TEN

ESTELLA

Leo Whitney had gone too far.

If Graham hadn’t been completely sozzled, I would have demanded he drive me home, anniversary or no anniversary.

Hours had passed since I’d wrangled the drunken Graham to bed, and the clock kept flickering its green letters at me in a mocking manner.

Sleep evaded me.

How could I sleep when I’d let Leo touch me. When I’d let him breach that line. Fingers were a million miles worse than a kiss. And I had Graham to consider. Should I tell him?

Would he believe me? Or would he demand we call the police. That we have Leo dragged from the one space he finds safe?

My stomach tightened as the thoughts picked at me like a swarm of angry locusts. Leo’s touches had left my head mushy, but worse, his words left me wanton.

Graham had slept long enough to have sobered up with it nearing five in the morning. But would he welcome my advances?

I needed to douse the fire that Leo lit. To reclaim my body and clear my mind from the sexual fog.

I needed a damn good fuck.

Slipping from the bed, I went to the bathroom, mussing my hair and spritzing myself with scent. Stripping down, I abandoned my nightshirt on the floor. Would being nude be enough? I hadn’t packed anything fancy in the underpants department.

It would have to do.

Crawling up the bed, I slid myself in between Graham’s thighs, tugging down his pyjama pants and taking him into my mouth.

We rarely bothered with foreplay, me preferring whatever ended the sex the quickest, and refusing to give oral if Graham didn’t reciprocate.

I moaned as he thickened against my tongue, filling my mouth with his generous length. God how I’d counted myself lucky when I’d first seen the anaconda between his legs, but Graham was style over substance. It ended up just being more uncomfortable to take when he failed to get me wet.

Licking and sucking, I allowed myself to delve into that part of me I’d hidden from Graham. The dirty, sordid side that I’d tempered down at his lacklustre love-making.

Maybe I’d just failed to awaken the beast.

Within minutes, Graham pulled back the bedcovers, moaning.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

I didn’t want to chat, I climbed on top of him and slid down his length, whimpering as he stretched me tight.

‘It’s the middle of the night,’ Graham grumbled, his fingers gently skimming my waist.

‘Am I not allowed to be horny in the middle of the night?’

‘It’s just unexpected,’ he stuttered. ‘Shouldn’t we use a condom?’

‘I’m on the pill, you know that.’

God, where was the need. The ravishment? Most guys would drop their left bollock to be awakened be a naked, horny woman.

‘Yeah but you know I don’t like the clean up…’

‘Just fuck me Graham,’ I demanded, my thighs beginning to burn as I quickened my pace, seeking my pleasure. Hunting for it.

His fingers gripped me tight, helping me slide up and down his length with increased speed. Circling my clit, the way Leo had done, drew me closer to the edge. How long had it been since I didn’t fake it? Months?

‘Graham,’ I moaned, lust hazing my vision with each quickening thrust. In a moment of madness, I pulled his hand up and wrapped it around my throat. He stilled, and desperation made me whine. But his fingers were all wrong. There was no steadiness in them. No control. They sat limp against my skin.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, removing his hand.

My hips still rocked, my fingers between my thighs.

‘Choke me,’ I begged.

‘ What? ’

‘Please?’

Graham’s face fell, and he pushed me off of him, flopping me onto the bed beside him.

‘I think we should put a pin in this, Estella. I don’t know what’s gotten into you. But that isn’t the sort of thing we do.’

His judgement rolled over me, pricking my eyes with hot tears.

Something warm and wet dripped onto my stomach, and I squinted up at the dark ceiling. What was it? A leak?

I waited to see if any more would come, but none did. Condensation perhaps…

With regret deep in my stomach, I rolled over and tucked the blanket tight around me.

The silence in the room sunk in around me, until eventually, I gave in to a fitful sleep.