“Naked and horny,” Ris announced, entering the room in a gossamer pink wrap dress that at least covered her nipples, Lurielle noted in relief. “We’re here to get laid, Silva. I haven’t been on a single good date in almost a year, and the best lay I’ve had was that minotaur we met at that trivia bar. Lurielle’s been living like a nun since she and Tev split up. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to; you’re free to keep your panties on all weekend. But at least enjoy the sights! You’re never going to get to see this much uncovered cock anywhere at home! ButI’mnot going home without sampling the local goods, preferably buffet-style. Now go change so we can get dinner.”
She almost felt sorry as Silva struggled in place for a moment, attempting to move her feet towards the bedroom but unable to tear her eyes away from the orc ass out the window. When at last the bedroom door closed behind her, Lurielle turned to Ris with a shrug. “Hopefully, they have paddle boats. She can spend the weekend in the middle of the lake being appalled with us.”
“That’s fine,” Ris laughed. “As long as I go home bow-legged, I don’t care. At least she’ll go home with a story to tell, right?”
♥♥♥
Are you sure you want to wear that?
Her mother’s voice piped up as she turned in the mirror, eyeing the way her two-piece’s bottom stretched over an ass that certainly wasn’t the same size as it had been in undergrad.You should probably skip dessert, babe.Between her ex and her mother, Lurielle never felt alone in her head, always hearing one of the other two voices who occupied the tight space, reminding her of her deficits.
Grimacing in the mirror, she looked over the soft swell of her stomach, the wide set of her hips, the full breasts that sagged a bit too much to look good naked.What were you thinking coming here? You look like a snowman.She was positive the overhead lighting was designed to make her flaws stand out. Her fair skin had been described as “peaches and cream” by an aesthetician at the salon she’d visited shortly after her move to Cambric Creek, but the sallow reflection in the mirror lacked a peach’s warm blush. She’d had honeyed highlights put in, brightening her dull blonde waves, had given the stylist—an intimidatingly glamorous hulder with expertly winged eyeliner—free rein to cut it any way she wanted. Lurielle had gone as long as she could without washing her hair after the salon appointment, dreading the moment the soft, smooth waves would fall out, knowing she’d never be able to replicate the style at home. All she saw now, in the mirror's harsh lighting, was uncooperative hair, indistinct hazel eyes, and a spray of freckles over her pug-like nose. She was dumpy next to Ris, didn’t possess Silva’s polished sparkle, would be ignored by the men here, all used to beautiful, leggy tourists...stop it! You’re here to have fun, not feel sorry for yourself all weekend.
Since moving to Cambric Creek for a job, she’d done her damnedest to overcome her insecurities and bad habits, quashing the voices in her head the best she could, despite the way they’d taken hold in her mind like an invasive vine. She’d developed better-eating habits, had made new friends, and bought a wardrobe that flattered her shape. She'd joined an aerobic dance class that made her feel foolish and sweat to a truly horrifying degree, but she found other women there like her: curvy goblins looking to lose baby weight and wide-hipped werecats, eager to rid themselves of the padding they’d gained at university. They were all as uncoordinated and ungainly as her, making the weekly experience fun, rather than yet another exercise in self-torture.
None of that seemed to matter just then, as she prepared to head down to the party deck hot tubs in a two-piece next to her tall, willowy friend.You can do this,Lurielle encouraged herself, wrapping a gauzy blue pareo around her neck, knotted at her hip.It’s already dark out, you can get in the water, and no one will see you. They’ll all be drooling over Ris anyways.
Silva had gasped in relief earlier when their handsome server at the small restaurant was fully clothed; his dark hair casually pulled into a loose bun. He’d grinned knowingly when Ris had pointedly asked where they could partake of thelocal attractions. The fountain garden, the nightclub, the sauna at the resort spa...he’d ticked off the best “tourist spots” on long, slender fingers in a lightly accented voice, advising them to visit the poolside bar that night to get a feel for the crowd, adding that he himself frequented the little bar on the corner. The light from the pendant lamp above the small table shone on the silver bands around his tusks as he winked before leaving to put their order in, and Silva flushed until she was nearly as dark as Ris.
Now they were taking his advice, heading to the poolside tiki bar, leaving Silva behind at her request. The thumping bass of loud music seemed to vibrate the walls as soon as the girls entered the corridor leading to the deck, the noise frequently broken up by a chorus of loud, masculine laughter. Lurielle realized she didn’t need to worry about being gawked at, her physical flaws on display for this group of strangers, for the packed press of bodies didn’t allow for contemplation of anyone’s form.
There were at least two dozen orcs filling up the tight space, all of them clothed, and Ris exclaimed in disappointment. Their cute server had let it slip that anywhere money was changing hands for alcohol, clothing was required. Lurielle had a feeling that meant Silva would be spending the weekend perched at the end of a bar, demurely sipping Shirley Temples and clutching her handbag.
“I’m getting one of them into the pool with me,” Ris exclaimed, a determined look in her eyes. “Ugh, there are so many tourists here!”
“Isn’t that what we are?” Lurielle wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting from the resort, but this over-crowded meat market hadn’t been it. In addition to the abundance of burly orcs, giggling women and overconfident men of varying species packed into the bar and small dance floor, and groping hands seemed to be everywhere. The girls had barely taken a few steps before a hyena-faced man with a cocky smile slid his arm around Lurielle’s waist, asking if she wanted a drink. The music was overloud, the flashing lights too bright, and she winced at the sharp cackle coming from a skimpily dressed harpy, drink sloshing as the girl stumbled on the dancefloor.
“Sure, why not?” she choked out with an uneasy laugh, gripping Ris’s hand and pulling her along.You’re going to make the best of it.“We’ll both have Cosmos.”
♥♥♥
The sounds of music and hooting laughter spilled from the small bar out to the sidewalk where Silva stood, chewing her lip indecisively. Every few minutes, thechink!of a pool cue could be heard glinting off the side of a polished ball inside the bar.They’ll all have their clothes on, she reminded herself, squaring her slim shoulders in resolve. Dive bars were not the sort of establishments she normally patronized at home, but...but you’re on vacation. There’s no one around to judge. Stop being ridiculous, you know how to do this.With the impressive stick up her gym-toned ass, daytime Silva was sometimes, unfortunately, a challenging skin to shed.
She’d been thrilled when Ris and Lurielle had invited her to come this weekend. Her co-workerswereall very nice, had been welcoming and friendly when she’d started in the office earlier in the year, but sometimes it was hard not to feel like she existed on the periphery of firmly established friend groups.
It was hard, she thought privately, to be an elf in Cambric Creek. She knew her co-workers found the Elvish community snobbish; the whole town did. She’d wondered as an adolescent why her forebears had even settled there, choosing to make the multispecies community their home, realizing as she grew older that it had been the hubris of simply expecting to be welcome everywhere they went. What her goblin and gnomish and werecat co-workers didn’t understand was the likely reality that she’d be attending, not just their own funerals someday, but their children’s and grandchildren’s. Elves weren’t immortal, too much inbreeding with humans and other lesser species over the years for that, but they were much longer lived than the vast majority of their peers. It was natural that they kept to themselves as a result, she thought.
To have been included in the trip with her Elvish co-workers was a big step, she’d thought.If you hide in the room the whole weekend, you’ll never be asked to do anything again!She couldn’t help it. The thought of going down to the crowded deck bar, pressed between groping hands and hulking, naked bodies was slightly terrifying, completely uncouth, and not something in which an elf of good breeding would be interested.
It wasn’t that she was uninterested inmeetingsomeone, far from it. Goddess knew she dated, what with her grandmother keeping close tabs on her social life, poking and prodding and carrying on about wanting to see her beneath the binding tree before she died, butthis...this wasn’t about finding a boyfriend. This was voyeurism, indulging in a carelessly anonymous fling at best, and the thought of being surrounded by huge, naked men all weekend, even if the sight of them was exciting, was overwhelming.
The young orc from the restaurant had seemed different, though, less imposing than the others she’d seen so far, which was why she now stood on the sidewalk, waffling. Tate, he’d called himself as he took their drink order, a simple, compact name that lacked the guttural harshness she’d come to expect from the Orcish language. Compared to the hulking brute who had erupted from the tranquil lake that morning as their car had passed, Tate had seemed slender and short for an orc, with a laughing glint in his eyes and an appealing air of mischief about him. When he’d winked at her, after pointedly telling their table he would be at the little dive bar on the corner once he got off work, she’d felt heat spread to the tips of her long, slender ears.You probably looked like a blueberry.
After Lurielle and Ris had headed to the tiki bar without her, she’d spent close to thirty minutes pacing the small rented room before aggravation had pushed her outside. She’d gone wandering, irritated with herself for being such an uptight little mouse. She’d beenfunonce; Silva was sure of it. She knew she was fortunate to have found her first real job out of school right in her hometown. When she’d expressed a desire to go to art school, her mother and grandmother had formed a united front in their persuasion to keep her on the path they’d laid out for her—a path which contained no stop at the small, liberal fine arts school in which she’d expressed interest.
“Darling, you won’t be able to pledge to Ilma in a place like that, and it would break our hearts if you didn’t have that foundation once you’re off on your own!” The compromise had been a school several hours away from home, primarily Elvish and full of good families with eligible sons, but still far enough away that she’d been able to breathe for the first time in her life. Now though...the freedom of university—the parties and late nights, frat house mixers and weekend hookups, a life away from Cambric Creek and her grandmother’s prying eyes, and the daily weight ofexpectation—seemed like a lifetime ago.
She’d been deep in thought when she’d passed the bistro again.
“You look lost, little dove.” He’d been leaning on the brick wall outside the entrance, the glow from the end of his cigarette a bright flare in the twilight. The lopsided smirk he gave her had an odd glint to it, but there was something about the shape of his face—high cheekbones and a narrow nose, much finer than the other orcs she’d seen that day—that somewhat set her at ease.
“Not lost,” she’d laughed hesitantly. “Just...deciding.”
His smirk had widened to a grin, and Silva couldn’t be certain in the dying light, but there seemed to be too many teeth in his mouth, gleaming sharp, a slightly sinister effect she didn’t remember him possessing in the bistro’s golden lighting. Even so, as he raised the cigarette to his lips once more, taking a deep drag, she stepped closer, feeling her ears burn at the doe-eyed look she knew she was giving him.You’re as bad as a human, always falling for the bad boy.
“Well, if you’re looking for thesights,” he’d paused, raising a slim black brow meaningfully, “you’ll want to head up to the pool, or else back down the way you came, to the cabins.”
She wasn’t sure what sort of face she’d pulled, for she’d been treated to even more teeth as his smile widened further. His skin was a pale lichen green, and three slim, silver loops glimmered in his arched black brow, matching the line of rings that curved up his long ear. The lilt in his voice was what her grandmother would have termed “from the old country,” an indication that the place he called home was far across the sea. Although he seemed smaller than the other orcs she’d seen, he’d towered over her in the dim glow of the streetlamp, long and leanly muscled, and she’d been breathless as he’d leaned down to murmur conspiratorially in her ear.
