Like a True Nice Guy

OK. Shit. OK. Now what? Holy shit.

I'm sure many of you will lose respect for me for what I did next, but I really don't think of myself as a bad guy. Stealing a woman's life savings just wasn't on my list of things I could bring myself to do, even if I thought I could get away with it. I took the phone from Inez's hands as she curled up weeping on my floor. Her phone was still open to her bank account. In a few minutes, I had the transfer sent back to her account, every penny of it. The way I figured, if there was any chance this could backfire on me, I didn't want to be doing time in prison for grand theft or whatever the charges would be. And if this app was as real and as powerful as I was starting to believe it was, I could get the money from her any time I wanted, right?

I'm a cautious guy. And a mostly nice guy, I think. As tempting as it was to command Inez to strip down and fuck me (or any of the other ideas that came to mind, but most were variations on that theme), I wasn't comfortable doing anything that could get me into big trouble if the app suddenly stopped working tomorrow. Imagine I had robbed and **** this woman by some magical power, and then at midnight it loses effect. What then?

“Inez, stop crying,” I told her. I didn't expect (though I should have) for her to so abruptly cease her wailing. With a deep breath, she was suddenly just trembling on the floor. “Get up and sit on the couch,” I said. She immediately complied, crossing her arms in front of her chest, as if she felt exposed and ****. Perhaps she had some idea what a man with this kind of power over her would be thinking.

“Here,” I said, handing her phone back to her. “I gave the money back.” There was a glimmer of confusion and hope in her expression, but she remained silent. “Let's talk," I said. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

Inez shook her head. I doubted she trusted me any farther than she could throw me. Food wasn't on her mind right now. I grabbed a beer from my fridge, then grabbed another and sat on a chair near the couch. “You sure?” I asked, holding a bottle out to Inez. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and took the drink from me. After we had both had a few mouthfuls, I started talking.

“So, I'm really sorry about all that. Please understand, I was convinced – and even now I still partly wonder – that this Ultimate Dating App thing was just a way for people with certain kinks to match up. I was trying to think of things so **** that you would give up, break character, stop playing along. You know?” Twice as I was speaking, Inez looked at her phone, as if verifying that all her money was indeed still in her account.

“I never imagined it was for real,” I explained. “And now I feel bad – I can't imagine what I just put you through. I'm truly, deeply sorry.”

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“I wish I could undo what happened, but I don't know of any other way I could have assured myself that you weren't just role-playing some submission fantasy.”

We sat quietly for a minute or two – staring in different directions, nearly emptying our drinks.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, her voice noticeably trembling.

“I... I don't know,” I confessed. "I tried deleting the app – didn't work. Tried unmatching everyone, didn't work. Tried accessing the code for the app – couldn't get to it. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.”

“So, that's it, then? I'm screwed?” She winced, probably realizing her poor choice of words.

“Let me try something,” I offered. “Inez, I command you to stop doing what I tell you to do.”

She cocked her head and looked at me with a bit of wonder. Then she looked down, as if in thought. “I don't feel any different,” she said.

“Dump the rest of your beer on your head,” I said quickly. Thankfully, there was only a mouthful or two left in her bottle, because as soon as I gave the command, she lifted the bottle and emptied it onto her head. Then she began crying again – softer this time.

“Shit,” I complained. “OK, let's try something else. Inez, I want you to forget everything that happened after you showed up here this evening.” I had an idea where to take this, but I needed to test it first.

I watched as her expression went from sad to confused to, noticing the beer in her hair, disgusted.

“What the fuck?!” she said, standing up and examining the bottle in her hand. “What happened to me?”

“OK, Inez, chill out. Calm down and trust me. You remember the app, right?” A newly calm and chill Inez nodded her head and looked at me with trusting eyes. “You came to my place and we've been running tests to see what it can do. We just learned that I can make you forget things – like pouring a beer into your hair.”

Inez pulled out her phone and looked at the time. “I remember just getting here, but how have I been here for like a half hour already?” she wondered.

“And I made you forget all of it,” I smiled. “So here's my plan. Let's see if I can make you forget ever seeing the app. Maybe that will release you from needing to obey me.”

“You'd do that?” she asked.

“What can I say? I'm a nice guy. You got lucky.”

“Well, I trust you. Let's give it a try.”

“Not so fast,” I warned. “What's going to happen when you forget how you know me? And suddenly you're in a stranger's apartment with no idea how you got here? I might not be able to stop you from freaking out.”

“Sooo... what's your plan?”