They are not!

"—denied!"

"Denied?" echoed Terrence. "How can you ... I mean, I just don't want to dance. That's all."

The auctioneer slammed his gavel down. "I'm afraid you're out of luck, my friend." He continued to stare at Terrence, and as he did, the room fell silent.

"Look, I don't know what this is, but like I said, I have a fiancée. I don't really want to ..." Terrence's voice trailed away, and he found himself losing focus on what he was saying.

Jan ran to Terrence's side. "Hon, what's going on? Let's just go, let's get out of here." She took hold of Terrence's hand, but then made no effort to leave. She just looked back at Wyatt, Kayla, and the others, her face scowled in confusion.

The auctioneer looked back across the crowd. "Ah, you must be the fiancée. How noble your future husband is, working to protect himself from your anger."

Jan looked at the auctioneer. "I'm not angry. I just -- we're going to go, that's all." But she didn't move. She wasn't entirely sure why she didn't move, and she didn't really question it either. She simply didn't move.

"We don't tolerate resistance here. Your roles in the game are binding, and there's nothing that either of you can do to change that." The auctioneer said this for the benefits of Terrence, Jan, and the crowd.

Kayla looked at Damien. "Can we help them? Should we?" Damien replied with a finger to his lips and a shushing sound.

"They're probably just making a show of it," said Kat. "This is weird. But I like it."

"Now that we've got our lucky couple up front here, it's probably time to put them to good use!" cried the auctioneer. The murmuring of the crowd grew louder. "Our man doesn't want to dance. Our woman doesn't want to stay. And yet -- here they stand, hand in hand, going nowhere."

Terrence looked at Jan, but didn't speak. In his mind, he felt no need to speak, but he also wasn't sure why he hadn't responded. Jan did respond, and continued arguing with the auctioneer, but still didn't move. "Look, mister, we're done. We're done! You don't seem to -- yeah, we're done." She shook her head, but again, seemed to have absolutely no urge to move. The contrast between 'we're done' and standing in place was utterly confusing to her, but she couldn't really articulate the problem.

"There are always new folks here, and it seems that every party, someone tries to break the rules." The auctioneer surveyed the group, looking for familiar faces. He smiled at a few. "We all know what happens when you break the rules, don't we?" Members of the audience nodded in acknowledgment. "So let's line up! We'll take as many folks as we can!"

An assortment of people approached the podium, and formed a line facing the rest of the crowd. They were each looking back at their friends, excited to be part of the next phase of the party. They murmured to one another, some unsure of how this might go, others seeming to have more experience.

"What happens next?"

"I can't wait to get my hands on them."

"Do you know how he picked the next players?"

"My friend told me I should come up here."

"She is so fucking sexy."

"His ass looks great."

"Hey, you wanna double team the girl? I bet she'd like that."

"That guy who tried to say no. So hot. I want to fuck him so bad."

"What are they lined up to do?" Kat asked.

Kayla and Wyatt were stunned, too stunned to answer. Damien kept watching, but said, "you want to join them and see?"

Kat shrugged. "Maybe?" She waited to see if Damien would reply, but he did not. She took a few steps away from the group, and no one did anything to stop her. "So if I go up there ... you're cool with that?" Again, no reply. "This is already the weirdest night I've had in a while. Might as well double down and give it my all."

With that, Kat strode up to the front and joined the group of strangers there, most of whom had continued their small talk (and corresponding ogling) of Terrence and Janette.

One of the men in the line turned to Kat. "Didn't I see you flash the bartender earlier?"

Kat smiled. "Yeah, that was probably me."

The man smiled. "Nice. You been here before?"

"Nope." Kat shook her head. "First time. Just trying to learn the ropes."

"Gotcha. You can stick with me if you want. Things can get kinda wild." He flicked a thumb out toward Terrence and Janette. "These two have no idea what's in store."

Kat was a bit worried about her friends. But at the same time, there was an air of comfort and ease with this new guy talking to her, and aside from her own group of friends, the general demeanor at this party (or whatever one might call it) was quite festive. Kat was a party girl at heart, and so far, her mind was plenty open to whatever the night had in store.

"I think we should start The Penalty Play, as I will call it, with some handiwork." The auctioneer had gotten quite playful with his deliver, and the way he articulated the word 'handiwork' suggested that there was some depth in meaning. "As you know, our new friends up front here have chosen to deny their obligations under the rules of the auction. As a result, they forfeit ownership of their will power, and I will call the actions!" He shouted the last part as if working the public address system for some kind of arena gladiator game.

"The actions?" whispered Kat to her new quasi-friend.

The man nodded. "Yup. Here we go."

The auctioneer rapped his gavel. "As I said, we'll begin with hands. When I count to three, you all have one minute of free play with your hands and your hands only. One, two, three!"

The small crowd of additional people from the front swarmed around Terrence and Janette like bees. Hands were everywhere, touching Terrence and Janette's faces, bodies, legs. A few folks cut straight to it and groped Jan's breasts through her dress. Two women playfully fought over gripping and squeezing Terrence's cock through his pants. One man licked the side of Jan's face and then ran his fingers along her lips. Kat stood apart, suddenly a bit stunned by what was happening.

The man she'd been talking to looked at her. "Well? Come on in. They certainly won't stop you."

Kat stepped forward slowly and put a hand on Janette's shoulder. She moved it around to her neck. She tried to make eye contact with Jan, but it was as if Jan was looking straight through her.

"Jan? I'm so confused," Kat said.

Janette smiled a bit. "Me too," she said quietly, without doing anything to stop the swarm of fingers and hands on her.

Kat wanted to see how far she could go. She pushed a hand down onto the tops of Janette's chest. She felt the swell of her breasts, slid a finger down into the top of her cleavage. Jan blinked, but didn't move out of the way. Kat nudged her fingertips into the top of Janette's dress, drifting lower, lower, and lower, fully groping and fondling one of her breasts underneath the material.

"Jan?" Kat said.

But Jan just smiled. Kat's hands continued roaming on Jan's body, touching her breasts, her hair. She and the man she had been talking with found each other again as they both pressed their fingers against Jan's ass.

"Feels great, doesn't she?" said the man. "God damn, I can't wait to fuck the shit out of her. And right here in front of her fiancé! God, it's gonna be so fucking hot." He looked at Kat. "You gonna go for her or the dude?"

Kat just looked back at him, a bit dumbstruck. She stared into both Jan's and Terrence's faces, but got no reaction. Why were they so stoic? How was this happening? Kat's mind was full of questions. And after seeing what a "penalty" meant to Terrence and Jan, she was more than a little **** to leave their side.

"That's it! Time's up! Round One of The Penalty Play is over!" shouted the auctioneer, smashing his gavel onto the podium.