Author: Bulgroz the Third
Title: The Adjusters #22 - Back in Town
Keywords: MF, mc
Posted: November 1, 2011
Edited: November 1, 2011




			  The Adjusters #22


			     Back in Town



"Dan, are you listening?"

Daniel jerked out of his reverie. "Yes, sorry. I'm here."

Cindy looked at him cautiously, the way she had been doing on and off
for the previous two hours. "Physically, maybe. Although even that's
debatable. You've been way out of it."

You have no idea, he thought. She had been much more subdued than
usual herself, he wanted to point out, but did not. Instead, he
straightened up in his chair, shaking himself awake. They were in an
empty classroom, and it was late afternoon. The last lectures were
done, and there was a break in the day before evening lectures would
pick up. They often met at that time to work on their senior projects,
Daniel on mind-control techniques for election manipulations, and
Cindy on the economic impacts of mind-altering substances. The
projects shared much in terms of background material.

"It's because of me, isn't?" Cindy asked, almost too softly to be
heard.

Daniel looked at her without saying anything.

"We've been skirting the issue all afternoon." She sighed, put down
the chalk she was using to write on the blackboard. "Last night. I
kindda dumped on you, you know, with my baggage? I'm so sorry about
that. Sometimes I get a bit out of control when I drink. I mean, I
like you, Dan, a lot, you should know that by now, but I'm really not
one to throw myself at someone like that..." She let the rest of the
sentence trail. "I'm sorry I burst up like a water balloon, all emo
and all. I guess... I guess I've been a bit down about stuff these
days. Again, I'm sorry." She kept her eyes down.

Daniel did not reply immediately. He had been wondering when Cindy
would bring up the previous night. He had been waiting for her to be
the first to breach the subject, out of respect, and not knowing how
she wanted to treat the event. When they had met up two hours earlier,
she had looked as nice as she usually did, showing no ill effects from
the emotional outpour of the previous night. As for Daniel, he was
exhausted after his own sleepless night. The evening with Cindy had
been emotional enough, but it took second place to the shock of seeing
Jenn again--a shock he had known would happen but whose strength had
taken him completely by surprise. Seeing Jenn again, knowing she was
around, had thrown his whole world upside down, from its already
skewed orientation.

"Cin, about last night," he started slowly, trying to find the right
words, cursing his mind for not quite running on all cylinders, "you
have nothing to be sorry about. Yes, maybe you said some things that
perhaps you don't usually talk about, but that it came out, and the
way it did, well, it tells me that it needed to come out, and I'm glad
that you trusted me enough to open up to me. And I like you too. A
lot. And I hope last night proved it, somehow." The vision of Cindy,
her nightshirt thrust up to her chest, her legs spread, her pussy wet
and calling for him was difficult to forget, despite all the emotions
of the night. "And that I'm here with you, now, hanging out with you,
talking to you, working with you, well that should be proof too," he
added.

Cindy's hesitant and then hopeful smile nearly broke his heart. I'm an
emotional wreck right now, he thought.

"Yeah," he continued, acknowledging the truth to himself and by
extension to Cindy, "you know how messed up my life's been lately. I
told you last night--you'll have to be patient with me." He did not go
into details about exactly what she had to be patient about. He just
hoped she would understand. He did not know himself what he meant,
exactly. Waiting for him to decide what to do next? Waiting for him to
get over Jenn? Was that even fair to Cindy, to put her in a holding
pattern, to make her wait after him? He had no idea, and did not have
the energy to figure it out.

"Something happened," said Cindy after a long pause during which her
face went from smiling to frowning to pensive. It was not a question.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Something happened. After you left me last
night."

"Why would you say that?"

"Feminine intuition."

"I thought that was a crock?"

"It is. Doesn't mean it doesn't work though. You're not here, Dan, and
not just because you're almost falling asleep in your chair. Even
chemistry is not that boring. And wherever you are, it doesn't look
fun."

Daniel turned to the blackboard, where Cindy had earlier been
describing the various chemical compounds that had come up in their
research of mind-altering substances with the ability to affect and
control the mind of the victim, all part of their joint senior year
project. Cindy had gone through the classic compounds, from
gammahydroxybutyrate to scopolamine, detailing their effects in the
human body, working her way up to the more experimental drugs, the
details of which turned out to be difficult to find. Radhu had helped
some, unearthing by not entirely legal means a few specification
sheets online, but their chemistry taxed Cindy's understanding, let
alone Daniel's.

"It's okay. You have to tell me," continued Cindy, when she saw that
Daniel was lost in thought. "I understand. Look, how about we call it
a day? I'm pretty pooped myself."

"Yeah, let's do that."

Daniel was still lost in thought as they headed outside. Spring was
out in full swing, welcomed less enthusiastically than usual after
what had become known as the Great Indian Summer. Daniel stopped at
the top of the stairs leading down from the entrance of the building
they had just exited. Cindy stopped a few steps down, looking at him
questioningly.

"Jenn's back in town." It came out in one breath, and he was almost as
surprised as Cindy was by his admission. Saying it out loud made it
more real. He needed real.

"Oh." Cindy climbed back up, her look now one of concern. "How did
you--"

"She was at the student center yesterday. With Biff."

"I'm so sorry, Dan. I don't know what to say."

Daniel shrugged. "There's nothing to say, really." He did not know
what he wanted to hear either.

"What are you gonna do?"

Daniel looked at her. He wondered, not for the first time, whether it
was all just an act, this caring, this friendliness. As Radhu had
pointed in the past, she had been in cahoots with the Delta Iota Kappa
fraternity--Biff's own crowd--even though she did not hang out with
them anymore, and it was unclear the extent to which what happened
with Jenn had anything to do with the fraternity itself. After all,
Jackson had said that Biff was not particularly liked, and he was gone
for much of the year to date, and no one seemed to miss him. But then
again, the fraternity was involved with a lot of the weirdness on
campus--Daniel was certain of it. And it all goes around in circles,
he thought, feeling the familiar frustration at being unable to figure
it all out. No matter how much I think about this, it doesn't go
anywhere. Fuck.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. I really should talk to her. I think
I need to hear what's going on from her own mouth." He had told Cindy
about the letter Jenn had slipped into his mailbox before she
disappeared at the end of January in which she spelled out to him that
they were through, and how it had not provided any kind of closure,
let alone any understanding.

Cindy stepped up next to him, and without hesitation hugged him. After
a beat, he hugged her back. It felt good. He noticed once again just
how different her small body felt against his. His mind once more went
back to the previous night, to seeing her sprawled out at his feet,
nightshirt tucked up to just beneath her breasts, her legs spread, her
pussy wet with desire, begging him to order her to do something,
anything, offering her body, her mouth, to his filthiest desires. He
had been tempted, of course, but had not taken advantage of the poor
distraught broken girl. She did not look so distraught today, and
feeling her in his arms, feeling her chest pressing into his side, her
leg against his, he was tempted all over again. What the fuck's wrong
with me? He would have been hard pressed to explain whether he was
upset about not giving in to his desires for Cindy, or that he was
upset about admitting to those desires while Jenn was still there in
his head and in his heart.

 Jenn. His physical need for the short blonde currently in his arms
 was interspersed with flashes of his ex-fiancee squirming underneath
 him, or riding him, half naked, looking at him with love and lust in
 her eyes--Jenn wearing that fuchsia dress from the previous night,
 looking like a supermodel. Love, lust, sadness and anger fought it
 out in his mind, as it had for the whole night, and he felt his
 exhaustion anew. He must have sighed audibly because Cindy hugged him
 tighter.

"What can I do to help?" she asked softly.

He shrugged. "I don't know. A bullet to the brain would be nice. And
quick." He smiled to indicate he was kidding, but the smile was weak.

"Come on," she said, taking his arm. "Let's go get you some food."

"You don't have to come with, Cin. I'll be fine. You go do... whatever
it is you do when you're not coaching me in chemistry."

"I'm not leaving you alone in that mood of yours. You're bound to do
something idiotic, you being a man and all."

Daniel bit back a reply, and just let himself be led away.


				* * *


Half an hour later, after a long walk spent half in silence, and half
discussing light topics such as the latest university gossip and
common friends, Daniel and Cindy had found some seating at a Greek
diner in downtown North Alexandria, one favored by the student body of
the university that dared venture that far from campus--in part
because the staff did not seem to mind large groups of generally noisy
undergraduates.

After the waitress brought Daniel his souvlaki and Cindy her large
Greek salad, he teased her for being a stereotypical girl. She
responded by snatching his sandwich and taking nearly a third of it in
a single bite. He watched Cindy almost choke on the piece while she
tried not to laugh, before growing more serious.

"Cin, I've got a question that came to mind last night, and I've been
meaning to ask you, but don't answer if it's not of my business. But I
do have to ask, because, well--"

"Go on, ask away. If I don't like the question I'll just make
something up."

"Fair enough. Look, you were telling me last night
about... well... about wanting to be told what to do, kindda, roughly
speaking..."

"Yes, roughly speaking. It's a bit more complicated than that..." She
was reddening slightly, but despite her discomfort, she did not look
down.

"Well, does it have anything to do with you hanging out with the Delta
Iota Kappa crowd?"

Cindy stared at Daniel for a long moment. He did not know what she was
thinking--her face was utterly unreadable.

"That's a big part of it, yes," Cindy finally answered, looking down
at her salad bowl. "They're typical frat boys, really only interested
in girls and sports and goofing off, and they don't mind ordering
girls about--fact is, they like it, some of them--and while that's not
for everyone, well, it did fill a bit of a need for me. I know it
sound weird and crazy and--"

"It's okay, Cin. I told you last night and I'm telling you now, you
don't have to explain or justify yourself. It makes sense, sort
of. But..." and here he was not sure exactly what he was asking, "why
aren't you with them anymore?"

Cindy looked up at him, weighing his eyes. "I hung out with them
because I wanted to hang out with them. When I stopped wanting to hang
out with them, I stopped hanging out with them."

"But why?"

"For you." She looked like she wanted to add something to her remark,
but she hesitated, and never had the chance.

"Hello, lover."

Daniel stiffened. That voice. The world froze. He was looking dead
ahead at Cindy, and her reaction told him that it was not all in his
head, as he saw her eyes shift to the aisle, widen, and finally scan
up and down.

He felt a body slide into the booth next to him. He turned,
slowly. And there she was. Jenn.

Before he could say anything, before he could do anything, she leaned
over and kissed him hard. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and sought
his, and she pressed her body against his as she kissed him
deeply. After an eternity during which Daniel felt like he was having
an out-of-body experience, she pulled out of the kiss with a huge
smile on her face.

"Did you miss your little Jennie?"

Daniel was too shocked to answer. The kiss had brought back so many
memories his mind was scrambled. He had almost forgotten what she
tasted like. He almost absently noted how she looked. Her long brown
hair seemed even longer than before, down over her shoulders in a
flirty wave. He took in the big hoop earrings, the makeup--dark red
lipstick, blue eye shadow, black eyeliner. His eyes trailed down, down
over the metallic blue skin-tight dress she was wearing that clung to
her breasts and pushed them together to offer an appetizing cleavage
through the low-cut front part. She was deeply tanned, her
naturally-dark skin looking bronzed in the light of the diner. Her
dress barely reached mid-thigh, and sported a very high cut on the
side that revealed one of her thighs all the way up to her hip,
revealing to anyone that cared to look that she had on a pair of
flesh-toned thigh-high stockings with a wide darker lace band. Her
waist was cinched by a black belt. On her feet a tall pair of platform
spike heels--blue like her dress--gave her a good five extra inches of
height. She oozed sex appeal. All the males around them were staring
at her, their gaze lingering on breasts and on her legs. She did not
try to hide from their eyes. In fact, she crossed her legs slowly,
letting her dress slide up and expose the lace band of her stockings,
drawing eager bated breaths from her audience hoping for a flash of
panties.

"Jenn?"

"Of course, silly."

Her eyes glittered with merriment. She was beautiful, as beautiful as
he ever remembered her being.

"Jenn, what are you...? Where...? What...?"

Jenn laughed. "Jennie sees you haven't lost your mastery of the
English language, lover." She caressed his cheek with her hand, and
the silver charms bracelet on her wrist caught the light. Her touch
was soft, teasing, promising wonders to come. Her nails were painted
blue, matching her dress and her eyeshadow.

"How about Jennie asks the questions instead? Like, wanna fuck?"

"Excuse me?" Daniel's brain had not yet recovered from the shock, and
was having difficulty keeping up.

"You heard Jennie. Wanna fuck her? You know," and her hand reached
down between Daniel's legs and grabbed his crotch, and while he tried
to figure out how to react, she leaned in close and whispered in his
ear, "take your stiff hard cock and slide it into her hot little box?
You used to like that quite a lot." She smiled a naughty smile.

"Jenn, what the fuck are you doing?" He pulled her hand away from his
crotch. "What happened to you?" Her hand in his was real, an anchor
that he wanted to cling to to avoid being washed away by the insanity
of the situation.

She did not let go of his hand, and slowly brought it up to her chest,
pressed it against her breast, which felt full through the thin
material. She was not wearing a bra, and could feel her nipple hard in
his palm.

"Jennie's horny, lover, real horny. Biff's feeling generous tonight,
and told Jennie that she could go and fuck whomever she wanted in this
diner. He told her to find herself a man and give him the best night
of his life, satisfy all of his desires, no matter how perverted, no
matter how depraved, no matter how degrading. And then Jennie saw you,
and wanted to feel your big cock inside her. Don't you wanna fuck your
little Jennie? You can do whatever you want to her tonight."

Jenn pulled Daniel's hand down from her breast, and slid it down her
body to her thighs before thrusting it under her dress. She brushed
his hand against her pussy, with no material impeding the contact. She
pushed his hand hard against her soaking wet slit, running it up and
down slowly.

Daniel was still frozen, and let himself be guided. He wanted to
resist, but it was like a dream, about to turn into a nightmare.

Moaning softly, Jenn leaned over and spoke in his ear. Her hot breath
on his skin was sending tendrils of fire down his nerve
endings. "That's right, lover--no panties. Biff doesn't let Jennie
wear underwear anymore. For easy access, he says. A slut should always
been available, wet, ready for action. And don't you feel how
available and wet Jennie is? She needs a big cock to fill her up
tonight. Don't you want to be that big cock that gets to slide into
Jennie's hot cunt?" She moved his hand faster, trying to capture some
of his fingers between her pussy lips and slide them inside. She
moaned softly in his ear again. "Unless you want something else first?
You want Jennie to dip down under the table and take your cock out and
suck it in deep? Want a quick blow job to take the edge off before
heading to your place where Jennie can give you the best night of your
life? Jennie sucks real good now. Practice makes all the
difference. Short cocks, long cocks, thin cocks, wide cocks--Jennie
can take them all down her throat now. Jennie can swallow or you can
come on her face or on her tits or on her dress--it's all as you wish
tonight, lover. You get to fuck Jennie's face as hard as you want."

She pulled Daniel's hand from under her dress, and lifted it to her
face. Her eyes never leaving Daniel's, who was still in a daze, she
slowly slipped two of his fingers, dripping with her juices, between
her lips, and sucked them inside her mouth, deep, twirling her tongue
slowly around the invading digits. She then sucked them in and out,
miming a deep fellatio, unconcerned by the stares she was attracting
from the others patrons. Cindy, sitting in front of them in the booth,
was also frozen in place, staring wide eyed. It was as if reality had
paused for an ethereal moment.

When Jenn finally let Daniel's fingers slide out of her mouth and gave
them a last languid lick, she let go of his hand, and dropped her own
back between Daniel's legs, pressing her palm into his crotch.

"Come on--don't you want to bring Jennie home and take her on the
living room floor, like you used to? Throw her down on her knees, flip
this little dress up over her ass and fuck her from behind like a
common whore? Slap her ass as you ride her? Pull her hair? Squeeze her
tits? Spear her with that big cock of yours?"

Jenn's hand was rubbing his cock, which was getting hard rather
unwittingly throughout her monologue. Daniel's head was starting to
spin. He wanted to stop her, and at the same wanted her to stay there,
stay close, stay with him. What she was saying barely registered.

"Oh, you like the thought of fucking Jennie, don't you? She's
glad--she was worried you didn't like her anymore. Was it the thought
of fucking Jennie from behind that did it? The thought of fucking her
and looking at her ass sticking right up, right there before you,
available? You want to do Jennie in the ass?" She grinned wider, her
voice getting softer, her lips touching his ear. "That's it, isn't it?
That's what you want? You want to shove your big cock in Jennie's
little asshole? She's never let you do that before has she, the little
tease? Well you know what? Jennie's not a virgin back there
anymore. Biff opened her up real good, and he says it's her best hole
ever, so wonderfully and unbelievably tight. Right now he says it's
his hole, only he can use it, but I bet that if you beg him he might
be willing to let you sample it tonight. Want to have Jennie's little
asshole all ready to use and abuse to your heart's content? If not,
then Jennie's got other holes you can use. Jennie'll be good. She'll
be obedient. She'll be your little private fuck toy." Her tongue
sneaked out and lightly ran a circle over his ear. He shivered.

Shut up, he thought. Shut up! Please! He could not voice his
objections. His body was taking forever to answer the orders of his
brain. Is this what going crazy feels like?

"Wanna hear stories about what Jennie did on her trip? Jennie
remembers you used to like her stories. Well, Jennie's been really
naughty while she was away. She fucked a lot of guys, in all sorts of
ways, in all sorts of places.

"The best was when Biff decided Jennie needed a little action, and set
up this pick-up basketball tournament. Biff loves basketball. Nothing
fancy, just a bunch of guys meeting in some isolated area of a
playground. All the guys where big and tall. Biff made up a
round-robin schedule for the games, and he told everyone that Jennie'd
be the prize for the winning team. To make sure everyone kept
themselves motivated, he had Jennie in this tiny bikini with a short
almost transparent beach dress over it, and a pair of tall heels just
like the ones she's wearing now. The guys were ogling her, and that
made her so wet her bikini bottoms were all drenched. Before each
game, she had to go around and wish good luck to the players by
kissing each of them deeply while they fondled her tits or her ass and
they'd get so turned on before their game that you could feel the
testosterone practically flying about on the field while they sweated
it out. There were a few fights after a team lost and they realized
they wouldn't get into Jennie's tight cunt.

"For the semi-finals, Jennie had to pull down her dress and take off
her bikini top, and she played with her tits while the boys played
with their ball. For the finals, Jennie was spreading her legs on the
bench and had two fingers up her twat sinking in and out. Just like
this," and she pushed her hand underneath her dress, lifting it up
just enough to reveal a smoothly-shaved pussy, and thrust two fingers
inside her. She groaned against Daniel's ear, as she worked her
fingers in and out.

"Jennie didn't come though, and she was shaking real bad from arousal
during the final game, which turned pretty violent because all the
guys wanted to have a go at little Jennie there in the stands frigging
herself crazy. And then the best team won, two tall black guys that
were almost pros. They were all sweaty, bare chested, and the losing
team got in their face and there was another fight and the black guys
completely beat on the losers and then they were all jacked up on
adrenaline with blood on their hands and they had won the right to
fuck Jennie and they stepped up to her and they threw her down on her
knees and they made her suck them off right there on the playground in
front of everyone and they fucked her face real hard while everyone
was cheering them on and they came all over her face and her tits and
they made her rub the cum into her skin like a moisturizing cream."

Jenn pulled her hand from under her dress and lifted her drenched
fingers to Daniel's lips. When he did not part them, she drew her
fingers slowly over, spreading her juices around. "Then the two black
guys brought Jennie over to a large tent that Biff had set up nearby
for the afternoon's activities. They made her strip and finger fuck
herself before them, to turn them on and get them hard again. They
made her lick their cocks back to fullness. And then they decided who
would be the first to fuck Jennie's cunt, and the thinner of the
two--Jennie never learned their names--made Jennie get on her hands
and knees and he took her from behind, shoving his cock inside in one
swoop, and he fucked her like that, with broad thrusts that sent
Jennie's almost flying every time. He liked to pull Jennie's head back
by the hair and then grab her tits while he fucked her, and he did
that, a lot. And Jennie loved it. She came so hard on his cock, over
and over again, until he exploded deep inside her hot cunt.

"Cum was dripping out of Jennie's cunt when the other man grabbed her
and flipped her on her back and pushed her legs apart. He was much
bigger than the first ,his cock as wide as a clenched fist. He dropped
down between her legs, and Jennie's never going to forget what he told
her then--'I love to fuck my bitches face to face, love to see how
wide their eyes get when I force my cock inside for the first time,
stretching them out, ripping them apart. Feel free to scream, it turns
me on like nothing else. Truth is, I prefer it. I'm gonna ruin you for
white cock, bitch.'

"And then he pushed his cock inside Jennie's tight cunt, and it hurt
so much, and she screamed, loud, and the man grinned, and Jennie came
like a fuck around that arm that was splitting her open. And then he
started fucking her like Jennie had never been fucked before, and
Jennie went out of her mind. She screamed the whole time, her nails
scratching down the big guy's back, while he pounded into little
Jennie, and then the first guy grabbed her head and shoved his cock
inside and fucked her mouth while the big guy fucked her cunt. They
took her like that, one guy at each end, for a long time, and they
came all over Jennie's slutty body. And the big guy was almost
right--it took at least two days for Jennie's cunt to go back to
normal after him. But she's as tight as ever now. Wanna check?"

She grabbed Daniel's hand again, and tried to pull it down to her
crotch. Daniel had stiffened throughout the story, his body finally
willing to obey the frantic orders from his brain, and he snatched his
hand away. He shook his head as if to clear it, humiliation and
confusion and anger fighting for attention. He realized that his teeth
were clenched tight, and that his hand--the one that Jenn had not
grabbed--was closed into a fist. He did not trust himself to say
anything without losing it completely.

Jenn did not seem to notice, or if she did, she chose to ignore
it. "Jennie's pretty sure that Biff recorded the whole thing and sent
it to you. Did you watch it? Did you watch Jennie get fucked hard? Did
it turn you on?"

Daniel was starting to shake, and could feel a scream build deep in
his throat. He did not want to lose it, he did not want to cause a
scene, he did not want to say anything he would regret. This can't be
happening, was the refrain that was bouncing around in his head. This
is all in my mind! I fell asleep while Cindy was explaining some
carbon chain thing to me and I'm dreaming this! Please! I'm dreaming
this!

Cindy chimed in, her voice soft, her eyes trained on Daniel. She
looked like she was reading his mind, and in his current emotional
state it very nearly broke his heart--she was doing exactly what Jenn
used to do, before. In that other life. "Jenn, please," said Cindy,
keeping her voice calm. "Maybe Daniel needs a break. Let's go
somewhere." She extended a head towards Jenn, who looked at it for a
second before looking up at Cindy.

"You're Cindy, right? Jennie remembers you. Biff said you were a great
fuck. 'A petite little thing with a tight ass,' were his words. You've
had your eyes on Daniel for a while now, haven't you? You fucking him
with that tight ass of yours yet?" She turned back to Daniel, closing
her eyes as she pushed two fingers between her legs. She bit her
lip. "Mmm... If you want, lover, you can bring your blonde girlfriend
along tonight. You always joked you wanted a threesome with Jennie --
this is your chance." She looked back at Cindy. "Your girlfriend's
pretty hot. She must suck cunt like a goddess, with a mouth like
that. Jennie hasn't eaten out blonde pussy herself in a while." Back
to Daniel. "What do you say, lover? Wanna watch Jennie make out with
your girlfriend before you fuck her?"

Daniel finally found himself able to say something, although it took
all he had to keep from screaming. "Jenn--" He took a deep breath,
closed his eyes, let it out slowly before continuing. "Please stop. I
don't know what you're doing, but please stop. What's gotten into you?
I mean--" he paused again, breathed in and out to quiet his racing
heart, to remember the girl he used to love falling asleep next to,
the girl whose laughter used to mesmerize him. He kept his eyes
closed. "I missed you. I don't know what happened to you, but we can
talk about it, figure out what--"

"You're not going to fuck Jennie tonight, are you?" She sounded
dejected. Sad even.

Daniel opened his eyes, looked at her. "No I'm not. Please, love,
let's go somewhere and talk and figure this out, okay? Wait! Where are
you going?"

Jenn had risen from the seat and was smoothing her dress down.

"Lover, if you're not gonna use Jennie tonight, she'll find someone
who will. Biff's wants to share his girlfriend tonight. He said to go
out there and find somebody to pound her slut body. And Jennie always
does what she's told. Now, she'd much rather it'd be you that makes
her come hard tonight than some random guy, but if you're going to
pass, then Jennie has to go and find herself a real man that will not
try to resist these." And she grabbed her breasts in her hands and
pushed them together, emphasizing the already abundant cleavage on
display. After a beat she turned around, leaving Daniel befuddled.

Daniel looked at Cindy, and she shrugged helplessly. They both watched
Jenn talk to a young man sitting on a nearby booth that had been
eyeing her ever since she came in. She slid next to him and kissed him
hard on the lips, her body pressing into his. The young man seemed
surprised at first, but then recovered and ran his hand down her back
and over her thighs, and she helpfully spread her legs to provide him
better access. She closed her eyes and Daniel could hear her moan from
where he was sitting, as she threw her head back and bared her throat,
exposing her chest to the young man and to his friend sitting right
across the table, who seemed to have some trouble keeping his tongue
in his mouth.

By the time the kissing resumed, people at nearby tables where looking
on with interest, or at the least the men were, with the women making
what sounded like disparaging comments, and Daniel suddenly had had
enough. He stood and stomped over to the table where Jenn was now
being shamelessly fondled by the young man who had recovered some form
of composure. He had slipped a hand through the top of her dress
where, protected from view by one of her arms, he was grabbing a
breast, a look of glee on his face. Daniel made it to their table just
in time to hear him tell the guy sitting across the table, "You gotta
feel this tit, dude! Fuckin' A grade!"

"Let her go," growled Daniel, putting his hand on Jenn's shoulder.

She shook him off, pushing herself closer to the young man with a hand
on her chest.

"Dude," the young man said, frowning at Daniel. "I don't think she
wants to go with you. Do you, babe?"

"Depends," Jenn replied, looking at the young man in the eye. "Are you
going to take Jennie home and fuck her brains out, you and your friend
there?"

"Fuck, you bet your fine little ass on that, babe! We're gonna make
sure you have problems walking tomorrow!" The guy sitting across the
table nodded enthusiastically.

"Jenn--" Daniel reached over to grab Jenn again when a large hand
closed on his forearm, trapping it in a viselike grip.

"I think the lady wants you to leave her alone."

Daniel turned.

"Hey! Look at that! It's dickhead! Good to see you again. How've you
been?" said Biff, a huge shit-eating grin on his face, never letting
go of Daniel's arm.

Daniel breathed in and breathed out, trying to restrain the rage that
had flared up somewhere behind his eyes. He twisted abruptly, freeing
his arm.

"Woha!" chuckled Biff. "Dickhead's got some spunk tonight. What's the
matter? Bothered your girl--sorry! your ex-fiancee--prefers a twofer
to your dip stick? Don't feel bad. I'm kindda sad myself. I thought I
was enough to keep her satisfied, but hey, she's one insatiable little
slut that one. It's just fuck fuck fuck with her. A guy's gotta rest
once in a while, right?"

Biff was still laughing when Daniel's punch connected. Biff had not
expected it, and he lurched under the hit, taken by surprise. Daniel's
knuckles started hurting immediately, but he was too enraged to feel
any pain, and was spurred on by the satisfying crunch of Biff's nose
breaking under his fist. He threw another punch, this time at the frat
boy's stomach, and it made Biff take a step back to catch his
breath. Daniel was taking a step forward to continue the fight when
two young men grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. One of them
wrapped an arm around Daniel's neck, while the other one threw him a
punch that landed square in the solar plexus and knocked the wind out
of him. The guy holding Daniel by the neck threw him to the ground and
kicked him in the face and then in the ribs, and would have happily
finished him off if Cindy had not slipped in front of him.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!"

Struggling to catch his breath, Daniel saw Cindy face up to the boy
that he recognized as one of the Delta Iota Kappa brothers that had
flanked Kevin Cusker when Daniel had confronted the president of the
fraternity earlier that year. The boy hesitated before the small
blonde, and looked uncertainly at Biff behind him, who was shaking off
Daniel's punches. He was holding his nose up, trying to quench the
blood that was flowing down freely and staining his tee shirt. When he
looked down at Daniel, he looked pissed off, but seemed to be trying
hard to control himself. Around them, the patrons of the diner where
watching the proceedings with interest, and Daniel saw that one of the
waitresses was on the phone, undoubtedly talking to the police. Biff
saw her as well, and he gave a last dirty look in Daniel's direction
before gesturing to his friends.

"Let's go, guys. So dickhead got a lucky punch in, made him feel like
a man. I guess I did swipe his fiancee out from under him. And now it
looks like he's hooked up with one of my discards. Remember her, guys?
Hey, dickhead, does she still squeal like a pig when you ram it into
her from behind?" He laughed as Daniel struggled to stand back up. The
two frat boys that fought him down tensed up ready to dish out more
punishment.

Before things could degenerate further, Cindy leaned over and put a
hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Don't. All you're going to achieve is that
you're going to get the crap beat out of you, probably land in the
hospital. It's not worth it. Not now. This is not the way to win
this. If you seriously want Jenn back, walk away with me. Please,
Daniel. Trust me."

Daniel looked at her, anger, humiliation, and disappointment fighting
it out in his heart. Cindy's eyes were wide. She looked frightened,
but there was wisdom in her words. She was right, of course. It stung,
it hurt, it bit, but she was right.

He stood up, slowly, and without looking at any of the three frat
boys--he would lose it again if he did--he headed for the
exit. Surprisingly, they did not taunt him further, except for Biff's
parting volley: "We're gonna be at the DIKBash next week if you want
to drop by. I'll make sure your ex puts on a great show, dickhead!
Come and see a whole new side of her!" He laughed again.

Daniel did not even spare a glance for Jenn, not trusting himself to
leave if he did. Had he looked at her, he would have seen her deep in
the middle of a searing kiss with the young man that had put his hand
inside her dress, seemingly unaware of the confrontation that had
taken place right next to her table.


				* * *


Biff stared at Daniel and his little slut blonde girlfriend as they
left the diner. He was fuming, wanted nothing more than follow the two
out and beat them up until they begged for mercy, but he had seen the
waitress on the phone and it did not take a genius to realize she was
calling the police. And he had no interest in that kind of
confrontation.

He stepped to where his girl Jennie was still sucking face with her
new beau and grabbed her and pulled her away. "Come on, doll, we're
outta here." She did not resist, but the man whose tongue she had been
sucking off had something to say.

"Hey, what the fuck--"

"Shut up you piece of shit," snarled Biff before grabbing his head and
banging it on the table, hard enough to send plates and utensils
flying. There was a murmur of tension around the diner, which did
nothing to improve Biff's mood. "Come on guys," he directed to his two
friends. "We're going."

He looked around the diner, challenging anyone to stop him. No one met
his eyes, except this one striking raven-haired woman wearing a long
leather coat sitting in a corner booth, looking at him with a smile on
her face that he could not help but interpret as a sneer. "Got a
problem, bitch?" he growled.

She raised her hands, palms out, in the international gesture of
having nothing to do with whatever was happening and not being
interested in being part of it, but the slightly mocking smile never
left her face. His first reaction was to go and wipe that smile off,
but something stopped him and he just turned away and followed the
others outside. It was her eyes, he would realize later when they were
in the car speeding away from the diner less than a minute before a
police car showed up. They were a cold grey, and the smile she had
harbored had never reached them.


				* * *


Daniel was walking fast, knowing he was forcing the shorter Cindy to
almost run to keep up. It was not that he did not care, but he was
seething from the encounter with Jenn and Biff and his cronies and he
needed to work off his frustration. And besides, he told himself, no
one forced her to follow him.

When he realized how unfair he was being, considering how Cindy had
jumped in to defend him back at the diner, he slowed down. He still
walked with his fists clenched, however. The side of his face stung
where one of Biff's companions had kicked him, his lower lip swelling
up. The bleeding had stopped, but the coppery taste in his mouth was
still with him, and he felt like it would never leave him. He was
hurt, and the hurt went deeper than his face or his ribs.

Biff's face flashed in his mind, a laughing Biff, a sneering Biff. The
image made him clench his fists harder, hurting his bruised
knuckles. At least he managed to break the bully's nose, he was pretty
sure of that. But then Biff's brutish face was replaced by Jenn's, and
the surge of emotion he had been repressing surfaced.

He thought he could handle seeing Jenn again, thought he could talk to
her, get her side of the story, figure out what happened. But he had
failed miserably. He had an excuse, granted, or at least he tried to
argue to himself that he had. After all, she had acted... he did not
even know how to characterize it. Strangely did not even begin to
describe it. It was so much out of character. The way she dressed, for
one--she always hated to show her legs in public, and yet she was out
in that dress, just like in that feed from the Student Center that
Radhu had shown him the previous night. And then there was the way she
referred to herself in the third person, which had creeped him out
something fierce. And there was what she had said, how she had gone to
that other guy and flirted with him, completely ignoring him. And
yet--and yet--it was still Jenn. The way she moved, the way she
talked, even how she talked, and the words she chose.

He knew everyone was indulging him with his wild theory that somehow
Biff had done something to Jenn to make her go with him, exerting some
sort of control. Certainly, Radhu had made it clear that it was highly
unlikely. And Daniel had to acknowledge that much of it came from that
weird dream he had had back at the beginning of the year. With that in
mind, he tried to recall how Jenn had sounded. He remembered how she
had talked to him earlier; he remembered her face, her eyes, her body
movements, the way she talked, the way she seemed to think. Her eyes
had been clear, her movements assured, and there were no hand-eye
coordination problems. Her speech had been articulated, her sentences
well formed. He had been studying drugs and other mind-altering
techniques with Cindy for the past month, and one commonality among
the techniques was that they all affected something that was visible
and fairly difficult to camouflage. The conclusion seemed to be either
that Jenn was indeed acting of her own volition, or whatever was
affecting her was something new or secret. He refused to believe that
she was being coerced into acting the way she was. He had looked in
her eyes, and she could not have been able to hide that from him. Her
eyes had been the way they always were, had looked at him the way they
always had, those large brown eyes that he had fallen in love with so
long ago.

There was no sense to any of it. No sense at all. He did not know what
to do.

He turned left when he reached the small road leading to parking lot
next to his place, the one serving the two apartment buildings on
either side of that service road. His own apartment (the one he and
Jenn used to call home, a lifetime ago) was the top floor of a
two-story house at the far end of the parking lot. Cindy followed him
without saying a word. She followed him as he unlocked the door and
stepped inside. She followed him as he made his way to the living
room. She sat on the couch, still not saying a word.

Daniel was too keyed up to even contemplate sitting down. He paced
nervously, his fists clenching and unclenching, the desire to scream
and hit something becoming more and more difficult to resist. The
anger that he felt at the diner was rising again, shifting to rage, a
rage that had been bubbling inside him for weeks now, a rage he had
repressed, a rage with nowhere to go, with no outlet, no sense, no
reason.

"What the hell is going on, Cin?" He did not want to shout, but he had
little control. "What the hell was that?"

Cindy looked at him with narrowed eyes. She seemed worried about
him. "It's just Biff being Biff, Dan. He's an asshole, you know
that. I know that. Heck, everyone knows that. Don't let him get to
you."

"Not him! Him I can deal with! But her? What was she doing? What was
she thinking? What the hell is going on, Cin?"

Cindy hesitated, looked about to say something, but Daniel never gave
her a chance to answer him. He stormed out of the room, and headed to
the bedroom, slamming the door against the inside wall on his way in.

Cindy followed him, concern etched all over her face. And pity. She
felt sorry for him. That incensed Daniel even more. His rage needed to
be vented, something that had always been difficult for him, partly
because he so rarely got angry. But now his teeth were hurting from
clenching, and his hands were closed into tight fists.

"Fuck," he growled. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he shouted, louder and louder
each time, feeling the eruption but unable to control it. "FUCK!" he
screamed before punching the wall next to the bed, his already hurt
knuckles pouncing through the sheetrock and missing a supporting beam
by a lucky few inches. Cindy screamed in surprise.

"Dan! Please! Calm down! Please!"

"Fuck! Why is this happening to me? Can you tell me that, Cin?
Why--the--fuck--is--this--happening--to--me?" He was screaming without
restraint now, punctuating every word by an overhead smash of his fist
against the wall. A small rational part of him felt a stab of guilt
about subjecting Cindy to such a scene, but then again she was the one
to follow him and she did not have to be there and he was in no
condition right now to care about other people's feelings. He was
breathing hard, the throbbing in his hand dampening his ire somewhat.

Cindy looked at him with wide eyes, keeping calm but clearly unsure
what her next move was. She then looked at the hole he had just
punched in the wall, before her eyes circled the room and fastened on
the dresser. Her eyes widened even more, in surprise this time, and
after a short pause, she bolted for the dresser. Daniel jumped when
she moved, still on a short trigger, then turned in place a few times,
his energy level way too high, frustration having replaced rage but
still needing to be released.

He was just deciding to leave the bedroom and head outside when Cindy
looped something around his neck from behind and he jumped once more
as a weight thumped against his chest. "Cin! What the fuck are you
--?" He looked down and saw the bronze medallion that he had brought
back from the NADA party the previous semester hanging from his neck
on its leather string.

He turned to look at her, his hand pulling on the string as he did
so. "Cin! This is no time for--"

He never had the opportunity to finish his sentence, as he felt hard
hungry lips close upon his, and a tongue invade his mouth, and Cindy's
small body press against his. He wanted to pull back, push her away,
ask her what she was doing, but her passion just made whatever
remaining repressed emotions he had accumulated boil over. Her mouth
felt perfect on his, and her hands on his back underneath his shirt
felt as if they had been created to be right there. His own arms
wrapped themselves around Cindy's small frame as if they had a mind of
their own, and soon he was pulling the vivacious blonde against him,
crushing her against his chest, his groin, while his hands immediately
went down to her ass. Cindy moaned in his mouth, and her tongue become
more feverish. Daniel was losing whatever will he might have had to
fight her off; he could feel the rush of lust swamping him over,
demanding escape, release, freedom.

She pulled out of the kiss, breathing hard. She looked up and must
have seen the fire in his eyes because she grinned, her crotch rubbing
against his in a private filthy dance.

"Take me, Dan," she said, her voice low, vibrant, promising. "Take me
hard and make me scream like the little slut I am." She pushed him on
the bed, and before he could stop her she straddled him and pressed
her ass hard against his groin before she leaned over to deliver
another scorching kiss.

The sudden movement had jerked Daniel out of his ardor and he was
about to push Cindy off and protest when she grabbed his hands and put
them on her ass. He felt the firmness of the buttocks underneath the
thin skirt she was wearing, and he immediately had to fight the desire
to run his hands underneath the material and palm the skin that he
imagined warm and satiny. His hands clenched, and he groaned into her
mouth. His emotions, already thrown completely out of whack from his
outburst earlier, threatened to erupt again. He was trying hard to
resist, not sure he really wanted to. The pent-up frustration inside
him was still clamoring to get out. Clamoring loudly. "Cin..." he
managed to grunt through her kiss, "this is a bad idea--"

She lifted her head and looked him in the eye.

"Dan, you're wearing my medallion. Remember it? That means that right
now, I'm your little fuck slave. Your little fuck toy. Your little
fuck thing. You can do anything you want to me. Anything. Just tell
me, and I'll do it. Or better, just take it. Take whatever you want
from me. You want me to struggle a bit, give you something to fight
against, let you work off that anger that's eating you up?" One of her
hands slipped between their bodies, and she rubbed the cock that was
straining his pants. "Want me to play the little tease that doesn't
put out, and that you get to punish with that fat cock?" Her hand
slipped into his pants, having unbuttoned them without him noticing,
and she grasped his cock, making him gasp in response. Her voice
dropped down to a throaty rumble. "You can be rough with me if you
want. I know guys like that, especially when they're all worked up
like you are. I won't mind, I promise..."

"Cin! Come on! Jenn--"

"Jenn? Jenn's off somewhere fucking those two losers from the diner
within an inch of their life. Perfect little Jenn probably has a cock
in her mouth and a cock in her cunt right now, grunting like a stuck
pig while she's being plowed hard, with Biff cheering on and telling
them to fuck the slut harder, that it's no good unless she's screaming
her pretty little head off. 'Fuck her up boys, she likes it hard and
fast!' And they do, and her big tits are bouncing as she rocks from
one cock to the other, and her slut dress is bunched up around her
waist--"

Daniel's lust was quickly shifting to anger and back again, the two
emotions fighting it out for supremacy. He did not even know who he
was angry at--Cindy for saying all that she was saying--Jenn for how
she was hurting him--Biff for being a fucking asshole--the world for
being fucked up beyond repair--himself for not knowing how to handle
any of it.

Cindy did not let up. She looked straight at him and pressed on, as if
she was trying to rekindle his earlier rage.

"Maybe I should go and put on a brunette's wig and some of her clothes
from her closet so I can be your Jenn for the night. Would you like
that? A docile little Jenn ready to do whatever your twisted mind
wants, no matter how dirty or filthy or sick it may be? You get to
have some revenge sex, Dan--a good hard hatefuck!" She was stroking
his cock now, which was threatening to burst from the
stimulation. "Wanna fuck her ass, Dan? Wanna ream her ass with your
big cock, Dan? You can. Just shove it in there and fuck it--it's
tight, tighter than anything you've ever had, and you can fuck it as
hard as you want, punish her for being such a selfish cunt, make her
regret it all, regret you--shove your cock into her ass hard and make
it bleed, Dan. Fuck your slutty girlfriend in the ass like the
shameless whore she is--"

If she wanted to enrage him, it worked. With a roar he flipped her on
the bed and stood over her, his cock standing straight out, hard,
angry, demanding. Cindy grinned, and spread her legs. Her short skirt
had ridden up, exposing a thin pair of lace panties. She pulled them
aside and ran her fingers up and down her slit while Daniel discarded
his pants in one swift move. An instant later he was back on top of
her, and she welcomed him with a deep kiss while pushed his cock
inside her in one long thrust that found her pussy soaking wet.

"Oh God!" moaned Cindy, wrapping her legs about his waist and hooking
her ankles together behind him, pulling him tight against her. "Fuck
me, Dan, fuck me hard!" She punctuated her urging by plastering her
mouth against his and giving him another scorching kiss, and Daniel,
lost in a haze of lust and anger, pushed his hips hard against the
small body below him, relishing the heat enveloping his cock. She was
hot and wet and her pussy sucked him deep inside her almost against
his will. He responded to her kiss, and she moaned beneath him, her
hands grabbing his head and locking him in place.

He fucked her, there was no other word for it. It was raw, untamed,
primitive. He thrust into her repeatedly, savagely, furiously, his
cock driving in and out of her with wet slurps and damp slaps, and
Cindy seemed to bask in it all, holding her beautiful legs apart and
giving him as free an access as possible. In the course of their
coupling, he had pulled her shirt over her chest, and was now mauling
her breasts and finally bit on her hard nipples when she came, a loud
orgasm that had her blonde locks swinging left and right as she
thrashed on the bed.

He could not control it, any of it. His cock was the engine, his anger
the fuel. Through the fog in his mind, he was seeing Jenn, he was
seeing Biff, he was hearing them and smelling them and they were
kissing and laughing and fucking and Jenn was begging him to take her
hard, to fuck her like the cheating bitch she was, and it hurt and it
burned and it made his vision turn red and he was thrusting madly now,
ramming in and out of the cunt splayed out before him, smashing into
it with all his might.

"Fuck yes!" cried Cindy, clawing his back, building up to another
orgasm. "Fuck me! Fuck me hard! Fuck me as hard as you can! I'm yours!
All yours! Body and soul! Anything you want! Anything! I'm yours! Fuck
me! Fuck me hard! Fuck me like the cunt I am! I'm just a hole for you,
a hole to plow, a hole to ravage, a hole to--"

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Daniel, still thrusting madly, his cock
spearing into her over and over again, put a hand over her mouth to
stop her tirade. Cindy turned her head and quickly sucked three of his
fingers into her mouth and performed a perfect mimicry of a
fantastically sloppy blow job, gagging herself on his hand in time
with his thrusts, her eyes closed, a look of bliss on her sweaty
face. Her lips were distended over his hand, as if she was trying to
swallow it whole every time his fingers went in. Her body stiffened,
she groaned, and kept sucking all the way to another shattering orgasm
that ripped through her body and clenched her pussy so hard over his
cock that he cried out.

It was too much--too much. Daniel closed his eyes, anger and
self-loathing feeding on each other while his cock was on a path of
its own conquering and laying waste and exploding in a series of
blasts that drove the air from his lungs and finally he collapsed,
drenched in sweat, on top of the beautiful blonde girl shivering
through the last remnants of her own release.

He was crying by the time Cindy wrapped her arms around him and
soothed him as he lay empty, drained, wrung out.

Twenty minutes later, Cindy was resting, on her back, her eyes closed,
while Daniel, raised on one elbow, ran a finger lightly over the
areola around one of her nipples. He was much calmer now, the abscess
of his anger punctured and flushed. Cindy looked like she was
sleeping, her breathing slow and regular. Darkness shrouded them. On
the bed next to him, the bronze medallion lay silent. He picked it up,
examined it, but it refused to yield answers.

When he looked back at Cindy, her eyes were open and were gazing at
him. "Dan, we need to talk," she said softly. She sounded serious.

"I guess so. Look, I'm sorry about before... I mean, just now. I
didn't mean to..."

She reached up with a hand to caress the side of his face. "Don't be
sorry. It was wonderful. You were wonderful. It was exactly what I
needed." She grinned. "I came so hard I'm still all tingly. I needed
it, bad. And you needed it too. Maybe even more than I did."

"Still, I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. You deserved, I
don't know--"

"Quit it. I got exactly what I deserved: a good, hard fuck from
someone I care about deeply. So thank you. And I should point that I'm
the one who was egging you on."

"So you were trying to infuriate me on purpose, then?"

"Of course. Worked like a charm, too. Sex and anger. Eros and
Thanatos. Twisted in a Gordian knot that only a good fuck can cut
through. I guess I should apologize for putting you through that, but
I'm afraid I'm just too happy with the outcome to try to make it sound
sincere. And you do seem much more relaxed now..." She reached up to
brush her lips on his cheek.

Daniel remained silent for a while, looking at her. He shook his head.

"Cindy, what's going on? Last night, you were crying in my arms,
telling me this stuff about high school and about this guy and how you
had this barrier that kept you from... well, from sex, and you were
begging me to make the first step and force you, but tonight you
jumped me and--"

"You must think I'm crazy," she said, looking sad.

"Crazy is a bit strong, so let's just say I'm worried. I've sort of
had my fill of people behaving strangely for no reason."

"Well, in my case, there is a reason..."

He looked at her, not understanding, and then he frowned. He reached
beside him to pick up the bronze medallion. "This thing?"

She nodded.

"I don't understand," he added, after a pause during which they both
looked at the medallion he was dangling from his fingers above Cindy's
chest.

"I don't I understand either. But what I told you last night was the
truth. I've got a block about sex, and we could stay up all night
doing the armchair psychology thing to try and explain it. When you
wear this medallion, it lets me behave like the block isn't there."

"How...?"

Cindy looked at him, her expression undecipherable. It seemed a mix of
sadness, apprehension, and excitement. He waited, his intuition
telling him that this was an important moment. He palmed the medallion
and went back to brushing his fingers over Cindy's chest. He focused
on her skin and on the steady rise and fall of her breasts, round and
soft and topped with nipples that seemed to long to stiffen at his
request.

"It's sort of a long story," she said after a long moment.

"I bet it is."

"But you need to hear it. And you're not going to like it."

"Let me be the judge of that."

She sighed, and seemed to come to a decision. While she had been
hesitant until then, her voice was now firm. "It happened last year. I
went to this party thrown by a friend--she finally convinced me to get
my nose out of my books, and there was this group of boys there
laughing it up and playing a Family Guy drinking game, and I hung out
with them and they invited me to go sailing with them the next day,
and I had this essay that I needed to write but I was feeling
uninspired and I decided to take them up on their offer and go with
them the next day. I had a blast--I had brought this tiny bikini that
I don't get enough chances to wear, and I was sort of hoping that it
might inspire one of the guys so that he would put a move on me and--"
and she looked almost shameful at that point, "you know, start
flirting with me and maybe push me through that block thing. But no,
everyone behaved as well as college boys can behave. There were a
couple of other girls there too, all beautiful. And then I must have
fallen asleep because the last thing I remember was lying on the deck
of the sailboat, in the sun.

"When I woke up I was lying on a bed with an IV drip in my arm and a
killer headache. There was a man sitting by the bed, dressed like a
lab technician, and he was running some sort of checklist, muttering
to himself. When he saw that I was awake, he talked to me for a
bit--no idea what he said, I was pretty out of it--then he said
something that I don't remember and I blacked out again. Next thing I
knew, I was standing outside the Delta Iota Kappa fraternity house."

"The Delta Iota Kappa frat house." It was a statement, not a
question. Daniel's heartbeat started sounding loud in his ears. He
tried to remain calm. "What did the lab guy look like?"

"Nothing special. Oldish. Maybe forty? White, short brown hair, I
think brown eyes. He had a shirt and tie underneath the lab coat. He
was a pretty big man, too. Had a bit of the mad scientist in him."

"Did you get his name?"

"No. Later on, the guys would just call him 'the doctor'."

"So you're standing outside the frat, then what? Let me guess. You had
a new shiny bracelet on your wrist."

Cindy's smile was thin. She had heard the bitterness in his voice.

"Yes. And it barely registered, at first. It's like I knew what it
was, a trinket that the fraternity offered to girls it chose as
recipients of their charity money and all that jazz, you know the
story, but if I would forget it was there when I wasn't looking at it
directly. But then weird stuff started happening."

"Weird stuff?"

"I started to lose chunks of time, a couple of hours, here and
there. At first, I knew exactly what had happened during those
times--I was reading, or studying, or sometimes just daydreaming--but
it was a bit like very vivid dream recollections But after a few
weeks, those recollections would become less clear and other images
started coming to the surface."

"Images?"

"Yeah, images. Fuzzy at first, but then they were like conflicting
memories for the same time period. But they were becoming more
definite, and one day, it all became clear."

"What did?"

"What was happening to me. This guy--a fraternity boy--came up to me
after class, and whispered something in my ear. No recollection
what. But I was hit by this urge to please him, to do anything he
wanted me to do. I can't explain it. I was hot, as hot as I had never
been before, and I knew--just knew--that if I could please him he
could satisfy that craving I had to... to just feel him inside me. It
was completely irrational--subrational might be an even better
word--and it was strong. And I followed the guy when he told me to
follow him, and he brought me to a restroom and there he took me. We
had sex in a bathroom stall, and it was amazing. No block, no nothing,
just like magic. He left me there to clean up after he had come all
over my face, and eventually the craving I had faded away and I came
back to my senses. There was this lingering memory, like a buzz in the
background, that I had found a quiet spot to read after my class, and
that I had come to the restroom to freshen up, but I knew that wasn't
true. It was like my mind was trying to come up with a plausible story
to cover up what I had just done. It was fascinating and frightening
at the same time. But I remembered what had really happened. And it
happened again, later that day, and the next day, and the next, other
frat boys coming to me and whispering something in my ear and then
have their way with me, and I remembered everything."

Daniel was silent, absorbing everything. For a fleeting moment, he
wondered whether she was making this up. It was too perfect. This was
along the lines of the scenarios he had bounced around with Radhu. Was
she feeding him exactly the information she knew he wanted, the
information that he was hoping for, in an attempt to... In an attempt
to do what exactly? he asked himself. Throw me off the track? Confuse
me? Distract me? He took a deep breath. He was becoming paranoid.

"Dan, you okay?"

"Yes. Sorry. Just thinking. Please, go on."

"Well, there's not that much more to tell. Whenever a frat boy came up
to me and said whatever it was that they said--my trigger sentence, I
guess it must have been--I did what they asked, which usually
involved... well... lets just say that most of them were not shy in
using some of my assets."

"If you were aware of what was happening, why didn't you say
something?"

"I'm not sure I would have been able to prevent them. I was aware, but
I wasn't in control, not at first. And even if I could have stopped
them..." She paused, unsure how to continue.

Daniel shook his head, understanding dawning on him all at once. "You
didn't want to. This was your chance, wasn't it? Your chance to work
through the block you were telling me about last night? You got to
have sex."

Cindy nodded, and closed her eyes. He could see tears forming
underneath her eyelids. She opened her mouth to say something, but
nothing came out. After a few deep breaths, she found her
voice. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm not proud of it, but I was
desperate, and all in all, they did not treat us too badly. The sex
was great. I had... I had missed it."

"Us? Right, of course. The bracelets. All those girls. All those girls
with a DIK bracelet. They are... some sort of sex slaves?"

"That's maybe a bit strong, but yes, the boys use them for
sex. Although some of them just want to talk, and don't really touch
you."

"So Marjorie... Serena... and Kyra..."

Cindy nodded. "As far as I can tell, I'm the only one who remembers
anything after they use me. Everyone else seems to just fills in the
blanks with bland memories, like I did at first." Cindy looked at
Daniel carefully, then continued more softly, almost hesitantly. "Are
you upset?"

He took a moment to think about it, then shook his head. "No, I'm
not. I guess I should be. And maybe I will be later on. But I'm too
exhausted to feel anything right now. Why are you telling me this
now?"

Cindy shrugged. "Guilt, I guess. I mean, when Jenn left, what was the
point? It'd just rile you up, make you suffer, knowing that she was
out there not in control of her actions. There was nothing you could
have done anyways. But now... well now she's back, and I just couldn't
keep it to myself. I'm sorry I kept all of this from you."

Daniel did not respond, and decided to avoid the topic completely. He
would have to figure out later exactly how he felt about Cindy's
behavior. But now, he had other things on his mind. "So what about
Jenn, then?" he asked her.

Cindy looked at Daniel uncertainly. "I actually don't know what
happened to Jenn. From what I heard, the doctor that did the work on
the girls sort of disappeared after Christmas, and the frat has not
added any new girl to their... their..."

"Their harem."

"Their harem, yes. The guys seemed pretty surprised when they learned
about Jenn, and I remember that in the short time I was around there
was be ample publicity within the frat whenever some new girls would
join the... harem. So I don't actually know what happened to Jenn. But
she is wearing a charms bracelet, and if I were to guess, I'd say
that--"

"That Biff somewhat got his hands on whatever the doctor used and did
the job himself."

"Or got someone else to do it for him, yes. Without going through the
frat."

"But wait. Jenn's different, right? I mean, take you, or Serena,
you're normal. Except I guess when you're being... used. The rest of
the time, you're still you. Jenn doesn't seem to be like
that. Otherwise she wouldn't follow Biff around like she seems to do."

"I know. And that freaks me out. I don't know what Biff's done to
her. Also, so you know, I'm not part of the frat's harem anymore."

"Why? How? That's why you don't have your bracelet anymore, right?
What happened?"

"I quit, you might say. The thing is, whatever hold they had on me was
already fading. I haven't really tested it yet--I don't know what
would actually happen were one of the guys to say my trigger, but I
don't think I'd have the irresistible urge to throw myself at
him. Probably I'd feel an attraction for the guy, a rush of lust. But
it would not be irresistible. I was really doing it more for fun than
because I had to. But after what happened to Jenn, what Biff did, and
how you reacted, well, it stopped being fun. I don't want you hurt,
Dan."

He squeezed her hand when she said that, and that support seemed to
have been the right thing for him to do because her eyes watered
again. Emotions were running high. He did not trust himself to
continue talking about Jenn. He needed to think on it, to sleep on
it. He switched the subject.

"So what's with this medallion?" He dangled the medallion before her
eyes again.

"I don't know. Remember that party last semester, where they had them?
The doctor put us under, all of us that were hired as serving girls,
and he must have done something to us while we were knocked out
because, well, basically, what the guy at the party said--whenever
someone wears our medallion, we're compelled to obey them. It was a
little bit like when the frat boys used our trigger sentence. For me,
again, it mostly took away my blockage. Which is why... which is why I
put it on you at the party. So I could let you know how I felt about
you. Same as tonight..."

"So the medallion still has an effect on you?"

Cindy's smile was tentative. "Clearly. I wasn't sure it would
work. But it still does. And it does make me suggestible. I'd be
careful when you wear it with me. You could really get me to do all
sort of filthy things with that..."

The way she said it made it quite clear that she would not mind it one
bit if he did. Daniel decided not to pursue that particular thread of
discussion at that particular moment.

"Cin, what did they do to you? How did they... I don't know what to
call it... program you?"

"I don't know that either. Complete blank. And it's been bugging
me. Why do you think I was so eager to help you with your senior year
project? I'm not stupid, you know. I want to know what they did to
me. So I enjoyed it when the guys used me; sue me--I like sex. But I
want to make sure they haven't screwed up anything else inside my
head. I've managed to narrow it down some. I'm pretty sure it was a
combo of drugs and neuro-cortical stimulation, based on what was
around the lab when they took us there to prep us for the NADA
party. But no drugs we looked at over the last month comes close to
having the effects I experienced. And as we saw, neurological
stimulation can do lots, but again, nothing close to what I
experienced. So I'm stuck."

"If we figure out what was done to you, then we can figure out a way
to undo it. And get Jenn back."

"That crossed my mind."

"We've got to find that doctor. Anything else you picked up on him?"

"He wasn't a local, I'm pretty sure of that. And I don't think he
works at the University. He seemed pretty keen on remaining low key."
She frowned all of a sudden. "I rarely saw him at the frat house, but
I do remember that one time around Christmas where I overheard him
talking to someone--maybe Nils, the vice-president or something--and
he was saying something about Serena and an experiment he was
running. He seemed very excited about it, saying that he would have to
be careful and keep an eye on her. But then, as I said, is seems no
one's seen him since winter break. At least according to Jackson."

"Jackson. Of course. He knew. He knew all of this. And he didn't do
shit!"

"Jackson's okay. Go easy on him. He's just a kid. And he's stuck
between a rock and a hard place. I think he wants to do the right
thing--he doesn't really partake, if you know what I mean. And he's
really head over heels for Kyra. He's been trying to help, you know
that."

"Kyra. Of course, she also has a bracelet. Does he--did he use it to
make her fall in love with him?"

"I don't think it works that way. I do think she's really into
him. For real."

After nearly two minutes of complete silence, with Daniel still
mindlessly running his fingers around one of her nipples, she spoke up
again, almost whispering. "What's gonna happen now?"

"We need to find that doctor. And his lab. Can you give me a
description of everything you saw, as much as you remember? I'll see
if I can get Radhu to figure out where it's likely to be on campus. My
money's on the Delta Iota Kappa frat house itself. But I know the
psych department has neurological stimulation equipment. If it's at
the frat house, we should get Jackson to do some footwork for us. And
then we have to figure out what they did to you. You said you believe
it's a combo of drugs and some sort of conditioning. And you said you
had an IV drip when you woke up the first time. So maybe some of it
still in your system. We should get an analysis of your blood done,
see if anything's askew."

"I've done that already, but nothing came up."

"But you didn't have Radhu's overly neurotic eyes overseeing
everything. Maybe they missed something." Daniel paused. "Finally, we
need to get Jenn back so we can undo what was done once we figure out
how to do that. It's time to quit reacting, and start acting."

Cindy took a moment before responding. "A nice thought. But I really
meant, what's gonna happen to us, now?"

Daniel looked at her. "I don't know. What you told me just now... what
you've done... it's a huge help. Thank you. But I don't know what's
going to happen to us. I don't think I can do much more than take
everything day to day for now. Can you deal with that?"

"I can try. But you have to do me a huge favor first."

"Depends what."

"Could you put on the medallion one more time?"

And Daniel had to shake his head at the extent of the mischief
emanating from the smile she gave him.

