ONE.

Lightening boomed overhead as the bathroom light flickered. Will hardly noticed. Instead, he looked up from the bathroom sink, catching his haggard reflection in the mirror. Sleep didn’t come easily in his new apartment, but he reckoned after a couple of weeks or so it would catch up to him.

A noise from out in the hall caught his attention. A tick-tick-tick he barely heard over the faucet running. Will cocked his head, listening for it again. When he didn’t hear it for some time, he sighed and mumbled to himself that he was working too hard. But after Will turned the tap off, the tapping started up, and he knew it wasn’t his imagination.

He leaned out of the bathroom with his toothbrush wedged between his back molars and looked around curiously. “Hello?” Only, Will had a mouth full of foamy toothpaste, so it came out, “Hewow?” He sounded a little like Elmer Fudd, but then the tapping came again, and Will tracked the sound to the window out in the hallway. There, shivering and wet from the storm, was a woman crouched on his fire escape.

When they finally locked eyes, she waved and offered him a pathetic smile. Will returned her wave with a lackluster one of his own. Then he reached up and pulled the toothbrush from his mouth, not bothering to wipe the small spat of paste from his chin. Who the hell was this woman and why was she out on the fire escape in this dogged weather?

Instead of an answer, Will smoothed out his shirt, dimly aware that it was half-buttoned, disheveled, and pulled Free from his slacks. He’d just come in from work and looked a mess. Had another ten minutes passed, he would have been naked, and wouldn’t that just be a great story to tell in the office come Monday?

She gestured to the window latch and then put her hands together in a plea. Please let me in.

The rain was coming down in buckets, and Will thought she looked cold and a little afraid, not the sort of woman who’d gut him and steal his wallet. Still, he hesitated. He wasn’t exactly the best judge of character. Besides, she could have a knife, pepper spray, or a gun.

“Probably not,” he told himself. “She looks like a discount Abercrombie & Fitch model. I doubt she has anything on her more lethal than lip gloss.”

Still, Will hesitated. He came right up to the window, studying her wet locks of hair, trembling lips, and pleading expression. At last, he swallowed and reached for the latch to unlock it. Before opening the window, Will whispered a prayer under his breath, “Please don’t let this woman be crazy.”

She spilled in through the open window and stripped off her stone jean coat and Chelsea boots immediately. “Thank God,” she said damply. “Stupid fucking storm.” It came out in an angry wretch as if her clumpy dark hair and drowned rat look were somehow the storm’s fault. Then she turned on him, wiping rainwater out of her eyes.

“You’re not a creep, are you?”

Will’s brow creased at her words before a weird defensiveness took hold of his tongue. “No. Why would I be the weird one?”

“You’re letting a total stranger in your place. Also, you have toothpaste, right-” She finished by tapping her chin on the left side.

Will frowned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m letting you in out of the rain. As far as I know, you could be some crazy lady.”

He tried not to stare at her wet shirt clinging to her body. Instead, he fetched her a towel while she explained that she wasn’t crazy. He sat her down at his kitchen table and fed her soup where she thanked him and said to call her Charlotte. A fake name if Will had ever heard one, but decided not to press that issue.

Will wondered what she was doing here. The apartment was little more than mortar, brick, wood, and wires cobbled together to somehow resemble a building. Was she squatting, and if so, why? Why would anyone want to be here of all places?

Those questions paddled around in his mind while he watched her slurp from a bowl. He thought she might be a junkie, then brushed the idea away. She was too buxom to be a junkie. Hips, Ass, and thighs too full, and eyes too alive. He couldn’t make out any marks on her wrist or arms. No tattoos or scars either, say for a small spider tattoo behind her right ear. As far as he could tell, she was just some woman named Charlotte who was asking if he had any more cans of chicken noodle soup.

After her second bowl, she’d finally stopped shivering. Will offered her a Hot Shower while he put her clothes in the dryer. Then, ignoring the alarm bells and sirens wailing in his head, Will offered her his couch.

“You can crash here for the night, but *tonight only*.” He warned her. “Tomorrow, you’re out on your own.”

TWO.

Four weeks later, Charlotte burst into his apartment with two bags, one with some groceries, and one with some clothes she’d picked up at Target. “Hungry?” She asked, as she strode past him on the couch and went straight for the kitchen. “I picked up some burgers with pepperjack in them for us.”

Though that sounded delicious, he was surprised to see her. Once a week she disappeared for an entire day, then returned with money, food, and new clothes. He asked her about it, but she’d dance around the answer which only annoyed him.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” But here she stayed, cooking, reading, and fucking him when the mood struck her, which was often. And, while Will wasn’t too happy about his new roommate, the Sex was good enough and frequent enough to not push the issue.

When they weren’t fucking, they talked about – well, anything and everything. They both liked horror movies, which was no surprise, and they both loved coffee. She was pleasant enough, but Will wished he knew more. He hadn’t learned anything new about her in the time they’d been living together, and he ached to know who she was when she wasn’t with him.

On her second week with Will, she’d bought him a coffee mug that simply read, “Don’t talk to me before my coffee.” He’d laughed at it, and proclaimed that this would be his work mug, and that had them both laughing.

Will didn’t want to admit it, but he liked having Charlotte around. Loneliness had snuck up on him as he approached his late thirties, and Charlotte’s company had eased that feeling.

Then, she’d woken him up with a finger grazing his chest. Will remembered a musky scent filling the room. He remembered Charlotte being next to him in his bed. In the dim light of the bedroom, he saw that she was wearing a loose band shirt and nothing else. He remember how pleased her carmine lips had looked as a question formed on his.

“Charlotte? What are you-” But her hand drifted down past the worn waistband of his boxers and began stroking him gently.

“Ssshhh.” She quieted him. “I can’t get any sleep on your couch. I think I wanna’ sleep here.” Will was ashamed at just how aroused he was. He may not have been fully awake, but his cock was in no time flat, and she smiled at his size. “You don’t mind if I sleep in here, do you?” Only Charlotte was looking at his cock, as if the question were directed at this new phallic friend she’d recently acquainted herself with.

Still groggy, Will answered, “Uh, I guess not.”

“Good,” she purred. Then Charlotte pulled him on top of her and wrapped her legs around his hips. “Now suck my tits while you fuck me. Otherwise, neither of us will sleep tonight.” It almost sounded like a threat.

Regardless, Will leaned down and licked a tight circle around her areola before finally taking her perky tit in his mouth. His teeth softly kneaded her nipples, and she arched up into him, chest rising as she sucked in a jagged breath. She moaned into his ear, and Will couldn’t help but fuck her harder and faster, venting both his arousal and his frustration at being pulled from sleep.

Most nights ended the same way. He’d come home to her. Then they’d have dinner and talk before cleaning, showering, and then bed. Lately, she’d begun reading before bed, and Will had first taken that as a sign that intimacy was off the menu for the night. But Charlotte surprised him with a sidelong glance and gossamer a smile.

“It’s alright. You can fuck me while I read.” Then to emphasize her invitation she’d kicked off the covers, cocked one leg up, and pulled her panties to one side.

Will didn’t let his shock slow his libido. He’d started slow, watching as Charlotte tried not to react to his entry. Then he pounded into her for no other reason than to see her face crumble. Her book fell to her chest and Charlotte closed her eyes and began panting. This was the end of week two, and he’d begun to understand that there was an entire language of sighs, moans, pants, and whimpers that lived inside of her.

She’d cum in a huff, her body growing tense for a long moment as she gushed all over him, then rag-dolling as she lay panting and steeped in post-climax bliss.

“Son of a bitch.” She confessed to him. “I lost my page.”

THREE.

She’d encouraged him in other places as well. In the kitchen, where she’d pull up her red cotton dress only to wiggle her Ass at him. In the living room, where she sat on his lap and told him to spank her clit while she rode him. Even on the fire exit, after dark. She’d begged for his cum, but Will could barely hear her over the creaking of the wrought iron as his hips drove into her. To Charlotte’s dismay, he’d pulled out of her and ejaculated all over her upturned and disheveled dress.

None of that bothered Will. He was warming to the idea of them being together, even if she did disappear every now and then. What bothered Will was the ceaseless calls at work. At least three times a week, Charlotte called him at work and explained that if he wanted to take an early day and come home for some implied debauchery, she wouldn’t mind one bit.

“You know I’d Love to, but listen-” Will peered around to make sure none of his coworkers were eavesdropping. “You’ve already called me twice. You can’t keep calling me at work.”

He came home to her sprawled out on the couch, watching” It Follows” on Netflix. He dropped his bag at the door and strode across the living room. Without a word, Will knelt down, pulled off her panties, and parted her thighs. He heard Charlotte cry out in surprise as he ground his hips into her crotch.

“Wow, you must really have missed me today?” He answered by spitting down onto her Pussy before massaging her clit with his thumb. Her smile melted away, and she moaned at his touch.

“You can’t keep calling me at work.” With every word, Will passed a rough finger over her clit. “You have to wait until I come home, alright?” Charlotte let out a high mewling noise and gave him a pleading look. “Do you understand?” She nodded once before grinding her hips into his touch.

Will heard the gloomy synth of the movie‘s soundtrack flare up as he pulled Charlotte into the bedroom by the nape of the neck. Then, he spun her around before savagely shoving her down onto the mattress. Charlotte looked up at him with her milky brown eyes full of anticipation. “What are you going to do?” The mock timid falsetto of her voice only goaded him.

He fell upon her with a sweaty hand covering Charlotte’s incessant mouth. He’d worked his slacks open with his cock fumbling between them. Then, Will slid into her, and his grip shifted from Charlotte’s mouth to around her neck until he was fucking her deep and hard. His hands and eyes held no kindness, only a dark affection.

He was relentless. Charlotte pursed her lips as he twisted one of her nipples. Her mouth came open in pleasant shock as he slapped her once, then leaned in to kiss her, sucking her tongue. His cock surged deep into her, and Charlotte called out in a wavering ruckus before someone hammered on the wall and told them to keep it down.

They ignored their irate neighbor. Instead, what happened next came in a flash. Will felt her nails raking his back through his shirt and the gust of Charlotte’s breath against his cheek as she spoke. “Give it to me like you did the other night when you wanted me so bad, and you were so rough with me that I threw my head back and started crying.”

Christ, what was she thinking? He was already close to blowing his load. “Charlotte, wait. No-” But the rest is lost in a sharp grunt. He tried to pull out of her, but Charlotte had other plans. She locked her legs around his hips, and Will couldn’t help but explode inside of her. He closed his eyes and leaned into the sensation as Charlotte tightened her whole body around him. He heard her let out an excited little breath before her arms were around him, caressing him and giving him a high, mincing approval.

“Yes, Will. Give it all to me.”

After he’d expelled all of his Hot cum into her, Will felt her grip on him loosen. He bolted up, chest hitching and breathing like a man whose head was held underwater for too long. He’d meant to yell; meant to ask her just what the hell she was doing? But before he could let loose his anger, he caught sight of Charlotte twirling her Pussy. She was coaxing his cum out of her with two fingers, making pleasant little noises as Will’s milk first gushed out of her, then lazily cascaded down between her lips in a slow spill.

Charlotte peered down between her legs in a glowing reverie that lit up her whole face. She looked satisfied, like she was a patron who had tasted the first morsel of food, expecting it to be bland only to find it delicious.

He watched her for a while, and the sight got him erect all over again. The thought of forcing her back onto the bed and pounding her seemed like a close reality, but Will wasn’t sure he wanted to be tangled in her web again. Instead, he wiped his brow and retreated to the bathroom.

“Awe, no more?” Will shook his head. “Why?” Thinly veiled disappointment turned her one-word question into a petulant whine.

“You were only supposed to be here for a night. Two at most.” But this only made Charlotte laugh a cruel, teasing laugh.

“But then we had Sex,” she explained, first rising up on her elbows, then struggling to her feet. “Then I let you do what you wanted to me. You know: the spankings, the choking, fucking me any and everywhere until I was raw and begging for you to stop? You just couldn’t get enough.”

He hated that she was right but turned and stated, “I’m not the only one who couldn’t get enough.”

She stood behind him now, and Will heard her sigh. “You’re right. I was trying to get Free of here. After what this town did to me, fuck this place.” that last part came out bitter, and Charlotte took in a deep breath and let it out.

“But then I met you, and suddenly this place wasn’t so bad.” He turned to her and found that he had to blink back surprise. He hadn’t expected the naked expression on her face. She looked like someone who’d been wounded and was still trying to hold it together regardless of the pain. She looked like someone who’d traversed a darkness with teeth and made it out the other side with hardly any bite marks.

“I like you.” Charlotte leaned in and traced her tongue up his neck before whispering, “I like the way you taste and the things we do. it makes all of this-” She gestured around them, and Will couldn’t tell if she meant his apartment or the city itself, “-bearable.”

Will felt his whole body cry out for her, but he resisted. Not wanting to give in to her so easily, he turned and threw water on his face, hoping it would cool off both his anger and his excitement.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I get it, but you called me three times today. Three. Times. You can’t keep doing that. I have to work.”

“But-” Charlotte stroked his back. “I just wanted you to come home.” Her explanation sounded matter-of-fact as if this simple request was sweet and innocent and not at all unreasonable. But there was a sinewy earnestness to it that Will understood. But that didn’t change the fact that he had a job to do.

Will sighed and turned back to her. “I can’t come home just to fuck you.”

“Why not?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his eyes lingered down her body, where he watched his cum slowly dribble down Charlotte’s inner thigh. Maybe it was the nasty sight of it, or how it reminded him of the cruel and strange Sex that came before, but the urge to do it all over again hit him again, this time like a hammer blow, and Will had to close his eyes in a vain attempt to calm his mind. “Y-You know why.”

He felt Charlotte stand chest to chest with him, like lovers during a slow dance. He felt the heat of her lust baking off of her, or was that his lust? Either way, when Will opened his eyes, the naked look that she’d worn a moment ago was gone. Instead, he saw only mischief and wanting.

“Well,” Charlotte started in a smarmy tone. She raised a hand before letting it trace down Will’s chest. “If you don’t want me to call you tomorrow, you better give it to me now.”

Will felt his jaw tighten as he stared daggers at her. Charlotte acted as if she didn’t notice. Instead, she took one of his hands, brought it to her lips, and kissed in between each knuckle. “I know you’re frustrated with me, so if you want-” She pulled his hand up and wrapped it around her throat. “You can give it to me nice and rough. I’ll even cry and struggle if that makes you feel better.”

Will hated how much the idea turned him on, and before he could stop her, Charlotte peered down at his twitching cock. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

Will didn’t answer, at least not with his mouth. He grabbed Charlotte by the throat and forced her back into the bedroom and onto the bed. When she was flat on her back, Will leaned in so close that their noses touched, studying this woman who preyed upon him. How had he gotten so caught up in her web? And why was he so addicted to her? How was it that no matter what he did to her – spit on her, slapped her, spanked her, flogged her with his cock, choke her, fucked her until she was sweaty and writhing in chaos – somehow, it always felt like she was the one in control?

If there was an answer, he wouldn’t find it tonight. Instead, Will slowly tightened his grip around her throat. “Yeah,” Charlotte croaked. “Just like that.”

He turned her head, letting his lips brush against Charlotte’s ear, and said, “I thought you were going to cry and struggle for me.” Charlotte bit her lip one final time before her face fell into disarray. Then, she started to cry and beg.

The next day Will came out of his Nine o’clock meeting discretely yawning into his fist. He still wasn’t sleeping so well, only now it was for entirely different reasons. When he arrived at his cubicle the flashing light on his landline caught his attention. He had a new message.

He called Charlotte and wasn’t at all surprised when she picked up right away.

“Will?”

“I thought we discussed the problem with you calling me at work?”

“I know but-” she hesitated, letting her words drop off in a perfect moment of phone static.

“Is everything okay?” Will asked. “Are you alright?”

“No!” A curt and keening answer, like a sulking child. “My throat hurts and my body aches.” She sighed deeply. “I think you should come home and take care of me.”

Will leaned back in his chair and look over at the wall clock. It wasn’t as if he was busy today and he had enough sick leave, so why not? For someone to come home to; for someone whose thoughts, words, and actions stimulated him like no narcotic ever could. For someone who pushed him, but always made sure he had a soft landing. Why not?

“If I leave now, I can make it to the metro and be there in forty-five minutes.”

There was a moment of silence before Charlotte answered. “Really?” he voice laced with quiet disbelief.

“Yeah. We can put on some old slasher films, and I’ll rub you down and…” Will let the insinuation hang for a moment before finally adding. “Why not?