‘Marcus always gets the ladies. Since he’s started here there’s been a regular parade of pussy slamming itself under his nose.’
Penny wondered if the man was calling her a pussy, but preferred not to investigate. ‘Can you tell me where he is? Did he leave yet?’
‘Well, no. He’s out back smoking a cigarette.’
‘I want to ask him something important . . .’
‘Oh, I get it – you’re another one who’s got it bad. Go on back then.’
Penny nodded and slipped into the narrow side alley, made even more cramped by the fire escapes climbing the walls of the neighbouring building like metal snakes. A strong smell of garbage emanated from a couple of open bins lined up against the wall. She held her breath as she went past, and rounded the corner to the back of the building.
And that’s when she saw something she would really rather not have witnessed.
Marcus was leaning against the wall, his shirt raised over his abdomen and his pants pulled down to his muscular thighs. He was gripping a woman who was nearly naked by the buttocks, holding her in the air against him. They sure weren’t smoking any cigarettes. They were having sex.
Neither of them noticed the spectator. They were moving in a furious rhythm, faster and faster, and Penny could hear the obscene thud every time their bodies slammed together. The girl, a blonde with long hair and a butt as tight and round as a drum, moaned without restraint. Marcus himself made no sound, other than a low growl now and then.
Penny stood frozen to the spot as they climaxed, their cries of satisfaction seeming like primal screams. Finally, Marcus slipped out of her, pulling off the slimy condom. The girl tried to tease him to extend the encounter, giggling, ‘Wow, you’re an animal!’ but Marcus said nothing, just threw the condom to the ground.
Still unable to move a muscle, Penny was shocked but powerless to leave. There was a lump in her throat, and she could barely breathe. She wanted to turn and run, she wanted to wipe Marcus from her thoughts, she wanted to tell him exactly what she thought about him and his extraordinary love for Francisca, but all she could do was stand there, trembling and shaking, hating him to the very depths of her being, telling herself that if sex was that sordid and sweaty, there was no way she would ever let anyone do it to her.
The blonde was pulling on her panties as Marcus turned his gaze away in seeming disdain, catching sight of Penny at that precise moment, so that she at least had the satisfaction of seeing him flinch as if he were ashamed. Or maybe it wasn’t shame, but just the rage of an asshole who wants to be able to fuck some slut in peace without getting dirty looks from someone else.
Because she gave him a very, very dirty look indeed, before backing away and following the alley round to the front of the building.
The fat bouncer laughed when he saw her. ‘Some cigarette they were smoking, huh?’
Penny ignored him and walked off down the sidewalk in the direction of her apartment. That evening she was going to head home alone – she didn’t need a babysitter. She was so mad that if Grant had had the misfortune to materialise at her side right there, she would have ripped him to shreds before he could even say ‘ouch’.
It wasn’t clear to her quite why she was so furious and disgusted and disappointed and desperate and even a little dead inside, all at the same time. She knew all too well that Marcus did that kind of thing – and with Francisca’s blessing, even – but that was simply how she felt. The image was forever seared into her brain.
After several minutes, she realised how fast she’d been walking. She was almost home, exhausted and a little nauseous and crying her eyes out. Stupid useless tears. She wiped them as best she could on her sleeve. Stupid whining idiot.
She climbed the stairs and took refuge in her apartment, where there was no trace of Marcus. Perfect. The less I see of him the better. She performed her usual night-time routines and went to bed.
That’s when her heart leaped into her throat and she nearly died of a heart attack.
There was someone on the fire escape. An imposing silhouette blocking out the moonlight. She sat bolt upright in bed thinking it was