I glance over at him and give him a smile. “I’m alright. I’m not fretting… too much.”
“These two lovely ladies work with textiles. They’re hoping to make us a little something. Isn’t that super sweet?” he asks.
I think they’re hoping to do more than make him something, but I don’t dare mention that out loud while they’re pressing in close to him.
“We’d love to make you something too,” the red-haired lady says as she leans into Torin to look around him at me. Torin seems absolutely oblivious to the fact that she’s flirting with him.He’s a god of love… does he just not notice these things? Or is he just so used to hundreds of years of people doing it that he doesn’t care? Yet he very much seems to care when I do.
I try not to feel too smug about that.
“Oh no, just something for Torin would be fantastic,” I say, waving her off.
Once we’re inside the store, I wander a bit so I can look around while they wrap uncut fabric around Torin’s shoulders.
“You’re just sobig,” the red-haired lady says.
I’m waiting for an “Are you big everywhere?” comment as I lean against the wall and stare at them. They’re now holding a tunic and trousers up to him that they insist he should try on.
“Do you need help?” the other one asks.
“Nah, been able to put my own pants on and off for nearly a thousand years now,” Torin says before heading into a changing area alone, much to their disappointment.
It seems like everything in the store is handmade, and a lot of it is made from wool. I pick up a small bundle of dyed wool and examine the colors of it while I wait for Torin to return.
“It’s very pretty, isn’t it?” the red-haired lady asks. “It’s wool from my sister’s sheep. Most of our products are required to go into the capital, but sometimes we take a little for ourselves. We consider it ‘damaged’ and the capital ‘graciously’ lets us keep it.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Your friend is very nice,” she says just as my walkie-talkie crackles to life.
“Riley, there is an excellent bench in here that I would like to bend you over and enjoy every inch of you. We should have one made for home! Because my dick is significantly better than Vero’s. And your beautiful ass will look mighty fine?—”
The women’s eyes snap over to me while I whip out the walkie-talkie and turn that fucker off just as Torin starts upagain. But just becauseIturned it off doesn’t mean that Mickey and Vero have.
Vero has probably crushed the device… or maybe I just hope he has.
I drop the wool and scramble for the back where I jerk the curtain open and look at Torin in absolute horror before snatching the walkie-talkie from him.
“Are you here to examine the bench yourself?” he asks with a waggle of his eyebrows like he can’t see how appalled I am. How exactly am I the blind one?
I wave the walkie-talkie in front of him. “Everyone can hear this! It’s not like a cell phone where only I can hear it! You’ve just broadcast that to all of us!”
Of course Torin doesn’t look embarrassed in the slightest. “Ah, so I won’t have to tell anyone that I would like a sex bench, perfect.”
I’m dying inside as I somehow manage to avoid eye contact with the women who’d followed just to see the spectacle.
Since my walkie-talkie is turned off, only Torin’s crackles to life before I hear Mickey’s voice. “Please repeat. What kind of bench would you like? Over.”
Torin snatches it up. “A sex bench.”
Mickey immediately encourages Torin even more. “You crackled a bit there. What kind? Over.”
“A SEX bench.”
“Ah. Got you. Can you describe the bench, please? Over.”
I yank the walkie-talkie out of Torin’s hands, but before I can do anything, it jumps to life again.
“I will silence each and every one of you by reaching down your throats and tearing out your insignificant voice boxes and crushing them in my hands,” Vero proclaims.
