It was during an end-of-the-semestercleaning when Matthew found the silk black rose he'd put in Anna's hair so long ago hiding at the bottom of his backpack. He recognized it the moment he saw it there - smashed and dirty from half a year's worth of neglect and his propensity to abuse his belongings.

He twisted the rose in his hand, the image of when he last saw it in her curled red hair instantly leaping to mind. It was the last he'd spoken to Anna face to face – a night from a different lifetime. The night they played the game.

He marveled at how he had these memories of rare nights that hardly felt like his own – as if he were walking around with the dreams of another man in his head.

He tried to will himself to put the rose away and move on with the cleaning but he couldn't stop staring at it. He wanted to go back to that place, that game. He put the rose to his lips and closed his eyes.

- - -

Rihanna played in the background – the echoing techno infiltrating Matt's brain. He watched the city of Montreal from his hotel room on the top floor. The city was tail lights blinking and bright beacons calling and the heavy drone of office floors still blazing, sprawled out below him. Montreal was a whole galaxy of little stars twisting before his bay windows.

This was his first hotel room as an adult, where he'd blasted off to the moment he'd turned 18 and collected his vast inheritance - looking for the same brilliance Anna had found crossing borders and dodging responsibility the year before him.

The city had rewarded his youthful excess with it's lavish vibrance, music and lights.

Anna was there with him, playing an adult version of dress-up in his penthouse closet before they went out to meet one of her new-age sex-frenzied college friends. A college friend whom Anna had reportedly done very scandalous things to. He watched her, feeling like a new puppy in the big, bad world, cast in the shadow of her easy exuberance. A rich, horny new puppy.

They were both already a bottle and a half deep into some cheap white Zinfandel when she'd plopped herself into his lap, her glass of bubbly, tipping in hand.

“Let's be somebody else tonight,” she said.

He took the glass from her and gave it a sip. “Who?”

She leaned in close to him. “Free people .”

“Are we not already?”

“No. I mean truly free.” She touched his face. “Where you can let go of everything. All the roles we forced ourselves to play growing up.”

Matt could almost taste her body and resisted the urge to let his hands wander more than invited. He downed the rest of the glass. “I can play this game,” he said.

She leapt to her feet and bounced back into the closet. He sat back on his elbows and watched happily as she dressed and undressed before him again and again. She was rampantly oblivious to the years of awkward sexual tension that had been their entire adolescence living next door to one another. She flippantly cast off dresses left and right to apply new ones right before him, wearing a different face in the mirror for each outfit. This one hot and dirty, that one sweet and naïve, and this one sexy and mysterious.

She decided on a black “dress” that could have as easily been a shirt. It ended just below her ass, over fishnet that stretched from her feet to shoulders and black leather boots that went up to her knees.

He raised a brow and licked his lips. “Are you sure we have to go to the club?”

She pulled him up. “You'll like it.”

“If I don't, will there be punishment involved?”

- - -

Muzique was a place for the privileged. Even outside, they could hear the music pumping and for Matt the neon sign was already whizzing when he turned his head from side to side.

There was a line around the block where Anna spotted the blond and curvy Leia in a short glittery red dress. Anna gave Leia a kiss on each cheek before introducing her to Matt. She gave him a sideways grin as she surveyed his body, giving him a subtle nod of approval before dragging the two of them past the bouncer and red velvet rope.

Inside, they were bathed in blue from every angle of the room - the strobe lights above to the glowing blue tables and bar that looked like a swimming pool. A hundred bodies jumped and twisted and ground against each other while the music ran through them, shaking Matt's ribs and consuming him.

Their movements flashed and leapt in the strobes. The girls pulled him onto the dance floor where they became one with the mass – bumping and sweating and molding with the others.

Waitresses roamed the crowd, holding trays of fluorescent tubes, offering them to anyone who would throw a few bucks their way. Matt got three and offered one to each of the girls. He held one finger up, then two, and on three they all chugged.

Green and blue swept across them, revealing cross dressers and belly dancers and girls almost naked getting dollar bills tucked into their panties and one man with purple angel wings on his back – and all of it alternating between the dancers and the night and when the lights came over them again, there was always something different before him and always the music vibrating in his bones.

Everywhere, there were people kissing and drinking and licking strange substances off one another.

Anna and Leia were no exception. Leia had mysteriously been stripped down to a bra and thong when Matt turned to her next and had a shot glass between her voluptuous breasts. Anna thrust the red dress into Matt's hands. “Hold this,” she whispered in his ear.

Anna got on her knees and dragged her tongue from Leia's naval to her bra and took the shot glass in her teeth, tossing her head back to drink it's contents.

Matt wondered if anyone would notice his erection in all this. Part of him didn't give a damn. Anna had just taken a shot from between another woman's tits.

Leia pulled Anna's hand and Anna grabbed a hold of Matt, dragging them to a booth table on the side emitting sapphire and cyan like radiation.

Leia presented them with two more rounds of liquid that glowed under the black lights.

The music was palpable, closing in all around them. Anna had to yell into Matt's ear to be heard.

“Do you want to be someone else?” she said. “Do you want to play a game?”

“What's the point of this game?”

“To live,” Leia said over the music. “A hundred times on a hundred different nights. We only live once, but the lifetimes we can experience are endless.” She finished off her drink and threw it on the table. “Until we die, that is.”

“Do you want to be part of this lifetime?” Anna said.

“How do we play?”

She kissed him. “Let go.”

He licked his lips as she moved away. He motioned to a waitress and ordered a bottle of wine, and Leia pulled the drape shut. It was dark but for a faint drift of light through the fabric and the table glowing blue against their faces.

Anna kneeled on the table, kissing Leia, red hair falling against Leia's golden strands. Matt stretched his arms across the back of the bench and drank in this scene.

Leia pushed Anna onto her back against the table. She bit her neck, digging her teeth into Anna's flesh. Anna arched her back and cried out. She raked her glittering nails down Leia's bare back.

Leia tugged on Anna's dress and she got back to her knees to peel off the dress. Anna was now wearing nothing but boots and fishnet from her fingers, over her body, down her legs and disappearing beneath the boots.

Leia pulled her by the shoulders and they kissed again, their tongues peeping out briefly for Matt's viewing pleasure.

Anna leaned back in a captivating display of flexibility and strength while Leia buried her face in Anna's breasts. She grabbed Matt by his shirt and pulled him to her. She took his lip between her teeth. He gasped, grabbing her by the hair and stood over her, plunging his tongue into her mouth.

She ran her fingers through his short, floppy hair and traced his neck with shallow kisses. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

Anna stopped and looked up at Leia who held a blue pill between thumb and index finger. She smiled. “Ever wonder what happens when you give a young, fully capable young male a libido enhancer?”
“Leai, don't kill him!”

“It won't. My friends take it all the time.”

“Is that Viagra?” Matt said.

She shook her head. “Arginine. Curious?”

He looked from her to Anna and moved to take it from her. She tsked him and moved in to feed it between his lips, running a finger along his cheek when he had swallowed it. His features were broad and angelic at once. She kissed him. He kissed her back, watching Anna out one eye. She studied them, amused.

Leia pulled away and produced another pill from her clutch. This one was pink. She raised a brow at Anna. “Your turn.”

“What, on earth, could that be for?”

“My girlfriend tells me this changes how it feels.”

“She's poisoning both us,” Matt said, sipping on wine.

Anna let it be fed to her, swallowing it dry. “And you?”

“I'll take it if it makes you feel better, but I still have my V, and I'm not planning to lose it in this lifetime – not here. It wouldn't do me any good.”

Anna eyed her a moment, then pushed her over the table, straddling her. She kissed down Leia's neck to her collar bone and then tugged at Leia's bra with her teeth. She pulled it down and sucked on her nipple. Leia twisted her hands in Anna's hair and pressed her hips against Anna's stomach.

Leia reached over the table and stroked Matt through his pants. She looked at him while she licked Anna's neck.

Anna turned to him, red hair falling wildly around her, lips flush and full, her eyeshadow dark against shining green eyes.

Matt touched the fishnet twining across Anna's body.

He let the music and the heat of their bodies pour into him as if he were breathing them.

He was waiting for an invitation but they'd given him libido enhancers and asked if he'd play their game. He leaned forward and bit Anna's stomach. She gasped, head bolting back, eyes closed, mouth open. He climbed over her as she turned her attention back to Leia, seeking out the other breast and nibbling on it.

Matt kissed Anna between the shoulder blades, feeling now the full force of every nerve in his body raging to be free.

His fingers sought out her opening and ripped the fishnet surrounding it. He hastily worked off his belt and undid his pants then plunged into her. A whole night of being teased and now he punished her pussy for it.

She screamed. He could barely hear it from where he was, close enough to penetrate her. If he thought about it long enough, he'd be disturbed that the sound probably wouldn't even make it past the drape. “Are you okay?”

She answered him by pushing her hips into his violently.

Anna gripped the table to steady herself against his powerful pounding and leaned over Leia, mouth agape. Leia kissed Anna's jaw gently.

Matt came almost immediately. He tried to pick up his rhythm again, hoping neither of them would notice, but Anna turned over and pushed him against the bench. He fell and stared up at her.

She leaned over him, butt in the air to compensate for her higher platform and took his bare penis in her mouth.

He sighed and rested his head against the seat while she bobbed her head over him. His erection hadn't waned in the slightest and his heart was crashing about in his chest. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Anna had one hand between Leia's legs.

He pulled Leia's knee and dragged her across the table. He twisted so that he could bury his face between her legs. He licked her lips, pulling them apart with his fingers and delved into her insides with his tongue.

She leaned back, rolling her eyes, one hand in his hair, the other fondling one of Anna's breasts.

“ Oh God ,” Matt said, somewhere between upset, elated and distraught. He was coming again and clutched the back of Anna's head as he pumped his seed down her throat.

He dropped back against the seat with a thud. He gaped up at the low ceiling. He was dizzy.

“How can this be happening?” he said to no one.

When he looked back, Leia had Anna pinned, with a knee on each of Anna's palms. Matt wondered idly if, even with the full weight of her body, Leia was strong enough to hold Anna down.

He voiced his curiosity out loud.

“Only one way find out,” Anna said, flipping Leia against the opposite seat.

Leia came back at her, pulling on a fistful of red hair and kissing Anna fully. “Are you suggesting we wrestle?”

Anna sat up suddenly. “Outside.” She grabbed her dress and threw it back on. She turned to Matt. “Can you walk?”

He held a hand out to her, which she pulled on. He wobbled a minute then steadied himself and zipped back up.

Leia threw open the drape and stepped back, waiting for them.

Matt looked down at himself. “It won't go away.”

“No one will notice,” Leia said. She took his hand and he grabbed Anna with his other hand. Leia led them through the crowd. Everything was moving and falling apart. The floor, the ceiling, the bodies – everything was pulsating.

Outside, everything was warm and orange.

Matt stared at the sky while Anna and Leia tumbled into the mud.

Anna let Leia get the drop first, going down easily. Leia straddled Anna's chest, holding her hands over her head. She licked her neck, sucking here and there, leaving a faint trail of hickeys across her skin.

Anna bucked Leia with her hips and sent her flying to the side. Anna followed, on top of her in seconds. She held Leia's hands up and kissed her. When Leia tried to kiss her back, Anna pulled away, hovering just a whisper out of Leia's reach.

Leia squirmed and tried to twist in Anna's grip, but Anna, readjusted and turned her own body weight to compensate effortlessly.

Anna clacked her teeth teasingly over Leia before relaxing her grip and pulling her hips against her body. She buried her tongue in Leia's mouth and twirled her blond locks between her fingers.

Matt stood over them with a ring of several other guys and a few girls waiting at their turn for attention. He desperately willed himself not to masturbate in public.

Leia noticed them and threw mud at Anna. “You're all dirty!”

Anna hurled the mud back. “ You're all dirty.”

Leia leapt at Anna, rolling her over. Anna leaned into her and perpetuated the roll into the crowd of on-lookers who squealed and moved away. Leia got to her knees and pulled one of the eager girls, another blond, down with them.

She was hesitant at first and resorted to flicking mud and Leia and Anna, but when Leia kissed her softly on the lips, she leaned in and Leia pushed her back into the mud.

Anna slipped away from them and returned to Matt's side.

“You're all dirty,” he said.

“Whatever will I do with myself?” she asked in her cheesiest voice, eyes still on Leia and the new blond girl.

He gestured with his chin. “There's a pool.”

She took a step back. “Don't you dare.”

She almost dodge out of the way, but blood was rushing through him faster than it had in all his life and he snatched her around the waist, hoisting her over his shoulder and carrying her to the pool. She pounded on his back.

“Matthew James, you'll be so dead.”

“We're playing somebody else, remember?” he leaned back to heave her in but she hooked a foot around the railing and pulled while he was off-balance, toppling them both into the icy water.

Bubbles rushed around them. The world down here was subdued, the music distant and submissive. Their clothes swirled chaotically against their skin, hair suspended and flowing around their faces.

But then the surface was crashing back at them and they both came topside gasping for air.

Anna splashed him and he splashed her back.

“Hope your suit likes chlorine,” she said.

“Might as well make it worth it.” He grabbed her foot and pulled her legs open around his waist. She sucked in her breath, arms wrapped behind his neck. She kissed his brow as he undid his pants again and pushed up her dress.

She gasped and gripped his shoulders as he entered her the second time that night. He bounced them slowly, looking around to see if anyone was watching but Leia and the blond held the crowd captive. He kissed Anna's cheek down her jaw line and to her lips.

They stared at each other, wet and reeling.

The breeze chilled Matt's face and he could feel his heart slowing. He pulled her hips to and fro easily in the water and she rolled her eyes, leaning back.

“It really does feel different,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Softer. Not like you're softer, but like I'm softer. And you're just.... everywhere in me. It's hard to explain.” Her hair was drifting in the water now and she stared up at the stars. He stood on his toes and worked her in and out. He traced a finger along the wet outline of her breast.

She wrapped a leg tight against his back and pulled herself up, kissing him on the lips.

“It won't go down,” he said.

“Are you worried?”

“Is it possible to have so much sex it falls off? I know it sounds like a ridiculous question, but right now, I'm starting to feel like there might be something to it.”

She gripped him with her inner muscles and he gasped, closing his eyes.

“It feels pretty well attached to me,” she said.

“Where did you learn to even do that?”

She smiled and sucked on his neck, hands tracing his hard body beneath the suit.

In one motion, he pulled out, turned her around and pushed her against the side of the pool. She gripped the tiles lining the pool area as he took her from behind.

She cried out and dropped her head against his shoulder, wet hair sticking to her face, as he pounded her again and again, sending waves lapping across the floor above. He hooked his chin against his collar bone and rammed her against the wall.

She gritted her teeth and tried to stifle a scream. She wrapped an arm behind her and over his shoulder, digging her nails into his soft back.

He sped up, his thrusts plunging in and out of her faster than she could comprehend, and then he was coming in her again. He gave her a few last good pumps and rested his head on her shoulder. His blond hair hung dripping over his brow as he looked up at her, tilting his head to the side.

There were words on her lips but they would come out.

Finally, he stood straight up, sniffed and shook his head, sending water flying in every direction. He pulled out of her and tucked himself back in before hopping up on the side of the pool. He pulled her up next to him and laid back against the cold tile, staring up at the clouds breaking up the blue of dawn.

That's when he noticed the fake plant hanging over them. He reached up and ripped off one of the flowers. Anna raised a brow at him.

He sat up and tucked it into her soaked red hair and kissed her.

The next morning when he faded to sleep next to her in the sunlit hotel room was the last time he saw Anna face to face. It was hard to come back to reality after such games. Hard to come back to what they had been before.

- - -

Matthew twirled the silk rose in his fingers, carefully considering the various lives they had lived. He dropped the silk rose to the table and picked up his phone next to it.

He figured it a good enough day to live another lifetime.