The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

I was happy when I was rid of Winter. I didn’t want to start liking her. I was starting to think she and Faye, or Carmine, or Gretchen, were angels or something. Maybe demons. One of those Japanese snow succubi? Yuki-onna, I think they were called. I was smiling to myself; I was relieved to find the Richardson’s open.

Gum, condoms, a dozen roses. The checkout woman was white-haired and grinning. She reminded me it was gum before I knock, roses when the girl opens the door, and condoms not until after the girl lets me in.

“I was going condom, gum, roses this whole time,” I joked. The woman behind me scowled a bit. Across the street, I tossed the condoms on my bed. I hurried off, up the hill, and towards Sam and Max’s dorm. I slowed to a stagger as I crossed over poorly shoveled sidewalks. I was thirty-one and I was going to pick up my date at her dorm? Jesus. I was over that the girls were so young. It was hard to see them as a number when I saw them as individuals. They were Sam, Max, and Alex. I wasn’t over dealing with all the circumstances around the whole thing, though. I reached the last intersection. I texted her as I crossed the street.

I didn’t die for not looking both ways, but I did get honked at. Max was out her front doors nearly as soon as I had finished typing. She looked great, for a parka, scarf, and toque that hid her body shape and facial features. There was a cute fluffy ball on top of her head. I flicked it as she took the flowers in her gloves.

“You shouldn’t have,” she said, and she might’ve meant it. I frowned. “C’mon, I gotta take them inside.”

I followed her into the dorms. I smiled awkwardly at the teenage girls coming out. I was thinking back to my lunch with Alex’s father. What was I doing? Three girls? Jesus crap! Could I handle three girls? They seemed to think so. You know what? I could. I would—

“Gene!” Max elbowed me as the elevator opened for us.

“What? Are you OK?” I asked.

“I said, ‘Thank you.’” She had her scarf pulled down and could take a deep sniff of the roses now. “But, this is the kind of thing Alex should get, you know?”

“Uh,” I frowned. “Oh, well educate me.” I forced that frown into a smile. “What kind of flowers are your favorites?”

“Roses,” she said, pushing the sixth-floor button.

“And Alex’s?” I tried not to sound too confused.

“Lilies? Yeah, lilies. White ones,” Max declared.

“Then I chose correctly,” I said with a grin.

We stepped off on her floor. An overweight young woman in only a towel left the shower room and crossed the hall to her room. I looked away. There were young dumb-looking guys hanging out in our path.

“Back so soon, Maxie? Who are you? You her dad?” the one in the baseball cap asked.

“No,” I answered. The girl was carrying a bunch of roses and walking with me. I’d let them connect the dots.

“Right here,” Max said, and led me into her room. Sam was on her bed with her headphones on. I could hear the loud music blaring into her ears. She jumped, startled, when Max walked by. Sam pulled off her headphones as I closed their door.

“I thought you guys were going out?” Sam said.

“Yeah, you’re still not coming?” Max asked. “The three of us are going for Chinese. Do you like Chinese?”

“I love it.” Sam shrugged. “Three of you?”

“News to me,” I said. “I wanted this to be just you and me, Max.”

“What?” She seemed startled as she rucked about in her wardrobe until she could pull out a plastic water jug to make into a flower vase. “Where’s Alex?”

“She’s seeing another man tonight,” I announced solemnly.

“That slut!” Sam gasped. I turned and looked at her, confused. “Who would she go out with besides you?!”

“Her dad,” I said. Sam burned red. She dropped her head and apologized.

“Look, whatever happens, if we’re getting mad at each other over things, real or imagined, then we’re going to need to talk about it,” I told Sam.

“Team Girlfriend meeting, then?” Max asked. I turned and smiled. Neither of them was smiling back. That night I had met them, the night I slept with Sam, the day we had been snowed in, they had smiled like it was the only way to breathe properly. I forced my smile so it looked a bit more crazy.

“No, tonight, it’s you, me, and Jean’s.”

“You’re taking her to your place?”

“No, we’re heading up the hill to a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place,” I said. I had prodded for a better option but Peter had agreed with my assessment of the food in this city. “It’s called Jean’s.”

“Oh, you don’t have to make it a thing if you’re just going to have food and sex at your place,” Sam laughed. “Though I wouldn’t call you Chinese. Scottish? McArthur is Scottish, right? Irish?”

“Jean’s. With a J. And an A.”

“It’s a Chinese place? Named Jean’s?” Sam didn’t believe me.

“What would you have named your Chinese restaurant?” I asked with a smirk.

“Something about a moon or a dragon,” she said.

“Well, I’m looking forward to the dumplings at Something About a Moon or a Dragon. I’m sure they’ll be fantastic.” I walked over and sat down next to Sam. Max had needed to get by me to go fill her water pitcher. I guess all of the sinks and faucets were communal. I looked down at Sam’s screen just as she alt-tabbed over to Word. She was typing a report. The music still blared out of the headphones on her lap. She crossed her legs and I noticed her jeans were unzipped.

“What’s up?” I asked her. “You doing OK?”

“No,” she huffed. I raised my eyebrow. “Schoolwork, not us. Us is something else.”

“OK.” I frowned. “Hard, or just behind?”

“Behind.” She scratched her head. “I’m not like Max. I can’t cut a couple hours out of every day for this shit.”

“Then don’t be like Max.” I shrugged. “Be like Sam.”

“How’s that supposed to help?” she worried. I smirked. That had been the advice my dad had given me when I was in college. I was angry about being compared to my brother at the time. That advice? Didn’t help with school. I hadn’t got it then; I hadn’t got it until now.

“If it doesn’t help, then you gotta make being Sam something that makes Sam’s life better,” I told her.

“Goddammit.” She frowned. Max came in and brought the water pitcher to her desk. She arranged the flowers in it. I poked Sam.

“What?” she asked. She pouted when I grinned at her.

“What kind of flowers should I get you?”

“Haagen-Dazs,” she said. I grinned and hugged her shoulders. I rubbed her hair as I stood up.

“Good luck with the work. Kick its ass,” I told her. She gave me a lovely smile and flipped me the bird. Max waited in serenity. I led her out.

“What the fuck does ‘Team Girlfriend’ mean?” that same kid who called me Max’s dad asked as we left. The door had been closed.

“It means don’t be a stalker creep and eavesdrop,” I answered. Max’s face had said she was going to answer the question without hesitation—but when I called the kid a creep, she flashed him the iciest dismissive glare I had ever seen. Kid must’ve felt like an ant under a boot. We left. I took her hand when we got outside. Her glove, anyways. She gave me a look.

“I’m not Alex,” she worried.

“I don’t want you to be,” I told her. She looked confused. It was a beautiful evening. The sky was boiling off the sunset red into the empty purple night of a city sky. No clouds, no wind, still cold. We headed up the hill to the restaurant. It took a bit, but I soon had her opened up, telling me about classes and dreams and stupid stories. She kept circling back to stories about Alex, though. They were always great. I frowned. She never cast herself in that good of a light.

“What about Sam?” I asked as I opened the restaurant door for her. I think I’d picked this restaurant because there wouldn’t be a redhead working here. It was a young Chinese woman at the counter, and an older blonde woman busing the tables.

“Grab a seat and I’ll bring you a menu, or take things up at the counter if you just want takeout,” the older woman said. We took a seat.

“Specials are on the board. Flag me or Symone down when you’re ready.” She gestured to the girl at the counter. “Anything to drink?”

She dropped off our diet cokes as Max diligently read the menu. I stood up. I took her parka off her shoulders and hung it next to mine on pegs near the door. Our hats and handwear were piled up by the salt and soy sauce.

“See anything you like?” I asked.

“Lotsa stuff.” She frowned. “What do you like?”

“Never been a big fan of curry, so... everything else,” I said.

“Oh, that doesn’t help narrow it down.” She shook her head. I smiled.

“Trust me?”

“With Alex’s life,” she said. That made me laugh harder than anything else. She smiled but seemed confused. I waved over the girl at the counter, and ordered up four random plates and then some dumplings.

“There’s no way we can eat that much,” Max hissed.

“Would you find me hoboish if I take some carry-out home after?” I asked.

“No, what? Hoboish? I don’t want you showing off.” She poked me in the chest. Her gloves had been big and thick. Her hands looked small and dainty.

“I’m really bad at showing off. I love this food,” I said. “And I need to resupply my fridge for a few days.”

“Oh, OK,” she said. She sipped her pop. I looked at her and worried.

“You’ve told me all of these great stories about Alex tonight,” I pointed out. “Tell me about Sam.”

“She’s a better roommate than I expected,” Max began. “We didn’t really talk until October 2nd. I didn’t like her friends. Alex saw Sam watching us and pushed us all together.”

“Good for Alex.” I frowned. “You don’t have to keep selling me on Alex, you know? I’m beaten down. All of you girls have won.”

“Why all of us?” she asked. Her straw slurped the bottom of her glass. She poured in the second half of her can of diet coke.

“Because I didn’t have a choice and I couldn’t believe my luck,” I said. No, that was a bad answer. “Because I care for you. I feel better when you’re around. I love making you smile. You’re way too hot for me, and I don’t believe for a second that’s something you’d think about. And I mean you, Max, not you three.”

“I’m only kinda hot,” she countered.

“Yeah, on a scale of 1 to 10, you just inch into the double digits. And you make me feel more confident and powerful than I had ever felt in my life.” I leaned in and hugged her. The plate of dumplings came out first. There was enough food there to be our whole meal. Like silly uncultured Canadians we ate with forks not chopsticks.

“So it’s about how you feel?” she worried. I shoved a dumpling in her mouth. She laughed smiling around it.

“No, you don’t get to say that. I felt like being a big man, a good guy, letting you three all go and live, love, and learn with each other and guys your own age,” I reminded her. She swallowed and wiped her lips before talking.

“Yeah, you were being an idiot about everything,” she warned. “You could’ve broken Alex’s heart.”

“What about your heart?” I pushed.

“Well, yeah, I wasn’t willing to let you go either.” She looked shocked to hear herself. She turned her eyes away as the rest of the food was coming. She sipped her drink. I let her gears grind. She obviously wanted to say something. “Alex is out with her dad?”

“Yes,” I looked up and smiled at the blonde woman as she laid out the plates. “Thank you.”

“Can you pack this up to go, actually? I gotta get him to his place,” Max said. “And hurry, I’m a little agitated about this.”

“Sweetheart, of course I can.” The woman gave me a powerfully meaningful wink. I grinned like an idiot. Max was about to get up. She snatched a dumpling and shoved it in my mouth. She was grinning when her fingertips came off my tongue and out of my lips. She turned stone-faced.

“Something wrong?” I asked while chewing, as the waitress walked into the kitchen to grab takeout containers. Her daughter, the Asian girl cashier, was coming over with paper bags and a big white plastic one.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you’ll choke,” she growled at me with genuine concern. “Yeah, something does feel wrong. It felt wrong like it felt before we shoveled your walk yesterday morning. We gotta go back to your place.”

I didn’t get it. Before we shoveled the walk? When Sam was freaking out? OK, we could calm down. Max moved out of the way of the waitress.

“You kids have a good night,” the waitress told us when she put the bags in my hands. I noticed, mumbling a “You too”, that Max had gone to the counter and was paying the bill. I met her at the door.

“I wanted to take you out,” I told her. I offered her my elbow as my hands were full. She smiled, and took it.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh my God! This was a date!” She shook her head a few times.“Of course it was a date. You brought me flowers. What’s with me?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I should’ve planned more. I was just planning on dinner then home. That’s not fair. There’s a cafe, near my place, you can play board games and drink craft beers, or we could go to one of the bars and…”

“I want to take this to your apartment,” she told me. “I can’t believe I dressed like this for a date.”

“You look great.”

“Jeans and a sweater?” she grumbled. “C’mon, you deserve—”

“It’s -5, Max. I’d be worried if you’d dressed hot and not warm.” I was still glad there was no wind. It could’ve been killer.

“OK, but, I mean, I’m not even wearing a low-cut top under the sweater. Something I could take off and make you happy.”

“You take your clothes off, I’ll be happy,” I grinned. She bumped my hip with hers and leaned her head on my shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re a pervert,” she told me.

“I’m really that much of a pervert,” I thought. A foursome with three women was wild beyond my imagining. It was my new reality. Maybe I should be more imaginative?

She realized I hadn’t answered. “I mean, I’m glad you’re thinking about things sexually more than me. It makes me wanna catch up.” From what I could see above her scarf, she was burning red in a blush.

“Well, I’m a bit concerned. I’d like to know more about what’s going on in your head, you know?”

“Yeah, me too,” she mumbled.

I flirted with her some more as we walked to my place. She gave back, but she fell into quiet more than once.

“Fuck!” My door was locked. I banged on it. Max produced a key.

“That’s a bit much, Max.”

“Well, after everything,” she said, and she unlocked the door, “We got worried. It was only a matter of time before you were locked out. So Alex grabbed the key from the kitchen and we went and got these made. You can’t just wake up Mrs Rabinovich for the spare if it’s the middle of the night, right?”

“When did you meet—”

“Of course, Dad got involved. ‘Maxie, there’s a hardware store a couple blocks from you. I talked to a guy named Mike. He’ll cut new keys for you,’” Max said with a flat unimpressed stare. “Thanks, Dad. I really needed that 15 seconds I saved not saying ‘Hey Google’ myself.“

“OK... But if the door’s locked, one of you is up there,” I pointed out. This wasn’t true. Apparently, all three girls had a key to my apartment. Apparently, one of them had taken it upon herself to run to the Richardson’s and buy me several hundred dollars worth of groceries. Apparently, I couldn’t convince myself that this invasion bothered me.

“Alex and her dad?” I mean, whoever did this had had a car to carry everything.

“There’s a card.” Max was hanging up her jacket in my closet. She pointed to the kitchen counter. It was a girly card. White, flowers, “thinking of you” note, big flamboyant Alexa signature. There were Reese’s peanut butter cups in front of it. I was grinning. It was really sweet.

I felt happy and excited. I had a memory. I had been 10 or 11 and had opened a birthday card from my uncle. I had been expecting a fiver or a twenty to fall out of it like always, not a hundred. Reading the little note gave me that familiar liftoff. I wasn’t even thinking of everything I had just acquired.

Actually, all of that made me feel guilty. I picked the bags of Chinese food off of the floor and looked for room in the fridge. I heard the scream of the zippers. I didn’t look back but Max was grinning. She snatched the hat off my head.

“Jacket and gloves too.” She was smiling. Even the crispers were in use. God, I was going to have to force-feed these girls, or a bunch of stuff was going to go bad. I unzipped, and Max dragged my winter coat off me. I managed to move things and get the styrofoam containers to fit. I stood up. Max was grinning, eye to eye with me. She had stepped into the sexy boots.

“You look lovely,” I said. She beamed and grabbed my hands. I let her pull and then push me into my chair. “Your smile’s different.”

“I’m gonna call Sam,” she said, dropping herself down on my lap. “There’s something fucked up.”

“What’s wrong?” I worried.

“Oh, see, I love you.” She leaned in and kissed my lips.

“Terrifying,” I frowned.

“It really is.” She beamed; I had to smile too. “I mean, I’ve loved you all night, and now... I love you.”

“What? I’m very confused.”

“Sam was a bit cold and mopey and she didn’t come to dinner with us,” Max explained without cluing me in on anything.

“What? It was a date for me and you. You’re a bit more fragile and romantic than Alex and Sam. I wanted, well.... I wanted you to have a good time tonight.”

“Yeah, thank you so much for the flowers!” She grabbed my head and kissed me several times, short and passionate. “Seriously, though.”

“Everything has been serious to me,” I said in her momentary breath.

“I’d been worried since, I dunno, sometime after Calc-2 and before the end of Analytics, that you were spending time on me and on Sam.” She rubbed her butt on my thigh and leaned in on my chest. I could see her texting to Sam without looking. I get typos when I go back to fix my typos. She was perfect. “Around the same time, I got these.”

She scrolled up a bit.

“Oh my god! Why would you let me fuck him?!” was one of Sam’s more clearheaded texts. I felt shocked and horrified.

“The thing is, even if she wasn’t in love with you when we got into bed...” Max pushed up my nose so I’d look her in the face rather than read more frustrating text. “And she was. As much as I am now, and as much as Alex was when she bullied her dad into buying you all those groceries. She was still proud of, and happy with, her first time.”

“But—”

“We met at lunch, Sam called me a garbage friend.” Max twisted her grin. “I get it now. It’s the boots. I’m wearing these boots.”

“Now you’re—”

“And I feel... the way I felt, when we first woke up after drinking and cards and Sam’s twisted ankle.” She frowned. “Something is making me push Alex into loving you. Pushing me to the back.”

“I wasn’t willing to do this and push any of you to the back.” I shook my head.

“Yeah, you weren’t willing to do this at all.” She laughed. “God, if three boys went after me the way we went after you? They’d be in prison.”

“OK, yeah, probably, but should we be laughing about this?” We were.

“Watch.” She reached down and unzipped the boots. She tossed one and then the other onto my coffee table. Shit, there were coasters on it now. I owned coasters now. It was more than a full fridge and cupboards. I almost got to turn my head to the bathroom wondering what—

With her fingertip on my nose, she led my eyes back to hers.

“Ta-da!” She raised her hands. “I guess it’s not right away. Makes sense. I mean, it lasted probably a full 24 hours last time.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I take off the boots, something starts pushing on my heart. I honestly still love you. I just feel like I‘m in Alex’s way.” She grabbed the left boot and examined it from every angle. “What are these things? Where did you get them?”

I told her. I told her about Faye and that first storm and what I remembered. Then I told her about the dream I had when we were all together.

“And this chick? The waitress, barista, pancake slinger? These are hers.” Max put the boot back down. Her phone buzzed. “The fuck you don’t, Sam.”

Three rapid-fire texts came at once. “Calling it an early night.”, “Don’t let him break your heart!”, and “I hope it’s as good as my time!”. Max ground her teeth.

“That’s not the worst. I mean, unless—”

“Shut up, handsome.” She kissed my lips as I equivocated. She took a picture of the boots on the table. She sent that. No words. No counter-narrative.

“I’m on my way.” Sam replied.

“Turnabout is quick.” I frowned. “Look, Sam shouldn’t be coming over if—”

“That girl,” Max gestured downstairs. “Fuck her.”

“What?!”

“She doesn’t get to push me around and tell me who I can’t be in love with.” She was startlingly angry. “I didn’t let you do it.”

I was shocked. Jesus. Did I say I loved Max? We’d been together for days. It could take months to get that falling-in-love neurotransmitter cocktail out of the way before our emotions settled. I didn’t want to end up being the monster when they, and I, had to come face to face with our baseline feelings.

“What about the redhead? What if she pushed you? What if she—”

“Would you hate the woman who introduced you to the love of your life?” She kissed me again.

“What now?”

“Now, we sort out Sam.” She brushed my hair over my ears. “Tomorrow, we loop in Alex.”

“And then?”

“We find that bitch and kick her out of our lives.” I smiled at her leonine expression. She poked me.

“What?”

“I want another ‘And then?’” she prompted me.

“Oh, sorry. And then?”

“You’re going to need a bigger bed.” She kissed me hard.