doing so well, and I’m also glad we don’t have guests upon these shores anymore.”
Rapture was the name of the three-island atoll I’d leased long term, just off the coast of Tahiti. We’d built matching villas there, designed guest areas, activities, and built a new Euphoria building.
Euphoria used to be how I made a shit ton of money renting out goddesses to men who wanted certain kicks. Now, it saved dysfunctional marriages.
Here, Euphoria had long since been transformed into an animal sanctuary, but on Rapture...a new chapter had begun. My virtual reality technology, coupled with the playrooms and aphrodisiac I’d tweaked from elixir, had been given a new purpose.
On Rapture, it helped unhappy couples duke out their problems, argue out their grievances, and then make up in spectacular fucking fashion.
Some couples, along with therapy and a weeklong stay—away from the stress of life and meddling families—were able to focus on the nucleus of why they married each other and return home with a much happier marriage. Unfortunately, some couples, despite the immersion and help we gave them, couldn’t let their guards down to even step into the virtual reality playground and divorced anyway.
And then there were the couples who enjoyed their fantasies so much, they purchased a home kit of VR sensors and a bottle of cinta to ensure sex remained fun within their relationship.
Thanks for the sales of VR and the outside use of my heavily copyrighted technology, yet another branch of our business had emerged.
The sensors that convinced a human’s mind that what they heard, saw, felt, and tasted were as real as the life around them ensured such corporations like space travel, deep-sea diving, and everything in between had purchased kits for education.
Companies could now provide their staff with training before they ever had to put their life on the line.
Along with allowing tertiary places to bolster their classrooms with my device, I hired computer programmers to continue my crusade to stop all animal mistreatment in labs, slaughterhouses, and in meat, dairy, and egg industries.
With just a few sensors, people could now enter environments never open to the public before. They could step into a production plant of wheat and cereal. They could stand next to conveyor belts as toothbrushes were made from bamboo instead of plastic. And they could also witness the bone-chilling truth of mass animal cultivation and murder for consumerism.
They could feel the splash of a cow’s blood as its throat was slit. They could smell the stench of defecation, knowing they were about to die. They could watch a thousand baby male chicks being tossed into a blender because they weren’t valuable egg layers.
Before Eleanor, I wasn’t proud of many things I’d done.
I bought women. I rented those women out. I felt no guilt because I only did to them what humans did to animals. I used our own laws of inequality to pad my wallet and justify my sins.
Now though, I was proud that in recent years, more and more people were waking up to the lies of corruption and the risk of their own health by eating the rancid panic of caged and miserable creatures. Things were changing. And I liked to think I had a small part in that.
I was also immensely proud of Eleanor.
Of her capacity for creating and running, not only a profitable company, but one that gave beneficial gifts toward people’s happiness. I loved sharing ideas and brainstorming our next foray together.
I just loved her. In every way.
Every thought and twitch.
Every smile and snicker.
She owned me, heart and fucking soul.
“We should plan another visit one day.” She rested her head on my arm as we continued strolling in the moonlight. “See if the weather is as perfect in the South Pacific as it is in Indonesia.”
“Perhaps.”
We walked in silence until the manicured jungle fell away and the beach appeared. Not a single breeze tonight. Not a ripple in the ocean. Stars bounced back in the mirror of black sea, a half-moon blindingly silver in two glittering locations.
Pika and Skittles stuck to the treeline while Eleanor and I slipped bare feet through silky warm sand and waded into the shallows.
We both sighed with contentment. Drinking in the stunning view, we thanked fate and everything magical that we’d found each other and were so fucking lucky to live in paradise.
“Wonder if Jess and Cal are looking at the sky right now.” Eleanor tipped her head to the heavens, sending sheets of hair rippling down her back. My lust returned