I was still regaling from my win but I saw Annie walking towards me with the same people she came with. Her face was solemn and she wasn't in a hurry, but I noticed a faint smile on her face the moment she arrived.
While this was happening, at the same time, the blood fights were still ongoing and the next participants were being called on the play area. Almost everyone was still watching the show but now my focus was on the person in front of me.
I casually greeted her with a smile, "Yo, I guess I managed to hold back."
Annie chuckled as she slightly shook her head, "I would've preferred if you held back a little more but I'm still grateful for not killing him… And also, Mr. Cuervo's doctors are already working on him and I'm relieved that they said that once they are done, he's gonna be out for a few days. Let me tell you, that would be the longest time he's been asleep since forever—"
"You're a little chatty now, huh?"
"Ah— I mean… I was just—"
I waved her off jokingly, "Just messing with ya. Anyway, to what do I owe the visit?"
Annie brushed her curly bangs to the side before she opened her mouth, "I… I really just want to thank you. I owe you a lot just from that."
"Well, the people that come across your cousin… they hit him and he gets back up. But when I do it, he stays down… for a time."
One of Annie's eyebrows rose slightly as she let out another smile, "Mm-hmm… did you think of that line just now? I like that—"
"Nope. Frank Castle said it."
"Huh? Who?"
"Oh, my fucking god…"
"What~?"
"Frank Castle? You don't know who the Punisher is? It's from a show! Do you live under a rock?! Castillo means castle, right?! Don't you get it?! Frank Castle… Castillo… That was supposed to be a lay-up, Annie! I'm fucking disappointed! Fuck!"
"WHA— Excuse me! I'm sorry," Annie huffed sarcastically, "I don't—"
"Have an interesting life?"
"You!" Annie's face was starting to redden.
"Hey! Stop it! That's rude!" Kaley interjected as she nudged me with her elbow.
"Thanks, Kaley…" Annie said dejectedly as she turned to her for a moment, "A-Anyway… I've already said my thanks but I need to give you something…"
Annie turned around for a moment to receive a small wooden box from her bodyguard and she turned back to me and presented it with both hands, "Please…"
I received it promptly and I smiled as I said, "I always wanted a box…"
"N-No… Open. It. Please," Annie stumbled with gritted teeth as her patience was about to run out.
Looking at Annie's face, she was this close to breaking the box on my head so I opened it and found a few items inside: an old and worn rosary made with simple materials, five small vials with different colored liquids, a thumb drive hidden in the cross pendant of a silver necklace, a golden ring with fading inscriptions, a handkerchief, a dried flower, and a keycard that had Mr. Cuervo's brand on it.
I grew curious with the contents of the thumb drive but Annie got suspiciously quiet when I picked up a keycard and looked at her with a tilted head. Furthermore, her bodyguards' eyes bulged before they looked at each other, turning away when they caught a glimpse of me looking at them.
Quinn suddenly cackled as she saw what was in my hands, "Hah! Annie, if that means what I think it means, you gotta fall in line."
Annie looked away, letting her bangs cover half her face, "I-I-I don't know what you're t-talking about… That's for… for… if he wanted to d-discuss something with me… This place is p-pretty loud… W-We'd need someplace q-quiet…"
From some stroke of miracle, I quickly caught on but Cynthia dove between us and she handed me a keycard with the same branding but it had a diamond-like accessory hanging from the small hole in the upper-right corner.
Looking at both of the keycards on my hand, Annie's keycard looked like it was of the normal variety while Cynthia's looked like a unique SSSR version.
My Japanese side—specifically the part where we really~ like cards and had one for every occasion—was delighted but I for sure wasn't told about their existence. It seemed like only a handful existed and it was probably given to people with high status.
'I'm a head, right? Shouldn't I have one of these?'
And just as I was about to ask Mr. Cuervo for one, Cynthia pulled out another card, a jet black card that would reveal a dragon pattern once it was looked at a certain angle.
"This was supposed to be a surprise— Well, I was told Jericho fucked up a little in making that but it's all okay now! Just tap it on the thingy in the elevator and it'll take us to your room!" Cynthia exclaimed excitedly.
"Room? I thought we— And what do yours do?"
"It's to take us to MY room! Ours are right next to each other so… I was surprised too—Kaley included, but my br— Mr. Cuervo's been pretty busy while we're away and there were a lot of developments."
I turned to Annie, "And the one you gave me?"
"It's one of the secure rooms in the house provided for us…"
"Huh…" I trailed as I turned to Quinn, "Wait—"
Quinn cut me off, "I didn't want it. I gave mine to Dave."
"W-Why?"
"Look at me. I don't wear a fucking bra and I live in a tent. Do you really fucking believe I'd want to stay inside one of those rooms?!"
"Uh-huh. Sure…"
'I don't get that logic one bit but I'm not gonna fight her on that…'
At this point, I didn't even care who was fighting who at the play area because my eyes were fixated on this nice little present Mr. Cuervo hid from me. Well, Annie's gift was cool too but I wanted to check my room as soon as possible.
Kaley chuckled as she patted my shoulder, "Go, check it out. Take Cynthia with you, so you don't get lost."
"How about you?"
Kaley gave me a knowing smile, "I'm good. I'll stay here so if anyone gets a bruise or a cut, I can take care of it so they shouldn't crowd the medical bay. Don't worry, I'll contact you two once the final event is about to start."
Cynthia looked like she couldn't control herself but she gave Kaley a big hug. With that said, a few "people" were just about to follow behind us but Kaley just gave them a glance and they instantly stayed put. Annie, on the other hand, promptly excused herself but her eyes didn't even have an ounce of giving up. She still pushed her keycard onto my palm before she turned around and walked back.
As the two of us were making our way to Mr. Cuervo's mansion, cheers or curses would resound in a few intervals and it looked like the current match was pretty fucking close.
It didn't take long before Cynthia and I were in the elevator but it had never been so quiet.
"..."
"..."
The two of us were just staring at our reflection and Cynthia was the one to speak up.
"H-Hey…"
"Hmm?"
"The k-keycard…"
"Oh— Right…"
I didn't even notice that the numpad before was replaced with a different apparatus, and it definitely looked custom-made. I believe Mr. Cuervo's engineers had made their own whatchamacallits and they were implementing it to the whole place.
'I just place it here then?'
Once I did, the new apparatus lit up and it sent us several levels below the ground. However, the trip was a little shorter compared to the trip I made with Mr. Cuervo so I assumed our floor was in between the main floor and Mr. Cuervo's man cave.
But once the elevator door opened up, all I saw was a single door with the same apparatus I could place my card on.
I turned to Cynthia, "I thought my room's—"
"Shh, we can't just tell the layout to everybody listening in, right? We have a whole floor to us, our cards just open the same one…"
"I see…"
Cynthia and I walked towards the door but it just became completely quiet again. Neither was speaking a word for a few seconds but Cynthia was once again the one to break the silence.
"Hey…"
"Hmm?"
"Kaley gave us the go signal, right? Are you fine with that?"
I lightly chuckled, "That's nice of you to ask me if I'm okay with it. And for the record, I'm more than okay with it."
"Right…" Cynthia trailed as she looked away, slightly uncomfortable.
"Cynthia?"
"Umm… I'm gonna ask you for something— You can say no, but…"
"You mean—"
"No. Not the sleeping thing… Something like that but a little more… different…"
"Like what?"
"It… umm… how do I say this… I want us to do a bit of acting…"
"Like roleplay? I'm down. What do you—"
"L-Let me f-finish… It involves you to be a little r-rougher… with me…"
"O-Okay?"
"A l-little f-forceful…"
"Umm…"
"I… I want to feel good b-but I want a l-little bit of p-pain too…"
"A bit of BDSM?"
"A f-form of it…"
"What are you—"
"I'm gonna say 'No' a lot but I want you to keep… g-going… even if I cry…"
"..."
"I-I'll try to get a-away but I want you to pin me d-down…"
"..."
"D-Do you know where I'm getting a-at?"
"..."
"Hey?"
"A-Are you really telling me to do 'that'?"
"Y-Yes…"
"Do you really know what 'that' means?"
"It's CNC, r-right?"
"You don't sound too sure."
"It's CNC! Consensual Non-Consent. I've been thinking about it for a while and I r-really want to experience it with you even if it's for a single time. I totally trust you and you're the perfect one for it! I have even thought of my safeword! You should have one too in case you feel r-really uncomfortable. Like I said, you can say no but… in the form of a safeword… So? Are you up for it?"
"..."
"Please?"
I really thought Cynthia and I would just have a quick one before going back but it turned into something like this. We haven't even done the first one she mentioned she'd like to do and we were already jumping into something extreme.
With that said, I couldn't say that the thought of doing something like this turned me on for a little bit, but Cynthia already rubbing my crotch through my pants wasn't helping. However, I slapped her arms off and looked her in the eye before opening my mouth.
"Pineapples. My safe word is pineapples."
Cynthia never looked so excited, "Alright, mine's grapefruits."
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