by Edie Baylis
Seth twisted Jane’s arm around and pulled her towards him. “I’m hungry though,” he growled.
When Seth crashed his mouth down onto hers Jane desperately willed her body and mind not to respond. But what was the point? The last week she’d died a little more every second she’d been away from him. She couldn’t ever love anyone else like this.
Seth folded Jane in his embrace and she pressed herself up against his body, breathing in his scent. Her arms moved around his neck and she wrapped his familiar curls around her fingers. The background noise disappeared into a seamless void and little stars shot through the darkness behind her closed eyes, hearing only her own heartbeat thundering along in her chest next to his.
“Erm....” an apologetic voice came from behind them. “Your food’s ready.”
Pulling away, Seth turned to the man behind the counter and smiled. Taking the carrier bag, he turned to Jane and holding out his hand, raised an eyebrow.
Giving Owen an apologetic shrug, Jane took a deep breath and took Seth’s hand.
SETH GLANCED AT JANE. Not a word had been uttered in the five minutes since they’d left the chippy. He hadn’t expected it to happen like this. He’d planned on psyching himself up beforehand. Seeing her unexpectedly had caught him off guard, but he was extremely pleased that it had.
Gripping her hand tighter, they carried on walking and he sneaked another look at her. It was taking all his power not to go berserk, knowing she’d been with that revolting creature Jenky, as well as Owen. However, all he really cared about at this point of time was her, so that would have to wait.
“Why’ve you been avoiding me?” Jane snapped suddenly, staring at Seth’s clenched jaw.
“I wanted to get enough proof that it was lies before I came for you,” Seth sighed. He hadn’t wanted to discuss this until he’d shown her. He knew it would cause another argument.
“Yeah, and you haven’t been able to? There’s a surprise....” The hurt of the past week flooded back through Jane’s veins and she yanked her hand away from his. “Look, this is a mistake.”
“NO!” Seth pulled her around by her shoulders. “It’s not a mistake. You’re NOT leaving me again Jane.” Bringing his lips down onto hers, he felt her body respond to his hunger. God, he’d missed her.
Jane knew resistance was futile. She ran her hands down Seth’s back as his lips bruised hers, his want for her hard against her stomach. “Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly as she pulled her mouth away from his. “Thought you were living at Dodge and Mary’s?”
Seth gave her a slight smile. “Ah, so you knew where I was then?”
“Wasn’t exactly going to come running after you got someone pregnant was I?” Jane spat, her eyes narrowing.
“At least I didn’t fuck a junkie and a muppet!” Seth roared, spitting fire. Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP, he screamed to himself. He’d promised to keep a lid on it but was failing miserably.
“You bastard!” Jane screamed, slapping Seth hard around the face.
“Stop this NOW!” Seth slammed her against the railings and held her arms by her sides. “You listen to me Jane and you listen good. I won’t be punished for something I haven’t done.”
Jane fixed his glare with one of her own, but felt unable to walk away. She didn’t want to walk away.
“It’s a set up! That Debbie’s fucked in the head and I’ll prove it. I love you. Love you more than anything. Till the end of time, Jane. Remember?”
Jane searched Seth’s eyes. She wanted to believe him. Really wanted to believe him.
“I’d die for you baby,” Seth whispered softly, finding Jane’s mouth.
Clinging onto Seth, Jane’s hand moved to his face, her fingers running over his skin needing to touch him, but he stopped her and pushed a wrought iron gate open.
“Why are we going in here?”
“My absolution Jane, that’s why...”
Jane stared at the large detached Victorian house on one of the town’s poshest streets and looked thoroughly confused.
“House sitting,” Seth winked. “Friend of a friend.” Grinning, he led her up a small path under an archway covered with foliage and stopped at a large dark green front door.
As Seth opened it with a key from his pocket, Jane followed him into the wide entrance hall. Flicking on the light she squinted up at the chandelier hanging from a high pendant. “Very nice,” she murmured, slipping off her jacket.
Seth ran his eyes over her, the ache in his groin relentless. “Drink?” As he grabbed her hand, his eyes narrowed seeing her ring was missing. He’d deal with that later.
Opening a thick oak door with a steep set of steps leading down to a cellar, he smiled. “Come with me.”
Walking down the stone steps, Jane gasped. It was a wine cellar. Judging by what could be seen from the rows of bottles in their individual holes in the bespoke wooden compartments, it was obviously horribly expensive.
Seth struggled to reach the bottles he’d got his eye on, but finally grabbing two identical expensive vintage wines, he placed them on an upturned keg.
“Start as you mean to go on!” Jane laughed and lined up two long lines of coke on a marble table next to a group of cask barrels.
Seth took the rolled up note Jane handed him and took a deep sniff of cocaine. He placed his hands on her shoulders, his lips brushing gently against her earlobe. “Now baby, there’s something I want you to see.”
“What’s that?” Jane didn’t particularly want to look at anything else apart from him, but he moved to the far side of the room. He opened a small wooden door set in a recess which dragged noisily against the stone floor, revealing a dark, narrow cupboard.
Leaning against the marble table, Jane watched as Seth bent down and disappeared inside. She peered into it but could see nothing but darkness. After a moment or two, Seth backed out of the small cupboard pulling a bloodied and trussed up Paul by the hair across the floor.
“What the fuck is this? Is this a wind up?” Jane screamed, quickly taking in the state of Paul’s hair stuck to his head and the dried blood crusted around his bound hands and feet.
She could not believe she’d come to some stranger’s gaff with Seth, only out of all the people to be concealed in a fucking cupboard in a huge wine cellar would be Paul.
Seth pushed Paul forward and he landed in a heap a few feet from Jane. “No, this isn’t a wind up. Our friend here has some stuff he wants to bring you up to speed with.”
Jane glanced at Seth and then looked back at Paul. She folded her arms and sat on the table. “Ok. I’m listening...”
With a concerted effort, Paul turned onto his side and was dragged into a sitting position against the wall.
Jane listened with mounting anger as Paul spoke and felt sick, realising she should have trusted Seth. She was going to crucify that fat bitch. “And you told me all of this to split us up and back up Debbie’s bullshit?”
Watching Paul nod, she walked over slowly and stared into his haunted eyes. “But why?”
A tear ran down Paul’s bruised face, his broken cheekbone horribly swollen. “Because I wanted you to dump him,” he hissed, glaring at Seth. “I want you back Jane. I love you....”
Jane stared at Paul incredulously as his bloodied hands raised in an attempt to touch her. “But I don’t love you. Never have and never will.” Batting his hands away, she punched him hard in the mouth.
Paul spat blood and his front teeth out onto the floor as Jane launched at him again.
Seth gently pulled her to one side. “Don’t waste your energy.” Dragging Paul to his feet as he frantically tried to scramble out of the way he swiftly brought his head down onto the bridge of Paul’s nose and dropped him in to a heap on the floor. “Thanks for spilling your guts for the second time today wanker! NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
Turning back around, Seth shook his head. His voice was soft as he tilted Jane’s face up towards his. “Now do you believe I didn’t do it?”
Jane nodded. “I’m sorry....”
“No need,” Seth smiled, exhaling with relief.
“I need to go and sort that bitch out,” Jane muttered savagely.
“Not right now you don’t!” Keeping his gaze on her, Seth expertly opened another bottle of wine and lifted the bottle to Jane’s lips. Tipping it up the red wine ran in rivulets over her chin, her throat and down her top.
Jane gasped, swallowing as much as possible. Grabbing another bottle she emptied it over him, laughing as she let the bottle smash on the flagstones.
Hearing Paul groan from his place on the stone floor, Seth turned towards him, “Shut up dickhead!” he growled, taking a long draught of wine whilst Jane undid the buttons of his shirt. Pulling her top over her head, he encircled her nipple with his finger before teasing it with his teeth.
Jane kneaded the tight muscles across Seth’s shoulder blades as she slipped his shirt off.
“Now I’m going to fuck those others away, baby,” he murmured into her mouth.
Lifting Jane onto the edge of the marble table, Seth trembled with the need to possess her. To claim her back as his.
Pushing her backwards, he freed himself from his jeans and raised her knees up towards her chest. Sliding inside easily, he groaned, feeling her close around him.
“I’ve missed you,” Jane gasped, unable to help herself.
Seth smiled. “Let me refresh your memory.” Thrusting in delicious long, slow movements he drove deeply, grinding against her expertly with each stroke.
Raising her hips higher, Jane’s legs began to shake and she gripped his buttocks. She’d missed him alright. All of him.
“Let’s fuck it all away baby. Come on, come with me,” Seth panted, feeling an orgasm rush up on him. This would be a quick one for both of them.
As their moans of pleasure filled the space, Paul sobbed loudly behind them.
AFTER LOCKING PAUL in the cellar, Seth and Jane moved to a dimly-lit, sumptuous attic bedroom. Its huge skylight was surrounded with heavily embroidered drapes of many colours. An intricately carved emperor bed in the centre of the room was covered with a thick dark purple velvet bedspread, where Seth sat cross-legged as he rolled a joint. He eyed Jane with relish as she knelt naked next to the music system resting on top of a carved Indian bench.
Slicing off the foil wrapped around the head of a bottle of Bollinger with his blade, Seth twisted the wire cage away from the cork and prised it up with his thumbs.
As the cork slammed into the far wall with a bang, Jane looked round momentarily to check neither of them had been shot. Weirder things had happened.
Seth couldn’t take his eyes off Jane as she selected an album and then jumped on the bed to snort a line of coke. The need to bury himself in her again was intense.
He shuddered with pleasure as she suddenly took him deep into her mouth, her tongue teasingly flicking around his pulsing tip. Her lips then slid down his length until he felt the back of her throat. This was good. Real good. Christ, how he loved her.
Releasing himself loudly, Seth lifted Jane on top of him and waited for her to swallow his hot seed before finding her mouth.
Enfolding her in his arms, he wrapped himself around her body and held her tight.
He’d no idea how long they lay there for, it may have been minutes or hours. Time stood still when he was with her and was of no importance or consequence. Like a continuous acid trip, his mind was overloaded with desire, love and madness. He needed Jane running through his veins.
Slipping into her again, Seth trailed his fingers down her body and picked up a gentle pace. The music reverberated around the high-ceilinged room as she dug her long nails into his back, pulling him deeper.
Seth forced himself to keep it slow. He wanted to watch her face as he gave her the best prolonged orgasm ever. He needed to remind her that she was his.
Feeling her begin to pulse around him, he grabbed the bottle of Bollinger and tipped the champagne gently into her mouth and over her breasts. Keeping the pace leisurely, he slowly brought her closer and closer.
As she arched her back, he traced a line down her jaw with his tongue, stopping at her mouth. Biting her lip, Seth’s breath hitched sensing the first waves of her orgasm approaching. When she cried out into his mouth, it took all his power not to join her.
“Oh God,” Jane cried, immediately building into another climax when Seth continued ramping the pace up. As it exploded around her she went into freefall and didn’t come down. It ran and ran and ran.
Shaking uncontrollably Jane tried to pull him even deeper. “Seth...” The uncontrollable rushing in her head was getting louder. Her senses were on fire and she came up again, like a roller coaster.
Seth watched Jane’s total abandonment into full chaos. Feeling her muscles tighten around him he felt himself begin to go over the edge. When she clawed his back he was unable to contain himself any longer.
With an animalistic growl Seth came hard and long whilst Jane released herself around him once more and after what seemed like an eternity, they collapsed in a pile of sweat.
AFTER FOUR DAYS OF snorting, drinking, shagging and virtually no sleep, Seth and Jane were running on fumes and the house was a complete state. Minutes had run into hours, then days but neither cared.
Jane was covered in bruises and bite marks and her insides felt like they were falling out. Seth hadn’t fared much better. He was exhausted and looked like he’d been on a jungle trek.
Digger had appeared at some point to remove Paul from the cellar and give him a ‘top-up’ pasting on the off chance he needed one, before dropping him off somewhere to pick up his shattered life.
Jane already accepted she no longer had a job, but then neither did Seth anymore. It hadn’t mattered. All that mattered was the bubble they’d created around each other.
Everything else was irrelevant.
ELEVEN
MAGGIE WAS A BAG OF nerves. She’d always been over-emotional, but this crap with Ian had really taken the wind out of her sails. It had only been a week since she’d found the courage to leave him, but she’d been constantly on edge waiting for him to show up ever since.
She’d thought him gorgeous with his long, straight dark hair and big bike, but his excessive dope intake had made him paranoid. He’d given her constant grief about everything - from what she wore, to where she went. Eventually she’d believed she was fat, ugly and stupid and that no one liked her.
It had finally got to the point where it had just been easier to stay in the flat, watching him and his revolting mate, Teddy getting more stoned and drunk whilst listening to Gong over and over.
Maggie had been with Ian for over a year and had spent most of that time like a slave in his crappy flat with its ripped carpet, moth-eaten sofa bed and light green peeling wallpaper. A bare forty watt light bulb hung from the damp artexed ceiling in the centre of the room and the bright orange and green flowery-patterned curtains draped from the sagging rail held together in the middle with sellotape.
The kitchen had been part of the main room and consisted of a two-ring camping stove balanced on a melamine-topped free standing kitchen cupboard and a rusted metal sink sunken into the top of another. The fridge had stood randomly in one corner of the lounge and the only form of heating was a two-bar electric plug-in heater that rarely worked.
Who’d needed drugs, Maggie thought bitterly. Five minutes in that place was enough to send anyone off their head. She’d hated that fucking flat. Hated being there and her free spirit had gradually disappeared, thanks to Ian. She’d felt like she was going mad.
Then there was his horrible sister who never ever hid her hatred. It was almost like she was jealous of Maggie’s relationship with Ian. The two of them used to disappear into the bedroom for hours to talk. Probably about her, Maggie thought angrily, shuddering. She’d tried to go in once. After all it was her bedroom too, but the door had always been locked. Thankfully she didn’t have to put up with any of it now.
Ian had always said he’d kill her if she ever left - not that he’d thought she’d have the guts to of course. Well she had now hadn’t she? Thanks to Jane...
Maggie had missed her friend desperately in the year she’d been holed up with Ian. When she’d met Jane two years previously, she’d been instantly drawn to the confident wild girl in the corner of the Ten Barrels who everyone wanted a piece of. They’d clicked straight away and she’d been taken on a crazy roller coaster ride. The downside was there was no way she could keep up with her. The amount of stuff that girl put away was legendary to say the least.
Jane would pop all manner of potions, powders and pills ‘just to see what would happen,’ but if there was ever any grief, Maggie could rest assured she’d appear from out of nowhere, quickly despatching whoever was kicking off with a quick smack to the jaw, a head-butt, or a timely chuck down the stairs. In fact, Jane had got her out of so many scrapes and bad situations she’d lost count and now she’d come up trumps again.
She knew Jane had previously tried to find her, but Maggie hadn’t had the chance to tell her exactly where she was living when she’d moved in with Ian. She’d seen her from the window asking around though. Until Ian had dragged her away from view.
None of the neighbours had probably even realised she was there. Not that they’d have cared anyhow. It was like that round there.
Ian hadn’t wanted her having anything to do with her ‘old life.’ Apparently she didn’t need mates now she’d got him.
It had only been by chance Jane had been outside that day when Ian and Teddy had smoked so much gear they’d passed out and she’d managed to get her attention from the window. After a whispered conversation, Jane had promised her she’d get her out of there and true to her word, within a week, she had.
Admittedly, Maggie knew she probably wouldn’t ever have left if Jane hadn’t sorted it by buying her a caravan and towing it on to the traveller’s field. Ok, so the van was falling apart and she got the creeps at night, but at least the others travellers were close by, so it wasn’t like she was completely on her own.