Dustin’s face was turning a deep red as he struggled with the old laptop sitting on the kitchen table. At twenty-five, he was a pudgy ginger who never quite looked the part of a technician for TheGeekNextDoor mobile repair squad.

“Come on, you fucking piece of shit,” he muttered. He’d been fighting the customer’s machine for fifteen minutes, jamming his thick thumb against the plastic edge. The chassis refused to snap into place.

Zoe giggled from the floor. She crawled across the linoleum, the movement pulling her faded grey t-shirt tight against her body. It slipped off one shoulder as she reached up, wrapping her arms around his broad chest from behind.

“You’re going to pop a blood vessel if you’re not careful,” she said softly, resting her chin on his shoulder blade. “Maybe you need a cuddle break ... you know. See where things go from there.”

Dustin stopped fighting the plastic shell. “Yeah, you know, I think that’s exactly what I need now that you mention it.”

He dropped his screwdriver, turning to pull her into his lap. She settled over him, her firm, smooth thighs boxing him in on either side. Dustin found himself instantly mesmerized by her perfect double-D tits framed by the t-shirt stretched tightly over them. She was a year older than him at twenty-six, the kind of girl a pudgy ginger like him never thought would even talk to him. He joked with people that he was just the most charming man in the world. It was the only explanation he could think of for how he’d ever convinced her to say yes when he bought the ring.

“My eyes are up here, buddy,” she murmured with a playful smirk.

“Oh yeah?” Dustin said. “Huh.” He kept his eyes locked right where they were.

As he leaned in to kiss his fiancée, the doorbell rang.

Dustin groaned, dropping his head back. “Really? NOW?”

“Tell ‘em we don’t want any,” Zoe beamed at him, pressing a kiss against the side of his neck.

Dustin sighed. He wiped his hands on his jeans and gave her thick ass a smack as she stood up.

“Hey!” Zoe yelped.

He gave her a big toothy smile as he walked across the living room, undid the deadbolt, and opened the door.

A tall, athletic man was standing outside on the concrete walkway in a charcoal suit cut close to the waist. Black leather shoes without a single scuff. Everything about him said wrong building, wrong zip code. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked at Dustin like he was waiting for a valet to take his keys.

“Can I help you?” Dustin asked. He kept one hand on the door knob.

“Is Zoe here?” the man asked.

Dustin stepped out slightly toward him. “I don’t know. Who did you say you were?”

“I didn’t,” the man said. “I just came by to see Zoe.”

Footsteps padded across the linoleum. Zoe popped out from the kitchen, just enough to see past Dustin into the doorway. The color drained from her face.

“Julian?” she said, her voice catching. “Why are you here?”

“New client. I don’t usually make it out this way, but I figured since I was in the neighborhood I’d say hi.”

Zoe took a step back. “I have a restraining order, Julian. You need to leave.”

“Is that any way to talk to an old flame?”

He looked at Dustin, maintaining his wide smile. “Same ol’ Zoe, am I right?”

Dustin stepped sideways, blocking the gap, and turned back to Zoe. “What the FUCK is going on? Who is this guy?”

“It’s my ex, from college, the one I told you about...” Zoe said.

Julian reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a booklet. He held it up with a big smile. “Oh, and look what I found when I was moving some old boxes.”

“What is he talking about, Zoe?”

“I don’t know,” she said, placing a hand on her hip, cocking her head to the side. “He has some stupid present I gave him when we were dating.”

Julian kept his eyes trained on Zoe, looking right past Dustin. “You know, I never used these, Zoe. The artwork is really impressive. I forgot how good you were.”

“Yeah, I’m actually making something out of my art without you trying to direct my fucking life.”

He smiled wider. “That’s great to hear, Zoe, really. I heard you had a gallery showing last spring.”

He thumbed through the book. “So, anyway, I was admiring your beautiful illustrations here, and I noticed there’s no expiration date. I figured I’ll be around here pretty often for our new client. May as well use the opportunity to cash in.”

Zoe let out a sharp laugh. “Are you out of your mind? We’ve been broken up for years. You can’t redeem sex coupons.”

Dustin stared at her. “Whoa, what?”

“It was a dumb thing I made him a thousand years ago,” Zoe said quickly. “He’s clearly trying to push my buttons. But I have a restraining order, so you need to go or I’m calling the police.”

Dustin puffed his chest up, stepping right into Julian’s face. “You heard her! Get the fuck out of here!”

Julian didn’t blink. “Sure ... umm, Dustin, is it? As soon as I collect. You know, Zoe, you signed these things. Technically, that constitutes a binding contract. You know how I feel about contract law.”

Zoe’s face dropped. “Julian, you can’t be serious...”

Dustin took a step forward into Julian, bumping him back. “LEAVE!”

“I’m trying to be friendly, but my patience has limits. You should step aside, my business is with Zoe.”

Dustin immediately caught Julian’s jaw with a right hook.

Zoe screamed.

Julian stumbled back. He touched his lower lip with his thumb, looking at the blood on his skin. He smiled. He pulled a phone from his pocket and dialed. “Chief? Julian Prescott. I need you to get a squad car here at the Oakwood Apartments immediately. I’ve just been assaulted.”

A cruiser was out front in under four minutes.

Julian stood at the end of the walkway to the parking lot. Dustin stood outside the doorway while Zoe paced the living room, frequently peeking through the blinds.

Two uniformed cops walked up to Julian. “Mr. Prescott.” The older cop nodded. “You alright, sir?”

“I’m fine, Officer,” Julian said. “But this man assaulted me.”

They followed Julian to Dustin’s door. Zoe stepped out once she saw the police.

“He showed up at our apartment and wouldn’t leave,” Dustin said, almost shouting. “She has a restraining order against him!”

“That’s not in this county,” the officer said.

“I didn’t make any threats,” Julian said calmly. “I came to discuss a civil contract. He became violent.”

The officer looked at Dustin. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Dustin pointed at Julian. “He’s stalking her.”

“Hands behind your back. Now.”

Dustin turned around. The cuffs clicked shut tight enough to pinch his skin. The younger cop pushed him by the shoulder toward the car and shoved his head down to put him in the back. “Watch it!” he spat.

As they drove off, he could see Julian stepping into the apartment with his hand on Zoe’s shoulder, holding open a page in the book in front of her face.

“Hey! Stop! He’s going into our apartment, fucking stop him!”

“You better shut your mouth, kid. I’m telling you that for your own good. You don’t want to be on the Prescott family’s shit list ... more than you already are.”

The next morning, a steel door buzzed loudly and clicked open. A desk sergeant handed Dustin a plastic bag with his wallet and keys inside. “You’re free to go. Charges were dropped.”

Zoe was waiting in the lobby, sitting in a plastic chair. Dustin walked past the front desk and shoved the double glass doors open, barreling through. She followed him out without saying anything.

They walked to her car. Dustin got into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut.

“What the fuck was that, Zoe?” Dustin said, voice cracking.

Zoe swallowed. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater down over her hands.

Dustin turned his head to look at her. “Julian Prescott huh? That’s the ex you don’t like to talk about.”

“It was a long time ago. I moved on with my life.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you used to date the guy whose name is on a building downtown?”

“I don’t like talking about him. I was a different person when we were dating. I hate him, and I hate who I was when I was with him. I had to get away from that life.”

“You could have at least mentioned you were almost part of the wealthiest family in the state.”

“He wanted a wife who fit into their stupid little mold,” Zoe said. She put the keys in the ignition. “And I tried to be that for a while. He thought my painting was a silly little hobby. When he started talking about buying a ring, I packed my car while he was at work. I ran. He wouldn’t leave me alone, so I filed the restraining order, and eventually moved out of the city.”

“This book he had,” Dustin said, his voice cracking. “‘Sex coupons’? Tell me I heard that wrong.”

“It was just a silly thing couples do, like those intimate coupons you get at Spencer’s. But I hand-made these with nice illustrations and everything, and signed them, because I always sign my work. I just wanted some place to be creative in a way my boyfriend might actually appreciate.”

She reached out to hold his hand. “I didn’t have someone supportive like you back then.”

He pulled his hand away quickly.

“Zoe...” His voice tightened.

“I didn’t think he’d try to enforce it years later.”

“You just went along with this? Zoe ... those aren’t some kind of legal agreement for fuck’s sake!”

“Dustin, you don’t know these people. He was serious. He’s heir to Prescott Law, and I’ve seen him drag people through court to destroy their lives over nothing. He gets off on it. He doesn’t even have to win to make their lives hell for years.”

“So, let me get this straight. He shows up with this arts and crafts project, and some legal threats...” His voice broke. “And what, he ‘redeems’ one of these as I was being dragged off to fucking jail?”

“He said you’d be lucky to get out of this without serving at least a year, longer if he felt like toying with you. And he’d throw everything he had at this contract case. He said it’d be fun to take something like this to the Supreme Court. He’d freeze my assets for years, everything. My studio, all my work.”

“Jesus Christ, Zoe...”

She sighed deeply. “Or, I could fulfill my end of the contract, as he put it.”

Dustin dragged his hand down his face. “I can’t believe this.”

“I know it sounds bad! But all he wanted was some pictures of me, and he’d drop the assault charges.” She turned her body toward him, keeping her gaze on the center console. “The coupon was just ... for some pictures.”

“‘Just’ pictures? He didn’t go to all that trouble for a Sears portrait, Zoe.”

“No, I mean ... he wanted pictures of my tits.”

Dustin stared at her. “Did he touch you?”

“No.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “He just wanted me to take my top off. The coupon had a self-portrait I did in pencil and watercolor standing in front of a mirror. He told me the illustration had stiff nipples, and he wanted to play with mine until they got hard. I said no. That wasn’t part of the deal. I pinched them myself.”

Dustin squirmed in his seat, trying to ignore the hard-on growing in his pants. “How many did he take?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “A few, I guess?”

“And that’s all that happened?” His voice was hoarse from the dryness in his throat.

“Mostly...” She pursed her lips as she looked down.

“Fucking Mostly?”

“He wanted me to get fully naked.”

“And did you?”

“No! I told him the coupon didn’t say naked. A thong was as far as I’d go. Then he snapped a few more.” She finally looked up at him. “That was it, Dustin. Please understand, I didn’t have a choice.”

Dustin breathed heavily. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

“No!” She grabbed his arm. “He will follow through on his threats, Dustin. Don’t give him a reason, he’s a fucking sociopath.”

Dustin sat there trying to compose himself. “Is this over, Zoe?”

She shook her head, looking down again.

“He said he’s going to be in the area pretty regularly for a while, because of this new client. He plans on stopping by when he’s around.”

Dustin barely held the contents of his stomach as nausea washed over him.

Zoe spent late nights at her art studio across town. Dustin kept his head down at work, but he had to replace a customer’s WiFi router out of pocket when he “accidentally” spiked it into the ground after the hard reset didn’t take.

They both did everything they could to avoid bringing up the elephant in the room by the name of Julian.

Dustin was standing at the stove on Thursday evening pushing Hamburger Helper around a frying pan when the doorbell rang.

Zoe was on the couch with her sketchbook. She looked up, the pencil freezing in her hand.

“Don’t answer it,” she said quietly.

Dustin sighed. “We can’t hide from the world, Zoe. I’m expecting some parts.”

He walked to the door and opened it.

Julian was standing in the walkway with his perpetual smile that made Dustin want to wipe it off his face for good.

“Evening, Dusty? Dustin?”

“Dustin,” he said bitterly.

“That’s right. How ya been?”

“Get the fuck off my property.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not here for you. I have business with Zoe.”

Dustin filled the doorframe. “You’re not coming in.”

Julian looked past him into the apartment. “Zoe? You want to explain to your boyfriend how this works, or should I call Chief Burroughs and have him come explain it?”

“Fiancé,” Dustin said.

Julian grinned. “My sincerest apologies, fiancé.”

Zoe appeared behind Dustin. She put her hand on his arm. “Dustin, just let him in.”

“No. Fuck that. This is our home.”

“Dustin, please.”

Her fingers were digging into his forearm. He looked down at her hand, then back at Julian.

Dustin stepped aside.

Julian looked around the apartment as he stepped in.

“Julian, what do you want?” Zoe huffed.

“Nothing that isn’t owed to me. But you might want to send your guy friend on some errands. He probably doesn’t want to see this.”

Dustin pulled his shoulders back. “I’m not going anywhere, motherfucker.”

Julian looked him up and down, then let out a sharp laugh. “You want to watch? I didn’t really figure you for a cuck. But still, I’m not here to put on a show for you.”