*Slam*

 

Jessica found herself outside the meeting room with her back against the now closed door. She looked down at the black folder containing the updated contract, wondering if she had made the right choices.

 

It didn't matter, all she could do now, was to play the game and follow the rules.

 

"This'll be my win" she mumbled to herself, clenching a hand into a fist.

 

She then went to wine and dine with Mike.

 

--

 

Contrary to what she feared, Ross didn't appear at all during the evening.

 

Jessica had her eyes and ears out during her wine and dine with Mike. She made sure not to leave Mike alone all evening, except when he had to use the bathroom. At that time, she would place herself in open spaces with lots of people around, just in case Ross would somehow magically appear and violate her.

 

Mike drank a lot during that night, whereas Jessica merely sipped the wine. Thus at the end of the night, Jessica had to almost drag him to their room. Luckily it meant she didn't have to create some excuse as to why she couldn't be intimate with him, as she had to obey the rules now.

 

While she wasn't a slave to her sexual urges, it would still be quite annoying to ignore them long term. As Jessica had always had a high libido, to which she craved a daily sexual relief. Luckily she and Mike had a similar one, which was kind of a problem now, as she probably had to come up with excuses, but not tonight at least.

 

Jessica still wasn't sure how she could trick Ross. She knew that Ross wasn't the type of man she could just press her boobs against, to get him to do her bidding. Nor would he fawn over her, if she teased him or gave him some womanly validation.

 

Even though Jessica knew she was a beautiful woman, so was Erika, and apparently she was willing to satisfy Ross' urges in some way, so she likely wouldn't be able to capitalize on his sexual frustrations.

 

Thus she had used one of the two remaining rules to increase her chances even further, namely by using playing cards.

 

--

 

The next day, surprisingly nothing out of the ordinary happened.

 

She and Mike spend most of the day hiking in the surrounding hills followed by relaxation by the pool.

 

The day went by quickly, and soon it was time for the daily work meeting, which Jessica had dreaded all day. However this time, she was well prepared to make sure she would win.

 

Once again, Jessica stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, she then walked up to the reception desk with Erika behind it.

 

Like the last time, she made sure to be there a few minutes early, but not too early, since she still wanted to avoid Ross outside of the daily work meeting.

 

Jessica didn't say anything this time, as her nerves were acting up. Erika quickly noticed her approaching and gave her a professional smile.

 

"Ah, Jessica. Welcome dear guest - Or should I say, my new colleague?". Erika held up a hand in front of her mouth, while giving a small laugh, which helped calm Jessica's nerves slightly.

 

Jessica took her time to really take in Erika. However this time, something seems to be off, the way Erika carried herself today was different. Had Jessica been wrong in her assessment earlier, when she believed Erika was a strong-willed woman? The normally stoich woman was instead giving of the aura of an overly-excited teenager.

 

Erika was still wearing the very professional looking uniform with a black suit and skirt. However this time, Jessica noticed a slight blush on Erika, like she was having a fever or as if the outside heat was getting to her. Which was odd, considering the very well air-conditioned reception hall.

 

Jessica watched as Erika packed up her belongings at the reception, and as she placed a sign on the reception desk saying it was closed for the next hour. Erika then took the folders and papers on the desk and locked them away in a cabinet, before she motioned to Erika to proceed towards what was going to be a very familiar meeting room for the many following days.

 

--

 

Mike was sitting at a high-chair at the bar, while enjoying a beer, shuffling through a deck of cards before putting the deck down on the table and starting to deal the cards for another round of solitaire.

 

Oddly enough, during his and Jessica's hike, she had asked him if he knew any playing card games.

 

As Mike had always been interested in numbers, statistics and defining a winning strategy in games, he had in his past used his knowledge to create a program that collected statistics on opponents when he played poker online, which he then used to earn some pocket change in low or penny stakes cash tables.

 

He mostly did it to learn statistics and how to become a better poker player, but the thrill of playing and gambling was also something that he loved to indulge himself in, as long as the stakes were low enough that he didn't mind losing everything he had put into the gambling site.

 

Jessica's initial enthusiasm vanished quickly, and she didn't seem all to interested, when he explained to her that it would be quite hard to track it in real life. Statistics like Preflow Raise (PFR), 3-Bet Frequency and Voluntarily put [money] into pot (VPIP) would also be less important in heads up games, compared to playing with multiple people, which was somehow a question that popped up during the conversation.

 

When Mike wanted to know why she asked the questions she had, she just said she was curious and wanted to learn more about his hobbies, which warmed his heart.

 

Mike then proceeded to tell her about many of the other uses for playing cards. While he enjoyed games like Poker, he generally just loved games with had some sort of skill requirement to beat opponents. Yes it was fun playing blackjack or baccarat, but if you played it at a casino, you would statistically always lose in the end to the house.

 

He then proceeded to explain to Jessica how to play "Cheat", which is a game he played all the time as a kid.

 

The aim of the game is to be the first to get rid of all your cards. On your turn, you can bluff about what cards you are playing, but if you get challenged and caught, you have to pick up the entire pile.

Normally you play this game with three or more players, where one is picked to be the dealer, who proceeds to shuffle the deck and pass out all the cards face down to every player one at a time.

 

Once the game starts, the player left of the dealer begins by stating how many Aces they will put into the pile. The rank of the card then increases to two, thus next player must then lay down at least one single card of rank 2. Play moves clockwise until the rank has increased to 'king'.

 

Players can add more than a single card, and try to "cheat" by playing other cards than announced. However at any point before the next player lays down their cards, anyone who thinks the current player is lying can say "Cheat!", and the just placed cards are revealed.

 

If the player who just played the cards was cheating, the player must pick up the whole pile and add them to their hand. If the player didn't cheat, the challenger must take all the cards instead.

 

The game continues until a player has no cards left, who is then the winner. A variation exists for two players, where you pick some cards to put into a trash pile, which are then not part of the game. Such that no perfect information exist about who has which cards. Even though it increases the luck element of the game, it is still a game of skill and statistics.

 

Jessica and Mike ended up having a lot of fun playing the game on a hillside, as Jessica for some reason was carrying a set of playing cards. Mike had managed to win most of the times, but as he taught her some of the tricks he used, she eventually managed to come out on top most of the times, even when he tried to mix up his play style.

 

--

 

Jessica entered the meeting room behind Erika only to find it decorated with completely different furniture. Instead of being decorated to look like it was prepared to host a board-meeting, it instead had the interior of a casino.

 

Although it still had a blue carpet, the absence of the big table instead brought attention to the gold-white slabs of marble that covered the walls. A grand chandelier illuminated a green table, one of the classical sorts you would see at a casino.

 

Instead of the many leather chairs, now only three chairs were present around the new much smaller table. Arranged in a way that one were supposed to be a 'dealer' and the two other as 'players'.

 

The chairs were made from mahogany and covered with white leather, which complimented the grand setting. Unsurprisingly, Jessica saw Ross sitting in one of the player chairs, he was smiling innocently as she and Erika approached.

 

As Erika made her way to sit in the dealer chair, Jessica had an epiphany. Somehow the change in setting made something click for Jessica, she realized the importance all of this had to Ross, as he was willing to go through the sheer amount of work to get this done in a single day.

 

In the her moment of eureka, she now had found a way to pressure Ross. It all made sense now, why he didn't press the advance earlier, why he been firm but not adamant in his demands.

 

Just as Ross was the cause and saviour of her current dilemma. He was in the same boat.

 

Her mere presence had cured him of his impotence, and maybe, as far as he was concerned, her disappearance could just as quickly take the cure away again.

 

With now confident strides, she approached the last chair and sat down.

 

"(Believe you can, and you're halfway there)" Jessica thought, as she matched Ross' innocent smile.