The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Bryce carried Hallie down the steps from the control tower, his arms wideset in his hold on her. As he walked, he was fully aware of the experience: the feel of her body as he suspended it cradled in his arms… the feeling of putting one foot ahead of the other, descending step by step and shifting hold to compensate for the descending movements of his own body.

He was so aware of his physical movements, and so aware of the physical sensation that was the weight of Hallie in his arms. But he was also so aware of internal things, how he felt inside as the new Bryce. The final version of himself which Hallie had rendered him into, the final version that he had become for her. He didn’t think he would ever get tired of the way it felt to be his new self. It was fresh and exciting. Though he had been in this form for several hours now, the shine hadn’t come off it yet. He was different, and that was novel. He was a better man now than he had ever been before meeting Hallie.

And he was lucky to feel this way, and lucky that Hallie had seen him, wanted him, and wanted him enough to make him into this. What would he have done if she hadn’t chosen him? He would have gone on being the old Bryce without ever realizing how awful that was, or how much better something else could be.

Never experiencing how much better it felt to be the newer Bryce... Without Hallie, he would never have had the chance— would have had no exposure to this new experience of identity and existence.

The thought of that was so terrible he hated to think it.

He looked back at Hallie to distract himself from this more disturbing line of thought— he was only about halfway down the control tower’s steps.

Hallie’s beauty was extreme. It was the kind of beauty that was impossible to overlook, or ignore, or to forget once it had been seen. And it made it hard for Bryce to keep his eyes on his footing. They kept drifting back to look at her.

From this angle, he had an even better view of her breasts than he’d had those earlier times she’d sat on his lap. Her waist… the shape of her body… perfectly formed, in Bryce’s opinion. Such was her beauty that, if Bryce could have spent all his time looking at her— even if he was only allowed to look, and never permitted to touch or interact with her again— just seeing her would be enough to satisfy his desire for her…

He was lucky that he was even allowed to look upon her, and lucky that she so generously presented herself to him in dresses and outfits like these, letting him see her, completely; letting her image change him even more when he took it in. She was so perfect and so beautiful that he could not see her and be unchanged. And she probably knew that, probably used this knowledge strategically to further alter him, and even so… Bryce was in awe of her.

They had come to the base of the stairs. Bryce tightened his hold: this was the trek’s more treacherous stretch. Here there was uneven terrain, and potholes in the winding path that led out of the junkyard and weaved around the misshapen metal hunks dotting the landscape. He wanted to make sure Hallie was comfortable for this part of the journey, even as his steps forward became more jarring and offset. He held her closer to him in an attempt to try and compensate.

Hallie’s legs were slung up over the side of one of his arms, so the heels she wore on her hanging feet were visible. They were a barometer for him. If they shook too much, it meant he hadn’t stepped carefully enough, and one of his plodding steps had resonated all the way through Hallie’s body to shake them on her feet, causing her discomfort in the process. He hadn’t seen them shake yet, and he hoped that he wouldn’t. He stepped even more carefully to prevent it.

Most of the uneven terrain was behind him now. He had come far enough along the path for the limo to be in view at the end of the junkyard lot. His driver was standing near its rear door, ready to get it and open it for him when he got there.

He could have put Hallie down at this point. She had earlier walked this stretch of the path herself in those shoes. But he didn’t want to be separated from her— and didn’t want to make her walk, either. Even though the terrain had become smoother, Bryce was confident Hallie’s comfort would be greater if she were carried than if she walked. And he wanted her to be as comfortable as he could make her. He wouldn’t willingly set her down unless she instructed him, and so far, no such instruction had been given. Bryce happily continued to hold her.

They came around a bend in the path. The manager of the lot was nearby, and started walking alongside them. “How was the crushing job, Mr. Towner? Was it done to your satisfaction?” The eagerness was clear in his voice, his tongue tripping over itself as he rushed to get the words out.

Bryce said nothing, but the manager was apparently clueless. “Some of our employees are here on shift tonight. Four of us— myself and three others— were wondering if we could get a picture with you? It’s not every day we have a CEO visiting our junkyard.”

The manager gestured to the front building which was still some steps ahead. The three mentioned employees were standing in its window, staring and gaping at Bryce with wide eyes.

Bryce stayed silent; being asked to pose for pictures was nothing new. But the manager’s request was unimportant. Bryce had one goal: to return Hallie to the limo in as great a state of comfort, peace and safety that he could provide. And he was dedicating himself to this goal with total purpose— he only cared about getting Hallie back to the car.

They’d almost reached the edge of the lot, first nearing the front building and then passing it. The three employees came out and joined the manager in following them, repeating questions which he had asked first. Could Bryce please take a picture with them? Please, please, please? The manager asked again too, as if thinking his contribution was the one thing that could convince Bryce.

Bryce ignored all their requests pointedly, but they crawled underneath his skin. These people were insects to him, many levels below him in terms of importance. And yet they were here, buzzing around him with their demands and irritating him. He wished for a fly-swatter equivalent to them, some way to fend them off. But he had none, so he ignored them and kept walking.

He’d never thought of members of the public as bugs flitting around him and causing annoyance before. This was the first time— his newer self was more irritable than his old self had been in the past. He was a devotee to his purpose. Anything which tried to sway him from that purpose or delay him in it angered him. And the more the four employees circled, and the more the four of them asked, the more annoyed he became.

Finally, Bryce reached the car. His driver opened the door, as Bryce had known he would, then headed towards the front seat.

Bryce lowered Hallie gingerly, sliding her in first before climbing in himself and sitting on the seat beside her. Then he closed the door, and looked ahead to his driver.

“Take us back to my house,” he instructed, and the limo started off down the street.

Almost immediately, Hallie slid herself onto Bryce’s lap.

Her beauty put every other thought of his head— the manager and his circling employees, who must have been watching the limo pull away in disappointment; the driver; where they were going, where they had been. Hallie was the present: present, past and future, so all-consuming and all-encompassing that she overshadowed everything else. Bryce wouldn’t have changed that for anything. He didn’t care what recent memories he was forgetting, or what near future was waiting ahead. Hallie was here on his lap now and that was all that mattered.

Though her beauty disoriented him the longer he looked at her… and looking at her was making him feel very drunk, like the limo’s interior was spinning around him and streaking into a tunnel vision which centered her… She was the only clarity he could see, and everything else around her was blurry. But it didn’t bother him. He wanted to look at her even longer, and be more affected by her beauty.

Seeing her was putting him out of his right mind, but he didn’t need to be in it. He had any and all information that she could possibly want ready inside him somewhere, and she could bring it out of him whenever she wanted— he would offer it willingly no matter what it was. She would tell him what he needed to remember and when, would tell him what she wanted to know, and he would provide it for her. He trusted her. His mind was safe in her hands.

She touched his face— the fingernail of her index finger tracing from the center of his lower lip to his chin, as she was gave him that smile— blinding— perfect— “Thank you for taking care of that for me.”

Memory returned to his mind as soon as it was needed, everything from the past hour arriving at once. Walking through the junkyard, crushing the car, hearing Hallie’s words as it happened… all these memories came so quickly that Bryce couldn’t distinguish them or reflect on them, or even really be aware of them.

He only knew they were there now: they were accessible to him again. The time immediately preceding this limo ride was no longer a gap; no longer a mystery, no longer blocked off or blacked out; and Hallie hadn’t even directly told him to remember. She’d only made an indirect reference to the recent past, and expected him to understand what she was referencing— so he had. She’d done that. She had that much power over his mind.

And now that the recently forgotten memory of destroying Selene’s car had been summoned back to him, called forth by Hallie— now that he remembered, his only reaction could be disbelief.

She was thanking him? He’d wanted to destroy Selene’s car. No, it had gone beyond a want. It had been a need, he’d needed to do it like he needed air— he’d enjoyed watching it happen probably as much as she had, or more…

But her wants were his wants. It seemed utterly wrong for her to thank him, since this was the case. How could she thank him for doing something he’d wanted to do? Knowing things were important to her made them important to him too. So it had been important to him that he crush Selene’s car, and he’d done it happily. But being thanked for it didn’t feel right. He should be thanking her. Thanking her for seeing him, wanting him, changing him— for giving him such gifts as letting him touch her, hold her, see her, and do things to please her like crushing that car… she should never be the one thanking him.

She had traced down past his chin now, her hand arriving at the collar of his shirt, and finding his necktie there. Her fingers twisted slowly in its fabric, getting inside the knot and working it into looseness as she kept her eyes on his face. Bryce felt words rising up inside him, and he let them out— but he was aware of each shift of Hallie’s hand as she loosened his tie.

“I’m so grateful.” He looked at her as he spoke. And yet even as he looked, he almost felt that he should have been shielding his eyes. Somehow she seemed to perfect with each passing minute. “I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done within me, all the changes you’ve caused. You have no idea how grateful I am. I feel like an entirely new person inside. Someone else who’s awakened and taken over. And I will never be able to tell you how much I appreciate that. But if you’ll have me; if you’ll accept the offering of my company... I’d love to spend my days with you, trying— just trying, even if I can never succeed— to show you my appreciation. Just give me the chance to you show you— please.”

Wearing the same smile, Hallie nodded her head cutely in acknowledgement— then removed Bryce’s tie completely, and dropped it to the floor of the car.

They fell into easy small talk then. Bryce stressed how serious his feelings for Hallie were— and how seriously he planned to take this chance that Hallie had extended to him. She’d actually agreed to let him try, which made him even luckier. She’d agreed to let him demonstrate his appreciation for everything she’d done to him, and he would never waste his chance. Even if it took everything he had, he was going to make sure she knew how appreciative he was, and he stressed this point for her verbally several times as they rode.

A lull came into the conversation. The two of them fell into a shared, silent gaze, and that moment took on an electrical charge. There was heat to it— possibility, as if something else might be about to happen—

Then the charged moment which had hung between them dissipated, chased away by the sound of Bryce’s phone beeping in the pocket of his dress shirt.

Hallie looked from Bryce to his pocket, tracing the beeping’s source. She reached into it, and retrieved his phone, then held it up in front of Bryce’s face. It was displaying its lockscreen.

Bryce took her meaning. He reached his hand out, and unlocked it for her with a quick tapping of his fingers. He would not keep her waiting even for so little as a second. He was full of gladness as he did— glad to once again provide something to her that she wanted. So glad that there were no thoughts of privacy or confidentiality in his mind; there was no hesitancy in him at all when he inputted the code for her.

Hallie took the phone back, reversing the screen so she could see it. Her eyes were focused on it as she asked Bryce without looking, “Do you mind?”

The thought of minding was ridiculous. Everything Bryce had only held value if it could be offered to her, everything of his was rightfully hers because he belonged to her, and so everything of his belonged to her too. She was entitled to everything, and in Bryce’s mind, this was exactly as it should be.

“Heavens no,” said Bryce, incredulously. “I don’t mind. It’s yours if you want it, like everything else I have. But please tell me if there’s anything I can help you with; I live to help you and make your life easier. I’ll be here until you need me... just taking in your beauty…”

Bryce couldn’t remember if he’d meant to say something else after that… the words died in him as Hallie’s image overcame his mind again. He stared with wide-eyes… her face… her breasts… they silenced his thoughts with their perfection, and he couldn’t remember anything but how to stare. And staring had never been like this before: his eyes so focused on his target. They followed her shape in a consant motion he was no longer even aware of.

Hallie’s attention was still on Bryce’s phone. She tapped the screen, and it seemed to offer her what she was looking for in response.

“You’ve got a new email,” Hallie reported— at ease as she scrolled with a carefully-manicured finger. “About a european acquisition. The subject line is ‘update.’”

She reversed the phone again, so Bryce could see it. Then she held it out to improve his view, and watched him with waiting eyes.

Bryce took the non-verbal prompt, as he’d already done several times so far that night. It was getting easier and easier to follow Hallie’s promptings; he was improving at it, and that made him proud. Bryce knew exactly what he wanted to tell her, knew exactly what information she needed to hear, and was glad to be useful to her once more.

“That acquisition is valued at 14 billion dollars,” Bryce recited, speaking directly from his old self in the back of his mind. It was so convenient that that former self always had what he needed ready for him whenever he needed it. “It was led by Marty Matthews. Acquiring it will quadruple our value, but it’s only small change on our end.”

There was more information streaming out of Bryce now. He was barely aware of it as it went. He overflowed with information, and he wanted her to know all of it.

But this was information Hallie wouldn’t have been able to find anywhere else— even if she had gone looking for it. Information about company procedure and company dealings that only company insiders had. Information that had been earned through the course of many different meetings, one-on-one conversations, and debriefings. None of it was supposed to leak outside the company. All of it was supposed to be confidential. But there was no such thing as confidential when it came to Hallie.

“I’m more focused on other things, though. More important things,” Bryce concluded. “That acquisition deal can wait.”

This had been the right answer— the one Hallie wanted to hear— because she smiled when she heard it, and it lit Bryce’s heart inside him. He felt warm satisfaction knowing that he had pleased her.

Then she turned the phone back, continuing her progress through his inbox. “There’s another email here,” she said, a minute later. “This one’s about a charity fundraiser, with the subject line ‘Reminder To Attend Tomorrow.’” She scrolled down. “It says you RSVP’d before you ever met me.”

She turned the screen back for Bryce to see. “Tell me about it.”

Bryce felt called by her words. He found himself speaking immediately. “It’s a formal gala, thrown by a prominent non-profit I often give to. They hold galas like this one several times a year; it’s a good way to drum up more donations from wealthy donors like myself. They hold lots of other fundraisers besides this one throughout the year as well— they like to make themselves accessible to donors of all income brackets. But I never bother going to any of their lower tier fundraisers; I only attend their formal galas, and make sure to take my checkbook with me. I’ve been donating to them for years; I’ve probably given them hundreds of thousands of dollars— maybe millions— by now.”

Hallie looked impressed. “That was a very thorough explanation, Bryce. You really did your best in explaining that to me,” she applauded him, her voice complimentary as she spoke— flecked with appreciation, melodic.

Bryce flushed in joy at her praise.

Then, a second later, when Bryce spoke, Hallie’s look of positive impression was traded for a look of surprise. “Would you like to go?” He asked her. “I was planning on blowing it off, actually. It’s not important to me anymore. But if you wanted to—“

Hallie nodded. “I think that would be a lovely event to attend—”

Before Hallie could say anything else, cutting off the end of her sentence and surprising her further, Bryce addressed his driver. “Change course. We’ll return to the house later. Take us to that high end dress store downtown—“ Bryce thought for a moment. There were quite a few to choose from in the fashion district, but he settled on one. “Take us to Versace’s store.”

“Yes, sir. I’m rerouting,” the driver replied, and spun the wheel of the car to send them down a different street.

Hallie was the one staring at Bryce now, in disbelief— he saw it in his periphery.

“Your eyes on my eyes, Bryce,” she called him back with a level tone of voice. He’d already been turning his eyes towards facing her, but he moved them even more quickly when instructed.

The shared eye-contact was affecting. There was a searing intensity in her eyes as she looked at him. “Next time,” — her voice had become almost stern— “Why don’t you let me tell you what I want?”

This was unexpected. Bryce had only given the instruction so quickly to impress her— all he ever wanted was to impress her; but he’d apparently done it wrong and made a mistake. For the entire night up to this point, she’d been taking pleasure in everything he’d done for her. But she wasn’t pleased this time. She was displeased.

Bryce experienced a few seconds of confusion, but at the end of them, he thought he understood. It wasn’t his place to make decisions for the two of them. That was up to Hallie, and it had been presumptuous to think otherwise. An apology was already forming in his mouth, but Hallie seemed to know it was coming, and before he could actually offer it, she preempted him.

“It’s fine, this time.” She said. “But it can’t go unpunished. For the rest of this ride, I am going to sit in my seat. And you are going to involve yourself in your work, and get very involved, until I’m done dress shopping.”

Hallie slid off Bryce’s lap onto the seat beside him as threatened. He didn’t even have time to lament her absence. His mind had already latched on to her words — get very involved in work — and there wasn’t room for any other response. Get very involved in work… the words echoed in him still. His mind felt them like sensation.

Hallie put Bryce’s phone back into his hand, tucking his fingers around it. He snapped to attention as soon as it was received, immediately turning focusing on it and typing in phone numbers to make calls.

He called multiple people in sequence. To each one he gave a chagrined apology, repeatingly stating, “Sorry I’ve been away…” or sometimes its variation, “Sorry I’ve been unresponsive…”

The sincerity with which he spoke these apologies came naturally to him. It was a necessary part of the process he’d been told to carry out. Getting involved in work again meant picking it up from where he’d left it, and that meant he had to apologize to the people he’d left it with. If he had inconvenienced or offended anyone with his absence and general shirking of duties, he had to make it up to them before he could resume their working relationship.

After he’d smoothed things over with most of his work contacts, and checked in, he next called his secretary Cindy.

“Mr. Towner,” Cindy exclaimed, clearly not having expected to hear from him.

“I’m calling to plan out my schedule and arrange some meetings,” Bryce said. “Let’s skip the chit-chat.” Cindy followed his lead, helping him to plan and arrange his schedule like he wanted.

Bryce had slipped right back into being his old self like it was the most natural fit in the world. It felt almost like it used to. The only thing that was different now was the lack of old Bryce’s love for his family. Apart from that, everything else was exactly the same.

The car pulled up to Versace’s store. Bryce walked in, still talking on his phone. He’d moved on to his first phone meeting of the day. Hallie followed beside him.

The staff were amazed by Bryce’s arrival— he’d stepped into their otherwise mundane day and made it miraculous. Once more, Bryce was faced with awed onlookers, struck dumb in the face of his celebrity.

As usual, he ignored them, instead addressing their manager. He covered his phone-receiver with his hand while he spoke.“I need to get a dress for Hallie.” Bryce dropped the hand covering his phone to indicate Hallie with a gesture. “Something she can wear tomorrow evening.” The hand came back up and covered it again.

“Of course, Mr. Towner,” the manager assured him. “We’ll find her the perfect thing.”

Bryce watched Hallie with split focus. Most of his attention stayed on his work, but the little part of him that he had left to spare followed after her. She went with one of the staff. They moved through the racks together, Hallie indicating dresses she liked, and the staff member taking them off the rack, one hanger at a time, and carrying them for her.

Bryce trailed along behind— after Hallie’d chosen all the dresses she wanted, she walked back to the changing area. The staff member followed after her, and Bryce followed after him.

Hallie went into one of the dressing rooms, a private room with its own floor to ceiling door; Bryce only had time to glimpse a round red ottoman inside before Hallie shut the door. Clearly she was undressing herself on the other side of it. A minute later, the door opened a crack, and Hallie’s hand emerged through it. No other part of her was visible.

The hanger of the first dress was placed in her hand. She pulled it back into the changing room with her, and shut the door again.

She came out again shortly after. There must have been mirrors in the room with her, but there was a mirror in the hall, too, and it seemed like Hallie wanted Bryce to see, even if he wasn’t allowed to give her his full attention.

The tiny part of him that could still fit awareness of her was able to appreciate that. She was punishing him, but letting him have a treat even as she did. She was so generous. And that tiny piece of awareness left to him could even appreciate the way she’d constrained the majority of his mind, and forced it to occupy itself with his work. Even when she was using it to punish him, it was thrilling to see how much power she had over his mind.

Hallie’s first dress was made of flowy, sheer purple fabric which layered over itself, and wrapped up Hallie’s body tightly. It had purple lace embroidery in strategic places, accenting its look. But Bryce didn’t like it— the top half of it covered Hallie’s breasts entirely so her cleavage wasn’t visible at all, and the skirt was long, extending all the way to the floor and hiding her legs.

Hallie didn’t seem to like it either, now that she’d seen it on her body in the hall mirror. She took one look at it, frowned, and then snatched a second dress out of the attendant’s hands, before disappearing back into her changing room.

The dress she emerged in was red silk. Its neck was a deep, sleek V that plunged to the band of fabric encircling its slim waistline. The inner sides of Hallie’s breasts were on display as they stood out firm, holding up the sections of silk material which covered them and then slung up wide over each of Hallie’s shoulders. The skirt was long. Not long enough to reach all the way to floor, but long enough to end only a few inches above Hallie’s ankles.

Bryce liked this one better. It still hide her legs, which he didn’t like, but the neckline— Bryce lost himself for a moment in the view of Hallie’s partially exposed, firm jutting breasts.

But it was only for a moment, because Hallie’s command was still in his head, and it pulled him back out and returned him to his work.

Hallie frowned again as she stood at the hall mirror, turning first one way, then the other. She looked indecisive; maybe she liked the dress in part, or maybe she liked certain features of it and disliked others— that would have been understandable, Bryce felt that way about the dress himself. But for whatever reason, she didn’t seem totally satisfied. She went back in the changing room and took another dress with her.

This one was silver when she wore it back out into the hall. It had a long slit in the skirt along each leg, but the neckline was more modest. It showed just the beginning of her cleavage of nothing else, which was a disappointing tease. But Bryce was pleased to see Hallie’s lovely slim legs again, through the opening in each slit of the dress’s skirt. Its material was shimmery, and the overhead lighting seemed to wash over it in waves, which was a stunning effect. Nevertheless, Hallie seemed unimpressed with it, and she returned to the changing room with another dress to try.

When she came out in the fourth dress, she was holding herself differently. Hallie always walked with a natural confidence, always held herself with certainty, always seemed aware of her own specialness. But this natural quality of hers had been missing when she’d worn the other dresses. They had clearly been wrong, and she had felt their wrongness, so she had not been able to carry herself with her usual air of pride while she’d worn them.

But she walked with certainty now. She knew this dress was right, and that was obvious in every step she took. She was confident in her beauty again. And she was so right to be— this dress was the best one, and it complimented her body in a way that Bryce couldn’t believe.

The dress was black, and much shorter than the others, so her legs were fully highlighted. The line of its skirt rested a quarter of the way above her knee, and it was so tight the black velvet material pulled into folds over Hallie’s body as it hugged around it. It was held up by thin straps, which sat close on either side of Hallie’s breasts. And the neckline of this one was curving and circular, but it curved low, sitting about halfway down Hallie’s breasts and the lowest point of it dipping slightly lower than that. High enough to hide her nipples but otherwise displaying her cleavage entirely.

Hallie was smiling in satisfaction— and she admired her image in the mirror when she reached it. She seemed to know— “This is the one I want.” She returned to the dressing room to take it off, and put her own dress back on.

Bryce had stayed on the line with his procession of colleagues throughout the entire experience. He had served his responsibilities effectively (apart from the momentary lapse when Hallie had tried on the second dress). He’d still sounded and felt like his old self, and had felt this way even while he’d watched Hallie try on her different dresses.

When he hadn’t been on a call, he’d been returning emails— then when he finished sending emails, he went back to making phone calls, and giving his reports direction. Everyone he’d spoken to had been taken aback when they’d heard from him.

Hallie came back out of the changing room in her own dress, and handed the hanger which had the black velvet dress hanging from it to the staff member. He carried it to the front counter, and Bryce paid for it there, and then directed one of the staff members to load Hallie’s dress into the trunk of his limo with the help of his driver.

Then he and Hallie walked out, Bryce still on the phone as he did.

They reached the limo; the staff member had returned to the store, and Bryce’s driver was again seated in the front seat.

Hallie stopped Bryce with a gentle touch of her hand. “Now back to me.” The whisper was husky, and close enough to his ear that he felt the warmth of her breath on his face.

At that moment, Hallie took Bryce’s focus entirely. She was the only thing he could see. His awareness had become trance-like and slow… drifting… his mind hazy as he looked at her and heard her words. The hand that held his phone fell to hang at his waist.

Hallie smiled at this response. “Get rid of the call.”

Unthinkingly, Bryce’s hand shifted to hit the speaker-phone button on his screen, sharing the sound of the call. The person on the other end of it was audibly asking “Can I get approval—?”

One more tap, and Bryce had hung up before they could even finish their question. They called back as soon as they were hung up on, but Bryce ignored their return call.

He and Hallie climbed into the limo’s backseat again.

“Now you can take us to my house,” Bryce told his driver— and they were on their way.

Hallie sat on Bryce’s lap again, and he was thrilled that she’d bestowed this privilege on him. She affected him so powerfully, and in so many ways: stunned his mind, aroused his body, threw his emotions into chaos. He almost couldn’t believe it; that one person could inspire so many different responses and reactions at once.

Then Bryce’s phone rang and interrupted his mental digression. Bryce took it out and looked to see who it was.

Cindy was calling again.

“You may answer,” Hallie granted.

He answered. Hallie was sitting close enough to him that Bryce knew she could hear Cindy’s voice coming out through his phone’s speaker, too.

“Mr. Towner? I’ve got the charity administrator on the other line, calling about tomorrow night’s event. Can I patch her through to you?”

Hallie nodded yes.

“Yes, Cindy. Patch her through.”

Cindy did.

“Am I speaking with Bryce Towner?”

“This is he,” Bryce affirmed.

“We’re so happy to have you attending,” the charity administrator gushed. “You and Selene are always welcome attendees. The two of you are both so generous.”

The sound of Selene’s name recalled a memory to his mind. Bryce was remembering the words which had been etched into his heart and mind in front of the junkyard’s car crusher. And the memory was so vivid that he needed to express it verbally. But even as he recited the words, he felt where they had been etched inside.

“There is no Selene,” Bryce stated flatly. “Only Hallie.”

A pause on the line’s other end. “I’m very sorry to hear that,” the administrator said. She did sound sad. “She was always so—“

“She’s nothing,” Bryce hissed. He didn’t want to permit the woman to speak if she was going to speak praise of Selene. Hallie was the only one who deserved to be praised— Selene didn’t. And Bryce wouldn’t let anyone give away what was rightfully Hallie’s to the undeserving.

“Only Hallie matters,” Bryce corrected the administrator, sharply. “Extend every courtesy to her.”

Hallie kissed Bryce’s lips deeply. His phone was still against his ear— the call continued, but Hallie was kissing him with concentrated effort, enfolding his lips with hers, making little pulls at them from what seemed like every possible angle. He was thinking of her lips more than he was thinking of the call, and feeling like the limo was spinning around him again, like he’d fallen back into the seat, as Hallie pressed closer. Dimly, he understood that she was rewarding him, understood well enough to feel happy that he was worthy of being rewarded by her. And worthy of being rewarded like this.

“The pre-dinner is at 5,” the administrator said. The words were very far away as long as Hallie’s lips were so close. “The dinner itself actually starts at 6. We’ll see you then.”

Bryce hung up without comment. Hallie ended the kiss, but remained seated on his lap.

Soon the limo was pulling up to the front gate of Bryce’s house. Once more, the security guard on duty waved it through, after first verifying that Bryce was inside.

Unlike the last time Bryce had pulled up here earlier that night, he wasn’t looking out the window at his house. But Hallie was— she was watching in awe as the limo advanced towards the entrance, and Bryce was watching her, endeared by her reaction.

“I’ve never seen such a huge property,” Hallie spoke, and the awe translated into her voice. Her eyes drank in the house greedily as she gave it a complete scan. “I’ve never seen a place that’s so… mansion-like.”

The limo stopped outside the entrance and parked. Hallie stared at the entrance just like she’d stared at the rest of the house. If it was possible, now that she was right up close and could see it that much better, she looked even more awed than before.

Bryce was still only looking at her.

From far away, the sound of a closing door registered. The driver had exited the limo. When Bryce’s door opened beside him, he understood that the man had come back to let them out. Bryce took the cue, and stepped onto the driveway; then waited for Hallie to join him.

As she followed, Bryce turned to his driver again. “I may need you again today, so stay put for now,” he told him, and by the time he was done speaking, Hallie was beside him.

The driver gave a nod of acknowledgement and got back in the car.

Bryce guided Hallie toward the front door, placing a protective hand in the small of her back. When they reached it, he opened it to let them both in.

Inside, the house was incredibly damaged. The memories of causing this damage had not been summoned back to him in the way that crushing Selene’s car had, when he and Hallie had first left the junkyard. So as Bryce entered with Hallie he was taking everything in with fresh eyes.

The entry hall was littered with smashed picture frames. The drywall in the walls on both sides of it was bashed in and misshapen as if beaten at erratically. The hutch, to one side of the door, and the sculpture, to the other, both still stood. But the bases of each were surrounded by more broken picture frames, and crumbled drywall, respectively.

Bryce turned towards Hallie as she was seeing this. She looked over the destruction once, and then asked, “What happened?”

“I don’t remember any of it,” Bryce confessed, feeling a sudden urgency. It was crucial that he be honest her, and crucial that she understand. He wanted her to know he was telling the truth, wanted her to know he would never keep anything back from her. “I remember riding in the limo on the way to pick you up. Then I remember riding together to go to the Motorsports junkyard, and everything that happened after that. But I don’t remember anything from before— I remember none of this. My night before leaving to get you in the early morning is just… a vague memory of anger… I was filled with anger…”

Bryce gritted the last word out, feeling the ghost of it. His anger was mostly restrained, only dimly remembered. There was enough of it for him to bite the word out, but not enough for him to really experience it.

“…I only remember the feeling,” Bryce concluded, the ghost passing. “Nothing else.”

Hallie continued looking around the entryway. Bryce might have expected shock from her, but she was only taking in their environment with an expression of open acceptance, willing to see what it had to offer, and completely receptive to it.

She examined the cracks in the drywall more closely, feeling the split of one them with her fingertips. Her expression of openness was replaced by an expression of amazement— as if she couldn’t quite believe what she saw.

Bryce led Hallie further down the hall, into the house, over the remains of broken pictures and smashed up drywall remnants; her look of amazement grew.

They arrived at the dining room— stopping in its doorway, between its open double doors.

Hallie saw the tipped, smashed up china cabinet, with all the destroyed shards of plates and glassware beneath it. Her eyes widened as she looked over it, and her mouth formed into a soundless ‘o.’

Bryce let her stare for a few minutes, then guided her the rest of the way along the main floor, until they reached the living room.It was in worse shape than the front hall or the dining room— the state of it it even shocked Bryce.

The family portrait was gone from above the fireplace. It was now smashed on the floor instead. All the couch’s pillows and cushions had been thrown around the space. And in the far corner where the piano had once stood lay its smashed up remains, beneath what was left of the chandelier that had crashed down on it.

Hallie ignored the rest of the destruction in the room, having eyes only for the destroyed piano. She walked toward it. Bryce kept pace with her, not wanting to be even the length of one room apart from her. Standing at the piano’s side, she reached out and touched part of the destroyed chandelier’s metal frame. “Wow…” She murmured, as she ran her hand along bent metal.

“I don’t remember any of this,” Bryce restated.

It struck him as unusual that Halle wasn’t more disturbed by what she was seeing here— the scenes of destruction she was witnessing should have weirded her out more than they had. But she was fascinated instead; fascinated, even bordering on appreciative, with the way she was reverently touching the broken chandelier…

“Can you give me a tour of the rest of the house?” Hallie asked, taking her hand back and facing Bryce again.

“Of course,” Bryce responded. He held her hand in his, and led her from the living room, but was careful to keep the pressure of his grip light.

The two of them moved on into the house.

Then went up the stairs together; Hallie was clearly absorbing everything she walked. In the upstairs hallway, there was streaks of something on the walls which looked vaguely soap-like, and chaos visible through open doors. Almost every room they saw had been at least lightly damaged. The destruction even extended into the bedrooms of Bryce’s children.

At last they reached the master bedroom together— Hallie stopped just inside its door. She looked at the scene before her with great interest: seemingly more captivated by it than what she had seen before.

The mirror that had hung on the bedroom wall had been smashed on the floor; but Hallie seemed especially focused on what remained of the bed. Its frame had collapsed under a fallen wardrobe, but that wardrobe had itself collapsed after hitting it, and the pieces of it had fallen to the floor so the surface of the bed was visible.

The mattress and the bedsheets on it were clawed and torn; and the claw marks dug into it deeply. They had savagely shredded the fabric. Hallie stood considering these things for a moment, then commented “Wow,” again, softly.

Bryce shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

After a few more minutes Hallie seemed satisfied by what she’d seen, so the two of them went back through the house, passing more tableaus of random damage. They walked down the stairs holding hands, then crossed through the living room. Hallie took in the damage she’d already seen just as appreciatively the second time, though it wasn’t new to her.

The repeat view had an effect on Bryce too. Somehow, the destruction was even more notable the second time. It struck Bryce more than when they had been in this room just moments ago.

They finally arrived at Bryce’s home office on the main floor, with its giant bookshelf and fine carpet, its several computer screens, tv and desk with a landline sitting on top of it.

Hallie considered it, having never seen it before. She dropped his hand and stepped deeper into the room. Bryce was still closer to its threshold.

Only light destruction had touched this place; a few books thrown off the shelf, but otherwise almost nothing compared to what some of the other rooms had sustained.

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Bryce said to Hallie, as she walked along one wall.

Hallie paused, with one hand resting on a shelf, her fingers at the base of one book’s spine. She stood that way for a long second, deciding, then finally said, “I’d like to show something to you.”

She shifted in Bryce’s direction, then beckoned him deeper into the room, motioning in the direction of Bryce’s desk. “Sit in your desk chair.”

Bryce walked to his desk chair. Once seated, he felt Hallie come up behind him. He was deprived of her image of her when she did.

She was as close to him as in the car; closer, pressed right to the back of his chair, with her arms wrapped around the sides of it. It was the only thing separating them— if it weren’t there, she would have been conformed perfectly to his back. He could feel her through the chair. She was right behind him, and once more her scent filled his world. So close… and that scent brought memories of her body… her beauty… if she would only sit on his lap again…

She ran her hands over his chest, making his body shake from her touch as she whispered in his ear. “Bring out that inner beast for me,” she entreated him breathily. Her voice kept its melodious tone even when it spoke beneath her breath. He couldn’t see any part of her but her hands, roaming over his covered chest, but he could hear her. And even in a whisper her voice was so beautiful, so soothing and perfect to listen to, that hearing her was almost a fair trade for losing his view of her.

He was overwhelmed by how close she was, how she touched him, how she smelled— but even through this, he reflected on what she was really asking him to do. And he wasn’t sure if he could do it or not. But something had destroyed the house, and it seemed likely that it had been him, though he had no memory of it. How could she have seen the same destruction that he had, and then decide to summon the thing that had caused it? That wasn’t a sane reaction. She was a bit… crazy. Wanting that was crazy.

But even if it was crazy— even if she was crazy— this was what she wanted, so it became what Bryce wanted too. He wanted to give her what she’d asked for, and become the beast for her, but he had no clue where to start.

“Bring him fully out,” Hallie urged, and he didn’t have time to worry about his cluelessness anymore.

His mind absorbed her words: the effect was immediate. Bryce’s head spun, and he closed his eyes.

His heart rate sped up— pumping at almost double speed, but it didn’t feel to Bryce like it was pumping blood. It was pumping animal rage, spreading it through his body in record time so he could feel it inside, all throughout every part of himself. His eyelids were flickering even as he held them closed; his body, his muscles were tensing everywhere— he could feel that even the muscles in his neck were straining, doubtless making his veins visible through the surface of his skin there. It was a primal feeling coming over him now, and he had no choice— all he could do was follow it.

Bryce arched his back, arcing his face up toward the ceiling with still-closed eyes. His lips pursed forward, forming a silent howl, reaching towards a missing moon that was far away from him, many floors above, outside of the house, and hidden by the cover of daylight.

But though Bryce was blinded to it by practicalities— by the fact that his eyes were still closed and would remain so until the time came to open them again, he knew it was there. He felt its presence— it called to him. He was a wolf beneath it; he belonged to it, this primal feeling in him bound him to it, so he kept himself arced up beneath it, reaching for it, facing towards it, imagining he could feel its moonlight on his face— he almost could.

His mouth was still working in his strained position— now it moved as though he was firecely biting at something. He felt so strongly that it shook him in his chair— rocking it from one side to the other, then from front to back.

Hallie’s hands had left him— by sound Bryce understood she’d moved around to stand in front of his chair. She’d be able to see what was happening to him from that view, but Bryce was barely aware of this, just as he was barely aware of everything that wasn’t the feeling.

He strained further. His eyelids lifted for just a brief glimpse, and he saw Hallie’s face, watching him interestedly— noticing as his body contorted and grew, noticing as his clothes became tighter to his skin. This image meant nothing to him; he was focused on the feeling of expanding— on the irritation of too-tight material constraining him.

At last sound came; not a howl to the moon, but a growl. It was resonant; loud enough to go beyond the walls of the home office and echo throughout the entire rest of the house. The growl passed out, traveled the house and then echoed back, returning to the home office again and sounding warped after its return journey.

Making the sound and hearing it transformed Bryce more; there were not so many thoughts in in his head as there had been. The world didn’t seem quite so complex. In fact, it was all seeming very simple to him. He growled again, even louder this time— it was a fierce sound, a fearsome sound, guttural and base, primativistic and reaching back to some pre-evolved form of being— before walking on two legs, before language. And the world simplified more; Bryce’s mind simplified more.

The world was easy to understand and inhabit, and Bryce cared about almost nothing in it— cared about nothing but feeling good and doing what he wanted, with no thought of what consequences there might be. Potential consequences didn’t exist for him anymore— there was nothing but the here and now, and nothing mattered except what felt good. Bryce’s mind was almost thoughtless now, ready to run completely on instinct, completely on emotion, using practically no language at all anymore.

Bryce felt tension in his neck again— the muscles there were strainig even harder, but even his simpler mind was able to recognize the feeling of more… space… there. It felt like his neck had grown immensely— and if he could have remembered words, if he could have asked Hallie, she would have confirmed this for him.

Now that feeling of expanding space was in his chest; the expansion was happening there, stretching his shirt further. Finally the material couldn’t take it anymore— three shirt buttons popped off. Then he felt the expansion in his back; it was growing rapidly, and the sound that followed Bryce’s growl was the sound of shredding fabric as it tore in multiple places along his back at once, to accommodate this growth.

The transformation was too intense. Bryce gripped the armrests of his chair on instinct, and arched his neck back further, moving it even closer towards the ceiling.

His right hand on the right armrest tightened just slightly more than his left hand did— and the sound of the chair’s wood breaking apart filled Bryce’s ears. The armrest came off of the chair into his hand, and Bryce threw it roughly aside. The fragment of wood hit the base of the bookshelf with a clatter. The only thing inside Bryce was the animal rage that was tearing through, the anger it felt so good to express and vent out through guttural growling, through tensing and tightening of muscles and grip.

There was no thought anymore, no mental restraint; he was completely in the hands of his impulses, had completely descended into animal and lost the man inside. He’d gone even further than the night before, when he had still remembered who he was at the time of the house’s destruction, had remembered what he was doing and why. Those memories were not present in this state— he only knew the feeling of anger, only knew how good it felt to direct that anger outwards and lash out with it.

Slowly, Bryce’s eyes opened again. The room was blurry around him for a moment— bloodshot vision like the kind he’d woken up with at the moment of his final transformation, only even blurrier. His eyes were even more strained, more deeply red even than the previous night, if he could have seen them as Hallie could.

There was a vague memory of that night for a second. Then the impulse to growl rose in him again. He followed it thoughtlessly, and it chased all remaining memory away.

When that growl ended, Bryce shook his head, trying to shake his vision clear. To his thoughtless mind, this response made sense. The blur cleared after a few seconds, and he could see around him again. Nothing in the room made sense to him— nothing in it was recognizable, or nameable, except for Hallie, in front of him.

Hallie. He felt a deep, unnameable craving for her. It ran deeper than blood, settled deeper than bone. Right in the core of him, he needed her in a way that went beyond words— craved her, craved everything he could get from her, and he didn’t even know what that meant anymore. He only knew that he was perfectly attuned to her presence— he could sense her, feel that she was there— only knew that he wanted to be even closer to her, as close as possible, always and forever, even if those concepts were a little beyond his mind in its simpler form. The woman in front of him was Hallie, and he wanted her, and he needed her, and he craved her. Speechlessly.

Hallie looked pleased by the expression of lust she read in Bryce’s eyes— and pleased too, by the love that was also there. But this went over Bryce’s head. All he could do was feel— Hallie— he needed her.

Bryce stood from the desk chair, trying to make sense of the office around him as he stumbled through it. Everything in it was still unintelligble. His simplified mind could not identify the objects he was confronted with, or discern their purpose.

Bryce passed his computer; he did not recognize it as such. It was as nameless and insignificant as all the other clutter in the room. It was only a black shape to him, which he could only stare at in confusion, having long since forgotten the purpose of it.

After a few seconds of confused staring, he lost interest in it. It was really Hallie he wanted— it was only Hallie that mattered.

He moved towards her, as she gazed at him with a look of curiosity. She had watched his transformation come over him; and even as he wanted to pounce, and press closer to her, she was still watching him with wide eyes— apparently fascinated by him in this form. She seemed to recognize the new strength that was in him— and the simplicity of his mind; seemed to recognize his immaturity, even if she didn’t know the extent of it.

Every muscle in him still strained against his lust for Hallie— the veins in his neck popped out through his skin’s surface as they did, some veins in his face even joining them.

“I want to see how well you can function in this state,” Hallie admitted. “I’m curious. Tell me, who led the acquisition of the european company you mentioned earlier?”

Bryce looked at her in puzzlement. The words were practically meaningless to him.

Hallie tried a different question. “What’s your secretary’s name?”

Bryce gave her another puzzled look.

Hallie pointed at the black square which had confused Bryce before; as soon as she did, Bryce understood, senseless as he was, that she wanted him to name it for her. And so the exact information needed to provide this want came into his head, summoned by her invitation and emerging from his dormant self, the keeper of all necessary information. He remembered what it was again, and said, “That’s my work computer.”

“How much money is in your bank account?” Hallie asked next.

Bryce was back to staring at her without understanding. The only answer he could produce was, “A lot.”

The series of confusing questions frustrated Bryce. He grew angrier. But even in such a wild state, on some level he still knew he belonged to Hallie and knew that he must be guided by her— so he did not vent this anger at her. But he did let out another loud growl to ease some of his dissatisfaction.

Hallie moved to sit on Bryce’s desk, keeping Bryce’s attention as she did. She spread her legs, sliding them slowly apart and exposing her inner thighs. Even though he was beyond thought, Bryce was still struck by how sexy she was.

Hallie motioned for Bryce to come over; and Bryce rushed to her.

She ran her hand along the front of Bryce’s shirt again, feeling out its partial buttoning. Bryce read her desire in the movement; she wanted the shirt open.

Easily done. Bryce grabbed hold of his shirt himself, with a quick shift of his arms. His fingers bunched in the fabric on either sides of its buttonline, and he heaved his arms back, feeling the muscles in his shoulder blades bulge as he did. He ripped each handful of fabric back, splitting the front of his shirt open. The remaining buttons came off— the line of fabric that had supported them shredded. The shirt was divided from itself, and separated apart.

Hallie was wearing a look of amazement as she considered Bryce’s now-bare chest; even Bryce could feel it was different: built and strong, powerful. It was sculpted out, as if had been built up one deadlift at a time. The power in it was obvious, even to Hallie, and if Bryce could have thought, he might have put together that this was the source of Hallie’s amazement.

Hallie touched Bryce’s chest, running her fingernails up it, over the veins that were bursting through the surface of Bryce’s skin there, too.

“You look just like a body builder.” Hallie sounded amused. “It’s amazing. But I want to see what you can do with all this strength, Bryce.” Hallie added. “Show me.”

She looked past Bryce’s shoulder— his eyes followed hers— back out through Bryce’s office doorway into the hall— at the wall there—

He knew exactly what Hallie needed to see.

He turned from the desk, and rushed into the hall. With no more effort than he’d expanded to rip his shirt open, he broke through the drywall with a fist. Forcing through, shattering it, feeling around the space once he’d gotten inside the wall, searching out what he was looking for, his muscles again bursting his skin’s surface as he did. His immense strength had made it easy— and he followed his impulses without having to expend any thought on them.

His hand touched metal. He’d found the steel pipe inside.

If he’d been in his right mind, he would have remembered this was the water pipe that ran water up to the master bathroom. Bryce’s hand gripped the pipe, tightened around it— then he ripped it back out with him, taking it out of the wall, and breaking the whole in the drywall even wider with the eruption of it. Then he turned back to face Hallie, who he’d left sitting on the desk.

She’d since stood, and come to stand in his office doorway; Bryce brandished the broken steel pipe so she could see.

He felt water— and looked down. The part of the pipe that remained in the wall was gushing it out since it had lost its connection to the rest of the pipe above. This water flooded the hall floor, would flood the entire house if it was left to pour out freely. It gushed and gushed with no sign of stopping.

Bryce didn’t care. He wouldn’t stop it; he wouldn’t do anything about it. He would leave it to flood. The eventuality of a ruined house was one more potential consequence which had since become insignificant to him. It had felt good to break the pipe— it had been fun, and Hallie had wanted to see it. That was what mattered. Consequences beyond that didn’t exist— and even if they did, they were irrelevant, incomprehensible to Bryce, and he didn’t care about them.

Hallie smiled. “Drop the pipe, Bryce,” she told him. “Back to normal for me now.”

The transformation back was briefer than the transformation to beast had been. But even when he came back to sanity, he remained unconcerned with the water that was flooding the hall. He would leave it to flood just as his animal self had.

He was amazed that he’d pulled it out in the first place, though. He’d had no idea he was capable of that kind of strength. Maybe Hallie hadn’t known either— he remembered that she’d been curious— but she had summoned it in him. He was once again filled with gratitude for her, but she was already speaking.

“I’m going to go home now, Bryce. Have your driver give me a ride back. You stay here— I’ll see you tomorrow. Make sure you come to pick me up in time for us to arrive for the pre-dinner at 5. I’ll be ready for you, and wearing the dress you bought me today.” She kissed him on the cheek, and headed back towards the living room, to go through to the entrance of the house.

Bryce didn’t follow her— couldn’t, since she’d told him to stay. But he did call out to his driver, and told him to give her a ride home, and then get the bag with her dress in it out of the trunk for her so she could take it inside when she went in.

Then he was at loose ends without her, for the rest of that day, and into its night.

While he waited for time to pass, he thought of a surprise he could give Hallie… and decided he wanted to surprise her with it at the event the next night. He called around to arrange for it, and then called his driver too to send him home for the day. Before relieving him, he arranged the event’s pick-up and drop-off times with him. Then he said goodbye. After that Bryce was at loose ends again.

Eventually he was feeling tired enough to go upstairs and sleep on the collapsed bed. He hadn’t felt tired when he’d transformed, or when he’d ripped the pipe out, but the intense mental shift he’d undergone seemed to have had a residual effect, and he slept deeply, all through that night and most of the next day, until it was time to get ready to leave and pick up Hallie.

He’d woken exactly when he needed to without an alarm, his mind remembering Hallie’s command even when it was sleeping.

He dressed himself in a black dress suit which he knew would match Hallie’s black velvet— his driver had already been scheduled to take him to the event, so his car was already waiting for him outside once he was ready.

Hallie was ready, too, when they pulled up to her house. She was wearing the dress Bryce had bought for her, as promised, and it looked as good on her as it had in the store. Maybe even better, since she was illuminated by natural light now and not artificial retail lighting.

But she’d dressed up her outfit; she wore a string of pearls around her neck, which had a matching pearl bracelet that was three pearl-lines wide. She wore black nylon stockings on her legs, and she’d put on a pair of tall heels that had a thick wedge under the toe. They were patterned in a black and white zebra stripe, while the base of them— including the wedge under the toe, the underside of the shoe and the heel itself— was plain black in contrast.

She’d done her makeup, too, smokey eyelids and fine mascara, and the lipstick on her lips had painted them several shades darker than nude. She looked stunning.

She didn’t sit on his lap this time as they rode together, but she held hands with him throughout their limo ride.

She kissed his cheek. “I want you to be overly affectionate with me all the time that we’re there.”

The instruction settled in his mind; Bryce wanted to be affectionate with her— overly affectionate with her— and he wanted to do it where everyone could see. He wanted everyone to know just how he felt about her, wanted to show it to them again and again. He wanted to do it to such an extreme that no one would be able to miss it. If they were the talk of the event in all Bryce’s social circles after the fact, Bryce would consider it a job well done.

The limo pulled up in front of the gala’s entrance. There was a long red carpet extending to the front doors from the street. Photographers and journalists stationed in front of rolling cameras were standing on either side of it, sectioned off by red velvet ropes. Other attendees dotted the carpet, some of them walking further towards the doors, some of them stopping to pose for pictures, or to speak into a microphone and camera about the importance of the gala and how proud they were to be a part of it.

“Ready?” Bryce asked Hallie.

Hallie smiled a wide smile, and nodded quickly.

The door was opened for them again, and they emerged, Hallie hanging on Bryce’s arm as they stepped onto the carpet. He was proud to be seen with her, proud to be with her and so happy she was there. He wanted all the cameras to capture them together; wanted all the photographers to immortalize the moment of them walking; and wanted all the cameramen to follow them with their lenses. Hallie looked so incredible in her dress she deserved to be seen in it— and he wanted to be seen with her, because in his mind she was the most beautiful woman in all the world. And anyone who saw them together, whether in a photograph, or on television, would see that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and that she had chosen him.

Bryce didn’t know how he’d ever been so lucky. But the fact that she had chosen him was a more impressive accomplishment for him than anything he had ever done through Towner Industries. And he wanted everyone to see it.

Hallie kept herself linked through his arm, and waved and blew kisses to the cameras as they walked past. Bryce waved too, with his free hard, just feeling so ecstatic to be with her.

Inside there were a sea of familiar faces— important moguls like him, and other celebrities, many of them people he’d met with and interacted with more than once at events like these, or in the course of running his business.

They all remembered him, and they were all keen to chat with him and his guest, about the state of their lives or the importance of that night’s cause. He and Hallie made the rounds this way, through fancy dining room, and everyone enjoyed their company as they went. Bryce was only too happy to introduce everyone to Hallie. She belonged in his world, and he was so glad she was finally becoming a part of it, and being welcomed into it with open arms. She had such grace that she was a natural fit.

Bryce kept his arm wrapped around Hallie the whole time, and she smiled so vibrantly it seemed that she was shining. At every possible occasion, he stole kisses off her cheeks and her lips, and whispered affection in her ear, making her laugh and flush. It felt like heaven— to be here, to be so close to her, wrapped around her, and not have to pull away. To kiss her cheek or taste her lips, knowing they were being seen— and seeing that everyone else there was charmed by the way they were carrying on.

The pre-dinner passed quickly; and before Bryce knew it, he and Hallie were being seated at their table with some of the people they’d already been talking to that night. The dinner was delicious— fine wine and fine food, and they kept up pleasant conversation with the fellow guests at their table. Then when they were done eating, their plates were cleared; there was still some unstructured visiting time before the speeches would start later.

Bryce couldn’t believe how smoothly the event had gone— and he was glad that it had. The night had been perfect, and Hallie seemed to think so too. She was still looking radiantly happy, as they stayed sitting at their table.

This meant everything was perfectly lined up for Bryce’s surprise. Speaking of which— it should be any minute now— he’d called and arranged yesterday, they should be here— he felt a twinge of worry.

But Hallie turned to look at him then, and they both shared a glance again. He had his arm along the top of her chair. They were just looking at each other… and forgetting the rest of the company at their table, and the conversation around them. And the others at the table had looked away; were letting them have a private moment.

Bryce even forgot about his planned surprise. She was so beautiful… he loved her so much…

“Mr. Towner,” a man’s voice spoke. “Your special delivery, sir.”

The man had arrived right on time; he could surprise Hallie after all.

“Thank you,” Bryce said, looking away from Hallie to face the man instead. “Put it on the table, and open it please.”

The man produced a cloth ring box, set it on the table between them, and opened it.

There were two wedding rings inside.

Bryce turned back to Hallie— she was staring at them, and Bryce thought he saw a flicker of annoyance cross her face.

“They’re all yours,” Bryce told her. The man had already left.

“How could you do this on your own without asking me? I can’t believe you’d show off your wealth this way.” She started speaking in a low voice, but as she went on, she spoke with more volume, obviously becoming increasingly upset. “Do you think that I can be bought? Don’t you understand that your money doesn’t matter to me? I want your soul, not your money. That’s what I care about.”

She shook her head. “You’ve gone too far, this time, Bryce. You need to be punished for this.”

Bryce felt himself plunging into disappointment. He didn’t want to be punished— hadn’t wanted to upset her like this, had only wanted to surprise her, had thought she would like it.

But she was already climbing onto his lap again. This seemed odd to Bryce; having her on his lap was a reward, not a punishment.

She leaned in towards his ear. “When I tell you to, you will revert back to your old self, and become the man you were before you met me.”

Panic spiked in Bryce’s chest. “No, please, anything but that!”

Hallie ignored him. “And you won’t remember anything that’s happened since you met me. You won’t remember anything you’ve done for me, or with me, won’t remember me at all. It’s all going to be a gap in your memory.”

“Please, Hallie, have mercy on me,” Bryce pleaded. He knew it wasn’t his place to question her, but he couldn’t help himself. The thought of actually suffering this punishment was unbearable. “You know how much I love being my new self. Don’t make me go back! Don’t make me be old Bryce again, I can’t stand him!”

“I know,” Hallie said, with a rueful smile. “That’s why I’m punishing you this way. It’s the only thing that will teach you. But don’t worry. I’ll be in touch with you. Now, Bryce— revert.”

He felt things shifting in his mind again. His memory of the short term past was lost, and he did not recognize the woman who was already walking away from the table.

Bryce felt normal as he stayed sitting there; he was the same Bryce Towner he’d always been. Though he didn’t remember how he’d gotten to this event… actually, he didn’t remember much of anything in his recent past. There were a lot of gaps in his memory, and no hint of what it was that was hidden behind them.

Somehow, even though he couldn’t remember, Bryce still felt a heavy sense of sadness inside, like his entire world had fallen apart around him. The world had ended, and there would never be light or happiness in it for him ever again. Something that had filled his world… something that had been in his world… or been his world… was gone… and he was so unhappy without it. His long term past was accessible, even if his short term past was not, and Bryce knew he had never felt this unhappy, until now.

He wished he knew where the feeling was coming from. But he couldn’t remember that either. All he knew was that he felt miserable— he felt miserable, and he couldn’t remember why… he was himself, he was Bryce Towner, CEO of Towner Industries just like always… but something was missing. Something should have been there— there should have been something in him… or someone with him? He couldn’t remember. He should have been able to place the missing thing, to name it, but he couldn’t. It was hidden by the gaps in his memory just like everything else. It was just… gone.