An employee carries a tray of champagne glasses around the deck, offering a glass to everyone.
I turn it down. I don’t want to drink sweet champagne right now.
“Tonight will be much different than last night. Last night was about dipping your toes into this world. Tonight, you’ll dive headfirst into the deep end.” He smirks like he knows a secret that will ruin all of us.
I grind my teeth and my hands fist. Out with it!
“Last night you had complete control over the situation. Tonight, you’ll lose all control. The only power you’ll be able to wield is the ability to say your safe word and leave the game.”
I glance at Liesel again. She can’t lose control. I can’t lose control.
How are we going to survive?
Liesel looks into my soul. We won’t.
Fuck.
“Tonight, I’ll draw names to decide your partner each round, but that partner won’t be the one pushing you. The owner of the game will be selecting a challenge for each of you. You won’t be fighting against each other. You’ll be fighting against yourself. Your worst demons. The darkest part of your soul.”
I’ve fucked plenty of women in my life. Phoenix and I may be legally married, but we aren’t tied to only fuck each other. We aren’t lovers in that sense. Have we fucked? Yes. But it’s never crossed to love or loyalty to each other.
I’m a free man. I can fuck whoever and whenever and however I want. I can’t imagine a sexual act that I wouldn’t be willing to do, not if it meant destroying Liesel a little more.
Bring it on.
“The rules are also different tonight. There are two ways you get knocked out of the game—either by using your safe word or by not completing the challenge. Once you are knocked out, you will get to watch the rest of the games from a safe room. Any questions?”
The room is silent. I have so many, but I’m not going to ask any of them. I’m not going to appear weak in any way.
I haven’t been weak since I was a boy.
Never again.
Mr. Reyes starts pairing off people, until there are only four of us left: Liesel, me, Beckett, and another man.
I exhale.
I don’t even know who I want to be paired with anymore.
“Ms. White and Mr. Beckett.”
Liesel and Beckett are paired together.
Beckett gives me a cocky wink as he walks toward her. I don’t think I can handle the two of them together.
A low growl escapes. It’s a territorial growl, but Beckett takes the hint.
He nods once.
That leaves me and the remaining man to be paired.
I have nothing against men fucking each other; I’m just not gay. But I have a feeling this isn’t about who you’re partnered with. This is going to be different. I just don’t understand how.
“The first and the last couples drawn will go first. Each of you will be led to the two rooms where you will be completing your challenges, while the rest of you will be led to the viewing area. Once the challenges are finished, you’ll swap places.”
That means Liesel will be able to watch me, and I’ll be able to watch her.
“Gentleman, if you’ll follow me,” a woman in a simple black dress says. She’s not wearing a mask, the clue that she’s an employee and not a player.
We follow her down from the top to the bottom deck. It feels like we are walking down into a dungeon, possibly to our deaths as we descend deeper into the ship.
She opens a door and holds it open for us as we step inside. The room is about twice the size of the bedrooms on the ship. It has a king-sized bed in the center, but otherwise, there are no whips, chains, bludgeons—nothing that makes it seem anything other than an ordinary bedroom. The only light comes from two light shades on either side of the bed. There are no windows or other light sources I can see.
The woman steps in after us and closes the door behind her.
“Mr. Pearce, this challenge is for you. You’ll have five minutes to mentally prepare, and then the challenge will start. You are required to do and accept everything on the card to complete your challenge. Understand?”
“Yes.”
She smiles tightly. “Here you go. You have five minutes.” She hands me a standard-sized index card.
I read through it quickly as my skin turns pale.
How?
I’m going to kill Liesel. She had to have told someone who I am and about my past. That’s the only way they could have picked out this specific challenge for me. Although, I stupidly gave my real name and made it simple for them to find me.
The card is basically all of my fears thrown into one twisted game.
They know I was beaten as a kid.
And that’s exactly what I have to do—beat another and then get beaten while climaxing.
Who thinks up these sick challenges?
I glance up in the corner of the room, looking for a camera, but I find none. My eyes cut around the room; the wall seems completely flat. I don’t see any indication of a camera, but there must be one somewhere.
The man who is partnered with me sits on the edge of the bed. He wasn’t given any instructions. He doesn’t know what my challenge is.
I have less than five minutes to decide if I’m going to do this task or not.
Liesel, what did you do? What horror will your task be?
She’ll do it, whatever it is. She’s done it before. This round can’t be any worse than what she’s already done.
Why?
What the hell am I missing? There has to be easier ways to get money.
I close my eyes in thought. I’m already going to hell; what difference does it make if I do this? This man is a man, not a boy. He can say his safe word and stop. This is for millions of dollars. This is to stop Liesel.
