Candidate (Selected Book 4) (72 page)

"You could," I said. "It would be the end of our relationship, of course, but maybe it would be worth it for you."

She squeaked. "No, it wouldn't be worth it," she said. She moved closer. "But you are so beautiful, Andromeda." I didn't think I was, but it was nice of her to say so. "I love looking at you like this. Is that terrible?"

"No," I said gently. "It's not terrible. It's nice. I'm glad you like looking at me. I think I'd enjoy swapping places."

"I imagine you would. You know I won't ever let you do this to me. Does that frustrate you?"

"No."

I thought she walked around me, and I heard tapping against the enclosing pillar, although I didn't feel it.

"If ever you wish to offer a gift to me, you could offer to be my human art for a while."

"For you and your friends to enjoy?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't share you, Andromeda. I might tease you as if I wanted to share you. But I wouldn't sully this. You are for my eyes and only my eyes." She walked around me again, then came to a stop in front of me. She caressed my face. "I could look at you like this for hours."

"I guarantee you wouldn't like my mood by the end. You know that, right?"

"I know. I'll just have to do something to keep you occupied. Soon." Her hand disappeared, but then she asked, "Can you feel me caressing you?"

"No."

"This is such an amazing material. I don't control it directly, of course. There is a very powerful computer involved. But I programmed in the things I wanted to be able to do."

"Like what?" I whispered.

"Well, the material can be much thinner and pliable. Like rubber." And a moment later I could feel her hands massaging my breasts. It was through the material that was holding me, but she massaged, and the material grew thinner still.

She teased both nipples, and I wanted to squirm, but I couldn't.

"I do enjoy these," she said. "And you seem to enjoy my enjoyment. But I have noticed something."

"What's that?"

"The nipples are the most sensitive." Then I felt just a little cold air on them, and her fingers were brushing the nipples directly. "Oh, they like that!" she said. I could feel my body responding to the touch.

Then I felt a tongue on one, and I gasped. Teeth, lips, tongue. "Oh, Charo," I whispered. "Oh god, you're going to drive me insane."

"I know," she said, then moved to the other one. "You're really going to enjoy this next part." She teased and teased, and then I felt the material close over, but it closed with a ring over my nipples, squeezing just a little bit.

"Oh god. Oh god!"

"Are you so sure I can't do anything to you like this?"

* * * *

She teased me for a very, very, very long time. She teased me and she took me. She moved me into different positions from time to time, never fully releasing me. Some of them were quite exposing, but she had me so hungry for everything she did, I could barely think, much less complain.

She took me, and she took her own pleasures, and then finally she led me to the bed, and we slept.

She stayed for three nights. We didn't do any more challenges; I said 'no' when she asked. But I dressed the way she wanted, and I grew to enjoy it. I loved her touch. I loved talking to her. I loved spending time with her.

She took me to dinner the next night, and another walk on the beach, but then she brought me back to her apartment. "Will you let me do it again, Andromeda?"

"Yes," I whispered.

Hours later, as she held my trembling body, I told her, "I'm falling in love, Charo. If you don't think you can love me, you have to tell me."

"I think I could love you, but I am holding myself back, just enough. You are not fully mine yet."

And a short while later, she led me to my cell, as she had to leave. We kiss-licked passionately. "I'll be back," she promised. "But everything I said the last time I left applies."

"I don't want it to apply."

"I won't be back until you have given at least one other woman a chance."

"Don't say that! It's not my fault if Jasmine can't introduce me to anyone else."

"Nevertheless. And I would prefer if you give three more the chance to know you. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

Jasmine did come swimming again, the morning after Charo left. Again, the pool was empty, and again she asked if I would swim without the suit. "Voyeur."

"It helps my bravery," she said. "Please."

And so I gave her what she wanted. She grew stronger as a swimmer. She couldn't swim and breathe. She just couldn't time it. But she could do something I couldn't.

She could sit on the bottom of the pool with a tentacle raised out of the water, breathing only from the top eighteen inches, like a snorkel. It was quite clever. After that, she met me for swimming once or twice a week. She grew better. She grew braver. The day she swam from the shallow to the deep end, all on the surface without a stop was a major accomplishment, and that night she invited me to dinner to celebrate.

We weren't alone. Clover arrived with another Catseye, and from the way they held each other, I knew who it was.

"Peony!" I said. "Right? This is Peony?"

"And this is the human who sends my wife to me," she said. She stepped forward and pulled me into a tight, tight hug. She wrapped around me completely, and when she offered a tentacle, I kissed it.

"How long are you staying?" I asked, once she released me.

"Almost a week," she said. "And I am here to help."

"Oh, we could use it."

"Peony will help teach you to run your events," Jasmine said. "One at a time for now."

"She's better than I am," Clover said. "She could run three at once."

"Do we even have the staff for that?"

"We spent less effort on cameras," Jasmine said. "We largely put them on auto, and she would select the livestream herself. It just takes one or two techs for three events."

"Unless they were complicated," Peony said. "If they were filled with Bay's little tricks, then I might only do one or sometimes too."

"Andromeda knows all about Bay's tricks," Clover said. "She still hasn't forgiven him for her most recent challenge."

"That's right. You are also a mating candidate," Peony said. "I guess I knew that. I've watched a few of your challenges. Was the one with the spiders most recent?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm never forgiving that little shit."

She snuffle-laughed. "I don't blame you. Nasty little Loris."

* * * *

We had a lovely meal. Afterwards we played Boardwalk. Peony and Clover fought over making me their vassal. I dug in, holding out as long as I could. But I couldn't defend against all three of them, and it was Jasmine who captured me. The two wives refused to make an agreement, and so they both fell, one after another.

Afterwards, Clover told me I was getting better. "Not that you'll ever be as good as even a weak Catseye, but you play better than any human I've ever seen play."

"How many is that?" Jasmine asked, and I swear she was smirking.

"I'm sure there have been others," Clover said.

A short while later, Peony said she had things to do with her wife, and so they excused themselves. Jasmine invited me to stay for ice cream, which we enjoyed on the sofa, half her tentacles wrapped around me while we ate. Then she took the bowl from me and set both down on the coffee table.

"You wanted something, didn't you?"

"A few things. First, I'm under a little stress. Will you be offended if I hold you more completely?"

"No, Jasmine." I let her reel me in, soon sitting against her, well wrapped in tentacles. I knew she was tasting, but not heavily. "Does this help?"

"It does. Thank you."

"This is so strange. You know that, don't you?"

"I suppose it is. I want you to find a way to forgive Bay."

"Sure. Let me come up with dirty tricks and spend a couple of hours tormenting him."

"You wouldn't know how, and he's not afraid of the spiders. Is that really what it would take?"

"Every time he sees me, he laughs about it and then mutters vague threats about plans for future opportunities. There won't be any more opportunities."

"Sometimes we get a woman who makes me angry," Jasmine said. "Typically this involves actively trying to kill her challenger during one of the challenges."

"Put me in with a man and see what happens."

"They've been nice men," she said. "And the women in question haven't had your excuse."

"It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, Jasmine, but if you're about to tell me you abuse her for it, you can unwrap your tentacles first."

"I don't abuse her."

"What Bay did to me is abuse, as far as I'm concerned. I think I should go." I squirmed, but she didn't relax.

"Please don't, Andromeda."

"Jasmine-"

"I'm under a lot of stress."

"We're all under a lot of stress."

"I'm under a lot of pressure. No one was happy when I said we were switching to a longer cycle to process the candidates. Please let me hold you."

I closed my eyes, took several breaths, then relaxed. I nodded.

"I need you to find a way to forgive Bay. I need you to be able to work with him."

"You need me to do a lot for you," I said. "Did you tell him to shut the fuck up?"

"No. I didn't know he was taunting you. I'll talk to him."

"If he shuts up. If he tries to be sweet. If you promise I'll never be treated like that again. Then I'll try. But if anything remotely like that ever happens to me again, I'm not forgiving anyone involved. That includes you."

"So you're done accepting challenges?"

"It was supposed to be fun, Jasmine. I had two criteria. Fun and fair. Instead, you used it as an opportunity to make me grateful when she caught me. Everyone had fun but me." I tried pushing away from her again. "Every time I give you a little, you take more. Let me go."

"You two came to me asking for a challenge, Andromeda. It wasn't my idea."

"Fine. It wasn't fun. It was the opposite of fun. So I don't see why I'd ask you to do it again. And if you make me, you can expect an appropriate reaction."

"I understand. You'll try to forgive Bay. You'll agree to work with him."

"If he shuts up. Are you making the promise I asked for?"

"I will not force you into any challenges that have tricks like that. If you come to me and ask for a challenge that requires handicapping you, then it's your own fault."

"Fine," I said. I closed my eyes and turned my face away. We sat quietly for a while. Then I asked, "Am I part of your stress?"

"Some," she said. "Don't worry about that."

"Is the way I've asked you to work with the women a problem?"

"Yes, but we're not going to stop just because I'm getting pressure for it. But we can't implement any further changes for a while. We have to do this in stages."

"All right."

"I'm getting pressure from the Implacs."

"I can't believe you want to give any of our women to them."

"They don't get very many. I try to beat them in the arena, and I've had a lot of luck there. But it hasn't been perfect, as you saw."

She snuffled. "The thing is, their females don't operate independently. Yours was operating on orders. I don't know whose. So until they discover who did it, I can hold them off. But it won't be forever."

"I don't know how I'm going to feel if I have to work with any."

"I'll keep you away from them at first. For now, I just wanted you to know what was going on."

"Thank you."

"We get a new batch in two days."

"Yes. We're ready. This is the start of the slower cycle. I think that will help us make better matches."

"On average, we'll be pickier in selecting who we take, too," she said.

"That will be good, I suppose." Those poor women, but I didn't say anything about that.

"I'll need you to swim."

"I figured."

"And forgive me."

"Oh hell. Now what?"

"I'm going to leave you in the wall again."

"God damn it, Jasmine."

"I'll let you have your visor from the moment the last woman is freed, but you'll need to set up a proximity sensor."

"Why?"

"Someone special is coming."

I sighed. "Do I have to be charming?"

"I think you should give her a chance."

"She asked you to leave me like that for a while, but I'm supposed to give her a chance?"

"Charoite asked me to do that to you, and you seem to be getting along with her."

I thought about it. "Fine," I said. "As long as I'm warned, and you let me have the visor. Is there anything you can do so I don't get so stiff?"

"I can support you better, but you'd have to lean backwards into it."

"That can be tough on my feet, leaning back on my heels."

"Leave that to me."

"I bet there's a price."

"Let them touch you."

I sighed. "How."

"It won't be a sex show, but it will be very possessive."

"What. Them. Let THEM touch me? Is this an Octal family?"

"No. Humans call them Whiteblacks. It's not a very creative name."

"We haven't had any."

"Not once," she said. "They form complicated relationships. There is a pair coming."

"Jasmine."

"Give them a chance."

"Tell me it's two females."

"It is, and they want a third."

"A Third?"

"Oh, not a Tutor third. They want to be a triangle. They are fond of geometric relationships. Right now they are a segment."

"A segment?"

"A line segment. Two points connected by a line. A segment."

"I see. Why are they called Whiteblacks?"

"They come in two distinct colors. I think you're going to like them, although a conversation can be disconcerting."

"Why?"

"They develop what appears to be a telepathic connection with each other. While there are two voices, they talk as if they are one person. So you'll get a portion of a sentence from one, but it will likely be finished by the other."

"Why would they want a human?"

"You would be another experiment."

"They want to see if they can extend the link to me?"

"Yes. It takes time. It may be that you are too bound to Charo to accept. If so, I'll ask them to consider someone else. But they are, well... They are a little arrogant."

"I'm not fond of arrogance."

"Well, that might not be the right word. Would you be happier if I suggested they were picky and only want the best?"

"I'm not the best."

"You're currently the most famous, and with some cause. I might be able to convince them to look at someone else, if this doesn't work with you. But I would really, really appreciate it if you gave it a full chance."

"Does Charoite know about this?"

"Yes. Andromeda, they're going to be very possessive. You're not going to know what hit you."

"No means no, Jasmine."

"No means ask again."

"If I tell them to get their hands off me, what will they do?"

"They aren't going to rape you, Andromeda."

"If they do, our agreement is off. I go home. If I decide I want a relationship with Charoite, I'll pursue one. And you owe me the visor in reparations."

"Seeing as how they won't, I agree to your terms."

"They don't use the Octal approach, do they? Maybe with their psychic link?"

"Not that anyone knows."

"All right. I'll give them a chance."

"One more thing."

"With you, it's always one more thing, or a price, or another surprise, or can you please do this for me... What?"

"They want challenges. They aren't required for mating, but they want to hunt you."

"Please tell me they aren't the size of gerbils and Bay is going to handicap me."

"Oh, no. If I were going to apply a handicap, it will be to them. They want no handicaps. None. You get plopped down. They get plopped down. No tricks. No traps. And they're going to win. They're playing for the joy. What do you want to do your best, even knowing you're going to lose?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I told you no more challenges, Jasmine."

She tightened her tentacles just a moment. "But you'll do your best, because that's what I need from you."

"No."

"They'll be simple challenges, Andromeda," she countered. "Running around in the jungle. They like jungles. I might give you a task, just to keep you from heading straight for the exit."

"And I don't suppose I could catch them."

"We've tried that in the past. It tends to get people hurt. So now we don't do that. I can't promise fun, but I can promise no nasty tricks. Please, Andromeda."