Buying Thyme (16 page)

“I don’t think you understand how much I want you right now Miranda.”

“Really? Here? Now? But Toni?”

“Fuck Toni.” Tench replies and I grip into Tench’s beautiful soft hair and plunge deep into his mouth. 

Tench grabs the bottom of my skirt and lifts it up and forces his fingers past my underwear, not bothering to even take them off, he thrusts his fingers deep inside me. The feeling sends a wash of heat all over my body. I twist slightly so that I’m now straddling him and reach down and like a gift, I unwrap the massive erection from within his pants. I feel the car start to move but am almost oblivious to Toni even being there. Remembering how organised Tench is from last time, I reach into his left pocket. His eyes open and stare at me. I can feel his smile against my lips, “Clever girl... It’s in the other one.” He whispers.
 

I too smile and reach into his other pocket to find the packaging that I was looking for. Opening the condom, I slide it over his length then raise myself up and over onto him, my underwear still just pushed to one side under my skirt. After not having any sex for the past six weeks, Tench fills me up more than before. My internal walls tighten around him. Tench pushes me down hard and forces himself deep inside me,

“Fuck you are tight. You feel so fucking good Miranda.” Tench’s eyes are a dead stare upon my own. 

A feeling that I now only just appreciated miss
ing pulsates throughout my entire body. Tench twists my hair around his fist and grips onto it, tugging my head back as he drives himself into me again and again. His other hand reaches up and rips open my jacket. I have only red bra on underneath, as I did with Tom. Tench frees both my breasts and cups the left one in his hand as he bends down and sucks and pulls at my nipple with his mouth. He jerks me backwards by my hair as he does so. The roughness of Tench starts to excite me and I quickly feel a climax build up inside. Tench continuously thrusts himself up harder and harder inside me. I let out a moan, only momentarily remembering that we’re not alone right now. But I get swept back up by the moment again, no longer in control. I grip onto Tench and hold his head to my chest as I feel the pressure build up more and more and I tilt my hips backwards and forwards faster and faster until I can’t take it anymore and explode all around him. I wrench in a convulsion with every jolt of electricity that enslaves my body. The feeling is too much for Tench to resist and he too thrashes as he releases himself into me. The vigorous motion ceases and all but my chest heaves with each breath while Tench’s head rests upon it. He releases his grip from around my hair and rests his hand on my back, still holding me close to him. I lean down and kiss him on top of his head. Tench looks up at me, smiles and kisses me sweetly with a soft peck. Our intense romp lasting no more then ten minutes, just enough to pacify my urges. The silence is finally broken by the sound of the car’s air-conditioner being turned up. Tench and I both laugh as I look to the front and see that the cars windows have all been fogged up, and Toni is now struggling to see anything out of the windscreen as he drives. My face feels flushed now that we have stopped and I notice droplets of sweat across Tench’s forehead. I slide off of him and sit on the backseat next to him, readjusting my underwear and skirt and try to regain my breath. Toni’s eyes have not left the road in front of him. I think he’s a little stunned… but I am with Joe Tench after all… so he’s probably not! I glance sideways at Tench who is also fixing himself up. As he zips up his fly he looks over at me too and grins, 

“It’s nice to have you back my beautiful Miranda.”

My
Miranda? He thinks I’m
his
now does he? As the words swell annoyingly around in my head, Tench reaches across and places his hand on mine. I notice that we’re now pulling into his driveway.

CHAPTER 14

The familiarity of
the grand foyer to Tench’s
mansion feels more inviting than the last time I stepped into it. Although it was only two months since I was here last, the entire mood of the house has changed… or maybe it’s my attitude towards Tench that’s changed? Or maybe we’ve both changed? I can see a warm orange flicker of light strobing over the bar on the far right of the wing. As I approach the bar, I see that the fire on the left wall is merrily dancing away. A blonde haired girl that I think I recognise is sitting at the bar with her back to me. A sudden feeling of anxiety washes over me. What is another woman doing at Tench’s house? As I step closer towards her, I realise that I do recognise those gorgeous shiny blonde locks,

“Sally! What the hell are you doing here?” I trill in a higher octave than normal, “Don’t you know everyone is looking for you? Sally!”
 

Why isn’t she turning around to me? Ma
ybe it isn’t Sally.
That’s embarrassing!
I try and take another step but feel glued to my spot in the middle of the floor. Tench strides past me and approaches the blonde at the bar. He reaches out and with the back of his hand, he sweeps aside the girls hair to expose her left ear.

“Why don’t you tell her what you wanted to say about me Sally?” Tench leans in and sniggers into her ear, his coffee eyes sneering back at me.
 

I gulp to try and dislodge the ball in my throat, but fail in my attempt. Something doesn’t feel right about all of this. I don’t feel safe here. Tench doesn’t seem right. Sally… what have you done? The blonde turns around to face me. Sally’s face smiles serenely at me but her dead eyes look straight through me. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a prickle of needles roll down my spine. Sally’s right eye is discoloured and so bulged that it’s almost closed over. I can just make out under her bloodied and swollen top lip that her front left tooth is missing also, “Sally! What has happened to you?”
 

I run over to her in a feeling of slow motion. My heels scurry and slide and don’t carry me quick enough over the marble floor. When I reach her she still has the same smile fixed upon her face. It’s the same smile as the photo of us together at the polo that sits on my fridge, “Sally! Sally! Talk to me!”
 

I grab her by her shoulders and try to shake her but with each jolt, pieces of her face fall away like a broken jigsaw puzzle, each missing piece leaving a black hole where her skin once was. What the fuck? What is going on? What has Tench done? Sally stares at me with a blank stare. Half of her eye has fallen off now and I can’t make out if she’s talking or not. Her lips are moving but nothing is coming out clearly. I watch her lips closer and closer before they too fall apart and I start to hear my name.

“Miranda… Miranda… Miranda…” What is going on? I feel my earlobes burn and my heart rate rapidly increases now. I know I’m in imminent danger.

“Miranda! Miranda!” My name is louder and louder, “Miranda! Wake up! For gods sake! Wake up!”

My eyes flash
open and I feel my heart pounding in my ears.
Strong hands are gripped around me. As I look around, I see Tench is leaning over me and I recognise that I’m lying in his enormous bed.

“Miranda! God girl! You were having some crazy dream! You were moaning all kinds of weird sounds.”

It was a dream! It was a dream! I’m in bed with Tench. It’s still night… or early morning. I don’t know which, but thank god for that! Oh how fucking embarrassing!

“What was I saying?” I have to ask… I pinch my eyes shut and brace for Tench to tell me what he just heard me saying in my sleep.

“Nothing. You were just making this really weird moaning sound. It sounded fucking guttural. Like you were possessed or something! What the fuck were you dreaming about?”

“I don’t know… I don’t remember.” I lie.

“Well what ever the fuck it was. It must’ve been a fucking good one.” 

Tench rolls back onto his back, “Come here. Give me some sugar.”
 

His accent sooth
es me once again and he spreads his arm out, inviting me to come over and curl up into him. That’s right… I’m with Tench. Everything is okay. It has been just him and me alone together all night tonight. We haven’t even made it out of his bedroom since we arrived earlier. I’ve loved every minute of being here with him since I arrived. Having him tell me between breaths how much he missed me and how right it feels having me back. It has made me feel so comfortable and secure… until my dream. With my head comfortably resting in the nook of this armpit and shoulder, I hear Tench begin to breathe heavier and heavier. I feel his body relax around me as he drifts off to sleep again. I lay there wide-awake in his arms. The horror of my dream replaying over and over again in my mind until dawn’s first light begins to greet the edge of the night’s sky.

It feels like
I’ve only been asleep for ten
minutes, but I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I have been asleep for three hours when I roll over and see the clock on the wall in Tench’s room. I can live off of three hours sleep. Just like the last time I was here, I am alone again in Tench’s bed when I wake. There is that all too familiar feeling again. I get up and shower quickly and throw on one of his fluffy white YSL robes that is hanging on the hook. It’s time for me to get comfortable in this place. Tench did tell me to treat this place as my own for the next month. So that’s what I need to start doing. Making my way down to the kitchen to see Mrs Oktar, I notice music coming from the upper level of the mansion. Tchaikovsky’s dramatic
Swan Lake
is blasting from the far left wing of the upper level. As I walk closer to where the music is coming from, I realise that it’s coming from the room that I passed on my way to find my black diamond necklace last time. I remember seeing mirrors in the room, and that was it. The music naturally increases in volume as I approach the unexplored room. The door is slightly ajar. My nightmare about Sally is still fresh enough to make me more jumpy than usual this morning. I hesitate opening the door for a moment and just stand with my head cocked to the side, my ear tilted towards the room to see if I can hear anything else other than
Swan Lake
coming from within the room.
Nothing!
There is no natural light within the room, so I can’t even make out anything through the crack in the door either. Surely if this wasn’t an invitation to enter the room then: a) the music wouldn’t be so loud and b) the door would be closed… right?
You’re worried about nothing girl!
With Tench’s voice telling me to make my self at home, I push open the door to the room.

A cool whisper
of air blows over me as I open
the door. The dark room has a sharp woody smell with a hint of cleaning products. Unlike the marbled floor throughout the rest of the house, I feel a hardwood floor beneath my naked feet. All I can see is a spark of light from a wall of mirrors in front of me. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust to the light within the room. I can’t locate any switches anywhere to turn on a light. I walk into the centre of the room. The reflection of the doorway on the mirror helps make out any shape around the room… or lack there of. The room is a big, empty room. There is a ballet barre against the mirror in front of me. It’s a dance studio? What does Tench want with a dance studio in his house? The music is so loud as the piece reaches its dramatic crescendo. Tympani, symbols and trumpets, pounding out around me, cause a surge in my already present state of anxiety. The piece dramatically ceases with the crash of symbols and the blast of trumpets. My heavy breathing is now pronounced with the sudden silence in the room.
What the fuck is going on in here?

“Nothing like a bit of Swan Lake in the morning to get the day going.” Tench’s low voice comes from behind me.
 

I spin around with the surprise of hearing him. The down lights above me come on and I see Tench sitting in a chair in the middle of the room wearing the matching robe to mine. With his left arm resting on the chair’s armrest, he holds a remote to control the room in his hand. His face has a stern look upon it. He slowly closes his eyes and inhales deep,

“Swan Lake is my favourite ballet. I come in here a lot more since you left, and imagine you dancing for me Miranda. I have waited for you to come back to me. Now I want you to dance for me.”

Tench’s voice doesn’t seem to be asking me… he’s telling me to dance for him. This is not the same Tench as last night… or the last time I was here. This is the old Tench, the unpredictable Tench. I remain standing in the same spot, still in complete bewilderment. He’s acting really strange. Once again, I feel like his whore.
So act like his whore!
Do what he wants and put on a show!

“Well I don’t particularly like Swan Lake, and I certainly can’t dance it.” I try and sound defiant.

“But I know you can dance. So choose a piece of music that you can dance to and dance for me. Now. Here. I have plenty of ballet shoes and anything you would need in the dressing room behind me.”

“Dancing en pointe right now is not going to happen, I can tell you that much. For starters, I haven’t danced en pointe for many years, and I need to mould them into shape and pack the ends properly and probably move the ribbon to suit my foot… a lot goes into wearing pointes… you can’t just whack a pair on and dance.”
 

Tench’s eyes flash open and narrow as he stares at me. I hold my breath, knowing that he is not happy with my answer.
What is his creepy fascination with ballet anyway?

“So dance for me however you want Miranda. Drop your robe and dance. I want to watch you.”

What is with the demands first thing in the morning? Can’t a girl eat? Or at least give me a hit of coffee before I twirl around dancing!

“As you wish!” I reply, and undo the knot at the front of my dressing gown and shrug it off of my shoulders.

It drops to the ground around me. I bend down and pick it up with one hand, and fling it over my shoulder as I make my way over to the wall where there is another touch screen control panel. I flick my way through the thousands and thousands of songs to select. My mind is trying to wildly remember if I recognise any classical pieces, much less have danced to them. If he wants me to dance properly, he’ll have to deal with me warming up for at least ten minutes! I find
Lere Gymnopedie
, a beautiful piano piece by Satie, within the listings. It’s always a favourite of mine to warm up to.

“I’m going to have to stretch first.” I select the track and make my way over to the barre… in nothing but my birthday suit.

The gentle piano
notes begin to play and I
lightly hold onto the barre in first position. Trying my best to ignore the fact that Tench is eyeballing me like I’m dessert, I bend my back leg slightly in a demi-plié and lift my front leg into a passé developpé so that my front leg is stretched outwards onto the barre. Fully exposed towards Tench, I can hear him shifting in his chair already, just a few metres away from me. Two more pliés and I reach out over my upstretched knee so that my nose is touching it. Tench inhales deeply and gets up from his seat.

“Okay. I can’t take watching you like that. Stay right where you are.”

“What bent over like this?” I laugh as I peer at him from underneath my outstretched arm. 

Tench approaches me from behind and pulls the robe’s tie from around his waist. He takes hold of my foot on the barre and wraps the tie around it to secure it in place on the barre… hmm… this is fun! His coffee eyes turn a warm caramel with the excitement of having me in this compromising position. I smirk at him when his eyes reach mine in the mirror in front of us. Luckily I am flexible enough to hold this position with ease. His hands glide their way around my torso. He manoeuvres me so that I move back out of the stretching position and stand up straight, with my leg still remaining firmly attached to the barre. He’s now gripping onto me from behind. In the reflection of the mirror I can see the blazing look in his eye as he now slides his hand down my neck and plants a soft kiss at the nape of it. I know exactly what’s going to happen and I anticipate the momentary pause for him to slide the condom over himself, but instead he roughly grabs my wet hair in a firm grip and drives himself into me. A brief moment of pleasure quickly subsides. I don’t think I can feel the layer of rubber that’s always between us. I instantly shoot a look at Tench, who is staring me dead in the eye with a look of contempt.

“Joe! Stop! What are you doing?” I try and move myself out of his grip but my secured, outstretched foot makes it impossible to do anything, “Joe! Stop it!” I yell louder, “You can’t…”

“Ssssh…” He hisses into my ear as he jerks my head backwards by my hair.

“No! I won’t… Joe!” I shriek. 

This is not happening right now! Why is he doing this to me? I can be fired for this! Tench pounds harder and harder into me, to a point that it almost hurts. All I can do is take it and hope that it’s over soon. I feel so vulnerable. Why Tench? Why? The look in his eye is neither gentle nor caring like it was before and he continues to stare at me in the mirror. My back leg starts to shake in the position. I try to anticipate each blow from behind. Attempting to rise up onto my tippy toe to lessen the pounding is useless. Tench meets my lengthening and just continues to drive himself into me harder and faster. He closes his eyes and begins to make a low moaning growl into my ear and he lets go of my hair and grabs me around the front of my neck as each of his strokes become more prolonged. The horrible realisation of what’s happening to me right now causes an involuntary quiver to take over my body. I start to feel him swell inside me. I look up at him in the mirror again.