My thanks to MormonJack for edits and crits.
Chapter 7
The time with Nicole was beautiful, but we both sensed that it couldn't last. The fire burned too bright and too hot. There are people with addictive personalities (such as Mingyu, who continued to text me from time to time) who can't get enough and can't shake the need. Nicole wasn't one of those-- just the opposite. Her fundamental need to maintain control and to understand herself outweighed the intense physical pleasure I was happy to endlessly give her. She would actually stop me from making her come after a few (okay, several) orgasms. She said she didn't want to overdo it too much.
The sex had another effect on her. She told me it raised questions in her mind about her life, her existence, and her place in the world. Why was she so lucky to have been given such amazing experiences? The logic paradoxes she'd been puzzling in math and computer science were dwarfed by these greater paradoxes. She completed her MS but then applied for philosophy programs. It was a bittersweet moment for both of us when she was accepted to read philosophy at Cambridge, an opportunity she couldn't pass up. She invited me to join her there but we both knew that was impossible. I promised to visit her often.
She gave me a tour of her new digs during one call, small, modest, British, and dark. Setting the phone on her tiny kitchen table, which was also the one bright spot in the place by the garden window, she said, "I really do intend to go back to you. But I need some perspective."
"Meaning far enough away that I can't zap you?"
"Temporarily. I already know I can't live without it. But I need to come to terms with it."
"I didn't tell you before, but I can reach through this phone and zap you while you're sitting at the window. Watch." I scrunched my eyebrows and made wiggly motions into the phone with my fingers.
"Ooh, ahh," she responded, squirming in her chair. "Seriously, I'll be back. Long weekend or something. Maybe in a few weeks."
Then I had the confrontation with Athena, followed by my own new situation building my business. It was always "in a few weeks" and stayed that way.
I actually spent the next few months after Nicole left celibate, believe it or not. I was able, thanks to her, to keep from hitting on (including with my power) the women I met. And I couldn't shake the expectation, viewing some nice-looking blonde walking toward me down the street, or some exotic foreign beauty next to me at a cafe, that the experience would be disappointing.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
The only problem now was Kayla. I'd had a few more sessions with her at various venues before Nicole, but I wasn't in the mood for that type of relationship anymore. It had always been mostly one-sided with her anyway, me servicing her special needs, and had become more one-sided with each scene.
She knew something had changed. Her contact with me diminished to a trickle. That was disappointing, but I was managing my own contacts and leads. Her loss too, I thought.
Then, one day out of the blue, she sent me an email, friendly but business formal. She wanted me to meet someone to "discover a great opportunity." Sounded suspicious but, I thought, the worst outcome would be wasted time listening to some new crypto scheme or whatever. The message also included a three-month guest membership to one of the most exclusive clubs in the city. I had to investigate.
So now I was at the expensive club's overpriced bar, nursing my second martini, starting to wonder why I was here. Surely Kayla, even if she resented the way I was neglecting her, wouldn't have done this just as a prank. I checked my watch wondering how many more minutes I would give to this apparently futile dead-end task before giving up, when there appeared in front of me a woman.
She was expensively dressed, well-scented, and trendily coiffed. Very lean and hinting muscle in the arm exposed from her one-sleeve top and legs that extended from a short skirt. But her hair was done in one of those extreme styles that swept it all to one side, leaving her a bit unbalanced. And worst of all, she carried herself in a posture that broadcast that she knew she was hot-- but she wasn't. At least not to me. Well-trained now by Nicole, I refrained from doing anything to her.
She looked me up and down. "You don't look like much," she said.
"Nice," I shot back. "Is that your standard pickup line? Does it work for you?"
Her skinny-lipped mouth tightened, no doubt suppressing some kind of scathing comeback. "Athena will see you now."
"Who?" I knew very well who. Kayla had filled me in. I'd also done my own research. Plus I was a little pissed off at being made to wait. I'd been observing this woman and the group at the back for a while. "Oh, you mean Ms. Hopper?"
More rapier-like remarks got muzzled. She waved the exposed arm in the general direction of the back corner where the person I was supposed meet had established herself.
"Thanks," I said. "Just let me finish my drink."
She picked it up from the bar and gestured toward the back again.
"Well then, wait a minute while I take care of my tab."
"Hey, Josh," she called out to the bartender, pointing to my glass and then thumbing toward the back.
She was efficient, I had to give her that. At least I was getting a couple of free drinks. I followed her back to the corner, where "Athena", as she liked to be called, sat surrounded by what had to be her posse. She looked up at me. "At last we meet."
I continued to play dumb. The hedge fund maven formerly known as Kate Hopper waited for a reply but none was forthcoming. She wore a business suit maybe a half size too tight, one of those not-quite-a-color shades just off black, a bit shiny. Unlike the other women in her gang, she wore a more modest midi skirt instead of mini.
Within single digit seconds she grew impatient. She looked to the left where a young man stood, in a suit and the new mullet-like hair style that would be out of date in six months. He'd been staring at me as I approached. I'd thought he was a bodyguard, but he didn't seem the type. Too pretty. Too skinny.
A small hand wave scooted Ms. OneArm over and "Athena" patted the bench. I sat in the vacated spot and turned to face her. "You're going to join us at the Fund," she said. The tone was a statement of fact rather than a sales pitch.
I shrugged. "You run a tight organization. Hard to get any information on either your investments or your methods." I was tired of playing dumb.
"There are reasons."
"I'm sure."
"You know them."
I felt a wash of pleasure. And a tingle in my crotch. An erection was growing. I'm no stranger to getting hard in the presence of attractive women, but the woman before me was not one of my targets, nor was Ms. OneArm behind me. Certainly not the skinny non-bodyguard. I was specifically keeping my TK in check, as Nicole had taught me. The tingle was coming from an unusual location, down under my testicles, near the little muscles that--
