The House

by Eden Darry

  She was happy to take his money, though, wasn’t she? Happy to bleed him dry then hang him out to dry. Fucking bitch. That’s what you got for hiring a woman. His mates warned him, teased him she was probably on the rag when she’d binned him off. Instead of a decent brief, he got some court-appointed arsehole because the bitch had taken all his money, and he couldn’t afford a new barrister.

  No one shafted Lance Sherry. Especially not some jumped up bitch who shouldn’t even be doing a man’s job anyway. When he caught up with her, she’d regret turning him down.

  Catching up with her was going to be more difficult now that she’d moved. Lance sighed. Why couldn’t life be easy?

  He went back downstairs to the kitchen. Sometimes people left things behind like bits of post or cards. He riffled through the drawers, not holding out much hope.

  Lance blew out a breath in frustration. Fuck. Nothing. It was too much to hope for, anyway. Too convenient that there would be some clue as to where they’d gone. Now what?

  Then he saw it. Propped up by the oven. Lance snatched up the envelope and tore it open. Bingo. A letter from the post office confirming the bitch’s mail redirect service. Her new address was included at the bottom. Lance grinned and stuffed the letter in his pocket. It looked like luck was on his side after all.

  He climbed back out the window and pulled it shut behind him. He couldn’t lock the garden gate, but it wasn’t a problem. The new owners would just think someone forgot to close it. The lock wasn’t broken or anything.

  Lance walked back out onto the street and set off down the road, whistling to himself. Found you bitch. Going to fuck you then kill you.

  Chapter Nine

  Sadie was exhausted. They’d spent most of the afternoon unpacking boxes and putting the kids’ bedroom furniture together. They’d just finished their own bed frame and were pulling on the mattress.

  Sadie flopped onto it as soon as it was in place and closed her eyes. She felt it sag as Fin lay down beside her. She thought about all the other boxes they had yet to unpack, and she groaned.

  “Shall I give you a massage?” Fin asked, rolling onto her side, hand on Sadie’s stomach.

  Sadie grinned. “I know how your massages always end up, and I’m too bloody tired.”

  Fin chuckled. “Honest, just a nice massage.”

  “Yes, but I’ll get horny and want to have sex.”

  “And I shall rebuff your advances.”

  “Then I’ll get cranky.”

  “And I’ll give in.” Fin sighed dramatically. “I’ll get the sheets for the bed.”

  “No, I’ll get them. I don’t know which ones I want yet.” Sadie stood up and her muscles protested.

  “Does it matter?”

  Fin looked confused and Sadie laughed.

  “Yes. Besides, you always choose the green sheet and a duvet cover that doesn’t match. Where did you put them?”

  Fin rolled onto her back and sat up. “I think in the room by the kids’ bathroom.”

  “Okay. Why don’t you go and shower? I may join you in a minute.”

  “I thought you were too tired for sex.”

  “I changed my mind. And it’s your conjugal duty to service me whenever I want it,” she joked. She heard Fin still laughing as she walked into the bathroom.

  She opened the door to the bedroom where Fin stacked the boxes and sighed. There really were loads of them. How did they manage to accumulate so much stuff? And how did they fit it all in that small three-bedroom terraced house?

  Sadie shivered from the cold. Did Fin leave the window open in here? She pushed a few boxes aside to reveal the sash window behind. It was closed. Strange. It definitely felt draughty, but she supposed that was old houses for you. Old houses with knackered heating systems. Even though the previous owners did a lot of cosmetic work on the place, they’d neglected to update the heating or any of the electrics where they didn’t have to. Sadie thought it was silly. Surely they were the first things you’d get fixed?

  It was certainly the first thing they were going to do once they’d saved some cash and she went back to work. She’d decided to start looking for work soon, now that the idea of it didn’t bring on a panic attack. She’d talked to Fin about the idea of going into family law—specifically child protection cases. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her. There wouldn’t be as much money in it, or probably enough prestige for her father, but it meant she would be making a difference. She’d be helping people who deserved it—not lowlifes like Lance Sherry. She still believed everyone deserved representation despite what they might have done, but she just didn’t want to be the person doing it any more.

  Sadie shivered again and felt goosebumps rise on her arms. She opened the box marked master bed sheets and pulled out whatever came to hand. She had the sudden urge to get out of this room as quickly as possible.

  As she turned to leave, the door slammed shut. It looked like someone pulled it from the other side which was odd. When she went to open it, she realized there was no door handle on this side. Behind her, a hissing noise started up.

  * * *

  Fin turned off the shower. She guessed Sadie changed her mind about joining her. For the first few months after the attack, Sadie understandably hadn’t wanted sex. Fin didn’t push or pressure her, but she knew Sadie felt bad about it. Before, they’d had a pretty active sex life for a couple with two kids under six.

  Lately, she’d started getting a bit friskier, and Fin thought they were on the way to getting back to normal. The nightmares had also calmed down quite a bit, and Sadie was only seeing her psychologist once a week now, instead of twice. She’d joined an online support group too, which seemed to be helping.

  Fin towelled off and put on her pyjamas. She frowned when she went back into the bedroom and saw the bed unmade and no sign of Sadie. Perhaps she’d gone to check on one of the kids or decided to make a cup of tea. Sometimes Sadie took a hot drink to bed with her. Fin couldn’t drink caffeine after five because she wouldn’t sleep, but it didn’t seem to affect Sadie at all.

  Fin waited a bit longer before going to look for her. She stood at the bottom of the stairs to their bedroom and listened. The house was silent.

  Fin walked down to the kids’ bedrooms and looked in. They were both sleeping soundly. She came back into the hall and noticed the door to the spare room was shut. That was where Sadie went to get the sheets for the bed. She turned the handle and stepped inside.

  Sadie lay on the floor in the middle of the room. She wasn’t moving.

  Fin dropped to the floor and touched her face. She was warm, thank God. Fin felt for her pulse and found it was nice and strong. It looked like she’d fainted—maybe she’d had a panic attack? Sadie hadn’t had one for a while, but maybe something triggered her.

  “Sadie? Babe?” Fin said, stroking her face. “Sadie?”

  She heard a groan and Sadie opened her eyes.

  “Hey, babe. You fainted. Are you—”

  Sadie gasped and sat up. Her eyes were wild and she looked terrified.

  “Hey, hey.” Fin pulled her into her arms. She was trembling. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You just fainted.”

  “No, no.” Sadie struggled out of her arms and stood up, swaying on her feet. Fin grasped her arms gently to stop her from falling. “We have to get out of here, Fin. There’s a gas leak.”

  “What?” Fin hadn’t seen her like this before. Was she hallucinating? What the hell was going on. “No, Sadie. You’re fine. We’re fine. Look at me.” Fin held Sadie’s face between her hands and forced her to look in her eyes. “There’s no gas leak, babe. I had it all checked before we moved in. There’s a carbon monoxide alarm next to the boiler. We’re fine.”

  “There was gas, coming through there.” Sadie pointed up to one of the weird vents on the internal wall. “I watched the air ripple with it. And I couldn’t get out. Why isn’t there a fucking door handle on this side?”

  Sadie searched Fin’s
eyes, but it looked like her terror was giving way to anger. Fin thought that was good.

  “It’s an old house—the handle probably fell off. I think you fainted and then…I don’t know, maybe had a bad dream? Is that possible?”

  “Maybe,” Sadie conceded.

  “Let’s go upstairs to bed. I’ll put the sheets on, and we can go to sleep. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Sadie let Fin lead her out of the room.

  Upstairs, she went in the bathroom while Fin put the sheets on. Under ordinary circumstances she would have ragged on Sadie about picking the green bottom sheet. Fin sighed. She cursed that bastard Lance Sherry for what he’d done to them.

  Chapter Ten

  Sadie stood beneath the shower spray with her face upturned. She was less shaky now. She felt like an idiot, babbling to Fin about gas coming through the vent in the wall. She must have been hallucinating. Oh well, she guessed it was something to talk to the psychologist about on Wednesday.

  She could remember the door closing and not being able to get out because there was no handle inside. It must have triggered a panic attack, and then she imagined the room filling up with gas and fainted. Poor Fin. Sadie felt bad she’d had to cope with her meltdowns these last few months. Especially when they both thought things had improved. Fin never complained, though, and Sadie was surprised at how patient she was.

  Fin was always great with the kids, but Sadie hadn’t realized her patience would run to Sadie as well. She was lucky—other partners would have bailed by now or at least been thinking about it, she was sure.

  Sadie shut the shower off and grabbed a towel. She went back into the bedroom where Fin was already under the covers with her eyes closed.

  She slipped in beside her and Fin rolled towards her. “You all right, babe?” she asked, pulling Sadie into her arms. “Mmm, you smell nice.” Fin nuzzled her hair and sighed.

  “I’m okay. How are you?” Sadie asked.

  Fin opened her eyes and looked down. “I’m good. We’ll put a handle on the inside of that door tomorrow. I can only imagine how it felt being trapped in there.”

  That was probably it, Sadie thought. Before, she would have banged on the door and shouted for Fin to let her out. Now, the sense of being trapped—trapped like that night Lance Sherry pinned her against a wall with a knife to her throat—made her freak out and faint. Sadie wanted her life back. She was so sick of feeling like a victim.

  She turned in Fin’s arms and ran her hand down Fin’s side. Face-to-face, she pressed her lips to Fin’s and deepened the kiss. She moved her hand lower and cupped Fin outside her pyjama bottoms.

  “What are you doing?” Fin pulled back.

  “Shh. I’m claiming my conjugal rights.”

  Fin didn’t laugh as she hoped.

  “Sadie, you don’t have to do this.”

  Sadie squeezed, then began using her palm to massage Fin. “I want to. I want to feel normal again.”

  Fin grasped her wrist gently, stilling the movement. “You are normal, babe.”

  “I want to feel like myself again. Let me, Fin.”

  Fin let go and Sadie moved her hand beneath Fin’s pyjama bottoms. Fin groaned when she slipped one finger either side of her clit and began to stroke.

  She claimed Fin’s mouth. Her tongue pushed inside and matched the rhythm of her hand. In and out, back and forth. Fin’s hips began to grind against Sadie’s fingers. Her breathing got deeper and more ragged. She tried to move Sadie’s fingers to where Sadie knew she needed them to come.

  Sadie stopped. “Not yet, Fin.”

  “Sadie.”

  “Shh. Hang on.”

  Sadie slid down the bed, taking Fin’s bottoms with her, then positioned herself between Fin’s legs. Fin looked down at her with half-lidded eyes and grinned lazily. Sadie smiled back at her before she took Fin in her mouth and began to lick. Fin didn’t last long, she noted smugly. She never did when Sadie went down on her. With a few strokes of her tongue against Fin’s clit, Fin bucked against her and came.

  Sadie came back up and lay on top her. Fin gripped Sadie’s hips and began to grind their pelvises together. She reached between their bodies, and Sadie moaned as Fin’s fingers entered her. She sat up and leaned back to take them deeper. Fin came up with her, pulled her T-shirt off, and began to suck on Sadie’s nipples. It always drove her straight to the brink of orgasm when she did that. She felt Fin’s fingers curl inside her, and then the heel of her hand brushed against Sadie’s clit.

  Sadie pushed down hard on Fin’s hand and came hard, wetness soaking her thighs. She leaned in to Fin, her face between her shoulder and neck, and sighed. After all these years together, they knew each other’s bodies inside out. Having small children was also a good motivator for learning how to make each other come quickly.

  “What are you smiling about? I can feel you against my neck,” Fin asked.

  “I was just thinking about how well you make me come.”

  Fin laughed. “I’m still inside you. Want me to go again?”

  Sadie gasped as Fin pumped her fingers, once, twice. The gasp turned to a groan as she began to stroke inside Sadie again. “Definitely,” she whispered.

  * * *

  Fin woke with her front pressed to Sadie’s back. They’d fallen asleep naked. Recently, Lucy was in the habit of climbing into their bed sometime around three—Fin could never tell exactly because she was like a ninja, and Fin only woke when she felt bony little knees pressed against the small of her back.

  She rolled away from Sadie and reached down for her pyjama bottoms and top. Sadie was fast asleep and buck naked. Fin got up and went over to the suitcase by the window. It was no good—she couldn’t see anything in the dark. She pulled aside the curtain to let in a little light to see by. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Fin peered out of the window, letting the curtain fall across her back. There it was again, over by the trees which lined their property.

  Fin’s first thought was Lance Sherry had found them. Then she realized the figure was much too small for a man. Her heart triple timed. Lucy. Had Lucy somehow gotten outside?

  “Sadie, Sadie.” Fin shook her awake. She groaned and tried to go back to sleep. “Babe, you need to wake up. It’s Lucy.”

  Sadie’s eyes flew open and she sat straight up. “What’s happened?”

  “There’s someone outside—it might be Lucy. I’m going out there. Can you check her room?”

  Sadie jumped up and ran from the room while Fin went in the opposite direction, towards the stairs.

  “What’s going on. Why are you naked, Mummy?” came Liam’s sleepy voice behind her. Fin didn’t wait to hear the rest of the conversation as she reached the bottom of the stairs. As she got to the front door, Sadie’s voice came from above.

  “Fin, it’s not Lucy out there. She’s asleep in bed.”

  “Okay.” Fin felt a rush of relief. But if it wasn’t Lucy, it was someone else’s child, and she needed to go and look. “I’m going to see who it is.”

  Footsteps behind her made her turn around. Sadie was pulling on a dressing gown. “I’m coming with you.”

  Fin nodded and they headed outside.

  “How do you know it’s a child?” Sadie asked as they crossed the lawn towards the trees.

  “It’s small and it moves like a kid, you know?”

  Sadie nodded.

  Kids had a fluidity of movement that people lost somewhere on the way to adulthood.

  “Sadie, maybe you should go back. You must be freezing in that dressing gown.”

  They approached the trees and Fin scanned them, hoping to see the child again.

  “I’m okay. I don’t want you out here on your own.”

  Something moved in the trees, going in the direction of the property line. “Hey!” she called out. Fin turned to Sadie. “You’re barefoot, babe, go back inside.”

  Fin went into the trees, following the child. She didn’t hear Sadie behind her and hoped she�
�d headed back to the house. She still wasn’t doing too well with being out at night, and Fin was concerned she’d have another panic attack.

  The woods thinned out slightly as she approached the fence dividing their property from their neighbour’s. She saw the child again and called out, but it turned and ran. Fin started to give chase, and then she was falling.

  * * *

  Sadie changed into tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt—the house was freezing. Lucy hadn’t woken at all, but Liam wouldn’t go back to bed until Fin came home. They sat in the kitchen and waited.

  Sadie didn’t want to leave Fin alone, but she hadn’t thought to put on shoes, and being out in the dark like that made her chest tight, and she feared another panic attack. She’d come back inside and called the local police station who were sending a car out. What on earth was a child doing out alone at this time? She hadn’t seen it herself, but Fin was adamant it was running around out there in the middle of the night.

  Last year, Sadie was home with the children alone one Saturday because Fin had to work. She’d left them outside in the garden to go in and get a drink. When she came out, Lucy had managed to let herself out of the back gate and was most of the way down the passage and into the street. Sadie understood how that could happen with a determined child, but all the same…

  She heard the front door open and stood. Liam was out of the kitchen and running into the hall. Sadie followed him.

  “Fin! What happened to you?”

  She was covered in mud and appeared to be limping. Fin looked up from Liam’s worried face and smiled sheepishly.