Sunderance - Chapter 21.2: Weighing of the Heart (Patreon)

       The music wasn’t as loud as it had been when the door to Wild Times had first opened. It was still loud, but not so loud that it would drown out the normal conversation with someone sitting across the table. That was a relief to her ears, though nothing was a relief to her eyes and sensibilities when she walked onto the main floor of the brothel.

       Everywhere around her were males and females paired off, in private booths or tables in various stages of what she supposed would be considered the mating game. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought that it was any other club. There was talking, dancing, and more than a little kissing and nibbling going on for more than two dozen couples around the main bar. On the outside, most of them looked no different from any other couple she had seen in Bunnyburrow spending a night out on the town. It didn’t take much to remind herself that that was just the surface, a surface that made her cringe when she saw one tiger stand and extend his hand towards his tigress escort. She turned her eyes away just as the lovely female reached up to accept his paw with a gracious smile, turning her attention back to her search for the owner of it all.

       She saw him standing on the bar, a drink in one hand and his eyes on the room. As much as it would have been easy to say that he looked relaxed, her years of dealing with lawyers and crooks had taught her to look closer for the truth. He was watching every single mammal around him with the keen eye of someone looking out for any sign of trouble, causing her to slow her steps a bit. Something that she regretted, when it seemed to draw the attention of a patron.

       “Holy hell,” the throaty voice beside her said, drawing her gaze to the leopard who jumped down from one of the bar stools. He cut a line straight towards her, grinning toothily. His eyes and odd gait warned her that he was heading towards intoxicated as quickly as he was heading towards her. “They actually have bunnies here! And look at those hips!”

       She managed to narrow her eyes even as she backpedaled, somewhere between panic and annoyance at the approach of the far larger predator. Then the obviously delighted male was brought to a sudden stop by a sound so sharp and loud that she and everyone in the immediate area jumped. Her ears perked towards Finnick, who held the source of the sound in one diminutive paw: a painted wooden bat, which was now pointed directly at the nervous leopard.

       “The bunny is not one of the girls,” he snarled coldly and despite the size difference, it was the larger one that quickly backed down even as Finnick continued, “And what have I told you about letting the girl come to you? If I need to tell you again, I’m banning your tail!”

       “Sorry, Fin,” the unnamed leopard said, his tone as submissive as the set of his ears as he turned his eyes to Judy. “Sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean to…”

       “Yeah, yeah, she gets it,” Finnick interrupted as he walked over the bar towards them, waving the bat towards the door. It was pretty amusing to see the mammals at the bar lift their drinks to let him pass. “Now, get out. No ass for you tonight. Come back tomorrow with a working memory and less alcohol.”

       “Aw, come on! I…” the spotted male started to protest, only to cut himself short when the bat waved in front of his muzzle. “Okay, okay. I’ll make an appointment on my way out?”

       “Yeah, you do that,” the sandy furred fox said coolly, then his smile turned friendly so suddenly that Judy was pretty sure her head would spin off. “I’m sure Cindy is looking forward to it.”

       Judy followed the leopard’s progress as he quickly made his way towards the door. He hesitated for a minute at the door, turning his eyes out over the main floor. His expression could easily have been called longing for a moment before his ears dropped and he slipped past the polar bear that was watching the door. Curious, she followed his gaze until she realized he had been looking at the same door all the females had come from to greet Nick.

       “Don’t worry about him,” Finnick’s surprisingly deep voice interrupted her thoughts, drawing her gaze up to the bar. “He’s actually only interested in one of my girls. But a fine-looking bunny like yourself is a curiosity to say the least, considering that most mammals have only seen a naked bunny on the internet.”

       “I’m not naked,” she corrected him, then flushed deeply when he ran his eyes up and down her form for a moment with a grin.

       “Yeah, the whole ‘undressing her with his eyes’ isn’t just for sappy romance novels and poorly worded pickup lines,” he said, causing her to narrow her eyes before he gestured with the bat as he walked towards his perch on the bar again. “Come up here with me, Law Buns. No one will bother you, and if you’re out here, I’m thinkin’ you have something to say.”

       Begrudgingly, she accepted his invitation and made her way towards the end of the bar. Rolling her eyes when he plopped down and patted the spot on the bar beside him, she bent her knees and leap up in one jump, landing neatly beside him. She made a point of staying on her feet and a bit further away than he had indicated, her arms folded over her chest. Keeping her ears upright and her stance hard, she looked down at the grinning fox.

       “I have questions about Nick,” she said, getting right to the point. She didn’t really want to be out here any longer than she needed to be.

       “Really?” he said, with an expression of such pure delight that she had to restrict the groan to an inner sigh of resignation. “Well, that’s funny because I have questions, too. How about we play a game of fair trade practices: I’ll let you ask one question, and then I get to ask a question. We both have to tell the truth to the best of our ability. If we can’t answer the question, then whoever asked gets to ask another one. Deal?”

       “Deal,” she agreed, thinking that was about as fair as she was going to get in this situation. Finnick did hold all the cards, and hopefully at least some of the answers she was looking for. She decided not to wait for a coin flip or whatever would decide who went first. “Who is he?”

       “Right to it then,” was his first reply, coming to a pause as he narrowed his gaze at her. “You mean, you don’t know?”

       “You can’t answer a question with another question, even if the answer to that question is obvious,” she said simply, her stance unchanged as she watched him closely.

       “Fair enough, fair enough,” he said, reaching over to pick up his drink again. Whatever it was, the sweet scent of fruit was almost overpowered by the scent of the liquor inside of it. “You would start with one I can’t actually answer. He’s Nick; he’s been a friend and partner for a long time now and has been a pain in my tail for just as long. Anything beyond that’s his business.”

       “That doesn’t answer the question,” she said, doing her best to keep her foot from thumping. When he shrugged and waved his free paw for her to continue, she understood that he accepted that as true. “Why can’t you tell me who he is?”

       “Because he will tell you if he wants you to know. And if I tell you before he wants you to know, he’ll be angry.”

       “Does that mean he…”

       “Ah-ah-ah, Law Buns,” he said, grinning up at her with his huge ears perked and eager. “Now it’s my turn. And the burning question on every mind in here that matters is… How long have you two been banging?”

       “I… W-what?” she sputtered, feeling heat slide up her spine and flood her each and cheeks as the audacity of the question. It only lasted for a moment, though, before she ground her teeth together as she regained her composure. “We haven’t ‘banged’ at all.”

       She had to give it to him, he was better at this game than she was. She could see from the question burning in his eyes her answer had somehow managed to surprise him, but he didn’t ask as he waved his paw towards her for her to take her turn. Struggling to remember what her previous question had been, she decided instead to ask the next one on her mind.

       “You said he’s been a friend of yours for a while. How long have you known him?”

       “Hm. That’s a good question,” he admitted before taking another sip of his drink before answering, “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know him, really. Since he was a kit, really, not quite old enough to think about vixens. Or bunnies in his case. And what do you mean you haven’t slept with him?”

       “We just haven’t,” she admitted, now taking the questions as smoothly as she might have taken a hard-cross examination in court. “Why do you think we have?”

       “Because it radiates off of you both,” the small fox snorted as he met her gaze with dark amber eyes. “If I didn’t know Nick, I might have thought you two were just here to try to rent a room for the night. I’m surprised he didn’t lift you onto this very spot on the bar, bend you over, and…”

       “I get your point!” she said, raising a paw to her face to cover her eyes for a moment as she tried to wipe that mental image from her mind. Whatever her next question had been, it was brushed aside by something that was eating away at her just as much. “He seems to know the girls well.”

       “That wasn’t a question, Law Buns,” he said, though from the toothy smirk crawling up his muzzle she knew that he could already see the question coming. He just wanted to hear her ask it.

       “Does he,” she began, then stopped herself as she reconsidered. She would ask another question, something that actually meant something to the case instead of focusing on Nick. “Does her ever use your services?”

       Well, so much for keeping it relevant to the case.

       “’Use my services’ she says,” was his first reply, followed by a long burst of laughter that had her frowning at the bar top before she squared her shoulders and waited for his answer. Once he managed to contain his obvious joviality at the phrasing, the still snickering male looked up at her. “Even though it was my turn, I’ll give you a freebie on this one simply because I’m not in the business of screwing up something that so obviously needs to happen. I offer multiple ‘services’ to Nick and the only service he refuses is the one that this establishment specialized in. Meaning, no. He’s never sampled my girls before.”

       She mulled over this in silence for a moment, a silence that he did grant her for a good ten seconds before he asked his question.

       “You want him, don’t you?”

       “Are all of these questions going to revolve around whether or not I’m going have sex with Nick?” she asked tersely, though she feared she already knew the answer.

       “Abso-fucking-lutely,” he said, hide grin only widening as he waved his paw towards the room around them. “For one thing, pretty much every female in here has been dying for a chance to get into that foxes custom tailored pants. If I don’t have some answers, I’m going to get my ears chewed off. And they make up fifty percent of my height as it is. For another, I haven’t seen Nick interested in a female in a very long time and he’s certainly never growled at me over one. And last… That was the second question I answered. So I get to ask another one after you answer the question.”

       “Ugh,” she muttered, running her paw over her ears in annoyance at the fact that was right. Nick’s idea that she would verbally dominate him had not taken into account how little she knew about the mysterious fox compared to who seemed to be his best friend. “Yes. I am attracted to him.”

       “Attracted,” the sandy colored fox snorted, setting his drink aside. “Every female within half a mile of him is attracted. That doesn’t mean they’re thoughts wander to taking him into a dark room and not coming out until you’re both dehydrated and half dead.”

       “Fine! Yes, alright,” she said, her voice raised a little higher than she might have wanted it. “I want him! He’s ridiculously appealing! I’ve already been tempted four times now to strip down to my fur and say, ‘I’m all yours, Nick.’ I walked around in front of him wearing nothing but panties and a too short nightshirt just to see if it got a rise out of him. I almost crawled into his lap once! Next. Question.”

       The sound of clapping from behind her had her turning quickly, seeing the lioness standing there with a many-toothed grin on her muzzle. She fought the urge to groan and bury her face in her paws to hide her face, opting instead to release a slow sigh to regain control of herself as the larger female spoke.

       “Such passion,” she said, her tone filled with a throaty purr as she slowly climbed up on the bar as she had before. Judy noticed that the eyes of half a dozen males followed her as she did it. This was something that the lioness was undoubtedly aware of given how she swayed her hips and rear before she settled down on her side, reached out with one massive paw, and dragged Finnick into the curve of her body. She continued as he leaned back into her belly without missing a beat, “Can I ask your next question, Trunk?”

       “Feel free.”

       “Hm,” she purred gratefully as her tawny eyes turned to Judy. “Have you two – How should I put this – ever talked about your mutual case of hot-pants for each other?”

       “Yes,” she said in a low voice, then drew a breath and spoke more clearly. “We had dinner. We discussed it then. I don’t think I ever knew the name of the restaurant. There was no sign.”

       She hadn’t expected the surprised reaction that she received, particularly from Finnick who had been mid-drink and nearly choked on it before his eyes narrowed on her.

       “He took you to Lochlann’s place?”

       “Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word as she narrowed her eyes at him in turn. “That was the otter’s name. Is that important?”

       The fox and lioness exchanged surprised glances, Zira’s ears pinning back for a moment before both pairs of eyes focused on her again.

       “That falls under the category of ‘things Nick never does’ Law Buns,” Finnick said, setting his drink aside as he eyed her with a much deeper sort of interest than before. “And answers a lot of questions I was gonna ask. So, as unfair as the tilt is right now, I’ll answer yours for now. Ask away.”

       Feeling that it was something of a dodge, she knew he was trying to change the subject by giving her what she wanted without any further questions about her sex life. As tempting as it was to question him on why being taken to that specific restaurant was so important, she couldn’t pass up the chance to ask the questions she felt she really needed to know the answers to.

       “All right,” she murmured, deciding to slide in easily, “Has he ever done bodyguard work before?”

       “Not that I’ve ever seen.”

       “Oh,” she mumbled, considering the answer in silence for a moment. He seemed so fully competent in protecting her, that the answer was not the one she had expected. In more ways than one. “Is he wealthy?”

       “That would fall under the ‘who is he’ category of questions,” was the snorted reply, causing her no end of frustration.

       She would have to dance around a little, then.

       “You said you provide other services for him,” she said, folding her arms over her chest again as she looked down at the smaller male. “Are you the one who acquired the suits that cost him one-hundred and fifty-thousand Bucks?”

       “How did you..?” he began, then frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest to mirror her defensive stance. “He didn’t tell you about that, did he?”

       “I’ve seen the receipt,” she supplied, causing the fox to roll his eyes slightly.

       “Fine then,” he said, his tone only mildly annoyed as he turned his eyes out over the main floor again. She felt compelled to follow his gaze, seeing that at least half of the mammals that had been their before had vanished. It wasn’t hard to figure out where, where she saw a she-wolf leading a male wolf through a doorway. She diverted her attention back to Finnick, trying to keep her mind off what was going on around her. “Yes, I supplied the suits.”

       “Did he tell you how he plans to pay for them?”

       “He paid up front,” was the hesitant answer, followed by a slight tilt of his head towards her. “Why don’t you ask what’s really on your mind there, Law Buns?”

       “I’m not sure,” she murmured, frowning slightly at the doubt that was inching into every question that she wanted to ask. But there was one that she needed the answer to, regardless of those doubts. “Is he capable of murder?”

       “Murder, huh?” the smaller mammal grunted, tilting his head back as Zira started to scratch the top of his head between the ears. “That’s a subject jump.”

       “It’s the last question,” she admitted, having to force herself not to shuffle her feet over the bar as she held his gaze.

       “Depends on what you mean by ‘murder’,” was his reply, followed by a shrug as he drew himself to his feet with his now empty glass in paw. “Would he kill for you? The whole city knows the answer to that question. It seems to me, though, that most of these questions were meant for him anyway.”

       “What do you mean?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

       “You want to know him? Stop dancing around the subject,” he said, shrugging as he held the glass out until the robotic ‘Bartender’s Helper’ arm took it and dropped it into soapy water. “Ask him. If he doesn’t want to answer, you make him answer.”

       “It’s not that simple,” she murmured, though in a way she shared the frustration that was obvious in his expression.

       “Yeah, yeah. He’s a badass and you have a case to win. You can’t get tangled up.” He snorted, this time jumping up to sit on Zira’s hip. She didn’t seem to mind, even when he patted her rump for good measure. “I’ve only known you for a few hours and I can tell that you both have problems with getting your tails in gear. And I’m not just talking about this ‘getting to know you’ shit. You have guts, obviously, except when it comes to him. If you did, you would’ve dropped your pants those four times you were tempted. And if he had half a brain in his head, he would have taken you up on those offers.”

       “But I don’t really know him,” she shot back, frowning at being lectured by a pimp of all mammals.

       “And that’s your fault. And his,” he returned, shaking his head before leaning back to lie against the paw Zira placed behind him. “Talk it out, Law Buns. You obviously want to know him, in both the literal and biblical sense. And chances are, you’re not going to get either until you face up to how much you want both.”