The heat of the onsen is NOTHING compared to the inferno building between my legs. The question hangs in the steamy air, everyone's eyes fixed on me, waiting for my answer.
The image flashes unbidden--Veronica arching beneath some faceless executive, her perfect lips forming a name that isn't mine. The sick knot in my stomach tightens as Luis's eyes meet mine across the water--gentle, questioning, patient. Unlike Jake, who's already got his hands all over Devon, Luis is giving me space to decide.
And fuck, I'm actually considering it.
Every nerve ending in my borrowed body screams for attention. The sake clouding my judgment, the betrayal burning in my chest, the curiosity that's been building since this transformation began--it all crashes together in a perfect storm of fuck-it-all temptation.
My hand involuntarily rises to my collarbone, fingertips tracing down toward my breast before I catch myself.
"Alice?" Luis's voice is soft, a question wrapped in an invitation. His eyes are kind, warm pools I could drown in if I let myself.
I glance down at my body beneath the water. The body Veronica forced on me before jetting off to do... what? Exactly what she was worried about ME doing?
The steam rises between us as Luis slowly moves closer, his movements deliberate, giving me every chance to back away.
I don't.
My heart hammers against my ribs, nipples hardening to painful points. When his hand drifts beneath the water, not quite touching me but close enough to send electricity across my skin, I nearly whimper.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," he murmurs, his accent thickening.
Devon moans loudly across the onsen, already straddling Jake. Her small breasts bounce as she grinds against him, water sloshing rhythmically. "Fuck, you're already so hard," she gasps.
Luis's eyes never leave mine, though--this moment is just between us.
I lick my lips, feeling the weight of the choice pressing down on me. My pussy clenches again. Luis's nostrils flare slightly.
"I could help you feel better," he offers, and his fingers finally make contact, brushing feather-light against my trembling thigh.
The touch is electric. A jolt of SOMETHING shoots straight to my core, and my mouth falls open in a silent gasp. My brain melts further, a sake-soaked mess.
Would it really be so bad? Just this once? It's not like it's my real body anyway...
Devon's words come back to me again: "Veronica's probably got Rob balls-deep in her right now."
Fuck Veronica and her fucking rules. Fuck her hypocrisy. Fuck her for turning me into this and then betraying me anyway.
I lean forward, closing the gap between Luis and me. His breath catches as I place my palm against his muscular chest, feeling his heart racing beneath my fingertips.
I tilt my head up, lips parting, our faces inches apart. His hand curves around my waist, steadying me as I float toward him. The heat of his body radiates against mine, and I can feel him hardening beneath the water.
Jake and Devon are full-on making out now, his hands kneading her ass as she moans into his mouth.
Luis's other hand comes up to cup my face, his thumb brushing my lower lip.
"Are you sure?" he asks, giving me one final chance to back out.
I close my eyes, Veronica's text and that Instagram photo burning in my mind.
"Fucking DO IT, Alice!" Devon calls out, breaking her kiss with Jake to cheer me on. "He's got a MONSTER cock! You can feel it, can't you?"
Luis looks embarrassed but doesn't deny it. The physical reality of what I'm contemplating suddenly hits me--this massive thing would be inside me, stretching me open, filling spaces that have never been filled.
Across from us, Devon's rising up on her knees. "Watch this, Alice," she purrs, positioning herself over Jake's cock with deliberate showmanship.
My eyes are locked on the scene despite myself, watching as Devon slowly sinks down onto Jake, her mouth forming a perfect O as he penetrates her. The water ripples outward from their joined bodies.
"Oh my FUCK," she gasps, voice breaking as she takes him to the hilt. "It's even- UNGH- better than this m- morning!"
Jake grips her hips, guiding her movements as she begins to ride him. "Fuck, you're still so tight," he growls, one hand coming up to roughly palm her breast.
Luis's hand on my waist tightens slightly, pulling me closer until I'm practically in his lap, his cock pressing insistently against my ass through the water.
My pussy aches with emptiness, a void begging to be filled as I watch Devon bounce on Jake's cock. Her head falls back, wet hair clinging to her shoulders as she works herself into a frenzy.
"I can make you feel good," Luis whispers in my ear, his breath hot against my neck.
I turn back to him, our noses almost touching. His eyes are heavy-lidded, pupils blown wide.
It would be so easy. So fucking easy to just let go, to surrender to this moment, to say fuck it all and feel something good for once in this chaotic nightmare my life has become.
Luis leans in, his lips a breath away from mine, waiting for my final permission.
And suddenly--crystal clear through the sake haze and lust fog--I see what's about to happen.
I see myself crossing a line I can never uncross.
I see the look on Veronica's face when she finds out--if she finds out. I see the satisfaction in her eyes, the validation of her worst fears, the "I told you so" that would never need to be spoken aloud.
I see myself becoming exactly what she accused me of being.
And in that moment, I realize something important: I don't want to prove her right. Even if she did betray me, even if she is a hypocrite, I don't want to sink to that level. Not out of some noble sense of fidelity, but because I refuse to let her paranoia become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I won't be the cheater she thinks I could be - just to spite her.
With trembling resolve, I place my palm against his chest, gently pushing away.
"I can't," I whisper, the words barely audible above Devon's increasingly vocal enthusiasm. "I'm sorry, but I fucking can't."
Luis blinks, confusion washing over his features before understanding dawns. He nods slowly, disappointment clear in his eyes but no anger. "Your girlfriend," he says simply.
"Yeah." I swallow hard, fighting back the cocktail of emotions threatening to overwhelm me. "Even if... even if she did something, I just... I can't."