The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Okay, maaaybe I should’ve jacked off a little less frequently. Seemed kinda obvious now, but I guess everything I could’ve done differently ‘seemed kinda obvious’ when I was sitting in a waiting room, ready for a psych to talk to me about sex addiction. It was like the principal’s office, but worse. I had to come to these weekly. Way to feel like a proper adult.

Whatever. I guess it was becoming an issue. Ever since Cait left me I’d been jacking off every chance I got. It was starting to interfere with other things, like studying, and eating meals, and… doing normal amounts of laundry. Still, the label of ‘sex addict’ was pretty fucking embarrassing. Hopefully this Dr. Thorpe could keep it quiet.

“Caleb Stone?”

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I found Dr. Thorpe’s secretary peering at me around the door of his office. Calling me to my fate. I sighed and stood up.

Wait a minute… there was already a man sitting at the front desk. There wasn’t room for two people back there. If he was the secretary, then…

“Doctor, uh, Thorpe?” I tried, extending my hand. She came fully out of the office, and shook it enthusiastically.

“That’s me. Come on in!” she smiled, leading me inside.

Holy shit. Nonono. This was bad. My dad had talked like this was going to be some stuffy middle-aged man who would lecture me about the evils of poor impulse control, until I was begging for the sweet release of death. The Dr. Thorpe who greeted me was an incredibly attractive woman. Warm, friendly, and so sexy she was practically impossible not to gawk at. How was I supposed to survive her sessions, let alone end them with less of an urge to jack off than I started with?

She directed me to sit on her couch, so I did, elbows on my knees, chin on my hands.

She checked her notes. “Caleb Stone, 18 years old, referred to me for… sex addiction?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “that’s me.”

She dragged her desk chair over next to the couch, and sat down, still smiling.

“First things first,” she said, “I am not here to judge you, or shame you, or stop you from masturbating entirely. Healthy expressions of sexuality are important and necessary. I am here to see that it stops being a detriment to your life. Is that clear?”

I let out a breath I’d been holding. “That’s… actually a relief to hear,” I admitted.

“While we’re on the subject,” she continued, “you may call me Stephanie, and you’re allowed make sexual comments and jokes when talking about your experiences. Just be honest about your feelings and thoughts. There’s very little you could say that would shock me. Okay?”

“Okay, wow,” I blinked, “thanks, er, Stephanie.”

She grinned, “Sorry, am I going too fast for you? I just don’t want you to enter these sessions with any misconceptions.”

“No, it’s great!” I babbled, “I was just expecting something completely different.”

She snapped her fingers, “You were? Damn, I left my 2-hour lecture on the sin of lust at home today.”

I laughed. Okay, she got me.

“Speaking of which,” Stephanie raised an eyebrow, “why did your parents specifically request 2-hour sessions for you?”

“My parents aren’t together anymore,” I muttered, “but it was probably my dad. He’s pretty big into psychology, probably thinks I’m a special case or something.”

“Well then, I think it would be best if we separated our understanding of masturbation into healthy and unhealthy aspects,” she said, getting down to business. “So tell me, Caleb, where you think the unhealthiness begins.”

“I guess it started when my ex-girlfriend, Caitlin, left me a few weeks ago,” I recounted. “We’d been together for a couple of months by that point, but she had to go to uni on the other side of the country, and that was that. Ever since then, I’ve been ja- er, masturbating—”

“Use whatever words you like,” Stephanie smiled.

“Right, well I’ve been jacking off twice, maybe three times a day. Sometimes it takes hours, interrupts my studying, my sleep schedule, that kind of thing.”

“Three times a day seems like a lot, even for a hormonal young man like yourself,” Stephanie pointed out. “Risks damaging the equipment, so to speak.”

“Yeah,” I tried not to blush, “I can’t help it, I get really easily turned on.”

“What would you say turns you on?”

Her tone was very casual, which was nice. It made the questions a little less embarrassing to answer, but only a little.

“It’s not like anything in particular happens,” I tried, “I just kinda imagine sexual things based on what’s happening around me, and then I get… well, horny.”

“Right,” she nodded, “so you can easily see a sexual side to nearly any situation that’s in front of you?”

“Yep.”

“Would you be comfortable giving me an example?”

“I mean, it depends,” I stumbled over my words, trying not to stare at her tits, “it can be very simple or very vivid and detailed.”

She looked at me expectantly.

“Like, uh, if I see two girls who are obviously close friends, I might imagine them making out,” I babbled, “or like, if there’s a whole sports team of girls I think, what if they had an orgy in the changing rooms after the game?”

“Those are common enough fantasies for someone your age to have,” she mused. “Anything else?”

“I suppose a lot of them revolve around my ex-girlfriend” I continued. “Other times there’s just… situations I find inherently sexy.”

She gave me a sly smile. “Like?”

Uh-oh. I shouldn’t have said that. I couldn’t think of any other example in the moment, so I blurted out, “Just, whenever I’m alone in a room with someone I find sexy, I imagine she’ll start flirting with me.”

Stephanie looked around, innocently. “And who do you find yourself alone in a room with?” she asked.

I couldn’t say it, but she had to know, with a question like that. This was in some ways better than the stern lecture, but in other ways it was so much worse. I felt my face flushing red. I just couldn’t say it.

“People you feel you shouldn’t find attractive?” she murmured. “Authority figures?”

I nodded meekly. Fuck, that felt so wrong to admit, especially to her.

“It’s okay,” she soothed me, “that’s very normal. It’s okay to admit it. I’m not here to punish you for feeling things, remember.”

“It’s… wrong though,” I shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m personally not a believer in thoughtcrime,” Stephanie said, “but if we’re going down that route, I’d say it’s wrong for the authority figure, not for you.”

I sat there, silently digesting this.

“Let’s clear the air here,” she said, “do you find me attractive, on first impression?”

She got me good. There was no way I could deny it.

“Yeah,” I mumbled.

“Thank you, I’m glad you told me,” she reassured me. “It’s always better to deal with these things head on. If we work around it, our time together can still be productive and helpful for you.”

“Before this appointment I could’ve sworn you were a man,” I said, by way of explanation, “like, I wasn’t expecting this at all. My dad recommended you and everything. Swear he said you were a ‘he’.”

“Did he now? Interesting…” Stephanie mused. Then it seemed like a thought struck her, and she stood up, murmuring to herself. “Stone. Stone. An interest in psychology. Recommends… of course…“

She began rummaging frantically through some files in her desk, and said “Are you by any chance related to Quentin Stone, the psychology professor?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s my dad!” I said. “You know him?”

“Oh, I know him alright,” Stephanie murmured, almost to herself. “He’s on the Board of Ethics, isn’t he?”

I shrugged. To be honest I didn’t know, but that sounded about right.

“Tell me about your ex-girlfriend,” she said suddenly, throwing off my train of thought completely, “what was she like?”

“What? Oh,” I blurted, “she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and I was very lucky to be with her.”

She raised an eyebrow, “That’s an… unusual thing to say about an ex, even one you parted with amicably.”

I shrugged, “I’m just glad it lasted as long as it did.”

“If you don’t mind talking about it,” she continued, “did you two have an active sex life?”

“Oh yeah!” I nodded. “We had sex all the time. I was very lucky to be with her. She was so good, it’s honestly hard to imagine anyone else comparing.”

She came back and sat down, looking me right in the eye for some reason. “Anything else? Physical characteristics? Reasons you got together in the first place? Anything you feel comfortable telling me.”

“Well,” I racked my brains, “she was blonde, she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and we hooked up when she got me alone and asked me out. I was surprised, not just because she took the initiative in asking me out, but… because I was so lucky to be with her, I guess.“

Stephanie stared at me, a strange gleam in her eye. “Gotcha,” she whispered.

“Sorry?” I replied, puzzled. “What do you get?”

“You’ve been hypnotised by someone,” Stephanie declared, “and based on this discussion I’m sure you can guess who.”

That was a direction I was not at all expecting this session to go in.

“What??” I yelped. “You think Caitlin hypnotised me? That’s crazy!“

Stephanie actually giggled. “Well, you seem to have quite a few stock phrases in your vocabulary for talking about your past relationship, and for some reason they’re all about how awesome your ex is. Does that not bother you? You must know how other people your age deal with breakups.”

I shuddered, because I did. “Yeah, but I’m not that kind of guy. I bear her no ill will.”

“You ‘bear her no ill will’?” Stephanie shot back. “You weren’t talking like that when you first came in.”

Wait… she was right. I’d never used the phrase ‘ill will’ in my life, except about Cait, to whom I bore no ill will- goddamn it, stop that!

“Oh my god,” I almost laughed hysterically, slumping down on the couch as the penny dropped, “I just thought the word ‘whom’.”

Stephanie grinned. “A telltale sign of hypnotic suggestion is when you start using words that don’t come naturally to you. It means someone’s been hammering ideas into your head, very un-subtly.”

“Wow. Erm, hang on,” I stammered, “I need a moment. Why would she hypnotise me?”

“Because she could?” Stephanie shrugged. “I intend to find out, at any rate, because I’m nearly positive it’s related to your out-of-control sex drive. For example, when you fantasise about those situations you mentioned earlier, do you find that the fantasy takes over your whole perception? As if you’re having a dream you have difficulty waking up from, even though you’re already awake?”

“Er, yeah, I suppose I get a little invested,” I admitted, “once or twice people have yelled at me to snap me out of it.”

She nodded, “That tells me you’re highly suggestible. One might call you a prime candidate for hypnosis.”

“Is- is that right?” I managed, and suddenly I was imagining this gorgeous woman hypnotising me, making me do her bidding, how sexy that would be- fuck, stop thinking about it!

She smirked, as if she could read my thoughts. She leaned forward, giving me a generous view of her tits.

“You’ve really been thrown to the wolves here, haven’t you?” she murmured softly.

“Yeah, I guess it feels a little bit like that,” I said. What did she mean, though?

“So,” she continued, a sly smile on her face, “there’s no point beating about the bush. You’re under a very powerful and barely-understood form of hypnosis which is feeding your sex addiction, and the only way I know to cure you is to hypnotise you myself.”

“That sounds… fine” I mumbled in reply. It did not sound fine. It sounded hot as fuck.

“Still feeling guilty?” she grinned, and I thought her gaze flickered down to my pants, just for a second. “We may be able to turn your attraction to me into a tool that can help you.”

“Is that even a thing?” I replied skeptically.

“Absolutely!” she confirmed. “Normally it would take time to develop these feelings, work out where they came from, and use them in a productive way. You, however, are effectively speedrunning the whole process under hypnosis.”

“Okaaay, sure,” I said slowly, “but how are we going to do that?”

Stephanie made, I thought, her first obvious attempt to draw my attention to her tits, folding her arms under them so that they bounced upwards. Was I drooling? I might have been drooling.

“You will need to think of me sexually,” she said, “and through that I’ll draw out the suggestible, easily hypnotised part of you.”

“Is that, erm, okay?” I fumbled for the right words.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

I thought about it. “Well, not really, if you’re fine with it, I guess.”

Stephanie smiled and closed her eyes, biting her lip almost shyly. “I’m flattered,” she laughed, “and I think this will be a highly enjoyable experience for both of us. Are you ready to begin, then?”

I shrugged nervously, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Okay,” she soothed, “then just lie back, close your eyes, and relax. Let your imagination take over.”

I did, fantasies of what could happen already half-forming in my head.

“You said you could imagine very vivid fantasies of being alone with a sexy, authoritative woman,” she whispered, “and I bet there are some wild ones in there.”

My eyes were still shut, but I nodded. I could practically see her in front of me, pulling her top down so that her tits were right in my face.

“Suppose,” she continued, a sly note in her voice, “that I wasn’t quite the Stephanie you thought you knew. Suppose I was someone with more sinister intentions, like… a spy. Yes. Imagine coming into my office to receive treatment for your problems, only to find that I’m actually a spy, and I’ve been ordered to seduce you and hypnotise you until you spill all of your secrets to me. Let that fantasy take over your mind.”

Holy fuck, did she know what turned me on. Sexy older women with sinister intentions was something I’d got off to so many times before. I couldn’t help it, I groaned and started rubbing my dick through my pants. I could really see it happening, right there in her office.

“That’s right,” Stephanie cooed, “she’s so sexy, you don’t have a hope of resisting her. She knows exactly what she can do to distract you. You can see her, in your mind, seducing you, overwhelming you…”

“... and yes, hypnotising you,” the Evil Stephanie grinned at me. “Let me into your mind, let me have the information I want, that you’ve kept hidden for so long, and we’ll both get something we want out of this session.”

“I… I can’t just betray my secrets like that!” I protested, but I made no effort to stop her hand as it trailed up my leg.

“Ohhh,” Evil Stephanie cooed, “but wouldn’t it be so much fun to just give in?” Her hand stroked my dick. “I can feel how hard you are. I know how badly you want what I’m offering.”

Evil Stephanie swung her legs over mine, hoisting herself into my lap. I was trapped by my own desires, and now I was trapped physically too.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” she murmured, “just tell me what I want to know”

“Nevmmmph—” I tried to say, but she kissed me before I could get the words out.

This was one of the most vivid fantasies I’d ever had. I could even feel the weight of Evil Stephanie grinding on my lap, the softness of her lips as she kissed away my protests. The weight of her tits in my hands…

“That’s right,” Evil Stephanie smirked, guiding my hands to her tits, “you can’t resist this. You can’t resist my kisses. And you don’t want to. Let me kiss you to sleep.”

She kissed me again, and started murmuring in a hypnotic cadence. Things like “My kisses drive your thoughts away,” and “getting so sleepy and submissive for me,” and “surrender your mind to me.” Each time, she would kiss me again, preventing me from speaking. Preventing me from resisting.

It was getting blurry. I was so turned on. So hard. So hard to think when she was kissing me. I was too tired to fight it. I should just let go. Go to sleep. Sleep for her lips.

Sleep-

I was naked, on the couch in the psych’s office. Evil Stephanie was standing over me, also completely naked. I was hypnotised and under her spell, but even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t imagine resisting what was about to happen.

“Now,” she grinned evilly, “I’m going to pump you for information. You can’t hold back, the pleasure will draw it out of you. Tell me everything.”

She swung her leg over me and lowered her pussy onto my dick.

Being inside Evil Stephanie was unimaginably hot, even if it meant I’d surrendered to her. She squeezed her muscles around me insistently, drawing gasps out of me and fogging my thoughts. It was like the motion of her pussy really could pump me for information.

“Ohhh yes,” she moaned above me, her hands straying to my nipples, “you’re so hard, you wanted this so badly from the moment you stepped inside my office, didn’t you? It feels so good now, just let the memories flow out of you, let the words flow out of you.”

As she spoke, I could feel my mind drifting away to another time, another place…

“Hey Caleb! What’s up?”

It was Cait. This was the first time she asked me out, wasn’t it?

“Hi, Caitlin!” I said. “Studying hard for exams?”

“Yah,” she said, “in fact, I was kinda wondering if you could help me with something.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked, one eyebrow raised. She did know I was studying for exams too, right?

Suddenly there were two Caits. One who said “I was wondering… if you’d go on a date with me when exams are over?”

The other Cait stepped into my personal space and kissed me, right on the lips.

Wait. There couldn’t be two Caits. That made no sense…

The Cait who had asked me on a date faded out of existence, as somewhere in the background Evil Stephanie was still riding my dick, murmuring “Very good, keep remembering…”

I was shocked that Cait would be so forward, but before I could get a word in she broke the kiss and murmured “Just relax,” and kissed me again. It felt so good to get attention like this from a girl, that I just relaxed and let her do it.

She practically threw my books out of the way as she climbed onto my lap, cutting off my escape route. She murmured, “It’s hard to think when I’m kissing you,” and before I knew it her lips were on mine again. And she was right, it was hard to think.

More kisses followed, and words like “Don’t speak, don’t think,” and “relaxed and obedient,” and “you want to be mine,” accompanied them. I felt myself falling into a deep hypnotic trance, just like the one Evil Stephanie had kissed me into.

“Sleepier and sleepier,” she continued, her lips pressing insistently against mine, “c’mon Caleb, just give in to me.” Another kiss. “Sleep for me.”

I slept.

I woke up to find Cait’s number in my phone, and discovered to my delight that I was officially dating her. She had left me a pile of work to do, but that was fine. She was my Mistress after all, and I’d do anything to make her happy.

“Wake up, Caleb.”

The world drifted back in pieces. I felt too out of it to move. There was a hand stroking my hair.

I reluctantly forced my eyes open, and found Stephanie smiling down at me as I lay on her lap.

“How do you feel?” she asked me.

“Like I woke up from three different naps at the same time” I groaned.

“Well, that’s not far from the truth,” she admitted. “But, we have made good progress. It seems Caitlin was hypnotising you, and when you were under her spell she was using you for whatever she felt like, from having sex to doing homework for her. To be blunt, she was treating you like a boytoy.“

I was gobsmacked. Cait did all that?! But she was so nice to me… wasn’t she? Or had that part been totally made up?

“Wow, I’m definitely gonna need a minute to process that,” I sighed.

Of course,” Stephanie replied, “anyone would. Take as much time as you need.”

I sat silently, stewing in my thoughts. Cait had been an evil bitch this whole time? But she was so sexy, and so good to me… fuck, were those even my own thoughts? When had I started thinking them? Were they going to come around every time I thought about her? Why did I still find her so hot? Did she ever actually like me in that way, or was I just a means to an end?

“So… what does this have to do with my sex addiction?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Well,” Stephanie explained, “it seems that she enhanced your already high sex drive as a way of binding you to her, making you fantasise about her constantly. I’m guessing that one day, she simply got bored of using you and went out seeking a new thrill. On her way out, she tried to hypnotise you to believe you were broken up amicably, but made a complete mess of it in every other way, leaving behind all these suggestions about sexual desire without giving you anything to focus it on.” She paused. “Again, if this is too hard for you to hear, we can take a moment.”

It was hard, but Stephanie’s soothing hand stroking my hair was helping a lot. I told her this, and she laughed.

Something else was tugging on my memory, though. “Stephanie, I have to ask,” I began. “When you made me fantasise about being hypnotised, you also hypnotised me for real, right?”

“Yes!” Stephanie grinned. Stroke, stroke, stroke. My eyes fluttered a bit. Being close to a woman like this didn’t happen very often. Cait had never really been one for cuddling, and now I guess I understood why.

“But,” I struggled drowsily to get the words out, “When the Evil Stephanie hypnotised me in my fantasy… I dreamed that we had sex.”

I trailed off again, but Stephanie picked up on my implicit question.

“It was real,” she whispered.

My eyes flickered open again. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she laughed softly, “we’re having post-sex cuddles right now.”

“Holy shit,” I murmured in awe, “isn’t that, like, unethical?”

Stephanie’s eyes sparkled as she grinned down at me. “Oh, yes! But it was also the only way to start breaking the spell your ex has cast over you. Only the very best ethical violations for my patients!... I thought you wouldn’t complain.“

“I am finding it hard to,” I admitted, closing my eyes again and basking in her attention. Stroke, stroke, stroke.

“This treatment will have two stages,” she continued. “The first stage is getting rid of your ex’s hold on your sex drive, by replacing it with an even more powerful hold. That’s me.” I could sense her cheeky grin. “The second stage is using that connection to calm your sex drive back down to normal levels, and then easing you out of dependence on me, so you can have much healthier relationships going forward.”

I sighed, but nodded. She picked up on my mood.

“I know, I know, but I’m too old for you,” she murmured. “This can’t be more than a passing indulgence for either of us.”

“How many more appointments can we…?” I let the question hang.

“Next week, at least,” she promised. “But that should be enough to break Caitlin’s hold over you. After that, well, I’m supposed to be weaning you off me. No guarantees.”

I nodded. It had been a long day, and I’d absorbed so much new information. I felt like drifting off right there in Stephanie’s lap. Stroke, stroke, stroke.

“Could you do me a favour?” she whispered in my ear.

“Mmmhmm,” I replied.

“I know you have a crazy, out-of-control sex drive,” she said, “but try not to jack off the day before our next appointment. The more worked up you are, the better I’ll be able to treat you. I suppose I could use hypnosis to control your orgasms, prevent you from cumming at all, but that seems a little unfair, doesn’t it?”

I blinked drowsily, “You can do that?!”

“I’m afraid so,” she shrugged, “if it helps you to conceptualise it, your ex-girlfriend is controlling your orgasms right now by making you jack off compulsively.“

Shit. That was a good point. And the crazy thing was, I still felt like jacking off thinking about her, even knowing what she’d done.

“I have questions,” I ventured.

Stephanie checked the time. “We have half an hour left in the session, so go for it.”

“Why don’t more people know about hypnosis?” I asked. “I mean, most people say it’s fake or it can’t really make you do something you don’t want to.”

Stephanie sighed deeply, “That’s a very incisive question, believe it or not. Do you want the truth?”

“If it’s not too much trouble—” I started, but she waved me away.

“It’s fine, you’ve earned that much,” she said. “The truth is, this kind of hypnosis is a very recent discovery. And more to the point, it’s my discovery. There’s a growing number of women out there who know how to do it, and most likely they learned it from me.“

“You taught Cait hypnosis?“

“Not directly,” she clarified, “I have a podcast. The point is, I’d love to pretend that this was all a big screw-up, but it’s not. It’s hypnosis working exactly as I’d imagined, and you just got caught up in it. I am sorry, but I admit I’d be a lot less sorry if your ex had been more responsible with her power.”

That wasn’t what I’d expected at all. “So if Cait had hypnotised me without messing me up, you’d be fine with it?”

“As for the notion that hypnosis can’t override free will,” Stephanie continued, “that’s a tricky subject. I might argue that you were also fine with Caitlin hypnotising you. My thesis on hypnosis is that men love to be controlled like this, even if it’s not always good for them. Of course I’m fine with it. I get an army of slaves who are very happy to do my bidding. You’d be fine too, if it was you.“

“Huh.” I couldn’t argue with that. “So then, if you hypnotised me too, what’s to stop you from making me your, uh, boytoy? Like she did?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Stephanie grinned slyly, “and I must admit, it’s rather tempting. We both know you wouldn’t resist if I tried.”

Her hand stroked my hair as she spoke, and I relaxed into it, proving her point. It felt so good, why would I want to fight it?

“So, uh, how does hypnosis actually work then?” I murmured, drifting off a little.

Her hand moved around to the back of my head, pulling me gently upwards.

“Like this,” she replied, then leaned down and kissed me gently. Any thoughts I had vanished immediately.

“You don’t want to ask any more questions,” she purred.

I didn’t.

She kissed me again, and through the haze of pleasure I heard her say “You want to go again.” A third kiss. “Just one more round.” A fourth kiss. “Before the session ends.” A fifth. “Fully awake this time.”

My brain was completely fried, but I got the meaning of ‘going again’ loud and clear.

It was a difficult week. I was jacking off just as much as before, but now it was like there were two fantasy girls in my head—Cait and Stephanie. My dad caught me doing it less, at least, so I could plausibly claim the psych was helping. I didn’t want him to pull me out of the sessions now, and I definitely didn’t tell him that the Dr. Thorpe he’d talked up so much was actually a woman. He would’ve flipped the fuck out, and to be entirely fair to him… she was banging me.

Maybe it should’ve bothered me that Stephanie had seduced me and hypnotised me, but it didn’t. It was like I could feel my sex drive weighing up the attention of a beautiful woman against the rest of my mind. Sex won every time. Maybe not if Stephanie ordered me to like, kill or something, but most other things… was that how Cait had done it?

Fortunately, I was able to get to my next appointment without parental supervision. First, because there was no chance of them finding out Dr. Thorpe’s true identity, and second, because it had already been a long, long day of resisting urges. If I didn’t get some kind of relief soon, I was going to scream.

“She’s waiting for you,” the bored-looking secretary out front said, gesturing towards her office. “Please go right in.”

Something bugged me about that guy, and his position as her secretary, but I wasn’t sure what.

“Hello, Caleb,” Stephanie greeted me warmly as I sat on her couch, “how has your week been?”

“Difficult,” I admitted, “I’ve been having just as many fantasies as before. But I’ve been able to hold off for the past day and a half, at least.”

“Poor thing,” she pouted, “are you still struggling?”

“Yep,” I nodded, trying not to look too miserable.

“It’s alright,” she soothed me, “if you trust me, and follow my instructions, I guarantee you will get to orgasm today.”

“Um, thank you,” I mumbled. What was even the right thing to say to that?

Stephanie reached into her pocket and pulled out a long ribbon of some kind. To be honest, I’d expected a pocket watch.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Pure silk,” she replied.

I was so sex-brained right now that I was already thinking about how a silk ribbon would feel on my dick. Before I got too into that thought, Stephanie straddled my legs and kissed me deeply. I sighed and relaxed as her lips moved against mine.

“Hands behind your back,” she instructed softly. “I need you not to touch yourself.”

I moved my hands without thinking. She kissed me again, and while I was distracted she looped the silk around my wrists. It was very soft, but surprisingly strong, too. I quickly realised I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Comfortable?” she murmured, her lips still pressed against mine.

“Uh-huh” I nodded.

“Then close your eyes,” she whispered, “and let reality drift away.” She kissed me softly. “Let fantasy take over.”

“I dunno,” I shrugged as my eyes closed, “like, I still find it hot, but I find it hard to think of you as Evil Stephanie after last time.”

She continued her sweet, mind-melting kisses as she replied, “Then maybe I should tell you something that will change your mind. Something that proves I’m exactly who you fantasise about. The wicked, seductive hypnotist with an agenda.”

“Umm-hmm,” I moaned as her lips met mine over, and over, and over. “Whatsat?”

She gave me one last kiss before pulling away. “The man you know as my secretary?” she confided. “That’s the Dr. Thorpe you were sent to see. I infiltrated his practice and took it over so I could hypnotise charming young men like you. I even changed my own last name to avoid suspicion.”

My eyes snapped open. “Then… then it’s all true!” I shouted indignantly. “You want to turn me into your slave and take over my life!”

“How perceptive of you!” Evil Stephanie grinned. “It’s a shame you weren’t so perceptive before I tied you up and rendered you completely helpless.”

She was right, I couldn’t move my arms or legs, and I had no way to fight her as she cupped my face in her hands and pressed those irresistible kisses onto me.

I could resist her hypnosis, I had to. For my own sake.

Her lips were so warm and inviting. It felt so good to let her kiss me.

I could resist.

But I was so horny, and she was so sexy. I couldn’t fight her lips.

I had to sleep...

“She will never compare to me,” Evil Stephanie murmured as she ran her tongue over the weeping head of my dick.

“I am the superior lover in every way,” Evil Stephanie insisted as she slid my dick between her incredible tits.

“The best sex you ever had with her is nothing compared to the slightest touch from me,” Evil Stephanie declared as she lowered her dripping wet pussy onto me.

She rode me slowly, torturously, knowing that I was too desperate for release to resist. But I had to remember the good times…

We were at Cait’s place, and her parents wouldn’t be back until dinner. We both knew what that meant. I was kissing her tenderly, romantically, and when I started exploring the rest of her body, she welcomed it with soft sighs.

I lowered her panties almost reverently, and she was finally naked in front of me. Her pussy was beautiful, and on another day I thought I might like to kiss it.

“Oh, Caleb,” Cait whimpered with need, “please be gentle with me. You know it’s my first time.”

“It’s okay,” I reassured her, positioning myself between her legs, “it’s mine too.”

She took my hand in hers, our fingers intertwined. “We’ll lose it together?”

I brought her hand to mine and kissed it. “Together.”

I was upright on my knees, furiously jacking off with one arm as I pumped deeper into Cait. I wasn’t sure how we’d managed to work out this position for our first time, with her on her back and my arms wrapped around her legs. I also wasn’t quite sure how I was jacking off and fucking her simultaneously.

“Keep jerking it,” I heard Cait’s voice call from across the room, “my pussy feels so good and so tight, doesn’t it? Yeah, you’re going to cum real soon for me.”

I looked to the side. Cait was sitting at her desk with her phone out, swaying back and forth in her swivel chair as she watched me stroking myself.

She was right, her pussy was so tight I could cum any second now. But how was she doing that?

The Cait on the bed started whispering “Don’t look at her, focus on me, focus on me, she’s not there, I’m here, I’m real and I’m in front of you, I need your cock—”

I turned my attention back to the Cait on the bed, and started fucking her harder.

“Oh goddd, that’s it!” she moaned, hands straying to her perfect nipples, and pinching them softly as she approached her peak.

“I think it would be suuuper romantic if we came together,” the Cait at the desk said, “what do you reckon? I think that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Cum hard for me, in 3, 2, 1—”

“Oh fuuuuck!!” the Cait on the bed screamed. “Cum for me! Cum now! You’re so good! Your dick is so big! I’m cumming!”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I roared as I thrust deep inside Cait one last time, filling her up completely as I… came in my hand, catching everything I could in the tissues Cait had thoughtfully left out for me.

I lay there, dazed and drained, Cait’s voice barely audible through the exhaustion. It sounded like she was talking on her phone.

“I’m telling you, this shit really works! … Yeah, he’s passed out on my bed right now. … Nah, there’s no such thing as drugged lipstick, that’s like some sci-fi bullshit cover for the real thing. All it takes is a couple of kisses and a bit of timing, and boom! He’s your slave. … I’ll send you a link to the podcast if you want. … I mean, it’s been like, a month by now? And he just does whatever I want. Calls me ‘Mistress’ and everything. Just gotta make sure his needs are satisfied, you know. … True, even that part takes care of itself. … I mean I don’t think it makes a difference to him, he gets off either way. Hey, hold up—”

“Don’t listen to her,” whispered Cait’s voice in my ear, “she’s not here, I’m here with you, and you were so good baby, I’m ready for another round, you’re so big and hard, you need to fuck me again…”

My ears were ringing a little. It was very quiet in Stephanie’s office. I felt peaceful, which was weird considering the dream I’d just had. My eyes eased open, and I found myself in Stephanie’s lap again. She was holding me tightly, comfortingly.

“Hey, you,” she said softly.

“Hi,” I smiled back at her.

Her eyes were shining, a little bit. Like she was about to cry.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Stephanie leaned down and gave me a proper hug, her tits smushing against my chest as she kissed the top of my head.

“I think I may have flown too close to the sun,” she murmured into my hair. “You deserve the truth, and I hope you’re ready to hear it.”

“Is it… bad?” I asked.

“It might be,” she admitted, easing me upright, “that’s up to you.”

“Alright,” I decided, “tell me.”

Stephanie looked me directly in the eyes as she spoke, “Your entire relationship with Caitlin was based on lies. She used her control over your sex drive to make you remember things that never happened, incredibly vivid fantasies that she was conjuring up for you.

“As far as I’ve been able to figure out, you and she never actually had sex. Everything you thought was sex, was just a fantasy she was commanding you to jack off to. Apparently, with an already-high sex drive typical of someone your age, you enjoyed the mere idea of having sex with her enough that it worked. In reality, you never went beyond kissing, and only that because it was necessary to hypnotise you. The rest of the time, you were her personal servant, waiting on her hand and foot.

“Eventually, as I theorised in our previous session, she grew bored of stringing you along, and she dumped you to go look for someone else to enslave,” Stephanie finished. “I’m afraid the power went to her head, and she seems to think she can find the world’s biggest stud and enslave him in a snap, now that she has some practice under her belt.” She looked at me sympathetically. “That’s all you were to her, I’m afraid. Practice.”

The details of my strange dreams flooded back to me. It all made sense now. I could see now which of my memories were real, and which ones had been carefully constructed fantasies. Cait hadn’t just been using me, she’d invented our entire relationship. The romantic dates, the study sessions together… even the sex wasn’t real! Was she even that pretty? Or did I just remember her that way because she told me to? I felt cheated. Faking an orgasm was one thing, but faking having sex was just cruel. Suddenly I was really, really glad that it had only lasted a few months, that even in my fantasies we’d never got around to saying ‘I love you.’ It hurt a lot less that way.

“Wow,” I said eventually, not sure how else to convey my feelings, “I… wow. What a fucking bitch. Sorry, if that’s—”

“No no, I agree,” Stephanie assured me, “she absolutely was, and I’m very sorry that I can’t force her to face any retribution for this. Goodness knows she deserves it.”

“I don’t suppose there’s a chance she strikes out with the world’s biggest stud?” I muttered gloomily.

“Actually, there’s every chance,” she admitted. “You need attraction and infatuation to make hypnosis work, and… I mean no disrespect, but as people grow older, they usually develop higher standards than teenagers.”

“So, you’re saying she’s… mid?”

“Yes.”

I had to laugh at that. Stephanie smiled and laughed with me, seeing that I wasn’t feeling too down about it. And to be honest, I really wasn’t. It felt more like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. I had dodged a major bullet.

“There’s… there’s more,” Stephanie admitted eventually, and this time she looked nervous.

“I’m feeling… alright,” I said carefully, “I think I can handle anything else.”

“Well, you never had sex with Caitlin,” she said. “Of any kind. Your first time you thought you had was a lie.”

“Yes?” I nodded.

“So,” Stephanie continued, taking a deep breath, “your actual first time—”

Suddenly I saw the light.

“—was during our first session together, after you hypnotised me!” I completed.

“Yes,” Stephanie admitted, “it was me, and it is very, very important to me to know how you feel about that.”

I sat in silence, and thought about it. Stephanie watched me… worriedly? Fearfully?

I was hurt, first of all. Knowing what Cait did to me, that it all meant nothing to her, that we never even did anything she’d told me to imagine. But… none of that was related to Stephanie. She was gorgeous, and sexy, and apart from one nagging doubt in the back of my mind—where did that come from?—she actually seemed to care about me. She hadn’t been lying, she really was better than Cait in every way.

“I think,” I said slowly, “I don’t mind that you were my first. I’d actually be a lot more upset if I was still a virgin now despite all the times I thought I wasn’t. I’d rather just… get it out of the way, you know?”

“Oh, thank god,” Stephanie sighed, slumping against me in relief, “I was really worried that I might have taken your already beleaguered psyche and fucked it up even harder.”

“I don’t feel fucked up,” I decided. “Not by you, at least.”

“I’m so relieved to hear that,” she said, “and it makes what I’m about to do much easier on my conscience.”

She snapped her fingers.

The sound echoed oddly in my head, like I wasn’t hearing anything else right because I was still hearing the snap.

“You won’t remember this conversation,” said Stephanie, “I just need to have a little chat with your subconscious. You still don’t fully trust me, do you?”

“No,” I answered. My voice sounded weirdly flat.

“Why not?”

“The whole fantasy about being a nefarious spy,” I mumbled vaguely, “it seems kinda real. Reminds me of when you mentioned my dad. Are you going to hypnotise him, too?”

“Oh, well done,” Stephanie cooed, “you’re so clever to have worked that out. You’re right, but, I promise I don’t intend you or your dad any harm. I just need a favour from him, and hypnotising him is the only way I can get it. Is that okay?”

I squirmed and shook my head a little.

“Oh, of course!” Stephanie exclaimed, “You don’t want me to kiss your dad to hypnotise him, would you? That would be weird. Especially since I’m now the woman you lost your virginity to.“

I nodded frantically. Or tried to. It was like I was moving in a dream, my head lolling up and down.

“That’s alright,” she soothed, “I have a trusted friend I can get to do it for me. She can hypnotise him instead, then he’ll do me a big favour, and everything will work out fine. Would you be okay with that?”

I was convinced. Knowing it wasn’t dangerous helped. Knowing that Stephanie herself wasn’t going to be hypnotising my dad somehow helped even more. “Yes,” I murmured.

“Thank you for clearing that up,” she whispered, “I’ll be giving you further instructions later, but now it’s time for you to forget this conversation.”

Ssssssnap

“So, um, Stephanie,” I blurted, shaking my head a little to clear it, “I know you said we couldn’t keep doing this after you fixed my sex drive, but… I’d really like to be your slave. Or boytoy. Or whatever you wanna call it.”

Stephanie stared at me for a long moment. I couldn’t gauge her exact mood, but she looked almost amused. “Was that the only obstacle, then…?” she murmured to herself. “Are you sure?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I insisted. “I want it.”

Stephanie sighed and closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, she was smiling.

“You know,” she stroked my hair affectionately, “it wasn’t you who failed to resist the forbidden fruit when we first met. It was me. You were far too adorable and tempting for words. So handsome, so polite, so submissive, so hypnotisable, and so clearly smitten with me.”

I couldn’t deny any of it.

“I can’t give you a relationship like you deserve,” she continued, “it will have to be just sex. Nothing else. You can’t depend on me for emotional fulfillment. You understand?”

“Fair enough,” I agreed.

“It will have to be on my schedule, not yours. I’m a lot busier than you.”

“Okay.”

“At some point you’ll have to decide for yourself if you want more out of a relationship than just sex. Be prepared for that to happen, sooner or later.”

“That’s an improvement though,” I argued, “my last relationship was actually less than just sex.“

“...You know what, that’s fair enough,” Stephanie laughed. “Alright, fine, come here.”

I fell eagerly into her arms. She kissed me, then pushed me back onto the couch, where she straddled my lap.

“I should warn you,” she purred, “I’m going to be hypnotising you a lot from now on. Not for therapeutic reasons.”

“Oh no,” I moaned sarcastically, “that sounds so sexy, please don’tmmmmm—”

She kissed me again to shut me up. I was just fine with that, and from a slightly awkward angle I allowed my hands to explore her as she cradled me on the couch. There was no reason to be shy now, so I tried not to be. I let myself feel her closeness, her warmth. Stephanie noticed my hesitation.

“Why don’t we put it all behind us,” she whispered, “pretend that none of this happened, and start afresh? You deserve a proper first time, with someone who will let you learn the ropes.”

I opened my eyes. “What, like a first time: take two?”

“Yes, exactly! Or, well,” she considered, “I suppose it’s take three or four now.”

“How many takes should we do?” I joked.

“As many as you need to get it right,” she grinned. “Stand up for me.”

I lifted myself to my feet with great effort—Stephanie’s lap was very comfortable—and stood facing her.

“I find,” she husked, rising to her feet, “that while it can be nice to put on a show, or watch one, there is no greater pleasure than you and your partner undressing each other. We’ll take it in turns.”

I nodded, and she kissed me, running her hands underneath my shirt and up my chest. She broke the kiss to ease my arms above my head, and before I knew it, my shirt was off.

I was befuddled. Sex, in the sense of fucking her, had been one thing, but this kind of touch was something else entirely.

She continued running her hands over my chest even after the shirt was gone, and murmured, “How does that feel?”

“Good!” I said honestly. “Really, really good. Better than I thought.”

Stephanie leaned down and sucked hard on one of my nipples, just for a second. A tremor ran through my entire body at the feeling, but I couldn’t look away. She winked at me, then lowered herself back down to the couch as her hands worked my belt. She was right, there was something incredibly intimate about someone else taking off your clothes, and not just because you were about to bang.

I stepped out of my pants as she lowered them to the floor. When I’d been in trance I hadn’t really thought about being naked in front of someone, but I was feeling it now. I tried not to instinctively curl into a ball.

“Shy?” Stephanie guessed quietly.

“Y-yeah,” I admitted.

“It’s alright,” she soothed, “you look very sexy to me.”

“Yeah?” I wasn’t too good with words right now.

“And I think you agree,” she murmured, sliding her fingers into my underwear, “I haven’t even reached the best part yet.”

She raised her eyebrow, asking the implicit question. I nodded, and she slowly slid my underwear down. Her eyes locked onto her prize.

“Well, hello again,” she purred, “you definitely look ready for another round to me.”

I realised that I’d never, even in my fantasies, had someone actually inspect my dick before. I wasn’t complaining. Hell, I could barely form words.

“I-I think I get what you mean,” I managed, “about doing my first time properly. This feels way better.”

She grinned up at me for a second, then her gaze returned to my dick.

She murmured, “I love the way it gets harder, just from me looking at it.”

“It’s because you have such sexy eyes,” I blurted out, then instantly regretted it.

Stephanie burst out laughing, but it was an affectionate laugh, and I couldn’t help joining in.

“Well, you know how to flatter a girl,” she winked, placing a teasing kiss on the head of my dick. I tried to stifle a moan.

She stood up. “Now it’s your turn,” she said gently. “Undress me.”

I was nervous, and I thought she knew it. I ran my hands up her arms and back down her chest, trying to replicate what she had done for me.

“Don’t worry,” she instructed softly, “about going through the right motions. What matters is how it feels, for me and for you.”

I stepped forward and kissed her, and as she hummed appreciatively I ran one hand down her front. Not just paying attention to her tits, but finding her shirt buttons. I realised what I wanted to do. I started trailing kisses down her neck and into her cleavage, and felt one of her hands stroking my hair again, inviting me to suck on her nipples.

I would, but not just yet. Instead I undid the buttons on her shirt, kissing my way down her chest as each button revealed more skin. I kissed a circle around her belly button as the shirt finally came fully undone. I rose back to my feet and ran my hands over her arms, sliding the shirt off her entirely.

Her eyes held me, darkened with lust. “I like what you’re doing so far,” she husked, “keep it up.”

“How, um,” I swallowed nervously, “how do I unhook your bra?”

“On the back, the straps lead to a small patch with three connecting hooks.” she smiled. “Take them one at a time, and be patient.”

My hands roamed her back, and I found the hooks. Prising them apart directly didn’t yield any results, but if I wiggled each individual hook, like so…

One…

Two…

Three!

Her bra fell away, and for the first time I saw her glorious tits out of trance. They were undeniably spectacular, and yet… I had so much more to explore, as well.

“Oh” I said. “It’s that easy?”

“So easy, I can do it with my hands behind my back,” Stephanie smirked.

I chuckled. Unable to resist, I leaned down and took one of her nipples in my mouth, lapping at it with my tongue. Then, remembering what she did earlier, I sucked hard on it, just for a second, before releasing it. Her appreciative hum turned into a moan.

I kissed each of her tits, then made my way further down her body. The skirt came away in my hands, and now that I saw her legs, I was struck by the urge to kiss them. Well, why not? I sank to my knees and placed what I hoped were slow, sensual kisses on her thighs, working my way upwards until I reached her pussy.

I looked up at Stephanie, seeking her approval.

Good boy, she mouthed. Keep going.

I hooked my fingers under her panties and slid them slowly down. Stephanie’s pussy was even prettier than fantasy-Cait’s, and I realised that it was glistening. She was wet, for me! It seemed obvious if I thought about it rationally, but even so, this knowledge caused my heart to race and my mouth to drool. I knew how I looked—on my knees in front of Stephanie’s pussy, salivating, gazing worshipfully, basically begging to taste it, but in that moment, I didn’t care.

“Thoughts?” Stephanie prompted me.

“It, uh,” I stammered, “it smells… sexy? I didn’t know a smell could be sexy, but there’s no other word for it.” I leaned forward. “May I…?”

“Mmmmngh, not today, I’m afraid,” she sighed. “Some other time, I’ll train you to be an expert, but today is about going all the way.” She paused, conflicted. “I suppose you could just give it a little kiss, show me how much you adore it.”

I leaned forward and kissed it, as worshipfully as I could. Then again. Then a third time. It took a lot of effort to stop. Turned out a taste could be sexy as well.

I stood up, and admired all of Stephanie. She was beautiful, and I hoped she was thinking I didn’t look too bad, either.

“Now?” I asked shakily.

She ran a finger down my chest until it was lightly stroking my dick, which had never been harder in my life. You could almost forget that I’d already had sex once today.

“I think you know what happens now,” she whispered. “I’m sorry we don’t have a bed. The couch will have to do.”

“I am absolutely fine with this,” I croaked.

We worked out a much nicer position for my first time than I had imagined, me sitting lengthways but upright on the couch, Stephanie straddling me and holding me against her chest.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more in my whole life,” I laughed. “You?”

“I have to admit, I do want this,” she replied, one hand gently squeezing my dick, “and that feels wrong, but I’ll deal with the consequences of being wrong later.”

I moved to kiss her, but she held me back.

“Watch,” she murmured.

I watched as she raised her hips, then lowered herself slowly, gently onto my dick.

“Oh fuck,” I breathed.

“Mmmmm” she agreed, riding me gently, taking me in a little deeper each time.

Now she allowed me to kiss her, and quickly broke it to trail her lips down my neck, finding sensitive spots I didn’t know I had.

“Am I… hypnotised?” I groaned, leaning back as her tongue trailed over my jaw.

“No, not right now,” she panted. “Why?”

“Then you really are… fucking amazing at sex,” I sighed.

She grinned, “You haven’t seen my best, yet.” Her pussy squeezed even tighter around me, and she started riding me faster.

I decided to return the favour, exploring her body with my hands and mouth, seeing if I could find her sensitive spots. By her gasps and moans, I was doing alright, but-

“Stephanie,” I panted, “I don’t think I can last much longer.”

“Then cum,” she said, simply, not slowing down as her pussy coaxed me irresistibly to orgasm.

“But… nnngh… what about you?” I managed.

“You’re going to pay me back for this many times over when I teach you to please me,” she promised, an evil glint in her eye. “Right now, I want you to cum for me, and don’t hold back.”

I groaned, trying in vain to last that little bit longer. Stephanie cupped her hands underneath her tits, bouncing them in my face, weakening my resolve. When she brushed her nipple against my lips, I couldn’t resist latching onto it and sucking as she rode me faster and faster-

“That’s it,” she cooed into my ear as her tits held me spellbound, “don’t hold back, just cum for me, good boy, goooood boy, cum for me…”

I moaned around her nipple as my dick spasmed, emptying out whatever my balls had left into Stephanie’s warm, welcoming pussy. I was left a shuddering, incoherent wreck as she milked me dry, until I was completely spent.

Stephanie raised herself off me, and I flopped backwards on the couch, exhausted. I felt her snuggle up next to me, running her hands soothingly over my body.

“How was that, for your first time?” she asked.

“Flat-out amazing,” I replied drowsily.

“Consider that my apology,” she murmured, “for taking your virginity so carelessly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I insisted.

We continued to cuddle on the couch as the minutes ticked by. I was too blissed-out to move for anything, but the rational part of my brain, which was slowly rebooting, said that Stephanie was going to have another appointment sooner or later.

“I don’t want this moment to end,” I admitted softly, feeling more comfortable in her arms than I’d ever felt anywhere else.

Stephanie stroked my hair affectionately.

“Do you trust me, Caleb?” she whispered.

“Of course,” I said, without hesitation.

“Then sleep for my lips.”

Sleep for her lips. Sleep for her lips. Sleep…

When you fall asleep tonight, and every night until you see me again, you will dream of this moment. A nice, pleasant dream, a neverending moment of basking in this afterglow. Feeling so warm and safe in my arms.

That worked for me.

Life was good after that. Weekly sessions with Stephanie continued, but I was in much greater control of my sex drive once I was free of Cait’s influence. I found a lot more time in my days to think about other things, like whether I actually wanted to follow my dad into psychology. Funnily enough, before I was just doing it to make him happy, but now I actually felt like sticking with it for my own reasons, cause I knew something about psychology my dad didn’t.

One day when I was at my dad’s place, I was in my bedroom, trying to complete an assignment, and I noticed someone on the street, just outside the house. A woman with short brown bob-cut hair.

I squinted, trying to get a closer look.

She looked up at me, and waved.

I noticed that she perfectly matched the description of someone I could trust immediately.

She pointed towards the front door. I gave her a thumbs up.

When I came downstairs and opened the door, she smiled brightly at me, and said, “Hi! I’m Lucy! Feel like studying together?”

Lucy? Where had I heard that name—? Almost automatically I stood back and said “Sure, come in!“

I led Lucy into the house, yelling “Hey dad! I’ve got a study buddy over!”

“Hello!” my new friend called cheerfully.

“Good good!” my dad yelled from the kitchen. “I’d better make lunch for three, then!”

He came out to meet Lucy. She introduced herself and shook his hand warmly.

“Are you a fellow student?” he enquired, trying not to state the obvious, that Lucy was clearly several years older than me.

“Oh, I’m a graduate student,” Lucy responded smoothly, “I’m part of a mentorship program for keen undergrads, so I’m helping Caleb get a leg up.”

“Mentorship?” my dad gave a booming chuckle, slapping me heartily on the back. “Good lad! They won’t tell you this, but there’s no reward for refusing extra help! Take all you can get!”

Lucy and I got to studying over lunch. I didn’t know why she was helping me study—I definitely hadn’t signed up for any mentorship program—but she sure knew her stuff.

“So!” she clapped her hands, “now you feel like you understand the material a bit better, feel like giving that essay a go?”

“A whole essay?” I replied dubiously. “Surely that’ll take more time than we have?”

“Ah, you’ll be golden,” she encouraged, “as long as you can focus.“

Suddenly it was like my brain clicked into gear properly. She was right. I did know all of this stuff. I could finish off this essay. All I needed to do was write it.

“Hang on a sec,” I blurted as I started typing furiously on my laptop, “I think if I just… hold on…”

“I’ll get our plates!” Lucy said quickly, standing up.

I felt her gather up our plates from around me and take them to the kitchen, where my dad was washing up.

I wrote fast, riding the wave of concentration until I couldn’t anymore. I only vaguely heard Lucy and my dad talking. They seemed to be getting along well. At one point I thought I heard my dad come out to check on me, but was stopped by a whisper from Lucy, probably indicating that I was busy, which I appreciated.

I barely even noticed when they slipped silently upstairs. I was just glad dad was getting out there and meeting new people after the divorce. Lucy was pretty, but she wasn’t my type, so if she’d taken an interest in him, good for both of them, I guess.

Hours trickled by, until finally I couldn’t do any more. It was good work, and it would just need a little polish tomorrow to finish up, but I was exhausted. I dragged myself up to bed.

As I passed by dad’s bedroom, I could hear Lucy’s voice talking in a low murmur. I wondered what they were talking about, but it would be rude to listen in. None of my business anyway.

I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.