They returned about an hour later. At least it felt that way to me. They didn't say a word, which was very spooky. There was movement all around me. Someone dimmed the lights, someone put on some music, someone opened a bottle of wine, and someone cooked dinner which smelled damn good. They ate and I was completely ignored. My arms began to ache. I kept my mouth shut and just watched. I had already proven that I was good at watching, and hopefully I would have a chance to prove other things about myself, such as my worthiness to live. As they spoke to each other I picked up a few things. The short one, with the long brown hair and intense stare, was nicknamed Loly, short for Delores. She was Cuban, or half-Cuban, and a nurse. The redhead, Sarah, was in marketing, and Ginny, my captor, was a police homicide detective. Being something of an amateur detective myself, well armchair, anyway, I quickly solved The Old Gun and Handcuff Mystery. The Hardy Boys would have been proud.

It was their weekend, alone, in the mountains, too. They had been roommates in college together, somewhere in New England, and had drifted apart somewhat as their careers developed. But they were still close, still single, and, limited by demanding careers, tried to get together as often as possible. The house was Sarah's, and they would come up and spend the weekend together whenever they could, which, recently was about twice a year. You can pick up a lot keeping your mouth shut and your eyes open. As this thought crossed my mind so did another: you can get your ass in a sling of trouble too.

Towards the end of their meal, Ginny walked over and took my wallet from my back pocket. I just glared at her, which made her smile. They pulled out all of the contents and began examining everything in detail, talking about me as though I weren't there. They had a good laugh over my Driver's License picture and someone said I looked much cuter in person. They “oohed” and “aahed” sarcastically over my gold cards, membership cards, cash and other useless junk I had always meant to clean out of there. Ginny picked up the phone and called information, got my phone number and called it, just like that. She put the phone on speaker so we could all hear my message: "Hi this is Doug and thank god it's Friday. I am outa here - off to the mountains for a long weekend of R&R&R. If you need to reach me and it’s an emergency, uh, you can't. I’ll be back Tuesday. Leave me a message. Bye."

"Well, Doug," Sarah said, "seems like you told us the truth after all."

"Does that mean you will let me go now?" I asked.

"We will Doug," she replied, "But there's just this little matter of you getting caught with, uh, our pants down." This completely cracked the three of them up. The wine, bottle number two by my calculations, apparently having achieved some of its desired effect. "You see Doug," Loli said with just the hint of an accent, fixing me with those intense eyes. "We can't just let you walk out of here without paying for your little escapade, can we girls?"

"No we can't" the others quickly agreed.

"Well, just take the damn money then and let me down," I replied with more than a touch of anger audible in my voice. They all exchanged a look I didn't like and Ginny got up and walked over to where I was standing. "Doug", she said softly, running her fingertip along my jaw-line, "In your present state I would be very careful about raising my voice if I were you. Do any of the three of us look like we need your money?" Her hand reached down to adjust the fit of her watch on her slim wrist and I couldn’t help noticing: Rolex. She then reached over and, with the delicate touch of two fingers, traced along the side of my neck, then down my chest and abdomen. Her hand came to rest on my crotch where she held my fear-shrunken genitals gently for a moment, then gradually began to squeeze. She pointedly looked me in the eye. I got wise in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, ladies. I meant no disrespect," I said, gasping slightly.

"Well Doug," she said, "I see we are beginning to understand each other. We do understand each other don't we Doug?"

"We do", I answered, looking down at my dancing toes.

"Good", Sarah said, walking over to me, followed by Loli, "Because this is how it is going to work. You came up here for rest and relaxation, we came up here for rest and relaxation. You came up here for some fun, we came up here for some fun. You see where I'm going with this? We are on like the same agenda. How cool is that? Only you screwed up, Dougy. Big time. You certainly don't want Ginny here to have you arrested do you?" Her eyes were bright green with little flecks of fire and brimstone. Beautiful as they were, I just couldn't look into them. I shook my head.

"Okay" Sarah said clapping her hands with all of the sickening enthusiasm one expects from marketing executives and motivational speakers. "Then it's agreed. Doug gives up his rest and relaxation and his fun, and dedicates his weekend to ours. Right ladies?" "Right" they both answered, looking expectantly at me.

I'm not stupid. Usually. But this one took me a moment to figure out. They were asking me to agree to voluntarily be their, their what? Their servant? Their slave? Their weekend entertainment? Their cabin boy? I weighed it all in my mind in the space of a few seconds, while the three of them, the exceedingly attractive three of them, eyed me patiently. I agreed. I was theirs.

Ginny the Enforcer, as I had begun to think of her, spelled it out. "Ground rules. We have your Wallet, Doug, and your keys. We know where you live and we know how to find you. If you try to leave here before 10:00PM Monday night we will file charges of burglary, aggravated assault, rape, and whatever else I happen to think up; and Dougy,” she said with the most innocent, little girl pout, “they will believe us. Is this getting through?” I must have looked a bit apprehensive, so Ginny sighed and looking expectantly at her friend said: “Sarah?”

As if things couldn’t get weirder, Sarah suddenly collapsed to her knees and began wailing, huge tears streaming down her cheeks between sobs. “It was awful! He just came out of nowhere and grabbed me and there was nothing I could do. He ripped my shirt off and used it to tie my wrists. I fought and kicked and screamed but it didn’t do any good. Oh, god! I have never been so scared in my life. I thought I was going to die.” Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair was a mess, her voice was cracking and I wanted nothing more than to get my hands on the sorry sonofabitch who would do something like this to this poor innocent victim. And just as suddenly she was herself again, composed, hair straight and grinning like an imp.

“Did I mention Sarah was also a Drama Major, Doug? Talented, don’t you think?” Amazing. They were right. There wasn’t a jury in twelve counties that would believe me over them. If I wasn’t convinced before, I certainly was now.

“To continue, Doug; if you are cooperative, and if we get sufficient rest and relaxation this weekend, we will let you go on Monday night. Sometimes you will be bound, sometimes you will be free, sometimes…” her voice trailed off and she looked at me with a most disconcerting melding of menace and mischief, “but until Monday night, you are OURS. Agreed?" Oh Doug, Doug, Doug! What have you gotten yourself into this time? Well, what would you have done? I agreed. Again.

“One question, Doug,” Ginny asked. “On your answering machine, what was that R and R and R all about?” In answer I leaned forward, such as I was able, and looked pointedly at my left front pocket and then up at her. She reached in and pulled out a Ziploc containing two of the greenest, freshest Hawaiian buds you ever saw. She held it up to her nose and sniffed deeply, with far more than mere professional interest. Smiling with approval she nodded once. “Aloooooooha!” Slipping the bag into her pocket, Ginny unlocked my handcuffs and ordered me to clear the table and wash the dishes.