“Nothing’s going on!”

Lewis gave her a pointedly dubious look. “See, I’m not sure I believe that, Zo. Do you realise it’s been almost a month?”

“So? Other couples have longer droughts than this...”

“We’re not ‘other couples’. We used to bang like bunnies all the damn time. I mean, come on, you’re the self-proclaimed ‘easiest girl east of Stewarts Point. And everything’s east of Stewarts Point. Now suddenly you’re not interested? What happened to you?”

She glared at him. “OK, you realise that pressuring your girlfriend for sex is, like, a huge no-no, right?”

“It’s not just about the sex,” he sighed, waving a hand dismissively. “I could get by without sex if I have to - God knows I’ve had the practice... It’s everything, Zoey. It’s the way you’ve been treating me lately. I’m not even sure how long it’s been going on for, but it’s been a while. You expect me to do everything around here - I cook every meal, I clean, I keep the apartment tidy... All while I have a nine-to-five job, which takes up a lot of my time - even when I’m not there - and my energy...”

Zoey’s chest tightened. She’d been dreading this argument for some time, but she’d been hoping to delay it for as long as possible.

“And because I’m the only one of us working right now, I’m paying basically all the rent. Are you even looking for a job? Because - and stop me if I’m being unfair - it seems like all you do is watch TV, play video games, and go out drinking with your friends...”

He was going to dump her any minute. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed him.

“I just don’t know what changed. We used to be good together - happy together... didn’t we? When did that change? Why did that cha-” He was suddenly interrupted by Zoey’s tongue in his mouth, her arms roaming through his hair and over his clothes, her leg sliding across his lap as she straddled him.

What felt like an hour later, she came up for air. “I’m sorry, baby,” she whispered. “I know I haven’t been very... attentive, lately. I’ll do better, I promise.” She gave him her sexiest smile as she pulled her sweatshirt off over her head and flung it aside, revealing her lacy burgundy bra.

His eyes seemed to glaze over as they fell upon her pert breasts, and he reached up to caress them. “OK,” he said breathily. “I... I forgive you.”

Zoey grinned triumphantly and resumed making out with him, grinding her pelvis on top of his. She suppressed a pang of guilt over her behaviour, reminding herself that she had no choice. She would’ve broken up with Lewis already, but she needed him - to provide a roof over her head, not to mention food and shopping money. D was so much better in bed, but he was not exactly a good provider - he was just as unemployed as she was, and currently sleeping on a friend’s couch while he looked for a more permanent place. Once he had a job and an apartment, that’d be a different story.

She just had to keep things up with Lewis a little while longer. And it wasn’t as if the experience would be terrible for her - she did still feel a flicker of the affection she once had for him, and he was certainly kind, and caring, and had the patience of a saint. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to stay with him for a few more weeks - even if it meant having boring, vanilla sex with him a few more times to keep him sweet.

Of course, she’d dump him as soon as she could. She wasn’t a monster.

***

“First of all, I should probably admit that I know you’ve been having an affair,” Lewis said nonchalantly, not even looking at Zoey, whose eyes widened in horror. “I found out weeks ago, just after that night when I gave you shit for making me do everything around here and you seduced me. I guess you thought you’d got me back onside, made me forget all my concerns, but honestly it made me even more suspicious! So I did a little digging and found out about ‘D’. Or Derek Sherman, to give his full name. Did you know that? Was it your idea to just call him ‘D’, or his? I could see it going either way, honestly.”

He continued blithely on, not waiting for Zoey to answer his query - not that she could. “So anyway, I found out within about two days. You’re really not as good at covering your tracks as you think you are! And here’s the surprising part - I wasn’t angry. Not at all! I mean, it explained a lot. You’d lost interest, but you didn’t want to break up with me, because I was winning the proverbial bread for you. So you sneaked around behind my back instead. Fair enough. What’s done is done - no point me getting mad about it.” He took another bite from his sandwich.

“No, I just felt... sad, I guess,” he said around his mouthful of bacon. “We did used to be good together. Oh, we were never perfect - I realise that now - but we had some fun times. I suppose I was dazzled by your... wiles?” He laughed. “Yeah, ‘wiles’ feels like the right word. You were so sexy and enticing, and you’d chosen me - the nerdy bean-counter - to be with! I was so overcome, I never questioned it. You reeled me in, using your wiles to get me to pay for this apartment and cook and clean and be your personal slave, and then once you had me locked down, you gradually phased out the sex - all the affection, really, except for some token gestures here and there to keep me sweet. Good plan, frankly. Took some commitment on your part. A more weak-willed man might’ve fallen for it. I did fall for it, for a long, long time.”

Zoey slumped in her chair, listening to him lay everything out. Every word he’d said was true, of course. She’d seduced him for his brains, kept him for his high-paying job, and then started to slowly ease herself away from him in favour of someone who actually got her hot. The only detail he’d missed was that she had actually liked him - for a nerd, he was pretty good looking, which was one of the factors in her decision to pursue him in the first place. She had always felt a little guilt over her actions, but the alternative - having to work and pay her own way - was unthinkable, so she buried the remorse and kept going.

Hearing him now, making his newfound understanding of her absolutely clear, made her stomach twist. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run from the room. She wanted to plead with him, to beg for forgiveness, to promise she loved him for real and would commit herself to him fully from now on - anything to evade the inevitable breakup. But she felt limp, defeated and de-energised, as if getting up from her chair was simply too much effort. And she could say nothing with the pacifier still in her mouth.

The pacifier! Damn it, why did she keep forgetting about it? Lewis had made out that he was going to explain about it, but so far all he’d talked about was discovering her affair.

“So when I found out, I could’ve got mad,” he continued. “I could’ve thrown you out. But I remembered someone I met through work - a client of the company. A scientist working with cutting-edge nanotechnology. I remembered him mentioning something about a ‘behaviour modification program’, which I was curious about even then. Finding out about you and Derek was all the impetus I needed to find out more.

“I talked to a lab assistant who worked for this scientist, and I found out that they were working on nanotech that could fundamentally alter behaviour - make someone passive, obedient, loyal...” He leaned forwards, propping his elbows on the table and staring straight at Zoey. “And they built a pacifier. A pacifier containing hundreds of these nanobots. The idea was that the user would suck on it for a while, and the first wave of nanotech would make it so that they couldn’t remove it from their mouth. Not until all the rest had done its work.”

Zoey didn’t know how to respond to the revelation. Her eyes wide and darting around, she waved her hands aimlessly in front of her, letting out a choking sob. You did this to me?! she screamed silently. She knew it was true - it was clear from the moment he’d dropped his oblivious façade - but she still couldn’t comprehend it. Lewis had always been so kind, so sweet. He’d never be this cruel to anyone - particularly not her! He loved her!

And I broke his heart, she realised, tearing up. I turned him into the kind of person who would do this...

“Why a pacifier? Well, I think the goal when they designed it was to use it on troublesome children - get them to behave themselves, you know? Honestly, I don’t see this thing getting approved by the government! But I snagged one of their prototypes when I visited the lab. They won’t know I did it - I made sure I covered my tracks...” He raised a wry eyebrow. “One of us should be good at that! Anyway, it seemed likely that these nanotech binkies would end up destroyed, and that felt like a waste. And you and I used to have a good thing going, back in the early days, and frankly, I don’t mind paying for a roof over your head - as long as you pull your weight!

“But I knew you’d leave me for that moron before too long, so I did what was best for both of us.” He chuckled. “Well, mostly me, I admit. But you’ll get something out of it too, like I said - you get to keep living here, in this nice apartment, rather than whatever shithole you and ‘D’ would have ended up in. All it’s gonna take is an... attitude adjustment.”

A lot of things about that morning were making sense to Zoey now. How she kept losing focus, and her angst about the binky kept fading away. How she kept forgetting it was even in her mouth. How she waited quietly for Lewis to finish his work. How she agreed to do the dishes and the cooking for the first time in months (maybe even years). How it was feeling like an increasingly colossal effort to move or do anything, unless he told her to...

Having finished his meal during his speech, he stood up from the table, offering his hand. “Come on, Zo, get up and come over here with me.”

She gazed up at him tearfully. No! I don’t want to go anywhere with you, you asshole! You’re using nanotech on my brain, making me keep this damn pacifier in my mouth, changing me... changing my thoughts... I have to resist...

She took his hand and got to her feet.

Fuck.

Her feet plodding forwards heavily, she moved like a sleepwalker as he led her to the couch. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently pushed her down onto the seat, before sitting next to her and sliding his arm around her back. She tried to get up again, to compel her body to move, but it felt too slow and sluggish - the most she could manage was to slump forwards in her seat. Lewis’ arm tugged her, gently but firmly, and she flopped back against the couch cushions, letting out a tiny whimper of anguish.

Glancing at the sticky notes on the table, he grinned. “Good note, by the way. Concise and to the point. And I like the conclusion you reached about me not being able to see the pacifier - wrong, but logical!”

Gazing at him mournfully, she let out a long droning moan of protest as he rolled her nightshirt up and began to play with her boobs, running his fingers over them, stroking the soft skin, flicking and pinching her nipples. She wriggled weakly, trying to repel his touch but unable to actually do anything to stop him. She tried to raise her arms, but they just flopped uselessly at her sides.

Despite herself, she was quickly growing aroused at his touch. She’d always enjoyed having her tits played with, and there was no difference now, even though she didn’t want it and was unable to resist. No... it actually felt better - she was getting turned on faster than usual - and something told her it was because she couldn’t resist. As she continued to writhe in her seat, she realised she wasn’t trying to get away from him any more - if anything, she was trying to push herself closer to him, to press her breasts further into his grasp. More muted grunts and groans emanated from behind the pacifier, but they were now noises of lust rather than indignance.

What am I doing? Why am I letting him do this to me? Keep fighting! she urged herself, but it was so hard. She felt so helpless... she felt so horny... more and more by the moment... Feels so good... No, I have to... obey... what? Fuck, no... I have to... fight...

“You seem to be giving in,” Lewis noted, his smugly satisfied voice coming into Zoey’s ear from a close distance. “I wonder if enough time has passed? The guy I spoke to said full conversion would take eight hours maximum, and it must’ve been almost that long since I put it in your mouth...”

Letting go of the boob he was holding, he shifted forwards in his seat and looked her in the face. After a few seconds of consideration, he shrugged. “Only one way to find out!”

And he reached up to Zoey’s mouth, hooked his finger through the pacifier’s handle, and tugged firmly. Her lips parted immediately, relinquishing the rubber nipple with a wet pop. A thin string of drool trailed after it as it was lifted away from her face.

She stared at the binky, and then at Lewis, in astonishment. He’d taken it out! This evil object that had completely incapacitated her, that had weakened her body and mind so she would just do whatever he wanted... She’d been trying to get rid of it for hours, and he’d taken it out, just like that! She was almost angrier at how easy it was for him to do that than she was at him for putting it in her mouth in the first place.

She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again with a frown. After so long with it blocked, it felt hard to talk again now it was free. She tried again. “Uh... buh... whuh?” God, it was so hard to form words. It wasn’t just her mouth and her voice that were being uncooperative - her mind was so cloudy, speaking even a single coherent word felt like a monumental task. Like she didn’t even know how to talk. Her concentration wasn’t helped by her horniness, which was still pretty damn high, her breathing rapid, her thighs rubbing against each other compulsively...

Get it together! The binky’s out - now’s the time to fight back with everything you’ve got!

Shaking her head in a bid to dispel the fog, she looked Lewis right in the eyes with the most determined expression she could manage. His own face was amused and somewhat pitying, not seeming remotely concerned by the defiance she was mustering.

“Yuh-you, you can’t,” she said with immense effort. “Can’ do dis... Lemme go...” She punctuated her words by raising a hand and trying to push him away from her, but as soon as her palm landed on his chest, the tension left her arm completely, and it dangled in mid-air like a noodle.

He raised an eyebrow. “Huh,” he muttered. “There’s a little fight left in you after all! I guess the nanobots haven’t quite finished then. You’ll have ingested them all by now, they just haven’t completely reconfigured your brain yet. Let’s see if I can hurry them along...”

Reaching down, he gripped her ass cheeks with both hands, squeezing and caressing them for a few moments, sending flares of arousal through her. Then he pushed gently, shuffling her forwards until she reached the front edge of the couch. Then he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her fluffy, pale pink pyjama bottoms and began to tug them down. Without consciously thinking about it, Zoey lifted herself up off the cushion slightly, making it easier for him.

Why did I do that, she thought dazedly, but it was so hard to hold onto the thought. Gazing down at her exposed pussy, at the bottoms that her boyfriend had pulled halfway down her legs before leaving them there, she felt a bizarre detachment from the situation, as if it wasn’t happening to her but someone else. She looked back at Lewis, the sudden head movement making her eyes roll a little before she managed to focus on him again.

“Whuh - what you,” she began, but that was all she managed before his fingers dove between her legs. As they ran along her entrance, teasing and toying, she lurched in her seat, hips bucking, head thrown back. “Ohhhh, fuck,” she gasped. She’d never felt more turned on... Why? This was the weirdest, scariest scenario of her life - why was it making her so horny?

“Good,” he purred into her ear as his middle finger massaged her clit, spiralling around and around. “Just enjoy it, baby... Don’t worry about anything... You won’t ever have to worry about anything again...”

Feels so good... Have to fight! Why... why fight? It’s so good... Must obey... Must obey? Must ob- no! Have to stop this...

“Pluh - please,” she spluttered as his fingers buried themselves inside her, knuckle-deep. “Please... le-let me go...”

He tutted, withdrawing his hand. “OK, I think that’s enough out of you until the process is complete.”

He picked up the pacifier, which he must have put on the coffee table at some point. “You don’t need this any more - the nanobots are all in your brain now,” he remarked. “But this’ll keep you quiet while they finish their work. Because, of course, once I put this back in, you won’t be able to take it out again by yourself...” He began to raise it towards Zoey’s face.

She shook her head frantically, backing away and gazing at him in horror. “Nooo,” she whimpered.

He just laughed. “You really don’t want this back in your mouth, do you? Aw, you poor thing...”

She squirmed, the condescension only making her feel even more helpless and weak. He still had one arm around her back, and the other was bringing the dreaded binky closer and closer. No matter how much she struggled (which really wasn’t much at all), she couldn’t escape, and she knew it. She was under his power. Submissive, compliant, unresisting.

He pressed the tip of the rubber nipple to her lips. They parted obediently, and he pushed it inside. The mouth guard met her lips, and she closed them around the nipple, holding it firmly in place.

He wrapped both arms around her, giving her a tight cuddle. “Good girl,” he whispered.

Utterly defeated, she stared mournfully into space as he released her. Taking hold of her wrists, he lifted her arms up above her head and pulled off her nightshirt. Standing up, he grabbed her around the waist with one arm and under the legs with the other, tilting her and lying her down on her front. She had just enough willpower to turn her head so her face wasn’t buried in the cushion. As a result, she could see in her peripheral vision that he was pulling his pants down, exposing his cock, which had never looked more erect.

“I have a theory,” Lewis said as he climbed onto the couch, straddling Zoey’s naked body (or at least it was naked down to the knees, as her pyjama bottoms were still only halfway down). “I think that the nanobots might work faster if your blood flow speeds up. So if you’re aroused, the behaviour modification process is quicker. I’ve gotta imagine that if you orgasm, it’ll be even quicker than that...”

She dimly realised what was about to happen, but she couldn’t move in any way. Her body wouldn’t respond to her own wishes any longer. She couldn’t even manage to feel truly scared at this point - instead she was consumed with a kind of numb, paralysing dread. Like her mind and her emotions were just as subdued as her body.

As he entered her back passage, she closed her eyes and let out a moan. Whether it was of protest or arousal, she could no longer say. (She could no longer say anything, of course.) He thrust inside her, and she sucked hard on the rubber nipple, enjoying how supple it was, luxuriating in the cinnamon flavour, loving how it felt in her mouth.

“Mmmm...” I can’t fight this, she realised miserably. It’s like punching fog... He’s won. This crap has wormed into almost every part of my brain...

“I’m doing this for your own good, y’know,” he grunted. “You were gonna th-throw away what we had... I took care of you, didn’t I? And you never showed me any appre-preciation... Well, you will now...”

“Mmm, mmmmm...” I did bring this on myself... I was gonna leave him, that’s why he did this... He’s doing it for my own good...

Wait, no... He’s forcing me into this! He’s... brainwashing me... I can’t fight it... but I shouldn’t just accept it... but it feels so good... but it’s bad and wrong... it’s bad and wrong... bad and wrong...

What’s wrong? Why am I sad? This is good... I feel good... I feel sexy... I feel horny...

Lewis is fucking me - he’s fucking me from behind... It feels so good... It feels so degrading... So diminishing... I feel so weak... So submissive... He’s in control, and I just obey... He has power, and I have none...

I’m a weak, submissive girl... I do as I’m told... Lewis knows best... Lewis takes care of me... I am loyal to Lewis... I must obey Lewis... I feel good when I obey... I feel sexy when I obey... I feel horny when I obey...

I’m gonna c-

“Mmmmmfff!” she shrieked, coating the cushion beneath her with her juices.

Lewis came moments later and then withdrew, letting his cum trickle out of her ass and across her butt cheeks as he clambered off her. After taking a few seconds to get his breath back, he said hoarsely, “Sit up, Zoey.”

Slowly, her arms and legs shaking, she pushed herself up and swivelled into a sitting position. Her shoulders were slumped, her arms limp, her legs splayed out. She looked up at him, and he saw not a hint of resistance or defiance in her dazed, dreamy eyes.

“Are you completely obedient to me?” he asked tentatively.

A moment’s hesitation. Then she nodded slowly.

He breathed in deeply, his heart beating faster from excitement. “Will you be my good girl from now on and do whatever I say?”

Another sleepy nod.

“Will you stay faithful to me no matter what, and let me fuck you whenever and however I like?”

A third nod, this one quicker and more enthusiastic. The sleepiness fading from her face, her eyes seemed to light up at his words. A smile spread across her face, partially obscured by the pacifier.

Grinning triumphantly, Lewis took the binky back out of her mouth. She continued to smile placidly up at him. “What are you?” he asked.

“I’m a weak, submissive girl,” she answered immediately. “I do as you tell me, because you know best.”

He patted her on her head, and she closed her eyes, her smile growing even broader. “Good girl,” he grinned. “Now, I’d like you to wipe the couch clean, and then the surfaces in the kitchen. After that, vacuum the floor in both rooms.”

“OK, Lewis,” she said eagerly, getting to her feet.

“That’s ‘Yes, Sir’”, he corrected.

“Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir!”

He smiled benignly. “That’s OK, baby. Off you go.”

Zoey began to trot away, but then paused and turned back. “Um, Sir?” she said.

“Yes?”

“Could I, uh...” she began shyly, not meeting his eyes.

“What?”

“I was just wondering... please... could I have the pacifier back?”