Caleb 23 - The Deans Daughter

Authors Note:

As always, my thanks go to neuroparenthetical. I send him a random collection of words and he turns it into something readable.

I hope it lives up to expectations, and beg you all to please rate and comment.

Caleb 23 - The Dean's Daughter

I'd dedicated Saturday to Josh and Louise's illusion; I hadn't been sure how it would go, or how much time I'd need to recover afterwards. It had gone well, as far as I was concerned. They had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and Dianna had been reasonably satisfied with the illusion I had spun, only finding a few flaws that might have given it away to someone thinking with anything other than their loins.

I knew I needed more practice, and I also knew that Josh and Louise weren't going to be enough. To use Dianna's words, they were an extremely credulous pair. They would certainly help me strengthen my 'dumb' illusion-crafting muscles, but in order to truly master the craft, I would have to pit my powers against subjects who were clearheaded and on-guard. I would even have to craft illusions that didn't involve any sex at all.

Sunday morning, I had to listen to a pitch from Josh and Louise. They had put together a business plan that they said was a surefire money maker. It obviously revolved around my illusion capabilities, and I was starkly reminded of Quark, the Ferengi on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, trying to interest people in his salacious holodeck programs.

Over and over, they tried to explain that with the right clientele - mostly rich business owners - the risk of people discovering my power was minimal. They said there would be no need for marketing or advertising, as once we got our first client, he or she would spread the word among their friends. We could make a killing.

I declined to remind them that if I was even remotely interested in such an idea, I had no need of their administrative services. Nor did I point out the oxymoronic business plan that had us both having clients sign non-disclosure agreements and spreading the word among their peers. Instead, I told them that I wanted to do something more fulfilling with my life. To further soften the blow, I gave them the short version of my rather fraught position in the powered-people ecosystem. They made all the right sympathetic noises at that, which had been nice of them.

I also pointed out that rich businesspeople could be just as bad as, if not worse than, the government when presented with a fancy new gizmo. I didn't have much faith in NDAs being honored when potentially billions of dollars were on the line. That kind of leak, of course, would bring the government's shadow division right back into the mix. I told the crestfallen pair that I'd probably end up doing little more than giving the feds an extra reason to be mad at me before yanking on the leash.

In the end, it took Jules' intervention to get them to leave it alone.

"Guys!!!" she said angrily after nearly an hour of argument. They both looked at her, shock on their faces. "Caleb is too nice, so I'm going to say it: drop it. There is no way that he is going to waste his life as some sleazy psychic pimp. Can you imagine it from his perspective, having to sit in a room watching some fat, sweaty old perv getting their rocks off, or having to spend time with said perv creating his fantasy to begin with? Aside from everything else, that would be a complete and total waste of his powers.

"There are people who are being abused, raped, and worse by people with power. You want him, instead of helping to stop them, to waste his talent on this? If sex work is such an attraction to you, why don't you both set yourselves up as escorts? I'm sure there are plenty of rich, sweaty old men who would love to take you both on. You could make a killing.

"So, wind your fucking necks in, drop this shit, and be grateful for what you are getting from him. If you're looking to ride his coattails to riches, you're backing the wrong horse."

She then sat in my lap and laid her head on my chest. I could feel her trembling. Despite the harshness of her words, I'd guessed that she had wanted to say even more and had held back.

Josh and Louise looked dumbfounded, and after a moment, they both got up and went into their room, closing the door softly behind them.

Amanda chuckled. "Well, that told them," she said.

"Are you okay?" I asked Jules, stroking her back. She looked up at me, her eyes wet.

"They just got me so mad," she said. "I'm not sure whether it was Josh, who seemed to have a head full of dollar signs, or Louise thinking with her pussy again. All they were concerned about was what was in it for them. They are supposed to be your friends. They say they love you, but it seemed like they were just trying to use you to get their own needs met."

"They just got a little bit carried away," I said. "It happens. Don't let it upset you. Besides, I wanted to talk to you - the three of you - about this too. I need to practice my illusions. I was wondering if you guys had any fantasies - and I'm not just talking about sex - that you might like a shot at? Ever think of driving a race car, or climbing Everest? Maybe get a tour of the Enterprise?"

Jules's eyes widened at that. "You could do that?" she asked.

"I think so," I replied. "I'm not quite as big a Trekkie as you, so you might spot the illusion, but it will be good practice for me. Why don't you and I spend some time scripting it out, and when you're ready you can go take a look?"

Jules leapt off my lap like I'd stuck a pin in her. "I'll go download the schematics," she said, and dashed from the room.

Mary looked at me, a smile in her eyes. "You really do know how to push all of our buttons," she said.

"How about you?" I asked.

"You already fulfilled my fantasy," she purred, "and it was no illusion. But I'll think about it. I think I'd rather keep my sex life in the real world, but there might be some other things I'd like to try."

"Amanda?" I queried.

"I'm like Mary," she said. "I want real sex, not imaginary. It might be nice, though, to do the Pretty Woman shopping scene - the 'after' one when she goes back and spends loads of cash."

"Wouldn't you be disappointed when it ended," I asked, "and you found that you didn't still have all the things you bought?"

"Nah," she said. "That kind of shopping is for the experience, not the purchases. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I'd like to do the before and the after. It would be so much fun rubbing those bitches' noses in it."

Mary and I grinned at each other.

"I guess," I said ruefully, "I'm going to have to watch Pretty Woman."

Both girls were appalled that I had not seen the film, and so we spent the next two hours immersed in the nineties romcom. I could have quite easily gone my entire life without watching it, but Julia Roberts had a nice butt, so I couldn't call it a total waste.

It also gave me the outline for the fantasy that Amanda wanted, of course. I just needed to do a little research on Rodeo Drive and write a bit of a script, and then I'd have her illusion ready.

When the movie had ended, Jules was back into the room, almost hopping from foot to foot. It was so cute to see her excitement. She was like a little girl queueing to see Santa. My heart swelled seeing her so happy, and I hoped that I wouldn't disappoint her.

We wouldn't have time to do the actual illusion, but we spent the next couple of hours talking about it, deciding where she would go, who was going to show her around, Mr. Data, of course - and if anything would happen while she was there. I dangled the idea of a twenty-first-century jury-rig that only occurred to her, and she loved it. Even if we never got to perform the illusion, she had a brilliant night planning it all out. I had a wonderful night seeing her so full of innocent anticipation.

When it was time for me to go to bed, Mary accompanied me. We showered together and then spent some time making love. It was gentle and loving, and there were no powers involved. Amanda, still sitting in the living room, would obviously share Mary's orgasm; those two were forever joined at the clit - and likely a few other naughty places too. It was so natural and wonderful to reconnect with the girl I had been butting heads with. We had had sex since we had settled our differences, but that was our first lovemaking, and it was perfect. I fell asleep with her in my arms.

Josh and Louise didn't join us for breakfast the next morning. I wasn't sure whether they were hiding or sulking. I guessed that I would find out sooner or later.

As had become our new norm, the four of us travelled into uni together. George was waiting for me again. I sighed as I approached him. He looked haggard, but happy.

"Sue and I would like to take you guys out to dinner," he said.

"Dinner?" I asked. "What's the occasion?"

"I don't want to steal her thunder," he said. "Can you make it tonight?" The girls and I looked at each other. We all nodded.

"Perfect," he said. "Meet us at Giovanni's on Seventh Street at six-thirty."

After he left, I looked at the girls.

"She fucked him half to death," grinned Amanda. "Did you see how tired he was? I'll bet they didn't get out of bed from when they got home after being at ours until this morning."

"He doesn't look too upset about it," I commented wryly.

"Would you be?" she countered coyly.

I silently conceded the point, and got goodbye kisses from the three of them. After that, we all split up and went to our various classes.

I had three people approach me during the day, having been referred by Jamie, the counselor, for help in losing weight. I worried I was going to need a secretary soon; that thought made me feel a little guilty about how quickly I'd deemed Josh and Louise dead weight vis-a-vis their business proposition. All of my former smoking-cessation clients were done with their visits, but I still had sessions booked with twelve of the fourteen people who were on my weight-loss program. I wondered if I could start doing group sessions for followup to make it less time-consuming. I also realized I needed to talk to a tax accountant. I was currently making six hundred dollars a week on top of the three thousand a month the FBI was paying me. Then there was my allowance, and the money I was getting from Josh and Louise. The last thing I needed was the IRS on my tail.

Despite all the balls and chainsaws I felt like I was juggling, I was able to focus enough on my classes to get the information I needed. Ever since I'd retrained my brain to better absorb and synthesize information, college had felt like a lazy afterthought. Going to classes was about keeping up appearances - and, I supposed, being polite to the professors and other students. I knew that with a glance at the textbooks, I could probably ace every exam.

I waited in the car park for the girls at the end of the day. Amanda and Mary arrived, but Jules appeared to be running late. I was just about to 'contact' her when she emerged from the uni followed by the tall guy, Jasper, who had been hassling her. She had asked me to let her deal with it, and so I hung back - at least until he grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"Grab your phones and record this," I sent to the twins.

I approached as Jules was trying to extricate her arm from his hand. He was much stronger than her.

"Let go of me," she said. He laughed. Neither of them had noticed my approach.

"Or what?" he taunted.

"Or you'll have to deal with me!" I said, startling the pair of them.

He released her arm and Jules moved to me, putting her arms around me.

"Caleb," she said, tears in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "He just won't leave me alone."

"Go to the girls," I said. "I'll have a word."

Jasper tried to sucker punch me as I looked away, but I had heard his intention, and my hours and hours of martial arts training kicked in. I blocked the punch. Every instinct I had told me to follow up, but I didn't.

"Now that you've gotten that out of your system," I said, "can we talk like men, or are you going to behave like a schoolboy?"

He took another swing. I blocked again. He was getting angrier. On his third swing, I caught his arm, put him in a wristlock, and took him to the floor. He yelped.

"You have a choice," I said. "You either leave Jules alone, or I go to the university counselor and report that you are harassing a female student. If that isn't enough to get you expelled, then assault should do the job."

"Wait!" he cried. "I can't get expelled. I'm on a study release from my job. I'll get fired."

"Then your choice is simple," I growled. "Stay away from Jules. Next time I won't be quite so nice."

"I can't stay away," he replied. "We have the same classes."

"You know perfectly well what I mean," I said. "Go to classes, but leave her alone. If I hear that you have been harassing her any more, I promise you, being expelled will be the least of your worries."

I heard his thoughts and realized why he was so interested in Jules. He wasn't going to let her go that easily. I decided to up the ante.

"Dean already knows all about you," I told him. "Sorry, maybe you don't know his first name. I do. I call him Pops, actually. Jules' father. Perhaps you refer to him by another name? 'Mr. Moneybags?' 'Walking Piggybank?' Yeah, him. Right now, you're not too high on his shit list. He's a reasonable guy. He understands that horny college boys do bad things sometimes. He was willing to chalk the rest up to coincidence. If he finds out what you did today, though? Wow. I would not want to be you.

"Honestly, Jasper," I continued, "you lost any chance of seeing a dime of that money months and months ago. Even if you were doing everything right to try to get Jules to forgive you, let alone like you, you would not be within a light year of those bank accounts. If assaulting his daughter was part of your master plan... I don't even know what to say to that. You are a colossal fuckup. Let it go. Stop digging your own hole."

He looked up at me with defiance in his eyes.

"Last warning," I hissed, releasing his wrist. He stayed on the ground.

+++++

"What did you say to him?" asked Jules on the ride home. I worried that the whole truth might upset her, but I didn't want any secrets between us.

"Jules, there's something you need to know about Jasper," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"He knows who your father is," I said. "I think he comes from somewhere near where you live. His interest in you isn't really in you. He was chasing you because he knows your daddy's rich. The night you argued, he was drunk, and his libido got the better of him. Otherwise, you would probably still be together."

Jules cursed. "I never even suspected," she said.

"It doesn't matter now," said Amanda. "We're together, and you know we love you."

Jules smiled at her. "Did you convince him to leave me alone?" she asked.

"I'm not so sure." I said, "I told him that Pops knew all about him, and he had no chance with either of you, but I'm not sure we've heard the last of him."

I sent them each the memory of our confrontation as we arrived home, continuing the conversation as we entered the house.

"He didn't look convinced," said Amanda. "He knows that he has no chance with Jules now, but he may decide he wants to get back at you."

"Let him," I said. "I think we should have a word with Jamie tomorrow and get her to tell him to back off Jules. If he wants to come after me then that will be his last mistake."

We all got showered and changed and were outside the restaurant at the appointed time. Sue and George arrived only minutes later. We went in and were shown to our table.

It took a few moments for us to get settled. The waiter handed us menus and took our drink orders.

Sue sat directly opposite me, with George to her right. Mary sat to her left. Jules sat to my right, and Amanda, sitting to my left, completed the circle. While we waited for our drinks, Sue looked across at me.

"Caleb," she said. "I'm sorry. I was stupid and I treated you really really badly. I became everything that I would tear any guy a new asshole for being. I spent the weekend 'apologizing' to George."

George blushed.

"Whatever you did to me, worked," she said. "The sex was phenomenal - and I know what that means. I know it, thanks to you. Even now I don't think George believes it, but I know it. If I wasn't madly in love with him, and he with me, the sex wouldn't be anywhere near as good.

"That was the first reason I asked you to come out tonight," she said, smiling shyly. "The second was to show you this." She held out her left hand to display the ring wrapped around her fourth finger.

"You got engaged?" I asked, but then quickly added, "Congratulations!"

Each of the girls offered their congratulations too, insisting on examining the ring.

"Be honest," I said to George. "You already had that. There's no way, by the look of you, that you had time to leave the bedroom to go ring shopping."

He grinned and held his hands up. "A gentleman never tells," he said.

We had a good meal, and they took the bill. As we were getting ready to leave, Sue pulled me to one side.

"I really screwed up, didn't I?" she said. "I hope I didn't completely ruin our friendship."

"We're still friends," I said, and she smiled sadly.

"But not best friends?" she asked.

I looked at her, seeing her eyes moisten as she saw the answer on my face. She hugged me softly. "I'm sorry, Caleb, for everything."

"Be happy," I said to her, "and look after him."

When we got home, Josh and Louise were nowhere to be seen. I went and knocked on their door, but there was no answer. I guessed that either they didn't want to speak to us, or they were out. I could have scanned the room to see if they were in there but decided to give them their privacy.

The next morning, I got a notification by email that I had an appointment to see the dean at nine.

I frowned. I guessed immediately what it was about, but I was surprised that Jasper had had the balls to go through with it. I got the girls to send me the videos that they had taken with their phones, and I went to his office.

When I arrived, I was surprised to find that not only was Jasper in the office, but quite the crowd. There was an older man standing behind him whom I guessed was his father. Two police officers were also in attendance. Jasper wore a smug look and a sling. I knew that he didn't have an injury. Wrist locks hurt, but they rarely did damage, and I hadn't put it on that hard.

Alongside the dean, once again, was my head of year, and Jamie, the counselor. She looked upset.

I tried to hold a poker face, but I'm not sure I succeeded. Not only did I have the videos ready to go, plus a very friendly university employee on my side, but the two police officers standing near Jasper's father were none other than Debs and her partner, Steve.

"Caleb Stott," the dean intoned again, as he had the day they had made the false allegations of cheating. "Once more you are in my office." He opened his mouth to continue, but I interrupted.

"To face another bogus charge, it seems," I said. "If this continues, I will be filing suit for harassment against you, personally, and your university."

He blustered for a second. "We have been made aware of a very serious matter," he said, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Apparently, you assaulted another student yesterday, causing injury. We are bound to investigate."

"And exactly what investigation did you do?" I asked. "Did you speak to me, or any other witnesses, or examine the CCTV, before you called me here to face charges? And exactly why are two officers waiting for me?"