Coercion

Chapter-2

"I see. Let me ask my second question. Have you been sexually intimate with Findlay Stevenson in any way since we began dating? Have you already tried him out in that capacity?"

"What? NO! No way! That's why we're talking about all this now and being completely upfront with everything. I would never do anything like that behind your back. If you recall, it was me who dumped him for cheating, so that should tell you something."

After another big breath, and sigh of relief, I elucidated my position. "Honestly I have no idea why Jocelyn would admit to you, her best friend that she would like to fuck your fiancée. That's outrageous from my perspective but I'm not about to tell you who you can and cannot have as friends. I give you my word I've never led her on, not a single time. But apparently, she has misinterpreted some of my innocent behavior as flirty or sexual interest in her for some reason. Therefore I will avoid her as much as possible from now on. I don't want you to ever doubt my intentions or commitment to you."

"But...."

"...I'm not finished, hold on," I interrupted. I don't want to EVER hear of or catch you in the presence of Findlay Stevenson. I despise him for the way he treated you. If you were ever sexually intimate with him, it would mean the end of us, and I mean that. Instead of thinking of the wonderful tips and techniques he could teach you while you were with him, it would only produce rage and hatred in me of the highest order. Instead of enhancing our relationship, it would destroy it. I hope I've made myself perfectly clear. Now is there anything at all about what I just said that you don't understand?"

She sadly shook her head no. She knew I meant every word I had said and there was no further need for discussion on the subject.

"Honey, can you forgive me for even suggesting it? Now that we've said it out loud, I am in complete agreement with you that it is not for us. When Jocelyn and I discussed it earlier, it seemed reasonable at the time. The way you put it makes much better sense. Can we put this nonsense behind us and make love one more time before sleep finds us?" And we did just that.

The only thing that changed in our circle of friends is that I started avoiding Jocelyn just as I'd promised. Lydia pleaded with me several times not to blame her for desiring me but I never wanted to give Lydia any reason to question my fidelity. I was never rude to Jocelyn, I simply avoided interacting with her.

Both of us were doing well in our classes but midterms were fast approaching, so we saw a little less of each other as we tried to drill more of the course material into our brains. On a Thursday night, eight weeks into the semester, Lydia and I talked briefly on the phone before her dorm room was to be stormed by a half-dozen other ladies cramming for one of their mid-term exams which were to take place the next day. After exchanging words of love, she said she needed to take some NoDoz alert pills to stay awake late into the night because they had planned on studying long and hard together until around 2 am. I chuckled at the thought of all those scantily clad girls playfully bantering the night away.

For some reason, I couldn't get to sleep, and the thought of seeing all those perky braless tits pushing their pointers and tenting their thin tops got to me. McDonald's fries with Cook-Out milkshakes were very hot commodities during times like these, so I decided I'd help them out and perhaps catch a few innocent eyefuls of hard nipples before getting kicked out. I picked up a dozen orders of fries and eight vanilla milkshakes to rescue these damsels in distress from their dreary course review and showed up at Lydia's dorm room at 11 pm to become their collective hero.

I started to knock so I wouldn't startle any unsuspecting females but didn't hear any of the expected giggling or laughter as I stood listening outside the dorm door. On the contrary, what I heard sounded much like a woman engaged in passionate sex, MY woman. It was definitely Lydia's voice, not Jocelyn's. I became aroused at the thought that perhaps the girls had finished their studies and departed, leaving Lydia to rub one out to try and get to sleep more quickly. Since I had a room key, I left the two bags of fries and shakes on the floor outside the door and quietly let myself in the darkened room, making no disturbance.

As I tiptoed toward Lydia's bed, there was no mistake. She was getting seriously fucked by another man, not me. The shadowy room concealed my presence as they noisily continued their energetic fuck session. The curtains were slightly parted, allowing the parking lot lights to shine directly onto the rutting couple. Her ex-boyfriend, Findlay Stevenson, was helping himself to what I had believed was exclusively mine. I was enraged in light of our previous conversation. My eyes were adjusting to the dim room. I saw the glint of a reflection on the adjacent desk. It was her engagement ring. I didn't know whether to be pleased or angry that she had removed it to have sex with him. More than likely, he didn't want her to wear it while she was his. I slid the ring silently into my pocket as I pulled out my cell phone.

I began recording the scene before me as my perfect timing caught their breathy verbal exchange.

"I'm getting close," Lydia panted. "God yes, fuck me hard with that big cock. I want all you got!"

"You like that?" He breathlessly replied. "You like what I have better than Mr. Dependable? Huh? Say it, tell me how much you love this cock," he demanded.

Mr. Dependable? Is that how she referred to me? She'd never called me that to my face.

"I'm addicted to your cock, Findlay. I NEED it. I CRAVE it! You know I've never gone more than three days in a row without you fucking me ever since we first met. Oh, FUCK!" She exclaimed.

"What about your Mr. Dependable? What does he get?" Findlay gasped as he plowed her furrow.

"He only gets your leftovers. After we're married and I go off the pill, you're gonna fill my belly with your babies, and he's gonna raise them as his own. Why couldn't YOU marry me instead? Almost! Almost there! FUCK ME!"

Encouraged, Findlay slammed into her fiercely, "You know I can't be tied to just one woman. I'm a free spirit that can't be tamed. That's right baby, I'm gonna be the only one to fertilize your eggs and Mr. Dependable can take care of them for me."

At that, the two of them arched and began crying out and screaming their passionate releases to the world. I stopped recording. Lydia had gifted me a gold necklace with a cross on it as a Christmas present to impress my religious parents. I grabbed it, breaking the chain off my neck, and silently placed it on the desk along with the room key where her engagement ring had been placed. I slipped quietly out of the room before their urgent groans subsided. Lydia Reynolds would forever be in my rearview mirror.

As I drove back home, tears finally emerged from my eyes as the immense loss overtook me. I pulled off to the side of the road and sobbed for two minutes as it all sunk in. She had never stopped being intimate with her so-called ex-boyfriend even though we mutually agreed to exclusivity. She'd lied right to my face since day one. She looked down at me merely as a stable, dependable meal ticket, while she planned on allowing Findlay to breed her and try to pass his spawn off to me as my own. I had never experienced such betrayal and treachery before. I quickly regained my composure regretting that I'd ever met her.

I turned my cell phone off and put it on the charger, took one of my mom's Ambien pills to help me sleep, and plopped into bed. I needed to rest for my own mid-term exam the next day. I'd decided not to confront the slut that night. As much as I hated what she was doing behind my back, I didn't want her to fail her exam but she will be banished from my life now. It's just the way my parents raised me.

On Friday, my exam was mid-morning, and hers was mid-afternoon. I didn't expect to hear from her until after her exam. Sure enough, I received a call at 3:45 as both of our last classes of the day were letting out.

"Hey, babe. How'd you do on your exam?" She bubbly asked.

"I think I did well, you?"

"After all the hard cramming we did last night, I think I did pretty well too," she enthused. Her double entendre was not lost on me. "By the way, honey, I found the cross I gave you for Christmas in my room this morning. Do you remember losing it? Jocelyn says she doesn't remember seeing it before this morning. Another strange thing, somebody left fires and shakes outside our dorm door. Jocelyn brought them in but she doesn't know where they came from."

"You're right. I lost that cross among other things," I added.

"What other things, sweety?"

"I hear that you've been seeing Findlay Stevenson behind my back. Is that true?"

"What? Who told you that pack of lies? I haven't seen him since I broke it off with him, I swear," she appealed.

"I have a short video clip on my phone. It's a pretty good likeness of you and him. How about I send it to you and you call me back after you watch it and with an explanation?"

Lydia nervously replied, "Sure babe, I'll prove to you that it's not me and set your mind at ease. I'll call you right back. Go ahead and send it."

Ten minutes later I received a call from a sobbing Lydia. "It's not what you think. That was just trash talk in the heat of the moment. It was just that one time, I swear. It'll never happen again. We can get past this. I love you, Nolan, only you! Who sent you that? How did you get it? Did Jocelyn set me up so she could get you?" She seethed.

I took a deep breath to help me remain calm amidst the firestorm raging in my soul at her barrage of lies.

"Last night, I wanted to be helpful, so I brought fries and shakes over to your dorm room at 11 pm for your study party girlfriends. I let myself in with the key you gave me when I heard strange noises inside that were not laughing or studying girls. I saw the two of you rutting like animals and heard every word you said. I made that recording myself. You two were so boisterously involved that neither of you noticed me standing there. I saw your engagement ring on the desk and took it with me as I left that cross and room key behind. The wedding is off, Lydia. I don't want to ever see you or even be in the same room with you ever again. By the way, I blind-copied that video to your dad at the same time. I figured you'd lie about why I dumped you. Now your parents will know the truth about you."

A loud scream at the top of her lungs was heard through the speaker. "You bastard. Why would you do that? Why are you being such a fucking asshole about this? It was only sex!"

"I'm sure your next fiancée will be much more understanding. I guess I turned out not to be the clueless Mr. Dependable you'd believed me to be. Right now, you and your father are the only recipients of that video. If you or any of YOUR friends EVER try to talk to me about us, I'll send that video to everyone we both know, including your professors and Findlay's coaches. Loverboy may end up sitting out the rest of the season for bad conduct. They're your friends, not mine, including Jocelyn. They kept your secret from me our whole relationship. You better make sure to keep them in line and have them ignore me completely. One single word from any of them and the video goes everywhere. I will never trust or believe another word you say. This is goodbye forever, Lydia. Have a shitty life!" And I ended my final call to her. She knew I meant every word. She was the liar, not me. I never heard her name mentioned by anyone on campus again.

Christine.....

I graduated with honors in late May and my parents were as proud as peacocks at my scholastic achievement. I was thrilled to have no student debt and thanked my folks for their prudent and insightful provision. I hoped that my brother, Cole, would be able to end up just as debt-free. No one spoke of the June wedding that wasn't to be.

However, Cole inadvertently played an important role in my future life. He attended my graduation with his girlfriend, Sonya, for two reasons. One, of course, was to support his big brother. Secondly, Sonya's three-year older sister, Christine, was also crossing the same stage as me to receive her degree in Library and Archives Management. We all met up together afterward. I had heard about Cole's girlfriend but had never met her. They looked cute together and I ribbed him about it. However, after introductions were made, very soon a conspiracy emerged. Sonya and Christine's parents and family had apparently arranged to join my family for a late lunch or early dinner at a local restaurant. As fate would have it, the two family vehicles had no extra room, so I was asked to drive Christine to the venue. By this time, I was completely over Lydia and welcomed the company of a new female. We engaged in some small talk on the drive over.

"Hi, Christine. It appears as though we have been set up and I apologize for that. I'm pleased to meet you nonetheless."

"Actually, it's my pleasure to finally meet you in person, Nolan. I've learned quite a bit about you and it's all good. I can hardly believe that we've attended the same university for four years and not crossed paths until today when it's all over," she asserted.

"You're right, that's crazy but you look so familiar to me. I can't put my finger on it but it will come to me eventually. And what is it that you think you've learned about me?" I chuckled.

"Well, for one thing, we're the same age. Your birthday is three months and twelve days after mine. You just graduated with a degree in Business Administration with honors. You have no student debt, unlike me. You're a fairly devout Christian who doesn't go to Church regularly. You interned over two summers at one of the largest banks headquartered in Charlotte and will start an entry-level management position with them on the first weekday in July. I've known what you look like for six months now and have looked for you to enter the campus library where I interned. You love breakfast but dislike cheese and onions, which is almost un-American if you ask me."

"DAMN! What are you? A PI in your spare time? How did you come by all that?" I blurted. She laughed, and when she did, I swear I could see a glowing aura around her head. It was the first time I had even noticed another member of the female gender since Lydia's betrayal.

"No, not quite. Sonya and Cole have filled me in on most of the personal details. The rest I came by on my own. After hearing so much about you, I looked you up on the campus computer system. Don't forget, a lot of library science involves computers, and ferreting out pertinent information is my specialty. Your picture ID is in the system as well as your class schedules etc. Cole and Sonya have urged our parents to get together a few times since they began dating so we're practically family," she giggled. "But believe me when I say, I had no idea we would be thrown together today any more than you did. But I'm glad we were. You seem to be just as good of a guy as Cole built you up to be."

I quickly snapped my fingers several times as it hit me. "Now I got it. Indiana Evans. That's who you remind me of, Australian actress, Indiana Evans. You could be her twin sister, your hair especially, almost identical. I've seen her on a couple of shows that always appealed to me."

"Indiana Evans? Nope. Never heard of her. You say we look like twins? I'll have to check her out," she countered.

"Well, she's very attractive and I guess the best word I would use to describe her and you is, classy. You're both elegant and classy and I mean that in the best way possible."

"Why thank you, kind sir. Such generous compliments and we've just met. I think Cole's right. You're one of the good guys."

"Well, you know what they say about good guys, don't you? Good guys always finish last," I quoted, remembering the betrayal.

Christine looked me straight in the eye with a big smile and said, "Not with me they don't."

We had a wonderful late lunch together. Christine and I were once again paired in the seating arrangements which neither of us seemed to mind. She had a clean purity about her that was refreshing. Her openness and honesty were readily apparent. She had no reservations about telling jokes about herself of her childhood blunders and foibles. I had never met a woman so candid and who spoke so plainly. There was nothing deceptive about her whatsoever. She was completely disarming, an open book.

After that first encounter, we began dating. As much as I wanted to maintain the brick wall I had constructed around my heart, all Christine had to do was allow me to kiss her that first time and it came crumbling down into a pile of dust. I had no defense against such pure honesty. She was unlike any woman I had ever met.

Though my job was entry-level management, I was very pleased with the salary. Christine landed a position as an assistant librarian at the much smaller private college, Queens University of Charlotte. The head librarian in charge of the facility was retiring within a year and the previous assistant who had been groomed to replace her suddenly moved to another state when her husband accepted a promotion. Christine's salary was excellent for the subordinate position, and if she was deemed suitable, would dramatically increase upon assuming the head mantle.

Although I believed my parents to be conservatively religious, Christine gave them a run for their money. As we grew much closer, we had many conversations about our pasts. I confessed my extensive intimacy with Lydia, wanting to have no secrets between us. She admitted to having dated extensively during her first two years of college and drew close to one guy in particular. But she explained that she had never experienced vaginal sexual intercourse and wanted to save her virginity for marriage. He moved on from their relationship when she would not put out for him. She wondered if I would do the same. I explained to her that I completely respected her resolve, and gave her my word that I would never press her for intercourse. That's not to say that we didn't engage in some heavy petting sessions during our dates. Numerous times I jacked off in the shower as soon as possible afterward, trying to avert blue balls.

I moved into my new apartment in August, a month after I started working. It was nothing fancy, just a place to offer privacy where Christine and I could hang out together which we did quite often. We double-dated some with Cole and Sonya but they seemed to prefer not being chaperoned by their older siblings. They were glad that we were together and encouraged us both to pursue our relationship to a natural and happy conclusion. Christine nearly occupied my every waking thought. When we were together, everything was right in the world. Although I only knew her for six months, I knew without hesitation that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this pure angel. I took her out to eat at a very fancy restaurant on New Year's Eve and popped the question. I thought I might pass out she squeezed my neck so hard.

She wanted us to visit both sets of parents that very night and share the good news which included showing off her new engagement ring. All of them couldn't have been happier for us, my folks finally gaining their first daughter and her parents likewise getting their first son. Cole was now attending UNC-Charlotte himself, following in my footsteps but Sonya opted to go to an elite college five states away on a full scholarship. We didn't give their long-distance relationship very much of a chance at continuing, although it has happened before.