Her voice trailed off and she rubbed her eyes with the ball of her hand, sighing as she did. “You mean, it was your school.”
Natalie nodded and bit the nail on her thumb. “Yeah, it was my school. It was our street and people I know died. Kids died. We saw … them, I saw a community … my community torn apart.” She took a deep breath and looked up from the salt cellar. “I don't tell many people,” she admitted. “It's not something I want to talk about.”
“But …”
“But it's why I hate guns. Really hate guns. Especially in the hands of nutters,” she said forcefully. “Cos I've seen what happens. It's devastating and a lot of people's lives were fucked as a result of what that monster did. Dangerous people shouldn't have guns.”
Adam waited for Natalie to continue, but she just stared at the salt and remained silent. “But Carl …”
“He is Adam. Really, he is.” She slowly shook her head and looked up at him. “It's pent-up anger, eventually it has to come out. Look at him, you said yourself. He is always got a grudge against someone.”
Adam sighed and took Natalie's hands in his own. “I know, but …”
“No buts, Adam. I've seen what happens. And the guy in Cumbria. And Hungerford. And all sorts. It starts with someone thinking the world is skewed against them. The world is unfair, they are being targeted. And it spirals out of control. You do see that?”
Adam twisted his face and nodded. “Yeah, I can see Carl is a bit excitable at times, ya know.” He shrugged and took a sip of his wine before returning his hand to Natalie's. “We all do, but he's harmless, he thinks he is doing right.”
“And you agree?” Natalie asked withdrawing her hands.
Adam sighed. “I s'pose I don't. Or maybe I did, and I've just seen things differently now. Five years ago, I might have agreed with him on so many things. Now, we barely agree on the football. But that doesn't make him wrong or me right.”
Natalie's eyes narrowed. “He is wrong.”
Adam shrugged. “I'm sure there are parts of the country where certain people do get shafted. And I bet sometimes the Muslim or the Black or the whatever community gets a better deal. But, ya know, I just think he goes over the top.”
“Well that's the point,” Natalie said triumphantly. “He goes over the top. He isn't harmless, he's dangerous.” Adam shook his head and Natalie sighed. “I don't want to tell you who you should be friends with, but Carl he's … he's not right in the head, baby. He needs help.”
Adam sniffed. “He's just a bit BNP-like. You are on the other side … I've seen you with the Guardian.”
Natalie shook her head. “It's a far better paper than the shit you read.” She waited for the inevitable protestations and cleared her throat. “The Express,” Natalie said calmly. “They did a hatchet job on the Dunblane survivors when they got to eighteen. Said they were party animals and posted stuff from social networks. They humiliated people who, when they were mere bairns, watched their classmates murdered in cold blood. So no, I don't like the Express.”
“Oh,” Adam replied tersely. “Sorry,” he muttered and she stroked the back of his hands. “Didn't know.”
Natalie looked up and smiled at him. “How did we get onto this,” she asked. “It's not something I want to talk about.”
“No,” Adam muttered and looked at her. “So how's work?”
“Shit,” Natalie replied and shrugged. “We got people leaving and they ain't being replaced. How the hell am I supposed to run dozens of coaches if I ain't got the staff? Bloody ridiculous.”
Adam sighed and she shrugged. “We could talk about football?”
“I hate football,” Natalie replied with a snort. “What do we have in common?”
“Nudism,” he told her. “We both practice that.”
Natalie smiled. “You only do it under duress.”
“Well,” Adam muttered. “I have sort of got to like it. It's fun.” Natalie spluttered and she looked up at him.
“Only 'cause you get to look at naked women?”
Adam shrugged. “Isn't that, what is called in the trade, a fucking advantage?” Natalie laughed and bit her lip, smiling at her date. “You know what I really want to do,” Adam told her. “Is after our meal go up the local. You don't need a ticket if you are getting in 'fore ten. Have a few drinks and see the New Year in with ya.”
She sniffed. “Ya tellin' me that getting pissed is the only way we can spend time with each other?”
Adam sighed. “No. But I want to see you pissed,” he said smiling at her with a grin. “I think you'll be funny.”
* * * * *
Liam squawked as he was pulled back by Sarah and she pushed him up against a brick wall in the pub. “What the 'ell are you doing here?”
“Olivia and me, just a quiet drink,” Liam replied and shifted.
“On New Year's Eve,” Sarah thundered and crossed her arms, staring at her brother. “How dya get served?”
Liam bit his lip and shifted on the spot. “Well, ya know.”
“No, I don't know.”
“It's … well … I look eighteen.”
“You don't,” Sarah said and she waited for her brother to protest. “You got ID'd going into a 12A at the cinema last year.”
Liam sighed and shrugged. “Well I look eighteen now. It must be Olivia's influence.”
Sarah shook her head and hauled him back as he tried to leave. “Tell me.”
He sighed. “OK. You are not to tell Mum and Dad.”
“I'll be the judge of that,” Sarah said firmly and he grunted.
“Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't sneak off for a crafty drink before you hit eighteen?”
Sarah begrudgingly agreed with him and he took out a student identity card. “Giving 'em away at the Uni in Freshers Week. All I needed was a photo which was easy and there you go.”
“You dishonest, fraudulent …” Sarah spat back as she looked at the ID card containing the photograph of her brother claiming he was a first year student at the University. “You …”
“Clever, huh? It was Olivia's idea.”
“Clever? This is fraud,” Sarah told him. “You could do time for it, you stupid boy.”
“Time? Prison? Don't be ridiculous,” Liam muttered and snatched the card back.
“You two, go home,” Sarah told him and Liam shook his head.
“What's up honey-bun,” Liam's beau cried as she came up to him. “Oh hello Sarah, how's work?”
“You two shouldn't be here – you are sixteen and you are seventeen,” she replied, and pointed to them both in turn. “Go home before I tell the publican and he chucks you out.”
“Oh Sarah,” Liam snapped, annoyed at his sister and scowling. “Just let us have a few.”
Sarah shook her head. “Can't you do what normal sixteen year olds do?”
“What, get drunk in the park and graffiti on the play equipment?” Olivia quipped. “We just came in for a couple of drinks, enjoy the live band and go to my place after midnight.”
“Midnight?”
“Yeah, my Mum's out and my Dad's in London. His teenage mistress is at home from College,” she snapped.
“Yeah, and at least if we stay we are drinking responsibly,” Liam added. “Cause the barman ain't gonna like it if we get too pissed, is he?”
Sarah shook her head and sighed; as much as it pained her, her brother was right. If they stayed then she could keep an eye on them, but there was something about her brother that didn't look right. He looked fidgety and anxious.
“No,” she said. “Go home.”
Olivia sighed. “OK, come on then,” she muttered to Liam. “I'll get the guys from dancing and football 'round,” she said looking at Sarah. “We've got plenty of booze in the cupboard. We can have a drunken orgy.”
Sarah shook her head and watched as her brother left, holding hands, with his girlfriend and idled off down the road towards her house. She turned back and went to the bar. “Two triples,” she ordered,
passing a twenty-pound note to the barmaid. “Vodka with a dash of Coke.”
Sarah went and sat back in the chair with her friends. “I'm gonna kill my brother one day,” she muttered and downed the first one without even pausing for breath.
Chapter XI
“I can't believe you talked me into this,” Natalie cried as she downed a single vodka shot. “I could've been at home, being middle-aged. I'm 23 not 18.”
Adam laughed and took his vodka downing it and turning his shot glass upside down. “What dya fancy next?”
Natalie looked up and down her set of glasses and picked the blended whisky which Adam matched from his set, they clinked it together and downed them.
Natalie coughed, looking at him and tilting her head back up towards the ceiling. “Ah fuck,” she cried.
“Tequila,” Adam suggested pointing to the end shot in his row of five drinks and Natalie shook her head.
“Give me minute,” she begged and took deep breaths, tapping the table.
Adam smirked. “You know the rules,” he teased. Natalie sighed and grunted picking the tequila and downing it. They proceeded to drink all five of the spirits followed by a jug of cocktail and Natalie was alternating between spinning around, falling into people and chatting loudly with Adam.
They spilled out of the pub at two in the morning, Natalie falling into the road, and Adam had to grab her. She smiled at him, knocking her head to one side. “You saved me,” she shouted playfully and gripped Adam's hand, zigzagging down the road towards their house.
“Your drunk,” Adam told the inebriated girl and Natalie shook her head.
“I'm not,” she started and then burped. “OK, 'es I am.” She giggled and jumped over a puddle, landing in it and soaking the bottom of her trousers.
“You are so pissed,” Adam said with a grin. “You are gonna have such a hangover tomorr-a.”
Natalie tutted in annoyance and pulled Adam around a corner into their road. “This way silly,” she tutted and Adam shook his head.
“Was going to cross,” he told her and Natalie skipped into the side street to reach the other pavement. “Has anyone ever told you that you are crazy?” he told her and Natalie nodded, pulling out keys and throwing them up the air. They missed the drain by inches and Adam shook his head, allowing the drunken girl to unlock the front door and fall into the house.
“Get your clothes off,” she told him before she had even closed the door and Adam smiled, kicking off his trainers.
“Not the first drunken girl to have told me that,” he teased and Natalie looked at him, unbuttoning his shirt. “Easy tiger,” he muttered but Natalie shook her head and leant in to kiss him, pushing him back against the wall. She was panting, her hands, frantically playing with his belt as their tongues explored each other's mouth and she felt Adam's cold hands reach the waistband of her jeans, sliding them down with her underwear caught inside his thumbs.
“Fuck this,” she muttered and kicked off her jeans, dragging the naked man up the stairs by the hand.
“Nat,” he muttered, but there was no response from the curvy Scottish girl as she unlocked her bedroom door and threw off her top, followed by her bra.
Adam hesitated and she kissed him again, allowing his hands to wander over her flanks and her smooth rear. She reached around to touch his arse, pulling him towards her and then slipped her hand between them to stroke his cock. He sighed, and she broke the kiss, looking into his eyes with a smile.
“Come here,” she breathed passionately, throwing him onto her double bed with purple bedding and climbed on top of him, eagerly wrapping her lips around his member, and presenting her moist opening to Adam. Natalie purred as his lips touched hers, his tongue sliding down her slickness. Natalie groaned in heavenly appreciation and ran her tongue along the tip of Adam's glans.
He grunted, his body tensing up and she slid a finger into her mouth and then traced the wet digit down his cock and past his testicles, pressing against his perineum. She felt Adam's legs tense and quiver as her mouth sucked on the head of his cock, swishing the very tip with her tongue and massaging the glans with her lips.
He inhaled sharply as her mouth danced over his sensitive organ and grunted, but Natalie pressed her own loins back into his face, demanding that he resume his own oral duties. Adam flicked her clitoris with his tongue, feeling the Scottish girl's thighs quiver against his ears, and her pressing his face into her mattress.
He gasped for air, sucking in her musky scent and slid his tongue along her crevice, poking at her hole before sucking on her pearl again.
She grunted, moving her hair out of the way as she slid down his shaft with her mouth, rolling her tongue around his manhood as she slid up and down. She could feel an intense build up of excitement in her loins, crying out as Adam lapped at her button.
She squealed, her muscles shaking and her body trembling as it neared release. She gasped, took a deep breath and cried out, the sounds of orgasm echoing in the room.
She slouched forward, Adam's erect cock lying underneath her chin, as she bucked and rocked back, forcing Adam's tongue further into her hole, and across her perineum.
She gasped in delight as his tongue flicked her bud, gripping the duvet and nasally grunting into Adam's thighs. “Ah shit, ahh yeah, ahh …”
She trailed off, her voice being replaced by higher pitched grunting and squealing as Adam flicked her anus and she drove her loins into his face, so his tongue went back to her clitoris. Adam wrapped his arms around her thighs and steadied her frantic motions before sucking on her pearl.
He moved his hands and took her breasts in his hands, squeezing them gently and rubbing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Natalie exploded into passionate, animal-like cries, banging the bed in lust and gripping the head of her partner between the thighs. “Ahhh shit,” she yelled and tensed her entire body, as she held her breath; the powerful climax cascading through her body.
She squealed loudly, gasping for air and slouched forward, resting for a moment. She put her hand between her legs to stop Adam lavishing more attention on her hypersensitive genitals and took deep breaths.
Adam waited for her to turn around and she kneeled on the bed, looking around to see him. “Ya got a condom?”
Adam nodded and reached for his keys but Natalie shook her head and reached into her drawer, selecting a brightly coloured packet and ripped it open, twisting her body so she could press the teat and slide it down Adam's appendage. He looked into her eyes, and she smiled at him, blowing him a kiss, before twisting her body back into the “doggy” position and guiding Adam into her waiting orifice.
Adam sighed. “Oh Nat,” he cried as he gently pushed in, causing her to gasp. She tilted her body downwards and groaned loudly as Adam's gentle thrusting rubbed alongside her vaginal wall. Natalie slid a hand along the bed and touched her clitoris, rubbing it in circles as Adam began to build up a rhythm, taking long, drawn out strokes into the Scottish girl and gripping the top of her thighs to leverage his cock deep into her.
Natalie was hollering and crying out, her body being pounded by Adam, gleefully ramming his sheathed cock into her. Natalie was seeing stars, her body delirious with the first sex she had had for over two months and panted desperately as her breathing became ragged.
She felt Adam's fingers grip on the top of her thighs and his cock twitch inside of her, filling the condom and he groaned loudly as his thrusting slowed to a gentle pace. Natalie closed her eyes, savouring the last sparks of lustful energy from her loins and sighed in satisfaction.
They remained attached for a few moments until Natalie slid forward and grabbed some tissues, kissing the mouth of her partner and rubbing his chest hair. She put the tissues in his hand giggling and blew him a kiss. She got down from the bed and walked over to the door.
“Where you going?” Adam asked.
“Toilet,” she replied with a smirk and returned a few moments later to see the used condom in her bin and Adam h
esitating. “Get into bed,” she told him firmly and opened the duvet for him to climb in and curled her hand over his body.
“Natalie,” he whispered.
“What?”
“That was great,” he told her. “You were great.”
Natalie giggled and squeezed Adam a bit tighter, before gently drifting off to sleep.
It took the light streaming in through the crack in her curtains to wake her, and she rubbed his eyes, looking over at her partner in her bed. “Oh shit,” she cried as she squeezed the furrowed brow on her forehead.
Adam stirred and opened his eyes, squawking as he rubbed his eyes. “Ahh shit,” he mumbled. “Did we, ya know?”
Natalie looked over at the door and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the pathetic January light that streamed through the gap in her curtains. She focused around the bin and saw a condom draped over the side of the plastic bucket. She threw her head back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. “Fuck. We did.”
Adam groaned as he moved his legs and then stretched his muscles. “Christ,” he muttered and put his hands over his warm partner. “Well I think it was nice.”
Natalie removed his hand from her waist and brushed against his erect cock. He sighed and she pulled the covers from her body and stumbled out of her bed, grabbing hold of an abandoned T-Shirt and scrambling to her feet. Adam sighed and pushed himself into the bed.
Natalie gripped hold of the banister rail as she went down the stairs to use the toilet and then fell into the lounge at the bottom of the stairs. “Sarah's pissed as well,” Tabitha muttered as Natalie threw herself into the sofa.
“I'she?” Natalie mumbled. “Twas New Year.”
Tabitha snarled and got up, offering the hungover Scottish girl a glass of water which was gratefully accepted. Tabitha returned from the kitchen with two tablets and a pint of water which Natalie gratefully took. “You heard us?” Natalie asked and Tabitha smiled. “Was blind drunk,” the hungover girl muttered as she swallowed the two tablets.
“What about the rest of your senses?” Tabitha asked with a grin and Natalie groaned rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah, I know. You know I get horny when I get smashed.”
Tabitha snorted. “So does Sarah. But she can't be getting that pissed when she is a mother.” Tabitha rubbed her belly and looked at Natalie. “We are pregnant and she forgets that.”