The side door of Aurelio's receiving house stood open, so I walked in with a repaired chair under my arm like I belonged there.
I didn't belong there. The place smelled like rope and cold concrete, and I heard a man's voice before I saw him.
A man knelt on the concrete with his shaved head down and his cheap leather jacket bunched at his neck.
Zeno: It's Hugo's debt, not mine. Give me a week.
Aurelio: You had a week. Now you have a choice.
Aurelio: Hugo is handled. You are here.
He didn't yell. His voice stayed low and almost kind, and that was worse than shouting.
Then Zeno saw me in the doorway. His mouth curled.
Zeno: The little sister. You bring her to watch, or does she spread her legs for the whole harbor too?
My face went hot, and I wanted the floor to open up.
Aurelio didn't raise his voice. He took Zeno's jaw in one hand and turned it back to his own face.
Aurelio: You don't look at her. You don't talk about her. Say her name again and I take your teeth out one at a time.
Zeno: Sorry. I'm sorry, miss.
Aurelio: Get out. Three days. Not four.
The door banged shut behind him, and then it was just me and Aurelio and the quiet.
Aurelio: Why are you here, Veda?
Veda: The chair. Hugo said you had one with a broken leg.
Aurelio: Hugo says too much.
He walked toward me slow, and I didn't step back, and his suit smelled clean and expensive.
Every part of me knew I should be afraid, and a part I didn't like at all was not.
Aurelio: It should scare you, what you saw today.
Veda: It doesn't.
Aurelio: I should send you home.
Veda: You should.
Neither of us moved. Then he kissed me hard with his hand in my hair, and I kissed him back, because I had wanted it longer than I let myself know.
Aurelio: Tell me to stop.
Veda: Don't stop.
He lifted me by the hips onto the worktable, and the wood was cold through my jeans, and he pulled my apron off.
He pulled my bra down and sucked my nipple into his mouth until it hurt in a good way, and I held onto his shoulders.
Aurelio: You're shaking.
Veda: I know.
He got my jeans down and rubbed his fingers over my clit through my underwear, slow circles, and my hips moved without me.
Aurelio: Tell me what you want.
Veda: Touch me. Please.
He pulled my underwear off and put his mouth on my pussy, right there on the concrete where Zeno had knelt.
My elbows hit the table and my mind went white.
He licked me until his mouth was wet with me, then pushed two fingers inside me and curled them.
Aurelio: Come on my hand. Now.
I came with my hand over my mouth and my legs shaking.
He stood and undid his belt. His cock was thick in his fist, and he looked at me while he stroked it once.
Aurelio: Tell me you want this.
Veda: I want it. I want you inside me.
He pushed into me slow and I felt every inch of it, and my nails dug into his sleeves.
Aurelio: Fuck. Look at me. Don't look away.
I didn't look away.
He fucked me on that worktable until the wood creaked under me, and I said his name and things I would never say out loud.
Veda: Aurelio. Don't stop.
Aurelio: I'm not going anywhere.
I came again with him inside me, and he followed with his face in my neck and his whole weight on me.
After that neither of us said a word, and the quiet that came in was a different kind.
He pulled out and fixed his belt, and I sat there with my shirt in my hands.
Aurelio: Get dressed.
I didn't know yet if he had just fucked Hugo's little sister or a woman he wanted. I was afraid to ask.