Part 1 β The Game
"Who ever wins, the other one has to be a sex slave for a day."
Those words had rattled around in my mind all day. Mary loved to bet on things, and we loved competing β from silly things like online games, to racing to get somewhere, anything. The bets were frequently trivial β taking out the trash, doing the dishes, cooking dinner. Every now and then we'd bet something sexual, but this one was a biggie. Not that I was worried about losing (or course, neither was she).
As she tried to up the ante and convince me to agree, she said, "Imagine all the things that you can have me do that I've never done. Imagine all the things that you could do to me." I could imagine the mischievous glint in her eyes, and I melted. Since I travel a lot for work, we'd been indulging our competitive instinct by competing with each other in this online card game, so we decided that the next morning we'd play for one hour, and whomever got the most points would win. Simple. Of course, we both knew there would be lots of heckling during the game.
The phone in my hotel room rang at 6am, right on time. "Good morning," came her voice, "are you ready to lose?"
I laughed and said, "I'm ready for a lot of things, but losing to you with this much at stake isn't one of them."
I walked over to the desk and opened my laptop. I had the game already open and was ready to play. Mary was already online and in the game room.
I said, "So, you're going to do ANYTHING I want as my slave?"
She laughed and said, "I would, but I'm not gonna be your slave. I'm not gonna lose. YOU'RE gonna do anything I want as MY slave."
We both laughed and I said, "Ok, then. Game on!"
I got off to a terrible start. Losing several hands of the solitaire game before making any progress. I could see the first increments of her score hitting the scoreboard.
She IM'd me. "So where are you?"
"Oh, I'm having a leisurely start with the first round so that it'll be all the more crushing for you when I come from behind and win."
"LOL. Off to a bad start, eh? Well, I'll be nice to you when you're my slave."
I got into a groove. Sometimes the game just works right and it feels like the game wants you to win. I started racking up points. I also knew that I generally played faster than Mary did, so I wasn't too concerned. But she was still in the lead.
With about 15 minutes to go, we were neck and neck. Then the game turned against her. She got stuck. I managed to lap her through the game, and I was up by about 600 points. As the clock ticked down, I knew I was going to win, but I wasn't going to let up, just in case.
At 6:55, with 5 minutes to go, she IM'd to ask if I wanted to extend it for half an hour. She was still down by about 500 points.
"So," I wrote, "you're about to lose and you want an extension at the buzzer to try to take my prize away from me?"
"Ummm...yep." Came the response.
"What's the benefit to me?" I asked.
"Hmmm....If you still win, I'll make it worth your while. I promise. You'll just have to trust me."
Since Mary's the most honorable person I know, I was willing to take that. "Ok. The game goes until 7:30."
Her luck didn't change. By 7:30 she was down by about 1100 points. I was practically dancing in my chair with excitement. And, of course, a little gloating was in order. I called her cell phone and as she answered I sang into it, "You're gonna be my sex slave. You're gonna be my sex slave."
Mary hates to lose. At anything. And I could hear it in her voice as she said, "Yes. You win. Good job. 2 out of 3?"
I laughed and said, "Nope. You got your chance with that extension. No you have to figure out how to adjust the terms of the bet to give me credit for that."
"Don't worry," she said, "You'll be glad."
"Alright. I've got to get to work, and I'll be going straight to the airport from there. Tonight's going to be a long night. So, when I arrive in the morning, I'll meet you for breakfast and we can start your servitude." I laughed.
She laughed with me and said, "Ok. Come to my house. I'll have breakfast waiting. I'm going to be in meetings all day, today, too, so I may not talk to you today. You know how these negotiations can go. But, I'll be thinking about you. I love you."
"I love you, too."
"I love you more."
"I love you as much." And with that, we hung up.