“So how’s your life after high school?”

We were almost near my apartment when Tara started probing me with questions. During the walk she was attentive to her surroundings, but now her evil look seem to have returned. I almost wanted to stop talking to her, but that wasn’t a possibility. She had enrolled me to a strange game, and I needed her if I wanted to survive.

“I’m doing better than you,” I said.

“I can tell that,” she said, turning along with me near the apartment gate. She whistled as she looked at the apartment from top to bottom. “Is this where you live? Isn’t the rent of this place high?”

“And I can afford it.”

She looked at me in surprise, but just like before, she was quick to hide it.

This is where I started to build a plan.

She’s in desperate need for money. Or perhaps a place to stay. If I can use this for my advantage…

My room was on the top floor, and by the time we reached the second floor there were patches of blood along the staircase.

And I need to find a way to clean that up.

I opened my door to my girl-less apartment, where the first sight was my thrown underwear.

“Very nice Alex,” Tara picked it by her hand, looking amused. “You definitely know how to let a girl in.”

I closed the door once she was inside. The two pistols were still near me, which means this was the best time to start the negotiation process, or probably take control of the situation.

“Sit down.”

“No thank you,” Tara was already opening my cupboards. “Now if you could give me a towel-”

I clicked my gun. That made her turn.

She looked at the barrel and gave a sigh. “I thought we went through this.”

“And I think there are better terms to discuss than the current one.”

“You can’t shoot that gun at me,” she said, her brows lifting. “If you do, you lose the chance to get yourself out of the fuckery I’ve thrown you into.”

“Yes, but if I don’t help you, you’ll be even more fucked. As far as I know, you are being searched by someone. They are planning to kill you. Considering how you robbed me you are broke. And considering how you came to my house, the house of someone you barely knew in high school you don’t have a place to stay. In other words, I am your only salvation.”

She pouted. “Well aren’t you the new Sherlock?”

I thought to illustrate the point better. I threw the gun to the bed.

“Now, answer my questions. One,” I opened my phone and showed her the Unet screen. “What the hell is this?”

Tara sighed, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “That’s your stats screen. You are currently in Level 3. That’s because I added the kill of that man at the ATM to the system in your name. That gave you 300XP and promoted you to level 3.”

“So once I kill someone I get XP? Like an RPG game?”

“This entire thing is a game,” her voice became impatient. “You kill people, you get XP. You steal from someone, you get XP. The higher the level the other person is, the more XP you get. The person you killed was a Level 20 gangster. So you get 200XP apart from the bonus 100XP of killing a person.”

“How much XP do you have?”

She grunted and fumbled her pockets before pulling out her phone. She tapped it a few times before showing it to me.

The name Ryan was all on her screen.

“Who is Ryan?”

“The guy who is chasing after me. In this game you can form teams. I was low on cash, so I wanted to get into a team. Ryan’s one was something reputable, and since I had more XP and a better level I thought they would let me in. But the bastard killed two of my crew-”

“Wait you have a crew?”

“Had. Ryan killed them. Then blackmailed me. I did what he asked, but that didn’t work. So I killed one of his partners. Now they are searching for me. I killed another at the ATM, which means there are two remainings.”

“And you set me as the one who killed him! So now they are after me.”

“Exactly.”

I rubbed my eyes. I looked around my room. My eyes glossed over the tv, the crumpled bedsheets, the tissue box hidden in a corner of the bed, and last night’s pizza on the little table beside the kitchen.

That was my life. And now someone is coming to kill me. If I wanted something out of the ordinary that was it. But I wasn’t about to do it for free.

“You said this Ryan guy had partners. Can I have partners too?”

“Yes,” Tara spoke slowly, trying to judge where I was going. “To become partners you need to strike an agreement.”

“And do you know how to do it?”

She nodded.

I smiled. “Last question, is there a way to convert real world currency to the game’s currency?”

At this her eyes sparkled. “Oooh, yes, yes! I know where you are heading. You turn your cash into game currency, and then you are going to strike a partnership with me. That’s genius Alex!”

Her smile almost made me want to suppress my horny thoughts. But I couldn’t help but splutter out.

“Not so fast. First we need to speak about the terms of partnership.”

“Well that’s simple isn’t it? You fund our team, and I do the managing and strategizing. I can even teach you about the game.”

“That doesn’t equal you for dragging me into the game. Besides, I think you aren’t good with managing our budget,” now that I thought about it, I’ve always heard Tara was a heavy spender back in high school. “I have a new deal. I’ll give you money. I’ll strike a partnership with you. I’ll help you take down these idiots. But in turn, I need you to be something more than my partner. Apart from teaching me about the game you will, ah….help me in need.”

“Like when you are injured?”

“Like when I need a blowjob.”

The sentence sprang from me so easily I was equally surprised as Tara about my sudden boldness.

Then she frowned. “I see where this is going. Two years ago I would have said fuck you, but you seem like a nice guy. So it’s just a blowjob from time to time?”

I could already feel myself harden. “No. I might need something more from time to time.”

“Ah, I see,” she chuckled, twirling her hair “So the lonely boy needs something from me? But lucky for you I’m in the mood for it. Help me kill these gangsters and I’ll reward you. And the more we kill, the more I’ll reward,” she started walking towards me, and I almost slipped back before she pinned me to the wall. “I’ll suck your dick, spread my legs, let you push me to that bed and fuck me hard, and I'll do one of that each time you help me Alex. Help me. And I’ll help you.”

I smiled. “You make it sound like we’re parasites.”

“More like symbiotes. You help me, I help you. Deal?”

“What do I get for helping you kill these men?”

“A kiss, or a look at my boobs,” she rubbed them gently on my chest. I felt my dick hardening inside my pants. It took all my will not to pull my trousers and spring it out.

But just a kiss wasn't enough.

“I need a blowjob.”

“That’s too much.”

“This is the first time I’m fighting two gangsters. So that’s too much.”

She frowned, and then smiled as she picked the phone. “Very well then, help me kill these fuckers and I’ll give you the best blowjob you’ve ever had in your life.”

The first blowjob I'll ever have in my life, but I wasn't about to say that to her.