207 No Way Ou (1/2)
They were soon joined by Rydel and Maynard, who had left to do some weapon shopping. Maynard wanted to find more peakp-tier lv. 35 swords, but nothing he found was better than the two katana that Jack had given him.
Both of the men were surprised to see that all the girls were now closer to Jack, yet he didn't force them away like usual.
”What happened while we were gone?” asked Rydel. ”By the look of things, it seems that things are finally heating up between you all and Jack.”
”Stop it.” Jack waved his hand, not wanting to talk about it.
Eliza grunted. ”Well, if someone hadn't been kidnapped, then maybe we wouldn't have been so worried. Why didn't you call for any of us with telepathy.”
”It's already in the past, so let's not worry about it.”
That entire day, while most of the girls were accepted Jack's many apologies, Eliza had hounded him for details. Rather than spill the beans, Jack had just been avoiding such invading questions, proving that he wasn't willing to talk about it.
”Jack, I'm your wife. If you're not going to explain yourself, you'll have to do something to make up for it.”
”And that is?”
”Let me sleep with you tonight.”
”Pffew!” Jack choked on his brundy. ”Eliza, you know that I--”
”Yes, I know that you don't care about your wives. You won't explain yourself to them and you won't even try to comfort them physically,” stated Eliza, not budging at all.
”Eliza, please, forgive me but I'm not in the mood to talk about the kidnapping anymore, okay?”
”Then can I sleep with you tonight, or not?”
”Eli--”
”Or will you sleep with Maura tonight instead?”
”E-excuse me?!” Jack stuttered, startled by the sudden change in the conversation.
”B-but Eliza, why--”
”Jack will you be sleeping with Maura or with me tonight, which of your wives?” repeated Eliza. ”To make sure that you won't get kidnapped again, one of us should share your bed to guarantee your safety. If you say neither, I'll make it my point to join you regardless.”
Frowning, Jack looked Eliza in the eye. Then, he looked to Maynard and Rydel for help, but they either looked away or were busy looking to the bottom of their mug.
He sighed, ”Can't we--”
”Do I really need to make a scene, Jack?” stated Eliza with a poker face. ”I'm your wife, so I'm pretty sure everyone else in the bar will side with me on this one.”
Finally, Jack looked to Maura sheepishly. ”Maura, can you stay in my room tonight?”
”S-sure, I can do that,” Marua blushed as she agreed.
”Not just in the same room, but in the same bed. If I find that she's not sharing your bed, I'll join you in the middle of the night,” said Eliza, not backing down an inch.
”I--”
This surprised them all. Everyone knew that Maura was slowly getting more daring, but it still startled them to hear her agree to actively agree to share a bed with Jack and not give into shyness.
What Jack first thought would be his only way out had become a simple change of circumstances.
”Good, then me and Keela will be off to bed early. We should probably start heading back to Polt tomorrow, early in the morning,” mentioned Eliza.
Jack asked, ”And why's that?”
”Don't you remember? We've got the yearly auction coming up,” replied Eliza. ”We've got a month and I'm sure you want to be there, right?”
”How could I forget!” Jack laughed at himself. He really had forgotten all about it.
”But I thought ya said we should stay here?” asked Maynard.
”Sterfen already told me that we can leave. I'm not sure why, but he said he'd explain it later.”
In reality, Sterfen hadn't contacted him. He only knew that Sterfen needed them in Scorch City for that strange kidnapping situation to take place.
”Well, then let's all head to bed. We've got another two weeks till we reach Federal City,” stated Rydel. ”I hope you two love birds enjoy the night!”
”Hey, that's--”