Best Laid Plans

Riley let out a sigh of relief. He'd made it to the fifth round. Two more and he'd finish in the top three. He felt bad for the girls who had been eliminated, especially Natalie, but this wasn't the time to hold back. He knew that whatever transformations the show had planned for him were big. He needed that immunity.

His nerves were beginning to get to him though. He'd done well so far, but he was almost out of truths to share. At least at the top end. Silently he thanked Dr. Friedman. If it weren't for her he'd probably have been one of the first ones eliminated. He mentally went through the list he prepared, keeping it fresh in his mind.

Paige was starting off the new round. He was worried for her. She was doing better than he'd even dared to hope. Chloe and she had been the clear underdogs, and Chloe had gotten knocked out first. Paige had somehow been managing to hang on though. Good for her, he thought with pride.

"My crucifix was blessed by the pope," Paige said, kicking off the round.

That was true, he knew. It had been a gift from her aunt. Everyone else seemed to agree and Paige made it through. Which made sense. Nobody would bother lying at the start of the round when any half-interesting factoid would do.

Laura came next. "I knew a witch when I was younger and according to her I'm an indigo child."

Riley wondered if it would count as bullshit if she were wrong but thought she was right. Probably best not to test it.

"I had a huge crush on one of my professors in college," Anna said. "He was forty three."

She said it with a sweet, embarrassed smile but Riley couldn't help but wondering if she'd been with Trevor at the time. Anna could put on a good front, but she was a snake.

Nobody called bullshit. That meant it was his turn. He went over his mental catalog of facts again. There were a couple that could work here, but most of them he wasn't willing to own up to until he had to. "I once spent a whole day at work with a tear in the back of my pants. Nobody told me."

That had been really embarrassing. He hadn't found out until he'd gotten home and Paige had let him know. It probably didn't sound as bad as it was, condensed down into a short anecdote like that, but Violet accepted it.

"I've published a work of fiction under a pen name," Audrey shared.

She was impossible to read. And was probably the best prepared one there. He had no idea how he was going to beat her.

Next up was Paige. Riley braced himself and crossed his fingers, hoping she could make it through another round. Things hadn't heated up too much yet.

"I have a special set of lingerie set aside, for my wedding night."

That was a distracting surprise. Waiting for marriage wasn't easy, but it honestly hadn't bothered Riley too much. Paige was worth it. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't have concerns. It wouldn't be easy for Paige to slide from repressing her sexuality to sharing it with him overnight. That she'd been preparing was sort of sweet. Paige was looking at him with a blush, but he smiled back at her and she eased up some.

"I once fingered a girl in a movie theater," Laura blurted out.

Shit. That really kicked things up a notch. He squinted, trying to read her. It could be true, he figured. It probably wasn't worth risking a bullshit call.

Anna, who was up after Laura, turned to him and gave him an appraising once over. That couldn't be good.

"I was in a foursome once," she said. "All three guys finished on my face."

Riley was next and he was in trouble. He ran over his list one last time and realized he had almost nothing true to say. The innate sense of the game that Violet had given them let him know that there was one fact that was right on the line. It would be up to Violet to let it through or not. If she didn't then he'd have wasted a precious piece of ammunition.

That meant he would have to either lie or call bullshit. Anna could be lying. She seemed to be playing up her slutty side. She'd always been a little 'loose', but she wasn't quite as whoreish as she was making herself sound. It was definitely possible she was lying. He wasn't willing to risk it though. If he got knocked out now he'd have no protection during the vote.

He considered several of the lies he had prepared, but the only ones that would work after an admission like Anna's were pretty out there. He wasn't willing to risk those being made true any more than he was willing to risk being knocked out on a bullshit call.

Anna had done this on purpose, he realized. She'd amped up the secrets so that he'd be between a rock and a hard place. He wasn't sure what to do.

"Riley," Violet prodded. "It's your turn."

"Right." he said, mind racing. Play it safe. That's what he needed to do. He had one fact he could share and Violet might let it through. That was the best way forward, the one that risked the least.

"I'm into...butt stuff."

He didn't want to look at Paige. He knew she'd be judging him, not least of all because of her 'archetype' in the competition. Luckily for him she hated talking about sex so he could probably avoid an awkward conversation.

Violet pursed her lips. "We're going to need a little bit more," she said.

Riley's skin felt cold. She hadn't accepted it. He did his best to keep his hands from shaking while his mind raced. He needed to make the secret juicier, and he needed to do it quickly. If he took too long it would be obvious that he was lying. Saying the first thing that came to mind, he added, "On me. You know, like a finger. Pegging. That sort of thing."

Inwardly he cursed. That hadn't been on his list. Why had he said that? He had prepared a whole collection of lies and then he'd panicked and just made shit up. Stupid.

"Bullshit," Laura said. "I think. Yeah. Bullshit."

Riley's heart sank. Laura offered him an apologetic look but he only half-noticed. His pulse was pounding in his ears.

"Is it true Riley?" Violet asked.

His mouth was dry. "No."

"Let's change that then," she said.

His mind blurred as he realized he'd always hoped that a girl would slip a finger around back while she was blowing him. He'd never asked for it of course. The idea of letting someone know he was into that terrified him. But he'd always wanted it.

He'd given up on his fantasies when he'd started dating Paige. She had been perfect for him in every way, except that he knew she'd never go for his kink. She was far too traditional. Any stimulation 'back there' would be out of the question. And Paige wearing a strap on? Not a chance.

Of course, now everyone knew what he secretly desired, including Paige. His face burned. A small voice deep inside of him tried to point out that this was all new, that it had been **** on him, but Riley was too out of sorts to properly organize his thoughts and acknowledge that.

He took a seat on his podium and a stab of fear gripped his heart. He was eliminated. He'd have no protection at all in the vote. God, what were they going to do to him?

***

Just one more to go, Anna thought. She'd almost made it to the top three. She was so close. She needed this. All the contestants wanted to win of course, but Anna was the one who deserved it the most. They could see that, right? Her archetype was the only one that was actively cruel. It wasn't fair. Everyone else had gotten off so easy and here she was wearing a collar. They owed it to her.

She'd managed to knock Riley out. It had been a good trick, raising the stakes like that right before his turn. With him out of the way, Trevor's professor came after her in the lineup. She'd be harder to get rid of. Anna doubted the same trick would work twice.

Paige was the clear weak link among the four of them that were left. Anna would have to watch her. She'd be **** to lie sooner rather than later.

The older woman led them off. "Indian food is my favorite."

Not exactly a show stopper. She was playing it safe for now, but it was the start of the round so that was to be expected.

Anna gave her outfit another once over. She was trying to show off. Anna rolled her eyes. It wasn't going to work. Yeah, she looked younger now than when she'd started, but she was still old. Trevor would never go for her when girls like Anna were around. Audrey was a threat in the contests, but in the broader show Anna would mop the floor with her.

Paige went next and Anna payed careful attention. It was probably too early to catch her out, but you never knew.

"I have a pet hamster named Fluffernutter."

Ugh. She slipped by again. Anna had had to confess all sorts of things, including some that weren't true. Why did little miss prude get it so easy?

It was the lesbian's turn after Paige. "I've always wanted to be blonde. Dye my hair and be like, really blonde. I don't think I could pull it off though. I've never done it."

She was probably right. Her complexion was too dark to pull off being blonde. Anna might try it some day though.

Then it was her turn. Anna thought about it a little and decided not to risk anything. "I've met the CEO of google," she said. It was true, so she had nothing to worry about.

Anna turned to see what the professor would say.

"I've slept with a student."

Oh. She was trying the same thing Anna had done. She was ramping up the game to knock out Paige. But she'd made a mistake. She'd told a lie that was so obvious. She did a good job of keeping her face straight, but there was just no way that was true.

Anna thought about letting her get away with it. Paige would be knocked out, there wasn't a chance she could top that. But Anna could knock out Paige whenever she wanted. This was maybe her best chance to knock out Audrey. She thought she was so smart, but Anna had her right where she wanted her.

"Bullshit," Anna said.

"Doctor?" Violet asked. "Is it true?"

"Yes," she said. "It's true."

What?

"We were on a school trip," Audrey explained, "and the hotel had made a mistake with the booking. I shared a room with one of the girls on the trip and we both slept in the same bed."

"Wait," Anna said, "that's it? You didn't have sex with her?"

"Of course not," Audrey said with faux indignation. "That would be wrong."

Anna's pulse quickened. That bitch. "You lied!"

"Actually, I told the truth," Audrey said.

"Anna," Violet told her, "you have been eliminated. Please take a seat."

"No! That isn't fair!" Anna whirled on the professor. "You cheated!"

Audrey said nothing, just stood there all composed like she was hot shit. Anna hated her.

"She cheated!" Anna plead. Violet wasn't having it. Anna looked around desperately but no one spoke up for her. How could they let this happen?

"Sit down, Anna," Violet commanded.

Hopelessly Anna collapsed onto her podium. She had been so close. It wasn't fair.

***

It was down to the three of them now: Laura, Paige, and herself. They'd all managed to lock up at least some protection in the vote, but Audrey wasn't done yet.

She'd been hoping to knock Laura out with that last trick, or maybe Paige if nobody called bullshit, but Anna was a good catch too. She'd probably made an enemy of the girl, but she doubted Anna would have been a good ally anyways, so nothing was really lost.

Paige was slated to lead the round off. She'd had remarkably good luck with going early in rounds, letting her get away with less evocative secrets. Good for her, but good for Audrey also. Having such weak competition in the final three rounds was going to make this easier than it probably should have been.

"My little brother called me PaePae once when he was a toddler," Paige began. "My friends were over and somehow it ended up becoming PeePee instead. They called me that for years."

An embarrassing childhood nickname. It was a decent enough way to start things off.

Laura's turn. "I can name all twenty seven bones in the human hand."

Audrey had a choice to make. Laura was the tougher competition, so knocking her out was worth more than knocking out Paige. If she get Paige eliminated though then she'd be in the top two, and the upgrade from third to second was worth a lot both in terms of Victory Points and in terms of protection during the vote.

Audrey decided to gun for Paige.

The best way to get her out of the contest would be to up the ante. If Audrey said something scandalous she could **** Paige into a corner. The young girl was obviously sexually inexperienced; if Audrey shared a sexy enough secret then anything that Paige said to top it would be an obvious lie.

The only issue was that Audrey herself had never been very sexually adventurous. That was why she'd prepared a list of lies, carefully cultivated so that she could live with them if she got called out.

Audrey gave her two remaining opponents a once over. She was pretty sure that she'd managed to build up a reputation for herself. She didn't think that either of them would risk calling bullshit on her. She did a quick mental inventory of her available lies and settled on one that she thought had the best balance of risk to reward.

"Nothing," Audrey delivered flatly, "turns me on more than blowing a man and being very indulgent about it. I think the term for it is 'cock worship'."

Laura and Paige stared at her with curiosity and concern, respectively. Audrey spared a glance at Trevor who looked back at her with shock. No doubt he was wondering if that was true. It was very incongruous with the image of her he'd built up.

Audrey did her best to seem nonchalant. She wasn't out of the fire yet. Not until Paige shared her own secret.

"I don't think that's true," Laura said. "I mean, I call bullshit."

Audrey's heart sank. Damn. Almost.

"Audrey?" Violet asked. "Is it-"

"No, no, it's not true. And yes, I know you're about to change that."

She'd known the stakes when she made her choice. She could deal with this. Third place wasn't bad.

A fog settled over her mind as she recalled past sexual encounters. Once vanilla, now almost all of them featured her giving a blowjob. They were sloppy, messy, and energetic. She loved being on her knees, sucking balls while her man stood over her. She delighted in letting them know how much she craved that slab of meat between their legs, what a dirty little slut she was for their throbbing cock.

Audrey shook her head. She could still remember the way those scenes had played out originally, but it was like an echo of the now-true events that raced through her memory. And her imagination.