Game of Phones

"And you think a phone game might be the way to do that?" James asked, still skeptical.

"Why not? I can use the basic framework of the game I to build one of my own, just a bit more specific to our needs. I'll have full control over everything, from the graphic interface design to the way the game links with other players. We keep it simple, something that can legitimately pass as a normal party game, but one that gradually builds up the excitement until BOOM! People are running through the house naked and not even realizing it."

James had to give Sawyer credit for his creativity. He still had a few worries, but he also knew that Sawyer was good at his job. He was always tinkering with programs and games, and if he managed to make this entertaining enough then there was no reason why it shouldn't work. After all, they were all growing tired of playing Monopoly.

"We'll have to playtest it when you're done, of course, and think of a good cover story before they download it."

"Of course, I agree. I'll definitely need your help coming up with some of the pieces, and we'll play through a few times before we do anything else. As for legitimacy, we can just tell them part of the truth: that our company bought a small gaming company, and that they want some of us to fool around with the games and find ways to make them profitable. We go into it not knowing what to expect, and when the fun stuff starts popping up we just go by their reactions. Cause and effect, action and reaction. If they start raising eyebrows, then we say 'sorry, didn't know what kind of game this was' and we pull out Clue or something."

Another secret from Megan. James still wasn't fond of the idea of keeping things from her. He wanted to see how far things would go under the right conditions with all four of them present, but never at the expense of his marriage. Megan meant everything to him, and their loyalty and trust had never been called into question.

That being said, this wasn't any worse than for Megan to be masturbating to his best friend, and in the end everyone might just be glad for it. "How long till you can have it ready for testing?" James asked, his smile providing Sawyer with reassurance.

"Give me two weeks," Sawyer answered.

ONE MONTH LATER

All men have their vices, and for Sawyer that vice was time management. Deadlines had always been his greatest adversary, and James had fully expected this project to take longer than the allotted two weeks. In the meantime, he had been diligently assisting whenever possible, providing feedback and suggestions where needed.

He had also been doing his homework in regards to Megan and her open-mindedness. From time to time the two of them would put their smart TV to use in the living room, selecting something naughty to watch before they made love on the couch or floor. Most of their past selections had been rather "vanilla" by today's standards of kinky. Recently, however, James had "accidentally" selected something a little different.

"Sorry babe, didn't mean to click the button." Even as James said it Megan was raising her eyebrows. His accidental selection was a group session, with several couples at a party having sex in the same room.

"Sure you didn't, sweetheart." she said with a wink. "But leave it on. You're supposed to be focusing more on me anyway." She leaned back against the arm of the couch and parted her legs, wearing nothing more than a white tank top and some sexy panties. She watched the screen as she slid one hand beneath the lace, the other hand undoing his fly so that she could prepare him for whatever naughty behavior the video inspired.

Sawyer had likewise done the same homework with Charlotte, though she didn't usually enjoy watching porn with her lover. Instead, he began perusing through her side of the bookshelves in their library. He began to notice a pattern among the more adult themed books. More than a few of them involved women being shared by two men, either simultaneously or separate, but with consent of the other. There was also a lot of same-sex situations, though to be fair there were also instances of incest, exhibitionism, and most surprising of all, werewolf orgies with human women.

There wasn't much he could do about that last particular fantasy, but if Charlotte was entertained by the concepts of group sex and exhibitionism, not to mention girl-on-girl action, then he would certainly do what he could to accommodate.

Sawyer apologized to James several times for his lack of timeliness, but in the meantime the two had at least been having fun coming up with questions to program into the game. They met regularly at the bar to talk things over, and over the weeks the two friends had grown extremely open with one another about the idea.

The playtest finally came, and although the user interface needed some work, the game itself appeared to perform beyond their own expectations. Sawyer had to buy two smart phones from a pawn shop to simulate the two girls, but after their second test run, in the bar among curious eyes, the two were finally satisfied with the product. Sawyer gave his friend a hug and promised to have the visual aspect finished before the weekend. Game night was around the corner.

James had a lot of prep work the day of their game. While his wife was out for groceries James changed all of the bed sheets to clean linens and restocked the alcohol with plenty of choices. Wine and spirits would certainly help move things along. He even cleaned out the pool, just in case.

Megan appreciated the gesture so much that she shed her clothes for a pre-shower skinny dip. Their guests hadn't even arrived yet and already she was finding ways to make his cock hard. He resisted the urge to pull her out of the water and fuck her in a deck chair. She was content with being a tease for the moment.

Now they stood together in the kitchen preparing the meal that hopefully would preclude their night of fun. James had dressed in his usual attire for such occasions: khaki pants and a v-neck sweater on top of a nice button-up shirt. Megan outdid him, as always, when it came to her appearance. She wore a charcoal dress with black leggings. He hadn't been in the room when she exchanged her towel for lingerie, but he assumed she would be wearing a matching set. All of this was great, but the addition of black heels made her appearance prize-worthy.

When their guests arrived on time (Charlotte made sure Sawyer was punctual) James also took note of what they were wearing. Sawyer was also in slacks, black instead of khaki, and he wore a white button-up with a black blazer jacket. The number of clothing items one wore might play into activities later. Charlotte was Megan's equal in ability to dress sexy. She took a more casual approach, opting for skinny jeans and a white blouse under a black corset top. She also wore black heels similar to Megan's. By James' calculations she was likely wearing six articles of clothing, including the shoes.

Charlotte went to join Megan in the kitchen, already pouring a glass of wine while Sawyer joined James in the dining room with their plates. They took the time to reassure one another.

"So, what do you think? Will this work?" Sawyer asked his friend.

"Your guess is as good as mine," James answered. "But that's the beauty of our game, isn't it? We start out slow, ease into it, and see how they react. If we think the girls are feeling a little uncomfortable with the way things are going, we pull the plug. Simple as that."

"Of course. We want to have fun, but in the end it has to be a group decision. We let their actions move us forward."

The voices in the kitchen were moving now and the girls were bringing their drinks and their gossip to join them. The boys pulled the chairs for their ladies and settled in for dinner. Laughter and clinking wine glasses filled the room until everyone was full and the plates were put away. With drinks refilled they all made their way in to the den.

Megan was the first to suggest a game, though nobody really seemed eager with her selection. This didn't dissuade her, and she began to go down the list of every board game they owned. Eventually, once every title had been offered up, James made his opening move.

"Damnit Sawyer, this is what your company needs to be doing with that new gaming department they acquired! This is an age of tablets and smart phones, shouldn't we be able to download games for nights like this?"

Megan gave him a playful smack on the shoulder. "Are you suggesting that the board games I buy are boring?" she asked.

"I think what he means," said Charlotte, "is that if you buy any more of these games you'll have to buy yourself a ladder to go with them." Even in heels Megan would have trouble reaching the games stacked on the top shelf of their closet.

Sawyer took the leap. "Actually, they've had us tinkering with some of the apps left behind after that buyout. I've been super busy with that last project, but I know some of my coworkers have managed to get some working prototypes in the cloud."

"In the cloud?" Megan asked.

"We can't put them on official app stores until they're approved for sale, but we have a cloud server we can use to download the games for free whenever we want. Shall I see if there's anything worth trying?" Sawyer was already reaching for his phone.

The girls exchanged a look of genuine curiosity. Megan spoke up first. "I suppose it can't hurt to look, but don't think I'm any less offended that nobody wants to play Monopoly with me anymore."

"You only like that game because your husband slips you money under the table," Charlotte joked.

"He slips the real money in my thong after you leave," Megan replied. Humor wasn't rare in Megan, but James took it as a good sign that his wife was being flirty with her jokes tonight.

Sawyer made a show of searching through a list of apps. James knew that there was no list, just the one link, but appearances mattered. Finally, he seemed to find one he liked. "Here's one that could be interesting. All of the other ones didn't seem to fit what we were looking for."

"What's it called?" Charlotte asked.

"Game of Phones. Clever title," said Sawyer, secretly praising James for his creativity. "I'll send everyone the link."

Nobody objected, and Sawyer quickly copied and pasted the download link into a group text message. It only took a few minutes for everyone to complete the download.

"How does this work?" Megan asked once everyone had opened the app.

Sawyer still had to pretend that he didn't know much about the game, instead reading directly from the directions on screen. "Requires at least four players. We at least meet that requirement. Everyone has to enter their name, age, and gender when they sign in. Go ahead and do that while I get a group formed."

The setup was easy enough. Everyone followed another link to join into Sawyers group while he continued to read off the rules. "This game is more than a test of friendship, it is a test of limits, and boundaries, and how far each of you is willing to push them. During each round of the game one player will be assigned a question to answer in secret. Once their answer is recorded, the remaining players will then attempt to guess the answer that was written, within the thirty-second time limit. Player A will then decide which players are correct and the original answer will be shown."

"So basically we're being tested on how well we know each other. What happens if we lose?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm getting to that," replied Sawyer. "The questions will grow more personal in nature as the game progresses, and players may opt to pass their question if they choose. The players that fail to submit the correct answer will be assigned a penalty task which they must complete. These, also, will increase in their brazenness as the game progresses, testing how far you and your friends are willing to play."

"Wait, does that mean like taking off clothes and stuff?" Megan asked, though she didn't seem so much worried as she was curious. A good sign, as far as Sawyer was concerned.

"It doesn't say. Maybe? Either way, if things get too out of hand, or if someone gets uncomfortable, it's not like we have to keep playing. Agreed?"

"True, I suppose," Megan answered, her eyebrow raised.

Sawyer continued. "Each player also has one 'player switch' card which they may use at any point during the game to replace any player with another of their choosing, including yourself. Remember to respect each other in regards to privacy and personal boundaries, and above all, have fun!"

James and Sawyer glanced around, already nervous that their plan was dead in the water. Megan and Charlotte finished reading the rules themselves and glanced at one another, shrugging before leaning back in their seats.

Megan was first to consent. "We'll give it a try, but if this game sucks then I get to choose the next one we play. Deal?"

"Fair enough," James answered as he let out an imaginary sigh of relief. "Who starts it?"

Sawyer had already finished most of the graphic design of the game. There was an orange button labeled "start" for them to press, and the first player could choose the order of their questions. The sofa and loveseat were arranged in an L shape around a glass coffee table. The television was across the room on the wall, which was currently on, but just for background noise. Charlotte and Sawyer sat on one couch while Megan and James sat on the other, and that would be the order in which they played.

Charlotte was the first player. She clicked for her question and stared at her screen. Everyone else could see the same question on their phone but not her answer. She was asked for her favorite color. James was already unable to make a guess. Sawyer, of course, would know the answer, and Megan was also likely to have an idea. James typed in "blue" and sent his answer in with the others.

Charlotte was now able to review them all. "Aw, sorry James, looks like you're the odd one out. My favorite color is purple, not blue. Good job to Sawyer and Megan though."

"I was just making a guess," said James. "Oh well, let's see what I have to do then." James swiped the icon and his penalty was displayed for everyone to see. "Take a drink and relax, there's no shame in being the first loser."

The giggles that followed were a good sign that the girls were enjoying the idea of the game so far. James took a sip of his beer, without a care, hoping that much more would be happening soon enough. "That was easy enough. Next?"

Sawyer's question was actually easy for James. "What was my first car?" He submitted his answer with confidence and looked up to find that neither Megan nor Charlotte seemed to be typing. Charlotte finally shrugged and submitted something, but Megan remained puzzled. The thirty second timer expired before she could type anything in, automatically labeling her as a loser this round.

"Looks like Megan forgot about the time limit," Sawyer observed. She blushed in reply. "And Charlotte, do better! I know I've told you this before."

"Yeah, but you mention cars so often that it's hard to keep track! So it wasn't the Camaro?" Charlotte asked.

"Nope, sorry babe. But don't worry, I'm not going to replace you with James, even if he was the only one who knew I used to drive a Subaru."

"Are you sure you don't want to replace her?" Megan joked. "She can come live with me while you and James get cozy."

"Is he potty trained?"

"I'll pack plenty of diapers."

"Do I get any say in this?" James asked.

"Of course not!" Megan gave him a quick kiss all the same.

"Penalties are served, drink up ladies!" Sawyer had swiped the icon to reveal their task.

"Drinking is something I can definitely handle," Charlotte said as she leaned in to clink her wine glass with Megan's before they both took a long sip.

"Don't get cocky just yet," James added, "because it did say that things get harder the longer the game goes on." Things were already getting hard just thinking about it.

Megan was next in line. Her question: "Who was your celebrity crush as a teenager?" She didn't have to think long before her answer was in place. The rest of them, however, were completely puzzled.

James felt that he should know this answer. Perhaps the alcohol was clouding his memory, but this seemed unlikely after only one drink. He chose the first name that came to mind before the timer closed in on him.

The look of disappointment was clear on Megan's face as she read the answers. Justin Timberlake. Leo DiCaprio. John Stamos. None of which were the correct answer.

"Gerard Butler? Really?" Charlotte did not approve of her friend's choice.

"Painted abs aside, that accent makes my panties drop," Megan swooned.

"How does that make you feel James?" Charlotte asked.

"Whatever it takes to land me that acting job."

Megan gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. "You'd whore me out for an audition?"

"Oh please, you'd put me on the corner for a Snickers," James countered.

"We'll see about that later. Time for your punishment." Megan clicked the penalty button. "Since you all failed me so miserably you have to take more than a sip. Shots for all of you!"

"I'll get it. Tequila or whiskey?" James asked his friends. Once he had their preferences he went to the kitchen and returned with four shot glasses.

"Why four?" Megan inquired.

"You really think we're going to drink without you?" James asked. "Just this once, Babe." He knew she would play along, and the extra tequila in her blood might make things easier later on.

They made their toast, losers and winner alike, and threw back their glasses. Everyone was smiling and laughing, signs of a good start to the night.

James was at the end of the line, finally seeing his first question now that the glasses were empty and on the table. Another "favorites" question.

"Sawyer, Charlotte, I don't even know what to say. I mean, seriously? Both of you thought that my favorite book genre would be sci-fi and fantasy?"

"I just figured since you watch all that elf porn..." Sawyer joked.

"Shut up Sawyer, don't give away all my secrets!"

Megan was the only winner, knowing very well that James loved his mystery novels most of all. The other two were told to drink.

The first round was finished, and everyone now understood how the game was played. The questions and penalties were about to make things more interesting. Now it was Charlotte's turn again.

"Have I ever stolen anything worth more than two-hundred dollars?" she read aloud.

Megan was first to answer, and Sawyer second. James wasn't really sure. He eventually decided that Charlotte probably wasn't nearly as mischievous as that. He was wrong.

"Thank you, James, for believing in me. I'll make sure I call you if I'm ever on trial. But Megan and Sawyer both know about that time I broke up with my ex after he cheated on me. I took his Xbox with me, and gave it to my roommate's boyfriend. He never asked for it back, probably knowing that if he fucked with me I would tell everyone he fucked a tranny."

"Ouch. Well, I suppose that given the circumstances I can't blame you. I take my punishment with dignity." James clicked the button. He had helped program the penalties, so this one didn't actually surprise him, but for the sake of appearances he pretended to be amused. "How the fuck am I supposed to dance like a chicken?" James asked, while the girls giggled. He gave it his best attempt, flapping his elbows and stamping his feet around the coffee table while the girls choked on their own laughter. Seeing their smiles made him happy, especially Megan's. The game could have ended right then and he would feel satisfied. Luckily, it continued.