A Polite Pervert Pt. 05

Olivia looked skeptical. "So we're playing strip poker?"

"It's not poker," I said, shuffling the deck.

"I don't know how to play poker," noted Lynette.

"Not poker," I repeated. "It's a traditional game called, 'I'm just making this up right now as I go along.'" This was not entirely true. The idea for this game had actually been floating through my perverted little mind for several years. I had just never had a chance to try it out in practice.

"No, wait," I said as inspiration struck. I fanned the cards face up on the desk with a flourish. "The game is called, 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.'"

It was Thursday, which meant it was Date Night. Since Olivia and Lynette both had class on Thursday, we'd fallen into the routine of getting together for dinner and a show on that night. We didn't usually end the evening at my apartment, but on this particular occasion I had insisted.

It was mid-December, and New York was fully decked out for the holiday season. Olivia had already unveiled her new seasonal hair color, green with little streaks of red peppered throughout. The green had turned out closer to lettuce than a pine tree, but her goal of making sure the world knew she was an art student was fulfilled. She had also swapped her glasses for a set of red translucent frames, which I knew we would see again come Valentine's Day.

The rotating wheel of dinner options had brought us back to Chinese that evening. I was enjoying watching Lynette as she scraped the last of the sesame noodles onto her plate. Lynette always ate heartily and enthusiastically on our theater nights. I suspect our outings may have been the only truly satisfying meal she had most weeks.

Around mouthfuls of garlic broccoli, Olivia was complaining about not being able to decide what class she wanted to take in the coming semester. It was early December, and the School of Theater Arts' Fall term would be coming to a close soon. Olivia was excited about a seminar on gender expression in Commedia Dell'Arte, but there was a required course in Theater Lighting that she needed to take at some point.

"Take them both," I told her.

"I can't afford both," she complained.

I started to reply, but predicting what I was going to say, Olivia cut me off to ask Lynette what she was going to be taking.

Lynette took a moment to swallow. When she did respond, her answer was barely audible. "I'm... uh... I'm not going to be able to go next term," she said in a small voice.

Olivia was shocked. "What? Why not?"

"I wasn't able to get the financial aid I was hoping for," she said. I wasn't clear on all the details of Lynette's financial picture, but I got the sense that she was receiving no support from her parents back in Iowa. Her Aunt Lucy was helping her out with free lodging at her house in Scarsdale, but STA was expensive, and I don't think Lucy was particularly affluent.

When she wasn't in the city, Lynette had been working part-time at a movie theater in Westchester. New York State minimum wage was a little over four dollars an hour back then, and while Westchester was a high cost-of-living area, I can't imagine she was making more than a buck or two over that.

She spent almost nothing as far as I could see, squirreling as much of her paycheck into savings as she could, but there's only so much you can do with that kind of money. I saw that she was wearing a new winter coat, which was absolutely essential for surviving a New York winter. It was an off-brand thing that probably only cost her about fifty bucks, but that could very well have represented a whole weekend's wages for her.

She must have had a coat back in Iowa, I thought. I assumed that either the cost of the flight back was prohibitive, or she just didn't want to make the trip.

For my part, I was currently enjoying more cash than I knew what to do with. The dot com bubble was picking up steam, and one of the investment analysts at my job had coached me on how to separate the performers from the frauds. I was nowhere near as wealthy as most of the people I worked with, but I definitely had the means to help out a couple of struggling students.

I raised a hand and waggled my fingers. "Howdy, ya'll! Financial aid sitting right here!"

My relationship with Lynette was still pretty new. I'd only known her for about three months, and we had just had sex for the first time a week ago. But I liked her, and I was looking forward to exploring a longer-term relationship with her. Attending classes was currently her primary motivation for coming into the city. If that were curtailed, I was concerned about how often I would get to see her.

"Cut it out, Ray," admonished Olivia. "You already spend way too much on us." This was debatable. It was true that I picked up the tab for our weekly theater outings, but this was pretty much my only frivolous expenditure. I didn't have a car. I didn't have expensive hobbies. And I maintained a small studio apartment in what was still an affordable neighborhood. Spreading some of the wealth to my friends did not seem inappropriate.

I ignored Olivia and focused my attention on Lynette. "If you intend to finish your degree, you really need to stay in the game. There's nothing wrong with enrolling part-time, but skipping a semester drastically increases the odds of you never going back."

"It's just a lot more expensive than I thought it was going to be. I just don't have that kind of money."

"But I do," I said, covering her hand with my own. "Let me help."

"We're almost out of time anyway," noted Olivia. The open enrollment deadline is tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I said. For all her charms, Lynette lacked the ability to make quick decisions. She was an anxious person by nature, and suffered from panic attacks when confronted with stressful or confusing situations. But in my experience, she responded well to decisions being made for her.

I excused myself from the table. It was the '90s, so pay phones were still fairly ubiquitous. I found one near the restaurant's men's room and plunked in a quarter. After consulting my brand-new, state-of-the-art Palm Pilot, I punched in a number.

"Hi, Lucy? This is Ray, Lynette's friend."

I don't even remember what show we saw that night. I was too distracted by my plotting. I am unquestionably a bit of a closet creep. I do my level best to remain polite and forthright in my daily interactions with women, but behind the facade is nothing but perversion.

Ever since I started making a decent living, I found myself entertaining fantasies of how I could leverage this bounty into sex. Obviously there was no shortage of prostitutes in New York, but that's not where my inclinations lay. I was far more intrigued by the demure women; the ones who specifically didn't want to have sex with me. What could they be coaxed into, I wondered, if the price was right?

That's what put the notion of the game in my head. It was a simple premise. Choose the right card and get paid. Choose the wrong card, and we find out exactly how far you're willing to go.

It had always remained just a dumb, unrealized fantasy until now, but as I sat in the darkened theater next to Lynette, I considered whether tonight might be my chance for a test run.

I'm not the kind of guy who gets many invitations to threesomes. I'm more of the guy you call when you need help getting your DVR to play through your stereo. But here I was with two women, both of whom I'd seen naked, both of whom I'd shared some degree of intimacy with, and both of whom needed something I had. I didn't think I could forgive myself if I didn't at least explore the idea.

The show ended a little before 10:30, Lynette led the way as we exited the theater. She was hoping to catch a 10:50 train, and getting across town to Grand Central in that time would be tight.

"You're not going back to Scarsdale tonight," I told her. "We're all going to my place."

The girls were confused and didn't respond immediately.

"I already called Lucy and explained the situation. You're going to come with me, and we're going to get you registered for next semester."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Ray, we went over this."

"You're coming too," I told her. I took both women by the arm and pointed them in the direction of my apartment. Olivia still seemed annoyed, but I was glad to see she was indeed coming with us.

"You can't keep paying my way forever," complained Olivia as we walked. "This semester was already way too much."

This caught Lynette by surprise. It took her a few paces to process Olivia's remark. "You're paying her tuition now?"

"It wasn't my idea," Olivia clarified. "He paid my tuition bill while I was asleep."

In my bed, I thought to myself. With your naked ass still sticky from my cum. "And it worked," is what I actually said. "Don't think I won't do it again."

It was a little before eleven when I called up the STA's website on the computer in my apartment. I had equipped the ladies with beverages and they had settled in, Olivia sitting cross-legged on the foot of my bed, and Lynette reclining on the sofa.

"OK," I said as I scanned the course listings. "You wanted the thing about Commedia Dell'Arte. Comedy... Comedy... There it is. And Lighting? Intro to Lighting?"

"Theater Lighting in Production," corrected Olivia.

"There we go. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8am. With a Wednesday night lab?"

"They call them Workshops," noted Lynette.

"And what about you?" I asked her. "Did you want the same?"

Lynette's answer was very quiet. "I was thinking of the Lighting one, yes."

"And what else?"

"Don't push it, Ray," admonished Olivia.

But Lynette did continue. "There's a class called Concepts in Costuming that I was looking at."

I checked the catalog. "Also Tuesday Thursday. That's perfect! Let's do it!"

"These classes are seven hundred dollars a credit," noted Olivia. "Twelve credits is... like..." She faltered as she tried to work out the math.

"Eighty four hundred dollars," I concluded. "That's my problem, not yours."

"There's no way I'm going to be able to pay that back," said Lynette.

"You're not going to pay me back," I replied, digging through a desk drawer. "You're going to win the money. Right now." And with that I produced a deck of cards.

Which brings us back to where we came in. "The game is called, 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.'" I pulled out the Queen of Diamonds to illustrate. "These are what you're looking for. Draw a diamond, and you win. Draw any other suit, and you pay a price."

"What kind of price?" asked Lynette. I expected her to bristle at the idea of naughty party games, but she seemed captivated by the idea.

"We'll have to figure that out as we go," I explained. "The premise is, you keep drawing cards until you either hit a diamond, which earns you money, or a penalty you're not willing to do. Then the other player gets a turn."

I started shuffling the deck. I wasn't actually much of a card player myself. I had the deck because I used to teach myself card tricks back when I was in high school. I was adept enough that I could do a few convincing false shuffles, and I don't think either of the girls noticed what I was doing.

"Who wants to go first?" I said, slapping the deck down on the desk in front of Olivia. I knew this was only going to work if she bought into it. Lynette would never have volunteered to go first in something she didn't fully understand. But if Olivia started the ball rolling, Lynette could probably be persuaded to join in.

"What do I do?" Olivia asked.

"Just draw a card."

She hesitated a moment, but then did as asked. She turned the top card over. It was the Three of Clubs.

"Clubs is clothes," I said. "If you want to draw again, you forfeit one item of clothing."

"Ah," said Olivia. "So this is a pervert game."

"Definitely. That's the whole point."

"I get to choose?" she asked.

"This time. Face cards are different. Queens are ladies' choice. Kings are dealer's choice. That's me."

She took off a sock and laid it gingerly on the bed beside her. Then she wiggled her toes at me coquettishly. I did a little mental calculation. Olivia was wearing a pair of socks. Jeans and a sweatshirt. Probably a t-shirt beneath. Bra and panties. That's seven items of clothing. Lynette was wearing a long-sleeved dress with woolen tights. Probably a tank top or camisole underneath. A pair of socks and panties. That's six, for a combined total of thirteen items. Exactly the number of clubs that would be in the deck.

This could work out perfectly.

"Now what?" asked Olivia.

"Draw again."

She did so, to reveal the Six of Diamonds.

"There you go! Bing bing bing, we have a winner!"

"What do I win?" she asked.

"It's a hundred bucks a pip. That's six hundred dollars." I laid the card on the desk in front of her to keep score.

"Just like that? I don't have to do some weird sex thing?"

I made a note to myself to limit the number of weird sex things I asked for.

"That's literally all there is to it," I said. I picked the deck up off the desk and held it out to Lynette. "Care to try?"

I had thought Lynette might require some coaxing, but she snapped up the top card eagerly. It was the Jack of Diamonds.

"Well done," I said. "Face cards count as ten. So that's a thousand."

"Dollars?" asked Lynette, with no small degree of shock in her voice. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds, which put me in mind of weird sex things again.

"Yep." I lay the card on the arm of the sofa next to her.

"But... but I didn't do anything!"

"Of course you did. You played the game, and you won."

"But what's in it for you?" asked Olivia.

"By the time the game is over, that will become apparent."

"This feels like a set-up," she grumbled. "This is way too easy."

She was right. I was cheating. I had deliberately moved a couple of diamonds to the top of the deck, hoping to get the girls invested early on. From here on in however, the game would be more-or-less honest. I had no idea what was coming up next.

"Back to you," I told Olivia, offering the cards.

Olivia still looked skeptical, but she drew again. Ace of Hearts.

"What does a heart mean?" she asked.

"Love, obviously. And that means physical contact. When you draw a heart, I get to touch any bit of exposed skin on your body for the number of seconds represented on the card."

"So an Ace is..."

"One second."

Olivia struggled to put this together. "So you get to touch my hands, or my foot, for one second?"

"Any exposed skin," I corrected.

"Umm... OK." She held out her hands. "Go for it."

I ignored her hands. Instead I put my hand on the back of her head, pulled her close, and mashed my mouth against hers. As advertised, the kiss lasted only a second, but Olivia was still stunned.

"Wow," she said as she sat back. Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, she added, "That was... forceful."

"Now you see what I get out it," I noted, then nodded to the deck.

Olivia drew again. Two of Spades.

"Oh," I said. "That's actually kind of disappointing."

"What do spades mean?" asked Lynette.

"Spades are special. Each one is a specific penalty imposed on the player. The Two means I get to take a picture of you."

"And you were hoping it would come later in the game," observed Olivia.

"Exactly. Still..." I took my camera out of the desk. "Are you up for it?"

Olivia reclined back on her elbows and cocked her head to the side, striking an exaggeratedly winsome pose, and I snapped a picture. I had been hoping for more exposed flesh with this card was pulled, but this would have to do.

"I'll take it," I said.

She drew again. Eight of Hearts.

"Eight seconds of skin?" she asked.

I nodded. "I'll take the foot this time, please." Olivia held out her bare foot, and I massaged it for an eight-Mississippi count.

"Well, I don't mind that," she confessed.

The Four of Clubs came next, and Olivia lost her other sock. "You're sure there are actual diamonds in the deck?"

"They're coming," I promised. You just need to hold out until they do."

Sure enough, the next draw produced the Two of Diamonds. "Two hundred bucks," I said, placing the card next to the diamond she had already drawn. "So you're up to eight."

It was Lynette's turn again. Her first draw was the Queen of Clubs, which cost her a sock. It was nothing, considering I had already seen her naked, but she still blushed as she pulled it off her foot. It occurred to me that I had undressed her on our prior encounter. I wondered if this might have been the first time she'd ever removed a piece of clothing specifically for the purpose of arousing a man.

Her next draw was the Ten of Spades. "Uh-oh," said Olivia. "That's one of the pervert cards."

"Technically they're all pervert cards," I noted. "But yes, this is one I'll enjoy more than you. The Ten means you have to play the rest of the game with your hands tied."

"My... hands?"

Olivia cackled. "I told you he was into this kind of thing."

"You did?" I asked. "You two have been talking about me behind my back?"

"Obviously," scoffed Olivia. "You've been a very hot topic of conversation in our class."

Now it was my turn to blush. I honestly had no idea. I don't think I had ever mentioned either Olivia or Lynette to anyone at work. It hadn't occurred to me that I would ever be the subject of this kind of gossip. It felt scandalous, and I loved it.

I pulled a necktie from the closet. "Now you can end your turn if you want," I said to Lynette. "But I wouldn't recommend it. This is purely decorative, and I promise you, there is a reason for it."

"Yeah," said Olivia. "The reason is you're a big old pervert."

"OK, there's two reasons for it," I corrected. "Honest."

Lynette hesitated, but ultimately held her hands out to me with a bashful grin. I looped the tie around her wrists a couple of times, then secured it with a very slack knot. She could get out of it with a single healthy shrug, but it would stay in place if she held still. As I discovered she was in the habit of doing, she clutched her bound wrists to her chest protectively.

Lynette's next draw was the Six of Hearts. She sat still, not knowing what to do. I knelt before her, placed my lips on hers, and gave her a long, languorous kiss. I didn't bother counting, but I'm confident it lasted well beyond six seconds. No one complained.

Lynette lost her other sock when she drew the Ten of Clubs. The Ace came immediately after. She showed a little concern at this, but dutifully stripped off her woolen leggings.

Her turn ended when she drew the King of Diamonds. "Another face card," I noted. "That's another thousand dollars. You are now up to two grand." I placed the card on top of the Jack she had already drawn.

The Jack of Clubs cost Olivia her sweatshirt. She was fine with this, complaining that she had been getting hot anyway. As anticipated, she was wearing a plain white t-shirt underneath. The fabric was thin enough that her bra was clearly visible beneath the shirt, and I took a few seconds to appreciate the sight.

She drew the Six of Spades next. I leaned over to my nightstand and pulled out a sleep mask. It was one Olivia was familiar with, as she had worn it the last time I matriculated her without consent.

"A blindfold?" she asked.

I took her glasses off of her face and set them down on the desk for safekeeping. "Yep, for the rest of the game."

"So how do I know what card I've drawn?"

I grinned as I pulled the mask over her head. "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

She drew again. Another Spade. The Four this time.

"Four of Spades," I told her. "One of my favorites."

"What does it mean?"

I put a finger on her lips. "It means I get to put something in your mouth."

"Something?"

"Could be anything," I taunted. I moved over to the refrigerator. I tried to be quiet about it, but I'm pretty sure Olivia could hear the sound of the door opening. Lynette stifled a laugh when she saw what I had taken out, but I'm guessing Olivia also heard me shaking the can.

"Open wide," I told her. She did so with a smirk, having guessed what I had in mind.

I squirted a generous glob of whipped cream into her mouth. She started to laugh, causing the white foam to trickle out of her mouth. She swallowed what remained in her mouth, but a white streak still coated her lips and the indent above her chin.

"You're so weird," she laughed when her mouth was empty again.

The Two of Hearts came next. "Hold still," I admonished her. "I've only got two seconds to do this."

I ran my tongue over her chin and lips to clear off the mess she had left there. She flinched away from my tongue and let out a disgusted "Ack!"

"Sorry," I told her as she dragged the back of her hand over her mouth. "Had to be done."

Olivia drew again. "Seven of Clubs," I reported. "That's another piece of clothing."

"I've had like eight bad luck cards in a row," she complained. She lay back on the bed and unbuttoned her jeans. She shimmied them off, accidentally dragging her underpants along with them. The panties were made of a cheap cotton bearing a candy cane pattern. When she discarded her jeans on the floor, the underwear remained rolled up on her left hip, revealing the very top fringes of her pubic hair. It was very alluring, and I chose not to inform her of the issue.

"Only five," I corrected. "Don't worry, the Diamonds are coming."

But not yet. The Eight of Spades was the next draw. "That means I'm tying your knees together," I reported as I retrieved another necktie from the closet.

"Bondage again? How many of these are about tying girls up?"

I did a quick headcount as I wrapped the tie around Olivia's knees. "Five, I guess. Wrists, knees, ankles. Then there's the blindfold, and the gag."

"A gag?" squealed Lynette, seeming both appalled and intrigued at the same time.

The knot I used on Olivia's knees was a lot more serious than what I had put on Lynette's wrists. I hadn't want to freak Lynette out, but I wasn't quite as worried about Olivia's reaction. The tie wasn't just looped around her knees, it was knotted between them. She would not be getting out of this without some effort. She dangled her legs off the end of the bed and kicked her feet experimentally.

The Four of Hearts required Olivia to endure a few seconds of my groping her naked thighs, but at long last she drew the Five of Diamonds, raising her total to $1,300.

"Oh, me again?" said Lynette as I offered her the deck. "I was starting to think I was done for the night."

"You've got two thousand bucks," I reminded her. "You just need to find twenty-two hundred more, and you're set."

But Lynette would also be in for a streak of bad luck, starting with the Two of Clubs. She had already lost her socks and leggings, so taking her dress off would leave her in just her underwear. I was looking forward to that, but Lynette had another idea. Standing up for a moment, she slipped her panties off from under her dress, handing them to me before settling back down on the couch, her modesty intact.

It was a clever move, I thought, but it was rendered moot immediately, as her next draw was the Nine of Clubs.

"Uh-oh," she said, but she was smirking when she did so.

"What?" said Olivia. "What's going on?" She lifted her blindfold just in time to see me helping Lynette to pull her dress up over her head. There was no way to pull it off completely with her hands tied, but as she was now naked from the waist down, I was content to leave the dress bunched up at her wrists.

"Blindfold stays on," I admonished. "Unless you want some weird sex consequences."

"I kinda do," Olivia grumbled, but she put the sleep mask back in place.

Lynette's next draw was the Ten of Hearts, affording me ten seconds to bask in the fragrance of her luxurious golden bush. I knelt before her, laid my head in her lap, and took half a dozen deep breaths. Lynette only giggled.

I was concerned her mood would change when she drew the Three of Spades. It was a card I was actually hoping Olivia would draw, and it seemed like the card most likely to cause Lynette to back out. I considered improvising an alternative penalty, but curiosity got the better of me.

"Ah, so," I stuttered, considering how best to phrase this. "The Three of Spades means you have to... well... go outside."

"Outside?" asked Lynette. "As in, leave the apartment?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Can I get dressed again?"

"Uh... no."

Olivia ripped off her blindfold. "OK, there's no way I'm missing this."

Lynette was still looking for clarification. "So you want me to go out on the street, basically naked?"

"Not the street," I insisted. "Just into the hallway. Dressed as you are. For..." When I had originally dreamed up this challenge, I had envisioned a one minute time limit. I decided on a last-minute adjustment. "... ten seconds."

Lynette looked to the apartment door, then to Olivia, then to me. Then she leapt from her seat and scurried to the door. I was hypnotized by the sight of her naked buttocks jiggling as she came to a stop. She peered out the peephole, then placed her ear against the door.

When she was satisfied that no one was stirring outside, she looked back at us again, took a deep breath, and pulled open the door. She peeked out, surveying the hallway, and then stepped outside.

Lynette still had her dress pressed to her bosom, so she wasn't entirely exposed. But anyone who happened to pass through the hallway now would still be getting an unexpected eyeful.

Ten seconds passed, then twenty. Lynette still held her ground.

At thirty seconds, it became clear that she was enjoying this.

Just as I was coming to the conclusion that my original one minute timeline had been correct after all, we hear a click coming from outside. Lynette dashed back inside, slammed the door shut behind her, and threw the deadbolt again.

Then she collapsed against the door, laughing hysterically. In that moment she looked as giddy as if she were on her first sleepover.

"Well done," said Olivia. "I would have chickened out immediately."

We all listened for a minute. Footsteps sounded faintly from below, but were getting louder. They stopped, probably at the second floor. There was the sound of another door opening and closing, and then nothing.

When Lynette returned to the sofa, I noticed she was spending much less effort covering up. This last adventure seemed to have emboldened her, and she smiled broadly as she took her next card.

It was the Eight of Diamonds. Lynette's round was over.

"You're now at twenty-eight hundred dollars," I said. "That's more than enough for your first class."

Lynette's smile dimmed. "Really? You're really going to pay for my class? You're not kidding?"

"No joke," I confirmed. "But there's still plenty of money in the deck. What say we go for two?"

"Do any more of these stunts involve field trips?" asked Olivia as I handed her the deck.

"No," I said. "Everything else stays on the premises." Olivia cocked an eyebrow, but she drew again. I noticed that she hadn't put the blindfold back on again, but I chose to let it slide.

Five of Spades. "Ooh, This time I get to put something in MY mouth." I gripped her shoulders in both hands, drew my face close to hers, then pushed her firmly back onto the bed. Once she was prone, I lifted her feet up off the floor and spent well over five seconds sucking sloppily on her toes. This was something she had only recently discovered she enjoyed, but we had not yet had a chance to explore it beyond that.

Apparently this convinced her that she did like the toe-sucking, because her next draw was the Queen of Hearts. "Lady's Choice," I told her. "You decide where I touch you next."

She did not hesitate, but simply lifted her feet up again. "Keep going," she said.

And I obliged. I hadn't thought to set a time limit on this one, so I was generous, licking the soles of her feet and giving each toe the attention it deserved. It was probably close to two minutes before she put her feet back down again, ready to continue.

Four of Diamonds. "That puts you at seventeen hundred dollars," I told her as I put the card on top of her stack.

I returned to Lynette. She sat on the sofa, naked except for her undershirt. I was looking forward to getting her entirely naked on this round.

No such luck. Lynette pulled the Seven of Diamonds, bumping her total to $3,500, and ending her turn without any further shenanigans.

"Oh, this is so rigged," complained Olivia.

"If I had rigged the game," I noted, "you would both be naked right now."

It wasn't helpful that Olivia drew the Six of Clubs next, which she saw as confirmation of her theory. "See?" she said as she peeled off her t-shirt. I recognized the bra she was wearing. It was the same pale blue cotton one she had been wearing when she had a shower at my place a few months ago. It didn't go with her candy-cane panties at all, and the mismatch thrilled me. Olivia had clearly not expected anyone to see her in her underwear tonight, and so hadn't dressed to impress. And seeing women in undergarments they don't actually want you to see has always topped my list of fetishes.

Sadly, the Diamonds were coming without mercy now. Olivia's next draw was the Ace, putting her total at $1,800. "See?" I echoed.

Olivia looked cute as a damn button as she pouted on my bed in her mismatched undies, but I did manage to tear my gaze away to return my attention to Lynette.

"OK Lynette, there's less than half the deck to go. You're only seven hundred dollars away from having enough to register for both your classes." I did some quick math. "There are five Diamonds left, and three of them are enough to put you over the top. Are you ready?"

Lynetted did not reply, but she nodded eagerly as she drew.

King of Hearts. "Dealer's choice," I began, but Lynette did not let me finish. She lurched forward from her seat on the couch, grabbed my face with her loosely bound hands, and mashed her mouth against mine.

It was still a fairly chaste kiss. Lynette's tongue did not venture forth from her own mouth, But it was definitely an energetic kiss, with no small amount of passion behind it. It was not where I had planned on going, but since this seemed to be what Lynette wanted, I just relaxed and went along with it.

Eventually Lynette slumped back on the couch. Her smile was gone, and she seemed to be vacillating between fatigue and nervousness. As much as I'd been enjoying myself, I was thinking it might be time to start wrapping this up.

Without my prompting, Lynette drew another card. The Ace of Spades. That was all right.

"OK, easy one," I said. "The Ace of Spades means you have to tell us a secret."

"A secret?"

"Ooh! I am hot for secrets!" chimed Olivia. I recognized the line as a quote from West Side Story, but wasn't sure if Lynette knew what to make of it.

"Yeah," I said. "It doesn't have to be spicy. Just tell us something neither Olivia or I know."

"Sure, but make it spicy anyway," added Olivia.

Lynette didn't react for a long while. When she did finally speak, her voice broke. For a moment I thought she was crying, then I realized she was laughing. Except, nope, those were tears coming. And also laughter.

"I don't want to go back home!" she said, straining to get the words out. "I really, really, really don't want to go back!"

Olivia and I stared in silence, unsure of how to respond. Eventually Olivia gathered her wits enough to ask, "Who's making you go back?"

"No one!" cried Olivia, burying her face in her wadded up dress. The tears were flowing freely now, which put me in a precarious position. Being a creepy boy by nature, the sight of a naked woman crying is far more stimulating than it ought to be. I needed to be careful here. "Not now. But I was so scared! For weeks now!"

I sat on the sofa next to her and put an arm around her. "It's just... It's just..." she said, struggling to get the words out. "I'm not freaking out, guys. Honest I'm not. It's just..."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "It's just that, back home, I was always the ugly, crazy girl who cried too much. The girl with the weird parents. And then after high school all my friends got married or moved away, and I just started working stupid mall jobs. And after a while I figured, well, this is it. This is just my life now. Forever.

"So when Lucy told me I could stay with her for a while, I thought, this is my chance. This is how I get out. So I saved up all the money I could, and I left. And Lucy was great, and she helped me enroll at STA, and I was so excited to be actually doing something.

"And then I start going to class, and I LOVE it. And like immediately, people I don't even know are talking to me. About, like, interesting things. And then I've got actual FRIENDS again!"

Lynette buried her head in my shoulder to avoid looking at me. "And then this guy is taking me out to dinner and shows. Things I could never afford on my own. And he doesn't judge me. He tells me he likes me. And I can't remember ever being happier.

"And every week, I start to realize I can't afford to keep doing it. I just can't raise the money for next semester. And I just can't impose on Aunt Lucy forever. And I'm panicking, trying to think of what to do instead. But the only answer that makes sense is going back home. Run back to Mom and Dad. Get a job in the Mall again."

Lynette banged her fist on my thigh in frustration. It actually hurt quite a bit, but I didn't say anything.

"And then at dinner, this guy says he'll pay for my school. And I'm in shock, because this can't be real. It would solve everything, so it must be a joke. And then Olivia says he can't do that. We can't accept. But I really want to. I NEED to. But I still don't know if it's real."

I looked at Olivia. She gave me a bit of a chagrined grimace, but she too kept silent.

Lynette finally looked up at me. "But now I know you're not kidding. You're really going to help me. I know you wouldn't be doing all this just to tease me."

I kissed her on the top of her head to reassure her.

She wiped a hand across her eyes. "So I'm sorry. I'm not freaking out, I promise. I'm just... really happy right now. It's just all been a bit much."

"Come on," I said. Let's get you registered.

Lynette shook her head vehemently. "No. I haven't won enough yet."

I gave her arm a squeeze. "We don't have to finish..."

"Yeah we do," she said. "You deserve to get something out of this too. If we're doing this, let's do it right."

She drew another card. Queen of Spades.

"The queen means Ladies' Choice?" she asked.

I nodded. "You can pick any of the special penalties, including..."

"I want some whipped cream," she said.

I laughed. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind for that card, but I was happy to oblige. I fetched the whipped cream can again. Lynette opened her mouth wide, and I filled it to overflowing with foam. She snorted, spitting flecks of cream out onto her thighs, then made an exaggerated effort of swallowing. I squirted another dab onto her nose for good measure, then licked it off myself.

I offered the deck again, and Lynette drew the Nine of Diamonds. That put her at $4,400, more than she needed for six credits.

"Come on," I said. "Time to cash in." I helped her to her feet and sat her down at the computer. She entered her student credentials, I entered my banking information, and five minutes later, we had a confirmation code. Lynette would not be going back to Iowa. She'd be in New York at least through the Spring.

Lynette looked at Olivia's pile of cards. "Wait a minute," she said. "Olivia's only got eighteen hundred."

"That's right."

"But there's only three Diamonds left in the deck." She did a bit of mental math. "Worth... twenty-three hundred? But that's not enough for..."

I interrupted, saying "I don't think we need to worry about that." I held the deck out to Olivia once again.

"King of Spades," said Olivia. "And the king means you get to pick?"

"That it does," I said. I unwrapped the necktie that was still looped around Lynette's wrists.

"Does that mean I get whipped cream?"

"In a minute," I replied, "you can have all the whipped cream you want. For the moment..." I pulled her wrists together and wrapped the necktie around them. I made the knot much tighter than I had with Lynette. For what I had in mind, it would be best if Olivia kept her hands to herself for a bit.

I also left plenty of extra fabric dangling down. This I looped around the tie binding her knees together, pinning her wrists to her thighs.

I paused to inspect my handiwork. Olivia looked adorable, perched on the edge of the bed in just her bra and panties, hands and knees bound, looking up at me with an expression that made it clear she wasn't sure what was coming next.

"How am I supposed to draw my next card like this?" she asked.

"You don't need to. The game's over."

"It is?"

"Yep," I confirmed, taking a seat at the desk. "I win."

"How did you win?" asked Lynette, but Olivia had already figured it out.

"Oh, you bastard."

"Yeah," I said with mock contrition. "Sorry about that." I returned to the STA's home page and initiated a new enrollment session.

"I'm not telling you my student ID number," warned Olivia.

"I wrote it down last time."

Olivia flopped backward onto the bed in exasperation. I took a moment to enjoy the new viewing angle before returning to the screen.

"Theater Lighting in Production," said Lynette. She stood beside me, pointing at the screen helpfully. I struggled to ignore her glorious golden muff, just inches from my face. "The 8am session."

"Yep. And the Commedia thing." I just needed a few minutes more to process the payment before announcing, "Sorry babe, you're enrolled."

"Thank you. I hate you. But thank you." I patted her bottom with an equal mixture of genuine affection and opportunistic lust. "You can untie me now."

"Ooh, look! They sell sweatshirts! I'm ordering you both a sweatshirt."

"Wait," said Lynette. "You said there was something in all this for you. I'm still not seeing it."

I entered her student ID and pulled up the details of her registration. Then I wrapped my arms around her thighs and pulled her close. "Look at your schedule," I said.

She leaned forward and peered at the screen. I ran a hand along her exposed buttocks as I waited for her to figure it out.

"Lighting. Tuesday Thursday, eight to ten."

"Plus a Wednesday evening workshop," I reminded her.

"Costume," she continued. "Also Tuesday Thursday, two to four. With a Monday workshop."

"That's an awful lot of commuting," noted Olivia, and from her tone I could tell she knew where I was going with this.

"I guess so."

"Eight o'clock class," I calculated. "You would need to be on the train by 6:30 at the latest. That means up by, what, 5:30?"

"Yeah," agreed Lynette. "That is pretty early."

"If only you had a place to stay in the city," lamented Olivia, with the same tone as the commercial pitchmen who insist "There's gotta be a better way!"

"You mean, I could stay here? Like, Monday and Wednesday nights?"

"Well," I said, "seems like you may as well spend Tuesday nights too. Just from a logistical standpoint."

"Really?" asked Lynette. "You'd be OK with that?"

"And that," I said, kissing Lynette on the stomach, "is how i get a pretty girl in my apartment three nights a week. Maybe four."

Lynette wrapped her arms around my head and pulled me close. Her body was tense, but I didn't think she was on the verge of tears anymore. She just seemed excited.

"And maybe by then you will have untied me," conjectured Olivia.

"Right away," I said as I rose from the desk chair. "Just as soon as the cinnamon rolls are ready."

"Cinnamon rolls?"

"Yeah, perversion makes me hungry." As I turned on the oven I took stock of my accomplishments. Olivia wasn't going anywhere, obviously. Lynette had returned to the sofa and was now poring over the descriptions from the school's printed course catalog. Though the game was over, she still hadn't bothered putting any of her clothes back on.

So, I was down eight grand, but in return I had the prospect of a woman spending three to four nights a week in my apartment. And that woman was already comfortable being nude here. She also had no problem with the knowledge that I enjoyed seeing women tied up.

All in all, I could think of worse ways to spend my money.