Page 16 of Gratification in Gluttony (Passing Through Cafe #2)

Chapter sixteen

Tramp Stamp

After Willow won Twister—much to Liel’s dismay—everyone took a break from games to refuel with the snacks Toni had made. Then they spent far too long bickering over which game to play next.

At long last, Tad smacked her hand on the coffee table to get everyone’s attention. “We could play Hellahoola.”

Everyone’s reaction—exceptLiel, Oliver, and Jude, of course—was a visceral, “No!”

“That game is banned for life!” Toni swiped his hand through the air, cutting the idea at the knees. “You know what? Life isn’t long enough. It’s banned for the afterlife too.”

“Seriously, we cannot play that game again,” Gem agreed, eyes huge. “Not after what happened last time.”

“What happened last time?” Oliver asked.

“What’s Hellahoola?” Jude asked.

“It’s only the best game ever,” Tad said, bulbous eyes glimmering madly.

Toni shook his head. “It’s a terrible, awful, no-good, very bad game that we do not speak of.”

“Okay, but what happened last time?” Oliver asked again.

“I just want to know what the game is,” Jude said.

“It’s a drinking game,” Tad said.

“But also a trivia game,” Willow said.

“I thought it was a role-playing game,” Zef said.

Gem nodded at Zef. “It is pretty interactive.”

“With a pinch of Truth or Dare,” Glyma added.

“But it’s mostly a drinking game,” Quin said.

“That we swore we’d never play again,” Rusty said, voice vacant as his eyes stared off into the distance. “Never again.”

“But—” Tad said.

“Never again, Tad!” Rusty barked, and Gem placed a hand on his shoulder in cautionary comfort. “We signed a contract.”

Tad blew a raspberry. “Yeah, but a majority vote renders the contract null and void.”

“That is true,” Zef said. “It was in the fine print.”

“There was fine print?” Toni asked.

“Oh my god, guys, what happened last time?” Oliver demanded, growing flustered at being ignored.

“We’re not taking a vote,” Gem said.

“Technically, the fine print said that any of the undersigned can call for a vote a maximum of one time every calendar year,” Quin said.

“Yeah, and I’m one of the undersigned,” Tad said triumphantly.

“But we promised,” Rusty said, sounding genuinely afraid. “We made a fucking pact!”

Stepping into the middle of the circle, Oliver stamped his foot childishly and shouted, “Hey! What happened last time?”

Everyone went silent.

Toni and Gem made eye contact before swiftly looking away. Rusty was clutching his tail, glaring at the floor. Glyma and Quin had stepped closer to each other, clasping hands, as Willow hugged herself and shuddered. Zef appeared to have already dissociated, milky eyes glazed. Tad was the only one who was unaffected, standing there grinning like a fiend.

Jude and Liel exchanged confused looks as Oliver glared at each of his co-workers in turn. Then he leveled Gem with an intense stare.

“What happened, Gem?” he demanded.

Shaking his head, Gem pressed two hands to his mouth.

“Gem?” Oliver said.

A high-pitched whine scraped the Araknis’s throat. “It was just supposed to be a game.”

“Gem, no,” Toni warned.

“It was supposed to be fun,” Gem said.

“Not another word!” Rusty snarled.

“Maybe it’s time we talked about it,” Gem reasoned. “We’ve carried it long enough.”

“It’s too fresh,” Quin said, knuckle grazing Glyma’s cheek. “Some things are better left buried.”

“Not gonna lie, I kind of want to play the game now,” Jude said.

“No, he don’t,” Toni stepped in front of Jude, palms out should he have to defend him. “He’s just joking. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.” To Jude, Toni snapped, “You don’t know what you’re saying!”

“I’m curious now too,” Liel said.

“Then we should play,” Oliver said.

“But we can’t!” Gem cried. “We can’t, Ollie. We lost too much last time. Glyma and Quin got divorced for forty-eight hours, and it was the worst forty-eight hours of all of our lives.”

“Gem,” Rusty cautioned, mauve knuckles bleaching as he tightened his grip on his tail.

But Gem didn’t hear him. “Toni woke up naked in the forest with something questionable lodged inside him.”

Toni groaned. “Thank you for that reminder.”

“Willow joined a traveling circus, and we didn’t see her for three days. And Zef?” Gem pointed with numerous hands at the now-pale Mantodea. “They almost had sex.”

Wings buzzing in agitation, Zef covered their face in shame. “Do not speak of it. I cannot bear it.”

“And we still don’t know what happened to Fil.” Gem threw up his hands in defeat.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about Fil,” Toni said, and everyone nodded with varying, oh’s and yeah’s.

“He disappeared,” Gem said seriously. “We literally never saw him again. I’m pretty sure he died!”

“Gem!” Rusty warned.

But Gem was on a roll now. “I rode a bus for, like, five hours because I didn’t know where I was, and I was scared. And we sold Tad—like, legitimately sold her—to some very sleezy sailors.”

“That was a fun night,” Tad said with a chilling grin. “Those sailors were up for anything.”

Gem sucked in a breath. “And Rusty—”

“No!” Rusty cried at the same time Gem blurted, “Rusty got a tattoo!”

And that Toni had not known.

“What?” Toni said as everyone turned their attention to Rusty. Rusty, who was standing stock-still, hands strangling his tail. Rusty, who was glaring at Gem like he was trying to set the Araknis on fire. Rusty, who apparently had a fucking tattoo.

“You have a tattoo?” Oliver asked.

“No,” Rusty said unconvincingly.

“What is it?” Toni asked.

“Where is it?” Willow asked.

“Is that why you had a bald spot above your tail?” Tad asked.

Glyma’s jaw dropped. “Oh, yeah. He wore long shirts for, like, six months, and we couldn’t figure out why.”

“I can’t believe you have a tattoo,” Oliver said.

“I don’t have a tattoo!” Rusty snarled.

“Oh, he has a tattoo,” Gem confirmed, and Rusty bared his canines and hissed at him. Thoroughly offended at the Pyclon’s attitude, Gem snapped several fingers and crossed two arms over his chest. “Do not even , Rusty! I have kept this secret for over a year. A year! And now I have new secrets. I’ve reached my secret limit, and one had to go.”

“So, if his tattoo is above his ass,” Jude started, and Toni pointed gleefully at the Pyclon.

“Oh my gods, Rusty has a tramp stamp!” he finished with a giddy cackle.

“No, I don’t!” Rusty shouted.

“Rusty, you dog,” Oliver said.

“I’m a Pyclon, not a dog! I don’t have a tramp stamp,” Rusty insisted, still hugging his tail. “I got it removed.”

Gem gasped dramatically. “You got your tattoo removed? But our friendship was forged in the ink of that tattoo.”

“It was not. But you know what was forged in the ink of that cursed tattoo?” Rusty pointed a sharp claw at Gem. “Betrayal!”

“Okay, drama queen. It wasn’t that bad,” Gem dismissed.

“You were supposed to get a tattoo, same as me,” Rusty said, voice low and dangerous. “And you sacked the fuck out.”

“Gem!” Glyma, Willow, and Oliver said.

“Okay, hold on. That’s not the full story,” Gem said.

“We were both on that bus,” the Pyclon said, chest heaving with emotion. “And we were both scared! And then you saw those neon lights.”

“Damn those neon lights,” Gem wailed. “Damn them all!”

“And you said, ‘Hey, Rusty, I have a great idea.’ But guess what?” Rusty met everyone’s eyes in turn. “It wasn’t a great idea. It was the worst idea anyone has ever had in the history of the universe.”

“At the time, it felt like a great idea,” Gem said defensively, fisting the fabric of his shirt. “It’s not my fault.”

“You said, ‘ We should get tattoos.’ And then you sacked out, and left me alone with a fucking tramp stamp above my ass!” Rusty barked, louder than Toni had ever heard him speak before.

As one, everyone in the room glared at Gem, and he withered.

“I understand that doesn’t paint me in the best light, but in my defense,” Gem sniffed and smoothed several hands down his torso, “I was very drunk, and I forgot that I was afraid of needles until they were jabbing Rusty in the ass with one.”

“Betrayal,” Rusty repeated.

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed, before smirking at Rusty. “Alright, Rusty, let’s see it.”

Rounding on Oliver, Rusty quirked his head, ears twitching. “Huh?”

“The tattoo,” Oliver said. “Let’s see it.”

“I would also like to inspect it,” Zef said.

Rusty exhaled, rubbing the space between his pale eyes. “I got it removed.”

“No, you didn’t,” Quin said. “It happened a year ago, right? And you can’t remove a fresh tattoo. And your fur has grown out, and you haven’t gone back to wearing long shirts recently. Ergo, you still have the tattoo.”

Rusty’s face scrunched, but before he could retort, Oliver grinned widely. “Awesome, show us.”

“No!”

“Show us the tattoo,” Jude said.

Rusty flashed his canines. “Over my dead fucking body.”

“I can make that happen,” Toni said with a shrug. “I know people.”

“No.” Having finally composed himself, Gem stepped forward, half-shielding Rusty from the group. “This is my fault, and I’m taking accountability. And to earn back Rusty’s trust and forgiveness, I will defend his honor now. He will not be showing us his tattoo. Over my dead body as well.

“And you know I’m stronger than all of you,” Gem finished, crossing all of his arms over his torso. “Well, except for Willow.”

“Really?” Jude said, arching an eyebrow at the Dryad.

Toni nodded. “Willow’s a beast.”

With a rather smug smile, Willow preened.

“Wait,” Oliver addressed Rusty, brow furrowing as he hooked an arm around Liel’s neck. “I thought you didn’t drink?”

Jabbing his thumb over his shoulder—presumably, at his tattoo—Rusty said, “Why do you think I don’t?”

“It’s a real shame,” Gem said morosely. “He was a super fun drunk, not gonna lie.”

“I hate you with the heat of a thousand lakes of fire,” Rusty seethed.

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Gem whimpered.

“You have a lake of fire?” Jude asked.

Inspecting a tear in his thumbnail, Toni nodded. “Yeah, we got one of those. It’s way out in the desert, though. Takes forever to get to it, and it’s hot as balls. Lots of sand. And then you get there, and it’s, like, okay, cool. Lake of fire. What now? I can’t swim in that!” He finished his speech with a shrug, “It’s really not worth the trip, honestly.”

Jude was staring at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What? You wanna go?” Toni gestured vaguely out the windows. “I’ll take you if you wanna see it. I’ll take you all over. Whatever you want, baby.”

Shaking his head, Jude turned away with a laugh, his cheeks darkening in a flush. Toni reached out and pressed the back of his knuckles to the warm skin, listening to the trip in Jude’s heartbeat.

“You know what? I’m leaving,” Rusty said, but before he could make good on the threat, Gem grabbed his arm and hauled him back, making him chitter furiously.

“No one’s leaving, and we won’t speak another word about Hellahoola, Rusty’s tattoo, or the fact that we legitimately trafficked Tad. Like, for real. We should be in jail.”

“Don’t say that in front of the narc,” Tad said, pointing at Liel.

The Gymnot, who was much more preoccupied with whispering gross things in Oliver’s ear, turned to face the group. “Hmm? Oh, no. Attorney-client-privilege. I’m bound by law to keep it to myself.”

“Don’t we have to pay you first?” Toni asked.

As he slicked his tongue over his sharp teeth, Liel gave Oliver fuck-me eyes. “I’m sure Oliver and I can come to some sort of arrangement.”

“Shall we discuss terms of compensation?” Oliver nudged his nose against Liel’s flatter one.

The overhead light flickered as lightning popped between Liel’s fingers. “I have a few ideas.”

“Ew,” Rusty said.

“Oh my god,” Jude said.

“And he said I should keep it in my pants,” Toni grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Fucking hypocrite.”

“Okay,” Glyma said, cheeks flushing from Oliver and Liel canoodling. “Shall we play another game?”

Tad opened her mouth, but everyone said, “Not Hellahoola,” and she closed her mouth and pouted. Zef patted her head with their lower left hand, but she pushed them off, stomping away. Toni heard her rummaging through his kitchen cupboards a moment later, but he didn’t want to know, so he left her to it.

“Shall we make a puzzle, Glym?” Willow asked, pulling a box out of the canvas tote she’d brought.

Glyma clapped her hands. “Yes! I forgot to bring one, but I’m glad you remembered.”

As they set up their puzzle on the dining room table, Tad, Zef, Quin, and Liel decided to start a poker game. Normally, Toni would have joined them, but he decided to follow Jude to the couch where he, Oliver, and Gem were setting up a card game.

Rusty curled up in the armchair, phone in hand, clearly pouting after the whole tramp stamp debacle. When asked if he wanted to play, the Pyclon shook his head, claws clacking across his screen.

“It’s called Euchre,” Gem said as Toni sat down beside Jude on the couch. Oliver and Gem settled on the floor with the coffee table between them. “It’s super fun when you’re not partnered with Rusty. He just yells at you.”

“Only if it’s deserved,” Rusty muttered without looking up from his phone. “Which, last time, it was.”

“Anyway,” Gem said, speaking over the Pyclon, “I’ll be Jude’s partner. You can be partners with Ollie.”

Since that meant Toni could stay sitting beside Jude, he accepted the terms, listening to the rules as Oliver dealt the cards. The game was fun, though Toni didn’t care much about it. He was more interested in sneaking touches to Jude whenever Oliver was distracted.

Their knees touched, and every time it wasn’t his turn to deal, Toni would lean back and skate a hand over Jude’s back. He twisted the human’s curls around his fingers and skirted light caresses over the back of his neck. Jude, for his part, ignored Toni almost entirely. But a smile curved his lips throughout the game, and his heart beat unsteadily every time they got too close.

It had Toni impatient for everyone to leave.

Unfortunately, when they did eventually call it a night, Oliver said, “We made up the couch for you, Jude.”

“What?” Jude asked, leaning slightly into Toni when he hooked an arm around his neck.

“So you don’t have to travel back through the veil tonight,” Oliver explained as he linked fingers with Liel. “I already have a tram ticket for you.”

Disappointment solidified in Toni’s stomach, but he didn’t let it show as Jude said. “Oh. Right. O-okay. Thanks.”

With a covert, apologetic glance Toni’s way, Jude smiled and shrugged, then headed to the door to slip on his shoes. Toni followed, bidding everyone farewell as they filtered out of his flat.

When Liel tugged Oliver into the hall, connecting them at the mouth, Toni took the opportunity to cup Jude’s chin in his hands and smack a quick peck to the human’s forehead. “See you around?”

Jude squeezed Toni’s hand and smirked. “See you around.”

“Guitar lessons, right?”

Nodding, Jude backed out of Toni’s flat. “Yeah, guitar lessons.”

“Excellent.” Toni gave Jude a rather filthy onceover and winked. “Maybe you can teach me other stuff too. I’m poorly educated on human anatomy.”

“Ew, Toni!” Oliver surfaced from sucking Liel’s face long enough to glare at him. “Stop creeping on my friend.”

Ignoring Oliver, Jude tucked his hands into his pockets and said, “I’ll figure out some sort of curriculum for you.”

“I’m a very hands-on learner.” Toni leaned against the doorjamb. “So, keep that in mind.”

“Seriously, you’re being gross,” Oliver whined as Liel chuckled into the human’s neck, teeth grazing his throat.

“You literally have a Gymnot gnawing on your neck right now,” Toni said.

Jude nodded. “Yeah, you don’t have room to talk about gross.”

Before Oliver could respond, Liel was capturing his mouth in a kiss, effectively distracting him. Jude grimaced and pantomimed shooting himself in the face.

Toni chuckled. “Good luck with them. I do not envy your night.”

“Tell me about it,” Jude said as he shoved Oliver and Liel—still attached at the mouths—into the lift. “Guys, seriously? I’m standing right here. Oh my god, Oliver—”

The elevator doors closing cut off whatever else Jude was going to say, and Toni shook his head as he ducked back into his flat and shut the door. Gem was cleaning up the glasses, but Toni grabbed him by the wrist, black and red fur soft and thick between his fingers, and guided him toward the couch.

“Leave it. We’ll clean in the morning.” Settling on the couch, Toni tugged Gem in until the Araknis was snuggled into his side.

“I think Jude likes you,” Gem said, and Toni grinned into his curls.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I hope so. I think I like him too.”

Watching him with several red eyes, Gem said, “More than just sex and stuff?”

“Yeah, I think so. He’s… I dunno, Gemmy. I just like him.”

As Gem channel-surfed in search of something to watch, he silently chewed his bottom lip, fangs catching on the dark gray skin. Toni waited him out, giving him the time to find the words he was so clearly searching for.

At long last, Gem said, “Just be careful, Toni. You jump into things headfirst, all or nothing, and I love that about you. Just…” Heaving a sigh, he cuddled closer, and Toni tightened his arm around the Araknis’s shoulders. “Just don’t forget your life-preserver.”

“How can I?” Toni said, giving him a squeeze. “I got it right here.”

Gem lifted his head to give Toni a beaming smile, one Toni returned in full. “You’re godsdamned right, and I’m not going anywhere.”