Jason, Chapter 1

Jason

I sighed as I waited for the red light to turn green. It was Friday. One more day and it’d be the weekend again. Last weekend I had been doing an intense course on NLP and hypnosis so it had been a while since I had been able to be at home and chill out. This made me look forward to the weekend even more than usual. But now I was on the exact same route that I was on five days a week, to my job as a real estate and tax lawyer at the firm Hamilton & White. After losing my job and my relationship about five years ago, I sent out resumes to firms all over the US. This firm hired me. Because I had nothing keeping me down in Louisiana, I moved for this job, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I figured it would be a fresh start. Five years later and I had remained single. I had not really made any new friends except for the people at work, who, admittedly, were awesome. If it wasn’t for my co-workers I would have again been sending out resumes a long time ago.

The light turned green. I made a left off Boyson Road, onto the I-380. I zoned out and thought about what I still needed to do today. I was meeting a new client at 10:00, but wasn’t really sure what the case was about by heart. Thankfully I would still have some time to read through the e-mails with a nice cup of coffee. I took exit 20 A, which was an easy exit to miss. It had been the reason I was almost late to my interview all those years ago. With the Cedar River to my right, I could already see the tall office buildings of downtown Cedar Rapids. It was a nice part of town to work in. The Veterans Memorial Building on Mays Island reminded me of my Dad. The District Court was walking distance from the office but not as close by as the Dublin City Pub. Every now and then I would go there for drinks with some of the co-workers.

I parked and walked to the tall, white office building. The office was on the 11th floor, which made for nice views. At the front desk, I was greeted by Zahra Al Hashmi. At 21, she was still in law school, hoping to become an immigration lawyer. In the year that she had been manning the front desk, she had always gotten to the office before I did, and she had always seemed so motivated, ambitious, and hard-working. I wish I could be more like her. I probably was like her, 20 years ago. Because she wears a headscarf for her religion, recently she experienced some hateful comments from people on the streets, but it only seemed to motivate her to work harder and prove herself. I’ve seen clients look at her in certain ways, but she just doesn’t seem to care and keeps up a cheerful spirit. We are a diverse law firm, and that’s something I am very proud of.
“Hey Erick, good morning!”
“Good morning, Zahra! How are you?”
“Good! Finals next week, so I brought a book.”
“I’m sure it’s OK, no-one can see from behind the counter”, I said as I smiled at her.
“Here, take a donut”, she said. “Don’t tell Jason!”

I laughed and took a donut from the box. Jason was the new supervisor. This young guy that had been flown in from I don’t even know where. It would have made more sense to give the supervising job to Taka, who has been at the firm the longest. The rumor is though that he is the son-in-law of the Chair of the Iowa Judicial Qualifications Commission and therefore close to Mr Hamilton and Mr White, the owners of the firm, but I don’t think anyone has had the guts to ask Jason about it. He is in his early 30s, younger than me, but quite strict. He didn’t like that we all ate donuts every morning, as it would only slow us down. There now is the possibility to make protein shakes in the office. I’m pretty sure I’m the least fit person in the office, but I didn’t take it personally, I just simply didn’t listen. It’s not that I’m fat, but compared to some of the other people I am, let’s say, dough-y. But the rest of the office, especially the men, can pass for fitness models.

The middle of the office was a large waiting room with a coffee machine and a water cooler. The offices surrounded this more open area. Taka’s office was immediately to the left. I would guess she is in her mid-50s, but there is no way to tell from looking at her. Taka Asato is born Japanese, but has lived in Iowa with her husband for over 30 years. Even though I was born in the US from Puerto Rican parents, she sometimes seems more American than me. She is incredibly skinny, almost frail. It took a while for me to get her, as she is a very serious worker. She rarely goes to the pub with us on Fridays and seems not as interested in connecting with her co-workers. Now that I’ve known her for a few years, I know how to make her laugh though. Her door was open so I gave her a wave. She smiled and said, “Good morning Erick!” She always wore her black glasses and her black hair in a tight bun. She had a tendency to also dress completely black. Taka’s expertise is criminal law.

Reda

Next to Taka’s office, was Reda’s. Reda Hakimi is about my age, around 40 I think, and an immigration lawyer. He has been rather busy lately, lots of new clients coming in for him. He himself had been an immigrant from Lebanon at quite a young age. He has worked late a lot recently and was recently separated from his wife. He is quite an introverted man, though hard-working. I would say I don’t know Reda very well. His dark eyes and bushy eyebrows give him a distinguished look, making him an attractive man. Also helped by his broad shoulders and frame. He comes across quite serious, and lately that hasn’t changed. Reda’s door was closed.

In the corner there was a small break room. We mainly use it for lunch. There’s our own coffee machine and water cooler, so it’s different from the ones that clients use in the waiting room. No idea why.

Jake

Next was Jake’s office. Jake Holden is an out and proud gay man in his late twenties, who works as our paralegal. Very nice and smart guy. He has this innocent look about him with blond hair and big blue eyes. He was raised Mormon, but left the religion once he came out. I have found out from his sense of humor he is not as innocent as he seems. He works out and is quite attractive, but not usually the type I like. The real story about Jake is his boyfriend Ted. Ted is not only one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, but incredibly attractive. Brown hair and blue eyes and a nice butt. Ted has come out to the pub with us before, and he’s the life of the party. Both Jake and Ted can be quite the gym bunny type gays. They are both incredibly attractive, smart, and fun to hang out with. I waved at Jake, and he waved back, but he was on the phone, so he couldn’t say anything.

My office was next to Jake’s. I put down my suitcase and hung up my suit jacket. I sighed again. I was quite jealous of Jake. In the years that I had worked at this company, I had never found the appropriate time to come out as gay in the office. It simply had not come up in conversation. But when Jake joined us two years ago, he introduced himself and within his first few sentences had mentioned he had a boyfriend named Ted. Why had I been so stressed out about it?

I started my computer, put the donut down on my desk and walked out for a coffee. I looked at the doors of the other offices, to say good morning to the other co-workers. On the other side of my office was the large corner office, which belonged to Jason. With his short, dark blond hair, his brown eyes, and a jawline that reminded of me of a comic book superhero, Jason Whittingham was like a man from every gay man’s dream. Today he had some very light, meticulously trimmed facial hair, but most days he was shaven smooth. His built body was stuffed into tailored suits and shirts every day. Mainly his large chest, his huge arms, and his firm legs and butt stood out. He had been a talented internet and privacy lawyer before he became our supervisor. He had revealed very little about himself. The accent on him that I could not place had turned out to be from New Zealand. But I knew he graduated from the University of Chicago, so not sure how long he had actually lived there. He had turned out to be a strict supervisor, which had been a bit of a change from his predecessor Mary Medeiros. The few times he did smile, he had one of those sexy crooked smiles. But mostly he had turned out a hard-working, serious man. His seriousness and strictness made him less likeable, which helped me to not develop a crush on this very attractive guy. This morning he was also on his phone. Unlike Jake, he did not look up or give me a wave.

Marshall

At the end, right before the restrooms, was Marshall’s office. Marshall Young was quite a dominant presence. With almost a bodybuilder-type body, he would have been hard to miss either way. Marshall’s arms were practically bursting out of the sleeves of his shirts every day and his big muscle ass was a sight to behold. Besides that, he had a big personality as well. He was more frivolous than anyone else in this office, which was sometimes quite the breath of fresh air. He was loud, brass, and would speak of the women he had seduced during the weekend without any shame, yet I could never classify his comments as sexist. I had used to associate the British accent with classiness until I had met Marshall. Appropriately, Marshall was a divorce lawyer and had more than once seduced a client. Usually Jake would be the one to hear it from Marshall, as they were friends outside of the office as well. But Jake would usually later tell me. I knew Jason could never find out about this and I was unsure if anyone else knew. Marshall was always one to convince people to go for drinks in the pub on Friday afternoon, and he could definitely knock them down. On other days of the week, he took charge in convincing co-workers to go to the gym together. I went a few times and stuck to cardio, but seeing Marshall, Jason, Reda, Jake and Ted go at it on the weights and machines, made me feel horny at times, but mostly incompetent. So I didn’t always join them. This morning I saw his door was closed and remembered he had an early meeting with a client.

I got a coffee from the break room and went back to my office. I sat down, took a sip of my coffee and a bite of the donut and got to work. I took a deep breath and whispered, “One more day”.

That day at lunch, Marshall was definitely back. With his legs spread wide, he sat on one of the chairs, the crotch of his pants stretched to the limit. At a volume so everyone could hear, he was asking me about the course I followed.
“So, did you learn how to hypnotize people?” Taka and Reda were in a conversation with each other, as were Zahra and Jake, but all four now looked up. Jason was reading a newspaper and didn’t move.
“Yeah, a little bit…”
“That’s pretty fucking tremendous. Can you show us?”
“What, now? Here?”
“Are you saying you can’t do it?”, Marshall was provoking me. Jake laughed nervously.
“Well, I’ll try, but…”
“No-one is hypnotizing anyone in the middle of a work day”, Jason said in an authoritarian tone, still without looking up from the paper.
“C’mon, boss… End of the work day then? Before we go for a pint? We are all going for a pint, right?”
Marshall looked around the room, pointing at everyone.
“Sure”, Jason said, he looked up and smiled that crooked smile before he looked down again.
“Saucy!”, Marshall exclaimed as he clapped his hands.

That afternoon, I tried to remember all that I had been taught over the course of those two days. It had felt quite long ago. I had taken an interest in hypnosis quite recently. There was something erotic about having that amount of power over someone. At the course everything had seemed quite clinical. But I knew I could use what I had learned in a certain way. I just didn’t really know if it was appropriate to try on my co-workers.

The work day was coming to a close. Taka was leaving and wished everyone a nice weekend. Marshall tried to stop her and convince her to come to the pub, but Taka had hardly ever joined us for as long as I worked here. Zahra closed down the reception desk when 5:00 PM rolled around and said she couldn’t join this time as she was studying all weekend and wanted to stay focused. Jason then also wanted to leave, but from my office I could hear Marshall convincing him to stay for some drinks. Reda also begrudgingly stayed after being convinced by Marshall, even though he said he was exhausted.

We gathered in Jason’s office, where there was a sofa. I asked who wanted to be hypnotized. Marshall and Jake seemed most enthusiastic and sat on the sofa. Reda was like, “Fine”, and joined them.
“C’mon, Jase, it’ll be fun,” Marshall tried to convince him.
“Nah, I don’t want to.”
“It won’t work if the person doesn’t want it”, I said.
Jason sat behind his desk and just watched.
Reda, Marshall, and Jake were sitting in that order, from left to right, on the sofa. My back was turned to Jason. I took a deep breath. I was taught a few hypnotic inductions, but always one-to-one. I had seen inductions where groups of people were put under, but had never practiced it myself.

“Put the palms of your hands together”, I started. I was surprised how all three of them followed my instructions. No goofing around or giggling. “Clasp your fingers. Point your index fingers up and keep them as far apart as possible. Focus all of your attention on the tips of your index fingers and my voice. Take a deep breath. Every time you breathe in, you breathe in relaxation and calmness. Breathe out. Every time you breathe out, you breathe out stress and worry. It leaves your mind, it leaves your body. Every part of your body is starting to become more relaxed as you focus on the tips of your index fingers. Nothing matters but the tips of your index fingers and the sound of my voice. Now imagine there are two little magnets in the tips of your two index fingers. Try to keep them apart as you feel them pull towards each other. The harder you try to keep your index fingers separated, the stronger the magnetic pull between them.”

As I looked at Reda, Marshall, and Jake, I could tell their eyes were getting tired. This was working. “Your eyes are getting heavy. Your whole body is feeling heavy. You know that the second your index fingers touch, you are going to fall into a deep sleep. Your entire body will finally be able to relax and let go of all stress and tension. You will only hear my voice. Your mind will be empty but for the sound of my voice. Now stop resisting and let your index fingers touch.”

Reda, Marshall, and Jake all collapsed against the back of the sofa. Their eyes closed and their arms dropped into their laps. Reda’s head dangled forward, Marshall’s fell back, and Jake’s rested on Marshall’s shoulder. They had slow but steady breathing patterns. They were clearly all under, but none of them had fluttering eyelids or their mouth hanging open. They were in a mild trance. I was quite proud of myself. I turned around to Jason to see his reaction.

Jason’s body had flopped over sideways in his desk chair. His body was still seated, but his upper body had fallen back and toppled over to his left. His head dangled to the side, his eyelids fluttering heavily and drool dangling off his chin. His left arm dangled down and almost reached the floor. His wide chest stretched the fabric on his shirt. His tie lead my eyes down to his crotch, which showed off a major bulge. Did he have an erection? How could he get hypnotized if he didn’t even want to? The guy from that course was talking about people who are extremely susceptible to hypnosis. What were they called? Somnambulists?

I looked around the room. It was dead silent. I had four handsome men around me in different levels of trance. This was quite a turn-on for me as well, as I felt my cock growing. Or were some of them just playing along? Maybe I could test them. I could think of only one suggestion to give them.
“Somewhere this weekend, you will feel compelled to have sex and videotape it with your phone. You will send the video to me. Then you will delete it. You will forget you sent me the video. In fact, you will forget I told you this. Not too long from now you will wake up from trance. You will feel like you just woke up from a short nap. You will not remember what happened, or what suggestions I gave you, you will just remember sleeping for a little while. Nod if you understand.”
I looked around and all four men nodded their heads. I still was unsure if the hypnosis had actually worked.
“Every time I snap my fingers and say the word ‘sleep’, you will fall back into trance, just as you are right now. But every time I do so, you will go even deeper. Your body will relax more, your mind will go more empty and more blank. No matter what you are doing at the time, your mind will obey to my suggestions. Now I will wake you up from trance, counting up from five. 5, your conscious mind is starting to become active again. 4, you’re becoming aware of your body. 3, you’re becoming aware of your surroundings. 2, you will forget everything that happened during trance, you will just subconsciously remember my suggestions, and 1! Wake up and open your eyes.”

All four of the guys slowly started moving their bodies, sitting up straight. I spotted Jason wiping the drool from his mouth and chin as he looked around, confused.
“Oh, wow, it actually worked!”, Jake said.
“Holy fuck, man!”, Marshall exclaimed.
“What… did I…?”, Jason mumbled.
“You went under with them, Jason. I had my back turned to you, but the induction clearly had an effect on your subconscious mind. You must be quite susceptible.”
Jason scratched his head, clearly confused. He definitely wasn’t just playing along.
I heard someone knock on the front door of the office.
“I’ll go, you get yourselves together. Should we go to the pub?”
I asked as I walked out of Jason’s office. Through the glass doors I could see it was Ted. He sometimes joined us for our after-work drinks. His own work times were irregular as he was a nurse. But if he could join, he would.

Ted

“Hey, Ted! Good to see you”, I said, as we did the bro-hug.
“Hi Erick! Where is everybody?”
“Jason’s office. You see, I did a hypnosis course, and some of the guys wanted to get hypnotized, so…”
“Oh cool!”
“We just finished though, so we’re practically ready to go.”
We walked into Jason’s office. All of the guys were standing now, still a bit confused. Ted gave Jake a kiss on the lips.
“Did you guys just get hypnotized?”, Ted asked.
“I’m pretty sure we did”, Reda said.
“It was pretty cool”, Jake said.
“What was it like?”, Ted asked.
I snapped my fingers. “Sleep!”
Jake, Marshall, and Reda all fell backwards, half on top of each other, onto the sofa. Jason’s eyes rolled all the way back into his head and his mouth fell open wide. His knees buckled and he fell forward to the floor, but I was just in time to catch him so he wouldn’t hurt himself. It was now I knew that none of them were playing along and I had actually hypnotized all of them. And I gave them a dirty suggestion. I started to feel regret.
“Oh my God!”, Ted exclaimed. “Very cool! Can you teach me this for when he’s annoying?” I laughed hard at his joke. I needed to wake these guys up and get this over with.
“I’ll bring them back, it’s time for a drink”, I said. “3… becoming aware of yourself. 2, becoming aware of your surroundings… and 1, wake up and open your eyes!”
Marshall looked around, saw Jake was half on top of him and laughed, Jake and Reda smiled and were loving it. But Jason woke up on the floor and asked me, “Why am I on the floor? What’s happening?”
He seemed less impressed or entertained.

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