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“Perhaps there’s some poor servant girl for you to go try and seduce. Go be anywhere but here.”
Carrick gave Laurence one last, searing look before ramming his shoulder into his and walking away. Laurence doesn’t spill a drop of the champagne in his hands, immovable against Carrick’s strength.
He takes a seat beside me and hands me a champagne. “I thought Terrence got rid of him?” I whisper, recollecting my composure.
“I thought he did, too. I’m officially out of the loop now.” Laurence takes a measured sip of his champagne.
“Is that a good or bad thing?”
“I don’t know yet,” he says, scanning the room.
A sudden murmur breaks out throughout the room, followed by a breathy moan. People begin to gather around the podium in the center of the seating area, blocking it from view as they file in. Whatever show they had planned has started. I wonder if it’s a game for the Players and Advocates.
Laurence and I exchange a look and join the rest of the crowd. As we near, I see someone’s legs spread open, a naked body displayed across the mattress as they touch themselves. As someone in front of me shifts, opening the view up, I see that it’s Lily, pleasuring herself for the room to watch.
She meets my gaze in the crowd and smiles, and I know this is no show thrown by the Advocates. This is mine and Lily’s plan already set into motion, sooner than I expected.
This is turning out to be an eventful evening, I think as Lily lets out another moan that fills the room.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Laurence
The Voyeurs and Exhibitionists
Blue looks just as shocked as I feel at the sight of Lily volunteering herself atop the podium. I’d guessed that’s what it was for, some exhibitionist game, but Lily, of all people, was the last Player I expected to find doing this, and without her new Advocate.
Lily’s eyes wander in our direction, and I notice her look at Blue briefly, watching the exchange between the two. I see Eve smile.
I take a sip of my champagne to hide my scowl. She’s clearly plotted something without telling me. I should have known that when she said she wanted to have a plan by the gala, that she would do it with or without me. Betrayal seethes through me at her lie that she trusted me. If she did, she wouldn’t have worried when I told her not to. There are so many things I haven’t told her yet, my own conspiring’s to take down the Echelon Society, but I need her to trust me explicitly to accomplish it. If she fools around here, meandering through random schemes to get revenge, it will put my whole plan in jeopardy.
Lily rolls onto her stomach, making a show of her arch, ass in the air as Advocates and audience members become enthralled by her performance. They take seats on the couches surrounding the podium, and it’s like The Bidding all over again.
My champagne flute freezes partway to my lips as I realize with horror what’s happening here, why this game was thrown together. Scanning the room, I try to find Carrick, spotting him at the edge of the audience across the podium, watching me and looking smug as hell.
He just saw me realize what was happening.
He’s going to bid for Blue again.
Lily crawls off the podium, her show reminding me of Blue’s at The Bidding, the very performance that stirred up the Advocates and made me enthralled by her. Blue appears to have earned an apprentice in the art of seduction. She crawls across the floor toward an audience member whose name still eludes me. Most of them here do. She places her hands on his thighs and slithers up between his legs, flashing her tits in his face.
“Can we play a game?” Lily asks sweetly, her innocence a visceral draw for most of the men here, but she’s becoming like Blue—conniving and double sided. Whatever it takes to survive The Games. Lily moves to her next victim, running her hand along the erection protruding against his pants. “Let’s make a bet on who I can make come first,” she says with an enticing smile.
The offer to make them come brings the bets flooding in.
I resist the urge to shake my head, not wanting to feed Carrick with any more of my reactions. I’ve managed to survive here as a Gamemaker gone Advocate by being hard to read. Slipping up now could prove disastrous. But I’m caught with surprise at the plan Blue made with Lily unfolding before me. Blue must have explained to her how the game and the money reward works. That the bets all go into the pot, and if the Player wins, that bet money gets added as well.
Lily’s going to mop the floor.
Grabbing Blue’s arm, I guide her away, leaning into her. “You have some explaining to do. But first, I have a warning to give you.”
“If it’s about planning behind your back, I’d say I’m sorry, but it’s working. So, I’m not really sorry.” Blue glances back at Lily with a look of satisfaction.
“You’re afool, Eve,” I say quietly.
Her head whips toward me, and I can tell she’s struggling to reign in any reaction as she looks at me with daggers. “Speak for yourself,” she bites out.
“You can’t get Lily to win if they’ve already decided it’s going to be you. This whole ruse could put us all in jeopardy.”
Blue rolls her eyes. “It’s hardly a ruse. We got lucky that our plan fell into the game they already had planned. It’s perfect. It’s less conspicuous. As for them crowning me victor… numbers don’t lie.” She briefly glances back at the podium. “I’m not even going to try at the game. They’ll have to give it to Lily, making us neck and neck, and most likely with her in the lead.”
