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The Coffee Shop Pt. 04

The Coffee Shop IV: Sex, Lies & Duct Tape.

Disclaimer. The following story, is a work of fiction. The characters portrayed within are a work of fiction as well, and any resemblance to any person, living or dead is a coincidence and unintentional.

Copyright 2001. This story is the property of the author, Canadian Cowboy (formerly known as Animal360). Any duplication, in whole or in part, is forbidden without the express written consent of the author, Canadian Cowboy.

Author's Note. Since each succeeding story in this series builds upon the events that occurred in the previous stories in this series, I strongly urge you to read the other stories that comprise this series. These stories, in the proper sequence, are:

The Coffee Shop,
The Coffee Shop II: Cowboys and Tuxedos,
The Coffee Shop III: The Good, The Bad, And The Hypnotized .




Chapter 1. Comes the Dawn.

Sunday mornings I usually like to sleep in, but not this morning. I was awaken before my alarm clock went off, by the soft warm breath from someone breathing on my face. I kept my eyes closed and explored the room with my other senses. It was quiet and dark. (With my eyes closed that was a forgone conclusion.) I was warm and snug under the covers, while the room was chilled from the coolness of the morning. Winter was still hanging on with a stubborn determination. A big warm arm was draped up and across my chest as I lay on my back. Someone was snuggled up close beside me with his head nestled on my right shoulder. It was a heavy, warm and pleasant feeling. I took a few deep breaths and caught the wonderful masculine aroma of a body that needs a morning shower. It was not a stink or an offensive body odour, but the simple natural smell of a male body when all the scents and perfumes from the deodorant and body washes have worn off. Nature's perfume would be the best way to describe it, I suppose. If you've ever caught that aroma, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well I feel sorry for you.

I listened carefully and could make out the slow rhythmic sound of someone next to me breathing. I did not need to open my eyes to know it was Andy who lay curled up beside me. Andy, the man my heart had longed for all these many years. It was hard to believe that we had been seeing each other for nearly four months now. It seemed like a much shorter time, which was understandable since we could not arrange to meet very often. Both of us being 'in the closet' and his being a cop (an RCMP constable no less), made it difficult to arrange for time together. But the time we managed to spend together was more than worth it. I let the minutes drift by as I lay there next to Andy, savouring every second we spent together.

After a few minutes, I cracked open my eyes, and carefully turned my head to the left searching for the clock radio. I blinked my eyes several times as I tried to bring the glowing numbers into focus. Finally, after what seemed like a tremendous effort, I managed to read the time, 6:17 AM. The alarm was set to go off at 7:30 AM, so I was just a tad early. I lay there with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling, or what I could make out of the ceiling, since the room was pitch black. Like phantoms from beyond the grave, old and troubling thoughts started to creep into my mind, and to roll around in my head. There was no question in my mind that I cared for Andy deeply. Hell, I loved him pure and simple. Just seeing him smile at me was enough to brighten my day, and make all the troubles in my life seem small and insignificant by comparison. (Boy, was I EVER in love! I had it bad, believe you me!) Still, I could not help but be troubled by doubts.

Did Andy care for me as much as I did for him? What type of a future did we have together? Where was this relationship going? Although we were very physical in our touching, cuddling, snuggling and kissing, the physical contact had never gone beyond that stage. I wasn't really concerned about that. I had never broached the subject with Andy, and he'd never raised the subject with me. I was lying to myself, I suddenly realized. If I didn't have concerns, I would not be lying here thinking about it in the first place. The problem was, that I wasn't sure what to do about it. I was more than just a little bit scared that if I did raise the subject with Andy, he'd think I was pushing too hard. To be honest, I was afraid that I might push him away from me. Yet, at the same time, I knew that we couldn't leave the situation as it was. What I wanted, was some kind of a sign that Andy was truly committed to me, and that he saw a future in our relationship. I knew that I wanted the relationship to continue, but I also wanted it to grow and mature. A flower can't remain a bud forever, after all. (Would someone PLEASE tell me WHY it is that such thoughts always pop into your mind either late at night when you are trying to fall asleep, or early in the morning when you just get up?)

I thought about Andy some more. (Thinking about Andy was a great way to pass the time, by the way. Picturing him in and out of uniform was something that I was sure I would never grow tired of doing.) I absently noted that the sun had finally risen, and the morning light was filling the bedroom. I looked down at the sleeping form of Andy lying next to me. He was nothing but a collection of lumps and curves under the bedcovers, with a handsome head poking out. A handsome head that was still lying on the right side of my chest. I thought about the many nights we had slept together in bed, holding onto each other, lost in each others eyes. (Okay, so that was a corny and sappy way to describe it. It also happened to be true.) I had never seen such openness, trust, and caring in another man's eyes before. I listened to Andy when he talked about his troubles, problems, and worries. I did my best to hold and comfort him. He did likewise. I have never had someone listen to me so intently, and seriously. He never offered advice, unless I asked for it. (That's something which I was still learning to doknowing when to keep my big mouth shut.) When I'd had a really bad day, he did his best to show me that no matter what, he was always there for me. I didn't want to lose that. On the other hand though, I could not just let things stay the way they were. What was I to do?

"If you keep that up, you'll put worry lines on your face," said an all too familiar warm sexy tenor voice. "What's wrong, love?" Andy asked as he moved his head about.

I slowly turned my head to the right, and discovered that Andy had craned his head up to look at me. My gaze fell upon those soft doe brown eyes of Andy's that I'd come to know and love so well. My heart skipped a beat. Even first thing in the morning he was gorgeously handsome. I swallowed the lump in my throat, as I gazed upon the face of the man that I'd come to love much more than I'd ever thought possible, over the past four months.

"I've been thinking, is all," I answered. I smiled a half smile at Andy.

"About what?" Andy asked.

"Oh, nothing, really," I hedged. I didn't want to bring up the subject of our relationship and it's future, before both of us were fully awake.

Andy looked at me quizzically, as if he knew I was avoiding something. Fortunately the clock alarm chose that time to go off, forestalling whatever his next question might have been.

"Much as I would enjoy spending the morning in bed with you, love," Andy said as he gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "I do have to get ready for work. I have that eight hour shift to cover for Stan, you know."

"Yes, I know. I remember you telling me all about it," I sighed, and then kissed him back. Andy's kisses and the opportunities to kiss him were not to be wasted.

"Hey, don't sound so disappointed," Andy smiled at me. "We are going out to dinner tonight at seven, remember? You did make the reservations, right?"

"Yes, I did," I assured him. "You need a shave, by the way," I teased him. Andy chuckled softly. I gave him a warm smile as he climbed out of the bed and headed off to the bathroom to shower. I sighed with pleasure as I drank in the sight of his sexy body clad only in boxer briefs, walking away from me. At least we'd be able to share breakfast together. I'd enjoy that. I wasn't upset or annoyed about Andy having to work part of Sunday. Heck, I was used to his unusual work shifts. It comes with being a cop. Usually it gave me some time to spend by myself. Of course one of the many ways I'd fill the time was by using my powers on some good looking guy, for a bit of harmless fun. Andy was most understanding about this. He knew that I enjoyed hypnotizing guys. He told me a month into our relationship, that he did not expect me to stop hypnotizing guys, then or at any time in the future. All he asked was that I promise I would never get involved with any of them. Is it any wonder why I loved Andy like I did?

Andy was amazingly perceptive in the promise that he extracted from me. He knew that I enjoyed having a hypnotized man undress for me, and even get sexually aroused to the point of ejaculation. What he made me promise is that I would never touch another hypnotized man (or a non-hypnotized man for that matter) below the waist, if that man was nude or was not wearing underwear. I could look but not touch, as the old expression goes. I made the promise to Andy, after I thought about it for half an hour. I suppose it might seem a bit one sided to you, since Andy did not promise anything in return, other than that he would not date any other man. What you cannot know, is that with the exchange of these promises, the level of trust in our relationship grew to the point where Andy was able to achieve much deeper levels of hypnosis during his sessions with me. You see, Andy is one of those very rare persons who is immune to my super hypnosis powers. If fact he is the first person whom I have ever encountered, where I was not able to influence his mind in any manner using my super hypnotic abilities. With any other person, I can hypnotize them with only a few seconds of eye contact, and the depth of control I have is nearly total. With Andy, though, it is different. I can use only ordinary hypnosis with him. As you know with ordinary hypnosis it is the subject, not the hypnotist, who is really in control. Not only have I enjoyed the hypnosis sessions with Andy more, now that he is able to go much deeper, but the benefits to Andy have been substantial as well. He is much more able to deal with the daily stresses of his job as an RCMP constable. We both benefited from that.

In the three months since I made that promise to Andy, I've kept it. I have done a few hypnosis (actually super hypnosis) sessions with some good looking guys. While it is true that some of them have stripped down to their shorts for me, I've never laid a hand on them. (Well, not while they were nude, anyway. I've caressed them with their clothes on, and off, but never have I fondled their naked backsides or cocks). These were nothing but the standard, "help a guy out with a few problems" sessions, and so were nothing to write about. Some of these guys definitely had 'killer buns' in tight jeans, but they just didn't come close to my Andy. With Andy I had all the physical attractiveness that these guys could offer, and something far more important. Love. Andy loved me with every fibre of his being.. I had no doubts at all about that. My mind drifted back to a very special event that had proven to me how Andy felt about me.

It was a Saturday night and I was getting ready to head out to a movie with Andy. The phone rang a few minutes before Andy was due to arrive. It was Andy on the line and he had bad news. He had to cancel a date with me because he had just been called in to work. He was upset about it. Not heartbroken, just upset. When we got together a few days later, Andy asked me to forgive him. He did not get down on his knees and beg me to forgive him. He appeared at my doorstep in his full dress RCMP uniform with a bouquet of flowers in hand. (Actually the flowers were in a box, which he carried with him. It would have looked a bit strange to have an RCMP constable taking flowers to my apartment, or any man's apartment for that matter.) I invited him inside, and closed the door behind him. Andy stood there, and handed me the box. With a small smile on his lips, Andy told me how sorry he was that he had had to cancel our date, and asked me to forgive him. He didn't say another word, as I opened the box to see a dozen long stemmed red roses nestled in soft white tissue paper. Andy merely came to attention, staring straight ahead, while he waited for my reply. I remember looking at him standing there and being slightly in awe at just how good looking he was. He knew how much I enjoyed the sight of him in uniform. He was trying to soften me up. It wasn't necessary; the roses had already done that. His face remained stony, when I took his hands in mine and asked him to look me straight in the eye. His head turned slowly, and in the back of his wonderfully warm brown eyes I could see a shadow of doubt and concern. I told him it was all right. I said that I understood why he had done what he had done. His duty came first above all else, even me. I wasn't happy about it, I admitted to him, but I understood. It was a part of who and what he was. There was nothing to forgive him for, because I loved him. At that Andy's face melted into an expression of joy and warmth as he enfolded me in his arms in a firm yet gentle bear hug. He thanked me for understanding and gently pressed his lips to mine in a warm gentle and firm kiss to match the hug he was giving me. We stood there embraced in each others arms for a while, just enjoying the pleasure of each other's physical touch. I'd like to say that we eventually waltzed off to the bedroom, and I got him out of his uniform in record time, but that's not what happened.

Andy lead me to the sofa and insisted that we sit and talk about this, about his job having to come first. Andy in his wisdom, forced me to admit to myself that my not being happy with this event, was something that had to be dealt with. Once in a while was okay, but he made me promise him that if ever I felt like Andy was taking advantage of me, or ignoring me, I would let him know. I realized then that Andy was a very special man. It finally dawned on me just how lucky I was to have found him. We spent the evening in front of the fireplace, enjoying the flames of the fire burning there, and talking. Andy spent the night, even though he had to be up early the next morning. And yes, I did eventually get him OUT of that uniform, and in between the sheets of the bed with me. (But you would not care to know the details, I'm sure. And if you did want to know the details, too damn bad. That was a treasured and deeply personal moment between the two of us, which I do not wish to share with you, gentle reader, now or anytime in the future.)

I finally wrenched my mind from this trip down memory lane, forced myself to crawl out of bed, and slipped into a bathrobe as I headed off to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the two of us. I focussed on the task of making scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns for Andy, while I made due with a bagel and coffee. I'm not a big breakfast person, and since I'm not as physically active as Andy, I don't eat as much. (No, that is NOT what I was referring to. You DO have dirty one track mind don't you, dear reader? Listen slut puppy, I was referring to Andy's job compared to mine. He was an RCMP constable which was a very physically demanding job. I worked in a office. I sat on my butt all day. So which of us needed the bigger breakfast, I ask you?)

Right on schedule Andy appeared at the breakfast table sharply dressed in his working RCMP uniform. The black (or is it navy blue?) pants with a gold stripe down the outside leg seams were sharply pressed, as was the light grayish blue (I never could decide what the exact colour was) long sleeved shirt that encased his massively muscular torso. He was not wearing a tie, which might have seemed strange, but it wasn't if you thought about it for a minute or two. When a constable is on duty the last thing you want a constable to wear is something that an aggressive suspect can grab and use to choke the constable. Encircling Andy's narrow waist was his plain black leather gun belt fully equipped with all the paraphernalia of the policeman. His face was fresh scrubbed, and shaven, as was to be expected. The short black closely cropped hair on his head was neatly combed, and still slightly damp. He was square jawed, with a hard Roman nose, and firm full even lips that were pressed lightly together. His rugged good looks were enhanced with eyes that were dark and mysterious, an earthly and warm brown, perfectly placed in his face, a face that was powerful and intimidating. This morning, though, that face of his was softened with a warm and generous smile, and those brown eyes of his glowed with something special. Something meant just for me. I couldn't help but feel my heart quicken as I looked at him sitting there digging into his breakfast. I guess this is what love did. It made the ordinary everyday events seem special. I smiled back at him, over my cup of steaming coffee, and I know that my face reflected the same wonderful feelings for him, that he showed for me.

We made small talk, while we both finished our breakfasts. I waited by the front door while Andy went to brush his teeth. When he returned and walked by me as he headed for the front door, I reached out and grabbed his left hand with my right hand. I tugged firmly at his arm. Andy turned around and walked towards me. Words were not necessary. I let go of his hand and held out my arms, open and inviting, Andy waltzed (even when the man walked he moved with a rhythm and style all his own) into my outstretched arms. I tilted my head slightly upward, while he tilted his head slightly down, as our heads neared each other. The sweet silky touch of his lips caressed mine, as my arms wrapped themselves firmly around as much of that manly torso as I could grasp. With the strength of a grizzly bear, and the gentleness of a rose petal, Andy wrapped those two massive tree trunks which he called arms around me, and pulled me firmly towards him. It was only a good bye kiss and hug, I suppose, but there was a world of unspoken passion, tenderness and caring in the short time that we stood there holding each other. He felt so nice, and smelled so good, that I was loath to let him go, even though I knew that I had to. Finally we broke away from our embrace. I smiled at him as he opened the door. He grinned back at me with what can only be called a 'killer smile', as he walked through the doorway.

"You need a shave too, love," he called out to me as he winked at me. He closed the door behind him as he left my apartment.

For the first time, the slamming of my apartment door was a hollow sound that seemed to reverberate in my mind. In the silence that followed, those early morning doubts rushed back into my mind. It was a struggle to chase them away, and get on with my day. Only the thought that Andy and I would be going out to dinner tonight, finally succeeded in banishing those ghosts back to the catacombs of my mind. Andy would not be back until about six thirty this evening. He intended to head home to shower and change before we went out to dinner.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint, the day passed quickly for me. I had a mountain of household chores to do today. Everything from the dishes to the laundry, not to mention paying a few bills. So between all that, and rewarding myself with watching a movie on the VCR, five o'clock pounced on me before I knew it. Many times, though, my thoughts would travel back to the two envelopes that were lying inside the drawer of the front hall table. I still had not made up my mind as to whether or not I would give these envelopes to Andy tonight. Several times, in between one chore and the next, I would take out the envelopes and hold them in my hands trying to make up my mind, one way or the other. Finally, I decided that I would just wait and see if the moment was right tonight to give them to Andy. I couldn't do anything more about the envelopes until then, so why keep dwelling on it?
My mind finally at ease, for the next few hours anyway, I went off to take a quick shower, shave again, and change into a nice suit. I decided to wear a dark olive green two piece double breasted suit. A pale green (almost white) dress shirt, with a maroon tie completed the outfit. My belt was plain black leather with a gold buckle (no, not a cowboy buckle), and the black leather matched that of my freshly polished black leather shoes. It was a simple outfit, and I thought I looked very good in it. I was ready by six o'clock, so I decided to do some reading while I waited for Andy to arrive. I left my suit jacket hanging on the back of one of the dinning room chairs so that the jacket would not get wrinkled while I sat down on the sofa and read a book.

At six thirty-five the doorbell on my apartment door rang. I looked through the peep hole and confirmed that it was Andy standing on the other side of the door. I joyously opened the door and invited him inside. Andy walked into the apartment, hung up his overcoat in the closet, and with a slight smile on his face said to me, "Sorry, I forgot my key. Did you miss me?"

I closed the door behind Andy, and locked it. I turned around to face him. Andy turned to face me. Wordlessly I walked over to him and draped my arms up and around that bull-like neck of his. I pressed my lips firmly against his in a warm, inviting and sexy kiss. After a few heartbeats, I broke away from the kiss and gently pressed my forehead up against his as I looked directly into his sexy warm brown doe-like eyes.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Andy said with a mellow and gentle laugh. (To this day, I still did not understand how a man could have a sexy laugh, but Andy unquestionably did.) I merely nodded my head in silent agreement. After a couple of minutes (or what it hours?) of gazing into his eyes, I tenderly backed away from him as I unwrapped my arms from around his neck. "Let me get a good look at you, stud," I teased him.

"Why?" He asked, as he played along. "You've seen me before, and many times I might add."

"I always like to stop and admire a work of art," I replied. "And you are that, you know."

Only a hint of a blush crept across Andy's face at the sound of my compliments on his appearance. All this time and he still felt a little uncomfortable when complimented by another man, even if it was me. Andy was good looking, as I have described before, but dressed as he was now, he looked even better. (Don't ask me to explain how that was possible. I don't know how. All I know is that he looked even better than he did in uniform!) He stood there in front of me, arms hanging neatly and loosely by his sides as he waited for me to check him out. He was wearing a dark brown two piece single breasted suit. The jacket had two buttons, with only the top button done up. The suit had to have been tailored since it accented and emphasized his powerful and muscular body, without causing undue attention to any one area in particular. The shoulders of the jacket were wide without being tight. The jacket flowed smoothly from those brawny and broad shoulders of Andy's, on down to his slim waist, after which the jacket gently flared out to cover Andy's hips to just an inch or so below the crotch of his pants. With only the top button of the suit jacket done up, I could clearly see some of the front of Andy's suit pants. My eyes slid down to take inventory. (Like you expected me NOT to? ) His fly was closed, of course, but the view was very pleasing nonetheless. I could see that he was wearing a brown leather belt with what appeared to be a gold buckle. The belt was several shades lighter than the suit, and added a nice touch of contrast to the suit. The belt also matched the colour of Andy's plain brown silk tie. I could see the bottom part of the tie just obscuring the upper part of the belt buckle. The suit pants appeared to be just a little bit more close fitting than is the normal, but it was difficult to tell due to the dark brown colour of the material. I moved my gaze down lower, past the end of the suit jacket and noticed that the creases in the fronts of the pant legs were sharp and crisp, all the way down to the cuffed bottoms. The dark brown dress shoes that lay beneath the cuffed bottoms of the pant legs had a mirror shine on them to rival the shine I'd seen on Andy's uniform shoes and dress uniform boots.

I quickly swung my gaze back up Andy's pants and past the buttoned front of his suit jacket. Slowly, and with a delighted smile painted on my lips, I let my gaze wander up towards that handsome face which I knew waited for me at the top of this mountain of a man. The plain brown silk tie, spotless and completely free of any wrinkles, continued up the front of Andy's outfit. It was a wonderful contrast to the light cream coloured dress shirt that Andy wore beneath the suit jacket. There was a small and tasteful gold tie pin about halfway up the tie, which helped to keep the tie lying flat on Andy's chest. I sighed silently to myself with quiescent pleasure as I thought of something else I'd like to have lying flat on Andy's chest. (Naughty, naughty. I wasn't thinking about my cock, I was thinking about my hands lying flat on Andy's chest. My, you ARE a bit of a slut puppy aren't you?) The dress shirt from what I could see appeared to be smooth and wrinkle free, and lay snugly across Andy's chest. It wasn't tight exactly, just not as loose as I've come to expect from the standard dress shirt bought at a men's clothing store. Snuggled in below the bottom of the closed shirt collar was the expected knot in the tie. The knot was exactly centered and expertly tied. Not too tight, nor too small. I flicked my gaze briefly at the sleeves of the suit jacket, and could see just a hint of shirt cuff peeking out beyond the end of the sleeves. This confirmed that Andy was wearing a long sleeved dress shirt.

At long last I let my gaze drift up beyond the collar of Andy's dress shirt to the magnificent wonder that was his face. I smiled at him and nodded my head as I said to him, "You'll do, Constable. Oh, you'll MORE than do. That's a great outfit. I think the brown of the suit matches your eyes."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Andy replied with a warm chuckle. "I see you're ready to go. Shall we?"

"Oh by all means let us do," I quipped at him. "I've been looking forward to this all day."

"Me too," Andy agreed, as he turned around to take his overcoat out of the closet to put it on. His back to was to me as I walked past him heading to the dinning room to get my own suit jacket. Consequently, I obtained a wonderful opportunity to check out Andy's outfit from the rear as I walked past him. (Now you know why I hung my suit jacket on a chair in the dinning room instead of in the front hall closet.) It was as wonderful as the front had been. Smooth, close fitting and the suit jacket did not have any vents, so it hugged his butt nicely, without being tight. The crease on the back of the pant legs was as sharp and crisp as the front one had been. Already the evening was starting out well!

I plucked my suit jacket from the back of the dinning room chair and quickly slipped it on, as I walked back to the front hall closet. I had the jacket buttoned up by the time I arrived at the front hall closet. Andy held out my overcoat to me, and helped me into it. Moments later, with the apartment door securely locked, we were in the elevator heading down to the parking garage. We climbed into Andy's car, and buckled up our seat belts. Andy wasted no time starting his car. The trip down to The Cottage, a local restaurant, was quiet and uneventful. We made small talk about everything from how things were going at work, to the latest headlines in the newspaper. As we pulled into the parking lot of The Cottage, I changed the subject.

"I managed to arrange to take tomorrow off work," I said to Andy as I sat next to him in the car.

"That's wonderful," Andy replied as he finished parking the car. "I have tomorrow off work too, so we don't need to worry about having to get to bed early for work tomorrow." Andy flashed me one of his killer smiles, and winked at me.

"So are you saying that you'd like to head back to my place after dinner?" I asked him quietly, sitting there beside him in the car with my hands resting in my lap. I was somewhat certain that is what Andy was alluring to, but I wanted to be sure.

"Very much," Andy responded quietly as he placed his right hand over my left hand while looking me square in the eyes. I swallowed in silence, unable for the moment, to speak. When Andy looked at me like that, with the open caring and love plain on his face it was a bit overpowering. I smiled back at him and nodded my head in quiet agreement.

"Let's go, then," Andy said. "Dinner awaits."

"Right you are," I concurred, as I open the car door and climbed out into the chilly evening air. I walked quickly to the front door of the restaurant, eager to get out of the cold wind. Andy was close by my side.

Once we had hung up our overcoats, we were escorted to our table by a good looking young man, who turned out to be our waiter for the evening. He was wearing a pair of plain black dress pants, a tuxedo style white dress shirt with a black bow tie. Completing his outfit was a black belt and a pair of polished black shoes. A simple yet elegant uniform. The waiter looked very sharp in his outfit, but I did not pay much attention to him. (Gee, can you guess why?) Andy was sitting across the table from me, and I had eyes only for him. I hid it very well though. Unspoken between us was the agreement that in public situations we would not show the true depth of our feelings for each other. This was part of the price we paid for staying in the closet. We would have to put on the appearance of being good buddies or friends, but nothing more. We were both experienced in playing this role, so there weren't going to be any problems.

We had only started reviewing the menu, when the waiter returned to ask if we wanted anything from the bar. We both declined, as usual. The waiter left us to read the menus and decide what we wished to order for our meals. We chatted and talked, while trying to decide what to order. I chose the filet mignon. (When in doubt, stick with what you know.) Andy chose the same, except he had the larger size. It seemed that only moments, not minutes had passed when the waiter returned to check and see if we were ready to order. I had the rice as a side dish, while Andy ordered the baked potato, and asked for a second baked potato on the side. We both decided on the French onion soup to start with. We made sure to get separate checks, as well.

"One more thing," I said to the waiter as he finished writing down my order. "I would like to order a bottle of the house wine, and two glasses."

"Very good, sir," the waiter replied, seeming not at all surprised at my change of mind. If he was surprised, he was experienced enough not to let it show on his face. The waiter quickly and quietly walked off with our orders.

"What's with ordering the wine?" Andy quietly asked me when the waiter had left with our orders. "You don't normally drink."

"I think this is a special occasion, and that we should celebrate it," I answered quietly. "At the very least we should toast four successful months of friendship." You could clearly hear the italic emphasis I placed on the word friendship. Andy knew what I meant. He grinned a small knowing grin (that was as sexy as hell, by the way), and nodded his held slightly in wordless agreement.

"Only one glass, though," he cautioned me good-naturedly. "I'm the designated driver tonight, remember?"

"Yes, I know," I answered him, with a smile of my own. "Only enough wine for the toast I am going to make."

"Which is?" He prompted me.

"Something you will have to wait for," I answered. "All in good time."

Andy quietly and easily dropped the subject, since he knew that he could not wheedle anything more out of me, at least not here. If we had not been in a public place, he would have tried that famous sexy 'killer smile' of his, or his 'sad puppy dog eyes' look, to try to persuade me to say more. Sometimes that worked, and sometimes it didn't, but we both had fun when Andy tried that approach on me.

The wine bottle arrived a few minutes later, and I ignored it, as I waited for it to chill. The first course, the French onion soup arrived in about twenty minutes. It might sound like a long time to wait for your meal, but at The Cottage, the wait is well worth it. We filled in the time with conversation. Mostly we discussed the movies that were currently playing and which ones we might want to go and see. The arrival of the soup cut the conversation short. We both savored the soup slowly. It was rather hot, after all. While we waited for it to cool enough for us to eat it, I carefully tapped the side of my wine glass to grab Andy's attention. He looked up at me, and grinned. I smiled back at him as I carefully lifted the well chilled wine bottle from the ice filled champagne bucket that it had been resting in. Carefully I opened the wine bottle and proceeded to fill the our two wine glasses. I held up my glass to Andy. Slowly he raised his and waited for me to speak.

"To good friends, good times, and all the best life has to offer," I said to him. It was a simple and mild toast, compared with what I wanted to say.

"To good friends," Andy replied as our glasses clinked together.

"To you," I silently mouthed at Andy.

"To both of us," Andy silently mouthed back. It was the best that we could do, and fell far short of what either of us wanted to say, but it would do. It had to.

We each sipped our wine, and then returned our attention to the soup. A few moments later Andy looked up at me and smiled at me as he exclaimed, "This is great!"

"I'm glad you like it," I said in between spoonfuls of the delicious steaming broth. "Just wait until the main course."

Andy raised and then lowered his eyebrows in anticipation as his spoon dived back into the bowl in front of him. The conversation remained suspended as we each returned our attention to the food in front of us. All too quickly, it seemed we finished the soup and awaited the arrival of the main course. We were not disappointed. The filet mignon was heavenly, and the rice and vegetables were delectable. The meal wasn't better than sex, but it definitely ranked up there in the top ten most enjoyable experiences of the past year. (Even now, when I think about that meal my mouth waters. Sigh.) As we dined, we talked about all sorts of things, from when did we have some vacation time planned, to where did we most want to go for a vacation. We debated several sites, among them the Grand Canyon and Hawaii. Of course we never even hinted that we might be considering going together. It was part of the illusion. We were in a public place, and had to keep up the appearance of being good friends, and only that. (I couldn't help but feel a twang of regret and frustration about that, but I pushed those feelings aside. I was with Andy this evening, and that was all that was really important.)

Andy managed to wolf down a chocolate desert of some kind. It looked fantastic, but I made due with a cup of coffee and a very small dish of chocolate ice cream. (Damn willpower!) I did not want to stuff myself. I knew that I'd regret it later, if I did. It was while I was enjoying my smooth rich wonderful cup of coffee that the unexpected and unwanted event happened.

"Hello there, Mr. Walton!" Said an all too familiar and unwanted voice, from some where behind me. "What a surprise!"

"Oh God, not her!" Is what I was thinking as I slowly turned around in my chair and composed my face into a polite but not overly warm expression. I had always dreaded bumping into someone I knew, when Andy and I were out on a date. I was concerned that I would not know how to handle it. It was bad enough to be someone from the office, but Wendy Murchason, the office gossip of all people! News of this event would be all over the floor before coffee time on Monday morning.

"Good evening, Miss Murchason," I said warmly. "Yes, this is a surprise. The food hear is excellent. Did you have a an enjoyable meal?"

"Oh, we've just arrived," she answered as she tugged on the arm of her escort. "This is Harold Evers, by the way."

"Hello Mr. Evers," I replied as I looked at the young man standing next to Wendy Murchason. He was of average height with light brown hair, hazel eyes and a slim build. The simple light gray two piece double breasted suit he wore was draped on his body in nondescript fashion. Not snug and not loose. Harold looked to be about the same age as Wendy, say about twenty-seven or there about. They made a nice couple, but I wished they would just walk on to their table and leave Andy and me alone. But I had to be polite, no matter how unpleasant it might be.

"This is Andy Anderson, a friend of mine," I said as I introduced Andy to them. The three of them exchanged simple hellos. The silence that followed was broken by Wendy.

"So is he your date for the evening?" She asked and then giggled like a school girl. "Is there something about you, we should know?"

I was tempted to say yes, if only to wipe that smirk off of her face and to shock her into silence. Fortunately I suppressed that impulse. "No, not at all," I replied with a half hearted chuckle. "Andy asked me here to help him celebrate. I did not have any plans for the evening so I agreed."

"Oh goody," Wendy replied. "You can tell us all about it while we eat. Just let me have the waiter add a couple of chairs to the table and we can get started."

"Uh, Wendy, I don't think we really should," protested Harold. "We had plans tonight, as I'm sure these two gentlemen did."

"Don't be silly, Harold," Wendy chided him. "Plans are made to be broken. Besides, I'm sure Paul and Andy would just love our company."

"Perhaps another time we would," I falsely agreed. (God I hated being polite to pushy people who did not KNOW that they were being pushy.) "However, we are just finishing our deserts and after dinner coffee." I tapped my fingers next to my coffee cup in a subtle attempt to emphasize my point.

"Oh, I see," Wendy replied. "I guess we could just sit and chat until you leave or our meals arrive, then."

"I don't think so" I countered. "You and Harold should go ahead with your original dinner plans. I don't want to spoil your evening, and we will be leaving soon in any event."

"All the more reason for us to chat while we have the time now," Wendy insisted. "After all, you hardly ever attend any of the company functions. We've never had an opportunity to just sit and chat and find out all about each other."

"Wendy," I said and forced a smile on my face. "It's not fair to Harold to force my and Andy's company on him, when it is clear that he wanted to spend a quiet evening enjoying a fine meal with you. Now you two go on, and enjoy yourselves."

"Oh he won't mind," Wendy retorted without so much as a glance in Harold's direction. "Now where is that waiter?" She asked as she looked around the restaurant.

"Well, I'm afraid I DO mind, Wendy," I said letting the warmth drain out of my voice. "I will NOT be a party to spoiling Harold's plans for the evening."

"Oh, don't be silly," she said with a wave of her hand. "Come on tell me all about this celebration of yours."

"Miss Murchason," I said evenly while fighting to keep the annoyance out of my voice. Tact was not working so I would have to be blunt, and still try to be polite. "It is rather rude of you to insist on inviting yourself to sit at our table. I am sure your table is just as nice as ours. I must insist that you continue on to your own table, and start your evening."
"Well, I can tell when I'm not wanted! I can take a hint!" She exclaimed indignantly. "Come on, Harold!" She flounced off in a huff with Harold at her heels. He looked over at me and silently mouthed the word "sorry" at me before he turned his head back and followed Wendy.

"Yeah, you can take a hint," I said quietly to Wendy's departing back. "But only if it is delivered with a sledge hammer."

"So what is the story with that lady?" asked an intently curious Andy, in a quite voice. From the way he said lady, you knew that is not what he thought Wendy was. "She's got all the sensitivity and tact of a rhinoceros, mixed with the curiosity of a cat."

"She's a royal pain in the ass, sometimes," I answered a bit more sharply than I intended. "She is one of the people who works in my office. She's a good worker, but she has some problems."

"No? Really?" Andy asked with faked surprised in his voice.

"I'll think about her on Tuesday morning," I said to Andy as I dismissed her from my mind. "Let me know when you're ready to go."

"Now would be fine with me," Andy replied. "The evening has ended, here at least."

"Okay," I agreed. I asked for the checks. It took only a few moments for us to pay for our meals, retrieve our overcoats and head out to the car. The trip back to my apartment was uneventful. I explained to Andy that Wendy Murchason was one of the people who worked in the same office as I did. She did not work in my department, but we saw each other during the day, usually in the lunch/break room. Wendy was one of those people who enjoyed talking about other people (preferably behind their backs) and gossiping. She liked to talk to people and find out about them, sometimes to the point of being nosy. I usually avoided opportunities to sit down and chat with her, because I did not want to be drawn into a conversation that would inevitably be directed towards me and what I liked to do during my spare time. Wendy also liked to share juicy tidbits of gossip with nearly anyone who would listen to her. She could never understand why I always excused myself and left when she started doing that. It was simple. I would not have enjoyed having other people gossip about me, so I avoided listening to other people when they would gossip.

We arrived at my apartment, at about 9:30 PM. I unlocked the door and ushered Andy inside. I smiled at him as I slipped off my overcoat. "How about you make me a nice up of tea, while I hang up your overcoat for you?" I asked him as I batted my eyes at him playfully.

"Sure. Sounds good," Andy replied as he handed over his overcoat to me and walked off to the kitchen, swaying his hips back and forth suggestively. He was such a tease. He knew how much I enjoyed looking at his butt, especially when he was wearing suit pants or his uniform pants. I am sure that I looked pretty stupid standing there holding two overcoats, with a big idiotic grin pasted on my face, as I watched Andy walk into the kitchen. Only when the closing of the kitchen door cut off the view of Andy's back, did I come back to my senses. I returned to the task of hanging up the overcoats. It took less than a minute. I closed the closet door and turned around facing the living room. As I headed off to the living room, I passed by the front hall table, and stopped suddenly. Before I could have any second thoughts, I opened the drawer and quickly picked up the two envelopes that were lying inside. I placed them in my left inside jacket pocket, closed the drawer and continued my trip to the living room. I sat down in the middle of the sofa. I decided to let Andy pick which side of me he wanted to sit next to.

As I sat there waiting for Andy to deliver the tea, I let the events of our past evenings play back in my mind. It was a wonderful way to pass the time. It helped me to focus on what it was that I loved about Andy. I remembered all the wonderful nights we had spent together in bed. We always spent our nights together in my apartment. The reason, which I discovered three weeks into our budding relationship, was that Andy was not living alone. He and a long time good buddy of his were renting a house together. It would have been rather difficult for me to spend a night at his house without raising suspicions. Andy did not want to risk his job, or his friendships on the force. So, spending the night at his place was not something that we could arrange, at least not right now. I assumed, then that Andy's buddy did not know that Andy was gay. Andy had never come right out and said that to me, but I concluded that it was the case. It seemed like a logical assumption to make.

I had met Andy's buddy, Charles Chatterly, a few times, when I'd spent an evening at Andy's house. Charles was also a member of the RCMP. In fact, Andy and Charles were troop-mates, that is they had gone through (survived) the RCMP training together. The RCMP training that cadets undergo is very intensive, and builds a strong camaraderie among those troop members who have completed the course and graduated as constables. Consequently, Andy and Charles were very close friends, and enjoying renting the house together.

Charles was a physically fit, average looking man. He was nearly six feet tall, with a sturdy but not muscular body. I had never seen Charles in uniform, nor 'out of uniform' either, if you get my drift. Wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, with a brown belt and a tan pullover knit shirt, Charles was nice to look at. He did not stand out in a crowd, nor was his appearance remarkable in any way. He was an average looking man, who happened to be Andy's roommate. He was slim and trim, with just a hint of hardness and steel about him. You could see it in the way that he carried himself. He moved with grace and self assurance, that showed he knew what he was doing, at all times.

Charles had dark brown straight hair that he kept trimmed very short., which was to be expected. He was an RCMP constable after all. His skin was clear and smooth, except for a small scar on his right cheek. The scar was about an inch long and ran from just above his jaw line straight up towards the top of his head, almost as if someone had drawn it there with a ruler. The scar actually added to Charles' appearance. It offset the plain and ordinary appearance of his face and added a touch of maturity and ruggedness to it. Charles' face was unremarkable overall, except for that scar. His face was set and squared, but looked as if the sharp edges had been filed down to make them softer and less chiseled. He had a small nose, that sat in the middle of that face, just above his average sized mouth with its slightly thin lips. His ears were small and unobtrusive as well. He pale blue eyes added to the softness and suggested someone who would not push back, if he were pushed around. Only his bushy dark brown eyebrows and bushy brown mustache broke up the overall gentle and somewhat mousy appears of his face. You would not think much of Charles if you were to ever meet him. You would probably not even give him a second thought, that is until he spoke to you.

Charles' voice belayed his appearance. It was strong, powerful, deep, authoritative and demanding. You could not ignore Charles' voice unless you were deaf. You could not help but pay attention to it. Charles voice was not sexy, but rather it captured your attention and did not let go of it. It was a very useful tool for a policeman. The first time he spoke to me, I was shocked. I found it hard to believe that such a small mouth could produce such wonderfully deep, rich, melodic and entrancing tones. I was curious to know if Charles ever sang, but I never worked up the nerve to ask him. I thought that if he could carry a tune, he could have been a singer. A very successful and sexy singer.

Without quite realizing it, my right hand moved to my inner left jacket pocket and stroked the envelopes resting there. This shattered my daydreaming, and snapped me back to reality and what I had decided to do tonight. I swallowed once nervously, and let go of my concerns. What happened, happened. I would do what I thought was right and live with the consequences. Andy walked into the room, carrying my cup of tea and a cold glass of orange juice for himself. Actually he entered the room, and the room lit up, but only because he turned on several lamps in the room before he sat down next to me. I smiled a silent 'welcome back' to him, while steeling myself inside for what I was about to do. I took the cup of tea from Andy. Slowly I raised the cup to my lips and sipped it while inhaling the fragrance aroma that drifted up from the surface of the dark brown liquid. The tea was wonderful, but too hot to drink right now. I placed the cup and saucer on the table next to me. I turned back to face Andy and noticed he had already placed his glass of orange juice on the table, a small distance away from him.

"Andy, I have something special for you," I said to him, as I reached in and drew out the envelopes from my inside left jacket pocket. "It's Valentine's day tomorrow, you know. Open the red envelope first, please." I asked him as I handed them over to him.

Andy looked at me in quiet surprise, and did as I asked. The red envelope contained a Valentine' Day card that I had created on the computer. On the outside was a bottle of champagne, with two glasses, with balloons and streamers all around them. The words "Let's Celebrate!" were printed above in bold black block letters. Andy looked at the outside of the card for about thirty seconds as if he were committing every detail to memory. Slowly he opened the card and read the message inside. He didn't cry, but he did blink a lot as he read the words that were written there in simple black ink on a plain pink background. The message flowed across both inside panels of the card.

"My Beloved Andy,

This is not a card with clever rhymes and funny lines. The words written here come from my heart and are meant only for yours. You have made my life whole. You have filled to overflowing, the dark deep canyon of emptiness in my heart. You have shown me just what it means to feel loved, and what it means to give love, totally and unconditionally. You are a wonderful and special man, who returns tenfold to me, all that I give you. I can never repay you for all that you have done to heal my soul and spirit. In the other envelope is a sign of just how much I do care for you. I only hope it is not too much, too soon. Yours tonight, and every night that we have together,

Paul."

Andy looked at me. He said not a word as he blinked at the tears welling up in his eyes. Finally he regained control of himself, lowered his head and slowly opened the other envelope that rested in his lap. He unfolded the paper that he plucked from the envelope. He looked up at me, and then looked down at the paper as he read it a second time.

"It's the result of a series of blood tests," Andy whispered at me in a soft voice that echoed with disbelief and awe. "It.it..it says that you're HIV negative, and that you don't have any other sexually transmitted diseases." Andy sat there staring at me with a stunned look on his face. I swallowed nervously as I waited for the information to sink in, and for him to really understand what it meant. Slowly, so slowly that a glacier moving down a mountain valley would have seemed like a high speed police car chase by comparison, Andy's expression shift from one of stunned shock to puzzlement. "What does it mean?" He asked me. "What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"It means, Dear Heart," I answered. 'That I am clean and safe. When you are ready to let our relationship move on to something more physical, you need not have any worries about me. You told me on our first date that you would want proof that I was clean and safe, before you would ever consider any type of intimate relationship with me. Well, now you have the proof."

"But.but what I if I don't want to be physically intimate with you?" Andy asked numbly.

"Then we give it more time," I answered quietly. "I'm not asking you to make a choice now, tonight, or even anytime soon. I only wanted you to know that I loved you enough to prove to you that I am safe and clean. When you are ready, Dear Heart, so am I."

"Oh.." Andy replied with only a slight shake in his voice. "But why do you keep calling me 'Dear Heart'?"

"Because you are dear to my heart, and I wanted you to know that," I replied. "Think of it as my special name for you." I leaned over and softly kissed Andy on the cheek after speaking.

Andy took a deep breath and let it out in a long slow sigh, as he sat there looking at me. Slowly a smile broke out on his face, but he didn't say anything. I'm not sure exactly when or how my right hand had reached out and clasped Andy's left hand, but it did. The touch of our hands seemed to give Andy strength. He sat up a bit straighter and looked me dead in the eyes. I waited quietly. When he was ready, he'd talk. I was more than happy to wait. While I waited, I picked up my cup of tea with my free left hand, and took a long slow drink, savoring the taste and the warmth of the liquid as it coursed down my throat. It was soothing, and after what I had just done I needed some reassurance.

"IuhI have something special for you too, tonight," Andy said with a slight quiver in his voice. "I wasn't sure if I should even do this, but your gift to me has made this much easier." His eyes never left mine, as I saw his right shoulder move slightly. He unlaced his left hand from my right hand. Puzzled, I looked down to Andy's lap, curious as to what his gift to me might be. It couldn't have been a card, though, otherwise he would have pulled it from his jacket pocket, and neither of his hands had gone in that direction. When I saw what it was, my heart skipped a beat, and I vainly tried to swallow the huge lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat. I absently put the cup back on the saucer. I was so distracted by what I saw, though, that that I nearly missed the saucer altogether.

Nestled in Andy's upturned left hand was a box. A small, black box, with a hinged lid. A small black box, such as you find at a jewelry store. The box looked so small as it sat there in Andy's huge left hand. At the same time, though, the box was all that I could see. It eclipsed everything else in the room. Part of me wanted to reach over and open the lid to see what was inside. Another part of me feared what I would find, if I did open the box. I sat there paralyzed with indecision. I sat there and watched as Andy's right hand came into view and lifted up the lid of the box. Andy quickly moved his right hand away from the box, once he had raised the lid.

On a black velvet cloth there lay two plain gold wedding bands. Two men's wedding bands. They sparkled and shone, catching every beam of light in the room, and then reflecting it into my eyes. All I could do was to blink my eyes at the dazzle that seemed to come from the plain and simple wedding rings. The light from those bands overwhelmed my eyes. My mind seemed to have turned into slush. I didn't know what to say, or what to think. Eventually, I managed to swallow enough times to talk past the lump in my throat.

"What.what does this mean?" I managed to ask Andy, as I dragged my eyes away from those two gold bands and looked deep into Andy's soft warm doe brown eyes. 'Does this mean that you want to marry me?" (Dumb and obvious questions, I know, but my mind wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the time, you know.)

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Andy answered softly, as he looked up into my eyes. His gaze was clear and steady. His voice was smooth and mellow without the slighted hint of a tremor, as he continued speaking. "You know we can never get married, Paul. At least not in the sense that a man and a woman can get married. My job, and society in general would not permit it. I bought these rings for us. I thought it was time that I do something to show you how I feel about you, and about us."

"And just how do you feel about me, and about us?" I asked him. I wanted to be sure I understood what these rings meant to Andy, and what I would be getting into if I accepted his ring. "What exactly does wearing these rings mean, Andy?"

"For now, and forever, I am yours," Andy answered me. His voice was low and soft, but still the words seemed to thunder from his lips and deafen me. "My heart, my mind, and my soul are yours. I love you with every breath that I draw and with every beat of my heart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, loving you, sharing my life with you, and learning all there is to know of you, as you learn to know all there is of me. For me, there is no other man in the world, but you."

"This ring is a symbol of my promise to you. My promise, to love you, to care for you, to cherish you, to respect you, and to forsake all others before you." Andy finished speaking, and smiled a timid smile at me as he looked at me. At any other time, or from any other person those words would have sounded melodramatic, but here and now coming as they did from Andy, those words rang with an undeniable and solemn truth. I could not help but believe Andy.

Oh, boy had Andy ever answered my questions! I understood exactly what he meant now. He did want to marry me, as much as we were able to. Understanding, did not make it any easier to answer him though. If anything it made it harder for me to talk. Part of me wanted to blurt out a quick 'yes', and part of me wanted time to think things over. I was fighting my own little civil war in my heart. The only things I knew for certain were that I did love Andy, and that I was confused as hell.

"Paul, will you wear this ring? My ring?" Andy asked, as he picked up one of the rings with his right hand and held it out to me. "Please don't answer now. Think about it. Call me when you are sure." Andy stood up and placed the ring back in the box. He looked down at me and smiled.

"Here's something else for you to think about as well," he said as he inserted his right hand into the left inside breast pocket of his jacket. He withdrew his right hand a moment later, and tossed a plain white envelope down on the coffee table beside me. I picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside the envelope was a plain white sheet of paper, folded once. I unfolded it, and read it. I was only mildly surprised to discover that this was a lab report. It showed the results from a series of blood tests, for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Just as I had done only a few moments ago, Andy had given me proof that he was 'clean and safe' too.

Andy spoke after a few moments of deafening silence. "I'm going to go and brush my teeth before I leave. I'll see you in a couple of minutes." Andy reached down and picked up the glass of orange juice, which I had forgotten about. Andy downed the contents quickly and placed the glass back on the coffee table, on top of the coaster that he has been using for the glass. Andy headed off to the bathroom, at a normal unhurried pace.

I stared at Andy's retreating back in silence and wonder, unable to speak. I thought about the irony of the situation. I had been thinking just this morning that I wanted something more from Andy, some sign of a commitment to this relationship. But, I had never dreamed of anything like this! I looked down at the rings as they lay there gleaming in the light. Andy was right, I needed some time to think about this. I couldn't decide right now.

I stared at the hallway, waiting for Andy's return. It seemed like only a second or two before I saw him walking back down the hall towards me. He headed over to the front hall closet, and opened the closet door. He slipped on his overcoat, and closed the closet door. All the while I remained rooted to my position on the sofa in the living room. Andy walked over to where I was and looked down at me.
"Whatever you decide," he said to me, in that same even calm voice. "Know this. First, that no matter what you decide, I will still love you. Second, I love you enough to let you go, if your answer is 'no'. Third, whatever you decide, be sure it is what is best for you."

With that Andy bent down and pressed his lips against mine in an unmistakably passionate kiss. "Damn it!!!" I thought to myself. "He's not playing fair! He's sure as hell giving me something to miss!" The kiss was all too brief. Andy stood up and looked at me, his face painted with a sad and longing expression, intermingled with the love and caring he so clearly felt for me. I looked back at him, dumbfounded. It was easy to guess at what he wanted me to say, but I could not bring myself to say it, or anything else for that matter. Andy sighed softly, turned around and walked out of my apartment. He closed the door softly behind him. He left me alone, with a heavy heart, and an even heavier question on my mind.



Chapter 2. When Push Comes To Shove.

Slowly I got up, and walked over to the door. I locked it and then returned to my seat on the sofa. I sat there looking at the rings lying in their box, occasionally shifting my eyes to glance again at the lab report that lay beside the jewelry box. Slowly I reached out with my hand to close the box. I was surprised at how badly my hand was shaking. That box scared me! My mind might not have admitted it, but my body knew that for a fact. I had to take a couple of deep breaths, and close my eyes before I could calm myself enough for my hand to stop trembling. I opened my eyes, and looked at the rings once more as they lay in on that black velvet, inside the box. I reached out again, and this time I was successful in closing the lid of the box. Not being able to see the wedding bands any more seemed to help. I stood up and headed to the kitchen. I might not know what my answer to Andy's question was, but I knew what I was going to do right now. I was going to make myself a cup of tea. Rather a fresh cup of tea. I picked up the cup and saucer from the coffee table and quickly drank down the remaining lukewarm tea in the cup. I then picked up the empty glass that Andy had used and headed off the kitchen.

Once I arrived in the kitchen I started collecting the various items I would need for a cup of tea. It was this normal everyday routine event that helped to restore a little bit of balance to my troubled mind. I concentrated only on what I was doing, every step of the way. The mundane task of getting a cup and saucer from the cupboard. (I suppose I could have used the cup I had just brought into the kitchen, but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at this point. I was on automatic pilot, so to speak.) Obtaining a spoon from the silverware drawer. Filling the kettle with water and plugging the kettle in. Waiting for the water to boil. Pouring the water into the cup. Getting a tea bag and placing it in the hot water, in the cup, and finally setting the timer for three and one half minutes. I stared at the water getting darker as the tea steeped. The timer went off, and I spooned the tea bag out of the cup. I placed the tea bag in the garbage. Finally I added one teaspoon of sugar to the contents of the cup, and stirred it.

I took my hot cup of tea and sat down at the kitchen table. As I waited for the tea to cool enough for me to take a sip of it, I was amazed at how much calmer and more peaceful I felt. The simple act of making a cup of tea, had been a much more soothing event that I thought it would have been.

Rather than attempt to deal with the question that Andy had asked me, I let my mind drift and my attention wander. I sipped the tea. It was wonderfully warm as it slid down my throat. I found it relaxing, and comforting. As I wallowed in that wonderful state of peace and calm, I decided to sleep on the question, and face it tomorrow. With any luck the morning would bring a new perspective to me, and I'd be more able to deal with such a complex question. After changing out of my suit shirt and tie, I spent the evening soaking in a hot bath, reading a book. I kept away from the living room where a small black box sat on a coffee table, waiting for me. I managed to fall asleep without too much difficulty.

When the alarm went off the next morning, I awoke feeling a bit tired. I had woken up several time during the night. I had fallen back to sleep, but the night had not been as restful as it normally was. Small wonder, considering what I would have to think about today. I went through my morning ritual, of taking a bath, shaving, and getting dressed. I prepared my usual breakfast, and sat down to eat it after I retrieved the morning paper from the hallway outside my apartment.

Finally, though, I could put it off no longer. I walked out to the living room, wearing my faded blue jeans, athletic socks, and a Maple Leafs hockey team T-shirt. (What can I say? I dress down on the weekend, especially when I'm not expecting company. Is it necessary for me to mention that I was wearing underwear as well?) I sat down on the sofa and looked that that little black box. It was time for some hard thinking, about Andy, about me and about us. I looked at the clock on the living room wall. It read 10 AM. I tried to imagine what life with Andy would be like. I knew that it would not be exactly the same as it has been these past four months. There would be changes, and I was not sure exactly what they would entail. I knew that I did not want to give up hypnotizing men other than Andy. It was an activity of mine which I had come to enjoy and I wanted to keep in practice. I helped at lot of guys using hypnosis (and especially super hypnosis). Besides it was a lot of fun, even if it did border on sexual play sometimes. Early in our relationship Andy had said that he did not expect me to give up this hobby of mine. I wondered though, if that was going to change now that Andy wanted me to wear his ring.

There were too many unknowns for me to even guess at what our future relationship was going to be like. So, I looked at the other side of the coin. I imagined what my life would be like without Andy in it. I knew that if my answer was 'no' Andy and I would part company. He was a man of his word, as I had discovered over the past four months. The outlook was bleak and depressing. Life without Andy in it was going to be as empty and lonely as it had been before, only now I would be much more aware of just how lonely and empty my life had been. Not a pleasant picture at all. I sighed silently to myself as I tried to make up my mind. I looked at the small black box and opened it. The two wedding band still lay where Andy had placed them the night before. (Was it only the night before? It felt like it had been a lifetime ago.) I looked at the wedding bands as they lay there. Slowly I reached out and picked one of them up, pinching it between my thumb and forefinger.

The metal was cool and hard to the touch. The golden band glinted as I looked at it. I took the band and slipped it on the ring finger of my left hand. It slid on easily, even over my knuckle, since the ring was easily a couple of sizes too big for me. (Well, how could Andy have known? He'd never asked what my ring size was. After all, if he had asked me what my ring size was, it would have spoiled the surprise.) I spent some time looking at the ring as it lay there encircling my finger. This wasn't helping any. I took off the ring and looked at it again. I blinked in surprise as I thought I saw some engraving on the inside of the ring. I turned on one of the living room lamps, and held the ring up close to it, examining the ring carefully. It was daylight and the curtains were open so the lamps really did not need to be on, but every little bit of extra light helped.

"Grow old along with me!" I read silently to myself. It was a line from a poem by Robert Browning. My throat tightened with emotion as I recalled the lines of that poem

"Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

the last of life for which the first was made."

"Dear Lord, how could I have ever doubted how Andy felt about me?" I asked the silent room. "I should have said, 'yes' then and there. I should have just gone with my feelings and said 'yes'." But back in my mind remained that nagging little doubt, the doubt that kept reminding me that I had never had any serious long term relationship in my life. I'd had a few short failed relationships, but nothing like what Andy was asking of me. I had to be careful. I had to be sure, in my own mind, that this was 'the one'. I was starting to fall back into that confused state I'd been wallowing in last night. It took some effort, but I managed to clam down and think clearly about how I felt about Andy, and what I saw happening with us. Was it worth the risk? Yes, unquestionably. Was I ready to take that risk? I sat there trying to come up with an answer to that question. I wasn't sure. I thought some more about Andy, and the times we'd spent together, the joy and happiness we'd discovered in just spending time with each other. That had to mean something, didn't it? I thought back to our first date, the dinner that Steven and Jack had set up, and I smiled at the memory. I thought about the other times we'd spent together. Then, in a moment of crystal clarity I recalled what I had said to Andy, when he had confessed to me that he was afraid of choosing between his love for me, and his love of his duty.

"Don't you know I'd rather have five minutes of wonderful with you, than a life time of loneliness and emptiness, such as I've known?" That is what I had said to him then, and at the time I'd meant every word.

The words seemed to burn in my mind as I remembered the feelings that had overwhelmed me when I'd spoken those word to Andy. The words were as true now, as they had been then. I wanted whatever time I could have with Andy, however short it might be. I was too concerned with losing what I had, to see what it was that I could be passing up. I got hold of myself and looked at the clock. It read 11:30 AM. I grabbed the phone off the nearby end table and dialed Andy's number. I'd made my decision, difficult as it has been to do that. Now, I had to break the news to Andy. I only hoped he'd be as thrilled and excited about my answer as I was. On the third ring the phone was answered.

"Hello?" Said a commanding male voice, which was not Andy's.

"Yes, uh, hello." I answered. "Maybe I please speak with Andrew Anderson?" I asked.

"Might I ask who is calling?" Inquired the voice.

"This is Paul Walton." I answered.

"Hello, Paul. This is Chuck Chatterly," the voice replied. "I'm sorry but Andy's not in right now."

"Oh I see," I said, somewhat surprised. Chuck's voice seemed somewhat more distant and cooler than normal, almost as if he didn't really want to talk to me. "Would you be kind enough to give him a message for me?"

"Okay. Please hang on while I get a pencil and paper," Chuck answered. A few moments later he was back on the line. "Go ahead. I'm ready."

"Could you please ask Andrew to drop by my place at about 2 PM this afternoon? I have something I want to talk to him about."

"Fine, I'll give him the message."

There was a loud click and the line went dead. I held the handset away from my head in surprise. Chuck has been rather abrupt, almost rude with me. It was not at all like him. I hoped I hadn't caught him at a bad time. I hung up the phone and decided to watch a few movies to kill the time until Andy arrived.

At 12:30 PM my doorbell rang. I turned my head in surprise at the sound. The doorbell rang a second time. I pressed the stop button on the VCR and stood up. It couldn't be Andy. I went to the door curious as to whom it could be. Imagine my surprise when I looked through the peephole in the door and saw Charles (Chuck) Chatterly standing on the other side of the door. He was the last person in the world I expected to see. I opened the door.

"Hello Chuck," I said to him once the door was open. "This is a surprise. Why are you here?"

"Could I come inside so we can talk about that?" He responded, avoiding my question.

"Sure," I answered, and gestured him inside. Once he was inside, I closed and locked the door. Then I turned around to get a good look at him.

Chuck, who was just shy of six feet all, still towered over me. (Actually, Chuck was only an inch and half or so taller than I was, so he didn't exactly 'tower' over me. It just seemed that way, for some reason.) His clean good looks were pleasing to look at, but they were in no way outstanding. He was wearing a black leather jacket hanging open. Beneath the jacket I could clearly see the plain light blue knit shirt that he was wearing. The shirt had a three button placket, but I could not tell if it had short or long sleeves, since Chuck had not removed his jacket. The shirt was tucked into a pair of light blue jeans. Chuck was not wearing a belt in his jeans. The jeans looked to be close fitting but not tight. (Well, you can't have everything.) It took only a moment or two for me to take all this in.

Chuck bypassed the front hall closet and headed directly for the living room, slipping off his black leather jacket en route. As I followed Chuck into the living room, I was pleased to note that from the back at least, his jeans were close fitting in a very nice way. They were not tight or snug, exactly, but they did follow the curve of his butt, without any sagging or bagging. I really don't like pants that sag or bag around a man's butt. It strikes me as sloppy, somehow. I quickly glanced down and made note that Chuck was wearing a pair of nondescript sneakers. They were more gray than white, which suggested that they had seen plenty of use.

Chuck sat down on the left end of the sofa and made himself comfortable. He placed his jacket off to his right, and looked up at me, as I continued walking into the living room. I sat down in the swivel rocker chair next to Chuck, and made myself comfortable as I looked at him. Chuck's shirt had turned out to be a short sleeve knit shirt after all. It fit him well, too. Like his jeans it was close fitting but not tight. The shirt hung off of Chuck's shoulders and bagged only slightly at the waist where it was tucked into his jeans.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Chuck?" I asked him after a short pause.

"What did you do to Andy?" Chuck asked me in a no nonsense tone of voice.

"Excuse me?" I asked dumbly. I was taken aback at the bluntness of Chuck's question.

"It's a simple enough question," Chuck replied. "So why not just answer it."

"I haven't done anything to Andy," I answered truthfully. "Well, nothing I'm likely to tell you about, anyway," I thought silently to myself.

"Sure you did," Chuck answered, with a touch of annoyance in his voice. "You hypnotized him. I know that you did. Don't try to deny it"

"Who told you that?" I asked still puzzled. "And if I did, what business is it of yours?" I shot back, not bothering to hid the tone of annoyance in my voice as well.

"Well, Andy told me that you hypnotized him," Chuck answered. "A while ago I noticed how much better he seemed to be coping with things and when I asked him what his secret was, he told me about you. He explained how you helped him to relax and deal with the pressures of his job. He was most enthusiastic about it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that Chuck, but it doesn't explain why you are here," I said to him.

"Andy's been spending a lot of time with you, lately, " Chuck said, his voice remaining frosty. "It's not like him. I want to know exactly what goes on in these so called sessions of yours. I've checked up on you, and you are not a licensed therapist. Andy's my best friend, and I keep an eye out for him."

"Ah, I think I see," I said as understanding finally started to dawn on me. "You are a bit worried about Andy, and that he might be getting into trouble."

"I suppose you could put it that way," Chuck agreed some what reluctantly. "So what does go on during your sessions?" Chuck asked again.

"Exactly what Andy has told you," I answered as I avoided Chuck's question. "I don't discuss the details of my sessions with anyone. It's up to the subject to decide if he wants to talk about the sessions, and to whom."

"Sorry, but I don't buy that line of bullshit," Chuck responded, and his face started to take on a slightly mean look. "Andy might trust you, but I don't. I want to know EXACLTY what goes on in these so called 'sessions' of yours."

I swallowed my natural impulse to snap out some smart ass remark. I paused for a few moments before replying to Chuck' statement. I realized that for some reason he was not willing to take 'no' for an answer. I tried to think of something to tell him, since I could not tell him the truth. I would never betray Andy's trust in me, and besides it was none of Chuck's business. "To be blunt, Chuck," I said timidly, not wanting to escalate the situation. "It's none of your business. What happens during Andy's sessions with me, is a private matter."

"I'm making it my business, Mister," Chuck responded, his voice starting to heat up. The emphasis on the word 'making' was clearly evident. "I'm not leaving here until I find out what the story is with you and Andy."

"Oh boy, would you ever be surprised!" I thought to myself. But I couldn't tell him the truth. Andy would never forgive me. I looked at Chuck and a surprising thought popped into my mind. Maybe I could tell him the truth, if I could make him forget it afterwards. I'd already proved to myself that I could do that with some guys. With any luck Chuck was not immune to my powers like Andy was. A quick and harmless test would be enough. I looked at Chuck, directly into his eyes as he waited for my response. "Stand up and bow to me, then sit back down. You will not remember doing this." I pushed the commands into Chuck's mind as quickly as I could, and waited to see what would happen.

Chuck looked at me and his face took on a blank and empty expression for a moment. His face remained expressionless and zombie like as he smoothly stood up and turned slightly to face me. He bowed to me in a fluid and even motion. He stood back up, and looked at me blankly for a moment before he sat back down on the sofa. Chuck blinked his eyes a few times as the spell wore off and he returned to normal. His face quickly reverted back to that slightly mean expression that he's been wearing on it for the past few minutes. It was a sure sign that Chuck was back to normal and didn't have any idea or memory of what had just happened. As for me, I'd experienced a sudden surge of sexual excitement while all this was going on. (Like you expected me NOT to react? Hey, I'm not a monk, after all.) So, I knew now that I had a safety net if I needed it. I could use my super hypnosis powers on him, if it became necessary. However, I still didn't have an answer for Chuck, and he looked like he was getting impatient with me.

"I'm not leaving until I have an answer, you know," Chuck reminded me needlessly.

"No I suppose not," I sighed. "I am surprised, though, that you expect me to betray Andy's trust and tell you about our sessions. How can you even think of putting me in such a position? Why is it so important for you to know about this?"

Chuck looked at me right in the eye for a few moments before he spoke. "Andy could wind up in a lot of trouble, if it were discovered that while he was hypnotized he talked about his job."

"You need not worry about that," I said with sincere relief in my voice. "I am well aware of 'The Oath Of Secrecy' that binds an RCMP constable. I know that because of that oath Andy cannot talk about his work, to anyone other than another police officer. I do not know how much you know about hypnosis, Chuck, but I cannot force Andy to do anything in hypnosis that he would not otherwise do. I can't make him talk about his job. I consider Andy my friend, and I would never even think of asking him about his work, hypnotized or not."
Chuck studied me for a minute or so after I'd finished speaking. "I suppose I'll have to accept you at your word. But should I ever find out otherwise, you will live to regret it." he warned me, in a chilling tone of voice.

"That sounds like a threat, Chuck," I said trying to match the chill of Chuck's voice.

"Consider it some friendly advice, which if you are wise, you will take to heart," Chuck replied, his voice a few degrees warmer than before. He stared at me silently as I looked back at him.

"Understood," I said, letting my voice warm up as well. "Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?" I asked him.

"No, I think that about covers it," Chuck answered. "I am sorry for coming on so heavy handed, but I worry about Andy. This is a nice apartment you have by the way."

"It's understandable, I suppose," I replied. "No offense taken. And thank you for the compliment."

Chuck gave me a very small smile in acknowledgment that we had a truce between us, as far as Andy was concerned. He looked around at the apartment a bit more taking in the decor and the various objects scattered about the living room. "What's this?" he asked as he plucked up the small black jewelry box from the living room coffee table, where I'd left it from the night before. "Planning on asking the big question are you?" He asked as he grinned at me wolfishly, as he opened the lid of the box. He looked at the two gold wedding bands and a look of stunned surprise came to his face. "Two wedding bands?" he asked me in a puzzled tone of voice. "No engagement ring? What type of woman wants to wear a wedding band, instead of an engagement ring?"

An icicle of fear stabbed through my heart as I tried to think of something to say to explain the two wedding bands, but I was fresh out of ideas. Then I calmed down as I realized that I didn't need to explain anything to Chuck. It was none of his business in the first place. "She's an unusual lady, and I'm too much of a gentleman to say anything more," I replied with a secretive smirk on my face.

Chuck threw an "Oh, I see" expression at me, as he picked up one of the wedding bands to examine it more closely. He held it up to the light. It was a forgone conclusion that he had noticed that there was something engraved on the rings and he wanted to read what it was. Chuck gulped as he read the engraving. He looked at me with an unreadable expression, which for some reason I found disquieting. He quickly grabbed the other ring and held it up to see what had been engraved on it. Chuck's face suddenly drained of colour as he read what was on the second wedding band. I was more than puzzled by this reaction, since I hadn't examined the second wedding band myself. I had no idea what the engraving on it said. It had never occurred to me to even look. I just assumed that the second wedding band was engraved the same as the one that I had examined.

Slowly Chuck replaced both wedding bands in the box and closed it. He gently put the box on the table and slowly turned to look at me. His face was unreadable. I guessed that he was upset or in some kind of shock, but it was difficult to be certain. As I sat there bewildered, looking at Chuck, an all too familiar feeling returned. It was that eerie feeling as if something was crawling over my forehead. I knew what it meant, and I gulped nervously in spite of myself. Someone in the immediate vicinity of me, was having less than friendly intentions towards me. I didn't need three guesses to determine who it was. For the life of me though, I couldn't imagine why Chuck suddenly felt that way towards me.

Chuck stood up suddenly and turned to walk away from me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, the concern in my voice unmistakable.

"Give me a second, will ya?" Chuck blurted out at me, as he finished turning away from me. All I could see was his back, and it looked stiff and tense. I stood up and looked at Chuck's back as I pondered what to do. I let the empty minutes drag by, and finally my compassion got the better of me. I softly walked over to where Chuck stood, and placed my left hand gently on Chuck's right shoulder.

"If there is anything I can do to help," I started to say, but my words were cut off. Choked off would be more accurate. With the speed, strength and dexterity that comes from long hours of practice and a lot of experience, Chuck grabbed my right hand with his left hand and pulled me about, spinning me around in the process so that I wound up in front of him, with my back to him. In the next second, Chuck's right arm was clamped around my neck, and applying pressure mercilessly. (All of this happened much faster than it took to describe it, of course. It is only by thinking carefully about what must have happened that I can guess that this must have been the case.) For a second or two I was in shock and unable to understand what had just happened. By the time I realized that Chuck was using a form of police restrain known as carotid control on me, it was too late for me to do anything about it. I could not break free of the grip that Chuck had on me, since he was stronger than I was, physically. As for my mental powers, I normally need to make eye contact to insert my mental commands into a subject's mind, which is rather difficult to do, when you are facing away from the subject. My next thought was to set up a powerful compulsion field in the room that would force Chuck to release me. Compulsion fields don't require eye contact to be created, but they do require some time to set up. The fastest that I'd ever set up a compulsion field was in 30 seconds, and that was 18 seconds longer than I had, but still I did my best. It just wasn't good enough. I was just beginning to project the field when my vision started to dim, and my body started to feel numb and rubbery. I had barely registered those feelings when my world went dark and I slipped off to oblivion.

For those of you who are not familiar with it, 'carotid control' is a restraint method taught to the RCMP. This method allows a constable to hold a suspect and apply pressure to compress the sternocledo mastoid muscles against the carotid arteries in the suspect's neck. This painless, humane and effective hold, restricts the blood flow to the suspect's brain. After about twelve seconds, the suspect becomes unconscious and thus much easier to handle. This was the unfortunate position that I found myself in. (You're probably wondering how it is that I know so much about this. Well, let's just say there are some advantages to dating an RCMP constable, okay? Knowing what was happening to me at the time though, didn't help me any.)

I slowly climbed out of my enforced slumber to discover that I was sitting in a chair. I blinked my eyes and tried to move, as I became fully conscious. That was when I discovered that I wasn't just sitting in a chair, I was tied to the chair, and gagged to boot! A piece of cloth, probably a dish towel from the kitchen, had been forced between my lips, across my mouth and tied at the back of my head. "It's a good thing I did the laundry a few days ago and washed this dish towel. At least it's clean," I thought to myself. It was a silly and useless thought, but it popped into my head nonetheless. To judge from the feeling in my wrists and ankles, Chuck had used some type of cord to bind my writs together behind my back, and to tie my ankles to the legs of the chair I was sitting in.

I blinked my eyes a few more times and the room finally swam into focus. I was in my dinning room. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized that Chuck had not kidnapped me. I didn't know what was going on exactly, but I was still at home and that was a comfort. I turned my head to the right and then back to the left as I looked around searching for Chuck. I couldn't see him anywhere and that did concern me I wondered what else he might be up to. I took a few relaxing breaths as I calmed myself down. I couldn't do anything at the moment, so it was best to wait and see what developed.

I could not see the living room wall clock, and I certainly could not check my wrist watch with my hands tied behind my back, so I had no idea how long it was before Chuck finally made his appearance. It could have been three seconds or thirty minutes. My first instinct was to make eye contact with Chuck as quickly as possible in order to use my super hypnosis powers on him. Once he was under my control, it would be a simple matter to have him untie me. (And yes, I did think of taking some revenge on Chuck for doing this to me. I'd be lying if I said that such thoughts did not cross my mind.) I fought down the panic that was behind this urge and waited to see what Chuck was going to do. He wanted something from me, otherwise he would not have gone to this much trouble. The question was, "What did he want?"

"You've recovered, I see," Chuck said to me as he walked around and into my field of view. Chuck stopped when he was directly in front of me, standing a couple of feet away from me.

I nodded my head in silent agreement. There wasn't much else I could do now, was there?

"I know that you're wondering why I've tied you up and gagged you," Chuck said in a cold and unfriendly voice. "It's simple. I'm going to ask you a few questions and you are going to answer them with a simple yes or no. You can still nod your head or shake it, so you'll be able to answer. The gag is to prevent you from trying to hypnotize me with your voice. You see, Andy's told me how powerful a hypnotic voice you have. As for tying you up, it was the only way to be sure that you wouldn't try something, such as trying to call for help."

Chuck paused for a few moments as if he were making up his mind about something. "I know what you did," he said in a deadly quiet voice. "I know what you did to Andy."

I looked at Chuck and blinked at him stupidly. I had no idea what he was referring to.

Chuck walked over to stand just in front of me, and looked at me coldly. Suddenly his right hand came up and he slapped me painfully across the left side of my face!. As my head rocked painfully to the right with the force of the blow, I wasn't sure which was stronger, the pain I felt or the surprise. As I slowly turned my head back to the left to look at Chuck, the left side of my face became washed with stinging pain. I looked up at Chuck. I felt more confused than hurt.

Suddenly Chuck's left hand came up and he slapped me across the right side of my face! The blow was much harder this time, and I gasped with the pain and shock as my head rocked to the left. I let my head hang there for a moment as I gulped in air, confused and hurt. I slowly turned my head back to face Chuck more confused now than ever.

"I KNOW!!!!!!!" Chuck screamed at me, as he thrust his face just inches from mine. "I RECOGNIZE THOSE WEDDING BANDS!!! ANDY BOUGHT THEM!!!!" Chuck continued to scream at me, as spittle flew from his lips and sprinkled all over my face.

I swallowed as fear suddenly gripped my belly and settled down in my stomach like a small ball of ice. Chuck looked like he was losing control of himself, and I wasn't exactly in a position to defend myself. All I could manage to do was to keep looking at Chuck and listen to him rant. Chuck took a couple of quick breaths before he continued to address me.

"Andy told me that he was going to give those wedding bands to someone very special in his life," Chuck said as he finally managed to stop screaming at me. "Andy said that he couldn't marry this 'special person' of his, and the rings were the best he could offer. I was thrilled for him when he told me all this and showed me those rings. I was looking forward to meeting this 'special person' of his." Chuck looked at me as he paused for breath, and I could see the anger flair up on his face.

"AND NOW I FIND OUT IT'S YOU!!" He screamed at me as he raised his right hand and slapped me across the left side of my face again. The blow was even stronger this time, and I heard a very faint ringing in my ears.

"YOU!" He cried out as he slapped me across the right side of my face.

"HYPNOTIZED!" He screamed, while slapping me across the left side of my face.

"MY!" He ranted as he slapped me across the right side of my face.

"BEST!" He raved on, and slapped the left side of my face yet again.

"FRIEND!" He shouted out, and slapped me across the right side of my face once more.

"AND!" He continued to scream, slapping the left side of my face even harder. My head was starting to feel like a Ping-Pong ball.

"TURNED!" He stormed at me, followed by another slap to the right side of my face.

'HIM!" He boomed at me. The now expected slap to the left side of my face followed almost immediately.

"GAY!!!" He howled at me, with even more fury and venom than before. The last word was followed by a long series of slaps. So many that I soon lost count. It could have been ten, it could have been twenty. I was in too much pain to know or care at the time. Eventually though Chuck stopped slapping my face. I didn't know if it was from exhaustion or because his hands were starting to hurt. All I knew for certain was that my face hurt, my ears were ringing and I couldn't seem to think at all. I just let my head hang there in pain, and let time pass me by.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Chuck voice inquired after several moments of silence.

I shook my head in a silent 'no', keeping my eyes closed against the slow steady burning pain in both my cheeks. I flinched in pain and fear as I felt Chuck's hands cup my face and draw it upward. Resignedly, I opened my eyes as my face was raised upward. I gazed into Chuck's eyes and for a heartbeat I considered using my powers on him. I couldn't bring myself to do it, though. He was Andy's closest friend. It would hurt Andy terribly, if he ever found out. It would break Andy's heart, and I couldn't bear the thought of that happening. Besides, Chuck hadn't really hurt me all that much. He was just angry and upset with me about what he thought was a betrayal of Andy.

"You know that I'm right," Chuck insisted, in a very quiet and calm voice, all the more menacing because it was so calm. "All you have to do is admit it, to me. Admit what you did to Andy, and change him back to normal of course. Once you agree to that, all this will be over."

I shook my head 'no' a second time. What else could I do? I couldn't talk with that gag in my mouth.

"Look, Paul," Chuck continued in that same quiet and calm voice. "It's the truth and we both know it. Admitting the truth is not that hard. Sure, I was a tad upset with you a few moments ago, but that's understandable, I think. Surely you can see that this is what is best for Andy, can't you? After all, turning someone into something that they are not, isn't really fair now is it?"

I stared at Chuck for a moment, puzzled at his line of reasoning. It was clear that he did not know that Andy was gay. Even if I told him that Andy was gay, Chuck would never accept it. A sudden sinking feeling overcame me, as I realized that in order to get out of this situation I would probably have to use my powers on Chuck. I shook my head 'no' at the prospect of that idea.

"I'll tell you what," Chuck said after a few moments of thought. "If you give me your solemn word, that you will not try to hypnotize me, I'll take the gag out of your mouth so that you can talk. If you do try anything at all, any type of suggestion, the gag goes back in and stays in. I know that your voice is your main tool to induce hypnosis. So, do we have a deal?"

I slowly nodded my head 'yes'. It would be good to have that dish towel out of my mouth, and maybe I could explain things to Chuck. It was a long shot at best, but it was worth a try. Chuck walked over to me and slowly removed the dish towel gag from my mouth. He dropped the towel on the carpeted dinning room floor a foot or so away from me. Silently Chuck offered me a drink of water from a glass that he must have carried in from the kitchen. It felt good to get relief from the dryness in my mouth. Chuck was careful in how he held the glass to my lips. He made sure that the water did not pour into my mouth too quickly and cause me to either choke or dribble the water down the front of my shirt. (He was a thoughtful son of a bitch, if nothing else. Well, how else would you have thought of him? The man attacked me, tied me up and slapped me around. And now he wanted to 'talk'. He wasn't exactly doing his best to convince me that he wanted to be my friend.) I choked down the urge to tell Chuck exactly what I thought of him. It would not help the situation any. As for my not hypnotizing Chuck with my voice, I would keep my promise, I decided. Of course I had not promised that I would not hypnotize him using my eyes, and he didn't know that it was my eyes, and not my voice, that was my main tool for inducing hypnosis.

"That's better, I'm sure," Chuck said as a prelude to our conversation. "Now, I think it is a forgone conclusion that you are gay, Paul. I don't need to be a detective to figure that out. If you were not gay, you'd never have used your hypnosis on Andy to turn him gay. I suppose I can see why you'd do that. Andy is a good looking guy after all. Whether or not you're gay, isn't important. What is important is that you made Andy believe that he's gay, and that he's in love with you. That's something which we're going correct, isn't it?"

I looked at Chuck as I slowly shook my head from side to side. "Yes, I am gay," I admitted to Chuck. "But I didn't try to hypnotize Andy into thinking he's that he's in love with me or that he's gay. He just is."

"Please be reasonable, Paul," Chuck said quietly, in that commanding and demanding tone of voice that he had mastered. "I'm not stupid. I know what happened. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to." Chuck's face was passive and calm, as he stared down at me, except for those pale blue eyes of his which looked as hard and unfeeling as blue diamonds. After a minute or so, he spoke again. 'Paul, I'll beat the truth out of you if I have to, believe me I will," he said. The words were so cold that the very air seemed to crackle and snap as he spoke..

I could not believe what I was hearing. It seemed too unreal, like something out of a nightmare. While I did not know Chuck all that well, I knew that he was Andy's best friend. I found it difficult to believe that someone Andy trusted so much, could turn so vicious and mean. My thoughts were in turmoil. I was confused and unsure what to do. The totally unexpected blow from Chuck's fist that landed in my stomach knocked the wind out of me, and scrambled my thoughts even more. "Knocked the wind out of me"? Who ever came up with that dumb expression? It makes it sound like I had to rest and catch my breath for a minute. What I felt, as that blow landed in my gut, was an explosion of pain, and a sudden terror flooding my mind as I discovered that I could not seem to breath. I panicked, pure and simple. All I could think about for the next minute or so (and believe me it felt a hell of a lot longer than a minute), was that I couldn't seem to breath and that I might suffocate.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, I was able to breath again, but only shallow breaths. I raised my head to look at the man standing before me. Chuck wasn't smiling. He looked as cold and serious as before, more so if that were possible.

"I mean business, Paul," Chuck declared. "Now are you going to undo what you did to Andy or not?"

"I can't undo something that I haven't done in the first place," I croaked out my answer between shallow breaths. "I didn't make Andy gay. He is gay." The pain was starting to fade, finally, and speaking was a bit easier. I answered Chuck's question honestly. I was more concerned with trying to gather my wits back together, so I could figure out a way out of this mess, than in lying to Chuck. I slowly raised my head back up to look at Chuck. My resolve not to use my powers on Chuck was starting to melt away like an ice cube sitting in a parking lot on a hot summer afternoon in July.
The contact of Chuck's right fist with the left side of my face was painful to say the least. Unfortunately it was not an isolated event. Chuck pummeled my face and jaw with his two fits for a time between infinity squared and infinity cubed. It was a new experience in pain and suffering. What few thoughts I had gathered in the brief respite since being punched in my stomach, were blown away like leaves being scattered by an autumn wind by this new assault on my person. The only thought that pounded through my brain was that I was in pain, and that it didn't appear to be stopping. Bound as I was to the chair, I couldn't move to escape. I was too confused by the pain flooding my brain to try and use my powers on Chuck. All I could do for the moment was to sit, suffer through it, and wait for it to stop. I kept my eyes shut, in the faint hope that my eyelids might help protect my eyes from this assault of Chuck's.

"Had enough?" Chuck inquired, when he finally stopped beating his fits against my face. The tone of his voice implied that more pain would be forthcoming, if we did not come to an agreement that was to his liking.

I nodded my head yes and slowly raised it up to look at the brut before me. Chuck had gone from being my lover's best friend and thus someone I thought I could trust, to an unfeeling and cruel Neanderthal of a man. The compassion and concern I had felt for him earlier had seeped away like water poured on sand in the middle of the Sahara Desert. My only objective now, was getting out of this situation. I had reached my limit. In point of fact, I was well past it.

"Now, unless you want more of the same, you're going to do what I said earlier," Chuck proclaimed. "You're going to return Andy back to normal, and leave him alone. I'll leave you alone for a few minutes to think before you answer."

I gulped as I listened to Chuck's pronouncement. Even if I could do that to Andy, which I couldn't, I wouldn't. (Okay, so that doesn't exactly make much sense, but my thinking was somewhat less than clear at the moment.) I stared at Chuck in hurtful silence as the pain in my beaten face started to slowly increase in intensity. Chuck had been careful in where his punches landed. My eyes were not hurt, and my mouth while tender and sore was not causing me any speech impediments. I felt around in my mouth with my tongue, and I could not feel any loose or broken teeth. I took the few seconds of free time to try and gather my thoughts and my powers. I would try one last time to reason with Chuck before I used my powers on him, I decided. I didn't like being pushed into this situation, but I didn't see that I had any other options open to me. Oh, I could have agreed to Chuck's demands, but then I would have been lying. Eventually I would have to use my super hypnosis powers on Chuck, so I might as well do it now and get it over with.

"Your answer?" Chuck inquired as he stood there towering over me.

"I told you before, Chuck," I answered slowly. I could talk but it was difficult and painful. "I can't undo what I haven't done. Andy is." My words were cut off in mid sentence as Chuck landed a quick jab on my face.

"Wrong answer!" Chuck bellowed. "You've earned this!" Before I could even try to snag Chuck's attention and grab even a second's worth of eye contact with him, the rain of blows falling on my head and now my chest racked my body and mind with pain. It was impossible for me to concentrate. Although he did not know it, Chuck had effectively neutralized my super hypnosis abilities. After all if I couldn't think clearly I couldn't use my powers on him, now could I? Another lifetime of pummeling started, and I resigned myself to enduring the pain until another opportunity presented itself for me to use my powers on Chuck. There would be no hesitation this time, I promised myself. I hung on, and waited for Chuck to vent his rage and homophobic fears out on me. I had concluded by now that Chuck was homophobic to some degree, otherwise why would he have reacted so violently to what he thought I had done to Andy?

Finally, Chuck let up. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to God. I concentrated on my breathing, which was difficult since it was painful even to breath. Taking a deep breath was a new adventure in pain. My first thought was that I had some bruised ribs, courtesy of Chuck. (At least I hoped they were bruised and not cracked. Better not to think of that possibility, I told myself, First get yourself out of this mess and attend to your injuries later.) I did my best to ignore my pain filled body and concentrated on just one thing. Getting Chuck to stop. I decided that I would send one word into Chuck's mind to freeze him in place. Once that was done I could rest for a few minutes, and while I recovered my strength I could start thinking about how I was going to handle this entire situation.

It took a major effort of will to move my head, but I did it. Slowly I raised my head up and looked around for Chuck. He was standing about two meters away from me, with his arms crossed on his chest, glaring right at me. The anger had not left his face, but added to the anger was impatience and disgust. I guess I was tougher than he'd thought I'd be. That was some consolation to me but not much. Chuck slowly raised his arms in a boxers stance as he looked at me. The threat was clear. I got ready to launch my powers at Chuck's mind while I had eye contact with him.

My opportunity was snatched away from me. Chuck turned his head suddenly, as he responded to the sound of a voice calling out from the vicinity of the front door.

"Hello. Is anybody home?" It was the voice of an angel. An angel decked out in a pair of white sneakers, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a light gray pullover knit shirt over which was worn a light tan jacket. A black braided leather belt snaked its way through the loops of the jeans to encircle the waist of this gift from God. All that was missing were the wings and the halo, but I didn't give a damn about that. It was Andy! Andy turned back from closing and locking the front door to my apartment. "I got the message you left, Paul. Sorry I'm late, but I got delayed" Andy's words died on his lips as the scene before him started to register on his mind. Andy had started walking towards where Chuck and I were, but he stopped dead in his tracks, as the full impact of the scene in front of him crashed into his mind.

I can only dimly guess at the turmoil of thoughts, emotions and feelings that must have been churning through Andy's mind as he saw me sitting in a dinning room chair bound and helpless, with Andy's best and closest friend standing only a few feet away from me. I looked at Andy in stunned amazement as I watch the shock of the scene become painted on his face. It lasted only a heartbeat or two though. The shock quickly became supplanted with blood red rage. Never before in my life had I seen someone become 'red with rage'. Right before my eyes I saw my sweet wonderful Andy transformed in to a raging maniac, who launched himself at Chuck, without the slightest trace of hesitation.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Andy cried out as he quickly overpowered Chuck and dragged him to the floor. Andy had Chuck pinned down and was holding him easily. At least it looked like he was doing it easily from where I was sitting. Andy was so quick and fast that he would have put a professional steer wrestler to shame. I decided to keep my mouth shut and try to recover my strength, mental and physical, as I was sure I would need them very shortly.

"I'm protecting your ass," Chuck replied savagely, as he tried to wiggle free of Andy's grasp. It was a futile effort at best. Andy's rage had given his already tremendous strength an extra boost. He could have held a raging bull elephant at bay. (That may be a slight exaggeration on my part, but from my viewpoint that's what it looked like.)

"What in God's name are you yammering about?" Andy shot back at Chuck as he wrenched Chuck up from the floor and held him as tightly as ever.

"Let me go, and I'll explain," Chuck snarled at Andy.

"Fine, but you'd better have a strong explanation for all this," Andy replied as he released his hold on Chuck.

"Oh, I do," Chuck said as he rubbed and flexed his arms, while walking a few feet away from Andy. Suddenly Chuck darted towards me. He bent low and in one fluid and swift motion snagged the dish towel rag that was still lying in front of me and savagely stuffed it in my mouth, effectively gagging me once more. Andy was caught completely by surprise and had no chance to do anything more than take a few steps towards Chuck. Chuck danced back in front of me and held up his hand in a 'stop' gesture. 'Hold it right there, Andy. It's safe for us to talk now."

"What in the world are you blathering about now?" Andy asked, as he stopped his approach towards Chuck.

"Now that Paul is gagged, he can't use some kind of trigger to put you back into hypnosis, and take control of you again," Chuck explained as if this should be obvious to Andy. "I know he's been messing with your mind, and all that is going to stop, as of right now."

(I suppose I could have acted then and there, but I decided not to. Andy had to find out what had happened during the past few hours anyway, so why not let Chuck tell him? It would give me more time to recover my strength and powers, and besides I was curious as to how this little scene was going to play out.)

"Messing with my mind?" Andy said in a voice that revealed he was clearly lost at sea, as far as trying to make sense of what was happening here. He looked at Chuck for a moment and then one piece of the puzzle slipped into place. "You mean the hypnosis sessions with Paul?"

"Yes, exactly," Chuck said and smiled at Andy encouragingly.

"I still don't follow you. What have they got to do with having my mind messed up, or you beating the shit out of Paul?" Andy asked stilled perplexed.

"Well those hypnosis session of his have been much more than just helping you to relax and deal with your stress at work," Chuck said in a voice that was noticeably a few degrees cooler. "For the past little while, Paul here has been 'adjusting you', shall we say. He's been alerting your beliefs and perceptions to the point where you think that you're gay, and that you're in love with him to boot!"

Andy; jaw dropped open, and his eyes got very wide as the implication of Chuck's statements rocked Andy's world right down to the bedrock. Andy's face was a classic pose of absolutely stunned shock. Andy just looked at Chuck, silently unable to say a word.

"And further more, here's the proof!" Chuck crowed triumphantly as he walked into the living room, and picked up the small black jewelry box that held the two gold wedding bands that Andy had presented to me the night before. Chuck looked at Andy for a moment before he walked over to where Andy was standing. "I'm really sorry to have to do this, buddy," he said as the remorse filled his voice. "But see for yourself. These are the same rings that you showed to me last week. I recognized the engraving. Why else would Paul have them, if he wasn't that special person you told me about?"

Chuck let those words sink in for a few minutes before he started talking to Andy again. Chuck placed his hand on Andy's shoulder. "I know you," he said as he stared intensely into Andy's eyes. "We've known each other a long time you and I. I can't count the number of times I've trusted you with my life. I know you better than I know my own brother. I know you're not gay. I figure that the only way you could have been tricked into doing any of this, is for this little shit here to have been screwing with your mind when he was supposed to be helping you. I was just explaining this to him, when you came in. He's going to undo everything that he did to you. He's going to set matters right."

Chuck paused for a moment before he continued. "You're my best friend Andy. I'm closer to you than I'll probably ever be to anyone else in my life, except maybe my future wife. I won't see you throw your life and career way on something that isn't real, that isn't you. I WON'T see you turned into some faggot's boy toy!"

Andy looked at Chuck, but did not speak. Andy slowly walked to the far end of the dinning room table opposite from me, and sat down heavily in the chair that he found there. He looked different. For a few minutes I couldn't figure out what it was that was different about him. Then it hit me. He looked like he'd just lost his best friend. Suddenly I had a pretty good idea as to what Andy was going to say to Chuck, and there wasn't anything I could do to stop him. I couldn't talk with a gag in my mouth, and as for my powers, they didn't work on Andy.

Chuck put the jewelry box back on the living room coffee table. Slowly Chuck walked over to where Andy was sitting, and stood beside and slightly behind him. Chuck looked down at Andy, with a soulful expression so profound that it was almost painful for me to look at him. I suddenly realized just how much Chuck did care about Andy. He was a true friend to Andy. It didn't make this mess any easier to straighten out, though. Chuck placed his left hand on Andy's left shoulder and pressed down gently. "I'm really sorry about this, Andy. God knows I am."

Andy nodded his head in silent agreement. That is to say he started to nod his head, until Chuck snaked his left arm around Andy's neck and applied the same 'carotid control' restrain hold that he'd used on me earlier this afternoon. Andy was too surprised to offer much resistance and went down without a fight. I watched in utter astonishment as Chuck quickly tied Andy to the dinning room chair. Chuck was both fast and efficient, and would have given a professional calf roper a good run for his money. (I realized that Chuck must have found the spool of cord that I kept in my kitchen junk drawer, although how he knew where to look for it in the first place was still a mystery. The cord wasn't strong, but wrap enough of it around someone's wrists and ankles and you could tie them up very securely. I knew that from first hand experience.) Satisfied that Andy was securely bound he walked over to where I was. He stood there beside me while he waited for Andy to regain consciousness. It took but a few minutes.

Andy shook his head a few times to clear it. He struggled briefly against the cords that bound his hands and legs to the chair he was sitting in. Satisfied that he could not free himself he turned his head in my direction and looked at me. His face was a mask of resignation and hopelessness. He shook his head slowly in sorrow, and then looked up at Chuck and tiredly asked, "Now what?"

Chuck removed the gag from my mouth for the second time that day. Once again he offered me a drink of water and I gratefully accepted. (God, I hated the taste of that dish towel!) "Now Paul turns you back to normal. When that's done I untie you both and you and I leave here. Since you can't attack me now, it's safe for Paul to talk and hypnotize you again. He can't make you attack me now, so we're both safe."

"No." Andy said in the suddenly quiet room.

"No, what?" Chuck asked.

"No, Paul won't do it," Andy answered. "He can't."

"What do you mean he can't?" Chuck responded. "He did this to you, so he can undo it."

"No, you don't understand, my friend," Andy said with a heavy heart, as he turned and looked at Chuck. "He didn't do anything like that to me. I really am gay. I have been all my life. I just never told you."

"Bullshit!" Chuck screamed out. "Your mind is still warped with his poison. You don't know what you're saying. It's not real!"

"No, I'm afraid that it is the truth, Chuck," Andy replied when Chuck had calmed down somewhat. "I never wanted to tell you, because I knew that I would lose you. I knew that to tell you, that coming out to you, would cost me my friendship with you. I am sorry Chuck, but it is the truth." Andy looked at Chuck with an expression that nearly caused me to burst into tears. Andy was saying good bye to his life long friend. Andy knew that their friendship was over, even if Chuck didn't. My heart bled for Andy, but I didn't know what to do. Well, that's not exactly true. I knew what to do. I just didn't want to do it.

"I don't believe any of this!" Chuck retorted. He wasn't screaming but it was clear that he was putting out a lot of effort to keep his temper in check. "I've known you too long, and I know you too well, Andy. We're going to fix this now!"

"You can't fix, what isn't broken, Chuck," Andy said in that same tired and beaten voice. Then Andy looked over at me. "So what do we do now?" He asked me in that same tired voice.

"I already told you!" Chuck exclaimed clearly becoming frustrated with the two of us. "Now let's get to it!"

"Well, as I see it, your job and career are still safe, Andy," I answered him. I ignored Chuck and his ranting, while I looked at Andy. (Jesus Christ! I didn't want to do this, but I didn't see any other way out of this mess.) "It's just your word against Chuck's that you are gay. There is no evidence, so I don't see that anything serious can come of this, at least as far as your job is concerned."

"What that hell, are you saying?" Chuck demanded of me. "You talk like Andy's gay and as if I would tell our superiors about this. Well even if it were true, which is it isn't, I wouldn't do that. Would you PLEASE come back into the real world now? We have work to do!" Chuck didn't like being talked about as if he were not even in the room, but clearly he was more troubled by this apparent lack of interest that Andy and I display regarding Chuck's plan of action.

"When he knows and accepts the truth, though," Andy said in that same lifeless and sad tone of voice he had come to adopt. "I'll have lost him. What's worse is that in his anger he just might report me to our superiors."

"No, he won't do that," I assured Andy. "That much I can promise you." Andy looked at me doubtfully, but didn't say anything. I turned my head and looked over at Chuck. He looked back at me as if I were insane.

I gathered my mental powers and locked eyes with Chuck. In the space of a heartbeat or two, I fired my commands into Chuck's mind. "You will obey me completely from now on. It is the most natural and wonderful thing in the world for you to do," I sent into his mind. "It makes you feel good to obey me, completely and totally." I sat there and watched as the expression on Chuck's face changed from one of anger and confusion into one of bliss and joy. It was like flipping a switch. One second he was angry with me and the next he was looking at me like I was the most wonderful person in the world. I derived no satisfaction or excitement from it though. I closed my eyes and let out a soft sad sigh. I couldn't help hating myself for what I'd just done to Chuck, because part of me had enjoyed it. I'd felt a slight tingle of pleasure and tasted the sweetness of revenge on my tongue as I'd seen Chuck transformed from a brut into my obedient and willing slave. I didn't have the time right then to consider if my emotions and reactions were normal, given the circumstances. I had more important matters demanding my attention.

"Chuck, you will now untie me, and then untie Andy. After that you can sit down in the living room and watch television until I call for you again. Do you understand?" I instructed him in a clear and steady voice.

"Oh yes..uh..sir!" Chuck replied after fumbling for a moment on how to address me.

"Good," I responded. "You will not attempt to leave this apartment or contact anyone by any means until or unless I give you permission to do so."

"Of course, sir!" Chuck agreed seeming aghast at the very thought of doing something without my permission. He stood there looking at me, while he waited to see if I had anything else to say to him. "Should I untie you now, sir?" He asked unsure if he should carry out my previous instructions. His confusion was understandable. He was somewhat new at begin someone's servant (okay slave), and so he was unsure of exactly how to respond and react.
"Yes, please do," I answered him.

Chuck eagerly hurried over to where I was sitting tied in the chair and got to work on removing my bonds. I glanced up and looked at Andy. A crash of thunder went off in my head as I heard my heart break in two. Andy was staring at me like he'd never seen me before. It wasn't a look of lust or desire, but one of bewilderment and confusion. Andy didn't know who I was anymore. He didn't say anything, but then he didn't have to. The expression pasted on his face spoke volumes. I had never felt so ashamed of myself before. I lowered my eyes and directed my gaze to my feet. They were a lot easier to look at than Andy.

As I sat there waiting for Chuck to finish removing the last of my restraints, I distinctly heard Chuck muttering something to himself, over and over. I stained my ears and was finally able to make out what Chuck was saying

"He said 'please'," Chuck muttered with satisfaction and glee. "He didn't order me to do it, he asked me, just like he was going to give me a choice. He must really like me to consider asking me to do something for him."

Suddenly I felt sick to my stomach, and I wanted to throw up. I had pushed too hard with Chuck. The poor man was on the borderline of becoming infatuated with me. This only added to the guilt and shame I felt about what I had just done to Chuck. I'd deal with that later. Right now Andy and I needed to talk. In private. Chuck had finished untying me, and had moved over to work on Andy's bonds. I got up slowly and started to hobble about the living room and dining room to restore the circulation to my hands and feet. It was also a good way to pass the time as I impatiently waited for Chuck to finish with Andy.

Finally Chuck finished, and helped Andy to his feet. "You did a fine job, Chuck," I said to him, more to get his attention than to praise him. "You've earned your reward. You can go and watch some television. I'm sure you'll find it very enjoyable."

Chuck looked at me, and blinked his eyes a couple of times before a big foolish grin found its way on his face. He lopped off to the living room, joyfully. I turned and watched him as he made himself comfortable in the chair by the sofa and turned on the television using the nearby remote. Seconds later he became fully engrossed in watching whatever program it was that was being broadcast.

I walked over to where Andy stood stretching and twisting his arms and body as he tried to work the kinks out of his muscles. "Come on," I said to him as I lightly touched him on the right arm to get his attention. "Let's go into the kitchen so we can talk." Andy flinched at my touch. Andy followed me into the kitchen quietly, but he was several steps behind me instead of beside me as he usually was. My broken heart now shattered into a pile of small bits and pieces.

We entered the kitchen and I directed him to sit down at the table as I did like wise. Andy chose a position as far opposite me as he could, instead of beside me as he usually did. I didn't have to be physic to know that a chasm the size of the grand canyon had opened up between us. The really sad part was that I wasn't surprised in the least. I had expected something like this, and I knew that before the night was over, I would never see Andy again.

"It's okay, we can talk with absolute privacy in here. Chuck will not come in until I call for him," I said as I tried to offer Andy some type of reassurance. I did not want to have this conversation, but I knew that it was unavoidable.

"What did you do to Chuck?" Andy asked quietly. Andy wasn't stupid. He knew that something had happened to Chuck, and he also knew that I had to be responsible. There was not the slightest trace of anger, fear, or hate in his voice. It was perfectly calm. I would have preferred some emotion, any emotion in Andy's voice. But this icy cold detachment mean only one thing. Andy was pulling back and away from me more and more with each passing moment.

"I don't know what the scientific term is for it, or even if there is any science to describe it," I said slowly, as I forced myself to look directly into Andy's eyes. I wasn't going to try my powers on him. I already knew that they would not work on Andy. I wanted to be sure to keep looking Andy in the eye so that he'd know I wasn't lying. I paused for a few seconds to allow myself some time to choose my next words carefully.

"I like to call it 'super hypnosis'," I continued. "It goes far beyond the ordinary hypnosis that you and everyone else are familiar with. It is, for lack of a better term, true mind control. It's very powerful, and with it I can make a subject do anything that I want him to. I can alter memories or even completely replace them."

I waited quietly to let Andy absorb what I had said. He looked at me thoughtfully and then asked, "Just how strong is this 'power' of yours?"

"In terms of power and control, my 'super hypnosis' is to regular hypnosis, what the Space Shuttle is to a model rocket," I answered quietly. There wasn't any point in lying, now. The damage was already done. What little additional damage that would be done by sticking to the truth would be minuscule.

"I see," Andy replied. "I was gay long before I ever met you, so I know that part of Chuck's theory isn't true. I can't help but wonder if you did use your power to make me fall in love with you."

There is was. The worm of doubt and mistrust was chowing down on a hearty breakfast of the trusting and loving relationship that Andy and I had built in the past four months. Everything had started to happen just as I had feared it would. Our relationship was falling apart like a row of dominos falling down. There were only a few dominos left standing, and soon they too would fall.

"My super hypnosis powers don't work on you, Andy," I said in response to the implied question of whether or not I had used my powers on him. "I know that you probably don't believe me. It is the truth, though. You are the first, and so far the only man I have met whom I cannot super hypnotize."

"So why didn't you ever tell me about this? Were you ever planning to? Is this what you did with those other guys that you told me you hypnotized?" Andy asked in that cold distant voice of his. "I thought we were honest with each other."

"Yes, I used my powers on those other guys," I admitted to Andy. (It was another nail in the coffin of our relationship, but what difference did it make? The relationship was over, or would be in a few days.) "I even used my powers on Steven Stokes and Jack Jones. They never knew of course."

"As to whether or not I was ever going to tell you this secret of mine," I continued. "I never thought I would have to. Since I couldn't use my powers on you, it didn't seem necessary to tell you about them. In order to prove to you that my powers existed, it would have been necessary to demonstrate on someone and have that man do something outrageous or humiliating. Somehow I don't think you would have approved of that."

"You're right. I wouldn't have approved," Andy agreed and shook his head sadly. "I think I can see why you didn't want to tell me."

"You don't know the whole story, yet," I cautioned Andy. "There's something more that you must know."

("Please God," I prayed silently in my mind. "Please don't make me do this! Please, stop me now!" But it was too late, the boulder was already rolling down the side of the mountain.)

"Chuck come here, please!" I called out to the living room.

Answering his master's voice like a faithful puppy, Chuck shot into the kitchen less than two seconds after I called him. "Yes, sir? What can I do for you sir?" He panted. (He was panting from the sprint to the kitchen, not because he might have thought he was a dog. I just wanted you to be clear about that.)

"Stand there and pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you," I said to him.

"Yes, sir," he replied immediately. "I'm hanging on your every word, sir."

"Chuck," I said to him. "As far as you are concerned the only thing that happened this afternoon is that you came over here to chat with me about Andy. We had a good time talking and watching television for a few hours, nothing more. You never saw Andy here. You never saw the jewelry box from Andy, nor the rings, and you have no knowledge of ever assaulting me. My face looked perfectly normal the entire time that you were here. You never felt the urge or desire to serve and obey me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Chuck answered. He didn't look at all confused. He simply accepted what I told him.

"Furthermore, you have no knowledge that Andy is gay. Andy is just as you have always known him. These are the events of this afternoon, Chuck. These are the only events that you know of. For the next two days this will be your knowledge and reality of this afternoon. After two days, however, you will recall in full and complete detail everything that happened this afternoon. You will not be able to mention what happened here to anyone except for Andy or me. You can talk about this event only with Andy or me. Is that clearly understood?"

"Certainly, sir," Chuck answered calmly.

"Good," I responded back. Chuck beamed with joy. I fought down the wave of nausea that bubbled up inside of me and concentrated on completing the task at hand. "Now you will go collect your things and return home. When you exit my apartment you will wake up and be your normal self in every way. You will know that you are on your way back home. Off you go now."

'Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Chuck said as he turned around and walked out of the kitchen. I got up and followed him out of the kitchen and into the living room. Andy tagged along, still keeping his distance from me. Chuck followed his instructions and in a minute or two he was out the front door, closing it behind him. Chuck had snatched up his leather jacket from the sofa as he walked by it on his way to the front door. I walked up to the door and peered out the peephole just in time to see Chuck walk away from my door and off towards the bank of elevators. I locked the door and walked back to the kitchen. As I passed Andy on my way back to the kitchen, he moved aside to let me pass. It was a totally unnecessary action. He did it to keep his distance from me. We sat back down at the kitchen table. Andy waved his hand at me in a silent gesture to continue.

"All of the commands that you heard me give Chuck will take effect," I informed him. "In two days time, you and Chuck will have to come to terms with what happened here this afternoon."

"Why?" Andy asked me. "Why didn't you permanently change Chuck's memory of today's events, or can't you do that?"

"I could have done that, yes, but in the long term it would have caused more problems for you and Chuck," I answered. "Chuck would not have known what happened here, but you still would have. You would have started treating Chuck differently, and poor Chuck would never have understood why. This would have lead to some problems with your friendship, and most likely the two of you would have parted on less than equitable terms."

"What do you care about Chuck and my friendship?" Andy asked. "What difference does it make to you?" The snarl in Andy's voice as he asked those questions only added to the burden of guilt and shame that I carried with me. His words were like sharp daggers piercing my soul and slicing it up into thin ribbons. It was a wonder that I didn't start crying then and there. I guess I didn't have the energy to cry.

"Andy, I've lost you today," I said to him. (I wasn't trying to be dramatic. I was merely acknowledging the truth. Andy would come to realize it himself, soon enough.) "There's no reason why you should lose your best friend, too. At the very least I will have proven to you that my powers are real. And maybe come good can come out of this mess. Chuck was bound to find out eventually that you were gay."

"Perhaps," Andy reluctantly agreed. "But the decision to tell him should still have been mine, not yours," Andy said as he glared at me. Those beautiful brown eyes of his that at one time had seemed to glow with a special warmth for me, were now cold and dark. There wasn't a flicker or a spark of anything like warmth in those still beautiful eyes of Andy's. All that I could see in them was a cold distrust and disgust that seemed to border on hatred.

"True," I admitted, after looking at Andy for a minute or so. "However, I can change that if you like. I can remove from Chuck's mind all knowledge that you are gay, if you want me to."

"Paul, you're scaring me," Andy said quietly and shuddered.

"I know," I said in a near whisper. "And I am sorry. So now that you know about me, about what I can do, where does that leave us?"

"I think you know," Andy said as he looked at me sadly, the look of distrust and disgust growing stronger in his eyes. It was that look, coming from Andy of all people, that hurt me the most. It was like a dull rusty knife being inserted into my heart and then having that knife slowly being twisted around. It became more and more painful by the second.

"I thought as much," I sighed. (What more was there to say?)

"Paul, I." Andy started to say, and then faltered. Whatever it was that he wanted to say, he could not seem to find the right words, but it didn't matter anyway. The expression on his face said it all. Lost. Bewildered. Confused. Stunned. Scared. Disgusted. Angry. Hurt. All of those emotions and more mixed up and jumbled together like the pieces from a jigsaw puzzle, when you first open the box. It was all I could do to look at him as I spoke.

"Please, just go, Andy," I told him. "You have a lot to think over. You need some time to figure this all out. Do me one favor though, and please take your rings with you. I'm not sure I could stand having them around here for the next few days while you make up your mind."

Andy stood up slowly and looked down at me. "You never did answer my question about those rings you know," he said to me.

"Yes, I realize that," I replied. "My answer would not mean much right now anyway. You've got a bigger question to ponder." I looked up at Andy and for a moment my reserve almost cracked. I was a hair's breadth away from dropping to my knees and begging Andy not to throw away all that we had built. It wasn't pride that stopped me. Nor was it the fear of looking weak in Andy's eyes. It was, as strange as it might sound, compassion and respect that held me back. I respected Andy too much to try to influence him with an emotional appeal, and I cared about him too much to add anything more to the huge burden he was already carrying. All that said, it didn't make me feel one bit better. Why was it that doing the right thing always seemed to hurt so much? As much as I wanted to grab onto Andy and hold on tight, I knew that I couldn't do that. I had to let him go. I had to let him decide for himself. I had already resigned myself to accept the only possible answer that he could give me. My mind understood the situation. I silently wished that someone would explain it to my heart.

Andy stood up and slowly turned away from me. He slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. I quietly followed about a metre behind him. Andy passed by the living room table and using his right hand quietly scooped up the jewelry box from where it lay. All too easily it seemed, he slipped the box into his right jacket pocket. A lump settled into my throat. Andy had not hung up his jacket when he'd arrived, since he'd never had the opportunity, so he merely walked towards the apartment door. He unlocked the door and opened it. Then he paused for a moment as his right hand reached into the front right pocket of his jeans, and searched for something.

A few moments later Andy's hand emerged very slowly from the pocket of his jeans. He held his right hand out, slowly turned it over, and unclenched his fist. He gazed down at whatever it was that he was holding in the palm of his hand. He sighed once and slowly turned his hand over letting something fall to the carpeted floor. Andy walked through the door and closed it firmly behind him. Not once during the entire time that he was leaving my apartment did he glance back to look at me. Not even for a half a second.

I walked up to the front door and locked it, more out of habit than conscious effort. I sighed and turned around to find out what it was that Andy had dropped on the floor before he left. I bent down to get a better look at the mysterious object, and when I did the pieces of my broken heart crumbled into dust. It was Andy's key to my apartment.

The last domino had just fallen.



Chapter 3. Nights Are Forever, Without You

432,000 seconds. 7,200 minutes. 120 hours. Five days. No matter how you counted it, it still took an eternity to pass. That's how long it was between the night that Andy left and the time that I got the phone call from Chuck. (Yes, you read that correctly. Chuck, not Andy.) In the interim, if it had not been for work, I'm sure that I would have just hidden in my bedroom, and not come out for a week or two. But, I had duties and responsibilities at work not to mention people who were depending on me. I couldn't just sit at home and wallow in self pity and pain. Besides, I'd learned long ago that the best way to help yourself when you are hurting is to help someone else. It takes your mind off your own troubles. (See, sometimes work can be a good thing, and I don't mean just as a way to pay the bills.)

My face was a mass of black and blue bruises, some of which were turning a remarkable shade of purple. I also had a wonderfully matched set of black eyes, all courtesy of Chuck. I looked like a raccoon with the mumps, when I went to work on Tuesday morning. While it was uncomfortable to chew, the pain wasn't all that bad. I had gone to the emergency room on Monday evening, and the X-rays they took showed that my ribs were bruised but not cracked or broken. They taped me up and gave me something a bit stronger than aspirin for the pain, and then sent me home. The most difficult part was answering the endless "What happened to you?" questions from everyone at work. I told them all the same thing, which was that a now former friend and I had gotten into a disagreement. It was close enough to the truth. A few of the more curious people of course, pushed for more details. I told them that I did not want to talk about it. With Wendy Murchason though, I had to tell her flat out that it was none of her business. She was one person who just does not know where the line is drawn between social life and private life at work. I did not care that she walked off with her nose out of joint, when I told her to 'mind her own business, and not mine.' I was in too much discomfort to really care if her feeling were hurt by my abrupt brush off. But enough about the local office busybody.

I had managed to make it through the remainder of the work week, but Saturday was turning out to be difficult. While I was at work there were many things to occupy my mind, but now at home on a Saturday afternoon it was different. I found myself in a fight with despair and loneliness, and I was losing. (Well, what did you expect? It was two against one, after all.) The most difficult thing in the world is to try and not think about something or someone. I was trying not to think about Andy, and doing a very bad job of it. I suppose you're wondering why I didn't just throw away my foolish pride, phone him and beg him to come back to me. Well, it had nothing to do with pride. I would have been over to his house in a flash and groveled on my knees in front of him, begging and pleading with him through choking sobs, if I thought it would make the slightest bit of difference. But I knew that it wouldn't. I knew Andy. He had to make up his own mind, and on his own. He had to decide if he ever wanted to see me again. He had to come to terms with me and my powers.
Yes it all made perfect sense to my head, but the message was not getting through to my heart. My heart was as bruised and beaten up as my face, except that you couldn't see it. That didn't mean that my heart wasn't hurting as much, if not more than my face was. Unlike my face, my heart didn't show the slightest sign that it was on the mend. (Well, what did I expect? It had been only five days.)

As if in sympathy for my plight, Mother Nature had arranged for it to rain and rain and rain. (It was slow and gentle rain though, not a violent storm. Maybe it was Mother Nature's way of crying.) So not only was I sitting at home heartbroken, and moping around, but it was a dark, dreary and rainy day too. The weather matched my mood perfectly. However, that didn't stop me from picking up the phone a least a dozen times that day, intending to call Andy. All that stopped me from punching in his number was the crystal clear knowledge that if I did talk to him, it would only make matters worse. He would see it as pressure from me, and that was sure to drive him further away from me than he was already. At least that is what I kept telling myself. I didn't know if it was true, and frankly at that point I didn't really care. If it was a lie, then so be it. It was the only comforting thought I could dredge up from my mind and cling to. It offered me a shred of comfort and solace. So I took it.

Is it any wonder that the phone call from Chuck was such a welcome interruption? Well, not at first it wasn't, I admit. When my phone rang at about a quarter after three in the afternoon, shattering the eerie quiet that filled my apartment, my first thought and hope was that it was Andy phoning. The sound of Chuck's distinctive voice on the line quickly crushed that feeble hope before it had even a chance of sprouting wings.

"What do you want, Chuck?" I asked him after I had picked up the phone and said hello. I kept my voice as neutral as I could.

"I would like to drop by your apartment after work today and apologize to you," he answered me in a voice that sounded sincere. "That is, if it is okay with you," he added hastily.

"You could do that now, over the phone," I told him. "You don't need to see me in person to apologize." After our last encounter, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of seeing Chuck again.

"UhI guess you're right about that," he admitted. "But I want to do it in person. It would mean a lot to me. And, well, I wanted to check on you to see if you're okay."

"Chuck," I said in a cold voice. "This sudden concern for my well being is as transparent as glass. What do you really want?"

"Okay, I admit it," he confessed. "I need to see you in person to discuss something that I can't talk about over the phone. It's something of a personal nature, and I can't talk to you about it in public. I know it's asking a lot, but I need to talk to you about this in private. We can't do that at my house, so that leaves your apartment. I'm asking you to trust me on this."

"You're asking a hell of a lot," I said to him, my voice even more icy than before. Still he had awakened my curiosity. "However, you can come over to talk. What time do you expect to be here?"

"My shift ends early today at five o'clock this afternoon," he answered, his voice covered with relief that I had agreed to meet with him. "I can be at your place by six, if that's okay with you."

"Fine, Six o'clock it is," I replied, keeping my voice cool. . "I'll see you then."

"Great, Paul!" he exclaimed. "I really appreciate this. I'll see you then. I have to go now 'bye!"

There was a sudden click in my ear as the line went dead. I looked at the phone for a second or two before I placed the handset back in the cradle. Well, now I had a reason to take a bath and get dressed. I had been lumbering around the apartment in my pajamas since I'd gotten up this morning. I hadn't had the energy or inclination to get changed. Now I did. I decided, after a long relaxing soak in the bathtub, to change into some cowboy clothes. I chose a simple light yellow western style shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans, a brown belt and brown socks. (I'll refrain from telling you what colour my underwear was.) It was a comfortable outfit. I passed the time waiting for Chuck to show up, by reading a book. I was surprised that I was able to concentrate and follow the plot, since I'd been unable to do that all day. A few chapters later the doorbell rang, dragging me out of the story that I was engrossed in, and back into reality. I looked at the clock. It read five minutes after six o'clock.

I walked over to the front door and peered thought the peephole. As expected I saw Charles (Chuck) Chatterly standing on the other side of door. I sighed quietly to myself as I unlocked the door. "I might just as well find out what the heck he wants," I thought to myself, as I opened the door. "What did you want to talk about, Chuck?" I asked him as he stood there on the threshold of my apartment.

"May I please come inside?" He asked me, quietly as he looked at me. "I'd rather not talk here in the hallway." Chuck must have just come in from outside, since his dark green raincoat was still dripping with rain. I could see a few raindrops on the dark green rain cover that he wore over his uniform hat. He stood there, waiting patiently.

"Come on in, Chuck," I answered after a few moments of hesitation. I didn't have that creepy crawly feeling I'd come to associate as a warning of trouble, so I thought it would be safe enough to invite Chuck inside. "Make yourself comfortable in the living room. You know the way."

Chuck nodded curtly at me as he passed by on his way to the living room. He stopped suddenly and headed back towards me. "I really should hand up my coat and hat, don't you think?" He asked me as he headed towards the hall closet.

"Fine, go ahead," I agreed indifferently. I wasn't concerned that he might assault me as he did last time. I knew that I could take over control of his mind in a heartbeat if I had to. This time though, I would not have any compunctions about doing so if he tried to attack me. Chuck still might be Andy's best friend, but I wouldn't let that stop me from protecting myself, not this time.

Chuck slipped off his RCMP raincoat, shook it a few times to get the water off of it and hung it up in the closet away the other items in the closet, so as to insure that nothing else got wet. I knew that this was an RCMP raincoat, because it was dark green on the outside and bright orange on the inside. The coat was reversible. The orange side intended to be worn at night to provide greater visibility. This is what Andy had told me when I'd first seen his RCMP raincoat and asked him why it was orange on the inside. Chuck took off his uniform hat and shook it gently to relive it of it's burden of raindrops. He placed his hat, with the rain cover still on it, on the closet shelf and made sure that his hat was well away from anything else on the shelf. I was surprised at Chuck's actions as they seemed to indicate some degree of consideration or concern for me, or at least my belongings. This was not at all like the man, who had used my face as a punching bag only a few days ago.

When Chuck arrived in the living room, he chose to sit in about the middle of the sofa, with his hands in his lap. He made himself comfortable and waited for me as if he had all the time in the world. I looked at him for a second or two before I turned and locked the front door. Then I took a deep breath and slowly walked into the living room heading for the matching swivel rocker chair that was near the sofa. I could not help but give Chuck the once over while I walked towards him. I might not like the guy, but old habits die hard.

As expected Chuck was dressed in the ordinary working clothes of an RCMP constable. His head was bare, since his hat was in the closet. I could clearly see the forest green tie that hung down from Chuck's shirt collar. The tie was held in place by a small silver bar at just below mid chest level, but even so the tie hung down well past the waist of Chuck's forest green uniform pants. The pointed tip of the tie stopped just short of the bottom of the waistband of Chuck's uniform pants, although it was a bit difficult to be sure since the tie matched the colour of the pants perfectly. (Hey, what do you expect? He was wearing a uniform after all. The colours are supposed to match. ) It was unusual for Chuck to be wearing a tie as part of his work uniform. He must have put it on just before he came over to my apartment. It was a nice touch, though. As expected his shirt was a long sleeved very pale green, boarding on white, uniform shirt with two button flapped chest pockets. The shirt fit him well. It wasn't as close fitting as Andy's shirts were on Andy. (A slight twang of pain shot through me as I thought of Andy. I had to stop doing that. Comparing every guy I met with Andy. It was some what more difficult in this case, as Chuck was an RCMP constable too. With considerable effort I wrenched my thoughts away from Andy and back to Chuck, and his shirt.) His shirt fit him well. It accentuated his slightly broad shoulders and trim waist line. It complimented his general body shape, without attracting overdue attention to any one part of his body. His uniform shirt was tucked into a pair of forest green uniform pants, which were encircled by a plain black leather belt with a polished but plain silver buckle. Actually there was the expected thick wide black leather gun belt that snuggled around Chuck's hips and blocked the view of the waist of Chuck's uniform pants. However, I had seen Andy in uniform often enough to know what type of belt Chuck would be wearing in his uniform pants. The pants were of average fit, not too loose and not too tight (unfortunately). Since Chuck was sitting down, I couldn't really say how well those uniform pants fit him. I did know from past experience with Andy (There I go again! Another twang of pain.) that the pants would have smooth side angle front pockets, and two pockets in back, the pocket on the left having a button through closure. In addition there would be a thick yellow (or was it gold) stripe that ran down the outside seams of his pants, starting at the waist of his pants and flowing all the way to the cuffs. A quick glance down at the floor confirmed that Chuck's feet were encased in a pair of polished black uniform shoes, laced tightly.

"Well?" I asked Chuck as I sat down in the swivel rocking chair, keeping my voice cool and calm. Normally the sight of a guy in a uniform is enough to get me a bit excited, but not this time. My face was still recovering from Chuck's last visit. It was more than enough to throw a pale of water on the fire on my enthusiasm, if you catch my meaning. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" I challenged him.

Chuck wiggled around on the sofa, and slowly leaned forward slightly while resting his hands on his knees. He looked at me and licked his lips nervously before he spoke. He could tell from the tone of my voice that I had somewhat adversarial feelings toward him. "IunI wanted to say that I'm sorry about the other day. And, well, I wanted you to know that I'll never do anything like that again."

I didn't say anything. I merely raised one eyebrow in disbelief at his statement. Considering the anger that I still nursed at Chuck, I thought my restraint was commendable. Or maybe it was that I didn't yet trust myself not to say or do something that I might regret later.

Chuck looked at me and licked his lips again. He could tell that his apology wasn't having any affect on me. (Did he really expect that it would? If so, then he was deluding himself.) It was just as if he'd never spoken. He looked away at me, as if he were searching for the magical 'right' words to say that would make everything better. (Okay, so I'm being a bit sarcastic and cynical at this point. My feelings toward Chuck were making me contemptuous of anything he might say to me at this point. It was not like me to be so closed minded, but I could not forgive him for his actions the other night. Well, not yet anyway.)

"This isn't easy," Chuck said lamely. "I'm not sure how to say this."

"Chuck," I said to him and let out a long sigh of frustration. "If you're trying to convince me that you're sorry for what you did the other day, forget it. There is nothing you can say that will change how I feel about you, or about what happened."

"Oh, it's not that," Chuck said quickly. "It's about Andy and you and me. Andy and I have been talking about what happened that Monday afternoon, and about other things. I wanted you to know that we've worked things out. It took a while, but I've come to accept that Andy's gay. I wanted to say 'thank you' for that." Chuck gulped and looked at me.

"You're welcome," I said stiffly, without an ounce of sincerity in my voice. "I hope the two of you will still be friends." (I wondered if Chuck had any idea of how difficult it was for me to say that. I was keeping a firm grip on my emotions and feelings, those about Chuck and the ones that I had about Andy.)

"That's all you have to say?" Chuck asked, puzzled at my response.

"What did you expect?" I shot back at him.

"What about Andy? Don't you want to know what he thinks about all this?" Chuck persisted.

"Not from you I don't," I answered, and stared at him frostily. "I wouldn't trust your answer, Chuck. If Andy wants to tell me something, he knows my phone number and where I live."

"You're being a real hard ass about this, do you know that?" Chuck tossed back at me.

"Yes, I am" I agreed my voice cracking with cold fury. "What else did you expect?"

"From what Andy told me about you, a lot more," Chuck answered. "Frankly I'm disappointed in you. Andy said you were a warm, understanding, compassionate and loving man. I thought you would understand about what happened, and that you'd forgive me. I guess I was wrong about you, and I guess Andy was too."

"Nice try, Chuck," I replied, totally unmoved by his words. "Trying to use Andy to appeal to my better nature isn't going to work. Andy and I are history and I have you to thank for it."

"Listen, could I trouble you for a cup of coffee?" Chuck asked in a sudden change of topic.

"Coffee? Why?" I asked taken aback.

"I've had a hard shift and I'm not thinking too clearly right now," Chuck answered. "Some coffee would help me to clear my head. Do you mind?"

I looked at Chuck, as he looked back at me. "Oh, I suppose not," I answered, after a few seconds of hesitation. "I could use a cup myself. What do you take in it?"

"Black is fine," Chuck answered. "Do you want me to help?"

"No, thank you," I answered as I stood up and headed out to the kitchen. It took but a few moments for me to walk into the kitchen. As I went through the motions of making two cups of coffee, I couldn't help but wonder at this sudden request from Chuck. It was strange. On a hunch I decided to open my mind and see if I could pick up any impressions from Chuck. To my amazement I didn't detect anything amiss. There was no feeling of danger of any kind coming from the other room, but I kept an eye cocked to the other room just in case. Making the coffee took only about five minutes. I could have gone back and kept Chuck company while the water boiled but decided not to. I didn't enjoy Chuck's company, and making the coffee gave me a valid excuse to stay in the kitchen.

I walked back into the living room carrying two cups of coffee, and was surprised to see Chuck standing by one of the bookcases in the living room, with his back to me. I placed the cups and saucers on the coffee table and then sat down in the swivel rocking chair. "Coffee's ready," I called out to Chuck as he stood at the bookcase.

"Oh, sorry," Chuck answered absently, still facing the bookcase. "I was looking over your collection of books. You have a wide interest in subjects, I noticed."

"Yes, but that's beside the point," I replied. "Your coffee's getting cold."

"Right," Chuck agreed, as he quickly turned around and walked over to the sofa. He sat down where he had been sitting before and picked up his coffee cup. He held it close to his lips and inhaled deeply enjoying the aroma of the coffee. It was too hot to drink, so he placed the cup back on the saucer. He timidly smiled at me as he waited for his coffee to cool. I stared back at him stonily. I wasn't making this at all easy for him, and I had no intention of doing otherwise. (So maybe I was holding a bit of grudge, but my face was still sore and that made it difficult for me to feel charitable towards Chuck.) I nursed my cup of coffee along as I waited for Chuck to clear his head and organize his thoughts. I kept reminding myself that I had agreed to talk with Chuck about whatever it was that he wanted to discuss. So no matter how difficult it seemed, I had to listen to what Chuck had to say with an open mind. A cautious mind, but still an open one. (Do you have any idea, I wonder, just how hard it is to do something like that? Try it sometime, and maybe you'll appreciate just what I was forcing myself to endure.)

A half a cup of coffee later, Chuck was finally ready to talk. He looked at me and said, "Paul, we got off on the wrong foot earlier. What I wanted to talk with you about wasn't Andy. It was me. I'm still not sure exactly what you did to me the other day, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't hypnosis." He paused for a moment as if expecting me to respond.

"Fine," I said as coldly as ever. "Believe what you wish."

"What I wanted to discuss with you is the possibility of you trying to hypnotize me tonight," Chuck said quietly, while maintaining eye contact with me. "Andy told me how good his hypnosis sessions with you were, and I'd like to know what it feels like."

"That's a real one hundred and eighty degree turn, Chuck," I said to him sarcasm and doubt dripping from every word. "Especially considering what you thought of me and my sessions with Andy only a few days ago. Why the change of heart?"

"I guess you could say that I have had a change of heart, Paul," Chuck answered. "I know that you don't believe that I've changed how I feel about you and Andy and frankly, I don't blame you for not believing me. I thought that if you could hypnotize me, it would show you that I have changed."

I was intrigued by this revelation of Chuck's but I also didn't trust it, or him for that matter. "It' still a little too pat and easy, Chuck," I said to him. "A person doesn't just change at the snap of a pair of fingers." (Okay, so that's not exactly true when it comes to me and my super hypnosis powers. However, that was beside the point for the moment.) "What it is that you're not telling me? What happened between you and Andy to cause you to suddenly accept that Andy's gay?" I asked him as I continued talking to him.

"Okay, it wasn't easy I admit that," Chuck said to me, as he sighed. "Andy and I had some terrible fights and some harsh words were exchanged. We.we.we got into a really big fight about it." Chuck looked away from me as if the memory of that event were painful to him. After a brief pause he turned back to look at me, and continued speaking. "Andy finally helped me to see that the fact that he was gay didn't make any difference. It didn't change who or what he was. Andy made me see that the only difference was that now I knew that he was gay, and that I was the one who had the problem with that. Andy talked to me about all the important things that we had shared over the past five years, and how many times each of us had put our life in the hands of the other person. II wish I could tell you about those times and what we went through back then."

"Anyway," he paused for a moment to catch his breath. "After a lot of soul searching, I finally came to see that Andy was right about all this, and about you too. I wanted to make it up to you, to prove to you that I was sincere about my regret regarding my past actions towards you. So, after talking with Andy about it, I decided to come over and offer myself to you as a hypnosis subject. Andy said that you like to hypnotize cops, and by letting you hypnotize me it would prove to you that I really do trust you, and that I've changed."
"I see," I replied, my voice somewhat less frosty than it had been. It made sense, if Chuck was telling the truth. If I were to use my powers on him, I would find out quickly enough if he was telling the truth. I wasn't really at risk since I knew that Chuck was not immune to my powers like Andy. Of course he didn't know that. I looked at Chuck for a minute or so, as if I were still making up my mind. I didn't want to seem too eager after all.

"All right, Chuck," I said quietly, with just a touch of frost in my voice. "I'm willing to give it a shot if you are."

"Sure. Okay," Chuck agreed, somewhat nervously. "I'm willing to try."

"Chuck, is something bothering you about this?" I asked him. "You seem a bit hesitant for some reason. It was your idea, you know."

"Yes, it was my idea, but I can't but have my doubts about this whole idea," Chuck answered. "I really do want to try this, but at the same time I'm not sure I can bring myself to trust you enough to make this work."

"I suppose I can relate to that, Chuck," I said and the last fingers of frost left my voice. "Why don't we try it anyway and see how it goes? Okay?" I asked him as I struggled to conceal the excitement from my voice. Chuck had just told me in not so many words, that he was going to resist my attempt to hypnotize him. I was going to thoroughly enjoy watching Chuck surrender to my super hypnosis powers. The opportunity this presented for revenge inundated my mind with a sudden thrill.

"All right then," Chuck said no longer trying to conceal the doubt in his voice or on his face. "So what do I do?"

"Well, first make yourself comfortable on the sofa," I told him. "It doesn't matter how you position your body."

Chuck moved around for a bit and finally settled into position. "Okay, now what?" he asked, as he looked at me. Chuck was sitting up straight on the sofa, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. His feet were flat on the floor and his legs were positioned parallel to each other and bent at an exact ninety degrees at the knees. He looked like he was sitting at attention. It must have been a less than comfortable position. I suspected that Chuck wanted this induction to fail, and was trying to insure that it would fail. It didn't matter though, if this was a conscious effort on his part. The induction was going to work. I would see to that.

The opportunity had just been presented to me on a silver platter, as it were. Chuck was looking directly into my eyes. Acting quickly I projected some simple but powerful commands into Chuck's mind. "Each suggestion that I give you now, Chuck, will take effect about thirty seconds after you hear it. As each suggestion takes effect, it will seem to be completely normal and natural, Chuck," I mentally commanded him. Chuck's face went completely blank for a few seconds as the commands entered his mind and took root. It was a struggle for me not to break into a smile at that point. I knew what was going to happen now, and the more I thought about it the happier it made me feel. Sometimes the anticipation can be almost as exciting as the actual event.

"Well, pick something to look at on the far wall," I said aloud to Chuck after his expression had returned to normal. "It doesn't matter what. Just pick something. You don't even need to tell me what it is. When you have something picked out just nod your head once."

Chuck looked at me with an "I'm not so sure about this" expression on his face, but he didn't say anything. He looked away from me and glanced at the far wall. He looked about the room and after about a minute he nodded his head once. (Okay, so it was probably a lot less than a minute. I was getting a bit impatient, I admit.) Chuck held his head at just below eye level, another indication that he had strong reservations about me hypnotizing him. By keeping his gaze just below eye level, Chuck was insuring that he could stare at his chosen spot without causing any eye strain. It was a subtle attempt to sabotage the induction. Any other hypnotist would have taken corrective action, but I decided to ignore it, since it would not make any difference to the proceedings.

"Good," I said to him as I started to shift my voice into the warm smooth soothing tones that I used during an induction. "Now don't try to stare intently at the point you are looking at. Just try to let your eyes focus on it naturally, and normally. I'm not trying to cause you any eyestrain, Chuck. Just look at that point you've picked out and let it be the center of your vision. When you've got that point centered in your view, just nod your head once."

Chuck stared at his chosen point for about a minute or so, before he finally nodded his head. His lips were pressed lightly together in a disapproving frown. It was clear that his doubts were as strong as ever.

"That's good," I said to him, keeping my tone smooth soothing and mellow. "You see, that wasn't so hard. You've just proven that you can focus your attention on something specific, while still listening to me. Not everyone can do this as quickly as you've just shown that you can, Chuck. You should be proud of yourself. Why even now you're able to keep your attention split between listening to my voice in the background, while your eyes remain fixed and focused, without any strain or discomfort, on the point you have picked out. Isn't that right, Chuck?"

"Yeah, I guess," Chuck replied, doubtfully, but he kept staring at that spot on the wall.

"It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, Chuck," I said to encourage him as I continued the induction. "That's all hypnosis is, you know. It's just me showing you how to use the power of your own mind. All I do is show you the path in front of you, but you choose whether or not to walk down the path. Why even now I bet you're finding that with your eyes focused on that spot of yours, you're finding it easier to hear what I am saying. When you feel that happen, when you notice that it seems just a bit easier to hear my voice, Chuck, nod your head."

"It's okay to nod your head if I'm still talking, Chuck," I said to him, after only a short pause. I didn't want to have a pregnant silence in the room while I waited for Chuck to respond. It would throw off my timing, not to mention the rhythm that I was trying to establish. "Another thing you may notice is that you are becoming more, and not less aware of the other sounds in room, and even of the position of your body." Chuck nodded his head as I continued speaking to him. "For example as you sit there looking at your spot, you may notice that you are more aware of the feeling of your feet in your shoes, and of how the normal weight of your feet and lower legs presses down upon the soles of your feet. When you feel this happen, Chuck, as your awareness grows, you just nod your head, and continue to let your eyes remain fixed and focused on your spot."

"Soon and very soon indeed, when you notice that staring at your spot seems to be a bit easier to do than before, just nod your head Chuck," I said to him as he nodded his head in response to my earlier suggestion. "Nodding your head is easier than talking, isn't it Chuck?" I asked him. A quick head nod followed.

"Fine," I soothed. "Just nod your head for 'yes' or shake it for 'no'. Hypnosis is not mind control, you know. If it were, I'd be rich and not have to work for a living. And as we both know, Chuck, I'm not rich. When you find it's starting to become easier to focus on my voice and what I am saying, just nod your head. The interesting thing is Chuck, that as you spend more time letting your eyes gazed upon your spot, you'll find that it starts to become easier and easier. You'll find that not only is it easier to look at your spot, but that its also easier to listen to what I am saying, to hear and understand my words as I speak. When this happens, when you find that it's getting just a bit easier to look at your spot, you nod your head. And when you feel yourself better able to listen to my voice and understand the meaning of the words as they flow into your mind, you nod your head."

Chuck nodded his head once and then a few seconds later he nodded it again. He was responding well, but his progress was slow. His face still had that "I'm not so sure about this" expression on his face, and his lips were still pressed together in a firm doubting frown. He wasn't giving an inch. Clearly he was still resisting the suggestions in his own mind, even if he was carrying them out.

"The more you concentrate on your spot, Chuck, the easier it seems to be to just keep looking at the spot," I said keeping my voice pitched soft and smooth. "Each and every time, when you feel it becoming even easier to just keep staring at your spot, you nod your head, and each time that you nod your head, it becomes easier to keep staring at the spot. Staring and nodding. Nodding and staring. And all the time, finding it easier and easier to hear what I am saying, to listen and understand the words that seem to flow from my lips into your ears and down into your mind."

I had barely finished speaking when Chuck started to nod his head a few times. They were not big nods, just a slight dipping of his head down and then back up, but they were starting to become more frequent. "You're doing fine, Chuck," I encouraged him. "In fact you're doing so well, that you notice now that all the sounds in the room seem to fade away leaving only the sound of my voice as I'm speaking to you. Your concentration is so strong and powerful now that you can hear my voice and understand my words easily, now. Each and every time, when you feel yourself experiencing these changes as I draw your attention to them, you nod your head."

I took a moment to catch my breath as I waited for the inevitable nod of Chuck's head. It took only a moment or two before I saw it. "Staring at the spot is so easy now Chuck, that it almost feels automatic, as if you could do it forever. You've become so good at looking at the spot, that it seems to take less and less effort with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take. And when you notice a change in your breathing as I am talking, you nod your head and just continue to keep staring at the spot on the wall. It's so easy and simple to do, that you're actually starting to enjoy doing it, aren't you?"

A few nods of Chuck's head was all the response that he offered to my question.

"It is very common to experience changes in the sensations of your body as you learn to focus your attention Chuck," I rattled on in a gentle monotone. "When you notice the feeling of your buttocks pressing comfortably into the cushion of the sofa that you're sitting on, you'll nod your head. After a few breaths you'll notice that the sofa is so comfortable that you'll let out a small sigh of satisfaction."

Chuck's head nod was quickly followed by low and soft sigh escaping from his lips. I took note of the fact that after his sigh, his lips were not firmly pressed together any longer. He held his lips just slightly apart. "The Iceman IS melting!" I thought silently to myself.

"The more you stare at the spot, Chuck, the better you start to feel, and soon and very soon indeed, you'll feel that all you want to do for the moment is to look at the spot and let that feeling of comfort grow and become just a bit stronger, maybe even melt into a feeling of relaxation," I suggested to him. Chuck's head bobbed up and down several times as the suggestions quickly took effect.

"When you notice a change in your breathing, that you breathing has become deep, even, and pleasant, you'll find it becomes easier and easier to keep listening to my voice and to follow along. Your eyes staring at that spot on the wall as you let out another long deep sigh of pleasure," I said to him. Chuck eyes were locked on that spot on the wall, whatever it was. I hadn't bothered to find out what it was that he was looking at, since it really wasn't important to the induction. He sighed several times as he continued to stare at the wall, and nod his head.

"Staring and nodding. Nodding and staring, Chuck," I pattered on. "Feeling more comfortable with each nod of your head, and with each breath that you take. Staring at the spot on the wall has become so simple and so easy now that it almost feels automatic. When you feel that happen, Chuck. When staring at the spot on the wall, and listening to my voice has become almost automatic, you'll find it very easy to say the word 'yes', once."

"It might not happen right away, Chuck," I prompted him when I did not see an immediate response from him. "Each person responds at a different rate, but you might also notice that way down in your body is a tiny little bit of relaxation way, way down deep in your torso. Such a small tiny bit of relaxation that you might not have noticed it, if I hadn't mentioned it to you."

"When you can sense and feel that tiny little bit of relaxation in your body, as you continue to effortlessly gaze upon that spot on the wall, you'll let me know just like you always do," I jabbered on as I waited for Chuck's response.

I was about to continue my prattle when I saw Chuck's head bob up and down a few times. Then my ears savored the sweet sound of Chuck's voice saying in a near whisper, "Yes. Automatic."

"Becoming more and more focused on my voice and on the spot on the wall, Chuck," I instructed him. "And as you become more and more focused, you notice that feeling of relaxation starting to grow and slowly spread out from your torso. As you feel that happen you sigh with satisfaction as you begin to feel your entire body slowly starting to relax. Just letting the tension, worry and concerns of the work world slip through your mind like water through a colander. As easy, effortless and natural as that."

I smiled to myself as I saw Chuck sigh several times. The expression on his face had soften somewhat but it wasn't anything like the zombie like or blank expression I was expecting to see by this time. Even with my super hypnosis Chuck was fighting me. If I had sent a few more commands into his mind I could have put him very deeply into a super hypnotic state, but where would be the fun in that? It was the slow gentle surrender of a subject that gave me the greatest satisfaction from a super hypnotic induction. Even more so in the case of this particular subject.

"The relaxation is a warm and familiar feeling, just like you had been sitting out in sunshine for a short while, Chuck. You can feel it now, can't you?" I asked him.

"Yes," he replied a few seconds, and then nodded his head in further agreement.

"Good," I complimented him. "Just let it flow out from your torso to every part of your body, Chuck. Picture in your mind that the relaxation is flowing out along every blood vessel in your body. Even your breathing helps to spread this wonderful, peaceful relaxation through your body. And when you feel yourself going down deeper into relaxation, you say the world relax, as you sit there staring at your favorite spot on the wall."

Chuck took a few deep breaths and I saw his head dip down slightly. It wasn't a nod, though. It was his neck starting to relax. His arms were still crossed on his chest, and his face was still stony and hard. Doubt still remained it seemed.

"Relax," Chuck sighed. "Yes, relax."

"It feels good, doesn't it, Chuck?" I inquired of him.

"Yes, it feels good," he agreed. "I like it."

"Well, the deeper you go into relaxation, Chuck, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper, always feeling better," I encouraged him. "So just let go. Just feel yourself going down deeper and deeper into relaxation with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take. You know and accept that you really want to go even deeper, and so you do. It just seems so natural, so good and so right."

"Oh, yes, deeper," Chuck breathed. To my satisfaction I saw his body sway slightly. I looked down at Chuck's hips and legs and was delighted to see that his legs had started to spread apart. Instead of being held stiffly close to each other, his legs were at a more natural angle of about forty-five degrees. These were very encouraging signs, indeed.

"The deeper you go, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go," I prompted him as I started to pile on the suggestions. "Always going deeper, always feeling better. And soon and very soon indeed you notice that the little muscles around your eyes are starting to relax. And as they do, you find yourself blinking a bit more frequently as you gaze upon your favorite spot on the wall, and listen to the smooth, steady, soothing, sounds of my voice. Finding it easier and easier with each blink of your eyes to keep on following my words as they lead you down deeper and deeper into relaxation. When you feel that happen, when you feel yourself just following the flow of my words and going down deeper and deeper into relaxation, you sigh with delight and nod your head."

Poor Chuck. He really didn't have much choice at this point but to go along with my suggestions. (Actually, if the truth be told, he didn't have any choice once he came over to my apartment, but let's ignore that fact for now, shall we? It kind of takes away from the joy and deliciousness of the moment.) His mind was being bombarded with my suggestions. As soon as he could comprehend what was said to him, the suggestion would kick in, and another suggestion would immediately follow it. I noticed that Chuck was blinking a bit more frequently than before, which triggered a slight feeling of pleasure in me. I was finally starting to feel the pleasure and satisfaction that a hypnosis induction usually brings out in me. I nodded silently to myself as I acknowledged that I had finally moved past my feelings of antagonism for Chuck, and was now able to concentrate on the hypnotic induction. I was finally starting to enjoy this induction, and for the moment that is all I concentrated on. Just getting Chuck under nice and deep.

"And you notice now, that it seems with each blink of your eyes, and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel your eyelids starting to feel just a tiny bit heavier," I hinted to him, as I kept my voice in that low smooth mellow tone that I always used during a hypnotic induction. "And soon and very soon indeed, your eyelids will feel so heavy that it will take more and more effort for you to keep opening them after you blink. But you do want to keep your eyes open, because that way you can keep staring at your spot on the wall. For it seems that the more you stare at the spot on the wall the deeper you and the deeper you go, the better you feel. Always going deeper, always feeling better. Every muscle in your face starting to relax more and more, now, as you continue to gaze upon your spot on the wall."

Chuck absently nodded his head in agreement. He was responding so well to the suggestions that I no longer had to remind him to nod his head when he felt a suggestion taking hold. I looked at him, but did not say anything as I waited with baited breath for Chuck to approach the edge of hypnotic capitulation. I studied Chuck's face as I watched him blinking while he continued to stare at his spot on the wall. It had taken some time, but he no longer had that doubting expression his face. His eyes were glazed over, his mouth hung slightly open, and the rest of his face was painted with a lovely dull and blank look that comes when every muscle in the face relaxes. I felt a small thrill as I looked at Chuck, drawing closer and closer to the cliff edge of hypnotic servitude.

"So comfortable," Chuck muttered absently. "Relaxed and comfortable, oh yes."

I took a few moments to let my gaze wander away from Chuck's face, and look over the rest of his body. I silently rejoiced as I noticed that although his head was still held upright, he was leaning back somewhat and slightly slouched as he sat there on the sofa. Clearly the suggestions that all the muscles in his body were relaxing was being taken to heart. His breathing was slow and deep. I found it slightly titillating to sit there and watch Chuck breath. His arms were still crossed in front of his chest, but his shoulders were slumped now. His arms looked to be resting against his chest rather than being held stiffly against it as they had earlier. Chuck wasn't a gorgeous hunk of a man by any means. He was only average looking at best. His appearance had changed slightly since the last time I'd seen him. He still had shortly trimmed dark brown straight hair, and clear smooth skin, except for the small scar on his right cheek. The scar was about an inch long and ran from just above his jaw line straight up towards the top of his head, almost as if someone had drawn it there with a ruler. The scar actually added to Chuck's appearance. It offset the plain and ordinary appearance of his face and added a touch of maturity and ruggedness to it. Chuck's face was unremarkable overall, except for that scar. His face was set and squared, but looked as if the sharp edges had been filed down to make them softer and less chiseled. He had a small nose, that sat in the middle of that face, just above his average sized mouth with its slightly thin lips. His ears were small and unobtrusive as well. He pale blue eyes added to the softness and suggested someone that would not push back, if he were pushed around. Chuck still had those bushy dark brown eyebrows that I remembered, but he had shaved off his bushy brown mustache. Clean shaven he looked a bit more boyish and a tad more submissive, but maybe that was just the hypnosis taking effect. (Do you think that might have been it?)
As for his body, it was slightly muscular but no where as impressive as Andy's. That thought brought a pang of pain, and I quickly flushed the comparison from my mind. Chuck's body looked fit and trim, as one might expect an RCMP constable's body to be. Somehow, though, he looked better as he sat there slipping down deeper and deeper into hypnosis. I felt a wonderful stirring in my cock as I gazed upon Chuck sitting there, blinking while he continued to stare at his point on the wall.

I transferred my attention and eyes back on Chuck's face. I relished the sight of Chuck now staring stupidly at the wall as his face and eyes became filled with a vacant and empty look to them. All he did was breath and blink, and even that seemed too much for him now. It tickled my fancy to see Chuck's eyelids slowly slide down and close, despite his best efforts to keep them open. His eyelids would flutter as he tried to keep them propped open, but after a minute or so gravity would win out. His eyes would close and he would let out an audible sigh as he lost the battle again. His eyes would remain closed for only a few seconds though, before he would wrench them open again, so that he could stare at the wall. After a few more blinks of his eyes, the battle would be joined again.

"Eyelids getting so heavy now, Chuck," I chuckled at him as he sat there slipping down further and further in to my power. (I know that was a really corny thing to think, but it was the truth, plain and simple.) "With each breath that you take, and with each blink of your eyes, your eyelids are getting more and more heavy. So heavy now, that they are starting to drag your head down as well. Yet, you desire nothing more than to keep staring at your spot on the wall. It feels so good to keep staring at the wall that you can't stop now, even if you wanted to, which you don't. Isn't that right, Chuck? You want to keep staring at the wall, don't you?"

"Yes stare at wall," Chuck responded slowly. It seemed that even thinking was becoming difficult for him.

"Yes, that's right," I encouraged him. "And you want to do that because the more you stare at the wall the deeper you go and the deeper you go, the better you feel. Isn't that right, Chuck?"

"Yes, stare at wall go deeper," Chuck muttered quietly. His eyes closed once again, and his head dropped a couple of inches. He opened his eyes a few seconds later and struggled to pull his head up to where it had been before. It was slow, but he managed to do it. "So good so relaxed comfortable good."

"Staring at the wall, is all that you can think about now, Chuck," I instructed him. "It is so relaxing and wonderful to stare at the wall, that it is all that you can think about. In fact, you just HAVE to stare at the wall. You MUST stare at the wall, because it feels so GOOD. Isn't that right, Chuck?"

"Yes must must stare at wall," Chuck agreed almost instantly. He let out a long slow deep sigh, as his eyes closed yet again, and his head dropped down. It went down a bit further this time I noted with glee. If Chuck could have seen the mischievous smile that was on my face he would have been shocked. Then again, so would anyone who knew me. It was the small kind of smile that said, "You're finally going to get yours, and I'm going to give it to you." It was a smile that was composed of nothing but revenge, pure and simple.

"Eyelids like lead. Head getting so very heavy, Chuck," I told him. "And still your only desire is to stare at the wall, and listen to my voice. There is nothing else you can do. It is all that you can think about, because it helps you to go deeper."

"Head heavy," Chuck muttered, and his head dipped almost immediately. His head bobbed up and down slightly as he struggled between the two conflicting suggestions, that his eyes and head were getting heavy, and that he had to keep looking at the wall. I sat back and enjoyed his struggle for a few minutes. It was most gratifying to see Chuck's head bobbing up and down like a buoy in a rough sea, as the heaviness of Chuck's eyelids and head continued to grow. I felt a wave of peace and calm flow over me as I sat there enjoying Chuck's futile struggle. It made me feel better, I can't deny it, to see Chuck caught in a web of my making.

"Is there a problem?" I heartlessly asked Chuck, when I knew full well the difficulty he was in.

"Yes," Chuck whispered.

"Speak up, Chuck. I can't hear you," I said to him.

"Yes," Chuck said with difficulty.

"The deeper you go, the easier it becomes to talk, Chuck," I told him. "Now what were you saying?"

"I can't keep my head up and my eyes open," Chuck said clearly in a normal voice. (His head continued to bob up and down, and if I hadn't been so excited by what this meant, I would have found it humorous.) "I want to keep staring at the wall, but it's so hard to keep doing that. My eyes, they're so heavy. And my head, it's heavy too."

"You poor little man," I replied sarcastically. "You can't seem to get out of this predicament, can you?"

"No no I can't," he admitted, sheepishly. "Can can you help? Can you help me?"

"I think so," I taunted him. "But it's going to cause you to let go even more, and go down ten times deeper than you are now. Are you sure you want that?"

Chuck gulped once or twice before he spoke. "Yes...I I want it. Any anything so that I can just rest. I'm so tired. My head is so heavy. Please? Help me, please?"

"All right, Chuck, I'll help you," I magnanimously agreed. (Okay, so I wasn't exactly being unselfish about this. I wanted Chuck to go really deep, but I also wanted to at least sound like I was doing him a favor. It was sneaky, underhanded and I thoroughly enjoyed it.) "In a few moments I will place my fingers on your forehead and gently push down and back on your head. When I do that your torso will suddenly feel so heavy that you will gently topple back into the sofa and every muscle in your body will relax, as you let yourself go completely. You'll feel an intense wave of pleasure and joy flow through your mind and body as you eyes can finally close completely, and you can rest your heavy, heavy head."

"Oh yes, please," Chuck whimpered in agreement. "Please do it."

"When you are ready for me to place my fingers on your forehead, and push you over into a wonderfully deep submissive hypnotic trance, just let me know, Chuck," I teased him. Sure it was unkind, but I really didn't give a damn at the time. I was enjoying making Chuck beg me (in not so many words) to push him deeper in to my power. It was a most fulfilling form of revenge for what he had done to me a few days ago. I touched my right hand to the still heavily discolored right side of my face, as I remembered what I had endured at his hands.

I stood up and walked over to where Chuck was still sitting in the middle of the sofa. Chuck still had that vacant and empty look on his face, as his head continued to bob up and down, but now that expression was slowly changing. I let out a small sigh of satisfaction as I saw confusion and helplessness come to replace the vacant and dumb look that Chuck had been wearing for the past little while. Carefully I sat down on the sofa to Chuck's left. (Since I was standing and facing Chuck at the time, this would to my perceptive have been to the right of Chuck.) I did not touch Chuck, I merely sat down next to him and waited. I waited for what I knew would come soon enough. I noticed that some beads of sweat that were starting to appear on Chuck's brow. It wasn't easy to see this, considering how much Chuck's head continued to bob up and down.

Picture the situation if you can. An average looking (whatever the heck THAT means) man in an RCMP working uniform is sitting on the sofa, in your living room. He is positioned so that he is sitting about in the middle of the sofa. His arms are crossed in front of his chest, and his legs are slightly spread apart as he sits there staring at a point on the wall. He is not sitting up straight, but is slightly slouched and looks relaxed and comfortable, while he stares at a spot on the far wall. His eyes keep closing, and each time that they do, his head drops down. A few seconds later, this man's head rises back up, his eyes open and he goes back to staring at some spot on the far wall. Then, about a minute later the cycle repeats. The expression on the man's face runs from a dumb and vacant stare, to a look of helplessness and confusion. Can any self respecting gay hypnotist watch a sight like that, and not be turned on even a little bit? (Be honest now. You would be more than just a little bit turned on if you were in such a situation.) I certainly was. My cock had done more than stir; it was at half mast. I was torn away from my wondering as Chuck finally spoke out.

"Please, touch me now?" Chuck pleaded, after a few moments. "I I want this so bad. Please? Please will you touch my forehead?"

That was what I had been waiting for. Chuck's verbal request to have me push him into my power. (Yes, it was nothing more than me wanting to have my ego stroked, to have made Chuck ask for this. So sue me.) I waited until Chuck's head had just come up from the most recently closing of his eyes, and then I struck.

My right hand darted out and pressed a couple of fingers firmly onto the center of Chuck's forehead. At the same instance I barked out, "Deep Sleep!"

The result was as unexpected as it was swift. Instead of collapsing or relaxing, Chuck's entire body stiffened like a board, and the expression on his face underwent a startling change. He became wide eyed with surprise and shock. I say shock because his mouth was hanging open like some slack jawed country bumpkin at his first state fair, while at the same time he took a sudden sharp intake of air. He sat up even more stiffly and pulled his legs close together. I was intrigued to say the least. I do so enjoy it when a subject surprises me. However, I was just a bit concerned too, since Chuck's reaction was the exact opposite of what I had suggested to him, and it was much stronger than I had expected. My concern hung on when I gently pushed back on Chuck's forehead and he slowly toppled back into the sofa. It was like watching a two by four being pushed over, or as if Chuck was a man made of wood. Chuck's legs came up when he keeled over into the back of the sofa, which caused his shoes to rise up off the floor. Chuck's body was so stiff that the ninety degree angle between Chuck's torso and his legs was maintained, just as if he was a mannequin dressed up in an RCMP uniform.. It was kind of funny actually, but I restrained my mirth. This was not the time to be laughing at Chuck.

I looked at Chuck as he sat there on the sofa, stiff as an ironing board, and despite my less than brotherly love for the man, I felt my concern grow. I looked closely and noticed that he was still breathing, albeit shallowly. If he continued to keep his muscles as tense and stiff as they must now be, he would wind up hurting himself. I decided to wait for a minute or so before I took any action. Such a short delay would not cause Chuck any lasting harm, and it was rather enjoyable to see him sitting there like some type of frozen puppet. It took at least a minute before I noticed any change in Chuck.

It was subtle at first. He slowly closed his mouth as his breathing began to return to normal. The shocked and surprised look on his face slowly melted into an expression of peace and joy. His lips curved into a smile which slowly grew larger, and wider until his mouth was half open in a relaxed smile that suggested happiness or joyfulness. His eyes took on a far way look as if he was gazing at something in the distance. The expression lasted but a moment before his eyes rolled up so that mostly the whites of his eyes were showing. Next his head fell backwards into the back of the sofa as his neck muscles suddenly relaxed. Like water running over a dam, a wave of relaxation flowed down from Chuck's head and neck. His entire back relaxed as he collapsed into the back of the sofa, and slouched down. His arms which until now had remained crossed in front of Chuck's chest seemed to become somehow unstuck and flopped down to either side of his body, right next to his hips. His legs relaxed and dropped down softly into the seat cushion of the sofa, while his shoe clad feet thumped back down onto the living room floor. With the return of his legs and feet to their normal position, Chuck's knees moved apart slowly and effortlessly. It was as if Chuck's entire body had turned to a collection of rags. I gently reached over with my right hand and picked up Chuck's left arm by the left wrist. I move it about, and it flopped and jiggled about as if it were made of jelly. There was no doubt about it. Chuck was very relaxed, physically at least. I gently returned Chuck's left arm to where it had been and returned my attention to his face.

To my delight, I saw that Chuck's head was now hanging down and off to his left, that is towards me. His eyes were closed and his face was painted with an expression that could only be called blissful. The smile on his face was so natural and relaxed, that it almost seemed a shame to interrupt him. He was at peace in a way that few people can really appreciate. Was he super hypnotized? Yes. Unquestionably. How did I know? Simple I touched his mind when I picked up his left arm by the wrist. (I bet you thought I was just checking to see if he was limp and relaxed.)

So there he was, sitting there slouched on my sofa, Constable Charles Chatterly. Not a care in the world. Looking so open, so exposed, so trusting, so vulnerable. I was surprised that I wasn't drooling with delight.

"It's so easy to talk now, isn't it, Chuck?" I asked him after a few minutes of staring at him and wondering what I should do next. I decided to 'wing it' and see where the conversation lead.

"Yes," he agreed without a second of hesitation. He spoke in a clear and normal voice bereft of any speaking impediments.

"Tell me how you feel right now, Chuck," I prompted him. "And then tell me what you feel like doing."

"Wonderful. Relaxed. Comfortable. At peace," Chuck answered after a few seconds thought. "I want to keep feeling this way." I waited a few moments, but Chuck did not continue speaking.

"Would you like to go even deeper and feel even better?" I asked him, knowing full well what his answer was going to be.

"Oh, yes, very much," he promptly answered me. "Please, take me deeper."

"All right then, Chuck," I said as I got ready to deepen his level of trance, not that it was necessary. I could have taken full control of Chuck at any time before now, but I wanted to really enjoy his surrender to my powers, and to force him to acknowledge it. It would be yet another delicious piece of revenge pie for my bruised ego to dine upon.

"Picture in your mind, just imagine that you can see yourself standing before a deep bathhouse pool full of steaming and soothing water," I said to him. "When you see yourself standing there, dressed in a bathing suit, just imagine how that water would feel on your skin and on your muscles. It would feel soothing and relaxing wouldn't it, Chuck?"

"Yes, yes it would," Chuck agreed. "I can see myself standing there. The water looks so inviting.."

"Just follow along with me, as I lead you down the wide shallow steps into that wonderful warm water, Chuck," I provoked him. " That water will help you to relax even more and allow you to go down deeper and deeper into hypnosis. When you are immersed so that the water covers your shoulders and the base of your neck you will be twenty times deeper in hypnosis than you are at this moment. Now you walk down the first step, and you can feel the warm water move up from the soles of your feet, and cover your toes and the tops of your feet. The water stops just at your ankles. It feels so good and you feel so much more relaxed and comfortable that you let out a long slow sigh of delight."

Chuck sighed a heartfelt "Oh that's so nice," immediately after I finished speaking.

"It's important for you realize that no matter how relaxed and comfortable you might feel, it will be impossible for your to topple, tip, slip, or slide down into the water, or to hurt yourself in any way. You know how to swim don't you, Chuck?"

"Yes, I know how to swim," Chuck answered. "I couldn't have graduated from the Depot without passing my water safety and lifesaving course."

I had suspected as much, but I wanted to confirm the fact with Chuck first. "Good, Chuck, so you take another step and now the wonderfully warm water is up to mid calf," I said to him. I saw Chuck smile and nod in silent agreement. "Another step down deeper into the pool of hypnosis, and the water is up to your knees. So you take a few more steps and the water slowly moves up past your knees, your thighs, and your crotch. The water slowly moves up to cover your hips, buttocks and pelvis, until it is level with your waist. Your arms are hanging down at your sides and so the water covers them to about mid forearm. You stand there for a few seconds, to enjoy the sensation of going down deeper and deeper into hypnosis. Sighing and moaning as you let go more and more."

I don't know which were more frequent, Chuck's moans or his sighs. In any case he was definitely going deeper into hypnosis.

"And now you discover that as much as you might want to take another step and go deeper into the wonderfully warm water, and feel yourself going deeper into hypnosis, you can't seem to," I informed him. "It seems strange to you, and it puzzles you for a second or two as you try to figure out what seems to be missing."

Chuck furrowed his brow as he sat there totally relaxed, perplexed at his predicament.

"You can't go any deeper, until I tell you to, Chuck," I schooled him. "It doesn't feel right for you to go deeper into the water and hypnosis unless I lead you there. After all I brought you here to this wonderful state, and it only makes sense that I would be the only one to take you even deeper and deeper. In fact, the more you try to take another step, to go even deeper, the more difficult it becomes."

I looked down at Chuck's legs as he sat there on the sofa. As expected I saw a slight twitching of Chuck's legs, as in his mind he was trying to take that next step down into the water.

"But," I continued quickly, since I didn't want Chuck to dwell upon this too long and think up his own solution. "The moment you know and accept this as the simple truth that it is, you can then take a few more steps down into the pool until the water rises to the level your nipples. When the water is halfway between your elbows and your shoulders, you let out a very loud moan of pleasure. Then when you are ready to walk down even deeper so that the water just covers your shoulders and the base of your neck, you'll let me know by asking me to let you do that."

Chuck's face relaxed and the confused expression on his face melted away, as he accepted my solution to his problem. The first threads of control had just been implanted in Chuck's mind. It was totally superfluous to do this, since with my powers Chuck would do anything I told him, but that did not dampen the surge of merriment that coursed through me. I lived for moments like this, when the subject consciously acknowledges the control that the hypnotist has over him.

"Oh," Chuck cried out euphorically, and his eyelids fluttered for a few moments as he slipped down deeper and deeper into hypnosis. It was such a marvelous sight to behold. My cock got pleasantly hard, but it wasn't fully erect yet. (See? We were both enjoying ourselves, albeit in slightly different ways.) Chuck sat there breathing, but not saying anything for about a minute or so. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to repeat my instructions to him when he finally spoke again.
"Please, may I walk down deeper into the pool?" Chuck begged me.

"Certainly you may," I replied. "Let me know when the water covers your shoulders and the base of your neck."

"Thank you," Chuck responded happily.

"The water is at the base of my neck, now," he said a few seconds later.

"I'll bet you feel better than you have in a very long time, don't you Chuck?" I inquired.

"Ohyes.yes indeed," Chuck agreed readily.

"And twenty times deeper in hypnosis than before you started walking into the pool," I reminded him. "So just sit there on the sofa and enjoy yourself." While Chuck sat there lost in his pool of pleasure I stood up and walked over to the coffee table that was just in front of the sofa and Chuck. It took me only a half a minute to move the coffee table well off to the right side of the sofa. When I was sure that everything was ready I walked back to the sofa and sat down next to chuck on his left side, as before.

"Take a couple of deep breaths, Chuck, and relax even more," I said to him. He complied, and melted down even more into the sofa, if that were possible. "You've been in that wonderfully warm hypnotic water letting your cares troubles and worries just melt and float away, haven't you Chuck? And it feels so good, too, doesn't it?"

"Yes, floating. No worries. Feels so good," Chuck replied, and nodded his head slightly.

"Chuck, I've got wonderful news for you. Are you ready to hear it?" I asked him.

"Uh..huh," Chuck answered as a smile touched his lips.

"You've been in that warm hypnotic water for so long now, that your will has melted away too, Chuck," I said to him as I suddenly raised my voice. "In fact, right this second you're taking a deep breath and holding it as you dive down into the water." Chuck began to look confused as he started to take a deep breath.

"Dive down! Now!' I yelled at him, not wanting to give him any time to think. "You can't help yourself! Dive right off the sofa and into the much deeper pool of warm hypnotic water in front of you and swim! You will was like a rod of ice, that the warm hypnotic water has long since melted away. Eyes popping open as you dive and swim, and go deeper and deeper and deeper into hypnosis."

Chuck staggered to his feet, blinking his eyes open with some difficulty as my commands took effect. He stood there only a few inches from me. I craned my head up to look at Chuck as he stood there swaying for a few seconds. His face seemed to alternated between acceptance and confusion, as he struggled to understand my orders, but slowly acceptance won the battle, and slowly his arms started to rise out in front of him. When they were nearly at chest height he drew his hands and arms towards each other so that his fingers and palms were pressing against one another. He was, with some obvious reluctance getting into a diving position. Even now he was still struggling against my power and suggestions, which made this session all the more enjoyable for me.

Knowing I didn't have much time, I quickly diverted my attention away from Chuck's arms and towards a much more interesting area of his body. As I raked my eyes across the frontal three quarter front profile of Chuck's body, I gave only a courtesy glance to his chest and abdominal area. Sure they were okay, and his tie hung down nice and straight from his neck to just above the belt in his pants, but I was more interested in something much closer at hand. I stopped my gaze at his gun belt, and then slowly savored each second as I looked down at his pelvic area in a frontal three quarter profile. His uniform pants looked close fitting, but not snug by any means. I studied the fly of his pants and could not see any hint that he was at all sexually stimulated. (He was heterosexual after all, and one should not expect a reaction from every man.) Leisurely, I leaned back to my original sitting position. I was now looking at Chuck's lower body as he stood there in profile, only inches from me. All I could see was the left side of his body; which was more than sufficient. He was standing so close to me that I could have leaned over and licked that golden stripe on his uniform pants with my tongue. His left buttock encased in those titillating uniform pants, was so tempting. Part of me wanted to reach out with both hands and just grab that buttock and squeeze it for all I was worth. I wanted to slip my hands in both the front and the hip pockets that were next to my face, and rummage around until I found something of interest (if you follow my meaning). I almost, almost, leaned back to get a close up view of Chuck's entire uniform covered ass, but with Herculean effort I restrained myself. I'd be seeing those RCMP dunes soon enough.

The sudden twitching of Chuck' gun belt shattered my musing about Chuck's butt, and diverted my attention back to Chuck's face and upper body. He exhaled with a loud swoosh, took a deep breath, and then held it as he half dove and half fell to his keens on the carpet directly in front of the sofa, with a very loud whomp. He quickly lowered himself to the ground so that his arms, elbows and head were all touching the carpet. My cock got even harder as I wallowed in the sight of Chuck down on his knees and bent over with his ass sticking up in the air. As I had hoped, his dark forest green uniform pants were wonderfully snug (okay tight) in that position, and the huge bulge of his wallet in his right hip pocket only added to the way the fabric of his pants were stretched tightly across his buttocks. With Chuck more or less in front of me, I had a full and fantastic view of his butt. How I wished I could have frozen that moment in time, or at least taken a picture of it. (As you might have guessed by now this is my all time favorite position to have a guy in. On his knees, arms out in front of him or by his sides and bent over with his ass sticking up and out in the air. Exquisite!)

I was too caught up in the heat of the moment to even think of commanding Chuck to freeze in that position. Hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. (Yes another bad pun.) So I was caught off guard when Chuck continued to slide forward and down as he 'entered' the 'water' in front of the sofa. In only a few moments he was lying flat down on his front and starting to 'swim' out across the living room carpet. He moved his arms out and to the side, then drew them up along his side while raising his head and chest up off the carpet. He drew his arms and hands in below his chest and then pushed them out to the side again. It took me only a few seconds to realize that Chuck was doing the breaststroke. I let him swim for minute or so before I decided to take any further action.

"Now you are reaching the far end of the pool where there is a set of low steps just like the ones that you used to walk into the pool," I said to Chuck. "You find it easy to crawl out of the water on your hands and knees."

It took Chuck only a few moments to climb back up to his hands and knees, and start crawling away from me. Oh, his butt looked so good as he crawled away that I felt my cock stiffen with joy.

"Freeze, Chuck," I called out. Immediately, Chuck became a statue in mid crawl with his right hand up off the carpet, his left hand still flat on the floor, his right knee placed on the floor and his left knee raised up and to the front slightly as he got ready to move it forward. "You are no longer in the pool. You are now back in my apartment and aware of what you are doing, Chuck. You will now turn around and crawl over to where I am. You will stop when you are just in front of me, and await further orders."

Chuck's response was instantaneous, as I expected it to be. He spun around on his knees and crawled back towards me. He slowly lifted his head to look up at me as he crawled towards me. He wore an expression of peaceful bliss on his face as he got closer and closer to me. He stopped just in front of me. Close enough so that his head was just in front of my knees. I could have easily reached over and patted his head if I wanted to. I looked at him, an RCMP constable in uniform, perched there on his hands and knees in front of me with a somewhat stupid smile on his face, and a vacant look in his eyes. Delicious and delightful do not begin to describe how I felt at that moment. Hot, horny and as excited as hell, are a bit more accurate.

"How do you feel, Chuck?" I asked him.

"Wonderful, better than I ever have before," he answered quietly as he continued to look up at me.

"Do you know why that is, Chuck?" I asked him.

"Because you hypnotized me," he answered me.

"Yes, that is true," I admitted to him. "But also because I have taken you so deep that you no longer have any will power left. In fact, right now if you tried to stand up, you'd find that you'd be unable to do so. In fact the harder you try, the more difficult it becomes, Chuck. You are so deep into my hypnotic power now that you can't resist any command or suggestion I give you, no matter what it is. All that you want to do is to stay in this wonderful state or to go even deeper if I will let you. When you realize that simple truth to be a fact, a wave of intense sexual pleasure will course through your body and you will shudder with delight, for a minute or so." I didn't need to reinforce these suggestions with my powers. Chuck was so far gone now that his mind was completely open to me. (Yes!) But it wasn't enough. I wanted more from him. I wanted more signs of submission and surrender. My thirst for revenge demanded it.

Chuck didn't even try to stand up. He just remained there on his hands and knees in front of me as the suggestions took hold. In about three seconds flat his entire body started to shudder. He moaned out loud softly several times as his eyes snapped shut, while he gave himself over to the sexual pleasure that I'd promised him. After a few minutes the shudders ceased and he opened his eyes to look up at me with what could only be called adoration. He didn't say anything. He just looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Chuck, your will is gone." I asked him.

"Yes. My will is gone," he agreed readily, and calmly.

"You will do anything and everything that I tell you to do, because you have no choice. You must obey me. Totally. Completely. Willingly." I instructed him.

The last few dregs of Chuck's resistance flowed away and out of his mind, as these final commands of mine took effect. "Yes. I will do anything and everything that you tell me to. I must obey you. Yes," Chuck repeated in a slightly monotone voice as his surrender became complete. I smiled at him, leaned over and patted him on his head.

"Good boy, Chuck," I said to him as I patted him gently. "You're such a good boy, aren't you?"

Chuck nodded his head eagerly in agreement. "Oh, yessssssss", he hissed in pleasure.

"Yes, what?" I prompted him.

"Yes, sir?" He asked unsure if the response was correct.

"That is the correct way to address me, Chuck," I assured him. "Well done."

"Yes, SIR!" Chuck barked out and a huge grin broke out on his face. His joy was in knowing that he had pleased me, in some small way.

"Do you want to be my boy, Chuck? Do you want to serve and obey me?" I taunted him.

"Oh yes, SIR! More than anything, SIR!" Chuck assured me. "Please, please can I be your boy, SIR?" He pleaded.

"Chuck, you're an RCMP constable, and you are on your hands and knees asking to be my boy. Do you think that this is the right thing for you to be doing?" I teased him. I knew that he would have to rationalize his behavior in his own mind. In doing so, he would have to admit to himself as well as me, just how much control I had over him. My cock was even harder now as I waited for Chuck's answer.

Chuck thought about it for a minute or so, before he answered. "Well, Sir, ordinarily no, I would not do this, nor would any other RCMP constable," Chuck answered slowly. "But, you're different, sir." Chuck did not elaborate.

"What do you mean, exactly, BOY?" I asked him. I was intrigued at what his reasoning might be.

Chuck's eyes lit up at my calling him 'boy', and he sighed with ecstasy as a shudder ran through his body. He gulped once before he answered. "You hypnotized me, sir. You made me yours. I'm, well, I'm your boy, sir. If you want me on my hands and knees in front of you, it's only right, sir. I would even.uhm.pee my pants if you told me to, sir. Really, I would, sir." Chuck blushed bright red after speaking the last sentence. The idea clearly embarrassed him, but he'd found the courage to say it to me, nevertheless.

"I see," I said thoughtfully. I smiled at Chuck, and he beamed back at me, pleased that he had pleased me. His capitulation was complete. I drank deeply of the heady wine of domination that flowed through my mind and caused my cock to finally become rock hard. Chuck was mine. Completely. No question or doubt remained. All that remained was my wonderfully hard cock and the satisfied smirk that I wore on my face.

"I have something special for you, Chuck. Would you like to have it?" I asked him quietly.

"Oh yes, SIR! I would indeed, SIR!" Chuck barked out at me, eager for anything that I might wish to bestow upon him.

"Sit up and beg for it, like a good boy," I enticed him.

Chuck immediately sat back on his heels and brought his arms and hands up to his chest. He curled his hands down at the wrist so that he was in a begging position, just like a dog would be. He looked up at me with open and trusting expression on his face, smiling and waiting patiently for his special something, whatever it might be.

I smiled at Chuck for a moment or two, keeping my eyes locked on his. Then I gave it to him. As quickly as I could I drew back my right arm and slapped Chuck across the left side of his face with my right hand, as hard as I could. Before the shock could begin to register on Chuck's face, I drew back my left arm and slapped Chuck across the right side of his face with my left hand. Once again, I put as much muscle behind the blow as I could. In the few heartbeats it had taken for those blows to be landed on Chuck's face, I had let the rage and anger I felt at Chuck finally crack the mask of peace and calm that I had kept pasted on my face all evening. The blows felt good, but at the same time, I felt my erection slipping away. For the first time that I could remember, I didn't care about that. Giving in to my anger and repressed rage at Chuck seemed more satisfying to me than the hypnotic induction of Chuck had been.

Chuck eyes went wide with surprise as he slowly placed his hands on his reddened cheeks. His mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief. He did not try to move away from me, though. He might not know why I had hit him, but he knew that he had no choice but to accept it. Deep down in the core of his being, he knew and accepted that he was mine, to do with as I wished.

"That was payback for what you did to me when you had me tied up," I said to him in answer to his unasked question. ( My voice was so cold that I'm surprised the heating didn't turn on.) "Be thankful that I decided to stop at two slaps."

"Yes, sir," he whispered at me, his eyes downcast. Whatever joy Chuck had felt at serving me had completely disappeared. His hands were now hanging down by his sides as he sat there slumped with rounded shoulders. Slowly he raised his head to look at me. He didn't say anything more. He just looked at me mournfully. Slowly I noticed a wetness build in his eyes. He started to blink more and more frequently and then the tears stared. Quietly, and unashamedly, Chuck began to cry. Slowly at first, the tears started to roll down his still slightly reddened cheeks. Then as the minutes passed the tears appears more quickly. He didn't sob openly, he just cried, quietly.

"Knock off the waterworks, Chuck," I said sharply, not attempting to hide my disgust with him. "I didn't hit you that hard. If you want something to cry about I'll be MORE than happy to give it to you."

"Yes, sir," Chuck squeaked, as he sniffled back a sob, still keeping his eyes downcast. "I'm not crying because of you hitting me, sir. I'm crying because of the other day, when I hit you sir. I remember all that I did to you sir, and I am ashamed of myself. I'm not worthy to be your boy, sir. I know that you didn't believe me before, when I said I was sorry, sir. I have no reason to think that you'll believe me now, sir. For what it is worth sir, I truly am sorry for what happened the other night. I know that doesn't make it any better, sir. I'm not asking you not to punish me, sir. I know I should be punished. I know that I deserve whatever punishment you decide on, but I wanted you to know that I am sincerely sorry, sir."

I was surprised at Chuck's little speech. It wasn't the content, but the length of it that surprised me. The regret he was now feeling about last Monday night's events was more likely a side effect of my control over Chuck, than any genuine feelings on his part. Either that, or he was lying in an attempt to play on my sympathies. There was a simple enough way to settle that matter.

"Chuck, you wouldn't lie to me now, would you?" I asked him.

"No, SIR!" Chuck cried out in anguish, seemingly shocked at such a suggestion from me. He jerked his head up and looked me directly in the eyes as he continued speaking. "I would NEVER lie to you, SIR!"

It took me but a few heartbeats to focus my attention and powers on Chuck's mind and sent into his open mind a few simple commands. "Chuck you cannot lie to me. Tell me the truth when I ask you a question." I waited a few seconds for the commands to take effect before I spoke to him. Chuck might SAY that he wouldn't lie to me, but I wanted to be absolutely sure. I trusted my powers more than I trusted Chuck's integrity, even if he was an RCMP constable.

"On your honor as an RCMP constable then, tell me truthfully now, do you really regret what you did to me last Monday afternoon?" I asked.

Chuck didn't even bat an eye as he looked me right in the eyes and replied. "Yes sir, I do! On my honor as an RCMP constable, I most humbly regret the assault I perpetrated upon your person last Monday afternoon."

I looked at him for a moment or two before I responded. "All right. I believe you, Chuck. So what do you think should be done now?"

Chuck kept his gaze steady and his voice calm as he answered my question. "I should be punished, sir. I MUST be punished, sir. With your permission, sir, may I offer a suggestion?"

"Go ahead," I answered, wondering what Chuck had in mind.

"Please, sir, if you wouldn't mind sitting in the center of the sofa?" Chuck asked me as he slowly climbed up out of his kneeling position to stand up on his feet. I acquiesced to his request as I continued to wonder what plan it was that he had hatched in that little RCMP mind of his.

"Thank you, sir," Chuck said as I settled myself in my new position on the sofa. Without any further words to me, Chuck bent over and untied his shoes. He quickly slipped off his shoes, picked them up and moved them off to the right somewhere. Chuck slowly stood back up and looked down at me, a touch of sadness on his face, though the tears had stopped rolling down his cheeks. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long deep sigh as if he were steeling himself to do something that he didn't want to do, but that he knew had to be done. Chuck moved his hands to his waist and slowly undid the buckle on his gun belt. Carefully he removed the gun belt, bent over and placed it on the coffee table. There wasn't anything even remotely sexually suggestive in the action. Chuck stood back up and moved his hands to the belt of his uniform pants. He undid the belt of his pants, reached down and quietly unzipped the fly of his uniform pants. He did not pause at all as his hands moved on to undo his uniform pants. Chuck placed his hands on either side of the waistband of his uniform pants and pushed them down over his hips. Once past his hips, gravity took over and pulled his pants down around his ankles. Calmly, as if he were back at the police station changing in the locker room instead of here in my apartment standing in front of me, Chuck stepped out of his pants, completely ignoring them. He stood there in his boxer shorts and socks facing me. His face remained expressionless as his hands came up to the sides of his boxers and grabbed them firmly. He paused only long enough for a small sigh to escape his lips before he thrust his boxers down and off of his body. As soon as they hit the floor, he stepped out of them, appearing to be totally disinterested in what he was doing. I raised an eyebrow in suppressed surprise as I waited to see what he would do next. In the meantime I took a good long look at his cock. It was unremarkable and uncut. It wasn't especially thick or long. It was flaccid which confirmed a definite lack of sexual simulation of Chuck. I could only guess at how much larger Chuck's penis might become were he to be come excited. I did notice thought that he was very hairy. Bushy would have been a better description. The hairs were thick, dark and plentiful. The inspection concluded, at least for the moment, I lifted my head up to look at Chuck's face and see what he had planned next.
Chuck stood there in his stocking feet nude from the waist down to his ankles, facing me. His expression wasn't dull or vacant, more like resigned, with just a touch of sadness. It was mildly amusing to note that Chuck's tie now stopped just above the dark thick patch of his pubic hair. It was as if his tie was pointing out where Chuck's penis was located. (Like I needed a road sign?) Chuck suddenly started walking towards me, which intruded on my train of thought, and snapped my full attention back to him. He walked over to where I sat and started to climb on to the sofa, careful not to climb on me in the process. It did not require much time for him to position himself so that he was laying across the sofa, and across my lap with his feet off to my left and his head off to my right.

"My ass is yours, sir," Chuck said quietly, with that same perfect calmness in his voice. "Do with me as you will, sir. Punish me as you see fit, sir." Chuck lay there on top of me, his head resting in his folded arms, looking off to his left, away from me. I was somewhat stunned, but I quickly recovered my senses and took stock of the situation.

Chuck's bare ass was draped across my lap. His was a beautiful ass, it was a true bubble butt that usually made my cock rock hard. It failed to have that effect this time though. Chuck was mine to do with as I wanted. I looked that those sexy and slightly hairy cheeks of his. Curiosity got the better of me and I gently pried his buttocks apart to get a good look at his butt hole. Chuck whimpered softly at the touch of my fingers prying his buttocks apart. I chose to ignore him. His butt hole was pink and looked very tight. A virgin anus if ever I saw one. (Well, Chuck was heterosexual so it was a forgone conclusion that his butt hole would be virgin territory.). I thought about how much pain I had suffered at his hands. I thought about how hollow and empty I felt inside right now, not having Andy around anymore. My dear sweet beloved Andy was gone, and the man responsible was lying draped across my lap, with his bare naked ass directly in front of me. He was willing to let me punish him in any way that I wanted to. I thought about my hurt and pain for a moment, and my rage and anger flooded up again. I let go of his buttocks and then smacked my right hand down hard across both of his buttocks.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Chuck cried out. "Please slap my ass again, sir! I deserve it, sir!"

I obliged him. I slapped his ass, his big hairy and beautiful bubble butt over and over and over, until my hand started to hurt. Ten times? Twenty? I have no idea how many times I slapped him. I only stopped when my hand started to sting. Only then did I notice that both of Chuck's buttocks were red. I looked at that red and probably sore ass lying there in front of me, and thought of how it would feel to do a little drilling on that virgin property, if you catch my meaning. The thought was appealing, but not as exciting as I hoped it would be. It barely got my cock to stir. Something didn't seem to feel right, somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was definitely wrong. I had long since learned to trust my instincts in matters like this, and I let my mind wander as I tried to determine what it was that felt so wrong. It was while I sat there thinking things over, that the soft muffled sound of weeping reached my ears. I didn't have to be a police detective to guess the source.

"Are you in pain, Chuck?" I asked the man lying draped across my lap.

"Only a little, sir," Chuck answered. "You didn't hurt me much."

"Then why the crying?" I asked more puzzled than concerned. I didn't think that a few slaps on his bottom would reduce Chuck to tears. There had to be something more to it.

"I'm scared, sir," Chuck answered between sobs.

"Of what, exactly?" I asked, determined to find out what was behind all this.

"Of you, sir," Chuck replied in a very mousy and quiet voice. "I'm afraid that you're going to uhm use me, and that I might get AIDS from you, sir." Chuck twisted about on his right side as he turned his head to his left in order to look up at me. His eyes were red, and his face had fear, no terror, written all over it. His eyes were wide with it. His lips trembled with it. He was scared down to his bones, and at the same time he was not offering me even an ounce of resistance.

I looked at his face, and read the terror there. Open. Plain. All consuming. I was thunderstruck. He looked at me and waited, wondering what I would do. I looked back at him unable to speak. Slowly the facts started to penetrate the red fog of anger, hurt and pain that had been clouding my mind as I had been slapping Chuck's ass. Slowly, like a diver rising to the surface after a long deep dive and having to take decompression stops along the way, I struggled out of the ocean of madness that I had been floundering in.

Chuck wasn't to blame. He may have triggered the breakup between Andy and me, but he wasn't the reason behind it. My powers were the reason for the breakup. It was a very bitter pill to swallow, and it hurt going down. My powers had cost me Andy. It was so God damn unfair! It wasn't right! I'd always been careful with my powers and how I used them! Why should I have to lose Andy because of my powers? It just wasn't fair! I felt like I wanted to hit someone and keep on hitting them until they hurt as much as I did! Christ Almighty! That is what I had been doing to Chuck! My lips trembled as the realization of the true reason behind my actions with Chuck came to light. The slapping across the face and the spanking I could live with, but not this. I had been about to rape Chuck. There was no other word for it. It would have been the same as if I had drugged Chuck, undressed him and then tied him up. It was the act of a cruel and unthinking animal. My face suddenly burned red with shame as I came to understand just how close I had come to actually using a man, an innocent man, as a toy. I closed my eyes with the pain that suddenly stabbed through my soul.

I started to shudder as the full scope of my actions impacted on my mind. Chuck had come here and offered himself as my willing subject, to prove to me that he had changed how he felt about me. What had I done with that? I had tricked him, and turned him into my willing boy toy, who wouldn't question or object to anything that I did to him. Talk about a lack of morals or ethics! I said a brief but heartfelt prayer of thanks to God for pulling me back from the brink of that cliff. I wasn't sure exactly what had stopped me or caused me to ask Chuck why he was crying, but whatever it was I was truly thankful for it. (Maybe it was that safety net that Mary was always telling me about. I decided to shelf that thought for the time being. I had other things to take care of at the moment.)

I kept my eyes closed and concentrated on breathing as I struggled to bring myself back under control. Slowly I succeeded. Okay, so I had lost Andy, but that was no reason to punish Chuck. Two more thoughts seared through my brain, filling me with mortification. Chuck was Andy's best friend. More importantly though, Chuck was an RCMP constable, too, just like Andy. What right did I, (or anyone else for that matter) have to humiliate and dehumanize a man who put his life at risk for me and the rest of society? This was a man that I should have treated with respect, despite what he had done to me. He was a human being just like me, with his own faults and weaknesses. But any man who risks his life every day deserved my compassion and consideration at the very least. I was suddenly so ashamed of myself that all I wanted to do was to crawl away and hide under a rock. He had been (and hopefully still was) Andy's closest friend. How could I have treated someone whom Andy cared about, such as I had? Again I sent a silent and short prayer of thanks to God for bringing me to my senses before it was too late, before I had gone too far. I might not like Chuck, but I had no right, I finally realized in the cold harsh light of truth, to have treated him the way I had. I knew what I had to do. I took a deep breath before talking to Chuck.

"I am not going to rape you, Chuck," I said as I opened my eyes and looked at him. The relief on his face was as intense as the terror had been. He tentatively smiled at me, but did not say anything. He seemed to sense that I wasn't finished talking to him. "I want you to get dressed now, and then go out into the kitchen and make me a cup of tea. I take one sugar and a few drops of lemon in my tea. Bring the tea to me here in the living room. I'll be sitting here on the sofa. You can then sit in the swivel rocking chair and relax until I tell you what to do next."

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir," Chuck replied as he climbed up and off of me. He walked over to where his boxer shorts were, bent down and picked them up. I stood up and walked out of the living room, heading for the bathroom. Usually I enjoyed the sight of a good looking man getting dressed, but I was in no mood for something like that right now. I needed to wash my face and hands. It wouldn't remove the stink of what I had nearly done from my memory, but I knew that it would make me feel a bit better.

The trip to the bathroom was short. I closed and locked the door when I was inside. I won't bore you with the mundane details of filling a sink with water and washing your face and hands. I think you can figure out what that process is like for yourself. I washed my face, neck and hands. It was refreshing and by the time I was finished I felt I was ready to face what still had to be done, as far as Chuck was concerned.

I unlocked the bathroom door and opened it. I took a deep breath, and let it out in a long slow relaxing exhale. Feeling a bit more like my normal self, I crossed the threshold and headed back into the living room. The trip back to the sofa was short and simple. I noticed that Chuck was dressed again, and was sitting in the swivel rocking chair as ordered. The cup of tea I had asked for (okay ordered) was exactly where it should be, in the middle of the coffee table. Chuck had also thoughtfully repositioned the coffee table so that it was once again in front of the sofa. I walked around the coffee table and sat down on the end of the sofa closest to Chuck. He looked a bit surprised and started to get up until he saw me reach over for the cup of tea sitting on the coffee table. I picked up the cup and saucer, and slowly brought the cup to my lips. The tea had cooled enough to drink. I took a small sip and smiled in pleasure. I looked over at Chuck. He beamed back his joy as he saw me smile. He could tell that I was pleased with the cup of tea, and that made him happy. I placed the cup and saucer down on the coffee table, directly in front of me. Then I looked over at Chuck being sure that I had full eye contact with him.

"Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you, Chuck. I want to be sure that you understand exactly what I am saying to you," I said to him. I let the smile fall from my face, to be replaced by an expression of seriousness.

"Yes, sir. I am paying close attention, sir," Chuck replied.

"Chuck, I am going to count from one to five. At the count of five, you will be your normal self again. I will no longer have any control over you, nor will you feel compelled to obey me or to please me. You will be just as you were before I started to hypnotize you this evening. You will remember everything that happened tonight in full and complete detail. However, you will be unable to physically assault me, either directly or by whatever form of proxy. Do you understand?" I waited for his reply.

"Yes, sir, I understand your instructions, " Chuck replied solemnly. "I don't understand why you are doing this, sir. Did I displease you in some way? I only want to please you, and to obey you, sir." The crestfallen expression on Chuck's face after he finished talking was like that of a puppy who had just been hit with a rolled up newspaper, and didn't know why.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five," I said as I ignored his question. I only wanted to get him out of my apartment and to end this hellish evening. I would have to deal with my own guilt and demons from this evening, after Chuck left. I just wanted him gone. I looked at Chuck and waited for his reaction. My one minor consolation to myself was that I had never gotten around to implanting a post hypnotic suggestion in Chuck's mind to trigger a return to the hypnotic trance. If I were to hypnotize him again, I'd have to start over from scratch. But, since that would take all of maybe two seconds, it wasn't much of a consolation at all.

Chuck awoke with a start and looked over at me, an expression of pure bewilderment glued on his face. To my amazement, he didn't say anything. He just sat there quietly, looking at me. I guessed that he was going over the events of the evening in his mind, and trying to come to a decision as to how he felt about them. Slowly the bewilderment left his face to replaced by an expression of calm acceptance. Chuck placed his hands in his lap, but he still didn't say anything. He continued to sit there calmly just looking at me. It was eerie, and a bit disturbing too. I had expected him to yell and rant at me, to call me every name in the book, maybe even to physically threaten me. I certainly did not expect him to shrug his shoulders and to see his lips curve into a half smile as he continued his silent treatment of me. It had been only a few minutes, but I'd had enough. I decided to break the ice, if only to tell Chuck to leave.

"I'm sorry, Chuck," I said to him in a hushed but clear voice. "Now if you would be kind enough to leave, I would be grateful."

"Why?" Chuck asked. "Why should I leave?"

"After what just happened here tonight, you can't possibly want to be around me," I offered in explanation. "No one in their right mind would want to be around me. Not to put too fine a point on it, your presence here is making me uncomfortable, so it would be easier on me if you would collect your hat and coat, and leave."

"Let's leave the question of my sanity, aside for the moment, shall we?" Chuck responded, in that almost maddening calm voice of his. "I admit that I'm surprised at what happened tonight, but all in all, I'm not angry with you, nor even upset. I'm amazed at the depth of your control over me, but that's all, really."

"After what I nearly did to you, how can you say that?" I demanded of him, perplexed beyond belief. "I came this close to raping you!" I exclaimed holding up my right hand with the thumb and index finger a hair's breath apart. I was outraged at his casual attitude of the night's events. It just did not make any sense to me.

"But you didn't go through with it, Paul," Chuck answered back at me, as calm as ever. "You pulled in your horns at the last minute and backed off. You didn't give in to what you most wanted to do. You let your compassion and caring nature, your concern for another human being stop you, as I knew it would."

"How? How could you possibly have known that would happen?" I yelled at him, as my control started to slip away. "I didn't even know it!"

"Simple. Andy told me that is what you would do," Chuck answered as if this should have been obvious to me. "Andy knows you, and your heart. I trusted Andy, just as I trust you, now."

"How can you say that!!!" I screamed at him as the last shreds of my self control slipped away. "After all this? How can you? How????" It was too much. Losing Andy, and the night's events with Chuck. It was just too much. I stared at Chuck and I lost it. I buried my head in my hands in confusion and despair, as I sat there on the sofa. It was too much to deal with or to try to understand. My pent up emotions of anguish, loss, hurt and profound shame flooded through me. I gave in. I started to cry, hot, hurtful, painful and bitter tears. I didn't care any more if Chuck was in the room. All I knew was that his mention of Andy had torn away the thin scab covering my broken heart, and all the pains of hell were coursing through my mind, heart and soul, yet again. To put it less kindly, I broke down like a blubbering baby and cried my eyes out. But I didn't give a royal rat's ass. All I knew was that I was hurting, and crying those tears were the only balm that I knew of which might soften the pain. When I felt Chuck put his arm across my shoulders to offer me comfort, I roughly shoved it aside, without bothering to even look up. The last thing in the world I wanted was comfort from someone who reminded me of Andy. That only made the hurt deeper, sharper and more gut wrenching.

No one can cry forever. Not even me. Eventually my tears stopped as did my bawling. Slowly I gained control of myself, and wiped away the few tears on my cheeks with the back of my hands as I looked up at Chuck, who had returned to sitting in the swivel rocking chair. I swallowed hard and tried to gain enough control over myself to speak to him. Suddenly I felt a soft tender kiss on the back of my neck, in the exact spot that Andy always liked to kiss me! I was looking directly at Chuck at that instant of time, so I knew it couldn't be him! Someone else had to be in the room, and that person was standing behind me! (Yup, there it was again. Clear evidence of my razor sharp intellect. I was really good at picking up the obvious all right.) I whipped my head around at breakneck speed to find out who it was, my heart suddenly racing with fear, while my mind was racing with curiosity.

It was Andy! My beloved Andy! Standing there! Looking down at me! He was smiling that wonderful sexy smile of his at me! I froze in place, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I looked at Andy, wiping my eyes several times to be sure I wasn't seeing things.

It sure as hell looked like Andy. He was wearing those light blue skin tight jeans that I always enjoyed seeing him in, along with a white short sleeve knit golf shirt. I guessed that the shirt would be short sleeve, but I couldn't be sure as Andy was wearing a black raincoat as well. I glanced down to see a pair of nondescript and faded white sneakers on his feet. As I directed my attention back at Andy's face, I noticed that he was not wearing a belt in his jeans. Small wonder, those jeans as I remembered them, were so tight on him that a belt was totally uncalled-for. I studied Andy's all too familiar face as I tried to think of what to say. He was smiling that special smile of his at me, but at the same time there were tears slowly rolling down both of his cheeks. Tears of happiness or sadness I could not be sure. The expression on his face was a combination of regret, remorse and hope. It only added to the confusion of the situation

"How? How did you get in here?" I asked after my tongue became unglued from the roof of my mouth. "What do you want? Why are you here?" My heart was starting to sing at the sight of Andy, fortunately though, my head was in charge. I knew that there had to more to this than Andy just appearing all of a sudden. I might have been in love with him, but I wasn't an idiot, or a fool.

"I made a copy in case I lost mine," Andy said as he held up a key for me to see. It had to be a copy of the key to my apartment that I had given Andy a month or so ago, and which he had dropped on the carpet the other night. Okay, so that answered the 'how', but that still left the 'what' and 'why' to be answered. I held my tongue, and waited to hear Andy's explanation.

"Paul, I know you're confused right now, and for that I am sorry, but all of this was necessary," Andy said to me as he stood there a few feet (and several light years) away from me. Andy paused to slip the key back in to the front pocket of his jeans before he continued speaking. "After you showed me your powers on Monday, and what they could do, I had to know. I had to be sure that I was right about you. I'm sorry but I had to test you. I had to know that you would still be able to keep that promise you made to me. I had to know that even with your fantastic powers of mental control, you could stop yourself in time. Forgive me please, but I had to know beyond all doubt that you would be able to resist the temptation, and remain faithful to me."
I sat there looking up at Andy and tried to comprehend what he was saying to me. It was difficult to understand the words at first but gradually the meaning penetrated my mind. "A test?" I asked weakly. "This was some kind of test?"

"Yes, exactly," Andy answered with a sad sigh.

"You were testing me? You were testing me?" I asked again, my voice a bit stronger. I couldn't seem to get beyond that aspect of what Andy was telling me. Then the true meaning of what 'testing me' finally dawned on me. It ignited my temper as the indignation and hurt flared up to feed the fire of my anger at Andy. I screamed out a series of questions at Andy like bullets from a machine gun. "What were you testing? My honesty? My loyalty? To you? My integrity? How could you? Don't you believe what I told you? How could you love me and not trust me?" I had run out of breath, and questions so I just glared at Andy waiting for a response from him. The knowledge that Andy had been testing me was like an arrow through my heart. I didn't think I could have been hurt any more, but I was wrong. This was a new and different pain. It was as if I didn't know Andy any more. I could not believe this of him.

'Paul," Andy said as he looked me directly in the eye not backing down an inch. "If you ever loved me, please listen. Isn't all that we have shared together worth that much at least? All I ask of you is that you listen to me, as I explain what this whole evening was about and why it was necessary."

"All right, I'll listen," I said to him, the steam still coming from my ears. "But this had better be one hell of a good story!" I owed Andy that much for the incredibly wonderful times we had enjoyed over the past four months. I shoved aside my hurt and anger as much as I could and prepared myself to listen to Andy. It was not at all easy. I had to try to shut out the pain, hurt and anger I felt for Andy, and try to listen to him with an open mind. I did my best to do as he asked, which is all anyone could have expected from me.

"Thank you, Paul," Andy replied as he walked around the sofa. A few moments later he was standing just in front of the coffee table, looking down at me. He licked his lips nervously before he began his story.

"Paul before I knew that you had these powers of yours, the promise I asked of you seemed reasonable," Andy said. "I knew that you liked to hypnotize guys, and it didn't seem unreasonable to ask you to refrain from sex with these subjects of yours. Things changed though, when you told me about the extent of your powers. I thought long and hard about it, in between fights with Chuck, and I came to the realization that with your mental powers you could easily circumvent the promise you made to me, and I would never know about it. After all you could have sex with your subjects and remove all trace of the event from their minds. I would never know."

"I knew that I could not live with a doubt like that hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles," Andy continued. "I knew that I had to find out if you could resist the desire to use your powers to take advantage of someone. The logical test subject was Chuck. I suspected that on an emotional level you probably blamed Chuck for our break up. I figured that if you could resist the temptation to take revenge on Chuck with your powers, then you would be able to keep your promise to me. My heart told me that you could do that, but I had to be absolutely sure. You have great power, Paul. And power corrupts. I am sorry, but I had to know. I had to be sure."

"I know everything that happened tonight," Andy said after a brief pause. "I saw and heard everything."

"You what? How in the hell?!" I asked flabbergasted.

"Chuck would you mind?" Andy asked as he turned his head to look at Chuck. I followed and watched as Chuck stood up and walked over to the bookcase. After a few moments of doing something which I couldn't see since Chuck' back was to me, he turned around.

"This is a video camera with a wide angle lens and an omni-directional and very sensitive microphone," he said as he held out a long narrow box shaped object. "I planted it in the bookcase earlier, when you were making coffee in the kitchen. Andy is carrying the receiver. He saw and heard everything. The entire induction, and everything that you did and did not do to me." He fiddled with the device for a second. " It's off now." Chuck walked back to the swivel rocking chair and sat down.

"Yes, I bugged your apartment. Yes, I spied on you," Andy admitted to me as I turned my head back to look at him, my eyes wide with surprise and shock. "I did not make a tape though, and the signal was encrypted."

Andy bowed his head after he stopped speaking. I looked at him, but I didn't say anything. I was too shocked to say anything. On one level I understood what Andy had done and why, but on another level I was still hurting from pain of Andy's doubt of me. I also felt slightly violated at having my privacy invaded. (The irony of feeling violated was not lost on me. I had nearly done that to Chuck, after all.) The fact that he had not made a copy of the night's events was of small consolation to me.

"I love you, Paul, with all my heart and soul, I do," Andy said as he raised his head up and looked me in the eyes. His lips started to tremble and he voice shook as he continued talking, "I have no right to ask you this, after all I've done, but I'll ask anyway. Can you forgive me? Do you want to take me back?"

"What about Chuck?" I asked him, as I attempted to change the subject. I wasn't ready to answer Andy's questions just yet. I was still trying to deal with what he had told me. "What about the risk he undertook tonight? What if I had not been able to control myself? Did you ever think of that? Chuck is supposed to be your best friend. How could you risk him, your best friend, like that?"

"The test was my idea, Paul, as was the video equipment," Chuck said before Andy could reply. I snapped my head over to look at Chuck in surprise. "I knew that you needed proof that I had changed how I feel about you and Andy. As for Andy, he needed proof that you could keep your promise to him. I knew that if you could control yourself with me, then you'd be okay. I've put my life on the line for Andy before. This was no different."

I closed my eyes in pain after Chuck finished speaking, and took a few calming breaths. "It was very, very different, Chuck," I said to him as I opened my eyes and looked at him. "I could have destroyed your mind and your life tonight."

"But you didn't," Chuck told me. "Your basic nature wouldn't let you. I saw your face when you realized what you were about to do to me. Police constables learn how to judge people and their basic personalities. You're not a killer. You'll defend yourself, but you won't hurt someone if there is any other option open to you. You have a kind, caring and compassionate heart, Paul. I know that, even if you don't."

"Maybe," I agreed doubtfully. "But how do I live with tonight's events? How do I live with myself?" I asked Chuck, as I turned and looked him directly in the eyes. I wanted to believe what he said he saw in me, but I couldn't make that leap of faith. I turned my head and looked at Andy. "How do you live with yourself, Andy, after what you've done? How can we possibly ever reconcile something like this?" I stared at Andy. As much as I still loved him and wanted him in my life, I could not simply forgive him. It just wasn't that easy, or simple.

"How in the name of all that is decent in the world, do we live with what happened here tonight?" I asked the empty air as I looked up at the ceiling in despair. "How do we start over?" I asked of no one.

"Like this," Chuck said as he stood up and gestured for me to stand. Curious, I obeyed him. Chuck reached over, took my right hand in his left hand and lead me around the coffee table. He lead me to where Andy was standing. I flinched, but did not draw away. Chuck reached out with his right hand and grabbed Andy's left hand. Andy shuddered, but did not draw away from Chuck. Wordlessly, he brought the palm of my right hand to the palm of Andy's left hand and pressed our two hands together with his. Then he forced the fingers of our two hands to become enfolded. "You hold on tight to the love that you have for this man, and love him with every fiber of your being. That's what you do, now and every day for the rest of your life." Chuck's voice cracked with the next words that he spoke to the both of us. "Life is far too short for either of you to throw away what you have found together." He let his hands fall away from ours and backed away a few steps. He had done all that he could. He knew that the rest was up to us.

I looked over at Chuck and was amazed to see tears in his eyes. I had never thought of him as the sentimental and sensitive type. This was a side of him that I'd never seen before. I knew that he wasn't bullshitting me. I had touched his mind and scanned it as soon as he had grabbed my wrist. (What can I say? Old habits die hard. I was so used to doing this as a defensive measure that I have to force myself not to do it. Chuck had caught me by surprise, and so I did not stop the scan when I had the chance.) I looked up at Andy, as my lips trembled to say what was in my heart. Andy looked down at me, wordlessly, as his lips trembled too. Neither of us could speak as much as we wanted to. It was as if there were an invisible steel wall between the two of us and we couldn't seem to find the door.

I stepped up to Andy and placed my head on his left shoulder. I wrapped my free left arm about his waist. Slowly. Gently. Delicately, as if Andy were make of glass, I gave him a hug. Then it happened. What I feared wouldn't happen, did. I felt Andy's free right arm slowly encircle my waist. Then joy beyond joy, I felt Andy pull his left hand from my right hand and wrap his left arm around me. Slowly Andy hugged me close to him, carefully as if I were a delicate flower easily crushed. Quickly I wrapped my now free right arm around Andy, completing the circle of my hug of him. I hugged him back as carefully and gently as I could. I swallowed desperately against the choking tightness in my throat. God this felt so good, but I knew that more was needed. We had to talk, as painful as that might be. As I stood there holding and hugging Andy, I remembered something that I had told Andy the night of our first date, and I knew I had to say it to him now.

Reluctantly I unwrapped myself from Andy and lifted my head off of his shoulder. Carefully, I placed my hands on either side of his face, and forced him to look me straight in the eyes. I took a deep breath, and then my eyes started to fill with tears as I spoke to him.

"Don't you know I'd rather have five minutes of wonderful with you, than a life time of loneliness and emptiness, such as I've known?" I asked the tear blurred face in front of me. "I love you, Andy. Enough to forgive you. Enough to ask you to come back into my life. Enough, to ask you to forgive me." Then I closed my eyes and let the tears fall to my cheeks. There was nothing more to say. Chuck was right, and in my heart I knew it. If I truly loved Andy, I would find it in my heart and soul to forgive him. It was my own leap of faith. I waited for Andy's response.

Two big strong warm hands cupped my face and forced it upwards. I opened my eyes, and blinked away the tears, to gaze up into two soft brown doe like eyes, that glowed anew with a special warmth and tenderness that I knew was for me alone. Andy's warm honey smooth tenor voice, that I had thought I would never hear again spoke to me. "All is forgiven, Paul. Thank you for loving me. I am sorry that I doubted you, and your control of your powers. You are a very, very special man, and I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I love you, you know."

"Yes, I do know," I said, as I looked up at Andy and felt my heart slowly start to heal. I moved towards him and tilted my head to the right slightly as I let a smile grow on my lips. Andy smiled back at me, and tilted his head slightly to the left as our heads came closer together. Finally, after countless minutes, our lips brushed against each other and the ache in my heart slowly started to fade. One kiss cannot cure a broken heart, but this was a good start. Slowly we pressed our lips together and unbidden our arms found their way around our bodies again. The embrace was a new as our first kiss, and as fragile. We both knew that a few simple words would not heal the cracks in the foundation of our relationship. It would take time, effort and a lot of talking before we could say that we had healed this breach.

Gently but firmly Andy broke our embrace, and took one step away from me. He looked down at me, and smiled, but it was a sad smile just the same. "Before we go any further, Paul, we need to get something settled," Andy said quietly.

"What is that?" I asked, puzzled and more than just a tiny bit scared. I had just gotten Andy back and already I was starting to worry about losing him.

"The answer to a question that I asked you, a lifetime ago," he replied. He reached his right hand into the right pocket of his raincoat, and then withdrew it a moment later. On his open palm was a small black jewelry box. He reached over and flipped open the lid of the box with his left hand. As expected there were two golden wedding bands. "Will you wear my ring?" He asked me, looking directly into my eyes.

Gingerly I reached over and took one of the rings from the box. I'd thought long and hard about this question, and I had finally decided how to answer Andy. I walked over to the stereo and after a few minutes of fiddling I selected the song that I wanted to play. I walked back to stand in front of Andy as the first few bars of the song "Long As I Live" started to play. (I wish I could include the words to the song here, but I would need permission from the artist.) I knelt down in front of Andy, and slipped the wedding band on the ring finger of my left hand as I started to lip sync to the sexy southern accented voice of John Michael Montgomery. The words of that song were simple but they expressed exactly how I felt. They told Andy that I was his, until God called me away. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried as I tried to 'sing' to Andy. When a song resonates with the feelings in your soul, you can't help but give yourself over to it.

Andy understood. That kind, sweet, caring, loving man. He smiled down at me as he nodded his head slightly. Andy took the remaining ring and slipped it onto the ring finger of his left hand, letting the unneeded jewelry box fall to the floor .He held my hands in his as I knelt there in front of him, and he softly kissed them several times during the song. Tears rolled down his cheeks as well, but like mine they were tears of relief and joy. When the song was over Andy yanked me to my feet and smothered me in a strong grizzly bear hug. All he could do was to hold me tight, as we swayed slightly back and forth. "Lord knows I don't deserve a man like you, but thank you for saying 'yes'," he muttered in my ear. 'Thank you, for loving me."

"Like the ring says, 'Grow old along with me'," I muttered back at him, feeling my heart heal just a little bit more.

"God, yes!" He cried and squeezed me even tighter as the fervor of his love and feelings for me overtook him.

"I'm not a tube of toothpaste, Andy," I complained to him as I started to struggle for breath. "You don't have to try and get every last ounce of love out of me."

"Geesorry about that," he replied bashfully as he let up on the pressure of his hug. "Is that better?" He asked as he continued to hold me close.

"Yes, much," I assured him, as it became easier to breathe. "But don't you think you should let go of me now?"

"No. Not ever," he muttered into my ear. "Never again. I'm never letting go of you."

"Not even to go to the bathroom?" I teased. It seemed that my sense of humor had returned too.

"Only when I can't hold it back any longer," he answered and then kissed me passionately. I quickly forgot whatever it was that I was going to say, and just surrendered to his sweet, caressing kisses. God how I had missed them! My heart which has been so cold and empty for the past five days, warmed up as Andy's love filled it once more. I felt alive again.

"Well, now that this is settled, I'll be going," a forgotten Chuck called out to us.

"Sweet Jesus!" I cried out as I forced myself out of Andy's embrace. Let me tell you that was not an easy thing for me to do just then, either. The surprised look on his face was priceless, but I didn't have time to enjoy it. "Wait a second, Chuck!" I called out to him trying to delay his departure.

"You guys don't need me," he called back with a grin as he opened the front hall closet door and reached in to get his raincoat and hat. "Besides, Mom always said that three is a crowd."

"Wait, please!" I cried out to Chuck. 'You can't go just yet!"

"Actually, yes I can," Chuck answered, with a slight smirk on his face. "You set me free of your control, remember?"

"Jesus, I didn't mean that, and you know it, Chuck," I said to him, slightly annoyed with his teasing. I caught up to him at the front door of the apartment. "The least you can do is to accept my sincere apology for what happened tonight. And I'd also like offer you my most profound thanks for all that you did tonight. I know that it couldn't have been easy for you. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know." I paused for a moment, wondering if I should continue my train of thought. I took a quick breath and continued speaking to Chuck. "I can see why Andy calls you his best friend, Chuck. You're a very special man, too."

Chuck looked at me quizzically for a second, and then held out his arms to me. "Aren't you at least going to give me a good bye hug?" He chirped at me. "Or do you only hug tall muscular RCMP constables?"

"Of course not," I answered as I stepped into Chucks outstretched arms and gave him a strong, warm and gentle hug. "I wasn't sure that you'd accept a hug from me, but I am delighted to be proven wrong," I said to him as I hugged him firmly. The hug was brief but sincere. As we broke away from each other, I smiled at Chuck and he smiled back. We weren't enemies or antagonists anymore. I suppose we were friends of a sort, but only time would tell how close of friends we would become. One thing was certain, though, we both cared about Andy. Maybe that would be enough of a foundation to build a friendship on. I certainly hoped so.

Chuck turned away from me, to face Andy. Suddenly Chuck snapped to attention and saluted Andy. "Maintiens le Droit," he barked out in that commanding voice of his.

Without a second's hesitation Andy came to attention and returned Chuck's salute. "Maintiens le Droit," he replied in a clear but soft voice. Chuck stood at ease, spun around and retrieved his raincoat and hat from the closet. He quickly donned them, and headed for the front door. Chuck gave me one last smile as he opened the front door and walked through it, closing it behind him firmly.

I stood there at a loss to understand what had just happened between Chuck and Andy. I walked over to the front door and locked it securely. Slowly I turned around and headed back to where Andy was standing. He had not moved an inch since Chuck had left.

"What was that all about?" I asked Andy quietly, as I looked up into his strangely tranquil face.

"The words are in French. It's on the crest of the RCMP," Andy answered absently. He was still looking at the front door, and his mind was clearly somewhere else.

"My French is a bit rusty, Andy," I said. "What does it mean?"

"Maintain The Right", he answered softly, his gaze still locked on the front door. "It's the motto of the RCMP."
I looked up at Andy, still bemused. (I'd always thought that the RCMP motto was 'we always get our man'. It seemed that was a popular misconception.) Andy ignored me completely. His mind and thoughts were definitely elsewhere, as he stared at the front door. After a while Andy seemed to come to his senses.

"Sorry about that, love," he said as he smiled at me. "I was lost in a daydream. Come on, let's sit on the sofa and chat. We have a lot to talk about." Andy took my hand in his and lead me to the sofa. He slipped off his raincoat and tossed it into the swivel rocker. He plopped himself down on the sofa, and then pulled me towards him. Firmly he pulled me down so that I was sitting beside him, and then laid his head on my right shoulder, and closed his eyes. He let out a long sigh and muttered happily, "It's good to be home."

I reached over and softly stroked his beautiful black hair. "Everything's all right, Andy. You're safe now. You're home," I whispered into his sexy ear as I held him close to me. Andy's only reply was a long sigh. A lump formed in my throat and my eyes threatened to tear up, but I fought it off. I couldn't afford the luxury of crying or sobbing right now. Andy was back with me, but our union was as delicate and tenuous as the thread of a spider's web, and twice as fragile. Now was not the time for words. Now was the time for holding each other close and saying nothing. I don't know how long I held Andy like that, listening to him breathing and to the quiet ticking of the wall clock. I was still wondering about the exchange of salutes between Andy and Chuck, when I realized that Andy had started to snore. He was fast asleep lying against my shoulder, and he was heavy. I was loath to wake him up, but there was no way I could carry or drag him into the spare bedroom. I didn't want Andy sleeping on the sofa, when there was a nice comfortable bed (his NOT mine) only a few feet away.

'Come on, Andy, wake up," I said to him as I grabbed him by those magnificent shoulders of his and shook him. It took about a minute before I was able to rouse him.

Andy blinked sleepily at me, as he fought to wake up and figure out where he was. 'Who? What? Where? Paul?" He asked stupidly, still confused. "Oh I guess I must have dropped off," he said sheepishly.

"Come on, dear heart," I said to him as I stood up. "It's obvious you need some rest. Let's get you into bed." I held out my hand to him.

"Only if you're with me," he said at he took my hand in his and stood up. "You look as tired as I feel," he remarked and let out a huge yawn.

I studied Andy's face, and only now did I notice the dark rings under his eyes and the exhaustion in his face. It was clear that he hadn't been sleeping well for the past few nights. That made two of us. I lead Andy to the spare bedroom and opened the door. Once inside I turned down the bed. Satisfied that everything was set, I turned around and headed towards the door.

'Please, don't go," Andy said softly as he reached out and gently grabbed my right hand with his left hand. "Stay with me tonight."

"I'm just going to get changed, Andy. I'll be back in a second," I said and smiled at him to reassure him.

"Not tonight, please," Andy implored me. "Tonight, for the first time let's be nude in bed together."

As I gazed into Andy's eyes, I saw a look of longing and pleading that I'd never seen before. I was caught off guard by the seriousness of Andy's request. I raised one eyebrow in subdued surprise. "You know where that might lead, don't you?" I asked as I kept my eyes steady with his, all trace of levity gone from my voice.

"Yes, I know," he answered steadfastly. "But don't you think it's time? Don't you think we've waited long enough?" His voice was calm and collected, without so much as a hint of pleading in it. Andy was simply asking me a question, and expected an honest answer. But for Andy, an admitted virgin, to be asking such a question was compelling proof of the depth of his feelings for me. I could not help but feel honoured and moved that Andy was ready and willing to share such an intimate and personal part of himself with me. For a few moments I could not speak, as words failed me. I swallowed a few times as I looked at Andy. After a few moments of silence, I found my voice.

"Yes, I think we have waited long enough. The rings we are wearing tonight are proof enough that our hearts are bound to each other. I know I'm ready to commit to this relationship, to explore the physical pleasures and joys of sex with you," I told Andy quietly, keeping my eyes fastened on his. "But in all honesty love, I don't think either of us has the energy or strength for that tonight. We're both asleep on our feet."

Any response that Andy was about to make was cut off by a sudden yawn that overtook him. He sheepishly looked down at me and chuckled, "Looks like you're right. Okay, I'll settle for just stripping you down now and climbing into bed with you." With that Andy pulled me towards him with one powerful tug from his arm. When I said powerful that is exactly what I meant. He pulled me off of my feet and I wound up stumbling against Andy's body as I lost my balance. Andy reached out with both arms to steady me. Assured that I wasn't going to fall over, he pawed at my belt buckle and flipped it open. He attacked my blue jeans and quickly unzipped them. He wasted no time in unbuttoning my jeans, and pulling the jeans down, past my hips. A second later the jeans fell to the floor in a crumpled heap of denim. Andy reached up and undid the first button of my shirt. As he gently spread the yellow cotton of my shirt aside slightly, he kissed the base of my throat, softly and tenderly. With each button that he undid, Andy kissed a different part of my face and neck. Before I quite realized it, my yellow cotton cowboy shirt was hanging open and Andy was smothering my face and neck with kisses. Slowly he placed his hands on my shoulders and pressed his lips urgently against mine as he slid that shirt off of my shoulders and chest. It fell, unheard, at my feet. He drew away from me then, and left me standing there in just my white cotton briefs and brown socks. I carefully stepped out of pile of my clothing and looked at Andy, waiting for him to say something.

Instead of speaking Andy kicked off his sneakers. He smiled at me as he unzipped his jeans and then unbuttoned them. In one quiet and smooth motion, he slid his jeans down past his hips and onto the floor. He reached down and grabbed the sides of his white pullover knit golf shirt. It took only one big tug for him to pull that shirt up and off of his magnificent torso. The shirt joined Andy's jeans on the floor. So there Andy stood before me, in just his white boxer shorts and white socks.

I grabbed the elastic band of my briefs and slipped them down off my body. Andy's smile grew a bit larger, and then he quickly followed suit. I had to balance on one leg, and then the other, but I managed to slip off my socks. Andy though, didn't seem to have any problem removing his socks. So finally there we were, nude before each other. Actually we had seen each other nude before. After all we had showered together, so this wasn't exactly an earth shattering moment. But it was a very special moment, nonetheless.

Andy turned around and climbed into the bed, presenting me with a wonderful view of his naked ass. (I think that was the idea.) He held the bed sheets open in a silent invitation to me. I quickly walked over and climbed into the bed next to him. He threw the bed sheets on top of me, and snuggled in close to me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again, full on the lips.

"God, how I missed you," he breathed at me, in between kisses.

"It's been hell without you," I answered him in between kisses of my own.

Eventually we both ran out of kisses and were content to lay there in each others arms, and just look at each other. The stress and strain of the past few days caught up with Andy, and I saw his eyelids begin to droop.

"Go to sleep, Andy. It's okay. I'm here," I whispered to him.

"Yes, master," he muttered coyly as he closed his eyes and smiled at me. A few seconds later he was sound asleep, and had started to snore softly. (By the way, Andy even has a sexy snore.) I didn't have much time to enjoy the humour of the situation, though. I fell asleep soon afterwards. My last fuzzy thought was that I still didn't know what was behind the recitation of the RCMP motto between Chuck and Andy.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock radio going off. I blinked my eyes open to discover that it was 7:55 AM, according to the clock. I felt rested, and hungry. To my surprise I discovered that I was alone in the bed. Andy, and his clothes were no where to be found. My clothes were still in the pile where I'd left them last night. My first thought was that Andy had heard the earlier 5:30 AM alarm and gotten up then. It wasn't like him not to leave me a note or to wake me up to say good bye before leaving. I looked around the room, but I did not see any note or any other indication that Andy was still around.

I climbed out of the bed and stumbled over to my pile of clothes. I put on my socks, briefs and my jeans. My kitchen floor is always cold in the morning, and I knew this morning would be no exception. After a large stretch and a loud groan, I trotted off to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat. I figured that I'd probably run into Andy in the kitchen. I was wrong. I searched my entire apartment, and I couldn't find a trace of Andy anywhere. Even his raincoat was gone. That was so unlike him that I started to become concerned. Rather than give into panic I decided to have a glass of orange juice and try to calm down. It was simply too early in the morning for tea, or for panic. I opened the refrigerator door and looked inside for the orange juice. It was then that I saw the envelope with my name written on the outside, sitting next to the small plastic tubs of cream cheese. I snatched the envelope up as I absentmindedly closed the refrigerator door. I carefully opened the envelope and started to read the letter inside. It was difficult to do, because my eyes kept tearing up. As I read the letter, in my mind I could hear Andy's sexy honey smooth tenor voice speaking the words.

"My Beloved Paul,

I wish I had your gift for words right now. I've never written anything like this before, so please forgive me if the words don't seem to come out exactly right. For some reason I woke up this morning just before the alarm was about to go off. I flipped it off so that you would not wake up. Then I lay there looking down at your sleeping form. I stroked your cheeks several times with my fingertips and kissed your sleeping lips a few times as the minutes passed by.

As I looked at you lying there beside me I came to understand just how precious and dear you are to me. I looked at the ring on your finger, my ring, and what that meant to you and to me. For a brief moment I became terrified of what it really meant. Then I remembered what Chuck had done last night and it all became clear to me. Chuck was right. Being with you is 'the right thing to do'. Oh, I suppose I should explain that. When Chuck saluted me last night and quoted the RMCP motto he was in effect giving us his blessing. He was saying that my relationship with you was 'the right thing to do', and that I had to 'maintain the right'. I think you can begin to see now just how important Chuck's friendship has been to me all these years.

That is why, my love, it was such a relief and a joy when Chuck finally accepted that I am gay. I know I have you to thank for that. In addition to your heart and soul, you gave me back my dearest friend and troop mate. I can never repay you for that, but I've decided to try anyway. If you are reading this note now, then it means that you woke up before I could get back in time. Fear not, my love, I'm on my way back to you. I just had to go and buy something first. I will never leave you. Yours always, and forever,

Andy."

I read the letter several times. It was the most touching thing I had ever received from anyone. How I kept from bawling with joy, I'll never know. I headed back to the spare bedroom and put on my shirt. I returned to the kitchen and got to work on making breakfast for the two of us. It would help to pass the time while I waited for Andy's return. Every few minutes my eyes would wander back to the open letter resting on the kitchen counter, and I would reread it. Each time that I did a warm glow would suffuse my body and I'd find myself smiling in joy. I had the breakfast just about ready when Andy walked into the kitchen. I had not heard the front door open, so I was taken by surprise.

"Hi," he said as he stood there with his hands behind his back, and a big, stupid, sappy, yet sexy grin pasted on his face. He had taken the time to take off his sneakers and his raincoat, when he'd arrived.

"Hi yourself," I said, as I smiled back at him. (I most likely had a big stupid, sappy smile to match his.)

"So, you uh read my note?" He asked.

"Yup," I answered and grinned at him. "I was a bit concerned when I woke up and you were not in the apartment. Thanks for the note. It set my mind at ease. So what did you get me?" I teased.

Andy walked up to where I was. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, "These." With that he withdrew his hands from behind his back, and thrust a small bouquet of violets into my face, just below my nose. "It's all I could find this morning," he said by way of an apology.

They were small little flowers, and it wasn't much of a bouquet, just a handful of flowers at best. Still, they were the loveliest things I had ever seen. I bent down and smelled them. Then I looked up at Andy and wrapped my arms around his neck as I pulled his beautiful face down close to mine so that our noses were touching.

"They're wonderful, dear heart, just like you," I whispered to him. "No need to apologize. It's the thought that counts. Your thoughts are like you, beautiful, strong, compassionate and loving."

"I really don't deserve you, you know," Andy whispered back at me, and then blushed.

"Too bad, 'cause it seems as if you're stuck with me, for life," I chided him, and then grinned at him to take any sting out of my words. I looked into those lovely soft brown eyes of his and tapped his nose playfully.

"Amen to that," he agreed heartily. Suddenly Andy's stomach let out a loud rumble. He blushed a beautiful beet red, while I broke up into quiet laughter.

"Come on, let's eat," I said to him as I pointed to the table. "Breakfast is nearly ready."

"Good idea," Andy said as he opened one of the cabinet doors and retrieved an empty glass. It took him only a few moments to put the bouquet of violets into the glass and add some water. Andy placed the glass of violets in the center of the kitchen table.

We sat down to a long leisurely breakfast, after which we started the day off right. We took a long luxurious hot shower together. Even now the memory of that first 'married' shower together is as clear and vibrant in my mind, as the day it happened. We never did get around to using the soap that morning. (Wink, wink.) We stood under that stream of warm water and held onto each other as if letting go would mean the end of the world. I nearly drown when Andy placed his lips over my left nipple and licked it vigorously!

You see, Andy was facing away from the stream of water, while I was facing towards it, and well, when he bent down to lick my nipple the stream of water hit me full in the face. The surprise, shock and delight of Andy's tongue on my nipple was so overwhelming, that my jaw dropped open and the water cascaded in. I coughed and sputtered a bit until I could get my breath back. Andy meanwhile chuckled and chortled at my distress. The dirty look I shot him (which in itself was an accomplishment considering we were standing in a shower), didn't phase him a bit. He stood up to block the stream of water so I could catch my breath. When I was finally finished hacking my lungs out (well that's what it felt like to me anyway), I closed my mouth and stood slightly to the side so that the water would miss my face.

Andy bent down and gently placed his lips on my right nipple. His lips parted and his wonderfully warm tongue slipped out and began to trace a sensuous line across and around my right nipple. I shuddered and moaned with unbridled delight, as my eyes shut of their own accord. I reached out blindly and wrapped my arms about Andy. (It wasn't exactly hard to find him.) I pulled him towards me as I continued to moan and wiggle in ecstasy. Andy pressed himself close to me and slowly, like a mountain climber conquering Mount Everest, worked his way up from my right nipple to the base of my throat. A century later, or so it seemed, his lips finally found their way to mine. Every inch of skin on my face suddenly felt red hot, as my lips parted at the slight nudge from Andy's tongue. At long last his tongue met mine. I didn't think anything so simple as a deep throated kiss, could be so exhilarating. Somehow we found the good sense to leave the shower before the hot water ran out, and before we slipped and hurt ourselves. We moved our act on to the bed in my bedroom, and continued our mutual admiration society meeting well into the late hours of the afternoon. We completely missed lunch, by the way. And when we were finished, we nearly slept past the dinner hour.

So began the first day of our commitment, our marriage, to each other.



Chapter 4. Dinner and A Show

It took about a month for Andy and I to rebuild our relationship. A month of talking and listening, crying and forgiving. (I will spare you the messy details. Actually, the details are too painful and personal to talk about. I doubt that I'll ever be able to talk to anyone about them, other than Andy.) It was more than worth the effort though. When that month was up, we had an even stronger and deeper relationship that was built on simple and total trust and faith in each other.

What I remember most about that month was the continuous patience, understanding and compassion that Andy offered me during my ordeal, of self discovery and self forgiveness. I had seen myself dip deeply into the dark and evil side of my soul, and it terrified me. I had seen a part of me that I never knew existed, and what scared me the most, was that I had almost let that part of me out. I had almost let it take control. It was like knowing that you have a monster inside of you, just waiting for you to slip up so it can leap out and cause havoc. For many days I could not look at Andy without crying, when we were alone that is. In public I was able to control myself, but at home where I could let down my defences, the emotions just welled up and spilled out of me. The only way I knew to deal with it was a good long cry. (I suppose that doesn't sound very masculine, or manly, and maybe it makes me seem like a wimp or a wuss. So be it. I will not apologize for who or what I am. When you've survived an ordeal like what I had just gone though, drop by my apartment sometime, and we'll compare notes. I suspect that you'll have worked your way through several boxes of Kleenex too.)

I carried so much guilt, shame and contempt for myself over what I had nearly done to Chuck, that I couldn't even hold Andy's hand without feeling dirty, and unworthy of his love. In short, I hated myself for what I had nearly done to Chuck. It was like a huge iron weight about my soul, dragging me down into a pit of despair, and try as I might I could not seem to climb up out of that pit. My only solace at first, was work. At work I wasn't around Andy, and I didn't see him, so I could avoid having to think or deal with that part of myself. But when I got home, the problem loomed up in front of me again. It simply could not be avoided.
I don't know how I would have made it through that month without Andy's help. At first he was patient and kind, soft and gentle with me. He tried his best to ease my hurts and to let me know that he forgave me. But that wasn't the problem. The problem, as he soon discovered, was that I couldn't forgive myself. When Andy realized that his acceptance and reassurance about my actions with Chuck were not helping me, he did something that he wasn't supposed to do. He told me about his job. Oh, he couldn't give me any specifics, such as names, but he opened up and showed me a part of himself that I had never even suspected.

Can you imagine, even for a brief second or two, the agony that you might feel at having to knock on a strange door at 2:30 AM, to tell two sleepy and bleary-eyed parents that their teenage son or daughter has just been killed in an automobile accident? Have you ever had to wash out bits of human brain and bone from your shirt because some confused and depressed man blew his brains out before he could be talked out of it, and you got caught in the resulting spray? How do you learn to forgive yourself because in spite of all your efforts you could not breathe life back into the cold wet body of the little four year old girl that you pulled from the cold waters of the lake? How does anyone deal with suffering and pain like that, and still continue on with their job and their life?

As Andy sat there and shared these heart wrenching, gut twisting stories of his with me, I began to dimly realize that Andy had seen far more than his fair share of pain and suffering in the relatively short time that he'd served with the RCMP. Instinctively I reached out to hold and comfort him. It had been years in some cases, since these events had transpired, but the hurt and the pain were still there inside of Andy. The pain and hurt were lessened to a great degree but not completely gone. I learned a lot about Andy that night, and about myself too. I saw before me a man who had learned to draw strength and courage from the dark side of his soul. I saw a man who knew that the only way to keep your strength, compassion and caring, was to give them to someone else, in their time of need. But most important of all, Andy taught me that in order to keep on living, I had to accept what I had done, and learn from it. Only then could I be sure of never repeating my mistakes. I had to learn how to forgive, but not forget. It was only then, that I started my long climb out of that pit of despair, with Andy helping me every step of the way. I came to realize, as I forgave myself, that not only did I love Andy, but I admired him as well. (I let him know that too, in no uncertain terms.)

By the end of that month, there was not on iota of doubt in either of us that we loved and cared for each other, deeply, passionately and completely. For the first time in my life I understood what a soul mate truly was. Apart I felt incomplete, empty, and like a bird with a broken wing, unable to fly. Together with Andy, I felt whole, fulfilled and able to soar like an eagle to the highest mountain tops, just by holding Andy's hand in mine. The day I confessed this to Andy, I discovered to my everlasting joy that he felt the same way. It was clear to both of us now, that we were promised to each other, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Was it fate? Karma? God? Luck? All of the above? Who could have said? Not I, certainly.

Late one night though, when Andy was fast asleep in bed, I crept out into the living room and I lit one single candle. I stood there for a few moments lost in the wonder of what Andy and I had together. I'm not a religious man by nature, that is I don't attend any regular religious service. However, even I knew that it would have been the ultimate in arrogance for me to have accepted what Andy and I had as just a twist of fate or a stroke of good luck. I got down on my knees, bowed my head and prayed to God, in a soft voice that seemed to thunder in the absolute quiet of the living room. It was a simple prayer of thanks to God for having sent Andy into my life and for all the good things that I had been blessed with. A simple prayer, but sincere and from the heart. I thought it would be rude to just get up and leave after having said what I wanted to say, so I knelt there a while longer, enjoying the silence and peace. A large warm hand was placed on my right shoulder. It was a surprise, but I didn't jump or flinch. Strangely enough, I almost expected it. A honey smooth tenor voice called out from the near darkness, "May I join you?"

I turned slowly in the direction of the voice and looked up into the half shadowed face of Andy. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but for an instant, just an instant mind you, I thought I saw a flash of approval and pride appear on his face, as if I had done something that he'd long wished for me to do. "Please do," I answered him, in a soft voice. "I was just thanking the man upstairs for all that I have, most especially you."

Andy nodded his head at my words and dropped slowly to his knees beside me. He was wearing only his cotton briefs and any other time I would have been drinking in the sight of his magnificent torso, legs and arms, but not tonight. In the light of that single candle there was a presence that filled the room with a profound feeling of comfort and love. It was almost as if we were in a church kneeling before the alter, praying to God, and God was in that room in person listening to us, with undivided attention, and limitless love. I listened as Andy said his prayer of thanks to God. I felt both humbled and blessed at the same time. I felt blessed because Andy was able to open up yet another part of his soul to me, and let me see another facet of who he was. I felt humbled at the words of thanks that Andy had for me, as he spoke with God. I knew in my heart that I wasn't as good as Andy saw me. A smile touched my lips as I heard Andy referring to some of the things I had said in my prayer to God. Clearly he had heard every word I'd spoken earlier. Oddly enough, I didn't mind that he had overheard my prayer to God. Somehow, it made me feel closer to Andy.

A short time later, Andy stood up and looked over at me as he held out his hand to me. I took his hand, and rose to my feet. I bent over and blew out the candle. With quiet dignity Andy lead me back to my bedroom, and we climbed back under the covers. We held each other closely and almost immediately drifted off to sleep. We never actually said it, and we never really talked about doing it, but that night a ritual was born. Every weekend whenever we were together, no matter where we were, we lit a single white candle, got down on our knees and offered a small prayer of thanks to God. So far, we kept to the ritual.

Near the end of that tumultuous month, I even demonstrated my powers on my ex-boss, Phil Turnbill, just to show Andy what I was capable of. Andy watched both surprised and excited as I put Phil through one of his strip and shoot shows. (Sorry but photographs of the show are NOT available in the lobby.) Phil didn't mind performing for an audience. If anything it turned him on even more. At the conclusion of the show, Andy took Phil aside to the kitchen and had a long talk with him. He was both impressed and amazed at what Phil told him about our relationship.

Later when Andy and I were saying good night to Phil, we showed him our wedding bands. Phil was surprised and disappointed to find out that Andy and I were married. I could see the light fade from Phil's eyes, as he realized what this might mean. Phil asked Andy if he would object to Phil and I having one of our evening sessions again. When Andy didn't respond immediately, Phil emphatically tried to reassure Andy that no hanky-panky would go on, and that it would only be me controlling Phil and having him do whatever I wanted. Andy looked a Phil with a doubtful expression on his face as if he were trying to make up his mind. However, I could clearly see the laughter shining in Andy's eyes. It wasn't only what Phil said, but the look on Phil's face that was amusing Andy. Let me see if I can describe was the situation was like. Phil, who is a good looking guy, was standing there dressed in his tuxedo looking very dapper and handsome. Phil was holding his hands in a pray position and looking up at Andy, with a pleading expression his face. (Andy is a bit taller than Phil, in case you were not aware of it.) All the while Phil was promising to Andy that he wouldn't do anything bad or wrong with me. He'll only let me totally control him, just like I always do. Can you see the humor in that? The contradiction in what Phil was saying is what was tickling Andy's funny bone. If you can't see the humor, well then I guess you had to be there. Oh I guess I forgot to mention that while Andy was standing there trying to decide, Phil also dropped on to his knees in front of Andy and actually begged Andy to let me hypnotize Phil just one last time. This only made Andy smile all the more. (It also made me hard, but that is a whole other story.)

Poor Phil looked worried and confused as he knelt there watching Andy smile down at him. I kept my mouth shut, since Phil had asked Andy and not me. (See, I am learning when to keep my mouth shut. It might take me a while, but I DO learn.) Finally Andy spoke to Phil and quietly reassured Phil that further sessions with me, would be permitted. Andy told Phil the simple truth, which was that he trusted me, completely. Phil's relief at Andy's decision was profound and enthusiastic. He could not seem to stop thanking Andy and shaking his hand. We bid Phil a pleasant, albeit forceful, good night and good bye a few moments later.

"Are all your former subjects like him?" Andy asked me as he stared a Phil's departing back, a look of stunned amazement on Andy's face.

"No," I answered, and smiled up at Andy's handsome face, as I stood beside him. "Phil is a special case. At first I controlled him for the thrill of being able to control my boss, and having him do whatever I wanted, but things have changed over time. Phil is a good friend who trusts me, even out of hypnosis. He's straight and will never be able to be intimate with me. But that's never really been something I wanted from Phil. I simply managed to awaken within him the deep seated desire of his to be controlled by someone. I'm lucky enough that it is me." I closed and locked the door and then walked back to stand just in front of Andy.

"Not as lucky as I am to have you, love," Andy said to me and kissed me on the lips.

"You sure know what to say, dear heart," I said as I smiled up at Andy after our all too brief kiss. I raised my eyebrows up and down a few times, while I smiled at him.

"Bed?" Andy asked.

"Race you!" I cried and took off like shot for the spare bedroom. Andy quickly gave chase. I won the race, but we both won the prize, if you follow me. But enough about that. A few days later I received a request from an old and dear friend.

It seemed like such a simple request at the time. After all I've known Jeff and Cindy for well over ten years. Never have I seen two people more in love, even after five years of marriage together. Seeing that gives me hope for Andy and I. Oh, and the request? It was from Jeff. He wanted me to take Cindy to dinner and stay with her until he could meet us at the restaurant, after which they would go out to a show later. I would go out shopping. At least that is what I told them, when they invited me to go with them. (I know when three is a crowd.) Jeff had to work late that Friday night and he wanted Cindy to have a nice quiet meal at a restaurant. I suppose this might strike you as somewhat strange when you consider that Jeff and Cindy are married, and I am an single adult male, who's not all that bad looking in my own right. But then, you've never met Cindy.

She is, in a word, beautiful. She looks like she just stepped of the front page of a magazine. She has shoulder length honey blonde hair that looks like it is lit by the sun. This halo of hair frames a face with dark, almost black, eyes, ruby red lips, a dainty nose, and clear smooth soft skin. She has a pert and sexy mouth that always seems to have the hint of a smile on it, and her eyes glow with a subtle joy and love of life. She looks like an angel, and she has the warm loving personality to match it. Cindy is one of those wonderful people who make everyone and everything seem better whenever she is around. If I were not gay, I'd be camped out on her doorstep twenty-four hours a day, even though she is married. While I have no interest in Cindy, I can appreciate her good looks, not to mention her sparkling personality. And that brings up the problem. Whenever Cindy goes out to a restaurant or a bar, and is waiting for Jeff to show up, she invariably gets hit on by every (and I do mean every) guy in the joint. She's become tired of it, and never goes anywhere without Jeff.

Yes, I suppose I should mention Jeff. The reason why Jeff and Cindy do not encounter any problems when they go out together is that Jeff is a mountain of a man. At six feet and five inches in height he easily towers over Cindy's five feet and ten inches. Cindy has a beautiful figure, slim and trim without looking skinny. I do not know what her weight is, and I am too much of a gentleman (and much too wise) to ever ask. I do know that at two hundred and sixty odd pounds Jeff easily outweighs her. Those pounds are mostly muscle, and every pound is in exactly the right place. Jeff works out in a gym regularly, and looks like a professional body builder. (If Jeff were not married to Cindy, and he was gay, I'd be camped out in front of his doorstep twenty-four hours a day! So would you, for that matter.) Most people are surprised to discover that he works in an office. Jeff works out because he enjoys it and wants to keep healthy. Cindy works out as well, but neither of them are health nuts.

With his size and build, Jeff automatically discourages any guy from hitting on Cindy when they are out together. (Well, any guy in his right mind, anyway.) I've seen Jeff manhandle a few drunken guys who did not know what they were getting into. He doesn't snarl or look mean. He is just a bit intimidating, that is until you get to know him. Then you discover that he is a gentle giant of a man, and does not like to use physical force. Still, he is well able to defend himself. Like Cindy, he studies karate. He's only a brown belt, though, while she has a black belt. So she doesn't need anyone to defend her, but she does get tired of all the pick up lines when she is sitting by herself in a bar or restaurant, waiting for Jeff. Even flashing her wedding ring doesn't discourage some of the guys. The only other option is to apply a few karate chops, to the guy who is annoying her. As tempting as the idea might seem, Cindy knows that to do so would dishonor her dojo, and her sensei (karate master).

Jeff is taller than Andy, and he probably has a bit of a heavier build, but as I've never seen these two men side by side it is a bit difficult for me to compare them. There is one big difference between them. Andy loves me with all of his heart and soul, where as Jeff is just a good friend, and will never be anything more. He's heterosexual. (I suppose with my powers I could change that, rather easily in fact, but the result would not be the Jeff that I know and respect. Such an action would turn Jeff into a shell of the wonderful man that I know him to be. I care for him too much, as my friend, to ever considering doing something like that. See? My powers can't always get me what I want.) Every time I remind myself of just how much Andy does love me, Jeff suddenly doesn't seem very attractive at all. I suppose you're wondering where Andy fits into the events of this evening. Well, he doesn't, unfortunately. Andy was working the evening and night shift (pulling a double shift to help out a buddy), so I was on my own this Friday night. It wasn't a big deal though, as I've learned to keep myself amused when Andy's not around. Besides I enjoyed doing this favor for Cindy and Jeff. They are good friends, and I enjoy spending time with my friends.

So, being such a good friend, I offered to take Cindy to the restaurant of her choice, and keep her company through the meal until Jeff arrived. Jeff had to work late, and would join us in an hour or so. We had plenty of time to chat and enjoy a few drinks. I let Cindy pick the restaurant, and that was my second mistake. My first mistake was going home to change into my cowboy duds after work. I usually can't wait to swap my suit and tie for a comfortable pair of black jeans, a colourful cowboy shirt, my black cowboy boots, a black belt (with a big silver cowboy buckle) and my black cowboy hat. I met Cindy out in front of my apartment building. After seeing me, Cindy got a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and decide we should go to a restaurant with a western theme. After parking and locking the car, she called Jeff on her cellular phone to let him know which restaurant we had decided on. I'll give you a hint, the name is the same as a state, and I don't mean Texas, or Mississippi.

I automatically checked my watch as we walked into the restaurant. It was 5:45 PM. The dinner hour rush would not start for another thirty minutes or so. We had arrived in plenty of time to get a good table and not have to be concerned about slow service. We were shown to a booth off to the left side of the main entrance, and after placing our orders for drinks we sat down and started to talk. Five minutes later the waiter arrived and asked us if we were ready to order. ( The waiter was a handsome young man in nice hip hugging dark blue jeans, a close fitting light blue cowboy shirt, black cowboy boots, a black belt, and a black cowboy hat.) We places our orders with little delay. As the waiter hurried off, we returned to our conversation. Our food arrived about twenty minutes later. The meal was excellent, as was the service. I excused myself after ordering an after dinner coffee. I had to make use of the washroom facilities. On my way there, I notice a handsome man wearing a dark two piece double breasted suit, with a white shirt and a plain dark tie. I wasn't able to determine exactly what the colour was, only that it was dark. The man looked to be in his early thirties. His face was pleasant looking, and except for his goatee, unremarkable. The only reason I noticed him at all, was because he was the only man in the restaurant who was wearing a business suit, and thus he looked a bit out of place, especially on a Friday night. As I headed off to take care of matters, I didn't give him another thought.

It is not necessary I'm sure, for me to provide any details as to what happened in the washroom. What is important is the situation that I encountered when I arrived back at the booth. I walked up to the booth, and was most surprised to discover a strange man sitting in the booth across from Cindy, talking to her. The man seemed to be dressed like a cowboy, I noted, at least he was wearing a black cowboy hat.

"be that way. Why won't you tell me your name?" The stranger asked her. "Here I'll start off. My name's Cody. And yours is?"

"None of your business," I answered coolly, as I tapped the man on his left shoulder to get his attention.

"That's rather rude," Cody replied, as he turned to his left and looked up at me standing next to him. He looked me over and appeared to size me up in his mind. "Someone should teach you some manners," he said gruffly.

I didn't have time to really take notice of what Cody looked like. I was more concerned with diffusing the situation. I held up my left hand, to show him the wedding band that rested on the ring finger of that hand. "Didn't you notice that the lady is spoken for?" I asked him, as I ignored his barbed comment. "I'm sure she must have mentioned that fact to you."
"Yeah, so what of it?" He asked nonchalantly. "All I did was ask the lady if she wanted to dance and she turned me down flat, as if I wasn't good enough for her. She could at least tell me her name, and she won't even do that." Cody's voice was beginning to sound heated.

"Be that as it may, I would like to point out that you are in my seat," I said quietly. "All we wanted when the two of us came in here was a quiet meal. I'm sure you saw us arrive together."

"Can't say that I did," Cody replied. "As for your seat, I don't see your name on it. But I'll tell you what. Let me have one dance with the lady, and we'll call it even."

I had no idea why Cody was so determined to dance with Cindy. I knew Cindy well enough to be sure that she had spurned Cody in a polite but firm manner. Cody was pushing the situation, but I couldn't imagine why. Sure Cindy is beautiful, but that was no reason to keep on at it, especially when he knew darn well that Cindy and I had arrived together. We had been sitting in that booth for the past two hours. The only time we had not been together was during my solo trip to the washroom. By the way, this particular restaurant had a bar and a small dance area off to the side. It was an unusual arrangement but all the patrons enjoyed it.

"It's the lady's decision, not mine," I answered him, keeping my voice serene. "And I think she's already given you her answer. What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

Cindy meanwhile was doing her best to keep her expression pleasant and polite. She didn't need me to come to her rescue, but I knew she was secretly amused to see me playing the roll of a protective husband. I could see the glint of amusement in her eyes. Yes, I admit it. I kind of enjoyed playing that role too.

"All of it," Cody answered me, with a snarl. "Come on, babe. One dance won't kill you." With that Cody stood up and roughly pushed me aside. He walked over to Cindy and grabbed her right hand with his right hand pulling her up and out of her seat in the booth. He started to drag her towards the dance area. His actions were so sudden that they caught both of us by complete surprise. In an instant, the glint left Cindy's eyes to be replaced by flames of anger. Cody had no idea what he was in for.

"Not so fast, cowboy," Cindy cried out as she grabbed Cody's right hand with her free left hand. I'm not sure exactly what she did, but it was effective. She seemed to apply some combination of pressure and twisting of his fingers, that caused Cody to yelp out in sudden pain and freeze in his tracks. He whipped his head around and looked at her, his face splattered with a combination of surprise and pain. A second later Cody aligned the rest of his body to point towards Cindy as he gave her his undivided attention. Cindy pressed down on his right hand. Cody drew in a sharp breath as the shock of the increase in the intensity of the pain caught him off guard. Cindy forced Cody's right hand and arm downward, all the while increasing the pressure on his right hand. Cody was forced to drop to his knees in front of Cindy in a vain attempt to alleviate the mounting pain in his right hand and arm. Cody's face was now a mask of agony. She pressed a bit harder. Cody whimpered and I could see fear start to form in his eyes. (I made a mental note to ask Cindy to teach me that move sometime. It just might come in handy some day.)

"When a woman says 'no', she means it," Cindy said to Cody staring directly into his eyes. "Shall I elaborate?" She asked him, without a trace of mirth on her face.

"No, ma'am," Cody whimpered, and gulped nervously. He could clearly see the anger on her face, and he knew she wasn't kidding around.

"Fine. I'm glad we understand each other," Cindy said, and then released Cody.

Slowly Cody stood up and rubbed his sore right wrist with his left hand. The fear on his face faded and was quickly replaced by an expression of hate and loathing. It was clear that his masculine pride had been wounded by Cindy's swift and unexpected public humiliation of him. Personally, I didn't see as she really had much choice. It was the only quick and safe way to avoid a public brawl. Sure she could have danced with Cody, but that would only have encouraged Cody to continue his bullying of women. Besides she was only defending herself from his rough manhandling of her.

"Next time, bitch," Cody snarled at her.

"Not if you value your life," I said to Cody, as I smiled at him knowingly.

"Who's gonna stop me? You, pip-squeak?" Cody taunted me, as I became the focus of his anger and frustration.

"I will," rumbled a quietly powerful, and thankfully familiar voice. It was Jeff. He had arrived and walked up behind Cody. I had seen him coming which was why I had smiled when I spoke to Cody. Talk about good timing.

Cody turned around at the sound of the new voice behind him. When he saw Jeff standing there, Cody's face went as white as a sheet. I was surprised that he didn't faint from the shock of seeing a moving mountain of a man like Jeff suddenly towering over him. Cody's reaction was understandable, but that didn't make it any less amusing to me.

"I think you owe my wife an apology," Jeff rumbled at Cody.

Cody bobbed his head up and down in silent agreement, too stunned to speak. I knew better than to smirk at Cody's predicament. I schooled my face into a neutral expression. It wasn't easy mind you. I glanced over at Cindy. She too was managing to fight off the smile that threatened to break out on her face.

"Well?" Jeff rumbled again, when Cody failed to take any action.

Cody gulped once and turned back to face Cindy, somewhat confused to say the least. "I'm sorry for being so disrespectful, ma'am. I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for what I said. I'll just leave you be, now." With that Cody slithered his way past Jeff and back to whatever rock it was that he had crawled out from under. Who says you can't get a jackass to move when you want him to?

As we returned to our booth, Cindy quickly explained all the details of the evening's events to Jeff. We spent the next half hour drinking coffee and talking. It was pleasant and comfortable. Finally they decided it was time to go and headed out to the parking lot. I walked with them to Cindy's car, bid them a fond farewell, and waved good bye as they drove out of the parking lot. I was sorry to see Cindy and Jeff leave. It had been much too long since we'd gotten together and the evening was much too short. I turned and headed back towards the restaurant. There was a pay phone inside, which I would need to use to phone for a cab.

"Hold it right there, Tex," said a strange yet slightly familiar voice. I felt a hand on my left shoulder, followed by a strong tug that spun me around. It was my turn to gulp in surprise.

Before me stood three men. Three men dressed like cowboys. They were not smiling. The one in the center I recognized as Cody. I did not know the other two. I looked them over as I tried to assess the situation.

The man to the right of Cody was about six feet tall, with a heavy muscular build. He was wearing a snug fitting royal blue cowboy shirt tucked into a pair of dark blue snug fitting jeans. The black belt that encircled his waist was plain and unadorned. Only the huge cowboy belt buckle that lay flat against his waist glittered in the evening light. I flicked my eyes downward long enough to note that he was wearing black cowboy boots. Perched on the top of his handsome head was a black cowboy hat, pushed back slightly to reveal some of the thatch of medium length sandy blond hair that must have covered his head. His clean shaven face was unremarkable, overall. He wasn't ugly nor was he notably handsome. He was just an ordinary everyday guy as far as looks were concerned. His dark blue eyes seemed a perfect match for his royal blue cowboy shirt, I noted.

Like the first man, Cody was about six feet tall, but where as the first cowboy was heavy and muscular, Cody was slim, almost skinny. Cody also wore dark blue jeans, but they were practically skin tight compared to the first cowboy. Cody's bright red cowboy shirt was a sharp contrast to the dark blue jeans, but similar to his jeans the shirt seemed to be following the contours of his torso, like a second skin. It hugged his torso and emphasized Cody's slim waist while making his shoulders seem broader than they really were. A black belt with a pattern of silver diamonds was wrapped around Cody's slim waist. The belt was fastened at the front with a very big cowboy buckle. It was probably as big as the buckle on the first cowboy, but I couldn't be sure. I was a little rushed for time, as you might well understand. Another flick of my eyes downward confirmed that Cody was wearing what appeared to be black cowboy boots. Cody's face was set with a cold and mean expression, but it did not prevent me from noticing his deep emerald green eyes, set perfectly in his other wise average and clean shaven face. Clearly he had something on his mind, and it wasn't the black cowboy hat that was sitting on top of his head of dark curly hair.

Ignoring Cody for the moment, I diverted my attention to the cowboy to the left of Cody. This man was shorter than the other two men. His build was about in between that of the first cowboy's and Cody's. That is to say, that he was of average build with just a touch of muscle around his chest and arms. The white cowboy shirt that he wore was plain and simple. It fit him well, but was not tight or close fitting by any means. Like the first two cowboys, this one was wearing blue jeans, but they were a light sky blue, rather than dark. Like the shirt, the jeans fit well on this man, but they could not be described as close fitting or tight. Relaxed or comfortable might be better describe them. His waist too was wreathed with a plain black leather belt, fastened at the front with a large cowboy belt buckle. As with first two cowboys, I was too far away to make out any details of the buckle, except that it sparkled a bit from the slanted light of the evening sun. I needed only a short glance downward to confirm that this man was also wearing black cowboy boots. Looking back up at his face, I expected it to be clean shaven like the first two cowboys, since this man was also wearing a black cowboy hat on top of his head. The hat covered most of the short black hair on this man's head, but enough peeked out from the sides of his head for me to see that his hair was indeed black. I was slightly surprised to see a dark bushy mustache covering the upper lips of this cowboy's otherwise plain and dull face. A pair of smoky gray eyes peered out at me from beneath a pair of bushy eyebrows, and these eyes were not at all friendly.

"My friends and I want to have a little talk with you, cowboy," Cody said quietly, his voice laced with overtones of menace. His words quickly snatched my attention away from the third cowboy. It was clear to me that talking was the last thing that we would be doing. A beating, a pounding and getting the shit kicked out of me seemed much more likely. I was not in the mood to be anyone's punching bag tonight. The way that Cody pronounced the word cowboy seemed like an insult, and a threat, all at the same time.

"About what, exactly?" I asked, perplexed, but standing my ground firmly. I might be scared of the odds but I'd be damned if I'd show any fear to bullies like these.

"Well, now, just what do you think?" Cody taunted me, as he curled his upper lip at me.

"Cut the crap, Cody," I snarled back at him. "Just say what you're going to say, or leave me alone. It's been a long day, I'm tired, and I have no desire to banter words with you all night." I had just spent a wonderful evening with some friends, and I did not want to spoil it by getting into an argument with some moronic redneck. Of course my attitude and body language weren't helping matters any. If I had been smarter I would have just walked away after Cody's first remark. Then again, I doubt that Cody would have let me off that easy.

"Looks like you could use a little attitude adjustment, right boys?" Cody asked and then glanced at his two buddies, before looking back at me.

"Yup," the cowboy to the left of Cody agreed.

"Sure looks that way to me," the second cowboy chimed in.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, more confused now than ever.

"Just that you need to learn to respect your betters, is all," Cody replied without actually answering my question.

"My betters? You?" I asked, still confused.

"We're the genuine article," Cody said frostily. "We've earned these buckles. Unlike you."

"Let me get this straight," I said as looked at Cody, finding it difficult to believe what I hearing. "You're real cowboys, and because I'm not a real cowboy, you're going to beat the shit out of me? Do I have this right?"

"Smart lad, for a city boy," Cody said confirming my guess. "You got it right on your first try."

"You've got to be kidding," I said. "Just because I dress like a cowboy, you figure that I've somehow insulted you and your friends. So to teach me a lesson, you're going to take turns beating me up?"

"Not exactly," Cody said. "No one said we were going to take turns." He smiled chillingly at me. He signalled his buddies to circle around me, cutting off any chance of my escape. The blond haired cowboy circled around to my right, while the other black haired cowboy circled off to my left.

I gawked at him, unable to formulate a response to this insanity. I was mildly surprised that my sixth sense hadn't warned me of this danger. Maybe it only operated when there was hypnosis involved. I had a vague idea of what they planned to do. They would drag me into the nearby alley, for the beating. By circling around me now, they could grab me, cover my mouth and drag me way in less than half a minute.

"You're nuts, do you know that?" I said, as I stalled for time. I needed a little bit longer to set up a compulsion field, if I was going to have any chance to get out of this situation with an intact skin. Suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. This had nothing to do with me. It was because of Cindy and to a lesser degree Jeff. Cody had been humiliated by Cindy, and probably in front of his two buddies. So, since he couldn't take revenge on her, he was coming after me. A fat lot of good those facts were to me, though.

"Well when you put it that way," Cody said as his snarl turned into a grin. "We're gonna teach you a real lesson, cowboy."

"Three against one, huh?" I said as I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "That's a really fair fight, all right. But still, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I'll bet none of you real cowboys has the balls for a fair contest."

"What're you talking about?" Cody asked, taken aback my sudden verbal attack on his courage and manliness. His two buddies remained where they were, waiting to see what was going to happen.

"Think about it for a minute," I said, as I stood there looking at him. Keeping my eyes open I sent out a powerful but localized compulsion field with a simple message, "You want to do what I say." It was short and simple and hopefully I would be able to create the field while having my attention split between the field and Cody. I had never tried something exactly like this before.

"You don't really want to gang up on me," I said quietly. "It's not a manly thing to do. Three against one isn't fair. No real cowboy would do that. He wouldn't need to."

Cody looked at me silently, and he opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, but then snapped his mouth shut as if he had suddenly changed his mind. It seemed he was weighing my words to see what value they had. As I looked him in the eyes, I could see a shadow of doubt in the back of his eyes. (At least I thought I could see a shadow of doubt. Maybe it was only wishful thinking on my part.) I prayed that it was the result of the compulsion field. I knew that taking control of Cody would have been easy enough, since I could make eye contact with him, but his two buddies were a problem. I wouldn't be able to snag his two buddies before they jumped me. If they covered my mouth, which seemed very likely, I wouldn't be able to command Cody. Without Cody to distract (okay fight) at least one of these other cowboys, I wouldn't be able to take control of the second cowboy, and then later the third. It had to be all or nothing. Somehow I had to take control of all three of these cowboys at the same time, and without looking them in the eyes. And to make things more challenging, I had to do this without them being aware of what was happening. If they suspected that they were being manipulated, they might fight the compulsion field which would only add to my problems.

"What are you talking about?" Cody asked me, the sneer returning to his lips. "Why should I listen to you?" I breathed a silent sigh of relief. The compulsion field was taking effect, although slower than I had hoped. Still it gave me some maneuvering room now.

"What have you got to lose?" I replied. "It's not like I can get away from you. So why not listen to what I have to say?" I looked around at the other two cowboys and noticed the same doubt and hesitation in their eyes. I wasn't imagining it after all. The compulsion field was starting to affect them as well. But I still had a lot of work ahead of me if I was going to pull this off.

"Oh, I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Cody agreed reluctantly. "What did you have in mind?"

"A simple contest of wills," I answered. "If I can hypnotize your two buddies here, then you let me go."

"You're kidding right?" Cody asked baffled at my seemingly bizarre request.

"I'm serious," I assured him. "So serious in fact that I'm betting I can pull it off, and thus avoid the beating you three guys were going to give me."

Cody looked at me and then laughed out loud. His two buddies laughed along with him. His laughter was brief and when he had recovered he spoke to me. "Buddy, if you can put even one of these guys under, I'll not only let you go on your way, I'll even give you twenty bucks for the cab fare."

"Fine. Now that is settled would you mind having your friends come around to where I can see them?" I asked him.

"Oh we never agreed to anything like that," Cody cautioned me, with a shake of his head. "They stay where they are, and you don't look me in the eyes, neither."

"I see," I said doing my best to look thoughtful. "You're afraid."

"Not at all," Cody said as he chuckled at me. "I'm just going to make sure that you fail"

"Have it your way," I agreed. I looked down at Cody's belt buckle, while I built up the strength of the compulsion field. If I was right, all I had to do was keep increasing the power of the field, and my words would be enough. Still it irked me that Cody had managed to neutralize my most powerful hypnosis tool, my eyes, and he didn't even realize it. "That's a nice belt buckle."

"Thanks, now are you going to get started or not?" Cody demanded as his paper thin patience gave out.

"Just calm down, guys," I said to no one in particular. "It's going to take me a few minutes to prepare myself. This is not something that I can just do at the snap of my fingers. I have to stare at something to focus my mind. That belt buckle of yours for instance will do just fine. Now if you don't mind would just let me look at it for a few minutes?"

"Oh, very well," Cody said. "But I think you're stalling for time."

"It's a nice bright object," I said as I ignored Cody's comments. "Why I bet it's much nicer than my buckle or even the ones belonging to your friends."

"Maybe," Cody said.

"Well I think it is. I'd bet you'd enjoy looking at it, if you were not wearing it," I said as I put more power into the compulsion field. "You could just pick something like it, sometime bright and shiny to look at and I'm sure you'd see what I mean." I continued as I coaxed the cowboys to begin the induction. "I think you'll agree that looking at something bright and shiny is very easy to do. In fact I'm sure you'll find that it is a wonderful and pleasing thing to do. I'm just amazed at how bright and shiny it is. It actually sparkles like stars in the night sky."
I carefully kept my eyes averted from Cody, lest I break the fragile control that I had on his mind, as well as his buddies. In the brief pause I took to catch my breath I infused even more power into the compulsion field. It was much more powerful than any field I'd ever created before. I could almost feel the air vibrate with the power I was putting out into the field, and yet I didn't feel any of the normal mental strain that I usually felt when creating such a powerful compulsion field.

"It's so nice to look at that shiny belt buckle. So nice in fact that it seems the more you look at it the better you feel and better you feel the more you look at the belt buckle. And soon and very soon indeed you won't want to look away from the shiny, pretty buckle, because it just feels too good to keep looking at it. Cowboys really like their belt buckles, don't they? That's why they like looking at them so much. And you are a cowboy, so it seems only natural to keep on looking at that shiny belt buckle. So you do. You keep on looking and looking and looking and it feels so good that you let out a sigh of delight. A long slow sigh of delight and that actually helps you to keep on looking at the buckle."

I took a long slow deep breath and let it out in a wonderful sigh. No, I wasn't going under, I was merely suggesting it to the three cowboys, while I put still more power into the compulsion field. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to keep such a powerful field in place, so I quickly got back to the induction. I urgently wanted to look up and check on Cody to see if he was looking at my belt buckle or one of his buddies' buckles, but I knew that I didn't dare. It was too risky. Cody wasn't anywhere near enough under my control for him to safely ignore my violation of his injunction not to look him in the eyes.

"And soon and very soon indeed you'll find that not only do you want to just keep looking at the buckle, like any true blooded cowboy would, but that you can't seem to look away," I said as I pitched my voice into smooth mellow and even tones. "It is such a wonderful feeling to keep looking at the buckle. In fact you find now, to your delight that your gaze is locked upon the buckle. You can't look away. Try as hard as you might you can't look away. So go ahead and try and you'll find that you can't look away. But it doesn't concern you in the least because you so enjoy looking at the buckle. It is the center of your attention. It is all that you can see. Nothing else is there but the buckle. And it feels so damn good to be a cowboy and to look at the buckle that you just keep looking at it. For it seems with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel you pleasure and joy at looking at the buckle increase more and more and more. So that all you want to do now is to look at the buckle and breath. There is nothing else that you would rather do."

Carefully I looked up from Cody's belt buckle and let my gaze move up his skinny chest past his neck and throat to his face. I let out a sigh of delight and satisfaction as I looked upon Cody's face. His eyes were locked on my belt buckle, just as I hoped they would be. He had a completely blank look on his face, and his mouth hung slightly open as he continued to gaze upon my belt buckle and breath, just as he had been told to. I would have estimated his trance level as medium to heavy, but he was not yet under my full control.

Slowly I craned my neck to the right and was rewarded with the sight of the blond haired cowboy looking in the direction of Cody, with a stunned and blank look on his face as well. I followed the direction of his eyes to Cody's belt buckle. Good, that made two. Careful not to move my waist and thus break Cody's eye contact with my belt buckle, I swiveled my head slowly around as far to the left as I could. I was three for three as I looked at the dark haired cowboy. He too had a blank and empty look on his face. I followed his gaze to Cody's belt buckle. Things were working out as I had hoped, but I wasn't done just yet.

"Your mind is filled with the image the sight of the belt buckle your gazed is now locked upon," I said as I prepared to take my latest group of subjects to the next level of hypnotic surrender and control. "Like any true cowboy you can appreciate the skill and craftsmanship that goes into a good belt buckle It is a pleasure, almost a joy to look upon a beautifully crafted belt buckle, and that is what you see before you. A beautifully crafted buckle that captures and holds your attention as you gaze upon it, lost in the wonder of how good it looks. You have no dire to look away. All you want to do is to keep looking at the buckle so that you can continue to feel so very good and relaxed. It is all that you can think of and all that you care about now, just like any cowboy would. And soon and very soon you will start to feel yourself slipping down deeper into relaxation. A pleasant and warm feeling that slowly builds. With each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, you can feel yourself start to go down just a bit deeper and deeper. Slipping down now, deeper and deeper into a cowboy belt buckle induced state of relaxation. Your breathing becomes deep and rhythmic, really pleasant, When you feel that happen, when you notice a change in your breathing, you smile because you feel so damn good. The sight of the cowboy belt buckle before you is so entrancing."

As I took a few moments to catch my breath and plan out the next phase of the induction, I slowly moved my head around from the left to the right as I checked on each of my cowboys. The blond haired cowboy was the first one to smile. I was lucky enough to be looking at him when it happened. Not only did he smile but I saw a twinkle appear in his beautiful dark blue eyes. I felt a surge of hardness in my cock, at the sight that cowboy standing there, his arms hanging limp and loose at his sides, smiling with an otherwise vacuous look on his face. I slowly moved my head around to look at Cody and then the other cowboy. To my disappoint Cody wasn't smiling, but the other cowboy was. He had a relaxed and joyful grin on his face. His smoke gray eyes were lit up in self satisfaction, and dare I say it, he actually looked happy. Like the first cowboy, the arms of this cowboy were hanging loose and limp at his sides as well. I looked back at Cody, and saw his lips twitch. Then a smile blossomed on his face as he finally succumbed to my suggestion. Almost immediately he let out a long deep sigh and his face became completely blank with the exception of the smile glued to his lips. He looked like he didn't have a single thought in his head. Those emerald green eyes of his seemed to glow softly as he slowly yielded to effects of the compulsion field and my suggestions. As expected Cody's arms were hanging by his sides loose and limp, but that did not detract from the thrill I felt as I looked at him standing there. My cock, needless to say was very happy. It was pleasantly hard, and I savored the feeling of it against the denim of my blue jeans. It was such a wonderful erotic feeling. I sighed with suppressed pleasure. I wanted to walk over to Cody and move his arms around, and maybe run my hands over those skin tight jeans of his. However, I couldn't yet give in to my excitement and sexual arousal. I still had work to do.

"Going down deeper and deeper, more relaxed and more comfortable with each passing moment," I suggested to them as I urged them on. "Nothing more that you can do but go down deeper and deeper. And soon and very soon indeed your legs will become so relaxed and you'll slowly and easily lower yourself to your knees, because you know that will make you feel so much more comfortable and at ease. It will help you to go down even deeper. It will seem like such a normal natural and right thing to do. Soon you'll find yourself nodding your head slightly as you savor the idea of dropping down to your knees so that you can relax even deeper into this entrancing and gratifying state. There isn't a cowboy alive who wouldn't want to just keep doing down deeper and deeper. It's so nature and easy to do."

I smiled and felt my pulse quicken, as I saw Cody nod his head almost as soon as I finished speaking. I didn't wait for any of my cowboys to start dropping to their knees. Instead I piled more suggestions into their open, malleable minds. "Going down so deep now that your arms start to float out in front of you. In fact, the deeper you go, the lighter your arms become, and the lighter your arms become the deeper you. Always going deeper always feeling better. You couldn't stop your arms from floating up in front of you, even if you wanted to, and now you don't even want to."

My pleasure meter was showing an overload as I watched Cody's arms slowly rise up in front of him. He looked so much like one of those hypnotized zombies in an old 'B' movie that I wanted to howl with delight. I had to remind myself to check on the other two cowboys to see how they were doing. I turned to my left and felt a slight twinge of disappointment as another jolt of pleasure surged through me. This cowboy not only had his arms floating out in front of him, but he was already down on his knees. I missed it, damn it! I flipped my eyes back to Cody, just in time to see his knees touch the ground as he finished dropping to his knees. Damn and double damn. I jerked my eyes over to the last cowboy hoping that I wasn't too late to witness that man dropping down into a deeper state of hypnosis. My smile grew even larger as I realized that luck was with me. This cowboy had not even raised his arms up yet. He merely stood there smiling as his face grew more and more blank. I stared fascinated, as I waited for the inevitable. This last cowboy slowly and carefully lowered himself down onto his right knee, keeping his gaze fixed on Cody's belt buckle. He knelt there on one knee for a few moments, as if he couldn't seem to remember what else he had to do. It dawned on me that his butt would have looked wonderful as he knelt there in that position. Part of me dearly wanted to rush around to view (okay more than just view) that butt, while another part of me wanted to stay where I was and behold the rest of this cowboy's capitulation. I just could not make up my mind. My feet became rooted to the spot as the cowboy tilted his body slightly to the right and brought his left knee down next to his right. Once he was down on both knees his arms started to float upward until they were pointing straight out in front of him. His expression did not change. All he did was nod his head a few times and let out a few deep sighs. Somebody, it seemed was having a really good time, and I don't mean me.

As the cowboys knelt there around me, I spun around quickly in a full circle to see if anyone else was in the parking lot and if they had seen what was going on. Cody was deep enough now, that I didn't have to worry about breaking his eye contact with my belt buckle. My compulsion field was powerful but very limited in scope. The induction had taken maybe fifteen minutes, but that could have been just a few minutes too long. I was in luck. I didn't see anyone at all, as I looked around. Well that wasn't quite true. I did see that same man from the restaurant, the one that was sharply dressed. He was facing away from us, and heading away from us towards a car parked far way in the parking lot, so I didn't pay him any mind. Even if he did start to wonder what was going on here, it wouldn't really matter. The critical work would be done in a few more minutes, and then I'd be safe. Still I had to act quickly, before anyone else came out of the restaurant. I was pushing my luck as it was. I suppose I should mention that it was only about 8 PM, so there was a lot of daylight left. The parking lot lights would not come one for another couple of hours.

"Cody, stand up, walk over to me, and look me directly in the eyes," I said to Cody. "Then tell me the first names of your buddies, and wait for further instructions."

Cody blinked a few times as my command slowly penetrated the hypnotic fog in his mind. He slowly stood up, and looked around for me. Like a man sleepwalking, he lurched over to where I was standing and made eye contact with me, all the while keeping that blank and dull look on his face, and his arms straight out in front of him.

Cody turned left pointing towards the cowboy who was off to my right. "His name is Dallas," Cody said in a dull lifeless voice. Slowly Cody turned to the right until he was pointing at the cowboy who was off to my left. "His name is Justin," Cody responded in that same dull lifeless voice. His task completed, Cody turned back to face me. He stood there with a glazed look on his face as he waited for his next command from me. As I stood there looking at Cody, and I luxuriated in the moment, I cut the power to the compulsion field. I would not need it anymore this evening, and I had a better use for my powers.

With my eyes locked on Cody's I sent my commands into his mind. "You are my willing and obedient hypnotized cowboy. You feel great joy and satisfaction in doing anything that I tell you to do. You want me to hypnotize you. Anytime I say the phrase 'cowboy up' followed by your name, you return to this hypnotic trance that you are in and wait for more orders from me." Out loud I said, "Tell me what the magic phrase is that brings you back here."

"Cowboy up, Cody," Cody softly replied and grinned at me.

"Good, now drop down to your knees and wait there," I said to him and turned away to my right and towards the cowboy called Dallas.

"Yes, boss," Cody said softly. I flicked a glance back at Cody wondering why he had called me 'boss', but I didn't have time to go into it right then.

"Dallas," I called out to the cowboy off to my right. "Stand up, walk over to me, and look me directly in the eyes."

It took Dallas a moment or two to react to my instructions. It was clear that he was so enjoying his state of hypnosis that he was totally ignoring everything and everyone else, including me. Dallas slowly stood up and looked out blankly while he let a long slow sigh. After a moment or two he turned towards me and walked over to where I was standing. He walked as if he didn't have a care in the world, as if walking around in deep hypnotic trance were an everyday occurrence for him. Finally he stood in front of me. Slowly he fastened his eyes on mine, and let out another soft sigh as he stood there gazing intently into my eyes.

Up close, I could see that Dallas's eyes were a pair of deep dark limpid pools. They were such a surprising contrast to his honey blond hair, these lovely midnight blue orbs of his. For a moment I wondered if he was beaching his hair, but his sunlight blonde eyebrows suggested that this was not the case. It was with more than just a smidgen of regret that I pulled myself away from those enchanting bedroom eyes of his, and back to the task at hand. I took a deep breath to clear my mind and focus my thoughts before I spoke. Believe me, when I say that was necessary. Dallas had very sexy eyes, and he wasn't even using them. Some guys have eyes that you just want to lose yourself in, and Dallas was one of those guys. (Then again so was Andy.)

With my eyes locked on Dallas's I sent my commands into his mind. "You are my willing and obedient hypnotized cowboy. You feel great joy and satisfaction in doing anything that I tell you to do. You want me to hypnotize you. Anytime I say the phrase 'cowboy up' followed by your name, you return to this hypnotic trance that you are in and wait for more orders from me." Out loud I said, "Tell me what the magic phrase is that brings you back here."

"Cowboy up, Dallas," Dallas crooned in a low and surprisingly sexy voice.

"Good, now stand beside Cody, drop down to your knees and wait there," I said to him and turned away to my left and towards the cowboy called Justin.

"Oh yesss.," Dallas hissed softly . He moved with the same sexy slowness as he positioned himself just to the right of Cody, and started to kneel down. .

"Justin," I called out to the cowboy off to my right. "Stand up, walk over to me, and look me directly in the eyes."

Unlike the other two cowboys, Justin snapped to attention as if he had been barked at by a drill sergeant. He walked over to me as fast as he could, and placed himself squarely in front of me. Eagerly his eyes sought out mine. He gulped once and then whispered, "Sir?" I was surprised to see Justin trembling slightly as he stood there in front of me, his arms still out in front of his body.

In those smoky gray eyes of Justin's I saw worry. I smiled at him in an attempt to offer some reassurance. It seemed to help. Justin stopped trembling, and his breathing slowed.

I continued to smile at Justin, as I sent my commands into his mind. "You are my willing and obedient hypnotized cowboy. You feel great joy and satisfaction in doing anything that I tell you to do. You want me to hypnotize you. Anytime I say the phrase 'cowboy up' followed by your name, you return to this hypnotic trance that you are in and wait for more orders from me." Out loud I said, "Tell me what the magic phrase is that brings you back here." (So I'm repeating myself. Sometimes originality has to take a back seat to expediency.)

"Cowboy up, Justin," Justin barked out clearly.

"Good, now stand beside Cody , drop down to your knees and wait there," I said to him.

"Yes, Sir!" Justin brayed, and threw me a totally unexpected salute. He marched over to stand to the left of Cody. He saluted me a second time before he started to kneel down, and his arms floated back up in front of him again.

Picture it if you can. (Come on. Try real hard now. Sorry, bad pun.) Three fairly good looking men, dressed as cowboys, who apparently are cowboys. Deeply hypnotized, kneeling in front of you with their arms held out in front of them, just waiting for you to tell them what to do. Three obedient hunks. Three willing studs. Three hypnotized guys in close fitting or tight jeans. Can you honestly say that you are not at all interested? I had to wipe the drool away from my mouth with the back of my hand, I was so enthralled by what I saw before me. We needed some privacy and fast. I looked around, somewhat desperately I might add, and finally decided that the alley would do for what I had in mind.

"Walk over to the alley and wait for me there, like the good obedient little cowboys that you are," I said to these three entranced gentlemen. They were gentlemen now, because they could not possibly break away from my control. They could not hurt me. They could only be gentle with me, hence they were gentle men. As I watched them slowly and gracefully rise up from their knees, with their arms still held straight out in front of them, my cock became fully erect and a soft moan of sweetness forced itself past my lips. "As you walk over to the alley you will feel yourself going down ever deeper into hypnosis, and the deeper you go, the more sexually turned on you will feel," I called out to them as they slowly turned in the direction of the alley. "When you arrive at the alley you will be so excited and aroused that your cock will be fully erect and you will start to moan softly with delight." Hey, there was no reason why they shouldn't feel as least as good as I did right now. It seemed only fair. They were giving me great pleasure, so why not return the favour. (Boy, I can justify anything, when I put my mind to it.)

I followed my little harem to the alley, but I walked about three feet behind them. I practically purred with pleasure as I basked in the sight of three pairs of killer buns in nice tight jeans before me. Those denim clad dunes, moving easily back and forth, with just a hint of a wiggle, were such a stupendous sight that I thought I would cum right there in my jeans. I didn't, but don't ask me to explain how I stopped myself. All I could do was to mutter, "Marvellous," over and over again as the parade continued on in front of me.
To my left was the butt belonging to Justin. Light blue jeans, covering a noticeably nice pair of buns. I was a somewhat thwarted that these jeans were not tighter, but those feelings quickly passed. The jeans were snug enough so that as Justin walked, the jeans were stretched tightly across each buttock. First the right buttock, then the left, and then the right one again. The jeans were clean but well beyond the stage of being broken in. The hip pockets had white lines of wear on them in the outline of the items that had been carried there for so long. The large white rectangular outline on the left hip pocket was clearly from the wallet that resided there. It bulged out somewhat, but not enough to make me wonder was might be inside of it. On the right hip pocket was a white circle of wear. I was puzzled for a moment as to what the round circular bulge in the right hip pocket might be. Then it came to me. It was most likely a tin of chewing tobacco. These two significantly large objects caused the seam of the jeans between the buttocks to become stretched a bit more tightly as Justin walked. In fact, these nice big bulging objects caused Justin's jeans to cling somewhat more tightly around his buttocks and the back side of his crotch. I smiled in keen appreciation at the sight before me.

I suddenly remembered Cody and his skin tight jeans! Frantically I jerked my eyes to the right to look at Cody's butt. What I saw left me feeling slightly intoxicated. Cody's butt in those skin tight dark blue jeans was a masterpiece. Cody wasn't merely garbed in skin tight jeans. Those jeans were not merely clinging to Cody's butt, it was more like they had been shrink-wrapped around his ass. I swear I could see every muscle on his buttocks and thighs ripple as he walked in front of me. I could feel a hot flush creep up my neck and cover my face as my attention became rivetted on that remarkable sight in front of me. (Yes, I'm a butt man, however this was by far the most remarkable rear I had seen in a long time. Dare I even think it? It even outshone Andy's.) The way those jeans wrapped around every inch of Cody's butt was awe inspiring. I didn't think it was physically possible for denim to stretch that much, and not have it show the slightest sign of wear. I knew there were no signs of wear on those jeans, at least not around the seam that ran from the waist and down in between these two perfect half hemispheres of Cody's denim clad buttocks. I eyeballed those jeans so closely that it was a wonder I didn't wind up permanently cross-eyed. I was so awestruck by Cody's practically perfect posterior, that at first I failed to notice the bonus item. Snuggled into the right hip pocket of those exquisite jeans was Cody's wallet. Not just any wallet though. This thing was huge. It looked as if it were at least an inch thick, and it stuck up out of the hip pocket a good inch or so. How Cody ever got that thing in that pocket in the first place will remain one of the mysteries of life. All I knew for sure was that the huge brown wallet in his right hip pocket made Cody's ass even more sexy.. Don't ask how that was possible, but it was. I swear it was. (If someone had handed me a stack of bibles right then I would have sworn then and there that Cody's ass was the best that I'd ever seen in my life. Of course that wasn't all that likely to have happened at the time.) I swallowed a few times as I fought a powerful urge to place my hands on those buttocks and give them a great big hard squeeze. I knew that if I did that, I wouldn't be able to stop myself for a long while.

It was with sincere regret that I forced my hungry eyes off of Cody's backside, and off to the right. I wasn't disappointed by the regal rear that I gazed upon, though. This magnificent creation belonged to Dallas. Dark blue jeans, wrapped clinging closely around his beautiful buttocks. The jeans were snug enough so that as Dallas walked, the jeans curved up and around his thighs, crotch and the inside of his legs. The hip pockets of those jeans were not empty either. The large rectangular bulge in the right hip pocket was most likely Dallas's wallet, while the round circular bulge in the left hip pocket was most likely a tin of chewing tobacco. These two significantly large objects caused the seam of the jeans between the buttocks to become stretched tightly as Dallas walked. In fact, these nice big bulging objects causes Dallas's jeans to cling somewhat more tightly around his buttocks and the back side of his crotch, in a similar manner as Justin's jeans, but somewhat more sexily.

As far as butts were concerned, it looked as if this was going to be my annus mirabilis. (No, that is NOT what you are thinking. It means 'a year notable for disasters or wonders'. The phrase is New Latin: annus, year + mirabilis, wonderous. Look it up, if you don't believe me. Who say's romantic novels aren't educational?)

It seemed as if I had barely finished my butt survey, when the walk to the alleyway suddenly ended. I swear I had taken only three or four steps before those fantastic fannies stopped their sexy subtle swaggering and stood motionless in front of me. I blinked a few times before I broke my attention away from those handsome haunches, and walked around that terrific trio to face them head on. I was not disappointed by what I saw. No, not in the least.

Justin was to my right, with Cody next to him, and Dallas next to Cody. All three men were moaning softly as they held their arms out in front of them. Their eyes were closed in sensuous surrender to the waves of erotic pleasure that poured into their minds. They stood easily, without any strain. I looked down to my left, centering my gaze upon the fly of Dallas's jeans. There was a large steaming bulge in the front of his jeans. Well, okay, so it wasn't steaming. But when I placed my right hand on that monster it was hard, long and very warm to the touch. I let the tips of my fingers wander up and down the entire length of that wondrous bulge.

"You like that don't you, Dallas?" I asked him. The very nature of the question implied that Dallas would like my slight fondling of his cock.

"Oh, yes, boss," Dallas panted between moans. He shuddered once or twice as he stood there. I looked over to right and saw that the front of Cody's jeans contained a significant bulge as well. I flicked my eyes further to the right, and as expected Justin was sporting a tremendous woody too.

"All of you may let lower your arms to your sides, open your eyes and go even deeper into hypnosis and into my power," I command my trio of hypnotized cowboys. They complied quietly and quickly, lowering their arms and opening their eyes. They each turned their gaze to my face and stood there wondering what was going to happen next. For a few moments I indulged myself. I stood there and devoted my attention to enjoying the sight of three good looking hypnotized cowboys standing front of me, each of them with what appeared to be a fully erect penis swelling the denim around the fly of those jeans. Three cowboys. Three farm boys. Suddenly the phrase "Milking time" popped into my head. A smile, a slightly evil smile crept onto my lips.

"You've been such good boys that I'm going to give you a treat," I said to them and smiled at them as innocently as I could. "Would you like that?"

"Uh, Huh," they muttered in unison, while nodding their heads up and down slowly.

"Good, boys," I said as I continued to smile. "I bet you're feeling very sexy and hard right now. So sexy in fact, that you just can't stop yourself from reaching down with your hands and rubbing those long hard and hot bulges in your jeans. You know how good it will feel. You want to do it so very badly, that you can't stop yourself."

Their faces went blank for a moment and they blinked at me stupidly for a few seconds as they stood there. They took to the suggestions like a fish to water. Their hands practically flew down to the flies of their jeans, and started groping around for their swollen cocks. I smiled with satisfaction as their moans became more intense and slightly louder as they stroked themselves as best they could. I stood there looking at them, and as I did I noticed that Justin's face appears to be torn between ecstasy and worry.

"What's the matter, Justin?" I asked him. "Aren't you enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yes, I love it, sir, but " Justin replied letting his answer trail off.

"But what?" I prompted him.

"This this is wrong, sir. We we shouldn't be doing this in public. We shouldn't be doing this in front of you, sir," Justin choked out the words in between his moans.

"Very, true, Justin," I agreed with him. "But it's much too late to think or worry about that. You all feel so good as you rub your swollen cocks, that you don't care about anything except listening to me, obeying me and rubbing your nice hard pieces of man meat."

Justin's eyes went slightly wide at the sound of my words, but the next moan that forced itself from between his lips erased any lingering doubts or concerns that might have been plaguing him. His face melted into an expression of euphoric bliss, as pleasure in obeying me dominated every cell in his brain. His eyes were unfocused as he stood there lost in his own world of erotic pleasure. I looked over at Cody and Dallas. Their expressions mirrored his. All three of these cowboys were long since past the point of no return.

"Stop rubbing your cocks, boys," I said to them quietly. They obeyed instantly, freezing their hands in place. I waited. Slowly they came down from whatever cloud nine they were on and looked over at me. A look of longing and sadness crept onto their faces at the sudden loss of their physical stimulation.

"Each of you, open your fly, boys," I said to them slowly. "It's time to show me some Texas longhorns."

"Yes, boss. Yes, sir. Yes," they said in a mixed reply, smiling slightly. My ears were caressed with the thrilling sound of zippers being pulled down. My eyes thrilled at the sight of three pairs of hands diving into the front of those somewhat tighter jeans. I flicked my eyes rapidly from one pair of hands to the next as I tried to simultaneously take in the sight of each of those monsters emerging from it's cocoon of confinement. I almost became dizzy with the effort of looking around so much. (And I bet you thought this was nothing but fun and games.)

Three long steel hard rods emerged almost at the same instant, from three denim caves. Three uncut, long hard penises, that looked to be about the same length. As I gazed down at this cowboy equipment, I found it both odd and amusing that these three cowboys should have cocks of about the same length, which I estimated at about six and one half inches. (Sorry, but I left my pocket ruler at home. I had no idea I would have need for it tonight.) I wet my lips in anticipation of my next command, and hesitated for only a second or two.

"Now stroke yourselves, boys," I commanded them in a clear and strong voice. "Play with yourselves, and with each stoke of your hands on your cocks, you'll get harder, more excited, and go down even deeper into my power. As you go deeper you will get closer and closer to coming. But you will discover that when you arrive to the very edge of your release, you will NOT be able to shoot your loads until I expressly tell you that you can."

All of their eyes went wide as they listened to my commands, and came to understand exactly what they were about to do. It was more surprise than fear that painted their faces and caused their jaws to hang slightly open. Slowly they nodded their heads in agreement. (As if they could have said 'no' at this point? Not bloody likely!) I diverted my gaze down to the terrific trio, and waited with baited breath for the show to start. The curtain went up almost immediately. As I flicked my eyes from one swollen cock to the next, I witnessed three pairs of strong hands, start to slowly caress those throbbing members. I'm not exactly qualified to judge how well these three men stroked themselves, but I can tell you that they were effective and enthusiastic about it. After watching them beat their meat for a couple of minutes, my ears picked a chorus of moans. I glanced back up to their faces to discover that all three cowboys had their eyes squeezed shut, and their head tiled slightly back as they surrendered themselves to the rapture building within.

I stood there silently watching the spectacle unfold before me. Even after all these years, I am still amazed by my powers and what I can do with them. Three cowboys, who only a half an hour ago were ready to beat the snot out of me, were now jacking off (or at least trying to) in front of me, and best of all, they could not stop themselves. The moans became more and more intense, and the stroking became more energetic, as all three of these obedient slaves of mine rushed their way towards the climax that they felt building within. I was looking directly at Justin, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I looked over to the left and saw Dallas starting to thrust his hips forward and back as he pumped himself closer and closer to the edge of release. It was amazing, but I could see beads of sweat starting to form on Dallas's forehead and his upper lip. Clearly he was putting forth his best effort tonight.

"Oh, please, sir!" Justin's voice called out, capturing my attention from Dallas. "I have to shoot! I'm so close, sir! Please, sir? Please can I shoot, now?" The pleading tone of his voice were most emphatic. I turned back to the right and looked over at Justin. His eyes were open and his brows where knotted, in an earnest attempt to acquire my permission to release his load. I walked over to where he was standing, and his eyes followed my approach like radar tracking an incoming missile. I placed myself so that I was standing in front of Justin. Then having second thoughts, I moved over to the right some more and turned slightly to the left so that I was at about a ninety degree angle from the plane of Justin's body. This would leave me out of the line of fire, when Justin released his load.

"Really, sir," he continued to plead, when he saw me move slightly away from him. "I really, really need to cum. I'll do anything you want me to, sir. I'll do anything, if you let me cum." A quick glance down at his throbbing and aching cock confirmed that Justin was ready to cum. He had pulled back the foreskin of his penis in anticipation of being granted his release, and I could see pre-cum starting to drip down from the tip of his steely rod.

I smiled at him as I spoke to him, in a clear and commanding voice. "When I touch your cock, Justin, you will cum and experience the most intense orgasm you've ever known."

"Oh yes, sir!" he cried out, cutting me off. "Please, sir! Please touch my cock now!"

"But when I do that, Justin, and you cum, do you know what it will mean?" I asked him.

Somehow he managed to looked puzzled for an instance before another moan forced itself out of his mouth. "No, sir," he answered, his hands still stoking his penis.

"It will mean that my control over you will be total and absolute," I said to him loudly. "You will be my hypnotized smutty cowboy slave. You will do anything and everything that I tell you, while I have you hypnotized. You will be powerless, and have no will or even the slightly desire to resist my commands."

Justin looked down at his cock and nodded his head slowly.

'And Justin?" I said to him. His raised his head up and looked at me again, wondering what I was going to say now. "You will enjoy being my hypnotized smutty cowboy slave. It will be the most wonderful, exciting and enjoyable experience you have ever had." Justin nodded his head somewhat more enthusiastically at hearing my words.. There was no reason why I shouldn't make Justin's enslavement pleasant for him.

"Did you hear what I just told Justin, Dallas?" I called out to Dallas.

"Yes, yes, I did," Dallas replied, his eyes closed in sensuous pleasure as he continued fondling himself.

"How about you, Cody?" I called out to him.

'Yes, boss. I heard what you said," Cody answered as he continued his massage of his cock.

"Good, because what I just told Justin applies to you as well," I informed them. "When you understand that, bark once."

"Woof," Cody called out, followed quickly by a similar woof from Dallas.

I reached out and gently pressed the tip of the index finger of my right hand on to the top of the head of Justin's cock. The result was mind-boggling. Justin thrust his hips forward and up which effectively batted my finger away from his cock. A white stream rocketed out from his cock, while a long ear shattering howl tore itself from Justin's throat. I'm not sure, but I think I heard a small sonic boom as Justin launched his stream into the sky. How far did it fly? Six feet? Five feet? Ten? I had no idea. I was too engrossed in watching Justin's body squirm and shudder as he kept pumping his hips back and forth, trying to squeeze out every last drop. It was the most incredible sight I had ever seen. Justin looked as if he were trying to hump some invisible woman standing in front of him. His cum was jetting out from his still stiff cock, with much less force than before. It was forming a small pool on the ground a foot or so in front of him.(Now you know why I had decided to stand off to the side of Justin and not in front of him.) Justin's howls moderated themselves into groans and moans of joy as he stood there humping and pumping. Texas longhorn or not, eventually his oil well ran dry, if you catch my drift. I suppose it was only a few minutes, but it seems to last a heck of a lot longer than that.

Slowly Justin opened his eyes and looked over at me. He was smiling like he'd just won the state lottery. "Your hypnotized smutty cowboy slave, sir," he said quietly, just loud enough for me to hear. His body started to sway slightly, as he spoke again. "I am your hypnotized smutty cowboy slave, sir." Quickly I walked over to him and grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Sit down, relax and rest, Justin," I said to him.

"Yes, sir," he replied as he started to lower himself to the ground. It took but a moment for him to place himself sitting on the ground, with his legs straight out in front of him and his hands resting in his lap. He looked up at me, with a happy smile on his face. Then he spoke to me, in a voice overflowing with sincerity. "Thank you sir, for such a wonderful gift. I'll do anything for you, sir. Anything you want, I will get for you, sir. I hope you know that, sir."

"I know that, Justin, and I appreciate it," I said to him. "Now close your eyes, sit there and rest for a bit. I'll call you when I want you."

"Yes, sir," he acknowledged as he quickly closed his eyes. The happy smile faded to a satisfied smirk as he sat there, on the dirty ground of the alley, only inches away from a pool of his own cum, content to wait for my next command. I looked down at him and realized that his cock, now limp, was still hanging out of the front of his jeans. It seems I had forgotten something.

"Justin, put your cock back in your jeans, and close your fly," I said to him.

'Yes, sir," he replied as he opened his eyes. His hands flashed down to the front of his jeans to carry out my command. Justin easily stuffed his shriveled cock back into his jeans. He had to lean back a bit, though to zip his fly closed. Once he was finished with his task, Justin sat back down, made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. He was quite disposed to sit there on the ground and wait for my next command, whatever it might be.

A few more somewhat louder moans dragged my attention back to the other two cowboys whom I had not yet dealt with. As I turned to face Cody and Dallas, it occurred to me that Justin's howling could not have been as loud as I'd thought, since no one had come into the alleyway to investigate the noise. Briefly I recalled my original idea to have all three men come at the same time, when the tips of their cocks were touching. I realized now, that as exciting as that idea had been, it would not have been practical. To judge from Justin, the effort would have tired out all three men and they would have tottered to the ground before I could get to them. They very likely might also have hurt themselves in the process, which was something that I did not want have happen after all. Just imagine the predicament I would have found myself in at the emergency room of the hospital, as I tried to explain what had happened to these three men. Maybe you could have come up with a good cover story, but I was fresh out of ideas. Oh sure, I could have sent them to the emergency room by themselves and kept out of it, but that would have been irresponsible and cowardly. I'm neither.
"Boss, could I please be next?" Cody cried out to me . "I really need to" His words were snapped off as a very loud and emphatic moan overtook him. His entire body shook with the force of the moan that emerged from his mouth. I glanced over at Dallas briefly to see that he was standing there smiling outrageously while he continued to stroke his hard and happy cock. Clearly he was having a good time, but he wasn't ready to shoot his load yet. (I know, I have a gift for stating the obvious.) I felt it was safe to turn my attention back to Cody. As I had with Justin, I walked over to Cody and stood just off the right of him, standing at about an ninety degree angle from Cody.

"You want me to touch your cock, don't you Cody?" I taunted him. Another idea had popped into my head.

"YES BOSS! YES!" Cody cried out frantically, as he looked at me.

"Kowtow to me, Cody, and I will touch your cock," I told him.

"Kowtow? What's that, boss?" Cody asked, perplexed.

"Kowtow means to kneel and touch your forehead to the ground in an expression of deep respect, worship or submission, as formerly done in China," I explained to him.

I had to give him credit. When he understood what was asked of him, Cody obeyed instantly. In the blink of an eye he had tuned so that he was facing me and dropped to his knees. He moaned once, probably in anticipation, and then dropped down so that he was on his hands and knees in front of me. Only a moment passed before he started to lower his head to the ground. Of course as his head went down his ass went up. (Ah yes, kowtow was most definitely my favorite word in the dictionary.) Cody's cowboy hat was pushed up and off of his head as he eagerly touched his forehead to the ground in front of me. His cowboy hat toppled off to his right (which was my left), but I ignored it as I slowly walked around to stand behind Cody. There was something that I definitely wanted to get a good look at, and I do NOT mean his boots. I swatted down behind Cody and let my eyes devour the sight of that skinny butt of his in ultra skin tight jeans, bent over and sticking up in the air. Oh how I wanted to wrap my hands and fingers around those sweet cheeks of his, but I knew that this was not the time and place for that. It was not easy to resist that temptation. Heck, it was the most arduous task I had ever known, and to this day I'm still not sure exactly how it was that I turned my attention from his butt to his cock. I managed it though. I got down on my knees and moved over to the Cody's left side and bent down to see how he was doing. I was delighted to see that his cock was jutting out to full length from within his jeans at about a forty-five degree angle. It looked like he would be sure to hit the ground when he came. (As if he could have missed a target that close.) Still, I did not want to take any unnecessary chances.

"Cody get back up on your knees now," I instructed him.

He complied instantly. A few seconds later he turned his head to look me directly in the eyes. "Please, Boss?" He whimpered at me. "It's starting to hurt, boss."

Enough was enough. I gently reached out and touched the top the head of Cody's ridged and straining cock with the tip of the index finger of my right hand.

"Yyyyyyeesssssss!!!!!" Cody cried out as he squeezed his eyes tightly closed and surrendered to the animal gratification that had been so long denied him. He arched his back mightily as he thrust his pelvis forward and his chest upward toward the sky. He thrust his left arm out back, while his right hand and arm descended upon his straining cock. With the ease that comes from years of practice, Cody, snapped his foreskin back with a crack, only half a heartbeat before an incredibly long white stream smashed its way out of the tip of his straining cock, shooting out into the evening air. Cody's animal grunts, growls, groans, and moans filled the evening air as he fired round after round out of that six shooter of his. Just when I thought he must be finished he fired off another round. Mind you, he did not get the same distance as the first shot. In fact with each shot the distance he achieved was markedly less. When Cody finally ran out of ammunition, there was a small white stream painted on the ground in front of him, that started about an inch from his knees. The stream was about two and a half feet long, I would have estimated, and about one quarter to one half of an inch wide. An impressive and admirable accomplishment to say the least.

"Thank you, boss," Cody muttered dreamily as he knelt there swaying back and forth slightly, his eyes closed and his face decorated with contentment . "That was the best ever.." Clearly the effort had drained him, though. His cock had deflated completely and hung there like a shriveled grape still on the vine.

"You're welcome, Cody," I responded absently. I was still trying to adjust to the unbelievable event I had just observed. "Now put your cock back in your jeans and zip up your jeans. Sit back on your heels, and make your self comfortable. You just sit there like a good little cowboy, until I call for you. Oh and put your hat back on."

"Oh, yes boss," Cody agreed wholeheartedly, in that same soft voice, as he started to tuck his penis back into his jeans. "Like a good little cowboy, 'cause that's what I am. I'm your good little cowboy." He smiled serenely as he spoke the last few words. It took him only a few moments to stuff his deflated monster into his jeans and zip his fly closed. Cody sat back on his heels and let his hands hang down on his thighs. He was the picture of contentment. I knew I could safely leave him like that for the short time I would need to deal with Dallas. There were some questions that I wanted to ask Cody, but they would have to wait for a while. I still had Dallas to attend to.

I turned and took a good long look at Dallas. He stood there smiling while he continued stroking his penis. I was mildly surprised that he had not asked me to let him relieve himself by now. Cody and Justin had been most emphatic about their desire to shoot their loads. Oh well, everyone is different I guess. I walked over to Dallas, my ears picking up the sound of his moans as he continued to stimulate himself.

"How are you doing, Dallas?" I asked him.

"Great boss. Just great," Dallas replied happily. He moaned a few more times, but did not saying more. For a brief moment I thought I saw a shadow of pain cross his face, but I could not be sure. I looked down at Dallas's cock and saw that it was just as stiff and hard as it had seemed earlier. I wondered what was taking him so long to work himself up to the edge of his climax.

"Do you feel like you want to cum, Dallas?" I asked him point blank.

"Oh yes, boss! I feel like I'm going to explode!" He answered in between breaths. "Boss, it's really starting to hurt!" He suddenly cried out in a pain wracked voice. I stood there stunned as I saw the joyous expression on his face crack and fall away to reveal the pain he clearly felt. Dallas wasn't just on the edge, he was hurting, really hurting. I reached out and touched his throbbing and sore cock with the tip of my right index finger.

Dallas screamed out loud with relief as he let fly. His eyes were bulging and his mouth was locked open as a wordless scream hurdled it way out of his throat. Dallas's entire body became rigid as every muscle seemed to lock in place. He was like a statue except for the wailing that continued to spill from his mouth. The stream of white lava that erupted from the tip of his aching cock arched up into the night air to land a few feet away from him, although I very much doubted if he even noticed. His eyes were unfocused looking at nothing as the waves of ecstasy crashed through his brain obliterating any and all thoughts that he may have had.

The shot of seamen was quick and brief. Well, compared to Cody and Justin, Dallas's eruption was brief, but far more intense. He shot his wad a surprising distance. I'm not sure how far it was exactly, but he out distanced both Cody and Justin. (Welcome sports fans to the newest Olympic event, the 'standing jerk off'.) I chuckled softly to myself as that thought rolled around my head for a few seconds. I stood there looking at Dallas standing there still holding his stiff and hard cock, wondering how long I should wait until I brought him back down to earth from whatever cloud nine he was on. Suddenly Dallas let out another howl of passionate joy, as an all too familiar white liquid oozed forth from the tip of his still swollen penis. The flow was slow and gentle, and it dribbled slowly to the ground in front of Dallas. I was caught off guard by the turn of events, but that did not lessen my enjoyment of it.

Dallas continue to pump his hips back and forth as his semen oozed out of the tip of his penis. All the while he moaned softly with joy, keeping his eyes closed. After about five minutes he stopped moving his hips and let his hands and arms drop down to his sides. His huge cock slowly deflated like one of those long tube balloons with a slow leak in it. It did not take long, though, before his cock was hanging limply from the front of his jeans. Dallas just stood there, though, with his eyes still closed and a smile on his lips.

"Thank you, boss," Dallas muttered. "I feel so much better now." Dallas let out a long slow sigh, slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at me, as he swayed slightly like a tree in a breeze.

"You'd best sit down and rest, before you fall down, Dallas," I told him, as his swaying became more pronounced. " But first you'd better put your cock back in your jeans and zip up your jeans," I added as an afterthought.

'Yes boss," he agreed as he crammed his cock into his jeans and zipped his fly closed. With that task completed he proceeded to slowly lower himself into a sitting position on the ground. Unlike the other two gentlemen, Dallas sat cross legged on the ground, with his denim covered legs barely an inch away from the not so small pool of his own semen that remained in front of him. He stared out into space, looking at nothing in particular.

I stood there looking down at Dallas, lost in thought for a few moments. I wasn't exactly sure as to what else I wanted to do with these cowboys tonight, but maybe if I chatted with Dallas I'd come up with something.

"Dallas, you were ready to cum for quite a while, weren't you?" I asked him.

"Yes, boss," he answered as he slowly turned his head and focused his eyes and attention back on me.

"If you've been that close for so long, why didn't you say anything?" I asked him.

"I didn't think that I should, boss," he said calmly. "I didn't' want to rush your time with the other guys. I figured that you get around to me eventually, and in the meantime I'd just have to hold it in."

"Even though you were hurting very badly, you didn't want to say anything?" I inquired.

"Yes boss," he answered.

"Dallas, you should have said something to me anyway. You might have hurt yourself by holding back like that. I don't ever want you to hurt yourself. So in future, when you are close or on the edge of your release be sure to tell me, okay?" I told him sternly.

"Yes boss. In future when I need to shoot my load I'll be sure to tell you," he agreed.

"Why d you keep referring to me as 'boss', Dallas?" I asked him. Now that the immediate demands of the cowboys had been met, as well as my own, I could indulge my curiosity about this rather strange form of address that both Dallas and Cody used when talking to me.

"A trail boss is in charge of the hands on a cattle drive, boss. You're in charge of me, and the other cowboys, and you're a cowboy too, so you must be a trail boss. Is there something wrong with that, boss?" Dallas said as concern and worry started to obscure the expression of delight that had been on his face earlier.

"No, it's fine," I reassured him. "I was just wondering why, is all. You go ahead and call me boss if you like. It's just fine with me."

"Thanks boss," Dallas said and the happy expression returned to his face.

"Would you mind answering a few questions for me, Dallas?" I asked him.

"I'd be happy to, boss. Ask way," Dallas beamed at me.

"Tell me the truth, though. Okay?" I said to him, while looking him in the eye and silently enforcing the command mentally.

"Of course, boss. I would never lie to you, boss," Dallas said, looking shocked at the suggestion that he might not be truthful with me.

"How did you, Cody and Justin arrive here tonight? Did you take separate vehicles?" I asked him.

"Cody drove us all over here from his place. He has a four by four truck with an extended cab, so there's enough room in the cab for four or five guys to sit comfortably," Dallas answered my question with a smile.

"I see. Thank you, Dallas," I said to him. He beamed back at me, happy to have been able to answer my question. "Cody said that all three of your were real cowboys. Would you mind telling me what event it is that each of you participates in, at a rodeo?"

"Sure thing, boss," Dallas answered eagerly. "Well, Justin there, he's a calf roper. Cody's a bull rider. And as for me, I'm a bull dogger."

"A bull dogger? What's that, Dallas?" I asked puzzled at his statement.

"I wrestle steers to the ground. I guess the greenhorn term is a steer wrestler, boss," Dallas offered in explanation.

"Thank you again, Dallas," I said as I smiled at him. Dallas's grin got even bigger when he saw the smile on my face. "Cody, Dallas, and Justin," I called out loudly so all three cowboys could hear me. "I would like all of you to stand up and walk back to the area of the parking lot where we first met. Be quick about it, now."

"Yes, boss! Yes, sir! Right, boss!" Three replies rang out almost as one. All three men sprang to their feet instantly, turned about and quickly walked off towards the area where we'd first met that evening. I followed, wondering what anyone else walking down that alley tonight would make of the small white puddles they would encounter. It did not take long for the group of us to arrive a the spot where all of this had started. The three cowboys stood there looking at me, their faces wreathed in smiles.

"Now cowboys, I would like you to stand in the same positions as when I first suggested the hypnosis tonight," I told them. They nodded their heads and started walking around. Cody placed himself in front of me, a few feet away. Dallas walked off to my right and stood there looking over at Cody. Justin walked off to my left and stood there looking back at Cody. The stage was set.

"Very good," I said to them. "None of you will remember jacking off in the alley. Until I tell you otherwise, it never happened. In a few moments I will count from zero to five. When I reach five only Cody will wake up. Justin and Dallas will remain hypnotized. Cody, you will have no knowledge that you were hypnotized. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes boss. Right, boss. Yes, sir," they answered all at once.

"Fine. Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five." I said as I counted Cody out. He woke up with a start. He looked at me confused for a moment, as if he were unsure what had just happened.

"So when are you going to start?" He asked me.

"I've already finished, Cody," I answered him. "Take a look at your friends."

"What?" He cried out in disbelief. He turned to his left and looked at Dallas. Cody's jaw dropped open in silent surprise as he saw his friend standing there will a blank look on his face, and a smile on his lips. Cody swallowed and then turned his attention to Justin. Cody's eyes went wide with surprise when he saw that Justin had the same blank smiling expression on his face.

"You hypnotized them? But why don't I remember them going under then?" He asked me, when he turned his attention back to me.

"You were so involved in watching them, Cody, that you almost went under too," I answered him. (So it was a lie. I planned to reacquaint Cody with the truth a bit later on.) "I had to yell out your name several times to get your attention."

Cody looked at his friends and looked back at me. "I still don't believe it," he said. "If they're hypnotized, make them do something silly." He challenged me.

"Dallas, go and kiss Cody's belt buckle, and stand beside Cody," I said to Dallas.

"Yes, boss," Dallas replied as he started walking over to Cody. Dallas moved in a completely normal manner. He didn't lurch or stumble. He simply walked over to Cody, bent down in front of Cody, and planted a quick kiss on Cody's cowboy belt buckle. Dallas then moved over to stand to Cody's left (or from my viewpoint to the right of Cody) and stood there, looking over at me calmly, waiting for his next instruction. The look on Cody's face when Dallas kissed his belt buckle was comical to say the least. Cody could not seem to believe that his friend had been hypnotized and was doing this.

"Justin, go and kiss the top of Cody's right boot. Afterwards you can go and stand on the other side of Cody and wait there," I said to Justin.

"Yes, sir," Justin replied and grinned at me happily. He walked over to Cody and dropped down to his knees in front of him. Justin bent down, kissed the top of Cody's right boot and then stood up. All the while, Cody's jaw hung open in total amazement at the behavior of his friend. Dallas's actions had surprised Cody, but Justin's were putting Cody in to a state of total shock. Oblivious to the effect he was having on Cody, Justin calmly walked over to Cody's right side, turned around to face me and stood there waiting patiently.

While Cody tried to gather up his scattered wits, I smiled to myself in silent satisfaction. I had thought about having Justin and Dallas kiss Cody's backside, but decided that might be too much for Cody to deal with right now. I didn't want to scare the guy, at least not just yet.

"Okay, I believe you," Cody admitted to me, somewhat reluctantly. "You hypnotized them, although I'm still not sure how you did it."

"Well, then, pay up," I said to him.

"Pay up?" Cody asked puzzled.

"The twenty dollars for cab fair that you mentioned earlier?" I reminded him.

"Okay, sure," Cody agreed, as he reached back and dug out his wallet. Oh how I wanted to see that action close up, but Cody was facing towards me. Maybe I could arrange something a little later. Somehow Cody removed that bulging wallet of his from his skin tight jeans. It took him only a few moments to fish out a twenty dollar bill. When he had done so, he replaced his wallet in his jeans, although I had no idea how he managed it. Cody walked over to me nervously and handed me the money. "I keep my word, greenhorn," he said with a slight curl to his lip. The man didn't like being proven wrong, obviously. My success tonight wasn't helping matters any.

"Dallas and Justin, this one time, when I say the word rope you will wake up and not remember anything that happened tonight during the time that I hypnotized you. Is that understood?" I asked the two entranced cowboys.

"Yes, sir. Yes, boss," they replied in unison.

I stuffed the twenty dollar bill from Cody, into the right front pocket of my jeans. "Rope," I called out. Dallas and Justin woke up with a jerk. They looked about confused and unsure of what had happened to them.

"Wait a sec," Justin said as he started to realize that something was amiss. "You and I were over there surrounding the greenhorn, and now we're standing here. Cody was standing over yonder, and now Cody and the greenhorn are standing beside each other. What in the name of red hot branding irons is going on here?"

"You tell them Cody," I said as I crossed my arms and relished the situation.

"The greenhorn did it," Cody said to his friends as he looked over at them. "He hypnotized the two of you, and thanks to you two I'm out twenty bucks." Cody sighed at his friends, and looked back at me, a grimace emerging on his features as he looked back at me. Cody looked back at his friends and then walked over to them. "Are you two okay? How do you feel?" He asked as his concern for his friends finally surfaced.
"I'm okay," Dallas answered looking Cody square in the eye.

"I feel pretty good, actually," Justin replied. "In fact, I can't remember the last time I felt this good."

Satisfied that his friends had not suffered any from my hypnotizing them, Cody turned his attention back to me. "Go on, get out of here, greenhorn," he ordered me. "I told you I'd let you off if you succeeded in putting my friends under, and you did. I'd still like to teach you a lesson, but we had an agreement, and a cowboy keeps his word." Cody glared at me like a gold medal winner at the Olympics who's just been cheated out of his meal on a technicality.

"I bid you good night, gentlemen," I said to them. I slowly turned around and walked away from them, satisfied that my point had been proven. The next thing I knew my right arm was being wrenched behind my back and a hand was covering my mouth. In short order I was marched over to a remote section of the parking lot. That's what I got for turning my back on guys like this. I had tried to find an easy and harmless way out of the situation. I had even offered these guys a chance to just walk away from the situation and to leave me in piece. Apparently they were slow learners. I'd soon fix that.

It did not take us long to arrive at a truck. Logic suggested it was Cody's truck. As soon as we got there I was turned around to see a rather angry Cody looking back at me.

"I want my money back, greenhorn," Cody declared. "You have a choice. You can hand it over quietly, or we can take it from you. Which is it going to be?"

I looked at Cody and waited for the hand to be removed from in front of my mouth. When it was clear that I wasn't going to resist them, the hand was slowly removed, but the grip on my right arm remained.

"Fine, you can have your money back," I said to Cody. "So this is how a cowboy keeps his word, is it?" I asked as I looked around a bit. Cody was in front of me, with Justin standing beside him on Cody's right. So it had to be Dallas who was holding me. Now that I knew that, the rest would be easy.

"I kept my word," Cody said as he grinned at me. "I said I'd let you go, but I never said that my friends would." He chucked at my predicament. "They are the ones retrieving my money for me. I'm not laying a finger on you."

"That's the first intelligent thing you've said all evening," I said to Cody and grinned back at him, with more self assurance and confidence that a person out numbered three to one, should have had.

"What are you smiling at, greenhorn?" Cody asked, as his quick temper flared up again.

"I'm smiling at three rednecks who don't know when to leave well enough alone," I said to Cody. "Cowboy up, Dallas." I called out. A few seconds later the hands holding me slipped away and I was free. I turned around to take a quick look at Dallas. As expected he was standing there with his eyes open, looking off into the distance, a small smile on his lips. His arms were hanging limply by his side. He was once again my hypnotized cowboy slave, responding only to me. I turned back to look at a surprised Cody and Justin.

"Cowboy up, Justin," I cried out. Cody was too stunned at Dallas's unexpected release of me to react at first. With the mention of Justin's name, Cody snapped his head to his right and saw Justin's eyes become unfocused and his gaze distant as he returned to his hypnotic trance. As he stared at Justin, Cody saw Justin's lips slowly curve into a small smile similar to the one on Dallas was wearing.

"Dallas and Justin, grab Cody and hold him," I called out. My two cowboy slaves reacted quickly. Justin grabbed Cody's right arm securely and hung on like a bulldog until Dallas could arrive to grab Cody's left arm. Cody never had a chance. They overpowered Cody in less than thirty seconds. I waited to be sure that they hand a firm grip on Cody, before I did anything else. Cody struggled for a minute or so, trying to break away, but he wasn't able to.

"What the fuck did you do to my friends?" Cody cried out as he glared at me in frustration and fear.

"I merely put them back into their hypnotic trances," I informed him. "I never said that I wouldn't hypnotize them again. In fact I even gave you a chance to walk away from all this, but you decided not to take it."

"Chance what chance?" Cody asked, as he continued his struggle to break free.

"You could have just left me alone, after you paid off your bet with me," I said to him. "I did as I said I would. I hypnotized your friends, and I proved it to you. You could have just left me alone at that point. But you didn't. You and your friends decided that you still wanted to teach me a lesson. I'm afraid that is it you and your friends who are going to be learning a lesson or two this evening."

"I don't think so," Cody said sneering at me. "These guys can't hold me forever. Sooner or later I'll break free and then you are dog meat."

"Your friends don't have to hold you much longer, since you'll be joining them momentarily," I informed Cody.

"Me? No way!" Cody cried out. "You never hypnotized me!" He was quick to understand what I had implied, but that would not help him any.

"Cowboy up, Cody," I said quietly.

Cody's response was immediate. His eyes took on a vacant stare, and his entire body went limp as he ceased his struggling. He stood there looking out at nothing, waiting for my command.

"Dallas and Justin, release Cody," I commanded them. They complied instantly. Cody's arms dropped down to hang limply by his side. Like Dallas and Justin, Cody was back in his hypnotic trance, and he too was smiling a small smile. He was once again my willing and obedient cowboy slave. (Maybe I was stating that fact too often, but I could not help it. I did so enjoy these situations, where guys brought this on themselves.) I looked at my watch. It was only 8:30 PM. I smiled to myself as I realized I had lots of time available to continue playing with these cowboys. Originally I had planned to let them off the hook, but their sneak attack on me had convinced me that they would only understand a show of force. So a show of force is exactly what I intended to give them, but not here in the parking lot.

"Cody, that's your truck right?" I asked him.

"Yes, boss. It's my truck," he acknowledged.

"Good. Go and unlock the doors and then get inside," I ordered him. "You're going to drive me home."

"Right away, boss," Cody responded and walked over to the truck and unlocked the passenger side door. Cody then walked around the truck, unlocked the driver side door, opened it and climbed inside. He made himself comfortable on the seat and then slammed the door closed with a thump.

"Dallas and Justin, get inside the truck and sit in the back seat," I instructed them.

"Yes, boss. Yes, sir" they chanted at me and walked over to Cody's truck. It took them only a minute or so to open the passenger door, flip the passenger seat forward and climb in to the back seat. Of course this meant that they had to present their backsides to me as they bent over to climb into the back seat of the truck. It was a wonderful, if all too brief, sight. I didn't have time to take advantage of the situation, though. Besides there would be time enough later on for me to examine those denim clad buttocks. Right now I had other concerns to deal with.

Once Dallas and Justin were seated in the back seat, I walked over and took a look in the bed of the pickup truck. I grinned as I saw some rope and a couple of lassos lying there. It was better than I'd hoped. I headed back to the open passenger door of the pickup truck. I flipped the passenger seat back, and then climbed into the passenger seat of Cody's truck. I reached over and slammed the door shut. I looked at Cody sitting there, with that blank expression still on his face. I knew that I couldn't expect him to drive his truck while still in hypnosis, so I would have to bring him out of it. But first, I would have to come up with an acceptable cover story for all three of these cowboys.

(By the way, Cody's pickup truck was dark midnight blue, with brightly polished chrome. I don't know much about automobiles, makes and models. I can tell the difference between a pickup truck and min van, but that's about it. I much prefer to focus my attention on my hypnosis subjects and how they are dressed. We all focus on what is important to each of us.)

I sat there in that pickup truck with three hypnotized cowboy slaves, trying to think up a good cover story. I decided to keep it simple, since the story would only have to be believed by these guys during the drive to my apartment. I wet my lips and spoke out loud to them. "Cowboys, listen up. In a few moments I will count from zero to five. When I reach five all of you will wake up. The only events that you will remember from your hypnosis tonight are that I successfully hypnotized Justin and Dallas. You will also remember how I had Dallas kiss Cody's belt buckle, and had Justin kiss the top of Cody's right cowboy boot, to prove to Cody that both Dallas and Justin were hypnotized. You will not recall any of the events in the alley, nor any of the events of your attack upon me after Cody paid off his bet to me. None of you will not remember Cody being hypnotized by me tonight. Is that clear?"

"Yes, boss. Yes, sir. Right, boss," They chimed in, and nodded their heads slightly.

"Good," I said and continued with my instructions. "Justin and Dallas so enjoyed the brief bout of hypnosis that they wanted to be hypnotized some more. It was Cody's idea to drive over to my apartment to continue with the hypnosis of Justin and Dallas. Cody wants to see what else they will do while they are hypnotized. When you wake up it will seem perfectly normal to you, that we are about to drive over to my apartment for some more hypnosis. When we get inside my apartment, all of you will be eager to get started. Cody, you will be sure to bring the lassoes with you to my apartment."

I paused to catch my breath. "Is every one clear about this?" I asked them.

"Yes, sir. Yes, boss. All set, boss," the cowboys replied, still grinning and looking off into space.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five." I said slowly and clearly, while looking over at Cody.

He blinked his eyes a few times, and then looked around a bit as if he were unsure of where he was, and why. The confusion on his face evaporated when he turned to his right and saw me sitting there.

"Buckle up, Hoss," he said to me, as he reached over and grabbed his seat belt. He quickly snapped it into the catch. "We ain't going nowhere until everyone's strapped in."

At least he wasn't calling me greenhorn anymore. I guessed that was an improvement of some kind. I reached over and did up my seat belt. "I'm all set, Cody," I said to him.

"So am I," Dallas called out from the back seat.

"Me, too," Justin chimed in.

"Good," Cody said and looked over at me expectantly. "Well?" He asked me a few seconds later.

"Well, what?" I asked him back.

"Well, where are we heading off to?" He asked me, as he started up the engine. It rolled over easily and purred into life.

"Oh, sorry," I said, as I realized I had neglected to tell him my address. As soon as I had given him my address Cody pulled smoothly out of the parking lot and headed off in the general direction of my apartment. The trip to my apartment building was short, but only because Dallas and Justin kept pestering me with questions about hypnosis and how it was that I had managed to hypnotize them in the first place. I gave them my standard pat answers. I explained to them that hypnosis was based on trust and on a desire of the subject to actually want to be hypnotized. Cody didn't say a word as he drove to my apartment. He was listening to our conversation no doubt. Justin and Dallas expressed concern that they wouldn't be able to go back under when we got to my apartment, because they were nervous about being alone with me. I assured them that since Cody was there, nothing would happen, and that they would be safe enough. For some reason they didn't take much comfort in that fact.

We arrived at my apartment building soon enough, but not soon enough for me. I was really looking forward to putting these three cowboys back under. Cody parked his truck in the parking space reserved for me. It wasn't a problem since I didn't have a car anyway. The trip up in the elevator was quiet, without anyone saying anything. Cody merely smiled at me in silence, as he held onto the lassoes that he was carrying. Dallas and Justin looked nervous for some reason, but I put that down to the excitement of being hypnotized again. We arrived at the door of my apartment. I opened it, and walked in with the three cowboys in tow. They followed me into the apartment and waited quietly while I closed the front door. I motioned them to follow me as I headed for the living room.

"Would you guys like anything before we start?" I asked them as we stood there in the living room looking at each other. Dallas and Justin walked away from Cody looking around the room a bit. In a few seconds they were beyond my line of sight.

"We surely would," Cody answered as he grinned at me, while he played with the lassoes in his hands. He nodded his head and his grin took on a menacing overtone. Suddenly I felt a stab of fear in my stomach, and I felt that familiar sudden creepy crawly feeling on my forehead. I took a deep breath as I felt my arms being grabbed by two sets of hands. You think I would have learned my lesson by now, at least as far as Cody was concerned. He was not a man to be trusted, or so it would seem. Then again, I had not told him that he and his friends could not attack me.

"Cowboy up, Justin! Cowboy up, Dallas!" I screamed out as quickly as I could. As fast as I was, I acted barely in time. My mouth was covered just as I finished saying the name Dallas. The hands that had been gripping me suddenly relaxed. I quickly shook myself free of their gripe while keeping my eyes on Cody. Waves of relief washed over me and I realized just how close I had come in avoiding another serious problem with Cody and his friends.

All those thoughts were momentarily eclipsed as I enjoyed the change in Cody's expression. The gloating grin on his face melted away to be replaced by a state of complete surprise and shock, as he beheld the sight of his buddies slipping back into their hypnotic trances. (That's what I get for telling these guys to forget their earlier attack on me. They didn't know that it hadn't been successful, and so they were trying it again.) It was a comical sight indeed to see Cody standing there moving his mouth without making a sound. He looked like a fish out of water. If the truth be told, I actually enjoyed seeing Cody standing there puzzled and confused as to what had just happened. My enjoyment was cut short as Cody suddenly dropped the lassoes from his hands, turned and bolted towards the front door, with his hands covering his ears. .I smiled to myself as I realized that I would not have to send Dallas and Justin out after Cody. The front door wasn't locked, it was true, but that wasn't necessary either. Cody wasn't getting away, although he was probably too confused right now to realize it.

"Cowboy up, Cody!" I screamed out at him as soon as he placed one hand on the doorknob, in an attempt to open the door. That was all it took. Cody froze in place as he dove down deep into his hypnotic trance.

"Close and lock the front door, Cody. Then come back here and tell me what you had planned to do just a few moments ago," I ordered him.

"Yes, boss," Cody replied as he closed the door firmly and fiddled with the dead-bolt. Slowly he turned around and walked over to where I was standing in the living room. He walked right up to me and began speaking to me. "I was planning to rob you, boss. My friends and I were going to take all your money and wreck up your place, to teach you a lesson about hypnotizing cowboys. I figured that if we could gag you, you wouldn't be able to put Justin and Dallas back under." Cody stood there grinning at me, happy to have carried out his instructions. He didn't much care about what it was that he was saying, only that he was obeying my orders. I was only mildly upset with Cody. His plan had failed. Now I would have some fun, with him and his friends, while teaching them a lesson or two in the process. I started by having them clear out the living room furniture, so that there would be lots of room for us to play. With the three of them working as a team, this didn't take long. Afterwards, I told them to all sit down on the living room sofa and wait for further instructions. I needed a few minutes to think about and plan out what I was going to do with my three cowboy slaves.

I stood there looking down at Dallas, Justin and Cody as they sat there on the living room sofa, which was now in the dining room. The sight of three major league stud muffin cowboy hunks, deeply hypnotized and just waiting for my next command was intoxicating to say the least. Their faces were calm and relaxed, with a slight smile brushing against their lips. They were staring off into space, totally oblivious to anything that happened around them. I touched each of their foreheads, one at a time, and scanned their minds. What I found made my cock stiffen with joy. They were completely and totally willing to do anything I told them. They didn't care what happened to them as long as they could continue to serve me. (I had a brief flashback to my first session with Steven Stokes, the hunk of a cop who had been one of my first subjects. He had reacted the same way. It had been a long time since I'd encountered a subject who surrendered so completely. Usually I had to enforce that surrender, but these three guys were different. Their surrender was total and absolute. It must have been from that powerful compulsion field I'd set up when I first hypnotized them. It seemed that the field was far stronger than I'd realized.) I leaned over and kissed each of them gently on the cheek, in silent thanks for the wonderful subjects that they were. They each reacted in the same way. They let out a soft sigh, and the smiles on their faces grew bigger.

I looked down at them, lost in the wonder of the moment. I couldn't help smiling to myself as I realized that the evening was going to be a heck of a lot more fun that I'd thought. Originally I was going to have some harmless fun with these good ol' boys, but not any longer. Now, I was going to have fun AND educate them. "Well, kiss my ass," I declared absently, into the dead silence of the room.

Suddenly all three of the cowboys bolted off the sofa and ran around to the back of me. Before I quite realized it, I felt several hands grabbing my thighs and holding on tightly, while my buttocks were assaulted by something being pressed into them, over and over. Loud smacking sounds assaulted my ears and slowly I suddenly realized that my expression of awe had been interpreted by my cowboy slaves as a command. I would have to watch what I said in the future, lest there be an unfortunate accident. Still this was a most enjoyable turn of events.

"Keep on kissing it, boys," I told them as I savoured the moment, and the feeling of these three cowboys worshipping my ass. (I just bet YOU wish you could arrange something like that don't you? Well, I suppose you could try hanging out at a rodeo, since that is where you will find real cowboys. However, without powers like mine you're not going to be very successful. You're more likely to get your ass whipped than worshipped. Don't say I didn't warn you.) "When you have kissed my ass five times, declare to me how much you enjoy kissing my ass. After you do that you may continue to kiss my ass. Each time that you kiss my ass, you go down even deeper, and become more and more relaxed. Soon and very soon indeed you'll be so relaxed that you won't be able to get up off the floor. All you will be able to do is to lie there on your backs and purse your lips as you try to keep kissing my ass." Oh I was one bad boy for doing this. There was no need to have these cowboys humiliate themselves like this. They were all straight men, after all. (Another fact I obtained from my scan of their minds.) However, we were alone and it would serve a purpose. It would teach them not to mess with me in the future. It was also a hell of a lot of fun! (There I go again, justifying my actions to myself. That's the problem with having a conscience. It keeps you from doing anything really naughty.)
"Your ass is so round and perfect," Cody cried out as he pulled his lips away from my buttocks. "I've never seen anything so beautiful before, boss."

"The denim of your jeans is like silk on my lips, sir," Justin cried out joyfully. "I wish you would let me lick your jeans, sir! I love the taste of your jeans on my lips, sir!"

"I want to rub my face all along your butt cheeks, boss," Dallas exclaimed. "I wish you would let me bury my nose in between your buttocks, boss. I want to get high on the perfume of your ass, boss," (Dallas was really laying it on thick, but I didn't care.)

"Oh, I'm in love with your ass, boss," Cody declared a few moments later. "I'll do anything you say, for just one more chance to put my lips up against those sweet butt cheeks of yours. God, I love your ass, boss."

"I want to buy you new jeans for your ass, sir!" Justin cried out. "An ass like yours deserves the best jeans that money can buy! You should have jeans in every colour of the rainbow! And if you were wearing jeans from me, sir, maybe you'd let me squeeze and fondle your ass, while I kiss it."

"Oh boss, I wish you would fart in my face right now," Dallas piped up. "Kissing your ass is so wonderful, but I wish I could smell you too. I hope one day you will let me wipe your bum after you take a shit, boss. It would be such and honour to clean the shit off of your ass."

I was flabbergasted by Dallas's remarks. Clearly he had taken the 'worship my ass' command a bit too far. It took me a few moments to realize that the kissing had stopped and that no one was grabbing my legs any more. I turned slowly about and looked down on the floor. There they were. My three little cowboy slaves, lying on their backs, their eyes closed and their lips puckered as they made soft kissing sounds. Their cowboy hats had been knocked off of their heads and were scattered about them.

"That's enough with the kissing boys," I told them. "Go and sit on the sofa again, like good little cowboys and wait for me there." They opened their eyes and bounded to their feet. Looking around for a second they each bent over and picked up their hats from the floor. Satisfied to have their hats back where they belonged, the three cowboys then headed off to the sofa and plopped themselves down on to it. I stood there in front of them as they wiggled around and made themselves comfortable again. Dallas was on my left, Cody on my right and Justin directly in front of me. I smiled as I realized this was the same arrangement as when I had first told them to take a seat on the sofa. The three of them sat there staring off into space looking at nothing in particular. The idiotic grins that they wore on their faces only added to the general impression of blissful happiness that they seemed to be lost in. I was sure I could have let them sit there all evening and they would have been as happy as pigs in muck. That suggested something intriguing, but I decided that I didn't want to deal with the hassle of a messed up living room this evening. So, I shelved that idea for another time and place.

"Dallas, remind me what event it is that each of you participates in, at a rodeo, would you please?" I asked Dallas as a new idea started to take shape in my mind.

"Sure thing, boss," Dallas answered eagerly, as he looked up at me. "Justin's a calf roper. Cody's a bull rider. I'm a bull dogger."

"Thank you, Dallas," I said to him. He beamed at me happily for a few seconds before he let his gaze drift on back to the far distant wall, and continued to stare off into space.

I knew now, what I was going to do with these cowboys. (Dramatic drum roll please. Damn. There's never a band around when you want one.) The only question was which cowboy would perform first. I looked down at the three of them sitting there staring off into space. Three handsome, hypnotized cowboys just waiting for me to start playing with them. Oh the possibilities. The sweet possibilities. My cock stiffen in anticipation.



Chapter 5. At The Rodeo.

"Justin, go and pick up one of the lassoes, and then come and stand by me," I ordered him.

"Yes, sir!" Justin cried out as he leaped from the sofa onto his feet. He looked about frantically trying to find the lassoes. He spotted them and dashed off towards them. He plucked one of the lassoes from the floor and then trotted over to where I was standing. He looked at me quizzically, wondering what I had in mind.

"Cody, remain on the sofa, and watch what happens," I told him. "You are going to be the crowd for this little rodeo of mine."

"Yes, boss," Cody grinned as he focused his attention back on me. "I love a good rodeo, boss."

"Dallas, take off your cowboy hat and then get down on all fours, please," I said to him. Dallas looked over at me, raised one eyebrow in surprise, and stood up. For a second I almost thought he was going to refuse my command, which would have been remarkable in itself. Instead he slowly grinned at me as he reached up and grabbed his cowboy hat with his right hand. He pulled the cowboy hat up and off of his head, turned to his left and tossed the cowboy hat unconcernedly on the sofa. His grin became larger as he slowly lowered himself down on to his hands and knees. He had a glimmering of what was probably going to happen, and it was clear that he liked the idea.

"Good going, guys," I commended them. "Now Justin when I snap my fingers you will wake up and be showing me just how good a calf roper you really are. You will see Dallas as the calf. He is a very special calf and you have treat him gently. Do not pull the rope tightly when you have it around his neck. You'll find that when you have snagged him with the lasso, he'll become docile and easy to manage. Your task with this roping is to get him onto his back and to use the lasso to tie up his front legs and then his back legs."

I paused for a breath and to gain a measure of control over the intense excitement I was starting to feel. "Dallas, when I snap my fingers you will wake up and be the calf that Justin is going to rope. You will not try to gore or harm Justin with your horns, your head or your limbs," I said to Dallas as I looked at him waiting there on all fours. "Remember Dallas, that once the lasso is around your neck you will stop moving about and become a docile and easy to manage calf. You'll cooperate with Justin as he ties you up."

I had a sudden flash of inspiration and called out to Cody, while I continued looking at Dallas. (What can I say? I so enjoy the sight of a cute guy, especially a cowboy down on all fours that it's hard for me to look away from such a delightful sight as that.) "Cody, when I snap my fingers you will wake up and be the judge of this rodeo. You get to score Justin on how good a job he does roping and tying up his calf."

"Great, boss!" Cody replied. "That's a lot more fun that just sitting here and watching."

"The snap of my fingers applies just this one time. Is that clear? Does every one understand what they are to do?" I asked.

"Yes, boss. Got it, boss. I'm ready to go, sir" They replied one after the other. A shiver coursed through my body as I placed the middle finger of my right hand next to my right thumb, and got ready to snap it. All the eyes of the cowboys were locked on my right hand as I held it up for them to see.

SNAP!

I glanced over to see Dallas, in full blown calf mode, scampering about the living room floor, on all fours. He was moving this way and that, zigzagging around and constantly changing his direction. I guess that the calf didn't want to make it too easy for the calf roper. Dallas even managed a few bellows as he scampered about the living room floor on his hands and knees.

The whirling sound of a lasso being twirled about caught my ears, and I moved my attention over to Justin. I backed up a few feet to try and get a better over all view of the rodeo that was taking place before me. Justin had a good firm grip on his lasso as he whirled it about his head getting ready for that all important first toss. He had a nice rhythm to his swinging of the lasso above his head. I especially enjoyed the manner in which the swaying motion of his body worked its way down to his hips. I backed up a bit more to get a better view of Justin's backside. My eyes were glued to that gently gyrating gluteus maxims of his, and I had no desire to look away. It was only the curiosity as to what Dallas's butt would look like as he scampered about, that caused me to look away from Justin and those killer buns of his.

Dallas looked as if he were thoroughly enjoying himself. He moved about the room eagerly on his hands and knees, showing not the slighted inclination to stop, and revealing just glimpses of his butt in the process. I felt a rush of excitement as Dallas turned away from me and moved off. Those jeans were beautifully wrapped around that ass of his. The wallet in his right hip pocket and the can of chewing tobacco in his left hip pocket helped to accentuate the wonderful curves of his buttocks, by pulling those jeans even more tightly across those sweet cheeks of his. I let my gaze follow Dallas about the living room as I watched him. It was both amusing and erotic, to see this cowboy taking on his role of a calf, so wholeheartedly. Dallas turned about and started moving towards me. It meant less of his butt to view, however his handsome face and heavy build made up for that. Dallas paused for a few moments, as he looked up at me, and that was his undoing. In the blink of an eye a rope looped over his head. A second later the lasso tightened about Dallas's neck. Dallas immediately froze where he was, his eyes glazing over. The rope of the lasso went slack.

"Got ya!" Justin cried out in triumph, as he hurried over to where Dallas crouched on his hands and knees. The look of joy on Justin's face was remarkable to me. He seemed genuinely happy to have snagged Dallas with the lasso. Perhaps it was because he was successful on his first toss of the lasso. In any case, Justin arrived beside Dallas in less than two shakes of a lamb's tail. Justin looked down at Dallas, as if unsure how he should proceed with the roping of this calf he'd just caught. Justin swatted down just in front of Dallas, to my everlasting delight, since this presented me will a full rear view of Justin's butt in that delectable position. (Sometimes things work out even better than you plan, or hope.) In that position his jeans were very snug against his buttock and thighs. As with Dallas, the items in Justin's hip pockets, the wallet in the left hip pocket and the can of tobacco in the right hip pocket made his jeans and his butt in general all that more appealing. This part of the show was over all too soon though.

Justin gently pulled Dallas to the ground by first lowering his head to the carpeted floor, and pushing him over. Dallas toppled over onto his left side which presented Justin and me with a view of the front of Dallas's body. It took Justin barely a second longer to roll Dallas onto his back. So there Dallas lay, flat on his back with a lasso snugly, but not tightly, around his neck, looking up at the ceiling with a completely blank expression and glazed over eyes. (Is that a picturesque sight or not?)

Justin grabbed Dallas's right wrist, and pulled up on Dallas's right arm. When Justin had Dallas's right arm positioned so that the elbow rested on Dallas's chest and the right arm pointed up in the air, Justin looped the rope about Dallas's right wrist. Justin placed the rope in his left hand and pulled upward gently to keep Dallas's right arm in that position. With his free right hand, Justin reached down and snagged Dallas's left hand, placing Dallas's left wrist beside Dallas's rope wreathed right wrist. It took only a few more loops of the rope about both of Dallas's wrists to effectively tie them together. I noted that Justin left some lack in the rope between the noose about Dallas's neck and his roped tied wrists. Dallas would be comfortable, but still bound. Justin placed the extra rope that dangled down from Dallas's bound writs so that the rope hung down in between Dallas's legs. Dallas seemed content to let his bound arms flop down on his stomach while Justin reached down towards Dallas's feet. Fortunately for Justin, Dallas was totally relaxed and limp otherwise I do not think that Justin would have been able to grab hold of Dallas's ankles and push up on Dallas's legs. Justin managed to keep Dallas's legs together while he folded them at the knee. It was as if Dallas had drawn his legs up towards his chest and stomach, only Justin was doing all the work. With Dallas's legs where he wanted them (where I wanted them too, if the truth be told), Justin managed to hold Dallas's legs in position with one hand while fishing for the rope with his free hand. Justin enthusiastically wrapped most of the remaining rope about Dallas's boots at about ankle level, effectively binding Dallas's feet together. As Justin let go of Dallas's legs and threw up his arms to signal the end of his run, the slight slack in the rope between Dallas's bound ankles and wrists was quickly taken up. I gulped a few times as the sight of Dallas lying there on the floor, hog-tied, and completely content to stay that way. During this time my cock not only remained stiff and hard, but it got harder if that was possible. I was vaguely aware that some drops of pre-cum were oozing out from the tip of my rock hard, rock steady cock. I was too engrossed in the scene before me to pay much attention to much of anything else.

Feeling quite proud of himself, Justin swaggered over to Cody, the judge of this event, to receive his score. I was hard pressed to force my eyes to follow Justin, instead of Dallas. I knew, though, that I would have to deal with Justin and Cody before I could start having my type of fun with Dallas. Apparently, the Cody and Justin did not see eye-to-eye on what score Justin should have been given, since their discussion started to get some what heated, by the time I arrived.

"I told you what you got, and that's that," Cody declared to Justin. I could hear a slight tone of annoyance creeping into his voice.

"But it's not fair," Justin complained. "I couldn't just throw the calf to the ground, like I usually do. I had to be gentle with him and that takes more time."

"Is there a problem here?" I interjected.

"There sure is," Justin said as he turned towards me. "This judge you appointed isn't being fair."

"Well never mind that, Justin," I said to him. "I'd like to shake your hand and congratulate you myself, if you wouldn't mind."

"Why, sure, go right ahead," Justin grinned at me as he held out his right hand. I placed my hand in his and smiled at him as I shook his hand.

"Yup, you did a great job, Justin," I praised him. "And now, as I shake your hand you're going back into that wonderful state of hypnosis."

"What?" Justin said looking baffled at my words. "Just by shaking your hand? Naw, there's no way that's gonna work on."

Justin's words faded away as his eyelids fluttered closed and his head dropped forward to his chest. He and his buddies were so suggestible from being in and out of hypnosis that I didn't need to use the trigger phrases. Just reminding them that I could hypnotize them would trigger the subconscious desire and need in their minds to go back into hypnosis. Justin stood there completely at ease and all too happy to be back in his hypnotic trance. A small smile graced his lips as he waited for his next command from me. Justin was still holding my hand as he stood there in front of me, hypnotized once more and awaiting my next command. I let go of his hand as I smiled at him. His right arm dropped swiftly to his right side.

"That's a pretty good trick," Cody said as he looked at Justin standing there, hypnotized and quiet. "I wish you could teach me that sometime."

"Time for you to join him, Cody," I said as I turned and looked at him.

"No way!" Cody cried out to me, as he realized what I was implying. "I'm not letting you shake my hand. Not after what I just saw. And I ain't going back into a trance, neither." Cody moved a few steps away from me, crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at me. Cody may have been hypnotized by me and been molded into my willing slave tonight, but he still retained his disbelief that he could be hypnotized. I suppose that is one of things that made hypnotizing him such fun in the first place. I got a big kick out of proving him wrong.

"There's no need for me to do that, Cody," I said to him calmly. "In fact, I don't have to touch you or even say your trigger phrase. Just the suggestion from me, that I want you back in your hypnotic trance is enough to send you back now. In a few seconds you're going to look down at my belt buckle and the sight of it will cause you to go back into your hypnotic trance. Even now you can feel the urge to look at my belt buckle, building within you. In less than a minute you won't be able to resist a quick peek at my belt buckle and that is all it will take." (You see the incredible possibilities that my super hypnosis powers present? Is it any wonder that Andy felt he had to test me?)

"You're crazy, do you know that?" Cody exclaimed, as he continued to glare at me. He deliberately turned his head up and to the right, looking as far away from me as he could. I merely smiled to myself as I waited for the inevitable.

"There just isn't any way that line of bull is going to work on me," Cody declared out loud as he continued to look away from me. I saw his eyes glance in my direct for a split second, though. The urge was building, just as I said it would.

Cody's head twitched and moved slightly in my direction. A few seconds later he turned back to face me, making sure to look directly into my eyes. He smiled at me full of confidence. "It's not going to work you know," he assured me. "But I'll humor you anyway." He flicked his eyes down to look at my belt buckle as he continued talking. "See? I told you" His words died on his lips as he slipped back into his hypnotic trance. In less than a heartbeat Cody's eyes snapped shut and his chin dropped down to his chest as he let out his breath in a long slow deep sigh. His arms remained crossed in front of his chest.

"Cody and Justin, you two be good little cowboys. Go sit on the sofa and make yourselves comfortable again until I call for you," I ordered them. "And be careful not to sit on Dallas's hat." I cautioned them.

"Yes, boss. Yes, sir," they chimed as they opened their eyes, turned around and walked over to the sofa in the living room. They sat down on the sofa, one at each end. They settled in, and proceeded to stare off into space again, with those stupid (but strangely attractive and sexy) grins on their faces. They were facing towards me.

Now I was free to play with Dallas. I walked over to where he was lying there still tied up, and I smiled down at him. I was standing over him, a cute tied up cowboy. It was a wonder that I didn't drool on him. Let's face it. The situation was arousing to say the least. A blonde haired, blue-eyed, good looking, stud of a cowboy lying there on the floor hog-tied with a lasso around his neck. (I'm not sure why exactly, but I think there is just something about blonde-haired blue-eyed guys that really interests me.) His legs drawn up to his chest, and bent at the knee of course, which meant that his jeans would be stretched snugly across his buttocks. Even if you are not a butt man like me, you have to admit that such a sight would interest you at the very least. (If not, then I'm sure some other aspect of the situation would be attractive to you. After all Dallas was at least an 8.5 out of 10 on the cute meter.)

I knelt down beside Dallas and spoke softly into his ear, "Dallas, this one time, when I touch you on the forehead you will awaken from your hypnotic trance. You will no longer be a calf, you will be yourself fully awake and aware of what is going on." I wait a few moments for my words to sink into his mind before I touched his forehead.
Dallas blinked his eyes several times as he came to his senses. He bolted upright. Well, that is he tried to bolt upright. Since he was still hog-tied it was rather difficult for him to move. "What the hell?" He cried out in surprise as he discovered that he was unable to get up. "What the bloody hell is going on?" He exclaimed as he looked up at me and then looked about the room in confusion. He spied Cody and Justin sitting on the sofa. "Wait just a doggone minute!" He whooped as the memories of the past few minutes flooded back into his mind. "I remember now! You hypnotized me into thinking I was a calf, and got Justin to tie me up like this!" Dallas kept alternating his glances between Justin and myself as he talked. After a few moments he started to calm down and gazed up at me with a slight smile on his lips.

"You're pretty good. I have to admit that," he said to me as he shook his head in silent amazement. "I never thought you'd have been able to get me to agree to do something like this. If it's all the same to you, how about letting me up now? I'm starting to become uncomfortable like this." There was a slight tone of pleading in Dallas's voice as he lay there and asked me for help.

I knelt down beside Dallas, near his head. I was to Dallas's left, which meant that the left side of Dallas's body was beside me and that I would have to reach across him to reach the right side of his body.

"Pretty soon, but not just yet," I told him smiling my most benevolent smile at him. "I want to reward you first for being such a good calf. So, this one time, when I next put my fingers on your forehead, you will slip back into your trance, and your eyes will close. When I remove my fingers from your forehead you will open your eyes and you will see me as the most desirable woman of your dreams or fantasies, whatever they may be. You will be so smitten with this woman of your dreams and fantasies that you'll find yourself unable to say 'no' to her. Whatever she asks you to do, will seem reasonable, because you don't want to disappoint her. Now, be a good little cowboy and nod your head when you understand." I knew that Dallas, like Cody and Justin earlier, was still in a highly suggestible and susceptible state. My suggestions would be accepted by his subconscious mind and would come into play just as I wanted them to. With ordinary hypnosis this would not be the case, but super-hypnosis has the unusual side effect of causing suggestions to be readily accepted by the subconscious mind.

"You've got to be kidding," Dallas said to me, looking at me as if I were a few bricks short of a full load. I smirked in satisfaction as he nodded his head up and down, while not even realizing that he was doing so. I waited a few seconds before I touched the fingers of my right hand to his forehead. Dallas's eyes closed gently, and he let out a long soft sigh as his entire body relaxed. I kept pressing down on his forehead for about thirty seconds, not because I had to, but because it was so pleasing to be kneeling beside this hog-tied yet totally relaxed cowboy. I withdrew my fingers from Dallas's forehead and waited for the fun to begin.

Dallas opened his eyes and blinked them several times as he tried to focus on me. "Sheila? Is that really you?" He muttered, his face seemingly frozen in awe. "Can it be? Can it really be you after all this time?"

"Yes, Dallas, it's really me," I answered him quietly. "How are you doing, stud?"

"Me? I'm okay, I guess," Dallas answered absently. "I'm just so glad that you're finally here." His voice cracked at the last word and a sob escaped him. He turned away from me, rolling on to his right side, and his entire frame shuddered a few times. I didn't have to be an expert to guess that he was, for some unknown reason, on the verge of tears and trying his best not to show them. This was a most unexpected development. I had thought he would be all goggle-eyed and panting with excitement.

"Dallas, my dear, what's wrong?" I asked him softly, and refrained from touching him. There was a problem of some type here and I needed to find out what it was before I could go any further.

"It's not right," he sobbed quietly in a shattered voice, some how keeping the tears from spilling out of his eyes. "I never wanted you to see me like this, so so helpless. I know you like your men strong and brave and here I am tied up like a lamb to be lead to the slaughter. It's so unmanly so degrading .so humiliating.." His sobbing continued as his humiliation and shame caused his face to turn bright red.

"Silly cowboy," I chided him. "You sure went deeper than I thought you would."

"What? What do you mean?" Dallas asked puzzled, as he rolled onto his back and looked at me. Clearly he did not know what Sheila (I) was referring to. The flush on his face slowly started to fade.

"Well, I hypnotized you when you came over here, silly. How else do you think I managed to tie you up like this?" I batted my eyes at him. "Sure I like strong men, but what I like more is to make them helpless and at my mercy."

"You do?" Dallas asked amazed. "Then then this is okay with you?" The relief on his face was profound as he came to realize that his predicament was exactly what his dream woman wanted of him.

"Yes, my big strong hunk of a cowboy. It is exactly what I want," I assured him. "You can't get free can you?" I asked him.

"Nope," Dallas assured me after a brief and only half-hearted struggle against his bonds. He grinned at me as he started to relax and really enjoy the situation. "I'm bound and at your mercy fer sure."

"Good. Now being as this is our first time we'll do something simple and easy," I informed him as I pitched my voice into a smooth and mellow tone. "While I have you tied up like that I'm going to make you cum all over your jeans and your shirt. Dallas my dear cowboy, anytime I touch any part of your body clothed or not, you are going to feel yourself getting more and more turned on."

"Cum on my clothes, Sheila?" Dallas asked in a confused voice. He could not seem to comprehend what was being told to him.

"It's what I want you to do, Dallas," I assured him.

"Oh, I guess it's okay then," he agreed readily, his objections gone as if a switch had been flipped in his mind. (That was probably a good analogy, come to think of it.)

"How's this?" I asked him as I moved my fingertips across his chest in a line from the left side of his body to the right side. The line was just above the top of the patch pockets on his royal blue cowboy shirt.

"Ohhhhh..yyyyeeeeeesssss" Dallas hissed as bolts of erotic pleasure crashed into his brain. He sighed lustily as he savored the sensations. I moved my hands over that handsome face, and planted a few soft kisses on his forehead and his cheeks. It was too much of a temptation for me to resist. I just had to feel Dallas's skin on my lips. At least I refrained from kissing him full on the lips. I knew that he would have enjoyed that, but I also knew that could lead to serious trouble. The man was as straight as an arrow, and I wasn't going to compromise that, no matter how badly I might want to kiss him. Actually, all I had to do was think of Andy, an the desire to kiss Dallas full on the lips faded very quickly. Well there was that, as well as the rather uncomfortable five o'clock shadow that was covering Dallas's face. I glanced at my watch and noted that it was 9:30 PM. Is it any wonder Dallas's face was getting a bit scruffy? I let my hands explore every inch of the skin on Dallas's face, as well as his neck (around the lasso), and the upper part of his shoulders. I decided not to undo any of the buttons of his shirt. I would leave that pleasure for later, but not too much later. Dallas moaned and groaned softly as he bathed in the pleasures of the moment.

"As my fingers travel over your nipples, Dallas, they will get harder and harder," I prompted him. I followed actions to words, and let my hands drift down past the upper region of Dallas's chest. Dallas let out a loud moan as my hands move over his nipples in slow smooth circles and then drifted down to his stomach area. Dallas had wonderful abdominal muscles from what I could feel. There wasn't any indication of fat or flab in that area.

"Oh God, my cock!" Dallas howled. "It's getting hard! I can feel it pushing against my jeans. Oh God!"

"And you just love that feeling don't you Dallas?" I needled him.

"OH God! YES! YES I DO!" Dallas cried out as his body shook with joy. "Please more?"

I moved my hands around Dallas's stomach area for a minute or so while my eyes began to search the area around Dallas's fly looking for that emerging monster of his. It wasn't' hard to spot the growing bulge in his jeans. Before my eyes I saw it get larger and larger like some snake moving just below the surface of the ground.

"You will shoot your load only when I tell you to, Dallas," I cautioned him. I didn't want any premature eruptions ruining my plans. I looked that that slowly growing monster and I was sorely tempted to start fondling it immediately. I realized though, that if I did that I'd have to have Justin untie Dallas very soon. I couldn't very well let Dallas remained tied up when he came. He would be sure to hurt himself if he came while still hog-tied. On the other hand I still wanted to get a good look at Dallas's butt while he was hog-tied. So letting out a sincere sigh of regret, I move my hands over to Dallas's left side and away from his pulsating prick.

"Roll over on your right side, Dallas," I directed him.

"Yes.uhhhh ma'am" Dallas responded between moans. Slowly he rolled his body over onto his right side. I dashed down towards his butt, as fast as my hands and knees would carry me. I sighed with undisguised delight at the view those jeans tightly pulled across Dallas's buttocks. I could not stop my hands from flying towards those denim wrapped mounds of manly flesh. (Yeah, like I even tried to stop myself? Get real!) I grabbed and squeezed and kneaded Dallas's big fleshy butt for all I was worth. My fingers really did some walking, if you know what I mean. Of course I wasn't able to explore in between Dallas's butt cheeks very well. The tight denim material acted like Hover Dam, keeping my probing digits out. I really didn't want to go there, though. I wasn't going to screw Dallas after all, just mess up his clothes a bit.

For Dallas I think it must have been a deeply moving and profound and religious experience. He kept crying out, "Oh my God!" Over and over again. (I knew I'd never be able to think that with a straight face.) Dallas had been excited and turned on before, but my fervent attention to his ass was giving him a pleasure overload. His body was jerking and squirming with delight as I kept at his ass with my hands, moving them around and over his ass heading for the erogenous zones of his inner thighs. I looked up and back at Dallas, and my heart skipped a beat. A dagger of fear stabbed through me. I lost my desire like a campfire doused by a pail of water.

"Justin, get over here and untie Dallas now!" I cried out, as I pulled my hands away from Dallas's butt. The lasso was already snug about Dallas's neck and it would soon choke him if it wasn't removed promptly. I shuddered as I realized just how close I'd come to hurting Dallas, however inadvertently.

"Dallas, your body is now frozen! You cannot move!" I cried out to him. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Dallas's body stiffen instantly. He would not be able to pull the lasso any tighter about his neck, now. I mentally kicked myself for forgetting such an obvious danger. While I had acted in time, it was still a near thing. I promised myself to be much more careful in the future. Light bondage such as this was fun, but even it had its dangers.

"Right away, sir!" Justin replied as he launched himself up off the sofa and scurried over to where Dallas was. Justin was quick and efficient. He bent down over Dallas and quickly got to work on untying his legs.

"Dallas, as soon as your limbs are untied, they will no longer be frozen. When the rope has been removed from around your neck, your entire body will unfreeze," I instructed Dallas and then waited. Justin was standing only a few inches away from me, bent over while he worked on freeing Dallas from the rope. Those snug jeans of his were now pulled tight as he removed Dallas's bonds. Unfortunately I could not see Justin's butt since he was facing me. I did manage to get a nice view of the front of his jeans though. It wasn't as entrancing as a view of his ass would have been, but it was rather nice all the same. With Dallas's legs now free they relaxed and stretched down away from the rest of Dallas's body. Quickly Justin moved on to uncoiling the rope from about Dallas's wrists, which took only a few moments. Released from their unnatural confinement, Dallas's relaxed arms flopped down and over to Dallas's right side. Loosing no time whatsoever, Justin loosened the lasso from about Dallas's neck and then gently slipped it off from around his head. I breathed several deep sighs of relief as Justin stood up, holding the rope and looking at me.

"All done, sir," he said simply and grinned down at me.

"Good job. Now coil up the lasso and carry it with you as you head back to the sofa and wait for further orders," I said as I congratulated him.

"Yes, sir," Justin replied as he gathered up the lasso, and trotted back to the sofa. I took in a quick eyeful of his ass he headed off to the sofa. I let out a soft sigh of delight. Well, enough of that, I had Dallas waiting for me.

"Dallas are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" I asked him, worried that I might have been too late in my actions.

"No, Sheila. I'm fine," Dallas assured me. "It's a good thing you removed that lasso when you did though. It was starting to choke me."

"I'm glad to hear that you're okay, Dallas," I said as I moved next to Dallas, ready to continue my fun with him. I looked over towards the sofa and was pleased to see that Justin had returned to sitting on the sofa and was staring off into space again, the lasso held loosely in his hands, forgotten for the moment.

"Dang it! Dallas suddenly yelled out, diverting my attention back to him. I was surprised to see a frown on his face.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" I asked him as my worry surfaced again.

"It's not that!" He cried out exasperatedly "I'm starting to go soft now!"

"I think I can correct that situation," I said cheerily as I slapped my hands onto his buttocks and started kneading them again.

"SWEET JESUS!" Dallas yelled out. Any further words were lost in the grunts groans and moans that started pouring out of Dallas's mouth as I squeezed and grabbed, caressed and covered that glorious backside of Dallas's with both of my hands. It took me only a minute or so to bring Dallas back to that state of excitement where he was starting to rock his body back and forth slightly. I slipped my hands down past Dallas's butt and in between his legs, right at his crotch. I moved and stroked the inside of Dallas's thighs which wasn't easy because his left leg was still lying on top of his right leg, as Dallas lay there on his right side, rocking his body back and forth slowly with the rhythms of his rapture. Dallas was not helping matters any by squeezing his legs and thighs tightly on my hands and fingers. (Gee, do you think that maybe he liked what I was doing to him, and didn't want me to stop? Naw, that couldn't be. Could it? Yes, at times like this, I DO love my 'job'.)

"CHRIST! I"M SO FUCKING CLOSE!!!!" Dallas shouted out loud, not carrying who might hear him, or that he might deafen me in the process. Still it was nothing more than a minor annoyance, considering the pleasure and joy I was obtaining from this most delightful of situations. Regretfully, I withdrew my hands from in between Dallas's legs. Or at least I tried to. Unfortunately, I could not pull my hands and fingers out from in between Dallas's legs. He was clamping down on them too tightly for me to pull them out.

"Dallas, roll onto your back, and show me that big monster of yours," I commanded him.

"Yes, Sheila," he responded as he moved his legs slightly apart and started to roll over to his left. As soon as the pressure eased, with the parting of Dallas's legs, I withdrew my hands and fingers from between his legs. I moved out of the way as Dallas rolled onto his back and started to move his hands towards the front of his jeans. He began to fumble with his belt buckle, and for a moment I thought he was going to undo it. I was mistaken though. He was merely reaching up behind it to grab the tab on the zipper of his jeans. Dallas gave a strong yank on his zipper as he pulled it open with one smooth fluid motion. His hands dove inside his open zipper searching blindly for his vastly enlarged penis. He seemed to be having trouble finding his cock, as puzzling as that may have sounded. His hands moved about his white cotton briefs looking for the opening in them, that should have been there. He wiggled about and eventually located his cock with his fingers. He struggled for a moment to work it out from its confinement behind his jeans. At last it popped out in all it's glory, long hard and stiff, hardly waving about at all.

"Gently grab hold of your cock, Dallas, and point it towards your stomach," I directed him. A part of me wanted to hold that monster of his in place for Dallas, but I remembered my promise to Andy, and knew that I couldn't live with myself if I were to break my word to him. I briefly recalled how I had touched the cocks of these cowboys earlier in the evening. It had been only one or two fingers on the top of the shaft of the cocks, but I knew that I would still have to talk with Andy about it. I didn't want to keep any secrets from him, even something as small as that.

Dallas nodded his head as he wrapped his hands around that long throbbing member of his and pushed it back and up towards his stomach. He was moaning and groaning prohibited him from verbally acknowledging my instructions. A shudder passed through his body as he lay there on the edge of his release.

"Say the sentence, 'I am a fucking jerk of a cowboy', and you'll shoot your load, Dallas," I told him. I decided that injecting a little truth into the situation would be appropriate at this time.

"I AM A FUCKING JERK OF A COWBOY!!!!!!" Dallas screamed out to the high heavens as he released his load, and thrust himself up and off of the floor, arching his back and thrusting his hips forward. It was a most impressive sight, I had to admit. The way his cum shot out and landed just below the second button of his cowboy shirt was remarkable. He had managed to shoot over and beyond that huge belt buckle of his, and to let that white sticky liquid of his form a small pool in roughly the center of his cowboy shirt. Dallas relaxed and then shot a second load out from his still hard and throbbing cock. Again his body arched up off of the floor with the force of his release,. This load of white did not become airborne though. It merely oozed out from the slit of his cock and flowed down across Dallas's hands. He hung there with his weight only on his heels and his shoulders as his body remained suspended in the air for what seemed like minutes. Actually the time was much shorted than that, I later realized. I was just so amazed at the force of his release that time seemed to stop for a short while as I gawked at Dallas lying there on the living room floor.

Dallas's muscles relaxed, and he collapsed back onto the living room floor. He didn't seem any worse off for the experience. The look of utter bliss and contentment on his face was testimony to that. His cock had deflated like a punctured tie.
"Good boy, Dallas," I congratulated him. "Now take your hands and fingers and spread that lovely cum of yours all over your shirt and the front of your jeans. As you do that, you'll feel even better. Keep your eyes open as you do that, so that you'll enjoy it more."

"Yes, Sheila," he said as he opened his eyes and looked down at himself. He moved his hands towards the small pool of cum on his cowboy shirt and gingerly touched it with his fingers. His smile grew larger and he let out a deep sigh of satisfaction as he started to spread his cum around his shirt. "It's so warm and sticky," he observed. "I never knew it would feel so good to do this."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, Dallas," I said to him. "Now when all your cum has dried and you can't spread it around any more, you can put your cock back inside your jeans and do them up. Afterwords you can go take a seat on the sofa and return to your normal hypnotic trance. When you sit down on the sofa, you will no longer see me as Sheila. You will see everyone for who they really are, and everything for what it really is, but you won't care about anything. You wont' even care about what you've just done. When you understand your instructions, bark once."

"Woof," Dallas called out a second or two after I finished speaking. I left him there to finish his task as I stood up and walked over to the sofa. I had two more rodeo events to attend.

'Justin and Cody stand up now and look at me," I directed to the two cowboy zombies who had remained motionless and oblivious during Dallas's erotic adventures.

"Yes, sir. Yes, boss," they responded as they stood up and looked at me, still smiling.

"Cody, take the lasso from Justin's hands and put it around Justin's chest, but under his arms," I instructed Cody. "Justin you help out Cody with that. Oh, and Justin, remove your hat first and toss it on the sofa. You won't be needing it for this."

"Yes, sir," Justin said as he handed the lasso over to Cody. Justin plucked his hat from his head and tossed the hat onto the sofa. He held his arms out in front of him to make it easier for Cody to slip the lasso around him.

"Done, boss," Cody said as he finished placing the lasso about Justin's torso, at the level of Justin's armpits.

"Good, Cody. Now wrap the remaining rope of the lasso about Justin's middle until you have only a little bit left to grab hold of," I told him.

"Yes, boss," Cody said as he proceeded to carry out my instructions. Justin meanwhile stood there looking puzzled at Cody's actions. Justin wasn't concerned just puzzled.

"Done, boss," Cody said as he completed his task.

"Fine," I said to him. "Cody, you're a bull rider right?" I asked him.

"Yes, boss, I am," he confirmed as he answered my question.

"Excellent," I said to him and smiled. " This one time, when I snap my fingers Justin will be the bull and you will be trying to ride him for the full eight seconds. Get down on all fours, Justin," I directed.

"Yes, sir," Justin replied reluctantly. "I don't feel like a bull, though, sir." Nevertheless he dropped down onto his hands and knees. Cody took the cue and climbed aboard Justin, setting himself on top of the bull, just as he would have done on a real bull.

"Cody, be sure not to put much weight on Justin the bull. I do not want you hurting him. And as you, Justin the bull, you may try to buck Cody off of your back, but you will not try to spin around rapidly or try to roll him off of your back. Is that understood by both of your?" I asked as I finished my instructions to these cowboys.

"Yes, boss. Yes, sir," they replied. I held up my right hand, being sure that they could both see it, and placed my right middle finger next to my thumb as I prepared to snap my fingers.

SNAP!

Despite his misgivings and doubts, Justin proved to be an outstanding bull. He bucked and wiggled and moved around trying to dislodge Cody from his back. His bucking involved a slight bit of cheating on his part, though. Justin's idea of bucking was to raise his body up from his knees and onto the toes of his boots. Cody, was taken by surprise at first and nearly let go of the short length of rope he had gripped in his right hand. He quickly recovered and rode that bull for all he was worth. The ride lasted somewhat longer than eight seconds, though, and the fault is mine. I was so enthralled at watching Cody ride Justin that I didn't want the ride to end. It was with sincere reluctance that I called out the word TIME to end the ride.

Cody dismounted from Justin like the professional bull rider that he was. As he headed over to me to find out what his score was for that ride. I called out to Justin, who was still moving about the apartment. "Freeze Justin! You are no longer a bull. You are yourself but still deeply hypnotized. Stand up and remove the lasso, then wait for further instructions."

"Yes, sir," Justin replied as he slowly got to his feet, and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his right hand. He looked down at his chest and slowly started to unwrap the rope that was coiled about him.

"So how'd I do, judge?" Cody asked me as he stood before me grinning an I'm-the-best-in-the-west smile.

"You got an 85, Cody," I said to him. His grin got bigger and he raised both his arms up in a salute to victory. "But you need to take a nap now," I continued as I touched his forehead with my fingers.

"What, boss?" Cody asked puzzled at my statement. "I'm not the least bit tir.." His words cut off in mid-syllable as he slipped back into his trance.

God, I was having one hell of a good time with these readily suggestible cowboys. It was such a relief being able to have them slip back under using whatever suggestion I wanted, whenever I wanted. Just talking them back into hypnosis by telling them that is what would happen was so enjoyable, it was almost sinful. But I didn't have time to dwell on that. I had Justin to attend to, and when I was done with him, Cody.

"Go and sit back on the sofa and star off into space, like the happy little cowboy you are, Cody," I told him. "Be sure not to sit on Justin's hat," I cautioned him.

Cody opened his eyes and looked at me. "Yes, boss. Sit on the sofa and stare off into space like the happy little cowboy I am," he agreed joyfully as he turned around and headed off to the sofa. Cody sat down next to Dallas who was sitting on the far left end of the sofa. I had not noticed when Dallas had returned to the sofa. I had been too intent on Cody and Justin's performance. Unfortunately Dallas was too far away from me for me to see clearly just how much of his jeans and shirt he had stained with his semen. Of course the fact that he was wearing dark blue jeans and a royal blue cowboy shirt only made it that much more difficult to determine the extent of the stains. Enough of that. I turned my gaze and attention back to Justin.

Justin was standing there looking at me, the lasso coiled up and held in his right hand. He had a slight smile on his face, and seemed completely relaxed and at ease as if pretending to be a bull and being ridden by another cowboy was an everyday event for him. For all I knew, it just might be. (I made a mental note to do some research on the World Wide Web about "cowboy bondage". You never knew what you might find.)

"Put the lasso on the dinning room table and then go and stand up against the living room wall. Pick out a clear area that doesn't have any pictures or other wall hanging," I directed Justin as I looked at him.

"Yes, sir," he replied calmly as he turned about and walked over to the dinning room table. I stood where I was and enjoyed the sight of Justin walking about the room. He was a good looking man, with an attractive body, and it would have been a shame indeed not to spend a little time appreciating such a fine physical specimen. (Okay, I admit it. I ogled Justin as he walked around. I wanted to have a little fun too, after all.) Moments later Justin returned to the living room and walked over to a clear area of one of the living room walls. He stood in front of the wall, turned about smartly and stood there waiting patiently. He seemed totally indifferent to what might happen to him next. It was both exciting and titillating. No matter how many time I see it, I am still aroused by the sight of a good looking hypnotized man standing there looking at me with a small smile on his face as he awaits his next order from me. In this case, though, it was extra special because Justin was one of three men who had attempted to hurt me earlier this evening. It was knowing that just a tiny little pinch of revenge was being added to this situation that made it all the more sweet.

"Well done, Justin," I praised him. "How are you feeling?"

"Thank you sir. I feel very good sir," he answered. "I like doing what you tell me to do, sir."

"I'm glad," I said to him as walked up to him and stood just in front of him. I placed my hands on his chest, on that white cowboy shirt of his and moved them around until the palms of my hands were directly over the nipples on his chest."What? What are you doing, sir?" Justin asked looking confused and bit concerned at my unexpected physical contact with his body.

"I'm getting you sexually aroused, Justin," I told him simply.

"Sir? I'm sorry sir, but that's not true," Justin said to me and gulped nervously at me, as he looked me in the eye. He seemed just a touch scared at what I was suggesting to him. "I'm not feeling uh excited by you at all, sir. I'm not gay, sir. Frankly, sir, I find your touching me like this is making me feel very uncomfortable, and I wish you would stop it."

"Really?" I said to him. It was more of a statement than a question. "The amazing thing about hypnosis with me is that as soon as I tell you something it starts to become true," I continued completely ignoring his earlier comments and protests. "For example, right now you are finding the pressure of my hands on your nipples is starting to turn you on more and more. It is a simple physical reaction that you can't control. It becomes more and more intense, more and more pleasurable for you, as I start to move my hands about your nipples in slow smooth circles." I so enjoyed the feeling of the thin white cotton material of that cowboy shirt beneath my fingertips and palms. It was so easy to feel the firmness of the muscles on Justin's chest. I thought about ripping that shirt off of Justin, or maybe just undoing a few buttons to get a good long look at his chest, but I restrained myself. I had a specific plan in mind for this evening, and I didn't have time for any side trips.

"You're hands on my nipples is going to turn me on, sir?" Justin asked completely confused now. Such an idea did not make any sense to him, and he visibly fought the suggestion. It was but a token resistance at best. A shudder passed through Justin's body after a few more circles of my palms on his pectoral muscles and the nipples thereon. "Oh, sir! You're hands on my nipples? Oh, sir! It it feels so good, sir!" Justin cried out softly, with surprise.

"I'll bet you'd like me to move my hands all over your chest and stomach wouldn't you, Justin?" I asked him. It was more of an order than a question though. "When you want me to do that, to move my hands all over your chest and stomach, but stay above your belt, you just let me know, Justin."

"Your hands on my nipples, sir!" Justin cried out in that same soft voice, as he closed his eyes in sensuous pleasure. "I never imagined another man's hands on my body would feel so good. Why is that, sir?" He asked me as a small moan escaped his lips.

I was surprised at his question. I was surprised that he was able to ask any coherent question at all. He must not have been as aroused as I'd hoped he would be by this stage. I thought about his question for a moment as I continued to move my hands in slow smooth circles about his nipples. Something about the situation didn't seem quit right to Justin, and he was voicing his doubts about that to me.

"In hypnosis, my hypnosis of you, strange and wonderful things are possible, Justin," I answered him carefully. "I know where the erogenous zones on a man's body are. After all, who would know that better than another man? My hypnosis is making those zones more sensitive to my touch, thus you feel yourself starting to be come sexually aroused and turned on. The fact that is it another man touching you is not relevant. Anyone's touch right now would turn you on. It's a normal physical reaction, because my hypnosis of you has made you more aware of the erogenous zones of your body."

"There that explanation, should satisfy him," I thought to myself. "There is just enough truth in it that it sounds sensible."

"Oh, I see." Justin said as a sudden moan cut off his words. He moaned several more times as he began the inevitable surrender to the pleasure that was beating its way into his brain. "Would you mind touching the rest of me like you said you would, sir?" Justin finally asked me.

In answer I let my hands travel and explore the rest of Justin's chest and stomach. I even brushed my right hand against Justin's belt and pressed down on it firmly a few times. Justin's answer was more moans and few groans of unbridled delight as he savored the sensations of my hands exploring his chest and stomach. Putting my hands on automatic for a few moments I stole a glance down to the front of Justin's jeans. I was more than pleased to see that there was a significant case of tented trousers (or I should say dented denim?) developing.

"Doesn't that feel nice, Justin?" I asked him.

"Oh yes sir. It does indeed sir," Justin quavered as he forced out the words in between moans that tumbled out of his mouth as his body quivered with joy.

"I never go where I'm not invited, Justin," I said to him, in a soothing mellow voice. "And that includes my hands. If you want me to do more, you need only ask me or show me where you want me to go," I prompted him. My hands continued to explore the area between Justin's belt and his jaw, while I waited for him to pick up on the not so subtle hint that I had given him. The caressing of Justin's upper torso continued, while he stood there and did nothing but moan. (Well, he did lean backward against the living room wall, but I'm not counting that.) I earnestly wanted to explore other areas of Justin's body, but I knew it would be more gratifying if Justin were to ask me or show me what he wanted me to do. I waited a bit longer, continuing my caressing of that slightly muscular rib cage and flat stomach of his. Soon however, I began to despair and wondered if I would have to hit him with a verbal two-by-four to get him to do what I secretly wanted him to do.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime or two, I saw Justin's arms slowly move as he brought his hands upward. Much to my surprise they did not stop at the level of his fly, crotch or his belt. Instead his hands continued to move upwards until they were just below and in front of the uppermost button of his cowboy shirt. I watch with some dismay as his fingered fumbled their way to undoing that first button of his shirt. I kept my mouth shut as Justin's hands slowly traveled down to the next button of his white cowboy shirt and undid that one too. I sighed with dejection as Justin proceeded to undo all the buttons of his cowboy shirt down to the waist of his jeans. Justin let his arms and hands dangle by his sides, as if that simple task had exhausted him. I had hoped for so much more. The only good result of Justin's action is that I could see a lot more of his naked chest as I moved my hands round on his shirt. He wasn't wearing an undershirt so I could clearly see the light sprinkling of dark chest hairs across his chest.

Suddenly Justin's hands flew to the open sides of his cowboy shirt. His hands clamped down on the open front sides of his cowboy shirt and he pulled the shirt open, pushing my hands off of his chest in the process. I blinked my eyes with surprised, but Justin's next words caused me to rock back on my heels in mild shock.

"Suck my nipples, sir! Please, sir, please!" Justin cried out to me, as he bared the targets to me.

What else could I do? He had invited me after all. Mind you, it was not the invitation I had hoped for. Still, it would have been rude of me to have refused such a gracious invitation, now wouldn't it? I planted my mouth onto Justin's right nipple like a hungry newborn seeking his momma's breast, while I wrapped my arms about Justin's chest. Not to say that I wasn't gentle. At first I only kissed his nipple and then let my tongue gradually explore that dark inviting surface. Justin moaned and quivered shamelessly. His breathing was rapid but shallow, as if he were afraid he would buck me off of his nipple if he breathed too deeply or vigorously. I played my tongue all over Justin's nipple for a good five minutes, while doing my best to ignore any chest hair that got sucked into my mouth. I paused for a moment before I tackled Justin's left nipple.

"I'm going to suck your left nipple now, Justin, and it will feel even better than when I sucked your right nipple," I told him. I didn't have to say that, but I was hoping that the increased pleasure would trigger the response in Justin that I wanted.

"CHRIST YES, SIR!" Justin screamed out, as he wiggled his body and pressed it up firmly against the living room wall. I took a deep breath and started my tongue lashing of Justin's left nipple. After only a few licks Justin started to move his entire body up and down while still leaning against the living room wall. He was not moving it back and forth as if he were pumping his hips, but up and down as if he were standing up on his toes and then dropping back down to his heels. I paused for a second and looked down to see that this was exactly what he was doing. It was surprising but it did not present any problems for me, as I had a good grip on Justin's chest with my arms.

"DON'T STOP! PLEASE, SIR, DON'T STOP!" Justin cried out, when I momentarily halted my attentions on his left nipple. I got back to work. Since I was pressed up next to Justin it was easy for me to recognize that Justin was becoming very stimulated and aroused by my attentions. His cock was getting larger and larger with each passing moment. It was digging into my left thigh as it pushed against the front of Justin's jeans. Soon it stopped getting any larger but it continued to remain hard and firm.

"Your cock seems to be saying that you like this, Justin," I said to him as I paused momentarily in my sucking of his left nipple.

"My cock is right, sir!" Justin agreed. "It knows best. It it" Justin's voice trailed off.

"It knows what, Justin?" I asked wondering why Justin had stopped talking.

"It wants something, sir," Justin said in a suddenly subdued voice, while a moan or two still crept out of his mouth. Justin paused for a few more breaths and few more moans before he continued speaking. "It's so I I just can't say it, sir. My my cock is so naughty. It it wants something naughty, sir," Justin finally managed to force the words out of his mouth.

"You can tell me, Justin," I said as I tried to reassure him. "It can't be anything that I haven't heard before. In fact when you tell me, you'll get even more excited and turned on." I was pushing Justin to tell me whatever it was that he seemed so reluctant to say. I didn't have time to draw the words out him slowly. I still had Cody to 'process', if you know what I mean.

"My cock, sir," Justin spoke in a sudden rush of words as his unwillingness to speak, crumbled at my commands. "My cock wants to be stroked by you, sir. My cock wants to feel those warm soft tender wonderful fingers of yours all over it." Justin blushed bright red as he finished speaking. He took a few breaths and moaned a few more times. Slowly he gathered the strength to speak again. "I've never asked another man to do that to me before, sir. I've never ever, not even in my wildest fantasies, wanted another man to put his hands on my cock, sir. Does this mean I'm gay now, sir?"
"No, Justin, it does not mean you are gay," I assured him. "It only means that you are being a good little cowboy and following all my suggestions. Your body and mind are simply responding to my hypnotic suggestions and power. Your interest in women has not changed." I moved my face away from Justin's left nipple and unwrapped my hands and arms from about his chest. I looked down at the front of Justin's jeans. Once I had clearly located my target, I placed my hands on top of that long hard denim shrouded shaft of his and moved my hands slowly up and down along its entire length.

"CHRIST ALMIGHTLY, SIR!" Justin screamed out at me. "Your your hands on my cock! Oh god, sir! I've never felt so good, sir! Please sir, please? Please, sir take out my cock and hold it, sir?"

I continued to stroke Justin's long hard organ, while I ignored his pleas. It took only a few more strokes of my fingers over his hot and hard card to start the loud moans splashing out of his throat, which cut off any further pleas from Justin. I was amazed at the hardness of his cock and how when I pressed down on it just a bit, Justin let out a loud hoot like an owl overdosed on amphetamines. As much as Justin might want to feel my hands on his cock, that simply wasn't going to happen. I knew that as surely as I knew my own name. My promise to Andy stood between my fingers and Justin's cock like a six inch thick steel plate.

"Do your shirt back up, Justin," I ordered him as I continued to move my fingers about and around his cock. I might not wind up with my fingers encircling his cock, but I was going to enjoy myself as much as possible. I got ready to move my hands to other interesting areas.

"Yes, sir," Justin called out in between hoots. I flicked my eyes upward to confirm that Justin was carrying out his orders. Justin continued to move his body up and down in time to some musical beat that only he could hear, as he dragged his hands and arms back up towards his chest. Slowly his hands fumbled their way to the lowest button on his cowboy shirt. His fingers clumsily inserted the button into the button hole, but it took several bungled attempts before the task was completed. In all fairness to Justin, I wasn't exactly helping his concentration any, with my enthusiastic playing of his organ.

I thrust my hands down past the end of the fly of Justin's jeans, heading directly for his crotch. I didn't stop when I got there though. I let my hands roam all along the bottom of Justin's crotch, and then out and downward along the insides of both his thighs. I stroked the inside of his thighs, with long smooth gentle brushes of my hands.

"OH SIR!!!! YOUR HANDS ARE DEVINE!!!!!! OH GOD, SIR!!! PLEASE DON'T STOP, SIR!!!" Justin caterwauled as his sexual excitement continued to sore.

"Let me know when you're done with your shirt, Justin," I said calmly as I continued to amuse myself with Justin. I reached up past and behind Justin's crotch with my right hand as I groped Justin's buttocks. I had to bend down a bit to get a really good gripe on his buns with both of my hands, but it was worth it. They were such nice fleshy round mounds. I sighed with pleasure as I gave them a great big two handed squeeze.

"FUCK ME, I'M DONE, SIR!!!" Justin screamed back at me, heedless if anyone in the next city heard him, much less anyone in the next apartment. "YOU'RE GRABBING MY ASS, SIR! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS FEELS!! YOUR HANDS GRABBING AND SQUEEZING MY ASS, SIR! PLEASE, SQUEEZE ME LIKE A GRAPE, SIR!!"

(By now the more astute readers may have come to the conclusion that at this point in time, Justin was enjoying himself just a tiny little bit. Gee, what was your first clue?) I stopped my manhandling of Justin's rear, with extreme reluctance, as I saw the light blue denim start to darken around the end of that long hard bulge in Justin's jeans. "Justin, open your fly, take out your cock and point it up towards your chest," I instructed him as I backed a step or two away from him.

"Oh, yes sir!" He cried out joyfully, knowing what was about to happen. His hands practically flew to the front of his jeans, and whipped open his fly in no time flat. There wasn't any bungling this time. Justin extracted his cock from his jeans in a smooth and quick motion, that came from long hard years of practice. He gulped a few times as he tenderly wrapped his hands about his cock and pointed that monster of his towards the sky. Slowly Justin looked over at me, and silently begged me to let him launch his missile from his silo.

"Justin, you will cum when you say out loud, 'I am your cowboy toy and my ass is yours'," I called out to him.

"I AM YOUR COWBOY TOY AND MY ASS IS YOURS, SIR!!!!" Justin screeched out immediately. His entire body went ridge like an iron rod as Justin erupted. The white lava that spewed forth from that steaming slit at the tip of Justin's cock, shot upwards to the roof of my apartment. It fell far short of the mark though. Justin's cum flew up past the top of his jeans and on past his belt buckle, landing just below his sternum. Actually, it was difficult for me to be sure exactly where Justin's cum landed on his white cowboy shirt. White on white is a bit hard to make out, after all. Justin howled with gusto as his mind and body were flooded with wave after wave of erotic bliss. His muscles slowly relaxed as the strain of his ejaculation started to fade. Justin continued to pump his body up and down slowly as he leaned his weight against the living room wall. After about a minute of this Justin's eyes cracked open and he looked over at me. He smiled at me as if he had just won a multimillion dollar lottery, or something. Unquestionably he was very pleased with himself. I smiled back at him in a friendly manner. (What else do you do at a time like that?) Justin closed his eyes dreamily as a sudden loud and low pitched moan forced itself from his lips. I flicked my eyes down from Justin's flushed face towards his still stiff cock. As I expected, a somewhat smaller flow of white liquid was ebbing over the top of Justin's cock and making it's way down the sides if his cock. There wasn't very much cum, but it did manage to spread out and over the tops of Justin's uppermost fingers as they lay clutched around that steel hard shaft of his.

I stood there and luxuriated in the sight of this 100 percent all American (actually he was Canadian,) cowboy, leaning there against my living room wall, making a mess all over himself. All the while Justin continued to move his body up and down as he repeatedly stood up on his tips of his toes, and then lowered himself back onto his heels. It was a tad humiliating for him, true, and would be even more when I brought him out of hypnosis. It was, however, poetic justice as far as I was concerned. What made it all the more delightful for me, was that he was enjoying himself completely, and later there would be no way he could deny it, even if he wanted to. The expression of utter bliss on his face, mixed with the somewhat empty look in his eyes was a captivating combination. I toyed with the idea of walking up to him and planting a long deep kiss on those lovely lips of his, since I knew he wouldn't offer even a token of resistance. It's my weakness, I guess. My knees melt when I see a good looking guy, hypnotized into a state of total servitude, while enjoying himself completely in the process. I knew that was Justin's mental state. I'd discovered that fact when I was sucking his nipples earlier. It had become a somewhat involuntary habit of mine, to scan a man's mind when I had physical contact with his body. I knew when I was doing a scan, but the scans started without exerting any conscious effort on my part. I suspected that these mental 'checks' of mine were becoming instinctive.

Justin's flow of semen stopped a few minutes after his initial release, and a few minutes after that Justin's body stopped moving in that cycle of up on his toes and back on his heels. Justin was drained in more than one way. His legs slowly buckled beneath him, and he gradually slid down the wall like a plant slowly wilting in the hot afternoon sun, smiling that sappy smile of his all the while. Justin ended up sitting on his bum, still leaning back against the wall, with his legs folded up in front of him, but that didn't last long. As the waves of relaxation passing through his body started to melt his muscles, his legs slowly crept down and out in front of him, moving apart slightly at the same time. As I stared at Justin sitting there with his legs splayed out in front of him, I had to admit to myself that he was a very tempting target. If I hadn't had something far more interesting in mind, I would have started stripping him down on the spot. (Come on now, admit it. If you had a guy in a position like that wouldn't YOU want to see what he looked like with his clothes off?) I noticed that Justin's legs weren't the only part of him that had become relaxed. His cock had long since become flaccid and was reverting to it's normal state.

"Justin, listen up," I said to him raising my voice slightly to be sure I caught his attention.

"Yes, sir," he said dreamily as he slowly turned his head to look at me and focused his eyes on me. It seemed to take a major effort on his part, which wasn't all that surprising when you consider what he had just been through.

"Put your cock back in your jeans, and do up your jeans. After that you may spread your cum all over the front of your shirt and your jeans," I said to him looking him squarely in the eyes. I wasn't sending commands to him, I was merely insuring that he knew I was serious. "When your cum has dried up you can go and sit on the sofa and slip back down into a wonderfully deep level of hypnosis. You'll like that, won't you?"

"Oh, yes sir, I will!" Justin agreed heartily. He broke his eye contact with me, and looked down towards his fly. I watched as he crammed his cock into his jeans and zipped his fly closed. His right hand moved down to the front of his jeans searching for some semen to spread around, while his left hand flew up to the middle of his chest and got to work on the pool of semen that clung there. As Justin began to move his fingers over his messy shirt and jeans, he let out a long sigh of subdued pleasure. It was clear that he truly did enjoy doing anything that I told him to do. I did so love it when my powers turned a man into such a responsive and receptive subject. I left Justin to tend to his duties, walked a few feet away from him, and turned toward the sofa. The best I had left for last. Cody.



Chapter 6. Cody.

You have to understand that when I said I had left the best for last, I wasn't only referring to those sprayed on jeans of Cody's that covered his wonderful butt. I was also referring to the fact that the evening's adventures and my nearly being beating to a bloody pulp were the direct result of Cody. It all originated with him. So, since it was all his idea, I had to come up (no pun intended) with something especially different and unique for him. The problem was, I couldn't think of anything at the moment. (Oh such a dilemma. To have a hypnotized hot hunk of a stud of a cowboy, and not have any idea what to do with him. Woe, is me!) Well, that's not exactly true. I knew what Cody was going to do to help Dallas out with his role in the rodeo, but after that it was anybody's guess. I let out a small sigh of exasperation, and decided to continue on with what I had in mind. Maybe something would pop into my head while I was watching Cody and Dallas. (I had heard of writer's block, but this was my first encounter with hypnotist block, that situation where you run out of ideas of what to do with the stud that you've just hypnotized.)

"Dallas and Cody come here and stand by me," I called out to the two spaced out cowboy studs. They blinked their eyes a few times as my instructions sank into their minds, passing through the mental fog of delights that they were lost in.

"Yes boss," they chimed in unison as they slowly stood up. They blinked their eyes a few more times before they trotted over to me with that classic and very sexy cowboy gait. You know the one, where the cowboy walks with just a slight swagger? I felt a slight rush of pleasure surf through me as I watched them amble over to me. I made a mental note to myself to see about attending the Calgary Stampede next year. (If one wants cowboys, one must go where the cowboys are.)

Dallas and Cody looked at me calmly with small smiles on their faces, ready to do whatever I might ask of them. (This was the reason why I so enjoyed hypnosis sessions with guys. The heady feeling that I got knowing that these men, and their bodies were mine to command, literally, was a thrill beyond any drug or amusement ride in the world.) "Dallas, you're going to show me your steer wrestling skills, and Cody you're going to be the steer," I instructed them. "Dallas be careful how you handle Cody. I think it would be best if you grabbed his shoulders when you wrestle him to the ground, rather than grabbing his head. When I snap my fingers the steer wrestling even starts. Does everyone understand what they are to do?"

"Yes, boss," Dallas answered as he walked away from me and headed out into the open area of the living room. He was going to need some space to do his bull dogging.

"Okay, boss," Cody responded with somewhat less enthusiasm than Dallas. Cody slowly dropped to his hands and knees as he got into character. Cody reached up with his right hand and removed his cowboy hat. He tossed his cowboy hat in the general direction of the sofa, not seeming to care if he managed to get it on the cushions of the sofa. He looked up at me for a moment and I could see that he was unhappy about having to play his part. His heart just was not in it. I reached down and touched Cody's forehead. As he was on his hands and knees right next to me, it was a short reach.

"Cody, you're going to be the best steer you can possibly be," I told him. "Dallas is your friend, and you want him to enjoy himself, so you're going to do your best and you're going to enjoy it." It seemed only fair to make sure that Dallas had some fun. Besides which, with Cody down on all fours I got to see that wonderful butt of his in action. (Okay, so the REAL reason for this entire steer wrestling event was that I wanted to see Cody's butt in action. Could you blame me?)

"I sure will, boss!" Cody replied, as his eyes lit up with newfound enthusiasm.

"Ready, boss," Dallas called out to me as he stood there looking over at Cody and myself. I moved away from Cody a few feet as I realized that I might get caught up in the crossfire, as it were. I held up my right hand, being sure that they could both see it, and placed my right middle finger next to my thumb as I prepared to snap my fingers.

SNAP!

They were off! Cody scurried away on all fours as fast as he could, with his lovely behind wiggling back and forth like a honeybee doing one of those tail wagging dances that bees do to tell the other bees where the honey is. (Cody didn't have to do that though. I KNEW where the honey was. That honey of an ass of Cody's was heading away from me as fast as it could!) Dallas walked quickly to where Cody was. There was no need for Dallas to run, since the distance between the two cowboys was so small. At the last possible second, though, Cody swerved to the right and away from Dallas causing Dallas to miss his mark. Dallas nearly lost his balance as he stumbled over Cody's lower legs. Or it could have been that Cody used his lower legs to trip Dallas. It all happened too quickly for me to be sure. (Like I could have asked for an instant reply? Not likely.) The net result though, was that Cody gained a few more seconds of freedom. Dallas recovered from his bumbling stumble, his face taking on a much more determined and serious expression as he searched about for Cody. It was a very short search. Dallas trotted up behind Cody, and launched himself down and across Cody's upper torso. I nearly clapped my hands with glee as I wallowed in the ambrosial sight of two cowboys bent over showing me their best assets. (Where is a camera when you really want one?)

Dallas wrestled his steer (Cody) to the ground all too quickly, which was to be expected. Dallas was much stronger and heavier than Cody. Dallas was lying on top of Cody's back and was flipping Cody over to his left side before I could do more than blink my eyes once or twice. Dallas rapidly grabbed Cody's two arms and brought them together next to Cody's left leg. Dallas held Cody's three limbs there for a second, then Dallas let go and raised his arms up in the air to signal the end of his run. Dallas stood up, turned about to face me and bowed deeply to me. It was fun and interesting to watch but it ended much too soon, I thought. Released, Cody climbed back onto all fours and started scampering about the apartment. It seems he was still in steer mode.

"Freeze!" I called out. Cody and Dallas froze instantly. "Dallas return to the sofa and your wonderful trance. Cody, you are no longer a steer. However you remain on your hands and knees, until I say otherwise."

"Right away, boss," Dallas acknowledged as he turned away from me and walked over to the dinning room, heading for the sofa. Justin was back sitting on the sofa I noticed as I walked Dallas head off in that direction. Justin must have returned to the sofa sometime during the bull dogging exposition that Cody and Dallas had just demonstrated.

"If you say so, boss," Cody said to me as he made himself comfortable on his hands and knees. I looked over and down at Cody for a second or two. Satisfied that he was going to stay where he was, I headed out to the kitchen for an item. I had finally decided on what I was going to do with Cody. It wasn't very original, but I would find it thoroughly enjoyable. I was back in less than a minute with a long rectangle shaped piece of waxed paper. During my trip, I debated on whether or not I should wake Cody from his trance or continue on as he was. I wasn't in the mood for a full fledged fight with Cody in his normal state. Leaving him in super hypnosis would be easier and more enjoyable for both of us. Besides it would be interesting to see how much of Cody's normal values and limits would surface while he was in this state. It is true that he was my hypnotized cowboy slave, but that didn't stop him from thinking on his own or voicing his objections. I walked over to where Cody was waiting on his hands and knees. Calmly I knelt down beside Cody, so that I was perpendicular to Cody's torso. I carefully placed the waxed paper so that it covered the area of the rug that was beneath Cody's torso and head. Cody turned his head to his left and watched me the entire time, but he didn't say anything. It wasn't necessary. The puzzled look on his face spoke volumes.

"I'm sure you are wondering what is going to happen now, aren't you Cody?" I asked him. (Talk about a superfluous question!)

"Yes, boss, I am," Cody answered me, blinking his eyes quizzically at me.

"Well, I'm going to milk you, Cody," I said to him, and smiled a small smile of anticipation.

"Milk me, boss? I'm not a cow!" Cody exclaimed shocked and surprised at the idea. The calm, mellow open and accepting expression on his face had been completely replaced by one of trepidation.

"True, but I am going to make something white come out of you, all the same," I said to him.

"You're going to make me cum?" Cody exclaimed in horror. "But but I'm a guy and you're a guy. That's that's not right, boss." The shock was starting to grow in Cody's mind as he realized that I was implying. "Besides, boss, I'm not turned on by guys. Not at all. The idea of another guy touching me, touching my body makes me feel sick." Cody actually seemed to turn slightly green as he spoke that last sentence.
"Oh, you're not gay then?" I asked him. (Yet another superfluous question.)

"Hell no, boss!" Cody exclaimed clearly indignant that I had even suggested such a thing. "I'm as straight as an arrow!"

"Too bad," I sighed dramatically. "You might have enjoyed this more if you were gay. Still, I know you'll enjoy yourself as I get you nice and hard and help you to shoot the largest load you've ever shot." Cody looked aghast at me as I spoke to him. He shook his head from side to side in an emphatic if silent 'no'.

Yes, this was cruel and unusual action on my part. I admit that. It was also part of Cody's punishment, and it was necessary. I was going to drag out the entire process of stimulating him and having him cum, and he was going to remember each and every second of it. Still, I couldn't help but have a few pangs of guilt as I set out on this course. It was not like me to do this. The guilt was because I knew I was going to enjoy it. A few months ago I doubt that I could never have brought myself to have done this to a man. (I knew that I was dipping just a tiny little bit into that dark well in the bottom of my soul. As I had predicted, it was a lot easier to do, this time.) Cody was an unusual case though, that required unusual measures. He had attempted to arrange a beating of me. I knew that the only way to insure that Cody would never try this with me again was to instill in him a healthy and long lasting fear of me. I did not want any possible future trouble from Cody or his friends.

"Oh, I understand your reluctance, Cody," I told him. "But you really have no choice in the matter. You can't get up off your hands and knees, because I haven't yet given you permission, and you know that you have to obey me no matter what. You are my obedient cowboy slave after all, aren't you?" I asked the last question knowing full well what the answer had to be. (Yup. I was toying with the man. On one level I enjoyed it while on another level I felt a twinge of guilt for doing this. Talk about mixed emotions.)

"Yes, I'm your obedient cowboy slave, boss," Cody admitted through clenched teeth, as he looked at me. His expression was less than friendly. He didn't want to admit that truth, but he had to. Clearly he was fighting the milking idea as much as he could. The irony of the situation was not lost on me. If anything that made the situation even more enjoyable for me. Consider exactly what was happening in this situation if you would. A hypnotized slave, who knew that he must obey, was at the same time exerting his utmost effort to avoid doing something that he didn't want to do, even though he knew deep down that he was going to wind up doing it anyway. Why did Cody put himself to so much useless effort? I did not know, but if I had to make an educated guess, I would have said that it was due to his basic personality. He was a fighter and he never gave up or gave an inch.

"Since you are straight and not gay like me, I'm sure that the idea of another man touching you and making you hard is difficult for you to come to terms with," I told him.

"You're gay, boss?" Cody asked, stunned at my revelation. "I I didn't. Dear Lord, help me," Cody said in a quite whisper as the blood drained from his face. Cody looked at me, his face as white as new fallen snow in the middle of January. He gulped a few times, and small tremors started to run across his body. His breathing became short and sharp. I could see the muscles in his arms and legs tense up.

I had a pretty good idea what was causing Cody to get a sudden case of the shakes. "I am not going to have any anal or oral sex with you Cody," I said to him. "I am going to run my hand over your body, but there will not be any exchange of body fluids. I'm not even going to kiss you on the mouth."

Cody nodded his head at me in silent thanks, the relief washing over him like a warm relaxing shower. I saw the muscles in his legs and arms loosen up, while his breathing became deeper and slower as his fear started to dissipate. "I still don't want you to do this, boss," Cody protested, an edge of fear still present in his voice. "Please don't, boss. I'll I'll be good, I promise. I'll I'll do anything else you want, but please, please don't do this to me. Please, in name of everything that is decent, please don't milk me."

Cody's pleading did not fall on deaf ears. A part of me felt for him, for the helplessness that was surely making him feel like a fly trapped in amber. Yet at the same time, that part of me acknowledged that this was one lesson that Cody had to be taught, and like it or not I was the teacher. I did like the idea, very much in fact. I had wanted to grab that Grade-A behind of Cody's all night. It was ironic indeed that a man, who only a few short hours ago had intended to beat me up for no good reason, was pleading for mercy. I looked at Cody waiting there on all fours, wondering what I was going to do next. I couldn't go through with it I decided. I had to teach him a lesson, but maybe just the threat of milking him would be enough. It was time to end this little adventure before it went too far. I reached out my right hand and touched Cody on the forehead, intending to calm and remove his fears before I sent him back down into a deeper and more profound state of hypnosis.

Imagine the bolt from the blue that crashed through my mind as I discovered that I'd been neatly conned by Cody! I scanned his mind, expecting to encounter a calm surface with fear and terror swirling around just beneath the surface. Instead, what I found was a light dusting of fear, like sprinkles on the frosting of a cake, atop a solid foundation of calm and self confidence. It did not take much effort for me to read Cody's thoughts. They were as plain as if they had been written on the side of the Chrysler Building, in billboard sized type.

Cody was fearful of gay sex, due to AIDS. (These days, who isn't?) He didn't like the idea of me, or any other man, touching his body. He doubted that I'd be able to stir up any type of reaction in him, no matter how deeply he was hypnotized. (Cocky and self assured to the end, that was Cody all right.) By doing his best to pretend to be terrified of me, Cody was certain he could play on my sympathies and get me to call off this charade. Cody didn't think I had it in me to continue with such a farce. He didn't think much of gay men, although he had nothing against them. In general, he considered gay men to be something less than 'real' men. He was sure that any 'real' or 'normal' man was more than a match for any gay man. (Hey these are his thoughts not mine. You have a problem with this, you take it up with Cody.)

I was flabbergasted. Numbly I let my right hand and arm drop away from Cody's forehead and drop down by my side. I didn't know what to think at first. Cody's act had been very convincing. He had persuaded me to call a halt to my plans for the evening. If I had not scanned his mind, I would never have guessed in a million years that it was all an act, on his part. Of course this revelation only served to strengthen anew my resolve to continue on with what I had originally planned. If anything it renewed and whetted my appetite for Cody's Grade-A butt. I would not be denied my prize this evening. Not now.

I suppose I should explain something about my powers which you may be wondering about at this stage. I had said earlier that my scans of the three cowboy's minds revealed that they were totally submissive to me. That is true. They would do whatever I wanted, and they would be happy to serve in that respect. But it did not mean that their personalities were gone. They were the same men as they had been before the super hypnosis with the same strengths, likes, dislikes and phobias as before. If something was upsetting enough to them they would react just as they normally would, except that their desire to serve me would urge them to express their worries and concerns to me. In some rare cases such as that first time with Steven Stokes, if the suggestion is upsetting enough the subject can actually refuse the suggestion. The subject will carry out the suggestion if given it a second time (this is known as a level two enforced directive), but the subject will ask or plead to not be forced to carry out the suggestion. Cody, though had taken that one step further, which was an interesting and completely unexpected turn of events. Cody had used his basic distrust and loathing of gay men combined with his fear of contracting AIDS, and his self confidence in his own abilities, to create enough elbow room in his mind to permit him to slither around and avoid or resist my suggestions. It wasn't exactly a shield on his mind, more a way of finding a loophole in a contract. Cody had the instincts of a good lawyer, or a con man. (Or are the two, one in the same?)

These thoughts and revelations flashed through my mind in only a minute or so. It wasn't long enough for Cody to start wondering at the delay. I flashed a smile at Cody as I got back on track, but it wasn't the track that he was expecting.

"The touch of my fingers and hands on any part of your body is like magic, Cody," I said to him as I looked him directly in the eyes. (Super hypnosis powers, ya gotta love'em.) "It starts off small and tiny at first, mind you. Only a feeling of slight pleasure and warmth. But as I continue to touch you, and to caress your body, the feeling starts to grow of it's own accord, getting stronger and more powerful, as I continue to caress, fondle and explore your body."

"I don't think so, boss," Cody replied matching my stare. Surprisingly he managed to inject a look of coldness and defiance into his eyes. "Maybe I can't get up and walk out of here, but there is no way in the whole wild world that I'm gonna do like you just said. Now that woman friend of yours from the restaurant, she could get a rise out of me, but you never will." Cody firmly pressed his lips together, and set his face in a cold stony stare as he glared at me. He wasn't angry, or upset, just stating a plain and simple truth as he saw it. It wasn't going to happen, and that was that. He had an aura of confidence about him like a gambler who has a royal flush when the dealer has only a pair of deuces. Cody was going to have to be convinced of this the hard way, if you will forgive the pun.

I kept that knowing smile on my face as I reached out and ran the tips of the fingers of my left hand down the bridge of Cody's nose. "How was that?" I asked him.

"It it was okay, boss," Cody admitted, keeping his gaze locked on my face. The look of stunned surprise on his face, though belied his mild words. It was more than okay, but Cody wasn't about to admit it, at least not yet.

I ran the finger tips of my right hand across Cody's left cheek, a few times. (No not that one, the one on his face. Don't get ahead of the story! Damn it!) "And how about that?" I queried him.

"It was better, much better, boss," Cody sighed softly. His lips were no longer firmly pressed together, but his face retained that cold stony look.

I reached up and ran my right hand across Cody's slightly muscular shoulders, from his left side over to his right side, and back again. I had to reach across Cody to do it, but I wasn't complaining.

"And that?" I prompted him.

"Much better, boss. It felt, kind of nice, actually", Cody admitted as he sighed once or twice. The cold stony expression on his face was starting to melt and soften. Not much, but a bit. Still getting Cody to admit to what he was feeling was like trying to get a politician to speak the truth; difficult at the best of times.

I ran my right hand over Cody's shoulders again, but more slowly this time, as if I were savoring the touch of his light red cotton cowboy shirt. I was savoring that touch, as a matter of fact. "How about now?" I inquired.

"Better. Much, much better, boss," Cody sighed. He took a few deep relaxing breaths and his entire face started to relax. A second later a small grin broke out on his face. "Ituhit feels kind of good," he confessed, as he blinked his eyes a few times. His eyes were starting to lose their focus on me.

I let my right hand move up Cody's left shoulder yet again, but this time I moved my hand up onto the back of Cody's neck. I kept my hand there as I moved it about slowly, while I spoke to him. "Getting ride of all the tension and strain in the muscles of your neck now, Cody. Letting my touch relax the muscles and remove the tension and strain so that you can let your head hang down comfortably and easily, now."

"Oh, yes, I can feel that, boss," Cody confirmed a few heartbeats later. Slowly his head turned away from me, moving to his right until Cody was looking down at the wax paper on the living room rug. Slowly, as I continued to move my right hand over and about the back of his neck, Cody's head dropped down lower and lower. It was such a wonderful sight to see, Cody's head continuing to drop down until it was hanging there limply and loosely. I lifted my hand off of Cody's neck and let my right hand and arm return to my side. Gradual surrender of a subject is so much more satisfying than a quick conquest.

"Do you want more, Cody? Do you want me to continue to move my magic hands over your body?" I asked him as he stood there on all fours, with his head dangling down.

"Maybe just a little bit more, boss," Cody answered softly, turning his head to his left to look up at me as he spoke. The glassy-eyed stare that he sent my way confirmed that he was feeling the effects of my magic hands much more than he was letting on.

I regarded Cody as he remained perched there in front of me, on his hands and knees. He was quite a sight, close up. A handsome skinny cowboy wearing a bright red cowboy shirt tucked into a pair of painted on dark blue jeans, with black cowboy boots stuck on his feet. A wide black leather belt with an enormous belt buckle at the front, encircled his narrow waist, accentuating Cody's slim and trim body. Bent over the way he was, his butt looked fantastic, and that was only in profile. I could hardly wait to see his butt head on, close up. As for running my hands over that butt, just the thought of doing that was making my jeans somewhat uncomfortable, if you know what I mean. (It was a great feeling, let me tell you!) As much as I was hankering to get my hands on that butt as soon as I could, I knew it would be far more enjoyable to draw out the moment as long as I possibly could. I licked my lips and got started.

I put my hands on Cody's left hand and slowly moved my hands up Cody's left arm. I let my fingers explore every square inch of the material of Cody's cowboy shirt. Up and around his elbow, across his biceps, into the crook of his arm, and back down around his wrist. Slowly I worked my way up to his left shoulder. Cody sighed and breathed deeply the entire time, letting out only a few soft yelps of delight as his responsiveness to my touching his body grew.

I got up on my knees now so that I would better be able to explore Cody's body. My hands moved up and over Cody's left shoulder. They lingered there a moment or two before I let my hands move on across Cody's firm strong back, heading for Cody's right shoulder. Back and forth my hands moved, across Cody's shoulders and upper back, dancing in slow interact swirls to music that played only in my mind. I smiled as I heard Cody whimper with pleasure at what he was feeling. Still a whimper could indicate pain. It was best to check.

"Do you want me to stop, Cody?" I whispered into his left hear, my lips a scant inch from his left ear.

"No, boss," Cody muttered. "I like this. My back feels so good. The muscles are so relaxed and warm. You could do the rest of my back if you like." A few more whimpers made their way past Cody's throat as my hands started to move down Cody's narrow but firm back. It did not take me long to explore the remainder of that red terrain that was Cody's back. I stopped, somewhat reluctantly as you might well imagine, where Cody's red cowboy shirt was tucked into his jeans. Letting my fingers walk amongst the hills of Cody's behind was definitely on my list of things to do today, but there was one slight detour I had to make first. I wanted Cody far more excited and aroused than he was now, before I made camp on Cody's butt.

Cody arched his back in sheer delight as long low moan made its way from between his lips. He was definitely starting to respond to my earlier suggestions and my caressing of his body. (Now there's a bulletin from the news room for you!) Quickly I pulled my hands off of Cody's back and lay down on my back. I wiggled my way beneath Cody's chest and got ready to turn up the heat a few more degrees. I was lying perpendicular to Cody's body so that his head was off to my right and his butt was off to my left. I almost groaned out loud with annoyance as I remembered I was right handed! I'd have to squirm about somewhat to direct my attentions to Cody's butt when the time came. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles, as they say.

I reached up, pressed my hands on his flat stomach and began to move my hands about his stomach and lower chest. Cody's sighs increased in frequency and loudness as I continued my caressing of his wonderfully flat stomach. "How's that?" I taunted him, after a few minutes work.

"Ohhhhh.' Cody moaned out loud as he thrilled to the sensations of my hands moving across the lower front part of his body.

"It feels so good." Cody answered in between moans. His eyes were firmly closed as he began to give himself over to the feelings of pleasure and joy that were slowly building within him.

"I'll bet that you know your nipples are one of your strongest erogenous zones, Cody," I said to him matter-of-factly. Cody's only response was a few more moans, and a slight nodding of his head. I continued to caress Cody's lower chest and stomach, occasionally letting my hands reach up and around to touch parts of Cody's back. I let out a few sighs myself as I maintained my stroking of Cody's body, letting the minutes slip by so as to build up the expectation in Cody.

"When you want me to stroke and fondle your nipples, Cody, all you have to do is ask," I prompted him. I didn't need Cody's permission, but making him ask me to do this was eminently satisfying. Cody just moaned at my words. His moans though were louder and more frequent than his sighs. Clearly he was starting to become aroused. I flicked my eyes to the left but due to the poor lighting and the colour of his dark blue jeans, I couldn't determine if Cody was staring to get hard or not.

"Ohhhh." Cody moaned again. He gulped a few times and his body shuddered once or twice as he fought back the urge to moan again. "I I never thought I'd say this, especially not to another man, but would you please stroke my nipples, boss?" Cody blurted out in a soft quiet voice. The words seemed to rush out of his mouth as if he had to say them before he lost his nerve.

My answer was to move my hands up Cody's chest and to cover each of his nipples with one hand.

"Oh thank you, boss!" Cody cried out with profound joy. "Oh God! Your hands on my nipples! Pressing down! Moving around all over my nipples! Oh the joy! I I never knew it could be like this, boss!" Cody arched his back up and down repeatedly as he surrendered to the pleasure that was flooding into his brain.

"A man is fondling your nipples, Cody, and you don't care that it is a man, do you?" I asked him, having a pretty good idea of what his answer would be.

"GOD DAMN RIGHT, BOSS!" Cody screamed out at me. "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK THAT A MAN IS PLAYING WITH MY NIPPLES AND DRIVING ME FUCKING CRAZY! THIS IS SUCH A FUCKING TURN ON!!! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!!!" Having voiced his opinion on the matter, and rather loudly at that, Cody returned his full attention to the erotic stimulation that my talented fingers (and my super hypnosis powers) were providing him. He began to rock his body slowly from side to side as his moans of pleasure became louder and more frequent. He closed his eyes in sensuous surrender to my fondling of his nipples.
"So marvellous, isn't it Cody?" I ragged him.

"Oh yes, boss! I want more. Please don't stop!" Cody cried out softly.

"How's your cock doing, Cody?" I asked wondering just how stimulated Cody actually was.

"My cock? It's it's gettin' harder by the sec', boss. My my nipples are hard now too," Cody answered with a mixture of hesitation and wonder in his voice. "But it feels so good, too. Hard nipples, and my cock gettin' harder and harder" Cody moaned a few more times as his body continued to rock back and forth in euphoric abandonment.

"It's supposed to get hard when you are turned on, Cody," I reassured him, as I continued my caressing of his nipples and chest. Lying there on my back, reaching up to twiddle and fiddle with Cody's now hard and erect nipples, was sheer delight. It was so much easier lying on my back doing this. I didn't have to strain myself or worry about putting too much of my weight on Cody's chest. "If you think this is good, imagine what my fingers would feel like on your bare skin, Cody," I told him as I started to get him ready for the next phase.

"Oh oh oh." Was all that Cody could reply in between moans and grunts as the thought burned his way into his brain.

"Do you want to feel my fingers and hands on your bare naked chest, Cody?" I asked him softly, as I moved my fingers in a lazy figure eight around his nipples.

"CHRIST ALMIGHTY! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK?" Cody cried out at me, sounding both exasperated and excited. "Of course I do, boss!" He continued in a slightly less volatile voice. In between his continued moans of delight, Cody barked out soft oh's as he began to relish what was happening to him. Suddenly he stood up on his knees, breaking the contact between my hands and his chest. Cody open his eyes wide as his hand flew to his chest and began pawing frantically at the buttons of his red cowboy shirt. I blinked my eyes in surprise at the swiftness of his actions. He had the shirt unbuttoned and was savagely pulling the shirt out from his jeans in record time. He shucked that shirt off in two seconds flat! He tossed his shirt off somewhere to his right (my left), heedless of where it might land. What a site was revealed! I had expected Cody's chest to be slim and trim with an average sprinkling of chest hair. What I got was a wonderfully smooth slim chest with only a handful of hairs about each nipple. If ever a chest cried out to be sucked this one did! Cody dropped back down onto his hands bringing that titillating (pardon the pun) chest of his, within mere inches of my suddenly quivering lips.

I reached up with my arms and wrapped them about Cody's chest as well as I was able. I scooted up until my back was at a forty-five degree angle from the floor and my lips were only a hair's breath away from one of Cody's nipples. Then I let my self down, and crawled out from under Cody. I brought him out of his trance and send him on his way home. THE HELL I DID!!!! WHAT IN THE NAME OF LITTLE GREEN APPLES DO YOU THINK I DID??? I clamped my lips onto that nipple and hung on for dear life! I sucked like I'd never sucked before. It wasn't easy let me tell you! I think I had a vague idea of what riding a bull must have been like. As my lips sucked and my tongue licked and lapped at Cody's nipple, Cody's body rocked back and forth from side to side while humping up and down at the same time. It was all I could do to keep my arms wrapped firmly about Cody's chest. (Forget the bull, ride the cowboy! I think I've seen that on a T-shirt somewhere.) The rest of my body was dragging down at me like a huge lead weight. I think it was this, more than anything else that tired me out. Since my mouth was otherwise occupied, I wasn't able to give voice to the pleasure that I was experiencing. Cody was doing a fine job of making my enjoyment as well as his abundantly clear. (Does the expression screaming like a banshee means anything to you?) I was able to spread my attention evenly, between Cody's nipples. They were not THAT far apart after all.

Unlike Andy, my upper body strength was not well developed. I was only able to hang on for a few minutes. (No trophy belt buckle for me, I guess.) Gradually gravity won the battle and I was pulled down to the ground, covered in sweat, panting and my arms feeling like they had turned to lead. As I lay there trying to catch my breath and let my strength return, a smile broke out on my face as the crazy thought popped into my mind that this would make a most interesting event at a gay rodeo. Clearly I was suffering from slight oxygen deprivation to have come up with such an idea! Still, I couldn't help but smile as I thought about it. Kinky. Totally impractical, and highly unlikely to ever come about, but wonderfully kinky nonetheless. (Yes, a sure fire indication that it is MOST definitely time for a vacation!)

"More, boss? Please?" Cody called out softly to me as I lay there resting my aching arms and catching my breath. When I didn't respond within a minute or so Cody spoke up again. "Please boss? I really liked how you sucked my nipples. It was such a turn on, and I well I want more boss. Please? Pretty please?"

Part of me wanted to keep on sucking Cody's nipples, but I just did not have the strength. (Well what the HELL did you expect? Here I am playing with three cowboys in ONE night! I'm only human after all. I have my limits.) I did have the strength to continue on with my original plans though, as I would not have to cling to any part of Cody for what I had in mind. Oh sure, I could have had Cody roll over on his back and then sucked his nipples all I wanted, but all in all I think I'd had enough of Cody's nipples for the evening. I lifted my arms up and let my hands and fingers explore the bare skin of Cody's chest and stomach. Almost with the instant of my fingers touching his skin, Cody started to moan and rock his body back and forth gently. This might not be as intense as my sucking his nipples, but clearly the feather light touch of my fingers tips on and about his nipples was gratifying to Cody. (Boy, DO I have a gift for understatement.)

"How about we move on to an even more responsive and sensitive erogenous zone of yours, Cody?" I asked him as I got ready to redirect my attention below the belt, as it were. While waiting for his answer, I let my fingers gently squeeze his nipples every now and then, as I kept up my ministrations of that wonderfully smooth skin of his. There were a few scars here and there, that marred the landscape of his chest and stomach. Evidence, clearly, that bull riding wasn't an easy much less a safe sport. I let a few grams of admiration for Cody seep into my opinion of him. I might not like him much as a person or a man, but as a cowboy I had to admire that he took risks that I never would have.

"There's oh oh there's another part of my oh yes oh my body that's even more oh yes touch me there boss yes oh yes that's even more of a turn oh yes your fingers squeezing me so gently oh yes yes more of a turn on than my oh oh nipples?" Cody managed to ask, in between moans and oh's of pleasure.

"Butt of course," I answered him. (Bad pun, I know but I could not resist.) I looked up and studied Cody's face, a scant six inches away from mine. He wore a veil of contentment and tranquility as he stood there on all fours letting his body sway back and forth as he enjoyed himself. Slowly my answer seeped into Cody's consciousness, and his eyes blinked open as if he were awakening from a long sleep. He stood there on all fours, moaning a few times as he gradually puzzled out the double meaning of my answer.

"My butt, boss?" He asked, bewildered. "My butt is an erogenous zone?" The concept seemed to be somewhat foreign to him. He looked both lost and perplexed as the meaning of my answer became clear to him. The confusion on his face gradually faded away to be replaced by a much stronger and clearer expression of doubt and disbelief. The expression settled on his face like cement hardening. Cody stopped swaying his body, and stopped his moaning. (Even my continued stroking of his nipples no longer generated any reaction from him.) It seemed as if he had come to some type of decision. "No way. Not me. Not my butt," he said as he shook his head back and forth. "I've had enough boss. My nipples are one thing. My butt is another. I'm not going to enjoy that at all, so you just might as well not even bother."

"Let's find out, shall we?" I asked him, slightly surprised at his declaration. I had expected Cody to be so enthralled with the notion that his butt would be even more responsive than his nipples, that he would actually ask me to play with his butt. Cody had not done so and I was a bit disappointed.

"Fine, go ahead, boss," Cody agreed doubtfully, the set and firm tone of his voice indicating that he was certain my efforts would be futile. "Waste your time if you like. I can use the rest."

I crawled out from beneath Cody and climbed up onto my hands and knees. Why bother standing up after all? It was a short trip from Cody's chest to his backside. Before I scurried over to Cody's behind though, I made sure to reposition the sheet of wax paper back underneath Cody. It had become dislodged when I'd crawled beneath Cody to caress his chest and stomach. It looked like Cody did not want to believe that he could be at all aroused just by having his butt touched, especially if his jeans were still on. His doubts and convictions in the matter were sincere, though. I would have to proceed with caution. (See? Mind scans DO come in handy every now and then.) I maneuvered myself into position; beside Cody, on his right, and just behind his buttocks. The target was in clearly in my sights. Time to engage the enemy.

I took a couple of deep relaxing breaths as I controlled my sudden urge to grab those two perfect buns in front of me. Up close like this, Cody's ass was even more sexy and enthralling, if that were possible. Bent over as he was on his hands and knees, was causing those painted on jeans of his to snuggle up against his buttocks, thighs and crotch. The huge bulging wallet in his right hip pocket only added to the strain that those Wrangers of his were under. As much as I wanted to, I could not just plop my hands on Cody's buttocks and start nuzzling them with my hands. The shock would be too great. Cody would enjoy the sensation, but the intensity of the pleasure might actually frighten him. I had to do this slowly, carefully, and delicately. (Isn't it just wonderful the way these things work out? I wanted to do a gentle and slow fondle of Cody's butt, and now I had to for both Cody's sake as well as my own.)

As gently as I could I reached out and touched Cody's left buttock with the tip of my right index finger, pressing down just enough to be sure that he would feel it. I thought it best to stay away from Cody's wallet as that would be less threatening to him. I moved my finger around to follow the seam of the left hip pocket of Cody's jeans.

Cody's body jerked once as he caught his breath in surprise. "What? What happened? What was that, boss?" Cody asked as he turned his head, and looked back at me completely baffled.

"What was what?" I asked aback.

"What did you do, boss?" Cody asked again, looked directly at me. In the back of those emerald green eyes of his I could see the distant but distinct glow of pleasure.

"I traced the seam of the left hip pocket of your jeans, with my right index finger, Cody," I told him truthfully. This was the pivotal moment. If he became frightened at his reaction to this minor stimulation, I would have to abort my plans for the evening, unless I used my powers on him again and forced him to accept and enjoy what I had in mind. I didn't really want to do that, though. It wouldn't be as much fun. While it was true that Cody had to obey me, I had not told him it was completely unconditional. By asking him questions, I was giving him a small but important scope of independent action. It was far more satisfying to me if I could get Cody sexually exited, and have him admit and agree that this is what was happening. Why? Well, because that way Cody retained his humanity and did not become a 'play thing'. Call it respecting your subjects if you like.

"Oh." Cody asked and now a tone of wonder coloured his voice. "It felt well kind a good, boss. It felt like well I'm not really sure what it felt like."

"Did it turn you on, Cody? Did it get you hard?" I pestered him.

"Only a little bit, boss. I could feel my cock stir jut a bit," he admitted in a quiet voice.

I did not bother asking Cody if his cock had gotten soft after I'd stopped grabbing his nipples. It was a logical conclusion that if Cody's cock was just stirring now, that it had become flaccid rather quickly. I traced the seam of the left hip pocket of Cody's jeans a second time, and then filled in the rectangle, if you follow me. Cody's reaction was a more pronounced shuddering of his body, and several sharp intakes of his breath. I also heard one long shuddering sigh escape his lips.

"Keep on telling me how you feel, Cody," I urged him. "It's so easy to do that now, isn't it?"

"Yes, boss," Cody acknowledged. "That was even better than the last time. It felt sort of stronger, I think. I liked it a bit more." Cody let out another soft moan, but it did not come easily. The moan seemed to have to fight its way out. Cody could have given lessons on how to be stubborn.

I placed my left hand on Cody's left buttock and started to move my left hand in a big slow smooth circle (my specialty on buttocks it would seem). Once. Twice. Three times.

"Oh yes" Cody breathed and let out a more relaxed moan. "That DOES feel good, boss. Sort of warm and tingly, and nice."

I wasn't sure who was enjoying this more, Cody or me. I had longed all evening to get my hands on Cody's ass, and here I was, halfway there. Still I knew that slow and steady would be far more arousing for the both of us, than if I were to just saddle Cody's ass with both of my hands and go to town. So, I kept up with the smooth circular caress of Cody's left buttock for a few more minutes. Occasionally, I let my left hand drift down and brush close to Cody's crack. Just enough to tempt and torment him. It was most effective to judge by the louder moans and much stronger shudders that passed through Cody's body when my fingers neared the seam in the center of the back of Cody's jeans. (Do I know what I'm doing or don't I?)

"Would it be okay with you if I were to start massaging your right buttock with my right hand, Cody?" I asked him quietly. I was careful to use the word massage, and not caress, as that term might have upset him.

"Oh, yes, please, boss, please!" Cody called out between moans. "I know it will feel even better to have both of your hands on my butt, boss."

"What about your wallet, Cody?" I teased him.

"What about it, boss?" Cody replied his voice taking on a befuddled tone.

"Well, I might wind up touching it, if I touch your right buttocks. I might even have to remove you wallet to get a good grip on your ass," I cautioned him.

"Who the fuck cares?" Cody asked brushing off my concerns like the dangling threads of a shredded spider's web. "All I want, boss, is both of your hands on my ass, moving all over my ass, playing with my ass. Playing with me. Oh yes! I want that, boss." Cody let out a few more moans, and loosely swung his head back and forth as if his neck was made of rubber.

I smiled to myself at this pleasing change in Cody's attitude. He might not have come right out and said it, but it was clear that he was surrendering himself more and more with each passing moment. I placed my right hand on Cody's right buttock and started to move my right hand in slow smooth steady circles in time with my left hand.

"OH FUCK THAT FEELS GOOD!" Cody cried out jerking his head up toward the ceiling. It had taken only a few circles of my hands on his buttocks to solicit this reaction from him. Cody started to pant with excitement as he continued to grunt and groan. "More, please? Oh yes, more. Don't stop, please." Cody kept repeating as I kept up my caressing of his buttocks.

"I must kowtow to you, boss!" Cody suddenly declared as he dropped his head to the carpet, and thrust his denim clad bum upward. Slowly Cody began to sway that grand and glorious gluteus maximus of his in front of my hands. The gentle back and forth swaying of his bum caused my hands to lightly brush all over both buttocks, to Cody's everlasting delight. After a few moments, he continued speaking "I I must present you with all of my ass. Please, boss, please touch the rest of me. My crack, my cock, my balls. Please let those magic fingers of yours touch them too. I ache for your touch, boss. I want it so bad. My body demands it, boss. Please, boss, please? I'll I'll do whatever you want. Anything boss. Really. You just name it and I'll do it." he announced shamelessly, as he continued to sway that beautiful bubble butt of his in front of me.

"That's good," I told him. "And so is this!" I urged him as I moved my right hand down in between his legs. I didn't stop there though. I moved my hand upward and curled my hand around as I let my fingers probe for that hard long cock of Cody's had had to be hanging around there somewhere. I didn't have to send out a search party. I located that monster in only a second or two. It wasn't at all difficult. Cody's cock was long, hard, and even through the denim of his jeans I could feel that cock throbbing.

"You can't cum until I let you, Cody," I reminded him sternly.

"Yes yes, boss," Cody grunted out his agreement. "What what ever you say, boss."

"When you feel yourself getting close to shooting your load, Cody, you will start to bellow like a cow. When you bellow you will take out your cock and point it at the wax paper on the floor," I instructed him.

"A cow, boss?" Cody asked his voice coloured with surprise. Cody grunted and a loud low moan was suddenly launched from his lips, cutting off any further comments or questions. The moan slowly subsided. Cody raised up his head, and turned his head to the right as best he could to try and look at me. I could only see his right profile. Cody open his eyes and smiled at me dreamily. "Yes, of course, boss. A cow. Bellow like a cow." He said blissfully. He turned his head back and slowly raised it up so that he was looking up at the wall in front of him.

I let my hands continue their detailed exploration of Cody's butt, crotch, cock and balls. Well, as much as I could with that denim between me and Cody's skin. Cody shuddered and rocked his body wantonly, as he lost himself in the erotic pleasures that continued to pour into his mind. Cody's bull rider butt was all that I could have hoped for, or wanted. Hard and firm. Smooth with skin tight jeans encasing it. (I let out a moan or two of my own at this point.) Those nice hard butt cheeks of his. I grabbed them with both hands and squeezed them as tightly as I could, which wasn't all that much considering how hard and firm they were. Cody's wallet in his right hip pocket didn't help any. I quickly turned my attention, back to the inside of Cody's thighs. I let my hands move slowly up and down inside of his legs as I stroked him. Cody's only response was more and louder moans. (I don't think that he was exactly capable of constructing a coherent sentence right then.) I moved my hands upwards to the front of Cody's jeans. I located his long hard cock and let my fingers travel along its entire length. His cock throbbed with power and strength. As I continued my gentle stoking of that long hard mound of his, Cody's body quivered with the building tension and desire for his release. Moans, groans, grunts and small barks of excitement were the only sounds that Cody seemed able to make. Human speech now seemed beyond him.
Cody's butt reminded me of Andy's butt except that his was larger and had more meat on it. Oddly enough, it was the thought of Andy popping into my head that kept me from ordering Cody to shuck off his jeans. I knew that he would have, if I'd told him to. I knew that Cody was ready to do practically anything I told him at this point. A part of me did want Cody to strip right then and there. The other part of me, the part that was in love with Andy was much stronger though and that part of me kept those words locked in my throat. It was far easier than I had imagined it would be to keep myself from going too far with Cody. It was a combination of my deep love for Andy, and my fear of losing control. The memories of my near night of disaster with Chuck were burned into my mind. Once again I saw the dark side of my nature, the evil well at the bottom of my soul, if you will. Those images and feelings flashed through my mind like an early warning alarm. They didn't dampen my feelings or enthusiasm for the moment, but they pulled me back from the edge of the canyon of ecstasy that I had been about to jump into.

"Moo!" Cody bellowed out loud as he stood up on his knees suddenly. His hands flow toward the front of his jeans. His body trembled like a leaf caught in a storm as he frantically tried to force his fumbling fingers to open his fly and release his aching cock from its long imprisonment. Success was finally achieved after a few failed attempts. It probably took about 30 seconds, although I'm sure it seemed much longer to Cody. Cody let out another loud 'moo' as he dropped back down to his hands and knees. Cody spread his legs apart a bit but it was unnecessary. I could clearly see his long hard cock jutting out from the front of his jeans and pointing downward at a firm, hard forty-five degree angle towards the floor. I could see the pre-cum dripping off of the head of Cody's penis. He was very close to shooting his load, it would seem.

"Moo! Moo! Moo!" Cody cried out to me as his body trembled with the strain of holding back his release. His head bobbed up and down slightly as he fought against the pressure to ejaculate. He struggled for breath for a moment or two, as more 'moos' forced their way past his lips. "Please boss? I have to cum so badly, boss?" Cody managed to call out to me, in desperation. "Thisthis bull is ready to be milked, boss! Please milk me, boss? Please put your warm strong fingers on my cock and milk me boss. Please?"

"This one time only, when you next hear me say your name, Cody, you will feel my fingers encircle your cock and you will release your load," I told him. "It will be a ten times better than the best jerk off that you've ever had." Cody nodded his head in frantic agreement as a stronger tremor shook his body.

I put my hands on Cody's butt, one hand on each buttock, and pressed down firmly. I didn't want Cody to miss his target, because then I'd have a heck of mess to clean up. I cleared my throat nosily, and then wet my lips. "Cody," I called out to him.

He bucked, pushing his buttocks back and into my hands for a split second. Then he thrust his hips forward, while arching his back. He pointed his head up to the high heavens and let out an ear shattering screech of euphoric delight. I was surprised that the plaster didn't start to fall off of the ceiling of my apartment, from the force of Cody's yells. He was loud, and that was putting it mildly. Boy was that an understatement! His was the Mount St. Helen's of yells.

Cody did not miss the target fortunately. He shot his entire load onto the waxed paper on the floor. How could he have missed? It was a large enough target after all. Cody's jeans remained nice and clean. The same could not be said for mine, however. Since I was in contact with Cody's body at the time of his moment of intense pleasure, I received a bit of feedback through my hands and into my mind, which caused me to release my own load at the same time. I didn't need the extra simulation, but it was a most delightful addition to the experience for me. I had the good sense of mind to push Cody to the right and roll him on his back, before I lowered myself onto the floor to rest for a few moments. I closed my eyes gratefully and gulped air as I tried to slow my breathing.

As intense as the experience had been, it had not been as draining for me as it had been for Cody. I open my eyes a few minutes later and crawled to my knees. Cody was still lying on the floor, with his eyes closed and a grin on his face. His cock was limp and still hanging out of the front of his open fly.

"Cody, get dressed," I told him. "Put your cock back in your jeans and close your fly. Be quick about it. You can leave your hat off."

Cody blinked his eyes open and looked at me stupidly as if I were speaking in some other language. "Oh, uhyes, boss," he said as comprehension dawned. Cody raised himself up into a seated position and then crawled up onto his knees. He snatched his discarded cowboy shirt and slipped it on as he began executing my instructions. It did not take him long to put on his shirt, open his jeans, tuck his shirt in, and then close up his jeans, returning his penis to its lair in the process. I watched him silently.

"Good, now lie down on the floor on your back, like a good little cowboy," I told him.

"Yes, boss," Cody commented as he complied. He looked up at me calmly wondering what was next.

I moved over beside Cody and carefully scooped up the cum covered wax paper from the carpeted floor. I moved over to Cody and knelt beside him, the messy wax paper held just above his chest and stomach. In one smooth fluid motion I turned the wax paper over while slapping it down on top of Cody's body. Cody twitched at the touch and the sound of the paper hitting his body.

"Now, you take your hands and move that paper around, Cody." I told him. "I want you to cover as much of the front of your shirt and your jeans as you can with that sticky mess of yours. As you do that, you'll feel a warm pleasant feeling that will cause you sigh with delight. You keep that up until the cum has dried. After which you can carefully crumple up the wax paper and put it in the trash in the kitchen."

"Yes, boss," Cody said mildly, as he placed his hand on top of the wax paper. A smile graced his lips and he let out a soft sigh as he started to move the paper about his body. I watched him for a moment or two before I climbed to my feet and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. I was thirsty after all this hard work of mine.

Five minutes or so later Cody came strolling into the kitchen. He walked over to the garbage can, pressed down on the foot pedal open it and casually tossed a small ball of wax paper into the can. Satisfied he closed the lid and strolled back out of the kitchen into the living room. I followed him, enjoying the sight of that bull rider's butt of his once again. Cody walked into the middle of the living room, and stood there staring off into space. I walked over to him, and walked around to the front of him to get a good look at him. The entire front of Cody's shirt from just below the neck to the waist of his jeans was dark and looked wet. The front of Cody's jeans from just below his belt buckle right down to the crotch appeared to be slightly darker as well. It appeared that he had carried out his instructions well.

I called Dallas and Justin over to where I was and had them stand beside Cody. I looked all three of the cowboys over, as they stood there staring off into space. Justin and Dallas were wearing their cowboy hats, but Cody wasn't. I corrected that problem with a few quick words to Cody. When he returned from retrieving his cowboy hat, I took another close look at these three hypnotized and obedient cowboys. The fronts of their jeans and their shirts showed a darkness that suggested a stain of some type. Someone walking by might not be able to tell what the stain was, but they would notice it. Even if they didn't, the cowboys would know what the stains were, and how they had come about, and that would be enough. I was satisfied. I decided to abandon my further plans for the evening. Teaching these men a lesson was one thing. Humiliating them needlessly was something else. Besides, I was getting tired. Three cowboy butts in one evening was almost more than I could handle.

"Right now I would like the three of you to put the living room furniture back the way it was. When you are done that you can sit down on the sofa and we will have a little chat," I instructed them.

"Yes, boss. Right away, boss. Yes, sir," they replied in unison. The three cowboys blinked their eyes and slowly that 'lost in space' look on their faces faded away. They looked over at me, grinned, and then turned around heading for the dining room. I walked over to the front door to be sure that I was out of their way. They made their way about quickly and efficiently, like a team of professional furniture movers. About ten minutes later they had replaced all the living room furniture and were sitting down on the living room sofa waiting for me. Each of their faces wore the same self satisfied look of having completed a job well done. Cody was sitting nearest to me on the right side of the sofa. Justin was next to Cody, and Dallas was sitting on the far left end of the sofa. All three cowboys were dressed as they had been when they first walked into my apartment, well except for the cum stains on their clothes. The lassoes were on the coffee table where I had placed them, after picking them up from the living room floor during my walk over to the swivel rocking chair.

"Cody, Dallas and Justin, listen to me very carefully," I said as I spoke clearly and distinctly to them. I waited for a moment to be sure that I had their undivided attention, before I continued. "This one time only when I snap my fingers you will each wake up and be your normal self in every way. You will remember each and every detail of what happened to you this evening during your hypnosis with me. You will know what you did, and why you did it. However, you will be unable to harm me in any way, physically or mentally, no matter how you might feel about me. Nor will you be able to arrange for anyone else to harm me on your behalf or at your bequest. You will able to talk to me and to each other about tonight's events, but you will not be able to talk to anyone else about this evening. If ever you are hypnotized by anyone else, you will still not be able to talk about the events of this evening. Nod your heads if you understand."

The three men each nodded their heads several times while they continued to look at me with those open and accepting expressions on their faces. "One last thing. Until I tell you otherwise your feet will remain stuck to the floor, when you wake up. You will be unable to move them, lift them or to walk," I said to the three cowboys sitting on the sofa across from me. I didn't want them rushing out of my apartment the first chance they got. A part of my revenge was to see their reactions to all that they had done this evening. I snapped my fingers and prepared myself. In all probability, this wasn't going to be pleasant, quiet, or enjoyable. Well not for them, any way. I was certain to enjoy this, though.

The cowboys reacted slowly to the snap of my fingers. They blinked their eyes and continued to look at me, with those open and accepting expressions. It took several minutes for those expressions to melt and change as they left their wonderful worlds of hypnosis and emerged back into the harsh and cold reality of the real world. Happy they were not. Their expressions were in a state of flux for a few minutes. The mixture of emotions and feelings on their faces included shock, astonishment, puzzlement, embarrassment, disbelief, anger, and many others that I could not qualify at the time. I waited patiently for them to sort it all out. I could have just sent them on their way, but I wanted to be sure that we fully understood each other before they left for the evening.

"Why you cock sucking, fag!" Cody screamed at me as he jumped up to his feet, his face red with anger. "I ought to smash your face in for what you did to us!" Cody tried to walk over to where I was sitting, but his feet would not move. He looked down at his feet in frustration, as he tried to move towards me. He balled up his hands into white knuckled fists, and stood there shaking with anger. He glared at me silently, too angry to speak any more.

Dallas and Justin's reactions were somewhat different. Justin sat there, with those smoke gray eyes of his looking directly into mine. From the way his lips were pressed together in a firm hard line, and from the sparks that seemed to be shooting out of his eyes, it was a foregone conclusion that Justin was not at all pleased with me. He was probably as angry with me as Cody was, only Justin was doing a much better job of controlling himself.

Dallas was a bit of a mystery. He sat there with his head bowed, and would not meet my gaze. It was impossible for me to say exactly what his reaction was. He sat there sitting slumped in the sofa, unmoving and silent. Well I would deal with him soon enough. Right now, I had Cody and Justin to deal with. I took out my wallet and fished out a twenty dollar bill. After returning my wallet to my left hip pocket I held the bill out to Cody.

"Here. Take this," I said to him, hold out the bill in the fingers of my outstretched right arm.

"What for? You think you can buy your way out of this with a measly twenty dollars?" He snarled at me, incredulously.

"It's the twenty dollars that you gave me earlier this evening. I don't need it, and I've proven my point," I said to him.

'Oh yeah, you've proven your point all right," Cody snarled as he bent over and snatched the bill from my fingers. "I know exactly what you are." Cody reached back and dug out his wallet.

"If you'll climb down from your high horse for a minute, you'll see that you all got off lightly tonight," I said to Cody as I watched him tuck the bill into his wallet. "I could have made you do many other things, had I wished to."

"Really?" Cody asked with sarcasm as he replaced his wallet in the right hip pocket of his jeans and then sat back down on the sofa. The man's stubborn streak was kicking in again. This was getting us no where.

"Cody, you and your friends here had planned to beat me up this evening," I said to him as I looked him right in the eyes. "Not only that, but you tried it two more times. Once in the parking lot by your truck and then again when we arrived in my apartment."

"So?" Cody snarled back at me, not giving an inch.

"I didn't do anything to you," I said to him. "Why would you want to beat me up? I didn't humiliate you at the restaurant."

"Because I can," Cody told me coldly and grinned at me with an expression that could only be called evil. I had never before looked into the eyes of an unfeeling brute of a man. It was unsettling. I gulped nervously.

"I'm going to get you for this, you little cock sucker," Cody said to me in a voice as cold as ice. "Someday, sometime, when you least expect it. I'm going to get you for this."

I shook my head back and forth as I realized that there was no reasoning with Cody. I broke eye contact with him and looked over at Justin. Justin stared back at me indignantly.

"What about you, Justin?" I asked him.

"What about me?" He asked me back.

"Why did you agree to attack me tonight? Why did you go along with Cody's plans?" I asked him.

"Cody's my buddy, and that's reason enough for me," Justin answered.

"Even if what he was doing was wrong, and you knew it was wrong?" I asked as I tried to fathom Justin's actions.

"Cowboys stick together," Justin replied. He didn't say anything more.

Great. Here I was with two bull headed, stubborn fools who could not or would not consider their actions in any other light. It was sad, actually. I looked over at Dallas's bowed head and wondered if he shared these same sentiments.

"Dallas, what about you? Why did you go along with Cody's plans?" I asked him.

"He's my buddy just like Justin," Cody said.

"I wasn't asking you, Cody. Kindly keep your mouth shut," I said to him.

"Make me," Cody taunted me.

"Yeah, go ahead and make him," Justin jeered at me.

"Cowboy up, Cody. Cowboy up, Justin," I said quietly. The post hypnotic triggers kicked in immediately. Cody's eyes and Justin's eyes glazed over as they slipped back down into the trances that they had left so recently. They both stared off into space content to just sit there on the sofa, once again. I turned my attention back to Dallas.

"Answer my question, please Dallas," I told him.

Slowly Dallas raised his head up and turned his face towards me. I was surprised to see the tracks of tears on his cheeks, and two of the saddest eyes in the world looking back at me. He had the look and aura about him of a beaten and broken man.

"I went along with Cody because he's my buddy," Dallas said softly. "He said that he wanted to teach you a lesson."

"Did you agree with what he had planned?" I asked Dallas.

"Yyes," Dallas said and blushed. He dropped his head.

"And now?" I pressed him.

"Does it make any difference how I answer you?" Dallas replied with an angry edge to his voice, as he jerked his head up to look at me again. "You can make me do anything you want. You proved that tonight. I I hope you're happy with what you did to me." Dallas let his voice trail off and he dropped his head down again.

Considering tonight events I couldn't help but wonder if the emotions Dallas was showing were genuine. It could all have been an act to play on my sympathies, much as Cody had done earlier. There was an easy way to find out. I stood up and walked over to where Dallas was. I knelt down in front of him and placed my left hand on his right hand. Dallas jerked his hand away from mine as if my hand were burning hot. Dallas looked up at me and as he spoke to me I could see a tear roll down his right cheek.

"NO! Don't touch me!" He cried out in a voice filled with pain. Dallas leaned back into the sofa in an attempt to move away from me. He wasn't just sad, he was scared. Scared of me clear down to his toes.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Dallas," I said to him quietly in an effort to calm him down.

"Hurt me?" Dallas cried out in anguish. "After what you've done to me tonight, how in the hell do you think that you could possibly hurt me any more?" The tears in Dallas eyes started to flow freely now. They rolled down both of his cheeks like a sudden spring shower.

"I only taught you a lesson," I said to him.

"Taught me a lesson?" Dallas howled at me. "You you you turned me into your boy toy! I'm a fucking queer now! I'll never be able to hold a woman in my arms without thinking of you! I'll puke my guts out every time I even see a beautiful woman! Isn't that enough? Haven't you done enough? I have to go through the rest of my life pretending to like women when what I really want is your cock in my mouth!" Dallas glared at me, the fear and frustration clearly evident on his face.

"No, you're not," I said to him, after his screaming had subsided.

"Not what?" He asked me.

'You're not gay, or a queer or anything like that," I assured him. "Think about it for a minute. Think about something with a woman that really turns you on. Then when you feel yourself start to react, think about me stroking your ass again."

"Why bother? I know what will happen," Dallas said dejectedly, as he shook his head slightly.

"Do it. Do it, before I make you do it," I told him coldly.

Dallas gulped nervously and nodded his head at me. He closed his eyes. After a minute or so a smile blossomed on his face and he opened his eyes to look at me. "It worked," he said with amazement clearly in his voice. "It worked just like you said it would. I got hard when I thought about sex with a woman, and I got soft when I thought about you caressing my ass." Dallas looked at me for a few seconds before he continued speaking "Does this mean I'm not gay after all?" He asked me.
"You never were gay, Dallas," I assured him. "All I did was hypnotize you and your buddies to teach you all a lesson, which was that you should never have messed with me in the first place."

"Yeah, I guess I see your point," he admitted reluctantly.

"I don't intend to do anything more with you or your buddies tonight, since I've proven my point," I said to Dallas. "Your two buddies might not admit it, but you already have. Frankly Dallas, I'm surprised that you even hang around with guys like this. You could find much better friends. It's something you might want to think about."

"Maybe," Dallas said. "But what happens now?"

"Now you and your buddies leave," I answered him. "Cowboy up, Dallas." At the sound of his trigger phrase, Dallas returned to his trance. I placed my fingers on Dallas' forehead and did a quick mental probe of his mind. I was pleased to discover that his feelings of shame, remorse and fear were genuine. He had actually been afraid that I'd turned him gay, and he was immensely relieved when I proved to him that this was not the case. What pleased me the most though, was Dallas's honest intention to think on what I had said regarding finding a better class of friends. He actually felt some guilt over what he and the other two cowboys had tried to do to me tonight. So there was hope for Dallas. I could have implanted a suggestion to have him find better friends, but that would not have been the right thing to do. Dallas had to make such a decision on his own. I could only hope and pray that he would see Cody and Justin for what they really were.

It took me only a few moments to bring all three of the cowboys out of their trances again. I told them their feet were unstuck and then asked them to leave. Both Cody and Justin tried to grab me as I walked them to the front door. The surprise on their faces, when they discovered that they could not force their hands to grab me was most enjoyable. I think it was only then that the truth really penetrated those thick skulls of theirs. Dallas, I was pleased to note, didn't try anything. He merely stood there waiting for Cody and Justin to join him.

I escorted these somewhat shamed and re-educated cowboys down the hallway to the elevators. I stood near the end of the hall watching the cowboys as they stood waiting for the elevator to arrive. Their shame and embarrassment grew with each passing minute. Soon they could not even look me in the eye, they were so embarrassed at their appearance. There was a ding as the elevator arrived, and the elevator doors opened. To my surprise Andy walked out past the cowboys. To say that he was surprised by what he saw, would be a vast understatement. He could only stare at the cowboys with a look of total incomprehensibility as he watched these three red faced cowboys, their heads hung low, walk past him with very large wet areas on the fronts of their jeans, and their shirts. The cowboys didn't even look at Andy. All they wanted was to get home, and as far away from me as they possibility could. It had been, for them anyway, and eye opening evening, and one that I knew they would remember for a long, long time. I only hoped that it did them some good in the long run.

When the cowboys had entered an elevator and the elevator doors had closed, Andy blinked his eyes and came back to his senses. Andy headed over to me and walked me back into my apartment. Andy's late night arrival at my apartment was completely unexpected. He explained that he was on his dinner break from his shift and since it was a slow night, for a Friday, he decided to spend his dinner break with me. Needless to say, I was thrilled and delighted. While I reheated something for him in the microwave oven, I made him a fresh cup of coffee and some decaffeinated coffee for myself. It was about 11:30 PM, so I wasn't exactly hungry.

"So how was your evening out with Cindy and Jeff?" Andy asked me as he sat down with me at the kitchen table and we waited for the water to boil.

"A lot of fun," I answered with a smirk.

"Good," he said as he eyed me. "I don't suppose you'd care to explain that little scene out in the hallway?"

"You mean the cowboys who passed you in the elevator?" I asked him and batted my eyes at him innocently.

"Yes, I mean the cowboys I passed in the elevator," Andy said to me as he shot me one of his you-know-what-I'm-talking-about looks. "I know that they were leaving this apartment, which means, logically, that you had something to do with their unusual appearances, not to mention their acute embarrassment. I am a bit surprised, Paul. You've always told me that you never embarrass your subjects, yet these guys were clearly embarrassed. That's not like you. What happened?"

"It's a long story, Andy, but I'll try to keep it as short as I can," I said to him as the microwave dinged announcing that Andy's supper was ready. "I know you don't have a lot of time. It all started at the restaurant"

It took me about fifteen minutes to tell Andy the story of my night's adventures. He dug into his meal, eating quickly, but his attention was focused on my narrative. His eyes went cold and his face took on a menacing expression at the mention of the three cowboys trying to gang up on me. I'm sure he felt slightly guilty at not being able to be there to protect me. His anger and guilt evaporated and were quickly replaced by surprise and mirth as I described how I had extracted myself from that difficult situation. He even clapped his hands with approval as I described the rodeo and the lessons I had taught those three cowboys. When I confessed to him exactly how I had touched those three cowboy's penises in the alleyway, he brushed it off as an insignificant action. In fact, he kissed me passionately full on my lips when I told him. When I asked why the kiss, he said that it was to thank me for being honest with him about touching another man, and keeping my promise to him. By the time that Andy left to go back to work, we were both laughing over my night's adventures. Andy smiled at me as he told me that he'd never have to worry about me being bored, or about my not being able to take care of myself when he wasn't around.

I wrapped my arms about Andy, and pressed my lips urgently on his in a long drawn out kiss. When we came up for air I made it clear to him, in no uncertain terms, that I wanted and expected him to be around to take care of me for a very long time. He hugged me with one of his big strong grizzly bear hugs as he seconded my motion. All too soon he had to let me go and head back to work, though.

Is there any question, that I "married" one gem of a man?



Chapter 7. Moonlight, Feels Right.

I had waited for nearly two months but finally this weekend had arrived. I had been hard pressed to contain my excitement at work regarding the coming long weekend in May. Sure to everyone else it was just another Victoria Day holiday weekend, but this one was going to be very special for me, and for Andy. We were going to have some absolute privacy out at a country house owned by one of Andy's friends. We now considered ourselves 'married' and this weekend getaway was something that we were both looking forward to, a lot. We were going to have a chance to really get to know each other and spend a lot of time together. In a way, it was going to be a bit of a test, to see if we could stand each other's company for three solid days, without driving each other crazy. Andy and I were different. Very different, and we both knew that. Some give and take in our relationship would be necessary to get us over the bumps we were bound to run into. Maybe with time, the wedding bands we wore would be for real. I sincerely hoped so, but it was much too early to do anything more than hope. I dared not speak such a thought out loud, to Andy or anyone else, afraid that just the sound of my own voice would shatter such a fragile thing. So, I tucked that hope away deep in my heart. Daring to take it out and look at it only when I was alone, or when I knew Andy to be fast asleep. On such fragile hopes as these, are dreams built.

Andy picked me up on Friday night at about 7 PM, which gave me plenty of time to pack a suitcase for a weekend stay in the country. I had to admit though, I was puzzled at his insistence that I pack one of my best suits, as well as one of my older worn suits. I didn't give it much thought though, since I was so excited about being able to really spend time with Andy. Oddly, it was also kind of frightening. The longest that we'd ever spent any time together was about a day and a half on a weekend at my apartment, which was one place that we were unlikely to be interrupted. Andy's work hours, not to mention mine, made it difficult to be sure that we could spend a lot of time together. We still couldn't spend much time at Andy's house, because of Chuck. He accepted our relationship, but down deep inside he did not understand it. He never came out and said anything, but it was clear that Chuck felt uncomfortable if we showed any overt affection to each other, such as kissing, when he was around. Andy and I discussed it, and we agreed it was best not to push the issue with Chuck. Maybe with time he would come to completely approve as well as accept our marriage. I can't say that I was happy with that arrangement, but I understood why it was necessary to make the concession to Chuck. If I put myself at odds with Chuck, it could lead to Andy having to choose between the two of us. I didn't want that, and I was fairly sure that Andy didn't either. So, I did my best to accept that this was one adjustment I would have to make and live with. Actually, after the first few weeks it turned out not to be that big a deal. Chuck and I became friends, of a sort anyway. We were not buddies, but we enjoyed each other's company for the most part, even if Andy wasn't around.

I had underestimated Chuck, though. He was much more than what he seemed. He was more that just Andy's troop mate, and closest friend. He was a decent, caring, compassionate, understanding, and gentle man. He was also honest with me about many things. The first time that we were alone together (Andy was late getting off from work), Chuck asked me to promise me that I would never hypnotize him in public or even if we were alone. When I asked why he wanted such a promise from me, Chuck told me that he didn't ever want to come between Andy and me. Chuck figured that the best way to insure that was to avoid temptation, thus if I promised never to hypnotize him, I would never be tempted by seeing Chuck hypnotized. Chuck wasn't being vain when he said this to me. He was being honest. He knew, through talking with Andy, how much I liked to hypnotize good looking men, especially men in uniform. Chuck was good looking, although not as good looking as Andy. (Okay, so I wasn't exactly being objective with that statement.) Still, Chuck could be a temptation to me, as has been pointed out during that rather intense evening at my apartment a few months ago. Chuck's request was logical and reasonable. I looked him in the eye (without any super hypnosis commands) and made him that promise. To this day, I've kept it.

The trip out from the city to the house out in the country wasn't very long, only about thirty minutes. I insisted that we stop at one of the local grocery stores so that I could pick up a chocolate cake. When Andy asked why, I told him the simple truth. I wanted something special to celebrate our weekend together. Andy merely smiled at me, and asked me to keep hold of the cake while he drove. Other than that, the trip out to the country house was uneventful. We talked to pass the time, and listened to the radio as well.

After Andy parked his car in the driveway, I carefully got out of the car carrying the cake. I followed Andy in through the front door and into the kitchen. It was a surprisingly large bungalow country house. There were four bedrooms, a kitchen, a dinning room, a living room (with fireplace), and of course a full bathroom with a two man bathtub and a large and deep Jacuzzi. The master bedroom was locked, which was to be expected. It was the private domain of the owner of the house and I felt sure he would not have wanted us using his bedroom. One of the smaller bedrooms was also locked, and had a sign that said "STORAGE" on the door. That still left two bedrooms available for Andy and me to use. Both bedrooms were equipped with queen sized beds, which pleased me. We would have a choice of where we could spend the night. It was all somewhat more than I had expected. Andy only smiled at my remark and told me to take a look out back. Curious, I did so and was amazed to discover a full sized in ground swimming pool. The pool area wasn't enclosed against the weather but there was a six foot high chain link fence encircling the pool area about twenty five feet out from the edge of the pool. This fence had a couple of locked gates at opposite ends of the pool. I looked over at Andy and raised one eyebrow quizzically. Andy smiled at me, as he fished a key ring out of the right front pocket of his jeans. He held up one key, and smiled at me as he nodded his head. The message was clear. We would be able to make use of the pool if we wanted to. I found out later that the locks on the gate were one way. That is you needed a key to open the gate from the outside, but the gates could always be opened from the inside, without a key. After getting everything settled in the kitchen, and unpacking my clothes I headed out to the pool. I was curious about the pool. Andy followed me so that he could unlock the gate and let me in.

Andy unlocked the gate and held it open for me as I walked past him and headed for the swimming pool. Moments later I knelt down at the edge of the pool and dipped my hand into the crystal clear chorine scented water. "Hey, it's warm!" I cried out in surprise. I had certainly not expected to encounter a heated in ground swimming pool.

"Yes, it's a heated swimming pool," Andy said as he smiled at my surprise.

I looked more closely into the pool. In addition to the painted lanes on the bottom of the pool, I noticed several large round white slightly domed objects scattered across the walls of the pool at what seemed to be regular intervals. "What the heck are those things?" I asked Andy as I tried to puzzle out what they could be.

"Underwater lights," he answered still smiling at my confusion. "They turn on automatically at night."

"Oh they do, do they?" I asked. "It's too bad that I didn't pack my bathing suit," I commented, and grinned back at Andy.

"Yes, that is too bad," Andy agreed. "I didn't bring my bathing suit either, come to think of it." Andy said as he schooled his face into his best expression of innocence and surprise.

"Right," I said with a single node of my head. The tone of my voice made that one word convey a world of meaning. Andy smiled back at me with a clear twinkle in his eyes. I'm sure my eyes were probably doing some twinkling of their own. Unless I was really misreading Andy, which seemed highly unlikely, the same two words were rolling about in his mind as well: Skinny dipping. A heated swimming pool, not a bathing suit in sight for miles, and all the privacy we could possibly want. The conditions were certainly right, now if only the weather would hold.

"How about we save that for tomorrow night?" I asked him.

"Why whatever do you mean?" Andy asked as he batted his eyes innocently at me. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and fixed a mock frown on my face that said "Nice try with the baby face routine, but I'm not buying it." Andy's innocent routine lasted for all of twenty seconds before he started chuckling. "Why wait until tomorrow night, though? Are you shy?" Andy teased me.

"Not at all," I answered him. "I just had something else in mind." I winked at him.

"Such as?" Andy prompted me.

"I saw the Jacuzzi, and I got to thinking," I answered with a grin, raising my eyebrows up and down a couple of times.

"Really?" Andy asked in reply. "Care to elaborate?" He asked me as he escorted me out from the pool and back to the house.

"Well, I was thinking about the Jacuzzi, you, me, and the bubbles," I said to him as I wrapped an arm about his waist and laid my head on his right shoulder during the short walk back into the house. I do so enjoy touching Andy, that I try to take advantage of every opportunity to feel my skin against his.

"Good idea!" Andy agreed heartily as he suddenly scooped me up in a fireman's carry and headed off towards the bathroom. I chucked with mirth as Andy once again hauled me around like a sack of potatoes. The trip to the bathroom was short and sweet. As soon as Andy put me back down on my feet I wrapped my arms about his neck and pulled his head down to plant a firm long and deep kiss onto those oh so sweet sexy lips of his. Oh boy, did he ever kiss back! Andy's kisses were like him, sweet, strong and at the same time as tender and gentle as a newborn baby. After a few moments in heaven I gently pushed Andy way. He stood there looking at me with a perplexed half smile on his face, unsure what I was up to.

I reached up and unbuttoned my light blue cowboy shirt. As I slipped it off, Andy's eyes lit up. "It's going to cost you one kiss to get me to remove each article of my clothing," I quipped. "So pay up if you want to see more," I teased as I let my shirt fall from my fingers. I stood there in front of Andy, my hands on my hips, a smirking grin on my face.

Andy looked at me and tilted his head sideways at me as if he were unsure exactly what I meant. (That could not possibly be the case, though. He knew me well enough by now and I wasn't exactly being subtle. He was up to something. I just knew it.) Suddenly Andy reached back and tugged off his dark gray golf shirt in one quick and smooth motion. He grinned back at me for a moment and then crossed his arms in front of his chest. "No, YOU owe me a kiss first," he said. "So YOU pay up, mister." He smiled at me, and in his soft brown doe like eyes I could once again see that special warm glow that was for me alone. (God, how I loved that man! I only hoped that he knew exactly how much I did love him.)

"Well, if I have to, I guess I have to," I said with a quiet sigh, as if I were resigning myself to doing an unpleasant task. I let the smile fade from my face as I spoke. My masquerade lasted for all of two seconds, if that. "Oh, yeah!" I cried out in glee as I wrapped my arms about that muscular torso of Andy's and raised my face up towards his to plant my lips firmly against his. Andy uncrossed his arms and gently wrapped them about me, with the gentle strength that I had come to expect from him. Now that the way was clear, I moved in close and pressed my lips firmly against his as I gave him a long and wonderful kiss, holding him close and tight.

Andy broke away from me, effectively ending our kiss. His eyes didn't leave mine as he drew me back towards him and took his turn in this kissing game of ours. Kiss and strip off another article of clothing, those were the rules. In this case it was the dark blue jeans that I was wearing which were removed by my willing hands and fingers. I had to break away from Andy to accomplish that, though, which proved to be a somewhat more difficult task than I had thought. Have you ever tried to remove your jeans without first taking off your cowboy boots? It's not easy, believe me! Andy just stood there chuckling at my predicament. He offered to help, but my stubborn male pride asserted itself and I brushed aside his offer. It took me a few minutes of sweating and a few curse words but I succeeded. Andy grinned at me warmly while clapping softly at my accomplishment. I looked at him for a second as I stood there in my underwear, socks and cowboy boots. (Yes I was wearing a belt in my jeans with a cowboy belt buckle, but I decided not to count that as a separate item of clothing.) I smiled back at him and bowed to him acknowledging his praise. I walked up to Andy and planted another kiss on those soft sensuous lips of his, hugging him tightly at the same time. About thirty seconds later, Andy let up on the kiss and move away from me, as he got ready to continue playing this game. The sneaky little devil took off one of his running shoes though, instead of taking off his jeans. I didn't think that was at all fair considering the effort I had put into pulling my jeans off over my cowboy boots.
"All's fair in love and war," Andy said smiling, seeming to have read my mind. Actually, it wasn't all that difficult for him to have figured out what I was probably thinking. I'm sure the look of disbelief and disappointment on my face, when Andy removed only his right running shoe, was abundantly clear. My annoyance melted away in a few heartbeats, especially after Andy put on his best 'sad puppy dog eyes', and looked at me mournfully. I couldn't help but smile at him as I walked over to him and held him close. A few chuckles drifted up out of my throat. Andy hugged me back, and chuckled along with me, as I kissed him soundly on the lips.

Andy pulled his head back, breaking our kiss yet again. He shifted his weight to his right foot and kicked off his left running shoe. He looked down at me for a second before he planted a firm moist kiss on my lips. Before I could respond though he ended the kiss by pulling his head back. "Both," he said, and quickly kissed me again. This time though he let his lips linger on mine for a good minute or so before he pulled his head back away from me. "Boots," he said as he looked down at me and smiled at me.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. I was enjoying Andy's kisses far too much to pay much mind to what he was saying.

"Both boots," he said and looked at me.

"What?" I asked still not understanding what he was referring to. (Hey, when I'm in Andy's arms and kissing him, conversation isn't exactly my number one priority. I much prefer to enjoy the contact of his firm skin, the velvet softness of his lips, the tenderness of his touch, and the wonderful aromas of his body. The last thing on my mind is to ask him how his day was!)

"I just gave you two kisses, Texas," Andy whispered to me. "So you have to take off both of your boots now."

"My boots?" I replied still a bit dazed. "Oh, yeah my boots, sure." I agreed as I slipped them off. These were well worn black cowboy boots and very easy to step out of. I didn't need my hands to slip them off. All I needed to do was press the heel of one boot next to the toe of the other boot and pull my leg up and out of the boot. The second boot quickly joined the first boot that was now lying on the floor. I snuggled up to Andy again and planted a firm hard kiss on his lips, pressing firmly against him. I held my lips against his for a few seconds, and then broke of the kiss. "Now your jeans, dear heart," I said to him.

Andy unbuttoned his jeans as he looked over at me. He unzipped his fly and slipped his jeans down past his hips. (Unlike me, Andy was not wearing a belt in his jeans.) Andy refrained from pushing his jeans down any further than that, though. He looked at me coyly as he wiggled his hips about for a few seconds. Gravity took over and his jeans thumped down onto the bathroom floor. So now we were even. We were both standing there in only our underwear and socks. Six more kisses, and we were both nude. (Do I really have to describe those last six kisses? They were as wonderful if not more, than the first few, and I think I'll leave it at that.)

We climbed into the Jacuzzi, and since Andy was nearest the taps he turned them on. As the hot relaxing water started to cover my legs, and lower torso I let out a long sigh of delight. This was going to feel so wonderful, especially after the long hard week I'd put in at work. Andy joined me in letting out long heartfelt signs and groans of joy as the water slow rose up covering more of our bodies. As I sat there with my eyes closed luxuriating in the feeling of the hot soothing water covering me, a question bubbled up to the surface of my mind.

"Hey dear heart, mind if I ask you something?" I said to Andy as I cracked my eyes open to look at him.

"Ask away, as long as it's not about work," Andy answered, as he slowly open his eyes and looked at me. "What's on your mind, Texas?"

"Actually that is what I wanted to ask you about," I said to him as I stretched out my arms above my head before plunging them back into the steaming hot water. The water was now just below the level of my nipples, and boy did it feel fantastic. It felt so good that it almost made me forget what it was that I wanted to ask Andy. I had to think for a moment to recover my train of thought. 'That's the second time tonight that you've called me 'Texas'," I said to him as I recalled those wandering thoughts back into my head. "What's with that, anyway? You know perfectly well I'm not from Texas. I'm as Canadian as you are, Andy."

"Do you mind me calling you 'Texas'?" He asked me, while managing to avoid answering my question. "I won't call you that if you don't want me to." Andy turned away from me as he reached over and flipped the taps off. The water level was just covering the base of my neck now. I guessed that he figured that was high enough.

"I don't mind it at all," I replied, as I let the soothing heat of the hot water soak into my skin and muscles. "I'd just like to know why."

"Well, it's my pet name for you," he said sweetly, with a half grin on his face. "You call me 'dear heart', and I want to call you 'Texas'."

"Okay," I said to him. "I think that's very sweet of you. I'd still like to know why you chose that name, though. I told you why I like to call you 'dear heart' after all."

Andy stuck out his tongue at me, took a deep breath and ducked his head under the water! I was so surprised that I wasn't sure what to do. I sat there stunned as I waited for him to come up for air. He had to eventually. I could wait, and while I waited I came up with a plan of action.

After a couple of minutes Andy surfaced. I splashed him. I slapped my hands down hard on the water and sent a small wave of it over towards his head. He blinked at me in surprise and before he could start to retaliate I splashed him again. I kept at it, splashing his as continuously as I could. Eventually though he managed to retaliate, and after about five minutes of warfare we called it a draw. It was silly and childish and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. Sometimes, it's fun to be a kid again.

As we let the water settle back down, I looked over at Andy and chuckled softly to myself. If anyone had told me that I'd be spending part of my Victoria Day weekend in a Jacuzzi with a Mountie, both of us nude and splashing in the water like two overgrown kids, I'd have had only two questions for that person:

1. What HAVE you been smoking?

2. May I have some?

Andy reached over and pressed some type of button to turn on the water jets and the bubbles of air in the Jacuzzi. After a few seconds of that I figured that asking Andy about my pet name could wait a while longer. He and I spent the next thirty minutes or so, enjoying the water massage. It was so leisurely and relaxing that it made me wish I had one in my home. We were as wrinkled as a couple of prunes by the time we climbed out of the Jacuzzi. We were certainly relaxed though, and there wasn't a sore muscle between us. The only unpleasant part of the entire experience was having to clean up the spilled water on the bathroom floor. It took about ten minutes, even with both of us working on it. We agreed to hold any future navel battles in the swimming pool.

The house was warm so we decided to lounge about in just our bathrobes, after we had toweled each other dry. We cuddled up on the living room couch and settled in for a good long snuggle. We kissed a bit, we held each other close and we chatted about how nice this country house was. The conversation soon tapered off. I laid my head on Andy's left shoulder and my thoughts drifted back to Andy's pet name for me. "Come on, dear heart, tell me, why Texas?" I asked Andy softly. I was still curious about his choice of that pet name for me.

Andy took a deep breath and then let out a long soft sigh before he spoke. "Why indeed, Texas," he said and sighed again before he continued speaking. "Over these past few months I've come to think of you as a star shining in the heavens just for me. A lone star. Texas is known as the lone star state, so it seemed somehow right to me." He sighed slowly again. "I know, it sounds kind of silly, but that's how I think of you." He took his right hand and carefully cupped my face with it. Slowly Andy raised and turned my face towards his. He looked down at me, those soft warm doe brown eyes looking deep into the well of my soul. "Besides," he said as he slowly smiled oh so tenderly at me. "You certainly dress the part, at least when you're not at work." Andy pulled my head towards him and planted a soft and tender, yet firm kiss on my lips. I totally relaxed and let myself enjoy it.

"It isn't at all silly," I assured him. "If anything, I'm flattered that you think of me that way. I might not be a real cowboy, but if I can be a cowboy in your heart as well as my own, that's all that matters to me. Thank you, dear heart." I snuggled up close to Andy and hugged him firmly as I kissed his chest through the bathrobe. He smelled so good. He hugged me back just as firmly.

Other than that, there wasn't anything remarkable or all that interesting to tell about our Friday night together. We spent the evening talking and watching a bit of television. When we went to bed we decided to use the bedroom that Andy had picked. It was warm, wonderful a bit on the wild side, but we did not consummate our 'marriage'. We talked about it, but neither of us felt it was the 'right time' for that.

Saturday morning we slept in late, dragging ourselves out of bed for breakfast at about eleven o'clock. The only reason we got up was because we were both hungry as hell. (Hungry for food, not for each other. Well, we were always hungry for each other, but you have to eat SOMETIME don't you?) The day was uneventful. We explored the house, except for the locked rooms. We were surprised to find a recreation room in the basement with a bar, a pool table a sofa and several chairs. In addition there was a laundry room, and two more unlocked rooms that seemed to be used for storage. This seemed more like a country mansion, than the simple country house that I had been expecting. Clearly Andy's friend was well off, to say the least.

When we were done exploring the house, we headed back to the living room and we talked, a lot . We discussed everything from sports to our marriage. We discovered many differences in our opinions, and our interests. For example, I enjoyed watching professional rodeo on TNN, while Andy preferred to watch professional wrestling. We agreed to disagree. I teased him about professional wrestling being fake, and he teased me about watching rodeo only for the cowboy butts. (As if I could deny that. Any self respecting gay man would watch rodeo for the cowboy butts. You'd have to be dead three years not to!) I suppose the Saturday I described sounded rather dull and uninteresting, and to anyone other than Andy and myself it probably was. We enjoyed it though, because we had each other, and we enjoyed each other's company. To quote from a Clint Black song, "Love's not just something that we're in, it's something that we do." I think that about sums it up nicely.

Andy cooked a wonderful meal on Saturday evening. We had steaks and potatoes, with a wonderful salad. As I've said before, I'm not much in the kitchen, but I helped out where I could. At least I provided a good dessert. (Talk about a double meaning! I was, of course, referring to the chocolate cake that I'd bought the day before. That is what I was referring to, really! Okay, so don't believe me. You're just jealous, because I have Andy and you don't. So there!) The odd thing though, is that Andy insisted that we dress up for dinner. I thought that rather strange, but since I could not think of a good reason not to, I went along with his request. Actually, Andy used that 'sad puppy dog eye' look of his on me to get me to go along with his request. He insisted that I wear the older worn suit of mine.

I arrived in the dinning room wearing a double breasted two piece gray pinstriped suit of mine that was getting a bit threadbare around the crotch. (Why do suits always wear out there first?) The jacket, was double breasted with a total of six buttons across the suit in roughly the pattern of a large 'V'. The lowermost two buttons was where the suit was buttoned to close it. (As anyone who has worn a double breasted suit will tell you, there is a second button on the inside that you have do up, and this button as well was at the lowermost level.) The upper breast pocket was empty, as were the two lower flapped pockets. The jacket did not have a vent in the back, which meant that the tail of the jacket draped over my butt smoothly. The pants had four pockets, two front side slash pockets, and two back welt pockets, both of which had button through closures. The pant legs were cuffed. A light powder blue long sleeved dress shirt with a button down collar and a bright red silk tie with tiny white dots completed my outfit. Even though we were inside the house Andy requested that I wear dress shoes. So, I put on my plain black dress shoes, which matched the plain black leather belt with it's simple gold buckle that I wore in my suit pants. All in all I looked pretty good, I thought. Andy enthusiastically confirmed my opinion when he saw me. I spun around a full three hundred and sixty degrees to give Andy an eyeful of me. He responded by giving me a great big strong hug and a sexy kiss on my lips. I guess that made dressing up worth it. I had to admit, though, that I felt sort of naked without my cowboy hat or boots. I took a couple of steps back away from Andy so that I could get an eyeful of his attire. Without my even asking him, Andy spun around in a circle to allow me to look him over from every side.

Andy was a knockout. (What else would you expect with a hunk like him?) He was wearing a medium brown two piece double breasted pinstripe suit, which fit him very well. The jacket tapered down from his broad shoulders to his slim waist and then flared out just a bit to cover his pants. The jacket, which did not have a vent in the back, ended at just below the crotch of Andy's suit pants, which meant that Andy's butt was completely covered by that jacket. (Oh what I would have given for X-ray vision just then! I didn't need that though. I'd find out what Andy's suit pants and his butt looked like eventually. I just had to be a little patient.) The jacket style was a little bit different from mine. It had an upper breast pocket, and two lower flapped pockets, but the pattern of the six buttons was slightly different. Instead of being in a 'V' like mine, the buttons were arranged so that the lower four formed a square, and the uppermost two buttons were off at a sixty degree angle, to the right and to the left of the middle two buttons. This meant that there were two buttons to do up on the left side of the jacket, when the jacket was closed. Andy was wearing a light cream coloured long sleeve dress shirt with a button down collar. I know the shirt was long sleeved because the cuffs of the shirt peeked out from beneath the arms of the suit jacket. A dark chocolate brown plain silk tie completed his outfit. He too was wearing shoes. A pair of plain dark brown leather shoes. I took it for granted that he was probably wearing some type of brown belt in his pants. (Something else that I would enjoy confirming, I was sure.) Andy looked very handsome. He was unquestionably a major league suit stud, as he stood there in the dinning room waiting for me. (In my opinion, Andy looked good in anything, even his grungiest jeans and T-shirt, but I'm not exactly objective when it comes to Andy.)

So there we were sitting down in the dinning room just the two of us, enjoying a quiet evening with a home cooked meal. With the candles and the low lighting it was a romantic and touching meal. (It reminded me of our first blind date, the one that Steven and Jack had arranged at my apartment. A most pleasant memory.) Andy was right. Dressing up, even if we were just staying in to eat was most appropriate in this case. Anything else would have wrecked the mood of the evening. The meal was long and wonderful. I enjoyed myself, and there is no question in my mind that Andy did as well. At the conclusion of the meal, chocolate cake and coffee, Andy suggested a leisurely stroll through the back yard. I readily agreed. We stood up from the table, and Andy started to empty out the pockets of his clothes, carefully placing the contents on the table. I looked at him with one raised eyebrow.

"I don't want to lose anything outside," Andy said in answer to my unspoken question. "It's kind of dark outside and it would be easy to lose my keys or change. If you're smart you'll do the same. We can leave the back door unlocked."

I shrugged my shoulders in agreement as I proceeded to empty out the pockets of my clothes. It took only a minute or so. We headed outside into the cool evening air. While it was true that the snow was long since gone, the evenings were still cool even during the last week or so of May. We kept out jackets on and buttoned up. Slowly, smoothly and easily we walked aimlessly about the large backyard. I leaned against Andy, with my right arm about his waist. Andy leaned slightly on me and placed his left arm loosely about my waist. The late evening sky was clear, as the sun started to slowly sink out of sight. Soon the stars would start to appear in the twilight sky, to join the full bright moon in lighting our way. Eventually we wandered over to the in ground swimming pool. Andy, ever the gentleman, held the gate open for me, with a flourish. (I guessed that he had unlocked the gate and left it that way.) As I passed by him, he bowed before me, his face wreathed in smiles. I couldn't help but chuckle at the big production he was giving such a simple event. Still grinning, Andy followed me into the enclosed area of the swimming pool.

As Andy walked about the pool area, I wandered over to the edge of pool and squatted down to dip the fingers of my left hand into the water.

"So how's the water?" Andy asked he walked over to where I was squatting by the edge of the pool.

"It's feels nice and warm," I answered as I swirled my fingers about in the water. I looked up at Andy and grinned. "It really is too bad that we didn't bring any swimming trunks, you know," I said to him and grinned.

Andy swatted down next to me, and his grin got bigger as he spoke. "Oh, I wouldn't say that." Andy took my right hand in his and stood up. Gently he pulled me up to stand next to him. Slowly he wrapped his arms about my waist and pulled me towards him. Andy lowered his head down and moved his lips towards mine. I gladly moved my head towards his so as to bring my lips up next to his in the unspoken request for a kiss. It was long, deep and slow. A gentle kiss that belied the power and passion that flowed between the two of us as our lips pressed together. (Oh BOY, did I enjoy that!) After several minutes of keep and profound kissing we parted as easily and gently as we had started.

"God knows I don't deserve a man like you," Andy whispered against the lump in his throat. "Thank you for loving me, Texas."

"Grow old along with me, dear heart," I replied, as I quoted the engraving on our wedding bands. I was speaking against a lump of my own. These few simple lines, held much more meaning for the two of us than an entire book of love poems.

Andy smiled down at me and his eyes twinkled as he slowly unwrapped his arms from about my waist and placed them on my shoulders, one hand on each of my shoulders. He suddenly shoved me away, while crying out "Surf's up!" I suddenly found myself falling backward! A second or two later there was a very loud splash as I made a most undignified entrance into the swimming pool. I was so surprised that at first I could not believe what Andy had done. It took a few seconds for it to register on my bemused brain that Andy had unceremoniously shoved me into the swimming pool, while still fully clothed! Instinctively I had held my breath during my less than graceful entrance in to the pool. With a few swift strokes I made my way back up to the surface of the water and opened my eyes. There I was treading water in the deep end of the swimming pool, wearing a suit and tie. It was unusual to say the least! Bizarre would have been a better word. I turned my head about and quickly located Andy, still high and dry, standing a few feet away from me. My first thought was to see if I could splash him in retaliation.
"So how's the water now?" Andy called out to me, as he laughed at me, enjoying my predicament.

"Why not come in and see for yourself?" I taunted back at him, unable to think of a snappier comeback. Oddly enough, I wasn't really upset with Andy. Surprised, but not upset. If anything, I was kind of enjoying the sensation of swimming while fully clothed.

"Don't mind if I do!" He cried out and then ran towards the edge of the pool. Andy dove into the pool without a moment's hesitation. I floated there treading water in stunned amazement as I witnessed Andy's fully clothed dive into the pool. He dove down to the bottom of the pool and swam a few feet away as he stroked his way to the surface. I slowly turned about as I watched him come to the surface. His hair was plastered back against his head as I'm sure mine was. Andy swam over to where I was and started to tread water along with me. He grinned at me, his eyes filled with laughter.

"That was completely crazy, I hope you realize," I said to him.

"Of course it was," he agreed. "It was also a lot of fun, too. Admit it."

"It was unexpected, but I don't know if I'd call it fun," I said to him.

'"It was, Paul," Andy said warmly. "You're just surprised that swimming in a suit and tie, in a nice warm pool is such a turn on for you."

I blushed at Andy's words. He had scored a clean hit with his words. I had no idea how he'd known that I was getting an erection while I was floating there treading water. The feeling of the warm water pushing against my legs, pushing the pant legs against my skin was erotic. There was simply no other word for it. The heaviness of the thoroughly soaked suit material was warm and comforting. It reminded me of the way I often felt when I was lying in bed, wrapped in Andy's arms. I looked over at Andy's knowing grin on his face.

"Okay, you're right," I admitted sheepishly, and finally grinned back at Andy. "It's a turn on. A few times I've wondered what it would be like to swim in warm water while fully clothed. I've never found the nerve to take a shower in a suit much less go swimming in one."

"Well now you know what it's like. So what do you think?" Andy asked.

"It's great but I think I'm starting to get tired," I said. "These clothes are getting heavy."

"Okay, follow me to the ladder," Andy said. "Better yet, stay where you are."

"Okay," I said as I continued to tread water, wondering what Andy was up to now. I quickly found out as Andy swam behind me and gently slipped his arm under my chin.

"Just relax and enjoy the ride," Andy said as he towed me across the pool towards the ladder.

I did as I was told. It was kind of fun actually. The trip to the ladder was very short. I climbed up the ladder after Andy as he made his way up and out of the pool onto the deck surrounding the pool. So there we were. Two grown men, in dripping wet suits and ties standing there in the cool evening air. Compared to the warm water of the swimming pool, it was starting to feel down right cold as we stood there. Now I knew the real reason behind why Andy had urged me to empty out the contents of pockets of my clothes.

"We're going to catch a chill if we stand out here too long, you know," I said to Andy as I hugged my arms about my body. "We really should take off these sopping wet clothes."

"Good idea!" Andy tittered as he walked over to stand next to me. I smiled at him in anticipation of having Andy undress me. Any time Andy undresses me it is a wonderful experience, and this was sure to be another enjoyable event. Andy reached out his right hand towards me and gently placed it on the breast pocket of my suit jacket. The smile on Andy's face grew larger as he gripped my jacket pocket firmly with his right hand. Andy yanked down hard on my jacket and I stumbled forward caught by surprise. Andy placed his left hand on my chest as he braced against me and tugged down even more firmly on the breast pocket of my jacket. Suddenly my ears were assaulted by the sound of ripping cloth as the material of my jacket parted under the stress. It was only a small tear, I realized when I flicked my eyes down to look at my suit. Under my startled gaze I saw Andy execute a mighty heave and nearly tear the pocket out of my suit. He stopped just above the lower flapped pocket on my jacket. I looked up at Andy in stunned surprise. I had not even an inkling that he was at all interest in suit destruction. It didn't seem to match the personality man I had come to know all these months. A flash a fear whipped through my mind as my mind traveled back to that night so long ago with Phil Turnbill. As I recalled his strange behavior had been due to his being influenced by another person with the gift, and the changes had been part of a test. I couldn't help but shudder at the thought of this happening again, especially with Andy. Then again, maybe I was just cold. My mind calmed, and my fears melted away as I realized that if I couldn't influence Andy with my gift, it was highly unlikely that anyone else would be able to either.

These thoughts took but a few seconds to flash through my mind, as I stood there in front of Andy with my mouth hanging half open. Before I could even frame a question in my mind, Andy lashed out with his hands and firmly gripped the lower pockets of my suit jacket, one hand on each pocket. Half a breath later Andy pulled down sharply and stripped the pockets from my jacket. Well, he didn't exactly strip the pockets off of my jacket, but he did tear the pockets right down to the lower edge of my suit jacket. He let go of the former pockets of my jacket and let the two strips of material dangle from the front of my suit like old wallpaper peeling from a wall.

Andy stood there with his arm crossed on his chest, chuckling at me with that warm sexy laugh of his. The bemused and confused expression I must have been wearing only added to his enjoyment of the situation.

"What the hairy heck are you doing?" I asked him, once the shock had worn off. I walked right up to him as I asked him the question, unable to fathom why he had attacked my suit.

"Just trying something new," he chortled at me, as he gazed into my eyes.

I flicked my eyes away from Andy's, and with the speed of a snake striking, I reached out and firmly grabbed the lower pockets of Andy's suit jacket. I proceeded to do some yanking of my own. I tugged down hard on the material of Andy's suit jacket. I felt a rush of sweet revenge and yes even joy, as I heard and felt the sodden fabric of Andy's suit jacket part from my efforts. I continued to tug until there were two strips of cloth hanging from Andy's suit jacket. Andy uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips, as he continued to chortle. My right hand darted out and snagged the upper breast pocket on the left side of Andy's suit jacket. Mercilessly I hauled away and tore another satisfying strip into Andy's suit jacket. In only a few eye blinks I had managed to make Andy's suit jacket a match to my own.

"Happy now?" Andy asked me, while still smiling at me.

"Yes, actually," I answered some what surprised at just how good I felt.

"Good!" Andy chuckled. "Time for round two!" With that Andy grabbed me in sudden bear hug and laid one hell of a kiss on my unprotesting lips. My head swam at the unexpected passion of his kiss, not that I was complaining, mind you. Andy broke off the kiss and took a half a step away from me. He pawed at my suit jacket as he fumbled with the buttons. It took him only a second or two to undo them. Having gotten my jacket open, Andy attacked the inside breast pockets of my suit jacket. It took him less than a minute to reduce those two pockets to shreds. I was too stunned from his kiss to do much of anything about all this. I suspected, though, that was the idea behind the kiss in the first place. (Confuse your opponent and then attack. Basic strategy.) Andy's assault on my suit jacket left me with a nice, if you can call it that, hole on the left side of my jacket. The right side of my jacket was torn up, but there wasn't an actual hole in it, since the tears on the inside and the outside did not line up, if you know what I mean.

"My turn!" I cried out gleefully, as I smiled at Andy and launched myself at him. It took me only a few seconds to unbutton Andy's suit jacket. I pushed Andy's jacket open and paused for a few seconds as I marveled at the sight of Andy's massive and muscular torso. It was a distraction, and a most delightful one too. I didn't let that deter me for long, though. I whipped out my hands and latched one hand onto each of the inside pockets of Andy's jacket. One mighty (well mighty for me anyway,) tug later and the inside of Andy's jacket matched mine. I didn't stop there though. As Andy stood there with his arms hanging by his sides while he chuckled at me, I reached over and took a firm grip on his left suit sleeve. Despite my best and most determined efforts though, I could not tear that sleeve off of his jacket. (Believe me I tried!) Failing that, I grabbed the lapels of Andy's suit jacket and slipped his jacket off of that terrific torso of his that stood before me. I let Andy's sopping wet jacket fall on the pool deck unheeded. I was far more interested in the wet dress shirt that clung to Andy's chest and seemed to outline every muscle on his rock hard flat stomach and massive chest. It was easy to see that Andy was not wearing an undershirt, for which I was thankful. An undershirt would have distracted from the wonderful wet look of Andy standing there. His sodden tie, hanging down from his neck and ending just before his belt buckle seemed to somehow add to the effect. I absently noted that Andy was wearing a belt in his pants, a dark brown leather belt with a simple gold buckle. (See I told you I'd wind up finding out whether or not Andy was wearing a belt. Ye of little faith.)

Andy stood there smiling at me, as I took a second or two to catch my breath. (Actually, I just wanted to ogle Andy for a bit, but it sounds more dignified if I say that I had to catch my breath.) Andy didn't make any move to take any further action with me so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I twirled Andy around as a gave him a quick but thorough inspection. He looked as good from the back as he did from the front, but then I was expecting that to be the case. His pants were dripping wet. (Talk about an obvious statement! It wasn't likely that his pants were going to be dry.) The sodden wool blend material of his pants clung to his butt cheeks and in and around his crotch as if those pants were in love with his butt. (Frankly, I could understand the feeling. Lord knows I was in love with Andy and not just for his physical appearance.) The way that those wet suit pants of Andy clung to his buttocks was incredible. The light brown colour of the cloth had darkened to an almost chocolate brown. I peered closer at Andy's butt trying to take in every gorgeous inch of those two handsome half hemispheres draped in dampness, which stood before me. The pants had hip pockets on both sides, with a simple button tab closure on each pocket. My lips curved into a small smile as my hands reached out and patted that beautiful boggy bottom before me.

"I think you're a little wet behind the ears, Andy," I joked at him as I ran my hands over that amazing ass of his.

"How would you know?" Andy asked me in a self-assured voice. "Those aren't my ears that you're checking out, you know."

"Oh I know that," I agreed heartily. A few more soft gentle caresses of my warm hands on Andy's butt caused him to moan out loud softly. My face broke out into a huge grin as my hands fastened onto each hip pocket and with a firm grip I pulled down sharply. The results were unexpected. The right pocket tore down the left side of the pocket and stopped when the pocket was hanging down. The right side of the right hip pocket would not tear for some reason. I was more successful with the left hip pocket. This pocket started to tear down the right side of this pocket and continued long past the end of the pocket. As I continued to pull down with my left hand, the tear continued well into the back of the left pant leg, which exposed not only Andy's left leg, but also allowed me to see that Andy was wearing some plain white boxer shorts. Pleased at my success so far, I shifted my gripe so that my right hand was grabbing firmly on the right side of the tear in the left pant leg of Andy's pants. My left hand grabbed the left side of the tear with a hard and firm grip. I had to drop to my knees to obtain the grip I wanted, but I didn't much care at that point. I was too focused on the task at hand. I took a deep breath and pulled with all my strength. The sweet sound of ripping cloth greeted my ears as I completed the destruction of the back of Andy's left suit pant leg.

I spun Andy around and looked up at him. His wonderfully handsome face was alight with delight. The smile he flashed down at me beamed with approval for my actions. His arms dangled down limply from his shoulders. He wasn't offering me even a token of resistance. All he did was to swallow once or twice and whisper the question, "More?"

I nodded my head at him and dropped my eyes back down to look at the front of Andy's partly ripped suit pants. Front the front, they didn't look all that different, except for the somewhat noticeable tenting that was becoming more pronounced as the minutes ticked by. (Gee, do you think that maybe, just maybe Andy was enjoying all this?) My pants were feeling a bit on the tight side too, and not just because I was on my knees in front of Andy. I too was experiencing a raising of my tent pole, if you know what I mean. I hooked my left hand into the right front pocket of Andy's suit pants, and pulled. I was rewarded with the sound of the pants ripping along the seam. It wasn't all that surprising, since these front angle pockets of Andy's pants were anchored at the bottom right at the seam of the pants. Once the threads of the anchoring were snapped, the pants parted easily along the seam. Not only was the sound pleasing, but it got my tent pole up a few more notches. I tugged and pulled until I had ripped those pants of Andy's all the way to the cuffed bottoms.

My right hand found its way into the left front pocket of Andy's pants and proceeded to execute its mission. A sudden surge of strength and my ears were rewarded with the ravishingly refreshing sound of ripping cloth. I let out a long slow sigh of delight. Until tonight I had not realized that my suppressed fantasy of ripping the clothing off of a man was going to pale to the reality of the act. If it had been someone else, and not my dear sweet Andy, I doubt that I would have been as enraptured with the experience as I was. As with the right side of Andy's pants, I tugged and pulled until I had ripped those pants along the seam, all the way to the cuffed bottoms.

I backed up a few inches, (not easy to do when one is on one's knees, by the way) to take a good look at my handiwork. I was most pleased. Andy's pants were in tatters. He would not be wearing that suit in public again, unless he were going to a costume party as a bum. I blinked my eyes a few times as I marveled at my work. I had never done this before, ripped the pants off of another guy and it was strangely satisfying. Andy looked down at me and grinned. He stood there and reveled in ravishment. It is difficult to say which of us was the more pleased. I reached up and undid the buckle of Andy's belt. It took me but a moment to pull the belt out of his pants, and toss the belt aside. Andy's pants were still on, and thus I had not actually ripped those pants off of Andy. This was an oversight that I gleefully decided to correct. I grabbed the front of Andy's pants and pulled his zipper open. I took a firm grip on that fly and pulled down and all my strength. To my dismay nothing happened. I could not get Andy's pants to tear at the base of his zipper and along the crotch of his pants. (Where's a pair of scissors when you need one?) I pulled and tugged at the front of Andy's pants. Finally the front of his pants parted under the strain. I looked over at left side of Andy's pants and noticed that the small metal hook at the front of his pants had pulled out the small metal tab from the right side of Andy's pants. It was definite now. Without some major repairs, Andy's pants were destined for the rag box.

As I knelt there in front of Andy, I could not help but marvel at the sight of his white boxer shorts, and the long hard object that was pushing out against the thin cotton material. The boxers were still wet enough to cling very suggestively to that object, which made that object seem all the larger. Gently I reached up and stroked that joystick of Andy's. He moaned out loud and a shudder passed through his body. I flicked my eyes up to glance at Andy's face. He was still smiling, but his eyes were closed in ecstasy. I let my hands slowly play that organ of Andy's. As the minutes passed he started to sway back and forth, as the pleasure filled his mind. His arms and hand hung limply by his sides. He could not have resisted even if he'd wanted to, and I was sure that at this point resistance was the last thing on his mind.

"Strip, Dear Heart," I said to him in a soft and gentle voice.

"Yes, Texas," he replied as his hands moved up towards the knot of his tie. I kept Andy entertained, as he undid his tie and slipped it off. He continued to moan softly as he started to unbutton his shirt. I knew, though, that it was my hands on his cotton enshrouded cock that was pleasing him, and not the removal of his clothing. Although, I could have been wrong about that. (Not bloody likely!) I watched transfixed as Andy slowly undid each button of his dress shirt starting with the collar button and working his way down. I had seen Andy strip for me many times, but I never failed to be enthralled by it. It was something more than just seeing a muscular good looking man (who was NOT hypnotized in this case), taking off his clothes. It was Andy. My Andy. And that, frankly, made all the difference. If you've ever been in love, you know what I mean. If you haven't well, I can't explain it to you.

Once the last button was undone, Andy paused for a short while, as he let his arms hang limply by his sides. Perhaps he was tired, but I doubted it. I think it was more likely that he wanted to let me savor the experience. He knew how much I enjoyed watching him undress. Slowly and sexily Andy pealed that wet dress shirt off of his chest. He held the shirt out to the sides as he slowly started to remove the shirt from his back. Rather, he tried to but he encountered some difficulties. The dress shirt down hung free from Andy's chest but the shirt was still glued to his back. Try as he might he could not seem to pull it off of his back. (I would have gladly gotten up and helped him, but my hands were full at the moment. ) Andy brought his hands together behind his back. It took him a moment or two for his two hands to find each other, but once they did he grabbed the cuff of his left shirt sleeve with his right hand and slowly withdrew his left arm from the left sleeve of his dress shirt. It reminded me of seeing a snake shedding its skin, except the that shirt did not turn inside out. Once Andy had freed his left arm from that clinging shirt, he let go of the cuff of the left sleeve of the shirt. It was a simple matter now for Andy to bring his hands together in front of him and have his left hand grab the cuff of the right sleeve of the shirt. The left cuff of Andy's shirt was dragging on the pool deck, as he brought that shirt around to his front, but he didn't seem to care about that. I noticed it, but I really didn't care about it either. Easily Andy pulled his right arm out of the right sleeve of his shirt, and flashed me a triumphant grin. With a flourish Andy balled up his shirt and tossed it over his back, uncaring as to where it might land. This left only Andy's boxer shorts, shoes and socks to be removed.
Andy slowly pushed my hands away from his rock hard cock. I didn't resist. I knew what was coming next. Andy placed his hands on his boxer shorts and with one simple push pealed them off of his beautiful body like an expert chef pealing a grape. He held out the elastic band with his hands as he carefully stepped out of his boxers. As Andy stood there in all his glory, he balled up his boxer shorts and like his shirt before them, he tossed the boxers over his back uncaring as to where they might land. Andy slowly lowered himself to the ground until he was sitting on his buttocks with his rock hard cock jutting out in front of him like a forty-five degree flag pole, and his legs stretched out in front of him. It took Andy only a minute or so to reach down and slowly remove his shoes and socks from his feet. First he removed the shoes and sock from his right foot and tossed them over his back. Still grinning at me all the while, he reached down and removed the shoe and sock from his left foot. Both items followed their mates over Andy's back. Why am I bothering to describe such a mundane and ordinary action? Well, Andy is one of those rare guys who can make taking off his shoes and socks a sexy and erotic event. It wasn't just the fact that this magnificent specimen of the human male body was sitting there nude, except for his footwear. It was the way that Andy reached down and grasped each shoe and sock with his hands. He had a way of looking at you and making you feel as if it were your body that his hands were touching as they removed each item of his clothing. Andy didn't leer at you exactly, it was more as if his gaze looked into your soul and touched that secret part of you that you hide from everyone. It was at times like this that I was amazed that Andy saw something special in me that he didn't see in anyone else. I knew that with his good looks (Boy is THAT an understatement! Andy was drop dead gorgeous, a major league stud muffin if ever there was one!) and loving personality Andy could have had any man that he showed the slightest interest in. I was amazed, and still am to this very day, that Andy loves me above all others. I don't know what I've done in my life to deserve such a man as Andy, but every day I thank God for the time I can have with him. (Okay, I'll stop with the mushy stuff before we have national Kleenex shortage.)

Andy was only a couple of feet away from me, as he sat there nude in front of me. Carefully he got up on his knees and made his way over to me. I stood there on my knees in front of Andy, too transfixed with this beautiful man to move a muscle. (You would think that after all the many months we'd spent in each other company, I'd be used to Andy by now, and that the sight of him nude before me would not overpower me. But it did then, and it still does to this very day. Some miracles just keep on happening.) He waved me to my feet. Reluctantly I complied. I would much rather have stayed there on my knees with Andy. I gazed down at Andy and my fingers actually ached to feel them wrapped about his cock once again. Andy motioned me to turn around and again I reluctantly complied. I suppose it was only fair. I'd seen his butt in those suit pants of his, so he had every right to see mine. Suddenly I felt a strong tug on my backside and my ears picked up the sound of ripping cloth, followed by a cool draft on my backside. You didn't need a PHD in physics to realize that Andy was starting to rip my suit pants to shreds. As Andy's plan of action started to penetrate my fogbound mind, I decided to save some time. I attacked my tie and quickly undid it while I was facing away from Andy. By the time Andy had spun me back around to face him, I had already tossed my tie aside, and had my shirt pulled out from my pants. While Andy gripped the front pockets of my pants in preparation of inflicting one of his Herculean yanks on them, I quickly got to work on the buttons of my shirt. Andy's yank on the front pockets of my pants pulled me to my knees. (What can I say? I get weak in the knees, literally, when I'm around Andy.) Andy chuckled at me and motioned me to climb back to my feet. As I did so, I managed to get the last button on my shirt undone. I braced myself for Andy's next tug on my pants. I closed my eyes as I waited for him to render my pants asunder. (For some strange reason just the thought of him doing that was sending a thrill through my body.) I let out a long low moan of joy as I once again felt the strong yank from Andy, then seconds later reveled in the sound of ripping cloth. There was a brief pause, and then more ripping. Another brief pause, a much stronger yank which nearly brought me to my knees again, followed by the sound of more cloth being ripped. After about a minute or so the ripping stopped and I opened my eyes.

Looking down I saw that Andy had not only torn the front pockets of my suit pants out, but had managed to open my fly and tear out the crotch of my pants. I guess all that time the gym had paid off. Andy was strong enough to rip the fly and crotch out of my pants, whereas I was unable to accomplish such a task. I blinked at Andy a couple of times, as my hands made their way back up to my wet clinging dress shirt. I gazed into those deep dark doe like brown eyes of Andy's as I peeled my shirt and my suit jacket off of my chest. It was then that I realized that I had not removed my suit jacket as of yet. Unlike Andy, I had no difficulties in slipping my shirt off. (I guessed that my shirt had dried enough so that it wasn't sticking to my body as much as Andy's shirt has stuck to his.) I wadded my shirt and suit jacket up into a ball and tossed them nonchalantly over my shoulder, while keeping my eyes locked on Andy's. I undid my belt and slipped it out of what remained of my pants, while letting my lips curve into a gentle and soft smile. I curled up my belt and tossed it over my shoulder. I placed my hands on my hips and stood there looking down at Andy. I pushed down slightly on the tattered remains of my pants as I stood there in front of Andy, silently urging him to take the next step.

Suddenly my pants slipped down and off my hips of their own accord. I looked down a the front of my pants and discovered that Andy had not only torn the fly out of my pants but torn away the front fastening. With my belt gone there was nothing to hold up my pants except sheer willpower. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), the law of gravity remained in effect, and my pants were still subject to that law. So like it or not, my pants collapsed around me leaving me standing there in front of Andy in only my briefs, shoes and socks. (Yes, there IS a God!) I blushed, not much, but enough for Andy to notice.

Andy looked up at my face and grinned a warm smile at me. His eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter as he reached over and snatched my briefs, tugging down on them firmly. Moments later my briefs joined the remnants of my pants lying around my ankles, and my stiff cock popped up and out now freed from its confinement. Andy licked his lips at the sight of my erect penis. I stepped out of pile of clothing about me. Slowly I lowered myself to the pool deck, keeping my eyes firmly on Andy the whole time. He didn't move a muscle. He remained kneeling in front of me, waiting to see what I would do. Once I was sitting comfortably, I stretched out my legs towards Andy.

"Would you care to do the honors?" I teased him, as I lifted my right leg up and waved my right foot just in front of Andy's face.

"But of course," he answered as he placed both hands on my right shoe and firmly pulled it off of my right foot. He peeled off my right sock a few seconds later. For half a heartbeat I had thought he was going to clamp his teeth on my sock and pull it off without using his hands. It was just as well that he didn't do that since my feet had a bouquet that was not exactly on par with that of a fresh cut rose. It took Andy only a few moments to remove my left shoe and sock from my left foot, which evened the playing field between us. I stood up suddenly, catching Andy by surprise. Without so much as a whisper of a word to him, I turned about and walked over to the edge of the pool. Taking a deep breath I shot a quick glance at Andy before I dived head first into the pool. After the last few minutes of the cool evening air, the warm waters of the swimming pool were a welcome change. I surfaced a few moments later and looked about for Andy. I saw him still sitting there by the pool, unmoved from his pervious position. The puzzled expression on his face was priceless.

"Come on in, the water's fine," I yelled over to him, as I bobbed in the pool treading water. Andy stood up, walked over to the edge of the pool and dove into the water. He surfaced a few moments later several feet away from me. With only one or two powerful strokes of his muscular arms Andy was soon treading water beside me. I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms about Andy as I pulled him towards me. Moments later I felt Andy's arms about me. As we slipped under the surface of the water, our lips met. I'm no Olympic athlete, so our underwater kiss lasted only a minute or so. But it was far from the only underwater kiss that night. That kiss sent us off into a wet, wild, wacky and wonderful world of frolicking that was unlike anything I had ever done in a swimming pool before. We swam around and about each other like a pair of love crazed otters. I was amazed that we didn't drown outright. I don't know if it was the warm water or just the freedom of knowing that we were alone, but I did things that I didn't think I would ever have done before. We played our own little sexual version of underwater tag. The person who was 'it' had to try to get the other guy's cock into his mouth. This was a real challenge, let me tell you. Just when I thought I had him, Andy would somehow slither or slip away from me like some greased eel. I eventually succeeded though. Andy had just as much trouble tagging me, when he was 'it'. So it wasn't a one sided game by any means.

After about an hour of this, we were both tired and agreed that we'd had enough. Andy's lips were blue a sure sign that we needed to call it quits. As I emerged from the water I started to shiver and my teeth started to chatter. I'm sure that my lips were as blue as Andy's. We gather up our clothes and headed back into the warmth of the house. Once we arrived in the kitchen we dropped our clothes and rags on the floor as we each headed off to our bedrooms for some warm clothes. The last thing that either of us wanted right then was to catch a chill. We had only a couple more days to spend together and we did not want to lose them for anything.

It took me only a few minutes to climb into fresh socks, underwear, undershirt, a pale yellow cotton twill cowboy shirt and my favorite pair of blue jeans. I met up with Andy in the kitchen where he was bending over to pick up both piles of clothes from the floor. (Talk about good timing!) I was treated to the sight of Andy's big firm fleshy RMCP butt shrink-wrapped in a pair of light blue snug fitting jeans. If that doesn't heat your blood up a few degrees, nothing will. Andy stood up with the combined pile of clothes in his arms and dropped them on the kitchen table. Andy was wearing a white RMCP T-shirt of all things. It was a close fitting, T-shirt that emphasized Andy's muscular chest and arms. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Andy looks good in anything, and even in nothing at all.

"I'll sort and put out the trash, if you'll fix us both a large hot cup of coffee," Andy said to me as he looked over at me and gave me one of his sexy winks. (God! Everything about that man was sexy!) I smiled back at him as I nodded my head in agreement. I filled the electric kettle with water and plugged it in. It took me only a few minutes to set out the coffee mugs, and plop a teaspoon of instant coffee into each of them. I decided to add the sugar later. I'm sure I had some kind of goofy love sick expression on my face as I watched Andy sort out our clothes. Frankly, though I didn't care if anyone saw me looking like that. I was thankful for being able to spend this time with Andy. Finally we were alone and I was going to wring every drop of joy out of the situation that I could. Who knew when we'd be able to arrange a weekend like this again?

Andy took what remained of our suits and put them into a garbage bag. The shirt, socks and underwear he popped into the dryer. The laundry room was small but well equipped, it turned out. The ties and belts he hung over the shower curtain rail, in the bathroom to dry out. Both ties were silk, which mean that they were probably ruined. However the ties could be used again for our next suit dipping experience, which is why we didn't throw them out. The shoes we left outside to dry. They were probably ruined too, but would be useful for our next pool side adventure. We chatted for a bit as we waited for the water to come to a boil. A few seconds later it seemed the kettle started to whistle. We finished making our coffee, and with coffee mugs and saucers in hand we made our way out the living room to spend some quality time watching television and cuddling. It was only about eight PM, and much too early to go to bed. (Some people would disagree with me on that point, I'm sure. Let's just say we wanted to save THAT event for a few hours later.)

We watched a little television and caught up on the headline news while we sipped our coffee. I found myself paying more attention to Andy than to the television set. (Who can blame me?) About a half an hour later we took our empty coffee mugs to the kitchen and stood there in the kitchen looking at each other, unsure of what to do next. I walked over in to the living room and looked about. My eyes settled on the stereo. I paused to look at it, and was pleased to notice that there was a multiple CD player unit among the various components. I smiled to myself as I gave birth to a wonderful idea.

"Andy would you mind moving the living room furniture about to make some room?" I asked him as I headed off to the guest bedroom that I was using.

"What for?" He asked me, puzzled at my request.

"I'm going to set the single white candle and I'd like as much free room as possible," I called back to him as I started heading down the hallway.

"Just to kneel down and pray?" Andy asked my retreating back. I was too far away to yell back an answer to him. It took me only a minute or two to rummage through my bags to find the white candle, candle holder, matches and the CDs that I wanted. (Yes I had something more than praying in mind.) I walked back into the living room to find that Andy was just finishing up his shifting of the living room furniture. He had managed to shove nearly everything off to the sides, except for the coffee table. I smiled. It was just perfect for what I had in mind. I made my way to the coffee table, by way of the stereo. I manage to drop off the CDs on top of the main unit, without Andy noticing. (I liked to think that he was watching my butt in those snug jeans of mine. I looked at Andy's face, in the bright light of the living room, and as he raised his face and eyes to meet mine, I saw a slight flush creep across his face.

"Were you watching my butt as I walked about the room, Andy?" I teased him.

"Well,uhm.yes, actually," he answered with just a touch of nervousness. "Why not? You've ogled me enough times, I'm sure."

"True enough," I admitted as I chuckled at his discomfort. Andy was till getting used to being comfortable with his 'gayness', as strange as that might sound. It is one thing to admit to yourself that you're gay. It is another to do what comes naturally, that is to admire and stare at another man's butt, and not feel embarrassed by it. Social stigmas and taboos die hard. Andy would never know it, but I was only a couple of steps ahead of him in learning how to 'be' gay.

"Come kneel with me, dear heart," I said to him as I bent over and placed the small white pillar candle on its stand. I took the matches and lit the candle, being careful to slip the cooled and extinguished match into the front of the matchbook cover. The candle stand had a felt covered bottom so it would not mar the coffee table.

"Be right there, Texas," Andy called out as he flipped off the lights in the kitchen and the living room. Moments later he placed his left hand in my right hand and in unison we knelt before the burning candle. Andy disengaged his hand from mine as he placed his hands in a prayer position. I followed suit. Our prays to God were silent and private. We took our time. After praying to God, we turned to face each other. Slowly Andy separated his hands and took my hands in his. He looked me in the eyes and whispered to me, "Thank you for loving me, Texas."

"Grow old along with me, dear heart," I whispered back at him. With those two simple lines we pledged our love and commitment to each other, anew. Slowly we drew each other close and let our lips meet in a soft gentle loving kiss. Our arms wrapped themselves about our upper bodies of their own accord in a gentle loving embraced that mirrored our kiss. I don't know how long that kiss and embrace lasted, but it was wonderful, as it always was.

'No. Don't do that just yet," I said in hushed tones as Andy leaned towards the candle intending to blow it out. "Stay right where you are," I cooed, as I got up and headed for the stereo. It took me only a few minutes to insert my CDs into the CD player and press the random play button. Moments later soft guitar music emerged from the speakers, followed soon by the sexy southern accented voice of John Michael Montgomery beginning to sing a song called 'Hold On To Me'. A lump came to my throat as I walked over to Andy and took his hands in mine. (I always get a lump in my throat when I hear that song. Yup. I'm a secret sappy sentimental romantic at heart.) Gently I pulled Andy to his feet, and looking directly in his eyes muttered "Dance with me."

"Anytime, anywhere, and always," Andy muttered back at me as he took my right hand in his left hand, and held our arms out and away from our bodies. He placed my left arm about his waist, and snaked his right arm about my waist. He took one small step, and we were off. We slow danced about the living room for hours, quite literally lost in each other's eyes. It was only when the CD player had run out of songs to play that we finally stopped moving about the room. We took turns leading each other about the room, as we danced. A couple of times we even tried to line dance to a couple of the faster country tunes. It was as hilarious. (Can you say 'the blind leading the blind'?) I can't recall any other time when I've had so much fun making a complete fool out of myself. It didn't matter how clumsy I was, or how many times I messed up the dance steps, because I was with Andy. Andy messed up a few times too, since he knew less about country line dancing than I did. It didn't matter, though, not to either of us.

When the last song had faded way, I packed up the CDs and turned off the stereo. I turned on a couple of the room lights. Andy blew out the candle, and started to put the furniture back in place. I headed off to the guest bedroom I was using to pack away my CDs. The candle I would pack up in the morning, when it had cooled off. When I had finished that task, I headed back out into the living room to help Andy move the furniture back in place, not that he needed my help, it just made the job a bit easier with two people doing it.

"So are you ready for bed, dear heart?" I asked him as he walked up and snaked his right arm around my waist.

"With you? Always," he answered with that sexy grin on his face and that wonderful warm glow in his soft doe brown eyes. And with Andy snuggled up close to me, his hip pressed firmly against mine, I lead us down the hall and into the guest bedroom that I was using. Since we were alone, there was no need to close the door.
Standing there, still snuggled close together I turned my head up and planted a soft sexy kiss on Andy's lips, while my hands wandered over the button at the top of his jeans. "Just whom else did you have in mind, when you asked 'with you'?" I teased him, as I tugged at the top of his jeans.

"Well, there IS this man I know, who's a really snappy dresser, and looks good in any cowboy outfit he wares," Andy chuckled at me. "I've heard tell he hails from Texas."

"Oh he's a Texas Ranger, then? That's understandable, I suppose. After all law enforcement officers do have to learn to work closely together," I cackled.

"He's not a Texas Ranger, but he's definitely my 'lone star'," Andy retorted as he planted a kiss on my lips. His hands reached down and tugged at the tops of my jeans. (Great minds DO think alike, it would seem.)

I undid the top button of Andy's jeans and unzipped his fly. My hands took a firm steady grip on the sides of Andy's jeans and tugged down firmly. It took one or two tugs to get those close fitting jeans over Andy's bubble butt and over his hips. Of course Andy's wiggling with pleasure wasn't helping matters any. (I think that was the idea. He was trying to draw out the process, so he could enjoy it more.) I tugged gently but firmly and managed to make slow process towards my goal. I had to bend my knees a bit in order to get Andy's jeans down low enough to be sure that gravity could take over, but once that was assured I let go of Andy's jeans. As expected they dropped down to collect in a small pile of denim at his feet. I let my eyes wander up the length of Andy's legs heading for you know where. Andy's white RMCP T-shirt was hanging down a couple of inches below his waist. Since I am not equipped with X-ray vision, that darn T-shirt of his was blocking my view of the front of Andy's white cotton briefs. I wasn't pleased by this discovery, but I wasn't annoyed either. I knew I'd be seeing Andy in all his glory soon enough.

Suddenly Andy rushed towards me and grabbed me in one of his familiar and delightful grizzly bear hugs. Before I had time to enjoy the sensation though, Andy had managed to pick me up and was carrying me in a fireman's carry. This wasn't a difficult task for Andy because he was very strong (well, relative to me anyway), and he knew how to shift his center of gravity when he moved. This wasn't the first time that Andy had suddenly decided to tote me around the room like some extra piece of luggage. The trip was very short. Andy marched over to the bed and tossed me down onto it. As I lay there recovering from the surprise of Andy's actions, he darted forward and unbuttoned my jeans, and unzipped my fly. I struggled up from the surface of the bed, and finally arrived with my body half raised from the bed, my weight supported on by my arms which were placed in nearly vertical lines under my shoulders. I raised my head up to look at Andy and ask he was the heck he was up to. I gazed up to see Andy smiling at me with what could only be called a devilish smile.

Andy darted towards the bed a second time, and clamped his hands on the legs of my jeans, on hand on each leg. He yanked down hard, hard enough to pull me back down onto the surface of the bed. He continued to yank and pull on my jeans, from side to side and he struggled to get those jeans off of me. (Now I know how taffy feels in a taffy pulling contest.) He was successful in his endeavors, and he did it without ripping my jeans to shreds. He didn't stop there though. Once he had my jeans off he got to work on my cowboy shirt. He was much more gentle this time, though. He crawled on to the bed next to me and then straddled me across my pelvis. (I was still lying flat on my back at the time.) He started to unbutton my cowboy shirt. With each button that his talented fingers undid, he kissed me full on the lips. It was one effective way of silencing any protests I might have had. In truth, I didn't object in the slightest. (Have you ever had someone kiss you while he undresses you? If not I strongly recommend you try it.) Andy didn't rush the removal of my shirt as he had my jeans. He took his own sweet time undoing each button, and kissing me passionately afterwards. I was sincerely sorry to see the last button undone.

Andy pulled the cowboy shirt away from my torso and gently nudged it aside to reveal my naked chest and stomach. Andy lowered his face and nuzzled my chest and stomach for a few minutes, interspersing some sweet kisses along the way. (Is he a great lover or what?) I closed my eyes in sweet surrender, as I sighed with delight. I moaned softly a few times and probably cried out something stupid like, "Oh God yes, Andy!" I don't clearly remember what I might have said at that time. I was too busy enjoying Andy's exquisite caresses to care much about anything else. I do remember Andy lifting up my torso so that he could slip that shirt off my limp and unprotesting form. The feeling of his talented fingers across my skin was beyond pleasurable, it bordered on euphoric, and he wasn't even addressing my erogenous zones. (Somehow I think Andy had turned my entire body into one big erogenous zone.) Somewhere during the next few minutes Andy removed my briefs and my socks, but the memory is a bit foggy. I know he had to have done that because I was in no condition to do so myself. As well, Andy's fingers were moving over the my buck naked ass, as well as the bottoms of my feet. Believe it or not he kissed the soles of my feet several times, during his exploration of every inch of my skin. Andy gave me a thorough and complete massage as I lay there on my back. My arms, legs, stomach, chest, feet, hands, face and yes even my cock came under the ministrations of those ten talented fingers of his. He was easygoing in his kneading of my muscles. He took his time, and he was rewarded with a strong 'salute' from my cock.

Andy rolled me over onto my stomach. I didn't ask him to. He did it of his own volition. I can only conclude that he felt he'd paid enough attention to my front and wanted to get to work on my back. He was careful to insure that my cock was pressing down flat against my groin area when he rolled me over. I felt my cock press into something soft warm and furry. For a second or two I was confused by the sensation until I realized that Andy had had the foresight to place a thick towel from the bathroom underneath me, when he rolled me over. Smart lad.

Andy started with my shoulders. He placed his hands on each of my shoulders and pressed down carefully. I could feel the muscles in my shoulders turn into pudding as he eased out the tension and stiffness from my body. Except for my cock, of course. It remained hard and firm and if anything it got harder. I let out a few more loud moans of appreciation for Andy's efforts. Andy moved up to my neck and when he had that nice and relaxed, he moved slowly down the entire length of my back. He stopped just short of my buttocks though, and turned his attention to my left arm. There wasn't much for him to do to my left arm since it was pretty limp to begin with, as was my right arm. Still, he did give my left arm and then my right arm a good going over. He even kissed my elbows and the tips of all my fingertips.

Satisfied that he had done his duty as far as my arms were concerned, Andy turned his attention to the soles of my feet. With me lying on my stomach, Andy found it much easier to grab my feet and lower legs to massage the muscles in them, and to give the skin all the attention that he cared to give it. I shuddered with joy when Andy kissed the back of my knees. I shuddering even more strongly when he licked the back of my knees with his tongue and kissed that area a second time. I'd heard that the back of the knees is supposed to be one of the most intense erogenous zones on the human body. Believe me when I tell you that it most certainly is! (Well, for me at least. I can't speak for you.) Andy shifted about on the bed as he turned his attention to the back of my thighs. His hands moved up so slowly that it was almost torture. He made my thighs sing with pleasure. I cooed, moaned and sighed to the music that his fingers were playing on my thighs. When he slipped his hands in between my legs and stroked the inside of my thighs I saw stars, as Andy thrust me up onto an even higher plateau of sexual pleasure. I didn't cum but I came damn close.

My moans and groans of animal pleasure were clearly pleasing Andy. He slapped his hands onto my butt cheeks and let his fingers saunter over to my butt crack. I started to roll back and forth gently with each 'step' that his fingers took. "Christ Almighty!" I screamed out as I felt Andy's fingers slide down into my butt crack and slowly spread it apart. Andy held my buttocks apart and I swear I could feel a soft warm breeze from his mouth as he breathed over my virgin butt hole. (I kid you not. My butt hole was virgin tight. I had never found the right guy to 'break me in'. However, that was about to change.) "GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, THAT FEELS FANTASTIC!!" I screamed out into the air. I panted as I tried to catch my breath.

"Just my finger. Just one finger tonight, okay, Texas?" Andy breathed into my right ear.

I couldn't believe it! Here I was on the edge of what felt like the biggest orgasm of my life and Andy was asking me questions!

"WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT!!!" I screamed back at him.

I panted and moaned in anticipation of feeling something, anything, being slid up my ass. To say that I was not exactly in my right mind would be extremely accurate. I was so far above cloud nine that I just didn't give a shit anymore! Something cool and slippery brushed against the edge of my anus, and I wiggled with joy. I panted and whimpered, "Do it, please, Andy." In answer, I felt a coolness followed by something warm and firm push slowly, excruciatingly slowly, up and into my butt hole. I now knew what unbridled passion and sexual heat to the nth degree felt like. A double jolt of euphoric sexual abandonment crashed into my brain as I shot my load deep into and all over the towel my red hot cock was pressing against. I was so lost in the moment, so overcome with the intense indescribable joy, that I could not have told you my name if you'd asked me. All I was aware of was the feeling of something warm, slippery and hard wiggling ever so gently in my butt. Well, that and the feeling of something warm and sticky all over the front of my pelvis. The warm waves of pleasure continued to flow from my anus into my mind in a steady rhythmic manner, as Andy continued to wiggle and tickle my butt hole with that warm and hard finger of his. It felt like I was lying on a beach at some sunny Caribbean resort letting the warm waters of the incoming tide gently move up and over my body, covering every square in of my skin in a peaceful warmth and joy, that I had never known before.

Slowly the waves of gentle warm heat flowing over my body, faded away as the tide went back out again. Nothing good lasts forever. Slowly my mind drifted back down to planet earth and I became aware of where I was. I cranked my eyes open. I looked off to my left to see that I was slightly off center of the double bed that I was lying in. Andy was no where to be seen, at least from this angle. I blinked a few times to focus my eyes. As I pushed myself up from the bed I realized that Andy's finger was no longer inserted in my butt. Carefully I rolled over onto my left side assured that I would not bump or jar Andy.

I focused my eyes on the task at hand, which was rolling over in place without making the mess I was lying in bigger. I didn't want to stain the bedcovers, since this was not my bed after all. I accomplished my mission and raised my head to look about the room for Andy. I saw him lying on his right side a foot or so away from me in the bed. He was still wearing his shirt, socks and underwear. His right arm extended up along the bed, and then bent at the elbow so that his head was propped up by his right hand. He was looking over at me with a sweet smile on his face, and joyous laughter in his shining eyes. He looked happy, for lack of a better word.

"Was it good for you, Texas?" He asked me in that rich warm honey smooth tenor voice of his. There seemed to be something more in his tone though. His tone and words seem to wrap about me like a warm soft blanket. I felt safe and secure in a way that I had not ever known before.

"It was, fantastic and incredible," I answered him. "And those words don't do it justice. It was like nothing I've ever known before."

"You make it sound as if this was your first time," Andy said with a chuckle.

"It was, Andy. It was," I deadpanned.

"What?" Andy whispered as his jaw dropped open in surprise.

"As far as someone else using my butt hole, yes I was a virgin until tonight, Andy," I said quietly.

"Butbut you know so much about so many other things, that I just thought." Andy said as the disjointed thoughts started to tumble out of his mouth.

"Andy, dear heart, I have been saving myself all these years for the right man, and that man was you," I said to him as I reach out with my right hand and brushed the left side of his face. "While it is true that I have once or twice used another man's butt hole for my pleasure, it was always with a condom. It was, I am ashamed to say, never love though."

"Oh" Andy said as he let my words flow over him and into his mind. He was still adjusting to what I had told him.

"Why did you want to only finger fuck me, Andy?" I asked him as my natural curiosity got the better of me.

"Is that what it's called?" He asked me.

"Yes, I believe so," I answered him.

"Well Iuhm.I guess I was still uncomfortable with the idea of sticking my cock in your ass," Andy haltingly admitted to me.

"That's okay, lover," I said as I stroked his face again and smiled at him warmly. "We'll take it as slow or as fast as you like. We'll only do what we are both comfortable with. I'm in no rush. I know that you love me, and if I had any doubts, tonight's little adventure has certainly erased them."

"Then, you won't be disappointed or upset if I told you that I don't want you to 'do' me tonight?" Andy asked with just a tint of concern in his voice.

"Upset no. Disappointed, well maybe just a bit," I answered him. "What I am feeling most though is guilty."

"Guilty? About what?" Andy asked me both relieved and puzzled at my response.

"Well, here you've taken me to the top of the mountain of sexual and physical pleasure, and I won't have a chance to reciprocate. I feel like you did all the work and I had all the fun," I answered him. "I guess I feel kind of bad about that. Somehow it doesn't seem fair."

Andy leaned over and kissed me full on the lips as his left hand stroked my sweat streaked hair. I let out a long slow sigh of pleasure as Andy let his lips linger on mine for a few moments longer. "No need for you to feel guilty, about anything," Andy reassured me. "I enjoyed you tonight. I saw you let go of yourself tonight in a way that I've never seen before. You were completely open and responsive to me tonight. You let me decide what to do, and it was exhilarating for me to feel in control for a change. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow night we'll see if we can reverse roles." Andy grinned at me and playfully tapped me on the nose.

I smiled back at him and blew him a kiss.

"How about we clean up and head off to bed now?" Andy asked me.

"I sup" I said as I started to answer, but my words were cut off by a huge yawn. It surprised the heck out of me.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Andy said, and then let out a huge yawn of his own.

Carefully I climbed up off of the bed. I looked down at my watch and my eyes bulged a bit as I read the time. 11:43 PM. I had no idea that many hours had passed. We had headed off to this bedroom at about 8 PM so. No wonder we were both so dogged tired. Maybe fucking tired would have been more accurate. Fortunately we had only the one towel to clean up, and me to wash down, so it didn't take us long to get ready for bed. By the time I returned from the bathroom, Andy had already stripped down and was waiting for me in between the sheets of the bed. (Darn it! I'd missed that.) I smiled at him, climbed into the bed and turned out the bedside lamp. In the darkness of the room we wrapped our arms about each other and drifted off into some well earned sleep. But not before one final good night kiss.



Chapter 8. Uninvited.

We slept in late on Sunday morning. There wasn't any reason to get up early. Lord knows we needed the rest, especially after last night's adventures.

I popped awake to the sound of Andy snoring softly, snuggled up against me. (If there is any better way to wake up in the morning, I sure as heck don't know what it is.) This morning he wasn't the only person who needed a shower. I was rather rank, to put it mildly. After the energy I'd expended last night, I had half expected the smoke alarm to go off. (So I'm exaggerating just a tad here. Can you blame me? It was a night that I will long remember.) I didn't feel like getting up, but I was hungry all the same. I needed something in me this morning. (I was talking about food, not Andy. Get your mind out of the gutter! Such naughty thoughts! You really ARE a slut puppy, aren't you?) Since there wasn't any room service available, that meant I would have to get my lazy bag of bones out of the bed and fix something. I didn't have the heart to nudge Andy awake. He had given me such a fantastic time last night that fixing breakfast for him would be the least I could do to thank him and show my appreciation. So having make my mind up, I carefully crept out of the bed and headed off to the shower. I might be hungry but I needed to clean up first.

I took a nice long hot shower and scrubbed all that morning stink from my hide. I climbed out and dried myself off, feeling better able to face the day. I opened the bathroom door and wiped off the steam fogged mirror. I needed a few clear square inches of bathroom mirror in order to shave. Shaving and combing my damp hair occupied another ten minutes or so. I took one final look at my reflection in the still slightly steam fogged mirror, satisfied that I was at least presentable now. I slipped on my sky blue bathrobe (I had packed it as well as my bedroom slippers in my luggage, since I couldn't be sure of finding anything like that here in the country house), and stuffed my still damp toes into my matching bedroom slippers as I headed off to the kitchen to get started on making breakfast.

Long before I arrived at the kitchen, my nose informed me that I was too late. I walked in to the kitchen to the appetizing aroma of fresh coffee brewing, and pancakes cooking. My mouth fairly watered as I caught the aroma of fresh bacon, too. Andy was standing in front of the stove, frying pan in hand, flipping fresh fluffy pancakes from the frying pan onto the dinner plate he held in his other hand. Sorry to disappoint you but Andy was not nude. He was wearing a pair of gray jeans, and a navy blue short sleeve casual shirt. A black belt passing through the loop of his jeans, encircled his waist. There was already a stack of at least three or four pancakes on that plate and he was adding another one. I flicked my eyes to the left of Andy and on the kitchen counter I saw another dinner plate with two or three pancakes already on it. Next to that plate was another one with a small mountain of bacon sitting on it, just begging to be eaten.

"Good morning, dear heart," I called out to Andy as I walked up behind him. (I didn't want to startle him and have him miss catching one of the pancakes.) "So what's all this?"

"Breakfast, silly," Andy replied as he caught the last pancake from the frying pan. He placed the frying pan off on an unused element on the stove, and turned off the element he'd been using. "If you'd like to help, you could get the orange juice from the refrigerator, as well as some glasses."
"Sure thing, lover," I replied as I got busy. In a few minutes the two of us had the table set and were ready to chow down on the hot and hearty breakfast that Andy had cooked up for us. I noted that Andy's shirt wasn't one of those pull over knit shirts with a short three button placket. This shirt had a full length placket with the usual five or six buttons down the front.

"You know, I was hoping to fix you breakfast this morning," I said to Andy as I speared a few pieces of bacon from the plate in the center of the table and deposited them beside the pancakes on my plate. I grabbed the squeeze bottle of maple syrup and poured some of that heavenly liquid on my pancakes as I continued talking. "I thought it would be a nice way to thank you for last night."

"I had the same idea," Andy said as he grinned at me with cheeks stuffed full of pancakes. "I just beat you to the punch. Besides, I'm a better cook."

"That you are," I agreed in between mouthfuls of the wonderful warm blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. "You've outdone yourself, Andy," I complimented him as I crunched the bacon and savored its salty crisp texture. (My bacon always comes out black, burned beyond recognition.)

I looked up from my plateful of food and gazed adoringly at Andy, as my tongue savored the taste of his pancakes. Suddenly I realized that Andy was as well scrubbed and freshly shaved as I was. "How in the world did you manage to take a shower or a bath or whatever, while I was hogging the shower?" I asked in a genuinely perplexed voice.

"I used the shower down in the basement," Andy answered. "Apparently, there is a half bathroom down there in the extra bedroom. I learned how to shower 'double time' back in my cadet days, so I was finished long before you were. I figured I'd make good use of my free time and get an early start on making breakfast."

"And here I thought you were just another pretty face," I joked, after taking a long draft of orange juice from my glass.

"Yes, there is a brain behind these killer buns," Andy joked back.

"Enough! You win!" I chuckled as a few bits of food flew out of my mouth. "All I ask is that you let me finish my breakfast in peace, before I wind up choking on something."

"No problem. I know CPR and the Heimlich maneuver," Andy said with a smile as he nodded his head while continuing to wolf down his food. The rest of our breakfast was quiet as we devoured the food in front of us. Well, to be honest, I ate my breakfast, and Andy devoured his. Having been through the RMCP training program Andy was afflicted with "Mounties Eating Disorder", a common result of the six months of mess hall meals that conditioned him to eat fast and talk little at mealtimes. Often I had to remind him to slow down when we were out dining in a restaurant. We topped off our late breakfast with a couple of cups of coffee, and some idle chatter about how we would spend the day. I didn't have any clear idea of what I wanted to do, and neither did Andy. We did agree on one thing, though, we did not want to spend the afternoon inside. A swim in the pool would have been nice, but we did not have any bathing suits with us, and skinny dipping during the afternoon didn't seem very palatable to us. So we went out for a drive. The fresh air we decided would do us good. Before we left I did change into some clothes. A purple cowboy shit, with light blue jeans, a black belt, black cowboy boots and my black cowboy hat, is what I decided to wear.

We wound up driving back into the city. As I said before it was a short drive, only about thirty minutes so this did not annoy or irritate either of us. We spent the afternoon walking through the natural history museum, located west of the downtown area. I hadn't been there in years, and Andy had ever been there period. So it was a new and interesting experience for both of us. We enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun. We also learned a lot too. Best of all, though, is that because it was a Sunday there were no scheduled tours or groups of tourists nosily parading through the building and around the displays. We could take our time. This gave us an opportunity to appreciate the time and effort that went in to creating many of these displays. I still shudder when I think of the 'wall of snakes' that we saw. Sure they were garter snakes (which are non-poisonous), and yes they were behind a glass wall, and of course they were not alive. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but shudder at the sight of what looked to be hundreds, if not thousands, of snakes intertwined in a huge mass, just inches from my face. It gave me the willies.

The other display that I remembered was that of the cougar. There was a full grown stuffed and mounted adult specimen. (Yeah, like it was necessary to mention that this was a stuffed and mounted cat? It's not like they would have had a live cat in the display after all. Sometimes I can't help but state the obvious.) What was interesting is the chills that ran up and down my back when I crouched down and looked that the cat head on. I felt like the cat was walking up to me, or stalking me. It was eerie, but at the same time kind of thrilling.

I am sure the more adventuresome (ahemhorny) readers out there are wondering to themselves why we spent so many hours in a stuffy old museum, when we could have spent those hours more productively at the country house, in bed. We did discuss that very point as a matter of fact, and we decided to save that particular event for the evening. We thought waiting a few hours would make our lovemaking all the more pleasurable. Good things should never be rushed. They should be savored and enjoyed to the fullest. Anticipation, we knew, would add a dash of spice to our evening. Besides, we were supposed to be exploring all the aspects of this relationship, not just our bodies. Being able to spend time together doing something that didn't involve sex, hypnosis, or sharing profound thoughts, was essential to our relationship too. It was wonderful to just 'be myself' with Andy, in public and to have a simple conversation about the exhibits in the museum.

Afterward, while sitting in a street side café, we debated the controversy about caffeine in coffee and what health risks it posses. Andy was a bit more health conscious than I was (Can you say 'gym rat'?), thus he expressed some concern about my love of coffee. We agreed to disagree on that point, and see where it went. After only six months together I wasn't about to make any changes in my life style just to suit him. I was pleased when he didn't harp on the subject. If he had not let subject drop, I would have become concerned, since that is one of the first signs of a controlling and manipulative personality. The afternoon passed pleasantly, and we decided to start the drive back to the country house, stopping on the way at a family restaurant for dinner. Dinning at a restaurant was my idea. Andy didn't mind the idea of cooking dinner for us when we got back to the house, but I felt he'd done enough cooking for one day.

We arrived back at the country house just after 6 PM. We walked about the grounds a little to stretch our legs from the drive. Our aimless wandering eventually lead us to the kitchen door, and we decided at that point it was time to head back inside. We puttered about the kitchen a bit, making a couple of cups of tea, that we planned to spend slipping in the living room for a while. We were in no rush to head off to the bedroom. We'd go there when the mood was right. With coffee mugs in hand (even if they did contain tea), we headed off to the living room.

The living room was dim, but fortunately there was enough light coming from the kitchen for us to make our way to the sofa and put our mugs and saucers down on the coffee table, without banging our shins on any of the furniture.

"I don't suppose you'd consider offering me a cup of tea as well?" Asked a voiced out of the darkness.

My heart skipped a beat, as a flash of fear tore through my mind at the sound of that strange voice. Suddenly light flooded the living room as one of the lamps was turned on. The light got brighter as the lamp was turned to its highest setting. I blinked my eyes a few time to adjust to the sudden brightness and looked in the direction where the voice had come from.

Seated in the far overstuffed chair of the living room was a man, the obvious source of the strange voice. As he sat there looking at Andy and me, I noticed that his legs were crossed one over the other, in a casual almost informal matter which was a stark contrast to the way he was dressed. This man, whomever he was, appeared to be wearing an expensive looking dark blue double breasted pinstripe suit. A flashy bright red tie in front of a dazzlingly white shirt complimented the suit. The shoes on his feet were a polished black leather of some kind and looked to be very expensive. He looked like a lawyer, a very successful lawyer. Suddenly I had a bad feeling about this, and not just because this guy looked like a lawyer. I didn't have to be physic to know that this man's sudden appearance wasn't an indication of good news. What it meant I had no idea, and that thought got me to worrying.

Since this man was sitting down it was rather difficult to estimate his height or his build. I would have guessed him at maybe five feet eight inches tall, and somewhat on the slim side. So I would have guessed his weight at somewhere around one hundred and fifty five pounds at the most. He did not look physically imposing, but he had an air of confidence that seemed to surround him. I think it was his eyes. They were a cold battleship gray, and had a harsh steely look to them. Those eyes matched the rest of his thin face perfectly. An elegant closely trimmed mustache of black hair rested between the thin sharp nose and the thin upper lip of this man. The rest of his face was clean shaven, without so much as a suggestion of five o'clock shadow on his face. His bottom lip was only marginally thicker than his upper lip which gave the impression that his man was always pressing his lips together slightly in annoyance or frustration. It was a most unfriendly expression. His black hair was neatly trimmed, as one might expect, and cropped closely to his head. His hairline was receding and had been for some time. There was a bald spot on his head which covered the front half of his head, and probably went down part of the way down the back of his head too. It was measure of his self assurance that he did not attempt to hide this area of pink flesh with a toupee or any other social aid. This was a man who was sure of himself. "Definitely looks like a lawyer," I thought to myself as I finished looking the man over. I added it all up in my mind and it spelled out one word. Dangerous.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Andy barked out at the man, distracting me from my worries. Andy wasn't angry. He was furious! I had never heard such anger and heat in his voice before. I looked over at him, and my jaw dropped open at what I saw. Andy's face was flushed a bright red as he struggled to keep his anger in check. His eyes blazed with anger. He held his body stiffly erect as if he were a hair's breath away from launching himself at the man sitting in the chair in front of us. I gulped at him, in spite of myself. I'd always seen the kind gentle compassionate side of Andy. Sure I'd seen Andy upset before, but this was different, very different. Andy looked like he was getting ready to go into battle. I wasn't scared of him, since I knew his anger wasn't directed at me. I was dumbfounded, pure and simple.

"All in good time," the man answered Andy. "The least you could do Constable Anderson, is to make the introductions." This man spoke calmly as if he had all the time in world. His voice oozed with self-assurance. Clearly he was in control of this situation and he knew it.

"Paul Walton, it is my displeasure to acquaint you with Todd Herbertson," Andy said between clenched teeth. Clearly he was expending a tremendous effort to keep his temper in check.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr., Walton," Todd said to me with a grin so calculating and evil that I was surprised horns and a tail did not appear in that instant.

"I'm sorry, but the feeling is not at all mutual," I responded coolly. It was true that I did not know this man from Adam, however it was clear that Andy had dealt with Todd before. Andy disliked him, and that was enough for me. Andy continued to do an admirable job of keeping his temper in check, yet his loathing for Todd was very apparent. If looks could kill, Mr. Herbertson would have been lying on the floor suffering his final death agonies.

'Now, now, don't be doing that," Todd addressed me in condescending tone that grated on my nerves. The smile on his face had faded to a small smirk. "You and I have never met, Mr. Walton. It is presumptuous of you to be jumping to conclusions about me. Why I haven't even informed you as to why I have chosen to grace you with my presence this evening."

"Very true," I conceded, keeping my voice cool and calm, and my face as neutral as I could. "However you remain an uninvited guest, who has seen fit to inflict his unwanted presence upon us this evening. There is little that you can do, in my opinion, to remedy the situation, or to make amends."

"Who said anything about making amends?" Todd asked and that evil grin flashed back on his face. "But I have wasted enough time on you. It is Constable Andrews whom I came to talk with. We have business."

"No, we don't," Andy said in a icy voice. "How many times to I have to keep telling you 'no'?"

"I think I have something here that just might change your mind, Constable," Todd said as he reached down and grabbed something from the side of the chair he was sitting in. A leather briefcase emerged from the shadow of the chair. Todd placed the briefcase on the coffee table in front of him. He looked up at us and with glee he opened the briefcase.

The briefcase was opened away from us and thus the top concealed whatever it was that the briefcase contained. I half expected Todd to pull out a gun, except that he didn't need to threaten us. It would have been out of character for such a an arrogant man to have needed to stoop to such a mundane device. Todd suddenly spun the briefcase about so that it was facing towards us and we could clearly see the inside.

The blood drained from my face, as I gazed upon the objects revealed. It took me a few minutes to comprehend what I was looking at. It was a pile of photographs. Yes, I understood that easily enough. It was the subject matter of the photograph that was such a shock to me. It was a photograph of Andy and me. Andy and me, standing on the pool deck, in our suits. With numb fingers I picked up the pile of photographs and started to look through them. I wasn't all that surprised to see that our entire adventure on the pool deck and in the pool had been well documented. As the initial shock wore off, I began to admire the quality of the photography. Professional work, all right. I handed the photographs to Andy.

He took them from my hands and briefly flipped through them. He handed them back to me, without saying a word. I replaced the photographs in the briefcase and looked up at Andy. The anger on his face was still there, but now mixed with it was fear and frustration. Andy's body sagged as he let go of his anger and tried to focus on the problem that had suddenly shown up on our doorstep.

"Blackmail" I said, as I let out a soft sigh. It was statement not a question.

"Blackmail is such an ugly word," Todd responded smiling with glee. "Let's just call it a vicious threat." He spoke with such cheerfulness that I wanted to spit on him. (I'm being kind when I say that. I was picturing Todd stripped down to his waist, bent over a chair, screaming in pain as he was being whipped with a cat-o'-nine-tails. Three guesses who was doing the whipping. Here's a clue. It wasn't Andy. With some reluctance, I banished the image from my mind and focused on the problem at hand.)

"I take it that this is somehow related to the business that you were alluding to earlier," I surmised. I didn't know what this was about yet, but I was sure that I'd find out soon enough. I took little comfort from that thought.

"You're fast on the draw, cowboy," Todd remarked sarcastically to me, as he turned and looked at Andy.

"No," Andy replied to the unspoken question, but his voice was shaky.

""Hold on just a sec, Andy," I said as I interrupted him before he could continue speaking.. Turning my attention to Todd I questioned him. "Are you wired?"

"What?" Todd replied, surprised at my question.

"Are you recording this conversation?" I asked rephrasing my question to be sure he understood what I was suggesting.

"Of course not," Todd replied. "This conversation is not going to leave this room."

"Then you won't have any objection to letting Andy check that you are not carrying any hidden recording devices, or microphones, will you?" I asked him as I pushed my point home. The experience of Chuck and Andy bugging my apartment, had taught me just how easy it could be to make a clandestine recording. Already I was cogitating how I might use my powers to evade this trap of Todd's. The problem was I didn't want any type of evidence left behind of me using my powers. I wanted to keep a lid on this and not have any loose ends to have to go and tie off later. Of course that was assuming that my powers even worked on Todd in the first place.

"Clever. You're smarter than I thought," Todd said to me, mildly surprised.

"Give me some credit, Todd," I fumed at him as I bit back the stinging retort that was on my tongue. "It doesn't take a lot of brains to realize that if you managed to arrange a secret photography session, that you might have a few other tricks up your sleeve."

I waved Andy over towards Todd. As Andy approached him, Todd stood up and moved away from the chair, so that Andy would have easy access to search Todd's entire body. As Andy was an experienced RCMP constable, he would know exactly what to look for, and what to check. I waited as patiently as I could while Andy did a body search of Todd Herbertson. Andy took his time, and was very careful and thorough. He started the search with the inside of Todd's shoes. After that Andy nearly tore Todd's briefcase apart as he checked it for any hidden equipment.

I turned and stared at the far living room wall, while Andy continued with his search, thus I can't give you a blow by blow description of what happened. I had more important things to think about, and looking at Andy searching Todd would prove to be too much of a distraction. I had plenty of questions, but I was damn short on answers. First and foremost, though was to see if my powers would even work on Todd. For all I knew he might be naturally immune like Andy, which would make getting out of this trap all the more difficult. I took a couple of deep relaxing breaths and let my mind approach the problem slowly step by step.

First would be a simple test to see if Todd responded to one of my commands. If that failed I would have to fall back on using a compulsion field and regular hypnosis. My recent encounter with Cody and his buddies had turned out to be a lot more that just fun. The experience had taught me skills that just might let Andy and I walk away from all of this. The key was subtly. Todd was most likely a lawyer, and lawyers are very good at manipulating people. It follows then, that they are also keen on detecting when someone is trying to manipulate them. Since this is exactly what I had in mind, I would have to be very, very careful.

My mind made up, and with at least the outline of a plan in hand, I kept my back to Andy and Todd, and waited for the inspection to finish. While I waited I gathered up my powers and sent them out behind me, doing a scan in the general area of Andy and Todd. As expected Andy's mind showed up on my mental radar as a fuzzy and indistinct blip, from which I could not detect any type of emotions. Todd was different. He showed up as a solid blip, which suggested that he wasn't immune to my powers, but at the same time I couldn't seem to pick up much in the way of emotions from him either. This suggested that he might be gifted and be shielding his mind from me. It was difficult to be certain of much of anything with only a passive scan. (By the way, my experience to date had shown me that regardless of whether or not they were gifted, other people always showed up on my mental radar as blips. Andy was the only exception to this, which I had ever encountered. I assumed that his immunity to my super hypnosis powers is what caused him to appear as a fuzzy blip on my mental radar.)
"He's clean," Andy reported about ten minutes later. (As I said, Andy did a thorough body search.) I turned around and faced the two of them.

"Good. I guess that means we can talk freely. Now would one of you please be kind enough to tell me exactly what this is all about?" I asked them both as I gestured at them to sit down. By this time Todd was once again wearing his elegant shoes.

"Oh, please let me," Todd tittered. It was clear that he was going to enjoy telling me this business, whatever it was. Now I was really starting to feel uncomfortable, and more than just a bit annoyed too. Todd was enjoying this just a little too much. He sat down in the chair that he had been occupying when I first met him. Andy walked around the far end of the sofa and sat down. I sat down next to Andy, and gently took hold of his right hand with my left hand. I gave Andy's hand a good strong squeeze in a silent gesture of support. Andy squeezed back. Todd already knew that Andy and I were involved, so there was no point in hiding how we felt about each other. Frankly holding Andy's hand made me feel better. Not a lot, but some.

"The client that I represent, would like Andy to develop a slight case of amnesia regarding a specific event that Andy was involved with," Todd began speaking, not even trying to hide the glee in his voice. "The case comes up to trial in a couple of weeks. If Constable Anderson cooperates then these photographs will not appear in the local newspaper, nor will they be sent to the shift commander of the local RCMP detachment. That's the deal."

"Ah, I see," I said solemnly. "What about me?"

"My client has no interest in you," Todd said disdainfully. "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's ironic, actually. The plan was to merely acquire compromising photographs of Constable Anderson with a woman, but this is so much better." Todd grinned at me evilly as he looked me right in the eyes.

"Stand up, open your fly, sit down and do not remember doing so," I thought at Todd, as I launched my powers at his mind, using a very low power level. The command failed to penetrate his mind. It bounced off the surface of his mind like an elastic band hitting a wall. Todd didn't even blink. "Shit!" I thought to myself. "Todd's gifted and he has a shield up. God damn it!" There was no indication that he'd even felt my probe of his shield, though. I was mildly surprised. I doubled the power level and launched the command a second time, all within only a second or two. Again the command failed to penetrate into Todd's mind. This time however, I felt my command gnaw at the edge of his shield as the energy of my attack slid off of his shield.

The smile on Todd's face faded and look of pain crossed his face. He placed the tips of his fingers of either hand on the side of his head. Slowly he started to massage his temples with small round motions of his finger tips. Clearly he'd felt that probe of his shield.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just felt a sudden sharp pain in my head," Todd said as he continued to rub his temples.

"A headache?" I prompted him.

"No, not really. It was more like something was trying to drill inside of my skull," Todd said as he winced again.

"Maybe a drink would help," I said to Todd. "I know I could use one. How about you get a tall glass of orange juice on the rocks for each of us, okay Andy?" I asked him as I turned my head and looked at him.

"Yeah, sure," Andy said surly, and shot me a dark look. A drink of any kind, was clearly the last thing that he wanted. He stood up grudgingly and headed off to the kitchen. I sat back in the sofa and closed my eyes. I thought about my two attempts to super hypnotize Todd. They had both failed. Clearly he had some type of shield, but it didn't appear to be very strong. Todd also did not appear to be gifted after all. If he had been gifted he would have recognized my mental attack, for what it was. My second attack had been deflected, but not before it had dug into his shield a bit. I could probably have broken through Todd's shield since I was exerting only a small fraction of my powers, but it would have been painful for him. I might not like the guy, but that wasn't a reason to hurt him. So far he'd only threatened Andy and me, but he hadn't actually done anything other that show us those photographs. I decided to use the subtle approach. I gathered up my powers and began to quickly build up a compulsion field around Todd. The field carried one command, "It feels natural and nice to go along with what Paul says."

"Here's the juice," Andy announced coolly, a few minutes later. I opened my eyes to see that Andy had returned with a tray and three tall glasses of orange juice on ice. By that time I had the compulsion field firmly entrenched about Todd. I did not need to keep pouring power into it. I picked up one of the glasses and took a small sip.

"Thank you Andy," I said as I turned to him. "That's tastes very good." I slowly turned my head took at Todd. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes," He said as he picked the glass nearest him and took a sip. Replacing the glass on the tray he sat back in the chair and looked at Andy. The silence in the room made me uncomfortable. Finally after about a minute, Todd spoke to Andy. "So what is your decision?"

Andy looked at Todd and the anger on Andy's face flared up again. Andy turned to look at me and profound sadness replaced the anger in a heartbeat. I saw Andy swallow as he opened his mouth to speak. Whatever the words were that he wanted to speak, they would not come. Andy looked at me, with an expression of utter helplessness and pain etched plainly on his face. The expression on his face grew more profound with each passing minute.

"Ooo, caught between a rock and hard place are we?" Todd snickered, as he studied Andy's face. "I just love this! A big strong RCMP constable, who's a closet queer, can't make up his mind. This IS rich!"

My face suddenly became hot as the blood surged into it. I blushed at Todd's words. They hurt. For a half a heartbeat I was tempted to crash through Todd's shield and super hypnotize him right then and there, regardless of the pain he'd feel. The man clearly had little compassion or empathy for anyone else. A quick second thought made me realize that I'd be lowering myself to his level. I can't think of anything worse than lowering yourself to the level of a lawyer. Why even snakes get more respect!

"And his boyfriend is all hot and bothered by it!" Todd chortled. "This is just too good to be true!' Todd broke up into a fit of laughter while Andy and I sat there suffering in silence. Any retort that we could have offered would only have fueled Todd's laughter. I left Todd to enjoy himself. As much as I wanted to walk over there and smack him, it wouldn't help matters. Besides I had something far more subtle and satisfying in mind. I just had to think of the right way to lead Todd into my own little trap.

I picked up my glass of orange juice and drained it. I gulped down the cold satisfying liquid, leaving only the three large ice cubes in the glass. I leaned forward and held the glass in both hands using only the tips of my fingers. This provided me with a clear unobstructed view of the contents of the glass. The glass was at about chest level. I began gazing intently on the ice cubes as if they were the most important thing in world to me. I stared and waited. Todd's laughter had finally died off by this time.

"What are you doing, Paul?" Andy asked me after a minute of silence.

"Thinking," I said to him. "You've got a decision to make. Whatever you decide, I'll stand behind you."

"Thanks for putting me in the hot seat, Paul!" Andy snapped at me. He wasn't happy with me, at least not right now. I forgave him his anger and annoyance with me. After all I couldn't tell him what I was up to, otherwise it might not work. On second thought it would work, but it would be a bit more difficult to pull off and much less subtle.

"Have you ever really looked at ice cubes, Todd?" I asked the man as I looked up at him, with a bland expression on my face. (Considering how I felt about him at the time, keeping a bland expression on my face was an acting job worthy of an Oscar.) "I've always been fascinated by the way they catch and reflect the light."

"No, I can't say as I've given them much thought," Todd said as he looked back at me, slightly taken aback at the abrupt change in the direction of the conversation. Todd was sitting in the chair with his right leg crossed over his left leg at the knee. His hands were clasped together, held on top and just in front of his right knee. It did not strike me as a particularly comfortable position. From what I could tell, his jacket was still done up. I could only surmise that after Andy had searched him, Todd had done his suit jacket back up. The man had style, you had to give him that.

"While Andy's thinking over your proposal, why not take the time and look at them. I think you'll find it interesting," I said to him.

"Why should I bother?" He asked me in a bored voice, but still he looked over in my direction, and flicked his eye briefly at the ice cubes in the glass I was holding.

"It will help to pass the time," I informed him. "Andy has much to think about, and I think it only fair that you give him a few minutes to carefully consider his options."

"Oh, all right," Todd said with a sigh. "I suppose it will help pass the time, but I think I'd rather watch television." Todd shifted his position and turned his head to look directly at the ice cubes in my glass, the disinterest plain upon his face.

"It's amazing that simple frozen water can look so beautiful and be so refreshing at the same time," I said as I modulated the pitch of my voice to a smooth even tone. "I'll bet you've never realized before that ice can be so smooth, clear and bright all at the same time. It doesn't take long to see the complexity of something that is so simple." (Unless you have spent the last few minutes standing upside down with your head in a bucket of piranha, dear reader, you have probably come to the conclusion that with those few sentences I was starting the hypnotic induction of Todd.)

"Generally the more intelligent the person the quicker they are to see what I mean," I said to Todd as I appealed to his vanity. (Over the years I've come to realize that everyone likes to think that they are just a bit smarter than somebody else, which is why this suggestion seems to be accepted so easily.) "It becomes even easier to see especially when the ice cubes move about a bit," I commented in a smooth soothing tone of voice, as I spun the glass about just a tad.

"The way that the light seems to move in and around the surface and the edges of each cube is what always makes me sigh with pleasure," I spoke softly but clearly enough for Todd to hear me. A second or so later I let out a soft sigh. "The odd thing is that after looking that the ice cubes for a while I start to feel more relaxed and calm then when I started. I'm sure you know what I mean, Todd," I said keeping the tone of my voice smooth and soft.

"Yeah, I suppose that could happen," Todd agreed in a slightly softer tone of voice, that still carried overtones of boredom. The lack of interest on his face was still apparent. His eyes however, betrayed him. They were looking at the ice cubes with slightly more than a pittance of interest.

"It seems that the more I look at the ice cubes and how they reflect the light, the more relaxed I feel," I said as I slowly looked away from the ice cubes in my glass and searched out Todd's face. I indulged myself in a brief and small smile when I beheld the sight of Todd looking solidly at the glass in my hand. "It not only feels relaxing to keep on looking at the ice cubes, but also natural somehow," I continued without missing a beat. "So easy somehow, so natural, and so good to keep looking at the ice cubes and almost seeming to loose oneself in them." As I spoke I moved the glass slightly to the left, and then back to the right. Todd's eyes tracked the glass like radar dishes.

"The mind is an amazing thing," I said keeping my tones smooth and flowing, being sure not to try and rush the induction. I let out another soft sigh. "When a person succeeds in focusing their mind on something, it seems to become easier. So much so, that the person often lets out a small sigh of satisfaction, without even realizing it." I let out another soft sigh.

"I doubt it," Todd dissented, as he sighed softly. I wasn't sure if he was consciously fighting my suggestions, or if they were just taking time to penetrate that thick skull, and shield of his. In any case, I was committed to attempting this, so there was no point in stopping now.

"It's so simple and easy to keep on looking at the ice cubes. It's actually enjoyable, because the more that you look at the cubes the better you feel and the better you feel, the more you look at the cubes." This was the tricky part, switching from using the word 'I', to the word 'you'. I studied Todd carefully as I spoke to him, looking for any sign that he might be fighting or rejecting the suggestions I was giving him. The compulsion field was still in effect, so the command it contained, which urged Todd to go along with what I said, would provide a strong counter to any resistance or unease that he might feel. At least I hoped that it would.

"Why would anyone want to look at ice cubes?" Todd asked as he wrenched those cool gray eyes of his away from the ice cubes and looked me square in the eyes. Genuine puzzlement had replaced the look of disinterest that had clouded his face earlier. He blinked his eyes at me a few times as he continued to look at me, looking a bit lost and confused.

Quickly I thrust out a blunted mental probe at his shield. I wasn't trying to penetrate it only to get a feel for his shield to see if it had changed at all. I was hard pressed not to smile at what I my probe revealed. Todd's shield was still present, but it was noticeably weaker and softer. Even my blunted probe was able to press into his shield like pressing your finger into a sheet of plastic wrap. It gives in a bit, but does not allow you to break through.

While I doing these mental gymnastics Todd's eyes had drifted away from mine and began to look about the room as if searching for something. He quickly spied the ice cubes in the glass, and his gaze latched onto them like a baby clamping its mouth on its mother's breast. Todd let out a soft sigh a second or two later and the expression of puzzlement started to fade from his face.

"When you can sense that feeling of relaxation start to grow just a little bit as you keep your eyes on the bright clear shiny ice cubes, you find a small sight of contentment escaping from your lips," I said smoothly as I continued my patter, completely ignoring Todd's question. "It's an easy and pleasant way to pass the time, to just keep looking at the ice cubes and so you keep on looking at them. Enjoying yourself more and more with each passing minute."

The last few shreds of puzzlement melted away from Todd's face as the meaning of my suggestions started to penetrate his mind. The compulsion field amplified the strength of the suggestions making them more potent.

"The satisfaction you feel, when you look at the ice cubes seems to grow with each blink of your eyes and with each breath that you take," I said suavely. "And it seems with each sigh, and with each blink of your eyes, the feeling of relaxation grows just a bit stronger. And it feels so good, so nice, so peaceful, that you just keep on looking, staring at the ice cubes. For now, for right now, the ice cubes and how they make you feel, is that you want to think about. Such thoughts are pleasing and satisfying to you, so you go ahead and think about them, and nothing else."

Todd sighed a few times, and his eyes blinked at he continued to stare at the ice cubes in the glass. I was pretty sure that he had take the bait, hook line and sinker. Still, I had learned over the years that slow and sure was the best way to insure success, no matter how well or quickly the subject seemed to respond.

"Soon and very soon indeed, when you start to feel just a bit more relaxed you'll notice a change in your breathing," I prompted him, letting the silky tones of my voice wash over his ears. "So when you feel your breathing become deep and rhythmic, really pleasant, you just go ahead and nod your head once as you eyes remain fixed and focused on the ice cubes."

"Ice cubes," Todd muttered, almost to himself as he let out another sigh, somewhat louder this time. A few moments later his head nodded once, ever so slightly.

"For it seems with each word that I speak and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel the relaxation growing and becoming stronger. More profound, more desirable, more enjoyable," I encouraged him. "Each and every time, when you feel that happening, that relaxation growing and becoming stronger, you can't help but sigh with delight and nod your head in agreement. It is so easy to do. You can't seem to help yourself. The harder you try not to sigh or to nod your head, the stronger the urge becomes to sigh and nod. Nod and sigh. Sigh and nod. And to let go even more with each sigh and nod."

Todd's face wrinkled in puzzlement for a moment as the last of my suggestions started to sink into his mind. But the confusion melted away as the first deep sigh escaped his lips. His head nodded once, then twice and then twice more. In less than a minute Todd was sighing and nodding his head every few seconds, and his eyes had taken on a slightly glazed look. His face meanwhile had become slack and relaxed. Clearly he was well on to his way in to a hypnotic trance, but that wasn't enough for me. "Looking at the ice cubes, and not thinking of anything else, because thinking about the ice cubes and how relaxing and comforting it is to look at them is all that you can think of," I prompted him. "It is all that you want or desire to do right now."

"Lookatthe.ice.cubes," Todd said thickly. "Yessonice..sopeaceful."

"The more relaxed you feel, the easier it is becomes to speak and to respond," I said to him. "Even now, as you listen to the soothing smooth silky tones of my voice, you can feel the words that I speak help you to relax more and more, can't you, Todd?" I asked him.

"Yes, your voice, so soothing," he agreed speaking much more clearly that he was a moment before. "I like the sound of your voice." Todd let out a deep sigh and a smile flickered on his lips for a moment before he snuffed it out.

"I'm glad that you like the sound of my voice," I said to him. "For it seems that with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel yourself going down deeper and deeper into this wonderful state of relaxation. A state where you don't have any worries, concerns or cares. You can just let yourself go, and drift on down deeper and deeper. For the deeper you go the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper, always feeling better."

"Deeper, oh yes, deeper," Todd agreed, as he nodded his head a few times and sighed deeply. His face had become completely blank, and his eyes had a far away look to them as if he were gazing off into the distance. His body had not moved an inch though. He was still sitting forward with his right leg crossed over his left at the knee and his hands clasped together over his right knee. He wasn't relaxing enough to let go of that position. Either that, or since I had not told him to sit back in the chair like a rag doll, he wasn't going to do that.

"So continue to gaze at the ice cubes and feel yourself going even deeper, feeling even more relaxed and comfortable as your eyes fill with the sight of the ice cubes," I said to him as I got ready for the next phase.
"Ice cubes. Nothing but the ice cubes," Todd muttered as he blinked his eyes and focused them on the ice cubes again.

While Todd occupied himself with that, I got to work. I gather my super hypnosis mental powers and thrust out a simple command, at very low power, into Todd's mind. "Giggle once," I sent into his mind. Instantly Todd giggled, and then his face went blank again as he continued to watch the ice cubes. There didn't appear to be the slighted iota of resistance left in Todd. I slowly increased the strength of my mental probe as I attempted to scan his mind. His shield was gone. I had not broken through it, it had just disappeared. I thought about that for a few moments before I sent in any further commands. It seemed logical that if Todd's shield was a natural phenomena, it would be generated by distrust, caution, and suspicion of another person. With Todd relaxed as he was now, and getting more relaxed by the moment, his defenses would be down, and that would account quite nicely for the lowering of his mental shield. Of course I was guessing about all this. I would only know for sure if I were to touch Todd and to probe into his mind. I wasn't quite ready for that yet. I thought carefully for a second or three as I decided what commands to insert into Todd's mind. A cursory check on the compulsion field showed that it was still in place and as strong as ever. Excellent. It would make my mental commands even more effective.

"Each suggestion that Paul makes to you, takes effect as soon as you hear it," I thought carefully as I directed my powers into Todd's mind. I smiled in spite of myself, as I saw Todd's face go completely blank under the influence of my powers. I increased the power gradually pushing the thought deeper and deeper into his mind. Todd's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open into a silent "oh" of surprise as my simple command penetrated into the deeper levels of his mind. After about a minute I stopped sending out my command.

"Paul, what are you doing?" Andy asked me, interrupting the silence. I turned my head to look at him. His handsome face had lost its earlier expression of anger and fear. He was baffled as to what was going on. Quickly I placed the index finger of my right hand to my lips in the universal gesture to keep quiet. I turned my attention back to Todd.

"The relaxation starts spreading out from your torso to every muscle in your body now, as you go even deeper," I said to him, as I continued with the verbal induction. My words added even more suggestions for him to cope with. "The deeper you go the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper. Always feeling better. More and more relaxed and comfortable, as you go down deeper."

"Deeper, yes" Todd agree as the frozen look of surprise on his face faded away. He sighed softly and his face started to relax as the suggestions I gave him began to take effect in earnest.

"Body feeling so relaxed and comfortable, now," I urged him as I continued to speak softly and clearly. "Muscles so relaxed that your body starts to feel pleasantly heavy and comfortable. A warm pleasant heaviness that seems to become more profound with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take."

Todd's head nodded ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything nor offer any confirmation that he was feeling what I was telling him to feel. I smiled as I realized I would have to use a somewhat more literal approach with this man. "Every muscle in you arms and legs feeling so relaxed right now, that it almost seems as if the force of gravity has increased. You can feel it pulling on your arms and legs, making them feel heavier and heavier the longer you keep looking at the ice cubes," I suggested to him as I continued with the induction. "Yet it feels so good to keep looking at the ice cubes and to watch the light as it reflects of the surfaces of the cubes, that you find you can't stop looking at them."

I flicked a quick glance at Todd's arms and legs and notice that his arms were starting to droop slightly. His elbows were definitely hanging a bit lower than before, although his hands remained clasped together on his right knee. "In fact you discover now, that if you try to look away from the ice cubes you can't do it," I declared to him. "So go ahead and try! You'll find that the harder you try to look away from the ice cubes, the more you discover that you can't look away." I stopped speaking for a moment to watch the suggestion take effect.

A wonderful warm feeling passed though me as I watched Todd struggle to look away from the ice cubes. He turned his head to the left and then to the right, but he could not unlock his gaze from the ice cubes. A look of worry and concern started to paint his face as he discovered that what I told him was true.

"But it doesn't matter, though," I assured him as I assuaged his growing fears. "All that is important to keep looking at the ice cubes and to feel the waves of warm relaxation flow into your mind and over your body washing away any and all worries, concerns or cares that you might have. The longer you gaze upon the ice cubes the deeper you go. Going down, down, down. Deeper and deeper and deeper."

"Yes, deeper" Todd crooned as the worry on his face melted away. He blinked his eyes several times as he focused his attention fully on the ice cubes. "So niceso goodjust want to go deeper."

"Arms are so heavy and so relaxed now that if I were to snap my fingers, your fingers would unlace and your arms would drop down and hang limply by the side of your thighs," I said to Todd as I savored the sight of his blank expressionless face. He looked like he didn't have a thought in his head, except for his desire to keep looking at the ice cubes in the glass that I held. (Ah, yes these are the moments I live for! The moment when a subject is on the brink of surrender, even if the subject doesn't yet realize it.) "You'd feel yourself going even deeper then, and it would feel wonderful to have your arms resting by your thighs, wouldn't it?" I asked him.

Todd nodded his head absently as he agreed to my suggestions. (Like he had any choice in the matter? Get real!) Between the compulsion field and my direct commands into his mind, he was putty in my hands. I was going to enjoy playing with that putty, and molding it, just a little bit, before night was through.

"You want me to snap my fingers, don't you Todd?" I asked him (God, how I loved dragging out moments like this!)

"Uh, huh," Todd muttered softly, as if speaking words were beyond him.

"Please answer my questions clearly, Todd," I scolded him, letting a touch of anger creep into my voice.

"I'm sorry," Todd replied as he gulped in surprise at hearing the anger in my voice. "Yes, I would like you to snap your fingers. Please?" He said softly. He wasn't begging, just asking nicely. I granted him his request.

SNAP!

I focused my gaze on Todd's hands, and waited. I didn't see any sign of movement. I prepared to snap my fingers a second time, just in case Todd hadn't heard the first snap. Then my eyes caught a slight twitch of Todd's well manicured fingers. The fingers of both hands started to wiggle and they slowly unlaced themselves. Slowly Todd's hands pulled away from each other. When his hands had separated from each other, Todd's arms slid down off of his right leg and off to his sides. His arms hung there limply by his sides like the arms of a rag doll. Todd let out a loud sigh, bordering on a moan as his eyes opened wide for a moment and a huge grin broke out on his face. The grin quickly faded to a small smirk, and his eyes blinked a few times as he fought to focus them back on the ice cubes in the glass. 'Oh, yessssss" Todd hissed out loud as his head bobbed up and down a few times. "So nice deeper and deeper," he muttered. The room was so quiet that I had no trouble hearing him.

"With the next snap of my fingers, Todd, you'll uncross your legs and put your shoes flat on the floor. Once you do that every muscle in your legs will become completely relaxed and limp, causing you to go down even deeper into this wonderfully relaxed state," I instructed him as I got ready to this next part of the show.

"Yes, I understand," Todd said quietly, his eyes still fixed on the ice cubes in the glass.

SNAP!

Todd took a deep breath and let it out in a deep sigh. His lips curved in to a small smile. His right leg twitched, drawing my attention away from Todd's face. Slowly as if every moment required the utmost concentrate of will and attention, Todd dragged his right leg off of his left knee. Once clear of his left knee, his right leg slide down off of the right side of his left leg. His right shoe hit the floor with a small thump, and at a slight angle. Todd sat there for a second or two as if trying to remember what it was that he had to do next. Slowly he dragged his right shoe to the right a bit and placed it flat on the floor. Todd took a deep breath and held it briefly. As he exhaled his legs relaxed and spread apart, revealing the crotch of his suit pants. His double breast suit jacket was still done up, and he was leading back just enough in the chair to clearly show some of the fly of his pants. I couldn't make out any details, but that didn't deter from the nice sight Todd presented me.

"Well done, Todd," I congratulated him. "You're so deeply relaxed now, that you're slumping down into the chair even as I speak. You can't help but relax more and more, sliding down in the chair, just a bit, and enjoying yourself."

Todd responded immediately. He pressed his back into the chair and slid a bit forward and down, the smile on his face growing just a bit larger as he sighed contentedly.

"Even your eyes now, are so relaxed that you're having trouble keeping them open," I said to him as I relished what I knew was about to happen. "With each blink of your eyes, your eyelids get heavier and heavier. Soon, and very soon indeed, you'll be unable to open your eyes after you blink. And when that happens, you'll feel yourself letting go completely. When you can't open your eyes, because your eyelids are just too heavy, you will go down ten times deeper than you are now. So deep in fact, that your body will become completely and totally relaxed. You'll slide out of your chair as if someone had greased it, collapsing onto the floor in a totally relaxed and comfortable heap."

Todd nodded his head and smiled vacantly as he listened to my words. He blinked his eyes as he tried to keep his eyes focused on the ice cubes in the glass. Even before I had finished my instructions to him, I could see that they were taking effect. Todd's blinks became slow and determined. He was closing his eyes and then opening them a half a second later. It wasn't exactly blinking, but it still had the desired effect. I could see the struggle and effort Todd was putting in to opening his eyes. Todd's head started to drop down each time he closed his eyes, and when he would force open his eyes, his head would pop up again. The delay between the closing of his eyes and the forced opening slowly started to lengthen. I couldn't help but smile as I watched Todd's struggle to open his eyes just one more time, became more and more problematic. The slow falling and rising of his head as he continued his titanic struggle only fueled the fire of my satisfaction. I didn't need to say anything more. Todd was well on his way.

"Why are my eyes getting heavy?" Todd asked slowly, with pauses between the words. His voice was clear, steady and soft, although it was plain he was having difficulty in formulating the question much less asking it. I was slightly taken aback that he was even able to ask such a question. He should have been slipping quietly into a deep trance, but he was resisting. May it was the logical part of his lawyer's mind that demanded an explanation for everything.

"The light reflecting off of the ice cubes is getting stronger and brighter as the ice cubes melt," I advised him. "It's only natural that your eyes would start to feel strained and tired after gazing at the ice cubes as they melt." It was the most logical argument I could devise on such short notice.

"Ice so bright so hard to lookat," Todd muttered softly as he accepted the premise I had presented him.

"Want to keep looking but so bright so tired," Todd continued softly as he forced his eyes open yet again.

"The longer you look at the ice cubes, the deeper you go and the better you feel," I urged him as I kept up the stream of suggestions. "And the better you feel, the stronger the urge to keep on looking at the ice cubes. It's all that you care about right now. Looking at the slowly melting ice cubes, so that you can continue to keep on going down deeper and deeper. Feeling more and more relaxed, comfortable, safe and secure."

"Keep looking yes .deeper yes safe secure," Todd said with a sigh of contentment. Todd's eyes continued to open and close slowly as his head bobbed up and down slowly, to some silent rhythm of it's own.

"Down deeper and deeper and deeper," I insisted, adding only a hint of authority to the smooth tone of my voice. "For the deeper you go, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper, always feeling better."

"Eyes so heavy," Todd breathed as he continued his efforts to keep his eyes open. "Ice bright eyes heavy." He was having trouble forming sentences, or so it seemed. Only disjointed words tumbled out of his mouth as if his mind were slowing down like a spring unwinding.

"Deeper and deeper, Todd, with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take," I said to him, as I piled on even more suggestions. I sat back and watched events unfold. Todd's eyes opened and closed more and more slowly as the minutes passed by. I heard him sigh several times. His mouth opened and closed slowly several times, reminding me of a fish breathing under water. It appeared as if he were trying to speak, but no sound emerged. Speaking seemed to entail too much of an effort for him now. His face was completely blank now, totally devoid of expression. His face was like a clean slate, and yet, he also looked at peace, as if he hadn't a care in the world. The aura of total calm and peacefulness that seemed to surround him almost made me envy Todd.

Todd's eyes closed heavily and his head slowly nodded down until his chin was touching his chest. "This is it!" I thought gleefully. Much to my surprise, nothing more happened for about a minute or so. Very slowly Todd's head started to rise back up. It was a deliberate and measured movement. His head rose until it was at the normal height, but his eyes remained closed. I looked closely and could see his eyelids jerk sharply as he tried to open them. He slowly inhaled, and held his breath for a moment, as he continued trying to open his eyes. A slight whooshing sound accompanied his sudden exhale, as his face and his body relaxed completely. Only a few seconds later Todd's body started to slowly slide out of the chair he was sitting in. This was what I had been waiting for. My enjoyment of the sight was helped by the fact that Todd's double breasted suit jacket was still buttoned, as this cause the front panels of the suit jacket to part in an inverted 'V' exposing more of the front of his suit pants to my eager gaze.

It was as if every skeletal muscle in Todd's body has turned to putty. Once he started to slide out of the chair he didn't stop. He slowly pushed his pelvis down and towards the front edge of the cushion of the chair, while at the same time he began to slouch lower and lower into the back of the chair. It was wonderful, and more than slightly erotic to see this older but still handsome man, thrusting his crotch and hips towards me while his head dropped lower and lower. At the same time his legs were folding on themselves, just like when a man swats down. I was a bit surprised to see that, as I had expected his legs to stretch out in front of Todd as the muscles in his body relaxed even more. It took me only a moment or so to realize that the reason for his legs folding on themselves was because he was trying to keep his feet flat on the floor as he relaxed even more. It was a most interesting and unexpected development. I wondered how he would resolve the difficulty he would soon encounter. Todd's arms remained in about the same position, except that his elbows were being pressed into the heavily padded armrests of the chair. Todd was using his arm and elbows to push himself down and out of the chair, even if he didn't realize it. A person can't actually slide out of a chair unless it has a hard back and bottom, and that person relaxes completely. This living room chair was heavily stuffed so when you sat in this chair you were surrounded by soft comfy padding, which made slipping out of the chair an impossibility.

Todd slid (actually he pushed himself) down and out of the chair a bit farther until his legs were bent at the knee, as far as they would go. His pelvis was jutting out just over the edged of the front of the chair cushion, and his suit pants were pushed up tight against his thighs and crotch. The lower front edge of his suit jacket had started to ride up a bit, as Todd slid down into the chair, exposing the front of Todd's pants to my avid gaze. It was a forgone conclusion that the back of Todd's suit jacket would be riding up even more, thus exposing Todd's backside. It was almost a pity that I couldn't see that wonderful sight, but the night was still young. Events might unfold to resolve that unfortunate shortcoming. Todd struggled for a few seconds as he tried to continue his slid down the chair, but try as he might he could go no further. The problem perplexed him for a few seconds as he tried to arrive at a solution, his brow wrinkled in thought. He let out a loud and deep sigh as he wiggled about a bit. I flicked my eyes down towards his legs as a sudden moment in that general direction caught my attention.

Todd shifted his weight to his left buttock as he turned to his left side, while at the same time he unbent his right leg and slowly stretched it out directly in front of him. He let out a loud sigh of relief, even as he shifted his weight to his right buttock. It took him only a few seconds to unfold his left leg and stretch it out in front of him, placing it next to his right leg. Another deep and loud sigh of relief erupted from his mouth, as the dull and blank expression returned to his face. Seconds later Todd's body continued it's interrupted journey out of the overstuffed chair he was sitting in. His butt teetered on the edge of the front of cushion for a second or two before it continued its slide down towards the carpeted floor. Todd's legs folded up and pressed against his chest as his torso coasted down the front of the chair. His arms though trailed behind and above his body. His arms almost appeared to be caught on something as they were pulled up higher and higher as Todd's torso continued its toboggan run to the floor. This of course, caused Todd's suit jacket to ride up higher and higher on his chest. This delighted me, since it exposed the entire front of Todd's pants and the stomach area above his waist. I was mildly surprised to see that Todd was wearing suspenders instead of a belt. When his butt plopped on to the carpeted floor he left out a soft grunt as if the contact of his butt with the floor was unexpected.

I looked up at Todd's face, just in time to see his head drop down as he rested his chin on his chest. Todd slouched down as he leaned back on the front of the chair. His arms were still hung up and behind him, but he didn't seem to mind it, any more than he minded having his legs curled up and pressed against his chest. Personally I thought the position he was in looked rather uncomfortable. Todd sat there for a few seconds as if he were resting. Todd was a good looking, middle aged man, so I didn't mind waiting to see what was going to happen next. He took a deep breath, his chest rising slowly and easily, without the slightest hint of tension or discomfort. (I guess I was wrong about his position being uncomfortable.) He held his breath for a half a heartbeat and then expelled the air out of his lungs with a loud whoosh. He pushed his feet out and away from his body, unfolding his legs in the process, in a quick and smooth movement. (I knew that had to feel a bit better for him. Having his knees pressed up against his chest had to have been inconvenient, to say the least.) As I watched his legs stretch out in front of him I noticed that they were angled away from each other slightly. Todd let out a soft 'ah' of pleasure (and maybe relief too), as his legs completed their little journey. Another 'ah' emerged from Todd's lips as his legs went completely limp, each leg turning outward slightly, from each other.. This of course, caused Todd's shoe clad feet to rotate away from each other. Instead of being parallel to each other as they pointed up to the ceiling, Todd's shoes now pointed away from each other at roughly ninety or one hundred degrees. Unquestionably, Todd's legs were relaxed and very limp. (I could have tried to verify that by touching his legs, you know, just to be sure, but this wasn't the time for that sort of thing. Still, the thought was just a little bit tempting.)
Almost as if the thump of his butt on the floor had been a signal, Todd's arms flopped down to his sides, from where his arms had been hanging up and slightly behind him. With a small thud, his hands came to rest on top of his thighs. Todd let out yet another 'ah' of pleasure as his hands slid down from his thighs on to the carpeted floor. His arms dangled loosely from his shoulders, like two very big overcooked pieces of spaghetti. His head, which had been resting comfortably on his chest dipped down even lower as Todd started to topple forward. It seemed as if Todd's head had become too heavy for him to hold up any longer. I watched with sweet satisfaction as Todd's torso continued to fall forward in slow motion. (Oh to have had a camera just then! Something, so that I could have recorded that moment!) As his torso toppled forward, it started to tilt to the right. I watched in utter fascination as Todd's body keeled over onto his right side. His right shoulder hit the carpeted floor with a muffled thud, followed a half a second later with the much softer sound of his head hitting the floor. Todd lay there in front of the living room chair, in a crumpled heap, lying on his right side. If it were not for the satisfied smile on his face, I might have thought that Todd had collapsed due to illness or for some other reason. As it was, I was fairly certain that Todd was very deeply hypnotized.

"What have you done?" Andy asked me in a quiet whisper.

"Not now, Andy," I shushed him, waving him to be silent. "I have work to do."

I carefully placed the glass I was still holding on the living room table, as I slowly stood up. I quickly made my way over to where Todd lay in front of the living room chair. I place my finger onto Todd's forehead and sent out my most delicate mental probe. I couldn't help but smile as I discovered that Todd's shields were completely nonexistent. I scanned his mind deeper and deeper looking for any of the signs that he was gifted. I found nothing. His shield appeared to have been one of the natural ones that negative emotions can generate. In Todd's case, his natural mistrust of other people served to create an effective shield. It wasn't an exceptionally powerful shield, but it was effective. It was gone now, though. Todd's mind was completely open to me. I hesitated for a few seconds. A part of me did not want to do what I knew had to be done.

Mental scanning, or telepathy as it is sometime referred to, was a much faster form of communication than speaking. My particular brand of telepathy was limited to physical contact. If I was not in physical contact with a person I could not read their minds. Oh, I could control people from a distance, and give them commands, but in order to do that I have to had made direct eye contact. I don't know why my super hypnosis power worked this way, it just did. I didn't make the rules, I just abided by them. I could make a person follow my verbal commands, once I'd achieved that first second or two of eye contact. A second or two is all I needed to implant my mental controls. Mental scanning, though, that required physical contact.

A long time ago, I heard someone say, or maybe I read it in a book somewhere, the phrase "A man's mind is his last refuge of privacy." My telepathy removed this refuge, and that is why I was often hesitant about scanning another person's mind. A simple surface scan was one thing, but a deep probing scan was another. A surface scan could detect emotions and indicate if someone was lying. A deep mental probe was completely different. When I scanned a person deeply enough, it was like reading a book with a very comprehensive index and table of contents. I could quickly locate any information that I wanted. There were no secrets, if I pushed my probes deeply enough. Of course if the person in question had the same gift as I did, they could shield their minds and their secrets, for a while anyway. Every person has their own secrets that they keep hidden down in the deep dark recesses of their minds. It was always unsettling to say the least, coming across these secret thoughts. This was one of the reasons why I don't like deeply scanning someone's mind. The other reason was somewhat more personal. I considered this aspect of my powers to be a form of mental rape. It made me uncomfortable to violate another person's secrets, whatever the reason. Even blackmail.

I paused for a moment or two as I considered the options open to me. The first option was to not scan Todd's mind any further, and to not implant any controls into his mind. This would not be of much help to me or Andy. We would be right back to where we were before I'd started the induction. Andy would be left to make a choice between the publication of those photographs, or changing his testimony (lying in court). I didn't much like that option for reasons too numerous to mention. The second option was to continue on with the deep scan of Todd's mind in an attempt to retrieve enough information to discover a way out of this nightmare. This meant that I would have to swallow my pride and bend my precious ethics a bit. There was a part of me that actually enjoyed the snooping around in another person's mind, that a deep scan provides. I didn't like facing that dark part of my soul In actual fact, I feared it. But that was the choice facing me. Do nothing, or dip into that dark black part of my soul. Tough choice!

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the unpleasant task I was about to undertake. I kept my mental probe focused on obtaining information about the blackmail phonographs that Todd had acquired. I didn't need to know the reasons for the blackmail. All I was looking for was information to help me find a way out of this situation. At least that is what I kept telling myself as I sorted through Todd's mind. I kept having to drag my mental nose out of things that were not related to Andy and this evening's blackmail attempt. Finally, after several long minutes of searching I managed to piece together the story. It made my skin craw. (Even thinking about it now, makes my skin crawl.) Before I stood up and broke my mental connection with Todd, I implanted a few simple but very powerful commands and controls. First and foremost was that Todd would obey me completely whenever I hypnotized him. He would agree to and enjoy anything and everything that I had him do while he was hypnotized. (Yes, that left a very broad spectrum command, but I needed to keep as many of my options open as I could. I was not sure exactly how this evening was going to turn out.) Second, whenever he heard me say the trigger phrase "catfish in a suit", he would return to this deep state of hypnosis and obedience. Third, when he was not hypnotized he would be himself in every respect. As for his memory of this session and any future sessions, I would adjust his memories as necessary. I had that ability, and I fully intended to use it.

"Todd, pick yourself up off of the floor and straighten your suit," I directed him as I stood up and stepped away from him. Todd open his eyes and jumped up from the floor as if he had been shot out of a cannon. Quickly he looked down at himself and began pulling his suit jacket down around his pants. It took him only a few seconds to fix his suit jacket and to check that his tie was still tucked inside of his suit jacket. He looked over at me, but did not say anything.

"That's better, Todd," I complimented him. He beamed with pride at a job well done. "Now, sit down in the chair, close your eyes and relax. Remain that way, relaxed, comfortable and at peace until I call for you."

Todd turned to his left to find the chair that he had been sitting in. Once he located it, he walked over to it and sat down promptly. As soon as he was sitting comfortably with his hands resting in his lap, his body wilted like some water starved plant in the hot noon day sun. His eyes closed and his head dropped down as he followed my instructions. I knew that I didn't have to concern myself with Todd for the next little while. I turned away from him and looked over at Andy.

Andy had not moved an inch since I'd started the induction. Andy's face was calm. No, stony would be a better word. It was clear that he wasn't pleased at what I had just done. This wasn't the place to talk about it though. I walked over to where he was standing and taking him by the arm, I lead Andy into the kitchen. It was far enough away that if we talked quietly, we'd have all the privacy we'd need. We had a lot to talk about.



Chapter 9. Tied, Tarnished, and Totally Trashed.

Andy sat down at the kitchen table with me, but he sat opposite me, instead of beside me, continuing to stare at me with that cold stony expression on his face.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked him with a sigh. I was genuinely puzzled by his reaction. I wasn't expecting him to be upset with me. I would have thought he'd have felt relief more than anger or whatever it was that he was feeling.

"Was it really necessary to play with Todd like that, Paul?" Andy asked me, the displeasure in his tone abundantly apparent.

"What do you mean, love?" I asked Andy, perplexed at his reaction to my induction of Todd.

"Dragging out the induction as you did," Andy said with a disapproving frown set on those sexy lips of his. "You could have made it quick and fast, like you did that first time with Chuck back in your apartment. Why the charade with the ice cubes in the glass? Why the long drawn out process of hypnotizing Todd? Why didn't you just zap him with your powers? You've always told me you could zap anybody in just a second or two."

"Todd's not just anybody, Andy," I said, offering an explanation. "He has a natural mental shield that I had to circumvent. If I had applied my powers directly to break through his

shield it would have been painful for him, and I saw no reason to inflict any unnecessary pain on him."

"Oh, I see," Andy said quietly, but his tone indicated that he remained unconvinced. "I still don't like you putting him under without his permission, though. You always told me that you never used your powers on someone without their permission first, unless you had no choice."

"What about that incident with the three cowboys, Andy?" I asked him as I felt my temper start to heat up. "You didn't seem to upset when I told you about that."

"Well, you really didn't have much of a choice then. It was three against one after all," Andy admitted. "You were only protecting yourself, then. This is different."

"How so?" I asked, wondering what Andy's point was.

"Well, no one asked you to interfere, Paul," Andy told me coldly.

I looked at him, not quite sure I had heard him correctly. "Excuse me?" I asked, not believing what I'd just heard. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yes, you heard me correctly," Andy said. "This was my problem to solve, and I don't appreciate you taking over like you just did. You never even gave me the chance to decide what it was that I was going to do."

I stared at Andy like I'd never seen him before. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! His nose was out of joint because I'd stepped in and taken over. After what I had just gone through in my search of Todd's mind, I wasn't exactly in the most charitable of moods. Here I was trying to do everything in my power to get us out of this mess, and Mr. RCMP Constable here was upset because I hadn't asked his permission first!

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice as I jumped to my feet, letting my rage out in one furious burst. "This wasn't just your problem! It was our problem! I'm in this just as deep as you are, you know! It was my bare backside, in those photographs, just as much as yours!" I stopped as I suddenly found myself at a loss for words. I stood there, my chest heaving, as I tried to catch my breath and calm down.

"Are you finished?" Andy asked coldly, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Clearly my tirade wasn't making any impression on him.

"Not just yet," I said as I banked the fire of my temper and let go of my anger. As I began speaking again, it was in a much calmer tone of voice. "How can you think for one minute, that I would stand idly by, while some low life scum like Todd, puts you into such a difficult position? If I could help in any way, don't you know by now that I'd do it? Andy, I'd do anything for you. I'd help you in any way that I can." I held up my left hand and shoved my wedding band right in front of his face. "Did you think I didn't take those words seriously, dear heart?" I asked him dropping my voice to mere whisper. "I couldn't bear the thought of you having to make such a choice, dearest. I saw the agony on your face when Todd knew he had you cornered. It was too much for me. I had to do something, and so I did."

I gazed directly into those dark brown eyes of Andy's the entire time that I spoke to him. His eyes remained hard cold and unflinching. He didn't seem to believe me. I didn't seem to be reaching him. I didn't know what else to say to him.

"You're not alone, you know, " I said to him as I sat back down and softly touched his right cheek with my left hand. "You're never alone, dear heart. We're in this together, and together we will find a way to clean up this mess that we're in. I have no regrets from yesterday or last night. I'm not sorry for what I just did to Todd. I'd do again in a heartbeat, if it meant protecting you. It's taken me years, far too many years, to find someone like you and have you come into my life. No one, least of all a guy trying to blackmail us, is going to make me give you up. I'm in it for the long haul. We will find a way out of this, dear heart."

Andy gazed down at me, and then a miracle happened. I saw that warm soft glow come back into his dark brown eyes. In less than a second, Andy was looking at me with those soft warm doe brown eyes of his, that glowed with that special look that I knew was just for me.

"You're right," Andy said softly as he covered my left hand with his big strong right hand. "We are in this together. I'm sorry, Paul. It's just so hard sometimes. I'm so used to keeping my job secret from civilians, that I couldn't help but have a natural aversion to you interfering in police business as it were. It's silly and childish, I suppose. I should have trusted you more, and known that you had something in mind. I'm sorry, Texas."

I smiled at Andy as I heard him call me by his pet name for me. "It's okay, dear heart," I assured him. "We're both under a lot of strain right now. We're not exactly thinking clearly. I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that. You couldn't know what I just went through with Todd."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked, as he looked at my quizzically.

"Well, in addition to hypnotizing him and implanting a few controls, I also searched Todd's mind for information about the blackmail attempt," I said hesitantly. "It's not something that I normally do, and I do not like doing it, but it was necessary. If we're going to figure out a way out of this mess, we need all the information we can get."

"You read his mind?" Andy asked me. Now it was his turn not to believe what he was hearing.

"In a word, 'yes'," I admitted. "I don't like doing that, though, because sometimes I see things in a person's mind that I'd rather not see." I turned away from Andy at that moment as I tried to keep my composure. I failed. The images of what I'd seen in Todd's mind were still fresh in my mind, and I was having a hard time dealing with them and putting them aside. I clenched my right hand in a knuckle white fist as I tried to control the rage and anger than threatened to surge out of me again.

"What is it, Paul? What's wrong?" Andy asked me softly as he squeezed my left hand with his right hand, trying to give me strength.

"It's what I saw in Todd's mind," I blurted out. "He never intended to let you off of the hook. He was going to use those photographs to get you do anything he wanted. There were images of him humiliating you in front of his friends. Making you crawl around and bark like a dog while in your dress uniform. And there was more."

At that point my voice cracked and I couldn't talk. All I could do was shake with suppressed rage as the images flooded through my mind again. I couldn't believe I was telling Andy any of this. There was no reason to burden him with it, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. Andy squeezed my hand offering me silent reassurance and courage.

"He he was going to have you and I perform in front of his friends as well," I finally managed to get the words out. "Sexually. That is the one image in Todd's mind that haunts me. Todd's one heartless and mean son of a bitch. All I want to do right now is to beat his face with my fists until it's nothing but a bloody pulp! I'm so fucking angry at him right now, I don't know what to do!"

"I'll hold him down for you, if you like," Andy said softly. "But considering his current state of mind, I don't think that would be necessary."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I agreed, as I finally got myself back under control. "He's pretty docile and obedient right now. I guess that is what scares me. It would be so easy to go too far right now. Todd wouldn't object to anything I had him do. I nearly had that happen with Chuck. Promise me that you'll keep me on a short leash, okay love?"

"I left my dog collar and leash at home, but I'll do my best," Andy said as he chuckled at me. "Now how about you fill me in on the important information regarding these blackmail photographs. I'm sure that if we put our heads together we can come up with something."

"Well love, here's the story," I said as I began speaking to Andy. His attention was focused completely on me as I spoke. He was letting every word sink into his mind. "The photographs were taking by a photographer, using a digital camera. The photographer passed the camera onto Todd. To insure that the photographer could not download the digital images or make any copies of his own, the camera was sealed and marked. Once Todd had the camera he came here on Sunday afternoon while we were gone. Todd has a key to this house. Todd went to the locked bedroom and used the computer in there to download the images from the camera to the computer and to print them off. No one else has seen the prints. Todd has the digital clip from the camera locked up in the safe in his office. As for Todd's client, he hasn't seen the prints either. All Todd told him was that the necessary leverage had been obtained."

"Very interesting," Andy said as he thought over what I'd just told him. "It seems that we're in luck. But there are a couple of questions that are still unanswered.. First, who was the photographer and how do we deal with him? Second and more important to me, is how did Todd manage to obtain the keys to this house? Was the owner of the house, a man who I thought was my friend, in on this as well?"

I could see the pain in Andy's eyes as he considered the possibility that his long time friend had been involved in this failed blackmail scheme. "The photographer's name is Jeremy Bromwell," I said as I answered Andy's question. "He's not really important. I obtained a clear image of him from Todd's mind. I'm sure I can pay him a short visit sometime later this week, and adjust his memories of last night's events. It should be a simple matter to blur his memory so that he can't see our faces. Hence he won't be able to identify us."

"You can do that?" Andy asked me, disbelievingly . "You can change someone's memory?"

"Yes, don't you remember that afternoon in my apartment with you, me and Chuck?" I asked him.

"Oh, yeah," Andy said as he smiled sheepishly at me. "I'd forgotten about that. Sorry. What about my friend? Was he in on this?"
"No," I answered Andy. "Todd arranged have a tracer put on your car. They followed us out here on Friday night, and you can guess the rest. I suppose you'd better arrange to remove that tracer when we head back into the city. According to Todd it is somewhere under your rear bumper."

"Okay, I'll take care of that," Andy replied. "But wait a second. How did Todd get into the locked house? How did he get into the locked bedroom? Are you trying to tell me he picked the locks?"

"Well, yes," I replied. "It's not that difficult to pick a lock. Even I could do it, given enough time, and Todd had all afternoon to try."

"Okay, I guess he could have done that," Andy said as he accepted my statements with obvious reservations. His face took on a thoughtful expression as he looked over my shoulder in the general direction of where Todd was still sitting in the living room. Andy looked back at me, and his brow furrowed as he spotted the loophole in my explanation. "Hold on just a minute, here. What about the computer? I doubt that my friend would have left his home computer unlocked or have set it up without a password. So how did Toddy manage to use the computer? Are you trying to tell me he hacked into my friend's computer? How did Todd know that the digital camera would even interface to the computer? How could Todd have known that there was even a computer in this house in the first place?"

I looked blankly at Andy, as I suffered through the barrage of unexpected questions that he threw at me. I should have known better than to try to lie to a police officer about something like this. Before I could even begin to try to answer any of them Andy started speaking again. "Paul, you're lying to me, aren't you? My friend was in on this blackmail attempt wasn't he? Please, tell me the truth. Please don't try to spare my feelings. I'd rather know the truth."

"Yes, your friend was involved in the blackmail attempt," I admitted to Andy. "However, it was not by choice. When Todd found out where we were staying on Friday night, he contacted your friend and obtained a copy of your friend's house keys. In addition, Todd obtained the password to the computer, and the layout of the house."

"Why did my friend agree to help Todd?" Andy asked me solemnly, as he looked me directly in the eyes. I broke eye contact and looked away from Andy. "You know, don't you?" He asked me, in a soft yet demanding voice. Tell me, please?"

"I don't think that I should, Andy," I said as I looked at the surface of the kitchen table. "Don't you think I should respect your friend's privacy? It's a secret between him and Todd after all."

"Paul, I have to know," Andy declared in that commanding tone of his that he used when he was being completely serious with me. "I feel that there's a lot more about my friend and Todd that you're not telling me. Please, tell me the whole story, I implore you."

"First, promise me, on the love that you have for me, that you won't do anything, that you won't take any action of any kind regarding your friend," I said to Andy as I raised my head and looked Andy in the eyes.

"It's that bad?" Andy asked me, softly.

"Yes," I said and gulped.

"Okay, I promise. On the love that I have for you, I will not do anything to my friend, no matter what you tell me," Andy said softly. "Furthermore, on my honor as an RCMP Constable, I will not take any action of any kind."

'Andy, your friend Jonathan Briggs is gay, and he's in the closet," I informed Andy as I told him a bit more of what I had found during my search of Todd's mind. "That is what Todd used to obtain the keys to this, Jonathan's house, as well as access to Jonathan's computer. Todd didn't tell Jonathan why Todd wanted access to the computer, though. Your friend had to choose between having his secret revealed, and having you become the subject of blackmail. You friend chose himself over you. I am sorry, Andy."

"That son of a bitch!" Andy exclaimed fighting to keep his voice low, as he fumed there in front of me. "I saved his life. He had a gun pointed at his head, and I saved his life. This is how he repays me? Some friend!"

"Let it go, Andy," I said to him as I placed my right hand on his left forearm. "We have more important things to deal with right now. Besides, there is nothing you can do about Jonathan."

"I suppose you're right," Andy sighed. He looked me square in the eye. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I'm not asking you to like it, love," I assured him as I tried to bring his attention back to the problem at hand. "I'm only asking you to put it aside for now. We have Todd to deal with."

Andy nodded his head at me and remained silent for a second or two. "Okay. So what do we do about Todd, and his blackmail plan? Any ideas?" Andy asked me as he looked at me thoughtfully.

"As a matter of fact, I have come up with something, that I think will work. Let me run it by you and see if you can spot any holes," I said to him. "What I have in mind is this. The explanation that Todd is going to wind up believing, is that there was a problem with the digital camera. All the pictures that were taken were corrupted and could not be recovered. He did not discover this until he downloaded them from the camera into the computer and tried to view or print them. So he deleted all the files from the computer. As for the data clip from the camera, it turned out to be damaged and in his frustration over discovering that he jumped on it and smashed it into many pieces which he threw into the trash. He spent most of the evening here trying to talk you into changing your mind, and even tried to bluff you about having such pictures, but you would not believe him. As for me, I was a plain unremarkable nameless young woman."

"So, when someone, such as Todd's client, asks what happened tonight and why things went wrong, that is the explanation Todd's going to give them. Since he will believe it is what happened, it is the story that he'll stick too."

I sat quietly after I had finished speaking. I waited to see what Andy thought of this cover story. Andy looked at my thoughtfully as he went over the details in his mind, looking for any flaws or angles that I might have missed. "I supposed it will work," he said doubtfully. "Providing that you can change Todd's memories of tonight. But how do you plan to acquire the data clip, or to erase the files on the computer?"

"Simple, love," I said to him with a smile. "Todd is going to make a quick trip to his office and pick up the data clip from his office safe. He'll return the data clip here and smash it just as I described, and then put the data clip in the garbage. As for the files on the computer, Todd already erased them."

"But what if someone tries to do a data recovery on those files?" Andy asked me. "That's something that we in the RCMP, often do in a case that involves computers."

"Todd did us a favor there love," I replied with a smile. "Todd did not intend to leave the pictures on the computer for anyone to find. So, he edited the pictures. He changed all the colours to black, saved the files like that and then deleted them. If someone does recover those files, all they will get is black pictures."

"Well, it looks like a good plan, I suppose," Andy said with a shrug and a sigh.

"Did I miss something, Andy?" I asked him. "You don't seem pleased or happy with my ideas."

"Well, it doesn't seem fair to me," Andy declared with a slightly heated voice. "After all that he tried to do tonight, Todd seems to be getting off practically scot-free. Frankly, I want to beat him up as much as you wanted to earlier."

"I said that is what Todd would remember as the night's events. If asked, that is what he will say happened," I smirked at Andy as I spoke to him. "I never said that is all that was going to happen to Todd tonight."

Andy looked at me for a few seconds before his right eyebrow arched up in mock surprise. "What diabolical little plan are you contacting in that evil little mind of yours?" Andy asked me half jokingly, as a smile broke out on his face.

Well" I said and paused dramatically for a moment or two. "I did come across something that could be called a 'guilty secret desire' of Todd's. It's something that he's often fantasized about, but never acted upon."

"It's not something involving pain or inflicting pain on him is it?" Andy asked me, cautiously. "As much as I might want to hurt him, I'm not sure that I'd really want to do that to him."

"Oh it's nothing along those lines, Andy," I assured him. "I could tell you now, or you could wait to be surprised. I will give you a hint, though. Todd is going to be humiliated, and he's going to enjoy being humiliated. It's also going to cost him a significant amount of money and time."

"I think I'll wait to be surprised," Andy said as he flashed a grin at me. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

"Well, love, we're going to need a clear area in the recreation room down in the basement and some sheet plastic on the floor," I instructed Andy as I stood up. "You'll need to take one of the dinning room chairs downstairs and be sure to drape the plastic over the chair. If you can duct tape the plastic around the chair that would help."

"When you're done doing that, I need you to look around the kitchen and see what you can whip up for me. I need something like pudding, or oatmeal or cake batter. Some canned spaghetti, canned pork and beans, canned tomato sauce, and some mustard and ketchup in those squeeze bottles would be helpful too."

"I'll see what I can come up with," Andy said as he looked at me quizzically. He didn't asked why I wanted all those things. I'm sure he was dying of curiosity, but he restrained himself from asking any questions. He headed down into the basement to set things up.

I walked over to where Todd was sitting. "Todd, open your eyes now," I said to him. "I have something I need you to do for me."

Todd's eyes popped open and he looked up at me, blinking a few times. "Yes?" He asked me softly.

"Don't you think you should show me a bit more respect, Todd?" I asked him. "I have taken you into a wonderful state where your only joy and desire is to obey and serve me. Each and every time when you obey me, a small rush of pleasure flows through your body."

"I'm sorry, sir," Todd said softly, as he looked at me apologetically. "In what way may I be of service to you, sir?"

"That's better, Todd," I said to him He beamed at me like some love sick teenager with his first crush. "Now listen carefully."

"Yes, sir. I'm listening, sir," Todd replied eagerly.

"Todd, in a few moments I will count from zero to five, where zero is this level or an even deeper level than this, and five represents the state where you are wide awake and completely normal. When you wake up you will do the following. It will seem perfectly normal to you to do these tasks. You will take great care not to call attention to yourself in any way as you carry out these tasks. If for any reason someone asks you what you are doing, you will come up with some plausible explanation."

"First, you will go to your office and retrieve the data clip for the digital camera from your safe. You will carry the data clip with you when you leave your office."

"Second, you will travel to your home and gather together a change of clothes which you will bring with you in a bag or sack when you return here to this house. The change of clothes can be anything you like, casual pants, jeans and a sweatshirt, whatever happens to be handy at the time. Be sure to bring extra socks, underwear, a belt and shoes."

"Third, you will stop by a convenience store on the drive back to this house. At the convenience store you will buy a some pies, and some canned whipped cream.. Try to get a cherry pie, a blueberry pie and a chocolate cream or lemon cream pie. Also try and buy some syrup. The type doesn't matter. Just as long as it is a big bottle or two medium bottles."

"Fourth, when you return to this house you will bring all the items I told you to collect, with you when you come in here. You will place the items on the kitchen table, except for the data clip which you will keep with you, until I ask for it." I paused for a few moments to let the instructions sink in. "Do you understand what it is that you are to do, Todd?" I inquired.

"Yes, sir," Todd answered cheerfully.

Just to be safe I had Todd repeat the instruction back to me. I didn't want any mistakes. As I listened to Todd repeating my instructions almost word for word, I remembered that I was dealing with a lawyer. I placed my fingers on Todd's forehead. Todd let out a loud but low moan at the touch of my fingers on his forehead. I probed Todd's mind and what I found was a bit more than I'd bargained for. I confirmed that Todd did indeed understand his instructions and that he would carry them out without hesitation. He would not consider his actions unusual or strange. There wasn't even the slightest trace of Todd wanting to disobey or resist me. I let out a soft sigh of relief when I confirmed that fact. It seemed though, that when I'd implanted my controls into Todd's mind they had been planted much deeper in his mind than I had intended. I had meant to shove the control deep into his mind, but not anywhere as deeply as they had been placed. On a scale of one to ten, I had been working on a level of five or six, but what I got was an eight or nine. It meant that the controls could not easily be removed by anyone, including me. To do so, would leave a pothole in Todd's mind that would have to be filled or mended to insure that Todd didn't suffer any permanent change to his basic personality or behavior. I removed my fingers from Todd's forehead and let my right arm drop down by my side.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five," I said clearly and calmly to Todd.

Todd's body jerked once as he woke up, and came to his senses. "Hey, where's Andy?" He asked me as he looked about the room quickly. "He was here just a second ago."

"He went downstairs for a while," I informed Todd.

"Well, I can't wait around here all night for him to make up his mind," Todd said to me in a surly voice. Todd stood up as he continued speaking. "I have a few errands to run. I should be back in an hour or so. I expect Andy's answer by then. You tell him that." Without another word Todd turned around and headed for the front door.

I watched him walk out of the living room, open the front door and walk out. He was a good looking figure of a man, as he walked away from me while wearing that beautiful two piece dark blue double breasted pinstripe suit . I almost felt a pang of regret at what I was going to do to him in next few hours. Almost. Whatever doubts or reluctance I had evaporated quickly, a few moments later. Todd didn't bother to close the front door behind him. He called back over his shoulder at me and ordered me to close the door, as if I were his servant. He was arrogant, without a doubt. I couldn't wait for Todd to get back. I closed the door and headed off to see how Andy was making out downstairs. I knew that Todd would have no problem getting his car out of the two car garage. Fortunately, Andy had parked his car off to the side of the garage on a small carport that was intended to be used by visitors.

I arrived downstairs to find that Andy was well on his way to getting things set up. He had been lucky enough to find several room sized sheets of clear plastic left over from when his friend had painted this country house. I had remembered that snippet of information from when Andy and I had first arrived here Friday night. I had commented on how nice the place looked and Andy had mentioned that the house had recently been repainted. In the event that Andy could not find any of the large plastic sheets, I had an alternative solution in mind. We could take garbage bags, cut them open and tape them together using duct tape. Fortunately, we didn't have to do that. We finished setting up the 'stage' in the recreation room well before Todd returned. It took only a few trips from the kitchen to bring all the assorted items down into the recreation room.

To make space, we had pushed the furniture off to the side of the recreation room. The 'stage' consisted of a large sheet of clear plastic on the floor of the recreation room. Placed in the middle (or as close as we could get to the middle) of the sheet was one of the dining room chairs. A second sheet of plastic was draped about the chair and secured with duct tape. This was to insure that the chair was not damaged in any during the events that were about to unfold. There was a bar at the far end of the recreation room.

We went back up to the kitchen and while Andy dealt with the rest of the food preparations, I dealt with the photographs in Todd's briefcase, which he had left behind. I got busy with the scissors. It took some time, but I managed to reduce all the printouts of the photographs to very small and unrecognizable pieces. I stuffed all the pieces into a garbage bag, the same one that held the remnants of our suits from the other night. We planned to take that garbage bag back with us when we returned to the city. We wanted to insure that our actives over the weekend remained private. I started to carry down the food items from the kitchen into the recreation room, while Andy finished getting the last of the food items ready. Upon the counter of the bar we placed the various items that we had brought from the kitchen. We were ready. All we needed was Todd.

We went back up to the kitchen to wait for him. Andy was smiling at me as we walked up the stairs side by side, and a chuckle or two found its way out of that sexy throat of his. Andy placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a big strong yet gentle squeeze as we walked up the basement stairs. It was clear that he was going to thoroughly enjoy tonight's main event. It took very little time to make two cups of tea for us to drink while we waited for Todd to show up. I made the tea, while Andy stood in the kitchen waiting and chatting with me. We discussed and debated what we were going to do during the session with Todd. Andy had some interesting ideas that I looked forward to trying. It didn't seem to take long for us to finish our cups of tea. Andy took the empty cup from my hands and deposited in the kitchen sink.

I stood there and watched him, relishing the feelings that the sight of Andy stirred up in me. I suppose it sounds kind of silly, that I would stand there and be satisfied to simply watch Andy putting a couple of cups and saucers into a sink. I'm not sure that I can put those feeling into words, but I'll try. As I stood there watching Andy do the most mundane and ordinary of tasks, I felt at peace, content, safe, calm and tickled pink. All seemed right with the world, because I loved Andy, and I knew that he loved me. I was happy. The small smile perched on my lips was a sure sign of my feelings. I stood there waiting patently, as I gazed at Andy with the calm confidence that comes from maturity and knowing where you stand

Andy finished up his chore and turned around to face me. He shot me a look of concern as he tapped the wrist watch on his left wrist with his right index finger while he spoke. "Do you realized that it's been a little over an hour since Todd left?" He asked me letting the concern and worry creep back into his voice. "Do you think something's gone wrong? If it has, then we could be in really big trouble."

"There's always that possibility," I admitted to him. "But I think it unlikely that anything has gone wrong. I'm sure there is a reasonable and logical explanation for Todd being a bit late. My powers have never failed me yet." I smiled at him in an attempt to soothe his worries.
"But there's always a first time, right?" Andy asked me as he persisted in his worrying. "These so called powers of yours could have failed you, right?"

"Of course, but worrying about it isn't going to help," I said calmly. "Let's wait just a bit longer. There's not much else we can do, you know." (I couldn't really blame him for being concerned. He had a lot more at stake than I.)

"I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to just stand here and wait," Andy said with a slight pout on his face.

"Come here and let me give you a big hug, dear heart. That's sure to make you feel better," I said to him as I smiled at him timidly. Opportunities to hug Andy were not to be wasted. I never knew when the next one might come by.

"You you you, Texas, you," Andy said with a flustered grin, as he looked at me with a twinkle in those doe brown sexy eyes of his. Andy stated walking towards me.

"Well that should be enough time!" Thundered a familiar and unwelcome voice coming from the direction of the front door, stopping Andy dead in his tracks. I turned about to see Todd Herbertson standing in the doorway, glaring at the two of us. Todd turned and closed the door, locking it. Todd turned back to look at us. "So what's you're answer, Constable Anderson? Are you going to play ball or not?" Todd asked as he walked over to where we were standing. He stopped a few feet away from us. Todd crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited impatiently for Andy to answer him. Todd made no effort to hide the smirk on his face. He had Andy over a barrel and he knew it. At least that is what he thought.

Andy lowered his gaze until he was looking squarely into Todd's eyes. He matched Todd's glaring stare measure for measure. Slowly Andy crossed his arms in front of his chest, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Todd's. I kept my mouth shut as I looked at these two men as they began this macho 'battle of wills' staring contest. It was completely unnecessary, but it was interesting to watch. I found myself feeling slightly aroused as I anticipated what would happen. Andy looked so strong and powerful standing there. As for Todd, he exuded an air of confidence and power that was almost palatable. He wasn't intimidated in the least by Andy's size and strength. Todd was so sure of himself and his position of power that his smirk of triumph has grown into an outright smile.

"Your answer, Constable. I don't have all night," Todd demanded after a minute or so of locking eyes with Andy.

"In a pig's eye, will I ever agree to do what you asked," Andy answered coldly.

"I see," Todd responded thoughtfully. "Perhaps you have not considered your situation carefully enough. You should not make your decision in anger. Calm yourself and think it over. I have a few things to bring in from the car. Use this time carefully." With that Todd turned about hand headed for his car.

I smirked at Todd's departing back as I realized that it seemed he had carried out his instructions. I looked over at Andy and grinned at him as I winked and nodded my head slightly. Andy shot back a "We'll see" look at me as he waited for Todd to return.

Todd walked back into the living room with a couple of plastic grocery bags clasped in his left hand, while a duffel bag was clutched in his right hand. Todd wasted no time in plopping the bags on the kitchen counter. He unpacked them quickly. I could not help but smile as I saw Todd unpack a lemon cream pie, a chocolate cream pie, a cherry pie, a blueberry pie, three cans of whipped cream, and one large bottle of corn syrup. In short, all things that I had ordered him to buy.

"What's in the duffel bag, Todd?" I prodded him. I knew full well what was in there, but I couldn't resist asking him about it. I was curious as to what his justification would be.

"Some extra clothes, not that it's any of your business," Todd replied curtly.

"Why?" I asked as I pushed the point.

"Mind your own business," Todd snarled at me. He turned his attention away from me and directed it back to Andy. "So Constable, have you thought it over a bit more?" Todd asked Andy as he looked at Andy from across the kitchen counter.

"Yes, I've given it some more thought," Andy replied.

"And?" Todd prompted Andy.

"My decision remains firm," Andy said in a voice colder than an Arctic blizzard. "I will not do ask you ask. Not even those pictures you have of Paul and me, will make me change my mind."

"Fine. Have it your way, then," Todd replied, shaking his head slightly at Andy. "I tried to be reasonable. I gave you ever opportunity that I could. I wish you luck in finding a new job. When I'm through with you, you won't be able to get a job as a school crossing guard." Todd sighed as he wrenched his gaze away from Andy and turned to look at me. "As for you, Paul or whatever your name is, you're going to have to pay the price for your boyfriend's stubborn streak. I was hoping that you'd be able to help him make the right choice, the sensible choice. I should have known better to expect anything along the lines of common sense from two faggots. You people always think with your dicks, instead of using your brains."

I smiled back at Todd as he finished his discouraging remarks. I couldn't help it. I was so going to enjoy what was going to happen next.

Todd looked at me, and his expression changed to one of puzzlement as he studied the calm expression on my face and noticed that the smile had not left my lips. "What the hell is so funny, faggot?" Todd asked me as his voice became heated. Clearly he was annoyed and a bit upset at the reaction of Andy and me to his words. He had expected us to capitulate. He was surprised and puzzled that we had not knuckled under to his demands. . He could not understand why we hadn't. He held all the trump cards. "Do you realize what happens when I leave here and show those photos of you two around to your friends, family and employers?"

"Yes, I understand what it means, but it doesn't matter, because you're not going to do that, Todd," I told him calmly.

"You think I'm bluffing?" Todd exclaimed. "How sad for you. I'm leaving now, and any hope you had of a peaceful future is leaving with me." Todd strode off towards the door, bent on carrying out his threat.

"Why don't you give me the data clip in your pocket first, Todd?" I asked as he walked by me on his journey to the front door. "It will make things so much easier for all of us."

"Data clip?" Todd asked, perplexed by my question. "What the hell are you talking about"? He looked over his shoulder at me, as he continued his way towards the front door.

"Why the data clip from the digital camera that was used to take those pictures of Andy and me," I said to him matter-of-factly. "That is what I sent you out to get. The extra clothes and the food you picked up were a spur-of-the-moment idea. I'm pleased that you managed to find all the items, but the important article was the data clip. So, why don't you make it easy on everyone and just hand over the data clip, now?"

Todd came to a sudden stop as he heard my words. Slowly he turned about and stared at me, totally dumbfounded. The look of outrageous surprise on his face was almost comical. Certainly I enjoyed seeing Todd at a loss for words, but that was merely a taste of what I had in mind for the rest of evening.

"You're certifiable, do you know that?" Todd declared somewhat loudly as he finally found his voice. "I have no idea what you are talking about, and frankly I don't care to know more, thank you very much. I'm going now, and you, both of you, are going to rue this day!" Todd turned back towards the front door and continued his interrupted journey.

"I think those are funny words coming from a man who looks like a catfish in a suit,." I called out to Todd as he neared the front door.

As I expected, Todd's subconscious mind reacted to the trigger and controls I'd implanted earlier. Todd froze in mid stride, with his right foot out in front of him and his left foot behind him. His head dropped down to chest as he slipped back into his super hypnotic trance. Todd's body started to teeter as he found it difficult to keep his balance in such an awkward position. He completed his step forward and brought his left foot up next to his right foot so that he could stand, and thus more easily support his weight.

"Just stand there and continue to do go down deeper and feel more relaxed and submissive with each breath that you take, Todd," I called out to him. "Your only desire in this state is to please me and to obey me. Pleasing me, causes you to feel great pleasure, and it makes you feel very good about yourself."

"Yes, sir," he replied in a soft and clear voice. A moment later he let out a long soft sigh. Todd stood there with his back to me. He was standing there in that expensive looking dark blue double breasted pinstripe suit of his. It appeared to be the same out fit that he'd been wearing earlier, and the flashy bright red tie in front of a dazzlingly white shirt, and the shiny black leather shoes all looked to be the same, too. I left Todd standing there entranced.

I turned to face Andy, making no attempt to hid the smile of glee on my face. "It looks as if everything's okay, Andy," I said to him as he looked over at Todd.

Andy had a slightly surprised look on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe that Todd was under my control. "Yeah, I guess it does," he agreed with me after a few moments thought. "So what's next with him?" Andy asked me as he turned his full attention back to me.

"Well, I have a few ideas," I hedged, as I winked at Andy and smiled at him conspiratorially.

"I'm sure that you do. No doubt they have something to do with all that food we lugged downstairs. Care to enlighten me?" Andy asked, smiling back at me.

"Sure, but first I have a sort of serious question for you," I said to him.

"Ask away, love," Andy replied.

"Do you want Todd to carry out his instructions as he is now, in a trance, or would you rather have him carry out his instructions fully conscious but totally unable to resist or disobey me?" I asked him as I let the smile fade from my face, and looked at Andy earnestly.

"What's the difference, if any?" Andy asked me, his own smile fading as he realized that I was dead serious about this. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand what it is that you are asking me."

"Well, if he's entranced, then he will not feel or exhibit any conscious regret or resistance to what he is told to do. This will make things easier for him. Mentally he will not suffer as he will not realize what he is doing, or that he is actually being controlled. He won't really care what happens to him, since the controls implanted make obeying me an extremely desirable experience for him. When I wake him up afterwards he will remember everything, if I want him to."

"On the other hand, if I used a post hypnotic suggestion linked to his subconscious mind and desires, he will be fully aware of what he is doing, but he won't be able to stop himself. At first he'll have no idea of why he is obeying me, but after a short while he will figure it out. He'll realize that he's helpless to resist or refuse me. It will be a most unpleasant and disturbing experience for him." I looked at Andy as I wait for his response.

"I see," And replied thoughtfully. "And which would you prefer?" He asked me.

"I'm not sure what you're going to think of me for saying this Andy," I hedged, and paused for a second or two. "I want the second option."

"Why?" Andy asked without the slightest change in his thoughtful expression.

"I want to make Todd suffer for what he tried to do to you, to us," I said venomously. I vented my anger and animosity towards Todd, as I continued speaking. "After what he tried to pull, I think he needs to be taught a lesson. I know it's vindictive of me to say it, but I dearly want to be the one to teach him that lesson. In short, I want to make Todd pay."

"A man after my own heart," Andy said quietly and smiled at me. I smiled back at him and nodded my head in silent agreement. Andy turned towards Todd and looked at him as Andy continued to speak. "I couldn't agree with you more, love. We will indeed teach Todd a lesson. A lesson that he will not soon forget." Andy's smile became one of pure malice. Any other time I would have been dismayed to see such an expression on Andy's face. However, I was in complete agreement with him.

"Todd, come over here and stand in front of me," I called out to Todd.

"Yes, sir," Todd answered quietly as he raised his head and turned around to face me. It took only a few quick steps for Todd to be standing in front of me. Todd looked at me for a second or two as an expression of eagerness blossomed on his face. "What is your pleasure, sir?" Todd asked me.

"Tell me about the suit you are wearing, Todd," I commanded him.

"Well, sir, it." Todd started to reply, but his answer was cut short by Andy.

"What the heck are you doing, Paul?" Andy asked. "Can't we get on with it?"

"Indulge me, Andy," I said, as I turned at him, and batted my eyes at him playfully.

Andy looked at me for a moment and then chuckled good-naturedly. "Oh all right. I suppose I can wait a little bit longer. Just remember that the oatmeal is getting cold, not to mention the macaroni and cheese."

"Hmmm.I'd forgotten about that," I admitted. "Perhaps you'd better use the microwave to warm those items up."

"Good idea, but don't start the show without me, okay?" Andy asked as he headed off to the kitchen.

"I promise that I won't start the show without you, Andy," I called out to him as he left the living room. "Now, continue, Todd," I said as I turned my attention back to Todd.

'Well, sir," Todd said as he looked at me. "My suit is not one of those off the rack suits from those men's wear stores. This is a professionally tailored suit, and it cost about eleven hundred dollars. It's a very comfortable suit, sir, and with all modestly sir, I think I look very good wearing it."

"Thank you, Todd," I said to him. He beamed back at me, pleased at my having thanked him. "You're correct. You do look very nice in that suit. Now raise you arms straight up in the air and hold them there until I tell you to lower your arms."

"Yes, sir," Todd replied as he swiftly raised both of his arms straight up in air above his head.

I gazed upon Todd, the smart ass lawyer, standing there with his arms held stiffly above his head, and felt my cock twitch a few times as I savored the sight before me. His suit jacket was not done up, and with his arms held up in the air, his suit jacket was opened at the front in a large inverted V, and hiked up. I could clearly see how his bright red silk (as if it would be any other material) tie hung straight down the front of his white shirt. The pointed tip of his tie stopped just short of the top of the fly of his pants. Todd was wearing a belt in his pants, but his tie was covering the buckle. The belt was plain black leather, and I would guess that the buckle was probably gold. One thing I was sure of, was that the buckle was not a western or cowboy buckle. The suspenders were gone, or so it seemed. For some inexplicable reason Todd had changed from wearing suspenders to wearing a belt in his pants.

I let my eyes roam around the front of Todd's pants, as I walked over to where he stood waiting for me. Todd continued to smile at me, as I examined him. Need I say that the fly of his pants was closed? Nevertheless I couldn't help placing the fingers of my right hand on that fly and tracing the entire length of that fly up and down a few times. There wasn't any reaction from Todd, which didn't surprise me. I had not suggested to him that he'd enjoy this, so he wasn't. The suit material was soft and smooth, and not nearly has heavy as it looked. It appeared to be a very fine cut of wool. I smiled to myself as I realized just how nice this suit of Todd's was. I flicked Todd's tie up with my right hand. As I had suspected, the buckle on Todd's belt was gold.

I grabbed the sides of Todd's jacket with my hands and held Todd's jacket open before me. A plain white dress shirt greeted my eyes. A tailored white silk dress shirt, that clung closely to Todd's frame. This was a bit more than I'd expected. I flicked my eyes to the right and then to the left as I glanced at the inside of Todd's suit jacket. It was lined with red satin. "Oh we are talking expensive, here!" I thought to myself as soft whistle escaped my lips. The inside breast pockets had button flap closures, which was unexpected, but interesting. As I held Todd's suit jacket open I lowered my gaze down to the front of Todd's pants. I could see much more of the front of Todd's suit pants now. Another surprise greeted me. The front of his pants had side angle pockets, but the pants were not pleated. They were smooth and flat, which caused the pants to be draped somewhat more closely around Todd's hips and pelvis. This was most interesting as it suggested that Todd's pants were cut to fit much closer to his body than the usual business suit. I opened my right hand and let go of the left side of Todd's jacket. I placed my right hand on the lining of Todd's jacket. I let out a soft sight of satisfaction as my fingers brushed across that soft and smooth satin lining. I felt a slight twinge of envy for that suit. It was a very handsome suit. For a split second I almost felt regret for what was going to happen to that suit, but then I remembered the man in the suit and any lingering doubts I had quickly vanished into thin air.

I walked around Todd until I was gazing upon his back. His arms were still held high above his head which caused the bottom of his jacket to rise up a couple of inches, exposing some of seat of his suit pants. I reached out with my hands and smoothed the bunched material of his suit jacket. As I had hoped, his jacket did not have any vents in the back. "Todd, lower you arms, do up your suit jacket and then stand there with your hands in the front pockets of your pants," I ordered him as I stood there.

"Right away, sir," Todd replied as he dropped his arms to his sides. It took him only a few moments to fiddle with the front of his jacket as he buttoned it closed. A few heartbeats later Todd thrust his hands into the front pockets of his suit pants. As I had hoped the material of the tail of Todd' suit jacket bunched up as it was pulled up and over his buttocks. A clear view of the seat of Todd's suit pants was now revealed. Unlike contemporary suit pants, Todd's were somewhat on the snug side. The curves and valleys of his backside were clearly evident. I noted with some slight surprise that both of the back pockets of his suit pants had button flaps, which were closed. I let my hands lightly, move across Todd's butt enjoying the sensation of that soft warm wool beneath my finger tips. I traced the hills of his buttocks and the valley of his butt crack for a minute or so, indulging myself with a little appetizer as it were. It took me a few moments to realize that Todd's wallet, was not in either of these hips pockets of his pants.

"Todd, where is your wallet?" I asked him as I let my hands move across his butt a few more times.

"It is in the left inside pocket of my jacket, sir," Todd answered quickly, in a quiet and soft voice. It was clear that my fondling of his butt was not having any type of affect on him. "Did you wish me to give it to you, sir?" Todd asked after a moment.

"Not at this time, Todd. Thank you," I answered him. Reluctantly I pulled my hands away from their exploration of Todd's butt. "Take your hands out of your pockets, and stand there with your arms at your side, Todd," I told him.

"Yes, sir," Todd replied as he complied with my instructions. Todd smoothed out the rumples in his suit jacket and tugged down on the tails of his jacket to straighten it out at the back.
"Okay the food's ready," Andy called out to me, distracting me from Todd's preening.

I looked up at Andy, and grinned wolfishly. "Shall we start, dear?"

"By all means, let's," Andy replied.

"Todd, turn around and face me," I barked out at him.

Todd snapped about like a solider on a parade ground, responding to his drill sergeant. I was mildly surprised that Todd did not salute me. I blinked at the abruptness of Todd's response. It took me second to compose myself.

"Todd, listen very carefully," I told him as I ran through the instructions in my mind.

"Yes, sir," Todd replied looking at me square in the eye with a slightly vacant look on his face.

"Todd, in a few moments I will count from zero to five, where zero is this state or an even deeper state this," I told him. "When I wake you up, you will not have any conscious memory of my having controlled you tonight. The trigger will remain in your subconscious, as will your desire to obey me. For the rest of this evening, after you wake up, you will find yourself obeying my every instruction and command. At first you will not understand why, but slowly as time passes you will come to understand that I control you completely, and that as much as you might desire otherwise, you cannot help but to obey me. For just this evening, you will be wide awake and fully aware of what you are doing, and you will find yourself unable to resist any command, instruction or suggestion I give you."

I paused for a moment to catch my breath. "Todd, you will not try to leave or escape this building, nor will you attempt to summon help of any type whatsoever. Todd, during this entire evening you will be unable to physically harm me or Andy Anderson. Do you fully and completely understand these instructions?"

Todd stared at me quietly, as he replied, "Yes, sir. I understand, sir."

"Good," I responded. "Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake! Wide awake!" I said as I counted Todd out of his trance.

Todd blinked his eyes a couple of times as he focused his attention on me. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, as he looked at me. Todd looked about the room, becoming more confused with each passing moment. "What in the name of little green apples is going on here?"

"You're about to find out, Todd," I answered him as I smiled my sweetest and most disarming smile at him.

"Cut the crap, and just answer my question," Todd demanded of me.

"Todd, take that data clip out of your jacket pocket and drop it on the carpet in front of you," I said to him in a commanding tone of voice.

"Say, what?" Todd exclaimed in total disbelief at my request. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

I ignored Todd's questions and waited patiently. Slowly Todd reached into the right outside pocket of his suit jacket, with his right hand. A few moments later Todd withdrew his right hand from the right outside pocket of his suit jacket. Clasped securely in his right hand was a small plastic something. It was a pretty good bet that the object was the aforementioned data clip. Todd held his right arm directly out in front of him and opened his right hand. The object fell from his hand onto the carpet in front of Todd. Todd's right arm dropped down to his right side. Todd's face became a mask of stunned surprise.

I looked down at the carpeted floor in front of Todd. Yup. It was the data clip.

"What in Sam Hill is going on here?" Todd demanded a bit more loudly, as he glanced down at the data clip that he'd just dropped on the carpeted floor.

"Todd, stomp on the data clip and break it into small pieces. When that is done, pick up the pieces of the broken data clip and put them in the trash," I instructed him.

"As if" Todd exclaimed indignantly, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest while he stood there glaring at me. A second or so later Todd raised his right foot and stamped down on the data clip. He moved his right foot off of the data clip.

I looked down to see that the data clip was broken into a few pieces. I glanced up at Todd and saw that he too was looking down at the data clip, a mixture of anger and surprise on his face. Todd' right foot smashed down on the pieces of the data clip two more times. When Todd removed his right foot from on top of the data clip pieces, all that could be seen were several significantly smaller pieces of what had once been a useful piece of equipment.

Todd bent down and started picking up the pieces of smashed plastic, gathering them into the open palm of his left hand. "What am I doing?" He said out loud, asking no one in particular. "Why am I doing this? What is going on, here anyway?" Todd continued asking 'why' as he walked into the kitchen and began searching for the kitchen garbage pail. I followed him into the kitchen. It took him only a few minutes to discover that the pail was kept in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. Todd bent down and dropped the smashed pieces of the data clip into the kitchen garbage pail, closed the cabinet door, and turned around to face me.

"What is going on here?" He yelled at me. I could clearly hear a tone of fear colouring his voice. He did not understand what was happening to him, and it was starting to scare him.

"Todd, go down into the basement, and when you reach the bottom of the stairs, stop and look around. Wait there for further instructions," I said to him calmly, as I continued to ignore his questions.

"NO WAY!" Todd yelled at me emphatically. "This has gone far enough. I don't know exactly what's going on here, but it stops NOW!" Todd marched past me heading towards the front door. He never made it to the front door. (As if I had to tell you that? Surely you could have guessed that he wasn't getting away from me that easily.) Todd confidently left the kitchen and turned towards the front door. He took only one step before he turned the to right and started heading towards the basement door.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!!" He cried out in surprise as he raised his right arm towards the basement door and placed his right hand on the doorknob. He open the door and stepped forward crossing the threshold into the basement staircase. As the lights were already on, there was no need for Todd to reach out and press the light switch, so Todd's right arm dropped down to his side and hung there as he started his trek down the basement stairs. "WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING??!!" Todd cried out as started walking down the stairs into the basement. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD, DID YOU DO TO ME??!!" Todd screamed out at me as he continued walking down the basement stairs.

I had to admit that I was enjoying watching Todd obey my instructions, as he struggled to figure out what was happening to him. I experienced a slight sexual thrill as Todd walked down the basement stairs. (Come on, be honest. Your cock would have stirred a bit too, if you'd been there.) Andy and I quietly followed Todd down the basement stairs. I glanced back at Andy, and was pleased to note that he was smiling. Clearly he was enjoying Todd's predicament as much as I was. All too soon the three of us arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Todd stood there and looked around the room as he had been told to, then he turned around and looked at me. He looked over at Andy for a second and then looked back at me, but he did not say anything. He gulped once, and took a few deep breaths.

Suddenly he shoved me backward into Andy, the two of us collapsing into a heap on the basement floor. A half a second later Todd bolted up the basement stairs like an Olympic sprinter exploding out of the starting blocks. As Andy and I picked ourselves up from the basement floor, I looked around and tried to figure out what it was that had scared Todd, other than the fact that I was controlling him. I looked about the room, puzzled for a moment. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the dinning room chair that was draped in clear plastic and had duct tape about the legs to hold the plastic in place. The chair was sitting on a large sheet of clear plastic, in a cleared away area of the recreation room. Clearly that was frightening to Todd for some reason, but I couldn't imagine why.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked me as I stood there thinking.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what got into Todd, but we'd better go back upstairs and find him," I said to Andy as I headed for the stairs.

"Shit! He's probably in his car right now!" Andy declared as he whizzed past me heading for the stairs.

"Todd's not going anywhere, Andy," I called out to Andy as he started running up the stairs. "Todd's scared right now, and the last thing we want to do is to scare him even more. We should go upstairs quietly and calmly and talk with him. Humiliating him is one thing. Scaring him out of his wits is another."

"Oh, okay," Andy said as he stopped and waited for me. "I hope you're right about this. If I were Todd, I'd be in my car and burning rubber right now."

"Trust me on this," I said to Andy as I caught up with him on the stairs, and smiled at him reassuringly. We headed up the stairs slowly, listening carefully. When we reached the top of the stairs, the door was still open. We emerged from the basement entrance and looked about carefully. There was no sign of Todd anywhere. On a hunch, I headed over to the front door, with Andy in tow. It was a short trip.

What we saw when we arrived there, stopped us dead in our tracks. My guess was correct. Todd was there. He was at the front door. However, he was softly banging on the front door with his fists in a vain attempt to break it down. As I watched he reached down to the door knob and grasped it desperately like a drowning man grasping a life preserver floating nearby. Todd held onto the doorknob, but he did not turn it. He held onto the doorknob with his right hand while he banged on the door with his left fist. (Apparently my injunction that he could not leave the house was as potent as ever.) Todd took his right hand off the doorknob and balled his right hand into a fist. With a surge of energy he beat both of his fists against the front door, to no avail. Andy and I continued to watch silently as Todd stopped his banging and slowly crumpled into a fetal position in front of the closed front door. As we stood there transfixed, he began to whimper and cry. His crying became more profound and tremors ran through his body as he began to sob openly, his eyes tightly closed. He was like some little boy, scared to death and all alone. I couldn't help but feel slightly moved by the sight of him. I had not intended to scare him like this.

"What's wrong, Todd?" I asked him softly. He didn't answer. He just lay there, sobbing. I waited a few seconds and spoke again. "Todd, please tell me what's wrong." Again there was no reaction from Todd. I sighed and decided that direct action would be necessary. "Todd, stand up and tell me what is wrong," I ordered him. Slowly he climbed to his feet, with all the enthusiasm of a man walking to the gallows to be hanged.

"I.I.I can't leave," Todd said between sobs. "I want to leave more than anything else in the world, but I can't make myself open the door." He stood there looking at Andy and me, the tears continuing to roll down his reddened cheeks.

"Why would you want to leave?" I asked him. (Okay, so it sounds like a dumb question. But when you consider the situation, it really wasn't all that dumb a question to ask. Todd's reaction was unusual to say the least, and I needed to know why he suddenly felt so threatened and scared of me. Aside from the obvious point that I was controlling him, I mean.)

"You're going to kill me!' Todd blurted out as he stood there trembling in front of us. "I know it! Why else would you have put plastic on the floor and the chair, unless it was to prevent any bloodstains?"

My eyes went wide at Todd's words. It took me a few seconds to overcome my surprise and respond to his accusation. "I don't believe this," I said with a loud sigh. "You've been watching too many movies, Todd. Yes, we are going to do something to you, but it has nothing to do with physically harming you, much less killing you. If' we'd wanted to kill you, there are far easier and much less cumbersome methods available."

"Maybe," Todd sobbed as he continued his struggle not to cry. "Or maybe you want the satisfaction of doing it yourself. I'm sure that your 'sweetheart' Andy knows many ways to kill a man, and make it painful." Todd said a touch of sarcasm and arrogance returning to his voice.

"It isn't necessary to scare Todd like this, is it Paul?" Andy asked me as he turned and looked at me. I could see the hesitation in his eyes. He seemed as uncomfortable with this turn of events as I was.

"You're right, love," I said to him. I turned away from Andy and addressed Todd. "We are not going to kill you, or do anything like that. Think about it for a moment Todd and you'll see that we have no reason to kill you."

"Whatwhat do you mean?" Todd asked as the last of his sobs faded away in the light of this new hope.

"All the evidence of events on Saturday night has been destroyed, correct?" I asked him

"Y..yes. Sso?" Todd replied as he wiped the last of the tears away from his eyes.

"So, we have no reason to harm you, Todd," I said to him quietly. "Even if you told anyone about those pictures you have no proof to back up your claims. I'm sure you are too smart a lawyer to make any claim without proof, right?"

"Yyes," Todd agreed hesitantly.

"So there you have it," I said. "You have nothing to fear from me or Andy."

"Butbut I still can't leave this building," Todd whined.

"Of course not," I confirmed. "We are not done with you quite yet."

"Oh," Todd responded and gulped.

"Now, put your keys on the kitchen counter along with your driver's license," I instructed him.

"I don't want to do that," Todd asked as he inserted his right hand into the right front pocket of his pants and fished for his keys, while he walked over to the kitchen and stood by the kitchen counter.

"You don't seem to have much of a choice in the matter do you, Todd?" I asked him as he placed his keys on the counter and reached into the left front inside pocket of his jacket for his wallet.

"I guess I don't," he agreed, reluctantly. "I don't like it though." He shot me a look of disgust tinged with anger as he opened his wallet and struggled to slip his driver's license from the plastic slot within his wallet. He placed his driver's license beside his keys and returned his wallet to its resting place in the left front inside pocket of his suit jacket.

"Andy would you mind checking the kitchen, please?" I asked Andy as I kept my eyes glued on Todd.

"Sure. No problem, although I don't see why it's necessary," Andy said as he walked over to the kitchen counter.

"It's not necessary, love," I told him. "But I thought you'd enjoy seeing more evidence that Todd really is under my control. You've expressed your doubts this evening. I'm hoping this will help to put your mind at ease."

"Correct on both counts," Andy confirmed as he looked up front the counter and grinned at me.

I smiled back at him, and then returned my attention to Todd. "Go downstairs, sit down in the plastic wrapped chair and remove your shoes. Remain seated in the chair, and await further instructions," I commanded him.

Todd looked at me, and for a fleeting moment I thought I saw a snarl appear on this lips, but it could have been my imagination. Todd didn't say anything as he walked off to the basement. He knew by now that verbal protesting wasn't getting him anywhere, so why waste his breath on it? (See even a lawyer can learn.)

"Come on, Andy," I said as I walked into the kitchen. "Let's get all this food and stuff back downstairs. The fun is about to begin!"

"I'm right behind you," Andy chimed in gleefully.

It took a couple of trips to carry all of the remaining food items from the kitchen to the room in the basement, but only because we decided not to overload ourselves. We didn't want to spill anything on the nice clean carpets. During that time, Todd remained sitting in the chair, in his stocking feet, waiting, not at all patiently, but waiting. He didn't really have much of a choice, after all.

I looked over all the items available to me and finally decided to start with the oatmeal. I picked up the pleasantly warm bowl and walked over to where Todd was sitting. Carefully I swatted down and held the bowl over Todd's empty shoes. I tilted the bowl forward slightly and carefully poured the oatmeal into Todd's left shoe. When I had filled the left shoe completely, I tilted the bowl back to stop the flow of oatmeal. It took me only a second or two to reposition myself and the bowl of oatmeal above Todd's right shoe. Another forward tilt of the bowl and in less than a minute Todd's right shoe was filled with oatmeal as well.

"I don't believe this!" Todd cried out softly as he sat there stunned at what he had just seen me do. "You've just ruined a perfectly good pair of very expensive shoes. Do you realize that?"

"Yes, I realize that, Todd," I answered him. I looked at him sitting there on the plastic draped chair, in his stocking feet, and noticed that even his dark blue socks looked expensive. "Now, without picking up your shoes, reach down and put them on. Then stand up and walk around on the plastic covered area of the floor, with your arms hanging by your side," I ordered him.

"Shit. I guess I have to, " Todd said with a reluctant sigh, as he bent down to grab his right shoe with both his hands, and raised his right foot above his oatmeal filled right shoe. I watched with unconcealed delight as he pushed his right foot into the warm squishy oatmeal. Of course the oatmeal overflowed the shoe and spilled out over the top and sides of the shoe. A clear cut case of Archimedes' principle at work. Todd let out a soft sigh of surprise as he thrust his right foot completely into his now messy right shoe. After a second or two to be sure that his right foot was firmly entrenched in his right shoe, Todd directed his attention to his left foot. He let go of his right shoe and grabbed his left shoe. Another sigh accompanied his thrust of his left foot into his oatmeal filled left shoe. Moments later his left foot was firmly encased in his left shoe, and his left shoe was as covered in oatmeal as his right shoe.

Todd stood up and gulped once as he took his first step in his messed up shoes. He walked around carefully, as if he were wearing cowboy boots or high heeled shoes for the first time. He left a small trail of oatmeal as he did his walk about. I studied his face as he walked about, and I grinned as I caught a flash of delight crossed his features for the briefest of moments. I glanced over at Andy, who smiled back at me and nodded his head ever so slightly. Andy had seen the brief look of pleasure on Todd's face as well.

"How to you feel, Todd?" I asked him.

"Foolish, stupid and angry," Todd replied, as he continued walking around.

"You're not enjoying this at all then?" I taunted him.

"What the hell do you think?" Todd snapped at me, as he stopped walking and glared at me. "Thanks to you I've just ruined one of my best pairs of shoes. Why in the world would you think I'd be happy about that?"

"Walk about a bit more and then tell me how you feel, Todd," I directed him.

Todd shot me a dirty look, as he complied with my wishes. Andy meanwhile was standing in the background quietly watching all this. I waited a few minutes for Todd to complete his walk about. He was walking with a more normal gate now as he adjusted to the sensations coming from his feet. I could not help but enjoy the sight of Todd walking about in that smart looking suit of his, but then I've always enjoyed the sight of a well dressed man in a suit. I saw a brief twitch of a smile cross Todd's lips as he walked about the plastic protected area of the basement floor. I decided not to say anything just yet, though.
"It's a different feeling, I'll admit," Todd said to me a few minutes later. "I wouldn't exactly say that I'm enjoying it, but it is different."

"I see," I replied, knowing that Todd was holding back on how he really felt. "I think you like it more than you are willing to admit, Todd."

"Why would you say that?" Todd asked as he continued to walk around, a genuinely puzzled looked crossing his face.

"Only a few minutes ago you were upset about ruining one of your best pairs of shoes, and now your not even raising your voice about it," I pointed out to him.

"The shoes are already ruined, so there's no need to keep harping the point," Todd retorted, as he brushed off my observation.

I should have known better than to try and match wits with a lawyer. They can split hairs like no one else can. "You must be used to it or enjoying the sensation of that oatmeal in your shoes, otherwise you would have stopped walking around by now," I mentioned to him.

"Think what you like, but you're wrong," Todd declared as he walked over to the chair and sat down. He looked at me with a 'so there' expression on his face as he sighed waiting for his next instruction.

"I'll bet you are bit hungry after all that exercise, right Todd?" I taunted him.

"Not at all, actually," he replied, as he sat there looking at me. He couldn't help but wonder what was next on the agenda.

"Andy, would you mind passing the macaroni and cheese to Todd, please?" I asked Andy as I looked in his direction.

"Sure thing, Paul," Andy replied as he picked up the big blue bowl that contained the still warm macaroni and cheese. It was the kind with the canned cheese sauce, not the powered cheese.

"Todd, just one whiff of the aroma of that macaroni and cheese, and you'll suddenly realized just how hungry you are," I told him as Andy brought the bowl to where Todd was sitting. Andy placed the bowl on Todd's lap and retreated a few steps.

Todd looked at me, and then he defiantly shoved the bowl off of his lap and on to the floor. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at me, as he spoke between clenched teeth. "Maybe I have to do what you tell me to, but I'll be damned if I'm going to make it easy for you." Todd didn't scream or yell, he spoke clearly and evenly, putting as much of a chill in his voice as he could.

I looked at the overturned bowl of macaroni and cheese, and sighed softly to myself. I wasn't all that surprised by Todd's reaction. He had found a loophole in my instructions. I had never TOLD him to eat the macaroni and cheese, after all. Nor had I said that he could not push it way from him. I seemed to keep forgetting that it was a lawyer that I was dealing with, a person who knew well how to deal with contracts, instructions and all the subtle nuances involved.

"Todd sit down in that chair, with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting in your lap. You will not make any attempt to get out of that chair or to move your arms or legs, until such time as I tell you that you made get out of that chair. Is that clear?" I asked Todd.

"Yes, it's clear," he answered, and shot me another dirty look. He knew that he was about to pay for his little outburst of defiance.

"Andy would you get the duct tape and please tape Todd's ankles firmly to each front leg of the chair he is sitting in, please?" I asked Andy as I walked over to the counter where Andy was standing.

"We're going to have to do this the hard way, are we?" Andy asked me as he grabbed the roll of duct tape from the counter top and headed over to Todd.

"Yes, we are," I answered him as I picket up a large serving spoon and a spatula from the counter top. "While you're doing that, I'll clean up the macaroni and cheese." It did not take me all that long to right the overturned bowl and scoop up the macaroni and cheese back into the bowl. I merely had to be careful where I knelt while I was completing my task. I picked up the bowl and turned back to look at Todd. Andy had done a fine job. Todd's right and left legs were securely bound to the respective front legs of the chair. The duct tape was wrapped firmly about Todd's ankles and over the plastic that covered the chair. I was momentarily puzzled by that until I realized that Andy must have cut the plastic draped over the chair so that he could wrap the duct tape around the chair legs.

"Todd, hold your arms out behind you, with your wrists as close to each other as you can get them," I told Todd as I looked as him.

Todd's arms flew up and off of his lap, and whipped around behind his back.

"Andy, please tape his writs together, so that he cannot get out of the chair, or move about too much. I don't even want him to be able to topple over in that chair," I said as I kept my attention focused on Todd.

"You got it," Andy replied as he carried out my directions. In only a few minutes Todd was secured in the chair with the duct tape. Todd did not try to struggle since my instructions prevented him from doing so. I noticed a slight flush creep across his face several times as Andy was tying him up. It looked as if my earlier mind scans were about to be proven true.

I walked over to Todd, and savored the sight of this pompous and arrogance man, this smart ass of a lawyer, tied up and helpless before me. I couldn't help but smile at him. Not because of what I was going to do to him, but because of what he was about to ask me to do to him.

"Okay, so you've got me tied up and helpless," Todd admitted. "This makes you a really BIG man, doesn't it? You have to do this to a person, you have to belittle and humiliate someone to make yourself feel better about yourself. It's really very sad, you know. You have my pity."

"Are you done with the speechmaking?" I asked Todd as I stood there, just in front of him holding that now lukewarm bowl of macaroni and cheese. I didn't smirk at him, I just smiled pleasantly.

"I suppose so," Todd said with a sigh. "You can throw that food all over me now. I know you're going to."

"Not just yet," I said as I placed the bowl down on the floor beside me and knelt down beside Todd. I looked down at the front of Todd's pants and was pleased to note that Mr. Happy was making himself known, if you catch my drift. "First I want to ask you something," I said to Todd as I swiveled my gaze away from the front of his pants and back to Todd's face.

"And that is?" Todd prompted me.

"Are you enjoying feeling tied up, Todd? Does it excite you?" I asked.

'Of course not!" Todd answered vehemently. "This is NOT my idea of a good time!"

"Well to judge from the bulge in the front of your pants, it would seem that there is some dissension in the ranks," I pointed out to him.

"What are you talking about?" Todd blurted out as he blushed fiercely. "I'm not some kind of sicko, like you and Andy."

"A little honesty, please Todd," I said to him. "I haven't don't anything sexual to you all evening. I haven't touched your body in any sexual manner, nor have I made any sexual suggestions to you. I have not ordered or commanded or instructed you develop an erection. Yet here you are with what could only be called a redwood of a woody, after having been tied up by Andy. It would appear that you enjoy the sensation of being tied up and feeling helpless." I placed my right hand on the front of Todd's pants and traced the outline of the huge bulge that rested there.

"I DO NOT!" Todd screamed out at me, fighting back the moans that struggled to escape from his throat. "YOU MADE ME FEEL THIS WAY. I KNOW YOU DID!" Todd struggled to catch his breath as I let my fingers idly trace the outline of bulge of his erect penis, a few more times.

"No, I didn't," I said quietly, as I withdrew my hand from the front of Todd's pants. "But I do know what you want to happen. I know what your deep dark secret desire is, Todd. But if you want that to happen, you'll have to do it."

"I don't know what you are alluding to," Todd barked out at me. "But I do know that tied up like this I can't cause anything to happen."

"He's right about that, Paul," Andy chimed in from where he was standing off to the side.

"Watch and learn, love," I said to Andy as I grabbed the bowl of macaroni and cheese, and slowly stood up. I walked over and stood next to Todd, holding the bowl a few inches below the knot of his tie. "Would you like some?" I asked Todd.

Todd breathed in the aroma. "No. I mean, yes. I mean, no. I mean Well, yes, but how can I eat it? I can't use my hands?" a bewildered Todd asked me.

"Very carefully," I told him as I slowly raised the lip of the bowl to his eager lips. "Now I'm going to very carefully tilt the bowl up and if you are patient, some of the macaroni will slide down into your open mouth."

"Okay, I guess," Todd agreed doubtfully, as he leaned forward and stretched his head towards me.

I was as good as my word. I very carefully tilted the blue plastic bowl of macaroni and cheese up and towards Todd's eager lips until a few small clumps of cheese covered macaroni tumbled down and into Todd's waiting mouth. I had to be careful, after all I didn't want the poor man to choke to death on macaroni and cheese.

Todd wolfed down the small morsels, as I tiled the bowl back away from his head. He swallowed a few times as he looked at me. "More, please?" He asked meekly.

"Of course," I answered him. His eyes brightened with anticipation. It was certainly a welcome change from his arrogance of a short while ago. I approached Todd again. As I neared him, he sat back in the chair and moved his head back slightly away from me. I raised one eyebrow in surprise. I hoped this was not another resurgence of Todd's normally forceful personality again. I was starting to get tired of this see-saw personality of his. I decided to give Todd the benefit of the doubt and not say or do anything about what appeared to be another instance of him suddenly changing his mind. I finally placed the lip of the bowl a couple of inches from Todd's chin and slowly tilted the bowl up to get ready to pour a few more nuggets of macaroni and cheese into Todd's mouth.

Like a coiled snake Todd lunged as far forward as he could, while he trust his chin into and down against the lower lip of the bowl. The result was that the bowl of macaroni and cheese flipped up and out of my hands and wound up landing on Todd's face. I was so surprised that at for a second or two I didn't react. Gathering my wits about me I whipped my hands out and plucked the bowl off of Todd's face. Todd's entire face was covered in macaroni and cheese, literally. Quickly I dug into the thick gooey mess and cleared it away from Todd's nose, and eyes. Carefully I brushed a few clumps away from Todd's nostrils, to ensure that he could breath. I took a step back and studied Todd for a moment.

"Todd, are you okay? Can you breath and see now?" I asked him as I looked at him. His face, as I had said, was covered in macaroni and cheese, which was now finding its way down the front of his elegant suit jacket, tie and shirt. He was a bit on the messy side.

"Ohh yes God yes," he replied in between moans, his eyes still closed. He blinked his eyes open and looked at me. "God that was wonderful. I never knew macaroni and cheese could be so sensual. I nearly came." Todd moaned a few more times as he looked at me with a glassy-eyed stare.

"Even better than the oatmeal?" I asked him as I passed the now empty bowl to a softly chuckling Andy.

"Oh yessss" He hissed. "Far better."

"You did it to yourself, I hope you realize," I called out to Todd in an attempt to bring him down from Cloud Nine, or where ever it was that his mind was currently residing.

"Yeah, I know," he purred happily. "I I I always wanted to, I think."

"Would you like more?" I asked him as I walked back to the counter and looked over the remaining food items.

"Yes, please," he asked meekly. "I want more. More mess. Please? Pretty please?" Todd pleaded with me. He moaned a few more times in anticipation of my answer.

"Well Andy, do you think we should?" I asked Andy knowing full well what Andy's reply would be. I did not even need to ask Andy the question. I was merely playing with Todd, and enjoying myself.

"Well, I don't know, Paul," Andy hedged, looking as if he doubted the wisdom of continuing. I was hard pressed not to smile at him. The man was a damn good actor when he wanted to me. He was following my lead, beautifully. I knew that he was merely acting, because I could see that distinctive twinkle in his eyes, the one that meant he was enjoying himself immensely.

"You can do anything with the food that you like. I don't care, really," Todd piped up breaking the silence that followed Andy's reply to my question. "Please, I really want to feel more food on me. I really want to be made messy." Seeing that he wasn't getting the answer that he so desperately wanted, Todd changed to a different tact. His voice took on a quiet and servile tone as he did his best to press his case. "I can't stop you, and even if I could I wouldn't. Please don't stop. Do all of me. Do every inch of my suit. Ruin it all, every square inch. Please, I'll do anything you want me to, just please don't stop now."

"Well, I suppose we could continue, Todd, if you really want to continue with this," I said doubtfully. I was doing my best to sound hesitant and unsure.

"Oh yes, yes please!" Todd crowed out as he panted in anticipation.

I picked up two open cans and walked over to where Todd was sitting. Andy had removed the labels from the cans, so that Todd had no idea what they might contain. Andy certainly knew how to add to the atmosphere of the events. Todd watched my every move as if I were bringing him a gift of one million tax free dollars. I held up the first can and upended the contents over his head. "The second course, spaghetti and meat balls is now served!" I cried out. With a soft plop the slippery contents of the upended can hit the top of Todd's head and started to drip and slide off of his hair.

"Oh, yes!" Todd cried out softly with delight as he felt the slippery food start to slide down the sides of his face. "Oh, I can feel it trickling down inside the neck of my shirt!" Todd cried out happily. "Oh yes, staining my clothes, making me so very messy. God yes, I deserve this!"

"Hmm it needs something," I said as I took the second can and began pouring the contents of that can over Todd's head and on his shoulders. "Yes, it definitely needed more tomato sauce!" I declared as I watched the bright red liquid start to run down the front and back of Todd's suit jacket. It would take a major session at the dry cleaners before that suit would be wearable in public again. And we had only just begun!

"Pork and beans are always a favorite," Andy cried out as he dumped two cans of brown beans and sauce on top of Todd's shoulders, one can over each shoulder.

"I LOVE pork and beans!" Todd cried out joyfully. "Nothing like getting back to the basics!" Todd squirmed about in the chair as he luxuriated in the sensations of all that sloppy sticky and messy food flowing down over him. (Thank goodness the chair and floor were covered in plastic!). Todd's head still had a few small clumps of macaroni and cheese hanging on, but otherwise his head and hair were covered a red and brown mess.

The font of Todd's suit had small near vertical streams of yellow, red and brown running down the front. It was a pinstripe suit with a difference, now. Some of the liquid had dribbled down the front of Todd's shirt and tie, but not enough, not by a damn sight. Most of the flow had gone off to the sides of Todd's suit and thus missed his pants entirely. That would have to be corrected. With Todd tied up as he was, I couldn't really see how well things were progressing on the back of his suit.

"Todd, I'd like to do more to you but there is a slight problem," I said sadly.

"What?" Todd asked worriedly, as he looked over at Andy and me. "Whatever it is, I'll fix it. Just tell me what it is, please!" Todd was shuddering with anticipation. It was a good thing he was tied up or he might have fallen out of that chair.

"Well, we need to untie you from that chair and have you stand up and only move around when we tell you to," I said to him. "But I'm not sure we can trust you to do that."

"Are you kidding?" Todd asked incredulously. "Right now I'd give the two of you the blow jobs of your lives, if you would promise to keep messing me up. I've never wanted anything so badly in my life!"

"Oh, so you're sexually aroused by all this, Todd?" I asked him calmly. (God, how I loved dragging this out. Revenge may be a dish that is best served cold, but messy, sticky, slippery and with a large dollop of humiliation indubitably adds to the flavor if you ask me.)

"CHRIST ALMIGHTY! YOU KNOW I AM!!" Todd cried out emphatically. "I haven't been this hard, hot and horny in months, if ever!! I've loving every second of this! Please, please untie me. I'll be good. I'll do anything and everything you want me to. Just keep the courses coming, please!"

"Andy, would you do the honors?" I asked him as I looked over the food and tried to decide what the next course should be.

"Glad to. Just let me get out of the line of fire first, before you start up again," Andy cautioned me, as he approached Todd. Andy was right. I didn't really want to get him messy as well. One major messy man would be enough tonight. Still it was an interesting and erotic idea to file away for later consideration. Andy swatted down just in front of Todd. Andy grabbed one of Todd's legs to steady himself. Andy attacked the bands of duct tape that were tightly wrapped about Todd's ankles, with a small paring knife. He cut through the duct tape and yanked savagely at it as he pealed it off of the cuffs of Todd's suit pants. Todd sat there saying not a word. A tremor or two of excitement ran through his body, as he did his best to patiently wait for Andy to finish. Andy stood up slowly and then took one step backward, away from Todd. Carefully Andy walk around the slightly messy plastic draped chair, until he was standing behind Todd. Andy got to work on the stripes of duct tape that were wrapped about Todd's wrists.

From where I was standing I could not see exactly what Andy was doing, but I could take an educated guess. I knew Andy well enough to surmise that Andy was carefully working the paring knife in and under the duct tape so that the sharp edge of the knife would not cut Todd. It did not take Andy very long to saw through the tape about Todd's wrists. Removing the tape from the cuffs of Todd's suit jacket proved to be much easier than removing the tape from Todd's pants had been. Andy let the twisted and tacky tape shards fall onto the plastic, essentially forgotten.

Todd could not get free of the duct tape and the chair quickly enough. He bounded out of the chair and walked a few paces away from the chair, and turned about facing me. His face was wreathed in smiles as he asked me, "What's next?"

"Turn about for me, I want to see what you look like," I said to Todd.

Todd grinned at me as he slowly spun around in a circle, allowing me to see every side of his messed up suit. As I had suspected the food had run down the back and the sides more than it had the front. His suit wasn't messy enough by half, but first there was something else that needed to be done.

"Todd undo your jacket, open the inside pocket where your wallet resides and then hold your jacket open so I have easy access to your wallet," I instructed him.

"Okay, but it would be easier if I just handed my wallet over to you," Todd said as he fumbled at the buttons to his suit jacket. I watched with sweet satisfaction as Todd got his jacket open. He grabbed the left side of his jacket with his left hand firmly as he inserted his right hand under the left side of his suit jacket. It was a foregone conclusion that Todd was unbuttoning the inside left breast pocket of his suit jacket where his wallet resided. The task took him but a few moments. I let out a soft sigh of delight as Todd grabbed the right side of his suit jacket with his right hand and pulled his jacket wide open. He stood there looking at me expectantly as he held his jacket wide open. I could clearly see his formerly white dress shirt and his red silk tie. The lining of his suit jacket looked pristine, but rest assured that would not last too much longer
I snatched a bottle of syrup from the counter and walked over to stand directly in front of Todd. I unscrewed the cap of the bottle, letting the cap fall to the floor. It wouldn't be needed any more this night. I reached out, grabbed the unbuttoned flap of the inside left breast pocket of Todd's suit and flipped the flap up unblocking the opening of the pocket. Quickly I placed the neck of the bottle of corn syrup into the top of the pocket and gave the bottle a soft squeeze.

"What? What are you doing?" Todd asked me quietly, as he watched the thick viscous liquid shoot out of the bottle and into his suit pocket. "You're covering my wallet in syrup!" Todd blurted out, in surprise. "You're ruining it!"

"Yeah, that's the idea, Todd," I said to him. "This is what you get for trying to blackmail Andy and me. Your credit cards, your identification, and anything else in your wallet is going to be sticky and messy. Now you know why I had you give me your driver's license and your keys. You'll be able to drive your car home, at least."

Todd looked at me, his face unreadable for the moment. "Oh," he said, as he stared at the syrup working it's way out of the bottle and into his pocket. He could not seem to stop staring at the bottle as the syrup continued to pour out of it.

"Go ahead and try to stop it, Todd," I commanded him. "Try and grab the syrup bottle from my hand. I won't attempt to stop you." I assured him.

Letting go of the right side of his jacket, Todd brought his right up towards the bottle. Slowly he moved his hand toward the bottle. His hand was a good four or five inches away when it stopped its approach to the bottle. Todd's right arm quickly dropped back down to his side, as Todd let out his pent up breath in a loud sigh.

"II can't," he breathed at me. "Idon't want to stop it. I said you could do anything you wanted to me, and I meant it." Todd turned and looked me dead in the eye. "It's strange but this actually feels good. I should be upset and angry about having all my credit cards and stuff ruined. It's going to be a lot of work to replace everything. But if anything, this is a turn on."

"Your wallet and everything in it is going to be destroyed, Todd," I informed him.

'Yeah, and I like it," he agreed, as a grin broke out on his face. "How'd you know I'd like this?" He asked me looking at me dumbfounded.

"That's my secret, Todd," I said as I winked at him. "You need not worry about that. Now then why don't you finish covering your wallet in syrup for me, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Todd said and moaned.

"If you have any other valuables in the other pockets of your clothes, you should pour some syrup over them as well, to make them messy as well," I told him, as I pulled the bottle up and away from his suit jacket pocket. I held the bottle out to Todd.. "If there is any syrup left over in the bottle, pour it on your shoes.

"Oh, yes." Todd hissed as the sexual excitement started to flood into his mind, and his grin became a bit bigger. Todd blinked a few times before he reached out for the syrup bottle that I held out in front of him. "Got to do it." Todd slipped the neck of the bottle back inside his suit jacket pocket and continued to fill the pocket. Todd let out a few more moans as the syrup continued on its erotic journey from the bottle to his pocket. After a few more minutes Todd pulled the bottle away from his pocket.

"Done," he moaned as a shudder passed through his body. He let his left arm drop down to his side, as he let go of his suit jacket. Todd closed his eyes as he surrendered to the sexual arousal he was feeling. "I've got my money clip in the right front pocket of my pants, some change in the left front pocket of my pants and a pen here in a special pocket of my jacket.

"Go for it, Todd," I encouraged him. "There's no need to do the pen pocket though."

"Oh kayee." Todd hissed softly, as he shoved the syrup bottle into the right front pocket of his pants. "It's so thick and heavy," he muttered as he held the bottle there, letting the syrup run into his pocket. About thirty seconds later Todd transferred the bottle from the right front pocket of his suit pants, to the left front pocket of his suit pants. "Time for some change," he said and started to giggle at the humor of his pun. Actually, I didn't find it all that funny a pun, but I guess Todd thought it was. I suppose you could say that Todd's state of mind could not exactly be called 'normal'.

Todd pulled the bottle out of pocket of his pants, looked up at me and flashed me a smile as he upended the bottle and poured the remaining syrup on the tops of his shoes. All of this took only a few minutes, if that. Todd dropped the now empty bottle and stood there with his suit jacket hanging open, looking at me. Todd awaited his next instruction from me with a blissful and slightly stupid expression plastered on his face.

"Ready for the next phase, Andy?" I called out to him as I lobbed a squeeze bottle of ketchup over to him.

Andy caught the bottle deftly, and grinned at me as he answered my question. "You'd better believe it!"

"Todd, I want you to spin around very, very slowly in one spot, until I tell you to stop. Let your arms hang down naturally," I directed Todd, as I picked up a squeeze bottle of mustard.

"Yes, sir," Todd replied as he started to spin around. The gleam in his eyes betrayed his anticipation. He had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next, and it was clear that he wanted it to happen.

"Time to add a little colour to your outfit, Todd!" I cried out as I squeezed the bottle and shot a short stream of yellow mustard towards Todd's chest. It splattered on the left side of Todd's suit jacket with a satisfying if quiet smack. As Todd continued his slow twirling about, I noticed a small splatter of red on the back of Todd's suit jacket, at about waist level. I glanced over at Andy, who nodded at me and grinned wolfishly. This was fun, but I wanted to be a bit more artistic.

I walked up to Todd, as close as I could get to him and started to paint him with mustard. I held the bottle only a few inches away from Todd's moving body and I squirted out the sticky yellow semi-liquid all over his jacket. Andy kept up with me as far as using the ketchup was concerned. We had a joyous time painting Todd's jacket. By the time we were done it was difficult to tell what the pattern of his jacket had been originally. We'd even managed to get some of his dress shirt and his tie. The entire time Todd had been softly moaning with delight. It's difficult to say who among us enjoyed this more, Todd, or Andy and me.

"Stop turning about Todd," I barked at him. Instantly he stopped. "Good. Now slip off your suit jacket and let it fall on the floor."

"Thank you, sir," Todd said as he slowly grabbed the front edges of his jacket and worked his way out of it. He slipped it off and it flopped to the ground just behind him. "It was getting kind of heavy and hot under there. This feels much better, though," he said as he sighed with relief and continued to grin at me.

I asked Todd to slowly turn about one more time. He complied easily enough. I took a good look at him as he turned in front of me. For the most part his dress shirt and suit pants were still clean. Oh, there was a V-shaped area on the front of his dress shirt that had a few yellow and red marks on it. (Three guess what they were, and the first two don't count.) There were a few dribbles of macaroni and cheese as well but for the most part the dress shirt was clean. Todd's suit pants were fairly unmarked as well.

"It seems as if your shirt and pants are still somewhat clean," I informed Todd with a knowing grin.

"I guess it is, sir," Todd said as he turned about and looked at me. "Do you think you could do something about that?"

"Oh yes. Yes, indeed." I assured him. "Andy, would you please hand Todd that big bowl of cake batter, please?"

"Well, I don't know about that, Paul," Andy answered as he picked up the bowl and walked over to Todd. "Can't I have some fun too?" He asked me as jerked his head towards Todd. I had a pretty good idea as to what he was hinting at.

Todd looked back at me. "Sir? What does he mean, Sir?" He asked me, excitedly. Todd was an intelligent man. He had picked up on the hint that Andy had dropped.

"Todd, is your penis fully erect?" I asked him as I changed the subject slightly.

'Oh yes, sir!" He informed me as he panted slightly with arousal. "It's so hard and hot! It's been pushing against my pants ever since you started with the syrup. Will you please let Andy do whatever he wishes with the cake batter, Sir?" The last question was asked with an all too evident tone of urgency.

"Todd, you're right. It's only fair that Andy have some fun too. But first I'd like you to tell me the truth about something," I answered him, as I dragged out the anticipation just a bit more.

"What's that, sir?" Todd asked, confused by my sudden switch in topics.

"I'd like you to tell me how you feel right now, and what you think of tonight's proceeding so far," I informed him calmly. (Good grief! I was starting to sound like a lawyer now!)

"I feel sexually aroused, sir," Todd began after a few moments of thought. "I never knew that getting messed up like this would be such a turn on. I can't recall the last time I felt such a thrill, such an overwhelming enrapture. I'm so turned on, so excited that I don't care what happens now, as long as I can keep feeling this way. I want to get more messy for you, Sir. I felt so humbled and humiliated when you tied me up, Sir, and got me messy. I felt so out of control, so controlled, Sir. Ititit got me even hotter and harder. And then when you covered my wallet in syrup, Sir! It was fantastic! I felt so used, so owned, so dominated by you, Sir. I want to do whatever you want me to, Sir. I really want you to command me to make myself even more messy, Sir. I never imagined that being subjugated could be so enthralling. I'm owned, Sir. You own me, Sir. I couldn't be happier, Sir. I love being humiliated by you, Sir."

I blinked my eyes a few times after Todd had finished speaking. His little speech had caught me by surprise. I had not expected him to keep going on and on like he did. I suppose I should have expected it. Who ever heard of a 'brief' lawyer, after all? (Yes, another bad pun.) I wasn't too surprised at the declarations of delight and satisfaction that Todd had made about being humiliated and getting messy. I had expected something along those lines after seeing those deeply hidden desires in his mind during my mental scan of his mind.

"Stand with your feet slightly apart to insure that you are standing comfortably, Todd," I ordered him.

"Right away, Sir!" Todd barked out. He positioned his feet slightly apart and looked over at Andy expectantly.

"You may proceed when ready, Andy," I called out to him, anticipating some more fun.

"At last!" Andy cried out as he raised the bowl full of cake batter high about Todd's head. Todd closed his eyes and moaned softly in anticipation of feeling the cake batter rain down upon him. Andy did not disappoint him. Andy tilted the bowl just enough to let a small steady stream of chocolate cake batter pour out of the bowl and onto the top of Todd's head.

Todd squirmed and shuddered with delight as he moved his head about under the stream of falling cake batter, letting it flow down across his face and on the sides and back of his head.

"Stand still, Todd" Andy barked out at him. Todd stood up straight, and stopped his squirming about. "That's better, thank you," Andy tilted the bowl a bit more to increase the thickness of the stream of cake batter. Andy moved the bowl in slow circles about Todd's head. Andy directed the flow of cake batter all down the front of Todd's shirt, as well as down his back. By the time the bowl was emptied, Andy had managed to even pour some of the batter down both of Todd's arms. It was an awesome sight. Todd standing there with chocolate coloured cake batter dripping down all over him. Let's just say that Todd wasn't the only guy in the room who suddenly found his pants somewhat confining.

"How's that, Todd?" Andy asked with a loud laugh.

"Fantastic, Sir!" Todd called out as he wiped away the batter from his mouth and his eyes. "I'm covered in batter and it couldn't be better!"

"Do you want desert, Todd?" I inquired.

"Yes! I want desert! Please! Please, will you give me some desert?" Todd called out to Andy and me as we stood there smiling at this messy man.

"Maybe if you got down on your hands and knees and asked Andy nicely, he'll give you some chocolate pudding for desert," I taunted Todd. (Was that mean? Yes. Was it necessary? No. Did I enjoy it? HELL YES!)

Todd was on his hands and knees in a flash. He spun around towards Andy. Looking up at Andy. "Please, sir, please can I have chocolate pudding for desert?" Todd pleaded with Andy.

Andy stood there and laughed at Todd. I laughed with Andy. It was amusing and entertaining, to say the least. Imagine, if you can, the sight of Todd on his hands and knees covered in cake batter and other food items, begging Andy to dump chocolate pudding on him. This was the same man, who only a few hours ago was trying to blackmail the two of us. Todd had certainly been taken down a few pegs. After a minute or so, Andy picked up the big bowl of chocolate pudding as well as a spatula, and walked over to where Todd was kneeling down.

Todd quivered with excitement and he crouched there on his hands and kneels, waiting for Andy to start. Andy shoved the spatula in to the bowl of chocolate pudding and slapped some onto the middle of Todd's back. Todd arched his back and grunted with animal gratification. Like some painter painting a living canvas, Andy used the spatula to spread the chocolate pudding all over Todd's back, from his neck right down to his waist. Todd hooted with joy when Andy used the spatula to spread chocolate pudding all over Todd's buttocks. Andy even managed to slap some of the chocolate pudding in between Todd's butt cheeks, well as much as Todd's pants would allow.

"Oh, GOD! YES!!!" Todd screamed out suddenly as Andy moved the spatula along the inside of Todd's thighs.

"Lie down and roll over onto your back, Todd," Andy ordered him, as Todd crouched there panting.

"Yes, Sir!" Todd responded as he dropped down to lie on the floor. Quickly he rolled over until he was lying on his back. He cracked his eyes open and looked up at Andy. "Please, sir, will you do my front now?"

"Only after you open your fly and take your cock out," Andy answered him. I was slightly taken aback at Andy's request. I looked over at Andy, confused at his order to Todd.

"Anything for you, Sirs," Todd replied as he reached down and fumbled with the fly of his pants. It took Todd less than a minute to extract his monster from within its lair, during which time I came to understand the reason behind Andy's order. It was a part of his humiliation. Todd's penis was long, hard but not especially thick. Clearly he was excited, which was reflected in the aroused state of his cock. It was standing up like a miniature flagpole.

Andy scraped the sides of the bowl to gather up all the remaining chocolate pudding that he could. Andy squatted down beside Todd and began pouring the chocolate pudding over Todd's hard and stiff penis. Todd moaned and groaned with pleasure, like some animal in mating heat. Andy poured all the remaining chocolate putting on and round Todd's open fly. The pudding oozed inside of Todd's suit pants, with a little encouragement from Andy. All the while Todd's moans and groans became louder and stronger. Not all of the chocolate pudding found its way inside of Todd's pants, though. Andy spread some of the chocolate pudding up the front of Todd's dress shirt and down the front of Todd's pants, during which time, Todd's moans and groans grew in frequency and volume. Andy even managed to cover most of Todd's red silk tie with chocolate pudding.

I noticed that Todd was also starting to whimper a bit. I had a pretty good idea as to what was causing that. "Todd, you're getting close to shooting your load, aren't you?" I asked him.

"GOD YES, SIR!!" He screamed out. "I'M SO CLOSE IT HURTS, SIR!!!"

"There is no need to hold back, Todd," I informed him. "Just let it happen when it will. Just let yourself shoot until you can't shoot anymore."

"THANK YOU, SIR!" Todd cried gleefully, as his body shuddered with anticipation.

Andy stood up and walked a few paces away from Todd, keeping his eyes on Todd the whole while. I too was watching Todd, wondering how much longer it would be until the inevitable event occurred.

"OH GOD! I"M COMMING!!" Todd screamed out as he let go and shot his load into the air. The hot white stream flew up into the air and fell back down all over Todd's chest and stomach. It stood out in stark contrast to the chocolate pudding, and other food items, that were smeared over Todd's clothes. It didn't add much to Todd's messy appearance, but it was very satisfying to me.

"When you've recovered Todd, you must stand up and strip down to your underwear and socks," I told him being sure to speak clearly.

"Yes, Sir," Todd acknowledged as he opened his eyes and started to climb up off of the floor.

"Todd, tell me how you feel right now, considering all that has happened to you this evening," I asked him as he grabbed at his tie and started to pull at it.

"I'm not exactly sure, Sir," he answered as he undid his tie and pulled it off of his shirt. "I feel good, for the most part, and the orgasm I just had was fantastic, sir" Todd looked at me and then looked down at his food encrusted shirt as he fumbled at the collar button of his shirt. After several failed attempts he managed to undo the button and tackled the remaining buttons on the front of his shirt.

"You don't feel, ashamed or humiliated at all, Todd?" I asked him, surprised that he had not mentioned it.

"Yes, I did at first, Sir," he answered me as he finished unbuttoning his shirt and turned his attention to the buttons of his shirt sleeves. "But I came to realize that deep down I've always wanted someone to do something like this to me. If anything I'm thankful to you sir, to both of you."

I supposed I should have expected something like this, since I'd seen the desire clearly in his mind. Still a part of me couldn't help feeling a tiny bit annoyed that Todd didn't feel a stronger sense of humiliation. I contented myself by knowing of all the problems he would face replacing the contents of his wallet, not to mention the explanation he would have to give to the his client about this failed blackmail attempt. These thoughts rolled about in my head as I watched Todd continue to remove his clothes. He looked about and then walked over to the chair and sat down in it. He bent down and removed his right shoe, tossing his shoe aside. He turned his attention to his left shoe and removed it, tossing it aside as well. Slowly he stood up and took a couple of steps away from the chair. He unbuckled the belt on his pants and then tackled his pants. It took him only a few seconds to undo his pants, as the fly of his pants was still open.. He shoved his pants down off his body with a loud sigh of relief. As his pants plopped to the floor I saw some of the syrup in the front pockets dribble out. (Thank goodness for the plastic sheet on the floor or we have had one heck of a monster of a mess to clean up.) Todd stepped out of his pants as he peeled his shirt off of his body. Peeled was accurate. There was so much food on that shirt that it had soaked through the relatively thin material of the shirt and glued it to the formerly white undershirt that Todd was wearing. Todd dropped the dress shirt on the floor next to his now ruined suit pants and jacket. Todd's flaccid penis was still hanging out of the front of his briefs. I guess it was tired from the nights activities.
"Andy, would you please pass that cheery pie to me?" I asked Andy.

"Sure thing," Andy answered as he picked up the small pie and carefully handed to me.

"Todd, stand very still and don't move," I instructed him.

Todd looked at me and nodded his head. I walked up to Todd, and then walked around him. Without warning I smashed that cherry pie into Todd's backside, grinding it into his buttocks and in between his butt cheeks as far as I could. "A cherry for your cherry, Todd!!" I yelled out at him. Todd howled with delight, while Andy roared with laughter. After about a minute of pushing that cherry pie into Todd's ass, I let go of the tin plate and stepped away from Todd. Todd shuddered a few times, and moaned out loud, but didn't say anything. I walked around to Todd's front and looked at him. He was smiling like a Cheshire cat.

I walked over to the counter and picked up the blueberry pie. "Unless you'd rather do this one, Andy," I addressed Andy as I turned and looked at him.

"I thought you'd never ask," Andy chortled at me as he carefully took the pie from me. Andy walked up to Todd and without a moments hesitation he smacked Todd in the face with the blueberry pie. Andy did not want to cause Todd to choke so Andy did not grind the pie into Todd's face. Once Todd had been pied, Andy pulled his hand away from the pie tin and let the assorted bits of the blueberry pie fall away from Todd's face.

"You are free to move now, Todd," I said to him. Todd got busy wiping away the blueberry filling and pastry from his eyes, nose and mouth so that he could see and breath.

"Thank you, Sirs," he said happily as he beamed at the two of us through a face full of assorted food.

"Not the chocolate cream one, Andy, that's our desert for tonight," I said to Andy as I saw him walk back to the counter.

"Where should this one go?" Andy asked me as he picked up the lemon cream pie.

"Front pelvic area comes to mind," I answered with a grin.

"Got ya!" Andy cried out joyfully as he walked over to Todd.

Todd could have moved to avoid the pie as Andy rammed the lemon cream pie into the general area of Todd's balls and penis. Something tells me, though, that Todd did not want to avoid the pie. (You think maybe he was enjoying this?) Well, that and the "Oh yes!" he screamed out when the pie hit him, might have been a clue. (I should have been a detective, right?)

Andy backed off from Todd and looked him over as I did the same from the vicinity of the bar counter. Todd was a mess, totally and completely.

"Strip, Todd," I ordered him.

"Yes, Sir," Todd said sounding slightly disappointed. It took him less than a minute to peal off his messy briefs and undershirt and socks. So there he stood, a nude messy man, one who had attempted to blackmail us tonight. For those of you who just HAVE to know, Todd was not anything out of the ordinary when it came to the size or shape of his penis.

"I'm satisfied, Andy. How about you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I guess I'm satisfied." he answered.

"Good thing, because we've run out of food," I said half jokingly.

"But what happens now?" Andy asked me.

"Clean up for the most part," I answered him. "Andy could you get one of those big green garbage bags out from under the bar, please?"

"No problem," Andy answered as he walked over to the bar, bent down and opened one of the storage areas under the bar. A few seconds of rummaging around was all that was necessary for him to locate the item "Got it," he called to me as he stood up and held the folded plastic bag in one hand.

"Thank you, Andy," I said to him. "Todd, catfish in a suit," I said as I directed my attention back to Todd. Todd's eyes fluttered closed and his head dropped down to his chest as he returned to his super hypnotic trance.

"Why did you do that?" Andy interjected before I could give Todd any instructions.

"I don't want any possibility of Todd resisting my instructions, Andy," I explained. "Todd might have been happy to get messed up, but he would probably have resisted the other instructions I have in mind for him. Or hadn't you noticed that the man has a stubborn streak in him that comes to the surface every now and then?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot about that. I see what you mean," Andy answered thoughtfully. "You are experienced at doing this aren't you?"

"At controlling subject with my powers? Yes, I suppose I am," I admitted reluctantly. "But now is not the time to go into that. How about letting me finish, love?"

"Sure. Sorry about the interruption, Paul," Andy said softly.

"Todd, clean up this mess on the floor. You can put the messy clothes and the plastic sheets into the garbage bag that you will find nearby. Don't forget to include the plastic on the chair. Once all that is cleaned up you can go and take a shower in the bathroom down here, and clean yourself up. When you are clean you can drag the full garbage bag upstairs and go and get dressed in the extra clothes that your brought in that duffel bag."

I waited for a moment to let my instructions sink into Todd's mind. "Are you clear about all this, Todd?"

"Yes, Sir," Todd answered meekly. "Except for one thing, Sir"

"And what is that, pray tell?" I asked.

"What do I do about my wallet and the other items that are in my messy clothes, Sir?" Todd asked as he looked up at me, wonderingly.

"You'll have to deal with that when you get home, Todd," I said to him. "Now get busy cleaning up this mess."

"Yes, sir," Todd said as he walked over to Andy and took the garbage bag that Andy proffered him.

Andy and I enjoyed a slice of the chocolate cream pie, with whipped cream on top, while we watched Todd clean up the mess in the recreation room. Todd went about his job quietly and quickly. In about fifteen minutes he had everything stashed away in the big green garbage bag and had tied the bag closed. Todd looked at me and sighed as he headed off to the downstairs bathroom. I guessed that he wasn't all that happy about having to clean up the mess or to clean himself up. Maybe he had a point, since it was more Andy and I who made the majority of the mess. But, I didn't feel the slightest twinge of guilt about having Todd doing all the cleanup.

About twenty minutes later a thoroughly clean and only slightly damp Todd emerged from the downstairs basement with a towel tied about his waist. He walked over to the garbage bag and grabbed it with both hands. A slight grunt escaped his lips as he heaved it up and walked over to the stairs. Carefully but steadily Todd made his way up the stairs. Andy and I followed.

Todd placed the garbage bag near the front door. Todd bent down and opened the canvas bag that he had brought with him earlier. He fished about for a moment or two before he retrieved a pair of light blue socks and a pair of white cotton briefs. Todd undid the towel and let it fall away to land on the floor in a small heap. Quickly Todd donned his briefs and then sat on the floor as he put on his socks. Todd reached over and snagged a white shirt of some kind from the open canvas bag. Todd stood up and slipped his arms into the sleeves of the shirt as he put it on. It took him only a handful of seconds to do up the buttons on the long sleeve white dress shirt that was now draped over his torso. Todd bent down and pulled a pair of khaki coloured slacks from within the confines of the canvas bag. Todd slipped the pants on and quickly fastened them closed. He dove back into the bag and retrieved a medium brown leather belt which he smoothly slid through the belt loops of the slacks he was wearing. Todd dug out a pair of dark brown leather shoes from the duffel bag and quickly slipped them on his feet. I think Todd was trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, for the fastest dresser or something. I had never seen a man get dressed so quickly. Then again, I don't exactly go around with a stopwatch timing how long it takes a man to get dressed. Although, on second though, that might not be a bad idea for a new hobby.

"Done, sir," Todd said as he stood there looking at me and Andy.

"Well done, Todd," I said. to him. Todd beamed at me, pleased at having completed his task to my satisfaction. I paused for a few moments before continuing. I wanted to be sure that the meaning of the next few sentences were crystal clear in Todd's mind. "Todd, from this moment on, regardless of whether or not I have you in this state of hypnosis, you will be unable to physically harm me or Andy Anderson. Nor will you by any form of proxy attempt to harm either of us in any way. This includes blackmail attempts of any kind. When I awaken you in a few moments you will have a full and complete memory of all the events that have occurred this evening. However, you will find it impossible to discuss the events of this evening with anyone other than myself, or Constable Andrew Anderson. This will not cause you any distress, it is simply a limit that I am placing on you, as proof of my control over you." I paused to let those words sink in. (I suppose you're wondering why I used Andy's full name and rank. Well, if I'd just said 'Andy', then Todd could have mentioned the night's adventures to anyone named Andy. I was dealing with a lawyer, and lawyers are more slippery than a greased eel. One can't be too careful.)

"Should someone ask you what happened tonight, this is what you will tell them, Todd," I said as I thought for a moment to recall the explanation that Andy and I had cooked up. "The report to your client that you had the evidence on Constable Anderson, turned out to be premature. You informed your client that you had the evidence once the photographer handed you the digital camera. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the digital camera. All the pictures that were taken were corrupted and could not be recovered. You did not discover this until after you tried to view the pictures after downloading them to the computer. You deleted the useless files from the computer, and then in a fit of rage you smashed the data clip into many pieces. You tossed the pieces into the trash. You spent most of the evening here trying to convince Constable Anderson to change his mind. You were unsuccessful. As for me, I was a plain unremarkable nameless young woman."

I waited for a couple of minutes to let my instructions sink into Todd's mind. "Are you clear about this cover story, Todd?" I asked him.

'Yes, sir," Todd replied. "I understand the cover story completely."

"Good. You will awaken now when I count from zero to five. The trigger phrase 'catfish in a suit' will cause you to return to this state of deep hypnosis and total obedience, where you experience profound joy is in serving and obeying me. Only I may place you into this state. No other hypnotist, no matter how experienced or powerful will be able to locate, change or remove these controls that I have implanted in your mind, Todd," I instructed him. "Come over here and stand in front of me,"

"Yes, Sir," Todd replied as he walked over to where I was standing.

I placed the fingers of my right hand on Todd's forehead. "Close your eyes, relax and go down even deeper, Todd," I urged him in smooth even mellow tones. Todd's eyes snapped shut and he let out a soft sigh as he complied with my orders. Gently but firmly I probed Todd's mind. It took me only a minute or so of concentrated effort to implant the same mental controls and triggers to mirror what I had just told Todd. There would be no question of Todd disobeying me or trying to cause Andy or me any further trouble. I disengaged myself from Todd's mind and let my right arm drop back down to my side.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide Awake!" I said to Todd, as I stepped back from him.

Todd's eyes popped open and he blinked in confusion, as he tried to assimilate the memories of the evenings activities that started to flood through his mind. It was a lot to absorb at one time.

"Why you son of a bitch!" He screamed at me after a moment or two. (I had never said that he couldn't curse at me, only that he couldn't harm me.) "I'll make you pay for this! Nobody makes a fool out Todd Henderson, and gets away with it! You're going to curse the day you ever messed with me!" He cursed me at the top of his lungs. Todd glared at me, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath.

"For such an intelligent man, you are an amazingly slow learner, Todd," I said to him softly. "Your threats are meaningless. Both you and I know it. Well, I know it anyway. You will find out soon enough that what I've told you is true. I've had about all of you that I can stomach for one evening. I think you'd better leave now."

"You'd better believe, I'll leave!" Todd screamed. "I'm going straight to the police and having your ass thrown in jail!"

"Oh, please!" I exclaimed shrugging off his threats. "Why wait? Why don't you call the police now? That is, if you really think you can do anything to me," I taunted him.

Todd walked into the living room, picked up the phone and press the 0 button. "Hello? Operator? Could you please connect me to the police, please? I have a crime to report. Thank you," He said as he spoke into the handset of the phone. Todd looked over at me and smiled an evil and chilling smile at me. I ignored it. I knew what was going to happen. "Hello? Yes, officer, I'd like to report a crime. I've been I've been." Todd stuttered as he tried to finish the sentence. "Officer, I want to report that that that" Todd struggled for a few more seconds before he slowly set the handset of the phone back down in to the cradle of the telephone.

"Something the matter, Todd?" I asked him softly.

"He hung up on me. He thought I was drunk or playing some kind of a joke," Todd answered absently as he struggled to understand what had just happened. Todd looked over at me with a stunned expression on his face. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't even begin to tell him what happened here tonight. I tried, but the words wouldn't come. I couldn't say them."

"You're catching on, Todd," I commented.

"You weren't kidding," Todd said in a near whisper. "I really can't tell anyone about this." A mean look came to Todd's eyes as his amazement turned to anger and frustration. "I'm still going to take it out of your hide and right now!" Todd yelled at me as he launched himself to towards me.

I stood my ground. Andy rushed to intercept Todd. I waved Andy off. Andy obeyed but shot me a worried look nonetheless. Todd ran up to me, and stopped just in front of me, with both hands balled into fists. Todd drew back his right arm and launched his right arm and fist towards my jaw with every intention of trying to knock my block off. A good six inches or so from my chin Todd's fist stopped cold, as if it had encountered an invisible brick wall. I looked at Todd, saying nothing. I decided to let him figure it out for himself.

"Christ, I can't do that either," Todd said as he stepped back away from me, and let his arms fall to his sides. "I don't believe this is happening, but it is."

"Todd, go home," I said to him. "You can't do anything here tonight, and frankly I'm sick of looking at you. Don't forget you keys and driver's license. They are on the kitchen counter."

Todd walked past me and headed off into the kitchen. He returned a few seconds later. If looks could kill, I would have died right then and there from the ire that was pouring out of his eyes towards me. He headed off to the front door. Todd picked up the bag of his messy clothes and carried it out with him to the car. A few moments later Todd returned and picked up his duffel bag and his briefcase. His expression didn't change much as he lugged those two items out to his car. Andy stood behind me as I stood in the doorway and watched Todd get into his car and drive away.

When the taillights of Todd's car could no longer be seen in the distance, I closed and locked the front door. I turned around and ran into Andy, who had not backed up. Andy wrapped his arms about me and planted a firm warm sensuous kiss on my lips. Instinctively I wrapped my arms about Andy and drew him closer to me.

"What was that for, love?" I asked him.

"For solving our little problem tonight, Texas," Andy answered flashing is his best and sexiest smile at me. Andy pressed his head down close to mine so our noses were just touching. Playfully he nuzzled my nose while continuing to smile at me.

I planted a sensuous kiss of my own on those warm soft sexy lips of his.

"You'll take care of the photographer when we get back to the city, right?" He asked me as he enveloped me in one of his grizzly bear hugs.

"Yup," I answered. "It won't be a problem. And even if my powers don't work on the photographer, there isn't any physical evidence left, so we are quite safe."

"Well, then I guess we don't have anything to worry about, do we?" He asked me as he nibbled my right ear.

"I would say not," I answered. "I do have one question, dear heart." I breathed at him.

"Ask away," Andy replied without letting up on his ear nibbling.

(I had to struggle to compose my thoughts. Andy's ear nibbling was proving to be quite a distraction. Oh, it was a most welcome distraction, but still a distraction.) "What did you think of Todd's humiliation tonight? Do you have any regrets over what we did to him? Did you enjoy it?" I asked softly as I placed my lips next to Andy's right ear.

Andy stopped his ear nibbling and drew his head back from mine. Andy looked at me with a slightly puzzled look before he spoke. "That's more than one question. Do you have regrets about what was done tonight, Paul?" He asked as he locked his eyes on mine.

"Some. Yes," I admitted reluctantly. "But what about you?" I asked him again.

"What do you regret, Texas?" Andy asked me, ignoring my question for the moment.

"That a part of me enjoyed seeing Todd's struggle. I never knew that I would so enjoy humiliating someone. It's something that I've always said I would never to do a subject of mine, and tonight, I crossed that line. It scares me," I admitted to Andy in near whisper, keeping my eyes locked on his. "It scares me, because I'm afraid that I'll do it again."

Andy gazed back at me, as I looked into those soft doe brown eyes of his. "You did what you had to do. You did what you thought was the right thing to do," Andy muttered to me, as he held me close to him. "We both know that Todd enjoyed his humiliation. I wanted to cut Todd down to size, too. I was there with you the entire time. I'm just as guilty of crossing the line as you are. Can you honestly say to me now that you are going to go looking for ways to humiliate other men, other guys that you use your powers on?"

"Well, no, but" I started to answer.

"But nothing, Paul," Andy said cutting me off. "Tonight was an exception. We were both hurt by what Todd tried to do to us. What we did was introduce Todd to the consequences of trying to blackmail us. We did it out of anger and hurt, that's true, but I think we did a remarkable job of controlling ourselves."

"Maybe we did at that," I concurred, feeling a bit better. "And what do you regret about tonight, Andy?" I asked him again.

"That I too enjoyed it, and that it was my job that precipitated this entire chain of events," Andy said with a sigh. "I never dreamed that you'd ever have to pay the price for what it is that I do for a living."

"I guess you'll have to learn to deal with that guilt, just as I'll have to learn to deal with my guilt," I said philosophically.

"Sometimes, you are wise beyond your years, Texas," Andy said with a small smile.

"Sometimes," I muttered in soft agreement.

Andy leaned his head forward and pressed his lips soundly on mine. The next few minutes were spent exchanging tender loving kisses, and hugs that could only be described as wonderful.
"Texas, how about some pillow talk?" Andy asked as he walked me towards the bedroom. (Like I was going to resist a big handsome strong lug in tight blue jeans? Get real!)

"In the bedroom, dear heart?" I asked him with a slight twinkle in my eyes.

"Unless you'd prefer to talk in front of the television," Andy answered me with a chuckle.

"What about supper?" I asked. "I don't know about you, but that one piece of pie didn't fill me up. I'm hungry. I think all the activity with Todd caused me to work up an appetite."

"I'm only hungry for the touch of your hands on my body, and the feeling of your skin under my fingertips," Andy cooed to me. A loud rumbling came from the vicinity of Andy's stomach. I howled with laughter as Andy blushed a bright red. "Dang it! Betrayed by my own stomach," Andy avowed sheepishly. "So what do you feel like tonight?"

"Food wise, I would say pizza works for me," I answered once my laughter had subsided.

"Pizza it is then," Andy agreed. "There should be some frozen pizza in the deep freeze. I really don't feel like driving all the way back to the city for pizza."

"Makes sense," I agreed. "I'll set the table and put the coffee on. You can take care of the pizza and bring up the rest of that chocolate cream pie for desert."

"On my way," Andy said as he turned and headed for the basement. I sighed as I watched that pair of beautiful denim clad buns walk away from me. Only when Andy was out of sight did I turn about and head off to the kitchen to my own tasks. My heart was a lot lighter and my spirit a lot more buoyant than when Todd had first appeared.

The rest of weekend was quiet. We did not have any more uninvited guests, and we managed to talk out our guilt over the humiliation of Todd. There was a lot of pillow talk that Sunday night, and the holiday Monday that followed. I even hypnotized Andy into doing a strip show for me. (Like I had to twist his arm?) Did we have sex again? No. By mutual consent we agreed to hold off on that. There were so many other things to discuss and to do, that we decided to save the sex for some other night when we didn't have so many things on our minds. Or to put it another way, Todd's presence was lingering about the country house and that was constantly throwing a pail of water on the fire of our desire for each other. Todd's lingering presence had completely wrecked the mood for the entire weekend. Sometimes, you have to wait. Oddly enough, we didn't miss it that much. Andy was so nice to snuggle up with and to cuddle. He was like a big warm teddy bear. I even told him that. His reply was that he likened me to a security blanket, soft warm comforting, and always there when you need it.



Chapter 10. There Is A Penalty For Early Withdrawal.

As the days and weeks passed, my life and Andy's settled down. We worked through our guilt and saw no more of Todd. We finally got back to our normal routines, which was a welcome relief. We saw each other when we could and even managed to get away for another weekend, but at a different house, of course. I even hypnotized one or two guys, but it wasn't anything all that interesting. The only fallout from our little adventure with Todd was that Andy's friend Jonathan Briggs, the owner of the country house, got weeded out of Andy's life. Andy wanted nothing more to do with Jonathan. (Can you blame Andy for that?) As for Jonathan, he was probably just as happy not to have to deal with Andy any more. So life for Andy and me went on with all its usual mundane routines, like having to do your banking.

Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) have allowed me to do nearly all of my banking, without having to go to the bank. This was one of those rare times when I had to go to the bank in person. It seemed that I needed to order some additional personal cheques, as my supply was nearly exhausted. So when lunch hour rolled around on this particular Wednesday, I headed over to the nearest downtown branch of my bank to take care of this minor if annoying chore. As I walked over to the bank, I tried to look on the bright side of the situation. Maybe I'd see some good looking guy in a suit while I was at the bank. It was a workday after all, and banks do have managers, not to mention business customers on a weekday. These thoughts brought a smile to my face as I drew closer to the bank building. I knew I'd never find anyone as good looking as my Andy, but that didn't mean I couldn't have fun looking. So I headed off to the bank with a light heart, wondering if I was going to get lucky.

After a short ten minute walk I arrived at the local branch of my bank, opened the door and walked in. As I headed off to the customer service desk I was pleased to discover that there were only three people ahead of me. A young woman, in a light tan skirt and a white blouse, a young man in a dark blue two piece suit, and another young man in a pair of khaki casual pants with a dark blue denim jacket. All in all unremarkable. I patiently waited my turn. There appeared to be only one person working at the service counter, a well groomed young man wearing a light gray two piece suit of some kind. I was too far away to make out many details other than he had sandy blond hair and looked to be on the slim and trim side. (Blonde, young, slim and trim, and apparently well dressed to boot hmm looks good so far, wouldn't you say?)

I had just walked up to the counter for my turn when it happened. All hell broke loose. It happened so fast that I was unsure of what happened exactly. All I can definitely remember is the sound of gunfire and ducking down in sheer terror. My heart was racing and all I could seem to hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears.

"Everyone on the floor!" Boomed out a loud and commanding voice from somewhere off to my right. "Nobody try to be a hero and we are out of here in ten minutes! Your choice! Drop or be dropped!" Three more times I heard the sound of a very large caliber gun being fired. Don't ask me if it was a shotgun or a machine gun. I'm no gun expert. To me it sounded like a howitzer going off.

I'm not a coward, but neither am I a fool. I dropped to the floor and hugged it like I was in love with it. (No I did not imagine that the floor was Andy. Andy didn't even enter into my mind at the time. I was busy wrestling down my fear.) I had no intention of doing anything other than hugging that floor for all I was worth. After all it was the bank's money that these robbers wanted, not mine. I wasn't about to risk my life for the bank's money or even to protect my own money. Money can be replaced, a life cannot.

This gang was well organized and knew what they were doing. They had ski masks pulled down on their faces, so identifying them was clearly out of the question. In less than a minute they had managed to gather up all the customers and staff and herd them to a semi open area behind the bank counter. They had us stand there with our arms raised high in the air. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but I wasn't about to complain about it, either. They plucked the bank manager and the assistant bank manager from out of the collection of scared people. The robbers were able to identify these two men immediately, which suggested that this bank heist had been carefully planned. I didn't get much of a chance to look at either man though, as they were shuffled past the rest of us rather quickly. I stood there with the rest of the captives, wondering what was going to happen next. I focused my attention on my breathing in an effort to calm myself down. After a minute or so, I felt it start to work. My initial terror melted away. I was still scared, but I wasn't paralyzed with fear anymore.

My attention was wrenched away from my breathing by a labored cry of "Help I can't breathe!" coming from someone nearby. I looked about and saw that a man had fallen to his knees with his hands clawed about his throat, as he gasped for air. The man was kneeling away from me so I couldn't see his face. I could see part of the seat of his pants what with the way his suit jacket was hiked up by his upraised arms. However, this was not the time to be noticing such potentially erotic details. I didn't hesitate. I lowered my arms and walked over to where the man was to see if I could help him.

"You, get back to where you were!" Cried out one of the bank robbers who was guarding us.

"This man needs help," I calmly answered. "Unless you want to be held responsible for this man's death, I suggest you let me see if I can determine what the problem is."

"You a doctor?" The robber asked gruffly.

"No," I answered as I knelt down beside the stricken man, turning away from the robber. "But you certainly can't afford to take a look at this man, and he needs help."

"Be quick about it," the robber snarled at me.

I ignored him and placed my right hand on the shoulder of the man kneeling beside me as I talked to him, pitching my voice in my best soothing tones. "Don't to speak, sir", I said to him softly. "Just nod your head for yes, or shake your head for no. Understand?"

The man nodded his head.

"Are you having an asthma attack?" I asked him.

The man shook his head.

"Some other type of attack or condition that needs medication?" I prompted him.

The man shook his head again.

I thought for a second. "A panic attack of some kind?" I asked him.

The man nodded his head vigorously.

"Hyperventilating?" I asked him.

More nodding, but frantic now. The man looked up at me, and then slowly raised one trembling arm and pointed to one of the desks across the way. I was more focused where the man was pointing then on what he looked like or how he was dressed.

"There's a paper bag in your desk drawer and you need it, right?" I asked feeling sure that I had figured out what the poor man was trying to tell me.

More frantic nodding.

"Excuse me, sir!" I called out to the robber who was guarding us.

"Yeah, what is it?" the man grunted with a sneer in his voice.

"This man is hyperventilating, due to the panic attack he is having. He needs to breath into a paper bag. He pointed to that desk over there." I answered as I slowly and carefully raised my right arm and indicated the desk that this poor man had pointed out to me. "I would like your permission to help him over there to get the bag. Please, it's very important."

"All right," the robber agreed with obvious reluctance. "But I'm coming with you, to be sure that neither of you try anything. So you can forget about pressing the silent alarm button located under the front edge of that desk."

I looked at the robber in stunned surprise. I had not known about that. Clearly this was a very professional gang, which made them all the more dangerous. "Yes, sir, I understand," I replied meekly, not wanting to escalate the situation any. I helped the young man stand, and let him lean on me as we slowly made our way across the bank floor towards the desk we were seeking. The bank robber followed keeping a close eye on us.

As we walked, I looked over and saw that one of the other bank robbers was taking over the guard duties of the man who was escorting me and young man I was helping. Slowly it dawned on me that this young man must be a bank employee. In fact I recognized him as the cute young man behind the customer service counter. Any other time I would have been thrilled to be so close to a young man such as this, but this was not the time or place to consider anything like that. If something went wrong we could all wind up dead. (There's a thought that will take the wind out of your sails.) I'm sure the bank robbers didn't want that, but who knew what might happen? At least the security guards were not going to try anything. As soon as the robbers had all of us on the floor they had relieved the security guards of their weapons. I only noticed all this now, as I took the opportunity to look around.

When we arrived at the desk, I noticed that there was a nameplate sitting on the front of the desk, with the name T. Carson on it. "It's okay, sir, we're nearly there," I said softly into the man's ear. It was probably his desk, but now was not the time to be asking the poor man his name. He dropped to his knees in front of the desk, pushing aside the chair that was behind the desk. He clawed at the left bottom drawer. He yanked it open a second later and snatched at the brown paper bag that was lying on top of some files. He popped the bag open and plastered it over his mouth and nose, holding it there with both hands. I grabbed him by the shoulders to steady his shaking body. The bag inflated and deflated as he breathed into it. After about a minute or so his labored breathing slowed down and the tension in his body seemed to lessen somewhat. I kept a strong gripe on his torso to give him a feeling of support and comfort. (It was also a very nice feeling, being this close to such a good looking blonde haired young man. Hey, just because I was in a dangerous situation in a bank heist, didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the local scenery.)

"Here let me help you into this chair," I said to him as I took a firm gripe on his shoulders and helped him to stand up. He nodded his head once as I helped him to sit down into the chair that he had pushed away a few minutes ago. Once I had him settled into the chair I snagged a chair from one of the nearby desks, rolled it over to where this man was sitting and sat down in that chair so that I was sitting next to him.

"I take it this is your desk?" I asked him. He nodded once. "So you are Mr. Carson?" I asked. Another nod of his head. "You look better. How are you feeling Mr. Carson?"

"I can breathe a lot easier now," he answered. He took the bag away from his mouth only long enough to answer my question, then he replaced the brown paper bag over his mouth. His breathing still wasn't normal but it was much easier.

'How's he doing?" The bank robber asked me. I had nearly forgotten he was there.

"He's better now, it would seem," I answered cautiously. "But I don't think he's done with the bag yet." Mr. Carson confirmed my guess as he emphatically shook his head side to side in a definite 'no'. His breathing quicken at the mention of giving up the bag.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears that you will be blessed with our company for a bit longer," called out one for the bank robbers from the vicinity of the bank vault. "A slight problem has developed with the locking mechanism on the vault and we will be here for another thirty to forty-five minutes." And with that the bank manager and his assistant were shoved out to join the rest of the cluster of captives. Neither man looked as if he had been enjoying a good time. Both walked with limps, and held their hands to their faces trying to nurse the accumulated lumps and bruises that resided there. I didn't even want to try imaging what had happened to those men. One thing was for sure, they had not passed the time playing 'Go Fish'.

As soon as he heard the announcement, Mr. Carson's panic attack came back in full force. It was a wonder that he didn't pass out. His breathing rate skyrocketed from almost normal to maximum overdrive. If it hadn't been for that brown paper bag, I don't know what would have happened.

The bank robber looked down at the two of us and sighed. "Hmm.It looks as if you're going to have to stay with him for a while longer, but we can't leave you here near all these alarm buttons," the robber said coldly. "I wouldn't want either of you to start getting any ideas. Let me think for a moment." The robber tapped his ski masked enshrouded chin thoughtfully. (I kept my mouth shut and waited patiently. I knew better than to suggest anything unless asked first. These men were in control of the situation and there wasn't much of anything I could do about it. Besides it would be only for a another half hour or so.)

"Take him over there," the bank robber said as he pointed to the semi enclosed area where people dealt with their safety deposit boxes. I looked at him as I slowly rose to my feet. I tugged at Mr. Carson's arm as I pulled him the direction the bank robber had indicated. It was a short trip. I kept telling Mr. Carson that it would all right and the whole thing would be over very soon. We selected one of the rooms near the back and pulled up a couple of chairs so that we could sit together and talk. We certainly weren't going to sit there and do nothing. We settled down and Mr. Carson kept that brown paper bag clamped over his mouth and nose like his life depended on it.

"My name's Paul. What's yours?" I asked him once we had settled ourselves in.

"Ted," he answered, taking the bag away just long enough to answer me. Clearly he was still scared. "Thanks for helping me, Paul," he said a few moments later.

"You're welcome, Ted. Are you feeling any better?" I asked him softly, as I gazed at him. I successfully fought the urge to take an inventory of his appearance. I wanted to do that, but Ted needed my help.

"As long as I don't have to take the bag off, and those bank robbers keep away from me, yes," he answered, forcing the words out in a rush.

"Maybe if you concentrated on something else it would help you to relax," I suggested, as an idea popped into my mind.

"Like what?" Ted asked, as he started to focus more on what I was saying and less on worrying about the bank robbers.

"Well, my eyes come to mind," I said jokingly. "You can try gazing into them. They're not exactly the most stunning eyes in the world, but I think they're better than looking around at the bank robbers."

"Okay," Ted said as he looked over at me and made eye contact.

I gazed back into his eyes and sent in a few simple and light commands suggesting that he would find it very easy to look deep into my eyes and to follow along with what I said. I was hard pressed to conceal my surprise and delight in finding out that Ted's mind was practically fully open to me. I barely had to push my commands into his mind. I had never encountered a person with so little resistance before. His mind absorbed my instructions like a sponge sucking up water. It was amazing to say the least. "That's fine, Ted," I said as I modulated the tones of my voice into smooth and even tones. It was the prelude to my usual hypnotic induction. "Go ahead and keep the bag on your face, it will help you to breathe easier. All I would like you to do is to keep looking into my eyes. Let your attention center on them. Don't push yourself, just let it happen evenly and naturally."

I paused for a few seconds to let Ted get accustomed to the low even tones that I was using. I wanted to get him accustomed to having to concentrate and to listen to my voice, since that would aid in the induction. "Just let your eyes blink normally. Don't try to stare into my eyes, just look at them, like you would at a television set. Just let your eyes gaze into mine, blinking normally to prevent your eyes from feeling any strain. And soon and very soon indeed you'll find it becomes just a bit easier to keep you gaze focused and locked on my eyes."

Ted blinked his eyes a few times, as he listened to my words and let the meaning flow into his mind. His hands were still clasped on the neck of the paper bag and his breathing was still somewhat faster than normal. But it had slowed down a little bit. At least I thought it had.

"Knowing that you and I are safe, here alone by ourselves. Away from everyone else, it is just the two of us, so you can let yourself go. You can really use your powers of concentration to focus your ears on the words that you hear me speak as you let your eyes stay fixed and focused on my eyes," I encouraged Ted. I was delighted to see an ever so slight nod of his head. I pushed on. "Ted, the amazing thing that I'd found with most people is that the more intelligent they are, the easier they find it to keep looking into my eyes, as they continue to listen to my words. The words are like a even smooth steady stream that seems to reach out to them and just guide them along as they keep looking into my eyes."
There it was again. That ever so slight nod of Ted's head. His breathing had definitely slowed. It was now almost completely normal. "Some people find that as they keep looking into my eyes it starts to seem soothing and relaxing. It becomes the most amazing sensation as if they were looking into deep still quiet waters," I told him as I proceeded with the induction. "Many people have told me that they find it relaxing to just keep on looking deeper and deeper into my eyes, and letting all the unimportant concerns and worries of the day just drift up and out of their minds."

"It is not at all uncommon to notice a change in your breathing, as you achieve total concentration on just my eyes and my voice," I urged him as I noticed his breathing start to become deeper and more rhythmic. There was no question that he was going into hypnosis (or rather super hypnosis), but it was a very light stage at this point. He wasn't even aware of what was happening to him, since all he wanted to do when we started was to take his mind off of the bank robbers. We'd succeeded in doing that all right! My mind was definitely NOT on the bank robbers!

"And soon and very soon indeed, when you feel yourself just letting go more and more, just letting yourself go down deeper and deeper into my eyes, you find yourself nodding your head ever so slightly," I prompted him as I started to pile on the suggestions. "Finding it becoming easier and easier with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, to keep on looking into my eyes and going down deeper and deeper. Nothing else seems important to you right now, other than to keep looking deeper and deeper into my eyes, letting yourself go more and more. For the deeper you look, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you look. Always looking deeper, always feeling better. And soon and very soon indeed, when you realize that your breathing has become deep and easy, you'll realize that you no longer need that paper bag over your mouth."

"It would feel kind of nice, kind of relaxing to be able to lower your arms and let them rest," I suggested to him. "You've been holding that bag there for such a long time, and you really don't need it anymore. You know you are in control of yourself now. Your breathing is deep and regular, really comfortable, so you don't need that bag anymore. So it would be perfectly okay to just let it drop away from your face, Ted."

This was a critical point. The brown paper bag Ted was holding represented security and control to him. I did not wait to see if Ted was going to respond. I kept piling on the suggestions. "For it seems that the deeper you look into my eyes, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you look. Always looking deeper, always feeling better. And it seems with each word that I utter and with each deep relaxing breath you take that bag seems to feel heavier and heavier."

Ted's arm's twitched, but they did not dip down as I had hoped they would. It would seem that more persuasion was needed.

"You know that it's okay to let go of that bag," I encouraged him as I kept the patter and tone of my voice even and smooth. "You don't need it anymore. You know you are safe and secure, and you can breath easily and comfortably now. You've found a place, a place in my eyes where you can be safe. No worries. No troubles. Just peace, comfort and deep relaxation. It's so easy to just keep looking into my eyes. It's all that you can think of doing now. And when you want to keep on looking and going deeper and feeling even better, more relaxed and wonderful, you just nod your head and keep on looking."

A second later Ted nodded his head once, and kept his eyes focused on mine.

"Good," I thought he's responding well. "I'll have to try a slightly different tack." After a second or two of thought I spoke out loud to Ted again.

"It's amazing how good it makes you feel, when you keep looking into my eyes, Ted," I said to him. "There's no need for you to speak. You can just nod your head when you feel yourself feeling better and going deeper and deeper. It is not at all unusual to find yourself feeling comfortable and relaxed as you continue to gaze into my eyes, lost in your own special place where you know you are safe and secure. For the more you look into my eyes, the deeper you go and the deeper you go, the more relaxed you feel your body becoming. Even your breathing is relaxing you now."

Ted's eyes were definitely starting to get that glazed over look that signals someone entering hypnosis. His arms though, were still holding that darn bag in front of his face. "Going deeper and deeper into relaxation as you start to lose yourself in my eyes. You can feel your body becoming more and more comfortable and relaxed with every word that I utter and with each breath that you take. Soon, you'll feel so relaxed and comfortable that your body will become completely limp. It will feel as if gravity has suddenly become ten times stronger than normal, and no matter how hard you try to hold your body up, you'll be unable to. You'll sink down into that chair, letting out a deep sigh as you surrender to the force of gravity."

Ted nodded his head as he listened to my words. I saws his arms dip down a bit, but only for a moment or two. Ted exerted some obvious effort as he raised his arms back up again. "The harder you try to fight the force of gravity, Ted, the stronger the force of gravity becomes. That's a simple physical law," I said in a mellow and soothing tone of voice. "There's nothing you can do to fight it. There's no way you can win against the force of gravity, and deep down you know it. After all it feels so good to just keep going deeper and deeper as you continue to look into my eyes, that you couldn't look away now even if you wanted to. You don't want to look away from my eyes, right Ted?" I asked him.

Ted nodded his head almost immediately. His eyes were definitely glazed over now. He had a slack jawed expression on his face now. Well, the area of his face that was not obscured by that paper bag he was still holding in front of his mouth and nose. All the signs seemed to indicate that Ted was on the very edge of letting go and slipping way down into hypnosis, but something was holding him back. I wasn't sure what it was though.

"And why should you when it feels so darn good to keep on looking into my eyes and going deeper and deeper?" I asked him rhetorically, without missing a beat in my hypnotic patter. "You're safe now, and you know it. Deep down you know it to be true, so anytime that you want to, you can let go. You can surrender to the force of gravity and know that you are safe and secure," I spoke soothingly as I saw his head nod a few more times. "Just let go, Ted. Let go and let yourself go down into that safe place you see in my eyes. It's all right. I'll keep you safe."

Suddenly Ted took a deep breath and let it out with a loud whoosh. As the air left his lungs his body collapsed into a heap, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. His arms dropped down to his slide and the brown paper bag slipped out of his limp fingers. His eyes rolled up and into the back in his head. A half a second later his eyelids shut and his head dropped down to his chest. His upper body slumped down into the chair, as the force of gravity took over. I was surprised and thankful that he didn't topple out of the chair.

"Just relax and enjoy yourself, Ted," I muttered to him as I looked at him sitting there in front of me. "I'll wake you up when the bank robbers are gone."

"Yes thank you," Ted said slowly but clearly. There wasn't a hint of concern or worry in his voice.

I was satisfied. (Boy is THAT an understatement.) I had been denied any opportunity so far to really look over Ted Carson, so I did it now. Ted was wearing a gray pinstripe suit, but it was a three piece suit, not a two piece suit as I had originally thought. Apparently the closed three button single breasted suit jacket has concealed the vest beneath it, so that I had not noticed the vest. But I noticed it now. How could I not, since Ted was sitting there slumped in a chair only a couple of feet away from me? The vest fit him well. It was snug but not tight, hinting at the trim figure that he had. The suit jacket was hanging open. (Maybe you already figured that out for yourself by now.) I could see that the vest had four welt pockets and was done up with five buttons along the front, all of which were done up. Beneath the vest was a white dress shirt and plain silk tie, navy blue in colour. The suit jacket hung well on Ted, although it was difficult to determine how well since Ted was sitting down. The suit pants seemed to fit well, too. Again, I couldn't really tell since Ted was sitting down. I could see the front of his pants and they seemed to fit well. A quick flick of my eyes down at Ted's feet confirmed my suspicion. Ted was wearing black leather shoes. All in all, it was a simple but attractive ensemble. (This was a bank after all, and flashy attire is not the norm.) Was Ted wearing a belt? I didn't know. Short of my reaching over and examining him, there was no way for me to determine that. If I did something like that, it would be suspicious to say the least.

"Ted, just let your head float up in to a normal position, keeping your eyes closed. That will help you to go even deeper and feel even better," I told him.

"Yes," Ted replied as he slowly raised that sandy blonde thatched head of his until it was level with mine.

I smiled at the sight that greeted my eyes. Ted's face was completely relaxed and peaceful, but that is not what caused me to smile. Ted was a handsome young man. He was clean shaven, with his hair cropped short, and parted down the center of his head. This gave the effect of framing his handsome face in a most becoming manner. He had what is often referred to as boyish good looks. I can't really describe his looks any more closely than that. The various components of his face were all in proportion to each other. His lips weren't exceptionally thin or thick, just average. His ears were not unusually large or small, nor did they stick out from side of his head. His nose was not narrow and pointed, nor was with wide and flat. His eyes were not set wide apart, nor did they seem too close together. His chin wasn't especially firm, nor did it look soft or weak. Taken separately Ted's eyes, ears, nose, mouth and chin didn't seem like much. But when you put them altogether, you got a face that would have been at home on the cover of GQ magazine.

"Open your eyes, and look into mine, Ted," I instructed him. "Look deep into my eyes and fall under my power" I thought silently to myself as I relished the sight of Ted responding so well to my instructions.

"Yes," Ted breathed softly at me. Slowly his eyelids fluttered open and he let out a soft sigh as his eyes found mine and he gazed deeply into my eyes. "Yes, going deeper and deeper into your eyes." He muttered with a hint of a smile on his lips.

Ted's eyes were the perfect touch to his good looks. A pair of sky blue eyes gazed into mine. They were clear and lovely to look upon. I couldn't help but let a small soft sigh of pleasure escape from my throat.

"So deep, so good." Ted muttered happily, continuing to look into my eyes. I was content to simply sit there and look at Ted. He was after all a most pleasing sight to behold.

"So how's he doing?" Ask a rough and ready voice, shattering this little piece of heaven that Ted and I had been sharing.

Damn! It was the bank robber, back for an update.

"Close your eyes, Ted," I instructed him as I turned to my left to face the bank robber who had addressed me.

"Yes." Ted sighed happily as his eyes fluttered closed.

"He's much better now," I answered slowly. "He's at peace and should not have any further problems during the rest of your visit to this establishment."

"What did you do to him?" The bank robber asked me as he studied the entranced and oblivious Ted sitting there in a chair.

"I taught him a few relaxation techniques," I replied, hoping that the man would be satisfied with that answer.

"Yeah, right," the bank robber replied as he looked at me. "Stay here, both of you," he ordered us. With that the bank robber turned about and headed back to his accomplices.

I watched him as he left, silently praying that he was satisfied with my explanation. My pray was not answered, apparently, because the bank robber returned less than a minute later with a couple of his accomplices in tow. They walked over to where Ted and I were sitting, and stood there for a minute or so staring at Ted.

"So what do you think, Three?" Asked the bank robber who had first addressed me.

"Looks like he's under to me, Seven," Three replied, addressing the bank robber who apparently was called Three.

"Yeah, I thought so, but our friend here didn't seem to want to mention that little fact, Three," Seven replied.

"I wonder why that is," asked the third man, looking at the man addressed as Seven.

"Maybe you should ask him, Five," said Seven replying to the third man.

"Why didn't you tell us that you have hypnotized mister brown paper bag, here?" Asked the man who had been referred to as Five, as he turned and looked at me.

"Because I didn't," I said as I lied to him.

"You're lying," said Three. "It can be unhealthy for you to lie to us, or hadn't you noticed the branch manager and his assistant earlier?"

"Yes, I saw them," I admitted. (It would not have helped any to have lied about that.) "But I don't see what that has to with this man here, or me for that matter."

"Our business here is going to take a bit longer than we had originally thought. We could use some entertainment. Mister brown paper bag there, is in the perfect position to provide it," Five interjected.

I had a pretty good idea where this was going, and I didn't like it one bit. But what could I do about it? "I'm not sure I'm following you," I said carefully as I tried to stall for time to think up some form of action. Whatever it was it would have to be fast and quick. I didn't have the luxury of a slow enjoyable induction this time, that is if I could even induct all of them. "What did you have in mind?"

"Simple, actually," Seven answered. "You get your subject there, to strip for us. Right down to his shorts. Tell him that he's a profession male stripper performing at a private party for some beautiful women. That should provide him with sufficient motivation."

"And if I don't?" I asked softly as I gathered my powers together. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I wanted to have my full power available to me. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

"If you don't, then your face is going to look worse that the branch manager's, and you might even have trouble walking when we are through with you," Seven said with a voice as cold as ice.

"What makes you think I hypnotized this man or that he's even hypnotized in the first place?" I asked as I frantically racked my brain for some idea, any idea.

"Let's just say I know enough about hypnosis to recognize when someone's been put under," Seven answered as he looked at me. "So are you going to do it or not?"

I looked a the three men before me, and then I turned and looked at Ted Carson. I looked back at the three men and then looked at Ted Carson again.

"Well, what's it going to be?" Seven demanded of me.

I gulped once as I made up my mind. I couldn't do it. Not even to save myself the beating that was sure to come, could I intentionally humiliate someone I had used my powers on. I would never be able to forgive myself, not to mention what Andy would think of me.

"No," I said softly as I turned back and looked at Seven. I stood tall and proud as I looked him in the eyes, unflinchingly. Sometimes you have to stand up to bullies. I let my powers build up even more. My breathing started to increase slightly as I built my power higher and higher.

"You've got balls, I'll give you that," Seven replied as he looked at me. "You're not very smart, but you've got balls. Who is this guy, anyway? Why are you so willing to protect him?"

"He's no one special," I answered truthfully.

"Then why protect him when you know you're going to get hurt?" Seven asked. Clearly I had peeked his curiosity.

"If I have to explain it to you, then you can't possibly understand my reasons," I answered in a cool determined tone of voice, as I continued to let my powers build in intensity.

"You're starting to become a pain in the ass," Seven cautioned me. "I'd show a bit more respect if I were you."

"Respect is earned, not bestowed," I said as I smiled evenly at Seven. An idea burst into my mind. I wasn't looking directly into his eyes, so taking over control of his mind wasn't going to work, but I had something that was even better. If it worked, that is.

I launched a compulsion field at each of the three men, and wrapped it about each man as tightly as I could. I split my power into three flows and poured it into the fields as quickly as I could, building up the intensity as quickly as possible. With the flows established and tied back to my mind I send the same commands to each man.

"Your ass is suddenly so itchy that you can't stand it," I thought at them as clearly as I could. "Your ass will continue to itch more and more as long as you remain in this building. Scratching or rubbing your ass does not help, it only makes your ass itch more. Thirty minutes after you leave this building your ass will stop itching, but not before then."

I tied off the compulsion fields and hoped for the best, since there hadn't been any opportunity to see how much of an effect my powers would have on these men. Thus, I wasn't at all sure how effective the compulsion fields would be. Under normal circumstances, the fields would start to have an effect within a few minutes, depending on the complexity and length of the imbedded commands, and other factors. These were not normal circumstances, as I am sure you are well aware. I thought I would be lucky to see anything in the next ten to twenty minutes. Since these men wanted Ted Carson to perform for them now, you are probably wondering why I exerted any effort trying to set up the compulsion fields. The truth is, I couldn't think of anything else to try, and trying something was better than doing nothing.

All of this took only about thirty seconds, so I was able to compete the task without Seven, or any of the other bank robbers noticing more than a pause in my actions, as if I were thinking over what they said. As I finished setting the fields, I noticed that the task seemed easier than the last time I had created such fields. In addition the fields felt thicker and more powerful than I had ever recalled them being. I put aside those feelings and chalked them up to the tension and fear that the situation was generating in me.

"Time to 'earn' your respect," Seven said to me, as he walked up to me and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were like glowing embers from a fire, a fire that did not bode well for me. I could not see the smile that I knew had to be on his face, but I could clearly hear it in his voice. It was not a smile that had anything to do with humor or laughter. I gulped once, wondering what trouble I'd gotten myself into now. My and my big mouth.

Seven kept those glowing eyes of his locked on mine as he chuckled softly, clearly enjoying my discomfort and nervousness. I gulped again. I figured that he was probably enjoying seeing me stand there in front of him, wondering what my fate would be.

Suddenly Seven's eyes went wide with surprise, and the glow left his eyes. He backed away from me, as he tried to regain his composure. A movement out of the corner of my eyes, distracted my attention from Seven. I looked to my left and saw the other two men, Three and Five, walking about with their hands clasped to their behinds, as if someone had glued their hands there. They were running their hands over their asses, rubbing their backsides and muttering something. I could not make out what it was they were saying. I didn't need to. I had a fairly good idea as to what they were probably saying. The way that their hands were scratching at their butts and rubbing their backsides, it was clear that the compulsion fields had kicked in, and with a vengeance.
I schooled my face into an expression of confusion and wonderment as I stood there looking at the three men as they tried to find some relief for their suddenly itchy asses. I was hard pressed not to smile when I saw one of the men start to rub his backside up and down across the upper edge of one of the desks. I looked about and realized that all three men were doing the same thing. Apparently the intensity of the rubbing was providing them with some small iota of relief, since they clearly did not want to stop. They had forgotten about Ted Carson, and everything else it seemed.

Carefully and quickly I made my way back to Ted Carson. I had an opportunity which I was not about to waste. I sat down next to Ted and softly spoke to him.

"Ted, when I count from zero to five, your eyes will open and you will be your normal self in every way. You will once again be in control of yourself, and able to deal with your fears and worries. You will awaken feeling calm, in control and able to face any situation because you have already conquered your fears in your mind," I instructed him. "When you understand this, and accept it, you'll take a deep breath as you feel the increased need for oxygen, letting that breath out in a wonderful deep sigh."

Ted nodded his head once, and inhaled deeply. He held his breath for a moment and let it out in a soft sigh. "Yessssssssss" he hissed softly.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake! Wide awake!!" I called out to Ted.

Ted raised his head up, as he woke up with a start, blinking his eyes in confusion for a moment. He looked at me and then smiled at me. "I feel great. I don't know what you did, but it worked," he said to me in a calm and serene voice.

I smiled back at him. "I'm glad I was able to help," I said to him. "But our troubles aren't over yet. The bank robbers are still here."

Ted looked around a bit. "Yeah, I see what you mean. At least I'm not walking around with a bag in front of my face anymore." He looked back at me and smiled. He looked almost happy.

We sat there watching the affected men continue to rub their buttocks against the top edge of the desks. It was amusing, but we were smart enough not to laugh or let our feeling show. Ted glanced at me a couple of times, as if asking me what the heck was going on. I shrugged my shoulders in the universal, "I don't know" gesture, and went back to watching these men. They were moving all over the edges of the desks now, back and front. They didn't seem to have anything else on their minds, other than to get their butts to stop itching. All three of these bank robbers were wearing close fitting blue jeans. I didn't have time to take a full inventory of the clothes they were wearing. I concentrated my attention on what I was most interested in, their pants.

Ted tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. I looked down at him. He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak. He snapped his mouth shut and jerked his head over to the right.

I followed the motion of his head and saw several more members of the gang appear from the bank vault with large bulging sacks. It looked like they had managed to get whatever it was that they were after. They stopped suddenly as they beheld the sight of their accomplices rubbing their butts on the top edges of the desks.

Ted and I watched quietly, doing our best not to draw any attention to ourselves as we walked the spectacle unfold. To judge from the body language, and gestures there were some heated words exchanged. The argument lasted for only a minute or so. Several of the gang members tried to drag one of the affected men (I think it was Seven) away from one of the desks, as the gang tried to leave the bank. Seven wasn't willing to go. He had to be grabbed by two of the gang members and dragged out of the bank, fighting them every inch of the way. He nearly broke free of their grip. It took a third man to held hold Seven's arms behind his back as they goose marched him out of the bank. Meanwhile, the other two affected men stayed by the desks and continued to rub their backsides against the desk tops. Two other men accompanied these two men to watch them and presumably to watch us and the other captives as well.

After a minute or so, when the other gang members did not return to the bank, I began to wonder what had happened. I wasn't given much time to think. One minute the bank was quiet and subdued with all the captives guarded by members of the gang. The next, there were police uniforms, police officers and SWAT members crawling all over the place like ants at a picnic! Things were a blur. No one had any time to react to anything, which was the intention, I'm sure. The police just stormed in and took control of the situation. Ted and I stayed where we were until things finally settled down.

A few minutes later all the captives were being interviewed by the police about what had happened. The interviews did not last long. There wasn't much to tell, when you thought about it. The one thing that no one seemed to be able to explain is why those three members of the gangs had suddenly experienced such fiercely itching backsides. No one could offer any explanation. (Well I could, but I sure as heck wasn't about to! Imagine the fun I would have trying to explain what had happened to the cops. Why I would have to demonstrate my powers to them. More likely I would have to demonstrate my powers on some of them. While I admit that was a tempting idea, yes a very tempting idea, discretion was called for. I dared not open that Pandora's box.) When questioned I kept to the facts, and managed to avoid discussing any of the details regarding how I had helped Ted Carson with his panic attack. There were some good looking police officers in the group, but I didn't have much of a chance to pay much attention to them. Like the other patrons of the bank, I just wanted to get out of there and back to the office.

It was about 3:45 PM when I finally disentangled myself from the police and was permitted to head back to my place of work. As I headed down the street, I felt that old familiar creepy crawly sensation at the back of my head. I stopped. I hadn't felt that feeling in a long time, but I knew what it meant. Trouble. I slowly turned about and looked around to see if I could focus on the source of the potential danger. I looked carefully, but could not see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. There were many police officers and many people from the bank still hanging about in the parking lot in front of the bank building. The bank robbers had been carted off earlier, so it was unlikely that I was getting my warning from them. The feeling started to fade, as I continued looking around. I still could not see anything that looked dangerous.

A man dressed in a black suit was standing about twenty feet from me, with his back to me. There wasn't anything unusual about him, per say, but from the back he did look attractive. The man slowly turned about looking through the crowd, letting his gaze slip across the mixture of people milling about. His eyes came to rest on mine for just the briefest of moments, and I felt my skin crawl, and my forehead got that tingling sensation again, but only briefly. The man looked to be in his early thirties. His face was pleasant looking, and except for his goatee, unremarkable. Yet there was something about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something. It was all I could do not to shudder right then and there. The man looked away and continued his visual inspection of the crowd. I watched him for a moment or two longer, but he did not look back at me. He finished his looking about and walked away from me towards another man who was also dressed in a black suit. The two men bent their heads close to each other as they began to converse.

The creepy feeling had let me, so I thought it best to head back to the office. As I walked back to the office I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I had seen that man in the black suit somewhere before. The black business suit that he had been wearing was unremarkable. It looked like any other suit you might buy from a men's clothing store. He had worn a plain black tie, and a plain white shirt with the suit, and I was pretty sure that his shoes were also black. Still, there was something oddly familiar about him.. Why was it that this man, who was wearing a goatee seemed so familiar? I could not think of what his name might have been, but his face was familiar. I had seen his face somewhere before, I was sure of it, but I just couldn't seem to recall where. I put that on the back burner of my mind as I arrived at the office

It took a while to explain to everyone why I was late getting back from work, and what had happened. There were more than a few raised eyebrows, and several disbelieving looks thrown my way. I calmly told everyone that if they wanted to know more, they should contact the police, after which everyone let the subject drop. The rest of the day at work was uneventful, as was my Thursday at work. The same cannot be said for my Thursday evening.

Andy was working the night shift, so I was on my own for the evening. (Hey, these things happen when you're dating a cop.) Supper was done with, and the television set had been turned off, since evening news broadcast was over. I had just planted myself in the overstuff swivel rocking chair in the living room with a book, and was planning to try and get caught up on my reading, when the door bell rang. I stood up and headed off to the front door to see who it was. I was not expecting any company, so I was mildly curious as to who would be dropping by without calling first. I glanced at the wall clock in the living room on my way to answer the front door, noting that it was about 7:30 PM. I hoped that it wasn't a solicitor of some type. I walked up to the door and peered through the peephole. I didn't recognize the man standing on the other side of the door, but he seemed to be somehow familiar. He didn't look dangerous, and I wasn't picking up any feelings of danger or uneasiness. The man appeared to be dressed in a light coloured business suit. He looked harmless enough. The man rang the doorbell a second time as I unlocked the door, being sure to keep the security chain in place.

"Hello? May I help you?" I asked as the door was cracked open just wide enough for me to speak to this stranger and to see him clearly through the slight opening.

"Mr. Walton?" The man asked, as he looked at me.

"Perhaps," I answered cautiously. "What is your business with Mr. Walton?"

"It has to do with the incident at the bank branch yesterday afternoon," the man answered coolly. "You are Mr. Walton. I recognize you. I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the bank. It's not something that should be talked about here in a hallway. May I please come inside?"

"I suppose so," I answered as I carefully closed the door. I recognized the man now. It was Ted Carson from the bank. I knew I didn't have anything to fear from him. My powers worked on him, and rather well too. I slipped off the security chain and opened the door. "Please come in and make yourself at home, Mr. Carson," I said to him as he stood there on the threshold.

"Oh, I see you do remember me," Ted responded as he stepped into my apartment and walked a few steps towards the living room area. Ted stopped and waited for me as I closed and locked the front door.

"Yes, I remember you," I confirmed. "Why are you here? How did you find out where I live? What can I do for you?" I asked him, as I began to wonder what the heck he was doing here.

"Your address is in the bank records," Ted answered with that same cool demeanor. "I looked up the information. I won't take up much of your time. I came here to ask you a question regarding what happened at the bank Wednesday afternoon."

"I've already told the police everything I saw and heard regarding the attempted robbery," I replied. "Why would you be interested in that? You're not a police officer."

"This has nothing to do with the robbery, Mr. Walton," Ted said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

I couldn't help but notice that the movement was smooth and easy, suggesting confidence and self assurance. It was also a bit sexy too, but only because Ted Carson was one good looking guy. "What then?" I asked perplexed.

"You hypnotized me at the bank, didn't you?" Ted demanded of me as he uncrossed his arms, balled his hands into fits and planted his fits on his hips. The angry look on his face did not bode well for me. Clearly he was upset with me.

I sighed softly to myself. "Another angry young hypnosis subject," I thought to myself. I looked at Ted and wondered why he was so upset. I thought I had helped him. I hadn't made him do anything the least bit silly, outrageous or humiliating. If anything I had stood up for him and protected him from some men who wanted Ted to do exactly that, to make a fool of himself. Some thanks I get for respecting my subjects.

"WELL???" Ted exclaimed when I did not answer his question.

"Yes, I hypnotized you," I admitted. It's obvious that you are upset about that. Might I ask why?"

"Oh, come on!" Ted exclaimed, with more than a touch of exasperation in his voice. "Do I have to draw you a picture? You hypnotized me, without my consent, and in public no less, and you wonder that I have a problem with this? If the police hadn't shown up when they did, there is no telling what you might have had me do!"

"I do not know how much you know about hypnosis, Mr. Carson, but it would appear that you are suffering from a few common misconceptions," I replied keeping my voice calm and controlled. "I would be more than happy to explain a few things about hypnosis and"

"I'm not interested in your explanations!" Ted said as he cut me off. "I came here to do two things. The first was to see if you would admit to having used hypnosis on me. The second was to give you a piece of my mind!"

"Why not?" I thought to myself. "They've split the atom haven't they?" I kept my smart ass comments to myself. They would not help the situation. The easiest course of action would be to listen to Ted. Let him get this off of his chest and have him leave. He was cute, true, but I really wasn't interested in him or in a hypnosis session tonight. Well, that wasn't exactly one hundred percent true. Ted was a cut guy and yes I would have liked to have hypnotized him, but I wasn't interested in dealing with an unwilling subject.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," I said as I looked at him, dead in the eyes, holding my hands clasped behind my back. (No, I was not attempting to implant any suggestions or controls into his mind. I merely wanted him to know that he had my full attention.)

"Good," Ted said satisfied that he had the upper hand in the conversation. "While I appreciate what you did for me at the bank, I cannot condone the method that you used. You mentioned nothing at all about hypnosis. You said only that you would show me a relaxation technique. I find it deplorable that you intentionally mislead me. You should have been up-front and honest about the fact that you intended to hypnotize me."

"I see," I said after waiting a few moments to be sure that Ted was done speaking. "What exactly is it that you want from me?" I asked him. I agreed with him, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what more he wanted from me.

"I want to you admit that you were wrong to hypnotize me without asking my permission first," Ted stately flatly. "You know you shouldn't have done that, and I want you hear you say it."

"Well," I replied with a sigh. "You are correct, Ted. I was wrong not to have asked you for your permission before I hypnotized you. A hypnotist should always respect his subjects and insure that he has their full agreement before he begins an induction. I was wrong not to have mentioned the hypnosis to you. However, I felt that the circumstances warranted my omission of mentioning hypnosis. I felt it was more important to help you with your panic attack, and bringing up the subject of hypnosis would only have made things more difficult."

"In your opinion," Ted said, disbelievingly as he looked at me, unmoved by my words.

"Yes, in my opinion," I agreed. "But Ted, you're forgetting one simple and basic rule of hypnosis."

"Which would be?" Ted asked.

"That a person cannot be hypnotized against his will," I said. "He has to agree to it, to go along with the suggestions and the induction, or nothing happens." (Okay, so I told a little white lie. We were discussing ordinary hypnosis, not the type of super hypnosis that is achieved when I used my powers on a subject.)

"You're saying that nothing would have happened at the bank, if I hadn't really wanted to go under in the first place?" Ted asked incredulously.

"Exactly," I confirmed.

"I don't believe you," Ted responded. "I never wanted to be hypnotized. I just wanted to stop hyperventilating."

"Believe what you will," I said with a sigh. "Now if that is all, I would appreciate it if you would leave now."

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet, not by a long shot," Ted declared as he locked his eyes with mine. "I've got a lot more to say to you!" With surprising speed and agility, Ted grabbed me, whirled me about and pinned me up against the front door, pressing down on my shoulder with his hands. He was leaning forward and using the weight of his body to effectively pin me with my back against the front door like a butterfly pinned on a mounting board.

I blinked in surprised as I tried to adjust to this sudden turn of events. I had not expected Ted to get violent with me! I should have picked up some indication of his intention, but nothing had registered on my mind. So far that was two surprises in one evening.

Ted locked his eyes back on mine as he began speaking to me again. This time, though, his voice was as cold as an arctic wind, and as mean as a junkyard dog. "You're going to listen to what I have to say to you! I want to you know exactly how you made me feel after I figured out that you had tricked me. I felt humiliated, and ashamed. I was in a position where I was desperate for some help, and you took advantage of me. I trusted you and you lied to me."

Ted paused for a moment or two as he composed his thoughts, and got ready to continue his tirade. "I was seeking help, and you took advantage of that situation. I think you are the lowest form of life I have ever encountered. I'd call you scum, except that it would be an insult scum everywhere. I looked to you for help, and you took advantage of me. I can't believe I actually looked into your eyes, seeking help. I should never have done that."

Ted paused again as he blinked a few times. He was staring into my eyes most intently. I wasn't saying a peep. It was not like I could have gotten a word in edgewise, anyway. (Before you ask, no, I was not sending any commands into Ted's mind, even though I had solid eye contact with him. It wasn't necessary, and I wasn't really interested in hypnotizing him. Besides the points he made were valid. I owed it to him to listen to his complaints. It was the least I could do.)

"I ought to slap you silly while I have this chance," Ted said coldly. (From the tone of his voice, it was more than just an idle threat, I was sure.) "But, I won't do that. I refuse to lower myself to your level. I won't take advantage of the situation, which is more than I can say for what you did, getting me to look into your eyes like that. It sounded dumb at the time and I should have been more suspicious."

Ted paused again, a little bit longer this time, before he continued speaking. "I hope I never see you at the bank again. If I ever do, I will be sure to avoid any contact with you, or your eyes. I don't want to have to serve you at the bank. After what you did to me, with you eyes, I don't trust you. No. I don't trust you at all, you and your eyes."
Ted pause once more, and blinked several more times as he looked at me. He was still staring into my eyes, but his face didn't look as angry. I noticed also that he wasn't pressing me against the door nearly as hard has he had been.

"Your eyes" Ted said softly. "What is it about your eyes? He asked softly as the anger in his face melted into an expression of bewilderment. "Your eyes are so deep and still." Ted sighed a few times, and then his arms dropped down to his sides as he leaded back away from me slightly.

"Something about your eyes." Ted said softly as his face started to take on an empty and blank look. "Something wonderful and nice about your eyes"

Ted rocked back on his heels until he was standing up straight and no longer leaning forward. "Your eyes lost in your eyes" Ted muttered as his face went completely blank. "Look into your eyes and fall into your power," Ted muttered softly.

I waited to see what would happen next. After about a minute, during which Ted did not move a muscle or mutter a single sound, I slowly shuffled off to the left, and walked away from Ted, keeping him in my sights the entire time. Ted did not seem to notice that I moved. He seemed oblivious to everything. I waved my hand in front of his face. He blinked his eyes but did not otherwise react. I gently poked him in the ribs with a finger. No reaction. Not even an extra eye blink. I picked up Ted's right arm and held it out in front of him. His arm moved easily, and when I let go of it, his right arm stayed suspended in the air. It was like Ted had become a living mannequin.

For the first few seconds, I could not believe it, but the evidence seemed pretty clear. Ted may have claimed that he didn't want to be hypnotized at the bank, but clearly right now he did want to be, and he had hypnotized himself. I hadn't done anything. (Well, I hadn't done anything this time, anyway.) He had done it all. Still he could have been faking it, as some kind of test for me. There was one way to be sure. Carefully I placed the tips of my fingers of my right hand on Ted's forehead. (I left Ted's right arm hanging out there in mid air. I kind of enjoyed the sight of it frozen there. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe because it was an indication of the power and control that I had over him.) Gently I sent out a mental probe into his mind. It didn't take long to determine what had happened.

Somehow my idle wish at the bank, that 'look deep into my eyes and fall into my power' had become a post hypnotic trigger in Ted's mind. I had not intended that to happen, but it had. A thorough, but shallow scan of Ted's mind revealed that Ted's mind was more malleable and that Ted was much more suggestible, than any other subject hat I had ever encountered before. I had not realized just how strongly my powers had affected Ted, until now. As tempting as this was, I could not leave him like this, standing there in hypnosis all night. (You have no idea just how tempting that was. Ted was good looking and well dressed. But this is not the time to go into that.) In addition, I was ethically bound to remove the trigger from his mind. It took only a few seconds of effort to pick up the trigger from Ted's mind and remove it. Carefully I scanned that area of Ted's mind to be sure that I hadn't left any loose threads that might cause him problems. Now I had to bring him back to normal. We had to discuss this situation. With some reluctant I counted him out. (At least I'm honest about wanting to have left Ted in hypnosis a little bit longer. Okay, so I wanted to leave him in hypnosis for more than just a little bit longer. Sue me.)

"What? What happened?" Ted asked looking around as his right arm dropped back down to his side.

"You went back under," I informed him, as I raised my right hand in front of my face to block Ted's view of my eyes. "You looked into my eyes and you went back into your hypnotic trance. I'm sorry about that."

"No!" Ted argued. "You tricked me again! You put me back under! I can't believe you did that to me again! How could you?"

"I didn't intend to," I answered him. "It was an accident, and I am sorry. I removed the post hypnotic trigger and it won't happen again.""

"You're lying!" Ted yelled at me as he started to become really upset with me. "You tried to make me into some kind of hypnotized slave boy, just now! I'm out of here before you try anything else!"

"Fine. Go," I said to him calmly, as I resigned myself to the situation. . It was clear to me that I could argue until I was blue in the face, and I would never convince Ted of what had really happened a few minutes ago. He was very upset over the entire turn of events. As cute as he was, he wasn't worth the trouble.

"I want you to know just one thing before I go," Ted as he suddenly turned around and looked me straight in the eyes, glaring at me with undisguised disgust. His eyes blazed with fury at me, as he stood there in front of my door ready to leave.

"And what would that be, Ted?" I asked with a sigh and I stared into Ted's eyes, silently wishing that he would go under again. I felt my power start to flair up, but I savagely clamped a control on it and curtailed my powers. There was no denying that Ted was a good looking man. I would have enjoyed hypnotizing him for a while. I would be lying if I said otherwise. I had some small regret about removing that unintentional trigger.

"I think you are the most despicable person I have ever met, and if I ever see you again it will be six months too soon!" Ted growled at me as his eyes burned with contempt for me. "I hope I never see you again! And if I ever do I'll I'll I'll.." Ted exclaimed as his exasperation derailed his train of thought. Ted kept his eyes locked on mine the whole time.

"You'll what, Ted?" I asked, mildly curious now. "I wish you were back in my power," I thought silently to myself, as I looked at Ted, and felt a tiny surge in my power level. Whenever I see a good looking guy, I almost always feel a slight surge of my power.

"I'll I'll I." Ted stammered as he tried to complete his thought. Suddenly his eyes took on that glazed over look and his face became blank. "I obey. You command and I obey" Ted whispered once and then stood there gazing into my eyes again. He had done it again!. He had put himself under. (Now this should not have happened. I had just removed the trigger. What was going on here?)

"Why do you wish to serve and obey, Ted?" I asked him as he stood there in front of me.

"It feels good to obey," Ted said after a few moments of silence. "I want to. I feel happy when I obey. I I want to feel your power over me. I want to feel you control me. I want to be your puppet."

"Welcome once again to the Twilight Zone," I thought to myself. Okay something really strange was going on here. I knew I had removed my controls from Ted's mind and that I had not just now tried to exert any control over him. So what was going on then? My first thought was that this was some kind of a test by some other person with the gift, similar to what Lyle Lawson and pulled on me a year or so ago. The only way to be sure was to do a deep scan of Ted's mind. I didn't really want to do that, but the circumstances warranted it. I placed the fingertips of my right hand once more upon Ted's forehead and I scanned his mind. I took my time and carefully examined Ted's mind looking for any signs of tampering or traps.

It took me only a minute or so to complete the scan of Ted's mind. I broke the mental connection and let my right hand and arm fall limply to my side. What I had discovered stunned me. It was almost beyond belief. In a nutshell, Ted was the opposite of Andy. Unlike Andy, who was not affected by my powers at all, Ted could not help but be affected by my powers. Just standing beside me and looking into my eyes was enough to cause Ted to become super hypnotized by me, if I used even the tiniest fraction of my power. Eye contact with Ted, and just thinking or wishing, that I wanted him in my power would push Ted's mind over the line between not being super hypnotized, and being super hypnotized. It was exhilarating. It was exciting. It was erotic! It was also just a little bit scary. This was completely new to me. I had never encountered such an easy subject as Ted before. In some ways it made him dangerous. It would be far too easy for me to go too far with Ted, and cause him some real problems.

I sighed as I looked at Ted standing there in front of me. A part of me knew that I should wake him up and send him on his way, and yet another part of me wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity presented to me. I must have stood there for a good five minutes trying to make up my mind. Looking at Ted wasn't helping any, because Ted was a handsome man. My eyes started wandering about Ted's face and the front of his body, taking in every detail of his appearance.

He was the same height as I was, say five feet ten inches, with a slim and trim build. As I mentioned before, Ted was a handsome young man with boyish good looked that could have landed him a place on the cover of GQ magazine. But it wasn't only his face that was attracting my interest. Ted was wearing a three piece charcoal gray suit. Yes, it was a suit with a matching vest. Not many men wear suits like that these days, which was part of what I found so interesting about Ted. The suit fit him very well. It didn't look expensive, but it hugged the contours of his slim body, accenting his waist very nicely. A plain white long sleeved dress shirt with a button down collar lay beneath the six button vest that he wore under his suit jacket. The jacket was a three button single breasted style. I could not see much of Ted's suit pants other than they matched the vest and suit jacket which suggested that they were made of the same fine wool material. The crease in his pants looked to be razor sharp, and the plain bottom of the pants were slightly draped over a pair of shiny black leather dress shoes. Encircling Ted's neck was a dark red tie with a smooth and slightly shiny look to it. Actually the tie was underneath the collar of Ted's shirt. (Was it really necessary for me to mention that?) It was probably a silk tie, but I was guessing at this point. Ted was dressed as if he belonged on the cover of GQ magazine. He was damn good looking!

I sighed again as I finished my visual inspection of Ted. The entire time that I had been raking my eyes all over Ted's body and face, Ted had been standing there motionless. Apparently he had been enjoying it since he now had a gentle smile pasted on his lips, and his face had a relaxed and soft look to it. This wasn't helping me make up my mind any. I forced myself to look away from Ted, and dragged my unwilling eyes down to look at my hands as I clasped them together and held them just in front of my belt buckle. I stared at my hands trying to clear my mind and think logically, instead of with my hormones. I notice the wedding band on the ring finger of my left hand. The sight of that ring was like a slap in the face, jerking me back to reality from the world of fantasy where I had been letting myself roam. I sighed softly, as I realized that I wasn't going to do anything with Ted. The ring reminded me of Andy, of my strong feelings for him, and of my promise to him. It wasn't as if I had forgotten Andy or how I felt about him, you know. The ring just helped me to put things into their proper perspective. I looked back up at Ted. I told him he would remember every detail of this session, and then I counted him out. I got ready for the storm to hit..

Ted blinked his eyes a few times as he came to his senses. He looked over at me, puzzled as to what had happened. He looked at me as he for a moment longer before he spoke. "You did it again, didn't you?" He asked me in a surprisingly cool and calm voice. "You hypnotized me again, right?"

"Yes, but I didn't mean to," I said as I acknowledged what had just happened. Hurricane Ted hadn't come ashore yet, but he had to be hanging around somewhere out there in the ocean.

"I thought as much," Ted commented calmly, as a thoughtful look came to his face. "Cool."

"Do you believe that it was an accident, this time?" I asked Ted, wondering what his reaction would be. I was surprised that Ted had not started shouting at me by now. This was most unusual.

"I think maybe I do," he answered in that same cool and calm voice.

"You're not upset, Ted?" I asked him. Now it was my turn to be puzzled.

"Not any more," Ted answered. "I think you're right. If there wasn't a part of me that didn't want to be hypnotized by you in the first place, I wouldn't be going under so easily all the time. I have to admit that it did feel pretty good each time. I kind of liked it."

"I'm glad that you don't blame me for what happened earlier," I said cautiously. I didn't want to get Ted angry again.

"Well, I think it was more the surprise and the shock of how quickly I went back under that upset me more than anything else," Ted replied as he continued to look at me thoughtfully. "I guess I was angry and upset because I thought I was losing control of myself."

"And now?" I prompted him.

"I think it might be interesting to see what my limits are," Ted said as he looked back at me and a small smile crept onto his face. "I have to admit that I enjoyed the sessions just now, and the one at the bank. It made me feel really good. I'd like to feel that way again. I'm just not sure how far I'd be willing to go, or what I would be willing to do. I'm not sure how much I trust you."

"Fair enough. If you want to start off with a very simple hypnosis session, that's fine by me," I assured him. "You can always reject any suggestion I give you, and if you object to it too much, you'll pop right out of hypnosis, you know."

"Really?" Ted asked, wondering if I was telling the truth or not.

"If hypnosis was real mind control, Ted, I wouldn't need to have an account at the bank," I joked as I smiled at him.

"I suppose that's true enough," Ted conceded with a soft chuckle. "Do you have time now for a half hour session? I'd like to try this now, before I change my mind."

"Then you had better go, Ted," I said to him not attempting to hid my disappointment. "If you are not one hundred percent sure that you want to do the hypnosis, it would better not to do it all."

"Why?" Ted asked clearly puzzled by my reaction. "It seems to me that you shouldn't have any problem putting me back under."

"You're probably right," I agreed. "But that is not my point."

"Then what IS your point?" Ted sighed with a touch of annoyance to his voice.

"If you are not completely sure that you want to do this, then you're most likely going to hold back when I attempt to deepen the level of your trance," I explained to him as I kept my voice cool and calm. "You'll start fighting the suggestions which will result in a less than satisfying experience for the both of us." (Yes, another white lie. Ted was very susceptible to my powers. He had a snowball's chance in hell, of resisting any suggestions I gave him. Telling him that would only have scared him. I didn't want that, so I kept my mouth shut. Was it ethically correct of me to do that? The honest answer would have been 'no'. I felt sure of my ability to keep to the straight and narrow, though. I wouldn't take advantage of Ted in any serious way. I had my ring to remind me of that. See? I'm no saint, and I never claimed to be.)

"If the choice is mine, then I'd like to do it right now, if you don't mind," Ted said firmly. His face had taken on a solid and confident expression as if he had just made up his mind about something. (I suppose he had, come to think of it.)

"I think I could fit you into my schedule," I said, with a smirk on my face. "Would you like to sit down on the sofa and make yourself comfortable before we begin?"

"Okay," Ted agreed. He walked past me and headed off towards the living room, and the sofa.

I followed him into the living room. It's a good thing Ted was in front of me. I'm sure my eyes must have lit up like a pair of headlights on a car. Why? Well, Ted was as good looking from the back as the front. (I'm a butt man, remember?) That suit jacket and pants hanging on Ted's frame was a sight to behold. I've always enjoyed the look of a man in a suit and tie, and Ted was living proof of just how good looking a man in a suit can be. He wasn't a muscle bound male fashion model. He was a slim and trim man who just looked good in a suit and tie.

Ted sat down on the sofa and looked over at me, expecting me to start doing something. I sat down in the swivel rocking chair next to Ted. Ted was to my right. "Ready, Ted?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I guess so. What do I do?" Ted asked me as he looked up at me.

"Put your feet flat on the floor and place your right index finger on the pulse of your left wrist," I instructed him, as I gazed into his eyes for a few seconds. "The suggestions will take hold as you speak them," I sent into his mind. I was very careful to use only enough of my power to project my command onto the fringe of Ted's mind. I didn't want to push him directly into a trance. What fun would that be?

"Okay, now what?" Ted asked he followed my directions. I was most pleased to see my command sucked into Ted's mind like a piece of lint sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. I stopped using my powers. If I was correct about Ted, the power I'd used should be enough.

"Now stare directly at the fingernail of your right index finger, and repeat everything that I am about to say," I directed him.

Ted looked at his fingernail and nodded his head once, to show that he was ready to repeat what I was about to tell him.

"I will now enter the state of hypnosis for the reasons of deep relaxation and self-control," I said clearly and softly.

"I will now enter the state of hypnosis for the reasons of deep relaxation and self-control," Ted repeated, obediently.

"I will count down from five to zero and with each descending number I will become more deeply relaxed," I said as I continued with the induction.

"I will count down from five to zero and with each descending number I will become more deeply relaxed," Ted repeated, his voice sounding completely normal.

"When I reach zero, I will go deep asleep," I said as I continued to speak in a smooth and soothing tone of voice.

When I reach zero, I will go deep asleep," Ted iterated.

"Five. I begin to feel my breathing growing deep, gentle and rhythmic," I said as I urged him into hypnosis.

"Five. I begin to feel my breathing growing deep, gentle and rhythmic," Ted responded.

I noticed that his breathing had changed. It was deeper now. A sure sign that the induction was starting to take hold. "Four. I begin to feel heaviness in my eyelids, as I become more and more relaxed," I continued not wanting to lose the rhythm I had built up.

"Four. I begin to feel heaviness in my eyelids, as I become more and more relaxed," Ted repeated, his voice growing just a touch softer. His head dropped down just a bit as the suggestions of heaviness started to take effect.

I noticed that Ted was starting to blink his eyes a bit more. This was a very good sign, indeed. "Three. I begin to feel every muscle, nerve and fiber in my body relaxing, deeply, relaxing," I suggested as I continued with the induction.

"Three. I begin to feel every muscle, nerve and fiber in my body relaxing, deeply, relaxing," Ted reiterated as his upper body started to slump just a tiny bit.

I would not have noticed it, if I had not been keenly looking for just such an indication. He was responding beautifully. "Two. My arms, my legs, my entire body are now deeply relaxed," I said urging him on into hypnosis. (Okay super hypnosis, but why nit pick?) I stood up and walked over to where Ted was sitting on the sofa. Quietly, I swatted down beside him. I wanted to be close by to watch as he slipped under. It is the part of an induction that I enjoy the most.
"Two. My arms, my legs, my entire body are now deeply relaxed," Ted said thickly as if he were starting to have trouble speaking.

I could see his legs move slightly further apart as the suggestion of his legs being deeply relaxed took root. It was a good thing this was a short induction. I wasn't sure I could have waited through a long one. "One. My eyelids grow even heavier, breathing becoming more rhythmic," I directed him.

"One. My eyelids grow even heavier, breathing becoming more rhythmic," Ted muttered with obvious difficulty.

He was blinking his eyes so much now that it had to be having a tiring effect on him. Of course that was the idea. Ted's upper body was starting to sway back and forth just a bit as the relaxation in his body become more and more profound. "I am deeply relaxed," I said to him. (Boy, talk about an obvious statement!)

"I am deeply relaxed," Ted murmured softly, barely able to get the words out of his mouth.

"Zero. deep asleep!" I cried out softly, but in a firm and decisive voice.

"Zero. de" Ted started to say, but the words were cut off. Ted's head dropped down to rest on his chest, as his right hand dropped away from his left wrist. Ted let out a soft sigh as his body started to collapse into a heap of relaxed muscles. I couldn't help but grin as Ted's body started to topple forward. He was sure to fall out of the sofa, if I didn't do something. Rather than catch him, though, I firmly pushed on the front of Ted's left shoulder, directing his body back into the sofa and off to the right. My push had the desired effect.

Ted's body fell over onto his right side. I was tempted to yell "Timber!", but restrained myself. I looked at my watch. Thirty minutes wasn't much time to do much of anything with Ted, but there was something that I could do.

"Feeling yourself going down deeper and deeper with each word that I say, and with each breath that you take, Ted," I called out to him as I stood up and heading for the dining room. I didn't bother with implanting a post hypnotic suggestion for re-hypnosis into Ted's mind. It wasn't necessary. I could hypnotize Ted without one.

It took me a only a few minutes to arrange two of the dinning room chairs into the proper positions. When I was satisfied that everything was set, I called out to Ted, "Come here please, Ted."

"Yes, coming," Ted called back to me as he blinked his eyes open and slowly stood up. With careful and deliberate steps he walked over to where I was standing beside three dinning room chairs that I had pulled out away from the dinning room table. Ted had a pleasant and slightly vacant look on his face.

"What would you like to do now, Ted?" I asked him.

He slowly focused his eyes and his attention on me. He looked at me blankly as if trying to compose an answer was a major effort on his part. "I don't care," he said nonchalantly. "Whatever you want is fine with me. I like doing what you tell me to." He sighed softly as he looked at me. A small smile worked its way back onto his face as the glassy-eyed blank look returned to his face.

"Please stand up straight with your arms held an inch or so away from your body," I commanded Ted. He complied instantly, without so much as an eye blink of resistance. "Now as you listen to my voice I want you to imagine yourself, to see yourself as a living mannequin. See your body becoming stiffer and harder with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take. Only your breathing remains easy and comfortable. The rest of your body starts to become hard and rigid like stone. For the harder and stiffer your body becomes, the deeper you go, and the deeper you go, the harder and stiffer you body becomes. All the time going deeper and deeper, feeling more and more comfortable, more a peace and more and more content."

I looked at Ted and could see the tension start to build in his body, as he started to stiffen his body. The suggestions were working like a charm. (Hey, you expected otherwise?) He was growing more rigid and stiffer with each passing moment.

"Soon and very soon indeed your eyes will close as you let yourself, go completely stiff," I urged him. "You don't need to keep your eyes open, and it feels so much better to close them now, so that your body can become harder and you can go even deeper into hypnosis." Ted's eyes closed almost as soon as I finished speaking. His breathing was even and smooth, very rhythmic. He looked ready for the next step. Goodness knows I was ready for it.

"Going down even deeper when you feel me touch any part of your body, Ted," I instructed him. "Knowing only that you enjoy going down deeper and deeper because it feels so good, and because you know that you are safe and sound. Nothing to worry about. No cares. No worries. No troubles at all. Your body is like a waxwork figure or a mannequin now. You can't move your limbs, but I can. I can pose you in any position just like a department store dummy. And when you know that to be true, a smile breaks out on your face, and your entire body, except for your chest and your breathing, becomes immobile."

I looked at Ted, and a second later a big grin blossomed on his face. I took one of the chairs and positioned it behind Ted, about three and one half feet away. Carefully I stood behind Ted and grabbed him by his shoulders. I pulled back gently and lowered Ted towards the floor. He tilted back on his feet, with his shoes pointing out into the air, just as I had hoped he would. I slowly lowered him until his body was close to the chair. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the distance and the chair was too far away. Ted's head would have rested on the right edge of the chair. Carefully I pushed Ted back up so that he was standing on his feet. I made sure that he did not rock back and forth, as he could have easily fallen down. I didn't want him to get hurt after all. I brought the chair closer by about eight inches, and then placed a second chair facing the first chair. This way, when I lowered Ted, the weight of his body would be carried by his shoulders, one on each chair.

With the chairs in the correct position (I hoped), I stood behind Ted a second time and lowered him down towards the chairs. This time I got it right. I was able to lower Ted so that his shoulders were resting on the cushions of the chairs. I stood back and admired my efforts. There lay Ted, as stiff as an ironing board, with his shoulders resting against the cushions of the chairs and the heels of his feet resting on the floor. He was lying there at about a thirty-five or forty-five degree angle. My task was only half done. I quickly placed a chair next to Ted's feet. It was a fairly simple matter to pick up Ted's two feet, move the chair underneath them and lower Ted's feet on to the cushion of this third chair. Finally I had built my bridge. I stood back and looked at my handiwork.

Ted was lying there suspended like wooden plank between the two groups of chairs. His body was rigid. I walked over to where Ted lay and pressed down gently but firmly on his legs at about mid-thigh to test him. He didn't sag so much as half a millimeter. I backed away a few paces to allow myself the luxury of looking over this human bridge that I had just built. I'm no architect, but I think I did a pretty good job. I couldn't help but smile with delight as I looked over Ted. Here was a well dressed man, in a charcoal gray three piece pinstripe suit, lying there suspended between two sets of chairs. What I found most interesting was that Ted's jacket had fallen away from his chest and stomach, and hung down on either side of his body in between his torso and his arms. Of course that is what I had been planning all along. Now you know why I had Ted hold his arms a couple of inches away from his body before I turned him into a living mannequin.

Snail-like I approached Ted's suspended body, savoring the sight of that taunt stretched out, sexy, slim and trim body before me. I studied Ted's face for a few moments. The frozen grin remained pasted on his face, as I had expected. "Ted," I informed him as I stood towering over him. "You are now able to talk and to move the muscles of your face. You can let what you are feeling show on your face, now."

"Ohhh." Ted moaned softly. "I feel so totally under your control sir." he said in between low moans. "I never thought it could be this good." (Do you think maybe Ted was enjoying being turned into a human bridge? If you need further clues to figure out the answer to that question, you are in serious need of help, buddy.)

"May I touch your body, Ted?" I asked him quietly. I always asked permission first, before I started exploring the body of a subject like Ted. By having him give me permission, Ted was taking another step towards giving control to me. I thought it best to approach this situation with Ted slowly. I didn't want to frighten him or cause him any discomfort.

"Yes of course," Ted answered in between the slow and low moans that were still emerging from between the small satisfied smile that graced his lips. "You can do what ever you like."

"Thank you, Ted," I responded as I slowly placed my hands on his chest and pushed down slight on his body. "Doesn't that feel nice?" I inquired.

'Oh yes it does. More please sir?" Ted pleaded between moans.

It looked to me like Ted was having the time of his life. I almost envied him. Almost. I got to work and started in on my fun. I knelt down next to Ted and ran my hands over that taunt slim body before me. The vest of his suit was lying snugly against his chest. I could clearly see that five of the six buttons were done up, and that there were four welt pockets on the vest. They looked empty. I patted down the pockets just to be sure. (Yeah, right! Get real! I patted down Ted's chest because I wanted to feel that soft woolen material beneath my fingers and I indulged in my favorite pastime of patting down a hypnotized stud in a suit.) "Nice vest, Ted," I said to him as I let my hands run all over that material and fingered the pockets a few times.

"Thank you sir ohhh." Ted replied absentmindedly. Any further comments that he might have wanted to express were washed away by several loud moans that erupted from his mouth as I played both of my hands all over his chest and slowly did up the button at the bottom of his vest that was not buttoned. I had seriously thought about undoing Ted's vest, but decided against it at the last second. I planned to let Ted remember this entire session, when I woke him up. If he wanted to come back again, I wanted it to be his choice not mine. Making him come back would be too easy. The challenge with Ted would be to restrain my use of my powers.

Satisfied with exploring Ted's chest, I turned my attention to his right arm. It was in the way of where I wanted to go. I firmly grabbed his right arm and moved it up until it was pointed straight up in the air. This cleared the way for the target that I had locked my sights on. Ted's ass. With his jacket hanging away from his body I could clearly see the right profile of Ted's ass. It looked pretty good, but I wanted the full rear view. I got down on my stomach and crawled underneath Ted's suspended body to examine the underlying structure of this bridge. I was not disappointed in the least. I could see the wonderfully skinny and tight ass that Ted possessed. The suit pants he was wearing clung closely to the mounds and curves of Ted's glorious gluteus maximus. As luck would have it, Ted carried his wallet in the single hip pocket on the right side of the suit pants. It was an especially large and thick wallet. It caused the material of Ted's suit pants to be pulled snugly (okay tightly) across the valley of his buttocks. The pocket had a button through closure which Ted had somehow managed to do up, and that added a hint of strain to the material of his pants. I was hard pressed to hold back the wolf whistle that tried to escape from my lips. My hands itched to stroke that perfect pair of hemispheres that hung there above me. I refrained from doing anything, though. I wasn't sure how Ted would react to having me fondle his ass though. All I'd asked was permission to touch him, not to grope him.

Well, even if I wasn't going to touch it, his ass was still lovely to behold. Sometimes the anticipation, the wanting, is far sweeter than the actual action. This was one of those times. So I lay there underneath Ted gazing up at his lovely ass and sighed with all the delight and fascination of an astronomer gazing at the sky through a powerful telescope, on a crystal clear night. Yes, I would definitely classify Ted's ass as a 'heavenly body'. After about five minutes I crawled out from under Ted. I wanted to look over the rest of his body before the session was over.

With his suit jacket hanging down as it was, the entire front of Ted's pants were exposed to my view. The front of his suit pants were as wonderful to gaze upon as his ass had been. Ted did not have an erection, but his pants were snuggled up against his crotch and the front of his pelvis in a most delightful manner, if you catch my drift. The fly of his pants was smooth and even, as were the front of his double pleated suit pants. Usually suit pants looked best on a man when he was standing up, and the pants were hanging down naturally. While this was true of Ted as well, in Ted's case his pants looked good even while he was lying there suspended between the two groups of chairs. It was a shame that I couldn't run my hands all over the front of Ted's suit pants. I wanted to, believe me. But I knew that it would lead to complications that I didn't really have the energy to deal with this evening.

After about five minutes I knew it was enough for this session. I didn't want to push Ted too far, too quickly, and if I left him suspended like that much longer he would be very sore the next day. I gripped Ted's feet firmly with both of my hands and gently lifted them up off of the chair they had been resting on for the past quarter of an hour. I placed Ted's feet back on the floor, after nudging the chair out of the way first. With a soft sigh of regret I walked over to stand behind Ted's head and shoulders. I swatted down and carefully placed my hands on Ted's shoulders, one hand behind each shoulder. I stiffen my arms and used the strength in my legs to lift Ted up and off of the chairs where he had been resting. Once I had Ted propped up high enough I walked forward until I was standing against the chairs. I balanced on my left leg as I used my right foot to move the chair on the right side out of my way. With that task quickly accomplished, I shifted my weight to my right foot, after having placed my right foot back on the floor, and tackled the task of moving the chair on the left side out of my way. Now that I had a clear path ahead of me, it was a relatively simple matter to walk forward and push Ted back up so that he was standing on his own two feet again. Ted rocked back and forth just a tiny little bit as he settled back into position. Once I was sure he was in place, it was time for the next stage.

"Ted, as I place my fingers on your forehead you will feel your body returning to normal,' I instructed him as I placed the finger tips of my right hand onto Ted's forehead. "Your body will be completely normal in every respect. You will no longer be a living mannequin. You will find it easy and relaxing to just stand there as you body returns to normal."

I watched with satisfaction and some small disappointment as Ted's body sagged into relaxation, and his head dropped down to his chest. He let out a soft sigh as the muscles in his body relaxed once again.. "If you like you can go and sit down on the sofa, Ted," I told him. "I think you'll be more comfortable there."

"The sofa, yes," Ted agreed readily as his eyes popped open. He turned his head about looking for the sofa. Once he saw it he made a beeline directly for it. He plopped down the sofa with a heartfelt sigh of relief, and settled down to make himself comfortable. Once he was settled in, which took all of four or five seconds, Ted closed his eyes and let his head fall forward down to his chest once again. I left him sitting there for about five minutes while I looked him over, enjoying once again the sight of a good looking, well dressed and deeply hypnotized man.

"Ted, would you like to be able to return to this state or an even deeper state than this, again sometime in the future?" I asked him knowing what the answer would be.

"Yes, sir, very much, sir," Ted answered softly but clearly.

"Would you like me to be the person to guide you back into this state or a deeper state than this?" I prompted him.

"Yes indeed, sir," Ted agreed readily. "Only you, sir. I want only you to hypnotize me, sir. No one else."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that Ted," I praised him. "Listen carefully, now. Each and every time when we are alone and I say the phrase "bank managers interest me", you will return to this state or an even deeper state than this. When you return to this state you will feel relaxed, comfortable and obedient, able and willing to do whatever is asked of you. Do you understand, Ted?"

"Yes, sir," Ted answered. "Does this mean that I'll be back in your power when you say that phrase, sir?" Ted asked wistfully.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," I agreed.

"Oh good, sir," Ted as he lifted his head, looked up at me and smiled. "I would not want to be anything but in your power, sir. It wouldn't feel right if you didn't control me, if you didn't put me back into your power, sir."

"Oh brother!" I thought to myself. "Ted's one of those guys who associates hypnosis with mind control. I hadn't counted on this. I didn't put that idea into that cute little head of his. My powers must have uncovered some deep desire on his part to be controlled. That seem to be happening a lot with my powers lately."

"Ted, have you always wanted to feel yourself controlled by someone else?" I asked him out loud, as I dragged myself away from my retrospection.

"I guess I guess I have, sir," Ted admitted after a few seconds thought. "I never thought it would be possible, at least not until tonight. I never knew being controlled could feel so good. Thank you for this feeling, sir." Ted sat there looking up at me, as happy as a clam.

"Whatever makes him happy, I guess," I thought to myself. "That is good, Ted," I assured him, as I prepared to wake him up. "Now I am about to count from zero to five, where zero represents this state or an even deeper state than this, and five is eyes open and fully away. Now close your eyes and go even deeper now, Ted."

"Yes, sir," Ted said as he obediently closed his eyes and sighed with delight.

"Zero. Starting to come up now," I said to him as I began the count. "One. Coming up a bit more. And you notice now that as you come up a feeling of calm and peace seems to flood through your mind and your body feels even more relaxed and comfortable. Two. Coming up a bit more, and now you feel the need for more oxygen, so you take a deep breath and let it out in a soft sigh,"

Ted, inhaled and sighed on command. He was responding well to my suggestions.

"Three. Coming up a bit more, now," I urged him as I continued the count. "Starting to move and stretch your legs and your arms a bit now. Four. Nearly there now. And five. Eyes open and wide awake. Wide Awake!" I said the last two words in a loud and commanding voice to insure that Ted heard them.

Ted blinked his eyes opened, and looked about trying to find me. He sheepishly grinned at me as a slight blush crossed his face. "You took me at my word.," he said as he smiled at me. "I never imagined you'd turn me into a human bridge."

"Is there anything about tonight's session that you didn't like or enjoy, Ted?" I asked him, wondering if perhaps I had 'crossed the line' somewhere.
"No, I don't think so," Ted admitted after a moment's thought. "I just didn't expect you to be so creative. I've seen people suspended between two chairs in hypnosis stage shows, but I never dreamed that I'd ever wind up like that. It was kind of cool." Ted smiled at me.

"So you're happy with tonight's events, then, Ted?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it was great," Ted confirmed as he sat there looking at me, with a slightly dreamy expression on his face.

"It's too bad you're not a bank manager, Ted," I said to him with a huge grin on my face.

"Why's that?" Ted asked puzzled.

"Because bank managers interest me, Ted," I said to him carefully and clearly.

"Bank mana." Ted started to comment, but his response was cut off as his eyes closed and he sank back into the sofa. Ted's response to his trigger phrase was total and complete. He was back into his hypnotic trance in only a heartbeat or two. The small grin on his face testified that he was feeling pretty good and happy to be back under.

"Happy to be back in hypnosis aren't you, Ted?" I asked him.

"Oh yes, sir. And to be back in your power, sir," Ted confirmed as he sat there awaiting his next command.

I counted Ted back out of hypnosis.

Ted opened his eyes and looked over at me. "Let me guess," Ted said with a smile on his face. "You were just testing to be sure that the trigger worked, right?"

"Yup," I confirmed with a smile of my own. "But if I told you that before hand, it wouldn't be as much fun."

"I suppose so. It's good to know that the trigger works. What now?" Ted asked me as he sat back in the sofa and rested his hands in his lap.

"Ted, you're not yet completely out of hypnosis, you know," I cautioned.

"Really?" Ted said surprised. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you're still very susceptible to suggestion right now, which is normal," I answered him. "It usually takes from three to seven minutes for a subject to completely come out of hypnosis. So this is nothing for you to worry about."

"I'm not worried about it, but at the same time I find it difficult to believe you," Ted said as he smiled at me. "I grant that you're good at hypnotizing me, but unless you say my trigger and I agree to it, nothing is going to happen. I know that, and you know that, so your warning is really unnecessary."

"I could prove it to you, if you like," I said to Ted with a smirk on my face.

"Okay, prove it to me," Ted challenged me. He looked me with a slightly defiant but good-natured expression on his face. "But I should warn you that I'm going to resist what ever you try."

"Well, it's your subconscious, Ted, that would like to go back into hypnosis," I said to him. "All I have to do is suggest an action for you to take that would put you back into hypnosis, and you'll do it, because in your subconscious you want to go back into hypnosis."

"Paul, that's a line of bull. You know it and I know it," Ted said as he laughed at me. "But go ahead and tell me what to do. I'm not going to do it, though."

"In your case Ted, it would have to be something that you might associate with a submissive action," I said as I tried to think of something. I looked at Ted, and then the idea popped into my mind. "Okay. I've got it," I said cheerfully.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," Ted said with a chuckle.

"All you have to do Ted, is to get down on your hands and knees, and to start barking like a dog. With each bark that you utter you'll feel yourself going back under. When you've barked ten times, you'll be back in hypnosis and deeper in my power than you've ever been before," I instructed him. (The last phrase about being 'deeper in my power than ever before' was a direct and non too subtle appeal to Ted's subconscious mind. Before you ask, no I did not help out the situation by sending any commands into Ted's mind. This was strictly a test of Ted's post hypnotic susceptibility.)

"Good grief!" Ted exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "That's crazy, Paul! There's no way in the world that I'd do something like that!" Ted walked out from between the sofa and the coffee table to stand beside me as I sat in the swivel rocker. Apparently, it had not dawned on Ted that he had just moved himself into a position where he would be able to drop down on his hands and knees. While sitting on the sofa, there wasn't enough room to do that. I enjoyed looking up at Ted as he stood beside me. He looked so dapper standing there, that I wanted to reach out and start caressing his well dressed body. Fortunately, I was able to curb that impulse.

Ted stood there, looking down at me and grinned, completely sure of himself. "You sure do come up with some strange ideas, I'll grant you that," Ted said as he looked down at me. "Hang on a sec," Ted said as he knelt down on his left knee. 'My right shoe feels loose." Ted bent down, untied and retried his right shoe lace. "There that's better," he declared. As Ted started to get up he slipped or stumbled and wound up falling forward onto the carpet. He caught himself just in time by thrusting his arms out in front of him.

"I hate to have to point this out to you, Ted," I said without even trying to conceal the smile of triumph on my face. "But, you are now on your hands and knees."

"Yeah, but it was a WOOF accident," Ted said as he barked once, while responding to my statement. "I didn't intend WOOF to get down on my hands WOOF and knees."

"Uh, Ted, you're starting to bark," I pointed out to him.

"No. WOOF, I'm not. WOOF. WOOF," Ted denied as he looked over at me.

Already I could see his eyes starting to take on that slightly glazed and far away look that signals the beginning of a hypnotic trance. "Oh but you are, Ted," I argued with him. "I've already counted six 'woofs'. Four more and you'll be back in my power."

"That is WOOF completely, WOOF nuts!" Ted declared emphatically, but his speech was starting to slow down, just a bit. "I've had enough hypnosis for one night. WOOF! I really don't want to do any more hypnosis. WOOF!"

With the last bark Ted's face became blank for a few moments, and then a smiled blossomed on his face as he let out a long deep sigh. His eyes glazed over completely as they took on a far away look. He was back in hypnosis, despite his protests to the contrary. Oh how I love to be proved right.

"Good boy, Ted," I said as I reached over and patted him on the head. I couldn't help but smile at Ted and at the situation. I was really enjoying myself. (You would have been enjoying yourself too, if you'd been in my position, I'm sure. I would much rather have patted Ted's behind instead of his head, but you can't have everything.)

"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" Ted agreed happily.

"Now be a good boy, and hand over your wallet, Ted. After you surrender you wallet to me you can stand there on all fours and wait for further instructions," I commanded him.

Ted's eyes lit up as he nodded his head vigorously. He reached back with his right hand and dug frantically into the right hip pocket of his suit pants. He whipped out his wallet and practically threw it at me in his excitement to hand over his wallet to me. I think I had struck a nerve, as they say.

"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" Ted panted urgently at me as he stood there on his hands and knees looking at me, waiting for his next command. It seemed that Ted had taken on the submissive role of being my 'dog' without my having to suggest it to him, which was fine by me. It was a pity that the role playing would have to be cut short.

I counted Ted out, and waited to see what his reaction would be. One thing was for sure, I was going to enjoy this. It was going to be very interesting.

Ted stopped panting and a perplexed look crossed his face as he looked about the room. He looked over at me and his confusion grew stronger. He looked down at himself, noticing for the first time that he was on his hands and knees. The expression on his face moved from confused to bewildered.

"What in the world just happened?" He asked me as he tried to make sense of his situation. "What am I doing on my hands and knees?"

'You know, Ted," I chuckled at him as I answered his question.

"Oh my God!" Ted exclaimed as events of the past few minutes rolled through his mind, and he came to inevitable conclusion. "I actually did it! I barked my way back into your power!" Ted looked at me the shock and surprise frozen on his face as he remained there on his hands and knees. "Wow." Ted cried out softly as he came to accept what had just happened. "You're good. You're really good." A few seconds later Ted slowly climbed to his feet, dusted off the knees of his pants and adjusted his clothing.

"Did you enjoy yourself, Ted?" I asked him calmly as I looked up him.

"Yeah, actually, I did," Ted admitted and grinned at me as he came to recognize the humor of the situation. "Now that I'm back to normal, would you mind handing me back my wallet? I'm going to need it."

"Sure thing," I said I held out Ted's wallet to him. (No I did not rummage through Ted's wallet. That would have been rude, not to mention an invasion of privacy.) "So how does it feel to be proven wrong?" I taunted him.

"A heck of a lot better than you might think," Ted informed me with a satisfied grin on his face, as he took back his wallet and replaced it in the right hip pocket of his pants.. "Do you think we can continue to do stuff like this in future?"

"I don't see why not," I answered. "I think we should call it quits for tonight though. I think you've had enough. I know I have."

"What do you mean, you've had enough?" Ted asked me as I stood up and walked over to where he was standing.

'Well, these hypnosis sessions do require effort on my part, you know," I informed him. "I have to orchestra the events, and that takes time, effort and energy. You probably get more out of the hypnosis than I do"

"I never looked at it that way. I suppose you're right," Ted agreed after a few seconds of thought. "Of course, I'm kind of new at this whole hypnosis thing. It never occurred to me that the hypnotist would have to do any work during the session."

"Well, he or she does," I assured him. "Any other questions before you leave?" I was escorting Ted towards the front door. As tempting as it was to explore Ted's suit this evening, I wasn't really in the mood to reveal to Ted that I was gay, and have to deal with the repercussions that would entail. It had been my experience that with the exception of gay subjects, most straight subjects became upset when they learned that they had been hypnotized by a gay man. (Why straight men have that misconception about gay men is one of the mysteries of life. But enough about that.) Ted was straight. I knew that because I could see it clearly in his mind when I had scanned his mind earlier in the evening. I did not know his views on gay people and frankly I wasn't in the mood to learn. I was tired. The last two days at work had been somewhat more stressful than normal, and being involved in the bank robbery yesterday had not helped matters any. I needed some rest.

"I guess not. Well, not right now anyway," Ted answered. "May I call you some evening if I do have any questions about hypnosis, or to arrange a time for another session?"

"By all means," I answered. "I'm in the book." We had arrived at the front door and I had just unlocked it.

"It's amazing, you know," Ted said as he was about to leave my apartment.

"What's amazing?" I asked him, although I had a fairly good idea what was on his mind.

"Well that I came over here tonight to vent my anger and frustration at you about what happened at the bank, and I wound up on my hands and knees barking like your pet dog," Ted said with a grin. "I could never have imagined something like this happening."

"Life is full of surprises," I said as I ushered him out of the apartment. "I'm glad it is, otherwise life would be terribly boring."

"Yeah, it would. I'll see you later, hopefully," Ted said as he walked through the doorway.

"Good night, Ted," I said firmly. (Some people just don't know when they are being asked to leave, it seemed.)

"Good night, Paul," Ted said as he turned away and started walking towards the bank of elevators.

"Some people have to have the last word too, it seems," I thought to myself, as I closed and locked the front door. I headed to the kitchen for a nice relaxing cup of tea. I could really use one. I was beat. I looked at the kitchen clock. It was 9:15 PM. Ted had been here just over an hour and three quarters. It felt longer. One cup of tea later, I headed off to my empty and lonely bed. I missed not having Andy here with me to sleep with. Life is full of positives and negatives. The night's unexpected events with Ted Carson were undeniably a positive. Not having Andy here to cuddle up with in bed was a definite negative. Those were my last thoughts as I laid my head on the pillow of my bed and sleep overtook me.



Chapter 11. Ripples In The Water.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound had burned into my brain. I couldn't forget that sound if I lived to be one thousand years old. Even now, here in the waiting room I could still hear that sound. The worst part was the waiting. Trying to read my book was a sham at best. I was half way through the book and I hadn't the foggiest notion what the story was about. Have you ever tried NOT to think about something? It's difficult isn't it? Well, then you have some dim idea of what I was dealing with.

Now imagine that you are on stage in front of a concert hall packed with the worst drama and theater critics who ever lived. Your whole world depends on you giving a stellar performance, you've had a grand total of maybe thirty seconds to rehearse, and you've never seen the script before. Now if you have followed me this far, take that feeling and multiple it a thousand fold and you will get some inkling of what I was feeling and dealing with as I sat there in that waiting room. It was all I could do to keep up the sham of reading my book and waiting for some news. I suppose I could have gone home. There was no doubt that it would have been easier on me, but I wouldn't have felt any better. If anything I would have worried more, and if I was going to worry I might as well do it in a room where people were expected to worry.

I closed my book, and laid it on my lap as I quietly gave up on trying to do any more reading. I closed my eyes and the events of the past few hours came rolling back into my mind, unbidden and unwelcome. I didn't want to think about it, to go through it again, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as the tides of memory washed over me and dragged me out into the sea of despair again.

It was early Thursday evening when Chuck called on me. I can still remember the look on Chuck's face when I answered the door after he'd rung my bell. (Looking back on it now, he had that cool, detached, professional look on his face that could only mean bad news. At the time though, I had no idea what that look meant.) I invited Chuck inside and asked him if he wanted a coffee. Chuck followed me inside, declining the coffee and asked me to sit down with him on the sofa.

"So what's on your mind, Chuck?" I asked him cheerfully as we sat down on the sofa next to each other.

"There's no easy way to say this, Paul," Chuck said softy, turning away from me.

"To say what, Chuck?" I asked him curious as to why he seemed so subdued.

Chuck turned his head slowly back towards me. "It's Andy," he blurted out, looking directly in my eyes.

"Andy?" I repeated not understanding, or not wanting to understand, what he was implying.

"Yes, Andy," Chuck said quietly. "He's been shot, while on duty."

"Shot?" I asked stunned. Suddenly I felt I'd just been shot. Shot through the heart. "Andy's been shot?" I asked stupidly. (As if Chuck was going to come and tell me that some other RCMP constable had been shot. Well, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time.)

"Yes, Andy's been shot," Chuck confirmed quietly. "I'm so sorry. I thought it best if you heard the news from me. No one else on the force is likely to tell you." There were tears starting to form in Chuck's eyes as he stared into mine. They said far more than his words ever could. Chuck sniffed back a sob once or twice as I sat there paralysed by the completely unexpected news.

"Is he?" I asked, unable to complete the sentence.

"No," Chuck choked out the words. "He's not dead, but he is badly wounded. I.II don't know many of the details. I do know that he's in surgery right now."

I sat there looking at Chuck and tried to slowly absorb his words. Andy wasn't dead. I let the relief of that truth wash over me like a sudden spring shower falling down on just planted bedding plants. It didn't wash away my worries, but it did bring hope. I cling to that thread of hope as I let the meaning of Chuck's other words sink into my mind. Andy was hurt. He was hurt badly. He was in surgery.

Chuck's soft sobbing wrenched my attention away from my own worries and back to the big strong man in the RCMP uniform who was sitting next to me, and weeping like a lost little boy looking for his mommy. I reached out with my arms and slowly, carefully, gently I wrapped them about Chuck. I pulled Chuck next to me, next to my chest. I cradled him in my arms as best I could, and I held him close. I joined him in his crying. I sobbed along with Chuck. I felt Chuck's arms snake their way about me as he enfolded me in his arms. Sometimes, there are no words. Only tears. Only holding, and hanging on.

We stayed like that for a while. How long, I can't say. We cried until we couldn't cry anymore. Finally, we broke away from each other. I handed Chuck a Kleenex . We both wiped our tear stained faces as we tried to regain our composure.

"I'm sorry, Paul," Chuck said to me as he looked at me. "I didn't meant to break down like that."

"It's okay Chuck. Sometimes what you need is a good long cry, instead of a good strong drink," I said to him. "Thank you for telling about Andy."

"I thought he'd want you to know," Chuck muttered.

"I'm sure he would, and I know he'll thank you for doing this, for coming over here to tell me this news. Can you drive me to the hospital?" I asked Chuck.

"Yes, but do you think that's wise?" Chuck retorted.

"Wise? What do you mean?" I asked curious as to where Chuck was going with this.

"You can't come unglued at the hospital, like you did just now, Paul," Chuck said stonily, but with a gleam of compassion in his eyes. "You know what that would mean for Andy. If you can't play the part of being a good friend of his, then you'd best stay away from Andy."

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face. I looked at Chuck and felt a flash of anger surge through me. As quickly as it came, it left me. Chuck was right. God damn it, he was right. I couldn't let my true feelings show if I were to see Andy in public. I took a couple of deep breaths. "I can do this Chuck," I said to him a cool calm voice. "Just let me get a book to take with me, and we can be on our way." I stood up and walked into my bedroom to get the novel that I was reading.

"Fine," Chuck called out to me as I started to leave the room. "I'm sorry to have to put you through this. I know you care about Andy, but so do I. I won't let you jeopardize his RCMP career."

I stopped, and turned around. I walked over to Chuck and placed my right hand on his left shoulder. "You're right, Chuck," I said to him as I surrendered to the logic of his argument. "Please, promise me that if you see me start to slip up, you'll hustle me out of there for a coffee or something. Okay?"

"Yeah, but if you're not sure you can do this, should you even be going?" Chuck inquired as he looked into my eyes with concern.
"I don't know if I can do it," I admitted. "I only know that I have to try. I have to be there for Andy however I can. For his sake, more so than mine, I'll pull it off." I looked at Chuck and gave him a half smile of encouragement. I looked down at myself and realized that I'd have to change my clothes before I left. I couldn't wear my sweats to the hospital.

"Just give me a few minutes to change," I said as I headed off to my bedroom.

"Sure. No problem," Chuck called out to me in a more civilized tone.

I think I broke some type of world record for changing my clothes. I joined Chuck back in the living room in less than two minutes. Wordlessly Chuck stood up and escorted me to the front door of my apartment. We were out of my apartment, with the front door securely locked, and heading down to the garage in the elevator, thirty seconds later. After we exited from the elevator, I followed Chuck to his car. It wasn't a police car, incidentally. I climbed into the passenger seat and fasten my seat belt. Chuck strapped himself in and started the engine. The trip to the hospital with Chuck was uneventful. We sat in silence, each lost to our own thoughts. What was there to say? We were both worried sick about Andy.

When we arrived at the hospital it was a quick trip up to the waiting area for the intensive care ward. Andy was still in surgery when we arrived. The waiting area was packed with cops. There was a mixture of male and female police officers in the room, all of whom were buddies or friends of Andy's. I felt slightly out of place, especially since I was in one of my cowboy outfits. The only bright spot, if you can call it that, was that Andy's parents and other family members were not here. Well, not yet anyway. Andy's family lived in another province so it would be a day or so before they arrived. I picked out a chair that was out of the way, sort of tucked away in a corner, sat down and tried to read my book.

A few hours later I caught a glimpse of Andy on the gurney as he was being wheeled from the operating room, to one of the recovery rooms in the ward. I gulped as I saw how pale and drained his face looked. I heard the steady rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor as Andy was wheeled down the hall. It took all of the strength that I had to stay in that chair and not move a muscle towards Andy. A very large piece of my heart and my soul accompanied Andy on that gurney. I felt as if I had been torn in two.

So here I was giving the same performance that Jack Jones had played when Steven Stokes had been shot. Back then I'd wondered if I'd be able to do as Jack had done. Now, to my everlasting sorrow, I knew that I could take on that role. It was the only role available to me. "God damn society anyway!" I silently cursed at the injustice and unfairness of the world. The man I loved, who meant more to me than anyone else I knew, was lying in a room, fighting for his life, and I couldn't even go in there to hold his hand. I'd never felt so angry, confused, hurt, scared, worried, terrified and miserable in my entire life. You'd never have known it to look at me though. I let only a few traces of my worry and concern creep out onto my face. The rest of the maelstrom I kept bottled up inside of me. A part of me was amazed at my control. I guess you never really know what you are capable of doing, until you are forced in to doing it.

"How are you doing, Paul?" Asked a deep commanding familiar voice from somewhere off to my left side. It was a voice that I knew. It snapped my attention back to the present.

I opened my eyes and turned in the direction of the voice. It was Chuck, just as I'd thought. "I'm okay," I answered quietly as I sighed. "Any news about Andy?" I asked softly.

"Only that he's out of danger," Chuck answered. "I don't mean to sound unkind, but why don't you head on home? You're not doing any good here. I'll let you know the second there is any news. Frankly, Paul, you look like you could use some rest. You really look beat."

"Thank you, Chuck," I answered calmly. "But I prefer to stay here unless it's a problem for someone. Like you I'm worried about Andy. Sitting here is as good a place as any to worry."

"Actually, it is a problem, " Chuck said softly, as he looked me in the eyes. "I was nominated to be the person to ask you to please leave."

"Leave? Why" I asked dumbfounded. I was shocked and a bit upset at this unusual request from Chuck. I remained seated where I was. I was too stunned to move.

"Well, to put it bluntly, you're not a cop. We can't talk about certain things with you around," Chuck said solemnly. "It's nothing personal. It's just that you are not a member of the force. So, it would be easier for all concerned if you would please leave."

"Was this your idea, Chuck?" I asked him as I felt myself starting to get angry. I was starting to wonder if is this was more because I was gay, than because I wasn't a cop.

"No, it was mine," answered a woman's voice from off to the side.

I turned to my left to see a woman in an RCMP uniform, now standing beside Chuck. She was about five feet nine inches in height, with a solid almost stocky build to her body. She looked like she could more than hold her own in any brawl or fight. She had close cropped brunette hair, that framed a very beautiful face. (Hey, just because I'm gay doesn't mean I don't notice and appreciate a beautiful woman. I just wouldn't want to become intimate with her. Easy stomach. Don't turn over, now.) Her skin was clear and smooth. Her nose was small as were her lips and her mouth. A pair of steel gray eyes gazed out from that lovely face. They were the only thing about her face which suggested that there was more to her than just good looks and a well toned body.

"As Chuck said, there are things that we need to talk about, and having you here would make that rather difficult," the female constable said to me locking those cool steel gray eyes of hers on mine, as she looked down at me. "I am sorry to have to ask you to leave, but it is necessary. You simply do not belong here."

Now I knew what it meant when cops 'close ranks' on you. If you are not part of the force, you're not part of their world. I decided not to make an issue of the request. This was not the mountain that I wanted to die on, if you follow my meaning. Besides, it might raise suspicions about me and Andy.

"As you wish," I said as I slowly stood up, turned and began walking towards the bank of elevators. After a few steps I stopped, turned about and addressed the female constable.

"Just because I'm not a cop, doesn't make me any less Andy's friend than you," I said to her coolly, locking my eyes with hers. "Because I'm Andy's friend, I'll do as you ask. I'm going to grab something in the hospital cafeteria, and will wait there for the next hour or so. If you hear any news about Andy, I would appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to drop by and tell me."

I looked at the female constable standing by Chuck for a second or two before I turned about and resumed my trip to the elevators. My ears strained to hear some acknowledgment of my request. I heard nothing. Boy when cops close ranks, they really close ranks. It was with a heavy heart, and a distinct lack of appetite that I made my way to the cafeteria.

I bought a cup of coffee a ham and cheese sandwich, and took my tray to a remote corner of the cafeteria when I arrived there. The place was about half full. Oddly enough, I found the sounds of people talking and the general clatter to be comforting. I opened my book, turned to the first page and stated reading it. This time, I actually managed to follow the story line. Slowly I became engrossed in the book and didn't notice the passage of time. I sipped the coffee and nibbled away at the sandwich as I read my book. Despite rumors to the contrary, the hospital cafeteria food was pretty good. I glanced down at my watch mildly surprised to see that about forty-five minutes had passed. It was still too soon to head back to the ICU waiting area, so I decided to stay in the cafeteria and continue reading my book.

I was snatched away from the storyline by the sound of a vaguely familiar voice calling out, "Hello there, Paul. May I join you?"

I looked up in surprise to see the pleasantly smiling face of Bernie Simpson, one of the doctors who worked at this hospital. Bernie was about 35 years old, physically fit, and appeared to be of average build, no noticeable muscles but no gut, either. Bernie was as good looking as ever with his full head of medium length black hair, neatly combed. His lean and slightly taunt face had a certain boyish youth to it that added to the aura of trust and confidence that seemed to surround him. Clean shaven, with clear and smooth skin, his face was very handsome. His lips were thin, and his mouth looked soft and sensual. Perched on his nose was a pair of sliver rimmed glasses which did not block the view of his clear gray eyes. Unlike the first time that I'd met him, those eyes were as soft, warm and sensual as the rest of his face. Right now they glowed with warmth and cheerfulness at seeing an old friend.

"Hi Bernie," I said cordially, if not cheerfully. "Sure you can join me. I welcome the company."

"It's been a while since we've seen each other, Paul," Bernie said calmly. "I'm happy to have run into like this. I was sort of hoping for another session sometime soon. It seems that we just haven't had much of a chance to get together."

"Well, there's nothing like coming to the point, Bernie," I said calmly. (Bernie, if you had not already guessed, was one of my former subjects, although in his case it was done as defensive action on my part. Bernie had tried to blackmail me and Steven Stokes. It had been necessary to teach Bernie a lesson or two. Since then we've been good friends. Bernie respects me for what I can do to guys with hypnosis, but more importantly for what it is that I don't do. Bernie even bought me a expensive gift one time: A matching cowboy belt buckle and bolo tie set from one of my favorite western wear stores. What made it all the more touching is that Bernie did this completely on his own, without any suggestion or command from me. Okay. Enough about the past.)

"I can't recall the last time you phoned me for a session," I commented to Bernie as the last of those thoughts flashed through my mind. "Been kind of busy, have you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Bernie agreed emphatically. "That's one of the reasons I could really use a session with you. I need to let go and not feel in charge any more, if you know what I mean."

"Maybe someday soon," I said halfheartedly. "I'm not in the mood right now."

"Of course not now, Paul," Bernie said cheerfully. Then Bernie looked closely at my face and a look of concern crept over his face. "Paul, what's wrong?"

"Nothing you can help me with, Bernie," I said, avoiding a direct answer to his question.

"Come on, Paul," Bernie persisted. "Someone else who didn't know you as well as I do might buy that line. Something's really bothering you, I can tell. Care to talk about it? It might help you feel better to talk about it."

"A friend of mine is here in the hospital," I answered with a sigh. "I'm waiting for news about him."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it's nothing serious. Waiting in the cafeteria seems rather strange to me, Paul," Bernie said with a doubting look on his face. "Most people would wait in the waiting room. That's why it's called a waiting room, you know."

"I am well aware of that, Bernie," I said coldly to him, and then looked away from him. His faint attempt at humor was most unwelcome.

"Hey, Paul, I'm sorry," Bernie said contritely. "I don't know what's wrong, but I'm always here to listen. You should know that. Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Bernie," I apologized as I turned my head back towards Bernie and looked at those gray eyes of his that were overflowing with concern and compassion. "I really can't talk about it here in public."

"Oh, I see," Bernie said thoughtfully. "Well, I'm on my dinner break. We could go to my office and talk in private if you like."

"Yeah, I think I'd like that," I agreed quietly. I felt the need to talk to someone about how I felt, and I was touched by Bernie's offer. "Lead the way."

"Come on, then," Bernie said as he stood up and gestured for me to stand up.

I climbed to my feet and quietly followed Bernie out to the bank of elevators. The trip to his office was quiet and silent. Bernie knew that I wouldn't talk before we got to his office. As for me, I knew that I could trust Bernie. He was easily controlled by me, and if I ever told him anything that I did not want him to remember, I could easily remove that knowledge from his mind, or block him from remembering it. In all the times that I had hypnotized Bernie, though, such steps had never been necessary. Bernie and I had developed an unexpected and deep friendship over the past year or so. I helped him out with his stress and frustration from his job, and he was my totally willing and obedient hypnotized slave. Not because I asked him or commanded him to do that, but because he wanted to.

Bernie was one of those guys who enjoyed being hypnotized and then being made to serve and obey. It was a complete role reversal for him. In his job as a doctor, he was always 'in charge' and had a mountain of responsibilities and duties to deal with. It was a profound relief for him to let someone else take over all the decision making and to just go along with whatever was asked of him. Over the months I had proved to Bernie that I would never ask him to do anything that he might have seriously objected to. I also made it clear to him that I wasn't interested in having sex with him. Bernie was certainly good looking enough, but my promise to Andy overrode any lustful considerations. I shoved that thought roughly aside. Any thoughts about Andy were painful right now.

We arrived at Bernie's office a very short while later. I made myself comfortable in one of the leather overstuffed chairs while Bernie closed and locked the door.

"Paul, we're alone now," Bernie said quietly as he sat down opposite me in another of the dark leather overstuffed chairs. "We have all the time in the world. I'm all ears."

I looked up at Bernie, torn between the desire to keep my feelings to myself, and to open up and pour out my troubles to him. Bernie waited patiently, letting me move at my own pace, my own speed. I sat in that chair unsure what to do. I just looked at Bernie, letting the confusion and indecision lie clearly on my face.

Bernie reached over and gently took my right hand and held it in both of his. "Let me help, please," he pleaded softly, his voice soothing and reassuring. "It's what friends do. You are one of my closest and dearest friends, Paul. You've always been there for me when I needed a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on or just someone to listen to. Now, it's my turn to help you. So, please, let me help. Tell me what's wrong."

I held up my left hand. "See this ring?" I asked him. Bernie flicked his eyes to my left hand noticed the ring encircling my left ring finger, and nodded his head. "I'm involved with someone, a man who is very dear and precious to me. He's in the hospital, this hospital. But because we're gay I can't visit him openly. We're.we're both still in the closet. It's kind of complicated." I paused and swallowed. I didn't want to say any more.

"And?" Bernie prompted me after a few minutes of silence.

"It's not fair!" I blurted out, as the pent up anger, frustration and fear flooded out of me. "All I want to do is to go into his room, hold his hand and tell him how much I love him, and I can't BLOODY WELL DO THAT! All I can be is a concerned friend! I was even told to leave because I wasn't a cop! IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!!" I whaled in frustration and anguish.

"I can't see him! I can't hold him! I can't tell him that I love him, and that I'm worried about him!" I screamed out into the quiet of the room as I vented my frustration and anger at Bernie. "He's lying there in a hospital bed, probably wondering where the hell I am! Wondering if I even care about him! All because of his GOD DAMN JOB! JESUS FUCKING CHIRST!! IT'S JUST NOT GOD DAMN FAIR!!!" Several huge sobs racked my frame as I fought back the urge to cry like a baby. It was a difficult fight, but I won. I kept control and didn't start bawling. Still it was a near thing, a very near thing.

"I'm sorry, Paul," Bernie said soothingly, in the now quiet room. "For all the bigoted, closed-mined people in the world, I'm sorry. You can take a swing at me, if it'll make you feel better."

I looked at Bernie, who was sitting in front of me and pointing at his chin with his right index finger. I stared at him for a second or two and then broke out into laughter at the absurdity of his suggestion, and pose he had struck. As if I would hit Bernie because of the social conventions in society. My laughter was short, but very therapeutic. "No, Bernie, I don't think that's going to be necessary," I chuckled, as I leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the left side of his face. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Feel better?" Bernie asked as he let go of my hand. Bernie had not reacted to my kissing him on the cheek. He had not flinched, or drawn away from me. He had accepted the kiss for what it was intended as, a sincere thank you. Bernie was a my friend.

"Much," I answered. "It doesn't change the situation, but at least I don't feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders anymore. I guess I should have expected something like this. Andy did warn me after all."

"Constable Andrew Anderson?" Bernie asked me, softly. "He's your partner?"

"Yes, but how did you know?" I asked stunned.

"He's the only male police officer, with the first name of Andy, who has been admitted to the ICU ward in the last few hours," Bernie answered.

"Oops. I guess I slipped up there," I admitted. "You weren't supposed to know that he's gay, you know."

"Don't worry about it, Paul," Bernie said warmly. "My blackmail days are over. However, I might just be able to solve your little problem," he continued as a thoughtful look crept over his features.

"Say what?" I asked stunned at Bernie's implication.

"I am working on that ward, so I might just be able to pull a few strings, and get you in to see Andy," Bernie said enthusiastically. "But, it would have be outside of normal visiting hours. Can you meet me here Saturday night at say 7:00 PM?"

"Here in your office?" I asked totally confused as to what he was planning.

"Yes, here," Bernie confirmed. "Just write down what size clothes you wear, your shoe size and your hat size, before you go."

"Go? Go where?" I asked feeling more lost than ever.

"Home," Bernie said confidently. "You look like you need to get some rest. I have a few things to check out, and some things to take care of to get ready for Saturday night. Now you just take a cab home, unless you'd rather have me drive you home."

"No, that's okay. I'll take a cab home," I answered as I stood up and walked over to Bernie's desk. I snagged an empty writing pad and a pen. "Just what is it that you have in mind, Bernie?" I asked him, point blank, while I wrote down the information that he'd asked me for.

"Trust me," Bernie said with a confident smile. "It's nothing illegal, although I may have to bend a few hospital regulations." And with that Bernie telephoned one of the local cab companies, and asked for a cab. Bernie shooed me out of his office with an injunction to be on time Saturday evening. His only response was to 'wait and see', when I repeatedly asked him what he was planning.

The cab ride home was uneventful. I got home at about 10:30 PM. There was a message on my telephone answering machine from Chuck. It was short and to the point. Andy was out of danger, and was doing as well as could be expected. The doctors were not letting him have any visitors for the next three days, so I didn't need to go to the hospital.
I was able to fall asleep rather easily that night, in part due to the relief in knowing that Andy was going to be okay, and in part due to the accumulated stress of the entire evening.

Work the next day was uneventful, if somewhat long. I couldn't recall a work day dragging on as long as that one did. My mind wasn't exactly on the job, but I made it through the day, somehow. Saturday was worse though. I didn't have work to occupy my mind, so I did everything else I could think of to help pass the time. I read books, watched some movies and even went surfing on the net. Finally five o'clock arrived and I make myself something to eat. I wasn't very hungry but it helped to pass the time. I swear that when supper was over, I paced a rut in my carpet as I waited for 6:30 PM to arrive. I figured a half an hour would be enough time to call for a cab and for the ride to the hospital, but that didn't help to make the minutes pass by any quicker. I caught the cab and let it whisk me off to the hospital. I was dying of curiosity as to what Bernie had in mind, and I was anxious to see Andy too, so the cab ride seemed interminably long.

I paid the cab driver giving him a nice tip in the process, after I arrived at the hospital. I hurried up to Bernie's office. I looked down at my watch to see that it was 6:56 PM. Okay, so I was a coupe of minutes early. I knocked on the door of Bernie's office. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a smiling Bernie standing there.

"Come on in, Paul," he urged me. "I'm pleased to see you're on time." Bernie moved aside to let me pass.

"It's good to see you again, Bernie," I greeted him as a walked past him into his office.

Bernie closed and locked the door to his office, then he turned about to address me. "I hope you have on clean underwear," Bernie said with a chuckle.

'Clean underwear? What in the world are you talking about, Bernie?" I asked caught off guard by the comment.

Bernie gestured towards the top of his desk, with a huge grin on his face, and a twinkle in his eyes.

I walked over to his desk and looked down to see a pile of pale green clothing. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was though. It seemed vaguely familiar somehow, but I couldn't seem to place it. I looked back at Bernie, with a blank and mystified expression on my face.

"Don't you think you'd better change into your surgical garb before you go and see your patient, Doctor Smith?" Bernie asked with a chuckle at my confusion.

The light bulb went off over my head. I finally got it. I grinned back at Bernie as I answered him. 'Of course, Doctor Simpson. But turn your back first. I'm modest."

Bernie chuckled and snorted his laughter at me, but he turned his back to me nonetheless. Bernie was many things and one of them was a gentleman.

I slipped off my black bull hide leather cowboy boots, and unbuckled my dark blue denim jeans. I had my jeans undone and lying in a crumpled heap on the floor faster than you could say 'jackrabbit'. My pale yellow cowboy shirt followed. I took off my black cowboy hat and set it down on the top of Bernie's desk, off to the side away from the pile of green hospital garb. I was highly motivated to change my clothes as quickly as I could. I desperately wanted to see Andy, and the sooner I changed the sooner I could see him. Love does that to you, I guess.

"Bernie would you mind helping me with this?" I called out to him as I stood there in my stocking feet, with only my undershirt and cotton briefs on. I wasn't sure exactly how to put this stuff on.

"Sure. Just waiting for you to ask me," Bernie replied as he turned about and walked over to where I was standing. Bernie didn't blink an eye at seeing me standing there in only my underwear and stocks. He'd seen more than his fair share of nude and partly nude male bodies over the years. Mine was nothing new or remarkable. With Bernie's expert help I was soon garbed like a surgeon, with the light green surgical hat on my head, a short sleeved light green surgical shirt draped over my torso, and light green surgical pants with an elastic waistband snuggled up about my legs and pelvis. One my feet were a pair of light green surgical shoes. I was not wearing surgical gloves. A surgical mask was tied about my head so that the lower part of my face was concealed. It was a clever disguise, I had to admit that. I wouldn't look out of place, and I could still conceal my identity.

The trip from Bernie's office to the ICU ward was much shorter than I remembered it. I think the fact that I was nervous, even hiding behind the surgical mask, made the time seem to pass very quickly.

"You're doing fine, Doctor Smith," Bernie whispered encouragingly to me as we neared the nurse's desk.

"Thanks, Doctor Simpson," I whispered back. We made it past the nurse's desk without incident. (Like I should have been expecting them to stop me, ask me for my ID and frisk me?) Bernie lead the way to the private room where Andy was recovering. We made our way inside without further comment or incident. Once inside Bernie checked that the door was closed before he began speaking. We couldn't exactly lock the door without causing suspicions to be raised.

I looked about the semi-dark room. It was a typical hospital room. White, clean, and sterile. Totally without even the slightest human touch. A room whose only function was as a place to put a hospital bed and a bunch of equipment. Andy was lying in the hospital bed. The bed sheets were pulled up over Andy's body covering it completely from his chin to his toes, except for his huge muscular arms that lay limply on either side of his enshrouded body. His eyes were closed, and his face was slack. He looked as if he were asleep. He also looked tired as if he had just come off of a double shift at work. An oxygen tube just under his nose was held in place by an elastic band that wrapped around his head. Andy's hair was matted with sweat and looked like an unmade bed. Despite all that, he was the most handsome and beautiful sight I had seen in the past three days! My first thought as I stood there looking at Andy in the subdued lighting of the room, was that I loved him, and I hoped he wasn't suffering. I didn't move towards him though. I just stood there looking at him. I had to adjust to the situation gradually, and if the truth be told I was a bit scared about going over and waking him up. There was something else rolling around in the back of my mind that kept me from going over to speak with Andy. Bernie had so such qualms. He walked up to where Andy was lying on the bed and looked him over carefully with his doctor's eye. Bernie turned away from Andy and looked over the monitoring equipment.

While Bernie was occupied, I looked about the room, hoping that something would click and I'd be able to figure out what was causing this slight sense of unease that was troubling me. My gaze fell upon Bernie, and the feeling got stronger. It wasn't the same creepy feeling I got when my metal powers signaled a potential threat to me. But looking at Bernie seemed to draw the thought closer to the surface of my mind. I looked away from Bernie and looked about the room. I looked at Andy and then looked back at Bernie. This was an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) recovery room., but that shouldn't' be causing me unease. I had been in one before. A sudden wave of déjà vu rolled over me and I remembered what it was that has been gnawing at the edge of my mind. The camera! This was ICU recovery room so it was monitored by close circuit television cameras. Somewhere in this room was a camera and a microphone. I walked over to Bernie and carefully grabbed his right elbow with my left hand. I tugged gently but firmly on his right elbow in an unmistakable signal for him to come with me. Bernie looked up at me in surprise for a second, but quietly complied with my silent order. I lead him towards the door. When we got to the door I stopped and let go of his arm.

"Bernie, this room is monitored, remember?" I whispered to him as softly as I could.

"Yes, of course it is," he whispered back, not understanding what it was that I was alluding to. He looked at me, blinking his eyes in genuine confusion. Then he smiled at me as he caught on to what it was that I was so worried about. "You need not worry about the security camera or the copies of the security tape, Paul," Bernie whispered to me. "A mutual friend of ours is on duty tonight, and he will hand that."

"Mutual friend?" I whispered the question at him.

"Remember the security guard Jay Turner that you, ah, handled the first time that you and I met? He still works here. As a favour to me and you, I asked him to change shifts and work tonight," Bernie explained quietly. "He'll erase the section of this tape that deals with your visiting Andy tonight. You can remove your mask in complete safety, Paul. Consider this my gift to you and Andy."

"Thank you, Bernie," I said fighting to get the words past the sudden lump that appeared in my throat. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Oh, I think I have some idea," Bernie assured me as he spoke without whispering. Bernie shot me a look of slight worry as he continued speaking. "There is one little catch though."

"Oh, and what would that be?" I asked quietly, as I paused in the act of taking my surgical mask off. I began wondering where this conversation was heading.

"When Jay Turner found out it was you that he was doing this favour for, he insisted that you return the favour in a specific manner," Bernie hedged as he answered my question. "I sort of had to tell him it was you. He wouldn't do it as a favour to me, nor as a favour for a mutual friend. He wanted to know who the mutual friend was, so I had to tell him it was you, Paul. He uh he wants another session with you. He wants to continue where the two of you left off, what ever that means."

"I see," I said, as I quickly recalled the one and only session I'd had with Jay Turner just over a year ago. "But if he wanted another session, why didn't he ever call me?"

"I asked him that too," Bernie replied. "He said something about not being able to work up the nerve to call you, and being afraid that you'd say 'no'. Now that you owe him a favour he figures that you won't turn him down."

"Well he's right about that," I admitted. "I won't say 'no' to him. I owe him for this, and I pay my debts. I only hope he doesn't want it too soon, as I don't think I'm going to have much in the way of free time for a while."

"Deal with that later, Paul," Bernie said to me. "I think there's something more important you need to do right now." Bernie looked down at his watch. "You have about thirty minutes until the night duty nurse comes by on her rounds, if she's on time. Now don't waste any more time. Shoo!" Bernie muttered at me as he gently pushed me in the direction of Andy's hospital bed.

I nodded my head in silent agreement as I slipped the surgical mask off of my face and walked over to the bed where my beloved Andy lay. I moved one of the chairs beside the bed and sat down next to Andy, on the right side of the bed. Slowly I reached out with my right arm and placed my right hand on top of Andy's right hand. I didn't say anything. I couldn't have, even if I'd tried to. There was no way I could talk past the sudden huge lump that took up permanent residence in my throat. Forgotten, at least for now, were Bernie, Jay Turner and the rest of the world. I gloried in the simple touch of my hand on Andy's. The warmth and firmness of his skin, gave me comfort and strength. It helped to ease the aching heart that I had been carrying around in my chest for the past few days.

I looked down at that strong handsome face of Andy's that I'd come to know so well. The face that I had covered with kisses so many times. The face that had always been strong, firm, and at the same time soft, gentle and kind. Only now that face looked pale, tired and deeply etched with pain. Andy was alive and getting better. Given time he would recover. I kept those two thoughts foremost in my mind as I sat there and held Andy's hand. Seeing him lying there looking so vulnerable, helpless, and mortal was shocking to me. I had to deal with it gradually, one minute at a time. I'd always thought of Andy as more than able to take care of himself in any situation. To see him here, fighting for his life, fighting to get better, made me realize that I had started to take Andy for granted. I had started to assume that Andy was always going to be in my life. I felt the cold finger of Death travel up and down my spine a few times as I sat there holding Andy's hand. The message was delivered with crystal clarity. Nothing is permanent. Everyone's days are numbered. Appreciate every day that you are given, especially the days that you are privileged to share with your soul mate.

"I love you, Andy," I said softly to him, somehow managing to get the words out around that lump in my throat. "I'm here, and I love you. I'm holding your hand Andy." I said as I blinked back the tears that threaten to spill out of my eyes. I didn't want to wake up Andy. I knew he needed his rest. I recalled someone once telling me that even when a person is unconscious they can hear you. So I spoke to Andy. Even if he didn't hear me, it helped me to feel better.

"I'm sorry that I took so long to get here, Dear Heart," I muttered to him. "It was difficult to arrange for special visiting hours, Andy. Don't worry though, my love. No one is going to know our secret. It's safe. You're safe. So you can relax and get the rest you need. I've missed you terribly. I love you, Andy. If you don't remember anything else from my visit tonight, remember that I love you. Now and forever." I spoke past the tears that trickled down my cheeks and past that lump lodged in my throat.

I paused for a moment as I tried to think of something more to say. Tears continued to course down my cheeks but I paid them no mind. I squeezed Andy's right hand with mine, gently in a silent gesture of caring and love. "Feel that, Andy?" I asked him, not bothering to wait for an answer. "It's me, Paul. I'm here and I'm holding on. I'm here for you now. I'll always be here for you. You just think about getting well, and getting out of here. I'll be waiting for you, always." I squeezed Andy's hand a couple more times as I blinked away at the tears that wouldn't seem to leave me alone. I closed my eyes squeezing out the last of the tears, and sat there holding Andy's hand with nothing more to say.

"Texas," a soft voice whispered weakly.

"Dear Heart!" I cried out joyfully as my eyes popped open and I leaned forward over Andy's hospital bed.

"You came. I knew you would," Andy croaked, as he looked up at me the love shining in those soft doe brown eyes of his. "Water please?"

"Right," I said as I reach over and plucked up the hospital drinking glass from the night table beside Andy's bed. A drinking straw had been thoughtfully provided. I filled the glass half full from the water pitcher and held the drinking glass near Andy's mouth. I had to let go of his hand, but I'm sure he understood. Carefully I placed the straw in his mouth.

Andy pressed his lips down on the straw and took a few sips and swallows of water. Less than a minute later he released the straw from his lips. A sure sign that he was finished. I replaced the drinking glass on the night table.

"Why the tears, Texas? Cowboys don't cry," Andy said softly as he gazed at my tear streaked face.

"This cowboy does, because he loves you," I answered with a sob. "I'm just so damn happy that you're going to be okay, dear heart. And, I sure as hell missed you. I'm sorry I'm late."

"I'm glad that you came, but you took a pretty big risk," Andy said in a clearer and much less frog like voice. "What if someone finds you here?" Andy asked worriedly. His voice might have been clearer but it was still very weak.

"Not to worry, love. Bernie took care of that," I assured him, as I reached for a tissue from the bedside stand and wiped away the tears and tear tracks from my face. "How else do you think I managed to get in here this late at night, and dressed like a surgeon to boot?"

"Bernie?" Andy asked, puzzled.

"Long story, love," I said as I brushed aside his inquiry. "Let me give you the Reader's Digest version. Bernie's the doctor in charge of this ward. He's an old friend and subject of mine. He even took care of the security camera. Bernie arranged it so that the security guard on duty tonight would be an old subject and friend of mine. This man, is taking care of the security tapes. We have nothing to fear, Dear Heart. We can talk openly and no one will know. Our secret is safe."

'You do have connections, don't you?" Andy joked weakly, and smiled at me.

"I prefer to call them my friends. The best of friends, yes," I agreed, as I took his right hand in both of my hands and held on to it firmly but not tightly. "Chuck told me that you're going to be okay, although it will a few weeks before you'll be back on duty. The important thing is that you get the rest you need and build up your strength."

"No, the important thing is that you know how much I love you for coming to see me tonight," Andy said looked up at me with the love and devotion he felt for me plain on his face. "I know it wasn't easy for you to stay away. I know my police brothers and sisters. They would have pulled together and shut you out. I've seen it happen many times before. I've been a part of that. Please don't be angry with them. Please Paul, try to understand. Itheywe share a special relationship a closeness that doesn't include outsiders. I'm sorry that you had to be hurt by that, really I am."

I couldn't believe it! Here was Andy in a hospital bed, still recovering from a traumatic event and he was concerned about my feelings having been hurt by his 'cop family' shutting me out. "It's okay Andy, I understand," I told him honesty, as I squeezed his hand. "I was surprised and hurt by it, but I understand. Your police brothers and sisters don't know about us, so I can't expect them to know how much I love you. The pain and hurt I felt came from ignorance on their part, not malice. They love you, just as I do. It's water under the bridge. Forget about it."

"Thank you, Texas," Andy said with a sob, and tears glistened in his eyes. "Texas really suits you, you know. Not only are you my lone star, but you have a heart as big as Texas too. Thank you for loving me."

"Loving you is the greatest joy I have ever known, Dear Heart," I said with a stifled sob of my own. "And your love for me is the greatest gift I could ever ask for." I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, pressing firmly but gently.

"I don't deserve a man like you," Andy said with a smile. A yawn forced its way past his lips as the exhaustion he had been valiantly holding back crept up on him.

"I'm sorry love, but I'll have to leave now," I told him. "I don't want to go, but you need to rest. I know our time was all too short but we have to be grateful for what time we do have together. I don't know if I'll be able to visit you again while you're still here." I left unasked the question.

"I know," Andy agreed. Another yawn overtook him. I waited as he struggled to speak again. "I don't like to admit it, but it would be better, and safer if you didn't try another secret visit like this. We shouldn't push our luck."

"Don't you ever find it boring always being right?" I asked him jokingly, as I smiled my best smile at him. "Okay, no more secret visits. How about if I just stop by to wish you well, as one of your buddies?"

"Lord knows I'd like it to be more, but that will have to do," Andy answered, throwing a tender smile back at me. "I promise you now, on my honor as an RCMP constable, that I'll make this up to you. We'll have some special time of our own, just the two of us." Somehow Andy managed to flash me his best and sexiest smile and to raise and lower his eyebrows suggestively. He even managed to give my right hand a weak squeeze.
"I can't believe you!" I said in mock annoyance. "Here you are laid up in a hospital bed, dead tired, and you're propositioning me!"

"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather proposition, Texas," Andy said with a wink.

"Good night, Dear Heart," I said as I kissed him on the forehead and gave his right hand one last squeeze. I pulled my mask up over my face. "I love you, Andy." I said from behind my mask.

"I love you, Texas," Andy said and then closed his eyes as he finally surrendered his fight to stay awake. He was asleep in an instant. His face was relaxed, peaceful and calm. The lines of pain and worry that had marked his face earlier were gone now. His mind was at ease, and for that I was truly thankful.

I walked to where Bernie was sitting in the other chair across the room. I knew why Bernie had stayed in the room. He had been guarding the door in case the floor nurse came in unexpectedly. Bernie would give me enough time to put my mask back over my face, and to warn Andy to close his eyes and lie still. We were fortunate that this hadn't happened. We had been pushing our luck, although the odds were that if the nurse had caught it I could have adjusted her mind to remove all knowledge and memory of my visit tonight.

"Guard duty is over, Bernie," I said to him smiling behind my mask. "Thank you. I think we'd best head back."

"Okay," Bernie agreed as he stood up and walked towards the door. Our trip back to Bernie's office was as uneventful as the trip from his office had been. Thanks to my disguise we blended into the background hospital activity and no one took undue notice of my secret visit to Andy's room. Thanks to Jay Turner's help, the security cameras would have no record of it either. Andy and I were safe.

That is what I would have liked to have happened. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. Bernie and I didn't just slip in, visit Andy and slip out. We got caught. More accurately, I got caught and Bernie got in trouble.

After Andy fell asleep in his bed, I looked down at him and thought about how much I loved him and how I was going to miss not seeing him for the next few weeks. I pulled my mask down off of my face again, bent down and kissed him firmly on the right side of his face, tenderly and gently. Andy's only reaction was a soft sigh.

"Interesting bedside manner, Doctor," said a strange voice with an icy cold tone.

I jerked my head away from Andy and turned my head to the left in the direction of this new voice. I saw a young pleasant looking woman in a white nurse's uniform, staring back at me with her hands planted firmly on her hips. She was too far away from me to see what colour her eyes were. From the angry expression on her face, I was lucky there weren't flames shooting out of her eyes burning me to a crisp, right there and then. I glanced around but didn't see Bernie anywhere in the room.

"Did you want something, nurse?" I asked pleasantly as I ignored her statement and desperately tried to start talking my way out of this mess. I didn't have a clue as to how I was going to get out of this. I was just shooting from the hip. Of course I could always fall back on using my powers to extract myself from this sticky situation, but I didn't want to do that unless there wasn't any other alternative.

"An explanation, to begin with," the nurse declared. "That wasn't any physical examination that you were giving that patient. Just who the hell are you, and what are you doing in here?"

"Doctor Simpson asked me to consult with him about this patient," I replied as the germ of an idea appeared in my mind. "He asked me to check the skin condition of the patient's face. As you know doubt know, the human lips have a much greater sensitivity to touch than do human finger tips, hence the need for me to place my lips on the patient's face."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Doctor," the nurse said frostily. "I'll give you ten seconds to come clean before I call security."

"Oh, boy! I'm in deep shit now!" I thought to myself. The idea that I thought I'd come up with, had packed its bags and high tailed it out of my mind. I couldn't think of anything more to say. "Good night, nurse," I said boldly as I walked past her on my way towards the door. I figured that bluffing my way past her was worth a shot. Just then the door open and Bernie walked into the room.

"Hi Paul," he said cheerfully as he saw me., and started looking around the room. "Sorry about that but I had to answer a quick call of nature. I hope there wasn't any trouble." His words died in his throat as he caught sight of the nurse walking towards him with a less than friendly expression on her face.

"Doctor Simpson, just what in the name of Hippocrates is going on here?" she demanded as she marched up to him and planted herself squarely in front of Bernie, and started firing questions at him. "Who is this man? What is he doing visiting a patient well outside of normal visiting hours? Why did you help him get in here? Why was he kissing this patient when I walked in? I know he's not a doctor, so who exactly is he?"

Bernie's surprise and confusion at having been caught was probably as great as mine. He certainly didn't hide it any better than I had. If the situation wasn't so serious, I would have started laughing at him, because he looked so completely befuddled by the barrage of questions that the nurse shot at him.

"Doctor patient privilege, Nurse Hill," Bernie answered after a minute or so of silence. "I can't discuss it."

"Surely you can come up with something better than that, Doctor Simpson," Nurse Hill said as she shook her head in disbelief. "That story's so lame, you'd have to put in a cast for a year and a half before someone might believe it. I certainly don't."

"Nurse Hill. Jennifer. Please, don't ask," Bernie said softly. "Please, just drop it and pretend that you didn't see anything. I can assure you that nothing of a medical nature happened. Your patient, rather our patient, was in no danger. If anything, he's resting more comfortably because his mind is at peace now."

"You're asking a lot, Bernie, " Jennifer Hill said as she visibly cooled her anger and looked at Bernie thoughtfully. "If you're ordered me like you used to.but you didn't. You asked me." She studied Bernie for a minute or so as she made up her mind.

I silently prayed that she'd acquiesce to Bernie's request. It would save me from having to try and fix this not so little problem.

"All right, I'll forget what happened in here, as a favor to you Bernie," she decided finally. "It doesn't look like any harm was done. I'm surprised that you'd be willing to take a risk like this, Bernie."

"People change, Jennifer," Bernie replied. "Thank you for deciding not to mention this to anyone. I owe you one. A big one"

"Indeed you do, Bernie," Jennifer agreed., with a slight hint of a smile. "A year ago you'd never have been involved in anything like this. A year ago, you wouldn't have stayed five minutes past the end of your shift, much less two and a half hours. You've certainly changed since you first came to this hospital, and if you don't mind my saying so, the changes have been for the better. "

"Thank you, Jennifer," Bernie said quietly. "You're right. I have changed, and yes I think it has been for the better. I'd better get Paul, out of here before anyone else drops by for a visit, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," she agreed, as she looked at me, coolly but not as sternly as before. "But before you go, I have to ask, why were you so willing to undertake the risk of sneaking this man in here? It's not something that I ever thought I'd see you doing, Bernie."

"I owed Paul a favour," Bernie said simply, as he looked over at me and smiled. His face beamed with the deep and warm friendship that he felt for me. Bernie is one of those rare people who you know you can count on, whenever you need them. Bernie turned his attention back to Nurse Hill as he continued speaking. "He's the person who helped me a while back. I'm trying to pay him back."

"Oh, I see," Jennifer replied as she nodded her head in understanding. "How long have you known this man, anyway?"

"Just over a year, maybe longer," Bernie replied. "We'd better get going, Paul." He said as he looked over at me.

"Wait just a second," Jennifer said as her eyes suddenly lit up. "You knew each other a year ago. His name is Paul. He helped you a while ago. He's THAT Paul, isn't he, Bernie?" Jennifer asked excitedly.

Bernie looked at Jennifer in stunned surprise. "Yes," Bernie answered softly and a bit reluctantly.

"Paul, you have no idea how pleased I am to meet you!" Jennifer exclaimed excitedly, as she turned to face me. "You're the Wizard who gave the former Tin Man here, a heart, aren't you?"

"I don't know about that," I said cautiously, "but I did help Bernie through some rough times about a year ago, yes."

Jennifer looked at me with a mixture of respect and gratitude. "Do you have any idea of how much good you've done? No I don't suppose you would. You've helped Bernie here to become one of the most respected, well liked and caring doctors we have on staff." Bernie blushed bright red at Jennifer's words of praise, but he didn't say anything. "Before your help Bernie was the most arrogant and condescending doctor I'd ever had the displeasure to work with. If everything wasn't perfect, he would snap at you like a bad tempered alligator with a toothache."

"I didn't do anything like that," I protested. "Bernie and I just talked a lot. I helped him to see how important it was to treat people with respect and compassion." What I actually did was have several more super hypnosis sessions with Bernie. During those sessions we had a lot of fun, but I didn't do any therapy with Bernie. We just talked outside of the sessions and Bernie started to open up to me. I learned that Bernie constantly worried about looking like a fool or an idiot in front of his patients, and more importantly in front of the other medical staff, most especially other doctors. To prevent that from happening Bernie always made sure that everything was just the way he wanted it. Everything in its place and a place for everything. Bernie never admitted when he was wrong and whenever anyone else made the slightest mistake, no matter how minor or insignificant, he dumped on them like a ton of bricks. Bernie treated people with little, if any, common courtesy.

As I thought about it now, and looked back over the months of our slowly developing friendship, I could see now how Bernie's behaviour had undergone a gradual change. I had never intended anything like that to happen when I started talking with Bernie. It all came about because Bernie asked me to explain why it was that I treated him and everyone else I knew with such kindness and courtesy. My answer was that he should try it sometime and see what the results were like. I guess he learned by example.

"Well whatever you did to help Bernie, it worked," Jennifer said with a small smile. "It would seem that I have another reason to keep my lips sealed about tonight's little adventure."

"Uhokay, thanks," I said stupidly, not knowing how to reply to her statement.

Nurse Hill smiled at me and then looked at Bernie. She smiled at him, and then glanced over at the unconscious form of Andy lying in the hospital bed. She studied Andy for a few seconds and then she looked at me again. "Paul? Paul from Texas?" She asked with a look of puzzlement.

'Yes, my name's Paul. I already told you that, but I'm not from Texas," I answered confused at her question.

"You're that man's lover aren't you?" She asked bluntly. "Yes that would explain everything, all right. Why you're here. Why Bernie had to sneak you in. The cries last night. Yes indeed it would explain it." She nodded thoughtfully as she slid the pieces of the mental jigsaw into place and discovered that they fitted together exactly.

I kept my mouth shut, and did my best to keep my expression neutral. Andy didn't need another person knowing that he was gay. I sighed softly as I realized that I was going to have to take some action tonight, and make some adjustments on Nurse Hill. Let's call a spade a space, shall we? I was going to have to use my super hypnosis powers to alter the memories of Nurse Hill before I left tonight. As distasteful and repugnant it was going to feel for me to have to mess around with another person's mind, I didn't see as I had much choice. I owed it to Andy to protect him, and besides if it wasn't for my secret visit tonight, Andy's secret would never have become known to Nurse Hill. I looked away, unable to face my accuser.

"Paul, it's okay," Nurse Hill said as she took my hand gently and patted it. I turned my head back and looked at her. She looked up at me with an expression of kindness and understanding. "You don't have to say anything. When you've worked with people in hospitals as long as I have, you get to see many things. I couldn't mistake the look of love and caring that was on your face when you kissed Mr. Anderson, earlier. I've seen that expression many times before, but never have I seen a more profound and earnest expression than the one that you were wearing when you kissed him. Either you're his lover or you're in love with him."

She paused for a moment as she reached out with her left hand and brushed the right side of my face with her fingertips in a gesture of compassion. "It's okay, Paul. I won't say a word to anyone. It's clear that you love this man deeply, and that he loves you. I think it was very brave of you to take the chance to see him like this. It was also very romantic. I hope I find a man as caring and loving as you, someday." She smiled at me warmly, as if she were trying to ease my discomfort.

"What makes you think he loves or even cares about me?" I asked calmly. (How I managed to stay calm in that situation is a mystery that I'll never solve. I just did it, I guess.)

"Last night, while he was battling a post operative infection, he had a fever," Jennifer said softly. "He kept calling out for someone named 'Paul'. He also kept mentioning Texas. Little of what he said made any sense. It was mostly half finished sentences and jumbled words. Most times when a patient has a fever, we ignore what the patient says since they are delirious. Well, your presence here tonight proves to me that delirious or not, he was asking for you. I don't understand the part about Texas, though."

My eyes teared up at hearing Jennifer's words. I couldn't help it. My rock solid control cracked and a few of those tears slipped out of the corners of my eyes as I stood there looking at her. I turned my head and looked over at Andy, lying there asleep. I swallowed several times at the tightness in my throat. I kept picturing Andy in my mind, lying there in pain calling out to me, and my not being there. It hurt. Knowing that I wasn't there for him, when he needed and wanted me most, was a new and unwelcome pain for me. It seared its way into my soul, burning right through me. Intellectually, I knew there was nothing I could have done to change things, but that didn't stop me from feeling the pain. I let the tears flow down my cheeks and choked back the sobs that tried to escape.

"I'm sorry, Paul," Jennifer said softly as she turned my head back so that I was looking at her again. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about last night. I didn't mean to hurt you by telling you about last night. I can see now though, that your not being able to be here last night after knowing that Mr. Anderson was calling for you, has upset you. I am sorry for that. Really. Please, forgive me?"

I looked down at this young woman standing in front of me, asking for my forgiveness. I realized that she did seem to understand, even if she seemed to have the tact of a charging bull elephant. "It's okay," I muttered, barely able to get the words past that darn lump in my throat.

"It's kind of you to say that, but I know it's not okay," Jennifer said softly. She glanced down at her wristwatch and then looked back up at me. "I can give you another twenty minutes alone with Mr. Anderson," she declared softly. "Bernie and I can wait outside and guard the door for you to insure that you have complete privacy. It's not much, but maybe it will help."

"Thank you," I muttered, unable to say anything more. Twenty minutes more to spend by Andy's side would be a godsend.

"Just come out when you're ready, but remember that you have only twenty minutes," she said as she lead me to Andy's side. "Again, I am sorry, Paul. I hope this time helps make it up to you. Come on, Doctor Simpson." She directed the last few words to Bernie as she walked over to him and guided him towards the door that lead to the hallway.

I sat down next to Andy, and held his right hand in my two hands, much as I had earlier that evening. I whispered many things to him. I told him that I loved him, of course, and I tried to convey just how deep and strong my love was for him. Exactly what I said, will remain forever a secret amongst Andy, me and God. The twenty minutes were over in the blink of an eye, or so it seemed.

With Bernie's help, and Jennifer Hill's silence, I made my way back to Bernie's office and changed back onto my regular clothes. There were no further incidents of any kind at the hospital, and it was with profound relief that I climbed into a cab and made my way home. I was tired physically and emotionally, but thankful that I had not needed to adjust Nurse Hill. I had never imagined that my first super hypnosis session with Bernie, and all the others that followed would have paid dividends like this. I guess it's true what they say about ripples in the water travelling a long way.

Andy was laid up in the hospital for about two weeks, during which time I did not try to see him again. Oh I did drop by with a small house plant as a get well gift, but I didn't try to arrange any more secret visits. The episode with Nurse Hill had thoroughly convinced me that these secret visits were simply too dangerous. Andy understood, as well as did I, that we would have to wait until he was out of the hospital and more or less fully recovered before we'd be able to spend any intimate moments together. Neither of us were exactly crazy about the idea. We did our best to accept it. (Like we really had any choice in the matter?) Andy and I knew that this was just another small part of the price we would have to pay for our relationship, and having to keep it in the closet. It was a strange price to have to pay for loving someone, but then life sometimes plays strange tricks on you.

It was the second Sunday afternoon of Andy's hospitalization, when Bernie telephoned me at my apartment. He was very adamant about coming over that afternoon. In fact he even went so far as to say that I owed him an afternoon visit, since he'd done that favor for me a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that Bernie was referring to my after hours visit to Andy's hospital room, which Bernie had arranged. He had me there. I did owe Bernie a favor. A rather large favor. I told him that he could come on over, and that I would welcome the company. It was the truth. I was feeling a bit lonely and out of sorts. I missed Andy terribly. (Can you say 'an aching hole in my heart'?) Spending some time with Bernie, even just talking would do me some good. Bernie said he would be over in about an hour and a half, so while I waited I got the coffee maker ready to brew a fresh pot of freshly ground coffee. I knew that Bernie really liked fresh brewed coffee and it helped to pass the time while I waited for him. The coffee was ready long before Bernie was due to arrive, so I poured myself a cup and retired to the living room to enjoy the coffee as I waited for him.
My doorbell rang about an hour or so later. I looked through the peephole and confirmed that it was Bernie waiting on the other side. I unlocked the door and let him in.

"Hello Paul," Bernie said merrily after I opened the door. "I'm so glad that you agreed to see me. Just let me lug this stuff in, okay?"

"Sure," I answered as I stepped aside to let Bernie in. He was carrying a garment bag over his right shoulder, and a duffel bag in his left hand. Bernie hung the garment bag in the hall closet and left the duffel bag beside the open closet door.

I quickly gave Bernie a looking over as he put brought his stuff in and put it away in the closet. Bernie was wearing a short sleeve light blue knit shirt with a three button placket. It looked like a golf shirt. It was tucked inside a pair of navy blue dress panted that were belted with a black leather belt, with a simple tongue and buckle closure. A half second flick of my eyes downward confirmed a pair of black casual, not dress, shoes on his feet. The simple gray raincoat he had worn over his clothes was now hanging in the closet.

I was mildly surprised that Bernie had brought a suit of some kind. I hadn't asked him to, nor even dropped any hints to that effect. (I didn't have to have X-ray vision to know that the garment bag most likely contained a suit of some kind. Why else would he be bringing a garment bag in the first place?)

"That coffee smells good," Bernie said as he grinned at me, and raised his eyebrows up and down a couple of times, after hanging up his coat in the closet.

"Go ahead and pour yourself a cup, you caffeine addict, you," I chuckled, as I waved him towards the kitchen. Bernie had been in my apartment enough times to know where everything was kept. I watched Bernie as he headed off to the kitchen. Rather, I watched Bernie's butt. He had a nice looking ass, and I enjoyed watching it move as he walked away from me. The pants looked vaguely familiar. It took me a minute or so to recall that those were the same navy blue dress pants that Bernie had worn the first time that I had used my super hypnosis powers on him. I studied the pants for a second or two longer (yeah like you had to twist my arm to get me to do that), to confirm that those were indeed the same pants. The pants had only one hip pocket with a button flap closure and the pocket was on the right side of the pants. The front pockets were side angle style, which matched the memory I had of those pants. Bernie carried his wallet stuffed in that right hip pocket of his pants, just as he had that first time. My short stroll down memory (or butt) lane was cut short by the swinging kitchen door cutting off my view of Bernie's behind. I sighed softly with just a touch of disappointment.

I returned to the living room, and my interrupted cup of coffee. A few minutes later Bernie emerged from the kitchen and joined me in the living room. He sat down opposite me and took a slow slip from his mug, closing his eyes as he savored the smell and the taste of the coffee. I sat there quietly while Bernie enjoyed his coffee. I knew that Bernie would start talking to me when he was ready. Besides, I was enjoying looking at him. Bernie is a good looking man, and he has a physically fit body that I find mildly attractive. (Well, mildly compared to Andy's body.)

"Thanks for the coffee, Paul," Bernie said as he drained the last dregs from his mug. "I suppose you're wondering why I wanted to come over here so badly."

"The thought had crossed my mind a few times, yes," I commented.

"I could really use a hypnosis session with you," Bernie said quietly. "It's been kind of difficult at work lately, and I could use some relief. I brought a change of clothes in case you wanted me to get dressed up."

"I don't see any problem with that," I said to him. "Is that why you were so insistent about coming over here this afternoon?" I asked him.

"Yes," Bernie admitted. "I really want this, Paul, and I was a bit worried that you might say no."

"I see," I said thoughtfully. "So, you decided to call in that favor I owed you to insure that I wouldn't say no. You didn't consider whether or not I might have plans this afternoon. You wanted your hypnosis session so badly, that you played on my feelings of guilt and obligation to insure that you could come over here."

"I never looked at it that way, but yeah, I guess you're right," Bernie confessed a bit reluctantly. He looked at me with regret in his eyes, and a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. Do you want me to leave now?"

"No, Bernie, that won't be necessary," I said quietly. "I do owe you a favor. You must be feeling very stressed to have pushed for this session like you did. Fortunately I don't have any plans for this afternoon, and I could use the distraction you're going to provide. It keeps me from thinking about Andy."

"Andy? Oh, you mean Mr. Anderson?" Bernie asked.

"Yes, exactly," I answered. "A pickle in my cowboy boots," I said loudly and distinctly.

Bernie blinked his eyes at me in confusion. He looked at me quizzically as he was caught off guard by my uttering his trigger phrase. After a few seconds of bewilderment his eyes closed and his head nodded forward as the trigger phrase took effect. He let out a soft deep sigh as he relaxed his body and sagged back into the sofa, letting his mind drift down to that special place of his. I could see the concern and worry melt away from his face as the relaxation of hypnosis overtook his mind and body. I enjoyed surprising a subject by using his trigger phrase when he was least expecting it. (Yes, I have all these trigger phrases written down in my little black book. I've learned never to rely just on my memory.)

"Going deeper and deeper with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, Bernie," I said to him clearly as I stood up. I couldn't help but feel a slight rush of power mixed with pleasure as I looked down upon his rag doll like form. I don't know what it is exactly that I find so satisfying about hypnotizing a good looking guy, and having him do whatever I tell him. Maybe what excites me is simply the knowledge that the mind and body lying there crumpled on the sofa are mine to do with as I wish. (Yes, I was feeling a slight stirring in the southern regions, if you know what I mean.) Or perhaps it is the trust expressed by the subject, the trust in me and in my motives, that thrills me. Whatever it is, it has never diminished one little bit in all the years that I've been hypnotizing guys.

"Bernie, can you hear me?" I asked. (That has GOT to the corniest line in hypnosis since man first walked erect. But I've never come up with any other way to find out if the subject can hear me and respond to me.)

"Yes, sir," Bernie muttered softly, but clearly. "Thank you for taking me back here, sir. I feel so good, sir."

"That's nice, Bernie," I said softly. "Would you like to go even deeper and to feel your will power melt away like an ice cube in the hot summer sun?"

"Oh yes, sir, I would like that," Bernie said with more than just a trace of excitement in his voice. "I would like that very much, sir. What do I have to do, sir?"

(God, I LOVE a willing submissive subject! It had been months since Bernie's last session, and I had frankly forgotten just how cooperative and willing a submissive subject he was. It was refreshing, not to mention exciting.)

"Good," I said as I paused for a second to two to compose my thoughts. "Bernie, when you hear me snap my fingers this one time, you will take the clothes that you brought with you this afternoon, and to and change into them, using the spare bedroom. When you are fully dressed, including transferring the contents of your pockets to these clothes, you will return to me for further instructions. As you carry out these instructions you will feel yourself going deeper and feeling more relaxed and at peace. In fact as you get dressed in the clothes that your brought with you, you'll find yourself getting more excited and turned on. By the time you are fully dressed and walking out here to report to me, your penis will be fully erect and pushing against the fabric your suit pants. It will feel so good that you'll be unable to stop yourself from moaning out loud, softly."

I paused for a few moments to let the meaning of my words sink into Bernie's mind.

"Do you fully understand your instructions, Bernie?" I asked.

"Oh yes, sir!" Bernie answered excitedly. "I'm looking forward to it, sir!"

"I bet you are, Bernie," I agreed. Carefully I walked over to where Bernie was sitting on the sofa, placed my right hand near Bernie's head and snapped my fingers once. I backed away a couple of steps as I watched Bernie's reaction.

Slowly Bernie raised his head up and opened his eyes. He looked up at me, smiled and sighed softly with an expression of profound peace and relaxation on his face. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that he'd just been injected with a powerful tranquilizer. Slowly, he stood up and headed off towards the closet. He moved at a steady unhurried pace, not like a sleepwalker but rather like someone who has all the time in the world, and doesn't care how long it takes to do something. As I watched him walk over to the closet and retrieve his garment bag and duffel bag, I came to the conclusion that he was probably trying to savor the experience of carrying out my instructions. I had not told him to be quick about it, so he was taking a few liberties of his own. I had no objection. If anything, I strongly approved.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Bernie turn around from standing in front of the hall closet and stroll off down the hallway to the spare bedroom., carrying the duffel bag in his left hand and the garment bag draped over his right shoulder. In only a short sleeve knit shirt and dress pants he was good looking. I knew that wearing a suit and tie he would probably look even better. I was sorely tempted to follow him into the spare bedroom and watch him while he changed his clothes. It would spoil the surprise though, so I decided not to follow him. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to walk over into the living room, sit down and wait for Bernie to appear in his own good time. It wasn't as easy as it sounds, let me tell you.

As I sat there in the living room, waiting for Bernie I let my eyes close slowly, and soon my mind was recalling Andy and how he had looked the last time I'd seen him, nearly a week ago. Andy had been sitting up in his hospital bed, with several of his police 'brothers and sisters' gathered about him chatting. I said hello and dropped off a small houseplant (an African violet in case you were wondering) as a get well gift. I departed about five or six minutes later. Long enough for a polite and friendly visit, but not long enough to be an annoyance. Andy had looked much more like his normal healthy self then. His face was pink, relaxed, and there wasn't any trace of the pain and tiredness that I'd seen etched so deeply on his face during my after hours visit with him. He couldn't get out of bed yet, but his appetite was good, and I was told that he was expected to make a full and uneventful recovery. I smiled to myself as I thought about that visit. Seeing Andy doing so well had taken a lot of the worries away from my mind. It made being away from him a little easier to bear.

This trip down memory lane took only a few minutes. I opened my eyes as I dragged myself back to the present. I didn't want to miss Bernie's entrance. I was curious as to what he was going to be wearing. I was fairly certain it was going to be a suit and tie, but I had no idea as to what colour it would be or the style. I sat there pondering while looking at nothing in particular. It was a pleasant way to pass the time. A flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye, caught my attention. I turned my head to the right in the direction of the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and the bathroom. As expected Bernie was walking down the hallway, heading directly towards me, but that did not detract from the impact his appearance made on me. He looked magnificent. To say that I was impressed would be a massive understatement. I was enthralled. I've always enjoyed the sight of a good looking guy, dressed in a suit and tie, but this was something far more.

Bernie was walking towards me in that same slow timeless fashion as when he had left the living room earlier heading for the spare bedroom. I took the opportunity to study every detail of Bernie's appearance. The transformation from plan ordinary guy in to a super suit stud was amazing. Bernie was decked out in a three piece light blue suit. The suit was the colour of a bright summer sky and it had a shininess or sheen to it that suggested it was made of something other than wool. The three button jacket was not done up, which gave me a nice if somewhat limited view of the vest and the front of the suit pants. The vest was a five button affair which was completely done up. I could not determine how many pockets the vest had. (I'd find out soon enough, though.) The front of the suit pants looked pretty good as well. The bottom of the vest covered the top of the suit pants so I had no idea if Bernie was wearing a belt in his pants or not. (Ah yes, it is the little mysteries in life that are so intriguing.) From the little that I could see of Bernie's suit pants they looked most inviting, by which I mean that they seemed to be calling to me, begging me to do some exploring. The fly of Bernie's pants was zipped closed. (You expected otherwise?) The pants looked to be just a tad on the snug side, but it was difficult to be sure. It could merely have been my overactive imagination at work, but I sincerely hoped that was not the case. I flicked my eyes back to the suit jacket and noticed that it was a single breasted style with medium lapels and had a three button front closure. The jacket had a welt breast pocket on the left side as expected, and the lower jacket pockets had flaps on them. There wasn't anything remarkable about all that, but it was automatic for me take a quick inventory of a suit when I look at a man.

I pulled my eyes away from the waist area of Bernie's body and forced my gaze upward to take in the rest of Bernie's outfit. I finally made it past the top of Bernie's vest to encounter a plain slightly shiny burgundy tie filling up the space between the top of the vest and the stiff collar of the power blue, and slightly shiny dress shirt that he wore. It was a most handsome and elegant outfit indeed. If Bernie had been trying to impress me, he had certainly succeeded. All I could do was stare at him in astonishment. It was a wonder that my eyes didn't pop out of my head, I was staring at him so hard. I drank in Bernie's appearance and tried to remember how to breath. Believe me, it was difficult to think of anything other than Bernie as he continued to walk towards me. If it were not for the fact that breathing is a function of the autonomic nervous system, I would have passed out from lack of oxygen. Somehow I managed to divert my eyes downward long enough to notice that Bernie was wearing a pair of polished black leather dress shoes, which added the final touch of elegance to his ensemble. I noticed also that the bottom of Bernie's suit pants were cuffed as they rested there on the tops of those handsome dress shoes.

A century or so later (well it seemed like that to me), Bernie stood in front of me and looked down at me. "Hello, sir," he said softly. "I hope you find this suit acceptable. I had hoped to please you by wearing this. Did I succeed, sir?"

"Oh, yeah," I answered softly when I had managed to get my tongue working again.

"I'm glad, sir," Bernie responded as he beamed at me. The happiness on his face was like sunshine on a cloudy day. It made me feel warm too, as he looked down at me and smiled like a kid in a candy store with a new twenty dollar bill.

I sat there like a statue, looking up at Bernie, still trying to deal with how good he looked. It wasn't just him or the suit, it was the combination of the two, plus the fact that he was in a super hypnotic trance and willing to do anything that I told him. Is it any wonder that my penis was stiff? It wasn't rock hard, but it was pleasantly stiff, certainly enough to be enjoyable.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Bernie asked as a cloud of doubt crossed his face.

"Ah, no," I answered.

"Well, you're just sitting there, sir," Bernie said as the doubt on his face changed into puzzlement. "You're not doing anything or telling me to do anything, sir." Bernie paused for a few seconds, as if he were trying to decide whether or not he should say anything more. "I hope you will forgive more saying so, sir, but you have to tell me what you want me to do, sir. I want to serve you in any way that you wish, but I can't read your mind, sir." Bernie blushed as he finished speaking, and he dropped his gaze to look at the floor. Clearly he felt embarrassed at speaking to me in such a disrespectful manner. At least he considered it disrespectful.

"Look at me, Bernie," I ordered him as I slowly stood up. Slowly he raised his head and looked me right in the eye. I could clearly see the worry in his eyes. He was sure that I was upset with him for overstepping his bounds, as it were. He gulped nervously as he waited for me to continue speaking. "You're right," I said to him with a warm and gentle smile. Bernie sighed softly with relief as he tentatively smiled back at me. "I should be telling you what to do, and how I wish you to serve me. I was just so surprised and pleased with your appearance that it was all I could do to look at you. I think you look fantastic, Bernie. I am very, very, very pleased with you and your suit."

Bernie beamed a huge grin at me as he responded. "Thank you, sir. I feel very good that I have managed to please you."

"What material is that suit make out of, Bernie?" I asked him as looked at more closely at the lapel of the jacket.

"It's a silk blend, sir," Bernie answered. "It's the best, the most expensive suit I own, sir. Nothing, but the best for you, sir."

I smiled silently at Bernie as I reached out with my right arm and let the fingers of my right hand run lightly over the left side of the suit jacket. (Just so you are clear about this, Bernie was facing me, so the left side of his jacket was on my right side. I was NOT reaching across Bernie's body.) The material was so soft and smooth it was erotic! I sighed softly in pleasure.

"OH, SIR!" Bernie moaned as he felt the fingers of my right hand press gently on the left side of his suit. (Clearly the erotic feeling was mutual.) "Thank you, sir! That feels so nice! So good! You have a wonderful touch, sir, even better than I remembered." I glanced up at Bernie's face and noticed that his eyes were now closed. I guessed that it made it easier for him to focus his attention on what my hand was doing.

I pressed my right palm flat down on the left side of Bernie's suit jacket and moved my hand slowly around in smooth circles in between the breast pocket and the lower pocket on the left side of Bernie's suit jacket. It was a remarkable feeling. I never knew that silk or a silk blend would feel so smooth, soft and satisfying. To judge from the way that Bernie was moaning, he was thoroughly enjoying my caressing, such as it was.

"Oh, Sir! I'm getting hard!" Bernie cried out between moans. "Please, sir, may I ask one favour of you?" Bernie panted at me as he continued to moan softly.

"Of course, Bernie," I responded. "What would you like?"

"Sir, I want to cum for you. (Moan.) I want to shoot the moon for you, sir. (Moan.) But I really don't want to ruin this suit. (Moan) It'sit's my favourite suit and, well sir, it's kind of expensive," Bernie stated, finishing his request with one long low moan. Bernie's eyes had remained closed as he had been speaking. Apparently, he was savouring the feeling of my hand on his body, and he didn't want anything to distract him.
"A reasonable request, Bernie," I replied. "I'm happy to grant it."

"Oh, thank you, Sir!" Bernie exclaimed happily. Another long low moan followed.

"Open your eyes and look deep into my eyes, Bernie," I commanded him.

"Yes, sir," he responded complying immediately. His eyes popped open and he swiveled his head slightly to look in to my eyes. His gazed latched on my eyes and he held it there.

"Look deep into my eyes. Deeper and deeper, Bernie," I ordered him. (I know the 'look deep into my eyes' is a really corny line, but I just could not resist using it. It just felt right to say that line then.)

"Yes, sir. Deeper and deeper, sir. Deeper and deeper into your power," Bernie said slowly with a soft lilt to his voice.

It seemed pretty clear to me that Bernie was enjoying himself. (Now there's a bulletin from the news room, for you!) While I had eye contact with Bernie I sent some simple commands into his mind to insure that he could not ejaculate until such time as I gave him permission. It took me only a second or so, to implant those commands into Bernie's mind. I took a deep breath and began to address Bernie. "For just this evening Bernie, you will only cum when I give you permission. No matter how urgent you may feel the need or how intense the desire may be, you will be unable to cum, to shoot your load, until I give you permission. Is that perfectly clear?"

"Yes, sir. It is perfectly, clear. Thank you, SIR!" Bernie cried happily and grinned at me. His one worry of the evening had been taken care of so he was as happy as the preverbal clam. The verbal commands had not been necessary, since the mental commands were already in place. Now though, Bernie would understand why he would be unable to cum until I gave him permission, which meant that I would not have to do any explaining later on. Even after all these years, it was instinctive for me to take actions to insure the exact nature of my super hypnosis powers remained secret. But enough about that. It was time to get down to business.

I placed both of my hands on Bernie's chest and started to run my hands over his chest in smooth steady and slow circles. "That feels nice, doesn't it Bernie?" I asked him. (Talk about a superfluous question!)

"OH, YES, SIR!" Bernie answered heartily, still looking me in the eye.

"I'll be that it feels so darn good right now, Bernie, that you can't keep your eyes open any longer. You've just got to slowly close them so that you can completely surrender to the touch of my hands on your suited body," I suggested to him.

Bernie blinked at me a few times, as he digested the meaning of my words. Slowly his eyes closed and he let out a long sound sigh. "Oh, God! Your touch, Sir! Lord how I've missed it!" He declared enthusiastically. "Please, sir, don't stop! Please, keep on touching me, sir! I live for the feel of your touch now, sir!"

"I'm most gratified to hear that, Bernie," I responded. (Brother was THAT an understatement. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, and I had barely begun to play with Bernie. It looked this we were in for one hell of an afternoon. Talk about finding a way to pass the time!) "Now what should I do with you?" I asked rhetorically. It was too bad that Bernie couldn't see the huge and warm grin on my face. I'm sure it would have brought him even more joy.

"Whatever you want, sir! I am yours now, sir! I live only to serve and to please you, sir! Your wish is my command, sir!" Bernie stated in a warm mellow and soft voice.

I didn't have to scan Bernie's mind to confirm that what he was saying was the truth. I knew Bernie well enough from our previous super hypnosis sessions to know that this was what he most wanted to experience in hypnosis with me. Total surrender. Complete and unconditional. I would have been lying if I said that I wasn't turned on by hearing Bernie say the 'your wish is my command' phrase. My cock was rock hard now and pushing against the inner left thigh of my jeans in a most determined and delightful manner. Despite my best efforts, a soft moan escaped my lips. I didn't bother responding to Bernie's declaration with words. I let my fingers do the walking, if you know what I mean.

I let my hands roam all over the front of that elegant silky suit. It felt so good that I started to wonder if maybe I should invest in such a suit, expensive as it might have been. I filed away those distracting thoughts into the back of my head, to dwell upon later. I had more interesting and erotic thoughts to deal with at present.

Knowing that Bernie would not put up any fuss or resistance of any kind, was a heady brew of temptation. I could have literally ripped that suit off of Bernie and he would not have cared in the least. His only concern was in pleasing me right now. To the average man in the street such a situation would have appeared to be a dream come true, a heaven sent opportunity to take it to the limit. Only me, and people like me, could see beyond that illusion and perceive the truth. You have an extremely submissive and obedient subject (which does not even begin to describe how cooperative Bernie was while he was in this state), who has turned control over to you. It was like being put in charge of a small helpless child. You were totally responsible for that 'child' and had to act accordingly. Of course, if you didn't care about the subject as person, if you thought of him as a hunk of meat, or just a plaything, you could do whatever you wanted without worrying about the consequences. I, unfortunately, couldn't. It was not in my nature to behave like that.

The suit jacket was a marvel, but I think I already mentioned that. I certainly enjoyed moving my hands over it. The fabric was smooth and soft to my touch. The front of Bernie's suit jacket was wonderful from the lapels right down to the tails. I patted the outside pockets to see if Bernie was carrying anything in them. He wasn't, but it was fun discovering that for myself. I'm sure my eyes must have lit up as I slowly parted that suit jacket to expose the front of the vest and pants of that suit. It wasn't as momentous a moment as the parting of the Red Sea, but I certainly thought of it as a major event of the afternoon. It was like when you undo the ribbon on your Christmas or birthday present. The five button vest turned out to have only two welt pockets which were located on the lower portion of the vest, just above waist level. This was fine by me. It meant that there was more smooth area for me to run my hands over, which I proceeded so to do. Bernie moaned encouragingly as I ran my hands over and across his chest. Like the jacket, the vest was silky smooth to my touch. I slipped my fingers in to the welt pockets of the vest and Bernie shuddered with undisguised delight. (There was nothing in those pockets, by the way, just in case you were wondering.) I kept my enthusiasm limited for a few soft moans. I stopped myself from unbuttoning that vest then and there, because I wanted to drag out this situation as long as possible. Slow and steady was far more satisfying than clawing the clothes off of this suited stud. Besides a few ideas had popped into my head and I wanted to try them on Bernie.

After I had run my hands over Bernie's chest and stomach I let my hands wander down to the front of Bernie's pants. (Like you were expecting otherwise? PLEASE!) The silky smooth material of his pants was on par with the material of his suit jacket and vest. I let my fingers move down the entire length of the fly of Bernie's pants, but restricted my caresses to just that small area for the moment. (As I said before, slow and steady is more satisfying. Trust me on this, okay?) I had to stoop down just a bit in order to reach the front of Bernie's pants. It would have been easier to drop down to my knees in front of Bernie, in order to really caress the front of his pants and his equipment, but I didn't want to do that. It would have been too tempting to unzip Bernie's fly and start playing with his cock and balls.

"Oh, yesssssssssss," Bernie hissed softly. "Please, sir, don't stop." Bernie's enjoyment was clear to anyone with half a brain.

I instigated a spiral search pattern out from the center of Bernie's fly, on the front of his pants. I used only my right hand so as to savor the sweetness of the moment. I explored the entire front of Bernie's suit pants. The front pockets of his pants were side angle style with double pleats. In my search I did discover a long hard and stiff object lying next to the inside of Bernie's right thigh. (Any idea as to what that might have been? Anyone? Anyone?) As I ran my fingers up and down the length of Bernie's fully erect penis, he moaned and groaned with unbridled pleasure. (Darn it! Now I've gone and let the cat out of the bag. You now know what that object was. Like you couldn't have figured it out on your own?) I discovered to my delight that Bernie's pants appeared to be somewhat on the snug side. They were cut in a manner that caused them to snuggle against his crotch and the inside of his thighs. This was a most welcome surprise. I enjoy the sight of a man in a snug fitting pair of dress pants, and it looks like I was going to get my wish this afternoon. I placed both of my hands on the front of Bernie's pants and let my hands wander around over and around Bernie's pelvic area. I even let my hands move down to Bernie's crotch and the insides of his thighs.

"Ohhhhh..' Bernie cried out, completely at a loss for words. All he could do was moan and groan his appreciation for my actions.

"Bernie, you can always bark out your pleasure if you like," I suggested to him. "But be warned that with each bark, your will melts away. After twenty barks you will be unable to resist any command I give you, Bernie," I cautioned him. I didn't need to tell Bernie this, since he had already surrendered to me. In point of fact, my super hypnotic control of him already assured that he would do anything I told him. I just could not resist having him go through the act of give up control to me again. It was intoxicating and thoroughly enjoyable. It is one of the biggest thrills that I get out using my powers on a guy.

"I oh I am already yours sir," Bernie replied thickly, confirming my earlier supposition. He moaned several more times. "Woof, woof, woof." He said softly a few seconds later.

"That's good, Bernie, very good," I encouraged him. "When I stroke the inside of your thighs, the pleasure you feel increases, and you go down deeper and deeper and deeper into my power." I put actions to my words and began to stroke the insides if his thighs with my right hand, moving from the inside of his left thigh, up and over his crotch and down the inside of his right thigh. I moved my right hand back and forth in steady smooth strokes.

"Woof.. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof," Bernie uttered as the pleasure of my caresses on his thighs took him deeper and deeper in to his super hypnotic static. (Like he would have resisted at this point? Bernie was the one who wanted this session in the first place. It's not very likely he would have suddenly put up any resistance now.) "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof, " Bernie continued as the words tumbled out of his mouth like water rushing over the edge of a waterfall. With the last 'woof' I looked up at him, and studied the zombie like expression on his face for a minute or so. Bernie's eyes were open again but they were totally glazed over and his face had a completely blank expression on it, with just the hint of a smile on his lips. He didn't seem to be looking at any one thing in particular. He had that 'looking off into space' expression on his face that I always enjoyed seeing on a hypnosis subject.

"How do you feel now, Bernie?" I asked him quietly as my hands lightly brushed the front of his pants, barely touching the huge hard mount that was his concealed cock.

"Totally in your power, sir. Totally yours, sir," he answered quietly, staring off into space. "I must do whatever you say, sir. Your wish is my will." He continued to stare off into the distance.

"But how do you FEEL, Bernie?" I asked again. "Do you feel good, bad, happy or what?" I wanted to know if Bernie was truly enjoying this. I suppose I could have scanned his mind to find out how he felt, but I didn't want to put myself to that effort. It wasn't necessary to do that, so I didn't. I prefer not to scan a subject's mind unless it is necessary for some reason. Scanning a mind is akin to an invasion of privacy. I've done it many times, but that doesn't mean that I am comfortable doing it. I still find it unnerving and in some cases distasteful.

"I feel." Bernie started to answer and then stopped. He blank face become even blanker, if that were possible, as he tried to put his thoughts and feelings into words.

I waited patiently for Bernie to find the right words. I didn't want to suggest to him how I thought he should feel. I wanted to know how he felt.

"I feel totally at peace. Totally calm. I don't have to worry about anything anymore, sir. I know that you will take care of everything, including me. And that brings me great pleasure and happiness, sir," Bernie said carefully, as a small smile broke out on his face. His eyes still had that vacant look to them, though. "I know that in order to keep feeling this way I must do whatever you ask of me, sir. But that is not a problem, sir. It is a privilege for me to serve you, sir. I only hope that I don't disappoint you, sir."

"He has to be kidding!" I thought to myself. "How in the world could he ever disappoint me, dressed as he is?" Bernie's declaration of total surrender wasn't a surprise. He'd done that several times before in earlier sessions, but his worry that he might disappoint me was new. I decided to calm his fears so that we would both enjoy ourselves. "Bernie," I said to him. "You have never disappointed me, and I strongly doubt that you ever will. You are a very good subject and your total surrender to me is very pleasing to me."

"Thank you, sir," Bernie responded, as he let out a soft sight of pleasure and relief.

A part of me wanted to wander around to Bernie's back and do some exploring, but I restrained myself. I knew that the anticipation of doing that would be almost as gratifying as the actual action. It was worth waiting just a little bit longer.

I walked away from Bernie and over to the living room wall where there was some clear space. I need an area that did not have any pictures or wall hangings on it. I turned about and looked at Bernie standing a short distance away from me. His back was to me, and I took the opportunity to give the back of his suit a quick inspection. It fit him very well. The shoulders were not too large or wide, and the waist of the jacket was taken in just enough to compliment Bernie's physical build. The back of the suit jacket flowed smoothly from Bernie's shoulders to his waist and then flared out just enough to cover his butt. The suit jacket did not have any vents of any kind in it, which allowed a smooth clean look the back of Bernie's suit jacket, especially over his buttocks. It was a well tailored suit, I noted. It would be a crime to ruin that suit in any way. I promised myself that I would see to it that the suit suffered no harm this afternoon. It was the least I could do for such an outstanding subject like Bernie. The evaluation took only a minute or so, but only because I let myself savor the site of that suit from the back. I looked back at the living room wall (a much less interesting subject, believe me), as I tried to find a section of the wall for what I had in mind. Satisfied that I had located a section of the living room wall that would suit my purposes, I called over to Bernie. "Bernie come here!"

"Right away, sir!" Bernie replied as he turned about, and trotted over to where I was standing. Bernie did not walk over to me, he trotted, literally. He was anxious to please, and didn't want to waist one second in his earnest attempt to please me. He stood in front of me, and smiled tentatively at me. "What do you wish of me, sir?"

"I wish you stand up against the wall facing me, Bernie." I told him, as I pointed at the section of wall where I wanted him to stand.

"Yes, sir," Bernie replied. He walked up to the area of the living room wall that I had indicated. He turned about and then move backward slightly as he place himself up against the wall.

"Well done, Bernie," I congratulated him. He smiled at me. "Now take one step forward and stand with your weight firmly and evenly balanced on your feet. Let your arms hang down on the yours sides. Stand there and just relax and go deeper. When you feel yourself in position let me know and go even deeper."

"Yes, sir," Bernie replied as he took one carefully measured step forward. He looked at me, that small smile still plastered on his face. He shifted his weight on his feet for a half a minute or so, as he adjusted his position. "Done, sir," Bernie stated when he had finished positioning himself.

"Your penis is rock hard now, isn't it Bernie?" I asked him. I knew full well that his penis was fully erect. My exploration of the front of his pants earlier had established that fact. I just wanted him to admit it.

'Yes, sir, it is," Bernie replied as he stood there in front of me. The smile on his face grew a bit wider at the mention of his rock hard cock. "Thank you for giving me a rock hard cock, sir."

"Your penis is stiff and hard, Bernie, and now as I speak to you, your entire body is becoming hard and stiff as if it were made out of steel or stone," I told him as I watched for his reaction. "Except for your face and your breathing, your body is becoming harder and stiffer with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, Bernie."

Bernie's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, as he took in the meaning of my words. Slowly his eyes closed and he let out a soft sigh. He opened his eyes and smiled at me, but he didn't say anything. I let my eyes wander across his body looking for any signs that he was getting stiff. (Yes, there was one big sign that he was stiff, but that was NOT what I was looking for. Still I did look at that big long hard mound in Bernie's pants. I couldn't help but look. It was such an interesting and tempting sight.) "Stiffer and stiffer, Bernie," I coaxed him. "Harder and harder as if your body is steel rod, rigid and unbreakable. And at the same time it is a wonderfully comfortable and pleasurable feeling, finding yourself unable to move your arms, legs, shoulders and torso. You feel yourself turning into a living mannequin. A mannequin who is on display just for me, Bernie" I studied Bernie's body for a couple of minutes, still looking for signs that his body was stiff.

"Yes, on display for you, sir," Bernie whispered softly in agreement. The smile on his face got a little bit bigger.

"Exactly right Bernie," I praised him. "A living mannequin. I can pose you in any way that I want. I can do anything with your body and your clothes now, and you can't lift a finger to stop me."

"Oh yes, Sir!" Bernie cried out softly, barely moving his lips. He was starting to take the living mannequin role seriously now.

I walked up so that I was standing just behind Bernie. I carefully took hold of his shoulders and pulled him back towards the wall. A few seconds later, I gently placed the back of Bernie's head so that it was resting against the wall. Assured that Bernie would not slide about I stood a couple of steps back to view my handiwork. I smiled to myself as I drank in the sight before me. I had so enjoyed seeing Ted Carson stiff that I decided to try out something along the same lines with Bernie.

Bernie stood there leaning against the wall at about an eighty degree angle. His entire body looked rigid to me. The toes of his shoes came up off the floor and pointed into the air, which was to be expected as he was leaning back on the heels of his shoes. His arms were held firmly by his sides, with a slight space between his arms and his torso. Since his jacket was not buttoned at the front, it tended to hang back slightly which exposed a bit more of the front of Bernie's suit pants as well as the vest of his suit. (Isn't gravity wonderful?) He looked like some kind of waxwork figure leaned up against the wall like that, but then that was the idea after all. I looked at him as bit longer and decided that he needed a minor adjustment or two. I walked up to Bernie and firmly grabbed his right arm with my two hands. I bent his right arm at the right elbow and positioned his right arm so that he was holding it just in front and away from his stomach with his right hand held vertically. I stepped away again and looked him over. Now he truly looked like a display dummy, only much sexier. Bernie wasn't some plastic or wooden figure. He was a real live man, turned into a display dummy by me. (If that doesn't get your cock twitching, then either you're not interested in stuff like this, or you've been dead for three weeks!)
I marveled at the sight of Bernie in that position. Hypnosis never fails to excite and amuse me. Even something as simple as this, was giving me a wonderful woody. Boy did I feel good, and I hadn't even touched Bernie all that much. This afternoon was certainly shaping up to be one of my better afternoons. I walked up to Bernie and grabbed hold of his right shoulder. It took a bit of grunting and effort on my part but I managed to turn Bernie ninety degrees to the left so that he was leaning against the living room wall, on his left shoulder. When I was sure that he was securely in that new position I took a few steps back to get another eyeful of Bernie in his new position.

Once again I was successful. Bernie looked like a window store dummy leaned up against the living room wall, as he balanced there on his left foot. He was as stiff as a board, but sexy as hell! (Maybe not to you, but he sure as shooting, was to me! My penis was as hard and stiff as Bernie. Or was that the other way around? Bernie was as hard and stiff as my penis? Either way, we were both hard and stiff and enjoying ourselves.) I walked up to Bernie and started to run my hands over his body. I didn't just cover old territory such as his chest and stomach, I explored other areas. I let my hands move over and about his right side, his left side and his back. Oh, and of course let us not forget Bernie's other assets. Those beautiful buttocks of his. I ran my hands over Bernie's backside, pressing down just a bit on those two sweet cheeks of his. Bernie moaned softly, clearly enjoying my efforts. Bernie's suit jacket had no vent in the back nor at the sides, as I mentioned before, so what I encountered was smooth soft unbroken surface as I ran my hands over his ass. After a minute or so of this, I decided that I wanted a bit more detail, if you catch my drift. I slipped my hands under the tail of Bernie's suit jacket and attacked the surface of his suit pants directly. Those big fleshy but firm butt cheeks were even better than I remembered them. They were hard and firm and solid and so round and smooth, especially in that lovely silky suit material. My hands moved all over Bernie's butt taking in every detail. I felt my breath quicken as the joy of the moment flooded into me. I took a special delight in running the tip of my right index finger down the center seam of Bernie's suit pants. You know the seam I'm talking about. The one that runs down the seat of the pants. The one that allows you probe just a little bit into the crack of a guy's ass. My probing digit was stopped far short of actually slipping in between Bernie's buttocks, by the tightness of the suit pant material, but that wasn't important. It was the resistance to my probe and the suggestion of probing further that I so thoroughly enjoyed. From the frequent moans and muttered 'yes' that forced themselves from between Bernie's frozen lips, it seemed that he was enjoying my exploration as well. I reached down in between Bernie's legs and stroked the inside of his thighs a few times. He muttered 'yes' a few more times, and several very loud moans forced themselves from his throat.

A shiver of delight ran through me as my fingers encountered a very large bulge on Bernie's backside. To be more specific, I discovered a very large bulge residing in the right back pocket of Bernie's pants. The small button tab closure of the pocket was done up but it seems to be strained slightly. I didn't need to ask Bernie if what I had hit upon was his wallet. It was a forgone conclusion. The material of Bernie's suit pants was taunt across that large hard object. It was sexy somehow, and it enhanced my enjoyment of Bernie's butt. As my hands continued their inspection of Bernie's backside, I noticed that the left back pocket also had a small button tab closure which was done up as well. This pocket seemed to be empty though. I couldn't detect the bulge of an object, or even the faintest outline of an object in that pocket. It wasn't all that important; I suppose I just want to make sure my inspection was thorough. It sure as heck was fun.

I let my hands wander around Bernie's body a bit more as I explored a bit more of his outfit. As I stood next to Bernie, I whispered into his ear. "Deeper and deeper into my power, Bernie." I got a terrific kick out of saying that to Bernie and urging him to surrender even more completely to me. It was a power trip, pure and simple. (Hey, at least I was honest enough to admit it to myself.)

"Yes, deeper," he muttered, and then moaned yet again.

I toyed with the idea of stripping Bernie down while he was frozen, but realized that it would be a lot of work, especially with him balanced on only one foot. It might even have been considered a bit dangerous, especially if he fell over. I decided I would enjoy it so much more when Bernie removed his clothes himself. Having a man take off his clothes was far more satisfying (to me, anyway), then having to take them off yourself. It is just another indication of the trust (and yes to some degree, the control) that you have with the subject. Carefully I grabbed Bernie by the shoulders and tipped him towards the right, so that he was once again standing firmly on both feet.

Working from just behind and slightly to right of Bernie's body, I took Bernie's right hand and slipped into the right front pocket of his suit pants. I arranged his suit jacket so that it was pushed back behind his right hand and arm, much as a man would stand normally with his hand in his front pants pocket. It took me less than a minute to move behind and to the left of Bernie's back so that I could place Bernie's left hand and arm in a similar position, on Bernie's left side. I made a few final adjustments to his suit jacket, and then walked a few paces in front of Bernie. I turned around anticipating a most delightful sight would greet my eyes. I let out a long low whistle of approval. It was great when I was proven right about something, especially something like this. Posed like this, Bernie looked like he belonged to a male fashion show. (Then again I wasn't exactly an objective observer, come to think of it.) Standing there, frozen stiff with his hands in the front pockets of his suit pants, he was doing a wonderful job of showing off the front of his suit pants and his vest. I looked down at the front of Bernie's pants. Mister Happy was making his presence well known. I smiled at Bernie and then waggled my finger at him shamefully. Bernie blushed a bright beet red. He might have been unable to move, but that didn't stop him from feeling a bit embarrassed and showing it. I smiled at him, enjoying his discomfort. He wasn't all that embarrassed though, since we were alone in my apartment. His only embarrassment was from the fact that I was making a point about his cock being rock hard and jutting out from the front of his suit pants. Any man finds such a situation embarrassing, regardless of the circumstances.

"Bernie, in a few seconds I will snap my fingers and your body will no longer be stiff. Your body will be completely normal in every way, and you will be able to move every part of your body just as you did before I made your body stiff. This one time only, Bernie, when you hear me snap my fingers you will awaken from your hypnotic trance, full aware of everything that has happened to you so far this afternoon," I spoke softly into his ear. I was still standing behind Bernie at the time that I spoke to him. While I waited a few seconds to be sure that my instructions had a chance to be understood, I placed the middle finger of my right hand next to my thumb as I got ready to snap my fingers.

SNAP!

Bernie's body jerked suddenly at the sound of my fingers snapping. I waited to see what he would do. His head turned from side to side as he looked about the room. Slowly Bernie spun about to face me. He looked at me silently for a second or two before a small shy smile graced his lips. His face looked relaxed and calm, much more at peace then when he'd first arrived earlier this afternoon.

"Thank you, sir, err, Paul," he said quietly, as he withdrew his hands from the front pockets of his suit pants. "It was wonderful."

"You're welcome," I replied. "Is that all?" I asked slightly puzzled by his calm reaction.

"What do you mean, Paul?" He asked. Now it was his turn to look puzzled.

"I thought you would have some comment regarding this afternoon's events, surely," I said with just a touch of surprise colouring my voice.

"Well, I do have one, make that two, questions," Bernie said hesitantly.

"Ask away, Bernie," I encouraged him with a smile of my own.

"Okay. Well, here goes," Bernie said and then paused for a second to take a breath. "First, is that all the hypnosis we are going to do?" Bernie looked at me quietly as he waited for my answer.

"No, that is not all the hypnosis that we are going to do. I'll be putting you back into your trance soon enough," I assured him. When it came to hypnosis, Bernie was a like a kid in a candy store, he always wanted just one more session. Come to think of it, a lot of my subjects were like that. I found that fact rather odd, but filed that fact away for further analysis. I was busy with Bernie right now.

"Good. Well, I'm relieved to hear that," Bernie responded.

"And your other question?" I prompted him.

"Oh, yeah," Bernie said with a silly grin. "Do you think I could get a job as department store dummy?" He asked with a soft chuckle.

"You're pretty good, but I wouldn't quit your day job, if I were you," I said with a smile. "Besides, being department store dummy doesn't pay very well."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess you're right," Bernie agreed. "Could I be your personal mannequin, again sometime?" Bernie asked eagerly.

"So you enjoyed that did you?" I asked him.

"Yes, indeed!" Bernie admitted wholeheartedly. "It was incredible. I never felt so powerless and controlled before. I knew exactly what you were doing to me, and I couldn't stop you from doing it. I'm not sure I can describe exactly how thrilling and erotic it was for me. I hope you had as much fun turning me stiff as I did being stiff."

"I'll bet a part of you was very stiff and probably still is," I teased him unmercifully.

"Uh, yeah," Bernie said and glanced down at the floor bashfully. He looked up at me a few seconds later and continued speaking. "I was rock hard while you were posing me, and even now when I think about it, I get excited and hard. You sure know how to turn me on and turn me into your hypnotized slave boy."

"It's a gift," I said with a smile.

"I hope you never lose that gift," Bernie responded. "If you ever do, heaven forbid, there will be a lot of disappointed guys in the city, especially me."

"All in all I take it you are feeling better now, Bernie?" I asked him as I attempted to change the subject.

"Yes," Bernie answered. "I always feel good after you've hypnotized me, Paul. It's been a really rough week, which is why I was kind of desperate for a session with you. I needed to let go of myself with you. You're the best stress relief therapy that I know, and even better, you're drug free."

I smiled at Bernie as I caught on to his play on words. "I don't think I've ever been described as 'drug free' before. Thank you for the compliment. It was a compliment, wasn't it?"

"Oh yes, it was a compliment," Bernie assured me, as he kept smiling at me. A few seconds later his eyes took on a soulful look as he asked me softly. "Can we do some more hypnosis, now? Please?"

"Well, I suppose so, if you really want to," I jokingly. "A pickle in my cowboy boots."

Bernie's reaction was immediate. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, before his eyes slowly closed and his head dropped forward so that his chin was resting on his chest. Bernie stood there in front of me swaying ever so slightly as his arms dangled by his sides while he plummeted down into a very deep state of super hypnosis. I hugged myself as I gazed upon the sight of Bernie back in his trance. The combination of him in hypnosis and that incredible suit that he was wearing, was enough to start me drooling. (Okay. So I was exaggerating just a tad, but I think you get the idea.) Bernie was a suit stud!

"Bernie go into the dinning room, take off your jacket, and hang it up on the back of one of the chairs. When you have done that bend over the dinning room table," I said to him after a few minutes of thought.

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Bernie bellowed out as he opened his eyes and practically marched off towards the dinning room table. I turned and followed him, staying only a step or two behind him. I didn't want to miss a second of the unveiling ceremony. Bernie arrived at the dinning room table and slid his suit jacket off in one easy motion. The jacket headed down towards the dinning room floor, but Bernie easily snagged the jacket with his right hand and swung it around towards the front of his body. He quickly and carefully hung the jacket on the back of the chair in front of which he was standing. This action cleared the way for my first scrutiny of Bernie's suit clad behind. It was as if the certain had gone up on the main event of the afternoon.

As I might have mentioned earlier, those suit pants were somewhat snug on Bernie's behind. The two heavenly hemispheres of his buttocks were enhanced by the manner in which the material of his suit pants clung to the curvature of his gluteus maximus, and up around the crotch and of course the thighs of his legs. Viewed from the back (Is there any other view that matters?), it was a most suggestive and arousing sight. Before I could do more than take in an eyeful or so, Bernie moved away from the chair and headed over to the dining room table. I stood rooted to the spot as I watched him slowly bend over the dinning room table. As he draped his torso over the dinning room table, the material of his suit pants became stretched just a bit tighter over his buttocks. (Surely by now you've guessed that that was the general idea.) Bernie placed his arms up an over his head as he lay on the table. He wanted to give me unfettered access to his backside. I figured that I'd waited long enough. I walked up to Bernie's bent over form and eagerly grabbed a double handful of his ass with my hands. I squeezed and kneaded those two big round fleshly mounds before me. I didn't try to dig my fingers into Bernie's butt, because I didn't want to ruin his suit. I could not clamp my right hand onto Bernie's right buttock as securely as I wanted, due to Bernie's big wallet. This was the first time that I could recall ever being annoyed with a guy for having a big bulging wallet in his back pocket. However, I managed to work around the problem, in my own way. Solving some types of problems can be a most delightful exercise, if you know what I mean.

Bernie appreciated my efforts, to say the least. He let out a very loud "Oh" when I first clamped my hands on his ass. As I tenderized Bernie's butt he moaned softly in undisguised pleasure at my ministrations. I was having a pretty good time, myself. The feeling of those buns under my fingertips might not have been heaven, but it was probably somewhere up there in the top ten. I didn't confine my exploration to only Bernie's buns. I let my fingers wander their way down to the crotch of Bernie's pants, and then up and underneath Bernie as far as I could reach. Unfortunately with the manner in which Bernie was lying on the top of the table, I couldn't really reach all that far up the front of Bernie's pants. I made due as best I could, though. On a sudden impulse, I bent down and planted a couple of firm warm kisses on Bernie's buttocks.

"Thank you for kissing my ass, sir!" Bernie cried out in joy as he felt the pressure of my lips on his backside. "Oh thank you, sir! Thank you so much, sir! You've never done anything so nice to me before. Thank you so very much, Sir!"

"You're most welcome, Bernie," I said to him soothingly. "You have a wonderful looking backside, most especially when you wear dress pants. I thought I should show you my gratitude for the effort you put in getting dressed up for me."

"The honor and privilege was all mine, sir," Bernie replied. He moaned a few times as he wiggled his body in sensual rapture to my continued massaging of his backside. "I like to dress up for you, sir. I know that you like seeing well dressed men, and I wanted to do my best to please you, sir." Bernie paused for a second or two." I did please you, sir, didn't I?" He asked with a wistful note in his voice.

"You did, indeed," I answered him. "Why else do you think I kissed your ass? I don't do that to just anyone, Bernie. You are a very special subject. You have earned a special little something."

"Oh thank you, Sir!" Bernie exclaimed in delight as he listened to my remarks. "Sir, would you kiss my ass again, please? I like the feeling of your lips on my ass. It makes me feel totally yours, sir. It makes me feel like I couldn't stop you from doing anything you wanted, with me."

"I suppose I could do that, Bernie," I said calmly. Inside I was thrilled that Bernie really enjoyed this. I wasn't certain exactly how he would react to it, so I was tickled pink that he was asking me to kiss his ass a second time. "You're mine anyway, Bernie," I reminded him. "Even if you are not completely aware of it, I can do anything I want with your right now. When I kiss your ass this time, Bernie, your mind and will shall become mine. All that you will want to do or be able to do is to obey me, completely and totally. Anything that I ask of you will seem reasonable."

"I don't know about that, sir," Bernie said doubtfully, as I leaned down over his backside and got ready to kiss both of his buttocks. "I can't see myself unconditionally surrendering to you, sir. I trust you, sir and I know that you would never hurt me or abuse me, sir. But total surrender of my mind and my will seems unlikely, sir. I hope you wo"

Bernie's discourse was cut off in mid word as he felt the pressure of my lips on his right buttocks. I kissed his right buttocks twice and then kissed his left buttocks twice. Bernie uttered several long low guttural moans while I finished up the business of kissing his ass into submission. . I planted a few kisses extra kisses for good measure. I stood up and slowly removed my hands from Bernie's backside. Bernie lay there moaning, not speaking a word.

"You were saying, Bernie?" I asked him with a smile on my face, anticipating his response.

"I was saying that I wouldn't surrender to you, master, but I was wrong," Bernie said calmly. "I am yours, master. All that you wish I shall do. My body is yours, master. My mind is yours, master. Your wish is my will. My only purpose in life is to serve and obey you in whatever manner you desire. Please command me, master. Your command is my pleasure."

"I see," I replied as I tried to calm my rising excitement. I had had several good subjects surrender like this before, so it wasn't exactly a new experience for me. This moment, when a subject surrendered and he admitted it to me, was the sweet reward to which I looked forward. I silently hoped that I would never tire of the thrill of this moment, that I would never become jaded with time. "How's your cock, Bernie?"

"God, my cock is so hard, master! II've never felt it so hard before. I can feel my boxers starting to get wet, master! I want to cum very, very badly, master! I know that I can't cum until you let me, master. Please master, will it be soon? I I'm starting to hurt, master," Bernie had turned his head to the left so that he could speak clearly to me.

"Climb up on the table and lie down on your back, Bernie," I ordered him.

"Yes, master!" Bernie cried out with blatant enthusiasm. He clamored up onto the dinning room table on all fours. I smiled as I marveled at the sight of Bernie's backfield in motion. It did not take him long to execute his instructions. He lay there on the dinning room table, on his back, looking up at me, waiting patiently. His body shuddered a few times as he tried in vain to control the intense excitement he was feeling. A few soft moans escaped from his lips as he luxuriated in the intense feelings of pleasure and joy that continued to course through his body. I knew he was excited because his penis was rock hard and jutting up from the center of the front of his pants. I was slightly surprised at the size of the tent in his trousers and the way in which the fabric seemed to be straining to conceal the monster within.
"Bark like a dog until I tell you to stop, Bernie," I said to him as I turned away from him and dashed down the hallway towards the linen closet. I suddenly realized that a most important item was missing. I most certainly did not want an accidental mess in my dinning room, nor did I want Bernie to ruin that wonderful suit he was wearing.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Bernie cried out into the air as I left him occupied with that mindless and menial task. It was all I could think of to occupy Bernie's mind while I yanked the closet door open and pawed through the stacks of assorted towels, bed sheets and face clothes. Colour was the least of my concerns. I snatched up the nearest clean bath towel that I could find, and hurried back to the dinning room.

"Bernie, stop barking like a dog. Now take out that rock hard monster of yours and wrap it securely in this towel," I said to him as I tossed the towel to him.

Bernie caught the towel with both hands, and placed the towel beside him on his right side. "Yes, master," he responded as he reached down with both of his hands and worked at his fly. Moments later Bernie worked his hard and hot cock out of from the confines of his suit pants. It stood there in all its glory stiffly vertical, like a miniature flagpole, as Bernie fumbled to retrieve the towel he had placed beside him. I saw a few small drops of pre-cum oozing from the tip and slowly working their way down that shaft. From what I saw it seemed that Bernie was wearing plain white silk boxers, but I could not be absolutely sure of what I had seen. When Bernie started to wrap up his cock in that dark brown bath towel that I had given him, my view of his cock and his boxers was effectively cut off.

"Done, master," Bernie declared as he finished wrapping his cock in the towel. "Oh, master that towel feels so nice.." He moaned dreamily. He kept his hands firmly fasten on his towel enshrouded penis, as a few shudders ran down the length of his body.

"It's warm and soft, and it feels wonderful to have your cock wrapped up like that, doesn't it, BOY?" I asked him, putting an obvious emphasis on the word 'boy'.

"Oh, yes, master," Bernie answered in that same dreamy voice. "Yes, sir. Yes, master, I'm your boy, now. Thank you for letting me be your boy, master," Bernie was nearly gushing in his gratitude for my addressing him as a boy. Clearly he was taking this slave role very seriously now.

"Boy, I am going to unbutton your vest now. When I am finished you will shoot your load into the towel. It will be the most profound and intense climax that you have ever had. You will cum like you've never cum before. You will be able to say anything that you wish while you shoot your load. In fact, you will find yourself saying what ever it is that you would most like to say, but have been unable to say to me for whatever reason. All your inhibitions and limitations will be removed while you shoot your load." I paused for a few moments to let my commands sink into Bernie's mind. "Do you understand, boy?" I asked him.

"Yes, master. I understand completely," Bernie answered without hesitation. "I can't wait for you to unbutton my vest! I can't wait to cum, master!" Bernie gulped a few times, as he panted in anticipation.

I moved next to Bernie and leaned over his torso. I looked down at that handsome man before me and I marveled once again at the depth of control that my super hypnosis powers gave me over the average man. He lay there waiting as patiently as he could for me to start undoing his vest. The vest fit very well on him, I noted. All five buttons were done up, and the vest was pulled down over the top of Bernie's pants. I thought about it for a few seconds and then made my decision. I would start with the bottom button of the vest. I reached down and carefully undid the lowermost button of Bernie's vest. Bernie's body jerked once and a loud moan poured from his mouth as he climbed a little bit closer to his release. I undid the next button up on the vest and was rewarded with another loud moan from Bernie. I pushed the flaps of the vest up and to the side as far as they would go. I was curious to know what the top of Bernie's pants looked like. It was a bit of an anticlimax to discover that a plain black leather belt encircled Bernie's waist. The belt had a simple gold tongue and buckle closure. It wasn't anything all that remarkable, but it did fit in with the rest of Bernie's outfit. My curiosity satisfied, I let the sides of the vest fall back down onto Bernie's stomach, and turned my attention back to undoing Bernie's vest.

The third button of the vest was easy to undo. Bernie wasn't putting up anything in the way of a struggle, unless you can call squirming about in delight a struggle. The moans he was uttering were getting some what longer and louder, as he climbed closer and closer to his release. I waited a few heartbeats before I attacked the fourth button on that vest. I wanted to build up the anticipation, not that it was really necessary. Only one button remained. I looked a Bernie's vest now as it lay on his chest. The vest was parted down the middle and hanging off to the sides of his chest. Only one button remained between Bernie and ecstasy beyond belief. I blinked as my ears picked up some soft whimpering. Three guesses as to who was the source of the whimpering. I listened carefully, and was able to make out the words that Bernie was muttering..

"Please master? Please undo the last button? I'll be a good boy for you, master. I'll be the best boy ever, master. Please, master, please? I'm so close, master. I want to cum so badly, master. Please master, I'm begging you. Please master, please undo that last button on my vest." Bernie's words trailed off into the quiet of the room. His eyes were closed during the entire time that he was begging me for release, and I could see tears starting to leak out of the corners of his eyes. Enough was enough. My fingers unhooked the last button on that vest and I took a step back to await the result.

"YYYEEEESSS!!!!" Bernie screamed out at the top of his lungs, as he came like a locomotive. His back arched as he thrust his pelvis into the air. His torso and hips were completely suspended in mid air. More than that though, his legs were stiff too and suspended off of the top of the table. He looked like a bridge with his shoulders as one anchor point and his heels as the other. I squatted down and peered up at Bernie's body. I discovered that I had a clear view of his ass suspended in the air, and it was a most interesting view. His buttocks were clenched tight and they seemed to have gripped the material of the suit pants somehow. The result was that the pants were pulled skin tight against Bernie's buttocks, showing the outline of ever muscle. A few seconds later he lowered his torso back on to the top of the table, as his muscles relaxed. This cut off my view so I stood up and looked down at Bernie. His eyes popped open and his mouth hung open as grunts, groans and moans tumbled out of his mouth like cars whipping down the expressway during rush hour. (A rush hour without any traffic jams, just in case you were not clear about that.) Bernie wasn't the most eloquent person when he came, but he more than make up for his lack of words with the volume and enthusiasm of his vocal display. Bernie wasn't finished yet, apparently. He started to pump his hips up and down as he continued to shoot his load into the towel. Soon Bernie's body started to undulate in time with the rhythm of his hips as they moved up and down. I stood there and watched as Bernie worked through his release. Slowly his hips moved less and less as the last few drops of his load were squeezed out of the tip of his penis. (I didn't see that, but I could guess that it was probably the case.) After about eight or nine minutes Bernie was finished. He lay there, on the table with an expression on his face that could only be described as blissful. His arms were lying by his sides now, instead of holding tight to that towel. The towel was no longer standing stiffly in the air. This was one tent whose main support pole has just been removed, if you catch my drift. Bernie's eyes were open and he was staring up at the ceiling, but I'm sure he wasn't paying any attention to anything. There were a few drops of sweat on his forehead, but otherwise he looked fine. He didn't look spent or tired, just outrageously pleased with himself. Only his still heavy breathing betrayed the fact that he hadn't yet completely recovered.

Bernie blinked his eyes and turned his head as he came to his senses. He looked up at me, and smiled at me with unconcealed devotion and trust. He swallowed a couple of times and he licked his lips as if he were getting ready to say something to me. I suddenly recalled that Bernie had not yet executed all of his instructions. I wondered what it was that Bernie was going to say to me. I figured it was going to be something along the line of him being my devoted slave, and that he considered me his master now. As strange as it may sound to you, that can get somewhat boring and repetitive after a while. I schooled my face into a neutral expression so as to hide my disappointment at hearing the same old line, yet again.

"I'm sorry, master, but I will not do absolutely anything that you wish me to," Bernie said with a gulp.

"Now this is interesting," I thought to myself. I kept quiet as I waited for Bernie to explain.

"I must draw the line at supplying you with drugs or medicines or anything that would require me to violate my Hippocratic oath, master. I am sorry, but being a doctor, a good doctor is more important to me than being your slave boy, master. My career and my patients must come first, even before you, master. I'm sorry, master," Bernie lay there looking up at me waiting for my response. He trembled once or twice at my continued silence.

"I don't see any problem with that, Bernie my boy," I said to him with a warm smile. I was pleased that Bernie had found the courage to tell me what his ultimate limits were. I could, of course, have circumvented Bernie's limits, but I wasn't likely to ever do something along those lines. "Is there anything else you would like to say to me now?" I prompted him.

"Nothing more, master, other than to say that I am extremely happy with tonight's events. Is there anything more that I may do for you?" Bernie asked the question with a wistful tone, as if he were trying to make up for his declaration earlier.

"Stand up and clean yourself up, Bernie. Then be a good boy and put that used towel in the dirty clothes hamper in my bedroom," I instructed him.

"Right away, master!" Bernie replied as he wiped himself clean and placed the towel on the right side of his body. He reached down and tucked his now thoroughly deflated cock back into his boxers and zipped his fly closed. Bernie carefully climbed down off of the dinning room table and snatching up the used bathroom towel, he headed off to my bedroom.

As I stood there waiting for Bernie to return, I wondered what I should have him do next. Coherent thinking was a tad bit difficult, as I watched that butt if his motion while he walked way from me. It wasn't only his backside that had a clamp on my attention, it was the way that his big wallet was nestled in the right back pocket of his pants that that drew my attention to him. I was still standing there staring at where Bernie's butt had been when he emerged from my bedroom a few minutes later and walked towards me.

"Done, master," he stated simply as he stood there in front of me, awaiting further orders.

I looked at Bernie standing there in front of me, ready and willing to do nearly anything that I wanted. I thought about having him drop his pants and his boxers. I thought about having him give me a blow job. I even thought about having anal sex with Bernie. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, though. As tempting as it was, there was something stronger, more powerful that steered me away from that temptation. When I saw Bernie standing there I was reminded why Bernie was here in the first place. It was because of Andy, and thinking of Andy made everything crystal clear. I recalled the promise that I'd made to Andy those many months ago. The promise that I had so far managed to keep. I remembered all the promises and words that Andy had spoken to me, and how he had kept his word. How could I do any less? Then I recalled how Andy looked when Bernie had sneaked me in to see Andy that night in the hospital. I remembered the love, concern and devotion on Andy's face when I'd held his hand and told him I loved him. It wasn't worth it. Breaking my promise, my word, to Andy wasn't worth it. When Andy found out, and I knew that he would eventually, I would lose him. I'd almost lost him once, and it had nearly crushed me. I couldn't take a chance like that now. It simply wasn't worth it.

So sex with Bernie was out of the question, as was any direct touching of the private areas of his body, at least when his clothes were off. As long as Bernie kept his pants on, I could play with him. My promise to Andy allowed for that at least. So, I would make the best of the situation. I could still have a little fun with Bernie and keep my promise to Andy.

"Good boy, Bernie," I said to him. Bernie's eyes lit and he grinned happily at hearing my praise. "How about making me a cup of coffee and bringing it to me in the living room?" I asked him.

"Yes, master! Right away, master!" Bernie exclaimed looking a bit starry-eyed. "Might I ask how you take your coffee?" he inquired politely.

"One teaspoon of sugar and milk, please," I answered him.

"Thank you, master. Coming right up!" Bernie called out to me as he executed a snappy about face and headed off to the kitchen.

"One other thing, boy," I called out to him before he'd taken more than a step or two.

"Yes, master?" He answered immediately, stopping dead in his tracks and turning about to look at me.

"Remove your vest and hang it up on one of the dinning room chairs, first," I told him.

"Of course, master," he responded. Bernie happened to be standing beside one of the dinning room chairs so it was a simple matter for him to slip off his suit vest and hang it on the back of the chair. Bernie continued his interrupted trip to the kitchen.

I meandered my way to the swivel rocking chair in the living room, wondering what else I should have Bernie do for me this afternoon. Other than the request for coffee, which I really didn't want in the first place, I was fresh out of ideas. Well, maybe if I sat there and sipped my coffee, something would come to me. I looked about the room, letting my eyes wander this way and that, hoping that something would inspire me. I directed an occasional glance in the direction of the kitchen, so as to monitor Bernie's approach with my cup of coffee.

I happened to be gazing in the direction of the kitchen and so I saw Bernie as he entered the dining room when he exited the kitchen. He was carrying the cup of coffee (on a saucer), in his right hand as he walked towards me. He walked confidently and easily as he carried the cup of coffee towards me, unconcerned about spilling the cup of coffee. He did present a very nice picture as a butler, or servant, even if he wasn't wearing all of his suit.

"Here you go, master," he stated as he carefully placed the cup of coffee resting on its accompanying saucer, on the coffee table in front of me. "I hope it is to your liking."

"It's fine, Bernie," I said to him after I took a very small sip of coffee from the cup. I eyed him over the rim of the coffee cup as I sipped the steaming hot liquid. Bernie stood there just in front of me with his hands in the front pockets of his pants as he patiently waited for his next series of instructions. He smiled a small smile at me that seemed to say that he was content to stand there all day and all night if need be. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world, except for wanting to serve me. Even without the jacket and vest of his suit, Bernie still looked good. The powder blue dress shirt was a good match to the sky blue dress pants and plain black leather belt with the gold tongue buckle that encircled his waist. The plain burgundy tie hanging down the front of the dress shirt provided a slight dash of colour and contrast without being loud or showy. I was content, at least for the moment to merely look at Bernie.

"Turn around and touch your toes with your back to me, Bernie," I said to him. I couldn't think of anything else for him to do, and I did want to see that nice butt of his.

"Yes, master," he said quietly as he continued to smile at me. Bernie took his hands out of the front pockets of his suit pants and slowly turned around. When he was sure his back was presented to me, he slowly bent over and reached down to touch his toes with his finger tips. This resulted of course, in the material in the seat of his pants being pulled tightly across his buttocks. (As if I had to tell you that? You should have been able to deduce that by now. I mean, really! Why else would you want to have a hypnotized man bend over and touch his toes, if not to show off his butt?) Yes indeed Bernie had a fine butt. The bulging wallet in his right back pocket enhanced the deliciousness of that backside before me. I carefully placed my cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of me and walked to where Bernie was bent over.

'You're my boy toy, aren't you Bernie?" I asked him as I lightly caressed his backside with my hands.

"Oh yes, master!" Bernie answered eagerly. "You can do whatever you want with me, master!"

I grabbed hold of his buttocks, one with each hand and gave them a big firm squeeze. "You're my squeeze toy, Bernie," I stated clearly.

"Yes, master. I am you boy toy, your squeeze toy, your plaything, master," he agreed and moaned out loud.

"Down on all fours now, boy," I ordered him.

"Oh thank you, master. The blood was starting to pound in my head, master," Bernie said as he dropped down on to his hands and knees.

My contact with Bernie's butt was broken by this action. No matter. I could reestablish contact with Bernie's behind whenever I wished. It wasn't like he was going to object after all. Seeing Bernie down on all fours, made me think of playing fetch with him, except that I didn't want to damage his clothes.

"Bernie, I am going to count from zero to five. At the end of the count you will be wide awake, completely your normal self and you will recall in complete detail everything that has occurred this afternoon. You will awaken feeling refreshed and completely relaxed," I told him. I wanted to know what he thought about all this, since this is the first time that he had ever, in all the sessions that we had had, referred to me as 'master'.

"Yes, master. I understand, master," Bernie assured me as he remained on his hands and knees looking away from me.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake! Wide awake!" I called out to him as I completed the count.

Bernie's body jerked once as he came out of his super hypnotic trance, and returned to his normal state of mind. He remained on his hands and knees for a few moments as he got his bearings. Slowly he stood up and dusted off the knees of his pant legs. He turned about slowly as he searched the room. He stopped when he saw me standing there a few paces away from him. A tender and gentle smile blossom on his lips as he walked towards me holding his arms out from his sides. Seconds later Bernie wrapped me in a firm warm hug and laid his head on my right shoulder. After a few moments Bernie let go of me and took a step back from me.

"That was the most incredible session that we've ever had, Paul," he said to me with a slightly glazed look in his eyes. "I haven't felt this good in a very long time. Thank you so much for this."
"You had a good time, then?" I asked him.

"No. I had a fantastic time, and you darn well know it!" Bernie said with a laugh. "I haven't cum like that in months. It's a great way to relieve stress, you know."

"No complaints, then?" I inquired with a wink and a smile.

"None, whatsoever," Bernie answered. "You managed to take me deeper than ever before, I think. Certainly this is the first time that I've ever called you 'master'. It was a new experience. Kind of pleasant actually."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Bernie. I had a good time. You have a really nice ass, you know. I enjoyed fondling it this afternoon," I told him plainly. "Would you like to go back under for a while longer?" I asked him.

"Yes, but I don't have the time," Bernie answered with a touch of regret in his voice, after he looked at his wrist watch. "I have to head off to the hospital. I have just enough time to get home, change and shower, before my shift starts." Bernie walked over to the dinning room chairs and started putting on his vest and his suit jacket. "I might just as well wear this suit home. I can get changed at home and save a little time."

I watched him get dressed, marvelling at how good he looked in that suit of his. Bernie had the vest on and buttoned up in less than a minute. He slipped on the suit jacket, turned to the dinning room mirror and checked that everything was in place.

"How do I look?" He asked with a smile.

"Great, as always," I answered him. "In fact you look good enough to hypnotize right now." I said with a wink of my eye.

"Oh, no, nothing doing. I don't have any more time to play," Bernie said with a shake of his head. "No more pickles in cowboy boots for me today."

"Party pooper," I said with a pout.

"Sorry about that. Maybe this will make you feel better," Bernie said as he walked over to stand in front of me. He reached back and drew his wallet out of the right back pocket of his suit pants. He opened his wallet and started thumbing through the various bills inside. He muttered something to himself but I could not make out the words. "There that ought to do it," he said a few seconds later as he plucked several bills from this wallet and thrust them out towards me.

"Bernie, I can't take money for your session," I said to him as I tried to decline the proffered bills.

"Sure you can," he said surprised at my reaction. "I think your time and the effort you put out this afternoon are worth something. I know I got a lot out of this session, short as it was. I think you should get something out of it too." Bernie looked at me for a moment before he continued speaking. "You wouldn't want to hurt my feelings by refusing to let me pay you, would you?"

"Well, when you put it like that I guess I can't really say 'no'," I admitted reluctantly. "Just remember that I never asked for this or even suggested anything along the line of payment for my services, Bernie."

"Yes, this is completely my idea," Bernie confirmed. "I don't think you really understand just how much importance I place on these sessions with you. I thought that paying you might show you just how much I value your time and the effort you are putting out for me. Please, Paul, take the money."

"Oh, okay," I said with a trace of hesitation, as I took the bills from Bernie's outstretched hand. "I suppose I could put it towards a new pair of cowboy boots or something."

"Great!" Bernie said as he saw me take and pocket the money. "Well, just let me grab my stuff from the spare bedroom and I'll be off." Without another word, Bernie turned and headed down the hallway to the spare bedroom. A few minutes later he returned carrying his duffel bag in his left hand. Bernie headed for the front hall closet and retrieved his overcoat. Smiling and waving at me he turned to the front door. "Bye, Paul! Thanks again!" He called out as he opened the front door left my apartment. Moments later he walked through the threshold and pulled the front door closed behind him.

"Good bye, Bernie. You're welcome," I said to the now empty and silent room. I stood there staring at the closed front door trying to figure out what it was that I was feeling. I didn't feel empty or cheap, or used. I felt strangely fulfilled and content. Most super hypnosis sessions left me feeling like I had done something good for the subject, but this was a bit different. I felt as if I had been helped as much as Bernie. For some as of yet undefined reason, I was able to bear the pain of my continued and forced separate from Andy a bit easier now. I'm not sure how Bernie helped with that, but somehow he had.

I suddenly realized that I had not taken a close look a the money that Bernie had given me. Imagine my surprise when I took out the bills and counted them. There were five bills. Five one hundred dollar bills. Slowly I folded the bills and stuffed them back into the front right pocket of my jeans. I sat down and turned my attention to my cup of lukewarm coffee. I didn't know what I was going to spend the money on, but I would think of something.



Chapter 12. On A Silver Platter.

You never know what fate has in store for you. The best that you can do is to roll with the punches that life sends your way. I had expected to spend a quiet evening alone with Andy. Just the two of us, sitting in front of the fireplace, with a bottle of chilled wine, some cheese and some crackers. (Romantic, no?) It was not to be. As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men. (I know, knock it off with the clichés and get back to the story.)

My cowboy hat was retired to the closet for the evening, as were my cowboy boots. Covering my legs and lower torso was a pair of worn light brown jeans, without any belt in them. These jeans were just a tad on the snug side, so I didn't need to wear a belt with them. A light brown plaid cowboy shirt, a bit on the loose side was tucked into those jeans. The shirt buttons were done up, except for the shirt collar button. As I sat there on the sofa with my legs stretched out and up on the coffee table, I snuggled up next to Andy. I wasn't cold, I just wanted to snuggle, which was a good enough reason for both of us. I looked down at my dark brown, sock covered feet, and sighed with contentment. If I had been a cat, I would have purred. (Hey, if YOU had been snuggled up on a sofa with a major league stud muffin like Andy, you'd be content too!)

Andy was wearing an off white loosely fitting long sleeved casual shirt, with a pair of faded dark blue jeans. The jeans were a bit on the snug side, and thus Andy was not wearing a belt in them. A pair of dark green wool socks covered Andy's feet. Dressed as such, Andy presented a most intriguing sight. One which I was anxious to explore, if you follow me.

I suppose that it was about 7 P.M. when my doorbell rang. I was not expecting guests and frankly I was not at all in the mood to deal with guests. Andy glanced at my face after the first ring of the bell. He could easily read my mood. This was the first evening that we had managed to arrange together since Andy had been discharged from the hospital. I suppose that was why my mood had turned foul when I heard the first ring of the doorbell. The doorbell had wrecked the romantic atmosphere of the evening, an evening that I had been looking forward to for weeks. (Hey, even Andy needed a few weeks to heal and get back to his routine before we got together for a 'romantic' evening. Andy's an RCMP constable, not Superman, after all.)

"I'll get it, Texas," he told me as he stood up. "You look like you're about ready to kill whomever it is that is unlucky enough to be on the other side of that door." Andy smiled a lopsided grin at me to take any sting out of his words.

I nodded my head in silent agreement, and cast out my mental scanners towards the door. Most of my attention was focused on watching Andy's beautiful bubble butt in those snug fitting jeans of his, as Andy walked over to the door and peered out the peephole. A small part of my attention was focused on trying to pick up any sense of danger or trouble from the person on the other side of the door. In the past few months I had learned to trust my instincts when it came to my mental powers warning me of trouble. It wasn't always easy though. I could usually feel those with the gift, who had less than friendly intentions towards me, but only at close range. In order to detect a gifted person from outside of my immediate area, I had to concentrate and project my scanners outward. The more power and effort I put into the projection, the greater my range and sensitivity. I didn't read gifted people's thoughts exactly, since their minds were usually shielded in some way. What I picked up was a resonance of my power reacting to the presence of theirs. It is best liken to having two tuning forks each set to vibrate at the same specific frequency. If you place the forks near enough to each other and strike one of them, the other fork with start to vibrate as it resonates to the sound waves produced by the first tuning fork.

Detecting non-gifted (normal) people who had aggressive or hostile intent towards me was much easier, and required much less power and effort on my part. Right now though, I was able to concentrate my scans on one specific area, the area in front of the door. This required much less power and effort to scan, as opposed to a full three hundred and sixty degree half sphere scan, which is what I usually had to deal with. So, I was able to spend most of my attention on Andy's butt and determine see if the person behind the door might be trouble.

With considerable effort I redirected my attention from Andy's butt to the front door. I furrowed my brow as I concentrated on the door and tried to pick up any feelings from the person on the other side. I was pleased to discover that there were no feelings of danger, trouble or concern. I relaxed a bit and started to wonder just who would be dropping by for a visit at 7 PM on a Saturday night. All my friends and acquaintances knew enough to call me first before coming over. It was simple common courtesy.

By this time Andy had arrived at the door and looked through the peephole. As he opened the door to talk to the person on the other side, Andy shot me a quick glance of puzzlement and shrugged his shoulders. Clearly Andy did not recognize the person. Andy kept the chain on the door as he talked to the person on the other side. I was too far away to hear the conversation. After a few moments Andy closed the door and locked it. Andy walked back to the living room, waving me to stand up as he approached me.

"You aren't going to believe this," Andy said as he began speaking to me. "But there's a good looking guy out there asking for you by name. He says that he doesn't have an appointment, but he hopes you'll make an exception to talk with him. He said to tell you that his name is Cody, and that he's learned his lesson. Does any of this make sense to you?"

Cody! My mind flashed back to the lesson I had taught Cody and his buddies Justin and Dallas, several months ago when they had intended to beat me up. I had never told Andy the names of any of those cowboys so it wasn't surprising that Andy didn't make the connection. I was surprised though that Cody would have contacted me. I would have thought that after my lesson, Cody would not willingly have come within one hundred miles of me. For a brief moment I wondered how it was that Cody even knew my name, as I had never mentioned it to him. I realized that Cody did know my apartment number, and thus it would not be difficult to learn my name. Now my curiosity was aroused. Originally I had planned to ask Andy to get rid of whomever it was that was at the door, but I changed my mind. As I walked back to the door with Andy, I answered his question and quickly filled him in on the details about Cody. Andy was not amused. He insisted on standing behind me while I talked with Cody at the door. I couldn't help but feel touched at Andy's protective reaction. I almost felt sorry for Cody, as I knew that Andy's expression would be something less than friendly.

I walked up to the door, brushing past Andy, and giving his backside a soft pat. Andy grunted a wordless acknowledgment of my brief caress. I opened the door. What I saw left me stunned and speechless.

It was Cody, but it took me a second or two to recognize him. The man standing before me was about six feet tall, and slim, almost skinny. His face was as I remembered it, with deep emerald green eyes, set perfectly in his other wise average and clean shaven face. Wisps of his dark curly black hair peeked out from under the black Stetson hat that he wore on his head. Andy had neglected to mention that Cody was dressed as cowboy, but I guess he didn't consider it important enough to mention. Either that, or Andy didn't recognize the two piece charcoal suit that Cody was wearing, as being of a western design. I did though, and that was what surprised me so much. I had never expected to see Cody again, much less see him looking so dapper and handsome wearing a heather charcoal suit with suede yokes on the front (and probably on the back too if I knew my western suit designs), and drop down arrow detailing, on the jacket. The jacket did not have any breast pocket, but it did have two inset flap pockets and was a single breasted two button design. Cody wore the jacket undone, which allowed me to clearly see the white dress shirt that he wore, which might or might not have been of western design. It was difficult to determine that since I could not see if the shirt had western flap pockets or had snap closures. It was a safe bet that it probably was a western shirt though, since anything else would have been out of place. The front of the shirt was blocked by the colourful silk jacquard necktie that Cody was wearing. The tie had what appeared to be horizontal pattern of silhouetted cowboys sitting on a fence. It was an interesting looking tie and it was wide enough to cover the front part of Cody's shirt. The tie ended just above the bottom of Cody's belt buckle and covered the entire buckle. I couldn't really tell what the buckle looked like.

The heather charcoal coloured pants matched the jacket which confirmed that this was in fact a suit. With the jacket hanging open as it was I could clearly see the front of Cody's pants but I could not make out any details, other than Cody's fly was probably not open. The front of Cody's pants were in the shadow cast by Cody's jacket. From what I could see though, the pants looked to be close fitting. However, that could have been more my imagination and wishful thinking, than what I actually saw. So much was hinted at, and so many details I just could not make out. (Are you getting the impression that I was getting just a bit frustrated with all this? Well, I was.) A quick flick of my eyes down the length of the front of Cody's pants allowed me to determine that the pants were hemmed but not cuffed. The pants ended above a pair of midnight black cowboy boots polished to a mirror shine.

Cody stood there with his arms hanging limply by his sides, looking natural, relaxed and harmless, as he looked me in the eye. Only the gulp before he spoke betrayed that he was nervous and ill at ease.

"Hello Paul, er Mr. Walton," Cody said softly.

"What do you want, Cody?" I asked him coming straight to the point. The foulness of my mood had been somewhat mollified by my curiosity, but I was still unwilling to banter words with Cody.

"If you have the time, Mr. Walton, I'd like you to do me again," Cody answered quietly.

"Do you? What the heck does that mean?" I asked him, puzzled.

"I.II want you to milk me again," Cody answered in a deathly quiet whisper, and then blushed a bright beet red. He broke eye contact with me and gazed at the floor, unable to look at me any longer.

It took me only a second or so to remember the milking episode with Cody. Now I was really mystified. I couldn't for the life of me imagine that Cody would want to go through that particular exercise again. It hadn't exactly been an uplifting and wonderful experience for him the first time. (I'd had a lot of fun, it was true, but for Cody the experience wasn't exactly what I would have thought of as 'wonderful'.) I thought for a moment that this might be another test by someone else with the gift, except that I wasn't getting any danger signals from Cody. But then again, I had not scanned his mind. Without asking his permission I reached over and pushed the cowboy hat on Cody's head up and to the back so as to expose some of Cody's forehead. Cody raised his head in surprise as he felt me moving his hat on his head. I placed my fingertips on Cody's forehead and did a quick but deep scan of his mind. (Normally I always ask permission from a person before scanning their mind, but this was a strange enough situation to warrant the waiving of that particular courtesy. Besides this was Cody and I didn't trust him farther that I could drop kick a moose!)

"Yes, please, put me back in your power," Cody muttered out loud as soon as he felt my fingers on his forehead.

I ignored his request as I completed my scan. His request and desire were both genuine, it seemed, and there was no indication of any subsurface compulsion or drive for him to come here and ask this request of me. So he was safe, it seemed. I took my hand away from his forehead. Cody opened his eyes and looked at me, his face open and pleading.

"Will you do it Mr. Walton? Please?" He asked me.

"Come inside and we can discuss it, further," I answered him. "This is not something that should be talked about out in the hallway."

"Yes, Mr. Walton. Thank you," Cody said meekly as he walked past me into the front hall. He took one look at Andy, gulped several times and stopped dead in his tracks, with a look of fear pasted on his face. I turned my head to look at Andy. It was difficult for me not to smile at Cody's reaction. Andy was standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had a stony and mean look on his face, that could best be likened to an angry female grizzly bear with a very bad case of PMS. If I didn't know Andy better, I would have gulped in fear too.

"I have only two questions for you Cody," I said to him. He didn't respond.

"Hello, Cody? I'm talking to you." I said a bit louder.

That seemed to do it. Cody wrenched his attention away from Andy and back to me. "I'm sorry, Mr. Walton. You were saying?"

"I was saying that I have only two questions regarding your request," I said to him. "First, why should I put myself to any effort on your behalf? I don't exactly consider you one of my friends, you know. Second, why exactly do you want to do this? I find it doubtful in the extreme that you would be willing to undergo such an experience a second time, especially in front of a total stranger."

"Well, sir," Cody replied after a few moments thought. "I'd be willing to pay you for your time and effort in granting me my request."

"That answers the first question. What about the second?" I prompted him after a few minutes of silent.

"The answer to the second question is a bit complicated, Mr. Walton," Cody said with obvious hesitation. (I was tempted to tell him to just come out and say it, but I held my tongue. I could spare him a few more minutes to allow him to gather his thoughts before he spoke. I wasn't pressed for time, after all.)

"It's like this, Mr. Walton," Cody said as he began his explanation. He paused as he thought for a moment on how to phrase his answer. "That milking session with you didn't turn me gay or anything. I mean I'm not interested in guys. But it did change me. I've found my relationships with women are different now. I find myself feeling more concern over how they feel when we are having sex. I've started to wonder how a woman feels when she's got a cock stuck in her. I thought that maybe you'd help me to find out."
"You mean you want me to screw your ass?" I asked Cody, some what shocked at his suggestion.

"Not exactly, Mr. Walton," Cody replied as he placed his right hand in the right outside pocket of his suit jacket. "I'd like you to use this, if you don't mind. I don't want to take any unnecessary chances." With that Cody withdrew his right hand from his jacket pocket. He looked up at me and blushed fiercely as he held his hand palm up and open in front of him. I glanced down and saw laying in his open palm a dildo. It looked to be a bit on the large size, but otherwise a good replica of an average man's penis.

"I see," I said as I looked at the dildo and then back at Cody's face. I was of two minds. Part of me could understand the logic behind Cody's request to use a dildo. It would be safer than using a condom, as those are known to break on occasion. Consequently, Cody would feel more at ease, and it would be less of a strain on me physically. The other part of me was shocked and a bit concerned at Cody's request. It didn't sound normal, and despite his claims, he seemed to be developing an interest in men. Why else would he want a man to do this to him? Perhaps there was more to this than he was yet willing to tell me.

"I'll tell you what, Cody," I said to him, as I quickly made up my mind. "You come back here at exactly 7:45 PM and I'll let you know what my decision is. While you are waiting, you can go and withdraw enough money from your bank account so that your wallet will be nice and big and fat. Now get going."

"Yes, Mr. Walton," Cody agreed timidly as he turned about and headed for the front door. "I'll be back at 7:45 PM sharp, sir." Cody slipped the dildo back into his suit jacket pocket and grabbed the doorknob of the front door of my apartment. Without another word Cody opened the door and slipped quietly out of my apartment closing the door firmly behind him. Presumably he was headed for the nearest ATM machine that would let him access his bank account.

"Paul, what the heck did you mean by all that?" Andy asked me, baffled by what I had said to Cody. "It's not like to you string a guy along like this, or to take money for your services. As for this bit about the dildo, that is really off the beam for you. What's gotten into you tonight?"

"It's not what you think Andy," I said as I tried to reassure him. He was right, though. This was out of character for me. "Cody is currently not under my control. I want to know just how serious he is about all this. If he comes back at 7:45 PM, with the money in his wallet, I'll know that he really means business. I don't want his money, and even if he offered it to me, I wouldn't take it. The money is just a test. The delay is also to allow you and I some time to talk about this. It's your decision too you know."

"What you mean, by that?" Andy asked.

"If you're not comfortable about me doing this with Cody, I'll tell him that I've changed my mind," I said to Andy as I looked over at him and smiled. "By the way that was one heck of a scare you threw into him."

"Just like that, you'll say no?" Andy asked me, ignoring my comment about the scare he'd given Cody.

"Yes, just like that," I assured him. "Cody's cute, and to be honest with you I wouldn't mind 'milking' him again. However." I let the sentence trail off.

"However?" Andy asked as he prompted me to continue, one eyebrow raised with curiosity.

"He's nothing, compared to you, dear heart," I said to Andy and held out my right hand to him. "I won't risk what I have with you, what we have with each other, for anyone. It doesn't matter how good looking, submissive or obedient the guy might be. He's not you, Andy. I don't love him. I love you."

Andy walked over to where I was standing, and took my right hand with his left hand. Carefully he raised my right hand up to the left side of his face, and placed my hand there. He looked into my eyes, and smiled that sexy, soft, sentimental smile of his that I just knew was for me alone. "Texas," he whispered. With his free right hand he reached out, snagged me about the waist and pulled me to him. (Like, I was going to put up a fight? Not bloody likely!) Andy held me close and planted a firm warm sensuous kiss on my lips.

"My, you do have a way with words, dear heart," I teased Andy when he broke away from the kiss. Andy smiled back at me but didn't say anything. "You did throw quite a scare into poor Cody, you know. From the look on his face, I half expected him to pee his pants right then and there."

"After what he nearly did to you, love, Cody is not my best friend," Andy said coolly, letting the smile fall from his lips. "I'm not really comfortable with him being here or your having anything to do with him. Yet, at the same time, a part of me wouldn't mind seeing this cowboy Cody humiliated just a tad." Andy gazed at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Okay. Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, then I won't do anything with Cody today or any time in the future," I said calmly, with a slight trace of disappointment in my voice.

"Just like that?" Andy asked doubtfully.

"Just like that, love," I assured him. "Since that's settled, how about a fire in the fireplace?" I asked him.

"Hold on just second," Andy said as he made a stopping gesture with his right hand.

"What? Did I miss something?" I asked puzzled tilting my head at Andy

"You could say that, yes. I never said 'no' exactly. Of course I didn't say 'yes' either," Andy hedged as he looked at me.

"Andy, what are you trying to say? What's wrong love?" I asked softly as I clasped his left hand in mine. "You can tell me anything. Don't you know that?"

"Well.." Andy started saying and then blushed.

"Go on love." I prompted him.

"Frankly, the thought of shoving that dildo up Cody's ass and hearing him scream out as he cums, kind of excites me." Andy said softly and blushed again. Clearly the idea not only excited him but embarrassed him as well.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked puzzled by Andy's embarrassment. "Cody is asking to have this done to him. He searched me out for this. I did not go looking for him." I reminded Andy.

"True enough. But do you really think we should do this? Do we have the right to abuse Cody like this, even if he is asking for it?" Andy asked as he pressed to the heart of the matter.

"I think that is what I love most about you, dear heart," I said as I reach up and gave Andy a quick peck on the cheek.

"Say what?" Andy asked with a look of confusion on his face. "You've lost me, love."

"Your strong sense of morals and ethics, Andy. I think that is what I love most about you," I said as I explained my line of reasoning. "You've come right to the point. The question is whether or not it would be 'right' of us to do what Cody has asked. You're wondering if my willingness to go along with Cody's request might be due to repressed anger and the need or urge to inflict revenge on Cody. That's what you're wondering, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I was thinking along those lines. I'm also wondering if maybe my anger at Cody might also account for my sudden desire to want to humiliate Cody. It's not very RCMP of me, I admit. But I can't help how I feel, Paul." Andy paused for a few seconds and I saw a look of anger cross his face momentarily. "I get upset at the thought of someone hurting you, or worse someone getting away with hurting you."

"I feel the same way too, love. And I love you too, Andy," I said as I reached up and kissed him full on the mouth.

"We still haven't found an answer to our ethical dilemma, though," Andy said after he broke off the sweet kiss.

"Andy, if we have the self awareness to ask these types of questions, and ponder the answers, then I think we have our answer," I said to him.

"In English , please?" Andy asked not understanding my round about answer.

"Okay. Here's how I see it, " I answered pausing for a few seconds to gather my thoughts and to catch my breath. (Andy's kisses have that effect on me. They always leave me breathless. Was I head over heels in love with the man, or what?) "We know what Cody wants. He was fairly specific. As long as we do not deviate from his request, then as I see it there isn't a moral dilemma. Sex of course, is completely out of the question, but if there is some other type of minor humiliation that you might wish to inflict on Cody, we could ask him beforehand if he would have any objections. If he does, we don't do it."

"You mean, talk to him about this sort of thing before you use your powers on him?" Andy asked wanting to be sure he understand exactly what it was that I was proposing.

"Precisely. I often do something along these lines when I'm going to hypnotize a guy who asks me to hypnotize him," I answered smiling up at Andy.

"What sort of questions do you ask these guys?" Andy asked as his curiosity became aroused.

"I ask them what their particular fantasy might be. If there is anything in particular that they would object to, or which might make them uncomfortable. I always tell them that I am never interested in causing them pain or great discomfort," I responded still looking into Andy's eyes. (He does have such beautiful brown eyes, you know.) "I suppose that is one of my limits. I don't like the idea of hurting a man, accidentally or otherwise, while I am controlling him. I have turned down sessions with some guys because that is where their particular interests lay."

"I see," Andy replied in that sexy warm honey smooth tenor voice of his. "I think that is what I love about you the most, Paul." He said with a warm smile that could have melted an iceberg.

"What is it that you love most about me, dear heart?" I asked him as I basked in the glow of the love that poured out of his eyes.

"Your caring and compassionate heart, Texas," he answered as he gently cupped my face in his hands. "You might not ever wear the uniform, but you have the heart of a Mountie," he cooed at me letting his soft warm breath caress my face.

"Thank you, dear heart," I squeaked as I squeezed the words past the sudden lump in my throat. I blinked my eyes as I fought back the tears that blurred my view of Andy's handsome and loving face. I understood that Andy had just paid me the ultimate compliment. In his eyes, and his heart and soul, I measured up to his standard, and he was proud of me. I pulled him close to me and buried myself into his chest as I hugged him close with all my strength. He enfolded me in those big strong arms of his and returned my embrace, but gently. We stood like that, holding each other close and not saying a word for about five minutes. Finally I broke away as I realized that there was one loose end that we had to tie up.

"Andy, if you want to be present during Cody's session, then I'm going to have to make a minor adjustment to Cody's mind when he returns, " I said to Andy as I looked up at him as he smiled tenderly down at me.

"What are you going to do?" He asked me, quietly.

I could see a shadow of doubt in the back of his eyes. He had some reservations about me using my powers to adjust people. "Cody knows that I'm gay, and he probably suspects that you are gay too. So, I think it best that he not be able to recognize your face, or your voice. I plan to adjust his recent memory of what you look like and what your voice sounds like, so that your face is blurred and your voice sounds like a woman," I explained to Andy. "During his entire session he won't be able to see your face or hear what your voice really sounds like. Thus if he ever meets you in person when you're on duty, he'll never recognize you. Oh, I also plan to call you Alpha, instead of Andy while Cody is here."

"Clever. You're not just another pretty face, Texas," Andy said with a warm smile, followed by a soft kiss on my right cheek.

"I'm glad you noticed that, dear heart," I replied. "Now, I take it that I have a 'green light' from you to proceed with Cody's session tonight?"

"Oh, yeah!" Andy confirmed enthusiastically.

"Good. Now how about we sit on the sofa and cuddle while we wait for Cody to come back?" I asked as I took Andy's right hand in my left hand and started pulling him towards the sofa.

"It's just one good idea after another with you tonight, isn't it?" Andy replied with a chuckle.

"Hey what can I say? I'm on a roll!" I answered with a smile as I lead Andy towards the sofa. Moments later we were snuggled up close on the sofa talking about what we might want to do to help Cody with his session. Andy came up with some interesting ideas. I looked forward to discussing them with Cody. We both agreed, though, that we would let Cody decide if any of these ideas would be used during his session.

The door bell rang at precisely 7:45 PM. I disengaged myself from Andy, somewhat reluctantly, and stood up. I walked over to the door and peered through the peephole. As expected it was Cody, standing on the other side, looking a bit nervous and excited. I unlocked the door and opened it.

"Come on in Cody," I told him. "Make yourself comfortable in the living room."

Cody walked past me, gulping once as he saw that Andy was waiting for him in the living room. Cody sat in the swivel rocking chair across from Andy. Cody was far from at ease, although I wasn't sure if it was from the sight of Andy sitting there, or from general nervousness. I stood beside Cody and looked down at him, keeping my expression carefully neutral. I must admit that I enjoyed keeping Cody guessing as to whether or not I was going to grant his request. (Okay, I was 'toying' with Cody a bit here. I suppose I wanted a little payback from our first encounter.)

"I have given your request a lot of careful thought, Cody," I said breaking the silence of the room, as I looked down at Cody. He was looking up at me and meeting my gaze. "I would like to ask you a few questions before I make up my mind, though."

"Ask away, Mr. Walton," Cody replied, after a few seconds silence.

"Do you have any objection to having this man," I said as I pointed to Andy, "stay here and witness your session? He will see everything that happens."

Cody looked away from me, and looked at Andy for second or two. Cody looked back up at me and gulped once before he answered. "He's not going to try to hurt me or anything like that is he?" Cody asked nervously. "No offense, but he looks kind of mean, and he doesn't exactly seem happy to see me here. If you can guarantee that he won't hurt me or cause me any pain, I suppose he could stay. I I'm not really comfortable with the idea of him staying, but if that is the only way I can get a session with you., then I guess he can stay." Cody let out a soft sigh as he resigned himself to the situation.

I blinked in surprise at Cody's answer. I had not realized that Andy's presence made Cody that uncomfortable. "Cody, I am sorry but if this man's presence makes you that uncomfortable then your session will have to be put off for some other time. I know I have nothing to fear from you. I know that I can control you completely. I don't need this man to protect me. Since having him around is so upsetting to you, then we will have to make other arrangements. So perhaps you'd better leave now."

"Yeah, I guess that's that," Cody said softly as he looked up me, the disappointment clear on his face. He stood up and I saw a flash of anger in his eyes as he began speaking again. "You're wrong about one thing though. You don't control me completely. I came here hoping that you were still that kind understanding man I'd met that other time, but I see I was wrong. You don't really care about the guys that you use. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You fags are all alike. I hope the two of you have a nice evening."

With that Cody turned and headed towards the front door. I glanced back at Andy. He had stood up and was about to launch himself at Cody. Not out of anger, but to keep Cody from leaving. Andy's face showed the concern and worry that he felt regarding Cody leaving and still being able to identify Andy. I held up my hand in a gesture to stop Andy. As he complied, I smiled and called out clearly "COWBOY UP, CODY!"

I turned my head about to took in the direction of the front door. As expected Cody was standing a few feet from the front door with his head hung down so that his chin was resting on his chest. Cody's arms hung loosely by his sides, and he was swaying very slightly as he stood there.

"Cody, come here and stand in front of me," I ordered him. Fortunately, the controls that I had implanted in Cody's mind months ago remained. My control of Cody was total when I put him back into his super hypnosis trance.

"Yes, boss," Cody replied. He raised his head and turned about. He walked over to where I was and stood in front of me with a smile on his face, happy as a lark.

"Cody, from this point on, you will answer all questions honesty. You will not lie to me. You will tell me the truth. How do you feel right now? Why did you make that little speech and try to storm out of here?" I asked him. I suspected that it was all a plot by Cody to trick me into hypnotizing him again.

"I feel really good, boss. I'm really happy to be back in your power again, boss," Cody said with a grin. "As for the speech, it was a trick, boss. I figured that if I openly disputed that you controlled me, you'd get annoyed enough with me so that you'd want to prove to me that I was wrong. So you'd put me back into hypnosis. It worked, boss. I'm back here in your power where I wanted to be."

Andy looked at Cody with an expression of surprise which gradually melted into understanding. Andy realized now, that Cody was a tricky man, and that you couldn't take what he said at face value. Only when he was super hypnotized could Cody be trusted.

"What about your objection to this man being here during your session, Cody?" I asked him, wondering if that was the truth or not.

"Boss, I lied about that," Cody said softly, and the smile left his face. "I used him as an excuse to get upset with you so that you'd put me back under. I actually..well I..um."

The words trailed off as Cody avoided answering my question.

"Cody, you know that you have nothing to fear from me," I assured him in my most soothing tones. "I was very angry with you and your buddies the first time we crossed paths and despite the temptation I didn't hurt you then. So why would I hurt you now? Please answer my question."

"I guess you're right, boss. I well I wouldn't mind if he stayed," Cody answered with hesitation. Cody dropped his gaze and looked at the floor. I saw a slight flush creep across his face.

"Come clean, Cody," I prompted him. I sighed quietly in exasperation. Sometimes getting an answer from Cody was like pulling teeth, a long drawn out and sometimes painful procedure. "You know that you'll feel better and go even deeper when you do so," I added knowing that this was the type of push that Cody needed.

"I got kind of excited thinking about getting screwed in front of a stranger, especially a strange gay man," Cody answered softly as the flush crept across his face again. "Being on display in front of a stranger and audience is kind of exciting, boss. I thought you would send me away if I said that I didn't object, so I decided to object. It's it's kind of confusing, boss. A part of me is very turned on by the idea of well, performing in front of an audience, and another part of me is embarrassed as hell at the idea, boss."

"Cody look at me please," I instructed him. Cody raised his head slowly and looked me in the eye. He gulped nervously. "Who says this man is gay, Cody?" I asked him as I placed the fingertips of my right hand on his forehead. "Deeper now, Cody. Deeper and deeper into my power. Total surrender and total obedience to any command I give you." Of course I scanned Cody's mind and much deeper than ever before. I was reassured at what I found. There were no indications of any other controls implanted in his mind, and my original controls were working normally. I checked them carefully to see if they might have been tampered with, but I couldn't find any evidence to that effect. I didn't really trust Cody. He had already shown that he could and would try to trick me to get something that he wanted. Doing a scan of his mind, to insure that my controls were still in place and functioning seemed a sensible precaution.
Cody's only response while I took him deeper and deeper into his hypnotic trance was several sighs of delight and general lessening of the tension in his face and shoulders, and an almost inaudible 'yes boss'.

"Cody, for the remainder of this evening, you are no longer able to clearly see the face of the other man in this apartment. His face remains blurred and indistinct to you. Even your memories of seeing this man earlier this evening are now blurred and indistinct. When this man speaks, you will hear his voice as that of a young woman. This will not upset or concern you. When you know and understand this, let me know," I said to Cody in a clear voice that rang with authority.

"Yes, boss. I understand. Is this man gay too?" Cody asked as he stood there in front of me with his eyes closed and a slightly dreamy expression on his face.

Cody's basic personally was unchanged by my control of him, so his persistence in wanting to know if Andy was gay was unaffected. For some reason, determining this fact was important to Cody.

"I will let Alpha answer that question, Cody," I told him.

"Who's alpha, boss?" Cody asked in a puzzled tone.

"That is this man's name, Cody, and that is how you will address him," I instructed Cody.

"It's not his name, boss, but that is how I will address him," Cody responded.

It was perfectly in character for Cody. He never gave an inch. "Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake! Wide awake!" I barked at Cody.

Cody blinked his eyes open and looked at me, with a look of complete bewilderment replacing the happy expression that he had just been wearing. "Hello, boss, er Mr. Walton. Why did you bring me out of hypnosis?" He asked.

"Come and sit down and the three of us will talk about it, Cody," I told him as I turned and headed back to the sofa A confused and curious Cody followed me. Cody took his place in the swivel rocking chair, while I sat down on the sofa next to Andy. The three of us sat there not saying a word for about a minute or so.

"Aren't you going to put me back under and uhm do as I asked, Mr. Walton?" Cody asked shattering the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped the room. He looked over at Andy, and blinked several times, as he rubbed his eyes with his finger tips. He kept looking at Andy, looking over at me and then looking at Andy again.

"In a moment or two," I answered him. "Something wrong, Cody?" I asked him.

"It's kind of weird. I can see your face clearly, Mr. Walton, but not this other guy. Alpha's face is kind of blurry whenever I look at him. Oh, I know why I can't see his face clearly, but it still takes some getting used to," Cody answered, with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"I think Alpha has something he wants to ask you, before I take you back into your trance, Cody," I informed him.

"Paul is correct, cowboy," Andy said coolly. "I will answer your question as to my sexual orientation, if you will answer a question of mine."

"Seems fair," Cody responded softly. "Ask away."

"How do you feel about being tied up and gagged, while you are hypnotized?" Andy asked him bluntly.

"You'd you'd really do that to me?" Cody asked in a quivering voice as his body began to tremble. I began to wonder if this might be too much for Cody, from the way he was beginning to shake.

"Yes, I'll do that to you, and I promise to be gentle about it. I won't hurt you," Andy promised him. Andy kept his voice cool and calm, not betraying the excitement he felt at the idea he was proposing.

Cody launched himself out of his chair. He stood up and looked down at Andy with eyes as wide as saucers. "I don't believe this!" He cried out. "You want to strip me down and tie me up?" He asked as the fear blossomed on his face.

"Not exactly. I would tie you up, and then Paul here would milk you. He would get you turned on and acquiesce to your request regarding that dildo you're carrying in your suit jacket pocket," Andy stated calmly, with only a light tremor of excitement in his voice.

"Oh. But what about my pants?" Cody asked as he started to calm down. "I don't want you to rip them or ruin them. This is my best suit after all."

"I'm sure I could manage to pull your pants down at the proper time. With a few commands from Paul, I'm sure the proper position could be established to insure that you do not ruin any of your clothes, while at the same time insuring that you suffer a little bit of extra humiliation. I would enjoy seeing you tied up, gagged and helpless, Cody," Andy admitted softy with a small smile. It wasn't an evil smile or a mean smile, but rather a pleasant almost joyful smile.

"You're gay and your Paul's lover, aren't you?" Cody asked as he put two and two together. "Paul told you about our first encounter and you want get even with me, right?" Cody posed the question standing there in front of us, looking down at us. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and smiled a knowing smile at us. Whatever fear he had been feeling seemed to have been washed away by his deduction.

"You're correct, on all counts, cowboy. Now how about answering my question?" Andy asked him, as Andy stood up and locked eyes with Cody.

"At last a fag that I can understand. Let me think about this for a second," Cody said as he met Andy's gaze for a few seconds. Cody closed his eyes and pursed his lips thoughtfully.

I was starting to feel invisible. These two men were discussing Cody's future session with me as if I were not even in the room. I held my tongue in check, which wasn't made any easier by Cody's fag remark. I looked from Andy to Cody and back again. It was an entertaining little drama that was playing out in front of me.

"I supposed it would be okay, except that I didn't bring any rope with me," Cody said after a few minutes silence. Cody looked over at me, locking his eyes on mine. "I always wondered what it would feel like to be made helpless by someone," he muttered softly as his face gradually reddened. Cody licked his lips, as excitement crept over his face. Another tremor passed through his body. This time, though, I recognized it for was it was, a tremor of excitement, not fear. It seemed that Andy had struck a cord with his idea about tying Cody up.

"We can make due with some cord from the kitchen," I responded to Cody's remarks.

"You'd have to use a lot of it to tie me securely. I'm a lot stronger than I look," Cody said doubtfully.

"I think a few hypnotic suggestions will take care of that, Cody," I assured him. 'Ready to start?" I asked.

"Oh, I suppose so, but the cord isn't going to work," Cody said as he kept his arms crossed in front of his chest and looked down at me. He almost sneered at me, as if he were challenging me to take control of him again. Another tremor ran through his body. I didn't need to have a degree in psychology to know that Cody earnestly wanted to me to put him back into his hypnotic trance. He just didn't want to come right out and ask me. Maybe he was tired of asking me, since he'd already done that twice tonight. Perhaps he felt he'd swallowed enough of his pride for the evening. Whatever the reason, Cody was daring me to prove to him, yet again, that I did have control over him.

"Cowboy up, Cody," I said clearly. (After all, I didn't want to disappoint him, now did I?)

Cody's eyes fluttered closed and his head slumped down to his chest as he reacted to the post hypnotic trigger and slipped back into his trance. He took a few deep breaths as he stood there swaying slightly. His cowboy had was still pushed back on his head, I noticed.

"Straighten your cowboy hat, Cody, and go even deeper," I instructed him.

"Yes, boss," he muttered softly. Cody unlaced his arms from in front of his chest. He reached up and settled his cowboy hat on his head so that the hat was sitting properly. His task completed, Cody let his hands and arms drop down to hang limply at his sides. His eyes were still closed, but his face was graced with a small shy smile. Clearly he was enjoying himself once again.

I looked over at Andy and winked conspiratorially at him. "Shall we get started, Alpha?" I asked him.

Andy remained silent as he waved me over to where he was standing. I walked over to him, wondering what was the matter now.

"Paul, don't you find this all just a little bit strange?" he whispered to me.

"No, not really," I whispered back. "What do you find strange about this?" I whispered the question to him.

"Come on Paul," Andy whispered shooting a look of slight annoyance at me. "Cody's playing games. First he comes over here asking you to put him under. Then when you agree, he claims that you really don't control him. A few minutes later, when he's out of hypnosis he claims to be scared about getting tied up, and a few minutes later he admits that he would enjoy being tied up. He's flipping back and forth like a seesaw."

"I suppose he is," I said in hushed tones. "That's just the way it is with Cody. Hypnotized he is completely obedient and submissive. He's very happy being controlled in hypnosis. In his normal state of mind, his personality reasserts itself and he is a arrogant cowboy who has to feel that he is in control of the situation. I've seen subjects like him before. Cody's a bit of an extreme case, I admit, but we have nothing to worry about, Alpha."

"Okay. If you say so. But I still don't trust Cody," Andy said as he clung to his doubts.

"I don't trust Cody, either. Not even when he's in this controlled state. I'll be sure to keep a close eye on him," I said to Andy as I attempted to reassure him. "Oh, that reminds me" I said as a thought popped into my mind. I turned away from Andy and walked over to Cody. "Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide Awake! Wide Awake!" I said to him in a clear and commanding tone of voice.

Cody's eyes popped open, and the smile left his face as he returned to his normal state of mind. He looked at me, standing only a few feet away from him, and as he stared at me, his face slowly took on a look of complete puzzlement. He gulped once or twice as he swung his gaze over at Andy, and then swung his gaze back on me. "Uhm .did I do something wrong, Mr. Walton?" He asked quizzically. "Why did you take me back out?"

"I forgot something, Cody. I forgot to check and see if you followed ALL my instructions," I hinted at him. Cody wasn't a stupid man. I was sure that he would figure out to what it was that I was referring. Then again, I had completely forgotten about it myself, so it would not surprise me if I'd have to drop another hint or two before he would be able to put two and two together.

"Your instructions?" Cody asked dumbfounded.

"Wallet," I said dropping a not so subtle hint.

"Oh, right. Uhokay," Cody said with a sudden lack of enthusiasm. Cody reached back with his right hand and fished his wallet out of his right hip pocket. I was mildly surprised to see a plain black tri-fold wallet grasped firmly in his right hand. The last time I had seen Cody he had been carrying an oversized brown wallet in the right hip pocket of those wonderfully tight jeans of his, and that wallet had stuck out an inch or so from the top if that hip pocket. Yet here was Cody with a different wallet, a black tri-fold wallet in his hands. Unusual, to say the least. Cody looked at me with a sad expression on his face as he unfolded the tri-fold wallet and opened it, showing me the contents of the bill compartment. I looked down and saw that contrary to my expectations, there were only a few limp bills residing in the compartment. Cody plucked the bills from his wallet with his left hand. Cody flipped his wallet closed and returned it to his right hip pocket. Cody gulped and spread out the bills in his right hand so I could clearly see them as he held them out to me. Two twenty dollar bills, one ten dollar bill and two five dollar bills were all that were there. "I'm sorry, Mr. Walton, but that's all I have. II couldn't get any money from an ATM. This is all I have. Cowboys don't make much money, you know." Cody offered in explanation. "It's not enough is it?" He asked, the disappointment clear in his voice.

"No, it's not enough," I confirmed. Cody looked crestfallen, like a little boy who's just had his favorite toy taken away from him. "But that doesn't matter. I didn't want your money anyway. Now put your money away, Cody," I told him with a half smile on my face.

The surprised look on Cody's face melted into an expression of relief as he retrieved his wallet from his right hip pocket. He looked down at his hands as he opened his wallet in preparation to stuffing the bills back into his wallet.

"I should warn you Cody, that this one time when you put your wallet back you will go back into your hypnotic trance. You see, you may no longer be in hypnosis right now, but you are still very suggestible," I said to him with a grin.

"Really?" Cody asked as he looked up at me, his hands frozen in the action of opening his wallet.

"Really," I assured him.

Cody looked at me and blinked several times. He looked down and continued with the task of opening his wallet. "I kind of hope you're correct, Mr. Walton, but I can't help but have my doubts," Cody said as he finished opening his wallet. He stuffed the bills into his wallet and folded his wallet closed. He placed the wallet in his right hand and got ready to slip his wallet back into his right hip pocket, then he paused and looked up at me. "I am relieved that I don't have to pay you for this session, Mr. Walton," Cody commented as he looked at me and grinned. He moved his right hand back towards his right hip pocket and smoothly inserted his wallet back into his right hip pocket. He fiddled with the back pocket for some strange reason for a few seconds. He kept his eyes locked on mine as he let his right hand and arm return to rest hanging by his right side. "I guess you're going to have to find anoth." He began speaking but his words were cut in mid syllable as his eyes closed quickly and his head slumped down so his chin was resting on his chest.

I looked at Cody standing there, swaying ever so slightly as he stood there back in his super hypnotic trance. I couldn't help but smile with glee at the sight of him. I do so love it when a subject reacts well to a verbal suggestion to go back into his trance. "Going down deeper and deeper with each word that I utter and with each breath you take," I instructed Cody. "For the deeper you go, the better you feel and the better you feel, the deeper you go. Knowing that every time you carry out any instructions or commands that I give you, you will go deeper and deeper, becoming more relaxed more comfortable and more carefree. For you know and accept that right now, you can do nothing but obey me. It is all that you want and wish to do, for the rest of this session."

"Yes, boss," Cody said softly, nodding his head slightly in agreement.

"Going down ever deeper my good little cowboy," I encouraged him. "When you feel yourself completely at my mercy you will raise your head open your eyes and smile at me. You'll feel so good, knowing that you are completely at my mercy, that you wont' be able to help smiling. In fact the harder you try not to smile the bigger your smile will become. As you stand there smiling at me you will be able to tell me whatever it is that you most want me to do to you, or that you wish to do for me." I never tired of saying things like that to willing and cooperative subjects. I guessed it was because I always got a thrill out of saying that and hearing the positive reactions from my subjects. (Yes, it was also a bit of power trip, too.)

Slowly Cody raised his head up and opened his eyes. He smiled at me warmly, as if he had encountered an old and trusted friend. "You are the trail boss. I'm a good little cowboy, and good little cowboys always obey the trail boss," he declared calmly as if he were discussing the weather. Cody's smile grew into a grin as he stood there staring at me for a few more seconds. He sighed softly once or twice as he grinned at me like some star struck idiot. (Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed that sight too. I smiled back at him as I waited for him to continue speaking.) "I want you to milk me, boss. I want you to take that dildo I brought with me and shove it up my ass." (Crude, but to the point.) Cody actually blushed just a tiny little bit as he spoke. He gulped once and continued speaking. "You you can even tie me up and gag me first if you want to boss." He let the words trail off. I could have sworn I saw a small glint in his eyes as he spoke.

"Cody, in one of the drawers in the kitchen you will find a big spool of cord. Now be a good little cowboy and go fetch it for me," I ordered him while trying my best to keep a patronizing tone out of my voice.

"Yes boss. Right away," He exclaimed happily as he turned about and trotted off to the kitchen.

"Alpha, come and help me clear off the dining room table, would you please?" I asked Andy as I turned and addressed him.

"Okay," Andy agreed as he walked over and headed to the dinning room table. As we got to work clearing off the few books that were on the table Andy addressed me. "So who gets to tie up Cody when he comes back?"

"Why you do, silly," I said to him with a smile. "It was your idea after all. I'll have my own fun with Cody, rest assured."

"That is the least of my worries, Paul," Andy said with a smirk. "Do you think you could get Cody to respond to me, instead of to you, while I'm tying him up? It's going to be kind of awkward to keep having to ask you to tell Cody to do what I want."

"Not a problem, Alpha," I answered with a smirk of my own. I was pleased that Andy was beginning to enjoy what was about to happen to Cody.

Just then Cody appeared from out of the kitchen with the spool of cord in hand. He made his way over to me and held out the spool of cord to me. "Here you go, boss, just like you asked. I'm sorry took so long, but you didn't say which drawer the spool was in."

"You've done well, Cody," I responded with a smile. "Now I want you to hand the spool of cord over to Alpha. The moment that you do so, you will find yourself obeying every instruction that he gives you, no matter what the instruction might be. However, my instructions will always override Alpha's. Is that clear?" I asked him.

"Yes, boss. I understand completely," Cody answered smiling at me as he turned and walked over to where Andy was standing. There were several good reasons as to why I made sure that my orders to Cody would override Andy's. First and foremost was to insure that Cody was not put in the situation where he had to try and obey two conflicting sets of instructions. The second was so that Cody would still feel safe, since he would know that I could always rescue him from any instructions that Andy (or Alpha as Cody knew him) might give him. I found to my surprise that I didn't like the idea of giving up control of one of my subjects to someone else, even if that someone was Andy. It made me feel uncomfortable, for some reason. I decided to think about that later. Right now there were more pressing and interesting matters to deal with.

"Your cord, sir," Cody said as he handed over the spool of cord to Andy. Cody stood there smiling at Andy, calmly awaiting Andy's first command to him. I guessed that while Cody still considered me to be his 'trail boss', he had decided to show Andy some respect by addressing him as 'sir'. It seemed to make perfect sense to me, so I kept my comments to myself. (See, I am learning when to keep my big mouth shut.) I looked over at Andy as he stood there taking the spool of cord from Cody, and thought what a handsome pair of men they made. Yes, tonight was turning out to be very special indeed.
"Carefully climb up onto the dinning room table, like a good little cowboy," Andy directed Cody, with a grin.

"Yes sir," Cody responded as he began climbing up onto the dinning room table.

I mentally cursed myself for not moving into a better position, before Andy started. I couldn't see much if anything of Cody's backside. All I could see was three quarters of his front, and most of Andy's back. Come to think of it, what the hell was I complaining about? Andy's backside was and would always continue to be, a sight to behold. Cody was a one night stand, if you will pardon the expression. Andy was for life. I was shaken out of my internal debate by the smooth fluid motion of Cody climbing up onto the dinning room table.

Cody placed both of his hands flat on the top of the table, slightly to the right of the center of his body, and braced his arms stiffly from wrists to shoulders. Cody leaned forward so that most of his body weight was supported by his arms and pulled his right leg upward, while at the same time bending his right leg at the knee effectively folding his right leg beneath his torso. Easily he placed his right leg onto the top of the table sliding his leg so that it was beside his right arm. Cody stood there on his left leg, with his right leg folded on top of the table for a heartbeat or two. I licked my lips in both excitement and frustration. I knew that at this precise moment the right side of Cody's suit pants would be pulled extra tight across his buttocks, and with his wallet in that right back pocket his ass would be a magnificent sight. Unfortunately, that sight was denied me because Cody was facing towards me, and because the tails of his suit jacket would be hanging down hiding that picturesque scene like a curtain before the start of a theater performance. "There's no point lamenting about it," I thought to myself. "You can always have Cody get into that position again after Andy's finished with him, so stand back, enjoy the show, and don't spoil Andy's fun." The magic moment, as I liked to think of it, passed all too quickly. Cody leaned forward and down slightly as he balanced all his weight on his two hands and his right leg. Quickly Cody pulled his left leg up and bent it, folding it at the knee. He pulled his left leg up off of the floor while bending it at the knee. He placed his left leg so that it was between his right and left hands as he tucked his left leg under his body. Cody leaned forward even more, lowering his head towards the surface of the table as he shifted his weight even further forward. With most of his weight now supported by his legs, Cody raised his right hand off the table and placed his right hand back on the table about a foot in front of his body. Cody swung his body forward pivoting on his hips and his right shoulder, while at the same time picking his left hand up off of the table and placing his left hand down near to where his right hand was. In much less time that it took to describe it, Cody had moved from a semi-crouched position on the top of the table into a more open position on his hands and knees. Think of a guy getting down on all fours, on his hands and knees and you will have a good idea of the position Cody had just achieved. The difference though, is that he was on his hands and knees on the top of the dinning room table, and he had a huge grin on his face and an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.

Cody crawled about on his hands and knees for a little bit longer as he positioned himself as near to the center of the table as he could. "Done, sir," he said as he stood there on his hand and knees, looking at Andy expectantly. Cody reminded me of a happy obedient dog on all fours waiting for his master to command him. I suppose, all things considered, that was a pretty good analogy.

"Sit down on the table with your legs straight out in front of you, cowboy. Oh, and lean back slightly so your body is supported by placing your arms beside and slightly behind you," Andy ordered Cody. Andy remained standing where he was as he waited for Cody to comply.

"Yes, sir," Cody responded with a tone of excitement in his voice. Cody lowered his backside to the surface of the table and swung his legs out in front of him, unfolding his legs in the process. In only a few moments Cody was sitting on the table his backside pressed down firmly on the table top. His long lovely legs (well to me they were long and lovely legs, but only because they were concealed beneath a pair of dress pants), stretched out in front of him His legs were slightly spread apart. Cody was sitting up and leaning back slightly. His arms were stretched out behind his body just a tad, with the palms of his hands flat on the table top. Just as he hand been instructed, he was supporting the weight of his body with his arms. I walked closer to the table and over to the end of the table where Cody's cowboy boot clad feet were. I turned about and looked at Cody.

He was sitting there grinning like an idiot. His jacket was hanging down and spread apart slightly. This was caused by the way his arms were positions beside and slightly in back of his body. This exposed more of Cody's white dress shirt as well as the front of his dress pants and his crotch. Cody's white dress shirt was indeed a western style dress shirt I realized, when I saw the flaps of two western style pockets on either side of the tie that hung down from the collar of the dress shirt. I directed my eyes downward following the tie until I reached the pointed end. The tie lay limply on Cody's chest and hung down the front of his dress pants, slightly off to his left side. I could partly see the big shiny cowboy belt buckle that was centered on the front of Cody's dress pants. The fly of Cody's pants were pushed up and tented in front of his body, which cut off some of the view of his belt buckle, but not enough to prevent me from deducing what was on the buckle. The buckle had a stylized capital 'C' in gold on a plain silver background. The edge of the belt buckle had a gold rope border around it. Cody's pants were not tented due to excitement but simply due to the face that he was sitting down. (Yes, that was a bit of a disappointment, but I knew I would have ample opportunity to correct that situation a bit later.) I couldn't really tell what type of front pockets Cody's pants had, since his jacket was blocking the sides of his pants, but I wasn't concerned. I knew I'd find out eventually. I dropped my gaze a bit further and noticed that the crotch of Cody's pants were somewhat snug. No, tight would have been a better word. At least around Cody's thighs those pants looked tight. There didn't seem to be much slack in the fabric until Cody's knees came into view. The crease in the pants was sharp and clear, almost as if the pants has recently been pressed or ironed. I followed the pants down until they ended an inch or so above what would have been Cody's ankles. What I actually saw though was more of Cody's black shiny cowboy boots. The shaft of the boots had a simple pattern stitched into them as you might expect. The boots looked fairly new. Only the wear on the soles gave any indication that these boots were well past being broken in. Cody's legs were rotated slightly so that his boot covered feet were pointing out and away from each other, at roughly a ninety or one hundred degree angle. The boot heels were nearly touching each other. Now I understood the reason for Andy's specific instructions. I looked over at Andy briefly and smiled at him in thanks. He didn't' return the gesture. He had all his attention focused on Cody. Andy approached Cody slowly and calmly.

"Press your legs together Cody, and pull your knees up towards you until your legs are at about a ninety degree angle," Andy directed Cody. Andy positioned himself so that Cody was directly in front of him, as Cody sat there on the table. From Cody's perspective, Andy was on Cody's right side, and standing near Cody's cowboy boots.

Cody nodded his head as he did as he was told. He looked at Andy and licked his lips, in anticipation of what he hoped was going to take place. Andy unrolled a short length of cord from the spool and placed it on the top of Cody's right boot, just above where Cody's ankle would have been had his ankle been visible. Andy waved at me to approach him. "Put your finger here to hold down the cord for a second. Okay, Paul?" He asked me.

"Sure," I replied as I placed the index finger of my right hand on the cord and pressed down firmly on it.

With the end of the cord firmly anchored by me, Andy placed the spool of cord in his right hand and moved the spool over Cody's boots and away from Andy, while letting the cord smoothly spill off of the spool. Andy reached under Cody's boots with his left hand and arm. Andy passed the spool from his right hand to his left hand, and with a firm tug Andy pulled the spool back towards himself, leaving a trail of cord on the underside of Cody's boots. By repeating these movements Andy proceeded to tie Cody's boots together and tightly too. After a few passes Andy no longer needed me to hold the end of the cord on Cody's boots. I lifted my finger from the now secured end of the cord and backed up a step or two.

With me out of the way, Andy was able to quicken his progress at tying up Cody. I stood there slightly flabbergasted as I watched Andy work his way up Cody's body with the spool of cord. Andy had Cody's boots lashed securely together in only a few minutes. Andy moved up to Cody's legs and started to bind them together just below his knees. I wasn't sure exactly how he was doing it, but Andy was tying up Cody without using any knots in the cord. A few moments later Andy was binding Cody's thighs at just above his knees. I studied Andy's face as he continued with his self-imposed task. He was happy. His face was relaxed and he smiled in an easy and carefree manner. I couldn't see any hint of malice, anger or gloating in his eyes or his facial expression.

"Lean forward and hold out your arms so that both writs are resting on your knees, cowboy," Andy directed Cody.

Cody nodded his head eagerly as he bent forward as far as he could and whipped his arms around from beside him. Cody stretched his arms out in front of him and placed his wrists on top of his knees. Andy took the spool of cord and quickly and easily began wrapping the cord about Cody's wrists. This task was make much simpler due to Cody's wholehearted cooperation. In a few minutes Cody's wrists were bound together with only one thin strand of cord connecting his bound wrists to his bound thighs. Andy wasn't finished yet, though. Andy now started to wrap the cord around both Cody's bound writs and his bound thighs. This not only bound Cody's wrists to his thighs, but also made it much more difficult, if not impossible for Cody to pull his writs free or to wiggle his way free.

Satisfied that Cody's wrists were indeed secured to his thighs, Andy then began to bind Cody's arms together at the elbow. Cody' winced once or twice when Andy pulled the cord tightly about Cody's elbows, but Cody didn't offer any objections or complaints. For a finishing touch Andy looped the cord about Cody's neck several times before Andy placed the nearly depleted spool of cord on the table beside Cody. There was a line of cord from Cody's neck to the spool. Andy had not cut the cord once nor tied even one knot, during his fettering of Cody. I was impressed. I couldn't help but wonder if the cord would hold. It sure looked like Cody was bound hand and foot and while dressed in a suit and tie no less.

"There. All done," Andy said and bowed to me with a flourish. "I hope Cody doesn't have any plans to go anywhere for a while."

"Cody try to move. Try to free yourself," I said to him.

"Yes, boss," Cody said as he started to wiggle about. on the table. Cody gritted his teeth as he strained against his bonds. I noticed that the cord about Cody's neck was pulled a bit tighter as Cody's struggled. It wasn't enough to choke him, but it appeared to be uncomfortable. Cody couldn't move his arms or his hands. As for his feet and legs, he could flex them maybe a fraction of an inch at the knees but that was all. Cody gave up after a few more minutes. He sat back, as much as the restrains would allow him. "I can't get free boss," he confessed. He grinned through the sweat that beaded on his brow, and the drop or two that rolled down the side of his face as he turned and looked at Andy. "Thank you, Alpha. You did a really good job."

"Interesting," I said as I walked up to Cody and gave this cute, tied up and helpless cowboy, a good look see. "So you're tied up and helpless are you?" I asked him.

"Oh yes, boss," he confirmed and a small moan escaped from his lips.

"May I, Alpha?" I asked Andy as I turned and looked at him.

"May you what?" Andy asked me, unsure as to what it was that I asking.

"May I take the opportunity to examine this corralled cowboy of yours?" I said with a smile.

"Of course. That's why he's there, Paul," Andy said smiling back at me.

I turned back towards Cody and slowly walked up to stand as near to him as I could. I was standing beside Cody's bent over torso, with the right side of Cody's body directly in front of me. I smiled at him warmly as I savored the sight of him tied up and helpless. My flagpole was at half mast, if you follow my meaning. I was mildly surprised at my reaction to the site of this helpless man in front of me. I suppose I shouldn't have been though. After all hypnosis is a form of control, and so is tying up a person. Slowly I reached out with my right hand, and traced the line of Cody's jaw across the right side of his face.

"Mmmm" Cody muttered.

"All dressed up and fit to be tied," I said absently.

"Oh yes, boss," Cody agreed in a soft mutter. He gulped once or twice, and the smile never left his face.

I reached over and ran my right hand down Cody's right shoulder from his neck to the edge of shoulder of his suit jacket. Cody moaned softly. "Each and every time I touch any part of your body Cody, clothed or not, you experience pleasure, "I told him. (Talk about a redundant statement! Cody was already experiencing that, but it didn't hurt to reinforce it.)

"Yes boss, yes." Cody moaned fervently, his eyes taking on a slightly glazed look.

I reached over and placed both of my hands on Cody's chest, on top of his suit jacket. It wasn't easy. I had to maneuver my hands and arms down below Cody's outstretched arms, and then reach up to be able to put my hands on Cody's chest. I had not anticipated this problem. I did my best to overcome it, though. Without pausing even to catch my breath I began moving my hands around on his chest exploring the surface and texture of his suit jacket. Cody uttered a few soft moans, but was otherwise silent. The material of his suit jacket was smooth and dry, and unremarkable. I guess if you've felt one wool blend suit jacket, you've felt them all, and I've felt quite a few of them in my time. My curiosity got the better of me and I pawed through all the of the pockets of Cody's suit jacket. The left outside suit jacket pocket ,which I had to stretch just a bit to reach, was empty. The right outside suit jacket pocket contained the dildo that Cody had shown me earlier in the evening. The inside of the jacket was lined, but there were no inside pockets. A minor surprise, but not enough to distract me from continuing my task. My hands were on an exploratory mission, and they were not going to stop now. Not wishing to leave any part of Cody unexplored, I curtailed my desire to explore his western dress shirt, and turned my attention to Cody's back. Lightly I ran my hands across Cody's shoulders and let my hands move down the center seam of Cody's suit jacket, until I encounter the start of the central vent in the back of the jacket. I resisted the strong urge I had to spread the vent open and get a good look at Cody's panted posterior. I had to admire the way that the suit jacket fitted Cody. It wasn't tight, but it was close fitting and it seemed to emphasize the sliminess and fitness of his body. (I should look so good in a suit!)

I gave Cody's back only a cursory examination. There were many more interesting areas of his body that I wanted to explore. I gleefully turned my attention back to Cody's front. I reached up and cupped his face in my hands. He moaned with delight, and slowly closed his eyes as he surrendered to the pleasure that poured into his brain.. "Deeper and deeper into my power, with each touch of my hands and with each breath that you take, Cody," I encouraged him. He nodded his head slightly a few times and moaned his agreement. Slowly I let my hands slide down off of Cody's face, and let them fall onto his chest once again. That is, I tried to do that but my descending outstretched arms were soon blocked by Cody's arms. I sighed with slight annoyance as the obstacle of Cody's outstretched arms presented themselves again. I quickly pulled my arms back and then thrust them towards Cody's chest being sure that my arms were below the level of Cody's outstretched arms. When my hands finally made contact with Cody's chest, though, I moved my hands about and pushed Cody's suit jacket aside to expose as much of his white western dress shirt as I could. There wasn't anything remarkable about the shirt. It was a simple white cotton western dress shirt, with pearl snap buttons closures down the front and on the two flapped chest pockets. It was smooth soft and warm to the touch, and in case you were wondering, the pockets were empty. At least I couldn't find any bulges or bumps in them when I ran my nimble and flexible fingers over them again and again. I ran my hands over and under Cody's tie too. The silk tie was smooth and soft under my fingertips. I sighed with pleasure as I continued with my exploration of Cody.

Cody moaned and sighed softly a few times while I examined as much of Cody's shirt and tie as I could. I briefly toyed with the idea of undoing that shirt and stroking Cody's chest but decided not to rush things. Slow and steady was the best way to savor the situation and truly enjoy myself. After a few more minutes I worked my way down to Cody's belt. Now we were getting into interesting territory. Gently and delicately I let my fingers roam over that big belt buckle of Cody's and up and down across Cody's waist, as I let the anticipation build. As I had suspected the suit pants had keystone belt loops, which fit in with the western style of the suit.

"I'm going to search until I find that rock hard cock of yours, Cody," I breathed softly into his right ear. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me. When I start to stroke that long hard hot shaft of yours Cody, you won't be able to stop me. It will feel so good, so sexy, so horny, that you'll moan and groan out loud with unbridled pleasure." There was nothing like added to the tension and expectation.

"Yes, boss, please." Cody whined. "Oh, yes, please I I can't wait.."

"Yes, that's my good little cowboy," I encouraged him, as I let my hands drift down slowly over Cody's belt and onto the front of his suit pants. There wasn't much to feel though since Cody was bent over and the front of his pants were scrunched up. Still by moving my hands off to the side and way from the fly of his pants I was able to determine that the pants had western front top pockets, as opposed to the slash side angle pockets you find on most dress pants. As I reached down and began to explore the front of Cody's pelvic area it was easier to move my hand and arms about. Cody's arms were well above me and thus no longer presented a significant obstacle. I moved my probing fingers over the front of Codys' smooth warm dress pants seeking to achieve target acquisition.
"Oh yes" Cody hissed loudly as my fingers finally found his stiff and hard cock. It wasn't any challenge at all, it turned out. With Codys' pants bunched up due to his being in a bent over position, it effectively forced his cock into the center of his pants directly below the fly of his pants. As his cock became stiff and hard, it could not help but to jut out from the rest of his body and give Cody a sever case of tented trousers. I closed my eyes in silent delight as I began to let my fingers move up and down the long hard bulge in Cody's pants that signaled the position of the shaft of Cody's penis, pressing down on it just hard enough to be certain he would feel my fingers through the fabric of his pants. If Cody's nearly constant moans and groans of pleasure were any indication, my efforts were having the desired effect.

"What the fuck, boss? Play a tune on my organ, please!" Cody burst out suddenly. I obliged. I let my fingers walk up and down that hard firm flagpole of a cock, increasing the pressure slightly. Cody's only response aside from a few loud moans, was to wiggle back and forth slightly.

"Just remember that you cannot cum, you cannot shoot your load until I give you permission, Cody," I reminded him, as my fingers continued to walk up and down the length of that lovely bulge in Cody's pants. I didn't want an accident, after all. I certainly did not want Cody to ruin his best suit. Well, not at this particular time, anyway.

"Can't cum until you say boss," Cody moaned out the words between breaths. He had surrendered completely to my gentle caresses, wanting more of them, and we had barely begun. I suspected that his being tied up and feeling so helpless was contributing to his feelings of deep pleasure and surrender. As I slowly explored as much of the front of Cody's pants as I was able, I couldn't help but feel some surprise at Cody's reaction to all this. I would never have suspected that Cody was the type of man who had a hidden need to feel controlled and helpless. He had seemed like such an arrogant and conceited man the first time that I'd met him. He was a cocky and self assured jerk that first time in the restaurant, and now he had been reduced to this. A tied up, straight, submissive and obedient cowboy who thrilled at the touch of a gay man stroking his cock. Will wonders never cease?

Try as I might, there was only so much of Cody's pants that I could get access to while he was sitting there with his wrists tied to his knees and his legs tied up close together. I did manage to reach down and finger Cody's crotch. and the very edge of the seat of his pants. Cody hooted with delight at feeling my finger tips exploring his crotch. It was too bad that I couldn't do more, but I'm not Mr. Fantastic after all. I wasn't able to stretch my hand and fingers making them thin enough to slip underneath Cody's butt. So I moved onto to explore Cody's thighs and the rest of his legs. I must admit that it felt good to run my fingers and hands up and around Cody's legs and all the way down to his boots. The coils of cord about his legs were a bit of a distraction but I managed to ignore them for the most part. The material of his suit pants was as soft and warm as his suit jacket. It was a very pleasant experience to move about and run my hands over his thighs, knees and lower legs. Cody enjoyed it too. Why else would he have continued to moan while I proceeded with my examination of his body? Cody's boots were a hard black leather, most likely bull hide to judge from the firmness. I'm not a connoisseur of cowboy boots, but I know what I like. I liked the feel and the texture of Cody's boots. They appeared to be high quality boots, and they looked very good on him.

"Enough of this, I think," Andy spoke out suddenly. He walked up to the dinning room table and stood on the side opposite to me. I blinked at him in surprise wondering what the heck was the matter with him. I had been ignoring him for the past quarter of a hour, as I explored Cody's suited body, but surely Andy had expected my attention to be focused on Cody and not on him.

"No, please? More, please?" Cody whined plaintively, at hearing Andy's words. Andy reached over the table and firmly grabbed Cody's left shoulder with both of his powerful hands. One savage tug was all it took for Andy to topple Cody over on to his left side. Cody's eyes popped open in surprise as he felt himself tipping over to the left. Before Cody could react, Andy had Cody lying down on the table, on his left side. Andy was careful to catch Cody as he toppled over, and to lower him gently to the surface of the table. Cody didn't so much as bruise an eyelash when Andy had finished placing him so that he was lying on his left side on the top of the table.

"That should make things a bit easier for you, Paul," Andy said with a mellow chuckle as he looked over at my still puzzled face.

"Thanks, Alpha," I responded as I let a smile blossom on my face. Andy knew me well, very well.

"Thankthank you too, Alpha," Cody grunted at Andy as Cody wiggled about on the table trying to move around. "You.you did a great job of tying me up. I can't get free. I can't even sit back up."

I moved up next to the table and looked at Cody's body as it lay on his left side. His suit jacket was slightly pulled up on the right side and the vent in the back of his suit jacket was spread out slightly revealing a tantalizing few inches of Cody's backside. I gulped once in anticipation, as I thrust my hands eagerly towards Cody's backside. Andy had presented this little gift to me and it would be rude to refuse it. (I wouldn't want to be rude to my 'dear heart' now would I? Of course not, so I had to take some action, now didn't I?) I didn't waste any time moving the back of Cody's suit jacket aside so that I could get a clear view of his butt. I was not disappointed. Those suit pants looked to be skin tight as they clung to every curve and valley of Cody's ass. There were two back pockets on those pants and they had flap pockets on them. I ran my hands over Cody's cheeks to check out those pockets, and also to get a good feeling for Cody's ass. The left pocket had a button closure and it was done up. It was interesting the way in which the flap seemed to pull slightly at the button. It was probably due to the tightness of Cody's suit pants, since there wasn't anything in the left back pocket didn't contain anything. I ran my hands over Cody's left buttocks several times to confirm that the left back pocket was empty. I'm nothing, if not thorough. Cody started moaning the moment he felt my hands on his butt. Every now then Cody would softly cry out 'yes' and a shudder would run through his body as I continued to paw his behind. I noticed with mild surprise that the right back pocket of Cody's suit pants did not seem to have any type of button closure. The flap was smooth and did not have a button hole sown into it. It was a little unusual, but in no way distracted from the joy of the moment.

The right back pocket of Cody's pants wasn't empty. I knew that without looking or having to put my hand on Cody's right buttock. I had seen Cody put his wallet in his right back pocket earlier in the evening. It did not distract from the pleasure of seeing his right hip pocket bulging with that tri-fold wallet, though. As you might expect the wallet bulge caused Cody's suit pants to be pulled even tighter across his right buttock and most especially across his butt crack. I started doing a little heavy breathing of my own right about then.

"Oh, that IS nice," Andy softly breathed in my right ear. I nearly jumped out of my skin with surprise. I had been so intent on Cody's butt I hadn't even noticed that Andy had walked around the dinning room table and was now standing behind me, looking over my shoulder at Cody's delectable derriere. "I can see why you wanted to work with this guy," Andy observed. I blushed a bright red, but only heaven knows why. I didn't turn around to look at Andy, though. I couldn't bare to look away from Cody's butt. "It's okay. That's why I love you, Texas," Andy whispered in my ear soothingly as he patted me on the shoulder reassuringly.

Now that I had Andy's blessing I returned to the task at hand with renewed enthusiasm. I let my hands roam all over Cody's buttocks. The smooth tight warm material of Cody's suit pants was an erotic thrill in itself. Add in the fact that Cody was deeply under my control, tied up and helpless, literally, and you had a situation that could only be called euphoric. My cock was rock hard and pushing against my jeans, and I was loving every second of it. I moaned out loud, careless as to who might hear me. I could feel the tip of my cock become wet as the excitement of the situation continued to build.

"So turned on and so helpless, aren't you, my little cowboy?" I asked Cody as my hands continued to roam over his suit covered backside. I just could not resist reminding Cody that he was mine now, and that I controlled him. It gave me a renewed thrill each time I said something like that to him, and even more so when he acknowledged it.

"Oh God, yes boss!" Cody cried out. He started thrashing about on the table, moaning and grunting all the while. Rather he tried to trash about, but he couldn't move around much. All that he managed to do was to wiggle his body a bit, most especially his ass. Of course, that could have been his intention all along, since his wiggling of his ass caused my hands to rub against his buttocks with a bit more force. "I'm helpless, boss. I'm at your mercy, boss. I'll do anything you want, boss. I'm your good little cowboy, boss," Cody called out once he stopped his undulating. Somehow he had managed to stop moaning and grunting long enough to put a couple of coherent sentences together.

I clamped my hands on Cody's buttocks, one hand on each buttock and squeezed with all my might. (Like I shouldn't have done that? Get real! I'm sure you would have just turned around and walked away from an ass like Cody's.)

"Oh My GOD!!!!" Cody screamed out as I got a double handful of his ass. He panted as he tried to catch his breath, and wiggled about a bit more. I let up on the pressure of my hands on his buttocks. I wasn't getting as good a gripe as I wanted. My right hand wasn't capturing nearly as much of Cody's ass as my left hand, and I knew the reason why. I let go of his ass and moved my hands towards the right back pocket of his suit pants. "Please boss. Please don't stop? Please.will you squeeze me again? I'll do anything you want, if you'll promise to squeeze my ass like that again. Please, boss? Please, I'll be a good little cowboy for you boss. Please? " Cody implored me when he felt my hands let go of his buttocks. I ignored his pleas for the moment. It took both of my hand to grab and pull Cody's wallet from the right back pocket of his pants. This was a drawback of Cody's tight suit pants that I had not anticipated. It was a bit of a challenge to work that wallet out of the pocket of his pants. I had to push at the bottom of the wallet with one hand while pulling at it with the other hand. It took a couple of minutes of effort to get that wallet out of Cody's pocket, but I managed to do it. (So much for any possible future as a pickpocket. Fortunately I have other talents.) I put the wallet on the table off to the side a short distance from Cody, where I was sure the wallet would not get in the way. I placed my hands on Cody's buttocks, took a deep breath and then grabbed a double handful of his ass. This time I got my fair share in each hand.

"OH THANK YOU, BOSS! YES, SQUEEZE ME! GRAB ME!!" Cody cried out with joy. Cody grunted and gasped a few times as I squeezed his buttocks a few more times.

"I took your wallet, Cody," I informed as I continued to kneed his buttocks with my hands. "I reached into your pants and took your wallet. I don't think I'll bother giving it back."

"Who the fuck cares, boss? I sure as hell don't!" Cody called out as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through his brain. "I'm already your good little cowboy, boss. If you want my wallet, you can have it. I don't give a shit." I couldn't see Cody's face, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

A tap on my shoulder prompted me to look up away from Cody's backside. I turned my head to look at Andy. He was looking a me with one eyebrow raised and a questioning look on his face. Andy moved closer to me. When he was close enough I whispered an answer to his unasked question. "No, I don't intend to keep Cody's wallet. I only said that to increase his feeling of helplessness." Andy nodded his head in silent agreement as relief flooded his face. I returned my attention to Cody and his bodacious butt. I squeezed those two perfect half hemispheres a few more times, luxuriating in the feeling of that man flesh, beneath my fingers, and the grunts, groans and moans that continued to pour out of Cody's throat. Cody's butt was remarkably hard and firm, and yet I could still squeeze those butt cheeks. Isn't nature wonderful?

Acting on a sudden impulse I released my grip on Cody's right buttocks. I made a fist with my now free right hand and then extended my right index finger. Without a moment's hesitation I placed my right index finger on the top of the center seam of Cody's suit pants. I pressed down very firmly as I slowly followed the seam of Cody's dress pants down in between his buttocks. I pushed and probed with my index finger as far in between Cody's but cheeks as I could. Due to the tightness of Cody's suit pants, I wasn't able to insert my finger very far in between Cody's buttocks. It was more of a suggestion, a hint, than any actual fingering of his butt. The resistance offered by Cody's suit pants was exciting, nonetheless. To judge from why way that Cody moaned and grunted when he felt my probing digit trying to slide in between his buttocks, he was turned on by it as well.

"FUCK ME, PLEASE BOSS!! SHOVE THAT DILDO UP MY ASS AND SCREW MY BRAINS OUT!! PLEASE BOSS, PLEASE!!!" Cody screamed out without warning. I should have been expecting that, I suppose. After all, I had hinted as much by trying to probe his buttocks with my right index finger.

"Cody's ready for this. How about you, Alpha?" I asked Andy as I looked up over Cody's body and glanced at Andy.

"Yup," Andy answered with a smile. "What's the next step?" He asked tilting his head at me quizzically.

"Get Cody up on his knees and bent over for me, while I go get a towel from the linen closet," I answered, as I turned and headed off down the hall. I didn't run but I did walk very fast. I didn't want to miss a moment of what about to happen. I wrenched the door to the linen closet open and grabbed the first bath towel I laid my hands on. I arrived back in less than a minute. Much to my surprise Cody hadn't budged an inch. He was still in the same position as when I'd left him. I looked up at Andy and opened me mouth to ask him why he hadn't started positioning Cody.

"I decided to wait for you, Paul. I didn't want you to miss anything," Andy said to me, cutting off my question before I could even ask it. "Besides, it might take two of us to get Cody up on his knees."

"Boss, would you please stop talking about it and just fuck me?" Cody asked with a slight touch of anger to the pleading in his voice. Mister arrogant cowboy didn't like to be kept waiting, it seemed. "I really should do something about that," I thought to myself. I smiled as a most interesting idea popped into my mind.

"Come on Alpha, let's get to work," I said to Andy and smiled a knowing smile at him. Andy smiled back, and winked at me. He knew I had something in mind. Andy reached over and grabbed Cody's torso with both hands. Andy pulled Cody's body up off of the table, and rolled Cody up onto his knees. Cody had a slight build, while Andy was a strong and powerful man, so this maneuver presented little difficulty. The manner in which Cody was tied up resulted in him being placed in the perfect position. Cody's legs from the knees down were pressed flat on the surface of the table. Cody's upper legs were bent at a ninety degree angle to his lower legs, which meant that Cody's hips were pointing straight up in the air. Cody's torso was bent down at the waist and hips so that his head was just resting on the surface of the table. He looked like a Muslim knelt in pray, except that Cody's hands were thrust just under his knees, instead of off to either side of his body. As you might expect Cody' suit jacket was hanging down to either side of his body, however not much of Cody's ass was exposed even with the vent in the back of the jacket. It took Andy only a few minutes get reposition Cody, during which time I stood back and watched. Cody's only contribution, other that complete passivity, was to grunt a few soft 'yes' at Andy when Cody felt Andy touching him.

"You know, Cody, you really shouldn't be so impatient," I said to him as I walked up to his hunched over form.

"I'm sorry, boss, but I really want this. I really do," Cody whined.

I spread Cody's suit jacket away from his backside to be sure that I had an unobstructed view of my target. "Yes, boss, yes," Cody called out encouragingly. I swung my arm back and up behind me. I paused for a moment and then let my arm fly, hitting Cody's backside with a loud and resounding slap. Cody's body jerked and trembled. He whipped his head to the right to look at me. His face was a mask of surprise and shock.

"That's for being impatient, Cody," I said to him, as he stared at me. I slapped his ass a few more times. I did not put much strength behind the blows. I wasn't trying to hurt Cody after all. This was more of a symbolic spanking than a real one. Cody's clothes cushioned the force of the blow on his bum.

"I'm sorry, boss!" Cody wailed. "I won't do it again, boss. I promise! I'll be good!" Cody wasn't crying but he seemed earnest in his pleas.

I slapped Cody's ass a couple of more times, as I asked him, being sure to let the anger show in my voice, "Are you going to be a good little cowboy now, and not mouth off to me again, Cody?"

"Yes, boss! Yes, yes, boss! I'll be a good little cowboy from now on, boss! I'll never disrespect you again, boss!" Cody lamented.

"All right then," I said quietly, making it seem as if I had been pacified by Cody's promise to be good. In reality, it was all an act on my part. I wasn't upset about Cody's impatience. I only wanted to remind him who was in charge in here. It was more of a role playing on his part and mine. I lowered my right arm so that it was hanging at ease by my ride side, just as my left arm was doing on my left side.

"Thank you boss," Cody said with relief on his face. "Boss, does this mean that you're not going to screw my ass with that dildo?" He asked softly with disappointment edging the tone of his voice.

"No, I'm still going to do that. I said that I would, and I keep my word," I answered him, keeping my gaze on his face. Suddenly there was a loud slap and Cody's eyes became wide with fear. He whipped his head around to the left. I looked up away from Cody's face, to see Andy raising his right hand up, as he stood beside Cody, ready to deliver another blow to Cody's backside. Cody was tied up. I was standing there with my arms hanging by my sides. Andy was the only other person in the room. Logically then, Andy must have been the person who had just spanked Cody a few seconds ago.

Andy was smiling at me. Andy gave Cody's backside another slap. It wasn't a strong slap, but it was enough to keep Cody's attention. Andy winked at me. It seemed he was enjoying spanking Cody as well. I smiled back at Andy. I was a little bit surprised that Andy would enjoy something like this, but I didn't see any harm in sharing, as it were. Andy brought his hand down a third time on Cody's bum. The resulting slap was very loud and Cody's entire body shuddered from the impact. Cody let out a loud yelp of pain.
"That's for what you tried to do to Paul, you bastard!" Andy cried out as his face suddenly turned red with anger. "I'm gonna make you pay, you son of a bitch! Big time! Count on it!" Andy let loose a strong and savage blow to Cody's backside. The resulting slap on Cody's behind was like a clap of thunder. Suddenly I realized that Andy wasn't kidding about this! He was beyond angry, he was furious! I was too late to stop Andy's next blow. Cody yelped in pain and tears started to form in his eyes. I shook off my momentary paralysis and raced around the table towards Andy.

"Please, boss? Please Mr. Alpha? Please don't hit me any more!" Cody begged Andy and me. There was no mistaking the look of sheer terror that was on Cody's face. He was scared clear down to his bones. "I'm sorry for what I tried to do to Paul back at the restaurant! Really I am! Please don't . Boss, help me please! He's gonna beat the shit outta me!" Cody howled at me as he struggled futility to get off of the table.

I managed to thrust my body between Cody and Andy before Andy could land the next blow. "STOP IT!" I screamed at Andy, as I tried to grab his attention. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" I screamed at him.

"Get out of the way, Paul. I mean it. Cody deserves this, and he's going to get it," Andy said in a voice as cold as an arctic wind.

I gulped in surprise at the finality and coldness in Andy's voice. I had never seen him so determined about anything. It remarkable that he could be so angry and sound so cold at the same time. "No. This isn't right and you know it, Alpha," I said to him, as I struggled to keep my voice reasonable. At least I had remembered to use his assumed name.

"This IS what Cody deserves, and YOU know it, Paul!" Andy barked at me, as the anger started to take control of his voice. He glared at me, but he didn't resist when I pushed him back a step away from Cody.

"No." I said firmly and looked Andy dead in the eyes. I gazed up at him and fixed a look of iron determination on my face. "I won't let you do this." I pushed him back another step.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?!" Andy yelled at me, his face red with rage.

"It's wrong, and you know it," I answered calmly. "I won't let you do this to Cody or to yourself."

"IT'S WHAT HE DESERVES!" Andy screamed at me, as he wildly waved his arms in the air.

"Maybe, but you don't have the right to take advantage of a helpless man, Alpha," I countered letting my voice move from being cool to cold. I knew that it was pointless to get into a shouting match with Andy. One of us had to try and remain calm. "No one has the right to abuse another individual. No one. You know that, as well as I do. Are you really going to stand there and try to claim otherwise?" I asked him, my words coated with frost.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Andy cried out in frustration. He slowly lowered his arms. He was still upset, but his anger had cooled somewhat. His eyes didn't leave mine for a second. I looked at Andy, deep into his eyes and behind the anger I saw pain and shame. I would deal with that shortly. Right now Cody demanded my attention.

"No, it isn't fair. Life isn't fair. But that still doesn't give you, or anyone else, the right to beat on a helpless man," I said shoving the ice covered words into Andy's ears. "We can discuss this later. Right now you need to go and untie Cody. He's in pain. You tied him up, so you should untie him."

"Fine," Andy said crossly, as he shifted his anger from Cody to me. . He broke eye contact with me and started to walk around me and towards Cody.

"One more thing, Alpha," I called out to him, catching his attention.

He turned and looked at me. "What now?" He grumbled.

"Deep down you know I'm right about this. Don't let your anger cloud your compassion. That's not who you are," I said with renewed warmth. "If for no other reason, please, do it for me." I said a hint of pleading in my voice, and holding up my left hand so Andy could see the ring, his ring, encircling the ring finger of my left hand.

Andy looked at me for a few seconds. He flicked his eyes from my face to the gold ring on my finger and then back to my face. "I'll do it, but only because you asked me," he said softly, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. Andy continued his interrupted journey to Cody.

I looked over at Cody, wondering what he was thinking of all this. Cody looked back at me, his eyes still wide with fright. "Keep Alpha away from me, boss, please?" He begged me.

"I intend to, Cody, once he has untied you." I stated calmly. "I think you'll feel safer and enjoy yourself more if you're untied now."

"My hands are starting to get numb, boss," Cody admitted. "I think it's a good idea. But does Alpha have to untie me? Can't you do it instead?"

"Alpha is not going to hurt you, Cody. I promised you that before we started all this, and I've kept my word. Now just relax. Alpha is going to put you back so you are sitting on the table, because that will make it easier to untie you." I did my best to reassure Cody with my words. He looked a bit doubtful but he nodded his head. It's not like he really had a choice. He couldn't exactly run away after all.

Andy approached Cody slowly. With measured and careful moves he rolled Cody off of his knees and onto his left side. It was a simple matter to then roll Cody up so that he was sitting on his bum again. Andy snatched up the nearly empty spool of cord and started to unwrap the cord from about Cody's neck. Cody gulped nervously a few times, but otherwise remained motionless. He was still very uncomfortable at having Andy near him, but he wasn't as terrified of Andy as he had been a few moments before. Cody trusted me, and was assured that I would not let Andy harm him.

Methodically and efficiently Andy finished removing the cord from about Cody's neck. Andy rolled up the slack cord on the spool, and proceeded with untying Cody's writs from his knees. This entailed passing the spool of cord over Cody's wrists and under Cody's knees several time. After a few minutes of work Andy had freed Cody's writes from his knees. Andy quietly continued undoing the cords from about Cody's wrists. It took only a couple of minutes for Andy to free Cody's wrists from their restraints. Cody let out a long sigh of relief as he lowered his torso onto the table. "God that feels better, boss," he said quietly as he lay down on his back, closed his eyes and sighed several more times. In the process Cody's cowboy hat was knocked off of his head and toppled off to his right side, where it rested upside down. Cody pulled his arms apart, and stretched them up and over his head for a couple of moments. Cody open his eyes and turned his head about looking for something. He turned his body onto his right side as he reached over his body with his left hand and snatched up his black cowboy hat. Carefully he set his cowboy hat down on the table so that the hat was resting on its rim, instead of its crown. Satisfied, Cody lowered his torso back on to the table. Cody lowered his arms and rested his wrists on his stomach, while Andy wound up the slack cord onto the spool. Cody lay there with his eyes closed, resting as Andy start to untie Cody's thighs. Soon Andy had the cord unwound from about Cody's thighs, and start to unwind the cords that were just below Cody's knees. This did not take Andy very long since Cody cooperated by keeping his legs pulled up and bend at a ninety degree angle at his knees. With only Cody's ankles to be untied, Andy did not have much left to do. I started watching both Andy and Cody very carefully for any signs of an argument or a fight breaking out between them. Andy freed Cody's ankles and pulled the last loops of cord off of Cody's body. Cody lowered his legs to the table with a loud sigh of relief. Cody's legs moved slightly apart as he relaxed them.

"Thank you boss. That feels so much better," Cody muttered softly, as he lay there on the table with his eyes closed. "I can feel the blood coming back into my legs and my arms, now." he let the last word hang as he sighed and appreciated anew his freedom of movement.

Andy looked at me with a slightly resentful expression on his face as he finished coiling up the cord on the spool. He carefully put the spool on the dinning room table and walked over to where I was standing, taking care not to say or make any sound that might alarm Cody. "Now what?" He whispered to me.

"Hang on a second, okay?" I asked him. He nodded silently. I walked over to Cody and placed my fingertips on his forehead. "Going down deeper and deeper Cody. Relaxing more and more with each breath that you take and with each minute that passes. Letting all the sounds in the room drift away, until such time as I say to you 'Cowboy Cody get ready'. Nod your head when you understand, Cody," I instructed him.

Cody nodded his head almost immediately. Despite the slight problems of the evening, Cody was still as responsive as ever to my suggestions and power. I removed my fingertips from Cody's forehead. I walked away from Cody and headed for the living room, waving at Andy to follow me. A few moments later we sat down next to each other on the sofa. I looked at him and tried to pick up the thread of the argument we were having.

"Cody will ignore us and what we say until he hears me say that phrase, Alpha. But we should keep our voices low and calm anyway. Anger isn't going to help the situation any," I said quietly to Andy looking him in the eyes.

"True," Andy said. He didn't say anything more. He was still angry. I could see it clearly in his eyes. I had successfully redirected Andy's angry from Cody to me, but now I had to figure out how to break through that wall of rage and reach the real Andy inside. The compassionate and caring man that I had come to know so well over these wonderful and weird weeks, that had accumulated into many marvelous months. That was the man I had to try to reach. I wasn't about to give up on all that. Not on Andy I wasn't. Not by a damn sight.

Trying to help Andy to see that he was wrong in what he wanted to do to Cody wasn't working. He wasn't willing to listen to me, at least not about that. I looked at Andy for a few minutes. I so wanted to reach up and kiss him or to hold him and help him feel better, but this wasn't the right time to do that.

"I'm sorry, dear heart," I said softly as I kept my gaze locked on his eyes. "If I had known that you felt this way about Cody, I would never have agreed to this session with him. I should never have put you in this position in the first place. It was wrong of me, and I'm sorry."

Andy looked at me silently. I waited for him to say something or to do something. I searched his eyes for some sign that I'd reached him. Andy's expression didn't change one iota. I couldn't tell if he was thinking about what I said, or if he was ignoring it. My heart said that Andy had heard me, but my heart also said that something more was needed.

"Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" I asked him as I swallowed my pride. This was not the time to bring up the fact that the decision to grant Cody his session had been agreed by both of us. If there was a case of poor judgment here, we shared in it equally, in my view. This most definitely was not the time to bring that up. I let the minutes drift by as I waited for some type of response from Andy. The silence was deafening.

"Always," Andy said softly, finally breaking the silence. A smile blossomed on his face and his eyes became warm once again as he reached out and brushed the left side of my face with his right hand. Andy gazed into my eyes as I smiled back at him. I knew that I had climbed the wall and reached him. He looked down for a few seconds, as if he were trying to think of what to say next. Slowly Andy raised his head and looked me in the eyes. "You're right, damn it. I'm sorry, Texas," he muttered in voice so soft I strained to hear him. "The truth is, I should be asking you to forgive me," he muttered, just a bit louder so that I could hear him. "I nearly lost control of myself. I don't know what happened. It was like a madness. I just saw Cody all tied up and helpless and I remembered what he tried to do to you and suddenly all I wanted to was beat him to a bloody pulp. If it weren't for your words." He left the thought unfinished.

"If you had beaten up Cody, I'm not sure that I could have forgiven you for that, dear heart," I told him. "A spanking is one thing, but you were ready to barrel across the line. I could not have condoned that, even though I love you."

"I think a part of me knew that when you were standing there protecting Cody," Andy spoke to me as he calmed down even more. "Thank you for pulling me back front from the brink, Texas." Andy kissed me on the lips, softly and tenderly.

"Anytime, dear heart, anytime," I said after Andy had broken off the kiss a few moments later. "Did you enjoy seeing Cody tied up an helpless?" I asked him, as curiosity got the better of me.

"Yes," Andy replied with a blush. "I didn't think I would, but I did. You don't think any less of me for that or for what I nearly did to Cody, do you?" He asked with concern in his eyes and some uneasiness on his face.

"I thank you for being honest with me, dear heart. You showed that you have your weaknesses and faults just like me and everyone else in the world. You might have come close to falling off the edge of the cliff, but you pulled yourself back in time," I answered him, as I started to get misty-eyed.

"But if it weren't for you, for your words, I might not have stopped," Andy replied sadly. "I was ready to beat Cody to a pulp, and the only thing that stopped me was you. I've never felt that way before, and frankly it scares me." Andy's lips trembled with the last few words. I could see that he was genuinely scared about having come so close to losing control of himself.

"You chose to hear my words and to listen to me. I didn't pull you back from the edge of that cliff, dear heart, you did. All I did was point out to you that you were standing on the edge," I said trying my best to reassure him. "You are a just, honorable and noble man, dear heart. You're not a sadistic bully who preys on helpless victims. All I did was to remind you of that fact. You stopped yourself. You kept control of yourself. You could have easily brushed me aside, if you'd really wanted to hurt Cody, but you didn't. You maintained the right." The last words were nearly choked off with a sob. I blinked quickly to clear away the tears that threatened to spill out of my eyes. "How could I not respect, admire and love your for that?" I asked him as looked into those soft doe brown eyes that I had come to know so very well.

"God, I don't deserve a man like you, Texas," Andy said with a sob. "I'm not good enough to love you, but damn it I do. I love you with every fiber of my being, and with each breath that I take."

"That is all I can hope for, more than I could ask of you, and far more than I deserve, dear heart," I said with a sob of my own. I wrapped my arms about Andy and hugged him gently but firmly. I felt rather than heard him let out a soft shuddering sigh. I looked up a that handsome face of his and noticed that the worry, concern and uneasiness has faded away and been replaced with a look of peace and calm. If I didn't know better I would have sworn that he'd just slipped back into one of his hypnotic trances.

"I'm ready to continue with Cody, if you are Texas," Andy said softly as he smiled at me warmly. He gave me a big warm hug of thanks, as he smiled at me.

"Me too," I responded. I took a deep breath and walked over to Cody. I looked down at him as he lay there on the dining room table. His suit jacket was pushed off of his chest, hanging down to the sides, so I had a wonderfully clear view of Cody's chest and the front of his pants. His cowboy hat was resting by his head on his right side. Cody looked peaceful and at ease. I glanced down at the front of his suit pants. It came as no surprise that he had lost his erection. Fear has been known to do that. So, I would have to start from scratch and simulate Cody all over again.

"Cowboy Cody get ready," I said to Cody as I place the fingertips of my right hand on his forehead.

"Ready, boss," Cody muttered as his lips curved into a small smile.

"How do you feel Cody?" I asked him as I removed my fingertips from his forehead.

"Pretty good, boss. I feel relaxed and comfortable and pleasantly warm," he answered with a slight slur in his voice.

"You'll feel a lot better and go down deeper into hypnosis when you roll over onto your stomach and pillow your head in your arms, Cody," I suggested to him.

"Yes, boss," Cody replied, as he lay there. "Did you want me to roll over now, boss?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, I do. Now be a good little cowboy, Cody," I answered him.

"Yes, boss! Right away, boss!" Cody barked out as he opened his eyes and started to roll his body to his left. "See, boss? See? I'm rolling over just like you wanted, boss. I'm your good little cowboy, boss," he chirped out while he finished rolling over and repositioning his body on the table. He had to do that since the dining room table was not as wide as queen sized bed, and Cody did not want to roll of the edge of the table. Less than a minute after speaking Cody was lying on his stomach on the dining room table, with his head pillowed on his arms. His eyes were closed and he was taking slow deep breaths as he let himself relax more and more. With Cody's arms raised above shoulder level his suit jacket was hike up across his back, which exposed nearly all of the back of his suit pants to my gaze. (Now you know why I had him pillow his head on his arms. I wasn't doing it just for his comfort.)

"Nice ass, Cody," I complimented him. I found both his willingness to obey me, and his enthusiasm in carrying out my instructions to be stimulating. My cock was starting to stir, just a little bit, which was a great feeling. (Cody wasn't the only person who had lost his erection.) It helped to put me back into the proper frame of mind to keep the promise that I'd made to Cody earlier this evening.

"Thank you, boss." Cody replied dreamily, as he kept his eyes closed. A hint of a smile touched his lips.

"Good. He's still in a receptive frame of mind. That will make things easier," I thought to myself. "Well, I'd better get started. I don't have all night," I muttered to myself. I walked around to the other side of the table so that I was on Cody's right side. (I prefer to work from that side, for some reason. Maybe it is because I'm right handed.) I took a deep breath and let it out slowly in a long soft sigh as I braced myself to begin. I leaned over Cody's slim and attractive body, and placed my hands on his ass, one hand on each buttock. I started to move my hands in slow smooth steady circles on both of Cody's buttocks, as reacquainted myself with the feel, texture and firmness of Cody's ass.

"Mmmmm.that's nice, boss." Cody muttered happily.

I didn't offer any response. It wasn't necessary. Besides at that particular moment, I was more interested in was what was beneath my fingertips that in talking with Cody. I stopped moving my hands in circles and let them roam over those two terrific mounds of Cody's. Up and down, over and around. The suit pant material was soft, warm and smooth. Cody's ass was wonderfully firm and it was with unmitigated joy that I closed my hands about Cody's buttocks and grabbed a double handful of his ass.

"Yes, boss. Squeeze me, please," Cody muttered with a joyous sigh. The smile on his face grew bigger and he nodded his head a few times as my hands kneaded his ass. I didn't know who was enjoying this more, him or me, but it was pretty safe bet that we were both enjoying ourselves. After a minute or so of butt grabbing, I decided to go onto the next stage. I took my right index finger and traced the central seam of Cody's suit pants, that is the seam that ran down the back of Cody's pants in between his buttocks. I pressed down firmly and plunged my index finger in between Cody's butt cheeks as far as I could. As I had already mentioned earlier, that wasn't very far because the material of Cody's pants was stretched tightly across his buttocks. Nevertheless the resistance it offered was both intriguing and erotic. I moved my finger from the top of the seam where it started at the waistband of Cody's suit pants, and traced that seam all way down to Cody's crotch. Slowly I retraced the path back up to the top of the seam. Slowly, but firmly I repeated the process over and over and over. (Yes I had just done this sort of thing only a few minutes ago, but sometimes repeats can be a lot of fun!)
"Oh yes, boss! Finger my ass, boss!" Cody cried out softly, and then moaned a few times.

"How is your cock, Cody?" I asked him as I ran my index finger up and down the seam of Cody's suit pants.

"Rock hard and pressing into my pants, boss. It feels great, boss. Thank you, boss," he answered in between moans.

"Getting more and more aroused and turned on, aren't you, Cody?" I asked him, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"God yes, boss. I'm melting, boss. I feel so damn good, boss," Cody answered as his moans became louder and more frequent.

"Cody, be a good little cowboy and hump the table until I tell you to stop. Remember though, that you cannot cum without my permission," I ordered him.

"Yes sir, boss!" Cody cried out enthusiastically. Seconds later he was pumping his hips up and down as he started to thrust the front of his pelvis against the surface of the table. He moaned and grunted a few times as he started to develop a rhythm to his physical exertions. "See boss? I'm a good little cowboy. I'm humping the table just like you told me to," Cody reported to me. Apparently Cody had developed some type of need to reassure me that he was in fact following his orders. His grunts and groans became louder as the intensity of his efforts continued to build.

"Stop humping and get up on all fours now, Cody. On your hands and knees," I said to him after a few minutes. I didn't want him to hurt himself.

"Yes.yes, boss," Cody replied in between breaths. He stopped pumping his hips up and down and slowly pushed his body up off the top of the table, and sat back on his knees. Cody opened his eyes and looked about for a moment. He spied his cowboy hat and reached out for it. Moments later he had placed his cowboy hat snugly on his head. Cody lowered himself back onto the table, but this time he position himself so that he was on his hands and knees. "I'm on my hands and knees just like you said, boss," Cody remarked as he turned his head to the right and looked at me. "A good little cowboy always wears his cowboy hat, boss," he said by way of explanation for his actions.

"Very good, Cody," I congratulated him. "Now hand over that dildo you are carrying," I said to him as I smiled at him.

"Right away, boss!" He cried out gleefully as his eyes lit up with excitement. Cody plunged his right hand into the outside right pocket of his suit jacket. Frantically he moved his right hand about in the pocket trying to locate the object in question. A few heartbeats later he withdrew his right hand from his the pocket. "Herehere you go, boss," he said with a touch of hesitation in his voice, as he extended his right arm out in my direction. He held his right hand out, palm up and open. The dildo resided on the palm of his right hand.

Carefully I plucked the dildo from his right hand, with my right hand. "Back on all fours now, Cody," I told him.

"Yes, boss," he replied timidly, but a shiver of suppressed excitement ran through his body. Cody repositioned himself on his hands and knees. Another shudder ran down the length of his body as he waited with baited breath for me to begin.

I lifted my gaze up and over Cody, to the direction of Andy. He stood there looking at Cody, with an expression that could only be called delighted. He locked eyes with me for a few seconds, during which he nodded his head and held up his right hand, his right thumb and index finger curled into the 'okay' sign. Certain of Andy's willingness for me to continue, I took a firm grip on the dildo and placed it gently on the seam of Cody's suit pants. I pressed down hard on the dildo, and started to move it up and down along Cody's butt crack. As expected, I couldn't press the dildo in very far between Cody's buttocks, due to his suit pants being so tight. The result, though was most gratifying.

"Oh boss! I feel it! I can feel that dildo being pressed against my ass!" Cody screamed out in surprise and delight. "Oh God! Please push it in, boss! Deeper, please!"

"You'll have to take off your pants and your underwear for that Cody," I informed him. "I would not want to damage that nice suit of yours."

"Right boss!" Cody agreed as he jerked himself to his knees. He slipped off his suit jacket and tossed it aside in less than a second, uncaring as to where it might land. Cody pawed at his tie and had it pulled down and undone in record time. He quickly pulled it off of his shirt. Cody undid the button at the collar of his shirt, then he took a firm grip of both sides of his white cowboy shirt and pulled at his shirt. The snap closures gave way easily and quickly, with a metallic popping sound. Cody tugged and yanked at his shirt as he pulled it out from within his pants. You would have thought his shirt was covered with itching power or crawling with ants or something, from the frantic way that he pulled it off of his body. Cody smiled a huge grin at me as he balled up his shirt and tossed it over his shoulder. Cody didn't waste a second as he got to work unbuckling his belt. He had that sucker undone in less than a heartbeat. Cody didn't waste even a half a breath as his hand fairly flew to the front of his pants and unzipped his fly. Moments later he had undone the front of his pants and had slid them down to his knees. Cody didn't stop there though. He topped over onto his left side and carefully rolled onto his back. With some painstaking effort Cody managed to pull his pants down over and off of his boots. I'm not exactly sure how he managed to do that, though. I had never managed such a feat, but then again Cody was a real cowboy, while I'm just an urban cowboy. Maybe it has something to do with the way that he pointed his feet when he pulled his pants down over his legs. In any case, Cody managed to wiggle out of his suit pants and with a joyful whoop he chucked his suit pants on to the floor.

Picture this if you can. A slim good looking cowboy, who was wearing a nice western suit only a few minutes ago, has just stripped down to his cowboy hat, his cowboy boots, his socks (inside his cowboy boots I presumed), and his white cotton briefs. This cowboy is sitting there on the dinning room table, with his legs out in front of him and an outrageous smile on his face. Need I mention that his cock is rock hard, pushing against his cotton briefs, and presenting a most intriguing long hard mound? (No, I suppose I didn't need to mention it, but I thought I would anyway. I would not want to be accused of skimping on the details now, would I?) Still grinning at me, Cody winked slyly at me, and climbed back up onto his knees. He grabbed his white cotton briefs and savagely hauled them down off of that bubble butt of his, letting the briefs collect into a heap at his knees. Cody moaned once, as he positioned himself back on his hands and knees.

I stood there studying Cody's nude body for a minute or so. Okay, technically he wasn't nude. He was wearing his cowboy hat, his cowboy boots and his underwear, but he was definitely au natural from his ears down to his knees. His body wasn't all that remarkable. He didn't have any tattoos or body jewelry, nor was his body hair shaved off. His body was fit and trim, without any noticeable sagging or softness. His skin was slightly tanned, which suggested he spent some time outside and with his shirt off on occasion. He did have a wonderful looking body, I had to admit. Not nearly as attractive as Andy's though. On a scale of one to ten, Cody was a five or six, where as Andy was at least a twelve. (Okay, so I'm not exactly objective when it comes to Andy. Sue me.) Cody's cock was jutting out to it's full seven or so inches, rock hard and ready.

"I'm I'm ready for it, boss," Cody called out softly as a tremor of excitement coursed through his body.

I looked down at the dildo I was holding my hand and realized that I had forgotten something.

"An er Alpha, would you please get me the hand lotion from the bedroom?" I called out to Andy. I had nearly used his real name, but I had corrected myself in time. Andy nodded at me and went to fetch the bottle of hand lotion.

"You need to lower yourself down to your elbows and then spread your butt cheeks apart for me, Cody," I told him as I positioned myself behind that beautiful ass of his. My cock was rock hard and throbbing, much like Cody's. Unlike Cody's cock though, my cock was going to remained confined for the duration of this event.

Cody gulped once and then slowly lowered his body so that he was resting his weight on his elbows. Carefully Cody reached back and pulled his buttocks apart with his hands. His body trembled with excitement, and he grunted once or twice. I looked down to see Cody's tight pink anus staring back at me. It almost seemed to pulse at me, as if it were beckoning me to explore that virgin territory.

"Here you go, Paul," Andy said has he thrust the bottle of hand lotion into my left hand. "Anything more I can for you?" He asked me as he gazed down upon Cody's exposed butt hole.

"Yeah, there is actually," I said as a thought popped into my mind. "Would you mind wrapped that towel about Cody's cock? When he shoots I don't want a mess all over the dinning room table."

"Glad to. And I thought I was only going to get to watch," Andy said with a smile as I turned and looked at him. "I'll be gentle. Don't worry. I won't hurt Cody. You have my word."

The additional words of reassurance wasn't necessary. I trusted Andy. I'm sure that they were for Cody's benefit, not mine. As Andy wrapped Cody's throbbing cock in the warm soft bath towel, Cody moaned and grunted his pleasure. Meanwhile, I spread a generous amount of hand lotion over the head and about one third of the shaft of the dildo that I held firmly in my hand.

"Cody, all you will feel now is wave after wave of pleasure, when this rock hard dildo pops your cherry," I instructed him. (I was a tad bit vulgar, I suppose, but this was not the time to be quoting lines from Shakespeare! I suspected that Cody's expected me to sound a little less cultured and a bit more common, if you know what I mean.) I placed the head of the dildo directly on that tight pink circle of a butt hole of Cody's and pressed downward gently.

"Oh." Cody moaned as he felt the dildo pressing against his ass hole.

I pressed down harder and felt, a slight give as the tip of the dildo started to force its way past that ring of tight muscle. "Relax, Cody, as you listen to my voice. Only pleasure in your ass now. Wave after wave of pleasure. Deep. Penetrating. Relaxing. Warm. Your ass hole is relaxing as you let yourself surrender completely," I suggested to him, in soothing mellow tones. I didn't want to hurt Cody, so a little more cooperation was needed.

"Oh yes boss.." Cody cried out softly. "Feels good kinda."

I pressed harder on the dildo, but was meeting with even more resistance. I could barely get more than just the tip of the dildo into his ass hole. Sure Cody was tight, but this was not normally to be expected. Cody moaned a few more times, and grunted, but beyond that I wasn't making any progress. Cody was fighting me and himself. He said he wanted this, but it seemed as if his body or his subconscious had other plans. Or maybe all he need was the proper kind of encouragement.

"Be a good little cowboy, and take it like a man!" I barked at Cody. "You came to here to get butt fucked, so don't wimp out on me now! You asked for this and I'm giving it to you! Now be a good little cowboy, and relax your ass hole! Let me shove this thing up your ass, Cody. You know you want it." The last few sentences were said in a less harsh but still an authoritarian tone of voice.

"Yes I'm a good little cowboy.." Cody yelped out in between moans and grunts. "Must let you shove it up my ass."

I had kept the pressure steady, but had not increased it. Suddenly the dildo slid up and into Cody's butt hole like a hand into a well worn pair of leather gloves.

"Oh God YES!!!" Cody cried out suddenly as he began to rock his body from front to back. "OH THAT'S FUCKING WONDERFUL!!"

"Only pleasure Cody," I assured him. "Now you cannot stop yourself from cumming, Cody. When the urge swells up within you, you will be able to cum and shoot your load like never before." (I figured he had waited long enough. Besides shoving this dildo up Cody's ass was hard work. No pun intended.)

"Yes boss yes master" Cody grunted at me as he began to ride the dildo. "Deeper, please, master," He called out to me. "Oh I I can feel it building in me master."

I smiled as I realized that Cody was calling me 'master' now. I couldn't help but be pleased about that. He was surrendering to me even more.

"OH, yes deeper and deeper shove it in deeper, master," Cody called out me as his hips gyrated up and down and all around that dildo. Cody moaned shamelessly, completely lost in the euphoric thrills that were crashing their way into his brain.

"You're a big strong straight cowboy, who is letting a gay man shove a dildo up your ass, and you absolutely love it, don't you my good little cowboy?" I called out to Cody.

"FUCKING RIGHT!" Cody screamed out in total agreement as his mind became overwhelmed with pleasure. "THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE! I WANT IT! I FUCKING WANT IT! JESUS CHRIST DON'T STOP! I"LL DO ANY FUCKING THING YOU WANT, MASTER! PLEASE FUCK ME GOOD AND HARD, MASTER! RIDE THIS COWBOY'S ASS HARD, MASTER!! GOD ALMIGHTY!! MAKE ME YOUR PUSSY BOY, MASTER!!!"

This was the danger point.

In his present state of mind, Cody would have agreed to anything. Anything at all. The excessive stimulation of the pleasure center of his brain, combined with my super hypnotic powers mean that anything I told time for the next few minutes would be taken as the truth and an undeniable fact. He would not question it now or anytime the future. This is where I had to be careful what I said to Cody. A few misspoken words and I could change him from straight to gay, or anything in between. How was it that I knew this? Simple I was in physical contact with Cody. My left hand was on his left buttock, and thus I was linked to his mind. I could read his thoughts easier than you can read these words.

"This is happening because you asked for it. It was your choice, your request. So just enjoy yourself and just let it happen, Cody. It is what you wanted, so just enjoy it. All you feel is pleasure, Cody. Nothing but pleasure," I said to him softly. I moved the dildo in and out just a tiny little bit as I spoke. Cody groaned and moaned even more intensely, upon feeling the dildo move around in his butt hole.

As cute as he might have been, I didn't want any type of long term relationship with Cody. I had Andy. I didn't need or want Cody. So I kept my mouth shut and waited for nature to take its course. It wouldn't be much longer now I was sure.

Cody suddenly arched his back and thrust his head up as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'M YOUR PUSSY BOY, MASTER!!! I'M YOUR PUSSY BOY!!! I'M YOUR FUCKED UP COWBOY PUSSY BOY, MASTER!!!" (This was not the first time I was thankful that my apartment was sound proofed.) Cody's cry of unbridled animal passion was deafening as he came into the towel that Andy had wrapped about Cody's cock. Cody's body shuddered and shook with force of his release. After about fifteen seconds Cody's body went limp and he started to collapse onto the top of the dinning room table. His body was covered with sweat and his skin was hot to the touch. Andy managed to extricate his hands from underneath Cody's body, while at the same time Andy helped to catch Cody's body as it plopped down on to the table top. Cody's cowboy hat became dislodged in the process. Andy snatched the hat up and placed it off to the side, safely out of the way.

I had something else to deal with so I was content to let Andy catch Cody's body and cushion his fall. As Cody's body relaxed his ass loosened up, and I slowly worked that dildo out of his butt hole. It was much easier coming out than going in. Mind you, it didn't smell any better coming out. I backed away from Cody and made a quick trip to the kitchen. Using some dish detergent I washed the dildo and my hands. I wiped my hands dry using a dish towel. I grabbed some paper towels and wrapped the used dildo in them,. Cleaning up took only a minute or two. I headed back into the dining room, with the dildo securely wrapped in several pieces of paper towel.

Andy was standing there looking at Cody's limp form as it lay there on the dinning room table. Andy had a look of satisfaction and contentment on his face. I suspected that my face showed a similar expression. However neither of us could hold a candle to the self satisfied smirk that was pasted on Cody's face, as he lay there. He looked as happy as a pig in a mud wallow.

"It's almost a shame to wake him up, you know," Andy said to me with a smile. "He looks so happy lying there. When he remembers what happened he might not be in such a charitable mood."

"I don't think we have to worry about that, Alpha. He asked for it, and he got it," I chuckled as I addressed Andy. "But you're right, he does look happy lying there. All good things must come to an end, though." I said with a sigh. "Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake, Cody! Wide awake!" I called out to Cody. We were about to find out what Cody's reaction to the fulfillment of his desires, was going to be.

Cody's eye lids twitched and slowly he opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long slow sigh. He blinked his eyes several times as he cleared the hypnosis from his brain. Cody slowly pushed his body off of the table and looked about the room. The profound confusion on his face was almost comical. He looked at me and then at Andy, puzzled at the smiles on our faces. It was all I could do to limit myself to just a smile on my face. Cody looked down at himself and his face went red with embarrassment as he discovered his nudity. He removed the towel from about his now deflated penis, grabbed his white cotton briefs and pulled them up over his pelvis and hips. Reassured that his dignity has been restored, Cody slowly climbed down off the dinning room table. He reached over and picked up his discard cowboy hat and placed it upon his head. He was standing beside the dinning room table on the same side of it as we were, so we had an eyeful of his beautiful body clad only in briefs, cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Cody turned to face us, his face frozen in that look of utter confusion.

Cody looked at me, glanced over at Andy, and then back at me, but he didn't say anything. He just looked at us like he'd never seen us before. He didn't look fearful, or happy, just puzzled and confused, as if he had no idea what to do next. I waited for him to say something but he just stood there quietly with his arms hanging by his sides. I waited for a minute or two for Cody to say something, anything, but he didn't. We couldn't spend the entire evening like this, staring at each other in silence, so I decided to speak.

"How do you feel, Cody?" I asked him, my voice at a normal conversational level. I tossed a clean bathroom towel over to him. He caught it easily. "You might want to wipe some of that sweat off," I suggested to him, as I held out a second clean towel to him. Fortunately I had foreseen this need and brought three towels from the linen closet.

"A tiny bit sore in my backside, but otherwise great. Thank you, Paul er Mr. Walton," Cody answered quickly. He started toweling off his body as he answered me.

"That's okay. You can call me Paul, Cody. You don't have to address me as Mr. Walton," I said in a soothing tone.

"Thank you, Paul," Cody replied, but he had that look of confusion and something else on his face. Cody finished wiping himself and then glancing at me for permission; he folded up the towel and placed it on the dinning room table.
"Is something wrong, Cody?" I asked him. Clearly, something was wrong. Cody was wary of Andy and I for some reason. Not fearful, just wary and uncertain about us.

"I uh I think I should be going now, but I can't leave without my clothes. Oh, and I'd like my wallet back too, if it is not too much to ask," Cody said quietly. The tone of his voice was calm, almost meek, without a trace of arrogance or annoyance. He wasn't making a demand, just stating some simple facts.

"Cody, your clothes are scattered about the room, exactly where you left them. As for your wallet it is on the credenza," I said as I pointed in the direction where Cody's wallet lay. "Nothing is missing from your wallet, Cody. You can get dressed and leave anytime you want to. Neither of us is going to stop you," I told him, keeping my voice light and calm.

"Thank you, Paul," Cody said as he carefully walked over to where his cowboy shirt was and picked it up off the floor. He slipped it on and started to do up the snap buttons.

"Cody, didn't you enjoy this evening's adventures?" I asked him as I watched him getting dressed.

"Yes, I suppose I did," he admitted reluctantly. Cody walked over to the other side of the dinning room table and picked up his suit pants from the floor. He carried the pants with him back to the dinning room table. Cody pulled out one of the dinning room chairs and sat down in it. Cody reached down and pulled off his right cowboy boot.

"For some reason, you seem to be bothered about what happened this evening. Would you mind telling me what the problem is?" I asked Cody. He had enjoyed what happened, but something about it was bothering him.

Cody looked up at me as he finished pulling off his left cowboy boot. "I don't think I want to do this with you again. Ever," he said softly with cold note of finality in his voice.. Cody dropped his gaze from me and focused it on his suit pants. He picked them up from the dinning room table and shook them out as he held them out in front of him. Cody placed his right leg into the right leg of the suit pants, as he held the pants out in front of him. With his weight shifted to his right foot, Cody raised his left leg up and slipped that leg into the left leg of the suit pants. Cody straightened up and pulled the pants up to his waist. He held the pants there with his left hand as he tucked his white cotton cowboy shirt into his pants with his right hand. He started at the back and worked his way from back to front, along the right side of his body.

'Why? Did I do something wrong, or something that you didn't want?" I asked him, confused at his answer to my question.

"No," Cody answered, as he held his suit pants up with his right hand and used his left hand to tuck in the left side of his cowboy shirt. With his shirt tucked in Cody fasten his pants closed and zipped his the fly of his pants closed.

I was slightly distracted from my train of thought by Cody's actions. He was a good looking man, and he looked very nice in those suit pants. "If that is the case, then what IS the problem?" I asked as I recovered my wayward train of thought.

Cody buckled his belt closed and looked up at me for a moment, as he pulled at his belt buckle and settled it in place. Cody turned his head as he looked about for his tie. He spied it lying on the floor a few feet away. He walked over to it, bent down and picked the tie up off of the floor. To my dismay Cody was facing towards me when he bent down, so I did not get to see that delightful derrière of his. "I simply do not want to ever have this experience with you again. I do not want you to do this to me again. Not ever. It is that simple," Cody answered with that same note of finality in his voice.

It seemed that Cody had made up his mind about this. I looked at Cody as he stood there putting his tie about his neck. He looked back at me, calmly and coolly as he tied his tie and buttoned the collar button of his dress white cotton cowboy shirt. Something was missing. I had no objection to Cody leaving, but something didn't feel right. I knew Cody well enough that he was hiding something. Cody finished doing up his tie and walked over to the dinning room mirror. He checked that his tie was hanging correctly and then he turned about looking for his suit jacket. He spied it lying other floor near Andy. Cody gulped once as he walked over to where Andy was standing.

Andy bent down and picked up Cody's suit jacket. Silently Andy held out the jacket to Cody. "Thank you, Mr. Alpha," Cody said as he took the proffered jacket from Andy. Cody slipped the jacket on and tugged at the sleeves to make them settle into place.

"If you do not want any more sessions like this one that is fine with me, Cody. It's your decision after all," I said to him as I watched Cody walk over to the credenza and pick up his wallet.

Cody opened his wallet and rifled through it as he quickly verified the contents. Cody looked over at me, as he slipped his wallet into the right hip pocket of his pants. He studied my face for a few seconds before he spoke. "You're not going to try and trick me or something are you?" He asked me, and a touch of worry crept onto his face. He walked over to the dinning room table, picked up the paper towel wrapped dildo and pocketed it in the outside right pocket of his suit jacket.

"No. You're free to go, Cody. I must admit that I am puzzled by your attitude, though. You came over here and asked me, practically begged me, to shove that dildo up your ass. I did as you asked and now you're unhappy about it. I gave you what you wanted, Cody. I'm sorry but I just do not understand what your problem is. Whatever it is, I hope you find a solution soon," I declared letting some of the frustration I was feeling colour my voice.

Cody walked past me and headed over to the front door of my apartment., without so much as a word. Cody stopped just short of the door and turned about to face me. He looked at me, glanced at Andy and then looked back at me.

"It's not that I didn't enjoy myself, Paul. You did give me what I asked for, more in fact. I thank you for that. I think the problem is that I liked it maybe too much." Cody said softly as he looked up at me. He blushed and dropped his eyes.

"So now a part of you wants this to be done to you again, and that scares you. You're afraid that you've been turned gay or that your somehow less of a man because you've been fucked up your ass, right?" I asked Cody as I finally put the pieces together. Cody was the classic macho male cowboy and this act had shattered his self image. Cody felt that he had taken on a female role in a sex act and now he was something less than a man.

"Yeah, something like that," Cody admitted, in a slightly shaky voice. "I don't blame you, Paul. Well I do sort of blame you, but I know that I asked for this to happen to me. I came to you. You didn't come to me. That doesn't change how I feel, though. I wish you had said 'no'." Cody looked up at me with sad eyes and started to turn about, as he got ready to leave.

"COWBOY UP, CODY!" I called out to him.

Cody's reaction was instant and complete. He froze in place. His eyes fluttered closed and his head slumped down to his chest as he returned to his super hypnotic trance. "Ready, boss," Cody muttered as he let out a soft sigh and a smile blossomed on his face.

I smiled as I looked at him, back in his trance.

"Why did you do that, Paul?" Andy asked as he walked up to me and looked at Cody. "I thought you were going to let him go?"

"Turn and face me, and then just stand there and go down deeper and deeper with each breath that you take, Cody," I directed him as I turned towards Andy.

"Yes, boss," Cody responded. He opened his eyes and turned about so that he was facing towards me. Cody took a long slow deep breath and let it out in a soft slow sigh, as he closed his eyes.

"I can't leave Cody like this, Andy. I have to fix things. Cody might have gotten what he asked for, but it looks like he can't handle it. I have to fix this. It wouldn't be right to leave Cody like this," I said as I looked up Andy and into those soft doe brown eyes of his. "You understand that, don't you, dear heart?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I do," Andy answered with a small smile. "That's why I love you, Texas," Andy continued as he bent down slightly and gave me a soft kiss on the lips. "Do what you must, love. I'll wait here, if you don't mind. I'd like to watch."

"Okay, but there's nothing to see, Andy," I said as I turned back to face the entranced Cody. I walked up to him and placed the fingertips of my right hand on Cody's forehead. I sent forth a delicate but powerful mental probe. Cody's mind was like an open book. I could clearly see his memories of the evening's events. Quickly I set to work. I traced each thread and noted exactly when the dildo had entered into each memory. (I won't bore you with the technical details, besides you probably wouldn't understand them anyway.) I altered Cody's memories of the evening's events. I removed all references to the dildo and it having been shoved up Cody's butt hole. As far as Cody now knew, when he returned at 7:45 PM I had told him I had second thoughts about his request to screw him with the dildo. I still had him strip down and I did touch his naked ass, but only to get him to cum into the towel while he was on all fours on the dinning room table. I left in the memories about his being tied up though, as those memories were similar to what had happened in my apartment several months ago. I left in the part about blurring Andy's face and disguising his voice.

The only problem was how to explain the rather sore ass that Cody was going to have for the next few days. I thought about that for a while and finally came up with a solution. I searched through Cody's memories of the past few days, and I got lucky. There was a memory from the night before where Cody was playing with the dildo and thinking about trying to insert it into his butt hold by himself. I altered that memory so that Cody actually tried to do that and was only partially successful. The result was that his butt was sore and would be for a few days.

As I congratulated myself on my ingenuity, I scanned Cody's mind carefully several times to insure that I had tied up all the loose ends and that Cody's altered memories were secure. I could not find any holes or breaks in the memories that might suggest that Cody's recollections of the evening's events were not completely factual. I withdrew my mental probe from Cody's mind. I lowered my hand and broke my mental link with Cody.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake, Cody! Wide Awake!" I commanded him.

"What? Paul? Oh yeah," Cody said as his eyes opened and he woke up with a start. "You put me back under didn't you?" He asked with a grin.

"Yup. I just couldn't resist. You're a good looking guy, and you look so nice just standing there in hypnosis." I answered with a smile.

"Gee, I'd better be going," Cody said after a quick glance at his watch. "It's after 10 already. Thanks for a really good session, Paul. Do you think you might ever reconsider my request?" Cody asked wistfully.

"If you are referring to the dildo, I'm afraid my answer is still 'no'. The idea of doing that to a guy, even a willing guy just doesn't sit well with me. I am sorry, Cody," I answered him. "It's unlikely that my answer will change anytime in the foreseeable future."

"Oh, I see." Cody said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Well, I should be going now. Good night to you both."

"Good night Cody, and you're welcome," I said as I escorted him to the front door.

Cody opened the door, and walked out the door, closing the door behind him. He waved good bye to me as he left, a lopsided grin fixed on his face. I walked up to the door, and security locked it. Relief washed over me as I headed to the living room. I plopped myself down on the sofa. Cody's altered memories were in place and he had no idea as to what had actually happened to him.

"If you don't mind my asking, what did you do to fix Cody?" Andy asked as he sat down beside me and took my hands in his.

"I changed his memories of the evening. I removed all the memories about the dildo. Cody has no idea that he had a dildo shoved up his butt hole," I answered with a sigh.

"That would explain why he was asking you if you would reconsider his request," Andy commented as he looked at me and smiled. "Are you okay love? You look tired."

"I look tired because I am tired. It's a matched set, Andy. Altering memories is a tricky business. It takes a lot of effort and concentration. It's also getting kind of late too, you know," I answered Andy. A few seconds later I stifled a yawn.

"Well, now. There's only one thing to do about that," Andy said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"And that would be?" I asked as I played along. I had a hunch were Andy was going with this conversation.

Andy stood up not letting go of my hands. He bent down and with a sudden jerk he pulled me up and draped me over his shoulder like some rolled up carpet. "It's off to bed with you, mister," he chuckled as he carried me to my bedroom. I couldn't help but chuckle along with him, as I offered not the slightest token of resistance. Andy deposited me in my bed a few minutes later. He didn't just throw me into the bed, though. He laid me down in the bed carefully, as gently as if I were a basket full of eggs.

Andy reached down and unbuttoned my jeans. He pulled down the zipper of my jeans and then started to pull the now loosen jeans down of off my hips. I closed my eyes as I lay there content to let Andy strip me down. I knew that he enjoyed it as much as I did. Andy lifted my legs up and pulled my jeans off with ease. Andy leaned over and undid the bottom button of my cowboy shirt. Then he kissed me on the lips. A soft gentle and all too brief kiss. Andy undid the next button on my cowboy shirt as he worked his way up to the top of my shirt. A kiss on the lips followed the undoing of each button. (If that isn't a sexy way to undress a man, I sure as hell don't know what is.) Eventually Andy ran out of buttons to undo, and the kissing stopped. Andy rolled me onto my left side as he slipped my right arm out of the right sleeve of my cowboy shirt. As soon as my arm was free Andy kissed me on the lips again. All I could do was sigh with delight as Andy rolled me onto my right side and slipped my left arm out of the left sleeve of my cowboy shirt. Another kiss followed. (Like I had to tell you that?) Andy pulled my torso up off of the bed by snaking his left arm under my back and pulling me towards him. The shirttail was still underneath my butt, so I felt it when Andy yanked the shirt off to the right side. My socks were removed next. First the right one and then the left one, with kisses from Andy to mark the event. So there I lay on my bed, eyes closed with only my white cotton briefs on.

For a few minutes nothing happened. I could not feel Andy touching any part of my body, nor could I feel any movement on the bed which might have suggested that he was climbing on to it. I forced my eyes open, as my curiosity got the better of me. I was greeted with the sight of Andy standing before me striped down to his white boxers, and smiling. Apparently I had nodded off for a few minutes and missed the show. Either that or Andy had shucked off his clothes in record time. I was too tired to try and figure out which was correct. Andy climbed over me and onto the bed. He reached down and pulled the comforter up from where it was folded at the foot of the bed. He unfolded it and spread it over my still and unresisting form, covering both of us.

"Come here, you," he whispered to me as he pulled me close to him. "No hanky-panky, now. You need sleep more than anything else, love. Let me hold you in my arms and carry you off to dream land."

"Yes, please," I whispered back to him as I felt sleep wash over me.

"I love you, you know," Andy muttered to me as he kissed my ear.

"I know, dear heart. I love you, too," I whispered back as I struggled to remain awake long enough to say those oh so important words.

"Sleep now, Texas," Andy whispered to me, his words seeming to come from far, far away. "You're safe in my arms until morning. Sleep now, and dream of my love for you."

I tried to say something to Andy, but I couldn't seem to muster up the strength to talk. I just nodded my head once or twice as I felt the dark soft arms of sleep embrace me.



Chapter 13. The Devil You Don't Know.

Round, hard, cold metal pressed against my left temple. Small drops of terror filled sweat rolled down the front and sides of my face. My guts felt like they had turned to water. I could barely swallow. The silence thundered through the room. Each second was an eternity. I had never felt so helpless and alone in my entire life. Fear filled my mind, and it was all I could do to keep from giving in to the terror that coiled tight around my mind like some giant boa constrictor.

I somehow managed to control my breathing, and took stock of the situation. It was not good. I was sitting in a simple wooden chair of some type. Each of my legs was securely bound to the leg of the chair with some type of rope or cord. My arms were held securely behind the back of the chair, with my wrists bound together. Painfully bound would be a better description. My fingers and palms were numb due to the cords that cut into the flesh of my writs and impeded my circulation. Several loops of the cord were wrapped about my torso, just below my underarms, securing my body to the back of the chair upon which I sat. Not a good situation, at all, and uncomfortable as hell. I mentally sighed to myself, and looked around. (Do I have a gift for understatement or what?)

The room in which I found myself was plain and colourless. White or off white walls, with recessed florescent lighting in the ceiling. There were no furnishing of any type in the room, save for the chair that I was sitting in. There was a door of some type off to the right, but I could not get a good look at it. I did not dare to turn my head. With a gun pressed against my left temple, not moving my head around seemed like a very good idea to me. I knew that I was not alone in the room. Someone had to be holding that gun to my head, but I had no idea who it was. The worst part was that I had no idea how long I remained like that. It could have been hours. It could have been minutes. There was no way to tell. All I knew was that I was uncomfortable, and getting more uncomfortable as time passed. As I sat helplessly waiting for something to happen, I suddenly wondered whether or not I'd be able to get the wrinkles out of out my suit jacket and pants. It was a silly and superficial thought to have at a time like that, but when your entire world had been turned upside down, you reach out desperately for something familiar that you can hold on to. In my case, it was the concern for my suit. It was one of my favorite suits, a simple double breasted two piece medium blue pinstripe suit. I was wearing a sky blue dress shirt and a navy blue silk tie. My good old plain black leather belt and new pair of black leather dress shoes completed my ensemble. A fat lot of good this fashion review was doing for me though. I forced such trivial thoughts out of my head and concentrated on staying calm and controlling my fear.

As I sat there waiting for Lord only knows what to happen, I closed my eyes and tried to remember how exactly it was that I came to find myself in this most undesirable situation. The details were fuzzy at best. There were a few things that I was sure of though. I had put in a full day's work on Friday. More than a full day's work, actually. I had decided to work a few hours of overtime to get a few administrative tasks finished. They were not critical tasks, but I was in the mood to work on them so I thought I'd deal with them and get them out of the way. I had phoned my apartment and left a message on my answering machine to let Andy know that I would be a few hours late this evening. I didn't like for him to worry about me. I derived a small nugget of relief as that thought rolled about in my mind. Andy would miss me. In a couple of hours or so he would know that something was wrong when I didn't show up at my apartment. I didn't know how much time had passed since I'd made that phone call, but the time would pass, nevertheless. I clung to that small hope like a spider clinging to a web line.
I recalled walking out to the front of the building where I work, looking for the cab that I had telephone for. I remembered seeing the cab and climbing into it. No, wait a second. I tried climbing into the front seat like I usually do, but the driver informed me that I'd have to sit in the back seat as the front passenger door was stuck. So I got into the back seat of the cab and gave the driver my home address. Yes I clearly remembered that. After a few minutes of travel, I noticed a strange order in the cab and then I started feeling tired as if the day had suddenly caught up to me. I closed my eyes for just a second, and then I woke up here. I had been drugged, I finally realized. (As you can probably tell, I'm not very good at jigsaw puzzles, either.) So that is how I got from the cab to here. The problem was, I didn't know where here was.

The sound of a door opening brought me back to the present, and my less than desirable situation. I opened my eyes, and resisted the natural impulse to turn my head in the direction of the sound. The gun pressed against my temple was more than incentive enough for me to keep my head still.

"I see that our guest is awake," said a strange male voice.

"I don't think much of your hospitality then, if this is how you treat a guest", I thought to myself. I didn't dare speak such a thought out loud. I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me. Soon a pair of black leather shoes walked into my scope of vision, attached to a pair of legs that were shrouded in a pair of black dress pants. Slowly more and more of the legs came into my view as the man, whoever he was, walked closer and closer to me. A few more paces and the knees came into view. Another pace or two and I could see the tails of a suit jacket appear. It was a black double breasted jacket, and it was buttoned up. I could see the lowest set of buttons on the jacket, but that was all. The man had stopped walking towards me.

"Mr. Red, you may withdraw the gun from Mr. Walton's head but only an inch or so. Mr. Walton is now permitted to move his head, but should he turn his head in any direction other that to look at me, you will immediately ventilate his skull. Is that understood?"

"Understood, Mr. Black," replied Mr. Red in a voice that sounded so calm, so controlled, and so ordinary, that it was frightening.

"Good. The same goes for the rest of you. If any of you see Mr. Walton so much as glance in your direction you are to put a bullet into Mr. Walton's skull. Neatness does not count. Is that clear?" Mr. Black said to several other people in the room.

'Yes, Mr. Black." "Understood, Mr. Black." Two new voices replied in rapid succession, from different areas off the room. These new voices were off to my right and behind me somewhere, as near as I could tell. They had not spoken long enough for me to get anything more than a crude idea as to where they were positioned relative to me.

Well now I had a bit more information. The man standing in front of me was named Mr. Black and he seemed to be in charge of the other three men who were arranged about me. Mr. Red, the man to my left was armed, no question about that. Apparently there were two other armed men in the room, who also had their weapons trained on me. Talk about having the deck stacked against you! I was already tied to a chair, and physically helpless. Now Mr. Black was insuring that I would not have even the slightest opportunity to use my powers on any of the armed men. It didn't require any great mental effort on my part to come to the conclusion that he knew more than just a little about my super hypnotic powers. I had no idea exactly how much he knew about them, but clearly he knew enough to avoid presenting me with any opportunity of using those powers on the armed men in the room.

These thoughts flashed through my mind as I slowly raised my head up to get a good look at my captor. Slowly the rest of Mr. Black's body came into my view as I raised my head upwards. I looked past the lowest set of buttons on the double breast suit jacket as I let my gaze move upward across Mr. Black's body. A black double breast suit, with a plain black silk tie and a bright white shirt met my gaze. Unremarkable.. Mr. Black's body appeared to be of average build. He wasn't fat or muscular, just an average build. He looked like any other fit thirty year old man that you might encounter walking down a city street. He was ordinary. In fact he almost seemed to stress being ordinary, if that were possible.

I lifted my gaze from his body and moved onto his face. If I had to guess I would have to have said that Mr. Black was probably in his early to mid thirties. His face was pleasant looking, and except for his goatee, unremarkable. His eyes were a dark and smoky gray. He was not wearing glasses. His black hair was cut short, but neatly styled. He stood there in front of me, patiently waiting as I looked him over. His demeanor was one of cool, calm and control. He was in the driver's seat here, and he knew it. I looked at the man's face and studied it. It seemed vaguely familiar somehow. I couldn't help but get a feeling that I knew him, that I'd seen him somewhere before. It was an unsettling, almost frightening feeling. The longer I stared at the man, the stronger the feeling became.

Suddenly a cold chill ran down my spin as I finally remembered where I had seen this man before. It was after that failed robbery at the bank branch from a couple of months ago! He was among the detectives and police officers who were interviewing the hostages and witnesses after the robbers were safely in custody. He had never spoken with me, but he was hanging around in the background talking with other people at the bank. My mouth went dry and I gulped with shock as I realized that this man had also been at the restaurant where I had first encountered Cody and his friends, a few months before the incident at the bank. The man had been following me and my adventures for several months! This could mean only one thing. I was in deep, deep trouble.

"It took you long enough to put two and two together, Mr. Walton," this Mr. Black said to me, grinning at the shock he saw on my face. "Yes, I have been keeping very close tabs on you and your activities for some little time now. You have been a very busy little boy, and while you have done a admirable job of keeping a low profile, you have not been able to cover all your tracks."

I stared at Mr. Black, and remained silent. The arrogance in his voice came through loud and clear. I found it annoying and irritating, but I managed to curb my impulse to reply with a sarcastic and scathing remark. He seemed to know everything, or at least he gave that impression. I wasn't about to provide him with any more information. If anyone needed information, it was me. I figured that I'd learn more if I kept my mouth shut and my ears open. I wondered where it was that I'd slipped up. I thought I had been very careful about concealing my abilities and tying up any loose ends. Obviously though, I had missed something otherwise I would not be in the position that I presently found myself in.

"You have followed the guidelines and convention set down by The Panel. You need have no fear of retribution," Mr. Black informed me, in a calm and even tone of voice. "That is not why you are here."

If that was supposed to offer me some semblance of comfort, or to calm my fears, it failed miserably. The fact that this man appeared knowledgeable about The Panel, only confirmed my worse fears. After all, if the man knew about The Panel, it was only logical that he knew at least as much about my powers and abilities as they did. I derived some small scrape of comfort that my full abilities were not known by The Panel. In all the months since that less than cordial meeting with The Panel, I had never opened a dialog with any members of The Panel. I had kept my own council as to the true extent and nature of my powers or how they had continued to grow in depth and scope in the intervening months since that encounter. I had even kept my beloved Andy in the dark regarding how much easier it had become for me to use my powers on people. I had never volunteered any information, and Andy bless his heart, had never asked. I think that somehow he sensed that this was something I just could not talk to him about. He didn't have the proper frame of reference to understand. It would have been like me trying to understand Andy's job as an RCMP constable. I just did not have the frame of reference to do so.

I looked at Mr. Black, and slowly locked my eyes onto his. Carefully I sent out a delicate mental feeler out towards his head. I knew better than to try anything along the lines of a direct confrontation. Even if he was susceptible to my powers, I had three other men in the room, with guns pointed in the direction of my head, to deal with. My suspicions were quickly confirmed. Mr. Black had a mental shield up around his mind. His shield was hard and tight, and the texture suggested that the shield would reflect any commands that I might try to insert in to his mind.

"That's a very nice touch you've got there, Mr. Walton," Mr. Black commented, as he complimented me on my abilities. "I am impressed with your finesse. However, you can see that I am more than ready for you. You'll find me a most worthy opponent, let me assure you. In the unlikely event that you do manage to break through my shields, any abnormal behaviour or orders on my part would result in a bullet in your brain, courtesy of one or all of my associates. So, given the circumstances, I would advise you not to try anything. You may be fast and powerful, but even you cannot stop a bullet."

I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh. The son of a bitch was right. Damn it! I cleared my mind and focused my powers. Now was not the time to act, but maybe I could collect a bit more information about this situation, and about my captors. I concentrated for a moment and did a quick and powerful scan of the room. I was able to pinpoint the locations of all the minds of the men in the room. That was the good news. The bad news was that they were all shielded. This wasn't much of a surprise. These men knew about my abilities, or some of them at any rate, and they were taking precautions. I should have expected nothing less. Their positions showed up in my mind like blips on a radar screen, a very accurate and detailed radar screen. Once I had them located, I sensitized my mental scanners, my radar, to the texture and feel of their shields. In less than three heartbeats I had tagged their shields. I would now be able to track their locations in the room automatically, without having to periodically scan the room. It was only a minuscule advantage, but it was still an advantage. I didn't know if they were aware of what I had just done, though. Frankly it didn't make much difference if they did. The odds were four to one in their favour, after all.

"Not even going to ask why it is that you have been brought here?" Mr. Black taunted me. "I must say, I am a tad bit disappointed in you. I was under the impression that you were far more inquisitive person."

I stonily ignored the barb. I wasn't exactly in the mood for conversation. I looked up at Mr. Black and locked my eyes on his. I swallowed nervously, but managed to keep looking him in the eyes.

"Ah, so be it. Out of the kindness of my heart, I will answer your unasked question and inform you as to why your presence was requested," Mr. Black continued, in a business like voice. He paused for a moment as if for dramatic effect. "It seems that you have some unusual capabilities, the details of which you are unwilling to share. This situation is going to change. Before this evening is over, you are not only going to provide full information about your enhanced mental abilities, but you will teach me in the use of these techniques. Mary was unsuccessful in her attempt to coerce the information from you. I will succeed where she did not."

I answered him with stonily silence. It was all that I could think of to do. How could I explain something to him, which I didn't understand myself? I didn't know how I did what I did, I just did it. You might as well ask someone to explain the details of how you breathe. Imagine how difficult it would be to describe the exact muscles that you control and the sequence that you control them in when you take a deep breath. As I pondered that, something clicked in my head and a question popped into my mind.

"Why didn't you drug me?" I asked Mr. Black. "If you wanted the truth from me, why didn't you use that same drug on me that Mary used when she first met me?"

"A most perceptive question, Mr. Walton. I see you still have your wits about you. Unfortunately such a simple and painless option is not available to me. The drug only works on those whose powers are dormant. Once your powers have been awakened, the drug no longer has any effect on you," Mr. Black answered. "Other less desirable methods must be employed."

"Why do you want this information so badly?" I asked him as I gained a small measure of courage from his answer.

"You and your abilities are an unknown factor, an 'x' factor if you like. Do you really think that the government would be willing to let someone with your abilities wander around unmonitored?" Mr. Black asked me point blank. He continued speaking before I could even begin formulating an answer to his question. "The potential harm to the general public is far too great. In order to know how to counteract you powers, we need to understand how it is that you use them in the first place. Surely you can see the necessity of that. You were given an opportunity to provide this information willingly when you met with The Panel. However, you decided to be stubborn and difficult, so I was called in to deal with you. Rest assured that you will provide this information before the evening is over."

There was a coldness and finality in the tone of Mr. Blacks' voice that made chills run up and down my spine. I knew that he wasn't kidding. I gulped once as I tried to swallow my fear. If there was one thing that Mr. Black was very good at, it was intimidation. Another inspiration flashed into my mind as a few more pieces to this puzzle clicked into place in my mind.

"Since you desire this information from me, I'm willing to bet that you are unwilling to risk losing your only opportunity to gain that information," I shot back at Mr. Black as I tried to match the coldness of his voice.

"Meaning what exactly?" Mr. Black asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Meaning that you won't risk killing me," I said as I turned my head to the left to look over at the man off to my left. If I was wrong, I was dead. I looked over and saw a man who appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He had light brown hair, cold hazel eyes, and was clean shaven. His face was average looking. He wasn't remarkably handsome nor was he unusually ugly. He looked like any run of the mill guy that you might see on a busy street corner. Only the cold, remote, determined expression on his face marked him as unusual. He was a professional and to him this was simply business nothing more. He was wearing a two piece single breasted two button black suit with a white shirt and a black tie. It was an outfit similar to Mr. Black's. Unlike Mr. Black though, this man had a small caliber handgun pointed at my head.

"Hello, Mr. Red," I said coolly, when a bullet did not find its way into my skull. "In other circumstances I would say that it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Do you often bet your life on hunches? Are you always so reckless?" Mr. Black asked me.

"It wasn't a hunch," I answered him as I turned my head back and looked Mr. Black in the eyes. "It was simple deductive logic. Fact one. You emphasized that I should not try to engage you in a mental battle. Reason unknown. Fact Two. You admitted that you could not use a drug to obtain the information from my mind. Fact Three. You want me to teach you how to use these techniques. Conclusion one. You cannot risk destroying me or my mind because you need the information and also my experience on how to use these abilities of mine. Conclusion two. You will not kill me, at least not until after I have provided the information you seek. Therefore, your orders to ventilate my skull were merely part of your attempt to intimidate me. I decided to call your bluff."

"Clever. But you could have been wrong," Mr. Black said as he indirectly admitted that my deductive reasoning was right on the mark. "You were still risking your life on very flimsy facts, if you can call them that. It was a foolish risk, nevertheless."

"Not really. If I was wrong I would merely be dead a little bit earlier. You can kill me only once," I answered with a sigh. "You never made any claim that you would release me after I told you what you wanted to know. So as far as I am concerned, I'm a dead man anyway. At least my secrets will die with me. I am confident that you cannot read the mind of a dead man, otherwise you would have killed me already and saved yourself all this trouble. I'll be damned to hell before I'll help someone like you, government agency or not."

"Mary said that you were stubborn to a fault. I can't believe that you would give up your life so easily. Do you value life, your life, so little?" Mr. Black asked me with a touch of wonder in his voice as if he could not believe what I had said.

"I would rather be lying dead with my face on the ground, than on my knees in front of the likes of you," I answered him somewhat flippantly. "I value life, especially my life, a great deal, but not at the expense of others. Who knows what you would do if you had such abilities as mine? Mary explained to me that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. I have a duty to use my powers wisely and with compassion. I won't hand over my abilities to the first thug who sticks a gun in my face. Death is preferable, to the pain and tragedy that would be inflicted on others."

"Noble, foolish and stubborn. A most unlucky combination for you," Mr. Black said with a sigh. "Since you're so unwilling to cooperate, we shall have to try a different approach. Something with a bit more leverage, I think." Mr. Black broke eye contact with me as he addressed the two unnamed men off to my far right. "Mr. Green and Mr. Yellow, if you would be so kind?"

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir" They replied, one after the other.

A sound off to my right caught my attention. I swiveled my head to the right, no longer worried about bullets visiting my skull. The door I had seen earlier slide open. It moved from the left to the right revealing a mysterious dark rectangular hole in the wall of the room. Two of the men guarding me, walked over to the door and left the room. They left before I could get a good look at them, though. The door remained open. I did not have long to wait. When they returned I nearly had a heart attack.

They pushed a swivel chair into the room. The chair was not empty. A man was sitting in the chair. It was Andy! He was tied up, and gagged, still wearing his working RCMP uniform. He was sitting in a swivel chair with his arms securely tied to the arms of the chair. Several bands of heavy rope secured his muscular torso to the back of the chair. His legs were bound together although they were not tied to the legs of the chair. Since this was a swivel chair on casters, that would have been rather difficult to do. Regardless, though, Andy was helpless and completely unable to move. They placed him about five feet in front of me. I studied his face. I could see the confusion and bewilderment in those soft doe brown eyes of his. He didn't seem scared, just very, very puzzled. He wasn't the only one.
The sight of Andy sitting in front of me, tied to a chair and gagged was more than enough to push away any thoughts I might have had about paying attention to the two men who had wheeled him into the room. Andy was foremost in my mind. I realized, with a sickening feeling, that help was not likely to arrive anytime in the foreseeable future. I had been counting on Andy to miss me, and to sound the alarm that I was missing. Fat chance of that now. Boy, when things went wrong they really went wrong. "What else could possibly go wrong now?" I asked myself silently, as I struggled to regain my composure.

"I see you know this man," Mr. Black commented with a smirk on his face. "You might be willing to sacrifice your life, but are you so willing to sacrifice his?"

"Christ! I had to go and ask that question, didn't I?" I mentally cursed myself. I did my best to launch a look of utter confusion at Mr. Black, once I had torn my attention away from Andy. "What in the name of little green apples are you talking about?" I shot back at him. "I will admit that I know this man. He's a casual friend of mine, but what has that got to do with it? I wouldn't put it past you to kill an innocent man, but that's not going to get you anywhere with me. I'd rather see this man dead, than know that he would suffer at your hands, if I were to tell you what you want to know." I was taking a huge gamble, and I knew it. Bluffing seemed to be my only hope. My powers were not going to get me out of this mess of trouble. At least they would not be able to scan Andy's mind to learn just how important he was to me. If Andy was immune to my powers, I was willing to bet that he was immune to Mr. Blacks' powers as well.

"Brave words, but futile and worthless. I know all about your relationship with Constable Anderson here. I know how important he is to you. You forget, that I know everything that The Panel knows. What's more, I know everything that you've ever told Mary. It makes me no never mind that you and Constable Anderson are gay. He is but a lever to shift your position." Mr. Black smiled at me as he finished speaking.

It was a truly unpleasant smile. Evil would have been a better word, but I was reluctant to use that word. Evil brought up a host of undesirable possibilities as to just what lengths Mr. Black might be willing to go to. I preferred not to dwell on that. I hoped that there was still some way to get clear of this mess, without telling Mr. Black what he wanted to know. Somehow, I didn't think he'd buy my story that I couldn't explain my techniques to him, since I didn't know exactly how I did what I did, in the first place. How in the blue moons of Mars do you explain instinct?

"I put it to you simply. I am going to count from one to five. When I reach five, Mr. Red is going to kill Constable Anderson, by shooting him through the heart. You have that long to change your mind and agree to tell me what I want to know," Mr. Black growled at me. "His life is in your hands. As soon as you start telling me what I want to know, I'll stop the count. One."

"You've got to be kidding!" I cried out, in disbelief. Andy locked his eyes on mine and shook his head at me violently from side to side. It was a clear 'no'. He was pleading with me to stop this insanity.

"Two." Mr. Black grunted at me.

"I can't tell you what I don't know!" I yelled out at him. I had decided to come clean. I was willing to risk my own life, but not Andy's. I couldn't stomach the thought of being responsible for his death. I loved him too much to risk his life.

"Three." Mr. Black said calmly.

"I don't know how I do what I do. I just do it, I tell you! I can't show you how to do it. I just don't know. Christ almighty! I can't give you something that I don't have!" I screamed at him as I tried to make him understand the truth..

"Four. Time's running out, Mr. Walton," Mr. Black said with all the concern that he would have if he were announcing the current temperature.

"I'm telling you, I don't know how I do it! Why in the name of God won't you believe me?! If you want to have a meeting of our minds I'll prove to you that I'm telling you then truth! Please, in the name of God, don't do this! Andy never did anything to you or to The Panel. He doesn't deserve this!" I howled out at the top of my lungs as I pleaded and begged for Andy's life. I was convinced that Mr. Black would do exactly as he threatened. I could not confirm it, since I could not read his mind, but I sure as hell wasn't about to risk Andy's life!

"Five." Mr. Black called out, his voice like the chimes of doom.

From somewhere behind me and to my left I heard the crack and thunder of a gun being fired. An instant later I saw a small hole appear in the centre of Andy's chest. I wrenched my attention back to Andy's face. Time slowed to a crawl. Andy's eyes went wide with fright and terror. Slowly, those wonderful soft doe brown eyes of his glazed over and the spark of life and love that I had seen in them so many times, slowly faded away. His eyelids dropped down, as he closed his eyes for the final time. He let out a soft sigh as his head slumped down to his chest. It almost looked like he was going to sleep, it seems so peaceful and quiet. There wasn't a trace of pain or shock on his face. (Somewhere in a back corner of my mind, I was thankful for that small grace. Andy had not suffered.) I looked down at Andy's chest. The blood had started to seep slowly out of the small, circle in the centre of Andy's chest. The blood ran down the front of his shirt, in a small trail to the top of his pants. There the blood spread out and formed a small pool as it soaked into the material of his shirt and the waistband of his pants. As I watched, Andy's entire body slowly slumped down in the chair, limp and lifeless. It didn't seem real, somehow. I could not seem to believe it. This just could not be happening. I just did not want to believe the evidence of my eyes.

A slight tugging at my writs interrupted my study of Andy's body. I blinked a few times at the shock of the moment, as I found my hands suddenly free of my restraints. I absently wiped away the tears that threatened to flow out of my eyes. Before I could make sense of my hands being freed up, I discovered that my ankles had been freed of their restraints as well.

"Go and examine your 'friend', please," instructed the cold and sadistic voice of Mr. Black. "Check his pulse, breathing and other vital signs. I want you to know without a doubt that we are not playing games."

Numbly I stood up as I prepared to comply with his instructions. I clung to the faint hope that this was some kind of a trick, and that I was not dealing with such callous monsters as these men appeared to be.

"Don't try anything, though," Mr. Black warned me. "All three of my assistants have their guns trained on you, and while they will not kill you, they are expert marksmen. They can inflict a great deal of plain without harming you seriously."

Dully, I nodded my head in acknowledgment of his words, though they barely registered on my conscious mind. I slowly walked over to where Andy sat slumped in his chair. I ignored the painful pins and needles feeling that coursed through my hands and feet as the blood circulation was restored to my extremities. I bent down and reached out with my hands. I took Andy's left wrist in my right hand, and felt for a pulse. Nothing. I felt the blood drain from my face. I placed my hand under his nose to check for any sign of breathing. Nothing. Suddenly I felt empty. I bent lower, turned my head to the side, and placed my left ear flat against Andy's chest, as close to the bullet hold as I dared. I waited and prayed for a heartbeat, no matter how faint. Nothing. I waited for an entire minute. Nothing. My entire body went weak as I collapsed into a heap next to the chair in which Andy sat. As I sat there on the floor beside Andy, with my hands in my lap and my legs splayed out in front of me, I accepted the bitter truth. Andy was dead. The light of my life, and the love of my life was gone. The man who made my heart sing with joy and love had been taken from me. His life has been snuffed out, as quickly and thoughtlessly as one blows out a candle. I would never hear him call me Texas again. I would never feel him hold me in his strong powerful arms again. I would never be able to hold Andy in my arms and comfort him when he needed it most. In that moment, I felt my heart become an unfeeling cold lump of stone in my chest. It still beat, slowly and evenly. It still pumped my blood. I still breathed. I still lived, but in that moment, the man whom Andrew Anderson had come to love and know so well, that man died too.

"As you can see, we are serious. Deadly serious," said the icy cold voice of Mr. Black.

I slowly turned about, while remaining sitting on the floor. I turned my face up to look at him. I didn't say anything. I didn't feel anything, either. I just looked at him in stony silence. No anger. No fear. No thirst for revenge. Nothing. It was like all my emotions had been drained out of me.

"Now, are you going to answer my questions, or do I have to bring in members of your family to help convince you to cooperate?" He asked me in that same even no nonsense tone of voice of his. He waited a minute or so before he resumed taking. "We'll start with your parents, I think, that is unless you've had a change of heart."

Slowly I climbed to my feet. If I was going to die here and now, I would do it standing on my own two feet, not on my knees or sitting on my ass. "That won't be necessary. I will give you what you want," I answered him calmly, in a dead man's voice. There wasn't a flicker of emotion in my voice. I believed that he would do exactly what he said he would do, if I did not cooperate with him. I didn't want to see any of my family harmed, most especially my parents. I felt trapped and helpless. But only for a moment. I looked up at Mr. Black, and the sudden loss of Andy hit me a second time. The image of my parents tied in chairs seated in front of me, with guns pointed at their heads flashed through my mind. Suddenly my anger ignited. All I could feel was anger. I felt my face get hot as it suddenly became flushed. It was like a fire was burning within me, a fire that became hotter and hotter with each passing moment. In that instant, I didn't care what happened to me. Killing me would be a mercy. I had just lost Andy to these bastards! I would burn in Hell before I'd let them harm my parents! I couldn't give them what they wanted, but I was sure as Hell going to give them something! The fire burned away the feelings of helplessness and fear that I had felt a few moments before. Now there was only rage, blood red, white hot, and getting hotter by the second. My face was burning hot as if I had a fever of some kind, yet my mind was crystal clear and ice cold calm. Only one thought burned in my mind, "Payback." Something inside me seemed to snap. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I didn't care about anyone or anything, least of my life. All that I wanted was to wring my revenge out of Mr. Black's hide, one painful drop at a time. Once again I peered down into the well of my soul. I gazed down deep in to the dark pool of black water that lay there motionless at the bottom of that well. This time, I didn't look away. This time I embraced the darkness. This time I reached down and unchained the monster that lurked just below the surface of that forbidding pool. Power seems to flow through my mind like never before. It was heady and exhilarating, beyond anything I had ever felt before. And it was darker than the heart of Satan. I couldn't have cared less. I embraced it like a long lost lover.

"I'm glad to hear that," Mr. Black said his words dragging my attention back to him. "Now start explaining your techniques to me."

Silently, I launched my attack, but not at Mr. Black. Instead I split my effort into a three pronged attack at his assistants. They were the immediate threat since they all had guns. I wanted to be sure to live long enough to wring every drop of my revenge out of Mr. Black's hide. I pounded away at their shields with sledgehammer blows, as I turned my head to look at Mr. Red. I allowed the corners of my mouth to turn up slightly as I saw him reel backward from the force of my blows and drop to his knees, with his hands clutched at his head as he started to howl in pain. His gun lay beside him forgotten in the agony of my attack. I glanced over to my right just in time to see the other two men fall to their knees as well. I noticed that they too had started to cry out as they dropped their guns and grabbed at their heads. My anger and fury at these men knew no bounds. I pulled forth all my strength, strength that until that moment, I didn't even know I had. I continued to pound away at their shields while lancing out at their shields with my second attack. I would most likely burn out every cell in my brain trying to launch a double attack on three minds at the same time, but I didn't give a shit about that! One by one, starting with Mr. Red, I clamped on one of my sucker tubes. In only a few heart beats I was sucking away at the energy of their shields and flinging that energy back at them in my attack. As I saw their shields start to weaken I kept up the pressure of my attacks. I had never done a simultaneous attack on three minds of unknown strength, but I didn't have the luxury to wonder at my accomplishment. Mr. Black still remained.

I looked over at him. His face was frozen in shock as he looked about at his assistants. Somehow I managed to focus enough of my attention at him to hurl a mental bolt at his shield. It bounced off harmlessly. I wasn't all that surprised. I couldn't spare enough of my attention to really attack his mind right now. I had my mental hands full. The other three men's shields were weakening quickly. I paced the power level of my attacks to be sure that I would not break through their shields too soon and burn out their minds. I did not intend to turn them into mindless idiots, at least not just yet.

I hurled another bolt at Mr. Black's shield. It bounced off. He turned his head and looked at me, surprise still etched on his face. At least I had his attention now. Every few seconds I shot another bolt at his shield to be sure that he would not try to come to the aid of the other men in the room. I swung my head around to my left to see how Mr. Red was doing. I could not help but smile as I saw that not only was he still on his knees, but he had folded over, with his head nearly touching the floor in front of him. His hands were clasped to the sides of his head. He was sobbing as the pain of my unrelenting attack continued to pound away at his shield. There wasn't much left of his shield. I estimated that in about a minute I would have drained it away completely, and his unprotected mind would be open to my mental gaze and my manipulation. I switched my attention to the other two men and examined the conditions of their shields. They were in a similar state. Both would soon be drained completely, but it would take a few more minutes. I was in no hurry. I licked my lips in anticipation.

A sudden bolt of pain rocked my mind, as a very powerful mental bolt impacted on my shield. The pain was momentary. The bolt clung to my shield for only a fraction of a second (an eternity in mental combat) before I managed to increase the power of my shield enough to completely defect the thrust harmlessly away from me. Logic suggested that the thrust had come from Mr. Black, since his was the only mind in the room that I was not attacking. (That's what I got for letting myself be distracted.) A second bolt impacted on my shield, before I had even finished deflecting the first bolt. A third and fourth bolt arrived immediately afterwards. Mr. Black wasn't playing any games. He was launching an all out attack on my mind. He was throwing more and more powerful mental bolts at my mind as fast as he possibility could. Even with the other three men momentarily incapacitated, it was still an uneven and uphill battle. The energy from the other three men would sustain my attack upon their minds, so I didn't have to spare much attention to dealing with them. Mr. Black was another matter entirely.

I deflected each bolt that he shot at me, but it required significant effort on my part. I had stopped shooting my bolts at his mind, since I could not spare enough of my mind to form a strong enough bolt to really threaten his shield. I was completely on the defensive. I judged our mental strengths to be about equal, from what I could feel of his mental bolts. I was pretty sure that I could continue to handle whatever he might throw at me, since the strength of his bolts were only marginally stronger each time. Of course, he could be holding back. My problem was that I didn't have enough time to win a defensive war. At any time someone might contact Mr. Black to check on his progress with me. I didn't know where I was, but it was a safe assumption that someone else was in the vicinity. Mr. Black didn't strike me as the kind of man who would not have some kind of backup nearby.

As far as I knew, persons who had the gift were telepathic only when they were in physical contact with another person. So anyone wanting to contact Mr. Black would phone him (if he was carrying a cellular phone), or come into this room. As I fended off another bolt from Mr. Black, I realized that it was highly unlikely that anyone would try to phone him, since that might interrupt his concentration at a critical moment. Logically anyone else who knew of the gift would realize that mental battle was sure to erupt, and interruptions of any kind were a bad idea. My thoughts were wrenched off track as I felt one of the shields I was draining suddenly shatter like a pane of glass. I turned my head in the direction of Mr. Red.

He was curled on the floor in a fetal position with his hands still pressed to his temples. "Please, no more." he whimpered softly at no one in particular. His eyes were closed and the pain on his face was clearly visible. I modulated my attack from a pounding jackhammer into a smooth soft mental blanket that I draped over his mind. His mind was open and naked before me. I wrapped that blanket about every nook and cranny of Mr. Red's mind. Satisfied that I had his mind completely encased with my mental power, I walked over to where Mr. Red was lying and knelt down beside him. I placed the fingertips of my right hand on his head. I slowly released my power into his mind. I pressed down on his mind and let my mind begin a deep and powerful scan of his mind. I wasn't interested in his knowledge, though. All I wanted to do was locate the core where his will and desires resided. Without any mental barriers or any energy to erect them, he was helpless to resist my probes. I paused for a moment as I thought about the exact commands that I wanted to insert into this man's mind. "You will obey every command and instruction I give you. Each and every time you obey me, you experience profound joy and happiness. Your greatest joy comes from serving and obeying me in all things. My commands override any and all commands given to you by anyone else." I sent these commands into Mr. Red's mind. Then I imagined those commands being burned into his mind, much like a cowboy brands a cow. Surprisingly, it didn't take long for me to feel that happen. I extracted my mind from Mr. Red's knowing that I could safely turn my attention elsewhere. I stood up backed away from Mr. Red, breaking my physical contact with him.

"Mr. Red, please place yourself on your hands and knees and wait for further orders," I said aloud as I looked at Mr. Red lying there.

"Yes, sir," replied Mr. Red. Slowly he climbed up from his fetal position until he was standing on all fours. He raised his head and looked at me. A slight smile graced his face, and he was no longer sobbing. Satisfied that I would not have to deal with him for a while, I turned my attention back to Mr. Black.
"Holy shit!" Mr. Black exclaimed as he watched Mr. Red carrying out my commands. The shock on his face was only momentary. He launched a few more bolts at me has he resumed his interrupted attack on my mind.

I steeled myself to continue with my task, as I deflected a few more bolts from Mr. Black. I lashed out at Mr. Black's shield, but this time I tried something different. I sent out a long string of mental energy and wrapped it about Mr. Black's shield like a snake coiling about its prey. Slowly I tightened the coil, increasing the pressure on Mr. Black's mind until I could feel his shield stiffen in response to this new form of attack. Mr. Black stopped launching bolts at my shield as he struggled to deal with my attack on his shield.

I felt another shield go pop and turned my attention to that man. I repeated the same steps with this man as I had with Mr. Red, and during the process I discovered that the name he responded to was Mr. Green. (Originality didn't count for much around here, apparently.) I burned my commands into his mind and then told him to get up onto his hands and knees and wait for my commands. I had only just finished that, when the third shield collapsed. I wasted no time in taking care of the last of Mr. Black's associates. I knew that an unshielded mind could be badly damaged if I didn't halt my mental attack immediately. In only a few heartbeats this man too, who answered to the name of Mr. Yellow, had my commands burned into his mind. With the last threat neutralized I could turn my full attention on Mr. Black. I glanced back at Mr. Green and Mr. Yellow as they knelt there on all fours, looking up at me and smiling a dumb smile. I felt an instant of pleasure, like a feather caressing my face. I shrugged it off, as I turned back to look at Mr. Black.

I could feel a few beads of sweat trickle down the side of my flushed face. Maintaining that coil about Mr. Black's shield was taking more effort and energy than I had thought it would. To my surprise, Mr. Black was pushing the coil off of his shield. In a few more minutes he would have it off and be free to attack my shield again. I withdrew the coil and diverted the energy into my shield stiffening it as much as I could. I waited for Mr. Black to renew his attack.

"Well done, Paul," Mr. Black said with a smile. "Looks like you're pushing yourself too hard though."

I looked at his face. The bastard hadn't even broken a sweat! Here I was pushing myself more than I had ever thought possible, trying new forms of attack that I had never even envisioned before and my opponent was shrugging it off as it was a simple slap in the face! "Shit! I'm really in over my head!" I thought to myself. As I waited for Mr. Black to begin his attack on my shield, I suddenly realized that I would lose for sure if I continued this battle with that attitude. Outclassed or not, failure was not an option! Even if I burned out my mind and wound up as nothing more than a mental vegetable, I would still win. Mr. Black would not have the information that he wanted so badly, and I would be beyond his ability to hurt me any further. I had nothing to lose.

Mr. Black's first bolt blasted on my shield like a small atomic bomb. I felt the impact, but it didn't hurt. A second and third bolt followed. I deflected those bolts as well, but I could feel the strength of my shield start to dip just a tiny bit. Quickly I strengthened it.

"Impressive. But you are far from my equal," Mr. Black replied with that damn smirk on his face.

Several more bolts lanced out at my shield. I deflected them all, but at the cost of my shield weakening a bit more. Again I reinforced it. I had a lot of energy in reserve. The question now was who would run out of energy first? Mr. Black or me? I suppose I could have launched a few blots of my own at him, but something held me back. I wasn't afraid of hurting him, far from it. Something was scurrying about in the back of my mind, telling me that attacking Mr. Black's shield was not the way to win this fight. As I deflected several more bolts, I struggled to snare that thought. I felt that this thought was important, and I had been too distracted to understand what my instinct was trying to tell me. Finally it clicked. Lyle! I smiled to myself as the memory of my victory of that fight flooded into my mind. "Resistance is futile. Assimilation is the key," I finally remembered. I stopped stiffening my shield. I let my shield go as soft as I could. I imagined my shield to be a big softy comfy pillow surrounding my mind. Mr. Black's next bolt crashed into my now softened and sagging shield. The bolt penetrated part way into my shield, and then dissipated as my shield absorbed the energy of the bolt, and made that energy its own. Finally I had remembered the correct way to fight. My way.

I smiled back at Mr. Black as I felt several more bolts of his plow into my shield and be absorbed. My smile grew bigger as Mr. Black's face lost the smirk that he had been wearing for the last little while. After a few more minutes, Mr. Black stopped launching his bolts at my mind.

"Interesting defense," he commented. "However, you can't win that way. Maybe I can't crack that type of shield but you can't attack me while you're hiding behind it. I would call this a stalemate, except that I can call for help, where as you do not have that option."

"I wouldn't think of hiding behind my shield," I responded, as I prepared my little surprise for Mr. Black. I thrust out a soft mushy mental bolt with a long thick line trailing it, towards Mr. Black's shield. He snorted in amusement as he saw the bolt heading his way. The instant my bolt contact his shield though, things changed. My leach bolt, as I liked to think of it, started siphoning off the energy from Mr. Black's shield and pumped it back into my mind along the trailing line.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Mr. Black cried out in surprise.

"Defending myself," I answered as I launched a stream of diamond hard mental bolts at Mr. Black's shield. He had no choice. He had to continue to pour energy into his shield in order to fend off my continuous attack on his shield. While at the same time, my leach bolt was draining the energy from his shield as fast as he could replace it. Like some kind of mental machine gun, I kept firing a steady stream of mental bolts at Mr. Black's shield. All the while I was siphoning off his mental energy like some super absorbent paper towels soaking up a spill.

'Red, green, yellow, help me!" Mr. Black cried out to his assistants.

I looked over at the three gentlemen who were positioned on their hands and knees looking at me and smiling. I was going to enjoy this.

"No, sir." "Sorry, sir." "No." They answered one after the other, as they remained where they were.

"What the fuck do you mean?" Mr. Black screamed out as fear started to place its icy hands on his shoulders. "I'm in charge here! You do as I say!"

"Only if Mr. Walton says so," Mr. Red replied as he looked over at Mr. Black. Mr. Red turned back to look at me and nodded his head at me smiling all the while.

I looked over at the other two gentlemen. They nodded their heads in silent agreement with Mr. Red's statement, as they stared at me.

"This can't be happening!" Mr. Black cried out in fear and frustration as he felt his shield slipping away.

"I assure you that this is indeed happening," I said to Mr. Black as I ignored the terror that I could see in his eyes.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO ME????" Mr. Black bellowed at me, as panic started to overtake him.

I could clearly hear the terror in his voice, as a dagger dripping with fear plunged into his heart, but it didn't move me in the slightest. I didn't give a damn about him. All I wanted was to rip away his shield and exact my revenge upon him. All I needed was a few more minutes, and Mr. Black knew it. I ignored his continued pleas as I concentrated on my task. The pleasure that surged through me as I felt Mr. Black's shield crumble away, is difficult to put into words. It wasn't erotic or sexual in any way. It merely felt good. I guess satisfaction would be the best word to use. As I swept away the last few crumbs of Mr. Black's shield, I pondered for just a few seconds as to what I should have him do.

"Freeze in place. You obey only me," I said quietly as I looked directly into Mr. Black's eyes. I put every ounce of my power and ability into those two thoughts, as I sent them out to him. I tried to think of some other command to implant into his mind, but I couldn't think of anything. So, I fell back on what I had used with the other gentlemen. "You will obey every command and instruction I give you. Each and every time you obey me, you experience profound joy and happiness. Your greatest joy comes from serving and obeying me in all things. My commands override any and all commands given to you by anyone else," I projected into his mind. I wanted to mentally see these commands burn into the very fabric of Mr. Black's mind. I was disappointed with the apparent ease in which they buried themselves into his mind and were accepted by his conscious and subconscious minds. I had expected more of a fight from him. In fact I had hoped for a fight from Mr. Black. Wrestling him to the mat, in the mental arena of his mind, would have been so much more satisfying. As it was, I felt empty and slightly frustrated.

Suspecting a trick or some deception on his part, I walked over to stand next to Mr. Black. I placed the finger tips of my right hand on his unresisting forehead. I sent forth a powerful mental probe and scanned Mr. Black's mind looking for any trace of resistance. I found no evidence of resistance or deception, but I did find something. A thin silken line, much like a spider's thread, lying in his mind. I instantly recognized it for what it was, a tracer thread. Someone had inserted a tracer thread into Mr. Black's mind, with or without his cooperation, and had been monitoring what had been happening to him. I examined the thread carefully. I was surprised to discover that it was cut off clean just at the surface of his mind. Whomever had been monitoring his mind had either cut that thread before I'd discovered it, or the thread had been cut during our battle. In any case, there was now the distinct possibility that someone had observed the mental battle from the perspective of Mr. Black's mind. I filed that fact away for later consideration. Right now I had to find my way out of this room of horrors.

I blinked a few times as I focused on Mr. Black. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was now on his hands and knees smiling at me. I had not told him to do that. I wondered why he had acted without my instructions. I was about to yell at him, until I realized that he had probably jumped to the conclusion that since the other three men had been ordered to get down on all fours, that he should do the same. Even fully under my control he was an intelligent man, who kept his wits about him. But now what was I going to do with these men? I could have them shoot themselves. I knew they would do it if I told them to. The monster within me demand nothing less. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life!" Screamed the demon in my mind. "They killed Andy! They should die! Justice demands it!" I couldn't agree more. I couldn't bring Andy back, but I could make these bastards pay the ultimate price. I licked my lips as I savored the thought. I look about the room, lifting my gaze from Mr. Black. The other three men were exactly where I'd left them. They hadn't budged an inch. I complete my survey of the room and my gaze came to rest upon the crumpled form of Andy's limp and lifeless body.

I stared at Andy, lost as the horror of the moment rained down upon me anew. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. My vision blurred as I blinked away the tears. My cheeks felt wet as a few tears trickled their way down the sides of my face. I walked over to where Andy's lifeless body sat bound in that chair. I knelt there in front of Andy, my heart overflowed with sorrow and sadness. The demon in my mind still demanded a sacrifice, four of them in fact, but I wasn't listening to the demon any more. What I heard were Andy's words telling me how much he loved me, and that what he loved most about me was my kind and caring heart. As much as I might want to do this, as much as I thirsted to see the life blood tricking out of the bodies of these four men, I knew that I couldn't do it. I couldn't disgrace Andy's memory like that. Andy loved me for what I had never done. I had never crossed the line, and when I had come so close to the edge, he had been there to pull me back. He wasn't there to pull me back any more, only his memory was. But it was enough. Somehow I managed to put the chains back on the demon and banish him back into the deep dark well at the bottom of my soul. I had lost so much today, but I would not lose the memory of the respect and admiration that Andy had once had for me. Maybe someday I'd lose my soul to the devil, but not today.

With strength of will that I didn't know I had, I pushed aside the thoughts of making these men kill themselves. I still wanted to make them pay, but perhaps I could make it a more positive experience. After all they could die only once, where as if they were alive I could continue to exact my vengeance from them. My memories of Andy would not permit me to consider anything demeaning, such as turning them in gay prostitutes who would trick for me. I didn't need the money, and they didn't need to risk their lives like that. Besides such a drastic change in behavior would be extremely difficult to explain or to cover up. So it had to be something that would give me satisfaction, be of a benefit to me, and would not attract undo attention. I puzzled over those requirements for a few minutes as I tried to think of something.

I smiled to myself as an idea came to me. I slowly stood up. "Gentlemen, pick up your guns, holster them, and then all of you come and stand in front of me," I directed them. They scrambled to their feet as they rushed to obey me. The grins never left their faces. Moments later all four men were standing in front of me, relaxed and happy at having obeyed my orders. "Now listen carefully, boys," I continued. "I need you to come over every weekend and do my housework. You are all going to be my house boys during the weekend. Whatever chores need to be done, from doing the dishes to washing the kitchen floors or scrubbing the walls, you will do. And you will do it with a smile on your faces. You will wear whatever clothes I tell you to wear, or no clothes if I so indicate. At the conclusion of the weekend, you will work out what you consider to be a fair wage for the work you have done, and then you will pay me that amount of money." I waited to let my instruction sink in. The four men looked at me and smiled as they wordlessly nodded their heads in agreement. "Any questions?" I asked.

"Will there be enough work for all of us?" asked Mr. Black, as he looked at me, a slight frown crossing his face.

"I should have made myself clearer. Only one of you will come over to my apartment on the weekend, so on average you will each have one weekend a month to be my house boy. I leave you, Mr. Black to work out the details of the schedule. You must insure that there are no noticeable or unusual changes in your schedules and routines, or in those of your associates here. Except when we are alone like this, you will NOT treat me any differently than before. The weekend shift will start at noon Saturday and end when I send that person home on Sunday. When each of you in turn reports for your shift as my house boy, you will dress up in a suit and tie, and bring a change of clothes with you that includes jeans or casual pants, extra underwear socks and a casual shirt or two. You will phone my apartment before you come over to check to see if I want you to report for duty. There may be weekends when I want to be alone, and if that is the case you will respect my wishes." I paused again to let my words sink into their minds. I thought about supplying them with my address and my phone number, but if they knew all this about me, it was a foregone conclusion that they knew my telephone number and where I lived. If not, I knew that they could find out easily enough.

"Any other questions?" I asked after a minute or so of silence.

Mr. Black looked at the other three men. They exchanged glances for a few seconds, and shook their heads slightly from side to side. "I don't think so, Mr. Walton, sir," Mr. Black answered me, as he glanced one more time at the other men to confirm his statement. They nodded their heads at him in silent agreement. "I would like to take this opportunity to say that my associates and I look forward to serving you in whatever capacity that you deem fit," he said as he fawned on me. "We, look forward to providing you with a few extra dollars. It is the least we can do, to make up for all the inconvenience that we have caused you today."

"INCONVIENCE!!!" I screamed out at him, as my temper flared white hot, and threatened to melt away what little control I still had over myself. "You call the MURDER of my soul mate, and threatening my family an INCONVIENCE?"

"Oh no, sir," he replied, shaken at the unexpected venom of my verbal attack. "I didn't mean that at all. Please let me explain, sir. What I meant to say was.."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!" I screamed out, cutting off his words with my knife edged voice of fury. "I don't want to hear another word from you about what this! Just go and stand in the corner, and don't say a word until I call for you!" I was amazed at my self control, considering the circumstances. Mr. Black was damn lucky that I hadn't told him to blow his brains out. The grief I was wallowing in was so overwhelming that for just a split second I had almost told him to do just that, to blow his brains out. In his current state, he would have done it. I watched as Mr. Black turned away from me and walked slowly to the nearest corner of the room. He stood there silently, trembling slightly. Satisfied that he was no longer going to need my attention, I was free to turn it back to the other men in the room.

"The rest of you go and guard that door. Don't let anyone in. Is that clear?" I called out to the other three men.

"Yes, sir!" "Right away, sir!" At once, sir!" Came the various replies. The three of them trotted off in the direction of the door, like a squad of soldiers following their drill sergeant's orders.

Now, finally, I could turn my attention back to Andy. Things were under control, and I wouldn't be interrupted for the next few minutes. I looked at Andy. The cold unfeeling lump of stone that my heart had become, got colder. I dropped to my knees beside Andy, on his right side. I carefully peeled the duct tape off of his mouth. My eyes swam with tears as I placed my lips on his and kissed him goodbye. His lips were still warm and soft, and I savored the feeling of his lips against mine, unresponsive as they were. I put my head into Andy's lap, with my face turned away from him. I didn't want to see his lifeless face tear blurred. I wanted to remember Andy's face alive with life, love and joy. At last the pain and agony I had been holding back broke through I started to sob and wail as the despair overtook me. I let my tears flow freely, uncaring at where they might land. I cradled my head, as best I could on Andy's lap and mourned. I gave into my despair and grief. I let it flow over me and through me. Perhaps if you have lost a dear loved one, you have some idea of what I was going through then. If you have never suffered such a loss, I envy you.

As I knelt there weeping over my loss of Andy, other thoughts occasionally intruded. I wondered how I was going to explain this to his family, and police buddies. I was saddened even more with the knowledge that Andy's name would not be added to list of those on the small Honor Roll monument next to the parade square at the DEPOT. (For those of you not familiar with it, the DEPOT is the Police Academy for the RCMP. Next to the parade square there is a small cairn for all those constables who have given their lives in the line of duty.) Andy had not been killed in the line of duty, so his name would not be added to that honored list. I grieved that he had been cheated out of even that small acknowledgment of his life, and his love of his duty. Life was so God DAMNED unfair, sometimes!!!!
My throat loosened, and slowly my tears subsided. I was done crying, for now at least. I raised my head and looked up into the heavens, still looking away from Andy. It was still too painful to gaze upon his lifeless face. Into the still empty air I cried out "I'd give my soul to the devil, Andy, if I could feel your arms around me once again!" Only uncaring silence answered me.

"Uhmaybe if you untied my wrists I could help you with that," croaked a raspy voice that could not possibly be.

I turned my head around so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash. I looked up to see Andy looking down at me, impossibly alive and well, it seemed.

"I'm back," he said and smiled at me.

Chapter 14. Smoke and Mirrors.

I knelt there stupefied. It was incredible that I did not faint, then and there. Lord knows, I had reason enough to. I looked at Andy as if I had never seen him before. He couldn't be alive, my mind said. My heart though, was ready to believe that God had just performed a miracle. I toppled back on to my ass and sat there stunned looking up at Andy, unable to move a muscle or to think a coherent thought.

"Well, are you going to help me out of all this nor not?" Andy asked me, smiling that killer smile of his at me. The smile that I thought I would never see again.

"What the hell is going on, Andy?" I asked, without making a move towards him.

"Your friend, Mr. Black, can explain it better than I can," Andy answered me. "I only know a few bites and pieces regarding what is going on here. I think he can explain it all to you. He seems to be the man in charge."

"Mr. BLACK! FRONT AND CENTRE!" I barked out.

Mr. Black turned quickly around and ran over to where I was sitting on the floor. He seemed relieved that I had finally called to him. "Sir?" He asked, wondering what it is that I might require of him. I took a few deep breaths to clear my head and focus my thoughts. I wanted to be sure to ask the right questions of Mr. Black.

"A short while ago, I saw Constable Anderson here, shot by one of your goons," I said to him. "Shortly thereafter, I checked his body for life signs and did not find any. Now it appears that Constable Anderson has just risen from the dead. Would you care to explain exactly how this little miracle was arranged?" I couldn't help from keeping the sarcasm and anger from my voice.

Mr. Black knew that I was displeased with him. (Boy was THAT an understatement!) He gulped nervously several times before he started speaking. Clearly he wanted to be sure that his explanation would be acceptable to me.

"To begin with the guns that my associates are carrying are loaded with blanks," Mr. Black said quietly as he began his explanation. "It was never our intention to harm you or Constable Anderson. Through the use of a few devices we made it seem that Constable Anderson had been shot, when in actual fact he remained unharmed. It was deemed necessary to use this form of persuasion to convince you to disclose the required information." Mr. Black walked and stood next to Andy. Mr. Black looked down at me as he reached down and started to unfasten the buttons of Andy's shirt. In short order he had it undone and pulled the shirt open.

Wearily I climbed to my feet. I stooped and looked down at Andy's chest. A small clear plastic bag lay taped to the white undershirt that he was wearing. There was a red liquid in the bag which was seeping out of a hole about one third of the way up the bag. I peered closer at the bag and thought I could see some black marks almost like charring around the edges of the hole. I reached over and grabbed the sides of Andy's uniform shirt. I confirmed that there was indeed a small hole in his shirt that matched the size and apparent location of the hole in the bag. The facts seemed to match Mr. Black's explanation. I thought about it for a moment or two before I turned to Mr. Black and addressed him.

"What about the gunshot and the way the hole appeared in Andy's shirt? What about his lack of a heartbeat and his lack of breathing?" I asked him coolly.

"A tiny charge blew out the small circle of cloth that was precut from his shirt, and also created a hole in the small bag of stage blood that you can see is taped to Constable Anderson's undershirt. The charge was triggered by a small radio signal from Mr. Red's gun," Mr. Black answered. He pulled at Andy's shirt and slowly worked it out from within Andy's pants. Mr. Black then reached down and began to untie the bonds that held Andy's right hand and arm to the arm of the swivel chair. Mr. Black began to remove Andy's right arm from the sleeve of his uniform shirt. At first I didn't understand the reason behind this action on Mr. Black's part. The answer was revealed to be some type of a small cylindrical device strapped to Andy's right arm. "This device is also radio controlled. At the same instant that the tiny charge on the blood bag was detonated, this automatic air gun injected a predetermined dose of a drug into Constable Anderson's bloodstream, through his skin. This drug suppresses the vital signs of a person to the point where they cannot be detected normally," Mr. Black stated as he continued to explain what had happened. "The drug causes brief unconsciousness as it works, which is why the Constable appeared to wilt after he was 'shot'. We took no unnecessary chances, I assure you."

"Incidentally, Constable Anderson was unconscious when we prepared him for this meeting with you. We took great pains to insure that he was unaware of the devices we had attached to his body. I am sure that Constable Anderson truly believed that he was about to be shot, by Mr. Red."

"You'd better believe it!" Andy snarled at Mr. Black. "I was so scared that I nearly wet my pants!"

"While I regret that we had to frighten you, Constable Anderson, it was necessary. You had to be convinced that you were about to be shot. Mr. Walton had to be convinced that you life was in fact, in danger," Mr. Black said in response to Andy's comments.

"Andy, did they hurt you? Are you okay?" I asked him as I saw a pained look come to his face. Now I understood why they had taped Andy's mouth, when they had presented him to me. It was an effect way to add to the feelings of helpless and fear that both of us were experiencing.

"They roughed me but a bit, but I guess they didn't hurt me, Paul," he answered with a half smile. "It's just that my hands and feet are still kind of numb from being tied up so long." Andy looked up at me a pleading expression on his face.

"I can relate to that, Andy, believe me," I half joked to him. "Untie him, Mr. Black," I directed as I looked down at Andy and threw him a half smile. It was all that I could muster up.

"Yes, sir," Mr. Black replied as he walked around to Andy's left side and started undoing the cords about Andy's left arm and wrist. A minute or so later, Mr. Black walked in front of Andy and swatted down in front of him, as Mr. Black got to work on the cords that were holding Andy's legs together. It did not take Mr. Black long to accomplish his task.

"Done, sir," Mr. Black reported as he stood up, and walked a few paces away from Andy, and then turned about to face me. I ignored him for the moment. I was still adjusting to the fact that Andy wasn't dead and that this had all been some kind of charade.

"Andy!" I called out to him as I looked at him waving his arms about and moving his legs a bit as he tried to force the circulation back into them. "I thought I'd lost you! Dear God I thought you were gone! Don't you ever do that to me again, you hear me?" I screamed at him.

Andy stopped rubbing his lower legs and looked up at me. "I promise. I'll never put you through that again, if I have any say in the matter, Texas," Andy said softly, as he slowly stood up and hobbled about the room. He stepped awkwardly as he struggled to fight off the pins and needles feeling in his legs. After a few minutes, as he mastered the feeling and stood up straight, tall and proud. He turned and faced me. He slowly walked over to stand just in front of me. His face suddenly seemed to shine like the sun on a spring morning. "I would never hurt you, Texas. I love you, you know."

Andy's words were like a balm on my pain and suffering of the past few hours. I could feel myself draw strength from his simple declaration of his devotion to me, and his love for me. Andy hugged me once, softly and quickly. The embrace was short, much too short. It was miraculous though. Andy's embrace melted that cold lump of stone in my chest and transformed it back into a beating heart that thrilled at the slightest whisper of my name on his lips, and lightest brush of his fingertips on my skin. A part of me was amazed at the sudden transformation. It was like Andy had just brought me back from the dead.

We didn't have time for anything more than that brief embrace. We were still very much in trouble here, and we both knew it.

"So how do we get out of here, Mr. Black?" I asked as I turned my attention back to my former captor.

"You don't, sir. At least, not just yet," Mr. Black replied in a loud shaky voice.

"What do you mean?" I demanded coldly. I could feel my anger returning.

"That door is locked from the outside, sir," Mr. Black said as he pointed to the door that the other three men were guarding. "None of us may leave until someone from the outside opens that door."

"Then I'll have you and the rest of the boys break down that door even if you injure yourselves in the process," I replied as I got ready to give the necessary orders.

"That won't be necessary," said a new, but familiar voice from somewhere behind and above me.

I turned around hard and fast, preparing myself to face this new threat. I was tired and weary, physically, and I felt mentally drained. I was not in any shape for another battle. Nevertheless I gathered up my powers and raised a modest shield over my mind. I saw a blank white wall. There wasn't anyone behind me. I turned back and looked at Mr. Black. He offered no information. He stood there, looking nervously at the white wall.

I knew that voice, though. Suddenly I felt a small vibration in the floor. Slowly a crack appeared between the ceiling and the top of the wall. The crack slowly widened and the white wall began to descend into the floor. Smoothly and slowly, the white wall disappeared into the floor. A room was revealed. A most unusual room. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room were a warm soft creamy white. The lighting was subdued and gentle. The room seemed to radiate with a calm and peaceful feeling. Try as I might I could not see any indication of a door in this room. I suspected though that one of the other three walls to this room probably opened in a manner similar to way that the wall in front of me had just opened.

The room was bare except for a long rectangular eight legged table. The table was draped with a cool gray tablecloth that stopped a couple of inches short of the soft creamy white floor. I looked at the feet of the legs of the table, and was surprised to see that the legs appeared to be made of ebony, a sharp contrast to the white decor and the gray tablecloth. On the opposite side of the table from me were nine chairs. The chairs had high backs with what appears to be padded armrests and headrests on them. If the headrests were anything to go by, the chairs were the exact same cool distant gray as the tablecloth. All the chairs were the same, except for the center chair. It slightly higher than the other eight as if it were on a raised platform. There was one other difference. This chair was empty, the other eight were not.

"Welcome, Paul Walton and Andrew Anderson, to the Council of Coins," said that familiar voice.

I flicked my gaze over to the direction of the voice as my mind finally matched that voice to my memory. It was Mary! Mary of The Panel!. Mary once my mentor and good friend. Mary, the woman who had trained me in the use and development of my powers. Mary, the last person the face of the earth, that I wanted to see right now. I closed my eyes in pain as I realized I was in even more trouble than before. I wanted to scream and curse at her, but I was too tired and too smart to waste my energy like that. The last time I had encountered Mary it has been a battle of five experienced minds against mind. Somehow I had won. I did not look forward to a rematch. Hell, I was in no condition for a rematch! To make matters even worse, the odds were now eight to one. Talk about stacking the deck!

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" I wanted to scream at her as I looked at her sitting there at that gray table wearing a simple gray robe that matched the colour of the tablecloth. I bit my tongue to hold back the words and studied the room, and the people seated at the table. Maybe I would spot something that would help Andy and me to figure a way out of this trap. I looked that the people sitting there. I did not recognize any of them, save Mary.

"I would offer you my thanks, save that I find your welcome to be less than hospitable," I replied coolly, as I directed my gaze towards Mary. My brain burned with a thousand questions, but I thought it best to keep my curiosity in check. I had no idea as to what the exact situation was. This was defiantly a time to keep my mouth shut and my ears and eyes open.

"Yes, that is both understandable and regrettable. We would ask your indulgence now, so that we may explain the events of the past few hours," Mary responded in that same cool voice. She was so controlled and placid, that it was almost unnerving. She waved her hand at Mr. Black and Mr. Yellow. They did not respond, other than to shake their heads back and forth in a clear 'no' to Mary's request. She furrowed her brow in concentration for a moment, and then a look of shock erupted on her face. She looked over at me, and then glanced over at the other persons sitting at the table.

I watched quietly as they stood up and joined hands to form a chain. Instantly I poured all my power into my mental shield as I prepared for the forthcoming attack. But the attack never came. They merely stood there for a minute or so, holding hands with their eyes closed. They released their hands and then sat back down.

'Be at ease, Paul Walton," Mary said in that same controlled voice. "While you were wise to raise your defences, there was no need. The Council of Coins did not intend to engage in combat with you. The time for battle and tests is over."

"So I was right. This was some type of test, wasn't it?" I interrupted her.

"Yes, but a necessary test," Mary answered. "What I have long suspected has now been proven to be true beyond any reasonable or unreasonable doubt. You do indeed have potential. Much more than was at first suspected." Mary smiled warmly at me after she finished speaking. It was a smile much like the first one she had given me back when I first met her at The Coffee Shop. Except this time, I felt chills run up and down my spine.

"Right" I said quietly. "Just out of curiosity, why is it called the Council of Coins?"

"If you would be so kind as to take a seat, I will begin to explain," Mary said quietly, while completely ignoring my response.

I was about to protest that there were no chairs available when I saw two small sections of the floor slide open a few feet in front of Andy and me. Moments later two comfortable looking well stuffed chairs rose up from the dark holes. The chairs were attached firmly to the floor sections that rose up and snapped into place with a firm and loud click. The chairs were the same gray colour as the tablecloth and the chairs of the council members. I looked at the chairs warily, like a mouse watching a sleeping cat.

"I guess we're not getting out of here until we listen to what she has to say, Paul," Andy said to me as he touched my shoulder lightly. "We might as well be comfortable."

"Very perceptive, Constable Anderson, " Mary commented. "It is essential that you both hear what I am about to say, for it affects both of you. Even though you do not have the gift, Mr. Anderson, you are involved with Mr. Walton, and what affect him affects you."

"Fine." I said curtly as I walked over and plopped myself down into one of the chairs. "I know better than to try and fight my way past eight gifted people. Say what you have to say." Andy remained quiet as he sat down in the chair next to me, on my left. He looked at the men and women seated at the table in front of us, and waited.

"I am sure that you recall the testing that you underwent during your meeting with The Panel," Mary began as she addressed me. "At that time I told you that your powers had grown more than I expected and I offered you a position on The Panel. You refused. Since that time you have not contacted me or any of the members of The Panel. You must have known that The Panel would not let you go about your business without keeping tabs on you. Mr. Black here, was assigned that task. He has monitored your activities and reported back to this council. We have watched you as your powers have grown in new and unusual ways. Your gift has truly blossomed, and you have used your abilities with wisdom and compassion. We are most impressed with your development. I personally, have derived a great deal of satisfaction to see my former student doing so well. You have learned much and continue to do so." Mary paused and offered me a warm motherly smile. I kept my face expressionless. I was far from flattered or impressed.

"Now I must digress for a moment, if you will bear with me," she said after a brief pause. "Just as The Panel is responsible for policing those with the gift, the Council of Coins serves a similar function. The council arbitrates disagreements and disputes among the gifted. Decisions are made through the use of a coin that is black on one side and white on the other. It is from the use of these coins that the council derives its name. Members of the council are chosen for their mastery of their powers and for other skills. A recent death of one of the council members has created a vacancy. Several candidates are being considered. You are among them. The others have been tested and now so have you."

"And that gives you the right to put me through hell?" I yelled out as I vented my pent up anger at her.

"As a matter of fact, it does," Mary answered solemnly. "Service on the council is not offered lightly. "Few are tested. Even fewer pass and are offered a council position. We had to be absolutely sure. The only way to be sure is to test. That test is now complete and the results have been analysed. A vote is now called for. Members, please." With those words Mary turned to look straight at me as she raised up her hand and held out a large coin, about the size of a Canadian two dollar coin, in between her thumb and forefinger. She flipped the coin about and with a soft crack, placed the coin on the table in front of her. The coin was a pure almost blinding white. I heard a series of cracks as the other members placed their coins on the table. I shifted my gaze up and down the length of the table to see a row of white coins. I shook my head in puzzlement. I had no idea what any of this meant.

"The Council of Coins is in full agreement," Mary declared. "Paul Walton, your testing is now complete. The Council finds in your favour."

"What does that mean, exactly?" I asked doing my best to maintain my cool.

"It means that we find you have acted in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Gift Guild. No disciplinary action will be considered in your case. You are not yet ready to serve on the council, but perhaps someday you will be offered such a position. You certainly show the potential to hold a position on the council," Mary smiled benevolently at me. Her smile failed to move me in the slightest.
"What makes you think I would be even remotely interested in something like that?" I asked her.

"Your sense of justice and responsibility are very strong, Paul. Once day, even though you cannot see it now, you will serve on the Council of Coins," Mary said with an air of self assurance. "I have observed you closely for a long time. I know how seriously you take your gift and how you feel about misuse of the gift. Mark my words. One day you will sit on the Council of Coins. Furthermore, you will most likely lead it."

"In your dreams," I snapped sarcastically. "Are we about done here? I'd like to get home before dawn."

"Patience, please. We are nearly finished. Once this interview is over you will be free to go. Both of you," Mary replied ignoring the sarcasm in my voice.

"Good," I said as I felt relief wash over me. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"There's just one little thing before you go, though," Mary spoke after a brief pause. "We would like you to explain, as best you can, what it was that you did during your mental battle with The Panel, and also your mental battle with Mr. Black and his associates. We have seen things that we do not understand and we hope that you will be able to explain them."

"Ahso that's the catch," I said with a sigh. The light at the end of the tunnel had just turned into the headlight of an onrushing train.

"It seems a most reasonable request, Mr. Walton," Mary said calmly.

"Mr. Black made that request of me as well. I was unable to grant his request. As I told him, so I tell you. I cannot explain how I do what it is that I do. I just do it. You might as well ask some to describe to you the exact process required to walk, or to breath. I certainly can not do that," I answered softly.

"I see. So you still refuse to provide us with this information?" Mary asked softly, with a hint of a threat in her voice.

"I don't want to fight you, Mary. Any of you," I replied softly. "Please don't force this issue. Mr. Black and his associates forced me to take steps that I deeply regret. I have no desire to repeat myself."

"What do you mean, Paul?" Mary asked softly.

"Have you bothered to check the minds of Mr. Black and his associates?" I asked Mary. "I don't think you'll like what you'll find. Go ahead. Scan them,. I insist. Once you do, you may want to rescind your offer." I glared at Mary. She nodded her head as she slowly stood up. Mary walked over to Mr. Green, who was still standing next to the exit door. Mr. Green shied away from her hand as she placed it near his forehead.

"Let Mary scan your mind, Mr. Green," I called out to him.

"If you say so, sir," Mr. Green agreed reluctantly. He stopped dodging Mary's hand. She placed her right palm on Mr. Green's forehead and closed her eyes. The two of them stood motionless for a couple of minutes as she examined his mind. She lowered her right hand and opened her eyes. She blinked a couple of times and then looked over at me. She stared at me for a moment or two and then walked back to the table where the rest of the Council of Coins were seated.

She took her seat and then addressed me. "Mr. Walton, I must consult with the other council members. Please wait." With that Mary stood up and gestured for the other council members to hold hands and form a chain once again.

I sat in my chair waiting impatiently, with my mental shield set on a hair trigger. I didn't trust this so called 'Council of Coins' not to attack me, Mary's assurances notwithstanding. All I wanted to was to leave. However, I didn't want to have to fight the council either. When they had discovered what I had done to Mr. Black and his friends, I was sure they would not want me as part of their little group.

"A most interesting, and unexpected development, Mr. Walton," a man seated next to Mary called out to me.

"Don't you get it?" I called out to him. "Don't you understand what I've done?" I was flabbergasted at his calm acceptance of what he had seen in Mr. Green's mind.

"Forgive me, Mr. Walton, but I don't understand why you are so upset. Would you care to explain?" The unnamed man responded.

"I've branded these four men with my power. I've implanted commands in their minds that cannot be changed, altered, removed or withdrawn. Do you understand now?" I exclaimed in exasperation.

"HmmI don't think so," the man responded placidly. "I admit the commands you implanted are deep, in fact deeper than I've ever seen before, but they can be removed."

"Oh yeah? Try it!" I challenged him. "Why don't you try a full chain of all your minds and try to remove the commands from Mr. Green's mind?" I glared at the man with anger and frustration. I was tired and still trying to recover from the shock of the evening's events. I was not thinking clearly, or I would never have made such a suggestion.

The man looked at me and then nodded his head. "As you wish, Mr. Walton." He looked about at the other members of the Council. As one they got up and approached Mr. Green.

"I don't want them to do this, sir!" Mr. Green yelped at me fearfully. "Please don't let them do this to me, sir. I'llI'll be good. I promise. I'll do anything you want, anytime you want, sir. Please, sir, please? Please don't let them do this to me!"

"Stand where you are and let them into your mind, Mr. Green. Nothing will happen. You'll be just fine. Now close your eyes and relax," I said to Mr. Green soothingly. I had to put a lot of effort into calming Mr. Green with my voice. His fear was genuine.

"Yes, sir. If you say so, sir," Mr. Green replied somewhat more calmly as he let his eyes close.

The Council approached Mr. Green. The unnamed man placed his right hand on Mr. Green's forehead. Seconds later the council joined hands once again to form a mental chain. I waited as patiently as I could. A minute or so the council broke the chain as they let go of their linked hands. Wordlessly the council members returned to their chairs. A couple of them, Mary among them, glanced briefly in my direction. Their expressions were unreadable.

"It seems you are correct, Paul," Mary said after a few moments of silence. "Even the combined power of the council cannot alter or remove the controls that you have implanted into Mr. Green's mind. Yet aside from that his mind seems perfectly normal and his powers, which you somehow depleted, are returning. This is remarkable. I do not think that any of us here have ever seen anything quiet like this. It is most impressive. Your powers have grown in new and unexpected ways. You are indeed gifted."

I glared back at Mary, ignoring her words. "You still don't understand!" I yelled at her. "I crossed the line! I lost control! You and your God damn test pushed me over the line and I hope you fucking happy about it!!!" I screamed out at her. The guilt and horror of what I had done to these four men overwhelmed me. My throat squeezed shut and I couldn't speak another word. I closed my eyes as the pain of what I had done, and how I had abused these men washed through me. I curled up in my chair as I tried to fight of the pain, guilt and remorse that tumbled down upon me. The worst part was that I knew, deep in my heart, that I would do the exact same thing again if I were pushed to it. I would unchain the demon within me, regardless of the consequences. Only next time it would be easier.

I felt a strong firm hand placed on my left shoulder. A second hand was placed on my right shoulder. Slowly I was pulled up onto my feet. I cracked my eyes open to see Andy standing in front of me. He gazed at me with kind understanding on his face. He didn't flinch or look away. He simply looked at me, with kindness and love.

"I can't understand what you are feeling, or what you did to those men, Paul," Andy replied after a few moments of gazing deep into my eyes. "I do know what type of man you are, though. I have seen your kindness and compassion, countless times. I do know that I am proud of you."

"Proud of me?" I asked in a shaky voice. "Proud of me for giving in to my anger and hate? Proud of me for losing control? How can you be proud of me, Andy? How can you love me? How, in the name of all that is decent in the world, can you even stand to look at me?"

"I'm proud of you, because you didn't give up the fight. You fought with all you had and you hung in there until you won," Andy answered softly. "You could have just given in and given up, but you didn't. Despite the cost to yourself, you fought on, and you won."

Andy looked at me for a few seconds longer and then he seemed to come to some type of decision. Slowly Andy released his grip on me and stepped back a pace or two. Andy took a deep breath and snapped to attention. He saluted me. "Maintiens le Droit!" he barked out at me. I looked up at him and a lump came to my throat. With rubbery knees I stood as tall and straight as I could. I looked Andy square in the eyes (well as near as I could considering he was looking straight ahead with his eyes locked on some far point on the wall). Slowly I returned his salute, still unclear as to what it was that he was trying to tell me.

Andy relaxed and held me by my shoulders, as he looked into my eyes once more. "You only did what you had to do, Paul. Don't beat yourself up. Let go of your guilt and self loathing. These men knew the risks when they agreed to abduct you. You have nothing to feel guilty about or to feel shame over. You did what you had to, because they gave you no other choice, other than to die. You chose to defend yourself. You chose to live. You maintained the right, and I am proud of you. Paul, you acted with the true spirit of the RCMP. You protected life. Your life. And you did it without taking another life. You could have killed these men, or had them kill themselves. But you didn't do that. You did what was right. Remember that. And remember too, that I still love you. I'll always love you, no matter what."

"If it was so right, why does it feel so wrong, Andy?" I cried out to him as I struggled to make sense of his words. "Why does it hurt so bad?"

"Because dipping into the dark side of your soul is always painful, Paul. It is what stops us from running wild." Andy answered softly. I looked deep into his eyes and I could see the pain of the many battles he'd fought, lingering in there. His words of wisdom and compassion helped me to see past the hurt, the pain, the guilt and the remorse. Finally I understood that sometimes we have to do things that we later regret, but still we do them. A silence descended on the room as I stood there holding Andy. It would take time, but with his help I would learn to forgive myself. I would conquer the pain. I would learn and grow from it. Silently, I thanked God once again for bringing Andy into my life.

"Now that you have learned this lesson, Paul, you and Constable Anderson are free to go," Mary declared shattering the silence.

"Just like that?" I asked, surprised that the sudden turn of events. "You don't want to know more about what I did?" I broke away from Andy's embrace and turned to face the Council.

"In time, but not right now. When you serve on the council, we will come to know your mind and you will come to know ours. Then we will learn all that we need to know. But for now, we will wait, and we will watch. It is better this way," Mary declared. There was a finality in the tone of her voice that suggested further debate was not wise.

"In a pig's eye!" I muttered under my breath. With that, the exit door opened. I looked at Andy. Slowly we walked towards the door We head just crossed the threshold when Mr. Black called out to me. "Mr. Walton, what weekend should we start the house boy schedule?"

I had almost forgotten about that. I couldn't face seeing these men for a while, though. "A month from this weekend," I answered. "In the meantime would you be kind enough to escort us out of this building, after showing us a place where we can get Andy cleaned up?"

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Mr. Black replied as he fairly bounded over to where Andy I were standing. "Right this way, sir, please!" Mr. Black insisted as he lead the way down the corridor. In short order we were directed to a room with a sink, soap and some towels. It didn't take long to get Andy's uniform shirt cleaned, as well as the front of his uniform pants. The fake blood didn't leave a stain. Ten minutes later, Mr. Black lead us to an elevator. It was a short ride to the top floor. I thought that strange, but I didn't say anything, since the top floor was labeled 'G'. Mr. Black lead us through a few more doors and corridors as he shepherded us on our way. Eventually we encountered a door that opened out in a back alley. As I had suspected 'G' referred to 'ground'. Mr. Black escorted us all the way to the front of the alleyway. He waved at us briefly before he headed back down the alleyway. We turned right out of the alley and into the night.

"Let's grab a taxi and go home, Texas," Andy said to me as we walked down the street in the cool night air. We were walking slightly apart and without touching each other. Even though it was late at night and dark out, we were still in public. Old habits die hard. We reached the street corner and turned right again, looking for a public pay phone. As luck would have it, we found one almost immediately. It was to the right of us. It was in front of the building immediately to our right. This was the same building that we had just emerged from. You would never have guessed from the plain almost drab exterior that this building housed an extensive underground facility. This was a store front I knew well. All too well. It was the Coffee Shop. I had come full circle. My first encounter with Mary had been here, and here I was again.

I looked at Andy briefly and then shrugged my shoulders. "What the hell? I could sure use a cup of coffee right now. We can call the cab from inside and enjoy our coffee while we wait."

"Yeah. Why the hell not? We've sure as hell earned it," Andy agreed with a lopsided grin.

The cab arrived fifteen minutes later. We took the cab to my apartment. When we were safely in my apartment and had our hands wrapped about a hot cup of herbal tea, we talked about the events of the evening. We did more than just talk though. I cried a river of tears. I sobbing unashamedly as I described to Andy, as best I could, how I had felt as I lived through that awful moment when I thought he had been killed before my eyes. I didn't leave anything out. I even told him of the emptiness and coldness of my spirit when I battled Mr. Black and his associates.

Andy, bless that big RCMP heart of his, held me close all the while, offering me support, kisses and tender embraces whenever it seemed that I needed them. He did his best to understand, as I babbled on into the wee hours of the morning. I knew that he truly understood, when he told me about his own loss. It was something that I had never even suspected. It seemed that the Constable who trained him, was shot and killed several months after Andy's training period as rookie Constable was over. Andy and this Constable Smith had spent six months together as Andy learned the rules of the street. In that time, they had become close friends, very close friends. When Constable Smith was killed, Andy told me that he felt like he had lost his older brother or maybe his father. So it seemed that he had a pretty good idea of the pain I had just gone through this evening. I'll never forget what he said next, though.

"When you let someone in to your heart, Paul, when you let them get close to you, there is always the risk that someday you will lose them," Andy muttered softly to me as we sat there curled on the sofa together. "Pain is an intrinsic part of life and of love. If you never feel the pain, you'll never feel the joy."

I lifted my red rimed eyes at him, and looked into that beautiful face of the man whom I had come to love with a depth and scope that I had never imagined possible. "Then let's feel the joy now, while we have the chance, dear heart," I said looking into those soft doe brown eyes of his. "For now, please hold me in your arms, and let me fall asleep there. Safe in your arms, at least for this night."

Andy stood up and put actions to words. He lifted me up and held me in his arms as he lead the way to my bedroom. Moments later we arrived at my queen sized bed. Andy unlaced his arms from me and wordlessly began to remove his clothing. I followed suit. There wasn't anything erotic or sexual in the manner in which we undressed. We were both tired, bone tired. We simply and efficiently stripped off our clothes, letting them fall into heaps at our feet. With only our briefs on, we turned down the covers and climbed into bed. Andy paused only long enough to flip the bed sheets over our nearly nude bodies, before he snaked his arms about my body once more.

"I love you, Texas," he cooed as he drew my body next to his. "For now, and for always."

"Ditto, dear heart," I said. A huge yawn cut off any further words. I wanted to say more, but I could not keep my eyes open. I gave up and closed them. Andy kissed me. A soft lingering kiss full on my lips that spoke more of his love for me than any words possibly could have. Curled up beside Andy, safe in the warm embrace of his arms I found forgiveness, acceptance, peace and calm. In Andy's loving embrace, I let sleep wash over me. I would think about tomorrow, tomorrow. For now, for right now, I was safe and secure in Andy's embrace, and that was all that mattered.

THE END

(Paul Walton will return in "The Coffee Shop V".)
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