Nicole is the new ante (Ana Marie)

As the group settles, Nicole puts put more snacks and refills the mugs. As she walks past Huck he gives her a hard slap on the ass. She feels her cheeks blush. “You’re doing great tonight, babe,” he says.

“Yeah, so much better than my wife,” Ralph clucks as he sits back in his seat.

“Thank you, honey,” Nicole says as she returns to her spot in the corner behind Huck. She’s ready to watch the drama unfold.

Kevin loads the cards into his card shuffler. He’s playing the role of dealer for this game. The other two men take their seats.

Huck fiddles with his tiny pile of chips for a moment. He takes a sip of his beer before reaching into the pocket of the jacket he has hanging over the back of the chair. Pulling out a small stack of paper scraps he sifts through them and rearranges them. Huck places them next to his chips. He clears his throat. “This is uncomfortable for me, but y’all know I’ve been having some struggles at home, right? It’s left my finances a bit of a mess.” Nicole is surprised by this moment of vulnerability. “And, damn, you’ve all done so well tonight. At this rate, I’ll be tapped out in the first round.”

Vincent chirps, “I can lend you some chips, Uncle Huck.”

Chet tips down his sunglasses. “Seriously, I’m happy to play a friendly no cash game if you’re hurtin’.”

Huck sits up and puts his elbows on the table. He taps the stack of papers. “I’m good for the money. It’s just tied up in some bullshit right now, but I have a proposal.” he hands the stack to Vincent. “Check out what’s written on these pieces of paper and let me know if you agree that each one is valued at $20?”

Vincent sifts through the papers. When he gets down to the fourth his eyes go wide and he glances up at Nicole. She wants to lean in and read what the paper says, but she doesn’t dare move from her spot until someone tells her to move. Vincent swallows and sheepishly replies “Yeah, I guess if the other guys are in, sure.” He passes the pile to Kevin who doesn’t even look. He says “yes” while handing it to Ralph. Ralph quickly flips through the papers “oh hell yes, Huck, hell yes. I hope your bad luck streak keeps up.” His eyes turn to Nicole.

Chet takes the papers and shakes his head. He released a quiet laugh, “damn, you’re always full of surprises, Huck. Yeah, I think she’s good for it.”

Nicole’s previous excitement around figuring out how Huck was scamming his poker buddies deflates. She has a bad feeling about this.

Kevin sets the blinds at 10-20 and deals. For the first round, everyone plays it safe and Huck uses his chips. Nicole tries to read what’s on the first scrap of paper, but Huck’s handwriting is atrocious. After the flop, Vincent raises the bet by 20, surprisingly Kevin folds, but the other three men call. Again, Huck uses one of the chips in his dwindling pile. On the next round, everyone checks until it comes back to Huck who finally pushes the top piece of paper forward. “I raise my slut’s dress,” he declares and Nicole’s blood goes cold.

“Wait...” she says, but the men ignore her. Vincent and Ralph call, but Chet, grumpily, folds. As Kevin places the river, Nicole again tries to protest, “you don’t mean my dress, do you? Honey?”

Huck makes a hushing sound and checks. Vincent with a big grin on his face bets $100. Ralph groans and folds. Huck, with a “sorry babe. I need to fold.”

Nicole watches as Vincent gathers up the pool. He neatly stacks his chips and pulls out the paper scrap. “So what do I do with this?” He asks.

Huck leans back. “Well, you can keep it and use it as a $20 chip or you can give it to the banker and cash it out to collect your winnings.” Huck swallows the last of the beer in his stein.

Nicole notices most of the men have empty steins. She was so focused on the game she failed to keep up. “I’ll take care of the beer,” she says and tries to walk to the kitchen.

“Stop,” Huck says. “Wait a moment. Vinnie, are you trading in?” Nicole freezes in place. She wants to flee.

The look on Vincent’s face is one of internal conflict. There’s clearly a nice boy inside who wants to respect Nicole’s agency warring with a horny virgin wanting to see a cute woman’s body. The horny virgin wins. He hands the paper to Kevin who also plays the role of the banker.

Kevin accepts the paper and raises to fingers at Nicole in a lifting motion. “Girl, give Vincent his dress.”

Nicole is once again struck speechless. For a moment she entertains the thought that Huck couldn’t seriously want her to strip down to her underwear in front of a bunch of strangers, but only a moment. Of course, he’d want that. Still, she looks to him, “Huck,” she starts but corrects herself “I mean, h-honey, this dress cost $200. Do you really want your bet to be of so little value?” She thought playing on his previous admonishments about her spending habits might be a good way to go. Maybe he’d want to reconsider the value of the bet.

Huck shakes his head. “Babe, I lost fair and square. Now stop embarrassing me in front of my friends.”

She sighs in frustration. Even if she fled to one of her neighbors how would she explain why these five strangers were in her apartment playing poker in the first place? She stalls. “What’s on the other pieces of paper?”

Huck crosses his arms. “You guys see what I have to deal with? Sweetie, are you sitting at this table? No. So don’t worry your pretty little head about our game and do what you’re told.”

Kevin is still staring Nicole down. “You have one minute to remove the dress and hand it to Vincent or the bank will need to remove it.”

“Guys,” Vincent speaks up, “you don’t really need to...”

Ralph jumps in, “shush, boy. This is a teaching moment for you. You need to learn to confidently own your place in society. And she hers.”

Vincent softly huffs.

Nicole felt small. Huck was crude and demeaning but Kevin was no nonsense and straight to the point. She was pretty sure her dislike for both men was equal, but her submissive desires felt a pull toward Kevin. He was much closer to the Fifty Shades of Grey fantasy she spent the last few years nurturing. A little voice in her head says “maybe if you perform well tonight Huck will give you to Kevin to finish out the next couple of weeks.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. Kevin has shown zero interest in her this entire time. All he wants is for her to give the dress to Vincent.

The entire time Nicole is debating with herself Kevin is staring at the Girard-Perregaux adorning his wrist. “Time,” he states and starts to stand up.

“Wait!” Nicole panics. “Fine, I’ll do it. Just...I need another minute to...”

Kevin shakes his head and quickly closes the space between them. “I said one minute.”

“Okay,” Nicole says, but she had her chance. Kevin’s hand is on the back of her neck. Almost scruffing her like a kitten. His other hand finds the top of her zipper. He tugs it down. In seconds, the dress is at Nicole’s heels. Still holding the back of her neck he makes her step forward to step out of it. Kevin picks up the dress and throws it across the table to Vincent. It lands on Vincent’s head.

Kevin continues to hold Nicole still. Her heart is racing as she wonders what he’s going to do next. His eyes take in her body covered in lingerie. “Panties on the outside of the garters. That shows good instinct.” And he releases her to return to his seat.

Nicole, standing in lingerie and heels, can’t bear to look at any of the men. Her skin crawls as if their eyeballs are rubbing all over her body. Ralph’s especially. She doesn't look at him but she knows he’s licking his lips and eye fucking her.

Huck says “beer?”

Nicole is feeling so embarrassed that she doesn’t even raise a question. “Yes, honey,” she says and works on gathering more beer for the men. They start the next round of betting while Nicole pours the beer. She hates standing next to them practically naked. She can sense it’s taking all of Ralph’s will to not reach out and grab her.

“Thank you, Nicole,” Vincent says quietly as Nicole fills his glass. “It’s a very nice dress and you look very pretty in that...”

“Vinnie, stop chatting with the help and make your bet,” Huck says with a laugh. And that’s when Nicole notices two scraps in the center of the table. Again, the writing is terrible, but she can tell that one only has three letters and starts with a “B.”

“Oh god,” she thinks as she shyly returns to her corner. “He’s going to make me strip completely. What could the other pieces of paper possibly say?”

That’s when Nicole notices that Kevin has been watching her. She doesn’t know how long, but it’s a complete change from when he was barely acknowledging her existence. “I fold,” Kevin says. Chet and Vincent follow his folding. It leaves Huck and Ralph. There’s a spark of hope that Huck might turn his luck around. Maybe he wouldn’t make her strip. Ralph increases the bet.

“Ah fuck, Ralph,” Huck says. “I’m pretty sure you’re bluffing but I’m just not ready to risk it. The pot is yours.”

Ralph laughs heavily and slaps the table. The chips bounce into the air. “I was bluffing! I out bluffed all of you.” He throws his cards down. “I had zilch, hot damn.” He pulls the pot in front of him and immediately fishes out the two pieces of paper. His eyes are on Nicole as he hands the pieces to Kevin. “Banker, bra, and panties, please.”

Kevin has also kept his eyes on Nicole. “Girl, you heard the gentleman. Do I need to help you again?” He finally breaks eye contact and looks at his watch. Clearly counting out one minute again.

She understands the situation. It’s crystal clear. Nicole doesn’t want a repeat of the humiliating experience with Kevin. “No, I-I understand, Sir.” She doesn’t know why she says “Sir.” The honorific simply slips from between her lips. It gets his attention as he stops looking at his watch and returns his gaze to Nicole. For the first time while looking at her he’s smiling.

Huck nods his head in approval. He also grabs the bottle of whiskey and some fresh glasses from the table and begins to pour. Nicole wishes she had a shot of that whiskey before this moment.

The social media manager walks from her spot behind Huck and stands between Ralph and Chet. She takes a deep breath and reaches behind her back for the bra clasp. “Okay,” she says to no one in particular and releases the clasp. Her trembling hands slip the straps off her shoulders. She releases her softball-sized breasts from the cups and Ralph releases a wolf whistle. Nicole holds the bra out and he quickly grabs it. He nuzzles his face against the cup. “Mmm, still warm,” he says.

“And now the panties,” Nicole says almost as if she’s ordering herself to keep going. In her head, she tells herself this is fine. She’s been naked on cam in front of dozen of people in her Discord group. This is just like that but live. But the other voice, her responsible voice, is screaming bloody ****. It tells her that once the panties come off there’s no turning back. The frustrating thing about Nicole’s responsible voice is that as upset she is about doing this she can also feel her arousal deepening. In a true free use world, this would be reality. A poker slut. And that arousal shows as she slides the panties away from her crotch. They stick a little due to the dampness between her thighs. And they’re followed by a glistening strand of lubrication.

She slips them off her heels and holds them out for Ralph. He drops the bra and snatches the panties like a starved man eating his first meal in a week. “They’re soaked,” he says. It doesn't surprise Nicole when his tongue snakes out and he licks the crotch.

“Of course they are,” Huck says. “My slut is living out one of her biggest fantasies. Ain’t that true, babe?”

Nicole knows better than to be quiet and she has lost all confidence to argue. Plus, it wasn’t a lie. “Yes, honey,” she says.

“Mmmm,” Ralph says after sucking on her crotch for a few seconds. “You’re a tasty bitch. A little tangy. Like a salty hard cider. Why don’t you give Uncle Ralph a taste from the source?” He hunches down and leans in. Not waiting for an invitation.

Nicole really doesn’t want this man between her legs. If she ranked the men at the table he’d be dead last, but she feels like she doesn’t have any options. This is how it’s going to be. She steps her legs apart. Right before Ralph can make contact, Kevin speaks up. “Ralph, that cunt isn’t in the bank,” Nicole is relieved but why does she also feel like he forgot to add a “yet” to the sentence?

Ralph stops and flops back in his seat like an angry school boy who got caught with his hand on top of the cookie jar. “Fuckin’ fine. I still have these,” and he goes back to sucking on her panties.

“And you,” he says returning his attention back to Nicole, “don’t give it up so easily.”

It was a weird admonishment considering the situation.

Huck had distributed the whiskey while all of this was going on. He pushes one across the table to Nicole. “That’s going to be tough for this one due to that weird ‘free use’ thing I was tryin’ to explain.”

Holy shit, Nicole thought, had he told everyone at the table? She wanted to hide and feels her hands covering up her private bits.

Kevin replies to Huck as Nicole moves into a classic hunched-over embarrassed nude female pose. “True, but she’s still yours for the night, Huck. You said she would be ante, not a party favor.” He glances at his watch, “It’s getting late. I propose one more round and we call it a night. Everyone agree?”

Everyone agrees. As Kevin sets cards, Huck points at the glass. “You’re going to want to slam that.” And he turns his head slightly. “And get back in your corner and put your hands behind your back. I don’t need to see you.”

Nicole reluctantly drops her hands. It takes her three tries to shoot the two plus ounces of whiskey. She usually avoids it, so finds herself coughing after each attempt. Of course, the men laugh at her which makes her feel even smaller. Putting the glass down she thinks about this how she woke up this morning. She really doesn’t want a repeat of that. She silently returns to her place behind Huck and grabs her wrists behind her back.

Nicole is surprised when Huck starts the round betting chips. Maybe this was his only expectation. As she watched the rounds play out and he continued using chips, so she started to feel excited again. Soon the game would be over, the other men would leave, and she’d get fucked. She didn’t love that she was starting to look forward to opportunities for sex with Huck, but it is what it is.

“Okay,” Huck as they reach the final round and no one has folded. He fishes a scrap of paper from his pocket. He hands it across the table to Kevin. “Banker, can you evaluate this?”

Kevin looks at the paper and then looks at Nicole. “Well, I trust your judgment that she’s a good fuck,” he says and Nicole feels a spark of pride, “and she shows an eagerness under the surface. That combined would be about $100.” Wait, Nicole thinks is he putting a value on her? He continues, “however, it can take a bit for that eagerness to come out. Before that, she’s annoyingly stubborn. That knocks off $25. And, clearly, all of her training is from erotica and the Internet. Her ‘waiting pose’ is certainly lacking.” Nicole stiffens at the comment. She had assumed a pose she found on a BDSM submissive training site. “And she seems a little dumb, so all of that makes more work for training her up properly. I’d knock another $25 off for that. So, let’s say $50.”

Huck practically shouts, “only $50? What the fuck, Kevin?”

He shrugs, “you chose to present her, Huck. With a proper leash holder, I could see her eventually going for around $5000 per night. But at the moment, she’s like a rusty 1985 Yugo.”

Ralph speaks up. “I think $50 is great. If you don’t want to put her on the table I’ll pay you out of pocket.”

Huck takes the piece of paper back from Kevin and slams it on the table. “Nah, that’s what happens when you shop on the Internet. You get fucked in more ways than one. $50 it is.” Nicole’s head was spinning. Was he putting her up as a bet? And did they really value her entire body as $50? She was always sure if she ever prostituted herself she could get at least $500. She felt angry at being put on the table and valued so lowly.

“I’m worth more than that!” She blurts out. “And I’m not dumb!”

All of the men, except Vincent, laugh hard at Nicole. Chet, who’s been quiet for most of the night, says “Kev, maybe you should add $25 for having a sense of humor.”

Nicole sniffs.

Kevin shakes his head. “The chattel’s price is set. Now enough. Let’s finish this.”

And they do. Vincent immediately raises well beyond anything Huck has left in front of him, so she knows he’ll fold. Did he plan this all along? Was he ever intended to fuck her after the game?

Her eyes move around the table at the other men. Who would she want to win? Vincent seemed the most gentle. Chet hadn’t been too terrible to her and although greasy he was cleaner than Ralph. Kevin intimidated the hell out of her, was rude and she wasn’t sure he wasn’t a sex trafficker who would sell her into slavery. Aside from that last part, he did seem to know a lot about BDSM, so he could be fun. Ralph, ugh, just no. He was somehow grosser than Huck.