“Not unless she plans to run naked through the streets. She left her clothes.”
She started to say something else, but he put a hand on her flank to silence her. “There’s something you have to know,” he said, “because I don’t want it to take you by surprise. But it’s something I need to do.”
“Oh?”
“I’m going to do her,” he said. “I have to.”
“For Christ’s sake, Brady, you’ve been doing her six ways from Sunday for a couple of hours now.”
“I’ve been fucking her,” he said, “and I’m going to fuck her some more, but when I’m done with that I’m going to do her.”
She looked at him. “You know, you’re just gonna to have to spell it out for me, honey. Say what you mean.”
If he came out and said it he’d be one big step closer to the act. Did he want that?
He drew a breath and said, “I’m going to kill her.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I have to.”
“Some Daddy you’re turning out to be.”
“You don’t have to be in the room when it happens. I’ll give you advance warning.”
“Considerate of you. You know what I was thinking? That you were ready to adopt her and try living as a trio. I don’t know that I’d like that.”
“No.”
“It might be fun for a while, but then it wouldn’t. But what you said, you’re serious, aren’t you? How are you going to do it?”
“With my hands.” Saying the words, spelling it out, bringing the act another little bit closer to reality. “I’ll take hold of her,” he said, “and break her neck.”
“You can do that?”
“There’s a technique,” he said, and put his hands out in front of him and mimed the movement. “You twist hard,” he said, “and the neck snaps.”
“You’ve never—”
“Of course not. But I’ve thought about it. It’s been playing in my mind for a long time now.”
“A fantasy.”
“Yes.”
“And you want to make it real.”
“I need to. Listen, she’ll be back any minute and—”
“We’ll hear her on the stairs. When is this going to happen?”
“When we’re done playing.”
“That may be a while.”
“We’ve got the rest of the night. And I’ll give you warning, so that you can leave the room.”
“Are you kidding? I want to be here.”
“Really?”
“If it’s gonna happen,” she said, “I damn well want to be here when it does. I want to see you do it, I want to watch her face when she knows what’s happening, I want to watch her big eyes when the life goes out of them.”
“Jesus, Angelica.”
“God, feel how wet I am just thinking about it. And I swear it’s never been my fantasy, but I have to tell you it is now. But not too soon, all right? Because all of a sudden there are a lot of things I want to do with her. I want to teach her something new.”
“You think there’s anything she doesn’t already know?”
“Well, let’s see if anybody’s ever taught her that fist is a verb.”
“She may not like that.”
“So? You’re going to break her fucking neck, so what difference does it make what she likes and doesn’t like? And once she’s dead I want to lie on top of her while you fuck me.”
“God, you’re something.”
“And so are you. Thank God we found each other. And I can’t wait to — shhh, she’s on the stairs.”
Something had changed.
She sensed it the moment she entered the bedroom. She could feel it in the air, as unmistakably as she’d felt Brady’s presence behind the Japanese screen. No one had entered or left. They were both there, Brady and Angelica, both of them in bed, both of them naked. They were just as she’d left them, but something was different.
Whatever it was, she had the feeling that it would be a mistake to wait.
She’d put on a gingham apron, and she was carrying a round tray she’d found downstairs, a flat disk of polished walnut with an inch-high rim to keep drinks from sliding off. The tray held two glasses, small crystal tumblers each filled halfway with orange juice.
“Sorry I took so long,” she said, and curtseyed elaborately, then giggled. “Does the apron make me look like a French maid?”
“It makes you look hot,” Angelica said. “What have you got there?”
“Something you’ll both like.”
“I don’t want a drink,” Brady said. “I don’t think we need them.”
“It’s just orange juice,” she said, “from the fridge. Plus a miracle ingredient.”
“Oh?”
“It’s this herbal tonic somebody turned me on to. It’s pretty amazing. I mean, it’s all natural and organic, and it’s actually good for you, but what it does right away is give you energy like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Energy?”
“For sex,” she said. “I put some in my Orange Blossom at the bar, that’s why I made sure I finished it. And that’s why I got so hot so fast, and was as bold as I was. I had some more just now, while I was downstairs. And I divided the rest of it in two, and as soon as you both drink it, the night’s going to be even more amazing than it’s already been.”
“What does it do?”
“It sort of makes everything moreso,” she said, “plus it gives you energy so you can just keep doing stuff. Just drink it, I promise you you’ll be glad you did. You’ll thank me for it, you’ll want to know where you can get more. And it can’t hurt you, it’s genuinely good for you, so please drink it, okay? For me?”
The first sense to awaken was touch. Angelica’s eyes were closed, her limbs heavy, and she was being touched. Her thighs were spread and a hand had reached under her and one finger was moving slowly, ever so slowly, up and down. She felt herself begin to respond, and then, tantalizingly, the finger stopped. And then it started again, and stopped, and started.
Her hips began to move in response. And, as the finger did its work, the rest of her senses began to come awake.
She was lying face down. There was something beneath her, not smooth and even like a
