Flushed Away

"OHHHH!" They all crow at once at my indecent proposal being called.

"You're all fuckin nuts!" Trevon exclaims.

The rest of them are having the time of their lives but for me everything goes quiet. All I can hear is the hard beating of my heart in my ears, all I can feel is the texture of the cards between my fingers, and all I can see is the scrawny nerd staring back at me. I had to win this now. I HAD to. Everything rode on it.

I comfort myself with the knowledge that this was the same kid who wouldn't even get changed in the locker room because he was so shy. Even if he won there was no way he'd follow through with it. Right?

Arthur sucks in a chest full of air and flips his cards one by one. "8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen. Straight flush."

My heart drops out of my body a moment before I too feel as if I were in free fall as I gawp at the impossible hand. Two straight flushes? It had to be one in a million. He beat me. His straight was one higher than mine. It couldn't have been closer...but he beat me! I stare at the cards sitting across from me not believing what I was seeing.

The forlorn look on my face must have been enough to show the result because everyone in the room save Arthur and Briana all begin to howl and cheer.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Bri tries to yell through the noise. "What's he got? Check what he's got!"

I feel the cards taken from my fingers and they flipped up for all to see. There is another chorus of cheers along with comments of "So close!" "One better!" and the like.

"N-now wait a minute!" I stutter.

"Nuh uh uh!" Jasmine says between bouts of laughter. "A deal's a deal."

"A bet is a bet." Her partner Trevon agrees. "Don't you dare try to get out of it now."

"Ohhh man, best poker night ever!" Ethan chirps.

I look to Briana and watch the color drain from her face. She was staring at my cards still processing what we had just gotten ourselves into. The guys slap Arthur on the shoulders and congratulate him while the girls huddle around Bri and titter and tease her while also insisting she follow through. An hour ago they wouldn't have done this but a few bottles of wine later and the girls were more than willing to watch this go down.

My mind is racing as I grasp for anything that would undo what had occurred. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Mikey chuckles. "You've been Mister Big Shot at the card table for years now, you never miss a chance to remind us. You got cocky, he called you on it, it backfired. Take it like a man dude. Arthur won fair and square."

"You were the dumb fuck to offer." Ethan adds.

I stand up, fists clenched at my sides. "Now hold the fuck on! I'm not gonna just..."

I am stunned as both Ethan and Trevon square up with me. "Dude, sit down." Trevon says with authority.

"Sit the fuck down Travis." Ethan echoes.

I look from one of them to the other.

Mikey joins them. "I'm actually glad this happened. I like ya man but you are fucking insufferable sometimes. Besides, you made Arthur's life a living hell back in school. A little payback will do ya good. Balance the scales a bit. We're not in school anymore man, you gotta learn that."

"Guys." I plead.

"Sit down...or we sit you down." Trevon warns. Looking around to each of them I see they are dead serious. I had never seen them stand up to me like this before, back in the day they never would have done this. For a moment I consider going down swinging but deep down I knew they were right. Fuck, I couldn't welch on a bet. That was man code 101.

"Fuck." I plop back down my seat. "How the fuck did he do that? Fucking cheater."

"Nobody cheated Travis."

Briana was flushed in the face but she tries to comfort me. "It's okay baby. I blow him..."

"And fuck him. " Ethan smiles.

"And we get to watch." Alexis says.

She glowers over at Mikey then Alexis but nods. "...and fuck him. No biggie. It's just sex."

This wasn't helping.

Arthur meanwhile sat there with a confused look on this face as he watched all of this chaos happen around him. Before long the table is carried out to the living room leaving Arthur sitting on his chair with his back to the wall and a big open space in front of him. I vaguely notice Mikey and Camila whispering off to my right then Camila takes off down the hall.

I am still sat in my seat in the corner, the only one besides Arthur still sitting, but had to calm myself before I stood up. If I got up now I don't think I could control myself from diving at that nerd and smashing his face in. Briana whispers with Alexis and Jasmine, they seemed to be psyching her up for her performance.

I stew as I continue to try to think my way out of this. This was NOT going to happen. Arthur continued sitting uncertain if he should be doing anything.

Camila returns and whispers to Mikey and Trevon and I notice her pass something metallic to each of them. The next thing I know the pair of them are approaching me with a focused intent in their eyes. I go to stand but the shove me back down into the chair.

"What the fuck!?" I struggle but each of them grab one arm and **** it down to my sides. I was strong but I wasn't strong enough to fight off two grown men at once. I hear a click and a clack on each side and feel cold steel touch the skin of my wrists. Then there is another click and clack and the tink of metal hitting metal.

They back away at once and I pull my arms forward, only to have them stopped by the handcuffs now binding my wrists to the rear legs of the chair.

"Let me go you fuckers!"

"Calm down Travis." Mikey holds his hands out. "This is better for everyone. We know you won't be able to control yourself. Just chill out and we get through this."

"ASSHOLES!"

In a chilling tone Trevon says bluntly. "Don't make us gag you too." Trevon was not fucking around here. "You got yourself into this, man up. Sit back and enjoy the show."

"You mother fuckers." I grumble under my breath. I let out a hissing breath through my nostrils. "Yep, fine. Go ahead then. I'll remember this shit assholes."

Meanwhile Briana was stepping out into the open space of the kitchen-dining room. Whatever the girls had told her seemed to have prepared her for her part of the bargain. She almost seemed anxious to get started.

"Don't worry baby. He's a virgin. This won't take long." She then snaps her attention over to the stock still Arthur who sat in his chair like a statue. "You ready nerd?" She asks with a teasing smile.

He gulps and hesitantly nods his head. "Uh huh."

"Oooooooo!" The girls hoot excitedly.