Chapter 35: ...Conniving Wordplay
Here’s the scene:
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She threw her gaze away from him deliberately, lifting her mug and taking a slow sip like that would somehow reset the conversation.
It didn’t.
"I can’t believe you just said that," she muttered.
"It was a genuine question."
"It was not a genuine question."
"It genuinely was." David shifted slightly on the couch, turning toward her just enough. "Look — you said yourself, it’s been a while. I’m just saying there are... options. Living ones."
She set her mug down with a small, precise click.
"It is not that simple."
"Why not?"
"Because—" She stopped. Pressed her lips together. Then, because apparently tonight was the night for things she didn’t normally say out loud — "Because I’m not exactly in a position to just go find someone, David. I’m married. I have a daughter. I have a reputation in this building alone." She gestured vaguely at the walls around them. "It’s complicated."
"Right," he said, not arguing it.
"Which is why—" She picked her mug back up, cradling it, eyes forward. "I manage. On my own."
A beat.
"Which brings us back to the chocolates."
She shot him a look.
He held his hands up. "I’m not judging. I’m really not." He said it with enough ease that she believed him. "I’ve got my own situation."
She turned to look at him properly then. Studying him.
"...What do you mean, your own situation?"
"I mean I invested in something too." He said it the way someone says something obvious. "Mine mimics a blowjob. Cost me more than it should have, but—" a small shrug, "—worth it."
The look on Mrs. Walbury’s face was something between disbelief and genuine fascination.
"You—" She blinked. "How old are you?"
"Old enough to make financial decisions."
She let out a short laugh despite herself, shaking her head slowly. "I didn’t even know people our age — people around here — actually invested in all of that."
"More people than you’d think."
She was quiet for a moment, turning her mug in her hands, something thoughtful moving behind her eyes.
"I started a while ago," she said eventually, her voice a little quieter now. Not embarrassed exactly — just honest. "And honestly..." She paused, the corner of her mouth pulling in something that wasn’t quite a smile.
"I don’t even remember the last time I I gave a blowjob to an actual person. It’s just... easier this way. Less complicated."
She said it matter-of-factly, like she’d long since stopped being precious about it.
David nodded once, no reaction beyond that. Just taking it in the same way she’d offered it — until the realization hit him.
"Wait...you don’t give your husband head?" he said simply. "
[Ding!]
[Temptation level: 41%]
Mrs. Walbury’s hands went still.
Not withdrawn — just paused. The kind of pause that had a thought behind it, one she was deciding whether or not to share.
"It’s not that I don’t enjoy it," she said. Her voice was even. Unbothered in the way that only came from having made peace with something a long time ago.
"Richard just... he has a certain idea about things. About what a woman should and shouldn’t —" She let the sentence go unfinished.
"He thinks he’s being respectful."
David said nothing.
"And I do appreciate it,In his way. It comes from somewhere genuine and respectful, maybe."
"But I actually liked giving head."
The admission landed quietly between them. No drama to it. Just a fact she’d apparently decided he was allowed to know.
’Naa...he’s a pussy.’
Then she looked at him as something shifted in her expression. Still composed. But with the faint, dry warmth of a woman who found the situation faintly amusing in a way she wasn’t going to explain.
"I’m not asking you to give me one, by the way."
She almost smiled when he said it. Almost.
David blinked.
’She said that completely straight,’ he thought.
’So that confirms it...she really is a horny mother.’
Mrs. Walbury watched him fumble through it with the patient, faintly entertained expression of someone who had known exactly what she was doing when she opened her mouth.
That was the thing about her. Most people probably looked at Mrs. Walbury and saw the composure — the measured voice, the careful presentation — and thought they understood what was underneath it. Thought they had the full picture.
They didn’t.
David was beginning to suspect he was one of the only people who’d ever gotten close enough to see the difference.
He wasn’t entirely sure how that had happened.
He wasn’t entirely sure he minded, but what he did mind was the notification which read-
[Objective: Consensual placement of player’s member on Mrs. Walbury’s lips.]
[Time limit:17 hours: 43 minutes : 47 seconds]
David raised both hands immediately.
"C’mon...I didn’t even say a word. You think that little of me?"
"More like, I know you that well."
He let out a long, dramatic sigh, dropping his hands back into his lap. "That’s somehow worse."
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it, and she covered it with the back of her hand, shaking her head again — but the smile stayed.
David tilted his head back against the couch, glancing sideways at her.
"You know," he said, "since we’re both bored and lonely...then how about we have ourselves a little friendly challenge?"
Mrs. Walbury looked at him like she already regretted asking what kind. "You and your challenges."
"It’s how I work."
"That’s concerning."
"It’s a compliment, actually." He shifted to face her properly. "You said what you bought was the biggest dildo on sale."
She crossed her arms, wary now but not stopping him. "...I did say that."
"So let’s have a comparison." He said it simply, like it was the most reasonable proposal in the world. "Mine, against it."
She blinked. Once. Then again, slower, like she was giving her brain time to catch up to what he’d just said.
"You want to—" She stopped. Started over.
"What exactly does that mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." A small shrug, unbothered.
"We compare my dick to your toy and if mine is bigger, I get something from you" he let the sentence hang there just long enough to be irritating.
"And if it’s not?"
"Then you get something from me."
The room went quiet.
Mrs. Walbury stared at him, and for the first time all night, she looked genuinely, completely dumbfounded — like she’d been ready for a lot of things tonight, but not this, not stated so plainly, not with him looking this relaxed about it.
"You’re unbelievable," she finally managed.
"I’ve been told. So what do you say? Are you up for it?"
She opened her mouth to argue — and then, very visibly, decided not to.
"You know what...fine...let’s do it."
[Alert! Visible increase in Temptation]
[Temptation level: 44%!!]
[Keep up your conniving wordplay player!]
