Chapter 18: With My Teeth

Della's POV

He looked at the dress for a long time, and then he looked at me.

"It fits," Conroy said.

"I told you."

"You did." His voice had gone rough. "Come inside before the neighbors have an opinion."

His house was small and clean, with one lamp on in the front room and a smell of motor oil and cedar.

He shut the door behind me and stood with his back against it.

"Until Saturday," I said, "you do what I say."

"It's Friday night, Della. Technically, the terms have until tomorrow."

"Then I have until tomorrow."

"Is that what you came to tell me?"

"I came to tell you to take off the dress."

He didn't move.

"With your teeth," I said. "You promised in a fitting room."

His expression broke open.

He crossed the floor and put his hands on either side of my waist, and I felt them shake.

"Turn around."

I turned.

He lifted my hair off my neck and put his mouth where my collar met my shoulder.

I leaned back against his chest and shut my eyes.

His fingers found the zipper.

It went down slowly, one tooth at a time, the way it had behind the curtain, and the silk opened over my back.

He put his lips between my shoulder blades and I felt his breath and then his teeth.

"That's one," he said.

He took the sleeve at my shoulder in his teeth and drew it down my arm.

I made a noise I hadn't planned.

"Two."

The dress pooled around my feet, and I stood in a slip and a pair of borrowed heels with his hands flat on my stomach.

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