Sydney felt like the quad was somehow getting longer as she trudged her way toward the spot Austin had picked out for himself; no matter how many awkward, uncomfortable steps she took in his direction, it seemed like the inevitable confrontation only loomed more ominously in her imagination instead of actually getting closer. And it wasn't even like she could decide to put off the conversation, either--the smug, lopsided smile on his ruddy cheeks that no doubt passed for a seductive expression in his overactive imagination told Sydney that he'd already seen her. She closed the last twenty feet or so with a wince involuntarily building on her face, and finally, gracelessly mumbled, "Um, look. About last night...."
He licked his lips. He actually licked his fucking lips. Even coming from a guy with tanned, toned abs and a mop of adorably curly blond hair that made him look like the only surfer in Texas, that still looked dumb. "You liked it, huh?" he asked, clearly not picking up the vibe Sydney was putting out. "Because there's plenty more where that came from, babe." Oh god. Had she actually asked him to call her 'babe' last night? It was distinctly possible, she knew. Big chunks of the evening were nothing more than a haze of warm, sensual pleasure, and Sydney was all too aware of how she got when she... well, when she got the itch again. Nothing would surprise her too much to discover.
But that was then and this was now. Sydney squared her shoulders, brushed back her long chestnut hair, and said, "Look. I'm not going to say what happened last night was a mistake, because I really do like you and I'd like to keep seeing you and I'm not ashamed of--of what we did together." She stumbled slightly over those last few words, but Sydney felt confident that he'd think it was some usual morning after shyness about sex and not a fuzzy gap in her memories regarding the actual events of the previous evening. "But I want you to understand that I'm not usually that kind of girl and I don't want you to think that's going to happen every time I come over to your place."
"Oh, really." He leaned back against the tree and put his hands behind his head, not incidentally exposing his bare chest in a way that Sydney had to admit made her body twinge ever so slightly in arousal. "And just how often can I expect it to happen?" he asked, still trying to put that macho condescending 'big strong man' act on that had probably worked very well for him last night. Sydney had vague memories of mewling and whimpering and... had she called him 'Daddy'? Oh Jesus fuck. Why did this have to happen on the first date, when it could develop into a huge entitlement complex?
"It's getting less and less likely by the minute," she said tartly, and although his expression went petulant, he at least stopped flexing for her. "Look, I, um... I'm a little embarrassed about it, but there are some times--some rare times--when I kind of lose control of my sex drive, okay? And last night was, well, it was one of those very rare times." She knew how vague and fuzzy her description sounded, but the last thing she wanted to do was give Austin an idea of what her triggers actually were. Who would possibly imagine that a man barely out of his teens would put Vitamin C on his fucking 'Seduction Mix'?
Sydney sighed, plowing forward as best she could. "I enjoyed it, I'm fine if you enjoyed it, and I'm not saying we'll never be intimate again. Just don't expect that kind of, of... performance out of me, okay? Because you're not likely to see that side of me any time soon." Because she'd be picking the music for their next date. And as far as Sydney was concerned, 'The Itch' was never coming out of any speaker within a hundred-yard radius of her and Austin Bradley ever, ever again.
Jesus fucking fuck. How the hell did she wind up with a fucking deep dark secret past at the fucking age of fucking twenty already?
Because she'd been so excited to turn eighteen and finally start exploring all those fetishes that had been bubbling up inside her horny teenage brain. Because she'd overconfidently believed that hypnosis wasn't really real, and if it was she was more than capable of handling herself. Because older men were always on the lookout for naive young women like her and they knew exactly what drives and kinks and turn-ons to exploit to keep them from realizing just how much of themselves they were surrendering every time they sank into that hypnotic power that always felt so, so fucking good. Sydney was lucky she'd gotten away at all, really. A few triggers left over in her head were a small price to pay for her independence, even if Sydney was learning the hard way just how tenuous that independence was.
Austin gave her a sullen glare. "That's not what you said last night, babe." He practically spat the last word at her. "You told me you never wanted to stop sucking my big cock. You said you wanted us to go out shopping today and pick out a dog collar for you so I could always remind you of what a needy little bitch in heat you were. Any of that ringing a bell? Because you were pretty damn into the idea while I was fucking you." Sydney winced, and not just because Austin's voice had picked up enough volume that she was beginning to worry about him making a scene. He'd clearly learned a little something about his own desires last night, and finding out that he was getting his new plaything taken away had awoken something ugly in him. She was beginning to feel like even prolonging this conversation was a mistake, let alone seeing him a second time.
But she didn't want him getting the wrong idea... or worse, telling someone else the wrong idea. "That--that wasn't the real me," she stammered, flustered by the effort of having to come up with so many half-truths on the fly. "That was, um, I--I lost my self-control, okay?" She could feel her cheeks burning and tears pricking at the corners of her hazel eyes. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. Austin was supposed to be a gentleman who realized he still had a shot with her if he played it cool, not some entitled dude who only wanted her when she was a vapid horny slut.
Austin smirked. It looked a lot less dumb and a lot more natural than the one he wore when she first walked up. "Yeah, I kind of got that," he said, his tone so patronizing that Sydney wanted to reach out and slap him. "I guess you were really telling the truth last night when you said you'd never remember anything, weren't you?" Sydney felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She--she wouldn't have, would she? Even once she was triggered, even in the absolute depths of her submissive trance state, she wouldn't have been dumb enough to simply babble out the full truth to the first guy who made her pussy wet, would she?
