All Together Now — Chapter 1
by Pan
“Well,” Lord Mason DeGraves said with a cackle, “this was not exactly what I expected when I placed the advertisement…”
“We’re two couples,” Jake said defensively. “That’s all you asked.”
Lord DeGraves looked as though he could have been a hundred years old, despite his spry movement. There was, however, a twinkle in his eye that could have belonged to a much younger man. The two couples sitting in front of him stared at the billionaire, unsure of how to take him.
“Yes, yes,” he replied with a wave. “Don’t fear, you’re all perfectly eligible. Tea?”
Anita, Jake’s wife, shook her head. She were seated, somewhat awkwardly, on Jake’s lap—when they’d entered DeGraves’ office, he’d explained that he only had two chairs, and the tone in his voice had suggested somewhat of a challenge, one that no one was ready to back down from.
Not with so much money on the line.
Beside them, Anita’s high-school friend Megan was just as awkwardly perched on her partner Jane’s knee. Megan and Jane both nodded, and Lord DeGraves pressed a button on his intercom.
“Two teas, Bethany. Nothing for you?”
Jake didn’t realize that DeGraves was talking to him—he’d grown distracted by the odd lighting in the room. On the ceiling there was a chandelier, peculiar in itself, but on their host’s desk was a small desk-lamp, with a silver pendant hanging beneath it, spinning slightly, the light reflecting off it ever so oddly…
“Jake!” his wife hissed, and he looked up, slightly flustered.
“What? Oh, sorry. No, nothing for me.”
Lord DeGraves nodded.
“Just a whisky for me, Bethany. And have a glass of water yourself.”
Anita and Megan looked at each other with one eyebrow raised. What sort of a man had to instruct his staff when to drink?
“Now,” Lord DeGraves said, slamming his hands down on the desk and making the rest of the room jump. Jake’s attention had once more been on the small pendant, but he moved his focus to the wrinkled face of the richest man he’d ever encountered.
“You’re here because you saw my ad. Two couples, one month, one hundred thousand dollars.”
“Each,” Jane said firmly, and Lord DeGraves nodded.
“Each. I’m sure you’re wondering what you need to do for that kind of money, and I’m sure you’ve heard some horror stories, but rest assured—like everyone who comes in here, you’ll have to do relatively little to earn your money. Ah, Bethany.”
Everyone turned as a young woman entered the room, dressed in an erotic parody of a French maid’s outfit. The front hem barely rose above her nipples, and from the way her bosom strained against the black fabric, it was clear that she wasn’t wearing a bra. There was a hole in the centre of the dress, exposing Bethany’s midriff, and the bottom half flared out, ending just—only just—below her ass.
For the second time that day, Jake was broken out of a reverie by his wife’s harsh tone, but this time he knew he deserved it. Even aside from her ridiculous outfit, Bethany’s curves made her one of the sexiest women Jake had ever seen, and it was clear that Anita’s position on his lap had enabled her to observe exactly how attractive he found the young maid.
Jane and Megan, meanwhile, exchanged an amused glance. They had long agreed that jealousy was dangerous, and instead turned spotting attractive women into a game.
As Bethany served the tea, Lord DeGraves continued.
“Before I can tell you my conditions, however, I’m going to ask you some questions. If you lie—and trust me, I’ll know if you lie—your chances of the money disappear. Do you understand me?”
The murmur of voices from the two chairs opposite him indicated agreement.
“Excellent. Sir, you first. On average, how many times a week do your wife and you make love?”
Jake was embarrassed to find himself blushing, but after a brief glance at his wife for her approval, he answered.
“And the lady sitting on his lap…”
“Anita,” Anita said coldly.
“Anita, yes. Would you agree with that?”
“Two or three times a week—that sounds right to me.”
Lord DeGraves stared Anita in the eye for long enough to make her uncomfortable, but she accepted the challenge, and never broke eye contact with the old miser. Eventually, he seemed satisfied with her response.
“Excellent. Ladies, same question.”
There was a brief pause as Megan and Jane looked at each other, but almost as soon as they made eye contact, they turned to the old man and answered simultaneously.
“Five times a week.”
The sight of Jake’s eyebrows flying up in shock made Lord DeGraves cackle with laughter. He calmed down, and as Bethany poured his whisky, blatantly groped her exposed buttocks. To Jake’s surprise, the young maid simply smiled in response.
“So as a quartet, you would have sex on average…maybe four times a week?”
“I suppose so,” Anita said.
“Approximately,” Megan confirmed.
“Very well. Here is my proposal—for the next month, I want you to make love to your partners four times a week. Do any of you have any sexual relationships outside of your partners? No? Good. For the next month, none of you are allowed to make love with anyone outside this room. And not just make love—until our contract reaches an end, you can’t have sex with, fuck, indulge in intercourse with, or even fool around with anyone outside this room.”
There was a pause as Lord DeGraves took a sip of his whiskey. The assembled couples sat and watched him, confused looks on their faces.
“Is that it?” Jake asked, and was met with a slap on the chest from his wife, and a wide grin from Mason DeGraves.
“It is not. No—here’s the rub. For the next month, you must make love four times a week. And each time any of you make love to your partner…all four of you have to be in the room.
There was a long, stunned silence as everyone processed what Lord DeGraves had said. Bethany finished serving teas and left the room, with Jake’s eyes desperately trying not to follow her as she did.
Finally, Megan spoke up.
“Wait…what you’re saying, your Lordship—…”
“Call me sir. I like it when a pretty young thing calls me sir.”
“What you’re saying, sir, is that when Jane and I make love…Anita and Jake have to be there too?”
“That’s the gist of it, yes. Sexual contact of any kind. If you’re doing anything more than kissing each other on the lips, your friends have to be in the room.”
“And vice-versa.”
“Quite right. For efficiency’s sake, you could all fuck at once, but I’ll leave the logistics of it up to you.”
“And if we do that for the next month…”
“Then you’ll walk out of here with four hundred thousand dollars.”
There was another long pause, broken up only by the sounds of sipping. Jake was again staring into the pendant as he considered the offer they’d just received.
“Can we think about it overnight?”
This time it was Anita who broke the silence, drawing Mason DeGrave’s attention. His eyes travelled up her body, somehow seeming to strip her of the sensible shoes she was wearing, the long skirt and the white blouse. Only when he reached her blue eyes, framed by her long blonde hair, did he reply.
“You can even take the contract to read over, on one condition: no sex tonight, of any kind. Come back tomorrow with your decision. Bethany will let you out.”
“Thank you,” Anita replied, and a smile appeared on Lord DeGrave’s face as he watched the swish of her long skirt.
He could already tell that this was going to be a fun one.
“Look, if you guys don’t mind, I don’t mind.”
“I mind!”
“Yeah, I’ve got to admit…it’s a bit weird.”
“Sure, it’s weird…but it’s also a hundred thousand dollars. Each!”
There was a pause, as each of the four sitting around the table thought about what they could do with four hundred thousand dollars.
After leaving the manor, the four had agreed to meet up that night and think about it. And as soon as they’d arrived at Jake and Anita’s house that night, Jane and Megan had agreed to the deal. Anita, however, was still holding back, and so Jake knew he couldn’t openly admit his enthusiasm for the idea, else he’d make her look like a spoilsport.
“Two hundred thousand dollars, honey…think about it. We could make a deposit on the house, and still have enough left for a trip. Anywhere you wanted to go…”
“Megan, honey, would you give us a minute?”
“Sure thing.”
As Jane and Megan walked to the door, already mentally spending the money, Anita turned to her husband.
“Jake—would you really be okay with this?”
“It’s a month. Sixteen times. If someone said to you, ‘Hey, I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars to have sex in a room with your friends’, you’d do it without hesitating.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Besides, it’s not just doing it once. A whole month, Jake—they’re our best friends. How will we ever look them in the eye again?”
Jake’s eyes dropped back down to the surprisingly simple contract that Lord DeGraves had sent with them. A smile slowly spread across his face.
“I’ve got it.”
“What?”
“Look at this—the contract doesn’t define sex.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, how do you define sex? It’s not that easy, especially when…you know, lesbians are involved.”
“Okay…”
“And it doesn’t say anything about masturbation. So how about this: for the next month, none of us have sex. Four times a week, we get into a room together, and behind blankets, we…I dunno, touch genitals for a few seconds. We don’t do anything with each other outside of that room, and whenever we feel the need, we take care of it ourselves.”
Anita’s eyes widened as Jake spoke, and by the time he was finished, her grin was as broad as his.
“So we…”
“Exactly! We win on a technicality. All we have to do is avoid having sex for the month, and we walk out of there with four hundred thousand dollars of the old pervert’s money.”
“Jake,” Anita said with a smile, “you may be a genius.”
“I’ll let the others know.”
“Wait…”
“What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“I mean…a whole month…”
“Honey, don’t take this the wrong way, but for a hundred thousand dollars, I’d stop having sex with you for a year.”
“A year?”
Anita raised one eyebrow, and Jake smiled as he backpedaled.
“Did I say a year? I meant a month and a day. No more!”
Anita grinned.
“That’s better. Okay love—go tell the others.”
As Jake got up, Anita’s eyes fell down to the contract, and her thin lips moved quickly as she read it.
That night, as Jake went to turn off the light, he was surprised to find Anita’s hand slowly snaking down his body.
“Honey, what are you doing?”
“I don’t want to go any longer than I have to without feeling you inside me…”
“But you remember what Lord DeGraves said. If we have sex tonight…”
“I read over the contract, Jakey. It doesn’t say anything about not having sex the night before the contract is signed. Besides…he’ll never know…”
As Jake began his retort, Anita’s hand found what it was looking for, and her husband’s objections died in his throat.
What harm could it do?