Jackie still couldn’t figure out how she had made the grade. Sure, her resume was solid, but not great. Her answers on the application weren’t anything special. Even the ones that may have been construed as being a little too personal. Like the head and body shots she was required to include. She didn’t feel she had anything more to offer than the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other people who applied for the job.

The preliminary phone call was brief too. Some of the questions may have strayed into “none of your business” territory again, but she thought she answered them deftly and honestly without sounding put off by their intimacy.

Besides, she didn’t have anything to hide or be ashamed of. Certainly nothing that would affect her job performance. The interviewer evidently agreed or she wouldn’t be there, now, waiting outside Lorraine Tresh’s office.

She had been told to wait by one of the numerous staff members whose hand she shook. Another name forgotten. The receptionist-slash-secretary wasn’t around. The only other person seated in one of the comfy, leather chairs was a young woman—more like girl, Jackie thought—who didn’t even look up as she sat down.

The girl stared at the folder in her lap or at the floor, never once making eye contact. That was odd. Not even a hello. She clearly worked there, waiting to give the boss the file or have her sign whatever papers were inside and scurry off.

She looked cute in her maybe-too-short skirt with her maybe-too-prominently-displayed bust. Yet she didn’t seem all that interested in whether or not Jackie even noticed her. In fact, she had the look of someone about to skydive for the first time—excited anticipation mixed with unknowable fear.

The office door opened to the sound of Lorraine Tresh’s voice, commanding yet businesslike.

“He better get it finished by three o’clock, Sonya. See to it.”

“Yes, Ms. Tresh.”

Out strode a shapely redhead in a red dress, who breezed past leaving behind a faint whiff of sexually evocative perfume. Right away, Jackie could tell she was a maneater. She looked the part anyway. All sparkle and tease. Her quick over-the-shoulder glance at Jackie could have melted butter.

Jackie couldn’t help but watch the woman’s crimson ass swing like a heart-shaped pendulum as she continued through the open exit door and down the hallway.

Jackie sucked in a breath. She was a womaneater too.

A blonde head peeked out from the office as Jackie looked up.

“Ms. Evans?”

As Jackie stood, the blonde waved in the young woman first. Jackie paused long enough to give them some space before entering.

The office was immense. It took up the whole side of the building, large enough for three offices. Cherry wood everywhere, crown moulding, plush carpet, expensive couches and chairs. At its center was the wide, ornately hand-carved desk of Lorraine Tresh, uniformly cluttered.

And behind that, the icon herself.

A finger waggle drew the younger woman near and, after casting a critical eye on her employee’s appearance, took the folder and scanned it. Even from across the room, Jackie was more intimidated than she had ever felt before. Her presence hadn’t even been acknowledged, yet Jackie got the feeling she was being appraised as well.

Lorraine Tresh was a natural beauty, even at her age. Jackie thought she heard somewhere that Lorraine was in her fifties, but it was difficult to believe. She hardly wore any makeup, didn’t show the usual signs of cosmetic enhancements and kept her raven hair straight and close-cropped. Just some light mascara and red lipstick. She was even more beautiful in person, unadorned, than she was the countless times her glamorous face appeared in the magazine.

“Give this to Claire, she’s expecting it.”

She slapped the folder closed and handed it back to the girl, who half-curtsied before leaving. Jackie almost smiled. She did scurry off.

Jackie walked up to the desk, expecting another formal handshake, but Lorraine kept her eyes on some papers before her. Jackie assumed it was her application and resume. She started to sit, but caught a quick head shake from the blonde and straightened up again in front of the desk. And waited.

Jackie noticed a scent in the air of a burning candle, but didn’t see any around. It was a pleasant, flowery smell. More waiting. She fought the urge to fidget. The long pause was becoming unbearable. Then Lorraine looked over to the blonde casually.

“Daisy, get the Styvesant Group on the phone, I don’t care who you talk to. I want those loans cleared. And I mean today.”

“Yes, Ms. Tresh.”

“Then you can show Jacqueline around.” Jackie froze as eyes turned to her. “Or do you prefer Jackie? I see that’s how you sign your name.”

“Yes, uh, Jackie is good. Fine.” Jackie mentally cursed her stammering.

Lorraine lifted one of the pages and squinted as she studied it.

“Your pictures don’t do you justice, dear. And your birthday is December 21st?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“For now, call me Lorraine. The winter solstice. Not too far off. We have an annual party downstairs that evening.” Then with a startling bluntness: “You will come.”

“Of course. Thank you.”

“Let me see your hands.”

“My …?” Jackie slowly put them out, half expecting to have them bitten off. Lorraine pulled them to her, forcing Jackie forward a step. She turned them over and lightly brushed her palms.

“Very good. Daisy?”

Lorraine returned to her reading as Daisy gave Jackie a slight tug on her sleeve.

“I … I don’t understand. Wasn’t I supposed to have a job interview?”

Those deep blue eyes Jackie had seen a thousand times in print looked almost steel gray as Lorraine looked up.

“There is no interview, Jackie. You have the job. You’ll be one of my personal assistants. Like Daisy here. Although Daisy handles my business affairs. You’ll be taking care of everything else that comes along.”

Another tug.

“Oh, thank you. Thank you … Lorraine.”

“Now vanish. You have a lot to learn today.”

Jackie felt pulled along by Daisy and stutter-stepped back into the reception area. Daisy half-smiled, seeing Jackie’s bewildered expression.

“Welcome to WomaNation, Jackie. Let me make a couple of calls then show you around.”

Jackie was impressed. This wasn’t like any other place she had worked. No one was heard complaining or even sighing deeply. There was no chatter, no clatter. No raised voices. Lorraine … Ms. Tresh—Jackie was smart enough to realize that the informality was just test—had a top-notch staff. No wonder WomaNation was the envy of the industry. It struck Jackie, as she peeked into one of the offices, that the employees all acted like bees around a hive. Blind to everything but the task at hand.

“You drink coffee?”

“Sure, a little.”

Daisy led her to one of the break stations. Coffee and donuts. Jackie noticed there were break stations around every corner, although only a couple of people had been at them. She assumed they staggered their breaks.

“The coffee here is amazing,” Daisy said. “I tried to find out what brand it was but no one seems to know. Oh … and don’t overdo it on the donuts.”

The message was clear. Coffee was fine, but it wouldn’t be good for the company image to be scarfing down donuts. Jackie smiled to herself. She didn’t eat donuts anyway.

No one else did either, apparently. Everyone was fit and trim. And … all female.

“Hey, Daisy? Are there any men who work here?”

“Oh, sure, a few. We got our quotas too!” she said with a giggle. “There’s a guy in the layout department named Ernie, but, you know, he’s gay.”

She said gay as if he had some disease.

They chatted quietly, sipping their coffee. Daisy told her a little about her background—single, moved to the city last year. How happy she was. Then she stopped suddenly and her eyes dropped.

“Excuse me, ladies, can I squeeze in here?”

It was the woman in the red dress.

“Uh, sure.” Jackie made room. Daisy was frozen in place. Jackie noticed the woman’s cup was nearly full.

“I’m Sonya. And you are …?”

“Jackie.”

They shook hands politely. Sonya’s was ice cold, even after holding the mug.

“Ah. The new girl.”

Another look of appraisal.

“You must be something special to get moved to the front of the line,” Sonya said, reaching for the imitation sugar.

“I … I’m not sure about that. I came for a job on the copydesk and now I’m—”

Sonya cut her off. “Now, you’re one of Lorraine’s little pets.”

Jackie could almost hear the laugh in Sonya’s sultry voice. She wasn’t sure what to think about that.

“I don’t know if Daisy has told you yet, but I’m the office manager.”

“Oh! Well, okay! You certainly run a tight ship around here.”

“Yes. I believe in order. Drop by my office around two. I can fill you in on some particulars. Procedural matters.” She leaned in, lowering her voice. “Everyone has a job to do here, Jackie. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble fitting in.”

Sonya’s eyes snaked up to look at Daisy, unmoving. There was a smirk. “My office at two.”

As she walked away, Jackie felt as if a cloud had passed.

“What was that about?”

“Shhh … that’s Sonya,” Daisy whispered, her face flushed. “She … I … I have her old job. Before she got … promoted.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

Daisy looked up and down the hallway before whispering even more softly. “You’ll find out. Sometimes getting promoted isn’t the best thing, if you know what I mean.”

Jackie didn’t, but before she could ask more about it two women approached, laughing at some private joke.

“C’mon, Jackie. Let’s get back and I’ll show you around my … our office. Then you can start helping Ms. Tresh.”

The coffee was chocolatey, with a hint of nutmeg. Jackie didn’t drink coffee much, but Daisy was right—it was really good. No wonder there were so many break stations in the building. No problem being a coffee drinker here.

Then she noticed the seal on the mug. The words “WomaNation” proudly displayed above a familiar design. Off-center rings surrounding a woman’s blue eye, heavy with smoky eye shade and liner. And underneath, the magazines motto: “Know Your Place In The World.”

“Your desk is here, across from me,” Daisy said, reeling Jackie back in. “We’ll both answer the phones, but I handle the secretarial duties. You just do whatever Ms. Tresh asks. You can do that, can’t you, Jackie?”

It took her a moment to respond. Maybe it was all the caffeine. It made her jumpy at times and then passive as she came down from the sudden rush.

“Sure. Sure. Whatever she needs.”

“Super. You’ll do fine. I can help you with whatever you need to do for a while, since … well, you have my old job.”

It struck Jackie in that moment that something was off. Daisy and Sonya had shared an office, this office, for a year. Yet when they saw each other they acted like they were practically strangers.

Jackie vowed to herself that no matter what, she would try to be friends with Daisy. She looked like she could use an ally.

Jackie passed another break station—the coffee area tidily kept. Not a single donut removed from the platter beside it. Then she heard something.

Voices in unison, but nothing she could make out. It was chanting. It grew louder yet even more obscured. What she thought were words were more like sounds, then humming. Louder and louder still, until it was din of throaty noise.

Then it stopped, and the silence made her jump. Was there an intercom left on somewhere? Loudspeakers?

She heard another muffled sound, a voice, a grunt. She looked down the hall. She passed an office door and could definitely hear a woman inside. No, two women. And they sounded like … they sounded like they were having sex.

Jackie stopped at the door, quickly looking over her shoulder to see if anyone could tell she was eavesdropping. So, somebody here was having some fun. She smiled to herself. I wonder if Ms. Tresh knows about this! She’d been in offices with discreet interludes before, even though it seemed totally out of place in this very orderly, very sanitary place. A little dirty fun was actually welcomed. She relaxed a bit, then immediately felt dizzy.

The door to Sonya’s office at first appeared close, but as she took a step it pulled away, farther and farther. She tried to walk faster, but the faster she walked, the more distant the door seemed.

There was moaning in her ears again, it grew louder. Louder still—the moans, the thumping. So dizzy. She covered her ears, but the pulsing voices continued. She ran for the door, but the hallway tunneled. There was no way out. Faster and faster, louder and louder. Moans, the slapping of skin … there was laughter. She felt herself falling forward.

“Come in, Jackie.”

The door. Had she knocked?

Jackie couldn’t stop herself from shaking her head, trying to snap back to awareness, even as she entered the room. Had she been having a hallucination?

Sonya was behind her desk in the modest office. Jackie shuffled toward one of the two chairs in front of the desk. There was a long couch behind her that she had to side-step around. The office, to Jackie’s dulled surprise, was even smaller than the one she shared with Daisy. Not even decorated. Maybe Sonya hadn’t been here long. There were no personal touches, no plants, bare walls. The shades were drawn on the one window, keeping the room fairly dark.

“Can I get you some coffee? Sit.”

“Oh, no thank you. I’ve already had two. My limit. Besides, it’s kinda weirding me out with all the caffeine.”

Sonya laughed pleasantly. “That’ll change. Coffee drives the engine around here.”

“It’s really good. Just stronger than what I’m use to. I’ve never had coffee taste like that.”

Sonya tilted her head slightly, keeping eye contact with Jackie’s as it too tilted.

“Some Middle Eastern recipe, I’m told. But it is … addictive. Please sit.”

Jackie needed the armrest to help lower herself down. She felt as if she was sinking into it. She hadn’t been standing and walking all that much today, but she felt very tired. Maybe that’s why she had the weird experience in the hallway. She dared not tell Sonya that, however.

Sonya continued to smile, a becoming smile that Jackie’s heavy eyes fixed on. Did she just ask a question?

“What … what did you want me for, Sonya? It’s okay to call you Sonya, Sonya?”

Jackie blanched. She didn’t mean to make herself sound so … dumb.

“Oh, yes, we’re very informal here. I’m sure Daisy has filled you in on all your duties. As I told you, I am the office manager, so if you have any questions outside of that, I’m the one to see.”

“Thank you.”

Sonya was lovely. Sexy. Hot. She couldn’t understand why she was having these feelings, but just watching Sonya recline in her high-backed chair, casually crossing her legs, folding her hands … it made Jackie stare at her all the more. And she was staring. Sonya may not have the intimidating presence of Lorraine Tresh, but she was still intimidating. And sexy and hot and …

Sonya was talking, but Jackie’s mind began to drift. She was so tired. The caffeine must have been kicking in again though, because she felt her heart racing. She was getting turned on looking at this attractive woman.

Jackie didn’t normally think those thoughts, but they were hard to ignore. Sonya’s makeup, hair, the tight red dress—all exuded a simmering sexuality Jackie was unaccustomed to noticing. She’d never even been with another woman.

This woman looked like she could devour Jackie alive.

There was that smell again. Incense.

But … different. Jackie had barely noticed it in Lorraine’s office, but here … here it was much stronger as if it had been burning for days. And slightly acrid, like rubber. Jackie wanted to say something but her tongue felt swollen in her mouth.

“You seem tired, Jackie. I can imagine,” Sonya said softly. “All that running around today. I asked if you knew the company motto.”

It was impossible not to. Not only was it all over the magazine’s website, but it was everywhere in the offices—mugs, wall posters, stationery. Yet Jackie had trouble forming the phrase in her head. She could feel herself getting anxious, confused, although hanging above that was a sluggishness she couldn’t make sense of.

“Let me help you. Know your place …”

“Know your place in the world.”

Jackie visibly sighed with relief hearing the words out of her mouth.

“One more time?”

“Know your place … in the world.”

Her head began to float, the wisps of incense danced before her eyes like tiny clouds carrying her prone to a bed of smoke.

“Very good. We have another motto to remember, but perhaps now isn’t the best time to think about that.”

Jackie just looked at her dumbly. Is she going to say it? Did she? Did I miss …

“But you need to hear it, don’t you, Jackie?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Sonya is always right. Sonya knows best. Repeat that please, Jackie.”

“Sonya is always right. Sonya knows best.”

The words came out but Jackie couldn’t make sense of them.

“If you think that I am wrong, it is probably because you haven’t told me something important. In that case, you must tell me the important things, so that I can make the right decision. Does that make sense?”

“Yes?”

“If something Sonya says or does makes you unhappy or upsets you, it is because you do not understand.” Sonya’s face was very close. Her lips moving so very slowly. “Because who always knows best?”

Jackie tried to blink out a thought. It was there, in front of her.

“Sonya.”

“Yes. You are very fortunate to have this position in the company, Jackie. You didn’t think you’d get it. You didn’t think you deserved it. You felt like you weren’t good enough. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“So, you have to prove to me that you are good enough, so that you can become a perfect little pet for Ms. Tresh. It is okay if she or I want more than you or others, as long as Ms. Tresh still keeps you here. In fact, bringing others to Sonya is a way you can show your worth. Right? How does it feel to bring others to Sonya?”

She had a feeling of not feeling. Thinking of not thinking.

“Others … prove to you …”

“Yes. It is satisfying. It is rewarding. It means you are serving and being what type of girl?”

Parts of herself were shutting down. A word escaped her lips she hadn’t formed in her mind.

“Good?”

“Yes. A very good girl for me. A very good pet for Ms. Tresh. Everyone has an owner here, Jackie. And everyone here owns someone else.”

The room around her began to wobble, lines around the furniture blurred as if it were melting. It was surreal. An illusion. A fog. It was difficult to think about anything. She felt stoned. High as a kite and low as a weighted droplet on a weeping leaf.

“Remember, Jackie, no thinking is always the right thinking. Sonya knows best.”

Sonya’s expression hadn’t changed, although Jackie eyes dragged down across her neckline to her breasts, firm and inviting, down even more to her tapered waist.

Sonya ran her hands smoothly down the sides of her red dress as she straightened in her chair. The panicked confusion of Jackie’s mind contracted into a limpness she felt in her hands and feet. She suddenly felt nauseous. She saw the twinkles of stars in her vision. Don’t pass out! Where am I?

She felt herself walking—sleepwalking—to the couch. Sonya was at her elbow.

“Perhaps you should lie down, honey. You look peaked.”

“Yes.”

The sofa squeaked as she flopped onto it. Her body felt like rubber. She couldn’t move. The room had melted away. Red slid to the floor. A black bra close to her face. Then arms, many arms. Surrounded her. She felt her arms pulled wide by soft, cool hands. She didn’t see them but they were there on her.

She felt her breasts caressed, the touch of tongues to her skin. The smell of women. So many hands. Such soft lips.

“What … what’s going on?”

She reached out and felt hair. She was floating and felt buried at the same time. She saw Sonya’s perfect teeth. The palm of her hand was scratched. A bite to her shoulder made Jackie’s clit emerge, and the new sensations on her skin set it throbbing. Arms entwining her arms. Hands running down the inside of her legs. Perfume, the smell of sex. Incense and hairspray.

There was a nip at her ear and a warm breath and it forced a sigh from her lungs. More tongues. All those hands.

A thought forced its way through the sensations that covered her like a shroud: Is this what it’s like to go mad?

The smoke, the fog was so thick she could barely breathe. She couldn’t make out any faces but Sonya’s. But there were hands, dozens of hands, touching her just so and eliciting a liquid heat between her legs. Stoking her madness.

Her back arched both in repulsion and desperate need, clinging to the stroking, the licking, the fingering along her ribs and hips. Her legs were pulled wide, wider apart. She could feel a sudden coolness on her labia as her essence flowed freely down her spread legs to bathe her ass.

Touch me there! Please!

Warm lips pressed against her cheek, then down her throat. She was going insane. Out of her mind with needful lust. So many lips, so many sensations. Teasing. Determined. Unyielding.

“Please!”

She was being fingered, petted. Fucked. She heard herself moan as if to scream and dozens of moans responded.

She came. And everything went black.

“Here.”

Daisy handed her a cup. More coffee. She didn’t want coffee but she took it and drank from it, needing to wash something, anything down.

“What happened? How did I get here?”

Daisy laughed easily.

“What do you mean? You came in, sat down and just started off into space. I’m not surprised. Everyone looks like that after a meeting with Sonya. She’s … got a way about her.”

“God, I felt like I was on drugs.”

Jackie could feel a sticky wetness between her legs. Those hands, those fingers. Were they real?

“Uh. Excuse me.”

Jackie hurried for the ladies’ room. She tugged down her panties as soon as she reached a stall. The discharge, the fragrance of her own body. She had orgasmed. More than once.

Sonya? What she could remember from the meeting seemed normal. But she couldn’t be sure. There were gaps in time. Was it an hour? The clock in her head had been spun forward. The hands spinning round and round. All those hands …

A dream. A horrible, wonderful dream. Jackie considered returning to Sonya’s office—what has she done to me? She felt her nipples stiffen. Had she cum—right there in Sonya’s office, on that couch—like a horny slut begging for her first womanly tongue?

“Jackie, you okay in there?”

It was Daisy’s voice outside the door.

“No … I mean, yes. I’m good!”

“Okay. Work is starting to back up a little. I need you to do some things for Ms. Tresh.”

“I’ll be right out!”

It was a garbled reply—she found her fingers in her mouth sucking them clean. She wiped herself dry and flushed. Deep breaths.

Daisy was back at her desk when Jackie returned. A head tilt told Jackie she better get busy herself. She looked blankly at the do-to list in front of her.

“First day is always like that,” Daisy said as she typed. “Overload. It may be best not to think about it too much.”

The nod came slowly. The day started with her not even expecting to get the job and here she was trying to work at a new job, trying to make sense of what was going on in her head.

It was after 4 and Jackie still hadn’t done much work. Answering phones, retrieving files for Daisy, learning her way around the computer system. Daisy worked steadily, except for the occasional glance and reassuring smile Jackie’s way.

Jackie was trying to find her way around the interoffice system, checking files, reading what needed to be read. But not much was sinking it. She was glossing over everything. She tried to concentrate—tried not thinking of Sonya and the invisible women of her dream—but when she’d catch herself her eyes would always be fixed on that other eye. The company logo. The blue eye that was large and insistent on her wallpaper, in the upper-right corner of every page, on every banner. She’d seen it a million times before as an avid reader of the magazine. Now she had the realization that the eye wasn’t one of a model. It was Lorraine Tresh’s eye.

She felt a chill. As if the eye were real and focused on her. Staring at her as she stared back. She blinked hard, catching herself drift. That eye. It was harder and harder to read the words on the page before her. The eye was staring from the screen, she felt it. All she could do was stare back blankly.

The intercom buzzed.

“Jackie. Come in now, please.”

Jackie’s knees almost buckled as she rose. She didn’t even look at Daisy heading for the closed door as if pulled by a rope. She knocked twice softly and entered.

The whiff of incense was stronger than before. Gone was the flowery candle smell from earlier. It smelled more like she was in a church.

“Now, let’s have that talk.”

Lorraine waved Jackie to a chair and she was grateful to sit. She held a porcelain teacup in her hand.

“How has your first day been? Tea?”

“It’s been great,” she lied. She took the cup, thankful that it wasn’t coffee. “Everyone has been very nice. I can handle the job, Ms. Tresh.”

There was a smile but it came from Lorraine’s eyes.

“Good. I could tell you had the kind of spirit I am looking for. I noticed that you have a boyfriend. Eric, is it? But you don’t live together. Is that right?”

“Uh, yes.” One of those “personal questions” on the application had popped up. She sipped her tea nervously.

“You hours will be fluid, some evening work. I’ll need you available at a moment’s notice.” Lorraine’s black three-piece suit almost shimmered as she stepped around Jackie’s chair. “It makes things less complicated if you’re not in a serious relationship.”

“Well, I’m not sure how serious we are, but …” Jackie tried to turn her head but Lorraine was standing behind her.

“It’s better for all of us if you don’t have those kinds of entanglements, Jacqueline. Do you know what your name means, dear?”

“Uh. No, not really.”

“It’s a Hebrew name. It means supplanter. Someone who takes the reins from someone else, as it were.”

Lorraine completed her circle around Jackie and looked her in the eye.

“In any event, pleasing me will be your primary function from now on. Your salary will reflect that, of course.”

“I understand.”

“I’ve outlined some of your duties, but new things crop up now and then that will need to be taken care of.”

Gracefully, Lorraine swept some papers off her desk and handed them to Jackie. It was a long list—compiling her social calendar, contact numbers for “personal services,” even serving as an occasional driver to some event or another … Ouch!

The back of the staple caught Jackie’s finger. She quickly sucked it into her mouth.

“Oh, I am sorry. That was careless. Here.”

Lorraine held a silk kerchief in her hand and passed it to Jackie.

“I’m fine, really. I couldn’t use this.”

“I insist.”

Jackie nodded at the insistence and wrapped the silk around her finger.

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes. You’ll need to be available 24/7. I doubt I’ll be taking you away from anything more important in the evenings, but I do want to be clear. You’re working for me as much as for WomaNation.”

“That’s fine. I can manage.”

Jackie fought the frown on her face, seeing the deep red bleeding through the expensive handkerchief. On cue, Lorraine slowly unwound it around Jackie’s finger and put it aside.

“Now, as for a dress code, we’re fairly informal here. You can see how the other girls are dressed and keep it casual.”

Those deep, blue eyes, full of appraisal, were on her body. Jackie’s business attire wasn’t overly “serious,” but she didn’t have that much in her closet to keep that up for long anyway. Casual would be great. She thought of the young girl in her too-short skirt and of Sonya’s crimson dress. Thank God Daisy had dressed demurely enough.

“As for your hair …”

Jackie blushed. She had tackled curling her hair that morning and lost. She was never satisfied with how it looked anytime she walked out into the world and this morning was no exception.

“The curls don’t suit you, dear. Your hair should be straight and long. Do you have a brush?”

“A brush?”

Jackie was frozen in place. It was in her purse, in reception. She wanted to get up and get it but she just … couldn’t.

“Here. We’ll use mine. If you don’t mind?”

Jackie wasn’t sure if she nodded but her mouth dropped open. She hadn’t noticed the brush in Lorraine’s hand but she was circling again. The soft breeze of air on her face was of incense and perfume.

Delicate hands pulled her hair back, and the soft pet to her head made Jackie’s chin lift.

“Now, tell me about your family, dear,” Lorraine said, as the first touch of bristles petted her again.

“My family? My family.”

It was a long stroke, hard enough to bite and soft enough to send Jackie’s mind adrift.

“Yes. Your family, dear. Tell me about them.”

A second stroke, and the sensations on her body started. A numbing cool, a faint hummmm through her chest and arms and torso.

“You mother died in childbirth.”

“Yessssss.” The long drawn out word ran the length of another stroke.

“And your father?”

“He’s …” Sickness suddenly washed over Jackie. She began to rise from the depths. She didn’t want to speak.

Then another stroke came, like a wave on a beach, the cool rush, a whisper, and receding with a pull of pebbles. Her thoughts.

“He’s not well. He’s … confined.”

“I see. Yes. How interesting it is that you should phrase it that way, my dear.”

The brushing sped up gradually, and each stop and start made Jackie spasm. This wasn’t like the bombardment of sensations and lust with Sonya and the women in her dream. Those images still flashed in her listless mind. This was real. And covert. Capturing her will with languid seduction.

“You’ll be a very good pet, dear,” Lorraine whispered in her ear. “And that’s only the beginning. You have a long way to go before you reach the end.”

Jackie didn’t even notice Lorraine had put down the brush. She opened her eyes.

Another whisper: “Everyone has an owner here, Jackie. And everyone here owns someone else.”

Those words …

She could see only white.

Images began to fill in her sight. Daisy was there. Bits and pieces began to filter into her brain. She was on a sofa. With Daisy.

Jackie vaguely remembered the drive to Daisy’s apartment after work. Lorraine had left the office just ahead of them, making sure to give each woman her own goodbye. Jackie remembered also the warm tingle down her back at the words “see you tomorrow.”

Her wine glass was nearly empty—they had been talking a while. Jackie recalled Daisy asking her over for a first-day celebration and accepted without thinking what plans Eric may have made.

But the details of how she had gotten here, or even the last five minutes, were nowhere in her memory.

“Oh, God …”

Daisy’s hand touched Jackie’s knee and she trembled.

“I don’t know what going on with me today!” The words almost came out with tears. “Daisy, I’ve been having … I don’t know … I think there’s something wrong with me. I keep winking out, losing chunks of time.”

Daisy looked sympathetic but the smile didn’t leave her face.

“You’ve had a full day. You did everything Ms. Tresh asked, right? I didn’t see you screwing up or anything. You did fine.”

The hand stayed and Jackie noticed.

“You were saying? About your meeting with Sonya?”

Jackie tried to find some mental footing.

“Oh … I don’t know, Daisy. It’s just been a weird day. I probably should lay off the coffee. And what’s with all the incense?”

“Some holistic kick Lorraine’s been on. It’s supposed to help everyone focus at work better. Honestly, it kind of does the opposite to me.”

“I know! I’ve been having the strangest feelings. Like out-of-body strange.”

“You seem okay to me,” Daisy said, patting Jackie’s knee. “And everyone I talked to likes you. Likes having you around.”

Her day may have been the most bizarre of her life, but Jackie was thankful for Daisy. She helped her feel herself again.

“I’m glad to hear that! I felt like I was sleepwalking around all day.” Daisy took a sip of wine, and Jackie caught herself looking at Daisy’s slender fingers, her throat, her lips. “So … you and Sonya don’t get along?”

Daisy shrugged. “We do. At times. She’s just a little jealous, I think. I get to spend most of my day around Lorraine and she … well, she’s not around as much. I don’t think they had a falling out. She got promoted and all that. She just …”

Daisy leaned in close to Jackie. “Can I level with you, Jackie?”

“Sure.”

“I think Sonya just got too … old. I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but … you know. Lorraine likes to be surrounded by younger women.”

“But Sonya is gorgeous! She doesn’t even look much past 30.”

Daisy sipped again and Jackie joined her. “It is what it is. Everyone is owned by someone else, Jackie.”

Those words …

She could smell Daisy in her nose.

“Did you two ever …?”

It didn’t seem as if Daisy’s head had moved, but she was much closer now. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I … I like you Daisy.”

“I like you too. I like you being here. With me. Now.”

Daisy put her arm around Jackie and she felt her warmth. She may not have been able to think very clearly all today, but she knew what she wanted in that moment. There was a whisper in her ear.

“Everybody has an owner, sweetie.” Daisy’s smile was knowing, her voice deepened. “You just have to know your place in the world. Right? Know your place in the world.”

Jackie slowly, gently turned off her mind. As if it was something supple yet easily torn. Like paper. Caught on a breeze … or raging storm.

She could see the storm in Daisy’s suddenly dark eyes. She stood and extended her hand, but it was the way Daisy slowly twisted her hips that made Jackie rise. So close. So kissable.

Making love with a woman, the tenderness, the joining. It was a wonderful intimacy Jackie had daydreamed about, never once pursuing those desires. Now, here she was with a sexy young woman and didn’t know what or how to think.

Daisy grinned devilishly and kissed Jackie on the cheek. Jackie could feel without touching Daisy’s hips sway. Her unfettered desire bubbled up like a fountain.

Without thought, Jackie knew she was descending downward to that place she had been twice before. Dark and foreboding. Empty and arousing.

Jackie took the hand and was led to the bedroom. She longed for awareness of this new experiment as she moved, but she was muted, cut off. Her first time with a woman—she remembered wanting it to be memorable. She had wished it would be one of sharing and giving. The woman whose hands slid to her ass then shoved her roughly onto the pillows was here now for only taking.

Clothes disappeared.

“Daisy …?”

Jackie found herself splayed and straddled. Daisy pulled her wrists apart sharply, and the sudden yank lifted her breasts in the air for Daisy to consume. She could not even imagine … the truth above her set her thoughts ablaze. To ashes. Her body alone responded.

She was pulled up, her arms wrapping around the blonde, and felt nails dragging down her back as they grinded hotly into each other. Daisy’s mouth fucked her. She felt rawness on her lips as Daisy devoured them. An image flashed in Jackie’s mind—of Sonya, the womaneater. Devoured by her.

She came.

Jackie forced her eyes open and into Daisy’s. Daisy, not Sonya. She lost herself in the exquisite feeling of the blonde devil’s lips holding her tongue like an embrace, tips teasing the other. Jackie shuddered again, a feeling of helplessness and wonton submission prickling her skin.

She wimpered, wanting more, wanting to be … less, sagging deeply into the bed. And feeling Daisy close in around her.

She moaned, a begging moan, when Daisy took her nipple into her mouth again.

Daisy pushed against her ribs and rode her. The girl astride Jackie leaned over her with the smile of something primal and hungry. The lips she parted were taut, the teeth shone bright in the darkened room like some feline beast holding down her midnight prey.

Fingertips plumbed her slit, while a tongue emerged, alive and searching. Jackie could feel her wetness against Daisy’s palm and followed it with her eyes as she gave it a long, slow lick. She rubbed Jackie again, more wetness, another submissive moan.

Daisy lifted her hand again and put it on Jackie’s lips to sample her own taste. She knew the familiar nectar and swooned. All her thoughts were pushed aside to make room for the one, inescapable, all-compassing thought—submit.

Daisy lowered herself slowly, grinning, reaching down to press on Jackie’s shoulders. She barely felt the smear of her own juice on her thigh as Daisy pinned her, leaned down and ran her face along Jackie’s, tracing her cheek. Her mouth’s warm wetness just touching the rim of Jackie’s ear.

Jackie shivered beneath her, paralyzed, only able to whine her need.

It was a dream and all too real. This wasn’t lovemaking. This was sexual dominance. And Jackie fell headfirst into it. All she had was need.

Jackie felt Daisy’s movements, her thighs rhythmically squeezing Jackie’s body, slowly rubbing her pussy on Jackie’s belly. She felt Daisy’s slickness against her heated sweat. Her legs were split apart, as powerfully and maddeningly as her lips as Daisy captured Jackie’s tongue again, sucking away her will.

They climaxed together.

All was red.

THE END OF CHAPTER ONE