Feral: The Hunter

I had to smile when she strode into the room. Her eyes were solid, focused; her face serious. Her hair streamed behind her, bouncing with her every step. Once, I had only thought models could walk like that. Well, Delphine was by far too short and too thick to be a standard model. Not to say she wasn't stunningly gorgeous, just, not the anorexic staple of most modeldom. When she finally reached my desk, one hand lightly grazed the top, and the other reached up and swept off her orange tinted sunglasses.

Strangely, her ostentatious dress suited her. Normally, she dressed in a highly conservative, classy- but nonetheless breathtaking, way. Today... well, she was still classy, if there was ever a doubt, but there wasn't much conservation. She had a mid-leg plaid, brown and gold pleated skirt, and a black trench-coat firmly buttoned and tied, which reached to only a few inches above the bottom of her skirt. Her almost knee-high boots caught me off guard for a moment, and I couldn't help but stare at the noticeably fleshsoft golden-brown shirt she wore underneath the jacket. Though her breasts were proportionately larger in comparison with her body, she managed to hide them well, while accentuating her round hips and small waist.

It was rare that Delphine wore makeup, but I hadn't seen her in almost a year, so it's deftly possible that she had altered some of her normal dress procedures. I smiled at the thought. Her lips glittered with golden lip gloss, and there was just a hint of gold on her cheeks and above her eyes. What was this? Was she a fucking rockstar all of a sudden? Hot, but still, out of character for Miss Priss, anointed cockblocker of the State.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Barone?" I was decidedly uncomfortable with her presence, with my lust for her mind, body, soul- Perhaps I was most uncomfortable with that look of utter assassination in her eyes.

Her steady gaze continued to bore into me. When she spoke, though softly, I was reacquainted with how deadly and silken her voice was when she was upset. "Simply, Mr. Preston, I would like to know why I have been being ignored by you. Did I do something to offend you? If I have, I would gladly like to know what it is so that I may redouble my efforts and truly put my antagonistic nature to good use."

Oh. Delphine was one of my more interesting ex-students all right. She had graduated the year before, but still plagued my mind. To be completely honest, I wasn't allowed to speak with her. My wife had caught me doing something... underhanded, and had insisted that I no longer have communication with the vixen. Looking at her now, it was obvious that she may have taken notice that I wasn't responding to her messages. "Why would you think I have been ignoring you?"

I was going to play this Nixon style. Admit nothing. "Stop giving me this Richard Nixon shit, Preston. I know what you're doing. And I want to know why."

Fuck! She knew me too well. It came to no use though, I was tongue-tied. There was a deliciously fuckable brainchild in front of me, and she had caught me with my pants down. Suddenly, her eyes became soft. Thank god, the monster has retreated and she's decided to switch tactics. Her anger was something that scared people to dirty drawers, but the strategy worked, because they were more than willing to talk to make sure that the beast was not unleashed once more. The primal, feral being that would kill you rather than look at you.

"If I really have done something, I want to know. At least give me a reason before shutting me out. I didn't know I had done anything wrong, I've been speaking with all my favorite teachers and no one else seemed to mind..."

My tongue felt too big for my mouth. I kept going back and forth between wondering what kind of panties she had on, to how badly that boot in my face would hurt, to remembering exactly why I hadn't been responding to the sorceress. I found my voice. "Would you like me to be candid or civil, Miss Barone?"

"I would normally decide for civil, but please, be straight."

Standing, I walked around and motioned for her to take a seat in my chair. She took a seat languidly, and then reflexively crossed her legs, locking them. Leaning one arm against her knee, and the other on that arm, her attention entreated me to begin. "By all means, Sir."

I groaned inwardly. "Do you think it's possible to love more than a person at a time?"

Her eyes became hard again. "Yes, I believe it's possible," but before I could make my case, she injected, "But you always love one of them more."

My mouth was already half wrapped around a word, and I had to rethink my argument. Stumbling for a few seconds, I realized it didn't matter, I would use my case anyways. "Yes, well, I'm married, I have children- and yet I have the most vivid dreams about you. Some of them are as simple as working on an old lab, some are just memories, some are fictitious conversations, and others are... of a more carnal nature. Apparently, I've said your name a few times too much for the woman who shares my bed to be comfortable with. When she caught me jerking off in front of the computer one day, and your email on the screen, she said enough was enough."

"You're not allowed to speak to me," I was blushing. Fucking blushing. The heat radiated from my face.

"I am not. And it's a damn good thing too. I love my wife and children, and I happen to have a distinct regard for my earthly possessions."

She didn't look at me for a few moments, but held a sidelong glance at the floor. Her lips twitched once, and then she flicked her eyes back to me. "Your wife's name is Laura?"

I blinked. "Your point?"

"She's a tall blond, green eyes? Wears a silver necklace with a little M and C on it?"

To my recollection, Delphine had never seen my wife, or a picture before. You know that feeling that Michael Douglas' character had to have after Glenn Close boiled his bunny? Yeah, I was getting there. "Where-"

Placing a hand up, the tips of her fingers ever so slightly inclined toward me, she interrupted. "I was visiting the Borders in Plymouth. I saw her. I didn't connect it right away, no. But I remember her name was Laura, she had a necklace on with M and C, for Michael and Caleb (my sons), and ... she said she worked in the Clinton Schools. It took awhile for this to click, someone had to say something about a Michael before I went... whoa, wait a minute, here... but... I was eavesdropping. I had heard her, but not cared until she said something about meeting at the Binge and Purge. I had met someone there awhile before, and it just brought up bad memories."

"Well?"

"I was on the other side of the book cases, and she was on her cell phone. I had gotten a good look of her before diving into Sociology, she was hot. I'm just saying that I hope it was you on the phone, because she said she couldn't wait to do the 'normal F and S, honey'."

"What if it was me, Delphine? What if I was the one there, waiting for my wife to put her normal fuck and suck moves on me?"

The way the shadows glided over her dead serious face, and the way the realization hit me that Delphine hadn't known what F and S meant, left me breathless for a second after the outburst. Slowly, she began again, "Then it would mean you got the royal treatment, babe. And if it had been you, you would be smiling nostalgically now, not panicked."

My brain was at an all-stop. I didn't want to think of the possibility. That my wife was fucking another man. No, no. Delphine had always had the hots for me, her entire senior year. I put my arms down after noticing I had subconsciously began to run both hands over my scalp, through my hair. I kept going no, no, no, no, no through my head. Her face was still steady. I suddenly felt very angry, and it was all directed at her. Before I could express it though, her darkness kept me captivated as she spoke. "Before you call me a damned liar, as I know you're close to doing-" the bell rang to let school out, she paused for a moment to let it pass, "You should reconsider. I do not lie. While I can understand that you might not believe me over your wife, at least give me a benefit of a doubt. Neither say I am wrong, nor that your wife is guilty. I wasn't sure what her F and S meant, but you were the one that really made me believe what I heard."

Delphine stood regally, and began to walk by me. As she reached the crux of passing me, her hand rested on my bicep, her face turned toward mine. I was midway between the urge to strike her (I never would hit a woman, unless she was a fucking goliath about to eat me, but I had the urge) and kiss her forcefully, but resisted both. She wanted to say something, it was on the tip of her tongue, but instead she closed her mouth and went with her second choice. "You know my email. Update me on your progress. Happy Hunting, soldier." She shut the door behind her.

Her leaving was understated to her entrance, but the chill in my blood was real, enduring. Sitting down, I heard a knock on the door. I hoped it wasn't her, because I wasn't answering. When I heard keys come out, and the lock turning, I knew it wasn't her. The door cracked and I heard Delphine's now fluted voice from down the echoing hallway, "Nice to see you, Jamison. I'll talk to you sometime later!"

Fred walked in, a huge smile on his face. He wouldn't ever admit it since his wife worked across the hall from him, but he had the biggest hard on for Miss Barone his side of the school. "What's going on, Dave? I just saw Delphine leave," he peaked his head back out of the doorway, "Ugh, I forgot just how much I had missed her. As a student."

His grin betrayed him, but for once, I didn't laugh about it. I sat stupidly in the chair, and picked up my cell phone from off my belt. I went through the phone's number listing, and dialed Home. After almost four rings she picked up the phone and breathlessly answered, "Yeah? What's up, hon?"

"Just wondering what's going on. I wanted to tell you that I'm probably going to be late. I'm running over Fred's house to watch a rerun of last week's game to pick it apart for the next Linebacker meeting," I waved Fred silent as he almost spoke; it was a good thing my wife didn't know Fred had decided to opt out of coaching this year, "Oh, nothing's going on. I just came in from a run with Cara. We figured we should use our time for something productive on this half day. For once."

I could hear her smiling over the phone. When I didn't say anything, she began talking again, "Well, okay then, hon. I'm gonna visit for a little while longer. We should go out for dinner with the boys when you get home, I think I'll be too tired to cook."

Not knowing whether I was relieved or still suspicious, I tried to muster a smile. "Yeah, all right. I'll see you then."

We both hung up. I sat there wondering if I should call Cara. It would be awfully good timing for Laura to have returned from running at such an opportune moment. But if her and Cara had gone out running, then they would be together and Laura would know I was checking in on her. I really didn't feel like a big fight tonight. Especially not since I would have to tell her the origin of the battle.

I put the phone back on my belt, and my friend looked at me inquiringly. "What's going on?"

"I have to run over my house, but I want her to think I'm coming home late," thinking about Delphine, trying to have the same ability to control my emotions, I put on my best seductive face, "I have a surprise for her."

Nodding impressedly, Fred put his hand up in farewell, "Well, I guess I have nothing more to do here. See you tomorrow."

When he left, I wanted to yell until my voice became hoarse and the world stopped spinning. I wanted to scream to clear my head from all the lies. Someone was lying to me. I kinda wish I knew who, and that I didn't have the sinking feeling in my stomach that it wasn't Delphine. Getting up again, I walked out to my car and opened the door.

Coming home, my flip-flopping stomach came to a delicate halt. Relief flooded over me. Cara's car was in the driveway, and I had a phone number to get so that I could give Delphine a complete tongue-lashing. Walking in, I heard the shower running. I heard a laugh, Cara's laugh, from the bedroom. I was pretty sure that the running water covered up my arrival at home, and I had someone to goose in the shower. I took my coat off and threw it over the back of the couch as the shower stopped.

Cara yelled into the adjacent master bathroom as soon as the water stopped running. "It's about time you're out! I thought I'd have to drag out your bloated corpse before I got to shower."

An echoing, sweet voice came from the bathroom, as I came into the doorway. "Aw, baby. I told you that you could, you know," the two of them met at the bathroom doorway and passionately kissed, "-come and join me."

My jaw hung down. Shaking her head, Cara renewed her negation of the bathtime proposal. "No, I have to really be going before Casey gets home. He's been kind of suspicious lately. I need a quick shower, not-" Cara became quiet as she noticed Laura staring over her shoulder. "Laura?"

She turned and saw me, leaving. I picked my coat off the couch, and heard the thudding, bare footfalls of Laura following me. "Baby, it's not what it looks like!"

Never in my life had I a problem with blood pressure, but I was pretty fearful that was about to change. My face was red. Completely beet red, and when her hand grabbed my shoulder, I threw myself around to glare at her. "Don't even FUCKING talk to me, you conniving whore. You sat there and bitched at me for having a few fantasies about a fucking student. Fine, but at least I wasn't out there sleeping with every whore on the block like you!"

Cara had come round the corner into the living room, "Excuse me? You have no right to call your wife or me a whore-"

"I have every right, slut. If memory serves me, you're married too. Hey, Laura, tell me something, was it Cara you were meeting at the Binge and Purge after shopping at Borders, or was it another little friend you were going to fuck?"

Her mouth was slack, her eyes watering, words not wanting to form finally did, "Honey, I- how... how did you know about that?"

I didn't answer, I just stared at her. Cara's jaw was on the ground as well. "Wait a minute, Laura. You NEVER met me at the Binge and Purge-"

Oh dear, a lover's quarrel. I left them to their own devices and got into my car to drive back over Fred's.

* * *

"Fuck her! FUCK her. I hope she fucking chokes on that bitch's bush."

Fred sat at the table, his face completely unaffected by my outrage. Slight concern was in his eyes, but not anything too compassionate. We were guys, what do you expect? "Well, at least I'm glad Lisa took the kids out to eat, otherwise my children would be hearing some very colorful language I don't care to explain to them right now."

Despite myself, I laughed a little, then collapsed into a seat at the table next to him. "What the fuck, man? What did I do to her?"

"Well, I don't want to lessen what she's done, because that's fucked up, but... it's obvious you two have been growing apart. The only thing you two have in common anymore is the kids. You went out, what, half a year ago to a concert? You were sick that night, too, if I remember correctly. Puking everywhere."

"She could have told me."

"Yeah, she could have. But you could have too. Yet, you were just fine with having fantasies about your students. She had fantasies about other people too. It's just that she took it a step further than you, then was a hypocrite and dictated that you weren't allowed to do that. Even think about it."

"I love her, Fred."

"Yeah, and you will for awhile. Do you love her enough to trust her again?"

"I would have. Until I found out that she was cheating on me with more than one person."

"Whoa, whoa. Back it up. When did that happen?"

"I caught her with Cara, but the story Delph-"

We looked at each other for a second, and I shifted, then wiped my mouth nervously. I hadn't told him that Delphine had been the one who tipped me off. Fred raised his eyebrows, got up, and walked over to his fridge. "You want another beer?"

"Yeah, I do."

He slid one over to me, and I started again. I might as well tell him. "I went home and caught Cara and Laura together. But Delphine had told me that she overheard Laura talking about meeting up with someone at the Binge and Purge, that new bar in Clinton. Well, when I said that back to Laura, Cara was shocked, and wanted to know who else it was that Laura was meeting, because it wasn't her."

"Shit," Fred shook his head, "You can pick 'em, all right."

"I'm through with her. I can't trust her after that, no matter how much I love her."

"Well, I have another question then. Why was Delphine your source of information?"

"I was afraid you'd go there. To be honest, I don't know how she just happened to chance upon that. She said she was shopping at that Borders, which is believable enough... but to have such good timing as to walk in on my wife having a conversation with someone about fucking them, and then being able to recognize who she was... Plausible, but not likely. She actually came to confront me about why I was ignoring her. I told her that my wife ... had basically cut off my dick and had it in a jar in the closet. She didn't seem surprised that I had any interest in her, and she looked like she didn't really want to tell me. She even warned me that while I shouldn't call her a liar, that I should approach the situation with complete indifference, due to the probability of my wife's innocence."

"Which is why you called her."

"And lied. But, I guess. I had good reason."

"Risky if she was, in fact, innocent."

"Yeah."

We sat there idly for a few minutes, just drinking, but I couldn't hold off any longer. "Do you still have her phone number?"

"Whose?" he looked suspicious, "Delphine's? Her home number. Her father usually answers though, so that's tricky business."

Both Fred and his wife sincerely liked the girl. She was very bright and talented. They had offered to pay her through college, because she came from a kind of hard-up family. Lately that had changed, her father had won his Social Security, and she obviously had a job, but still, her lack of motivation gave incentive for the overprotective and manipulative Fred and Lisa Jamison to play mom and dad to the daughter they never had. Sure, Fred was attracted to Delphine, he owned up to that, but he was disgustingly in love with his wife, and admitted to having more fatherly instincts over the girl than anything else.

I, on the other hand, was the one that wanted to bang her.

"Give it to me anyways, I told her I would update her on my progress. And since I had planned on reaming her about lying to me, I might as well also reward her for telling me the truth."

* * *

She sat there typing away, back in her conservative dress, sitting in Fred's own chair. "Where is Jamison?"

Glancing up, she said, "He had something to attend to. I do not know what."

"Oh."

I wanted to walk out, but my legs didn't feel like functioning at that point. So, I stood there for a few minutes before she exhaled noticeably, "Yes, Mr. Preston? Any final thoughts, last words before you LEAVE?"

Nodding, I figured there were some things I had to attend to, "Yeah, I do have some unresolved questions for you, if you don't mind."

She waved her hand at me without looking, a gesture to indicate that her royal highness would listen to my low level plea to the state, but only for duty's sake. "About our little chat a week ago; you didn't seem surprised that I had any sort of attraction to you."

Still resolutely staring at the screen and typing, she answered intermittently, "I was surprised that you admitted it, but not that you had it, no. You acted differently with me than you did those other girls, and they were all over your body, so I couldn't understand it at first."