'M' is For: [Ch4] Ladies and Their Tricks - Part 2

With Missy's casual explanation of concepts like 'BDSM' and 'female domination' ringing in my ears, I don't know what I expected when we got back to the house. Some part of me thought I'd maybe find Kiara and Thomas dressed in leather bondage gear, entangled in coital bliss on the counter by the fruit bowl. Instead, they were talking by the hot tub. Kiara had come out to sit on the ledge, the water rising to just below her knees.

"You ready for dinner?" Thomas asked Missy as we ducked in through the sliding doors.

"Yup! Are you ready to head out?"

"Whenever you are."

In the end, it took a few more minutes before we were all able to pile into the SUV. James and Danielle had to be summoned from their spot at the hot tub, and then Kiara decided last-minute that she did want a sweater after all.

If anything, the next couple hours felt almost disappointingly ordinary given the stunning revelations Missy had shared with me in the garden. We went out to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then stopped by Walmart on the way back to pick up some food and supplies for the house, which included several large bags of chips, a gallon of ice cream, dishwashing soap, and a large pack of condoms that James threw into the shopping cart with a wink at Danielle, who simply rolled her eyes.

It was nearly nine by the time we got back. If I had been back in my apartment, I might have decided to watch a couple episodes on Netflix before calling it a night. But here, the night was just beginning.

After the groceries had been unpacked and put away, the other girls disappeared to their rooms to touch up their makeup. James took advantage of the moment for a quick bathroom break, leaving Thomas and me alone in the living room as we waited for the others to return.

"Missy told you?" Thomas asked me quietly.

"Yeah, she did," I said. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what Missy had said, before realizing just how awkward and unnecessary that might be. I shut my mouth.

Thomas nodded. "Good."

"Did you think I wouldn't want to participate?" I asked him curiously. "Is that why you tried to warn me?"

"Yeah, I guess," Thomas said, rubbing his jaw. "Missy means well, but sometimes she gets an idea into her head that she's so convinced by that she doesn't really stop to consider if she's doing more harm than good."

"Yeah," I said. "I guess I can see that." I smiled crookedly. "But I'm trying to keep an open mind. She's not wrong; I am trying to do new things. Carpe diem and all. I appreciate you watching out for me, though."

Thomas smiled back, and I felt my stomach flip pleasantly as his eyes met mine. "Of course."

When everyone was back, we settled into the living room for a game of Black Lady, a trick-taking card game typically played between four players. Since we had more than that in our party, Missy teamed up with Thomas and Kiara with Danielle. Missy explained their additional party rules to me:

"Every time you win a hand with points, you take a shot." Missy clapped a hand on the neck of the giant bottle of tequila that sat on the end-table. "Get the Queen of Spades, and you have to take off an article of clothing. Winner of the game gets to command the person with the most points to do something fun. We usually play a couple rounds to get things going."

"Tell her about shooting the moon," Thomas said, nuzzling her ear, his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, yeah!" Missy sat up straight. "If you shoot the moon, everyone else has to strip instead, and they get two shots on top of that!"

"It almost never happens," James said.

"But when it does..." Kiara said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Uh, okay," I said, my heart pounding. It seemed simple enough. I hadn't played the game in years, not since the big family reunions we used to have in Pennsylvania when I was in high school. I hoped the rules would come back to me before I found myself sitting in my birthday suit on the living room carpet.

Missy tapped a button on her iPhone, and pop music started blasting from Bluetooth speakers. "Alright, let's go!"

As it turned out, the game did come back to me pretty quickly. My competitors were happy enough to remind me of the rules whenever I asked, and it occurred to me that they were almost looking forward to losing the game and seeing what embarrassing things might be asked of them. As it turned out, Missy and Thomas ended up picking up the first points of the game. They both took a shot of tequila, Missy giggling.

It was only a few rounds later that I picked up my first points. I held out my shot glass and Kiara filled me up.

"Bottoms up!" she said, and I tossed it down, wincing as the hard liquor burned the back of my throat and made my nose sting. I sneezed.

By the end of the first hand, everyone had had to take a shot. James ended up with the most points, but aside from the beginnings of a flush spreading across his cheeks, he looked more or less the same, if not a little smug—he had managed to stick Kiara and Danielle with the Queen of Spades. Kiara had shed her top, revealing a pretty lace bra; Danielle had a sarong skirt that she discarded, revealing long, shapely legs.

"Now, Mal, you deal," Missy cried, waving her hand in my direction.

I shuffled the cards, passed it to my right for Kiara to cut, then dealt out the cards. Back into the next round we went. As the alcohol set in, I began to feel warm and fuzzy. The game, and its penalties, no longer felt so dire. I gave in to the excitement around me and let it stoke my latent competitive streak.

"She's ruthless!" groaned James, clapping a hand to his forehead when I broke hearts.

"Mal's on a roll," Missy laughed in delight when I dropped my Queen of Spades into her winning trick.

I noticed the hungry way everyone watched when Missy and Thomas began to strip off their shirts. Even I surprised myself by the sudden rush of heat that flooded through me seeing them sitting together side-by-side with their shirts off. There was a sort of beautiful, untouchable quality about them, and I had a weird sensation that maybe none of this was real, that this was all maybe some sort of perverted concoction of my mind. A little cursive 'M' tattooed above Thomas's heart drew my gaze, where it stayed far longer than it maybe should have.

By the end of the first game, people were getting sloppy and making reckless mistakes that they should have known better than to make. I won with easily the lowest score—which meant that soon after the card-counting, five pairs of eyes were turned toward me expectantly.

"So, um, I tell you two to do something?" I asked Missy and Thomas.

"Yep, those are the rules!" Missy raised her glass in a little mock cheer. "So, sweet Mal, what's it to be?"

I swallowed, feeling too slow for this crowd. I should have known this was coming, but I found myself now unprepared for this victory. What was an appropriate punishment that wouldn't take it too far?

"Missy and Thomas, kiss each other," I said.

Kiara giggled. "Aww, that's sweet." I thought I saw Danielle roll her eyes.

"A good kiss," I added sternly. "There'd better be some tongue."

"Alright, then," Missy said, dropping me a wink. She turned towards Thomas and, taking his face in her hands, began to kiss him long and slow.

I used to think a kiss was something that involved one mouth meeting another, but Missy made kissing look like a full-body activity. She leaned into Thomas, her bra pressing up against his bare chest, a long tanned leg draped over his. His eyes shut as his hands crept over her body before sliding into place on her shoulders.

I shifted in my seat, cheeks flushing. The performance was getting me far hornier than I expected.

Missy pulled back, breaking the kiss. Just when I thought it was over, though, her fingers came and gave Thomas's right nipple a quick pinch, causing him to give just the smallest of gasps.

We laughed. Though Missy's and Thomas's faces were both flushed from drink and excitement, Thomas's bashful smile made him look delightfully adorable. He likes this, I realized with amazement. He likes being shown off like this.

"Who's ready for the next round?" Missy cried.

"Me, me!" cried Kiara, waving her arms.

"Next round, let's go!" hooted James, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Thomas took up the cards to deal, and we were off. Even though in retrospect the kiss had been such a little thing, it seemed to have whet everyone's appetite for the game. Everyone's gameplay got bolder, caution thrown to the winds. More tequila was poured, more garments discarded. Halfway through the second game, everyone was nearly naked, with Kiara topless and James in his boxer-briefs. And then James came out of nowhere, capturing tricks left and right. Too late we realized he was shooting for the moon, and by then, no one had anything left to play to stop him.

"Take that!" James jeered gleefully. "I want to see all those clothes come off, losers!"

By now the alcohol was thoroughly in my system, and rather than the mortification I would have felt sober, I instead felt a sort of fuzzy amusement. To think I had been so self-conscious about wearing a bikini with my body, and now here I was, about to get naked with a group of people I barely knew... I slipped off my bra, feeling the pleasant sting of the air conditioned room on my flushed skin. Pushing back from the ground, I removed my panties next.

No one batted an eye at me. Kiara and Danielle were giggling in their corner where they sat. Thomas sat with his arms hanging loosely around his knees, a loose lock of dark hair hanging down across his forehead. Had he been sitting any closer, I would have given into the tipsy impulse to brush it back from his face.

James, I noticed, had eyes only for Missy. She made a striptease out of the penalty, wriggling showily as she pulled her bralette off over her head. Her breasts were generously molded, her nipples pert. Her skin had just enough sun to appear to be glowing. Once again, I envied her perfect body. She looked as comfortable naked as she did clothed, and for good reason.

"Alright, one last round to go," Danielle said, looking equally untroubled about her current lack of clothing. "Who's winning?"

"We are, bitches," Missy said with an evil smile towards James. "Assuming James over here doesn't pull another stunt like that."

"Oh, don't be so sure," James said, giving a smile for a smile, his eyes lingering on Missy's breasts. "I'm catching up."

We played out another hand, but Missy and Thomas gave it as good as they promised, beating out James by a mere handful of points. I came in third, and Kiara and Danielle last.

"Shame me," Kiara said dramatically, tossing her cards toward Missy and raising her arms, as though to offer herself as tribute. "I'm ready."

"How can anyone possibly shame someone who's so shameless?" Danielle said drily, but I noticed that she too had a spark of anticipation in her eyes that I had never seen before.

"Hmm," Missy said aloud musingly. And then her next words came so suddenly it took me a moment to comprehend them: "Go and suck Thomas's dick."