LEVEL 7

PLAYER ONE: REMY

Metal clinked, and Trevor huffed as he did his reps on the bench. As I spotted him, I resisted the urge to scratch my itchy new arm tattoos. The second-skin on my leg with another random tattoo stretched against my flesh during my five-mile run on the treadmill. New tattoos and working out fucking sucked, but I’d never say no to being inked up, and I’d been at the tattoo shop all week.

When I wasn’t working, I was staring at Fauna’s little ONLINE NOW dot on V for Valin. She played all night long. Did she not go out with friends? Why hadn’t she been hanging out with my brother? What about this RPG made her invest each and every evening for hours and hours? I watched her like a stalker with my sound on high, hoping for a chat notification to ping.

Nothing.

Trevor stretched his tricep and stood. “Your turn.”

I laid back on the bench and gripped the barbell. “Why do you never bring your girlfriend over?” Bold of me to ask, but I was desperate for information.

“Why do you care?”

Five reps and a break. “Curious.”

Trevor’s eye roll caught my attention from the gym mirrors. “I don’t know, we share a room. It’s weird.”

“Never stopped you before.”

My brother helped me lower the barbell back into position, and I sat up, wiping my neck with a towel.

His jaw tensed, and he avoided my gaze. “She’s different.”

Oh, fuck. In that moment, I felt like the piece of shit I was. Did he… Could he… Did my twin actually like her? I mean, of course he liked her, she was his girlfriend. Who wouldn’t like Fauna Belrose? With her quirky, colorful charm and those dimples when she smiled… But there was the small problem that I was falling for her—along with sort-of dancing along the lines of fucking her on the side. This wasn’t good.

My brother picked up a free weight. “You’re such a hypocrite.”

My ribs tightened like I’d been punched. What did he know? “How so?”

“Why’s your girlfriend never over?”

I let out a small breath of relief. “Because I keep forgetting to break up with her.”

“That’s fucked up. MJ is a nice girl, and she’s got kids, Remy. Don’t jerk around the feelings of a woman like that—I can guarantee you, a woman as accomplished and beautiful as Mary Jane doesn’t have time for your bullshit.”

I raised an eyebrow, fighting off the sinking feeling of shame. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” he answered quickly. “By the way, dinner at Mom and Dad’s next week.”

I groaned. “Fuck no.”

“I’ve put them off for months. They want to have a whole fancy-ass thing.”

“No.”

“They said we could bring dates. I’m bringing Fauna.”

“Fine.”

Any excuse to see her—even under the guise of visiting my parents. “I guess I’ll put off breaking up with Mary Jane until after.”

“You’re such a dick,” my brother laughed, shaking his head.

I shrugged. “If you only knew.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?—“

The gym door flew open before an arm landed over Trevor’s and my shoulder. “Sup, my dude? We makin’ gains? Gettin’ swole?”

Fucking Chet.

I flashed my twin an annoyed expression in the mirror, but he just shrugged and shook his head. When he asked me to work out, I didn’t know it was an open invite for assholes. It was only a matter of time before Chet brought up?—

“So Trevor, where’s Fauna? That little pink teacup of a girlfriend of yours?”

I dropped a weight loudly, and both guys looked over.

Trevor beeped the treadmill to life. “Working, I guess.”

“Does she still work at that run down animal shelter?” Chet pried.

Losing my cool, I walked over. “Looking to adopt a fur-ever friend, Chet?”

The stalky jock looked me up and down. “Just wondering why I haven’t seen her around. You know, my cousin Prue and her used to date.”

“That’s not true,” Trevor said over the rumbling of his run on the treadmill. “I mean, no hate if they did. But that’s not accurate information, man.”

Chet smirked and walked toward the weights. “You’ll see.”

Trevor rolled his eyes and fished his earbuds out of his pocket, zoning in on his work out. But I wasn’t letting his friend off that easy, not when my girl was involved.

I tossed my towel in a hamper, feeling rage build in my shoulders as I followed Chet. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Whoa, why so invested, Remy?” Chet held up his palms. “I’m just looking out for Trevor. Seems like…it might be more than that for you?”

My jaw ticked as I stared this motherfucker in the eye. He knew he had me, could sense I liked her. What could I say? He wasn’t wrong about that. Chet put a hand on my shoulder, and I resisted the urge to deck him across his smug face. “You game, right?”

What the fuck did that have to do with anything? I forced a curt nod.

Chet leered closer, as if to tell me a secret. “Then you’ve probably heard the rumor that when you reach the end of V for Valin, there’s a trophy board where winners can post whatever they want, right?”

“That game is damn near impossible to beat,” I snapped, annoyed at this meaningless conversation.

Chet waggled his finger in my face. “Not impossible, my friend. I’ve almost got the last riddle unlocked. You should try to beat it yourself—it’ll all make sense then.” He winked. “Trust me.”

Trevor was behind me suddenly, out of breath. “Want to do burpees?”

“Nah,” I answered, grabbing my backpack and skateboard. “I’m done.”

ONLINE NOW

I pounded the drums.

ONLINE NOW

I beat the crash symbol.

ONLINE NOW

My foot bounced against the bass drum.

ONLINE NOW

Sweat poured down my chest, soaking through my black sports bra and beading over my six pack abs.

Was Fauna online now as I beat the snare to a pulp?

The tom drum was old and dotted in grey from my sticks. Standing, I fiddled with the tom tom, making sure the kit was tight.

My band stood wide eyed and gawking as they caught my gaze.

“What?” I snapped.

A crowd of thirteen year olds cheered, hooting and hollering over their red-40 infused birthday cake beneath the neon lights of the dingy mall arcade.

Rollo put a hand on my shoulder. “We are, in fact, standing on a crime scene—for you have murdered the beat, my friend.”

Joss raised an eyebrow, plucking at a chord on her guitar. “Murdered our set too. Don’t tell me you’re coming down with ignored drummer syndrome. That seems too cliché for you, Remy.”

I ran a hand through my wet hair and looked to Len, who only shrugged in quiet what the fuck, dude ?

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “A lot on my mind.”

Rollo inched closer and batted long, blue mascara-clad eyelashes. “A lot of something pink and cat-eared on your mind?” My jaw ticked, and I glanced at Len and Joss, who were in the middle of some curious kids, showing them their instruments. His mouth quirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret, you naughty, naughty individual.”

“Fuck, Rollo, I can’t get her out of my head.”

“You’ve never been obsessed with a girl like this before.”

“How did you know?” I tucked my drumsticks in the back of my baggy jeans. “Is it that obvious?”

Rollo let out a long laugh. “Oh, it’s fucking plastered across your face. I clocked it the moment I saw you two canoodling in the grass at the game the other week.”

“You saw that? Goddammit.”

Rollo shrugged. “Sebastian wanted to catch the game, and it looks like I caught you. Don’t you have a girlfriend? Wait, wait—and this is your brother’s girlfriend.” He let out another animated laugh. “You’re fucked.”

“We weren’t canoodling .”

“There was much canoodling.”

I opened my mouth to argue when a flash of fuchsia grabbed my heart and pulled it from my chest into the crowd of pimple-patched tweens. This was not an overly axe body sprayed middle schooler playing a loud game of pac man. This was— It was?—

“Hi.” She bounced over like an anime bunny from a cartoon I shouldn’t be attracted to but was. “You, um…really played the hell out of the drums tonight.”

Rollo pasted on the biggest, whitest smile as I fumbled over myself like an idiot. “I’m Rollo, and you are a dew drop in a field of wildflowers personified, aren’t you?”

Fauna giggled and did a cute as fuck curtsey in her dress that made her look like a tulip fairy princess. Her cat-ear headphones pulsed between blue and pink. “I’m Fauna. It’s nice to meet you. That has to be the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.”

Rollo elbowed me. “Remy drummed their voice away— handed it straight over to the mediocre rock band gods.”

Fauna’s cute little dimpled smile pulled me from my stupor. “Not true—I am the god of mediocre rock bands and mall rat pizza.”

“You looked very god-like up there,” Fauna said, twirling a lock of pink hair over her two fingers. The same two fingers that had, just a week ago, been rubbing her clit while listening to my voice. “You all sounded great,” she added just as her cheeks flushed.

Rollo clicked his tongue, and I shoved him aside and stepped off the platform. “It was a pleasure meeting you, doll face,” Rollo called over my shoulder.

“He’s nice.” Fauna smiled. “How are you?”

I stared down at her and all her lace and frills and kitten ears. All I wanted to do was kiss her, hold her, maybe spank her for disappearing on me for a week—but my brother’s voice rang in my mind. She’s different.

He really liked her, didn’t he?

Guilt gnawed at me like the rat I was.

“Want some birthday cake?” It was all I could think of asking because, well, dump my brother, but not too hard, and date me instead wasn’t socially acceptable.

She looked down at her pastel yellow platform converse sneakers. “I like cake.”

“So, what was the inspiration for today’s outfit?” I asked as we slowly made our way to the cake table. The arcade games beeped and clapped, yet everything felt silent next to her. Fauna could calm my mind better than drums, games, or tattoos—fuck, that was a terrifying realization.

Her polka dot-painted fingernails toyed with the bow on her collar. “I was going for Alice in Wonderland, mall rat edition.”

I chuckled. “Perfect, because I look like a literal mall rat right now.”

“You look hot—as always.”

I cleared my throat, trying to push my attraction and the need to touch her deep into my Doc Marten boots. “Why’d you come? I mean, other than the deep, unrelenting need to see a shit band play a tween birthday party.”

Picking up a pre-cut plate of cake, she spooned a bite. “I came for the snacks, of course.”

“Not me, then?”

“Of course, I came for you.”

I raised a suggestive eyebrow and watched as her face flushed bright rose. “Don’t look at me like that.”

My smirk intensified. “You think you get to make orders? Thought that was my job…” I tugged at the ribbon around her neck. “I command, you obey…”

Fauna sucked in a small breath before giving her spoon a lick. “Maybe we can switch it up sometime.”

Taking the spoon from her grip, I gave it a lick, tasting sugar mixed with her tongue. “I like the sound of that.”

Rollo cleared his throat from somewhere behind me, reminding me, to my despair, that other people existed. “Remy, the birthday boy wants you to show him your drums.”

Fauna looked back to her shoes and, despite the inappropriateness of it all, despite the guilt woven into my chest, I tilted her chin up to meet my gaze. “You heard him. Let’s go show the birthday brat my drums.”

She let out a small giggle that was half a sigh of relief, like she didn’t expect me to include her so effortlessly—but that’s what it was with her. Effortless. I offered her my elbow, like some knight escorting their princess, and lead her back to the stage, where a crowd of sugar-high kids awaited us.

The kids were enthralled as I showcased the drum kit, gave a basic demonstration, and let the birthday boy, Garrett, try it out with my sticks. He handed them back and dispersed to play arcade games with his friends, leaving me tapping my knees anxiously on my spin-stool.

“Are you still giving lessons?” Fauna asked.

The corner of my mouth quirked, and I patted my knee. “Have a seat.”

She looked over her shoulder. The arcade was clearing out, kids left to wander the mall, my bandmates finishing off the leftover pizzas. “Right now?”

“Right meow,” I answered. “Come on, Alice. Down the rabbit hole of rock.”

With a giggle, she pranced over and took a dainty seat on my lap. “Teach me, mad hatter—I mean, mad drummer.”

“That’s what I like to hear…” I whispered roughly into her ear, my lips brushing her lobe. “Obedience.”

She sucked in a breath as I wrapped my arms around her, my fingers trailing up her forearms to her wrists. I slid my drumsticks into her grip and wrapped my hands around hers. “Wrist over wrist, like this.” I tapped the sticks to a drum and symbol. “People assume drums are about going hard. It’s actually about being soft, slow…intentional.”

“Oh, really?” she murmured, leaning back slightly into my embrace. “Like this?”

“Just like that… Let the beat build and build until it fades into the background like a pulse.” The scent of her rose and peach perfume had my mouth watering for a proper taste of her. I wondered if her panties were wet for me again as I held her close, her little knuckles in mine as I tapped a beat on the drums.

“I bet there’s a lot you could teach me,” she breathed. “There’s a lot I want to learn.”

That breathless confession held more than musical curiosity.

“As you can see, I’m an excellent teacher?—“

Fauna jumped as something clinked shut in the distance and the overhead lights dimmed. “What was that?”

I looked around, remembering where we were. “Looks like the mall arcade is now closed. Everyone’s gone. Kasey, the owner, must have assumed we left with the band and not checked the stage.”

To my dismay, Fauna jumped up, handing me back my drum sticks. “Do the games still work?”

I crossed my arms, noting how her gaze dropped to admire my biceps. “Indeed, they do.”

“Wanna play with me?”

“Do I ever.”

We stopped at a cowboy shooter game, and Fauna took the blue gun while I took the red. “Ready to get beat?”

I chuckled. “This ain’t V for Valin, darlin’. This here’s the wild west.”

She laughed and shot at a zombie cowboy. “Ugh, I hate that stupid game.”

That perked my attention as the arcade whirled around us like a neon fog. “You’re online playing it almost every hour of the day. I hardly think you hate it.”

“Stalker much?”

I shrugged and mirrored back to our first conversation. “I’m observant .” My shoulder brushed hers. “And maybe a little bit of a stalker, yeah. So, if you hate it, why are you playing so much?”

“It’s a long story.”

With two hits, I took down her cowboy before leaning against the game and running a hand through my hair. “Spill it, princess.”

“Did all those piercings and tattoos hurt?”

“Changing the subject works on a lot of people—but not on me.”

She bit her lip and leaned in, washing me in the aroma of her sweet perfume again. I bit down on my lip rings to keep from groaning. “Beat me at pinball, and I might tell you.”

As she skipped away in the direction of the vintage games, I watched the hem of her short dress bounce up to the tops of her thighs. I bit down on my barbell tongue piercing. Fuck me, she was so fucking hot.

But she was my brother’s girl, not mine.

Then why did she feel like mine?

We’d already crossed so many lines…lines a sibling who loved their twin should never dream of crossing. But as she pulled the lever and released the pinball, I found myself becoming unleashed as well. Standing behind her, I put my arms over hers and covered her hands with mine. “You’re trying to distract me so I lose,” she breathed, flicking her thumb to hit the pinball as it zigzagged down the slanted machine.

“Is it working?” I whispered into her ear, this time letting my lips dance along her pearl earring.

Her shoulder blades relaxed into my chest. “What are we doing?”

A loaded question, one I’d asked myself far few times during this sordid side quest.

The pinball machine clanked and whirled, flashing yellow lights as the ball hit its targets. My hands stayed fixed around hers, and her little ass pressed into my hips. I licked her ear, letting my barbell tongue ring click against her pearl earring. “We’re playing a game.”

“A dangerous game,” she whispered as she lost control of the pinball, letting it fall into the pit. LOSER blinked across the pixelated banner board.

The old pinball machine asked in a mechanical tone. “DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?”

“Well?” I murmured in my brother’s girlfriend’s ear, thrusting my pelvis against her ass. “Do you want to play?”

“Remy,” she breathed. “Yes.”

Dropping her hands, I grabbed her hips and spun her around, pinning her to the pinball machine. Her eyes were hooded with desire, and those sweet pink lips parted. I gripped her chin and dropped my mouth to hers in a long, claiming kiss. Her little moan fluttered into my mouth as my double snakebite hoops pricked her lower lip.

The moment I wove my tongue into her mouth, letting the barbell surprise a gasp from her throat, I picked her up and sat her on the edge of the wide, slanted machine.

LET’S PLAY! the game chimed beneath her.

Her soft kiss intensified into a hungry, passionate need as her teeth tugged my silver hoops. Fauna’s tongue flicked against the metal ball in the center of my tongue, and I groaned into her. My palms swiftly found her thighs and inched up her hips, finding her panties and pulling them down. She kicked one foot out, letting the lacy pink panties dangle like an anklet around her platform sneakers.

“How much can I play with?” I asked huskily as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Because I’ll fucking take it all, Fauna.”

She pulled back slightly before a small smile bloomed across her features, and she kissed me again. This time, she caught my barbell between her lips and tugged gently before releasing me. “This. I want to feel this.”

A surprised but proud smirk answered her. “Where? Use your words, princess.”

I knew where, fantasized about it often, but I wanted to hear the dirty words uttered just for me from that delicate little mouth.

A gorgeous rosy flush appeared beneath her freckles and sparkle makeup. “My pussy, please.”

“Please who?”

She bit her lip. “Please, daddy? Lick my pussy with your snake tongue and piercings?”

My growl was involuntary as I dropped to kneel and spread her knees. I thumbed the outside of her pussy lips, admiring the way my hand tattoos looked against her tuft of hair. Spreading her for me, her hips wiggled in anticipation. “So eager for me, aren’t you, princess?”

“It’s all I think about,” she confessed in a breathy whimper.

Me . I was all she thought about. Not my sibling, not some dude-bro— me . I ran the bridge of my nose down her center, taking in the smell of her. She may have been spread out on a vintage pinball machine in the middle of a mall arcade, but fuck, if I wasn’t going to take my time and soak in every sensation of her. Her peachy smell, the music of her moans, her skin like silk…now all I needed was a taste.

The tip of my tongue circled her entrance, finding her wet and wanting. She moaned and wiggled her hips. I cupped her ass with my hands, holding her firmly in place as I lapped up her flavor. Her fingers tangled in my hair as the pinball machine flashed its lights. She was the game now, I was the player, and I’d be damned if I didn’t complete this mission and win everything she had to offer.

“Remy, don’t stop,” she whimpered, tugging at my hair, pushing me closer. Fauna needed me as much as I needed her. This tender, passionate, genuine girl needed her tough, hard, and heavy protector. I’d always protect her—Fauna was mine. I didn’t care whose arm she was on at soccer games; Fauna’s cunt was shivering beneath my kiss, her body writhing at my touch. She was my girl. She had to be my girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, swiping my whole tongue against her dripping pussy. Her moan echoed through the arcade. “Oh, you like that, huh?” I trailed up her slit and pinched her clit with my clipped snake tongue, massaging it with its perfect triangle.

“Remy,” she cried out, thrusting against my face.

“Fauna,” I murmured gruffly, finally giving her the cool glide of the piercings she’d asked for. In a swift movement, the ball of my barbell rolled along her clit, encircling her, pressing the metal firmly over all of her most precious sensations.

The pinball machine whirled—WINNER, WINNER—as Fauna cried out over the gaming chimes. Her orgasm fluttered against my tastebuds, and I groaned into every movement of her sweet body.

Her fingers combed through my hair as she sat up on her elbows and peered down out me. “That was?—“

I stood, leaning between her thighs and catching her gasp on my lips. “It’s cute you think it’s over. Do you take me for some one-and-done jock? I’m not finished yet, princess.”

Our kiss turned passionate as her tongue lapped mine. We knew the jock I was referring to. I should have felt guilt at tongue fucking his girlfriend, never should have let it get this far. This was technically very immoral and wrong—but I was okay with that. For Fauna Belrose, I’d be all sorts of wrong. She was worth the risk; moments of closeness with her were worth the pain that discovering us could bring. It was worth it to me, at least. Was it worth it to her? There were so many questions I should have been asking, things to clarify and set right— but instead of doing the sensible thing and having a conversation, I found myself reaching into my back pocket before easing my palm up her skirt.

My smirk spread against her mouth as I nudged the wooden object against her opening. She pulled back from my kiss as her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You can’t be serious?” She giggled, hooking her hands into my sports bra straps and holding me close—like she was afraid I’d pull away. Not a chance.

“Want to see just how good I am with my drumsticks?” I asked, twirling the stick between my fingers. Her hips rocked forward, and she sighed into my neck, making me chuckle. “Is that a yes?”

Fauna’s full lips found my neck and sucked lightly as she nodded her consent. “Yes, please.”

“I really, really like making you come, Fauna,” I murmured, inching my drumstick slowly inside her. The feeling of her soft inner thighs squeezing around my forearm was enough to coax a groan from my throat.

A soft gasp pressed against my neck as Fauna slowly bucked against my drumstick. Carefully, I moved it in and out, angling the length to hit against her clit with every wicked slide.

“You like that, princess?” Her nod against the crook of my neck was frantic, and I could sense another release building. “Say that into my mouth,” I urged. “Taste how much you want me on my tongue while you come on my drumstick, princess.”

“Yes,” she murmured, finding my lips.

I pulled back before she could kiss me. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, daddy,” she whimpered just as her thighs began to shake. The pinball machine was still singing, the neon lights of the arcade immortal in their colorful blinking, washing my sweet girl in flashes of pink, then yellow, then green, then blue. Every hue made her more beautiful than before. Maybe that was why she dressed so colorfully—there weren’t enough shades in the world to match the radiance of her spirit, her personality, her essence. Fauna wasn’t just lovely; she was brilliant. The way she came apart at my touch, shuddering another orgasm into my knuckles, was as stunning as the lights and sounds of the games around us.

Only this was a game just for a us.

A secret, a side quest, a mission doomed to fail.

Or maybe not.

Maybe, just maybe, Fauna could become mine with minimal fallout. Could I steal her out from under my twin without hurting either of them? Wishful fucking thinking on my part. But what can I say; making her come so many times was making me cocky. My dad always said arrogance was my blessing and my curse.

As usual, the old guy was probably right.

As usual, I wouldn’t heed his advice.

No, that was Trevor’s cross to bear. My twin was the perfect child, the star athlete, the honor roll kid who’d do anything to make our parents proud.

I just never gave a fuck.

And now, I was fucking his girlfriend.

The flashing lights and beeps of arcade games appeared again like the fog of our adventure clearing and revealing our reality. After returning my drumstick to the back pocket of my jeans, I looped Fauna’s dainty panties around her ankles and over her hips. She struggled to get off the pinball machine so I picked her up gently and steadied her on the stained 80s carpet.

“You alright?” I asked. “Need anything?”

Fauna looked up at me with those big eyes that made me weak in the knees and toyed with the ribbon on her collar. “I could go for a slushie.”

“The mall is closed.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

“That means no one is here to catch us.”

She giggled. “Catch us doing what? Haven’t we defiled the place enough?”

“Never,” I teased, taking her hand. “Follow me, princess.”