Page 63 of The Other Side of Paradise

“Tell me, Allison.”

“Ah, fuck. How many times have you… you know…masturbated?” I whispered the word. “Since then.”

“Three.”

“Wow.” That was hot. I shouldn’t have asked that. Now I was seeing her bed and realizing that at leastonetime this week, she’d probably…

“What are you thinking about?” she said, a playful glint in her eyes, and I shook my head, blushing furiously.

“Nothing. Let’s move on.”

“No, that was my question.”

Ah, shit. That was a terrible question. She looked immensely pleased with herself. I… wasn’t. I groaned, and I braced myself before I took another shot, knocking it back like liquid flame in my throat, and her jaw dropped, laughing, scandalized.

“Allison.Now I’m going to be imagining what you were thinking about.”

“Imagine away,” I said, looking away as I set the shot glass down hard, coughing into my hand. I was definitely getting a little fuzzy at the edges now. That stuff was potent. I wasn’t going to make it through four of them. I needed something really hard to answer. “Okay, my turn. What’s your weirdest kink?”

I thought she would have infinitely more trouble with it than she did. She didn’t even blink. “Like, that I would actuallybe into doing, or just to fantasize and read like sexy erotica and stuff?”

“Um… whatever’s weirdest overall, so probably the latter.”

“Brainwashing.”

God, she wasn’t even remotely embarrassed. I couldn’t in a million years keep up. “Seriously?”

She laughed. “It’s a hot setup in, like, fanfiction or erotica or whatever, you know? Like,oh, prudish girl gets turned into desperate slut,I’ve read a couple like that.”

“Uh… wow. Honestly, I admire how open you are.”

She put a hand to her chest, a mock look like it was a great compliment. “Thank you.”

“Wait, so you like being in charge a little, but you fantasize about getting brainwashed?”

She huffed. “It’s hard to find ones whereshe’sbrainwashinghim.Honestly, it’s probably more like I’m imagining I’m the guy.”

Imagining she was the guy. Right. Because… because she wanted to imagine herself turning a girl into a desperate slut ready to serve her. Yeah. That was normal. “Huh. That’s, uh… kinda… hot.”

I should have kept that on the inside, but I was definitely tipsy now. She put her hands up. “Right? I’m sure you’d prefer being on the other side, though. I hear you want someone to give you directions.”

“Um… no comment.” I was so turned on I was going to die. Maybe I could excuse myself to the bathroom and masturbate real quick so I could focus. It would take me about two seconds at this point.

“That’s comment enough for me,” she laughed. “Okay, my question. That one time you masturbated,” she said, shifting closer. “What were you thinking about?”

“Ah, shit.” That was supposed to stay on the inside too. I couldn’t think straight. “Um… which time is that?”

She smiled impishly. “You know which time. The time since I met you.”

“I…” I looked over at the shot glasses. I wasnotgoing to fare well on three. But I couldn’t sit here and tell her I’d been thinking about her… giving me directions… oh, god. Maybe I’d black out and this would be over. I picked up the shot glass, and I heard Stella laughing incredulously as I hesitated with it up to my lips, squeezed my eyes shut, and took the shot.

“I thought you couldn’t take more than two. I might as well have just poured four shots for you.”

I choked on it harder this time, hot and fuzzy in all my senses, but I set the glass down. “My turn,” I said, desperate now for something to throw her off. “How do you like it when someone is going down on you?”

It worked, almost—she blushed a little, drawing her legs tighter together, but she smiled wider, biting her lip. “A lot.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”