The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

My feet hit the floor and my head swung from side to side, desperately searching for a solution in the faces of the two gorgeous blondes. There was nothing. They were looking to me, and I knew that I was the one who would have to solve this equation. This problem. This absolute clusterfuck.

“Shit!” I hissed. Harrison’s voice rang in my ears. You’re mine! Tonight!

The spinning, 3-dimensional, Rubik’s Cube of a puzzle that had been tearing my mind apart for weeks had just slotted into place. At least… Some of it had. Like I’d solved three sides of the Cube and just needed a couple more twists to get the other three all lined up.

But there wasn’t any time for that. Right now, there was a drunk, horny, powerful man banging on Lena’s front door. And I needed to be gone by the time he arrived in this bedroom.

Bang!

“I know you’re in there!”

My heart pumped and cleared the drowsiness straight out of my mind. I sucked in a lungful of air and grabbed Natalie’s dress, crumpled on the floor next to my dress shirt and slacks. My mind was clear, rational. I hadn’t been hit with my trigger phrase in a while and my analytical reason was starting to return. With it, a growing horror as I realized what I’d done.

Julia… I thought, my heart trying to rip itself in half. But I shook my head, breathing hard.

Not now.

I reached up and felt the round rims of the LucidSpecs that still sat across the bridge of my nose. Despite our athletic, phenomenal sex, they’d stayed in place. I knew what I needed to do.

I shoved Natalie’s dress into her hands. “Balcony,” I ordered sharply. “Go. Quietly.”

Her blue eyes were wide and uncertain, but she nodded. “Yes, Professor.” She stumbled through the dark as I turned to Lena.

The girl’s face was shocked and frightened in the semidarkness, like she was in the middle of a nightmare she couldn’t escape. I knew how she felt. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted and trembling. Strangely, I felt the urge to lean down and kiss them. To reassure her with affection. To tell her that I would be here, I would protect her.

As all the variables slotted together in my mind, I was starting to realize that my least favorite student had been acting that way for a reason. And now… Well, I had no idea who she really was, underneath. But I didn’t have time to find out. I stepped closer, gripping the girl by her slim shoulders and staring into her eyes.

I recognized the glazed pupils, slackening features that meant the LucidSpecs were doing their work.

“Lena,” I muttered, my voice hard. This was the only thing I could think to do. And I hated to do it. But it was necessary. I needed to stay safe. I needed to stay secret. This was the only way. “You’re mine.” The words were brief and cut off as I said them, but I could tell they were punching right into the depths of Lena’s mind.

The elegant blonde swayed, like her mind was reeling, but my hands kept their grip and held her upright.

I gritted my teeth as another angry blow struck the door to her apartment.

Bang! “Don’t make me go back up and get the principal!”

I forced myself to ignore Harrison St. John. I had to hope that there was no one else around to hear his drunken bellowing. “Make whatever excuses you need,” I ordered, fingers squeezing hard. “Do whatever he wants. But you’re mine. You will not betray me or Natalie. You will not mention me or Natalie. You will distract your father however you need. But you will give me and Natalie the chance to slip away unnoticed.”

You’re mine.

I had no idea what I was doing to her, mentally. What hypnotic conditioning she’d been through, what forces might be at play or what psychological barriers and support structures I was smashing through. I couldn’t worry about any of that. If I was going to figure out what was going on at the Brighton Barnsworth Academy, I needed to continue to be seen as the bumbling puppet, the thoughtless, unsuspecting professor who didn’t notice anything going on around him.

“Do you understand?” My expression was tight, fierce, desperate.

The younger woman nodded slowly, her green eyes hazy. “Yes, Master…”

I did kiss her then, my chest surging with a sudden, unexpected affection. A protective kiss, almost, to give her courage. “Good,” I muttered. “Go now.”

I gave her a little push toward the door to her bedroom and watched for only a second as she hesitated, nervously pressed the front of her black, sequined dress down her elegant figure and then took a single, deep breath. Her voice, when it rang through the quiet apartment, was in her usual haughty, self-assured, condescending tone. “Jesus, Harrison. Can’t you be quiet? There are people a few buildings over you haven’t woken up yet.”

She walked into the front room and I bent, hastily snatching up my slacks, belt, boxers and dress shirt. I clutched them to my chest and dashed for the balcony. Natalie’s silhouette was obvious through the open, sliding glass door, waiting for me. Her curvy shadow cast a dark outline across the melding pool of pale moonlight and ambient cityglow.

“Shut the door,” I hissed, stepping past her on the narrow balcony and stepping away from the glass panel. The balcony ran the length of Lena’s apartment, one door opening onto it from her bedroom and the other from the main room. Massive sliding glass doors doubled as windows in each area, but between them was a section of wall several feet wide.

The only place for me and Natalie to hide.

As the door slid closed behind me and I ghosted across the balcony I realized I’d made two mistakes. The night breeze was cold on my bare skin, but the goosebumps I felt weren’t because of the chill. I stared at the bundle of clothes twisted in a knot between my fingers.

I’d called Harrison Lena’s father.

And I’d left my suit jacket inside.

“Took you long enough!” Harrison St. John’s voice was just a little bit quieter now, but still at drunken volumes. His voice carried easily across Lena’s apartment and through the glass door out onto the balcony.

A rectangle of yellow light from the outside corridor spilled through Lena’s open front door and across the living room, tinting the glass door to our right. Natalie pressed herself to the wall beside me, her heavy breasts rising and falling swiftly as she tried to settle the torrent of worry that doubtless whirled through her lithe young body.

I knew how she felt.

“Oh pshaw!” Lena shot back. I could practically imagine her leaning her shoulder casually against the doorframe. “You’ve just had too much to drink. I came as soon as I heard your drunken bellowing. You giant buffoon. Can’t you just—?”

But whatever she’d been about to say was cut off, and I heard the grunting, moaning sound of an uncomfortably desperate kiss.

I clenched my fists and pressed my back against the wall, fighting the conflicted emotions that raged in my body. There was the twisting nausea and discomfort that roiled at the taboo situation. Even though I knew now that Harrison couldn’t possibly be Lena’s father, my mind still hadn’t fully integrated the fact. There was also a strange, protective feeling that churned, hot and angry, in my chest. You’re mine, I’d told the slender, elegant blonde. And a Cro-Magnon instinct to protect my woman rose up on a tide of primal, cave man passion.

I heard the high-pitched cry of surprise and the gasp as Lena escaped. The sound of the door swinging shut with a thud as the two moved deeper into the room. I didn’t look, couldn’t let myself risk being seen to peer around the corner, but I could imagine the girl stumbling away and the short, chubby man stolidly pursuing.

“Harrison!” Lena’s voice was shriller, outraged. The high-society tone of contempt and anger perfectly fit the character she always portrayed. “What the f—?”

“Slut in the sheets.” Harrison’s voice was hungry, panting, loud enough to cut off the younger woman.

There was a moment of silence. I abruptly remembered that the phrase was part of the mantra. The one I’d accidentally set off when I’d asked Lena to remember her past. Is that her trigger phrase? I wondered. Or… one of several?

“Mmm… Hello, Daddy…” Lena’s voice was different now. Breathier. Only barely making it through the glass barrier and into my ears.

“That’s a good girl…” I could imagine the man’s round, piggy face, flushed with drink and arousal. One of my fists thumped quietly back against the wall. A prickle of discomfort creeped up my spine as I realized that I’d used almost the exact same words with the girl, not too long ago.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch, Daddy…” Lena’s apologies. All part of the character she was playing.

The character she’s been trained to play, I realized. Conditioned to play. Just like I’d been conditioned to play the laid back, relaxed, oblivious academic.

I scowled as I looked sideways at Natalie. And just like the gorgeous, busty blonde had been turned into the perfect fantasy schoolgirl.

The girl beside me was wide eyed, and I could tell that she was also straining to hear what was going on in the room beyond. Her lips were parted as she gasped short, fast breaths. It dragged my attention down to her chest, to her round, gorgeous tits. Her nipples were hard with the cold, and I realized that the temperature had dropped significantly as night set in.

Up on the patio where the party had begun — wherever that actually was — the heater lamps had kept the cold at bay. Now, we were high up and the cool air and fluttering wind leached the warmth from our bodies. I wished, in a surge of chivalry, that I had my jacket to warp around her shoulders.

“Fuck…” My curse was a whisper, but no less venomous. I’d stripped my jacket and dropped it to the floor in the living room as I’d followed my two students to bed.

“On your knees, slut.” The words were so out of character for the short, jovial man that I actually frowned in confusion.

“Gawd, Daddy…” Lena’s voice was dripping enthusiasm, like the coarse words were the ultimate turn on. “Please… Just let me take you to bed… Make up for everything I’ve done…”

“Hmm.” I heard Harrison’s grunt of consideration. He seemed uncertain, his drunken brain trying to calculate all the possibilities. A moment of quiet.

I wondered what was going on in Lena’s head. Had Harrison’s trigger actually stolen her will? Was she just mindlessly following her conditioning? Or had my LucidSpecs commands snapped her free of the hypnotic compulsion? Was she trying to get her false father into the bedroom so that we would have a chance to escape through the front?

Which was worse? If she was under my control, instead of Harrison’s, was she intentionally seducing the man who wanted to own her?

The man seemed to come to a decision. “But I want— uhh…” His moan was loud and lewd. “Oh fuck Lena…”

I clenched my jaw, wondering what she was doing. Then, trying not to wonder.

“Come on, Daddy…” Lena’s seductive murmur. “Let’s— mmph.”

Another uncomfortably loud kiss, and the sound of two stumbling bodies. Something thudded off a wall, and I hoped it was Harrison’s stupid, drunk head.

Evidently not, because the man’s panting voice sounded a second later. “I’m not waiting for the bedroom, you hot little bitch. You’ve been teasing me every damn day. For months. Now it’s time you got what you deserved.”

“What do I deserve, Daddy…?” Lena’s voice was dripping with hot, wanton excitement.

The clinking of a belt buckle. “How about you put that sassy mouth to better use, for starters.”

“Oh! Is all of that for me?”

Harrison grunted in surprise and pleasure as his false daughter did… something.

Beside me, Natalie closed her eyes and buried her face in my shoulder. My hand instinctively cradled her head, pulling her cold body close.

I split my mind in two, one half listening to the interaction on the other side of the door and the other looking for holes in the insane theory that tried to piece together all the evidence I’d slowly accumulated since coming to the Brighton Barnsworth Academy.

Fuck what the principal says… Harrison had yelled. I’m not waiting any longer.

There went my notion that my employer was innocent in this whole, twisted affair.

I wondered if that had been part of my conditioning, to never suspect Joseph Clayton of wrongdoing. It makes sense, I thought, clenching my jaw. All of my justifications, trying to pin the blame for the strange events somewhere else… When there was really no other logical explanation.

I really have to hand it to Joseph, Harrison had told me earlier at the bar. He can take any young lady and turn her out just so…

Principal Clayton was the master of the Academy. He was the king, and what happened in his kingdom was his doing. My mathematician’s mind went into overdrive, snatching other factors from my memory, slipping them into the proof I was building. One step at a time. Proceeding to the inevitable conclusion.

Aarav Khatri, the Indian businessman’s hand sliding smoothly around Ava’s waist. Adopted… he had told me with that bright, innocent smile. Such a beautiful, happy flower in my garden…

I almost shuddered as I realized how twisted that comment truly was.

Must obey… Just obey… Forget… Forget… The voices of Lena and Natalie in my mind, playing in sync like two like tape recordings. I live to obey… I live to serve… I live to pleasure…

So… My employer was taking beautiful, unattached young women and turning them into what…? Gorgeous, psychologically-conditioned love slaves? There had been no women upstairs at the so-called “Investor’s Ball.” No wives. No mothers of the students. Because… Because… My mind wanted to take the final step. But it seemed so impossible.

I forced myself.

Because there are none. The Brighton Barnsworth Academy is building them… Made to order…

Another thought followed, stabbing a cold dagger of dread through my chest more effectively than any chill night breeze.

Fuck… And Julia. My beautiful, fantastic girlfriend. She was up there, right now, surrounded by dozens of men who were paying my boss to engineer their ideal partner.

Harrison’s grunt of surprise was higher pitched than his groans of pleasure. I had been doing my best to filter them out, but the sudden change in the atmosphere of the room drew my focus. I strained my ears, picking up the dangerous curiosity in his slurred words.

“Lena…” Harrison St. John asked. “Whose jacket is this?”

Oh crap.

Here it was. The real test. Had my moment of intense command overcome her deep-set post-hypnotic conditioning?

“Mmm, Daddy,” Lena’s voice dripped teasing, flirtatious sensuality. “I’m such a naughty little slut…”

My breath was caught halfway between my lungs and my mouth, trapped in my throat. Choking me. She’s going to tell him…

“It’s mine.”

My sigh of relief was hushed as I clamped my mouth shut.

“What…?” Luckily, her father was too inebriated to be suspicious.

I heard a rustle of cloth, like Lena was throwing the jacket around her slim shoulders.

“Sometimes…” the sound of a soft kiss and the animal groan of the recipient. “I like to dress up. Play professor. All stuck up. In charge. Telling my students what to do.” More kisses. More groans. “What do you think, Daddy…? Do you want to play professor with me?”

“Ohfuckme… Yesss…” Harrison’s half-mumbled agreement was desperate.

“Come on… Follow me…”

Natalie and I fled down the hallway.

We left Lena behind, and I felt a painful, twisting knife of guilt in my gut. But I couldn’t do anything about it. She might not deserve what she’s getting… I thought. But the only way for me to help her is to get to the bottom of this.

We had slipped out her door as quiet as ghosts, creeping across the living room while the sounds of a creaking mattress leaked under the door to the bedroom. My jacket was no longer there. Just another problem to add to the growing list. My pupil and I had paused momentarily in the doorway to throw on our clothes, then the busty young blonde led me through the expensive, hotel-style halls.

The LucidSpecs had gone in my pants pocket as soon as we were out in the corridor, but I’m not sure it mattered. We met no one, and Natalie was deferring to me out of habit at this point, the older figure of authority who was supposed to have some measure of experience and control in stressful situations.

Yeah right. I had almost no control. And definitely no experience.

We climbed the stairs, and I realized that I had no real memory of where exactly we were. The girls had been using my trigger phrase so often I’d pretty much blacked out. But we finally paused on a landing, the low orange light of a lamp giving the concrete staircase a dingy, back-alley feeling.

“Natalie,” I said as the girl started to push the door open. I held out a hand but couldn’t bring myself to touch her arm.

“Yes?” Her voice was soft, subdued, definitely not her usual peppy tone.

I wasn’t surprised. “I need you to tell me something.”

“What is it, Professor?” She didn’t seem to want to look at me.

I hesitated. There were so many things I didn’t know, so many questions still bouncing around my skull. But not many were ones that Natalie could answer. “I need to know about your other professors. One in particular. Your… astronomy teacher? The one who wears glasses like mine. The one whose videos you’re always watching.”

I need to find him… I need to get him to talk…

Natalie did look at me now, her eyebrows coming together in consternation. “But Professor Sands,” she said, and the trigger phrase hit me suddenly, sending a cool wave of honeyed relaxation down my back.

I should have been floored, should have been sucker punched by what she said next. But all I managed was a slight frown of concern, and a strange sensation in my gut. What was it…?

“It’s all video lectures. Aside from you, none of us have had a real teacher in months.”

Ah yes. Inevitability. That was the feeling. Like I’d known all along. And finally everything was converging.

I didn’t know where I was going to find Julia. But it turned out I didn’t have to. She found me.

The crowd was thinner than before, when Natalie and I re-entered the patio. Glancing around, I saw knots of men by the bar, complete with “daughters” in black dresses. Other groups loitered by the glowing fires on comfortable outdoor sofas. The final smattering of guests was drawn out along the balcony, looking out over the glowing cityscape.

“Mitch!” I heard her voice call to me through the thinning crowd. I turned instinctively, brain still numb and overwhelmed. My beautiful, dark-haired partner stood at the railing, drink in hand. Next to her… I would have frozen with surprise and fear if I had the emotional capacity. Next to her was the tall, silhouetted figure of the man at the center of it all. Joseph Clayton, Principal of the Brighton Barnsworth Academy. And, as far as I was concerned, hidden menace.

I raised my hand and meandered their way, realizing too late that Natalie had followed. She stuck behind my shoulder, like a shadow.

“Hey, darling.” Julia had had a few drinks. I could tell by her easy smile and loose posture. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t drunk, yet, but definitely deep into tipsy. She leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“You never found that soda, I see?” The principal’s lean face was set in a joking grin.

I felt as all guilty people have, probably for as long as the feeling of guilt has existed in the human species. Like he knew. But I was fooling myself. He couldn’t possibly have any idea of what had just happened downstairs. Right?

“Ahh… No,” I answered. I spread my hands. “Forever drinkless.”

“And I see you’ve got one of our star pupils in tow?” Principal Clayton raised an eyebrow as he turned his gaze to Natalie.

“Yes,” I stuttered. “Ahem. We were just, yes…”

“I know it’s not the right time,” Natalie cut in, and her voice struck exactly the right chord of sheepish guilt. “But Professor Sands assigned us a particularly hard problem set today. I gave him the puppy dog eyes and borrowed him for a couple minutes to go over a few concepts I just couldn’t get straight.”

I was going to have to change my title. Or tell all my students to call me by my first name. But later… The issue seemed far less pressing now. There was something else that should be bothering me. Wasn’t there?

“Mitch!” Julia laughed softly and gently punched me in the shoulder. “You can’t just go giving these girls a hard time like that! Have some decency. This young lady probably just wants to be spending Friday night with her boyfriend. Not on your dumb math assignment.”

I chuckled softly, uncomfortably. That’s what Natalie should have been doing, probably. If this were an ordinary university. If she had a boyfriend. If she had a life outside of this place.

“Now, now, Julia…” It was the principal’s voice. Gentle and warm and familiar.

I wondered how long the two had been talking.

“Don’t you defend him, Joseph!” My chest ached as Julia smiled teasingly at my employer. “You’re not off the hook either. How could you require your students to all show up tonight? They should be out on the town. Living it up!”

Joseph Clayton just grinned down at my girlfriend, his lean face and posture just oozing confidence.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” Julia again, turning to Natalie.

Somehow, watching these two women interact was even more frightening than pressing myself back against the balcony wall downstairs while Lena seduced her father.

“It’s Natalie.” The girl’s voice had its usual rich, rolling timbre again. No hesitation or uncertainty. “So pleased to meet you. You know that your boyfriend is my favorite professor?”

Only professor, I wanted to blurt. But I kept my tongue in check. My brain was still swimming.

“Awww… How sweet.” Julia reached out, wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me against her. She leaned up to kiss my cheek. “Hear that, darling?” she asked. “You’ve managed to convince at least one poor soul that math isn’t just dry, boring, academic stuff.”

Luckily, I didn’t need to respond. The uncomfortable smile I had plastered across my face did well enough as a reply.

“And you,” my gorgeous partner turned back to my employer. “You’re lucky to have him, you know.”

I would have blushed if I’d been able. That was Julia. Fiercely proud of her loved ones. I would have melted through the floor if I’d been able to summon up the depth of emotion. I didn’t deserve her. I’d broken her trust. Again.

Ah… That was what had been bothering me.

Joseph Clayton nodded solemnly. “On that, I think, we are in agreement.” He gave me a wink over her head, and my girlfriend slapped his chest lightly.

“Don’t you do that!” she joked. “I’m not just some silly, babbling womenfolk. I’m a doctor, you know.”

There was a soft bzz bzz, and the principal reached into his jacket. He pulled free a phone and tapped at the screen. The glowing blue light washed over his face. It gave me a clear view as he frowned slightly. “Hmm,” he muttered. He glanced up. “If you’ll excuse me.” His tone was polite, but clipped and abrupt.

Before we could respond, he was turning and walking quickly through the crowd. His head was down, his fingers tapping on the screen and then raising the phone to his ear. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the set of his shoulders was tense.

“Well…” It was Natalie now. She seemed way too comfortable, to me. Like she had no problems interacting with the woman whose boyfriend she had been fucking for weeks. “I think that’s my cue as well.” She nodded at me, keeping a professional distance between us. “Thank you, Professor. And it was nice to meet you…?”

“Julia,” my girlfriend told her. “I’m Julia. It was nice to meet you, too, Natalie. Mitch doesn’t tell me nearly enough about this place. I’m so glad to hear that he’s spreading the good word of Mathematics and that he has at least one willing disciple.”

Another round of soft laughs. And then, we were alone.

Julia sighed and put her head on my shoulder, leaning against me.

“I really don’t see what you’ve been so worried about,” she murmured. “This place seems nice. Like… Crazy nice. And your boss is a wonderful man.”

I swallowed. “Yeah…” I croaked. My throat was dry. “Crazy nice.”

A soft, cold breeze. It made me think of the wind on my shivering skin down on Lena’s balcony.

“Can I borrow your jacket?”

My heart froze, but my numb lips just moved easily. Lied easily. “I’m sorry, angel. I already lent it to one of my students. You saw those dresses they were wearing. So chilly.”

My girlfriend groaned softly in mock disappointment. “Why did I end up with such a perfect, caring gentleman?”

My jaw was tight and I swear my stomach was full of battery acid. I couldn’t answer.

“You mind if we head out, then?”

“No, I don’t. Home sounds good.” Anywhere away from here, I thought. My mind was becoming my own, again. Thank goodness.

Liar, my brain was playing on repeat as we walked to the car. Cheater. Liar. Cheater. Liar…

And, because it was that sort of night, the twisting roller coaster of emotional turmoil wasn’t even complete.

“So,” I asked. My fingers gripped the wheel. I was the permanently designated driver, these days. “How was your chat with Principal Clayton?”

My girlfriend murmured softly and leaned back on the passenger side, easy and relaxed. I sat up perfectly straight. I guess I must usually be a slouched driver, because sitting this tall I couldn’t really see out the rear view mirror. I adjusted it.

Julia’s voice was a gentle murmur. “Oh, I meant to tell you. He knows Elena, apparently. I thought that was pretty cool.”

I frowned in confusion. “Dr. Carey? How?” Dr. Elena Carey, my girlfriend’s therapist, who had been helping Jules so successfully these past few weeks. Suddenly suspect. Everything connected to that man was suspect.

“He used to be a therapist,” the beautiful brunette answered. “Here in the City. Not like Elena, though. He told me he really admires her and her work. His clients were mostly men. Just rich older guys complaining about their silly problems.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah. You know. Marriage to Trophy Wife Number 3 isn’t working out. Sexy waitress as the country club didn’t want to blow him for adding a bonus to the tip. Whatever else…”

I blinked. Those are silly problems? My girlfriend must have had more to drink than I realized. Or the principal had really managed to present his case skillfully. She should have been fuming. But I had other, more immediate, concerns. “And he met Dr. Carey…?” I prompted.

“Oh. Hmm… I don’t really remember his story, sorry. If he mentioned it. Probably a conference or something. Or some get together. People in the same industry, you know. In the same area. It makes sense.”

I blew out a slow breath. It’s okay, Mitch… I told myself. Joseph goddam Clayton knowing your girlfriend’s therapist doesn’t have to mean anything. But for some reason the idea disturbed me. “And you enjoyed talking to him?”

I kept the conversation going out of habit. Just something to keep my mind distracted from the thoughts that wanted to choke me. Cheater. Liar. Dr. Elena Carey. Principal Joseph Clayton.

“Oh, definitely. He was very nice. Really complimentary of you, too.”

“I’m glad you liked him.” I slowed at a red light and glanced over.

My girlfriend was leaning against the window, chewing her lip and watching me. “Don’t worry, lover…” she murmured. “He was a perfect gentleman.” She paused, and I suddenly realized how hot her eyes had gotten. “Not nearly so wonderful as my amazing boyfriend.”

I swallowed. Cheater. Liar… “Thank you, darling.” I leaned over to peck her cheek and she kissed me, eyes closing as she murmured a throaty, sensual moan. I could taste the gentle flavor of champagne on her tongue. Just a hint. Not drunk, just pleasantly buzzed. And more than a little bit turned on.

My body buzzed to life itself, heat rising through my core and my cock twitching between my thighs.

Beeeep!

The car horn behind us jolted me back and I hit the gas. Green light, moron. I waved apologetically over my shoulder. As I drove, I could still feel the impression of my girlfriend’s mouth on mine. Soft and innocent and hot and lusting. And trusting.

Her hand rested on my thigh, fingers stroking gently up and down my slacks.

Cheater. Liar.

Jules was kissing me again by the time I closed the door carefully behind us, her dark blue cocktail dress molding itself to her athletic curves and those curves molding themselves to my body.

Holy crap you’re hot… I couldn’t think straight, my cock growing harder and harder behind my zipper.

The stunning brunette ground against my erection, the bulge in my crotch straining and begging to be released. Her kisses seared into my lips and jaw and up my cheek to my ear. “Mmm…” she murmured. “Is someone ready to play?”

Cheater.

My hands slid down her sides rested on her hips. I kissed her back. Her perfume wound up into my brain, transfixing me. Her gentle hands slid down the front of my shirt, curved around my rock-hard cock.

Liar

She stroked gently, letting out a gentle, needy sound.

Cheater.

My eyes closed. I pushed my girlfriend away gently, my head falling back against the front door. I couldn’t do it.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Julia’s voice had gone from dangerously sensual to lovingly concerned in an instant. “Are you alright?”

I swallowed, opened my eyes. I opened my mouth and shut it again. I shook my head. “I’m sorry, angel,” I said softly. “I’m really not feeling well. I think it might be something I ate. Or… I don’t know.”

The brunette’s face turned down. “Oh no… Why didn’t you just tell me that at the party? We could have come straight home.”

Liar. “You seemed to be having fun. I didn’t want to stop you. I’m really glad you got the chance to meet my boss and see the place where I work.” No. I’m not.

“Hush now.” Jules was in Doctor Julia mode. “Come sit down and I’ll have a look at you.”

But I shook my head. “If it’s okay… I think I’m just going to have some nice cold water and a lie down.” A part of me wanted to invite her to lay with me, wanted to hold her and pretend like everything was normal. But another part of me wanted to clench and twist and throw up whatever I’d eaten for dinner. Not because of how I was feeling. But because of who I was.

I wasn’t the perfect gentleman of Julia’s imagination. I was just a messed-up puppet in a dangerous game who couldn’t control himself enough to be the man his girlfriend deserved.

“Sure, of course.” Julia’s expression was still concerned, but she stepped close and kissed me softly on the cheek. Her hands were gentle on my forehead and cheeks and stroking down my shoulders. “Whatever you need. I’ll take care of you.”

I wouldn’t have heard anything except that I hadn’t been able to sleep.

It was late. Too late. Early morning, rather than late night. I was laying in bed, Jules passed out beside me. She cleaned up and patiently waited for me to shower, gave me a cold glass of water and then gently stroked my hair and my back until I pretended to fall asleep. She looked so peaceful, a shard of moonlight straying across the pillow, her soft skin and up one cheek.

There was a knock at the front door.

Sounds, even familiar ones, in this hour of darkness are almost inevitably stranger and spookier than they should be. Knocks at this time of night strike your chest in a particular way. You wonder if you actually did hear something. And then you hope that maybe you didn’t. And then you wonder, if you did, what could possibly be standing outside your door.

Tap tap.

Not imagining it. My heartrate tripled instantly as I sat up and swung out of bed. My feet hit the floor and I paused, glancing back at my sleeping girlfriend. Should I wake her? But I was already moving, out across the living room. Somehow, I think, I knew that whatever was out there… it was for me.

I looked through the peephole.

Blinked.

I took a deep breath, and opened the door.

“Hello, Lena,” I said. “How do you know where I live?”

When I’d first met her, the young blonde had oozed an air of sophistication, elegance and a posh bow-down vibe. Now, she just looked young. And scared. And cold.

I looked over my shoulder, snatched up the key ring from its hook, and stepped out into the hallway. I closed the door behind me, only realizing I was half-naked after it had clicked shut. I stood there in my pajama bottoms, looking down at the younger woman. She was still wearing the black cocktail dress from earlier, but I could only see the bottom hem where it stuck out beneath the hem of a thick, grey hoodie. Her straight, fine hair was a little mussed from where it had obviously been under the hood.

“Hello, Mitch.” She didn’t bother with my title. Her arms were folded across her stomach, and my jacket was folded over them. She paused, and I saw her blue eyes glance down at my mouth, then further to my bare chest. She swallowed.

“Lena.”

She flinched, then her gaze met mine.

“How do you know where I live?” I tried to ask gently, but I glanced around nervously, both ways down the corridor.

“Oh. Yes.” She held out my jacket, which I accepted with a furrowed brow of confusion. Then, she reached into the kangaroo pocket of the hoodie and pulled out a phone. My phone.

I blinked. I’d been so wrapped up in my own head that I hadn’t even realized that my phone was in the inner pocket of my suit jacket. That could have been so bad… I thought.

“I used your Uber app,” Lena muttered. “Sorry, but I didn’t feel safe using my own. My phone is connected to my card which is connected to my father’s… to Harrison’s bank account. You saved this address under ‘Home,’ so I figured it was a good guess.”

I frowned. There were so many things that raced through my mind in the wake of her explanation, but only one of them fell from my mouth. “I have a password.”

For the first time, the girl seemed a little less uncertain. “Really, Mitch?” There was a hint of her old persona in her voice. She actually snorted softly. But, to my surprise, it didn’t come across in a bitchy way. It was more the tone of a good friend, giving you a hard time. “The first four prime numbers? That was my third guess. Can you be any more of a math person?”

I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it. Again, more pressing matters. I swallowed. “Okay. Um… Then I suppose… What are you doing here?”

The uncertainty returned. With interest. Lena sniffed, swallowed, and glanced around. Her mouth worked. Then, “I couldn’t sleep in that room.”

It was my turn to clench my jaw in discomfort. “You mean, after…?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Harrison left for his hotel, afterwards. Well, I made him leave, I guess. Convinced him that he wanted his own space. That it would be another punishment for me to be without him for the night.” Her face twisted, and I think she wanted to cry.

I was about to reach out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder when she sniffed again, shook her head slightly and went on without looking at me.

“But when I went back into my bedroom… I sat on the mattress and stared at the wall for just… a long time. I couldn’t stay there. So I decided to return your jacket to you.”

I nodded slowly. Fuck. This whole situation was so screwed up.

Lena sighed out a long breath. “And now I realize I was being stupid. That it was a mistake. You don’t want me here. I just… couldn’t stay away.” Her eyes met mine. “I’m yours now, Mitch.” I could see her teeth working at her lower cheek, nervously. She had been thinking about that fact, I could tell, and she had needed to say it. Out loud. “I don’t know everything that’s going on. But I know enough to know that things are really wrong. And to know that I’m yours now. You did something to me, and I…” she shook her head. “We can’t go back from that.”

Fuck. “Yeah,” I muttered. “I know…” I leaned back, the wallpaper cool against my skin. She was right. I knew it. But I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have the answers. In fact, I had more questions than anything else. And more doubts. “I’m sorry.”

Lena swallowed, the movement obvious. Her shoulders moved with a deep breath. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Yeah…”

A moment of silence.

I had no idea what to do. And, as awful of a person as it made me, I hadn’t even thought about Lena since I’d left the Academy. I’d been so wrapped up in my own bullshit with Julia…

“Fuck…” I tried not to say it heavily, with a sigh of sadness and frustration and utter hopelessness. But that’s how it came out, anyway.

Lena’s hands went into the hoodie pocket, and I could tell she was hugging herself. The fabric was moving as her hands bunched and twisted. She was nervous, too. And, unlike me, she had an actual immediate and identifiable situation on her hands. Not just inner doubts and demons.

I nodded. We would deal with that first. Everything in its proper time, enumerated. First, Lena’s issue with Harrison. Second, her issue with me. Third, my issue with Julia. The thought of the last item twisted at my heart and wanted to yank it out through my stomach. But I just nodded again, then slipped the jacket around my shoulders. It had felt strange standing half-naked in the hallway.

I pressed my back to the wall and slid down it, knees to my chest.

Lena stepped away, watching me carefully, and mirrored me on the other side of the corridor. Maybe on instinct, she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head, golden strands of hair falling around her cheeks. She wrapped her hands around her shins, and I saw that the short cocktail dress was bunching up around her thighs.

I felt like I should invite her inside. Give her a place to sit, a blanket or something. Like a normal host. But… Not with Julia in there. There was just no way. “Alright…” I said.

Lena nodded, slowly.

“Time to figure out what you’re going to do.” My insides writhed as I spoke, because suddenly I knew. I knew without a doubt what was going to happen. What needed to happen. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was out of my hands.

It was time for me to stop running. I had to take some responsibility.

Lena was curled up on the couch, her legs up underneath her and a blanket tucked up to her chin. Her eyes were closed and her breath had deepened. It was obvious that she was exhausted.

So was I.

We’d been talking for more than an hour.

First, out in the hallway. She’d told me what had happened while Natalie and I were out on the balcony. Harrison had come in, like I’d heard. He’d used her trigger phrase, and it had hit her hard. The only thing keeping her from absolutely disappearing into the mindless, obedient persona of her conditioning was what I’d told her.

You’re mine.

The words bounced around, an infinite loop in my skull.

She’d had the presence of mind to guide Harrison into the bedroom, and she’d satisfied him with her mouth before he passed out from the alcohol. She told me everything blandly, without intonation, but even though her eyes had never turned away I could tell that it scared her. What she’d done. What she’d had to do. She said she’d looked at him, in bed, for a couple minutes. Just watched him. Trying to think, trying to come to her senses. Then, she’d woken him up and sent him to his hotel. He had told her that the next time they got together, they would go all the way.

That was the only part that was hard for her to say, and I could see the uncertainty in her expression when she looked at me.

Damn it… I knew that she needed help. And I knew that I was the only person who could help her.

“We’ll figure it out in the morning,” I said. “Do you want…?” I’d looked at my closed apartment door, back at her, and then shoved myself up from the floor of the hallway. I did the only decent thing I could. “Do you want to sleep here tonight? All I have is a couch, but…”

The girl had nodded, just once. “Please.” No mention of Julia, even though my girlfriend was on both of our minds.

My girlfriend. I needed to wake her. But instead I stood outside the bedroom and rested my forehead against the doorframe. The apartment was quiet. It was still way too late. Or way too early. But I needed to have this conversation. I couldn’t just wait around with my thoughts all night. Things were happening, whether I wanted them to or not.

I blew out a breath. New order of business, I thought. First, Lena’s issue with Harrison. Okay, partly solved. Next, my issue with Julia. The battery acid feeling returned to my stomach. My throat was dry. My heart punched loudly in my chest, like a drum.

Thud thud thud.

That’s your cue, Mitch. My shoulders slumped, and then I forced myself to stand up straight.

I had to do this.

I had to break up with my girlfriend.