NEIL
I pointed at Maddy, who smiled as she accepted her dish.

The waitress indicated a dessert menu, I thanked her, and she was off to another table.

“No cuddle, then, that time?”

She knocked back most of her second glass---where had the first one gone?---then looked up at me once more.

“No, Neil. No cuddle. He wiped his cock on my knickers, dressed, called me a disgusting freak and told me to cover myself up before he puked. I don’t mean he puked, it was what he said before he left, and…”

“Maddy”

“Neil?”

“It’s okay. I’m here, not him”

“At least he didn’t hit me afterwards. I don’t think that’s in you at all, is it?”

I paused before answering, that divided sheet in front of my mind’s eye, the left hand column filling up with words like ‘pretty’, ‘talented’, ‘clever’, and the nasty part of my mind was absent. There was no sign of ‘hurt’, ‘desperate’, et cetera; instead, my thoughts wrote ‘need’.

I didn’t see that as ‘needy’ as someone who was forever whining, but more like a child in search of comfort. How could anyone act the way that man had, and to someone as lovely as the woman sitting beside me?

“Neil? Are you feeling okay?”

“Sorry, Maddy. Just angry. Angry at him. I mean how could. Arsehole!”

“All a long time ago, Neil”

“Doesn’t change things, does it?”

“Life goes on”

“Maddy, my turn, yes?”

“For what, Neil?”

“To try and get my own feelings out. Can you help me do that?”

She nodded, still eating as I spoke, and I wondered if it was a sort of reverse angle. She cuddled up to me to alleviate her own stress, and sat away so as not to stress me.

“I was ashamed that time at your house. I was, you know what. I bought your picture, that first one, and then some others”

She smiled, and it was a happier one.

“My friend saw you staring at that first one. She was making jokes about hand shandies, Neil”

“Sorry?”

“Wanking”

“Oh! No! I couldn’t do that! They are lovely compositions, and they are, um”

“Erotic? They are meant to be”

“Yes, but like I said that evening, they’re you and and and that would be wrong”

She set down her fork, and then looked at me, her gaze direct.

“Could you finish your meal, please. I’m done, and I am going for more beer. I fancy the Badger’s Bum. You?”

“Nonesuch?”

“Done. Hold that thought”

I watched her walk to the bar, and tried to imagine her as she had been in the cathedral rather than the clear image flashing in my mind, of that dress sliding off.

MADDY
“What can I get you, pet?”

“Um, a pint of Badger’s Bum, and one of Nonesuch, please”

“Was it your lad you sent back for the rest of your drink?”

“It was that”

“Not like that round here. In the clubs—working men’s, not night clubs, aye? The lasses there, they all drink halves, but they buy them two at a time, like. Neck their pints quicker than their lads de, Ah tell you”

He laughed, and nodded over towards Neil.

“He seems right canny, your lad. He play rugby?”

“No, but he is, indeed, right canny. Now, are you able to set up a tab?”

“What, another one?”

“Sorry?”

He pointed at a card clipped to a bundle of till receipts.

“Your lad set one up when he ordered the food. Add these two to it?”

“He is therefore indeed a canny lad, then. Thanks”

I walked back to our table, and after I had settled back into my seat, I stayed away from Neil. Let him speak without distraction.

“Want to carry on?”

He nodded, wordlessly.

“The pictures. I thought it wouldn’t be right”

“It wouldn’t bother me”

His next words came out in a rush.

“And I don’t need a picture because I just have to think about you and that’s enough”

Poor sod.

“Neil?”

“Could I please hold you?”

“Oh, Neil, I was just about to ask you to. Just a second…”

I settled against him, and then, before he realised what I was doing, I kissed him quickly on the lips.

“Why, Maddy?”

“Because I think we both wanted to, or rather I know I did, and really think you did as well. And it lets me say… I know what you did in the shower. It was, well, when you forgot to zip up. No!”

I pushed him back down, pulling his arm back around me.

“Neil, can you understand how flattering it is when you say things like that? How do you feel now it’s, you know, happened? No shame, remember? Did you enjoy it?”

“Oh yes. It was… But it’s not right”

“Important question time, and I already know the answer, I hope, but I want to be sure you do. That man, Nigel was his fucking name, he got his fix, but he also found disgust. With me. Sort of shame, I suppose. What about you?”

Once again, he went silent, before speaking again after the shortest of his pauses.

“Not disgust, Maddy. Not towards you, ever. It just makes me feel like I’m sex-mad”

“Takes two, Neil. Can I ask a favour?”

He turned to look down at me again.

“Anything”

“May I kiss you again?”

That time lasted rather longer and was much nicer.

We had two more pints each, but an impulse made me decide to cheat when I went for the last one, and I paid off the tab before my poor Canny Lad could stop me. He simply carried me across the street again, but even though I dropped as many hints as I could, he didn’t come to my room.

Well, not until three in the morning, that is.

NEIL
I simply couldn’t sleep, and I had always had a bit of a blind spot around other people’s bedtimes. I walked along the corridor and tapped lightly on her door. There was the sound of shuffling, and then her voice, whispering through the door.

“Neil?”

“Yes”

The door almost flew open, and she grabbed my arm and dragged me in, whether to stop me being spotted by anyone else or to stop me changing my mind, I didn’t know, and it didn’t really matter. Once again, she stared straight at me, truth or dare.

“Are you here to say good night or to stay?”

“Um, it’s chilly”

“Thank god. I’m on the right side, towards the window. That bag got clothes in?”

“Yes. For tomorrow”

“sensible man. Come on, then”

She was wearing a long and loose cotton night dress, and before she got back into bed, she blushed and asked if I would like her to take it off.

“Please don’t. Can we just be warm together, this time?”

She nodded and pulled down the covers on what was going to be my side of the bed before getting under them on her side. I stood for a few seconds, then joined her.

It felt odd being limited to one side of a bed, and even more limited when she rolled over to cuddle against me. Once again, she lifted her head to kiss me, and I tried one of those things I had read, opening my lips slightly, and she made an odd noise in her throat before pulling away.

“Could you please spoon with me, Neil? Lie on your side and hold me?”

I did as she asked, and she was warm, and so was I, and for once sleep came quickly, perhaps helped by the alcohol. Maddy had a very soft snore, which was soothing rather than annoying, and the first thing I noticed was the morning sun, and the second the pressure of her backside against my rather embarrassing erection.

I started away, and she pulled my arm back around her.

“Don’t you bloody dare! Can you please get rid of that T-shirt?”

I didn’t know what I should do, but I pulled it over my head as Maddy squirmed beside me, and then she was naked and cuddled up to me, a hand pulling gently at the hairs on my chest.

“Neil?”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind getting rid of the boxers as well?”

I started to wriggle out of them before realising that my hands weren’t the only ones pulling them down, but when I raised my knees to get them over my feet, my legs knocked her hand away, so she went back to playing with my chest hair before she pulled herself back up, and the kiss this time was fierce indeed.

“Sorry about the morning breath, Neil”

I went to reply, no, not at all, but her mouth was already back on mine, and then her hand went down, and all of a sudden I was ruining her sheets.

“Oh god, Neil! Are you… can you? How soon?”

She stopped speaking, looking me once again in the eyes.

“This is the moment of truth, as they say. Are you staying?”

“I need to get up, Maddy”

“FUCK! Not again!”

I turned to look at her, and even I could see the terror on her face.

“Maddy, please listen”

“What?”

“I want to get a towel to put over the mess I made. That’s all”

“You’re not leaving?”

“Why would I?”

“You don’t want to?”

“Why would I want to, Maddy?”

I was back as quickly as I could manage, feeling slightly odd in being utterly naked in company, but it still felt right. Maddy was watching as I walked past her.

“You are gorgeous, Neil. Please don’t freak out, but… Get back in, cuddle up, okay? When I am at this part of the cycle, I carry something with me. I use this with it”

She showed me a little clear bottle of some sort of sloppy jelly.

“I watched you as you went into the bathroom. Oh god, did I watch you! I think, the state you are in… I’ve prepared myself already. Could you please lie on your back?”

I did, and she pulled the covers around her shoulders before throwing one leg over me, and she was warm, and her breasts were heavy in my hands, and I was still stiff. When her climax hit, she was sobbing. I didn’t get there again, not until half an hour later, when we both did.

That time, I had been on top, and as we lay side by side on yet another towel, Maddy chuckled.

“No need for silly undies then, oh my!”

I had a rush of confidence to my head that amazed me.

“So I don’t get to see that?”

“Oh god, Neil! Keep talking like that and we will never get out of bed, and I’ll probably never walk again. I’m going to need padding for the bike, I’ll be that tender”

“I have some padded trousers”

“Sorry?”

“You could wear my Rukka salopettes. Those sort of blue waterproof things of mine?”

We continued to tease each other well past breakfast time before dressing, in my case temporarily before changing into my bike kit. I left behind some of my stuff, like the portable floodlights, so that my:

What should I call her? What had she said the standard term was? Lover? Girlfriend sounded silly. I settled on ‘woman’, for that was what she was, and right then, well, we sort of belonged to each other, and we definitely fitted each other. As Maddy said, oh my.

I carried my cases along to Maddy’s room, where we packed what we would need, and then saved our backs by taking the lift down.

“Morning, you two! You missed breakfast”

I could feel my face heating, as the receptionist clearly know what we had been doing, but she carried on in the same breezy tone.

“There are some sandwiches for you if you want, and we just need a confirmation that you still need two rooms. Or not”

Maddy looked surprised.

MADDY
What the fuck?

“Sorry?”

Our receptionist looked a little red.

“Please understand…”

I took over.

“I know what you’re thinking, er, pet. We, um, relationship. Just hit another level “

The woman smiled.

“I see, I think. Do you want to keep separate rooms?

Neil raised a hand.

“Do you have people who need a booking, like when I tried?”

“Absolutely!”

“Then could we leave these cases here while we move my stuff?”

“Of course! I am afraid, as you’ve prepaid, I’m not allowed to give you a refund”

Neil simply smiled, saying it wasn’t a problem, before towing me back to the lift. As the doors closed, his confidence vanished.

“I should have asked you first, shouldn’t I?”

I kissed him, yet again, thinking exactly that, but rather than simply agree, I smiled up at my wonderful bear.

“And do you think I would have said no?”

That smile came back almost, but not quite, immediately.

“Not really, no”

“Then let’s get it done, and hit the road, Mr Strachan”

“Your word is my command, Miss Gibson”

Oh my.

The simple logic of our modes of travel dictated that neither of us had piles of luggage, so we only needed to make two trips down the corridor before we were back at the reception and returning Neil’s key.

“We’re putting extra towels in your room for you. Have a lovely day, both of you”

Neil led me into the hotel’s back yard, where his bike was parked, and it appeared very different to the BMW, being fully-faired and looking rather slab-sided, but to my relief the saddle was long and flat rather than the set-up I had seen on a lot of so-called ‘sports’ bikes, where the rider sat almost inside the machine, leaving an elevated postage stamp sized affair for the pillion. The hard case Neil called his top box wasn’t near enough for use as a back rest, but then again I had no intentions of leaning that far back when I had a warm man to hold onto.

Oh my.

Once my helmet was on, Neil attached the intercom unit and tested the system. It was slightly confusing seeing him speak in front of me and having his voice come from inside my lid, but it was definitely going to be less lonely on the ride, and with that thought I slapped Naughty Mind once more because the double meanings were far too obvious.

Out of the yard, the engine feeling very smooth, through the city traffic and onto the A1, before turning off near the Angel of the North. Neil’s voice was clear over the wind noise.

“Would you like to go there tomorrow? There’s a lot of oxidation I’d like to capture”

I bent forward slightly so that I could hug him.

“That would be lovely, Neil!”

“The map shows a load of dual carriageway until we get to a place called Heddon, when it gets more open. Single carriageway. Local roads. Called the Military Road because it was built during the Jacobite Rebellions to make it easier to move troops across the country and a lot of it was made by pulling down the Wall and…”

“Pause, Neil. No need to be nervous”

He did pause, then started again, in a much more normal tone.

“Novelty, Maddy. Having you there. That hug. Nothing bad, just new, and I need time to get accustomed to it”

“Do you want to?”