Arena Ch. 09

"Go on."

"Let's just say I think about you every night as I lie in bed, thinking of all the things I want to do to you in the arena. It's been hard to sleep the last couple of weeks," he says with a grin.

She sniffs out a brief laugh. "What makes you think I'm just going to let you have your way with me? I might have some plans of my own."

He smiles broadly. "Oh, I hope so. I guess we'll just have to wait and see which of us is the last one standing, so to speak." He stares at her a moment before chuckling. "I need another shower, a cold one this time."

She's thinking she also could use a cold shower, but doesn't say so. "So tell me, Coy, when were you laid last?"

"Why?"

"Just wondering."

"The night after you tried to break my arm. Four weeks ago? You?"

She laughs. "As I recall it, it was you who tried to break your own arm. Anyway, to answer your question. About eight weeks I guess, but I took the edge off that same afternoon."

They stare at one another for a long time, each waiting to see if the other would be the first to admit they wanted the other and to hell with the immersion, but finally, Coy looks away.

"It's going to be a long week," he says miserably.

She begins to eat again. "Yes it is."

They finish the meal in relative silence, each in council with their own thoughts. As soon as the meal is over, and the table cleared, she makes her goodbyes. He doesn't protest, both knowing if she stays they'll end up in bed. On the way out he turns her to him, pins her against the wall, and kisses her as passionately as he can. She doesn't protest, wrapping a leg around his, locking them together, pulling him tightly to her with arms and leg, kissing him with equal passion as their tongues twist about each other. Finally they separate, both of them breathing hard and flushed with passion.

"If I asked, will you stay?" he asks, his voice husky.

"If I said I'd stay, will you ask?" she counters, trying to catch her breath as well. It has been a long time since she's been kissed like that, the memory of his hard cock pressed between them fresh in her mind.

Once again they stare at each other, daring the other to be the first to weaken, to break their vow to not sleep together until after the immersion. This time it's Sierra that looks away, reaching for the door.

"I want to stay, I really do... but I have to go."

"I understand," he says, taking a deep breath, trying to cool his raging desire. "Perhaps it's for the best."

She touches Coy's face, the most tender gesture she's made yet. "I can't see you this week, Coy," she says as she turns and steps through the door.

"What? Why?" he asks in surprise. "Is it something I did? Something I said?"

"Yes," she says, stopping on the walk and turning back, "But it's not what you think. Leaving now is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I don't think I can do it again. Best to not have the temptation." He takes a step toward her, but stops when she moves back. "Everything's fine," she says, then smiles. "I'm looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, so don't do anything you'll later regret," she says, making a discreet pumping motion with her fist near her pelvis.

He laughs. "I won't... I'm saving my strength."

"Good boy," she says in a sexy purr before blowing him an air kiss and turning and striding to her Jeep. He isn't sure, but it seems her hips have a little more sway to them than normal.

Giselle is sitting in her office, staring out the window at the California sunshine, day dreaming about working out of an office at Immersion Playground. It's been a little over a week since the unfortunate incident with Hittle. Though she's has received a few discrete 'atta girls,' nothing official has been said and Hittle hasn't returned. The word around the office is he's recuperating at home. A ping from Ted Beckel asking her to report to the main conference room at her convenience interrupts her reverie. 'At her convenience' being code for 'now.' She sighs and walks up the flight of stairs and enters the conference room. All the partners, save Hittle, are there.

"Close the door please, Giselle," Donald Greene says. "Please, have a seat."

She flushes as she takes her seat. She's been wondering when she'd be having this conversation and she steels herself to not cry and give them the satisfaction of seeing her hurt.

"I'll come straight to the point, Giselle," Ted begins. "Richard Hittle is no longer a member of the firm. We'd already decided before the unfortunate incident that we'd offer you the next partnership, but as we've suddenly found ourselves a partner short, we've decided to move your offer up."

She'd entered the room expecting to be fired, only to find she's being offered a promotion to full partner. "I don't know what to say," she finally stammers into the silence.

"You say, 'Thank you and I accept,'" Ted answers with a smile. "You'll receive the same pay and benefits package that Dick had, but we'd like you to take a more hands on approach and manage the contracts department. We want to expand that area of the firm and you're clearly the best person to manage that growth."

"Thank you gentlemen, but I'm afraid I'm not privy to the benefits package of the partners."

"It's all outlined in here," Ted says, sliding a folder across the table to her. "Please review the offer and see if it meets with your approval."

"Now?"

"If you like. If you can give us an answer, we'll make it official and make the announcement today," Ted says.

She looks around the room. Each of the men has their war face on, giving nothing away with the exception of Ted, who smiles encouragingly. She opens the folder and quickly reads down the list, her eyes becoming wider as she goes.

"This is a very generous offer," she says after she reviewing it. "Thank you, I accept," she says with a broad smile, which is returned by each of the men in the room.

"Excellent!" Ted says, standing and reaching across the table. "Welcome aboard, Mrs. Chamfer." She shakes Ted's hand, then each of the partners' hands in turn. "I've just sent a ping out that we're going to have a meeting in the main hall in thirty minutes. We'll announce it then. Please don't tell anyone about this until we make the official announcement. Well, except for Rick, I suppose."

Giselle smiles and nods, then puts on her courtroom face, leaving the conference room with a brisk step. Once in her office she tries to ping Rick, but gets a canned message that he's unavailable and will return the ping as soon as possible. She doesn't leave a message, knowing he'll ping her the moment he can.

Twenty-five minutes later Ted stops by Giselle's office. "You ready?"

She nods and rises to walk to the main hall at the entrance, Ted steering her up onto the second step where he joins her, facing the crowd.

"This won't take long," Ted begins addressing the members of the firm arrayed in front of them. "I just wanted to announce a couple of changes. First, Richard Hittle is no longer with Richards, Beckel & Lively. Richard left to pursue other opportunities. Secondly, we've asked Giselle Chamfer to take a larger role in our contracts department, and she has accepted. To that end, effective today, Giselle is now a full partner and—"

Somewhere in the crowd a single pair of hands begin to clap. Giselle tries to make out where the clapping is coming from, but before she can pick out the individual, the clapping swiftly spreads through the room. It only lasts a few moments before dying down, allowing Ted to continue.

"And she will be responsible for managing our growth in that area. Now, lest anyone thinks this has anything to do with the recent unfortunate incident, it does not. Giselle had already been selected as the next partner, but with the sudden vacancy, we've moved her appointment up. I know how rumors are, but if the partners hear anything about this being some kind of payoff, we will not be pleased. Understood? Giselle, do you have anything to say?"

"Nope. I'm good," she responds, to a twitter of laughter.

"Giselle found out herself less than an hour ago that she's our newest partner, so I think she's still trying to get her mind around the headaches she just agreed to," Ted says brightly. "Okay, that's it. Thank you," he says, stepping down off the steps.

Giselle is immediately mobbed by well-wishers, most of whom she has a comfortable working relationship with, but a few are people that have been decidedly cool toward her in the past. As she accepts the congratulations and well wishes she notices Tom hanging back, waiting until the throng subsides.

"Congratulations, Giselle, they couldn't have picked a better person," Tom says, stepping forward at last and shaking her hand.

"Thank you, Tom. May I have a word with you in private?"

"Of course," he says, following her up the steps to her office. She ushers him in before shutting the door. "Am I in trouble already?" he asks with a small smile.

"Hardly. I wanted to ask you a question about something you said a week ago, after I broke Hittle's arm. It was something like, 'I'm surprised it took this long for someone to punch his lights out.' If you can tell me, without breaking any confidences, what did you mean when you said that?"

He nods, his lips pursing in annoyance. "You know Champel, down in billing?" When she nods, he continues. "She and I are dating. It isn't a secret, but we try to keep it quiet. Anyway, Hittle is such as asshole, always belittling the work they do, that anyone does, especially if you haven't passed the bar. That, and the fact that he was a little too touchy-feely with the women. I'm glad someone took him down a notch, and I'm glad it was you. I wanted to do something, but, well, I'm too big of a wuss, I guess."

"Why didn't you take this up with the partners? Or why didn't the women?" she asks. She had no idea Hittle was like that. She knew he was a skirt chaser, but fondling the help is going too far.

"Because it would be Tom Bibell's word against Dick Hittle's word. Who do you think they're going to believe? I don't know why the women wouldn't come forward. I tried to get Champel to say something, but she wouldn't. She wouldn't admit it, but I think she was afraid of losing her job," Tom says, looking a little chagrined.

"Okay, don't beat yourself up about it. But do me a favor. Spread the word that if anything like this happens again, I want to know. I don't care if it's Ted Beckel himself. I want to know, Okay?"

"Is that an order?" he asks with another small smile.

"No, it's a request, a favor if you will."

He smiles again, broader this time. "I'll tell Champel. Everyone in the office will know by the end of the day."

She laughs. "What's that old joke, 'the three fastest forms of communications... telephone, telegraph, and tell a woman.'"

"I haven't heard that one. I don't think I'll tell it to Champel, though. I don't think she'll find it as funny as you do," he adds with a laugh.

Giselle snickers. "That's probably best. I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone else getting hurt."

"I could see where that might start looking bad," he says with a grin, but then becomes more serious. "Since I'm in here, and in light of your new position, may I ask a favor in return?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Over a year ago I asked to be transferred over to your group, to contract law. I haven't heard anything and I was wondering if you'd consider looking over that request?"

"Do you know anything about contract law?"

"It was my major in school."

"Why are you in real estate, then?"

"It's where they put me. I'd just passed the bar and I was in no position to be choosey, ya know?"

"I understand. Sure, I'll look into that. Anything else?" she says with a smile.

"Nope. I just want to offer my congratulations again. Of all the people here, I think they chose the best person for the position."

"Thank you Tom, that's nice of you to say so."

"Yes ma'am," he replies with a smile. "It never hurts to get on your potential future boss' good side."

"Just do good work and you won't have to worry about being on my good side," she says with a smile of her own.

"I know, and that's what I like about you," he responds as he rises and opens the door. "What a refreshing change from the back stabbing in law school," he finishes before stepping out of her office.

Sierra greets Charlie with a small hug, then follows her back to the empty office at the far end of the hall where Donna Fawn, the costumer, is waiting.

"Hello Sierra. You ready to try these on so we can see how they fit?" Donna asks, handing Sierra her gladiator costume.

"Is Coy here?" Sierra asks, taking the garments and stepping behind the portable changing screen.

"No," Charlie replies. "I didn't want you two to see each other in your final costumes until the day of the capture. Why? Is everything alright?"

"It's fine," Sierra says, both relieved and disappointed. "I'm just having a little trouble keeping my hands to myself," she adds with a giggle.

"I can understand that," Charlie agrees.

"Me too. No man should be allowed to be that good looking. I wonder if he likes older women?" Donna chimes in with a grin.

The other two women laugh. "The thing I've noticed is even though women throw themselves at him all the time, it hasn't gone to his head," Sierra says as she changes. "Friday, when we went to the arena, a girl on the landscaping crew was panting over him. Even invited him back to her place to shower. He turned her down, but she seems okay with it, like he'd given her a very gentle rejection." She pauses, then decides to tell it all as she steps from behind the screen dressed in her costume. "It kind of pissed me off, and that surprised me. Anyway, I confronted him about it and he was like it was no big deal. Then he pointed out that when I get hit on, and I do sometimes, it doesn't mean anything either. He just seems so normal is all I'm saying, but better than normal in all the good ways."

"Yeah, I get that vibe from him too," Charlie says while Donna pulls and tugs on Sierra.

"What do you think?" Donna asks Charlie.

"I like it. It exudes sex but it doesn't look... I don't know... fake. It looks right somehow." Charlie opens the door and calls down the hall. "Todd! Can you come down here a minute?" When Todd arrives, Charlie motions to Sierra, "What do you think?"

Todd looks Sierra over. "Hot stuff! Looks good to me. You certainly look like a gladiatrix, Sierra. Tall, proud, and sexy as hell." She blushes a little at Todd's comment but says nothing. "Is that all you need? I still have a bunch of invoices to approve for Rick to pay."

"Thanks," Charlie says, giving him a quick smooch on the lips before he leaves.

"I think that's it, then," Donna says. "I'll keep this with the other clothing and you can dress at the site. You can get dressed now."

She quickly changes back into her street clothes. "I'm starting to get nervous," Sierra says, looking at Charlie after stepping from behind the screen. "It's only three days until the capture and I hope I'm up to it."

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Remember, we have no expectation for this other than you show up and go through with it. This is real life, sort of, and we capture what we capture," she says reassuringly.

"But what if I don't have a good performance?"

Charlie smiles and puts her hand on Sierra's shoulder. "You are not performing. Just go do what's natural. If this were real, don't you think the participants would be nervous? I think they would be. Don't worry! Not only do you look like a gladiatrix, I believe you are one, and Coy is going to have more woman on his hands than he can handle."

Sierra giggles. "At least then we can stop torturing ourselves. I want him so bad I can't stand it, and I think he wants me too. Did you know that Rick and Giselle suggested we not sleep together until we meet in the arena?"

"No, I didn't know that," Charlie says in surprise. "Did they say why?"

"Something to do with being able to experience something few people get to experience. I'm not sure what they were driving at, but I know that the wait has been maddening. It wasn't too bad at first, but Friday night I had dinner at Coy's house. I barely got out of there without tearing his clothes off," she says, feeling her color rising at the thought.

Charlie begins to laugh. "Girl, you've got it bad!"

"Don't I know it!" Sierra responds with a bark of a laugh.

"Go home and take a cold shower," Charlie says, still giggling. "Coy will be here in thirty minutes."

Sierra giggles once more, opening the door to the office and walking out into the hall. "I think I will."

Twenty minutes later Coy arrives. Because he knows he's being fitted, he arrives wearing athletic shorts, a loose T-shirt, and flip-flops instead of his normal natty casual wear. Charlie notices right away that Coy seems much more subdued than normal, but says nothing. She delivers him to Donna, then steps back into the hall and shuts the door, reopening it when Donna shouts her name.

"What do you think?" Donna asks.

He's standing in the room in his subligaculum and belt, looking every bit the part of a classic Roman gladiator.

"I like it. Like Sierra, it's sexy as hell, but it looks right." Charlie twirls her finger in the air and he slowly turns in a circle. "Oh yes... women are going to like this. They're going to like it a lot." She clamps down on her emotions, feeling the pure animal magnetism radiating off him like waves of heat.

He smiles a bit sheepishly at Charlie's comment, but says nothing, and that worries her. He's definitely not himself today.

"Okay, Coy, you can change," Donna says, and he complies.

Charlie steps into the hall, waiting until he exits the room. "I've got to talk to my star a minute, Donna. I'll be right back," she says into the room as Donna takes down the privacy screen.

They enter Charlie's office, and she closes the door behind them before settling into one of the four chairs. "Have a seat, Coy. Everything okay?"

"Sure. Why?" he asks, settling into a chair.

"You just don't see like yourself today. I was wondering if there's a problem, something I can help with."

"Nope. Everything is fine," he says with false brightness, but then suddenly darkens. "Actually, everything isn't fine. I don't want to do this anymore. I will, because I agreed to it, but I don't want to."

She tries to not show the panic she feels. "May I ask why? What changed your mind?"

He looks at the floor. "It's Sierra. I don't... want to do this with her anymore."

She takes a deep breath and exhales. "What's going on? Sierra was just here and she didn't mention there being a problem. What's happened?"

"Look, let me level with you. When I first agreed to do this, I was excited about it. I'm a big guy, I know that. I have to be careful to not hurt a woman, so I'm gentle, careful to not squeeze too hard, to not be too rough, you know? After Sierra kicked my ass on the mat I was thinking, 'Now here's a woman that handle herself. Someone I don't have to worry about hurting. Someone I can fuck the shit out of and not hold back. Someone I can use for my own pleasure.' But now... I don't want to do that. I want... I don't know what I want. I just don't want to treat Sierra like that. She deserves better than that."

She sits thinking, not sure what to say. "Coy, you're a sweetheart. You really are. But what makes you think Sierra doesn't want you to take her like that? Maybe she wants you to fuck the shit out of her. You know she's attracted to you, right? Did it ever occur to you that she is attracted to you because she likes big strong men?"