Jove looked for Aster in the dormitories, but her room was empty. He headed for the common area after, and found it empty as well, on first inspection. He'd taken a single step through the door when he heard movement behind him and felt a finger gun press in between his shoulder blades.
"You have to step quieter than that if you're expecting to sneak up on me," she said, voice serious and powerful.
Jove immediately realized two things. The first was that his aunt was in character as Rose from Rose of Redding, adopting the mannerisms of the dangerous and alluring private investigator she'd once played on TV. The second was that Aster was somewhat drunk.
"Nice to see that my lockpicking didn't go to waste," he said, turning around.
"Yes, well, I felt like I could use a drink after today's events," she said. "At least now that you're here I don't have to feel guilty about drinking alone."
She skipped over to the liquor cabinet, bending forward to pull out one of the tequila bottles. Jove tried not to stare at her ass, but he didn't try that hard.
"You know, my mother would probably want us to save all the hard liquor for medicinal purposes," he said.
"Your mother, my sister, is a fucking bitch," said Aster. "Which is to say that I'm sure you're right about that. She'd lock it all back up, but of course, you could just lockpick it back out with your immense talent."
She held the tequila bottle against her chest as she slowly glided toward him, her eyes holding his in an interesting way.
"For the right price," he said.
"Oh?" She blinked, feigning surprise. "Darling, you'd really charge your beloved aunt for such a small favor?"
"A fair but reasonable price."
"One which you would, of course, let me negotiate down." She opened the bottle and handed it to him. "Right, Jovian?"
"I'd be open to a compelling offer." Jove took a swig of tequila, wincing at the flavor. "Ah. Now am I negotiating with my Aunt Aster or Rose of Redding?"
The question had been playful, but Aster let out a tired, surprisingly vulnerable sigh. "I hope Mitch Golden got nuked in the bombings. He's the asshole director who killed off my character, the lead fucking character."
He passed her back the bottle. "The news mentioned the two of you had a falling out, but it was all speculation. They never gave any hard details."
Aster took the bottle, expression suddenly guarded. "They did not."
If she'd simply given him something, even an obvious lie, Jove probably would have let it drop.
"Let's play truth or dare," he said.
"Jovian…" Aster's tone had an edge of warning that reminded him of his mother.
"Come on," he said, letting his fingers brush hers as he reached for the bottle again. "At least this way you'll have the ability to dredge up my secrets in return."
"I don't want to talk about what happened with the show." She took a slow sip of the tequila, pulling it away from Jove. "Some things in life aren't meant to be dredged up. Some things don't teach you a lesson, they just leave a bruise, or missing an arm, and the only thing to take away from it is that the world fucking sucks."
She looked away from him, seeming like a much younger woman in that instant of vulnerability. Jove wrapped her in a hug, Aster setting the bottle down to fully reciprocate.
She smelled a little musky, but in a good way. In a bad way. His body was still primed from his weird interaction with his mother earlier, and he made to let go after a second, but Aster held firm.
"Truth or dare," she whispered into his ear.
"Dare." A flutter of excitement danced through him as he spoke the single syllable.
His aunt pulled back slightly, and Jove let his arms slowly drop, fingers tracing the sides of her hips with the free touchiness of inebriation.
"Give me a foot rub," said Aster. She flopped onto the couch, giggling as she bounced once before coming to a rest.
"That's really more of a request than a dare," said Jove.
"It was your idea, darling," said Aster. "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
He sighed with exaggerated reluctance and took a seat on the edge of the couch. Aster set her feet in his lap. Jove felt an odd rise in the tension between him as he pulled off one of her thick wool socks, revealing the bare foot underneath.
"Mmm." Aster did an interesting stretch, arching her back as she flexed her foot for his inspection.
Jove let his thumb brush across the pad, just under the toes, and heard her let out a tiny noise of appreciation.
"Truth or dare." Jove let his other hand stray up to her calf, sliding her tight jeans, which were stretchier than he'd realized, back along her leg.
"Truth," said Aster, voice quiet.
"What happened between you and my mother?"
"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that."
Aster curled and uncurled her toes. Jove caressed her foot with one hand while the other focused more on her leg, slowly inching upward.
"The two of you seemed to have a falling out right around when I was in high school, I think," said Jove.
"Think it would have been closer to when you were in junior high, at least to begin with," said Aster.
"So you do know what I'm talking about."
"It's complicated," muttered Aster.
"You can always pick dare instead."
Aster let out an impossibly sexy little laugh. Jove dug his fingers a bit deeper into her calf, feeling a stirring of arousal that he tried to breathe through. She was his aunt, his mom's sister. If he was reacting like that to her laugh then it really had been way too long since he'd gotten laid.
"What happened between us?" mused Aster. "Life, I suppose."
"Going to need more details than that, auntie dearest." His fingers brushed higher up her leg, running into the bunched bottom of her jeans.
"We were always competitive," said Aster. "It really does remind me a bit of you and Eve, but the gap between us was larger. Your mother thought it was funny at first, like back when I was sixteen and she was twenty-two and I used to try to flirt with her old boyfriend."
"What was the result of that?"
"Nothing, that's why she found it funny and I fumed over being ignored. At least that's what it felt like in my dumb head, at the time. She started taking me seriously eventually, but it was all just petty, pointless sibling rivalry stuff until I got serious about acting."
"She didn't like that you moved to LA?"
"She thought it was funny, back when I was working as a hostess and living in a shitty apartment with five roommates. It wasn't until I started to get a little bit of success that it bothered her. When I finally landed that last big role as Rose of Redding - that's when the jealousy really kicked off."
"You think she was jealous of you?" Jove let out an amused chuckle.
"I know she was," said Aster. " She used to love acting. She did all the plays in high school and was planning on pursuing acting as a career. My mom convinced her to go to college for something more practical instead, since her grades were incredible. She never told you any of this?"
"…No." He massaged her foot on autopilot, reeling from the revelation. "It's a little hard to picture her as an actress."
Except, it wasn't. It might have been hard to picture his mother that way, but Kira Faremont, beautiful, confident, never balking in the face of any challenge, easily fit the bill.
"Life took her down a different path," said Aster. "She got research grants. She got married. She had kids. She watched me start dating actors, take a leading role on a Netflix original series, end up on the cover of Vogue, even.
"And then she watched my fall. Now she always has this smirk when the topic of how long it's been since my last role comes up like she can only just hold back from gloating over how dead my career is."
"You know, LA is probably dead now, too," said Jove.
"Ridiculous," muttered Aster. "We would have heard it mentioned in that video the research assistant recorded for us if that was the case. It's probably fine, and I'm betting the situation with the other cities is overblown. This will all work out."
He wished he could believe that, too. He grabbed the tequila bottle and took a long sip. "My turn."
"Truth or dare, Jovian."
"Dare."
"Do one truth, at least," said Aster. "Please?"
"Fine. Truth."
"Do you have a girlfriend?" asked Aster.
The question was innocuous on the surface, but Jove instantly felt that evil stirring again. He reminded himself that it was his aunt he was talking to, his aunt whose calf he was currently caressing.
"I do not," he said. "At the moment."
"Why not?"
"Honestly, that's a good question," he muttered. "The women I meet who I click with all seem to be married or have boyfriends. The women I meet who I have a chance with, on the other hand, are never my type."
"I bet you have a chance with a lot more women than you think you do," said Aster. "My turn."
"Truth or dare," said Jove.
Aster's eyes took on a gleam that made him think that she was going to say dare, but she didn't. "Truth."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He smirked as he hit the question right back.
"No, I don't," said Aster, with a sigh. "Thanks for the reminder. And I'll tell you why not. It's because in the eyes of Hollywood, I'm no longer relevant."
"You're out of your mind if you think most guys would even stop to think about that in the seconds before…"
"Seconds before what?" Aster smirked at him but didn't press him on how he'd been about to end that particular sentence. "Anyway, the guys who do still come calling are all basically the male version of gold diggers. I'm barely a millionaire from Rose of Redding. I doubt they'd even bother if they knew that."
"Oh, I don't know about that."
They shared an odd flicker of eye contact. Jove kept rubbing one of his fingers along her calf, and the moment felt loaded and dangerous.
"Dare," he said.
"Ooh, I didn't even have to ask," said Aster. "Sure you want to go there, darling?"
"I'm sure."
"I dare you…" She paused and bit her lower lip in the sexiest way. "To strip naked… and run outside the station."
"Uh… Pretty sure that would kill me."
"You know, that might be true," said Aster. "How about this then? I dare you to run through the station naked."
"It's going to get real awkward, real fast if my mom or Eve see me," he said.
"That's why it's a dare. I didn't realize you were a chicken. How about this? I dare you to run naked to the sauna. At least this way you'll have a destination in mind. I'll bring your clothes and set them outside so they'll be there for you when you get out."
Jove got the distinct sense that if he backed out, his aunt would never let him live it down. He slid her feet out of his lap and stood up, realizing he was somewhat aroused from the massage and her teasing.
He stood up and took his shirt off slowly. He was in decent shape, not chiseled muscle, but far from flabby. As he took his jeans off, he felt a bit more awkward, fully aware of how Aster's gaze was solidly affixed on his little show.
"I'll be taking this too," he said, stealing the tequila bottle from her hand.
"I like a man who knows what he wants," said Aster.
He was still in his boxers and took a sip for what came next. With one hand still on the bottle, he used the other to pull them down and kicked them aside as he stepped out of them. His cock immediately began rising the rest of the way toward a full-blown erection.
"Well then…" Aster's eyes seemed to twinkle, her gaze glued to his cock like it was the first one she'd ever seen. "Whenever you're ready."
Jove capped the tequila bottle, fully intent on sprinting at full fucking speed to the sauna. The game between him and Aster was fresh in the same way milk was - quick to sour out in the open.
He skipped over to the door, opened it, and charged forth.