The Teacher: A shocking and compelling new crime thriller – NOT for the faint-hearted!. Katerina Diamond

in his brash country accent as he stared at the family portrait that hung on Kevin’s wall. The jovial face of the man in the portrait didn’t match the man in front of Martin, he was younger and slimmer. In the picture were two teenagers, a lean, tall boy with an uncomfortable smile and a slightly younger girl in a pristine white dress. Kevin kept the picture there so that when his wife visited it just seemed like a home away from home, that way they could both keep up the pretence that nothing untoward was going on.

      Open handed, Kevin slapped Martin across the face. Martin shot up and raised his hand to hit back. Kevin grabbed it and looked Martin in the eyes. In the instances when they reacted like that he wondered if they were genuinely surprised or if they were actually just play acting for him, he didn’t really care either way. Some part of them must have guessed what he was paying for, or were they really that naive? He loved that look, the shock, the surprise, the indignation. Tears started to form in Martin’s eyes as Kevin stared into him.

      ‘I can always take the money back and you can just go,’ he whispered. ‘Or you can do what you’re told and keep the money.’

      It’s one thing to refuse a lot of money; it’s another thing to give it back after you have held it in your hands. This was a huge part of the turn on for Kevin, the part when they accepted, the part when they knew what was going to happen and still said yes, he lived for that very moment; acquiescence.

      ‘What do you want me to do?’ Martin pushed back the tears and lowered his hand.

      ‘Take your clothes off.’ Kevin took a step back and watched as Martin resentfully stripped down to just his underpants, he guessed this was Martin’s lucky pair or something, bright and garish, labelled and fitted, probably expensive. ‘All of them.’

      As Martin stood there Kevin revelled in his discomfort, his firm golden silhouette framed by the backlight of the cathedral. Martin crossed his hands across his front, trying to keep a little of his modesty at least. This made Kevin smile to himself. By the time Kevin was done with Martin his modesty would be the least of his worries.

      The bedroom was darker than the lounge, just a bed sitting solemnly in the centre of the room. Martin stumbled forward and Kevin pushed him face first into the mattress. The floor felt strange to Kevin, something wasn’t right about it but he dismissed the feeling as a side effect of the excitement. With one hand he undid his belt and ripped it from its position with ease before forming it into a loop and hooking it around Martin’s neck as though he were a wayward dog, no chit chat, no foreplay. He spat into his hand and forced his fingers inside Martin, who stopped writhing when he realised the more he resisted the tighter the belt got. It had been months since Kevin had got to play this game, always too busy with work or family, mind-numbingly dull conference calls or his daughter’s theatrical performances. Kevin savoured the image of Martin’s body, its tiny contortions as he pushed harder, deeper.