It wasn't until noon that Roy was finally jolted awake by a phone ringing.
Still with his eyes closed, he reached for the phone on the nightstand, only to realize it wasn't his – it was Claire's.
He gave Claire's shapely rear a gentle pat. The good doctor was out cold, not even stirring at the sound of her phone.
"Claire, phone call!"
He patted her a few more times, and Claire finally fluttered her eyes open, then picked up her phone and answered.
"Hello?"
"Yes, this is Claire Sheffield. What can I do for you?"
"Hmm..."
"Sorry, I don't have time right now."
She hung up and snuggled back into Roy's solid chest, closing her eyes again.
Roy found Claire's reaction to the call a little strange, so he asked,
"Claire, was that a prank call?"
Claire shook her head.
"No, it was one of the passengers from the plane crash trying to reach me."
Roy was a bit curious.
"What did they want?"
Claire tilted her head back to look at Roy's face, a view that made the usually composed doctor look particularly adorable.
"It's still about the plane crash! Wait a minute, are you jealous?"
Claire suddenly giggled, and that little look wasn't so innocent anymore.
"Hmm? Are you questioning my charm?"
With that, Roy playfully squeezed Claire's airbags.
"Ouch! Be gentle!"
Then, Claire felt what it was like to be staring down the barrel of a gun. She immediately threw her hands up in mock surrender.
"Roy, I'm sorry! I'm really sore down there, can you go easy on me?"
"Humph! That's more like it!"
Roy knew Claire was genuinely feeling it and had no intention of a rematch. That little move was purely a polite acknowledgment.
He couldn't help it, though. Why did Claire have to wiggle around while leaning on his chest?
"Actually, it's the passengers from the plane crash wanting to team up and sue the airline. You saw what happened that day, right? The plane crashed because of engine failure, and some passengers suspect the airline didn't do a good enough job inspecting the plane. The person who called me is the one pushing for it, and he happens to be a lawyer."
"Ah, I get it," Roy said, understanding.
The details surrounding the plane crash that day were indeed a bit hazy, and the airline hadn't provided a clear answer even now.
It was no wonder some passengers were banding together to sue the airline.
"So, why don't you want to be a part of it?"
Claire buried her head in Roy's chest, taking a deep breath.
"Before, I was in a bad mood and didn't want to deal with it. Now, I'm in too good of a mood to get involved."
Roy grinned, feeling pleased.
Having a beautiful woman so infatuated with you was definitely a mood booster.
But soon enough, Claire's phone rang again. She picked it up and saw it was the same number.
Claire was a little annoyed that someone was interrupting her and Roy's lovely time together and didn't really want to answer.
Roy didn't mind.
"Go ahead, answer it. Maybe it's something important?"
So, Claire answered the phone.
After a brief exchange, Claire learned that the caller was asking if she knew where another passenger was.
That passenger had agreed to join the class-action lawsuit but couldn't be contacted now.
The person on the phone suspected the airline was silencing people, warning Claire to be careful and suggesting it would be safer for her to stay with them.
This made Roy chuckle. Who in the airline would order a hit job? Were they trying to get sent to prison to drop the soap?
These kinds of companies were usually publicly traded with widely dispersed ownership. Nobody would go to that kind of trouble to save someone else money!
Conspiracy theories at this level were just conspiracy for the sake of conspiracy.
"This guy's imagination is wild! Why be a lawyer? He should be in Hollywood!"
"Who knows?"
Claire continued to lean against Roy's chest, feeling incredibly safe and completely captivated by his scent.
But soon, Claire heard a loud rumbling sound coming from Roy's stomach.
Growl!
"Uh, it's already noon. Should we go out and grab some lunch?"
Roy looked a little embarrassed. He had a pretty low tolerance for hunger, probably because of his enhanced physique.
But Claire didn't mind, as her own stomach was also starting to complain.
"Sounds good!"
Claire started to get up but immediately felt a sharp pain.
After all, she was a rookie on the battlefield, and her first encounter was against someone as powerful as Roy, and she was going it solo.
This resulted in Claire suffering more damage than she had anticipated. Getting out of bed today was unlikely unless Roy carried her the whole time.
And that was even worse than staying in bed!
"Roy, what do we do?"
Roy shrugged.
"Who told you to be so competitive? You even tried to counter-kill me last night."
During the latter part of their encounter, Claire's inner wildness had been unleashed. She had even tried to be a "female rider."
Roy figured it was those dressage-like equestrian moves that had really done her in. He thought he'd been pretty gentle last night.
But it wasn't that surprising. Claire was a girl who enjoyed fighting matches, so she definitely had a wild beast living inside her. It was just a matter of who could awaken it and who could tame it.
Claire's face instantly turned bright red. She covered it with her hands and let out a shriek.
"Ahhh—stop talking about it! I was totally out of my mind last night!"
Just thinking about what she had done last night made Claire want to hide under the covers and squirm around, but her current physical state wouldn't allow for such vigorous movements.
"Alright, alright! I'll stop! I'll go get you something to eat, and then I'll fill up my own stomach."
Roy didn't want Claire to go hungry, so he went to a fast-food place near the hotel to bring back some food for her before taking care of his own rumbling stomach.
After all, it took Roy quite a while to feel full, so it was better to let Claire eat first.
As he came back down in the elevator, Roy suddenly received a call from Niddy.
"Roy, have you had lunch yet?"
"I was just about to go get some. Niddy, is everything okay?"
"No, nothing's wrong! I just… I miss you a little!"
Roy found this a bit strange because Niddy rarely contacted him by phone. They usually chatted remotely through MSN.
Unless it was something urgent, Niddy preferred using online tools.
That girl would say anything online, but in person, she was as timid as a quail. She was the original internet giant.
Listening carefully, Roy could hear some suppressed giggling on the other end of the line. It sounded familiar, like Heather and Penny were trying not to laugh.
Wait a minute, what day was it?
Then, Roy instantly realized: it was April 9th, Penny's birthday!
Could it be that Niddy and the others were planning a surprise for him?
It seemed likely!
Jennifer knew he was in New York and participating in the Olympic world qualifiers. If Jennifer knew, then Niddy knew too. They could easily call Lambert and ask which hotel he was staying at.
So, Roy immediately started to discreetly observe his surroundings. Sure enough, he spotted a few sneaky figures behind the hotel greenery in the distance.
"Niddy, you're not trying to surprise me, are you?"
Niddy on the other end of the line went silent. Then, Roy heard Jennifer's voice.
"Niddy, Roy definitely saw us! Heather, Penny, didn't I tell you guys to hold it in and not laugh!"
So, Jennifer was in on it too. He wondered if she was the mastermind behind this.
Probably not. Penny was the one with the most outrageous ideas among the four of them. She must have come up with the initial plan, and then Niddy helped refine it.
Niddy had plenty of mischievous ideas herself, but she rarely suggested them first. She usually added to other people's plans.
Then, Jennifer and Heather were responsible for execution. Those two girls were pretty good at getting things done.
Heather's voice came through the phone again.
"Sorry, I really couldn't help it. Niddy looked so funny pretending on the phone."
"I knew we should have had Penny make the call!"
"Wouldn't that have been too obvious?"
The four girls emerged from behind the greenery and all hugged Roy at once, each giving him a sweet kiss.
This scene made all the men in the hotel look at Roy with envious eyes.
"What are you guys doing in New York?"
Roy asked, feigning ignorance. Penny provided the answer.
"Jennifer said you might not have time to come back to Waterfall Town anytime soon, so we came here. Besides, a birthday party isn't complete without you!"
Hearing this, Roy was genuinely touched. However, Jennifer, with her sharp senses, seemed to catch a certain scent and her expression turned a little strange.
"I haven't had lunch yet. Let's talk about Penny's birthday party after we eat!"
It was McDonald's again. While McDonald's fast food wasn't very nutritious, Roy was starving and couldn't wait for a more elaborate meal. At least McDonald's served quickly.
While Roy ate lunch, the girls started discussing how to celebrate the birthday party that day.
Since the surprise was already out in the open, they naturally went with the birthday girl Penny's wishes. Penny suggested finding a karaoke bar and getting a private room to drink and sing.
Yep, Penny, with her background in nightlife, was also a seasoned drinker, probably having the highest alcohol tolerance among Roy's girlfriends, excluding non-humans like Elizabeth and Jennifer.
After completing the bloodline fusion ritual, Jennifer was practically a half-demon, and her physical abilities had skyrocketed.
Everyone else agreed, and they started making preparations.
Roy also needed to get ready, especially by explaining the situation to Claire.
He had a ready-made excuse. Roy called Claire and told her he needed to discuss tactics with his coach.
As for which coach, Roy didn't specify. After all, Coach Penny was also a coach.
As a psychology PhD, Claire picked up on something in Roy's voice over the phone, but she chose not to call him out on it.
Actually, Claire had learned a bit about Roy's womanizing from Emma, and given Roy's strength and the fact that he was an athlete, she figured his needs in that area were probably quite high.
So, Claire just asked Roy if he could come back later that night and bring her some food.
Roy naturally agreed without hesitation.
New York, as America's biggest city, had a very vibrant nightlife, and you could find all sorts of venues.
Penny found a pretty decent karaoke bar, booked a private room, and then ordered a ton of alcohol.
"Tonight, nobody's leaving standing!"
Penny was incredibly excited. It had been a long time since anyone had celebrated her birthday with her after she ran away from home.
Drinking at karaoke definitely involved playing some drinking games. The four girls were united in their plan to get Roy drunk first.
They used all sorts of tricks and cheats, anything to make Roy drink.
Roy was game for anything. There was no way these little girls could outdrink him.
After drinking for a while, everyone started to feel a little tipsy.
Especially Niddy, who had the lowest tolerance. The only other time she had drunk alcohol was on her own birthday when she had some alcoholic soft drinks.
Tonight, she drank beer at the karaoke bar and quickly got drunk and passed out on the sofa.
And Penny, once she got a buzz going, took over the microphone and started singing like crazy. Everyone knew her singing skills – they were the kind that would give Roy nightmares if she sang them as lullabies.
But since it was Penny's birthday, no one wanted to stop her and just had to endure it.
Niddy looked a bit pitiful, frowning in her sleep, clearly having a nightmare.
After singing for a while, Penny finally had enough.
"I'm going to use the restroom. I'll be back to keep singing when I get back!"
Penny left the private room and wobbled towards the restroom.
At the same time, a middle-aged man came out of another private room, also heading to the restroom.
The middle-aged man was also clearly a bit drunk and entered the restroom almost right after Penny.
Afterwards, the two of them came out of the restroom around the same time.
The middle-aged man splashed some water on his face, feeling a bit more awake, and then saw a very familiar blonde woman in a red dress in the mirror.
"Penelope, is that you!"
Hearing her full name called out, Penny was a little confused because she didn't remember knowing anyone who lived in New York. She looked at the middle-aged man next to her, and her drunkenness instantly vanished.
It turned out that this middle-aged man was the owner of the bar where Penny used to work.
When Roy first met Penny, she was stripping and skimming credit cards at a bar, which led to a disagreement with the bar owner over their cut.
When the bar owner tried to force himself on Penny, Roy played the hero and saved her, and Penny had fallen completely in love with Roy ever since.
Back then, Penny had kicked the bar owner in the groin, causing him physiological issues that required treatment in a big city like New York.
Today, the bar owner's treatment had finally worked, so he came to the karaoke bar to celebrate.
Unexpectedly, he ran into Penny at the same karaoke place.
"I can't believe I ran into you here! This is great!"
Looking at the bar owner's sinister grin, Penny turned and ran, knowing she'd be safe once she got back to the private room.
However, because she had drunk too much, Penny's balance was off, and she tripped and fell to the ground after only a few steps.
"Help! Help!"
The deafening sound in the karaoke bar drowned out Penny's cries for help. People passing by in the hallway didn't want to get involved and just watched as the bar owner dragged Penny back into his private room.
Back in Roy's private room, Heather was also pretty drunk, but Jennifer was only slightly tipsy.
"Roy, hasn't Penny been gone to the bathroom for a little too long?"
Penelope Brown (Kylie Cowan)
Support me by leaving a comment, voting, and visiting myPatr-eon at belamy20
Check out another story in my profile original works