I met Mia almost four years ago. I was standing on my driveway that day when Mia came. I had seen her walking by a lot, the school bus dropped her on the corner, four houses away. She then had to walk two blocks to her house, her route passing my house. I was always smiling at her.

On the day we met, she got off the bus as I was looking at where the garden service had edged my lawn next to the driveway. She looked at me, and her eyes were puffy.

“Are you okay, miss?” I asked, immediately concerned. She stopped and walked closer, gently shaking her head.

“No,” she said. I knew she recognized me as being safe because she had started to wave back at me whenever we saw each other.

“Can I help?” I asked.

“My laptop broke, and I lost all my assignments. My dad is going to kill me,” she said softly, and then she started to sob.

“I know a lot about computers. Want me to have a look?” I offered.

“Would you?”

She looked up at me in hope, her eyes teary. I saw the wet streaks over her cheeks and felt anger at her fear. Who the fuck scares such a child in such a way? My mind flashed back to my own childhood. My mother passed away when I was three, and my dad was angry. He rode me hard and I recognized the fear I always had on her face. My father passed away two months after I graduated high school.

“Come, leave the front door open. You can wait in the lounge,” I said, making sure she has an opening to leave if she felt uncomfortable. I wanted her to feel safe when she was in my house.

“I am okay. My name is Mia.”

“Such a nice name, I am Dylan.”

She followed me into my office after flashing me a little smile through her tears, and I started tinkering with her laptop. It was a low-cost model, and I soon saw what had happened. The hard drive lost its master boot record. I started a script and offered her coffee whilst it ran.

“Will it work?” she asked as I made the coffee.

“I believe so, Mia, but I have a few more tricks, including extracting your data. Your work is not lost at all.”

She started crying again, smiling through her tears. I told her to go wash her face as I finished the coffee. An hour later, her laptop booted up properly, but I saw that her hard drive still had an issue because of its age, so I broke out a new solid-state drive for her, and cloned it.

“Dylan, can you teach us, extra computer classes?” she asked as she watched me work.

"Us?"

"My two friends, Stacey and Alanah. We can see that computers are the way forward."

“Sure, but is the school not equipped?”

"They just teach basic stuff, and I know there are people, including teenagers already making money designing smartphone apps."

“Then I will teach you, Mia. Bring me the curriculum so we can work on goals. And I need to meet your friends, as well as their parents.”

“Thanks, Dylan. I am really interested. And tomorrow I will be making hot chocolate, the Mia way,” her voice tinkled.

She smiled and I immediately had to fight my thoughts of frustration that she had been so scared. She left after sobbing happily when she saw how fast her laptop now was with the new drive. I sent her to wash her face again and then watched her leave.

The next day, she knocked on my door with her friends, and Mia chased me to the office with a mischievous chuckle after we greeted them.

“My recipe is secret,” she stated as she turned for the kitchen waving a cloth bag.

I started chatting with her friends about life as I surveyed my office area. They needed work space and I had enough.

I set up space for them in my office and she came in with our hot chocolates. It was the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. I praised her and begged her to tell me how to make it, but she refused. Then we worked on a teaching plan for them. I loved their childlike enthusiasm, especially in my current state of mind. I made sure that I would meet their parents, and they said it was set for the weekend, a barbecue at Stacey's house.

“My dad will pay, Dylan,” she said. The others made the same promises, saying that they had already gotten preliminary permission from their parents, provided they met me.

“Pay me in hot chocolate Mia, and your smiles.” I mentally kicked myself for the cheesy statement, but she rewarded me with a smile after they rolled their eyes at me.

She told me she was twelve, as was Stacey. Alanah was thirteen and they had been friends since kindergarten. The first day was productive, and they told me they were happy with the way I teach.

Maddison, my wife declined to go to the barbecue. I met their parents and was subjected to some serious interrogation. Mia's dad was a single parent. The kids had stable homes as far as I could gather. They all came to my house the next week to inspect the area their kids would be tutored in. They agreed that they felt the kids would be safe.

We set the schedule for once or twice a week. They persuaded me to do two lessons a week.

I was a coder for one of the alphabet agencies and my work was being used in all spheres of government, especially our security forces. My wife was in a different agency, Special Operations Division. We met when I had to train the Cyber division on how to effectively use one of my programs. Maddison was a brunette with brown eyes, a truly beautiful woman. She was curvy, but well trained and very fit.

I think that at the time of meeting Mia and her friends, fate had stepped in because Maddison was starting to get colder to me. We still touched, made love, and did marriage things, but I also felt like I was being pushed out of a large part of her life. The kids distracted me and brought warmth to my house. I knew Maddison would never give me kids, and I felt the hole every time the girls left. Mia also told me that her mother had passed away when she was four in a car accident. She had pictures and they looked very similar.

The bi-weekly tutoring became a tonic for my soul as I listened to their banter and laughs. They sometimes cried when their boyfriends dumped them, and they had a few. All three of them were pretty and played volleyball. Some days, I had to play counselor as well. They liked what I taught, but Mia stood out as being highly intelligent.

Mia's dad became closer friends with Maddison and me. He owned a security company, providing private security. Maddison connected better with him than I did, and soon he was getting government contracts through her.

One thing that stood out was the fact that after she had turned fifteen, Mia started looking at me a lot more. I wrote it off as a teenage crush. there was no way I would ever consider an underaged girl. I was vigilant in the way I was with her, making sure I never sent her the wrong message. Mia did not change toward me and I was satisfied that she was still okay with me.

***

At sixteen, Mia was beyond high school graduate level with her computer skills and was starting to code, a skill I taught her. Stacey and Alanah had also progressed well, but Mia was exceptional. But I had stumbled upon an unrelated issue. It was a week after Mia’s sixteenth birthday that I saw the loose thread, and I pulled on it. It was just a text from Maddison, but the vernacular was nothing that she had used on me in three years. I knew she made a rare mistake, it was meant for someone else. Maddison got very agitated at me, saying that it was actually for me, that she intended for me to get a romantic text from her.

“Maddy, you have not used that kind of language with me for a very long time. All I get is how disappointing I am to you,” I had argued

“Are you accusing me of having an affair?” her response was laced with anger.

“Are you?” I responded.

“No, are you fucking nuts. I will lose my clearance if I am because it directly reflects on my integrity.”

She was angry with me, and I let it go. I never saw anything again, and for a while, it was better between us. Maddison thawed slightly and I caught glimpses of the woman I loved and married. But her coldness over the last few years had tempered my response to it. Before the text, I wrote it off to her work. It took a heavy toll on the operators, and most spouses did say their marriages cooled down, only to recover once the operator moved to a different section. Now I knew this was not the case with Maddison. She was being unfaithful.

“Dylan, I promise you that I am not disappointed in you. I love you,” she told me three months later after she sensed I was not connecting with her completely. She was not mistaken as I had instinctively started to withdraw from her emotionally, knowing that the pain would be immense if I stayed invested whilst she was not.

“I do not feel it anymore, Maddison. But it really does not matter anymore because I know I have done what I can, you just don’t want to be here anymore. That is clear.”

“I do, this is where I am safe after seeing the horrors of the world. What can I do?”

“Love me, Maddison, because I am so tired of you scowling at me for everything. I try my best. I clean, cook, and make sure everything is as you like it, but I am invisible to you,” I confessed and saw her anger flash into her eyes.

“You never used to be this needy,” her tone was not angry, but everything else seemed to disagree. The superspy was keeping it in control.

“You always used to meet my needs Maddy, so you need to try and figure out if we are going to make old bones, then decide what you want to do. I am doing my best.”

“God, Dylan, stop adding to my pressure. Fuck!” she huffed and turned away.

That evening, Maddison got into bed naked.

"Dylan, you matter and I love you," she said softly and wrapped herself around me.

I kissed her and she responded. Then she pulled the covers off and stripped my shorts off. Maddison kissed me again and then went lower, her lips finding my cock. I was hard almost instantly and she rose up and straddled me. Maddison rode my cock as she kissed me. I was desperate for her, for her body, and for her love. She started to ride me faster and I did not last, pulled her down on me, kissing her as I flooded her. I held her, knowing I will not go completely soft. I flipped us over and started again, this time giving her an orgasm within a few minutes. Maddison pulled at my body as I gently made love to her, and we came together. But I saw her boredom with me the moment I pulled out. It was obvious to me, that she did it to assuage me. Maddison did not desire me anymore. I held her against me as we fell asleep but woke up at two. She was sleeping with her back to me. I put my hand on her and she moaned as she moved away even further. I knew she was gone and it hit me hard. At four, I woke again, the effects of the nightmare evident. She was still asleep, so I got up and made myself a coffee, sitting outside in the summer morning, watching the dawn break. Something needed to change for me, I was at a breaking point, broken by the beautiful woman that should be my wife.

Later that morning, I called Grant, my handler. I needed to do something different. I needed a distraction from my own thoughts.

“Dylan, what grinds your gears today?” Grant was laconic as usual, something I loved about him. He was a true friend to me, and I suspect he knew what Maddison was up to. He could not tell me, as it would be top secret information that could be used to compromise a black ops team.

“Can I do Strike Team training, just the physical part? I need the distraction as things are difficult for me.”

“Hell yes, bud. We recently spoke of training someone with your skills, because we need a tactically trained IT person in these modern times.”

“Fine, sent me the schedules,” I sighed, “I just need to blow off some steam.”

“Oh, that is easy, mornings at Quantico. They do lectures in the afternoon, which you will not need because you are a specialist. That means your tutoring will not be affected.”

I smiled at the comment as I had Mia and her friends vetted a while ago, and they passed. We had to be sure that they could be trusted if they saw anything weird, though I was very careful. Grant had sensed that their presence was good for me. I started training with the strike teams the next week and revealed what I was doing to the kids after they expressed concern that I looked fatigued.

“Will you get shot?” Mia's face lit up in alarm after I told her what I was up to.

“No, not likely. I would almost always have a team covering me,” I soothed her.

She relaxed, but that was when the hugs from Mia changed. She held me a little longer, and they were more frontal now. I yearned for them, for the intimacy that I never knew I was missing. There was still no hint of anything sexual and I just loved that someone hugged me because they cared for me. The fact that someone wanted to hold me because of me was busy restoring me. It did not matter that she was sixteen, just that for a moment I felt nurtured. My need overshadowed my sense of morality.

Maddy had slowly cut me off again, and I was sure that she did not even realize she did. I had no plan to have sex with Mia, though she started to invade my dreams more frequently. These dreams were just of us, doing things together and laughing a lot. I was happy with Mia in my dreams. I liked that I dreamt of us taking hikes, going to the movies, just normal everyday life. I did sometimes wonder why they had no sexual undertone, just a sense of belonging. Not once did I dream of sex with her, but I did dream of her or someone like her in my life.

It lasted a few weeks before I realized that I had to admit to myself, that if she had come on to me I would not have been able to resist. Mia still made me a hot chocolate, and I still did not know the recipe, four years later. I could easily have spied on her using a camera or something, but that seemed to feel wrong. Stacey and Alanah also brought me little gifts. They focused on app development now, only Mia was interested in coding on my level. I did wonder about one of her first scripts which were to hack cellphones and retrieve deleted data. Grant liked her scripts as none were hard on computer resources.

Every afternoon, after they arrived, Mia would hand me a thumb drive with her latest scripts, then go and make hot chocolate for us whilst I checked her code, which was normally good. I would often tweak the code for integration purposes because she was a little eccentric when coding. I explained to Mia what was needed in my line of work, and she adapted her scripts accordingly.

“Well done, Mia, you actually have a very different approach,” I praised one particular day. I had just finished checking their projects and all three were getting good at their chosen directions.

“Thanks, I think,” she smiled, “I did try something different.”

“Good, sometimes we follow a pattern which becomes predictable. You tend to not follow any established methods.”

I had no idea how prophetic those words would become pertaining to our relationship.

“Thanks, in that case,” she answered and I copied it to my system and gave her drive back. I saw her face and noticed she was chewing on a problem.

“What is it, Meeks?”

She smiled softly at my pet name for her, then scowled. Stacey and Alanah watched the interaction and I had a feeling the three of them were sitting on something.

“Nothing really. How is the training going?” she changed the subject awkwardly and I let it go. She knew she could talk to me, and she would once she'd have settled her mind.

“Good, it helps me mentally.”

“Great, Dylan, I can feel your body changing, I love giving you hugs and feeling your muscles.”

“I also like your hugs, Meeks.”

I opened her script and started to add my part to it, which would allow it to integrate with the office systems. She looked over my shoulder, then kissed my neck.

“Thanks, Dylan,” she said softly, her breath cooling the area she just kissed me.

She would receive normal compensation for the script. Her bank account now held more than enough for university, and she had only written a few scripts. The one I was now working on would be snatched up by the agency, as it was a very unorthodox search algorithm. Mia was better than me in the way she wrote code, I just had to make her code work with the established systems.

***

My training wrapped up a few weeks later and I was certified field-ready. Mia’s coding was also drawing more attention now and I knew she would have a full-ride scholarship if she chose a government department. Grant was asking in a roundabout way about Mia as well, so I knew she was on the radar. Six months after her birthday, we wrote a critical script together to glean information from the petabytes of data held by the agency. Her friends only came twice a week now and we were alone most of the time.

That same afternoon, I watched her face change when Maddison arrived earlier than normal, and I saw that Mia held a desperate contempt for Maddison. I was greeted matter-of-factly by my wife, Mia received a warmer greeting.

I quietly looked over the top of my laptop screen at Mia after Maddison left us alone. Her long straight blonde hair framed her delicate face, and her nose was just slightly turned up over her full pink lips. She had a smattering of freckles under her crystal blue eyes, blocked off at the top by dark eyebrows. She looked up, into my eyes and smiled, which made my stomach drop.

“Hot chocolate, Dylan?” she asked, flashing me her smile.

“Please, Mia.”

She nodded, and lifted her sixteen-year-old frame, walking out as her school skirt swished around her perfect legs. She had a slender build, with almost imperceptible breasts. I knew that her nipples were razor-sharp because she hugged me a lot. The hugs, those were what did me in. The girls always hugged me with gentle chaste hugs, but now the hugs from Mia were more intimate. The rest still hugged me normally, and I was perturbed by the change in Mia, as I was sure we had never crossed any boundaries at all. I had wracked my brain, trying to see if anything I did could be seen as grooming. Nothing stood out, but she was definitely changing her interaction with me. A part of me was desperate for care due to my cold marriage, but a child as a partner was never an option. Another part of my mind fought my thoughts about her, that I was falling for her. She still hugged me chastely when her friends were around, but the extra days when she was alone were the days she showed me a lot more intimacy. I did not want to fall in love with her, but she was the only one that held me as if my heart mattered.

I walked Mia to the door at the end of the session whilst Maddison was upstairs. Mia put her bag down and then wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling herself up against me. I felt her rock-hard nipples and looked into her eyes, and then it happened. My cock responded, and she felt it. I started to pull away, but she scowled.

“No!” she said forcefully.

“No?” I asked, shocked at her dominance.

“No, stay.”

It sounded like an order, and I allowed her to pull me in again, and I felt her move till my hardness settled in the junction between her legs. Mia searched my face and I was sure she was trying to determine if I was receptive. This was not what I had ever expected, even when the hugs changed.

“Mia, what is this?” I whispered with my arms around her, holding her in position. We did not move. But I needed to know, something big was nudging at a wall I had built around my emotional psyche and I was scared of letting it go.

“You are mine, Dylan. Do you trust me?” she stated, but her expression was gentle.

“Yes I trust you, but I am married.” I decided to let her claim of ownership go, it seemed too big to address at the moment and I knew I would understand what she intended. I was worn down emotionally.

“You share a house with a bitch, Dylan.”

I was quiet, then nodded into her neck, and I kissed her neck softly. I was not ever going to resist this girl again. I sniffed as it dawned on me that Mia had noticed everything going on in my now frozen marriage.

“Okay, Mia,” I surrendered, feeling my need to matter overwhelm me.

It made no sense, a grown man surrendering to a teenager. What made less sense is that it was not for sex or even the promise. It was my primal need to matter. Mia made me feel like I mattered. And she was right, I was hers. I  belonged to her in ways even I could not fathom.

“Good, Dylan. Do you believe that I will do my best for you?” she asked, making sure to watch if my face agreed with my words. I felt the walls crumble in my mind, and I gave in.

“Yes, I do.”

She pulled back and her lips touched mine. It was a rather chaste kiss, but I felt such promise in it. The heat emanating from her lips flooded my being, and the last rampart fell. My heart was just too damaged by Maddison to care about the implications. I knew Maddison was having an affair, but I would never catch her. She was trained too well. Mia bounced out the door after she kissed my neck again, and I stood in shock for a while. But I felt different, safe.

***

I started to actively withdraw my emotional responses from Maddison after that interaction with Mia, and within a month we barely co-existed in the house. Mia kept the new format of hugs going, always with a chaste kiss at the end. One day she held me with a look of guilt on her face.

“I am so sorry for winding you up Dylan because I know you now have to go and masturbate. Do you think of me?” she asked, just a whisper of a smile on her face.

“Yes, Mia, and it is okay.”

She kissed me softly again. Her kiss lingered as her lips slightly parted.

***

Winter had started, so I had to drive her home in the evenings. I made a point to speak to her dad, Bob for a few minutes every evening, and he asked me how Maddison was one evening. The phrasing had me connect him to her. He was the man she was fucking. I looked at Mia and saw her anguish. I immediately deduced that she was also suspicious. She walked me out, and I pulled her against my chest.

“Meeks, never feel guilty for something you did not do,” I said, worried that she would think she betrayed me.

“But if someone gets hurt by it,” her voice was small, a far cry from the confidence with which she had been dominating me.

“Perhaps it does not matter, perhaps that person was going to get hurt regardless. All you can do is hope that the person loves you enough to forgive you.”

“Do you think he will forgive me?”

“He already has Meeks, I am sure of that.”

She turned her face up to me and kissed me softly. This was a deeper kiss, which lasted a few seconds.

“Can we talk tomorrow?” she asked me.

“Yes, and please, do not be scared.”

“I am not, Dylan,” She kissed me again.

 I was apprehensive the next morning and worked very hard on the obstacle course at Quantico after our regular PT session ended. I made it home with ten minutes to spare, then I heard that tentative knock. I opened up and there was Mia. It was not a tutoring day, but I knew that we had to deal with a lot of things. I pulled her against me, relieved. Her little gasp told me she felt the same. We sat in the office for a while, then she handed me a thumb drive.

“Maddison is very good Dylan, but my dad is an idiot. I have everything on his side,” she said and then sat on my lap as we looked at her evidence. I fully understood why she wanted the software to hack phones.

She had screenshots of texts, videos, and nudes they shared. I could not help but start to sob, and Mia held me, stroking my face and telling me it will be fine. I just felt such relief that I was not going crazy and I told her that I had suspected this was what was going on.

“Dylan, I need for you to be so brave now. Will you trust that I have a plan for us?” Mia asked, keeping my gaze.

“Us?” I asked, and she nodded, biting her lip in apprehension. I nodded back at her.

“Okay.”

She seemed relieved and I realized that at times I was doing a lousy job of reassuring her. I kissed her softly. Just a chaste peck.

“Remember, Meeks, I told you that I am yours.”

“You need not show her we know,” Mia said.

“I am not sure I can,” I had no idea if I could hide what I suddenly felt from Maddison, who was trained to read expressions.

“You will do it, Dylan. I will not accept anything less. Do you fucking hear me?”

I looked at Mia in shock, but she was not angry, she was scared.

“I fucking hear you, Meeks,” I whispered and saw her relief.

This was critical to Mia and me having a good relationship. I sensed there was more to come, but she was happy for now. She kissed me again and then left with the promise of hot chocolate. I followed her and saw her take out the cloth bag that held her ingredients. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. I was completely done for now. I was in love, even though I was broken by Maddison.

“I have no idea what I would have done without you, Mia. Have you any idea how important you are to me? You, Stacey, and Alanah helped me so much.”

“Yes, Dylan, I am very aware. I know I am sixteen, but I understand the burden I accepted last night.”

“Please tell me how I can help, because I have no idea of your plan,” I begged her

“Just be obedient, Dyls. I will not be unreasonable. I am so angry, though.”

“Obedient? Are you now my dominatrix?” I kissed her neck again. She turned and pulled herself fully against me.

“Yes, Dylan, I am just a little. Does that scare you?”

I looked at her and saw her search my face again, and I was sure she was looking for defiance. There was no malice in hers.

“In a good way, Mia. Do we use whips?” I teased with a smile.

“Hmmm, only if you are disobedient. I will now be your mistress. You will be my boy. That is how we will address each other, even in our texts.”

“Yes, mistress,” I answered.

There was no way I would not trust her. I mischievously reached for the cloth bag with her ingredients for the chocolate and yelled in shock as she hit me on the knuckles with a spoon.

“That is my secret, my little boy.”

I laughed softly and turned. I went to my office, missing the banter of the other two. The more I worked, the better it felt. This development was cathartic in so many ways, and it was confirmed when she walked in again with our hot chocolate. She took my hand and kissed the knuckle she had whacked me. We set up and started to work. I got an email from Grant, asking if I would be keen to go skiing in Europe with them, and that I should ask Maddison.

“Grant, my contact wants me to go skiing in Italy,” I said to Mia.

“When?” I gave her the dates. She quickly checked her calendar, then nodded. “Say yes.”

I frowned at her.

“Why?”

“It is a month after my seventeenth, it falls well within my timeline.”

“But I do not want to go with her, Mia.”

“Just tell him you are going with, little boy,” she said, her voice was gentle, but her authority was obvious.

I knew the new dynamic was going to take some getting used to, but nothing in it scared me. The idea of me submitting to someone who loves me was good, Maddison had made me feel safe for a very long time, then that stopped.

“Yes, mistress,” I replied and saw a smile play on her face. Grant called me after I replied to his email.

“Are you for real, is Maddison on board?” he asked.

“We are going through a thing, Grant. It might be fluid.”

Mia got up and demanded my phone. She left the room as she started to speak to Grant, showing me to stay. She later came back and kissed my lips softly. Then she smiled as she ran her fingers through my hair. Grant sent me a text.

‘Mia is fucking scary, bud. I am so glad you have her. Bookings will be made.’

‘She is, Grant, but I might have been in a bad space without her.’

‘The strike team is looking at a mission bud, be ready. And I can assume what is going on with Mia. Keep it light, please. I do not want to see you regress and break yourself’

‘Thanks. I have no idea what she is planning and I am not in the headspace to try and analyze it. I have broken already.’

'Lean on me and Angela. But the presence of the kids has brought stability.'

I looked up and saw Mia studying me.

“There might be a mission, Mia,” I admitted

“That is fine,” She smiled, “Just come back to me.”

“I want to, mistress.”

She laughed, and we started working again. That afternoon was my most productive in a long time as I felt the issue with Maddison take a back seat to what is happening with Mia and me, and Mia smiled happily when shared my thoughts. Her promise to do her best for me hit home. She made me better. But what I never thought I would feel again was that I was safe.

I drove her home again, and she asked me to stop at a park, where we just sat in the car, holding hands. Neither of us wanted to talk, but her presence overwhelmed me. Mia made me weak, and yet I felt invincible. It made no sense as I was putty in her hands, she was completely dominating me, and yet I felt in complete control. I looked at her perfect face, that gentle smile now almost always evident.

“They will pay, my boy. There is no way I will stand by idly and let anybody hurt you again,” she said as she turned her face to me, and I saw what Grant talked about. Mia was fucking scary as I saw a hard glint in her eyes. Then she lifted her hand and stroked my cheek.

“You are mine, Dyls.”

I just nodded, because I was hers. My broken-down pathetic ass was hers, and I wanted it. I wondered if I was a cuckold now, being so completely under one person’s power. I trashed the idea because Mia had not once given me a hint of her humiliating me.

“Dylan, we have a game Saturday, will you come?” she interrupted my thoughts.

“Yes.” I have never been to her volleyball games, and I think this one was important to her.

“Thanks, leave them to fuck.”

“Yes, mistress,” I looked at her searching my face again. “She can fuck him in front of me and I will be thinking of you, okay Meeks.”

“I can see it, my boy. You make me so happy, ever since I met you my life has been one happy event after another, and you were always there. Not him, you.”

I felt my self-esteem soar at her words. I dropped her, and we kissed for a bit. As I left, I was sure like never before that I was in love. At home, even Maddison saw my mood change, but I shut her down when she wanted to chat. I was done with her constant disapproval and snide remarks. She followed me around the house.

“Dylan, are we okay?” she asked

“Nope, not even close. But the last time we spoke, you blew up and then did nothing. I am now following your lead.”

“I was just going through some tough things.”

“With whom, because I was always the one you spoke to, Maddison? Who helped you carry the burden this time?”

“Nobody.” She sat down in Mia’s seat and it irritated me. “I know I have been different.”

“No, Maddison. All I hear from you is how much I fail at making you happy. The carrots are cooked wrong, the coffee cups are in the wrong order, and my car is parked wrong. Every day, I wonder what the fuck I will have done wrong today because you have yet to walk in and praise me. Jesus, Maddison, do you not realize that at one stage, I was terrified of you because you just kept on fucking stabbing me in the heart. When last have I done anything good in your eyes?”

“It isn’t that bad, you are exaggerating.”

“Watch the fucking security tapes, Maddison. I get hugs from Mia, nothing from you. You have not even laid a finger on me for a year.”

I watched as she calculated, and found it was true. I was also worried she would actually check the videos and see me kissing Mia.

 “What about me is so wrong that you are doing this to me, Maddison, or are you now in Psy-Ops and your assignment is to destroy someone who loved you,” I continued.

“Loved?” She looked up at me, her face alarmed.

“Yes, there is no way I can even open myself up to the pain I suffered the last few years. You never saw it, because you just did not care. I know someone else is getting everything you promised me, but I stayed. Now I am so fucking done.”

“Do you want a divorce?”

“I am seriously considering it. I have no idea what I did wrong, so I have no idea what I could have done to fix it. Now I just don’t fucking care. I am practically single already, without the abundance of sex,”

My phone beeped, Grant.

‘Quantico, two hours.’

There was another text with the tail number. I got up and packed a go back.

“Are you leaving me?” Maddison asked.

“No, I joined the strike teams. I am going on a mission.”

“When did you do that?” Maddison’s shock was authentic.

“After our last talk, when you blew up at me. I realized that your opinion did not matter anymore. I am, after all, my own man.”

I smiled as I realized that was a lie, I belonged to a slight sixteen-year-old.

“I wish you told me, Dylan.”

“Why, would you then think of me a proper man, an alpha male?”

“No, I would have asked you to not join. You have always been the stable point in my life, Dylan.”

“You never showed it, Maddison, for four fucking years. Wait, that is almost as long as I have been tutoring the kids. Are you jealous, or is there something else? Is the other man one of their fathers? You two seemed a little cozy since you met.” I watched her hide her shock as I hit the truth.

“Fuck you, Dylan. Fuck. How the fuck can you now go on a mission like this. You cannot be distracted.”

“It will save you paperwork if I die, Maddison, so you win.” I felt the coldness rise. I pulled my mint new Glock out and checked the clips.

“Please don’t die, I don’t want you to die, Dylan. I will be better. This is just so fucked up.”

“Yes it is, and you have not even started to scratch the surface of the pain I felt, because I know for a fact that you have been unfaithful. I know for a fact that you have at least two lovers, which is why I just never measured up. So tell me, will Bob have a meal ready for you, a clean house, or clean and ironed laundry. You have wanted for nothing, Maddy. I kept all your favorite stuff well-stocked because I was so scared of your tirades. I am so fucking done with that now.” I picked my bag up and walked out.

“Come home, Dylan, please. God. We can fix this.”

I closed the door on her voice and drove to Quantico where I met the team, and they loosely spoke of the formations, always keeping me in a non-critical position. I accepted this as the new guy on the team. I was given an overview of what was required in the cyber segment, and they watched as I started to configure my equipment. I explained to the team leader, Red One and he nodded in approval.

“You prepare the same as we do, it seems.”

“I have to. Right now I am saving us what I hope to be twenty minutes in the area of operation,” I answered the team leader.

“That is very good news, Red Six.”

I felt my pride swell as I heard my callsign used. Red One grinned as he saw it.

“I had a falling out with the wife before I came. I am good because the pain of her shit had come and gone years ago,” I declared.

“Okay, thanks for telling us.” He shared with the team, and I knew they would cover for me. I hated it, so I picked up my phone.

‘I am flying out, mistress.’

‘Come home to me, my boy.’

‘I will, and now I feel focussed.’

‘Good, want to chat?’

I called her and we spoke for just a few minutes, and I felt my emotions settle. We hung up.

“Who was that?” Red One asked.

“My dominatrix,” I replied and he started to laugh.

“She did the trick, you are so calm right now,” he eventually said.

“Yes, I will make it a pattern then. She has full clearance, so I can speak freely with her.”

“Do that. We all have little things we do to deal with pre-mission stress.”

The mission ran smoothly, and the time I bought allowed for extra intel to be gathered. I landed home early the next afternoon, and I drove to the school, where Mia shrieked happily when she saw me. Stacey and Alanah joined her, and they accepted my invitation for burgers. Mia held my hand as we drove, and I saw her friends point it out to each other. I looked at Mia.

“I don’t care, Dylan. I am so happy you are home. Are the others fine?”

“Yes, one flesh wound.”

“So they shot at you?”

“Yes, but I am trained,” I saw her calculate, then she nodded once.

“Just always come home to me, Dyls.”

“Always, Meeks.”

“Good, my little boy,”

I squeezed her hand. I knew that I could pull out of this arrangement at any time, but it would hurt her immensely. Her friends were lost in our dynamic until one got it.

“Wait, Mia, that domination thing we looked at on the net a few months ago, you are doing it?” Alanah asked.

“Yes, differently.”

“And you, Dylan, she dominates you?”

“Yes, she is my mistress.”

“How the hell, sex must be incredible?”

“No sex, girls, not even serious kissing,” Mia answered.

“Then how?”

“Love, respect, and trust. Mia has all that from me. She is walking me through some painful things, and I trust her to always choose what is best for me out of love. I am just too close to be objective?”

“And when it is done?”

“Then we love, respect and trust. That is the root of all relationships. Mia and I sacrifice for each other.”

“Yes, Dylan. I do.”

We had burgers and Mia still held my hand whenever she could. She flexed her dominatrix muscles a few times, getting me to do things for her. Her friends always saw her reward me with affection that I knew she would give in any case. I was falling desperately in love. Maddison called just after we finished eating.

“Yes, Maddison?” I answered irritably.

“Why are you not home yet?” she asked, concerned. I was sure she knew the mission was a success.

“I picked Mia and her friends up for burgers. I am decompressing to their banter, it is amazing.”

“Okay. Can we talk again?”

“Sure, what time will you be home?”

“I am home. I took the day off.”

“Okay, I will still be an hour or two. We just got our burgers.” I watched the waitress take our empty plates away, and Mia slapped my hand at the lie, then kissed it.

“Okay. Bring me a takeaway, please.”

“I will.”

We ended the call and I ordered the burger for Maddison.

“What does she want?” Mia asked.

“To talk, she is at home now. I am just not in the mood. I am still loving you three.”

I watched the girls feel appreciated. I checked the security system at home, and it was offline. I showed Mia, and she scowled, then pulled her phone out. She showed me a dot at my house, a GPS tracker she had planted on her father’s car. She called him and put it on speaker.

“Hey daddy, where are you?”

“Home.”

“No, daddy, I am home. Why are you lying to me?”

“Sorry, baby. Why are you not at Dylan’s?”

“Maddison is home, they are talking because she is such a fucking bitch.”

“She isn’t, baby.”

“Daddy, the only reason I fucking tolerate her, is because Dylan is such a nice human.”

“Maddison is nice, baby girl,” he tried to convince her

“If they divorce and you bring her home I am fucking moving under a bridge. I saw how much she had been hurting him, so I will never allow that kind of cruelty around me. You better fucking understand that, dad. Where are you?”

“In town, baby. I am looking for you for a birthday present if you must know.”

“I don’t believe you, daddy. Sorry. Just do what you want. I am going to Stacey’s, maybe burgers. I am so disappointed in you, lying so blatantly. You are just as bad as Maddison, with her lies to Dylan.”

“I am sorry.”

“She is cheating, dad, he knows it. That is why she has been such a bitch, because her lover is everything he isn’t in her mind. In my mind, the lover is a fucking coward. He fucks her but Dylan does all the heavy lifting in the marriage. I swear, I hope I never meet someone like him. I will rip his balls out. I am going, dad. Do not bother explaining why you lied, I am not interested.” She hung up and we started to laugh.

“So, you managed to insult both of them and they can never retaliate,” I grinned.

“Yep, fucking shit-head. Everything I said, I believe. He is a fucking coward, but it all leads somewhere my beautiful little boy,” she shrugged, “And now he will tell her, and she will say I am with you. He will know he has been played like a fiddle. Fucking shithead.”

“I trust you, mistress,” I kissed her fingertips. “And I also know that it does not matter what she says to me today, it will not be true.”

“Did you wonder?”

“A little. Maybe it was just false hope,” I answered after thinking about it.

“I want you to hope, Dylan, but in us.”

“Wait, Mia, are you talking about something permanent with Dylan?” Stacey asked.

“Yes,” Mia answered and I saw Stacey’s face fall.

“Stacey, we will be friends, and Mia and I will show you what to look for in a real connection because that is what we have.”

“Thanks, Dylan.”