Part XII
Before the game got well underway Chad feed the fire with a lot of wood and got the room much warmer than it had been all day, they would be thankful for it once they started to lose their main clothes. The group had also decided that they would not go past their underwear, instead when they lost the winner of the hand could make them do anything, under certain conditions, and it had to be that night.
It was a well matched game and nobody was going down easily. Everyone had a small pile of clothes beside them and there were all missing a good number of clothes themselves. No one had shoes, shocks, or outer layers on. For each type of clothing article had a different value with the base layer, shirt and shorts being worth the most. The main contenders were Robert, Chad and surprising Rachael who seemed to keep getting good hands somehow.
Ross was not doing too bad himself and could have a good chance of winning if he could get a few good hands. Jess and Sara were not doing too well, and the twins were barely beating them. Sara was the first to go down and she did a little strip tease as she pulled off her shirt which she had kept on for last. Since it was all she had left, nobody had to match it. The cards did not go in her direction and Robert was the winner of the hand. He thought about what he wanted and he told her to come over and give him a little lap dance. Sara could say no and the group would have backed her but she stood up and walked over to Robert who backed his chair away from the table.
Sara straddled Roberts chair and started to give him, to Ross’s opinion a pretty good lap dance. The other guys were giving little whistles and the girls were laughing. Robert seemed to be having a good time as well, he was grinning from ear to ear and Ross noticed the bulge in his pants. Sara leaned down and gave him a little kiss before ending her show. She said she was tired and was going to bed, everyone said good night as she headed up the stairs, smiling.
The game continued and it was clear that Jess was one hand away from loosing. Chad got the hand and Jess gave him a look of “I’m not giving you a lap dance” and Chad didn’t know what he wanted her to do anyways. Then he came up with an idea that would save him a trip out in the snow. He had forgotten to grab his tooth brush from the house and told her to go get it. With only shoes on she ran out into the storm a returned less than a minute later with brush in hand, panting and red faced. She handed Chad his tooth brush and warmed herself by the fire before going to join Sara upstairs.
Rachael was the last girl left and even though she was ahead of most of the guys she decided to stop playing due to the awkwardness of being the only girl playing. The guys understood, since none of them knew her that well and let her head to bed with her two friends. Once she was upstairs Massey tried to stop the game saying there was no reason to keep playing but Robert said he was just afraid of having to take his punishment.
The game went on and soon the twins were sitting at the table in only their boxers, somehow they had gotten to their last hand at the same time. They were both looking a little worried knowing that one or both of them were going to lose this hand. The cards were called and both the twins laid down a bad hand and Robert looked triumphant with the winning had. Robert had a grin on his face like he had been planning their punishment all along.
“Go take a lap around the house.” He said
“Are you kidding me it’s freezing outside?” Massey said
“Not to mention that it’s pitch black.” Troy added
“Now no arguing, you agreed to the rules, plus you two can keep each other warm, I’m sure you know how to do that.” Robert said
“Fine, but we are putting boots on at least.”
“Hope you can run fast, it’s looking pretty nasty out there.” Robert said, he was being unusually mean for some reason; did he like to see people suffer?
The twins opened the door, letting a cold breeze into the house, they both dashed out into the storm slamming the door behind them. The three remaining guys got up and watched from the window. They could see little outside, due to the darkness but Ross could see the outline of the house so it was not too dark too see at least. Two minutes could not have passed but to Ross they seemed to take forever and got worried. Then the door flew open and the twins came in wheezing from the cold, their body red from head to foot. Snow melted on their bodies covering them in a thin film of water that glistened in the candle light making them look like two models. Ross enjoyed the sight but did not show it, he saw Chad looking at the two as well and remembered what Massey had said.
Now it was down to just three. Robert still had his shirt and shorts still on, not to mention a large pile of clothes in front of him. Chad had lost his shirt when he had had a streak of bad luck but now had a small pile of clothes in front of him. Ross was in the same boat as Robert but with a smaller pile of clothes. For the next few hands Chad’s bad luck continued and he lost his pile and his shorts as well. The next hand was looking good for Ross and bad for Chad and when the cards were called Ross won the hand easily. Chad looked at him with pleading eyes, Ross couldn’t help but laugh, there were so many things he wanted to tell Chad to do to him that were along the same line as what Sara did for Robert but he kept those thoughts to himself.
Ross looked at Chad with a smile “You got dishes tonight man.”
“Hey that’s against the rules man.” Chad protested
“I think these rules over ride those rules tonight, I’m sure you can handle it.”
Chad was not very happy with his punishment, he hated doing dishes and tonight they would be even harder to do with only the water from the buckets. The rule was who ever cooked also cleaned the dishes and tonight there was a large number of dishes and Ross was not looking forward to doing them himself, now he didn’t have to. Chad got up from the table and headed towards the kitchen to get started on the cleaning.
Now it was just Robert and Ross, it was the perfect scene for a poker showdown. They were on opposite sides of the table, each with about the same about of clothes and the other. The cards could go either way and the game could go all night.
“What do you say we end this game in one hand, all or nothing?” Robert suggested
“I’m fine with that but how about we make the wager a little more interesting.” Ross suggested
“What do you mean?” Robert inquired
“Well if I win you have to let the twins out of their “contract” with you, you get rid of any dirt you have on them and let them enjoy the rest of their junior and all their senior year without you controlling them.” Ross said with a smile
“I have no clue how you found out about that but fine, and if I win you are going to become my personal punching bag.” Robert said with a bit too much violence in his voice
“Fine by me man.” Ross said as he stood and extended his hand across the table, Robert shook it and dealt the cards.
Ross looked at his hand, not too bad, he thought three two’s, not very high but the number didn’t matter as much as the hand did. He threw away two cards and Robert dealt him two more. Ross had trouble hiding his excitement as one of the two new cards revealed the last two. A four of a kind, there was not much that could beat that. Ross looked across the table at Robert who was smiling, happy with his hand. He called and laid down a nice full house of kings and tens. Ross didn’t let his joy show and slowly put down his cards one at a time. The fourth two landed like an anvil and Robert’s eyes winded and his face twisted in disgust.
“What the fuck, you little bastard.” Robert started
“Hey you shook on it, now are you going to honor your agreement.”
“Of course” Robert said with venom in his voice “but I just said I would let the twins go, I never said that I would leave you alone, and trust me Chad does not scare me anymore, I’ m sure I can handle him as well as you. Trust me; you just made a big mistake.”
Robert gathered the cards and Ross got dressed, the twins did the same trying to figure out what had transpired between Ross and Rob, they hadn’t heard anything they said since they were busy warming themselves by the fire. Ross walked into the kitchen with a big smile on his face. He grabbed a towel and helped Chad do the dishes saying Robert had let him off easy by making him help out with the dishes. Chad thought that Robert was finally warming up to Ross. Robert may be out to get him but without anyone to back him up Ross could easily handle Robert on his own.
While Chad and Ross finished the dishes, the twins and Robert had gotten sheets and sleeping bags out and made up five beds. They kept the area around the fire place clear so Ross could easily keep it going throughout the night without having to step over anyone. There was some idle chit chat before everyone settled down and fell asleep.
Ross woke up a few hours later because his stomach was bothering him. He went to the bathroom but that didn’t help much. He sighed as he figured he would have to go into the main house to get some Pepto-Bismol. Before he headed out he added some wood to the fire to keep it burning strong. He put on his coat and boots and headed across the lawn to the main house. The snow had stopped and the moon had come out, causing the ground to glow under its light.
The main house was as cold as it was outside and Ross quickly found the lighter and lit some candles so he could see more easily in the kitchen. He grabbed one candle and headed to the bathroom where he knew the Pepto-Bismol was kept. He took a swig and then headed back out to the kitchen. Ross stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that there was someone else in the kitchen and from the glow of candles he made out Robert’s smiling face.