“Never in a million years did I think you’d choose a guy like him,” he sneered at me, “I mean I think I’d probably pick any of the guys in class before I chose him. I can’t understand why him out of all of the available men in the class.”

Eddie wheeled on Betty, who stumbled back against her desk in shock. I saw one hand move back to steady herself against the desktop and the other press against her chest. I saw the heaving breaths and the way her eyes flickered at him, the spark in them that was completely foreign to me and yet so familiar that I could recognize it instantly.

Even if I didn’t want to admit it. Even if I didn’t want to admit the draw and pull that Eddie had on her.

“You know it’s true,” he said quietly and coldly, “You know that he can’t satisfy you like I can.”

Betty looked at me finally, turning her gaze to me for the first time since all of this started. She searched my face for some expression or understanding. She searched me for something she could hold onto as hope that her husband hadn’t abandoned her completely and found that when she stared at me the only thing that I could do was look away, cheeks burning with shame.

When you’ve been married for as long as we have you can sense each other. You can have your conversations in silence when necessary, keeping the details of your secrets between each other.

And this was a space where we couldn’t talk. Not without revealing far more than we had already revealed. Not without ruining me.

Betty knew, in that moment, that I wasn’t willing to risk myself. Everything that happened next was predicated on that single point. All of it was my fault because I didn’t have the courage to risk a single moment of my reputation.

“You don’t need a passing grade, Eddie,” she said quietly, buying into the lie fully, “You already have an A.”

“I don’t care about the grade,” Eddie said, and I watched as he reached out to almost gently cup her chin and hold her eyes on his, “I don’t need the grade. I just want you.”

Eddie released her and stepped back. We all stood there in transfixed silence as his hands moved to his belt and he deliberately and almost roughly unbuckled and unleashed himself. His cock sprung forth, already half hard and swinging in the air.

Eddie was a gifted man. Gifted with looks and charm. Gifted with intellect and wit. Gifted with a cock that could make a grown woman drool.

Betty was his before he unveiled himself, of that much I am certain, but hanging out there big and hard and gorgeous just transfixed her. She stared at his cock, her breath quickening as he reached for her and put his hand on her shoulder.

With gentle pressure, Eddie pushed her to her knees before him, so that she was eye to eye with his cock. She looked at it, unable to tear her eyes away until he once more cupped her chin and turned her face up to his.

“Do you want me?” he asked.

She nodded, and spoke quietly, “Yes.”

“Touch it,” he instructed her, and the moment after she looked down at him once more his eyes turned on me with a glimmer of wickedness in them. The smile on his face was the smile of a jackal, of a trickster god reveling in the control he maintained over all of us. Eddie knew secrets that none of us could have anticipated, and he knew that he was right where he wanted to be.

He had all of the power.