Chapter 7

There was some sort of buzz of activity out in the hall, but James was on a critical conference call, so he had to suppress his curiosity for a time.

When he went to check it out, three men were standing outside of Eric’s office in what might have been a queue. Several other people - men and women - were standing around nearby in gossip circles, although their conversations all stopped when he showed up. Eric’s office door was closed and the blinds were shut - normally discouraged by office policy.

“What’s going on here?” He asked, trying to quell the sinking feeling in his stomach. Nobody responded. “Is Laurel in there?” He pressed. Nobody spoke, but their faces gave him his answer.

James opened the door and walked in just as Harrison, the compliance officer, was zipping up his pants. Laurel was on her knees, shirtless, her magnificent breasts covered with a fresh load of come. “Oh, hi Dad. Give me a minute,” she said, turning her back to him and staring down at her chest. Harrison made a quick exit.

“What the hell, Laurel?”

She held up a hand. “Just one sec...” She was examining the semen covering her breasts. This was spermamancy.

“Laurel, what the fuck are you doing?”

She pulled some tissues from a box on the desk and wiped herself clean, and then held her shirt in front of her as she turned to face him. “Okay, don’t be mad. This isn’t ... Well, it’s not for fun. It’s important.”

“What’s so important that you need a line of men at my office waiting to get sucked off?”

“I need to know what’s going to happen,” she told him, seemingly without any feelings of guilt. “I need to be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?”

“I can’t tell you.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Predicting the future is tricky. If you tell people about it you risk changing it. I can’t take any chances that might invalidate my intel.”

“I get that your research project is important to you, but Laurel this is a place of business,” he said, with a raised voice. “Do you have any idea how disruptive you’re being?”

“It’s really really important!” She argued quietly. “Would you rather I go pick up random day drinkers at some seedy bar?”

“I’d rather you stay at home watching TV and texting your friends like a normal girl,” he said in a voice approaching a yell. “I’d rather you not need more than one hand to count your sexual partners!”

Her eyes went wide with shock and her jaw fell open. She turned around and pulled her shirt over her head, sniffling.

Janine walked briskly into the room - a middle-aged woman with fat hips but otherwise quite nice-looking. She spoke authoritatively. “Laurel, go home. James, you’re done for the day. We’re going drinking.” Laurel looked at them both with heartbroken eyes and then dashed out. Janine pulled James’ sleeve out toward the exit. She shouted across the office, “Vicky - reschedule Mr. Reiser’s appointments for the rest of the day.”

It took nearly a whole beer in a business park bar before James was ready to talk. “I can’t believe I said that to her,” he muttered to Janine. “I swore I would never slut-shame my daughter. She was always so shy. I promised myself I would be supportive as she matured into a sexual being.”

“It was only one fight,” Janine replied soothingly. “And she didn’t make it easy on you.”

“It happened so suddenly,” he said. “She left in the summer, and then when she came back two weeks ago there were thongs in the laundry. And semen stains on her underwear.” He finished his beer and waved for another. “She hasn’t been wearing bras. Did you notice?”

Janine smirked wryly. “Everybody noticed.”

“She’s been doing Eric. He’s married,” he groaned.

“Harrison too,” Janine added.

He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. “It’s worse than that, though. I’ve been having trouble ... I’ve been ... attracted to her lately. I’m such a piece of shit.” He hung his head low. He spoke barely above a whisper. “The other night I caught a glimpse of her naked and I masturbated.”

She put her hand on his. “Look, we’re supposed to pretend it’s not true - that the very thought horrifies us - but every man who has an attractive daughter feels occasional sexual urges toward her. Every man. And when that daughter is as stunning as Laurel? No guy - not even her father - can be blamed for wanting to hit that.”

“It’s nice of you to say,” James began.

“James - how long has it been? Since you’ve been with a woman? Anyone since Clover?”

He shook his head. “About three years, I guess. A couple months before she died.”

“Come home with me,” she offered. “Let me take care of your needs. I’ll be your lover, friend, whore, or whatever you need.”

He looked her in the eyes for several seconds. “Janine, you’re a beautiful woman and a good friend, but no. I’m not ready. I’d feel like I was betraying Clover. And yes, I know, she’d be the first person to tell me to move on.” He shrugged.

She patted his hand. “Okay, but the offer stands. Call me night or day - it doesn’t have to be a big thing.” She took a big drink. “But if not me, seduce one of Laurel’s friends, or make a Tinder account, or splurge on a ridiculously priced call girl. You need a pressure release.”

James half-smiled at the advice he knew he wasn’t going to take.

“Whatever’s going on with Laurel, she’ll get through it,” Janine told him. “She’s a good kid.”

“No date tonight?” Imogen asked Laurel. Normally she would have left before dinner or else changed clothes after.

Laurel shook her head, seeming melancholy. “Not tonight.”

“Okay then! Movie night. You pick.”

The kids watched one of Laurel’s favorite rom-coms. James stayed in his office. Once it grew late, Imogen declared, “Bedtime.” To Laurel, she added, “You coming?” Hunter looked like he was trying to thrust his jealousy on them by force of will, but they ignored him.

Once the girls were hidden away in the guest room, Imogen asked a question that had been on her mind. “Okay, so your boobs look bigger than they truly are. But what happens when a guy feels you up? Doesn’t that ruin the illusion?”

Laurel shook her head. “No. It’s about how your brain interprets the sensations. It doesn’t matter if it’s sight or touch or whatever. If someone put a tape measure around my chest, they’d still see the right number. But for most people that wouldn’t cause any dissonance.”

Imogen rubbed her forehead trying to make sense of it all.

“Do you want to feel them?” Laurel offered.

A moment later, Laurel was topless in the center of the bed, with Imogen sitting next to her, squeezing her boobs. She took some time trying to emulate the ways men had touched her in the past. Laurel looked at her appreciatively. “Yeah, those seem like nice plump titties,” she remarked. “But wait. What about boob jobs? You need a certain volume for that to work, right? Would that cause dissonance?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe,” Laurel replied. She got up and rooted around in the toy box, and then handed Imogen a strap-on harness and suitable dildo. “Try!”

Imogen strapped on the dildo over her panties and knelt over Laurel. She lay her faux cock down between Laurel’s tits and squished them together around it. She made a few experimental hip thrusts, but she just wasn’t sure what to expect.

Laurel looked up at her, amused. “Well?”

Imogen shrugged. “I just don’t know. I think you’d need to test it with someone who’s used to waving one of these things around,” she said and wiggled her hips to make the dildo wave and wag.