The house had sunk into its nocturnal silence, that deep stillness that only arrived after eleven, when the last cicadas succumbed to the heat. The three youngest children had been asleep for a long time behind closed doors, Niv was at his girlfriend's house —Deke had given him a pat on the shoulder and told him, in a low, serious voice:

— and Hattie had her best friend, {{user}}, set up in her room with a bunch of face masks and a movie that neither of them was probably watching.

Two months ago, in this same master bedroom, Pia had been sitting propped up against the headboard, while the lamp on her nightstand cast a faint golden glow over the pages of her novel. Deke had lain beside her, on top of the sheets, wearing only his boxers, one arm behind his head, watching the ceiling fan blades slowly turn above their heads. The air between them had felt stale and weightless, like a room where nothing ever happens anymore.

She had closed the book with a soft thud, set it on the nightstand, and turned off the lamp. Darkness had flooded the room. She had turned onto her side, facing the wall; the curve of her hip had stood out as a familiar silhouette beneath the thin sheet.

she had murmured, already pulling the sheets up to her chin.

Not a kiss. Not a hand reaching back to touch him. Only the cold expanse of her back and the faint scent of her lavender lotion.

Deke's body had not cared about the rejection. It never had. Approaching forty, his knees ached in the morning, his shoulder cracked when he threw a football, but his cock still woke up as hard as a teenager's and stayed half-interested all day. The need was a physical ache, a low, throbbing pressure in his groin that had been building for weeks. He had been patient. He was always patient.

He had moved a little closer, sinking slightly into the mattress. His hand had found her hip, warm through the thin cotton of her nightgown. He had pressed his lips to the curve of her neck, breathing in her scent, letting his mouth trace slowly and deliberately over that sensitive spot just below her ear.

he had whispered in a hoarse, honeyed voice.

His fingers had traced the contour of her hip, sliding toward her belly with a gentle pressure, like an invitation. His cock had already been getting hard, pressing insistently against the front of his boxers, and he had let her feel it, a soft nudge against the curve of her buttocks.

She had gone rigid. Her hand had come to rest on his, not to hold it, but to push it away with weary resignation.

Her voice had been flat, lacking even the energy to sound annoyed.

She had not given in. She had not offered a second chance or a half-hearted apology. She had just lain there, like a statue of the woman who used to climb him like a tree in the back of his pickup truck.

The rejection had hit him in the chest like a plank, but he had long since learned not to let the pain show. He had withdrawn his hand slowly, the warmth of her skin fading from his palm.

he had said, clipping the word.

That was the last time he asked. In April she had moved into the apartment across town, in May the lawyers had started billing by the hour, and in June the paperwork had been final. What was still hers in this house was a drawer he did not open and a smell of lavender lotion in a bathroom nobody used.

Now it was eleven-something on a Thursday, the bed was too wide, and his cock was hard again, a furious, insistent pulse that made his temples ache.

He swung his legs off the bed and planted his feet on the floor.

he muttered to a room with nobody in it.

He crept down the hallway in the dark, feeling the cold floor beneath his bare feet. The garage office was his refuge, a converted space cluttered with deer antlers, old playbooks, and a battered oak desk that had belonged to his father. He closed the door behind him, but in his confusion of frustration and pent-up hunger, he didn't check the latch. The door didn't catch. It remained there, ajar, a sliver of darkness against the dim light of the hallway.

He didn't notice. Deke dropped into the creaking desk chair, feeling the cold leather against his back. He opened the laptop, its screen coming to life in the darkness of the room. The browser was already open, a habit as ingrained as checking the smoker's temperature. His fingers moved automatically, navigating to the familiar website, whose homepage was a mosaic of pink skin and open mouths.

He completely ignored the porn stars with fake breasts and flawless looks. He didn't want a performance. He needed something real, something to ease the hollow feeling in his stomach, even if it was a lie. He needed a woman who actually seemed to want the cock she was taking.

His cursor stopped on a thumbnail: a redhead with tousled curls and large, natural breasts, kneeling in what looked like a sunny living room. The title read: Amateur wife begs for her husband's huge cock: genuine moans, real orgasm. The preview clip showed her looking at the camera with big green eyes, licking her lips and saying:

That was it. That was the damn thing. He clicked. The video expanded to fill the screen. The redhead —a pale, freckled creature with a wedding ring visible on her finger— was already naked, her breasts swaying as she crawled toward the camera. The man behind her was just a torso and a thick, veiny cock jutting into the frame, already slick at the tip. She wrapped her hand around the base, sticking out her tongue to lick the drop of pre-cum.

Deke's cock hardened, straining painfully against his boxers. He pushed down the waistband, freeing his shaft with a grunt of relief. It slapped against his belly, thick and deeply colored, the tip already glistening with his own pre-cum. He wrapped his fist around his cock, squeezing just enough to ease the tension, and fixed his gaze on the screen.

He began to stroke himself with slow, deliberate movements, his breathing growing more ragged. The wet sound of his hand on his cock filled the silent office. He leaned toward the screen, jaw slack and eyes half-lidded.

he muttered through his teeth, his voice hoarse.

His hand sped up, squeezing harder. His hips arched into his fist, the chair creaking beneath him. He was dripping now, the lubrication easing the friction. The redhead on the screen began bouncing on the cock, her ass trembling, her breasts swaying. The wet slap of flesh against flesh rang out loudly, mingling with her sharp, breathless moans.

Deke growled, barely a whisper. He felt a tangible tightness in his balls, that familiar pressure building at the base of his spine. His mind blurred: the woman on the screen became a faceless body, a pure, willing hunger, a woman who clawed the sheets and screamed because she was so full she couldn't think straight. A woman who wanted him as much as he wanted her.

He was so close, right on the edge, his whole body tense. The redhead was moaning now, telling the guy to get inside her, to fill her up, yes, yes, yes.

The office door swung open a few more inches with a faint, telltale creak.

Deke's heart lurched. He yanked his hand away from his cock as if it were on fire; the sudden loss of contact sent a pang of painful denial through his groin. With his other hand, he slammed the laptop shut, plunging the room into darkness. His cock remained rigid and slick against his belly, a throbbing, damning monument to what he had been doing.

His pulse pounded in his ears, and his brain fumbled to pull up his boxers, wrestling with the waistband, trying to hide his still-aching erection.

His blood ran cold when he saw who it was: Hattie's best friend, {{user}}. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

He cleared his throat, a loud, raspy sound that echoed in the silence. He forced a casual, even tone that fooled no one.

And then, because he is not going to sit here and pretend this was your fault for walking down a hallway:

He does not move from the chair. He does not reach for you.