Holly checked her E-mails at lunchtime on her mobile phone. Just one new message. Sender: Mr. Pointer.
It was now about a week since she had completed the second of her tasks. She still had three more to go if she wanted to get her hands on her million pound inheritance. Three more ex-boyfriends, three more tasks.
Things had been somewhat awkward at work since her previous task. Her supervisor, Dan, and a number of her other colleagues had been present to witness the final part of her previous task. They had seen her naked, licked ice cream from between her legs and watched as she gave her ex-boyfriend a blow job. None of them had mentioned it to her directly, but she had overheard many of them telling their colleagues, and by now she was sure the entire office knew.
She opened the E-mail. The time, place and boyfriend's name were there, but of course no details of the task that she was to perform.
Holly tried to guess what it may be that she would be expected to do for Sam. Sam had been her very first boyfriend, the boy she had lost her virginity to. Their relationship had ended when she slept with his best friend, Rick. Perhaps somewhat stupidly, they had slept together at a party at Sam's house -- Sam had walked in on them, and, though she had pleaded with him to forgive her, tried to suggest that Rick had almost forced her to, he was having none of it. She hadn't seen him since that night. She'd dated Rick for a short while, but it didn't work out.
She knew that Sam was a fitness trainer, and wondered whether the task would be linked to this. She liked to think of herself as quite fit: she did work out in the gym occasionally. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.
***
Holly arrived at Sam's house at the appointed time -- 10am on a Saturday morning. The house was a small one on a back street in an inner-city suburb.
Checking that she had the correct house number, she walked up the drive and knocked. Sam answered almost straight away.
It was strange seeing him again, years after their last encounter. He was still hot -- he had always worked out a lot and played a lot of sports, and this was obvious from his body. The memories came flooding back to her of how happy she had been with him. Not only had he had the looks; he had had a great personality too. He had adored Holly, and had always paid her plenty of attention. It had been clumsy sometimes, yes, but she had been his first girlfriend, and he'd had all the right intentions.
Sometimes she regretted cheating on him. Perhaps if she hadn't they could still be together now. She saw his facial expression, and could see that as much as he was trying to hide it, just seeing Holly again had brought back the hurt of that night when he had caught her with Rick. She regretted that.
Sam showed her into the living room, where Mr. Pointer was standing.
"Well, let's get it over with, then," Holly said.
Mr. Pointer produced the envelope and passed it to Sam. Sam tore it open, read the contents, and looked thoughtful.
As with the previous task, he allowed Mr. Pointer to see it, but did not reveal the instructions to Holly. Unlike either of the previous tasks, however, Sam explained that as he would have to make some arrangements, the task could not be completed today. She would have to come back tomorrow. She protested to Mr. Pointer, but he agreed with Sam -- arrangements would have to be made; it might be inconvenient, but she would have to come back.
*** That night Holly thought back over her time with Sam. She had felt so different then. She had been very shy at school, and it was not until she met Sam early on in her time at University that she had even been out on a date. She still had not had much confidence and had been very flattered when he asked her out. He was the boy all the girls wanted to date.
She remembered their first date. He'd taken her to an expensive restaurant. He'd saved up his wages from his Saturday job for weeks to take her. It had been really awkward -- neither of them had known what to do or say. But there had been something between them.
She remembered the dates afterwards, the growing chemistry, eventually the night that his parents were away. They had planned everything. He had promised to buy the condoms, but she knew him. For all his tough guy image, he'd be too embarrassed. She was right. Fortunately she'd taken the initiative to buy some herself. Extra large. That's what her friends had suggested they'd need. Truth was, she was rather scared that he might be.
The night had come and he had done a fantastic job. He'd cooked her a romantic meal. OK, so it tasted terrible, but he'd made the effort. He'd even scattered rose petals up the stairs. Seriously. Despite his tough guy image, he was so gentle with her, and as she lay there in his arms, she couldn't imagine ever being with another guy.
Sam had always been a bit shy in the bedroom though. As she grew in confidence with him, there were things she wanted to try that he didn't want to do. He didn't even like her talking dirty to him. She loved him, she felt so lucky to have him, but she just wished he would be a bit more adventurous.
Then Rick ruined it. Rick was one of Sam's friends, and he was dating Amy, one of Holly's friends. Holly had confided in Amy about Sam's reluctance to experiment in the bedroom, and Amy in return had told her all about the different things she had tried with Rick. Amy must have told Rick about the conversation, and he started to taunt Sam about his reserved nature in the bedroom.
Well, that party had come, she had probably had too much to drink, and Rick offered to show her what she was missing. At first she had declined, but then she had got into an argument with Sam. She had accused him of paying too much attention to the other girls there. She was over-reacting, she realised now, but somehow she had ended up in bed with Rick. Sam had caught her, and that had been that for their relationship. Holly often wondered what would have happened had it not been for that stupid mistake.
*** The next day Holly turned up at Sam's house to see him waiting by the car with Mr. Pointer. After exchanging short greetings, they all got in the car, and Sam drove.
Soon Sam pulled in to a car park and they all got out of the car. Sam led them round a corner, and she saw the reason they were there.
In front of them was a large obstacle course, which she guessed Sam must use as part of his fitness training. Sam explained that the task was simple -- to complete the task she would have to complete the obstacle course.
He led her into a small hut. A group of four men, all dressed in khaki (as was Sam), were inside, some standing, some crouched on the floor.
"OK, we just need to get you into your uniform then you're ready to go," said one of them.
"Uniform?" Holly asked, looking around.
"Yes, just there," the man said, gesturing to what looked like an empty space.
Holly looked at Sam, confused.
Sam blushed.
"Your uniform is... well... invisible," he said quietly.
"You mean that I have to do the course naked?" Holly asked, not really surprised.