[JEMMA]

1:23am.

The lights were out, the family asleep. When the phone rang, Susan reached for it sleepily. "Hello?"

"Hello Susan. It's Matt," purred the soft voice in her ear.

Instantly awake, heart pounding, she scrambled out of bed and took the phone with her out into the hall. He kept talking.

"I've been thinking about the other day," he murmured in her ear. She pulled the door closed without latching it, behind her.

"What the hell are you thinking?! Calling at this hour?" she hissed into the phone.

"I was thinking you should come over to please me." Behind her she could hear her husband, Jim moving in the bed.

"Now?!? Are you mad?" She cracked the door and peeked into the bedroom to check on him.

"Susan? Who is it?" Jim's sleepy voice called. She didn't think he was really awake, but she answered him.

"It's nothing hon, just a wrong number. Go back to sleep."

The voice in her ear laughed. "Susan, I'm not crazy. Just horny. I keep seeing you naked body. Hearing the sounds of your pleasure."

Jim rolled over in the bed. "Okay dear." She closed the door again.

"Look," she whispered into the phone again, "I can't. There's no way."

"I'm sorry to hear that." A pause. Then she heard a deep breath as her heart thudded in her chest, her ears. "Can I speak to Jim? Or should I talk with him in the morning?"

She sagged against the wall. "No," she sighed. Internally she was kicking herself. "I'll be over soon."

"Susan..."

"Yes?"

"I want you to wear something slutty. I'll be waiting."

"I don't have anything slutty." She opened the door a crack again, looking in.

"Nothing you wear for Jim? A little outfit, perhaps?"

"I told you before. He's not into any of that stuff."

"Well you'll have to figure something out, won't you?" he asked with an evil chuckle. "I want my slut to look the part."

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. He laughed again.

"See you soon." Click.

She hung up, closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. Tried to still her pounding heart.

The phone rang again, and she nearly dropped it.

"What?!" she hissed at him. "You want him awake, don't you!"

"You may want to tell him something, in case he wakes up. This may take a while."

"I haven't got a clue what to say."

Jim stirred again in the bedroom. "Honey?"

Hoping he couldn't hear the tremor in her voice, she she called softly into him, "It's okay love, really. Go back to sleep."

"Surely you have a friend how needs your help. You'll think of something." Matt hung up again.

Susan hit the "off" button on the phone and headed back into the bedroom, thinking furiously. She put the phone back into its cradle and sat down on the bed.

"Who was that?" he asked sleepily. She stroked his hair, and he shifted over to her, laying his head against her leg. "I love you, you know that?" He draped his arm around her.

"It's Jane, from down the street. Her baby's sick, she's not sure if she needs to take him to the hospital, and her husband's out of town. She asked me if I could help, and if need be, stay there with the older kids." A lump rose in her throat. "And I love you too."

She bent to kiss him, and then got up. Opening the bottom dresser drawer, she started to pull clothes out, knowing that Jim wouldn't suspect what she was looking for.

"You're such a good friend to her. You know they've been having problems... I've been talking with her husband about it." He yawned.

"Yes," she responded, distracted. "She told me."

"Stay as long as you need to, my love." He rolled back over and was shortly snoring softly again.

She dug deeper in the drawer until her fingers found - there. Pulling the garment out, she looked at it in the dim light from the night light in the hall. A black bustier, given to her almost ten years ago as a bridal shower gift, worn only twice. Jim had liked it well enough, but wasn't too interested. So she had buried it away in the dresser, and had nearly forgotten it was there. Why she hadn't thrown it away when they'd moved, she didn't know.

Finding the accessories that went with it took a little more doing. But she gathered everything together, along with a simple dress out of the closet, and went to the bathroom to change. She pulled off her robe and nightgown, then dressed quickly. She'd forgotten to bring the phone in with her, and didn't want to risk Matt calling back if she took too long.

The bustier fit a little differently now, but that was understandable, it had been nearly a decade after all. And she'd had a baby. But it did still fit. Over this she pulled the loose dress, buttoned down the front.

She went down the hall, she had reached the steps when she heard a soft, "Mommy?"

Susan turned and went to her daughter's room. "Go back to sleep sweetheart," she said, giving the eight year old a hug and a kiss. Lindsay was asleep again almost immediately, as children do, and never felt her mother's tears on her cheek.

With a heavy sigh, she left the house after pulling on a light jacket. She walked through the dead leaves in the yard, trying not to make too much noise, grateful that Matt's back porch light wasn't on.

She knocked on the door. He opened it, dressed in a worn bathrobe, a glass of red wine in his hand.

"You took your time, I'm not happy about that."

"I had to think of something to tell him, didn't I?"

He just snorted at that. "Not my problem. Would you like some wine?" Still standing in the doorway, he offered her his wine glass.

"No."

"It's Merlot."

"No, thank you."

"It's a good vintage."

"I'm sure it is."

"Suit yourself. Come in."

She stepped past him into the messy living room, holding her jacket tightly around her. He closed the door and walked over. As she looked around the room, noting the dirty dishes on the coffee table, video tapes and CDs scattered around, he turned her to face him and wrapped his arms around her.

She didn't pull away, but she stiffened in his arms. As he leaned in to kiss her, she could smell the wine on his breath.

"Mmmmm, Susan," he breathed, drinking in her scent, "I can't wait to see what you have in store."

"What "I" have in store?" But he didn't answer her, instead pulling her close and pressing his lips to hers. She let him kiss her, thinking to herself, "If I don't respond, maybe, maybe then it'd be over faster, or better yet, he'll lose interest." Even as she thought it though, she felt her resolve waning.

His hands slid down her to her ass, and he pulled her close, his hard cock pressing against her. She couldn't help herself, she started to kiss him back. It did feel good... No one had ever touched her in this kind of way before. As if he owned her. Then she remembered what he'd said the first time. He did own her, in a way. She hated it. And she loved it. And she hated that too.

She took some small comfort in the fact that while he had forced her, it hadn't been violent. He hadn't hurt her. And he had said he'd been attracted to her since she'd moved in. "It's not much," she thought to herself, "but it's something."

Letting her hands slip around his waist, she continued to kiss him back. She wanted to forget who this was, to pretend it was her husband, but she couldn't, quite. His hands moved back up, this time under her jacket, exploring the curves of her body.

He broke the kiss, "I can see you're liking this, aren't you?" She flushed and looked away. This was NOT the way a married woman was supposed to behave. He released her.

"Take off your coat and go up stairs to my room."