The rack held no terror for Sean, so I couldn’t tie him to that.
I tapped my lips in thought. He stood rigid before the fire, his erection jutting through his gaping flies. Joe and Lou held his arms. He could have broken free, but that would have meant bruises all around, which was not the point of this game – at least, not the way Sean played it.
‘Amy,’ I said, ‘why don’t you undress him?’
I suspected he’d find her attentions as uncomfortable as I did. Amy’s sexuality was so visual her scrutiny could make the comatose squirm.
Sean did bristle as she pushed his T-shirt up his ribs. Still topless, her back was a vision, ivory-pale and curved like a violin.
‘Does that tickle?’ she asked in her sweet doll’s voice.
Sean gritted his teeth. Lou and Joe lifted his arms so that Amy could remove the shirt.
‘Oh, come see.’ She waved me closer. ‘His chest hair looks like gold in the firelight.’
I went to see. His hair was fine and fair, and the steely hummocks of his chest spoke of long hours at the gym. My hands joined Amy’s in exploring his torso. I skirted round one pec with my fingertips, then meandered down the valley of his breastbone. Sean’s tiny nipples beaded in excitement.
Amy and I exchanged glances.
‘One for each?’ she suggested, and we twined our arms around his waist.
Sean moaned as we captured his nipples. He pushed his chest towards our mouths and tried to wrest free of Joe and Lou. Neither allowed escape, but Lou pressed behind me and ironed his cock into the small of my back. Joe did the same to Amy. Bodies surrounded me – Sean’s hard silk to my front, Amy’s soft silk to my side, and the friction of cock-filled cotton to my back.
‘Hold on,’ I said, my voice ragged. ‘Let’s get his trousers off.’
Amy took charge of that. She bared one hip at a time, then dragged jeans and briefs to his ankles, effectively hobbling him. Crouched at his feet, she sighed at the picture he made.
‘Shoes, too?’ she asked reluctantly.
Amy did not like simple nudity, but I did. I nodded.
When she’d stripped him off, we stepped back to admire him. The men held his arms out from his sides. I’d seen weight-lifters without Sean’s definition, but he wasn’t bulky. The curves of his muscles flowed smoothly along his limbs. Of course, the best curve of all was the upswung hook of his erection.
‘You have a gorgeous body,’ I said. ‘You make me want to pull you into my arms and samba.’
To my amazement, Sean dropped his eyes. Had no one gushed over him before? That would have to change.
It would wait, though, for now. Rather than speak, I circled him. My eyes traced the high, taut swell of his buttocks, the vulnerable hunch of his shoulder blades. Lured closer, I dragged one finger down his vertebrae to his cleft. Gooseflesh broke out across his skin. A spring entered my step. My limbs, so recently released from bondage, swung strong and light. Now was the time to plan, before my head grew fuddled with lust.
What fear did Sean most need to overcome?
‘Tell me something, Joe,’ I said.
Joe blinked as if awakened from a dream.
‘When you and Sean make love, who’s on top?’
Joe laughed. ‘Oh, Sean’s definitely a top.’
A top. The way he said it suggested a code – not only the person on top, but the person in control. Hm. A pulse of interest flickered in my womb. I remembered him saying Sean never let him be tender.
I didn’t want to ask my next question in front of our victim, so I beckoned Joe to the sitting-room entrance. We put our heads together beneath the wide arch.
‘When Sean climaxes, are you ever face-to-face?’
Joe tugged his earlobe. ‘To tell the truth, I couldn’t tell you what he looks like when he comes. What he sounds like, yes, but …’ His voice slowed. ‘I think he feels too naked at the, uh, crucial moment. He doesn’t want anyone getting too close.’
‘That’s what I thought.’ I steepled my hands before my mouth.
Joe watched me for a moment before a beatific smile lit his eyes.
‘I get it,’ he said. ‘You intend to kill him with kindness.’
I smiled back. ‘Something like that. But I need your help. He’s too proud to say “Uncle”. I want you to watch him. If you think I’ve gone too far, you call a halt for him.’
‘I hope that’s not all you want me to do.’
I turned my head towards the sitting-room. Sean’s golden brows shadowed his eyes, creased by his stormy emotions. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I want you to do the things you’ve dreamt of doing, the kindnesses he’d never accept. But I think Lou and Amy will have to keep back. I don’t want anything to ruin the sense of intimacy I’m trying to create.’
‘I’ll tell them.’ Joe rubbed his freshly shaved jaw. ‘They won’t mind watching.’ He said this as if he knew their preferences well. How many games had he played with them? He smiled at my suspicious expression. ‘I’m guessing,’ he said. ‘Don’t you know what people enjoy almost as soon as you meet them?’
I didn’t, as a matter of fact. But if Joe did, no wonder Sean had kept him under wraps. I walked back to the others. ‘We’re going upstairs,’ I announced, ‘to my bedroom.’
Sean flinched at that. Moving the game to my territory gave me the upper hand. Plus, it might seem irrational, but sex in a bed felt more serious than sex on a sofa. Fortunately, Sean couldn’t protest against a simple change of venue when I’d accepted a whipping.
Amy scooped Lou’s holdall off the couch. ‘I’ll bring the toys,’ she chirped.
‘I’ll blow out the candles,’ said Lou.
Sean displayed no such cheer. He trudged to my room like a prisoner being led to his death. His little death, I gloated as my new recruits manoeuvred him on to my bed and stretched him out.
‘Restraints?’ Amy suggested. She snapped a black velvet strip in front of her blossom-pink bosom.
‘Be my guest,’ I said.
Naturally, she made a show of it, bending over and wriggling her bum as she bound each wrist and ankle. My bed sat in a heavy mahogany frame with a tall headboard and a low footboard. Pineapple-shaped crests topped the four posts. Amy looped the long black ties over their spiky crowns, criss-crossing the cloth like a ballerina’s laces. When Sean was laid out in a handsome ‘X’, she and Lou retired to the dormer window seat. She dropped her trousers before sitting, leaving nothing but a tiny triangle of emerald satin to shield her from the world.
‘Nice,’ said Lou, and pulled off his khaki T-shirt.
Amy’s pout stopped him from removing his baggy army trousers, though she did allow him to unzip them and pull his cock through the vent of his tight black briefs. She wrapped her hand around the shaft, holding but not stroking. The sight of her delicate fingers on that long pole sent a shiver up my sex. Shivering a little himself, Lou hugged her waist and cupped her mound through the green G-string. They sat like a pair over-sexed teenagers at a film, cheek-to-cheek and hand-to-sex, waiting for the show to begin.
I hoped the show wouldn’t disappoint them.
Joe and I consulted by the foot of the bed. Sean stared daggers at us, but his cock stood as eager as ever, a thick red stake angling back towards his belly. ‘What first?’ I asked.
Joe’s fingers drifted over the swell of my nipples. ‘Nothing too direct. We don’t want him to come straight off. Maybe a massage?’
Sean growled at that idea, but Amy popped up like a jack-in-the-box and dug a bottle of oil from Lou’s bag. Joe caught it one-handed. He flipped the top up with his thumb and sniffed the subtle almond fragrance. He tipped the bottle towards me. ‘Do you want the honours?’
‘Oh, no, I think this is a four-handed job.’
‘Cripes.’ Sean squirmed against the covers. ‘Some dominatrix you make.’
I smiled to myself. Sean wasn’t used to a top as devious as me. ‘I didn’t give you permission to speak. Perhaps we should gag that pretty mouth.’
‘Fuck,’ said Sean, so I had to gag him.
He struggled as I tied it; he couldn’t seem to help himself. I guess the gag threatened his control as strongly as the blindfold had threatened mine. Once he was gagged, there would be no more wisecracks to obscure his reactions. His body would speak for itself, loud and clear.
‘I think we should strip off,’ Joe said.
I hesitated, conscious of our audience, but he was right. To create the atmosphere I wanted, we had to be as vulnerable to Sean as he was to us. We removed our clothes as though no one but Sean was watching. The corset laces had left red marks on my belly. Joe set the oil on the mattress between Sean’s legs so he could massage them, clucking and kissing away the angry weals. A gasp from Amy told me she liked the look of that. Joe heard it, too. His lips curled against my navel. Straightening, he tucked the oil between his thighs to warm it, which reminded me my hands needed warming.
I ran my palms up his sides to the tufts beneath his arms, burrowing through the musky tangle in search of skin. He jumped when I found it, then bent his neck to kiss me. His tongue teased the silky inner surface of my upper lip, then the lower, then slid sinuously along my tongue. A quick pull of his cheeks closed us both within the liquid cave, licking, sucking, penetrating deeply before withdrawing. I rose up on tiptoe and mewled for more. He gave it to me, covering my breasts and compressing them in a slow, circling caress. My nipples budded between his fingers.
Our show proved too much for Sean. Pained noises issued from behind his gag. I imagined how he must be feeling and moisture welled inside me. Joe’s hands contracted, squeezing my rosy nipples out where his friend could see them. Sean thrashed against the sheets. Excited by his reaction, Joe’s cock bobbed between our bellies, swaying like a metronome. I shuffled close enough to still it with my belly. Joe kissed me harder.
‘Warm enough?’ he breathed against my lips.
I nodded, probably as starry-eyed as he.
We turned to Sean. His legs scrabbled on the mattress as if he could run from what was coming, but Amy’s elegant knots prevented more than an inch of play.
‘Shh.’ I grabbed his nearest foot and kneaded it. Sean’s back arched off the bed.
‘His feet are very sensitive,’ Joe confided. He grinned at Sean’s muffled protest and poured a little slick of oil into my palm.
I knew why Sean wanted to keep his secret as soon as I rubbed the oil into his instep. Each stroke made him twist in his bonds until tendons stood out along his joints. Looking down at him, I felt a surge of maternal affection. He was so adorable in his resistance. To me, at least, his tough-guy facade was entirely transparent. Inside was a stubborn-jawed toddler insisting he always be in charge of himself. Me do it, Mommy. Me.
Giving in to an impish impulse, I took hold of his big toe and wiggled it back and forth. ‘This little piggy went to market,’ I crooned.
Sean’s expression of outrage was priceless. He was fighting so hard not to enjoy this. Too bad ol’ Willy gave him away by throbbing in time to the nursery rhyme, virtually begging for more.
Happily, ‘more’ was my middle name. I bent over the last little piggy and tucked him into my mouth. Sean roared his fury through the gag, but when I swirled my tongue around the pad and sucked it, his entire body went limp – except for Willy, of course, who swelled and darkened and wept shiny tears of joy.
What fun, I thought, delighted by his hypersensitivity. We couldn’t massage his feet forever, though, not with so much lovely flesh to explore. Joe and I clambered on to the bed to work up his legs. His muscles were loose now, like clay beneath our oily hands. Straddling his knee, I pushed up and dragged down one heavy quadricep. By silent agreement, Joe and I skirted his genitals. We sneaked a few admiring looks at the twitching rod, but we didn’t touch it or ourselves. Waiting was sauce for all our lust.
Sean’s belly and chest occupied us for a good quarter of an hour. His moans faded to the occasional whimper of pleasure and his eyes had long since closed. For now, I allowed him this small escape.
His arms posed no challenge, such was his relaxation. His hands, however, required special attention. The palms in particular were rich in nerves. Sean squirmed as we teased our thumbs across the sensitive cup. His eyelids fluttered. Folding up like a Muslim at prayer, I kissed the curled backs of his fingers. ‘Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Time for the main course.’
His eyes opened slowly, dazed and dark with hugely expanded pupils. His jaw worked on the gag. I reached behind his neck for the knot.
‘Let’s take this off,’ I said.
The whites of his eyes betrayed alarm. Good. He knew the massage had lulled him. Now he feared what he might say in the heat of the moment. Once the cloth was free, he pressed his lips together.
I promised myself that would do him no good.
Joe crawled into the space between Sean and the headboard. Crossing his legs, he lifted Sean’s head on to his lap, setting it off-centre to allow room for his own erection. He stroked Sean’s hair and murmured something sweet. Joe had a perfect view of his face – until Sean screwed his eyes shut.
‘Ah-ah-ah.’ I straddled his waist and lightly slapped his cheeks. ‘No hiding, handsome.’
‘Screw you,’ he said, the best comeback his trembling lips could manage.
‘I intend to,’ I said. ‘Nice and slow and sweet. And you know why? Because I really want you to feel good, Sean. I never expected to like you so much but now that I do, I want to reach straight inside and press our hearts together.’
He clenched his jaw. His hazel-green eyes glittered under a thin film of tears. Ruthless, I pressed the tender knife home. ‘You’re a good man, Sean Halloran. Better than you know.’
He blinked and a tear spilt over. Joe bent to kiss it away. Sean flinched. ‘You play rough,’ he said, his voice like gravel.
I played my fingers across his sensual mouth. ‘Don’t be silly. I’ve barely started.’ I tightened my thighs on his waist. Wary animal that he was, his torso shifted uneasily. Poor thing. He had no idea what he was in for.
‘Here are the rules,’ I said. ‘You tell me what you want and I’ll do my best to give it to you.’
His mouth twisted. I could see he thought this was a peculiar way to dominate someone. ‘Would you untie me?’ he asked.
‘No. Although, if you really need to get free, you know the safe-word.’ I ignored his huff of disgust. ‘What I meant was you can tell me your preference – faster, slower, whatever.’
‘And you’ll do it?’
‘Probably.’ I propped my hands on his pecs and shifted until my labia hovered, plump and glossy, millimetres above his cock. He was so hard I’d have to pull the head away from his belly to take him, but he could feel my heat now, and see the wet gleam of readiness when he tilted his chin to his chest.
‘Is this what you want, Sean?’ I parted my lips with two fingers, spearing them to either side of my clitoris. Engorged with blood, the knot of flesh stood out full and red, twitching as the surrounding muscles contracted and released. Sean’s mouth fell open. The tip of his tongue touched his front teeth. ‘Or maybe you’d prefer something else?’
‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘I want my cock in your pussy.’
Though the crude words were no stranger to his lips, they dissolved into a heavy breath, as though too loaded to utter. I was glad he wanted to take me that way, but surprised he wanted it so much.
We’d never done it vaginally before.
But, hey, I liked first times. Smiling, I lowered myself on to his upswung shaft. My flesh wrapped him, oiling his heat, sliding voluptuously up and down his length. His hips reared up, pressing harder, adding his undulation to mine.
‘Oh, yeah,’ he said. ‘Oh, baby, get me wet.’ He swallowed hard as my sheath released another flood. ‘Take me, Kate. Take me now.’
Before I could move, Joe restrained me by the shoulder. His long, smooth arm flashed to the bedside table’s drawer and rummaged through the contents.
‘Aha.’ He flicked a condom in Sean’s face. ‘Extra large, buddy. She must have bought these with you in mind.’
Sean’s mouth quivered but he was too wired to joke back.
Intrigued by their byplay, I gathered Sean’s scrotum into my palms and rolled the unstable weight across my finger bones. Sean’s thigh muscles jumped. His eyes, however, never left Joe.
Carefully, Joe tore the wrapping and balanced the furled prophylactic on the ends of his fingers. ‘Want a drop of lube in the tip?’
‘Yeah.’ Sean shuddered.
I bent closer to watch Joe squeeze the lubricant in. ‘What does that do?’
Joe grinned. ‘Increases sensitivity. Especially for those of us who come accessorised.’ He skinned Sean’s foreskin back with his thumb, demonstrating which accessory he meant. Then he seated the condom over his glans, squeezed the air out of the tip and rolled it down. ‘There.’ He patted Sean’s juddering shaft. ‘All dressed up and ready to roll.’
Sean and I laughed at his expression of fraternal pride. Sometimes Joe was too cute for words.
Just then a soft, feminine cry split the air. I didn’t want to lose my concentration, but I couldn’t help looking back. Neither could my partners. Lou had turned sideways on the window seat. With one leg crooked on the cushion, he held Amy by the waist and was lowering her on to his lengthy prong. The cry we’d heard must have been her reaction to the first fraction of penetration.
‘Don’t mind me,’ she gasped, her face tightening as he eased her down another inch. ‘We’re just getting comfortable.’
Lou’s hands looked spider long against her tiny waist. His arm muscles bulged. My eyes widened. I had to see her pubis meet his before I’d believe she could take him. The feat required a few angle adjustments, plus some hand work, but they managed. Lou’s head fell back as she hilted him. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
‘Ah,’ said Amy, a happy sigh. She wriggled closer and his hands clapped round her buttocks to hold her still. Awareness sizzled through my nerves. I knew they didn’t intend to come until we did.
‘They’re fine,’ Joe said, turning my attention back to Sean.
‘And so are you,’ I purred to our victim. I dragged my nails down his chest hard enough to leave eight faint pink trails from collar bone to hip. The trails faded even as I captured his swollen cock and tugged it to a more suitable angle. Sean’s breath hitched.
‘Wait,’ he said. Beads of sweat sparkled on his brow. He hesitated before explaining, probably deciding whether to trust me. ‘Don’t put me in yet. Play the head around outside.’
‘I’m not sure what you mean,’ I said, even though I was. ‘Shall I have Joe do it?’
He muttered something blasphemous. It sounded like a ‘yes’ to me.
‘I’d be happy to help,’ Joe said.
His hand skied down the slopes of Sean’s chest, fingers spread until they caught the base of his cock. With his thumb he guided the shaft, tipping it gently between my folds. He had such beautiful hands: long, brown fingers and strong, oblong palms. Watching him handle Sean gave me as big a thrill as the slow circling of that fat red knob. Round and round Joe slid it, teasing it past my slippery clit, dipping it into the whorl of my vagina. Lush, wet noises rose from my sex. Sean struggled to get a better view by using his bonds to lift his upper body. When he saw what I saw, he began to pant with excitement.
A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Joe’s face. ‘Had enough yet?’
‘Yeah,’ Sean rasped, and Joe pressed his crown inside my entrance.
Fire shot up my spine. He was thick and full – and unfamiliar. That was a potent thrill, spiced with the slightest edge of guilt. The heat of him scorched me; the width entranced. I vowed I’d sample this treat again. Of course, I’d have to ensure Sean liked it enough to want to. With that in mind, I stretched my tender tissues around his bulk. His under-ridge was so pronounced, it rubbed me like a finger. Sighing with pleasure, I pressed down until Joe’s forefinger and thumb were all that kept me from the hairy root. Joe would have let go, but I clasped his wrist.
‘Stay. Let him feel both of us.’ Sean’s cock pulsed in agreement. I leant forward across Joe’s arm, close enough for my breasts to warm Sean’s chest. His eyes locked with mine, quivering with strain. ‘Fast or slow?’ I asked, not sure myself which answer I wanted to hear.
He bit his lip in indecision. I swivelled my hips once, a quick half-stroke.
‘Fast or slow, Sean?’
‘Fast,’ he said. His pelvis jerked upward. ‘Fuck me hard, Kate.’
I pressed up on my arms again, set my knees firmly for balance and proceeded to work us both, quick hard thrusts that kept him well inside me and slammed my jangling clit against the back of Joe’s hand. Joe held him steady, so I rose higher and drove back faster. I pulled up to the flare, tightening inside and giving it a little tug. Sean cried out. His head thrashed in Joe’s lap. Sensation gathered in my sex, centring on the velvet-wrapped steel inside. Images of everything I’d been through tonight bombarded me: the corset, the spanking, sucking Sean to the point of coming. My sex ached and throbbed. I wanted that release so badly, I forgot the reason I’d tied him to the bed in the first place.
‘Come on.’ I slung myself up and down that sweet, hard rod, rising higher and higher until the need to come was so urgent, it hurt. ‘Come on, come on.’
My back stiffened. My sheath clutched his cock. Still the climax eluded me. Then fingers pinched my clit – Joe’s fingers. Fireworks burst in the tiny shaft and roared upward. I closed my mouth against a scream, coming so hard my head flew back like a whiplash victim. Shudders rippled through me, honey-wet, knife-sharp spasms of rapture.
When I came to myself, Sean was still hard inside me and shaking with thwarted lust.
‘I’m so sorry.’ I dropped a penitent kiss to his lips. ‘I lost control.’
Rather than complain, Sean jerked his mouth to mine. The pressure of his lips pulled me in for a deep, wet kiss. He tugged on his bonds. ‘Finish me,’ he said. ‘Please, Kate. I need it. Please.’ Again, he yanked at his ties, harder this time. ‘Uncle, damn it, Uncle. Let me go.’
Joe freed his wrists in what had to be record time, but Sean was too impatient to wait for him to loosen his ankles as well. He sat up, flung his arms around me, and squeezed me so tightly I lost my breath. He showered my face with kisses, nipping the tip of my nose, licking the side of my cheek. His hands slid down to cup my bottom.
‘Make love to me, Kate. Show me you want me. Let me feel how much you care.’
My throat tightened. Did he think I was lying before? I clasped his golden head to mine. ‘I care, Sean. I do.’
He groaned as I moved on him, my body wet and soft, my eyes brimming. But Joe’s eyes sparkled with mischief. He wrapped himself around Sean so that his front supported Sean’s back and his thighs bracketed mine. He stuck his finger in his mouth and wet it. He winked at me. His hand burrowed under Sean’s buttocks. Sean gasped as it found a home.
‘Just a little deeper,’ Joe said, twisting to get at him more easily. ‘I’ll be there in a tick.’
I knew the moment he found his target because Sean whimpered and his cock jerked inside me, twanging with eagerness. I thought his next instructions would be for Joe to ‘rub harder, man’ or ‘push it in good’. But he surprised me.
He hugged me tighter. His lips grazed my ear. ‘Say you love me,’ he whispered.
My heart stopped. Sean’s must have, too. He went board-stiff. ‘I didn’t mean that. It just came out.’
I threw my head back on a laugh and sank down on him again. I’d show him no mercy now. He knew it, too. He sobbed for air, so close to orgasm he couldn’t bear to pull out.
‘I didn’t –’ He met my thrust with his own, more determined to reach his goal than to deny what he hadn’t meant to say. ‘I didn’t – Oh, yes, like that. Do that again. Oh, sweetheart.’
‘And now you forget to call me “babe”,’ I teased, repeating the motion he’d liked, a quick swivel down his rod.
‘Fuck.’ He panted hard, double-thrusting through my twist. ‘I’ll call you sweetheart if I wan– Oh, God, I’m going to come.’
With that he lost his powers of speech. He wrenched my thighs apart, then planted his hands behind his hips so he could pump deeper. Our bellies slapped together, sweaty and frantic. His face contracted in agony of suspense, mouthing some word he had no breath to speak. Aching with sympathy, I pinched his nipples. His breath whooshed out. His cock swelled. Lips drawn back in a snarl, he heaved into me once, twice, and then shattered.
‘Y-yes,’ he groaned, finishing the stroke with a slam.
He spilt hard. His cock twitched so strongly inside me I toppled over the edge in a swell of heat, a climax as comforting as swan’s down.
A duet of sighs told me Lou and Amy had timed their crises to match Sean’s.
When the last spasm faded, Joe helped me extricate myself from Sean, who had collapsed – limp and sighing – on the bed. Joe dispensed with his condom and I tidied his flaccid penis with a warm facecloth. A drowsy smile softened Sean’s rough-and-tumble features. It seemed he liked being babied, after all. Spoilt brat, I thought fondly. His ankles were still bound and, too sated to worry about what he might have said, he let his legs fall open like a frog’s. Joe untied the last two velvet straps and threw half the coverlet over him.
Then he turned and offered me a courtly bow, no less graceful for his nudity or his phenomenal erection. ‘Mistress,’ he said in a tone of profound respect.
I laughed, but I liked the sound of it. ‘Yes, Joseph?’
He straightened and spread his arms, allowing his dusky cock to make a mute request.
‘Yes,’ I said, beaming my approval. ‘I believe I did save a little room for you.’
Dawn hadn’t broken when I heard someone pounding on the front door. Joe was out for the count, but Sean and I sat up. We looked at each other, both pushing hair out of our eyes.
‘Lou wouldn’t come back at this hour,’ he said. ‘He’s too polite. And Amy couldn’t knock that hard.’
The pounding resumed and was joined by the buzzer.
‘I better go see who it is.’ My pulse skittered as I threw on my dressing gown. Had someone had an accident? Was my ne’er-do-well brother in trouble again?
Sean scrambled out of bed behind me. ‘I’m coming with you.’
He didn’t wake Joe, but he did grab my favourite fireplace poker.
When we reached the second floor, we heard the words that accompanied the pounding: ‘Police. Open up.’
My gaze shot to the living room. Amy and Lou, bless them, had returned everything to its former innocuous state.
With a deep breath to steady my nerves, I flipped the mortice lock. Two uniformed officers waited outside the door, their hands on their holsters, their stance wary.
‘Hello, ma’am,’ said the nearest. ‘We received a report of a racket here tonight.’
My fingers tightened on the door. ‘A racket?’
‘Loud noises. Shrieking.’ He peered behind me and caught sight of Sean and the poker. ‘Want to put that down, sir?’
‘Sorry.’ He set it against the wall. ‘We didn’t know who could be pounding on the door this late.’
The officer grunted. It was not an apology. ‘Mind if we take a look around?’
I stood back as the policemen entered. Between them, they took two steps into the living room, three into the dining room, and one up the stairs. Thorough fellows, those Philly cops – but I was glad for their lackadaisical attitude tonight.
‘You folks have a party here?’
‘No-o,’ I said, with a reasonable facsimile of confusion. I thanked heaven Joe hadn’t woken. He couldn’t lie to save his life. I nodded towards the VCR. A copy of Silence of the Lambs sat on top – Sean’s pick, of course. ‘We were watching horror movies, but I can’t imagine it was loud enough to –’
‘Some people are more sensitive to noise than others,’ said the second cop. He was young and still fit. He tugged his belt higher on his trim waist. I hoped Sean wasn’t ogling him.
‘You said “we”,’ he continued. ‘You and your boyfriend the only ones here?’
‘Uh, yeah,’ I said, startled to hear Sean referred to as my boyfriend. ‘And our lodger. He’s asleep now.’
‘Hm,’ said the younger cop, but I could tell he wasn’t suspicious. ‘Must have been the TV then. Next time watch that volume.’
‘Yes, sir,’ I said, and thanked them for coming round.
The door shut behind them. Sean scratched his head. ‘We weren’t that loud, and you certainly didn’t shriek.’
‘Maybe the neighbours –’
He blew a breath out through his lips. ‘Your left-side neighbours are out of town, and old Mrs Perelli is so deaf she’d sleep through a hurricane. Believe me, I’d have found somewhere else to play if that weren’t the case.’ Yawning, he sat on the bottom stair and propped his shoulder on the banister. ‘I think you’ve got an enemy, Kate.’
‘Me?’ I tightened the sash of my dressing gown. My scalp prickled. ‘Who cares what I do?’
He pinned me with a speculative stare. Green flashed in his hazel eyes – a cold colour, very self-contained. ‘Your ex, maybe.’
‘He’s too busy planning his wedding to Marianne’s teenage daughter. Besides, there would be no way for him to know. I don’t blab about my sex life, not even to my friends.’
Sean cracked his knuckles. ‘Neither do I, and neither would Lou or Amy. They’re old hands at this scene. They know better.’
I sat next to him and sighed. ‘Then who?’
‘Someone who thought the cops would get here early enough to break up our fun.’
I chuckled at that. ‘Whoever it was, they don’t know Philly cops very well.’
Yawning again, Sean heaved to his feet. ‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Maybe Joe can think of an explanation. At any rate –’ he offered his hand to help me up ‘– we’ll find the spoilsport and squash him like a bug. Scout’s honour.’
Scout’s honour. That must have been some troop.
Sean slid the brown sugar to Joe’s side of the table. With his speedy metabolism, Joe didn’t believe in eating porridge plain. ‘What about your uncle?’ Sean asked. ‘Can he find out who tipped off the police?’
Joe took a quick bite and swallowed. ‘He doesn’t work in this area, but I guess he could ask around.’
‘Your uncle is a cop?’ I offered him the raisin box. First a brother, now an uncle. What else didn’t I know about Joe?
Joe shook some raisins into his bowl. ‘Thanks. Good sex makes me hungry. And, yes, my uncle is a cop – a detective.’
I pondered the implications of his relative’s career. ‘How will you explain why you need to know who made a noise complaint?’
‘I’ll tell him the truth, or most of it. He’ll understand.’ Joe grinned. ‘Uncle Joey likes to wear women’s underwear. Strictly off-duty, you understand. He’s happily married and has three kids. I was named after him.’
My spoon halted halfway to my mouth. ‘Your parents named you after the family cross-dresser?’
‘They didn’t know at the time. He only told them two years ago. Ever since, my dad has blamed Uncle Joey for everything he thinks is wrong with me.’
Sean grimaced but Joe’s smile shone with good humour. When God handed out bitterness, he must have skipped Joe. His father’s bigotry didn’t seem to bother him at all.
‘Originals must run in the family,’ I said.
Joe um-hummed around another mouthful. ‘You bet. My Grandma Rose was a fan dancer. My mom’s a pet therapist and my dad is a conspiracy-theory junkie.’ Joe put on a fierce father face. ‘“Trust me, son, the government knows more than it’s telling.”’
‘And then there’s Al,’ Sean added.
‘Al?’
Joe rolled his eyes. ‘Al is my big brother. He’s a corporate lawyer. He married a nice Catholic girl. They have two normal kids, one normal dog, and a house in the suburbs. It’s all very bourgeois. Of course, in my family, that is eccentric.’
‘Does he know about –?’ I glanced at Sean, wondering how to describe their relationship.
‘Oh, sure,’ said Joe. ‘If I didn’t tell my family, I’d have to worry about them finding out. Mom’s cool with it, Dad flipped his lid, and Al leaves the room if anyone mentions Sean. He still loves me, though, so I try to be patient with him.’
Sean put his head in his hands and wagged it back and forth.
‘What?’ Joe shovelled in another spoonful.
‘Nothing. I just wonder what planet you come from sometimes.’
‘What’s wrong with telling my family things? We’re close.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s great. But most guys would be afraid to tell their parents they’re sleeping with another man.’
Joe shoved his empty bowl aside and slouched back, hands folded over his flat belly. ‘Your family knows.’
‘Yeah, but it took me four years to work up the nerve. Even now I haven’t told them about Kate.’
Joe crinkled his forehead. ‘Neither have I. I wonder what that means.’
I fluttered my lashes at the pair of them. ‘It probably means I’m too special to share.’
‘You know,’ Joe said, ‘you’re probably right.’
I glowed for a minute, flattered as anything, then started upright in my chair.
‘Larry,’ I said, hardly aware my brain had been working.
Sean set down his spoon. ‘Larry?’
‘The obnoxious estate agent. The one you hung up on. Maybe he was skulking around last night to check out the competition.’
‘You might have something there.’ He smacked his fist into his palm. ‘If it is him, I hope he’s not too hard to discourage.’
I covered Sean’s fist with my hand. ‘Promise me you won’t do anything crazy.’
‘Who me?’ He laughed. ‘I never do anything crazy. At least, not if I can get caught.’