’t eaten since lunch. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cotton moves close and whispers. “It’s in your hair.” I gasp as I realize what she’s talking about. I though I cleaned up after the library! When she puts it that way my ‘protein shake’ was delicious. Definitely not the normal flavor. I look to see if Rita noticed, but she’s focused on changing.

“I have to hurry home. I have a big test tomorrow.” Rita pulls on her sweats and gives me a hug.

“Do you have time to swing by for dinner?” I ask her.

Rita exits my embrace shaking her head. “I had a big lunch and I really need to finish studying. Thanks for the good session!”

Rita bounces out of the locker room. Dang it! I missed an opportunity. While I’m watching her go, Cotton grins at me like a cat that caught a mouse.

“You have some big plans tonight? Don’t you?”

I play coy. “My dear Cotton, whatever do you mean?”

“I know fresh-fucked hair when I see it. I also know that someone was interrupted getting a blow-job at work today. It looks like you returned to finish the job.” She steps towards me as she lays out her evidence. Each step she takes she seems to rake up more space. I step back involuntarily, my back touching the locker.

When did this child get so composed? If I didn’t know that Rita knew about John and I, I would be intimidated by Cotton’s unspoken threat.

“I don’t care that you guys have fun in the lunch room. I do want to know why you’re blowing Rita’s boyfriend behind her back.” She’s closed the gap with her smug expression. Now she’s pressing her chest against me as she lays out her accusation.

She must expect me to cower. Instead I wrap my arms around her. Her face shifts to shock as I run one hand through her hair and pat her head.

“My dear, Cotton.” I kiss her on both surprised cheeks. “Why do you think it’s behind her back?”

“Buh! Buh! She knows?!” Her sputtering response is everything I hoped for. “She’s okay with sharing that loser?”

“Oh, Cotton.” I continue running my hands through her hair. It really is soft. “Remember when I told you the best men are taken?” She nods. “Remember what I told you next?”

She seemed to settle into my embrace, like a child that had some big emotions to get out. I let the moment linger. “The choice is to share or steal. Girls like us get to choose.”

“Right sweetie. I know you’re hot and bothered over this ‘loser’. But consider your next choice.” I hold her tight, maybe a little threateningly. “Do you really think you can steal him from me?”

She tenses in my arms, and pulls back to look me in the eyes. “No, Miss Maria. I wouldn’t dare.”

“Then come over for dinner.” She wears a shocked expression for the second time this conversation. I find her lips and give her a kiss, deeper than she expected. I feel her panic before she reciprocates. Eventually, I let her up for air. “You’re lucky. I don’t mind sharing.”