"Darling?”
“Hm?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Mhm.”
“Well?”
Bennie turned from Kai to hide her glee. Her pulse quickened. She stayed silent and awaited the push, the pressure.
“We agreed.”
“Yeah.”
A pause.
“Yet we’re not in agreement?”
“I can’t change my mind?”
Kai laughed. It was stiff, humorless, and vaguely menacing. Bennie fizzed, unafraid. Kai was keyed up now; they were getting somewhere.
“No, darling,” Kai sighed. “You can’t.”
Bennie closed her eyes, savoring the situation. She had to. It was infrequent that she got Kai on the ropes like this because Kai was not one to argue with anyone. It wasn’t her style. Bennie simmered in the bliss of being Kai’s exception, the outlier, the one. She gulped in the tension greedily and swallowed it whole, unbothered. She kept her back to Kai, crossing her arms in a show of faux petulance, and stared through the window before her.
“Why not?” she asked, inwardly blithe.
Silence ensued, unsurprisingly. Bennie knew Kai didn’t answer questions like these, ones that the asker could answer alone, but she’d inquired anyway to massage Kai’s limits. In response, Kai rose from her seat on the couch and approached Bennie from behind. She wrapped her arms around her waist and squeezed gently. She nuzzled her neck and said she smelled good, good enough to eat. Bennie maintained a neutral expression, committed to her performance. Kai, undeterred, cooed more flattery.
Kai's saccharinity and pleas permeated Bennie, dissolving her inside; outwardly, though, she faked a bristle. Truthfully, she cherished this supplication; it happened so rarely. Delegation and demands were Kai’s forte, but now the begging bloomed from her, ripe. Kai bit down lightly on the spot just under Bennie’s ear. Bennie whimpered, buckled, defeated, and Kai went for the finish. She said that she loved Bennie, depended on her now and always, and that she must keep her word. She simply must. Did she understand?
“Yes,” Bennie said. “Yes.”
Bennie loosened, softened, and melted into Kai’s arms. And it was just as she hoped it would be, albeit too swift. Always too swift. Puddled and faint, overcome by Kai, Bennie said she’d oblige. Yes. She’d do anything Kai asked.
“Good,” Kai said. “Good girl.”
Kai gave Bennie’s behind a parting squeeze and returned to the couch. Bennie shifted on her feet, antsy, warm, and wet. Kai pulled the gun from her bag and handed it to Bennie after checking that the safety was on. Bennie took the gun—she would need to become reacquainted with its weight; it had been a while—and Kai reclaimed her seat. Bennie looked outside, dismayed at the rain. She rolled her eyes. Preparing the hole would be muddy hell, and digging was already her least favorite part.
Bennie tucked the piece into her waistband. The cool metal met the warm skin of her lower back, near her tattoo: ‘Kai’ in loping black cursive. The gun’s cold heaviness chilled her. She stared at the rain and fantasized about the kill. She shivered.
Kai admired Bennie. She wanted her badly but didn’t say so outright—a verbal declaration was unnecessary. Kai was sure she’d been clear. Bennie had understood and she would come. She always did.
It was true what Kai had told her. Bennie was a good girl, the best, especially when she made Kai work for what she wanted, which was how Kai preferred it. The kill was attractive but secondary. Kai loved the process. That’s why she didn’t mind Bennie’s games—the feigned resistance, delayed acquiescence. Bennie’s antics proved that their affinity for procedure was mutual, though their ideas of what those proceedings entailed sometimes differed. That’s why Kai couldn’t delude herself into believing she and Bennie were the same, even if she wanted to. Bennie lived for the release in a way Kai did not. Bennie had to pull the trigger. It was expected, automatic, like a blink or a reflex, whereas Kai made everything run smoothly in the background, straight and clear like a shot, so there wouldn’t be a sound when Bennie went bang.
Bennie, seemingly back from somewhere distant, turned to the couch and approached Kai. She straddled her with a leveled gaze and clear, hungry intent. Kai instinctively held Bennie’s waist, ready.
“It’s raining,” Bennie said, pouting and peeling off her shirt. “It’ll be messy later.”
Kai reached behind Bennie, retrieved the gun, and set it on the cushion beside them.
“Yeah,” she said, unbuttoning and unzipping Bennie’s jeans. “I’ll dig the hole this time.”
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