5

I crept to the doorway and watched Tom as he worked. Both computers were fired up. He had a few pamphlets open on the desk in front of him. One of them looked like a schedule, with yellow highlights all over it. He ignored the laptop and instead wrote the old-fashioned way, with a sharpened pencil and a yellow notepad. It was just like Tom to have so much technology around him, yet ignore all of it.

I went back to the kitchen and stirred the chili. The whole cabin smelled like warmth and comfort. I was going through the cabinets to find crackers when the sound came from outside, louder and louder, the unmistakable rumble of a well-tended Harley-Davidson engine.

‘Seems we have company,’ I said as I turned off the heat under the chili.

Tom walked out of the office. His eyes were shadowed. The usual ease of his body was gone, replaced instead by a tension that made me dread seeing whomever it might be on that motorcycle.

The Harley roared to a stop in the clearing. The silence was absolute for a long moment before the birds began to sing again, the interruption forgotten. Tom walked in his bare feet to the front windows. He shoved his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath.

The door swung open without a knock. A young man stepped in. His dark hair was long and in a ponytail. His jeans were ragged and his jacket was black leather. A tattoo ran up one side of his neck. Both ears had two sets of earrings. A diamond stud flashed in his nose. His boots were leather, studded with silver beads, and had seen many better days.

The scowl on his face said he wasn’t happy to be here. When he whipped off his dark sunglasses and looked at me with wide brown eyes, I realized who he was.

Tom stepped towards him.

‘Hello, David.’

The boy looked at his father and then looked back at me.

‘So you’re the flavor of the month, eh?’

My face burned with surprise and indignation. My first instinct was to defend myself, but this was Tom’s son. A long moment of silence, pregnant with the tension, stretched out between us while he waited for my response. I chose the civil route.

‘My name is Kelley.’

The kid snorted and looked back at his father. ‘You don’t waste much time between pussy, do you?’

Tom’s face flushed, but he held his ground. ‘Why are you here?’

‘Do I have to have a reason to see my dear old dad?’

‘Yes,’ Tom said simply, and I realized there was much more between these two men than a bit of teenage insolence.

David looked back at me. His eyes trailed all the way down to my toes and then back up, deliberately pausing at my chest. The scrutiny made me feel dirty all over.

‘Nice,’ he drawled.

‘Why are you here?’ Tom asked again.

‘Money,’ David said bluntly. ‘Mom says you haven’t paid enough for my tuition this semester. I’m here for my share of your cold hard cash, Daddy-o. How ’bout taking care of your responsibility?’

Tom took a deep breath. ‘I gave your mother more than enough money to cover the tuition, plus the extras. Like that goddamn Harley out there. I suppose that came out of your college fund?’

David smirked out of the other corner of his mouth and said nothing.

‘You’re not getting another dime. You’ll spend it on women and cocaine and God knows whatever else you’re into.’

David shrugged and glanced over at me again, shooting daggers with those otherwise beautiful brown eyes. ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?’

‘Get out.’

The words were low and dangerous, a rattlesnake of promise. His jaw was set in a hard line. He stared at David with a mixture of hurt and confusion but, most of all, there was rage. Not anger, not disdain, not even fury – but the kind of rage that results in violence.

David saw it, too. He didn’t drop his eyes or the challenge in them, but he did take a step back towards the doorway. The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. David reached up and pulled the cap low over his eyes. He glanced at me, that same sordid look, then walked out the door. On the way down the steps, he kicked over a flowerpot. The black soil tumbled out over the boards of the sidewalk.

‘Let him go,’ Tom said out loud, though neither one of us had made a move for the door.

David kicked the Harley to life. We watched as he tore out of the yard, knocking over the small rocks that lined the driveway, throwing gravel all over the wide front porch and blowing up a tail of dust in his wake. Tom stood watching him out the window until the sound of the Harley faded into nothing.

I looked at Tom. He refused to meet my eyes. Knowing he needed to be alone, I quietly took the broom from the kitchen and went to the porch. I heard Tom moving around in the house, then a loud bang. I swept the gravel from the porch, focusing on one wide board after another, thinking about the young man I had just met.

David was a firm departure from the happy teenager in the family pictures that lined Tom’s walls. He was filled with a simmering anger that wasn’t anywhere near the surface in those smiles captured by the photographer’s lens. I wondered whether he really had used the money for his college tuition to buy that shiny Harley. Somehow I had the feeling David would do whatever he pleased.

My mind kept coming back to the way he had looked at me. The kid was undressing me with his eyes. He might be nineteen, but his attitude was like that of a thirteen-year-old with a chip on his shoulder and a complete disregard of respect. How did he get so bold? Was it something he got from his father?

That father came out of the front door a few minutes later. He sat in the swing and watched me as I swept the porch. I kept my eyes on my work, giving him the space to say what he wanted when he felt the time was right. The swing creaked in that comforting way as he rocked back and forth. His eyes were on me as I stepped off the porch and cleaned up the driveway. By the time I was done, all evidence of the incident had been erased, but the words between them still hung in the air.

I sat down beside him. He put his arm around me. Together we watched two birds squabble over the best spot on the feeder.

‘He wasn’t always like that,’ Tom said.

‘What happened?’

‘The divorce, I think. It was hard on him. He blamed me for all of it. He had reason.’

‘He had reason?’

‘It was my fault. She never should have married a man like me.’

‘Why?’

Tom shifted in the swing, and it took a moment for the momentum to even out again. ‘I got her pregnant. That’s why we got married. I was definitely not marriage material. Hell, I was traveling all over the world, sometimes on a moment’s notice. I was a die-hard military man. That doesn’t leave time for a home life. And, to be honest, she wasn’t the only girl I was seeing. But I was the only guy she was seeing, and she held that over my head all through our marriage.’

‘There’s no doubt David is yours. His eyes are exactly like yours. He stands like you, too.’

‘And he fights like me,’ Tom said. ‘Dirty.’

I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing at all.

‘The women didn’t stop after the marriage started,’ Tom said. ‘I knew damn good and well it was wrong but I did it anyway. There was a woman in every port – literally. And, when there wasn’t, there were whorehouses. I went to more than my share. I hoped she would never find out. I guess I’m not any better at lying than I was at being a husband.’

‘She left you?’

‘Yeah. She held on for the kids but I didn’t give her much to hold onto.’

I rested my hand on his thigh. ‘You’re really honest about this.’

‘There’s no reason not to be. A few years ago I might have lied and told you I was Prince Charming, but, honestly, I’m just too old for that shit any more.’

‘I’m glad you don’t lie to me about it.’

‘But you’re also not glad I tell you the truth about it. Are you?’

I sat forwards and plucked a handful of nuts off the porch railing. One by one I threw them at the nearest tree and watched them bounce. ‘It frightens me.’

Together we rocked on the swing. I laid my head on his shoulder and he kissed my forehead.

‘More bridges to cross,’ he said.

‘One at a time, baby. One at a time.’

Tom pushed the empty bowl across the table. He leaned back in the chair, took a long drink of his soda and burped loudly. I shot him a smirk from across the kitchen, and he had the good sense to look contrite.

‘Compliments to the cook,’ he said sheepishly.

The confrontation between Tom and David was almost forgotten. After our talk on the porch, Tom had retreated to his office and closed the door. The occasional slams and curses made it very clear how badly his son had pissed him off.

I had found cleaning supplies and went after the living-room floor, even moving furniture around in order to clean underneath it. I found spots that hadn’t been touched by a mop in years, and attacked them with vigor. By the time I was done, his floor was spotless.

Tom had walked out of the office hours later with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. The shadows in his eyes told the tale of more than a few tears shed.

‘Let’s go out for dinner tonight,’ he said now, even as he munched on another cracker.

‘My food isn’t good enough?’

‘It’s excellent. But I can’t show you off while you are here in my kitchen.’

‘Good point.’

‘You have to go home and get some other clothes. Can I come with you? I want to see where you spend your time when you’re not under me.’ He gave me a charming smile and I blushed.

‘Only if you fuck me while we’re there,’ I shot back.

‘In that case, let’s go right now.’

Within minutes we were in my truck, headed down the driveway. The house had been locked up tight, just in case David came back and decided to make himself comfortable. Tom had even locked the windows. I felt very uneasy as I watched him do it. How badly did a relationship have to deteriorate before a man locked his own son out of the house?

Then I remembered the lewd way David had looked at me, and thought that barring every single opening into the house was a very good idea.

Tom opened the gate and I drove through. I watched him in the rearview mirror. His jeans were slightly tighter than they should have been, perfect to show off that toned rear and thick thighs. His shirt was button-down, an expensive designer number that fit across his shoulders as if it had been tailored especially for him. I had been very surprised to see the tag, and silently calculated what that shirt must have cost.

‘Considering I only have three shirts that are suitable for going out like this, I think the expense was worth it,’ he teased. And he wasn’t kidding. The dressy clothes in his closet were few and far between. This was a man who was comfortable in his own skin, with his own style, and no need to answer to anyone but himself.

‘You are gorgeous in that,’ I said to him now as he climbed into the truck.

‘Maybe I should buy designer clothes more often.’

‘You’re gorgeous in anything. And out of anything.’

‘Somebody’s horny.’

I smiled and turned the truck towards my house on the other side of town. The sun was going down; streetlights were flickering into life. Tom rode quietly, his hand on my thigh, watching every move I made. At the first red light, he unbuckled my seat belt.

‘Hey,’ I breathed in mock protest.

His hand slipped between my legs.

Tom’s fingers pressed hard against my crotch, pushing the cotton of my leggings against my pussy. I was already wet. I spread my legs a little and leaned back in the seat. Tom took the opportunity to push harder between my open legs.

The light changed to green and I drove on. Tom moved his hand away, leaving me aching for more. He gently flipped the compass hanging from the rearview mirror. He opened my glove compartment and leisurely explored the papers and CDs he found in there. He studied my registration. He turned on the radio to see what station I had been listening to, then turned it off again.

We came to another light.

This time Tom wasted no time. His hand slipped down the front of my pants. I opened my legs and he slid a finger deep into my pussy. Slowly he began to slide it in and out, fucking me with it while I bit my lip and tried to look as though nothing was wrong. The man on my left wasn’t paying any attention, but the woman in the turn lane was looking our way. Tom gave her a wicked smile and slid two fingers into my pussy, pushing up hard on that magic spot that made me horny as hell. I leaned my head back against the seat.

A car honked from behind me. My eyes snapped open, and Tom’s hand disappeared. The light was green.

‘Fuck,’ I murmured, and hit the gas.

Tom busied himself with picking my purse up from the floorboard. He unzipped it and started looking through it, completely ignoring me. He pulled out the lipstick and twirled it up and down. A notepad, a tube of lip balm, a few pens – all seemed to be of interest. He pulled out a wrapped tampon and grinned before pushing it back down to the bottom. He studiously ignored my wallet but pulled out photographs that he found in a side pocket. He flipped through them slowly but didn’t say a single word.

When I came to a stop at the next light, he was on me.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, hungry and punishing. He bit hard on my bottom lip. One hand went under my shirt while the other went between my legs. He pinched one nipple hard while two fingers slammed into my cunt, lifting my hips off the seat. I let out a squeal of delight. His lips trailed back to my ear, where he bit down again before he whispered, ‘I’m going to fuck you in public. You know that, don’t you? This is just a warm-up. One day I’m going to strip you down and spread your legs and give complete strangers a damn good show. You would do that for me, wouldn’t you?’

‘Fuck, yes,’ I growled.

His hands disappeared, and I was left dazed.

‘Drive,’ he ordered.

The last quarter-mile to my house was an exercise in torture. He sat right next to me. The heat of his body was driving me insane. I could smell my own arousal on his fingers, and when I glanced over at him he was casually sucking the taste from them. I bit my lip to keep from groaning aloud. He seemed so calm and cool about the whole situation, but I was already trembling with desire.

We pulled into my subdivision, then into my driveway. I killed the engine. Tom and I were on each other in an instant. I reached for the snaps of his jeans while he unbuttoned my shirt. His mouth came down on one nipple at the same time I pulled his cock free from his boxers. We groaned in unison.

‘We need to go inside,’ I begged.

‘No,’ was all he said.

My leggings came down. I kicked my shoes off. One of us hit the horn, a brief peal of noise that surely got the attention of the neighbors. He pulled me across the seat underneath him and pushed his jeans down. I lifted and he thrust, and I cried out when he impaled me on his cock.

‘Hard?’ he asked.

I held onto the steering wheel with one hand and his hair with the other. Tom pushed one of my legs up on the back of the seat and lifted the other to the dashboard. Spread as wide as possible and exposed for anyone who might happen to investigate, I lay under Tom and looked up at him through a haze of passion.

‘As hard as you can,’ I begged.

Tom went at me hard enough to rock the truck on its wheels. Already his forehead was covered with a fine sheen of sweat. I reached up to brush it away and Tom caught my hand in his. He led it down between us and let me feel the slickness of his cock, the way our bodies slammed together.

‘Jack me off while I fuck you,’ he said.

I circled a finger around the base of his shaft. When he pulled out, I stroked him. When he pushed in, my finger landed right against my clit. I was working us both at the same time, and the combination was sexy as hell.

Just as I was close to coming, Tom pulled out.

‘Hey!’ I protested.

‘Jack me off,’ he demanded.

Anger sizzled through me. Born of sexual frustration, it was sudden and deep.

‘Fuck you,’ I said.

His quickness caught me offguard. One hand tangled in my hair and he yanked hard. His other hand came down over my mouth. He rammed his cock into me again, this time without any ounce of mercy. The force drove me up the seat, and my head slammed into the door. Tom yanked my hair again and this time I hissed in pain, even while his hand tightened over my mouth.

‘You said you wanted to do whatever I told you. Isn’t that what you said?’ he growled. He looked down at me until I slowly nodded.

‘Then you will do whatever the fuck I tell you to do. If I tell you to jack off my cock, you will do it. You know the word to stop me, don’t you?’

Again I nodded.

‘Jack me off,’ he said again, and his hand lifted away from my mouth.

‘Fuck you,’ I spat at him.

I knew the safe word. I knew what to say to make him stop anything he might be doing at any particular moment. He knew that I knew, and a glimmer of a smile passed over his lips. There was no way in hell I was going to say that safe word unless I really meant it.

‘You are going to pay for that,’ he promised.

‘What about me?’

‘What about you?’

‘I want to get off, too.’

Tom sat up. He didn’t let go of my hair. I squealed as he opened the passenger side door and started to back out of the truck. He pulled up his jeans with one hand and yanked me along with the other. He hauled me out onto the driveway and slammed the door hard behind us.

I was standing there with an unbuttoned shirt on – and nothing else.

‘Tom!’ I yelled in indignation.

‘If you’re so worried, shut the fuck up and get in the house,’ he hollered back. He pushed me towards the front door but I yanked away from him and went around the side of the house. There were fewer neighbors to see me that way. As I ran along I heard him right behind me. I grabbed for my keys and realized they were still in the truck.

‘No,’ I groaned, and Tom caught up with me.

‘This looks just fine,’ he said, and picked me up like I was nothing. He deposited me not-so-gently on the picnic table there in my backyard.

The neighbor’s outdoor light came on.

‘Tom, they will see . . .’

Tom straddled my waist. He pulled his jeans down. He wrapped his hand around his cock and started to jack himself slowly, right in front of my face.

‘So let them see,’ he murmured.

I pulled my knees together.

‘Don’t you dare,’ he said.

I glared at him.

‘What’s the safe word?’ he asked.

I spread my legs wide.

‘Good girl,’ he said, and closed his eyes as he started to jack himself harder. He laced his fingers through my hair and pulled my head up off the picnic table.

‘Open your mouth,’ Tom ordered.

I was mesmerized by the sight of his cock. It was hard and throbbing in his hand, almost an angry red and slick with my own juices. A drop of precome slipped down the head. I opened my mouth and Tom kept jacking himself, only now his hips were moving into his hand, fucking the tight circle of his fingers. His motion became jerky and his breathing became harsh.

The first shot of come landed right underneath my right eye. The next one covered my upper lip and slid down the side of my face. The third hit my chin and trailed down to my throat. Tom milked the last drops out of his dick while holding it right over my nose. By the time he was done I was covered with him.

Tom climbed off the table. He pulled up his jeans and looked at me for a moment.

‘I’ll get the keys. Don’t you dare wipe that off.’

He stalked around the corner of the house, but I didn’t miss the little smile.

I rolled off the table and darted for the back door. Hidden behind the screen, I scanned the backyards and saw no one. I hovered there near the door until Tom came back with the keys. When the door closed behind us, I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Where is your bedroom?’ he asked.

I walked through my kitchen and down the hallway. His come dripped down my face and landed on my collarbone. When I got to the bedroom, Tom stopped me by pulling on my hair.

‘Where are your sex toys? A good whore always has a cock or two hanging around to fuck whenever she wants.’

I pointed to the small box underneath the bedside table. It appeared to be a quaint, benign wicker basket. Tom pulled it out and opened the latch. Inside he found an array of toys – dildos, vibrators, anal beads, nipple clamps. He also found lubes and a stash of condoms in a small box tucked into the corner of the basket. After a moment of thought, he pulled out the longest dildo I had.

‘Get on your knees on the bed.’

I got on my knees.

Tom stood behind me. I couldn’t hear him, but I could sense him. He was watching every move I made. I already knew what he would want, and so I did it. I got on my knees, lowered my shoulders to the bed, and stretched my arms out in front of me. I spread my legs wide so he could see everything.

He touched the crack of my ass. His fingertip gently ran down between my cheeks. Then there was the cold plastic of the dildo, slipping slowly through the wetness between my legs. The dildo was a few inches longer than Tom. He pushed it in all the way, and then put more force behind it, making sure every inch of it was as deep in my pussy as it could go. The deeper it went, the harder it was to breathe.

I laid my head on the blanket underneath me. His semen had cooled and now it was a fine sheen of wetness across my face. I closed my eyes.

Tom climbed on the bed behind me. He pushed against the end of the dildo with the palm of his hand. I cried out as it went deeper than I had ever felt it.

‘Good little whores can take big cocks, can’t they?’

Tom pulled the dildo halfway out and the pressure was gone; he pushed it in again, and this time he went even slower. There was a flash of pain as the toy slid against my cervix. My clit throbbed.

‘Hold that there,’ he ordered. ‘Reach down and hold that toy right there.’

I did as I was told. Tom took my hand and pressed hard against it, making sure I understood that I was not to remove that toy. Within seconds a cascade of cool lube slid down the crack of my ass.

‘Oh, God, Tom –’

‘Grind against that toy. That’s it, move your hips like that. Push it in good and hard. Move that cock around in you. Do you like being full of cock, Kelley?’

I took a deep, shaky breath. ‘Yes.’

‘Keep that cock up your hole, you little bitch. Keep that hole full for me.’

Tom climbed off the bed. I listened as he slowly removed his clothes, one piece at a time. When he got back on the bed, I whimpered in anticipation. His broad hands settled on my ass.

‘Tell me you want it.’

Sudden fear welled up in me. The dildo in my pussy was making me crazy with desire, but that didn’t change the fact that I knew how much it was going to hurt when Tom shoved his cock up my back door. I didn’t know if he would be gentle. He might choose to thrust straight in, punishing me for being disobedient when he wanted me to be submissive. Whatever he chose to do, I was at his mercy.

The safe word crossed my mind, but I wasn’t ready to say it.

‘Fuck me,’ I whispered.

He pulled my cheeks apart. I wiggled against the dildo in my pussy. The lube ran down across my ass with ticklish intimacy. I shivered as he blew cool air across my back.

‘I should get you ready,’ he said. ‘But I’m not going to.’

I tensed up, and he trailed a hand down my back, gentling me. ‘I’m going to push my cock into that tight little hole. I’m going to open you up with my cock. And it’s going to hurt, but you want it to hurt, don’t you?’

I shivered under his hand. I held the dildo deep in my cunt and closed my eyes. My entire being was focused on the tight rosebud of my ass. My heart was pounding and it pulsed with every beat. I thought about that throbbing around his cock, how tightly he would stretch me, how it would feel when he started to fuck in and out.

‘Do it,’ I whispered.

‘You want me to open you up with my cock?’

‘Please.’

‘You want me to fuck you hard?’

‘Please.’

‘Are you mine, Kelley?’

I could hardly breathe. I knew what he was really asking.

‘Make me yours,’ I said.

Tom pressed the head of his cock between my cheeks. He braced himself on the bed behind me, spreading his knees until they touched the insides of mine. He slowly pulled my cheeks apart, until the slightest pain ran through me, until I was stretched so tightly that his cock could impale me as hard or as gentle as he wanted.

Tom began to push. I tensed against him at first, and the pain shot through me, little slivers of fear that shimmied their way down my thighs. I took a deep breath and pushed back against him. Slowly that tiny hole opened up for his hard cock. A burning sensation filled my belly. My ass stung as he pushed relentlessly against it. The pressure of his cock opening me up was almost unbearable.

‘Scream, Kelley. I want to hear it. I want to hear you while I do this to you.’

I took another deep breath and, when Tom pushed a little harder, he got what he wanted. I couldn’t hold in the small scream. Suddenly my sphincter gave under the pressure, and the head of his cock pushed inside. The pain slithered down my pussy and deep into my womb, where it throbbed in time with my heartbeat.

Tom slowly slid his hands up my hips. Over my waist. To my breasts. He found my nipples and pinched them hard. I cried out again, this time begging him to stop. He leaned over me and whispered into my ear.

‘Do you really want me to stop?’

I nodded.

‘Do you know the safe word?’

I nodded again.

Tom paused for a long moment. Then he slid his hands up to my shoulders, holding me tightly against him. He moved his cock in gentle circles. Only the head was inside, and the burn just wouldn’t go away.

‘What kind of person does it make me,’ he said, ‘if I like hurting you with my cock?’

My pussy jerked at the confession. My hand trembled on the base of the dildo.

‘Kelley.’

I fought for enough breath to speak. How odd that he wanted reassurance at a time like this, but that was exactly what he needed.

‘I am yours,’ I said. ‘If it pleases you to hurt me, then I want you to hurt me.’

Tom groaned. I felt the sound just as well as I heard it. He rose up on his knees a bit more, and his fingers clenched hard on my shoulders.

‘Mine,’ he said.

Tom impaled me with his rock-hard cock. He shoved it all the way in, fast and hard. I screamed into the mattress. He pulled out almost immediately and then thrust back in again. He drove deep, slamming his cock to the hilt. His balls slapped against my hand. Tears sprang to my eyes and the safe word was a mantra in my head. It was on the tip of my tongue.

I called his name instead.

Every thrust was long and deep, and Tom’s groan of pleasure rang out with each one. I was shaking too hard to keep my hand on the dildo, and it slipped halfway out of my pussy. The next time he thrust, it was forced out of me. Without the added pressure, Tom’s cock reached deeper.

‘I came all over your face,’ he said. ‘So I’m going to last a long, long time.’

The pain of it was starting to recede, replaced by a deep ache and a near-numbness. I bit down hard on the blanket below me. His cock slammed into me over and over, until I lost track of time and space.

It was more than a physical taking; it was an emotional and mental one as well. I completely surrendered. I belonged to him, and the power of that made me weak all over. All the while he pumped into me with long and steady strokes, motions designed to claim what was his. I was somehow grateful for the pain that came along with it, the forever reminder of what it felt like to give myself wholly over to Tom.

Near the end he leaned down over my back, holding me up with his arms around my waist, fucking into me with a vengeance. His whole body was trembling. Tom buried his cock inside me one last time, as deep as he could go. This time when he came, it was without a single sound. His cock throbbed hard against my tightly stretched hole and, though I didn’t come with him, it was perhaps the most satisfying sexual moment of my life.

Tom collapsed on top of me. His weight pushed me down into the bed. After long moments he moved to my side and turned me to face him.

Tom took the corner of the blanket in his hand. He cleaned my face with it, wiping away not only the evidence of him, but the tears that had covered my cheeks. He pressed his lips against mine but he didn’t kiss me – instead he took deep breaths against my skin, taking my own breath into his body. He laced his fingers with mine.

Neither of us said a word.