an archer can always spot an easy mark
David was out on a call for the traditional Friday night dinner, which Regina couldn't be happier about not only because she couldn't really stand the man, but when the two Nolan's were together, it made everything even more awkward. Kathryn would always shift attention to how Regina always ended up a third wheel, and how they should find someone to make their dinners a double date, and David had a tendency to verbally poke at Kathryn when he was bored and had these dinners forced on him. So, then they would fight, in the most passive aggressive way possible, which was partly fascinating to witness the layers of bitterness, but mostly it was just terribly uncomfortable.
The dinner was more uneventful this way, just idle work chit chat, and mostly Regina listening to all the stories that David never cared enough to hear from her days as treasurer. While the two city workers were in the kitchen cleaning up and finishing their wine that they started during the meal, Kathryn brought up the subject she was making a habit of bringing up lately.
"Sidney was asking about you today." It was spoke with a high and teasing tone, and Regina rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Of course he was." She mumbled under her breath, not doing well to hide her annoyance and disdain.
"I don't know why you don't give him a chance." Kathryn went on with a sigh, loving the idea of playing matchmaker between the mayor and the chief editor of the local newspaper. "You're not getting any younger." She finished with a tease that bordered on cruel as usual.
"He certainly isn't either." Regina threw back along with another generous drink of her wine.
"So snarky today." The blonde replied, only half joking, because Regina was on edge tonight. In fact, she had been all week. The guilt of what happened between her and M last weekend hadn't exactly dimmed as the week went on, but all those knots in her stomach just shifted into a tense kind of anger, feeling paranoid and exposed at every turn.
"He's a paparazzi wannabe, always flashing that camera of his towards his next exploitation piece." She went on, trying to explain it as clearly as she could to her friend that was not accustomed to taking 'no' as an answer. "I'm sorry if I don't find his smarmy personality appealing."
"He's also head over heels for you," She went on, undeterred by the mayor as always. If Kathryn wanted something, she didn't relent until she got it, and that was something known to many more people than just Regina and David. "So, if you told him you were attracted to the personality of a circus clown, then that man would put on makeup and learn how to juggle."
The rest of Regina's wine disappeared so that she could start looking for an escape route for this evening.
"I'm not interested in dating right now, clown or not. I need to focus on the re-election campaign."
"There's more important things in life than elections." She insisted, as if there was any other reason she was trying to tie those two together.
"We both know Sydney is not one of those things." The mayor spoke pointedly, and bit more bravely than she usually did with Kathryn, thinking that the wine must have been making her bold. That was definitely a sign that this evening had to end.
"You should consider this more seriously, Regina." As spoken, a serious tone did settle in the room, and it felt sudden to the older woman, feeling her guard go up and shoulders tense. Her head felt too light to reply confidently, and she cursed drinking her last glass of wine so quickly. "You know I'm not one to participate in rumors, but rumors are heard nonetheless."
A beat of silence felt like a drawn out and loud threat, it felt like she was pushing Regina against the wall, it was obvious and left no room for misinterpretation.
"It's a good thing I have a friend in my corner to deter such trivial things." The mayor spoke monotone, trying to match the tone of her counterpart, but the fight just wasn't in her. It didn't sting as much as it should have. With a sigh, she glanced at her watch then back at Kathryn. "I have an early morning."
The Treasurer simply nodded once, her blue eyes piercing into brown, dissecting and categorizing everything she could get a hold of.
It's been a week, but Regina still walked down this block. Weather didn't always permit, and it was anything but on the way to her house, still the mayor walked down this particular block.
And every time, she regretted it.
Especially tonight, with Kathryn's words from earlier still mulling around in her head, as she discreetly glanced at the few passing people, mumbled pleasantries when allowed, and silently cursed herself for being so stupid and foolish. This block she walked down was where she had stopped the altercation between Dr. Whale and M. It was the block where her car broke down at weeks ago.
It wasn't as if she hoped to see the call girl again, because maybe hope wasn't the right word. It wasn't something so intended and in her control, but more as if it was pulling her towards this block. Pulling her as if her steps were already written out. She could drive home, have her dinner and get her restless night sleep, safely and securely, or she could be dumb and dangerous and filled with regret.
Fate seemed to have chosen which path she was going to go down.
Suddenly, as she was lost in thought, Regina heard a catcall whistle from down the alleyway that the mayor was passing by, and it made her freeze and shoulders tense. The very short list of people who would do that to the mayor ran through her mind and the idea of it being David made her cringe. Regina snapped her head to look in the direction of the sound, a scowl already set on her face, but once she saw M it softened without thinking. Her stomach flipped without her permission as well, taking a quick glance from side to side down the street before ducking into the small alleyway.
When Regina started to approach, she took a few steps back, blocking any passerbyers from noticing them against the brick of the building. It gave her a moment longer to take in M's short black dress that barely covered her thighs, and a black jean jacket that looked like it had seen better days and didn't give much protection for the chill in the air. As usual though, she seemed unaffected.
"How are you not cold?" Regina finally asked in bit of an annoyed marveling. The younger woman just smirked.
"I am cold. Come warm me up." She teased, leaning against the building they were standing by, and beckoning with a wave of her finger.
"You've got to be joking." Regina gave flippantly, scanning the space around them for good measure. As if the mayor would actually do anything so scandalous in this back alley, but still the idea of it formed in her head. Her throat got tight thinking of the other woman's bare leg wrapped around her hip, and hands pressed against the brick wall with heavy breathing blocking out the sound of the street.
"I live close by." M went on to say with a nod off her head, causing the mayor to look down the back way of the alley, where there was gravel instead of roads, and a stagnant fog from the threat of rain and absence of movement. It seemed like a child's cautionary tale, to go down the dark road of sin with a stranger or stay where there's street lights and familiar things and people. "No one will see us." M went on, her smirk not as dark as the mayor expected, but more soft-deceptively understanding.
If they were on Main street, and the alley attached parallel, that must have been Ruther drive, Regina went on to speculate, trying to place where on earth this girl could live, and wondering if this night was going to end in something worse than regret.
The younger woman took her silence as a forfeit though, rolling green eyes and shrugging before walking backwards and away from Regina.
"Suit yourself." She simply stated, as if it was the easiest thing to leave her in this alley like she never showed up to begin with, and Regina could just walk this block every night for the rest of her life like some sort of purgatory, for all M cared. That was just unacceptable to the mayor, causing her to grab a hold of the younger woman's arm just as she started to turn away and move out of her grasp.
She didn't want to grab at her like the woman was her property, she didn't have any claim to her, but nothing compared to the way it felt to have those heavy green eyes watching her. Nothing else, and it made her feel like she was unraveling. Now M was looking back at her just like she wanted, but with a smile that told Regina it should've taken more convincing than that. It reminded the mayor how easy she was, and that smug smirk was like an arrow aimed at a mark. The shame started to rise up in Regina along with the red in her cheeks.
"Why there?" She asked nervously, not letting go of the other woman's arm, but the hold grew soft and lingered while M seemed to glide back into Regina's space.
"It's warm." The call girl hummed with a low tone that made the older woman swallow hard. "Don't you want to warm me up?" One pale hand moved up to run along the lapels of the Mayor's beige wool coat.
"I shouldn't." Regina whispered, utterly conflicted now that she had the rapt attention of those vast eyes. There were a lot of 'shouldn't's running through her head right now, a lot of warning bells and whistles, but it felt so much better than the deafening sound of silence that the weeks brought. The hand that was running along the outside of her coat, shifted to move along the silk of her blouse. It was getting harder and harder for Regina to find a steady breath.
"I've been thinking about you." M confessed, her body too close to the older woman's, it all looked far too conspicuous, but neither one seemed to care at the moment.
"Really?" She whispered back, a tinge of disbelief in her voice.
"The weeks get hard, doing the same thing, the same faces and same job. Until all you want to do is scream, just to feel like you're still real." The older woman didn't usually appreciate being psychoanalyzed, especially in such general terms with makeshift philosophies, but M's voice was pulling cords somewhere in her mind that she couldn't reach on her own. "Stability is a disease." She finished softly, but if felt as sharp as a knife.
"What's the alternative?" Regina asked, fighting against the sting of the cut. "Chaos?"
That brought the brightest smile to flash across the younger woman's face, like Regina just won't the prize-winning question. One hundred watts and blinding.
"Of course. Your own personal chaos."
She was engulfing the Mayor's senses, every single one, making her feel so dizzy she thought she would pass out. She needed an anchor in the shape of M's body wrapped around her. Regina knew though that an anchor could ground you just as well as it could sink you.
When the call girl walked away from her again, Regina didn't fight it. She only followed her down the alley, and straight to hell for all she knew.
M didn't give Regina a grand tour of the loft apartment when they walked in, only opened the door for the mayor and made a beeline for the bathroom.
"I'm going to powder my nose really quick. The bed's over there." She tossed over her shoulder, pointing to some curtains and blankets that were creating a makeshift wall on the far end of the apartment. Her place was a lot bigger than Regina expected, and admittedly cleaner. But that could just be from lack of things occupying it. It was had maybe one or two pieces of furniture. A metal folding table by the kitchen and an old futon in front of a television that was sitting directly on the floor. She walked a little further in, examining the area, some unpacked boxes, and bare looking kitchen counters. The whole place was open, no real walls or rooms to speak of, and its decorative potential was very unappreciated by M, that much was obvious.
Her musings of the other woman's living space was interrupted eventually by M's return from the bathroom, and noticing that Regina was still standing near the door with her coat on and hands in her pocket. The call girl quickly slid her jacket off her shoulders and tossed it on the back of her futon while gliding over to the mayor.
"Well, don't get too comfortable, next you'll want to move in." She gave sarcastically, causing a wry smile from the other woman.
"Your place is very…spacious." Regina finished quietly, getting distracted by eyes that were on her like she was prey, albeit more bloodshot eyes than they were before the trip to the bathroom, but whatever edges it softened for the call girl, it certainly didn't dim the passion she had towards the mayor.
"You flatter me." M gave with a smirk and then a shrug. "I had roommates for a while, but when they left I stayed and…-" there was a lost look that overtook her eyes as her voice trailed off, one that resembled a memory that was forgotten, and it seemed eerily familiar to Regina. Soon enough though, she visibly shook herself out of it and set her gaze back onto the older woman seductively. "Let me show you the bedroom."
Her hands went to the lapels of Regina's coat once more, making moves to slide it off her shoulders, but something about the sudden proximity of M and the weight of what was happening made the woman freeze at the action, shrugging away from the call girl with a grimace. It felt like she couldn't get a breath suddenly.
"Just-wait…"
"Slow and sweet starts to get expensive, Ms. Mills." She said with an edge in her voice, sniffing a little which made M rub at her noise and grimace. "You do have the cash on you, right?" It seemed like a question the younger woman should've asked before now, and the slip was obvious to both of them.
This was a good time for Regina to run, it was always the part where she had the most doubts, this part that makes it real, that lets her know without question that M didn't care who she was or what she wanted, as long as she had a couple of hundred dollars at the end of the hour. It was almost enough to change her mind all together and leave. Almost.
She reached into her purse and pulled out two neatly folded hundred-dollar bills. Right next to those two, were two more hundreds and Regina considered giving her enough for two hours before the idea gave her a new wave of anxiety.
She handed M the money without making eye contact, but her gaze did linger on the slow Cheshire cat smile that crept up on the younger woman's lips.
"Were you hoping to run into me again?" She asked shamelessly, slipping the money into the drawer of a nearby nightstand.
"It crossed my mind." Regina answered quietly and M's face grew serious as she closed the space between them again, with softer intent and a gaze that seemed less inclined to tear her apart.
"Did I go too fast last time? Freak you out?" She asked sincerely, making the Mayor's breath catch at the tone she didn't think she's ever heard M use before. Regina swayed a bit closer to her, until their bodies were almost touching.
"No, that wasn't it."
"You felt something with me?"
She couldn't even respond to such a simple question, asked as if there was an equally simple answer. It wasn't even that she felt something good, or right. It was that she felt something powerful, something visceral. Something dark and deep finding its home in Regina's head, and the Mayor hasn't felt right since. A subjective term, but regardless the something she felt wasn't good, but it was something.
M took Regina's silence in stride, smiling as if she answered anyway.
"It's okay, you're supposed to feel something. We need something that pulls at us on the inside, right?" She asked, almost genuinely, like she really did need to know that other people needed the same things she did. Regina nodded, because she felt like there would be no more right answer than that. "You want to have boring sex with some boring husband you don't even love, you'd be doing that." M moved hands over the other woman's shoulders, letting her coat fall to the floor carelessly, then lingered with the heat of her hands burning through the other woman's skin, placed along the first done up button. "You want something real though." The words have a growl to them, grabbing at the blouse tight and her pull was rough. It sent heat straight to Regina's core, because she was right. M made her feel real. She didn't even know what that meant, but it felt like it fit.
"Are you real?"
Regina finally asked breathlessly, later as M was straddling her waist on the bed. She still had her short black dress on, which got shorter and shorter as she rocked her hips along with the other woman's, sending waves of pleasure through both of them. The mayor's pants were practically the first thing to go, right after her coat. She still had her long sleeve blouse on, but all the button where undone and it barely stayed on the woman's shoulders. Undone was an accurate word. Everything was unfocused except this force of nature on top of her.
"Pinch me and find out." M retorted with a smirk and rasp in her voice, reaching down and taking Regina's hands in hers, leading them up to the younger woman's hips. They stayed in place obediently-maybe it wasn't obedience, but more of a strong willingness. Only a moment later, she pulled her own dress up and over her head, tossing it behind her without care. The breath stopped in Regina's lungs at the action and sight of her body bared, only left wearing barely-there black panties, caused the older woman's body to catch on fire. The flame was tended to by hands that were now focused between her legs, M's fingers working her way past the thin cotton that was keeping her from the prize. "Better yet," The call girl said in a barely there whisper, but Regina could see the words form on her lips, right before she felt M inside her. The mayor arched her back and groaned at the feeling. She was burning up already, nerves all raw and too close, too fast. She seemed to be the only easy one in this room tonight.
The younger woman's movements became more impassioned the closer Regina got to her release, leaning over and holding herself up with one hand, as her eyes grew dark and hooded. Regina's hands slid up M's pale hips and over the curves, moving along her sides and suddenly she felt the swell of her breasts resting heavy in her hands. Hard nipples brushed against her fingers which caused the woman on top of her to arch her back, pressing against the sudden sensation and the sound of the unexpected moan resonating out of those lips had Regina coming against M's fingers with a quick and intense rush.
"That felt real." Regina murmured once her brain seemed to be working again, and after M rolled off her and laid on her side next to the other woman. Still her brain wasn't working so well that the reality of their situation started to weigh on her either. It was all still fuzzy, the feeling of sex still lingering in their space.
"I'm just getting warmed up," M practically hummed into Regina's ear, causing her body feel a little aftershock of her orgasm. When the older woman shifted onto her side too, facing M, and went to move her hand back on the ivory skin of her waist, she was denied by a gentle tap on the back of her hand and a few brisk 'tsks'. The mayor met her gaze and showed some offense on her face. "Unfortunately, your hour is over Madame Mayor."
"What?" Regina felt like she may have lost a few moments in the heat of the moment, but it certainly hadn't been an hour yet.
"It started when you followed me into the alley, and if you'd like to stay and watch me finish, it's going to cost you." M said with more playfulness in her tone than her words would imply, but still Regina wanted to laugh in her face and storm out, or just maybe give a sneer then walk out briskly. Or just leave at the simple implication that she wouldn't be able to. She wanted to leave. There was that certain something that was raw behind M's eyes though, something real that made this mundane grey cloud around her thoughts clear. The vulnerability that the younger woman has been giving since they got into this bed-she didn't want to leave that. She had her claws in the mayor now, and they watched each other in a standoff to see how strong the hold was. Regina already knew deep down that she would never be free of this girl now, and only hoped the ride to hell with her wasn't too painful.
The mayor got out of bed, only to grab another two hundred from her purse, and M's smirk made her feel like an easy mark all over again.
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