Opus

28. Jerk

"Strangely, I don't feel different. Shouldn't I feel different? How did you feel after your wins?" I stare at the landscape flashing by as Jaz takes me wherever in his gas-guzzling relic.

"Numb. Surprised. Humbled. Pissed. Exhilarated. Scared. Proud. Like I own the world."

"So you didn't feel different either, huh?"

"Cute."

This will be Jasper's last night. He doesn't know it yet. Or maybe he does but doesn't care.

We stop at a quaint little inn two hours east of the Capital. Inhabitants of this burg are deluding themselves they're living in the suburbs with their big-ass malls and hotel after hotel that disfigures the historic downtown. Their silly amusement park is the cherry on top, its décor recreating the playground to the stink of moss in the air and crumbling buildings housing the rides. Listen up, people. This here is the boonies.

"Come here often, referee?"

"Never set foot here before today, but someone told me all about this place. I have a feeling you'll like it."

"Think you have me figured out, referee?" I half-tease, half-scold.

"Could you please stop calling me that? The competition is over; I'm out of a job."

"For now. Jaaazzz." I stretch his name out just for the fun of hearing it roll in my ears. "Peeeerrrr."

"I like the way you say my name, all sultry and shit."

I bat my eyelashes, lower them demurely and plaster a secret smile on my lips. "Sexy, is it?"

Jasper chuckles and guides me through the porch to the inn's front desk. 'End of the line' is carved on a splintered, gray wood sign above the small desk. Burnish red paint lingers in the corners of some letters. I want that plank as a headboard

"Back in the days, this building was the Capital's terminal for the subway's fourth line," Jaz informs me.

"Wow!" I gape around like a kid in a candy factory but, except for the sign, the lobby is pretty much nondescript. I wonder if the tunnel still exists.

Jasper drapes an arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. "I told you you'd like it, Caelina darling, didn't I?" The man is way too observant. "After you've rested as ordered by the Competition's medical specialists' instructions..."

I roll my eyes at that. Players kill each other or blow up to pieces in the playground, but a winner can't leave the Capital without a clear bill of health. Not one of those supposedly doctors asked how I bruised my neck. They prescribed a most delicate-smelling ointment for it, though. Quacks, the lot of them.

"...if it's not too late, I'll take you to the underground tunnel. A fifty-foot-long section escaped demolition. The town turned it into a museum last year. One hundred and four years after it closed, can you believe it? Think it's a sign?"

Napping with Jaz is a full-contact sport. Damn, can the man kiss! Firm yet soft lips. Teasing tongue. He kisses dirty and sweet at the same time. And his hands, God his hands and fingers! Callused, warm, gentle come to mind. Simultaneously. And let us not forget his penis. A perfectly sized piece of manhood, just on the right side of painfully thick. The things he did to me with it? Enough to drop me to my knees in a show of not gratitude per se, but of horny appreciativeness most assuredly.

Three orgasms. A twenty-minute power siesta. A steak and green beans (Jaz thought I looked pale and thus needed iron). We are good to go.

Rule 25: Referees and players next-of-kin are welcome to participate. A Declaration of Lineage Form shall be completed at registration time to validate enrollment. Please note that gaters cannot stand post at a first-degree family member's gate.