Her Loss, His Gain

Nora stood in the doorway with her arms full of bags, her eyes hollow. Cal took the groceries without asking and stepped past her. The door shut behind him like a cell. Inside she talked, then she broke. Words poured out—her husband gone, the baby they never got to make. Cal listened. Then he offered himself like a knife in silk. "Let me put one in you," he said. She stared, stunned, but the hole inside her pulled her forward. She let him take her on the kitchen table, legs spread, her body begging while her mind floated somewhere else. He fucked her slow, deep, talking low about the life he’d plant in her. She came with tears on her face. Afterward he zipped up, looked down at her and smiled like the devil just won. "Your husband didn’t die in a hit-and-run," he said. "I ran him down. Now you’re mine."