The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Kelly Lukic — Thursday, June 24th, 2015

Things were getting awesome! Matthew, the goofy guy in the dish room, was dating Eden, the gorgeous, uh, African Canadian chick, and he was cheating on her! Oh my God! What an idiot! She’s going to kill him.

“Kelly, can you clean up the front half? We’re going to get busy in a few hours,” Ms Flynn smiled at me as she gave me my assignment. She was a good boss. Courtney disagreed but that was before she started waiting tables. She had her first shift today and she was a mess! Well until she got chewed out on her lunch. That was the second loudest thing I had heard in Deborah’s office all week. Oh my God! I heard her having sex in there!

“Hey kiddo, you’re blushing,” Sylvie and I passed each other on the line on my way to the front, “Who’re you thinking about?”

“N-no one in particular,” I stammered and hurried away to the front before I was asked more questions. This job was crazy. I headed to the bus station by the washrooms and grabbed a tub. I started packing away table 6. It was crazy how gross of a mess people made. The coffee cups hadn’t been touched but I turfed them for new ones anyway. Once, I had just rearranged them and a girl came back and picked up a cup to retrieve her forgotten retainer. Now I didn’t cut any of the corners Courtney and Sylvie taught me.

“What is this Bobbi? Five weeks?” I had a bad habit of eavesdropping. No, that’s self destructive. I had a wonderful talent for espionage. I smiled, that was something Matthew had taught me. Or was it Franklin. Whoever had showed me that stupid self aggrandizing word trick, the other had agreed, “You haven’t looked for a job since you moved out here. I can’t keep paying your rent and grocery bills.”

“Lay off your sister, Flea,” The three in the booth behind me were regulars. Two youngish brown women and a smug middle age guy just beginning to go grey, “We love having her around.”

“I’m not sleeping with your boyfriend,” Bobbi, who was maybe Courtney’s age defended herself straight off. I don’t think the other two thought of it as a possibility.

“Just look for work. Thirty resumes this week. Do something! Apply to college!” The older girl, maybe 25, probably not, was pissed. I finished wiping down the table and hurried off before I heard any more. Well hurried off before I was asked if we were hiring here. We always were. We hired two new people over the weekend. Girls worked in the dishroom! the first I’d seen of it since I started here. That had been in March. I had run a shift in there once, Matthew had rescued me after an hour. Said I couldn’t afford to sweat off any weight or I’d disappear. Idiot. I was trying to lose 5 more pounds. I opened my nose as I walked back on the line. Someone had ordered potato pancakes and like six orders of bacon. I was so jealous. Lunch was too far away!

The afternoon had been slow and so I started the duties on the line. Filling ketchup bottles and sugar jars, wiping down the fridge, just a lot of cleaning. Eden walked in, her usual perfect straight hair showing a curl. Matthew made the right move running away. Still, he was going to come back and she was going to debone him. I smirked. Sylvie walked at her side. She was giggly. Moreso that she should be this early into a shift. She almost seemed like she’d break out in song like a Disney princess.

“Kelly!” She grabbed me around my shoulders with a hug as she came by, “I got her! She can’t escape!”

“Sylvie,” I laughed and tried to wiggle away but she held tighter.

“No, not her,” Eden rebuked, “Just you and Zina.”

“Don’t be stupid!” Sylvie laughed. We, not by my choice, lunged at Eden. She was surprised and tried to hop back but Sylvie pulled a dangly bracelet out of Eden’s bracelet.

“Sylvie!” Eden fumed, “Give that back.”

“Not yet, milady,” She let go of our hug but kept me between Eden and herself aiming me by my shoulders at the unamused waitress. I laughed and held out my arms to keep Eden from ducking around her.

“Kelly! Don’t help her!” Eden pleaded. This was so fun, I had no idea what was happening. Why was Sylvie stealing from Eden?

“Why not?” I asked with a smile. I turned to my left hand to watch Sylvie hook the bracelet clasp around my left wrist, “Oh, is this like the ones I’ve been seeing everyone wear?”

“Just the same,” Sylvie giggled. It didn’t seem as excited as it did mean that time.

“Well, I like it but I’d rather a charm bracelet like Courtney,” I lifted the jewelry before my face. It looked good on my skin. God! I was so pale! I wished I could tan.

“What have you done! We weren’t supposed to—She’s too young for this.”

“No, I’m not!” Oh, shit did I sound whiny by growling that. I blushed deep red. I was always did it so quickly too and that just made me more embarrassed and it harder to stop blushing. Soon someone would say I was “So cute!” Bitches.

“Older than I was,” Sylvie shrugged, “See, Kelly, these bracelets—”

Eden slapped Sylvie. A mommy got into daddy’s cocaine kind of slap. Well a friend of mine had called it that. I met her parents, no way were they cokeheads or slappers. Franklin dropped a pan and was coming around from the kitchen. Holy shit! I’ve only seen Franklin step in between two waitresses once! He let girls sort out girls thing. This was going to be the worst. Eden shoved her finger in Sylvie’s face.

“Not even he would’ve done that!”

Misty Reid — Friday, June 26th, 2015

“Not the best neighborhood,” The cabbie warned me as I waited for my change.

“My brother’s here to look out for me,” I told him. He had been a friendly guy but clearly didn’t know Halifax based on the way he had looped Citadel hill. I took the five back from him leaving a $1.20 tip. He left me to the wolves with a lighter conscience. I shifted my backpack on my shoulder, reversed the grip on my wheelie bag and headed inside.

“Yeah?” Joseph answered the call box. Craps or Matt would have just buzzed in whoever had rang that phone.

“It’s Misty, I need to get in,” I said. A few seconds later the grinding started and I opened the door.

“Hold the door!” I turned to see a blonde girl rushing after me. She smiled and thanked me.

“Not a problem,” I said and we walked to the elevator. I hit seventeen and she nodded and fell back against the wall. She wasn’t talking to me and I was grumpy and sore from a three hour bus ride that I welcomed the silence. The elevator was slow. She left first and I followed, completely surprised that she went for Matt’s door.

“You a friend of Craps’s?” I asked. I had been calling Ryan Craps since I had developed object permanence it just didn’t sound right to say Ryan. But his sluts usually preferred it. She might have been one of them. She looked confused over her shoulder at me as she opened the door.

“Matthew’s not called Craps is he?” She asked.

“Oh! Cool! You must be Gwen! I’m his sister,” I smiled and she shook her head. I thought Meghan had said Matthew’s girl he met was named Gwen... Meg’s facebook stalking had reported she was a blonde haired green eyed girl and I could see how this girl’s eyes might look green in a different light. Oh well, I could apologize if I had stepped in something. It was Matthew, this clearly had to be the same girl. There wasn’t two girls interested in my brother. This was a super cute girl for Matthew. Hell for anyone, “How do you know him?”

“Um...” She walked in and Joe called out to me.

“Hey,” He grunted, “Matthew’s in Ottawa, he should be back at some point.”

“At some point today?” What the fuck was he doing in Ottawa?

“I doubt it,“Joe laughed. Why the fuck would Matt leave without telling me? I had gone out of my way to let him know I was coming to visit. Texts to him and to both his roommates that actually remembered if their phones had said something the day before.

“Well, I’m here with...” I poked the blonde ahead of me.

“Melody,” She replied. I can’t see how Meghan had fucked up Gwen for Melody. This had to be someone else. I’d need to break out the Spanish Inquisition.

“With Melody. We’re going to take over Matt’s room. Do I need my gas mask?” I said around a grin. Matthew was the filthiest Reid, er, he or Camille was the filthiest. Their leads weren’t uncontested. Knowing my sister and cousins, I might be the only outlier. Excluding Reids by marriage of course.

“Probably not. One of Matthew’s many girlfriends will have cleaned the place,” Joe’s sarcasm had literally no tells. I loved it. I tried to love something about each of Matthew’s friends. It was easier with Craps than Joe and Craps was a skeevy perv.

“Cool,” I said laughing. I turned to Melody, “Are you one of these many girlfriends?”

“One of, I guess,” She had kicked off her sandals but I had been in Matt’s rooms enough to leave my own sneakers on defensively. She was hot. Tall even after losing the heels, she stood nearly up to my nose. She was a platinum blond. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She was skinny with long legs, small tits and a perfect ass.

It had been a while since I had seen Matthew with a girl. I remember crying right with him over Janine but that had been a decade ago and I’m pretty sure only Karla had come after her. Wow! Karla! There was three weeks of gloating followed by eleven months of sulking on Matthew’s part. Good times. Good times.

“Holy shit!” I announced as I entered the third door on the right. Melody followed me into Matthew’s immaculate room. The crooked old bed was reseated. The desk had a plant on it and it looked healthy. The curtains had been exchanged from a bedsheet on a curtain rod to wooden blinds in a translucent gauze. The carpet looked shampooed. The fan wasn’t a dust filled cage, “He must love you!”

“You think so?” She had a sarcastic lopsided smile and walked passed me. She flipped open the laundry hamper and pulled a pastel bra from behind the scattered pillows.

“Now I know so,” She wouldn’t blush, seemed a shame with her complexion. I sat down on the foot of the bed. She picked the laundry card off the dresser. She knocked over an action figure, Matthew had more dolls than I did, and reset the straw hat wearing pirate on his stand. I’m kind of glad he wasn’t here, he’d make me blow at least one day trying to catch up on that.

“Are you going to do laundry?” I asked.

“Yeah,” She turned, “I probably should do the sheets too.”

Reflexively, I hopped off the bed.

“Why?”

“Someone has to do it,” She sighed.

“And that someone is Matthew,” I pointed out, “Seriously, Matthew needs and likes girls who don’t put up with his shit.”

“Yeah, well then why me?”

I looked her up and down and grinned. She slowly shared my smile, though she seemed impatient.

“Anyway, I’m going to get this done and head home,” She told me, obviously in a hurry to be away. I’d never put up with this kind of stuff from a boyfriend. Well, I wasn’t a boyfriend kind of girl.

“Hey do you know when Matthew’s coming back?”

“He didn’t say, just that he needed to get something,” She wasn’t happy about that. I could imagine, I was pissed he had flew off without a word.

“For his business?” I had heard about him starting a catering company for this new girl. I couldn’t imagine him pulling through, though Meghan had asked me to keep that opinion until after he admitted he quit.

“Probably not,” Melody brushed her hair back with her left hand she looked over at me, “What do you think about Matthew? Can he be a good guy?”

“Hey, you’re dating MY brother! I only care if you’re good enough for him.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds right,” She sighed and trudged away. What a fucking weird girl! She stopped at the door, started fingering this blue stick in her front pocket. I just watched. She slumped her shoulders.

“No that would be against the rules,” She muttered, “Sylvie was wrong.”

Whatever, Matthew must like crazy. Or assumed that that much hot covered for that crazy. I’d have needed more tits, I think.

“Later Melody,” I flopped backward onto the foot of his bed.

“Bye, Matthew’s sister,” She said after a heartbeat.

‘My name’s Misty!” I shouted at the closing door. Shit! Oh well. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. No Matthew, no matter. “Claire!” and “Joy!” I texted and dropped my phone on the mattress. Well, it shouldn’t be long before I had plans tonight.

Hillary Dodds — Friday, June 26th, 2015

“Lara, get out.” I was carrying the wastebasket by the tables tossing away all the candy bar and pack wrappers from that night’s FNM.

“Uh, fine,” She pushed back her chair and slung her purse over her shoulder and marched out, “Good night, Hills.”

“Yeah whatever,” I grumped. I was looking forward to getting home and putting on Netflix or getting crushed in Smash Bros. Who was I kidding, I was done. I was going to bed. I swept up and wiped down the gray plastic tabletops. I probably could have been out of there fifteen minutes earlier, I wasn’t paid for the extra time, my hours ended at 10:30 whether or not I was finished. I went back up to the main store to put away my sketchpad and grab my bag. The reason I hadn’t hurried was because done or not fifteen minutes ago, the bus wouldn’t be there for me until now as it was. I was digging to find my wallet when I stepped out the front door. It locked automatically. I lit up to see the green Toyota waiting outside. Lara was leaning in the window talking to Donnie like she was a streetwalker trying to be picked up. I ignored her and climbed into passenger seat.

“Babe!” I tossed my bag in the back and kissed him on the jaw. He turned and smiled at me.

“Later Lara,” Donnie interrupted whatever pity me monologue the little blonde was on.

“Bye Donnie, Bye Hills,” She slumped away.

“Get home safe,” I said without genuineness. Immediately disappearing her from my world I squeezed Donnie’s leg, “I’m so glad you came by.”

“Yeah, me too,” He grinned to feel my hand on his thigh. I found that not plodding through the trek to the bus stop and then our apartment really perked me up. I made sure he knew I was looking forward to bed in another way now. This was great. Donnie was the best. I talked about my shift. Told that stupid joke I had heard from Paul. He was laughing in his whole body shaking way. When we took the wrong turn on North St. I finally asked what had brought him around tonight.

“Drinking, we’re going to Geoff’s.”

“What! Nobody texted me!” I was surprised. I almost always heard before Donnie and when I didn’t I hardly ever heard from Donnie.

“Meh, Marjory’s picked up a bottle for you,” He grinned, “I got the mix and snacks in the trunk.”

“Good for her,” I poked Donnie, “We should go home first. I need a change of clothes, a shower.”

“No can do, little lady,” He shook his head, “We’re already here.”

There was no car in the space, which made sense. No one who lived here drove and everyone else preferred to not worry about a car if they were going to drink. I guessed we were crashing on the couches. Oh well, we’d have sex some other time.

“Ah come on,” I moaned about my state of dress, getting out of the car and walking around to the trunk, “So we’re another hour late.”

“Just get your ass in gear, you look incredible. You always do.”

“But I smell like the store,” I pouted taking one of the three bags from the trunk.

“These people like the store, it smells like you.” He countered and we headed up the walk up to Geoff’s apartment.

“I’m so underdressed,” I bitched as we headed into Geoff’s. Dance music and candlelight permeated the apartment. The smell of liquor and weed smoke was faint but unmistakeable.

“The party’s here!” Announced Geoffrey, clearly putting his third sheet to the wind. I smiled, “And Hillary too.”

“Hey! I brought snacks!” I stuck out my tongue at him.

“And Hillary too!” He exclaimed in a much more celebratory tone before falling into a laughing fit. He was in a mood and I wondered if the trigger was good, bad or strange. Probably a little bit of everything. He was wearing a beautiful silk shirt under a vest and loose tie. He always dressed nice and that set the tone for his house. His laugh ricocheted through him and ignored his impervious hair.

“Hey pass me your beer and I’ll load up the fridge,” Harriet was at the fridge to our left. She was wearing a killer black skirt and leather boots. This girl’s legs and she had those tits. I hurried over and one handed hugged her as I laid out our bounty across the back counter. We had chips, dip, cookies, vodka and whiskey. There weren’t many beer drinkers here tonight, I had only seen Victor and I guess Harriet, the fridge was full up with two growlers and a two-four.

“You want some of the porter? It’s delicious?” Harriet asked taking a mouthful of her black beer.

“No, I’ll mix up something,” I shook my head.

“I’ll pour myself a jack and coke thanks,” Donnie never varied in his drinking habits.

“Missing out,” Harriet admonished and took another large dram. She looked me up and down. “Straight from work?”

“I know right?” I semi-scowled at Donnie’s back. I didn’t drink in my faded Green Lantern t-shirt and jean skirt.

“I’m two doors down if you want to borrow something more fun,” She offered.

“Hills!” The voice turned my and Harriet’s head as a manic blonde came out of the washroom. She hurried over and slapped me with a hug. It was violent but Donnie retaliated by hugging the pair of us and lifting us out of the way of the fridge. I was let go and then let go.

“I didn’t know you were coming into town!” I smiled up at her.

“Apparently my brother didn’t either,” The girl before me was Misty Reid a 5′11″ amazon. I hated her for all the right reasons and loved her for all the wrong ones. She had on a red dress that screamed sex. I wished Matthew was here, it’s amazing watching him be oblivious around Misty. Well, the last time I had seen that she had just graduated high school. Her hair was great, she had on a dark red lipstick and I have no doubt she wanted to go out and now I couldn’t in this, “He was supposed to put me up for a few days and I find out he left the province.”

“That’s why he wasn’t at FNM tonight?” I had missed him, he was a pretty consistent regular.

“Yeah, he left two days ago,” Harriet informed me. Donnie had his drink and pushed us along, leading the three of us around the middle counter and into the main room.

“Yeah, Joe said something about his many girlfriends,” Misty dug as we joined the main group. They were playing some You Don’t Know Jack game via their phones through the PS3. The question on screen read “One time actress Lucy Liu admitted to having sex with a _______.” Everyone had filled in the blank and those answers were up on the screen along with the fakes.

“Oh! I know this one! It’s ghost!” Misty flopped down in between Paul, who looked ecstatic to have the girl there, and Victor who just shook his head.

“No one had ever had sex with a ghost,” Victor scoffed, “Besides the obvious answer is Sense of Entitlement.”

“Yeah, but no woman would ever admit to that,” Countered Marjory. She was sitting across Scott, her boyfriend’s lap, they were obviously cheating off each other’s phones. She wasn’t dressed up Harriet hot but was still far above my work clothes, “Besides stop plugging your own answers you’re obviously winning the funny trophy even if you end up in last place.”

“It’s true, he taught us that The Salvation Army was created to provide Handjobs to the Blind,” Geoff nodded sagely.

“It’s a noble charity,” I agreed.

“I collect for the Head Foundation,” Paul perked up, “Please give generously.”

“I do,” I smirked leaning my head on Donnie’s shoulder. Paul gummed looking for a follow up but the context breezed right by Donnie.

“What’s Matthew doing out of town?” He asked sitting down in the middle of the other couch. Victor’s wife Crystal was there. She was small, quiet, cute if not hot and totally focused on the game. I could see her getting impatient whenever someone took too long. I could only imagine how salty she would get if she ever accompanied Vic to the store for Magic or games.

“Probably took his boss on a fuck-cation,” I suggested smirking. Scott matched my smile but Misty hopped forward to the edge of her sofa.

“His boss? What? Meghan said the girl he was with was named Gwen,” She countered.

“And the girl we saw was named Cameron,” Harriet said from my shoulder.

“Carmen,” Corrected Geoffrey. Turns out ghost was the right answer. We learned this by Scott’s eruption about Lucy Liu being Watson.

“No capable detective believes in ghosts!” He growled.

“And Joseph included a Dawn,” I remembered ignoring the game.

“I’m not fucking him,” Donnie assured us.

“Well holy shit,” Harriet laughed, “Maybe I can still set him up with Zelda. I was thinking I’d have to dump her on Paul.”

“No, please, dump her on me,” Paul pleaded, “I need to pull a Craps and stop being racist.”

Maybe we shouldn’t have laughed as hard at that. I only knew the story secondhand, but apparently some of these guys had been there when he stumbled out of the bedroom and just offending that lovely girl he had just fucked. I assumed she was lovely. She was gone before I fell into this group’s orbits. How much of Craps’ was prejudice and how much was just bluster was impossible to discern but I’d be surprised to find it swung heavier either way.

“You want to talk to Zee, just pick her off my Facebook,” Harriet shrugged and took the seat next to Donnie that I had been hovering over, “She remembers most of you. Though I think she’s a little into Joe.”

“Yes!” Misty declared, “Whoever Zelda is, make that happen.”

No one else agreed. “I still want her to like me after things crash and burn. I figured for that I set her up with Matthew or Scott.”

“Hey!” Marjory declared, “All of Scott’s dates go through me first.”

“Pfft, you’re too picky,” Scott grumbled and then they kissed lightly.

“I thought you were going to make a drink,” Donnie asked me.

“Yeah, uh,” I remembered that myself.

“Bottle’s in the fridge behind the growler,” Marjory informed me.

“Nah, that’s not what she needs,” Harriet announced grabbing my hand as she upended the last half of her glass and swallowed her beer. How did she not have a boyfriend? Even her belch was impressive, “I’m going to take her home and get her out of these clothes.”

“Eh?” I looked at her.

“You’re about my size,” She told me, “Provided you ever hit puberty and grow tits.”

“Shut up,” I laughed, “Alright, let’s go.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be here,” Donnie sipped his drink.

“You want my spot?” Misty waved her phone to Donnie.

“Nope,” He grinned.

“Ah come on,” She tossed her phone in his lap, “Otherwise I don’t get to see your girlfriend naked.”

“Well, I suppose it’s the gentlemanly thing to do,” He sighed, “Who am I playing as?

“96-69,” She pointed to the green marker.

“Hurry back girls,” Victor called, “If Harriet leaves the amount I drink will look excessive without comparison.”

We hadn’t waited for Misty but she caught up to us on the stairs. She had opted for a cute pair of flat sandals. I had met her several times before, Matthew always showed her off when she visited. It was really weird not to have him or either of his roommates at Geoff’s.

“Do you two have any idea how great it is to be able to leave a place and have somewhere win walking distance that sells food? I’ve decided, I’m not heading back before school starts.”

“Why would you?” I had been to Pictou once and we hurried through it to the PEI ferry. It was enough.

“Money mostly,” She shrugged, “Living in a place where Meghan buys groceries is great.”

We were about a street away from Barrington which was downtown Halifax. Not quite where we were at the far end by St Mary’s but it was a good neighborhood. Misty was right about being able to walk for food. Harriet lived around the corner and across the street. We just had to head over by a pizza place. I demanded a halfway stop to our journey. I needed a slice as apparently did Harriet.

“I am just drunk enough to like the taste of this place!” She announced giddily.

“So where are you staying while you’re in the city?” I looked over to Misty as Harriet was on a mission.

“I was supposed to crash on Matthew’s couch until Canada Day and then head back or hook up with Claire and Joy,” Neither Harriet nor I had any idea who she was talking about but that didn’t stop her to explain anything. I engulfed my slice, dripping a bit of sauce on my left breast. I poked Harriet and she laughed at me as we hurried across to her place.

The noise was crazy. She and Geoff both lived in houses split into apartments. Hers was three, a basement one bedroom, her main floor one bedroom and the second floor three bedroom. Geoff’s place was one of three 2’s. At Geoff’s everyone had had people over and it was low background hum, at Harriet’s only the folks upstairs were active and it could be heard all over the block.

“How do you live under these people?” Misty asked.

“Happily,” She shrugged and led us through to her room. I walked right into a flying towel.

“Shower, while Misty and I take care of your clothes.”

“Right,” I waved the towel and left them to it. Harriet dressed a bit sluttier than I liked but whatever she picked would be overshadowed next to Misty anyways and I was cool with that.

Courtney King — Saturday, June 26th, 2015

“Finally! Look at her!” I elbowed Melody and nodded at the tattooist. This was sixth place we’d visited. Only one other shop had an attractive girl working there but being a cesspool of health violations walked us right back out the door.

“This is ridiculous,” Melody grumbled, “We don’t need to get Matthew yet another girl.”

“That’s your problem?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I get having another in the... in the harem. I also don’t want Sara being the only one with a magic tongue stud,” She argued, “I get your tips while I heal up and I can get back to work.”

“And if we wait until he gets back, what do you think will happen?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, “He went to buy a suit and came home with a redhead and an Indian.”

“Yeah, I know,” She sighed, “Well, she is very pretty.”

The girl in question was washing her hands at a black wall sink, chatting with the fat bald guy she had just inked. She was taller than me and Melody but I wouldn’t really call her tall. She was fair, wearing a white halter top and scratched up faded jeans. She had a sleeve of tattoos on her right arm and the mural on her left arm had almost caught up. Both were scenes of blue, silver and black skulls, roses, and swords. She wasn’t extraneously, or even obviously pierced. Her hair was pulled back from her head in a tight bun, but we could tell it was longer than Melody’s if she let it down. Her ass was fantastic! I knew how much Matthew loved a tight ass. He’d be happy with this one.

She was a redhead, at least for the moment. Her hair didn’t look natural. I hoped she was weird. Matthew enjoyed weird redheads. Cleo was bananas and Phoebe was like a glowstick, someone broke her, used her, and now that light inside of her had grown dim. Melody and I walked up to the desk and waited. She stayed with her customer but saw us.

“Hey, customers in! Off your break!” She called out and a methamphetamine thin foppish punk strode out from a curtained back room. He was hawk nosed and wide grin. Maybe not meth, his teeth were immaculate.

“Hello ladies,” He squicked me out. There was something viscous in his whole being.

“Hi,” I smiled, “My sex slave here needs her tongue pierced.”

“Courtney!” Melody growled.

“Right, sorry, THE sex slave. I haven’t gotten my own yet.”

“Where does one apply?” He leaned in. I rolled my eyes.

“She’s being a brat, you still need to be professional,” Melody reprimanded him and I smiled.

“Of course,” He couldn’t hold back his flicker of rage from her ire. I grinned. However, I liked the store. The artwork and display was all perfect. Plus the girl with dabbing away at her client looked more than competent. This guy was just thin skinned.

“Later Zane, you should come by when it heals, I love seeing how well I did.”

“Then come by the store!” He grinned as he walked past us, “You still need to read Locke and Key.”

“That’s what libraries are for,” Laughed the tattoo girl.

“You monster!” Chortled Zane as he left through the front door. The girl turned to the three of us surrounding the glass front counter. A display of piercing gauges and rings was on display and I would’ve been window shopping like a fiend if I hadn’t found what I already wanted.

“I heard tongue ring and sex slave,” She beamed as she came over. She had a huge but lovely smile. I smiled back. Her co-worker didn’t reply. He had shut up after Melody had into him and didn’t look like he was about to start without someone switching him on.

“Yeah, my—boyfriend,” She stuttered only so much that I noticed her struggling with finding the word. I liked to call Matthew our master. The our was important. He made me nervous to call him my master. It was just weird, plus he had this stupid hangup over the word. But when he was our master, I had some company, or at least someone to climb up over and maybe reach the top of the pit, “is away on a business trip.” Yeah, business trip. That’s what it’s called when a viking crashes into shore and burns down the village and makes off with the young maidens. I was grinning. Matthew would wear a viking helmet all orgy if there was one in reach. Costumes! Maybe I should get something like a French maid or something. “And I know his—old girlfriend had one and he really liked it. I wanted to give it a try.”

“Yeah?” The gross clerk was all squicky again. I stepped down the glass display counter, closer to the girl and further from the gross dude.

“Yeah, why not?” She did not have the confidence to pair with her flippant “Why not?” It only takes a few days to heal and if I take it out for a few days it’ll close up, right?”

“Sure, we’ll even show you how to clean it. For some people it can close up in a matter of hours,” The girl explained she reached her own tongue out and we saw the head of her shiny barbell on the flexible muscle. We needed her! “I have to say I love it, my boyfriend loves it, my ex-girlfriend enjoyed it and my dentist says it’s like a wrecking ball in the back of my mouth.”

I laughed, Melody went a little pale. You could tell because her light freckles stood out when she had that kind of emotional response.

“Alright, follow me,” The guy stood up and offered Melody his hand. She took it and let him lead her around the far side of counter, “We keep the barbells over here, I’ll show you what we have and where we’re going to do things.” He pointed to the curtained section, “We’ll talk price and get things done.”

“OK,” Melody looked back at me and I grinned at her. They headed away and I turned towards the redhead.

“Hi, I’m Courtney,” I grinned and she lit up.

“Aimee,” She offered her hand and we shook. I touched my pocket where my phone was, the slapband was in next to it. Matthew had mastered cracking on a slap bracelet during a handshake, I had tried it once and Zina was still grumpy about it. As they say, seventh time was a charm. Today, I decided to take another route.

“Do you know what the Forefront Foundation is?” I asked pulling out the bracelet. I watched the Oh God, eyeroll happen. I guess I was coming off as crazy girl is selling crazy. I smiled, “I see that’s a no. They give scholarships to women.”

“Oh, OK,” She said a little less off her guard. She was still crazy.

“Anyway, I applied for a scholarship and they make you do this little project. Take five pictures of women in professions that they like wearing the bracelet. They get some advertising for their Facebook and Twitter and I get my next semester paid for.”

“Oh, cool, that’s kind of great,” She smiled, “And you want me to—”

“Yeah, you should see their wall, it’s all nurses and lawyers, I want to do at least one that’s cool.”

“Well, can’t get cooler than me,” She laughed, “OK, c’mon let’s do it over here by the chair.”

“Sure, I just need your wrist,” I looked over and met Melody’s eyes as she walked behind the curtain. She rolled her eyes and I flashed all of my teeth. This was a high. I figured Matthew had to be an addict. I took Aimee’s hand and slapped the bracelet down. When they’re expecting it, it’s easy. We started walking over to her station and I pulled out my phone.

“So how do you want me?” She asked shaking out some nervousness. I reached around her shoulders, “Might as well make it a selfie. Just raise your wrist for the camera.”

The flash went off and then I smiled darkly. I hurried off a text.

“Who are you sending it to? The Foundation?”

“What no,” I laughed, “Just had to tell The Wizard.”

“What do you mean wizard?” She sneered.

“Oh, I’ve got so much to tell you!” I felt my cheeks pulling apart to keep grinning.