Good Intentions (9 page)

and using his hands would draw attention. “Yeah, actual y,” she smiled. “I lost a little weight and decided to treat myself to a few new things.” His mother winked at him. His mother never winked at him. It seemed innocent enough. Not exactly flirty so much as maybe confident or conspiratorial. But winking just wasn’t in her non-verbal vocabu— —thwarted in the effort to spread his thighs, those hands slipped further up to run over the now painful bulge that strained against his pants. “Do I look good?” Michel e asked innocently, turning this way and that. She was completely oblivious to her son’s distress. “You do. I mean, yeah, Mom, you look…look, uh, nice? Great. You look great. Uh, but…your skirt’s not…” he swal owed. “Not zipped.” “Oh. Could you help with that?” she asked absently, staying turned away from him. Oh God, that ass, his mind screamed in panic. He reached over to take hold of her skirt and zip it for her with trembling, embarrassed hands. So wrong. The task finished, Michel e turned back to him and said, “Thank you,” with a pleasant smile. Alex turned away, staring wide-eyed at his cereal bowl. Michel e hardly noticed. So very wrong. “You were out really late on Monday night. What were you up to?”

“Yeah. Just. Um. Photography homework. I didn’t want to leave it until the last minute.” Lorelei’s hands, merciful y, returned to merely caressing and groping his thighs. “Is that why you were dead asleep when I came home?” Michel e asked. “I felt kind of bad. I made a bit of a racket when I got in. hell , I even had the stereo on in the living room before I realized you were probably asleep.” “Didn’t, um, hear a s-sound,” Alex shrugged. “Well , I guess it’s good that you aren’t procrastinating on schoolwork. You don’t even have your next photography class again until Friday, don’t you?” Alex shook his head. “Anything new at work?” “Not…real y?” His mother shrugged. “Well , we’ve got clients coming in today. They’l probably want to go out to some bar or something afterwards. Salespeople,” she said, rol ing her eyes. “Tuh-tricksy,” he gulped, “tricksy people.” “Yeah.” “Just terrible, going out to a bar. Some nice, handsome guy might make a pass at you. Try to get your phone number or ask you out. Dangerous stuff.” “Oh. Pfff. Sure,” Michel e blushed. “Anyway, I might be home late.” “Well ,” Alex said, trying to blink away the sensations overwhelming him for just a moment of seriousness, “if you have a couple drinks and you’re not sure about driving, don’t feel bad about calling me for a ride home. I’l come get you. It’s okay.” Michel e shrugged. “Sure, honey. I’ve got to go.”

“Um, Mom? Your shirt’s not buttoned al the way.” She looked down at herself. “Oh, you’re right. Yikes,” she mumbled. In the process of fixing it, Michel e inadvertently flashed more black lace at Alex rather than less. His eyes snapped away to stare pointedly at his cereal bowl. With her shirt finally fixed, she didn’t look so overtly sexy. Just pretty and vibrant and well put-together…but Alex knew more than that, and was utterly mortified by it. Michel e paused to bend over a bit and give Alex a kiss on the forehead. His eyes snapped shut and stayed that way. “Have a good day!” she waved on her way out. As soon as she was gone, Alex relaxed in his seat. Anything they had to say could wait ‘til Lorelei had whatever she wanted. Chapter 6

Chicks Dig Me?

“Ah, yeah, can you please put the cel phone away?” “What? It’s not bothering anybody!” “It’s bothering me, so please step outside. I shouldn’t have to ask twice. This isn’t high school.” Professor Lyons was an older, soft-spoken man. His comb-over, high pants and buttoned-to-the-col ar short sleeve shirt gave him the look of a NASA engineer from the early sixties.

The muscular youth grunted in disgust. His phone was still flipped open, and he was still texting. “Man, people keep sayin’ that shit here.” “What, they keep having to remind you that you’re not in high school anymore? There’s a shock,” Alex snorted. He sat in the next aisle of desks over, just one seat back. Glaring at Alex, the other student loomed out of his desk to make sure Alex knew which of them was bigger. “Oh, you want some of this?” “I want better dialogue out of you first.” “Please leave my class,” Professor Lyons said with a more firm tone. He clearly wasn’t big on confrontations like this, but after three classes of obnoxious behavior from the guy, he couldn’t ignore it anymore. “I’l have you dropped from the roster. There’s no more reason for you to stay.” “I need this class!” the student roared. Lyons instinctively took a step back. “You could always transfer across town,” Alex offered. The offending student turned on Alex. “Fuckin’ little shit, you want a piece of me?” “No, I want you to leave. We al paid to be in this class.” As he spoke, he saw Professor Lyons getting on the phone at the front of the classroom. He was doubtlessly calling security. Alex remained in his seat. Better keep T-Mobile Boy distracted so Lyons doesn’t have to deal with him, he thought. Probably took everything the poor guy had in him to go this far with it. That said, Lyons had stepped up to the problem now, and Alex felt a need to help deal with it. “I don’t see nobody else complaining.” T-Mobile Boy waved his hand around. Surely enough, no one else had said anything, but they were al watching the train wreck unfold. “Well , clearly I’m the only one dumb enough to try to use words with you,” Alex shrugged.

“You wanna go, asshole? I’l tear your fuckin’ head off and shit down your neck!” “No,” Alex said, doing his best to stay steady and calm. He kept his hands flat on the desk to prevent them from shaking. His helmet was in easy reach, which would make a decent weapon if this did get crazy. “I want you to leave so we can finish class. This isn’t high school.” “Mother fucker!” T-Mobile Boy roared, throwing up both his hands and then hurling his cel phone to the floor. It smashed into a dozen pieces. Alex looked down at it, then up at the other guy. He couldn’t resist: “You broke your little phone,” he deadpanned. The face in front of him twisted in rage. “Punk ass faggot bitch, I’mma break you if I see you outside!” “I’m not going to get in fights outside at lunch. That’s childish. This is a college.” T-Mobile Boy’s muscles flexed and his arms waved around in building anger. “You better fuckin’ walk the fuck away from me,” he demanded, “or—” “If you were going to attack me, you’d have done it already. And then you’d be arrested, and probably go to jail and get bounced out of school altogether. Clearly you aren’t that stupid. Just leave. Nobody here cares.” There was a long moment in which T-Mobile Boy made a show of trying to restrain himself. Alex sat through it, mainly wanting to drag this out until campus security got there, but he needn’t have worried. The other student finally turned back to his desk, grabbed his knapsack and—after shoving his textbook and notebook off his desk—began to walk out. Professor Lyons was already off the phone and conveniently several steps away from the door. When the storm had passed, the professor took a long, deep breath and then slowly released it to steady himself. He wasn’t the only one. finally, he turned back to face the class, specifically Alex. “Folks, things like that really shouldn’t happen here. But if they do, you need to let me handle it.” Alex held up his hands apologetical y. “I’m sorry, professor.”

Lyons took another deep breath and shook his head. “That’s al right, just… don’t do it again,” he said. With that, campus security arrived, providing another brief interruption. As they talked, Alex mused, I’ve seen that dipshit’s girlfriend. Morons like him don’t deserve hot ass like that. I should get her away from him and fuck her brains out. His mind was flooded with the image of her bent over the hood of her car, with Alex holding one of her legs in the air as he took her from behind. She moaned in appreciation. She might decide she could go out and find someone better after she’s had a good… …holy shit, why am I thinking like this? * School was easier than work had been the day before. That was a bit of a surprise, given that there were dramatically more young, attractive women on campus than there were in the office—perhaps not per capita, but certainly in raw numbers. There wasn’t the air of professional formality here, either, nor a business casual dress code. It was an overcast morning—Seattle often was by late September—but it was warm enough that there were still summer fashions to be seen and enjoyed. That said, Alex was at least capable of thinking about things other than what the women around him were wearing, how much fun it would be to crawl al over them and so forth. He was still getting stared at and unnecessarily bumped into. He got that even as he left his philosophy class, where two different girls just had to tel him that his dealing with the loudmouth had been really hot. From there he wandered over to the Student Center to kil the next hour between classes. Clearly, he was still catching many an eye, but now it was easier to get over. He had to chalk up his comfort and ease to the marathon of supernaturally powered sex he’d just enjoyed. Alex had lost track of al the orgasms Lorelei had given him last night and al the pleasure in between, let alone the pair of

times she’d gotten him off this morning. It had done a lot to clear his head and relieve stress. Amid everything else in his mind was a profound feeling of gratitude for al that… …but also a sense of trepidation about where it was al going. “I know you had something to do with that,” he had said to Lorelei before he left. He was dressed, busy cleaning up from breakfast, and utterly mortified. “With what?” “My mother,” Alex frowned sourly. “Oh. Yes. Perhaps a little. Don’t you think she’s happy to look so good?” “That’s not—that’s not the point! I asked you not to do anything to her! And why would you mess with me like that?” Lorelei’s mouth spread into a slow smirk, and she said, “You didn’t want me to harm her, or you. I have done neither.” Alex’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to be mad at her. Didn’t want to have a hostile relationship. But this… “Alex,” Lorelei ventured, “I have not harmed your mother in any way, nor done anything to her to which she would strongly object. You wanted her to ignore my presence. In arranging this, she does fall somewhat under the sway of my powers, and that has some…side effects. But as I have said, she is unharmed. “She is fitter now. More confident. And yes, as you noticed, sexier. She seems quite happy.” Fuming a bit, Alex pressed, “She wouldn’t object strongly?” Lorelei tilted her head thoughtful y. “Like anyone, Michel e would doubtlessly not appreciate being deceived or manipulated, but…I believe that if our situation were brought out into the open for her, she would eventually come to terms. At worst, she might be a bit shocked or embarrassed at what has occurred, but she would adjust without

trauma. I believe she would even be happy for you.” They looked at one another for a long, tense moment. He didn’t feel any more at ease. Lorelei’s confident demeanor faded a bit until she finally said in a soft, calm yet almost pleading voice, “I cannot lie to you, Alex. I cannot hurt you. I only meant for some harmless fun.” That cracked Alex’s anger. He sighed, trying to release the rest. “You keep calling me that, but I don’t really feel like I have a whole lot of control here.” Her sly, seemingly affectionate smile returned, and she reached out to caress his cheek. “You offered trust and al owed me to keep some secrets. You had to know I’d be at least a little naughty.” Before he could open his mouth to speak, Lorelei asked, “Master, will you be late to your first class?” Her question had him headed out the door, of course. Despite his overwhelming desire to drag her upstairs and fuck her senseless until she had confessed whatever she had done, his mind screamed at him that he needed to hang onto some normalcy in his life. He couldn’t spend al day every day in bed with his will ing partner—though, given her ability to keep him going, he couldn’t really articulate why not. No. There was Lorelei, and despite how real she might be, there was also reality. Alex needed reality. He needed to stay grounded. He needed to tel that thin, brown-eyed brunette with the ponytail behind the snack bar that she was smoking hot, and that he looked for her every time he came in, and that if she thought he was being creepy he was really sorry and could think of a half-dozen great ways to make it up to her. Stop it. He paid for his sandwich and soda without saying much to her, though it was weird how she seemed happy to see him and never broke eye contact until he walked away. Alex wandered outside and found an open spot at a table alone. He doubted it would be hard to find a stranger who’d wellcome him to her table, but the thought of taking advantage of that creeped him out.

Someday, he might get used to pretty women fawning over him like this. He might even get to like it. No, he had to admit, he would definitely like it. But Alex didn’t want it to go to his head or to start believing that he was entitled to this sort of attention because he was somehow inherently awesome. The fact was, it was al just because he’d had a run-in with the supernatural… …and, as Lorelei had warned him last night, he might well have more. That was an unsettling thought. He had no idea who those people who’d kidnapped her and Rachel were, and Lorelei didn’t seem to know, either. At the very least, she hadn’t brought the subject up. But what if it happened again? She was weaker now than before. What if there were others who knew how to abduct angels and demons? Wouldn’t she be more vulnerable than she had been when it first happened? What if being with her endangered his mother? Or his friends? He was still getting used to Lorelei, and that was a secret, one-on-one arrangement. It couldn’t last like that. He couldn’t do that to her. If they were really going to be…friends, at least, she had to be able to come out in the open. Do things in public with him. Meet his friends. Meet Mom. None of them would want him to have to hide anything. Oh, he doubted that he’d be tel ing his friends about the whole demonsex-slave thing, of course, but they should at least know he had a…girlfriend? Friend with (astounding) benefits? Sex demon? I should just tel them the truth and then let them figure out I’m not fooling, he mused, but that wasn’t practical at al . Sticking his head in the sand was similarly impractical. Life had changed, and there was no changing it back. He pul ed out his cel phone, checked the time, and then made a cal . As he waited for a connection he spotted a rack containing various flyers and campus announcements. Among the papers was a copy of the current course schedule. It was only a week into the school year, still early enough to petition for changes. He grabbed one and started methodically going over his options.