INKED 8: A Tattoo Shop Reverse Harem

Until I played the game, I just imagined that I’d have to kiss a whole lot of frogs before I found my prince. Now I’ve kissed a whole lot of princes, but they’re not my live-happily-ever-after ending. They’re supposed to be the beginning of a new life. A springboard for me to jump from. Except I don’t want to jump anymore.

I just want to swim again, with all of them around me.

31

NASH

Kyla had moved the empty white plastic bowl that was the center of the game back into the kitchen area after she picked Dex's date from its depths. After she left last night, I placed it back on her desk with my neatly folded date in the bottom.

I wished I could see her face when she arrives in the morning, but Carl wants me to travel to one of the franchises to deal with a quality issue so I'm going to be out all day. Really bad timing, but business has to come first, at least during working hours. After, it is a different story.

I've made sure that everyone apart from Dex has cleared their schedules for the next seven nights, knowing that Kyla may not decide to go ahead with my date immediately. She may decide to forgo it altogether. It was always a risk, but one I felt was worth taking, now even more so.

I call Dex from the car to find out how his night went. He doesn't go into details but tells me that he stayed at Kyla's overnight and left before work so he could shower and change. When I ask him if Kyla was happy with his night, he snorts. "And why the hell wouldn't she be. You think I don't know how to keep a woman happy?"

"I think this process might be more difficult for Kyla than you originally anticipated."

"She was fine…amazing even, Nash. You don't have anything to worry about there."

"So, do you think she's going to want to go ahead and finish the game?"

"I thought she'd finished. She told me there weren't any more dates in the bowl. I thought you'd decided not to go ahead."

"As if!" It's my turn to snort.

"So why the hell wasn't your date in the bowl?"

"Because I wanted her to have been with each of you already before she finds out what my date is."

"What is it?" Dex asks, his voice slow and low, suspicion coming through loud and clear.

"All of us," I say. "That's why I'm calling. I need you to keep yourself available for the next seven days so that Kyla can decide when she wants to go ahead. I don't want anyone to be left out."

"All of us?" Dex speaks slowly, as though he needs time to digest the idea.

"You told us to pick a kink. Well, mine is sharing."

"You want to ride a train over her?"

"That's a gross way of putting it. I want to show her how amazing it can be to be the center of a group of men focused only on her pleasure."

"It's a train," Dex huffs.

"With that attitude, you can sit in the back carriage."

"I don't think she's going to go for it," Dex says.

"And why the hell not? You other reprobates have got her doing some seriously 'out there' things. And she's fucked you all already. She's fucked everyone apart from me. She's already done it in public with people watching. Why would it even be a big deal?"

"I think she's struggling," Dex says. "I kept seeing this thing in her eyes…and feeling like it was sadness or regret. I don't know…I just get the feeling that it's taking it out of her."

"Physically or emotionally?"

"Maybe both."

We sit in silence for a moment, and I wonder if I've made a big mistake leaving my night until last. If she decides she won't go ahead, I will have missed my chance. It's a chance I may never get back. This could blow it, not just for me but for the whole group.

I don't tell Dex my plan to turn this game with Kyla into something more permanent. I've kept it between Carl and me because I fear that if too many people know, it could make it weird. Maybe they won't want to participate.

I need them to see how perfect it could be so that they won't need so much convincing.

"It'll be okay," I say. "More than okay. It'll be great. And Kyla will come away happy. I know she will."

"Eight men and one woman," Dex muses. "You really think she'll go for that?"

"She's friends with that popstar, Luna, isn't she? She knows that Luna has seven men. One more is kind of nothing, don't you think?"

"Just because her friend does something doesn't mean that Kyla will want to," Dex reminds me.

"We have to try," I say a little too quickly, screwing up my face at the possibility that Dex might guess what I have in mind. "We have to try because it's my kink, and I think Kyla will enjoy it."