Chapter Text
‘Another vodka.’
The barman raised his eyebrows. ‘You sure about that, love?’
Sev closed her eyes in exasperation. She liked this pub, and starting a fight would get her banned. Again. Even if it was fucking tempting.
‘Yeah, I’m fucking sure,’ she snarled. ‘Start pouring.’
He shrugged and turned to the shelf behind him. Sev ran her hands over her face. Maybe she should’ve gone to a club instead. She felt wired, and she could really use -
‘Tough day?’
She looked up. A woman had sat down on the barstool next to Sev - god, she must be really drunk that she didn’t even notice someone sneaking into her personal space - and was now smiling expectantly at Sev.
‘You could say that.’
Sev looked the newcomer up and down. Red lips, dark hair, short skirt. Pretty little thing, although after a certain amount of alcohol everyone started looking pretty, even the overweight bearded wanker behind the bar.
‘My name’s Jen,’ the woman said brightly. ‘What’s yours?’
There was something seriously odd about the way she was talking, as if she was an eight-year old making friends at a new school.
‘Sev,’ she said. And preemptively added, ‘s short for Severine.’
‘Really? Unusual name.’
‘Creative parents.’ The barman plunked her drink in front of her and she took a large gulp, revelling in the burn down her throat.
‘Not the talkative type, are you, Severine?’
Sev turned her head and studied the woman. Pretty, definitely pretty, and there was something slightly flirtatious about her smile.
‘That’s alright,’ Jen continued, still smiling. ‘It wasn’t talking I had in mind.’
Okay, scrap the slightly. ‘So,’ Sev asked, turning on her barstool so she faced Jen. ‘What did you have in mind then?’
She licked her lips. ‘Come back to mine and I’ll show you.’
Sev put down her glass on the bar with a loud thunk and wiped her mouth. ‘Fair enough. Let’s get going.’
‘No nonsense, eh?’ Jen laughed. ‘I like that in a woman. Come on, then.’
***
They’d barely made it out of the pub before Jen pushed Sev against the brick wall and kissed her, completely out of the blue.
Well, not completely out of the blue, of course, but it still took her by surprise. Sev was used to being the straightforward one, and she didn’t surprise very easily. Not anymore.
She ran her hands down Jen’s side, over the soft fabric of her shirt to the swell of her arse. Jen smelled of woody perfume and shampoo and something else beneath that, something indefinable, but whatever it was, it set Sev’s body on fire. Or maybe that was just Jen’s hands roving all over her, as if she wanted to touch everywhere, surveying the property before actually buying it.
Jen broke off the kiss and leaned back just a little. ‘I lied,’ she said hotly.
‘Yeah?’ Not that Sev really cared at this point.
‘I don’t have a place. Will a hotel do for you?’
Sev grabbed a handful of dark hair and pulled her in for another kiss. Damn, Jen was good, if a little more aggressive than she had expected of such a delicate little thing.
‘I’ll take that as a yes then?’ Jen asked.
‘Right now I’d take you right here if you wanted,’ she growled, nose in Jen’s fragrant hair. Must be the booze talking. Not that she had much reservations even when she was sober, but -
‘Good to know.’ She pulled Sev back and winked. ‘But I’d prefer a bed, at least for now.’
For now. The words set off Sev’s alarm bells, but then Jen took her hand and pulled her along, and she forgot all about it.
***
She didn’t keep track of where they were going, distracted as she was by Jen, the way she moved in those heels - at least four inches high, how the hell did she keep from falling? - and the way she looked back every once in a while and smiled. Besides, she needed all her concentration to keep walking straight. Maybe she’d had just a little more booze than was wise.
But she did start to pay attention when they entered a building. She’d been expecting some sleazy little motel but judging by the décor, the little weirdo had dragged her straight to the Savoy. Was Sev about to shag an heiress? Fun thought.
Jen got a key from the girl at the desk and pulled Sev along again. She could just see the receptionist throwing them a curious look before she got dragged to the hallway and into the lift.
‘You’re very eager,’ Sev panted as Jen pushed her against the wall, again, and attacked Sev with a ferocity that reminded her of wildcats clawing and hissing.
‘Ooh, sweetie,’ she thrilled. ‘I’m dying with anticipation here.’ She leaned closer, pressed against Sev from knee to shoulder, lips less than an inch from her ear. ‘I can’t wait to see what you look like out of those clothes, sweating, writhing, begging.’ She bit gently at Sev’s earlobe.
Sev suddenly wondered if she wasn’t out of her depth, here.
But then the lift pinged and she was manhandled towards a door and she couldn’t give a shit, because she’d always liked risks and Jen, she was starting to understand, was just that. A risk.
‘Here,’ Jen said triumphantly, throwing open the door. She didn’t switch on the lights, but even so Sev could see the room was huge, stylish, tastefully decorated. The bed wasn’t small either.
‘Now, give me just a second and I’ll be right back.’ She went to tiptoe, kissed Sev on the cheek, and disappeared to the bathroom.
Sev went to the window and looked outside, breathing hard. They were high up and the view was gorgeous, the Thames glittering with reflected light, the London Eye in the distance. It couldn't be more different from her little basement flat.
She took a deep breath, listened to the muted sound of cars outside. With Jen out of the room it seemed like some of her common sense was coming back, along with caution. There was something about that woman that made her slightly nervous, which was ridiculous. For fuck's sake, it wasn't like this was her first one-night stand, even though she usually ended up in hotels a little less classy than this one.
But Jen... She was something else, something Sev couldn’t make sense of, and it thrilled her to the bone.
'Undress.'
Sev whirled around.
Jen was standing outlined in the doorway of the bathroom, like something straight out of a wet dream. Lacy red underwear, matching lips, those heels...
‘Like what you see, do you?’ Jen asked softly. She took a few steps closer, and Sev couldn’t look away from the sway of her hips, the line of her legs, her tiny waist. ‘Cat got your tongue, Sev?’
She coughed. ‘Yeah, I like. A lot.’
Jen smiled. She raised her hand to her own throat, thumb at the hollow between her collarbones, and drew it down, fingertips trailing over the top of her breasts.
‘Well, Sev?’ Her fingers went lower, skimming over her ribcage, her stomach. ‘Are you going to do something?’ And even lower, at the waistband of her knickers, one fingertip sliding underneath the elastic. ‘Or are you just going to watch.’
Sev snapped out of it and started tearing off her clothes as quickly as she could, only stopping when she was wearing nothing but her pants. And then she had to swallow.
Even though she was dying to get her hands on Jen and just get on with it, something about this whole thing was still making nervous. Normally she couldn’t care less about modesty, she just didn’t do self-conscious. And yet now she needed all her resolve to take that last step, to hook her thumbs into the waistband of her boxers and slide them down.
There was something predatory about the way Jen was looking at her.
She stepped closer and reached out but Jen shook her head and put her finger on Sev’s lips. ‘Ah-ah. Not yet, sweetheart.’
She drew her finger down gently, tracing the same path she had on her own body, down the line of Sev’s throat, around the slight curve of her breast, down the quivering muscles of her stomach to her jutting hipbone, leaving a trail of goosebumps in her wake.
'Beautiful.'
That broke the spell. Sev laughed and pulled back. ‘You need your eyesight corrected, love. I haven’t been pretty since I was twelve.’
‘I said beautiful, not pretty. Now...’
She took Sev’s wrist and pulled, a great deal harder than she was expecting. She stumbled and ended up sitting on the bed. She had maybe a second to catch her breath and then Jen sat down in her lap, knees on either side of Sev’s hips. Putting Sev’s face level with Jen’s breasts.
They were very nice breasts.
Sev put a hand on the small of Jen’s back to support her and looked up into her hooded eyes. ‘You don’t waste time, do you?’
‘I don’t hear you complaining.’ She kissed Sev, leaning closer and pushing her down on the bed. Sev kept her arm around Jen’s waist, pulling her along with her. Her skin was hot under Sev’s hands, almost feverish. Burning. It felt appropriate.
Jen pulled off and put her hands on the sheets on either side of Sev’s face, crouching over her.
Oh, the things I could do to you,' she breathed. It should have sounded like ridiculous cheesy boasting, but it didn't, oh god how it didn't.
Sev reached up but Jen caught her wrist and pinned it to the mattress.
‘Look at you,’ Jen said, sounding almost fond. ‘Panting for it, aren’t you?’
‘I’m not - ‘ She trailed her thumb of her free hand over the woman’s spine, tried to ignore the feeling of Jen’s fingers around her other wrist because she didn’t usually like this, she was always the active one, the one who took charge, but the delicate pressure against her tendons was doing her head in. ‘I’m not usually this desperate,’ she managed.
'It's just giving me more to work with, darlin'.'
She bent down and kissed Sev again, slow and deep, her fingers caressing Sev's wrist. 'What do you want?' she whispered. 'Tell me.'
Sev kept her eyes shut. 'I don't give a fuck. Do what you want, just, just do something.’
'Such freedom.' She changed position, one arm supporting her, and stroked Sev's cheek with the back of her fingers. 'Lie still, then.'
She nodded. Jen touched Sev’s knee, stroked up to the inside of her thigh, and stopped moving as her thumb found the scar.
Don't ask, Sev thought, eyes shut. Just don't.
She didn't, thankfully. Her hand went higher, tracing the sensitive skin right on the inside of her thighs. And stopped there, not moving further. Sev opened her eyes. Jen was watching her.
'What – '
She smirked, and – her eyes still on Sev's face – pushed a finger in and up. Sev cursed, legs kicking against the edge of the bed.
'Oh, honey,' the woman said, sliding in a second finger. 'You're beautiful when you're desperate like this. Did you know that?'
Her fingers curled, pressing up just a little harder than was comfortable. Sev bit her lip in attempt to keep quiet, but then the woman's thumb pressed against her and Sev's fingers twisted in the sheets and she cursed, again.
She hadn't been wrong about the desperate.
'Beautiful,' the woman said again. She bent down, licked along Sev's breastbone, gently closed her teeth around Sev's nipple. Her mouth was careful and light and sweet but her fingers were almost violent, still pushing up, just on the edge of painful. The contrast between the two kept her from just giving in to it, made her notice every little detail, and Sev gave up on the sheets and buried her hands in the woman's hair.
A particularly vicious twist of her fingers left Sev gasping. 'I'm - '
'I know.'
Steady circles around her clit and never-ending pressure inside of her and then, just as she was near, the bitch bit down hard and Sev actually yelled when she came, a straight-out breathy shocked-sounding porn shout.
Jen worked her through the aftershocks, stopping just before it became too much. She pulled her fingers out and wiped them on the sheets, and moved up again, leaning on her elbows and hovering over Sev's face.
Sev threw her arms around Jen’s waist, still panting. Jen smiled and pecked her on the lips, strangely chaste after all she'd just done.
Her mouth tasted of powder and lipstick.
Sev stared up at the ceiling as Jen nuzzled along her jaw. Her breathing was coming back, and with it, the little common sense the alcohol hadn’t wiped away. Everything about this felt strange, off. Unusual.
And when the hell had she become a pillow queen, anyway?
She took a deep breath, tightened her hold on Jen's waist, and flipped them around.
'Golly,' Jen laughed, eyes huge. 'Look at you, taking charge.'
Sev lunged and kissed her, and Jen arched up under her. It was a relief to see her do something instinctual like that. Jen seemed so in control all the time it was getting scary.
Jen drew her nails down Sev’s back. ‘Go on then,’ she whispered. ‘Show me what you can do.’
A clear challenge. Sev grinned and went down.
***
When she opened her eyes it was still dark, and the sheets smelled of expensive fabric softener and sex.
Sev blinked sleepily. Time to leave, probably. She took the arm that was holding her around the waist and tried to slip underneath it, but suddenly the arm tightened, trapping her.
'No you're not,' Jen murmured. 'I'm keeping you.'
To Sev’s sleep-addled brain this made perfect sense. She closed her eyes and snuggled back.
***
She woke up with a pounding headache and an as-yet unspecified feeling of unease. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling. Get angry, get drunk, do something questionable and regret it in the morning, that had been her standard MO for these last few years. And this was the part where she slunk off in the night - only it seemed to be light already.
A thud of a cabinet door closing signified someone else was in the room. Another woman. Memories were starting to come back, of pale spidery fingers and a throaty, mocking laugh.
She glanced down at herself and blinked. There were a fair few vivid red scratches, and - she touched her fingers lightly to her nipple and winced - fucking bite marks on her breasts. Definitely time to leave.
She pushed up to her elbows and looked around the room. The door to the bathroom was open, and the woman - Jen, right, that was her name - was standing naked in front of the mirror, dark hair wet and loose against her shoulders.
Without her makeup she looked a little odd, undefined. Even more innocuous-looking than yesterday, but Sev now had a pretty good idea how fucking misleading that first impression had been.
She slid out of the bed and found her pants. She should have left already, should’ve buggered off when it was still dark, the way she always did. She couldn’t remember the last time she had stayed the night.
‘The shower’s free, if you want.’
Sev hopped around, one leg inside her jeans. Jen was leaning in the doorway, completely naked, about as self-conscious as a cat. In the harsh light of day she looked less perfect, too. But all those little imperfections - a tiny scar on her clavicle, stretch marks on her hips - perversely only made her more attractive.
‘Thanks, but I’m leaving,’ Sev said, doing her damned best to keep her eyes on Jen’s face.
‘So soon?’ She pouted. ‘Not even a goodbye kiss?’
Sev pulled her shirt back on and geared up for the post one-night-stand talk. ‘Look, love, this was fun, but I’m really not the type for... ‘
‘For?’
‘Long-term commitment.’ She pulled on her shoes and took her jacket from the chair.
‘I disagree.’
‘Yeah? Well, unfortunately what you think has little to do with it.’ She went to the door, but as she passed Jen’s pale hand caught her arm.
‘Again,’ Jen said, smiling a delicate little smile that bared her incisors, ‘I disagree.’
Sev shrugged her off and left the room.