Giving Up (20 page)

intruders in their own home
, feeling their way through the darkness to the ratty couch. James carefully gathers the papers and books piled on the cushions and soundlessly places them in neat stacks on the floor. Mary waits wordlessly for him to finish and then they lie down together in the spoon position. The faint sound of the doorbell drifts around upstairs, followed by the dull thudding of someone's fist against the door. James runs his fingers over the waistband of her pyjama bottoms and Mary pushes her ass into his crotch. He pulls her shirt up and squeezes her breasts with his free hand as she squirms against him. Her shirt is up around her neck and his arm is pinned under her shoulders so it juts out awkwardly, and she's reached back behind her to clumsily rub him over his jeans. They suddenly get fed up with this position. James jerks his arm out from under Mary, raises himself on his elbow so he can get his cock out while Mary turns face down and tugs her pants to her knees. Then he straddles her legs and she reaches back and spreads her ass cheeks, but he can't manage it with his jeans still on, so he rolls on his side and pulls them off. ‘Hurry up,' she hisses. Someone is still ringing the doorbell. He gets back on top of her but with her legs pressed together he's having a hard time pushing into her. ‘Just go,' she moans, and with that he forces himself all the way into her cunt. He braces his arms on either side of her and they have at it like that, in a total frenzy. ‘I'm going to come,' he says, and when he rolls off of her she starts to laugh. ‘What is it,' he whispers, but she's laughing hysterically and doesn't answer. He starts laughing along with her, occasionally uttering ‘What?' and then waiting before asking again, ‘What is it?' When she finally calms down she rolls over to face him and, even though there are no lights on, the little window right above them lets in enough streetlight for him to see that her face is covered in tears. ‘I came at the same time,' she says. He falls back on the couch and starts laughing again, now just as hysterically as Mary had been. ‘Just like in the movies,' she blurts out before she starts laughing again. ‘It must be a sign,' he manages to get out between fits of giggling. ‘Exactly,' she says, ‘it means we're meant to be together.' They both roar at this for a while before settling back down so they're lying on their sides, facing each other and smiling. The doorbell sounds out above them. ‘That must be the neighbours about their cat,' she says. ‘Or maybe it's the stranger,' he whispers. She smiles, assuming he's trying to be funny. ‘I almost wish it was.' They both stare at the basement stairs. ‘Well,' she says, ‘we should probably go tell them what happened.'

About the Author

Mike Steeves lives with his wife and child in Montreal.
Giving Up
is his first novel.

Colophon

Distributed in Canada by the Literary Press Group
www.lpg.ca

Distributed in the US by Small Press Distribution
www.spdbooks.org

Shop online at
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Edited for the press by Malcolm Sutton

Copy edited by Ruth Zuchter

Print edition designed by Malcolm Sutton