Captive (Social Experiments #1) (2 page)

Yvonne and I became best friends in high school, but we’ve never been more than that. I thought rooming together would be fun. That maybe, just maybe, she’d look at me as more than a pal. Instead, she goes through boyfriends as often as she does shoes.

This guy is the current flavor of the school term, and when this semester ends, she’ll probably be with some other creep who doesn’t matter. They’re all the same usually, and I can’t really bear to watch it anymore.

But I do, because these assholes make her happy and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just a friend. The guy who picks up all the pieces every time one of them shits all over her and fucks up her world. I’ll keep doing it as needed to repay the debt I owe from high school. She saved my life.

“And you need some time away from the computer.”

“A thesis doesn’t write itself,” I said, patiently as usual.

It’s a short drive into downtown Boston where Yvonne wants to meet her boyfriend. Greg is a typical jock without a future. He doesn’t play ball well enough for a team to scout him. He’ll graduate in a couple weeks with a useless Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Food Studies. In a year, he’ll be peddling protein powder to desperate people looking for a miracle diet.

Not that I have room to speak while earning a Master’s in Psych. It’s my second degree. Originally I planned to dive into an impressive career in Forensic Science, become an FBI agent, do good, and save lives. I quickly became disillusioned with law enforcement and took up a new major.

Working with people and studying the human brain fascinates me. People can be broken, molded, and reshaped into something new. Yvonne calls it boring. As a medically inclined student, she prefers a more hands on style than conversation and therapeutic tinkering. She doesn’t understand the science behind cognitive studies.

I do.

The human brain is a biological computer. You can program it to believe almost anything. Although Yvonne doesn’t understand my fascination, she does try to humor me at the best of times.

“Thanks for the ride, Jake. Greg’s gonna bring me back.”

Yvonne kissed my cheek and left the cab of the pickup. Without a backwards glance to me, she jogged to the asshole awaiting her and dragged him down into a kiss. A vicious stab of jealousy chiseled away another piece of my heart.

I’m forgotten already.

She no longer cared I was there, so I drove off and returned home to resume the tedious work on my assignment. Her cat was still asleep. Thank goodness for small favors.

But I couldn’t work. Yvonne filled my thoughts and fantasies. Eventually, Greg would show his true colors like the men before him, and I’d have a job to do.

***

The walls in the brownstone’s upper levels are paper thin. Thanks to the placement of her bedroom directly over mine, I’m no stranger to the sounds of Yvonne’s cries in the middle of the night. Her pleas for more and seductive entreaties are the reason I haven’t moved down to the basement to escape midnight interruptions to my sleep. Despite the quirks and our hardships, I’ve never regretted inviting her into my home. What I
do
regret, is that I’m not the one above her. Greg’s grunts sound like a boar rutting at a sow, but her moans quickly aroused my own hunger. I hadn’t had a girlfriend since dumping Gloria before Christmas and getting her fingers out of my pockets.

The mattress yielded a final creak and silenced, indicating Greg finished first as usual. For the first time since entering her room, they quieted down for a verbal exchange too low for my ears to discern the words.

I shook my head, hoping he used a rubber this time. I don’t have the money lying around to loan Yvonne for another Plan B.

Eventually, once I resisted the temptation to phone Gloria for a pity fuck, I fell into a difficult, uneasy sort of sleep and spent the rest of the morning in my tangled sheets.

A few scattered rays of sunlight slipped through the wooden slats covering my window. I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom. Sometimes it took time for the ancient water heater to negate the chill, so I left it on full blast for a while to warm up as I made the bed.

The foggy mirror greeted me when I re-entered the tidy and organized bathroom to strip down. I’m not a bad looking guy, but I’ve been in better shape. According to Yvonne, my flat stomach was the best trait of my lean physique, and I happen to agree with her there. My body is a work in progress, improved drastically since my high school days of pudgy misery. I have to bust my ass for every pound of muscle added to my lanky frame.

According to my driver’s license, I’m 6’1, but it’s probably more like 6’2 since I’m working on my slouch. It’s a bad habit I’ve almost completely defeated.

The hot water cascaded over me once I stepped beneath the steaming shower head. It washed away my worries, providing a short-lived comfort. I had bigger problems to tackle today, especially when it came to handling my dwindling personal finances and looming graduation. I liked to keep money in the bank without relying on what my mom and dad’s insurance policies left me.

I couldn’t work at Animal Kingdom forever, and I certainly didn’t plan to survive the doctoral program ahead of me by living just above the minimum wage.  Yvonne had another thing coming if she thought she could mooch off of me once she passed her state board exam and became a productive, employed member of society.

Yvonne… Her name whispered through my thoughts, bringing with it the fantasies of her bedtime attire. Her tiny shorts, the off the shoulder tops, and the nightshirts that barely skimmed her ass.

About a half hour later, I emerged unshaven and scruffy.

“About time you came out, sleepyhead. I made bacon,” Yvonne greeted me. Her green eyes twinkled. For one heart-pounding second, I felt as if she understood how much I wanted and craved her.

“Thanks.”

Yvonne wore her dark hair twisted into a sloppy updo, but a few strands escaped the bun to tickle her cheeks. An oversized fuchsia sweatshirt hung off of her shoulders, revealing a nude bra strap. I impulsively adjusted it. Over the years, Yvonne and I had acquired a certain kind of comfort with each other, courtesy of the friendzone. I squeezed her tits once and asked when she’d gotten a boob job, but she’d only laughed and playfully swatted my hands.

“Don’t you have class today?” I asked. “Kinda late in the semester to start skipping.”

“Shush you. It’s an evening class in a couple hours and our last one. Don’t worry.” She winked at me and poked my cheek with one finger. “Aren’t you going to shave, or are you trying to fit in with the rest of the hairy beasts at the training center?”

“I shaved two days ago.” Maneuvering around her to enter the kitchen assaulted me with the smell of buttery eggs and mouthwatering bacon. Yvonne may be ignorant when it comes to men, but she knew her way around a kitchen. And she used that skill like a weapon.

“The scruff suits you.” She spooned scrambled eggs onto my plate next to the fried pork.

“Okay, what’s up. You made breakfast, complimented me, and you haven’t rushed out the door.” I paused a second, granting her time to develop a genuinely confused expression. “Payday isn’t until next Thursday if you planned to ask for a loan.” And the rent money I collected from the other tenants evaporated as quickly as I received it. Our building needed a lot of work to repair the crumbling brick and mortar, old plumbing, and bad wiring.

“What makes you think I need money?” Her tone was too sharp; I was spot on.

“You only cook for me when you want something in return.”

“That is completely untrue,” she grumbled. Yvonne made a show of dishing up her own plate, but I knew her too well. Her jaw tightened and the gears whirred in her head.

To be honest, I don’t think Yvonne does it to be malicious. She’s self-centered, but she never intentionally causes me heartache. I did that all on my own by setting my sights too high on a girl beyond my reach.

Approaching the issue from another angle, I craftily reworded my inquiry. “What do you need to buy?”

“It’s nothing important.”

“C’mon, Yvonne. What do you need?”

“Well…” She twisted a dark curl around her finger. “There’s a pair of knee-high boots I want to get...”

Boots. No surprise. I rolled my eyes. A few mental calculations confirmed that I could help her without breaking the bank, so I drew out my wallet and parted the leather for a look.

I was wrong. I didn’t have enough cash on hand for her expensive tastes, not without giving her my last dollar. “Well…”

“It’s just that if I buy them I won’t have enough left for anything else next month, you know?”

Joy. “Look… I know you spent a lot of money on your rescue, so why don’t you just give me half of rent next month, alright? Fair?” Yvonne didn’t pay much. Four hundred dollars a month, while I covered the bills and the rest of our expenses. We went in together on groceries and divided the duties in the kitchen. When she visited one of her clinical sites, I cooked something out of a package. If I worked, she cooked. If we returned exhausted after a long day of work and class, we ordered something sinfully greasy from the local pizzeria or ate leftovers.

“You’re the best, Jake.” Her kiss to my cheek brightened my mood a little, but it fell just as quickly when she grabbed her purse and rushed off to shop. I finished my breakfast and handled the dishes she left behind. Thirty minutes later I headed for the door, planning to make a jog around the block.

Miss James waited patiently in the lobby with her hand raised to knock. Dark auburn hair framed her freckled, smiling face. I’d never met a happier, friendlier woman, but she worked long and hard hours while her eight year old attended school. Since she lived alone with him, I let Sam hang out with me for a snack if the school bus dropped him off before his working mother made it home.

They lived in the third floor apartment.

“Hey, Miss James.” My eyes drifted down to the boy at her side. “How are you, Sam? No school today?”

“Doctor’s appointment,” she replied for her son. “His asthma’s been flaring up.”

“Are those new filters helping any at all?” When I learned about her kid’s medical issue, I budgeted special filters for her AC intake from the building’s repair funds.

“Yeah, they are, thanks. It’s just the season, you know? All the pollen and stuff.”

“So, what can I help you with? Something broken?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I made a huge batch of chowder last night. More than Sam and I can eat, anyways. Guess I got overly ambitious with my new slow cooker.” She laughed and blew a curl out of her face. “I was wondering if you’d like some.”

“Oh.” The offer shouldn’t have surprised me since Miss James always brought down stuff. Cookies, homemade bread, chocolate dipped fruits. Turned out she sold baked goods and candies online as a small side job to help make ends meet. I was a happy test subject for her new recipes, but this was the first time she’d offered a meal. “Sure, I’d love that. Thanks.”

“Great. I’ll drop some off after his appointment. Okay?”

“Sounds good. I’ll be here. You two drive safe now.” I ruffled Sam’s brown hair and received a small but tired smile in return. Poor kid.

The three of us stepped outside into the balmy May air. I waved them off before I put my earbuds in and started up my music. A run was the perfect medicine to clear my head and help me devise a way to meet financial obligations over the long summer.

Chapter 2

“Oh yeah, baby, right there. Harder. Harder!”

Gloria’s bottom was her best attribute, showcased by the bent position giving me a perfect view. My ex-girlfriend likes sex hard and fast. She likes dirty talk. Sex had never been our issue. Her conniving ways and greedy tactics had even spurred Yvonne, the High Maintenance Queen, to warily voicing a concern.

I had to cut Gloria loose. Financially, she bled me dry quicker than any vampire. Quicker than Yvonne, too. At least my roommate gave something back occasionally.

Gloria’s tits bounced and swung wildly to the frenetic tempo of my thrusts. I crashed my hips into her perfectly round ass again and again, impaling her on my dick. My sweats pooled around my ankles, and her short summer dress was flipped above her waist. We hadn’t even bothered to strip down completely.

And to think I’d only entered her apartment for a glass of water. My t-shirt clung to me now, sticking against my shoulders and back. I’d feel miserable if I wasn’t balls deep in a gorgeous girl, making her scream my name. A shower could wait.

For now, I gripped a handful of her dress and tugged downward, spilling her full breasts against my bare palms. Gloria’s tits were a little too perfect to be genuine, higher and perkier than possible for their size. To my wandering hands, they were as good as the real deal. I squeezed them roughly and teased one sensitive nipple between my index and middle digits. My other hand descended to tease the hot junction of our bodies by fingering her clit.

“God, Jake. Don’t stop, baby.”

Gloria had this thing she did - the kind of thing that made her pussy almost feel like a vice. I’d always imagined it was like fucking a tight little virgin, only there was nothing innocent about the things she did to me during our relationship.