Kevin

The envelope sat there, quiet and unassuming, as though it belonged. A piece of paper left behind, nothing more. But Emma knew better. Her whole body thrummed with the secret weight of it.

She held her coffee tight between trembling hands, eyes fixed across the concourse. Any second now, someone would notice. Someone would take it. Someone would see her.

Mark checked the departure board, pretending at nonchalance, though his gaze kept flicking back to the bench.

Then, with a metallic shriek, a train rolled into platform seven. The station seemed to shift all at once, doors opening, commuters spilling out in waves, their footsteps echoing against the stone floor.

Emma’s stomach flipped. The crowd surged toward the waiting area, and her chest tightened at the thought of one of them sitting down, finding the envelope, sliding those photos into their bag.

Mark leaned slightly toward her, voice low. “Here we go.”

Dozens of strangers filed past. A man in a suit carrying a briefcase. Two teenage girls sharing a set of earbuds. A nun deep in prayer. Emma’s breath caught each time someone glanced toward the bench.

And then Mark froze. His grip on Emma’s wrist tightened.

“Fuck no,” he muttered, voice sharp.

Emma blinked, startled, and followed his gaze into the stream of disembarking passengers.

That’s when she saw him.

Kevin.

His sisters son, Mark had known him all his life and detested the little prick.

He walked pulling a case, his short fat legs wearing shorts, his belly hung over them under a ill-fitting t-shirt, his face was spotty and pock marked and his red curly hair was already starting to thin at the top. Kevin emptied the last of his cheesy diorites into his mouth and saw Mark and Emma and smiled walking over to them.

Hi Mark, Hi Auntie Em, em"

His eyes were on Emma's chest, she swallowed hard, her face heating, every nerve alive with his gaze. That word again "Auntie" dragged back the memory of last summer when Mark had allowed Kevin to stay whist his parents sorted out their own relationship.

Kevin's bedroom door half-open. The sound of hurried grunts. The glow of a laptop screen filled with a porno involving an actress pretending be the Aunt of a man her own age and having sex with him, she remembered pushing her hand to her mouth and seeing her own silk underwear wrapped around his cock soiled with his cream.

Marks eyes darted between Kevin and the envelope, it was still sat there alone waiting for someone to claim it.

He couldn't hear Kevin's prattling nasial voice until Kevin said "So can I stay with you this weekend"

Emma reacted first "Fuck no, not after that little stunt last time, you creep"

Kevin looked crest fallen and walked away. Mark and Emma gave a sigh of relieve until they saw him sit on the bench beside the envelope.

"No, no, no" said Emma

Kevin picked up the envelope and opened it, his eyes went wide and he began to dribble, recognition hit him and he looked directly at Mark and Emma.

Mark’s stomach turned over as Kevin shuffled back toward them, the envelope pinched in his pudgy fingers. His grin was too wide, too knowing.

Emma’s nails dug into her husband’s hand as Kevin stopped just short of them, holding the envelope against his belly as though it were a prize he’d just won at a fairground.

“I see you’ve put my old room to good use,” Kevin said, his voice thick with smugness. He flicked the edge of one photo with a chewed fingernail. “Guess I’ve found somewhere to stay for the weekend.”

Mark’s jaw tightened. “Kevin—”

“Relax, Uncle,” Kevin interrupted, eyes darting down the open line of Emma’s dress. He didn’t even pretend to hide it. “It’s not like I’m shocked. I always knew Auntie Em, em had a wild side.”

She **** her eyes away from him, her chest rising and falling too fast beneath the thin fabric of her dress. No bra. She knew what he could see, the hardened nipples pressing against the cloth. His stare made her skin buzz.

Mark tried to snatch the envelope back, but Kevin tucked it protectively against his chest.

“Don’t worry,” he said with a crooked smile. “Your secret’s safe with me. But… well, it looks like you two owe me. And you know I’d hate to sleep in some crummy hotel when the old room’s just sitting there.”

Mark’s face drained of colour. Emma’s heart hammered. The station crowd surged around them, oblivious, while the three of them stood locked in a quiet, scandalous standoff.

Kevin’s eyes dipped once more to the neckline of her dress, and his grin widened. “What do you say, Auntie?”