The Company's Monthly Poker Game (Patreon)

Michael had big hopes when he got an internship with the most powerful business in the city when he was still fresh out of college but it had been a year and he was still doing nothing other than making coffees and running messages between offices. He was on the minimum pay possible too and the managers were still managing to get his name wrong! His frustrations had been steadily building and he had even begun searching for other job opportunities, even though none of the companies would appear quite as impressive on his resumé as the Thorpe Business Group. Did he take a leap and risk losing everything or stay and potentially cause his remaining brain cells to rot away?

An offer to join the TBG’s monthly poker game was certainly not something Michael anticipated to find in his work inbox but upon asking around he discovered that the invites were sent to randomly selected individuals each month; the only guaranteed player was the CEO and he was known to bet the big bucks. At first Michael was hesitant - he didn’t exactly have much to bet and truthfully he fully expected the CEO to sneer at the involvement of a lowly intern - but when he began hearing whispers that it wasn’t just money people were betting but knowledge, skills and even beauty, he was suddenly a lot more interested. People had always told him that he;d had a good poker face and maybe this would be the best way for him to get ahead…

The CEO of the Thorpe Business Group was Nathan Thorpe, a thirty-six year old with a body that was as powerfully built as the company he managed and a babyface that easily made him look ten years younger. His dark hair held the faintest traces of silver that had only appeared in recent years, but his skin was still so clear and smooth that he wouldn’t have looked out of place on a billboard. Indeed, there were whispers among the female interns that the CEO had modelled to pay his way through college and honestly Michael wouldn’t have been surprised.

The young intern had done his very best to hide his attraction to other men for fear that it might limit his prospects within the company; for all they preached about being an accepting community Michael couldn’t help but notice that all of the company board were straight white men and he knew it was better to play it safe just in case. Still, that didn’t stop him from having a few late night fantasies about the hunky CEO.

It turned out that Michael was one of only five employees to receive an invitation to join Mr Thorpe for the monthly poker game, and as an intern he was unsurprisingly the lowest ranked among them. Joining them were Tessa from the HR department, Logan and Paulo from Law, and Sierra, Nathan’s blonde and pretty receptionist. Each of them cast a confused look towards Michael as he joined them at the table - despite him knowing each of them, none had committed his face or name to memory. Mr Thorpe waved him towards the only available chair and the game had begun shortly after.

For the first few hands they only played for a small handful of cash, although what the others probably considered to be spare change was a considerable amount for Michael. Still, he held his own and soon the stakes began to rise. Sierra bet her photographic memory and Paulo bet the beautiful blue eyes he was famous around the office for. Those eyes had made so many people melt, Michael included, whenever the other had spared a rare glance towards him. The intensity only continued to build as the minutes passed by until successful goading from Logan led the CEO to put something shocking on the line: his body, and with it, his position as CEO!

Against all odds Michael had somehow remained within the contest while Sierra, Paulo and Tessa had all folded. It was only the three of them left and it was clear that both Mr Thorpe and Logan regarded Michael to be nothing short of a simpleton who would likely end up going bust and lose all the measly things he had bet, such as his college degree and achievements as captain of the high school football team. That would be their mistake though, because Michael knew how to play the long game, and getting the others to overlook him was all part of his plan. 

His heart thundered in his chest like a stallion in a championship race as they each turned over their cards. Logan’s confidence as he turned over his hand to reveal a full house soon turned to misery as Mr Thorpe revealed a straight flush. The table erupted with noise - they had all forgotten Michael was even still playing until he turned his hand over: royal flush! The noise at the table dropped away as quickly as it started as all eyes turned to the lowly intern just as a smirk settled onto his lips. Needless to say, none of them had seen that twist coming and Michael relished at the ranging expressions of shock, bewilderment and even abject horror from the CEO himself!

“I think I’ll take my winnings now,” the intern declared with more confidence than he’d ever had in his life, pulling all of the chips on the table towards him. As he did so, his slender body began to grow in size and the cheap cotton of his shirt changed to a more expensive material. His sandy blond hair darkened to a deep black with silver hairs poking out around his sideburns to give him a mature and distinguished look, while his facial features shifted to take on the strong nose and wide jawline of Nathan Thorpe. His winnings had also included Paulo’s pretty blue eyes, making him even more handsome than the original Nathan had been, and he’d also ended up with not just Sierra’s photographic memory but also Tessa’s painting skills and Logan’s incredible sex drive. He had well and truly won the jackpot and left the rest of them in his wake as far less impressive individuals than they had been when they’d started the game.

Across the table from him the CEO of the Thorpe Business Group was experiencing his own changes as all of his riches and privileges were stripped from him, prompting a rapid descent from the man in charge to just another lowly intern whose name nobody could seem to remember who couldn’t help but be attracted to all of the powerful men he was surrounded by, especially his former self! Unfortunately for him, he could never get the other man’s attention, as the new Mr Thorpe just sneered and remarked that he didn’t have time to bother himself with an intern and that if the new Michael continued to bother him he’d end up being given his release from the company.

Now living the life of his dreams, Nathan felt comfortable to come out of the closet and enjoy life as a powerful gay man who could get the attention of absolutely anyone he wanted. He continued hosting the monthly TBG poker games too, although he never participated in them anymore. He wasn’t about to make his predecessor’s mistakes and risk losing his perfect body and life. He did make sure that Michael never received another invite though. This time the former CEO would have to experience the hardships of working his way up through the business industry rather than being handed everything on a silver plate like before!