Chapter 6

We are in the inn. We get a private room with just two beds. Sarafine and Demona take one bed. The rest of us make room on the floor. It's awkward as fuck. When one person in the group lets the rest of us know that he is the son of the guy who trapped us in this game I'd assume it was going to get awkward.

“I'm not your enemy,” Hunter says out of no where, “When I found out what my father was doing I wanted to stop him. Not everyone at the Manolo Corporation wanted this. Some people wanted to help. They paid some moderators to help me get into the game. They told me to look for Sarafine. They told me I needed to protect her. No matter what. That's all I know. I promise. I'm not lying to you people...”

He's defending himself in an aggressive way. It's almost as though he knows the rest of us are judgmental. The only one who doesn't seem to have pure distrust in their eyes is Sarafine. She has already fallen asleep on the bed. She doesn't seem the least bit worried about what is going on around her.

“Ok,” I tell Hunter.

“Ok? That's all you have to say?” he asks me, “Killian I saved you multiple times. Judge me on my actions not who I was born as.”

Hunter is upset. His lips purse out. Those sexy little dimples of his disappear. He takes rubs his fingers through his long hair as though frustrated that we aren't just falling behind him at that moment.

“Actually you weren't born a Manolo. You're adopted, remember?”

“If you don't trust me. Fine. Let me take Sarafine and be on my way,” Hunter says.

“She stays.”

Hunter sighs, “Then I stay. I guess we are stuck with one another.”

“Fine,” I state.

We get quiet. It's awkward as hell. Demona is glaring bullets at Hunter. Madden is doing the same thing. Noah is tapping his fingers with an annoying pace at the side of the bed. I'm attempting to avoid eye contact with Hunter but I can feel his eyes glaring at me. I can feel his eyes glaring---THROUGH me.

You can cut the tension with a knife at that moment. I want to believe Hunter. I want to believe everything he is saying but his fucking father trapped us in a game. For a year I spent my life hating Phineas Manolo. I spent a year wanting to be in the real world. I spent a year afraid that I would die because Phineas trapped us in this fucking dangerous game.

Now I was meeting his son.

“I'm going to go to the market,” he says, “I'm gonna get some items.”

I watch in the corner of my eye as Hunter puts back on his black metal mask. He opens the door and disappears a few minutes later in his silent footsteps.

“You can't trust that guy,” Madden tells me.

I don't, “Noah.”

“Yes?”

“Follow him.”

Noah nods, “Yessir.”

Noah jumps out of the window and scales the side of the building following Hunter down to the street. Noah was a Thief. He was the only one who had the chance of following an Assassin without getting caught.

“We should hold Hunter hostage,” Demona suggests, “Maybe they'll let us leave if we threaten to kill him.”

“Phineas Manolo and Hunter Manolo have had strained relationships for years,” Madden explains, “It was all in the media. That doesn't mean we should trust him though. We should send him to the Warriors of Light.”

“I'm not doing that,” I state.

“Maybe they'll leave us alone.”

“What about Sarafine. They want her too,” I explain to Madden, “You want to send her to your guild too? Did Tiger put you up to that Madden? Right now I don't know who I can trust...including you.”

“Are you serious?” Madden asks me.

“Dead serious?”

“Can I talk to you?”

“Go ahead.”

“Alone...” Madden says.

I get up reluctantly leaving Demona crossing her arms. I follow Madden out into the hallway at that moment. We don't say anything while two Black Mages walk past. Madden leans up against the wall of the building and just waits patiently.

When they walk past I see him give me a hard look.

“You're still mad at me about what happened...” Madden says.

“About what?” I ask.

Madden sighs, “Don't lie. You're mad about the fact that I am in love with your brother.”

I shake my head, “How pitiful do you think I am? You rejected me. Don't you remember who I was? I was the loser in the real world who got rejected all the time? This is nothing new.”

“Hold up. I don't think you're pitiful. And I didn't reject you.”

“Nah. You just said you were in love with my brother instead of me.”

Madden shakes his head, “I just never looked at you like that. Yes. I was in love with your brother. I'll admit that. I never paid attention to you. I don't think you're an ugly guy. You're handsome. Honestly to me you're handsome as fuck.”

“You think I'm handsome as fuck?” I ask.

Madden sighs.

“Yeah. But...the love of my life is Micah. Period.”

“Well I'm sorry I'm not Micah. I'm sorry I'm not my straight, DEAD brother who probably never looked at you in that way,” I explain to Madden, “I'm sorry I'm just the sucker little loser who looks like Micah and you never spoke to until now. I didn't have a crush on you. I was in love. I was in love with a guy my entire life who never knew I existed and never said two words to me.”

“That's not true. I spoke to you at Micah's funeral.”

“When Micah was dead,” I explain, “Case and point.”

Madden stands there for a minute. He seems to be thinking about something. His face is drowned out at that moment. He looks...upset. It's clear he is upset.

“Listen. I'm sorry. I'm just sorry,” Madden says, “I just had no idea that you felt so strongly for me. I know how it feels. I know unrequited loved more than anyone. It's just. It's hard. This situation just...sucks.”

“It's ok. I'm not here trying to make you feel bad,” I explain to Madden, “But I just hope you aren't trying to assume that I should suppress my feelings as well. I'll get over it. I'll get over you...”

“What if I don't want you to get over me?” Madden asks.

I raise my eyebrow.

“What?”

Madden shrugs, “Maybe I don't want you to get over this...”

Madden leans in at that moment. He presses me up against the back of the wall. He starts kissing me. His tongue enters my mouth at that moment. This time it's happening. This time Madden is actually kissing me and it feels GOOD! My heart is racing. This time though I'm the one who isn't kissing him back. After he's done kissing me his tongue presses up against my lips for a minute almost waiting for me to open up my mouth and let him back in.

I don't open my mouth. I don't kiss him back.

I'm confused by this, “What was that for?”

“I wanted to re-do the kiss. Listen. Maybe. We can. I don't know. Hang out sometime or something. I was going to head back to the Warriors of Light. But I want to stay in touch. Like when this all calms down we should figure this out.”

I'm annoyed that Madden was deciding to head back to the Warriors of Light. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That is where he was for almost a year. Those people had infrastructure. They had a guild of about 40 warriors strong. They had a real chance of beating this game and winning that money.

I expect Madden to leave. I don't expect him to come back however...

“Depends.”

“Depends on what?” Madden asks confused.

“Are you still in love with my brother? Like right now. Right now do you still love him?”

Madden shakes his head, “That's not fair Killian. I loved him damn near since we were kids.”

“And I loved you since were kids.”

“And I'm telling you that maybe I can give this a real shot,” Madden explains.

I shake my head, “If you wanted to give this a real shot you wouldn't leave. I get it. You look at me with those loving eyes because you're thinking about my brother. I'm not Micah. I'm not a Micah replacement. So you should leave.”

“Yo----” Madden starts.

“You heard the man,” a voice says.

Madden and I turn. It's Hunter, the Black Assassin standing there. He has Noah with him and Noah is tied up in knots.

Great. Noah definitely didn't get far when it came to spying on Hunter.

Madden shakes his head at that moment, “I'll message you, Killian.”

I nod. I don't say anything though. Madden stands there for a few seconds looking in my eyes and seems to be wanting me to say something. His slanted eyes seem to be digging into mine attempting to get a reaction out of me. When I don't give him one he seems to jerk back as though I slapped him in the face.

Madden walks past, purposely bumping into Hunter on his way out of the hallway.

I hate that things ended so bad between

“So you send someone to spy on me but you just let the Warrior of Light go?” Hunter asks, “He can lead them right to us.”

“He won't,” I respond.

I just have a feeling that Madden wasn't that kind of guy.

Hunter sighs, “Everyone gets the benefit of the doubt except me I guess.”

“Can you release my friend?” I ask Hunter.

Hunter releases Noah, de-materializing his ropes and putting it into his inventory. Noah stretches when he's free...gives Hunter a dirty look, sighs and walks back into the room with the others. From the look on Noah's face I'm pretty sure he didn't find much of anything.

Hunter comes over to me, stands next to me on the wall.

“So are you going to have your people follow me around everywhere?” he asks me.

“I don't know you.”

“Then get to know me,” Hunter explains, “Or is your boyfriend not OK with that.”

“My boyfriend?”

“The Warrior of light with the Chinky eyes.”

“Madden is not my boyfriend,” I respond shaking my head with annoyance.

Hunter removes his mask, “Does he know that? The guy has been giving me dirty looks since earlier...”


“Pretty sure everyone has. Pretty sure it's not because he's my boyfriend. PRETTY sure it's because you are Hunter Manolo.”

“Minor details,” he laughs, “You know what I think he's really mad about? I think he's really mad because he thinks we look better together.”

I walk away at that moment.

“I can't with you right now, Hunter. You aren't being serious...”

Hunter is standing up behind me when I grab the door knob. He is pressed up against me. He smells my hair. He presses his crotch up against the back of my pants. All of a sudden I'm taking Hunter very serious. I'm so turned on as he presses up against me in the way that he does. I can feel his manhood grow underneath the seat of my pants. His dick stiffens against his tight armor...slowly and intentionally.

“Why don't you think I'm serious?” Hunter whispers into my ear, “See. Once again, everyone gets the benefit of the doubt, but me.”

“What are you doing...”

“C`mon,” Hunter explains, “Ever since I first met you, you've known what I've been doing. You're sexy as fuck to me Killian.”

“Wait...” I hesitate.

I like Hunter. Liking Hunter is not the issue. He's strong. He's sexy. He's smart. Still for some reason I don't know if I can trust this guy. His name at the end of the day was Hunter Manolo. He'd been playing this game solo for so long. If Madden hadn't told me Hunter's true identity would have have told it to me.

Trust is what causes me to hold back. Hunter takes a step back and for a second I cool off thinking that he may be backing down.

“You're right. I was rushing...” he admits.

I sigh in relief. I'm turned on. I have to admit it. There is nothing about Hunter that doesn't turn me on.

“I know,” I tell him.

“Right I was rushing so much I forgot to put my armor in my inventory,” he fixes.

“Hunter that's not what I mean.”

I watch Hunter open his menu and click a button. In a second he has his armor unequipped and in his Inventory. Hunter is naked. He's butt naked in this hallway. He stands there with all his confidence and cockiness. He knows he looks good. He's not like Noah in where he takes himself as a joke. He's not this chivalrous guy with a cause like Madden. Hunter has this quiet, confidence. He doesn't need to have a lot of friends to be sure of his identity. He knows himself. He's the kind of guy that I wished I could be.

I'm staring at his long dick with the curve. I'm staring at his ripped torso. His body flexes and I just am thrown away. He is so cocky. He's so mysterious. Everything is telling me to run away from Hunter but instead of running away I'm running towards him.

I don't put my clothes in my inventory...Hunter is ripping them off me. I see my clothes being torn to thread below me.

“Wait...let me put those away,” I tell him.

“I'll get you new ones. They suck anyway,” he tells me.

He's kissing me. His tongue enters my mouth. Hunter presses up against me and I tongue him down back. As he kisses on me I'm grabbing on that tight ass of his. His ass is so tight and so high. I can feel my heart racing when he aggressively starts nibbling down the side of my neck. My dick is hard. Hunter sucks on my neck, then moves down to my nipples and begins to lick away. My body shivers when he does it.

Hunter is on his knees. He takes the girth of my dick into his mouth.

“You don't know how long I've been waiting for this,” he tells me.

It's so weird having someone who wants me as much as Hunter does. It's so weird having someone admit it. He's sucking me off and his mouth is so fucking warm. I throw my head back and allow him to suck my dick. He deepthroats me and takes me all the way in.

He turns me around aggressively. He spreads my cheeks as I lean up against the wall. Sweat is dripping down my back and I see his right hand put pressure against my back so I lean into him.

“Oh my god, Hunter. That feels so good.”

“I'm glad. I've been waiting so long for this...” he tells me.

We are kind of in public but that's making it even hotter. I'm giving into Hunter Manolo without even wanting to. My ass is separated and I'm feeding him my ass. Hunter tongues me down putting his tongue deeper and deeper into my ass. My heart is beating fast as I feel him hold my ass cheeks together and put a long wad of spit into my ass.

I know what he's planning on doing when he stands back up and focuses his long anaconda towards me.

“Wait!” I state stopping him right when I feel the head of his dick pressed against my asshole.

“What?”

“I'm not ready for that,” I state, “I've never done that. That's a big deal for me...”

“You've never gotten fucked? With an ass like that? You've never gotten fucked?” he asks me.

I shake my head, “It's...special to me. I need to trust the person that I do that with...completely.”

“You don't trust me.”

He isn't asking a question when he says that. He's stating the obvious. Hunter Manolo is mysterious as hell. I just learned his fucking name for godsakes. How the fuck could I trust him. Whether we were in a game or not this was real. To me this was really real. It felt real. He tasted real. My body wanted Hunter Manolo in me right now but my head was still worried.

Hunter Manolo was a mystery man.

“I'm sorry.”

“It's OK,” he explains, “I want you. No matter how I get you.”

That's when Hunter does something I don't expect. Hunter turns around. He bends over while I'm pressed up against the wall. My dick is hard and facing him. Slowly but surely Hunter backs up. I'm shocked!

Hunter's ass is so warm! It's so fucking tight! He lets me deep in him and clearly he seems to struggle as well. Hunter is grunting in pain as he takes my dick. I thrust up slowly feeling his warm walls against the shaft of my dick. Hunter bites down on his arm so he doesn't scream.

“You're so fucking big,” he tells me.

I'd fucked guys before but never had ass like this! His ass is so tight. It's so perfect. Every time I thrust forward I'm struggling not to nut. It gets even harder once Hunter starts getting used to my dick. He is starting to enjoy it. I find myself pulling at his longer hair bending him over and stroking harder and harder. I find myself losing it. I'm going into another dimension. I'm entering a virtual world within a virtual world. For the first time since I entered this game it feels like I'm leaving reality as I'm balls deep in the best ass I've ever gotten in my life.

“I'm going to nut,” I tell him.

I'm embarrassed that I can't last longer but it's impossible. Hunter's ass is so fucking tight and his body is so fucking perfect.

“Me too...” he replies.

I pull out and we face each other. Hunter turns to me. His dimples get deep as he looks at me. Our bodies both tighten. I know what is about to happen. Hunter's mouth covers mine in one desperate kiss. We both let out a long deep moan into one another's mouths and spray our stomachs with the warm cum.

“Damn...” Hunter tells me at that moment, “That was the best ever.”

“You've been fucked before?” I ask him.

“C`mon. Of course.”

I look away. I don't know why that bothers me as much as it does. I just let out a short, “Oh.”

I open my inventory and pull out a rag that I saved a few days ago. I'm able to clean up with it. I open it up again and pull one out for Hunter.

“Wait. Are you upset that I'm not a virgin?” he asks.

I roll my eyes, “Of course not. Just...I assumed because you were so quiet and reserved that maybe...”

“There's a lot you don't know about me,” Hunter Manolo says.

“Clearly...” I state, “So why don't we go...lay down. And I don't know. Get to know each other a little better...”

Hunter Manolo was a mystery. He didn't like to talk about himself. He didn't like to bring himself up at all. After that amazing sex I still don't know anything about him really. I still barely understand why he is here in this game. I don't think Hunter is willing to share to that information with me.

Hunter seems to be struggling with my suggestion.

“Killian. That's not really me.”

“What?”

“I don't share shit about myself,” he explains, “If your boyfriend didn't tell you that I was a Manolo, I never would have told you.”

I roll my eyes, “And you're surprised I don't trust you.”

“I never said that I was surprised,” Hunter Manolo explains to me crossing his arms and opening his inventory, “You shouldn't trust me. You shouldn't trust anyone. Everyone stabs you in the back sooner or later. I learned that the hard way.”

Within a second of opening up his inventory Hunter Manolo is dressed in his black assassin armor complete with black headgear. There is no expression behind his mask...just black armor that reflects me. Hunter Manolo doesn't plan on letting me in. That's clear.

“You're leaving?” I ask.

Hunter nods, “Listen. I like you...but...”

“There's always a but,” I sigh.

“But even though I like you I'm not the type to have sex and lay around and do pillow talk,” he explains, “I know you want to know more about me but...I'm just not ready for that.”

“Yet you're ready for sex,” I state.

He sighs a little bit. He walks over to me. He puts his hand on the side of my face, “I'm going to train and level up. While I'm out I'll see if I can find you some better armor then the one you had.”

I watch as the Black assassin jumps out of the nearest window without another thought. No matter how soft he touches me. No matter how close he gets to me I know that Hunter is a mystery and I am pretty sure that after today he has no intention of letting that mystery up.

The morning comes and a lot of other players are running around Origins. We get over to the NPC who is asking us to fill out information about the guild.

“Where the hell is he?” Demona asks.

“Hunter? How the hell would I know?” I ask, “I'm not his keeper.”

“I don't trust that guy,” Demona tells me, “Maybe we shouldn't let him join the guild...”

Noah seems to second that, “The guy is Manolo's son after all. I mean he disappears every chance that he gets. He isn't really a team player. The only person he seems to like is you Killian.”

I shake my head, “That doesn't mean much...”

Hunter was a loner. I knew the feeling. In the real world I was a loner. Still, this game was a game where you had to play well with others. Him being a loner wasn't really going to help us if he decided to start this guild with us. We had been waiting for almost an hour at this NPC to even create the guild together and he was taking forever to show up. That showed that the guy wasn't as dedicated to this as the rest of us were.

“He's coming...” Sarafine says, “I can feel him.”

Demona, Noah and I look at one another. This isn't the first time Sarafine said something weird like that and usually she was right. It was pointless asking her how she knew some shit like that. She always just seemed to know.

“Hey guys...” Hunter says at that moment, appearing out of no where just like an assassin.

Hunter looks over at me. I look away.

“You're late,” is my reply.

Demona and Noah look at one another.

“Sorry. I was getting you some armor---like I promised. Matter of fact I was getting all of you some armor,” Hunter explains, “Here. Give me a second...ok...check your inventory.”

The others open their inventory first. I'm reluctant to open my inventory. When I do though I see some sexy shiny armor. I don't equip it.

I look over at Demona, Noah and Sarafine. Noah's has on a cool looking brown outfit that comes with a hood. He looks like some kind of badass Robin Hood or something with his new outfit. Demona has on black armor. It's heavy. It has these huge shoulder pads that have spikes coming out of it. It's makes her look like some sort of powerful ass dragon knight or something. Even Sarafine looks pretty cool. She has low level armor but it's the best low level armor that I've seen by far. It's a mage dress with flower petals coming out from the belt. It doesn't seem like it'll protect her but it's cute and seems to match her personality.

“YO! This is dope...” Noah says.

I'm shocked when Demona of all people runs over to Hunter and hugs him. Demona didn't hug anyone. I was one of her best fucking friends and the girl never hugged me.

“How did you find these?” she asks.

“I can't take all the credit. I spoke to Sarafine who told me that there was a dragon that has some good drops,” Hunter explains.

“The High dragon of Hightower,” Sarafine states, “It drops rare items when you kill it.”

“How the hell did you---” Noah starts asking Sarafine but decides against it when he looks over at Hunter, “I don't even care. You're all good in my book Hunter. You can disappear all you want Hunter...you're all good with me.”

I roll my eyes at Noah. He was so easily bought. The goddam assassin killed a dragon and brought us some cool stuff.

I cross my arms and just try to act like I'm not annoyed with this situation.

“Killian, why don't you try on your gear?” Hunter asks me.

“Maybe later. We're here to start a guild,” I state, “Remember?”

“Damn, Killian. Stop being a bitch,” Demona argues, “That's supposed to be my thing. Just try on the goddam armor.”

I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed with Hunter for leaving me right after we had sex. I'm annoyed he didn't want to tell me anything about himself.

I just sigh though. Demona is right. I can't show the others that this is effecting me. I had to start being the leader of the guild.

“Fine.”

I try on the armor. It's red leathers. There are red gloves and red outfits. It's kind of sexy and tight in all the right places. It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all. I look over at Hunter. He is biting his lower lip. It couldn't be a concidence that my armor was the sexy one.

“That's sexy!” Demona says, “Admit it. Hunter did a good job.”

I don't want to admit anything. No matter how sexy this outfit is I didn't want to admit that Hunter did a good job.

“It's OK. I just think it's weird. The dragon just so happened to drop all the armor that what we need?” I ask, “Strange...”

“It dropped other things. I went to the market and traded,” Hunter explains.

“The moderators didn't see you?” I ask.

“No. They didn't,” Hunter explains, then pauses and glares at me a little bit, “Why do I feel like I'm being questioned for helping out?”

“Maybe because we don't know anything about you.”

The others are looking at Hunter and I. Hunter has his mask on but I know that behind that mask he is pissed. I struggle to maintain my composure but it's clear there is tension between us.

“Do you guys need a moment?” Noah asks.

There is an awkward silence. There is so much tension.

“No. Let's just get on with it,” I state, “Hunter, are you going to join this guild with us or not?”

“I'm here, aren't I?”

“I wonder for how long,” I state, rolling my eyes.

“Listen I'm here. I may disappear from time to time but I always come back. Unlike your boyfriend. Where is he at?” Hunter asks, clearly just as annoyed as I am.

Hunter was trying to embarrass me! He was trying to embarrass me in front of everyone! I'm so pissed right now that I can fight him right here. I know we are in a city though and we need to make sure the moderators aren't around. I don't want to cause a scene.

I spit out the words harhly, “Madden is not my boyfriend...”

“But he is right here,” a voice says.

We turn around. Madden is there.

He's shown up. I don't know why I get so excited. I walk over to Madden and I hug him. Maybe I do it to get under Hunter's skin. I can't see Hunter's reaction from behind his mask but his body language seems to say that he's bothered with me hugging Madden the way I did.

“You came back,” I say to Madden.

“I left the guild,” he explains, “I couldn't be in a guild that hunted my friend's brother.”

There we go again. I pull away from Madden. I'm annoyed all over again. What the fuck were up with these guys? One guy was a fucking mystery box who didn't want to open up. The other guy couldn't fucking stop talking about my dead brother every chance that he got. I'm annoyed with all of it.

“So this is about Shaunie?”

Madden shakes his head, “No. It's not about Shaunie. Ever since Shaunie was murdered...I never thought about caring about someone else until I came in this game.”

“Murdered?” I ask, “My brother wasn't murdered.”

Madden crosses his arms, “Listen. There's something that you don't know.”

“Great more secrets...”

I thought that Hunter was the secretive one. That wasn't the case obviously. Madden was now the one who was hiding secrets.

“Hear him out,” Noah says putting his hand on my shoulder.

I guess the difference between Madden and Hunter was that Madden was willing to tell his secrets.

I nod at Madden, “Fine. I'm listening.”

Madden sighs, “I started playing this game because I wanted to find more out about your brother's death.”

I shrug, “What?”

“Your brother signed up for a game. This game,” Madden explains.

“Impossible.”

Hunter is the one who jumps in, “Actually it's not. This isn't the first test for Play Dead Online. There was a beta test before this.”

I sigh.

Holy shit.

Madden nods, “Your brother must have signed in for the test before this game. I told you that the two of us always played games together. I was jealous when he got chosen but I didn't. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone but he told me in privacy one day. He left but he came back. He said that he punked out the last minute and couldn't go through with it. Your brother was going to join the NBA with me. He felt like he didn't really want to commit completely to a game that didn't have clear instructions.”

I'd seen it happen. I'd seen a girl choose not to join the game and turn down the Manolo Corporation.

“That's crazy,” I say shake my head, “I never knew my brother was gone for a while.”

“It was just a day. He came back and we thought everything was back to normal. The thing is...your brother was scared. He kept saying that he felt like he was being followed. He kept saying that he thought it was people from the Manolo Corporation. The day he came back was the basketball game that your parents and him went to.”

“Are you saying----” I pause.

Madden turns to Hunter, “Why don't you ask Manolo's son?”

Hunter is away from us. He is acting like he isn't hearing us but I know he's heard everything that we said. Hunter just crosses his arms and stares down at the ground.

“Hunter...do you know anything about this?”

“Shaunie rings a bell. Shaunie...Thomas?” Hunter asks.

“Yes. You knew him? You knew my brother?”

Hunter shakes his head, “He was on the list.”

“What list?”

“No one turns down the Manolo Corporation. If you say no...they let you think they are fine with it. They let you think you can just walk away. That's not the case. You either play the game...or you die.”

Oh my god.

“I knew it. I FUCKING knew it!” Madden says.

I drop to my knees. The others don't notice it at first. I think it's only Madden that comes to my side to help me up.

Hunter looks away, “Killian, the Manolo Corporation is responsible for your entire family's death.”

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com