wasn’t. She’d never had a kiss like that before in her life. Even in the heat of the bar her nipples had gone hard and her breathing rapid. There was some kind of current fizzing in her coccyx and the treacliness in her stomach meant that she had to consciously resist the desire to run her hands over the black T-shirt straining over Siobhan’s breasts under her grey leather jacket.
‘Was it the tab you gave me?’ asked Amy.
‘I doubt it,’ said Siobhan. ‘That was just a placebo … mini aspirin. Maybe we should get some fresh air.’
She took Amy’s glass, put it on a table and walked her out of the bar with her arm around her waist. Amy tripped down the steps and staggered into the street. Siobhan caught her, cupped her breast. Amy felt the strength in Siobhan’s arm, the roundness of her bicep pressed into her side.
The cold air sharpened up Amy’s mind but she couldn’t help herself. She slipped her arm under Siobhan’s jacket, around her ribs and caressed her breast. She wanted another one of those electric eel kisses and pushed her face into Siobhan’s neck, felt its cords under her lips.
‘Let’s go somewhere and relax,’ said Siobhan, smiling.
They sat on a crowded overground train opposite each other. The distance in the aisle felt huge, but when the woman next to Siobhan left her seat, Siobhan put her finger up forbidding Amy to join her. They got off at Highbury and Islington and walked down Upper Street, hands clasped like lovers, as a homeless couple prepared themselves for the night in the doorway of a travel agent. Siobhan pulled Amy off the main road and led her down dark, glistening streets of Georgian terraces.
They arrived at Lofting Road, to a house just down from a big old red brick Victorian school, and Siobhan let them into the warmth of a ground floor flat, where they fell on the sofa kissing madly. Siobhan kicked off her heels, pulled Amy up and pushed her into a dark bedroom at the back of the house, where she undressed her, sucked on her breasts and put her into bed. Amy heard the zip travelling the full length of Siobhan’s black leather skirt.
‘Turn the light on. I want to see,’ she said, massaging the saliva around her nipples.
‘It’s sexier in the dark.’
Amy spread her arms and legs out, felt the smooth texture of some expensive new white cotton sheets and duvet on her skin. She’d never been possessed by such powerful sexual anticipation in her life. The thought slid into her mind: maybe she was gay. Maybe this had been the problem: she’d just naturally assumed she was het without ever trying women. Certainly the boys she’d been with hadn’t triggered this kind of excitement. Was that really a mini aspirin Siobhan had given her?
There was a noise somewhere else in the house.
‘Come on ,’ said Amy.
‘Did you hear that?’ asked Siobhan.
‘It’s just someone upstairs.’
‘The house is supposed to be empty. I was told I would be the only—’
A beat of silence before a tremendous crack. Feet rumbled into the living room and the bedroom door crashed open. The lights were slashed on. Amy sat up in bed, eyes slitted against the sudden glare. Men with tights over their heads, one with the loose leg hanging down his back like a long plait. Siobhan naked apart from her bra. But that wasn’t all … A penis was hanging from the pubic hair between her legs. Amy shook her head as if the ‘mini aspirin’ might be responsible for the hallucination. But no, it was definitely a long, slim penis between narrow hips above muscular thighs.
The first man in lunged forward and slapped Siobhan on the side of the head. She went down fast, without a word, stunned, eyes fluttering at the edge of consciousness. Amy sprang up out of the bed holding the duvet by two corners and hurled herself spread-eagled at the two men. The three of them crashed to the floor. A grunt as one of their heads made contact with the wall. Amy was up and heading out of the room
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