Leslie felt groggy when the call to wake up came Sunday morning. She started feeling the consecutive days of activities starting to wear on her. It also didn’t help that she was only able to get six hours of sleep the night before.

She took a shower, as she hadn’t been able to after the foursome with her roommates the night before. She felt like everything was sore, but she did her best to make sure she was still properly presentable before going to join everyone downstairs.

This was the last full day she would be in California and wondered what the owners had cooked up for them that day. So far, they had taken them to a beach, played random sex games, and went naked go-karting, roller skating, and bowling. On top of that was the paint balloon and capture the flag games, to say nothing about the side fucks Leslie had gotten up to.

“Good morning, Leslie,” Jacob greeted her as she arrived in the main living room.

“Good morning,” she yawned in return. “Please tell me you’re not having us lift weights today or something,” she sleepily joked.

"I suppose that is up to you,” Jacob smirked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she responded with sleepy confusion.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he laughed.

After not too long, it was time for breakfast, finally allowing Leslie to shake the cobwebs out of her head. Once everyone was finished, Hugo—the host for the weekend—stood up to speak.

“Today is a very special day for you. We’re going to let you unleash your talent and creativity. You will be split into four equal teams. Your assignment is to spend the next nine hours coming up with a play that you will perform in front of everyone at the end of the day.

“The only true requirements are that all three members must have sex with each other in some manner. Whether that is individually, or a threesome is up to you. However, it should advance the plot of the play in some way. Also, the play should take between fifteen and thirty minutes. A panel of judges—friends of some of the owners—will judge you on your acting, writing, and overall performance. The winning team will win a pot of $75,000—$25,000 to each winning team member.”

Hugo continued his explanation as a murmur rose in the room as pets excitedly chatted about the potential reward. “There are a pair of rooms that we have filled with items you can use in your play, from props to sex toys. You can use any that you can claim for yourself before another group does. There will be a one-hour lunch period in the middle of your work time that we suggest you use to take a short break, but you will not be required to. Anyway, let’s reveal what the teams are!”

Each team was split up into two women and one man. Leslie’s team included Helena, the blonde girl from Germany, and Elias, from Florida. These were also, perhaps not coincidentally, the only two pets she hadn't had sex with yet.

The other teams consisted of Ana, Nikki, and Rahmi; Lisa, Megumi, and Samuel; and Amy, Ida, and Andre.

“Alright, get your teams together and get started!” Hugo declared.

Leslie looked around for her teammates and quickly found Helena with Elias and joined them.

“Let’s find an empty room and try to brainstorm,” Elias suggested.

They quickly found a side dining room and closed the door, everyone taking a seat.

“So, since we have to include sex scenes in the story, should we try to figure out the story first, and fit the sex scenes in where we can, or should we decide what the sex scenes and positions will be and try to fit a story around them?” Leslie asked.

“I think we should work on a plot and outline first, and then see how we can fit things in,” Helena advised.

“Yeah, I think that may be easier,” Elias concurred.

The group then started to brainstorm and throw out ideas. Not only did they have to come up with a plot in the next eight hours, but they had to come up with how the sex scenes fit in, what props they could use—and claim them before other groups—and they had to practice before they finally presented that evening. The group quickly decided that their targeted runtime for the play would be around twenty minutes.

“I think if we do three separate one-on-one sex scenes, we should order them with Elias going first and last, so he has enough time to recover between scenes,” Leslie suggested. “And we should probably do something to make sure we are all ready to go either before the play starts or early in the play. Or just grind it out with lube. We should also consider more… untraditional sex positions, for the added creativity, if possible.”

After about ninety minutes of tossing around and refining ideas, the trio finally settled on a rough outline for the story and decided to go look for the props they thought they would need. Eventually, they returned with several items: a small table, a small lamp to go on top of the table, a stopwatch, and a freestanding door.

“I guess we should start working on the details now,” Elias suggested. “We want to leave at least the last couple of hours of our time to rehearse if we can.”

Before Leslie knew it, the first four hours of their planning time were over, and it was time for lunch. Luckily, the owners had set up a buffet of easily grabbable items, so the trio snatched up what they wanted and returned to the room, discussing the play’s status while they ate.

“I think the way we’ve designed this play we only have a few set pieces of dialogue we have to hit. A lot of it we might even be able to ad-lib on the spot,” Helena remarked.

“Yeah, maybe. Especially during the sex scenes. We don't know how long those sections might be, so we may have to improvise dialogue if they run longer than expected,” Elias noted.

“Speaking of which, we probably should decide what we want to do with that soon,” Leslie reminded the group. “I still think doing something, well, not usual would be good.”

“And how are we going to make sure we can even get up for it?” Elias pondered.

"I don't know. Maybe one of us can give you a blowjob before we go on stage if you need it," Helena posited with a shrug.

“Do you really think our play idea will work?” Leslie asked.

“I dunno. It’s a bit late to worry about that now, though,” Elias noted.

“Yeah, I suppose."

The group used their final four hours to iron out the details, and then to do a few practice runs through their play, minus the sex. When 7 p.m. rolled around, it was time for each team to present their plays.

Each group carried their props to a side room just off-stage and then waited in the living room until it was their turn. The first group to go was Ana, Nikki, and Rahmi.

Leslie nervously fidgeted waiting for her team’s turn. She could hear the occasional bit of laughter from the room where the first group was presenting their play. She started to worry, as their play wasn’t a comedy. Should it have been? Should they have added some humor? Maybe they could ad-lib some in.

After about twenty-five minutes, she heard a round of applause: the first group was done. At this point, Maria Brant, Samuel’s owner, appeared through a door.

“Samuel, Megumi, Lisa. You guys are up next,” she informed the group.

That trio looked at each other nervously and sighed before they got up and followed Maria through the door. That left two groups waiting for their turn: Leslie’s group and the group of Andre, Amy, and Ida.

“You nervous?” Ida asked openly to the rest of the group.

Leslie let out a little laugh. “More than a bit. It’s funny. Fucking people in front of strangers? No problem. Presenting a play? Terrifying.”

This elicited a laugh from the entire group.

“Yeah, I suppose so. Eight hours isn’t much time to come up with something completely new. Just hope you made something that entertains people,” Andre noted.

“Did you guys, uh, practice your sex scenes at all?” Helena curiously asked.

“Uh, no. We thought we would try to make sure we didn’t run out of gas before we needed to, uh, perform,” Amy answered. “How about you?”

“Yeah, the same thing. We rehearsed our play but just kind of were like ‘Okay, we’re having sex now’ during those parts,” Leslie expounded.

Amy let out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what we did too. So, are you doing individual scenes or one threesome?”

“Uh, three individual scenes. You?” Leslie responded.

“One big threesome scene. That should be interesting,” Amy laughed. “We thought it might be easier on Andre.”

“Well, hopefully, I can perform twice,” Elias laughed.

The conversation started to relax Leslie. Knowing everyone else was as nervous as she was felt like a relief.

After about twenty minutes, they heard more applause.

“They must be done,” Andre noted.

Soon, Jacob popped through the door. “Alright Leslie, it’s your, Helena, and Elias’s turn,” he remarked with a slight smile.

Leslie let out a deep sigh and stood up. She walked through the door with the rest of her group. The trio then spent a short time setting up their props as Jacob returned to the audience. The set consisted of the table with the light, a stopwatch, and a piece of paper in the middle of the set, and then the door set off to the left side.

Leslie took a quick look out at the audience. She wasn’t sure but she thought there might be about twenty-five to thirty people watching. It made sense. The twelve owners and likely the six pets who already presented, plus however many guests. She knew there was going to be a group of non-owner judges.

“You may begin when ready,” one of the unknown people at the front of the audience remarked. Leslie figured this must be one of the judges.

Helena dramatically pulled on the knob at the door. However, the door refused to open.

“It won’t open! How did we ever get tricked into coming here?” Helena spoke toward Elias and Leslie, who were both standing by the table, in an elevated voice so the audience could hear.

Leslie looked around. “It’s almost pitch black in here. The only light is from this lamp, and it is barely on.”

Elias then looked down at the table. “Hey, look, there is a note!” He leaned over to read the sheet as if there was barely enough light to illuminate it. “You are now part of our experiment. You have thirty minutes to unlock the door, but to do so you must solve the puzzle,” he began.

“Solve the puzzle? I can’t even see the door! I had to feel around to even find the knob. But there are some strange bars and strings attached to the door. But I can’t possibly see them,” Helena spoke, as she acted out feeling objects attached to the door.

“Wait, there’s more,” Elias noted as he continued to read the note. “There is only one way to increase the light level: you must arouse each other. The more you are aroused, the brighter the light will become. If someone orgasms, that will fully illuminate the room for two minutes. Every orgasm will add an additional two minutes. If you do not unlock the door in time, you will be locked in the room forever.”

“What? Is it saying we have to get each other off to turn the lights on?” Leslie asked incredulously.

“That’s how I understood it,” Helena spoke somberly. “But I’m not sure what choice we have.”

There was then a scripted awkward silence.

“So, who’s going first?” Elias asked.

“I guess I’ll volunteer. While Elias and I have sex, you’ll need to try to figure out how the door works, Leslie,” Helena explained the plan.

“Uh, okay, I’ll try my best,” Leslie nervously responded.

“So, uh, how are we doing this?” Elias asked. He and Helena fumbled their arms around each other as if to figure out exactly how they were going to go about doing things.

“Let’s get warmed up first,” Helena remarked as she stepped up to him. The pair then kissed as they both started to manually get each other off.

"The light is starting to get brighter!" Leslie said, sounding hopeful, but the hopefulness in her voice quickly faded. "However, it's still not bright enough to see anything. I need you two to give me a bit more!"

“We’re working on it,” Elias remarked. His fingers were rubbing through Helena's folds and tickling her clit as hers continued to stroke his cock to increasing hardness.

Leslie acted like she was trying to look at the door. As she was doing this, she was going through the next steps in her head. This was the most critical part of the play. They needed to get themselves wet and ready relatively quickly or else their entire plan for the play was going to land in the dumpster. There wasn’t the time for sensual foreplay, as much fun as it would be.

Helena and Elias continued to masturbate and kiss each other, with Elias using his other hand to massage Helena’s breasts. Leslie started getting a bit hot watching them, but as per the instructions on the note, she wasn’t allowed to get herself off.

After a few minutes, Elias appeared ready to go. Helena lay on her back on the floor and bent her legs. Elias then grabbed her legs and started lifting her so that only Helena's upper back, shoulders, and head were on the floor, bending her legs over to the point that they were now positioned next to her head. Elias then leaned slightly forward and penetrated Helena, fucking her in the piledriver position.

“Hey, the lights are a bit brighter now, I can sort of see something,” Leslie remarked, squinting at the door. They had decided that there should at least be enough light to see something while the sex was going on, or else the play might get boring. This was one of the parts where Leslie had a license to ad-lib while Elias and Helena did their business.

“It looks like there are several bars and ropes attached to the door. I’m guessing we need to remove them in a certain order to unlock the door. We just have to figure out what order to do them in,” Leslie explained, studying the fictional puzzle.

Helena was starting to moan. Neither Elias nor Helena had fucked in this position before, and they had at least practiced getting into the position during rehearsal, although they didn’t have sex. Neither of them knew exactly how it would turn out. Elias continued to slam up and down into Helena.

“The light keeps increasing! Keep going! That’s good! Hmm, this looks really complex. I keep thinking I see a place to start, but then it looks like it hits a blockage I can’t get by. I think we may need two people to work together to make this work,” Leslie continued to explain as she waited for the other two to climax.

Elias was now slamming into Helena at a quick and rhythmic pace. They were both starting to moan and Leslie was hoping they were getting close. She wasn’t sure how long they had already spent doing this, and she was running out of things to say.

The plan was once they orgasmed, someone could start the timer on the stopwatch—hopefully for the full four minutes. Once the time was up the “lights” would turn off and they would have to go to the next round.

“Oh my god, I’m cumming!” Helena then yelled as she braced herself against the floor and let out a loud moan. Elias soon also let out a groan as he shot his load into Helena’s pussy. Leslie quickly walked over to start the stopwatch.

“Excellent! The lights are fully on. We have four minutes until we lose it, so let’s not waste any time!” she acted, running back to the door. Elias got up, cum still dripping off of his cock to join her.

“So, uh, what do you think?” he asked between breaths. Helena continued to lay on her back, recovering on the floor.

“I think we have to both hold this rope like this and move this bar,” she explained to Elias, moving invisible pieces of the puzzle, “then I can pull this bar off.”

“Okay, let’s try it,” Elias nodded. "Who designed this? Making two of us have sex but making it impossible for the third person to solve the puzzle on their own."

"It's clear whoever designed this place is rather deranged," Leslie commented as she pretended to help solve the puzzle. She finally removed an invisible rod from the door and set it on the floor.

“Okay, that’s the first part, now what?” Leslie asked.

“I guess we have to solve the second step of this,” Elias explained.

“It still looks pretty complex,” Leslie worried.

Helena sat up on the floor as Leslie and Elias continued to ad-lib the conversation until the stopwatch beeped.

“Oh no! The lights!” Leslie exclaimed, moving to the table to turn the stopwatch off.

“I guess that means it’s time for round two,” Elias noted.

“You seemed to be much better at figuring out the next step than I am. Maybe I should work with Helena to get the lights on again,” Leslie proposed.

“Okay, I’ll do what I can,” Elias acknowledged.

"Have you ever been with a girl before?" Leslie acting asked Helena.

"Never. What about you?"

"Me neither. I bet Elias wishes he could watch instead of having to study the puzzle!" Helena dramatically teased. "So, how should we do this?"

"Well, I have an idea."

Leslie and Helena sat down across from each other and spread their legs, before scooting up until Helena's right leg and Leslie's left leg crossed each other. They then pushed their pussies together and started gyrating, with Helena laying mostly on her back and Leslie propping herself up with her arms, helping her to push in.

Leslie started to moan as their clits and pussies ground against the other's. She had done this with Lisa in the backseat of the car, but this was much more comfortable as she and Helena were not having to do it crammed in the back seat. As with the first position, Leslie and Helena had tested to see what configuration felt the most comfortable during practice but didn't engage in it.

"Keep going, girls. The light is getting brighter again," Elias spoke, looking at the door. "I think I almost have the next couple of sequences figured out. I just need a bit more light."

Leslie could tell Helena was getting aroused much faster than she was, having already orgasmed in the first pairing. Helena was gasping and moaning and getting quite flush already while Leslie, though she could feel herself getting excited, was not quite in that state yet.

Leslie continued to grind herself into Helena, waving her hips forward and backward then side to side to elicit different sensations and to rub different parts against different other parts. For a few moments, she peered out into the audience, all two dozen or so pairs of eyes on her and Helena's performance.

Helena started moaning louder and more frequently. Leslie felt like she might be trying to fight the coming orgasm to allow Leslie to catch up, but it seemed like a losing battle. Soon enough, Helena let out a squeal and shut her eyes tight as an orgasm rocked her.

Elias ran and turned on the timer, but for only two minutes, before returning to the door. Leslie started to worry that her not keeping up with Helena was going to mess up the progress of the play.

"Well, the good news is we have light now. The bad news is it's only for two minutes for now..." Elias spoke out, to make sure the audience was reminded of the rules of the "experiment" that they were a part of.

"Leslie..." Helena breathed toward her, motioning her forward with her hands. Leslie realized what she was getting at and quickly moved herself up over Helena's face. Helena grabbed her ass and pushed her down.

Leslie could feel Helena's lips and tongue attack her clit, and she started breathing hard and moaning quickly. She knew stressing about not being able to orgasm possibly was making it harder for her to do so, so she tried to relax.

"I think I know the next two sequences, once someone can help me..." Elias called out with a bit of urgency. Leslie knew the timer on Helena's orgasm must be about to run out, but there was only so much she could do.

Leslie tried to clear her mind, but her concentration was broken by the sound of the first two-minute timer beeping. She felt like she was getting close, but the anxiousness from hearing the timer suddenly made her feel she lost all of her progress toward an orgasm.

"Damn! The light went out again!" Elias lamented, being left with little to do now except wait and hope Leslie orgasmed soon.

Leslie was starting to get frustrated. She had been so close, but it was like a golf ball rolling right up to the lip of the hole but refusing to drop in. She felt like their play was falling apart, and it was all her fault for not being able to perform when her teammates relied on her.

"No," she whispered to herself. "Relax." She took a couple of controlled breaths and pushed anything she was thinking out of her head. She focused on what she was feeling. She sat straight up and relaxed her back and shoulders, letting herself rest on Helena. She closed her eyes and shut everything out except for what she felt Helena was doing.

Leslie felt herself start building once more, keeping her breath steady to not lose it again. She felt the ball reach the lip of the hole, and this time, it fell in. Leslie moaned as she arched her back, the orgasm finally rocking her.

"The lights!" Elias exclaimed as he ran over to start another two-minute timer.

Helena tapped Leslie on the thigh. While Leslie may want to stay in this position to relax, Helena needed to "help" Elias with the door.

"Oh, sorry..." Leslie mumbled before sliding off and sitting on her feet as Helena joined Elias.

"We need to do this, then this, and then that," Elias said. Or at least that is more or less what Leslie heard. She was getting her breath back, and grateful the entire play hadn't collapsed under her orgasm anxiety. She took in measured breaths as she sat there, knowing that in less than two minutes she was going to have to go again, this time with Elias.

The timer beeped signaling the end of the two minutes for Leslie's orgasm, just as Elias and Helena were completing dismantling another pair of devices on the door.

"That was close!" Helena remarked, setting another invisible rod onto the floor.

"I guess it's my turn again," Elias remarked as he walked over to Leslie, who stood up.

She looked at him, hoping that now that she had finally gotten an orgasm out of her, the next time would be easier. But the position she and Elias had planned was anything but easy. But as they had discussed, the point was to get bonus points for creativity.

"Hey, can you two get started? I need some light to figure out the last puzzle!" Helena act complained to the pair.

"You think you can go?" Elias softly asked Leslie out of character.

"Yeah, I think so," she whispered back. This position was going to push her limits, and she hoped she was going to be able to handle it. They practiced it with success...mostly.

Leslie stood facing Elias before bending herself backward, making a bridge with her body, her hands on the floor above her head. Elias then grabbed her thighs and picked her up, raising her until he was standing up, and Leslie's pussy was aligned with his cock, her back arched with her now supporting the rest of her weight on her hands.

Elias promptly scooted in and inserted himself into Leslie. They were able to hold this position for a few minutes during practice, but it was another story holding it while having sex.

Leslie let out a soft moan as she felt him enter her. She felt the blood rush to her head as she concentrated on keeping herself balanced on her hands. To some degree it was a blessing: she was concentrating so much on keeping stable that she didn't have time to worry about anything else.

She closed her eyes, feeling Elias' cock rub against several erogenous zones inside of her. The closest Leslie had gotten to doing a position like this was the seated wheelbarrow on the plane ride there, but this was considerably more strenuous on her arms.

She felt the tingling build inside of her. She soon found it a bit harder to control her breathing as the building excitement and the stress on her arms were beginning to tire her out. She couldn't help but let out a few moans as she felt herself charge toward another orgasm.

Then it finally hit. She could feel her body shake and it took all of her concentration to keep her arms steady through the mind-numbing wave of the orgasm. Elias then started pounding harder, trying to finish as soon as he could after Leslie had.

"Oh, the light, again!" Helena exclaimed, once again starting the timer.

Elias groaned and she could feel his cock pulse inside of her as he unloaded his cum. As soon as Elias finished, he gently set Leslie back down on the floor.

Leslie lay on her back for a moment but made herself get up, as she knew she had one last part to play.

"Have you figured it out?" Leslie asked Helena as she joined her at the door. She rubbed her arms as she stood there.

"I think so. If I raise these two hooks at the same time, you can take this bar, and the door should open!"

The pair then worked together moving the invisible puzzle parts. Leslie removed an invisible bar, and then Helena turned the door handle, opening the door.

"We've escaped!" Helena celebrated as she walked through the door, followed by Leslie and Elias.

"But now what?" Leslie asked once they were on the other side of the door.

Helena picked up an invisible piece of paper off of an invisible wall in front of her.

"Congratulations on completing the first puzzle. Now it is time for the second."

Helena, Elias, and Leslie looked at each other with an act-horrified look, before looking at the audience, the final line hanging in the air.

A few people started to clap, with additional people joining in as they realized that this marked the conclusion of the play. Once it became clear the audience had realized this, the trio walked to the middle of the stage, took each other's hands, and bowed, eliciting louder applause from the audience.

They then promptly collected their props and moved them off to the opposite side of the stage they had arrived on to make room for the final group of presenters.

Leslie then scanned the audience for Jacob and quickly found him, making her way down to the open seat he had held open for her next to him.

"You did great," Jacob remarked as she took her seat.

"I don't know. I thought I was going to ruin the whole play there for a moment," she lamented, starting to seriously feel the ache in her arms now.

"But you worked through it. That's what's important," he smiled over at her.

"If you say so. My arms feel like they're going to fall off, though."

Jacob let out a soft chuckle. "I can imagine. I think the audience was awed by your positions, that last one especially. I think you impressed a lot of people. Hopefully including the judges."

The final group of Ida, Amy, and Andre set their props up on the makeshift stage as Leslie's mind started to go through the progression of their play. She felt it had gone well enough, considering. Given that all of their orgasming was a requirement of the play, it made sense to also make a requirement of the puzzle they were solving, although she wondered if it might have been better to go at it another way. But at this point, it was already done.

Leslie finally settled in to watch the final play. It started out setting up the characters. Ida played an author writer facing creative burnout and feeling disconnected from her art and the world. Amy played a woman who kept her distance from others, afraid and unable to find intimacy in her life. Andre played a man going through a harsh breakup, suffering from feelings of inadequacy.

The first act of the play involved the characters discussing their problems and how each of them had done everything they could think of to overcome them. Then Ida's character suggested a radical idea: what if they explored intimacy together to overcome each of their struggles? Not just to explore something new, but to disrupt the cycles they were all stuck in.

Amy and Andre's characters were both initially reluctant. Amy's character used her fear of intimacy to argue against the idea. In contrast, Andre feared intimacy as somehow a betrayal of the woman who just broke up with him. Eventually, both of their characters reluctantly agree to the idea, having no other ideas.

The three began their threesome very awkwardly—by design, Leslie thought—but over time, the awkwardness melted away until all three engaged smoothly and gracefully. Once they were done, each character explained how the act had helped them. Ida's character suddenly has a new idea for a novel. Amy's character says she finally feels seen and wanted. Andre's character has finally gotten over his breakup.

Leslie stood up and clapped with the rest of the audience as the trio bowed at the end of their play. She thought it was a real good drama, and a formidable candidate to go up against for the grand prize. As the final group put away their props and rejoined the crowd, Hugo ran up on the stage.

"I don't know about you all, but I'm hungry after watching all of those! If you will, dinner is being served now! The winner will be announced after dinner!"

Everyone shuffled out of their seats and into the nearby large dining room, sitting at one of the circular tables set up. Leslie and Jacob took a seat at the table with Helena, her owner Mehmet Schmidt, as well as Elias, and his owner Jen Chavez.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Leslie asked Jacob. She thought the last play was excellent, but she had no idea about the first two.

"The first two plays were good, but I think your play and the last play were superb. I would be surprised if it wasn't between those two."

"Really? Ours was that good?" Leslie replied, rather surprised.

Mehmet then spoke up. "It was unique in many ways. The positions. The premise. I believe you three did a good job. I think the one flaw was the acting, which was uneven in part because you had to wait for the sex acts to finish to progress the plot. But each of the plays had their flaws. The last play, for example, while it had an interesting premise, felt a bit...retread. The creativity in their sex act was more how they acted the transition from being awkward to being comfortable, as opposed to yours, where the positions themselves were the unique part of the acts."

"I was worried there for a while. I thought I wasn't going to be able to perform," Leslie added.

"You did fine. We worked through it," Elias quickly reassured her.

"Don't worry. You weren't the only one. Poor Samuel had trouble getting up for his parts. Megumi and Lisa glossed over it pretty well with some good humor, which I'm sure added some points for them," Jen added.

Dinner was soon served, a flavorful vegetarian lasagna that was better than Leslie had ever eaten out at a restaurant. Finally, after about an hour, Hugo once again tried to get everyone's attention at the front of the room.

"Can I have your attention, please? Thank you. It's time to announce the winner of our $75,000 prize for the best play—a fitting climax to finish off our lovely retreat. I think everyone can agree that all four plays that we saw were excellent. Our pets not only expressed the talents that they are already known for but their writing and creative talents as well. But, alas, there can only be one winner, and I must say, listening to the discussion among the judges, it was a difficult decision! Every play had its strong points and its weak points. But what it came down to, ultimately, I believe, and the judges can correct me if I'm wrong about this, was which play intrigued them the most. What was the most interesting combination of elements? Well, we are about to find out."

He took the envelope and opened it up, taking out a sheet of paper.

"The winner is "Puzzle Room, by Elias, Helena, and Leslie!"

Leslie sat there dumbfounded as everyone around her stood up in applause. She won? What? After her near failure that almost collapsed the entire performance?

"Leslie. Hey Leslie," Jacob nudged her with his arm, knocking Leslie out of her stupor.

"Huh? What?" She then saw Hugo beckoning her and the other two up to the front of the room. "Oh shit, sorry," Leslie exclaimed as she stood up and almost tripped over people sitting at a neighboring table as she squeezed through to make her way up to Hugo.

Meanwhile, someone else had brought out a giant check made out for $75,000.

"Congratulations to our winners! I hope you spend your hard-earned winnings well!" Hugo declared. He shook the three of their hands, and Leslie mostly just stared out at the crowd, a dumb smile on her face, and waved. She didn't know how she had managed this, but she wasn't about to argue with the results.

"That concludes our planned festivities for the retreat! Owners and pets may do what they wish for the rest of the night!"

Leslie meandered back to her table where Jacob was waiting for her with a giant grin.

"Congratulations. It was a well-deserved win."

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around $25,000," Leslie chuckled.

"Don't forget that is on top of your salary for the trip."

Leslie just continued to sit there. "I'm not even sure what to say or feel right now," she admitted.

"Well, how about this? You've already done your eight hours today. I'll release you for the rest of the night. You're off the clock. You can go hang out with whoever you want."

Leslie was taken a bit by surprise by Jacob's declaration. "Oh, uh, thanks. I guess I can find something to do. Or I can go sleep."

Jacob laughed. "You have the plane trip to relax on tomorrow as well."

"I suppose that's true." Leslie then excused herself and went up to her room. She slipped off her collar and opened her travel bag, pulling out her pair of pajamas for the first time the entire trip. How long had she been naked? Since eight in the morning on Thursday?

She pulled out her phone, pulled up the calculator app, and started doing some math. She then remembered that while it was eight in the morning Eastern time when she had gotten naked, that was five in the morning in California. Five in the morning on Thursday to five in the morning on Sunday was seventy-two hours. It was twelve more hours to five that afternoon, and then five more hours to the current time. She pressed the equal sign and saw the result: eighty-nine hours naked.

Leslie was tempted to stay naked, even though she was off duty so she could brag about being naked for 100 straight hours. She only needed to stay that way until about nine the next morning.

"What the hell, it's not like I haven't been naked the whole time anyway," she chuckled out loud before throwing her pajamas back into her bag. She then walked back downstairs, this time with absolutely nothing on from head to toe.

As she re-entered the living room where most of the people were congregated, she somehow felt different. She wasn't naked because of her contract, but by her own choice. It made her feel even more naked, somehow, even though the only thing different was that her choker and shoes were now off.

She stopped and considered what she was feeling. When she was on the clock, she felt she had no real responsibility for her nudity. It was just part of the job. A responsibility to Jacob. But now she was doing it because she wanted to. It made her feel hyper-aware of her nudity.

Jacob spotted her immediately and casually walked over.

"You know you can get dressed," he chuckled.

"Huh? Yeah, I know. I just...decided to stay naked is all."

"Interesting. Any particular reason?"

Leslie let out a soft sigh. "I did some math and I've been nude for eighty-nine hours, so I figured it was a shame to get dressed so close to 100 hours." Hearing her reasoning out loud made her feel she sounded like a maniac.

Jacob let out a laugh. "I suppose that's fair enough. What does it feel like going around naked on your own?"

"Uh, somehow I feel more exposed, even though no one is seeing anything new."

"That choker covers up quite a bit I guess," Jacob joked.

Leslie let out a chuckle. Jacob had a point. The choker may not literally cover very much, but what it symbolized certainly seemed to.

Leslie wandered toward another part of the living room, where she found Amy, Megumi, and Ida sitting on cushioned chairs. Amy had also been taken off duty by her owner, as she was in her pajamas and sans-collar while Megumi and Ida were still both on duty.

“You’re off the clock, right?” Amy asked, with a mischievous look. "No collar," she then pointed out.

“Yup,” Leslie replied as she took a seat beside her. “But I figured I’d stay naked for a while longer. A bit of a personal experiment, I guess."

"A personal experiment?" Megumi asked quizzically.

Leslie then explained her nudity math to the group.

Ida let out a laugh. "That is an interesting goal to want to achieve. I hadn't even considered how long some of us have been naked, especially if we sleep that way."

"It's weird, though. I feel almost more exposed now. Like, doing this on my own and not because it's part of my job makes me feel more vulnerable, even though no one can tell me to do anything now. But it also feels just kind of, well, normal."

“I get that,” Megumi said softly. “It’s like when I first became a pet. Being naked was about obedience at first, but eventually, it just became a part of life.”

Amy nodded in agreement. “And then it becomes freeing, right? Like, screw the rules. This is just who I am.”

"To be fair, how many times have all of us hooked up this weekend? How many of those times were from owner requests? Much of this retreat has been about us doing things because we wanted to, not because we were told to. I think it has been very liberating," Ida added.

Leslie considered Ida’s words. She hadn’t thought about it that way before, but Ida was right—this retreat had been filled with moments where choice took center stage. There had been no audience expectations, no meticulously planned performances, and no owner directives for most of their time. They had simply existed as themselves, engaging with one another freely.

"I guess that's true. There was Samuel on the plane, Andre on the yacht, Elias and Helena during the play. There was Lisa in the car, but I'm not sure I'd exactly call that an owner demand. So four, at most five?

"And how many of us did you end up fucking?" Amy asked with a grin.

"Um, everyone?" Leslie replied with a bit of hushed embarrassment.

Amy got a giant smirk on her face before continuing. "Assuming no repeats, eleven people then? So, six and probably seven on your own choice then? Sounds like you could use some more spanking."

"Please, I think I've had enough of that. I'm still not sure my ass has recovered from yesterday," Leslie laughed.

"I'll have to bring a paddle next time. That way we can turn that light pink into a darker shade of red," Amy continued to tease.

"Somehow I think Leslie may enjoy that," Ida chimed in with a grin.

"Why does everyone think I would like that?" Leslie asked, somewhat exasperated.

"Just a hunch," Amy replied with an amused smile.

"Do you think we will all see each other again?" Megumi then somberly asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. You never know what events you may get invited to. The longer you serve, the more often you come across other longer-serving pets, from what I hear," Amy replied.

"I hope some of you can come visit me in Japan sometime. I think I would like that," Megumi sweetly smiled at the group.

Leslie enjoyed her time just chatting and chilling, without a care in the world. Before she knew it, it approached lights out. She swung by a bathroom to take a quick shower, then entered her retreat bedroom for the final time.

"You really going to stay naked, huh?" Amy chuckled as she prepared to go to bed.

"I guess so. Might as well at this point," Leslie chuckled.

She opened her phone and answered some texts from the day from her parents and friends. She talked about the "team building" exercise she did, and won a prize, although she didn't say exactly how big. She then put her phone away and got comfortable under the covers. Tomorrow she was finally going home again. While she had a blast on the retreat, she wouldn't object to returning to a bit of normalcy again.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Leslie put on her collar the next morning and made sure everything was in her travel bag before carrying it downstairs with her. She set it on a chair where she hoped she wouldn't miss it. As was the norm, everyone was milling around until breakfast was ready.

"So how many hours are you at?" Jacob asked after finding Leslie in the crowd.

"Uh, ninety-nine, I think. Call for breakfast at nine should give me my hundred hours," Leslie remarked, trying to recall her math from the previous evening.

"Well, congratulations then. I think you accomplished quite a few firsts on this trip."

"I feel like it, sir. Please don't ask me what, though, right now. I'm still a bit sleepy."

"Fair enough," Jacob said with a chuckle.

Soon enough, breakfast was assembled. This time it was pancakes and waffles with a variety of toppings. Leslie decided to get a Belgian waffle with sliced bananas and chocolate sauce.

"Don't spill the chocolate or we may have to experiment with food play," Jacob teased as he took a bite of blueberry-covered pancakes.

"Ha, ha. Funny," Leslie faked being unamused, but couldn't hide her smile.

Immediately after breakfast was finished, Leslie and Jacob piled into one of the black Suburbans by themselves, aside for the driver, and headed out to the airport.

"No one is flying back with us?" Leslie inquired.

"No. Maria wanted to stay an extra day with Samuel, so we're flying back on our own."

After winding its way through the usual LA traffic, the SUV finally made it back to the airport, where the same jet that carried them into California awaited their return trip. The SUV pulled up next to the open door on the jet, allowing Leslie to exit directly from the car into the plane.

"It feels a lot roomier this time, not that it didn't the first time," Leslie observed as she took one of the seats.

"Probably because we're the only passengers," Jacob replied. "So, what was your favorite part of the retreat?"

Leslie sighed. She had to consider that question carefully. Favorite in what way?

"Well, of the planned activities, I think the go-kart racing. I've never been and for some reason that whole atmosphere had a feeling of electricity to it. Racing around was so much fun. And the size of the place made it almost odd that we were all going around naked if that makes sense."

Jacob pondered her answer. "I suppose that does. And that makes sense. What about among the unplanned activities?"

Leslie figured he would ask her that, especially given her preface to her previous answer. She got a blush on her face, but she felt she had one honest answer.

"I think the car trip with Rahmi," she admitted.

"Oh? The lost bet? Why's that?" Jacob inquired curiously.

Leslie shuffled somewhat nervously. "Well, I don't know. It just felt so wild. The whole calling him daddy thing and getting spanked like that was so...out there. It felt a bit degrading but in an almost hot way."

"Interesting," Jacob simply replied.

"I hate it when you say that," Leslie laughed, shaking her head.

"That's also interesting," Jacob responded with a grin.

"Oh, brother," Leslie said with a pretend sour face, eliciting a laugh from Jacob.

The plane flight back was rather uneventful. Jacob didn't make any requests of Leslie, saying he figured she was already worn out from the previous four days, so Leslie took the time to get some needed rest.

After eating a late lunch on the plane and flying through three time zones, they finally touched down at the same Maryland airport they originally took off from at around 9 p.m. Eastern time.

"How is it already night?" Leslie asked as she walked from the plane into the waiting car to take her back to Jacob's mansion.

"That's what happens when you lose three hours," Jacob noted as he took his seat next to Leslie in the back. "So, given this retreat, I think I can pretty safely give you next weekend off. You start classes the following Tuesday, correct?"

"I think that's right, yeah," Leslie nodded her head.

"I have a few plans in the works, but nothing for sure. The next one will probably be the Saturday after you start classes, but again that's soft. As usual, Stephanie will let you know once something definite is set up."

"Thank you, sir."

"The one event I am still deciding about is in October. I need to check with your school calendar to see if it can fit since the event is Sunday and Monday that weekend. I know you have a long weekend that month, but I just can't remember off the top of my head when. It is a business trip to Boston."

"Yeah, I'd have to look it up too, sorry," Leslie replied, although she was intrigued by this trip. "What would my role be on this trip, exactly?"

"I'm not sure. That's part of what I'm figuring out. It's the final meeting to close a major business deal, but the comment about bringing you along on a business trip sometime made me think. If nothing else, it can just be a fun paid-for vacation."

"I suppose so," Leslie chuckled. She certainly wouldn't be opposed to that.

The car made the windy three-hour trip back to Jacob's mansion in the dark, finally arriving after midnight.

"Well, I see no need to keep you on the clock. You're released from this event," Jacob remarked as the pair walked up into the mansion from the driveway.

"I'm not sure I said this before, but thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'm honored that you felt like I was worthy of going to this retreat," Leslie thanked Jacob, rather humbled by what it meant.

"Don't just thank me but thank Hugo and the other owners as well. Of course, I put in a good word for you, but it takes more than just that to get invited to an event like that. A lot of people are impressed by your potential. And I think you impressed a lot more during this trip."

Leslie was almost at a loss for words. She didn't feel special in any way. She was just doing her job. Surely out of all the pets out there she wasn't doing any better job than anyone else.

"Um, thanks. I'm not sure what to say."

"That's okay. But it does open up a lot of interesting future possibilities for you if you are interested. Anyway, go get dressed. You should get home before it gets too late."

"Uh, yeah, thank you." With that, Leslie scurried off to the staff room and put her choker and sandals back into her locker. She took out her change of clothes and set it down on the bench next to her. She almost considered doing the drive home naked but figured that was taking things a bit far. She hit her 100 hours. In fact, it was up to over 110 hours now if she wasn't mistaken.

She slipped her clothes on for the first time in nearly five days. The touch of them against her skin was almost alien after spending so much time without them. She then grabbed her travel bag and walked out to her waiting car. She didn't even know where she would begin trying to describe this trip to her parents and friends, although she figured it would be best to get a good night's sleep and start thinking about that tomorrow.