Losing It

The Administration #4.7

by Manna Francis

Another short story in The Administration series.

Toreth and Warrick go out to a corporate party. Toreth lets his jealousy rule him.

Genres: M M Romance, BDSM, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Romance, Short Stories, Erotica

21 pages

About the author

I'm the author of The Administration Series, a near-future SF dystopia published by Casperian Books. You can find the series in paperback, e-book, or (partly) on line at the Mannazone website.

I've been writing original slash since 2002 — or homoerotic fiction, m/m romance, yaoi, as you prefer. Original slash is my personal term of choice because I feel it best represents my writing in terms of style and what readers can expect to find there. Individual stories may or may nor be sexually explicit.

Reviews

[Penny Well Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shit, sometimes a bit of jealousy is OK, but this time it went too far, it was twisted and wrong.

Previously, I have enjoyed Toreth's jealousy, it showed that he did care for Warrick, that he mattered, that he was different from others to him, special.
This time however, jealousy left the "nice" territory to go straight into dangerously sick territory.

The sex encounter at the toilet was really hot, but damn, Toreth can be a really big asshole sometimes.

The shower scene was good, Warrick's concerns were valid and necessary, I just don't know how he wasn't royally pissed with Toreth. Jealousy as extreme as that can't be tolerated in a relationship, it has to be stop in its tracks.



My reviews of The Administration series’ books:
Book 1: Mind Fuck - 3 Stars
Book 2: Quid Pro Quo
Book 2.1: Unlucky Break - 2 Stars
Book 2.2: Friday - 3 Stars
Book 2.3: Pancakes - 5 Stars
Book 2.4: Surprises - 4 Stars
Book 2.5: Family - 4 Stars
Book 2.6: Mirror Mirror - 4 Stars
Book 3: Games & Players - 5 Stars
Book 3.1: Game, Set - 4 Stars
Book 3.2: As Long As It Lasted - 3 Stars
Book 3.3:Fuck of the Day - 3 Stars
Book 3.4: Wine, Women and Cushions - 2 Stars
Book 3.5: Playing with Fire - 5 Stars
Book 3.6: All Work and no Play - 3 Stars
Book 3.7: Gee - 2 Stars
Book 3.8:Shopping & Fucking - 5 Stars
Book 3.9: Pool School - 3 Stars
Book 3.95: Without the Game - 4 Stars
Book 4: Control - 4 Stars
Book 4.2: Wait For It - 4 Stars
Book 4.3: Caged - 5 Stars
Book 4.4: Unaccustomed as I Am... - 3 Stars
Book 4.5: Helen - 4 Stars
Book 4.6: Shopping, No Fucking - 4 Stars
Book 4.7: Losing It - 4 Stars
Book 4.8: Coming from America
Book 5: Quis Custodiet - 3.5 Stars
Book 5.2: Gratuitous Kink - 4 Stars
Book 5.3: Then and Now - 4 Stars
Book 5.4: Friends in the Right Places - 2 Stars
Book 5.5: Smoke & Cameras - 4 Stars
Book 5.6: Sunday - 3 Stars
Book 6: First Against the Wall - 4 Stars
Book 7: For Certain Values
Book 7.1: Family Values
Book 7.2: Boy's Toys - 3 Stars
Book 7.3: Make it a Surprise
Book 7.4: Prodigal
Book 8: Blood & Circuses
Book 9: Corpora Delicti
Gratuitous Epilogue

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another thrilling glimpse into the mind of a sociopath.

Toreth's jealousy and possessiveness over Warrick triggers a frightening chain reaction in him, possibly with a fatal outcome. For he is close, so close to tipping over the edge this time...and losing it. Losing everything.

Another short story that will keep you on edge constantly.

Jesus, Manna's good!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this powerful Manna Francis jab, we get to spend a night out with Warrick at a corporate event in Toreth’s head. A very scary place to be sometimes.

Losing It is a slow, frightening, piece by piece spiral down into anger, fear, jealousy, tension, and insecurity. Toreth’s emotions had me dizzy and all kinds of twisted around. His emotions slashed back and forth through the night as he struggled for control—watching, comparing, and prowling. Once again, Manna Francis left me in awe! Toreth’s on-the-razor-edge raw power and control pulsed and jumped off the page with unbelievable gut twisting force. I could feel Toreth’s anger and tension in my own gut.

From the moment Toreth entered this extravagant event, he was bombarded with tech talk, opulence, unease, jealousy, and discomfort. We get a full force-not fucking around dose of Toreth’s insecurities here. What hit me the hardest were the moments Toreth really tried to reason with himself, reel it in, not to go there, or think about certain things. Girardin. But he just couldn’t stop the anger spiking through his reasoning or the slow chipping away of his self control as he watched Warrick interact and maneuver around the event. A world Toreth felt excluded from and out of place.

”You know, sometimes I feel like some piece of rough trade you drag along to these fucking places to freak people out.”

Did Toreth lose control? Close. Dangerously close.

I can’t help but wonder…. What if Warrick hadn’t obeyed?

[Sun · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I always say how much I love Jealous Toreth, this one actually made me a tad bit uncomfortable. I like, of course, that he cares (as much as Toreth’s actually capable of caring) for Warrick, but it felt borderline insane (<-yes, I know its Toreth we’re talking about).

The bathroom scene really unnerved me. And though I appreciate the conversation they had about it later, with Warrick questioning if Toreth was actually in control, I don’t know that I entirely believed him when he said he was.

*sigh*…what a twisted game they play. And oh the flavor it adds to my sleepy, vanilla world…

[Irina Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm slightly mindblown atm.
Toreth scared me a bit, in this story, and I think he should have scared Warrick too - but Warrick was, as always, perfectly cool and forgiving. And I can't seem to make my mind up and decide whether that's a good thing, or they're taking it a bit too far, because Toreth's reaction was caused by his (not-so-secret) insecurity, yes, but that makes him dangerous.
Toreth's jealousy is hot, and Warrick's submissiveness is lovely (seems like a strange way to describe it, but it fits for me), but there are times when all their intensity gets a little explosive.

I'll be thinking about this story for a good while. What I can say with absolute certainty is that Manna Francis rocked this one.

This review put my own feelings in words better and more coherently than I could right now.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

RE-READ 2021
*gulp* This one made me nervous!


Isn't it clear to us that he has already lost it??
poor Warrick,
"Not bad," he said, "but I already have a better one."
what can he do to reassure him?
I think rings should be considered?? Or maybe matching tattoos??

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another rather disconcerting look inside Toreth's head, and his jealousy and possessiveness reaches new levels, even for him.
My satisfaction in seeing a jealous Toreth is quickly squashed when his psychosis takes over and I actually got a bit scared for Warrick.

A small part of me wished that Warrick hadn't accepted his hand after that *scene*. I wanted him to walk away, just go and then what....I don't know, but I felt very sad at the acquiescence. Sometimes, enough is enough.

[Lenore · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a fine line between jealousy and abuse. And that line is kinda blurred here. Possessiveness this strong is dangerous. Much as I enjoyed Toreth's torment, I didn't like him very much in this one.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Toreth came as close as he's ever been to losing control. I was a bit scared for Warrick at times.

[AtenRa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I call bullshit! Toreth never "had it under control". He purposefully and very consciously did not look at Warrick just in case he made a signal for him to stop. Warrick trusts Toreth implicitly to rein the game in when it gets out of hand because he himself is not capable of doing it, and Toreth might as well piss on that trust. He very well knows it, but instead of getting better he's getting much worse.
Ugh I just can't stand him sometimes!

[Carmen-Shea Hepburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meep. Really hoping this wasn't a foreshadowing....

[Trix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Toreth would realise how much he cares for Warrick... ok, I've been hoping that since the start of the series. But what I mean is that I was hoping he would put Warrick's safety above his fear of losing what they have. I hope he didn't overestimate his control because Warrick will be the one hurting (initially anyway; Toreth would be devastaed as well, though he would never admit it).

But I digress. I can't believe Warrick never saw the signs. He prides himself with being able to read Toreth and yet, he was so carefree at the party and ended up fueling Toreth's suspicions and anger.

And Toreth. I was saddened with every line of the story. His possessiveness is bordering a level of danger that cannot be controlled. In Control, Toreth thought a couple of times that he would never turn violent and obsessive as Jon was... but not sure he can control himself. As Warrick remarked, in the heat of passion, one of them has to be in control. Toreth might repeat it often enough to believe it but I have my doubts as to how lucid and in control he had been in that bathroom, when forcing himself onto Warrick. It all has the feel of an escalating doom, with the explosion moment closing in, making me hold my breath for the demise.

I almost fear reading on... (of course I will, but it will be with my heart in my throat).

[Mich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Phenomenal. This one did it for me. Toreth's inane jealousy through the first half of the story was driving me mad. As awful as Toreth is "supposed"to be, I guess I didn't want to believe he could completely lose it with Warrick. The build up to the bathroom scene was like watching a car wreck. You just knew something bad was going to happen. I was sure Toreth was going to go ape shit; destroy the bathroom and beat the hell out of Warrick. In the end I don't think Warrick should have let him off the hook so easy. This was a major fuck-up from our boy. He can lie to Warrick all he wants.....but they both know that neither of them had any type of control and that could have turned out very badly...

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, Toreth's struggle with his jealousy and his insecurities!

"Because you we're fucking her in the sim. I know you we're, so don't try to deny it.

He couldn't bring himself to say it."

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scratch the wishful thinking. Toreth is still as dangerous as ever.

[LenaRibka · Rating 4 out of 5]

3, 9 stars

[La*La · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read on December 18, 2014.
Re-read on July 11, 2015.


Love seeing jealous Toreth, but this was half a step too far.

[Angelica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toreth's inner monologue was fascinating in its realism. Down the slippery slope he went.

[Pianisuparse · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 'Toreth's jealousy and insecurities push him to insane places where he loses his control and that is definitely a dangerous place for him to be' stars.

[Simple · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got serious very fast.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toreth is a total whack job, but I can't stop reading about him. Inside his head is truly frightening, yet Warrick still puts up with him.

[Jacqueline]

THIS. This is the story that has made me put down my e-reader, made me second-guess my desire to read the rest of the series.

Toreth is terrifying, but we already knew that. His violent possessiveness and jealousy is taken to an entirely new level here. I can usually handle reading this kind of thing, but when he deliberately decides not to check if Warrick's signalling him to stop is when I felt legitimately sick, eyes tearing and hands clenching. To top it off, Toreth is a hypocritical jackass about sleeping around and acts like a child when it comes to how he feels (there are legit reasons for this, sure, but he's still a dick).

Honestly, I'm with Dillian. Even if Warrick tolerates Toreth and all his... quirks and even likes some of them, I can only see things ending very badly, with Toreth's resolution to be in control totally and utterly broken. Ideally I'd like someone to even put a stop to the relationship before Toreth goes further that he already has.

[Elizabetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toreth’s head is a scary, scary place. And we get to see just how fine a line he walks in his possessiveness and obsession with Warrick. He balances the line; he’ll lose Warrick if he crosses it. How long and far can Toreth go without losing it? It’s what makes riveting reading.

Are all these little short amuse-bouches in the Administration world really worth 5 stars? Manna Francis has built such complex, engrossing characters that she could write them reading the phone book and still mesmerize.

[♥Xeni♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second read: Oct. 29, 2013

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First read: Sep. 28, 2010

Another great story in The Administration series. Warrick and Toreth attend a SimTech corporate function and Toreth starts to question his jealously.

[Rebe · Rating 2 out of 5]

In which Toreth is more possessive/jealous than usual and almost loses control, and it freaks Warrick out a little. They have a mini-argument, not that heated, and that's pretty much it. Everything Francis writes is good, ofc, but this one is meh relative to the other stories in the series.

[Camilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Losing it, is a short about Toreth "losing it" because of jealousy..

Cant help it, but I love the sick SOB.. What does that make me, though? Hmmm..

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awkward.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Control--Toreth is most def losing it

[Ilhem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Control's twin piece.