Wire-Pulling Pt. 02

A short photo session later, which he insisted on happening while posing with his microphone in front of his little ego wall, I got back into my car and made my drive home. Upon arriving at the apartment complex, I noticed a tiny, bright-red Fiat 500 occupying my assigned parking space. The owner of that car became known to me once I entered the apartment.

"Hi!" I heard the way too cheerful sounding greeting, delivered by the high-pitched girly voice belonging to Ava, Tim's sister.

"Uh... Hi? Where are you coming from?" I greeted her back while searching the apartment for Tim but, as I saw Ava and Mom sitting on the couch, each with a cup of coffee in front of them, I noticed that there wasn't a third cup on the table. Ava must have come over on her own. However, while Ava looked just as cheerful as she sounded, Mom looked like she had totaled my car and was now scared of telling me about it.

"Mhm. I wanted to drop something off for your mom. And then we got to talking and kinda forgot about the time," she shrugged, completely oblivious to Mom's demeanor.

"Oh. Alright," I shrugged in turn and started getting out of my jacket.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom blink for a moment before she visibly relaxed. I didn't immediately understand that, with everything else Dick had done and demanded of her, a scene like this would have ended with a severe beating in the senator's house. That would also be an explanation for how she fell out of contact with all of her friends.

Maybe, once this whole mess was resolved, I should try to locate them. While I wasn't exactly Ava's biggest fan after she had seemingly encouraged my mother to try and please me sexually, right now, she was the closest thing to a friend Mom had. So, I wasn't going to tell them off, but I sure as hell would try to help Mom find better people to spend her leisure time with.

"You... You're not angry?" Mom asked, now standing while wringing her hands and confirming my suspicion about how Dick would have handled a situation like this.

"No. You've been cooped up in here for days now. And there's nothing wrong with having friends over for a chat," I reassured her while trying to sound as calm and unbothered as possible, causing her to not only relax further but also regard me with a thankful smile. "If you want company, feel free to call Ava. Though, I admit, maybe it would be better to set you up with Tim's mom instead of his sister."

I chuckled at the end, trying to joke about the age gap between those two like-minded women, but the unintended effect was for Mom to regard me with almost wonder in her eyes before speaking up in a breathy and slightly shaking voice.

"You would be okay with that?"

I just nodded while shrugging my shoulders again. Seeing this, her eyes darted over to Ava, as if to ask whether she thought this possible.

"Oh! I think that's a great idea! Our moms would SO hit it off!" Ava said with a bright smile.

Mom's reactions kept intriguing me. Hearing Ava's words, she lowered her head to look at the floor, but I could see her mouth curved into a smile she obviously couldn't suppress, making me believe that she had lowered her head in an attempt to hide it.

I didn't know how I should feel about this. On one hand, helping her to find new friends was a no-brainer for me. The less I behaved like her former master, the better I felt about myself. Though, the fact that she was still afraid of my reaction upon finding her in a conversation with Ava, and the seeming attempt to hide her happiness from me, made me realize that I had done a piss poor job at proving this to her. Although, given how she has only been living with me for a mere few days so far, that shouldn't exactly surprise anyone. Especially after that outburst I had the first night after she moved in with me.

To my utter surprise, Ava suddenly stepped next to me and hooked herself to my right arm.

"Walk me to my car, big guy?" I blinked at her for a second before I simply nodded, knowing that this must be highly unusual behavior if what Tim told me about her was true. And, as soon as we stepped into the hallway and the door closed behind us, my suspicion was confirmed as she continued talking. "So, how is it going with the two of you?"

This made me smirk.

"Given how you just 'forgot about the time' while speaking with my mother, and there honestly isn't much that the two of you have in common... I would guess you know more about my relationship with my mother than I do by now."

"Right!" she chuckled while refusing to let go of my arm. "Tim said something about you being the lead investigator. I just... I was hoping to hear the story from your perspective as well. According to my brother, you are trying to help her. And, no offense, but I don't think you are, like, very experienced in this. Maybe I can help you get some clarity. Give you some insight."

I thought about this for a moment. She was right. And, at the same time, I figured that I knew enough of their dirty secrets to admit some things in her presence. Mutually ensured destruction and all that.

"Well," I said with a drawn-out sigh. "It's not going too well."

"That's what she said as well. Why?"

"It's just... I keep questioning her motives. And her sincerity. She claims she wants to make me happy. But the way she acts makes me think that I'm just the next best guy she could attach herself to after Dick dropped her. There are... things in our past that make it hard for me to trust her. And, worse, make it hard to not abuse the power I seem to have over her."

"You mean, like, punish her?" she asked. Curiously, it sounded very factual.

"Yes."

By now, we had reached the gated inner yard of our apartment complex and were slowly walking towards her small car. I let my eyes wander, just to be safe, but couldn't see anyone acting suspicious or anything looking like it could be a listening post.

"You know, there are ways to punish her without abusing her."

I blinked at her. Especially because she was still maintaining that factual and unfazed tone.

"What?"

"After Tim moved out, but before we started to heal our relationship, he was in the same boat. He was, like, super angry. Especially with me. And I deserved it. I... wanted him to punish me. And he found ways to do it, but, at the same time, I always knew it was different from what Dad and Logan did." I looked at her questioningly, and she added "Logan's our brother."

"Oh," I hummed while thinking. "So... how were Tim's punishments different?"

"Simple," she smiled. "Dad and Logan did it to me. Tim did it for me. Don't get me wrong, he got his satisfaction from it. In more ways than one." She paused to giggle with a faraway look. "But, at the end of the day, while he did use me and maybe even abused me a little, he never hurt me. Always paid attention to my needs. Always made sure that I enjoyed myself just as much as he was. Always made sure to not push me beyond my boundaries. In a way... that was even worse than if he had simply beaten me for what I did to him."

I no longer knew what to even say to this. Thankfully, she noticed my stare and elaborated.

"I like to be taken. I like it rough." There still wasn't even a hint of shame or embarrassment in her voice as she stated this fact. "I enjoy being submissive. But I don't enjoy pain or humiliation. That's a detail Dad and Logan did not care about. The simple fact that Tim did, even after everything we put him through... I don't know where I'd be today if he hadn't shown me that difference. And..." Now, for the first time, she hesitated as she looked at the floor. Soon, though, she raised her head and fixed me with a determined look. "Your mom is the same."

"Hm. Yeah. Tim said something along those lines," I nodded as we had finally reached her car and came to a halt next to it, but then I noticed that she suddenly looked sad.

"No. That's the part he's wrong about," she said while shaking her head. "Maybe your mom and I are both naturally submissive, and maybe we are both determined to do whatever it takes to gain forgiveness for what we did... But we are very different in every other aspect. I did... horrible things to my little brother. I pushed him out of the family, tried to make our parents literally forget about him, and helped others to hurt him badly. Mentally and physically. And I did all that for no other reason than to please the people who used me for their pleasure, never wasting a single thought about how much damage we were causing."

This admission stunned me. That was a lot more than I had learned about Tim's life so far. Though, before I could comment on it, Ava suddenly raised herself onto her toes and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"What was that for?" I asked, confused.

"That's my thanks for helping my little brother when I failed him. I also don't know where we would be today if you and your boss hadn't been there to catch him."

And with that, she finally unhooked herself from my arm, sat on the driver's seat, and drove off before I could sort through my thoughts and realize that she never told me how exactly this was any different from Mom.

She had confirmed that they were both submissive and claimed they wanted to make us happy. But, other than Ava, Mom had never said anything about wanting forgiveness, even after she looked absolutely distraught upon learning the details of my last nightmare. Not even the psychologist who was in charge of her psych evaluation could determine why she acted this way. And she may not have actively helped Dick when he beat me until I needed to be sent to the ER, like Ava had with Tim, but Mom helped him by first standing by and letting it happen, and then by covering for him when the police showed up and could have gotten us out of there.

I finally walked to my car and moved it into my designated parking spot, so it would be protected by the fence. Then I walked back into the apartment and realized that I also never learned what Ava and Mom had spoken about in particular, nor what Ava had supposedly dropped off for her. However, after I had just tried to show Mom that it was okay to meet up with friends without seeking my permission first, it also felt wrong to now interrogate her about what had happened during their meeting, so I consciously suppressed my curiosity.

What took a lot more effort to suppress was the ever-growing temptation to make use of her body.

The first thing I saw after stepping through the apartment door, was Mom standing in the kitchen, with her body framed by yet another set of lingerie. She must have gotten rid of her dress the moment Ava and I had stepped out the door. Without any conscious thought, images of myself walking up behind her and letting my hand roam her curvy bottom popped up in my head. I imagined doing this to her while talking about what she had planned for lunch. Maybe I would let my hand slide into the gap between her thighs and start massaging the undoubtedly heated and moist center I would find. Playing with her as if she were nothing more than an instrument for my pleasure and a toy for my amusement.

The sudden and painfully restrictive pressure on my groin pulled me back to reality. As quickly as I could, so Mom wouldn't see the effect her getup had on me and try to relieve the pressure, I walked into the bathroom to wash my face. I needed to get a grip on myself. And I needed to get out of those damn jeans!

The following two days, which I spent immersed in my investigation, kept me wondering about the particulars of Ava's visit. Especially since Mom had simply stopped her aggressive advances. She made sure I would still know, beyond any doubt, that she was very much available to me. She would still walk around the apartment in nothing but underwear. Even when Ava visited, which she now did on a daily basis for some reason, Mom didn't bother with dressing herself beyond putting on some underwear. But she had completely stopped her continuous offers of relieving or satisfying me sexually.

The problem was that, while I at first felt some form of reserved optimism over her seemingly lessened willingness to do whatever I wanted, she amped up her subservience significantly, proving that this wasn't, at all, a sign of her turning back into the Mom I once knew. I thought that, maybe, if Ava was truly advising Mom on how to repair our relationship, this was another attempt to achieve that goal. But her other behavior didn't fit with that theory.

She barely left my side anymore. She was almost scared out of her mind one afternoon, after accidentally letting a cup slip out of her hands while doing the dishes, causing it to shatter on the floor. She was no longer pushing me sexually, but she was even more needy and insecure in every other way.

I can't even begin to describe the level of frustration it caused me. First, because the intensity really made me feel like Dick's replacement. Second, because my investigation into the senator had truly run into an impasse. And third, because I now found myself missing her sexual advances. I could no longer deny that seeing her in lingerie, especially while she bent and stretched while fuzzing around the apartment, got me riled up. But, simply out of fear over acting like Dick, I didn't want to tell her how to dress and put an end to that constant visual stimulation. If she was still actively offering herself to me, I could... maybe... use that as an excuse if my self-control would eventually slip. But now, I'd have to initiate it myself, which was another thing I didn't want to do.

On day three after Ava's first visit to our apartment, at least the investigation was pushed forward by a rather unpleasant, albeit not unexpected, incident.

It was the following Saturday when Ava suggested that we use the opportunity to have the first playdate between our mothers. Apparently, since their mom had also lost quite a few friends and acquaintances during her divorce, she was eager to meet new people who "share interests". Whatever that meant. I just hoped that would be the case, as I really no longer knew what interests my mother might still have. Even the three things she listed for Carver - movies, Jazz music, and modern art - I was afraid that the memories of Carver might have tainted those things for her.

Tim, Ava, and I had just retreated into the kitchen after seeing the two mothers hit it off when a shrill, three-second-long sound emanated from Tim's phone that sounded like an amber alert. He checked it, gave me a look, and gestured for me to follow him.

"There's movement in your apartment," he said as we entered his home office. Although I noticed how he was frantically typing on his phone while walking ahead of me, I was too occupied by what he just told me to care.

He sat in front of his computer, which, as expected, was already running, and clicked on an icon on his desktop. Next, I only saw a password prompt before a window opened that looked like a cheap version of YouTube, with the live feed from my apartment in a big video player at the top of the page.

What we saw was two guys wearing matching red and gray working clothes, with one of them carrying a metal suitcase that looked like a modern toolbox. I had to look twice when I saw that the back of their jackets spelled 'ACME electrician service'. Yes, we knew that people didn't really pay attention to contractors and such if they superficially looked the part, and we had made use of that fact for ourselves quite a few times over the years. But actually making your fake company sound like something out of Warner Bros. Cartoons was... bold.

While his partner started moving from room to room, checking my fridge, looking into my mirrored bathroom cabinet, and taking photos of everything he saw, the one carrying the metal suitcase moved directly to my desk where my PC stood.

"Why's he taking photos?" Tim asked.

"Educated guess?" I mused before shrugging my shoulders. "If he had taken photos of my clothes, I'd suspect they're planning to come back another time and switch those pieces out. Like, sneaking in a belt with a GPS-tracker in the buckle. But I'm pretty sure he just took a photo of the two toothbrushes on the sink, which probably means they were sent to make sure we actually live in that apartment. They must have somehow picked up on us moving out. I'm honestly more interested in what his friend is doing."

As I finished my last sentence, I pointed at the other video stream showing the guy working on my PC. Within two minutes of entering my apartment, he had removed the side panel, extracted the hard drive, and placed it in some kind of box that was attached to his laptop. I gave Tim a questioning look.

"Oh. That looks like a docking station. He can use that thing to mount your hard drive like a USB drive. I hope you encrypted your porn stash, though I guess it's more likely he's just planting something on you."

"Like... surveillance software?"

"No. He'd have to actually install that, not just copy it. For that, he'd have to actually boot the thing and gain the proper privileges... or at least exploit a running service that has the proper privileges. Best case, he could fix it so you'd be asked to install it the next time you start your PC, but that would look suspicious. I'm guessing, with what else these pricks did so far, he's copying a bunch of videos starring very young and involuntary main actors onto your hard drive." We quietly watched the stream for a few seconds before he spoke up again while pointing at the screen. "Yeah, there, look. He's already packing up. That was WAY too quick to copy your 2TB drive!"

Just as Tim had claimed, the guy must have finished his task as he quickly reinserted the hard drive into my PC and fixed the side panel. His final act was to crouch underneath the table and make sure the PC sat right where it was before. Then everything went very fast. They hastily packed up their equipment and almost sprinted out of the apartment. All in all, they were in and out in a mere four minutes, but if I hadn't seen these two stroll through every room and work on my PC, I wouldn't have been able to point at a single thing that was now out of place! They were very careful not to leave any signs of their presence.

While I was still working through what I had just seen, Tim had copied the videos of what we just witnessed onto a thumb drive and was, again, typing on his phone before raising his head to speak up.

"The Boss and the police are almost there. You should get on your way as well."

"Hm. Can I leave Mom with you for the time being?" I asked, clearly skeptical.

"Boss says that Michael is on his way here." He raised his phone to show me the Text from Bill. The old man's head was working a lot faster than mine, it seemed. "He'll keep an eye on the place from the outside, to make sure there aren't any additional surprises."

I walked into the living room to find Mom, Ava, and Ms. Brown engaged in a heated discussion, but all three of them seemed to have a lot of fun arguing. It honestly took me aback for a moment. I was so absorbed in what had just happened, that I completely forgot about the reason for our visit. Though, seeing Mom like that calmed me down significantly.

"Sorry to interrupt," I started while smiling at Mom to not alarm the women unnecessarily. "I'll have to make a quick stop at home. Be right back."

"Oh!" Mom called out, immediately abandoning her two new companions to jump up from the sofa. "Do you need me for something?"

"Sit back down and have some fun. I won't be long," I replied in a voice that, maybe, was a little too stern because of my mindset being completely consumed by what I might find at home. But she immediately complied, and that was the important part. Consequently, I was out of the door before she could comment further.