Callback: This chapter references characters and events from The Second Place Sister, and Doppelgänger, tying these stories together toward the DomCo conclusion.
Chapter Twenty-Five: John Hamlin
The AI parked the convertible in a vacant lot on the outskirts of town, which made Jenna wonder just how many abandoned lots there actually were on the outskirts of town. The place was little more than some kind of steel bunker and, judging by the number of security cameras around the lot and on the building, it was the bunker of someone very paranoid. The four of them approached the metal door, Jenna raising her fist to bang on it, but she stopped short when the door opened. A man emerged, dressed in loose khakis and an expensive polo. He was big and gorgeous, but he looked haggard and tired, like all the weight of the world rested on him and had for far too long.
“Um, hi?” he said.
Leanna stepped forward and said, “We spoke on the phone.”
The man seemed perplexed and replied, “You… seem a little young. Are you sure this is about… that?”
Leanna nodded. The man nodded back. He allowed them to come inside.
“John Hamlin,” he said, and stuck out his hand.
Kara, Jenna, and Angela all shared a look.
“Hamlin?” Angela said, “Like Stephanie and Tori Hamlin?”
John’s brows raised in surprise.
“My daughters,” he said.
“We go to the same school,” Jenna said, “Er, went. We just graduated, too.”
“Small world. Follow me.”
John Hamlin took the three of them down a short hallway and into what looked like some kind of laboratory, where another man in a white coat peered into a microscope. Angela looked very excited, bouncing on her feet as though someone had just handed her everything on her Christmas list.
“This is Kenny,” John said, motioning toward the man in the coat, who looked up and nodded at the four gorgeous young women, his cheeks flushed.
“Pleasure,” he said.
“You said you know something about this business,” John said, clearly hopeful, “I hope to God that’s true because I’ve been looking for a long time.”
“Did,” Jenna started, “Did it happen to someone you know?”
John looked sad and nodded but didn’t elaborate.
“It happened to me, too,” she said, and John took a step back, his eyes widening.
“How do you… feel… right now?”
“It’s getting hard to think,” Jenna admitted, and it was true. It had been hours since her last orgasm and the feeling had been intensifying.
“Kenny, do you have any of that stuff ready?”
The scientist nodded and opened a cabinet, taking down a pill bottle and dropping one into his hands. He handed it to Jenna, saying, “It’s not a cure. To be honest, you’re the only other person I’ve actually met that it happened to, so I can’t say for sure it’s going to work. If it does, it will help tone down the effects for a little while.”
Jenna swallowed the pill without hesitation, praying that the man was right.
“Were you at NewYou?” John asked, carefully.
“NewYou?” Jenna asked back.
“The clinic,” he said, spitting the words.
“No,” Jenna said, “I’ve never heard of it.”
Angela stepped forward, pulling something from her purse and passing them to Kenny, saying, “This is what I have. I tried to get copies of everything I could find on it.”
Kenny took the papers and began to flip through them, his eyes widening with every page, until finally, he snapped his gaze back to Angela, his jaw hanging open.
“Where in the world did you get this?” he asked.
“More like which world,” Angela said, and then shook her head and continued, “Trust me. If I told you, you’d think I’m fucking crazy.”
Kenny raised one eyebrow and said, “As a scientist, I don’t dismiss anything that sounds crazy at first. I’m working on finding a cure for a DNA-altering injectable that recodes a subject’s genetic makeup to turn them into a constantly aroused sextoy. I work in a bunker in the middle of nowhere for some rich computer scientist. So, yeah, I’m pretty comfortable with crazy.”
Angela looked as though she might be in love.