by Jeff Gelb
He stopped in the hallway at the sound of heavy breathing.
The door to the second bathroom stood a few inches ajar, the steady hum of a small electric heater near the closet having masked the sound his approach. Inside, Eric saw moonbeams filtered through frosted windows and lace curtains, illuminating the amorous activities of his weekend guests, Jake Edwards and Wendy Stevens.
Eric hurried back to his own bedroom to retrieve his eyeglasses, then quickly returned to the scene. Jake’s head was jammed between Wendy’s legs, his nose almost lost in a thick tuft of pubic hair. He was braced on both sides of Wendy with his palms planted firmly against the mattress, the veins of his muscular arms bulging from the pressure. Wendy’s golden hair fanned across the pillow behind her head like the tail of a peacock. Her eyes were closed, and her exposed breasts rolled softly with the motion of her thrusting hips. Her nipples were hard and her face contorted in waves of ecstasy. Eric felt himself growing quickly aroused as he watched. He swallowed hard and eased a step closer to the doorway for a better look. As the mace increased, Jake shifted his weight to the support of only one arm and stroked her inner thighs with his fingertips. Wendy’s creamy white skin answered with involuntary spasms.
Eric’s eyes were riveted to the display—he couldn’t pull himself away. Wendy moaned softly, her breath suddenly quickening. Then, as her pleasure peaked, she tossed her head wildly from side to side against the pillow and sucked the sweet night air through her clenched teeth. The fury of her response increased as Wendy reached with both hands and grasped Jake’s long curly hair, pulling his face closer against her. She tensed, her arms stiffening as her grip tightened, then she exhaled and relaxed her weight against the ruffled covers.
Eric wiped beads of perspiration from his forehead. For over two years now he had lusted after Jake’s girlfriend, his crush on Wendy obsessive almost from the beginning. He couldn’t get her off his mind. At football games, he watched the cheerleaders—and saw Wendy. Every reasonably attractive waitress at every restaurant was Wendy. And as his fixation over her deepened, Eric’s jealousy of Jake skyrocketed until it infringed upon their relationship. Just once he would love to nail Wendy in bed—friendship be damned. But, unfortunately, she was crazy about Jake, and despite a number of serious arguments and near breakups, Jake and Wendy always managed to stay together.
Eric leaned against the cool cedar paneling of the hallway, oblivious to the cold and hidden from view of the two lovers. He had frequently double-dated with them, but the frustrations of watching them together were becoming unbearable.
Especially now.
Shaking his head, Eric fingered his mustache as he peeked into the bedroom again. Jake was on top of her now, and it was almost more than Eric could stand. He wanted Wendy more than anything else in the world.
And somehow he would find a way to get her.
At the bar of the Thirsty Rhino Saloon, Eric waved the bartender away as he held his cousin Ray’s attention with his story. “It was great to see her naked,” he concluded, “but I hated watching her with him.” He stopped to slurp away the remains of a draft beer, then continued. “And the worst part of all was how much she enjoyed it. Wendy would do anything for that asshole.” A ceiling fan blew stray locks of stringy unkempt hair against Eric’s neck, tickling him in the process.
“So what did you do? You had a date, too, didn’t you?” Ray asked.
“Yeah, but Mandy’s nothing special.” Eric pursed his lips and shrugged. “I woke her up and fucked her from one end of the bed to the other. She loved it, but it was no good for me. I kept seeing Wendy in my mind, and I knew what she was doing next door.” Eric shook his head. “That son of a bitch Jake doesn’t know how lucky he is. I wish to hell I knew what Wendy sees in him.”
“Forget her!” Ray suggested. “Give Mandy a chance. What’s so bad about her, anyway?”
Eric rolled his eyes and shifted his skinny buttocks on the hard barstool, ignoring the question. Instead he leaned closer to his cousin. “I’ve got to have her, Ray,” he whispered, “and that’s why I called you. I want to hypnotize Wendy.”
Ray laughed. “If it was that easy to get laid, I wouldn’t be here with you.” He paused for a sip of beer. “Hypnosis wouldn’t help you get her into the sake, but she might tell you what it is subconsciously that attracts her to Jake. You might learn what really turns her on.”
“Come on, Ray, that’s not good enough,” Eric answered.
Ray checked his appearance in a mirror behind the bar, rearranged his hair, and stared back at Eric. “It won’t work. You can’t make a subject so something against her will,” he repeated. “Would I lie to you?”
Eric lowered his empty mug to the countertop, swiveled on his barstool, and flashed a disbelieving grin at Ray, then grabbed his cousin’s arm and pulled Ray back to the bar with Ray abruptly stood to leave.
“Hey, take it easy on my arm,” Ray growled. “I’ve got a date to play tennis tomorrow.”
Eric sulked as Ray returned to his seat. “If the clinic you work for can make people quit smoking through hypnosis, then I don’t see why it can’t help me get Wendy in bed,” Eric hissed.
“Yeah, but my clients want to stop smoking,” Ray replied. “Wendy doesn’t want to fuck you. Like I said, it would be against her will.”
Eric stubbornly shook his head and reached for a nearby bowl of popcorn. “I still say there’s a way to do it, and I want to learn how.”
Ray expelled a burst of beery breath in disgust. He glanced around the room and spotted an empty table in a dark corner. Then he turned to Eric. “Do you want proof?” He signed, then, with a nod, added, “Call that waitress over here.”
Moments late, the two had offered a twenty-dollar tip to Angie, an attractive but tired cocktail waitress, to serve as Ray’s subject.
“Now, keep this quiet,” Ray warned the weary brunette. “I’m not doing any grandstand performance here. I only want to prove a point to my hardheaded cousin.”
Eric grinned as Ray nodded in his direction.
Groaning in exhaustion, Angie pulled up a chair. The rough evening shift had obviously taken its toll: Her hair was slightly mussed and her face looked tired. But Eric focused only on her ample cleavage below the plunging neckline of her skintight outfit.
“Let’s make it quick, guys,” Angie said, “before a customer calls me.”
Eric smiled and pulled his chair closer to the table. Angie’s brown eyes glittered from the reflection of a flickering candle on the table. “Aren’t you nervous about being hypnotized?” he asked.
“Why should I be?” she countered. “I can take a joke. Besides, I can use the money.”
Eric listened intently as Ray’s monotone voice caught Angie’s attention. Surprisingly, Eric was about to succumb to the chant himself, but he somehow managed to snap out of it before it was too late. Angie fell promptly under Ray’s spell and sat motionless, her eyes closed, her breath slow and steady.
“Angie, at the count of three you will awaken feeling alive and refreshed,” Ray began. “My voice is the only one you will hear. Do you understand?”
Angie nodded, her eyes still tightly closed.
“You will find yourself seated at a corner table of the Thirsty Rhino Saloon. On the floor is a twenty-dollar bill. When you reach to pick it up, you will find it is stuck. While no one is looking, you will carefully attempt to peel the money away from the floor. Do you understand?”
“…Yes…”
“All right—one…two…three!”
Angie slowly opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. Her gaze immediately became glued to the floor. Tactfully, she stooped to her knees and lightly tugged at the imaginary bill.
Eric was genuinely amazed, but his attention was riveted on Angie’s neckline. As she yanked at the floor near Eric’s feet, he could see the pink circles around her nipples. The soft, silky curve of her breasts squeezed over her neckline with the movement of her arm—she obviously didn’t re
alize he was watching. Eric bent over behind her for a view of her ass. Her nylon-covered cheeks were evenly divided by the tight dark crotch of her outfit.
“Angie, you will now return to your seat,” Ray commanded.
Eric stared squarely in her face as she settled back into her chair. The waitress hardly blinked, as if there were nothing before her but smoke-filled air. “She’s like a zombie,” Eric said. Then, after flashing a flirtatious wink at her, he added, “How about a blowjob, Angie?”
Ray hooted with laughter. “She can’t hear you,” he said. “She’s blocking out everyone but me.”
Eric wasn’t about to stop. “Then tell her to give you a blowjob.”
Ray hesitated. “I shouldn’t do this,” he said. “It can be traumatic for the subject. But I know you won’t believe it until you see it can’t be done, and since I’m about as much of a jerk as you are, I’ll do it this one time.”
Ray stared deeply into Angie’s eyes. “Angie,” he said softly. “There is no one in this room but you and me. You will get down on your knees, crawl under the table, and give me the best blowjob of my life.”
Lines of stress streaked the waitress’s forehead. She looked as if she might drop beneath the table and do it, but every time she started, she held back and returned to her seat before her knees touched the floor.
“She’s struggling,” Ray said. “I’ve got to bring her out.”
“Wait a minute!” Eric complained. “Let’s try something else.”
“Look, it’s getting late and I need to stop by the clinic to pick up some papers before I go home,” Ray growled through gritted teeth. Then he turned his attention back to Angie. “At the count of three, you will awaken and remember nothing that has taken place at this table,” he said.
Eric folded his arms in disgust and pouted as Angie concentrated on the hypnotic count.
When she opened her eyes, Angie flashed an impatient expression at both guys. “Look, I haven’t got all night,” she complained. “Let’s get this over with fast, or else count me out!”
The cousins shared a laugh, and Eric squeezed a crumpled twenty-dollar bill into Angie’s hand while planting a quick kiss on her cheek. Ray grabbed his wrinkled lab coat from a nearby chair, and the two chuckled as they walked to the door.
“Did it take long for you to learn how to do that?” Eric asked.
Ray stopped to straighten his younger cousin’s necktie. “It’s not very difficult,” he said. “Like anything else, it takes a lot of patience and practice, that’s all.”
Eric’s eyes widened with anticipation. “Will you teach me how to do it?”
“Why should I teach you?” hedged Ray. “I could lose my license. And besides, it’s like I said: You can’t make a broad do anything against her will. You just saw it for yourself.”
“Hell, I don’t care,” Eric argued. “I could be the life of the party if I knew how to do that!”
“What’s in it for me?” Ray countered.
Eric eased closer to his cousin. “I always repay my debts,” he whispered.
After Eric swore that he would never reveal the source of his instruction, Ray finally gave in. “All right,” he began, “the secret is in controlling the immediate environment of your subject. You’ve got to put yourself in command, so that your subject sees and hears nothing but you. Eliminate all distractions.”
When Eric first attempted the simply chant under Ray’s direction, he seemed a natural. The tone of his voice and his expressionless face proved invaluable in repeating the trance-rendering phrases. In closing, Ray cast a serious look at his eager cousin.
“If you want to be successful, you’ve got to practice,” he said. “And I don’t mean with subjects. I mean at home, alone. Listen to yourself as you chant. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“Hell, I’ll practice night and day,” Eric gleamed. “This is fuckin’ great!”
“But remember,” cautioned Ray, “you saw it for yourself. You can’t command a subject to do anything she wouldn’t ordinarily do. Otherwise I’d be one happy camper and would be a fool to share the secret with anyone.”
“I know, I know. I’ve heard all that mumbo jumbo,” said Eric.
But maybe he could think of a way to get around it.
For weeks Eric concentrated on the tone variations and voice inflections of the hypnotic chant. He prepared himself for the perfect opportunity, which finally came when Jake suddenly went out of town on business.
When Eric called Wendy, her phone rang a number of times before she finally answered. Her voice sounded weak and distressed—probably missing Jake, Eric thought.
“Wendy?” he began. “It’s Eric.” He paused for effect, then added, “I need someone to talk to.”
“Eric, what’s wrong?” she answered, and by the tone of her voice, he knew she’d been fooled.
Eric hesitated briefly, hoping to sound even more upset, as he told Wendy that he and Mandy were having problems, that he was lonely and would like to get a woman’s perspective on the situation so that maybe he could gain a better understanding of Mandy.
“Well, let’s talk,” she said agreeably. “I’m all ears.”
“I’d rather see you in person, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to be alone right now. Will you come over to my place for a short visit?” he asked.
“Well, why don’t you just come over here?”
“Uh,” he stalled, remembering the importance of controlling her environment as he searched for an excuse. There could be too many distractions in her own apartment. What if her telephone rang? Here, he could have the phone unplugged before she arrived. “That’s part of my problem,” he finally said. “I sprained my ankle and can’t get around very well.”
“Hmmm.” Wendy mulled over the proposition. “Sounds all right to me. And I’m sorry to hear about your accident.”
Eric prepared a dark corner of his living room for the encounter. Everything was in place when she knocked at the door, but this time Wendy wasn’t as stunning as usual. Eric was disappointed that she hadn’t though highly enough of him to make herself more presentable, but even without makeup, Wendy looked great. A tight blue sweater hugged her ample breasts, and her thick lips formed a sultry pout, but her eyes were red and swollen.
How does that asshole do it? Eric wondered. How does Jake maintain such control over this gorgeous woman that she cries her eyes out whenever he’s away?
Eric smiled and escorted Wendy to the sofa, remembering at the last moment to limp. “Would you like a drink?” he offered as she settled herself.
“No, thanks,” she replied, pressing her forehead against an open palm. “I’m not feeling well. I suppose I really shouldn’t have come, but I guess I needed someone to talk to, too.”
“Well, let’s not cry on each other’s shoulders. We need to cheer each other up,” he began. “You probably didn’t know this, Wendy, but I’ve been studying hypnotism. I’m pretty damn good at it, too.”
She raised her head attentively. “You’ve been studying what?” she asked.
“Hypnotism. Let me show you.”
Eric reached for her hand, but she cautiously pulled away.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Wendy said.
“It’s true,” he answered. “Hypnosis is great for calming your nerves. I use self-hypnosis all the time now.”
“You’re serious!” she exclaimed with a forced giggle. “I had no idea—but I still don’t believe you.”
Eric smirked.
“Besides,” Wendy continued, “if you can relax yourself with self-hypnosis, why did you need to talk to someone tonight?”
Eric cleared his throat and gave her his best shit-eating grin he could muster. “Because nothing can take the place of human companionship,” he whispered. “Nothing.” He knew it sounded corny, but it seemed to have worked.
Wendy stifled a laugh and shook her head. “I still don’t buy it,” she said.
“Then let me prove it.”
> Reluctantly, she accepted his extended hand. Eric led Wendy to the corner chair, then sat on a stool facing her. The mood of their conversation shifted as she turned with a nervous twist, clutching her purse tightly in her lap.
“I’m not sure that I’m ready for this,” she said. “Is it for real? Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Certainly. It’ll only take a minute and you won’t remember a thing. Besides, it’ll make you feel better.”
“Yeah, but if I won’t remember, then how will I know I’ve been hypnotized?” she asked.
Good point, he thought. One he hadn’t considered.
“I’ll record the whole thing on my tape recorder,” Eric said. “Then you can hear exactly what went on.”
She was hooked.
Eric switched on a nearby microcassette recorder and chuckled to himself. He would turn the machine off as soon as she was under and later pretend the batteries had gone dead.
“Well, all right,” she said in a reluctant tone. “But if I decide to back out, I want you to stop, okay?”
“Of course,” he agreed. “Now, are you ready? Comfortable?”
“Yes.”
Eric dimmed the lights and instructed her to breathe deeply and concentrate on his voice. Then he began the monotone chant.
“You’re going deeper and deeper to sleep…relaxed and free…deeper and deeper…”
She was fighting it, he could tell. He spoke to her softly, reassuring her and putting her mind at ease. Then he tried again.
“Deeper and deeper to sleep…”
Her eyelids slowly closed.
“Relaxed and free…”
She was on her way now.
“Deeper and deeper…”
Her facial muscles relaxed and her head gradually drifted forward. She was under! Eric switched off the tape recorder.
“When I count to three, Wendy, you will awaken. You will be sitting face to face with Jake Edwards, who has returned early from his business trip. For days you’ve waited for this moment, planning a special private welcome for Jake. The two of you will be completely alone, and you will greet him in a way that only he deserves.”
