Page 58 of Outlier

Vicky moaned.

“Well, consider me fully checked,” she said in a rush. “So, if you could resume then maybe…uh!”

I started with slow thrusts, watching her carefully to make sure she wasn’t in any more pain. But as her eyes rolled back in her head, and she started to move with me, my control started to slip.

By the time she was moaning my name, her hands gripping my back, I was totally gone. All that was on my mind was claiming her.

The idea that she was mine and mine alone seemed to send me almost feral. I growled into her neck as she tightened underneath me.

“Mike, I’m going to… I—” I could feel her convulsing against me, and it sent me over the edge, my thrusts now erratic, until I came harder than I’d ever experienced in my life.

Fireworks exploded behind my eyes. It almost felt like I might black out from the strength of it.

For a moment, I just collapsed on top of Vicky, my cock still deep inside her, the need to pin her down and claim her still pumping through my veins. Then, as my head cleared, I realised she probably couldn’t breathe and I put weight on my arms to push up and look down at her.

She had a sheen of sweat over her forehead; her eyes were unfocused, her mouth still parted from the small scream she made when she came.

I gave her a brief kiss, then she whimpered as I pulled out.

Without thinking, I moved quickly off the bed and to her bathroom to deal with the condom. My chest tightened at the sight of a not-insignificant amount of blood. I made a snap decision, grabbed a flannel—unfortunately white, but then everything in this house was white—wet it with warm water, then strode back into the bedroom.

When I made it back there, Vicky was sitting up in bed, holding the sheets up to her neck. Her usually perfect hair was a mass of tangled blonde down her back and over her shoulders, there was some mascara under both eyes.

She looked unsure, small, vulnerable and more beautiful than I’d ever seen her before.

“Um, so… that was very satisfactory,” she said, her voice shaky. “I mean, frommypoint of view, it was. Obviously, with my lack of experience, you may not be of the same opinion. I’m not sure of the protocol from this point on.” She swallowed nervously. “If you want to leave, then I?—”

“I’m not fucking leaving, Vicky,” I said, striding over to her.

She blew out a relieved breath, and my heart felt like it broke a little.

This woman had such low expectations that she expected me to take her virginity and then just swan out of the door.

I sat on the bed next to her and reached for the covers, pulling them out of her grip. “Lie back down, baby,” I said softly.

“Er… w-why?”

“Just lie back for a moment.”

She hesitated but then rested back on the pillow behind her. “W-what are you do?—?”

She squeaked as I moved her legs apart and gently reached down with the flannel. Once I’d sorted that, I folded up the cloth to hide the blood and chucked it into the bin for me to deal with later.

Vicky was sitting bolt upright, looking at me with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you just did that,” she whispered.

“This is all standard procedure,” I told her, bending the truth a little—I’d never done that before in my life, but then, I’d never slept with someone as wonderful as Vicky before, either.

“Oh, er… right.”

I pulled her to me as I lay on the bed beside her, until her head was resting on my chest, and her small body was gathered close to me in my arms.

“Um…” She hummed. “Is this all standard procedure as well?”

“Oh yes,” I said, smiling up at the ceiling as I felt her softness relax into me, and her tension gradually draining away. “Very much so, love.”

Chapter 21

“Six, I think”