Seducer by Fletcher Flora

friend. You have never been. I’ll decide for myself what you are, and I may make you sorry for it, whatever it is. Perhaps it will be I, not Madelaine, who will ruin you.”
    “If you do anything foolish, you’ll hurt yourself as much as me.”
    “Will I? There may be a way to avoid that. I’ll consider it.”
    Brad was frightened by her smile and her bright eyes. It would have been preferable, after all, if she had screamed or cursed or wept. Turning away from her, unable to stand the sight of her any longer, he went out through the empty classroom and out of the building.
    In his car, he left the campus, driving slowly along a residential street. He was merely driving, escaping to nowhere in particular, and it was entirely by chance that the street was the same one on which Maggie McCall happened at the time to be walking.
    Seeing her on the sidewalk, he thought that she was exactly the odd and intriguing diversion that he desperately needed at the moment. Accordingly, without thinking again, he stopped and called to her. Crossing the parking strip between sidewalk and curb, she got in beside him and settled herself comfortably before saying a word.
    “Hello,” she said. “Were you looking for me?”
    “No, but I’m glad I found you. May I take you somewhere?”
    “I was going home, to my apartment, but I’d just as soon go somewhere else if you prefer.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t have time for a preference. Where do you live?”
    “You keep right on going down this street for three more blocks beyond the next corner, and then you turn right and go four blocks that way, and there it is.”
    “You live quite a distance off campus, don’t you?” he inquired, feeling a little awkward with her now.
    “Yes, I do. I’ve discovered that living quite a distance off campus has many advantages.”
    “I’m surprised that you’re allowed to live off campus at all. Isn’t there some sort of rule about it?”
    “I suppose there is. There’s some sort of rule about practically everything. However, as I told you, I’m a sort of special student, which makes me an exception.” She smiled sweetly at him.
    “You’re an exception, all right.”
    She had slumped into the seat beside him as if it were a familiar place where she had often been before, her body from hips to head a relaxed arc supported in its position by the back of her neck and a small area of contact near the base of her spine. Rolling her head on the back of the seat, she looked at him gravely while she considered what he had said.
    “I’m not sure how you meant that,” she said. “How did you?”
    “As a compliment.”
    “That’s all right, then. Thank you.”
    “No thanks necessary. I merely acknowledged a fact. Is this the corner?”
    “Yes. Turn here and drive four blocks.”
    He turned the corner and drove the four blocks. The building in which she lived turned out to be a brick structure that had been converted into apartments from something else. It was two stories high, and he judged that there were two small apartments on each floor, but there were actually three smaller ones instead.
    He parked at the curb in front of the building, remaining behind the wheel while she opened the door on her side and swung around on the pivot of her stern. Pausing on her pivot, her feet on the sidewalk, she issued an invitation over her shoulder.
    “Will you come up for a few minutes?” she said. “I’d be pleased if you would.”
    “I don’t think so. Thanks just the same.”
    “Why not? Don’t you want to?”
    “I want to, but I don’t think I should.”
    “Oh, come on. Once won’t matter. Besides, no one pays any attention around here to what anyone else does.”
    “That’s reassuring, at least. I’m not so sure, however, that once won’t matter. Are you?” He gave her a level, inquiring glance.
    “No, I’m not, to tell the truth, and I’d like to find out. Please come up.”
    She got out onto the sidewalk and turned,