Misguiding The Counselor

She sits stiff in the leather chair, knees pressed hard together, trying to look like the authority figure everyone expects. They want the story. Everything the teenager spilled behind closed doors. Judith shakes her head, clips the words, confidentiality. Maria catches it first—the flutter in Judith’s eyelids, the way her shoulders dip. Recognition slides over her face. "Wait. Dan. Look who it is. Same sad little Judith who ate lunch in the bathroom. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to touch her." Dan leans on the desk, breath close. "Still that lonely?" He drags the word across her, savoring it. "Bet nobody’s even asked in years." Judith swallows. Heat climbs her neck, sinks lower. Maria circles behind the chair, nails tapping the wood, each tap matching the pulse between Judith’s legs. "We need to know what our daughter told you. That’s all. Tell us and we’ll give you what you’ve always wanted—someone inside you, someone choosing you for once." The tension snaps, Judith’s fingers unclench on the folder. She spreads it open, voice low, almost a whisper. "She talked about the nights you two lock her door from the outside." As she reads the sentences aloud, Maria’s hand drifts up Judith’s thigh, deliberate, impatient. Dan moves in front, unzips, already hard, and Judith leans forward without hesitation, mouth open, offering the last piece of her dignity for a taste of attention she’s chased since sophomore year. Maria pushes two fingers inside her before Judith finishes the last page, and the betrayal pours out, wet and explicit, between every gasping breath.