Deception

• Anne

They walked together as a group, all women surrounding and trailing Ethan while doing their best to look fawning and adoring. What they saw as they walked made this difficult.

The dorm itself was a mess of broken furniture and doors, made even more chaotic by the group of men that were trying to coordinate the chase of the large group of women. They walked by a woman that was pinned down by one man and, even more grotesquely, two other women in states of undress. If anything, the women seemed even more eager than the man to pin her down as she pleaded to let her go, and mentioned she hadn’t taken her medication. Anne closed her eyes and **** herself to keep walking.

Going down the flight of stairs to the ground revealed a different, but no less unsettling sight. Public sex. They walked by no less than three opened dorm only to see their occupants engaged in sex, often loud and brazen. One had a mini orgy as two women competed in sucking and licking his penis while the third sat on his face, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she moaned loudly. Anne recognized one of the women doing the sucking, a quiet and shy girl from her Statistics101 class that once sat beside her. The contrast between that memory and the present version of her, eagerly rubbing her lips against a cock while moaning ecstatically… It was too strange for her. She also averted her eyes, trying her best to ignore her imagination and the scenarios that it conjured.

As they left the dorm, Kaitlyn chimed in. “My car is in the parking lot. Should we use it to get out of the campus… Master?” She made sure to simper at him as she said so.

Ethan nodded. “Sure.” His eyes glanced around quickly, noticing that there were still others watching them from afar even now, and added in a more commanding tone, “lead the way, ****.”

As they all followed Anne noticed that Ethan seemed to be playing a role as much as the other girls. He made a show of looking calm and commanding while they were threatened by that man before, but whenever they were not being closely watched he reverted to a quiet and slightly awkward guy, gangly and uncertain, the kind of dude that would trip over his own shoelaces.

Only a few days ago Anne would have laughed at the idea of such a guy getting himself a harem of women. Well, she wasn’t laughing now.

The parking late turned out to be even more chaotic, but in a different way. The entrance was clogged with cars, some crashed and others just abandoned in the middle of the road. Even as they watched, another car attempted to go around the pileup by driving on the curb, only for it to crash against a lamp post while trying to avoid another crashed car. The one driving it quickly killed the engine and jumped out, a middle-aged man with some kind of construction uniform. He took out some kind of large wrench from his side seat and ran around the crashed cars with no concern for his own addition to the pileup. Although the group all huddled closer when they realized he was making a beeline for them. Kaitlyn and Nadia seemed to prepare for a fight, standing protectively in front of the group.

“Hey, you there!” Shouted the man while pointing the wrench at them. He stopped about 15 feet away and glanced anxiously at all the women in the group, before shaking his head. “Any of you know where Bianca is? She teaches literature here, short, brown hair…”

He looked desperately from face to face, but the women all looked at each other in puzzlement. At last, Ethan shook his head. “Don’t know her,” he said.

The man shot Ethan one last disgusted look before running past them on his way to the main university building. Anna wondered how many of the cars in the pile-up had a similar story. How many people were now looking for their wives, their daughters, their sisters…? Then the memory of her own mother, and her last call, came to her mind and she balled her hands into fists, looking at the ground to avoid giving anything away

“I don’t think we’re driving my car out of here,” Kaitlyn muttered, looking at the messy parking lot with a disappointed expression.

“Anyone have a car parked somewhere else?” Asked Roslyn nervously. But when none of the other women said anything the mood of the whole group plummeted, left aimless by this setback.

“Welp! Nothing to do but walk!” Said Kaitlyn, stretching her arms behind her back before beaming an enthusiastic smile at the group. “My house is about two miles down Abbotsford Street. Anyone got a closer crib we can crash in?”

“Mine is a bit further,” said Anne, her voice wavering as her thoughts once again returned to her home. “I… Don’t think we should go there anyway.”

Jasmine shook her head. “I live pretty far, sorry.”

Nadia, Anna and Zarina all lived in the dorm, as did Ethan. And Roslyn only mentioned vaguely that she lived in 'the sticks'.

“Okay, that settles it then! We can all go to my place. It’s probably going to be a little… Cozy in there,” she said while looking at the large group before shrugging. “But it's alright. I live with my dad, but he’s a pretty cool guy. We’ll be safe there, I promise.”

Roslyn fidgeted before speaking up. “Sorry, but… I’m getting hungry. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything all day. Is there any chance to...”

Zarina and Anna glanced at each other, remembering the only thing they had eaten since breakfast were a few protein bars they had stashed in their dorm bedroom. Nadia was the one to speak up, however.

“I know a small cafe that is close to here, but not on a main street. It’s a bit hidden… Maybe it would be a good place to rest and eat something?” She asked, directing her attention to Ethan as she leaned in. Anna frowned while looking at the tall blonde. She was a little too much into pretending to be claimed for her tastes. The only people around them were very far away and most other women in their group weren’t even bothering to pretend right now… Which could put them in trouble if there was someone nearby watching in secret. Anna felt a chill and, even unlikely as it was, she arranged her own face into a suitably star-struck expression.

“Oh? Where is this cafe?” asked Kaitlyn.

“It’s called Le Maupin, it’s a little french style cafe on Merton Street. It’s out of the way and small, so we’re less likely to run into other people. Wouldn’t it be perfect?” Replied Nadia, still looking at Ethan for his response.

“Sounds… Good?” He replied, looking unsure at the other women.

But Nadia took it as approval and beamed with joy before walking forward, filled with purpose. “I’ll lead the way! It’s really close!”

Roslyn hesitated before voicing her own support. “Honestly… I would really like some rest and… food.”

“It’s decided then,” said Kaitlyn smoothly, only the faintest of frowns on her face, which she quickly chased away with another smile. But Anna took note of it, and her suspicions increased.

The cafe was, in fact, empty. The lights were still on and the door still had a sign flipped to ‘OPEN’, but when the group entered the cafe there was nobody inside. There were other signs something had gone wrong here. Two chairs knocked to the ground. Spilled coffee all over the counter, along with an empty mug. But other than that it was eerily normal aside from being empty. A small forgotten corner of normalcy as the world outside slowly went mad.

After a moment of hesitation Roslyn was the first to go behind the counter and take a basket full of croissants before biting into one with gusto. She must have been more hungry than she let on, thought Anna. Although she did not refuse when the basket was passed to her, taking another cold croissant herself and devouring it in three large bites. She was not alone, as the other women all wolfed on the confections and baked goods that lay unattended behind the counter. There was not a huge selection, as it was a small store, but to them it was a feast.

But Anna noticed that Nadia had sat beside Ethan again, leaning close to him as he ate and asking what kind of food that he liked as he looked uncomfortable. And this was Anna’s personal breaking point.

“We’re all alone here, you don’t have to pretend to be claimed anymore, Nadia,” she said. Her voice was not loud, but it still managed to silence the rest of the group as the other women all looked awkwardly at each other and Nadia’s expression hardened, although she still looked to Ethan for feedback.

It was Kaitly who broke the silence at last. “Nadia is not pretending like the rest of us. She really was claimed by Ethan.”

Anna felt her stomach drop as her suspicions were confirmed. She was hoping it was not true, and she felt her respect for Ethan drop as she looked at him. He just stood there, looking guilty.

“It wasn’t like that at all!” protested Nadia, rushing to her man’s defense. “It was a bad situation and he claimed me in order to protect me! Also, he never abused his power on me even once… Even if I would be okay if he did.” She added, the last part a bit quieter as she looked towards him.

This, predictably, worsened the awkwardness in the other women, who either pretended to be very interested in their food or looked at Ethan and Nadia with a mix of curiosity and fear. Ethan replied: “I’m not taking advantage of anyone,” glancing quickly at Nadia before looking away.

She looked crestfallen after realizing all her words had done was make Ethan uncomfortable, like a kicked puppy. She tentatively reached for his shoulder, putting a hand on it. “What I meant was… That you’re a wonderful guy. And I don’t want you to feel bad at all for what you did… I mean. Look at what you’re doing here, helping all these women!” She gestured at the others.

“Well, I mean… It WAS my idea,” interjected Kaitlyn with a small shrug and a playful smile. “But I don’t mind sharing the credit here. And I do have to say, thanks for going along with this, Ethan. It’s always nice to know there’s some guys out there who aren’t pieces of shit in sheep’s clothing.”

There was a scattered chorus of ‘thanks’ from the other women, But Anna was too worried about this new revelation to join in. Ethan had claimed someone, which meant that in the right circumstances he could claim any one of them too. To ‘protect’ them or whatever. And even more worrying, they were all at his mercy.

So the question is: was he really a lamb in wolf’s clothing? Or was under all the fleece yet another wolf?