The Masque: Minting Jessica

It was a warm high summer Monday near the end of the college year. The early afternoon sun was shining down on the Pinewood University campus and its 19th century red brick wall buildings with patina heavy bronze roofs.

The young student Jessica Trent, twenty five years of age, did not feel like going to class yet again. It was way too warm for her liking. She had other things on her mind which were much more fun than sweating and learning in a stuffed class room.

Her study subjects were psychology and educational sciences. Those also were the main subjects of the small University. It was famed for them with worldwide recognition. A sure bet to have a good job when one made it through the hard studies despite the high dropout rate of one out of four. Well, more because of it.

A short glance into the mirror revealed her womanly but sportive 1,65 meter tall figure wrapped up provocatively in a white tank top without bra and a black lofty skirt about half the length of her long shapely legs with nearly sheer black panties underneath. Her brunette shoulder long hair was open and framed her fair face nicely.

Her doe like brown eyes gleamed. She loved her body. Coming from a very restrictive and conservative middle class home she had discovered here at Pinewood which affect her looks had on men. It gave her free rides, free drinks, better grades, and a high forgiveness rate on missed classes. Additionally she had no problems to catch up on the bodily fun she had been denied in her earlier years at home.

She put on some sandals and headed out. Two girls from another dorm room across the hall whispered as she passed by. She knew they called her ‘slutty’ again because she used her appearance to her advantage. It was no secret that she had boyfriends at her leisure, at her rules, and as long as she wanted. She shrugged such comments off with a laugh, Envy, nothing more. In her opinion she simply enjoyed life and did not want to be tied down with long relationships.

Except her dorm room mate Iris she barely had friends, only people she knew or hung with on occasion. With Iris though she shared mostly everything. A very good friend and the complete opposite of her in character. Jessica was way too absorbed to live out what she had missed in her teens by being under the very strict rule of her parents as to have a big circle of friends for serious social interaction.

She stepped out of the dorm. It was one of five on the small campus of Pinewood that was basically only a dozen buildings strewn into a very nice park area with lots of trees and a water fountain in the center which hosted the statue of the founder of the university in its middle. Only close to two thousand students were at Pinewood because of the narrow field of subjects offered here.

Jessica ignored the hastening students running for class and enjoyed the warm sun on her well-toned soft skin while walking the fine light gravel path through the campus.

One moment she looked at the bigger library building. Nope, no learning today either. On this day she did not want to spend time again midst old books and humming computers.

Her eyes switched over to the modern sports facility behind the library. Maybe later, she thought. Workout was important after all to keep in shape. She enjoyed the pool to swim or the workout center. Both also good places to find well trained boys and attract them. Those were her main hunting grounds.

She went on past the cafeteria. The food was exceptionally good here. One of the bonuses of a small campus. The fewer they had to cook for, the better the result. Being not hungry she left it behind.

Jessica skipped past the main organizational and the four buildings housing offices and class rooms in a hurry. She wanted to avoid being spotted. She headed towards the town using the main exit consisting of always open gates made out of wrought heavy iron. Her feet carried her off the campus. It was surrounded by a rough stone wall giving it an intimate and safe feeling.

Today she felt like walking and thus strode on into Woodborough. The small 50.000 people town sprawled out between the forest with the University to its east and the highway to its west. It was only an hour drive to Chicago to the north east. The surroundings of the small city were dominated by deep and barely touched woods.

The town itself was clean and tidy. It consisted predominantly out of small parks and ponds strewn between buildings as old as the University, colonial style mostly, if not worker houses of more modern descent. It was the postcard view of a safe little satellite community for a metropolis like Chicago.

Her target was the mall. It was only a twenty minute walk. A new shop with exotic and antique furniture had opened. She wanted to see if she could find a divan or small chair for her dorm room to surprise her current ‘boyfriend’ with on the next weekend - or more ‘on’ it.

She entered the modern shoe box shaped long stretched mall with its giant parking space in front and passed the usual mix of food ventures, clothes, book, and electronics stores along with everything else to be found in any other mall. She took her time and did a bit of window shopping on the way. Her class along with time were already forgotten.

Finally she reached the new store. It was exhibiting all types of furniture from different centuries and cultures on two floors. Her eyes shone. This was fun. She loved shopping. She would find something small to have fun on with her boyfriend for sure. Slowly she moved through the displayed pieces.

As she reached the corner with the majority of the couches, she stopped. One of them caught her eye instantly: a small early twentieth century divan with purple velvet covering. She ran her hands over it. It felt good. She sat down and closed her eyes taking in the feeling of the texture on the skin of her legs. Suddenly, when she heard a cough, she noted, she was not alone at all in this corner of the shop.

It was Professor Marcus Bingham leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed in front of his good and expensive looking tailored suit he usually wore. He had a way to turn heads or make rooms go quiet when he entered with his 1,90 meters height, impressively trained figure, and dark tinted skin. He was in his mid-forties, had short black hair which was distinguished with nice gray streaks on his temples, and a stubby beard. She could not recall ever having seen him fully shaved.

The Professor did not look too happy. In fact he looked rather disgruntled. He was staring at her with his piercing forest green eyes. The stare sent an icy shudder down her spine. It was displeased and so intense it made her unable to move or breathe for a moment, as it felt like he was reading her thoughts and feelings. The usual reaction people showed to this stern hypnotic gaze.

She bit her lower lip. Her brown eyes became round and big and she turned into a little motionless statue. When he tapped his foot, she finally sprang up and let her hands tug her top and flatten her skirt. Oh my, did he see too much? shot through her mind and she blushed slightly. Her panties would not have left much to imagination. Usually she used such moves to get her way, but it felt inappropriate with this man.

He always seemed like a predator with a strong dominant aura to her. When being displeased that effect was even more intense. In this case, to the extent she felt as if she should throw herself to his feet to apologize for her fourth missed class instead of reasoning with him. He had that effect on her since day one. He had a strong aura around him she could not evade at all.

Professor Marcus – he always let people call him that, since he did not like his last name for some reason or the other. It was rumored he used Marcus as name since he had had a fall out with his family years back. Still, being called by his first name did not diminish his authority at all.

This also was the explanation for many that he was a lone wolf: no family, no wife, barely any friends. He seemed to live for his studies and the University. Of course, this added to his aura of mystery and made many females have a secret or not so secret crush on him - and she was one of them.

The man that was dwarfing her stood two meters away and just looked at her. She knew he was angry. She had skipped class yet again. She cursed her bad luck that the professor obviously had the same plans of shopping and by that stumbled over her on accident. With preparation she could have spun a tale to explain her absence.

“Professor Marcus! I was … I was just about to go to your class … really … but my … ehh,” she finally blurted out, stuttering, not making much sense at all. In fact she did not even know where she was heading with that weak try of an excuse. Why does he make you feel so vulnerable all the time? she cursed at herself.

His stare simply made her lose her line of thought instantly. Something about that man made her feel small and insignificant. But that also was an enormous turn on for her, since the thought to be close to him, maybe even in his strong arms, promised sure safety. Her stomach was a bee hive, her mind in chaos.

“About to go ... its ended already, Jessica,” his low rough growling voice reached her ears and echoed in her mind. Marcus lifted one eyebrow in exactly that manner which made people flinch in class, since it meant he was about to point out a mistake.

Fuck, what to do? she thought. Her hands clawed into her skirt. She suffered from that very same effect of this gaze and lifted eyebrows. She blushed even more, frantically thinking about a way out, Think, dammit. This is not good at all!.

“It seems you want to fail my class due to too many absent times, girl?” he hit her with a serious question in a flat cold tone. She inhaled sharply and paled. His green eyes were making it impossible for her to look away.

The word ‘fail’ spiraled through her mind. Four times without excuse meant a failed course be default and with her general study situation also dropping out of Pinewood completely. Her parents would be mad and cut her off. She felt trapped and an ice cold shower of fear made the hair on her arms stand up on end. She had hoped to somehow get a C+ with little work. She needed this course to remain within the prescribed amount of classes.

Her heart was beating hard. She could feel it thumping in every fiber of her body when she took a timid step towards Marcus. She bit her lower lip and looked pleadingly up to him. Her hands clenched even more at her side showing white knuckles. She had never even dreamed it would come that far, had taken all warnings lightly. Now she faced utter destruction of all her future plans just like this.

“No, Sir. Please don’t let me fail! I’ll do better, I promise! Give me another chance,” she softly exclaimed. It sounded more like a meek whimper. Her desperation was clearly written into her features.

Usually she would have been sassy with a Professor or play her looks on him. But with Marcus she knew it would not do any good at all. He always was strict and firm in his decisions. And suddenly the lightness was gone. For the first time she was confronted with a life altering situation while being at the mercy of another. It unsettled her greatly.

“Oh, now you get all ‘please Sir’? That won’t do,” Marcus huffed. And then he did something he usually never would outside of the privacy of his home: one hand grabbed the hair in her neck and held her head still, forcing her to look up into his eyes directly.

She was shocked unable to move by this dominant angry touch and could not protest or even move a finger. This was so unexpected and invasive to her private sphere it rendered her helpless. She only could listen.

“You will take a test in private with me right now. You do well ... you are excused for today’s absence ... you do bad, your school year is over and by that your whole career with us at Pinewood. Understood?” he growled. He let her go. She nearly fell flat on her ass because her legs were wobbly and weak. The professor did not wait for an answer. She was not able to speak anyway. Her mouth hung wide open while she stared at him turning and heading out.

She stood there panting and watched him leave. Jessica was in panic now. Her answer could only be to follow. She had to. He was nearly out of her field of vision when she found the use of her legs again.

“I need this!” she exclaimed and ran after him her sandals clacking on the clean anthracite tiled floor of the mall in a fast beat. “I will do the test, Sir! I understood. I will pass and have a chance, yes?” the words tumbled out of her mouth and her breath became fast. She did not get any answer and without question jumped panting into his black BMW to ride shotgun. She imagined, they were heading back to his office or a deserted class room for the test.

“Seat belt,” he growled in a short snap. Jessica flinched at this very commanding tone that let her instantly grab the belt and secure it. Damn his voice, she thought, since she felt she had been unable to do anything but instantly comply even if she wanted to. She sat there silently hunched over while her hands clawed into her skirt.

She had not felt that small, scared, vulnerable, and controlled ever. But she could not bring herself to say a word. Instead she tried to remember all the things from class. She needed to pass this test. At least she tried. The whole situation made it nearly impossible to even remember the basic topics no matter how hard she scrounged for them in her memory.

She was so concentrated that she did not even notice they were not driving to campus but towards his private house. The car stopped. She was pulled out of her desperate inner revision of class topics.

“Put that on,” again this demanding short snap in a commanding tone pierced into her ears. She looked at the silken blindfold dropped into her hands dumbfounded. What the hell? it echoed through her mind. She had looked up and realized she was not on campus.

He had driven her to his private home which was a medium sized one level modern yellow brick wall house with a nice wooden front porch and a shale covered roof. It was certainly spacious for a bachelor living alone. The words ‘in private’ started to make sense now. He would test her in his private study. She gulped.

This behavior did not fit the professor she knew from class. This was wrong, or somehow not what she had expected. He was unsettling her, surprising her. She was not used to this. Usually she was in control and let men do as she desired. Maybe that was why he did it? To make it harder on her, to set her up to fail?

“Oh ... so the test is … a surprise kind of thing?” her statement she wanted to sound cool, calm, and collected turned into a naive clueless stutter of a frightened desperate girl as her fear and insecurity got the better of her. Still she put the blindfold on after taking three deep breaths. She needed this after all. The Professor will not harm me, she told herself reminded of his reputation.

So her world went dark. This was a new feeling. It heightened her other senses more than she had expected. She sat still and let her sense of smell and hearing work. Suddenly she could identify his scent, musky, manly and the smell of leather in the car a lot more intensive than before. She trembled slightly. When he left the car all sounds seemed so loud.

The situation was surreal. But she was kept in check by that one word: ‘fail’. It was like a millstone around her neck and chains on her arms and legs keeping her here and in the now. She tried to calm her breathing and pressed her hands flatly to her legs. Suddenly her outfit designed to turn heads to her favor made her feel so vulnerable and inappropriate.

The loud ‘clack’ of the door opening to her right startled her. The strong hand on her arm helping her out of the car made her shudder. The second time he touched her today and again it send a jolt of tingling through her body. She was so very aware of it along with the sounds and scents around. It was a new but somehow exciting experience.

He lead her over a stone path. She could feel it in her soles and define it by the sound her sandals made. This sensation of being helpless and at someone’s mercy was getting to her. Surprisingly not in a bad way. It woke her sensual core. She felt a wave of arousal creeping up inside herself.

She bit her lip in shame because her nipples stirred. He would notice for sure since she was not wearing a bra. She felt slutty. She would have lied if she had said she never had dreamed about an episode with this handsome mysterious man. But the situation was so serious. This paradox between emotions and reality of course added to her mood.

Why do you think of sex now you silly cow? she scolded herself in her thoughts and tried to focus. Concentrate on the stupid test, she told herself. Maybe this was part of it, some psychological trust part of it all. He wants you to fail. You have to fight and show him, she tried to muster up some determination. Professor Marcus was known to weed out students like no other on campus.

A door was opened in front of her. She was softly pushed forward into the building. The echoes of her steps on a wooden floor were a telltale of that. Suddenly his leading hand was gone. She nearly lost footing and stopped unsure what to do.

“Straight ahead four steps, turn left, then six steps, turn right, another six steps,” his growl from very close behind her back startled her. She inhaled deeply and tried to follow each direction given to her as closely as she could. Her breath was hard and fast. Actually, she kicked her shoes off after the first steps. It was easier that way for her to do even strides and stand firm without them.

She got more secure in this game of his since she did not bump into doors, walls, or furniture following his instructions to the point. She did not realize that this was part of his design to test her and to start to form a bond. He commanded, she followed blindly, and all was well.

Jessica was utterly nervous and at odds with her own feelings and body reactions. She felt, she was aroused. But at the same time she knew, she should rather either be calm or frightened. It confused her.

She inhaled and sensed the scent of leather and wood. Along that her skin signaled warmth of the direct sun. There must be a big window in front of her and furniture of wood covered in leather closely around.

She was surprised about the intuitive picture of the room forming in her mind without seeing it. She stood still and waited. Her mind raced trying to figure out in vain what would come next.

She could not know, she stood in the middle of the professors private play room. She did not see the cross to her right with leather padding, the window up front, or the bondage bench of wood and leather to her left. But she could sense his hulking figure not too far away behind her though.

Then she heard him move. He circled her like a predator assessing his prey. She felt observed in a weird very intimate fashion and instinctively, to give some resemblance of calm, stood upright even pushed her hip to the left and her chest out while putting her hands on her hips.

She tried to calm herself by going into that routine of hers that usually made men wait for her to act or talk as it caught their eyes. This time it was to no avail. Fear and arousal were fighting on a battlefield of confusion within her.

“You want to pass the test now? Or do you want to go and fail - last chance to go - If you want to stay you will say ‘Yes please, let me stay, Sir’ and then you will do exactly as you are told. One mistake, once the word ‘no’, and you failed,” his words were a low growl, somehow a predatory snarl sounding ... promising? threatening? both? They were hitting her emotional core and making her pant once loudly.

Did she have a choice? Could she say no? Did she even want to say no? She was silent a minute, could physically feel his green hard gaze on her. She squirmed. She still was more or less convinced, he just wanted to teach her a lesson, scare her, show her that if she failed she was out.

This was some psychology trick. Surely he would take the blindfold off and then put her through a hard questioning about the class. She was not exactly sure that would go well. But she had at least to try and give her best.

“Yes please, let me stay, Sir,” she finally said somewhat meekly.