Sunderance Chapter 23: Faux Pas (Patreon)

   Things progressed in a usually organized manner in Wild Times as the night moved on. Judy was unable to deny that there was a very, for lack of a better term, clean sense of a well-run business even if ‘clean’ was the last thing it made her feel. Male after male came in - with the occasional female just to make her ears burn - and after being scrutinized by the guards and checked off the list, they walked to one of the tables to wait for their night’s companion. After watching for about an hour, it became obvious that there was a numbering system and each male was sent to their designated table. A waitress, a white-tailed doe, in an outfit that covered just enough of her well-stacked body to make it almost pointless, would saunter up to the table, take a drink order with a bright smile, and then make her way over to the bar. No attempts at groping her were made, even if more than one of them focused their gaze on her rear as she sauntered away. Even with her limited experience in strip clubs, with their universal no touching rules, she knew that there was a deep sense of ‘only touch when allowed’. So much so that, unlike those strip clubs where males were often ejected for breaking the rules in their excitement, not one male tried to overstep their bounds.

   Those bounds didn’t seem to change when their ‘companion’ for the evening arrived, most of whom were wearing more than the waitress when they settled into the large booths. The greeting was almost universally warm, but again, she was surprised by the complete lack of unwanted touching. Not that there wasn’t touching. But on table after table, she noticed the obvious very quickly: the clients never touched until the female touched them first. After that, the proverbial gloves were off, which was usually followed by a lot of kissing, nuzzling, and the groping that she had expected. After that, at which point it seemed the pairing was complete, they were free to leave their booth, dance, drink, or retire to one of the many rooms that lined the walls for obvious carnal activities.

   The lust was expected, but it surprised her that the lack of romance in the repeating mating dance was not as important to her as the fact that there seemed to be a level of respect and order. She also had no doubt that the house rules here were absolute and literally no one seemed willing to risk breaking those rules. The small male, who had taken his throne atop the bar by resting back against the lioness’s chest as she played with his ears, was clearly the center of it. Even as he talked, laughing and voraciously flirting with the much larger female, she could see that his eyes were everywhere at once, watching every interaction. She had already seen how he had reacted when the male had come up to her unbidden and had assumed that he had done that because of Nick’s threat, but the longer she watched, the more it became apparent that the same was expected from all males. This was not what she had expected. The females were clearly more important to him than pleasing the clients, which was the opposite of the ‘pimp and whore’ relationship she had encountered in her relatively short number of years in law.

   She had been so wrapped up in watching it that she almost managed to forget that she still desperately wanted Nick to come back. Her Q&A with Finnick had only left her with more questions, a more pressing need for answers, and knowledge of the fact that it was her fault as much as Nick’s. Or at least, it was partly her fault. It was something she needed to think about, but in the meantime, her eyes returned to the door again. Something about the way the reporter had asked for him directly and had only been interested in meeting with him rubbed her fur in all the wrong directions. Attractive vixen, wanting to meet a fox who was all the rage in the media? Why wouldn’t she have wanted to meet the two of them together? She would have had a real interview and not some meeting in a secret location where she could sink her claws into her…

   “Hey Law Buns, you lost over there? You look ready to bite clean through a nail.”

   The deep voice shook her out of what had started to become a really good mad, causing her ears to drop for a moment as she glanced down at the glass of club soda she held between two paws. A glass that she had to relax her crushing grip on before she turned her attention to the small fox.

   “I’m fine,” she said, not bothering to raise her voice over the music. The assurance had been mostly for herself, anyway. Then she did raise her voice so they could hear her clearly, “I’m just worried about Nick.”

   “You might be the only mammal who knows him who’d say that,” he said, causing the lioness to snicker softly. When his eyes focused on her, she felt her ears heating as his gaze lingered. And the longer it lingered, the bigger the grin on his muzzle grew. “Still worried that he’s out getting some vixen tail, aren’t you? Maybe a little ‘tied’ up with her? Being a ‘knotty’ bodyguard?”

   His first insulation had annoyed her, then the seemingly random series of statements that followed confused her out of the sudden flash of anger. When she stared at him blankly for a long moment in silence, his head tilted to the side. Certain that she was missing the joke entirely, she averted her gaze when Zira leaned over to mutter in one large ear.

   “Wait, you think..?” he said, the surprise in his voice causing her to her raise her head again to frown at the two of them again.

   “It makes sense,” the lioness purred, her tone more than a little delighted at what seemed to be a private joke between them. “Let’s find out! Judy, how much do you know about fox anatomy?”

   “Anatomy?” she said, her ears perking as her curiosity was peaked. Searching her memory, she gave a little shrug without taking her eyes off the two of them. “The same as most, I assume. High school, basic Mammal Anatomy and only a little more in-depth when reviewing the Gideon Grey case. A part of the case was proving that a fox’s claws weren’t sharp enough to do what was done to the victim.”

   “Huh. So,” Finnick said, his tone giving her the distinct impression that he was trying not to laugh. It annoyed her to no end. “Never had a look below the belt, have you?”

   “I-I… I hah… I told you, Nick and I haven’t done anything like that!”

   They both stared at her with an expression that she could only have called delighted shock, maybe even a little pity – which annoyed her even more than his devil-may-care attitude about sex – before the booming sound of his laughter stopped her attempt to give an answer to the question. When he pressed a paw to the grinning Zira’s stomach to push himself to his feet, her eyes narrowed on him.

   “Someone get me a blackboard and some chalk!” he said, loud enough that she wasn’t sure if he was joking or if someone was going to actually bring him what he asked for. “I think it’s time for this bunny to learn something!”

   “Finnick, you can stop now,” the calm voice said, causing the laughter to stop as quickly as it had begun.

   All three sets of eyes turned to the source of the voice, causing Judy’s embarrassment to fade into relief to see Nick standing there. The fact that his sunglasses were off and sharp green eyes were focused on her caused her heart to slam into her chest with all the subtlety of a runaway train. Combined with the quick and uncontrollable jolt of base attraction, it caused her completely dropped ears to heat for an entirely different reason when he moved over to the bar.

   “He returns,” Finnick said, the grin on his muzzle showing his complete lack of redemptive shame at being caught teasing her. “How was the date? Did you get to the meat of the story or was she left with an empty stew pot?”

   “Funny,” Nick replied, his tone clipped in a way that told her he was tense in more ways than one. Her quickly beating heart took a dive when the idea that he had failed to get the receipt was first to enter her mind. When she was about to question him on it, the words died before reaching her muzzle when he held a paw up to her. “Come on, Carrots. Fin, I need your downstairs office.”

   “Do you?” the smaller fox said, his tone obviously curious as his gaze flicked between the two of them. “Feel free, fox.”

   “Nick?” she asked, allowing her paw to settle into his larger one as she scooted herself to sit on the edge of the bar. Ready to jump down, she was surprised when his free paw reached up to grip her hip, gently helping her down. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

   “In a minute,” he muttered, nodding towards Finnick before resting his paw on her shoulder as he led her towards the same office she had been using to review her files.

   Uneasy, she glanced behind her when they stepped past the door, finding that both the small fox and the lioness were watching them. Their expressions were bemused, curious, and eager before he swung the door closed behind them.

   “Nick, what is going on? Did you get the receipt or not?” she asked in the silence made almost deafening now that the music was blocked off, looking up at him in the dim light. Maybe it was the dim light and the silence, or a combination of both, but her twitching nose became very aware of something else as he stood close to her. A scent: obviously fox, obviously feminine, and obviously all over him. A little pang of pain mingled with anger when she took a step away from him. “Oh.”

   “It’s not what you think,” he said, his voice calm as he stood by the door with his paws in his pockets.

   “Well, it certainly smells like what I think,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady when she was feeling anything but. She could feel his eyes on her when she moved towards the computer to retrieve the portable drive while she also tried to shut down the jealousy that gnawed at her gut. “I don’t care. It’s not like we’re actually going anywhere with this fantasy between us, so you can do whatever you want. Did you get the damned receipt or not?”

   She slammed the laptop closed a little harder than she should have before she turned to get her answer, yelping slightly when the turn had the tip of her nose pressed right into his chest. She wasn’t even given time to glare up at him before she found herself lifted from the ground by a pair of strong paws on her hips, hips that were used to nudge the laptop back against the wall with a bang when he nudged his hips between her legs and loomed over her. Too stunned to stop him for a moment, wide eyes lifted to him and snapped closed in the same second when he lowered his muzzle, hot breath tickling the base of her ear. Her paws pressed into his chest, ready to shove him away, only to have her fingers curl into his shirt when that breath became a high-toned growl that sent vibrations rolling through her. Those vibrations came with a ripple of sensation that set every nerve in her sensitive ears alight, causing her breath to escape her in a throaty groan that was half protest and half pleasure.

   “Nothing happening,” he said, his voice carrying that same growl as she felt the tip of his nose tracing the tip of her ear in a way that had a shiver wracking her body. “She wanted it to happen, she pressed, and I dropped her on her tail.”

   “It doesn’t matter if you did,” she said weakly, wishing she could take the words back the moment they left her lips because of how obviously false they were. “I mean, it does, but…”

   “It does matter,” was his reply, her eyes widening as the paws that still gripped her hips slipped around until he was fully cupping her rear. “Hm. I’ve wanted to get my paws on this since you walked around in those panties.”

   “Nick!” she cried in a tone full of shock, embarrassment, and pleasure ending in a squeaked whimper when his fingers dug in for a long squeeze on toned cheeks through her pants. That had her head falling back as surprising pleasure ran through her, up and down her spine in quick, hot bolts, until a little shover rolled through her entire body. Now kept upright only by the fact that her fingers had a death grip on his shirt, she was helpless to stop him when his paws slid around her butt for a moment for a good feel before moving up over her hips and waist. “Have you lost your mind?”

   “No,” he said, taking advantage of her exposed state to lean close. She felt his breath again, this time at her throat before a sharp nip from his sharp front teeth had her heart jumping and her skin heating. “Just call it scent replacement. I didn’t want her, so I am replacing her scent with the one I do want.”

   “Oh,” was her only reply, jealousy evaporating as his words sank in along with his own scent. And it was obviously working. The scent of the vixen, which had seemed so important a moment before, was now being rubbed out and replaced with his, at least in her nose. It was deep, potent and predatory in every quick breath she took, reminding her instincts that he was both male and fox.

   Surrendering herself, letting his nose root through her fur until it touched the skin, her grip on his shirt only tightened further when his paws moved up to slide across the front of her jacket, inside, and up until his claws traced the line of her collar. On reflex, riding on sensation, she wrapped her legs around his hips and dragging him forward without thinking until she felt a nudge that made her freeze. Freeze and nearly burst into flame when the skin under her fur went red hot, driven by a flash of arousal that had panic filling her. The fox overwhelming her seemed to sense this as his paws grew still and his hips drew back, his head lifting to look down at her with a slightly sheepish grin.

   “Sorry,” he murmured, adjusting his stance and placing his paws on the desktop as he started to draw himself back. He paused because she made him pause when a flash of self-awareness had her legs tightened around his hips to pull him back until he was nestled between her thighs again. He growled, his claws scraping the tabletop as he buried his muzzle into her shoulder. “That’s not helping my self-control, Carrots. You’re a lot more potent than whiskey.”

   “That might be the sweetest thing anyone’s said to me,” she murmured with a cheeky grin, taking a brazen moment to feel him against her before she relaxed the grip of her legs to allow him to draw away. The act of drawing him back had surprised even her, but the quick decision had come as she reminded herself that a bunny brave enough to enter Zootopia and face numerous assassination attempts should be brave enough not to run from her own desires. Or the male who was the at the center of them. She sat up, staying seated on the edge of the desk to catch her shortened breath as she looked at him. “Scent replacement, huh?”

   “It’s a thing,” he said, reaching up to adjust his tie and smooth his wrinkled shirt as much as possible without taking his eyes off her. “Foxes have sensitive noses.”

   “Mmph,” she said, trying to keep the grin off her muzzle as she followed his example and smoothed her own jacket while doing her best not to let her eyes drift down to what she had felt nudge her. And did her best not to dwell on the shock of sensation it had caused. “You never answered me, though. Did you get the receipt?”

   “Your inner pocket,” he said, motioning distractedly towards her jacket.

   Even as she glanced down, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eyes as he made a swift adjustment to his pants, a motion he obviously tried to hide from her. Her fascination with that was dulled, however, when she reached into her inner pocket and found the wrinkled piece of thin paper inside of a small evidence bag. An excitement of an entirely different sort filled her as she smoothed it out with her thumbs to read the date and time, both which matched the date and time she had expected. Then realizing that he had managed to slip it into her jacket while he had very effectively distracted her, she understood why he had decided to pass it to her this way. Narrowed eyes focused on him as her ears rose until they were fully upright.

   “Sly fox.”

   “I do my best,” he replied, his eyes sparkling in the dim light of the office as he tugged on the lapels of his jacket to finish his job of making himself look presentable. “We should head back to the office. We have a meeting tomorrow and it’s already late.”

   “If we can make it past your friend out there,” she said, releasing a slow sigh as her body started to calm, something that she sped up by tucking the receipt back into her pocket and rubbing her paws over her face slowly. “They probably think we’re already halfway naked. As if we would go that far in the office of a brothel.”

   “Would we have gone further somewhere else?” he questioned glibly as she turned to the desk to retrieve the drive. She flashed him a bright, dismissive smile as she walked past him and opened the door to take them back into the noise and lights of Wild Times.

______________________________

     “I don’t care if she’s one of your girls or not!” was the first thing Judy heard as she stepped out of the office. “You are supposed to inform me any time someone other than a male is put into your care. And this seems to count as ‘put into your care’ if you ask me.”

   The squeaking tone was especially clear because of the silence in the club, which was almost completely empty of customers and the females those customers had come to see. Curious eyes turned to the bar, where Finnick sat with his legs dangling from the edge, facing a tiny white field mouse in a dark suit that made even the diminutive fox look large by comparison. Most noticeable about this mouse, aside from the fact that she was riding on a large forward leaning Segway that still didn’t put her quite up to the level of the bar, was that she was pointing one finger at the owner of Wild Times and speaking in demanding tones. And Finnick just sat there with a mildly annoyed expression while she did it.

   “She’s only been here a few hours,” he said, keeping his tone calm even as he turned his eyes to them as Nick stepped out of the office behind her. She could see the glint in his eyes, amused interest replacing his annoyance instantly. The amusement grew when his gaze shifted between the two of them, then slyly to the mouse who stood with her arms cross as she waited for him to continue. “But why don’t you talk to them yourself? There she is, along with her knight.”

   She hardly noticed the little snort that escaped Nick as he walked just a few steps away from the door, dropping into a seat at a nearby table. She was mildly surprised when he settled into what seemed like an extremely relaxed pose, his arm draped over the back of the chair with one leg crossed over the other. The look of general disinterest in his eyes was clear when the motor of the Segway hummed as the mouse maneuvered it around the bar. When she stopped, she was right up in his face without a hint of fear as she pointed a finger at him just as she had with Finnick.

   “And you, Nicholas,” she said, her tone almost as matronly as it was accusing, “leaving a lawyer in a place like this. And a doe, at that! What were you thinking?”

   “I was thinking that she ordered me to bring her here,” he said, his ears perked high and straight atop his head, something that Judy took as lack of fear and a rejection of the attempt to chastise him. “Would you like me to file a report or whatever it is you put in your files?”

   “She ordered you?” It was hard for Judy to miss the surprise in her tone, or the way the mouse’s long tail twitched and twisted behind her as she turned the Segway again and drove towards the curious bunny. “You ordered him to bring you here?”

   “I needed something only he could get,” Judy replied, finding herself almost at eye level with the other female. The mouse looked impressed as she looked her up and down for a moment, obviously curious. Judy’s ears perked forward, just as curiously as she continued, “He said this was a safe place. And you are?”

   “This little delight is Roxanne Field,” Finnick’s voice said, drawing both of their gazes as he jumped down from the bar with a grunt. “Pain in my ass for short. She’s the one I hired to see to the legal representation of the girls.”

   “Your employees hired me,” the apparent lawyer corrected, her eyes glinting as she glanced down at him.

   “I pay you out of my own expense account rather than their cut of the profits,” he corrected, waving one paw dismissively as he walked past them to the door of the office. Judy narrowed her eyes as he paused inside the door, his muzzle raised and twitching for a few seconds before he released a deep sigh. “You disappoint me, Nick.”

   “I’ll try to contain my sorrow,” Nick said with the bunny turning her gaze to him as he grinned at her. Though her ears heated, she managed to keep them from falling as she returned the grin.

   “I guess I would be more disappointed if you’d actually done anything that fast,” the smaller fox said as he closed the door to the office, his muzzle curved into a toothy grin of his own.

   “And on that note, I think it is time for us to leave,” Nick said, drawing himself to his feet as all eyes in the room turned to him as he adjusted his jacket. “We have an appointment tomorrow.”

   “But I wasn’t finished talking to Miss Hopps,” Roxanne said, turning on her little platform atop the Segway to face Nick. “I find it very interesting that you’re taking orders from anyone.”

   “Why is that?” Judy asked, even as the large auburn paw settled on her shoulder and started to guide her towards the exit. She didn’t resist him, because a large part of her was still anxious to leave the club and the constant aura of sex that lingered in the air. But she was also curious about the mouse, and what she had said. She lowered her voice as they walked. “The workers here have a lawyer?”

   “Like I said, everything here is perfectly legal,” Finnick replied before Nick could, wandering back towards the bar as the mouse apparently lost interest in them now that she realized her questions wouldn’t be answered right then. Judy’s eyes followed the Segway as it sped towards one of the few pairs that had remained outside, a male and female cheetah. From there, the mousey lawyer started to chat with the two of them animatedly, her paws waving here and there. “I bet you were wondering why everything runs so smoothly here? Well, it is a combination of physical intimidation and the knowledge that any customer who manages to injure or harass them will be sued blind by our own not-so-friendly neighborhood lawyer.”

   “I keep forgetting his ears,” she muttered under her breath, sighing as they reached the door to the sound of Finnick’s chuckle.

   “How could you forget them?” Nick asked, one brow raised as he looked back to see the sand colored male grinning again. “They’re seventy-five percent of his overall mass. Stay out of trouble, Finnick.”

   “Me?” came the reply with a somewhat playfully derisive snort as Nick glanced around outside before leading her out into the night. “I’ll remember that next time I see you and your bunny in the news.”