Warhol's Prophecy (13 page)

Hailey gripped her hand and squeezed.

‘People disagree about things sometimes, Becky, that’s all,’ she said reassuringly.

‘Do they shout when that happens?’

‘Sometimes. They
shouldn’t
, but they do.’

‘Dad hasn’t gone away because you’ve both been shouting, has he?’

‘No, darling. He’s working, that’s all.’

‘And he
is
coming back?’

‘Of course he is.’

Hailey began to stroke her daughter’s hair again. She felt tears welling up inside, but fought them back.

It was less than five minutes before Becky drifted off to sleep. She shifted beneath the covers and rolled onto her back. Hailey kissed her gently on the forehead and cheek.

‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘Sleep tight.’

She walked out of the room, pausing against the closed door for a second as if to recover her composure.

‘
I’ve heard you and Dad shouting.
’

Hailey made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, where she turned on the kettle.

‘
Do you still love Dad?
’

Hailey was surprised at how quickly her own tears began to flow.

F
UCK
!

That was what Rob thought.

Fuck!

That one word stuck in his mind.

Fuck the meeting. Fuck the clients. Fuck the hotel, and fuck this lift.

It rose slowly and he leant back against one of the walls, his head spinning.

He’d had too much to drink; he knew he had. He felt a little sick and also angry with himself for letting alcohol get the better of him.

He glanced at his watch as the lift continued to rise towards the designated floor.

The meeting had been a success: he’d done what he had to do. He’d laughed and smiled in all the right places. He’d raised bullshit to an art form as he secured a deal with the two reps he’d spent the evening with.

12.46 a.m.

He’d been in that bar downstairs for over three hours, but at least it had been a successful three hours.

He’d phoned Hailey from a payphone at about 10.30 and told her to go to bed, that his clients were likely to keep him drinking for Christ only knew how much longer.

She’d told him she loved him.

He’d replied in kind.

Lousy bastard.

Fuck it, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, would it?

The lift bumped to a halt and he got out, fumbling in his jacket pocket for his key as he wandered down the corridor towards his room.

Sandy would be waiting for him.

He’d thought about her once or twice during the evening, wondering what she was doing at that moment up in his room.

He paused outside 422 for a second, before he pushed his key into the lock.

Rob could hear no sound from inside. Perhaps she was asleep.

He opened the door and stepped in, locking the door behind him.

The two bedside lamps were lit, but apart from that the room was in darkness. Even the TV was off.

Sandy Bennett was sprawled on the bed, wearing just a long grey T-shirt and a pair of white knickers. He could see them clearly as she stretched her slender legs. Her eyes snapped open as he stood at the end of the bed gazing down at her.

‘Sorry, I must have dozed off,’ she said sleepily.

He noticed the tray with its plates of half-eaten food beside the bed.

‘Was it a good meeting?’ she wanted to know, sitting up and running a hand through her hair.

He pulled off his jacket and draped it over a chair.

‘I got what I wanted,’ he told her.

‘You always do, don’t you, Rob?’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ he grunted, smiling.

He began unbuttoning his shirt.

‘I see you made yourself at home,’ he observed, nodding towards the room-service tray.

‘You told me to.’

‘And you always do what I tell you, don’t you?’

He fumbled with one of his buttons and she slid off the bed and crossed to him, trying to help.

‘I can manage,’ he told her, and she smelled the drink on him.

‘Are you drunk?’ she said, a thin smile touching her lips.

‘Not drunk enough.’

She stood close to him, looking into his eyes, searching for some sign of reciprocated longing there.

He could feel the warmth of her body, smell her delicate scent. His breathing grew heavier.

‘You said you came here to talk,’ he said finally. ‘So talk.’

‘What happened between us . . .’ she began.

‘Is over,’ he reminded her, interrupting.

‘Because you
want
it to be?’

‘Because it
has
to be.’

‘Why?’

‘Oh, come on, Sandy, don’t start that shit all over again. You
know
why. I’m married. I’ve got a kid.’

‘You were already married with a kid when we started seeing each other.’

‘All right, it’s over because it
has
to be over – because we got caught. Got it? You knew the rules when we started.’

‘Whose rules? Yours?’

‘No.
The
rules. I never told you my wife didn’t understand me. I never said I wasn’t happy at home.’

‘Then why did you want to screw me?’

‘Because you’re very good-looking. Because I fancied you. Because I’m a fucking man. Because I
could.
What do you want to hear?’

‘I knew you’d never leave Hailey. I didn’t want you to. And I played by your rules, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still get hurt. It doesn’t mean I can’t still miss you. Don’t hate me for it, Rob.’

‘I don’t hate you,’ he said, his tone softening.

Again she took a step towards him, holding one of his hands, draping it around her shoulder and pushing herself against him.

She leant forward and allowed her lips to brush against his, lightly at first but then more urgently. He responded, his tongue snaking into the warm wetness of her mouth. They remained locked together like that for what seemed an eternity.

She gripped his right hand, gently stroked his index finger and guided it between her legs. When she withdrew it a second later it was glistening. She pushed it towards his mouth and smeared the transparent moistness across his bottom lip – then pushed it into his mouth, letting him taste her.

They were both breathing heavily now.

Rob kissed her even more passionately, then pushed her back onto the bed, climbing alongside her, feeling her hands scrabbling at his trousers. Expertly she undid them and tugged them free, smiling as she saw his erection straining against his underpants.

She eased them over his hips. Over his bulging manhood. Then she lowered her mouth to his stiffness and enveloped its swollen tip.

He grunted as he felt her free hand massage his shaft, her tongue still playing over his glans.

Sandy stood up on the bed and pulled off first her T-shirt, then her panties, which she dropped onto his chest.

For long seconds she stood there, allowing him to look up at her body, at her plump vaginal lips and the dewy moisture on her downy pubic hair. Then she sank down and straddled him, guiding his erection towards her moist warmth. She teased the tip around the hardened bud of her clitoris, closing her own eyes as the pleasure intensified. Then she moved forward slightly, allowing him to penetrate her. Wanting to feel his stiffness inside her.

With a deep sigh of delight, she began to ride his erection, shuddering as she felt his hands cupping her breasts, thumbing the nipples that already stuck out stiffly from the puckered flesh around them.

She looked down at him: his eyes screwed tight, his face contorted with pleasure.

Sandy was smiling even before the first unmistakable feelings of orgasm began to spread gloriously from her pelvis and belly, and up through her body.

She continued her rhythmic movements, aware that Rob too was close to his climax, enjoying the increased pressure of his hands on her breasts as he squeezed harder.

Sandy gripped his shoulders as the first wave of intense pleasure surged through her, and she gasped his name in the midst of it.

Rob thrust his hips up, as if to penetrate her even more deeply, and he too grunted as he filled her with his semen.

They were lost in that wonderful moment – in the sensations that enveloped them.

His eyes were still closed as Sandy smiled down at him.

A
T FIRST
R
OB
Gibson thought he was dreaming.

That the ringing phone was the residue of some dream.

Its strident sound continued, piercing his sleepy haze.

He blinked hard, and realized that this wasn’t a figment of his imagination.

It was 2.18 a.m.

‘Jesus,’ he murmured, sitting up.

Beside him, the naked form of Sandy Bennett stirred slightly.

Rob had to lean across her to reach the phone and, as he did so, she tried to snake her arms around him. He pulled free from her and swung himself out of the bed, wandering around to the other side of it and slumping in a chair.

He took a couple of deep breaths before lifting the receiver.

Some fucking arsehole calling the wrong room?

‘Hello,’ he croaked, clearing his throat.

‘It’s me.’

He recognized Hailey’s voice immediately.

Lying on her side no more than two feet from him, Sandy looked sleepily at him, allowing the sheet to slip away and reveal her breasts.

Rob glared at her, convinced that he could see the beginnings of a smile creasing the corners of her mouth.

‘What’s wrong?’ Rob wanted to know, waving a hand to signal Sandy to keep quiet.

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ Hailey told him.

He exhaled deeply.

‘I was thinking about you,’ she continued. ‘Sorry I woke you.’

‘It’s OK, babe,’ he said, still glancing at Sandy, who had now eased the sheet even further down and rolled onto her back.

Rob shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

‘Becky’s missing you,’ Hailey said.

‘And what about you? Are you missing me, too?’

Sandy Bennett stretched, kicking the sheet right off, to reveal her body totally. She raised both knees and pressed them together, then allowed her legs to fall apart. Permitted one hand to glide between them.

Feeling a stirring in his groin, Rob looked away.

‘I just wanted to hear your voice,’ Hailey murmured.

‘Try to sleep, Hailey,’ he said softly.

There was a long silence.

He saw Sandy’s right hand moving gently between her legs, her breathing becoming a little harsher.

Again he tried to look away.

‘What time will you be home tomorrow?’ Hailey said at last. ‘So I can tell Becky.’

‘I don’t know. It depends what time this finishes. About tea-time I suppose. If I’m lucky with the traffic, too.’

‘What have you been doing tonight?’ she wanted to know.

Sandy had now slipped her other hand between her legs too. Her heels were digging into the mattress.

‘Did you have a meeting tonight?’ Hailey persisted.

I’ve been fucking my mistress. No big deal.

Rob stroked his chin and lowered his gaze.

‘Yes, I had a meeting,’ he said. ‘It went well.’

‘I’ll let you go back to sleep now.’

He swallowed hard.

‘I love you,’ Hailey said quietly.

Sandy turned onto her side so that she was looking directly at him, her hands still moving expertly between her legs.

‘I said I love you,’ Hailey repeated.

His eyes were fixed on Sandy.

‘I love you too,’ he said and hung up.

‘How touching,’ Sandy said, her voice wavering.

‘What is your fucking game, Sandy?’ Rob snapped. ‘Do you think you’re being funny?’

He stood watching her as she rolled onto her back once again.

‘Come back to bed,’ she said breathlessly.

He stood close to her and she could see his erection.

‘Come on,’ she gasped, fingers still moving frantically.

‘You’re a fucking bitch,’ he said angrily.

‘Maybe – but I’m not the one who just told my other half that I love them. What does that make
you
?’

Her breathing was ragged, her fingers moving more urgently.

‘Come on, Rob,’ she panted, reaching out one hand towards his stiffness.