“See! She’s really pleased to see you. She’s missed you so much. I just came round to see Mimi but she wasn’t here and then Anna fell asleep and I didn’t know what to do.”
“I’ll tell you what to do, shall I? Get out of my house. Get away from my wife. Do it all in the next ten seconds or you’ll be getting better acquainted with the hereafter.”
Liam fled, not even stopping to bid goodbye to Anna.
Anna stared after his disappearing figure, then turned to John, puzzlement in her sleep-bleary eyes.
“John? You didn’t think…?”
She stepped towards him but he held up a hand.
“What do you expect me to think?”
“John, no! Please. Don’t ever think that of me. You know I love you, more than anything.”
“I know you say so. But is it me, Anna? Or is it the money? Is it the security? Is it the lifestyle?”
“John!” The words couldn’t get past her shock. He couldn’t really think such things of her, surely?
“He’s younger than me. Better-looking. I don’t suppose he’s better in bed, though. Is he? Does he do it the way you like it, Anna? Does he hold you down at the wrists and kiss your moaning mouth when you come?”
“John, stop it, stop it!” Anna put her hands over her ears and let tears overwhelm her.
“Oh, I’ll stop it all right. It stops right here. I’ll sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight. Get to bed and get some rest. I won’t have our child suffer because of your hysteria.”
“Please don’t do this.” Anna wept, prostrate now on the sofa. How could something so good go so wrong for no apparent reason? “Please don’t, it isn’t true, I’ve never even kissed Liam, never wanted to kiss anyone but you, please don’t leave me, please.”
“Control yourself,” said John with calm coldness. He bent to take her wrists in a strong grip and lifted her to her feet. “Come on.”
He led her, sobbing and pleading all the way, to their bedroom and lifted her onto the bed. As she lay there, begging him to stay, to get in beside her, to do anything he wanted with her, he went into the en suite bathroom and took some sedatives from a cabinet, then filled her tooth glass with water.
“Take these,” he commanded, holding them out.
“Can I?” she asked, hesitating. “With…you know…the baby?”
“They’re fine.”
Meekly, she took them, then drank down the water he offered.
“S-stay,” she hiccuped, reaching out for him. “I need you.”
“I know you do,” he replied, standing beside the bed, looking down at her with a dispassion that froze her blood. “I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving our child. But I can’t sleep with you anymore. I think you should understand that. Good night, Anna. Sweet dreams.”
When he left the room, he locked the door behind him.
After unlocking the guest room on the floor below, John stopped in the doorway for a moment to take in the sight of Mimi, stripped to her underwear, tethered to the bed with a selection of his best silk ties.
“You didn’t have to truss me up,” she grumbled. “I’m not so stupid as to try and escape from you.”
“No, I’m sure you’re not.” John’s smile, so boyish and yet so sinister, took over his whole face. He pushed the door shut with a heel and leaned back against it. His smile slowly dropped, his eyes blackening wit
h lust. He licked his lips, loosened his collar. “Just wanted to look at you, all bound and spread for me. Besides, I think you like it a bit kinky, don’t you? Hmm?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand on Mimi’s bare stomach, which shuddered beneath his touch.
“Not like Anna. Strictly a missionary girl. Eyes shut, lights off. Boring.”
“Don’t…be mean…” But Mimi was struggling to speak, struggling to think, struggling to struggle. Every resolve that didn’t include shagging the living daylights out of John Stone flew from her head the moment his skin met hers.