“I want you, too.” She moved even closer to him and he turned so that their bodies pressed together tightly. He could feel every contour of her body and his arms went around her quickly, and then they were kissing. His heart was beating wildly and he couldn’t control his breathing and he was no longer conscious of the room or the bed or the naked lightbulb hanging over the bed or the knife on the night table.
He was only conscious of his body and hers and nothing else mattered at all.
When it was over he lay motionless on the bed while she sat up and rearranged her clothing. He felt complete now for the first time in a long time, complete and whole and relaxed at last. She was even better than she’d promised, better than he had imagined.
He could almost forget Moe and the sick expression on his face when the knife tore into his stomach. Moe was something that couldn’t be avoided, something in the way that had to be removed. It wasn’t his fault for killing Moe, any more than it was his fault for being born or wanting Rita. It just happened that way.
And it was good for her, too. She loved every minute of it, every second of the act. From here on in it was peaches and cream for Benny Dix, with Rita whenever he wanted her. And he would want plenty.
“You liked it,” he said. “Didn’t you?”
“Of course. Couldn’t you tell?” There was a touch of amusement in her voice, a note of her knowing something that he was missing.
“Yeah. I mean—You like doing that. You like it every time, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Well, he’d give her plenty to like. He rolled over on one elbow and looked at her, sitting silently on the edge of the bed. She looked even prettier than before and it was hard to believe that he had actually made love to her, that he had scored with such a good-looking broad. But he could believe it. He could remember every second of it as if it were still happening.
“I bet there’s nothing you like better,” he went on, talking slowly. “You proved that you wanted me, just like I proved it to you. Right?”
She nodded, and he could just make out the shadow of a smile on her face.
“That’s what I figured. A guy can tell if a chick’s faking, you know?”
“I wasn’t faking.”
“You don’t have to tell me. You must like it better than anything else in the world.”
The smile grew wider. “Almost,” she said, softly. “There’s only one thing in the world I like better, Benny. Just one thing.” As she spoke, it seemed to him as though she were playing some kind of a game with him.
“Yeah?” he said, mildly curious. “What’s that?”
“Something I just saw,” she answered, and he still didn’t know what she was talking about. “It was fun to see it, Benny, and I bet it’s even better when you do it yourself!”
He opened his mouth to say something, and his mouth remained uselessly open as he saw the knife in her hand, the knife he had used on Moe. For one brief second he saw the answer to his question in her eyes; for one instant he knew what she really craved, what kind of excitement sent her blood racing. Just for that single second when he watched the insane stare in her eyes as she gazed at the blood gushing from the stab wound in his chest.
A second later his vision blurred and he saw nothing.
In another second he was dead.
BRIDE OF VIOLENCE
SHE DIDN’T SAY A WORD when I pulled the car off the road behind the clump of young poplars. I cut the motor and flicked off the lights. Then I pulled her to me and kissed her.
The kiss sent my blood racing. This was nothing new. Just being with Rita, just looking at her and running my eyes over the full curves of her body was enough to send me into a sweat.
I forced myself to pull away from her. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get into the backseat.”
She smiled, teasing me. “Why?”
“You know why.”
“Tell me anyway.”
I just looked at her. Her hair was long and golden and it spilled over her shoulders like a yellow waterfall. Her mouth was red with the lipstick I hadn’t managed to kiss away yet. Her eyes were a sort of cornflower blue that deepened almost to purple in