“Violeta, you’re up first,” Charles said loudly and Violeta walked over to him, her head tall as she paraded her naked body in front of everyone. I looked around the room and saw that everyone was staring at her, except for Xavier and Stephan, who were both looking at me.

“This will be an easy one,” Violeta said, her voice soft as she laughed. There were tendrils of hair surrounding her face and she looked surprising soft as she spoke. I wondered if this was the woman that the men saw all the time, as opposed to the shrew that I knew. “I know exactly who I’m going to choose,” she said and I watched as she slipped her hand between her legs and rubbed her clit. My face went red and I gasped as I looked away, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking back to see what she was going to do next. I watched as she closed her eyes and moaned and then just as suddenly she walked over to Casper and kissed him, before pushing her finger into his mouth. “Taste me, suck me,” she cried out as Casper sucked on her fingers. “These are the juices that you produced, my darling,” she said loudly. “I choose the man that was sucking on my nipples. I choose the man that made me come with one flick of his tongue. I choose the man that wanted a second chance to pleasure me in test number two. I choose Casper.”

The crowd went silent and my eyes nearly popped open as we all realized that Violeta had chosen wrong. Violeta had chosen Casper, but it had been Stephan that had gone a second time. It had been Stephan who had been sucking on her nipples. I looked over at him to see what he was thinking. I wanted to ask him why he had asked to pleasure Violeta twice. And then I knew. It was his signal to me. He wanted me to know that he’d been the one sucking on my nipples. He wanted me to be able to choose Xavier as the one who pleased me, but why would he do that? Why would he care if I chose wrong? It suddenly struck me that he wanted me to choose correctly this time because he wanted me to make it to the next round. He wanted me to make it to the round where he could do anything to me. He wanted to show me that he could completely dominate every part of me.

“You’re incorrect, Violeta.” Charles’ voice was no longer so cheery and we all looked at Casper to see his reaction.

“Dirty slut.” He sneered down at her. “Whore, get away from me.”

“Casper!” she cried out, her voice pleading. “I didn’t know. I thought it was you.”

“Get away from me.” He stepped aside from her. “Go to Stephan. He can have you now.”

Violeta looked around the room manically, her eyes wild as she realized she’d messed up. She looked at Casper and back at Stephan and I knew she was trying to decide what to do. I almost felt sorry for her, but not quite.

“I don’t want your sloppy seconds.” Stephan’s voice was almost lyrical as he spoke. “There is only one woman in this room I am fighting for.” My whole body went rigid as I felt his eyes on me. “I want Lola Franklin.”

“Then the slut should leave,” Casper said. “Go and —”

“Enough!” a voice shouted and we all jumped and looked towards the door. “You cannot speak to Violeta that way. None of you deserve her.”

“Tarquin.” It was my voice that called out his name in shock. What was he doing here?

“Violeta,” he cried out, ignoring me as he ran to her and pulled her into his arms. “I won’t let them do this to you anymore. I won’t let them pass you around. You’re too beautiful, too kind, too lovely.”

I almost fainted in shock as I listened to him talk. What was Tarquin going on about? Had he lost his mind? How could he call her ‘kind’?

“Come away with me, Violeta,” he said, his voice pleading. “Marry me. I know the family that has our beautiful daughter. We can adopt her back. We can be a real family. I’m willing to be disowned. I’m willing to lose it all. Say you’ll be with me, Violeta. I love you.”

I looked at Xavier then and I could tell from the look on his face that he was just as shocked as I was. Tarquin and Violeta had been together. I could barely believe it, though I felt a huge sense of relief that Xavier wasn’t the father of her baby. Then again I should have known Xavier would never do that to his own child. I knew that in my heart.

“Leave me alone, Tarquin.” Violeta looked at him distastefully. “I want nothing to do with you.”

“But I love you,” Tarquin pleaded.

“I want a king, Tarquin.” She looked at him condescendingly. “I want a man that will one day be king. I want a man to possess me. I want a man that can fuck me and make me come within seconds. You—you are not any of those things. Leave me alone and scat.” She looked at him coldly as she walked to the door as regally as she could. I was still in shock as she walked and I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.

“Leave, whore,” Casper said and looked at Charles, who was looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Uhm, let us continue,” Charles said and changed the subject as Violeta walked out the door. I was surprised that no one went after her. Not even Tarquin. What had just happened? I felt even more dazed and confused and then my heart lurched as my moment came. “Lola, you’re next. Who do you choose as the man that gave you the most pleasure?” He looked at me curiously and I felt all the blood draining from my face. On my right stood Xavier, my love, the man I had come with and on the left, stood Stephan, eager, charismatic, handsome Stephan and he’d made it clear that he was here for me. He wanted me. He wanted to please me. He wanted to make me his. I stood there with my heart in my mouth. I didn’t know who I was going to pick. I didn’t know what to do. One wrong choice and my whole life would change. One wrong choice and Xavier would hate me. One wrong choice and I could be taken into a life of sexual pleasure that was far out of my realm. And the problem wasn’t in the fact that I didn’t know who I was going to choose. The problem was in the fact that I was going to lie. I was going to go with man number one and the feather because I was sure that had been Xavier. I was going to go with him because he was who I wanted. But if I was truly honest with myself, the man that had pleased me more was man number 2. The man who had taken me to new sexual heights was Stephan. And that made me feel guiltier than anything. I wanted to cry as I stood there, unable to speak.