Horace ran his hand over it, following the curves, feeling her skin. It was soft and cool and inviting. He wanted to touch her all over, feel her body against his, never let her go.
Lux jerked him off slowly and leaned down to take care of his balls. She licked them.
“Hey, that tickles!” he said, his eyes droopy but never letting her out of his sight.
“Want me to stop?” she teased, her nose buried inside his ball sack.
“Fuck, no!”
“See? I knew it.” Lux kept on jerking him off ever so quickly while she sucked on each of his balls with a loud pop of her mouth.
He touched her naked body wherever he could, her arms, her neck, her back, his body spasming by the imminent orgasm.
He came, the sperm going up in an arc, backlit by the morning sun, ending up on his belly.
He panted and looked down at Lux. She was smiling with satisfaction and carried on licking the tip, dragging his orgasm longer than the allocated nine seconds every man normally got each time.
It was divine. He fell back and breathed hard for a while. “Thank you, Lux. That was amazing!”
She purred next to him, taking her spot in the bed. She kept on teasing his cock with her fingers, making him shudder at random intervals.
When the sensation wore off he felt amazing. “Wow! Ready to start the day,” he said and wiped himself with some paper napkins. He looked back at his bed, and blinked a couple of times, still finding it hard to believe that a supermodel was tits-out in his bed. “I don’t want to leave,” he complained.
She smiled and took another pose, leaning on her back and sending her boobs pointing upwards. “Oh, really?” she said flatly.
Horace grunted. “I’m spent for now, which means I’m immune to your charms for another five minutes or so.”
She looked up, bobbing her head. “Sounds about right.”
“I’m gonna go get ready for work. I’m gonna tell the girls to take their time and get ready after me, okay? I learnt my lesson yesterday, there’s no way we’re all getting dressed in time. So, I go first, go to work, then you do whatever you want and come hang out at Zillions. We’ll have coffee again, ice cream, like yesterday. Sounds good?”
“Sounds good,” Lux said with her thick Russian accent. “How do you say it? I’m in the mood for licking some,” the sexy woman said, wiping off the edge of her mouth.
Horace froze mid-process of putting on his pants and appreciated her sight. He acted like a man that hadn’t just felt those same lips wrap around his morning wood and was silently hoping to. That damn vixen, Horace thought and finished getting dressed.
Chapter 31: Horace
He felt himself hurrying, but then checked his phone and saw he had plenty of time to get to work.
He had washed up and gotten ready, then hesitantly went to the sofa. He’d kissed Acedia on the forehead, hesitated, then kissed her on the lips and told her his plan for the others. She said she was too tired to tell them, so he scoffed, feeling stupid, then knocked on the other rooms and told them through the closed door what to do. He got some mumbled acknowledgements so he left them there.
Back at Zillions, he unlocked the shop, then started the morning preparations. Martha arrived and they said ‘good morning’ cordially, then gave her the morning’s tasks. She carried on with everything. Then George came too, threw the entire task list on the table and started doing his own thing.
Horace opened everything up except the damn umbrellas, leaving them to George. Then he took a breath, feeling great.
This was gonna be a fine day.
This was a shitty day. For some reason the crappiest customers all had a meeting and decided to rush the store. Horace stepped inside the counter, then darted outside, settling issues with wrong orders and cleaning things up. The kids were more energetic than usual, and they managed to break three glass cups. The mothers were all threatening with bad reviews if their issues weren’t taken care of by the manager.
Which was Horace.
Why had he asked for this job exactly?
It took a lot of patience to deal with everything, and it felt like killing a Hydra, when he killed one problem, two popped up in its place. They needed more hires, like right now. He needed to call Nico and get the go ahead to find more people.
At lunch hour, the traffic finally died down and he managed to get a breather. He collapsed on a chair in the back, out of sight of the customers and taking Acedia’s advice, he took a nap for five blissful minutes.
The girls had come in later in the morning and were brilliant, they didn’t bother him at all. They seemed to really perk up when he went by their table but with the rush he couldn’t spare any time for them. They bought magazines and ate ice cream and chatted between them or on their phones. For work, perhaps? Horace realised he didn’t know much about the girls even after living with them for nearly a week. He decided to devote some time and learn more about their lives and interests.
They seemed to have some, as in, lives. Weirdly, they seemed to have placed them on hold and had come for a prolonged sleepover in his home, sprinkling advice in his life.
It was weird, he admitted. He could hear Evie’s voice in his mind telling him so for the millionth time. But he kinda liked it. It was fun, and interesting, and had he mentioned the sex? Pooh! Mind-blowing. He rubbed his dick, rearranging it as it tried to stand at attention at the thought of Lux’s magnificent pussy.
In a moment of weakness, he thought about bringing Lux back here and doing exactly what he wanted to do to her. She’d probably say yes. Heck, she’d probably ask for it herself any time now. Then he shook his head. No. Despite having unexpected fun with Martha the other day, he took this job seriously. He didn’t want to disappoint Nico. He had trusted him with his life’s work, and he wasn’t gonna let him down. Also, in a small corner of his mind, Horace felt he wasn’t fit to be a manager. He wanted to strangle that thought, push it down, extinguish it, like Ira would have told him to do.
He was worth this. Like Ava said, he was worth it all. Shop manager, and after that, more.
More what?
He didn’t know.
Perhaps he’d finally start that figurine business he always wanted to. Perhaps.
But he knew damn well he was worth it all.
Chapter 32: Evie
Evie got ready for her interview. She was so anxious, she still had four hours left, yet there she was, standing ready, sweating inside her home. She decided to spare the air-condition for this day, it wouldn’t do to get undressed or stay like that and get sweaty.
She paced up and down, then realised it would be stupid to do the same for three hours. She decided to occupy her mind. She picked up a Nnedi Okorafor novel, one of her favourite authors. She hadn’t realised how much she’d like afrofuturism before Horace had suggested it to her, but now she was a devoted fan, reading everything she released. Evie didn’t really feel African, her parents themselves having been born in Greece. But it was a faraway heritage that she was proud of and liked reading about. Representation matters. It can inspire people, or at the very least, make them feel less like shit.
She tried to read a few lines but her heart wasn’t into it. If her favourite author couldn’t take her worry away, nothing could. She decided to work on something she liked.
It was her secret project. She had an artist’s profile up on Agora, where she uploaded rendered 3D art that she made. The base for the pics was herself, acting like a fantasy character, posed as she wanted each time, like throwing a spear or hurtling lightning bolts. Then she posed the joints of the 3D model of herself to the way she wanted, and painted over it in 3D. She was just fooling around at first, just an outlet for her creative skills. When something presentable came up at some point, she put it up online and forgot about it. A month later she logged back in to discover that a couple hundred people had liked it and were leaving comments asking for more.
Evie could barely believe it. She never imagined that
her artistic skills would please people, it was just one of those things people do, create something to pass the time and throw it up online.
She signed the 3D statue as ‘Evangeline.’ It was her actual name, but nobody called her that, even her parents called her Evie. It was her name on her ID as well. So, Evangeline, like the Empress Evangeline in her games, was brave.
Evangeline sculpted another 3D avatar of herself, this time more cinematic, with lightning spewing out of her hands and eyes. 3D space was awesome in that way, you could do pretty much anything. A real statuette couldn’t have lightning on it, but a 3D object could. The bright blues of the lightning contrasted with her black skin, complimenting it immensely. It was like a fluo bikini on a black skin, it simply worked perfectly. On a whim, she also clicked the ARO checkbox. It asked for her permission to include the 3D sculpture in Agora’s Augmented Reality Object database, searchable and usable by every user in the world for every application they could think of.
Then she had again forgotten about the whole thing for months. Back then she had an actual workplace to go to.
When she checked her profile at some point, she had seen that people were using her 3D sculpture. They loved it. Evie scrolled through the tens of comments. There were black girls all around the world who loved it and wanted more. They even asked for more poses, and warriors, and archers, and other stuff.
Evie didn’t know how to digest that bit of news. She never considered herself an artist, but there she was, her creations being appreciated by thousands. Should she keep on doing them? But they took quite a bit of time to make, and it wasn’t like she was getting paid for it.
Then again, it did make her feel good. On a particularly bad day where she had come home crying, the only thing that made her feel better was logging on and going through the comments again. Oh, there were some assholes, certainly. Three dudes called her, ‘thicc,’ whatever that meant. She realised it referred to her ass, which wasn’t thick at all, thank you, so she blocked them immediately. All in all, the community was awesome and supportive. She quickly found herself spending more time interacting with others, following other similar artists, learning new skills and techniques. She slowly uploaded a couple more of her 3D sculptures. The one wasn’t taken well at all and she almost gave up. But the next one was a clear improvement, and that reinvigorated her.
Evie knew this wasn’t a serious thing. She was hiding it from everybody, and nobody could actually recognise her in the sculpture’s face. Perhaps only someone who knew her well, like her parents or Horace, or Jake, her ex. But she worked on the base picture so much it became unrecognisable. She only worked on the sculptures when she had the time. She bought a second-hand tablet with a pen so she could sculpt better and once she figured it out, her skill increased tenfold. It showed in the people’s reactions and comments.
Secretly, she also sculpted one of Horace. She took one of the many pictures they had together and made a 3D model out of him, then posed him like a knight with a lance. She sculpted armour on him and made him look heroic and glorious. She never uploaded that one, nor showed it to anybody.
It was just for her.
Chapter 33: Horace
“I’m gonna leave a nasty Welp review, mister!” the angry mom said, waggling her finger at Horace, menacingly. “I have three thousand followers and a badge, you know,” she threatened.
A female voice came from his side. “Shut her up,” it said. “Don’t let her talk to you like that.”
Horace was about to apologise for the twelfth time. He interrupted his action and spun around to see a familiar blonde. His brain frozen for a long moment, he struggled to remember where he’d met the woman before. Right! “Superbia! Nice to see you around. Hey, how do you girls always know where to find me anyway?”
Superbia shrugged in a practised expression and said, “The phone, dummy. You agreed to share your location with us at all times. You really should read that TOS.”
Horace blinked at that. “Oh. Right,” he chuckled, feeling stupid.
“Hello?” the angry customer said. “My gluten issue? Hello, disgruntled customer here,” she said in an exaggerated tone.
Horace felt his pride swell. Why was he taking this like a loser? Sure, she was a customer but her complaint was unreasonable. Sure, Zillions carried about twenty flavours of gluten-free ice cream, but it was impossible to have all the flavours available. And the gluten-free cones had run out, so she could just get a paper cup. But nooo, the woman wanted, nay, demanded, a flavour they didn’t carry and a gluten-free cone.
That had carried on for thirty, endless, minutes.
Horace stepped at the complaint box and grabbed a complaint form. He slapped the form into the woman’s hand and said, “Here, ma’am, please file a formal complaint and it will be heard by the owner of Zillions, I assure you. Also, please write in detail the emotional toll this took and feel free to evaluate my performance in detail. My name is Horace Cadmus, by the way. Cadmus with a c. If you’ll excuse me.” He then spun and took off, going outside to deal with other, more reasonable customers.
He couldn’t see the angry mom’s reaction but the fleeting face of shock he saw made him feel very good.
Superbia wooed behind him as she followed, tip-toeing on her high heels. “Ooh, that brought me chills, Horace! Very nice.”
Horace spun around and met her eyes. Gods, she was pretty. “Superbia, I wanted to thank you for that day back at work. You gave me the push I needed to stand up for myself, and your sisters have also helped a lot. But it all started with you, so, thanks.”
She beamed at him, trying to seem aloof in her suit skirt but failing. She seemed very pleased with herself and could not contain it. “Oh, it was nothing really. Here’s another token from me, by the way.” She blew a kiss in her open palm towards him.
Horace’s phone vibrated. He checked it.
Evil Thought
Tokens
Gula
3
Luxuria
3
Avaritia
2
Superbia
2
Invidia
0
Ira
2
Acedia
4
I was far less progress than he expected to have made by now, but to be honest with himself, he hadn’t had much time for all the girls these past few days. Between working the shifts, opening and closing up shop, dealing with the influx of women in his apartment, it had been frantic to say the least. He felt exhausted and invigorated at the same time. He glanced outside towards the girls’ table. He found Lux, she wasn’t hard to miss, then he met Acedia’s gaze. She smiled wide at him, her face transforming from a wreck of a person to a happy, joyful girl.
He turned back to Superbia. “I assume you’ll be joining us today?”
She raised her nose up at that. It was comical, far too exaggerated a gesture but it somehow worked for her. “Yes. Is that a problem? Am I somehow a burden?”
“Gods, no! I’ll be happy to have you over, Superbia. I was just asking so I’ll make arrangements for you, make you comfortable.
She shook her head, going through a series of expressions, searching for words. “Well-Uh, fine. I mean, of course you’ll be happy to have me over. Why wouldn’t you?” she forced a laugh. “I’ll let you get back to work now, I’ll be over there with my sisters.”
“Sure,” Horace said and watched as she walked there. He couldn’t help but appreciate her backside as she walked in her violet suit skirt. Her feet glistened like marble in the sun, and she wore high heels that wrapped around her feet like ancient Greek sandals. She moved graciously on them, making her body sway in interesting ways.
Horace shook his head, pushing the lustful thoughts away. What was he becoming, eyeing every woman he came across? Was the sex getting to his head? Sure, he had scored a few times too often in the past week than he ever had before. Plus, waking up with a babe like Lux between your legs sure did wonders for y
our self-esteem.
He grinned like an idiot while turning the memory over in his mind, then promptly went on with his manager’s tasks.
Chapter 34: Evie
Evie walked outside Zillions, going along the opposite sidewalk, not stopping at all. Then she walked back, checking out the people. There, she spotted them.
What?
There were six of them now? What were all those women doing with Horace? There was that chubby one wolfing down everyone’s melting ice creams, the anorexic girl, the hot Asian, the hotter Russian, and now a career woman blonde? Oh, this was getting out of hand.
She made another pass, then felt real silly. It’s not like she had no reason to be here, this place was right on her way back from a job interview.
The interview had gone horribly wrong and Zillions was fifteen minutes out of her way, but that didn’t matter, okay?
She straightened her dress and strolled inside the ice cream shop.
Chapter 35: Horace
“You fucker!” Evie hissed at him in a very angry whisper, slapping his arm.
“What did I do?” Horace squealed in an unmanly complain.
“Why didn’t you get me a job too?” she said through her gritted teeth.
“I’ve been calling you for days, Evie!” he said, his arms open in surrender.
She froze. “Oh. Right. I... uh... got your messages.”
“I know you did. I figured you needed your space, that’s why I stopped trying to reach you. Are you okay?” he asked, worried.
She looked away.
He didn’t know what was up. He gave her a tight hug anyway. She tensed up, then her shoulders sagged inside his embrace. He patted her curls the way he liked to do, coiling a strand around his index finger. “I know it’s tough,” he told her softly.
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