I went back to the car, and just sat there, wondering what to do next. I tried ringing Giles again, but there was still no reply. I’d have to stop by his chambers, but I didn’t relish the thought. I started the car and pulled away. Sandy was still on the doorstep, smoking her fag and watching me. I felt sorry for her. She wasn’t a bad woman, just a terrible judge of character.

I was halfway to Westminster, when the phone rang. Giles, I thought. At last. But it wasn’t Giles at all. It was Rick. I knew it was him straight away, even though the voice was muffled and the number withheld. ‘Boss?’ he said. He spoke quickly, as if he were nervous. And well he might be, I thought grimly. What the fuck did he think he was playing at?

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Where are you?’

‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ He gave a short laugh.

‘I would, yes,’ I snapped. ‘Don’t play games with me, Rick. You don’t know what you’re fucking with.’

‘Don’t I, though?’ he said. ‘I know more than you think I do.’

‘Such as?’

‘Such as the identity of dear, sweet little Fliss.’

‘Don’t bluff me, Rick.’ I could feel the sweat starting to form on my brow. I wiped at it with the back of my hand. ‘I’m not in the mood.’

‘No bluffing, Sir.’ The sarcasm in his voice rattled me. ‘I followed her home that night, too. I know exactly who she is.’

‘Then you’ll know better than to play games,’ I said, his words sending a chill through me.

‘I don’t intend to play games.’ There was a pause, as if he were looking for the right words. ‘I intend to get what I’m owed.’

‘I tried to give you money last night,’ I said. ‘You think this is going to help you?’

‘You don’t understand.’ His voice cracked. ‘I’m in real trouble. Charlotte…she’s been blackmailing me. I owe big time and, if I don’t pay it off, I’ll lose my house…lose Sandy…the kids.’

‘Give me Charlotte’s address,’ I said. ‘I’ll sort it.’

‘I don’t have it.’ He sounded desperate. ‘I’ve been to the address she gave me. There’s no one there. I left a…message, but I haven’t heard from her since.’

‘I saw,’ I said, remembering the dead cat. God, he must’ve been desperate, but the working girl, Jane, had been right. He was a sick fuck. ‘I could’ve helped you, Rick. You should’ve told me. It should never have come to this.’

‘Well, it has.’ His voice was calm now, emotionless. ‘And right now I need real money. Not the kind of pay-off you’d have given me last night.’

‘You signed a confidentiality clause,’ I said. ‘I’ll sue your ass off if you try anything, and then you will lose everything.’

‘You won’t.’ There was an air of confidence to his statement, even as his voice trembled. ‘Not while I’m sitting on this tape.’

‘So, what then?’ I could see where it was going, but I knew I had to hear the words…hear how much.

There was a pause before he spoke again. ‘Five hundred thousand,’ he said, finally.

‘Five hundred thous…’

‘Used notes. I’ll be at Dominion tomorrow night.’

No wonder he’d paused. He was really gambling. Even I’d have trouble finding that in loose change, especially by tomorrow evening. My to-do list was growing ever longer.

‘Okay,’ I said, getting ready to turn the car around. I couldn’t face seeing Giles right now, even though I needed to. If he asked me about the tape, I didn’t trust myself to be able to lie convincingly. ‘I’ll sort it.’

Rick rang off, and I just sat there for a while, staring at my mobile and wondering what the hell else could go wrong today.

Twenty One

I still felt like death itself the next morning. I spent most of the day in bed, asleep. The phone kept waking me, though. Once, it was Kitty’s smarmy-sounding agent, Jimmy, and the rest were Leo. I arranged to meet with Jimmy on the Friday afternoon. Leo, I ignored completely. He kept ringing though and, desperate for some peace to soothe my banging head, I finally turned off my phone. Just the act of doing so, of taking a bit of control back, made me feel somewhat better, and I sunk into a deep sleep from which I’d only just woken when Liv came in from work.

This time when I woke up, I lay there replaying what I could remember of last night’s events in my mind. As I remembered the incident with the Australian guys, I wailed inwardly. God, had I really done that? What the hell must Liv have thought?

But even through the hideous shame of it, I couldn’t help but start to feel turned on all over again. The familiar surge of sensation flooded into my clit, and I hardly even noticed my hand moving down there. I let my thighs fall apart, as I remembered the roughness of their hands on me, the urgency of Stef’s cock in my mouth, the upward slide of my sweater over my breasts.

What would have happened if Liv hadn’t interrupted us? If they’d taken me somewhere else, where they could properly use me? I knew I’d have been in trouble but, even so, the thought of it sent shivers of anticipation through my clit. My imagination wandered, and soon I was back in my fantasy, but this time with a difference. It started in Jackaroo’s, with Stef and Chris and the rest of the guys, just as it had last night, but instead of Liv coming to my rescue, they’d carried on; Stef thrusting into my mouth, Chris finally pulling my breasts free of my bra, and the guy next to me undoing my jeans and inching them down across my hips.

It was only when I was truly exposed, naked on Chris’s lap, with his cock pushing inside me and Stef plunging once again into my mouth, that it all went wrong. It wasn’t my fantasy any more. It was Leo’s reality and, when I looked up at Stef, and all the other guys standing around us, it was Leo’s face, once again, looking back at me.

I pulled my hand away as if it’d been stung, and just lay there, staring at the poster-strewn walls, and wondering whether I’d ever be able to keep my promise to Liv.

She didn’t seem any more convinced, when I was getting ready to go out with Kitty, an hour or so later.

‘I don’t think you should go,’ she said, at least ten times, as she stood behind me in her tiny bathroom, watching me apply the finishing touches to my make-up. Disapproval was etched all over her face. ‘Not after last night.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘You keep saying. I won’t get drunk, I promise, but I’m going.’

It wasn’t just the thought of getting it in the neck from Kitty that made me determined to go. For one thing, I was dying to know what was so special about the venue. I’d been to most of the decent clubs in London with Leo, but the F Bar had never crossed my radar. For another, Leo had been out the night before, with some brunette, and had been snapped getting into a cab with her. Hence the reason I’d ignored his calls. I was determined to go one better, although I didn’t mention this to Liv, for obvious reasons.

‘Well, just make sure you behave,’ she said. She was clucking about me like a mother hen; rearranging my hair and checking under my eyes for smudges. ‘I wish I was coming with you, I do, but I just can’t. Max has gone abroad unexpectedly, and, well...you know.’ She made a face.

I could read her like a book. I knew she felt as if she should be there, to keep me in check, but the thought of spending more time in the company of Kitty made her want to run for the hills. I was glad she wasn’t going, anyway, in the nicest possible way. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be kept in check.

‘I don’t think you’re on the VIP list, anyway,’ I said, with a wicked grin.

‘Dayum,’ she said, clicking her fingers in disappointment.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

‘Quick, it’s the taxi,’ she said, peering out her bedroom window. ‘Hurry up.’

I grabbed my bag, and walked gingerly down the stairs. I was wearing a sleek midnight-blue dress and high sandals. I hadn’t worn anything but flats for the last few days, and I didn’t want to have an accident. I hoped Kitty would approve of my outfit. My dress was a sleeveless silk shift, spattered with diamantés and open down the back, and it was the shortest I had with me. I’d told myself I was getting dressed up to please her, but secretly I knew it was because I wanted to attract attention. As the thought was made explicit in my mind, I flushed. What a difference a day made. Something had twisted inside me, something small but significant, and I was half ashamed but, at the same time, powerless to halt it. Christ, I didn’t even want to halt it.