Chapter 379: Open Invitation
The locker room had emptied of half its usual noise. Most of the girls had finished showering, some still wrapped in a towel, others straight-up bare-chested, an exhausted but electric end-of-day atmosphere floating in the warm, humid air.
Nash, sitting on one of the benches with a towel around his neck, felt the first hand land on his shoulder before he even had time to react.
"So," Nia murmured, slipping in behind him, her fingers sliding along the back of his neck, "how are we celebrating this, Captain?"
Another hand, lower this time, came to rest on his thigh. Alicia had settled right next to him, her towel slipping just enough to reveal the top of her breasts.
"Seriously?" he said with a smile. "Weren’t we supposed to do this after every win?"
"We should do this every day," Nia corrected, her lips brushing his ear. "Seriously, there’s literally zero reason not to knock us the fuck out right here, right now. You’re the only one in this story who still has any restraint left."
Nash felt the heat rising, that familiar pressure already starting to build, while other girls gradually drew closer, forming an increasingly tight circle around him. Every touch, every look added to the electric tension now filling the entire room.
He knew exactly why he was still holding back. His own Control stats gave him that rare power to contain what most men would never have been able to hold back in the face of this much temptation gathered in one place.
He had the passives to drive any girl completely insane with desire, active at all times. But he also had the one that let him keep his own body under control, as long as he truly wanted to.
The problem was that he didn’t always want to.
It was Rei who stepped in, walking forward in front of the small crowd, arms crossed, a half-amused, half-exasperated expression on her face.
"Alright," she said, her voice cutting through the ambient noise. "There are thirteen of us. There’s only one Nash. And everyone has to go home in a few hours. So I’m proposing something simple. The ones who can’t control their hormones right now," she swept the group with her gaze, "you take your turn first. The others will get their share in the hours to come. We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us. No need to do everything right this second."
A murmur of approval ran through the group, several satisfied smiles appearing.
Kai, who had stayed a little apart until then with a smile on her lips, didn’t waste any time.
"Alright, enough with the speeches," she called out. "You sound like a bunch of prissy bitches hesitating to jump into cold water."
She grabbed her own towel and yanked it off in one sharp motion, throwing it to the floor without the slightest hesitation, revealing her completely naked body in front of everyone.
A general burst of laughter ran through the room, several girls applauding and whistling, clearly delighted by Kai’s shameless boldness.
Nash watched her, his gaze sliding over her without restraint. Her dark skin still glistening with water, her short black hair stuck to her forehead, her amber eyes shining with a provocative glint. Her full, firm breasts, her defined abs contracting slightly with every breath, her full hips contrasting with the athletic hardness of the rest of her body.
"Alright," she said, walking toward him with a confident stride, a predator’s smile on her lips, sweeping the rest of the room with her gaze. "Since we all know what everyone here wants, the ones still hesitating can get the fuck out of the way."
No one moved. On the contrary, several girls drew even closer to better enjoy the show that was about to start.
Kai stopped right in front of Nash, leaning toward him. One hand came to rest on his chest, sliding slowly down his abs, while the other plunged straight under the elastic of his shorts, firmly closing her fingers around his already very hard cock and starting to stroke it with a slow, firm motion from base to tip.
"Mmm," she murmured, her hot breath against his ear, her hand continuing its movement. "Look at it already all swollen just from watching us. Admit it, you want to fuck all of us at the same time. We all know you get hard just imagining making each of us scream one after the other."
Nash let out a light laugh, his hand coming to rest on Kai’s hip.
"Hard not to be, with the show you’re giving me," he said. "But be careful not to get me too worked up, Kai. We’ll see if you can really handle everything you’re about to take."
A shiver ran through Kai at those words, her hand instinctively tightening around him, her breath growing shorter, more irregular.
"Go ahead and try," she answered, her hips pressing slightly against his thigh, instinctively seeking more contact. "I’ve been waiting for this forever. Make it really hurt if you dare."
Around them, the tension had reached a point of no return. The other girls watched the scene with an almost painful intensity — some with their mouths half-open and short breaths, others biting their lips and crossing their thighs, unable to tear their eyes away from the spectacle.
Alicia had already let her own towel slip to the floor, her hands slowly climbing up her own body to massage her breasts as if trying to ease a tension she could no longer contain. Nia had moved even closer, one hand resting on her lower belly and sliding downward, her gaze locked on Kai’s fingers that kept stroking Nash without pause.
Rei, for her part, had turned scarlet, clearly overwhelmed by her own initiative now that Kai had put it into practice so openly. A slight tremor betrayed her own turmoil despite her efforts to keep some semblance of composure.
"Alright," she said, her voice noticeably less steady than a moment earlier, clearing her throat. "The ones who, uh— the ones who aren’t participating should probably... get ready to head back."
But no one moved.
Nash swept the room with his gaze, an amused smile stretching across his lips. He already knew, with the certainty his own passives gave him, that none of them would volunteer to leave now. Not with this atmosphere, not with this tension that kept rising, minute after minute.
No one raised their hand.
"Alright," Nash said, a wide smile stretching across his face, his free hand closing on Kai’s hip and pulling her closer. "I think the party can officially begin."
Somewhere far from the light and near the asshole of the world, Roam dialed Saya’s number for the third time in ten minutes, the phone pressed to his ear as he paced back and forth in his shitty apartment, the silence stretching on the other end of the line becoming more and more unbearable.
Ring after ring, until the voicemail.
"Fuck," he hissed, hanging up and running a trembling hand through his hair. "Since when does she not answer anymore?!"
He kept walking in circles, the silence of the apartment weighing on him.
"Is that bitch even still alive?" he muttered, almost to himself.
The phone finally rang, Saya’s name appearing at last... before he realized it was actually Vargas calling.
The wait was driving him insane.
A brief relief, immediately replaced by explosive irritation.
"What does this fat asshole want," he growled, answering harshly. "What?"
"ROAM," Vargas yelled on the other end of the line, his voice already hysterical. "Do you understand what’s going on? Because I don’t understand SHIT anymore!"
"What are you talking about," Roam answered, tired.
"The sanction against Blacklist, Roam!" Vargas sounded almost on the verge of tears. "There’s no more sanction! They got Baby-Boom instead, what the fuck is this mess, I thought the plan was to get them sanctioned!"
Roam closed his eyes, feeling a familiar migraine starting to build.
"I don’t know, Coach."
"You don’t know?!" Vargas’s voice climbed an octave. "I bet ALL of Frank’s money on this, Roam! All of it! I’m not going to die because of you guys, I’ve already done that once! Find a solution!"
Roam clenched his teeth, a cold anger rising in him. Since when was this his fault? Nobody had asked that fat fuck to bet anything.
"I’m going to bounce," Vargas continued, his voice shaking. "I’m going to leave the debt on you and get the fuck out. So figure it out, find a solution! You’re going to reach that whore and figure out what she’s plotting, you hear me?"
He hung up without waiting for an answer.
Roam stayed still for a long moment, the silent phone in his hand, staring at the wall in front of him without really seeing it.
What’s your fucking plan, Saya, he thought, the question looping in his head.
At the training center, the evening stretched on quietly.
Saya was busy with the rest of the staff, stacking training cones in a corner, methodically wiping the hardwood where sweat marks had been left.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She glanced at it — a message from Dahlia.
*Come see me in the office, two minutes.*
She quickly complied, finding Dahlia sitting behind a desk cluttered with files, her tablet still on in front of her.
"Alright," Dahlia said without fully looking up. "Ma’am and I are staying late tonight, there’s still a lot of paperwork to sort out. The players have free time until tomorrow. You can take the evening off too."
Saya stayed silent for a moment before shaking her head slightly.
"Um... In that case, I’d rather stay," she said. "I can keep helping the staff, there’s still equipment to put away, and—"
"It’s not necessary," Dahlia cut in, finally looking up at her. "We have paid staff for that."
"I know," Saya said, her voice growing more insistent, almost pleading. "But I want to do it anyway."
Dahlia set down her pen, observing Saya with new attention. Something in the tone of her voice had clearly caught her interest.
"Why?" she asked simply.
Saya hesitated, her hands tightening on the fabric of her own clothes as she searched for her words.
"Because I want to work for you," she finally said. "For Ma’am. For Nash. For all of you." She shook her head. "I don’t even want a salary, no official title, none of that. Just..." she searched again, her voice breaking slightly, "just to be useful for something here. To have a role, even a tiny one, even an insignificant one. Even just opening the door for everyone and saying hello would be more than enough for me."
Dahlia stayed silent for a moment, slowly massaging her temples, clearly weighing several contradictory thoughts at once.
She knew exactly where Victoria stood on the subject. Technically, Saya remained a living debt, a leftover from a much darker plan that Victoria had considered at the peak of her anger. Originally, Saya’s debt was supposed to be paid off very slowly once Victoria recovered the Midnight Rest, in the worst possible way. That was the whole point of her debt growing every day with the exorbitant rent of the luxury hotel room she still occupied in the Spires.
But everything had changed since then. Victoria herself seemed to have stopped truly wanting that revenge, having silently placed Say’s fate in Nash’s hands.
And now Saya, standing in front of her, was almost begging for the right to sweep a floor.
"Listen," Dahlia said more gently, "I understand the intention. But there’s not really an official place for—"
"I know I have nothing special," Saya cut in, her voice trembling but determined. "I have no talent, not like Nash, not like the girls. I’ve never really known how to do only one thing well."
She forced a smile.
"Destroy," she continued, almost in a whisper. "My life. Other people’s lives. That’s the only real skill I’ve ever had."
Dahlia stayed silent, not really knowing what to answer to that. Something in Saya’s gaze made her deeply uncomfortable, that almost terminal weariness that seemed to weigh on every one of her words.
Saya then pulled her phone from her pocket, gripping it tightly between her fingers.
"But I understand you... I’ve done too much to deserve your pity... So... To prove my faith to you... I’m going to use my incredible talent one last time to fuck everything up," she said, a fragile, joyless smile appearing on her face. "So that Nash finally gets what he truly deserves."