George stared at her warily. She raised her hand and automatically he flinched. He heard her deep throaty chuckle, then felt her cool hands on his face as she caressed him. The hands moved down his body on to his chest, moving in circular motions that made his skin prickle. Against his will he felt the erection and pulled the sheets up over his stomach. Nancy pulled them down and grinned at him.

‘You wouldn’t leave your mummy, Georgie boy, would you?’

Her voice was husky and George could smell her perfume as she moved nearer.

He was willing her to go away. Begging her in his mind to leave him alone, but the habits of childhood are hard to break. He associated Nancy with excitement. He felt her fingers grasp his penis, and closed his eyes tight.

Nancy stroked him. Her eyes were brilliant in the candlelight. ‘Mummy loves you, Georgie boy.’

He ejaculated, his thin body jerking frenziedly.

‘And Georgie loves his mummy, doesn’t he?’

She kissed him on the lips, pulling him towards her. Then, turning off the lamp she left the room as quietly and unobtrusively as she entered it.

George felt the stickiness on his thighs and suddenly the dam burst. He cried - hard, shuddering sobs that were as confused as his mind. He pushed his fists into his eyes to stem the tears. Because he hated her. He hated her so much. He hated the things she had done to him, he hated the way she made him feel and hated the way she touched him. It frightened him. But most frightening of all was that, as much as he hated her, he loved her.

He loved her so much.

Nancy lay beside Jed listening to the boy’s sobs, and smiled. George was all she had and no one left her. At least, not until she was finished with them.

She slept. Jed turned over and broke wind loudly, sleeping contentedly, unaware that after his conversation with George, his days were numbered.

George awoke to a cooked breakfast and bussed it to work on a full stomach. In his half-hour lunch break he bought himself some new shoes. He went home on the bus to a cooked dinner.

Nancy made a big fuss of him. It wasn’t until later in the evening he found out Jed had gone. If he had been a more worldly boy he might have realised what she was doing. Instead, as usual, he was grateful for the respite in her baiting of him.

The events of the night before were forced from his mind. Until the next time.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty