-Mahinour

There are no stars in the night sky above, and the air is strangely heavy and full of static electricity. A storm must be coming. I stand in my back garden smoking a cigarette, my whole body tight and strung out. It is waiting for hers.

For so many years, I dreamed of her. I dreamed of conquering her, fucking her, branding her, pulling the stuck-up Princess’s hair, forcing her to take my cock, and seeing her on her knees cowed and submissive. All it took was one night. Just one night for her to turn my dream to ashes.

If I was a tree, I lost, leaf by fucking leaf.

The tip of my cigarette glows amber as I inhale deeply. I look at my watch. It’s already twelve thirty. She won’t come tonight. It is too late. The disappointment is like a crushing weight on my chest, but I tell myself it is for the best. It disturbs me to think of her taking a taxi at this time of the night. The world is a cruel place for a beautiful woman.

I flick the cigarette away and roll my tense shoulders. Her black velvet box of earrings is burning a hole in the pocket of my pants. I take it out and open it. The jewels gleam in the light from the open doors. I tilt the box and they catch the light and look like green fire. I stroke the stones. They don’t feel cold to the touch.

I have never done anything like this before. Always kept my emotions locked away. Nothing but ice-cold concentration for the job at hand. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought them, but at that moment I couldn’t bear for him to claim her as his. She belongs to me and she will be mine even if it is the last thing I do.

Filled with a deep sense of restlessness, I close the box and drop it back into my pocket. I don’t want to get drunk alone again. I should go out. Maybe I’ll go to the club and have a drink with the boys, though the prospect doesn’t enthuse me.

I start when I hear the doorbell ring.

I turn to the sound, staring through the French doors. My heart suddenly pounding.

Fuck. She came.

I stride into the house and open the door.

‘Hi,’ she says.

Oh, Tasha, Tasha, Tasha.

I pull her in, kick the door shut and, taking her in my arms, crush her mouth with mine and kiss the shit out of her. She melts against my body. While I kiss her my hands are undressing her. Her sweater, her top, her bra, her jeans, her underwear. Suddenly I see them. I grab her wrist and bring it up.

‘He did this?’ I ask, my voice deceptively soft.

She shakes her head and I feel her trembling. ‘It’s nothing. I bruise easily.’

Fury like I have never experienced slams into my gut. I can’t even think straight with it. How fucking dare he? Who the fuck does that pompous sack of shit think he is? I won’t, I can’t take this lying down. ‘I’ll kill the fucking cunt.’

She puts her palms on either side of my face, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears. ‘Don’t. Don’t spoil tonight. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.’

I look at the sad desperation in her face, and even though it makes me sick to my stomach, I control myself. For now. Taking deep breaths, I calm myself, but fucking hell, he has made himself an unforgiving nemesis.

‘Tell me exactly what happened,’ I demand.

She bows her head. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘If you don’t tell me I’ll get it directly from him, and it won’t be pretty,’ I warn, my voice cold and quiet.

Her head flies up. ‘No, don’t,’ she cries.

I stare hard at her. She seems suddenly so pale and vulnerable I want to hold her tightly and never let her leave this house. I soften my voice. ‘Then tell me,’ I coax.

‘You shouldn’t have bought the earrings. You shouldn’t have showed your hand. It was a rash thing to do. Now he knows that you and I are …’ She shudders. ‘What if he tells my father?’

I don’t tell her that I wanted to show my hand. I wanted to rattle his cage. I’m not going to stand for her having to sneak around in the middle of the night to see me. I want to blow it all out of the water. I want to stand in front of her father come what may. War or not, I’ll declare that she is mine.

I bring her wrist to my mouth and kiss the blue marks his fingers have left on her skin. Her expression is troubled, and it kills me that I can’t erase that look of fear and worry or protect her. That tomorrow at dawn I will again have let her go. And while she is out of my sight anything could happen to her. Oh, God, even the thought of anything happening to her. I pull her soft body against mine and breathe in the clean, sweet smell.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from that sick coward,’ I mutter into her soft hair.

‘It’s okay. It’s not your responsibility.’

That is where she is wrong. She is my responsibility. Every inch of skin on her body is my responsibility.

‘I’m here now, so what’re you going to do about it, mmm?’

I feel her body wriggle and rub wantonly against mine and immediately the uncontrollable lust she always invokes in my loins overtakes me.

I pull away slightly, cup her bare breasts, and let my thumbs caress the stiff peaks. I can’t help being sinfully aroused by the startling contrast of my darker skin against her white flesh.

There is a condom in my trouser pocket and I fish it out. While I gently chew her nipples she groans hoarsely. I unzip my pants and release my straining cock. I push her up against the wall, stabbing my tongue into her open mouth and my cock into her pussy at the same time.

I plunder her mouth while my hands grab the firm cheeks of her ass and pull her even tighter against my cock. Wild and unashamed she sucks my tongue and rocks her hips into me. I release her mouth to return to her breasts. I want to see them twice their size, as they were last night. I draw the tips into my mouth and suck them roughly. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are glazed with passion. She furrows her fingers into my hair and presses my head closer to her body.

‘Yes, yes,’ she almost sobs with pleasure.

I nip one of the buds and she gasps. The sound touches something dark and forbidden inside me. I bend down to pick her up then stride to the living room. I put her down in the middle of the room and take a step back.

Let me see if she understands what I want from her.