Free Midnight's Lair by Richard Laymon

stiffened.
        'Kyle, don't,' she whispered.
        'It's all right.' He moved the sweater out of his way. He squeezed her breast through the blouse and bra. 'Nobody can see anything.'
        'What if the lights come on?'
        So it was okay with her; she just didn't want to get caught. 'If they do, I'll stop.'
        'I don't know.'
        He covered her mouth with his lips. She was breathing hard and trembling. He fumbled with buttons, opened a way in her blouse, and slipped his hand inside. Some of her breast wasn't covered by the bra. He caressed its smooth warmth. She moaned into his mouth, a moan that seemed partly desire and partly protest. Then Kyle pushed his fingers under the bra. She flinched and squirmed.
        'No, don't.'
        'It won't hurt anything,' he said, digging deeper into the yielding flesh until his fingertips found the rigid post of her nipple.
        She yanked his hand away. She held it motionless by the wrist. 'I told you no, Kyle.'
        'I thought you liked me,' he said.
        'I do. But… you're going too fast. I've never let anyone… There are people all around us.'
        'I don't see any.'
        'Silly.' She squeezed his wrist. Then she guided his hand through the blackness and placed it on her breast. He felt the blouse. 'Outside my clothes, okay?'
        'But your skin is so smooth and nice.'
        'Kyle.'
        'Please?'
        'Do you promise to leave my bra alone? And not go below the waist?'
        'I promise.'
        'Okay.'
        She released his wrist.
        Kyle unfastened the other buttons, then slid his hand inside her blouse.
         Pretty soon she'll let me undo her bra, he thought. Pretty soon, she'll let me do everything.
        
***
        
        'She took your car?' Darcy asked.
        'And my stereo and VCR and all the cash in the house.'
        'That's awful. After everything you did for her.'
        'Well, she was such a mess,' Greg said. 'I was pretty upset for a while, but I was relieved, too. It was no kind of relationship. Once the shock wore off, I realized how lucky I was to be rid of her.'
        'Did you love her?'
        'I don't know. I thought so. At first, anyway. She was very attractive and vulnerable, and she needed me. There was certainly a strong element of sexual attraction. But putting up with her…'
        'It must've been terrible.'
        'On top of everything else - her fits of rage and jealousy and all the rest - she tried to commit suicide twice, and one night I woke up and found her holding a butcher knife to my throat.'
        'Good Christ.'
        'She said I'd put a radium bulb in the bedside lamp to poison her chromosomes.'
        'I don't know how you could live with that kind of thing.'
        'It wasn't easy. I kept hoping she'd get better. But she'd come back from the clinics and be fine for a while and then it would all start up again. I felt totally trapped. I really wanted her out of my life, but she was so dependent on me - I knew she'd go off the deep end if I tried to throw her out.'
        'Why did she finally take off like that?'
        'I don't have any idea. As crazy as she was, maybe she decided I was plotting against her. Maybe she met someone at one of the bars. I just don't know. I'm just thankful that she left.'
        'Do you think she'll come back?'
        'She's been gone more than a year, now, so I doubt it.'
        'And you haven't been… involved with a woman since she left?'
        'No. And it's been wonderfully peaceful.'
        'So, you've let your experiences with Martha turn you off completely to…'
        'Not turn me off, just make me careful. The last thing I need is to get messed up with another emotional crip - what's that…?' His voice stopped.
        Darcy tensed.
        Greg's hand tightened on her shoulder.
        She listened. The sound came from behind her - from the elevator shafts? A