Chapter 372: A Fucking Lucky Bastard

The interior of the mansion far exceeded what the facade had suggested. High vaulted ceilings, corridors stretching in every direction, empty rooms still charged with the history of their former owner, a fallen baron whose name had already been erased from every memory in the Underground.

"So," Dahlia said, a floor plan of the building unfolded in her hands, walking through the grand hall while the rest of the group followed, curious, touching the walls, the stair railings, exclaiming at every new room they discovered. "I’ve made a first layout. The east wing for Blacklist, the west wing for Baby-Boom, and the main floor for..."

"For me," Nash finished, a half-smile on his lips.

"Obviously," Dahlia sighed, unsurprised.

"Objection," Nia called out, raising her hand. "I formally protest against any form of segregation between the two wings."

"Approved," Kai added immediately.

"Seconded," Lina said, a far too innocent smile on her lips. "How are we supposed to have proper pajama parties if we’re separated by an entire hallway?"

Dahlia looked up at Nash, seeking arbitration, her notebook already ready to record the final decision. Nash shrugged, a calm smile on his face.

"Honestly," he said, "if it helps everyone feel at home faster, create real bonds instead of two clans just tolerating each other, I have no objection to mixing the rooms."

A collective victory cry swept through the group. Nia and Alicia exchanged a high-five with Kai, while Miko and Jaz were already bouncing in place at the idea of getting to choose their own neighbor.

"Fine," Dahlia sighed, resigned but amused, crossing out her first draft of the plan. "We’ll redo the assignment, then. By affinity this time."

The room assignment quickly turned into joyful chaos, each of them dragging their suitcase through the corridors, negotiating, swapping, arguing gently over this or that room with a view of the gardens.

Jaz and Miko naturally ended up side by side, as planned from the beginning, the connecting door between their two rooms left wide open from the first hour. Rumi eventually settled right across from Chio, the two of them having decided within a minute that they would be inseparable. Hina, for her part, claimed without discussion the room closest to Kai’s, using the excuse that she was "too scared alone," which earned her an affectionate eye-roll from the main interested party.

The main floor remained as planned: Nash, Victoria, and Zayela. A space a little apart, more spacious, with that private terrace overlooking the entire property.

"So this is where you plan on locking me up," Zayela said, inspecting the room with a critical eye before letting herself fall onto the large bed with a satisfied sigh. She stretched out fully, her hand sliding lazily over the sheets, the fabric of her top riding up slightly and revealing the curve of her stomach. "Not bad. A little empty, but not bad."

"I’ll fix that," Nash answered, approaching.

He leaned down to kiss her briefly. The kiss should have stayed light, almost distracted, but Zayela caught him by the collar and held him there. She prolonged the contact, her mouth opening slowly under his, her tongue coming to taste his with deliberate slowness. A small sound of satisfaction escaped her when Nash deepened the kiss in turn, one of his hands settling on her hip, fingers sinking slightly into the warm flesh.

"You better," she murmured against his lips, a smile forming there, her breath a little shorter.

Victoria, who had been watching them from the doorway, let out a small laugh and stepped forward in turn. Her hand settled on Nash’s shoulder, then her fingers slid slowly along the back of his neck, tracing the skin with possessive familiarity.

"I see the room assignments haven’t calmed the atmosphere," she said, one eyebrow raised, amused.

"Never," Zayela answered. She pulled Victoria by the wrist to draw her onto the bed with them, without the slightest embarrassment. "Come on, boss. Make yourself some room. The bed is big enough for three."

Victoria let herself be pulled with an ease that would have surprised anyone who had known her a few months earlier. She slid against Nash on the other side, her head nestling against his shoulder. Her hand settled flat on his chest, drawing small distracted circles through the fabric of his t-shirt, right above his heart.

"This house is making me strangely soft," she murmured, almost to herself. Her fingers continued moving, slow, exploratory, descending a little lower with each pass.

Downstairs, in the side wings, the atmosphere was no less tactile. Alicia had settled onto Nia’s bed without even asking permission, the two of them talking in low voices while waiting for Nash to finish his tour of the introductions, exchanging messages on their respective phones to organize "the first official mansion party."

When Nash finally passed through the east wing to check that everyone had found their place, a hand immediately caught his sleeve.

"Finally," Alicia said, pulling him toward her new room with a delighted smile. "Come see, we’ve got a view of the gardens."

She pressed herself against his arm as they walked, her cheek nestling against his shoulder, her warm, soft breast molding against him without the slightest restraint. Nia took his other arm with the same ease, her fingers sliding between his, her body pressing against his side.

"You’ve all decided to claim me at the same time tonight," Nash remarked, amused, without making the slightest move to free himself.

"We’ve got a lot of catching up to do," Nia answered. She squeezed her fingers a little tighter between his, a mischievous smile on her lips, her gaze lifting toward him with a barely veiled promise. "Busy day, Captain. We have to celebrate properly."

In the neighboring hallway, Sarra was watching the scene with a mix of shyness and longing, tightening her jacket around herself. When Nash met her eyes, he simply held out his hand, without a word.

She hesitated only briefly before sliding against him in turn, blushing but clearly relieved that he had noticed her without her having to ask. Her phenomenal breasts pressed softly against his arm as she drew closer.

"I haven’t seen your room yet," he said gently. His hand settled in the small of her back, just above the curve of her ass, his fingers lingering there a moment too long.

"It’s right here," Sarra murmured, a shy but sincere smile forming. She guided him toward the half-open door, her hip brushing against his with every step.

Amara, for her part, followed them from a distance for a moment, watching the scene with that hesitation that continued to tug at her despite the general warmth of the evening. It was Kai who finally caught her by the wrist, pulling her without ceremony toward the small group that had formed around Nash.

"Stop hanging back," Kai said, a frank smile on her lips. "Nobody bites here. Well, unless you ask nicely."

Amara let out a surprised laugh and finally let herself be pulled along, feeling for the first time that evening that her place here might not be as fragile as she had feared.

Later in the evening, once most of the girls had scattered between the rooms, the bathrooms, and the kitchen where Sarra had already started improvising a dessert, Nash found himself alone for a moment in the large central living room. He allowed himself a break on the couch.

It didn’t last long.

Zayela appeared first. She dropped down next to him without ceremony, one leg immediately swinging over his, her warm, firm thigh settling against his crotch with almost provocative nonchalance. Victoria followed closely, settling on the other side with an elegance that contrasted nicely with Zayela’s casualness, but with the same clear intention of staying pressed against him. Her hand rested on his thigh, just above the knee, and stayed there.

"So," Zayela said, her hand slowly climbing up his arm, fingers tracing the line of his muscles. "How do you plan on handling this whole little world circling around you now that you officially have nowhere left to hide?"

"One girl at a time," Nash answered. He slid an arm around her shoulders. His other hand naturally found Victoria’s resting on his knee, and their fingers intertwined.

"A risky philosophy," Victoria commented, a half-smile on her lips. Her fingers closed around his, then slid a little higher up his thigh. "But I have to admit your way of handling all this is rather... convincing."

She leaned in to kiss him. Slowly. Her mouth opened under his, her tongue coming to taste him with sensual patience, without caring who might pass through the hallway. Meanwhile, Zayela took the opportunity to gently nibble the other side of his neck, her warm lips gliding against his skin, a light laugh vibrating against his throat. Her leg tightened a little more around his.

A little further away, a muffled laugh came from a doorway. Lina, who was passing by with Sarra to go get something from the kitchen, had stopped dead, a delighted smile on her lips.

"Wow... Even her, you see that? Come on, quick, let’s join them," she whispered to Sarra, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She joined them without the slightest hesitation, pulling Sarra along behind her despite her shy protests.

Lina dropped onto Nash’s lap without warning, straddling one of his thighs, her hands settling on his chest. Sarra, blushing to her ears, let herself be pulled and sat down next to Victoria, right against Nash, her thigh pressed to his.

The evening continued like that, soft and warm, in this mansion that no longer had anything of a dusty old headquarters and everything of a house full of life, laughter, and that tactile closeness that had become the natural language of this entire little world gathered together. Bodies sought each other without even thinking about it, hands lingered, gazes stayed a little too long.

Outside, on the rear terrace of the mansion, a little apart from all that effervescence, Saya had slipped away from the group without anyone really noticing. She leaned against the cold stone balustrade, watching the abandoned gardens bathed in the artificial light of the eternal twilight.

She had not been assigned a room. No one had thought to give her one, and she had not dared to ask.

She stayed there, alone, for a long moment, listening in the distance to the echoes of laughter and conversations that did not really seem to belong to her.