Rules For Spanking: MMF Bisexual Romance

by A. Anders

“Take this,” I ordered. “When I begin to choke, plunge it here.” I pointed at the hollow of my neck. “You have to puncture the cartilage of the trachea. Once you’ve done that, stick this in.” I said revealing the drinking straw.

  “What are you talking about?” Brad asked, uncharacteristically shaken.

  “It’s what we do on the…” I stopped, reassessing how much I wanted to say. “It could save my life. Please, just do it.”

  Brad relented. The tension in the room dropped. Or maybe I should say that it shifted.

  Gray couldn’t be happy that Brad had agreed to do it. With me gone, Gray would most likely lead unchallenged. If I survived, he would have to contend with the one person he knew he couldn’t beat. So once again, I was impressed by Brad’s willingness to play both sides of the fence.

  With not much time left, Rose became my biggest fan. She hugged me and rubbed the back of my arm. She looked defeated in exactly the way necessary to express how unfair everything was. Sitting down beside me, she rested her head on my shoulder.

  Of course, I didn’t believe any of it. She had already proven herself to be quite the actor. Caring companion was just another role she was playing.

  Would it have been nice if she demanded that I get a rose? Sure, it would have. At the same time, I couldn’t blame her for going along with Gray’s plan.

  My fate was set. With me gone, she was going to need someone’s help to survive. In spite of everything, I did want her to survive. She couldn’t afford to make enemies now.

  So, instead of revealing her empty gesture for what it was, I chose to accept it. If this was going to be the end of my story, then I wanted it to end with her warm touch. It almost made me believe that someone could love me.

  The pawn’s screeching siren brought me to my feet. It had begun this way the last time. A few short alarms followed by silence and then death.

  I stood next to Brad, gripping his shoulder. I didn’t want him to do it too early. I didn’t think Pete was going to offer me any magic dust this time.

  My chest shook as my heart pounded. I was running out of alarms. When silence fell, I could feel the effects begin.

  My skin tingled like it was on fire. The blood drained from my face while my hands grew hot. At any moment, I would have to let go of Brad’s shoulder. When I did, he would plunge the knife in my neck.

  Any moment now. I was feeling lightheaded. Any moment now.

  A cough! I looked up. Was it me who had coughed? I was sure that it wasn’t.

  I scanned the room. Victor Vodka was struggling to breathe. What was happening? Were we both about to die?

  No, we weren’t. Just one person fell. As he hit the ground, the rose rolled out of his hand. “It’s not the rose,” I whispered, as surprised as I was relieved.

  Do something, I thought. But what?

  I snatched the knife out of Brad’s hand and lunged for Victor. I had to fight his struggling to get him onto his back. I was sure that the position made him feel worse, but if I was right, I would apologize later.

  It took one strong strike to puncture the trachea. “Bring me the straw,” I ordered.

  Brad handed it to me, and I twisted the knife widening the hole. Victor released a gurgling sound as he fought me.

  “Hold him down,” I shouted prompting someone behind me to help.

  I was sure that I had done it right. The straw was in. His air passage was clear. Yet even with that, Victor’s eyes turned bloodshot, and the man underneath me died.

  I didn’t understand it. What else could I have done? If he wasn’t choking, then what was it? And why didn’t it happen to me? If it wasn’t connected to the roses, then what was causing it?

  It was at that moment that I looked up at Rose. Her face was pale. It could not have been clearer to me. She was behind this death. She had killed them all. But how?

  Chapter 8

  “Who would you have eliminated?” I asked Rose.

  All eyes turned to her. She looked back at us like a deer in a dozen headlights. Fear rippled through her. Gathering herself quickly, she again retreated behind her mask.

  “Does it matter?” she asked.

  “Yes, it matters. Who would you have eliminated?” I pushed.

  Rose couldn’t hide her discomfort. She looked around at all of her possible escape routes.

  Brad repeated the question. “Rose, this could be important. Who would you have eliminated? No one’s going to judge you. Our lives are at stake.”

  Again Brad had surprised me. The calm manner in which he addressed Rose didn’t hint at the man who had drugged five men before setting their beds adrift and lighting them on fire. Was he even better at playing the game than I ever imaged? Or was there more to him than simply being the villain?

  “We won’t hold it against you,” I reassured her.

  She tightened her lips as she looked at everyone. For a moment, I didn’t think she would answer, but she did.

  “Victor. I would have eliminated Victor.”

  A chill rippled down my spine. It was what I had most feared. I looked around at the other to see if they had figured out what Rose and I already had.

  Brad looked like he was putting it together. “So you were going to eliminate Victor, and he was the one who died?”

  Rose’s tortured, twisted face spoke for her.

  Billy didn’t understand what was happening until he heard the words come out of his own mouth. “So you’re the one whose been killing us. You wish us dead, and we die?”

  “I didn’t wish anyone dead. I thought we were just playing a game,” Rose said before collapsing into tears.

  I knew that I should have comforted her, but I didn’t move. Neither did anyone else. We were all too scared to move.

  “Who else knew that you were gonna choose Victor? Did you tell your pawn or something?” I asked, trying to give her a way out.

  “No one,” she said, compounding her guilt with more tears.

  “This is important,” I emphasized. “If anyone else knew, then you can’t protect them.”

  When Rose shook her head “no,” I realized how much I admired her. It would have been so easy for her to lie. She could have said that she told her pawn. No one would have known, and she would have shifted the blame away from herself. But she took full responsibility.

  “You did this to us,” Billy exclaimed, growing angry.

  “Shut up, Billy,” Brad demanded.

  “She admitted it. You heard her. She said there was no one else. She’s the one killing us,” Billy continued.

  “Seriously, Billy,” I added. “You should stop talking.”

  “Why? She’s a murderer,” Billy exclaimed.

  “Stop talking, Billy!” Gray ordered.

  I looked around at the other guys. They were thinking what I was thinking. Rose’s desires were what was killing us. And if we say anything that turns her against us, we could be the next ones dead.

  “Rose,” I began. “You’re safe with us. No one’s gonna do anything to harm you. But, we need to talk privately,” I said pointing at the guys. “You have nothing to worry about. We just need time to think about this.”

  None of the guys said anything, but the scared look in their eyes told me that they couldn’t wait to get out of there.

  “You’ll stay here? Yes?” I asked, trying to remain calm. “I promise you, you’re safe. I would never let anything happen to you.”

  I caught myself as I said it the final time. I had mentioned her safety once too often. Each time I brought it up, I was telling her how much danger she was in. But really, how could we not consider killing her as a way of saving ourselves?

  “Please, stay here,” I said before turning and drawing the guys out of earshot.

  The men silently crossed the lawn and entering the resort’s lobby. Brad looked out the window back at Rose. He nodded, telling us that she wouldn’t be able to hear us.

  Gray was the first one to speak. “We have to kill her before she kills
us.”

  “We can’t,” I retorted.

  “Why not?” Carl asked.

  “Because she’s a human being, and she’s not doing this on purpose,” I said.

  “On purpose or not, that’s not gonna stop us from ending up dead,” Gray argued.

  Brad’s tone changed. “I like her as much as the next guy. But I’m not about to die for her.”

  There he was, the real Brad, the man who would do anything to survive.

  I reasoned with everyone. “What if it wasn’t the roses that were keeping us alive? What if it was her? What if she were the antidote. Then killing her would kill us as well.”

  “That’s possible,” Thorin added.

  Gray snorted. “So now you’re saying she’s keeping us alive? So what happens when she decides that she doesn’t want us alive anymore?”

  “This is crazy!” Carl yelled snapping under the pressure. “This is fucking nuts! She’s killing us, and there’s nothing we can do about it without killing ourselves?”

  “Keep it down,” Brad beckoned.

  “Or what? She’ll kill us?” Carl asked with renewed force.

  “Shut up, Carl!” Gray ordered.

  “This is ridiculous. I’m getting out of here,” Carl announced.

  “Sit down!” Gray commanded.

  “Let him go,” I countered. “He needs to get some air.”

  Knowing that no one was going to stop him, he pushed past us. He exited the front door, beginning another moment of silence for the rest of us.

  “So, what do we do?” Brad asked, slowly reintroducing his charming smile.

  “We have to go to the compound,” I said looking each man in the eye. “Whoever is doing this, whoever is controlling it is there. The only way we can get off of this island starts with us getting there.”

  “Didn’t you say it was on the other end of the island? Walking that would take days,” Gray argued.

  “Probably about three,” I admitted.

  “Days?” Billy asked. “We may as well be playing Russian roulette. How many of us are gonna die before we get there?”

  “And did you know that there are wild animals on this island?” Brad asked with beaming smile. “Turns out, the only thing that keeps us alive is a fence. And it’s a long way from that fence to end of the island.”

  I wondered how Brad knew about the panthers. Had he crossed the fence like I had? Why would he have done that? Had he already tried to escape?

  “I know about the wildlife,” I replied. “But if we don’t go, what are our options? Even if we killed Rose and didn’t immediately die, what would we do then? Wait for a boat?

  “No, we would still have to go to the compound. Why? Because the only chance we have of finding a phone is there. And since we have to go anyway, maybe there’s safety in numbers.”

  Brad thought for a second and then agreed. “Ah, what the hell. I’m feeling lucky. Of course, Rose did tell me that she’s fallen in love with me. So I’ve got that going for me,” he said, flashing a devilish smile.

  I stared blankly at Brad. I didn’t know how to reply. I couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth, or if he was trying to get into our heads again.

  I had talked to her quite a bit. Rose had secrets. That meant that she held stuff back. So, even if she could have strong feelings for someone like Brad, which she probably did, I wasn’t sure if she would admit it. Rose wasn’t the type to just tell a guy that she loved him.

  “She said the same to me,” Gray added.

  “Me, too,” Bob continued.

  “Yep, she loves me,” Thorin said, shaking his head.

  “Same here,” Billy confirmed, as if it were no big deal.

  Everyone’s eyes then shifted to me. My chest felt heavy. They were all waiting for me to speak, but I just stared back at them with my mouth hanging open. I was the only one in the room who she hadn’t professed her love to. Did she really have feelings for everyone here except me?

  That was a hard, no, a devastating, thing to wrap my head around. Not only did that say a lot about the connection that I thought I had with her, but the fact that I was the only one excluded out of this group of freaks hit me in my core.

  If she found this cleaned up version of me so hard to love, what chance did the real me have? On top of all of that, if I was the only one left here who she hadn’t fallen in love with, then I was definitely the next one gone.

  Ya know, I remember when my biggest problem was outrunning a tiger. Situations like these are why people drunk call their ex.

  “Well,” I began, taking a deep breath, “it looks like I’m the only one left she doesn’t love. Yet, I’m still saying that getting to the compound is our best chance. And yeah, I realize that it’s three days, and I’d probably be the first one eliminated. But I’m willing to risk it. Are you?”

  No longer smiling, Brad was the first to agree. Everyone soon followed.

  “One thing, though” Gray interjected. “Whose gonna tell Rose this?”

  I knew what he was saying. What if Rose didn’t think this was a good idea? Who wanted to risk upsetting the monster? I certainly didn’t think of Rose as a monster, but as a guy who just learned that he was hanging on by a thread, let’s just say that I could appreciate his point.

  Everyone looked at me as if I was going to volunteer.

  “We could draw straws,” I offered.

  “Agreed,” Gray said looking around for something to use.

  Brad pulled down a decorative thatched palm from the wall and fashioned a few straws. We all pulled. I lost.

  Great, I thought. My only hope now is that she would be too busy making bad decisions with all of the other guys to shoot the messenger. Did that sound bitter?

  Everyone left the lobby, confident in our plan. It was now my job to convince Rose. I didn’t think it would be too hard. Convincing her to risk her life without turning her against me? Now that might be a little more of a challenge for a guy teetering on the edge of elimination.

  Returning to where Victor lay, I realized that we had left Rose with a corpse. I took a heavy breath realizing that it couldn’t have been pleasant for her. I felt bad.

  “Rose?” I called out, expecting to hear her reply from around a corner. She didn’t reply.

  “Carl?” Gray yelled. Carl didn’t reply either.

  “He took her,” Brad announced with certainty.

  “Did you see them go?” I asked.

  “No. But he did,” Brad confirmed.

  “This could be bad,” I admitted. “He could kill her and kill us.”

  “He could turn her against us,” Brad said.

  “We need to find her,” I decided.

  “I can look for her at her cabin,” Brad declared.

  “I’ll find some weapons,” Gray said.

  “I’ll come with you,” I told Gray, not trusting him to have control of all of the weapons.

  “Billy and I can check the camp,” Bob volunteered.

  “What about me?” Thorin asked. “What should I do?”

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Gray offered, completely out of character. “We might need more hands.”

  I turned to Gray. “You know where we can find weapons?”

  “We had guns for our last challenge, and we had weapons for the Thunderdome. They have to keep them somewhere,” Gray concluded.

  He was right. The bots had given us our guns, so that meant that the weapons had to be stored locally. The stockpile had to be somewhere close.

  “You know what?” I said with a sudden thought. “I think I know where they might be.”

  It was still dark, but the light from the tower lit our path through the woods. It was as bright as a lighthouse. If it wasn’t for the combination of hills and trees between it and the camp, the light would have kept us up at night.

  On the day that I had hiked to the tower, I had gotten a better lay of the land. The bear cage, Thunderdome, and the capture the flag field were all a thousand feet f
rom a small rectangular building. I hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but it had to be the storage facility.

  As the three of us stood in front of it, I realized that it was bigger than it had looked. It also lacked a door. The pawns levitated on magnetic pulses. It had to be a magnetic combination that allowed access.

  “Suggestions?” I asked Gray and Thorin.

  “Kick it down?” Gray suggested.

  I stepped out of the way, giving Gray full access to the door. Four kicks later and the door was falling off of its hinges. I was impressed until I realized that the easy access meant one of two things: either the producers wanted us to get to the weapons, or they never thought that we would try to escape.

  Inside, everything was arranged at pawn height. It had to be some sort of prop room.

  “I found the roses,” I said looking at the glass fridge filled with red roses.

  “And I found the guns,” Gray said from behind me.

  I turned to see Gray cock a Carion. It was a gun similar to the one we used for capture the flag. It didn’t have much range, but it was deadly. Considering that it was pocket-sized, I wondered what the producers had had planned for them.

  “Is it loaded?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Gray said gripping the handle. “And now I’m gonna get some answers.”

  Gray stiffened his arm and pointed the gun at me. A wave of heat washed through me. I froze. But then Gray turned the gun and pointed it at Thorin.

  “I don’t know who you are,” Gray said to Thorin. “But you’re gonna tell me, or I’m gonna shoot you.”

  I wondered if Gray knew he was pointing his gun at Thorin and not me.

  “What are you doin’?” I asked him.

  “He’s lying to us,” Gray growled. “And he’s gonna tell us everything he knows right now.”

  Had I missed something? Sure, he had come back onto the show when he was supposed to be dead. But didn’t everyone agree that that was common on game shows?

  “What are you basing this on?” I asked.

  “He shot himself in the leg.”

  Yes, he had, at the capture the flag challenge. I should have put that together. The angle of his wound was too high to come from anywhere but a downward path.