There’s a second set, joining from a different direction. I follow them into the stables, the heated buildings made for the animals that live here rather than the stable hands than worship them.
Voices echo through the four am shadows. I hear names, fractures of sentences, a murmur of a word. When I open the stable door I see Blair, wrapped in her huge winter coat and Isaac, sat across from each other, both holding a glass of whisky, the bottle in between them.
“I couldn’t find you.” Blair stands up. “I looked and you weren’t there.”
It’s a bullet through the heart because she doesn’t know the truth of it.
“I was checking security footage. Media. Are you okay?”
She nods. “Goldsmith’s speech. And he’s taken Elise back to his room. I don’t know who I’m more fucking mad at.” Her accent is stronger than normal.
“Don’t be mad at either.” I glance at Isaac who looks drained. “It’s a waste of energy.”
“I don’t know if I can do it.” Her voice aches with tiredness.
“Do what?” Isaac stands and steps across to her. “Lead your country? You can. You have the right people.” He glances towards me. “You know what needs to be done.”
“So you keep saying.” She looks from him to me. “But right now I need to forget. I just need to be the me who could sneak off to clubs and watch other people get fucked even if it was in disguise, even if it wasn’t me, because now I can’t do any of that. It would be easier to hand everything other to Lloyd or Lachlan.” She mentions her cousins. “But my father would turn in a grave he’s not quite ready for yet.” She laughs, a grim chord to the sound.
“What do you need?” I move the few feet closer to her and take her in my arms kissing the side of her neck, aware of Isaac watching, aware of her breath as it hitches.
“To forget.”
I look at Isaac from over her shoulder. A silent conversation that should be longer, should have a contract and a written outcome but now, at four am, isn’t the time.
“How do you want to forget?” It’s Isaac who speaks.
“Watch us. Here.” She unzips her coat.
Underneath she wears sweats and a T-shirt, one of mine that swamps her and leaves her shapeless, but we both know the shape of what’s under there.
“Just watch?” I need to hear her words.
There’s a shudder from under my fingers. I run my hands from her shoulders, over her breasts and feel her nipples harden. My eyes stay focused on Isaac who watches my hands.
“Show her to me.” His voice is thick and his words full of lust.
“Do you want me to?”
She doesn’t answer me. She lifts her arms to help me pull off the T-shirt, leaving her bare breasts full and heavy, nipples dark and hard with the slight chill in the air and her arousal.
I stay standing behind her and cup her tits, pushing them together and weighing them in my hands. I pinch her nipples and hear Isaac inhale. He sits down on the bale of hay, his eyes fixed and intent on what I’m doing.
Blair leans back against my chest.
“Are you wet?” My words are for Isaac as well as her.
“Yes. Are you going to fuck me in front of him?” She’s watching him, I can tell.
The strain of Isaac’s cock against his trousers is clear even in the low light of the stables.
“Yes. Is that okay?”
“Please.” Her single word makes my erection even harder.
My hands moved from her tits to her sweatpants, undoing the knot and pushing them down, along with her knickers. She kicks them away on to the floor and stands naked in front of both of us.
“Look at me, Blair.” It’s a soft demand. I need to check that she’s still okay with this.
