AMELIA
“Shit,” I say, scrambling to my feet. “Undo the belt, quick.”
He seems to enjoy my discomfort, pocketing my panties before undoing the belt unnecessarily slowly.
I haven’t got time to get my panties back off him. I get the buttons on my blouse done up just in time for Rose to push open the office door.
“There you are,” she says. “Everything all right in here?” She glances from me to Leo and back again.
“Fine,” I say, wondering how messed up my hair looks. “Absolutely fine.” I’ve no panties on and I can feel my wetness and his saliva on my thighs.
My ass still stings from the spanking. The papers are spread out on the floor around the desk. Rose frowns as she looks down. “Want me to get those?”
“No, I’m good,” I reply as Leo watches us from the corner of the room.
“All right,” she replies. “I thought I heard shouting in here, that’s all.” She coughs and then adds, “I’ll go check the inventory, shall I?”
“Uh-huh.”
She leaves and the minute she does, Leo laughs. “Give me my panties!” I say, holding out my hand. “Right now.”
He tosses them my way. I look down at them and then toss them back.
“What the hell,” I say. “Keep them.”
It feels good to say that. It feels like the thing Molly might say, not me. There’s something about this guy that’s changing me. Making me into a different person.
I like the woman I am around him, more confident, definitely sexier, able to say what I want and take what I want, which is him.
He’s looking at me like he’s not sure who I am anymore. He gets a call, reaching into his pocket to pull out his cellphone.
He walks out of the office before speaking. His voice is distinct as he answers. The life has gone out of it. He is back to the bitter man I first met.
I leave him to his call and get on with tidying up the office. My insides are still throbbing with need, but I ignore the sensations. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up getting attached, and that’s not good.
I’m about to walk out of the office when a thought occurs to me. What if he thinks I’m only doing this for the money? What if he thinks I see myself as some kind of high-class hooker?
Another thought shoves that one out of the way. Cam’s body was found here. I cringe and my skin crawls as I think of the fact his body was found so recently.
What is wrong with me? How did that not even occur to me? He’s dead, and I didn’t even think about it during that.
All of a sudden, I need fresh air. I head out front. Leo’s over on the other side of the street, talking. I lean back against the wall and take several deep breaths, closing my eyes and trying to calm down.
“You all right?”
I open my eyes, and he’s standing in front of me. I never heard a thing. “I’m fine,” I say. “You look pissed at something.”
“I need to go check something out,” he says, still examining me without blinking. “I’ll come to meet you at your place in an hour.”
He walks away without another word. I watch him go. Once he’s out of sight, I turn and head for Molly’s. I need to talk to her. She’s my best friend. She’ll know what I should do about all this.
I get to her place in time to find her coming up the street from the other direction. “Good timing,” she says as she unlocks her door. “What brings you my way?”
I follow her inside. “Rex died,” I say as we walk into the lounge.
“Oh, Amelia, I’m so sorry.” She puts her arms around me and holds me for a minute. “Are you all right?”
“I guess so.” I step back. “I mean, he was old, and it wasn’t exactly a surprise. It just seemed to all happen at once.”
She motions toward the couch. “Coffee?”
“I’ll come through.”
I walk in front of her to the kitchen. “I know what’ll cheer you up,” she says.
“What?”
“Maybe try lesbianism,” she says, squeezing my butt as we walk through.
I shriek and bat her hand away. It’s still sore from the spanking, but I don’t want to tell her that. “You took a real risk there. I had beans for lunch.”
“Well, aren’t you just pure class?”
“Fuck me, you’re right. I am. I never realized. Anyway, what do you mean by giving it another try? I never did anything like that?”
“Come on. You trying to tell me you never experimented?”
“Nope.”
“Seriously?”
“Not even once.”
“You’re missing a treat. It’s great. Except for the lack of cock, of course.”
“I reckon I’ll cope.”
“Without my sexy flaps or without man meat?”
“Both.”
“And could your lack of desire for me have anything to do with the fact that a birdie tells me you and a certain smoking hot guy had burgers and shakes at the diner today?”
“How did you find out about that?”
“Clive told me when he rang to beg me to work tonight. It’s true then?”
“What’s true?”
“You had a date.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a date.”
“But who was it? Tell me everything. Was it someone at the casino? Did my Milly get majorly milled? It wasn’t a minor, was it? Or a miner? Did he come at you with his pick-ax? Or on you?”
“Kind of.”
“What do you mean, kind of? Was it that Leo guy?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He didn’t just kiss me, Molly. He went down on me at the shelter. In the office.”
“You’re shitting me.” She holds a hand up for a high five. “Welcome to the world of slutdom. You’ll like it here, trust me. We have t-shirts. With nipple holes cut out.”
“Could you be serious for like a second?”
“So my Milly got milled after all. Well, where is he? Do I get to meet him properly?”
“Please don’t call me Milly.”
“Okay, Amelia, sacred knight of the creamed vagina. Do I get to meet him?”
“Maybe. He’s got a thing to do. Said he’d be at mine soon.”
“Jeez. I go back and forth to the diner to cut meat from bone and shove it into people’s mouths and meanwhile you’re getting boned by his meat.”
I sip at my coffee while Molly continues to grin at me. “You luuurrrvve him!” she adds.
“I do not!”
“Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes.”
“I really don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You love him. Milly and Leo sitting in a tree. F-U-C-K-I-
N-G.”
“That’s not how that rhyme goes.”
“Isn’t it? Well, it should be. So what’s the plan with Mr. Hottie? Going to marry him ?”
“I very much doubt it. He’s going back to the city tomorrow night.”
“So this is a ship’s passing in the night thing? My little Milly is getting her end away with a guy and then chucking him back to his hometown? Like a vacation romance, but without you having to go anywhere. I love it!”
“Listen,” I say, clearing my throat as I try to work out how to word things. “Just say I was to have some feelings for him. Just supposing.
There’s nothing I can do about them, right? He’s disappearing tomorrow so I should just ignore them, shouldn’t I? Fuck him and chuck him, as you say so often.”
“You want my advice? I think you should keep your feelings to yourself. Just use him as quim lube. Like the mechanics’ use.”
“I told him I was worried about developing feelings for him.”
“Boner removal warning. Nothing less sexy than that. You got to keep him hanging onto you, not the other way around. Don’t seem too keen, make him chase after you.”
She drains her coffee and then stands up. “I got to go get ready for work. Talk tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” I get to my feet. “Don’t seem too keen with him? Are you sure about that?”
“Trust me. I’m your best friend. Act all cool and he’ll be so desperate for your attention, he’ll end up married to you and giving you about four kids before he realizes it was a ruse.”
“Right. I’m not so sure-”
“I am. Now go home, put something sexy on and let fate get to work. Think of me cooking burgers while you’re getting a hotdog put into your bun, taken out again, and then put back in again. The hotdog in this analogy is his cock, by the way.”
“I get it.”
“And your ass is the bun.”
“Lovely.”
“Now scoot, you little sex kitten you.” She sees me to the door and I head home. I’m not sure what to do with myself. There’s no sign of Leo yet, and I do not know how long he’s going to be away.
I try to tell myself that doesn’t matter one bit. I lived my life without him perfectly well before this weekend. I can keep myself busy now.
I log onto my laptop and start looking at veterinarian courses, working out how much it would cost to put me through the whole thing. I could be like Moira.
I could get my dream, own the shelter outright. I might own my house too. Stop living in gran’s place. Get somewhere big enough to raise a family. It’s enough money coming my way to do all of that and have plenty left over.
Just a couple of problems. One, I have to forget the person who made all those things possible. Two, I have to erase from my mind that the killer of Cam is still out there somewhere.
I also have to deal with the fact that Rex’s things are right in front of me.
I’ve come through to get a drink. I’m looking down at the kitchen floor. His food bowl. His water bowl. I pick them up and then put them back down again. Somehow clearing them away is too final.
I walk through to the lounge and switch on the TV. I want to forget everything for a while. What I need is some trashy TV. And I’m in luck because there’s a ton of it.
By the time I next look at the clock it’s after eight and I’m wondering if maybe Leo isn’t coming back. Suddenly I get a real bad feeling. Has he gone to look for the snitch and something’s happened to him? Should I tell someone?
I rule it out. I can’t start making calls based on a feeling. And who am I going to call, anyway? I try to tune back into the TV but it’s no use.
I tell myself I’m just worried because I don’t want him to get hurt, not because I care about him. I know the truth though.
I care. A little too much. And I’ve only got twenty-four hours before he’s out of my life forever.