Aiden started forward, ready to go to work but Mike called him back.
“Hey.”
Aiden turned, impatiently flipping and catching his sai. “What?”
“I know you want to wreck those bots, but I need you to stay calm and fight with a clear head.”
“Can’t. Too angry.”
“Fighting angry is dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Aiden stopped flipping his sai. After a moment, he slid them into their holsters and walked back over to Mike.
“Okay, then. How ‘bout this? I’ll turn it down some as long as you turn it up. I’ll even give you a little incentive to go all-out.”
He reached up and grabbed Mike by his vest, yanking him down until they were face to mask.
“If you destroy one of these P-bots I’ll let you fuck me tonight. If you destroy two bots...”
He leaned in so close that Mike could see the individual flecks of gold on his mask.
“I’ll take charge and boss you around while you fuck me,” he finished in a silky whisper.
Pure, hot arousal pulsed through Mike at the vision of Aiden directing him, telling him what to do and how to do it while they fucked. He quickly forced it away so that he wouldn’t have to fight with a distracted mind and rock-hard dick. That’d be as bad as fighting angry. The vision was gone, but Mike didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. “You’re on.”
Aiden released his vest, pushing him back a little.
“Good luck,” he said with a wink.
Mike didn’t need luck. He had determination. He’d been aching to fully consummate his relationship with Aiden. And if demolishing a couple of robots was all it took to finally have what he wanted, he’d happily smash those P-bots down to their motherboards.
During their negotiation, a few Players had come out of the Cosmos to try and help their boss. And people had come out from a couple of the clubs on either side of the Cosmos as well. They needed to act quickly to prevent anyone else from getting involved.
Mike activated his blast and hit one of the P-Bots in the back. The blow made the bot lurch forward, letting go of the club manager it had in its grasp as it tried to right itself. Once it was steady, it pivoted to face Mike.
As he sized up the artificial intelligence robot coming toward him, Mike guessed that the machine’s visor was its weak spot. Making sure he was looking directly at the visor, he hit it with a direct blast. It cracked the glass and the P-Bot slowed, rocking back and forth. Mike sprinted forward, drew back his fist, and punched the damaged area. The P-Bot went still, powering down with a low hum, the light in its visor fading to black. After that, the P-Bots focused all of their attention on him and Aiden, leaving everyone else in the vicinity alone.
Now that he’d confirmed the A.I.’s weak spot was in the head he made that his target. Up against his second bot, he used a blast to the visor to slow it down. Then he rushed forward, gripped the metal head with both hands and twisted. The head came off, torn wires sparking, cogs and gears falling into the street. It was almost too easy—as if these machines hadn’t been designed to face real opposition.
Throughout the skirmish, Mike caught glimpses of Aiden fighting. His partner moved with grace and speed, spinning to attack and evade, gold blades flashing with deadly purpose. He’d discovered the Pruitt Bots’ weak spots as well and had taken one out with a sai jammed into its visor.
When there were only four bots still functioning, they retreated to their vehicles and drove away without further incident.
The fight was over. The Players who’d been watching clapped and whistled, but Mike didn’t pay them any attention. He stood still, feet braced wide apart, facing down his lover with a robot head in each hand. Two P-Bots destroyed.
Mike lifted the metal heads, one by one, presenting them as battle trophies and silently demanding his reward. By now he didn’t even need to see Stardust’s face to know he was grinning behind the golden mask. It was easy to read in his body language, the hands on slim hips, head tilted to the side, and the sparkle in his eyes. Stardust raised a hand to crook his finger at Mike.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Mike dropped the heads, letting them fall to the street with a metallic crash. His blood pumping hot and skin tingling with anticipation, he followed Stardust out of the Playground.
