The Challenge Ch. 01

Please note that this chapter's purpose is to explain the background of the characters for future chapters, as such I have labeled it "non-erotic". Future chapters will be part of the group sex category and will most certainly contain erotic elements.

Beginning her day with a mixture of orange juice and vodka was not Callie's normal routine, but she felt it was necessary to help process what she had just pulled out of her mailbox. The white envelope with a return address from New Jersey had opened to reveal cream card-stock inside with gold lettering across the front.

Mrs. Callie Stone,

You are cordially invited to attend the annual festivities

at the residence of Mr. Greyson Black

on the fourteenth of June, for a week's time.

You are allowed one guest.

Your presence is much anticipated.

Callie's hands shook as she flipped the invitation over and saw black handwriting scrawled across the smooth paper.

Remember your debt. See you soon, C.

~ G.

She dropped the card to the table and took in a shaky breath, remember her promise all those years ago. A drunken night in college ten years prior and now her mistake was sitting in front of her face.

Ten years prior...

Callie stumbled out of the bar in her tightly fitted dress, far too inebriated to be walking home alone. But she had come out by herself and felt it was too late to bother any of her friends on a weekday to come escort her back to her on-campus apartment. Shoes and purse in hand, she started her five-block walk back home, managing to sway only as a little as she made her way down the rolling sidewalk.

The short trip home was going fine until she had to stop to vomit about a block before her apartment building, and that's when they approached her. A white SUV had pulled up next to the spot on the sidewalk she currently occupied, and she could hear the catcalls as the men exited the vehicle.

Turning and wiping the remnants of her retching stomach from her face, she got a good look at them in front of her. There were three in total, and Callie knew she was in trouble. Even if she hadn't been intoxicated, three on one odds weren't in her favor especially so late at night when there were no other pedestrians to call out to for help. They half-encircled her, backing her up against the brick wall she had retreated against.

"What's such a pretty lady like you doing all alone out here?" the one on her left asked, his voice leaving a slimy feeling across Callie's body. She knew if she admitted she was indeed alone she wouldn't leave unscathed.

"I'm not alone, I'm meeting up with my boyfriend," she denied, her words sounding false and desperate even to her own ears.

"If that's so..." the man directly in front of her said, "...then, where is he?" he finished with a grin spreading across his face, knowing she was lying to them.

The three burly men moved in closer, and Callie squeezed her eyes shut tight in anticipation of them grabbing and touching her.

"He's right here, asshole," a voice beyond the semicircle called out. Callie's eyes shot open, but she couldn't see beyond her would-be attackers who had gotten quite close in the time she'd had her eyes closed.

They looked from the mystery man to Callie, a disbelieving look on their faces. Doing her best not to shake with fear and adrenaline, she stood up straighter and looked at each of the men.

"I told you I was meeting my boyfriend and here he is. Are you really going to try to assault me right in front of him?" Her words had the effect she wanted. They began backing away, sputtering incoherent words and muttering "No..." "Of course not..." and "That's not what was going on!" They all piled back into the SUV and took off, leaving Callie and her mysterious hero standing alone on the sidewalk.

Now that she had an unencumbered view of the man, she realized he was quite handsome. From what she could make out in the darkness on the sidewalk, he had a strong jawline with a five o'clock shadow and what looked like black hair. He had a substantial height advantage over her five-foot ten-inch frame and seemed to have a healthy amount of muscle hiding beneath the button-up shirt and jeans he was sporting.

Callie felt heat creeping up her neck and felt ashamed at ogling this stranger so soon after nearly being assaulted, even though he had been the one to save her. She met his gaze and stared unflinchingly into a pair of ice-blue eyes. Mystery man smirked, as if he knew the dirty thoughts running through her mind, and extended his hand.

"Hey there girlfriend, my name is Greyson what's yours?" Mystery man -- Greyson -- said with a shit-eating grin on his already handsome face.

"Callie," she replied while taking his outstretched hand, trying, and failing, to hold back her laughter at the ridiculous circumstances of their information exchange.

"So, Callie, I have to ask now that you're okay. What are you doing out here by yourself?" he asked in a gentle tone, as if he were afraid to scare her off.

"I just came out to have a drink and got a little carried away," Callie explained. "I live literally around the corner I just had an upset stomach and those assholes took advantage of me being occupied and surrounded me. Seriously thank you so much for jumping in you could have kept walking but didn't. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"Hmm..." Greyson contemplated her question, tapping his finger against his chin in mock concentration. "I couldn't take anything for simply performing a chivalrous act that I felt was necessary, but how about this? You owe me one favor that I can call in whenever I want to. How does that sound?" The mischievous glint in his eye made Callie's stomach erupt in flutters, and she could only hope of the nature of the favor in the future.

"I think I can manage that," Callie said, smiling. "But how are you going to cash in your favor if all I know about you is your name?"

"We'll just have to get to know each other then, won't we?"

Callie snapped out of her thoughts, recalling that night ten years ago when she'd agreed to owe a favor to Greyson. At the time, she hadn't thought anything of it, being attracted to him and him having saved her from a certain assault. But as their friendship, and eventual relationship grew, she began seeing a darkness in her that scared her. His view on the world became dark and skewed, and their relationship finally ended after two years when she graduated college and told him she was moving across the country with no invitation for him to join her. In other words, it had not ended well.

But Callie had not heard a word from him since the day she packed her belongings and moved to the East coast for a new start. She had all but forgotten the "favor" she had owed him, now turned debt in his mind she could see.

Sipping on her liquid courage, she contemplated what to do about the invitation. On the one hand, it had been ten years since then and a lot had happened between them. But on the other, so much had happened between them she felt obligated to honor it, even if things hadn't ended on the best of terms.

As Callie mulled over what she was going to do, she heard the front door open and her husband Richard walk through the entryway and into the kitchen. She rose from the dining room table she was currently occupying and walked around to meet him in there. When she rounded the corner, she was shocked by how tired and pale he looked. He looked almost sickly.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing really, dear. I think I'm just worn out from work. I think I need to sleep for a week!" he laughed, jokingly, but a light bulb went off in Callie's head.

"Well, you're going to get that chance because I just got a call from work, and they need me to go out of town for a while."

"How long? I wouldn't mind getting some extra rest, but I don't want you gone too long."

"All I know is it'll be at least a week..." Callie told him hesitantly. She hated lying to him, but she really did want to see how Greyson was doing after all these years and what these "festivities" consisted of.

"Well, if it's for work I can't really ask you to stay. They don't ask you to go out of town too often. I guess I can manage," he told her with a wink.

Richard was looking forward to some pressure-free pleasure. He had never told her for fear of hurting her feelings, but his wife having such a high sex drive definitely gave him some performance anxiety.

Callie knew that meant he would be using his "girlfriends", a.k.a. fleshlights, in order to keep up his stamina for when she returned. She could be quite demanding in the bedroom department. She required at least two to three orgasms daily, whether they were by her husband or her B.O.B.

For now, she focused on planning for her upcoming trip. And for the next three days she packed and made arrangements to get to New Jersey for a week of what promised to be an intriguing trip, to say the least.

To be continued...