Chapter 1

The trees on campus had only just begun to bud, but the semester was far enough along for the day to be warm and sunny. Students walked to class more slowly, enjoying the change of weather. In the dorm, half of the windows were open to catch the breeze, heavy with the scent of spring. Janet was sitting in her dorm room window, watching for John's arrival, so that when he arrived at the front door it flew open before he could knock more than once. Beaming, Janet pulled him inside into a happy embrace.

"John, it's so good to see you!" she said. "I'm so glad you came!"

John looked at Janet affectionately. She was shorter than he was, slim and pretty, with vivid green eyes and red hair pulled back in a pony-tail. She wore jeans and an oversized sweatshirt; her face was bare of makeup, and she looked much like any other college student, long on enthusiasm and short on sleep. He knew, though, what a nice body she concealed beneath those clothes.

"It's good to see you, too," he replied, smiling and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "And thanks for putting me up."

"As if I'd let you stay anywhere else! It would be so great if you decided to go to school here," Janet said. "C'mon, my room is upstairs. Do you need help with your bag?"

"I've got it," John said, hoisting the backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. "Lead on."

Janet's room was at the top of the stairs. She fumbled for a moment with her key, then held the door open for him as he walked in, letting it swing closed after them. John looked around appreciatively. The room was quite large, with two long beds against one wall, two big desks by the windows, bookshelves on the wall opposite the door, and impressionist prints tacked up here and there. One of the two beds was neatly made; the other was rumpled, and had a large stuffed cat lying on the pillow. A small refrigerator stood in the corner, and two chairs completed the furnishings. The room was moderately cluttered, but not as messy as most dorm rooms John had seen.

"You've been straightening?" John asked, looking at the made bed.

"Constantly!" Janet rolled her eyes. "Beth -- that's my roommate -- is kind of a slob. Sometimes I sort of wish you hadn't made me such a neat freak. I keep picking up after her, and it's driving me bats."

"You asked me to," John said. "I can change it, if you like. Or maybe Beth...she was all right with my staying here?"

"Sure," said Janet. "She's pretty easy-going. We get along fine, for the most part." She gave John a teasing look. "I told her you would sleep on the floor, of course."

John winced, looking at the hard wood. "I'd rather not. We'll see. Where is she right now?"

"Studying in the library. For at least a couple of hours," Janet added, smiling.

John smiled, too. "Well, in that case," he said, setting down his bag and unbuttoning his shirt, "maybe you can give me a proper welcome."

Janet laughed, and pulled her sweatshirt off over her head. She wore nothing beneath it. Her beautifully shaped, medium-sized breasts were tipped with hard nipples, and a light flush over her skin revealed her excitement.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said, and went to him.

Chapter 2

By the time Beth returned from the library, John and Janet were both fully dressed, the bed was re-made, and they were sitting in the room's two chairs, talking like the old friends they were. The sound of a key in the lock warned of her approach a few seconds before the door swung open.

"Hi!" Beth greeted them brightly. "You must be John. I'm Beth McLeod, Janet's roommate."

John had risen to his feet when Beth came in, and now extended a hand, his expression a little stunned. Beth was gorgeous; finely molded face and full, almost pouty lips, long dark-blonde hair, a figure that was lush without being the slightest bit overweight. She was shorter than Janet, and only came up to John's shoulder. She wore jeans too, with a t-shirt that strained over an impressive bust and a large man's shirt, unbuttoned over it like a jacket.

"John Ross," John said, finding his voice. "Pleased to meet you."

Beth was apparently used to provoking this reaction from the opposite sex, because she took no notice of his confusion.

"So, you're thinking of coming here for school?" she asked.

"Yes, I..."

"Whoops!" Beth interrupted. "I left my bag down by the mailboxes. Sorry, be right back." She scurried out.

"So, what do you think?" Janet asked John, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"She seems nice," John said. "Why didn't you tell me she was such a stunner? I was gawking like an idiot."

"Didn't want to spoil the surprise. Besides, I'd have thought you'd be completely jaded by now," Janet said. "She is something, though, isn't she?" Janet hesitated a moment, then asked, "Do you want to...?"

"I don't know," John said. "Despite what you think, I don't have to seduce every attractive woman I meet."

"Nope," Janet said. "Just most of them."

"Hmmm." John gave Janet a speculative look. "Do you want me to? Or maybe you want her yourself?"

"What do you think?" Janet said. "Since the first time I saw her!" John laughed, and Janet complained, "It isn't funny! I never even liked girls until I met you. And now..."

"Well, I could change that, too," John suggested.

"Don't you dare!"

A fumbling at the lock interrupted them again, and Janet quickly added, "We'll talk about it later, but leave my libido the way it is. I like it."

John seemed very nice, Beth decided after chatting with him and Janet for a while. He was friendly and smart, and clearly he and Janet knew each other very well. In fact, the casual intimacy the two displayed made Beth suspect that they were much more than just school friends. It was a little surprising; Janet had always struck her as being very picky where boys were concerned, and while John was good-looking enough -- tall and somewhat muscular, if rather thin, with brown hair and eyes as green as Janet's own -- he certainly wouldn't stand out in a crowd. And he was two or three years younger than Janet, as well.

Still, Beth considered herself a good observer, and the way John and Janet laughed quietly over shared jokes and touched unconsciously went beyond just friendship. Beth knew that Janet was much more sexually experienced than she was, and had had quite a few previous lovers. Obviously John was one of them; and from the look of them, that relationship was not dead.

Beth was used to bowling men over with her looks, and John had certainly been affected when they first met, but he gave no signs of it now. She was favorably impressed. Too many men turned into idiots in her presence, spending their time talking to her breasts instead of her face. John made no such mistake. She supposed that with someone like Janet available he wouldn't have much need to hit on other women. Privately, Beth thought Janet was one of the most beautiful women she'd ever met: poised and slim and attractive, without the embarrassment of riches which always made Beth feel awkward around guys.

After a while, John excused himself 'to freshen up' and left the room. Beth leaned over and nudged Janet.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"Tell you what?" Janet asked.

"About you and John. He was your boyfriend, wasn't he?" Janet looked at her in surprise, and Beth blushed. "I mean, the two of you act like you've been married for years."

Janet laughed. "I didn't realize it was that obvious. Well, sorry to keep secrets from you. My...relationship with John has always been kind of private. He was never officially my boyfriend, or anything, and most people didn't know. It's kind of complicated."

"Relationships are always complicated," Beth said with feeling.

"Spoken by the girl with precisely one ex-boyfriend," Janet said. When Beth looked a little hurt she quickly added, "I'm just teasing you. Of course, you're right. But my relationship with John is a little more complicated than most."

"Complicated, how?" Beth asked curiously.

"It's...hard to explain. Maybe I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay," Beth said, still feeling curious. "But you two are...I mean, you have..."

"In every way you can imagine," Janet said promptly, "and a few you probably can't. Does that freak you out?" she asked as Beth blushed again.

"No, no," she said. "I just wasn't expecting it. You told me he was just a friend from school."

"Well, he is a friend from school," Janet said, "but not 'just' that."

John's return interrupted the conversation at this point, but Beth was strangely unsatisfied. It was clear there was still some secret here; Janet's evasive answers made that obvious. But nothing about the two of them seemed too far out of the ordinary. What was it that Janet thought was so complicated?

"I've arranged for you to be on the meal plan while you're here," Janet was telling John. "You might as well know the worst right off."

"Great," John said. "When is dinner? I'm starving."

"We can go now, if you like," Janet said. "Beth? Want to join us?"

"Sure," Beth said, getting up. "Let's go."

Dinner gave no more clues about the relationship of John and Janet. It was one of the dining hall's better efforts, and John ate with good appetite. The dinner conversation continued where they had left off in the dorm room. Other than trading information about common acquaintances, John and Janet gave few hints about their past. After dinner, John suggested that they go for a drive and see the city.

"Did you bring The Machine?" Janet asked with a quick grin.

"Sure. It's parked in the public lot. Do you want to go, Beth?" John asked her.

"Umm, yeah, I guess so. I've got to finish a paper later..."

"We won't take too long," Janet assured her. "And you need to see The Machine to believe it."

'The Machine' turned out to be a silver sports car. It had real leather seats, and the engine purred to life with an unmistakable feeling of power as John turned the ignition key.

"It's a Lotus," Janet explained over her shoulder to Beth, who sat in the back seat. "Like James Bond drives."

"Wow," Beth said. "Do you have, like, machine guns in the headlights?"

"Well, I could tell you," John said, backing up, "but then I'd have to kill you..."

They drove around the city for an hour, taking in the sights. It was one of the most luxurious rides Beth had ever had; the car seemed to skim above the ground, and the warm leather embraced her. She wondered briefly if that was how John had hooked Janet -- his family must be incredibly rich for him to have a car like this. But she dismissed the thought. Janet's own family was pretty well off, and besides, Janet had never seemed materialistic.

"Take us out on the highway before we go back," Janet said. "Show Beth what The Machine can do."

"Uh, that's okay," Beth said with some alarm, but John was already turning onto an entrance ramp. He couldn't go too fast at first, with city traffic holding him back, but after only a few minutes the traffic thinned and he opened up. Beth felt herself pressed back into the seat by the acceleration. The speedometer needle passed eighty, then ninety to top out at over a hundred.

"All right!" Janet yelled as the scenery went tearing past, "this is more like it! Yeeee-hawww!"

"You were always a sucker for speed," John commented, eyes on the road.

"You said it! Give me more!"

"Guys," Beth said in a strange mixture of terror and exhilaration, "slow down, you're going to get a ticket!" Or get us killed. "John, please!"

Flashing lights behind them punctuated this sentence as a police cruiser pulled out from the side of the road and followed them. With a sigh, John slowed and pulled over to the side, rolling down his window. A highway patrolman stepped out of the cruiser, adjusted his belt, and walked up to them

"License and registration," he said tonelessly.

"Sure thing, officer," John said. He handed over his license, and got the registration from the glove compartment. The patrolman examined them briefly, then returned them.

"Slow it down from now on," he said, and returned to his car.

"Thanks, officer," John called after him, and rolled up the window.

"He didn't ticket you," Beth said in disbelief. "You were going, like, a hundred miles an hour."

"Yeah," John agreed, easing the Lotus back out into traffic. "Lucky. Maybe he was about to go off-shift."

"Well, he spoiled my ride," Janet pouted. "Bad cop. No donuts."

"I'll make it up to you, later," John said. "Let's get Beth back. Her paper is waiting."

Chapter 3

Beth sat at her computer working on her paper. Behind her, John and Janet were lying on Janet's bed, making out. It was a little weird that they didn't care she was there in the room; even weirder, she found that she didn't mind, either. She was able to concentrate on her paper with an intensity that normally eluded her even in conditions of total silence; the sounds of lips on lips, skin on skin, soft sighs and moans coming from behind her did nothing to distract her.

In a surprisingly short time she finished the paper and read it over. It was pretty good, she thought. She fixed a few typos, but otherwise had little fault to find. She sent the paper to the printer, then shut down her computer and swiveled around in her seat.

Janet was topless, but otherwise things hadn't progressed too far. In the course of sharing a room Beth had of course seen her roommate's body -- especially since Janet seemed to have no embarrassment about nudity at all. But she had never before felt the seductive quality of the other girl's lack of inhibition. Now, watching John work Janet's tits with his lips and tongue, Janet's eyes closed and a broad smile on her face, Beth realized how men must lust after Janet. Maybe after her, as well. As often as Beth had seen guys affected by her looks, she'd never quite appreciated it the way she did now.

John noticed Beth watching and sat up with a slightly amused look. Janet opened her eyes and grinned at her, but made no move to cover herself. Beth found herself looking at the other girl's erect nipples, glistening slightly with moisture, and forced her eyes up.

"So, what is it with you two, anyway?" she asked. "Janet said your relationship was 'complicated.' What does that mean?"

John glanced at Janet with lifted eyebrows, and she sighed.

"I just meant," she said, "that John and I aren't a conventional boyfriend and girlfriend."

"So, like, what are you?" Beth persisted.

Janet shrugged and sat up, making her tits sway. Almost enticingly, Beth thought, then was startled at thinking something like that about another woman. It was all part of the weirdness of the evening.

The evening proceeded to get weirder. "I'm his slave," Janet said.

John winced and said "Dammit, Janet..."

"Well, what else would you call it?" Janet asked him, with the air of one continuing an old argument. "John's a nice guy, and he doesn't really like the idea of having slaves," she explained to Beth, who was staring at them in shock. "But really...I mean, I'll do anything he wants, anywhere, anytime. What else am I? Not that I'm complaining," she added.

"You're his slave...but you're not complaining?" Beth had the feeling that she wasn't following this at all.

"No, of course not! I love it. I love him. It's totally cool."

This was a lot kinkier than Beth had thought, but it was strangely exciting, too. In a warped kind of way. Obviously she had greatly underestimated just how uninhibited Janet really was. And John...he looked so normal. Cute, but normal. What did he have to inspire that kind of devotion?

"But...I mean, you've dated other guys while you were here..." Beth abruptly wondered if John knew about that. But he didn't look surprised or upset.

"Well, yeah. I mean, John told me it was okay. We're separated, now, and it isn't like he doesn't have plenty of other women to keep him busy. And my sex drive is kind of on the high side." From what Beth had seen, that was an understatement. "But I'm still his, whenever he wants me."

"Umm...John has plenty of other women?"

"Sure," John said. "Not a harem, exactly, but a few."

"Plus whatever random ones he adds," Janet said.

"Plus random ones," Beth repeated. "Are they all his...uh, slaves...too?"

"Sort of," Janet said. "I mean, there are a few special ones, like me, and then others he, um, recruits temporarily."

"Recruits?" Beth said. "Sorry, I don't normally repeat everything people say, but I'm completely lost here. It doesn't bother you that he has other women?"

"Of course not," Janet said. "What good would we be to him if we were jealous of each other?"

"And how does he recruit them?" Beth asked. There was something very, very strange going on here, but it kept eluding her. Why would so many women all want to submit to one man...one boy, really? Why would they obey him? Not just obey him, but want to obey him?