The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The Battle of Boise, Part II

The conflict between Bella Beguile’s team and Donna’s forces at the Riverside Hotel reaches it’s climax

Chapter One: The River Walk

Bella Beguile crept along slowly, moving silently from shadow to shadow as she followed Alistair. He was strolling along a path know as the River Walk, which ran beside the Boise river throughout the city, connecting various businesses and parks. The particular section he was following was behind the Riverside, between the luxurious outdoor pool area and the river. The tall British hypnotist had a tall, stunningly beautiful blonde woman on his arm; she was wearing a skimpy red bikini and red flip-flops, and looked every bit the swimsuit model with her spectacular body.

The pool area was large, and contained a restaurant, bar and many deck chairs and tables as well as a large raised hot tub area beside the pool itself. There were a few dozen people in the area, sitting at tables eating, chatting, playing in the pool or soaking in the tub.

Alistair turned off the path and strolled down toward the water with his pet. Bella crouched behind bush on the grassy area between the River Walk and the river itself; this put the hotel on her left and the river and Alistair on her right. She watched as the male hypnotist moved toward a secluded picnic area next to the water, partially concealed by some trees.

Bella crept across the grass to peer around one of the trees.

The costumed hypnotist rolled her eyes; Alistair was sitting on the picnic table bench, facing the water. His pet blonde was crouched before him, her head bobbing up and down as she dutifully sucked her master’s cock. It wasn’t long before Alistair let out a grunt and shot his load.

“Swallow every bit, darling. That’s a good girl,” he said with a chuckle.

Finished, he fastened his pants and stood.

Bella was about to step out and confront him when she heard a noise behind her; she reflexively spun to the side just as someone fired a taser at her.

The prongs hit the tree just behind where she had been standing a second earlier.

Bella turned to face three men, dressed in athletic clothes and wearing the vacant expressions of people acting while deeply hypnotized; judging by their appearance, Bella figured they must be hotel guests, young men hanging out at one of the bars who had fallen under Donna or one of her associates’ power.

The three men immediately moved toward Bella, expressions blank as they obviously intended to subdue her.

The costumed hypnotist smiled; she took a deep breath and allowed herself to sink into a deep trance of her own, a calm meditative state in which her focus and situational awareness were amplified and her fighting abilities were enhanced with increased anticipation and awareness.

She grabbed the outstretched arm of the first man to reach her, twisting it and snapping a kick into his face, breaking his nose. She swept his feet from under him and stepped back as the other two lunged toward her. They were untrained and awkward, and she easily blocked and dodged their clumsy attacks, kicking one in the balls and punching the other one in the face. She ducked a punch, grabbing the man’s arm and breaking it, before smashing her head into his face and knocking him out. She dodged away from the other man, still in pain from her kick to his groin. As she moved, she kicked the first man in his face as he struggled to rise. The pain of the impact on his already broken nose stunned him and he dropped semi-conscious to the grass.

Bella darted behind a tree, and the final goon followed after her.

He walked right into a knee to his stomach; Bella grabbed his hair and fluttered the fingers of her free hand before his eyes.

“Just follow my fingers, back and forth…back and forth…relax…you are very tired from all this exertion…back and forth…you are very sleepy…so relaxed…SLEEP!” Bella said firmly.

The man’s already weakened and confused mind shut down and he fell at her feet.

“Well done! Would you like to have a go at me?” Alistair asked from behind her in his British accent, giving polite applause.

Bella turn to face him slowly. She grinned and placed her hands on her hips.

His blonde pet stood calmly by his side, her expression blank.

“Alistair, so nice to meet you in person. I have heard you were working for Mr. Winston as his attack dog,” she said sweetly.

The British hypnotist scowled; like many true hypnotists he had a massive ego, and he bristled at the implication that he was subservient to anyone, especially when it was true.

“Indeed, and you must be the mysterious Bella Beguile in the lovely flesh. You shouldn’t judge, my darling. One must do what one must do,” he replied calmly.

He pointedly let his eyes linger on the sheer silver paneling that covered her breasts, teasingly visible through the fabric.

“Oh really? You “must” work for that asshole? That sounds like a slave talking, not a hypnotist,” Bella chided.

“Think of it as knowing which way the wind is blowing,” Alistair retorted, his scowl deepening.

“Spoken like a true coward,” Bella said with contempt.

Alistair stared at her, then grinned.

“Mindy dear, why don’t you teach Bella here a lesson?” he said pleasantly.

“Yes, Master,” the sexy blonde woman said.

She kicked off her flip-flops and approached Bella, her fit body tense with anticipation.

Bella recognized she had some type of martial arts training, perhaps judo judging from her movements.

Mindi froze as Bella’s eyes began to glow a deep cobalt blue; she was caught in the Serpent’s Gaze.

Bella stepped swiftly and gracefully forward and grabbed Mindi’s hand, letting her eyes fade back to normal as she continued to stare hard into Mindi’s lovely green eyes.

“Look into my eyes, feel my touch, close your eyes and sleep!” Bella said firmly, pulling Mindi’s arm toward her and then yanking it down hard.

Mindi looked surprised, then her eyes snapped shut.

“Open your eyes and go jump in the pool,” Bella commanded.

“Go…jump…in the pool…” Mindi agreed in a dazed voice, walking stiffly past Bella.

The silver-haired hypnotist smirked at Alistair.

“Not bad, I must admit. A lovely rapid induction; although it isn’t really so difficult to do such a simple and vapid mind. I should thank you, I was honestly growing bored with her anyway. So what now, would you prefer a physical confrontation before I make you my new pet? I warn you, I was quite the boxer in my youth. And don’t think that your little glowing eyes trick will work on me,” the big British man said smugly.

“I am willing to duel if you are,” Bella replied.

She lifted a gloved hand to display her huge sapphire ring.

Alistair grinned and produced an antique golden pocket watch, not unlike the one Bella wore around her neck.

Neither hypnotist needed their respective tool to place someone in a trance; however, a focus served as much to harness and project a true hypnotist’s energy as it did to capture a subject’s attention, and would speed up the process.

“I would be delighted. Shall we?” Alistair asked politely.

“Just relax and look at the sapphire, Alistair,” Bella replied in a soothing monotone.

She moved her hand slowly from side to side, making the gemstone in her ring glitter brilliantly.

“You are the one who needs to relax, dear Bella. Relax, and watch the shiny watch, swinging back and forth,” Alistair said, his voice pleasant and insistent, well-tuned to speaking to a person’s subconscious.

The two hypnotists continued their inductions; after a moment, both Bella’s and Alistair’s eyelids were drooping, their speech starting to slow as they struggled to outlast one another.

As they dueled, Casey was sauntering down the river walk past the pool area, her heels clicking on the pavement. Sean and Janessa followed dutifully behind her; suddenly, a group of four young men barred Casey’s path. They were dressed casually in shorts and t-shirts, and had the slightly dazed expressions of those under a hypnotist’s control.

Casey recognized them as “hypno-goons”, subjects who were hypnotized quickly on the fly and given a specific task; they were considered expendable, often serving as fodder or a distraction for their master.

These men were obviously were under the control of Donna Mason or one of her allies.

“Miss Casey, you will come with us,” one of them said, aiming a taser at the diminutive hypnotist.

Tiny Tough snorted; she concentrated on the taser, focusing her hypnotic energy inward and using it to power her mentalist ability to telekinetically to rip the device from the man’s hand and send it flying into the pool.

“That is “Lady Casey” to you, asshole. Janessa,” she said firmly.

Her Thrall moved with impressive speed, leaping forward to kick one of the men in the balls and punch the one beside him hard in the face.

The beautiful blonde had once been a promising mixed-martial arts athlete, and was trained in Brazilian Ju-jitsu, tae-kwon-do and boxing; while not as skilled or lethal as Lavea, she could more than handle hypnotized men without any combat training.

Still, the men were compelled to fight, and a vicious melee broke out between Janessa and the two men she’d attacked; many of the hotel guests either fled the area or gathered around to watch the brawl.

While Janessa fought the two men, the remaining two advanced on Casey.

Tiny Tough calmly and smoothly raised her diamond pendant; the beautiful gem turned slowly about, glittering in a dazzling multicolored display.

“Alright you two, look at the diamond and listen to my voice; you cannot move, you are frozen, your minds are blank and empty, just stand still and look at the diamond…” she said in a soothing but powerful voice.

The two men’s eyes were drawn to the diamond, and their movements slowed.

Chaos ensued around them, as Janessa tripped one of her opponents and sent him crashing through a table, then blocked a punch from the other one and grabbed his arm, twisting it painfully and punching him in the face.

“That’s it…just stand still…you cannot move…your minds are empty, blank…your muscles are frozen, you are rooted to the spot,” Casey continued.

The two men advancing on her stopped, unable to move, eyes unblinking and their expressions blank.

Casey smiled in satisfaction.

“Sleep now,” she said as she walked casually past them.

The two men sank to the ground.

Then she spotted Bella and Alistair down by the river in the midst of their duel; she could tell by the way Bella’s shoulders slumped that she was in danger of losing.

Casey kicked off her sandals and ran toward them.

Sean had been about aid Casey and Janessa against the goons when he’d felt a hand on his arm.

He spun around to see Peggy; she had been lounging beside the pool, under Donna’s orders to watch for anyone she recognized and hypnotize them and bring them to her.

Peggy was clad in a skimpy dark purple bikini, undeniably sexy even with her head shaved.

“Domina Peggy! You escaped! We have to help—,” Sean began.

Peggy’s foot slave,” she said firmly.

Sean stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes going wide as he went instantly into a deep hypnotic trance.

“Follow me slave,” Peggy commanded, turning and walking back toward the hotel.

“Yes, Domina,” he said, following her obediently and still carrying Camila.

Several hotel security personnel had arrived by this point, and were attempting to clear the pool area. Janessa had both of her opponents down on the ground, bleeding and unconscious; she turned to follow her Mistress and found her path blocked by a gorgeous Asian woman dressed in an elegant black gown and high-heeled sandals, her dark hair in a bun. Behind her stood a tall, handsome man of around thirty named Roger; he had short light brown hair and blue eyes, a short neatly groomed beard, and was wearing a very nice charcoal grey suit. A former police officer, he had been Jing-Mei’s slave for years, acting as her enforcer and bodyguard. Next to him was a pretty young woman named Miranda; she had straight, shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a pinstriped grey pantsuit and wearing stylish thick-rimmed black glasses and tall black pumps. Jing-Mei’s Thrall, she functioned as the hypnotist’s accountant, personal assistant and advisor among other things.

“Well done, dear. I may add you to my stable when this is over,” JIng-Mei said arrogantly.

“In your dreams, bitch,” Janessa replied, getting into a ready stance.

Smirking, Jing-Mei crouched and unbuckled her sandals, then stepped out of them. Her blonde Thrall immediately scooped them up.

Barefooted the Asian hypnotist was a full five inches shorter than Janessa.

Jing-Mei made a fist with her right hand and wrapped her left hand around it, bowing to Janessa.

Then she stood and got into a ready position of her own.

Janessa moved forward and attacked, throwing two rapid punches and following with a powerful kick.

Jing-Mei blocked each punch with precise, fluid movements and sidestepped the kick with ease. Janessa continued her attack, aggressively punching and kicking with speed and skill.

Jing-Mei was faster; she dodged and blocked with minimal effort.

As the two women fought, two hotel security guards approached, intending to break them up.

Roger and Miranda intervened.

“Please stand aside so we can—oof!” one of them began, his words becoming a gasp when Miranda’s foot slammed hard into his groin.

He bent over in pain; she punched him in the face and followed up with a kick to the side of his head, dropping him to the pavement.

His companion dropped beside him; Roger had grappled him and choked him into unconsciousness with ease.

The area around the pool became chaos as hotel employees began to urge the guests inside, shepherding them away from the increasing violence.

Down beside the river, Bella Beguile and Alistair’s hypno-duel continued; both hypnotists were on the verge of going under.

“…you are…so…relaxed…you…you will…,” Bella mumbled.

Her arm dropped to her side.

She felt panic rising in her chest as she realized in the back of her mind that she had lost the duel.

She had failed; she was about to be hypnotized.

“That’s a good girl…you are completely relaxed now, Bella. You…cannot stay awake. I am…going to count back from five, and when I say “one” you will be hypnotized,” Alistair said, his voice getting stronger as he quickly began to recover from nearly falling under Bella’s hypnosis.

His watch had slowed, but was quickly gaining speed again as he spoke. It’s polished golden surface reflected the light brilliantly.

Bella stood quietly, eyes locked on the watch, following it back and forth.

“Five…you are so relaxed…four…so sleepy…three—,” Alistair began the final part of his induction.

“Look into my eyes, Alistair!” Casey said firmly, cutting him off.

The beautiful little hypnotist was suddenly standing between he and Bella, her rich brown eyes wide.

Alistair reflexively met her gaze, gasping in shock.

Casey’s eyes blazed with invisible energy, pure hypnotic power she projected with her powerful will; a different energy than that of her mentalism, it was even more exhausting to use.

Alistair had not yet fully recovered from Bella’s attempt to hypnotize him, and when Casey’s power hit him he was stunned.

“What? Where did…you…come from…?” he stammered.

“You are still feeling very good, very relaxed, you are very sleepy…you feel so wonderful…your eyelids are so very heavy…relax and sleep!” Casey said firmly.

She snapped her fingers; Alistair looked astonished, then wilted to the grass at her feet.

Tiny Tough immediately turned and shook Bella from her daze.

“Bella, awake!” she said to the costumed hypnotist.

Bella blinked rapidly.

“Casey…I…thank you,” she said as she regained her senses.

“No problem, sexy. Take care of Alistair, I have to go help Janessa!” Casey said, looking back toward the pool area and seeing Janessa being handily beaten by a beautiful Asian woman.

Bella nodded, and Casey ran back toward her Thrall.

Janessa was bleeding from her lip, and was breathing heavily from her exertions; she had taken several hard blows to her head, chest and thighs. Jing-Mei was too fast for her, and too skilled. The beautiful hypnotist was not even breathing hard, and she had foiled nearly all of Janessa’s attacks except a solid, powerful strike to the ribs which had cost Janessa a painful blow to her temple.

Throughout the fight, Jing-Mei had never broken eye-contact with her opponent; her every movement had been graceful, swaying and hypnotic. Each of her blows had been carefully aimed to daze and wind Janessa, and when the blonde stubbornly attacked again, Jing-Mei side-stepped and landed a precise strike to specific point on her shoulder.

“Your arm is limp and asleep,” the hypnotist said firmly in her powerful voice.

Janessa was stunned as her right arm suddenly began to tingle as if it had gone to sleep, and she found herself unable to raise it.

Jing-Mei smirked.

Janessa came at her again, launching a powerful kick.

Again, the Asian woman dodged, bringing her hand down sharply on Janessa’s thigh.

“You cannot feel or move your leg,” Jing Mae said firmly.

Janessa felt her leg begin to tingle, and when she brought it down it buckled and she fell to the concrete of the path

The blonde Thrall grunted as she struggled to stand.

Jing-Mei looked down at her with a mixture of sympathy and arrogance.

“You fought well, dear,” the hypnotist said, again making a fist and offering a bowing salute.

Then she performed a graceful spinning kick.

Janessa saw a flash from Jing-Mei’s gold and ruby toe ring before her foot caught her on the temple, knocking her unconscious.

“You bitch, try me!” Tiny Tough growled behind Jing-Mei, her little bare feet slapping the concrete as she ran toward her.

Jing-Meir turned, ready to dodge an incoming attack.

This time, she was too slow.

Casey wasn’t a martial artist; a trained gymnast, she performed a front handspring that caught Jing-Mei by surprise. Casey’s bare feet slammed into the Asian woman, knocking her sprawling to the ground.

Casey landed just beyond Jing-Mei, hopping forward and quickly regaining her balance; she turned around, slipping her pendant over her head.

Jing-Mei rose swiftly and gracefully, careful not to allow her face to betray the pain in her back and leg from where she had hit the concrete path hard.

“You must be “Tiny Tough”. A pleasure to meet you. I apologize if she is your Thrall. I didn’t permanently harm her,” Jing-Mei said politely.

She too slipped off her pendant, the huge ruby glittering.

Behind Casey, Roger and Miranda advanced toward her.

Jing-Mei stopped them with a look; she motioned with her head, and her two slaves turned to face another pair of hotel security guards that were quickly approaching.

“There, now we can do this properly and without interruption,” Jing-Mei said with satisfaction.

“It will be my pleasure, bitch. I am always happy to deal with Arthur Winston’s toadies,” Casey said with scorn.

Jing-Mei frowned.

“Mistress Casey, I assure you that—,” Jing-Mei began.

“It’s “Lady” Casey, and while you are at it, please fuck off. Let’s do this,” Casey retorted.

She was tempted to unleash her mentalist’s flashes from her eyes; however, she had already expended a lot of energy, and she knew Jing-Mei by reputation.

Casey suspected a hypnotist of her caliber might be able to resist a mentalist, or even turn the energy back on her; Casey herself was able to do so and had in fact done it to mentalists she had faced, so she decided against attempting it.

“Yes, I had heard you are as crude as you are beautiful. As you wish, Lady Casey,” Jing Mei said, raising her pendulum and starting it swinging.

“Look at the ruby; watch it swing back and forth…,” she began.

Casey likewise raised her diamond, spinning it with her free hand.

“Relax and watch the spinning diamond as you listen to my voice…,” Tiny Tough said in her soothing monotone.

As the duel between the two master hypnotists got underway, Bella had Alistair on his knees and she was giving him carefully worded suggestions.

“Awake or in trance, you will now obey my every command without hesitation or question, won’t you Alistair?” She asked.

“Yes, Mistress,” the British hypnotist answered in a dazed voice.

“Good boy. Now just kneel here quietly until I give you further instructions,” Bella commanded.

“Yes, Mistress,” he said again.

Satisfied, Bella turned and looked around; the chaos around the pool was subsiding; her eyes widened in shock as she spotted Casey jump into the river and begin splashing around in the shallow water, flapping her arms and quacking like a duck.

Bella was about to go to her when she heard a voice.

“Please, she is fine for the moment. I was gentle with her mind; in truth, I may have only won our duel because she was tired from her exertions; at full strength she would be just as likely to have defeated me. Tiny Tough is a powerful and skilled hypnotist, and has my complete respect,” Jing-Mei said calmly.

“How generous of you,” Bella said sarcastically as she turned to face her.

The beautiful Jing-Mei was still in her bare feet, several strands of her hair loose from her earlier physical efforts.

Roger and Miranda were standing back several yards, making sure they were not interrupted.

“My goodness, you Boise hypnotists are prickly. Skilled, but touchy,” Jing-Mei replied with a raised eyebrow.

“And you lapdogs of Winston’s make me sick,” Bella retorted.

Jing-Mei’s expression grew hard; first Tiny Tough had scoffed at her working for Arthur Winston, now Bella Beguile had done the same.

Both were powerful, respected hypnotists, and it bothered Jing-Mei that they thought so little of her and her association with Arthur Winston.

In truth, she agreed with them.

Jing-Mei was disgusted with herself; she found Arthur Winston to be a deplorable and disgusting man who continually overstepped his bounds and was a detriment to the true hypnotism community.

Under normal circumstances, Jing-Mei would be standing with Tiny Tough and Bella Beguile, helping bring down Arthur Winston.

Unfortunately, Jing-Mei owed him a debt of honor from years earlier, and she was unwilling to break her word, no matter how distasteful the situation.

“I understand your animosity, and I assure you that I have nothing personal against you or your friends. Honestly, I find Donna tacky and obnoxious, an upstart with no business having any power,” Jing-Mei said.

“And yet my friend thinks she is a duck,” Bella said irritably.

“I could have done much worse. If you will just come talk to Donna and concede to Arthur’s wishes, everyone can go back to their lives,” Jing-Mei said reasonably.

“At the risk of sounding touchy, fuck you,” Bella said, getting into a ready stance.

She let herself sink into her focused combat-trance.

Jing-Mei sighed, readying herself.

“As you wish. I want this to be honorable. Roger, Miranda you will not interfere, no matter what happens. This is between Mistress Bella and I,” she commanded.

“Yes, Mistress,” her slaves answered in unison.

The two powerful women stared silently at one another for another moment; Jing-Mei made a fist with her right hand, covering it with her left and bowing.

Bella returned the gesture.

Then they both exploded into motion.

The two women came together in a rush, exchanging a flurry of punches and kicks while blocking and dodging.

Jing-Mei immediately found herself hard-pressed; Bella was far more skilled than Janessa, and in her combat-trance was more than a match for her. She had not been challenged like this in a fight in a long time, and while she managed to land several blows to Bella’s side and stomach, she took even more hits from Bella in return including shots to her ribs, kidneys, thigh and a hard punch to the side of her head that left her seeing stars. She blocked a punch at her face and managed to land a powerful kick to Bella’s chest, causing her to stumble back.

The women were both breathing heavily as they circled each other on the grass, Casey still quacking and splashing about in the river nearby.

Bella and Jing-Mei came together again, grunting and shrieking as they struck and blocked, kicked and dodged. Bella hit Jing-Mei square in the mouth, splitting her lip and landed a hard blow to her ribs that made her gasp for breath; in return, Jing-Mei snapped a vicious kick into Bella’s stomach, doubling her over, then brought her knee up into her face, bloodying her nose.

Bella stumbled back a step, wiping the blood from her face with a gloved hand and forcing herself to focus.

She then shouted, a look of rage on her face as she dashed forward with her hand raised to strike.

It was a reckless, clumsy attack.

It was also a feint, and executed perfectly.

Jing-Mei spun to the side, incorporating a graceful kick into her movement, a powerful strike intended catch an over-extended Bella in the head with her foot and end the fight.

She missed, having fallen for Bella’s ruse.

Bella had anticipated her move and dropped, sliding on the grass. She lashed out with a booted foot and swept JIng-Mei’s feet from under her, knocking her to the grass.

Bella rolled on top of Jing-Mei, punching her in the face and then pinning her arms to the ground with her hands.

Jing-Mei blinked, trying to get her bearings…and froze as Bella’s eyes began to glow cobalt-blue; normally, she might have been able to resist the Serpent’s Gaze, but she was tired from fighting and had expended considerable energy dueling Casey, as well as dazed from the punch in the face just seconds earlier.

Bella continued to hold Jing-Mei paralyzed as she grasped the chain of her pocket-watch hanging around her neck and lifted it so it dangled over her eyes, turning slowly about.

“Just relax…you are very tired from fighting, very sleepy; you just want to relax and listen to my voice,” she began firmly.

Roger and Miranda watched helplessly, obediently not interfering even as their Mistress fell under Bella Beguile’s hypnotic power.

By the time Jing-Mei was hypnotized, Bella was trembling with the effort of maintaining The Serpent’s Gaze and performing an induction simultaneously. Allowing her eyes return to normal, she rolled off her defeated opponent collapsed beside her in the grass breathing heavily, exhausted from the fight and her expenditure of hypnotic energy.

Bella closed her eyes for a moment, letting herself relax into self-hypnosis and quickly giving herself suggestions to be focused, confident and refreshed.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a soaked Casey looking down at her, a sheepish smile on her face, wet strands of hair plastered across her face.

She had managed to wake herself from her trance; between her incredible willpower, the fact that Jing-Mei had not taken her very deeply into hypnosis and the very cold water Casey had been able to regain control of her will quickly.

“Thanks for the assist with this one; I guess I blew it. I owe you one,” Tiny Tough said, offering her hand.

Bella took it and stood.

“Hardly; you’ve been a busy girl and it can happen to anybody in this business. Besides, you saved me what, fifteen minutes ago when I got beat by the pretty boy there. Forget it; I think we are even,” Bella replied with a smile.

Casey returned the smile and moved to kiss Bella on the lips, who returned it and then embraced the shorter, soaking wet wet woman.

“Everyone doing okay outside?” Jennifer’s anxious voice came over the comm.

Bella winked at Casey, who was gathering her wet hair into a ponytail.

“Casey and I are fine, we have Alistair and Jing-Mei under control. Janessa is unconscious, and I don’t see Sean anywhere…,” she reported.

“Shit, I see him on the ground floor heading to the north wing elevators. He is with a bald woman in a bikini, I think it’s Peggy,” Jennifer said, her voice tight.

“Understood. On my way,” Bella replied.

She looked at Casey with a raised eyebrow.

“Go, I will clean up out here and be in as fast as I can. I have to check on Janessa,” Casey replied.

Bella nodded, bending and kissing Casey’s forehead.

“Be careful, Tiny Tough,” she said with a grin.

“You too Bella,” Casey replied with a smile.

Bella Beguile nodded, then turned and dashed toward the hotel.

Casey looked down at Jing-Mei, who lay silent and still with her eyes wide and unblinking, deep under Bella’s hypnosis.

“Ok cunt, let’s have a little chat, shall we? Sorry if that was too “crude” for you,” she said with a smirk.