Meta Wolf series

mayim

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I am new here but I can't find the rules of this forum. Apologies if repost and sharing is not allowed. I'll risk it to strongly recommend the Meta Wolf series, io total 8 books. The first two can be read for free on nifty.

This series is so good; it has spoiled me and made it impossible for me to enjoy any other erotica. But it did not get the recognization it deserved. There are only 42 reviews on goodreads and none on ao3. I can't even find a way to help with my withdrawl syndrome.
Apparently I can't post link here, so I'll just paste the first few chapters below.

CHAPTER 1​

"Can I pass, honey?" she asked with a Southern condescension, practiced over hundreds of years in the ruling class.

He didn't react. Finally noticing, he jerked. He took a deep breath, then he put the folder in front of his midsection, got up and said: "Sure, MaryAnn." `Who would nowadays give his daughter such a clichŽ name?' he asked himself quickly not for the first time.

Her gentle, sweet face cream scent was a distraction. He rubbed his nose, while he sat down again.

When her pseudo French perfume had disappeared, this mind wrecking smell attacked him again: fresh pine like after a heavy snow fall in late winter with a hint of small sweet strawberries. A very small hint.

All of this made his two day head ache worse.

He was struck. He wasn't very good at smells normally. Well, he wasn't good at barely anything most acquaintances would say. He wasn't athletic with his 176 cm and 80 kg body. He smiled inwardly. He still thought metrics, despite having been born in the U.S. He wasn't even good at being a wholesome American, he thought.

He wasn't a Big Bang Theory-like nerd, either. Liked science fiction, but didn't go to conventions; and he definitely wasn't good at sex due to the little practice he had.

He wasn't a loser given he was in the 3rd year of college in a quite good school in California, part of a prestigious five-year program, but never stuck out at anything.

Even his dirty blond hair and grey eyes looked as inconspicuous as one could imagine them.

Nope, Colt, despite his macho name, was a bit of a wallflower, well, a male wallflower.

This smell. Where did it come from? Around him everyone acted normally. It was the beginning of the fall term and this was an advanced business class. The teacher was supposed to be good, a Mr. McErickson, as he did the course MBA-style, that meant with lots of discussion and cases. That should score easy class participation points.

He saw the Rocky Mountains in front of him, or the Alps or the Carpathians, tall evergreen trees on steep mountain flanks. Had he been allergic to pine, he would be in the ER now so intense was the smell.

He recognized some few fellow students. MaryAnn of course, so impeccably dressed in her khaki shorts and white polo that she could have modeled for Hilfiger. Over there was Andrew, one of the football team stars, all tall and blond and popular, with his fat side kick Ted. He would have liked to invite all the members of the Feminists' Club to this course to show them how NOT emancipated little women are next to a hunky jock like Andrew. He could nearly smell the excitement between their legs. He coughed. Disgusting.

Concentrated on the pine smell again. So natural and true. Deep and masculine, nothing like toilet refreshers with fake, big snow covered pine tree pictures on the can. And when it got too intense, the hint of strawberry sweetness. Not the bland Wal-Mart monster strawberries, mostly white; but the seduction of tiny, natural, deep red strawberries; only to be found at the side of roads into the mountains.

He looked around. A guy who looked like he could shave as much as he wanted and would still sport a shadow, responded to his gaze by frowning arrogantly and opening his class book in an exaggerated bored way. Colt thought he knew him, but he was sure he had never seen him on campus. Maybe in a gay bar? Doesn't matter, he wasn't his type, all dark and hairy, like a wolf.

The scent came from the front. He looked across the two rows of chairs in front of him, but it was too strong to find his bearing.

In that moment, Mr. McErickson, a tall, goofy kind of man with round spectacles like from the early 20th century came into the room and shouted: "Good Morning!"

Some responded meekly, some ignored him. Only one voice responded nearly too loud: "Good Morning, Sir!"

There was some laughter. But it died down quickly, when the teacher went through the logistics of class. And mutiny might have broken out when he explained that class participation was only 20% because he said most students said stupid stuff just to claim participation, and he could not deal with stupidity.

Colt didn't really listen. He had found the source of the scent. It was the guy who had responded to the greeting like É Colt guessed É like a former soldier.

He sat painfully upright in his chair, making notes.

Colt only could see his back, but his shoulders were stretching the plain black T-shirt. The white-blond-reddish hair was a hint too long for a soldier, but maybe now that he was out of the army he let it grow a bit again.

Lots of freckles covered his surprisingly tanned neck and, what Colt thought was a dog tag chain.

How could a man smell so intense? And why did nobody else seem to notice?

The professor went over the exam schedule – accounting for 40% of the grade - and the written case discussion option. Every written case discussion entry could get a max of 8% if it was great. They had eight cases as options to complete, he said; but normally nobody got 8%; maybe a McKinsey consultant with 10 years' experience. The students chuckled forced.

"I guess that has eaten already 45 minutes of our session É"

The soldier looked up from his notes and scratched his neck.

Colt was attacked by a wave of mountain scents so strong he nearly fell off his chair. He succeeded to stay put.

Except for his cock. It grew at a painful speed and to an aching size that he was afraid his jeans would burst. Or get wet. Or both.

He tried to breathe again deeply. Like when MaryAnn wanted to pass and he had to hide his boner with his folder. Not only was it inappropriate to have a boner in a business class, but particularly when interacting with a Southern lady; and even more importantly when one wasn't interested in the lady at all.

He hoped the soldier would turn his head a bit more so he could see his face; but he stubbornly focused on the professor and on making notes; like a good recruit.

Colt liked that, but he wanted to see the guy's face.

No chance.

"So who read the first 10 pages of the case?" Maybe 10 of 30 students lifted their hands. "So five max," Mr. McErickson summarized sarcastically. Timid laughter.

Colt was only surprised that the soldier hadn't lifted his hand, all gung-ho as he seemed. Maybe soldiers don't lie.

"So who wants to start with his view, whether company INTEGRATED should spin off their consumer products business to focus on the B2B market? What should the CMO recommend?"

A small hand went up.

"Yes, your name?"

"Cotherby."

"Exchange student?"

"Yes from London," she replied in this cute BBC announcer accent. Colt was distracted from the smell, even if only for ten seconds.

She was as pale as one imagined Londoners of a certain class to be and had a cute slim face. Her chestnut brown hair and eyes were such a stark contrast to her white marble skin making her look just elegant. He was sure that she would get laid in the US in no time É in contrast to Colt.

Even her teeth were perfect; they looked naturally straight and white without the artificial bleach effect of MaryAnn's.

"So what do you think?"

It was obvious she had gone to good schools. "I think they should not sell. The business cases are barely showing any NPV difference; hence, only strategic aspects should be considered. And in this case having the proximity to consumers will always be a competitive advantage in the B2B business."

"I agree, know the customers of your customers," MaryAnn added in her Southern twang, which earned her an appreciative smile from the English girl.

"Any disagreement?"

An ugly guy with pimples raised his hand. Colt moaned. Seth. He wanted to be the big next Wall Street shark, and had opinions to go with that aspiration.

"Your point?" moderated Mr. McErickson with forced indifference. It seemed he knew the point already. And indeed, Seth covered the usual platitudes of focusing on the core business to maximize shareholder value like a well-trained Republican doll.

Colt didn't listen anymore but observed the soldier again, which made his boner grow even harder. Not sure he ever had been that big, not even when he had his first sex É in the backroom of a bar.

"Seems Mr. Parker is distracted," he heard Mr. McErickson say. He immediately was all ears. How come the teacher knew his name? He had never been in one of his classes.

"Not really." He tried to be calm and added a pseudo polite "Mr. McErickson." Why did this teacher know his name? And why did he want his point of view? He hadn't raised his hand when the teacher had asked whether they had read the case. So far he hadn't bothered anyone yet except those eager puppies. Oh shit, he thought, he was already on the shit list. Great.

"So what do you think?"

Colt had to grab his chair because the soldier turned around to see who was being harassed here.

He was handsome. No, really handsome. No, Ÿber-fuckable handsome. Green eyes, freckles, a small nose despite the strong cheekbones and jawlines. Not shaved, which could be fixed, Colt thought quickly. A smile, which has seen too much pain, around the not too small pink lips. The longish hair covered his ears, which was a shame, as Colt loved ears. He was older than the students around him. Maybe 26, 27 not 21.

"So?" demanded the teacher, while Colt was dealing with the blow in his gut that this gorgeous soldier, who gave him the biggest boner ever, barely looked at him and turned around to face the teacher again as if he had just seen an annoying stain at the wall and not Colt.

Typical. `I am not the type of my types,' while he looked up to the teacher and started to say: "It depends on the career aspiration of the CMO."

The teacher looked a bit perplexed. "How so?"

"As everyone noted the business cases are not decisive, one can argue both ways as done today. So less objective motives will come into play. If the CMO wants to become CEO he will push for the spin off, as he is perfectly suited to become the CEO for the new consumer business. If he wants to continue as CMO as marketing is his passion, he will push for not spinning off; as then his marketing empire will not be halved."

There was noise everywhere.

Even the soldier turned briefly around but straightened himself again after few seconds as he had done before; barely looking at Colt who was slightly nervous, he didn't know how the teacher would react.

Mr. McErickson said. "Provocative indeed. This will be an interesting discussion next time. Please read the next 15 pages. Hand-ins for 8% points are available."

He dismissed the class and moving chairs made an unbearable noise.

Colt put his folder in front of his midsection and let people pass through the aisle not forcing himself into it.

He wanted to see the soldier passing by.

He was tall, slightly above 190 cm, between 6 ft 3 and 6 ft 4 his phone recalculated quickly, deleting a provider message in the process.

Muscular. His biceps stretched the black T-shirts sleeves. A tattoo.

Colt quickly linked it to the Marines. Not a soldier, then. A Jarhead.

He nearly came into his pants.

The smell became unbearable. He had to turn away. Anyway, the marine didn't even look at him. `No surprise for you, fag,' Colt thought and waited until everyone had left the class before getting up and running to his dorm room.

Thank god, his roommate was in class. He hopped on his unmade bed, pushed down his jeans and yanked on his meat. He didn't have time to remove his shirt. He shot within seconds; all over his head onto the wall, on his face and his belly.

Yuck, he said while he used his shirt to clean himself.

It stank of come so he opened the window.

He heard an irritatingly loud howl. Some fraternity guys, he thought, while he undid his shirt and changed into a fresh one.

He didn't notice somebody was looking up his window from a distance, hidden behind a pine tree.

"I think they've finally found him," the petite woman said to the burly man easily triple her weight.

"I know, let's see how it develops. They might be scared given the freak he is."

"Or he is with the three of them."

"Maybe." The man scratched his beard. "Continue to watch him. Don't do anything. To him or them," he said.
 
---

He wore the loosest pants he could find. Black shorts. Just to be sure.

Not that he had so many clothes. He had never been into clothes anyway, nor had had the money for them. His mother was a meth addict and his father drunk – when at home. Only thanks to a recommendation by his high school principal did he get into this college including a grant by his home state and the college. He could pay his tuition and eat, but not much more.

It was enough for now.

Kitty, the girl he thought could have been his best friend in high school, lost interest very quickly, when she realized that her best gay friend Colt wasn't into shopping, or romantic comedies in the movies, or groping her breast jokingly, or doing make up sessions, as all best gay boyfriends should do in her world.

She quickly moved on to a fag in a lower class, who was so out that every Pride Parade would have been embarrassed, to fulfill her dream of her best gay friend.

Not into clothes he said.

Not true, he contradicted himself. A guy in a uniform always made him hot – as long as it was a real uniform and not some rubber leather shit for bookkeepers on the weekend. If it was his real uniform and not dress up for the gay bars.

His shorts were loose. So loose that he could have the biggest boner without somebody noticing. He hoped at least.

The classroom was already half full; nevertheless his seat was still empty. Like in every class, the attendants tend to find `their seat' in the first session and stick to it during the whole semester.

The soldier was not É yet É here. His chair was empty. Though, a big burly guy sat on the chair to the left. Light brown hair, still not military short, but short. His neck showed years of lifting. Footballer, Colt thought. The green T-shirt was too tight like with all gym rats that wanted to show off their hard work to earn envy and admiration.

Colt tried not to stare but a cool whiff of moist earth and plum hit his nose. Like when you open a bag of potting soil. Rich and dark and moist and fertile. Plums, like in preserved plums as he got them when he spent time with his mother's relatives in Eastern Europe.

His dick jumped. High. Strong. Saluting.

`Not again,' he complained. The marine isn't even here yet, he tried to talk sense into his midsection, but it didn't work.

"Cee!" a deep voice shouted.

The gym rat turned around.

`Isn't that a girls' name?' Colt asked himself quickly, but stopped thinking coherently when he saw the gym rat's face. Open, smiling, friendly like your bigger brother. Brown trusting eyes and a nose so small it should be illegal. Ears were a bit sticky out, which made Colt weak in his knees, so he was grateful that he was already sitting.

"Alf," the deep voice responded, acknowledging the guy who called him. The marine.

`Alf, the marine?' Colt was in a daze. Pine mixed with soil. Plums with strawberry, and his dick wouldn't wait for two hours to eject his sticky stuff.

The marine looked as gorgeous as last time, despite the fact he didn't seem to have shaved in the meanwhile. His dark blue polo was hugging his torso obscenely well. He could hear that MaryAnn sighed. Surely, she knew this man would be out of question for somebody of her breeding. But that seemed to have added to the attraction.

When Mr. McErickson entered, another student rushed into the room, placing himself to the left of the marine.

Mr. McErickson started: "Last time, Mr. Parker had a provocative view on the spin off proposal of INTEGRATED. All of you should have read 15 pages with more information. – Where do we stand now?"

People were quiet. The enthusiasm of the first class had already subsided given the workload in all the classes.

And Colt had to concentrate. A new smell of wheat fields and white cherries attacked his senses. He could barely focus. It was obvious the scent came from the blonde next to the marine. Classic Midwestern jock. Track and fields jock. Muscular but less than the marine and the gym rat, but incredibly blond and innocent looking. He guessed the portmanteau `twunk' was made just for blonde.

"Mr. Bush?"

A guy as WASP as they come, wearing a blazer with a badge from some snobbish fraternity, looked up while looking for something smart to say. "Well, the new data suggest the business cases are based on wrong assumptions. The market shares of the B2C business are much lower than the business case assumed. Hence the value is less."

"Okay meaning?"

Few other people chipped in, but the discussion was lackluster and uneventful.

It was obvious that Mr. McErickson was frustrated. His nose twitched and he was always looking for something in his jacket pockets but couldn't find it. Finally he found his nasal spray and used it extensively, while the students tried to catch up in their reading that they missed.

"So Mr. Parker?"

"Yes?" He looked up. He tried to decouple himself from visions of fresh soil, fields with ripe wheat and mountains so majestic that even God would be speechless. He closed his eyes to suppress the picture of rich ice cream with plum, cherry and strawberry flavors. He barely succeeded to be able to form an argument, while his boner screamed for immediate attention.

"Well, based on this data I would suggest the decision to spin off depends now on the CEO's retirement plan."

"Explain!" the professor demanded rather harshly. He seemed to find that statement not provocative but eccentric.

He saw that the gym rat had turned around to look at Colt. He didn't acknowledge him but turned back to his buddies and said something that earned him a little hit on his leg by the marine as if saying: `Don't make mean jokes about the nerd.'

`Great,' Colt thought. The three hottest men he has seen in his life are making fun of him.

"The team is right that the B2C position is much weaker than thought and could be spun off quickly before it lost even more value. But I think they are overlooking that the strength in B2B is actually a weakness. The high shares suggest that there is little growth opportunity left. They would have to venture into new B2B markets, which is risky. While the low shares in the B2C suggest there is substantial upside in a market they already know to a certain extent. Spinning this off would make future growth much tougher. So if the CEO wants a quick big buck and retire in two years, he'll sell. If he is in it for the long run, he will keep it and build it É"

During his last words, the All American jock boy had slowly turned towards Colt. His bluish eyes were cold and arrogant. He facial features a bit tougher and leaner than those of his buddies, but his skin perfectly tanned. He seemed to blow away his sun-bleached hair so he could stare even more uninterestedly at Colt than Colt had imagined was possible. He scratched his elegant nose and turned back to his buddies, whispering something to `Alf,' the marine.

Colt swallowed. He was not making friends with those guys while their scents drove him over the edge É soon.

"Well, that was another insightful opinion; it seems the Mr. Parker is convinced every business decision is made for personal gain. Sad but not necessarily not true." He was proud of his double negation it seemed.

The rest was torture.

The arguments were bland. And the three hunks, Alf, Blonde and Cee, `ABC,' he chuckled, ignored him. No, he corrected himself. To ignore him, they would have had to acknowledge his existence somehow in the first place. It was more like they treated him as part of the furniture. One doesn't ignore furniture, that would be already too much.

This time he didn't wait for others to leave the classroom. In the second, the teacher closed the session he stormed out the class. He didn't look at the ABC hunks, either; he just wanted to get to his dorm room. Fast.

And he wasn't even a good runner. He was exhausted when he opened the main door to the dorm. While he tried to get some air, he still smelled this intoxicating mixture of rich soil, white cornfields and snow-covered pine trees. He needed to get off fast.

This time he got his shirt off first and he had a towel ready to avoid more stains on the wall. His roommate had noticed them but not said anything. He knew Colt was gay but didn't care about it because he knew as well that Colt was not into tall slim black guys, so he was safe as he said. But he also wasn't comfortable enough to joke about Colt's sexuality, so lots of things were simply unsaid. And Colt was fine with that.

Two tucks on his foreskin and he shot.

Shot like crazy.

The towel was wet as if he had dried himself after a shower. But the pain did not recede. He was still stiff.

He did what he never had done before despite being supposedly in the prime of is malehood. He jerked off again.

Five minutes later the towel was definitely yucky. The second coming was obviously less forceful but not less pleasantly painful and relieving at the same time.

He lay there for 15 minutes before the stink forced him to open the window. Unmistakingly, some jocks kicked around a trashcan and were making dog-howling noises while doing it. How mature, he thought. But jocks can do anything when they are in the right fraternity.

And pussies will always be available.

Yuck, why did have to think of that now? He needed a shower. Badly.

The next weeks were odd.

The ABC hunks were not in the economics class anymore. Well, only one of them, the marine. Cee and Blonde were gone. Not that this helped his boner.

A forceful wank was guaranteed after every session. As was a challenge by Mr. McErickson during the session. As was the indifferent non-reaction of the marine to Colt's existence.

Nevertheless he could not get rid of the scents. In the class he was attacked by the strawberry and pine combo. But on other days he smelled the soil plum variations, although he never saw the guy he associated the smell with. Some days the wheat and cherry cocktail was always around him without him being able to see the blonde.

Just before Halloween he scheduled an appointment with the clinic on campus. Maybe something was wrong with his nose. He had to get rid of these smells. They drove him nuts. And his horniness drove him nuts.
 
---

"He is too dangerous," the young pale man said to the equally pale women in the elegant business outfit on the other side of the campus.

"They haven't even properly introduced him yet," she challenged him in a crisp voice while redoing her pinkish lipstick.

"But soon, I can smell it. The stink is terrible. I nearly need to vomit every time I see them."

"Well, you don't have to spend two hours in a room with them. After this I will need lots of `distractions' to recover."

He smiled while looking at her marvelous even skin, shame she wasn't available, he thought. "Well that won't be a problem here with all those ladies." He imitated her accent perfectly. Naturally.

"I know," she smiled with a hint of lust. "Nevertheless, make sure that your people stay put, irrespective of the smell."

"I will try," he said while opening the door to leave. "But do something soon, otherwise, I can't guarantee for anything É they cannot go against the nature when it comes to this nerd É"

"Soon," she said, putting her lipstick away, "soon, my dear."

---

"Sweetheart, do you mind if I sit next to you today?" MaryAnn asked with her utmost Carolina charm, while removing a nonexistent grain of sand from her blue white red polo shirt, which somehow made Colt feel as if she `asked' one of her house slaves to make her some hot milk.

Nevertheless he managed a forced polite smile. "With pleasure." He quickly put his folder on his lap covering the black shorts. Actually, it was too cold for shorts, he thought. But he always had frozen easily. Like a girl, his father had remarked in a disappointed tone.

But those shorts were the only really loose pair of pants he had, so he had to suffer the cold on his scrawny hairy legs to avoid the embarrassment of a visible super erection. Nobody seemed to notice anything, anyway, because normally nobody noticed him. And most jocks wore shorts even when the temperature fell below zero (Celsius, he clarified to himself). So he was just a pitiful asshole who thought he could be a hot jock in shorts.

He was torn. He was longing to see the marine again, to smell this intoxicating pine scent. On the other side he knew it would be painful. Painful in his chest because this guy ignored him – like MaryAnn, although she at least gone through the effort of being polite – and painful in his midsection because he was sure that the scent would be torture for two hours. Exquisite torture.

"Colt?"

"Colt?" Somebody was calling him.

Oh, MaryAnn.

"Sorry, I was lost in thoughts," he stated the obvious while glancing at his cheap watch. Only two minutes to the start of class, and the hunky marine hadn't arrived yet. Has he dropped out of class? Or was he just late? Nope, a marine would rather die than be late, he thought. Or was that a stereotype like that all girls froze easily? Somehow he was appalled by his own cynicism while trying to listen to MaryAnn's small talk. Somehow she talked about one of her girl friends being all-mysterious and not wanting to go out to do girlie stuff.

"And then I invited her to church! She looked at me as if I was the devil, dare I say his name. I mean I know those Europeans have some strange ways and are not as God loving as us Americans, but that was well beyond that!"

"Well, maybe she has a non-Christian religion," answered Colt. He conceded to himself that he wasn't really interested in expressing sympathy for her friend, more in messing with MaryAnn's mind.

"Fucking a brain," he called it. And he was good at it. And he liked it. Nearly as much as real fucking, although he barely had a solid comparative sample.

MaryAnn look shocked indeed. "You are so right. Oh do I feel a little bit dumb right now. She must think those Southern girls are so not tolerant."

Colt smiled wickedly, but was punished for it immediately. A tsunami of mountain pine scent clouded his head. He nearly passed out.

"You ok, honey?" MaryAnn asked with a concerned face. He had to give it to her. It looked sincere.

He tried to stop breathing, knowing well enough that wouldn't be a sustainable solution. After 30 seconds, when the professor entered the room – 1 minute late – he could talk again. "I'm okay. Just had little sleep the last nights. All the studying!"

While the teacher put his jacket across the back of his chair and got some papers out of his bag, she whispered in a motherly tone which was nearly endearing: "You need to have a bit more fun, Mr. Parker, not all books and computers."

He nodded absently, faking attention to the class, while in reality looking carefully into the marine's direction. The scent in the past weeks had been forceful like an attack of a Russian tank. Today, it was as overwhelming as a division of Russian tanks invading NATO space. Surrender was the only option.

And when he realized what he saw, he knew that not even surrendering would get him through the next two hours: The marine had taken off his thick shiny dark blue jacket and put it on the back of his chair revealing a tight black wife beater shirt.

Colt couldn't think about how some people would think such an outfit was a bit inappropriate for class on this college; he only tried to keep his composure. He admired the naked muscular shoulders, tanned and showered with a myriad of freckles. The tricepses were well defined and moved precisely with every move of his hands. And the deltoids lifted the wife beater bands with every twist of the marine's body.

This had to be illegal. The scent waves kept coming every time there was a little gap between the hunk's upper arms and his body exposing a bit of his armpits.

Another tsunami hit him. His loose black shorts wouldn't rescue him today. Somebody would call him a pervert for running around with a Viagra induced erection. Mountain pine Viagra, he thought helplessly.

"Morning ladies and gentlemen. I hope all of you have carefully read the chapter 5 of our case on the BUYNOW Company, which is interested in acquiring the B2C spin off of INTEGRATED. You obviously saw that the investors are not totally convinced. What is your proposal how to pitch it to them?"

Silence. Few might have read the chapter; even fewer might have thought about it in detail.

Mr. McErickson was obviously not amused and looked around annoyed. Colt was convinced he was an old vindictive goof when he suggested: "Mr. Seth Heines? That should be a perfect case for your future Wall Street career."

It was obvious Seth was not prepared and looked desperately in his notes for something that could rescue him.

"Well. I think," É he did think indeed. Or tried to quickly.

"Good start!" the teacher mocked him. Nobody laughed not to draw attention to himself.

"I think the numbers just don't add up. The internal yield is too low on a risk adjusted basis," he said with a smirk.

Colt knew Seth would say that in any situation. A wannabe shark had to ask for more in any case.

"And why so you think that is?"

"Well, I think they haven't maximized the overhead synergies of the two companies."

"Despite the 63.5% cut in the acquisition proposal?"

"Yes. Except for the direct sales force cost, everything else should be saved!"

"I see, Mr. Heines. – Can anyone tell me what the percentage of sales cost was within the overheads?"

"52%," somebody answered meekly, exposing Seth as unprepared. Everything he suggested to cut to make the numbers had been cut.

Colt smiled at the situation for a second before his senses had to shut down again. The marine had stretched his left arm on the back of the chair next to him sending an armada of walking pine trees to him. A helpless Colt was squashed to death by dark, walking forests.

"So it seems, that route won't get us further? – Any other ideas?" he asked.

Colt noticed that the marine stared at the teacher; actually, he seemed to do it frequently. The professor's reaction was to quickly look into a different direction trying desperately to ignore the hunk.

`Oh shit,' Colt realized, `Mr. McErickson has the hots for the marine as well, a closet fag!'

"What?" MaryAnn asked whispering.

Colt couldn't answer as she had attracted the wrath of the beast. "Mrs. Montgomery, what do you think about this?"

"Well, Mr. McErickson, firstly I am `Miss Montgomery'." No, she didn't say that. Colt thought she should have said it, but she was polite and answered: "According to my analysis," the word `analysis' had never sounded so heavily `humid cotton field'-like in his life, "the top line synergies are grossly understated. 1 + 1 is barely 1.9 in this case. I should be clearly above 2 to make sense for any such acquisition."

Mr. McErickson nodded carefully. He was clearly happy MaryAnn was not only a pretty girl but did have a little bit in her brain to make advanced small talk at future dinner parties hosted by her for her husband in Charleston.

"So in which areas would we see synergies?" he asked browsing the crowed with his bored brown eyes looking for the next victim.

Colt didn't give a shit. He tried to concentrate on keeping his senses, his head, his soul. A vortex of scents tried to swallow him and never spit him out again. His head ache tried to kill him.

In this moment a shot echoed through the class room and blood ran down one of the walls. Lots of blood.

The girls screamed. Some of the guys shouted. Colt didn't move, his body was paralyzed by the scent. He only observed that the marine had crouched down and looked at his direction. Colt assumed this instinct was military training. The blood wall was behind Colt, so the marine had look towards his direction.

Only now he noticed that MaryAnn had grabbed his upper arm like a damsel in distress. He was torn between snorting at her and feeling chivalrous.

"Oh my gosh, what a blood bath," said the teacher annoyed and walked to the blood covered wall as if he had seen an annoying fly which needed to be killed swiftly but effortlessly.

His finger touched the red liquid fearlessly and he licked it carefully. "Ketchup," he stated unsurprised. "I guess the Halloween season has started."

Some of the students laughed. Some guys said "pfffh," other boasted "told you so." Colt barely shrugged his shoulder. At least the scent had gone down. The marine had put on his jacket while the Mr. McErickson had made his Ketchup discovery.

"I guess Alpha3 will have to pay for a paint job," Mr. McErickson commented.

Alpha3 was, of course, the most elite fraternity on campus. One had to be rich, smart and good looking to get into it. They organized the Halloween party on campus, invitations to which were as rare as the Holy Grail and mostly reserved for females who would be appropriate mates for Alpha3 member: rich, reasonably smart but not to much, and very good looking. MaryAnn might just get one, he thought.

In order to make sure everyone knew the party took place and make the student body green with envy that only few got invited, they advertised the party heavily. Teasingly, like saying: `You wish you could be there. No chance, though, peasant!'

This little blood on the wall stunt was the start to this advertising campaign that cumulated in frantic efforts over the next days of most females to get a ticket – through whatever means.

Colt had never humiliated himself to even think he should get into a, and specifically this, fraternity; and as he wasn't a women, either, he would never attend this party, about which he would read online for weeks – until the Xmas party advertising started.

Alpha3 was on top, and top of mind. And nothing like a secret exclusive society one always reads about in corny college novels; this was the most conspicuously exclusive society ever – like a Rodeo Drive on campus.

"I guess they can afford it and the walls needed some new paint anyway," Mr. McErickson was clearly making an effort in being unimpressed, and in Colt's view he tried too hard. But who cared?

"Now, back to business." He chuckled at his own lame pun and looked at Derrick, a wholesome North Dakota native, who still thought all women where virgins until marriage. "Mr. McFarrow? – Where do we find more top line synergies to make this proposal more palatable?" Derrick obviously struggled with the `palatable' word, but wisely chose to ignore it and to attempt a reply: "I think they need to prioritize amongst the 8 product lines."

"Well that's an answer which will never be wrong, so can you bless me with a bit more?" The teacher became obnoxious using Derrick's faith as mocking base.

"Not sure."

"Ladies. Gentlemen! How could a business prioritize several product lines?"

"Maybe the BCG matrix É star, cash cow and such?" MaryAnn volunteered, pulling Colt out of his thoughts. He realized he still noticed the marine's scent, and only he it seemed, but since the guy had put on his flight jacket, Colt could deal with it - just. And MaryAnn answering this question meant Mr. McErickson was now looking sternly into his direction.

"Simple, but still good! So I guess that could be a way forward to find more synergistic topline growth to make the numbers. Let's go together through some other approaches É"

Colt drifted off again. The scent attack in the beginning, the artificial blood with the shot had drained his batteries, he needed be alone to recharge; he switched to autopilot to survive class.

Five more minutes to go, he thought.

"Mr. Parker seems to be interested in lunch instead of our discussion," the professor had obviously noticed his looking at his phone.

"I wouldn't say it like that," Colt responded with forced cool. He was annoyed. If artificial blood was the most exciting event of this session, the professor should rethink his approach than reprimanding students for the apathy.

"How would you say it then?" McErickson had smelled the blood of his next victim. How appropriate.

So he thought.

Colt exhaled. He got angry. Even when everyone stared at him because he was the next interrogation victim of this condescending instructor, the marine made an extra effort not to turn around to look at him like everyone else. Self-pity had turned into anger, cold anger. And he directed it at the instructor.

"I would say, Sir", this `Sir' must have been the most insubordinate `Sir' in the long history of `Sir''s in the U.S., "we have had the wrong conversation in the past two hours." He had to be careful not to come across as too condescending.

Somebody whistled. He thought it was Derrick. Maybe he wanted to encourage Colt given his own defeat.

"Is that so?" teased the professor.

"Yes, we have been discussing how to increase the numbers to make the deal more attractive; but attractiveness or lack thereof is not the barrier here," he insisted.

The instructor crossed his arms and stood with wide legs in the middle of the room as if to challenge him for a duel. "Go on," he requested, `and hang yourself,' Colt thought he thought.

"The M&A advisors won't carry the risk anyway, they get their fees and are gone. Whether the numbers are good or not are secondary; they are skilled to make them look good. What they really want is to double dip."

"Double dip?" The instructor was slightly off balance now.

"Not only BUYINGNOW is interested but also SECOND CHANCE. The M&A Company wants to split the spin off into two and sell one piece to each off them. Charging twice. Of course the official reason is strategic fit and value maximization through portfolio optimization; usual buzzword bingo. Well the cashier rings twice. Ching ching and É ching ching."

Colt put a fake smile on his face and enjoyed the reaction of the room. Mr. McErickson thought about it. Should he challenge Colt or praise him? The first was risky given they won't have time for an argument anymore leaving the image of Colt winning the case. The second option made both look good.

"Outstanding thought, Mr. Parker. Maybe you should become a politician."

MaryAnn said "wow" and Derrick nodded at him approvingly. Obviously, the marine couldn't care fucking less.

"I guess that was a great end to this class." The instructor stroke his beard and ordered "Next chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Good-bye!"

Colt swallowed and wanted to get out to recharge.

But a gentle hand held him back.

"Sorry, Colt. I know you are incredibly busy but I would like to ask whether you could do me favor?"

Her baby blue eyes graced him with the most endearing smile he had ever got from a woman. And actually he believed it was not all manipulative but actually a bit admiring.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, would you like to have a cup of coffee with me now?"

He looked at her confused.

Suddenly, MaryAnn blushed.

"I mean not as a date but É so you could look over my case paper; seems you always have a different look at things."

Colt was disappointed. The marine walked by him while he talked with MaryAnn without even deigning him with a one second look. Colt did not exist for this man.

MaryAnn must have seen his disappointment, misunderstanding it. "Not, that I would not go for just a coffee with you, Colt É" She seemed embarrassed.

Colt swallowed. His desire to tease her was gone. She seemed a reasonably nice person and was asking for his help. He shouldn't be an asshole just because he was full of envy where she came from. Rich and well breed and that.

"You know MaryAnn that you're not my type," he graced her with a meaningful twinkle in his eye. "But I would love to critique your paper."

MaryAnn was relieved, double relieved it seemed. "Thanks, Bean's?" she asked while leaving class with him, suggesting a coffee shop compared to which Starbucks was a 1 dollar store.

"Sure, their tea selection is amazing," he answered truthfully.

"And I pay," she said resolutely.

"Does a lady of the South do that?" he teased her friendly.

MaryAnn smiled wickedly and boxed gently against his arm. "I think, honey, you have a very distorted view of us ladies of the South. There is more that what meets the eye or the ear," she explained to him in the same friendly manner.

"Okay now you need to spill all the beans," he went along.

"You are funny, Colt. I like you."

Colt swallowed. Nobody had said that to him for ages. And while he felt warm hearing it, a part of him said smelling this pine scent again: `Why can't the marine say that?'