Unexpected Torture

"I'll leave you two to it now." She said scathingly, and left. Matt stared at Holden.

"Jesus man you're creeping me out." Holden muttered.

"Sorry, can you blame me? I wanted to see what was apparently so much better than me." Matt said sarcastically. "Since you're suddenly so shy, I'll turn around so you can throw the clothes that you should have been wearing on."

Holden grabbed his boxers and jeans and put them on, remaining shirtless. Matt heard him stop dressing and turned around. Holden wondered if Matt was going to start a fight with him, and he couldn't help but think that that would be a very, very stupid idea. Matt was six feet tall and was cut, but Holden had two inches on him and was more ripped, as well as trained. Matt knew he could fight, had seen him work out and train. Matt seemed to think the same thing, and remained still.

"So I guess I can tell what you think of us as friends, now can't I?" He said lowly, angrily.

"Hey, that's not really fair, and you know it. What would you have done if you were me?" Holden asked warningly. Matt didn't reply, but shook his head, and walked out.

Chapter 12

That night Holden's little sister came over. Phoebe was nineteen, and went to the smaller college in the next town, Mercer, which was about forty-five minutes away. She was petite, at 5'3 with dark hair, almost as dark as Holden's. He was eight when she was born, and the age gap meant that she didn't drive him quite as crazy as most siblings do. She was in town doing some shopping and had decided to stop by.

"Hey hey," she said upon seeing him. She loved Holden intensely; he was always caring towards her. She had been the most upset when he joined the force, and the happiest when he left.

"Hey." He gave her a quick hug. She walked into his place and looked around.

"I'm always surprised at how decent you keep this place. Way to improve on cleaning skills."

"Eh, it came semi-furnished; I just have to keep it nice." He grabbed her a Corona and sat down. He didn't care if she drank when he was around, it gave them a chance to loosen up and just hang out together. "So what's been going on? How's school?"

"It's good other than the fact that I hate my Art History teacher. My roommate is really nice." They talked aimlessly about what was going on in each other's lives; Holden got Phoebe another beer before he decided to try prying.

"Any decent guys at Mercer?" He tried to sound casual about it. Truth was he was pretty protective over her, always had been. Their father had walked out when Holden was ten, and their prescription-drug addicted mother had been too out of it to care much about the kids. Phoebe had been affected by having a lack of parents who actually parented. Holden had to admit she turned out surprisingly well.

"You know. The usual mix. Nothing special though. Most of the cute athletic guys go toyourschool," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, and I have to teach a large portion of them. They're idiots," he said with a smile as Phoebe giggled.

"Oh, come on, they can't be that bad. Not everyone can be as smart as you!" She said teasingly. "How's your fabulous friend Matt doing?" The numerous times Phoebe had been around Matt, she thought he was cute. Nice, good looking, well off, what wasn't to like? She had this unfortunate habit of continually comparing men to her brother, and the result was that most of them paled in comparison. Since she and Holden grew up mostly without their dad, and he was the closest thing to a father figure to her. While she had nothing other than adoring little sister feelings for Holden, she wasn't stupid, she was proud of who he was.

All her friends had always thought he was gorgeous back in high school. Who could blame them? He was tall, with almost black hair that was straight and currently a little long, while messy. He had the whole dark hair, blue eyes thing going on, and his face was so structured that the three day stubble couldn't detract from it. He was in amazing shape, perfect even. The few tattoos that he got when he was younger had faded some, but the dark designs that trailed up his arms and onto his shoulders, only to curl up one side of his neck, enhanced that edgy, restless quality that he had. Not to mention his hidden "wounded soul." She had been so lost in thought about if she had any friends she could hook him up with that she didn't immediately notice the slight scowl on his face.

"Matt is... busy being Matt," he said.

"Wait... what? You guys aren't friends anymore?" She asked him, concerned. Holden could be a loner, and Matt's busy social life was good for him, as he got dragged along and was forced to interact with people. Not to mention that Phoebe had her own interests in Matt.

"It's not that it's just..." Holden told her the abbreviated version of the story, admitting some of the more scandalous details. Phoebe listened intently.

"Wait, so who is this girl? What's her name?"

"Vera Madison."

"Holy shit, you have Vera Madison after you? Crap, I live a town away and I know who she is. Isn't she the daughter of the president of the University or something?"

"Dean," Holden said with a groan. "Why, what do you know about her?"

"Well you know she's like a state champion for the school's equestrian program, right? She's the little star of their athletic program. My roommate's ex-boyfriend broke up with my roommate because he had a thing for this Vera girl, and they never even went out. She's a total tease, apparently," Phoebe said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean she's a tease?"

"I mean she's a tease! She leads guys on, she doesn't sleep around but she has her own legion of guys after her. You know..."

"Well whatever, she's been after me lately, and it's making my life hell."

"Interesting. I guess you should be flattered; she doesn't go after just anyone. Very picky. I can see why she was with Matt."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He shot darkly. He didn't need his little sister to be another notch on Matt's bedpost of meaningless post-Vera conquests.

"Oh nothing. Don't get your boxers in a twist."

Chapter 13

The next day Holden taught one of his classes, one of the ones thatshewasn't in. It passed by smoothly, and he mostly tried to immerse himself in what he was doing. No matter what he was doing though, Vera was never far from his mind. She was intoxicating, poisonous, and succeeding in her seduction of him. He wanted to see her again, and what Phoebe had told him had not deterred him, but made things worse. It piqued his curiosity. His life felt unstable however, and he found himself spending his time doing things for work, doing errands and random stuff he would usually put off.

He also found himself working out more, trying to get his frustration and anger out. He usually did most of his running on his treadmill, but the weather had been so nice lately that he had been venturing out. He had to admit he was a little paranoid but hopeful that he would run into Vera. He figured that she didn't usually run in his area though, she had just been being sneaky that day. He didn't have class the next week, as it was a holiday, and he was trying to use the time away from her and Matt to clear his head.

Holden ran, ipod playing, Rage Against the Machine blasting in his ears. He found it surprisingly therapeutic, it was evening, and the sun had started to set. As he ran past the park he realized he had ran for several miles, but he had gotten his second wind, and felt strangely energized, like he could just keep going. He ran past old people feeding birds, and little kids playing on the swings, and found that he felt more optimistic about things. It was hard to feel doomed when he had endorphins pouring in from his exercise and being outdoors. Then, right when he was really feeling relieved and okay, he felt something push him. He didn't stumble, but stopped and whirled around, as he felt his stomach drop out of him.

She was in a pair of tight black stretch pants that clung to her hips and ass, the kind that girls wore to yoga and the like. Another sports bra, this one a bright turquoise, held her amazing breasts in, not failing to still show a little cleavage. Another white tank stuck to her skin, slightly damp with her sweat, it had become even more transparent. Her hair was back in a ponytail again, and she was breathing hard.

"Hey..." She said panting, hands on her hips. "I saw you running back there, right inside the park entrance. I caught up with you."

"Christ. Took you a while, we're a good way in." He was breathing harder than he thought; he had been so involved in his running that he had ignored his body's few protests.

"Fuck you, I was getting tired. Come on, I'll walk with you."

He complied, and began walking up the walkway with her. "No music?" He inquired, searching for something to say.

"Nah, spoils it. Plus, that's how people get hit by trains and cars, don't you know? They don't hear everyone yelling at them to get out of the way, because they have Kanye blasting," she said matter-of-factly. He looked at her quizzically.

"Who do you know that was killed because they were listening to an ipod?"

"No one." She grinned. "But my cousin almost fell into a manhole. Never saw the cones. Or heard the construction workers yelling." He found himself laughing at her. Maybe he should have tried to put on his semi-authoritative act, or try to brush her off. He found himself not caring though. She had already been naked in his house, slept in his bed, and had her perfect lips wrapped around his dick. It was too late to try to pretend that there was nothing there. He had to wonder, what he would think of himself if he tried to deny her, kept trying to push her away. To resist her. He realized at this point that he had to just see what would happen.

They walked, making comments about the park and the funny bodybuilder guy who jogged by with weights, glancing at Vera as he ran by.

"Do you ever get tired of it?" Holden asked.

"Tired of what?" She didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

"Never being... unnoticed," he said tentatively. She sighed.

"Yes. I do. But I don't ever want to pull a Britney Spears and make myself look like hell whenever I'm around other people. But it would be really, really nice to just be... invisible. Sometimes." She looked at him.

"You must get it too though. Although you do seem to be more unaware than most," she said to him, looking up at him as they walked.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Holden. Don't fish for compliments. Your female students have practically created a fan club," Vera stated.

"What are you saying?" He grinned, this was getting interesting...

"I'm saying you're hot. Gorgeous. Good looking. Built. What do you want me to say?" She sounded almost exasperated, but she said it with the slightest smile, almost as though she didn't like to admit to him that she thought he was attractive.

"Well I guess I know what you mean. But it's only annoying when it's the really obvious forty-something housewives in the store, who ask me to grab something stupid off the top shelf, even though there's a sales clerk twenty feet away."

"Ah lucky you." They continued walking for a bit. When they were approaching a more open section of the park, where there were some people milling around, Vera muttered to him.

"Put your arm around me."

"What?"

"Put your arm around me. Just do it." She said, and he complied, bringing her body closer to his as they walked.

"Look at the group of guys to the left" she said, still speaking lowly, quietly. He did, and saw the way they sneered at him, and looked her up and down, making comments to each other. Holden didn't even like to think what they would have said to her if she had been without a guy with her. That sort of male-macho pack behavior had always annoyed the shit out of him. Maybe it was just from having a cute little sister, but he had always thought it was... low. Degrading. Rude.

"Now check out the old guy on your right. The one with the newspaper." He looked, and was honestly disgusted. The man was leering, with a lecherous look on his grizzled old face. She grabbed onto him tighter, almost as though out of insecurity.Is she insecure?He wondered.Could it be that as much as she likes wielding how she looks to her advantage, she's afraid of how other people treat her because of it...?He also realized that at any point they could run into someone from school, and be forced to explain their... contact. But he found himself not caring as much as he should have. What was actually wrong? His interaction with a student, with his friends ex, or these perverts lack of respect and clear lechery?

Chapter 14

Before he knew it he had walked out of the park with Vera, and was wandering aimlessly as the sky slowly darkened, with her talking about the class and politics and some of the professors and students.She's pretty damn smart, very smart actually,he thought to himself as they walked through nice neighborhoods and across streets. They had reached the high end of town, he realized, and were surrounded by mansions on several acre parcels. She seemed to know where she was going, and he continued to walk beside her as she led the way. The end of a particular street led them to a large white house lit up from the outside that looked vaguely familiar to him. Vera stopped, looking up at it.

"This would be me. Well, this would be the main house anyways. I'm over there." She said, pointing to the roof of a guest house visible through the trees in back and to the side of the large white one. Holden now knew why it looked familiar; it was on the front of some of Dean While's advertising. He felt uncertain; he didn't know what Vera wanted. He also was a little worried of being seen or recognized by anyone. She seemed to know what he was thinking as she spoke.

"Don't worry, no ones home. They wouldn't notice you even if they were. I have my own driveway, you see? And it's lined with trees, I have almost total privacy. They notice my car if they look for it though. That's why I had to make you put up with me last week."

He shrugged. "I survived."

"I'll say. Although Matt did look like he was ready to skin you alive. Come on; let's go inside, I'm thirsty."

He followed her up the small driveway past her parked car, and up to her door, which she opened. She walked in, Holden following. It was nice, he thought, really nice. Not quite like Matt's place, which was a full sized house, but still. She had a small living room, kitchen, and a large set of doors that he guessed lead to a bedroom, and a couple of other doors that were probably closets and a bathroom. She turned on some lights and grabbed them glasses of water, and sat on an ottoman. He was unsure of what to say, so he remained quiet.

"You don't say too much, do you?" She interjected, filling the obvious silence.

"What do you mean?" He replied.

"Even in class, you offer lots of information on what you talk about, but you leave more room open for discussion and question than I experience in other classes." She was matter of fact about it, as she set her water down on the table next to her.

"Do I?" He said lowly. He was curious... very curious as to what her take was on him.

"Yes. And you also tend to answer a question with another question," she said wryly. Holden laughed.

"I do, but I think it makes people think more. I guess I just got in the habit. Plus, I always liked discussing stuff more than I liked talking about myself, so that's part of it." He took a drink of water.

"So you aren't shy, just... reserved when it comes to personal topics?" She had stretched back now, with her hands on either side of her, which had the effect of stretching the already sheer top across her sports bra even more. He tried not to be obvious when he glanced at her chest.

"You could say that. Why do you ask?" He swallowed hard, trying to will himself to not totally be thinking about having sex with her at the moment. He wanted to concentrate on what she was saying.

"I just wanted to know more about you," she said it softly, almost like she was afraid to say it.

"Why?" He asked, suddenly also tentative.Why do I want to know so desperately what she thinks... or even feels... about me? Why does it matter? Isn't this just a physical thing?

"Because I like you, and I want you, but I like to actually know a person before I get too physically involved." She set her water down, her expression serious. He was unsure again. She... liked him? What didthatmean? He just didn't understand her... she was so intense with him. Why was she now getting into the whole "I need to get to know you" bit?

"I don't get you." He said with a sigh. "One second you're trying to get me in bed with you, the next you act like you just want to hang out or something. It's confusing as hell. You really are a tease, you know."

She sighed back. "You don't think I realize that? Why do you think Matt and I didn't work out? Christ, our mothers were practically planning the wedding when we were teenagers. I want you, and yes, I want to get you into bed. I've been seducing you the whole semester. And part of it was that you were just the hot assistant professor and so forbidden, and I was forbidden for you. But maybe I like you for what I know of who you are as well. But you aren't so cut and dry yourself. You act like you loath me half the time, and the other half you make me think you want me like I want you. So what the fuck am I supposed to do?"

"You think I know? You think I know what I'm supposed to do? You have to remember what I have at stake, what I risk by being around you." Holden let what he said hang in the air. It was true. He didn't know what was the right thing, or what would be the best thing to do. His body wanted one thing, his head another. Screw his feelings, feelings weren't worth shit anyways. He knew that.

A couple minutes dragged by before she spoke. "You know, since no one is home and I do have a pool and a Jacuzzi, it really wouldn't hurt to get in. You are all sweaty, after all. Don't you want to relax?" She said it playfully, suggestively. Green eyes glinting at him.

Christ,he thought.That's all I need. To be in a spa wearing next to nothing with this hot female student, in her home where I could get caught by my boss.He was debating what to say, caught between what he wanted and what he didn't want, when she interjected.

"Don't be lame, no one will see us, the pool and Jacuzzi can't be seen from the house thanks to all the landscaping. My parents are out of town. I even have a pair of board shorts you can wear. And it will be good for your muscles, so you won't get sore from running." She got up and stripped off her tank top, exposing her flat stomach and tan skin. She trotted off to her bedroom, and came back with a pair of board shorts.

"Well don't just sit here staring at me. Put these on. Bathroom is that door on the left, if you're shy. Although, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." She raised an eyebrow with amusement, and then looked him up and down.Undressing me with her eyes,he thought. He grabbed the shorts, and headed off towards the bathroom, he paused, thinking.

"Hey, why do you have a pair of guy's board shorts in your house?" They had to have belonged to a somewhat youngish adult, they were the typical style for surfers, frat boys, and all other somewhat style conscious guys across the country. They would probably fit him, too.

"Oh, they're Matt's." She said nonchalantly, but with a grin. He rolled his eyes and walked into the bathroom.

Chapter 15

The bathroom was large, with a whirlpool tub in the corner and a separate shower, all in colors of white, turquoise and pale gold. Feminine, but not over the top. He wondered what her bedroom looked like... He undressed and put the shorts on, which of course fit. He walked out and leaned against the wall, waiting. The bedroom doors opened, and he felt blood rush to his dick as soon as she came out. Her hair was loose, and a red string bikini was all she was wearing. Sure, he had seen her in minimal clothing, had seen her bare tits and ass, but a hot chick in a bathing suit is always a hot chick in a bathing suit. And this particular bikini was tiny. She turned for him.