Emotional Blackmail

There are lots of different types of blackmail. If you cheat on your spouse and someone finds out they might threaten to tell your spouse unless you pay them off or do something that is valuable to them. Or, someone might know that you committed a crime -- whether big or small -- and demand money not to tell the authorities. In a broader sense blackmail is making a threat to do or say something unless the victim agrees to do something for the threat maker. I was aware of classic types of blackmail but not "emotional blackmail."

I came to learn that "emotional blackmail" is a dysfunctional form of manipulation where the blackmailer uses a victim's feelings to control the victim's behavior for the blackmailer's self-interest. How did I, Blake Burns, come to know this? I became a "victim."

*************

My older brother Kevin is someone who I respected more than anyone else in the world. My father died when he was twelve and my sister and I were nine and six, respectively. My mother was a basket case for a long time. Kevin took it upon himself to assume an adult role and essentially raised my sister and I by himself for a year while my mother tried to regain traction. Even after she did return to relative normal she still relied heavily on Kevin for many things.

Because of sacrifices for his family Kevin never did have a normal teenage life -- the responsibilities he assumed were too great. Looking back on it in retrospect all of my sister, mother, and I took advantage of Kevin's caring nature to his detriment. He wasn't able to realize some of his dreams because we were so dependent upon his physical, emotional, and ultimately even financial stability.

As one of many examples of Kevin's sacrifices for his family because of his keen interest in math and technology he had always dreamed of going to MIT. Because of our dependence upon him despite the fact that he was smart enough to get accepted to MIT he instead went to the local community college and aced every decent math or technology course that they had, and then commuted to a local university that was rated the 185th best national university in the US (MIT is ranked 2nd in the same survey).

As another example, at 12 years old Kevin was the star of the baseball league in our town. In addition to being good at baseball Kevin loved it. After our father's death he never played organized baseball again because of his responsibilities to his family.

Things were not good economically for us either. My mother got attorneys on a contingency fee basis to handle a lawsuit relating to my father's death but it was a long and drawn out process lasting years -- long enough to ruin Kevin's teenage years.

While in the college that I wanted most to attend -- made possible economically in large part by Kevin's hard work after he graduated and loans that I got because of my family's economic circumstances -- between my 18th and 19th birthdays I finally started to realize how much Kevin had done for our family and felt embarrassed that I had relied upon him so much growing up and how I never would have been able to sacrifice my life for him like he did for us.

Then something good happened to Kevin when I was 20; initially I considered it karma because karma is the natural law of cause and effect that whatever energy you put into something you get back, good or bad. Put another way, if you do good, that good will be repaid somewhere down the line even if in a different form.

What I thought was karma was that Kevin fell in love. He was truly happy and doing things for himself at last since my sister, mother, and I were now in good places. We all rejoiced in his happiness.

While I was a little skeptical about Julie Wiggins, the woman that he fell in love with, because she seemed to be a little too artsy and flaky, there was no way that I would rain on Kevin's parade by calling attention to my skepticism; I was just glad that he was finally blissful.

Julie Wiggins was the same age as Kevin -- six years older than I am -- and even though he didn't meet her at the University he graduated from she had a degree in art from that same school. I wouldn't call Julie beautiful -- few people would -- but most males would consider her "alluring," and some would find her "sultry as hell." She had an aura about her that was both mysterious and enticing -- that's about the limit of my vocabulary to describe her. On a number of occasions Kevin told me that he considered her out of his league as far as looks were concerned although I always demurred that that was not the case.

I was a groomsman at the Kevin-Julie nuptials. Another good thing had happened to my family shortly before that; 13 years of protracted and painful litigation relating to my father's death was finally concluded and my mother's payout was very substantial. She easily could afford to pay for the wedding (Julie's parents weren't well off) and pay off the loans that my sister and I had taken out during college.

The wedding was a good time; especially since one of the single bridesmaids named Nicole -- a good friend of Julie's -- and I hit it off. Even though Nicole was six years older than I am we enjoyed as good a one-night stand as any guy has a right to dream about, let alone have. The only downer, after a night where I seemingly sucked more tit than I did while I was a nursing baby and made a record three bareback seminal deposits in an exceedingly snug and active pussy, was what Nicole said at breakfast the next morning.

"I was kind of surprised that your conscientious straight arrow brother married someone as wild and flaky as Julie. As much as I love her she might end up driving him nuts."

If at the time I hadn't had a sexual hangover where endorphins were still rampaging through my brain and my dick was still trying to salute I would have examined Nicole about that statement. However since I did have a sexual hangover I didn't follow up on it. I only really remembered it much later.

***********

I had more than my share of pussy in college and afterwards. I do well probably because I am big (in several ways), athletic (although Kevin had to give up his dream of baseball he made sure that I played three different sports in leagues), and in good shape (11% body fat), and am always polite, a good listener, and never say anything bad about others. However, I had a hard time warming up to Julie.

During every interaction I had with Julie and Kevin it seemed that she had complete control of his heart and mind, and I thought that he was too deferential to her. I also didn't think that I was being unnecessarily paranoid in thinking that she was more flirtatious toward me than was appropriate.

I never said anything to Kevin about my feelings; he was finally happy and free after a life of servitude to his family, and there was no way that I was destroying his happiness.

*************

After working for a year as an engineer I decided to go to graduate school. The school that I wanted to attend was in the same city that Kevin and Julie lived. Although I was debt-free and had some saved money I wasn't rolling in bucks and graduate school was expensive even with my partial scholarship. When Kevin found out what I was planning without prompting he invited me to live with him and Julie for the roughly 18 months that it would take me to get my degree.

I was reluctant to accept Kevin's offer until he put Julie on the phone and she made a clearly sincere effort to get me to accept. I was surprised by that; while I never had any clash with Julie since I was a little standoffish with her I didn't think that she would want me living with them. They did have a four bedroom house so they surely had enough space, and their house was only about four miles from campus so I accepted as long as they let me do chores and contribute to food and utilities.

Our living arrangements worked surprisingly well for the first five months or so. I mowed the lawn, did other yard work, and made dinner at least two nights a week, and often four. I made sure that I never interfered with Kevin's and Julie's time together, and especially made sure that I was out of the house Friday and Saturday nights.

Then something happened to change everything.

Julie was teaching art at the same university that I was getting my Master's Degree at although the art school was on a different campus, about a mile in the opposite direction from Kevin's and Julie's house than the campus I went to.

It was a Wednesday morning on a day when both Julie and I didn't have classes until the afternoon and Kevin was at work. We were eating a simple breakfast, one where I did any preparation that was necessary, when Julie started talking to me about the "Portrait Drawing" classes that she was teaching. After some initial discussion about what "Portrait Drawing" was -- which I found only mildly interesting -- she said "I have some sessions coming up where I need nude male and female models. I have a female model lined up but I need a male model -- are you interested?"

I almost choked on a piece of toasted bagel; she finally had my attention. "Are you serious?" I asked after making sure that I didn't require the Heimlich Maneuver.

"Of course," she smiled. "I know that your present part-time job pays only $19/hr. and you always need money; in the classes that I'm teaching we pay $25/hr. cash and it's a lot less work."

"Are you going to be there?" I gulped.

"Of course, I'm the lead professor in the basic course and an assistant in the advanced course."

"I don't feel comfortable getting naked in front of you," I stammered.

"God, don't be a prude," she laughed. "The human body is art -- at least some human bodies are," she continued. Then she stood up and took off the T-shirt and shorts that she had on -- which turned out to be her only clothing -- before doing a pirouette.

I was gobsmacked. While I always thought that Julie seemed to have a nice body I had never seen her in a bikini or other skimpy clothing. I was amazed at how nice her body was. Her teardrop tits were just the right size and shape and her shaved pussy seemed to be a small slit for someone her size (she's five feet nine inches -- 175 cm -- tall) but with a clit large enough to be seen from my position about six feet from her; and her ass was -- well, it was a perfect hemisphere.

"See, no big deal," she smiled as she put her shorts back on, and then her top but not before making a clearly provocative fondling of her own tits.

I didn't dare look at my crotch -- or stand up -- since I was sure that my cock was rock hard.

"Uh... does Kevin know about this?" was all that I could think of as a reply.

"We can tell him if you want; I certainly won't hide it from him."

I couldn't believe that I was actually considering her request -- but I think the chemicals rampaging through my brain after seeing her naked body made me giddy. "How long is a session?"

"Three hours with a break for you for five-ten minutes each hour. Two sessions would be necessary for each class."

"What's the class makeup?"

"There are two different ones. The basic class -- which would be the first one you pose for -- is twenty four students, twenty freshman or sophomore women and four freshman or sophomore men. The second class, the advanced one, is fourteen students, twelve junior or senior women and two junior or senior men."

"When do I have to have an answer for you by?"

"A week from Friday; it will be fun, you should agree," she smiled and then said "I need to get a shower and get to school," as she took off her top again -- making sure that I had a fleeting view of her perky tits -- and then walked upstairs, wiggling her ass as she did so.

Using deep breathing exercises and then going to the gym at school to work out I finally got my emotions under control. It was hard to concentrate in class that afternoon -- especially since the only good-looking woman in any of my Master's engineering classes was unusually skimpily dressed and sitting in front and to the right of me in "Theoretical Fluid Dynamics" -- but I managed to get through the day.

After that day Julie seemed more flirtatious around me, even with Kevin around. He seemed to have no problem with it. I was still wondering why in the hell I was even considering accepting Julie's offer when she showed me some of the portrait drawings from her previous years' classes and explained to me how important it was for aspiring artists to get a grip on real human anatomy. Those drawings eased my mind some since they really were artistic.

When my hours at my part-time job were temporarily -- for just a month while the owner of the engineering graphics company I worked for went on vacation -- I decided to accept Julie's offer -- if Kevin was OK with it.

Two days before Julie needed to have my answer Kevin and I were having beers together at a sports bar watching his favorite baseball team play on big screens when I brought the subject up. "Say, dude; I don't know if Julie has told you but she needs a nude male model for two of her classes and she's inquired if I have any interest. Would you have a problem if I accepted?"

Kevin looked a little puzzled and then said "No -- I thought that you already had. I know that Julie is in a bind because she said that she needed a tall athletic male model to contrast with the short pudgy female model and that it would really help her out. I have no problem with it. I support Julie any way that I can, and you obviously fit her needs."

I was going to say more -- but given how blasé he was about it I decided to let a sleeping dog lie. "OK -- I just wanted to check with you before accepting." Then a runner tried to steal home plate in the game, exciting the entire crowd in the sports bar, and we just talked about sports for the rest of the evening.

The next day I told Julie that I was OK with being a model for her classes as long as it didn't interfere with my classes. She promised it wouldn't and then shocked the shit out of me by pulling my neck down to her face and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. I was totally embarrassed when my little soldier tried to salute, but fortunately she didn't notice anything and I was able to tamp him down.

***********

I was extremely nervous dressed only in a bathrobe waiting for "Portrait Drawing 101" to start at 8 a. m. on a Wednesday morning. The classroom had two levels of hemispherical areas in front of a pseudo-stage, with easels spaced along each level; twenty four easels in total. All the students had eager looks on their faces.

Julie did a short presentation before we got started. She made a point of emphasizing that this was not a sexual endeavor but an artistic one, and gave various hints as to how to proceed. She culminated her presentation by reading a quote from Andres Loomis (I had no clue who that was but Julie later explained to me that he was a famous illustrator, commercial artist, and author in the first half of the 20th century and the developer of the "Loomis Method," whatever that is):

"The nude human figure must serve as the basis of all figure study. It is impossible to draw the clothed or draped figure without a knowledge of the structure and form of the figure underneath. The artist who cannot put the figure together properly does not have one chance in thousand of success-either as a figure draftsman or as a painter".

"OK -- that made sense to me," I thought to myself. Then she actually introduced me by name:

"This is my brother-in-law Blake Burns. If you wouldn't mind Blake please take the position that I asked you to."

After removing my bathrobe I started out in a standing position. I wish I could have started in some other position -- like the famous "The Thinker" statue by Rodin -- because in the standing position my cock and balls were on clear display and somehow the circumstances made my cock harden slightly -- although thankfully not close to fully. It was really tough for the first few minutes -- especially if I stared at the wide-eyed looks on the faces of some of the female students -- but after a while I didn't feel flushed anymore and I was able to focus on various inanimate objects around the room.

Since this isn't a treatise on nude artistic modelling I'll forgo talking more about it except to say that I was pleased that the $75 per three hour session was paid in cash from the Art Department's slush fund, and I got lots of smiles from the female students in both classes when Julie and I (clothed) reviewed their work at the end of the second session of each class.

One thing disturbed me. After the second session of the advanced class after getting dressed I was looking for Julie and came upon her unexpectedly talking to Simone -- the female professor that she was an assistant to -- and heard an exchange that I wish that I hadn't.

"Your brother-in law sure has a nice package," Simone giggled. I didn't think that 40 something art teachers giggled.

"Yeah, doesn't he," Julie chuckled. "Nicest I've ever seen which is why I asked him to pose. The female students in my introductory class were all abuzz about it -- I laughed inwardly when I chastised them for thinking sexually rather than artistically even though I was thinking sexually myself."

That resulted in another giggle from Simone.

"When the fuck did she see 'my package' before she asked me to pose?" I asked myself. "Had she seen me in the shower; or did she sneak into my room and lift the covers when I was sleeping nude; or what the fuck?" I decided that I'd have to think about that some more and avoid future exposure. To interrupt this gossip I took a few steps back and then yelled out "Julie, where are you? Julie!"

Julie stepped out of the room that she and Simone were talking in, her face flushed, and said "Hi Blake; looking for your last payment?"

"You could pay me at home; I just wanted to say goodbye to you and Simone and say that it wasn't as hard as I had feared. Do you know where Simone is?"

Simone stepped out of the room she and Julie had been talking in. Her face was a little flushed too. "Thank you so much for modelling, Blake you really helped us out of a jam," Simone smiled.

We chatted for another few minutes, Simone paid me, and I left telling Julie that I'd make dinner that night.

While I believe that I could have been a professional actor I performed so normally the next few days my mind was in chaos most of the time. Things were not helped when I had some unwelcome dreams over a few nights and woke up with my cock simulating a titanium bar.

***********

About two weeks after my last nude modelling gig Kevin had to go on a rare business trip. While Julie had upped her flirtation since the art classes it wasn't close to extreme so I foolishly had no apprehension when I dropped Kevin off at the airport on a Tuesday morning and then went to class. When I got home from class Julie had made a nice, even if plebian, dinner and we chatted about a wide variety of things. "After dinner I want to show you the final portrait drawings that my basic class did of you, and grade them; and there's something else I want to talk to you about," Julie said with a big smile.

"Sounds good," was my reply, "I'll clean up then you can show me; do you want to spread them out on the kitchen table?"

"That would be great," she smiled again.

I quickly cleared and wiped down the kitchen table, put all of the dishes and silverware in the dishwasher, and cleaned the pans Julie used to make dinner, and by the time that I was done she had all of the portfolios of her "Portrait Drawing 101" class stacked on the table.

I actually found it humorous and interesting to see what all of the students did. The only embarrassing moments were when she exhibited two of the drawings by female students that showed me with a twelve inch long (on the scale of the drawing which was about 1/4 - ⅓ life size) dick and testicles as big as oranges, and one by a male student that showed me with a micro penis and no balls. Fortunately the vast majority of the drawings left my crotch area vague or blurred.