Author’s Note: This is probably the most ambitious story I’ve ever tried to write, not so much because of the plot, but because of the changes the characters go through and the emotions they have to deal with along the way. (Events are easy; people are hard!) The problem is, even if I succeeded in my goal (and that’s one hell of an “if,” since I’m certainly not a professional writer), everyone has a different idea of what exactly makes people and emotions seem real. What works for one person might seem maudlin or “angsty” to another. Hopefully, the characters are believable and the emotional sequences in this story actually work (or, failing that, are brief enough as to be bearable), but consider this fair warning if you have an especially low tolerance for that sort of thing.

Why Must Everything Be So Complicated?

By Alex Page

Prologue

After four, long years of intense, draining work, we were finally nearing the end of our very last round of final exams. With a mere week left before graduation, my roommate and best friend for as long as I could remember, Susan Doyle, with her very last exam behind her, was in the mood to celebrate.

“All right, Ames! I’m out for a wild night on the town, and you know it just isn’t the same without you,” she suggested, hopefully.

“Sorry!” I replied as I sorted through the mountain of papers and textbooks on my desk. “You may be done, but I’ve still got one last test in the morning, and it’s a monster. I have to study!”

“Poo! That’s no fun!” Then, she stopped pouting, heaved a deep-chested sigh, then threw in a dismissive wave of her hand, adding, “But I guess it can’t be helped. We’ll just have to party twice as hard, tomorrow, so you can catch up!”

“It’s a date!” I replied with an eager grin. “But, for now, I guess you’ll just have to be sure to have enough fun for both of us!”

“You know it! Just, don’t burn yourself out by hitting the books too hard, all right? I don’t want to be partying with a brain-dead zombie, tomorrow!”

I suppose I should’ve attempted some sort of clever retort, but I was already throwing myself into my studies and barely even managed a feeble grunt in recognition. Susan simply chuckled and left, but I was so deeply enmeshed in facts and figures that I barely noticed until, around two in the morning, I was finally ready to turn in for the night and discovered that she still wasn’t back, yet.

Oh, well! It was a big night. She was entitled to live it to the fullest, so I didn’t give it a second thought. Instead, I promptly passed out on my bed, while scientific theorems continued to do battle with mathematical formulae and whatever other foul apparitions my subconscious chose to conjure during the night.

I was a little more anxious when I woke up the next morning and Susan still hadn’t returned, but I was determined not to start jumping to conclusions. She didn’t really sleep around, but it wasn’t entirely unprecedented for her to crash on someone’s couch because she was too tired to drive home. Whatever the case was, however, I had a test to deal with and didn’t have time to worry about anything else, so I quickly got ready for the day and raced out the door.

***

Almost four hours later, I was finally turning in my exam, utterly spent, when the proctor glanced at the name on the paper I’d handed in, stood up, and pulled me aside, telling me that the dean wished to see me at the first chance I got. (Apparently, the message had been delivered at some point after the exam had started, with instructions to pass it on as soon as I turned in my test.) That’s when the anxiety that had been slowly gnawing away at me finally drove its fangs in all the way and refused to be shaken off. Meanwhile, a thousand and one dreadful scenarios began racing through my mind, all at once. Even so, I tried my best to remain calm … with little success, all but sprinting to the dean’s office.

Upon my arrival, I slammed the door behind myself a bit harder than I’d intended, causing the secretary’s head to snap in my direction. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly, trying my best to catch my breath and speak clearly. “My name is Amy Peters. I was told that the dean wished to speak to me. Is he in?”

“Let’s see if he’s available,” she said as she pushed the call button on the intercom.

A few agonizing seconds later, the dean’s voice came back, sounding rather tense. “Is it important, Kimberly? You know this isn’t a very good time.”

“Amy Peters is here to see you, sir.”

“Ah!” The dean’s voice suddenly took on a somber tone. “Might as well send her in, then.”

The exchange did little to boost my confidence and my worst fears were confirmed when I opened the door to the dean’s office, only to find Susan’s younger sister, Erin Doyle, already there, sobbing her eyes out.

“Hello, Amy,” the dean said as soon as he saw me. Then, gesturing toward the third person in the room, he added, “I assume you already know Erin.”

She and I managed a brief nod of recognition as we caught each other’s eyes for half a second, before the pain I saw there forced me to tear myself away, lest I break down, myself. “What happened?” I demanded, though the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was telling me that I already had a pretty good idea.

“Please, have a seat,” the dean suggested, gesturing toward the chair next to Erin’s. The tension was so unbearable, I just wanted to get to the heart of the matter and be done with it, but I decided the quickest course of action was to quietly take him up on the offer and see where things went from there. As soon as I was settled, he resumed speaking. “I had hoped to handle this differently, but I wanted to let you finish your exam without interruptions. I mean, you’ve come so far and worked so hard, it didn’t seem fair to trip you up so close to the finish line. On the other hand, it didn’t seem fair to keep Erin waiting, either, so….”

“Could you please just get on with it?” I asked, trying my best not to sound hysterical and probably failing miserably.

“Right! Sorry!” He swallowed and took a deep breath, obviously trying to brace himself before he continued. “Well, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to charge ahead. At about 2:30 this morning, a drunk driver lost control of his SUV and plowed into Erin’s car, head on. She … she didn’t make it. I’m truly sorry! I know you must’ve been close.”

“No!” I screamed as the weight of it all became painfully real and finally overwhelmed me. “She can’t be gone! We’ve been friends since the third grade. We graduated from high school together! We were supposed to graduate from college, together! She did all that work! This can’t be happening! Not now! Not when we were so close!”

It was then that I finally remembered Erin, who was now sobbing harder than ever.

I leaned over and held her tightly. “I’m so sorry! This must be even harder for you.”

“It’s okay,” she cried, attempting to return my embrace, only to discover that her arms no longer had the strength to comply. She looked like she wanted to say more, but the tears wouldn’t stop, so we just continued trying to console each other as best we could.

The dean, meanwhile, sat there looking rather helpless. He clearly wanted to do something, but he must’ve realized that, in such a situation, anything he could possibly say would sound empty and meaningless. Instead, much to his credit, he simply got a couple glasses of water, set them down in front of us, and waited patiently for us to deal with things in our own time.

I’m not sure how long we sat there, clinging to each other like that, but we were eventually able to calm down a little. It was an uneasy truce, though, only possible because we each knew that if either of us started crying again, the other wouldn’t be far behind. Therefore, even though everything inside us was still screaming in agony, we’d each pretend to be stronger than we actually were for the sake of the other … at least for the time being.

Eventually, I reached a point where my head had cleared enough to form a few rational thoughts, and I asked the next, big question. “So, what’s going to happen to Erin, now?”

“What do you mean?” the dean inquired, looking rather puzzled, but no less so than Erin, herself.

“Well, Susan was supposed to help her pack up her things and drive her home, after lunch, but….”

“Ah … I assume their parents will be coming down to get her, tomorrow.”

“But…,” Erin chimed in, desperate to make her voice heard but unable to find the words she wanted.

Even so, I heard her concerns as loudly as if she’d screamed them with all of the breath that she possessed. “It’s okay!” I told her, as I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be fine! At a time like this, you should be with your family.”

“No!” she wailed, clutching herself to me and refusing to let go. The look in her eyes as she silently pleaded with me not to send her away was almost too much for me to bear.

“Are you sure about this?” fighting to maintain my composure for her sake.

Erin’s only response was a barely perceptible nod of her head.

The dean, only able to follow the spoken half of the conversation was clearly growing more confused by the second, so I volunteered to translate. “I think what my chatty friend here is trying to say is that we need each other, right now. We may be calm for the moment….” I glanced over at Erin whose anguish was walled behind a dam that was clearly ready to crumble at any moment and amended my statement. “Well, relatively calm, anyway, all things considered, but that’s only because we have each other for support. Take that away, and we’ll both be back to bawling our eyes out, in no time.”

My words seemed to help Erin to organize her own thoughts, and she quickly chimed in, as well. “That’s right! Amy’s the only one who could possibly understand how I feel. My parent’s can’t help me. They lost a daughter, not a sister. I’m sure it’s unbearably painful, but it’s a completely different pain. They can be there for each other, but if I went home, I’d be all alone … and so would Amy, and I won’t let you do that to her!”

I was touched by Erin’s concern and returned her lingering embrace.

For his part, the dean couldn’t help but be moved by the logic of Erin’s argument, but it was clearly a difficult situation. “Well,” he murmured as he pondered his various options, “you’re going to need to stay somewhere, and sophomores are required to leave the dorms by noon, tomorrow.”

“Couldn’t she just stay with me?” I asked. “I don’t know if I can last the week, facing the empty bed in my room every night, and Susan was already paid in-full for room and board until graduation. I’m sure Erin’s stuff is already packed up. We could just grab the boxes, pile them in the corner of my room, and we’ll be good to go. We can still clear out her room, so from your end, it’s as if nothing ever changed.”

“It’s highly irregular….”

“And just how often do situations like this one come up, anyway?”

“You’ve got a point, there,” the dean conceded. “Of course, I’ll have to make sure it’s okay with Erin’s parents, first.”

“Why?” Erin jumped in, becoming mildly indignant. “I’m an adult, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but in a situation like this, I’d prefer to have a consensus from all parties involved. After all, the Doyles have already lost one daughter, today. I’m not about to keep the other from them without consulting them first. If they can agree, though, I don’t see any reason why you two can’t stick together to help each other out, at least for the next few days.”

“Amy’s almost another daughter to them. I’m sure they’ll agree.”

“It sounds like a plan, to me,” I said.

***

Erin insisted on holding the phone between us so that we could both take part in the conversation. Of course, as should be expected, Mr. and Mrs. Doyle were initially a bit surprised by our proposal. Naturally, they were hoping to get their remaining daughter back home, safe and sound, as soon as possible. On the other hand, they actually suggested that I should stay on campus and at least try to enjoy the various activities that were planned for Senior Week, rather than letting the tragedy completely destroy what was supposed to be a happy occasion for me. After all, ruining that would’ve been the very last thing Susan would’ve wanted.

Despite all of that, however, the only thing they really cared about was making sure that we (both of “we”) were all right, and if our being together facilitated that process, then they’d support it. So, after assuring them that we were both doing as well as could be expected, given the circumstances, they agreed that it was probably best that Erin and I stick together for the time being, in order to continue providing support for one another. If they really needed us for anything in the meantime, we were still just a phone call away.

Besides, with the police and insurance companies (not to mention the other driver’s lawyer) holding everything up, it didn’t look like the family would be able to make arrangements for the funeral until sometime well after graduation, anyway, so there wasn’t anything terribly productive that either of us could do, back home, at the moment. As a result, the Doyles figured, if I was staying on campus, Erin might as well stay with me. It’d almost certainly be better for her than simply moping around, back home.

The clincher was when I remembered the Senior Week activities. Despite the Doyles’ wishes, I’d initially been planning to give them a pass, because frankly, I just wasn’t in the mood anymore, and more importantly, I thought that going would mean abandoning Erin when she needed me most. Then I realized that she could always go with me as my “date” to each of the various functions. It wasn’t like I’d found a replacement for my ex-boyfriend, anyway, and I certainly wasn’t the only one who could benefit from the chance do something to take my mind off of everything that had happened.

When I suggested the idea, everyone agreed that, as long as I didn’t mind, it definitely sounded like the best course of action for Erin, who seemed to latch onto the idea with unusual fervor. After that, no one had the heart to tell her she couldn’t stay, so with a final, gentle encouragement not to let the tragedy completely destroy what was supposed to be a happy occasion for me and some heartfelt words of assurance to their daughter, the Doyles said they loved us both, and we all said our goodbyes.

After that, we handed the phone off to the dean, so he could receive final confirmation that everyone was on board. Once he was satisfied, he hung up the phone and wished us well, leaving us all to deal with things in our own way.

***

With the parents’ and the dean’s blessings, the only thing left to be done was to retrieve Erin’s stuff from her room and move it across the campus to mine. It was tiring, but I think we were both grateful for something to take our minds off of everything that had happened.

When we’d finally finished transferring the last of the boxes, it was almost time for dinner, so we grabbed a couple of small meals to take back to our room. Neither of us felt like braving the dining hall at the moment. Actually, neither of us felt like eating, period, even though we’d missed lunch, altogether. Without each other, we probably would’ve skipped dinner, too, but neither of us was willing to rest until the other had at least tried to force something down to keep her strength up. Unfortunately, once we were done, the two of us were left alone again. Without anything else to occupy our thoughts, everything came flooding back, stronger than ever, so we just clung to each other for support, as tightly as our fatigued muscles could manage.

Who knows how much time passed, but somewhere, in the midst of all the emotion, our bodies seemed to sense that we needed something more, and somewhere in the confusion, our lips found each other. I was shocked, at first, but the warmth and tenderness of the moment somehow felt right, so I decided not to fight it as our emotions slowly swept us along. With the intensity of everything we were feeling, our thoughts were muddled, at best, but that didn’t matter, because our bodies were running on pure instinct. We began kissing each other with greater and greater passion, our tongues growing ever bolder, until they were each freely exploring the other’s mouth. At the same time, our hands were gradually becoming more daring as well, slowly creeping up our partner’s spine to brush against her shoulders before pulling us tightly together, while we shared the most passionate kiss yet.

The tender gestures continued, even as we slowly began to peel off each other’s clothes, until all that was left in the bed was our two, naked bodies, thoroughly entwined with one another. Still, our instincts continued to drive us onward, through the haze of raw emotion. Soft caresses gave way to frantic groping as our bodies demanded ever more from us. We explored every single inch of our partner’s body, enjoying the warmth as we felt it slowly penetrating every cold and lonely corner of our own, until it finally consumed all of our senses, and the world around us seemed to simply fade away.

Even now, I have no idea how long we stayed there, basking in that moment of pure love, but when we finally came down from that peak, we collapsed, still trembling, in each other’s arms, before ultimately surrendering to the peace of sleep.

Chapter 1

I was lost in thought, casually stirring my coffee, as Erin and I enjoyed a secluded table at a local café. Since I’d graduated and she was still in school, we didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would’ve liked, anymore, so we were grateful for the chance to catch up, but on that day, Erin seemed strangely withdrawn, so after the obligatory small talk, the conversation seemed to dry up. “So, how are your classes, this semester?” I wondered out loud, not really expecting such an obvious question to lead to anything significant.

“Can we please talk about something else?” Erin asked with a grimace.

“That good, huh?” Erin didn’t seem all that eager to respond, so I just pressed on. “What happened? You were always at the top of your class.”

She simply shrugged.

“Falling behind now that your sister and I aren’t there … to….” It had popped out without my even thinking about it, and I instantly regretted it. I could tell from the expression on her face, that even eight months after the fact, the matter of Susan’s death still weighed as heavily on her as it did on me. We were supposed to be enjoying ourselves, and there I was, tearing open an old wound we both knew would never completely heal. “I’m sorry!” I knew it was a feeble apology, but I still felt like I had to say something.

“Please,” Erin replied, waving her hand dismissively. “Don’t give it another thought! I do it, too. Why, just the other day I read an article that I was convinced Susan would have loved. I was already reaching for the phone to tell her all about it before I remembered.” She paused for a bit, fighting desperately to hold back the tears. “God, I miss her, Amy!”

“I know!” I replied, gingerly taking her hands into mine, as I struggled to fend off tears of my own. “Me, too!”

Erin sat there for a few moments, biting her lip, pensively, before she finally spoke again. “D-do you … do you think she’d … be happy we’ve grown so close? After all … I’ve basically stolen her best friend.”

I swung my chair around the table so I could wrap my arm around her shoulder. “Hey! You didn’t steal anything, and as for being my new best friend, well, someone was bound to claim the title eventually, and you’re probably the one person in the world she would approve of. You were more than just her kid sister, you know. She always thought of you as one of her dearest friends.”

“Really?”

“She sure did!” I assured her. “Told me, flat out, how lucky she felt to have a sister as great as you, especially given what some of our other friends and classmates had to put up with. Of course,” I added with a wry smirk, “she also made me swear to never breath a single word of it to another living soul, especially you, but … all things considered, I’m sure she would’ve wanted you to know.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Erin said, brightening up, ever so slightly. “I always looked up to her and hoped that she appreciated me, too, but it’s nice to finally hear the words.”

“Don’t let it get to you.” I could see she was still uncertain, so I moved my hand to her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Sibling relationships are complicated.”

“I know, but….”

“Just think of it this way: how many people will say, ‘I love you,’ or words to that effect all the time, but never mean one bit of it? Now, Susan, on the other hand, may not have admitted it openly, but your sister’s actions should’ve spoken volumes about her true feelings. Don’t you dare doubt the sincerity of those gestures! After all, she didn’t balk when you decided to attend the same college, did she?”

“To tell the truth,” she replied, “she’s actually the one who first suggested it.”

“See what I mean?”

Erin pondered the implications for a few seconds before finally deciding how she felt. “You’re right!” she said at last. “Thank you!”

As she spoke those words, she wore a peaceful expression I hadn’t seen since that fateful night … the same night she and I had—why was I even thinking about that? I cared about Erin, true enough, but not in that way. Granted, she had come out as a lesbian quite some time ago, long before the incident between us had ever occurred, but I was still straight. I supported her and whatever lifestyle she chose to live, with all my heart, even after she’d admitted to having a few other, more “unique” sexual predilections, as well (typically involving her being rendered helpless in some fashion or another and left at the mercy of her beautiful lover), but it just wasn’t for me. Whatever may have happened in the past, we were now both happy just being friends. Hell, the mere thought of making love to another woman tended to leave me feeling rather queasy. Yes, Erin and I may have shared that one night, but that’s all it was. It may have been slow, it may have been tender, it may even have been wonderful, but it was hardly sexual.

So why couldn’t I seem to get it out of my mind?

Oh, that’s right! It may not have been sexual, but it was the closest thing I’d had since I’d broken up with my last boyfriend … and that was getting painfully close to a year ago. Between wrapping up my college career and starting up my professional one, I’d simply been far too busy to look for a new beau, and despite my increasingly frequent attempts at “self gratification,” sexual frustration must have been hitting me harder than I realized. Why was there never a good man around when you needed him?

“Are you okay?” Erin asked, looking genuinely concerned.

Crap! My daydreaming hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Yeah!” I blurted out, frantically struggling to recover my composure. “I’m fine! Just got lost in thought, for a minute, there. Sorry for worrying you.”

“Just don’t make a habit of it, okay! If you keep staring at me like that, while holding my hand, I might start to get the wrong impression.”

My arm was a blur as I tore it away from her, and though I didn’t have a mirror, I could feel my cheeks burning and knew my face had to have taken on such an intense shade of crimson that I’d probably set a new personal record. This, of course, only caused Erin to giggle hysterically.

Desperate to regain some tiny fragment of my composure, I nervously cleared my throat and said, “I-I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Don’t worry!” she chuckled. “I’m not going to jump you, in a dark alley, as part of my sinister bid to expand the lesbian empire, or anything like that.”

“I wasn’t worried about—!”

“Sure, the great Queen Lesbos IV won’t be happy that I haven’t met my recruitment quota, but I think our friendship is more important than her plans for world domination, don’t you?”

Now, she was actively goading me, and I refused to be drawn into her little game, any further. “Are you enjoying yourself?” I asked flatly.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, still giggling uncontrollably. “I know you’re better than that, but when you started blushing so intensely, I simply couldn’t resist messing with you.”

“Well, at least one of us is having fun,” I said, taking a slow sip of my coffee in an effort to calm myself. Having thus regained some tiny fragment of my composure and eager for a change of topic, I then asked, “So, what’s this about you having trouble with your classes?”

Erin’s laugher died instantly. “I was hoping we were done with that.”

“Come on!” I said reassuringly. “It’s not like you to be having trouble with school work. Surely it isn’t as bad as you think. How bad is it, really?”

“It’s bad!”

“Yes?” I asked, beginning to feel like I was interrogating a child.

“Really bad!”

“Listen! Are we going to keep going around like this all day or are y—?”

“I failed all of my classes last semester, all right?” she blurted out, perhaps a little louder than she’d intended, sheepishly adding, “And I’m not off to a great start with this one, either. If I don’t turn things around, and soon, I’m going to flunk out completely, okay?”

“What?” I shouted, nearly spewing a mouthful of coffee all over the table in a display that would’ve made Old Faithful look like a garden sprinkler.

I had a million questions running through my mind, but before I could recover enough to ask any of them, Erin jumped in, adding, “I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is yes, even my writing classes.”

That shock spurred on a whole new wave of coughing fits. I knew full well what Erin was capable of. Okay, I suppose it was theoretically conceivable that she might fail one writing class … if she was unlucky enough to land a professor who was too rigidly set in the ways of academia that stated that all writing must done just so. But to fail all of them? No, way! The girl had too much raw talent! Something had to be seriously wrong, here. I suddenly had more questions than ever, but all I could manage to croak out was a simple, “What happened?”

“I don’t know! I just … I can’t seem to concentrate in any of my class work.”

“Why’s that?” I coughed.

“Like I said, I don’t know. I just can’t. I try, but my mind refuses to stay on topic.”

After a few, final, hacking coughs, I was finally able to clear my lungs and redirect my full attention to the matter at hand. “And what sort of topics does it wander to?” I asked.

“You shouldn’t end a sentence in a preposition!” she chided me, with a weak but hopeful grin.

“You know damn well that rule is over-emphasized and archaic. Besides, the English major failing all of her classes has no right to complain about anyone else’s bad grammar!” I shot her a quick smile to show I was merely teasing. I didn’t want to upset her any further, but there was no way I was going to let her sidetrack me, this time. This was too important. “Now, I asked you a question. What sort of things are you thinking about instead of your class work?”

“Other stuff.”

Girls, I’ll bet! Not letting my suspicions be known, I probed further. “What sort of ‘other stuff?’”

She couldn’t look me in the eyes, anymore. “What difference does it make? It’s not the class work.”

Yup! Definitely girls! “Is she cute?” I finally asked.

Erin looked genuinely puzzled. “Is who cute?”

“The girl you’ve been daydreaming about instead of focusing on your classes, who else?”

Now it was her turn to start blushing. “How—I-I mean … I’m not daydreaming about anyone!”

“Listen, Squirt,” I replied, instinctively falling back to the old nickname Susan and I had given her, way back in elementary school, as I inadvertently slipped into my old role as “the other, big sister.” That wasn’t how I’d hoped to handle the situation, especially since I knew the nickname’s implication about her height touched a sore spot for her, but I could try to make amends, later. I had more important things on my mind, at the moment. “I’ve known you practically your whole life. You’re not fooling anybody. I know for a fact that you haven’t had a girlfriend since….” I barely caught myself, before I thoughtlessly blurted out something I shouldn’t, instead choosing to end my thought with, “…in over 8 months.” I breathed an inward sigh of relief at the bullet I’d narrowly dodged. The last thing Erin needed, at that moment, was for me to dredge up painful memories of—Dear god! How could I have missed it? The timing fit perfectly; I just didn’t want to see it!

Taking Erin’s hands in mine, I looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Please, tell me that this doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to Susan!”

“What?” Erin asked, looking genuinely surprised. Then, finally catching up with my sudden leap of thought, she replied, “Oh, no, no! If anything that would inspire me to push even harder, because I know that’s what she would’ve wanted me to do.”

I stared at her for a few seconds until I was convinced that she meant every word of it. Then I finally released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and sagged in relief. “Sorry! It’s just … the timing … I had to ask.”

“I know,” she replied. “You’re not the first.”

Of course! If none of her professors grew curious about the sudden change, her parents must’ve certainly seen her grades from the previous semester and asked about them, and the loss of her sister would be the first thing they’d think of. “Sorry!” I said again, unable to think of anything better.

“Stop apologizing! You’re just worried about me. I’m grateful! Honest!”

“Anyway,” I said, eager to steer the topic to something at least a little less depressing, “I guess that leaves me with my original theory, so my question still stands: Is she cute?”

Erin laughed, which was certainly a refreshing change of pace. Then she bit her lip in thought, as she seriously considered my point for the first time. Eventually, she finally conceded, “Perhaps the downtime between relationships has begun to wear on me a little.”

“And?”

“To be honest,” she replied, staring down at her coffee cup, “there isn’t really any one person. It changes from class to class. There’s this one girl who sits in front of me in my Creative Writing class…. Every time I see her, I just imagine her forcing my head between her thighs and—.”

I rolled my eyes and held up a hand to stop her before she got any more vivid. “Oh, that’s right! I forgot, for a moment. You like it when the other girl takes charge, don’t you?”

Erin just nodded her head, weakly.

“I swear,” I said, smiling warmly as I reached for her hand, “if it isn’t one thing, with you, it’s another. What am I going to do with you?”

“Just continue to be my friend.” She looked like she would fall apart at any moment. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Don’t worry about that! I’ll always be here, for you. After all, we’ve got to look out for each other.”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, her smile slowly beginning to return.

“I know it isn’t easy, especially for someone with your interests, but a smart, beautiful girl, like you, shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a girlfriend. Hell, I’m surprised you don’t need to fight them off.”

“I wish!” The reply was hopelessly despondent. It seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling the grinding pressure of sexual frustration, lately.

As I stared at Erin, wishing there was something I could do to help her out, my mind, once again, started wandering to that night we’d spent together. It was at that moment that an utterly insane plan began to take shape in my mind. In retrospect, I must’ve been even more desperate than I realized to have even considered it. In fact, the ideas that were spinning through my mind were still generally repugnant, but there was something about Erin. She was special. In the right setting (with enough wine to ensure that my better judgement was nowhere to be found), I was sure I could go through with it. For her!

Ah, who was I kidding? I was every bit as desperate as she was and, as much as I hated to admit it, my last experience with her wasn’t exactly unpleasant. It was certainly better than anything I’d been able to accomplish on my own. I could insist that I was straight all I wanted, but as horny as I was becoming, it was growing difficult to remember exactly why I was so determined to avoid another such encounter with someone I genuinely cared about, even if she wasn’t the man of my dreams … or any other kind of man, for that matter. Sure, anything we did wouldn’t be a frequent occurrence, but it might just be enough to keep me from going completely insane before the right guy finally came along. On the other hand, if things stayed as they were, it was only a matter of time before I pounced on the first guy who looked my way, just to get it out of my system. While Erin clearly wasn’t Mr. Right, she was someone I cared deeply for. That was certainly preferable to doing something (or worse: someone) I’d immediately regret, and if it helped her to weather her own frustrations, that’s certainly win-win in my book.

The longer I sat there trying to rationalize the scheme that was slowly taking shape in my head, the more I was convinced that I could actually go through with it. It was a patch fix for our problems, to be sure. I still needed a man, and Erin deserved a proper girlfriend who could love her as she deserved (though I suspected that she might have to give up on some of her kinkier fantasies). In the meantime, however, it could serve as a viable stopgap measure to help us through our respective dry spells.

Of course, I had to be very careful how I proceeded, but if my crazy plan worked, we’d both be much better off, and the monkey of sexual frustration (which was starting to feel more and more like an 600-pound gorilla) would be off both of our backs, for good … or until one of us got into a serious relationship, anyway. Either way, it might solve our immediate problems.

The more I thought about it, the more workable the idea, crazy as it was, began to appear, but while I couldn’t simply blurt out my proposition, especially not in such a public venue, I also knew that nothing was going to happen at all if I didn’t seize the initiative. So, I figured I might as well start slowly, gently nudging my plan into motion, and see where events took us. Once I was sure that I had Erin’s full attention, I asked the first questions that would ultimately change our lives forever: “Why don’t you spend the weekend at my place and we’ll see what we can do to improve your grades? You’ve come this far. You don’t want to flunk out, now, do you?”

“Do you really think you’ll be able to help?”

“I’ve got a few ideas that just might do the trick,” I replied as coyly as I could. “I may not have been an English major, myself, but I can still distinguish quality writing from mindless drivel. Perhaps, if we can just figure out what’s been holding you back in that area, the rest will sort itself out.”

Erin bit her lip as she considered my words carefully.

“Besides,” I added, “what have you got to lose? It can’t be any worse than what you’ve been doing, so far, can it?”

“You’ve got a point, there,” she reluctantly conceded, “and I have been wishing we could hang out more.”

“We’ll see what happens. If it does the trick, maybe we can make it a regular thing and get together for one or two weekends every month.”

“Not every weekend?”

“Why don’t we just see how this first weekend goes before we start making any further plans, all right? If I can’t help you out, you’ll need all the free time you can get, just to keep up with your studies. On the other hand, if we both agree that it seems to be working, we can go from there and figure out a schedule that works for us.”

“This is going to turn things around! I just know it!”

“Really?”

“One way or another, I swear I’m going to make it work! You won’t regret this!” Then, she gave me a great big hug as she added, “Thank you, so much!”

“Don’t thank me, yet, but at least you’ve got some enthusiasm, again. Just, be ready to leave after your last class, on Friday. We’ll need all the time we can get.”

“I’ll be waiting!”

“And make sure you get plenty of rest! There’s a lot to do, so I don’t think you’ll be catching up on your sleep this weekend.”

Chapter 2

Once I’d dropped Erin off at the campus, the entire drive home was spent mulling over the best way to proceed with my plans for the weekend. That was when a whole new wrinkle began to worm its way into my schemes. Given what I was already planning to do anyway, I mused, why not go that tiny bit further and help Erin to act out some of her more unusual fantasies while I was at it? After all, ever since she’d told me that she enjoyed the idea of being completely helpless and at another woman’s mercy, part of me had lived in constant fear that she might let her eagerness get the best of her, only to discover, far too late, that she was trapped, with no way out. Erin was always a little impulsive, so it wasn’t entirely inconceivable that she might act before knowing if she could truly trust the woman she was with.

On the other hand, if I was that other woman, I wouldn’t have anything to worry about. I know I’d never do anything to hurt her, and while I didn’t understand her interest in such games, myself, I was certainly capable of playing along if it made her feel better. Besides, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t at least a tiny, vindictive part of me gleefully anticipating the chance to get back at her for not telling me, her supposed best friend, about her academic troubles any sooner. Mostly, though, I was just hoping that it might allow her to get some of those fantasies out of her system (or at least dull the craving a bit), and with any luck that would make it easier for her to find someone she could be truly serious about.

Having sold myself on the idea, however, the list of things that needed to be accomplished before the weekend arrived suddenly grew exponentially. Given the nature of Erin’s special interests, my first step would be to find some way to procure a few key items in the brief time I had. Unfortunately, they weren’t the sort of things you could just pick up at any old store, and I’d die of embarrassment before I managed to squeeze so much as one toe past the threshold of any of the places that did sell them. After all, I might run into someone I knew, either inside or on my way out, and I still had to live and work in that town.

That, of course, left me with only one real option, and as soon as I got home, I turned on my computer and hopped online, searching for a decent place to acquire what I needed. Fortunately, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would, thanks in large part to a handful of sites I still had bookmarked from back when Erin had first tried to explain her submissive tendencies to me.

Since I didn’t understand her impulses, like many others, I instantly jumped to the worst-case scenario, fearing that she was trying to hook up with some psychotic witch who’d gleefully beat her to within an inch of her life, flay her alive, then try to wear her skin as a hat. Erin laughed off my misunderstanding and gave me a list of web sites I could check out to get an idea of what she was actually talking about, so I did some research to better understand her and put at least a few of my darker fears to rest. At the time, I had no idea that I would actually be putting any of that knowledge to use one day, but at least I had a few fairly reputable sites I could use to start my search. Before long, I found one with everything I needed. They had all the equipment I was looking for, the price wasn’t horrible, they offered discreet packaging and billing, and they had an option for 2-day delivery.

I ordered everything in two shipments. In the first, I placed just a few of the basics: a full set of leather cuffs with a matching collar, a dozen tiny padlocks (all keyed exactly the same way, no less), about 100 feet of rope, and a couple of small vibrators. (Of course, like any sane, self-sufficient woman, I already had a couple of my own, but as soon as I saw the bullets and the butterflies, I also saw the countless ways I could put them to use, so I decided to add one of each to my collection.) The second shipment contained a few of the more extreme (and expensive) items I thought might come in handy, assuming the initial steps went well and didn’t freak me out as much as I feared they might: a couple gags, some nipple clamps, a leather blindfold, even a small, multi-tailed, suede whip (it looked like the least severe option available) … those sorts of things. I had no idea how well my plan was going to work, if it would even work at all, but I might only get one chance to try, so I wanted to be prepared for anything, just in case.

The way I figured it, the first shipment was almost all stuff I could use, in some fashion or another, anyway. In the worst-case scenario, I’d just put the cuffs and padlocks on the side and give them to Erin for her birthday. She’d absolutely love them, and it’d be a nice gesture to prove that I genuinely supported her, however she chose to live her life. Either way, it didn’t really matter if I was able to make use of those items over the weekend or not. The other package, however, was another matter, entirely.

If things went badly, there was no way I wanted to be stuck with a bunch of expensive (and potentially embarrassing) equipment that I had no use for and couldn’t easily get rid of. I couldn’t throw them out for fear that someone might find them in the trash and trace them back to me. I also couldn’t give them to Erin because, while the leather cuffs might just barely pass as a thoughtful gift from a dear, supportive (and open-minded) friend, especially considering everything we’ve been through together, gags and nipple clamps could be rather awkward, to say the least. As a result, I wanted to make damn sure that I’d be able to return the contents of that package, if need be—preferably unopened, to prove they’d never been used.

Unfortunately, if my research had taught me anything, it was that people with Erin’s interests ran the whole gamut from virtually vanilla to 24/7 enslavement and beyond, and I still had almost no idea exactly where Erin fell in that immense spectrum. While she and I had touched on our respective dreams and fantasies (after confiding in me about her submissive tendencies, I felt compelled to return her trust by sharing a few of my own wilder fantasies, and it just sort of snowballed from there), we never went into any great detail. However close we may have grown, we were still just friends, after all—friends looking for very different things—and there was a limit to how much either of us was comfortable dealing with in explicit terms.

As a result, I wasn’t at all sure how far her submissive urges went. In fact, most of the contents of that second package seemed a tad excessive to me. Hell, I was afraid that even the first box might be pushing things a little too far beyond my comfort zone, but if that’s what she truly wanted, then for her sake, I was at least willing to give it the “old college try.” It certainly didn’t hurt to be prepared. On the other hand, if she wasn’t into anything that severe, or if she simply didn’t want anything to do with my plan, at all, I needed a safe way out. I figured, since I’d only included my middle initial when I placed the first order, if all went well, I should be able to tell them apart when they arrived, without even having to open them up.

Once I had those two shipments out of the way, I was done with the bulk of my shopping, but I still had a few other odds and ends that I wanted to pick up, just to hedge my bets in the event there was a problem with the deliveries. In order to avoid rousing unnecessary suspicion if the cashiers could successfully perform the bondage math, I divided my shopping list across several, diverse stores. The first few stops were fairly straightforward, as I hit the hardware store to pick up 6 feet of chain and some combination padlocks, then swung by the camping-supplies store for a couple hundred more feet of the softest rope I could find. After a quick trip to the grocery store for a couple of rolls of duct tape (and some odds and ends for the weekend’s meals), however, I started getting a little more creative. By the time I’d picked up some new shoelaces from the athletic shoe store and a package of wiffle-ball-like, practice, golf balls from the local sporting-goods store, I was starting to feel like a kinky, lady MacGyver. With those purchases, however, I was finally as ready as I was going to be. The only thing left was to wait.

***

Since I have no idea what Erin was expecting from that weekend, I haven’t the faintest clue how bad the wait was for her, but for me, what followed were a few of the longest days of my life. By the time Friday finally rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop worrying about my plans. What would Erin think? Would she be willing to play along, or would she think I’d completely lost my mind? (And in the case of the latter, would she be right?) Could I even bring myself to go through with it? What would I do if I lost my nerve at the last moment? If the worst happened, would I be able to rescue things, or would it get hopelessly awkward, potentially straining our friendship beyond repair?

It was clear I’d have little chance of focusing on anything else that morning. Fortunately, I’d already arranged to take the day off from work, anyway, since I wanted to be available to pick up Erin the very moment her last class ended, so that was at least one less thing I had to worry about. That, in itself, was a double-edged sword, however. Since Erin didn’t have any afternoon classes on Fridays, we’d now have far more time together than we otherwise might, but that also gave me very little time to get things ready and I still had things that I needed to do.

I started by confirming that I had everything I needed for dinner that night, and I barely finished running through the checklist by the time the packages finally arrived. (Apparently, I’d placed my order late enough that it wasn’t actually processed until the next day, reducing my already minimal buffer to nothing. Thankfully, I was at the start of the delivery guy’s route, so the packages were dropped off before I left to pick up Erin.) As I had planned, one was addressed to “Amy Peters,” the other to “Amy L. Peters.” I opened the latter.

After a taking a quick inventory of the contents, I concluded that my plan had worked. I had everything I’d ordered, and only the stuff I wanted right away. Presumably everything else was in box #2, but I wasn’t about to open it until I actually had need of them. In fact, until I knew how things were going to play out, even having it around my place was a liability. If Erin stumbled across it, especially given her innate curiosity, I might have some quick explaining to do.

Before I worried about that, however, I had to make sure everything else was in working order. I examined each of the leather cuffs and tested every one of the padlocks to confirm they’d survived their trip intact. As a bonus, even though each lock was keyed exactly the same way, every one came with its own copy of the key, so I had plenty of spares. After testing two or three of them in every lock, I selected a couple locks and used them to test each of the remaining keys. By that point, I was reasonably confident that everything was working properly.

At least I wouldn’t have anything to worry about if I lost or misplaced one or two of the tiny keys. As a precaution, however, I hid one under the TV and buried another in the back of my sock drawer, just to ensure that I couldn’t possibly lose them all at once. After that, lacking any better ideas, for the moment, I stuck the rest of them in a sandwich bag that I carefully buried in a secluded corner of the top shelf in my bedroom closet.

I completed my inspection by taking the vibrators out of their packaging, popping in their batteries, and turning them on to make sure they worked. I was surprised to find that they were whisper quiet, but as soon as I felt the vibrations, in my hand, my pussy started throbbing, complaining that I’d been neglecting it for far too long. I desperately wanted to put them through a real trial run but knew I didn’t have the time. Even so, there was a part of me that realized I’d want at least a vague idea of how well they actually worked before trying them on anyone else, if only so I could make the best use of them when (and if) that time came. I also realized that such knowledge would require testing—something that could prove quite difficult once Erin was around. (At least that’s what I kept telling myself until I finally caved in.) Thus was born one of the most harebrained parts of my increasingly insane scheme, so far.

On a whim, I stripped down and picked up the bullet, sliding it into my waiting pussy. (Let’s just say, it didn’t take much coaxing.) Using muscles I barely knew existed, I somehow managed to keep it from slipping back out again, while I picked up the butterfly and loosely strapped into place. After a quick check to ensure it was positioned for maximum effectiveness, I tightened all of the straps down and pulled up my panties to ensure that everything stayed in place.

Not knowing what else to do, I tucked the controllers to both vibrators in the waistband, for the time being, so I could have my hands free to select a pair of jeans and pull them into position. Once they were properly secured, I took the controllers out the waistband and tucked one in each of my front pockets. I checked myself out in my full-length mirror to see how visible they were. Other than the thin wires that were stretched fairly tightly to my pockets, you couldn’t tell anything was out of the ordinary… but I could easily solve even that tiny problem.

I decided to skip the bra and threw on a thin, silk blouse. I shuddered, slightly, as the soft material brushed directly against my hardening nipples, but I knew I had to hurry, now, so I hastily buttoned the blouse and tucked it in. The last part of my outfit was the masterstroke … and the reason I’d selected such a thin blouse in the middle of the winter. Over the whole thing, I threw on the biggest, baggiest sweater I owned and checked myself out one last time. It wasn’t exactly the fashion statement of the century, but it wasn’t altogether horrible, and more importantly, you couldn’t tell I was hiding anything out of the ordinary. I even examined my reflection as I stuck my hands in my pockets and turned around. The baggy sweater did its job and molded itself around my arms, concealing the wires from view, even as I fiddled with the controls, and since the cords were relatively taut, I didn’t have to worry about excess slack pulling loose and falling into view at an inopportune moment.

With my outfit decided, all that remained was to hastily stow all of my other new toys back in the box they’d arrived in and hide it as best I could. Once that was accomplished, I was finally ready to leave, so I scooped up the second package and headed out to my car.

***

Under the circumstances, I’d decided it was probably best to rent a storage locker, across town, to store the rest of the gear. If I needed it, I could get it relatively quickly, but if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be around, waiting to be discovered and cause an incident. Either way, it was far enough away from my apartment that I wouldn’t be as likely to bump into anyone I knew who might ask potentially embarrassing questions about what was in the box.

Even though I’d turned the vibrators off, they continued to make their presence known with every step I took, and though I knew nobody could see anything, I couldn’t suppress the fear that, at any moment, someone was going to discover the truth and make a scene. As a result, as soon as the box was safely stashed away, I hastily scanned the surrounding area to gauge the reactions of those around me. Fortunately, no one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary, but after that cursory glance, I decided to just keep moving, rather than risk giving anyone a reason to take a closer look, just in case my disguise wasn’t as foolproof as I’d hoped.

Once I was safely back in the car, I figured it was finally time to turn my little hitchhikers on. If nothing else, it’d give me some time to learn how to dial in the settings to keep myself on a low boil. I certainly didn’t want to make a total fool of myself after I’d picked up Erin. Unfortunately, perhaps because my sexual frustration was already boiling over, I found the combination to be a little too effective. I wasn’t able to raise either of them above their lowest settings, and I eventually had to turn them off, altogether, for fear of losing focus on my driving. It was bad enough losing Susan. There was no way I was going to risk doing anything that would make Erin go through that pain, all over again.

The thought had only flashed across my mind for the merest fraction of a second, but it hit me harder than any cold shower, instantly snapping me out of my sexual haze, allowing me to guide my car safely to the campus, where, much to my surprise, Erin was already waiting anxiously, with a small bag in hand, at our pre-arranged meeting place.

“Aren’t you still supposed to be in class?” I asked, glancing at my watch as I climbed out of the car.

“Yeah,” she replied sheepishly, “but I couldn’t wait, so I left early. Besides, with the way things have been going, lately, it’s not like it would’ve made that much of a difference, anyway.”

The situation was as bad as I’d feared. One way or another I needed to snap her out of this rut and get her interested in her schoolwork, again. She used to love writing. In fact, for as long as I’d known her, she was always trying to get her sister and me to review her latest masterpiece, and from what I understand, she’d been doing that pretty much since she first learned how to put pen to paper, so motivation clearly wasn’t the issue. The drive was most-definitely there; it was just being smothered by something else. I knew I had to find a way to help her, but first we had to get home, and before that, there was still one other stop that I wanted to make.

“Aren’t you going the wrong way?” Erin asked me, after we’d loaded up the car and finally got on the highway.

“That all depends on where we’re going, doesn’t it?” I replied coyly.

“Well, isn’t your place in the other direction?”

“Yes, but I’m willing to bet that you haven’t had lunch yet, and I know that I haven’t, so I figured we should take care of that, first.”

“Does that mean?”

“Yes, we’re going someplace to grab a bite to eat. In fact,” I added as I steered the car toward the upcoming exit, “we should be there in a few minutes.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, I was pulling into the parking lot of one of Erin’s favorite restaurants. It was a nice place, with good food, but it was also fairly inexpensive, which made it extremely popular with the college students (not to mention the recent graduates who were still paying off their student loans).

Once we were safely seated inside and the waitress had taken our drink orders, I turned to Erin and said, “Feel free to order whatever you want. It’s my treat. My only request is that you don’t overdo it, because I’ve got a special dinner planned for tonight.”

“Really? What sort of special dinner?” Erin’s eyes lit up with curiosity.

“Never you mind,” I replied, unable to suppress a smug grin. “You’ll find out at dinner time!”

“All right,” she relented, with a slight pout. She clearly wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but she didn’t press the issue any further, instead turning back to her menu.

In the end, we both settled for a soup-and-sandwich combo, and the rest of the lunch was fairly uneventful as we nibbled at our meals, while chatting away like the old friends we were. As a result, despite the relatively small size of the meal, it was almost two hours later by the time we drained our final cups of coffee. After leaving a generous tip for our waitress, who had been waiting patiently to clear the table, and settling our bill, we headed back to the car.

“Say,” I spoke up, suddenly devising a way to make the most of the trip back. “How’d you like to drive?”

Erin grinned wider than I’d seen her, in years. “Do you mean it?”

“Yeah, why not? You may have your license, but without a car, I know you don’t get to drive much, out here. Just don’t go crazy, all right? I’m still making payments on this baby!” Before she could utter a word of protest, though, I shot her a grin of my own and tossed her the keys. “I’m kidding! She’s all yours!”

Erin paused for second, while the recent exchange fully sank in. “Really?”

I nodded.

She instantly pounced on me, trapping me in a bear hug stronger than I ever thought possible from her tiny frame. “Thanks, Amy! You’re the best!”

“Perhaps,” I croaked, “but I still need … to breathe!”

“Sorry!” she replied sheepishly as she hastily let go.

“That’s okay!” I gasped, as air came rushing back into my lungs. “Now, if you can manage even half of that enthusiasm for everything else we cover this weekend, we should be all set!”

“I’ll do my best!”

“I know you will.” I gently placed my hand on her shoulder to assure her.

Erin positively beamed at my approval, as if it was the most precious thing in the world to her.

“Anyway, shall we get going?” I asked as I removed my hand.

“Yeah! I’m anxious to see what this baby can do on the open road!” My wide eyes of panic were met with two, amused, green eyes sparkling over that same, Cheshire Cat grin Erin had worn when I first handed her the keys. “I’m kidding! You can relax! I know how important this car is to you. I’ll be careful.”

“You took at least a year off my life with that crack!” I tried to shoot her a withering glare, but my bemused smirk belied my true feelings. “Enjoy it while you can, Squirt! Your turn will come!”

“I’d expect nothing less!” she replied, donning a mischievous smirk of her own.

As soon as we were settled into our seats and buckled in, I figured it was time for me to turn on the vibrators, again. That way, I’d get some of the hands-on experience I needed, on the ride home. Besides, I knew I’d need all the coaxing I could get to ensure that I didn’t try to back out of this crazy scheme of mine, and the vibes would go a long way toward ensuring that I was in the right frame of mind by the time we arrived. They were working wonders, too. I was astonished to discover that it was all I could to do to keep from jumping Erin, right there, in the car. I’d always cared about her, but through the growing haze of arousal, I was starting to look at her in ways I’d never thought possible. Fortunately, she helped to fill the car with enough entertaining (and distracting) banter to keep me from obsessing over her softer parts, so I just sat back, closed my eyes, and listened to her enchanting voice as I enjoyed the sensations that were coursing through my body, joining the conversation, myself, only when necessary. All too soon, however, the ride came to an end, as she pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.

It was time for both of us to get to work.

Chapter 3

“Okay,” I said, turning my attention to Erin while my computer finished booting up. “Since you already know your way around, we can skip the 50-cent tour, and you can get straight to work.”

“Already?” Erin whined like a toddler. “But we just got here!”

“Right! And we’ve only got a weekend, so we might as well get started! Besides, dinner will take a while to throw together, so I need to get started.”

“I can help!” she eagerly volunteered. “What are we having?”

“I’m sure you could, and I already told you: it’s special, and you’ll find out at dinner. In the meantime, I need you to give me an example of where your writing stands, right now, so that I’ll have a baseline for comparison to see if we can make any progress over the next couple of days.”

“Couldn’t I just show you something I’ve already written?”

“I suppose you could, but with a fresh piece I’d have a better understanding of where you stand, right this moment, rather than where you were, last week or the week before.” What I didn’t mention was that it was fairly obvious, already, that her most recent papers weren’t any good, at least not in comparison to the things I knew she was capable of, and I needed to know how deeply her problem ran. Was it an issue with the assignments for her classes, or did the real failing lie within Erin, herself? I hoped and prayed that nothing had happened to throw my friend off her game, but the more coldly rational parts of my psyche weren’t holding out much hope on that front. Either way, I had to know for sure!

“Fine,” she groaned in surrender. “What should I write about?”

“Anything your little heart desires. Hell, write about what you expect to get out of this weekend, for all I care. The subject matter isn’t important. I just need to see what you can do, right now, but I suggest that you pick something that you actually care about. If you can’t manage to generate even the slightest interest in the material, you can bet your cute, little ass that nobody else will, either.” Wait a minute! Did I really just say that she had a “cute, little ass?” Things were getting worse than I thought. I had to get out of there soon, or I was going to blow my whole, carefully constructed scheme.

Thankfully, Erin was too wrapped up in her own concerns to detect my little slip-up, or if she did, she didn’t take it seriously. “Man! If I’d known you were going to be such a slave driver, I would’ve just tried my luck on my own.”

“Listen, Squirt!” I said as sweetly as I could. I was trying my damnedest not to act like I was talking down to her, but she wasn’t making it easy for me. “We both know you need all the help you can get, right now. Besides, I’m going to be busy for a while, and I thought you’d prefer to spend as much time together, as possible.”

“Well … yes, but—!”

“Let me put it this way: you can sit around, all by yourself, rush through dinner, then work nonstop, until we go to bed, or you can take advantage of your downtime and do some work now, giving us both enough time to relax and enjoy a nice, leisurely dinner … just the two of us. The choice is yours, but I know which one I’d prefer.”

“Do we have to start tonight?” Erin asked, still hoping to find a way out.

“Yes, we do,” I replied in earnest, refusing to let her wriggle out of this, so easily, “unless, of course, you weren’t serious about accepting my offer to help you. If not, let me know, now, so I can run you back to the campus, because you’re going to need all the time you can get just to catch up on your studies.”

“No, no! I was serious! I just….” She paused for moment, thought about her position, and heaved a sigh of surrender as she sank into the chair behind the desk. “You’re right! I’ll get started.”

“That’s my girl! I know you can do it.” I stooped to give her a quick hug before heading toward the kitchen. “Now, I expect you to keep busy until dinner is ready. That’ll be about two-and-a-half hours, from now, which should give you plenty of time to get a decent amount of work done.”

“Enough, already! I get the idea,” Erin groaned.

“By the way,” I added, popping my head back in the living room for a second, “I’m trusting you to stay put and focus on your work. Like I said, I’m preparing a special dinner, just for you, so I don’t want to catch you anywhere near the kitchen or the results won’t be pretty, comprende?” Before she could field a response, I popped my head back out, again, and went to work.

Everything I’d said was true enough. I had been planning this dinner ever since we first made the arrangements for this weekend, so it was intended as a reward for Erin’s first bit of hard work. I just hoped that’d be incentive enough to keep her focused on the task at hand, because the real truth was that I desperately needed to put some distance between us. The vibrators were working a little too well, and I knew that if I didn’t get away from her, I’d find myself making my move much too soon, and I had this thing planned out far too carefully to blow it all, now. As a precaution, I turned the vibes off, again, but I was already hornier than I’d been in a long time.

Honestly, I was surprised that I was having such a strong reaction. I’d never really had sexual thoughts about another woman, before. Sure, I’d planned the whole weekend, thinking that it could be fun, but I’d always figured that Erin would be the one getting the most out of the experience. After all, the main point was to provide her with an opportunity to blow off a little steam so that she could actually focus on the truly important things, once she went back to her classes. Helping to curb my own frustrations was merely the payoff that made an otherwise unthinkable plan bearable.

At least that’s what I’d thought. Now that I was faced with the reality of the situation, I was shocked to discover just how easily I was being consumed by my own fantasies, but there I was, having trouble getting my friend’s body (and the nasty things I wanted to do to it) out of my mind. I knew that, if I was to have any chance of keeping my plans on track, I had to get away to cool down. Thankfully, once I was in the kitchen, I had plenty of tasks to keep myself busy, so the two-and-a-half hours passed relatively uneventfully.

The first obstacle was the main course: homemade lasagna. I wanted the dish to be absolutely perfect, and because of that, I was particularly careful about assembling it. As a result, after double and triple-checking the ingredients, measurements, and other directions, every step of the way, what should’ve been a much simpler preparation job ended up taking the better part of an hour. Fortunately, I’d already factored my excessive anal-retentiveness into my calculations beforehand, so I was actually right on schedule, but even after the lasagna was safely in the oven, I didn’t have time to rest.

After quickly taking a stick of butter out of the fridge to start softening for later, I set to work preparing the salad. Having never taken the time to make one from scratch, before (I usually took the lazy way out and bought the pre-mixed salads in the bags at the grocery store), I was surprised at how much time it took to wash and prepare all of the various vegetables. In fact, it took far longer than I’d expected, and I was just getting everything mixed together when it was time for me to start working on the garlic bread.

By the time the garlic spread was prepared (that’s where the softened butter came in) and smeared on the bread, the lasagna was ready to come out, so I placed it on the side, readjusted the oven temperature, and threw the garlic bread in to start toasting. Once that was underway, I finally had a little time to rest, but by that point, I was so utterly exhausted, I didn’t have the energy to think about anything else.

While I caught my breath, the lasagna had a chance to cool to a non-mouth-blistering temperature. As it was, I knew it’d stay warm for a good, long while, anyway, and by letting it rest, the cheese would have a little time to set up, so it would hopefully hold together better, after it was cut. That would certainly be preferable to having the various layers sliding all over the place, though I must admit, my weary mind was finding the image of Erin trying to chase lasagna noodles around her plate rather amusing.

Finally, about five minutes before dinner was ready, I decided it was time to check on the guest of honor. Since I was going to be facing Erin again (and I no longer needed total concentration for my dinner preparations), I figured it was time to reactivate the vibrators, as well, but as soon as I did, the growing need returned in full force, as if it had never left. Part of me wanted to crank them both up as high as they’d go and just ride those rumbling vibrations to my long-delayed climax, but I knew my plans would be better served if I waited until later. In the meantime, I needed to notify Erin and to set the table for dinner. I just hoped that all the frustration would prove to be worth it.

When I got back to the living room, I found that, despite all of her earlier objections, Erin was still hard at work. I doubt she even noticed I was standing behind her until I put my hand on her shoulder. “Dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes,” I said quietly, “so you should try to wrap that up, soon.”

“Perfect timing!” she replied. “I’m almost done, anyway, and I’m absolutely starving. What are we having? The aroma is taunting me, even all the way out here!”

“Wait five minutes, and you’ll find out!”

Erin responded with the cutest pout I’ve ever seen from anyone over the age of five, and I couldn’t help but smile, but I wasn’t about to give in.

Instead, having successfully delivered my message, I started to head back to the kitchen, when a thought suddenly occurred to me. I froze in mid-stride and turned back toward Erin, adding, “Oh, and don’t forget to print out a copy before you come to the table.”

“Will do!” she called back.

After I finished setting the table, I set out the salad and dressing, just as Erin came bouncing over, waving a handful of papers at me.

“Just set them over there,” I said, gesturing toward an end table by the sofa. “I’ll get to them, later.”

“But—!” She looked crestfallen. “Don’t you want to see how it turned out?”

“Yes, I do,” I replied earnestly, “but first, we eat! I know it’s a little early, but I figured, this way, we’d have more time to enjoy a nice, leisurely meal and each other’s company. The work can wait.”

“I guess, so.”

“You don’t want the lovely dinner I worked so hard on to get cold, do you?” Just then, the oven timer sounded. “Speaking of which … everything should be ready, now.”

“What can I do to help?” Erin asked anxiously. Apparently, the prospect of finally discovering the identity of the mystery meal was enough to make her forget all about her disappointment that I wasn’t reading her paper right away.

“You can sit yourself down and wait, like a good little girl!” I said, guiding her to her chair. “You’ve been working so hard. You’ve earned a rest.”

“But, I want to help!” She was practically begging. “You’ve obviously been working hard, too.”

“No! You’re my guest, I’m serving dinner, and that’s all there is to it!” This was one argument she wasn’t going to win.  “Feel free to start on the salad, if you wish.”

“No thanks!” she replied rather dejectedly. “I’d rather wait for you.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll try to be as quick as I can.”

Wasting no more time I took the garlic bread out of the oven and carefully moved it to a plate. While I waited for it to cool down enough to handle, I hunted down my corkscrew and retrieved the wine bottle that I had stashed in the fridge for this very occasion, setting them on the side, before returning to finish slicing the garlic bread. Finally, it was time to unveil the main course, so I grabbed the still-steaming lasagna and marched into the dining area.

“Oooh! Lasagna!” Erin cooed as soon as I came into view. “I always did have a fatal weakness for Italian food.”

“I know!” I replied with a smirk. “Why do you think I made it?”

Erin’s green eyes twinkled back. “You’re trying to fatten me up, huh? Well, I guess you’ll just have to learn to love the newer, rounder me.”

“I’m not planning on making a habit of it, you know. I just thought this weekend called for something special. Anyway, I only need to grab a couple more things, and we’ll be ready to start.”

“I take back what I said earlier! It smells too good! To hell with you; I’m digging in, now!”

I laughed. “I guess that’s a compliment, in its own way. Fine, Judas! Have at it!”

Sure enough, as I was bringing in the garlic bread, she was already stuffing her face and moaning in delight.

“Better than sex, huh?”

“Don’t be silly! Nothing beats mind-blowing sex,” she replied after she swallowed her latest mouthful. “But this one was definitely a photo finish.”

“I’m glad you like it!”

“Mmm-hmm!” she replied, her mouth already full again.

“Well,” I giggled, “if you can hold off on stuffing your face for just 3 seconds, I’ve got one last surprise for you.”

“Okay, you win! I’ll wait for you, but it’s cruel and inhuman to put such good food in front of someone and expect them not to dig in!”

“All right! I’m going! I’m going!” Without any further interruptions, I ran off to the kitchen to retrieve the wine bottle and corkscrew.

I returned to the dining area, carefully holding them behind my back, and started speaking as casually as possible. “Now normally, I don’t support underage drinking under any circumstances, even if you will be 21 in just a few months, but….” In a flash I produced the wine bottle and set to work with the corkscrew, “I’ve already said that this is a special weekend. Besides, you were working so hard all afternoon, I think you deserve a little reward.” That was true enough, but my real motivation was to give us something to help us relax a bit. I didn’t know how much coaxing Erin was going to need to get in the right mood, but a little alcohol certainly couldn’t hurt. Beside, I was definitely going to need it.

“Amy, I take back what I said by the car, earlier,” Erin squealed as she leapt up and nearly tackled me. “Now, you’re the best!”

“Hey! I keep improving! Not bad! Just don’t expect me to make a habit of it … at least not until after your birthday, okay?”

“I know. I’ve been trying to get you to buy me stuff like this for over a year, now, and you’ve never, once, caved in. I’m just glad we have it, now, because it makes this dinner absolutely perfect! Thank you!”

“I’m glad you like it! Now, what do you say we both dig in?”

“Hear, hear!” she said, releasing me and returning to her seat. “Best idea you’ve had all day … and you’ve been knocking them out of the park, lately.”

***

The rest of the dinner went off, more or less, without a hitch. There were a couple of close calls when I slipped up and let the sensations, down below, distract me too much, but I quickly recovered each time and was able to keep everything under control.

While we ate, we once again chatted away, glad for the chance to truly catch up with each other, something that was difficult when we were only able to meet for coffee once every few weeks, but the conversation didn’t end there. When we’d eaten our fill, we continued to talk about anything that came to mind while casually sipping our wine, until, at long last, between the two of us, we’d drained the whole bottle. I don’t know about Erin, but I felt the same as always. Of course, I also realized that we’d just finished a big meal, so it was likely that we hadn’t hit the full brunt of it, yet. With any luck, it’d be kicking in, full force, just as I was finishing the dishes. After all, I only had what was left from dinner, so it wouldn’t take horribly long. Either way, it was best to get the work over with before it happened.

“As much as I love our conversations,” I said as I rose from the table, “these dishes aren’t going to do themselves.”

“I’ll help!” Erin volunteered, eagerly.

“You’re sweet, but I’ve got other work for you to do.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Editing and revising what you wrote earlier.”

“WHAT?” she shouted indignantly. “But you haven’t even looked at my first draft yet.”

“True, but I’d like to see what you can do to it, just the same … without anyone else’s input. Don’t worry! I’m still going to read them both.”

“Why?”

“It’ll give me an idea of how much polish you can add to something you’ve already written. That’s also an important part of getting a proper baseline reading. After all, not everyone can write brilliantly, from the very first draft. In fact I might even venture to say that most exceptionally talented writers start with absolutely horrendous first drafts, but they know how to spot the rough patches, sand them out, and then polish the whole thing until it sparkles like a precious gem. If that’s where you stand, you may just need to hammer out an extra draft or two, above and beyond the basic requirements, in order to achieve something of sufficient quality.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she finally conceded.

I took her into my arms and gently tapped the knuckles of my left hand against her forehead. “We both know you’ve got the talent locked away in there, somewhere. We just need to figure out what’s been keeping you from getting to it, lately.”

“Thank you! I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will … now get to it!” As I said this, I turned her around and gently swatted her on the butt to get her moving. I’ll check on you as soon as I’m done with the dishes. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour. I know that isn’t much time, but do what you can.” And, with that, we both went about our respective chores.

The dishes required a little more effort than I had initially expected (especially the lasagna pan, which I already knew was going to be the worst), but with the constant encouragement of the vibrators, I had all the motivation I needed to finish as quickly as possible. In the end, my mounting eagerness (or was that “my eagerness to mount?”—I was no longer certain) allowed me to finish before the half-hour deadline, anyway.

Having finished my work in the kitchen, I decided to crank the vibrators up another notch. It wasn’t enough to push me over the top—I was still holding out for the right moment before I did that—but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else. It would ensure that I stayed on track and didn’t try to back out, now that it was finally time to set my real plan into motion.

Chapter 4

“All right, people! Time’s up! Put your pencils down!” I said as I strode up to Erin.

She had been busy, typing away, feverishly, but she stopped abruptly and turned to me as if to say, “You’re joking, right?” before returning to face the computer as if nothing had ever happened.

I stifled a small chuckle as I said, “Just wanted to see if I could get your attention. Seriously, though, you’ve done enough for one day. Try to wrap things up.”

“Just let me finish this one thing,” she replied, “and … there! Okay, I guess I could let you have it, now.”

“Now, just print off a copy, and you’ll be done for the night.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ve got to make a quick pit stop, first!” It was just as well. That’d be one less thing to interrupt us, later.

“I see that the wine has run its course.” It was an obvious observation, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

Erin didn’t seem to mind, though. Instead, she simply giggled and said, “Yup! Be right back!” If her reaction was any indication, it seemed that the alcohol in the wine was starting to run its course, as well.

“Take your time,” I called after her. The longer she took, the more time I had to plan my next step, which was good because, while I had a general idea of where I wanted things to go, I hadn’t quite figured out the best way to get there, yet. On a whim, I stealthily dashed past the bathroom door on the way to my room, where I grabbed a few silk scarves and divided them between the rear pockets of my jeans, making sure they were carefully tucked away and concealed them from view. After quickly checking myself in the mirror to ensure that nothing looked out of place (score another point for the baggy sweater), I turned to leave, only to have a sudden burst of inspiration stop me cold. Realizing I didn’t have much time left, I channeled my inner ninja and dashed around as quietly as I could, pulling back the blankets on the bed, fetching a spare, silk sheet, and throwing it over the bed. Once that was done, I skulked back to the living room, hoping to return before Erin had a chance to notice I was ever gone.

I made it just in time, too. As soon as I stepped through the doorway, I heard the sound of the flushing toilet following me down the hall. Thirty seconds later, Erin, herself, emerged and found her way into the room.

“Now, where were we?” she asked as she was still walking up.

“You were about to print off your revised paper.”

“What? You mean you didn’t do that already?”

“I learned, long ago, not to do anything with other people’s files, unless expressly asked to. Even if you know what you’re doing, computers can be fickle things, and if something goes wrong, it’s better for the other person to blame the computer for crashing than you for losing all the work they did over the last four hours.”

“It was only half an hour.”

“It was also just an example, and you know it!”

“Yes,” she said with a smirk, “but I had to say it, anyway.” After starting the printing process, she added, “Either way, it doesn’t matter. I saved it before I got up.”

“That’s my girl!” I replied, draping an arm over her shoulder and giving her a friendly squeeze. “Anyway, now that we’ve got that out of the way, I think you’ve earned another reward.”

“You really don’t have to!” she insisted. “You’ve already done so much! Besides, after treating me to lunch and that great dinner, I’d just feel guilty if I accepted anything else.”

“Nonsense!” I said, as I gently shoved her into the nearest, comfortable chair. “You’ve been working hard all day, and hard work should be rewarded! Besides, I want to do this for you, and I’m sure you could use it by now, so just sit back, relax, and close your eyes.”

“But—!”

“I said to close your eyes. I won’t take no for an answer.”

“All right,” she muttered, finally giving up and doing as I asked. “Is this good enough.”

“We’ll see. Now, keep them closed until I say otherwise, and in the meantime, just try to relax.” With that, I started rubbing her shoulders, gently at first, but gradually increasing in pressure as I fell into a rhythm.

“Mmmm!” Erin purred, already over her initial misgivings. “Where’d you learn how to do this?”

“You haven’t seen anything yet, but I think it’d be easier if you lie down. Come with me!”

She docilely followed my lead, and as she rose to her feet, her eyes fluttered open, revealing a look that said she was prepared to follow me anywhere.

That was exactly the reaction I was hoping for, but I donned the sternest expression I could manage and said, “Did I tell you to open your eyes?”

“But—?” Erin never finished her thought, but I could tell that she was puzzled by the seeming contradiction in my requests. I didn’t bother to explain, though. Instead, I pulled a scarf from one of my back pockets and carefully tied it over her eyes.

“There!” I stated triumphantly as I finished securing the knot. “That should help you to follow instructions.”

“But, I can’t see where I’m going.”

“Shh!” I whispered into her ear as I gently pressed a finger to her lips. “Just relax and leave everything to me. I’ll get you there, safely.” With that, I tightly wrapped my arms around her, from behind. I felt a tingle of pleasure as my breasts pressed against her back, a feeling that was only exacerbated as my nose was assaulted by the intoxicating scent left by Erin’s shampoo, but as difficult as it was, I was determined to stay focused. Once I’d begun to slowly guide us both toward the bedroom, Erin realized what I had in mind and leaned her head back against my shoulder, surrendering herself completely. “That’s my girl,” I cooed softly. “I’ll take care of you!” After a quick detour to make sure her paper had finished printing and the computer was safely shut down for the night, we were ready to go.

With our bodies so close together, it took a while for us to reach our destination, but neither of us was in much of a hurry. In fact, Erin seemed almost sad when I finally whispered to her, “Okay, we’re here. Now just lie down on your belly and we can get started.”

“But—?” She seemed unsure of herself, again.

“Don’t worry! I’m here to help you!” I replied as I finally released her and gently guided her to the bed, pausing to help her remove her sneakers before helping her to settle into her final position. She seemed grateful for the assistance and it didn’t take long before she was lying in the center of the bed, face down, with her arms folded under her head. “Now, just relax your body and leave everything to me. Let’s see if we can’t help you to get rid of some of that nasty tension you’ve been carrying around for so long.”

“Thank you!” she sighed, almost reflexively.

“No words!” I whispered as I leaned in and softly kissed her cheek. “Just leave yourself in my hands and focus on what you feel.”

Erin squirmed briefly but soon settled down without another word. It was time to begin.

Once again, I started at her neck and shoulders, gently kneading away all of the knots I encountered along the way. Once that was done, I began to work my way up each of her arms, in turn, before ever so slowly working by way back toward her shoulders. She moaned softly as I moved between her shoulder blades and started to creep down her back but made no effort to stop me. I did, however, detect a faint whimper when I stopped short of her butt and jumped straight to her thighs, instead. It was tough trying to massage through her jeans, but I did the best I could and, before long, my hands had traveled down each of her legs and back up again.

Erin was sighing contentedly by the time my hands had returned to her waist, and she barely seemed to notice as they crept under her shirt and started caressing their way up her back again, this time pressing against her bare skin. It wasn’t until I had her shirt halfway up her chest that she finally acknowledged what was happening.

“What are you doing?” she asked anxiously.

“I said, no words.” I whispered in her ear as I continued to pry her shirt from her body. “You’re enjoying yourself, right?”

She seemed unsure of how to respond, so she just nodded weakly.

“But massages are supposed to be done against the bare skin. You know that! I just want to help you to relax as much as possible. Besides, there’s nothing under your clothes that I haven’t seen before.”

Erin stopped resisting, but I could’ve sworn I caught the faintest trace of a blush on her cheek just before I pulled her shirt over her head. Once it was out of the way, I took a second to make sure the blindfold was still securely in place before I continued.

By that point, the alcohol must’ve been doing a pretty good job on me, as well, because I didn’t think twice before leaning in and kissing her behind her right ear and all the way down her slender neck, while my hands fiddled with the clasp on her bra. Once it was unhooked, I firmly gripped it from the bottom, on both sides, and gently drew it up her arms, until the entire bra was out from under her breasts. I was pleased to discover that, about halfway through the process, the underwire got briefly hung up on what I suspected were her engorged nipples … a suspicion that was confirmed an instant later when Erin was unable to suppress a sharp gasp as the bra finally pulled free. Armed with new evidence that Erin was enjoying herself every bit as much as I was, I no longer cared about her bra, so after carefully working her arms free, one at a time, I gently tugged it out from under her, but I wasn’t finished yet.

While I planted tender kisses all the way down Erin’s back, my shoulder-length, brown hair continually brushing against her soft skin as I went, I worked my hands around her waist to unfasten her jeans. She squirmed for a bit and groaned in indecision but made no effort to stop me, even as I carefully peeled them back, drew them down her legs, and finally, removed them altogether. Next, I set to work on her socks, pausing to playfully tickle her feet for the merest fraction of a second. Judging by the way that she squirmed after even that brief contact, however, Erin’s feet were remarkably sensitive. I made a note of that for later, but for the moment, I still had one, final article of clothing to contend with.

As I peeled back the waistband of Erin’s panties, I surprised even myself by planting a quick kiss on each of her perfectly round butt cheeks as they were exposed, but I just couldn’t help myself. It was probably just the wine or my already horny state, but with every new inch of flesh exposed, I found myself lusting after my friend’s perfect body more and more. For her part, Erin shuddered gently, but made no other moves as I slowly finished removing the last of her clothing.

While it was becoming increasingly obvious, by my own reactions, that I had to keep moving or the vibrators still buzzing away in my own panties would quickly force my hand, driving me to move things faster than I’d intended, I couldn’t resist the urge to simply take a moment and admire the nude body before me. Even from the back, I felt utterly compelled to sear that wonderful image into my memory, in case I never got the chance to see it again. “My god, Erin!” I said absentmindedly. “You really are beautiful, you know that?” What’s more, the longer I stared at her perfect curves, the harder it became to pretend that it was just the wine talking, because if I was truly honest with myself, I knew I’d meant every, last word of it and more.

“No, I’m not,” Erin replied, shaking her head and blushing even further. “Not really.”

“Yes, you are! Don’t argue with me!” I playfully swatted her tight, little butt. “Some day, you’re going to make one woman deliriously happy … and all the rest of them insanely jealous! Mark my words!” When she buried her face in the mattress in an effort to hide her embarrassment, I laid myself down on top of her and embraced her as best I could, trying to comfort and reassure her in any way possible. While I waited, I couldn’t help taking in the heavenly scent of the soft body pinned beneath my own and recalling the beautiful image that was already permanently etched on my mind. In that moment, all of my doubts evaporated. I knew, with absolute certainty, this was where I wanted to be.

From the beginning, a part of me had always found it a little strange that I’d been so eager to go along with a scheme like this. Now it was all starting to make sense. While my conscious mind was repulsed by the idea of being with another woman, some hidden part of me had recognized Erin’s beauty for what it was. Now that the reality of it all was staring me in the face, even my conscious mind had to concede defeat. After all, how could loving something so breathtakingly beautiful possibly be wrong?

With that realization, I reached a strange state of mind. Though I wanted Erin more desperately than I’d ever wanted anyone in my life, I was no longer in a hurry to quench that burning need. I wanted her, but more than that, I wanted the moment to be perfect. To do that, I needed Erin to be in the same frame of mind, so rather than rushing forward to satisfy my own needs, I continued to patiently hold my friend close to me until she was ready to take the next step. When, at long last, she pulled her face from the mattress, I knew it was finally time to move on.

I reached over to the nightstand, pried open the drawer, and removed a small flask. As I unscrewed the top, Erin started to grow more anxious.

“What’s going—?” she started to ask before I cut her off by clamping one hand over her mouth while waving the opened flask under her nose with the other. “Roses?” she asked when I finally removed my hand. She was clearly perplexed.

“I thought you might enjoy this,” I said sweetly as I poured a small amount of oil from the flask between her shoulder blades before setting the flask back on the nightstand. Without giving the oil a chance to run, I started to carefully rub it into her neck and shoulders as I continued speaking softly. “I know they’re your favorite flowers.” Personally, as cliched as it may seem, given her personal kinks, I think she was simply fascinated by the idea that a flower of such beauty also possessed such sharp thorns. The exact reason didn’t matter much, though, because whatever the truth was, the end result was the same. Erin was oblivious to everything else around her, hopelessly lost in her own thoughts, and the only response I got was an occasional murmur of contentment. “That’s my girl,” I whispered once more, before I decided to leave her to her thoughts.

In the meantime, I went back to work, pausing only to add more oil as needed. Continuing from her neck and shoulders, I worked slowly down her back until I reached her waist, at which point I began to creep back up again. Then, my hands worked their magic all the way down her left arm, where I stopped to focus on her hand.

For at least five minutes, I carefully massaged every joint and muscle in her hand, until it was every bit as relaxed as the rest of her arm. Erin seemed content just to let me do what I wanted, so I repeated the process after swapping arms, being even more thorough, since I knew this was her dominant side and was, therefore, where the vast majority of her tension would likely be stored. By that point, Erin was so relaxed I don’t know if she could’ve moved any part of her upper body even if she’d wanted to. I was certainly making progress, but I also knew that I still had plenty to left to do.

After my hands had carefully worked their way all the way back up her right arm and down to her waist again, it was time to start working on her butt. As I carefully massaged each cheek in turn, the pace of Erin’s breathing seemed to quicken ever so slightly, and her soft moaning became more insistent. That was all the encouragement I needed to take my time. After a few minutes, I began carefully spreading her cheeks apart and working my hands in between them, but Erin just sighed contentedly. There wasn’t even a reaction when I intentionally brushed a knuckle against the tight closure of her sphincter a couple of times, other than a brief shudder of excitement.

So, the girl liked people playing with her ass, huh? That was yet another bit of info that I knew could prove useful for later, but I didn’t want to turn her on too much just yet, lest I tip my hand prematurely, so I reluctantly moved on and began working my way down her legs.

Erin must have been more ticklish than I realized, because she squirmed a bit when I reached the backs of her knees, but other than that, there was no reaction beyond her contented moaning … until I got to her feet, that is. As expected, her ticklishness got the better of her at first, but it didn’t take long before she really started to get into it.

“Oh god, yes!” she screamed, inadvertently.

“Enjoying yourself, are you?” I asked smugly, as I began to work the area between her toes.

“Where did you learn to—aaaaahhoooh god, yes!”

Erin completely lost her train of thought when I started to firmly massage the arches of her feet. “No questions!” I said, before she could regain her composure and finish her query. “Just enjoy the moment!” Based on her reaction, I knew that I had her right where I wanted her and after a few more minutes of attention, I figured she’d be ready to agree to just about anything.

“Would you like me to do your front, as well?” I asked without stopping.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve covered everything back here. Would you like me to start on the front?”

“Sure,” Erin said dreamily.

That’s what I wanted to hear, and true to her word, she didn’t resist as I carefully flipped her over and re-centered her on the bed, again. In fact, it wasn’t until I was straddling her pelvis and pouring more oil on her belly that the full reality of everything kicked in.

“What are you—?”

“You said it was okay,” I replied, innocently, as I rubbed the oil all over her tight, little belly.

“But I wasn’t really thinking,” she pleaded, her conviction already starting to waver.

“Then, that means this is something you really wanted … even if you didn’t know that you wanted it.”

“But—?”

“Just relax!” I urged her as my hands circled around, carefully dodging her breasts, to start on her shoulders, one last time. “Trust me, Sweetie! If you liked everything so far, you haven’t seen anything, yet.”

That did it! With those words, Erin’s last bit of resistance melted away. I knew she wouldn’t argue with me now, no matter what I tried to do, but I still started slowly, covering a much of the same ground, trying to stoke the fires of her anticipation as much as possible. From her shoulders, I moved down her arms again, then back up to her shoulders, before returning to her waist, being careful to avoid her breasts along the way. Though Erin was clearly disappointed, she kept her thoughts to herself as I moved on to her hips and down her legs. Finally, as I massaged her feet some more, I risked a quick glance up at her pussy and found the outer labia open and positively begging for attention. Also, I might’ve been imagining it, but I could’ve sworn I detected a distinct muskiness mixing in with fragrance of the rose-scented oil. I knew it was time to raise the stakes.

As my hands slowly crept up the inside of her thighs, I saw Erin bite her lower lip in anticipation. When I deliberately avoided her aching pussy, she nearly cried in frustration. Her mind may have convinced her that there was nothing sexual going on, but her body had long since started insisting the opposite, and its demands were growing more and more urgent. As my hands worked their way back over her belly, I knew she couldn’t wait much longer. Fortunately for her, there was just a little further to go.

This time, instead of avoiding her breasts, I firmly grabbed one in each hand and squeezed. The sudden sensation was enough to cause Erin’s body to arch backward before her muscles collapsed into relaxed exhaustion, once again. By this point, she was panting desperately. Whatever may have been going on inside her head, there was no denying what her body was feeling, and the intoxicating sight of it all was enough to convince me that I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, myself. As a result, while I’d intended to slowly tease my way up her breasts, I instead found my hands racing up the sides of those miniature peaks, desperate to lay claim to her proud nipples. After vigorously massaging the oil into them, I carefully pinched them, eliciting another spasm from my prostrate companion. She looked like she could come at any moment, and I hadn’t even gotten to her pussy, yet … an oversight I was about to correct.

Once Erin’s body had calmed down, and her desperate panting had subsided a bit, I decided it was time to take the final steps, so I slid my hands back down her belly, over her hips, and toward her waiting groin. I gently applied more oil to her already glistening lips, being thorough in my ministrations but at the same time, being careful not to go too far and inadvertently nudge her arousal beyond the point of no return. That left only one place untouched, and as my hand crept unceasingly toward her engorged clit, Erin shook her head from side to side, emitting a moan that sounded like a mixture of anxiety and anticipation. Once more, I carefully applied the oil, massaging it into her throbbing clit without setting off her hair trigger, then, just when I knew the faintest breath would be enough to send her hurtling helplessly over the edge, I stopped.

Erin moaned desperately, but I pretended not to notice. Instead, I once again straddled her hips, as I left one finger lightly pressed against her aching clit, ensuring that she would continue to stay near that razor’s edge, without providing enough stimulation to push her into her long-awaited climax. This was the moment of truth, the moment I had been working toward all night. With my free hand, I reached up to remove the scarf covering her eyes, preparing to finally offer her my real proposition, but I was completely blindsided by what I found behind the blindfold.

As Erin stared back at me, her eyes seemed to be filled with every emotion imaginable, all jumbled together at once. Love, happiness, anticipation, anxiety, anger, sadness, betrayal, regret, and so many others I couldn’t even being to identify them all; they all swirled together in her deep, green eyes. I fought frantically to look away. There were so many emotions—too many for any single person to bear. I knew that if I couldn’t break free from her gaze, those eyes would utterly destroy me, but I just couldn’t seem to pull away. Every one of those emotions seemed to be screaming out to me, refusing to let me go.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this latest development, but something about the way her eyes burned through me make it clear that things had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Unable to think of anything better, however, I attempted to stumble onward anyway. “P-please!” I stammered, fighting desperately to regain control. “Please, don’t hate me! There’s a reason I did all this, o-okay? A very good reason! H-here’s the deal! Y-you’ve been having trouble focusing on your school work, because you’ve been daydreaming about girls, instead.” Erin’s eyes were still a blur of emotions, but her slumped shoulders told me all that I needed to know. I’d let her down! This was quickly becoming more than I could stand. I simply had to explain myself! “A-as for me, I’ve been having a rough time coping with my own sexual frustration. I can barely remember the last time I got laid, and the last even remotely sexual encounter I had was….” I felt myself blushing furiously as I recalled the incident. “Well … you were there, so you know all about it. Anyway, it’s gotten so bad that I’m just about ready to screw any guy who’ll give me the chance, even though I know I’ll hate myself, later.”

I knew I couldn’t keep going for much longer. Those eyes were starting to take their toll, but I had to find the strength to finish explaining, before they completely wore me down. “N-now this is going to sound c-completely crazy, but I….” I paused long enough to collect my thoughts, so I could charge through the rest before it all became too much. “I thought we might be able to work together to help stave off some of those urges … just until one of us can find a suitable partner! It may not be a perfect solution, but at least this way we’ll still be with someone we truly care about. That’s better than hooking up with some purely random person, simply to fill the void, isn’t it?”

As I said this, my eyes never left Erin’s, and somewhere in that jumble of emotions I caught sight of the one thing I’d been most afraid of, ever since I’d first hatched this harebrained scheme. It was just for an instant, but it was unmistakable. Deep down, in a place that Erin refused to show the world, this was a dream come true for her, because she was madly in love with me.

“Erin,” I begged her. “Answer me honestly! There’s no cute girl, who sits in front of you, in your Creative Writing class, is there?” I prayed with every fiber of my being that I was wrong, but in my heart, I already knew the truth. The pieces fit too well. I just wasn’t willing to see it before.

Erin knew it, too, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. All she could manage was a feeble shake of her head before her tears, which had been constantly threatening to spill over all this time, overwhelmed her at last.

“Dear, God!” I cried, literally leaping off of her, as I finally started to understand the reason for all of her conflicting emotions. “What have I done to you?” Erin wasn’t failing her classes because she was daydreaming about other girls. She was failing all of her classes because she was daydreaming about me!

I was furious with myself. How could I have been so clueless? Now that I knew what I was looking for, the signs were everywhere. Whenever she’d tagged along with Susan and me, if we walked anywhere, she stayed next to me. If we stopped to get something to eat, she spent the whole time either crammed right up against me or casually checking me out. Of course, she tried to disguise her intentions by randomly commenting on the clothes of the people in the next booth or pretending to read a sign hanging on the wall over my shoulder, but like all love-struck teens, she wasn’t nearly as discrete as she thought she was. The clues were there, if only I’d been willing to recognize them for what they were.

Instead, any time the thought so much as crossed my mind, I convinced myself that I had to be imagining things and cursed myself for being so homophobic. After all, she was my best friend’s sister, for crying out loud, not to mention a good kid in her own right! She deserved better than my vain assumptions that she had to be secretly hitting on me, just because she happened to be gay? How conceited could I be, anyway?

As a result, I remained blissfully unaware as Erin spent untold years mercilessly torturing herself, always seizing every opportunity to get closer to the girl she loved with all her heart yet knew she could never truly have.

Now that I could finally see it, it was all too clear that this wasn’t simply some schoolgirl crush. Erin had genuine feelings for me, and it wasn’t just “once upon a time,” either. She still loved me, even now, but at the same time, she also knew that she could never be with me … not in the way that she wanted. She couldn’t stand to be reminded of the time we’d shared together, however brief and unintentional it may have been, knowing that it would never come again, but the idea of simply giving up and leaving me behind, forever, was more than she could bear. Every second we were together was the cruelest torture, but every moment apart, she died another death inside. Every single thing I did tore her apart more and more, and I never saw one bit of it! What did that poor girl do to be cursed with a “friend” like me?

It was all too much to for me, but as I tried to flee from the room, Erin locked her arms around my waist and refused to let go. “No!” she screamed hysterically. “Don’t leave me!”

“Silly girl!” I cried as I struggled frantically to find some way to pry her arms loose. Even with my recent self-discoveries, I knew I had to get away. Sure, I now realized that, for the moment, I wanted her almost as badly as she wanted me, but I also knew that, sooner or later, it’d have to end. Eventually, I’d want the family that she simply couldn’t give me, and we’d either break up, or I’d end up resenting her for forcing me give up on my dream. Either way, the poor girl would suffer horribly, and she deserved so much better! “Can’t you see that I’ve caused you enough pain, already? What’s worse, I was prepared to charge ahead with a plan that would hurt you more than ever! Just let me go! You’re better off without me!”

“No!” she cried, “That’s not true! I need you, and if I let you walk out that door, right now, you’ll kick me out, and I’ll never see you again. I won’t even have my best friend anymore, and that would be worse than anything you could do to me!”

“But I can’t keep hurting you like this!”

“Then don’t leave me!” Erin pleaded with me. “Not like this!”

“But how can I possibly stay, knowing the pain that I’ve caused you—that I am causing you—just by being here?”

“The damage is already done!” She must’ve caught my pained expression, because she instantly added, “No, no! It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just doomed to be miserable. It’s only a question of degree.”

The intense emotions that flooded the room were still stifling, but I think my rational mind was finally beginning to work well enough to piece everything together. “You mean, because of the night we….”

Erin nodded weakly. “All those years I secretly wished that Susan would just leave us alone, so we could spend some time together, just you and me. Then it finally happens, in the most horrible manner imaginable, and I don’t even blink before jumping at the opportunity fate handed me. I took advantage of my sister’s death and your grief—and I’m not sure which disgusts me more—all to satisfy my own, selfish desires. I must be some kind of monster!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. If I didn’t know it’d only make her feel even worse, I’d have smacked her, right then and there, for spouting such nonsense. Instead, I simply wrapped my arms around her and held her as tightly as I could. “How can someone so smart be so utterly clueless?” I said, not entirely certain which of us I was talking about. “What happened that night wasn’t part of some sick, twisted scheme; it was something that you and I both needed. We were both in pain, and we needed to be reminded that we were—that we are—still loved. There was nothing sordid or sexual about it.”

“But it was a dream come true!”

“And who’s dream was that,” I asked, “because it certainly wasn’t yours! You never asked for any of that. Oh, you may have wanted to spend more time with me but not like that, and when it did happen, you certainly weren’t secretly plotting how to take advantage of a horrible situation. Given how you feel about me, I’ll bet there were many times when you wished our bodies could’ve been pressed against each other, like that, but that wasn’t one of them. You were in too much pain to be thinking about anything. I know! I could see it in your eyes, like a mirror reflecting the very same anguish that threatened to crush me … the same anguish we still felt, even as our bodies sought each other out. We were both instinctively searching outside ourselves for some, small source of warmth to help fill that cold, empty space that was suddenly left inside. That night with you was the one, beautiful moment in the midst of all that pain. I certainly don’t have any regrets about anything that we did, and I refuse to let you beat yourself up because of it. You didn’t do anything wrong!” Then, the final piece finally slid into place. “Have you been carrying this guilt around, all this time?”

Erin could only manage a feeble nod in response.

“Oh, you silly, silly girl!” I continued embracing her as tightly as my trembling arms would allow, unsure of what else I could do for her. “You’ve got to stop blaming yourself. You didn’t crash the SUV into Susan’s car. You didn’t let the driver get behind the wheel drunk. You didn’t get him drunk. You can’t even be blamed for Susan’s being on the road at that hour … but I can.”

Erin’s face contorted into a grief-ridden parody of confusion. “What do you mean?” she asked, as soon as she found the breath to spit out the words.

“The very last time I spoke to Susan, she was heading out to celebrate completing her last exam and she wanted me to go out with her.”

“No! If you had, you’d have both been killed, and I’d be completely alone!” Erin shouted, clinging to me as if she was afraid that history might actually change; that if she didn’t hold on tightly enough, I could fade out of existence, right there.

“I know,” I said as I tightened my embrace in an effort to reassure her that I was still there, and as long as she still needed me, I wasn’t going anywhere. “That wasn’t where I was going with it. You see, she invited me to go with her, but I still had one, last exam to study for, so I apologized and told her she’d just have to party twice as hard for both of us. If I hadn’t said that, perhaps she’d have come home sooner, getting her off the road before that drunken maniac could plow into her car.”

Now it was Erin’s turn to try to be reassuring. “There’s no way you could’ve known what was going to happen! It was a freak accident. Blaming yourself is pointless!”

“You’re right,” I conceded, “and I’m sure Susan would say the same thing, if she could. That knowledge is one of the only things keeping me sane, but that’s my whole point. When someone so close to you dies in a freak accident like that, it’s only natural to ask yourself what you could’ve done differently. What could you have done that might’ve made a difference and kept them alive? But that’s just it! It was an accident and second-guessing yourself for every innocuous, little thing you might’ve said or done doesn’t do anyone any good. Don’t you see? You say there’s no reason for me to blame myself, but your guilt is even more pointless than mine! What did you do that could have possibly changed what happened that night?”

“That still doesn’t excuse what I did to you!”

“I excused what you did to me! I’d forgive you, but that would mean that what we did was wrong, and I refuse to lie to you like that. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. Hell, I was prepared to do it again, just a few minutes ago.”

Erin turned to me, and with a glimmer of hope in her eyes, asked me, as seriously as she could, “Is there still time to return to your plan?”

“What?” I nearly shouted in utter disbelief. “Of course not! How could you even consider such a thing? Don’t you know how much pain that would cause you, when it finally came time for us to go our separate ways? I couldn’t do that to you!”

“But, I’ve known that closeness and lost it once, already.  The pain will be there, whether we do anything, now, or not. I live with it every day! One way or another, I’m going to end up completely miserable. At least this way I’ll be able to make your life a little easier.”

“But what about you? You’re my best friend! I can’t just ignore your feelings!”

“Either way, I’m going to be miserable, eventually! At least with your plan, I might be able to be happy for a little while. Even if you found the perfect guy tomorrow, I know that I could be happy with you tonight. That’s already more than I ever dared to dream possible.”

I certainly didn’t want to accept Erin’s misery as an inevitability, but as much as I hated to admit it, she was right … at least partially. If I just left things as they were, she’d definitely go on being miserable, most likely until the day that she died, and she deserved so much better. She deserved to be truly happy, and she deserved at least a few pleasant memories that weren’t tainted by the specter of her sister’s passing. I couldn’t accept her suffering for the rest of her life, but it was clear that, for now, only one path allowed her even a chance at happiness. It looked like I’d have to go ahead with my plan, after all. I could worry about ending things without hurting her even more, later. In the meantime, at least some of her old wounds might finally get a chance to heal.

“Okay,” I said, at last, “but under one condition!”

“Name it!” she replied without a moment’s hesitation.

“I can’t forgive you because you didn’t do anything wrong, but if you refuse to take my word for it, you’ll just have to find some way to forgive yourself for everything that’s happened, instead! You may not care about your own happiness, but I do. It hurts me to see you suffering like this, and I want it to stop! If you truly love me, you’ll find a way to make that happen!” I knew I was asking a lot, but I also knew this was, quite possibly, the only way it was ever going to happen. It was quickly becoming clear that she was willing to do anything to make me happy, even things she wouldn’t do for herself. If she still couldn’t forgive herself, even knowing how much it hurt me, then it really was a lost cause.

“I-it may take some t-time, but I’ll do my very best….” Then, almost as an afterthought, even though we both knew she was thinking it, already, she added two final words: “For you!”

“That’s all I ask!” I told her as I carefully laid her back down on the bed. “Now, weren’t you in the middle of the best massage of your life?”

“Yes, I was.” Erin started blushing, slightly, but she eagerly resumed her position on the bed.

“You’re absolutely certain you want to go through with this?”

The only response was a barely perceptible nod of her head, but her sparkling, green eyes screamed, “It’s the only thing I’ve ever truly wanted!”

I gently tied the scarf over her eyes, once more, this time planting a gentle kiss over each eye, when I was finished. “Don’t worry,” I said as I leaned over to calm her trembling lips with my own. “I’ll be gentle!”

“I know you will!”

I pressed a finger to her lips as I pulled away. “No more words! Just relax and leave everything to me!”

With that, I retrieved the oil flask and picked up where we’d left off.

Chapter 5

Even with the blindfold covering Erin’s eyes, I could still clearly see the extreme emotions continuing to battle with each other as they played across her face, but despite her conflicted emotional state (or perhaps because of it), it wasn’t long before she was moaning eagerly, once again. Even so, I continued to gently stoke her fires, kneading and caressing here, licking and nibbling there, until I knew her passion was a barely controlled inferno, threatening to consume her at any moment.

When I knew she couldn’t take any more teasing, I realized I had another major decision to make. Now that I fully understood how Erin really felt about me, should I continue with my plan to help my friend live out some of her wilder fantasies, knowing that I’d be far closer to the mark than I’d ever really intended, or should I dial them back to more “vanilla” activities so it’d be easier for her to make a clean break when the time inevitably came? As I stared down at my friend, trying to decide on the best course of action, one, final, half-choked, stuttering whimper shook itself loose from somewhere inside her.

Instantly, I knew what I had to do. The look I’d seen her eyes was still fresh in my memory. How could I have thought that half-assed efforts would do anything but perpetuate the cycle of pain? If I was truly going to help her, I needed to commit to doing everything that was within my power for her. The poor girl had suffered enough, and anything less than my very best would be unpardonable.

Without another moment’s hesitation, I gently nudged Erin up until her shoulders were just below the top of the silk sheet she was lying on, before pulling up one side and tightly tucking the delicate material around her shoulders and torso. The softness of the fabric brushing against her skin caused Erin to moan sweetly and I couldn’t resist running a hand over her silk-covered chest before repeating the process with the other side of the sheet.

Erin was now unable to move any part of her upper body, even her arms, which were thoroughly pinned to her sides. As the reality of her predicament sank in, she seemed to be getting a little anxious, so I figured this was the perfect time to make sure we were both still on the same page.

Straddling her so that she couldn’t pull herself free, I leaned forward and gently kissed her trembling lips while I slid the blindfold up, away from her eyes.

“This is the very last chance you’re going to get to back out until morning.” I told her, as I stared straight into her sparkling, green eyes, noticing that the earlier storm of emotions was already beginning to calm itself. “Are you absolutely certain you want to go through with this? It might not play out the way you expected!”

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life!” As I continued to stare into her eyes, searching for some indication whether to believe her or not, the last of the stray emotions boiled away, leaving only a look of sheer determination to see this through to the end. That was good enough for me!

“We’ll see if that enthusiasm lasts,” I replied, not that it really mattered, anymore. For the night, at least, she was all mine.

Knowing that, I gave her a quick peck on the cheek as I slid the blindfold back into place. Once she could no longer see what I was doing, I went rummaging through the nightstand drawer, one last time, and pulled out one of my old vibrators. It was one of the only things that had helped me to maintain my sanity this long, and now it was going to test the limits of my captive friend. With a quick twist of the base, I turned it on, full power.

“Can you guess what this is?” I asked as I lightly brushed it across Erin’s engorged nipples, still evident, even under the layers of silk.

Erin moaned with delight. “I knew it! You do have some naughty toys, after all!”

“Yes, I do … and you know where this one is going, don’t you?” I pulled back the sheets from her legs to further emphasize my point.

“God, I hope so!”

“With a response like that,” I said as I used the vibrator to slowly draw an imaginary line down the center of her chest, straight toward her pelvis, “how can I keep you waiting?” Before, Erin even had a chance to respond, the vibrator was already sliding into position, but as it did, I dialed it back down to it’s lowest setting. My victim moaned in frustration, but she couldn’t do anything as it glided, almost effortlessly, into the depths of her dripping pussy.

Once it was in all the way, I pulled her legs together to help keep it in place, and proceeded to securely tuck the sheet around her lower body, just like I had already done for her torso. After taking one look at her squirming form in its silk cocoon, I couldn’t help myself. My mouth seized hers and my tongue probed eagerly while my hands brushed against her silk-enshrouded breasts. I still couldn’t quite believe what she was doing to me, but there was no denying that the further things progressed, the more desperately I wanted her. One way or another, this round clearly wasn’t going to last much longer, so I decided to act quickly.

“Don’t go anywhere!” I gasped, once I was finally able to pull myself away. “I just need to grab a few quick things, so don’t go getting any ideas! I’ll be right back, and I expect to find you exactly as I left you! All right?” I drove my point home by gently tweaking one of her nipples. The only response I received was a low moan, but since she hadn’t moved a muscle by the time I returned with five belts from my closet, I figured she got the message.

I carefully slid the belts under her, one just above her breasts, one just under them, one around her waist, one just above her knees, and a braided belt around her ankles. After making sure that the sheet was still tucked as tightly as ever, I started cinching and fastening the belts, one at a time, until I’d worked my way down to her ankles once again. Now, it didn’t matter how much Erin squirmed. The silk sheet wasn’t coming loose, and as a result, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“There!” I exclaimed, taking a step back to admire my handiwork. “That should take care of you, for a while. It looks like it’s time to get myself ready for bed, as well.”

Erin seemed to enjoy that thought most of all, but with the blindfold on, all she was able to do was growl in frustration. I was glad that she couldn’t see everything, though. I didn’t want her to discover the new toys I’d been testing out on myself all this time … not yet, anyway. That was a surprise for later. For my part, however, as I stripped down and finally removed the persistent things (and turned them off, of course), I was just glad to be rid of their merciless teasing.

Thankfully, all of that frustration was about to pay off, and as soon as I’d removed my last stitch of clothing, I fished out my spare vibrator from my nightstand and went to work. The new ones might have done the job, but I was desperate for release and didn’t want to bother with learning to make the best use of a new toy. As far as I was concerned, they’d already done their part, simply by getting me this far. Now it was time for the old standby to take over.

And what a job it did! As soon as it brushed the quivering lips of my hungry pussy, my body was practically hurled to the bed beside Erin’s, unable to support itself under its own power any longer. I knew it wouldn’t take long, but I couldn’t resist stealing a quick glance at my friend lying helplessly next to me, and as I did, I felt my pussy squeeze down around the invading vibrator in response. Whoa! That was unexpected … nice, but unexpected! Eager to explore these new sensations, I reached out with my free hand to tease one of Erin’s tender nipples, and her moan of pleasure shot straight to my groin, creating a sympathetic sensation even stronger than anything I could’ve done to myself.

That was all it took! With one hand manning the vibrator buzzing away frantically in my quivering pussy, all the rest of my attention shifted to Erin’s body, rather than my own. As my hand continued to fondle her breasts, I leaned my face over to lick her cheek and playfully nibble on her earlobe. Each moan I drew from her helpless form sent a new shock straight to the depths of my own pleasure centers. Unable to hold back, any longer, I found my mouth hungrily devouring hers. While my tongue claimed everything it touched as its own, my hand firmly squeezed the breast it had been gently caressing.

Erin’s moan of shock was enough to send me over the edge, but I was unable to tear away from her. As wave after wave of pleasure rocked my body, my mouth and hand remained glued in position, and our desperate moans only seemed to drive each other on to greater heights. Every time I was certain I’d reached the peak, Erin’s reaction would spur on another surge from some previously unknown reservoir deep within me, resulting in a new wave even more powerful than the one before. I’m not sure if it was multiple orgasms or a single, monster one, but I soon stopped caring and completely lost myself in the moment.

It wasn’t until the torrent finally began to subside that our bodies finally separated, not because either of us willed it, but because I was simply too exhausted to hold on any longer. My mouth and hand struggled to find their way back, but it was too late, and as the last of the aftershocks started to run their course, I could do nothing but lay there, in an exhausted heap, gasping for the air I’d forgotten I still needed.

Until that moment, I hadn’t even known experiences like that were even possible. I wasn’t sure if it was because of Erin, herself, or the fact that she was in such a helpless state, or even if it was simply because of the relentless teasing I’d endured up to that point, but whatever the reason, if this was the result, I could definitely get used it!

“You see what you do to me?” I gasped in between breaths. “That was amazing!”

“I’m glad!” she replied, meekly. Though she didn’t actually say it, I could still hear the true sentiment behind her words: “But what about me?” Thanks to the vibrator still humming away in her own pussy, she was still, very much, on the precipice of her own denied climax, and my actions during my release hadn’t exactly done anything to ease her mounting frustration. Of course, that was part of the plan. In fact, I was actually relieved, since, for a moment, I thought that, in my own rush for satisfaction, I may have inadvertently launched her into her own explosive encounter, but she was clearly still as hot and bothered as ever.

Of course, I didn’t mention any of this to her. Instead I lazily fetched another scarf from the pocket of my discarded jeans, which were, thankfully still within reach, so I didn’t have to get up to do it. Once I had found what I was looking for, I coaxed Erin’s mouth open and slid the scarf in between her lips before gently tying it off behind her neck. “Thank you!” I told her, when I was finished, rewarding her with a peck on the cheek. “I knew I’d forgotten something.”

With my last ounce of strength, I dragged the blankets back over the bed, lightly covering us, before drawing my helpless companion close to me, pressing my breasts against her side, draping one leg over hers, and casually resting a hand on her breast.

“Good night, Sweetie!” I said matter-of-factly, punctuated with a chaste peck on the cheek.

Erin merely whimpered, not only because she was still ready to explode at any moment, but because the vibrator still gently buzzing away between her legs ensured that she stayed frustratingly perched on that razor’s edge. Of course, what she didn’t know was that the batteries weren’t exactly fresh and the thing probably wouldn’t even last thirty minutes before dying completely, but that was all part of the game, as well.

As much as I tried to remain sympathetic to my companion’s plight, I couldn’t resist softly chuckling as I drew her tightly against me and buried my face in her short, black hair, before slowly breathing her in. Then, in a husky whisper, I spoke again, letting each syllable tickle the back of her neck, as I did. “I know I left you high and not-so-dry, but just consider it a little insurance. I want you dreaming about me, tonight. So no squirming around like a horny weasel, trying to finish what I started, all right?” To drive the point home, I gave one of her prominent nipples a gentle tweak. “Besides, we’ve got a long weekend ahead of us, and we’re both going to need all the rest you can get.” With a final squeeze and peck on the cheek, I said, “I love you, Beautiful!”

I wasn’t entirely sure what I meant by those final words, but they felt right, and I was feeling too good to fuss over the minor details. Before I knew what happened, I’d slipped into a blissful sleep.

Chapter 6

By the time I woke up, again, it was already morning. As I stretched lazily, yawning away the last remnants of sleep, I felt a momentary pang of guilt as I suddenly remembered everything I’d done to Erin. As soon as I looked at her, though, all of my doubts instantly melted away. Judging by her breathing, she was still sound asleep, but even around the gag, I could see the contented grin glued to her face. As I stared at her slumbering form, I was overcome with an irresistible urge to brush a stray hair away from her face. Erin showed no signs of waking, any time soon, but as my hand brushed against her face, she subconsciously nuzzled against it and sighed blissfully. She was happier and more at peace than I could ever remember seeing her. It was at that moment that I knew I’d made the right choice.

At the same time, I also felt a familiar warmth slowly spreading through my body. Erin wasn’t the only one enjoying herself more than I could’ve hoped, and even though I still didn’t fully understand what the girl was doing to me, I knew that I had to get us both moving, or we would never make it out of bed. Actually, that didn’t sound bad at all, but there was too much that we had to do, and we didn’t have much time to work with, so with great difficulty, I hauled myself out of bed and threw a silk bathrobe around my body, luxuriating in the sensations as the soft material brushed against my bare skin. After a quick stop by the bathroom, I quietly returned to my guest.

My next step was to gingerly work the scarf from Erin’s mouth, being careful not to wake her, just yet. As soon as her mouth was free, however, all bets were off. I couldn’t help myself as my lips once again laid claim to hers. While my tongue gently probed the depths of her mouth, Erin gradually regained consciousness. I expected her to have a moment of confusion when she first woke up, but instead she immediately started returning my kiss without even the slightest hesitation. As my hand brushed against her body, she arched her back, fighting against her restraints in a frantic desire to lean into my caress. It seemed that the night had done little to quell the fires that were still raging inside of her, and she was desperate for any contact that might grant her the release she so desperately needed.

It was all I could do to keep myself from caving in and granting her wish, right then and there, but after a brief internal struggle, I was finally able to tear myself away from her supple body, however reluctantly. Erin whimpered softly as I pulled away, but her smile told me that she was enjoying every second of it.

“Good morning, Beautiful!” I said as I planted one last kiss on her forehead and gently brushed her hair out of her face. “Did you sleep well?”

“Like a baby!”

“Have any interesting dreams?” I asked with a conspiratorial smirk.

“The best!” she cheerfully replied, “But nothing compared to waking up and discovering that it was all real!”

“I’m glad to hear it!” I said as I planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “Ready to get started?”

“For you?” she replied, grinning like a love-struck teenager (which, come to think of it, was only about eight months off the mark), “I’m ready for anything!”

“That’s what I want to hear!”

Without wasting another moment, I set to work releasing the belts that were holding Erin hostage. Then, I gently peeled back the sheet. Even that limited contact was enough to cause her to moan uncontrollably, a reaction that only heightened when I teased the vibrator from her still-glistening pussy. While I was at it, I removed the gag scarf that was still hanging around her neck and draped it over the back of a chair to dry. Erin reached up to remove the blindfold, but I gently slapped her hands away.

“That one stays! You can, however, feel free to sit up and stretch out your arms and legs for a bit before we get going again.” It was clear that Erin was grateful as she gingerly bent and straightened her arms and legs, trying to work out the stiffness that had set in overnight.

While she was doing that, I fetched a glass of water, which Erin gratefully accepted, downing it in a single gulp, before handing the glass back to me and redoubling her efforts to restore her limbs to full, working order. Meanwhile, I dropped off the empty glass.

On my way back, I stealthily retrieved another scarf from the pocket of the jeans I’d discarded the night before and snuck up behind my friend. Placing the scarf on the side, I leaned in and planted a series of kisses down her neck, while I helped her to rub the stiffness out of her arms. Before long, Erin was once again, a squirming pile of jelly in my hands, and I knew she was ready for the next step.

Gently pulling her arms behind her back, I retrieved the silk scarf and securely tied her wrists together, being careful not to make it too tight, since I planned on taking my time with this next step and didn’t want anything to interfere with those plans.

“Not giving me a chance to get away?” she asked playfully.

“Not on your life!”

Erin leaned back, into my chest, smiling the same beautiful smile I saw when I first woke up. “I’m glad!” Though she just smiled happily, I could still hear the unspoken follow up: “I hope you never do!”

I made no indication that I caught that subtext, however. Instead, I merely wrapped my arms around her, playfully nibbled her ear, and said, “Let’s get you ready for the day!”

We slowly made our way to the bathroom, in much the same manner in which I’d escorted Erin to the bedroom earlier, and once again, we were both enjoying ourselves too much to be in any kind of hurry to get there. Unfortunately, this time we didn’t have very far to go, so before we knew it, we were already there.

As soon as we were inside, I closed the door and gently eased my captive onto the toilet seat.

“Okay, Sweetie,” I told her, once she was down all the way, “you know what to do.”

Erin looked a little uncomfortable, at first, but I gently brushed her cheek with my hand. As she leaned into it, purring softly, all hesitation seemed to melt away. “After everything we’ve already been through together, we share a bond closer than some married couples. Is this really such a big deal?”

Once it was clear that I wasn’t going to receive any further objections, I turned my attention to the tub. I turned on the water, adjusting it as hot as I could comfortably stand it and tossed in some rose-scented bath oil (selected with Erin in mind, of course) to further set the mood. As I waited for the tub to fill, I carefully slipped out of my bathrobe and hung it on the doorknob, being careful not to make a sound, as I did. By the time I was finished, so was Erin, and she was struggling to figure out how to handle the next step, given her current condition.

“Well,” I said, responding to the question before she could even ask it, “with your arms tied behind your back like that, you can’t very well take care of it yourself, so I guess I’ll have to clean you up, instead. Now be a good girl and spread your legs for me.” Erin hesitated for a moment but, in the end, she reluctantly complied. As a reward, I pressed my lips to hers, once more, and massaged her tongue with my own while my hands handled the delicate work of cleaning her up. It made for a somewhat clumsy effort on my part, but when her legs tried to clamp down around my hand and refused to let go, it was clear that she was enjoying the results, and that’s all I really wanted.

In fact, as I helped Erin to her shaky feet, it was becoming obvious that neither of us would be able to hold out much longer. Fortunately, the wait was nearly over, and after quickly shutting off the water in the tub and flushing the toilet behind us, I carefully led my companion to the tub, being certain to keep my naked body away from hers, lest I tip my hand too soon.

“Okay, you need to take a big step, here, so be careful,” I warned her as I finally led her into the steaming bath. Once both feet were inside, I carefully guided her into a squatting position, and from there, it was a simple matter to get her safely seated in the tub.

Erin sighed luxuriously as she tried to stretch out her legs and lie back in the tub. I, however, had other plans.

“Ah, ah, ah! We’ve got to get your hair washed, first. Once that’s done, you can sit back and relax while we work on the rest of you. How’s that sound to you?”

“Wonderful!”

“Well, what do you say we get started.” I gently but firmly grabbed her by her shoulders and tilting her back, until her head was just above the water. “Hold your breath, Sweetie. You’re about to go under in 3 … 2 … 1 … Now!”

Her cheeks puffed up in an exaggerated display to demonstrate that she was following my instructions. As she did I lowered the rest of the way, tore off the blindfold, and ran my fingers through her hair to make sure everything was loosened up before lifting her out of the water. The whole process couldn’t have taken more than 5 seconds, but Erin was instinctively gasping for breath as soon as her head broke through the surface, once again. As soon as she was upright, again, I could see her eyes trying to pry open through the rivulets of water still pouring from her hair, but I clamped my hand over her eyes before she had a chance to bring anything into focus.

“Unless you want to get soap and in those beautiful, green eyes of yours, I suggest that you keep them closed, Sweetie.”

“Okay,” she sulked, giving that same cute pout that absolutely melted my heart earlier, and I couldn’t resist planting feather-soft kisses on both of her closed eyelids as I pulled my hand away.

“Trust me, Sweetie, this is for your own good!” I said as I poured a generous amount of shampoo into my hand and slowly began to work it into her soft hair, intentionally letting a tiny bit run over her eyelids to ensure she didn't try to get away with anything while my attention was focused elsewhere. Before long, Erin was sighing happily, so I continued for a while, gently massaging her scalp and running my soapy fingers through her short, black hair.

Unfortunately, there was plenty more to do, so after a few minutes, I leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Time to rinse you off. You know the drill.” This time I placed one hand firmly behind her shoulder and the other on the back of her head as I lowered her into position and started the countdown. Once Erin was ready, I lowered her the rest of the way and quickly set to work rinsing out the shampoo. As I ran my hands through her hair, I was thankful that she kept it fairly short, because it only took a few seconds before I was reasonably certain I’d gotten everything. After that, I gently lifted her out of the water with one hand, while carefully running the other through her hair to remove anything I might have missed. I’d intentionally avoided wiping the shampoo from her eyes, and the water had only ensured that it was running far too much for her to possibly open her eyes, even if she’d wanted to, but Erin didn’t complain. In fact, she looked much more relaxed this time, like she could’ve stayed down there for at least another half minute, and instead of gasping for breath, she was sighing contentedly.

“Enjoying yourself?” I asked amusedly.

“It’d be impossible not to!” she answered with a lazy grin. “You take such good care of me.”

“I aim to please! Speaking of which, what do you say I warm up that bath water a bit more?”

Even as I was turning on the hot water, once again, Erin insisted, “No, no! Don’t worry about it! The water isn’t cold, at all.”

“Perhaps, but a truly relaxing bath can’t merely be warm. It must be as hot as you can bear, to melt away all of the stress and pressures you’ve allowed to build up.”

“I think you got rid of most of those last night.”

“So, I’m thorough! Now stop worrying and leave everything to me!”

While every bit of that was true, the water was actually serving a secondary purpose, as well. While it was pouring in, I swirled the water around as if I was trying to mix the additional hot water in as best I could. Secretly, however, I used the noise and moving water to conceal my own entrance into the tub from Erin, as I carefully slipped in behind her. Leaving one leg outside, bent over the edge of the tub, I tried to spread them as far apart as I could, so she wouldn’t bump into them too soon, and pressed myself against the back of the tub.

Once I was finally settled, I craned my neck to the side, before calling out to her, hoping the echoes in the room would disguise my exact location, or at least make my friend question what she heard. “Why don’t you stretch out, lie back, and relax?”

Erin needed no encouraging and without hesitation, she lazily stretched out her legs, pushing against the front wall of the tub, driving herself backwards, until she bumped into me. I held my breath in anticipation while she slowly realized that my breasts were pressing into her back and her fingers were grazing through my pubic bush.

“A-Amy?” she asked bemusedly.

In answer, I wrapped my arms and legs around her and softly exhaled on the back of her neck before gently nibbling her ear. “I can’t let you have all the fun, now, can I?”

All doubts erased, Erin collapsed against me, as if trying to melt into my arms. “I couldn’t agree more. Now, do you think you could do something about the soap in my eyes?”

“Yes,” I admitted, “I suppose it is time to move on, but first….” I trailed off as I leaned forward to turn off the water and snatched up the bar of soap and body sponge. While I lathered up the sponge, I finally continued. “… We need to finish washing your face.” To make the job easier, I slid Erin down a bit until her head was resting between my breasts, a position she enjoyed only briefly before I shifted her weight to the side and cradled her with my left arm.

As I looked at her, I couldn’t resist brushing a few stray hairs away from her face and gently kissing her forehead, before picking up the sponge and getting to work. As I slowly worked the soft sponge over the delicate contours of her face, I found myself, once again, desperately trying to sear every last detail into my memory. Her smiling face was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and, at that moment, I knew I would do absolutely anything for a chance to see her that happy again. Before I knew it, though, the moment was over and it was time to rinse her off, again.

I pulled my legs around behind her and folded them in front of me, gently sliding Erin down until her head was resting in my lap. “Okay, Beautiful,” I told her once she was in position, “you aren’t going completely under this time, but you should probably hold your breath just the same, since I will be splashing around a bit.”

Erin nodded in acknowledgement and I quickly set to work washing away the soap from her face. Despite the fact that she was clearly enjoying the hands-on attention, she never lost focus and managed to hold her breath until I was done. I even scooped up a great big handful of water and tossed it on her face to make sure I’d gotten everything before sitting her up again to drip off the rest of the way.

Before she could even think about trying to open her eyes, however, I fished around for the blindfold, which was still in the tub, and untied the knot just long enough to pull the dripping scarf over her eyes and secure it behind her head, once more. She didn’t object this time. Instead, she merely melted back into my arms as soon as I was finished, her fingers absent-mindedly twitching against my pussy.

“Be careful what you do with those hands of yours,” I playfully cautioned her. “You don’t want to start something you can’t finish!”

“I don’t?” she asked innocently.

“No,” I replied, gently tweaking her nipples with my fingers to drive my point home, “you don’t!”

“That works, too!” As she answered, I noticed her thighs rubbing together. I couldn’t have that, so I carefully wrapped my legs around hers and pulled them as far apart as the tub would allow. Now, both her arms and legs were immobilized, leaving her completely at my mercy. It was finally time to take her the rest of the way.

“Lean forward, so I can scrub your back,” I said as I worked the sponge into a foamy lather. Erin didn’t hesitate before leaning as far forward as she could. Of course, given her current situation, that wasn’t very far at all, but it was enough for me to work the sponge in without too much trouble.

Starting at the back of her neck, I slowly lathered my way across her shoulders before sliding down her arms. Since they were still tied together, I had to work a little bit to make sure I got enough soap everywhere, but I enjoyed the struggle and, based on her increasingly heavy breathing, so did Erin. By the time I started on her back, we were both panting heavily. I wasn’t sure if it was because of exertion, the hot bath, or simply being so close to each other, but one thing was clear: with each passing moment it was growing more and more difficult to stay focused on my plans. By the time the sponge finally reached the water line, I couldn’t hold out any longer.

While my soapy hands and the sponge circled around Erin’s waist and started to lather up her belly, I dragged her back against my chest and craned my neck around to the side as my mouth went in search of hers. With the blindfold on, it took my friend a second or two to realize what I was going on, but as soon as she felt my breath on her cheek, her mouth began seeking mine with equal fervor. As our tongues intertwined, I slowly leaned back against the rear of the tub, dragging the all-too-eager Erin with me.

Unable to tear myself away, but knowing that I had to keep moving things along, I started working the sponge up between her breasts and over her shoulders. As the sponge began creeping up the front of her neck, Erin moaned enthusiastically. It was odd, feeling the vibrations in my tongue, but the strange sensation only spurred me onward as the kiss took on renewed vigor.

As this was going on, I surreptitiously started working the sponge into a nice, foamy lather. When the collection became too much to hold onto, I deposited a mountain of soapy bubbles squarely on top of both of her perky breasts.

Erin began to moan in anticipation, but she nearly cried in frustration, instead, when I finally tore myself away from her and hissed into her ear, “I think I’m going to save those for later. Now be a good girl and help me do your legs.”

She whimpered plaintively, but as I released one of her legs, she lifted it up toward us, so that I could wash it, as well. I wasn’t sure where to start, from this position, so I started at the knee since it was the closest part. As I crept my way toward her ankle, Erin’s pleading gradually turned back into moans of pleasure. The transformation was complete once I started massaging her feet again. It was awkward, doing it from behind, like this, but my beautiful companion didn’t seem to mind, and while I focused on the job at hand, she threw her head back and reveled in the sensations.

“You really do have sensitive feet, don’t you?” I asked.

“Mmm hmmm,” Erin sighed, unable to muster anything more coherent in response.

She was momentarily disappointed when I finally let her foot go, but that faded immediately when I returned to her knee and started heading in the other direction. By the time I was halfway down her inner thigh, her leg was twitching and as I neared the place where her legs joined, she lost focus altogether, and her leg went splashing down.

“Sorry, about that,” she said sheepishly, once she and I were both done spitting out soapy water.

“Well, I guess we can’t expect any further cooperation from that leg, now, can we?” I replied as I trapped it once again with my own before releasing its twin. “Time to start working the other one.”

The second leg went much like the first, except that by the time I was finishing up, Erin’s whole body was quaking almost imperceptibly. Even so, she managed to lower her leg back in a semi-controlled manner. Waves were splashing against the sides of the tub as her trembling limb slowly stretched out again, but this time all the water stayed in the bath. I knew she was ready to blow at any moment, but I wanted to push her just little bit further, first.

Putting the sponge on the side, I slid my soapy hands up her belly until, at long last, I seized each foam-covered breast. As I sensually kneaded her soft flesh being careful to avoid her nipples, Erin’s moans quickly became more and more urgent. In fact, she barely seemed to notice as I released her legs and carefully flipped her over onto her belly before trapping her legs, again. Once our breasts were pressing against one another, though, she didn’t waste any time seeking out my mouth and kissing me desperately.

“Please don’t keep me waiting any longer,” she begged. “I need it so badly!”

“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” I cooed as I gently caressed her still-soapy back. “Just hold on a little bit longer. We’re almost done, and I promise you it’ll be worth the wait.”

Without waiting for a response, I pressed my lips to hers, for another kiss, which Erin was more than eager to return. As she continued moaning into my mouth, desperately searching for sources of stimulation, I decided to give her what she wanted.

Picking up the sponge, once more, I lathered up her ass cheeks until they were thoroughly coated with bubbles. By that point it was clear that I didn’t need the sponge anymore, so I set it aside and began to use my hands to finish the job. As Erin became more and more desperate for stimulation, I found my hands slowly creeping down into the crevice between her cheeks until I inadvertently brushed against her sphincter. My beautiful captive moaned eagerly in response, so I tried it a couple more times. The response grew more emphatic each time, until I gently pressed a finger against the pucker of her asshole. To my surprise, rather than resisting, Erin seemed to be trying to drive my finger in deeper, and before I even knew what happened, the first knuckle had already slipped in. The sensation sent shockwaves surging through every inch of her being and she was forced to tear away from our kiss to catch her breath.

“You liked that?” I asked, as I carefully removed my finger, sending further tremors cascading through her body.

“I love everything you do to me,” she replied breathlessly.

“This has definite possibilities. I’ll have to make a note of it for later.”

“Any way you want me! I’m yours, for as long as you’ll have me … just please don’t make me wait any more!”

She had clearly reached her limit. Her voice was cracking and even with the blindfold on, I could tell she was on the verge of tears. I knew it was time to finish this, but somewhere in the midst of flipping her over onto her back, again, our mouths found each other and refused to let go. Even so I wasn’t going to keep her waiting any longer. After I awkwardly got her turned over (mostly, anyway) and trapped her legs once again, I started caressing my soapy palms up her belly until I was massaging her breasts, again.

Erin was squirming desperately in search of that last bit of stimulation, but I held her tightly. As my fingers brushed against her rock hard nipples, her efforts increased tenfold. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold her back for much longer, but I also knew that when this hit, it was going to be huge, and I needed to warn her. Unfortunately, she refused to relinquish my mouth for even a second so I could do so. The further I pulled back, the more urgently she pressed forward, until I firmly tweaked both of her nipples.

That worked! Erin gasped in surprise and I was finally able to pull free. At first I thought the sensation might have pushed her over the edge, but when her head started twisting around in a frantic effort to relocate my mouth, I knew she was still ready. I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could and whispered into her ear, “Brace yourself, Beautiful!” before craning my neck around so that our mouths could find each other again.

While I continued to caress and gently squeeze her nipples with one hand, the other was taking the sponge and creeping inexorably downward. At the last second, it veered off to run down the inside of her thigh, and Erin almost screamed in frustration. I say “almost” because, before she had a chance to make a sound, my hand shifted direction once more and the sponge brushed gently across her slit.

That faint pressure was enough to send her hurtling over the edge, but I didn’t stop there. As wave after wave of pleasure rocked Erin’s body and threatened to tear her from my grasp, my hands grew more and more insistent, eventually abandoning the sponge altogether. As my fingers were drawn into her convulsing pussy, my thumb was frantically rubbing away at her throbbing clit. At the same time, my other hand never stopped teasing her sensitive nipples and our mouths seemed to have been joined by some supernatural force. Erin seemed desperate to suck every last breath from me, but I still kept going. I clung to her for dear life as wave after wave rocked her to the very core of her being, each one bigger than the one before, until her body simply tensed up and stayed that way for a good 30 seconds, shuddering uncontrollably the whole time, before she finally collapsed, against my chest. There was an audible pop as the seal between our mouths finally broke, but after that, the only sounds were our heavy breathing as we tried to catch our breaths and the occasional blissful sigh from my exhausted companion as the final aftershocks ran their course.

Once my breathing had stabilized, I carefully switched places with Erin, being sure to prop her up securely. From that point on, I made sure I never took my eyes off her for more than a second. In her exhausted state, if she started sliding down, I knew she wouldn’t be able to do much to save herself, even if her wrists weren’t tied. In the meantime, while she recovered, I figured it was time to get myself cleaned up as well.

I started by drawing the shower curtain closed, as best I could, before I turned on the water again. Then, after quickly adjusting the water temperature, I started the shower. My body blocked most of the stream, but I figured anything that did land on Erin would be sporadic enough to prevent her from falling asleep. I didn’t want to keep her waiting, though, so I hurriedly washed myself, starting at my head and working my way down. At least that was the plan.

As my hands reached between my legs, I was suddenly hit by a searing need, more powerful than any I’d ever experienced. It was then that it came flooding back to me. While I was helping Erin through that draining series of orgasms, her fingers were continuously twitching against my own pussy. At the time, I’d been so preoccupied with keeping her pinned down (and not thrashing against the side of the tub) that I didn’t really notice … but my body certainly did. Now, as I stared at her resting there peacefully, I found myself frantically pawing at my pussy, desperate to achieve the release I craved, but nothing I did seemed to be quite enough. Then, I saw Erin’s lips twitch as she sighed peacefully and knew exactly what I needed.

The next couple minutes were a blur as I hastily finished washing and rinsing. I was especially careful to make sure I’d cleaned out every last bit of soap from between my legs, but the water pressure wasn’t making it any easier to stay focused on the task at hand. When I couldn’t stand it for another second, I shut off the water, turned back around, and moved toward my resting captive, pinning her against the wall and straddling her shoulders.

Erin’s nose twitched cutely as she inhaled deeply. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked dreamily.

“I guess that depends on what you think it is,” I answered hoarsely.

“It smells like … heaven!”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” I laughed, “but I think you can figure out what to do, all the same.”

“Do you mean it?” She sounded like a child who had just been promised every toy on her Christmas wish list for the next 10 years.

“And don’t keep me wait—AAAH!” What had started as a predatory growl instantly turned into a moan of reckless abandon as Erin buried her face in my snatch without even waiting for me to finish my thought. I could tell that she was still exhausted from her recent ordeal, but through sheer force of will, she somehow kept her tongue moving, albeit somewhat lethargically. It didn’t matter, though. From the moment when I first felt her, I knew that I wouldn’t last long.

Sure enough, as soon as her tongue brushed against my aching clit, the first wave hit me like a brick wall. I could feel my knees starting to buckle, but it still wasn’t enough. Besides, I couldn’t give in, yet. Erin had endured more than that, and she wasn’t stopping. If she could keep going, then so could I! With newfound resolve, I gritted my teeth as I braced myself and prepared to stay in position for as long as I my legs could hold out. By the second orgasm, my legs were shaking violently from my own private earthquake, but when the third followed right behind, that was it. My knees gave way and I found myself sliding down on top of Erin, her tongue still actively licking me the whole way down, desperately trying to get back to where it was. With the blindfold on, she had no way of knowing it was already far too late … that is until my downward slump brought her tongue into my mouth and I latched on. I didn’t care that she was slathered in my own juices. I only knew that I had to feel her lips against mine as I rode out the final convulsions of the greatest orgasms of my life.

Finally, when everything was starting to calm down again, I used my last ounce of strength to pry myself away and roll over to the side. As I did, I lovingly cradled Erin in my arms, while she rested her pretty head on my chest, enjoying the sounds of my heavy breathing. On her face was a smile of pure and utter fulfillment. It absolutely melted my heart. Everything I had seen up to that point paled in comparison.

At that moment, I knew, with all my heart, that I needed her every bit as badly as she needed me. I still wanted a man, of course, but once I saw that smile, I knew I would never be able to live without her either. There had to be a way for it all to work out, but that puzzle was going to require some serious thought. For the moment, however, I just wanted us both to enjoy what we had. There would be plenty of time to worry about the future, later.

“I love you so very much!” I told her as I squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“ I … love you … too,” Erin replied, half-asleep, as she started to drool on my breast.

I couldn’t resist wiping up her drool with a finger before using that same finger to gently stroke her nose. “You’re lucky you’re so fucking cute!” I said with a slight chuckle.

She merely smiled and sighed contentedly as she nuzzled against my soggy breast.

Chapter 7

I have no idea how long we lay there like that, basking in the aftermath of that perfect moment, but I knew we couldn’t stay there all day, so once my strength started to return, I slipped away from Erin, peeled back the shower curtain, and climbed out of the tub. After haphazardly drying myself and tidying up my hair, I tossed on my bathrobe once again.

I’d say that I never took my eyes off of Erin for more than a second, for safety’s sake, but that’d be a lie. The honest truth is, I was finding it surprisingly difficult to tear my eyes away from my friend’s slumbering form, even when I had to. In fact, it was all I could do to suppress the urge to simply stand there and marvel at the peaceful expression on her face, but I knew the time had come to get her out of the tub, as well, so I pushed all other concerns to the side and set to work.

After rolling up my sleeves all the way to the shoulders, I started by leaning Erin forward so that she was sitting upright … or as close an approximation as her fatigued body could manage. Once she was up, I removed the blindfold and carefully untied the scarf holding her wrists together, before rinsing them out, squeezing out as much water as I could, and draping them over the shower rod to dry. Erin was so utterly spent, however, that she didn’t even try to open her eyes and her arms just hung limply at her side. It wasn’t until I started scooping up handfuls of water and softly wiping her down to rinse off any soap that had somehow managed to cling to her through all of the sweat and the splashing, that she gradually started to show some faint signs of life, again.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” I teased her as I carefully rinsed off her belly.

“Mmmm,” was all she could manage in response, proving that just because she was conscious that didn’t mean her energy had returned, yet.

“Well, Beautiful,” I said as I finished rinsing off the last lingering traces of soap, “It’s time to get you out of there.”

She nodded weakly, in acknowledgement.

“I’m going to need your help, Sweetie.” To emphasize my point, I guided her hands up behind my neck.

She got the hint and locked her fingers together, but she picked up on another hint as well. Once we were within arm’s reach, she started raising her face toward mine, mewling pitifully when she realized didn’t have quite enough energy to close the gap completely. I knew I couldn’t refuse a request like that, so I firmly placed my hands on her hips and lifted her up until our mouths finally joined, once more. It was short and sweet, but it seemed to do the job. Erin sighed peacefully and gravity finally won over as her body started sinking once again, until her arms were taut. I knew my support was the only thing keeping her from collapsing back into the tub completely.

“Come on, Honey,” I gently urged her, as I tried to drag her out of the tub. “Work with me, here!”

From the sounds of her groans, I knew Erin was trying her best, but her muscles didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Nonetheless, after some trial and error, I was finally able to drag her butt over the edge of the tub, and her legs soon followed. Desperate for a place to set her down I threw out my leg and knocked down the lid of the toilet seat and, with my last ounce of strength, heaved her onto it, arms and legs akimbo. It wasn’t the most dignified position, but at least she was sitting. Besides, she was too worn out to care.

“Phew!” I sighed as I stood back up and took a moment to stretch out. “That was a workout! I guess my own strength hasn’t fully returned, either. Oh well, you can rest here, for a bit.”

“Thank you!” Erin whispered so feebly that I barely heard her.

After opening the drain in the tub, I snagged a clean, fluffy towel and started to gently dry my friend off, while she recovered. Again, I started with her hair and face and gradually worked my way down. By the time I reached her feet, she was almost sitting upright, again.

Still, Erin clearly needed more time to recover, so I bundled her in the towel to keep her warm while I fetched the hairbrush. Of course, with her short hair, she didn’t have a whole lot to brush, but I needed something to keep myself busy. Besides, I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I was really getting into the whole ritual and, judging by her sighs, so was Erin. Before long, however, I ran out of things to do, so I decided to just sit down on the edge of the tub and wait for her, while she regained her strength.

“So, how are you feeling?” I asked once she’d finally recovered enough to carry on an intelligent conversation.

“When I try standing, my legs still feel like Jell-O, but at least I can move again.”

“Well, that’s certainly good to hear, but there’s no pain or anything?”

“Oh, no!” she assured me. “I can’t remember ever feeling this good.”

“So, you’re enjoying our little weekend retreat, so far?” I asked with a smirk.

“It’s like a dream come true!” she said with a dreamy sigh. “I keep expecting to wake up and return to my miserable life, but instead, this weekend just keeps getting better and better.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” I rose to my feet and slowly leaned in for a quick kiss before heading for the door. “Stay right there!” I ordered her. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as I had the door closed behind me I dove for the closet in search of the supplies I’d received the day before. After pawing frantically through the merchandise, I finally found the items I was looking for and carefully shoved them all into an empty shoebox. Slipping a few extra padlocks and one of the keys into the pocket of my bathrobe, I hid everything else back in the closet before rushing off to rejoin my beautiful companion.

“Did you miss me?” I asked as I burst through the door.

“Whenever you’re not around,” she said with a dreamy smile.

“How sweet of you to say that.” I rewarded her with yet another quick kiss.

“It’s the truth!”

“Be that as it may,” I replied, struggling to maintain a stern façade when every fiber of my being was screaming to embrace this wonderful girl and never let go, “would you be a good girl and get down on your knees.”

“Like this?” Erin’s muscles were still shaky, but she willed herself to comply as she lowered herself to the floor on all fours.

“I said ‘knees’ not ‘hands and knees.’”

“Oops! Sorry!” she replied as she rose up until she was relatively steady on her knees, alone.

“Yes, but face me.”

She inched her whole body around until she was finally facing me in the doorway.

“Now sit back on the heels of your feet, keep your back straight, and rest your hands on your knees.”

“Is this good?” she asked, eagerly assuming the requested position.

“Yes, that’s perfect!” I rewarded her obedience with a peck on the forehead as I softly stroked her cheek with my hand.

She beamed at my praise.

“For the record,” I continued, “in the future, if I ever ask you to get down on your knees, this is the position I would like you to assume. Understand?”

“Yes.” She was a bit puzzled, but she was also eager to please, so she didn’t make a fuss.

“That’s my girl!”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, all traces of doubt melted away from her features, to be replaced by unmistakable pride at a job well done … even if she didn’t quite understand what that job was.

“Now, I know some of the things I’ve put you through haven’t been easy….”

“That’s okay—!” Erin started to reply, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

“But since you’ve been so patient and cooperative, I wanted to give you a special gift.”

I brought the box out in front of me and opened it before setting it on the floor in front of her. Inside was the set of leather cuffs that I’d ordered, with enough pre-opened padlocks to secure everything in place. The collar was on top so I lifted that out, giving her an unobstructed view of the rest of the set, as well.

“Th—they’re beautiful!” she stammered. Once again, I could see a thousand different emotions vying for control behind her clear green eyes, and I was afraid she was going to break down at any moment.

“If you truly like them, they’re yours.” After seeing Erin’s reaction, I didn’t have the heart to take them away from her again. “But you have an important decision to make.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as confusion briefly seized the top spot in her clutter of emotions.

“Now that you have some idea of what to expect, I want you to think long and hard about whether you really want to continue. If not, I’ll just pack these up and you can take them with you, for your toy collection, when you leave. You can just consider this a thoughtful gift from a supportive friend, and we can go back to the way things were. No harm, no foul! On the other hand, if you decide to put them on, now, you’ll be all mine until the weekend is over.”

Not even a second had passed before Erin was frantically securing the cuffs around each of her wrists and ankles. She even locked them in place with the opened padlocks that had been provided, knowing full well there wasn’t a key in sight. Once she was finished, she resumed her kneeling pose, only this time she looked anxiously at the collar that I still clutched in my hands.

Knowing what she wanted, I undid the buckle and started to wrap it around her soft neck, but as I stared deeply into those beautiful, green eyes, I froze. Erin simply nodded slightly, never taking her eyes off mine, begging me to finish what I started. That was the push I needed, and when I finally finished fastening the buckle on the collar I heaved a great sigh of relief. I thought the hardest part was over … until I saw Erin offering the last padlock up to me, while her eyes silently begged me see this through to the end.

I took the lock into my trembling hands and after several false starts, finally threaded it into position, but my hands refused to engage it the rest of the way. Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to swing the lock around and close it. The seeming permanence of the act, and Erin’s unwavering eagerness to see it through to the end, was too much for me. Would I really be able to live up to her expectations? What if the real me fell short of her fantasy version? Would she be able to take it? Would I be able to take it? And why did it all seem so important, all of a sudden, when this was just supposed to be a weekend’s fun and games?

“This is your last chance to back out,” I pleaded with her, half-hoping, half-fearing that she’d give me some way out of this before things went any further. “Once this lock is closed, you’ll be all mine until Sunday evening, when I take you back to the campus. If we cross this line, there’s no going back! Are you absolutely certain this is what you want?”

Erin just stared back at me with a look of utter certainty. As I stared into her clear green eyes, the jumble of emotions that had been there just seconds earlier was slowly fading away, leaving only iron-hard determination in their wake.

She looked at me, seeming calmer than she’d been since this ordeal had first begun, and said, “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life! This is all I’ve ever wanted! I’m yours, for as long as you’ll have me….” In that instant, that iron conviction began to crack as tiny tendrils of doubt managed to bore their way through. Her whole brave façade was in danger of collapsing as the torrent of emotions flooded through those cracks, threatening to overwhelm everything else, once again. Tears welled up in her eyes and her voice cracked as she finally voiced the fear that threatened to overwhelm her. “Unless, of course … you don’t want me!”

The lock slammed shut with a deafening thud that continued to ring in my ears long after the moment had passed. My path was suddenly clear to me. For Erin’s sake, I would never hesitate again. I thought I was being considerate, weighing her emotions, but I now realized that nothing could be further from the truth. No, I was being brutally cruel, dangling the thing she wanted most in the world right in front of her face, all while reserving the right to snatch it away from her, the instant things went less than perfectly. From that moment on, for as long as we were both willing, I knew I’d have to throw myself into the role with every, single fiber of my being. Anything less simply wasn’t fair to Erin.

With my newfound resolve, I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed as tightly as I could. Tears welled up in my own eyes as I said, “Yes, I want you! I don’t quite understand it all, myself, but I know that I want you. I want you so badly, it hurts!”

Erin froze for a moment, as she took it all in. I could see it in her face. It was almost too much to hope for, and yet she’d heard me loud and clear. Then she saw the truth in my eyes. I wasn’t going to snatch it away from her … not this time. Not ever again! It was the best gift she could’ve received. “Thank you!” she cried as she eagerly returned the embrace … and the tears.

Chapter 8

The tears soon dried up, but the joy of the moment remained.

“Now what do you say we go get some breakfast?” I suggested as I tried to regain my composure.

“I thought you’d never ask!”

“Do you think you’ve recovered enough to make it to the kitchen on your own, or do you still need help?”

“I could probably manage,” she replied with a sly grin, “but if you’re offering to help, I’m not going to say no.” As she spoke, she hastily locked her arms around my waist, while she rested her head on one breast and hungrily eyed the other one, through my robe.

“You’ll take any excuse to press up against me, won’t you?” I asked, unable to suppress a small chuckle.

“Please? I’ve been dreaming of being this close to you for so long. Can’t we stay like this for a while?”

“It’ll slow me down and delay breakfast….”

“I’m in no rush!”

“Fine!” I sighed in surrender. “I’m just too damn nice!”

“I know,” Erin replied, kissing me fully on the lips. “Thank you!”

She leaned in for a second kiss, but shortly after her lips made contact, I yanked her away. “If you keep this up,” I growled hungrily, “we might not make it to the kitchen at all!”

“I have to tell you,” she said as she rubbed her hips against mine, “that doesn’t sound so bad, either!”

I gently swatted her ass, stopping her gyrations and causing her to leap in shock. “We’ve got a lot to do today, and you’re going to need your energy.”

“Fine,” she sulked, resuming her former position. “Lead the way!”

The rest of the trip was slow, but relatively uneventful, as we glided down the hallway in each other’s arms. I was enjoying the sensation of Erin’s soft, warm body, pressed tightly against mine, far more than I ever thought possible. Needless to say, she wasn’t the only one disappointed when we finally reached the dining room table, and I turned to say, “I’m sorry, Beautiful, but this is your stop.”

“But, you said….” She was pleading with me as she tried to make sense of this recent development.

“I know, I said we were heading for the kitchen, but you’re staying here. Now, be a dear and kindly take your seat and wait for me. I promise I’ll have breakfast ready as soon as I can.”

“Can’t I help you?” Erin pleaded.

“You couldn’t even make the trip from the bedroom without leaning on me, and now you want to help prepare breakfast?”

She bit her lip and nodded anxiously. “Please!”

“Well, tough! You’re going to sit, right here, and rest! I already told you, you’re going to need your energy for later.”

Reluctantly, she let go and took her seat. Though I knew she’d never admit it, I could tell from the way her legs trembled as she lowered herself to the chair, her body was grateful for the chance to rest again, even if she wasn’t. That didn’t stop her from making one last attempt to get her way, though.

“Can’t I at least sit in one of the chairs facing the kitchen, so that I can watch you while you’re preparing breakfast?”

“No!” I insisted. “I want you to focus on breakfast, not me.”

“Fine,” she conceded. “If that’s what you really want, I’ll stay here.”

“And to make sure you keep your promise….” I slid my hands down her arms as I carefully guided them behind the back of the chair. Once her wrists met, I held them in place with one hand while I fished a spare padlock out of my pocket to keep them together.

The soft click, as the lock snapped shut, caught Erin’s attention. “What did you—oh!” She answered her own question when she realized she could no longer pull her wrists apart.

“Now,” I whispered seductively as I moved to kneel in front of her, “if you’ll be a dear and spread your legs for me.”

My warm breath on her belly was all the coaxing she needed. “Anything you want!” Erin gasped as her legs glided apart until they were on either side of the chair.

“Perfect! That’s exactly what I wanted. Thank you!”

While Erin’s face flushed in anticipation, I quickly pushed her feet back under the chair, between the legs on either side, before securing her ankles together with one last padlock.

“There, that ought to keep you out of trouble, while I’m busy getting breakfast ready.” As I spoke, I started to rise to my feet, pausing to quickly kiss her navel along the way. That drew a moan from my once again, helpless companion, but it quickly turned into a groan of frustration when I kept going until I was standing upright, once again.

“Are you just going to leave me in this exposed position?”

“Believe me,” I growled predatorily, “it isn’t easy. Seeing you like that makes me want to do all sorts of nasty things to you.”

Though Erin’s sparkling, green eyes screamed, “Do it! Do it! Whatever you’re thinking, do it!” the only audible sound was a bizarre cross between a growl and a whimper.

As I looked at her reaction, I couldn’t help grinning. “Of course, I don’t need to do anything, do I? The simple fact is, I could do whatever I want to you, and there’s not a thing you could do to stop me, even if you wanted to.” To emphasize my point, I leaned down until my face was mere inches in front of hers, staring straight into her eyes, while I slowly drew a single finger up the length of her dripping slit. “And that’s enough to drive you crazy, all by itself, isn’t it?”

Erin simultaneously nodded and grunted in frustration as I pulled my finger away, the merest fraction of an inch before it would’ve brushed against her aching clit.

“Even after that series of heart-stopping orgasms, you’re ready for another round?” I asked as I playfully wiped my finger off on the tip of her nose.

“I—it’s from being so close to you!” she panted, eager to taste the gift I’d just given her, but finding her tongue to be just a hair too short. Her struggles amused me, but in the end, I took pity on her and placed the finger to her lips. She eagerly accepted the proffered digit and spent the next minute frantically cleaning every last trace of her pussy juice from it. When I finally withdrew my finger, with a slight pop, she looked into my eyes and said, “This is what you do to me!”

“Seeing you in this vulnerable state is having a similar effect on me,” I confessed as I gently caressed her cheek, causing Erin to nuzzle against my hand. “Unfortunately, we’ll both have to wait a bit longer, but I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Okay … but promise me you’ll hurry. I don’t think I can wait as long as I did last time.”

“Don’t worry, Sweetie!” I quickly kissed her cheek before heading into the kitchen. “Neither can I.”

***

The breakfast preparations were a blur as I rushed to get everything ready as quickly as possible. Thankfully, I’m pretty handy in the kitchen, so most of the work went quickly. Twenty minutes later, I had a plate piled high with French toast and breakfast sausage links, ready to be served.

As I carefully shuttled the plate out the to the table, Erin must’ve heard me coming because she turned and said, “I don’t know which has been the greater torture, being left here, in this exposed position, or having to sit and smell that great breakfast, but being forced to wait before I could actually dig in!”

“As much as I appreciate the compliment, you might want to wait until you’ve actually tasted the meal before you go on about how great it is.”

“Even if it only tastes half as good as it smells,” she insisted, “you’ll still have a masterpiece on your hands!”

“That’s just your hunger talking. You want to dig in as quickly as possible, don’t you?”

“Damn straight!” she agreed with a chuckle.

“Well, in that case, I guess I can’t keep you waiting. Just give me a few more minutes and we’ll be ready to begin.” With that, I turned to leave the room.

“Make it quick, or I’m starting without you!”

I paused in the doorway just long enough to snap back, “Not locked down, like that, you’re not!”

“I’ll dive in, face first, if I have to!” she called after me.

As she said those words, I couldn’t help but laugh at the image that played through my mind. Unfortunately, the giggles made my job that much harder, as I tried to juggle a pitcher of orange juice and two glasses  (and one straw) on my way back to the table. Once I had everything safely down, I playfully swatted her behind as best I could, given the fact that she was sitting on most of it.

“What was that for?” she asked, suddenly afraid, as if she thought her quip might’ve inadvertently crossed some line she wasn’t aware of.

“That’s for making me laugh so hard I almost spilled the juice all over the floor!”

Erin breathed a huge sigh of relief and resumed smirking. “Well, hurry up, and you won’t have to worry about it!”

“First,” I said, pouring glasses for each of us, “while I’m here, would you like something to drink? You’ve lost a lot of fluids since we started, and I doubt that glass of water I gave you earlier was sufficient.”

“Now that you mention it,” she croaked, her voice suddenly cracking with dryness, “I hadn’t realized just how thirsty I am.”

“Well, here,” I said, offering the straw to her lips, “drink up! There’s plenty more where that came from!” In no time, she had downed the whole glass.

Afterwards, I carefully used my finger to mop up the thin trails of juice that had snuck out of the corners of her mouth. I then dangled the finger in front of her, taunting her with is as she strained to suck it in. She even stretched out her tongue to catch the few drops that fell from the tip. Rather than helping her, however, I popped the finger into my own mouth and eagerly sucked it clean. Erin watched helplessly, as she whimpered in a mixture of hunger, frustration, and desire.

“That’s enough for now,” I nonchalantly informed her. “You can have as much as you want while we’re eating.”

“Hurry!” she hissed as I left one last time, only to return a few seconds later with a single plate, knife, and fork in one hand, and a chilled bottle of maple syrup in the other. In a matter of seconds, I had safely delivered the syrup and set a place at the table.

Erin didn’t say anything while that was going on. She didn’t even comment as I carefully shoved her chair against the table. It wasn’t until I took my seat around the corner, next to her, at the place I’d just set, that she finally knew something wasn’t quite right.

“What about me?” she begged.

“What do you mean, ‘What about you?’” I asked innocently.

“Don’t I get to eat, too?” She had been practically drooling in anticipation and the thought of being forced to wait even longer was too much to bear.

“Of course you do, Sweetie! What fun is a meal together if we can’t both enjoy it?”

“But….” She was utterly confused and unsure where to even begin. “D—don’t I get a plate, too?”

As I carefully prepared a large helping of food on my own plate, I looked straight into her eyes. “And just how, pray tell, would you plan on feeding yourself, if you did, hmmm? I’m not letting you go, and you can’t exactly hold a knife or fork with your hands cuffed behind your back, like that, can you?” I punctuated my question by shoving the first bit of French toast into my mouth.

“No, but—!” I cut her off by quickly skewering a second bite and waving the fork in front of her face. Now, instead of finishing her question, she just gave me a puzzled look.

“Well,” I asked, somewhat annoyed that I seemed to have to connect the dots for her, “are you going to eat, or are you going to let this meal I worked so hard on, get cold?”

Tentatively, she used her lips and teeth to carefully pry the food from the tines of the fork before closing her mouth around it, completely.

“Well?” I asked, taking another bite, myself.

“I’m in love!” she said, when she finally swallowed.

“With me or the French toast?” I laughed.

“With anyone who can make something that tastes this good!” This time, when I offered her the fork, her mouth was hanging open in anticipation.

“I’m glad you like it. Now eat up! There’s plenty here, and as I said, you’re going to need your strength.”

The rest of the meal consisted of pleasant chatter and amusing interruptions as I tried to keep us both fed. Even after we’d both eaten and drank to our heart’s content, the delightful conversation continued for some time while we let the meal settle. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and that wonderful breakfast was no exception.

“Amy?” Erin asked as looked up at me sheepishly. She seemed to waver on the edge of saying something until, finally, she just blurted it out. “Can you let me go, now? I need to use the bathroom.” As expected, in my efforts to rehyrdate her after all the sweat, tears, and … other secretions her body had been pumping out for the last several hours, it didn’t take long for all the orange juice (with a couple glasses of water thrown in for good measure) I forced down her throat to run its course.

I knew it was a brewing emergency, but there was one thing that I needed to take care of before I cut my friend loose (so to speak). After pulling her chair away from the table, I said, “All right! We’ll get you out of here as soon as we can, but we need to clean you up a bit first.”

“Huh?” Erin asked, clearly puzzled. “Uh, Ames…. This is a real emergency. As fun as it sounds, I don’t think I have time for another bath, right now.”

I laughed. “No, Silly! You don’t need another bath, but you are a bit of a messy eater when you can’t use your hands, do you know that?”

Erin blushed as she recognized the truth of the statement. For the most part, we’d been fairly tidy, but despite our best efforts a few drops of syrup had escaped her mouth and run down her chin, and without her hands, she couldn’t wipe them up, so they continued to drip down toward her chest. A couple spots even made it as far as her belly before coming to a halt.

Standing up, I leaned over toward my helpless friend and used my tongue to clean along her jaw line. I then traced my way down one side of her neck and up the other, before licking around her lips and, ultimately, sliding inside, until our lips were locked together, once again. While we each savored the sweetness on the other’s tongue, it became clear that, despite the brewing emergency, Erin was enjoying the treatment every bit as much as I was and was in no hurry to rush things along. In fact, when my lips finally pulled away from hers, she was gasping for breath, as her tongue darted out in search of some lingering trace of the sweetness that I might’ve left behind.

Before Erin’s brain could fully recover from those earlier sensations, I leaned over even further and began to hunt down the traces of syrup that had made it to her chest, carefully scrubbing every inch of first one breast, and then the other. As I took special care to suck every last bit of syrup from around her engorged nipples, it occurred to me that these were the very first breasts I’d had in my mouth (at least since infancy). It was definitely a new experience, but as I breathed in the scent of Erin’s freshly washed body, something felt oddly right about it … and judging from my friend’s moans, she wholeheartedly agreed.

Still, I knew that Erin’s emergency couldn’t wait forever, so I reluctantly relinquished her tender nipples and went in search of the last few drops of syrup around her belly. It took me a couple minutes to find them all from such extremely close range, but eventually, by carefully scouring every square inch, I tracked down every, last drop.

That’s when my tongue began a slow, downward motion, as if it was in search of sweetness even further south, but once I knew I had Erin’s full attention, I stopped abruptly, saying, “Ah, who am I kidding! This will never work.”

“You seem to be doing fine, to me,” Erin reassured me between panting gasps.

“Nah,” I insisted. “My mouth’s still sticky from breakfast. I’m just spreading the syrup around.”

While Erin whimpered in frustration, I shot to my feet and raced off to the kitchen, returning a moment later with a damp paper towel and proceeded to scrub down all of the areas I’d just finished “cleaning.” Unlike my earlier efforts, this was a no-nonsense scrubbing and I was finished in a matter of minutes.

“There,” I said, tossing the paper towel on my plate. “All clean! Now let’s see about that other emergency, shall we?”

Erin seemed unconvinced that I had my priorities straight, but rather than trying to persuade her, I silently bent down and unlocked the padlock joining the cuffs at her ankles, giving her a minute to stretch out her legs before helping her to her feet and guiding her back to the bathroom. Once we were at the door and I was sure she had her feet firmly under her, I gently shoved her off, on her way, saying, “You know what to do! Just keep the door open, and call for me when you’re finished.”

While she took care of business, I quickly ran off to turn on the computer, so it’d be warmed up and ready to go by the time we got back. Then I hastily cleared the dining room table, before returning to the bathroom just in time to hear Erin call out for me.

As soon as I entered, she spread her legs, ready for what she thought was next. “You can close your legs, Sweetie!” I politely informed her. “That was a one time thing!” Instead, I leaned her over and removed the padlock holding her wrists together. “You can take care of yourself. Just remember, I know you’re excited, but don’t go overboard with the stimulation, if you catch my drift.” She blushed slightly at the insinuation but was finished in matter of seconds. I patiently waited while she flushed and got up to wash her hands.

When she finished, however, I crept up behind her and tightly wrapped my arms around her, while we stared longingly at our reflections in the bathroom mirror. She seemed happy enough at the moment, but after the previous night, I knew that, under the surface, she was slowly being eaten away by guilt and self-loathing over what happened eight months ago. She thought she was some kind of monster, but as I stared at our reflections, I only saw myself and the wonderful girl I cared about more than I’d ever imagined possible.

“I just wish you could see what I see!” I sighed wistfully.

“Huh?” Erin asked, understandably confused.

I blushed at the sudden realization that I’d said that last part out loud. “N—nothing!” I stammered. As much as I wished it, I knew she wasn’t ready to face the truth, yet. “Just thinking out loud.”

“OK,” she replied. She clearly wasn’t entirely convinced, but she wasn’t going to press the point any further.

“Well, we’ve got a lot to do today,” I said, eager to get things back on track. “Are you ready to get started?”

“I guess, so.” The response was noncommittal, as if Erin couldn’t seem to decide whether she should be overjoyed at the prospect or dread it. That’s when I realized that there was something else we needed to take care of first.

“But first,” I said as I lowered the toilet lid again and sat down, “lie down across my lap, Erin. Now!”

She was puzzled and frightened, almost to the point of tears, that she might’ve inadvertently committed some unpardonable offense, but she did as I asked, without hesitation, rather than risk aggravating the situation further.

It was impossible not to notice the faint tremors of fear rippling through Erin’s slight frame, and I tenderly stroked her back. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, was running through the girl’s mind at that moment, but I’d learned enough during the last day to be fairly certain that it was a thousand times worse than what I was actually thinking, so I did my best to calm her down. Even so, I needed to remain in control, for Erin’s sake as much as anything, so all that I said was, “You know I’m about to punish you, and you wish to know what you did wrong, don’t you?”

Erin weakly nodded her head, afraid to look me in the eyes.

“The fact that you even have to ask is yet another sign of your….” The pregnant pause hung in the air as I froze in sudden indecision. I knew I had to choose my next words very carefully. If I said “failure,” I was certain Erin would take it as a rejection, and that was the last thing I wanted. It’d absolutely destroy her! Yet, she had failed. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was something that needed to be addressed, if we were ever going to make any progress.

“It’s a sign of your lack of discipline,” I finally decided. “From the moment we started this thing, you’ve been intermittently mouthy and insubordinate. Oh, you’ll do what I ask, eventually, but you usually make a big fuss about it first.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied meekly.

“It’s all right, Sweetie,” I said as I continued caressing her reassuringly. “In the grand scheme of things, that’s barely a problem at all. After all, if you ever have a serious complaint, I always want you to feel free to speak your mind … even if the problem is with me. If I ever do anything to make you unhappy, I want to know about it. I care about you too much not to hear you out.”

“But then, what--!”

“Don’t interrupt!” I said, cutting Erin off with a weak swat to the ass, before she could finish her thought. “The real problem, the one behind all of these nagging little questions and interruptions, is that you simply don’t trust me, yet.”

“But I do!” she insisted. “I trust you with my life! That’s why I let you tie me up!”

“No!” I corrected her. “You want to trust me completely, and you want to be able to surrender yourself to me without hesitation … but you aren’t there, yet. Breakfast made that abundantly clear!”

“What do you mean?”

“I had everything all planned out, and yet you kept questioning my actions, every, single step of the way. I asked you to take a seat so you could rest for a bit and regain your strength—something you desperately needed, whether you want to admit it or not—but you begged to follow me into the kitchen. I wanted you facing away from the kitchen, forcing you to focus on the sounds and smells of the food preparation so you’d be primed and ready for the meal, when it finally arrived, but you wanted to ogle my butt, instead. Lastly, I had already planned to wait on you, serving your every need … and you questioned whether or not I was even going to feed you? That’s trust?”

“But—?” Erin clearly wanted to object, to state the obvious: that she had no way of knowing what I was going to do. Deep down, however, she knew I was right; that if she’d simply had a little more faith in me, she’d have known that everything would work out, even if she didn’t necessarily know how. “I’m sorry!” she said again, as she hung her head in defeat.

“Answer me honestly! You enjoyed your breakfast, didn’t you?”

“It was amazing!”

“Now, if I had done everything the way you wanted, if I hadn’t teased you and primed you before pampering you the way I did, would you have enjoyed it anywhere near as much?”

“No,” she admitted bashfully. “It was perfect the way it was.”

“So you admit that you should’ve had more faith in me?”

“Yes!”

“And you accept your punishment, accordingly?”

“Yes! Trust is everything, and I didn’t trust you nearly enough. I’ll gladly accept whatever punishment you think is appropriate.”

“Well,” I said as I calmly stroked her tight ass, “since this is your first offense, let’s start with five swats, with my bare hand, and see where we go from there.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“My name is Amy!” I said as I smartly swatted both her cheeks at once. “That just added another five … and the one I just gave you doesn’t count!”

“What?” Erin practically shouted.

I swatted her ass again. “I was just about to explain myself, but once again, you failed to trust me, which means you’re up to fifteen, now. Care to try for twenty?”

I could tell she wasn’t happy, but she kept it to herself this time.

“Now that I have your attention, I want you to listen closely! I’m no better than you are, and the last thing I want is for you to start thinking that I am. As strange as it may sound, even in this situation, I still consider us equals, and either you learn to accept those terms or this thing between us, whatever it is or might become, is over.”

“Please, no! I can’t lose you. Not now!”

I leaned down and lovingly caressed her face. “And I don’t want to lose you, either, but that’s exactly what will happen if you start bowing to me as your lord and master.”

“Lady and mistress!” she corrected. I was about to swat her again, for her impertinence, but as soon as she started giggling I knew she was only joking.

“Right! Not that, either!” I replied, chuckling along with her. “See? That’s what I’m talking about! You’re a smart-alecky pain-in-the-butt, but that’s the woman I love! I don’t want some mindless slave at my beck and call. I want my best friend. I want you!”

“I’m not sure I understand. Why all this fuss about correcting my behavior then?”

“If we’re going to do this, you’ll need to trust me … and not just that average, everyday kind of trust. You need to know, with absolute certainty, that everything I do is as much for you as it is for me. If you keep questioning me at every turn, that leaves less time for the important things. Every minute spent explaining myself is another minute we aren’t enjoying ourselves to the fullest … and we have so little time to spend together as it is. I don’t want to change you. I just want to make the most of whatever time we have together.”

Erin mulled it over for a few minutes and the pieces seemed to slowly snap into place, for her.

“Besides,” I added, wishing to lighten the mood a bit, “where’s the fun in explaining all of my surprises beforehand?”

Erin chuckled, admitting that I had a point. When that chuckle slowly turned into mischievous smirk, I grew curious what was running through her head. I was just about to ask when she broke the silence, herself.

“So,” she asked, at last, “this equality…?”

“Yes? What about it?”

“Does it mean that I can punish you, too?”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Why, you cheeky little…. You’ll take any excuse to fondle my butt, won’t you?”

“I plead the fifth,” she replied, her smirk taking on a lecherous quality.

I laughed at Erin’s playfulness, happy to see that side of my friend, again, but I as I thought about it I realized that, whether she realized it or not, she’d just asked a very good question, and it deserved a serious answer. “Honestly?” I said, making sure I had eye contact so that Erin would know I wasn’t joking, this time. “In all seriousness, if I ever cross a line that you feel strongly enough about … then yes, I’ll willingly submit to any punishment you deem appropriate. It’s only fair!”

Erin was understandably shocked by this revelation. “Really?” she asked as soon as she was able to find her voice again.

“Yes,” I said truthfully. “This relationship, wherever it goes, needs to work for both of us, or it doesn’t work at all.” Then, to keep the conversation from getting too serious again, I quickly added, “Just be certain about what you’re doing, because you’re already seeing what happens when you exercise your freedoms on trivial objections that even you agree were misguided. Speaking of which, what are we up to? Ten, bare-handed spankings?”

“Fifteen,” she corrected me, sounding almost eager, this time.

“That’s my girl! Now what do you say we get started?”

Erin nodded, unsure of what to expect but willing to accept the consequences of her own actions.

I started gently at first, lightly slapping her each cheek in turn. As her ass started to turn a light pink, I slowly began to pick up the pace. The last three strokes were landed on both cheeks, simultaneously, and they hit with enough force that the sound echoed clearly off the bathroom walls.

To her credit, other than a few gasps and whimpers, Erin didn’t make a single sound as she bore her punishment. When I was finished, however, she lifted her head and uttered a heartfelt, “Thank you! I’ll do my best to trust you, from now on.”

“I know you will, Sweetie,” I cooed as I lovingly stroked her burning cheeks. “Just remember, we all make mistakes. The important part is learning from them.” With that, I sat Erin up on my lap, leaving her inflamed butt hanging over edge, while I continued to gently stroke it. Enjoying the attention, my friend rested her head on my shoulder and sighed contentedly, so we spent the next several minutes enjoying the closeness of a moment neither one of us wanted to end. By the time Erin’s butt finally stopped squirming under my gentle caresses, however, I knew it was time to move on.

“Come on, Sweetie,” I said as I reluctantly prodded my friend into motion. “As much as I’d love to stay here with you all day, you’ve got work to do. Stand up so we can get you ready.” Once she was on her feet, I told her to stay put while I went to get some supplies. Sure enough, when I came back with the chain, a handful of padlocks, my new vibrators (with fresh batteries), and a tube of lubricant, she was still standing right where I’d left her.

I started by fastening one end of the chain to the ring on the front of Erin’s collar, letting the rest of it hang down and pool on the floor.  After that, I picked up the butterfly vibrator, carefully positioned it for maximum effect, and tightly strapped it into place. Confident that everything was where it needed to be, I fetched a roll of first aid tape from the medicine cabinet and carefully taped the control mechanism to the front of her left thigh, making sure nothing interfered with the controls, themselves.

By that point, my plan was starting to take shape, and Erin was curious to see what I had in mind, so when I asked her to place her hands on the toilet lid, bend over and spread her legs, she complied without a moment’s hesitation. I don’t know if she was quite so eager when I squirted a tiny bit of lubricant on her tight sphincter, but she made no effort to stop me, despite the fact that her cheeks were clearly still a bit tender. She didn’t even balk when I slowly probed her insides with first one finger, then two. In fact, she was soon moaning and eagerly trusting back against my hand with each push. She even seemed to whimper in disappointment when I finally removed the fingers, completely.

Erin’s frustration was short-lived, however. In no time, I had lubed up the bullet vibrator and was tenderly working it between her cheeks, instead. She tried to control herself, but couldn’t stifle a moan as the tiny vibrator finally slid home and her muscles clamped down behind it, securing it in place. I finished by repeating what I’d done with the controls for the butterfly, only this time the box was taped to her right thigh.

“How’s that feel?” I asked as I helped her to stand up straight, again.

“Different, but not exactly unpleasant,” she admitted. “I’m not used to having something up there, but I think … I might even grow to like it.” She was blushing so cutely by the time she finished, I couldn’t resist wrapping my arms around her reassuringly.

“I was going to wait until we’d had some time to discuss our personal limits before trying something like this, but after your reaction while I was washing you this morning, I knew you wouldn’t have any problems!”

“I’m glad you didn’t wait. If you had, I’d have probably said no, simply on principle, but now that you’ve already done it, I’m actually kind of anxious to see how this plays out.”

“See what you happens when you trust me?” I asked her with a warm smile.

“Thank you!”

“Anything for my special girl,” I said as I kissed her quickly, but passionately. “But I’m just getting started!”

Before she could ask what was next, I dashed out of the room, only to return a minute later with one of my old vibrators (also with fresh batteries). After turning it to its lowest setting, I teasingly rubbed it along the lips of Erin’s pussy … the parts that I could still reach, around the butterfly, anyway. I contemplated adding lubricant, but after seeing the way she was unconsciously grinding her hips against it, I figured it would probably be redundant, so I carefully worked it into place, between her lips, as is.

I took my time, which caused Erin to moan in frustration, but once the vibe had all but disappeared inside, I told her, “Now, make sure that stays put, all right?” Without waiting for a response, I dashed out once more, shouting behind me, “And I’ll be right back, so don’t even think about adjusting the speed on that thing!”

I could hear Erin’s continued moans of frustration, as the vibrator now buried deep in her pussy continued to mercilessly tease her, even as I scoured the bedroom for her duffel bag. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember where she’d tossed it, the night before. All the while, Erin’s moans became more and more urgent and panicked. She clearly didn’t want to disappoint me, but without anything else to focus on besides the incessant teasing, the temptation to crank up the vibrator in order to scratch that persistent itch was obviously becoming harder to resist with each passing moment … especially with her hand already so close to the controls. Thankfully, I soon found I found the bag I was looking for, under the bed, where it had apparently been kicked at some point, so I fished out a clean pair of panties and raced back to my friend’s rescue.

Back in the bathroom, I carefully helped Erin into the clean panties and pulled them up into place, an act that caused her to heave a huge sigh of relief. Even though her frustration was continuing unabated, it seemed that she was glad to simply have the temptation to do anything about it safely out of her hands, again. Whether it was the physical barricade (flimsy as it was) between her and the controls or simply the fact that I was there to take charge again, she seemed to be calming down, though the occasional ragged gasp still hinted at the embers of arousal that continued to smolder within her, eagerly waiting to be fanned into a bonfire that would consume everything.

“We’re almost done, here,” I informed her. “You’re doing great!”

With her mind swimming in thoughts of the eagerly awaited orgasm that still seemed so painfully far away, it was all Erin could do to smile feebly.

I knew, seeing her in this frustrated state, that if things continued this way, I wouldn’t be much longer until I could no longer resist pouncing on her, myself, but there were things we needed to do, so I raced to finish before events got out of hand. With that in mind, I quickly snatched up a clean bath sponge and shoved it down the front of Erin’s panties, as far as it would go. With a little tugging and prodding, she finally had a hefty layer of padding to protect both the butterfly vibrator and her pussy from what was coming next.

Grabbing the chain that was still dangling from her neck, I pulled it down to a little above hip height and held it tight while I pulled the rest of the chain at right angle and wrapped it around her waist. Once the chain was back in front, I took a padlock and secured everything in place where they met, just below her navel, leaving the free end to dangle toward the floor again. After that, I raised her wrists to what I guessed would be approximately keyboard height and secured them to the same link in the chain running down the center of her chest, using two more padlocks, one on either side. Lastly (and this is why the padding was so important), I fed the rest of the chain down between her legs, back up between her butt cheeks, and under the chain that circled her waist before pulling it tightly, pressing all of the vibrators even more firmly against her sensitive regions.

Holding the remaining feet of the chain like a leash, I leaned in next to her ear and said, “Now, off to the computer room, with you. March!”

Erin glanced back, her eyes pleading as if to say, “What? Now?” but she didn’t say a word as she turned to lead the way.

“Sit down,” I ordered her once we’d arrived. When she did, I slid the chair all the way up to the desk and discovered that I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried. Her wrists were perfectly placed to allow her hands to reach the keyboard. In this position, she’d be able to type. She wouldn’t be as fast as she would with her hands free, but she could do it, and I could rest assured that her hands wouldn’t be going anywhere they shouldn’t when I wasn’t looking, no matter how horny she got.

Once I was certain that everything else was in order, I made sure Erin was sitting as far back in the chair as possible and confirmed that the chair was pushed as far forward as possible. Then, I tugged firmly on the last bit of chain, knelt down, and fed it through a gap in the back of the chair. At the same time, I pulled Erin’s ankles together and fed a padlock through the rings on the leather cuffs to keep them that way, but I didn’t close the lock just yet. Instead, I pulled her legs as far back as they could comfortably go and locked them to the chain, making sure everything was pulled as tightly as I could manage. Now, not only were her feet immobilized as well, but if she tugged on them, she’d only pull the crotch chain tighter, further stimulating her already heated groin.

“How’s everything feel?” I asked as I took a step back to admire my handiwork.

“I can barely move a muscle!”

“Good! It gets better!” I carefully checked to ensure that all of the vibrators were still in position. After confirming that everything was secure, it was finally time to turn both the bullet and the butterfly on. I started with them half way.

Erin’s body jerked suddenly at the increased stimulation.

“Like it?” I asked, enjoying the show.

“W—wow!  I—I’ve n—never f—felt anyth—thing l—like it!” she stammered as she tried to get her body back under control.

“Trust me, I know! Those two were tormenting me all day yesterday. Now you see why I was so desperate to get you to bed, last night!”

“Uh-huh!” She was barely coherent, and I knew she wouldn’t last long under the current stimulation. I kissed her deeply, waiting for the right moment, and when the tension in her body said that her orgasm was just a few more seconds away, I turned the vibrators off, again, eliciting the expected moan of frustration.

“Now,” I said to Erin after the fever pitch of her arousal calmed down a bit and she’d become slightly more lucid, “if you’re careful, you should have just enough freedom to type.”

“L—like this?” she asked, her eyes pleading for a reprieve.

“How silly of me!” I exclaimed in surprise. “I almost forgot!” I dashed back to my room, only to return a few seconds later with one last item in my hands. I took Erin’s chin in my hands and stared deeply into her eyes, as I said, “Kiss me and make it good! It’s going to have to last us both for a while!” Then, without a moment’s hesitation, I dove right into a kiss so explosive I felt my knees beginning to buckle. Just as I was about to collapse completely, I managed to tear myself away, and when Erin’s mouth went searching for mine again, I shoved in the improvised ball gag I’d just brought back from my room (it was just one of the hole-filled, practice golf balls with a piece of string running through it), frustrating her even further.

“There!” I said as I finished loosely tying the string off behind her head, “that should keep any unnecessary comments to a minimum.”

Erin wasted no time in using her tongue to pop the ball out of her mouth. “What was that f-mmph?”

She was cut off as I popped the ball right back into place and clamped my hand over her face to hold it in until I could explain. “Good! I needed to know that you could pop it out if you needed to, but now, even though it’s mostly symbolic, I want you to keep it in place and think of it like a real gag. Do that for me, okay?”

That’s all it took to convince her, and she eagerly nodded her consent.

“Now, I’m sorry, sweetie,” I said as I stood straight up, once more, “but I have some errands I need to attend to, so I have to leave you for few hours, but you’ll hardly even notice I’m gone.”

As I leaned down to turn the vibrators on, once again, this time to their lowest settings, Erin’s eyes were pleading with me, begging me not to leave her like this.

“Don’t worry, Beautiful! You’ll have plenty to do to pass the time. After all, I expect you to be writing, non-stop, while I’m gone.”

Erin’s look turned to sheer panic.

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? This should be an easy assignment! I want you to write about your fantasies. You said you’ve dreamed of this moment … well, tell me about it. When you fantasized about the two of us together, how did it go? What did I do to you? What do you want me to do to you right now? I can’t imagine you’re able to think about much else at the moment, are you?”

Erin shook her head.

“And there’s nothing else you can do to ease your frustrations, so you might as well try to sublimate it into your writing. I want to know what sorts of things drive you absolutely wild! Who knows? It might give me some ideas of things to try, in the future.” I didn’t tell her, but it could also give me an idea of the sorts of things she hadn’t even thought of … things that I could keep in my back pocket to spring at a moment’s notice, knowing that she’d never see them coming. “Leave no detail out! Remember, the more vivid you make your accounts, the better it’ll be for both of us.”

I could see by the sparks of excitement flashing in Erin’s eyes that she needed no further encouragement. In fact, when I returned less than half a minute later, she was already typing away furiously and I had to fight to get her attention back. “I’m glad to see you’re so enthusiastic about this latest assignment, I really am, but I have a couple last points to go over before I go, and they’re kind of important.” I placed two sealed envelopes down on either side of the keyboard. On each of them, I had printed the words “For emergency use, only!”

“Don’t open them,” I cautioned her, “but I need to know if you can reach them without too much trouble.”

It was a stretch, but with a little bit of effort, she was able to wrap her fingers around each envelope. So far, so good!

“They’re each held in place with a tiny bit of scotch tape. You shouldn’t have any trouble prying them loose, but hopefully it’ll prevent you from accidentally knocking them out of reach, and there’s two of them, just in case you do manage to send one of them somewhere where you can’t get to it. As for what they are, it’s quite simple, really. Inside each envelope is an identical key. Either one will unlock every single padlock holding you in place. Just remember, they’re only to be used in the event of an absolute emergency, like if the building catches on fire, someone tries to break in, you start to lose feeling your hands, or something like that … a genuine emergency! They are not to be used lightly, and since you’ll have to tear open the envelopes to get to the keys, I’ll know instantly if you tried to use them. Even if you tried to replace the envelopes and lock yourself back in position before I return, that’s my handwriting on the outside.”

“Similarly,” I continued, one finger gently tracing her lips, “I know that you can spit out your gag at any moment, but I’m trusting you to keep it in place. The reasons for this are twofold. First, since it’s and improvised gag, I can’t tie it too tightly, or else the string will start to cut into your mouth and the very last thing I want is to hurt you. Who knows? If this works well, maybe we can look into buying a real gag or two, sometime, but for now, this is what we’ve got to work with, at least as far as a gag that won’t interfere with your breathing, while I’m gone … which brings me to my second point. The string should keep the ball from sliding back too far, and with all those holes, you shouldn’t have any problems breathing, but if you do start choking or worse, don’t hesitate to spit it out. Just know that if you do, I’ll know it. With your hands cuffed at that level, you won’t be able to pop it back into place, once you spit it out. Again, this is a safety measure for emergency use only. Do you understand?”

Erin solemnly nodded her head.

“Now, I’m trusting you, just as I’ve asked you to trust me. If I find that trust has been misplaced, I’ll have to give serious consideration to whether or not we have any future together worth pursuing. If we’re going to do this, we have to know that we can each trust the other to do her part. Without that trust, we have absolutely nothing! There can be no relationship! Do I make myself crystal clear?”

She swallowed hard, trembling under the weight of the words I had just dropped on her.

“I told you it was important,” I said, taking her into my arms and gently stroking her hair as I tried to calm her down. “Just remember, I’ll be disappointed if you try to take advantage of these loopholes to escape when I’m not looking, but above all else, I want you to be safe. You’re the most important thing to me. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you while I was away, so if you run into any problems at all, don’t risk injuring yourself in some misguided attempt to make me happy, all right?”

She still looked a little shaken up by the sudden seriousness, but she nodded without hesitation.

“I love you!” I told her as I pressed my lips to hers. Even though the gag was in the way, the raw passion we felt refused to be stopped by a simple thing like the laws of physics, and I knew I wanted her more than ever. “Now, get back to work! I expect to find several pages detailing your steamiest fantasies by the time I get back.”

Flashing a beautiful smile that the gag couldn’t disguise, Erin nodded her agreement and returned to work.

Now, I was finally on my own.

Chapter 9

After finally exchanging my bathrobe for some more appropriate clothing, I hastily stuffed Erin’s earlier writings into my briefcase. Gathering together her discarded clothes, I crammed them into her duffel bag, before dragging it and my briefcase out to my car. A quick drive across town later, and I was ready to swap the duffel bag, filled with all the clothes that my newly conscripted slavegirl wouldn’t be needing for at least a day, for the second box of equipment I’d stashed in the rented storage locker the day before.

I still wasn’t sure I was going to need anything in that box, but given the surprisingly enthusiastic way in which I’d embraced the activities, thus far, it was starting to look far more likely than it had, less than a day ago. Besides, it didn’t hurt to be prepared, and I planned to keep Erin on a short leash for the rest of the weekend. (Why was I suddenly filled with an urge to visit the nearest pet store?) As long as I could get the box inside without any problems, I had far less to fear from her innate curiosity, now.

Still, those were problems for later. The first step was to get the box out to my car, but once it was safely secured in the trunk, I had some time to kill, so I figured I’d head back to the café, where my plan had first started to take shape, and relax for a bit.

While I casually sipped my coffee, I decided it was finally time to see what Erin’s professors were so upset about, so I cracked open my briefcase and started with her first draft. Less than half a page in, I was thankful for the coffee. Without the bitterness and the caffeine, I doubt I would’ve made it through to the end. It was that bad! It was, without a doubt, one of the most uninspired writing exercises I’d ever had the misfortune of being subjected to. What was even more shameful was the fact that I knew she was capable of so much more. The words she’d written at the age of six held more fire and passion in each poorly spelled syllable than could be found in the entirety of her most recent opus. No wonder she was flunking out! Still, it was only a rough draft, so I held out hope that she might be able to redeem herself in the editing, though in my heart of hearts, I knew I was deluding myself.

After ordering an espresso to ensure I could keep going, I plodded through version 2.0. Unfortunately, as I’d feared, it wasn’t much better. It was improved! There could be no doubt about that. I actually made it through the first page before it occurred to me that rolling the paper into a tube and jabbing it in my eye would have probably been less painful, but that was the limit of the good things that could be said about it. Everything else was on the same level of horror as the first draft and so far below what I knew she was capable of as to be completely off the scale.

Prospects for helping Erin out of her academic rut were not looking good. If I didn’t find some way to help her permanently ditch the funk she’d been living under, she’d flunk out faster than the girls I met in my Freshman year (the ones who gave up on their biology and English degrees in order to major in vodka and schnapps, instead). What’s worse: she’d deserve to! 

I ordered a second espresso to help rinse off the cobwebs in an effort to formulate a plan, but no matter how much I wracked my brains, nothing was coming to mind. By 12:30, I was still no closer to a solution than I was when I’d started, but I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to check in on Erin.

***

After I finished parking my car, I contemplated how I was going to sneak the box of supplies inside without Erin asking questions. In the end, however, it turned out to be a moot point, because I was able to waltz right through the door without a hitch. She didn’t even notice that I was back. In fact, she barely acknowledged anything going on around her. There wasn’t even a glimmer of recognition when I walked up behind her, untied the string running through the makeshift ballgag, and carefully pried the ball from her mouth. She just stared at the computer screen with an expression of determination I hadn’t seen on her face in years, pounding away at the keys so furiously, I’d have sworn she’d been typing, in this position, all her life. Something was definitely different. I figured I’d worry about that, later, though. My first priority was to make sure she was okay.

Even though the gag was removed, her jaw still hung open, so I couldn’t resist seizing the opportunity. I leaned in to plant a passionate kiss, but I got a lukewarm response. Instead, Erin was busy craning her neck, trying to look around my head at the monitor.

“Honey, I’m home!” I whispered seductively into her ear.

“Mmmm!” was all I got in response.

“Do you want to take a break?” I asked with genuine concern.

“Let me finish this, first!”

Well, at least she could still talk. I needed more information, though. “Can I read what you’ve written so far?”

“Hmmm!”

“Yes? No?”

“Mmm!”

“The leaders of the world have secretly been replaced by mutant space-weasels!”

“Hmm!”

Talking clearly wasn’t getting me anywhere! Finally, as a last resort, I shoved her hands out of the way just long enough for me to hit Ctrl+P and Enter and waited while the printer delivered a copy of her latest work for me to look over. Ten pages later, the printer was still going, so I glanced in the corner of screen and saw that she was already on page 14 … single-spaced. Memories of my recent traumas at the hands of her previous writing efforts were still fresh in my mind, but her enthusiasm was contagious. I couldn’t wait to see what she’d written, so far.

So I didn’t! While the printer was still running, I took what I had already and moved over the couch to see what she’d accomplished in those first 10 pages.

If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have thought the papers were written by the same person. While Erin’s earlier papers were mind-numbingly awful, her accounts of her fantasies were, without a doubt, the steamiest thing I’d ever read. After the first sentence, my hand was drifting, unconsciously, toward my eager pussy, and by the time I was halfway through the first page she’d already painted me as such a masterful and compassionate lover that I would’ve given anything to fuck me … and it only got worse from there! By page 3, I was completely nude (the real me, not just the one in Erin’s story who was too busy rocking that girl’s world to bother putting any clothes on, in the first place), and I couldn’t have told you what happened after page 4 because I never made it that far.

I threw down the stack of papers and raced to the bedroom for my last vibrator before throwing myself at Erin, quite literally. In mid-flight, I slammed the vibrator into position, and by the time I landed, straddling her lap, I was already cranking all of them, both hers and mine, up full blast. As I frantically ground my hips against her, my lips got a death grip on hers and refused to let go, no matter how desperately she struggled to look around me to see the screen. I was too far gone to care as I madly mashed my hips against anything that got in their way while I rode out wave after wave of orgasm.

Don’t get me wrong! They were wonderful, but by the time orgasm number five was slowly coming to a head, it was all too clear that I’d need to take stronger measures. My body still recalled the pleasures from the bath, that morning, and Erin’s hypnotic prose had ignited an undeniable urge to experience those feelings once more. In other words, if I wanted to truly quench the inferno that raged within me, I’d need Erin’s help … but first I had to get her attention.

After crawling under the desk, I quickly used a key to unlock the padlock securing the chains around her waist. With that gone, the right angles vanished and the chain curved around her body, allowing me to pull it out of my way and away from her dripping pussy. My path clear, I removed the sponge padding, only to discover that it was so thoroughly drenched, it was literally dripping with her juices. As my stomach twisted with fear that I may have accidentally pushed her too far, I contemplated tossing the sponge away, but I quickly thought better of it. Whatever the situation was, I knew I had to give my dear friend the relief she so desperately needed and bring her down, and I had to do it soon. I also knew that, when the dam finally broke and she got her release, I’d need all the help I could get to keep her from screaming the walls down, so I carefully folded the sponge and shoved it into her mouth, leaving a trail of her juices all the way up her body as I did.

While I held the sponge in place with one hand, I used the other to pull her panties out of the way and quickly went to work. Since she was obviously long past the point of foreplay, my tongue launched an all out assault on her clit, right from the start … the parts I could reach behind the vibrator, anyway. (I realize it was probably pointless, given the amount of stimulation she was already experiencing and my limited access to the key areas, but I felt like I needed to do something.) Erin’s hips bucked and ground against my face, instinctively, but she didn’t stop typing. In fact, her fingers were starting to fly over the keys, growing faster and faster with each passing second. Before long, her whole body was trembling and it was then that I realized what the problem was: she was actually holding herself back.

“Let go!” I pleaded with her. “You need this.  Stop holding back and just let it happen.”

For just a fraction of a second Erin glanced down, catching my eyes, but any hope I’d possessed of getting through to her evaporated when she resumed typing, with renewed zeal … or so I thought. The key presses were getting firmer and more deliberate with each passing second, until at long last, with one final pounding sound, she lowered her hands and surrendered her body to the pleasures she had been holding back for so long. Spasms rocked her entire body as the first waves came pounding through. I took that as my cue to return to my post. My tongue flicked at any sensitive area it could reach with everything I had. With my inexperience, I had no idea how long I could maintain that pace, but I refused to stop. At the same time, while one hand continued to hold the sponge in place, desperately trying to muffle her primal screams of bliss as much as possible, the other hand crept up to her breasts and was busy firmly pinching and tweaking her nipples.

Erin didn’t notice any of it, though … not consciously, anyway. The waves of pleasure were so intense and so frequent that they just seemed to run together. And they were getting stronger! She was already thrashing around so violently, I was afraid she might injure herself, and there was no doubt that she would’ve done just that, if she hadn’t been tied down. After a full minute, I was starting to worry that it might never end. In fact, her jerking had gotten so vicious, I feared she might even break the chair. After all, she’d already managed to lift it clear off the ground on at least one occasion.

Fortunately, just as I became concerned that she might not be able to take any more, the waves finally began to subside. It was slow, at first, but her body was gradually beginning to tire and calm down. When she had quieted sufficiently, I carefully removed the sponge from her mouth so I could kiss her passionately, while she rode out the last waves of bliss, before turning my tongue to the task of cleaning up the trail of juices left on her body when I first transferred the sponge to her mouth. She just sighed contentedly and enjoyed the sensations as the aftershocks ever so slowly ran their course.

Once the tremors had slowed to one every 10 seconds or so, Erin feebly cracked open her eyes, found mine, and croaked, “I—I finished it … f—for you!” The next thing I knew, her eyes rolled quickly toward the monitor before continuing straight to back of her head as she passed out completely. I was worried, but her even breathing and blissful sighs told me she wasn’t suffering.

Only after I was convinced that she was safe did I take the time to decipher her cryptic message, and as my eyes followed the last path hers took, the pieces all fell into place. There, on the computer screen, at the very bottom of the document she had been working on so furiously, was a tiny statement that explained everything: “The End?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Erin, you silly, silly girl!”