CHAPTER 535: DON’T GET ANY IDEAS

Turned out the room problem was more than just relationship complexity. They ran out entirely, so either Becky or Demi would have to double up with someone if they didn’t stay with Mason.

He said ‘they’d figure it out’—with no plan at all—then unsummoned what was left of his clothes, and did his best to sort out the weird goblin shower.

“You need a fucking engineering degree,” he muttered, playing with half a dozen dials and valves. Nothing was labeled. Nothing was obvious. It was like the little bastards enjoyed making things difficult.

“Can I help, human lord?”

He blinked as a female voice popped out of nowhere. Then a young goblin servant stepped right into the shower with him. She was no more than five feet tall, with all the appealing curves you’d want on a human woman, dressed in nothing but a white towel. Her long black hair was tied back to show an attractive face and red eyes.

“Uh.”

It wasn’t his most charming greeting. He also considered covering his bits but then decided that was ridiculous. She’d walked in on him, after all. He could see Becky and Demi staring at him from outside, sitting awkwardly across from each other at some table.

“I just need water. I don’t care of it’s warm or cold or whatever, just…”

The little goblin girl bent over right in front of him and turned two knobs, and water started spraying from the faucet above. Mason kept his eyes aimed upwards.

“Thanks.”

The girl stood up beside him, not even moving as the water half hit her. She grinned and raked him with her eyes.

“You don’t look like others.”

He cleared his throat.

“I change when I fight. Now that’s it, thanks. I’ll wash, and change again.”

“May I watch? Would like to see.”

“No. Off you go.” He put a little more force in his tone, but the goblin didn’t look frightened. She just smiled again and gave him some kind of bowing curtsy, then stepped out of the shower and swayed off. He turned away quickly. Though probably not quickly enough to avoid Becky and Demi’s eyes.

It occurred to him then he hadn’t even told Becky that he and Demi were…a thing. It might have been getting obvious, but that probably didn’t make it any better.

In fact, until he officially told her, it might be like he was lying or hiding it. Which he supposed he was. Except not really. Because he fully intended to talk about it, it’s just they had no God damn time. And…

Christ. Mason closed his eyes and let the warm water flow down his body. It felt pretty amazing, actually, and he activated his Blessing of Gaia to change the water—to let it renew and un-transform him as he Shapeshifted back.

Returning forms was just as comfortable as changing out, which was still a surprise every time. His transformations washed away like sand, and he shut off his mind and enjoyed. He imagined the violence draining too—and the harsher thing he was becoming.

A thing that loved pain as much as pleasure—a thing that loved killing and death as much as life.

He heard Becky and Demi making smalltalk. So that was something, at least. He reached out instinctively with One with Nature and felt the goblins, his people, the animals living in the mountain. Life was getting stronger now with the demons gone. Their status as ‘chief villain’ became more obvious all the time, and Mason knew that stopping them justified almost anything.

He was beginning to understand these ‘Makers’. And maybe to understand his brother’s vision of a world united to fight something worse. But ‘understand’ didn’t mean ‘believe in’. Winning a friendly tribe of human-like goblins didn’t mean you could unite a world. It hadn’t worked on ‘Old Earth’ with just people. What the hell made anyone think it would work with a hundred species? Though he supposed a universal translator helped.

He eventually turned off the water with a sigh, wrapped himself with a well-placed towel, and mentally prepared to deal with his women. He wished again he had Haley, and even tried to ‘summon’ her as a Hail Mary. It gave him some error about ‘ongoing raid’ and civilians. Of course it did.

“Well that ain’t fair,” Becky said, staring at him from the table. She was playing with the buttons on her shirt, eyes locked on his chest. “Put on some clothes and turn that thing off. We gotta talk.”

So much for the easy route. Mason clicked off Blessing of Gaia, then summoned his Vestments.

“I’d like a shower too,” Demi said, still obviously awkward. “Maybe that’ll give you…I mean I can take my time.”

Mason nodded then showed her how it worked in silence, exchanging a few meaningful looks (and scents). Her immediate desire for him was obvious (and distracting). The feeling was mutual.

He wanted to strip off his towel and join her. In fact he wanted to go get Becky and bring her in, too. Instead he closed the shower door and walked back to the table, resisting the urge to turn and look back as Demi undressed.

“Dunno what she said, but I wanted to tell you. I mean I thought we should…”

“I know yer sleepin’ with her. I ain’t an idiot.”

Mason’s mouth snapped shut. He tapped the table as he tried to come up with something more clever than ‘OK cool, so let’s skip the talking and all hop into bed’. Becky sighed and crossed her arms, looking away.

“Guess I just thought…” she shook her head, pushing stray hair behind an ear. “She’s a player, y’know? Now what we got ain’t so…special. Our time on the road.”

So. That was it. Mason nodded, putting a foot against hers under the table. “Doesn’t change a thing. I love our time ‘on the road’. I want you with me every step of the way.”

“It already did change things,” Becky said. “All I wanted was to hop in that shower with you, but I couldn’t, could I? I don’t know this girl. Not sure I even like her.”

“You will. And it’s just like this because it’s new. Pretty soon it’ll be back to normal. Whatever the hell that is. You and Rosa weren’t exactly besties either, and look at you now.”

“Yeah, well.” Becky kept her arms crossed and was still looking away, but her foot was pushing against his. “I could beat Rosa’s ass six ways from Sunday,” she muttered. “Makes me feel better.”

Mason grinned.

“Demi’s laid back. She’s sweet, shy. She won’t be half the trouble Rosa is.”

“Maybe she’s just sweet and shy with you,” Becky kept on muttering. “Maybe she’s a holy female terror who’ll cover me in fungus at night.”

Mason laughed and slid the table away as he stood, scooping Becky up and pressing her against him.

“Trust me. It’s hard to explain…she can’t hide much from me. And you’re right, she’s a player. And maybe you can’t ‘beat her ass’, but I sure can. You don’t have to worry about ‘night fungus’. Alright?”

Becky glanced back and forth, but her arms uncrossed and she put her hands on his chest.

“Kinda like to see that,” she said, then met his eyes. “Now what was all that with Phuong and you gangin’ up on me? He don’t ever yell at anybody else. Plus he’s always askin’ if I know where we are. Teasin’ me with little snarky stuff. Don’t act like you don’t hear ‘em.”

“Because he cares about you. Because he knows how important you are, and what you’re capable of. He wants you to become a leader, Becky. That’s it. Take it as a compliment.”

“He don’t give you that kinda shit,” she said, but he could tell she was softening.

“Probly figures I’m too stubborn to bother. Anyway, I see it in his eyes. Just wait until I fuck something up bad enough. His snark will be legendary.”

“You sayin’ I fuck stuff up?”

It was at least half joke. He grinned and pulled her in, kissing her forehead.

“All the time,” he whispered.

Superhuman reflexes let him catch the knee aimed at his crotch. He laughed and grappled Becky’s arms, wrapping his legs with hers to try and hold back any more kicks or knees.

“Son of a….bitch.” She fought like a wildcat, but he was just too strong and fast. He picked her up and forced her legs around his waist, pulling her in too close to throw a punch. It took awhile but she let him kiss her, though she bit his lip pretty hard. It still didn’t hurt.

“Shit, even yer lips are tough.”

Anger spent, she relaxed and just held on as he carried her to the bed. He plopped her down and moved some of the water and what he hoped was wine and trays full of…goblin delicacies. It smelled good, at least. But then his standards were getting pretty low.

“I want a shower too,” Becky said, trying a few bites with a shrug. “Pretty good. But I don’t think I wanna know what it is.”

He considered suggesting Becky just go ask to join Demi, but he didn’t think they were quite

ready for that. He lay down beside her and picked at the plate, feeding her with a grin.

“You’re alright, though? It got nasty back there. And demons aren’t the most sanity inspiring…”

“I’m fine, city boy. Maybe it ain’t good, but…” Becky shrugged. “I’m gettin’ used to it all, you know?”

“Yeah. I do.”

He thought about the demon’s gruesome ‘children zombie’ displays—the heads of people he’d killed or let die. It hadn’t affected him. Not really. But Becky hadn’t seen it and he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her or talk about it. What would he even say?

He didn’t think about it because he didn’t have the time or luxury of guilt. He had people to protect, a lot more to save. And in the meantime he wasn’t going to fill his days with belly aching when he was surrounded by beautiful women. Sometimes you just had to get on with things. Enjoy the bits that got you through.

“What exactly you think is gonna happen when that girl comes outta her shower?” Becky said, giving Mason the stink eye.

He blinked and laughed, rolling over and grabbing Becky’s thigh, pulling her closer.

“Figured we’d all sit and talk. Get to know each other.”

“And drink this nasty goblin wine,” Becky said, those pretty eyes sharpening before she took a swig and made a face. “And where do we all sleep?”

“I’m fine on the floor,” Mason said, in maybe not the most convincing tone. Becky rolled her eyes and took another drink.

“Yeah, yeah.” She drained the thing and lay back, still staring as she put a boot against his chest. “You think yer pretty smooth and clever, huh?”

The idea that he was ‘smooth’ made Mason laugh. He yanked off Becky’s boot, then the other when she lifted her foot. He started rubbing and kneading her feet, which made her groan.

“See what I mean,” she muttered, working at the button on her jeans. Mason raised his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes. “Cause I’m showerin’. Don’t get any ideas.”

“No ideas,” Mason agreed.

It felt like he and Becky hadn’t spent enough time together alone. Or just talking and being…normal. But he knew why, and that it wasn’t likely to change. At least not in the short term.

He had the urge to make promises, to tell her things would change soon and that they’d have plenty of time together. But he knew it would all just be empty words. He gave her a smile, not sure how to explain the frustration, to say he knew it wasn’t enough right now. She smiled back, and he really wanted to believe she understood.

“All done,” Demi announced as the shower door opened, “it’s actually really nice.” She was wrapped in a towel, another tied and tossed back over her hair in that way women all seemed to know. When she saw Becky and Mason touching on the bed she slowed and looked a bit awkward again.

Becky hopped up and started stripping, tossing clothes en route. Mason watched her figure, knowing if he slept on the floor near his women he wouldn’t actually ‘sleep’ a wink. But he knew it might be his fate for the night. He didn’t want to push things or either girl do something they didn’t want to.

“I’m apparently giving free foot rubs,” he said, “if that sounds like something you’d…”

Demi flopped on the bed without hesitation, laying down with a tired groan as she dropped her feet in Mason’s lap.

“Left first,” she said. “And not a word about my calluses. I lived in a swamp.”

Mason grinned, eyes locked at the edges of the towel that Demi had somehow expertly kept covering anything naughty, even as she lay down. He took a breath and a foot, loving (and remembering) the feel of Demi’s skin as he started working her feet and calves.

“Mmm.” Demi closed her eyes and looked ready to sleep. “Yeah, we should do this more often.”

Her noises were enough to get him going. He could also smell her magic enough to know he wasn’t alone in his sexual frustration. But that didn’t mean anything was going to happen.

He glanced up at a now naked Becky swearing at the shower knobs, the door still open. Then he glanced down at Demi’s long, tanned legs already sliding together.

Yeah. It was maybe going to be a long, long night.

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