Page 80 of The Pleasure Contract

“I do not snore!” I pop my head up to argue.

“Oh, human,” Az says, sitting up to shake his head. “You absolutely do. And it is a contender for one of the best sounds in all the known universe.”

Okay. Maybe I snore a little. It’s not like I haven’t woken myself up on occasion – mouth dry and hanging open – wondering where the hell that noise came from. “Only a contender, huh?” I say, chuckling into my pillow. “Dare I ask who the judges are, and what other sounds I’m up against?”

Az waits for me to make eye contact before answering. “I’m the sole judge, and by far the clearest winner is the sound when you come for me, little Lois. It is the single most beautiful noise to reach anyone’s ears.”

Any other man would make that line sound performative. But coming from Az, he just sounds so damn sincere about it all.

And hot, of course. Very hot.

“Yeah?” I ask, one corner of my lips tipping up into a smile.

“Yeah.”

“Wanna hear it now?” I ask, snaking my hand down my body into my silk sleep shorts.

* * *

I guess you can’t really call it phone sex since it was a video call over comms. Comms-sex?

Either way, it was hot as fuck. Especially when Az showed me how he strokes himself to me.

I’d been relieved to find out that DJ kind of shut down all her other operations as soon as things started to get explicit. I wouldn’t want to traumatize the poor thing just because her mom and dad got a bit too horny to contain ourselves.

After our call, I felt surprisingly refreshed to start the day. Zek had apparently pushed his way into Glex’s staff areas to give them very specific orders on what can and cannot be served to me through their food replicators. In the end, he’d rustled up a Xaviann fruit salad and some pastries, as well as ordering the soaps and lotions in my bathroom to be changed. I have no idea if the original ones weren’t compatible with human skin, or if he just enjoyed bossing people around. Either way, the guy is reveling in being the resident human expert and taking care of me.

Once I’m washed, fed, and dressed, I make my way to the communal floors, hoping to find Glex so we can continue talking about how he can best help abducted humans, and hopefully get some intergalactic laws changed so we have more protections.

He’s not on the first floor I visit. In fact, no one is. It seems to be a whole floor that’s decked out like a fancy restaurant – decorated in black velvet and leather-like materials with deep green accents and the hint of gold here and there. Tables and chairs are placed throughout, the table-tops a glossy dark wood, each of them hosting a single vase with an arrangement of black feathers instead of flowers. I imagine Glex holds parties here when he’s schmoozing the Xaviann high society. It’s empty now, and I can’t help feel oddly uneasy in a space that feels like it’s meant to be buzzing with activity. I touch some of the feather arrangements as I leave, amazed at how the tips come alive with little neon-colored lights.

The next floor I find has a similar vibe to the last, except where there had been tables and chairs, there is a big open space like a dance floor. The floor itself consists of intricately pieced-together pieces of different stone. Some opal-like, some obsidian black – and all the colors in between. The pattern they create is flowing and organic, like petals and leaves intertwined and dancing with one another. It’s not until I actually step out onto the dance floor that I realize the opal stone is that glow stone they have here – the kind that lights up from within when you touch it, my steps glowing behind me like a glittering, gleaming path.

Continuing on my mission to find Glex, the next few floors I explore consist of one with an indoor lagoon, another that is absolutely full of strange, alien-looking tropical plants.

When I finally find another soul, it’s on a floor that is clearly used for exercise, as Zyre is there, repeatedly lifting something heavy, counting as he goes.

“Human,” he says in greeting, putting down his weights and wiping the sweat from his face with a towel that hangs around his neck. He seems more serious than I’m used to him being, but perhaps that’s a result of me interrupting his workout.

“Hi Zyre. Do you know where your dad is? I’d like to talk to him more about how he can help us.”

Zyre lets out a long breath through his nose and grunts as he nods his head. “You will not find my father today,” he says, adjusting the electronic weight on a floating bar in mid-air. He lies down on a bench and gives a short, sharp whistle. The weighted bar floats over to him, and he starts doing bench presses, talking between his measured breathing. “Senator Glex’s diary is rather full.”

My shoulders sag. “Oh.”

Well, what the hell was the point of me even being here, then?

“Maybe I should go?” I ask. Zyre’s bench presses pause. “I can go home to Az and come back when he’s ready to have a discussion about-”

The tattooed male sits up and looks me over, a muscle working in his jaw. “My father would like for you to stay,” he states.

“Yeah, but if he doesn’t have time to see me right now, I can just go back to Az and-”

“Perhaps I can show you something,” he says, interrupting as he stands and comes over to me.

“Show me something? Show me wh-”

Without warning, Zyre has pressed something on his wrist comm, projecting an image of Az in front of me. “I am truly sorry,” he murmurs. “This is a recording of a conversation I had with your prince a few days ago.”