Chapter 14: Terms, Mrs. Bradford

I opened the window over the street and called his name.

The light across the road went out, and a minute later the green door opened.

He stood on the pavement in a dry shirt, with his hair still wet, looking up.

"Come in," I said. "The door's on the latch."

He climbed the stairs slowly, and I stood in the middle of my little kitchen with the phone in my hand.

He stopped in the doorway.

"I've heard the call," I said. "The one you made from the payphone. There's a woman whispering behind you."

His face closed.

"Leah..."

"Who is she?"

"That's thirty days from now. You set it yourself."

"I set it before I knew you were in the car."

"The terms say..."

"I know what the terms say."

I put the phone face down on the table.

"Terms, Mrs. Bradford," he said, very softly.

"Shut up."

"I'm only telling you what you told me."

"Shut up, Leonard."

I crossed the room and shoved him against the doorframe with both hands, and I kissed him until I could not hear him breathe.

He tried to say my name against my mouth.

I bit him, and he stopped trying.

I pulled his shirt out of his trousers and ran my nails up his stomach, hard enough to leave lines, and he shuddered and let his head fall back.

"You don't get to touch me," I said. "Not until I say."

"Yes."

"Say it."

"I won't touch you until you say."

I opened his belt, and then his trousers, and took him in my fist.

He was already hard, thick and hot, and he groaned as if I had hurt him.

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