She wasn't doing anything wrong, Sophia told herself, wiping her flushed and sweaty palms on her jeans while she waited for the door to open. She'd done her best to find out what was happening the easy way--she had directly asked Brianna if there was anything going on between her and their neighbor, and Brianna had told her no. Even if she'd seemed a little distracted while she said it, even if the mere mention of Zachary Dreyer always seemed to make Sophia's friend's eyes unfocus a little bit in vague, absent-minded contentment, she'd given a very clear answer. It was just an answer Sophia didn't believe.
The door opened, revealing a white man in his early thirties with long chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail, a perpetual five o'clock shadow, and warm hazel eyes that lit up in welcome at the sight of Sophia standing outside his apartment door. "Well, hello, neighbor!" he said, giving the petite blonde a wide smile and an enthusiastic wave. "If you're looking for Bree, I haven't seen her since this morning, but I know she said she'd be stopping by on the way back from work. So if you just want to hang out, I'm sure she'll be--"
"I wasn't looking for Bree," Sophia interrupted, her expression solemn. "I was looking for you... and to be honest, I was hoping to talk to you when she wasn't around." She looked at him expectantly, even as his air of warm welcome faded into guarded concern. "May I come in?" she asked at last, when he didn't say anything for a long, awkward moment. "I don't think this is a conversation we want to be having in the hallway."
He blinked heavily, his face frozen in bemusement, then stepped aside. "Yeah, um, sure, sure, come on in," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Look, uh, if this is something about Bree and me, I just want to let you know that we're just friends, okay? She's really sweet, and all, and sure, she comes over a lot to watch anime with me and maybe smoke a little weed, but I wouldn't do anything to, um, y'know, uh--"
Sophia sighed, a steam-whistle blast of exasperation that cut into Zachary's rambling excuses more effectively than any shout. "Your bed is right on the other side of the wall from me, dumbass," she snapped, unable to control her irritation at his mock-stammering innocent act. "I can hear you, I can hear Bree, and believe me when I tell you that after six years of rooming with her, I know exactly what it sounds like when she has sex. Can we just skip the bullshit and be honest here?"
Zachary gave her a wary look. "She's a grown woman," he said, sounding a touch defensive. "She's finished college, even. Maybe there's a little bit of an age difference, yeah, but she's old enough to be making her own decisions without her friends jumping in and making a--a big thing out of it." Sophia had half-expected him to make a fight out of it as soon as she confronted him with the truth, but thankfully he didn't seem more than a little bit huffy about the whole thing, at least not yet.
Then again, she wasn't done talking. "You're hypnotizing her, though, aren't you?" she asked, although the tone in Sophia's voice made it clear it wasn't actually a question. "I hear you talking to her sometimes, I know it's not just normal dirty talk. You've been hypnotizing her into doing, um, stuff. In the bedroom." A prickle of heat against her porcelain cheeks told her she hadn't been as successful at sounding calm and collected about that as she had over everything else so far.
Perhaps Zachary sensed a bit of an opportunity, because he straightened up a little and let his voice drop into a slightly lower register, suddenly radiating a confident charisma that made what could have sounded like yet more defensiveness into something more like reassurance. "If that's what you want to call it," he said, fixing Sophia with a smoldering stare that she had to admit suited the older man very well. "Personally, I think I'm just very skilled at the art of gentle persuasion. I'm describing things I think Bree would enjoy, using very evocative language that allows her to imagine what it might be like to give in to that experience, and she's come to trust my very reasonable suggestions. There's nothing wrong with any of that, is there?"
"I hope not," Sophia replied, hooking her thumbs into the straps of her sleeveless dress and sliding it off to drift into a puddle on the living room floor. She wasn't wearing anything underneath it, and her bare, smooth-shaven pussy glistened with the musk of her arousal in the gentle glow of the floor lamp's indirect lighting.
It was surprisingly gratifying to see Zachary's eyes widen in shock as he goggled at Sophia's naked body. She'd always thought of herself as a little less desirable than Brianna, skinny where her friend was voluptuous and more cute than sexy by most men's standards, but apparently all that she'd ever needed to do was take off her clothes right in front of them to get exactly the kind of astonished arousal she wanted.
"Oh come on," she said in response to his slack-jawed stare. "I already told you I've been hearing the two of you fuck right on the other side of my wall every night for the last three weeks--did you really think I didn't know what good sex sounds like? Bree's having the time of her life getting hypnotized by you, and what works for her works for me, too. I want to give it a try and see what all the fuss is about...." She adjusted her stance, spreading her legs a little wider to show off her slick cunt. "And I'm guessing you're not going to say no to a naked woman right here in front of you."
A sly look crossed Zachary's face, as though he'd suddenly figured out the final clue in some locked-room mystery. "Aren't you a little worried about what'll happen if Bree finds out?" he asked, crossing his arms suspiciously. "I mean, she's your best friend, after all. What's she going to say if she comes in and finds you naked and hypnotized on my living room couch?"
Sophia gave him a flat stare of annoyance. "I asked her point-blank if she had anything going on with you, and she said no. If she wants to get mad that I'm fucking you, she has only herself to blame. This isn't a trick, this isn't a game, and I'm not here to catch you out so I can prove you're unfaithful or something. This is free pussy on the half-shell, ready and waiting for you. Do you want it, or not?" Try as she might, Sophia couldn't control a little shiver. It hadn't occurred to her until just now that the answer might legitimately be 'not', and she was only just realizing what a blow to her ego it might be if Zachary simply hustled her out of his apartment rather than taking her up on her offer.
Fortunately, she'd read the older man well. "I most definitely want it," he growled, tucking away his astonishment and bringing back that smoldering stare she noticed earlier. "And I don't think you'll need much persuasion, will you, Sophie? You've already been listening to my voice through those walls you say are so thin; I'm sure you've gotten very used to hearing those warm, soothing tones that always tell you when it's time to drift off into that very special daydream I'm offering you. Just let your eyes relax, let all that tension unwind from your muscles, and allow yourself to enjoy what you've been fantasizing about for so very long."
