Blackmailed Bride Ch. 10

"Why was it banned?" I asked.

"A man in Germany killed all of his family after getting drunk on absinthe. It wasn't the only thing he was drunk on. He'd been drinking for two solid days, but absinthe got blamed for it. That was the start of it. In reality, it's no worse than any other type of alcohol, except it's very strong."

"Is that why it you brought such tiny glasses?" I inquired.

"Oh, yeah. Your typical hard liquor like whiskey or vodka is around eighty proof or 40% alcohol. Absinthe is roughly 75% alcohol or 150 proof and can go higher. Even if we were using shot glasses, we'd be plastered after a half dozen."

"Why did Tanner call it the 'green fairy'?"

"The color obviously, plus I guess because you were flying high. It's a name which stuck."

"I've played strip poker a half different ways," Tanner said. "How do you want to play it?"

"How many times have you played strip poker?" I asked Tanner.

"Too many to count. You knew my reputation. I played around some."

I nodded. It was true. Tanner had a reputation as a rake.

Stan said, "Well, if you bet items of clothes, the game ends too quick. The way I like to play is the loser of any hand gives up an item of clothing. The loser is the lowest hand still playing. The winner is the highest hand still playing. Anyone who folds doesn't have to give up anything. The loser also has to have a drink of absinthe, plus other possible penalties to the loser or rewards to the winner."

"What kind of penalties were you thinking of?" Tanner asked.

"I made a list of possible penalties. We kind of use these for some of our games with people we party with. Kathy already went through it and eliminated anything she thought wouldn't fly." He handed the list to Tanner. "The ones crossed out are already gone. There's only three left."

Tanner looked it over. "I could live with all three of these, but I suspect Brooke would have an issue with one of them." He handed it over to me.

I examined the list. I looked at the ones crossed off the list already. It included things like the winner could finger the loser, or kiss their breasts or lick their sexual organs. Obviously a list for people who were willing and able to have sex with other people. Kathy had said she'd eliminate those things and she had. The only things remaining were the winner and loser of each hand would kiss while in a full bodied embrace for a minute no matter their state of dress. For the squeamish, the spouse of the loser or winner could pay the penalty, so Tanner wouldn't have to kiss Stan or the other way around. Theoretically, I wouldn't have to kiss Kathy either, though I had no particular objection to do so. The one time she'd kissed me with some passion, I'd enjoyed it.

The other two were designed for the overall winner and loser. In one the overall loser would masturbate themselves to orgasm for the overall winner. The others could be present or not at the loser's choice. I'd masturbated for Tanner, though he'd never done so for me. I could admit to a certain amount of curiosity regarding how men masturbated and what it looked like and even how another woman might do it since I'd never seen a woman do it either. It bordered on a sex act with another, but involved no touching of another person.

The remaining one was the loser had to masturbate the winner to orgasm. Again, it could be with only the two or with the others present. The spouse could pay the penalty for the loser. It would save Tanner from having to masturbate Stan or vice versa, but it also meant the chances of my having to masturbate Stan would double. I assumed Tanner would masturbate Kathy himself and accept it from her without issues, but if Stan was the overall winner and either I or Tanner the loser, I would be masturbating Stan. It would consist of fondling another person to orgasm. Kathy would be happy to touch me to orgasm, which I could also see as not being an issue for Stan, but would Tanner feel the same way if Stan made me cum?

I was surprised he'd say he had no issue with it. Was he doing it for their benefit, to show he was as sophisticated as they were, expecting I'd reject it anyway? I briefly considered testing whether he truly had no issues by agreeing to it, but I could not persuade myself to do so, even though I'd done much worse recently. Perhaps it was because I'd done much worse I couldn't. I remembered how Tanner seemed to become rougher with me when he thought he needed to reassert his dominance as my lover. If Stan or I ended up masturbating the other to orgasm, how rough would he become.

That brought me back to the first of the two overall penalties. It was a step up from mere nudity to be masturbating for another person. I assumed I would do Tanner in private if he won and I lost. If anyone else won, I would want Tanner to be there so he knew nothing other than masturbation took place, which meant everyone would be watching me masturbate, not just the winner. The alternative was if I was the winner and anyone else won. It was the loser's choice. If anyone else was the loser, and I was the winner, they would decide who they masturbated in front of. It might only be me. How crazy would it make Tanner if Stan masturbated only for me? Again, I assumed Kathy would create no problems for him, no matter who she masturbated for.

The question became one of how ready I was to be the wet blanket of this party. I eventually decided on the first and not the second. I was unwilling to touch anyone else or have them touch me. It had too many land mines. It took several minutes for me to run all the choices through my head, but no one pressured me, waiting calmly as I made up my mind.

"I'll agree to the kissing and to the loser masturbating themselves, not the other."

"Let's get started then," Stan said. "Draw for deal, dealer's choice on the game."

"Unless we want to play at the table," Tanner said, "I suggest we play on the bed in the bedroom."

Nobody had a problem with the suggestion and we adjourned to the king size bed.

We drew and I became the first dealer, calling five card draw. Poker is a game of percentages, the more cards in play, the better your chance of getting a good hand. Five card stud meant every player only had five cards to make up a hand. Five card draw gave you up to nine cards to make up a good hand. Seven card stud, gave you seven, seven card draw up to eleven. Texas hold 'em gave you seven cards, but four of the cards belonged to everyone, so if four aces showed up in the flop, everyone had four aces and the blind cards would determine the winner. Running bluffs in strip poker was next to impossible, especially since we weren't betting clothing items. You either had the cards or you didn't. In a draw game, you could bluff a little by standing pat, thereby making your opponents think your hand was good enough not to draw replacement cards and hope they folded, but if you tried it too often, your opponents would figure it out and make you pay.

The other part of poker consisted of knowing your opponent; how risky or safe someone played, if they had tells which gave away good or bad cards. Some psychology and skill at body language helped to know if their cards were good or they were running bluffs. In strip poker; unless you were playing a draw game, you couldn't bluff at all, so it was primarily playing percentages on the likelihood of a good hand. I'd decided I was going to play a conservative game, trying to get a gauge on how the others played poker. Unless I felt I had a sure fire winner, I would fold most of my hands to see what everyone else was doing.

I dealt and got a pair of twos. I folded; Tanner won and Kathy lost. She took her drink, shed a necklace, and they both stood and kissed. It looked like a fairly chaste kiss, without much tongue, though I expected that wouldn't last throughout the evening. I kept a close eye on the other players for the next eleven hands, trying to determine how they played. Kathy seemed to take risks, but I suppose she didn't really care if she was naked. She didn't really start to buckle down until she lost her first three items, the necklace and shoes; all but her blouse, shorts and underwear. Tanner had lost two items, but he lost on good hands, which meant he was playing conservatively; wasn't taking needless risks. He took his drinks and lost his watch and a bracelet. One of his losses was to Stan. I kissed Stan for him and Stan was somewhat gracious, a mostly chaste kiss until right before the kiss ended when he parted my lips with his tongue. Stan lost one item, a watch, also on a good hand. The rest of the time, people had folded. The only time I'd stuck in the game thus far was when playing five card stud, I had a pair of aces which I thought was fairly safe and it was; I won the hand, beating Tanner who I'd been happy to kiss, passionately.

The third time I dealt, I called Texas hold 'em. I got two small spades in my blind and the first flop was another spade; a possible flush which wasn't bad for this game. The next two flop cards were both aces and I saw Kathy's eyes widen momentarily on the second one, so I guessed she had at least one more ace in her blind. Tanner and Stan both dropped out. I figured I could stick around a little longer. The last flop was another spade. I picked up my cards like I thought of throwing them in, then set them down again as if I wasn't sure. Let's see what Kathy made of that. I dealt us both the last blind. I watched Kathy pick up hers and it didn't seem her expression changed, so I guessed it didn't make a difference. I picked mine up and tried to keep my face neutral when I saw the fifth spade. It would be hard to guess I had a flush as three of the spades were blind. I'd stayed in the game, so Kathy had to assume I had at least another pair to go with the aces on the table. Two pair is the minimum you'd usually stick around for in a seven card deal. If she had a blind ace, I couldn't have two, so four of a kind was out of the question. It was possible we both had three aces, and then a high secondary card would be the winner. I knew I had no ace, so the question was did she have both, or only one. If she had both, I lost. Only one and I won unless she also had another pair for a full house. With a flush, I had to take my chances. I laid them down.

"A flush. Do you have three or four aces?"

"Only three," Kathy said, downing another shot of absinthe. She stood up and took off her blouse, leaving her with a transparent bra on top. She started toward me for the penalty kiss. I asked Tanner to take it for me. Kathy pouted for a moment, but slapped a grin on her face when she realized my replacement was pretty fair game himself. Perhaps it was partly retaliation for my refusing to kiss, and partly the fourth drink of absinthe, but she plastered her body against him and kissed him open mouthed for the full minute. If the bulge in Tanner's shorts was any indication, he enjoyed the kiss immensely. I decided I might take her future penalties myself considering how bare she was becoming and how much Tanner was enjoying it. Tanner would already be kissing her every time he lost to her, or she or Stan to him.

"We were all bragging about our poker prowess, but you're a pretty fair poker player yourself, Brooke. You haven't lost once so far."

"Intercollegiate sports, ladies and gentlemen. You have to do something on the bus and in the hotel rooms. Oh, and my Daddy made it to the regional finals of the World Series of Poker."

"Tanner, you brought in a ringer," Kathy laughed, "though from the expression on your face, I doubt you knew it."

Having gotten a gauge of how the others were playing, and not having lost yet, I decided I could afford a few more risks than I'd taken so far. I started folding less often, willing to risk less than perfect hands in a play. The rest must have felt the same, because everybody folded less frequently from that point on. Over the next several hands, Tanner lost both his shoes, one to Kathy and one to Stan and I again stood in for the kiss. Given how his wife had kissed Tanner, Stan held me close and the kiss was primarily open mouthed. I was breathing harder when he finished. Stan was not a bad kisser. Stan also lost twice, once to me and once to Kathy. I lost twice, tasting the absinthe for the first time and losing my shoes. One of the losses was to Tanner and one to Kathy. I let her take the penalty from me and she kissed better than Stan, softer, smoother, creamier with her lipstick on. Kathy lost another hand to Stan and had to shed her shorts, showing her panties were as transparent as her bra. While Stan kissed her, he caressed her breasts, turning her nipples into hard buttons. At least they were married.

Thus far, Tanner had lost four times, Kathy five, Stan three, and me twice. Stan was right about the absinthe; it was potent stuff. Even the two small shots I'd taken were having an affect on me. I stopped the game momentarily to get bottles of water for myself and anyone else who wanted it. I returned to the game and Kathy dealt, seven card draw. I got three jacks in my hand and drew four, picking up a pair of twos. A full house is a good hand no matter what you were playing, so I stayed in, losing to Kathy's four tens. I finally had to surrender a piece of clothing that meant something, taking off my blouse and exposing my lacy bra to three pairs of avid eyes. Kathy claimed her penalty after I downed another shot of absinthe. When she was finished with me, I was glad we were only kissing for a minute and not longer.

From that moment on, my luck and Stan's both took a nosedive. Over the next five hands, he and I both lost twice, while Tanner lost once. Kathy maintained. Of the two times I lost, I shed my shorts the first time and had to kiss Stan. I also had to kiss Stan when Tanner lost his shirt to him. The next time I lost was a tougher decision. I could lose the panties which covered my very brief swim suit bottoms or my bra. I finally decided on the panties, as even the briefest of bottoms was still a covering; losing the bra was not. I lost to Tanner and he clasped my near naked butt in his two large hands and pillaged my mouth, holding me tight to his bare chest. Stan lost to Kathy, losing only a shoe, the first time, but lost to Tanner the second, losing his shirt and I had to accept his kiss for Tanner. When he was done, I was panting again, and asked to stop for more water.

We were now in a dead heat. All of us had lost five times. Kathy and I had our tops and bottoms covered, Stan and Tanner had shorts and Fruit of the Looms. The game was getting down to the nitty gritty. Both men were showing the effects of kissing barely dressed women, sporting erections. I couldn't speak for Kathy, but I was feeling on the juicy side myself. The first deal after getting the water ended up with everyone folding but Tanner. The next deal finally broke Kathy's lucky streak. She lost to Tanner and surrendered her bra. Her lovely tits squashed up against Tanner's chest as she forked over her penalty. His hands were squeezing her nylon covered bottom. They were both panting when Stan called time.

Tanner lost the next deal to Stan. Off came his shorts, exposing his low rise, boxer briefs. The tip of his cock was sticking up under the band. Kathy whistled.

"Nice cock, big man," she said. I couldn't disagree with her. I had to kiss Stan again for Tanner. I was really feeling the euphoria of my five shots of absinthe. My head was spinning even before I kissed him, and was spinning faster when we were done. I noticed I was holding him almost as tightly as he held me and it seemed the minute took forever to end. The next hand was another bust, with all but me folding.

Stan dealt the next hand, another game of Texas hold 'em. I got dealt a three and five of hearts in the blind. The next two cards of the flop were a ten of hearts, and a three of diamonds. Possible flush or pair of threes. Still worth sticking around for. Both Tanner and Stan dropped out after the second flop, seeing nothing of interest in their hands. Kathy stayed in and I wondered what she had. Could be almost anything. Six of hearts flopped next, so flush looking better and better. The last flop was the three of clubs. I now had four hearts and was a heart away from the flush, and three treys, a three away from four of a kind. I could live with either of those if I got it. Kathy stayed in so either she also had a couple hearts or something entirely unknown. She couldn't have threes like I did. Might have a pair to match with the six or ten to make a full house. I guess I'd assume the full house and fold if I got the flush and play on if I got the three. Stan dealt the last down and dirty. I got the three and Kathy didn't fold.

"Four threes," I said laying down my cards.

"Four tens," she replied, putting hers down. There they were, staring me in the eye. She'd gotten a pair of tens to start and had the full house with the last flop, which would have lost, but picked up the fourth ten on her last blind. I drank my absinthe shot and took of my bra, baring my breasts.

"Come to mama," Kathy said, holding out her arms. I walked over to her side of the bed and she stood up to meet me. She pulled me close for the kiss. I'd never realized before that moment what it would be like kissing another woman while we were both bare breasted. I was taller, so mine were above hers, but still, it was like bumping up against two soft, squishy pillows. It felt nice, especially as sexually charged as I was from the constant kissing and near nudity. I enjoyed the kiss and again, it seemed the minute went on longer than I expected. Apparently, my sense of time passage was being screwed up by the alcohol. I was sure my pussy was leaking when we'd finished. Hers were clear, so it was evident Kathy was.

I dealt the next hand, five card draw. When the draw was done, only Stan and I were standing. Either I was going out, or Stan was losing his shorts. I had three queens, so fairly confident of my hand for this particular game. I wasn't wrong either. Stan had three nines, but it wasn't enough. He took a shot and removed his shorts, revealing he wore boxers. His erect cock was sticking out the front. He came over to present his forfeit and I felt his erection rubbing against my stomach between us as we clung to each other. When it was over, I glanced at Tanner. His eyes seemed to have fires burning inside. I could sense his tension. Not so much that he wanted to hurt anyone, but that he was ready to reestablish his dominance the first chance he got. I wondered again what he would have done if I'd agreed to the masturbating someone else penalty. Had he been serious or depending on me to take it off the list?

Tanner dealt next and it was another bust. Everyone but Kathy folded. I drank some more water. I seemed unusually thirsty and I wondered if it was a property of the absinthe. Kathy dealt next, five card stud. Since I was down to my last item of clothing, I was going to be cautious. I'd fold on anything less than a pair of jacks. I did better, getting two pair, sevens and sixes. Everyone else but Stan dropped out. One of us was going to go naked and would end up masturbating for someone or everyone, losers choice. It's funny we'd ended up facing each other the last two hands, both of them critical.

I laid my cards down. "Sixes and sevens, Stan. What have you got?"

"Three fours, darling. You lose."

I drank my last shot, stood up, pulled the ties on my bottoms and let them fall to the floor. It was the first time Stan had seen me bare, the only one in the room who'd not seen me fully naked before. I'd felt naked, wearing the white suit on our boating trip, but I was covered, if barely. Only Tanner didn't know Kathy had already seen me. Stan's cock was fully erect, poking out of his boxers, and a drop of pre-cum glistened on the head. I approached Stan and he pulled me into his embrace. This time his cock didn't rub only on my stomach, it rubbed against my mound, hard and needy. One hand was on my bare bottom, the other mid-back crushing my breasts against his chest as we kissed, our tongues dancing with one another. I lost track of time again, rubbing against Stan as he rubbed against me. I heard someone moaning and feared it was me. Tanner called time and I was dizzy when I backed away. I was out of the game. They only thing remaining was to determine the winner, the person I'd masturbate for.