“I’ll remember that next time I need to surprise you with a plane ticket,” I said dryly.
Link chuckled. “I think you’ve used that trick up.”
“I’m just lucky I have you as bait, too.” I nudged him playfully.
“Damn right you are.” With a reluctant groan, Link pushed himself into a sitting position. “But I think that’s Elliot’s way of saying we need to go back to his place.”
“It is.” I forced myself to climb from the bed, and tugged Fallyn to the edge. “But once we’re there, we can lose the clothes again, and not leave the house for days.”
Fallyn seemed to consider this. “Sounds like a fair deal.”
It took us a lot longer to get dressed than it should have, since we kept stopping to kiss and grope and tease each other. We finally finished, and I agreed to meet the two of them back at my place, and that I’d pick up food on the way.
When I reached my house, Link’s car was already out front. I’d missed that sight. Inside, Fallyn and Link had already made themselves comfortable on the couch, and I wasn’t surprised to see King had claimed Fallyn’s lap.
The puppy barked when he saw me, but he didn’t get up until he realized I had food. Over the last week, I’d already lost the fight when it came to not letting him beg for table scraps. It was just easier to make him his own plate, so he’d be occupied while we ate.
This felt right—the three of us sitting next to each other, in a single spot, doing something as simple as enjoying fajitas. The arrangement also forced me to face some realities. Fallyn was only visiting, she may not be able go back to her job, and mine would never be the same again.
“I hate to ruin the mood, but what does the future hold for Fallyn’s Phallusies?” I asked.
She picked at loose vegetables on her plate. “I don’t know. I can’t go back to what I was doing, but I don’t want to stop.”
“You could do what Grayson does.” Link wouldn’t have suggested it if he didn’t mean it, but I saw the flaw in the idea.
“Grayson is a shill,” Fallyn said.
About the response I expected, but not in those words. I didn’t try to hide my mild surprise.
“Sorry.” She shrugged. “I have a lot of respect for what he does, but he gets paid to love games.”
“No. He loves games, and he’s figured out a way for that to pay,” Link corrected her.
I understood where they were both coming from. “One implies the money changes his opinion, and the other means that he enjoys the games regardless of the paycheck. Similar to you. But I get it.”
It took Fallyn a moment to finish chewing her food. “The world already thinks I’m a fraud. If I go on to review games, I’m like everyone else, but I’ve turned my back on my brand. I wish that weren’t the case, but tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not wrong.” A week ago, I would’ve jumped at the chance to say the opposite, even if she was right, but it was the last thing I wanted now.
Fallyn set her mostly empty plate aside. “Do you have a better solution for yourself, Elliot? To go from conquering the world to part time… Are you going to dedicate your time to raising Puppy?” There was no derision in her question.
I’d been asking myself the same thing over and over, and kept coming up blank. King was fun, but I needed to get back into coding. Creating. “I don’t know.”
“What do you love most about the job? Besides the people,” Link teased.
Despite rolling my eyes, I did love the people I worked with. “I love being there from the start. From the point of conception, if you will.”
“Okay, so… we’ll hire you out as a breeding stud, and you can fuck a few servers and see if they have game babies,” Link said.
I had to admit, it was both an amusing and disturbing visual.
Fallyn snorted with laughter. “All right boys, I knew this day would come. That’s not how baby video games are made.”
“Oh yeah, smart lady? How does it happen, then?” I pushed the teasing challenge into my voice.
“Oh.Oh, that’s good.” The way Fallyn responded was both sensual and nothing like what I expected.
I shifted my position to get a better look. “Is Link fingering you and I can’t see? Are you ready to go again already?”