Ned and Camille Ch. 04

Chapter 4 -... Escape the Room

Over the last month, the team had pivoted from the initial prototype K-Doll, excuse me "Adult Play Accessory", into several more conventional (and certainly more affordable) accessories that were beginning to hit the Market. So far between Megadyne's technological know-how and Studio K's Design and Marketing the effort had exceeded even my lofty expectations. Adult Play Accessory. That label still made me laugh, but it sold with Mister Yan and it was moving units in the market. The team had worked hard. They deserved a little celebration and a chance to blow off some steam as a reward for all that success.

Across the lobby, surrounded by a cadre that looked like a cross between a flock of Victoria's Secret Angels and the extras from Role Models was a big reason for that success. Miss Camille Yan, daughter of Studio K's founder and newly promoted to President of Studio K's new Riss-K division. As always she was radiant, her shoulder length black hair framing an angelic face, though this evening she had forgone her trademark pencil skirt and business formal blouse and jacket for a playful sundress that still managed to flatter her curves as it draped to just above her knees. As if she could feel my gaze while I tried to figure out what the pattern of odd shapes was that broke up the soft yellow of her dress, Camille looked over to me and raised her brows, silently asking what I was staring at. As if the smile that accompanied that unspoken question didn't give away she knew very well that I was checking her out. I tapped my watch to signal it was time to begin. If it wasn't, it was now.

"Alright everyone. Attention please! Attention!" Camille's voice quieted the crowd in a way that would have made any school-teacher jealous. "Before we get into tonight's fun and games, I want to thank each and every one of you for the hard work and dedication you have shown over the last month. Because of your efforts? Studio K is off to a record year of results and your Riss-K Product Line? Is at the top of the sales boards. That is unprecedented in Studio-K history, since my father started this company."

Camille paused for polite applause from the Angels and the usual mutters from the tech team, until that one guy, there's always one, coughed out "Bonus!". Ok, I admit it. That guy was me. One thing you learn coming up from down at the bottom of the pile? Is that a thank you from management, plus a dollar-fifty? Will buy you a bottle of soda. Without the dollar-fifty? It's just wind. But I digress.

Camille laughed. God, I loved that sound. "It would seem the peanut gallery finds my praise hollow. What do you all think? Do you deserve a bonus?" Might as well have asked a bunch of kids if they wanted ice cream. "I agree! But," the briefly unruly crowd quieted, "Riss-K started with a competition. A competition Megadyne rose," she winked at me and I felt that familiar twitch in my pants, "to the challenge of. My father gave us the daunting task of completing a prototype design in five days." She held up her hand, fingers splayed in case someone wasn't able to visualize five in their head. Those five fingers closed down to one as she pointed to the assembled crowd. "You all made THAT happen. Now, here we are. One month in and Riss-K is meeting challenge after challenge. I think? It's only appropriate that, in that spirit, we have a game to determine the bonus you will each receive." Excited applause and a few whoops greeted this pronouncement before Camille waved over to me to continue.

"And that brings us all here. To Escape the Room. Tonight? Your bonuses will rely on your ability to problem solve, work as a team, think creatively, work under pressure, and most importantly?" I looked over at Camille, she raised a brow in curiosity as I finished, "Never quit." She smirked. "We had expected twenty to be able to break up into five teams of four but, it seems we are a couple short, so we'll use our team-picker app to get everyone sorted into their teams and then get started. Miss Yan and I will compete at a disadvantage. Our loss, your gain. The faster you are able to Escape your rooms? The more bonus will be in your next checks!" I nodded to Camille and she tapped the app to trigger the team selections. Phones began to hum and the crowd sorted itself before being ushered to their respective rooms.

"I appreciate you setting this up, Ned." Camille leaned in to bump her arm against me.

"It was my pleasure. The team really does deserve the bonus and the break. Now, do we bother with our room? Or just write ourselves a nice check and pretend we made it out of ours first?"

Camille's gasp was all for show as she playfully swatted my arm. "Ned! One, that would be cheating and Two, I LOVE Escape Rooms. Now let's go."

Moth... meet fire.

"I'm just sorry that Samantha and Hee-Soo couldn't make it." Camille chatted as I led her past the first four rooms, through a double door and on to the last door in the hallway. "I know it's silly for me to be competitive about this, but sometimes these rooms need you to be in two or three places at once and we're going to be at a disadvantage."

Truly a shame. Samantha was easy. I doubled her bonus check and sent her home early, she had tremendous anxiety about being locked inside a room for an hour and was all too glad for any excuse to claim she had a sick cat at home. Hee-Soo was one of Camille's team, looking for a next big break. I called in a solid from Bob, my boss, and Hee-Soo was apologizing profusely to Camille about having to miss the event to look over contract details. He'd find a nice bonus between the lines too. Turns out Miss Yan wasn't the only one that could rig a contest.

"Do you do these often, Ned?"

I nodded and smiled.

"You haven't done this one have you? That would so be cheating."

"No, Camille. This room is actually brand new. No one has tried it yet. I don't remember if I mentioned that Megadyne has a partnership with these folks too? But..." I reached up for where a black cloth obscured the marquee with the room's name, "... I think you might like the theme?" Camille was bouncing with excitement. I paused, just to appreciate the effect. Oh! Those were little Godzillas... devouring tiny buildings on her dress, how adorable...

"NED! What is it!" Camille stopped bouncing and now looked like she might need to use the restroom if I didn't share so I pulled the drapery away to a gasp from Camille. "Riss-K Business! NED!!! What is this? How! What? Is that?" She adjusted her glasses and squinted anyway to make out the little red circle in the bottom right corner of the marquee, "Ned! Is that an 18+ symbol? What?!?" I don't think I've seen her look this shocked since the first time I showed up at her office and walked in on her pleasuring herself. This was already worth the price of admission.

"Camille. Are you going to sit here and gawk? Or are we going to try and escape? We're killing time here."

"I am so going to torture how you did this out of you. I didn't approve of this..."

"Hee-Soo is signing the contract now."

"Hee... He what?!? You... oh... You..." the words seemed to be failing her, but her legs weren't. She tore open the door and practically leapt into the entry niche. As I closed the door behind us, the intro began to play. Camille was back to nervously hopping and fidgeting, yet at the same time had regained the laser focus I loved her for. She was listening to this introduction like every single word might be a hint or a clue... I suppose it might, but I was more intent on watching her reactions, something she noticed half-way through. "Ned! Pay attention! If we lose because you're staring at my... now you're distracting me! Just listen. We have to win!"

The disembodied voice continued on, "... and so in these dire times, the board of directors was willing to make a deal. Sacrifice anything, to preserve their place in the market. Even take truly desperate measures! Of course, you didn't know this, how could you expect what was to come. It was just a simple party. You'd been to dozens. Why would this one be different?" There was a loud clunk as a bin dropped open that made Camille startle and jump. I laughed. She hit me, harder than usual. "For security reasons, you must put all personal belongings into the bin before entering."

"God, that scared me. I hope there aren't too many jump scares. They get me all the time. And flashing lights. It makes me disoriented." Camille was shoving things in the bin. Handbag, cell phone... I stuck my wallet in the bin. My phone. Keys. "Alright is that everything?" I nodded.

Camille closed the bin and several things happened all at once. The lights went out plunging us into darkness, the door back into the hallway clicked - locked, a sudden cold breeze blew up from the floor - I regretted that I could not see, but could only feel as it blew Camille's sundress upwards to be quickly caught as she gasped and jumped again. Then the voice returned, "In business everyone jokes about making deals with the Devil. It seems your rivals have decided to do just that." With a pneumatic hiss and a click, the door to the next room cracked open, heat pushed through to replace the cold and red light spilled through the crack of the doorway.

"Alright... I'm going to kill you, Ned. And get your hand off my ass." She sounded genuinely nervous. This was a side of the usually unflappable Camille that I had not seen. She reached back and grabbed my hand, pulling it off her ass and promptly clutched it in a death grip.

"You have," there was a pause, "forty-five minutes to find a way to save yourself and escape. Good luck. You'll need it."

"Fuck! Ned... we've already wasted fifteen minutes. Come On!" I had to laugh, so much for nervous Camille. It seems competitive Camille was back and in charge as she pushed the door open and pulled me through into a room bathed in stereo-typically hellish red light. Inside was a classic man-cave, at least that's how I would have described it. I took a moment to look around, Camille let go of my hand when I stopped and just dove into looking for clues. Under the source of the red light was a poker table with four seats. One of the seats was occupied by a male mannequin dressed only in socks and boxer shorts. The second seat was filled by Kleo, one of our K-Dolls, she seemed to be getting the better of her male opponent. She was still wearing a tube top and skirt. The other two seats were empty.

On the table, a collection of clothes and a small monitor for each seat that would no doubt pop up our online poker app that could connect up to eight-players into a virtual poker table, you've probably seen them on in-flight entertainment apps. The room had a well-stocked bar, based on Camille's grumbling, apparently the majority of the glasses and bottles were just stationary props fixed into place and not part of the puzzle. On one wall the inevitable painting of dogs playing poker, except these, like the occupants of the table in this room, seemed to be playing strip poker rather than playing for chips. I moved a bit further into the room and noticed that there was actually a fifth chair at the table, but it had tipped over backwards. Instinctively, I lifted it back upright, noticing it seemed to be hinged to the floor. I was about to mention this when...

*RUMBLE**RUMBLE* The red flashed off... on... off with a deep rumble of thunder. Another blast of hot air blew through the room and a voice boomed. "I told you I'm not dealing another hand until I get my drink!" And with another loud *THUD* the chair tipped itself right back over onto the floor. Blinking as the red light stopped flashing, I looked over to Camille. Her normally pale complexion had gotten even more pale.

"Nope. Nope. I hate this room. Let's... alright what does the devil drink... ummm... EVERYTHING is the Devil's Drink."

"Well there has to be a clue somewhere. How about we switch. I'll search the bar. You look over here?"

"Fine." Camille shook herself as she stepped out from behind the bar. "You're right. I need to get myself together."

Didn't need to tell me twice, I stepped right up against her, pressing one hand quickly against her breast and squeezed as I leaned in and claimed her lips, pushing her back against the bar. She stiffened. I felt her take in a deep breath like she might be about to scream. I pinched her nipple through the thin material of her sundress and the no-doubt lacy bra underneath and there it was... a slow sigh as she started to melt against the bar and kiss me back. I smiled as I straightened, breaking the kiss but still rolling her trapped nipple in my fingers. "Better?"

"Better. Ok... stop... no... stop... look!" She was pointing at something behind me. "Five Dogs! Five seats. Boy-Girl-Boy-Girl-Devil! That one there! Is the devil and it's got..." she swatted my hand away from her breast and scurried over to the painting. "JACK and Coke! Yuck, but... is there Jack and Coke somewhere?"

The Jack Daniels bottle was easy enough to find. Camille finally found a can of coke under the bar tucked into a hidden shelf you couldn't see without crouching real low. Now that we knew what we were looking for, the divots in the table for the bottle of Jack and the can of Coke seemed obvious. Camille covered her ears and closed her eyes as I stood the chair back up again. No rumble or roar this time, just a click and a flicker as the monitors before each of the four player's seats lit up.

"Yes! Shit only thirty minutes left. We haven't made ANY progress. Let's go Ned. Take your seat."

Who doesn't like a forceful woman? I sat right down beside the K-Doll. Camille took the next seat and as soon as she did, the animations started on the screen. I was hoping for Texas Hold'em... instead we got high card and a simple Stay or Draw button. Deuce for me was simple. I could see Camille smiling like the cat that ate the canary, so I leaned back a bit further to see what she had. Ace of Spades, no wonder she was... Another sudden rumble roar and flash of lights even made ME jump this time. The voice boomed out, "CHEATERS! I Salute your style, but my house my rules. You lose. Pay up!"

"What did you... were you looking at my card, Ned? You cheater! Serves you right."

I smirked, "Old habits, what do you suppose we're supposed to pay?"

Camille rolled her eyes and pointed to the table, "Guess?"

"How could they know if we paid or not? Here. Watch!" I reached over and winked, why I don't know, at the K-Doll and pulled the halter off. Those Studio-K folks really did do a nice job... focus... and tossed it onto the pile of clothes on the table.

I was about to proclaim my genius when there was another rumble and the now familiar flash of light. "You CHEAT and then you WELCH on your bets. You DO belong here. You now owe two forfeits. Comply or I will double it again!"

Camille crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at me from behind her big glasses. "Go ahead, cheat again, Ned. Dare you."

As much I hated to turn down a dare. I was pretty sure the Devil wasn't bluffing. So... off they came, shoes and socks and onto the table. Nothing. I looked over to Camille. She leaned forward and pushed my clothes closer to the middle. "Maybe Shoes and Socks are just one thing?" I offered.

"No... otherwise, Dude here wouldn't still be wearing his socks.... shit. This better work and you so owe me if it does." Camille unlatched her stylish wedge sandals and plopped them on the table. Then, in one of those bits of contortion only women can accomplish, she pulled her bra out one armhole of her dress and flipped that onto the table. *click* and the monitors were back.

"Don't you dare lose again. I only have my dress. They wouldn't." She blushed. So cute when she blushed. "No no... they wouldn't."

There wasn't much risk of me losing. Queen of Hearts. Camille looked less sure. She glanced at the clock and punched a button on the screen. There was a *thunk* and the red light flared and went out. Slowly my eyes adjusted, there was some light, but not much, coming from a hole in the wall opposite the Poker Playing Dogs. Camille clearly saw it too, she was already padding across the floor towards whatever it was.

"What you seek, you will find, but beware, what comes behind."

"What's that?" I asked as I stepped up beside her.

"It says you're in trouble and that what we want is on the other side of this wall. I think I might be able to get my arm in here. Hold on." Sure enough, she could reach her whole arm through the hole and reach around. "Ah! A rope... I dammit... Got it! Let me pull." There was the sound of movement on the wall and slowly but surely, as she pulled her arm back out another porthole like opening was revealed. "Oh this one is bigger! Let me see!" She had to duck down and scoot her rear-end back but, in short order, in went her head. "Yes! Ok. There's another room on this side. I can see the exit and two little posts with buttons on the ends. One to my right and one to my left. If I let go....shit!" There was a click as the porthole she'd stuck her head through telescoped partly closed, a quick thud and another told me her head was stuck now. "What the fuck? Ned! Are you there?" I stopped laughing long enough to respond in the affirmative. "What now? My head is stuck."

"Maybe try the buttons?" I offered helpfully. "I'll look around on this side and see if we missed anything."

"Alright well, I can't get to the second button because of the wall, but I can get to this first one if I just pivot my hand...ahh!" There was a click, a thunk and a startled yelp from Camille.

"Are you ok?" I asked?

"My stupid hand is stuck now, too. What was that noise?"

I reached over and moved Camille's other hand up to a third opening that had been revealed in the wall, right in line with the first two that now had her trapped. "Another opening," I explained. "But if you stick your hand in this one you'll be totally stuck. Let me..." I started to put my own hand through.

"No! Wait. If you get stuck, we're screwed. Just.... fine. Move. Move." Camille's hand swatted against my arm until I pulled it back out. "Alright, just... I have a bad feeling about this." Camille stuck here hand through and I heard the click as she pushed the button. I don't think either of us were surprised this time by the thunk that locked her hand in place. The silence that followed was complete until she let out a sigh. "Alright. If I push both buttons at the same time, a black light turns on and... are you kidding me?"

I finished undressing and dropped the last bit of my clothes onto the poker table before stepping up behind the now trapped Camille Yan.

"Welcome to Hell. Where nightmares come true. There's no escape now. Until you quit or cum too." She paused. "Oh ha-ha, clever play on words, this can't be real." Her tone changed back to reading, "You were warned to watch out. Your safe word is Blue?" then a gasp as I ran my hands up the back of her legs, pushing the hem of her dress upwards. "Ned! What the fuck?" Camille so rarely cursed, especially that forcefully.

I had to ask as I pushed the hem of her flirty dress up onto her back, "You know what a safe word is, Camille? Are you using your safe word?"

"Ned! Yes I know what a safe word is. You can't. This cannot be happening! Is that!?!"

The "that" was indeed my erect cock rubbing against the back of Camille's thighs.

"Ned... oh shit. Wait... Ned!" I noticed a shiver run through her body and her bare feet stomped against the floor. I also noticed they landed further and further apart as they stomped, spreading her legs. When Camille spoke again her voice was a quiet hiss. "Ned! Oh my god! If I take my fingers off these buttons, the whole wall becomes a window! I can see! The Lobby! Ned! What the Fuck!" Maybe it was the light, but there was a glistening bead of arousal running down the inside of Camille's thigh.