He Does Not Suspect a Thing, Yet...

Simon was waiting for me behind the door when I got home. He looked like a nervous wreck, and as I stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind me he threw his arms around me. "Are you ok?" he asked and started looking me over. "Did anyone try to take advantage of you?"

I couldn't help but to chuckle at his concern. How ironic. "Relax, I'm fine," I said. "Nothing happened." I lied. It was easy to lie. I didn't even have to think twice about it. Doing what I was told and keeping my master's secrets were both as natural and obvious as breathing.

He sighed and let out a laugh. "Oh thank god. When you left without letting me remove the suggestions I just had the worst thoughts running through my mind, and..."

I interrupted him with a kiss. "I'm fine, Simon. Nothing happened. I promise."

"Really? Nothing at all?"

"Nothing at all," I lied. "I just spent the day working on that report." I pulled away from him and hung up my jacket and bag. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

"Ah, it's ok," he said. "It's my own fault for letting you go like that."

I nodded. "You should have made me wait," I agreed, not wanting to argue.

"You're right, I should have," he agreed. "Anyway, I guess we should get those suggestions removed. Let's get you hypnotized and set this right."

The way my brain suddenly roared in objection to the idea of him hypnotizing me caught me off guard. I could feel my hands getting sweaty and my heart rate going up. I HAD to keep him from hypnotizing me again, and I had to do it without raising his suspicions.

"I don't think it's necessary," I said. "They didn't work anyway."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "Well... I bumped into a few guys who I'm sure would have been interested, but I never thought of offering anything. Didn't even cross my mind. I guess it's true what they say about hypnosis not working unless you want it to, huh?" The lie rolled so easily off my tongue. I was almost impressed with myself.

He was silent for a moment, thinking. "I guess," he said and smiled. "It's good that you weren't affected then, I suppose, but we still need to do something about these suggestions. Just in case. I'd be a lot less nervous about it if I could just take that away."

My stomach sank at his words. I was hitting a wall. I realized John's suggestions were a bit too **** right now. I had already been told to pretend it worked if Simon tried to hypnotize me, but I was still not supposed to let him, and now I was stuck arguing. "I'm fine, really. I don't think we should worry about it." I knew it wasn't enough.

He shook his head. "Honey, I really think we should take care of that," he said.

I had to come up with something. Shit! What could I do? "Simon, I don't want to be hypnotized again, and that's that."

"Delightful dreams..."

I almost gasped in relief as I heard the trigger. At least now I wouldn't have to try and keep arguing against his attempt to hypnotize me. I let myself fall into my boyfriend's arm, doing my best to make it look like I had fallen into a trance.

"Ashley?" he said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," I answered in the best trance-voice I could come up with.

"In a moment I'm going to count from one to five, and with each number you'll wake up a little bit more. And when I reach five, you'll be fully awake and all of my previous suggestions will have been removed from your mind... except for the trigger. We will keep it in place, but you'll be free to resist it if you want to. Do you understand?"

I nodded slowly.

"Good," he said. "Ok then, let's count. One, two, three, four and five. Now wake up."

I opened my eyes and looked around, acting a bit confused and flustered. He smiled at me. "Sorry about that," he said.

"Sorry about what?"

"The trigger. You told me not to, but I just really wanted to be sure..."

I chuckled. "Oh, it's fine," I mumbled and rubbed my eyes.

"It's just... Well, I realized after you left that the way I phrased my suggestion might not have been ideal. I mean, I thought it might have compelled you to protect it. So when you refused to be hypnotized again, it got me worried."

Jesus, Simon, too little too late. I just nodded and smiled. "Yeah... I think that's why I was so against it, now that you mention it." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I can't believe I've been acting so weird."

He hugged me tight and I let myself melt in his arms. "Don't worry," he said. "Now that I'm sure you're ok, we'll just have to be more careful in the future."

"Maybe..." I started, trying my best to act a bit hesitant and nervous. "Maybe we should stop with the hypnosis for a while? I'm a bit freaked out, to be honest, and I wouldn't mind taking a break."

"Sure," he said. "Whatever you want, honey. I'm sure we can explore the fantasy in some other way if you want." I felt him press his erection against my thigh, and a bunch of alarm bells went off in my head.

"Let's save that for tomorrow, please," I blurted out. "I'm exhausted and have a killer headache." Way to go, Ashley. Subtle...

He pulled away, looking a bit disappointed, but he smiled. "Sure, I'm sorry. You've had a long day."

I kissed him. "Thank you for understanding," I whispered. "I promise I'll make it up to you." Unlikely, I thought to myself. Master probably wasn't going to allow it.