Chapter 18: Peyton ll

It was a Friday night, and I'd already dropped off Sasha to work, so I was all alone as I pulled the Mustang into the driveway. I'd been sitting on the news of Peyton's breakup all afternoon, and actually found myself a little nervous as I hopped up the porch steps and went to open the door. A whole range of scenarios had run through my head, from a repeat of yesterday's pre-arranged foursome with the girls in sexy lingerie to Peyton's absence from the house entirely. I didn't know for sure that I had anything to do with Peyton's breakup, stinging reminders of DJ's old proclamation that not everything was about me floating around my head. Still, I was reasonably sure this wasn't just my ego, and that Peyton had specifically broken up with her boyfriend to remove the last obstacle to me seizing and inseminating her.

Well, not the LAST obstacle. My "no boyfriends" rule was merely the most obvious and easy defense. The final two obstacles to me and Peyton having sex, quite obviously, were the willingness of each of us to actually do so. In the end, the seize and inseminate charter was toothless. No piece of paper could grant me the right to have sex with a girl against her will, nor was Peyton's physical beauty reason enough for me to nail her. Single or not, I really had no idea whether or not she would actually let me fuck her, and to be honest I wasn't sure that I'd want to even if she would. I'd been serious about my concerns that this was all just a power trip, and that the Tri-Delt President still harbored ulterior motives I could not discern.

But I wasn't going to run away from a challenge, either. This was my house, my domain, and I wasn't going to let a girl I barely knew scare me. So drumming up all my confidence, I opened the door and strode in.

I heard girls chattering as I walked into the hallway, but conversations started dying out along the several feet it took to get to the living room. By the time I came to the archway, everyone had gone dead silent. Perplexed, I came to a full stop, arched an eyebrow, and surveyed the room.

Word had apparently spread, and the entire living room was packed with Tri-Delts. All eight chairs of the dining table were occupied by harem members past and present, including Madison, Misa, and Lupe. In fact, of the original twelve, only Lakhi and Tonya was currently absent, as they'd left town for the remainder of Spring Break. Jamie and Jeannie had been in the kitchen, but they now came out and stood in the doorway to see what unfolded. The five freshmen girls were in their spot by the bay window. Because the bounty had been earned yesterday, they were all actually free to go home and not return here anymore. And yet all five of them of them were seated: watching and waiting.

Finally, the Seniors were on the two couches: Peyton, Natalee, Annette, Misty, and Grace. The five of them collectively held all Tri-Delt executive positions: respectively President, Veep, Pledge Mistress, Secretary, and Treasurer. In addition to being the ruling clique of the sorority, they were Peyton's closest friends, and all had spent a good amount of time in the house over the past week.

So there were twenty Tri-Delts in my house. Thankfully, I always returned home before dinner, so we had not yet come to the 7pm lingerie rule. Otherwise, I might have had a heart attack seeing all twenty of them in their Victoria's Secret finest, or even less. But everyone was clothed and in a relatively somber mood. Everyone knew what was going on, and everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen next.

Peyton stood up and looked around. She was dressed casually, wearing the same kind of stylish cardigan/jeans outfit she would wear on campus. She looked good, but her clothes weren't anything overtly sexual. And in a plain voice, she said, "Hi, Ben. Can we ... uh ... talk?"

I glanced around as well, taking in the scene. It was a little intimidating to see twenty faces all staring at me, and I didn't feel entirely comfortable. If this was some sort of game, Peyton might very well have brought this crowd over to ensure maximum visibility, and potentially maximum embarrassment, but I didn't want to play this game on her terms.

I gestured toward the stairs. "Sure. Let's go up to my room. Just you and me."

Peyton blushed but looked relieved. The room had been silent, but there were a couple of disappointed groans from the more brash Tri-Delts when Peyton stepped away from the couch and walked past me toward the stairs. She walked quickly, without any extra hip sways or any even remotely seductive moments. And I relaxed as I started to believe she wouldn't attempt to seduce me in my bedroom.

I followed her upstairs and closed the door to my room. On impulse, I stayed there and cocked my ear to the door, smirking a few seconds later when I heard footsteps following us and whispered urgings for other girls to hush up. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to Peyton where she had seated herself in an armchair by the window, and I took the chair opposite her. "They're at the door trying to eavesdrop."

She shrugged. "Girls will be girls. I'm sorry about the crowd. I wasn't expecting all of them to just show up here. It's like we're the latest episode of One Tree Hill and they all have to tune in."

I chuckled at her reference and shrugged. "So what's up? You wanted to talk?"

Peyton fidgeted with her fingers, somehow looking much smaller than usual. Her eyes lacked their typical fire and her brassy arrogance was completely absent. To her fingers, she asked, "I take it you heard about me and my boyfriend?"

I nodded. "I heard it on the grapevine."

"I broke up with him for you."

I frowned. I had thought so, but I still didn't trust her motives. "For me?"

Peyton sighed, a long, defeated exhalation that ended with her extending her arms and then grabbing the front of both armrests with her hands. "Fine. You win. I want my Big Ben Experience."

"Excuse me?"

Something dangerous flashed in Peyton's eyes. "I'm serious. What you did yesterday to the freshmen girls blew my mind. I can't take it anymore. You win. I'll do anything to feel like they did."

I furrowed my eyebrows and leaned against the backrest, steepling my fingers together. "It's not like that. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I don't trust you. You been messing with me since the night you got here, so why should I believe tonight is any different?"

"It's not a game. This isn't a trick." Peyton shuddered and then gave me a plaintive look. If she was acting, she was damn good at it. "I just want you to fuck the shit out of me."

"Why?"

"Because. Just because..." She looked away, biting her lip and practically chewing on it nervously before she looked back at me. "Please?"

I shook my head. "Not a good enough explanation."

She sighed. "You didn't interrogate any other girls under this roof before you nailed them."

My eyebrows went up. "None of them played power games with me for an entire week."

"I'm sorry. Okay? I wasn't trying to mess with you. I was trying ... Look ... I don't know what I was trying. I don't like this feeling. I HATE how helpless I'm feeling right now. But I can't stand it anymore. I want ... I want to feel..." She looked up at me, obvious moisture making her green eyes shimmer. "I want to FEEL."

"Feel what? A great orgasm?"

"YES!"

I rolled my eyes. "Surely you've climaxed a time or two in your life."

"Not like THAT! Not like you did to me last Friday! No! Never! Not like THAT!"

My eyebrows went up at her outburst.

"Look, I'd heard rumors about what you can do. I was never there when you seduced a sister our sophomore year, but word spread about you and Adrienne tag-teaming a bunch of girls. I heard some wild stories about you and her walking naked down the hallway out of Leighton's bedroom, and then kinda doing the same after the Pledge Initiation. I wasn't there. I'd already gone up to my room. To be honest, I chalked the stories up to the kinds of exaggerations girls make all the time about their hookups. They were too good to be true, you know? Plus, I was never the kind of girl to slut around like some of the others. I saw you a couple of times at various sorority events, but I never would have come onto you by reputation alone."

"And then?"

Peyton sighed, staring out the window. "And then last Friday happened. Oh, I of course knew about the whole Tri-Delt West thing; I signed the charter myself after all. It was Jocelyn's idea, and she described it as a private little hangout spot for her and her friends. I knew you'd fucked pretty much all those girls before, so it wasn't a big deal to me. We both figured the seize and inseminate privilege would keep the place from getting too crowded, a way of not-so-subtly discouraging girls outside of those cliques from dropping by. I never meant to step foot inside this house myself. But then we were going through some of our status challenges and it was Misty, actually, who had the idea of bringing those five freshmen into the house. The charter would mess with the girls' heads, but Misty insisted you would be a gentleman about things, and it turned out that you were. At least until you came back into the room and told Kirstie to take her bra off."

"I wouldn't have nailed her, not that day," I explained. "I was just pushing the envelope to see how you all would react. Too much of my life has been spent with girls showing up and making up all the rules. Guess that was me playing my own power games."

Peyton's chin rose a little defiantly. "Yes it was. And you're the one who started things by grabbing me and saying you'd seize and inseminate ME."

I chuckled and shrugged. "Okay fine. I started it. But seriously, didn't Leighton or Carli ever tell you what I was capable of when pushed into a situation like that? Seriously, I've already taken control of things by grabbing the girl at the top of the food chain TWICE in front of the sorority. You had to have SOME idea of what I might do."

She shook her head. "No clue."

"One of the girls said there was a whole chapter about me in their orientation booklet."

"There is. But again, I chalked that up to exaggeration and legend. There's a LOT of stuff in that orientation booklet designed to intimidate and scare the girls."

I rolled my eyes.

Peyton sighed. "I told you: I'm not the kind of girl to slut around and bend over for just anyone. But I was curious. I'd heard the rumors, and you DID have a dozen of my sisters practically living here to be your harem. It was a unique situation, and once you were right there, holding me and offering me a safe word--"

"Tarragon," I interrupted.

"Right..." Peyton blushed and smiled at the memory. "You were so strong ... so confident. It's ... well you were sexy. And well ... I wasn't totally averse to a one night stand of sorts, to give you a test drive myself and see how much of the rumor was true and how much was exaggeration."

"So you kissed me."

"No, YOU kissed ME."

I arched an eyebrow and frowned. "That's not how I remember it. One minute you were protesting that I couldn't do this to you, the next I gave you the safe word, and then suddenly your tongue was in my mouth."

"Your tongue was in MY mouth." She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "Nevermind. The POINT is: I decided to go ahead and go through with it. Wouldn't have been the first time I'd slept with a hot guy because my blood started boiling."

"But then you told me you have a boyfriend."

"HAD a boyfriend."

"Well, at the time..."

"Fine, fine." Peyton sighed, and then she took on a dreamy look. Staring a thousand yards off to my left, she murmured, "And then you ... shit ... I can't even describe what you did to me. All I can say is that I'd never felt that way before. Ever. Never blacked out before. Ever. You scrambled my brains, Mr. Big Ben. And I haven't been able to get it out of my head ever since."

"So that's what this is about? In the end, all you really want is for me to make you feel that way again?"

"Yes!"

"Then what the hell have all these games over the last week been about? Huh? If you just wanted me to nail you, just come out and TELL ME. I might have done it a long time ago!"

Peyton grimaced and looked away. Shaking her head, she explained, "You don't understand. -I- don't chase guys. THEY come to me. I wanted you, but I wanted you on MY terms. I wanted YOU to want to fuck ME. And when you said you wouldn't do it because I had a boyfriend, and well ... I took that on as a challenge. If I could get you to break your rule because you wanted me so badly, then it would mean I hadn't lost control. It would mean that I'd seduced you against your will, and that I'd still have the upper hand. I tried everything. I tried teasing and flirting the first weekend. I've never had a guy resist me when I did that, trying to make clear that I wanted him. Even when I've had a boyfriend, most guys are willing to ignore that little detail. If I'm willing to fuck around, so are they."

"But not me."

She winced. "I didn't think you'd be that hardcore about the rule. You certainly nailed a few sisters with boyfriends your first time around."

I sighed. "And got burned in the end. I've changed my tune since I was a younger."

Peyton sighed. "I tried taunting and challenging your manhood after that, trying to get a rise out of you. And when that didn't work, I got really blatant and simply offered you sex straight up. Annette and Natalee were perfectly willing to play along. I figured the three of us like that would be utterly and completely irresistible."

"Sorry, the three of you were hot. But I can be a little jaded when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Evidently. You weren't kidding when you said you were well-seasoned. Can I ask how many girls you've been with in your life?"

"You can ask, but I don't have to give you a straight answer."

Peyton set her jaw, scrutinizing me with sharp eyes for a moment before asking flatly, "How many?"

"A lot."

"Well I can count nearly twenty in the room downstairs alone, especially after you went through the freshmen back-to-back..." Peyton pursed her lips. "More than fifty?"

"No comment."

"More than seventy?"

"No comment."

"More than a hundred?"

I took a deep breath, thought about it, and then said, "No comment."

"That's a 'no', then."

"It's a 'no comment'."

"Whatever. Not quite a hundred. And I'd just be one more notch on the old belt, assuming you don't count what we did last Friday."

"I don't. And if you're worried about being just another notch, the door's right over there. I'm not forcing you to be here."

Peyton put her hands on the armrests, readying herself to get up. But after only the briefest of pushes, she flopped back into the chair and shook her head, biting her lip and looking really, really frustrated. "I can't. I HATE this feeling. No guy has EVER made me feel this helpless. Sure, some of them haven't wanted to hook up with me, and I said good riddance. I didn't need them. But I NEED you. I can't explain it. I need to have what you gave the freshmen girls yesterday. I need to have what you did to me last week. So that's it. I broke up with my boyfriend. For you."

I frowned. "Peyton ... I'm not going to become anyone's next boyfriend, not yours or anyone else's."

"I know. I'm not asking you to. I like Derrick. He was a good boyfriend, and he's pretty good in bed. But I NEED you. I CRAVE you. And if breaking up with him was the price to pay for having you, then so be it."

I grimaced. "I wasn't trying to kill your relationship. I just don't want to be the one causing you to cheat."

"It's done. We lasted four months; it was a good run. He'll move on to the next basketball groupie, and I get to have you."

"Wait, we're not settled on that yet."

"What more do you want from me?" Peyton started to look desperate. "Am I not hot enough for you? Am I really so repulsive to you?"

"What? No! Gawd, Peyton, you're fucking gorgeous and you know it."

"Then what?"

"I still don't trust you. You've been messing with my head all week and I STILL am not convinced this isn't one more game of yours."

"It's not a game. This can't be the first time you've completely re-wired a girl's brain through sex. I NEED you. Please?"

I sighed and shook my head. "You just want me to fuck you? You want a Big Ben Experience and then it's all over?"

"Well..." Peyton squirmed in her seat. "I have to admit, I don't think I'm going to be one of those girls who rides the rollercoaster only once. If you make me feel half as good as you did last Friday, I might very well join the harem."

My eyebrows went up at that. "You're serious."

"As a heart attack. You win. You're the first guy in the HISTORY of my life that's ever gotten the better of me. I still hate it, but I NEED to feel that way again. I HAVE to. It's that simple."

I rubbed my forehead. "Okay, fine. Let's say I'm even going to agree to do this. But not like this, and not tonight."

Peyton whimpered. "Why not?"

"Because I still don't completely trust you. And besides, I'm already booked tonight."

"With who? I already know Sasha leaves weekend nights for work, and yes, the girls have told me what she does. That just leaves the sisters, and I can totally pull rank and--"

"NO," I cut her off. "You're not going to do that. Still playing power games? Well here's mine: You try and preempt any of my girls, and I'm not touching you with a ten-foot pole. For all I know, this is just an April Fool's joke a day early."

"It's NOT. Why won't you believe me?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "One week. You have to wait one week. Next Friday, we'll go out on a date. You're free to hang around the house until then, make friends and be nice to the harem girls. But I'm not touching you for one week. If you pull any more power-trip shit, then the date is off."

"A week? But..."

I held up a hand. "It's just a week. And then we go out on a real date, spend some time getting to know each other beyond the power games, and then yeah, unless everything goes pear-shaped and we end up hating each other's guts, you'll get your Big Ben Experience."

Peyton pouted.

"It's just a week. Behave."

Chagrined, Peyton shrunk in her chair. But after a few seconds deliberation, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, fine. One week. Date for next Friday."

I nodded, and then sighed wearily before waving my hand dismissively. "Get out of here."

At first, Peyton pursed her lips and that fire returned to her eyes at being condescended to, but she swallowed her pride and got up. Quickly, she strode over to the door and opened it. She was apparently a little TOO quick because the mad scramble of girls rushing down the stairs made quite a racket, and several of them were still visible. Somebody even tripped and fell, complaining loudly about how much it hurt.

Peyton stopped, looked back at me, and gave me a smile that was all teeth. It made me nervous. And then in a confident voice, she said, "I'll be a model citizen. One week. You'd better pay up."

I didn't come out of my room for quite a while. Peyton had given me a lot to think about, and I still wasn't entirely convinced she was sincere. Part of me thought this whole situation would be simpler if I simply turned her down flat, kicked her out of my house, and told her to never come back. But then it wasn't my nature to do that to someone without evidence, and if I was perfectly honest with myself, the truth was that I DID want to nail her.

She really was gorgeous, in a wickedly naughty, stuck up bitch kind of way. Her imperious personality was her own fault, but then it may have been a product of what genetics had given her. Peyton's whole physical look was more Penthouse than Playboy, more sexy vixen than pretty girl-next-door. From curvaceous bosom to shapely booty, from pouty lips to bedroom eyes, everything about her screamed 'grab me and pound the shit out of me', and quite frankly, I really wanted to do just that. Five years ago I would have without a second thought. Hell, THREE years ago I would have, with maybe a second thought that merely agreed with the first. But now I'd gone and grown a stupid conscience, and I had to think about how this might affect the other girls I'd become close to.

I had a good thing going with Sasha, Andie, and Jamie, and I didn't really want to mess with that. We weren't boyfriend and girlfriends, but an affection had developed between me and each of them, an intimacy that went beyond mere booty calls. The other harem girls had noticed, which was probably a significant reason why they'd started to drift away from me and leave those three to spend every night in my bed. True, those same harem girls still came back to the house and spent some time getting their cookies, walking out a couple of hours later with full bellies from dinner and squishy panties from sex. But they understood their roles, and they weren't a threat to what had formed between me and my "favorite" three.

It would have been nice to maintain the status quo, to juggle my 12-girl harem for the rest of the semester, letting girls come and go as they found romantic relationships outside of my house or came inside to get mutually convenient pleasure. But as Viktoriya had once wisely said, nothing ever stays the same. Already there were now the freshmen to consider, and Peyton as well. I'd put off Peyton for another week, but my impulsive actions in collecting the bounty on all five freshmen girls had added a new dimension to this household. I didn't think any of them would bump out my favorite three from their positions at the top of this little pyramid, and the sexual creature inside me certainly didn't mind a little fresh blood, but they were still human beings with feelings and emotions to take into account. Maybe some of them would stick around and join the harem. Or maybe all five of them would go home and never look back, their memories only adding to the growing legend of Big Ben and the Tri-Delts. I didn't know.

And like a ticking time bomb, there would still be Peyton to deal with. The simplest outcome would be if she came, she came, and then she went home, never to return. I'd get my notch and a nice memory of one of the hottest, sexiest, most exciting women I'd ever had the pleasure of porking. She'd get her BBE, get me out of her system, and move on.

Or maybe, if she was right about riding the rollercoaster more than once, she'd join the harem but be nothing more than that. We'd have casual booty calls, she'd go about her daily life, and I'd continue on juggling my supremely complicated and yet surprisingly manageable harem schedule.

But then she might get clingy and want something more out of our relationship. Unlike the rest of the harem girls, all of whom were so sweet and sharing and lacked any real sense of jealousy, Peyton was used to being in control and used to being the center of attention. I rather doubted she would meekly fall in line, wait her turn, and accept having to share me with 12 ... or 17 ... of her sisters, and Sasha on top of that.

Damn, did you really just have sex with eighteen different women in the last month? Mental-five! [slap]

Well, actually, even though I nailed Jocelyn when we first started Tri-Delt West, she's had a boyfriend since--

Shut up, you.

Hey, that's my line.

I sighed. Or maybe this is all just one more of Peyton's games, something designed to one-up me and in the end, maybe hurt Andie or Jamie or someone else I'd really started to care about. Who knew?

My bedroom door had remained open this entire time, but the girls had left me alone and no one had yet come up the stairs. As I came out from my internal pondering, I became aware of the sounds of conversation taking place downstairs. No doubt someone was asking Peyton what we'd talked about and whether or not we'd hooked up in the time we'd been up here. I wondered how much she would tell them.

Someone did come upstairs then. Hearing the footsteps, I turned my head and looked to see Andie lean to her right against the doorjamb, with her left hand raised across her body and pressed flat against the open door. Staring at me with warm, liquid eyes, she murmured softly, "Hey there..."

It took me a moment to find my voice, and when I did it came out a little raspy. "Hey cutie..."

She smiled at the nickname and head-nodded behind her. "So no fireworks?"

"No fire, not even smoke. Nothing happened."

"Well something happened. Wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Not right now."

"Okay," she nodded agreeably. Biting her lip, Andie took a deep breath and looked thoughtful, as if she were trying to figure out what to say. But in the end, she didn't say a word, simply closing the door behind her and walking into the room. Coming around in front of me, she put her hands on the armrests of my chair and leaned forward to kiss me, bending my head backwards as she did so. From that position, she slowly lowered her body onto mine before slinking down to a kneeling position at my feet.

Reaching for my zipper, Andie looked up at me with a coy smile. I didn't resist and raised my butt off the seat when she dragged my jeans and boxers down to my ankles. I'd already gotten half-hard realizing her intent, but her stroking hand and agile tongue soon brought me to full mast. And then I sagged deeper into the chair and let my head fall back again, allowing myself to fully relax while my little bottle-blonde cutie worked her magic.

Five minutes later, and with Andie patting a belly full of cum, we went downstairs.

-- SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2006, SPRING BREAK --

I woke up early, tangled together with Andie and Jamie per usual, but a sudden thought seized me and I slipped out of bed, leaving them to catch a little more sleep.

Despite the presence of more than twenty Tri-Delts under my roof last night, the house was now vacant of all but three. I'd returned downstairs last night to find that while all of the girls had stuck around waiting for the end of my conversation with Peyton to see what happened, a good number of them had left after Peyton returned and explained that we'd made a date for next Friday but nothing was happening until then. The rest of them, who didn't have dates to get to, stuck around through dinner. Many then left before 7pm, before the lingerie-only edict kicked in.

There were still eight girls who remained after 7pm, including to my everlasting surprise, Misty and Grace. Last night was the first time the two of them had been in the house during lingerie hours, but I'd showed no mercy once the wall clock chimed out the time as I stood smugly before them and gestured with one hand, saying, "Strip!"

Misty rolled her eyes but smirked as she stripped down. Grace actually put some sass into it, turning around and bending at the waist as she removed her jeans. I admired the views, as both girls had only gotten even prettier with age. But then I left them to keep Peyton company while I focused my attention on the other girls. There were sixteen beautiful breasts and sixteen round ass cheeks to view.

As for Peyton herself, she'd stuck to her promise about being a model citizen, for one night at least. No games, no teasing, although she flirted a little and happily engaged in conversation with the others. Still, there was an obvious divide between her and my regular harem girls, so she more or less stuck to Grace and Misty. Annette and Natalee had both departed, both of them having NOT broken up with their boyfriends and both of them having Friday night dates.

It was because Peyton had remained such a model citizen all night that I now felt the urge to leave my bedroom this morning. Only three Tri-Delts had stayed in my house overnight: Andie, Jamie, and Peyton, with the latter having slept in a bedroom downstairs, perhaps hoping that I'd change my mind about making her wait a week. But I wasn't going down to visit her this morning; I was merely going across the hall.

Sasha woke up with a gasp when my tongue suddenly invaded her pussy. I really didn't get to do this enough, but the way she squealed in both surprise and pleasure was such fun to witness that I totally understood why the girls in my life so often chose to do this to me. Her thighs snapped shut around my ears like a Venus fly trap, and her hand pushed my head in deeper, not away. And once she realized it was me, she let her head fall back as she surrendered herself to the pleasure I had to offer.

I ate Sasha to two orgasms, and after the second one she kicked a leg over my head and curled onto her side in a fetal position. I slid up behind her in a spooning position, boldly slipping a hand beneath her nightshirt and palming a naked breast. She cooed and snuggled back against me, sighing, "THAT was a nice wake-up call."

"I'd do it more, but I'm usually a late sleeper."

"That you are," she giggled before twisting her head back to peck my lips. "Why ARE you awake this early? It's not even 8 yet."

I shrugged and nibbled on her shoulder. "Don't know. Just kinda woke up."

"So you thought you'd sneak in here and deprive me of MY sleep?" she asked tiredly. "I didn't get to bed until 3am last night."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll leave in a minute and let you go back to sleep. But I just wanted to tell you that you won the bet."

"Bet?" Sasha yawned. "What bet?"

"About Peyton, and whether or not she's into me. Well, I guess the jury is technically still out on the final verdict, but she came to me last night, told me point blank she wanted to stop the games and really just wanted me to fuck her, and we set a date for this coming Friday."

Sasha blinked. "Wow. For real? This isn't an April Fool's Joke?"

I nodded. "She definitely seems sincere. Either that or she's a really great actor. Time will tell, but in the meantime I'm willing to declare that you won the bet."

"So I get a date?"

"Today, right now if you want it."

"Gawd, no. Not that I'd turn down any day spent with you, but seriously, I need to sleep."

"I'm sorry. I'll get out of here and let you go back down."

Sasha slipped onto her back so that I was leaning over her, braced on my left elbow. She looked up at me and raised a hand to caress my cheek before pulling my head down so that I could kiss her. And when I finally pulled back, she batted her eyelashes and asked, "Can you help me fall back asleep?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Uh, sure. But I thought you weren't big on cuddling."

"Not that way. I meant fuck my brains out and knock me unconscious. I'll sleep like a log, happily satisfied with your spunk swimming around my insides."

"Umm ... okay..."

Sasha grinned and pulled me down on top of her.

I actually fell asleep after sperming Sasha, so we wound up cuddling anyway. I awoke just after 9 finding myself spooned behind her in my favorite position, and decided to stay right where I was, smelling her hair and feeling her warm naked body pressed against me. About a half-hour later, she stirred awake herself and after a pleasant little morning makeout session, we got up and got dressed.

My bedroom was empty when I got back to it, but I expected that Andie and Jamie had simply woken up to find me gone and then headed downstairs to make breakfast. The thing was, when Sasha and I got downstairs the girls weren't there. I checked DJ's old room and Peyton was gone as well. And that's when I found the note on the dining room table:

Dearest Benjamin. It has been our privilege and honor to be a part of Tri-Delt West. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The charter has been rescinded, and both letters have been removed from the foyer wall. We'll still keep in touch, and some of the girls might very well drop by from time to time, but the organized harem has now been disbanded. We love you and will miss you, but this is goodbye.

The letter was signed first by Peyton Kent, President. But then it was also signed below by all 12 of the original harem, and all five of the freshmen girls for good measure. I picked up the piece of paper, re-reading it twice while feeling my heart sink like a stone into my stomach.

Sasha had started making breakfast in the kitchen, but when she glanced out at me she must have realized my expression wasn't exactly happy. "What is it?" she asked.

I held up the letter, and she came out to take a look at it. Sasha quickly scanned it, frowned, and then smirked as she shot me a look. "Today's April Fool's. I'll bet you anything this is just a joke. The girls will be back."

I whistled. "Another bet? Man, you must be feeling really confident these days."

Sasha laughed and shook her head. "Just a figure of speech. Really, I'll bet Andie and Jamie are waiting on the porch, maybe even with a few more sisters, just waiting for you to walk outside so they can jump at you and yell, 'Surprise!'"

I thought about that. "Maybe ... Or maybe not ... I have an idea."

Sasha blinked. "What?"

I shrugged. "Joke or not, you're here and they're not."

Sasha looked at me curiously. "So what did you have in mind?"

"Hey there, stranger," Lynne said as she opened the door. "It's good to see you."

I stepped forward and received Lynne's hug, patting her on the back.

She then stepped back and smiled at my traveling companion. "Hi, Sasha."

"Hi, Lynne," Sasha replied.

Lynne stepped back and waved us into the apartment. "So what brings you two here? Your text asking to drop by didn't exactly give a lot of explanation."

I shrugged. "Playing hooky from the house."

Lynne frowned. "What's going on at your house?"

Bert's voice spoke up from the couch. "What ISN'T going in that house?"

I chuckled and walked forward. Bert held a closed fist over the back of the couch, and I bumped it before circling around and flopping onto the seat next to him.

Ivonne Corredero, Lynne's roommate, shook her head from the other couch. "Nuh-uh. You visit this apartment, you gotta pay the toll. I want my backrub, mister."

I chuckled and then got up, moving around and flopping onto the seat next to Ivonne. She giggled and got up to sit between my spread knees while I reached up and started absentmindedly giving her a massage. Meanwhile, Sasha sat down next to Bert, patted his knee, and said hello.

Lynne still wanted to know why I was here, so I explained, "It's April Fool's and the girls are pretending to leave me. But now the joke's on them, because Sasha and I took off and aren't coming back until late, maybe not even until tomorrow."

"You want to crash here?" Lynne asked. "Or maybe over at Paige's house; they've got the room."

"Hmm, there's a thought," I mused. "Make 'em really sweat."

Sasha giggled. "Poor Andie and Jamie. But yeah, serves 'em right."

"So do you have any plans today? Your day away from Berkeley?"

Sasha and I looked at each other, shrugging. "Not really. Kinda just drove over here on a whim, really. Do you mind? Or should we get out of your hair in another hour or so?"

Lynne gestured with her hands for us to stay put and smiled. "Just another college weekend. But now that you're here, I'd better call Kady and Noelle. They haven't seen you in a while and Kady said she misses her wingman."

"Wingman?"

"Her word. Whatever. She'll be thrilled that you're here."

I grinned and leaned against the backrest, although I continued massaging Ivonne's shoulders. "It's certainly nice to be wanted."

I set down my Lemongrass Press and felt the chilled liquid sliding down my throat. Sighing afterward, I leaned against the backrest of our booth at Tamarine and shrugged. "So now ... I'm kind of just waiting to see what she does..."

Lynne put down her Pear Trois and set her elbows on the table before interlacing her fingers and setting her chin down on top of them. "But do you like her?"

I sighed and glanced over at Bert and then Amber, the two of them sipping at their cocktails as well. The four of us were seated in a U-shape in the booth, me and Bert on the ends and Amber and Lynne together between us. After spending the day at Stanford, I'd driven Sasha up to the City for work and then returned to meet with these three for dinner. Amber was off work and insisted on treating us to one of her favorite restaurants.

I shrugged and replied, "I'm not sure. Peyton's ... Well ... She certainly intrigues me."

Amber pulled her mojito away from her mouth and then asked, "Do you have any sense that she might be 'The One'?"

Lynne shook her head. "Not important. Not right now."

Amber frowned. "I'm just saying, you're at the point in your life where another girlfriend just isn't gonna cut it. It's a waste of time to start anything that doesn't have a chance of happily ever after."

"I disagree," Lynne cautioned. "I actually think it might be a good idea for Ben to date someone casually, to remember that people CAN have a romantic partner for the companionship and fun of it without any pressure for it to turn into something permanent."

"What's the point?" Amber sighed. "He's got casual right now, with Sasha and Andie and ... I'm sorry, what's the third girl's name?"

"Jamie," I spoke up before returning to my drink.

"Jamie," Amber finished. "Great sex, no commitment, happy little fuck buddies all of them, even Sasha. He has the companionship without pressure – from either side – to turn it into something permanent."

"But that's not dating," Lynne pointed out.

"So?" Amber shrugged.

"It's like ... practice." Lynne took a deep breath and then sat up straighter. "I'm fine with Ben screwing around with the sorority. They like it and he likes it and nobody gets hurt. But he can't go from what he's doing now straight into another über-committed relationship. I love you to pieces, Ben, but if you get together with a girl you actually have feelings for, you're liable to propose inside a week."

I frowned. "Give me SOME credit."

"Fine. A week is hyperbole." Lynne rolled her eyes. "But the point is: you need to dial back to square one again, the way things were in high school. If it were possible, I'd tell you to see someone really casually, like once a week. Go on a date, share a romantic one-on-one conversation, fuck like bunnies, whatever. But keep it casual and don't talk about the future and give yourself some space and time in-between. This Peyton girl – assuming she doesn't turn out to be a manipulative bitch who is playing you like a fiddle so far – sounds like she might be good for something like that. She's separate enough from your daily life that it wouldn't be a big deal to only see her once a week, assuming she doesn't decide to move into one of the bedrooms downstairs. And you can even keep Sasha, Andie, and Jamie in the house for all the rest of the week."

I frowned. "Go out of my way to 'date' Peyton? I couldn't do that to my girls. The whole point of Tri-Delt West is that I'm NOT in any romantic relationships, of ANY kind. I mean, those three girls would leap at the chance to have that kind of once-a-week regular dating relationship with me, but they don't push it because they know that kind of thing isn't what I want. Not now, at least."

"Fine then. Not now. But someday, when the harem thing breaks up or when you simply find yourself ready, you know? But keep it casual. I'm serious."

Amber shook her head. "Or don't. Keep the harem and do your thing until you find your real Mrs. Right. If you ask me, I still think it's Dawn."

Lynne slapped the taller woman in the arm. "I told you not to mention her."

Amber shrugged. "She's your 'One', Ben. But then again, that might just be my ego that wants to believe the only woman you'd break up with me for is your soulmate."

"Yes, ego," Lynne sighed. "Tall, hot blondes ... Seriously, they think the world revolves around them."

Amber grinned. "It kinda does."

"Peyton's a tall, hot blonde," Bert sighed.

"Oh, right." Lynne sighed. "I take it back, then. DON'T date her. I wanna see you end up with a petite, modestly-bosomed brunette."

I smirked and arched an eyebrow at her. "Sooo ... I should steal you back then."

"Back off, fucker," Bert shot immediately with a grin.

I smiled and shook my head.

Amber set a hand down on top of mine. "I'm serious, though. You've got to wait for the One. There's someone out there you're just MEANT to be with, and without her you'll never be happy."

I sighed and frowned. "The way my luck's been going lately, Mrs. Right lives in China and I'll never meet her."

"Luck?" Bert snorted. "Dude, HOW many girls have you banged in the last month or so?"

"Well ... luck in terms of finding the right girl for me. You don't get to complain. You got HER, and I'm seriously, seriously jealous about it." My finger was pointed straight at Lynne, who blushed prettily. "If you ask me, you're the luckiest man on Earth. Well, you and this David guy."

Bert grinned and rubbed Lynne's leg beneath the table. Amber blushed and smiled to think of her ex.

Lynne spoke up. "Amber's the one that believes in a single soulmate. Personally, I believe that compatible souls are magnetic. They pass through life, but when one wanders across your path, the cosmos acts to bring you together. Some attractions are stronger than others, but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't be perfectly happy with someone compatible but just a little less ... magnetic."

"Magnetic souls?" Amber chuckled. "HOW many cocktails have you had?"

Lynne waved her off dismissively. "Like you and me, or you and her." Lynne gestured to Amber with her drink in hand.

"Magnetic souls?" I arched an eyebrow.

"You and Amber would have lived very happy lives had you stayed together. Hell, if this thing with David falls through, maybe you still will."

Amber frowned as she looked at Lynne. "I thought you said--"

"That was different," Lynne cut her off by holding up a hand. "That was getting you to NOT throw yourself at Ben BEFORE you've tried to go back to David. But like I said, I believe in multiple compatible souls, so if things don't work out, you can come back and chase Ben to your heart's content, okay?"

Amber flushed and glanced at me with seriously intent bedroom eyes, and for a moment I thought she might actually make a move on me. But then with a sigh she shook her head and said, "No offense, but I hope I don't have to."

"None taken. What we had was great, but I don't know that either of us would ever shake the idea that we were ... settling for second-best."

I wonder what DJ is up to right now...

"The point is," Lynne continued, "your world is not going to end if you don't find Miss Perfect right away. People like Amber ... and me ... and well ... like Sasha ... will come into your life again and again. That's just life. The magnets keep attracting, and you can't give up, because you never know who else you might meet tomorrow."

Knowing I'd be driving, I kept my drinking to the single cocktail before switching to Coke. After dinner, I dropped off Lynne and Bert at the apartment, but after learning I'd planned to drive back up to the City to pick up Sasha after her shift at the club, Amber elected to join me. Together, we went into Nocturne and got a small table to ourselves. We watched Sasha do one of her jazz routines, and Amber confessed that she did remember thinking very highly of the exotic dancer "Emmanuelle". Afterwards, Amber ordered a private lapdance from "Emmanuelle", and she invited me to join in, but I declined and decided to just stick with my seat and the main room entertainment for the night.

Sasha later told me it started off rather awkward on her part, since they'd now met a number of times from all the occasions Sasha visited Paige and Palo Alto, although they were still more acquaintances than friends. But Amber really sort of seduced her in the curtained off room and they wound up making out a bit. And while Sasha almost bashfully described in detail the way Amber's tongue danced around inside her mouth, I suddenly regretted not going in there with them. It certainly would have been a sight to see.

Of course, they were probably helped by the fact that Amber was really, really drunk. The talk about soulmates at dinner had put her in a melancholy mood, and she'd wound up knocking back quite a number of drinks. All three of us drove back to Amber's apartment, since she'd offered to put Sasha and me up in the second bedroom overnight. But when we got inside, Amber wound up wrapping her arms around my neck and frenching the hell out of me. For about five seconds I seriously thought about going into her bedroom and fucking the daylights out of her, and I certainly didn't break away from the kiss. But in the end I pulled back, Amber sighed, and she staggered into her room with a mumbled apology while Sasha and I went into the other room.

At breakfast the next morning Amber gave me a much more coherent apology. It wasn't the first time we'd been tempted into backsliding into our old relationship, and I'm a little embarrassed to say it wouldn't be our last.

-- SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2006, SPRING BREAK --

As I mentioned, Sasha and I had breakfast with Amber the next morning, along with Lynne, Ivonne, Kady, and Noelle. It felt much the same as all those Sunday mornings I'd had breakfast with the Stanford girls all of last summer. And despite going to bed completely wasted and at such a late hour, Amber somehow managed to wake up early and go for her morning run. Guess she was used to handling her alcohol.

Afterwards, Sasha and I bid the girls goodbye and thanked them for entertaining us. We hopped into the Mustang, and as I turned the ignition, Sasha turned to me and asked, "So? Back home to real world?"

I thought about that for a moment before flashing her a smile and replying, "No ... actually. I seem to recall that I still owe you a one-on-one date. Now if you want, we can go home now and go out sometime during the school week. Or what do you say we be spontaneous and go somewhere right now? Just the two of us. Ooh, have you ever been to the Mystery Spot?"

"Mystery Spot?" Sasha looked perplexed. "Is that the weird gravity thing down in Santa Cruz? I haven't been there since I was a little kid."

I simply revved the engine and then pulled out of the parking lot.

A little less than an hour later, we pulled into the Mystery Spot and even super-analytical Sasha couldn't make heads or tails of the place. She was positive the whole thing was an elaborate optical illusion, and yet the place still baked her noodle. She asked if I already knew the secret, and I confessed that I didn't. She also asked if I'd been here before, and I told her that I'd brought Lynne to the place last summer.

Like the day trip with Lynne, lunch was in Santa Cruz, although Sasha opted for the patio of Casablanca Bistro overlooking the bay instead of cheap corndogs; it was our "date day" after all. Also, although we still cruised the Beach Boardwalk, Sasha wasn't big on roller coasters. She did, however, impress me with her miniature golf skills. And then we started the long drive back to Berkeley so that she'd have time to eat and relax before heading off to work, and Sasha fell asleep in the car.

As "dates" go, my day with Sasha was pretty tame. Hell, the whole weekend had been quite low-key, from hanging around with the Stanford girls in Lynne's living room to our little trip to the beach. We didn't even have sex. But I wouldn't have changed a thing. I had fun, getting away from the campus and getting away from the daily routine. And it was nice to feel that one-on-one connection with someone I'd lacked for so much of the last couple of months.

Really, when I thought about it, Sasha had been the only one giving me that kind of one-on-one connection. She'd been my constant, the one holding my hand as we walked around campus. We'd shared so many "Sasha Thursdays", just the two of us in my bed instead of the wild Tri-Delt foursomes and more. In so many ways, she'd already BEEN that once-a-week girlfriend that Lynne suggested I have, and of course, I was fully aware that she was in love with me.

I hadn't lied to her. I'd told her from the beginning I wasn't ready for and didn't want a serious romantic relationship. And yet ... I couldn't help but feel a little guilty for not giving one to her.

Of course, guilt alone is no reason to enter into a relationship, but as I looked over at Sasha, sleeping peacefully in my passenger seat, I knew deep in my gut that such a relationship could only be a wonderful one. She was a wonderful person, period. She'd been through a lot in her life, a lot of tragedy and heartbreak that had jaded her in some ways and yet left her strangely innocent and naïve in other ways. She was a complex bundle of contradictions, and I felt like I was discovering new things about her all the time. In plain simple fact: I liked her.

But then what about Andie?

What about Jamie?

What about the rest of the harem?

And shit, what about that looming date with Peyton?

Yeah, being at the center of a harem of twenty-odd girls was nice...

... but I wasn't kidding when I said I was jealous about Bert settling down with Lynne.

I pulled the Mustang into the tandem driveway, finding that Andie's black Lexus ES was already in the front spot. I gestured to it and said to Sasha, "Well that answers that."

She shrugged. She'd woken up when we got off the freeway, and after stretching and taking a minute to gather her bearings, she'd asked if I wanted to bet whether or not the Tri-Delts had been serious about ending Tri-Delt West.

I didn't take her up on it. For one thing, I'd had to silence my phone about twenty times to turn off the multiple panicked phone calls coming from the girls over the last two days, and I'd read nearly thirty texts with them all whining for me to come home so they could apologize. So Sasha and I walked inside, and the screaming of the girls inside was nearly deafening.

"You didn't pick up your phone!"

"That was MEAN!"

"You HAD to know we were joking!"

"SO not cool!"

"We MISSED you. I was so WORRIED!"

"Don't EVER do that again!"

Andie, Jamie, Kirstie, Lakhi, Leticia, Jeannie, and the Schenke twins were quite put out. I told them that I'd found the note about ending Tri-Delt West, so I hadn't seen a need to stick around the house. Andie actually believed that -I- believed their note, and she started trying to explain about it being an April Fool's Joke. But my smug grin soon corrected her of that notion, and she started beating on my chest with her fists until I simply wrapped her up in my arms and shoved my tongue down her throat by way of apology.

She melted.

Still, Jamie complained that they'd had an elaborate orgy planned for last night to be the punch line to their joke, and I'd ruined everything. But a kiss for her smoothed things over as well.

The girls kept me talking until Sasha came downstairs with fresh clothing, all set to leave. She still had work tonight, and she came over to give me a kiss, saying, "Thanks for taking me out. It was fun."

"It was," I said with a smile, and then she was gone.

Predictably, now the girls all wanted to know where I'd been. I decided not to tell them. They'd left the house, so I'd taken Sasha and enjoyed my weekend. Period.

To a girl, they promised to never leave me alone again.

It sounded rather nice. And then Andie curled herself up in my lap, hugged my neck, and nuzzled herself against my cheek. "I'm sorry we bailed. It was a bad joke, and we've learned our lesson. We'll make it up to you. I promise."

And they did.

That night, the girls really made it up to me. It started with parking me on the couch and then every single one of them kneeling over and giving me a blowjob. Seriously. One-by-one, the eight girls in the house bent over and sucked my cock as a kind of pledge of their fidelity, confirming their desire to be a part of my harem. I was taken by surprise a little, especially since Kirstie, Jayden, and Jordyn participated as well, as they'd never actually put their mouths on my cock on Thursday. None of them sucked me for more than a minute, so I was in no danger of cumming. But once they all performed their ritual, Jamie and Lakhi took me upstairs while the other girls made dinner.

I didn't last very long the first round. Having gone nearly two days without an ejaculation, not to mention the round robin blowjobs in the living room, had me at the edge of my control. I nailed Lakhi to the mattress before blowing my wad deep inside her cunt, and Jamie was only too happy to suck it out of her. The girls then sucked me back to hardness and climbed aboard for Round 2, which lasted for a period a little more consistent with my usual endurance. And in the end, I splattered my spunk all over Lakhi's D-cup melons, and Jamie was only too happy to lick it off of her.

The three of us head back downstairs for dinner, and I found that Jocelyn, Tonya, Nora, and Whitney had all returned to the house. The first eight made the four newcomers do the Suck Ben's Cock ritual – even the two with steady boyfriends, Jocelyn and Whitney – not that they minded. And then our whole group settled down for a pleasant evening as we returned to normal. I especially liked it when seven o'clock chimed and the outer layers of clothing came off.

After dinner, Leticia and Jeannie escorted me upstairs to help me shower. The sophomores sandwiched me between their soaped-up naked bodies. They also both did mouth checks to make sure my penis was clean, and Jeannie even gave me a rim job for a minute before backing up and giggling about it. But they didn't get me off, and once we were dry, they escorted me while I wore nothing but a towel into my bedroom.

There, I found not one but TWO sets of sisters waiting for me. Jayden and Jordyn Schenke draped their tall, slender bodies over the two armchairs. Jayden wore black high heels, her feet on the coffee table and I saw miles and miles of leg before her tan skin was interrupted by a high cut dark green thong that matched a satin bra that held up and pushed together her C-cup breasts. Jordyn was in the opposite chair, her ankles resting on top of Jayden's shins, wearing an identical green ensemble with the same black high heels. Both of them also wore black satin chokers around their graceful necks, each with a dangling gold-plated letter 'J' hanging from it like a pendant.

By contrast, Andie and Kirstie Holland were on top of my bed, Andie reclining on her right elbow wearing a white lace teddy with matching gartered-stockings and see-thru panties. Kirstie wore an identically-designed ensemble, only everything was colored pink. And she knelt upright while sitting on her heels, gently stroking her big sister's hair back from her face.

Beside me, Leticia grabbed the corner of my towel and then whipped it off my body, revealing me in my fully naked glory with a hard erection pointing almost straight out in front of me. Jayden visibly licked her lips and then beckoned to me with a curled finger.

I walked over and stood before her while she sank to her knees on the floor. Jordyn knelt beside her, and then I held their identical heads while the twins gave me a dual blowjob. Just like on Thursday, neither showed any concern for making tongue contact with her sister, and several times they wound up kissing around my cock. Then, Andie slipped off the bed and came up behind me, taking my hand and gesturing for me to relocate there.

I lay flat on my back in the middle of my king bed while all four girls did their best to give me pleasure with their tongues, mouths, and hands. I wound up making out with Kirstie while Andie took over blowjob duties. Jayden and Jordyn moved to either side of me, rubbing my skin and rubbing the Holland sisters as well. And then Jordyn took over kissing me while I began peeling off Kirstie's teddy to free her breasts so I could then switch over and start suckling on her nipples.

After a while, Jayden looked like she wanted to mount my cock, but I waved her away and rolled off the side of the bed. At my direction, all four girls removed their panties and lay on their backs side-by-side-by-side-by-side along the long edge of the mattress. And then I stood up like an orchestra conductor, raising my hands together before parting them slowly and intoning in a resonant voice, "Open ... sesame..."

Giggling, all four girls parted their legs, having to cross them over each other to do so. Four hot babes, three of them 18-year-old teenagers, lay waiting for me to ravage them. The Schenke twins still wore their high heels, and the Holland sisters still wore their stockings. But four pink pussies were on full display, and I intended to make sure all four of them were filled with my cum before the night was through.

I succeeded.

-- MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2006, SENIOR YEAR --

Sasha and I made the final turn for the house and I whistled, idly wondering who would be home. After the failed April Fool's prank, I was no longer worried about ever returning to an empty house, at least not for a while. While the harem girls had said that as individuals they wouldn't rule out finding love and romance with other boyfriends, most of them were actually quite happy with our casual and mutually-beneficial relationships, and had insisted that they planned to keep Tri-Delt West going through the end of the semester at the very least. Andie added privately that she'd move into my bedroom permanently if I'd let her. So really it was a question of "who and how many" would be home, not "if".

Indeed I found six harem girls in the house. Lakhi and Nora were in the kitchen. And Jocelyn, Jamie, Whitney, and Tonya were at the dining table studying.

But they weren't the only ones studying. After not seeing her for the entire weekend, I found that Peyton had returned to my house. With her she had all four members of her cabinet: Annette, Natalee, Misty, and Grace, and apparently the five of them had just finished up a Sorority meeting covering a variety of executive topics.

Now complete, though, the girls started pulling out their textbooks. I'd caught them during this transition period, and in the course of exchanging pleasantries, I noticed something familiar. It was a Corporate Finance book, the same one I had used myself last semester. And it was in the hands of Peyton Kent.

I pointed at it and asked, "You're taking Corporate Finance? I didn't know you were in the Business program."

Peyton looked up at me. "Oh, I'm not. I'm an Econ major."

I frowned. "My mistake. That's the textbook they use for the UGBA course. I didn't realize they used it for other classes."

She shrugged. "Actually, I AM taking the UGBA course. It's an elective for my major, more of a corporate business focus than pure finance classes in the Econ department. But don't get me started on this one. Things are NOT going well."

Natalee spoke up. "Hey, why don't you ask Ben for help? He's in the program, and Casey says he's the superstar of the Senior class."

My eyebrows popped. "Casey who?" I asked, although I had a sinking feeling I already knew.

"Casey McCahill," Natalee replied with a gleam in her eye. "We're friends. She's told me quite a few stories about the stuff she and Carolyn were doing with you earlier this semester. Mentioned something about your finishing move she termed 'Assfuckxiation'."

I blushed before realizing I had nothing to be ashamed about, and I shrugged with a grin. On impulse, I gave Natalee a leering look and said, "Hey just let me know if you ever want what she already got."

The freckled redhead smiled back and coyly posed herself for maximum cleavage exposure. "Hey, you're the one who said I can't cheat on my boyfriend."

I chuckled and nodded. "Oh, right."

Natalee turned back to Peyton. "Seriously, though. Ben can probably help you."

Peyton bit her lip and closed her eyes, simmering on that. Her deeply-etched frown told me that the absolute LAST thing she wanted was to give me one more thing I could leverage over her. She really did have a superiority complex or something, and it absolutely killed her to think about some GUY getting the best of her. But with a sigh, she looked up at me and asked, "Well, CAN you help?"

I took a deep breath and shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess so. I took the class last semester. Got an A. I'd be willing to study with you a bit and see if there's anything I can help clarify."

Peyton brightened. "Really? It would mean SO much to me. There's only six weeks of school left and I'm starting to get pretty desperate. I'm doing bad enough that I'm in danger of failing, and Professor Rutledge is just slimy enough to make me believe the best way for me to pass his class is to sleep with him."

A chill ran down my spine. "What did you say?"

Peyton rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well, I wouldn't DO it. At least ... Well ... Ugh, I know I shouldn't do it. But ... shit ... Without these credits I don't graduate."

I'd heard enough. My mind was racing a mile a minute, and an avalanche of long-buried emotions from last year had come screaming out of my brain and into the forefront of my consciousness. I blinked and suddenly found myself sitting on the couch beside Peyton, holding her upper arms in a death grip and leaning so far into her personal space that she looked seriously freaked out.

I didn't care. In a gravelly voice that felt like my vocal cords were being dragged across a cheese grater, I growled, "Did you say Rutledge?"