"Probably in about an hour," the nurse said. "Sylvia has to finish your paperwork and Dr. Gordon will want to come in and have a last look at you. Then you can go home."

"Did he tell my friend he could leave?" Krista asked. "I didn't want him to be stuck here waiting when there wasn't anything he could do except watch me sleep."

"Yeah, he told him," the nurse said. "Mr. McPherson left last night. Is he coming back to take you home?" the nurse asked.

"I don't think so," Krista replied, "I can just take a cab."

"Alright then," the nurse said, "we'll get started processing your paperwork and the doctor will come by in a few minutes."

The nurse walked out, leaving Krista alone with her thoughts. Despite the fact that she was lying in a hospital bed, and really sore, she felt great. Her body ached, but she figured that was the price you pay for amazing, mind-blowing sex. She thought back to the night before. Damien was amazing. He pushed her to her limits, no doubt, but she couldn't deny the extreme pleasures he'd given her.

Never in a million years had she believed that she would have anal sex, much less with a "stranger" in a night club. Of course he wasn't a stranger now, at least not technically. She rolled his name around on her tongue. "Lance Damien McPherson," she said softly to herself. Damien definitely fit him better, what with his devlish good looks and the dark side of his personality.

She went back over the events of the last few days and was surprised to find that she felt no regret. The way he made her feel, the things she was willing to do when she was with him a it may be that he knew her better than anyone ever had before, better even than herself. He obviously saw some dark potential for passion within her, something she would have denied if anyone had ever asked her before.

She loved the way he made her feel, but it also terrified her. She didn't want to be a freak. She didn't want to crave things that normal people found depraved and twisted. She didn't want to feel that way about herself. All of the excuses sounded childish. She was a grown woman and was going to have to accept this new aspect of her personality. It didn't change who she was, right?

Clearly, she had some issues. She wished she could talk to Damien about it, since it seemed like he would understand, but she didn't have his phone number. Maybe she should call Hannah and see if she would pick her up. Then they could talk about everything. She reached over and grabbed the hospital phone.

After the phone rang a few times, Hannah answered the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey Hannah," Krista said, "It's Krista. I need a favor."

"Krista, why are you calling me from the hospital?" Hannah asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just need a ride home and someone to talk to," Krista said. "Are you busy?"

"No, not at all," Hannah said. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain when you get here," Krista said, figuring that maybe it would be better in person. "Don't rush. I won't be discharged for another forty-five minutes to an hour," Krista said.

"That's okay," Hannah said. "I'll come early anyway and we can talk. How long have you been there?"

"Only since last night," Krista said. "Besides, it was nothing and I didn't want you to worry. They just kept me for observation."

"Observation of what?" Hannah queried.

"I'll explain everything when you get here, okay?" Krista asked.

"Okay, sure," Hannah said, wondering what was going on with her best friend. "You know you're acting kind of strange. Is everything okay?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, just had a few major revelations over the last couple of days," Krista said. "Thanks for coming to get me. I could really use a friend right now."

"You big dummy!" Hannah exclaimed. "You could have called me last night and then you'd already have a friend there. Anyway, I'm on my way. See you soon."

As Krista placed the phone back on the cradle, she thought about the last few days. It was hard to believe that it had all started on Friday night. How was it that you could go years living a certain way and then have your entire life change in two days? She had accepted that she had crossed the line into freakish territory. Her response to everything Damien had done to her was unexpectedly extreme. All of it appealed to her. She couldn't deny the way her body or her mind had reacted. Truthfully, she didn't want to.

Well, a part of her did, but that was because she was afraid of how people would react if they found out. Hannah had been her friend for eight years, and was always telling her that she needed to break out of her shell. She would be supportive, thrilled even. Heather would probably be okay too. She had a very open mind and mostly just wanted people to do what made them happy. It was Tiffini that would be the hardest sell, with her old fashioned ideas about relationships and men.

Hannah walked through the door about half an hour after they got off the phone. "Sorry it took me so long," she said. "Hospital food always sucks, so I figured you might be hungry and grabbed us lunch." She handed Krista a small bag and a soda. "One double cheeseburger with no pickles and no mustard, a small fry and a Diet Dr. Pepper," she said with a grin.

Krista grabbed the bag greedily and ripped it open. She hadn't realized she was starving until she smelled the food. "I love that you know me so well," she said as she unwrapped the burger.

"Now, spill it," Hannah said. "What's going on and why were you in the hospital for observation overnight?"

Krista wasn't exactly sure how to go about having this conversation. She figured her friend would take a little while to understand and decided to have a little fun to pay her back. Unless Damien really was a rapist, something she didn't believe, he could only have found out about her fantasies if Hannah had told him. Hannah was the only person she'd ever told. "Apparently, I had some kind of negative reaction during anal sex that made me pass out. Something to do with the vagus nerve," she said as she picked up a few fries and stuffed them in her mouth.

Hannah didn't say anything. She just blinked. The words coming out of her friend's mouth didn't seem like they should be put together in that order. They didn't make sense, at least not when she was talking about Krista. "Huh?" Hannah asked.

"The doctor said the vagus nerve controls blood pressure or something and mine had some kind of rare reaction which made me pass out," Krista said.

"I got that part," Hannah said. "I'm missing the part about the anal sex."

Krista slowly chewed the bite of burger in her mouth and said, "Who knew that anal sex could be awesome? I always figured it would hurt like hell and that the woman couldn't possibly enjoy it. Turns out, it's amazing."

"Krista, you aren't making any sense. You aren't even seeing anyone. Who on earth were you having anal sex with?" her friend exclaimed.

"No idea," Krista said.

"You didn't know his name or anything?" Hannah asked. "I didn't know you did the casual sex thing."

"I don't," Krista said. "I didn't even know what he looked like. I never saw his face."

"Am I being punked?" Hannah asked, looking around the room.

"No seriously," Krista said. "I didn't know anything about him other than that he had a sexy voice."

"Okay, even if I could think of some reason for you to have sex with someone you hadn't ever seen before," Hannah said, "which I can't, by the way, how did it end up being anal sex?

"Because he was amazing and I couldn't say no," Krista replied.

"Amazing?" Hannah said. "As in actually amazing or amazing as in aI'm Krista and I've never had a real orgasm before, so I think everything is amazing.'"

"Actually amazing," Krista said. "And that whole orgasm thing a not as overrated as I thought."

"You finally had one?" Hannah asked, clapping her hands with an idiotic grin on her face. "Oh my god, I'm so happy. I was starting to worry you know. I thought your female parts might not ever start working right."

"Anyway," Krista said as she rolled her eyes. "He rocked my world upside down and I think he may have changed me on a fundamental level."

"Wow," Hannah said. "So the first time you had sex with him, it was so good, you let him do you anally.

"Actually, it wasn't the first time I had sex with him," Krista said.

"Okay now I'm really confused," Hannah said. "When did you have sex with him before?"

"On Friday night," Krista said.

"So you slept with him the first time on Friday night, but you didn't know who he was, right?" Hannah asked.

"Right," Krista said.

"And again on Saturday, but you still didn't know who he was." Hannah said, trying to piece it all together in her brain.

"Correct," Krista said.

"If you joined some kind of sex club, and didn't tell me, I'm going to be super pissed," Hannah said.

"No nothing like that," Krista said, trying to keep a straight face.

"So how do you know it was the same guy?" Hannah asked.

"Same voice," Krista responded. "Plus the second time, I went back to where it happened the first time, hoping to run into him."

"Where did you fuck him the first time?" Hannah asked.

"Technically, I think he fucked me," Krista said.

"Whatever," Hannah said. "Where?"

"In the bathroom at the club," Krista said, buffing her nails innocently.

"So let me get this straight," Hannah said. "You, had sex in the bathroom at the club with some guy you had never seen. The sex was amazing, but you didn't know who he was. So you went back the next night and had sex with him again, except anal this time. And you still didn't know who he was."

"Right," Krista said.

"How'd you get him into the bathroom the second night?" Hannah asked.

"I didn't," Krista said, trying to keep the smile off her face. This was the funniest thing she had heard in a long time and she was laughing hysterically on the inside. "He fucked me in the hallway,"

"In the hallway?" Hannah asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"In the hallway," Krista said. "Bent over the speaker, actually and up against the wall."

"In the hallway?" Hannah asked again.

Krista laughed. "Yes in the hallway," she said.

"Bent over a speaker?" Hannah asked quizzically.

"Yup," Krista said.

"And against the wall?" Hannah asked.

"Uh-huh," Krista replied.

"In the hallway?" Hannah asked going back to the beginning where she had gotten confused.

"For god sakes, yes," Krista said. "In the hallway."

"Okay then," Hannah said. "I'm gonna let that one go for now and focus on something I can wrap my brain around."

"Sure," Krista said.

"So how'd you get him to go back into the hallway," Hannah asked.

"I didn't," Krista said. "He was just there. Same thing in the bathroom the night before."

"So you had sex with a stalker," Hannah concluded.

"No," Krista said. "He's not a stalker."

"He sounds like a stalker," Hannah said.

"Nope," Krista said.

"How do you know?" Hannah asked.

"I know he's not a stalker," Krista replied, "because he's a rapist."

"He raped you?" Hannah asked.

"I wasn't raped," Krista said. "I said he was a rapist. Turns out, you can't actually rape the willing, and he had me more than willing before he even put away the knife."

"He pulled a knife on you?" Hannah asked, outraged.

"Cut me with it too," Krista said, tilting her head to the side so she could point to where Damien had nicked her with the knife.

"So you knew he was a rapist," Hannah said. "and that he was willing to cut you with a knife. And you still went back the second night. Why?"

"Because Friday night was the first time I had ever actually had an orgasm," Krista said, "and I was hooked. Unfortunately, since I didn't know who he was, I didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to go back. Although, I did consider putting an ad on CraigsList."

"So the best sex you ever had was with a rapist," Hannah said, "who actually cut you while he was trying to rape you, but you didn't care and had sex with him anyway two nights in a row, one of which landed you in the hospital for observation. Am I missing anything."

"Well, at the time I didn't know who it was, but I do now," Krista said.

"So who was it?" Hannah asked.

"Lance McPherson," Krista said slowly. "Known to almost everyone as Damien, the bartender."

"Oh god," Hannah said, a look of horror on her face. "Krista I have to tell you something."

"What?" Krista said blinking up at her innocently.

"Krista, Damien's not a rapist," Hannah said, taking a deep breath. "I guess I sort of put him up to it."

"Huh?" Krista asked, feigning ignorance.