CW: non-consent, blackmail, bdsm, toys, spanking, humiliation, degradation
***
"In Yeats' Leda and the Swan, Zeus in the guise of a swan rapes Leda, impregnating her with a daughter who will one day become Helen of Troy. Can anyone tell me if Yeats thought Leda enjoyed this?" Dr. Lam scanned the lecture theater, eyes falling on the tall, dark international student in the front row. He never took notes. He just started at her like she was dinner and Elaine Lam was tired of it. "Mr. De Leon, what do you think?"
Diego De Leon looked her up and down, eyes slow and hot and predatory. "She enjoyed it."
"And what's your evidence for that?" Elaine asked.
Deigo put his hands behind his head, watching Elaine. Staring at her. "Middle paragraph. Says right there she puts him inside her, heart racing."
"Stanza," Elaine corrected him but he was right. Still, he hadn't turned any reflections on the reading, apparently content instead to watch her like a wolf while she delivered her poetry lectures to the crowded hall. "See me after class, Mr. De Leon."
The lecture hall emptied a half hour later and Elaine kept Deigo waiting for several long minutes while she clarified pieces of her lecture for the keener students. Only when the last one left did Elaine Lam turn to Diego who stood before her in his black wool jacket, hands in pockets.
"Comprehension is fantastic but it's a very small part of my class, Mr. De Leon," said Elaine. "You're failing because you haven't done the assignments. Good exam marks aren't enough to pass at the university level."
"You can't fail me."
Elaine raised an eyebrow. "You'll find I can. What I can't do, Mr. De Leon, is give you a grade you don't deserve."
"If I fail this class I will lose my study permit," Diego said softly. "Don't fail me, Elaine."
Hearing her name from her student's mouth jarred her. She hitched her briefcase to her shoulder and fixed him with an icy, dominant stare of her own. His short dark hair with a slight curl and his deep brown eyes, all the way down to his inexpensive but carefully tailored clothes.
"If your study permit matters to you, Mr. De Leon, then you'd better start studying. You have my permission. And don't call me Elaine."
+++
"Jeff, is my phone on the counter?" Elaine shouted down the hall from her home office to the living room where her husband Jeff was entranced by a Beatles retrospective on the History Channel.
"What?" Jeff called back.
Elaine swore and pulled her briefcase apart but there was no cellphone in her bag or her coat pockets. It had to be somewhere in the house, it was just a matter of remembering where she'd set it down. She opened her slideshow presentation for the following day's lecture and started typing in her notes when she heard the chime of a Skype call through her speakers. She frowned and clicked the icon.
It was Diego's face staring back at her. She could see the metal futon behind him and the Pink Floyd posters taped above them. He smirked at her when he saw the surprise on her face.
"How did you get my Skype ID?" Elaine demanded, pushing her long dark hair from her face. She felt a flicker of annoyance at the self-conscious gesture.
Diego held something small and rectangular and white up to the webcam and Elaine felt an icy, airless quease descend through her.
"That's my phone. That's theft, Mr. De Leon," Elaine said, trying to keep her tone even. "That will get you expelled faster than failing my class."
"It would, Dr. Lam, except you're not going to tell anyone," Diego said. "And you know why you're not going to tell anyone, don't you?"
Elaine licked her lips, trying to decide if she should play dumb and hope he hadn't cracked her login screen. If he had done it would only antagonize him. Unable to decide she sat in silence, watching her screen. Diego seemed to grow impatient and unlocked her screen. Same code as her bank pin. They always told you not to do that. Elaine jumped up and closed her office door and threw the bolt, chewing on her lip as she sat back down at her desk to stare transfixed as Diego open her chat app, the one Jeff didn't know existed.
"Who are these lovely people?" Diego asked her, scrolling through a long list of handles, men and women. "Too old to be your kids, too young to be your friends. What does 'Echo159' have to say I wonder?"
Diego tapped the chat head and there it was, the reams of smut Echo159 had written Elaine, promising to worship her and send her gifts. "A crown broach! That's like a fancy pin, right? That one you're wearing now?"
Elaine's hand went to the glittering black broach on her crisp white blouse before she could stop herself.
"Or maybe we should look at 'stormfleur_xoxo'. What does she say? Dear professor, I will trade one year of my life in service to you if you help me pass Poetry 115. Interesting! You know what's more interesting?" Diego grinned wolfishly. "You don't teach Poetry 115. There is no Poetry 115 at this university but there is one at the city college. Scroll up and she says the paper you wrote for her got an A+ and she passed the class. What do you think of that, Dr. Lam?"
Elaine glowered. "I think it sounds like whoever that is has a lovely little fantasy going, don't you?"
"Fantasies can become reality, Dr. Lam. Look at vikingSaM's appreciation he got for his perfect essay-he got to stay on the track team! Oh dear, is that a flaccid cock?" Diego flashed the image vikingSaM had sent Elaine as insurance he wouldn't tell anyone she'd helped him stay on the track team by writing his 300 level papers in exchange for free repair service in his uncle's garage.
"Does Jeff know about these conversations, Dr. Lam?" Diego asked her. "Or are they a secret?"