“I suggest you go with something substantial to settle your stomach before we get home. How about the salad starter with the steak to follow?”
“Yes, please. Sounds great.”
I’m through another glass of champagne before the starter arrives, and another by the time the waitress clears our plates from the table. My head is getting floaty.
“You look so much more relaxed,” Ant says and pours me another.
I enjoy the steak, but I’m more focused on the champagne and the relief it brings. The waitress offers a dessert menu as she clears our table, but Ant shakes his head.
“We’d better be going.”
He takes the main roads back this time rather than the winding tracks around the hills. It’s twilight when the gates open to let us in.
“I need you to tell me one last time,” Ant says as he parks up. “Do you really want this? If not, I can drop you at Newton Road and you can spend the night there to mull things over.”
The thought of being alone in my shitty apartment makes my blood run cold.
“Believe me. I definitely want this.”
“Good girl,” he says with a smile. “Let’s open a bottle of the decent stuff for you now.”
He’s through to the kitchen with a bottle of De Chante in his hand by the time I’ve slipped my coat off. I’m sitting on the other side of the counter when he pours me a glass, and I feel surprisingly easier in this space than I did in the restaurant.
I’ve had another two glasses of champagne by the time Ant checks his watch. I’m getting beyond tipsy into the realms of full on drunk, but I’m glad.
“Time to get you ready,” he tells me.
I’ve got my third glass of De Chante in my hand as we climb the stairs, finishing it up before he calls me into the shower.
I wash my hair with him there beside me under the jets of water. He helps me scrub myself with body wash, teasing me with his fingers as he does it, and I figure that’s us done with the shower, but no, he reaches up onto one of the shower shelves and grabs a razor.
“Spread your legs for me.”
I feel so exposed as he runs the blades over the parts that have never been bare.
“Leg up, please,” he says, and I put a foot up on his shoulder, steadying myself against the tiles and spreading myself wide. He makes sure to glide his thumb over my clit as he works. “Your cunt is going to be so sensitive, baby.”
I run my fingers between my pussy lips for myself, and he’s right. It’s sensitive.
“Perfect, sweetheart. You look absolutely divine.”
He kisses me before he grabs a towel for us both from the rail. He wraps his around his waist and focuses his attention on me. He dries me down nice and gently, then leads me through to the bedroom where he brushes my hair.
“Just checking, Cass. You’re up to date on contraception, aren’t you? You’re careful with taking it?”
“Yeah, I’m careful.”
“Good, because I don’t like using condoms. I’m careful with who I invite here. Just make sure you don’t miss a dose of your pill.”
The next question that comes from my mouth is instinctive, like I’m a performer about to go on stage and needing instructions.
“What shall I wear?”
He tips his head. “Nothing. I want you to feel as bare as your cunt.”
I swig back the rest of the champagne from my glass as he gets dressed. He’s fully clothed before we leave the bedroom, in a dark green shirt and perfectly tailored trousers. He’s going to look like my pimp, not my partner.
“Almost time,” he says and gestures to the door.
My nerves are fizzing brighter than the champagne as I follow him along the landing. The mattress looks seedier than ever when the overhead lights come on, and fear swirls through me when I see the toy. The glass dildo is on the floor by the mattress. I’m staring at it as Ant positions the cameras, checking they are all just how he wants them.
I’m just so grateful the giant monster cock isn’t there along with the glass one.
The filthy side of Ant is well and truly in command when he looks across the room at me.
“I’m so fucking hard right now,” he says. “You drive me crazy, baby.”
I want to say thanks but I feel unsteady.
I find my voice. “What’s he like? The guy who’s coming tonight.”
“You’re not going to know that until he walks in through that door. You aren’t going to even know his name.”
I nod, voice gone again.
Ant’s hasn’t, though.
“Get down on that mattress and get yourself ready. I want him to see what a filthy slut you are from the moment he steps inside.”
My legs are shaking when I drop myself down onto the sheets. The rubber crinkles underneath me.