Chapter Eight
December 13
th
, 2020
They were wheels up a little after five, just around sunset, so they got a gorgeous view of the city sprawling out beneath them, Oakland and the Bay itself just behind them as they started their 2500+ mile flight. Andy had never flown in something so small before, and it felt even stranger to think of it as
his
plane, even if it was. He was starting to wonder if he should have Rook painted on the side of it, or maybe just a chesspiece of a rook. That might be a bit too supervillain-y, though, he decided. He'd voice the idea to his partners and was sure they'd have a consensus almost immediately about if it was a good idea or not.
But it was his first flight on
his
plane.
The flight path would take them across twelve states and three time zones, and they wouldn't be landing until the early hours of the next day, the trip five and half hours, plus the three-hour time differential meaning they would be arriving close to two in the morning local time. Niko and Lexi had been a little worried about that at first, but the first book signing wasn't until 4 pm, so they'd have plenty of time to sleep and recuperate, so they'd agree they'd find a way to make it work.
The first signing was going to be at one of the landmarks of New York City, the famous Strand Book Store in Greenwich Village. The store had been having some rough times with the pandemic keeping them closed, but they'd made a point to open as soon as their staff was vaccinated, and when Andy's agent had called to see if they could handle a last-minute book signing, they couldn't trip over themselves fast enough to say yes.
He was glad they'd gotten the Strand to agree. It was one of the first places he'd gone to visit when he'd made his first trip to New York City oh so many years ago, with their signs that said "Shop Local! Buy Early! Think Indie!" and Andy's personal favorite, "18 Miles Of Books!" There were plenty of other places he could've gone and signed, but the Strand held personal affection for him. He'd never signed there before, but it had been on his bucket list of places he wanted to sign, and the fact that they weren't just accepting of his presence but eager made it all the better. They'd immediately started calling the radio and television stations, publicizing the event, and they were hoping for a good turnout.
The plane was somewhere over the Nevada desert when Fiona and Piper came over to stand next to him. He'd brought his laptop along for the trip and had been trying to get some writing done, but some thirty minutes into the air, it seemed like a portion of the RFC had plans for him. "Hey Andy, whatcha doin'?" Fiona said in a playful singsong voice that made him suspiciously look up at them.
Most of the girls had dressed very casually for travel, with both Fi and Piper in yoga pants and a big baggy T-shirt they'd stolen from his closet. The ladies of the RFC had figured out extremely early on that Andy loved seeing them in his shirts, and so they were always stealing from his seemingly endless collection of band t-shirts. The only condition was that they needed to be able to name a song from any band whose shirt they stole, which was a great excuse to expand the girls' musical repertoire as well. Piper had on his only Jesus Jones t-shirt, while Fi was dressed in one of his many Fury In The Slaughterhouse t-shirts. Fi had her hair swept back and tucked behind her ears with a barrette, and Piper had a lazy ponytail that was off to one side like she was an 80s aerobics fitness instructor.
"Trying to get started on the next Gunslinger book," he said, a smirk on his lips. He could already sense where this was heading based on the look on Fiona's face. "Drew the high card, did you, love?"
"I did," Fi said with her trademark charm. "But we were all talking back in the back half of the plane about how we wanted to do this, and we've decided it's going to be a trio experience each time, with one of us joining the Mile High Club and another assisting, essentially 'who's got next,' so we all get a little bit more comfortable playing together as a team."
Andy's face tried to go as blank as it could. "You're suggesting turning the Mile High Club into, what, a team building exercise? Like trust falls and shit?"
"Exactly! We all need to get used to splitting our time, not only with you but also with each other, and that means we all need to get out of our comfort zones a bit. We're gonna work you over in pairs, and we drew cards to determine the order," Fi said with a smirk as she held up her card. "Queen of Hearts, if you can believe it. I swear, Ash would've accused me of stacking the deck if I'd been holding it, but I drew from the deck blind like everyone else."
"So you're second on deck then, Piper? Jack of Diamonds turned out to be strong enough to get you on deck? No aces?"
"Nary an ace to be seen," Piper giggled. "Fi's first, then me, then Niko with a Jack of Clubs, Ash with a Seven of Hearts, Sarah with a Five of Hearts, Moira with a Four of Diamonds and Em's last in line with Two of Diamonds. But it means everyone's mixing it up, getting a little fun and freaky with someone they haven't really spent all that much time with."
"Fun and freaky?"
"We need to all be willing to adapt to each other, and that means being comfortable with each other in any state, especially naked and intimate," Fiona said.
"I thought you said you weren't sure about dabbling with other women, Piper," Andy said to her. "You don't have to do anβ"
Piper reached over and slipped her hand on the back of Fiona's neck, pulling her lips to her own, a surprised blip of noise from Fiona before she sort of melted into the kiss, the two tangling tongues for a long moment. Fiona seemed caught off guard but was clearly getting into the groove of it, sliding her own hand up and into Piper's hair before the two finally broke from their kiss, as Piper looked at Andy like the cat that had eaten the canary. "I think we need to tell Phil there's pretty solid evidence that their serum will open women's minds wide to the idea of bisexuality, because I can't even begin to tell you how fucking hot that just made me," Piper purred. "I can't wait to devour her from head to toe, to feel her squirming under my touch."
Fiona feigned waving her hand in front of her face to fan her. "Oh, now
that
had a
lot
more spice on it than it did in rehearsal," she said with an almost youthful giggle. "Anyway, all the ladies of the RFC want to play doubles with you, so we decided this would be a great way to start."
"Mmmm. Well, Niko and Ash are more than a little familiar with getting intimate with each other, but I think the rest of the pairings'll be pretty new," Andy admitted. "And you're comfortable with getting frisky with Niko as well, Piper?"
The tall athlete blushed a little bit and nodded shyly. "She's like a little fireplug of sexuality, Andy, with an ass that just. Will. Not. Quit. I can't wait to just go buck wild and embrace this new side of me. I need to crack me off a piece of all the other girls I'm gonna be sharing my life with."
"Hey, I'm not one to tell any of you ladies no when it comes to stuff like this. How do you want me?"
"The three of us are going to go to the back of the plane while everyone else comes to the front, so we can have a bit of privacy," Fiona told him. "We really should look into having a divider set up, just so that if some of us want to sleep on a flight, we've got the room and space to do it without forcing the rest of the plane into dead silent mode."