The Tenant

MARIA

Maria sat on her bed, staring off into the distance. Her arms and chest still stung from all the scrubbing she did, scrubbing off the clumps of semen sprayed on her by Shekar and his friends. She now had the smell of lavender about her, but that did not help forget what happened. What really happened up there? She wondered. The more she thought of it, the more she felt aroused.

The men left some while ago. Maria heard their laughs and taunts from the confines of her room, which she had not left for the past four hours. She had become a prisoner in her own home. Some modicum of relief came to her with the return of her husband. He had turned a blind eye to Shekar's actions in the past, but he certainly wouldn't do the same now. Would he?

Maria locked the door and made her husband sit on the bed. "Ichaya, there's something I have to tell you... about Shekar," she said in a hushed tone.

"God. Not again with this Shekar business," Jude said with tiredness, taking off his shirt.

"No, Ichaya. You don't understand. He threw a party today. A sex party."

Jude's eyes widened slightly then he shook his head. "Whatever he did, just forget about it, okay? You don't know anything about this Shekar." He got up and hung his shirt on a hook by the door.

"No, no. There's more..." she said and paused. "Wait. What do you mean I don't know anything?"

"He is a dangerous man, Maria," said Jude. "The guy was the leader of a quotation gang... or something like that. I'm not entirely sure. But he is very dangerous. I heard he got out of prison only a few months ago."

Maria stood stunned at the news. "How... do you know all this?"

"I heard it from that grocery store guy," said Jude, now out of his jeans and casually slipping into his shorts. "So, be careful. Don't say anything to provoke him."

Oh, God, thought Maria. We should have done a proper background check.

"Anyway, we have other things to worry about," he said.

"Hmm?" Maria said, snapping out of her thoughts.

"The coaching center. They still haven't paid me my salary. The damn bastards."

SHEKAR

It was the evening after the day of the mass ejaculation. Shekar sat on the sofa while his client, a local politician, filled him in on the details of a possible job.

It's about time I got back in the game, Shekar thought. I've been out of the system for so long.

As they were discussing, the front door opened and Maria entered. The sofa faced the door, and Shekar looked at her, surprised. The time on the grandfather clock said five p.m. She's early today as well, he thought. He was afraid the bukkake had scared her off. It seemed like it didn't.

She walked past them, her eyes downcast, without the usual air of coldness about her. Shekar knew she hated when he sat on her sofa. So he lounged downstairs whenever he could, leaving his mark wherever possible. One day I will leave my mark on you, he thought.

Shekar had enough of the fun and games. Now is the time to take it a bit further. He had taken over her world, now it was time to let her into his. Shekar looked at the politician and saw that he was considering Maria carefully. He appeared not to like the fact that someone had seen him with an infamous goon.

"Mrs. Maria," Shekar called out. Maria turned to regard him with fearful eyes. "This is Mr. Prakash. He's a candidate for the upcoming local body elections."

Maria gave him a formal greeting - hands pressed together and joined to her chest - to which Prakash responded with a jerky bow.

"He's a client of mine," said Shekar. Prakash scowled at him, eyebrow raised in concern, trying to stop him from saying anything further. "Relax, sir. Mrs. Maria is my confidant." Maria shot him a look. Shekar grinned. Welcome to my world, Mrs. Maria.

"Oh," said Prakash, some relief on his face. "Then it is nice to meet you, madam."

"Mrs. Maria. Would you mind brewing some tea for our guest?" asked Shekar. He expected some glares from her. Something that said 'Our guest? He's your guest. Make the tea yourself.' But instead, there was only hesitance, after which she gave a weak 'okay' and crossed to the kitchen.

She is so submissive today. Did I scare her too much?

The deal was close to being finalized by the time she returned with the tea. Shekar conceded that the pay was a fair one considering he only had to break a few legs. Prakash nodded in agreement. Maria waited silently beside him. He could see her nervously fidgeting in his peripheral vision.

They exchanged phone numbers only in the end. Shekar didn't have a phone, so he gave him Maria's cellphone number. Now she was officially his accomplice. Mr. Prakash stood up and lifted his shirt. Tucked inside his dhoti was an envelope, which he handed to Shekar.

"This is the advance," said Mr. Prakash. "You'll get the rest when the job's done."

The tires of the car grated against the gravel outside and, Mr. Prakash was gone. Shekar took out five hundred rupees from the envelope and held it out for Maria.

"Keep this," he said. "For your hospitality."

Maria looked at the money dubiously and then at him. "Oh. No, thank you. I don't need it."

Monetary gains will make Maria a more willing accomplice. So he needed her to take it. "Keep it. Mrs. Maria," he said, thrusting the money into her hands. "Now, if someone calls about a job, let me know. If they want to meet, book them a slot sometime in the evening. I'm counting on you," he said with finality, feeling the softness of her fingers in his.

"Okay."

MARIA

Maria could see nothing. No matter how hard she tried, her eyelids would not open. She could still hear though and smell and feel. Maria was in a sitting position, against a wall maybe, and her forehead throbbed with pain. She swallowed some saliva and detected a faint saltiness. The air was musky, and she remembered that the same stench had made her want to wretch the first time. Myriad sounds assaulted her senses. Talking and moaning and songs and a repetitive... Fap! Fap! Fap! A voice said, 'I'm gonna get her on the face this time.'

Then, by some miracle, her eyes opened halfway, and she could see again. Above her stood a man, his face in the shadows, stroking his cock. That's not Shekar. Shekar is... bigger. Under the man's feet was a piece of silk, a garment of some sort. My blouse! Her eyes rolled downwards, and she saw that she was only wearing a bra. Both her bra-straps were halfway down to her elbows, and her chest was covered in cum. Maria felt her consciousness slip away slowly. She looked up, past the stroking shadow, and saw a man kneeling on the bed with a mouthful of cocks. Her eyes closed just as a hot stream of something sprayed on her face.

The bus rocked and jerked on the poorly maintained roads, knocking her out of her nap. Was that a memory or a dream? Maria wondered. More than a week had passed since her 'fainting', and life had only gotten worse. It was only four-thirty now. She would have stayed at school a little while longer, but the mocking eyes of... well... everyone was too much to bear. Her students had nicknamed her Cocky Maria, and the news of her tongue-slip spread like wildfire throughout the school. Painfully, she decided that being the brute's secretary was better.

Six men sat on her sofa, including Shekar. Oh, right, Maria remembered. He said there was going to be a crew meeting today. Maria rushed to the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks for the crew.

Made him tea one time, and now you're doing it every day. You're a bloody idiot, Maria chided herself. But maybe it was the smart move. Based on what her husband said and from the things she now knew herself, it would have been a bad idea to refuse Shekar. After she was 'inducted' into his crew, the lechery had reduced. She found cum-covered clothes on only two days in the past week. Does he respect me now because I'm a member of the crew?

Perhaps he was just busy. He had three jobs this week. Maria knew because she was the one who was attending the calls and arranging the meetings. For that, they gave her a tiny portion of the crew's earnings. So she did not mind playing the role of their jolly waitress.

Maria now knew everyone in the gang. She knew everything from their snack preferences to their personal lives. And they knew her just as well. Maria had tried taking part in the crew's conversations so that she would look less servile. But she realized soon enough that talking about violence, debauchery, and more violence was just not her thing. Maybe they wanted her to look servile. After all, what other place could a woman have in their crew?

"I don't see why you worry so much, Shekar. I think this is the easiest job ever," said Ravi, a balding man who always laughed at his own 'jokes'.

"No. Shekar's right," said Vignesh, the shortest one in the group. "Intimidating an old couple is hard. They don't have much to lose. They'll never sell their house to those greedy corporations."

"We'll thrash them then. A few punches will knock some sense into them," said Lal, the one who was always in a sleeveless vest, showing off his toned biceps.

"Consider their age, friend. We don't want to kill them accidentally," said Vignesh, before turning to Shekar. "You shouldn't have taken this job, Shekar. There isn't a clean way to do it."

Maria looked at Shekar. He remained quiet, fingers steepled beneath his chin. The others waited patiently for his response, and there Maria saw the respect they had for him. To her, Shekar might have been a disgusting pervert. But to them, he was a leader, someone they always looked to for the final say.

"I don't like the job either," said Shekar, scratching his close-cropped hair. "But the big corporations pay us a lot to put aside our morality... the little we have left." He paused again and scratched his hair, which showed his uncertainty. "Why don't we just try the usual intimidation tactics. Let's see if it gets the job done."

Vignesh shrugged. "Fine. Should we get physical?"

"A little. Don't go overboard," said Shekar.

"Alright," said Ravi, punching the armrest of the sofa. "We'll get physical, boys. Should I keep my pants on for that, Shekar?" He said, laughing loudly, looking for support from his crew members. No support came. Still laughing, he turned to Maria. She put on a strained smile.

"See, Maria likes it," he said and laughed some more, which broke Lal, who now joined the cacophony. Maria collected the empty teacups on her tray and glanced at Ravi's dirty feet before walking back to the kitchen.

I don't like the fact that you nutted on my face, Ravi.

SHEKAR

Shekar opened the front door to find Jude on the sofa, munching chips and watching tv. The time on the grandfather clock read a quarter past seven.

"Hey, Shekar," said the little man. "Morning shifts again?"

Shekar nodded. He was not in the mood for a conversation, especially with someone as dull as this guy.

"You can sit here if you want to," he tapped on the seat next to him. "I have beer and chips."

"No, thank you," he said and was about to head upstairs. Then he remembered something. "Is Maria here?"

"She's in her room. Correcting some exam papers, I think."

Shekar hmm-ed and climbed the stairwell. "Morning shifts are a bitch," he murmured, entering his room. He was as tired as an ox, and his eyelids were heavy from lack of sleep. Shekar tried a yawn to gain some alertness, but that just made him drowsier. Getting out of his security guard uniform, he sat on the bed.

Shekar always hated the morning shifts. He hated it more today because of the late quotation job he pulled last night. And he had another job tonight as well. His crew will be here any moment now.

He had considered quitting his job. He didn't need it now that he was back in the quotation business. The old Shekar would have resigned already. But prison had changed him. He wasn't going to let everyone know he was the biggest baddie in town. This time around, he was going to be more subtle with his work. People should see him as an ex-convict who had learned from his mistakes and now led a quiet life. And for such a life, he needed a stable job. Only the criminal fraternity should know about his other side.

Halfway through his musings, his head drooped down, and he dozed off. He heard his own snores as he jerked upright with wakefulness. Krishna, I'm tired, he thought. I need to focus. I need some... release.

He searched under the bed blindly, his hands finding tissues and knives and sledgehammers but not the thing he wanted. Where is that damn panty? He groped some more and felt something soft brush by his fingers. Success! He lay on the bed and smelled the panty, his cock rising immediately. Ahh, the scent, it's still there.

That's when Shekar realized how little attention he had been paying Maria these past few weeks. Life suddenly became crammed with responsibilities, and he no longer had time for her. He was never home, and when he was, he was too busy sleeping.

"Sorry I forgot about you, my sweet," he whispered, sniffing the panty. He pushed down his briefs and started rubbing Maria's used garment on his cock. Life flared inside him again, and his body relaxed. Precum dribbled down his fingers, and the veins on his cock popped out.

"I fucking love you, you slut," he murmured, increasing the pace of his stroking. His tip grew hotter and hotter, and his glutes tightened. He thought of all the things he wanted to do to Maria.

"Shekar," a voice called. Shekar stopped his stroking and turned to the door. Maria stood there like a deer in headlights, with a hand to her chest. She seemed determined not to look at his dick.

"What?" he asked, a bit out of breath.

"Ravi called. He said the crew is waiting outside... by the gate."

Already? Shekar cursed inwards. If only they had given him a minute. Or two minutes, or three.

Shekar struggled to get his erect dick back inside his briefs. He pulled back the window curtains and looked outside. Three motorcycles waited for him before the front gate. Damn their punctuality! He put on his shirt and lungi and stormed out of the room.

MARIA

The pattering of the rain and the whispering of the leaves was a constant sound that night. Maria lay awake. The image of her panty wrapped around Shekar's cock would not escape her mind. It was a dirty, filthy thing he did, but Maria couldn't help but feel aroused. Feeling the wetness between her legs, she looked at her sleeping husband.

Maybe I should wake him, she thought. But no, that would do no good. He'll cum before I moan.

Restless, she tossed and turned on the bed. Should I use my fingers? Lifting her nightie, she slipped a hand under her petticoat. No, no... what are you doing? The angel in her said. That is a sin. Having sex for anything but making babies is a sin. Maria sighed and pulled back her hand, the fingertips glistening with juices.

Good, the angel said. Now go back to sleep like the good girl you are. Forget about this Shekar fellow.

But he said he loves me, Maria said. I heard him. He said it while he was masturbating.

And he called you a slut, said the angel. Now shut up and go to sleep.

Maria woke to the sound of a door slam shut. The time was one a.m. She sat up in the dark, listening carefully, blocking out the sound of her husband's snores. The world stood still for a time, and all was quiet. Then she heard footsteps upstairs, and someone was groaning. Fear gripped her. She shook her husband roughly. "Ichaya, ichaya... wake up," she said, but the man slept on like a block of wood.

Maria tied her loose hair into a knot and quietly unbolted her bedroom door. She walked the length of the dark hall, stopping at the stairwell. The groans came again from upstairs. Maybe Shekar is back from the job, she thought.

Maria walked up the stairs gingerly, feeling like one of those dumb bimbos in Hollywood horror movies. She reached the landing and heard someone cursing in the bedroom. That does sound like Shekar. She decided to get a closer look and almost slipped as she tiptoed. Maria examined the floor. There was a trail of water from the kitchen to the bedroom. Shekar must have used the staircase outside to enter through the kitchen.

"Who is out there?" Maria turned to the voice, startled. The dark shape of Shekar stood behind the open door.

"Oh. It's you," said Shekar. There was exhaustion in his voice, and he was breathing heavily.

"Is everything alright, Shekar?" she asked with concern. "I heard noises."

"Oh, everything's fine," he waved a hand dismissively and walked back inside. Or, he limped inside actually, favoring his left leg.

"You're hurt, aren't you?" said Maria, entering the room.

"I'm fine." Shekar sat on the bed with his head bowed. Maria moved closer. The light from the street lamps lit one half of the room, and she saw his condition more clearly now. Shekar was wet to the bone, his shirt sticking to his chest like paint, and it looked like he had rolled in the mud.

"You're bleeding," she said. There was a long tear in Shekar's lungi, close to the thigh. Blood colored the fabric around it.

"Just a small cut," he said. "Go back to sleep, Maria. It's nothing to worry about."

"Can I at least have a look?"

Shekar lay back on the bed with his arm to his forehead. Maria parted his lungi. To the inside of his right thigh, there was a long gash. The bleeding had stopped, but the skin around it had turned dark. Foul-smelling yellow pus oozed out of the cut.

"My God! That looks bad," said Maria. She ran out of the room to get her first aid kit.

Maria did not have a lot of experience in dressing wounds, but she had to do something. She sat on the bed beside Shekar. He was lying naked, except for the briefs he wore. His wet and muddy clothes hung on a clothesline inside the room, dripping constantly and forming a puddle on the tiled floor.

Maria marveled at Shekar's size and hairiness for the umpteenth time. His biceps were what attracted her most. They were huge, not well-defined, but so very huge like the rest of him. The man looked like a Bhima who had come alive from the myths. And the hair... so much hair. He doesn't really need much clothing, thought Maria. Shekar was hairy enough to dispense with the need for such trivial things.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to distract him. The man was wincing in pain, and his body burned with a fever.

Shekar began his story, and Maria half-listened, cleaning the wound with a cotton ball dipped in Dettol. The old couple had the police protecting them. Then there was a chase. Bike slipped on the wet roads, chase continued on foot, jumped a fence, got injured, something about hiding in a cow-shed and on and on he went. He was wincing less now, distracted by his own story.

Winds lashed at the open windows, and rain poured into the room. Maria peeled off the bandage cover with her teeth and cleansed the wound one last time. Just then, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. There was a bulge forming in Shekar's underwear, and it was slowly inflating and rising. Am I turning him on? Maria pressed the bandage to the wound and rubbed her thighs together discreetly.

Her eyes never left his bulge for long. In between her ministrations, she stole a few glances. Shekar must have seen her doing so, for he stopped his narration. Maria did not dare to look at his face. God, he was right, thought Maria. I'm a slut!

Shekar continued his story. Maria began dressing the wound, but now there was a clumsiness to her motions. She sometimes pressed his muscular thighs too firmly or, her long fingernails brushed against his underwear, accidentally. His skin was clammy with sweat and red hot like a poker. But even with such a fever, the bulge kept getting bigger. Illness doesn't affect horniness, apparently. Maria gulped. It was like she could hear the fabric of his briefs straining to hold in his cock.