“They’re so gross Shaun, I can’t believe how bad it’s getting.”

Alex sat beside her boyfriend with tears welling in her eyes. Shaun held her small hand in his. It shook gently. He pressed tighter and gave her a weak half-smile. “You don’t have to work there, you know that, right? I can take on some extra shifts. It won’t cover your salary but it’ll keep the bills paid.”

Alex’s lip curled up for a moment, a little frustration, a little anger. Not with Shaun. With everything else. He was sweet. Kind. He listened and made her feel safe. She mirrored his smile, lacking in any joy but trying to see the good that sat beside her. “Shaun, I need this job. I applied to anywhere that was hiring and it was the only place I even got a call back.”

Shaun took a moment. He looked her in the eyes. His smile turned to a somber, serious expression. “Alex, it’s a job. Just a job.”

Now she felt a touch of real anger. It was not just a job. She spent so long in college, working her ass off to get her degree. Came from a family who didn’t even understand why she would want an education, let alone to become a lawyer, but she wanted it so much. Since she was much, much younger her dream was to work in law.

And now she did. She worked for the worst law firm in the city, with the worst people she’d ever met.

“You know it’s not, Shaun. You know it’s what I’ve been working for years to get. So please, don’t downplay it, ok? Don’t make me feel like I can just walk away. I need this. I need at least some time there before I can get something better. A year, maybe.”

“Can you survive a year?”

Alex clutched at Shaun’s hand. Gripped it tight. She blinked the tears away. “I don’t know.”

Shaun nodded, trying to understand. Trying to wrap his head around why this beautiful woman, this tall brunette with the body of a model and the mind of a scholar, would allow herself to be subjected day after day to the mind-numbing stupidity of the frat boy law firm she’d joined.

“What happened today?”

Alex closed her eyes and sighed. A long, tired sound. One Shaun knew very well, since she’d started working at Miller Law. “The same thing that always does. They talk about me constantly. They touch me, hands on the shoulder when they talk to me, way too close every time. Supposedly accidental hands on my ass at the photocopier or standing over me at my desk just to leer down my top. They’re animals, Shaun.”

“And there’s no HR? No-one you can talk to? That can’t actually be true.”

“Shaun, it’s a tiny firm. The owner is basically absent and his son runs everything.”

“Tommy?”

“Yeah. But he insists I call him Mr. Miller. He’s three years younger than me. Just a spoiled brat, and a sexist pig.”

“So leave, Alex!” Shaun’s voice had become strained. Wavering from kind and supportive to frustrated. He hated seeing her upset.

“I can’t. I searched for a job for nearly two years. I just need to keep going until I have enough experience to get something else. Anything else.”

“Sure, it’s just a little sexual harassment, right? You can suffer through that,” Shaun said, his sarcasm obvious.

Alex smiled. She should probably have been a little angry, but Shaun’s smirk told her what he was doing. Trying to make her laugh. To poke at her, rile her into a little back and forth which usually ended up with them in bed together. “I see what you’re up to, mister.”

“Am I that predictable?”

She nodded. “Yes, you are. You’re practically taking advantage of me in this vulnerable state.”

“You don’t mind… do you?” Shaun said, moving his hand down to Alex’s leg.

She pushed the hand away. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t feel that sexy at the moment. All of that gawping in the office. All those eyes on me. It’s just making me feel gross and weird. I don’t know.”

“It’s ok. Don’t worry. Things will get better,” said Shaun. His disappointment was obvious, but he was kind. He was patient. Most of all, he adored Alex. And she adored him.

She knew that she could get through all the stress if she had him. She hoped that shooting him down, again, wouldn’t push him away.

“Shaun, I’m sorry about this. I really am. Sex just feels… I can’t honestly explain it. It’s like I want it but I don’t. I don’t want to just, you know, do the normal stuff. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the job, but…”

“But what, Alex?”

“I can’t figure it out. Like there’s an itch that needs to be scratched but I don’t even know what it is. Maybe I’m just trying to figure out this work stuff too hard and getting wrapped up in it.”

“Then why don’t we take your mind off of it? Movie night? Just cosy, snuggly, no expectations.”

“That actually sounds great,” Alex said, taking a long pause before finishing with, “thank you, Shaun.”

He nodded and stood up. Alex looked up at him and felt a pang of something. Love, but not just that. Not quite arousal. Shaun was a good-looking man. Toned, with a sharply trimmed beard and messy black hair above soft, inviting brown eyes. She did want him. Just not the way she was used to. And that made her feel a strange, unfamiliar knot in her stomach.

***

Knee-length pencil skirt and white blouse under a jacket. Professional. Simple. Alex used to feel proud to dress in office wear, like she’d finally grown up and become the adult she hoped she would be. Now the clothes felt sexualized. Awkward. She made sure to wear a white bra so nothing showed under the blouse. That the skirt had no slit on the side and that it didn’t ride up too far when she sat down. Her heels were small, kitten heels that didn’t communicate sexy at all.

Still, she kept in shape. She ran every day. She wanted to look her best and to be healthy and fit. That shouldn’t make her a sex object, except maybe for Shaun, sometimes. She couldn’t help the fact her chest swelled and stretched any shirt that fit the rest of her body, and tailored clothes were too expensive. It was hardly her fault for being tall enough that most skirts sat just a little higher than they should.

The fact she was thinking so much about clothing and not clients or cases was a good sign she was in the wrong job. Miller Law were based in a seedy part of town, with a run-down old building housing their office on the second floor, above a diner and below a massage parlour.

In the elevator to the office, she looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. Another Monday.

“You can do this, Alex.”

A quick glance at hair and makeup, everything in order. Neat. Nude lipstick, light eyeshadow, nothing too sexy. Hair in a ponytail, pulled back tight. Serious and professional. Anything to look as businesslike as possible. Not that it mattered.

Still, she looked good. Alex was proud of herself for staying in shape, for learning to do her own makeup when she didn’t have many female friends and her mother was distant and cold. No sisters either. She was happy that the time she spent brushing her hair made it smooth and silky. She did want to look good; she just didn’t want that to mean the men at work would leer at her.

The moment she stepped from the elevator and through the wooden door with the faded sign, that’s what happened.

She saw Dev first. He was a couple of years her senior, and the legal assistant for the office. As always, he looked her up and down, mostly down. His attention drawn to her chest and legs.

“Hi Dev,” Alex sighed as she sat at her desk, across from his. The other three men who worked on the main office floor weren’t there.

“Oh, hey Alex,” Dev said, finally making eye contact. “How was your night?”

Had this been another office, Alex felt Dev would have been a different man. It was like the place was rubbing off on him badly. Or maybe it was just the fact he seemed intimidated by her that made her feel more comfortable with him. It was hard to tell. He was the only one who ever asked how she was doing, and only ever when they were alone together.

“I just watched a movie with Shaun.”

Dev nodded, “What was it? Was it good?”

Before she could reply, Tommy, her boss, opened his office door and three other men in suits left, laughing and clapping each other on the back. Anton, Clive and Tyler. Tommy stood in the doorway until they had dispersed and sat at their desks, and then he called out, “Alex, my office, now.”

She grimaced. Clenching her teeth and balling her hands into fists, then she collected herself, smiled and replied, “on my way Mr. Miller.”

“She’s well trained, Tommy,” came a voice from one of the other men. Tyler. A complete asshole. She ignored him and walked to Tommy’s office, shuffling past her younger boss as he made sure their bodies had to touch so she could get inside.

Once she was there, before she could sit down, he shut the door. “Do you know why I called you in, Ally?”

The nickname made her bristle. She was Alex, or Alexandra. Never Ally, ever. Nothing cute or girly. Not in a professional setting. It made her feel small and childish.

“No, I don’t.”

Tommy laughed, as if he had some secret she should know about. He was insufferable. The archetypal rich kid who thought he was important because his dad gave him a cushy job. Alex couldn’t stand him, the sound of his voice grated at her for hours after she spent any time with him. He acted as if he was God’s gift to the human race, and treated her like a servant and a bimbo all wrapped into one.

“Of course you don’t sweetheart. You’re just not quite getting things here yet. But you will.”

Tommy smirked and stretched, pushing his hands above his head. His shirt pulled against its buttons as his muscles tensed. He was attractive, there was no denying that. Clearly a gym rat, and he had all the time for it since he barely worked, with blonde hair and blue eyes. If he didn’t permanently look smug, Alex might have found him handsome.

“Get something for me, doll. Bottom drawer of the file cabinet.”

Alex rolled her eyes, making no attempt to hide her frustration. She had given up that game weeks ago. Still, she knew one thing was keeping her in the job. Doing what she was told. She knelt down and pulled open the drawer. “What am I looking for?”

“Right at the back, case labeled Bergstrom.”

Alex rifled through case files in brown manila folders. She loved the smell of them. It was a small pleasure in an otherwise miserable experience. Finally, she reached Bergstrom, filed, for reasons unknown, after ‘Y’.

“Got it,” she said, turning around and coming face to face with Tommy’s erect cock.

“That’s your next task, slut,” Tommy commanded.

Alex was stunned. Like a deer in headlights, she froze, her mouth agape. The folder dropped from her hand. Her mind raced with what she should be doing. Slapping his smug face, standing up and kicking him in the balls, biting his prick off and spitting it into the waste paper basket, reporting him to the cops. Instead, she did absolutely nothing.

Tommy acted first. He moved forward, the tip of his cock sliding onto her lips. “That’s right you dumb bitch, suck your boss’s big, hard cock.”

She pushed him back, finally, and shut her mouth, then stood. “Put that thing away, right now, you fucking pig.”

Tommy laughed and stuffed his member back into his underwear, then zipped up his pants and closed his belt. “You almost went for it, didn’t you?”

Anger bubbled up in Alex. Sheer, incandescent rage. A tiny voice in the back of her mind said yes, she did. Because she was scared. Because she was shocked. Because she could never have seen that coming. It only made her angrier to think about that.

“No, you asshole. You cannot do that to me. That’s sexual harassment. Jesus Tommy, you’re a lawyer for fuck’s sake. You can’t do things like that.”

He laughed again, as if her words were nothing. As if she was nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. A mosquito he swatted back nonchalantly. “I can do what I want. It’s my firm. You fucking wanted it anyway. I see how you dress.”

“In business attire? I don’t even dress provocatively! And I have a boyfriend!” Alex snapped, moving toward the door.

“But you need a man. Someone to put you in your place. Every woman wants that, deep down.”

Alex’s stomach turned. He was disgusting and yet, there was something in how he just shifted the conversation so easily. Moved her from arguing about sexual harassment to making it about her clothes. About her desires. How had she let him do that?

“I don’t want that, thank you very much. And this never happens again, do you hear me?”

“You say that now, but you’ll break eventually. They always do.”

Alex wondered who ‘they’ was. Had he done this before? Of course he had. He was exactly that kind of man. “I won’t do anything of the sort, Tommy. I’m leaving.”

“You aren’t going anywhere bitch; you need this job. And that means you need me.”

“I meant leaving your office.”

He smiled, beaming like he’d won a prize. “Good girl. Get back to work. Just remember, the only way you ever get another job in this town is by doing whatever I tell you.”

Alex gritted her teeth and said nothing, just turned and pulled the door open, storming out to cheers and whooping from the four men in the rest of the office. Tommy’s door closed as she sat at her desk and scowled behind her computer monitor.

“Mother fucker,” she whispered. “That arrogant, pig-headed piece of shit.”

***

The walk home was uneventful. She lived a few blocks from the office and always walked if it was dry. A day of focus on client work kept her head clear, but now she couldn’t help but run back the morning’s events in her head. It was like watching something in a football game. Repeating and repeating from different angles, with different analyses.

Why didn’t she do something right away? Why had she let that man’s cock touch her mouth at all? She pressed two fingers to her lips, as if thinking she could brush him away, take away the feeling that he was ever there or ever touched her.

But she couldn’t. There was no way to take it back. She had knelt on the floor of her boss’s office and let him press the tip of his cock against her lips before she pushed back at all. How could she tell Shaun about it? She hadn’t done anything wrong, she didn’t initiate, but she should have stopped it sooner. Shouldn’t she?

Maybe it was time she listened to Shaun. Just leave. Give up on everything, find a new career. It didn’t have to be law. It didn’t have to be anything special, just have a happy life with Shaun. Work any job. Go home. Dreams are for rich people anyway. They’re for people who have someone to catch them when it all goes wrong. For people who have connections and friends who can set them up with the next job when one falls apart. She had none of that. She had parents from a poor town miles outside the city and student loans she might pay off in 30 years.

Why was she doing this to herself? Putting up with some asshole just to keep a job because she thought it would be a good idea when she was fourteen? That was over a decade ago. Dreams are for kids, not for adults living in the real world.

How could she keep going in to that man? To his piercing blue eyes that know her mouth touched his stupid cock. To him flexing his stupid muscles as if that was supposed to be impressive to anyone. Just because he’s good looking doesn’t give him the right to treat women like they’re all sluts.

Not only that, there was the constant jeering and catcalling from the people she was supposed to consider peers and colleagues. A team. Just a bunch of men treating her like she’s a whore for dressing exactly how a lawyer is supposed to. Why did that make her cheeks burn so much? She shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t matter what a group of chittering neanderthals said about her.

Alex was in the nicer part of the city now. Passing by the big firms. Smith and Sullivan. O’Dowd and Moskowitz. The people coming out of those buildings were smiling. Looking so sharp in their designer suits with their shimmering briefcases of patent leather. Alex felt pathetic. Her ponytail was a mess, loose strands flicking this way and that. Her makeup was smeared from tears she’d barely noticed falling from her sunken eyes.

All because she was stupid enough to kneel down, alone with her prick of a boss, and let him push his cock into her open mouth. All because for a moment she wondered if it might just be easier to suck it and get through the next few months without having to argue or think about any of it. To just switch her brain off and be dumb and stupid and not worry or stress or feel the constant anxiety that made her tense up when her boyfriend touched her.

Maybe that would just be better. Maybe she was going insane.

***

Dinner helped. Shaun cooked the most amazing stir fry and as she finished the last piece of rice Alex looked at her boyfriend with a smile. He was just so good to her. She loved him. Truly loved him. Not because he did so much for her, though it helped he could cook, but because he was there when no-one else was. Even in her worst moments, he was there.

She felt lucky. Incredibly lucky to have this man in her corner. After a father who spent his time flitting between bars and affairs, it felt so comforting to have a male presence in her life that wasn’t someone who acted with impunity, without considering others.

Shaun was the precise opposite. He cared, deeply, about how she felt. He listened to her ideas and thoughts and hopes and dreams. The problems too. Especially with Miller Law. Alex wished she’d never seen that damn job opening. Then again, she’d only seen a few others in the year plus she searched after college.

The law game was competitive in the extreme. So many graduates from better schools. So many people desperate for an in. A connection was what she needed but she didn’t have a soul to vouch for her. Shaun took her plate.

“Thank you so much. I needed this.”

“De nada,” he replied.

“I’m going to show you a good time tonight. To say thanks.”

“Can’t wait,” Shaun said, taking the plate away and turning on the faucet.

As he cleaned, Alex tried to push the memory of the day from her mind. The cock swinging free in front of her, throbbing before her eyes. The gurning face of the man it was attached to. Tommy. That asshole. She hated him in a way she’d never truly hated anyone. Even the other people in her life that let her down, they weren’t so aggressive about it. They were just selfish and lost in their own world and own problems.

She’d never met anyone like Tommy before.

Her phone was a welcome distraction. She did what she always did, scrolled through the job sites praying for a law gig she could move to. 

“Holy shit, Shaun. They’re hiring. They’re actually hiring!”

He stopped cleaning plates instantly. “Oh my god, apply, apply! Forget that um, good time. Get your résumé in fast!”

Always there for her. Always. She stood up, walked to Shaun and kissed his forehead. “I love you, more than anything.”

“I love you too, Alex. Now go get that job.”

She went to their bedroom and grabbed her laptop. The room was dark. She left it that way and sat cross-legged on the bed. Pure focus.

Her dream job. Well, the first step to it. A female-led firm that dealt with human rights law. Her absolute fantasy of a position. It was a junior role, of course, but she was barely into her career anyway and it was a way out of Miller.

It took her hours to write a cover letter. To polish her résumé up to scratch, but the result was something she was proud of. A true representation of who she was as a person. The job site said there were already hundreds of applicants. She knew the chance was slim, but she had to try everything to get it.

Shaun proofread everything. It was ready. Then doubt crept in. Why would they hire her? Why would they choose someone from a school no-one had heard of when there were people from Ivy League schools trying to get in? People who spent their college days volunteering and on debate teams, not working at a fast food place to cover rent. She had no time for any of the stuff recruiters wanted.

“You got this, babe.” Shaun whispered from the doorway.

Silhouetted by the light from their living room, she could just see his outline. His broad shoulders, his jawline, his strong arms, the ones she loved feeling around her. He was wrong. She did not have this.

She pressed send anyway. The tiny chance at her dream job would give her something to think about when she was being ogled and groped. Something to cling to. No matter how unrealistic.

“I’m never going to get it.”

“You don’t know if you don’t try.”

Alex nodded as Shaun sat on the bed beside her and held her. She felt safe. Protected. Loved. Exactly the opposite of how she felt at work.

***

She checked her emails as she walked in the door of the office. Nothing. Of course, nothing. She applied at night and it was just nine in the morning. That didn’t stop the urge to keep refreshing her mail app as she clicked her kitten heels through the entrance and heard the voices of the men, her colleagues, drop to a hushed whisper.

They weren’t particularly subtle, and she could still hear them pretty clearly. Especially Tommy.

“Ally will be in my bed before the month is out. No question. Almost had her sucking my hog yesterday before she got chicken.”

She seethed. Her teeth began to grind together. Her computer came on and she opened a document, trying to tune them out.

“Bitches like that just need a real man to rail them.”

The other men laughed along with him. Clive, Anton, Dev and Tyler. Alex read through the document. A case could keep her busy. Keep her from screaming.

“She’s so cold man, I don’t know,” Anton said.

Tommy laughed loudly, like he wanted to be heard. “I will be plowing that slut over my desk. I give it a week.”

“I’ll take that action,” Clive said.

Dev looked back at Alex. She caught his eye and glared at him, and he quickly turned back to Tommy. “Y-yeah, me too T-dawg.”

“Pathetic,” muttered Alex beneath her breath.

“Got something to say, sweet cheeks?” Tommy bellowed across the office, “or are you going to be a good girl and keep working while the men talk?”

She felt something tugging at her insides. A horrible, uncomfortable feeling. Something she wanted to keep locked away. She said nothing.

“Thought so. See guys, girls do what they’re told. They’re wired for submission.”

The men laughed with Tommy. Alex scowled and read the document again, forgetting the details, cheeks rosy red with shame and guilt and anger. She wasn’t sure which emotion she felt most.

“She thinks she’s something special, but she’s just another slut.”

Alex knew he was trying to make her angry. It was a game to Tommy, that’s all it was. She was a pawn and all she had to do was not let him move her. Silently she kept trying to work, even as the men laughed along with her boss. Even as butterflies of anxiety rippled in her stomach.

“I’m just showing her what her place is, since her pussy of a boyfriend clearly hasn’t.”

“Enough!” Alex roared, standing, eyes wide, fists clenched. “Enough of this. Do NOT talk about Shaun like that, you fucking asshole.”

Tommy mocked a shocked expression as the other men shuffled back to their desks. “Alexandra, follow me to my office.”

She looked down at the floor, her cheeks went red, again. The men around her made the kind of ‘oooh’ noise schoolkids make when someone gets in trouble and she began the slow walk after Tommy. He got her. The stupid prick knew exactly what he was doing and she felt so stupid for falling for it.

“Dead woman walking,” shouted Clive.

“Ready to get railed?” called Tyler.

She ignored them. A part of her hoped she would just be fired. That would take the whole thing out of her hands. Remove the problem and just put her on another path. A path she didn’t want, but without choice she could wash her hands of the dream.

Alex did not want to give up on her dream. She knew this. She thought about the other job. The potential of it. The opportunity she could have. The life she might lead. Fulfillment and happiness and challenge and making a difference for people.

She stepped into Tommy’s office, where he was already waiting behind his desk, leaning back with his hands intertwined behind his head.

“Sit,” he said, as if talking to a dog.

She sat.

“You haven’t been a very good girl, Ally,” he drawled.

It took her a moment to decide how to approach the situation. She could argue about the things he was saying. Tell him off for speaking about Shaun that way. Try to convince him of the error of his ways. Of course, none of it would work. Anger would only show him that he was getting to her. It would make him feel even more smug and confident. She chose a different tactic.

“No, Mr. Miller. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Tommy leaned forward and put his hands on the desk. “Say it again.”

“What?”

“Tell me you’re sorry again.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

He bit his lip. “You’re such a good girl.”

She felt something as he said it. A twinge. Brief, but unmistakable. Alex wondered if he noticed. It didn’t seem like it.

“Now Ally, you’re going to march out of here in a few minutes and you’re going to apologise to me in front of everyone.”

He was insufferable. A complete and total prick. An asshole of such magnitude she couldn’t imagine anyone worse. But she didn’t have much choice. “Yes, Mr. Miller.”

“Good girl Ally, and one more thing. You’re going to admit your boyfriend Steve-“

“Shaun. His name is Shaun.”

“The fuck do I care about some beta cuck? You’re going to admit he’s a pussy. To the whole office.”

Shame again. Guilt. Something else. Something more primal. Something buried in the back of her mind. Emotions stirring that made her stomach leap and dance. That made her legs tense.

“I can’t do that. I won’t.”

“Oh aren’t you such a dutiful girlfriend. He needs you to defend his honor. How fucking adorable. Do you really think I care what you want here? I’m in charge, and you’ll do what I fucking say.”

The hairs on the back of her neck stood. A shiver ran through her. “You… you can’t do this to me. I have rights. I have-“

“You have a job you need, desperately, and I have an employee who just talked back in front of my entire staff. This ends one way. Do you understand me, slut?”

Her face felt so hot. Her eyes darted to the ground, back to Tommy and his smug smirk and she grimaced and tried to turn it into a smile. “Yes. I understand.”

“See, you can be a good girl. Now walk out. I’ll be right behind you.”

Alex stood, head bowed, and walked to the door. She could feel Tommy behind her, his breath on her neck and then his rough hand on her ass, squeezing through the skirt. She wanted to cry. The anger was gone and replaced with a grim resignation. Maybe she should slap him and get fired. What if he didn’t fire her? What if it got around that she hit her boss? She’d never work again.

Alex walked quickly, away from his hand and Tommy spanked her as she opened the door. Her cheeks were still beet-red as she walked through it and Tommy trailed his hand up her lower back to her shoulder and walked around her, leaving her standing just behind him, looking down at the floor.

“Everyone, I’m so sorry about the outburst earlier. Alexandra has something she would like to say in front of all of you. Don’t you?”

She nodded. Her eyes were filling with hot, salty tears.

“Yes. I-I’m sorry, Mr. Miller.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For raising my voice to you.”

“To your superior.”

All eyes were on her. Looking at her red face. Her drooping head. Her tear-filled eyes. She wished for a hole to swallow her, or for the nightmare to end so she could wake up.

“To my superior.”

“Good girl. That’s better, isn’t it? And there was one more thing.”

Alex hesitated. She gripped her index finger with every finger on the other hand. Tight. Tight enough to hurt. She couldn’t do it, could she? She adored Shaun. He was nothing like what Tommy was saying. He was sweet and kind and soft and gentle and wonderful and-

“We’re waiting, Ally.”

Looking up, she could see the twisted world she was in fully now. Each man was wearing a horrible grin. Lips curling like hideous mockery, vicious smiles. Hyenas eyeing a kill.

“My-my boyfriend is…” she began, but stopped.

Tommy chuckled, low and deep. “You want me to write you a reference eventually, don’t you? The last girl who worked here got such a great job after I finished with her.”

That was the only reason she was doing any of it. The single, solitary reason she took the job and put up with their bullshit. There was no other choice.

“My boyfriend is a pussy.”

Raucous laughter from everyone. Alex felt like she was burning. Like her face was on fire. The bellowing laughs echoed around the room and Tommy squeezed her shoulder. She looked up at him and felt miniature. Like she had shrunk before him.

“Good girl Ally. Now go out and get us some coffees, will you?”

She nodded and walked away, just happy to get out of there, wiping her tears as she made her way out the door.

Once she was gone, Clive looked at Tommy with a confused expression. “Didn’t the last girl end up working at-“

“At The Velvet Lounge, perfect job for a slut like Tina.”

The office erupted into laughter once more.

***

“What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Alex was in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. Mascara was streaked down her cheeks and her eyes were puffy and red.

“You fucking stupid bitch,” she spat at her own reflection. “You dumb fucking idiot.”

After getting coffee for the office, she slipped away and cried. She felt like she’d cheated on Shaun. She hadn’t done anything. That fucker had coerced her into saying it. So why did she feel so bad? Should she have stood up to it?

She wondered what Shaun would have done. If he’d have fought back or acquiesced to save his dreams. She wondered who she was. What she was doing with her life if it had come to this. Placating a complete asshole for what? A job. It was just a job.

A flash from her phone. An email. She grabbed it and checked. Just a job, sure, but the thought that she might have a reply from the dream job she applied to still filled her with excitement and hope. It wasn’t just a job. It was who she wanted to be. What she wanted to be since… since forever.

She spent so long chasing it. Working to get to a good school, putting herself through it as best she could. Alex didn’t have many friends, hadn’t had much experience in love either. Shaun was her first and only love. Sometimes she wondered if she should have explored more, but she loved him so damn much. She’d lucked out first time.

And now here she was degrading herself, insulting the man she planned to marry for what? Some stupid prick and his stupid recommendation?

That couldn’t continue. She had to do something about it.

A knock on the door broke her train of thought.

“Alex, are you ok in there?”

It was Dev.

“Yeah,” she said, wiping the mascara from her face and rinsing off. “I’m coming out.”

After a little while she emerged and Dev looked straight down at her cleavage. Her top button was open, she forgot about it after she opened it to adjust her bra. He was practically drooling over her. She walked toward her desk. The office was empty.

“Where are the others?”

Dev sat on the edge of his desk and pointed out the window. “They went to that new Greek place on the next block.”

“Why didn’t you go with them, Dev?” Alex asked.

Dev was so brazenly staring and it made her feel… strange. Not bad. The same butterflies in her stomach she felt before.

“I-um-they didn’t invite me. I… don’t really know if they like me that much.”

He couldn’t make eye contact at all. Alex bit her lip. There was something exciting about him gawping like that. Without the other lecherous men, the situation felt safer. She had some control now. The strange anxiety remained but something else had joined it.

“So why, Dev, do you go along with their bullshit?”

Alex was surprised to hear the words tumble from her mouth. But she didn’t feel worried, in fact, the anxiety lifted a little.

“Same reason you do, I guess. I need this job. Badly. I have a wife to support and I send money home to my parents in Chennai.”

“You’re not so bad really, are you?” Alex said, noticing herself running a finger along her blouse, moving toward the open button. She wasn’t sure why, or even if she intended to do that. Dev’s eyes followed.

“I… I suppose not.” All the time he spoke, Dev’s eyes lingered on Alex’s fingernail, the plain, unvarnished fingernail that moved up and down the blouse, just above her cleavage. She felt something stirring. Something about the attention was making her feel… hot.

“You’re staring, Dev, what would your wife say?”

His mouth hung open. He had no reply.

“Would she be angry to know you’re not just staring at other women. But making their lives miserable? Watching them be sexually harassed and doing nothing.”

Dev looked at her. Looked into her eyes. She could see the guilt flashing on his face. The shame. And she felt, for a moment, powerful.

“I… I’m sorry. You’re right.”

“You can’t help it, can you Dev?”

He faltered; his mouth moved but no words came out.

“You’re just so focused on me, you can’t think, can you?”

“N-no, Alex.”

She felt it again. A sharp rush. Arousal. She liked him watching her.

“Don’t look away then, keep staring, and answer some questions for me, ok?”

“Y-yes Alex.”

He was lost in the view of her cleavage. She could see his eyes widen as she opened another button, showing a hint of the white bra she wore. A simple t-shirt bra, but the sight of her slowly unbuttoning her blouse was turning his brain to mush before her eyes.

“Tell me about Clive. What’s he into? What makes him horny, Dev. You boys talk about women all the time. I bet you know everything about each other.”

“I… I shouldn’t say.”

Alex opened another button. She felt sexy. She could feel a tingle between her legs. An insistent little urge that demanded to be addressed, but she was focused now. A plan unfolding in her mind.

“It’s ok baby, it’s ok I won’t tell anyone you told me. Just look at my pretty tits. I’m a sweet girl Dev, I won’t hurt you.”

Dev’s legs moved together, trying to hide his erection. He was almost sweating. She could see the gears in his mind turning. His eyes locked on her chest.

“Clive… Clive likes… lips. Lipstick. Red or I don’t know, he just loves lips.”

“You’re so good. Another button opens if you tell me what Tyler is into.”

Dev’s cock was stiff. His heart raced. Alex was almost as aroused. The feeling of Dev’s eyes on her, of him spilling his secrets for a peek at her breasts, it was a thrill. Something she had never felt before.

She liked it.

“Tyler is um, fuck you’re so pretty. I shouldn’t do this. My wife… if she finds out.”

“It’s ok. I told you. I’m a good girl. No one has to know. I just want you to enjoy the view,” Alex whispered, moving a finger to the top of a breast and trailing it down toward the arc of her bra.

“Ok, ok, so Tyler he never shuts up about miniskirts. He’s obsessed with girls in short skirts. He complains about how long yours are, a lot. Says Tommy should make you wear something revealing.”

“Do you think I’d look good in that, Dev?”

“Yes, yes Alex you’d look incredible.”

She smiled. “But you’re a boob man, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Alex opened another button. “You’re doing great. Keep focused on me, ok? You’re making me feel good, the way you stare. Makes me feel so sexy. So naughty.”

A part of her wondered if this was insane. If this was just being unfaithful to Shaun too. But she was caught up in the moment. The pleasure of acting so free, so completely uninhibited, she’d never felt that before. It was intoxicating.

“I… I’m focused on you.”

“Tell me about Anton, for another button.”

Dev stood still, confused. Thinking, but finding no answer. “I don’t know. He just talks about girls. I have no idea.”

“Ok,” Alex replied. Though she was frustrated she didn’t show it. She moved her finger under the bra and teased her nipple. “You can tell me about Tommy then, and maybe I’ll give you a peek under this.”

Dev almost choked. His hips were bucking ever so slightly. His hand hovering closer to his crotch. Alex looked down at it, then back up to his face, and grinned. “Maybe if you tell me even more,” she purred.

“Tommy… I really don’t know. He seems to just like degrading women but he can be nice sometimes. I don’t know what he’s really like. He rarely seems bothered by anything.”

“So what bothered him, those rare times, Dev?” asked Alex, teasing her nipple and letting out a soft moan.

“His Dad. And there are some clients. The really big ones. The ones who know they’re important and throw their weight around. Alex I can’t think with you doing that.”

Alex was squeezing her nipple hard now, and gasping each time. “Just keep going. Keep looking at me.”

“Ok… ok, you’re so gorgeous. Um… he… he gets flustered with them. Acts like they’re important, totally different guy.”

“Tell me more Dev, tell me about him. What does he like, what does he do… I need to know, ok?”

Dev shuddered with pleasure. “Oh my god, ok, ok. He’s always listening to these meditation audios. Like every day, a lot. He says they give him the alpha mindset. Alex… you’re so beautiful.”

She smiled, enjoying the compliment. The attention. A part of her knew she shouldn’t, but it gave her a jolt of pleasure to hear. Her hand moved to pull a breast from behind the bra, and then a loud laugh came from the hallway outside.

“Fuck,” Dev said. “Don’t tell them I said anything.”

Alex nodded and buttoned up her blouse. They both sat at their desks and acted busy as the other four men tumbled into the office, smelling more of alcohol than tzatziki. They spent the rest of the day talking about celebrities they wanted to have sex with, football and gambling. No-one mentioned what had happened in the morning, and Tommy only gave her a silent nod when she left for the day.

***

Instead of going home after work, Alex went to the nearest department store. The incident with Dev had her mind racing. She was still buzzing on the adrenaline of it all, and leaving the office it felt like it was pouring from her, like she’d unlocked some great secret. She wasn’t sure what that secret was, but something about the way he stared, the way she teased him. It made her feel incredible, in a way she had never felt before.

The store was huge, but she knew her way around well. This was where she came for lunch sometimes, the balcony café on the top floor. Now she made a beeline for the lingerie section and started browsing through everything.

A deep red satin set with suspenders. A black lace set. A velvet blue set. She took them with her and grabbed stockings and pantyhose too. Sheer, sexy nylons instead of the heavy black ones she usually chose in colder months.

Next she went to the skirts and moved straight past the longer work-appropriate ones. Instead, she chose a much shorter pencil skirt. A size smaller than she usually went for. It had a slit in the side that showed off a lot of thigh. She grabbed three of them.

After that, she went to the blouses and picked out one plain white, tightly tailored piece, and two silk shirts. One blue, one green.

Finally, she hit the makeup counter and grabbed red lipstick, false lashes, eyeliner and dark eyeshadow, as well as some blush and concealer.

She had to try on the clothes first, she realised. Alex had been so focused on what to buy she forgot all about trying things on. The changing room was nearby so she slipped inside and closed the curtain, then stripped to her underwear and tugged on a skirt and the white shirt.

Even with the plain t-shirt bra the shirt was incredibly sexy. Tight around the stomach, and positively bursting at the chest. It looked as though it was barely holding her breasts back from exploding from it. The skirt too was incredible. It wrapped around her ass like a second skin and stopped an inch below the cheeks. The kind of skirt you have to hunker down in, because you dare not bend.

As she stared at her reflection, Alex felt an erotic thrill. As if she were doing something incredibly naughty. Playing into a fantasy that existed somewhere in mind, but she had never allowed out. Maybe part of the lawyer dream was getting to wear those sexy outfits and feel beautiful and wanted.

The adrenaline of the day was fading, and suddenly Alex saw something different. She looked again, at her face, and saw a scared girl trying to fight for something that was slipping from her fingers. She wondered how Shaun would feel, seeing her dressed like that? If he would be aroused or just think she was some slut. If he’d fuck her like she was a piece of meat instead of the slow, gentle love making that she was used to with him. The kind that made her feel safe and comfortable and warm and adored.

Did she want something else? Thoughts flashed in her mind. Scenarios in that outfit. Clicking around in heels and people staring at her behind in that tight skirt. Being gawped at as she slowly unbuttoned the shirt. And she felt shame and guilt for what she was doing. Did she just cheat on Shaun a little bit? It was only to get information.

She didn’t enjoy it, right?

Alex stared into her own tired eyes and spoke aloud, “You’re doing this for you.”

It felt hollow, but it was enough to get her out of the changing room, and into the shoe section. She almost forgot to buy the heels. The nearest black patent leather pair were perfect. Alex didn’t even try them on, just took her size knowing they’d hurt like hell and look even hotter.

For a moment she hesitated, didn’t go to the counter to pay for everything. Then she took a long breath, and steeled herself. She had a dream, and she had a plan. Nothing was going to get in her way now.

***

Once Shaun left for the morning, Alex got ready. She put on black lingerie, lacy and soft. Added a pair of sheer black hose, and slipped on the skirt and a blue silk blouse that was quite tight. Her makeup was red lipstick and dark eyeliner, with a smoky shadow around it. Her hair was down, falling over her shoulders in wavy lengths.

She looked perfect as she slipped into the heels and strode to the office. As soon as she walked in, every head turned and every mouth opened, except Tommy’s. He simply smirked, sipped his coffee and said, “Alex, a little late today, but you look good enough to let it go. Get to work.”

A nod in reply was all he got. He didn’t seem to care and closed his office door. Alex sat at her desk and started working through some files, easy work. Her focus wasn’t on that. She wanted attention. Starting with Clive’s.

That wasn’t particularly difficult, considering his eyes were locked on her red lips. Clive was older than the others by a few years, and his receding hairline and flecks of grey made him look even older than that. He was no less immature, of course.

Alex caught his eye as he looked back and pursed her lips before speaking. “Something you want, Clive?”

He took a moment to reply, then laughed and said, “no, darling, just enjoying the view.”

A raised eyebrow from Alex kept him enjoying it. She reached into her bag and pulled the lipstick out, applying a fresh coat as he stared. His face went a little blank as she moved the tube back and forth. When she stopped and placed it down, her lips shimmering with red, Clive was in a near-daze.

“Clive, could you help me out with something in the meeting room? I need a second pair of eyes on a file, and yours are very attentive.”

He nodded and she picked up a folder and the lipstick, then clicked across the office into the meeting room, holding the door for Clive to stumble through. He practically fell into the room and she shut the door behind her, closing it off from the prying eyes of the other men.

Alone, Alex directed Clive to sit and she stood above him, leaning down and pressing her hand on the folder. “I have to confess. I’m not that interested in the file. I don’t think you can help me at all with it, actually.”

“Oh,” Clive said, a smile forming, “then what’s a hot chick like you need from me?”

Alex’s lips curled into a smirk to match his smile. “I wanted to know how my lipstick looks?”

His eyes locked on her lips. She felt the thrill of it. The shameful, sexual desire welling up. Alex wanted his eyes on her. Knew it was wrong, knew she shouldn’t be enjoying the plan she was playing out, but couldn’t stop the feeling. The more Clive stared, the hotter she felt.

“It’s… it’s nice. Really nice. I love the shade of red.”

Alex let out a giggle. Involuntarily. It leaked from her like it had snuck from her mouth into the world. She felt a sudden pang of guilt, but pushed it down. The plan was working, so far. She just needed to do enough to keep Clive hooked. It’s not like she was going to fuck him. That would actually be cheating. This was just… flirting. Wasn’t it?

“You look extremely kissable right now Alex,” Clive breathed. He was breathing heavily. Slowly.

Her lips parted just a little, Alex leaned down, closer to him. Close enough he could kiss her. A calculated risk. Alex guessed that he wouldn’t. Besides Tommy, the men were all in relationships. Clive, Anton and Dev were married, and Tyler lived with his fiancée. Not that it stopped the stares and stolen touches, but it would, she assumed, stop anything more.

Clive didn’t move in. Didn’t take the bait. He just gazed at Alex’s lips, open enough to show the white of her teeth peeking through the gap between them. Parting ever so slightly, a bloom Clive wanted to taste so badly his cock was tenting in his trousers.

“I know I look kissable Clive, and maybe you can have a kiss from me…”

His eyebrows shot upward. Excitement and surprise. Alex, the girl who acted like she was too good for everyone else, too uptight, too prim and proper, now behaving like the biggest tease he’d ever met. It was a shock. A welcome one.

“Oh, I would love that. You are… you’re the hottest piece of ass to come through this place in years, even with Tommy’s eye for… talent.”

“I want you to do something for me first. OK?”

Clive hesitated. He pulled away slightly. Alex tensed. This was the moment. She needed him to be cooperative. Maybe she wasn’t trying hard enough. Maybe she could get his attention back on her, and not on whatever worries were running through his mind.

She picked up the lipstick tube and moved it up and down her cleavage, and it instantly caught his eye. “Want me to put on a fresh coat of this pretty color before you get that kiss, baby?”

Clive nodded, focused on her again. Lost in the motion of the tube. Up and down.

“Then tell me… tell me a secret. Something no-one else knows. Just for me… it’ll never be shared; it’ll never pass my… sexy red lips.”

“I-I have a collection of um, porn with lips my wife doesn’t know about.”

“That’s not juicy enough, baby,” Alex said in a breathy sigh, “I need something as juicy as these moist lips.” She opened the lipstick tube and turned it, then pressed the red to her lips, but didn’t move it.

Clive clamped his lower lip between his teeth. His conflict was clear. He had something big. It was on the tip of his tongue.

“Don’t you wanna taste them baby?” Alex said as she began painting another coat of the ruby red lipstick over her puckered lips.

Confronted with his biggest fantasy, Clive couldn’t stop the words leaving his mouth. “I… cheated on my bar exam.”

This was it. Exactly what Alex wanted. She was excited. The plan was working. She was also getting very, very horny. The tease was just so hot, the way Clive looked at her, as if she were the sexiest thing alive, as if he was ready to fuck her right there on the meeting room table. His eyes focused solely on her lips, his brow sweaty, his cheeks red, his arousal so obvious in his pants and Alex took it all in, gorged herself on the attention. It felt so sexy to be able to get this response from him.

She tried to push that feeling aside, to focus on the plan, and the plan was working. “How, Clive, tell me more. How did you do it?” She resumed painting her lips as soon as she finished speaking and he spilled his guts as he watched. Every detail of what he did was laid bare, enough to have him disbarred, fired, and completely and totally discredited for the rest of his career.

All of that, from the sight of a pretty set of lips painted red.

Alex felt a twitch between her legs. A need. Then the guilt again. Should she be doing this for Shaun? Maybe she was doing it for him. Getting herself out of this place so she could put her focus back on their relationship.

“That’s so sweet of you to trust me, Clive.”

“Do-do I get a kiss now?”

“Hmm, I didn’t say when, did I? You’ll get it when I get everything I want ok? Tell me about-“

“Tommy!” called Clive, pulling back from Alex and looking at his boss, who had just burst through the meeting room door.

“You two, back to the office. We have a big client coming in and I need all hands on deck. Look busy, this is a big fish and I want him hooked. He is extremely important, people, best behavior.”

Clive went back to his desk, Alex followed and as she walked past Tommy, her boss spanked her on the ass. “Good work today slut.”

She felt a searing rush of shame and was happy to just sit at her desk and stare at the screen for the rest of the morning while Tommy spoke to the client in his office.

The rest of the day went about as she expected. The change in outfit brought a lot of extra attention. Dev was constantly glancing at her chest. Anton was trying not to look at all. Tyler and Clive openly ogled.

Tommy, of course, did the same. He seemed to make it his business to walk around the place even more than usual. His eyes burned through her. The stares, the attention, it was getting to her. She felt warm, even though the office was cool. Her knees pressed together under the desk, squishing her thighs into each other. It felt strange. Wrong, but pleasurable too.

All the teasing with Clive had made her confused. The wrongness of it, the feeling she was doing something taboo, even though all that happened was a man stared at her lips. Just like he did every other day. The difference though, and she knew very well, was that she encouraged it.

It didn’t matter. She told herself over and over, the same thing. It didn’t matter if she liked any of it, because the plan was working, and she’d be free soon. The recording on her phone of Clive’s confession was the first step.

***

Alex arrived home and kicked off her heels immediately. They hurt. She knew they would, but that didn’t make it easier. She walked into the living room expecting to be alone, Shaun usually came home later, but found him curled up on the couch under a blanket.

Her stomach sank. She didn’t want him to see her dressed as she was. And then it sank further because that felt like a betrayal.

He didn’t mention it. Just smiled weakly and croaked, “came home early. Bit sick.”

Suddenly, her demeanor shifted. Alex went to his side and put a hand on his forehead. “You poor thing. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s just a cold, don’t worry. Need a little rest is all.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll get you some soup.”

She walked to the kitchen, still in her tight blouse and miniskirt. She felt completely absurd, pouring a soup carton into a saucepan in such sexy clothes, but she was happy to look after Shaun. He was always there for her, it felt good to return the favor and show him that she loved him.

It seemed even more important, considering the day she’d had. She just wished he’d notice how damn hot she looked.

***

Morning came and Alex rolled out of bed, leaving her sick boyfriend to sleep a little longer. She wondered if she should wake him in case he was due to work, but decided she would prefer he didn’t see her getting dressed in sexy clothes again.

This time, she chose the green blouse and blue lingerie. Hose and heels and a skirt finished the ensemble. More or less the same. Her new office uniform and one she immediately felt sexual in. It sent a shiver over her body just thinking about the stares she would get, not even at the office, just walking to work.

On her way out the door, she checked on Shaun again, who was sitting bolt upright in bed staring at her. She jumped. He gasped. “That’s… some outfit.”

“This?” she replied, trying to think of an excuse and failing. “Just trying some new clothes out.”

Shaun smiled, looking dazed and confused in his sick state. His hair was a mess and his mouth was half-open. He looked cute. “Go get ‘em today babe,” he babbled, before collapsing back onto the pillow, and falling back to sleep.

Always a sweetheart. Always supportive. She was lucky. And that made the guilt grip her again. It took her a moment to leave, as she contemplated just taking off the sexy clothes and wearing something normal. Then she refreshed her email, and saw nothing from the other firm.

There wasn’t much of a choice, without that hope. She had to try whatever she could to survive.

On the street, walking to work, she wasn’t surviving. She was thriving. Every man stared at her, most of the women did too. Her long legs strutted over the sidewalks of the city, and the miniskirt showed so much of them. Plenty of cleavage made passing pedestrians stare directly down her top, and by the time she reached the office, she’d been catcalled three times.

She was also quite lost as to whether that was good or bad. She felt hot, hotter than she had in her life, but wasn’t she supposed to be angry about that kind of attention?

It didn’t matter. The outfit had a purpose, and so did she. That was getting in early, and getting to Tommy’s computer. Helpfully, he never showed up on time, let alone early. She got to his desk with the rest of the place deserted, and with over an hour before anyone else would likely show up.

All she needed was something on him, a little dirt. A little hint of something untoward, illegal, some broken contract or misappropriated funds. Alex dug through files. Most of the computer was more of the ‘alpha’ stuff Tommy was obsessed with. Videos about becoming an alpha male. Books on the topic.

If he needed that ‘alpha’ mindset so badly, Alex thought maybe it was for a reason. She just hadn’t figured out what that reason could be, other than servicing his enormous ego.

Alex found the audios Tommy used, the ones Dev spoke about, and played a few of them. Each one had a slightly different theme, but all revolved around the same concept; making sure the listener felt in control, in command, and obeyed. They spoke of women being submissive, about leading through dominance like a wolf. It was, well, preposterous. For Tommy, it made perfect sense. They were layered with subliminal messaging that she could barely make out. Repeated phrases and patterns. It sounded like some sort of hypnotherapy, but also total pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo.

She discovered something else next. Something more interesting. A folder named, ‘corn’. Subtle. She opened it and the screen was flooded with thumbnails of some extremely explicit stuff. Lots of women in submissive positions, lots of blowjobs and bondage.

Alex got a little turned on. Well, a lot turned on seeing it. She didn’t watch porn. Ever. She assumed Shaun did, but they never discussed it. That just wasn’t her. There was a pair of subfolders too. ‘Alpha Transformation’ and ‘Slut Brainwash’. She moved the cursor over one, and was about to double click.

And then she heard the cough outside. She wasn’t alone. Alex closed the window she’d opened.

For a moment, she considered hiding in a closet, or under Tommy’s desk. She realised how stupid that would be fast. That meant she had only one option. She had to leave.

There was no window, no way to see who was outside without being seen herself. Unless she was very, very careful. She pushed open the door a crack and peered out, but couldn’t see anything but the empty office.

That was her chance then, to get out and not be seen. To just walk quickly to the front door and turn around and walk back in as if she were just arriving. She stepped out and heard the loud click of her heels.

“Alex?”

It was Dev. Only Dev. That wasn’t so bad.

“What were you doing in Tommy’s office?”

That was bad. Quite bad. But Alex remembered the previous night, and she thought on her feet. “Don’t worry about that, ok?” she said, pawing at her blouse like she had before. “Let’s pretend I was looking for you.”

Dev’s eyes went to her cleavage. It felt almost too easy to distract the man, but she needed to keep his mind off what she was up to, and on her.

“What are you doing, Alex? You’re acting so strangely.”

She opened her top button, pulling the blouse apart dramatically. “Do you really care about that when I’m right here with my tits out for you?”

He looked around, as if he were making sure it was safe. “I’m married, I shouldn’t be looking. And you have a boyfriend. You weren’t acting like this before-“

“Before what, Dev?” she said, opening another button so he could see the blue bra underneath.

“Before… before Tommy made you… say those things.”

Alex tensed. She felt angry and ashamed and stupid and… no, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t why she was doing any of this. It wasn’t. “We aren’t talking about that, Dev. We’re talking about you. And I’m a little angry you’re even thinking about anything but my tits.”

“S-sorry,” he stammered, “I just-“

“You just nothing,” Alex was mad, at herself, but at everyone else too. At Tommy for being such a condescending asshole. At the other men for being so fucking useless. At Shaun for not even caring she was dressed like a fucking slut. And at Dev for thinking he could resist her when she looked like she’d walked out of his wet dreams. “You’re hard as a rock, Dev, why don’t you take that thing out like you want to.”

He froze instead. She was being so aggressive, so incredibly forward, that he didn’t know what to think or do. Alex decided for him. She opened the rest of her buttons and shook her chest back and forth. “Just stare and masturbate. That’s it. One time offer, you get to cum for my tits.”

Her cheeks burned, her body was shaking with nerves, but she was still focused on trying, desperately, to control the situation. Dev couldn’t stop himself. Alex was a beautiful woman, and she was demanding he enjoy her body. He opened his trousers and pulled his penis from them, then began to run his hand up and down the shaft.

“Sit down,” said Alex, pointing at a chair, “and watch me.”

He did as she told him, and kept stroking his cock as she moved her chest back and forth in front of him. She pressed the sides of her bra and squeezed her breasts together, and Dev’s cock twitched and leaked precum. Alex felt filthy, and horny, and disgusting, and sexual.

Dev was lost in her tits, almost drooling. She pushed things a little further, running her hand over the top of her boobs while she picked her phone up, discreetly hoping he wouldn’t notice. “That’s it, keep going. I want you to orgasm for my boobies Dev.”

She felt silly, saying boobies like that. Like she was still in high school. But it did the trick, he was grunting, rocketing toward the edge. Alex pointed her phone at him and pressed record.

“Wait, no please,” Dev mumbled, but he didn’t stop masturbating.

“Oh but Dev baby, I want to have a record of this moment forever. Just for me, ok?”

“Just for you,” Dev repeated, his eyes still on her tits.

“Just for me, that orgasm is just for me,” Alex echoed back.

“Just for you,” he said, breathy and straining, “just for you.”

Alex leaned forward, showing a deep, clear view of her cleavage in the blue bra. He panted and bucked, still repeating, “just for you,” as Alex recorded every moment. She could feel herself getting more aroused too, just watching him lost in the throes of passion right in front of her. She turned the phone toward herself and smirked, licking her lips and saying again, “just for me,” before pointing it back at Dev. This was the first time she had seen a man masturbate, and it was incredibly exciting, and dangerous, and felt wrong and erotic all at once.

“Orgasm for me, Dev,” she whispered, and he did. He shot thick, white ropes all over the floor in front of him, groaning and breathing with a shaky, ragged sound. His hand slowed and Alex kept the phone pointed at him, still recording.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Oh god, he said, pulling himself together and buttoning up his trousers. “What have I done?”

Alex stopped recording. A wave of guilt washed over her. What had she done? She shouldn’t be doing this, surely? Certainly not enjoying it. Was it because she was punishing him for what he’d taken part in? Or something else? There was something more. Something animal deep down inside that took great pleasure in the entire scene. That thought made Alex quiver with anxiety. She buttoned up her blouse.

“Please don’t show that to anyone, Alex. You could destroy my marriage.”

Alex felt a flare of anger. This man, who had been gleefully participating in her torment, wanted to save his marriage? This man, who was part of her being sexually harassed day after day for months, wanted her to protect him.

And then the anger faded. And something else replaced it. Something dark and dangerous. Something new.

***

The arrival of the other men led to comments about Alex’s appearance, about her new blouse, about the skirt. She knew it would come. It was all part of the plan, after all, but after the incident with Dev, it all felt different. Pointed and cruel.

She felt lost, unsure whether she had done the right thing. Dev was quiet, he didn’t even look at her. He seemed to be lost in whatever he was doing on his computer. Probably for the best. Alex could hardly bear to look at him either.

Instead, she let the eyes of the office’s other men fall on her. Clive stared at her lips as she expected him to, even with the secret he revealed, he couldn’t help but enjoy his little lip kink. She had the same red lipstick on.

Tyler would get up for water now and then, always taking a peek at her legs in the skirt as he passed her desk. After a while, she decided to get up and follow him.

“Hey, Tyler.” She watched him take a sip of water, then bent forward to grab a cup, making sure he got a good view of her ass as the skirt stretched over it. He leaned forward to watch.

“What’s up Alex, lookin’ good today.”

She blushed. She wasn’t really expecting a compliment, just more gawping and idiotic comments. Brushing her hair back over one ear as she leaned to the machine she just managed, “thanks.”

“I gotta ask though,” he said, “what’s with the change?”

Alex froze. The cup filled and ran over. What was she supposed to say? What could she say that wouldn’t give the game away? “I, um, just wanted to try something different, you know?”

“I approve. You look hot.”

His simple compliments were a world away from the way he usually acted. Alex felt a little suspicious. “Thanks again, you’re being nice.”

“Yeah, well Tommy said you’d probably like hearing a man tell you you’re hot. Guess he was right.”

Internally, Alex was raging. That prick. What was he playing at? What the hell was his game? To throw her off balance even more? To make her feel like someone was nice and then pull the rug?

“He says chicks love to be told they’re hot, so they feel more bangable.”

And there it was, the real Tyler.

“Course, I already knew that, but you gotta do what the boss says, right babe?”

“Right,” Alex spat, starting the walk back to her desk.

“Oh baby I do love to watch you walk away now you’re wearing a real skirt.”

Alex wanted to turn around and put her heel through his eye socket. She sat down and checked her phone, praying her job application would be accepted, that she’d be scheduled for an interview. Nothing.

The rest of the day all she could manage to do was sit at the desk and focus on work. Plans would have to wait. She felt dirty, and stupid.

***

Home. Safe.

The one place she could feel herself. Yet Alex didn’t. She felt anything but herself. Still wearing the ridiculous outfit she’d bought. Why had she bought it? What was she thinking? Making the creepy men look at her more?

It gave her some information, great, but she hadn’t fully thought things through. What was she going to do, exactly? Tell Tommy that his staff were no good? Tommy wouldn’t care. He could just replace them with a few of the thousands of other men in the city who had no respect for women and acted like they were special just because they got a law degree and had a penis.

She tossed her bag down and wandered toward the kitchen to get some water. Shaun was already there. Now he’d say something. He seemed to be feeling better. Now he’d comment on the outfit. Surely he wanted to fuck her brains out, dressed as she was? She rarely dressed up, was happy to wear sweaters and shorts around the house.

“How was your day? Everything go ok?”

Nothing. Not a fucking word about it. Alex was, to her surprise, angry. She didn’t realise how much she wanted him to say something. To comment about her clothing, her figure, her makeup. He was so fucking… nice. Too nice.

“Yeah, fine,” she said with a sharp tone.

“That bad huh? Maybe some news from the other job? Anything?”

He was so sweet. She snapped at him and he just asked more questions about how she was doing. What the hell was wrong with him? Why wasn’t he trying to tear her blouse off? Why did she want him to try so badly? She had been pretty horny at work, and all the strange stuff she was doing, it was so new. It felt raw, uncontrolled, like she was playing out a story of someone else’s much sexier life.

“Alex? Any news?”

“Oh, no, nothing,” she said quietly, pouring a glass of water.

“That’s ok, it’s only been a few days. I’m sure you’ll hear soon,” Shaun said, standing beside her. “Hug?”

Alex looked at her boyfriend. Handsome, sweet, kind and gentle, and felt a strange contempt in that moment. She couldn’t understand it, but there it was all the same. She was frustrated with him. Maybe. Maybe she was frustrated with herself. Maybe her guilt was gnawing away at her and she needed to create some distance.

“No, don’t touch me, Shaun.”

Whatever it was, she felt horrible about her reply instantly. He walked away without another word and she stood in the kitchen in her heels and miniskirt and tight blouse, drinking her water, wondering why she was so angry with him, when all he’d done was be nice.

He was asleep by the time she went to bed.

***

Shaun woke her the next morning. Still a little snuffly, but well enough to have made her breakfast. Eggs, toast, orange juice and a cup of hot coffee were waiting at the table when she walked into the kitchen.

“Thanks,” she said, “but… why?”

He sat opposite her and sipped on some juice. “Because it’s pretty obvious you’re struggling. Because I love you and I hate when we fight. Because everyone makes mistakes and we don’t fix them by continuing the argument.”

Alex felt her stomach plummet like she’d gone over a hump in her car. This man was a saint. How the hell was she so lucky? Was her career, her dream, really worth what she was doing?

“I’m sorry for last night,” she whispered, feeling meek and humbled, and quite stupid.

“Forget it. You’re going through a lot right now. The job, the other job, the stress you must be under.”

Of course, he was right. She was under a lot of stress. Maybe that was why she was feeling so confused about things. Why her moods were all over the place. Alex knew there was more than that, though.

“Finally Friday,” Shaun said with a smile.

“Yeah,” said Alex, “finally.”

A part of her was almost disappointed. To not keep her plans moving. Or was it that she’d have to sit with her guilt in Shaun’s presence for two whole days and try not to say anything. She finished her food quickly, wanting to get out of the kitchen and get away before she blurted something she shouldn’t.

“Thanks Shaun,” she said, “really, this was very sweet.”

“Anything for you babe,” he replied.

She stood from the table and walked to the bathroom to have a quick shower. Next, she did her hair and makeup, red lips again, a cute little flick of eyeliner making a wing on the side of each eye. She put on the red lingerie with the white blouse. You could definitely see the red through it.

Alex looked incredible. The picture of sexiness. Like a pinup, Gil Elvgren’s idea of what office attire should look like. She slid on the stockings this time, clipping them to the suspenders and then putting her heels on. It was time to leave. On the way, she passed Shaun, who was almost dressed.

He looked at her, and she was sure she saw a flicker of something in his eyes, a slight curve of the lips, the tiniest tilt of his head. Like he was trying to figure something out. But then it vanished and he smiled.

“See you tonight.”

“Yep, see you later,” she said, and walked out the door, wishing he’d just told her she looked good, or grabbed her for a kiss or something.

But he didn’t. And again, Alex found herself angry at the love of her life.

***

The morning gave Alex a chance to continue her plan and forget the feelings swirling in her mind. Anton was the one she didn’t know anything about, so she’d have to figure out how to get to him. The only way to do that was to flirt her ass off.

She walked to his desk and sat against it, her long legs stretching out, one foot crossed over the other, and leaned back so her hair fell down over her back.

“Anton, you’ve worked here a while, right?”

“Uh, yeah I guess so,” the man grunted. Anton was a little out of shape. An awkwardly built man with thick eyebrows and a bushy beard.

“I don’t really know what you… do here, can you tell me about it?” Alex poked at her top button, trying to get his attention, but the trick that worked on Dev did nothing for Anton, who was eyes forward to his screen, moving his mouse and clicking around.

“I do finance, manage the money.”

“That’s so interesting,” she lied, shifting her ass on the desk, moving closer to him and seeing if he was interested in that part of her body. Again, nothing. “Tell me more, what does that look like day to day?”

Anton looked up at her, confused, but a glance at her body in the tight blouse and skirt gave him reason enough to keep entertaining her. “I make sure the accounts are in order, make sure everyone gets paid, take client payments and move everything to where it needs to go, do the budgeting.”

His attention made Alex a little excited. He was looking now, she just needed to get him focused on something. Some little kink or fetish. Some part of her that he liked. She knew very well she looked good, and she knew every guy in the office wanted her.

She moved a foot up her leg, dragging the high heel along her stocking, and drawing Anton’s eye right to her foot. ‘Got him,’ she thought.

“That’s such a big responsibility. You must be so focused on that work.”

Anton nodded as Alex continued moving her foot up and down her leg. She was relishing the way he couldn’t drag his gaze from her foot.

“Um, yeah, very focused,” he mumbled.

“So, you handle all the money, for everyone? What comes in, what goes out? Where it goes?”

Alex let her heel dangle from her foot, flopping it up and down. She watched Anton’s eyes seem to glaze over as he gawped. He didn’t reply.

“Anton, you ok honey?”

He shook his head rapidly and looked up at her. “Yeah, yeah, I’m ok. What was I saying? I move all the money around, it all comes through me. That’s… that’s right.”

With a quick motion, Alex slipped the shoe back on, planted both feet on the ground and breathed, “thank you Anton,” at her colleague, then sauntered back to her desk. He watched her heels click across the room.

Sitting at her computer, Alex squeezed her thighs together. She could feel the arousal building in her, and she wanted to fight it back but just as much, to give in to it. A little thought popped into her mind, that she could just go to the bathroom and finger herself until she came and as quickly as she thought it, she dismissed it.

There was work to be done, and she could satisfy herself with Shaun at home. She could enjoy his eyes on her, the man she wanted, actually wanted. Not the creeps she worked with. Their attention was for a purpose. It wasn’t supposed to turn her on.

***

The afternoon came around quickly. Alex spent her lunch hour thinking things through. Focusing on Shaun. He was the man she wanted. She was just mad he wasn’t giving her that attention. That he wasn’t going crazy over her outfits. And she should be mad about that, right? Wasn’t he supposed to sexualize her a little?

That was something to figure out later. She had work to do.

Tyler liked miniskirts most. That was his little fetish, according to Dev. A quick adjustment of her skirt and a walk past Tyler’s desk was enough to catch the man’s eye. Tyler was tall, but gangly and awkward. He had straight brown hair swept to one side. Alex turned back to look at him, and of course, his eyes were on her legs in the skirt.

“Tyler, can you help me with the printer? I can never get the damn thing to work.”

He was only too eager to follow her into the small room at the back of the office, and didn't flinch when she shut the door. In fact, he immediately looked her up and down and said, “didn’t think you were the cheating type, but I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Alex batted her eyelashes, and ignored the strange guilty feeling that stung her when he said cheating. “I think my new cover does a pretty good job, don’t you?”

He nodded, looking down at the miniskirt, the slit on its side, her long, toned legs. “You bet your ass it does.”

She leaned against the wall and crossed her legs, he stared, and she smiled, feeling that rush of pleasure at the way he watched her, and the accompanying guilt that feeling dragged along with it. “You’d just do it? Right now? Fuck me, not a care for your fiancée?”

He snorted, sort of laughed. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

Alex felt disgusted. At him. At herself. She did her best to hide it, moving her thighs against each other and feeling a sliver of arousal as she watched Tyler lick his lips like he was looking at a meal. Meat. That’s what she was to him. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

He laughed now, a real laugh. At her. Like she was an idiot for even asking. She felt like an idiot. Like a stupid, shameful slut. What would Shaun think if he knew she was parading herself around like this? Alex went red, her cheeks felt hot, her lip quivered.

“What do you think?” Tyler said with a chuckle. He wasn’t even trying to hide it, but then again, Alex had asked him to come to a tiny room with her, teased him in the skirt. She wasn’t really giving him any indication she didn’t want to fuck him.

“I think you’ve been a naughty boy,” she said, trying to sound sexy again. Trying to regain the composure she needed to keep his guard down.

“Guilty as charged. You wanna punish me? Or do you need Daddy to give you a spanking for asking stupid questions?”

He was so unbelievably brazen. Dev and Anton and Clive were nothing like this. Something in what he said though, it made Alex shiver with excitement. She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, Tyler was beside her. “You’re not shy, are you?”

“Not a bit,” he replied, “doesn’t look like you are anymore either.”

His proximity was making her nervous. Or was it just more guilt? She was taking things too far. This was too much. He was inches away from touching her and clearly had no qualms about doing so. She needed to push back, to regain the advantage in their little tête-à-tête. “So, you’re in an open relationship or something… right?”

Tyler’s laugh was cold. Mirthless. “No, gorgeous, that dumb bitch thinks I work late here, and do business trips on weekends. She’s clueless. How about your guy? Shaun, right?”

The mention of his name was a gut punch. A reminder that she was on the edge of what could be considered acceptable. Perhaps a mile over it. She wasn’t sure. She had never even spoken to Shaun about what his lines were. This would surely upset him, wouldn’t it? But she wasn’t going to sleep with Tyler. She just had to find something; some leverage. Just to keep him off her back so work was tolerable.

That was it, wasn’t it?

“Well babe?” Tyler said, moving closer.

Alex pushed herself back against the wall but all it did was stretch her body, making the skirt ride up higher, revealing the stocking tops, which caused Tyler to let out a low, sexual growl.

“He… I’ve never actually cheated.”

“First time feels the best,” Tyler said, pressing his hand against the wall just above Alex’s head. He leered down at her as she blushed awkwardly.

“I… I’m not sure I should… Not in the office.”

He smiled. “Oh, I have a place. You know that little hotel over on Third? The Wilmont?”

Alex nodded.

“Good girl,” he said, cupping her chin in his hand, “few drinks in the lobby bar, then up to the room I’ll have booked. What do you say?”

Alex swallowed. She felt like her body was burning up. Her thighs rubbed together and she felt her hands making fists and opening again. Steadying herself, she looked into Tyler’s eyes, smiled seductively and said, “tonight?”

“Oh, no can-do baby, but this weekend. Sunday?”

She felt almost offended. Hurt by his patience. Why didn’t he want her right away? “Why not tonight?”

“Because Daddy has another date tonight. He’s working late at the office. And Saturday I’d better be home so someone doesn’t get suspicious.”

Alex smiled. And giggled. And said, “I thought you’d want me sooner. Is she hotter than me?”

“No babe, but you can wait. That’s what good girls do.”

A ripple of disgust and shame hit her again. He was talking to her so dismissively, like she meant nothing. Like she was just another conquest. And she’d thrown herself at him. Dressed so nicely. Made herself look like a porn star and for what? This idiot to make her wait? If not for her plans, she might have told him to go fuck himself… but that wasn’t going to help.

She had to play along.

“I’ll be a good girl then… daddy,” she said, the final word choked out.

“I know you will,” he replied, letting her chin go and tilting his head to one side. “I like the new Alex.”

Alex wasn’t sure she liked the new Alex, but she did like the attention. The fact she was angry that Tyler would wait for her; that was a surprise. A very, very unwelcome one. Her shame was white hot.

“I should get back to my desk, before anyone gets suspicious.”

“Clever girl,” Tyler said. “Can’t wait to see that skirt on the hotel room floor.

His hand moved down from the wall at last, and Alex escaped the room and walked to her desk. She was sweating. Her hair had gotten a little messy. She realised that it looked like she’d just had sex, regardless of her intentions. Tyler walked out of the room and straightened his tie. It looked bad. It looked so, so bad.

But she had something on him now. And maybe that made it worth it.

***

The day was nearing an end, and Alex was finally feeling a little bit ok about things. The strange arousal had passed and the plan was working.

She checked her phone and sighed, no new emails, then began to put her things into her bag, when Tommy emerged from his office.

“Happy Friday fuckers, you boys go get your dicks wet this weekend.”

A pig. That’s all he was. A filthy, nasty pig.

“Oh, and Alex, my office please.”

A pig she had to listen to. Alex felt her anxiety rocket from near zero to one hundred as she walked the short distance to his door while he held it open. Just like before, he made sure she had to press her body against his to walk through. She could feel his flexing pecs as she did, pressed against her chest. A tactical decision to not rub her ass on his crotch against her will.

“Sit down, I have a task for you.”

She sat. Reminded herself her plans were working. That everything was ok, she just had to make it through a few more days and then she could reveal all. Tell them she would ruin them if they did anything to upset her again. She could use some dirt on Tommy too. Maybe she’d be able to get some out of him the way she had with the others.

“What is it, Mr. Miller,” she said, being as polite as possible.

Tommy’s grin was smug, just so incredibly smug. She wanted to slap it off his handsome face.

“That big client, they’re in. This is huge, lot of money, complex case. I need you to go through the files and make sure we have what we need to win it.”

Alex felt excited, for a moment she was reminded what all of this was about. Being a lawyer, diving into a case, putting the pieces together like a puzzle. Finding the clues and bringing the evidence to bear. It was what she was best at. “Yes, absolutely I can do that,” she said, smiling.

“Good girl, you’ll be doing it tomorrow. I’m going to play golf, so I need an obedient slut to do the work for me.”

So quickly, her excitement faded into sadness. She felt ashamed again. This time for actually believing she could do her job. She hated him. Hated this stupid man who made her feel so small and silly. “Ok, fine, I can come in tomorrow.”

“I wasn’t giving you a choice, bitch. It better be done when I get here on Monday. I’m not losing this client because another whore can’t do her job.”

Even in her misery, Alex was good at the puzzle. The clues. Tommy just gave her a bone, and she was ready to chew it.

“Who couldn’t do her job.”

Tommy leaned back and shook his head. “The last four dumb chicks I had working here before you. I always keep a hottie around to make the boys happy, and to fuck once they realize they prefer being sluts than lawyers.”

He was gross. Utterly gross. His attitude made her feel queasy and disgusting. “Where are they now, Mr. Miller,” Alex purred. She had an inkling they might have sued for harassment. Surely one of them must have.

“They went on to… other careers.”

“You said someone else got a great job. Is she not a lawyer?” Alex leaned forward, playing with her hair, twirling a strand between her fingers.

His laugh was long and deep. “God no. No, Alex, I found her something much more suitable for a woman of her… talents.”

She smiled. Tommy was up to something. She could taste it. Alex bit her lip and crossed her legs. “What kind of talents are those?”

He stuck his tongue into his cheek, smiling open-mouthed like he was in on some horrible secret that amused him very deeply. “Same talent you’ve been showing at last. Acting like a horny slut for her boss and being the office tease.”

Alex was stunned. She thought she had him. Thought he was about to drop some information, that she’d get to feel smug at last. All she felt was the burning heat of her cheeks flushing red, the awkward motion of her index fingers rubbing hard against her thumbs, and her knees coming together with her feet now flat on the floor. Shame, boiling, aching shame.

“You’ve been doing so well. I knew you’d break. Didn’t realise it was being humiliated in front of everyone that would do it.”

Alex looked at the floor. She pushed her hands between her thighs. She wanted to run, to escape him. “I didn’t break,” she whispered.

“Maybe not completely. You haven’t fucked me yet. But I see you in those new outfits. You’ve changed. Bet you’ve told yourself you’re going to show everyone by acting sexy so they do what you want them to?”

He was looking into her eyes. His blue eyes bearing down on her, seeing into her soul. She couldn’t even respond.

“But you like it, don’t you slut? You like the attention. You like all the men looking at you. You’re enjoying being the office whore.”

The pulse between her legs. Her body betraying her. It only made the shame more potent. Which only made her more aroused. “No. Stop talking to me like that.”

Tommy smirked and leaned closer to her, putting a hand on her cheek, almost tenderly. “Don’t be ashamed. Women were made for it. Big tits, hips, those legs. You were born to be a slut for us.”

Her mind raced with thoughts. Ideas of what she could do. How she could just run away or tell him off. A hundred notions all trying to escape at the same time, and one singular thought at the centre of everything else; he was right.

“You enjoy the stares, don’t you?”

She shook her head, no, but she was enjoying it. She didn’t want to enjoy it.

“Don’t fight your nature, all women are sluts. Let me show you how a real man treats one.”

She squeezed her thighs harder around her hands, looking down at the desk in front of her, glancing away from Tommy, who stood and leered down at her.

“Tina fucking loved it when she broke for me. She screamed my name as she came, right on this desk,” Tommy said, tapping the wood with his knuckles. “Your turn, Ally.”

She turned then, looked him right in the eye, and despite her body screaming at her, the hideous longing between her legs to have that attention, to be the object of his desire, she said, simply, “no.”

Tommy sat back in his chair. “You’ll break eventually, and then you’ll end up just like Tina.”

“And where is she now, Tommy?” snapped Alex.

All he did was laugh for a while. Alex felt a surge of frustration. Anger. Bitterness and rage and hurt and guilt. She scowled at him, stood and walked out of his office, and directly out of the building.

And then she cried.

***

Shaun wasn’t at home when she got back to their place, and Alex was miserable. Completely defeated. How had she let Tommy speak to her like that? Why didn’t she stand up for herself? What was wrong with her?

She felt so stupid, and shameful, and pathetic and… horny.

Alex was horny. She didn’t even know why. It was just the only thing she could cling to as emotions surged and swirled inside her. She reached for her bedside table, grabbed a toy and turned it on, hearing its low buzzing. She slid off her panties and began pleasuring herself, letting out a little moan as the feeling washed away some of the stress.

The thoughts that came to her though, were of the week she’d had. The moments of teasing. The sexiness of being in the skirt and stockings. The way everyone wanted her. Even Tommy, for all his bravado, just wanted to fuck her, and she wanted to be wanted.

Her pleasure-addled mind, tired from a week of change and anxiety and confusion, was trying to piece it all together. Make some sense of it all. But nothing came of the jumble of mental images but arousal for the moments when she was desired.

The way Clive had stared at her lips. The way Tyler looked at her like she was too fuckable not to cheat with, the way Anton was obsessing over just her feet. And the way Dev came on the floor while staring at her tits.

She pulled out her phone and played the video back, listening to him repeating ‘just for you’ over and over. “Just for me,” she began to say aloud as she panted and gasped with pleasure. “Just for me.”

The feeling was intense. She was so wet the vibe started slipping from her clit and she had to push it harder, making her let out a long, loud groan. It was all too much, she placed the phone on her beside table and rubbed the vibe on her clit while pushing two fingers deeper, in and out like she was being fucked hard and fast.

That was how Shaun saw her when he arrived home. Her moans and the buzzing and the video drowned out the sound of him coming through the door.

“Alex, sorry I…” he trailed off, staring at the phone, still looping the video of Dev. “What are you watching?”

She tried to think of a lie. That she just really liked porn of Indian men jerking off, but then the video spun around to her smirking face, relishing Dev’s arousal and attention, and saying again, “just for me.”

Shaun’s face went white. His jaw dropped. “Alex, what the fuck is this? What is going on with you?”

There was no answer. What was she supposed to say? Shaun picked up the phone and shuttled through the video. There was no mistaking what he was seeing. No tricks, no hint that it was something fake. He was watching his girlfriend encourage a man to masturbate to orgasm in front of her.

“This is… this is not you. It can’t be. The outfits, the anger. What’s happening in that office, Alex? Are they really harassing you? Or are you just cheating on me?”

She sat up, sweat dripping from her forehead. Guilt and shame twisting into a terrible knot in her stomach. Yet anger too. Why didn’t Shaun look at her like Dev did?

“I can explain,” she said.

“Yeah? Explain it to me another time. I’m leaving. I’ll call you when I’ve calmed down.”

Shaun was gone before she could say anything else. Alex’s hands reached out, willing him to come back and hold her, then they flopped pathetically to the bed.

Once again, she cried. This time for much, much longer.

***

Shaun didn’t come back, and hadn’t replied to calls or texts. There was still no new email or call from the other job and it seemed pretty unlikely she’d get one on a Saturday. What else could she do but go to work, and try to do something with her time. She still had a plan, and at this point she might not have a boyfriend so her career was all she had left.

Alex dressed sexy for the day, even with the office empty, she knew it might be needed, so she wore the white blouse, and pantyhose again. Her eyes looked awful, puffy and red, but concealer helped. She took a backpack with some casual clothes too.

The work was interesting. Despite him being a colossal douchebag, Tommy had managed to hand her a case she would have been thrilled to work on at any other firm. Alone, without distractions, and needing a way to get her mind off everything else going on, she poured her energy into it.

It was just as complex as Tommy said. Documents and emails and call transcripts needed to be parsed. Case law consulted. She built profiles of all the people involved, made sure the client’s case was airtight. Alex loved law. Loved that it provided her a system that she could work within. A clear boundary for what she was doing. Rules she could understand. It made sense, clicked in a way little else did. Love and sex and friends were never that easy. Couldn’t be solved like a puzzle. Couldn’t be dealt with in order and structures. She often wished they could, that she could simply slot things together and they would fit and everything would make sense. That’s how things felt with Shaun… until she took the job at Miller Law.

It took most of the day to get the work done, but it passed in a flash. No calls or texts from Shaun. No emails still, but the day was almost over and she had a few more things to do. Alex felt good. She’d been productive, stuck to her plan. She had to do the work to keep Tommy happy, couldn’t make him suspect anything. Maybe he’d slip up with a little pressure like the others. And if he didn’t, there had to be something more to the other women who worked there. Maybe she could find them.

With the case worked out and organised, she jumped in front of Anton’s computer and switched it on. It booted slowly; the old machines Tommy bought were creaking. Probably picked up second hand from a real office.

The screen flickered and flashed and then she scowled as it hit a password screen. She had no idea.

What would Anton choose for his password? What was his wife’s name? She had no idea. A quick dig on his social media though, and she had the answer. She tried the name. Melinda.

Nothing.

Maybe the full name? She entered it, but that didn’t work either. There was no way she’d just guess the guy’s password that easily. She’d need to get creative.

Alex looked down at her feet. At the high heeled shoes she was wearing. The pain was getting pretty intense from days of wearing them, but they looked damn good. Their red soles set off the black in her tights and the shiny leather of them.

She grabbed her phone again, and sent Anton a text.

My computer died, can you send your pw, I HAVE to get some work finished for Tommy.

A few moments later, a reply.

Can’t give pw, is anyone else’s left on?

She knew he’d say that, but she had a plan to get the information out of him.

Please, I’ll do something for you… how about a pretty pic of my feet?

Alex watched three dots bouncing on the screen for what felt like forever. She was getting oddly turned on by the whole thing, the anticipation, the subterfuge, and the teasing. The teasing felt incredible. Her hand began to crawl to her thighs when the dots stopped moving.

“No, fuck, come on,” she blurted in the empty office.

Finally, they moved again and the reply came…

You’ll have to do better than that ;)

“Mother fucker,” she spat, but she was almost, maybe, kind of excited by the taunt. She had to up her game. To play the role of seductress, sex goddess, slut, whatever it was she was pretending to be with these awful men. The plan couldn’t work unless they believed her, or at least got horny enough not to question her, which was exactly what was happening.

Her mind raced for something she could do, and her hand slid between her legs. She traced a finger up and down the front of her panties and gasped, then looked down and wished the pantyhose weren’t getting in the way. That’s when it hit her. The hose. Sweaty from being worn all day, but if he liked feet…

She slid off her shoes and crossed her ankles over each other, then snapped a photo of her feet, making sure to include the hem of her skirt, being pulled up by a hand with painted fingernails, red to match the toenails partially concealed by the hose. It was sexy, with the rest of the office in soft focus beyond her dainty feet. It felt strange, to eroticize a part of her she didn’t think about, but she found her mind drifting to the idea of her feet being kissed and her toes sucked. Her finger continued to roam up and down between her legs, softly.

Alex sent the photo, and added;

You can have these - I’ll leave them in your desk. I wore them all day.

He didn’t take long to reply.

Deal. Top drawer. Pw is heelsucker97

She could have just not done it, not left them there, but that would make him suspicious right? That would make him question whether she was flirting and acting horny and sexual. She had to. Didn’t she?

Alex dropped the shoes from her feet and peeled off the pantyhose. It made sense. It made perfect sense. Her arousal grew stronger as she pulled them down and off of each foot, revealing the bare skin beneath. She folded them neatly and pulled open the top drawer of Anton’s desk, then placed the pair of hose in and closed it.

A surge of arousal coursed through her. She felt naughty, in a way she hadn’t felt since she was a teenager peeking through the open door of the boy’s locker room in the gym. It was enough to send her hand back between her legs, this time pushing the panties aside and finding her twitching clit. She rubbed it as her free hand typed in Anton’s password and she poked around his files.

The finger between her legs made it difficult to focus, but she couldn’t contain herself. The way she’d acted, it was nothing like she’d been before. The moments of teasing played back in her mind. Her shirt opening for Dev. Clive staring at her lips. Tyler asking about being punished and Anton doing what she wanted for a sniff of her tights.

It was all too much, like her mind couldn’t contain all the erotic thoughts bursting forth. She panted and huffed as her finger moved faster and faster and brought her to the brink of orgasm. The files on the computer didn’t matter. She had time to-

No, she didn’t.

She had somewhere else to be soon. Alex reluctantly, slowly, put her panties back in place and searched Anton’s computer. She could feel the warm dampness between her legs, the dull throb of arousal, but her plan was what mattered. She shouldn’t even be getting turned on by the things she was doing anyway

The budget was easy to find. Then she found the bank statements. All the incomings and outgoings. Finally, she cross referenced them. It was slow work, but the details were all there.

Anton was hiding thousands every month. All funnelled into a mysterious account via cash deposit. One that had a familiar name, VL Holdings.

Alex ripped open the drawer she’d put her hose into, and moved them aside. The same name was on a bank statement. Cash deposits just under the threshold for investigation were almostl she saw in it, besides some large outgoings. Car dealership, hotels, some other things she didn’t even recognise.

It took a couple of minutes to print the statements, the budget, and photocopy the statement that proved what Anton was up to. And all it cost was a pair of tights.

***

Alex changed before her next stop. She was now in a baggy hoody, a peaked cap with her hair trailing out the back, and black leggings. The city was dark, with rain-soaked streets and steam hissing from manholes. It all made her feel exhilarated, like she was in some spy movie.

Her feet, now in sneakers, splashed through puddles on the way to a hotel that was even nastier than she expected. The sign above its door was missing a letter, making it the ‘ilmont’. The windows were tinted, no view inside, so she peered in the front entrance.

No-one there, she walked inside and looked around a corner to the bar. That was busy. Neon light flashed behind a bar surrounded by revellers. In booths against the walls couples kissed and felt each other up. The place was filthy, the floor was sticky, but it was clearly a popular place for certain activities. Activities she’d never dreamed of being a part of.

Tyler was easy to spot. He was in a booth with a blonde a few inches shorter and more inches wider than Alex. A raw anger surfaced again, that Tyler would choose someone else, and not brush this… bimbo aside for her. She felt ridiculous, but the feeling was there, and very hard to ignore. A part of Alex wanted to go up to him, to tell him what an asshole he was and punish him for not choosing her, for not giving her the attention she deserved.

That only made her feel more ashamed. She pressed on with her plan.

Tyler didn’t see her, didn’t even look away from the blonde while Alex sat at a table just far enough away. She kept her hat on as a waiter asked her if she’d like a drink. He blocked her view of Tyler.

“Water, please.”

“Still or sparkling?”

Alex rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. “Tap.”

“You have to actually buy something to take a table.”

“Fine, fine, sparkling.”

The waiter left, and Tyler was gone. She looked around frantically and saw him with his arm around the blonde stepping into the elevator back in the lobby. She rushed toward it, but there was no way she could get away with stepping inside. She just looked at the lit button instead. Six.

Alex ran for the stairs and climbed them as fast as she could. Her feet ached from the heels, even without them on. She had to catch them, she had nothing concrete on Tyler.

As she ascended the stairs, looping back and forth up and up the floors, she felt her adrenaline surge. This was insane. She was acting like a lunatic, chasing a man she worked with like she was in a thriller. It made next to no sense, but what else could she do? Her life was miserable. Her dreams were in tatters and of course she hadn’t heard from the other firm she applied to all day. Not even a ‘thank you for contacting us.’

When she reached the sixth floor, she looked through the small window of the door leading out of the stairwell and saw Tyler and his blonde bimbo, walking toward a room. She had to be quiet. Discreet.

A gentle push opened the door without much noise at all. Tyler and the girl were giggling loudly anyway. Creeping closer, using the corridor to some other rooms as cover, she pulled out her phone and zoomed in the camera.

They were facing the wrong way, but she got some pictures as they reached the room door. It didn’t seem like enough. Not until Tyler turned and asked her for the key. Alex caught his face perfectly, with the room number right beside it. He kissed the blonde when she handed him the keycard and Alex got that too. Even a photo of them wrapping their arms around each other, just before the door slammed shut with a dull thud.

***

She spent the night alone in bed. Without Shaun, home felt quiet, empty and desolate. A lonely place that didn’t seem like anywhere she would want to be. That loneliness turned to stress and anxiety that Alex just wanted to go away. Wanted to take out of her mind for good. She didn’t want to think.

So she tried not to. She tried to put her mind to other things. To reading, to scrolling endlessly on her phone. Nothing helped. Her phone was just the thing she looked at hoping for an email or call that never came.

Late, in the darkness of the room she should be sharing with her boyfriend, she found the only thing she could think of doing was masturbating. That made her strangely angry. Why wasn’t Shaun there to give her what she needed? Why did he see her at her sexiest and leave?

Alex thought she’d never looked hotter. She was a sex goddess and he just walked out over some stupid video. That’s what she wanted to do. She wanted to be seen and enjoyed and to be the object of someone’s deepest desire. To be lusted over. That was the way she should be.

As she let those thoughts swirl and spiral in her mind, her fingers found themselves flickering over her clit. Thinking about all those eyes on her, the way they wanted her, desperately needed to touch her and fuck her, it made her absolutely wild with desire.

Alex’s orgasm came quickly, and the image playing in her mind as she moaned aloud was one she couldn’t make go away. Tommy, in his office.

Exhausted from everything she’d gone through over the week, Alex finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

***

She woke late on Sunday, and spent the morning doing laundry, getting ready for the week ahead. There was still a plan. Still a career to salvage. Shaun wasn’t answering his phone, and she didn’t try texting him anymore. Her anger from the previous night had faded to the guilt she was so used to, gnawing at her, but she had to keep moving and stop being drowned in her sadness.

Her goal for the day was to make sure she entered the week in a position of strength. Of dominance. She had some dirt on everyone now, besides Tommy. He was clearly up to something, but what exactly that was only became clear when she began looking into the former employees of Miller Law.

Tina Ryan was the most recent person, but her professional profile hadn’t been updated since just before Alex took the job. Before her was another woman named Amanda Bingsley, who managed just three months at Miller before vanishing off the face of the Earth, as far as Alex could tell. Before her, two more women. Irina Klein and Ji-Woo Kim. This was all in the space of about 16 months. Which meant they averaged about four months each. That was almost as long as Alex had managed.

Her skills as a researcher were second to none, and Alex was not letting the only lead she had get away. These women all went somewhere, and if their work pages weren’t updated that meant it wasn’t likely to be law.

Why would four women leave law careers that quickly? Well, harassment of course, but in around the same amount of time? That was suspicious.

Some more digging landed her on Tina Ryan’s social media page. Well, not Tina anymore. Old posts showed the woman from the professional images, and were serious and hopeful about finishing college and starting her career with a great new job.

Now, just over four months after that career was apparently over, she was listed under the name ‘Cherry Ryan’ and her job was at something called The Velvet Lounge. A quick search revealed that to be a strip club in a seedy suburb of the city. Maybe they needed legal counsel and Tina was that desperate.

The other three women were nowhere to be found. Their names revealed nothing. These four women, besides ‘Cherry’, seemed to have been wiped from the internet. All four were incredibly pretty, as Tommy had insinuated. Tina, a slim redhead with freckles over her nose. Amanda, a buxom blonde. Ji-Woo a Korean woman with striking eyes and an upturned nose, and Irina, with a cold expression and long, flowing black hair.

With little else she could do, Alex tried sending a message to Tina, but she couldn’t. There was no way to even add her as a friend.

She would have to try something else.

***

The streetlights flickered on as Alex arrived at the Velvet Lounge. It was part of a strip mall, almost inconspicuous save the signage that showed a woman lifting her leg up and down in pink neon. She was wearing a relatively casual outfit; tight leggings and a halter top, looking more like she would head to the fitness class next door.

The doorman at the Velvet Lounge almost laughed when he realised Alex was going in. He didn’t stop her, of course.

Inside was a stage with a long catwalk leading to a pole, surrounded by men waiting for the next dancer. The lighting was low, and the floor was carpeted in black. On one side of the room was a bar with more men sitting around it, drinking glasses of whisky and beer. She was the only woman in the place.

Suddenly, the lights dipped on the stage, and music began to play, pounding beats with a soft, incomprehensible voice speaking to the rhythm.. A voice announced through a tinny speaker that the next dancer was on her way, and ready to ‘pop her Cherry.’

Alex sat at the bar and watched. It had to be Tina.

The woman who walked out was stunning. Her red, curly hair flowed down her back, over a tight navy jumpsuit that showed a lot of cleavage thanks to a zipper that ran from top to crotch. The word ‘police’ was printed on the breast. Her long legs tapered down into massive red heels.

It was Tina. The face was the same, even with heavy makeup. Alex watched the former lawyer strut down the catwalk, reach the pole and wrap her body around it, coiling like a snake. The men surrounding her cheered and the music became louder. Tina, or Cherry, danced with a sinewy motion that drew the eye instantly. Her body, as more was revealed, had the eyes of everyone in the room.

Alex was almost jealous. That kind of attention. Every man focused on you. The man to her left at the bar didn’t even know Alex existed anymore, as Tina writhed on the stage and tossed the jumpsuit aside to reveal a tiny string bikini. A part of her wanted the attention. Alex didn’t want to be a stripper, but she did want to show off, to be desired. That was what she should feel. What she should want.

Wasn’t it?

There was suddenly the inescapable feeling that Alex was watching herself from outside her body. Her body was becoming aroused, getting wet at the thought of dancing and being seen and captivating every man in the room, but another part of her felt like she was observing all that. Witnessing her own turbulent desires clashing.

Tina peeled off her bikini top and the crowd went wild as she jiggled her soft, pale tits. Alex felt a deep pang of jealousy. Why didn’t Shaun see her that way? Why did she have to get that from the likes of Tommy? Maybe Shaun just didn’t deserve her and she should find a man who really wanted her. Who knew she deserved all that adoration.

The dance ended with Tina’s waist band stuffed with dollar bills, and she walked backstage, stopping before she vanished to blow a kiss to a man sitting beneath her.

The feelings faded and Alex shook her head. The pulsing, thumping music stopped too. Now she had a mission. She walked to the back of the stage and toward a door with ‘staff only’ emblazoned on it. A man stood in front of it; tall, muscular and imposing.

“Hi,” Alex said, “I’m, um, I’m here to see a friend. I have something for her.”

The man looked down at Alex with a raised eyebrow. “Which one?”

“Ti-Cherry, I mean. I’m here for Cherry.”

He sighed. “Not tonight. Guys pull this shit all the time, first time I’ve seen a chick try it, but you still ain’t gettin’ in.”

It took Alex a moment to understand. “You think I’m… a lesbian?”

“And you want some stripper pussy.”

The man was so crass, but Alex needed to get to Tina. She had to know what happened. “I’m straight, baby… you want me to prove it?” she said, slowly running her tongue along her lips.

“Oh, now we’re talking. Maybe that little mouth got some skills you can show off?”

“Maybe, but I need to see Cherry first, big boy.” She felt utterly stupid, but the man fell for it all the same, opening the door with a dazed grin. Alex felt a rush of arousal at the whole experience as she stepped through.

“No bullshit back there, in and out. Five minutes. Then you pay the piper,” he grabbed his crotch as he spoke and Alex just smiled and walked inside.

The changing room was full of costumes, mirrors surrounded by lights, many broken, and women. Lots of women. Tina was sitting in a corner, now in sweatpants and a hoody, but her red hair stuck out.

“Hey, um, Tina?” Alex said as she approached.

“My name is Cherry, sugar,” the woman replied in a southern accent.

“It used to be Tina, right?”

The woman’s face twitched. She grabbed Alex’s wrist, hard, and pulled her close to whisper in her ear. “You’ve got the wrong woman.”

Alex tried to pull away, but the grip on her wrist was too hard. “I want to help you.”

“You can’t,” hissed Tina. “It’s too late. Are you the new one?”

“What new one?” Alex could feel her hand going a little numb.

“He did something to us. I was a fucking lawyer,” Tina sobbed. “Oh god, I can’t be seen like this. My husband left me. I’ve got nothing left. I don’t have a choice. I can’t… I can’t get away.”

“Just leave, Tina,” Alex whispered.

“I told you,” she said, loosening her grip finally, “I can’t. I need to show off.”

Alex shook her head. “I can help you. Let me help you.”

“No. You don’t get it. I can’t stop. Ok?”

“Please, just… here, take my card at least. Put it somewhere safe. Call me. It’s my personal number. I need to know what’s going on here, Tina.”

“You’re in danger,” Tina breathed.

“What do you-“

A door swung open and a familiar voice boomed in the room. “Hello ladies.”

Tommy.

“Get out of here before Master sees you,” Tina said. “You can’t help us. Just get the fuck out, there’s a door there. Before he notices.”

A wall of mirrors blocked Tommy from seeing her, and Alex could just about peek through a gap to confirm it was him. He was leaning down to a Korean woman. She had an upturned nose and piercing eyes. Ji-Woo. Whatever Tommy was whispering to her made her eyes roll back and her hand move between her legs as Tommy squeezed her nipples.

“I said go, you dumb bimbo,” snapped Tina.

Alex nodded. “Call me, please.” Then she slid out the back entrance into an alley, and ran around the building to her car.

***

Squeezed into a miniskirt, with her nylons and her heels, and the white blouse on again, Alex was ready for work. She felt close to something. Answers maybe, but more importantly, she felt she had a lead to chase. Something to hold onto as she suffered through another day.

Yet when she walked in and felt the eyes fall on her, she didn’t feel like she was suffering. With Shaun still gone, she enjoyed the attention of the men even more. How Clive’s gaze lingered on her lips, now a bubblegum pink. How Tyler watched her legs like all he wanted in life was to pull them apart. And Anton’s stare drawn to her clicking heels.

Sitting at her desk, she felt good. Not just good, horny. Really, really horny. It got stronger as the day wore on, and she found herself crossing her legs so Tyler could see, and dangling her heel in front of Anton. She even puckered into a kiss-face for Clive. Tommy though, was mostly confined to his office.

Alex felt a little too good about her teasing and flirting to think about it until lunch, when she found herself alone in the office. Everyone had gone for lunch, and Tommy hadn’t even glanced her way. She partly wondered whether he had actually seen her, and partly wondered why the hell he wasn’t ogling her like he should. Alex craved his attention.

A strange impulse came over her to be waiting for him in his office when he returned, and she tried to fight that urge. She didn’t want to actually fuck the guy, she just wanted him to want her like Shaun didn’t. Shaun was just a wimp anyway, she needed a man who appreciated her hot body, the effort she was putting into her makeup and hair. Who actually responded to her teasing.

The idea would not leave her mind, and she walked toward the small office beyond the desks. No-one would be back for about thirty minutes, so Alex sat on Tommy’s chair, breathing in the scent of his cologne. She wondered if she could find out what he really liked on the computer, checking his browser history. It was deleted.

She sighed and clicked around again, and came back to the porn folder, with the two subfolders. Tommy was listening to audio that made him controlling and aggressive, but why? The ‘Alpha Mindset’ stuff was, when she slipped on his headphones, predictably stupid. A bunch of mantras about ‘leaving the beta behind’ and ‘being the man they don’t want you to be, the one they’re scared of’.

Alex almost laughed, but then it was clearly working, wasn’t it? Next she tried the ‘Slut Brainwash’ folder. The first file on the list, 1: Show Off, was about putting herself out there for the men around her. She felt good listening to it, like it was safe and familiar. Like getting into a warm bath. It was difficult to turn it off, but curious as she was, Alex listened to pieces of the others.

Part two was about being sexually open, letting your sexual side out. Part three about wanting to give and receive pleasure. Part four was about not thinking anymore. Part five about letting go of your desires to embrace being a slut. It went on like that, escalating into total and utter promiscuity and exhibitionism, with plenty of submission, dumbing down, and enforcement of the programming.

It was so familiar for Alex, she had a hard time stopping. Time seemed to slip by rapidly as she absorbed it all. It was as though she were hearing words that made so much sense to her, spoken for the first time, but with an incredible sense of déjà vu.

Her body bristled with arousal as the files played. The wetness between her legs was obvious as she felt them open wider, pushing the tight fabric of her skirt. Show off, be slutty, be wanted, be desired, be open. That sounded so right. So good.

The door opened and Alex let out a small yelp and ripped the headphones from her head.

Tommy let out a low chuckle. “Find anything interesting?”

She looked at him with an open mouth, her legs open and one hand halfway to her pussy. “N-no, just… I was… I was looking for a… a file for the case.”

“Right, makes perfect sense,” he said with a cheshire cat grin. “Jump into the visitor seat, slut, I needed to talk to you anyway.”

She didn’t hesitate in doing as he told her. She’d been caught, and knew he’d want to make her suffer. Punish her for her curiosity. She watched him slowly lower himself into his chair, acting as casually as possible, dragging things out. Finally, he was sitting. He looked at the screen and laughed loudly.

“I’ll just close this for now. I’ve got something else to deal with. You’ve applied for another job, right?”

Alex’s eyes opened wide, her lips parted and she felt herself sink into the chair. Her mouth felt dry, like it was suddenly filled with wool. “How… How did you know?”

“Word gets around, bitch, it’s a small town. But don’t worry, I fixed it.”

She knew exactly what he meant, but the glimmer of hope was hard to quell. “Fixed it how?”

“I called them and told them what a dumb whore you are, that you’re a fucking terrible lawyer and they should hire anyone else over you.”

She felt her body swimming, the air around her thick and heavy. The butterflies in her stomach became lead weights pulling her down. Everywhere felt as though it was tingling, electric and bristling with nervous energy. Like her skeleton wanted to escape from her skin. Alex began to sob.

“Why? Why would you do this to me?”

Tommy shook his head, smiled, and said gently, “because I want you more.”

Through her tears, Alex looked at him. He was warm, reaching a hand out to her and placing it softly on her shoulder. “What?”

“I want you, Alex. I want you more than they do. More than Shane does, more than anyone.”

She slumped back in her chair, not knowing if that was good, that she was wanted and desired, or if this was the worst thing she’d ever heard.

“I know it’s hard to change, Ally, but you don’t need to feel so bad. I’ve got big plans for you.”

She blinked, trying to stop the tears, but they flooded forth, rolling down her cheeks. Her hope was gone. Her boyfriend was gone. Her career was over. Maybe this was better. Maybe this was easier.

“You don’t need to think anymore, babe, you can just let go now. Let Tommy take care of everything.” He stood and walked to her, wrapping his strong arms around her body. He smelled nice. His shirt was silky.

“I-I just don’t know what to do,” Alex said through her tears.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, you don’t need to be the big smart career woman now. You can just be with me.” Tommy placed his hands on her cheeks and looked her directly in the eyes.

“I don’t… I don’t want to think anymore,” she replied, staring back into his.

“That’s right Ally, no need to think or be strong. You’ve tried so hard. Just like the others. But it’s time to rest now.”

Alex squeezed her eyes shut and gripped the chair’s arms. “I-I shouldn’t do this.”

“You don’t need to think. Just listen to me Ally, listen to Master.”

She shook her head, but something in his words made her feel confused, like she should listen. She should just switch off. And the idea of facing everything in her life disintegrating was too hard. Maybe she could just let him be there, let him comfort her.

“You can be my good girl.”

Alex snapped.

She pushed him away and stood up. “No, Tommy, I can’t, I can’t,” she blurted as she moved for the door, bawling now, thick streaks of mascara rushing down her cheeks.

“You will, they always do,” Tommy said as she pulled open the door. “You can’t fight the slut inside.”

She almost fell out of the office and staggered toward the meeting room, the only place she could get a little privacy. She pulled open the door, walked through and slammed it shut, then sat in a chair, put her head in her hands and screamed.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door. “Please leave me alone, Tommy. Please.”

“It’s Dev, can I come in?”

The door opened before she could reply, and she didn’t bother looking up. The man closed the door softly behind him and sat down.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

Without lifting her head from her arms, she turned and looked at him. “What do you care?”

“I deserve that. I was… I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. This place, it just seems to do something to people.”

“Like Tina?” Alex choked.

“Do you know why Tommy makes you do the casework? Gives you the hard jobs?”

“I don’t know Dev, to punish me for having a vagina?”

“Because,” Dev said, with a very soft tone, “you’re smarter than him. Smarter than any of them. He’s covering his ass because he has no fucking idea how to be a lawyer. And he’s scared Daddy will take his trust fund away.”

“Really?” Alex wondered what he was doing, what bullshit she’d have to deal with next.

“I told my wife.”

Alex moved her head up, her eyebrows raised. “You did?”

“I-I made a mistake. I let this place turn me into someone I don’t want to be. Let them pressure me into being an asshole for so long that I became one. We’re going to therapy. We might be ok, but I don’t know how I’ll afford it.”

“Why not?” asked Alex, wiping away her tears.

“Because I’m quitting, Alex.”

“But your family.”

“My family needs me to be a better man.”

Alex let out a laugh. A soft, warm laugh. “I’m… I’m going to delete the video. It’s caused me enough trouble.”

“You deserve more than this place Alex. They can try to break you, but they can’t change who you are, in here,” Dev said, pointing to her heart.

“That was so cheesy, dude,” she laughed.

“Too many Bollywood romances I guess, but Alex,” he said, pausing for a moment. “I am sorry.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Dev.”

“Don’t thank me for finally realising who I am.”

***

Dev’s resignation brought fireworks. Shouting and accusations and threats of deportation. Finally, Tommy had asked, ‘how could you leave me man, I did so much for you.’

The whole thing had been so overblown that Tommy left early, and dragged the other men with him, leaving Alex alone in the office again.

She sat for a while, just thinking, wondering what she could possibly do. A call to Shaun got no answer. She needed him. Really, really needed him. What had she been thinking? What was going on in her head? Those strange files on Tommy’s computer seemed to affect her a lot, but why? Why had she become so incredibly sexual, and stupid about it too?

This was not her. This was not the person who walked into the job nearly four months ago. Alex felt like that woman was dead.

Alex liked that woman a lot more than who she was now. Alone, confused, scared and trapped in a job with no future. Was this it? Was this the extent of her dreams? What the fuck had she done to deserve it? How had she let it happen? She let every sleazy man in the office eye fuck her and why?

It made no sense. None of it did. Tommy and his strip club didn’t either. What the hell was happening?

Alex was angry again. Angry with herself and Tommy and everyone and everything. She balled her fists tight and slammed them down on her desk.

“FUCK!”

She did it again, even harder, shouting in pain as she felt the sting of the desk against her hands and then again in surprise as something dropped on her foot. She bent down and looked at it, a piece of white plastic with wire mesh coating it, and a wire trailing from it to her computer. It was very slim, and looked to have been stuck beneath her desk. A speaker.

Alex moved it closer to her ear and heard something familiar. Slut Brainwash, part three. The thing was playing at a low volume, but it was clear when she listened to it. And then she felt it, the pleasure of listening. The glow between her legs. Like everything was ok again. She didn’t need to think, she just needed to be a horny, happy slut who showed off for men.

She moved her hand sharply, thinking she should rip the thing out of her computer and toss it through a window. But she didn’t. She listened some more. She stayed longer and sank into the chair as the soothing words slipped into her mind.

And Alex felt something about her new self slide into place. She stuck the speaker back to the underside of the desk.

***

She left early, there was no point hanging around all day with no-one there, and nothing she cared enough to do. Her life was, effectively, over. What did she have now? The job of her dreams had gone up in smoke, her boyfriend had been gone for days.

Alex walked through the door, kicked the heels off, slamming them against the wall, and felt her tears welling up again.

“Alex?”

Shaun’s voice washed over her like a soothing blanket. “Oh my god, Shaun, I’ve missed you so much.”

She ran toward him, but he raised a hand to stop her before she could feel his arms around her. “Hold on. I’m not here to just pretend nothing happened. I’m here to talk. Alex… what the hell is going on?”

The dam burst. Alex sobbed into his arms on the couch as she told him everything. The harassment, the flirting and teasing, the woman at the strip club, the moment she almost fell into Tommy’s arms. She watched Shaun’s face contort with rage, his confused expressions at times, his anger at Tommy and at her. But he listened. To every word. He took care to understand the details. He touched her shoulder and her hands when she struggled and helped her find the words. Finally, she stopped after blurting out every event for the past few months.

Shaun sat in silence for a long, painful moment. And then he inhaled sharply though his nose, and said, “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

She put a hand on Shaun’s fist. “Shaun, no. This isn’t his fault. It’s mine.”

He looked at her, fury in his eyes. He was angry with her, no mistaking it, but his expression slowly softened. “I’m hurt, Alex. You know you could have told me what you were feeling. You could have had help.”

“I know. I was an idiot. I just… I couldn’t understand it. Why I was acting like that.”

“You have to quit, you know that, right?”

Alex looked at her boyfriend. He was right. He was absolutely, completely right. She should. She should do what Dev did. Walk away and find whatever pieces of her life she could and put it back together. But she couldn’t do that.

“I can’t.”

“Why, Alex? Because of some dumb brainwashing thing?”

She blushed. She didn’t think it was that. What if it was? What if she was going to go back into that place the next day and just become stupider and sluttier and betray Shaun all over again? What if she didn’t resist Tommy’s advances?  

“No, I need to go back. I’m done after tomorrow, one way or the other.”

***

Alex walked into the office the next day in her miniskirt, with stockings and suspenders. Heels polished, lips the same red as her lingerie. Eyes done up with false lashes and eyeliner. Her hair was up in a high bun with tresses curling down each side of her forehead.

She walked directly into the meeting room when she arrived at the office, stopped at the open door and crooked a finger to beckon Tyler inside. Once inside, she closed and locked the door.

“Damn babe,” said Tyler as she walked past him, “you look edible today. Gonna make up for no-showing on me?”

She turned, moved closer to him, placed a hand on his chest and stood on her tip-toes to whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry Daddy, I was a bad girl. And I’m about to get even worse. But you want me, don’t you?”

“Damn right, doll," he replied, putting his hand on the small of her back, then down to her ass, pulling up her skirt and running a finger over the top of her stocking. “I’ve been waiting.”

She smiled, bit his earlobe and whispered; “You don’t want your fiancée knowing do you?”

Tyler laughed, “None of the boys will tell now that dumbass Dev is gone.”

“Oh Daddy, I’m not so sure about that.”

He moved his head slightly back, looking at her with his mouth screwed to one side. “What are you talking about?”

“Just how I got some pictures of you with that blonde on Saturday night.”

Tyler moved his hand from her and backed up. “You fuckin’ bitch. Give me your phone right now, those aren’t going anywhere.”

Alex stepped back and Tyler moved forward, leaning down over her, but she smiled. “Threats won’t get you anywhere. I’ve got them backed up at home, and scheduled to send to her within an hour. So be a good boy and back the fuck off.”

He did. “How did you even find her? What the fuck?”

“You’re going to treat me with some respect from now on, do you understand me, asshole?”

“Fuck you, you little bitch,” Tyler spat.

“Naughty boy. Maybe I could just send the pics now. I’m sure she’ll understand you just have needs.”

Tyler gritted his teeth. “Not a fucking word to her, and I won’t say shit to you, ok?”

“That’s better, Daddy,” she said, dripping with sarcasm. “Now, back to work. You wouldn’t want to make anyone suspicious.”

He grumbled under his breath, but he unlocked the door, and went back to his desk. Meanwhile Alex stayed in the room for a moment. She was shaking, adrenaline burning inside her. She was also extremely aroused. She could feel Tyler’s lust despite his anger. Feel his need to fuck her, to punish her, hurt her. She revelled in it. The tent in his trousers, the ways his pupils dilated. Everything about their interaction made her incredibly horny.

It took a while to regain her composure. Once she did, she walked to Clive’s desk and sat down beside him.

“Hi sweetie,” she said. “You still like my lips, don’t you?”

Clive turned and showed her the most lecherous smile she could imagine. “Oh yes. I want to taste them. You owe me a kiss.”

“See Clive, baby, here’s the thing. You told me something naughty that you did. And you need me to keep that a secret, right?”

Clive’s grin turned to a grimace. “What did you say?”

She smiled, licking her lips and feeling her body react as Clive stared at them.  “I said that you want me to keep your naughty secret, don’t you?”

His jaw moved forward, then side to side. He looked like a strange, scared animal. He also couldn’t stop staring at Alex’s lips, and she made the most of it, puckering and pouting before speaking again. “So no kiss. In fact, you don’t touch me, you don’t look at me, you don’t bother me. You get that?”

Clive was silent for a moment, then he sighed, and said “ok, fine.”

“Always a pleasure, creep,” said Alex, before plucking her lipstick from her own desk with a long lean and painting her lips again. “No peeking now.”

Clive tore his eyes from her lips and Alex laughed, seeing his obvious erection under the desk.

Her body was aflame with desire now. She was enjoying this too much. There was something electric in the air around her as she fully committed to becoming a being of pure sexuality. A fantasy come to life in the office. She could feel the eyes on her, they were like hands rubbing her body all over.

There was no effort to calm down before she clicked across the office to Anton, sat on a nearby chair and put her feet up on his desk, right in front of his face.

“Wanna kiss them?”

Anton stared in slack-jawed wonder, then managed to say; “y-yes please.”

“You’re not allowed,” she said, pulling them down and planting them on the ground. “You’ve been up to no good, and I know all about it. In fact, I’ll make sure you’re completely fucked, Anton, unless you tell me what I want to know.”

“And what’s that?”

“How Tommy’s involved.”

Anton shook his head. “You’ll be bent over his desk in a couple of days, slut. Look how you’re acting. I don’t give a shit.”

Alex lifted a foot up in the air, stretching her leg out, and pushed the sole right into Anton’s face, watching his eyes cross as he stared at the red of it. “Tell that to the sole of my shoe.”

“I-I said I don’t care,” he muttered.

Alex let the shoe slide down, dangling from her stockinged foot. “You sure? You can kiss my sole if you tell me.”

He paused, transfixed by the slow motion of her dangling shoe, and then watched helplessly as she let it fall from her foot, and started to wiggle her toes. “Well, baby?”

Anton leaned forward, his lips parting.

“No, bad boy,” she said, her pussy screaming for attention now, “you have to confess.”

Anton blinked. Opened and closed his mouth, and finally spoke. “It’s the cash account. It’s from the club. They… fuck, they pay a cut of what the girls make.”

She smiled, lowered her foot to the ground, and slid her shoe back on. “Thank you for your cooperation. Now if you keep being a good boy and treating me with respect, I’ll let you have a taste of my stockings someday. Maybe.”

Anton shivered with arousal, and so did Alex. He looked disappointed, but was powerless to do anything. He wanted her, and Alex loved how much he wanted her.

It was time for the final part of her plan.

She knocked on the door of Tommy’s office and he called her in, telling her to ‘sit’. She sat.

“Come back to me at last, good girl,” he said.

“No, Tommy. I’m here to give you a chance. I want you to give a real recommendation to the firm I want to work at. If you do, nothing has to happen.”

He cackled. His laugh was so loud it hurt her ears. He wore a satisfied, smug smile and slammed his hands on the table. “You dumb bitch, why the fuck would I do that? You’re almost ready.”

She expected his response, but her curiosity was piqued, though she had an idea what he was talking about. “Ready for what?”

“Your promotion, slut.”

Tommy laughed again, his grin growing wider. He stood up from the desk and began pacing around the office, looking down on Alex as she sat.

“Promotion? To what? Stripper? Go fuck yourself, Tommy.”

“Oh, don’t be so mean, you love the attention. I saw you out there. Putting your whore foot in Anton’s face, making kissy faces with Clive. You think I don’t see through you? You love it.”

Alex felt her cheeks heating up. She was still so aroused from what she’d been doing. She should have waited before confronting Tommy. Her body ached for pleasure, to fuck. “I-I have evidence Tommy, I know what you’ve been doing to the girls here.”

“I don’t fucking care bitch, you’ll be too busy sucking my cock like a mindless little whore to do anything about it.”

“No, no way. Never.”

Tommy approached her, putting a hand on the chair, and leaned close to her ear. “Good sluts show off.”

Alex felt her body lurch forward, a shudder of pleasure coursing through her.

“The triggers work. Good sluts need attention.”

Again, her body betrayed her, and Alex felt a longing between her legs that her hands desperately wanted to do something about. She was at eye level with Tommy’s crotch. She could just open his trousers and-

“You know what you want? To be up on stage. Dancing like a good slut for every man in the place. Being the centre of attention.”

-open his trousers and pull it out and taste it and ride it until she screamed.

“You need it, to be eye-fucked so hard you cum just from being stared at. Too dumb to fight it now, too slutty not to want it. You can’t hide who you really are anymore.”

Alex felt like a passenger in her own body. The words, the triggers, whatever he called them, they hit that part of her that the audio had been hitting for weeks, months. It was so hard to fight it. So hard not to give in to that place in her mind. To just accept it.

Accept it. That rang in her mind. Was it the programming?

“Come on slut, pull out my cock and get to work. No more fighting.”

It was Alex. It was her.

She opened his trousers and pulled out Tommy’s cock. He smirked. “My good girl.”

And then she grabbed it hard, squeezing it tight enough to make his eyes bulge. “No. I’m not.”

Alex stood up, still holding Tommy’s cock with a vice grip. It was all he could do to stay upright, let alone fight back. “I never was.”

Eye to eye, she could see the shock in his face. The sudden realisation that things were not going his way. Then he smiled again. “You’re still holding my cock, slut, so stroke it.”

She stared into his eyes, her arousal at fever pitch. She felt alive, alive in a way she had never felt before. “You know Tommy, you’re right.”

His face was turning red, his eyes wide and cheeks puffed. “Right about what?”

“I can’t hide who I really am. Not forever. No-one can.”

Tommy was falling forward, the pain too intense to keep his body from wobbling. “Let me go.”

“You tried to change it, instead of just accepting it. But all you did was become a monster.”

Tommy shook his head. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You don’t realise what you’ve done,” said Alex, digging her red nails into Tommy’s pink skin. “You created another monster.”

Her hand clenched tight and Tommy screamed in pain. She let go of his penis, and despite everything, it was erect. Rock hard, in fact.

“I can see you now. Really see you. You’re just a pathetic piece of shit. And you know why?”

He fell backward, landing on his ass on the floor. “What the fuck? I don’t know, fuck off.”

“Because you can’t just be yourself. You can’t just be submissive,” Alex said, unclipping her hair and shaking it out.

“I’m not fucking submissive, I’m an alpha, a fucking domin-“

Alex pressed her foot down on his crotch. “You love how that feels, don’t you?”

His cock twitched. “Thought so,” she said.

“You’re rubbing my cock, what do you expect? Dumb bi-“

She pressed harder. “Be a good boy.” Alex felt like her world was unfolding around her. The hints of power and control she’d felt teasing and seducing the other men just preludes to this. This moment of absolute power. Of being in total control.

She’d never been so turned on in her life. She could feel her wetness snaking down from her panties to her stockings. “You know, I should thank you.”

“What?” blabbered Tommy, still on the ground, his hands propping up his upper body while Alex rolled her toe over his hard cock.

“You showed me who I am. You unlocked something in me that I tried to hide for so long. It just wasn’t what you expected,” she pushed her toe hard into his balls, “was it?”

“N-no,” he groaned, leaking precum. It slid down his shaft and onto the tip of Alex’s shoe.

“But you should thank me, really. I saw through you. Saw who you really are. And now you can embrace it.”

“I don’t want that, I’m the boss, I’m a real man. I’m the one wh-“

“Shut the fuck up. Now.”

He obeyed. His cock grew stiffer.

“You can’t change someone, Tommy. All that alpha crap is bullshit anyway.”

“B-but you listened to the slut files, you should be begging for my cock.”

Alex laughed. Her boss was on his back on the floor, covering her shoe in precum. The man who had tormented her for months, who made her life hell.

“Please, stop doing this to me,” he said. She had reduced him to a quivering wreck under her heel.

And that thought sent a shudder of arousal through her. It made her feel even more powerful. She wanted to make him lick her pussy, or to climb on top of him and ride his cock for as long as she wanted without letting him cum, ever. But that wasn’t right for Tommy.

“You think you’re a real man Tommy. Real men don’t need to brainwash women to get laid.”

His expression changed utterly at that moment. His usually smug face looked so young and lost. Like he’d been stripped of any of the power he had accumulated by pretending to be in control and now, now he was laid bare. His prick bobbed and bounced with desperate need.

“Get on your knees,” commanded Alex.

He obeyed instantly, kneeling before her, his cock standing to attention.

“Now who’s the bitch?”

“M-me,” he whimpered.

Alex laughed, as loud and long as Tommy had when she walked into the office. She looked down at him, his bowed head, his below average cock, and smirked. “I’m in charge now. Isn’t that right, pet?”

“Y-yes Alex.”

“Oh, that’s not good enough. I think Mistress would be a better fit, don’t you?”

The way his cock responded to that delighted Alex, it made her clit throb and her nipples stiff.

“Yes… Mistress,” said Tommy.

“Now, you’re going to do a few things for me, do you understand?”

“Of course Mistress,” he replied.

“Good boy, start by kissing my soles while I lay it all out for you.”

Tommy eagerly obeyed, planting dozens of soft kisses on the bottom of Alex’s shoes as she sat back in the chair and told him what to do. “No more harassment. I’ll be respected here until I get another job.

“Yes Mistress.” More kisses, more cock twitches.

“And you will call that firm and tell them I deserve the role, that I’m amazing. Because I am. Aren’t I?”

“Yes Mistress, you’re amazing Mistress,” breathed Tommy.

“No more kisses. I’m upset. You were such a pig to me Tommy.”

“I’m sorry Mistress,” he said.

Alex laughed. One more thing, you pathetic pig. You’re going to buy a chastity cage and wear it at all times. That cock of yours isn’t good enough for a woman. Any woman.”

Tommy began to spasm, his hips bucking. “Yes Mistress, you’re right Mistress.” 

Alex stood up, towering over the kneeling man. “Strip, Tommy. Pants off.”

He nodded, as upset as he was aroused. “Yes Mistress.”

“Thank me for doing this to you.”

Tommy was left wearing just a shirt and socks, his cock bobbing in the air, stiff as a rod. “Thank you Mistress,” he said. 

“Now on all fours and follow me,” Alex demanded. 

Tommy tried to protest. “No, please don’t. Please.” He had his hands in prayer position, still on his knees.

“Tommy, you were so scared of being whatever the fuck a beta is, that you tried to brainwash yourself. You’re pathetic. The biggest loser I’ve ever met in my life. You’re going to do whatever the fuck I tell you, and you’re going to thank me for the privilege. Do you understand me, pig?”

The pre-cum oozing from the tip of his cock to the floor, the squirming, the face bright red and wide-eyed gave Alex the answer before Tommy could whisper, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Crawl behind me,” she said, leading Tommy through the office door. The other men stood and stared as Alex strode out, and then Tommy emerged from behind her, hands and knees on the ground. She placed a heeled foot on his back. “Good pig,” Alex said as she looked around at the stunned faces. “Now, tell them what a pussy you are, Tommy.”

“I-I’m… I’m a… p-p-p-pus-”

“Pigs don’t talk, Tommy.”

Alex began to giggle as he squealed and oinked loudly. 

***

Shaun squirmed under Alex, his body trembling with pleasure.

“Fuck, ok, I think I might forgive you,” he said.

“Oh you’re such a good boy,” she said, patting his head.

“Yes Alex,” he moaned, “I think I’m gonna…”

“Me too,” she said as they wrapped their arms around each other and lost themselves in orgasm.

Finally, after Alex squeezed and milked the last drops of cum from her boyfriend, who panted in her arms, they both fell back onto the pillows.

“Holy shit Alex.”

“You liked that? Me in charge?”

“Yeah, yeah I think I could get used to it.”

“Good. I’m starting to like the new me.”

Four Months Later

“Alex, just the woman I wanted to see.”

“Oh, hi Yasmine, what’s up?”

The new job started a few days earlier. Her dream firm, her career back on track.

“Well, I know you just started here, but considering how good a recommendation we got, I think you can take on something big.”

“I appreciate it. What’s the case?”

Yasmine smiled; a knowing smile that made Alex even more curious. “I think you’ll find this… particularly interesting. A group of women are suing their former employer. You might be familiar with the firm.”

Yasmine placed a folder on the desk. Alex opened it, and laughed.

“Oh, I’m very familiar.”