Every evening for the last year, Emily had walked through Emerson’s park at seven thirty on her way home. Every evening she felt cautious and wary of the ever increasing darkness that Autumn brings. It was either that or a taxi that she could ill afford or take the long way home adding an extra fifteen minutes to her journey.

She would enter the park at its West gate and walk around the great big horse chestnut trees until she encountered the long tiled area down the centre; lined with benches and beech trees that shed their bright orange, almost metallic leaves. Half way down was a small building where people often huddled together out of the rain; a few benches were scattered around the enclave but few frequented this place so late on in the day, let alone the season.

As she strode feigning confidence past the darkened building a man stepped out in front of her; a young man with a somewhat evil grin on his face. That wouldn’t have been a problem for Emily but it was the way he stepped into her path and made her pull up in front of him. His hand instantly came up to her chest as he grabbed her Gabardine coat by the collar.

“You’re in a hurry, little one?”

Little one, thought Emily. She palmed his hand and moved it off her coat. She was about to tell him where to get off but his hand moved so quickly. Before she knew it her own hand was tight against her back and twisted up and into her shoulder blades.

Emily screamed, but who the fuck would hear her at this time of the evening?  She felt frightened, glancing from side to side to see if she had any leverage to break free, but he held her tightly against him. She could feel his sleazy breath against her neck and she wanted to turn and spit at him.

“Feisty little one, aren’t you?”

That term again, little one. Emily groaned, why the fuck hadn’t she taken up Karate or Kick-Boxing when she had the chance.

“Oi! Fuck Off you Twat!”

Emily’s ears pricked up. The man twisted around quickly, dragging Emily with him only to come face to face with a larger, much older guy brandishing what looked like half a tree trunk in his hand. The swipe of the makeshift weapon in their general direction was enough for him to let go of Emily and run as fast as he could.

The older man coughed and spluttered, eventually bringing his hand to his mouth as he rested the log on the floor.

“Fuck, that was heavy. Ya alright Ma’am?”

Emily nodded. “Thank you.”

“No worries. Get all sorts of twats in here this time of night, fink they’re someone special y’see.”

“I’ve no doubt.”

“You be careful now, don’t think ee’ll be bovvering you anytime soon though.”

With that the man turned and made his way back to the corner of the building.

Emily could vaguely make out a rucksack in the dark corner and some cloth around the floor, some newspapers stacked to one side.

“What’s your name?” she shouted after him.

“Graham.” He flicked his finger across his imaginary Stetson.

“Thank you, Graham.”

Emily watched until Graham reached his abode for the evening. Kneeling down he arranged some papers on top of what looked like a cotton sheet and snuggled inside. He pulled the edge up around his neck and donned a woollen cap. Graham settled down for the night in relative safety and away from the prying eyes of the law.

Emily made her way home. She couldn’t believe how stupid she was to walk through the park but then, she had done that a hundred times before. She reached the safety of her home and collapsed into a chair; all the time replaying the evening in her head. She made herself a meal and sat at the table eating. Every fork was forced as she thought of what Graham must be eating at that moment. Suddenly she felt sick. Sick to her very core as she looked around her room and saw all the luxuries: the spent money, the flowers, the food filled cupboards, the TV, and the burning lights contributing to the glow of the city.  All these luxurious trappings, she thought, may have meant nothing, had that young man had his way with her, forced her to do things she would rather not do, or worse, kill her.

Emily swallowed hard and with that thought lodged deep in her mind, walked to the window to look out across the burning and glowing landscape that was home, a building urge to weep overtook her.

The following night Emily was prepared. She deliberately took the same route home, as much to convince herself that she had no reason to be afraid and to drop something special off for Graham.

She cautiously looked around the corner of the building as she approached it. Graham was nowhere to be seen. She looked around the park as much as she could in the dim light to see if he had chosen a bench to lie on this evening. She relented eventually and decided she would have to take the package home with her. At home, she unravelled it and kept some of the contents while throwing the rest in the bin.

The next evening was the same. Still no Graham, but she would continue with her insistence, at least for a while.

On the fourth night, Emily smiled as she looked around the corner.

“Thought you’d left this place.”

“Ah! I was comfort-ly detained at her Majesties convenience,” he replied, smiling and shrugging his shoulders at the thought.

“Warmer bed though,” she said, raising her eyebrow.

“S’not the same though, is it.”

Emily shook her head.

“I suppose not. I wanted to thank you for what you did,” she said, handing him the package that she had religiously repackaged several times over the last few days, filling the contents with new and discarding the old and wilting food.

“For me?”

Emily nodded, enthusiastically.

Graham pulled at the paper holding everything together, his blackened and bitten finger nails were a bit of a sight, but the joy on his face when he gazed into the packet was unbelievable. His eyes were immediately drawn to a packet of cheese biscuits and he hurriedly opened it.

His first move was to offer the opened packet to Emily.

She welled up inside at the thought that the man’s first action was to offer some of his food to her; a man that had nothing in the whole world, probably starving and living in the coldness of the open air in late October.

She took one biscuit, just to be polite, and she stayed with him as he scoffed nearly half the packet in the same time as she nibbled at her one biscuit. Emily couldn’t help but smile at Graham or, was she smiling at how she had made a small difference in the world.

The next few nights sped by and Emily had walked past his building several times without seeing Graham. She kind of missed his presence and on one occasion, she sat in the same spot as he did and opened the packet herself. She stayed there until she could no longer stand the cold. She left the package on the floor before walking home.

The next night, Graham was once more in residence.

“You’re getting to be like the Queen,” she commented, “only here on special occasions.”

Graham smiled. His cough was beginning to fade and he was looking a lot healthier.

“Mind if I join you tonight?” she asked.

“Pull up a chair, my dear.”

Emily sat next to him on the floor.

“I got you something different this time,” she smiled handing him the package.

She had stopped at Costa coffee and purchased a large Cappuccino for him. Graham’s world lit up.

“I used to love expensive coffee,” he grinned.

Pulling the package apart he found a small knife, butter, some bread and some ham.

“Ham? Ham?”

“Fuckit if I’m not going to get arrested if they find the knife on me though!” he exclaimed.

Emily laughed.

“Come on let’s make some sandwiches.”

She pulled the bread out and buttered it, Graham pulled the Ham out of the packet with his slightly better, manicured fingernails; at least some of the blackness had disappeared at least.

Ham was put in between two slices and they divided the spoils equally between them.

“What’s in there?” asked Graham.

“Something special.”

“Can’t be as special as you, my dear.”

Emily caught her breath and bit her lip. Graham had, unknowingly, given her the best compliment that she had received in a long time. Emily bent over to retrieve the package. She pulled out a bottle of red wine and two plastic cups. She placed one down by her side while she filled the other for herself.

“Wine, bloody ‘ell, you must be rich Ma’am.”

Emily smiled at him and handed him the cup. She repeated the motion with her own. Putting the bottle down on the floor she held her cup high in the air.

“To your health,” she announced.

Graham touched her cup with his own.

“To your health, my dear. Mine’s not worth the effort.”

The night just disappeared and as far as Emily was concerned it was a total success. The conversation was opening up and the only time she caught herself was when Graham told her about the time his world collapsed in a heap when his wife died of cancer. He described how he felt and how he believed he couldn’t go on, how he ended up where he was today, why he should make more effort but had nothing to make the effort for.

He talked and Emily listened. The conversation eventually dried up and they stared out of the shelter into the cold night. Emily took a sip of her wine and made a comment.

“I love wine Sometimes, it’s better than sex.”

“Sex? What’s that?”

Emily was taken aback. Occasionally things would be said that would upset her. It never failed and normally they were things that she would take for granted. Things like food, wine and sex. She looked down to the floor and considered her next sentence.

“When was the last time?”

“Last time?”

“Last time you had sex?”

Graham shook his head.

“Can’t remember,” he shrugged. “A long, long time ago.”

Emily bit her lip. All that could be heard was silence, that and the flapping of a bird’s wings and the rustling of leaves on the floor. Occasionally, a falling leaf would interrupt the light reaching them from the nearby flats.

“Well, that stopped the conversation,” Graham piped up.

“Has it?” Emily retorted as she put her hand on Graham’s thigh and rapidly moved it upwards to his crotch.

Graham felt her touch but could not believe it at first, then he looked into her face and all he could see was the concentration on her face, looking down to his crotch as her hand squeezed him. His cock responded. It grew, much to Emily’s surprise and excitement.

Finally, Emily looked him in the eyes. A calm lustful smile spread all over her face. Anyone looking at her right then would know that she was going to get her way.

Graham, however, wasn’t that clued up on want and need – he hadn’t been for a long time.

It wasn’t until Graham’s cock grew fairly large in his baggy trousers that Emily started to undo them; first the belt then the zipper and finally she tugged them down as much as she could.

Graham hadn’t moved an inch. He groaned when his cock surfaced, wrapped snuggly in its palm blanket as it touched the cold night air.

Emily fisted his cock for a while, very slowly and very considerately. She had intended to wank him and make him cum for her but when she saw the sight of his lengthy cock, other ideas flooded her mind.  She slipped her bum away from Graham by a few inches and bent herself at the waist. Her head made a beeline for the crown of Graham’s cock.

For a person that travelled the streets, his cock was in wonderful condition, thought Emily. She lowered her head to it and gathered up the undersides with her tongue.

But, licking it while stroking it with her hand, was just a little too much for Graham. By the time Emily slipped her mouth over his cock he ejaculated. There was little or no warning except a grunt that Graham let loose just as the first jet of spunk hit the insides of Emily’s mouth.

To Graham’s surprise, Emily moaned and lowered her head down taking his cock into her mouth further. She swallowed his load as it erupted and she sucked greedily as the rest of his juices joined the first jet. All the time, she never let up on her stroking and pulling on his length.

When Graham was totally spent, Emily lifted her head from his cock and licked her lips. They looked at each other but said nothing. Emily was still stroking his cock despite it diminishing in size.

She started to put it back into his trousers but stopped when Graham took over the dutiful task.

“That was very nice,” he told her.

“Thank you, I enjoyed it. Maybe next time, I’ll get me tits out for ya,” she said, trying desperately to sound like Graham and make it sound funny as well.

Graham nodded before silence fell over the pair of them again.

In an awkward moment Emily downed the remaining wine and put her cup in the bag. Graham’s cup joined it, as did the empty bottle.

“Right well, I guess I must be off,” she said as she lifted herself from the floor.

“See you tomorrow,” she said as she tried to look into his eyes.

Graham looked up at her and smiled. “Thank you, I don’t know what to say, but yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Emily wandered home wondering. Wondering whether she should have gone that far and actually done what she did or whether she should have stopped at the naughty talk. Then it hit her, the realisation that it was probably the first sex he had had since his wife died. Emily felt gutted that she had invaded his private space without even asking whether he thought it was right for her to do so.

Time would tell, she thought.

Graham went missing for the following two nights. Emily was worried and afraid that she may have gone a little too far. A part of her wanted Graham to like her and a part wanted to mother him; purely because of his situation and well, his homelessness. He was a good egg, as far as Emily was concerned.  She racked her brain to try and figure out who else would have helped her when she was about to get attacked. She drew a blank on the bloke side of things but then came up with Gemma. Yeah, thought Emily, Gemma would have been in there helping her out.

On the third night Emily walked around the park due to several younger lads that were congregating near the entrance. She wasn’t in a rush to relive that fateful night even though the route was a little longer.

Emily was relieved to find that Graham was back in his usual place on the fourth night. She smiled as she clocked him in the corner of the enclave. After the previous no shows, Emily did not have anything in the way of food or drink for him.

She took a wide berth of the building to give Graham time to recognise who was approaching and to give him time to run if he needed to. Emily stopped dead in her tracks, looked at the stranger in Graham’s place and started to turn away.

“Em,” a shout rang out with her name attached to it.

Emily turned and looked and saw a vague resemblance to Graham. The closer she got the more she recognised. His coat was new’ish, his beard had been trimmed much closer than the hedge bush that he had sported previously. His hair had either been cut or combed and he smelt; of something sweet, a kind of perfumed smell, but not aftershave.

“You’ve changed,” she smiled.

“My dear, one ‘as to make an effort these days,” he replied.

“Does one!”

“One does. Ow is you?”

“I’m fine thanks.”

Emily looked Graham over, more than once. She couldn’t believe the change in him. Then she let out a wicked grin.

“What bank did you rob?”

Graham looked across the park and pointed. “That one, there,” he said.

Emily was glad for him.

“I ummm – I don’t have anything today, didn’t think you would be here.”

“But I do –“

Graham bent over and opened a small plastic bag and removed several items. Emily could see the letters ‘T E S’ on the side of the bag and her mind made up the supermarket store that it had come from. With glee written all over his face, Graham presented Emily with some cheese, a baguette and a small packet of ham. Emily knew the ham alone must have cost a fortune to Graham.

“C’mon, let’s eat,” he suggested.

“Excuse me! Where’s the wine.”

“Ah now, I did get the wine – but it was off – had to throw it,” he smirked.

Emily laughed and grabbed a concrete seat next to Graham. They ate chatted and laughed. He told her all about his recent travels and how he was going to turn all this around. Graham pointed to his world, the trees, the grass, the concrete building and the park.

He told her how rich he was and that he had come to this place, he pointed once more to everything around him, because of what happened with his wife.

“I’m gonna change back into me former self,” he told Emily.

“That’s good, that’s what I want to hear,” said Emily, not fully believing every word of how he was going to do it, but she remained up-beat and enthusiastic for him.

The conversation dried up a little and both of them were unsure as to how to proceed given the excitement of the last time.

“I bought this for you,” Graham said, handing Emily a soft package wrapped in soft plain paper.

Emily smiled and started to open it. Her mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ as she pulled the black lace knickers from its wrapping. She stood up and held it across her waist. It must have been two sizes too big but she just smiled and wrapped it up into her arms.

“You shouldn’t have,” she indicated, shaking her head. A tear formed in her eye and she quickly wiped it away. Emily stepped in and kissed him. Her hand came up across the back of his neck and she pressed herself to him. Her tongue eventually found its way inside his mouth.

Graham was not slow to respond. His hand cupped her breast beneath the heavy flax coat she was wearing and soon, by a dual effort, it was discarded and thrown to the floor. Hands pawed at her smart dress until her breasts filled them. Graham responded to Emily’s urgent kisses as she struggled to release his trousers and pull his cock into the fresh night air.

After struggling with the new belt he had bought, Emily finally released his manhood and she pushed him onto the concrete floor; pulling down his trousers until they rested just below his knees.

With Graham’s cock held upright by his own hand, Emily lifted the sides of her dress and tugged her knickers to one side, and pulling them down one leg to be left hanging around the other. She lifted her skirt up and straddled Graham; lowering her pussy onto his stiff and erect cock.

She took over control when his cock was inches from her pussy and Graham’s hands once more came up to her cup her breasts.

Emily’s knees hurt as they rubbed on the concrete. Just a little more foresight, she thought, and she would have placed her coat on the floor to lean on, instead it was heaped up against the wall of the concrete building. Emily, let his cock plunge into her hot and waiting cunt.

Graham let out a loud groan as he felt it sink into the smooth velvet sheath. He pushed his bum upwards to help it move into her but Emily sat firmly down on him preventing any further movement. She looked into his eyes; a twisted grimace appeared on her face like she was in agony. She slowly started to rock her body on Graham’s cock savouring every slight movement of both his and her body.

Emily rolled her head and placed both her hands on her hips.  She tried her best to minimise the movement of her knees and legs as she slowly fucked Graham; savouring every nuance, every touch of flesh and every sound that spewed from their lips.

“Emily. Oh! Emily, you make me want to live again!”

Emily didn’t know how to respond, so she raised her body off is cock and then fucked herself down on him as hard as she could. His cock hit her insides like it was a blade of fire. His hands cupped her breasts as she rode him to oblivion. It wasn’t all that long until Graham was grunting once more; until he would come inside her. Emily’s hands reached down and rested on his chest. She leant into him, raising her knees from the floor as she fucked him. His erect cock reached parts of her that had not caused her any pleasure in ages.  It was stiff and unforgiving. She looked into Graham’s eyes and nodded. Her lips moved but he could not hear anything. They moved again just before they quivered. The third time he heard what she was saying.

“I’m coming-“

Graham started to push his cock into her whenever she gave him the freedom of movement to do so. Though, he had to admit, it was limited; the more he tried the more he knew he wouldn’t last long enough to pleasure this beauty on top of him.

Nevertheless, Graham lowered his hands onto Emily’s hips and started to fuck his cock into her in time to her own movements.

Emily started nodding. Her words became cruder. She lost herself in the moment and was repeating sentences over and over. They may well have been meant for her head only, but the words spilled out into the night air and were eventually sucked up into the excitement of the sexual act.

Graham loved hearing them. He loved hearing what his cock was doing to Emily and how she felt. Her compliments took him by surprise, ‘so deep’, ‘so fucking hard’, ‘fucking gorgeous cock’, issued from her mouth, time and again. He never thought that his cock was that big or that he was that good at using it.

She was riding Graham’s cock with some enthusiasm, panting and repeating the word fuck over and over and then she went rigid. Graham took over and pushed his cock into her. A loud groan emanated from deep within Emily’s throat. She shook violently on top of Graham. Her legs twisted and turned; he felt sure she would have clenched them tight if his body wasn’t in the way.

That was when Graham’s lost all composure. The words she used at that precise moment were unbelievable to his ears and he let his cock ejaculate and pump his seed deep inside her.

Emily responded. She was recovering and had the presence of mind to allow her lower body to slip over Graham’s cock and pleasure his length as he shot his cum inside her. She let out a sigh every time his cock reached up inside her soaking cunt.

They eventually looked at each other and smiled; both breathing heavily and both sated from the exertion of the quick and rampant fuck they gave each other.

Emily’s second sense told her that it was time to leave. She lifted herself from his body and they both dressed. A wicked grin appeared on Emily’s face as she picked up her knickers.

“You keep these,” she said, “I will take the ones you bought and wear them when I get home.”

It brought a wide grin from Graham’s lips as he pocketed his prize.

Emily leant in to give Graham a quick peck on the cheek but he held her there with his hand on the back of her neck. His gaze averted her eyes; looking at the floor all the time.

“You really have –” he paused for more than a few seconds.

“You really have changed my life you know.”

Emily smiled and nodded, but still Graham’s gaze was lowered.

“The next time you see me – I will have changed. I promise.”

Emily pulled him closer to her.

“You daft bugger. We all change.”

She kissed him on the forehead and held him close for a while.

“I gotta go. See you tomorrow maybe.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that shall we,” he replied, smiling.

With that Emily turned to leave. Half way across the park she turned and waved and then continued on; smiling all the way on her journey home.

ooOoo

Graham didn’t turn up for their arranged meeting. Nor did he appear the day after or the day after that.

It was a week before Emily reported a missing person to the police; a week too late, perhaps.

She was constantly on the lookout from people walking past. She even followed up the missing person report but the police could find no trace of anyone matching her description.

Emily sat at home and pondered on her illicit time with Graham, how quick it was to start and how quick to finish.

On numerous occasions she felt nauseous, deflated, and afraid of the outcome.

ooOoo

It was Christmas day. Emily was stirring the cinnamon infused mulled wine on the stove. She was looking forward to a few glasses curled up on the sofa and watching a film on the TV. There was a knock on Emily’s door.

She thought it strange, as generally no one could get into the building unless let in. Nevertheless she opened it. She half expected a policeman to be standing there – hat in hand, poised ready with the bad news.

She nodded at the man standing there in front of her. His hair, black as the night and slicked backwards, clean shaven and sporting a black suit, grey shirt and golden tie.

“Hi!” he announced.

“Hello,” returned Emily. A hint of familiarity struck her but she shrugged it off.

The man handed her a thick envelope. “For you,” he said and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Emily shouted after him. “What is it?”

He raised his eyebrows and pointed to the envelope with his open hand.

She opened it, took out the black case inside and lifted the lid. Emily pulled out a rose gold, diamond encrusted necklace. She gasped. Her eyes were as wide as they could be. Her mouth fell open; disbelief written all over her face.

“I don’t understand,” she started, but then things became clearer. She started putting two and two together and looked into the eyes of the man in front of her. Pensively, she asked what she already suspected.

“Graham?”

He just smiled.

“What the fuck! Please come in, come in,” insisted Emily, her eyes already filling with tears.

“I don’t understand,” she sobbed.

“I was wondering whether I could – you know –” he said, with a wicked grin on his face.

Emily sucked some air into her lungs and tasted the bitter sweet tears on her lips. She kept silent and closed the door; leaning into it with her back as she watched Graham walk into her flat. ‘I have a feeling you’re going to’, she thought to herself and then waited for the explanation to flow out of his mouth.

“I love the smell of mulled wine.” He chirped.

Emily nodded and waited, patiently. Although relief flooded through her and a smile started to cross her lips, she watched silently as Graham turned, opened his arms and shrugged.