Continued from "gamble for one minute I." - This is a straight up continuance of the last. Without reading this first, you will miss some -actually a lot- of the background.
*****
Next day the phone rings. The caller ID says Pete & Karen. Crap, I thought to myself. Not knowing what this call was going to be about, I answered the phone with a bit of nervousness. It was Pete. Pete was kind of a direct fellow. He asked questions straight out. In his usual style, he said: "You didn't drop off the sample railing, did you?" It was true, in the heat of the moment I forgot to leave the sample railing I had planned to show Pete and Karen. "Can you possibly stop by later and drop it off?"
I looked at my schedule and said, "Sure, I can stop by after work, around six."
"Great" Pete said.
I pulled into the driveway at six. I was glad to see that Karen's car was not there. I could feel my heart beat in my throat as I reached to ring the doorbell. Immediately the door swung open and Pete - with a broad smile - said: "Great to see you, I was almost afraid you wouldn't come back." My heart sunk into my shoes. Crap, she must have told him. He was laughing loudly and said: "You didn't know Karen's tricks did you?" He continued: "Don't feel bad, I can't withstand her tricks neither and I am way old compared to you."
Crap, can this day get any worse? I thought to myself. These people look conservative, but they surely have some non-conventional thoughts about sexuality. Can this conversation be even more uncomfortable? Thoughts raced through my mind.
Pete continued: "When I bug her too much for sex, that is what I get," "one hell of a consolation prize" he smiled proudly. "Here, sit down," as he pointed to the chairs at the table.
As soon as we sat down, a car pulled into the driveway. It was Karen. The door swung open wildly and both Karen and Laura stepped in laughingly. To me, it was obvious they were talking about me when they pulled up.
Laura dropped her bag in a lazy chair. "So, I hear you like my legs!" she said with an air of triumph.
I could feel my face turning beet red. I was starting to sweat. She made a couple of hopping steps and twirled her hot body in front of me. I couldn't help but stare and tried to say something but nothing sensible came out.
Karen burst out laughing at my response. "I guess that is a yes." she said to Laura, way too loud to my liking.
Laura giggled and asked me: "I want to know, are these yoga pants your favorite?" as she turned her back on me, looking over her shoulder to see my reaction.
I tried to gain my composure. I suggested I would go get my railing sample to show them.
"Sure." Karen said kindly.
I almost ran out of the room to my truck. I dragged myself back into the house, holding the piece of railing in front of me, as if it would defend me against the onslaught.
Luckily we mostly talked about the project, the focus was on the railing and now the price was reduced by 10%, it was a productive meeting that actually focused on when and how.
A week later, I get a call if I would like to pick up my deposit check. It was Pete. He was anxious to get this project rolling and asked if I could come get it tomorrow, Saturday. I agreed.
Around 10:00 AM I pulled into the driveway. I rang the doorbell and Laura, with her super cute smile, opened the door. The coffee pot was on the table and Pete waved me on, "Want to join us in a cup of coffee?"
"Sure!" I said and sat down at the table. I sat in the same seat as before, I realized as soon as I sat down. The stained contract was on the table. We talked about the start date and some of the other particulars such as where to stash our supplies.
Karen had this look on her face. She was smiling. She obviously had something on her mind. When the conversation slowed she looked at me and asked: "Want to gamble again?"
"No!" I said a little too loud and a little too quickly.
Everybody chuckled. "You didn't like Karen's trick?" Pete asked me chuckling.
"No, it was a setup." I said.
"Oh, you really didn't enjoy yourself, I noticed." Karen joked.
"And you didn't like looking at my picture when you came, you pervert?" Laura asked laughingly.
Crap, they know everything. I had no privacy left! And they appear to be such conservative people! What a sham, I thought to myself.
Karen just kept on pushing: "We just have to raise the stakes."
"Not interested." I said.
"What if you could win your discount back?" Pete offered.
"And you may have some rules too." Karen suggested.
Mmmm I thought to myself.
"He looks interested." Laura said smilingly.
"Well," I started "If I could win my discount back, that would be a good thing."
"OK," Karen said "Let me summarize the rules." "If you last more than one minute, you get your discount back. If you lose, you give us another 10% discount."
I spoke up: "And I don't want this super high speed hand job, that pushes me over the edge waaaay too fast." While I said this, I thought to myself, I am going to have a much better chance since I jerked myself off this morning - thinking of Laura and her tights off course, but that is beside the point.
"OK, only one stroke per count, but otherwise I can do what I want." Karen said.
By now, everybody, including myself was smiling.
"And we can all watch" Pete said.
A stroke of panic hit me. I will be undressed in my most vulnerable state and they will be watching? "No Way!" I almost yelled.
Karen smiled. "If it makes you nervous, maybe it will help your odds?"
Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that. Also, they already have quite the story to rumor about, so I don't have much to lose. And if I am already empty, with my new attitude and knowing what to expect, I should easily last more than some measly 60 seconds.
Everyone looked at me. They were smiling, but full of anticipation. As soon as I said: "OK"
Laura said, "Hold on, wait for me, I will be right back." As she darted off to the basement stairs.