Chapter 3: Rules

 

A slowly rising murmur was spreading around the party when I didn’t readily step forward. It took Karl mispronouncing my name again, and a drunken spotcheck, before he gestured at me.

And as I didn’t feel too comfortable about playing drinking games, I smiled and silently shook my head.

That only made him smile right back at me before a pair of his ‘friends’ came forward to collect me. I wasn’t going to make a scene, so I quietly went along with them.

'What on Earth am I going to be playing that involves this much drinking?' I wondered while being pulled out from my safety and lead to the game room.

When I entered, I saw that the hot chicks were there too.

My gaze lingered on a few of them, admiring how they had a glow still on their face. I would have thought the rain had washed away their makeup, but I guessed they did a quick retouch. What they wore was very appealing to the eye.

That made me wonder if their outfit would look good only in this party setting or various other outgoings, too.

I walked over to be near one of them and caught the scent of their perfume mixed with a fruity smell coming off of them. Shampoo? Likely, from how it compliments the air they stand in. It was like the perfume lured in and offered a delicious surprise to the senses once drawn close to it.

That made me wonder how I smelled right now. 'Do I have the smell of a wet dog or am I simply without any scent from all this rinsing rain?these worrying thoughts came up to me while I played with the black tips of my hair.

Pinching my fingers together around those hairs, I drew down my fingertips to get a quick wiff of my own head of hair.

At my side, one of the women, a brunette with a rogue-like pink smile handed me a little plastic container.

In the moment, I was confused, but I did what I could to not let that show. I wanted to be smooth with the ladies.

But I doubted I appeared very suave with me sniffing my fingers… so a sheepish grin appeared on my face.

"I know, the rain right? Here, just rub and rinse. On the house," she spoke with a cheerful tone to me and winked when I took the offer.

"Thanks," I turned to leave the game room real quick for the project.

"Oh, Shang? What'sha doin'?" Host of the party, Karl, looked a little worried at me. "Not plannin' on escapin' are'ya?" I shook my head and showed him the scented shampoo container of fruity delight.

"Quick rinse and I'll be back." He quirked a brow at me, smiled with a hold on his tongue, shrugged, and directed me away from the bathroom.

He gestured to the much closer kitchen for a sink that I could use, but more probably, keep me in his sight.

After rubbing in and soaping my hair, I dunked and rinsed, grabbed a kitchen towel hanging off the oven's door handle to dry off, and headed right on back.

At least, I was about to return, but there was someone there that gave me pause.

Jake and Karl were both at the entrance to the game room. To avoid reigniting that feverish flame in me, I looked elsewhere. Anywhere really, just so I didn’t have to test the waters, to see and feel, and maybe fear what Karl’s brother unintentionally, and unknowingly, aroused in me.

Other party-goers were enjoying drinks, but some others had something else going on. A hat was being passed around for them to drop some kind of leaflet in. It was either suggestions, like music, TV, or games, or they were betting on something.

...Or someone?

“Shang, are’ye done?” It was obviously Karl who called out to me, but both brothers had their attention on me.

Turning away from the partiers, and scooting hurriedly to return to the game room, I squeezed past the brothers.

As I retreated into the room, I gave Jake another one last glance.

He had a surprised look. Almost unnoticed, the twitched-flare of his nostrils gave away the truth that he had smelled me. Likely my hair, since that would’ve been just brushing under his nose.

Looking back over my shoulder, I saw him smiling at me. If I didn't have a fiery color on my face before, I did now.

In the game room, I fell back in line where I had been when I first arrived, to openly hand back the borrowed container of shampoo to the lady.

"Keep it," she said while curling my fingers around the shampoo for keeps.

Stashing the little bottle in my jacket pocket, I nodded and thanked her again. In the meantime, I took stock of what was in this room.

It had a voronoi layout on the floor. Having a painted pattern, I could tell that it was designed with the aim to be thought provoking. Like a piece of modern abstract art. Each piece was a different color and was roughly spacious enough for us to step in fully.

Over to the four corners of the room were stacks of pillows. Again, each a different color.

"Atten'SHUN!” Karl came marching on in. “Today is'da day! I've done my mis'SHUN and gathered you all are a cher'REE ready for the pickin's." And Jake was closing the door behind them, shaking his head in a sign of dismay.

It didn't take much for me to figure out that he's embarrassed at his drunken brother's antics.

Everyone appeared to be a little uneasy for being brought here, and I found that to be understandable considering we were all intelligent enough to recognize who we were -- except, I they were giving me a confused look.

And another exception to the women. Judging by their look, I’d guessed they were being paid to be here. I had grasped what Karl said earlier, that he meant each of us were being declared virgins.

Yes, I was one, and I had my parental reasons to blame. With an overbearing dad and a tiger mom, it was difficult to have friends, and impossible for any relationships. I probably could have had someone if it wasn't for how much time and my efforts were being invested academically.

"Ever 'ear of'da game, RISK!?" Our host gestured with a finger around at everyone for a response, which he got with others nodding, ‘yessus’ and a ‘Of Course.’ "Tonight, we play Risque!"

In that pointed hand, he slackened the grip around something rattling in his fist. He went over the rules, pointing out that the game was like RISK, but instead of dominating the map, we would play for glorified thrills.

A moment later, I saw the floor as a map of territories.

Those colorful pillows… those were the player’s markers of ownership.

Their conquest… and when I considered the women here, I had an idea what the prizes were, but I had no clue what Karl’s gain would be.

When I reflected back on his meal offers, that brought up a disturbing thought, ’Is he putting us in a position to owe him favors?’ I didn’t like that idea, but there wasn’t much of an alternative other than reject his offer and leave.

And I wasn’t going to do that. I was invited, and I wanted to be here. If I couldn’t survive this party, I wouldn’t stand a chance out in the real world.

With that in mind, I supposed that we were going to be picking colors to represent us.

"Alrighty, how'dis works.” He quieted, and I supposed waited until all eyes were back on him before speaking again. “See the dice?"

His hand opened to reveal a pair of red dice. They didn't have numbers or dots on the sides, but something written on them.

Kneeling down to the floor, he pointed and gestured for one of the ladies to come forward. "Lemme say, if'n I roll against Minerva here --"

"Minyava."

"Minnie here," he corrected and rolled the dice down to her feet.

We all close in to see the results.

One die, Lick. The other die, Nipple/Breast.

Karl's gaze raised gradually up, a big'ol smile on his face that was broken with a lick of his lips. 

He held up a finger, signalling a pause.

"Let's say I refused to carry out this act on her.” His gaze turned away from Minnie to lock on each and every one of us. Then his held up finger lowered to point at us. “She'd be dah'one to return fire!” And he dropped his hand to gesture at the floor. “Either way, you act, you win her territory out of the few she owns."

That made me wonder how many territories we would initially receive. With this many of us, not a whole lot to spread around.

As I started counting the territories, he continued talking, "If the both of you refuse, then you strip. One piece of clothing demanded by the public."

"That might be unfair for the ladies," a dark and tall Jerome pointed out that our counterparts had mostly dresses on.

To be clear, those dresses could be considered one piece. Basically, they'd be stripped faster than anyone else.

"They expect it.” He smirked and added with a touch of laughter in his voice. “It's between you guys that you'll likely refuse."

Now I understood where the humiliation would be coming in. I didn’t take Karl for that kind of person, but the rest of his guests might be the ones getting their entertainment from our expense.

Which was, other then invading and attacking the women, we would have to roll the naughty dice against each other too.

And he clarified that point. "Hear this, there's no jumpin' around on'dah map. You'll haf'ta fight yer'way through others to grab whichever woman'ya want. Roll the lucky dice to get 'Lucky' tonight!"

I had to ask, "Why are we participating in this?"

"Glad'ya asked! Remember'dah rewards?" He kept silent for a few seconds, looking around himself from his knelt position. "Okay, I've done my homework and each of'ya are Smart-Cookies, but not cookie cutt'ah.” His pointing finger came back up and, well, pointed us out again. “Unique, Genius, or Diehard. Ya'll have it to make yer'self something in this world and I wanna invest in'dat. Like, paid admissions, boarding, and supplies. Lil'stuff, BUT..." Again, the pause, the periscoping. "You haff'ta play. I'm not gonna back someone who cannot call themselves a man. So, I'm gonna make'ya a man." One gesture to the women, "Ladies."

As he waved at the women, and he grinned back at us, a sultry atmosphere had spread across the room. I finally understood these were Escorts with ’Perks.’

Managing to finish my count that told me that there were fifty pieces, and seeing that there were twelve participants, I realized that would leave us with four or five territories.

Someone was going to have a little extra.

"We start alphabetically," Karl stood himself up and gestured for us to get in line.

Here, we started off by picking our color. In order of the color shades, we had: Red, Orange, Yellow, Lime, Green, Turquoise, Brown, Azure, Blue, Violet, Magenta, and Rose. One after the other, the names were called.

In the meantime, we were being given drinks and were being told, "For courage and to loosen up."

I took a deep red wine -- at least I thought that it was wine -- and sipped.

Dry, like I had just drank a desert. Instead of taking the red, I passed it up to exchange it for a white substance with bubbles in it. This tasted better, and when it came to alcohol, I had already drank enough of it with that first sip for me to stomach.

But the ladies encouraged us to drink more… so I did. By the time that the alphabet came to me, I had already drunk two glasses of the bubbly white.

Karl pointed at the remaining colored pillows and slurred out, "Las'buh not leashed, Shang."

Seriously, I shouldn’t have been last. The next time I had a moment of privacy with him, I would need to correct him about my name. Now wasn't the time, everyone being busy in fun and games.

What colored pillow I picked out by default was Turquoise.

Taking the four pillows I had picked, two held by the corners in each hand, I realized that I was not the one who was going to have extra territory to play with.

In a funny way, I thought, ‘Maybe that will be a good thing?’ It did mean I would be less in the way of these other guys going for a gal.

On that thought, I took a look around. I could not decide about which of the women I should be making as my goal. Well, there was one for each of us, so I had to pick one.

There was a petite blonde, wearing a blue-tube top and white mini-skirt, who stood up with an expectancy for someone to come for her at a moment's notice. She had Green as her color.

A dark Brazilian lady, yellow-floral silk shirt complimenting her long flowing silky blue skirt, and her giving each of the participants a rosey-red kissed smile adding to the outfit. The Azure colored pillows were her’s.

One incredibly busty woman with a deep tan and dark raven hair, but I thought it might be her dark red one-piece dress emphasizing her size with those side-boobs bobbing out. To match her dress, she chose Rose colored pillows.

Youth and cheerfulness reigned in this fiery redheaded Escort, wearing a schoolgirl outfit of white on red plaid and pleated skirt, languishing back against a wall waiting patiently for somebody tonight. And she chose Violet as her color.

Standing tall, with long bare legs, was a great blonde beauty, looking more fit for a high end office in her bright red dress. In comparison to the deep red Rose, she chose an aggressively hot Red colored set of pillows.

Last is the long haired brunette that helped me have a pleasant aroma, a woman slightly older than the rest. She looked more suitable as a hot teacher or a next door MILF rather than an Escort. Alluring, yes, but I got a maternal impression from her.

As for what she wore, a white tank top and a pair of white pants. To me, that outfit felt incomplete, like she dressed in an office suit before coming to the party. I wasn’t certain, but it made me feel like she left her coat, which I imagined would also be white, by the front door. Unlike the rest of her outfit, she chose Magenta.

Having to choose which of the women I’d want, I'd probably go for the Magenta. I knew the others were closer to my age, but she made me feel like she was looking out for me.

We all had our hand in picking each desired territory, but I could tell that some of us were cut off completely from the fairer sex. For example, Jerome couldn’t reach that petite blonde without going through some of the guys. Me, I couldn't get to the Busty or Brazilian women if I wanted to be unscathed. That sort of predicament was there for everyone.

And as for which colors we picked.

We had Jerome being Blue.

Ken, pretty much an average Joe, was Orange.

Martin, a really broad, but short guy who picked out Brown.

This one guy, who would not stop smiling at his chances getting laid, Benjy stole yellow.

Delmar, who looked gothic, and I didn’t know if that was his real name or not,picked out Lime.

Of course, there was me with Turquoise.

When we thought that the last two spaces were going to be placed in the hands of one of us, we were surprised by the participation of the brothers. They took one territory for themselves. I guessed that made the players fourteen, but the brothers were at a real disadvantage with only one marker.

Then again, the goal of the game wasn’t really domination… actually, it kinda was, but to dominate the players, not their territories. Just a kinky difference between RISK and Risque.

But that didn’t mean we couldn’t dominate the field. If we took territories, that meant we could kick players out of the game before they had a chance. Of course, that would create an awkward moment of rolling the dice and seeing what we’d chance on doing to each other.

Looking at the territories now, I noted that I had completely surrounded Jake. Practically, I was his four corners. If I wanted him to butt out, I would have a field day getting him to back off any of the Escort choices.

Actually, I was curious why the brothers were participating. 'Was it to even out the playing field?' I reasoned with that thought and looked over first at Karl, then Jake.

In my mind, I was trying to wrap my head around Jake's strategy in this. He had the whole left side available, with me leaving a wide gap between the top and bottom left corner, but half of them were the guys. That gap on the right was much more narrowed by me and in between was Smiling Benjy the Yellow.

He couldn't go down, I completed the line there for me to go left or right along the wall. Up, he had the brunette to pick before me, but I had planned on getting her territory in my first turn. That really only left him with the choice of going left in the narrow half of what women he could reach before the other left half of guys got them.

There was always the chance that Jake would do something silly like picking a guy and making it a funny night. If he had a girlfriend, I could imagine she’d laugh at the hilarious spectacle. 

That made me wonder about him.

A handsome man like him, with one Hell of a body like that, wouldn't be single, or at the very least, a virgin. Out of all the guys here, he was the tallest and had quite the shelf on his shoulders. Topped with those heights and that built width, he was a beacon of masculinity.

Trailing my gaze down, the only thing I didn't know was if he beat the competition where it counted the most tonight. That was, in those pants of his. Those bunched up muscled thighs and that flat tum above did help giving me an idea about how much of himself could be solidly pronounced when giving it to some babe.

The thought of it kinda made me want to giggle.

'Oh,' I had nearly forgot that there was a myth about big shoes being a tell-all. A quick glance down at him did reveal he had some nice size going on, but myths didn't really help what was fact.

'Do those myths apply to hand-size too?' wondering that, I took a look at those hands of his. Long fingered and very strong looking, like the kind seen wrapping around the weighted handle-bars in gyms.

Before I knew what it was that I had been doing, I gazed up at him looking right back at me.

There was an amused smile featured on his lips. It took me a few seconds, then it hit me what he must’ve thought I was doing.

He thought I was checking him out!

Okay, that had not been my intention at all. It was to figure out how he was going to play in this game and then, well, my mind wandered off...

Biting my lower lip, I turned away to look elsewhere on the playing floor...