When the graduation ceremony was finally over and I had my diploma, I handed it to May and kissed her cheek. “I have one last thing to do before I leave here for good.”

May nodded and smiled knowingly as she handed me a business envelope. I tucked it under my graduation gown and went over to Mary Strickland and took her hand. I had told May about what I had promised to do to Mary, just because I didn't want to embarrass her when she found out. She knew I was sexually active and now that I graduated, she assumed I was going to show off. Boy, oh boy, I really was going to.

Mary's blush and embarrassed face stayed as I led her through the crowd and out of the auditorium. She didn't say anything about what she knew was going to happen next. It wasn't as if she was resigned to the act, though. Oh, no. Her breathing sped up as we approached the school's administration offices and I could feel her anticipation. I could also feel how very horny she was.

We had barely gone through the door when she jumped into my arms and kissed me with an unrestrained passion that far exceeded any kiss she had given me before. I didn't question it and carried her around the counter and sat her on it. I slowly ran my hands up her thighs and raised her skirt to her hips. Mary stared into my eyes as I pulled off her stylish black panties and she unbuttoned her blouse to show off the very sexy black bra that matched.

“You just couldn't wait for this, could you?” Mary asked in a whisper as she popped her bra open and showed me her breasts. “You had to force yourself to gain as many credits as possible to graduate so quickly, just for me.”

“You gave me the perfect motivation, Mary.” I smiled warmly at her and gently cupped her breasts. She let out a sexy sound and her hands went to my shoulders. I suckled her breasts for a moment before I realized what she wanted and I started to kneel and take off my graduation cap.

“Leave it.” Mary ordered. “I want to keep seeing the proof.”

I nodded and leaned my head back to stare up at her and to not poke her with the corner of the hat. I darted my tongue out and gave her a probing lick. She gasped and her legs shook briefly, then she pulled on my shoulders to shove my face right in there. I took the subtle hint to get to work and she was soon panting and then cried out with pleasure as she came all over her work desk.

I stood up and lifted my graduation gown, tucked the edges into my jeans, and pulled out my erection that was a bit bigger than it had been the last time she had seen it.

Mary's eyes widened at the sight and she looked into my eyes. “You really are going to keep your promise.”

I nodded and stepped into her embrace and pushed my way inside of her. She almost screamed as I made room for myself inside her tightness. It was almost like she was a virgin again and she reacted in almost the same way. She held me tightly and had to let herself adjust to having me there for almost thirty seconds.

Mary eased her hold on me down there and with her arms to give me a kiss. “I'm ready.”

“I doubt that.” I said and kissed her as I started to move.

Mary started to moan right away and she didn't even try to help me as I had my way with her on her desk. That wasn't what she wanted, though. I picked her up and held her as I kept moving my hips, then I paused and stepped onto her chair and up onto the desk. She let out a startled sound at being so high up in the air and then moaned as I picked up speed.

“You... you really... OHHH!” Mary moaned and came hard.

“I promised to bend you over the counter.” I said and pulled out, turned her around and put her on her hands and knees on top of the counter and mounted her from behind.

Mary yelled as I penetrated deeply into her and then she lost any semblance of decency as she cried out and begged for me to go faster. She needed to get off before anyone showed up and caught us. That actually made it more appealing for the both of us and we were even more aroused at the thought of someone walking in on us.

I did as she asked, though. I sped up and did my best to get her off as quickly as possible. When she came, it was with a little squirt and a scream. I didn't stop, though. She wanted me to finish as well and I went even faster to get myself off, too. It really was a danger for us to get caught, especially because Mary lost the ability to talk and only moaned loudly as she came and came again.

I gripped her hips and leaned forward to get better leverage. “Get ready! Here it comes! All for you!”

“OHHHHH, GOD!” Mary screamed as she came and I poured myself inside of her. Her inarticulate scream echoed off the walls and anyone in the hallway would know exactly what was going on. She collapsed onto the counter, her body limp from both exertion and an abundance of endorphins.

I pulled out of her and used some tissues from her desk to wipe myself off and tucked my still hard member away. I used more tissues on Mary and slipped her panties back onto her. With most of her modesty returned, I pulled her skirt down and then helped her move off of the counter.

Mary clung to me and cuddled in as I sat down on her chair and held her. Tears suddenly came to her eyes and I pet her brown hair as she broke down and cried.

“Shh. Shh.” I whispered and gently kissed her cheek several times. “It's okay.”

“N-no, Ben. No, it's not.” Mary said and cried. “It's over. You... you're going away. You're moving on with your life and... you're leaving me behind.”

I stopped petting her hair and used a hand to lift her chin to get her to look at me. “Whatever gave you the idea that I would be leaving you behind?”

“Wh-wh-what?” Mary asked and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes.

I reached into my graduation gown and took out the business envelope. “You have to forgive the crinkled papers. I don't know how that happened.” I joked and Mary gave me a surprised look. “I wasn't careful at all when you told me to hurry.”

Mary nodded and opened the envelope. She caught her breath at the job contract.

“Is double your normal salary enough to convince you to come work for me?” I asked and more tears came to her eyes. “You thought I was done needing your help? You couldn't have been more wrong.”

“B-Ben, I... you...” Mary wiped at her eyes and looked at me. “Did you really think you could solve our problems by doing this?”

“Yes.” I said and kissed her. “Who wouldn't want to help run a company that does everything?”

“Ben...” Mary started to say.

“I knew you would feel guilty about everything, considering how we met and the great stories we've exchanged.”

Mary smiled at the reminder about the fiction we had tricked ourselves with to hide our affair.

“I just wanted to give you another epic story to continue with. You can choose to not write it with me and I'll completely understand. It's your life and it's your choice.” I said and gave her a pointed look. “It's always been your choice.”

Mary gave me a pointed look back. “I seem to recall a lot of flirting and...”

“Mutual flirting.” I corrected and then smiled crookedly. “I was actually surprised you were receptive to it, actually. I mean, I was acting pretty outrageously and I thought it was too brazen to even count. Then you went and wore that exercise outfit and showed me that you were the one in control of whatever happened between us.” I said and she looked thoughtful. “I admired that, Mary. I really did.”

Mary looked at the contract in her hands. “You want me to be the Head of the Department for the receptionists and secretaries.”

I let her think that for a few seconds and tapped the papers. “You need to read everything in your hands before you make a decision.”

Mary looked perturbed and moved the top paper out of the way and gasped. “BEN!”

“The top contract was only my first offer. I wasn't sure what level of responsibility you would want and I didn't want to overwhelm you right off the bat.” I said. “Becoming my personal assistant is triple your salary and the job is a lot more intensive than anything else you've done before.”

Mary looked down at her still open top and looked back at my face. “Including doing you?”

I laughed. “Yes, including doing me.”

Mary nodded and took a minute to hook her bra closed and buttoned her blouse. “I'm going to need time to go over everything and consider my options before I make any decision this life changing.”

“I would expect nothing less.” I said and hugged her close. “I'm going away on vacation for a week and then I'm spending a month with my betrothed's family.”

Mary frowned at me. “You've just gotten everything settled down around here and you're running off to have fun? Why would you ignore the company you worked so hard to establish and...”

I put a hand on her cheek to make her pause. “I hope that shows you that I need someone with your expertise to not only keep me on track, I need you to tell me the things I miss or will miss. Any missteps I make could be devastating to a lot of people and I really need the help.”

Mary sighed. “You're pressuring me already.”

I chuckled. “No, Mary. I'm reassuring you that your skills won't be wasted and that I'm not just doing this because I can. I need someone to help me and I thought that offering you both positions first was the best thing for everyone all around and not just for me.”

Mary's eyes widened slightly. “You're going to hire someone else for the position I don't choose.”

“I have to. My company is growing and expanding all over the place and it's way too much for just one person, even if that person is me, to keep track of it all and to keep everything running.”

Mary fell silent for several minutes and we both tried to ignore the janitor that came into the office. If he had been a couple of minutes earlier, he could have caught us. I felt the shiver that went through Mary and she clamped her mouth shut to stop her moan.

The janitor started cleaning papers and things up and we sat there quietly as the man worked. He emptied the garbage can at the end of the counter and left briefly before he brought a large water bucket into the office and started mopping the floor at the far side of the room.

“I want a staff.” Mary said. “The heads of the departments don't count.”

I caught on to her train of thought right away. “You're running with my point that it's too much for one person to handle.”

Mary nodded. “Like you said, you need help. I can do that as long as I have help in return.”

I nodded. “I think that's fair. You can handle the selection process.”

“Good, because you weren't going to get a choice anyway.” Mary said with a smile.

“Hey, it's my company! I'm the boss!” I said.

“Yes, you can worry about being the head of the company and make the broad decisions while I worry about being your hands and getting things done.” Mary said with a smile. “I already have a couple of people in mind that will be a huge benefit to the both of us.”

I gave her a pointed look and then let out a long and drawn out sigh.

Mary grinned at me and gave me several quick kisses before she stood up. “You need to get out of here before someone catches you and I have some personal paperwork to file on my own behalf with Midtown High School.”

I stood up as well and reached for the contracts.

“I'll keep those for now.” Mary said and put them back into the business envelope. “I'll see you right after your vacation and we'll get this all hammered out officially.”

I nodded and walked over to the office door. I felt a bit of a tingle with my spider-sense and I moved without thinking. My years of training with The Ancient One kicked in and I was across the room and had my hand wrapped around the assassin's throat.

“You... can't... escape... death.” The man whispered as the hidden gun dropped from his hand.

“No one can.” I whispered back and snapped his neck. I let him go and his body dropped to the floor.

“We... will... have... our... due.” He somehow managed to say with his final breath.

I stood over the janitor's body for about five seconds before Mary screamed. I closed my eyes and held in my sigh. This was really going to mess up my vacation plans.

*

Detective Jean DeWolff did not appreciate having hundreds of people around her crime scene. That most of them were graduation students and their parents was immaterial to the integrity of the crime scene. There would be no way to trace anyone going to or from anywhere inside the building with all of the foot traffic in the hallways and the contamination of potential evidence.

That there was no reasonable expectation of privacy was also immaterial by this point. Every single person talked about a murder on school grounds and everyone expressed their opinions about it. She was glad that she had sent over a full police squad for crowd control and she could let them handle the rabble. She had something much more important to handle at the moment.

“I need to go over what happened here once more, Mr. Parker.” Jean said. “What tipped you off that the janitor wasn't really a janitor?”

Ben sighed and rubbed his face. “I don't know. It was several things.”

Jean raised her eyebrows at him. “Continue that thought.”

“His cleaning technique was amateurish. He emptied the trash at the wrong time. His floor mopping was almost random, as if he hadn't held a mop properly before.”

“He could have been a new hire.” Jean suggested and wrote down what he said.

“I thought that, then realized they wouldn't hire someone new to clean the office. They would have been out doing the lockers and hallways, or start on the bathrooms. The office has a lot of sensitive paperwork and not just anyone can be trusted to have access or to know what needs to be cleaned and what shouldn't be touched.” Ben said. “Then I realized the most important part.”

“What was that?” Jean asked and wrote out his words.

“There were still people on school grounds and the janitors always wait until after hours so no one is in their way while they work. There's no danger of anyone slipping and falling on the wet floors.”

Jean leaned back on the chair in the small office she was using as an interrogation room. She knew he was right about everything he said. She knew it explained out a lot of the suspicion about his actions. She also somehow knew that he was lying his ass off about how he knew the janitor wasn't a real janitor.

“Can you explain to me why the security footage was deleted?” Jean asked.

Ben sighed. “I didn't want to get someone in trouble.”

“Oh? And who do you mean? Miss Strickland?”

“No, me.” Ben said. “If it got out that...”

“...you're a murderer.” Jean offered.

Ben gave her a blank look. “...that I killed someone, even in self defense, it would be a huge hit to my reputation.”

“As if you're squeaky clean.” Jean said with a huff.

It was Ben's turn to raise his eyebrows. “Do you have something to say to me, detective?”

“We never did find those college kids that allegedly assaulted your friend.” Jean said.

“I meant an apology for defamation of character, Jean.” Ben said and smiled a little as the detective winced slightly at the use of her first name so familiarly. “Then again, you've had a bit of an attitude about me ever since we made-out at the hospital after Val was hurt.”

Jean squinted her eyes at him. “How did you know that?”

Ben chuckled. “Do you really think I wouldn't know when someone digs through all of my computer records and personal history? It's not like you bothered trying to cover your tracks.”

“Those were legitimate and official police searches.” Jean defended herself.

“Are you sure that you weren't just trying to figure me out?” Ben asked and she made her face go blank. “I tried to explain to you before that I enjoy flirting with women to make them smile. You were a great example of that. Then you showed up at the hospital to make sure Val was taken care of and I wanted to thank you for that.”

Jean fought down the blush that tried to appear at that remembered kiss. “The kiss wasn't that impressive.”

Ben let a smile grow on his face. “That means it was impressive to a degree, so thank you for the compliment.”

Jean blushed a little, despite her efforts. “Dammit.” She whispered and he chuckled.

“If it's any consolation, I've learned a lot since then. If you allow me to thank you again, it should be a much better performance.” Ben said, a bit smugly.

Jean sighed. “You're distracting me with this personal stuff.”

“Yes, I am. It's working, too. You've completely forgotten that I was the potential victim and you're interrogating me as if I set out to kill the man right from the start.”

“Did you?” Jean asked.

“He never would have made it into the room if I wanted him dead.” Ben admitted and Jean sucked in a sharp breath. “I do have a personal guard for a reason, detective.”

“Where was she?” Jean asked. “Miss Jubadi.”

Ben ignored correcting the form of address for the Dora Milaje. “Unfortunately, I assigned her to watch my mother while I took care of some personal business.”

“You mean screwing the receptionist on her desk.” Jean said, derisively.

“I gave her my word that as soon as I graduated, I would bend her over the counter. Since I am a man of my word, that was exactly what I did.” Ben said. “I also deleted that footage, because even though we wouldn't have minded someone walking in and seeing us going at it like rabbits, having it recorded goes against the entire point of spontaneity.”

Jean blinked her eyes at the young man. “You wanted someone to see you?”

Ben smiled. “Almost right after we stopped and dressed, the janitor came in. The thrill of almost getting caught was like an electric shock.”

Jean wasn't sure what to say to that. She would have never compromised herself like that and couldn't see the appeal in having a witness to her private activities.

“Anyway, when we were done talking and Mary agreed to come work for me, I tried to leave the office. I saw the man reach for something that was not a cleaning tool and reacted.” Ben said and sighed. “I hadn't realized my weight training and martial arts lessons had given me such a large upper hand. His neck was broken before I could disarm him or beat him up to get him to talk.”

“That really isn't something a normal person does, Mr. Parker.”

“I'm not a normal person.” Ben said and Jean was surprised that he wasn't making a joke or looked embarrassed about saying it. “My life has been too hectic to even consider pretending I'm normal.”

Jean thought about commenting how odd it was that he would admit it, like being normal was a bad thing.

“You're not normal either, Jean.” Ben said and didn't see any reaction from her. “A normal woman doesn't make it a personal mission to check up on and help those that suffer from certain crimes. They don't try to comfort those affected by it, even peripherally, and you did both. You came right there and you did everything you could to help.”

Jean knew he was derailing her again and stayed quiet.

“I did not intend to kill that man. He pulled a gun and I reacted without even thinking about it. I didn't actually care if I was in danger, though. Mary was right there in his line of fire and I did what I did to protect her. If he had tried to shoot me, he easily could have killed her and perhaps the bullet would have winged me or only did superficial damage. His next shot wouldn't have missed if I was incapacitated.”

Jean had to nod at that. The ammo in the gun was armor piercing and it would have gone through the woman and Ben as well.

“Will that be all, detective?” Ben asked.

Jean gave him a pointed look. “For now, I think it's enough. However, you are to not leave town and...”

“There goes my celebration vacation.” Ben said with a sigh and stood. “Well, there's nothing that can be done about it now.”

Jean watched as Ben walked around the desk and sat down on it in front of her.

“I'll pick you up at six for dinner and dancing.” Ben stated and didn't ask.

“Excuse me?” Jean asked, surprised.

“You're making me miss my week long vacation with my mother and you are going to make it up to me tonight. If you don't have an appropriate dress, we can stop at a shop I know and get you fitted.”

Jean stared at him like he was crazy. “I can't do that with you! You're a suspect in a murder and...”

“Innocent until proven guilty.” Ben said with a smirk. “I hope you're prepared to go all out tonight, because it's going to take a lot to make it up to me for disappointing my mom like this.”

Jean opened her mouth to respond and realized she didn't know how to respond to that.

“Thank you, Jean.” Ben said and leaned down to take advantage of her perfect kissing face. He gave her as deep and probing of a kiss as he could and not piss her off. He broke the kiss and smiled at the completely stunned look on her face. “I'll see you at six.”

Jean stared at him as he walked out of the small office and it took her several minutes before she snapped out of it. “That bastard did it to me again!”