Compulsions Ch. 04

Author's Note: I apologize to all those who were waiting for Compulsions Ch. 04 and beyond. I don't have a good excuse for the time lag, so I won't give a bad one.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who read, voted and/or commented on the first three chapters. It is appreciated. Also, thanks for the emails.

-18-

SATURDAY

The next morning, Mike dropped Abby off at her house.

"I enjoyed your company last evening immensely, Abigail," Mike said. "Have dinner with me, tomorrow."

"I may be in really big trouble for last night, Mike," the redhead said. After a second, she laughed. "But alright." She kissed him and his hand went to her back, pulling her close.

"I'll call you, later," he said into her hair.

She smiled and turned.

Mike watched her walk away and returned to his car. Jim and Joy were in the passenger's seat, making out.

"Where to, kids?" Mike asked.

Joy broke away from Jim's kiss and looked at him.

Mike remembered the kiss that they had shared, the intoxicating taste of Joy's sweet mouth. He wondered what Jim would do if he knew that his best friend had fucked his new girl.

"Take me to Jim's place," she said.

"We're heading out for the weekend," Jim said and winked.

"Wanna come with us?" Joy asked coyly. "We could all have some real fun together."

It was jokingly said, but Mike believed that she was secretly serious.

Jim laughed. "Yeah, right!" he said and buried his face in her neck, kissing at her neck and chest.

Joy held Mike's eyes.

Mike stared at her for a few moments, imagining himself fucking her beautiful face. She was smiling at him, teasing him with her eyes. Mike shook his head, started the car and drove to Jim's house.

"Park out back," Jim said.

There was a back driveway on Jim's property, mostly hidden by a cluster of trees. Jim's car was parked there and Mike knew that was where he often made out with girls. Mike pulled in and parked. From here, he could barely see the back door, and was almost invisible from detection.

Jim climbed out and pulled Joy behind him.

"Come on. I got everything we need in my car. See you around, buddy." Jim and Joy hopped in and, with a roar of the engine, they were gone.

Mike's last image was Joy's sultry look back at him. Mike shook his head. That look stuck in Mike's brain and he found himself daydreaming about her and the events of the past week.

The sound of tires brought him out of his reverie. It was coming in the direction of Jim's house. Mike got out and snuck to the trees. He angled for an unobstructed view... and finally could see.

It was Jim's mom, Claire O'Neil. She was walking towards the back door. She stopped. She was on her phone. She was shaking her head and talking, obviously upset at someone or something.

Mike couldn't hear, but he watched her.

She seemed distraught. Obviously, whoever she was talking with had hung up. She snapped the phone shut and put it in her pocket. She rubbed at her face and then unlocked the door and entered.

Had she been taking to Jim? Or maybe it was Ashley, Jim's sister. They had been having problems, lately.

Mike started to walk towards the house. What was he doing? He didn't know, but Claire was having problems. He had known her his whole life and the last image of her was troubling to him. There had to be some way he could help her.

Mike moved silently. He felt like a burglar or a stalker. Maybe it was watching Claire while he was hidden in the trees, but he felt stealth was the proper course of action in this circumstance.

As he approached the house, Mike caught a flash of something in the window. He ducked to the side, on instinct.

He realized that he was right outside Claire's bedroom. Unable to resist the temptation, Mike poked his head up and peeked. Claire was in there, staring at a mirror, intently.

Mike's angle was just right. He could see her from the corner, and she could see neither him nor his reflection. Mike watched as she ran her fingers through her shoulder-length blonde tresses. Her brown roots betrayed that her hair was colored, but Claire had always taken pride in her appearance. No plain, boring brown went with her Dresden blue eyes, so she had colored it for as long as Mike could remember.

Mike watched her as she studied her face, her slender fingers trying to smooth out the faint frown lines at her mouth and eyes. She put on a dazzling and sultry smile and then lapsed into a frown again. She shook her head and started to unbutton her blouse.

Mike's heart leapt into his throat. He knew that he should look away. Claire had been a family friend since he was five. But the anticipation of seeing her large breasts naked won out. He stayed where he was.

Finally getting the last button, she doffed her blouse onto the floor. A quick snap and her bra was off, too, and Mike feasted his eyes on his best friend's mother's sumptuous orbs. They stood out prodigiously from her chest, without the least bit of sag.

Mike was stunned. He had seen firm breasts before: his mother's, Robin Walsh's and, of course, Coach Sam's. Even Cynthia Winters had a firm pair. But Claire's had a character and charm all their own.

Claire removed her skirt and panties and stood there in her glorious nudity.

Mike was impressed. She was a woman who scarcely needed clothing. He realized that he had never really thought of her in that way. Like with his mother, when it had taken him until his sixteenth birthday to really wonder what she looked like naked. Claire, to him, had always been a second mother, not a woman.

Wow! Had he been blind, or what?!

She walked into the next room and Mike cursed, silently. He thought, briefly, about leaving, but couldn't make himself.

Stealthily, he made his way to the next window. She was in her ex-husband's study, seated and reading a book. She was so at ease, as if she did this sort of thing every day.

Mike watched the rise and fall of her chest, entranced. Something caught her eye and she looked up.

Claire jumped to her feet, quickly. Mike ducked.

"Damn!" Mike thought. "She saw me! Now, what do I do?"

He desperately scooted out from under the window. "Act like nothing happened," he told himself. "It could have been a trick of the eyes."

Mike stood and walked to the front door. Nervously, he rang the doorbell. He could hear her moving behind the door, suddenly rushing.

"Um, just a minute!" she cried out.

Almost exactly a minute passed and the door opened. Claire stood there in a pair of pajamas.

"Oh, hi Mike!" she said and faked a yawn. "I just woke up. Jim's not here. He was out all night."

"I know, Mrs. O'Neil. I was with him."

"It's Miss, now, Mike. Miss Schneider. Or Claire, if you prefer. You're a grown man, now. I won't be offended of you use my first name."

"I am?" Mike thought.

"Uh, I'm sorry about your husband... uh... leaving... Miss..."

"Claire, Mike. Go ahead and say it."

"Uh, Claire..."

She smiled. "There you go, that wasn't too hard, was it? Why don't you come inside?"

Mike shook his head as he entered. It was nice to call her that. Familiarity and intimacy with her was intoxicating. He found himself staring at her pajama-covered breasts. They looked so full and round, even through the material.

"So where's Jim?" she asked, as she closed the door.

"He left with Joy for the weekend," Mike said, without thinking.

"What?" Claire exclaimed.

"Oh, shit," Mike thought. "Hypnotized by breasts."

"Who's Joy?" She gave him a dark look.

"A new girl at school, Miss... uh... Claire. We met her the other day and Jim really likes her. We took her out to the concert last night."

"You both took her out? What kind of girl is this?"

"Uh... not exactly. I took Abby Prescott out."

"Oh, well, that's good, Mike," Claire smiled at his tongue-tied embarrassment. "But I'm still upset that Jim took a girl on a trip for the weekend. And without telling me. He wasn't back last night. Did he sleep with this girl?"

"Actually... yes, Claire, he did."

"Thanks Mike. I appreciate your honesty." Her arms were crossed over her breasts and she looked down. She had such a sad look on her face.

Mike crossed to the couch and sat. "Sit down, Claire. Tell me what's bothering you."

She looked at him, a bit taken aback. Then she sat and it all came pouring out. Her problems with her husband and their divorce. Her problems with Jim and how she felt he was growing apart from her. And Ashley and how she had left school and didn't want to go back.

"What can I do, Mike? My life isn't working out. Everything is so messed up." Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears and she looked at him as if hoping that he had all the answers.

"Well, what do you want to do about your marriage?"

"Nothing. Really, I just want to move on from him, Mike. That's all."

"Okay, well... why can't you?"

"I'm... I'm old, Mike. I want to move on to someone new, but I haven't got what it takes to attract a man, anymore."

Mike nearly choked. "Um... I don't think that you are looking at it objectively, Claire."

"What do you mean?" she said, rubbing at her teary eyes.

"Well, how old are you, Claire?"

"Um, forty-three..." It was almost a whisper.

"Okay, and what it the average age of all women?"

"I don't know... about twenty-five, I guess..." Her voice was small.

"Wrong. It's more like thirty, Claire."

"It is?"

"Sure," Mike said. "People are getting older, but with medicine and technology they can seem younger than ever."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Mike said. "Now, what's the life expectancy of a woman?"

"Maybe seventy?"

"Try eighty, Claire. Now, you're barely half that!"

She thought about it. "That doesn't sound too good, Mike..."

"Doesn't it? In the 1920's men and women were still considered inexperienced until they were thirty, when they were finally considered adults. And the life expectancy was closer to sixty years."

"What does all of this mean, Mike?"

"Well, if the life expectancy is sixty and adult is thirty, then we can safely say that at half of your life expectancy, you're not really old. Grown up? Yes. Fully matured? Yes. Maybe even experienced. But not old. That doesn't happen until at least two thirds of your lifespan has gone by and that would be eighty divided by three, times two... equals about fifty-three! You just hit your prime, baby!"

Claire laughed, deep and throatily, a huge grin spread across her face.

"Fifty-three..." Her face fell, again. "But that's only ten years away!"

"Only ten years!" Mike exclaimed. "But think how much can happen in ten years, Claire. You could get remarried. Have ten kids, even! Ashley and Jim would have their own lives and families. Not to mention ten whole years of great sex!"

She smiled and laughed again, blushing intensely. "Oh, Mike! Thanks! You made me feel so much better!"

She hugged him, hard. Mike could feel her breasts pressing against him as she squeezed the breath out of him. Mike patted her on the back. But it wasn't more than a minute before he felt her crying, again.

He broke the hug, so that he could look at her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's my kids, Mike! Jim doesn't like me; he barely talks to me, anymore, and Ashley simply hates me!"

"Claire, I don't think that's true."

"Yes it is! You don't know!"

"Well, I know a little bit..."

"What do you know?" she asked. Mike rubbed at her eyes, wiping away the tears.

"I know that Jim doesn't hate you," Mike said. "He just doesn't like the fact that you don't trust his judgment."

"But I do, Mike! He's out all the time! He's never home, and I never say anything about it! I know that he's a good kid! I let him do whatever he wants!"

"And he always thinks that you're angry with him," Mike said.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know... because that's what I would think if my mom didn't talk to me."

"Well, what do I do?"

Mike walked over and picked up the phone. "Call him."

"What do I say that won't make him mad?"

"Tell him that you saw him leave just as you got home. You were worried about him when he didn't come home last night, but you trust him and his judgment. Ask him where he is and what he's doing. Tell him that what he's doing sounds cool and ask to speak to the young woman that he's with. Tell her that she seems nice and that you hope to meet her sometime soon. Tell Jim that you love him and miss him, but that you want him to have a good time."

"Are you sure about this, Mike?"

"Well, it's better than doing nothing," Mike said. "And if my mother asked about a girl I was interested in, well, I might be embarrassed, but afterwards, I'd be happy and proud that she was interested. Nothing will excite a guy more than a mother who's interested in his love life."

Claire's face set. "Okay, I'll do it."

Mike listened as she made the call and followed his instructions. At last, she hung up the receiver. "Well?" he asked.

"I think it went okay! Thank you, Michael. You've really helped me out! With two of my problems, at least."

"I've been thinking about Ashley. Jim said that he thought that something else was going on with her, but he didn't know what. Maybe I can find out."

"How?"

"Do you know where she's at, now?"

"Not for sure, but she always likes going to the mall on Saturday mornings."

"Maybe I can find her there." Mike stood up and grabbed the door handle.

Claire's hand quickly grabbed his. "Mike," she said. "I really want to thank you for what you're doing. You and your mother have always been good friends to me, but this goes beyond friendship..." She kissed him on the lips: a sweet, sensuous embrace.

Claire pulled away after a few seconds. "Thank you and good luck."

Mike nodded and left.

-19-

To Mike's surprise, he found Ashley almost immediately.

She was sitting in the food court in the mall, looking depressed, which fueled Mike's suspicion even more that something unusual was going on with her.

Maybe this was a good time to practice what his mother had told him about the Ways, or whatever she called them. Manipulation. Influencing the mind. Maybe he could trick Ashley into thinking he was someone else. It would be trickery for her own good. Surely that wouldn't be too intrusive.

Mike concentrated. He walked up and sat down across from her.

Ashley looked at him. "What are you doing here, Jim?"

"It worked!" Mike thought. "She really thinks that I'm her brother!"

"Just wanted to talk to my sister, that's all..." Mike said, as he watched her, intently. "Nothing wrong with that, right?"

She frowned and Mike was sure, for a second, that she had seen through his disguise.

"Oh, please," she said. "Since when do you care?"

"Ashley," Mike said. "You're my sister; of course I care about you. Something's going on with you and I want to know what!"

She looked at him, quizzically, and then...

"It's my boyfriend. Jack. I know that I never told you about him, but I think that I'm in love with him. I want to marry him."

"Wow," Mike said, genuinely surprised. "I'm happy for you, Ashley."

"Really? You are?"

"Yeah, why not? If you love him, then I'm all for it."

"Well... thanks, Jim... but it all doesn't matter anymore."

"Why not?" Mike asked.

"A girl stole him from me. She fooled him into believing that I dumped him and then she picked him up. Proclaimed her love for him. He won't even listen to me, anymore."

"And this is why you dropped out of school?"

"I didn't drop out of school," Ashley said. "Not yet. But if I can't solve this problem, then I might as well leave. I can't go back there and see him every day and not be with him."

"Maybe I can help," Mike said. "Who's the chick?"

"Monica Winters," Ashley replied.

"Really?" Mike said. "This should be interesting. I can definitely help you out, Ashley."

"You can? How?!"

"Let's go."

***

Ashley and Mike parked on the street, outside the Winters' house.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Stealth. I know for a fact that Monica came home from school the other day. Let's check around and see if she's here."

Together, they left Ashley's car and walked to the house. Mike looked in the windows and saw nothing. A car was here, though. Someone was home.

"Around back," Mike said, and they snuck back to the pool house. The door to the pool house was unlocked and slightly open. Sure enough, Monica was in the pool and so was another figure, Mike saw. A man. Jack, Mike figured. He seemed to be enjoying himself with Monica Winters. They were making out.

"That son of a bitch!" Ashley said. "I'm going to kill him!"

"You still want to expose her?" Mike asked.

Ashley ground her teeth in frustration. "Yes. It's not his fault. At least, not entirely his fault."

"Okay. When she leaves, you go in and confront him. I'll send her out and get her to confess everything."

"How are you going to do that?"

"That's my secret, okay? Just follow my lead."

Mike left her and made his way to the front door. He had the keys to Howard's car, his office at work, his penthouse in town and the keys to this house. Fishing them out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and entered. Then he slammed the door, hard. Mike quickly ducked out of sight and waited. Sure enough, less than a minute later, Monica rushed in to see who was home.

Mike grabbed the tall blonde by the hair and threw her to the floor, twisting her arms behind her, as he got on top of her.

"Guess who?" he hissed into her ear.

She froze. "Let me up!"

"Not so fast, baby!" Mike said, seizing her with the Compulsion. "Not until you promise to do everything I want. Do you promise?"

She nodded, desperately. "I swear."

"Okay," Mike said and pulled her to her feet, by the hair.

"Ouch!"

"How did you get Ashley's fiancé to break up with her? And why?" Mike asked.

"I got her roommate to tell him that Ashley was seeing another guy. She owed me a big favor. My dad got her into college after she fucked him. I only did it as revenge. He turned me down for a date, once, because he was seeing Ashley. So I was going to get him to ruin his relationship and then I was going to dump him."

Mike shook his head. "Chicks like you piss me off. You make life a living hell for everyone, you know? I want you to go out there and tell them everything that you did."

"Yes, Michael."

Mike let her go and watched as she marched out the back door. He watched from the next room as she explained everything to Jack and Ashley, who quickly made up with each other and left. Ashley glared murder at her, as she went.

Monica reentered the house and Mike pointed at the couch. She sat, obediently.

A minute later, Ashley stuck her head in the front door.

"Thanks, Jim. I don't know how you did it, but thank you. Are you coming?"

Mike shook his head. "We have some things that we're going to discuss... And then, I'm going out of town for a couple of days, but I want you to tell mom that you're going to stay in school, okay?"

"Sure, Jim. I'm sorry that I made her worry, so much."

"That's okay, Ashley. I'm sure she would understand. And if you would keep this between the two of us, I would appreciate it. In fact, it might be better if we never talked about it, again."

"But why?"

"I just think that we should keep this a secret, okay?"

"Anything you say, Jim. And thanks!" With a last glare at Monica, Ashley left, got in her car with Jack and drove away.

"That leaves us alone, doesn't it, baby?" Mike said as he looked at Monica.

"Stand up!" Mike ordered.

The blonde stood and Mike ripped the bikini top from her body. She took an involuntary step back and Mike tore the rest of it off of her.

"Follow me." He walked out the back door, her following obediently behind, and looked at the pool. Grabbing her by the tits, he threw her into the pool. She splashed in with a screech.