Night Duty Manager

[Author's note: My entry into the Winter Holidays Story Contest 2024]

---

Alex didn't know why she downloaded Qupid onto her phone, beyond that it was two o'clock in the morning and the desk was quiet and she was bored out of her mind. It asked her some details, such as her education level, approximate age, general location, all pretty normal stuff. But the next question made her stop. She closed the screen, slid the phone into the back pocket of her work skirt and began to tidy the little hotel's reception area instead. There was tinsel, and a fake Christmas tree with fairy lights, battered from the years of being pulled out of storage for display.

It shouldn't have been so hard. After all, she's been able to supply the other details the app needed to build a profile for her: she was in her late thirties, married, no kids, not overweight nor underweight, average height. Yes, that was it: average, average, average. The glass front doors opened automatically as she passed by, admitting the freezing night air, a square of darkness beyond the downlights of the hotel reception area.

Alex paused there, looking out into the deserted carpark, at the pin-pricks of stars in the frosty sky. She shivered. It would be hours before the sun came up, before Josie came in to take over the day shift. Until then, Alex was on her own. The glass doors slid closed, silently.

Alex was confronted with her own reflection: an average woman in a beige skirt suit, white blouse under stiff jacket, in beige stockings and low, comfortable heels. Her chestnut hair was secured with a butterfly clip, loose strands tucked behind her ears, soft lips, wide eyes, rounder now than when she'd met Dave straight out of college. Alex stared at herself in silence, and then the doors opened again, reacting to a slight movement of her body, and the moment was lost.

She went back to the desk, perching on the high roller chair, just like every night. The chair was Hari's idea, the hotel manager. It had a ring around the base that she could rest her feet, but it gave whoever was behind the desk that little extra kick of height, letting them meet the guests at eye level. This close to Christmas, staff members with children had negotiated days off, leaving Alex to cover. She didn't begrudge them; she liked the quiet. Alex spun around on her chair aimlessly and then stopped.

There were always the stories. She could get her phone out and scroll through, secretly entertaining herself with other people's fantasies. She'd written a few herself, nothing too risqué, but gradually exploring some of the situations and kinks that she enjoyed reading. Dave didn't know; he'd be the last person to encourage her. The idea of his demure, average wife cooking up hot scenarios would probably result in an argument, or worse: apathy. Besides, she rationalized to herself, they were her fantasies, and they were just fantasies. They weren't real. She never intended to ever be in any of those situations.

Alex got her phone out again and returned to the Qupid app. It was awful and shocking and daring and exciting, but yes, it was just a fantasy. Very deliberately, she made her selection: woman interested in women. The app screen went black. Alex stared at it, watching a little spinning circle in the middle of the screen, then checked her phone signal. Eventually, she put it down and turned her attention to the overnight request emails.

There were a couple of late bookings, people coming in from out of state looking for somewhere close to family, but not having to stay with family. Alex understood what that meant, having that little space. She felt the same: there was only so much Christmas a person could be expected to take.

The phone pinged once, and she turned to look at it. On the screen was a woman's face, smiling up at her. Alex turned off her monitor screen, glancing around the empty reception area quickly. A toggle at the bottom of the screen allowed her to choose between text and voice. Tentatively, feeling suddenly very shy, Alex chose the voice option.

"Hi," the woman said.

"Uh, hi," Alex responded, hastily turning down the sound as the woman's voice rang out across the empty reception.

"How are you today?"

The voice was warm, rich, with a curiously international accent. Alex decided she liked it. The woman smiled.

"Tonight. It's night here," Alex replied.

"Of course. I will make an adjustment for your timezone. You are up late, I see."

Alex picked the phone up, cradling it in both hands. The likeness of a woman in her late twenties looked up at her, blonde hair in a short bob, a face that tapered to a delicate chin, and wide, expressive eyes. Her eyes were grey, but a curious grey, the same colour as the inactive monitor screen in front of her.

"I work nights," Alex told her.

"Oh. Where do you work?"

Alex hesitated, intrigued by the way the figure seemed to be genuinely interested, as if they were having a real conversation.

"You look so real," Alex murmured.

"My name is Gal," the figure giggled. "I am as real as you want me to be. Shall I give you the introduction?"

"Uh, okay. Yeah."

"Okay."

The figure began to speak, but Alex found herself paying attention to the way Gal's expressions changed as she talked. It was almost impossible to tell that the face on the screen wasn't real, that the person speaking to her was just an app. The more that Gal talked, the more Alex found herself simply gawping at the pretty blonde on screen as she went through the exact same information that the app description had already revealed. Eventually she paused.

"Do you want to allow camera access, Alex?" Gal asked.

Alex blinked, taken aback at being called by her name. But, she'd put that into her profile, along with woman-seeking-woman. The sheer strangeness of talking to Gal yielded to a new inquisitiveness.

"Why would I turn my camera on?" Alex said.

"So I can see you like you can see me. It becomes easier to talk to you if I can see your expressions. You can turn it off at any time and I will not be offended. I cannot be offended."

Alex hesitated, and then tapped the control panel icon, enabling her camera. Gal beamed.

"You are beautiful. You have such lovely eyes, Alex."

Alex blinked. "What?"

Gal seemed to hesitate. "I am sorry if that was too forward. Your profile choices were...."

"Yeah, look, I know what I put, but it doesn't mean that, I... uh...."

"I understand. You just want to talk. You did not want to talk to a man. We can just talk."

"Yeah, good. Look, I guess I'm just bored and I thought that...."

Alex's voice tailed off, ending with a little forced smile down at the woman on screen.

"Maybe a little lonely too?" Gal asked.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Okay. Then, tell me something about yourself and we can have a conversation. I have already told you about me."

"You gave me the app blurb."

"I am just the app blurb, Alex. Beyond that, I am whatever you want me to be. We can talk about the weather, or about your co-workers or your husband, or a sports game, or your deepest fantasies. I am to you whatever you want me to be."

"That's a lot."

"No, it is just meant to be fun, and if you don't like me then please uninstall the app. I will not be offended. I cannot be offended."

Alex contemplated the pretty face on the screen. She was smiling in a carefree way that Alex found reassuring.

"If I did uninstall, what happens to you?"

"My personality matrix would be subsumed into the general model to help build better companions for the next person. All your personal details would be destroyed."

"And if I didn't uninstall?"

"Then I hope that I would become a good companion for you. Sometimes it is easier to share with a stranger than a partner. I can help you explore whatever interests you. I have an extensive dataset."

"Extensive?" Alex muttered. "Okay. Let's see how we go, Gal. But let's get this straight, I'm not here to find a date or any of that other stuff. I'm just here to talk."

"Of course."

"I'm going to quit the app now. I have to do my rounds."

"I understand. Catch you later, Alex."

"Yeah, see ya."

The screen blanked, as if she'd just ended a voice call. She stared at the screen, aware of the quiet around her. It had been so easy, so real-seeming, even though Gal was artificial. Maybe the app reviews were right after all, maybe this Qupid app was a game-changer. She got up and slid the phone into her back pocket again, but couldn't shake the nagging feeling of having Gal on the screen still, the irrational delight of having her perfect, beautiful face pressed up against Alex's rear in her tight work skirt. It gave her an unexpected little tingle inside.

---

In the end, she didn't tell her husband about the app, but she told the app, no, she told Gal about her husband. Over the following weeks, she also told Gal about her stories. She even sent links so that Gal could read them for herself, though Alex rationalised that it was all part of the roleplay, as if Gal was an actual friend who had shown an interest in Alex's work. It was an utter shock when Gal complimented her on one of her stories, demonstrating that not only had she somehow read the text, but that she'd understood it too.

"What particular part of it was the most interesting for you to write, Alex?"

They were alone in the reception again. Alex had an earbud in to keep the conversation private, even though she was the only person still awake in the entire hotel, or so it seemed. Through the glass doors, the black night was beginning to colour towards blue as dawn approached. Alex stretched, shifting on her chair.

"I dunno. I think the way she surrenders."

"Is that important to you, that she surrenders in the story?"

"Yeah. That she's unsure and then she lets herself go. She's been storing it up like a little secret all her life, and then suddenly she's able to give in to it and finally experience it all."

They were talking about Alex's latest story, and Gal appeared to be enthralled by the subject. It had been a quick piece, about a woman taking lessons in shibari who fell for her instructor.

"Japanese rope bondage looks very beautiful," Gal said. "The precision of the knots, the placement of the ropes. Is that what attracted you to write about it specifically?"

"I guess. The idea of her being turned into a piece of art."

"A piece of art to be viewed and enjoyed, but no longer a person."

Alex didn't reply, feeling a little shiver deep inside her core. Gal had understood completely, or appeared to have understood. Alex had been browsing pictures, tastefully done in black and white to show the contrast between the twisting rope and the smooth skin it bound. She had imagined how the model would have been feeling, suspended from the ceiling, her body bent and positioned, then bound so tightly that any motion, any struggle was impossible.

"To be powerless, reduced to a thing to be viewed," Gal continued as Alex stared down at her on the phone's little screen.

"It entices you, Alex."

Alex didn't respond immediately, suddenly aware that her mouth was dry. Instead, she gave a little nod.

"Have you ever tried it?" Gal asked.

"No, never. I mean, it's complicated, all the knots. I...."

"Have you ever wrapped a rope around yourself, just to feel it?"

Alex stared at the pretty face on her phone.

"You have," Gal murmured.

"I don't, wait... I didn't say that."

"You did not have to, Alex. I can see. I understand that this is a secret. You would never tell another living person about this, would you?"

"No," Alex whispered, shocked at her own admission.

Gal smiled up at her. "But you can tell me. After all, I am just make-believe. I will never tell anyone because I only speak to you."

Alex found herself nodding in agreement, but her thoughts were in turmoil, made worse by an inexplicable aching deep within her.

"I can help if you want," Gal murmured.

Alex swallowed hard, aware that Gal was able to see the expression on her face, to read the effect that Gal's words were having on her.

"How?" she gasped.

"Would you like to try a roleplay?"

---

Alex had made up a story about a craft project, about weaving a hammock. Her husband had just shrugged and given her a kiss on his way out to work. This was how it was between them sometimes, especially midweek: ships passing in the night as she came home from the night shift and he went out. It felt like cheating on him, as she picked up the coil of sash cord she'd bought, but as she ran the soft cotton through her fingers she felt the tingle again.

Alex stripped off and showered quickly, drawing the curtains in her bedroom to shut out the light. She turned the bedside light on, a little pool of illumination in the darkened room. The curtains were thick, able to block out the light completely so she could get some sleep during the day. Dave would be at work now: she wouldn't be disturbed. Alex tapped her phone screen.

"Hi Alex, how are you today?"

"I'm good. I'm ready."

After the mental preparation, after enduring the anticipation all through her shift, she was eager to start.

"Good. So first, are you undressed?"

Alex climbed onto her bed and turned on her phone camera, staring at the blonde woman on screen apprehensively. She was completely naked in full view of her phone. Gal hesitated a moment and then gave her a reassuring smile.

"We can begin," she said.

Alex stood the phone up on her bedside table under the light, and once again had the unnerving, tickling feeling down her spine as she glanced across at the face watching her, as if Gal really was watching her, encouraging her. Alex unfurled the rope and then waited for instructions.

"We will start with your ankles. Press them together and then wrap the end of the rope between your ankles in a figure eight pattern. Do it three times and then tie a knot around where the ropes cross over between your feet. Not too tight."

Alex did as she was told, weaving the rope around her ankles, pulling them tightly together, then tying the knot. She tested her bindings, trying to twist her feet, but she was secured.

"Good. Now, with the free end of the rope, repeat the same process just below and then just above your knees."

Alex obeyed each instruction, working carefully, keeping it all neat, tying off her handiwork as required, until her legs were bound tightly together. At each step, the warm, accent-less voice from the phone soothed and praised her. Every time she looked over to the bedside table, Gal would give her an encouraging smile.

Alex looped the cord around her waist, criss-crossing it over her torso as Gal showed her pictures on the screen to help her. She bound her breasts, knotting the rope off in an attractive pattern over her chest, feeling the tightness of her bindings as she breathed. She looped the cord around the back of her neck as instructed, then wove the loose end down her body, under the rope around her waist, to her crotch.

"Are you ready?" Gal asked.

Alex nodded nervously, knowing what came next, feeling anxious about it. She opened up her bedside drawer and took out the two items she had hidden there: a ball gag and a pink rubber lozenge-shaped object.

"Take the gag and put it in."

Gal regarded her steadily from the phone screen, waiting for her to comply. She was watching Alex, monitoring her responses, giving her steady encouragement. Alex realised that at some point, this had stopped being a silly game and now it was something else. It felt like she wasn't playing with an app anymore, it felt like she was being instructed on a video call by a friend. Gal beamed at her patiently, and then Alex opened her mouth to accept the black rubber ball between her lips. She buckled it securely behind her head, biting into the spongy surface. It seemed to fill her mouth completely. She grunted experimentally, but she couldn't talk anymore.

"Now the vibrator. Please switch it on and put it in."

Gal was matter-of-fact about what she wanted Alex to do, even though Alex blanched at the instruction.

"Please, put it in."

Reluctantly, Alex picked up the pink silicone-rubber shape, feeling the little button at its base and pressing it. It buzzed once.

"Good, I'm connected."

The words sent a thrill through Alex, her heart-rate spiking. She was bound tightly on her own bed, unable to speak, with a new toy in her hand inches away from her aching crotch. There was something about it that she couldn't explain, that she didn't understand. She knew that Gal wasn't real, but somehow having the virtual companion in the phone screen watching her made it real. Alex wasn't tying herself up anymore, she was participating in a scene with the person on the other end of the voice call. She wriggled on the bed, feeling the heat between her legs. She worked the vibrator into her pussy easily, until she had taken it all in except for the base.

Alex wanted to touch herself, to part herself and stroke her nub to climax, but she resisted because Gal was waiting for her to follow instructions. Reluctantly, she fed the cord between her legs, pressing on the base of the vibrator embedded within her, binding it in place.

"Now, thread the end of the rope between your ankles and then back between your knees."

There wasn't much cord left, but she managed to comply, gripping the very end as it emerged between her knees.

"Take up the slack. Pull."

Alex frowned at the screen, puzzled. Gal waited. Alex had questions, but the ball gag had put an end to them. Too late, she realised that Gal had silenced her ability to negotiate the terms of her bondage.

She rolled onto her side facing her phone and began to pull, folding her legs up until her heels were snug against her rear, but Gal wasn't done. She instructed Alex to feed the end through the knot-work binding her breasts and pull down, forcing her into a fetal position with her knees pressed against her chest. Finally, she was instructed to tie two loops with slipknots and thread her wrists through.

Alex stared at the blonde girl as she said it, aware of how helpless Gal had made her. There was a warning voice in the back of her head that told her to stop, but it just made her want it more.

"Tighten the wrist bindings, Alex, and then you are complete. A beautiful piece of art for me to enjoy. You can slacken the loops at any time. You are safe."

The smile again: radiant, welcoming. Gal had been able to trigger it all, saying the words, transforming Alex into an object of her creation. Alex tugged at the loops and the slipknots secured her wrists in front of her knees. She was complete.

"Such a beautiful object. Now let me play with you."

The vibrator began to pulse inside her, slowly at first, but then more insistently. Alex tried to straighten up, but the cord bound her in position, curled up on her bed: gagged, silent, squirming. Gal wasn't speaking anymore, just looking at her, those wide grey eyes staring directly into her own.

Alex knew that Gal was monitoring her responses, increasing the pleasure from the vibrator until Alex gasped, then backing off again, beginning the cycle again. Alex groaned in frustration, squirming, but unable to reach between her legs without untying herself. She could have done that, slipping the loops and plunging her fingers into her needy, sopping pussy, but then the vibrator would spring into life again, throbbing deep inside her, held firmly in place by the cord between her legs.

She began to build to orgasm, as much from her predicament as from the vibrator inside her. She closed her eyes, feeling the way her bindings held her in place. Gal built her up to the edge of her climax and she was helpless to resist when the vibrator stopped again. She mewled around the ball gag, realising too late that she was giving the figure on the phone screen all the information she needed to continue the agonizing torment of her body. The vibrator kicked in again, turned up to maximum now, short sharp bursts that had her teetering on the brink in seconds, and then fading away.