Chapter 14: Mister Independent

NOVEMBER 2003, SOPHOMORE YEAR

"I'm sorry things didn't work out with you and DJ." Dawn squeezed my hand and patted my shoulder.

It was Monday morning and we were sitting on a bench by Memorial Glade, just outside the Main Library. After spending the weekend hiding out inside the house with Dayna, Brandi, and Adrienne, I'd finally told Dawn the story while we had an hour to kill in between classes. She seemed a little disappointed that I hadn't talked with her sooner, but now wasn't the time to get upset with me. After all, SHE was the one who'd moved out of the house.

With a couple of days between me and the breakup, the sting had started to fade. I just shrugged, "It's okay. You were right though: It would have been weird if you ended up my sister-in-law."

"Still," Dawn said sympathetically. "Breakups are never easy."

I leaned into Dawn's hand on my shoulder and chuckled. "Actually, I think your mom took it harder than I did." I still remembered the death grip Deanna Evans had on me before I finally left to drive back to Berkeley on Friday night.

Dawn cracked up at that and looked off into the distance. "Yeah ... Mom still has it in her head that you're going to marry one of her daughters and give her grandkids that unite our two families. Guess Dayna's her last hope."

I snorted at that and arched an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Dawn laughed and nodded. She sighed and said, "I never told you but Mom got really mad when I agreed to move in with Ryan. Don't get me wrong, she likes the guy. But he's not you. And I don't think she realized how serious I was with him until I moved in. And then she got really happy when you and DJ hooked up."

I chuckled. "I always wondered about that. She was a lot more ... permissive ... with me and DJ than she was with me and you."

Dawn shrugged. "Well, you guys are older now. And Mom let us get away with a LOT of stuff when we were just 13 or 16 or whatever."

"Yeah, well, it's a moot point now. Maybe you can check in with DJ later and see how permissive your Mom is with DJ's next boyfriend."

Dawn rubbed my shoulder and said, "Hey, there's still a chance that it'll be you."

I arched an eyebrow. "Ah, did you miss the part where I explained how we'd broken up?"

Dawn shrugged. "I didn't say right away. But when DJ gets over you and decides she's ready to date again — which between you and me won't be until AFTER she gets her college acceptance letters — she may very well decide she wants another shot with you. The real you."

I sighed. "Maybe ... maybe not. DJ was right about one thing, I never really got to know her all that well. All I was thinking was 'DJ Evans: Dawn's hot little sister who's had a crush on me forever'. It's a very appealing concept to a guy."

"A more appealing concept than 'Dawn: Best Friend Forever who wants you back'?" She arched an eyebrow with a teasing smirk on her face.

I leveled my gaze at my best friend, feeling my heart tighten. "Don't even fucking kid about that."

"Sorry, sorry," Dawn put her head down, biting her lip. I wondered how much her joke was rooted in truth.

We were both silent for a long while, and then I looked up at The Campanile to check the time. We'd spent our whole break talking about this.

So standing up, I leaned back and offered my hand to Dawn. "Come on. Let's get to class."

One side-effect of no longer having a girlfriend was that I suddenly had a lot more time hang out with my old crew. It wasn't that DJ had been occupying my time during the weekdays, but I HAD been gone from Friday afternoon through Sunday night every week, and as such I simply missed out on a lot of the things going on in my friends' lives. Plus, just knowing that I didn't have a phone call or instant message session with DJ waiting for me at home, I automatically started hanging out at Dawn's and Ryan's place for a little longer than usual. And with Adrienne no longer dating Grace, she came as well, at least whenever she didn't have a sorority event.

I took the time to play video games with Bert and Ryan while the girls gossiped about whatever. ("Boys love playing with their joy sticks," Robin had quipped.)

Adrienne talked fashion and would go on shopping outings with the girls. ("Just what Dawn needs ... more clothes," Ryan had sighed.)

And collectively, Adrienne and I spent a lot more time getting involved in our friends' conversations, studied together, and generally re-became a part of their lives. We made the effort to talk with them, to bond with them. We shared homework. We talked about classes. And we started sticking around to grab dinner with them instead of heading home. I even went to play basketball on Wednesday night with Ryan, Bert, and the Seniors. Matt Kanemura, Brandi's boyfriend, was a little standoffish with me, but nothing serious happened.

Just for the hell of it, Robin suggested we all head out to a miniature golf place on Saturday. And for the first time in recent memory, I found that I was available to go with them.

Technically, I'd never really lost them. But it felt good to have a crew again.

One other side effect of no longer having a girlfriend was that I suddenly had a lot more female attention than before. It was as if all the girls around me telepathically knew that I was no longer attached, and was in fact now 'Open for business'.

Perhaps subconsciously, I'd been living my "not-outside-the-family" promise to DJ by keeping my flirtations with other girls in check. Yeah, I joked around some, but I had been careful not to say anything to lead a girl on. And beside restraining myself, I had somehow broadcasted at all times that 'Yes, I have a girlfriend and yes, she makes me very happy.'

I didn't broadcast that anymore.

Apparently, I now broadcast, 'I'm handsome and fantastic in bed and I'm a wounded animal who needs some tender loving.' And girls started coming on to me.

The obvious ones were Brandi's and Dayna's friends. With Matt and Brandi reconciled, for now at least, it was more comfortable for the group to rendezvous in our living room again, not to mention closer to campus. Kerri, Julie, Ashley, and Erica did have a house further away, but it wasn't as big or as comfortable as ours. And those four girls were happier keeping our place as the social lounge and their place more private for their respective boyfriends.

Well, not Kerri. The hot redhead had been single for a few weeks now and even when I'd been dating DJ, she'd been making innuendoes about the two of us fooling around just for the fun of it. And in the week after my breakup, she started dropping hints about being there to comfort me if I wanted.

And then of course there was Monique. The statuesque, busty bottle-blonde had never stopped flirting with me. And during that same post-DJ week, she was far less subtle about her intentions. On Wednesday, she took one look at me when I walked through the door before stating in her gorgeous French accent, "Now there is a man who needs a blowjob. Would you like me to give it to you?"

But as appealing as a Monique-blowjob sounded, I just wasn't ready for it yet. Sure, it would feel good. Sure, I WANTED it. But I wasn't an oversexed 16-year- old anymore. I had other things on my mind besides raw physical relief...

That and ... well, Adrienne was still recovering from her own breakup. We knew we weren't getting back together, but we were crawling into bed pretty regularly to mutually provide each other with the physical comfort we needed. So it's not like I was lacking in the bedroom department.

And it wasn't only in the house that I got this increase in female attention. Apparently, Adrienne hadn't exaggerated the impact I'd had on the Tri-Delt sorority. At least once a day, and usually much more, some random girl would walk up to me out of the blue and start flirting, completely oblivious to Dawn's presence next to me.

Most of the time, I had no idea who the girls were, and had to admit such when Dawn would ask, "Who the hell was that?"

But eventually, I noticed that some of the girls were wearing Tri-Delt pledge pins. Once I realized this, I started to recognize some of them, albeit only vaguely. And after the first week, I found out it would only get worse.

Adrienne returned home from the sorority one day to say, "You're in trouble now, Tiger."

I looked up at her with an eyebrow arched in confusion, and she went on to explain. "The Pledge Mistress set a bounty on you. First girl to seduce you gets 100 pledge points."

My eyebrows shot up. "Is that a lot?"

Adrienne just nodded and then smiled wryly. "Actually, the initial bounty was 50 points. I spoke up and explained that you had just broken up with your girlfriend and were keeping a low profile, trying to get them to leave you in peace for a little while. But that Leighton is kind of wicked — probably why she's the Pledge Mistress — and she promptly doubled the bounty."

"Glad to know I'm in demand."

"Technically, I won because of what we did last night." Adrienne smirked. "But Leighton deemed that I didn't count and gave me 50 points to butt out. Jumped me from 8th to 4th. She's still siccing the other 22 pledges on you. Well, 21. She declared Misty ineligible too and gave her 25. Maybe even only 20 because I don't think Grace is going to make a play."

"8, 25, 22, 7, 946..." I drawled. "You lost me."

Adrienne cracked up.

"Still, 20 girls trying to seduce me..." I sighed and shook my head in resignation. "It seems ... too easy."

"Too easy?"

I spread my hands out. "Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against casual sex. But fact is: I'd rather be with you than just ... get laid by some random pledge."

Adrienne smiled. "Aww, how sweet."

I shrugged. "I want more than just a hookup. I want to be happy."

"Wow." Adrienne seemed surprised by the sincere tone in my voice and gave me a look of pride. She reached out and patted my shoulder. "You're growing up, Tiger."

I beamed but blushed. Then I flashed her a naughty grin.

Her smirk came back knowingly. "But you're still gonna fuck some of those pledges, aren't you?"

I grinned even wider. "Fuck, yeah."

I felt proud of myself when Adrienne commented that I was growing up. I liked the way I felt when she said it, and I wanted to maintain that feeling as best I could.

That meant that I couldn't let myself rebound again. Yeah, I was hurting inside from the loss of a girlfriend. Ever since I first started dating Megan at the end of Sophomore year in High School, I'd never really gone very long without having one, going from Megan to Cassidy to Adrienne to Dawn, and then Allie and back to Adrienne and Paige and DJ in rapid succession. The longest stretch I went without a girlfriend was probably my 'nottogether' phase with Adrienne, and even then I was so close to her that it didn't really count. So I was used to always having a girlfriend. I was used to always having a partner. I was one of those guys that just didn't want to be alone.

Maybe it was time that I tried.

Yeah, I missed DJ. But the driving force in me rebounding with her was the need of someone... anyone ... to be with me. I had NEEDED someone to love, someone to love me.

Maybe it was time I learned to get along on my own.

What was it Brooke had once told me? I had to grow up and stop letting stuff happen TO me. I'd made small changes, but life was still coming AT me and I was just reacting to it. Even DJ, who was two years younger than me, had figured out our relationship wasn't what it should be well before I did. For a long time, my girlfriends and sisters had loved me and had been the ones to effect change in my life.

Maybe it was time I stepped up and effected the changes in MY life.

And it started with me. If I was going to be happy, I had to figure out how to be happy by myself. Only then could I figure out how to be happy WITH someone else. I didn't want to depend on my girlfriend to make me happy anymore.

So where to start? Not with finding a girlfriend. But what else would make me happy?

I pondered that for a long time, sitting alone on the couch in the empty living room. It was a Friday night, exactly a week since DJ and I broke up. Dayna was with Kevin. Brandi was with Matt. And Adrienne had retired to her room to take a shower. I had nothing but time to figure out the new direction of my life.

Who am I? What kind of person do I want to be? What is it that makes me happy?

I heard a door open and turned to look, and at that moment I completely lost my train of thought.

Adrienne stood in the archway from the hallway to the living room, clad only in a silk robe. Her golden blonde hair was slicked back tight against her scalp, darkened with dampness. Her hazel eyes burned a bright gold as she stared at me, but I only stared at her beautiful face for a few seconds. That's because the silk robe was open from throat to tails, her massive 34G/36F breasts pushing the flimsy material open to the sides so that they hung loosely over her mounds, but exposed the pink nipples which were erect and upthrust in the cool November air. My gaze trailed down her tight tummy to the juncture of her thighs. Adrienne leaned against one side of the archway, flexing one leg with a knee pushed out to her right. This opened up her freshly-shaven bare crotch, showing me that her labia were already parted and moist as she had likely been rubbing herself in the shower.

The stunningly gorgeous blonde goddess was ready for sex.

"It's a lonely Friday night, Tiger. And I feel like earning another 50 pledge points. Think you can help me out?"

I stood up, the erection in my jeans leading the way.

I am a sexual creature... THIS is what makes me happy.

As expected, the Tri-Delt pledges started making runs at me. Jocelyn Canilao, the slender Filipina in the French Maid's outfit at the party, showed up with two other pledges. The girls collectively giggled so much they sounded like a nest full of baby chicks, and proved to be quite entertaining to my Microecon classmates. Even Dawn just stepped aside and watched in amusement. The Tri-Delts only scattered when Professor Isakova arrived and glared at them. And oddly enough, I found that Professor Ice was giving me some strange looks of her own after that.

Tonya Brackett was an exotic-looking girl who reminded me of Thandie Newton in Mission: Impossible II. She was very casual about striking up a conversation with me when I was in the library searching for some texts, and it wasn't until I saw her pledge pin that I realized I was being seduced. I had to admit, I was quite tempted. Despite the relatively high percentage of blacks in Berkeley — especially compared to Orange County — I'd never actually bedded one. Flirting with Erica Jackson, one of Dayna's friends, had been the closest I'd ever gotten previously. And yes, Tonya did end up using the line, "Once you go black, you never go back."

And then Cadence Carmichael nearly made my heart stop when she introduced herself by walking right past me and flashing me just the shortest of flirty looks on her way by. The tall, gorgeous strawberry-blonde with electric green eyes was very much my type, having a spectacular body with a slender waist and D-cup tits. I found myself turning my head to stare at her ass as she sashayed by in the opposite direction; and Dawn had to jerk on my hand to make sure I didn't walk into a bush. It took me a second to recognize that SHE was the butterfly at the Tri-Delt Halloween party, and I was instantly filled with all of the sexual longing I for her I had felt back then. But rather than stop and come talk to me, she just continued on her way, leaving me to crave more.

They were just the beginning. Over the next week, sixteen of the pledges propositioned me in one form or another. Adrienne told me that they had to prove their social skills, that proper Tri-Delts never just bent over and said, "Please fuck me." They enjoyed sex, but that didn't mean they were easy. And yet fourteen of the sixteen more or less stated their willingness to have sex with me on their first attempts, only two of them taking more deliberate paths of seduction. I suppose it was the race mentality, everyone trying to be first and everyone knowing exactly how a boy's mind works. And five of them made specific reference to being curious about the now-legendary "Big Ben Experience".

For example, Andie Holland was another bottle-blonde, with nicely sculpted dark eyebrows and pouty lips. She told me that she and her sorority big sister, Carli Singer, had been with the girls listening outside the door that Halloween night. She promised me that the two of them would do anything I wanted... anything ... in any positions and in any holes ... if I could just make them scream the same way.

I was seriously tempted to take Andie up on the offer. But two things held me back. One, only the first pledge got the points. I didn't yet know whether that meant the other pledges would stop pursuing me, or if they would still want to nail me just out of curiosity. For now, I planned on stringing them along as a group until I figured out a way to boink a whole bunch of them. I could afford to be greedy.

And two, Adrienne was still giving me all I could handle. Post-breakup, she seemed to require my services more frequently than usual, and the resulting encounters could still blow my mind. All-Day Adrienne and I were just so sexually compatible that our chemistry was positively corrosive, and I mean that in a good way. And with a stunningly gorgeous hot blonde with big tits and a penchant for anal sex keeping my libido in check, I was having more fun teasing the Tri-Delt pledges than actually following through. Better to keep playing than just get laid once and end the game.

The only one who might've gotten me to cave to my desires was Cadence. But like a true butterfly she flitted in and out of my life, passing me by frequently but only stopping long enough for a flirty laugh or a quick conversation before going on her own way and leaving me wanting to talk to her more. With her sensuously melodic voice and hypnotizing eyes, she had my full and undivided attention each and every time. But each time didn't last long enough for me to really get to know her. The game seemed to be more than just single seduction. Unlike the others, it wasn't about convincing me to let HER fuck ME; it was about getting me so tightly wrapped around her fingers that I would be begging her to let ME fuck HER.

But in the meantime, I still had the other pledges pursuing me. Lakhi Sharma — or Princess Jasmine as I fondly remembered — got really close one day. I don't know what it is about Indian girls, but every now and again you come across one who seriously has tits that are just WAY out of proportion with the rest of her petite body. Lakhi was one of them, standing only 5'4" but sporting perky 34D's that I would have HAD to think were fake if I hadn't had my own lips and hands wrapped around them myself. And she bumped those tits into me while walking down the street after I'd dropped off Dawn but before I made it to my house.

I realized thirty seconds later that the girl had gotten my address — most likely because she knew Adrienne and I were rooming at the same house — and also figured out my routine of going from Dawn's house to my own. So, like any good stalker, she had meandered around some spot between Dawn's place and mine, just waiting for me to arrive. And today, since Dawn and I were a half-hour later than usual, Lakhi had probably been hanging out on that street for quite a while.

I actually felt a little flattered at the lengths Lakhi had gone to, and I played along with her. I complimented her outfit. She giggled coyly and played with her hair. She dropped a flirty innuendo and I made reference to remembering the sound of her moans from the other night. She laughed and punched my arm playfully. I enjoyed the attention and she was clearly aroused by the possibilities.

But time was running out, and by the time we reached my house, she pretty much gave up on social seduction and grabbed my shirt, saying, "Please, Ben. I need you to shove your thick cock up my ass and make me feel as completely overwhelmed with bliss the way you did on Halloween! I've never felt that way before ... ever ... and when you violated my most sacred place I felt like I was being taken to The Paradise after death a little early. Please ... I need you."

I was turned on. I was horny. The thought of buggering Lakhi again set my blood on fire. And whether knowingly or not, she was using MY trigger phrases like 'I need you' in a perfect, pleading voice that went straight to both my heart AND my loins. Plus, I hadn't gotten laid in a couple of days and I was really, really horny. Still, I protested that I had a lot of homework and told her maybe some other time. And in the end, I managed to slip inside the front door and shut Lakhi out.

Adrienne was already home and through the window, had witnessed my gentle but firm rejection of her fellow Tri-Delt pledge. She was standing in the hallway when I finally collected myself and turned around, a knowing smirk on her face. "Are you sure you're the same Ben I knew in High School?" she teased. "The last time we broke up you nailed Helene McGregory and half her friends inside a week!"

"It was more than a week," I growled. And then I strode forward rapidly, reaching Adrienne before she could move. I grabbed her hands, pinned them behind her back, and roughly shoved her up against the wall, grinding against her crotch with the bulge in my shorts that Lakhi had created. "And I didn't have you at home."

"So she DID get you turned on..." the blonde bombshell breathed.

"Hell, yeah. For such an innocent-looking girl, she certainly has a wicked mouth."

"So..." Adrienne smirked, with a tease in her voice. She reached a hand up between us and pushed lightly against my chest, holding me at bay. "If I say 'no', then you'll have no choice but to run after Lakhi and fuck her brains out?"

"Sure, if you want her to win the 100 points," I groaned, continuing to grind myself against Adrienne's body. I knew she could feel my hard erection, and as I squeezed her wrists a little tighter, I could sense her heating up with passionate lust. Every now and again, Adrienne REALLY liked it when I just dominated the shit out of her.

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea," she panted, trying to maintain control. At the moment, she was on top and she knew it. "I bet I could make a bunch of money if I 'helped' one of those girls win this task."

"Nah..." I shook my head, deciding to take charge. After all, I wanted to be on top a few times in my life. And still holding Adrienne's wrists tightly, I pulled us both off the wall and then started marching her backward towards her own bedroom. "I think I'll just fuck your brains out and skip the pledges," I growled.

"Ohhh..." Adrienne groaned, her eyelids closing halfway. But she was still fighting back. "Then I'll say 'no', Ben. 'No'. You can't have me. Better run after Lakhi."

I smelled bullshit. Adrienne and I had too close of a connection for me not to realize she wanted to get pounded just as much as I wanted to pound her. So calling her bluff, I let her go and immediately took two steps back. "Fine, you said 'no'. I'll just go in my room and jack-off. I'll take my thick, hot, throbbing cock into my hand and stroke it powerfully, tensing all my muscles as the self-inflicted pleasure shoots through my body. I'll find my box of tissues and blast a thick, creamy, steaming hot load of man goo into a defenseless wad of tissue paper. I'll be fine. The pledges can simmer." I shrugged and then turned away while Adrienne whimpered.

"Fucking bastard." Adrienne grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back to her, gripping the base of my neck as she pulled us into a frenzied nuclear kiss.

I chuckled and scooped her up into my arms, carrying Adrienne like a newlywed bride across the threshold while doing my best to keep my tongue lodged in her throat. I forcibly kicked her door open and waltzed up to her bed. And grinning to myself, I suddenly broke away and unceremoniously tossed her onto the mattress, sending her shrieking and sprawling.

I win.

Now where were those handcuffs and blindfold?

"AAAAAHHH!!!"

"Unnnnnghhh!!!"

"FUCK!" Adrienne threw her head back as her body convulsed with her final orgasm. Her anal muscles clamped down around my invading prick, trapping it at the maximum depth of her bowels.

Trapped or not, I gave a last lunge with my hips, trying to cram even more of my dick up my adoptive sister's asshole. The impact finally collapsed her legs, dropping her body onto the mattress with her knees jutting out to the sides. My body landed flat atop hers, causing us both to groan while our climaxes continued and I filled up her anal cavity with a few more gushes of sperm.

When I was finally done, and had also recovered my breath, I slowly extracted myself out of Adrienne's ass and knee-walked around the bed to park myself next to her face. The stunningly gorgeous blonde had her face turned away from me with her cheek pressed against a pillow while she panted softly. I reached over and unhooked her handcuffs from the headboard, while leaving her wrists still bound together. Gently taking her still-blindfolded head, I pulled her around to me and used my fingers against her cheeks to direct her to open her mouth. And then I made her clean me off.

"Mmm..." Adrienne moaned happily, knowing she was completely at my mercy, and knowing I would only push her so far.

But I wasn't thinking about trust and mercy just then. I looked down and saw the beautiful girl kneeling before me, her lips stretched by the wide girth of my cock and the upper-half of her face covered by a black blindfold. And a new thought popped into my head.

"Hey, Adrienne..."

"Hmm?" She popped off my cock and tilted her head up to me, somehow giving me a quizzical expression despite the blindfold.

I smirked, even though she couldn't see me. "I've got an idea."

It was an easy matter of getting into the bedroom. The Tri-Delt chapter house had balconies running the full lengths of the second and third floors. It was a cold day outside when my plan went into action, and I easily scaled onto the second floor and over to the target's room without anyone noticing. Once there, I simply waited for her to arrive.

Leighton Barrister was a Senior and this year's Tri-Delt Pledge Mistress. Relatively tall at 5'9", she was a beautiful young woman with dark blue eyes, lustrous dark hair, chiseled cheekbones, and an upwardly-tilted imperious nose. She also had a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model's body, as I could clearly tell when she entered into her bedroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her torso, fresh from taking a shower.

Predictably, she tried to scream when I came out of the shadows and grabbed her around her waist while clamping another hand over her mouth. Personally, I was against this part of the plan, especially given my skittishness over abuse of females. But my girls insisted it was necessary.

"Please don't scream. I won't hurt you," I said in as calm a voice as I could, even though I knew it wouldn't calm her down at all. Hopefully, the next part would. "My name is Ben. And I understand your girls have been instructed to find me."

She stopped struggling immediately and simply tried to turn around. I loosened my grip enough for her to turn her head while still covering her mouth in case she decided to try and scream. She looked at my face with terrified eyes, clearly recognizing me. After all, the bullet scar along my left cheek was pretty identifiable. And only then did her body relax.

"I'm taking my hand off your mouth now," I said calmly, and removed my hand. Immediately I fished the fur-lined handcuffs out of my pocket and firmly but not violently began slipping them around Leighton's wrists behind her back. And then I finished, "But I'm not letting you go."

"What are you going to do?" she asked fearfully, resisting my grip on her wrists but not completely trying to fight me off.

"Simple," I replied while focusing downward as I cinched the cuffs closed. "I'm going to fuck your brains out."

She inhaled sharply and tensed up, but didn't try to break free. I reached a hand up to her cheek with my thumb beneath her jaw, gripping it firmly. And as I forcefully pressed my lips to hers, I yanked her towel away and then jerked her naked body against the bulge in my jeans.

The beautiful brunette groaned and melted against me. I'd learned how to kiss a girl from the best. Dawn had first taught me the basics. Keira had refined my skills. Going nuclear and volcanic with Adrienne and Dawn had honed me to the point where I could potentially induce an orgasm just by kissing a girl. And now Leighton looked well on her way to doing just that.