When One Day We are Gone Ch. 06

She grinned at Cassie. It seemed to break the ice, the awkwardness of being touched by a stranger.

"Horizontal, then," Cassie replied.

"Fair enough."

The woman turned away. When she returned, she had a long needle in a sterile pack. Cassie watched in fascination as she broke it open and positioned the needle for the insertion.

"Deep breath. You ready?"

She felt fingers grasping her nub, and looked up into the woman's eyes.

"How... is it going, uh, will it hurt?" Cassie stammered.

The woman gave her a smile. "Hurt like fuck the first time for me, but after that, not so much. Everyone's different. You given birth?"

Cassie nodded.

"Then, piece of cake."

She felt the fingers pinching her, saw the patient regard of the other woman's gaze. It felt surreal, sitting with her legs wide open in a tattoo parlour, on her own, in her late thirties, asking for a clit piercing, stone cold sober. Who else did she know who had one? Not Billie, nor Morgan, nor Tia, nor any of the mothers at school pick up, as far as she knew, because it would have been discussed in detail. Hell, she hadn't even seen Syn sporting a piercing, or Ally. Or even Quinn, the king of pain. It was a big step: the piercing could be removed, then the hole would close over, but Cassie would still have changed herself irreversibly. It would always be her secret little kink, unknown to the rest of the world, safe even from the indifferent attentions of her wayward husband.

Morgan's face came back to her: the way she seemed to settle at the top of the waterfall, toes at the edge of the ten metre drop. She had taken two steps back and sprung into the air, turning lazily in freefall. Commit.

"Do it," Cassie said, "I'm...."

The pain seared through her, as if someone had stubbed out a cigarette on her clit. She seized up in shock, trying to bear the unbearable.

"There, done."

Cassie's flopped back into the chair, gasping, feeling suddenly slick with beads of sweat. She looked down to see the parlour owner's fingers still holding her open, but now with a glint of the needle threaded through her clitoris.

"Well, not quite. Let me just thread the hole real quick, but there you go. Welcome to the club, honey."

Cassie looked up. The woman was grinning at her. Weakly, she smiled back.

---

At Billie and Morgan's the kids were in full swing, fuelled by pizza and fizzy drinks. Cassie stood in the doorway, looking over Billie's shoulder, listening to the ruckus.

"Morgan did it," Billie said. "I'm totally throwing my wife under the bus. Free drinks with the pizza. Turns out she ordered child rocket fuel."

Cassie shrugged, "So long as they burn it off at your house then."

Billie laughed and Cassie followed her into the back of the house. It all seemed so normal, so everyday. She stood there in the back, accepting the wine glass that Morgan offered, listening but not really listening as they talked, watching their children play some kind of tag game together. There was rough and tumble, with Hope giving as good as she got. Cassie suddenly felt bone weary.

It seemed simple, Cassie thought, watching the three of them wrestle. Not like when at last you grew up. The games got harder, and a lot more involved. As kids, you might get a scratched knee or a bumped elbow. Playing games as adults, you could find your heart shattered. You could find yourself standing in a crowded room in the middle of all the noise with a little bar through your clit that told you just how different you were from everyone else you knew.

---

[Next chapter: Cassie discovers what she really wants, on a drive into the countryside with her personal trainer, Aidan. She faces up to the truth, at last.

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