Girl Seven (6 page)

She gave me a hesitant thumbs-up after she’d poured the vodkas.

‘I haven’t seen you here before,’ I said when I returned to the table.

‘We are aware of Mr Braben and Mr O’Connell’s club. We could not resist to visit.’ The one on the left, with the more impressive mane of black hair, leant forwards and indicated that I sit down next to them. ‘I am Alexei. This is my brother, Isaak.’

‘You Polish or something?’ I said, sitting down and crossing my legs so that my knee just brushed against Alexei’s.

‘You have cheek, little girl. We are Russian.’ He looked me up and down. ‘What are you? Korean?’

I snorted. ‘OK, I asked for that. I’m half Japanese.’

‘And your name?’

‘Seven.’

‘Your real name?’

‘That
is
my real name. Noel and Ronnie like us to use our real first names, he says it makes this place feel more... familiar, I guess. I think some guys like to think they’re talking to a girl they’re not paying for. Not someone called... Crystal or fucking Fifi or something
.
’

He laughed. Isaak didn’t, but then Isaak hadn’t said any­thing yet. He seemed content to sit back and watch the two of us talk. I wondered if it was a weird sexual thing and almost grimaced. What if I got these guys on a house call and they wanted to do some weird incestuous double-act or something?

Alexei was attractive though, in a rabid way, like Marlon Brando, as if he would fuck you while holding you down by the neck. I decided that I could probably have sex with him without much prompting.

‘You are funny,’ Alexei said, resting his drink on my knee. ‘You must know all of your boss’s business secrets.’

‘Well, I could probably guess Noel’s password.’ I grinned, swallowing back the anger I could feel rising to the surface at the very mention of his name. ‘I don’t know his PIN number though.’

How fucking dare he treat me like that on the phone. Again.

I snapped out of my stale bitter thoughts and found Alexei was still staring at me.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘What’s his password?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, his wife’s name and his birthday? Caroline255? His first dog? Chewbacca?’

‘What are you, his mistress?’

‘Well...’ I uncrossed and recrossed my legs, biting my lip. ‘Not any fucking more.’

Alexei gulped back the rest of his vodka and I went word­lessly to take his glass back to the bar. He made to grip my arm and without thinking I parried him. There was a silence. I reddened a little, feeling that I might have overreacted.

‘Don’t leave us yet,’ said Alexei. ‘I would like to know his mother’s maiden name.’

‘Oh well... I don’t know that, I’ve never met her.’ I took a step back and noticed that Isaak was almost smiling again. ‘Anyway, I think I’d be a little more than fired if Noel knew I was divulg­ing his inside leg measurement. Though I could probably find that out, for real.’

I laughed, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.

‘What if we made it worth your while?’

I hesitated, unsure of what to do with the empty glass, so I sat down again. Before I could think of something to say Coralie prowled up to Isaak from behind and laid her hand on his shoulder. She was so flawless that sometimes I wished she’d chip a tooth.

‘Can I help you with anything here?’ she asked, practically purring.

‘No, please leave.’

Alexei hadn’t even looked at her.

Coralie’s perfect beam slipped as she made a questioning face at me. I rolled my eyes as if to say, ‘Don’t even ask,’ and she left us. I was glad something had provided a brief distraction. The two of them were still waiting for me to speak and I wasn’t sure how to play it.

‘Worth my while... how?’

‘Name your price.’

‘Er... a flight to Japan and a deposit on a flat.’

The two of them looked at each other, nodded, looked back to me.

I was nervous now and laughed again to hide it. ‘OK, you guys. You’re funny, but you know this isn’t a serious con­versation, right? I’m going to get you some more vodka. Try not to bribe anyone else while I’m away.’

As soon as I had my back to them I exhaled for a long time and was grateful for the chance to lean against the bar. What a mind-fuck. I wondered who these guys were and what they were doing here, if they were business rivals...

But maybe they were joking? That must have been it. They were joking. They were Russian, after all. Their humour was bound to be dry.

‘Can you give me two more of these?’ I handed the empty glasses to Daisy, shaking the weird feeling off me.

‘He’s hot,’ she remarked, glancing over my shoulder with approval. ‘If you’re into that sort of thing.’

‘Yeah, he’s, er... something. Not your type?’

‘Na, too hot for me. They get boring when they look like that.’ She poured me some more Absolut and mocked deep thought. ‘You know, I really love guys with a complex. Bullied as a child, Daddy issues, obvious but undiagnosed symp­toms of severe bipolar... Fuck, I’m crazy for it. What can I say?’

‘That’s a flattering description of Nic.’

‘He loves it.’

I picked up the vodkas, took a breath and then went back to the Russians, who were conferring in their own language as I approached them. My voice dripped with sarcasm as I sat down again.

‘Have you upped the price to include a holiday to Peru?’

‘I am offended you do not take us seriously, Miss Seven.’ Alexei held a hand over his heart. ‘I assure you, we can be very serious.’

A pause. ‘OK, no, really, this is inappropriate. I don’t think I can serve you any more. I’ll send someone else over.’

‘You will receive everything you ask for, and also a part of the profits.’

I stopped.

Isaak’s voice was lighter than his brother’s, less tuneful. It was the first time he had spoken.

‘What... profits?’ I asked.

‘The profits from our operations,’ Isaak continued quietly. ‘We are very organized and, to us, someone like you is invalu­able. You could be of so much help, if you were willing to work with us. Of course you could still continue to work here for... whatever it is you make that is enough to afford your basic rent and your dresses and fancy underwear. But it will never be enough to afford what you want, will it? What do you really want?’

His English was in a different league to Alexei’s.

I didn’t think anyone had asked me what I wanted before, in any meaningful way. The answer sprang to mind immediately and it came as no shock. I wanted to go home. More than anything, I wanted to be back in Tokyo, with the one who mattered. Noel, of all people, could have done with being brought down a few rungs a while ago. If he began to realize there were consequences to his actions once in while, maybe he’d stop treating everyone around him as if they were flies.

My reply came out before I’d properly thought it through. ‘Give me your number.’

Alexei took a pen from his jacket and wrote a mobile num­ber on the back of a London Underground coaster. I noticed that the two of them were dressed in grey. Just grey. It was as if they had both read the same cheap book on espionage:
Blending In For Dummies
.

I took the coaster and stood up. ‘I’m going to go now.’

‘I hope you get in touch.’

My heart racing, I walked with as much nonchalance as I could to the dressing room. Just having the number in sight was making me feel ill so I put it in my locker where I didn’t have to look at it.

When I mustered up the courage to go back into the club again, the two of them had gone.

Daisy skipped up to me and tucked a wad of notes into the waistband of my knickers. ‘I don’t know what the fuck you said to those guys, but you must have a flippin’ bottleful of charm hidden away under that massive permanent sulk-on of yours.’

‘What’s this?’

‘Their tip. They left it for you personally. They were really insistent on it being for you.’ A glance over her shoulder. ‘I know they like us to pool it and stuff but I won’t tell if you won’t. That one was all you, that was. You should have it.’

I flicked through the notes.

It was 150 pounds.

As prostitution goes – hookerdom, whoring, escorting, whatever you want to call it – my first experience of it was probably one of the better ones. It had been about two weeks. I’d brought in the STD test within my first few days and thought I’d have been asked to do something by now.

I hadn’t seen much of Noel since my interview, only for snatches of chat here and there, and never about work. Everything I’d learnt about the club so far I’d picked up from Daisy or one of the other girls. But he appeared that night, intercepting me in the middle of the floor and beckoning without a word.

I was just about getting used to traversing the slick club floors in heels that I could barely shuffle in, though I still glared at Daisy if she gave me more than two drinks to carry at a time.

‘Um... OK.’ I put a tray of drinks down on the nearest table, not caring if that was their intended destination or not, and followed Noel upstairs to his office.

Halfway up I had to take my shoes off and carry them, as I couldn’t yet control my balance going up and down stairs. They were about five inches high and almost made me adult-sized. Aside from those I was wearing some kind of kimono-style lingerie. The tassels flapped around the backs of my thighs, distracting me.

Once inside, Noel shut the door for me and looked serious. ‘I have something for you, if you’re interested. If you’re up for it, I mean?’

‘What sort of thing?’

He indicated for me to sit, but I remained standing.

‘A house call.’ He leant against his desk, folding his arms. ‘A favour for a pretty good mate of mine. Well, work mate.’

‘You want me to go have sex with someone?’

Uncharacteristically coy, he hesitated. ‘Yes. If you like.’

‘Well, who is he?’

‘His name’s Darsi Howiantz, he’s a psychologist or... psych­ia­trist, I can never remember the difference. Any­way, he works with the police and helps me out a lot with stuff and...’ He struggled to find the words. ‘He’s into cool things, like books and art and stuff. Like you. You read, don’t you? So I thought it might be good to send you.’

It was almost sweet, how awkward he was being. He looked tired, though his eyes were still alert and unclouded. I noticed that his shoes were under his desk where he must have kicked them off. Stifling the urge to laugh, I realized that he must have absently walked down into the club to find me without putting them back on.

I shrugged and put my own shoes on the floor. ‘Well, yeah, sure. I guess I get paid more for this?’

‘Yeah, of course, it’s always where the real money is. But if you don’t want to do it or if you want to leave it a while and just find your feet then that’s cool, I can get another girl.’

‘No, really, I’m fine. I don’t mind.’

It didn’t seem as though he’d expected that response. It didn’t seem as if he entirely wanted it.

I inclined my head. ‘You don’t think I’m ready?’

‘No no, it’s fine. You’re fine.’ He frowned and cleared his throat. ‘Right, OK. We pay for the taxis obviously. You haven’t done this before, have you?’

‘No, I haven’t.’ I smiled a little. ‘But it’s just sex, isn’t it?’

A pause.

‘Yeah.’ He looked at the floor for a moment and then back to me, taking a breath. ‘Yeah.’

The intensity in the air was thick for a moment as he stared at me, but then he cleared his throat again and took his mobile out of his pocket. He didn’t use it, just held it.

‘Um, do you have any questions? The obvious stuff is that everyone always uses protection; it’s standard. Nothing that’s going to leave a mark is allowed without prior warning, ever. But you won’t have to worry about that with Darsi, he’s pretty straight-edge. He... reads a lot. I don’t think he’ll be into anything weird.’

I kept nodding as he rambled until he ran out of breath.

‘OK,’ I said, standing very still. ‘Just let me know when I have to leave.’

‘You don’t have any questions?’

‘I don’t know. Is he hot?’

Noel snorted and glanced at the ceiling, mocking thought. ‘Oh well, er... speaking as a heterosexual male who’s totally comfortable with his sexuality... Yeah, he’s all right. He’s a nice guy too, he’s a good guy. Just... be yourself and you’ll be fine.’

‘Myself? Great.’

He swallowed, nodding. ‘Thanks. I’ll call him then.’

With another glance at his shoes, I picked up my heels and turned to leave.

‘Seven, wait a sec.’

I opened the door and waited by it.

He came forwards, pushed the door shut and kissed me for a long time. I could feel the release of repressed tension in his body, his hands running up me, and then he let me go and I wasn’t sure what to say to him. He was close. I could see the tiny strands of grey in his hair.

At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was something he did with the other girls, but I went with it anyway. I’d wanted him to do it. Even if I could have said no, I wasn’t going to.

‘That’s all,’ he said, and went to sit back behind his desk.

I watched him for a couple of seconds and he was breathing heavily through his nose, but he didn’t look up from his laptop again so I left.

Darsi’s living room, or study, was full to the point of hoarding. It was the strangest collections of items I’d ever seen, but then I could tell within less than a minute of meeting Darsi that he was a very strange man. He had the awkwardly formal social skills of a reclusive academic, but he was appealing. He also didn’t ask any questions about my name, which was a first.

As I repressed my amusement at him shaking my hand, I took in his sharp and thin but attractive features.