The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

There was no mental cop dream that night. Lexi may have been completely right about the consent part of the activity. He kind of felt good about himself too. He managed to help someone with his ability. He caused no harm. That he knew of or could imagine anyway.

Two weeks or so later, a Saturday in fact, he was late getting to the bookstore to open. She was standing, leaning against the door when he showed up. Today she had on a short skirt, half way to her knees, a pair of over the knees red socks, black flats, a white blouse with a blue sweater. She still had the black thick rimmed glasses and her hair in a bun. The combination was more than pleasant, but it still did nothing to display her shape. Oh, other than her legs perhaps.

“You’re late,” she said, pointing to the placard with the store hours.

“Yep. I’m late. I’ll be sure to tell the owner. We wouldn’t want employees to be acting out on their hours, nope.”

“You own the store?” She was puzzled.

“Nope. Not me. The job pays minimum wage too.”

“Oh,” she smiled at him anyway. “So why are you late?”

“Cause I’m a bad boy and slept in.”

“Sure, that’s an excuse.”

“Besides, I’m in charge anyway. No one else works here really.”

“So, you could walk away and never open it...”

“And I would still be paid until asked why I don’t keep coming in; and I’d tell them it was boring?” He had unlocked the door, turned on the lights and set the ‘OPEN’ sign in place. He dropped his backpack, pretty empty really, behind the counter and pulled out the stool he usually sat on.

“Now then, Miss Lexi,” he said, “How may I help you today?”

She looked around a moment before stepping around the counter and giving him a big hug.

“That,” she grinned, “for one thing.”

“What is that about?”

“The last couple weeks have been magnificent!” She almost bounced on her toes a moment. “I went out to the museum, I saw a couple movies, I ate out at Lloyd’s, I went shopping, I was even in a mall!”

He let out a small laugh.

“Okay, so, I guess what I did helped.”

“Yes, it helped a lot. I have only one complaint.”

“Given how much you paid, I suspect having a complaint is pointless.”

“Oh? I think you might be able to fix this complaint though.”

“Okay, give. It’s not like I’m doing anything right now. What’s your complaint?”

“I don’t really know any people. So I have no one to do all those things with.”

He blinked. He could see she would have issues with not having a lot of friends, or acquaintances even, since before lately she never left her home. Suddenly being able to leave the apartment wouldn’t somehow give her a pile of friends to be with.

“You do get,” he asked, “just by being out and about, you will meet new people. Eventually, someone will talk to you, you’ll end up having conversations, and eventually, some really nice guy will ask you out.”

“Yes, I’ll be happy to go out with you.”

He did a double take.

“I,” he really did not expect that. He reviewed his words in his head. He walked right into that. “I didn’t actually ask you out.”

She pouted. Her lower lip stuck out just a bit and quivering sadly.

“Does that mean you won’t take me out for dinner and a movie maybe? Perhaps we should start with a stop at the coffee shop first and see if you can get me to give you my phone number?”

“Just who is asking who out here?,” he grinned. This little trap had to have been planned, “I would love to have coffee with you. After that, we could see what happens. You might not like me much afterwards.”

“Playing hard to get?”

“The right answer should be ‘yes’ shouldn’t it?,” he smiled at her.

“Yep. When is lunch? I’ll come back then. Or. I can just hide out in your office. That chair was comfy enough.”

“Tell you what. I’ll meet you at Carlo’s, over on the corner over there,” he pointed a direction for her. “How is about two o’clock for you?”

“Okay,” said Lexi. She glanced about the bookstore without moving for a couple moments.

“Is there something you need help with?”

“uh. Occupying myself with something while waiting until my date.” She grinned at him and then headed towards the door. He smiled and shook his head as the little bell over the door jingled as it closed.

“You know those glasses hide your face,” he told her across the little table.

“They aren’t really necessary I guess. Used to them,” she uttered this last under her breath almost. He heard it anyway.

“May I?”

“May you what?”

He reached out and touched the arms of the glasses with his fingers but waited for permission.

“Okay, I ?, okay, go ahead.”

With care he drew the glasses off her face, placing them on the table. Then he stood up and got behind her. With the same caution of making sure he didn’t surprise her, he undid her bun so the flowing tresses dropped down her back. The hair was soft to the touch. With all solemnity possible, he placed the elastic band that held things in place down on the table and returned to his seat.

With her hair framing her face, Edward was struck by how pretty Lexi was. The gray eyes seemed almost silver in hue as she smiled, an act giving a glow to her.

“Very lovely. Are the glasses really necessary? They really seem to be just flat glass. Without them you look beautiful.”

“You don’t like the glasses?”

“Au contraire, mademoiselle! Glasses tend to be very hot on a woman,” he said, “To me that librarian look is sexy but you do glow with warmth without the glasses and with your hair down.”

“I don’t know. I can go see my optometrist,” she was prevaricating. The glasses were indeed just little plates, not optics. “I feel more protected with them on.”

“That’s kind of what I thought. You’re hiding yourself still, even though we’ve gotten you out of your house without the anxiety you used to associate with it.”

“I suppose it’s a habit and so. I,” she suddenly put the glasses back on and started to redo her bun, looking over his shoulder at someone else being seated. He was going to stop her but decided instead to look back over his shoulder at the people being seated.

It was a pair of women, both chatting away in voices producing enough sound to be present but not pronounced in enough volume to make out the words. Not that he wanted to. One was a black haired stunning beauty dressed to attract attention and the other one was attractive but wearing frumpy style by comparison. He turned back and looked Lexi in the eyes.

“You do know I’m not comparing you to the other women in the place, right?,” he tried to reassure her.

“But,” Lexi had dropped out of the more perky state she’d been in, “they’re so pretty and I’m so bland.”

“I couldn’t say about your figure, since you generally dress to hide it. I have held you once though and you’re a wonderful shape as curves go. Having seen your face, you are every bit as attractive as the woman behind me. You might need help to bring out the ease she’s pulling it off with, but given a chance, you’d be surprised.”

“I don’t feel right being conspicuous.” With her hands in her lap she was being very subdued.

“A normal human reaction, really.”

“Um.” She traced one of her pretty fingers on the table top a moment with her eyes downcast to look at it.

“Um? What’s on your mind?”

“Can you, er, help me? I mean, I’d like to be pretty for you.”

“Me?”

“You helped me overcome my greatest fear. I trust you. You could help me. We can go to a couple stores, you could help me pick out clothing.”

“First thing you could do is lose the glasses and let your hair back down.”

“Okay,” Lexi shook a little as she let her hair back down, the tresses falling just low enough to be halfway to her hips. The glasses she took off and slipped into her purse though while she did, a couple things popped out, a bottle of aspirin and a hair brush. She returned them back in along with the glasses. He noticed the pill bottles were no longer present at all.

He could see her make an effort to paint her face with a smile again. Doing so made her nervous. It was a start though. The lower lip she’d used to pout with looked so perfectly matched with the upper one, soft, pink, and he noted, distracting. She’d been so delighted to leave her house. She had simply to learn to leave behind the cocoon of other methods of concealment. Maybe, he thought, she didn’t realize it was all a part of the same thing.

“Your little mask is more of your fear of being out in public. We got the worst taken care of. This is part of your fear too, protective coloring. It’s hiding yourself even in public.”

“So I can work on that, right?”

“Right. We’ll go find you some more options for being in public. I assume your present closet is all very blah clothing meant to provide you with socially acceptable outfits yet keep your cloaking effect.”

She giggled a little nervously. He was pretty sure he was right.

“Do you want to look through it? I could show you what I have first.”

“Maybe later. I do have to head back to the store for the afternoon.”

“Right. I forgot,” she took a bit of paper out of her purse, and a pen, then wrote her name and number on it. “You can call me when you get free. Please?”

He’d swear she would bat her eyelashes at him if she had made a habit of flirting with guys before. He took the offered note from her and tucked it into his pocket.

“I will. I promise.”

She almost beamed after that. With her hair down and glasses off the smile startled him simply because she was quite attractive. Those lovely eyes shining, her cheeks slightly pink, that mouth of hers hinting at being kissable.. He could feel his own pleased reaction to seeing her smile. He had to fight not to read too much into her reaction.

As he walked her out, they passed the two women at the other table. Clearly, he thought, Lexi was comparing herself to the jet haired woman there. That woman looked more like a fantasy goddess than a normal woman, though she appeared to be of a diminutive size.

The other woman looked up at him with some hostility in her eyes as he walked past, so he focused on watching Lexi ahead of him to avoid the glare of what might be a jealous lover.

It was then he realized something odd passed by his thoughts. He couldn’t help but feel people around him, it was part of his ability. Most people had the usual fuzzy thought surface he could sense and avoid. There was something different about someone in here. He decided he did not want to know. He avoided trying to identify the individual had given him such a perception.

Lexi walked to the bookstore with him. They paused and she insisted on hugging him. Before he could do a thing to stop her, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled him down and kissed him with those soft lips of hers, lightly holding him close. She hadn’t much experience kissing anyone it appeared, there was only a short touch of her lips. Thinking about doing so to her at Carlo’s had not prepared him for her doing it herself. Then she turned and scrambled away before he could say anything.

He touched a finger to his own lips. Memory of the kiss was still throbbing within him. He could get used to that, he thought. Did he cause her to be interested in him by fixing her phobia? He didn’t think so. He rather liked being kissed. Being kissed by Lexi was a surprise yet a delight.

Yes. He could indeed get used to that.

With Lexi’s number in hand he wavered over calling now that work was over. Or instead tomorrow, after a night’s sleep.

Edward had never actually dated. He’d known girls in school. The concern about being caught using his talent was constantly barrier to asking one out. His second cousins were pretty aloof too, so he did try with them, but was unsuccessfull. They were part of the family and considered a safe appropriate option. Once he’d figured out his interest in the opposite sex his parents sat him down to talk about it.

Apparently there were rules. Rules, rules and more rules. Rules he didn’t want to test by being alone with a young woman and from some unplanned desire finding himself using the talent. Mom would have been all over him and Dad could be downright frightening. The easiest way to obey the rules was not to be in a position where his will and memory would be tested.

He was older now. Those issues of using the talent would be easier for him now. At least Lexi knew about them. She still wanted to see him despite knowing. He was pretty sure nothing he’d done while fixing her phobia planted any specific interest towards him in her mind. No, he was more than sure. He was certain because he’d double checked, then checked again he wasn’t leaving any imprinting behind. His own paranoia about using the talent caused his redundant behavior.

Though he did recall grazing past a thought she had regarding him being exciting. He tried to forget having caught that at all. He shook his head of the extra baggage from the unintentional snooping and considered further.

It really didn’t matter to him the mental ability was on all the time. Just so long as he did not impose his thoughts on others. So he was okay with being with Lexi, he figured.

“Hello?” She sounded vibrant and happy. “Hi there Edward.”

“Caller ID, is it?”

“Yessir. I like knowin’ who is callin’ before I answer.”

“Another of your coping mechanisms?”

“Maybe. I don’t know what is or isn’t now.”

“If you text me your address, I’ll come to you. I have no idea where you live.”

“I’m pretty close to the bookstore. Over on Marion Avenue.”

“Fine, but text me the address and I’ll come there.”

“Sure!”

She sounded a bit more perky than earlier today. He wondered if kissing him before leaving cheered her any. It had pleased his little inner voice.

The apartment she was in was a fourth floor walk up. He wondered if the phobia she’d had kept her from moving too, though she must have moved at some time in the past. When she opened the door, she did some shy backpedaling away from the opening to let him in.

“The couch is pretty comfy. Would you like something to drink?”

“Sure, what do you have?”

“Not much really. I have some juice, one flavor only? some mango something or other. Water of course, milk? I could put water on to make coffee or tea...”

“I’ll have some juice. How do you want me to look at your choice of clothing here?”

“Well,” she hesitated, “You can just come look in the closet.”

“And the closet,” he inquired cautiously, “is it in the bedroom, by any chance?”

She tittered a little nervously. “Yeah, it is. That wasn’t intended to be a? er. You know.”

“Yes. I liked the kiss today, by the way,” then he wanted to hit himself for saying that out loud. Right after the comment about the bedroom.

“Mmmm. Yes, so did I.” She turned a brighter shade of pink.

“Yeah. Maybe I should have you bring things out here to look at. Just,” he rolled his eyes at his own trepidation, “For now.”

“Sure. Here. Your drink,” she handed him a glass, “and I’ll be right back in.”

A few minutes later, she was trying to back out of her room. He could see her butt, and a shapely butt it was too. But the pile of clothing she had her arms around was too large to squeeze through the door in one batch. At least, that’s what it looked like. Like a small animal carrying off more food than it could ever eat.

He got up and rushed to help her. She backed towards him, knocking him over, and in the process landing on top of him.

“Ooomph.” The fall was a surprise to him. Her soft form did have bumpy parts where the bones and joints stuck him.

She on the other hand was giggling. The pile of clothing was kind of in and out of the door.

“If you got out to shop and got these? then, what the hell?” Being dumped on his ass did not make him more jovial by any means.

“Most of this stuff are things my family peeps gave me. Or out of the blue gifts sent to me. I only know some fit, some don’t, and I’m not up on anything having to do with fashion or styles.”

“Okay, but do you mind,” he lifted her a bit. She was decidedly soft in the way a woman should be, he thought. “Let’s go through this here.”

He pulled the first article of clothing up and held it up next to her. He frowned. She frowned. Their eyes met. He shook his head. Without her even trying it on, this thing was two sizes too small.

“Why even keep the things you won’t fit in?” He put it to one side. “That pile goes to a charity group as soon as we’re done.”

“I just never paid attention to what I had. Honest.”

“And she still manages to get dressed, your honor. The prosecution requests permission to revisit that idea later.”

She ignored the quip.

“There’s about a dozen outfits I wear when I go out. Mostly, no one sees me. Until now.”

“Until now. Now you’ll have to spend some time on this stuff. How in hell did you stay such good shape at all if you didn’t go out?”

“I walk.”

“Where?”

She pointed inside the bedroom. He peeked around the corner of the frame. There was a pretty nice looking treadmill by the wall, complete with a TV monitor in front of it.

“Oh.” He blinked. It hadn’t occurred to her she’d have a treadmill. “Wait.”

He scratched his head. “I’m stumped. What do you do for a living?”

“I work in patent applications and patent consulting.”

“From home?”

“All the time.”

“And that pays well?”

“I get about seventy bucks an hour, but there’s people out there getting a hundred and twenty an hour doing the exact same thing. They’ve just done it longer or have better clients,” she added on almost in a whisper, “or better credentials.”

“Never mind. I guess I was thinking you exist in a vacuum here in your apartment.”

“Not entirely. See the other door?”

“Oh?” he looked where she was directing him. There were actually several doors but he’d been so intent on watching her he’d barely paid attention to his surroundings. He had to work on the being observant thing. It wasn’t high on his skill list.

“Yep. I have a roommate. Her name is Jill. She’s a redhead, friendly, she handles most of the food shopping, or did. We get along pretty well. She’s out with a bunch of girls she knows from work tonight. On the plus side she doesn’t bring guys here, not ever. So until I could leave without the stress levels, I didn’t have to put up with any total strangers here.”

“Sooo, let me get this straight.” He smirked at her a bit. “You got me over here under the pretense we’d be trying to fix your fashion sense. Yet you have someone living with you. You could’ve asked her for help at any time.”

“Yeah. About that. I didn’t want to ask her. She’s been on my case about clothing for a while. Not seriously. But. Well...” With that, Lexi looked down to the right, her chin dropped a bit, she turned red again. “I wanted to see you.”

“I got that part. You wanted to see me. Alone it seems.” He didn’t notice but she turned a few shades pinker. He was probably turning a little red himself, since he could feel the warmth hit when she said she wanted to see him. “I really need a handbook for dealing with you.”

“There’s no handbooks for me. There may be technical specs on the web though.” She was grinning. He wasn’t sure if he was being scored somehow on his own quirky comments.

He started picking outfits up off the floor again. He’d look, look at her, if it seemed the wrong size, he held it to her again. Wrong size, into the donations pile, things that probably fit but needed to be tested into another pile. Things that looked totally disgusting, like the one with an explosion of badly coordinated colors in angles of not quite stripey things, back to the donations pile. Maybe someone could rescue it. Though how he knew how badly the colors clashed might be open to discussion. He was not an expert on colors.

She started to help, lifting things for him to look at, holding them to herself for sizing. She obviously had a few favorites he might suggest she replace, but they went into the model them pile.

When they were finished with the first pass, the next round would have only a quarter of the stuff she’d been struggling to bring out for him to see. By then though, it was getting later than he intended.

“Did you eat? Because I didn’t eat,” he told her.

“No, did you want to go get something or I could fix a frozen pizza or...”

“Frozen pizza? No, we’ll go somewhere and have actual food.”

Looking at his cell for suggestions of places to go, it turned up a pub nearby.

“How do you feel about going to a place named ‘Holly’s Pub’?”

“You don’t think I know anything about going to a bar, do you?”

“Good point. I’m sorry about that. Let’s try it out.”

Prudence heard the door chime and got up to answer the door.

It was late. She really should have been in bed. Somehow sleep had not come so she got up again. At the instant the door chime rang, she had been numbly watching an old horror movie in hopes she’d get drowsy enough to sleep.

Whoever it was, they were impatient. The chime went off in frantic repetition.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming, I’m coming.” She did pause long enough to drape a bathrobe around herself so she would appear to be decent enough to answer the door.

“Pru! Let me in,” cried a voice on the other side of the door, “it’s Elaine.”

Elaine? She hadn’t heard from Elaine in almost three years. She had begun to think Elaine passed away. No one had seen her for a while, after all.

She opened the door at first with the chain in place. Looking around out the crack of the door, she saw Elaine was alone.

“Come on. Come on,” Elaine uttered frantically, “please, please, open up!”

The chain came off quickly after she was sure it was just Elaine. Elaine pushed past her with a bag of some sort in a rush, but Prudence made a point of looking out to see if Elaine was being chased. Seeing nothing, she closed the door, threw the deadbolt and reconnected the chain.

“Jesus Ellie,” She looked her friend over. Elaine was thin but fit, with an outfit that screamed sensuality. The mini-skirt was just long enough, her legs were in some kind of stockings, she had on four inch heels, her hair was immaculately shiny and black as ever, halfway down her back. The blouse she had on barely concealed her chest at all. If anything she looked like she’d had her boobs enhanced. As a topper she had on a silver looking choker, about an inch wide, around her throat. Prudence didn’t get a good look at it but it looked to be metallic.

Elaine strutted, which was the only way Prudence could describe the walk she had in those heels, to the shelf Prudence kept her booze. She’d dumped a large duffel bag by the breezeway closet on her way through. As Prudence walked into the room, behind her, she was already pouring herself whiskey from the half full bottle. As she downed it like it was water, she turned and looked at Prudence.

“I need a place to stay, to,” Elaine took a breath as though uncertain, “to hide. I don’t want anyone to know where I am. Can I stay with you a while?”

“You fell off the face of the Earth three years ago. Now you want to hide out in my place?”

“Please Pru. Please. I’ll explain but you’re going to have a hard time believing me.”

“Sit down, girl. Let’s do a heart to heart thing then,” she glanced at the clock, uncertain how much time she had for a little chat. She picked up the remote and the TV turned off with a flicker.

Elaine sat in the one chair with a clear view of the doors and the windows. Prudence saw the paranoia in her eyes. Shaking her head she went to the windows and drew the blinds completely shut.

“That any better for you? Where the hell have you been girl!?” Prudence was totally confused. “What on Earth caused you to vanish for three years and why have you at least contacted me before? I’m a little miffed.”

“Blinds shut? Much better for now? Thank you. It probably won’t be necessary tomorrow.”

“Scratch the other crap. Let’s start with, who are you running from?”

“I don’t exactly know. I really don’t. I just know if they’re anything like Dean, I don’t want them to find me.”

“Dean? That’s the guy you only just started seeing before. Before you dropped out of our circle of friends. What’s he got to do with this.”

“It’s an odd experience to talk about.”

“While you’re at it,” Elaine gave her a once over visually, “you look as hot as a super model, and it looks like you had enhancement done on your tits. What the hell is that about? That is nothing like what you were like three years ago.”

“Uh. Thank you I think?” She shook her head as if the whiskey were just starting to get into her blood stream. “No boob job. It’s all in the posture. I can’t help sticking to this chest forward positioning now. It’s deeply ingrained.”

“Babe, you look like dynamite, honestly. So, out with it. What happened?”

Elaine turned slightly pink around the edges.

“Dean happened. And kept happening. Until today. I just finished talking to the police and decided I had to duck out from there.”

“Dean? What’d the bastard do to you?”

“It’s not him. Not today anyway. He did nothing today. It’s... he died last night, probably while I slept,” she replied.

“Right next to you? Oh my god!”

“NO! No. Not like that. He didn’t come home last night. I knew he was out meeting a lady friend so I knew he wasn’t coming home.”

“He wasn’t? you make that sound like he was screwing some other chick.” Prudence titled a bit and tried to conceal her desire to yell at Elaine for letting herself be abused by the jerk.

“He was meeting some chick and likely screwing her. He’d do so now and then.”

“That didn’t bother you?” Prudence stared at her open jaw and eyes wide.

“Not at all. It’s going to take some time to tell you, do you want a drink too?”

“I’ll get one myself.” Prudence walked over to the bottles and poured another whiskey for Elaine as well as one for herself. She sipped a bit of hers, then added some more. Handing the other glass to Elaine she settled in on the couch. “Out with it.”

“This morning I woke up, not really expecting him to be there. Knowing he disliked when the bed is a mess, the first thing I did was tidy sheets and blankets up, clean the room a bit, then take my shower. It wasn’t until midday I noticed it was gone. It was totally gone.”

“What was gone?”

“The compulsion. Every day I had to be as close to Dean as he’d permit. It was an obsession I just couldn’t turn off or tone down. Normally you see, I’d be worried he wasn’t coming back today and was going to be gone another day. Ordinarily, I’d be struggling not to call or text him asking him to let me know where he was. He would tell me if he wanted to, so I had to wait.”

“Obsession? So a compulsion you couldn’t shake? You had a compulsion to be with Dean?”

“Serious, a very serious compulsion. It pulled at me like a tight leash, or maybe a set of reins, but the sense I had to be near him became painful if away from him long enough.”

“Uh, you need a shrink.”

“I can’t go to a shrink. Nor could I when he was alive. Shrinks are simply not an option.”

“So it stopped today. And sometime last night he died?”

“It stopped during the night last night, I didn’t figure out why my day was different until I realized the compulsion was completely gone. There’s still things he told me to do I can’t stop doing, but the need? how to explain, it was a hunger, a fierce brutal constant desire like nothing I’d ever felt. Not even when I’ve been infatuated with some guy in the past. This was like the only way to keep the fire under any control at all was to be allowed to touch him.”

“If you touched him it came under control?”

“Yes and no. If I touched him, I wanted to fuck and I would go off like a rocket. With him specifically. Immediately. Nearly having an orgasm just by being in contact. I was in heat all the time around him. I did whatever he wanted or I wouldn’t get my fix. Unless he said I could, there was no orgasm either.”

Prudence chuckled. “Fix? Like a drug? So you were addicted? To have sex with a jerk.”

“I guess that’s a fair description.”

“How do you know he died last night?”

“A couple detectives came to the door this afternoon. They were looking to check his home for any clue as to who would kill him.”

“How did he die?”

“They weren’t entirely clear on that.. It was clear someone meant to be kill him. They told me it was obviously murder. They said someone had to actually plan it for the way he died. They even tried to get me to explain how I did it. But I have no idea how he died. Just that someone killed him and that because they’d told me.”

“Ew. I don’t suppose you have any idea who would want to kill him?”

“No. I wouldn’t care either. That is, other than the fact the cops thought I might have something to do with it. I couldn’t explain to them why I wasn’t capable of doing so. I am not sure even now, while trying to explain so you understand, it would be impossible for me to hurt him. While he was alive I couldn’t imagine doing anything but trying to please him. No matter what it was he wanted.”

“That’s a pretty powerful obsession you keep describing.”

“Overwhelming, honestly Pru.”

She looked at Elaine closer. She could see dark circles under her eyes were being mostly concealed by makeup at the moment. As beautiful as Elaine looked, there were clear signs she was nervous and afraid.

“He’s dead then. What is there to worry about? You should be able to relax and get back your own life without him.”

“There are more like him though. I know. He used to take me to meetings he’d go to.”

“What?”

“Men and women both who have followers with obsessions about them.”

“You make this sound as if they do something like magic or hypnosis.”

“Dean definitely did something. Before he decided he wanted me, I had hardly noticed him.”

“Why not?”

“Dean was kind of dull to be around. He was quiet. He had a face that seemed horribly common. I swear he was one of those people who you’d overlook if not talking to him directly. You might even forget him ten minutes after talking to him.”

“Then how the hell did you hook up in the first place? I was waiting for a report on the second date with him before you disappeared on everyone.”

“I just suddenly found I noticed him. He didn’t say much. Almost immediately I was all over him. I can’t even begin to imagine what I did to catch his attention.”

“ELAINE! For such an attractive doll, you were always the prude of our bunch. Why would you be all over him.”

“He, well, he and his friends it seems. They have some kind of ability to make other people desire them. Intensely. Or something like that. An addiction, a frantic addiction kind of desire. The compulsion I am trying to get you to understand.”

“So he somehow had control over you.”

“Intensely so. I couldn’t help myself. The things he made me do too. I just. I still can’t grasp how. I still have things I am compelled to do. Stuff he decided he wanted,” she motioned down over her form, indicating the way she was dressed. “It is uncomfortable for me to not wear the high heels now. And if I cover my legs they too become uncomfortable.”

“So you were turned into a fashion model against your will?”

“No, I was a sexual toy for him and display candy for his friends. Not a fashion model at all.”

Prudence indicated Elaine’s throat. “And that? what’s that about?”

Elaine touched the metal choker on her throat.

“I forgot this is here. I don’t think I can take it off. He put it on me. He said to display that he owned me.”

“Own? So high and mighty of him. Well he doesn’t now. He’s a bit beyond being in a position to own anything other than a very small plot of dirt.”

“Yes, he viewed me as property. I?,” she tried to turn it around but there was a clasp with a little lock on it where the metal closed. “I’m sure he had the key with him when he passed away. He never left it around where someone could find it. For all I know, he may have thrown it out.”

“I can help you get that off.”

Elaine paled. The suggestion of removing the choker sent a jolt through her, a wave of anxiety creeping through to her bones. Clearly her comfort relied on having it remain on.

“I want you to,” she said, “but the idea of doing so is making me panic.”

Prudence looked at Elaine. Had she ever really known this woman? They’d been roommates in school together. Elaine didn’t socialize with any other group than the one they traveled in. She wasn’t shy really, Prudence had learned then. Her nature was more about limiting access to her life by others.

She remembered Elaine as being an independent woman. Strong about being her own person and not simply a member of a their clique. She’d also been withdrawn. Shy if you prefer the word. It struck Prudence as highly disturbing, this change in her friend.

“Maybe you just need some sleep. Then we can try getting rid of that thing tomorrow.”

“The police grilled me for hours. I think they finally decided I’m about the least likely of their suspects. I hope I convinced them I was just a flighty girl who sometimes stayed at his place. I’m very tired. Some sleep would be good, I guess.”

With her conceding the need for rest, Prudence got up and went to the closet just off the brief breezeway into the apartment. She pulled out some sheets and pillows, dumping them in Elaine’s lap.

“Hold these a moment,” she said. A few minutes later she’d unfolded the somewhat flimsy looking sofa bed into something a person could stretch out on. With a minimum of effort she put the clean sheets and pillows on it. “If you want blankets, there’s a couple in the closet in the front hall. I generally get up around eight on weekends, so I’ll be tumbling out of my own bedroom around then or later.”

“Thank you Pru, you’re an absolute love,” Elaine said. “I don’t know where I’d go without you.”

“Get some sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

With that, Prudence went to her own bedroom, closing the door behind her.

In the morning, she woke up forgetting she had a house guest. Prudence went through her usual routine, including the shower in the bathroom without being awake enough to notice she’d walked past the sleeping guest to get to it.

When she came out of the shower she saw Elaine sprawled on the unfolded couch bed. Elaine was completely naked. Her smooth form was soft to look at but Prudence knew those curves were well toned. She could see nothing about Elaine’s form that gave any hint she was in less than perfect shape. Prone on the bed, all Prudence could really see was the tight round little butt and smooth legs stretched out, parted. There was a faint aroma in the air she’d swear was the aroma of womanly arousal.

Standing looking at Elaine was arousing to Prudence too. She’d always been bi but never looked at Elaine with any interest before, even as a roommate. She shook her head a bit.

“Ellie, it’s morning. You might want to get a shower while the bathroom is free.”

Elaine’s head lifted from the sheets with blurry eyes and puffy looking lips, soft and pink. She looked a little flush from sleep and started to sit up but flopped back down again.

“I’ll be up in a minute mom, I promise.”

Prudence raised her eyebrows and smiled. She wandered away to get dressed. Elaine had folded the bed back up by the time she returned. The duffel bag sat unzipped on the couch. She headed to the other side of the room to make the coffee and early day meal. She could hear the water running as she slipped behind the counter to the kitchenette.

They gabbed a bit over the breakfast Prudence made them. After cleaning away the dishes and tidying up the kitchenette, Prudence looked at Elaine sitting in the living room. She had planned to go shopping. An activity she was not setting aside for Elaine today. She so advised her friend. Elaine seemed to be glad to go along.

Later while downtown shopping clothing places, Prudence noticed something was going on around her. At first she’d been just wandering with her former school roommate, shopping for clothing and shoes. Shortly thereafter, she noticed there were a number of men who just latched on to watching Elaine walk. It seemed a few of them started to follow them. She started to worry about guys potentially stalking them.

“Ellie, we’re being followed.”

“I saw,” responded Elaine, “but those guys aren’t a threat. There’s security cameras all over the place here. Besides, I can grab them by the balls, yank hard and they’ll fall down. It’s the one’s you don’t see that worry me.”

“What!?” Prudence was surprised by the action Elaine suggested for immediate remedy.

“Oh. Sorry. Dean had me take a self defense class. I’ve used that set of skills only once to date. Mostly he just wanted me to make sure others knew I was his and only his.”

“There are three back there now. What should we do about them?”

“You want to get rid of them?”

“YES! I don’t like having creeps tailing me while I’m shopping.”

“Okay. You may not like this though. Get your cell phone out and start to video me. I’m going to walk back and talk to one of them. Maybe two.”

With that, Elaine smirked as she turned and visually sought out which of the three men were closest. She chose one in a black leather jacket who was leering at her visibly, intent on being noticed, not merely following. Just like when she came into Prudence’s apartment last night, she strutted toward him and started talking.

By the time she was talking, Prudence had the video recording running on her cell, starting to approach them were they stood talking. She started to pick up a bit of the conversation.

“You think you’re man enough to change my mind, is that it?”

“Sure am. You’ll squirm with joy in no time while I fuck you blind.” Up closer this man looked as if he’d run face first into a tree a couple times. His face was marked up with scars and only one of his eyebrows was all there. The image she saw of him on the camera image was one of a sneering attitude.

“I see. Do you always bother women in public this way? I mean, if I put pictures of you up on the internet, will it help you meet women?”

Up to now, he hadn’t noticed Prudence was taking a video of this. His face lost a couple of shades, slightly whitening.

“Don’t you dare put that on the net,” he turned away from the camera.

“Aw, now you’re shy? I can’t believe a tough guy like you is shy,” Elaine let the implication of cowardice sink in. The man started walking swiftly away. Prudence swiveled a bit to take in the other ones following them. One of them already started making strides to the door of the nearest store front, and the other gaped a moment, then did something similar.

“That was ballsy, Ellie.”

“I think you missed some of the sweet nothings where he said he’d rip my clothing off for me. Seriously, the only person I could not respond to was Dean. He made damn sure I was free to tell off anyone else. He was uniquely possessive.”

“That’s just weird.”

“Now that I can’t feel the constant pull from him, I can agree. He did something to control me. I think he had ESP and somehow got inside my head to control me.”

“Now you think that?”

“I thought it then too. The entire time I was with him. I couldn’t do anything about it. But I thought it. I suspect the sadistic bastard especially enjoyed the sensation of knowing I was aware of what happened to me.”

“So what the hell are you afraid of now. I mean, you showed up at my door to hide.”

Elaine stopped dead in her tracks and looked around.

“I think despite his odd control over me I was relatively safe with Dean. There are others you see. He used to take me to meetings to serve him while he visited with other people. Others who do the same thing. The ESP thing.”

“What makes you think that?”

“While we were at such events there would always be people together, one person in charge and a person who served. Or persons. There was at least one time I saw these three super buff looking guys waiting hand and food on an elderly woman. They were almost literally drooling at her feet.”

“So, you’re afraid some old folk from an ESP group will come after you?”

“Old, young, there were teenagers there treated as if they were adult members. There was one old wrinkled guy who had a woman with him who could have been his grand daughter. At one point they were making out. I want to stay well clear of those people. Very well clear. Being noticed by one of them once is one time too many.”

“My god. If there’s a lot of them around, why doesn’t anyone notice? I mean, c’mon, slathering servants who are sex slaves?”

“If someone does notice, they’ll be hauled away to be controlled. I guess. I’m scared those who knew Dean will learn he died. One of them might come to take me away. The new master? Just like the old master? I don’t know. I do NOT want to find out.”

“It’s not as if you’re hiding away in those clothes.”

“I can’t help it. If I put on something he wouldn’t approve of it hurts. It becomes painful. And,” she led Prudence around the corner where they’d be out of the traffic of other shoppers. When she was sure only Prudence could see, she flipped up the front of her skirt. “I can’t cover this.”

“Oh my god.” Prudence stood frozen.

“Yes. Oh my god. But I seem unable to do anything about it.”

“You could just put panties on.”

“Like any of the other clothing, it burns, itches, hurts, and drives me nuts. I have other more important issues to worry about than my cunny being exposed.”

“It is a hot little cunny.” Prudence took a step slightly back. Elaine reddened a bit, as if only just realizing what she’d done.

“Oh, I was forgetting, yeah, you swing both ways. I knew that. Yes. I knew that. Stupid me.” She chided herself.

“Yes, I like girls as much as I like boys. No biggie.”

“No biggie. I guess my response should be, um, thank you? The fact it’s bare, no fur at all, that too is necessary. If it starts to grow out again I will have to get the wax job again. I hate it but I hate how I’ll feel if I don’t.”

“And the heels?”

“Believe it or not, I might stumble in flats now. I don’t want to experiment.”

“My god he worked you over. It’s just brainwashing though, right? You can undo it, can’t you? Find an expert and get help?”

“Have you been paying attention? He used some mind powers, some kind of ESP mental thing. He altered me. He changed me mentally, even responses to ordinary things. The sex slave thing was all about being his though. I don’t respond sexually to anyone but him.” She grinned a moment, “and he’s gone now.”

“So then again, I have to ask, why are you worried?”

“If he can do that, then any of those others can do it too. I do not want to find out.”

“If they find you. If they even noticed you existed next to him at their,” she shook her head a moment, “at their ‘club’? I don’t know, is that right, they had a club where they met?”

“I did a little research when he would leave me waiting at home. It used to be a “Fire Eater’s Club”, a rather famous local BDSM club in its heyday. It seems they took over when it was folding due to financial problems. They may still collect innocents who don’t have a clue about the new management. There is no risk assessed consensual kink involved in mind control. I do suppose though there kink thing for hypnosis.”

“Look at you, all smart and everything. You used to cut classes as much as I did and yet you’re researching stuff on your own, tracking down information like a spy.”

“Motivation. A bunch of it and little else to do. I couldn’t get away from Dean. But I could try to learn what happened to me.”

“Color me stupid. But okay,” Prudence was a wee bit exasperated. She looked her friend in the eyes, “Look. You’re hot as hell now. Hell, I’d love to toss down with you and munch a bunch. You could find a sugar daddy who would be happy to keep you well secured away from the wolves you’re describing. Hiding out from them can’t be that hard. You don’t even have to stay in this city. You could go to Europe or maybe some other foreign land, say? New York.”

Elaine laughed. “New York. Me, in New York. It’d probably call a lot of attention to me.”

“Or LA. Just go find out where the models hang out and you’ll seem like the quiet mousy person in the room.”

“Ha. Models are a lot taller than I am. I might have to hide among the ballerinas.”

Prudence laughed at that. “You’re already almost on pointe shoes. Not quite the same, but almost.”

“That’d ruin my toes for sure. He’d be so? dammit.” She covered her face for a moment with her hand.

“What?”

“I keep thinking about what Dean would want me to do and how he’d react to anything. I can’t help the clothing thing but you’d think I could stop being concerned about his preferences.”

“So shall we go have lunch? What would Dean hate for food. Maybe we can start breaking you of that little habit.”

“Uh, sure. Let’s go? have Thai food.”

“Thai cuisine it is my dear,” Prudence wrapped her arm through Elaine’s arm and drew her along with her back out into the flow of people.