The Final Cycle Ends...

It feels weird sitting on stage waiting for the game to begin without Rebekah sitting there. After being so closely tied together by the game for so many weeks, you feel her absence. She’s with you in essence, you know that, and you have your phone in your pocket with the ad picture she sent you. But her not being there feels different and definitely worse, like a boat drifting on the tide, having lost its tether. You tell yourself it’s crazy. You’ve secured the strategic play she herself set up, the highest possible score in College Spread - a royal flush with every single challenge being a ten times multiplier. But it still feels wrong.

Beside you sit Milo, alone this time without his mistress standing over him. He looks nervous too, and keeps glancing towards where Selene sits in the crowd, like a puppy dog who needs to be at his owner’s feet. And then there’s the one contestant who does look relaxed, Cassie Li. It’s funny to think, of all of you, the one who bears themselves with poise and grace is the returning champion who knows she’s been eliminated. You wonder if that’s exactly why she’s so calm, but only for a second. The truth is, she always has been. That’s Cassie. A BDSM cam girl celebrity who would probably still look good if she lost everything she had, not just a game.

And then there’s Rhett Caldwell, the host. He’s talking to his girlfriend, Claire Koslowski, as she plays the organ with passion. The two look great together and you consider that to be one of your biggest achievements in the entire game so far. Claire had been lost in denying who she was and what music meant to her until you helped her see it in your challenge. Now, unashamed and unafraid, she’s one of the most glorious women you know.

And you catch yourself.

Your success?

Well, sure, you ran the challenge but it was Rebekah who saw her having a quiet orgasm while playing classical music fully dressed on stage. It was Rebekah that read between the lines of the article Claire wrote and saw the woman underneath aching to be herself to the fullest. No, it was Rebekah’s success. You were just the instrument.

One kiss later and Rhett heads on stage. There’s a microphone attached to Claire’s organ for once, placed at mouth level. She slams the keys. B-flat, C, E-flat, F. Her voice rips through the frat house, loud and clear.

“I’m every woman, it’s all in ME–EEK!”

She’s no Whitney, but the girl can sing almost as well as she can play…

…assuming you ignore the squeak when one of the sex toys inside her buzzed unexpectedly at the end there. Even then it doesn’t stop her from carrying on. The crowd doesn’t so much cheer as create a wall of excited sound. She’s been impressive from the first time she played. This is incredible. But why that song, you wonder.

Rhett allows her a few bars before giving a glance that commands her to silence.

“She is fucking spectacular!” he says. “And more than that, she’s all MINE!”

You’re not sure you’ve seen him so excited before, either.

“All right pervettes and perves - and I say it that way round deliberately - it’s time to give it up for the ladies.”

The cheering explodes again. He lets it continue for a moment before waving it to quietness.

“Yes, but I don’t JUST mean the ladies of the College Spread deck, I mean the three ladies who made it to the final elimination!”

He pauses to let the confusion take full hold of the audience. Yes, Cassie Li is there, but the other two contestants are you and Milo. Cassie’s been the only player throughout.

“I’m talking, of course, of the three women with the power to make things happen. Returning champion, Cassie Li. The beautiful Dr. Selene Ravensmoor… please give my paper a passing grade… who has been controlling little Milo almost from the start of the game. AAAAAND the woman who manufactured the highest score possible in the game for the first time since I started running things, our fresher’s fiancée and manager, REBEKAH FLORES! She’s the mother of his baby, the architect of every success he’s had for months and…”

He looks around the room, leaning forward with eyes narrowed, the dramatic showman to the end.

“...She’s not here! What did you do to her, Phantom? Do we need the search dogs to find the body?”

You laugh at that. “She’s perfectly fine, Rhett! She’s in New York doing a shoot for the Spring issues of Impulse Group’s magazine!”

Rhett’s grin broadens, betraying the fact that he has something hidden up his sleeve.

“A busy woman indeed. And understandably with important meetings and sponsorship deals on the line she has to stay in New York even as the Phantom might be facing the final curtain in his College Spread performance… except, no, she’s here tonight…”

You look around shocked. Rebekah never told you she was coming home today. In fact she made it clear she wasn’t. The audience seems ready to burst with excitement.

“Well,” continues Rhett. “Not really. Not physically. We couldn’t arrange that…”

For the first time ever he receives a loud round of boos. Still he points to the screen. It lights up, and Rebekah appears there, half naked, some kind of partial male sex doll next to her on a desk.

“But she is on screen for our Fresher, and for you perverts. And if any one of you fails to put in an order with Impulse Group tonight, I’ll sue the lot of you! Rebekah, welcome!”

The boos die, the cheering starts, cut through with laughter at his terrible humor.

“Hi, Rhett. Couldn’t miss at least seeing my baby’s victory!”

“Love you, babe!” you call to her.

“Love you too!”

Rhett shakes his head. “Awww, sweet. You might think the main reason our MOBA Maiden, our Luscious Lady of Lasciviousness, our… okay… okay… so you don’t like my titles… You might think the main reason Rebekah is here with us in video form is that with her Hail Mary play literally the only move that actually matters tonight is the one she set up. That alone will decide if her boyfriend ends in last place as the fresh-faced fresher he was just a few months ago, or takes the final cycle crown as our own Mr. Impossible. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!”

He pauses while Claire plays a suspenseful melody.

“Rebekah, please stay to the end for an important announcement too.”

There's an expectation in the air now. It seems nobody was expecting something like this. From that reaction you guess this is also not how he announced the rules of the finale. You sit up, as does everyone else.

“Before that, though, let's see what happened in our players’ challenges this week,” continues Rhett. “I know Cassie and Milo can't change the game, but that doesn't mean we don't want to see the horny devils getting laid, right?”

The cry that goes up from the crowd is beyond filthy.

“First, our returning queen, Cassie Li! What do you have for us?”

The wall-sized screen behind you lights up and shows Dean Blackstone giving a presentation on criminal justice. Every few random seconds she takes a deep breath, her lips twitch slightly or her voice rises in time and volume for a split second. After a few moments of this the boos begin from the College Spread audience. Except, that is, for Claire who starts sniggering at her organ like she's in on a secret.

“What is this, Cassie?” asks Rhett. “Nobody came for a lecture from the 52-year-old matron of the justice department…but wait, what's this?”

The scene shifts and the Dean is lying across the desk with her legs spread. Cassie kneels between them, pulling down her panties. She leans forward and grabs something in her teeth before pulling back to reveal the foot-long, thick vibrator that has had Dr Blackstone writhing throughout the entire presentation.

“I'm not removing the anal remote until you cum for me,” she says as she leans in to perform oral on the older woman.

The crowd's reaction changes to raucous cheers at once. This they love.

“Is it any surprise that if anyone was going to bow out in style it would be Queen Cassie!?” asks Rhett.

The cheering shows complete agreement.

“And now, Dr. Ravensmoor’s slave boy, Milo… What did our sick little submissive have for us THIS week?”

He pauses and takes in the audience. They know something you don’t, apparently.

The screen changes and you see Milo, his face unmasked, in the pillory you remember from the first challenge you ever played in the game. Two masked women stand by him, dressed in dominatrix gear. One dark-skinned and powerful, the other blonde, white and of average build. It’s immediately clear what happened. He’s on Kailani’s live BDSM cam stream and that must be Olivia Hale with them.

“Let’s see what punishment is next for this little pervert…” says Kailani.

“Oh, a $500 bid came in for a birching,” says Olivia.

And together the women begin to flog him with birch rods. He howls, but his erection twitches in ecstasy. A moment later, another bid arrives.

“$5000 to cut off his balls!” says Kailani.

You remember a similar bid when you were on her stream. You screamed, you panicked, you…

Milo groans and orgasms. Long streaks of his cum erupt from his twitching dick. You can’t actually remember having so powerful an orgasm yourself at the best of times.

“Well, it looks like the pervert actually wants it!” laughs Kailani. “Shame it would be illegal.”

And the video fades to black. Laughter rips its way through the room. You can guess why Kailani didn’t even mention it to you. You’ve spoken to her at times and she knows what’s going on in your life. She probably figured that you didn’t have either the time or the energy. She might even have been right though a part of you wishes you’d tuned in for a laugh.

“When the Fresher was on Kailani’s stream,” says Rhett. “Kailani split the takings with him. How much did Milo make?”

Selene shrugs. “Nothing. I told her to leave him out and split it evenly with Olivia. They did all the work after all!”

“And there you have it,” says Rhett. “Mr. Impossible gets his label for pulling impossible challenges including making money off our BDSM cam girl. Should we be calling Milo Mr. Impossibly bad?”

Milo blushes as the applause erupts again.

Then a very ominous series of notes begin to fill the room. They’re culturally classic - the shark appearance notes from Jaws. Everyone knows them, even if they haven’t seen the actual movie.

“But what’s that cutting through the water?” asks Rhett. “Something or someone trailing behind but catching up fast with the killer instinct of a shark.”

Claire plays a final blast and morphs it into the Phantom of the Opera.

“It’s Mr. Third Place himself, our Phantom. He’s in third place right now but his fiancée, Rebekah, arranged the chance for him to score like never before. A maximum of 200,000 awaits him if he can get a ten times multiplier from BOTH Kiara Martinez AND Isadora Bloom. I know he had one slave contract in his hand, but how can he manage two such scores? Phantom?”

You grin. “Kiara Martinez,” you announce. “Glass Ceiling Mafia!”

There’s a unanimous cheer at that. You’re the only player who has not yet used the joker that was created several weeks ago. The automatic x10 multiplier slots the Ten of Hearts into your perfect royal flush.

“That just leaves Isadora Bloom, our creative writing TA who flirts in italics. And by that we mean she’s kinky and dangerous. So what happened?”

At once the screen switches to a video of you signing the slave contract that binds you to the play even tighter than before. Not exciting, even with the sight of Raven Moreau bent over the chair in the distant half-light of candle flames. There’s a cut and suddenly it shows you, with your dick inside Raven’s ass. You didn’t film that which means Isadora did from cameras you never even knew existed. You announce Raven’s failure and pull out, removing the condom and instructing Isadora to fellate you. A moment longer and the final fade to black sees the room erupt with chants of your name.

“He’s done it, folks! A perfect score of 200,000 points sends our Phantom straight to the top of the class and exiles Queen Cassie to the grim beyond! Cassie, any final words?”

She pauses to let the cries die down to a respectful hush for the losing champion.

“It’s well deserved,” she says. “Both Milo and our Fresher played well throughout and how can I possibly object to losing to such amazing women as Selene and Rebekah? It will STILL be a woman who TRULY wears the crown!”

Claire lights up her organ again with “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves!” Not that it can be heard properly over the din in the room. As you take in the noise and celebration, Rebekah’s face comes back on screen. Her delight seems to be greater than yours.

“So,” says Rhett eventually. “That means we have a truly horrific finale ahead of us. The Evil Witch, as Milo once called Dr. Ravensmoor… and the Phantom of Perversion himself, Mr. Impossible.”

He gives the crowd time to react and then still.

“As any of you who have seen previous years know, the finale works differently from regular weeks. Our two finalists have exactly one month to pull together the hottest, the wildest, the most exciting challenge they can possibly think of. They can use anyone from the deck, and, if they can find them, anyone else who knows about the game - but they are not allowed to find them by talking about the game itself to check if they know. So good luck with that one. The challenge can be anything they want. It’s not limited to the challenges in the deck itself. They can even hold an orgy on top of a moving train if they want… well, okay, let’s not be illegal or stupid with this. But, within sensible limits anything goes. Except consent which, as Zeke Kensington can tell you from the cell he’s currently in, must always remain in place. What our finalists come up with we’ll have to wait and see…”

Claire begins to play again. You don’t recognize it, but it’s a wistful, melancholic tune that seems to speak of loss and goodbyes.

“Ah yes,” says Rhett. “And now for the big announcement I told you about. I’m graduating this year. Which means… so long, suckers, I’m outta here!”

There’s confusion at first, followed by uncertain laughter.

“That’s right. I have a job set up in another state and will be leaving soon after graduation. Claire and I have talked about it and have agreed to do the long distance thing, but more importantly for you lot, this year has not been a mere game but an interview for my replacement.”

You blink. Slowly. It’s been a what?

“Whichever of our two finalists wins will get to replace me - if they wish to of course - next year, as the show host for College Spread. And I’m sure you will all agree that we couldn’t have two better candidates than our finalists.”

From the screen, Rebekah cries out, “Baby! You’re gonna be famous!”

“Don’t count on it,” says Dr Ravensmoor. “Milo, you seriously do NOT want to disappoint me here!”

Rhett laughs. “That’s what I like to see,” he says. “Two women fighting over their men… or is it their men being threatened with extreme suffering if they disappoint. Either way, you two perverts have one month to figure out how to make all your dreams come true.”

You’re still staring blank-eyed as Claire begins to play the outro music. You never signed up to be a show host. Come to that, you never signed up to be in College Spread at all, that was your sister’s doing, but this? How are you meant to deal with that on top of being a new father and probably husband soon? On top of being there for Rebekah and passing your courses? On top of life? You can honestly say you have NEVER had a year as complicated as this one.