I ached all over, still alive and grossed out. My head hurt and felt like my brains felt scrambled. Just enough to be sore and know that the needle didn’t go in quite as far as we’d thought.
I was curled in on myself and tried not to move. My suspicion was that moving would hurt even worse than the ache I was now experiencing. Of course, I would have to eventually, maybe in a hundred years or so.
Denny assisted matters when he laid his hand on my back; I nearly fell off the couch the way my spine arched in response.
“Oh, Eliza I am sorry. I did something wrong didn’t I?”
I slowly turned to face him and saw the horror on his face. I suspected mine reflected his. My hands trembled; I looked at them expecting to see my true age revealed.
But they looked the same, maybe a bit paler than usual but otherwise the same they did when I held the syringe and Shi earlier. Denny was still waiting anxiously for a response from me. I cleared my throat and swallowed gradually; there just wasn’t any moisture in my mouth.
“No, I don’t think you did anything wrong Denny. Neither of us knew exactly how deep the needle should have gone in.”
I closed my eyes and attempted to shake off the jitters and the after-effects of the worst orgasm I have ever had. That’s something I would never want to experience ever again. Not only embarrassing but painful? Who the hell needed that?
I retreated into meditation and took a few moments to steady myself and find a calm center. It was tougher than usual, but eventually, I managed.
I smiled at Denny, “Thank you for that.”
He snorted and finally sat back into the couch, “Sure thing, glad to see I didn’t kill you, only hurt you a fuckload.”
“Yeah, it hurt more than I had expected but I am alive. That’s a good thing; it means the Shi got where it was supposed to.”
I kicked off my shoes and curled up on the couch, I needed ten minutes, just ten minutes to gather my thoughts and feel semi-normal. Closing my eyes would be divine but I knew it would end with me sleeping.
“So, next step?” Denny broke my lull.
I sat up and looked at my trembling hands; they seemed the same as always. No sudden age spots were creeping up on me.
“We should probably get going to Sundry Square and check the layout. Make sure there aren't any ambushes.” I sighed and stood up, not even ten minutes of rest. No rest for the wicked after all. Thankfully he didn’t say anything about the damn orgasm.
We packed the Shi plant nestled in its colander into the backseat of another SUV. It looked similar to its cousin from earlier but a slightly older model. I’m not all that fond of them, but they serve a purpose, and the ones I go for are usually all-terrain as well. It helps, sometimes I just don’t know what my task will bring.
“Boring, but reliable,” I explained to Denny when we got in.
“No need to explain to me Eliza, I get it. I love cars, but I wouldn’t waste a good one on what you go through on an average day.”
“Not every day is like this; sometimes I get to finish my task early and just go shopping or end up playing games.”
He laughed and shook his head, “Wouldn’t have guessed it for a second. You don’t look like a gamer to be honest.”
I nodded and concentrated on the road; Sundry Square wasn’t far away but a place in the city I hadn’t been to before. I drove the speed limit; I didn’t want to attract more attention.
Not that police would be hanging around this time of night, but I didn’t need any arm of law enforcement paying attention. We drove into Sundry Square, and I drove around the center a bit. The last movie had already let out, and the mall was quiet. I saw some security guards, but they were huddled together in the front parking lot hut. It was just cold enough to be uncomfortable outside.
And I was sure the mall guards didn’t expect anything to happen and probably spent most of their time together instead of patrolling the grounds. I made sure to make it seem like I was only doing a u-turn in case any of them was paying attention to a single car in the parking lot.
But they didn’t even look up when we drove past, I thought I saw a glow on their faces and assumed they were watching television in their little hut. I drove out of their potential view and found the entrance to the underground parking.
It wasn’t locked up; I assumed A picked it because it stayed open all night. We drove down, keeping an eye open for anything strange. Nothing jumped out at us on the lower level, and I proceeded to a spot where I could monitor comings and goings. And where we could quickly exit if necessary.
It was still relatively early, only 12:30 am, and another thirty minutes to go before meeting A. Denny was fidgeting next to me, I knew the feeling. Waiting for something to happen with nothing to do. Neither of us brought out a smart device to play on; the glow would attract unwanted attention. An SUV with tinted windows suddenly seemed like an excellent addition to my stable of cars.
Finally, it was five minutes to one and still no other car had come joined us. I don’t know what game A was playing, but I knew I needed his or her information. I got out quietly and shut my door softly. I got the Shi plant out of the back - it was looking droopier - and signalled Denny to stay put. I could see he wasn’t happy about that but did as I asked.
I walked to the back of the garage and found row 6 and walked to D. When I got there someone was waiting for me already. How he got past us, I don’t know, for all I knew he’d been there as long as I had. Skulking in some dark corner I hadn’t thought of looking in. It bugged the hell out of me that he managed to get past me unseen.
I stopped at the beginning of the parking bay; he was standing towards the end of it. He would have to come to me, a small and annoying thing to do. But that was the sort of mood I was in.
A moment after I stopped he stepped forward and stopped halfway in the bay. Not too close for me to do something theoretically but close enough to see the Shi clearly. I tried not to notice how bloody gorgeous he was; the noticing annoyed me even more.
“Hello Eliza, thank you for coming.”
I inclined my head; I wasn’t sure I could trust my voice just then. It could have come out in a girly squeak. That would just be too much to bear on an already strained evening.
Instead, the handsome bastard smiled a smile that made my legs go to jelly and traitorous bits of my female anatomy get excited. I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached and forced myself to walk over to him. Not at all to see if he smelled as good as he looked, nope not at all.
“It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.”
“Of course, you did, we always have a choice. You just didn’t like the other option.”
Touché.