by Bridy McAvoy
Max groaned and then she heard almost a howl of frustration as movement above her ceased. She felt Max’s legs move and Josie went still as he pulled out of her. She couldn’t see what was happening but squealed as she felt something hot and sticky splash over the back of her tightly pressed thighs. She groaned, unable to hold back a final tremor, as she realized Max had pulled out then painted her butt and legs with his cum.
“You…” She was too tired to finish the statement. Josie pulled her hands from underneath her body. She felt her friend’s fingers working on the knot at the back of her head, then she was blinking in the light as the blindfold fell away.
“One for the album and then you can move, Josie, and I’ll untie my wife.”
This time, Julia could see the flash firing, again and again. She knew the pictures would be obscene. Even more obscene than any of the others Steve had taken of her. She tried hard not to shudder but failed to prevent it.
Max untied the stockings around her legs as Josie swung one leg over her and collapsed onto the bed next to her. She looked into the brunette’s eyes as Josie smiled lazily.
“Hi.”
Julia’s sated smile was the only response she could conjure up.
Max untied her arms and she flexed and worked her shoulders for a couple of minutes. Josie climbed from the bed and stood there, a naked brunette goddess. She’d known Josie was pretty but she’d never realized just how pretty she was.
“Can I use your shower?”
Max chuckled. “On one condition.”
“Which is?”
“You wash each other’s backs.”
Josie raised an eyebrow at Julia who just shrugged. “Why not?”
“And I’ll stand in the doorway with the camera.”
“Pervert.”
“Hardly.”
“I bet you’ll get hard again if you do, and there’s no room for three of us in there.”
“That’s all right. I’ve already had Josie. I’ll wait for the wife of the new division manager.”
Julia had risen to her feet before she fully processed what he’d said.
“What did you just say?”
“I’ve already had Josie…”
“No, the last bit.”
“Oh?” He grinned. “The wife of the new division manager.”
“You mean…?”
“Yep. As of the first of next month, I’m taking over from Charles. I didn’t know it, but Charles has had a heart problem for a while so is taking early retirement on health grounds. Jake was down here to assess Charles’s recommendation for me to take over. In fact, you two did me a favor on Friday night. That told him I was quite prepared to find solutions from outside the box.”
He grinned at them and Josie seemed as stunned as Julia was.
“So, you just did that for nothing?”
“No, I wouldn’t say nothing. You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”
“You tortured me for four days…over nothing?”
“No, you tortured yourself.”
“Josie, you hold him. I’ll gut him with a fish knife.”
Max started to back away as the two women advanced on him.
Julia’s Quest
Julia frowned at her husband, who looked up from the paper and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I’ve still not forgiven you, you know.”
“What for?”
“You know what for.”
“Because I did as you asked and punished you for your indiscretion.”
“My butt was sore for days, and so were my shoulders.”
“I’m sorry about your shoulders. That wasn’t intended.”
“But my sore butt was?”
“I guess so, yes.”
She could see he was amused by the direction the conversation was going. She contented herself with a glare.
“I don’t think that’s the problem, though, is it, honey?”
“Don’t you h—” She stopped, not wanting to force another row.
Max seized on the silence. “I think the problem is something else, isn’t it? The fact I also punished your blabbermouth friend, and then fucked her on top of you.”
She shuddered, the memory still sharp and intense.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”
She shook her head, allowing herself a wry smile at the memory. “No, darling. That I didn’t mind, once I realized what you were doing. Gagging me with her still warm panties—not so much.”
“Then what is it?”
“The fact you didn’t tell me you were up for promotion.”
He shrugged. “I told you, they asked me not to say anything to anyone, particularly family. I only knew an hour before I got home to pack to fly out. I didn’t have time to tell you.”
“But…”
“No buts, honey, except for your delectable one.”
“Get off that track. You’re getting nowhere near my butt for a while.” She grinned at him, her mood changing like the wind, as memories of earlier this morning surfaced again. He’d got very close to her butt as he took her, spoon fashion, before they got up. He’d soaped it too in the shower afterward.
He smiled too, ignoring her threat. “We’ve still got time before I have to fly out.”
“No, darling, we don’t. Not to do that and then shower and make it to the airport. We’d have to skip the shower.”
“I don’t mind. You can shower when you get home.”
She shook her head. “I’m not having some blonde busty stewardess bending over you smelling me on you.”
“I’d have thought you’d have preferred that, marking your territory and all that. Besides, they don’t go for the blonde busty look anymore.”
Her good mood evaporated again. She wondered how he put up with this new thing—her mercurial swings. She’d even thought about going to the doctor about it. She wouldn’t do that, though, not without discussing it with Max first. If he found out she’d been to the doctor without telling him, he’d be worrying himself to death it was something life-threateningly serious, not simply moodiness.
“Look, it’s only for a week. Indoctrination at Head Office. Once I’m in the new role, I won’t be jetting out at short notice so often.”
“I know. But…”
“But what? You’ll miss me? That’s cute.”
“Don’t be snide.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. I hope you do miss me. I miss you like crazy. I hate being holed up in a hotel.”
“You might meet interesting people. Jake did.”
“Don’t go there.” He rolled his eyes. “The less remembered about that the better.”
“I know, which is why I’m surprised.”
“At what?”
“You trusting me to go anywhere with Josie again.”
He shrugged. “What can happen on a Treasure Hunt weekend?”
“You never know.”
He grinned at her. “I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it after the event.”
“Max!”
He laughed and put his paper down, drained his coffee and walked around to her side of the breakfast bar. “I still say we’ve got time. Bed, wench, now.”
She shivered but put her own mug down and allowed him to pull her upright, his lips meeting hers as she checked the clock on the kitchen wall. He was right. They did have time—just.
* * * *
“Just tell me again why we had to have a twin room?”
Josie bounced up and down as she sat on the other bed. “Because it would look like we were too into each other if we booked a double.”
Julia rolled her eyes as she surveyed the somewhat spartan room. “You know what I meant.”
“They didn’t have any singles. We only got this one last minute because of a cancellation.”
“So, you would have booked a double?”
Josie shot her an exasperated look. “Hey, this weekend is supposed to be a fun break. What else were you going to do, sit at home while Max
was away?”
Julia couldn’t help a sigh. “I know.”
“Besides, there might be a couple of nice looking guys.”
“Stop it. You’re single, I’m married. Your mouth got me into a lot of trouble last time.”
She watched as her brunette friend shuddered. “Yeah, but it was fun.”
“You mean what happened afterward was fun.”
“That too, girlfriend. I enjoyed that Friday night with Ted too. He was big.”
“Big?”
“Yeah, very big. I could hardly fit him in my mouth.”
“Josie! Too much information.”
“Okay, okay. Now come on, what are you going to wear? We’ve got to go downstairs for the mingle cocktails and then dinner.”
“Well…You did say pack a nice little black dress.”
Josie grinned at her. “Bet mine’s shortest.”
“Not taking that bet. Everything’s shorter on you because you’re two inches taller than me.”
“Four.”
“Like, who’s counting?”
“You brought those black shoes with the silver heels?”
“Yes.” Julia pulled her strapless black dress out of her carry bag, holding it up for Josie to see.
“Fuck, you are going to be hot. Is that a sweetheart hole too?”
“Yeah.”
“Makes mine look patently pedestrian.” Josie reciprocated, pulling out her own little black dress. What really made the dress was the halter neckline which shimmered with sequins along the seams, drawing the eye straight to Josie’s best assets—her breasts.
“And you think I’m going to look sexy? Jeez, girl, you could take someone’s eye out with that dress. Are we going to need the sock code?”
Josie started to laugh. “Girlfriend, I’m not shy. I’m sure you can turn and face the wall if you need to. Seeing as you are determined to be celibate, I can’t see you putting a sock over the door handle. Besides, it’s so passé. Everyone knows what it means these days.”
Julia blushed. The idea of lying in bed facing the wall, while not four feet away Josie got down and dirty with some, as yet, unknown guy, wasn’t quite her idea of a good night’s sleep. “We are not college girls anymore.”
“I know, I know. Okay, we’ll make a pact. Assuming we’re not double heading with a couple of guys, we won’t bring them back here for a quick rough and tumble.”
“Seeing as we won’t be doing that either…deal.”
Josie grinned at her. “Right, who gets the bathroom first?”
“Me? I need a shower.”
“We both do, girlfriend, and I checked—there isn’t room for both of us.”
Julia shivered. “After the last time, good.”
“No camera either.”
“Even better. I’d rather leave that as a memory.”
* * * *
The mixer and dinner the night before had been okay. The fact they’d both gone to such lengths to dress for the occasion, had clearly wowed the male teams on the Treasure Quest, and they’d been swarmed like bees on honey. It had been fun, but Julia had noticed the looks from the other women teams. She guessed there would be more of a competitive edge than otherwise as a result. She wanted to tell them it wasn’t her fault, but that wouldn’t have helped.
At least this morning they were wearing T-shirts and jeans, sensible attire for the day’s activity. Solid boots rather than heels too, which made Julia feel a little inadequate among the burly six-footer guys that made up the male teams.
They all filed into the briefing room and one of the guides took to the stands.
“Right, everyone. Good morning. I’m Mike. Mike Ranger.”
Everyone laughed, including the guide.
“Now we’ve got that out of the way, and by the way, it actually is my real name. See me afterwards and I’ll show you my driving license. Of course, for the ladies…” He paused and seemed to be looking straight at Julia. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, and it won’t be your driving license.”
The laughter was looser this time, as people started to relax.
“Now, for the briefings, we’re going to divide you into two groups of six teams. The first group will work the woodland side today, and the second group will work what we euphemistically call the town side. We’ll swap over and do the other side tomorrow.”
He called out The JJs as the third team selected for the town side.
“Right. Everyone on the town side, come with me. We’re briefing in the dining room. The rest of you, stay here. Christie will be briefing you in a minute.”
A couple of minutes later, they’d settled back into the dining room. It was amazing the way the waiting staff had already stripped the room of the trappings of the buffet style breakfast and set up a large projector and screen ready for Mike. They’d only finished breakfast about fifteen minutes earlier, before trooping through to the bar.
Mike handed out briefing packs.
“Now, each team has different clues to different items, six items in each zone. Once you answer the question in the clue, you text the answer together with your team name to the number on the top of the pack and go on to your next clue. You don’t have to do them in order, but believe me, we do mix things up so I doubt you’ll find one answer accidentally while looking for another.”
“In fact, I don’t even know which clues are in which pack.”
A large street map flashed up on the projector as he pressed a button on a remote control.
“Now, this used to be a film set for a while, until we converted it for our purposes. So, on the town side there a couple of rules you should be aware of. Firstly, not all buildings are whole buildings. If you go down the side of a building and realize it’s just a propped-up façade, turn back. Your answers will not be there. Okay?”
Everyone nodded.
“Secondly, if a door won’t open, it’s probably not a door, so there’s nothing to find behind it. Conversely, if a door opens there might be something behind it, but it isn’t necessarily one of your items—it could be someone else’s. With me?”
Again, everyone nodded. Julia could see a couple of the teams looking bored as if they’d been here before. She wondered how much of an advantage that would be, if any. She guessed her competitive streak was kicking in. Glancing at Josie sitting next to her, she could see her friend was almost quivering, ready to go.
“Now, one major rule not to be broken. Do not move anything at all, in any room or street setting. We have had people do that to try and spoil another team’s challenge. Even doing it accidentally is cause for excluding you from the competition. You will be asked to leave, and we give no refunds. Clear?”
“Yes.” Julia put her hand over her mouth. It was as if the twelve adults, including herself, had all wanted to answer Yes, Mr. Ranger, sir, exactly as if they’d been kids on a school trip being told to be extra polite to the nice park ranger. She successfully stifled the giggle, but she heard Josie snort. She’d obviously had a similar thought.
“If you see a blue post, don’t try looking beyond it. They mark the perimeter. All clues can be found inside them.” He paused. “Any questions?”
Nobody said anything.
“Right. We just need to wait a couple of minutes while Christie finishes briefing the woodland teams—it always takes a little longer—and then we’ll let you go. Please don’t open your briefing packs until you are told you can.”
Julia sat back in her chair and tried to relax. At least this was something different, although it wouldn’t have been on her first choice of destinations when Josie suggested a weekend away, just the two of them. With Max on the East Coast again, she’d said yes to break the monotony. Josie seemed to be loving it, though, eager at the prospect of beating the other teams.
Covertly, Julia scanned the other teams—four teams of men, and one of two women. The other female team might be strong on brains, but they’d have to be. Both were over forty, and over forty pounds too heavy
to boot. They’d suffer in terms of physical endurance as a result. One of the male teams seemed in the same boat while the other three pairs were in their twenties or early thirties and looked physically fit. She remembered the night before when they’d all been trying to chat her and Josie up. Two of the most confident guys formed one of their immediate competing teams, and the next most confident was part of another team in the room. She’d already caught their glances over breakfast, as well as during the briefing.
Turning her attention back to the map on the screen, she started to study it, looking at the way the street grid was laid out, and trying to memorize some of the features. As she gazed at it, it struck her just how big the place was. She’d seen the fake town from the car as they drove up the long driveway from the highway, but she hadn’t quite realized how big it really was. The place was huge. It could swallow two or three times as many teams as the six they had. She wondered if the woodland on the other size of the drive was the same.
Someone opened a door at the back and Mike looked up then nodded.
“Right. The other teams are ready, so we’re all ready to go. Good luck and happy hunting.”
Four teams rose to their feet and made for the door. Josie stuck her hand out and held Julia in place, snapping open the clip on the briefing folder on her lap with her other hand. Julia nodded. It made sense to plan where they were going before rushing off. One of the male teams was doing the same but didn’t look up as they conferred over their own briefing pack in hushed tones. She noticed Mike nod in approval at them and his gaze caught hers. He winked slowly then turned and switched the projector off, cancelling the map. They’d have to rely on the smaller scale version in the pack.
* * * *
Twenty minutes later Julia stood next to Josie looking down a street that could have come off any western movie set. In fact, it probably had been the set of a western, even one she’d seen. The dusty, unpaved street seemed to cry out for tumbleweeds rolling along on the breeze. The wooden sidewalks were about eighteen inches off the ground and you’d have to step down from one to cross a side street to get to the next building. Here, the buildings were plain and simple but they got fancier further along. She did a quick double-take at a building about five along on the left-hand side, the batwing doors a dead giveaway.
