Stories of Tie Up Games

Brandan picked Julie. It seems like a mistake now to not trust her. But then, I am not a game player. Good luck, young Brandan.

Nice part, it does seem like Brendan is making a mistake, but I can't really blame him for not trusting anyone involved in this game - I feel like it's surely rigged in favour of the girls so that they get at least one capture. Whatever happens though, I'm looking forward to seeing it play out!

Julie: Brendan, I really think you should turn around and head back towards the campus bookstore.

Brendan knew that he had selected Julie to assist him. But he didn't know that he could trust her. He wanted to trust her. But when a girl kidney punches you and then another girl uses that distraction to shove her used underwear in your mouth...trust doesn't come easy. He figured that at best she would be leading him in the right direction but through packs of students to maximize his potential shame. Then he heard a shout.

Emily: Ah-ha! Gotcha!

Brendan heard the exclamation coming from his right. A girl whose name he’d later learn to be Emily had spotted him. He tried to run as fast as he could up Canyon Crest Drive, but his progress was slowed by the fact that his arms were bound tightly behind his back. He managed to outpace her for almost forty to forty five seconds. But having to only breath through his nose winded him. He was positive that he could smoke her in a footrace under regular conditions. But the restraints that he was confined to simply hampered him too much. She caught up to him and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders as he panted exhaustedly. Not being able to breathe through his mouth was certainly not going to be ideal for this activity.

Emily: Nice try, scumbag. But you’re no match for me.

He heard Julie chiming in over his earpiece.

Julie: Brendan, come in, Brendan. Have you been caught?

Brendan: Mmmmmppppphhhh hhhhhmmmpppphhhhh!!!!

Brendan looked over his captor. She was a very pretty girl. She was dressed all in black. The same outfit that she’d had on when she’d helped to capture him earlier in the night. She was one of the original girls that had jumped him initially along with Robin. She had shoulder length brunette hair. But the bottom inch of that hair had been dip dyed blue. The blue accent to her hair really popped with her pair of bright blue eyes. She also possessed what he’s sure would have been a winning smile if it didn’t look so sadistic right now. She looked athletic. While he was sure that he would normally have been able to outpace her, but there was no doubt that this girl was an athlete of some kind. Her body seemed toned and fit and he could see that she had a couple of tattoos poking out under the bottom of her sleeves on both arms. He couldn’t quite tell what they were of though.

Emily: Looks like I’m the first one. Lucky me. Time to teach you the penalty for getting caught.

Brendan: Hmmmmmpppphhhh?!?!?

Emily reached into a little satchel bag that was strapped to her body and pulled out a pair of large scissors.

Brendan: Mmmmmmpppphhhh!!!!! Nnnnmmmmpppphhhhh!!!! Hhhmmmppppphhhh!!!!!!

Emily: Relax, idiot. I’m not going to hurt you. We’re just going to make a couple alterations.

Brendan: Hhhmmmpppphhhhh?!?!?! Nnnnmmmmpppphhhhhh!!!!!

This didn’t make Brendan feel any better. Julie came on again in his ear.

Julie: Brendan. Relax. She’s not going to hurt you. Breathe.

Emily took the scissors, which were facbric scissors, and slid them into the sleeve of his T-Shirt.

Brendan: Nnnnmmmmpppppphhhhh!!!!! Nnnnmmmmppppphhhhh!!!!!

She was going to cut off his shirt.

Emily: Relax. I’m not cutting off the whole thing. We’re just making an alteration.

Brendan continued to struggle as she cut up the sleeve to his shoulder and then proceeded to cut down around the sleeve, removing it from the shirt. She held him steady with her other arm as she repeated the process on his other sleeve. In 90 seconds, he was sleeveless. Then he felt the scissors slide into the hem of his shirt and cut upwards.

Brendan: Nnnnmmmmpppphhhhh!!!!

She cut up the shirt several inches and stopped about two to three inches above his navel. She then began cutting around the shirt in a perpendicular fashion until the bottom fraction of his shirt fell away into her hand.

Emily: There we go. All done. Now we can see those nice biceps and that scrumptious tummy of yours.

Brendan: Hhhmmmmppphhhhh?!?! Nnnnnmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Emily: Oh. Come on. You look super hot like that. The only problem for you now is that every girl you run by tonight is going to want to be on you like green on grass.

Brendan just scowled at her as she dug again into her little bag that was strapped diagonally across her body. She pulled out a small cylinder that Brendan eyed wearily. It wasn’t until Emily pulled off the cap and screwed it contents outwards that he realized that it was a tube of bright red lipstick.

Emily: Now hold still, darling. I’ve got some lipstick for a dip shit.

Brendan: Hhhmmmpppphhhhh!?!?!

Brendan squirmed but Emily held him still as she assertively pressed the tip of the lipstick to his forehead underneath the strap of the camera that was affixed to the top of his head. He felt her press down and glide the soft tip down the right side of his forehead and then make a 90 degree turn to his left (her right). There was no mistaking what she had done. She had drawn a RED “L” on his forehead. She capped the lipstick and returned it to her bag.

Emily: There we go. One down four to go. God, you look fucking insatiable.

She gave his cheeks a firm squeeze between her hands and planted a soft kiss directly over his taped mouth. She then pulled back and spoke directly into the microphone that dangled next to his nose.

Emily: Better luck from here on out, Jules. Predator Three out and returning to the roost.

With that Emily let go of him and gave him a cheeky little wave and wink as she started to jog back down Canyon Crest Drive in the direction that he had just come from. Brendan now found himself in the same predicament that he had been in a few minutes earlier. Except that now his shirt was a tank top / crop top exposing his bare arms and midriff. And he also had a big Red L written on the right side of his forehead.

Julie: Well, this isn’t an auspicious start, kid. Are you ready to start playing ball?

Brendan: Nnnnmmmpppphhhhh mmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Julie: Come on. You have to trust me. It’s you and I versus them. Please just do as I say. Can we try this MY way?

Brendan debated the notion in his mind. Finally he gave a small sigh and relented.

Brendan: Mmmmmppphhhh hhhhhmmmmppphhhh.

Julie: I think that was an affirmative response. Thank you. Now head back towards the College of Health and Human Services. I want you to cut over into main campus just North of the Bookstore. If you don’t want to be seen, use the path just to the North of Chancellor Place. You should be able to get almost to the physics building without being out in the open.

Brendan: Hhhhmmmmppppphhhhh.

He decided to do what she said. What other God damn choice did he have? He didn’t know where the Angel was. He had no clue how many girls were out here hunting for him. He didn’t know how much he could rely on Julie. But at this point he had to do what she said. He broke into a brisk jog down the road that he had just come up and turned where she said. He hugged the wall to the Health and Human Services building as he tried to avoid random people that were walking across campus at night. He could see and hear a few stray students heading to one place or another. But he did a pretty good job of hiding and not allowing himself to be seen. He got onto the path that she had mentioned and scurried his way along the side of the building. He finally reached the terminus of the path and was going to have to make a break for the Phyiscs building across an open green space. He braced himself and waited until the coast was clear. Then he ran. Hard. He was breathing heavily as he made it to the physics building undiscovered.

Julie: OK. Now make your way towards the theater. Avoid the Turtle Pond and the School of Communication. I want you to go up and approach the theater from the North side.

Brendan: Mmmmmmmppphhh mmmmppphhhhhh.

He turned the corner to head up towards the art gallery and would then come down a less traveled path towards the campuses theater. However, no sooner had he turned the corner than he ran smack dab into a girl who was dressed in all black. Shit. He recognized her. She was a slender Asian girl. And she’d been one of the girls that had captured him earlier with Robin and Emily. He tried to turn and run but she was already within feet of him. Before he could even wheel fully around she grabbed him and pushed him up into the side of the building.

Trish: Ah ah ah. Where do you think you’re going, little lamb?

Brendan: Mmmmmppppphhhhhh hhhhhhmmmmpppppphhhhhhh.

Trish: I see you’ve already got one strike on you tonight. This is starting to look more and more dire for you, dear.

This girl was also outfitted with a small black bag that was strapped diagonally across her chest. She kept him pressed into the building with her right hand while she unzipped it with her left hand. She was Asian American. Probably around 5’6”. Her build was slim. Less athletic than Emily’s but she had a certain strength to her. Brendan was pretty sure that he could have bowled her over if he needed to. But that would probably only make the girls mad and get his ass kicked by Robin later. So he let her do her thing. She pulled out a pair of fabric scissors just as Emily had done. However, she crouched down and slid the scissors into the cuff of his sweat pants. With firm, smooth strokes of the scissors she cut up the pant of his leg until the scissors had reached the level of his patella. She then turned the scissors perpendicular to the initial cut and began to cut the leg of his pant off. When she finally ripped the fabric away he now had a pair of sweatpants with a full right leg and a left leg that were basically a pair of sweat shorts. But she wasn’t finished. She repeated the process with his right leg. Now he was fully wearing sweat shorts. His toned muscular calves were exposed to the warm night air. It actually didn’t feel that bad, as he had been sweating profusely due to the exercise and the adrenaline. But it wasn’t lost on him that he was becoming much easier to notice.

Trish: There we go. That looks much better. Now let’s log this capture.

She slid the scissors back into her bag and pulled out her own tube of red lipstick. She slipped off the cap, screwed the end out, and brought it firmly to his forehead. Right next to the letter that Emily had drawn he could feel her inscribe a sizeable circle. It was an “O”. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what they was going to try and spell out. And it wasn’t LOFTY or LOYAL or LOVED. He grumbled indignantly at her.

Brendan: Mmmpppphhh hhhrrrmmmpppphhhhh.

Trish: Alright. This is Predator Four out and set to return. Bye bye, sweetheart.

She released him from the wall and gave him a firm slap on his butt before she turned to depart to the South. He’d now obeyed Julie’s instructions and it appeared not to have gotten him in any better of a position than he had been in before. As though reading his mind, Julie popped into his ear with an apology.

Julie: I’m sorry about that, Brendan. Trish was out of position. This is not her Zone. She’s not supposed to come North of the Hilltop Way. I was trying to lead you around her. Clearly they’ve shifted things a little bit. I’ll recognize that maybe they are adjusting their strategies and I’ll try to be a little more careful.

Brendan: Mmmpppphhhh hhhmmmmpppphhh nnnmmmppphhh mmmmmmmmm.

Julie: Keep going the way that you were going. But you don’t need to go all the way up to the art gallery now. There shouldn’t be a hunter in this zone. Turn West at the theater. You should be clear until you get to the International Student Center. Then we can reevaluate.

The International Student Center? That wasn’t that far from the baseball stadium. She’d made him feel like heading for the sports facilities on Northwest campus was a bad idea. But he’d be 80% of the way there by the time he got to the ISC. And if he’d gone HIS way he felt like he’d only have one letter. Nevertheless, he followed her instructions. He headed West at the theater. He passed the Communications building, the schools larger lecture halls, and the bank on campus. He crossed Canyon Crest Drive as it snaked its way back down through main campus. He ran into a spot of trouble as he passed the basketball stadium. It wasn’t Delta Gamma girls. It was regular students. And he recognized some of them. He saw his friend Jane and he was pretty sure that she recognized him. She pointed towards him and he ran. He did not want to have to explain why he was bound and gagged with lipstick writing on his forehead. So he ran up away from basketball stadium and turned the corner. He found some large bushes off to the side of the path and threw himself behind them. He was wondering if the pack of students that he saw would be following him, trying to figure out what was going on. But as he sat in the bushes panting heavily it appeared as though they were not curious or ambitious enough to follow him. After five minutes or so he heard Julie come on in his ear piece.

Julie: You’ve stopped moving. Is everything all right? Are you OK? I can hear you breathing.

Brendan: Mmmmmmpppphhh hhhhhhmmmmpppppphhhhhh.

Julie: I’m showing that you went a little more North than I would have preferred. Be careful. You’re almost in hunter territory again. You’ve shot North of the International Student Center.

Brendan had run further away from the pack of party-goers that he saw than he’d anticipated. He was now up by logistical services and would be heading South to the International Student Center.

Brendan: Mmmmpppphhhrrmmmmpppphhhh hhhhhmmmmppphhhhh mmmmppppphhhhhhh.

Brendan got to his feet and prepared to sneak out and continue along his route. He walked towards the edge of the building whose bushes he was hiding in and peeked around the corner. There was a pack of students walking along the path through West Commons towards the International Student Center. Now that he was to the North, there were a glut of student residence halls that were North of the International Student Center. He’d been chased into a very high traffic area. It would take a little while before he would be able to make a break if he didn’t want to be seen by a decent number of gawking onlookers. He waited patiently for the foot traffic to die down when he suddenly felt a gruff hand on his shoulder push him against the wall of the building.

Robin: Well, hello there, maggot!

Brendan: Mmmmmmppphhhhhhh!!!!! Hhhmmmppphhhhhhh!!!!!!

Robin began laughing maniacally.

Robin: That was quite the little squeal that you gave there. I see that you’ve already been caught twice so I’m going to assume that you know the drill by now.

Brendan struggled futilely as the sturdy young woman firmly braced his bound body against the wall. She quickly unzipped her satchel and pulled out yet another pair of fabric scissors.

Robin: Off comes the top.

Brendan: Nnnmmmmppppphhhhh!!!!! Nnnnmmmpppphhhhhh!!!!!

Brendan grunted into the gag pleadingly as she slid the scissors into his shirt and began to cut down. She made aggressive, deliberate chops with the scissors and in no time he no longer had any semblance of a shirt on. All he was visibly wearing now were a shaggy pair of sweat shorts and his black sneakers with white socks.

Robin: It doesn’t seem too cold out here, kid. That means you must be a little more excited than you’re letting on.

It took Brendan a second to figure out what she was talking about. As he did, she flicked one of his nipples for good measure. She then took out her tube of red lipstick and ceremoniously added a large “S” to the side of the other letters.

Robin: This is Predator One checking out, Jules. I’ll be seeing this bilge rat prick back at home base because he doesn’t stand a fucking chance in this game!

Robin jerked Brendan off the wall and then gave him a hard slap on the ass for good measure which made him yelp.

Brendan: Mmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Robin: You’re toast, son. You’re as good as beat.

She scowled cruelly at him with the disdain of somebody who clearly maligned him for now good reason. Robin then turned on her heels and began to walk back the way that she had come. The girls all had very different tacts with him. He almost appreciated her indignant, dismissive, aggressive disdain for him rather than the fake sweet flirting that some of the other girls were doing. It was malicious. It was belittling. It wasn’t nice. He wasn’t amused by their antics. This sucked. He could not wait to be done with the stupid game. He wanted to go back to his dorm room and sleep off this whole shitty night and humiliating endeavor. He wanted no more of this. He wasn’t even sure that he gave a shit about being in Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He was pretty sure that this is not something that Matt thought he’d have to endure when he was told to pledge. But he had no way to audibly tap out now. He grumbled angrily into his gag to the only person that could hear him, Julie.

Brendan: Mmmmppppphhhhh hhhhhhmmmmpppphhhhhhh mmmmmppppphhhhhrrrrmmmmppphhhhh!!!!!!

Why wouldn’t she just tell him where the fucking Angel was? That would be the most helpful thing that she could do. He had no real chance at this game. He was wandering around aimlessly. This was a huge campus. He hated the idea of rigged games and this game seemed to be getting stacked against him more and more.

Julie: OK. We can recover from this, Tiger. Shake it off.

Brendan: Mmmmppphhh hhhhmmmppphhh mmmmppphhhhh mmmpppphhhhhh.

Julie: I’ve got a little bit of bad news though.

Brendan: Hhhhmmmppphhhh???

Julie: You have to go back the way you game. We no longer want to go West.

Brendan: Hhhmmppphhhhh?!?!!?

Brendan was pissed now. He’d come this far. What was going on?

Julie: So. Are you wondering why I haven’t told you where the Angel is?

Brendan: Mmmmppphhhh hhhhmmmppphhhh!!!!

He’d been thinking that less than ten second earlier.

Julie: The Angel is a moving target. I’ve got an Air Tag on you so I know exactly where you are at all times. I only get to see the position of the Angel once every ten minutes. While Robin was capturing you I got a Ping and the Angel has actually gone East of you now. To the South of you. The Angel started at University Towers. But there was no point in telling you that because she’d be somewhere else by the time you got there. If you’d approached her along the Southern route, she was going to have to be heading North and you’d have gotten shredded in a buzzsaw of different zones that were being patrolled by hunters. I was trying to head the Angel off. But now she’s started heading back in another direction. She just pinged a couple minutes ago by the Library.

The Library? That wasn’t that far away. He should try and get there as quickly as possible and have Julie tell him where the next ping was. He’d have to cut through high traffic areas on campus. But he was no longer going to be in the corridor between the Greek houses and the main residence halls. That's where most of the people up this late would be congregated. He’d have to watch out for hunters. But there weren’t going to be that many student gawkers on his route to the library. He took off at a brisk jog. He did see some students as he made his way along. And they saw him. He had almost stopped caring at this point. He didn’t want to know if he recognized any of them. He was probably going to catch jeers from friends and hallmates later. Maybe a couple dozen students had already seen him in total outside of the Delta Gamma girls. And they probably knew that it was Pledge Hell Week. And they hopefully recognized that this was some stupid ass fraternity stunt. He heard some laughs as he jogged in the direction of the library. But he had to get to that Angel. That was the way that this whole idiotic night would end safely for him. These girls were lunatics and he didn’t know how far they’d go. This whole idea was beyond the pale and he really didn’t appreciate it. Finally after eight minutes of continuous movement he made it to the library. He found himself standing between the library and Manchester Hall. It had to have been more than ten minutes since the last ping. Julie had to have an updated beat on the Angel.

Brendan: Hhmmmmpppphhhh mmmmppppphhhhhh???

Julie: OK. I see that you’re just south of the library. The Angel pinged a couple minutes ago. Just East of Atkinson Hall.

He knew where Atkinson Hall was. He had to get there with haste.

It does seem like a rigged game. I do hope that Brendan has some chance of prevailing. I also must wonder if there is any future for Brendan with Julia. So many question and so much fun reading to get the answers. Well done.

Oh poor Brandon. The humiliation he has to go through. Would he win or would he lose? It’s getting hot out there.

charliesmith wrote: 2 years ago Oh poor Brandon. The humiliation he has to go through. Would he win or would he lose? It’s getting hot out there.

Win or lose? We will see, it surely will get interesting

Atkinson Hall was a lecture hall that was only a couple minutes North of where he was right now. He decided to keep muscling towards it. Out in the open. His shame be damned. He darted out from the library and ran towards the bookstore.

Jenny: I see him!!!!

He turned his head. A girl that he was unfamiliar with had spotted him. This girl was about forty yards to his right. She was wearing all black. She hadn’t been one of the girls who had captured him earlier, but it was clear that she was a hunter. She started sprinting towards him. He sprinted off to the North. He’d have to take a roundabout way to Atkinson Hall. But hopefully he’d lose her in the foreign languages buildings. He sprinted between two buildings. Took a sharp right, sprinted to the end of that building and took another sharp right seeing in his periphery that she had not made the turn. He then sprinted down the side of the building and hid in an alcove. He crouched down to avoid detection. He didn’t hear footsteps. He didn’t see anybody run by. But he’d have to wait. He felt like he was finally close to the prize. He gathered himself and after about seven minutes he thought it was safe to emerge. He must have lost her. He headed East towards Atkinson Hall but as soon as he crossed the edge of the building he felt a pair of hands grab him gruffly from his right.

Jenny: Got ya!!!

Brendan: Mmmmppppphhhhh!!!!!

She’d scared the shit out of him. Brendan looked over the wiry, Hispanic girl that was holding him. She was the same one who had spotted him earlier. This was his first time really taking a look at her. She had wavy black hair and was currently sporting a sinister smile on her face. Her dark brown eyes told him that he was in a lot of trouble.

Jenny: I was sure that you’d have to emerge sooner or later. Let me help you out of those shorts.

Brendan: NNnnnnnmmmppppphhhh!!!!!! Nnnnmmmmmpppphhhhh!!!!! Nnnnmmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!!

Jenny: Yes. Yes. Yes. Off they come.

Brendan bucked and struggled but she held him firmly as she slipped a pair of fabric scissors into the waistband of his sweats. She cut down the side of his leg until the fabric fell away, yanking them down on the other leg until they fell at his feet. She then pulled out her tube of lipstick and grabbed him by the head to steady him. He strained and shook his head but she gave him a little smack on the cheek to get him to submit.

Jenny: Hold still, dick head. This will only take a second.

He knew what the next letter was. He felt the E being smeared onto his forehead by the lipstick tube. Fuck these girls. Fuck their stupid game. He’d been angry before but this was getting to be the very epitome of degrading. The sweat shorts had at least given him some semblance of dignity. Now he was just in a tight fitting pair of black boxer briefs. Those were all that separated his most private parts from anybody’s gaze. It was humiliating. He felt a deep shade of red wash over his face. He imagined that one might not even be able to read the letters on his forehead with how red he was. But he was also angry now. Angry at all of them. How did they think that this sort of thing was acceptable?

Jenny: OK. Predator Five is out. One more strike until critical failure.

As soon as Jenny let go of Brendan he started running. He didn’t wait for her to walk away. He didn’t want to give her the chance to tell other hunters where he was. He just took off sprinting towards Atkinson Hall. Of course it had probably been ten minutes since the Angel had actually been at Atkinson Hall. He was probably due for an update. As soon as he reached Atkinson Hall he heard Julie come on over his ear piece.

Julie: Fresh news on the Angel. She’s at Parking Structure 16.

Brendan knew where this was. This was where he had been headed when he’d been caught the first time. By the girl with the blue highlights in her hair, Emily. There was no point in pussy footing around now. He was just going to take the most direct route. He could be at Parking Structure 16 in five minutes if he just ran as directly as possible through the science buildings. It was just on the other side of the engineering building. He rounded the corner of the geology building and ran past the chemistry building and labs. He was hustling as best he could and wasn’t paying nearly as much attention as he was when he was trying to avoid detection. He almost didn’t notice somebody coming out of the chemistry building until it was too late. Fuck. They were ten feet away from him. He couldn’t afford to get caught by another hunter.

But this wasn’t a hunter. He stopped abruptly as a man wearing a tweed jacket in his mid-50s turned and stared directly at him. Oh. Fuck. Oh Fuckity Fuck Fuck. It was his Organic Chemistry professor. Dr. Kinkaide. What was he doing here? At this time of night? He was also a research professor, but surely he couldn’t still be doing lab work at this hour. But it was him. And he stared directly at Brendan. The recognition was there. It was immediate. He saw Brendan and he registered that it was Brendan. And Professor Kinkaide’s face recoiled in shock and horror. He stared at Brendan’s almost naked, bound and gagged form and did a quick double take.

Lawrence Kinkaide: What the Fuck?!?! Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope!!

Professor Kinkaide turned and ran away from him. Brendan had really not wanted to be seen at all, but for the briefest of seconds he’d comforted himself with the fact that he’d been seen. He’d been fully and properly humiliated in front of somebody that he knew. And an authority figure at that. Somebody that held three credits in the palm of his hand. But that maybe that person would help him. Well, that help was sprinting away from him now at a breakneck pace. Brendan started to tear up. That was humiliating. What must his professor think of him. He was mortified. But he was angry. The Delta Gammas had gone too far. This was his life. This was his future. They were fucking with it and that wasn’t OK. He was going to get to this fucking Angel. He was going to get released. And then he was done with the Greek system. What good was it? It was full of a bunch of perverted sociopaths. Fuck ‘em. Would he be able to look his professor in the eye again? He took off running. He opted to not chase down his professor but take the other route around the chemistry building.

He made it around and took a look both ways on Canyon Crest Drive before darting across the street. He could see Parking Structure 16 right in front of him. He was going to get to this stupid fucking Angel. He ran to the base of the parking structure and debated which way he thought was the best way to run. If the Angel was up here, he really just needed to wait for movement. This wasn’t a particularly well trafficked part of campus. Especially at this time. There were almost no cars in the parking structure. It was remote. He doubted that he’d see other students randomly walking around here. He decided to check the perimeter before heading into the structure and maybe Julie would give him an update when the next ping came. He rounded the corner and started to run along the West side of the structure. And then he felt himself get firmly grabbed by somebody. They’d come out of nowhere. They’d waited in an opening to the structure and grabbed him as he’d run past. He almost lost his footing and faceplanted but managed to catch himself. The person held him steady. Fuck. It was the fourth girl that had captured him earlier. He recognized her. He was pretty sure that they’d called her Piper. She’d been one of the only girls that he’d recognized from before tonight. She had been in a Psychology 101 class with him freshman year. She’d sat near him. She was a very good looking girl. A brunette with soft brown eyes and a killer figure. That killer figure was firmly pressing itself into him now. He had no interest in being captured. And whereas he hadn’t fought back hard enough before, he was not going to let himself lose at this point. He bucked her off of him and tried to take off running but she firmly grappled him. She wasn’t a particularly large girl. He could try and drag her. But she wasn’t going to be cutting any more clothes off of him and he had no intention of letting her add a letter to his forehead. He was totally done with this shit. Humiliating him in front of his professor was the last straw.

Piper: Fuck! Hold still you big baby. You’ve lost. It’s over.

He didn’t think so. He tried to break free and they bucked and struggled as he tried to shake her. And that’s when he felt a second set of arms wrap themselves around him from behind. They hugged him tight and pulled him towards the wall of the structure. He smelled a lavender fragrance that he thought he might have caught a whiff of earlier in the night. And then he heard a seductive whisper in his ear.

Julie: Calm down, Brendan. You’ve lost. Fair and square.

Only he heard Julie’s voice in duplicate. It was not only coming through his earpiece. It was the voice of the person actually grappling him from behind. Actually whispering in his ear.

Brendan: Hhhhhhmmmpmppppphhhhhh!?!?!?! Nnnnmmmmppppphhhhhhh nnnnnmmmmpppphhhhhhh!!!!!!

Julie: Now, Brendan. My good friend Piper here is just going to help you along with your final transition before you get punished. Piper, go ahead.

Brendan continued to buck and struggle and tried to throw Julie off him but he didn’t have good leverage with his arms bound firmly behind him. He tried to kick with his legs but she leaned into the wall of the structure and used one of her legs to wrap his and hold them still. He was still bucking like a wild beast though. He saw Piper take out a pair of fabric scissors. What was left to take!?!? His boxer briefs?!?! Nooo!!!!

Piper: Quit struggling, you goon. I don’t want to accidentally snip anything.

Julie: Relax, Brendan.

Brendan recoiled as she said his name. He remembered how enamored he had been with her earlier. She had been a dream girl. She had been insatiably, unbelievably hot. But not anymore. She had led him to his ruin. And he knew that she had done it intentionally. He was positive that when he looked her in the eyes he’d see her for the hideous Hell beast that she truly was. Piper slid the scissors into the side of his boxer briefs at the hip and seamlessly snipped down the side until they fell away. His underwear fell away. He could feel the open night air on his privates. His penis was definitely partially engorged. It was through fear at the thrill of the hunt and he was worried that it’s erectness would justify this betrayal in the girl’s minds. He was not enjoying this. This was barbaric. But he suddenly felt the full measure of shame. He had no more clothes. And his clothes had in some way represented his dignity. He was now naked and he began to get even more upset. He was in a pitiable state. He stopped thrashing. What could he do but start begging? He began to whimper into his gag.

Brendan: Mmmpphhhhhh hhhhmmmmpppphhhh mmmmppphhhh mmmpppphhhhhh.

Piper: Holy shit. Congratulations, Brendan. I see that there’s at least one thing that you’re definitely good for.

She was undoubtedly referring to his penis. He knew that it was impressive. He’d never measured it. He didn’t know what the actual size was. But it was well above average. And it was presenting itself impressively right now. This didn’t make him feel any better. It only brought him deeper shame in the moment. This girl was gawking at him. She unsheathed her lipstick as Julie held him steady. He moaned softly as the final R was scrawled on his forehead.

Piper: Well. That about does it, Brendan. You belong to Delta Gamma now. We will do with you as we please. Whatever we please.

Brendan: Nnnnnmmmpppphhhhh nnnnmmmmpppphhhhhhh hhhhmmmpppphhhhhhh!!!!!

Piper: Oh. Yes we will. I think it’s time to head back to the house. Let’s get walking.

What?!?! They expected him to walk all the way across campus bare ass naked?!?! Absolutely not. He turned to Julie and started pleading with her. This couldn’t be something that was possibly permissible.

Brendan: Nnnmmmppphhhh mmmmmmpppphhhhh mmmmmmmm mmmmmrrrmmpppphhhhhhh.

Julie: Do we really need to walk him back, Piper? I’m kind of excited to get there and we have Robin’s car.

Piper: What’s the matter? He doesn’t want people to see his cock? It’s magnificent.

Piper gave Brendan’s hardened dick a little pat. He growled at her.

Brendan: Hhhmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Julie: Oh. Come on, Brendan. You’re going to get much worse than that tonight. Now behave yourself or I’ll make your bare ass walk back to the DG house.

She looked in his eyes and he saw an unsettling, conniving presence that made his stomach turn. He didn’t have too long to stare into her depths though as she took a sleep mask and slid it over his head before pulling it directly over his eyes. She then felt her remove the camera from the top of his head and pull the earpiece from his ear.

Julie: This should make for a really fun watch later.

Piper: Oh definitely. I can’t wait. Appointment viewing. I want to see all of the shit that I missed.

Brendan: Nnnnnmmmmmppppphhhhhh!!!! Mmmmppppphhhhhhh!!!!!!!

He felt the two girls roughly take him by the shoulders and drag him into the parking structure. He was now completely blinded and was stumbling aimlessly as they guided him deeper into the structure. He heard the beep of a car directly in front of him and figured that they were going to shove him in the back seat again. But he didn’t hear a door open. Instead he heard a trunk pop.

Brendan: Hhhmmmpppphhhhh?!?!?!?

Julie: Sorry, kid. It’s going to be the trunk for you this time. Thems the shakes.

Brendan: Nnnnmmmpppphhhh!!!!!! Mmmmpppphhhhh!!!! Mmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!!

Brendan was very indignant. But at this point Piper and Julie had little issue wrestling him into the trunk. He couldn’t see. He was entirely naked. It wasn’t like he was going to be able to run anywhere in his current state. He put up a token struggle but they’d beaten him down. He found himself crammed into the trunk of a sedan. He could feel his shoes and socks being removed as he felt one of them press their forearms and elbows roughly into his back while he bucked and mewled into his panty gag.

Brendan: Mmmmpppphhhhh!!!! Mmmmppphhhhhh!!!! Nnnmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Once they had his feet bare he heard them shuffling around for something in a vinyl bag that was in the trunk with him. Then he felt rope being looped tightly around his ankles. Fuck. They were tying his legs. Again he tried to squirm. Pathetically and to little success. One of them pressed down on him and held him tight as the other tightly bound his legs up in several places. His ankles were tightly cinched before the person tying him moved on to his knees. Once his knees were thoroughly secured, he felt an additional binding being used to secure his thighs together. He continued to thrash and squirm but he felt several quick sharp slaps on his bare ass in succession.

Piper: Hey!! Enough of that!! You’re going to be a good little captive from here on out. Or we’re going to make you wish that you’d fallen in line a lot sooner. They don’t call it Pledge Hell Week for nothing. You’re gonna pay the price, kid!

Brendan was absolutely despondent. This was past what he had figured that his worst nightmare could possibly be. He felt a tight rope now being fastened around his ankles and then felt his ankles being pulled up towards his back. Oh no. He knew this all too well. He was being hogtied. He squirmed to no avail. The person hogtying him was a total pro. He felt the ropes being looped into his box tie and cinched off securely. His legs had been bent painfully back and his body arched itself pushing his delicately exposed cock out. He whimpered softly into his gag. What was wrong with these monsters? Had they no shame? Had they no pity in their hearts. He could feel himself beginning to tear up under the blindfold. They wouldn’t be able to see it. But he had started to cry. This was going to wreck him. This was not something that he was going to be able to get over. Once the hogtie was completed he heard Julie speak.

Julie: Piper, start the car. I’ve got one more thing that I need to do.

Piper: You got it, Julie.

He heard the car door open and close and felt the engine come to life as Julie rummaged around in the bag some more. He felt himself being pushed to his side and felt her hand firmly grasp his erect penis.

Brendan: Hhhmmmmpppphhhh!!!!! Nnnnnmmmppppphhhhh!!!!!!

Julie: Relax. I’ll be gentle. For now.

He felt a hard cylindrical object being pressed up against the underbelly of the shaft of his penis. Then he heard a roll of tape being ripped off and felt tape being gently applied over it. This was repeated a few more times until the object was gingerly but firmly attached to his cock. He was humiliated. This was it. This was what absolute peak humiliation felt like. Suddenly, he felt the object hum to life and he felt firm vibrations pulsing up and down the shaft of his already erect cock. He reflexively moaned into his gag.

Brendan: Mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmpppphhhh mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Julie: There you go. I just want to keep you juiced up for when we get you back to the other girls. There’s a little nice something to enjoy. Because I can promise you that you are NOT going to enjoy everything that happens over the next 48 hours.

48 hours?!?!? What. There was no way that they were serious. They couldn’t keep him tied up the whole weekend. That was insane. That was criminal. He was going to absolutely go savage if he ever got out of these ropes. But he couldn’t muster the rage to protest in an angry manner. He was thoroughly beaten and humiliated at this point. He needed to try and appeal to some semblance of humanity in these girls. If they had any. He whimpered softly into his panty gag as the tears began to well in his eyes again underneath the sleep mask. He was begging her to release him. Surely she had to know that she was going WAY to far. He finally felt a soft hand on the small of his back and then he felt her breath on the side of his neck. What was happening? Finally he heard a soft whispered voice in his ear.

Julie: Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to you that I wouldn’t want you to do to me later.

What? He then felt himself being rolled back onto his stomach and his hardened cock pressing into the floor of the trunk. The vibrator was sending pulsing throbs through his shaft and he could feel an orgasm pooling inside of him. Much of it thanks to the vibrator but almost certainly in part thanks to her seductive words. He wasn’t sure that he could trust a single fucking thing that this lying harlot was saying. But the thought of having her at his mercy was a tantalizing picture. But at the present moment it was far too distant of a pipe dream to sustain any sort of warmth within him. He heard the trunk door slam above him and could faintly hear Julie opening and closing the car door as Piper began to back out of the parking space. He was now totally alone in the trunk with only his morbid thoughts and the thumping palpitations of the toy attached to his cock to keep him company. He’d crossed over a threshold that there was no returning from at this point. And he bitterly regretted that he’d had no say in it whatsoever.

It does seem that lines have been crossed that should not have been. Is their a hidden golden lining waiting as yet unseen by us readers? If not, will there be a satisfactory revenge that would satisfy the Count of Monte Cristo? Great work, [mention]Fandango[/mention].

Caught up on the latest parts - that was pretty intense! I think you did a great job of conveying how stressful and humiliating the situation would have been. The game definitely seemed rigged, especially given Julie's involvement at the end when she was 'helping' Brendan - I wonder if she was the angel herself, and deliberately avoided him? Either way, looking forward to seeing whose perspective we'll see in the next chapter!

Caesar73 wrote: 2 years ago Just discovered the story! I like it! Keep up the good work!

Thank you very much. I appreciate the enthusiasm.

charliesmith wrote: 2 years ago Oh poor Brandon. The humiliation he has to go through. Would he win or would he lose? It’s getting hot out there.

Public humiliation is something that I've deliberately avoided in my other story but am hoping to lean into in this story. It's not something that I have ever felt inclined to play with in my own personal bondage experiences. But it's something that always fascinates me when I read about it. There are dozens of stories on this site that have featured characters getting publicly humiliated with bondage. But I was having a lot of trouble finding one where you got to see the ramifications and consequences of that humiliation for the character play out over time after they were no longer bound and gagged? How will this effect Brendan psychologically? How will it effect his relationship with people he knows that witnessed it? We know he was at least seen by his professor. He was also seen by dozens of students. Somebody probably knew him. What does this do to his reputation and how does he respond to that?

GreyLord wrote: 2 years ago It does seem that lines have been crossed that should not have been. Is their a hidden golden lining waiting as yet unseen by us readers? If not, will there be a satisfactory revenge that would satisfy the Count of Monte Cristo? Great work, [mention]Fandango[/mention].

Thanks. I do love The Count of Monte Cristo. Both the book and the 2002 film. Revenge is a fun idea. As I state in my little bio...turnabout and revenge are a couple things that I love in a story. There might be some degree of retaliation in this story...though please don't expect this to be The Count of Monte Cristo or Sweeney Todd of tie up stories. But the events of this chapter are certainly going to be very important to the narrative going forward. The girls of Delta Gamma certainly drew a line in the sand and then crossed way over it as you stated. There is certainly going to be fallout. I'll tease some of that fallout at the start of Chapter 3...but Chapter 6 is when readers will be getting most of their answers and what it means for characters like Brendan, Julie, Mia, and others going forward.

Rtj65 wrote: 2 years ago Caught up on the latest parts - that was pretty intense! I think you did a great job of conveying how stressful and humiliating the situation would have been. The game definitely seemed rigged, especially given Julie's involvement at the end when she was 'helping' Brendan - I wonder if she was the angel herself, and deliberately avoided him? Either way, looking forward to seeing whose perspective we'll see in the next chapter!

Thank you very much. I did find this chapter challenging in terms of how to portray what I thought was an appropriate level of distress and resentment on the part of the captive. I think Brandon definitely assumes that the game was rigged against him. Whether Julie was simply sabotaging his attempts to find the angel or whether there was actually any angel at all. The fun thing about this format is that I get to dive into a question that Brendan asks himself multiple times during this escapade: "Why did the girls think that this was acceptable?" Obviously I'm not going to spend the next ten chapters going through the perspective of each of the ten girls...but two or three of them will get their views shown. I can explore their histories with hazing, with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and with their feelings on bondage and submission. I promise that some of the girls are a lot more nuanced in their psychological reasoning than they appear to be from the perspective of their mistreated victim.




Thank you to everybody who is reading. And a special thanks to people who are commenting. Knowing where people are at and what they're feeling does help when I'm editing the chapters. In that light, I've added a dumb, nonsense poll for the next week. Chapter 2 is an important chapter that is certain to have consequences. How would you like it to be resolved? None of the above options will actually happen. But I'm interested to see what flavor people reading this story would like for it going forward. While I apologize that THIS poll will have no real effect on the narrative...I do promise that I will have a future poll after Chapter 11 that will allow readers to make a major decision for Chapter 12. Thanks for everything. I'll post the first part of Chapter 3 on next Tuesday (3/21).

April 22, 2022

Julie: I swear, Professor Kinkaide, what happened last Friday night was never supposed to happen. We honestly figured that no faculty would be around at that hour. It was a stupid hazing ritual that got out of hand. And I sincerely apologize if it has caused you any consternation or distress.

Dr. Lawrence Kinkaide looked at the young woman sitting across from him in his office. He appreciated her earnest and forthright nature and did in fact believe that she was sorry. She and her sorority sisters had apparently planned a hazing ritual that had involved one of his students the previous weekend. And to say that it had spooked him would be an understatement.

Lawrence: I’ll be fine. You scared the shit of me. But I’ll be fine.

Julie: Again. I apologize profusely on behalf of myself and the Delta Gamma sorority. I just really hope that this will not impact Brendan Drummond negatively in any way. He had very little say in the whole matter and the thought of his grades and academic standing being impacted by my doing something reckless just makes me sick to my stomach.

Lawrence: You can relieve yourself of that stomach sickness. This will not affect his grade in any way, shape, or form. In my class, a student’s grade is dependent on two papers, one practical application project, a midterm, and a final. Each are weighted for 20% of their grade. Brendan is a stellar student. He could not even bother showing up for the final and still pull a C+ in my class by taking a 0. But I sincerely doubt that he’d do that. He did come to class both days this week. He couldn’t make eye contact with me. Or speak up in class. But he attended.

Julie: Damn it. That’s on me. He’s clearly embarrassed. Things got a little out of hand.

Lawrence: I’ll pull him aside next week and let him know that everything is copacetic and that he has nothing to be concerned about. College students do idiotic, embarrassing things. Especially in Greek societies. I was once a college student and I did more than my fair share of idiotic things. I’m 55 years old now and I STILL do more than my fair share of idiotic things. I think this might be a lesson to be more careful. But I’m not going to hold participation in a fraternity hazing ritual against a student when nobody got hurt. No harm, no foul.

Julie: Thank you for being so understanding, Professor Kinkaide. Now I see why you’re the favorite professor of every student that takes your courses.

Lawrence smirked at the clearly manufactured effusive flattery that she was showering on him.

Lawrence: I’ve already said that everything is OK. There is no need for baseless flattery. Nobody says that about me.

Julie: It wasn’t baseless. I’m actually a very good friend of Kylie Cooper. She’s one of your students and she says that your teaching style is her favorite. That you’re engaging and enthralling.

Lawrence: Ah!! Ms. Cooper. OK. She might be the ONE student who would say those things about me. Consider your sample size. Brendan is a very good student. I think he has an A in the bag with a solid score on his final. Kylie makes him look like a dunce. She’s one of the brightest minds that I’ve ever taught. Give her my regards, please.

Julie: Absolutely, professor. Also, can I ask a favor?

Lawrence: Sure. I don’t see why not.

Julie: I know that you said that you were going to talk to Brendan. Could you NOT tell him that I came by to see you? He’s mad enough at me. I’d prefer that he not think that I’m meddling in his affairs.

Lawrence: Fine. I don’t need to say anything about you. But I do think that he’d appreciate that you’re remorseful and are looking out for him. It’s refreshing to see young people step up and take responsibility. But I’m going to have to ask you to do me a favor also.

Julie: Certainly.

Lawrence: I couldn’t help notice that when I saw Brendan last Friday that he had a camera on his head.

Julie blushed. Lawrence saw it and figured that she knew exactly what he was about to ask.

Julie: There was.

Lawrence: I saw that a red light was on. So I know that it was recording.

Julie: Yeah. That was all part of the prank.

Lawrence: Please delete that video. I’m not particularly proud of how I acted in it. As I said, the event spooked the shit out of me and I did not respond with the decorum befitting a tenured professor who sees one of his students in distress. I’d prefer that that video not exist.

Julie: Absolutely, sir. It’s already been deleted. We’re done with it.

Lawrence: Good. Then you have a nice day. I’ll speak with Brendan. And we can put all of this unsavory hazing business behind us.

Julie: Absolutely. Thank you so much for your time, Professor. This is a huge weight off my shoulders. I’m sorry for taking up your office hours with a silly non-academic matter.

Lawrence: Please. Nobody else was using them. You don’t see a line out there, do you?

Julie chuckled.

Julie: No. I don’t. But thank you anyway.

Lawrence: No problem.

The Delta Gamma girl departed his office and Dr. Lawrence Kinkaide settled back into his chair and contemplated the exchange that he had just had. The previous Friday evening had been a surreal one. It’s hard to believe that it was only a week ago. He’d been coming out of his office to go grab a midnight snack. He was having trouble getting to sleep and figured that a bite to eat might do him some good. Julie had been surprised that there would still be faculty in the offices after midnight. That was a fair assumption. He shouldn’t have been there. But he wasn’t about to tell anybody that he’d been sleeping on the couch in this very office for the last two weeks. He’d been showering at the campus gym. His apartment wasn’t the safest place to be right now. And it had a lot to do with those idiotic decisions that he was STILL making that he had mentioned to Julie.

The moral of the story was to never bet on the Chicago Bears. He’d learned this lesson hard before, but this season he’d learned it in devastating fashion. Lawrence had one major vice and that was that he was a compulsive, degenerate gambler. And this last year it had cost him his marriage. He’d blown through a stupid amount of money. And he was currently deeply in the red to a local loan shark with mob connections named Tommy Mack. He was way past due on his payments and if he got caught around town by one of Mack’s men at the wrong time…physical violence was certainly on the table. His wife had left him. At least she and his daughter were safe. His daughter lived with her fiancé in Boston. His wife had moved back by her family near Kalamazoo, Michigan. He’d brought them to the brink of financial ruin and she’d cut bait when she could in order to stay afloat. However, it had left Lawrence woefully unable to pay his debt off. The juice was running, as they said, and he had no way of getting the money to keep up with Tommy’s interest. Nobody would loan him anything. So he didn’t even have the option of trying to bet his way out of trouble or into a deeper hole. He was screwed. Once he finished this semester…he was going to need to figure out what to do. Could he go on the run? Or would that only bring about more problems for him and his loved ones? What was Tommy Mack’s reach? He didn’t know, and he had to find out.

This was the reason that he’d been so freaked out when he’d seen Brendan running towards him last Friday. At first glance he had thought that the contraption on Brendan’s head might be a bomb. He’d seen that the poor boy was bound and gagged in his underwear. He’d been terrified that this was Tommy Mack sending him a message. He’d been terrified...and he’d run. Like a coward. He was embarrassed by this fact. Deeply embarrassed. It brought to light how his shortcomings and failure to live up to his responsibilities COULD hurt others. Thankfully, that had not been the case this time. It was just a silly, idiotic hazing ritual. And he felt a little foolish for assuming that it was Tommy Mack. Tommy Mack was a thug. But he wasn’t deranged. He’d managed to avoid serious trouble with the law by not messing with law abiding, affluent members of society. At last ones who didn’t owe him money or give him problems. Attacking faculty or students on a college campus would bring the hand of the law down on him in a God smack. Tommy wouldn’t do that. That’s why Lawrence felt safe in his office. Tommy couldn’t touch him here. The security system on this building was exceptional. He’d helped oversee it's installation. The University had a lot of valuable equipment in the labs to protect. It would be too big of a risk for Tommy or his men to undertake. They’d probably just continue to stake out his apartment.

The semester would be done in a couple of weeks and then he could plan his next move. Leaving now would draw too much attention. He’d manage to hide his gambling debts from all of his friends and colleagues. Really only his wife and Tommy Mack’s outfit knew about his indiscretions. He was a wreck. His mental health was shot. There was only one good thing in his week that was keeping him hanging on. Her name was Tabitha. Tabitha Caldwell. Lawrence didn’t really know what you would call her. How would one describe Tabitha? You wouldn’t call her an escort. That felt too crude for what Tabitha was. You wouldn’t call her a dominatrix. She tied people up. Sure. But she didn’t “dominate” them. At least not the way she advertised it. And not the way that she dealt with him. She was a paid, sensual, companion. But she was more than that. She was a confidante. A shoulder to lean on. A problem solver. She was a Bondage Therapist. He thought that he’d heard her call herself that before. That seemed like the proper name for what she was. She preferred the snappier title of “Kink Shrink”. She tied you up. She made you feel good. She listened to your problems. And she tried to help you solve them. Lawrence supposed that “Kink Shrink” had a certain "je no se quo" to it. But Bondage Therapist sounded more dignified. Or did it? He supposed from a certain Puritanical point of view there was nothing dignified about his relationship with Tabitha. He knew that other people would view it as tawdry. But he enjoyed it very much. He paid her. Of course he paid her. And she wasn’t cheap. But he did feel that she cared about his problems. He didn’t want to think that he was deluding himself in that regard. He might be. But if he was, then she was the Queen of acting like she cared. She was very convincing.

Tabitha was more than 20 years younger than him. He believed that Tabitha was 32. She was a tall, red-headed drink of water. She was probably 5’11” with an absolutely killer body. She had long, svelte legs that culminated in a gorgeous, tight butt. Her slim, graceful torso also transitioned abruptly when an on-lookers eyes made their way up to her impressive chest. She had a sensational pair of perfect, sumptuous, gravity defying tits that seemed almost bolted on. Lawrence had been faithful to his wife for the entire 30 years of their marriage. But now that she’d left him…he was taking advantage of the fact that he was allowed to enjoy the finer things in life.

Lawrence felt that he was a man of SOME principles. He was certainly a professional. The Delta Gamma girl that had just been in his office was certainly very attractive. The boys on campus probably went wild over her. But Lawrence could compartmentalize things. She’d done nothing for him. She was younger than his daughter and she was a student at the University where he taught. She was entirely off limits and his mind viewed her that way. Her friend Kylie Cooper who was his brightest student and top research assistant was also a charming, beautiful young woman. She was a short, bubbly blonde. Full of energy and enthusiasm for life. He imagined that her combination of intelligence, charm, and beauty probably got her lots of suitors. But she was his student and he’d NEVER, EVER stoop to any sort of impropriety with a student or make them feel uncomfortable.
Tabitha was different. Tabitha was in her early 30s and was a more seasoned and matured woman. She may have been significantly younger than Lawrence…but there was no shame in lusting over this Goddess. Especially one who looked like her body was sculpted by a true artist. Lawrence paid extra to get the full scope of that body. Tabitha provided a range of services and those services came in tiers. You could pay one price to have her fully clothed while she worked. A second price to have her in a teasing and tempting outfit. And a third price for her perform her services entirely in the nude. Lawrence always splurged to ensure that Tabitha was naked.

Tabitha’s sessions lasted roughly an hour. But the great thing about her was that she wasn’t a stickler for time. She’d given him 70 minutes before. Even 80 minutes once. No additional charge. She rarely ever booked clients back to back because a session wasn’t done until she and her client were done. Until her client was in a good place. Until it seemed like progress had been made. A normal psychiatrist might cut off the session at a very inopportune time because time was up. Not Tabitha. The first half of Tabitha’s session involved Lawrence being tightly restrained and often gagged. She’d hogtie him sometimes. Sometimes it was spread eagle. Other times it was a box tie. There was some level of discomfort in the bondage itself, but he enjoyed that. She was a very skilled rigger. Bondage was certainly something that interested her and she was a skilled purveyor of her craft. However, his treatment was never about finding pleasure in pain. It was about finding pleasure in pleasure. There were massages. Playful teasing. Adroit touching and stroking. She was a wizard of sensuality. There was never sex. That was something that she didn’t do. Sex, be it genital or oral, were both totally off the table. Those were not services that she provided. She’d occasionally stroke his member, but never to completion. Just enough to give him an amazing baseline tease that he’d finish off later. But the services of hers that he craved never occurred in the first half of their sessions. It was the last twenty minutes or so that he treasured the most. Tabitha would ungag him. She’d cuddle him with her naked body. If he was hogtied she might rest his head on her creamy, smooth thighs and stroke his hair. If he was tied spread eagle then she might drape her gorgeous, toned legs over his chest and rest her butt up against his ribs. Then she’d talk to him. Or rather let him to talk to her. About his problems. About what was troubling him. About how he was feeling. And then she’d offer advice. Good advice. Practical advice. Not stupid simple platitudes like “Everything will be alright” or “Things happen for a reason”. No. She took care to really dig down into the meat of what was troubling him and try to offer him solutions oriented guidance. The way she talked made it clear that she had always been listening to him and that she had a firm grasp of what he was feeling and what he wanted. Tabitha was the best.

Lawrence packed up his things and put some papers that he needed to read over into his laptop bag. He was heading to Tabitha’s right now. He was about to have the best hour of his week. He was practically giddy with excitement. There was yet another tier of Tabitha’s services which he hadn’t gotten the chance to explore yet. Tabitha usually tied up her clients. She teased them. She toyed with them. She cared about them. But she was in control and they were her little helpless playthings. This was the service that Lawrence was paying for. But there was another option. For the inverse experience. The only problem was that it wasn’t open to him yet. Tabitha would apparently allow herself to be tied up. The client could tease her. The client could toy with her. But there were rules. And Tabitha needed to know that the client was going to obey those rules. So she never allowed clients to do it until she had been working with them long enough to establish a level of trust. Lawrence had not made it there yet. But he was sure that he was close. And it was a level of trust and intimacy that he thought that he was certainly interested in reaching with her. Lawrence enjoyed being bound. It gave him a warm, enticing feeling. The sensation of being at somebody else’s mercy and not having to worry about the minutia of his day-to-day life was somehow simultaneously calming and invigorating. But he also enjoyed the other end of the spectrum. He enjoyed having the power to make decisions. He enjoyed having control. He enjoyed asserting himself on other people. And he enjoyed the fact that Tabitha might trust him enough to allow him to do such. It was different. But it was definitely something that he was interested in. But they weren’t quite there yet. So he was just looking forward to having her tease out his frustrations today and get him into a tizzy. Maybe he’d even feel comfortable sharing some of his more disturbing problems with her. Lawrence hadn’t yet told her about the massive gambling debts. Tabitha knew about the break up of his marriage. But Lawrence hadn’t really shared the whole reasoning behind it with her. He didn’t want to be judged. He knew what a moron he had been and didn’t want Tabitha to see him in that light. But today was probably the day to talk to her about it. Maybe she had some ideas to help get him out from under Tommy Mack’s thumb.

Lawrence made the twenty minute drive from the University to Tabitha’s apartment in La Jolla. Her apartment was wonderful and inviting. It was only a one bedroom apartment, but La Jolla was a very nice neighborhood. So clearly she did quite well for herself. The Kink Shrink business was clearly very lucrative, though he knew that she was also an actress. She worked locally in the San Diego area but also occasionally made trips up to Hollywood for auditions. She’d had some guest speaking roles on a couple network shows like The Rookie, Blindspot, and Supernatural. He thought she was the most gorgeous girl that he’d ever seen. He couldn’t understand why Hollywood execs wouldn’t throw down a series deal for her immediately upon meeting her. He parked in front of her apartment and made his way up the external stairs to her second floor loft. The entrance to her apartment was external but faced inland. Her bedroom actually had a decent view of the ocean. The apartment wasn’t beachfront but it was close enough to get a decent view of the Pacific. On her door, he found a note. It was in Tabitha’s handwriting. Lawrence picked up the note and read it.

Tabitha [NOTE]: Lawrence, Please come in. I thought I’d give you a nice little surprise this afternoon.

Lawrence felt his whole body begin to tingle. This was immensely exciting for him. He couldn’t wait to see what surprise his gorgeous, red-headed confidante had in store for him. He opened the door and found the main room to be empty. Her comfortable couch and table setup showed no signs of her. This was the room where she often greeted him warmly when he arrived and offered him something to drink. But he supposed that he hadn’t expected her to be here if she was asking him to let himself in. She had a surprise for him. And it made sense that that surprise would be where most of their activities took place. In her bedroom. Lawrence took a deep breath and walked across the room to her bedroom door. He opened it slowly as he braced himself for what she might have in store. As he gazed into the room…he was not disappointed. The sight that he saw before him was one that he’d long dreamed of.

Tabitha was on her bed. She was not naked. She was wearing a very fetching matching black bra and thong. Maybe if he played his cards right he’d get to take them off. But what he did see was much better then her simply being naked. She had restrained herself. Or, by the looks of it, she had had somebody restrain her. Tabitha was a master of ropes. If she tied you up, you were staying tied up. But even she couldn’t possibly have done self-bondage this thorough or intense. Lawrence loved the idea that Tabitha had another friend who was kinky and could tie her up when she requested. He was secretly fantasizing that it had been another buxom, tantalizing young woman. But it could have just as easily been a man. It didn’t really matter. She was his now. This was the moment. She clearly trusted him and had allowed him to cross over into the realm of clients that were allowed to tie her up. It was a privilege and an honor and he swore here and now that he would not take it for granted.

He looked over Tabitha’s tightly trussed form. God, she was so enticing. Her body always looked so beautiful and graceful as she would glide around her room. But somehow it looked even better tightly hogtied on her bed. A maze of stark black ropes contrasted beautifully with her soft, pink skin as they pressed into her flesh and held her still. Her hands had been tied behind her back. Her heavenly bare feet had been likewise bound and pulled up to meet her hands towards her torso. The hogtie looked stringent. Lawrence had been in her hogties before. When the mood took them that way. They were tight. The were restrictive. And they were intense. Tabitha couldn’t have tied this one, but it looked to have all of the rigor of one of hers. He watched as she wiggled and squirmed in it as he made his way through the threshold into her bedroom. When he entered she looked up at him with her big beautiful eyes and he saw that she had a large blue ball gag pressed into her mouth. He recognized the gag. He’d worn it before on a couple of occasions. It was one of hers. And it fit her like a glove. The black leather straps pushed into her soft, tender cheeks. Her luscious full lips wrapped themselves around the large blue ball bewitchingly. Lawrence was stunned. She was an absolute vision. Stunning. Gorgeous.

When she saw him enter the room she began to buck and struggle intensely. She groaned and grunted furiously into her gag. This girl sure did love to put on a show.

Tabitha: Mmmmmmppppphhhhhhh!!!!!!! Nnnnnmmmppppphhhhh!!!!!! Hhhmmmpppphhhh mmmpphhhhhhh!!!! Hhhhhmmmpppphhhh!!!!!!

Lawrence: Tabby, this is simply wonderful. I didn’t know to expect this as the surprise, but I was certainly hoping it might be the case. You look absolutely ravishing.

Tabitha: Mmmmmmmmpppppphhhhhhh!!!!!!! Nnnnnmmmmpppppphhhhh!!!!!! Hhhmmppphhhmmmmmmmm!!!!!!

She’d breezed right by his compliment with more very energetic struggling. She writhed her tight, trussed body in a tantalizing manner. If Lawrence didn’t know how she liked to play games, he would have sworn that she was almost trying to get free. But he didn’t want that. Neither of them did. She’d treated him to some phenomenally sexy restraint over the past several months. It was time for him to properly pay her back.

Lawrence: You know, Tabby. I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time. I’ve run through so many ideas in my head. I think I’ve got a couple of welcome surprises for you. We’re going to have a great time.

He tipped the beautiful, bound, helpless woman on her side and gently stroked his hand down her face, caressing her neck as his hand made it’s way down her body. His palm settled over her firm yet malleable breast. He slid his hand inside her bra cup and gave her breast a solid squeeze and stroked her erect nipple between his index and middle fingers. She thrust herself into the bed and grunted angrily at him through the gag. He loved the way that she was playing this up. Part of him imagined that she’d be playing the role of aroused, amorous rope slut. But disgruntled, unwilling hostage was working just as well for him. He was really kind of digging it. She was a great actress. How Hollywood wasn’t her full-time gig was going to remain a mystery to him. She really was thrashing and grunting up a storm to try and get her release.

Tabitha: Hhhhmmmmmppppppphhhh Mmmmmmmpppppphhhhhh nnnnmmmppppphhhmmmmm!!!!!!!!

Her pleas were music to Lawrence’s ears. They let him know that he was in control now. Of course he was going to ungag her momentarily. They had a couple of things that obviously they needed to go over. There were certainly rules. What could and couldn’t he do? Also, he was looking forward to ungagging her because he wanted to regag her. She was gagged very tightly as it was. He probably wasn’t going to improve upon the gagging. The ball was pushed firmly in and recessed into her mouth with the strap buckled tightly. But either she’d done it to herself or a friend had done it to her when they’d tied her up. He wanted to have the honor of reapplying it. That was one of his favorite things about bondage. It established dominance. So he was absolutely going to ungag her in a moment. But he wanted to tease her a little bit. She always did so to him before she ungagged him.

Tabitha: Mmmmmmppppphhhhhh!!!!! Mmmmmpppppppphhhh!!!!! Hhhmmmmppphhhmmmmmm!!!!!

Lawrence: Oh? Do you have something that you’d like to tell me?

Tabitha: Mmmmmpppphhhh!!!!! Hhhmmmmpppphhhhhh!!!!!!

She nodded vigorously.

Lawrence: And have you been being a good girl?

He tapped her lightly on the nose. Playfully.

Tabitha simply whined pathetically into the gag and appeared to be on the verge of panic. She was playing like she REALLY wanted him to take off the gag. He couldn’t deny her. Of course he’d oblige.

Tabitha: Mmmmmpppphhhhh hhhmmmmpppphhhhh mmmmmppppphhhhrrrmmmmmmmmm.

She was mewling now. Really whining with desperation. Lawrence's cock had gone absolutely rigid.

Lawrence: Alright. Let’s get that big, mean, nasty ball gag out of your pretty little mouth.

He lowered himself down to her level. It would have made sense to simply look at the buckle as he took the gag off. But he wanted to look into her bright beautiful eyes as he ungagged her. He wanted to see the gag pop out of her sensuous mouth covered in her primal slobber. So he reached behind her head with his hands and blindly fumbled with the gag while making direct eye contact with her. He hoped to see the face of a beautiful goddess staring longingly into his eyes. But instead he saw something else entirely. He saw a terrified woman. Was she scared of him? Certainly not. And then he got his answer. A split second before he was supposed to. He saw her eyes flare wide. They dilated in terror and she let out a panicked protest.

Tabitha: Hhhmmmmmmpppphhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Mmmmmmmmmppppphhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Exciting start to a new chapter! I wonder who has tied up Tabitha… thrilling start!

Indeed, an exciting start of a new chapter. But don't we know who tied Tabitha up. Who would it be other than the nefarious Tommy Mack?

Lawrence heard something behind him. Tabitha's eyes had darted up to something directly over his shoulder. He turned to look but at the moment that he craned his neck he felt a large, gruff hand grip into his right shoulder and another one grab into the back collar of his shirt. He was yanked backwards with almost superhuman force. A man had him. The man plowed him back towards the wall behind him. Away from Tabitha. The man was a raving, hulk of a human. He was trying to register what he looked like as he was hurtled backwards. But then he saw more movement out of his periphery. A second man. They’d both emerged from Tabitha’s en suite bathroom. He felt himself being slammed into the wall. Hard. He felt the wind go right out of him. A painting that Tabitha had hanging on the wall fell to the ground. It was a painting of a snow-dusted forest of trees. One of her friends had done it at a Cocktails and Canvases event and she’d liked it. He tried to recover and stagger forwards but he felt the monster of a man’s fist slam itself into his solar plexus and he doubled over again, gasping for breath.

Tabitha: Nnnnnnmmmmmmpppppppphhh!!!!!!!! Hhhhmmmmppppppphhhhhh!!!!!!! Nnnnnnnmmmmmpppppphhhhhh!!!!!

The muffled protests of his sweet Tabitha had sounded so beautiful only a couple of seconds ago. Now they were horrific. They were the pained, agonized screams of a woman suffering from a home invasion. Lawrence hacked miserably and tried to suck in oxygen as he stared directly at the floor. He wanted to see the man who was assaulting him, but all he could see right now were the man's jeans clad legs and black boots. Lawrence’s head was reeling.

Man #1: Well, well, well. Dr. Kinkaide. You’re a tough man to get ahold of. You haven’t been to your apartment in weeks. I’m sorry that we had to resort to finding you at other places that you inhabit more frequently. Well…that’s a lie. No. I’m not sorry. You deserve this, you fucking prick.

Lawrence: Hhssssspppp. Ssussuuuppp.

He tried to make words but they weren’t coming yet. The wind was still thoroughly knocked out of him. But the man had very little interest in allowing Lawrence to catch his breath. He pulled him back up gruffly by his collar and pressed him back into the wall again. Then Lawrence saw him pull out a knife. A large knife. Serrated. A hunting knife. He then saw him take it in his hand and press it into the top of Tabitha’s dresser, which was situated directly to his right. It stood up from the dresser, easily being sharp enough to embed into the lacquered wood.

Lawrence still couldn’t respond. He just gasped as he tried to get his breath to return to him. But he was finally able to look up at the two men who stood before him. The man who was currently pinning him to the wall was not as tall as he had anticipated. He was possibly even an inch shorter than Lawrence. But he was stout and muscular. He easily outweighed Lawrence by a good margin. He had a bit of a gut but his forearms were bulging with muscle. He had a menacing sneer and a wild look in his eyes. And he was ugly. Quite ugly. His skin was mottled and his face appeared almost dented in certain places. He looked like somebody who had gotten in a lot of fights, and lost half of them. His dark hair was thinning on the top of his head, but his eyebrows were incredibly thick. He had a large bulbous nose and untamed stubble running patchy and rampant around his lower face. His dark brown eyes appeared almost black and soulless as he looked Lawrence over like a wolf sizing up his next meal.

The second man stood menacingly behind the man who was accosting Lawrence. He was quite the opposite of the very aggressive man who was now pinning Lawrence into the wall by pressing his forearm into Lawrence’s throat. The second man was tall. Very tall. Could he be 6’4”? He was also exceedingly handsome. He had a defined jawline and piercing blue eyes. He also had dark, curly hair which was untamed in a way that only added to his rugged handsomeness. He somewhat reminded Lawrence of actor Adrien Grenier. Except that while Adrien Grenier was known for his 80 watt smile…this man was definitively not smiling. He was also significantly more muscularly jacked than the actor. He had huge biceps and a frame that intimidated Lawrence immediately.

Man #1: Sorry for the theatrics with your lady over there. I wanted you to get a little riled up first.

Lawrence: Huh?...Wha…?...Uh?

Man #1: Once again. Not REALLY sorry, you fucking skip piece of shit. I need to get you riled up because the blood flow is going to make it easier for me to castrate you.

The man pulled his knife out of the dresser as Lawrence began to thrash violently as best he could against the wall. The man’s forearm pinned him like a vice though.

Lawrence: Please!... Don’t!... You can’t!...

His breath was starting to come back to him in waves. The terror of what was happening was washing over him. He could hear Tabitha screaming into her gag on the bed.

Tabitha: Nnnnmmmmmmpppppphhhhhhh!!!!!!! Hhhmmmmppppphhhhhhh!!!!!! Nnnnnnmmmmmpppphhhhh!!!!!

Man #1: Oh I can. And I will. And then I’m going to give them to Tommy Mack and see what he appraises them at. If you like his offer, I can take it off of your debt. If you think he’s low balling you, pun intended, I’ll give them back to you.

Lawrence felt an absolute tsunami of terror engulf him. He had thought that this was a home invasion of Tabitha’s apartment until right now. He didn’t recognize either of these men. But he had brought them here. She was tied up because of him. He was about to be irreparably maimed because of him. They’d found him. And he’d brought ruin to not only himself but they were also traumatizing his auburn haired goddess.

Lawrence: Please!! Don’t!! We can work this out!!

Man #1: We’ve been trying to work it out. But you haven’t been to your apartment in weeks. So there’s no working this out unless you have Tommy’s fucking money!

Lawrence: I’ll go to the bank. I can get you $15,000 right now.

Man #1: That’s not good enough. That’s less than 25% of what you owe. And we had to put a lot of effort into finding you. We’re going to need more than that or your testicles are coming with me.

The man brandished the knife. Lawrence meekly ventured into his eyes and saw that he was serious.

Lawrence: My car!! Take my car!! I’ll sign it over. That’s got to be worth an extra $10,000.

Man #1: Do I look like a fucking used car salesman?!?! Pass!!! You’d better have something a little more liquid to provide. I have no interest in trying to squeeze value out of your piece of shit car.

Lawrence was scrambling. What could he offer? What did he have? He felt the man reach down and start to unbuckle his belt. Holy fuck!! He was going to go through with this. Lawrence went wild as he mustered every scarp of energy he had and tried to buck the man off of him. But it was useless. The man was his physical superior in every way. He only gripped onto Lawrence even harder. Lawrence could feel the man’s rage grinding into him as he struggled with the belt. This man was a true psychopath. A true sadist. Could he reason with the OTHER man? The handsome man? Lawrence had to try.

Lawrence: Please!!! Are you going to let him do this!?!?! Surely there are better options!! I’ll do anything I can!! Just say what you want!! What guarantees you want!! We can be reasonable!!

Man #1: Oh. You think he’s the reasonable one, do you? You can call him Rock. And you can call me Hard Place. We’re two people that you don’t want to be between. And Tommy gave us both the same instructions. To get his money. All of his money. And I owe it to him. Today.

Lawrence: I don’t currently have $65,000 to my name!! If I did. I would pay him!!

Hard Place: And yet you’re blowing what money you do have on the services of this woman? Interesting.

Lawrence slid a glance over to Tabitha. She looked terrified. And she looked incredulous. And she looked a little disgusted. In him. He saw the judgement in her eyes. He shouldn’t have been seeing her while he was so wildly in debt. But he was addicted. And now he’d put her in harm’s way.

Lawrence: Please. Take me to see Tommy. Let her go. We can work this out.

Hard Place: Tommy’s busy. You get us!

The man managed to dislodge Lawrence’s belt and yanked his pants down as he brandished the knife.

Lawrence: Please!!! For the love of God!!

Man #2 finally spoke up. He had a smooth, buttery Australian accent that contrasted with the hard, curt American East Coast (Philly? Brooklyn? Baltimore?) accent of his partner.

Rock: For the love of God indeed. You think I want to see this nutcase take your balls? Believe it or not…I don’t. Offer us something that we can use. You’ve been dodging us for weeks. And now you’ve got to play a quick, desperate, depraved game of Make Us Happy. So what do you have? Don’t even think about it like that. Not what do you have. What can you get your hands on? What can you get your hands on that we can take to pay your debt to Tommy? I don’t give a fuck if you have to rob Peter to pay Paul. But we’re getting him his money. Today.

Lawrence thought. He ran through his mind. He didn’t have any family in the area. His wife had moved. His parents were deceased. His sister lived in Florida. But there was no way that she could front him the money. Did this man want him to steal something? What could he steal? From whom? Where? What could he sell that was worth that much? And then he found his answer. It was ludicrous. It was more than desperate. But it was this or his testicles. So qualms over desperation had gone out the window as soon as Hard Place had pulled out the knife.

Lawrence: Diamonds.

Hard Place: Diamonds?

Rock: I think he said diamonds.

Hard Place: How many diamonds?

Lawrence: 10 carats worth. Ranging from ½ carat to 2 carat.

Hard Place: How much is that worth, Rock?

Rock: Depends on the clarity. What’s the clarity like, professor?

Lawrence: We’re studying them. So it ranges. There are flawless and internally flawless certified. There are also some as low as SI2 quality. But they’re insured at $90,000. And then there are lab grown ones that we’ve been working on. Those won’t be in the safe. But they’ll be in the lab also.

Rock: See. Now we’re talking. Why didn’t you say you had diamonds?

Lawrence: They’re not MINE. They’re the university’s. I’d be stealing them.

Hard Place: Well…then I guess you’ll be stealing them. How quickly will somebody notice that they’re missing.

Lawrence: It could be over a week. I’m the only professor studying with them. I have the codes to shut down the security system. And I’m one of only three people with the combination to the safe.

Hard Place loosened the pressure on Lawrence’s body. He appeared to be appeased somewhat.

Hard Place: Alright, let’s get a move on then. You’re going to take us to the lab. You’re going to shut off the security system. You’re going to open the safe for us. And you’re going to let us take the diamonds.

Lawrence knew that he was in big trouble. He didn’t care about the diamonds. They were on loan to the university. They were insured. It wouldn’t be a major problem for him if they were stolen. But what was about to take place was a felony. And although he didn’t want to get gutted by these two brutes right here. He also didn’t want to risk spending the next several years of his life in prison. He’d gladly tell them the necessary steps to shut off the security and get into the safe. But he couldn’t go with them. He couldn’t risk getting caught. He needed to make sure that he wasn’t an accomplice.

Lawrence: I’ll give you everything you need. The override breaker for the security system is easy to find. I can give you the code to disarm it and the cameras. I’ll give you the combination to the safe.

The shorter, stouter, uglier man who called himself Hard Place gave Lawrence a malicious look. His lips curled into a sneer and his eyes radiated cruelty.

Hard Place: Oh. I know you will. But you don’t think that we’re going to just let you go and trust your information, do you? You’re coming with us.

Lawrence was panicking. Did this thug really not realize how idiotic it would be to take Lawrence along. Lawrence was the only person who knew the security override codes AND the safe combination. A couple other people knew one or the other. But nobody else knew both. He needed to be in a highly visible place at the time of the robbery tonight with an airtight alibi and no known connection to either of these two ne’er-do-wells.

Lawrence: I can’t come with you. That would be a mistake. I’m the person that the police would immediately question. I have to seem to have as little to do with this as possible. Not having an alibi would be a mistake. I’d become Suspect #1 and that would create problems.

Hard Place: We’ll take care of that. Obviously the police are going to suspect your involvement. That’s why we’re going to make your involvement look very involuntary. When we’re all done with our little heist, we’re going to leave you tied up in the trunk of your car in a car park. I don’t think anybody is going to have any problem believing that you weren’t willingly giving up the information for financial gain. I can rough you up enough. They’ll believe that it was beaten out of you.

This sounded quite unpleasant to Lawrence. But in a way he was actually relieved. That would take the heat off of him. He’d have to spend possibly a few hours tied up in a trunk. But it would make sense. It would eliminate him as a suspect, assuming that he could continue to get his ex-wife to keep his gambling debts a secret. The authorities and insurance investigators could watch his accounts all they wanted. No payments were going to show up. He was paying off a debt that was long overdue.

Lawrence: Alright. But can’t you just tie me up before the robbery. I won’t have to be there. You’re going to know right where I am if I even think about lying or deceiving you. And then I’d be totally fucked. Why do I have to go to the actual lab with you?

Hard Place: Call it insurance. I don’t want you double crossing us once this is all over. What stops you from telling the cops exactly who jumped you and stole the diamonds?

Lawrence: The fact that Tommy will have me gutted and hung from the Cabrillo Bridge if I do.

Hard Place: That didn’t seem to convince you that you needed to pay him back any quicker.

Lawrence: It’s money I don’t have!!

Hard Place: And that doesn’t do me any good if I’m rotting in a jail cell. No. You’re going to be just as culpable in this heist as Rock and I are. We’re going to film a little video on the ride over there so that if anything goes wrong the authorities know that this was your idea and just how excited you were to knock the place off.

Lawrence: What?!?!?!?

Hard Place: Yep. Nobody should ever need to see it. Consider it mutually assured destruction. If you rat on us, we send you down with us. And please believe me when I say that I have friends in a lot of state penitentiaries that can make sure that you don’t make it to parole.

This was nightmarish. Lawrence had dug himself a hole that was inescapable. He was going to have to assist with this robbery. And then he was going to have to hope that he was slick enough to get away with it.

Hard Place: You and I are going in. Rock here will be the getaway driver. We’ve got disguises that will hide your identity. We hit the place. We leave you tied up in your trunk. We take the diamonds to Tommy. You tell the police that you were attacked and threatened by two cartel looking guys. Give them descriptions that look nothing like us. And then nobody has to be any the wiser.

This didn’t sound like a comfortable plan. Lawrence knew that there were many potential pitfalls. There were many different places that they could slip up and get caught. But he didn’t see that he had a choice.

Hard Place: Now let’s get going! I haven’t got all day!

Lawrence: Now?!?!

Lawrence knew exactly why they couldn’t rob that lab now. There were people in the lab. Two of his student assistants would be working there presently. Kylie Cooper and Darren Smith were running tests at present and would be for the next few hours. They’d have to wait.

Hard Place: Yes now!

Lawrence: No. It’s still daylight. I have assistants working in the lab. You’ll have to do it later. 10:00pm, maybe.

Hard Place: I’ve got dinner with Tommy at 7:30 and I promised him his fucking money. We’re doing this now.

Lawrence: We literally cannot do it now!! There’s too much risk. Students are in the lab.

Hard Place: So?

Lawrence: So…there will be witnesses!!

Hard Place: We’ll be wearing masks. And I’ve got methods of crowd control.

Hard Place pulled a Sig 7 out of the back of his waistband and flashed it at Lawrence.

Bile began to rise into Lawrence's throat. This had reached a new level of serious and he had to slam on the brakes.

Great developments! Enjoying it very much. But what happens to poor Tabitha?

Oh my goodness! Yes, what happens to Tabitha? Or is she in on it? And what happens to Lawrence? And what happens to his students in the lab? You have left us on a fantastic cliffhanger. Well done.

Wow! What a dramatic chapter - so quickly Bliss turns into horror! Forcing Lawrence to play a desperate gamble. And will this hastily concoted plan work??? Excellent!

Lawrence's reaction to seeing the gun that Lawrence had pulled out was one of dread. But he couldn't allow anybody to get hurt because of his actions. Surely these two men needed him, so he had to have some bargaining power. It was time to put his foot down.

Lawrence: Noo!!! I’m not letting anybody get hurt.

Hard Place: Do your students know how to take direction?

Lawrence: Yes.

Hard Place: Then nobody will get hurt.

Rock: Nobody will get hurt. You have my assurances. We don’t want that. Tommy doesn’t want that kind of heat.

Lawrence was somewhat confident in the second man's sincerity. But pulling off this heist in the early afternoon was still ludicrous. And he didn't want his research students involved. Lawrence was hoping that he could reason with these men. Appeal to their sense of self-preservation.

Lawrence: Do it later tonight. Armed robbery carries a much tougher sentence than simple breaking and entering.

Hard Place: Actually. For me this would be my third strike. So I’m not getting caught. But if I do, it’s the same for me either way. Kinda seems like a flaw in the system, don’t it?’

Rock: I’m actually with the professor on this one. Do it later. Less risk. Tommy isn’t going to mind waiting an extra 5 hours.

Hard Place looked over at his accomplice and sneered.

Hard Place: I’m in charge of this operation. Tommy put me in charge of getting his money. I told him I’d have it by dinner. We’re doing this NOW. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. The Professor and I can do it and I’ll drive myself.

Rock gave him a condescending look in return.

Rock: Actually. I do need to come. Tommy did put you in charge of this operation. But he put me in charge of babysitting your ass and making sure you don’t fuck up anything else for him.

Lawrence saw a flare of revulsion and hatred in the ugly man’s eyes. Clearly he didn’t like the other man’s implication.

Hard Place: Fuck you. We’re doing this fucking now. Let’s go, professor. We’ll get you outfitted for the part.

Tabitha: Mmmmmmmmppppppphhhhhh hhhhmmmmmppppphhhh mmmmpppphhhhhhmmmmmmmm.

Lawrence had been so focused on the terrible thing that he was being asked to do that he had not properly evaluated the situation with Tabitha. She was squirming and struggling on the bed. She’d rolled onto her side and was trying to get their attention. Her barely clothed body looked absolutely ravishing and guilt began to cascade over him. She had been victimized because of him. This was his fault. His chickens were coming home to roost. And this beautiful, empathetic woman was paying the price. He was certainly concerned for her safety. She was right here. She’d heard everything. Certainly that had to be of some concern for these ruffians. It was of concern to him. He was about to commit a crime and needed her not to go to the authorities. Could he reason with her? Would she keep quiet for him? Did they have that kind of relationship?

He was looking at her now. She had looked scared before. No longer. Now she just looked angry and defiant and exasperated. She had clearly been struggling on the bed. There was a thin layer of sweat that seemed to coat her tender, seductive body. The knots had held though. Her body was still tightly hogtied. The gag still pressed tightly into her mouth. Pulled as she was into a contorted position her deep breaths were more notable as her breasts heaved back and forth with her struggles. She was glaring at the three of them. She was not concerned about her modesty. These two scoundrels were clearly staring right at her bared, immobile form and she seemed entirely unfazed. Well…clearly she was fazed. But it was more in righteous anger than in panicked desperation. She was so strong.

Hard Place: What are we going to do about her?

Rock: I’m going to take care of her.

What he said barely registered with Lawrence. “Take care of her”. It didn’t appear to fully register with Tabitha either. She just continued glaring at them with a non-plussed look on her face. It was Hard Place that mentioned the cryptic double entendre first.

Hard Place: Heh. I knew you could be ruthless. OK. Take care of her. Should we make the professor watch?

Then it hit Lawrence. “Taking care” of Tabitha was not a good thing. It was a threat. They intended to make sure that she wouldn’t talk. Never!! Not on his watch. He’d throw a wrench in this plan really quick. Robbery was something that he was going to have to resort to. But they would NOT hurt Tabitha. Over his dead body. Possibly literally.

Lawrence: Noo!!!!!!!! If you touch one hair on her head…I’m OUT!!! You can gut me for all I care. You don’t get to hurt her!! Or else I’ll make sure that you’re apprehended and sent away for good.

Rock looked back at both Lawrence and Hard Place. He shook his head amusedly as though they’d both misunderstood him.

Rock: Relax, you pair of idiots. By take care of her, I mean that I’m going to pay her.

He pulled out a money clip and began to thumb through some large bills.

Hard Place: You’re not seriously going to pay her with your own money, are you?

Rock: Yep. Double her usual rate. For the trouble.

Hard Place: Fuck that. There is no way that I’m going to let you pay this fucking whore out of your own ---- aaaahhhhh!!!!

Before Hard Place couldn't finish his sentence, he was aggressively backhanded across the face by Rock. It clearly caught him by surprise as much as it caught Lawrence by surprise. He was not expecting it and Lawrence saw him jerk his body with the impact. Rock had caught him good. Hard Place scowled for a second or two but then returned with a sadistic grin as he shook off the hit. Even Tabitha seemed surprised.

Tabitha: Hhhmmmpppphhhhhh??

Hard Place: Hit a nerve, did I?

Rock: Don’t use language like that to talk about her, or any other woman, ever again. Do I make myself clear?

Hard Place: You fucking softie. You’re as soft as baby shit. We shouldn’t be paying her.

Rock: Of course we should. We SHOULDN’T be tying her up. She didn’t do anything wrong. This is that idiot’s mess. Not hers.

He waved dismissively at Lawrence as he set the money on the nightstand and then sat on the bed behind Tabitha.

Hard Place: Is she going to talk?

Rock: Let’s find out.

Rock began to unbuckle Tabitha’s ball gag. He fumbled with the strap a little as she squirmed uncomfortably on her bed. But eventually he managed to pull it out of her mouth with an audible pop as a few long tendrils of drool came with it. Lawrence could see pronounced red marks on her face where the strap had dug into her mouth. He had no clue just how long she’d been gagged for. How long had they been waiting for him? He felt awful about all this. He was physically sick to his stomach. Tabitha looked around with contempt for the lot of them. He was used to seeing her as a warm and tender person. She was accommodating and generous and kind. But now he saw fury. He saw disdain. And he couldn’t help think that part of that fury and disdain was for him. He hoped to God that she didn’t blame him too much. He was a victim here. He’d been careful. He never could have guessed that Tommy Mack would send his goons to HER place of residence. Finally, Rock broke the silence.

Rock: How are you doing there, doll?

Tabitha: Release me this instant!!

Rock: Of course. Of course. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. We’ll be out of your hair in a second.

Rock began to untie her. Hard Place just looked on at him incredulously.

Hard Place: You’re just going to let her go. She’s heard everything. If you’re too dumb to take care of her…I fucking will.

Rock: You’ll do no such thing. She doesn’t need the gag. She knows how to keep her mouth shut all on her own. Tommy will not authorize violence against innocent people. And if you try anything…you’re going to get greenlit. No matter how untouchable you think you are in the ranks.

Hard Place: This is idiotic. She doesn’t look like she’s about to forgive and forget. She’s going to send us up the river the second we leave here.

Rock: Is that true, ma’am?

Tabitha looked back and forth between the two of them. There was no fear in her eyes. Only vitriol. They were talking about what to do with her and yet that practicality did not appear to be weighing in her mind on her decision at all. Finally she spoke.

Tabitha: I don’t need to say a thing. Some fat cat university’s insured diamonds mean nothing to me. But nobody gets hurt. Do you hear me? Nobody. Gets. Hurt.

Rock: Of course.

Hard Place: You’re in no position to make demands.

Rock: She’s in every position to make demands. Now get the professor ready for the heist while I smooth things over here.

Hard Place: If she fucking squeals…so help me God, I will make you rue this day. You gutless simp.

Rock: Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, tough guy.

It was clear that these two did not like each other. They might both work for Tommy Mack but apparently team unity was not a big point of emphasis in his operation. Rock started to untie Tabitha while Hard Place grabbed Lawrence and motioned for him to pull up his pants. Lawrence did so and no sooner had he fastened them than Hard Place started to roughly push him in the direction of the door.

Tabitha: One more thing. My silence is contingent upon the fact that I never see any of you idiots ever again. If you think you can come back here and threaten or intimidate me…I assure you that it will have the opposite effect.

Lawrence was despondent. She had said “any of you idiots”. Hopefully that did not include him. Was she booting him from her life forever? He had never meant for any of this. He simply couldn’t bare the thought that she might be so furious at him also.

Lawrence: Tabby. Please know that I never meant for any of this…I mean I would NEVER…

Tabitha: Don’t “Tabby” me!! Lawrence. I’ve been trying to help you through things for months now. That’s what I do. I offer services to help people with their problems. We’ve discussed a lot. And you never ONCE mentioned that you were this much in debt to a ruthless loan shark!!! How?!?! Why?!?! You can’t AFFORD to see me anymore!! You’re selfish!! You’re reckless!! And Yes. I never want to see you again. Forget about me. It’s best that we sever our relationship here. It would be irresponsible and unconscionable of me to continue to offer you my services. Every single penny you have needs to be applied to fixing your problems directly. Not contemplating them in a kinky, friendly atmosphere. I honestly do hope that you pull the fucking shit show of your life together. I just won’t be there to see it happen!!

Every word of hers stung like a barb in his skin. She was right. Of course she was right. She always was. But that didn’t make it any easier. He loved her. He needed her. He was addicted to her. Just like he was addicted to gambling. The depths to which he had fallen were becoming clear to him. They always had been. But the derision in her gaze was solidifying that clarity. He looked back at his beautiful muse. He drank in the contours of her body one last time. Her shapely legs. Her tantalizing chest. Her creamy smooth skin and her stunning red hair. That beautiful body was still thoroughly bound together tightly with rope. Her hogtie had now been released but the ropes still hugged her body alluringly in a lot of the right places. He’d finally gotten to see her tied up. It was something that he had always wanted. And he had only gotten to enjoy it for a brief moment in time. It’s a sight that he would always remember. It was burned into his retinas. But he wasn’t sure that he’d never be able to truly enjoy it. There was so much guilt attached to it. So much failure. So much loss. It would haunt him. For the rest of his days. Sadly, he turned from the sight of the stunning, bound beauty and walked towards the door. He was now preparing himself to do the unthinkable. As he ruminated on what these men were asking him to do…he was sure that the worst moments of his life were still ahead of him. In his immediate future.

Tabitha: Don’t “Tabby” me!! Lawrence. I’ve been trying to help you through things for months now.

I love that line - and Tabitha is absolutely right. Lawrence got her into this mess. This was a dangerous situation for her - if Hard Place had gotten his way. There is still chivlary among scoundrels!

Excellent chapter!

Ah, Hard Place drew the gun, not Lawrence.

Now I seldom feel sorry for pointy-headed professors, having been one, but couldn't Lawrence have gotten his hands on the bound Tabitha just for a moment? Your great story continues in always unexpected directions.

Finally caught up with this, a lot has happened in the latest chapter! It's obviously taken a more serious turn than what I've gotten used to seeing from you on here, but you write it very well. I think the tension of the scene really came across while Lawrence was trying to find a way out of the situation. That said, he really only has himself to blame for the situation, especially because he didn't even confide in Tabitha about the extent of his problems. I imagine she would have cut him off a lot sooner had she known, but at least she is apparently going to be safe now. Not sure the same can be said for Lawrence or his students, though.

The way the first three chapters have gone makes the story very unpredictable, because each one has been so different. Obviously feel free not to answer this next question for the sake of preserving the surprise, but I am wondering whether the story is going to be a chain of standalone stories, each one connected to the last, eventually coming full circle (or maybe not), or if it's going to be a bit like Cloud Atlas, where the second half will kind of mirror the first half? Either way it's really interesting and I'm excited to see where it goes next!

Thank you very much to everybody who voted in the Nonsense Poll. The results were quite illuminating.

Understandably, nobody wanted to see the American criminal justice system get involved.
25% wanted to see more female dominance over helpless guys. That 25% just happened to be split on whether it was more important that the guy enjoyed it or deserved it.
25% wanted to see Brendan submerge himself in a quest for revenge and see the girls be treated to a taste of their own medicine.
And then 50% of people picked what was probably my favorite answer. A good old fashioned apology and mature conflict resolution.

Which route will the story take? We'll see. Maybe multiple routes. There were a lot of people involved in the events of Chapter 2. Ten girls and three of his fellow frat brothers, to be exact. To assume that all of Brendan's captors had the exact same thoughts on how things played out would be pretty lazy writing on my part.

I appreciate the feedback. I will throw in a couple more "Nonsense Polls" to gauge reader opinion, but I promise that the final poll will have an impact on the story.

GreyLord wrote: 2 years ago Indeed, an exciting start of a new chapter. But don't we know who tied Tabitha up. Who would it be other than the nefarious Tommy Mack?

References are often made to Checkov's Gun. But we rarely speak about "Chekov's Mob Debt". An author can't just casually mention a character's debt to the criminal underworld without it becoming a plot point sooner or later.

charliesmith wrote: 2 years ago Great developments! Enjoying it very much.

Thank you very much for the support.

GreyLord wrote: 2 years ago Oh my goodness! Yes, what happens to Tabitha? Or is she in on it? And what happens to Lawrence? And what happens to his students in the lab? You have left us on a fantastic cliffhanger. Well done.

Thanks. This was the first chapter where I started to see if I should lean into cliffhangers. Normally I just take a chapter, divide it be 3000 words and try and make each part end in a reasonable place that isn't in the middle of an important conversation. This time I did try and put some emphasis on ending at moments of higher tension.

Caesar73 wrote: 2 years ago

Tabitha: Don’t “Tabby” me!! Lawrence. I’ve been trying to help you through things for months now.

I love that line - and Tabitha is absolutely right. Lawrence got her into this mess. This was a dangerous situation for her - if Hard Place had gotten his way. There is still chivlary among scoundrels!

Excellent chapter!

Thanks. We'll see shortly why Tommy Mack and Rock try not to let "Hard Place" have his way too often. The guy is a menace.

Rtj65 wrote: 2 years ago Finally caught up with this, a lot has happened in the latest chapter! It's obviously taken a more serious turn than what I've gotten used to seeing from you on here, but you write it very well...The way the first three chapters have gone makes the story very unpredictable, because each one has been so different.

I appreciate it. I did try and warn people who are fans of my other story that this one will go into places that are a little darker. A little more serious. And it doesn't end here. Chapter 4 will be the "darkest" chapter of the story before we have a rebound back towards hijinks and frivolity. Whereas, Capture Club (the other story) is an examination or relationships and social attitudes towards bondage...it's a story that I want to keep on a certain track and not get too crazy with. The Kaleidoscope stories are where I'll really allow myself to try new cockamamie schemes, plot devices, and genres. This is sort of a playground where I can run a little more wild. And I WILL run wild.

Rtj65 wrote: 2 years ago Obviously feel free not to answer this next question for the sake of preserving the surprise, but I am wondering whether the story is going to be a chain of standalone stories, each one connected to the last, eventually coming full circle (or maybe not), or if it's going to be a bit like Cloud Atlas, where the second half will kind of mirror the first half? Either way it's really interesting and I'm excited to see where it goes next!

I'll absolutely answer this question. I'm glad you asked. I never want to trick anybody into reading something. I'm always fine with having them know what they're getting into. As much as Cloud Atlas is a masterpiece...this is not that. You will 100% see me circle back to old characters. So don't forget about Lexi and Drew or Matt and Wes or Brendan and Mia and Julie. And keep Tabitha and Rock and Hard Place in mind. Some of these characters will definitely be getting their own POV chapter. I'm just expanding the world before it doubles back on itself. The first four chapters are me putting characters in different stressful situations. The situations obviously getting more stressful as they go. Having to rob your workplace to pay off a debt to a violent loan shark is more stressful than having your wild, kinky dream girl trying to convince you to duct tape her up on the job. But all of these plots are bound to have consequences. Chapters 1-4 will deal with a series of events through interconnected characters. Chapters 5-7 will then deal with the fallout of those stories and how the characters are working through what happened (Chapter 5 going back to Chapter 1, Chapter 6 dealing with Chapter 2, and Chapter 7 exploring Chapters 3 and 4). Chapters 8-12 will then deal with how our characters respond and try and move forward from where they ended up. How they try and heal themselves and get back on track. So don't think that you're done with characters just because they haven't resurfaced yet.


Thank you everybody for reading and thanks for commenting. Chapter 4 will probably be up in couple of days. And Chapter 5 will start right after it to wash the bad taste of Chapter 4 out of my mouth. Nobody is going to be killed, raped, shot, or irreparably physically harmed in Chapter 4. But it's a rough chapter which deals a little bit in psychological trauma. It's nothing you haven't probably read before on this site, but I'm going to treat it with a certain amount of seriousness and explore the longevity of side effects in a way that I don't often see. There will be a warning at the top of the post.

Excellent comments, [mention]Fandango[/mention]. I appreciate the roadmap of what is coming. Eagerly awaiting your next installment.

Thank you [mention]Fandango[/mention] for your insinghtful explanations and insights - I love where this is going!

[AUTHOR'S NOTE / WARNING: I want to let my readers know that this chapter will be significantly darker and "less fun" than anything you've read from me thus far. This chapter is going to heavily lean on the DISTRESS aspect of Damsel in Distress. The main character will simultaneously be having both a panic attack and an existential crisis and will wholeheartedly believe that she is going to die for most of the ordeal. You have my promise that I will never kill, mutilate, or cause irreparable physical harm to a character in my story while they are tied up. But my characters don't know that. And this character isn't just going to mentally bounce back from this in one chapter. So if this doesn't sound like something that is up your alley, you can skip this chapter and I promise that Chapter 5 will be much more lighthearted and fun. I won't put major plot points in this chapter that won't be recapped in Chapters 6, 7, and 11. Also, there will be some violence against the narrator's male colleague. He will be beaten before he is bound in a manner that will draw blood but that he will make a full recovery from. Please be advised if this is also distasteful to you.]

This story will take place on the same date as Chapter 3 about one after later.



April 22, 2022

Kylie Cooper turned off the laser and looked at the reading that the instrument had given her. Absolutely perfect.

Darren: So what’s the optical dispersion reading?

Kylie smiled at him smugly. She figured he had to be joking at this point, but she knew that his natural wonder always entertained the possibility that the results could be surprising.

Kylie: What do you think the reading is?

Darren: 0.044.

Kylie: Yep.

Darren: Hot damn!

Kylie: You act surprised. We’ve been consistent every single time. We’ve got this down to a science now. This IS science. Do you keep expecting something different?

Darren: I just think science is awesome. Obviously I’m here because I think science is awesome. I understand how it works, but I’m always wondering if we made a mistake or maybe the instruments aren’t calibrated properly.

Kylie: Oh ye of little faith. I don’t make mistakes. And I checked the instruments beforehand. The natural cerussite sample tested at 0.055. The rutile sample tested at 0.28. Which was within spec.

Darren: Hey. I was never doubting you. I just think it’s cool as hell.

Kylie loved Darren’s cheerful exuberance and wonder. She loved science also, but she found it difficult to get excited by things that she fully understood. She had been enamored the first time she had seen pure potassium dropped into water only to explode. But now that she understood the chemical reaction, it no longer sparked wonder in her. It was simply something that happened. But Kylie was somebody who was constantly searching for wonder and awe and astonishment in her life. That’s why she preferred to work on projects that she didn’t fully understand. She wanted to study things that science didn’t have a full grasp on yet. And the lab that she was currently in often offered her the opportunity to do that. The equipment that was around her was state of the art. The work that she was doing was something that normally only graduate students got to work with. But she and Darren were two chemistry majors that had been deemed gifted enough to warrant special lab work under the tutelage of Dr. Lawrence Kinkaide. The credits that she was currently earning would easily apply towards a graduate degree and she was going to get a major leg up in her quest for what she really wanted: the opportunity to change the world.

She and Darren were currently studying synthetic diamonds. They were testing all aspects of the lab grown gemstones and comparing them to those of naturally occurring diamonds which had been mined out of the ground after over a billion years of being formed by immense pressure. The synthetic diamonds that she was working with were able to grow in 6 to 10 weeks. And they were chemically identical to nature’s version. Only exponentially more efficient. And the practical applications of the science was astonishing. The financial practicality that was driving this research came because diamonds were a precious commodity that was very lucrative. But diamonds had such numerous and far-reaching applications. Their hardness, optical dispersion, and chemical stability were all important factors. And the fact that they had such high thermal conductivity while also having negligible electric conductivity made them exceedingly useful and viable for all sorts of new innovations in tooling and electronics. But it was the diamonds application in space travel that most intrigued Kylie. If man ever wanted to truly be able to roam the galaxy in any sort of ubiquitous manner...we would need to harness the power of the diamond. And perhaps even improve upon it’s properties to protect us from radiation and create durable spacecraft components. It was in this respect that Kylie really hoped to make inroads. Diamonds were prized for their beauty. But she loved them for their toughness, their durability, and their practicality. She viewed herself the same way. She knew that she was a beautiful girl. She had excellent genetics. She had a slim but curvaceous figure, a cute face with a winning smile, and healthy, voluminous blonde hair. And she was fine with the fact that these attributes brought her favor and acknowledgement. But she wanted to be valued for her toughness and grit and brilliance.

She logged the readings from the last test into the computer and mentally started preparing herself to prep the lab for the comparison between the chemical vapor deposition samples and the ultrasound cavitation samples. She could hear Darren already getting the necessary instruments ready. Then she heard the door in front of her swing loudly open. She looked up abruptly to see two masked men bursting through the door. They were covered from head to toe in black. Black long sleeved shirts, black pants, black gloves, black shoes, and black balaclavas covering their faces. Each of them held a handgun in their right hand. Her blood started to run cold and a terrifying lump started to form in her throat. She eyed the two men with growing trepidation as the larger of the two locked eyes with her and made a beeline towards her with his gun raised in her direction.

Hard Place: Either one of you motherfuckers makes a move or reaches for anything and I’ve got a bullet with your fucking name on it! I’ve got an itchy trigger finger and I haven’t had the chance to kill anybody in like a week. Don’t test me!

Kylie felt her vision starting to go black around the edges. Her breathing quickened substantially as she began to feel herself hyperventilating. Oh God. She was going to die. This was it. She thought she had her whole life ahead of her. But the barrel of the gun that was pointed directly at her was going to take that away at any second. She saw that in his left hand he was holding a roll of duct tape. He kept his gun locked on her though.

Hard Place: You! Blondie! Put your fucking hands behind your back!

Clearly he was talking to her. She was blonde. Darren had jet black hair. He was looking right at her. The man was not a tall man. He probably only had a couple inches on Kylie, who stood 5’8”. But he was stocky and muscular. And as he reached her, the intimidation that permeated off of him made her imagine that he was 2 feet taller than her. She was frozen in place. She couldn’t move. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. But she registered that she was taking rapid breaths at a much more frenetic pace than normal. She was barely cognoscente of the fact that she was crying until she felt a tear roll down and hit the corner of her mouth. She could certainly feel her body trembling. Certainly her muscles were working. She was just not able to control them. She had heard his command. But she couldn’t make herself follow it.

Hard Place: I said, “Put your fucking hands behind your back, you stubborn bitch!”

Her vision went fully dark for a second before fading back into place. She could feel her knees knocking together as more tears began to flow out of her eyes. She heard a sort of inconsolable, incoherent whimpering and wondered where it was coming from. Before having the sudden realization that it was coming from her. She looked into the man’s dead black eyes, the only part of him that she could actually see. She saw them flare with anger. He thought that she was being insolent and disrespectful. She wasn’t. Her body had just stopped being able to respond to her. It was on auto-pilot. She knew she should put her hands behind her back and allow herself to be tied up. She knew that it wouldn’t be good. Without a sense of control, things could go from bad to worse depending upon the sadistic tendencies of the two men who had just broken into the lab. But she knew that the worse case scenario right now was taking a bullet to the head. She wanted to live. She wanted so badly to live. There was so much she hadn’t done. There was so much in life that she was looking forward to. She tried to tell her muscles to put her hands behind her back. But nothing happened. She saw the man raise his hand. Not the gun hand. That hand still had the gun pointed directly at her.

Hard Place: Fine!! You wanna do this the hard way, missy!! Be my fucking guest!!!

He raised the hand with the duct tape. He reared it back and swung it forward and down at her face. She heard the sharp, terrified yelp that escaped her lips as he brought the hand with the tape down in a direct route to her face. She braced for impact and could almost taste the sting of the thump on her cheek. She could almost taste the blood in her mouth. But the collision never happened. Right before impact Darren’s arm shot into her field of vision and knocked the angry armed assailant’s hand off course.

Darren: Relax, man!!! Can’t you see she’s in shock!! She’s having a fucking panic attack!! We’re going to cooperate. We’re no threat to you. Take whatever you want!!

The man stumbled backwards a pace as Darren’s deflection had stopped him from walloping Kylie across her face.

Hard Place: Big mistake, kid!!

Kylie then watched as the man raised his other hand. The one with the gun. She watched as he raised it and brought it back across his opposite shoulder before unleashing a vicious backhand that caught Darren right in the face. Darren did not block this one. Not even slightly. Kylie was having a somewhat out of body experience, but she did register the piercing scream as being her own. She clearly saw her colleague get pistol whipped across the face. She heard the sickening thump and then saw Darren double over and crumple onto the floor. She looked down and saw blood starting to flow from a laceration on the side of his face. He had not gone unconscious, but was groaning painfully. He tried to climb to his knees. She saw a tendril of bloody saliva trickle from his mouth. And then the large angry man in front of her kicked him squarely in the ribs and Darren let out a pained grunt and slumped back to the floor.

Hard Place: Jesus! I thought college kids were supposed to be smart!! I’ve just barged in on the dumbest couple of nitwits I’ve ever seen!! They can’t even follow directions. I’m holding a gun. You both will do what I say! When I say it! Because I’m the one that said it!

The angry man turned to his partner and gruffly pointed at Kylie.

Hard Place: Watch her! I don’t want her making any moves.

He then knelt down next to the battered Darren and began aggressively duct taping him. He wrenched Darren’s hands behind his back as Darren let out a belabored protest while still wheezing from the unprotected kick to the ribs. He crossed Darren’s wrists, pressed the duct tape to his wrists, and then began rapidly wrapping his wrists several times. After almost a dozen rotations he switched course and started cinching the duct tape between the bindings and then wrapped several more times in a figure eight pattern to really make sure that Darren couldn’t free his wrists. She looked up at the man’s partner that was supposed to be watching her. He really wasn’t. I mean. He was looking towards her. But he looked almost as pained as she did. He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with her. And he had an uneasy posture about him as he kept glancing down to watch his partner’s work on Darren. He was clearly feeling uncomfortable and guilty about what was happening right now. But he hadn’t even bothered to say a word. She hadn’t even heard his voice yet.

Kylie just stood there petrified as she watched the angry man thoroughly secure Darren with duct tape. He tightly wound duct tape around her friend’s torso, pinning his arms cruelly behind him. He then wound numerous bands of tape around Darren’s legs at various intervals. They were going to die. Kylie was sure of it. She was helplessly floating through her last minutes on Earth and her sense of self-preservation was abandoning her. She just watched in horror as Darren became a helplessly restrained captive at her feet. When he’d finished taping Darren’s ankles, the man pulled a rag out of his pocket and brought it to Darren’s face. He gave Darren a hard slap to elicit a yelp.

Darren: Aaahhhh—mmmmmmmppppphhhhhh!!!!!!!!

The man then quickly shoved the rag into Darren’s mouth and pushed it back so that it packed her co-workers mouth fully. He then grabbed the roll of duct tape and forcefully started winding it around the poor guy’s mouth, pushing the rag down and sealing his mouth shut. Darren furiously grunted as the man did this but the man’s remorseless nature was unswayed by Darren’s desperate, angry protests. Once he had wrapped the tape around Darren’s head approximately a half dozen times he tore it off and stood up.

Darren: Hhmmmmmmmpppphhhhh nnnnnnnmmmmmpppphhhhh mmmmmmmpppphhhhhhh mmmmpppphhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Hard Place: Now, you, Blondie. Do as you’re fucking told!!!

He grabbed her violently by the shoulder and jerked her around to face him. She could no longer see Darren or his partner. She was simply left to stare up into the cruel eyes of a broad shouldered, domineering madman wearing a balaclava and holding a gun. Kylie whimpered pathetically as he looked her over.

Hard Place: Remove your shirt.

Oh God. He was going to have his way with her. He wanted her body. He wanted to defile her. Kylie had fooled around with guys before. But she was still a virgin and the thought that she might have saved herself for this was too much to bare. She began to sob and sniffle as he grew impatient that she was not doing as he said yet again. Finally she felt her lips move and a single word escaped her mouth. It was gentle and barely audible. But she heard it and so did he.

Kylie: Please…

The man appeared not to hear her. But did seem to notice something that his partner was trying to communicate behind her. She dared not turn around. She hadn’t heard the other man say anything, but the savage brute in front of her addressed him nonetheless.

Hard Place: I’m not going to. I just only brought one rag. I need something to shove in her mouth. Tape itself will only make her less discernable. It’s not going to keep her that much quieter. I don’t want anybody to find them until we’re long gone. Now, sweetie, take off your fucking shirt. If I have to ask again, you’re not going to like what happens next.

Kylie felt her body rack with sobs as she whimpered and blubbered. Her hands were shaking like an old, overloaded dryer. But she managed to bring them down to the hem of her shirt and grabbed a handful of the thin, red, cotton T-Shirt that she was currently wearing. She pulled it up over her head and stripped it off. She was now standing there in front of this depraved maniac in a pair of jeans and white plunge bra. No sooner had she removed her T-Shirt than the man in front of her snatched it from her. Kylie then watched in muted horror as the man took her shirt in his big, beefy hands and grabbed a sleeve with one hand and the bulk of her shirt with then other. Then with a viciously aggressive jerk of both his arms he yanked the shirt in opposite directions. She heard it rip along the seam of the shirt’s sleeve. The man continued to wrench at her shirt until the sleeve was entirely detached. And before she knew it, he had balled up the sleeve into his fist and was holding it menacingly in front of her mouth. She pressed her lips tightly closed. Not wanting the let the piece of cloth enter her mouth. The man had probably been right. Nobody would be able to hear her with the cloth in her mouth. This lab wasn’t scheduled to be used again for almost 36 hours. What would happen to her and Darren and if they were left there for that long? Would they die of thirst or exposure? Even if these two psychos weren’t planning to shoot them first.

Hard Place: Open up, sweetheart.

She did not open her lips. She kept them closed. And then she felt the cold muzzle of his pistol gently drawing an ever widening spiral around her exposed naval. The reminder of the gun was too much to take. Tears began to stream out of her eyes anew.

Hard Place: Either this sleeve goes into your mouth or a bullet goes into your gut. Your choice.

She let out a soft whimper but opened her mouth reticently and felt the man shove the cloth firmly into her oral cavity. He was not particularly gentle about it. He used his fat, beefy fingers to push it deeper into her mouth and pressed it back so that it wedged into her cheeks. He had no qualms about rubbing his gloved fingers all over her lips as he did so. The gloves were oily and made her want to gag. Her shirt sleeve also tasted strongly of sweat. She wore anti-perspirant, but it was a late spring day in San Diego. And she’d been sweating out in the hot sun as she’d gone about her day earlier. Her pits had definitely sweat and she could taste the salty perspiration on her tongue as the cloth that had once been her sleeve mashed her tongue down to the floor of her mouth. She cringed and mewled into the repurposed garment. As if on cue, the man took the roll of tape and began to wind it tightly around her head. Before doing so he pressed one hand down on top of her head and one hand up under her chin and tried to push her jaw closed as best he could. The cloth in her mouth was just a little too big for her to close her mouth fully around it. A little bump of red protruded from her lips. But that didn’t stop the sticky duct tape from adhering tightly to her skin and pressing the cloth down and back as the man rotated her head several times. She was crying and begging with purpose now. But her pleas were falling on deaf ears.

Kylie: Nnnnnnmmmmmmpppppphhhhhhh!!!!! Nnnnmmmmppppphhhhhh!!!!! Hhmmmmppppphhhhhh mmmmmmpppppphhhhh!!!!!!

She dared not reach up and try to stop him. She’d seen where that had gotten Darren. After eight rotations around her head the man ripped off the tape and smoothed it down menacingly against her cheek. He then placed his big meaty paw on her shoulder and spun her around rapidly, pulling her arms sharply behind her back as he did so. She was terrified of what he was going to do and shrieked into the gag. But she could hear that it came out as little more than a muted moan.

Kylie: Mmmmmmpppphhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

The man pulled her wrists together and crossed them and Kylie could feel herself slipping into darkness as he began to tightly tape her wrists together. The fields of her vision started to creep in and her head went hazy. A massive spell of dizziness overcame her and her world started to spin. The creeping dread of impending doom entered her mind again and it was all she could do to keep herself present and in the room. She felt like she was going to pass out. She had the sensation of floating, as though she was watching the scene from above her own body. She vaguely noted Darren on the floor in front of her now. He was squirming angrily in his bonds and was still fully conscious, though the amount of blood on the floor next to him was concerning for her. The site of the blood made her swoon all over again. She felt like she was going to faint. She concentrated on taking big, labored breaths through her nose. One. Exhale. Two. Exhale. Three. Exhale. Four…