Dad always said I was too competitive for my own good.

Tonight, I was proving him right. I looked at the cards in my hand, actually a respectable hand-a full house of three jacks and two 9s, and then I glanced at the pot. Just about all the money my parents had sent me for the month was on the table, which was not helping my confidence level at all.

One of my opponents, Ricky, had already folded, leaving only his roommate Billy and myself in the game. Billy had that smug expression on his face that he had been wearing for most of the evening, that expression that conveyed the message that he knew he had this game won. That look was doing even less for my confidence.

As I looked back down at my cards, I couldn’t help but marvel at how fast this evening had gotten this far.

Billy and I had been dating for about two weeks. By dating, I meant we had met for coffee at the school café each morning and had had dinner out a couple of times. We had slept together twice, but nothing out of the ordinary. When he called and asked if I would like to play cards with him and his roommate it seemed harmless enough. As I lived in an apartment off campus and they lived in the dorm we decided to meet at my place, which seemed logical; though we had never dated, I had known Ricky for over a year and felt he was safe enough.

I also didn’t see the harm in playing poker for actual money. My father was in the Navy and had taught me how to play at a very early age. I actually considered myself pretty good. I also felt that I was a bit adept at exposing just enough skin to maintain an innocent demeanor, but still be a distraction to male opponents. As the evening started, it was actually going real well for me. In the first hour, I had made a little over a hundred dollars. However, from there it had all gone down hill.

For the last two hours, I had been consistently loosing to Billy every hand. A perfectly sane person would have quit before now, but competition always got the best of me. I was starting to think Billy had realized this and was playing on this weakness.

However it worked out, this was the last hand though. I had already lost about half of my monthly allowance provided by my parents for rent, food, utilities, you name it. I had to bet the other half in an attempt to win back what I had lost. What made it even worse was that I was already a month behind on rent thanks to some rather expensive nights of partying last month. The eviction policy was crystal clear when it came to 2 late payments. That was a call I would never be able to make to my parents.

I looked over at Billy, trying to gauge his expression to see if he was bluffing. All I read was that same smug arrogance that he had been displaying all night. I glanced over at Ricky, who had already folded, but he was staring steadily at my cleavage that I had displayed boldly in an attempt to distract Billy. He caught me looking at him and looked away smirking.

“Well, what’s it going to be, Carrie? Do you fold?” asked Billy.

“No. Do you?” I replied, with just a bit of desperation in my voice despite my best effort.

“No” he replied, “I was actually thinking about upping the pot some.”

Despite myself, I let some of my panic show as he said this. Every dime I had was on the table, if he upped his bet and I could not match, it would be the same as folding. Billy saw my panic and laughed.

“Okay,” he said, “then I call.”

I laid my hand on the table. Ricky gave an appreciative whistle at my full house.

Billy only smiled wider as he laid down four Kings.

“Well, it’s been fun,” said Billy has he started to pick up the money, “maybe we can do this next week.”

“Wait,” I pleaded. “That is all the money I have for the month, let me just pay you in payments, I should be able to pay in two to three months, tops”.

“That’s not the way you play poker and you know it,” was his reply.

“Please,” I continued anyway, “you have to at least leave enough for the rent; I told you I was already behind. If I don’t make this payment they will evict me.”

“Just call your dad and tell him to send you more,” volunteered Ricky.

“He won’t do it,” was my honest answer. “My allowance is part of his “trust” of me. He told me he would send it once a month and it was up to me to manage it, and that he would not send me a penny more, I know because I have already tried.”

“Well, it sounds like you have a problem,” was Billy’s reply. “I really wish I could help you.”

“Please,” I begged, “can’t we just work out some payment plan or something? I’ll do anything.”

As soon as I said these words a strange look passed over Billy’s face. It almost appeared as if I had finally said something he had been waiting on. What he said next further confirmed my suspicions.

“Maybe I have an idea that can help you out. Ricky and I had already decided that if we won enough money tonight, we were going to get us a slut tonight. It seems to me that we have more than enough money now. What if I were to say that I would be willing to give you back all the money I won from you tonight, Ricky too, and all you have to do is be the slut for us.”

I was so shocked by that statement that I just stood there, dumbfounded. I felt more than a little betrayed by Billy, and I also felt desperation welling up as the money went closer and closer to the door. “Please, Billy,” was all I managed to get out.

Billy stood staring at me for a bit, but then sighed and grabbed his jacket. “C’mon Ricky, lets go find us a slut.”

“Wait,” I said, actually surprising myself. “1 hour. I understand that prostitutes get paid by the hour. I will agree to it for one hour.” I was surprising myself with every word, but I was also thinking of what would happen if the money left the door. Besides, I wasn’t a virgin or anything, though I had never done two guys at once. Hell, I had already slept with Billy a couple of times, and Ricky seemed nice enough.

Unfortunately, Billy wanted to drag the negotiations out a bit.

“I figure we could get us a cheap whore for about 2 hours with this money. One that would do anything we tell her to do.”

“How about an hour and a half?” I replied.

“I don’t know Billy,” chimed in Ricky, “you said that she was not really that great in bed. I was actually hoping for a wild night with a slut that would do whatever we wanted. I’m not sure I want to blow that much money on a boring fuck!”

That statement actually made me mad. I would grant that I didn’t have that much experience, but to be referred to as not really great in bed was unacceptable to my ego. Just the second time my need to compete was going to get the better of me tonight.

“I can make it worth it for you Ricky,” I said as coldly as possible.

“I don’t know, Carrie, Ricky has a point,” said Billy, but when he saw the anger growing on my face he quickly added, “But I have an idea that could resolve it.”

“And what would that be,” I said, all the while not sure I wanted to know.

“Maybe you could put on a little show for us in order to convince us that we should do you instead of some slut. If you can convince us that you would be just as much a slut as any cheap whore we could hire, we will agree to fuck you. If not, we will take our money and leave.”