A Month in the Heart... Ch. 04

Chris got the cards, the same pair we'd used on the night I'd become the slave, and shuffled them several times. We agreed on a best of three matches: Texas Hold 'Em, the only kind of poker we all knew, from watching it on the TV.

The first game took five minutes. I sat next to Grace and saw that she had a useless three and a Jack. She bluffed confidently, but with the flop and the turn she got nothing, and although she kept raising, Elaine kept raising too. Eventually the river came: a seven. Elaine called and Grace folded. One to Elaine.

The second game took longer. We allowed them limitless time to think, and Elaine took a lot of time. This time Grace had two sixes, not great but a lot better than nothing. She was careful to pass, playing completely oppositely than she had in previous hands. Then, when the river came, it was a third six.

"All in," said Grace, pushing all her chips into the middle. Elaine just looked disgusted and tossed her cards face down.

"Fold," she muttered.

Evens. The last game would decide it. As Chris shuffled, Grace looked up at Elaine suddenly.

"Let's do this later," she said. Elaine looked confused.

"What? Why?"

Grace pushed her chair back and stretched and raised her hands helplessly.

"Because it's six o'clock," she said, "and we haven't eaten, and no-one's gonna feel like being anyone's slave at six in the evening. Let's just do this tonight, when we've had food and a few drinks and we really feel like getting frisky, you know? Cause I haven't got the stomach right now for getting down and dirty with anyone. Even you, honey, sorry," she added to me with an apologetic smile, squeezing my hand.

Chris was about to object, but to my surprise Elaine sat up, looking positively grateful.

"God, yeah," she said. "Great idea. I don't want to do it now either. I think I'm gonna have to get quite pissed before we do this."

"Okay," said Grace. She threw her cards on the table stood up, and after a moment, to my surprise, she held out her arms.

"Friends?" she said. Elaine rolled her eyes but came around the table, and they embraced -- not exactly a huge, warming hug, but a relaxation of the tension that had been in the room since we'd got home. Grace disengaged first and she gave Elaine's shoulder a friendly squeeze.

We all broke up into smaller groups. Grace and I went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Lesley, Chris and Ray went out to get more wine. Elaine vanished somewhere.

"Well, this is weird," I said as I chopped up onions. Grace leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping Diet Coke.

"Yup," she said. "And it's gonna get weirder."

"Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

"I hope so," she said, looking thoughtful. "The question is will Elaine be able to handle it."

"What do you mean?"

She looked around to make sure nobody was there.

"Okay," she said carefully, "I didn't want to say this in front of the others. And I know it sounds like I think I'm just . . . whatever. But Elaine is basically in love with me."

I stopped chopping and squinted at her, blinking the onion tears from my eyes. The vague blur that was her nodded.

"That's why I've never fooled around with her," she said. "I don't need that kind of complication."

"Complication," I said, smiling.

"You're not a complication," she said, coming up to me and stroking my arm. "I mean, imagine being in a relationship with Elaine! All that whining, all the bad temper. I mean, she's cute and all, but I just didn't want to give her any ideas. So now, if she's suddenly everyone's bitch . . ."

She rubbed her face and sighed.

"Either way, it's gonna be weird," she said.

"It certainly is," I said, and picked up a piece of kitchen towel to wipe my eyes with. Underneath it was something small and oblong and black. I stared at it.

"Whose phone is that?" I said. Grace glanced at it, and then looked again, and looked at me.

"It's Elaine's," she said softly.

We looked at each other.

"All her pictures are on that," I said.

She picked it up and pressed a button. A pin number screen came up.

"Fuck," she said. "She's locked it."

We looked at each other again. We were both aware that she could come in at any minute.

"You don't think she's already uploaded them to iCloud, or whatever?" I said.

"No," said Grace. "I've never heard of her using that stuff. She's not exactly tech-minded."

She bit her lip and looked at me. I glanced around.

There was a huge pot of water boiling on the stove for the pasta. I indicated it with my head.

Grace hesitated.

"What?" I said. She stared at the phone in her hand.

"Alex," she said, "do you believe in honour?"

I knew what she meant. She looked up at me, and we locked eyes for a moment. I sensed that I was being tested.

I knew how to answer.

"Yeah," I said resignedly.

"Me too," she said, and put the phone down on the table.

Grace stared at the phone on the table, then shot me a look. I wiped my eyes.

"Don't cry," she said, grinning.

"It's the onions," I said, but I was still oddly moved. She came up to me and put her arms around me from behind and kissed my shoulder.

"It's nice to know you're a man of honour," she said. "I know. It would have been so easy. Oh well."

She disengaged from me and leaned over the chopping board scattered with fragmented onions.

"Mmmm," she said, "that's good onion." She bent over it and sniffed, then looked up at me, still grinning, her eyes streaming.

"Ow," she said. "That was fucking stupid."

I made us all a giant pot of pasta with sauce, and then we sat around drinking wine and reading and nibbling

nuts and garlic bread while it matured. At one point I went into the kitchen with a dirty plate and saw that

Elaine's phone was where Grace had left it, on the table.

I was so tempted to just drop it on the stone floor of the kitchen, but I knew Grace would know that I'd done it. Instead I washed the plate in the sink and checked the seasoning of the sauce.

As I did so, Elaine entered the kitchen behind me, wandered over to the table, picked up her phone and put it in her bag. I watched her reflection in the darkened kitchen window.

"Are you gonna make any more garlic bread, Alex?" she said in her rather loud, London voice.

"Sorry," I said truthfully. "We've used it all up."

"Oh," she said. "Shame." She paused and looked at the floor for a moment, then looked up brightly.

"Looking forward to tonight?" she said.

"Kind of," I said, blushing.

"It's gonna be me or her," she said, smirking. "Who do you hope it is?"

"I think it's a win-win situation either way," I said. She laughed and walked out again.

Over dinner, I noticed a peculiar thawing of the coldness between Grace and Elaine. They were almost . . . flirtatious, in a snarky way. Grace offered Elaine the wine bottle and Elaine said "Thanks, gorgeous."

"I figured that unless we get you drunk, you'll never take your clothes off," said Grace.

"That's very true," said Elaine, "I never take my clothes off in public, and I'm not gonna start tonight."

"If you lose the game, you have to," said Lesley.

"I'm not gonna lose," said Elaine smugly. "I feel lucky."

"So do I," said Grace, sitting down and sipping her wine.

"You may feel lucky," said Elaine. "Doesn't mean you are."

And so the meal progressed until we were all well fed and our inhibitions were thoroughly loosened. Everybody knew that the time was coming when someone was going to have to propose that they play the last hand. But nobody particularly wanted to be the one. I was sitting next to Grace, and she was stroking my thigh under the table, and I saw a glance pass between her and Elaine; more specifically, I saw Elaine stare at Grace until she caught her eye, and I saw Grace look back at her, and a small, almost apologetic half-smile twitch at Elaine's mouth.

Grace made an imperceptible nod, and Elaine nodded back. Then Elaine put her hands flat on the table.

"All right," she said loudly, "let's do this. Before I change my mind."

We cleared the table, and everyone recharged their glasses, and Ray lit a cigarette, as did one of the three girls whose name I couldn't remember. Chris brought out a new pack of cards, which he stripped of its plastic wrap, dumped on the table, swirled around and shuffled very thoroughly.

Then he dealt the two cards each to Grace and Elaine.

"No limit Texas Hold 'Em," he said quietly. "The score is one hand each. This hand decides."

"What are we betting on, exactly," said Grace. "Can't really bet if we have no chips."

"Clothes," said Elaine. "An article of whatever you're wearing is a chip."

Grace looked at her, steadily, through her glasses. The atmosphere in the room was electric.

"You're on," she said softly. Now we knew it; at the end of this hand, assuming that they took it as far as it could go, one of the girls would have to strip. It was just a question of who.

Grace glanced quickly at her cards -- I didn't have time to see what they were. She bet a boot. Elaine looked at hers, paused, and met the bet. Grace raised another boot. Elaine met that too.

The flop came. A seven of hearts. Grace stared at it for a long moment.

"Raise you pants," she said.

"You mean, jeans," said Elaine, who was wearing a pair.

"The outer garments of your lower half," said Grace with exaggerated precision. Elaine met it.

"Raise you your top," she said.

Grace nodded.

I noticed, then, that Elaine was perspiring. Maybe it was the wine she'd drunk, maybe it was just the tension, but her forehead was shiny and her cheeks were flushed.

She glanced down at her cards, glanced up at Grace and made a kind of twisting motion with her mouth, as if she were chewing her own cheek.

Fuck, I thought, that's Elaine's tell.

She has a bad hand. Grace could win this.

The turn came. A four of clubs. Grace was motionless and expressionless. Elaine had a drink of wine and

coughed slightly.

I was now beginning to think that Elaine was in a seriously bad position. I hadn't seen Grace's hand, but she was playing with such confidence that I knew she had to be doing well.

"Bra," said Grace quietly. Elaine glanced at her and nodded quickly.

Chris turned over the last card, the river.

It was a Jack of Clubs.

We all sat looking at the table for a long moment.

Grace lifted up her cards and looked at them again, and this time I glanced down and saw them before she put them down again. I think she wanted me to.

I was stunned. She had a seven of diamonds and a four of diamonds; two pairs. Given the other cards on the table, there was almost no chance that Elaine could possibly beat her. The chances that Elaine had anything better were minute.

Elaine had another drink of wine, looked at her cards again, cleared her throat. Her face was flushed and shiny and a lock of her dark hair was hanging down.

Elaine lifted her head and stared at Grace, pale and nervous. Grace sat quite still and stared back, impassive.

The silence was unbearable.

Finally, Elaine cleared her throat again and said hoarsely "Well?"

"Well, what?" said Grace.

"It's your turn," said Elaine, her nerves clearly jangling. All of us were riveted. I turned my head slightly and looked at Grace, who stared back at Elaine, her lips pressed tightly together.

Grace reached under the table and gave my leg a squeeze.

"Fold," she muttered.

The shock around the table was palpable. The others were shocked because Grace, so implacable, had been obviously bluffing.

I was shocked because I knew she hadn't been. She had thrown the game, made herself lose.

She was going to have to give up her clothes and join me.

Elaine's jaw dropped and then she just let the air rush out of her in a gasp and her head drop on the table. There were cheers from the guys and the other girls, except Jan, who was smiling slightly but who looked sceptical.

Elaine sat up, smirking triumphantly.

"All right," she said. "You accept the forfeit?"

"I accept the forfeit," said Grace. I reached under the table and took her hand and squeezed it. I knew what she was giving up.

"You have to do whatever we want?"

"I have to do whatever you want."

"Starting with taking off all your clothes?"

"Starting with taking off all my clothes," Grace said, and she blushed and covered her eyes for a moment, before springing to her feet.

"Okay," she said. "Come on."

"Stand out there," said Elaine, pointing at the place on the carpet where I had stood the nights before, "and strip."

Grace walked over to the place, to whoops and cheers from the others, and she reached down and pulled her t-shirt over her head. Then, in jeans and black bra, she removed her boots and tossed them aside; then she reached down and unbuttoned her jeans, sliding them down over her hips.

Then she turned her back on us, reached behind herself and unclipped her bra, throwing it into the corner, and then reached down and slowly slid her dark green panties down over her hips, exposing her beautiful, plump ass. She straightened up, nude; stepped out of the panties, threw them aside, then turned around, one arm covering her nipples, the other hand over her groin, blushing and smiling despite herself, her glasses being the only thing she was still wearing.

"What about Alex?" said one of the girls.

"In a minute," said Elaine. "I just want to enjoy this a bit longer."

Elaine couldn't take her eyes off Grace, who stood there naked and self-conscious, blushing.

"Hands down," said Elaine quietly.

Grace glanced at me. One thing I had learned about stripping off in front of my friends was that the only way to do it was to commit yourself to it. If you let yourself be shy, if you gave in to the feeling that it would all be over soon and or that it wasn't happening, it was too embarrassing to bear.

I locked eyes with her and tried to project as much love and confidence as I could. She reached up, resettled her glasses on her nose, dropped her arms and put her hands on her hips, relaxing one leg slightly. She was brazen.

Immediately, I felt less nervous for her. I knew what she was feeling, I knew how much this was costing her, but I was pretty sure she could go through with it.

"Nice," said Elaine. "Turn around so we can see you."

Grace raised her hands over head and put them together and twirled, slowly, her body glowing in the low light.

"You okay?" I said.

"I'm okay," she said a little hoarsely, and cleared her throat.

I looked at the other guys. They were all staring at her: I didn't want to call her 'my girlfriend' considering we had only just hooked up, but she and I had formed a connection that she didn't have with anyone else.

And now she was standing naked before us, trying to conceal how nervous she was, obliged to do whatever we asked her.

"About this forfeit," Grace said softly.

"Yeah," said Chris. He had clearly appointed himself the master of all forfeits. I wondered would he ever have to pay one himself.

"By 'I have to do whatever you want', I take that to mean that I have to consider any suggestion," she said. "It doesn't mean I have to let you do whatever you want to me."

"Doesn't it?" said Elaine innocently.

"Elaine," said Jan, scowling. "Come on."

"Well, the cards are in Elaine's hands," said Chris. "She's the one who won."

We all looked at Elaine, who looked smug at wielding such power, and then tossed her head.

"Of course," she said. "We're not gonna do anything illegal."

"Also," said Grace, "there's a bit of an imbalance here. One girl against eleven boys and girls, as opposed to

one guy against five guys."

"It's Alex's turn to strip," said Lesley.

"Just a bit longer," said Elaine. "Alex got naked yesterday."

Elaine got up and walked slowly over to Grace, who watched her approach, expressionless. Elaine was a good half a head head shorter than Grace, and on reaching her she looked up at her, smiling.

"Kiss me," she said.

Grace looked at her, leaned down and kissed Elaine gently on the lips.

"Uh-uh," said Elaine. "Kiss me like you mean it."

She put her hands boldly on Grace's naked hips and stroked her, pulling Grace to her. Grace made a small gasp of surprise, and I saw her eyes widen.

Elaine pulled Grace's naked hips into her own clothed body -- she wore a loose white shirt over a black t-shirt and tight, faded jeans. She reached up, putting an arm around Grace's neck and the other arm around Grace's waist, and fastened her mouth on Grace's, closing her eyes.

"Mmmm!" went Grace, then after a moment she closed her eyes too and stuck her hands in the back pockets of Elaine's jeans.

The clothed girl and the naked girl stood in an embrace, kissing, Elaine making little purrs of pleasure. It was the most erotic thing I had ever seen and I felt a pang of jealousy. I wanted to be up there too.

The others were watching, the guys completely agog, the girls with some interest, Jan with a sidelong look and a sceptical smile.

I don't know how long they kissed for in total, because I only started counting the seconds after some time, but I counted to nearly two hundred, so it was well over three minutes before Elaine broke away, a thread of saliva stringing itself between her lower lip and Grace's. Grace looked breathless and a little dizzy.

"Can I see how wet you are?" Elaine murmured.

"Y-yeah," Grace gasped.

Elaine reached down with one hand and touched between the tops of Grace's thighs.

"Oooo," she said. "You are. This is gonna be fun." She brought her fingers up, looked Grace in the eye, and licked her fingertips, tasting Grace's juices.

I glanced at the others. Chris was sitting, keeping his eyes on the two young women standing out on the hearthrug, Elaine still fully dressed, Grace naked and by now clearly aroused; despite what she'd said, Elaine didn't seem to be having any problem handling her own attraction to Grace. If anything, it was Grace who seemed to be aroused by her. Lesley was watching both of them, her eyes shining with excitement, her lips slightly parted to reveal her large white teeth.

"Okay," said Elaine, turning to me and smiling. "Now. You."

I got up and, keeping my eyes on Grace, I took off my t-shirt, then kicked off my sneakers and pulled off my socks. I unbuttoned my jeans and slid them down, and lastly I eased my boxer shorts down over my hips and off. The others were silent. Naked, I joined Elaine and Grace on the carpet.

Elaine smiled at me.

"Only one rule," she said. "The two of you cannot touch, at any time."

This got a low laugh from Chris. Grace glanced sidelong at Elaine -- a look of sheer dislike, I'd have called it. It was beautifully sadistic, all right. The two sex slaves of the house were naked together on a carpet, and we couldn't touch each other.

"I want you to watch," said Grace, "while someone does him."

Grace stiffened. I looked around and saw Chris coming over, a tube of something in his hand. It was all moving fast. He reached me, and the first thing he did was grab me exactly as Elaine had taken Grace, and kiss me, pulling my naked body into his clothed one.

His tongue entered my mouth. The intimacy and humiliation of being naked around a whole bunch of people who were clothed was having its effect on me. I closed my eyes and moaned, muffled my Chris' mouth fastened onto mine, and I felt my cock swell against his trouser leg.

Then he was dragging me me to the floor. He made me lie on my back and he lay on top of me, kissing me, his hands all over my naked body, giving free rein to his own lust for me. I felt like a woman in the missionary position. I moaned and squirmed under him and I heard Elaine murmur encouragement.

"There he is," she cooed to Grace, "your new boyfriend, letting a guy do that to him. He's a bit of a sissy, isn't he? Letting a guy lie on top of him and do that to him. Is he like that in bed with you?"