“I can do anything, right?” Tom said triumphantly.

“Those were the stakes,” Susan said. “You’re not going to tell me what you’re going to do, are you?”

“Nope.”

“You promised I’d still be able to walk out of the machine.”

“Absolutely.”

“And my friends will still recognize me.”

“Completely.”

“Okay, let’s go to the mall.”

“Ready when you are.”

Susan asked Tom several times, in several ways both direct and indirect, what he was going to do to her. But he would not give her even the slightest clue. When the machine was free, he stepped up to it and set it to one month. He slipped a penny in the slot and the doors on either side opened.

“No funny business,” he said as the door closed behind them.

“I won’t alter you at all.”

Tom fussed for a few moments. Susan strained to hear what he was saying to the machine but could make out what he was saying.

“There we go? Ready?” he said.

“I suppose,” she said. She closed her eyes like that would mitigate something that was about to happen.

“All done.”

Susan did not feel any different. They had to wait until the timer ran down on her side of the machine. As she was fidgeting she noticed something about her crotch might have changed. “Did you give me a dick?” She asked.

“Why would I do that?” He said unhelpfully.

As the doors opened she went to the mirror nearby but in the mirror she could see nothing different about herself. She headed for the bathroom but Tom was standing in front of the door. He said, “Before you look, double or nothing. I bet you can’t go the whole month without using the change I’ve made.”

“I’m not going to bet you without seeing what you did.”

“Fine, but don’t use it until you come back out and we can make the bet.”

“I swear.”

With that, he stepped out of the way. Susan made a beeline for an open stall and pulled her skirt up and her leggings down. Something was visible through her panties but she was not sure what it was. She pulled them down and saw a clear plastic lid where her labia should be. Behind the plastic was a big red button, maybe two centimeters in diameter. It was like a button you might find in a factory or computer room that would perform an emergency stop of all the equipment. The button faintly glowed. The shape of the lid was identical to the original shape of her crotch so no one would know she was modified unless she were naked.

“Oh, Goddess,” she said. “What does that do?”

She recombobbulated her clothing and left the bathroom.

“What is that?”

“It’s a big red button.”

“What’s it do?”

Tom just smiled.

“No!”

“One month. If you don’t press it, you get me for a month. If you do press it, I get you for three months. You lose the bet if you press the button or if you venn yourself back to normal.”

Susan stood there agog. “You’re cruel.”

“Either way, I’m not telling you what happens if you press the button. In fact, the only way to find out is to press it. Or to take the bet and win. Otherwise, it’s my secret.”

“But how do I?”

“Well, you’ll have to go a month without sex. But it does not interfere with going number one at all. The point of the lid is to prevent you from pressing the big red button by mistake. You have to consciously open the lid to press the button. Whatever it does.”

Susan loved a challenge of willpower and this was certain one of those. She was well aware that he made this challenge in such a manner that it pushed all of her buttons. He was still grinning at her.

“Fine, I’ll take your bet,” she said.

“Excellent. I’ll even give a bonus. You don’t have to go the full month. It’s Friday night. The lunar month ends four weeks later on Sunday morning. You make it to Saturday morning four weeks from now and you win and I tell you what the button does. That gives you a day to decide if you want to press the button for free, after finding out what you missed out on all month long.”

“How will you know if I press the button when you aren’t around?”

“Clever question. But the answer gives you little knowledge. I’ll know because pressing the button changes to the glow of the button.”

“Hah, it tells me the button can be pressed more than once and I’ll still have the button after I press it.”

“Hah back at you. But it could also turn you into a cinder block with a red button mounted on it. So you know very little.”

She fumed for a bit and then shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go to dinner. Having the button has not made me not need to eat.”

“True.”

* * *

Saturday morning Susan woke up laying in bed with Tom. Her hand moved down her smooth stomach and over the smooth lid covering her private area. She cursed inside that she had already forgotten she could not pleasure herself in that manner any more.

She got up and went to the bathroom. When she was done she discovered the plastic lid did not interfere with her doing her business at all. It was as if she were unaltered aside from sight of the big red button. She touched the lid where it met the lower part of her abdomen. The lid popped open on a hinge and the big red button was exposed to her. She reached to close the lid when her finger trailed across the button. Her mind rocked, her body shook, touching the button caused her to nearly orgasm. She quickly shut the lid. “That bastard,” she thought. “How in the world am I not going to touch the button again?”

She stood up and looked at her crotch in the mirror. Had the glow changed? She did not think so. She had not actually pushed the button, had she?

There was a knock at the door. “Did you open the lid and touch the button?”

“Why would I do that?” She called out.

“No reason,” Tom said. “Just thought you might explore.”

She opened the door to the bathroom. “You’re just trying to tempt me.”

“Perhaps. But touching the button is not the same as pushing it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“But I will say pushing it is better.”

She felt like she had just won something by convincing him she had not opened the lid. But she also felt like what had happened in the bathroom would make her lose the bet.

* * *

A few days later, they were streaming a show they liked. Between episodes, she said, “What happens if you press the button?”

“Well, I can’t really do that without your permission.”

“What do you mean?”

He paused the show and said, “Pull your pants down. Just pull them down already. When I try to open the lid, think that the lid is locked.”

She did as he said and put his hand on the edge of the lid near her abdomen.

“Think about the lid staying closed,” he said.

“I am.”

He took hold of the edge of the lid and pulled. He ended up lifting her butt off the sofa a little but the lid stayed firmly closed. “See, the lid can only be opened if you allow it to be opened.”

“But what if I allowed it to be opened?”

“Well that would be foolish because as I stipulated, you lose the bet if the button is pressed before the time limit expires. So you would be well advised not to want that lid open around people who might press the button for you.”

She pulled up her pants and they resumed watching their show.

* * *

“Oh, Goddess,” she thought. Her finger slowly slid around the lip of the big red button and it was driving her wild. And pushing it would be better, he had said. How could it be better? No. She pulled her hand back and closed the plastic lid. I can do this. I can resist the temptation.

She was panting from the pleasure she had been feeling. Could I orgasm caressing the button? She wondered. She looked at her phone. Thursday. It had only been six days. She got out of bed and went to the kitchen. Tom would be home soon and she needed to get dinner started.

Minutes later Tom came home. “Hi, honey,” he said, giving her a kiss. “Dinner’s barely started. Did you get home late?”

“Yeah, I got home late. I stayed at work a little later than usual.”

“Of course, what else could it have been?”

“Traffic?”

“Maybe. Anyway, let me out of these clothes and I’ll come back and help.”

* * *

Monday night, Susan knew Tom would not be home from work. He was going to visit some old friends at a diner and talk to them for hours. He did this once every few months. The guys were old college friends who lived close enough to meet at a diner but far enough apart that they could not do so too often.

Susan bought some fast food on the way home and ate it all by the time she got home. She rushed up to the bedroom to get out of her work clothes and into bed. She flipped open the door and soon she was feeling the rush of caressing her button. She had been doing this every night since Wednesday and tonight she hoped she had enough time to reach orgasm. Slowly her fingers ran around the edge of the button knob. Sometimes they ran around the rim of the knob fast. No matter what she did, she felt herself climbing to an orgasm that would not come. After an hour she grunted in frustration. She was all worked up with no way to get relief.

This was when she could swear the button was singing to her. “Push me, push me.” Her palm lay flat against the button. Its rubber like texture felt cool against her hand. She twisted her hand and her mind was flooded with pleasure. Pleasure but not release. She spread her pinkie out and under the button. The distance the button had to travel was just slightly taller than her pinkie was thick. It would just take a second to press the button. She knew somehow that pushing the button would give her release.

She pulled her hand back and said aloud, “NO!”

She reached back down to close the lid but instead ran her finger around the edge of the button again. She lost track of the time spent trying to stop and failing to stop.

When Tom got home hours later, he went up to the bathroom and heard the shower running in the attached bathroom. He looked at the bed, the sheets were covered in sweat. He smiled.

* * *

Thursday, Susan had lunch with her friend Angela. They usually managed to meet once a week but Angela had been busy the week before. Some time during their chitchat, Angela said, “So what happened with that bet you and Tom made? You said the stakes were a month long venn.”

“I lost. He tricked me into saying my name backwards. Nah-sus. He asked me a trivial question and answer was Jackie Onassis.”

Angela laughed. “Why did you make the bet?”

“How often does anyone say Nasus?”

“Just takes once. So what did he do to you? You look normal.”

“The cruel bastard. He pulled the oldest trick in the book: a bright inviting button that I can’t push.”

“Space Madness? This sounds good. Go on.”

“There’s this red button on me that I’m not allowed to press. There’s even a safety cover on it so I can’t press by mistake.”

“Where is this button?”

“I’m not going to have my period this month.”

“No!”

“In place of that, there’s a big red button with a clear plastic lid protecting it.”

“That doesn’t really sound hard to resist. You can go a month without pushing a button.”

“Just touching the button is extremely pleasing. But it does not lead to orgasm.”

“Oh, no. You’ve gotten hooked on touching it haven’t you.”

Susan just nodded. “It feels incredible. That bastard. He even hinted to me that pushing the button would feel better.”

Angela made a tsking noise. “You’ve done it to yourself again. What happens when you lose?”

“Thanks for the confidence. But he gets me for three months wh--- IF I lose.”

* * *

“I admit. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long,” Tom said. “Two weeks down. Two weeks to go.”

Saturday morning was difficult like the previous fourteen mornings, most of her adult life Susan would fondle herself in bed before getting out of bed. But she could not do that with Tom sleeping next to her. Not with the addictive big red button between her legs. “Easy-peasy,” she said. Easy because she had been fondling the button twice a day for the last few days.

“What shall we do today?” Tom said. “You want to visit your parents or mine? Maybe invite Angela and Pat over?”

“I’m not really in the mood to see anyone today.” she said. She was sure she was visibly fidgeting because of the button. Tom was pretending to not notice, she could tell. But their parents or Angela would not be so willing not to ask her embarrassing questions.

“Okay, just a lazy day together. Maybe watch a movie.”

“That sounds fine.”

Tom went to the cupboard and looked inside. “We are out of popcorn. I need to pick a few things up at the office store. Want to come for a ride or stay home without me.”

“You go out. I might lie down.”

“Okay,” Tom said. He kissed her before grabbing his keys and going out.

Susan was lying down, lid open and fondling her button when she realized she did not remember getting undressed. She was enjoying the buzz of a pleasure that was almost orgasmic when she heard a soft click. Her mind exploded and her body shuttered. Her back arched and her body froze in place for several moments as an orgasm suffused her body. When she regained control, her arms were over her head and her legs were up in the air. She relaxed and then realized what she had done. It had been much better than just fondling the big red button. She reached down and found the lid closed on her button.

She got out of bed and grabbed some clothes before going into the bathroom. She locked the door before looking at herself in the mirror. The button was still there. Still red. But it was not glowing faintly. “Damn!” She realized now how he would know. She wondered if she should fess up immediately or not. She had no idea how long her orgasm had lasted. It had not been over and done in a few seconds. Time had passed while she was laid out.

“Susan, are you ready to watch a movie?” Tom called out from downstairs.

“I’ll be right down,” she called back. She had not heard him come home.

* * *

The next morning, Susan went into the bathroom. After using the toilet she thought she might fondle her button some more. She placed her hand on the lid and it would not budge. She pulled and strained and punched the lid a few times. It stayed closed. She put her hand over her mouth as she could not stop herself from screaming, “Bastard.” She hoped it had been muffled enough.

She needed to touch that button. She was shaking. Tom was such an ass. She now truly knew how he would figure out she had pushed the button. There was no way she could last another 13 days. She doubted she would make it through the work day on Monday.

Tom found her later in the kitchen drinking coffee.

Before he could speak, she said, “You win.”

“Can’t open the lid, hmm?”

She just glared at him.

“Opening the lid is easy.”

“How?”

“You want the lid to open. Want the opposite.”

She pulled her pants down in the kitchen and touched the lid, which did not budge. “But I want it open.”

“C’mon, Ms Amazing Willpower and think the opposite of your desire.”

And the door opened. She touched the button… and it felt like a rubber red button.

“No!”

He took the cup of coffee from her hand. “Press down.”

As soon as she did, her body stiffened, her mind exploded, her back arched and she let out an ululating cry of ecstasy. When she could think again, she slumped in a kitchen chair alone. Her coffee was cold. She could hear the television in the other room. The lid was closed on her crotch. She tried opening it again. After three fumbled tries she finally got it open.

She considered pressing the button again but thought better of it.

“Feeling better?” Tom asked as she entered the living room.

“Much.”

“That lasted over an hour. How much did you fondle that button?”

“Too much, apparently.”

“Well, I may have made that a bit addictive.”

“You think. I want to run my hands on that button but it does nothing now.”

“We could go back to the venn machine today. Take the button away.”

“Or repair it?”

“You want to keep the button?”

“Yes. But maybe move it so we can have sex.”