I know I said Chapter Ten was gonna be 'sticky' but this small exchange got away from me and became the whole chapter instead.

CHAPTER TEN

Riley feels hands settle gently around her arms as the masseuse helps her sit up and swing her legs over the edge of the table. The room feels cooler now that she’s upright, the last of the warmth from the treatments fading slowly from her skin.

She’s a little unsteady at first.

The masseuse steadies her easily, guiding her to her feet with practiced care. When Riley finally stands properly, the woman leans in and presses one last soft kiss against her lips, the gesture warm and strangely affectionate.

“Head out into the hall,” she says, her tone light and reassuring. “Go down to the room at the end.”

She gives Riley’s arm a gentle squeeze before letting go.

“Shower off the lotion, then go back to the waiting room, okay?”

Riley nods faintly, her voice barely more than a breath.

“Yeah,” she almost whispers. “Thanks.”

The masseuse smiles at her, that same calm, professional warmth still in her eyes.

“No, Meatgirl,” she replies softly.

“Thank you.”

Riley steps out into the hallway, the curtain falling closed softly behind her.

The corridor beyond is dim and quiet, lit by a row of low candles set into small brass holders along the walls. Their light flickers gently across the polished floor, filling the space with a warm glow that feels strangely peaceful compared to the bright rooms she just left.

The care package rustles softly in her hand as she walks.

Halfway down the hall she hears voices behind a set of thick curtains hanging beside one of the doorways. The fabric muffles the sound a little, but the voices are close enough that she can make them out.

Her mother.

“Sounds like Riley’s done,” she says quietly.

There’s a pause before another voice answers, a man Riley doesn’t recognize. Younger than her mother, maybe by quite a bit.

“Sounds like she had fun?”

Her mother gives a small laugh, the kind she uses when she’s trying to sound casual.

“Good,” she says. “I want my baby to enjoy the time she has left.”

Another small pause.

Then the man’s voice again, softer this time.

“And you, shall I—”

“Oh fuck no,” her mother cuts in immediately.

Riley can practically hear the amused grin in her voice.

“I’m married.”

The curtains rustle faintly as Riley keeps walking past them, the candlelight following her down the hall toward the room at the end.

Beyond the wooden door at the end of the hallway is a small tiled room. Several shower heads line one wall, evenly spaced, with simple metal drains set into the floor beneath them. There are no curtains or stalls. Privacy clearly isn’t part of the design.

Animals don’t get privacy.

Warm steam curls through the room from one of the running showers. Riley notices a man already standing beneath it, his back turned slightly as the water runs over his shoulders and down his body. Like her, he’s completely hairless now, his skin smooth and pale under the bright ceiling lights.

Riley hesitates only a second before stepping inside.

The air is humid and warm, the faint scent of soap hanging in the steam. She moves to the far end of the room and turns one of the shower handles, flinching slightly as the pipes rattle before the water begins to run.

When she glances back toward the man, she notices his erection.

Heat rushes into her face immediately. Riley turns away just as quickly and steps under her own stream of water, keeping her back angled toward him as the warm spray begins washing the lotion from her skin.

The water runs down her shoulders and over her chest, carrying the last of the treatment oils with it. Riley lifts a hand and slowly runs it across her arm.

Her skin feels unbelievably smooth.

Smoother than she ever remembers it being before, the lotion having left it almost silky to the touch. She drags her fingers lightly across her stomach, then down along her thigh, still surprised by the slick softness beneath her hand.

For a moment she simply stands there under the water.

Eventually the sound of movement behind her catches her attention again.

Riley glances over her shoulder and sees the man looking in her direction now. His expression doesn’t carry the same hungry look Mr. Greern had on his porch. There’s something quieter in it instead. Curious, maybe.

Riley turns slightly toward him.

“Can I help you?” she asks.

Her tone isn’t confrontational. If anything, she sounds careful, trying to be polite even though she’s not quite sure what the right reaction is supposed to be anymore.

“Sorry,” he says after a moment, raising one hand slightly in an awkward half-shrug. “I just couldn’t help staring.”

The apology sounds sincere enough. His voice carries a kind of embarrassed honesty, the sort that comes from someone realizing they’ve been caught doing something rude but not quite knowing what the right reaction should be.

Riley watches him for a second through the drifting steam.

Then she can’t help it.

A small smile creeps onto her face.

“Me neither,” she says.

Her voice is soft, almost amused, and she glances down briefly at the water running over her own body before looking back at him again. For a moment the two of them simply stand there under the steady sound of the showers, the quiet awkwardness of the room settling around them like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

“It’s weird, right?” Riley says after a moment, letting the water run down her shoulders while the steam drifts between them. “Not being separated between boys and girls?”

The man lets out a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as if the gesture might somehow help.

“Yeah,” he admits. “I don’t really know where to look.”

Riley watches him for a second, then tilts her head slightly.

“The wall maybe?”

He snorts at that, turning his head obediently toward the tiled wall beside him like a kid being corrected by a teacher.

“Right. The wall.”

The sound of the showers fills the small room again while the two of them stand there under the steady streams of water, both trying very hard to look anywhere except at each other.

After a moment Riley turns back around, letting the water run down her back while she glances toward him again.

“I’m Riley,” she says.

The introduction makes him turn back toward her despite his earlier attempt to stare dutifully at the wall.

“Kevin,” he replies.

They stand there for a second under the steady hiss of the showers, steam drifting lazily through the room.

“You got family, Kevin?” Riley asks.

He hesitates just long enough for the question to feel heavier than it probably should.

“A husband,” he says at last, “and two boys.”

He gives a small shrug, like he’s trying to soften the weight of what comes next.

“I was just shy of turning twenty-three.”

“Bummer.”

Riley shuts the water off and steps away from her shower head. Droplets run down her smooth skin as she crosses the tiled floor and turns on the shower beside him instead, the pipes rattling softly before the stream begins.

“So you’re gay?” she asks casually.

“Mostly,” Kevin admits, giving another half shrug. “I still like girls—uh—women.”

He corrects himself quickly.

“I mean women.”

“Sure you do,” Riley says, a teasing smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

She gestures lightly toward him, her chin tilting in the direction of his still-obvious erection.

“Has anyone tried to touch your… you know?”

Kevin glances down briefly before letting out a quiet breath.

“Plenty,” he admits.

The water runs down his shoulders as he gives another small shrug, the motion helpless more than anything else.

“Can’t exactly say no though, can we?”

Riley watches him for a moment, her expression shifting slightly.

“We can bite,” she says.

There’s a faint edge of humor in her voice, but something else sits underneath it too.

“Animals can bite.”

Kevin laughs at that.

The sound echoes softly off the tile as he steps back beneath the spray and lowers himself to the floor, settling with his back against the wall while the water runs down his chest and stomach in slow streams. His posture is relaxed in the way people sometimes get when they finally stop trying to hold themselves together.

Riley watches him for a moment before moving closer.

She slides down the wall beside him, still leaving a comfortable gap between them, but close enough that the warm water splashes across both of their legs. The distance feels deliberate. Close, but not trusting enough to close it completely.

Kevin lifts his wrist slightly so she can see the watch there.

The display glows red.

“Where were you when it happened?” he asks.

“School,” Riley says.

Kevin’s eyebrows lift.

“Oh damn.”

He lets out a quiet breath through his nose, shaking his head slightly as if the image has already formed in his mind.

“I remember when kids had to get naked if they were picked,” he says. “Did you?”

Riley nods slowly.

The motion is small, almost reluctant.

“I’m sorry,” Kevin says.

His voice softens a little.

“That must have been rough.”

“It was,” Riley admits after a moment.

She pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, resting her chin lightly on the tops of her knees while the warm water continues to run over her shoulders and down her back.

“But it had to happen.”

Her voice carries a strange calm now, the kind that comes after someone has already spent all their energy fighting something they couldn’t stop.

“I already had one meltdown about dying,” she continues quietly. “So now I just want to enjoy the time I have left.”

The water splashes gently across the tile between them.

Riley glances sideways at him.

“What about you, Kevin? Where were you?”

He leans his head back against the wall, thinking for a moment while the shower runs over his face.

“Work,” he says.

A small smile creeps onto his face despite himself.

“My old co-workers made me strip before letting me leave.”

He lets out a quiet breath through his nose, the memory clearly sitting somewhere between embarrassment and fondness.

“They weren’t assholes about it,” he adds. “Just trying to get me in the mindset, I guess.”

“Hey Riley, who’s this?”

The voice comes from the doorway.

Riley and Kevin both glance over as her mom steps into the shower room, pushing the wooden door closed behind her. Her skin glistens faintly under the lights, still slick with the lotion from the treatment rooms.

“Mom, this is Kevin,” Riley says.

She gestures loosely between them.

“Kevin, this is Mom.”

She gives him a friendly smile.

“Call me Kara,” she says.

Kevin lifts a hand in greeting, still sitting against the wall as the water runs down his chest.

“You and your daughter both got converted?” he asks immediately.

Kara blinks in confusion for a moment.

“Huh?”

Then she laughs softly, realizing what he meant.

“Oh, no. This is a filter,” she explains, tapping lightly at the bracelet on her wrist. “I’m still Human.”

Her hand rests briefly on Riley’s shoulder.

“Riley isn’t, though.”

Kevin nods slowly.

“Ah,” he says. “Thrill seeking?”

She shakes her head with a small smile.

“No. Just spending time with my baby.”

She runs a hand through Riley’s wet hair as she says it, brushing the strands back from her daughter’s face in an easy, affectionate gesture.

Then her mom steps forward and turns the handle Riley had left off earlier. Water begins pouring from the shower head above, splashing over her shoulders as she settles beneath the stream.

“You gonna finish up before the flavour bath, honey?” she asks casually.

Riley looks up at her.

“Flavour bath?”

“Yeah,” she says, rinsing the last of the lotion from her arms. “It’s what the flavour treatment is.”

She glances down at Riley.

“Didn’t you ask?”

Riley shakes her head slowly.

“No.”

Kara shrugs lightly, the water running down her back.

“Ah well,” she says. “It’s gonna get sticky.”

A small grin crosses her face.

“But it should be fun.”

Riley slowly pushes herself to her feet.

The water has already begun to cool on her skin, droplets sliding down the smooth surface of her arms and legs as she stands. Kevin rises as well, stretching slightly after sitting against the wall for so long.

Riley glances around the shower room.

Rows of tile. Drains in the floor. Metal shower heads.

No towels.

She frowns faintly, scanning the room again just to be sure she didn’t miss them somewhere along the wall. The space is too bare for that. There’s nothing here except the showers themselves.

Old habits take over before she thinks about it.

Riley walks to the door and cracks it open slightly, poking her head out into the hallway like someone who still believes she’s entitled to a little privacy.

“Hello?” she calls.

A nearby masseuse looks up from a small rolling cart.

“Can we get towels?”

The woman smiles immediately, the expression warm and understanding in a way that makes the answer obvious before she even says it.

“No,” she replies gently.

Her eyes flick down Riley’s body and back up again, still smiling.

“You’ll dry off naturally,” she says.

Then she tilts her head just slightly.

“Like a good Meatgirl.”

Kevin steps forward and pushes the door open properly.

Riley shifts to the side to let him pass. For a split second she’s certain she feels something brush against her backside—warm skin against her butt cheek—but she doesn’t react. If it happened, it happened. Neither of them says anything about it.

Kevin doesn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest.

“No sense being shy,” he says casually as he steps into the hallway. “Just shake the worst of it off.”

Riley stares at him.

For a moment she looks like she’s about to argue, rolling her eyes at the suggestion.

Then Kevin starts doing exactly what he suggested.

He plants his feet and begins flailing his arms and legs in exaggerated jerks, bouncing slightly on his toes while droplets of water fly off his body in every direction. It’s ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.

Riley tries to stay annoyed.

It lasts about two seconds.

Then she snorts and joins him.

She shakes out her arms, twists her torso, and hops slightly on the spot the way he is, sending little sprays of water flicking off her smooth skin onto the polished floor. The whole thing looks absurd enough that they both start laughing, the sound echoing down the hallway while they bounce and shake like two dogs trying to dry themselves after a bath.

They both stare at one another, slightly out of breath from the exertion. Riley smiles up at him, he moved a wet lock of hair behind her ear. “Nice meeting you Riley,” he says softly.

“You’re leaving?” Riley finds she’s disappointed. At the thought.

“Yeah, I only got the hair removal,” he tells her, “But thanks for talking with me and not making this,” he indicates to his erection, “Weirder than it needed to be.”

“No problem,” she says. He turns away and walks down the hall, her eyes on his tight ass.

Eventually the shaking and laughing dies down.

They both stop at nearly the same moment, standing in the middle of the hallway with damp skin and loose strands of hair still clinging to their shoulders. The exertion wasn’t much, but it leaves them slightly out of breath anyway.

For a few seconds neither of them says anything.

They just look at each other.

Riley tilts her head up toward him, a small smile still lingering on her face. Kevin lifts a hand and gently moves a wet lock of hair away from her cheek, tucking it back behind her ear with an easy familiarity that surprises her.

“Nice meeting you, Riley,” he says softly.

“You’re leaving?”

The question comes out before she really thinks about it, and Riley realizes a moment too late that she actually feels disappointed by the idea.

Kevin nods.

“Yeah,” he says. “I only got the hair removal.”

He gives a small shrug.

“But thanks for talking with me and not making this”—he gestures down briefly toward himself—“weirder than it needed to be.”

Riley gives a small smile.

“No problem.”

Kevin nods once, then turns and starts walking down the hallway.

Riley watches him go.

Her eyes drift for a moment to the tight line of his backside as he moves away down the corridor before she finally looks elsewhere, the quiet of the hall settling around her again.

Riley feels a hand on her bare shoulder. “He was cute,” her mom says, “Did you fuck him?”
“No!” Riley’s voice comes out too loud, too defensive.
“Whatever you say Meatgirl.”

“I didn’t!” Riley calls after her as her mom starts walking down the hallway. “We just talked!”

Kara glances back over her shoulder, a crooked smile already forming.

“Oh,” she says lightly. “You used your mouth?”

Riley groans immediately.

“Shut up,” she snaps, hurrying after her. “You’re so gross.”

Kara just laughs under her breath and keeps walking, clearly pleased with herself while Riley trails behind her down the softly lit corridor.