“Great.” I tab Xyla again, then wait as a little animation of Mighty Boss making a call to Mighty Hime plays on my little screen.
Xyla’s face appears. She’s in the middle of sipping a frothy exotic drink with half a dozen swizzle sticks poking out the top, and her sexybot girlfriends are all crowding into the frame. “Jim-meeeeeee!” She laughs, almost spitting out her drink.
“So hey, sorry to bother you but—”
“Jim-meeeeeeee,” all the girlfriends echo.
“Uh, hey… ladies. Nice to see you again. Xyla, can I have a moment?”
“Jimmmmmm-meeeeeeeeeeee!” they all say again.
For sun’s fucking sake. Has everyone on my team lost their fucking mind?
“I got a new swimsuit,” Xyla says. “Wanna check it out?” She fumbles with her wristband, taking it off, I guess, then hands it to her friend and says, “Get all of me in the frame,” as she steps back and starts modeling her new purple bikini, yellow ocean and blue sand beach in the background.
“Looks great,” I say. “So can I talk to you for—”
“Don’t you love it? Cha-Cha got one too. Here, Chach. Gimme that back and you model next!”
“Xyla,” I say, rubbing my temple with two fingers. Because I’m starting to get annoyed.
But Cha-Cha is already twirling unsteadily in a circle. Her suit is lime green and comes with holsters hanging off her hip strings for holding knives.
“Now you, Ladybug!”
Ladybug’s suit is black with red polka dots and she’s sporting a plasma pistol on her hip.
“And look!” Xyla exclaims. “They sell SEAR swords here!” The frame rotates, goes upside down, then rotates again and then Xyla is standing backlit by a fake Blue Sand Beach sun, spinning, and kicking as she demonstrates her sword skills.
I just watch her until she’s done because Chach and Ladybug are screaming and whistling in the background.
She comes back to the wristband, takes it in her hand and shoves it up to her face, then pans it around the beach hut. “This place,” she slurs, “is a goddamned assassin’s paradise!”
“Are we assassins now?” I ask.
“We’ve decided we are,” Cha-Cha says, as she whips out her own sword, stands, erect, closes her eyes, breathes deep, and then starts doing a slow-motion kata routine complete with slow-motion talking.
Ladybug and Xyla erupt in giggles, practically falling over.
OK. So calling Xyla was probably a bad idea.
“Oh,” Xyla says, still laughing. “Did you need something, Jimmy?”
“No,” I say. “No… just we’re stuck here.”
Xyla frowns. “Stuck? Where?”
“On Mighty Minions.”
All three girls erupt in laughter.
“Yup,” I say. “It’s pretty funny. We got a virus and had to stop to get a new water generator. And now Dicker seems to have a strip poker problem and I met this girl. She’s supposed to be an engineer but she’s really—”
A siren sounds over on Blue Sand Beach and all three girls swivel their heads to the left.
“That’s the last call for the wet package contest,” Xyla says, out of breath. “Gotta go.”
And then the call drops.
What the fuck is happening?
I call her back but Mighty Boss informs me that I’ve used up all my comm credits.
Because of course I have.
Just then the bedroom door opens and Delphi walks out wearing tight leggings that hug her hips, a tight sweater that hugs her tits, and some furry booties.
Immediately I become distracted. Like… I can’t take my eyes off this cute little pink nightmare. My cocks begin to swell. Both of them. And if I was in my right mind I’d be worried about that, because my junk just doesn’t work that way. But I’m not in my right mind. My mind is consumed with thoughts of kissing her, and fondling her, and yes, fucking her brains out.
“Jimmy,” she says, posing seductively against the wall. Then she looks around and says, “Where’s dinner?”
CHAPTER TWLEVE – DELPHI
Jimmy stares at me with heavy, hooded eyes. Like I’m what’s for dinner. And there’s this tiny tingle in my belly. Just a little stirring up of heat and longing. I force the glow back into submission because I can feel it trying to rear its unruly head.
I’m not into this guy. I’m here to kidnap him and take him back to the Loathsome One so I can save my brother.
Jimmy shakes his head, like he’s shaking himself out of a stupor at the same time, and says, “Maybe we should go out to eat?”
“Oh,” I say, squinting my eyes at him. “Why? I mean, out there?” I jerk my head to the expansive set of patio doors. “Into the chaos of Mighty Minions?”
“Yeah,” he says, lazily and with some effort. Then he shakes his head again and revises. “No. No. No. That’s a bad idea.” His eyes dart to the bedroom and that stirring inside me comes rushing back. “But you know what is a good idea?”
“What?” I say, leaning forward without meaning to.
“Me taking a cold shower. That’s what. Just give me five minutes.” Then he walks towards me, pressing himself up against the opposite wall as he slips past me in the hallway, and disappears into the bedroom, closing the door behind him and turning the lock.