I wheezed, laughing so hard I thought my lungs were going to give. "Oh, my gosh, that is the most I've laughed in a long time."
Kylee laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "I'm glad you had fun, Emily. You just seemed so stressed out with med school and everything. I hate seeing my best friend like that."
"Yeah, I'm glad we could give you a good time," Tom said. "We made some cookies last night. Do you want to come over and have some?"
"Oh, I probably shouldn't," I said. "I got to study."
We just took you out to have fun, Emily! Forgot about studying for one night!" Tom said. "Besides, it's late, and you wouldn't be able to get much studying done anyways." He guided towards his apartment.
I stuck out my tongue as he led me through the front door. "Easy for you to say. Your family is loaded. The only way I pay for medical school is academic scholarships. That means I have to study my butt off."
Tom rolled his eyes. "What does med school cost, like $10,000?"
"Try more like $50,000. Per year."
"Yikes," Tom said. It was hardly a drop in the bucket for him, but it was still a significant amount. He pulled out a Seran-wrapped plate and started to uncover it. "Doctor's pay isn't too bad, though." He held up a cookie. "Well, it's not $50,000, but have a cookie."
This time, it was my turn to roll my eyes, but I took a bite. It tasted good.
"You know, if you need money..."
"I told you already, Tom. I'm not a charity case."
He shrugged. "I know that. But I still want to help. You're trying to do something for people. I think that's a worthy cause."
Kylee wrapped her arms around Tom's. "See? We care about you, Emily. You really have been stressed out."
"Look, I appreciate the thought, but I've got this."
It didn't seem like Tom was going to let it go. "Oh, come on. Let me help you. Maybe you could work for me. That way, it wouldn't be charity."
"Oh, really?" I said. It came across a little more sarcastic than I meant it to be. "And what could I possibly do for you?"
"You could let him strip you," Kylee said suddenly.
We both looked at her incredulously. "That's crazy."
"I'm serious. Tom takes off a piece of clothing, and then he pays you like a hundred bucks for each piece."
Tom coughed, trying to keep his composure together. "I mean...sure. Seems fair to me."
I glared at him. Of course he wanted to see me in my underwear. Kylee was his girlfriend, but I knew he thought I was cute, too. Kylee would tease me about it endlessly.
If it had been anyone else besides Kylee who suggested it, I would have disregarded it outright. Still, if he was serious, it was a tempting offer. A few hundred dollars just to strip down? I could keep my underwear on and not really show anything. Plus, Kylee would be here to make sure things didn't get too out of hand.
"Alright, fine," I said. "You're serious about the money?"
"Yeah," Tom said.
"But I get to call it off whenever, okay?"
"As long as Kylee or me are the ones who take it off."
I bit my lip. I didn't like that. They'd be touching me all over. "Nuh-uh. "That privilege will cost you. $500." It was a ridiculous amount of money. Tom would never agree to it.
"Deal."
What? Crap. What had I just done?
"I want to tie you up, too," Kylee said. She looked at Tom. "Another $500," he said.
A thousand dollars without even having to take anything off? "...fine."
"Great," Tom said. He disappeared into his room.
Kylee grinned at me. "This is going to be fun."
I glared at her as Tom appeared with a rope. How did Kylee know that Tom had rope? It wasn't like it was a normal thing to have in an apartment. Had she...done this before?
Kylee walked around me, helping Tom pull my arms out and tie them snugly behind me. Then he raised them and tied it to the light fixture above so I couldn't move. This was becoming very real, very quickly.
They came back into my field of vision. "Alright, let's get started," Kylee said. I realized, too late, that my trust in Kylee making sure it didn't go too far may have been misplaced.
"Well, first off, how much for your shirt?"
I blushed. Was he asking to value my own clothes? I realized that, by doing so, I would effectively be giving him consent to strip me, and I couldn't stop him by using some sort of logical argument. My hands would be tied in more ways than one, so to speak.
I realized he was still waiting for an answer. "Umm...another $500?"
"Hmm...That seems like too much. If you can quit at any time, I don't want you to just rip me off before you really show anything. How about $200?"
I opened my mouth to haggle the price again, but I realized he was right. I went running all the time wearing just my sports bra, and I wouldn't be showing much more than that without a shirt.
"Okay."
Tom grinned. "Great! Now, let's just..." He reached for the hem of my shirt.
"Wait," Kylee said. "Let me grab some scissors."
"What? No way!"
"Oh, you were saying earlier you never liked that shirt, anyways," she said. She grabbed a pair of scissors from the countertop and handed them to Tom. "Besides, with your hands tied like that, we wouldn't be able to get it off completely, and that was the deal. Plus, you never specified how we were to take off your clothes."
I paused, unable to think of an argument.
Tom decided to take my silence as consent before I could stop him, and suddenly the front of my shirt was being snipped off. He cut the hem of my shirt, and then the arms, and then threw the tattered piece of clothing to Kilee. My stomach was breathing hard, making my bra rise and fall.
"There. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Kylee said. "Like a surgeon cutting open a patient. Isn't that what you're going to medical school for?"
Tom stepped back to admire my chest with her. I felt myself blush a little deeper. I would never admit it to myself, but a small part of me was turned on by my friends looking at my body. I've never been particularly proud of my body, but to see them ogle over it was a little flattering.
"Okay," Tom said, eager to continue. "Next are your pants."
"$1,000," I said quickly. I tried to sound confident and show that I wasn't going to haggle.
My faux confidence didn't seem to impress him. "Again, it doesn't show any more than I've already seen you in a bikini. I would say another $200."
"$800."
"$400," He countered.
"$500."
"Deal."
I thought he was just going to just tug my pants down, but instead he grabbed the bottom of my right pant leg and started to cut up the center. I groaned, trying to pull away. In response, he grabbed my leg tighter, pulling me forward. His fingers touching my bare skin made surges of warmth run through me. As he started to work on the other leg, I felt my vagina grow wet. Crap, was I getting turned on by this?
He cut the waistline of my pants and they fell to the floor.