Merritt's Story - Next Chapter Preview! (Patreon)

As promised, I'm posting a snippet of the upcoming Merritt's Story chapter.  I did end up splitting the next scene into two chapters.  Together it's more than twice as long as the last chapter, so it's massive.  I'm trying to get them to the beta readers by the end of tomorrow, and the turnaround is 10-14 days.  After I finish up edits, I'll either post the two chapters at the same time or one week apart.  (One week apart means I'd get you the first chapter sooner.)

As usual, the preview isn't the final version yet, so you may still see typos or clumsy wording at this point.

Here's the preview!

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Once outside the boardroom, Belmont wrapped an arm around Merritt’s shoulder and gave him an excited shake. “Your first gala! Ooh, we’ll have to show you a good time.”

“Hmm,” Merritt said, deep in thought. He couldn’t tell Belmont what was on his mind: He was petrified. How could he attend a party with all of the underground’s most powerful citizens, with the requirement that he be intoxicated in front of them?

Violence of any kind was banned during the gala, but anyone who looked to be too much on their best behavior was also booted, under the suspicion that they were plotting instead of partying. Everyone attending the gala was required to maintain a minimum blood alcohol level or else take a party drug at the entrance. It was a wonder, with so many powerful citizens of the underground being wasted under one roof, that no one had ever been murdered or seriously injured. It was supposedly the one place in the underground where peace could truly be achieved. Not even neutral territory could make that claim.

Belmont seemed to read his mind. “I can just imagine you sitting at the gala sipping Focus in mineral water and watching everyone else get down and dirty until the bouncers drag you out for being a big nerd.” 

Merritt laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably what’ll happen.”

“Listen, I get it. It’s pretty damn terrifying getting wasted in front of all your biggest enemies and knowing that your guard is down. But that’s the beauty of the gala—your enemies are all just as wasted as you are. In fact, they’re so wasted they don’t even remember you’re an enemy. No one stays sober. Even your best buddy Archer lets loose once she’s got a few drinks in her.  The gala is the safest place in the underground.”

“I know that’s what they say, but I just can’t believe things could go as well in practice as in theory.”

“Didn’t you hear the story about the last West Sphere gala four years ago? We were in the middle of a massive war between every sphere. Then the gala rolled around, we put up our cease fires, and we went to the party. And the party turned into the biggest orgy in the history of the underground. Everyone was fucking everyone. It was fantastic. And then the gala ended, and we all went back to war the next day.”

“I wasn’t around for the orgy,” Merritt said. “I was only there for the fighting, and it was just as bad as any other war.”

“Ugh, you’re such a killjoy. You don’t think there’s any chance you can have fun at the gala?”

“It’s the West Sphere,” Merritt said. “I imagine there’ll be dogs everywhere. I don’t know how to relax around dogs.”

They boarded the elevator, and after the doors closed, Belmont leaned in and lowered his voice. “There’s always private rooms available. If it’s too much for you, just find me and pull me aside, and we’ll hide out together for a little while.”

“Isn’t it a requirement to mingle with people from other spheres?”

“Yeah, but no one will notice if you sneak off for a half hour, or even an hour. Just make sure to stick around long enough for everyone to see you looking stoned or drunk or getting a blow job, and once you’ve left your mark, you can disappear as long as you want.” He rolled his eyes. “But why are we already making plans for you to get out of the gala? If all goes well, you won’t even want to sneak off.”

Merritt smiled for Belmont’s benefit. “I guess we’ll see.”

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Yep, we got another party coming up.  That's what blue-ties do. :P  The gala is a big enough deal that we'll even see one in DOTU at some point.....

Bit of background: the annual gala is a party for all the most important citizens of every sphere, all together at once.  So we'll be seeing some new and familiar faces ^_^

We also have some extremely exciting Merritt/Belmont non-party stuff happening in the next chapter, which I've been dying to post for like two years, haha.