Chapter 4 - Episode: First Day, On the Job

Eric was awake before he opened his eyes. The warmth of a woman's body against his was something he'd enjoyed during his 'free' years at college and university. When he and.... her took 'a break' from their high school romance to see what else was out there. He'd enjoyed it, but he'd still felt that old, naive, spark of joy when he'd talk to her and when they'd meet up now and again. He was surprised he didn't immediately feel anger at a memory connected to 'her', but he chalked that up to the dankness of the herb he was still coasting on.

Really, maybe he went into the marriage with the wrong idea? He hadn't exactly stuck with one girl when he'd been in college. He hadn't expected to make anything of the relationships, beyond friendships. Now that he thought of it, most of his old flings still messaged him from time to time; 'for drinks'. The number of invites had jumped when he changed his Chum-Link status to: Separated, then again to single. 

"I was a bit of a slut, wasn't I?" He mused to himself, still feeling the warm floating of the herbs that now were little more than ash in a ceramic dish.

"Wha?" Gene yawned. "Whose a slut?" She grimaced.

"Me. I was. Am?" He bobbed his head to the side and he felt her hair brush across his chest as she looked up to cock an eyebrow at him. "In School, I was." He explained and she laughed.

"I think everyone with a sex life is kind of a slut if you throw them into that kinda environment. But, it's too early for meta talk," She yawned as a digital clock read the time. "I'm gonna shower." She smiled. "You better scurry home and wash yourself up."

"What, no invite?" He shrugged, feeling his head clearing up and feigning a wounded heart.

"You and I shower and there's no way that," She pointed at his morning wood, "Isn't fucking me."

"And that's a problem?"

"Mmm, I had my turn last night. No doubles till you finish your circuit." She wagged her finger up and down, as if she were stroking his cock, and he flexed his cock so it bobbed in time with her finger. She smiled and licked her lips and he saw she curled her toes on the mat. 

"Damn, that's presumptuous of you."  Eric crossed his arms, "And what about my second round with Maz?"

"Same day, same turn." She pointed at the clock. "New Day, new turn. PLUS:" She held up another finger. "Belle says no wearing you out." She held up yet another finger, "PLUS," She paused. "I REALLY gotta go, bad," She clenched her knees together. "Later, Tater!" He heard the bathroom door slam and then the air vent started up and Eric's laughter was loud and clear.

He collected his things and, not bothering with his shirt, opened the door and marveled at the beauty of morning. Early morning light was hitting the gardens and reflecting down, and gave the whole interior of the building a beautiful green glow. He closed his eyes and inhaled, then blinked when he heard the Elevator call button ping. He turned his head and saw two people standing there. 

They had narrow frames and, still groggy and a little high, he could only distinguish that they had both had short hair and while one was a light blonde, the other had dark black hair. The black haired one waved, and Eric waved back. He started to walk toward them. He saw two large travel bags beside them, tall enough to reach their waists, And they had duffel bags that hung from their arms, looking stuffed full.

"You're Eric right?" One of them called, he yawned and nodded as a response. The rich voice rang across the gap and echoed oddly, lightly. "I'm Alex Amberly," The Dark haired man called, this is Jack Andrews." He thumbed at the blonde. Damn he was still high, Eric thought. These two could have been models, they looked so pretty, and smooth. 

"Hell of a show you put on last night." Eric wondered if they were in a band or had been, with their looks and voices. Then his words registered and he realized that Gene had said the whole floor was in on the feed, not just the single women. "Got the Missus'es in a great mood for our send off."

"Send off, you going on a business trip right?" Eric said. He felt the ire in the back of his head brew, but not at them. 

"Yeah," Alex shrugged his sharp shoulders. "Company wants us to check out some property in the Belicose Region." He named a renamed stretch of land. Eric blinked his eyes in response. 

"Belicose? Wait, is the land just north of Telby City?" Both the men looked surprised at his question, and nodded. "Shit, you staying at the hotels there?"

"Yeah, the boss gave us a stipend based on their posted rates." Eric shook his head at Jack's words.

"Nah, they'll price gouge city guys like you." He saw their postures change slightly. "Sorry, but they will." Eric pulled out his phone and focused. He went through his contacts and as the elevator opened up, he dialed a friend. It went through almost immediately.

"Sandbag!" A voice called from the phone. It was worn in from the decades but had a kick to it.

"Old Witch!" He called back, only love in his voice. "Hey, how you been?"

"Better, now that the weather's clearing up. Saw your front page," She laughed. "You ditch the bitch and picked up a girl who could actually 'lift' huh?"

"She's in construction, also my neighbor."

"Uh-huh, Am I gonna see any more of your neighbors on your page?"

"Almost certainly."

"Atta' boy."

"Listen, speaking of, there's two guys on my floor who are heading out by you on business. Something to do with Property in Belicose."

"Ah, the Richards finally finished cleaning up that plot on the west end of their lot, but its all barren under the top soil, so they're selling to builders."

"Really?" He looked at the two men, even through the brain fog he could see the smiles of businessmen with inside information. "Well, they're coming that way and I was wondering if you're still renting out the guest house?"

"Not really 'renting' when it's open to friends and family, and old students who drop in unannounced." She added with some sympathy. 

"Think you could fix it up for them?" He asked, and saw the surprise on their faces, and he took the opportunity to turn his phone on the side and snap a picture of their faces. Damn was he high; he cut them off above the shoulders. "Here's their pretty mugs."

"Oh be still my heart!" The old lady drawled. "Good thing I'm on my run, or I'd ruin normal shorts,"

"OH god." Eric flinched and shook his head. "Too much, Teacher, TOO MUCH." Her laughter was rich and victorious.

"Never let your guard down, boy! You give them my address, I'll have the pretties' rooms set up."

"Thank you, Teacher." Eric said, more seriously.

"Ah, shut up ya softy. Up, train's coming, gotta run!" She said before she hung up.

"Dude," Jack said softly. "You don't have to do that."  Eric shrugged.

"Neighborly thing to do, I guess." He squeezed his eyes shut, "Damn Gene's stuff is good, I don't think I was smoking all that much and I'm still gorked."

"Nothing but the best from our little 'Garden Gnome'." Alex laughed and Jack and Eric joined him. Eric gave them the address and the two thanked him and stepped into the elevator. Eric waved and turned as the doors closed, then the doors stopped.

"Eric!" Jack called to him. Eric turned and bit his lip as his high heart fluttered. Maybe his Gunny had a point about 'experimentation'. "Look, um. We're still kinda new to this part of the city too, so are our wives. Officer Woolrick said there's some sketchy elements around the edges of the neigborhood, so if it isn't too much trouble,"

"Well, I have to learn my way around here too," Eric knew where the man was going, "So if I were to tag along with the Missus'es when they go out, I could lend a hand and keep a weather eye."

"Thanks, dude, Sorry to ask this when we just met."

"I'm here to help the floor out," Eric gave a two fingered salute. "But unless this place is secretly falling apart-"

DRIP-PING.

"- I think being an esco- chaperone works as earning my way." He paused, "Unless Anna says different." He shrugged.

"Thanks, Eric!" Alex called from inside the elevator and Jack said the same as he stepped back and let the doors close all the way. 

That was nice of me, He thought to himself, even as he started back toward his room. He'd done a few 'walks of shame' before in his life, but this felt more like a victory lap then anything else. He smirked and, still high, decided to do just that he walked past his room, around the corner where Cornelia's room was nestled, then past the laundry room.

DRIP.

"Okay," He stepped in, bare chested and shoeless, into the cold concrete floored room. "Where the fuck are you?" He walked up and down the wall Cornelia's apartment shared with the Laundry room. He finally felt like he was really sobering up now. He wasn't angry, he was more 'excited' at the idea of the challenge. 'Find the drip' 'locate the leak', etc. It was like when he was looking for that one part that lead to the 'engine alert' notice on the garage work station. Sure their were diagnostics but when they came up shrugging he'd have to get into the machine and find the flaw. Ah that would have been better than 'find the drip'. His brain mused.

DRIP.

He spun around, it sounded like it was on the other side of the room. Maybe that was it? Echoing so loud that it FELT like it was over here? Nobody was in 610 so it might be even louder over there? He walked over and ran his hands across the wall, this time tapping as he went. It wasn't every scientific or accurate, but it gave him an impression of what the walls 'might' sound like if they were fine, or if there was something wrong.

DRIP.

What the fuck? He looked behind him again, then up. There were pipes along the ceiling, but nothing was dripping down. He closed his eyes, shook his head and walked out of the laundry room, shirt in hand, and hands up in 'momentary' surrender. He took two steps away, then stepped in place like was still walking away.

DRIP.

He shoved his head in the open doorway and scanned his eyes back and forth. Nothing. He straightened up and nodded, maybe he wasn't as sober as he thought? Probably. He finished his victory lap and ended up back at his room before he went in, stripped down, and cleaned up. Dressed in something comfortable but at the same time semi professional for someone working on their hands and knees, he shook his head at that thought, he headed for the elevator then decided to walk down through the complex.

The stairs were well kept and clean. He wondered if his duties included being a janitor, it made sense given how well the building was put together he'd be doing that more often than not. Some fallen foliage drifted into the stairwells from the green floor in the middle of the building but other than that, steps looked fine. He tossed the leaves and debris he'd picked up into a can labeled for composting and walked to the ground floor offices.

"Ah," A pretty slip of a woman in a buisness suit looked him up and down as he crossed the entrance hall and entered the offices. She sat at the desk beside the door leading to, by the name on the plate, Anna's office. He resisted the urge to salute or come to parade rest as he drew up on the desk. The woman gnawed on the end of a pen as she leaned back in her chair to get a good look at him. "Mister Wyre." She said his name, and correctly, he nodded. "So good to meet you, in person." She added under her breath, but not so quiet that Eric missed it. Gene might not have the best security on her show, or Anna was sharing.

"Miss Stewart is just addressing some mail, if you'd like to take a seat?" She pointed at a chair right in front of her and Eric nodded. "My name is Donna," She held out her hand and Eric shook it, feeling a warmth to her fingers.

"Donna Rienes?" Eric took a leap. "The other RA for the upper levels?" Donna nodded.

"You're quick to pick up on things, Eric." She said approvingly.

He let go and she drew her fingertips across his rough palms and callused fingers. "Used to working with your hands, I see?" She more than saw. He saw her draw her 

Eric nodded and, turned his head to check where the chair was, giving her a chance to take a quick breath of his scent from her hands.  He noticed, but didn't show it, as he sat down and, rather than pull out his phone or pick up a magazine smiled at Georgette. 

"So, Donna," 

"Yes, Mister Wyre?"

"Please, call me Eric." He offered, and after she repeated his name, a smile still on her face, he continued, "I imagine Miss Stewart will explain the major specifics of my job here, once she's finished, but are their any outstanding issues I should know about before hand?"

"Has Officer Woolrick informed you about the 'leak' she's been hearing?" Donna asked, the skepticism clear in her voice. 

"I've heard it myself." He offered. "I think it might be a very slow drip from the green floor onto one of the ceiling pipes. There's another condensation leak just in front of the elevator." His explanation caught the woman by surprise.

"I see." She added, "I suppose I owe Cornelia an apology, then."  She thrummed her fingers against the desk. 

"She did mention that the two of you got into a discussion," Eric explained, diplomatically.

"I said some pretty petty things," Donna admitted, "I'll find some way to make it up to her." She jotted down something on tablet 

"Well, these are people's homes, can't afford to mess around. My home too, now." He added with a smile.

"Glad you feel that way!" A rich voice came from the opening door as AnnaBelle Stewart stepped out of her room with a grin that touched her eyes and her rich skin looking as healthy and luscious as ever. "Well Hail the conquering hero," She said as she crossed her arms as she looked Eric up and down then up again as he stood up. "I figured you'd be dead on your feet after romping Maz and Gene in the same evening." 

Donna blushed but she didn't seem surprised by Anna's claim so Eric surmised that someone probably let her share the stream, probably Anna.

"What can I say? Service builds character, and stamina." He added admittedly. 

"Ah, the brotherly bonds of men fighting beside one another." Anna chuckled to herself, "So Spartan," she smirked.

"But with less anal." Eric groused.

"Shame. You'd be missing out."

"I said less, not none at all." Eric joked back and got that rich laughter from Anna once again.

 "Oh you're killing me, ah." She looked at Donna. "Anything come in while I was in there?"

"Nothing, slow day." Donna shrugged, "Once I'm done with this, I'll do my rounds and then check out the green floor." She explained and Anna nodded. Eric figured it was for show. They likely had a pattern down that neither needed to explain, but the conversation was there to give Eric some context. Nice of them.

"Alright stud-muffin," Anna smiled as she spun the man around and hooked and arm under Eric's before she led him out of the office. "Let's get to work!"

Despite her fanfare, it was actually a pretty cut and dry affair. She showed him where they kept supplies, how to keep track of what he used. The ratios of detergents and cleaners to water that she preferred. It was by and by a normal job as a normal handyman that just happened to be on a floor full of very sensual, sexually active women. 

"So that's that." Eric sighed as he replaced a part to show Anna just how fast and effectively he could replace a 'broken' part of a piece of loose pipe she'd cobbled together as a test. It wasn't even a problem, most plumbing these days was as plug and plumb as building blocks. "I'm gonna give that condensation leak above the elevator a look and then try for the phantom drip, okay Anna?"

"Naming it now?" Anna asked, as Eric picked out the tools he'd certainly need to fix the drip, then a few others he might need. She stepped close and he felt her breath on his neck. "And I'm sure I asked you to call me Belle." She ran her hand down his pants leg and his unspent morning wood returned with a vengeance. "What's that you're hiding in  there, mister Wyre?"

"What do you mean, Ann-" He started and her squeeze shut him up. She let him go, and the look on her eyes told him what she wanted, "What do you mean, Belle?" He asked and she kissed him full on the mouth. She pumped his cock through his pants, and he was really glad he chose his more comfortable underwear

"I'm just making sure," He gasped, still trying to have a conversation while she clearly had something else in mind. Her hand pulled his cock from the confines of the work pants and began to stroke him with long gentle pulls upward and tight quick strokes down. He tried to remember how she was jerking him, even as his own hand crept up her leg and between her cheeks. 

Before he could find what he was looking for, Belle slipped out of his grip and was on her knees, her own pant suit kneeling on a spongy mat pulled from the garden supplies. Her lips pressed together and formed a hot seal just behind the head of his cock. He put a hand on a shelf to hold himself up as she began to lick the entrance to his cock. 

He inhaled sharply through his nose as she held her lips firm around his shaft, and she pressed forward. "Belle," He whispered and she moaned at her name as she swallowed his cock to the base and he grit his teeth. She pulled back and dragged her tongue up along the underside of his cock. The heat of her mouth and the slick movements of her wet tongue were masterful. He forced his breathing into a steady cadence as she started to really swallow him.

"Damn" He swore as her tongue pulled back and she turned her head back and forth, pumping her lips over his cock and lapping her tongue across before she swallowed him into her throat again. He felt her swallow and he gasped, and came. "Fuck." He swore under his breath. Her high speed blowjob had taken him by surprise, but as he reached out to her to return the favor, he found her already up, around and heading for the door. "Um, Good bye?" He couldn't hide the confusing in his voice.

Anna just threw a firey look over her shoulder as she ran a tongue tinged with pearly cum across her lips before she winked and walked out the door. It took him a moment to register she'd left it open before he pulled himself back into his pants and grabbed handful of paper towels to dry his sweat slick face. 

Stepping into roof Greenhouse was like something out of a dream. They were designed to maintain a stable 'ideal' environment for growing most food staples year round. It also meant that it used a bit of water and power, but the water was in a closed system and the solar panels around the building supplied all the power the green floors needed.

He walked across the slatted floor panels to the space directly over the condensation drip. He pulled up a grated panel using a short crowbar and stuck his head in to see what was the matter.

An hour later he'd worked through the plumbing to shut off the water to where the drip was, and replace the worn our parts. He made a note of which parts and were replaced and saw the last time that part had been switched was when they'd first installed the green floor fittings. Figures something from the start would go, sooner or later.

After everything was piped up properly again he went about cleaning up the dampness and mildew that had built up from the water. After disenfecting and sanitizing the whole thing so there wouldn't be any mold growing under the pipes, he closed it up. He collected the parts and kit he'd brought up and went downstairs, to his floor. He rounded the corner from the stairwell and saw Maz waiting by the elevator, looking like a boss in a bright orange worker's jumpsuit that hugged her muscles and held tight to her chest.

He let our a long whistle and her eyes flicked to the side, and her smile grew when she saw Eric.

"Hey there, hot stuff!" She smiled and she she moved toward him, heard the slight jangle of her tool belt. "You and Gene make some sweet music, lulled me right to a hot and sticky sleep." She waggled her eyebrows and Eric snorted in laughter. 

"And you could have mentioned you'd left your chat open."

"I'd forgot." Maz admitted, "Sorry," She apologized and her shoulders sank a little. 

"I don't mind being on camera, apparently." He added, thinking about how his first show had already spread past Anna to Donna and he wondered just how many other people in the building had seen. "Just let me know alright? So I can show off my good side."

"No worries. How's your-" She kind of gestured to his general chest area.

"Not bad, getting better every day." She nodded and cupped his chin in her hand to quickly steal a kiss, and he stole one back as he grabbed her by the belt to keep her from pulling away. "mmm, you taste a little like Belle." She licked her lips.

"Yeah, and if you kissed her right now, you'd say she tastes a lot like me," Eric groused.

"She dine and dash?" Maz asked, he nodded, "Yeah she does that sometimes. I think she likes the frustrated feeling of working with a, well, being horny and having work to do." 

"I am grateful she did though. I don't think I could have handle knocking my morning wood against all the pipes," he realized what he was saying. "That are up on the green floor." He looked and saw that the water had stopped dripping down, as it should have. "I'm gonna have to clean those stains up later, he pointed at the slight discolaration from the water, "I'd like some help so I don't risk falling to my death." 

"Buddy system," Maz nodded. "Good to know you're not an idiot." She patted him on the shoulder but it became a sensual caress. Then the elevator showed up. "Damn the timing." She sighed. "I gotta run, see you when I get back?"

"If I'm not out shopping with the Missus A's."

"Wha?"

"Alex and Jack asked me to keep an eye out on their wives, I guess Cornelia sold them on the stranger danger." 

"It's a legit worry, some nights." Maz shook her head. "But what did you think of them."

"Cool guys," Eric said and she nodded, expecting more, "Do you know if they were ever in a band or something?"

"A band?" 

"I dunno; something about their voices," Maz shrugged at his words and he shook his head. "Whatever, get going. You've got rookies to learn about the dangerous of street walking psychos and the boons of benevolent clockwork courtesans." He made a dramatic bow and gestured to the elevator and Maz just started laughing as she curtsied, pulling on her pants legs and sauntered into the elevator. "Later!" he winked at her and she made a show of grabbing her chest and pulling the fabric event tighter against her breasts.

Eric sighed and laughed as the door closed. "Yeah." He nodded. "I'm still a fucking slut." He laughed and set the gear and parts down in the laundry room, before heading downstairs to grab a ladder and bring it back. "Alright then." He set the ladder up in the middle of the room and climbed up. "What's going on with you then?" He turned on a flashlight to give him the best view.

But scanning around, he couldn't see any damp spots in the ceiling, above the pipes or anywhere. There was no rust or water stains. He couldn't see anything that indicated there might be a drip.

"What the fuck?" Eric. Then he heard it.

DRIP.

Right behind him.


DRIP.






















((OKAY! Reader commentary time. I really wanna hear from my favoriteers and even the causal passerby. What's happening with this Drip? What could it be! IDEAS FOLKS! Potentially your comments could lead to a custom audience inspired character!

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SO yeah. Comments!))