Page 53 of The Pleasure Contract

“Yeah,” Zevan, the youngest of the group, starts, “because everyone thinks the sun shines out of his-” his words are muffled by a big hand covering his mouth as Az stands behind him.

“Language in front of the lady,” he chides his teammate while he locks eyes with me.

So, it turns out that whenever Az’s team is in the Capital, they stay at his penthouse apartment. It makes sense. This place is lush, huge, and Az is generous like that. The thing is, the team wasn’t meant to travel here for the big game for another couple of weeks, but once they heard Az had gone ahead of them, they took it upon themselves to follow ‘Princey’ down here like the pied-piper of drakball players.

So now, this trip to the Capital definitely isn’t a little get-away-fuck-fest, no matter what our pleasure contract says. We have to share this space with six huge, boisterous athletes who seem to want to make Az’s business their own.

Not that I mind – I’m here on a different mission, after all.

And they all seem lovely so far.

There’s Varrex – or Vex – as they keep calling him. He doesn’t seem to like that, but I can see why they chose the nickname, as he genuinely does appear to be vexed all the time. He’s Az’s Second Drak Rider.

Ral is the team’s ‘Drakrunner’, whatever that is. He’s a little shorter than Az and Varrex, but he’s still taller than any human, and twice as flirty.

Thax is huge.

He’s just… yeah, massive.

He’s easily the biggest Xaviann I’ve ever seen, and if you told me he can crush diamonds with those muscles, I’d believe you. Hell, I think one hug from him would probably crack a rib or two. His position on the team is something called a ‘Hoopwarden’, which I’d bet good money means he’s the defense guy. Which makes a lot of sense with those mile-wide shoulders of his.

And although he looks like he scares small children as a fun, weekend hobby, he’s actually the biggest teddy bear of the lot.

Zevan and Jorren are both ‘Field Breakers’, which, as far as I can tell, is quite a violent, combat-forward type of playing position. Zevan is full of energy and enthusiasm, which is what makes me think he’s the youngest of the group, and Jorren… well, everyone keeps regaling me with tales about him completely losing his shit and breaking stuff – including his opponent’s jaw bones, so…

Ok, yeah, I haven’t quite figured him out just yet.

That leaves Rykor. He’s quiet and polite, with a pleasant aura. He’s the guy who replaced Pax as the team’s ‘Arena Master’. And from what I understand, that means he’s the tech whiz who designs the terrains for the games.

There are too many new people to get to know all at once, but the one thing I did notice about Rykor is how his eyes seem to follow Zek around the room – to the point where he’s offering to help clean up after his teammates to save the staff member the trouble.

I grin to myself, watching Zek get a little flustered from the attention of the big, intelligent, famous drakball player, when there’s a chirpy-sounding ping that rings out throughout the apartment.

I gasp and hop down from the bar-stool-style chair – a feat that is actually quite terrifying considering the furniture is all Xaviann-sized. “DJ’s finished charging!”

A few of the huge guys look at me with confusion as I rush over to DJ’s docking station, where she’s been charging since her exhausting efforts in helping me contact my mom.

“You ok, girl?” I ask her as she comes to life, lighting up from the inside and lifting off from the dock to assume her position of hovering in the air around head height.

Well, around my head height, anyway.

It’s ridiculous, really, that I think of her as a person. She’s a floating ball of tech. She doesn’t even have a face. But when she ventures further into the small group of massive alien sportsmen, her little spherical body twisting this way and that, I can’t help but think she’s gawping at them all as they watch on with confusion.

The noise that leaves my body is more snort than laugh when she starts dancing and swaying as she decides the song ‘It’s Raining Men’ is the perfect soundtrack to our morning.

“Something’s wrong with your comms unit,” Zevan comments as he leans against the kitchen counter, shoving the food Zek is trying to prepare into his mouth before the poor guy gets a chance to serve it.

Az gives him a shove. “She’s programmed to be a companion,” he explains. “And Lois is very fond of her and her strange noises, so you will all be nice about it.”

“If you could all be seated at the dining table, I have managed to prepare a human delicacy for you all to break your fasts with this morning,” Zek announces as he swipes a half-eaten pastry out of Zevan’s hand just as it was on its journey to his mouth. “I have been slaving away at the food replicators and finally think it is ready,” he says, gesturing for us all to leave his kitchen as quickly as possible.

We do as we’re told, but not before Zevan makes a play for another pastry from the countertop – a play that is swiftly intercepted by Rykor, who puts the food back on the plate, apologizing to Zek while ushering out his unruly teammate.

When we’re seated, Thax’s chair groans under the weight of all that muscle, and Zevan is the first to try and lift the shiny silver cloche we each have sitting in front of us all. Rykor stops him by reaching over and putting a heavy hand on that silver lid, the gesture further punctuated by a glare that’s telling the younger male to behave.

“Is it pancakes?” I ask Zek as he bustles in with two more staff to fill all of our drinks. He shakes his head, and I’m only a little disappointed. We tried to replicate them back at the townhouse once, but whatever those things were we made, they were better for flinging around like frisbees than for eating.

“No,” Zek says, standing beside Az at the head of the table. “The human delicacy I have prepared for you all this morning is…” he pauses for dramatic effect, “a minimum!”