*** AUTHOR'S NOTE****
*** Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up with this story of mine.
*** I appreciate all of your encouraging words and serious suggestions.
*** I'm sorry for such long delays between chapters, but with married life, work,
*** an infant, and going back to school in middle age... time is at a premium.
*** I welcome your comments and communication.
*** Thank you! - HW
*
With a sigh of relief, Jason threw the last load of cardboard up and over the rim into the apartment building's dumpster.
'Oh, thank the flat-pack gods, I'm finished!'
he thought.
The sun was setting on a pleasant Sunday evening. But Jason hadn't enjoyed the lovely day (nor much of the previous day, for that matter). No, he had been stuck in his new apartment/office putting together furniture.
While he still intended to mostly stay at his family home, he wanted to work and sleep at the new apartment as needed. He also wanted Evie and her friends to have a studio for their photo and video shoots.
So, Jason had told Evie--his eighteen-year-old little sister, business partner, and lover--to get some basic furniture for the new place. When Jason showed up Saturday afternoon to give his sister a hand setting up the new place, he was gobsmacked by the number of boxes waiting for him.
Thankfully, Evelin had batted her eyelashes and shook her rump a bit at the delivery drivers. That's probably why they'd agreed to wheel each heavy box to its appropriate room. He suspected that had he been there at the time, they would have been much less accommodating.
Regardless, the task was now complete. Their new place was kitted out with more put-together furniture than a freshman dormitory.
Evie also purchased some basic photography gear, lights, and a green screen that she had set up in the living room before heading out the day before.
As it stood, a few items were still outstanding--chief among them were mattresses--but all in all, the new place was coming together nicely.
The apartment had two bedrooms. The master came equipped with a private bathroom and a walk-in closet. It was reserved for the girls.
The smaller bedroom was Jason's new "office." It was very similar to Jason's current bedroom. A nice-sized computer desk took up about half the space, and a bed took up the other half.
Evie and Jason had spent many nights cuddled up together in his twin-sized bed at home. It could be nice, but also a bit cramped. So, they'd opted for a larger bed at the apartment. As a result, the room was rather full, but Jason didn't mind.
Even though there were no mattresses, Jason had decided to spend Saturday night at the new apartment to get right to work on Sunday.
It hadn't been horrible, their new couch being more than adequate, but he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed tonight.
Leaving the remaining cleanup for later, Jason gathered up his things and headed for the bus stop.
About an hour later, as he stepped through the front door of his lifelong home, Jason's mood immediately changed. Being at the apartment had been light, fun, and hopeful for the future. Being back home just felt heavy.
Even setting aside the years of painful memories, just the past week had been a bit rough.
A little over a week ago, after months of prep work, Jason finally had sex with his mother. It had been nothing like he'd imagined. Indeed calling it "awkward" would far be too generous.
Janice, Jason's mother, had given in to Jason's secret hypnotic programming. After weeks of hypnotic conditioning, she'd finally allowed him to bed her. Still, clearly, it was a duty for her, mostly devoid of any lust or passion.
First, she'd almost backed out, and Jason had to constantly reassure her, even guilt her into keeping her word.
And while it seemed she really enjoyed the actual act, once Jason finished, she'd nearly broken down into tears as she quickly kicked him out of her bedroom.
To be fair, it was a massive breakthrough in Jason's plan, and he was thrilled at the time. But all-in-all, it hadn't been as satisfying as he'd hoped.
After their first encounter, Jason had altered her programming. He'd changed the focus away from feeling obligated toward Jason. He wanted her to genuinely desire to please him and submit to him.
He wanted her to believe that doing so was the only way to save their family. He hoped that her motherly instincts to put family first would help break down the mental barriers that were getting in his way.
However, to his frustration, in the nine days since their encounter, Janice had avoided her son like the plague.
At first, Jason figured she'd just needed to process things, but after a few days, it became clear to him that she was actively avoiding him.
She continued to use the app on a daily basis, and Jason had hoped she'd come around, but after an entire week of no contact, he'd all but given up.
That's why being home felt so heavy to him. He really wasn't sure what to do. Maybe it was really time to move out. He'd promised both of his sisters that he'd save this family, but perhaps he wasn't up to the task.
Those thoughts weighing him down, Jason didn't even notice his mother sitting quietly and alone in the dark living room.
"Jason, I'm glad," Janice started.
"Whoa! Holy shit! Mom, you scared the crap out of me. Why are you sitting in the dark? Where is everyone?"
"Beth is in her room, studying, I think. And Evelin is in the kitchen," she responded, gesturing toward the kitchen with a flick of her eyes and a nod of her head.
"In here, big bro!" came Evie's voice as if on cue, "You hungry? I'll fix you a plate."
"Uh, sure," Jason called back as he stepped toward the kitchen.
"Jason," his mother interrupted him, whispering. "You didn't come home last night." Her voice was tight, obviously attempting to conceal some severe emotion.
"No, I spent the night at my new apartment," Jason said somewhat abruptly. He didn't want to sound too angry and thereby put his mother on the defensive, but he also wanted her to know that she had played a role in that decision.
"A-Apartment!?" Janice blurted out, tripping over the word and forgetting they were whispering. "But, we...uh...I thought we'd addressed that," she added, returning to hushed tones.
"Yeah, I thought we had too," Jason responded, a hint of venom in his voice. "But then you avoided me for the past week."
At that point, Jason turned, fully facing his mother, and looked her square in her eyes. "This might be a game to you, Janice. But I'm not playing anymore.
"I thought...," he continued, dropping his gaze and changing his tone to one of anguish. "I thought you were ready to save this family, to protect this family," he said, referencing her hypnotic programming. "But, clearly not. I'm done, Janice."
With that, he walked out of the room, ignoring his mother's whispered pleas calling out after him, "Jason... Wait, Son... Please..."
Moments later, Janice stood and retreated to her bedroom. As she passed by the kitchen, Jason was pretty sure she was sobbing, but she was clearly trying to hide it, so he couldn't be sure.
For her part, Evelin seemed utterly oblivious to the exchange as she busied herself making a plate for her brother.
----
Jason saw his sister again when woken by her crawling into his bed a few hours later.
"Evie? What time is it?" he asked groggily.
"Just after midnight," she replied, planting a kiss on his lips.
Then, she continued, sitting back and allowing her big brother a moment to wake up, "I know you wanted to curtail our evening escapades for the time being. But with everything going on, we've barely had time to do anything other than talk about the business.
"Don't worry, though. I waited to make sure Mom was asleep before coming in."
She wasn't wrong, Jason considered. It had been a couple weeks since they'd been intimate. He knew he was missing it, but everything had been in flux lately. Every night, he expected the programming to kick in and Janice to wake him desperate for sex. That hadn't happened, though. Jason was pretty sure his goals for his mother had fallen apart completely.
"Yeah, I'm not sure we need to worry about Janice anymore. If it hasn't happened by now, I don't think it's going to," he replied sullenly as he reached to turn on his bedside lamp.
"What are you talking about," Evie responded, genuinely confused. "Weren't you balls deep in that cunt's guts just last weekend?"
"...balls deep in... damn, Sis. Very colorful. Yes, I fucked her last weekend. But that was eight or nine days ago. I was sure she would have wanted to continue, but instead, she's been avoiding me. I think it's time we just move on."
"Meh, whatever. Even with the app rewriting her brain, it's still a vast paradigm shift in her normally constrained world. It's going to take her time to adjust. She's probably just avoiding you because she's afraid of messing it up."
"Yeah? You really think so?"
"I do. But, to be fair, I may have information that you don't." As she spoke, Evie reached out, took her brother's hand, and pulled it to her groin.
"Shit, Evie," Jason exclaimed in response. "You're drenched!"
"I know! I've been like this for days. I can't help it. Whenever I'm alone (and often when I'm not), it's all I can think about..."
"What is?"
"Being your slut. I just imagine all the ways I can be a whore for you, all the nasty things I can do to get you off. It makes me feel amazing."
'Well, that makes sense,'
Jason thought. Evie's most recent programming was for that exact purpose. To make her want to be her brother's slut and his whore.
Of course, those terms were open to interpretation, and Jason had been excited to see how Evelin would interpret them. It looked like tonight he would find out.
Evie leaned in and again kissed her big brother before pushing him back down on his bed. She then continued kissing him, starting at his neck and moving down to his chest.
"Wait," Jason interrupted. "What's this information that you have about Mom?"
"Oh yeah," Evie said between pecks. "Well... Mom may have... been avoiding you... but I've seen her plenty... And... I can tell you... she's been different."
"Different? How?"
"Like... happier," Evelin stopped kissing and looked up at her brother from her position near his belly button. "It's hard to put into words. She just kinda... feels different. Like being around her isn't as heavy. I don't know. Does that make sense at all?"
"Yeah," Jason replied slowly, thinking about it. "I guess. And that makes you think it's still working?"
"Exactly!" Evie said. "It makes me think that she's feeling hope again. She's still figuring it out, obviously, but... what happened between you and her seems to have given her hope for the future. And this is just a feeling, but I think it's the first time she's felt that sort of hope in a long time.
"So, you know, cut her some slack. I think she'll come around," Evelin finished.
