The room was chilly and beige. It smelled faintly of stale cigarette smoke and carpet shampoo. Beyond the open curtains the streetlamps splayed in the cold, winter air. From her place in the nondescript beige armchair, Robin thought the man on the bed looked vulnerable. Lit by the gloom of the bedside lamps, Desprateseagull lay with his back propped against the padded headboard, lanky legs stretched out in front of him. His shoes and socks were off, and his jeans were unbuttoned, the fly splayed open to his purpose.
“Is this all you want?” His words were hesitant but heavy with breath.
A lie of a nod and a tight smile: of course it wasn’t all she wanted. What she wanted was to dispense with her panties and climb onto the bed. But that wasn’t going to happen. That she wouldn’t allow herself and she had told him so.
“Are you sure?”
Outside, evening traffic noise seeped through the closed windows. Somewhere in the distance someone was breaking glass. “Yes. I’m sure. Just what we agreed on. Okay?”
(Characters in this piece are purely fictitious and bear no resemblance to real people alive or dead)