Black Orchid (19 page)

When at last she stood naked in front of him, Alexander ran
his eyes appreciatively across the body, from her neck to her
toes and back up again, where they lingered on her shaven
mound.

'Part your legs,' he ordered.

Maggie automatically did as she was asked. Her swollen
flesh leaves felt heavy between her legs and she knew she
was wet.

'Bend slightly at the knees – that's right. Thrust your hips
forward – Lovely! Your inner lips hang down below the outer
ones. I think we'll keep you shaved, Maggie, it's a shame to
conceal such a delightful asset.'

Maggie shivered, silently begging him to touch her. He
smiled and she was sure he had read her thoughts. Suddenly,
he reached out and pinched her protruding sex-lips, pulling
her towards him. Her arms went about his neck and she clung
to him as he worked his fingers across the slippery folds.

It didn't take long. Abstinence and denial had made her
desperate and within minutes the familiar, weak heat was
flooding through her. As the first waves of orgasm broke, Alexander
cupped the palm of his hand softly against her pulsing
sex so that she quivered against his hand as she sagged limply
against him.

She barely noticed when he lifted her up and lay her down
next to him in the large, soft bed. He cradled her in his arms
and murmured endearments against her hair. When she had
calmed, he lifted her chin and stared intensely into her eyes.

'Are you ready to give yourself over to me now, Maggie?' he
asked softly.

Maggie's heart leaped as she imagined him taking her,
possessing her now.

'Oh yes!' she whispered fervently.

'Body and soul?'

'Body and soul.'

He smiled and tucked her head under his chin.

'Good,' he said, simply. 'Then tomorrow night Antony and I
will take you out to test your resolution.'

It was a few minutes before Maggie realised that she had
been given all she was to be allowed to enjoy for tonight.
Contenting herself with that, she snuggled against Alexander's
warm strong body and drifted into sleep.

Maggie looked about her nervously as they found a table. When
Alexander had told her they were going out to dinner, she had
expected a romantic restaurant, perhaps with candles on the
table. Not a greasy spoon on the edge of the bypass.

The deathly lull in conversation which had heralded her
arrival between Antony and Alexander was only just beginning
to ease. The coffee bar was manned by a middle-aged, greasy
man in a grubby, blue and white striped apron which strained
across his pot belly. He stared across at her, slack lipped and
Maggie turned away.

An old man propped up the bar, his baggy, stained trousers
held up precariously by a pair of stringy braces. His rheumy
eyes followed Maggie as she reluctantly slipped into the seat
beside Alexander, diagonally opposite Antony. A lone trucker
sat to their left, so intent on demolishing his groaning plate
of pie and chips he never once raised his eyes from his plate.

On the far side of the room, a rowdy group of bikers sprawled
about the place. One, slightly more presentable than the rest,
was watching Maggie's dress ride up her legs as she slid
awkwardly into the moulded plastic seat which was bolted
securely to the ground, too close to the Formica-topped table.
She pulled ineffectually at the hem of the red lycra tube, keeping
her eyes downcast.

Why had Alexander selected this particular dress for her
tonight? Though it had long sleeves and finished high at her
throat, it clung to every curve, leaving nothing to the imagination.
The tight skirt ended mid-thigh, leaving the smooth silken sweep
of her stockinged legs exposed

In a dim, smoky nightclub she could have got away with it,
but here, under the harsh electric lights in the early evening
when the daylight still lingered, she looked and felt like a
tart.

She felt Alexander's cool fingers at the nape of her neck,
under the candyfloss curls Anthony had teased into her dark
hair.

'All right, Maggie?' he murmured, close to her ear.

'No!' she whispered furiously, keeping her head down to
hide her face from the men opposite who were now openly
ogling her. 'I'm going to sit next to Antony.'

'No.' Alexander stopped her by closing his hand over her
wrist. 'I don't want you to turn your back on your admirers,
Maggie. It would be unforgivably rude.'

Maggie was prevented from replying by the arrival of a
waitress. The incongruity of finding a waitress in a transport
café was enough to make Maggie's head snap up. The girl was
very young and slender with long, stringy blonde hair, but her
eyes were old. She looked bored as she flipped over her pad
and held her stubby pencil poised.

'We'll all have egg and chips,' Alexander told her without
consulting Antony or Maggie. 'And baked beans, fried bread
and sausage.'

He turned on his most devastating smile and the girl
blushed. Maggie studied her covertly. She didn't have a bad
figure under the unappealing pink gingham nylon overall, but
she couldn't imagine her exciting Alexander's jaded palate.
Nevertheless, he made the effort to compliment the girl with
his eyes, no doubt making her day.

'Would you like tea?' she simpered.

'Lovely,' he replied, not turning his attention back to Maggie
until she had disappeared, with an exaggerated roll of her hips,
behind the counter.

'Don't fidget, Maggie.'

She shot him a resentful look and he laid one hand on her
knee, squeezing it gently under the table. Maggie wished he
would remove it, the man who had been staring at her earlier
had noticed and she was embarrassed by the familiarity. She
glanced across at Antony. He was staring out of the window
at the traffic, his mind obviously elsewhere.

When their food arrived, Maggie pushed it half-heartedly
around her plate, her appetite gone. Antony and Alexander
both dug in with a relish which surprised her, swilling down
the greasy food with copious amounts of tea. Maggie's tea was
congealing in her cup. It was dark brown in colour, little globules
of fat swimming on the surface.

'Not hungry, Maggie?' Alexander asked innocently.

He laughed as she scowled at him and helped himself to her
sausage. Maggie couldn't wait for them to finish eating so that
they could all leave. There was an old-fashioned juke box in
the corner of the café and someone was feeding coins into it.
Before long the strident tones of Meatloaf filled the confined
space with sound.

Maggie felt someone watching her and raised her eyes
cautiously. The young biker was still watching her and as their
eyes met, he smiled knowingly at her. Maggie's stomach trembled.
Underneath the oily jeans and the heavy leather of his
jacket, he looked clean and well built.

His brown hair was cut brutally short to reveal one ear
pierced several times, glinting with gold. His hands were
square and knotty, as if he used them to make his living. She
jumped as she felt Alexander's voice in her ear.

'You've guessed which one it's to be, then?'

'What?'

She turned towards him in horror, her stomach roiling in
protest. He surely didn't mean what she thought he meant?
She stiffened as Alexander's hand moved up her leg, smoothing
her skirt even further up her thigh. Her throat felt dry as she
tried, and failed to pull her eyes away from Alexander's
hypnotic gaze. His blue eyes bored into her, like chips of ice,
as his fingers brushed against the gusset of her white cotton
panties.

Oh God, no! She couldn't be becoming aroused, not here,
with all these people looking on! Alexander smiled as if reading
her mind and something inside her shrank away from him.

'Please,' she whispered hoarsely, 'please stop!'

He didn't reply. Instead, he swooped on her unsuspecting
lips and crushed them under the weight of his kiss. Maggie
could hear the catcalls and whistles from the bikers in the
corner as she clung weakly to Alexander's shoulders.

She felt dizzy, helpless, her body totally out of control. One
part of her burned with shame at his casual humiliation of
her, while another, darker side revelled in it. This must have
been how Antony felt when he had allowed such compromising photographs to be taken of himself – completely in
Alexander's thrall. Gradually, reality receded and she became
oblivious to everything but Alexander's sweet breath on her
face and his teasing, sure fingers stroking between her
thighs.

'Oh, my Maggie! How sweetly you become aroused! It's
almost too easy to instruct you.'

His words sounded distant as he murmured them against
her lips.

'Please,' she whispered, abandoning all pretence of pride,
'please take me home and make love to me.'

He smiled. She felt his lips curve against hers.

'I will, darling Maggie, I promise I will. Soon. When you've
proved how much you love me.'

She frowned, pulling away from him slightly.

'How do I prove it?'

'By doing exactly as you are told.'

He cupped her face in his hands and stared into her eyes
for a long moment. Then he twisted her head slightly, so that
she could see the men in the corner.

'You see the young one, with the earrings? The one you were
eyeing earlier? I want you to go over to him and tell him he
can have you for a tenner.'

Maggie froze with shock and she pressed herself against
Alexander's side. The man with the earrings seemed to have
lost interest in her, he had turned so that his profile was
presented to her and was smoking a long, thin cigarette while
he listened to his mates' loud conversation. Maggie closed
her eyes.

She couldn't do it. Walk up to a complete stranger in a transport
café and try to sell him her body . . . no! She just
couldn't!

Alexander's eyes were cold as she tried to tell him.

'Surely you can understand.'

'I understand you don't want to keep your position at the
club. That you only pretend to love me.'

Cold fingers of panic travelled up and down Maggie's spine.
Alexander was regarding her coolly, leaving the ultimate decision
to her. She glanced at Antony. He gave a small smile of such
sweetness she wanted to cry. She didn't want to leave him, knew
that her life would be empty, meaningless without them.

'Well?' Alexander prompted her, glancing impatiently at his
watch.

'I . . . but where. I mean . . . I couldn't . . .
in here
. . .?'

'Not in here, you silly girl. Do you want to get us all arrested?
There's an alley at the side. It shouldn't take you more than
ten minutes.'

An alley. Oh God! Maggie saw that dusk was encroaching,
but it was still light enough to see what was going on outside.
Alexander pressed something into the palm of her hand.
Glancing down, she saw that it was a condom.

'Make sure he uses this – it's extra strength, for safety's
sake.'

Maggie felt an hysterical urge to laugh at this unexpected
show of concern for her. So incongruous in the light of what
he had asked, no,
told
her to do.

Her legs shook as she eased her body out from behind the
table and began to walk uncertainly towards the man. Her red
stilettoes clicked on the stained grey linoleum and half a dozen
pairs of eyes turned on her expectantly.

Maggie kept her eyes trained on her quarry. He took his feet
off the table as she approached and sat up, a suspicious gleam
lighting up his brown eyes. She stopped in front of him and
breathed deeply, in and out, trying to ignore the lewd remarks
which flew around her. A hand brushed lightly across her
bottom and it was all she could do not to flinch.

'Yeah?' The man frowned up at her.

Maggie bit her lip. Supposing he laughed? Or got angry? She
bent down so that she could whisper in his unadorned ear.

'I'll go outside with you for ten pounds.'

There, it was said! The man's face was a picture as she
straightened and looked expectantly at him. He recovered
himself quickly and she saw that the very suggestion had given
him an erection.

'Ten pounds?' he repeated, to loud guffaws from his mates.

'How about me for a fiver, darlin'?' someone suggested and
Maggie shuddered.

She looked back at Alexander for reassurance and blinked.
The table was empty. Frantically her eyes flew round the café,
but neither he nor Antony were to be seen. The bastards! How
could they go and leave her here, surrounded by these grinning,
leering yobs? For the first time in her life, Maggie felt
true fear. It trickled down her spine and curled round her waist,
lodging in the pit of her stomach.

'Let's go.'

She jumped as the man she had propositioned took her by
the elbow. For a moment, she thought about running, but he
was bigger than she had expected and she was hampered by
her impossibly high-heels and tight skirt. Making out with a
stranger in an alley was all very well when she had thought
Antony and Alexander were mere yards away, but unprotected,
that was a different matter entirely.

Surrounded by so many people, Maggie concluded she had
best just get on with it, and trust that he would be satisfied
with a quickie in the alley. She did not allow herself to dwell
on what could happen if his mates followed them.

Maggie forced her legs to move as the man pushed her
impatiently towards the door. She tried to close her ears to
the crude remarks which followed them, concentrating on
putting one foot in front of the other as they reached the
door.

It was cold outside and she shivered in the inadequate dress.
Crossing her arms over her breasts, she followed the man down
the alley at the side of the café.

'This'll do.'

He pushed her against the wall, though he wasn't rough
about it. Wordlessly, she handed him the wrapped condom. He
laughed shortly.