The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The Thorns – Part 5

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Jesse

It was Monday morning when we gathered outside the toilets on the second floor of the east building in school. It was our free period. Chad got there when I arrived followed soon by James and Devon, our newest fellow slaves.

There were four of us now. I hoped David would leave it at that, but I couldn’t really say. I had a suspicion the next guy he would take as a slave might be my best friend Matt. If he did decide to take more slaves I hoped it wouldn’t be him.

Yesterday morning David sent Chad to meet them and bring them in with a branch full of thorns. He didn’t even bother to come with him. He made sure beforehand that if any opportunity for escape became available Chad would run back to him.

“Hi Chad, James, Devon, how are you?” I felt a little weird. I barely saw James and Devon yesterday. When Chad came back to David’s house with them David gave me a quick shower (though it would’ve probably been quicker if he let me shower myself) and sent me back home. I had a nice day after that which I spent mostly with Jenny. But I knew he was tormenting the other three the whole time. He only contacted me later that night to tell me where and when to meet up at school today.

“You would have no idea. You didn’t have to put up with the monster all day yesterday. We did.” Said Chad, the others nodded.

Were they mad at me? It wasn’t my fault they got dragged into this, and they shouldn’t begrudge me one day of mostly being free, certainly not after I put up with this for almost a week now.

“You have no idea of the hell I went through this past week, just me and him. Even yesterday was no joy ride. After you left, Chad, David had to settle with just me again.”

I told them a little about how on Sunday morning David sat down to watch TV and absentmindedly had all kinds of fun with my body. He had me sit on his lap with one hand playing with my cock and the other poking fingers inside my asshole. He soon found my special spot inside, as he called it and used it to make me hard. Then he started flicking my cock, making it bounce up and down and from side to side. When he moved up to my nipples I found they were far more sensitive to the touch then usual and his pinching only helped make my hard-on grow harder.

He then flipped me over so my head and shoulders were on the couch seat next to him, supporting my weight, my back rested on the back of the couch, and my legs were flailing about in the air above. His fingers were in my ass again as his other hand played around with my hair, my face, my chest and my cock. He kept me like this for twenty minutes or so, using his fingers to bring me close to climax, and then withdrawing. Finally during a commercial break he turned his focus on me. I was panting by then.

He took off his shorts and sat on my head, putting his balls in my open mouth and instructing me to suck them. After his balls got their bath he placed his cock in my mouth and proceeded to put my cock in his. But while I sucked his cock he wasn’t so much sucking my cock as chewing it like a rubber toy. It made it clear that even as we were sixty-nining he was the only one in control. His fingers went inside me again and struck the point. His other hand grabbed my ball sack and squeezed. I came hard in his mouth and he came in mine. Blast after blast bombarded my mouth and I had no option but to swallow or choke.

He got off my face and lowered his face to mine. I thought he was coming in for a kiss but he wasn’t. He parted my lips with his fingers, brought his mouth to mine and let a mouthful of cum slip in my mouth. He whispered me to swirl it around my mouth a bit before swallowing.

He then laid me across the couch and drew up lying behind and above me. His show was back on and as he watched the end he stroked my hair, caressed my chest and nibbled at my ear. I could feel his cock on my ass-crack.

When the show was finally over he announced he was hungry and sent me to make him breakfast. I was hungry as well, he hadn’t fed me in over a day, but he ignored me when I told him. I made him scrambled eggs and a ham sandwich, and then stared at him as he ate. At one point he started coughing and spit a bit of the scrambled eggs on the floor.

On instinct my hunger drove me to jump to the floor, before he could say anything, and gobble up the scrambled egg. He looked at me and laughed. He then told me that if I was really that hungry he won’t deny me some of his leftovers.

I was shocked at what my hunger drove me to do. My humiliation was at a peak.

After that every third bite he took, he would spit the food, thoroughly chewed and covered with spittle, on the floor. And each time I dove for it hungrily.

It was humiliating but I felt like I might die if I didn’t eat enough. I was even glad that he made me lick the floor in every place the food had fallen. He said the floor must be kept clean, but I was glad no small amount of food went to waste.

As his, and my, breakfast went on he began to spit the food closer to his chair. Then he began poking me with his bare feet as I hunched beneath him to eat. At first he just poked at my sides, and then he got his feet beneath me and jiggled my balls. At one point he put his foot on top of my head and pushed it down until it was squashed to the floor. He held me that way, his other foot on my neck, for a few minutes as his toes wriggled in my hair. But still I was compelled to reach for every piece of food he dropped. He then dropped a piece of chewed sandwich and quickly stepped in it, squishing it in his toes. I had to hold his foot and lick between his toes to get all the food out, even though the taste was horrible. Lastly, as he was finishing he let a piece fall on his naked crotch. I stood on my knees before him licking his cock and balls, but this time not because he told me to, but because of my own hunger. When I was done he held me by my ears and told me what a good boy I was. I wriggled my butt and he smiled. It was then he told me I would have the rest of the day off. I was so happy that I happily kissed him back when he started kissing me. It was weird how I had gotten used to kissing him after all the times he forced me to kiss him. He was ruffling my hair when Chad entered the house with James and Devon.

James and Devon didn’t seem impressed with my story of Sunday morning. Of course I left a few bits out, like me eating the food he spit out, but I don’t think that would have impressed them much either.

“So he had a few fingers up your ass, and he made you swallow cum,” said Devon, “do you have any idea how many times he fucked me already? From what I understand he never fucked you.”

“No, he didn’t.” I confirmed. It felt weird to feel bad for being spared.

“You have no clue what we went through,” James said, “He not only fucked us. I would have loved to trade my day with him for any of yours.”

“James, you should feel lucky. He only fucked you once.” Chad pitched in.

He only fucked me once. I was fucked a lot more times after that.” James nodded towards Devon.

“Don’t blame me,” said Devon a little defensively. He then turned to me as if to explain, “I was made to fuck him, it’s not like it was fun for me. And besides,” He turned back to James, “You should be happy it was me. I went gentle, not charging in and out crazy like that crazy faggot.”

“I’m not blaming you, but as for gentle, that’s not the problem. The problem is that your cock is much longer and thicker than David’s. Isn’t that right Chad?”

“It’s true, your cock hurts more than David’s no matter how gentle you try and do it, I can tell you that even though I had it in me just once.” It was obvious Chad didn’t like to think back on it, and he quickly changed the subject. “You should all be happy you didn’t go through what I went through. He tried to crush my balls; first with clips he made me put on myself and later with shoelaces and basketballs, clamps and all manner of other ways.”

“Oh, poor you.” James started in, “I was shaved clean. I have no hair below my neck. He told me that I’m a baby, not a man, and therefore shouldn’t have hair on my body. When I questioned him he said I was a bad baby, took me on my knee and smacked me on the ass a hundred times. I can barely sit in class.”

“You can’t sit?” Devon had tears in his eyes. “He stuck something in my ass, something big. And it’s still there. I can barely walk.”

“Don’t worry; I have every intention of getting it out of there at some point.” It was David, walking up towards us.

He came up to Chad first. “Good to see you all this lovely morning.” He reached out his hand as if to shake Chad’s hand. But Chad wasn’t extending his hand. David’s hand didn’t linger in the air but shot forward and grabbed Chad’s crotch. He held it, shook it firmly, as if in a proper handshake and let go as Chad gasped.

He then moved on to James. Chad was probably shocked and surprised, but James now had time to prepare himself and moved away. “Stay where you are, all of you.” David said.

He shook “hands” with James and Devon and then came to me. I thought I might avoid the shame of it by extending my hand to him but he brushed my hand a side and took my crotch as well.

Only mine, he was reluctant to let go after shaking. He kept a hold of my crotch, holding both my cock and balls, and pulled me closer to him. His other hand went to my ass and started kneading it through my pants.

David

How I missed the feel of Jesse under my fingers. It’s been barely 24 hours, and it felt like an eternity. And most of those 24 hours I spent with three prime hunks. But there was something about Jesse that was more than the way he looked – it was the way he felt, and the way he made me feel. Holding his cock and bubble butt, even through those pants, was like a drug for me. A drug I was denied for a time.

For a moment I didn’t care that we were in school, and that there was a chance someone could come up to this floor (though I knew it was small, this area was usually deserted on Mondays), I wanted to strip his clothes off right there. I had to restrain myself. I’ll have him all to myself again this afternoon at home, for now I had to be careful.

I let go of his butt and crotch and stood in front of him and just started into his eyes and ruffled his hair a bit.

I remembered now that I dreamt of him at night. About how I made him eat all the food I spit out, and made him think that he did it because he was hungry. I even made him forget he had dinner the night before. He looked so good, all humiliated by what he thought were his own free actions. It made me so hot that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a few hours, hours I spent with the three other slaves.

I shifted my eyes back to them. They were hot, a wonderful addition to what I thought of now as my small Harem. Devon was big in almost every way. The others had an impressive figure for high-schoolers, but Devon had an impressive figure for an adult, though he was only 18, and He was taller than Chad by about 2 inches.. His dark hair was cut short, a little too short for my taste, but it was nice enough and soft.

James had a full head of thick, light blond, longish hair. It covered his ears and the back of his neck, and his long bangs covered his forehead. In many ways it was a lot like what I hoped to make of Jesse’s hairstyle when it got longer, though I’d keep Jesse’s hair color as is. He was shorter then all of them (he was even an inch shorter than me) and less muscled then them, but still lightly muscled. He was lean and had a very cute boyish figure. That was made more evident when I saw him naked for the first time and discovered his bubble butt was even bigger than Jesse’s.

Everything about his body screamed that his body was that of a kid, except the little hair he had on his stomach, chest and butt and obviously his pubes. That’s how the idea to shave him came to my head; I just wanted to make him look even younger. Of course he cried bitterly as I shaved him, but that only added to my control high. I even made him shave his own chest. After I washed him I positioned him in front of a full length mirror and made him look at his body, all hairless like a child. I fucked him up the butt from behind right there, with him stuck in place there with nothing he could do about it but cry. As I fucked him hard, and held his hair clutched in a fist with one hand, I looked at his reflection and saw him crying like a baby, and hairless like one. That’s when I started calling him baby, and then Baby Jamie.

I only fucked him that once though. I was distracted by the physical perfection of Devon’s body, and his huge cock. I licked it up and down and then I had him fuck Chad and James. I was almost tempted to have Devon fuck me too, but I wasn’t sure how bad it would hurt (the other two were left in tears, though they were crying most of that day) and I didn’t want Devon to have any feeling of control over me that early.

Instead I fixated on his muscles. I kneaded and caressed his big pecs, and bit into his big nipples. Later I jerked myself all over him. I also found his butt muscles were very strong. He could squeeze his butt hard, but I focused on teaching him how to open up. As with everything about him, his hole was bigger. I had no problem sticking three fingers inside of him, though he howled as I inserted them.

I sent him to the computer to learn what he could about fisting, while I played with James and Chad. I had Chad cum all over James in unison with me after I had masturbated myself in James’s hair.

I was getting a blow job from Chad and a ball bath from James when I talked to Devon about the fisting. He begged me not to go through with it. I told him we could go slower. So I started fitting objects up his butt, a pen, a marker, a flashlight. Finally I finished with leaving him with a big remote stuck up his butt. He was supposed to still have it in him.

That was all yesterday, today I had Jesse too. But for now all I had was an hour.

I surveyed my four slaves with satisfaction and had them go into the empty bathroom.

Once inside I had them all strip naked and stand at attention with their back against the wall.

I snapped my finger.

“When I snap my finger again in a minute or so you are going to forget me snapping my fingers both times, and everything that happened in between. You will still have to follow the orders I give you now, even though your conscious mind won’t remember me giving you those orders.” They all had a confused look on their face.

“James, when you start crying later, and you will cry, you will see a pacifier on the floor in front of you. You will get the feeling that sucking on the pacifier in your mouth will give you comfort. You’ll know of course that only babies suck on pacifiers, but the pain you will feel will be so bad, that after a few minutes you will give in to the desire to sooth yourself with the pacifier. As you suck it you will feel soothed by it, and so you will not be able to let it go until you stop crying. That is even though everyone here will look at you sucking at a pacifier like a baby and even though that will shame you very much. You will know that sucking the pacifier was your idea.” James’s eyes burned with fury, though I suspect he still didn’t understand that he won’t be aware of what I just told him when he sucks the pacifier.

“Chad,” I went on, “When I tell you to sit down on the floor you will start feeling pressure in your bladder, you will beg me to let you pee but I won’t. After five minutes you will pee where you sit. You will try and stop the flow of piss and in so doing only drench your stomach and chest.”

“Jesse, you will be in charge of cleaning out Devon’s butthole. You’ll be very afraid that I will think you did a bad job and punish you for it. To avoid that punishment you will clean his butt very thoroughly, even though I won’t specify to be so thorough, and even though Devon will protest. At first you will just use your fingers and water from the sink but later you will use tongue and then your own cock to get deep enough.”

Both Jesse and Devon were mad now. But I wasn’t done with Devon.

“Devon, you will protest Jesse’s advances on your butt, as you will know I gave Jesse no order to do what he does. But when his cock is inside your hole you will get very horny. It will make you play with your chest and tits. When Jesse tries to pull out, you will back up toward him and reach back and try to stop him. When his cock is finally out of your hole you will fall to the floor and in a daze you will masturbate yourself until you have ejaculated.”

They were all shocked now. They were made to be silent so no word escaped them but the looks on their faces were enough for me. I snapped my finger again.

The new shocked looks were gone, and all that was left were the annoyed and hateful looks from before.

“You can all talk and move freely, except you can’t raise your voices and you can’t leave this room. Now James, come over here, I have some presents for you.”

James walked over reluctantly. I took a small box out of my bag, and gave it to him. I told him to open it and show us all. The box had a baby bonnet, a baby bib, a baby bottle and a pacifier. “Just the things for a little baby like you.” I grabbed his juicy bubble butt and started kneading it. the box fell to the floor.

“Devon, come over here, I’ll have a look at what’s troubling you.”

As he walked I was distracted from the beauty of his muscles by the tip of a remote peeking out of his ass. The others were also watching it, with amazement and horror.

My one hand traveled now up James’s back caressing on the way, my other hand went to Devon’s pecs, squeezing and thumping them, while I talked to him.

“So, muscle guy, what’s it like having a remote in your ass for half a day?”

“It’s terrible, please take it out. Please David.”

“Oh, I had no idea you wouldn’t like it.” I said with mock compassion as my hand moved to his ass to grab the tip of the remote. But I didn’t pull it out I just jiggled it in place, making Devon jump, shake and grunt. “I don’t know if I have the strength to pull it out.”

I turned to James and could see him become tenser. My hand was by now on his head, ruffling his hair. I started pushing his head down. “On your knees, Baby Jamie!”

I positioned Devon with his back to the kneeling James. I stroked James’s hair as I told him: “Jamie, I want you to grab the tip of that remote sticking out of Devon’s ass with your mouth and teeth. Then pull the remote out of his ass.”

James took the mission like a trooper. He had to stick his nose up Devon’s ass crack to get close enough to bite down on the remote. It was hard for him to get a good hold on it with his teeth, it kept slipping from his hold when he moved his head back. He didn’t cry, which I was grateful for. It wouldn’t do for him to cry now, I wanted him crying only later.

Even when he did have a firm hold he couldn’t pull it back. So I let him put his hands on Devon’s ass cheeks to push and I made Devon loosen up his ass muscles. Only then did he finally start pulling out. At last the remote was out and James dropped it on the floor. I was holding his face to my crotch and petting him while giving them their orders.

“Devon, go to the toilet and empty your bowels. Then come out and let Jesse clean your ass out. Jesse, you make sure Devon’s ass is clean outside and inside, use water from the sink, and no paper towels. Chad. Pick up this remote and sit down on the floor here. Suck the remote clean. And finally Baby Jamie,” I looked down on him, “Get on all fours, and prepare to be fucked.”

Chad was sitting on the floor with the remote, cringing. Devon was in the toilet stall, Jesse was outside waiting for him with a nervous look on his face. James was now on all fours. I took my pants off and bent down to him. I had my cock on his crack and my hands on his thighs, and then I drove forward impaling him. He cried out, not loudly though, and started begging. Asking me to stop, saying he’ll do anything, begging for mercy. I reached down, grabbed his balls and squeezed. My other hand was slapping his butt. I was having fun, but mostly I was anticipating what was coming.

“David, I have to pee.” Chad was still licking the remote but he was shifting uncomfortably and speaking from the side of his mouth. “Can I please go the toilet?”

I could hear James crying now. My eyes were shifting between the back of his head and Chad. “No, you can’t. You have to stay there until I tell you otherwise.”

“Please, I can’t hold it. I’ll even take the remote with me in my mouth.” He was trying to bargain with me, cute.

“Not yet, I’ll let you go in ten minutes. But I warn you, if you piss on the floor you’ll have to lick it up.” He now looked resolved to hold it for ten minutes, unaware that he was under orders to piss himself in less than five minutes.

I could see James was looking at the box of baby items (I made sure it was in front of him now). I yanked his ball sack to the side roughly, making him cry more. When he reached his hand to the box I couldn’t control my excitement any longer and came inside him, unfortunately that stopped him. I then pulled out and splattered his back with my second splatter.

I lay my soft cock on his lower back and started drumming roughly on his shoulders. He was still crying.

Finally he reached again, took the pacifier and stuck it in his mouth.

“What’s this now, Baby Jamie? On your Knees!” he went up to his knees and I grabbed his face and turned it part way back so I could look him in the eyes. “You really are a baby, aren’t you?”

“No.” he answered through the pacifier in his mouth. His eyes were full of tears, his whole face in fact. And it was full of shame too. Devon just came out of the toilet, and was looking at James in wonder. So were Jesse and Chad, though Chad was obviously distracted, trying to control his bladder.

“Then why did you put the pacifier in your mouth?”

“Because it soothes and comforts me.” he gulped and a new wave of tears came from his eyes. He started to visibly suck on the pacifier, his whole body shaking.

I stroked his beautiful hair, “Well it certainly sounds like you’re a baby, maybe…”

I stopped at the cry from Chad as he lost the battle of control over his bladder. His hands were clasping his cock, trying to stop the flow. His mouth was still holding on to the remote, though it looked pretty clean now. The piss was spraying everywhere around him. I quickly moved away, grabbing James with me.

He was crying “No, no, no…” as the piss was drenching his chest, face and hair and pooling beneath him. Finally, his bladder empty, he stopped. His tears were now mixing with the piss on his face.

“Well you might be the baby Jamie, but Chad seems to be the one who should have a diaper, he can’t hold his piss for even a few minutes. Chad put that remote aside and go ahead and lick all your piss off the floor. You were warned.”

I sat down on a chair, which someone put in the bathroom, and had James stand next to me. I watched Chad get on his knees and start slowly licking the piss off the floor, while dripping piss from his body. Devon was watching too but was then distracted by Jesse’s fingers in his ass crack cleaning him, he tried moving away.

“Devon, you will let Jesse do whatever he needs with your body.”

With that Devon stopped struggling, but he was clearly annoyed. Jesse looked determined to do a good job of cleaning him.

Watching them all, Chad licking the floor, Jesse with his fingers probing Devon’s butt, James sucking on a pacifier right next to me, was a huge turn on. All of them being naked was of course a big plus. My Cock was rock hard again.

“Jamie, come stand over me.” I placed him with his legs spread a bit over my lap. Then drew him close, kissed his stomach and pulled him down to impale his butt on my cock.

He bit down on the pacifier and then started sucking on it harder as I bounced him on my cock. I had my hands on his waist at first but then moved them to his perky nipples which served as good handles to lift him up and bring him down again. His face was right in front of mine and I could see his red eyes pleading me. He was in pain, and he was scared and ashamed. Maybe I should have pitied him, but it just got me more turned on. The pacifier in his mouth made him look so cute. And his hair, though disheveled, was still beautiful. I grabbed his hair on each side of his head and brought his face closer to mine. I kissed his cheeks, his eyes, his chin, his nose, his forehead and then I started licking them. There was only one part of his face I couldn’t get, his mouth, still sucking his pacifier. I used one hand to take the pacifier out and ordered him to keep his mouth open. I kissed his unmoving mouth, and then I bit his lips and toyed with them using my tongue. Next I used my tongue to inspect his entire mouth, moving it across his teeth and tongue. My cock was in him when I tasted his sweet mouth and I came again inside him.

My cock was going soft, but still inside his hole. I took his head down to my shoulder and nestled it there while hugging him. I told him to hug me lovingly, and his arms felt so nice wrapping me.

Over his head I watched as Chad continued to clean the floor with his tongue. And Jesse had already inserted three fingers inside Devon’s hole. Devon was pleading with him to stop, saying that he was bound to be clean by now.

“You’re not clean yet.” Jesse flashed a quick look my way. “I don’t want to get spanked for doing a bad job. Anyway don’t you get that if I don’t do it he will, and he will be much rougher on you.”

But Devon kept telling him that it was clean enough.

I just kept looking, caressing James’s back. But when Jesse, obsessed with doing a good job cleaning out Devon went down on his knees and started, timidly, finding his way with his tongue, I decided James should watch this too.

I picked James up and turned him around, then sat him on my lap facing the rest of them. I put the pacifier back in his mouth and he was sucking on it again.

Jesse was now holding Devon’s butt cheeks apart and burying his face between them. His tongue was inside Devon’s hole, trying to push further in.

As the scene intensified I grabbed James’s cock and balls and started to masturbate him. I put my face close to his and started licking his ear.

Jesse gave up on his attempt to clean Devon with his tongue. He now stood up and started stroking his cock while speaking to Devon.

“I’m sorry Devon, but you’re still not clean. I have to get farther inside; I have to use my cock.” His eyes were moist, but his cock was getting harder.

“He didn’t tell you to fuck me, Jesse. Damn it! Think about it. You don’t have to do this. If you fuck me now it’s on you.” Devon was pleading, but he couldn’t move away.

Jesse’s cock was hard now and he was lubing it with his spit.

I realized my cock was also hard again. I lifted James up and sat him back down again this time with my cock inside him. His back was still toward me. I grabbed his cock and balls and started masturbating him again. Soon his cock was hard as well.

Devon was still telling Jesse that he didn’t have to do this when Jesse’s cock slowly entered him. He started to cry and continued to beg him to stop.

Jesse started thrusting in deep, telling Devon he doesn’t mean to hurt him, he just has to get as far inside as possible. But now Devon wasn’t begging anymore. His face changed to one of joy as a smile of ecstasy spread on his face. He started to grant in satisfaction at each of Jesse’s thrusts. Next his hands moved to his chest and he started caressing it, stopping a few times to pinch his own nipples.

Jesse was the troubled one now. “Man, what are you doing?” He continued to thrust a few more times and then started pulling out. “That’s as clean as I can get you.”

But Devon quickly backed up into Jesse, pushing him against the wall and holding him in place with his hands. “You can’t take it out now, Jesse. It feels too good in there. Please you can’t leave me like this.” His cock was hard by now.

Jesse straggled with him for a minute and finally won out. Pulling out of Devon and stepping away from him, holding his hands up defensively.

There was no need for him to fear though. As he pulled out Devon lost his strength and fell to the floor. His hands went to his hard cock and he started masturbating himself.

I was still masturbating James on my lap, but keeping him on edge. I kept bringing him close and stopping. I didn’t want to waste the cum of either Devon or James. I had Chad position himself in front of Devon, and Jesse in front of James and myself.

Devon blasted his cum first, drenching Chad, who was still wet with piss. I had James go a few seconds later soaking Jesse’s face and chest with his cum.

Time was running out by now. First I had them lick Jesse till he was clean, then I sat him on my lap and had the rest lick each other clean.

I cradled Jesse on my lap and started exploring his privates while talking to him.

“So, how did it feel to fuck Devon?”

“I didn’t like doing it, but it stimulated my cock.” He said ashamed. “I didn’t really fuck him; I just tried to clean him thoroughly. You ordered me to have him clean.”

“Well, I think he felt like you did fuck him, though he did seem to enjoy it.” One of my fingers reached his hole and started itching its way inside. “I should really be jealous, I fucked Devon lots of times yesterday and he never seemed that into it like he was with you. You seem to have the magic touch.” I tweaked his soft cock with my other hand. “Your girlfriend is going to feel very special, don’t you think?”

“It won’t be the same with her. I love her.”

“Yes, yes, love…”

I had two fingers inside him by now, playing. He was putty in my hands, there were so many things I could do to him and it was mostly just me stopping myself. Most times I couldn’t even tell myself why.

I made him stand on his knees in front of me. He was so sweet. I grabbed his hair with my hands, pulled him on to my cock, and made him suck. It only took a minute of me fucking his head until I ejaculated. I made him swallow every drop. I had no time to clean him again.

The rest were clean by the time I pulled out. I walked around them as they dressed and gave instructions while groping their butts and tousling their hair. I left first, making them wait a minute more in there. I imagined they had things to talk about.