[Warning: More story than heat in this chapter. Comments, compliments, criticisms are all welcome!]
That was it. My fate was sealed. I was supposed to leave the next morning. Edward was going to accompany me on the trip home—a safety and liability issue. Marissa had already agreed to cover his lessons in their classes.
I walked through Naples that day like I was a ghost. I was a dead man walking. I tried to savor my last moments with my newfound friends, but I was in a daze. I was in shock, I was sleep-deprived.
“So who am I going to study with?” Valerie stuck out her lower lip in a pout. I was hanging out with her and Marissa in their room. I was on one twin bed, they were on the other.
I sighed. “I don’t know. Ingrid seems like a nice girl? She gets good marks, she says.” Marissa made a little confirmation noise.
“Yeah, sure, but I’m sure she doesn’t give good backrubs. I like your hands.”
Marissa giggled. She cupped her chest. “He DOES have nice hands.” They’d finally fixed her hair, it was now a tasteful pixie cut. I think I liked it better than her old style.
“Oh shut up,” Valerie said, laughing, throwing a pillow at her. “Don’t be gross.”
“Oh, it’s not gross.” Marissa made a ‘yummy’ noise. “Hey, Val, want to see something hot?” She turned to me and winked. I was alarmed, I had no idea what she was planning.
Valerie looked wary, and looked between us. “Um?”
I just shrugged, “What are you talking about, Missy?”
“Shelly told Dee, Becky and me about this last night.” I blushed - the story of my public sex debacle with Richelle had made its rounds, and Valerie still hadn’t stopped giving me a hard time about it. She came to my bed and sat herself down, facing me. “C’mon, pull a Svengali on me.”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh,” I said. That mystery was solved. I looked at Valerie. “Um, really? Now?”
Valerie just looked at us. “What’s a ‘Svengali’? Is it dirty?” Obviously she was thinking about the Richelle debacle too.
“Not really,” I said, as Marissa said, “It doesn’t have to be!” I just rolled my eyes at her.
She was still skeptical. “So, what is it?”
“It’s like hypnosis,” I said.
“Shelly said it’s really, relaxing, and omigod, like a rush!” Marissa just arced her back in happiness, making another happy noise. I shook my head in disbelief.
“I don’t know if I want to do this.”
“Oh c’mon, Eric,” Marissa said. She bent down and forward to tug my shirt. “Please? I wanna try it, and I want Val to see.”
Apparently, my reticence combined with Marissa’s excitement had piqued Valerie’s interest. “Yeah.” She flopped face-down on her bed and propped her head up to look at us. “Now I’m curious. Do it.” She waved her hands, permissively. Marissa just bounced up and down in glee, making affirmative noises.
“Um, okay.” I looked over to Marissa, and did a dramatic, silly voice. “Now look into my eyes.”
Giggles all around the room, but she did look in my eyes. “Anything you want to do with this?”
She shook her head. “No, I just want to show off. No limits, okay?”
Valerie piped up. “Uh, yeah. Limits!”
Marissa giggled. “Okay, don’t do anything that might make Valerie uncomfortable. But I have no limits.”
“Fine,” Valerie and I said, together. I took a deep breath.
“Okay, Missy, look into my eyes.” We locked eyes again. “Now remember how it felt to be zoned out like before, entranced, in that suggestible state.”
“...yes...” Her eyes were already starting to get glassy.
I tried to remember what I’d told Richelle. “Like with Shelly, I’m going to count down from three to one. When I reach one you’ll be in a complete trance, no limits, totally open to me.”
“...trance, no limits, open...” She started breathing, heavily. Okay, she was right, this was hot.
I counted down. When I reached one, she collapsed, falling forward into my lap. Valerie jumped back, startled. “Whoa! What happened?”
“I told you, it’s like hypnosis. She’s in a trance. She’ll do whatever I say. She’ll become whatever I want.”
Valerie just stared, fascinated. “Far out.”
“I have no idea what she was hoping to do now, though.” I scratched my head. “I mean, now she’s in a trance. What, do I make her bark like a dog when I say her name?”
Valerie was still staring. “Can you do it to me?” She hugged her pillow closer, looking worried.
“I don’t think so?” I wasn’t sure what Marissa had dished already, and I didn’t want to share the whole mind control seizure theory just yet.
“So she’ll turn into whatever you want?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Can you make her super-smart? Or taller?”
“I can make her believe she’s super smart. I don’t think I can make her actually super-smart unless I sit there and read the encyclopedia to her.”
“Too bad. I’d have asked you to do me if you could just make me know Italian, so I could pass all those silly tests.” We laughed at that. “Oh, what the hell. She patted the bed. Come over here. Do me.”
Uneasy, I got off the bed, gently letting Marissa lay there, looking as though she was snoozing. Valerie whispered, “She looks so relaxed.”
“That’s what they tell me. It’s relaxing.”
“Can she hear me?”
“I’m not sure. They only respond to me.” I looked over at Marissa. “Missy, do you hear Valerie?”
“...yeah...”
“Well,” I shrugged. “That answers that. But they don’t remember anything when they wake up.” I turned to Valerie. “Your turn?”
“Yeah, I guess?”
Hopefully, I said, “Second thoughts?” I wasn’t all that eager to try this out on her—I didn’t think it’d work, not without her being ‘primed’ by a seizure first.
She straightened up, and looked at me with resolve. “No. Do it.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Look into my eyes.”
She did, giggling. “Yes, Master.”
“Shut up! It won’t work if you don’t take it seriously.”
“Fine, fine.” She locked into my gaze, her eyes still laughing, a mouth twitching into a smirk.
I ad-libbed. “Now think of how it must feel to be Marissa right now, relaxed, entranced, focused on me. Keep that idea in your head.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to count down from three to one. At one, you will be like Marissa, completely entranced.” Okay, I had no formal hypnosis training, I was nervous, and I didn’t believe it would work. So I was rushing through it.
I counted down. When I reached one, Valerie flopped into my lap. I jumped, surprised. Then she flipped over, and looked up at me. “Psych!” She started giggling, obviously proud of herself.
“I hate you,” I said, and hit her with a pillow.
She looked up at me, eyes wide. “I can’t believe you’re actually leaving tomorrow.” She reached up and caressed my face. “I’m going to miss you, Eric.”
I couldn’t help myself. Everything that happened had left me feeling bolder than I’d ever been and besides, I was dead anyway: they were sending me home. I leaned down and kissed her. And then, the most miraculous thing happened—she reached up, twined her fingers in my hair, pulled me down into her and kissed me back. After a few, delicious moments she pulled away.
She looked at me, quizzically. In a surprised voice, she said, “Wow! That was nice.” It sounded like she felt the fireworks I did. Then she rolled off, away from me. “But no, ew. No no no. We can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
She sighed. “Eric, you’re a nice guy and all...” Yep, the kiss of death. “You’re cute, even. But you’re not my type.” Right, that’s why the kiss had fireworks attached.
“Then what is your type?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “What’s every girl’s type? Athletic, chiseled features, muscled chest, six-pack abs. You know.” That definitely didn’t sound like me. My heart sunk in my chest. She looked at me with such pity in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Eric. You’re like a brother.”
I grumbled. “That’ll teach me to make a move on anyone again.” I felt justified in my earlier reluctance with women.
A look of guilt crossed her face. “Oh, Eric. Don’t take it like that.” She shook her head. “Just ‘cause you’re not my type doesn’t mean you’re not a catch for someone. I mean, Marissa and Richelle both seem to like you.” She winked.
“Yeah, but...” I didn’t want to say ‘that’s just the mind control’ since she didn’t know anything about it.
“Yeah, but...” she mocked me. “You know I’m right.”
I stood up. “It’s different with them!”
“How?”
I stared at her. My jaw dropped. I tried to explain. “...” I sighed. “It just is!” I waved at Marissa, still relaxing on the other bed. “Because they do that and you can’t.”
“I don’t get it?”
“Yeah. Neither do I.” I sat down on the other bed, next to Marissa. “It just doesn’t feel real.”
“Why not?”
I looked at Valerie, then at the dazed form of Marissa. “Never mind.” I looked over at Marissa. “Is any of it real, Missy?”
“...it is now...”
Great. A perfect non-answer. “There you go,” Valerie said.
I grumbled. “Missy, what were you thinking?” I buried my head in my hands.
She murmured something that had the words “Val,” “you,” and “fuck” in it. I guess Valerie heard more of it than I did, because she was startled. She blushed. “Omigod! Why would she want that?”
“Why do you want that?”
“...you like her...wanna make you happy...”
Now it was my turn to blush. I looked away. “Okay, that’s it. Wake up now, Missy.” Marissa stirred on the bed. “I’ve got to go.”
Marissa rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “What? Wait?”
Valerie looked confused and hurt. “Eric, stop. Please?”
I stopped, my hand on the doorknob. I looked over at them. “I’m sorry. This is just too much for me.”
As I walked through the door I heard Marissa turn to Valerie and ask, “What happened?” I felt bad about leaving her confused and uninformed, but I couldn’t be around Valerie any more. Yeah, I should have told her to remember the argument but I wasn’t thinking clearly just then. I closed the door behind me.
I needed some air, so I decided to go for a walk, get away from that whole building, that whole scene. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts, sort some things out. Tears were running down my face. I was maybe a mile away when I got that tunnel vision, the little twinges that gave me warning another one was coming. I sat down on a bench, tried to act nonchalant as the women on the street all just kind of stopped for a few moments, and the men all got worried. I was worried, too; I looked around, waiting for the men in black to take me to Area 51 or something, but nobody showed up. I let out a sigh of relief.
After that, I struggled to my feet and kept walking. I’d circled the block a few times, before I heard a female voice say “Eric?” come from behind me. I caught a glimpse of her coppery red hair before I saw Ingrid’s face. I groaned. I didn’t want to deal with Edward’s new girltoy—especially when he wasn’t around. No offense to her, she was a nice enough girl. I probably wouldn’t have minded her company if not for my mood. Pretty quiet, kept to herself, stayed in her room. Didn’t seem all that interested in talking to people. Of course, that was before Africa. Now we had that weird connection with the seizure and the trances and all that.
So, I put on a friendly face, wiped away the tears. She was a nice girl; I didn’t want to dump all my issues on her. “Hey, Ingrid,” I said, smiling. “Where’s Ward?”
“Eddie?” She giggled. “He heard rumors of a McDonalds around here, and he decided to go hunting for it.” She gestured at her dress - one-piece bikini, sandals, and towel. “I’m just coming back from the beach.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “That sounds like Ward.”
“Soooo....” she said, drawling the sound out so that it was obvious she was in on something. “How are you? Do anything interesting today?”
“Um, what?”
“You know. You, Valerie... Miss DeLuca was supposed to set you two up.” She put her lower lip out in a pout. “I shouldn’t say anything, I know, the other girls will kill me.” She stomped her foot. “But I just wanna know!”
“Me and Valerie? What?” I shook my head, trying to get those memories out of my head. “Wait. Other girls?”
“Oops.” She looked like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar. “You weren’t supposed to know that.”
I crossed my arms and tried glaring at her. “Okay. Explain, Ingrid.”
She cracked, easily. You wouldn’t want her having any vital secrets. The words came spilling out of her. “So, like, we know you’re all hot for Valerie and so we all decided to give you a little space while Miss DeLuca tried to get you two together so you could give her a ‘proper goodbye’ with lots of fucking and sucking and all that yummy stuff.” She took a deep breath. “We were hoping you’d even have a seizure so you could claim her and make her one of yours.”
“Um, what?” So the hare-brained scheme of Marissa’s to set me up with Valerie wasn’t just hers, they’d all hatched it. “So all of you were behind that train wreck?”
“Train wreck?” She looked concerned. “What happened?”
I sighed. “Let’s just say Val and I didn’t exactly hook up.”
“Oh, too bad!” She shook her head. “Everyone was hoping you would. I’m sure Miss DeLuca was absolutely devastated.” She sighed. “What happened?”
“Look, Ingrid. No offense, but I’m really not in the mood to talk about that.”
She looked a little hurt. I guess she figured she’d gotten to be a part of my inner circle just because she happened to be sitting around the table when the little mojo experiment happened. And sure, maybe she deserved a little trust and openness due to those circumstances, but I wasn’t ready to do that just yet. I didn’t know her. I’d been through the last week with the other girls, only through Sunday with her, and that whole day she was attached to Edward at the hip.
I took a little pity on her, and besides, I needed to vent. “Val turned me down. Apparently, I’m not her ‘type’ and so despite a mind-blowing kiss, it’s wrong for us to even consider getting together.” Okay, maybe I was a little bitter. But Valerie didn’t deserve my anger. Nobody did. I was just angry at the circumstances. Nobody was to blame—except me, possibly. It was my wet dream, my attraction to Valerie, which started the chain reaction that led to this disaster.
“Oh, that sucks. Poor you!” She pulled me into a hug. “How did Miss DeLuca take it? She was rooting for it harder than anyone.” I’m sure she was.
“I don’t know.” At least I had the grace to look guilty. I felt bad about leaving Marissa behind. “I left before I told her what happened. After Val turned me down I couldn’t handle it anymore. I needed to be alone.” I sighed. “I guess Val probably filled her in.”
“How long have you been out here?”
I shrugged. “A couple of hours, maybe. Why?”
“Well, with that kind of head start, Miss DeLuca has probably filled the rest of the girls in, too. Everyone else decided to wait around the building for the news.” She smiled at me. “See? You shouldn’t worry so bad about Valerie. You have a lot of other girls who want to make you happy.”
The way she phrased that made me wonder. “Do you want to make me happy, Ingrid?”
She giggled. “Well, uh, I guess? I want to see you happy.”
It was getting dark, so I started walking back toward the housing building (already it wasn’t ‘home’ in my head). She started following. “Well, thanks,” I said. “Hey, do you mind if I try a little experiment?”
“Oh, the... Sven one? Shelly told me about that. Sure, it sounds fun!”
I shook my head, incredulous. “Doesn’t this all strike you as a little strange? The mind control, the group orgasms, the seizures, the trances?”
She shrugged. “Sure, strange. But, like, it feels normal, too. Like family, y’know? Family can be strange, but it’s a comfortable strange.”
That was just weird. “Um, okay.” I was really uncomfortable; I tried to segue into another topic. “So, Svengali.”
She giggled. “That’s it! Sven Golly. Weird name.”
“Just look into my eyes,” I said, “and keep walking. Remember how it felt to be in the trance, relaxed, focused entirely on me. When I count from 3 to 1 you’ll find yourself in that trance state, focused on me, open to suggestions and commands, ready for instruction, but you’ll keep walking with me.” I was trying something new.
Her eyes just got glassy, and she murmured, “...keep walking...”
So I counted from 3 to 1. At one, she stopped, stumbled for a moment, then started walking again. “Are you entranced, Ingrid?”
“...yeah...”
“Do you like Ward?”
“...I like Eddie, yeah...”
Ward, you bastard, you better be thankful! “Ingrid, I want you to think of a word that always makes you happy. A word that you’d always like to have bring you back to this restful, relaxing place. Once you know that word, say it to me.”
“...ginger...”
“Now, Ingrid, if either Ward or myself call you Ginger, and it’s obvious what we’re after, you will immediately fall into this trance. If Ward says the word, you’ll focus on him like you’re focused on me. But my commands and suggestions will always be stronger than his.” I wanted to be able to clean up any messes he might make. “Are you okay with this, Ingrid?”
A small giggle, “...yeah...”
“Ingrid, wake up, remembering this one trance.”
She woke up. It was only a few more steps to the doors of the housing complex, so we just walked there. “How was it?” I asked.
She blushed. “Kinda hot. So I’m, like, a gift for Eddie now?” She giggled. “I guess I should wrap myself up for him.”
Yeah, that made me laugh. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it. Just let me tell him about the trigger, okay?” She tittered and agreed. I figured she’d probably tell him before the night was out, given how good she’d kept the secrets she was supposed to keep from me earlier, but I thought I’d at least ask.
The sun was setting. I was sleep deprived. I was emotionally exhausted. I wanted to just try to sleep through the night, although I had no faith in succeeding. So I said goodnight and sweet dreams to Ingrid and headed up to my room.
There was a key sitting on my pillow. Domingo was sitting at the table, reading one of his textbooks. “They got you your own private room tonight, ‘mano.” He shook his head. “Dios!” He rubbed his eyes. “At least I will be able to sleep well. You kept me up sick with worry. I hope it will do good for you, too.”
Good thing I was mostly living out of my suitcases—in 4 weeks we were going to the north of Italy, so I figured why bother unpacking just to pack again in a month? And I had a mostly-packed back from the Africa trip, so re-assembling my brief Italian life was a cinch. I checked the tag attached to the key—the room was on the first floor - probably the best way to quickly shunt me into a car to the airport.
I held my hand out to Domingo. “Dom, I’ll miss you. You were a good roommate.”
He stood up, grabbed my hand, and then pulled me into a hug. “I’ll miss you too, hermano. You take care of yourself. May God bless you.”
I thought back over the seizures. “I’m sure, if there is one, he hasn’t.”
Domingo got that crazy look of the devout in his eyes. “Oh, I’m sure He has,” he said, nodding. “He has a plan for all of us.”
I just laughed and clapped him on the back. “Oh, I’m sure,” I snarked, good-naturedly. Then I picked up my bags and headed to my new room while he went back to his studying. I grinned at him. “At least you have your own room now.”
He looked at me, grimly. “Any other circumstances, hermano, and I would be grateful.”
“I know, dude. I know.”
With that, I made my way down the stairs to room 193. I ran into Edward and Ingrid in the stairwell. They were holding hands.
“Hey, dude,” Edward said. “I was just coming to look for you, clue you in on the whole housing situation.”
I held up the key. “Yeah, Dom already told me.”
“Wild, isn’t it? I didn’t even know they had rooms on the first floor. I thought that was all managerial stuff, offices and whatnot. But they’ve got a few rooms for when out-of-town higher ups have to stay over. I hear they’re pretty lush, but compared to the closets they stuck us in, that’s not saying much.”
I laughed. “So, you’re flying with me back tomorrow?”
“Yep, and sleeping there for 8 hours, then getting on another plane back here.”
I winced. “Ouch. Sorry to have to make you do that.”
“Oh, dude. Totally not your fault.”
Ingrid looked between us. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone.” She looked at me knowingly, and then turned away. “See you in the room, Eddie.” Giggling, she bounded up the stairs.
“What was that about, Ward?”
He just laughed. “Dude, after the weekend you had, you don’t know?” He shook his head. “Oh, Ingrid told me to ask you something about Mary Ann? Ginger? One of those Gilligan’s Island girls.”
“Oh, right.” I watched her retreating form. “Um, you know how you were trying to give her suggestions earlier, when she got all zoned out?”
He looked at me strangely. “Yeah...”
“Well, say ‘Ginger’ to her. Make it obvious you want her to get all tranced. If I set it up right, she’ll listen to you now.”
“Holy crap! Shit! Are you serious?” His face was unreadable, astonishment and excitement and horror all mixed into one bounty. “That’s heavy. That’s a lot of shit.”
“Just, y’know, be careful, okay? She said she was okay with it. But... don’t mess her up.”
“Dude,” he let out a breath of air and scratched his head. “How do I do that?”
“I have no idea. I’ve probably messed up Missy and Shelly already, and maybe Ingrid too just by letting you root around in her head.” I sighed. “Just promise you’ll be careful, okay? Think things through. Don’t say stuff that just comes into your head.”
“Um... yeah. Wow.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Well, dude, I should get up there. Don’t want to keep her waiting.”
“Yeah, holding these bags is killing me. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have fun.”
“You too!”
I just shook my head at his enthusiasm.
I unlocked the door to room 193, which was down at the end of a hall of doors to offices and conference rooms. Inside, I heard the shower in the bathroom running. I tried to remember enough rudimentary Italian to talk to whoever might be in here, since I figured it was middle management. ”Allo? Che c’e?“
A female voice spouted Italian back at me, quicker than I could ever hope to translate. The only word I caught was valigia, which means suitcase or bag. I assumed she thought I was a porter or a bellman. ”Io non sono un vicino“ I shouted out, trying to let her know I wasn’t a bellboy.
Then I heard giggling. “Like, I know that, Eric.”
“Becky?! What are you doing in there?”
“Um, getting clean?”
“No, I mean, why are you in my room? This room, whatever.”
“Wait there.” The shower turned off. She kept shouting, as if the water was still running. “I mean, I’ll be out...” (she dropped her volume) “...in a sec to, like, explain.”
I dropped my bags on the ground and sat down on the bed. This would be interesting.
She came out of the steamy bathroom in a barely-closed robe, drying her hair. It was distracting. “Sorry about that. I mean, for the shouting.”
“I don’t care about the shouting.” I just stared, incredulously, waiting for an explanation as to why she was naked in my new room. Okay, maybe I got a little peek. She had a long scar across her belly—she didn’t have a belly button.
“Well, we heard about what happened with Val, and we decided you needed to be cheered up. We thought about all coming down here, but figured that’d be a little overwhelming.”
“’We’?”
“Like, the girls.” She rolled her eyes. “You know, I mean, your harem?” She stuck her tongue out.
I winced at that word. “I don’t have a harem.”
She giggled. “You might not admit it, but you do. I mean, those girls would do anything for you.” She shook her head in wonder. “And, like, so would I?”
I buried my head in my hands. “Why?”
“Um, like, the magic penis, I guess?” At my stricken look, she tried to backpedal. “No, no, I mean, no. Eric, don’t feel bad. Seriously, you’re a good guy. Maybe we wouldn’t have thrown ourselves at you without the whole mojo thing, but do you hear us complaining?” She sighed. “I mean, like, we’re conspiring to make sure you’re happy. We’re throwing ourselves, and other women, at you.”
“So, uh, when did ‘they’ become ‘we’?”
“Like, I don’t know.” She blushed. “I think it happened during the Valerie Conspiracy.” She giggled. “We were talking about what to do to help you feel better, and I volunteered.”
“What about Dom?”
“Oh, please. He wants his Kate and Edith too.” At my puzzled look, she explained, “Like, he spends all this time mooning about Roberta and how he misses her, but then he spends all his time macking on me. I mean, if he can’t handle this, after all that, well...” she shrugged. The robe fell open a little bit. My eyes dropped. She stirred—clearly, she was enjoying my appreciation. She ran her fingers between her breasts. “I’ve gotten the impression you like these...”
My cock twitched—I groaned, I still hadn’t taken care of it. She unzipped my shorts and slipped her hand in, sitting on the bed beside me. As she stroked the shaft, she jumped. “Oooh, it’s electric. It’s different from just sitting there and letting it happen. I like it.”
I liked it too. I cupped her cheek, leaned in, and kissed her. “You know, you’re right,” I said, whispering into her ear. “I shouldn’t worry so much.” I brought my hands beneath her robe. “Just go with the flow.” She moaned—apparently, I’d found some sensitive spots. Exploring a new woman is always enjoyable—finding her trigger points, her hot spots. I lowered her down on the bed, then looked around for a condom before remembering I’d used all of mine, and then more, over in Africa. I sighed.
“Eric, wait.” Becky said. “I mean, stop.”
I looked at her with a question in my eye.
“I mean, look. You’re clean, right?” I nodded. “And, like, I’m clean. So the only thing to worry about is pregnancy, right?”
I just stared and said. “Yeah...”
She giggled. “It’s okay. Um, I’m sterile.” She ran her finger across the scar I saw earlier. “Like, I’ve got immunity to sperm. I mean, no eggs. But there’s a condom on the nightstand if you want it.”
I glanced up—yep, there was one sitting right there. But, something in me just knew that she was telling the truth. I gave a low, animalistic growl and climbed on Becky, holding her down on the bed. She purred. “I had a feeling you’d appreciate that.” And I did. I ran one of my hands across her scar as I climbed on top of her. She cried out in pleasure as my fingers entered her. Well, at least I was doing something right.
I bent down to kiss her neck, running my teeth down it. She moaned my name. My free hand moved to her chest as her hands came up, removing my T-shirt in one fluid motion. She ran her hands up and down my chest. Then she behind me, grabbing my ass, trying to pull me into her. It felt quick, there was a sense of urgency about her. I conceded to the demands of her hands, withdrew my hand, and entered her.
She let out a surprised little gasp. I ran my hands up and down her body, finally settling on her chest. A giggle escaped her as my hands cupped her breasts. She pulled me into her, driving my thrusts deeper. Finally, her body began thrashing with pleasure. She took a deep breath. “Wow,” she said. “The girls weren’t lying. That’s mind-blowing.” The urgency seemed to have left her.
I slowed down when she took her breath. Becky looked in my eyes and started raising her hips, in time with my thrusts. “Let’s take our time?”
I nodded, then kissed her. “Of course.” Of course, bodies aren’t entirely under our control, so it wasn’t much time before we both came. I don’t know which one of us started it, but we exploded nigh-simultaneously.
I flopped back to catch my breath. I looked over at her, and ran my fingers across her scar. “What happened?”
“Hysterectomy,” she said. “Complications.”
“From what?”
“Um,” she blushed. “Pregnancy?”
I started. “Christian?”
Becky shook her head. “No, no.” She made a face. “Not him.” She sighed. “Around the time he hung himself, like, I went a little crazy. I was feeling dirty, I was feeling used. So I tried to own that, I guess. I slutted out. I mean, I started sleeping around. One of those boys is Buck’s daddy.”
“Buck?”
“Like, my grandfather’s name.”
“Where’s your son now?”
“Sedona. I mean, with his father’s grandparents. That’s why I’m at ASU.”
“Where’s the dad?”
“Nathaniel went to NAU.” She shrugged. “He wanted to be close to his family, and, like, I was happy to be far away from mine. I mean, except Buck.”
“Are you and he...?”
She giggled again. “Worried about losing one of your harem girls already?” She winked. “He’s a good dad. I mean, we’re friends. He’s even getting married. I feel bad I’m missing his wedding, but Italy beats Vegas any day.”
“Wild.”
Becky looked over at me and took my hand. “There’s going to be a lot of people out here who’ll miss you, Eric. I know I will.” She giggled. “Like, Dee’s going to go crazy that she won’t be able to cash that raincheck for a while.” She winked again. “I mean, You need to stop neglecting your harem so often.”
I groaned. “I can’t believe Daffy told you about that. And it’s not a harem.” I stuck my tongue out at her.
She giggled, then leaned over and kissed me. “You’re sweet.” She patted my cheek. “If you think of a better word, like, let us know.” She stretched, and got out of the bed. “Well, I guess I should go. I heard what it’s like to sleep with you, and I don’t want that. I mean, with the seizures and all.”
“Yeah.”
“Sweet dreams, Eric.”
As she dressed and left, I just lay there in amazement. This wasn’t how I’d expected my last day in Italy would go, but I had no complaints. Even Valerie had been pushed out of my mind. I wasn’t exactly content when I fell asleep, but I was happier than I should have been for someone about to be exiled.