Heller's Girlfriend (17 page)

I shrugged uncaringly. “You
asked for my opinion and I’m being honest with you. I’m sorry if
that upsets you.”

“You didn’t even give her a
chance. I’m very disappointed in you, Matilda. This whole situation
is really bringing out the worst in you.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on
the way out,” I snapped, and held it open.

He glared at me as he stalked
out and I slammed the door loudly behind him. All riled up after
that little exchange, I wasn’t tired any longer, so decided to hit
the gym for a while to burn off all those champagnes I’d had last
night. I pummelled myself, working out all my frustration, anger
and unhappiness until every muscle was screaming at me to stop, and
I was too physically worn out to feel any emotions at all. After a
quick shower, I gratefully slid under the sheets and fell into an
exhausted, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 12

I went to the gym again early
the next morning, finding it an excellent way of relieving my
stress. Maybe I was becoming a gym junkie? I guess it would be
healthier for me than the alternative of drinking myself to death.
I finished my workout, dressed and headed off to work.

Heller was still angry at me and
didn’t even glance in my direction as he walked past my desk to his
office. I poked my tongue out at his back, which wasn’t very mature
of me I’ll admit, but made me feel infinitely better.

Around midday he yelled out from
his office for me to come in. I took my time, which infuriated him
even more. I smiled to myself and sat demurely across from him in
one of his office chairs. He then ignored me for a while, busily
writing something in his elegant left-handed script, a chunky
silver ring with the
H
logo on his left ring finger. I swung
back and forth on the chair in boredom while I waited for him to
speak, producing a small squeaking noise each time the chair
twisted. It broke the silence and entertained me for a few
minutes.

He slammed his fist on his desk.
“Stop doing that! It’s annoying me.”

I stopped. “Did you ask me in
here to watch you write? Because, although I can see that you’re
extremely skilled at it, it’s not that exciting to be honest.”

“I’m waiting for Farrell to
arrive,” he said through clenched teeth.

“You could have said so.”

I started swinging and squeaking
again. He cut me a murderous look so I hastily stopped. Fortunately
for both of us Farrell turned up at that moment and sat heavily in
the other visitor’s chair. I smiled at him and he grunted in
return.
Gee, I was popular with the blokes today!
I thought
ruefully.

“An unusual job has come in and
I want you two to do it.” I glanced at Farrell. He ignored me,
keeping his eyes firmly fixed on Heller. “It’s security for a
swingers’ party on Friday night.” My eyebrows shot up into my
hairline. I glanced at Farrell again, expecting a similar reaction
from him. Nothing. His face was like stone. “It’s a members’ only
function for a swingers’ club. They do it once a month or so. It’s
being held at a private home and the host has arranged for the
security. They specifically asked for one female security officer.
That’s where you come in, Matilda.”

“Thanks for noticing I’m
female,” I said sarcastically.

His eyebrows lowered in a look
of deep irritation. “It’s just for one night, but it will be an
all-nighter, possibly going well into the next day.”

“What do we have to do?” I
asked, risking his displeasure again.

“Check tickets, keep out any
gatecrashers, then you’re on patrol for the rest of the time,
keeping the peace, making sure everyone has a good time.”

I dared to ask another question
as I could see Farrell wasn’t going to open his mouth. “What
happens at a swingers’ party?”

Heller shot me a glance of
amused disbelief. “People have sex, Matilda. What do you
think?”

“I know that!” I spluttered in
exasperation. “But
how
will they have it?”

“I’ll show you later
tonight.”

I wasn’t in the mood for
flirting. “That’s not what I meant. Will it happen in private
rooms? Out in the open? Together in a big orgy? I don’t know,
Heller.”

“Are you implying that I do?” He
raised an eyebrow.
He probably did
, I thought, knowing him.
“There will probably be group sex in the open. I’m not sure. You’ll
have to ask the host when you arrive.”

I screwed up my nose, disgusted.
“I don’t want to watch people having sex! That’s just plain gross.
Do I have to do this job?” I complained.

“Yes, you heard me. They want a
female officer there. For the female guests.”

“Heller! I don’t want to do
it.”

“You’ll do what I tell you to
do.” He said it in that dangerously quiet voice that let me know he
meant business. His eyes were seriously unsympathetic.

“Isn’t it all going to be really
debauched? What if things get out of hand? I don’t want to grapple
with any more naked men,” I said sullenly. I’d had a disturbingly
up-close encounter with a wet, nude man some months ago.

His lips twitched. “Nobody’s
expecting any trouble. It’s members only, remember. Everybody wants
to be there and only members are allowed in. That’s part of your
duties – to make sure only members are admitted to the house.”

I wasn’t happy. As if I wanted
to do a job like this. And especially with such a fun guy as
Farrell. He probably wouldn’t even speak to me once the whole time.
It would be purgatory. I frowned at Heller, not sure if I was being
punished for not liking his perfect girlfriend.

He softened a little seeing my
disgruntled features. “I promise it will be okay, Matilda. The job
will be over before you know it. It’s only one night. And Farrell
will make sure you’re safe.”

What followed was a whole silent
conversation between the two men. Farrell nodded once and that
seemed to finish the discussion to Heller’s satisfaction.

“Good. All settled then.” He
pushed a piece of paper across the desk to Farrell, not me, with
the details for the job. That pissed me off too. In fact,
everything about this assignment pissed me off.

“Are we done?” I demanded
angrily, standing up. They both stared at me, startled by my sudden
move.

“Farrell will pick you up at
about 4 PM on Friday. Make sure you don’t keep him waiting,” Heller
dismissed us. I could have rammed his pen into his forehead I was
that mad at him.

“I’ll give you a ring before I
come to get you,” said Farrell, and I looked over at him. His
returning glance was full of sympathetic understanding. That sudden
show of kindness from him surprised me. “Can I have your mobile
number?”

We left Heller’s office and
stood by my desk. I recited my number for him and entered his into
my mobile as well.

“Are you really worried about
this job?” he asked, regarding me intently. We were the same height
so I looked straight into his amazing eyes.

“Yes. It’s unpleasant. God only
knows what we’re going to witness.”

“It
is
unpleasant, but
you’ll be all right. I’ll be there with you and we’ll get through
it together. As a team. Okay?” Another intent look.

“Okay.” And meeting his honest
eyes again, I found myself trusting him completely. Maybe it was
his background in the army, but he seemed the sort of man you could
rely on in a crisis, even if he was as much fun as a toothache.

He nodded, turned around and
left the office, not bothering to waste his breath in saying
goodbye. I watched after him for a while, deep in thought, until
Heller came out of his office and demanded to know what on earth
was I staring at? I hurried back to my desk and began industriously
tapping on my keyboard.

I spent the rest of the week
accompanying Heller on his client rounds. During these he met with
his top clients to ensure that his men continued to provide a
first-class service. It was one of the personal touches that he
offered that differentiated his business from the other big
security firms in the city. It allowed him immediately to jump on
any emerging problems or issues so that his clients’ business
matters were not interrupted. Needless to say, his clients were
usually very satisfied with the service they received from
Heller’s
and we benefitted from a lot of word-of-mouth
recommendations.

I normally loved escorting
Heller on his visits. I loved spending time with him and enjoyed
meeting his clients, trying my best to charm their socks off. But
this time, day after day, in transit between meetings, I had to
suffer through what seemed to me to be an unending monologue on
that absolute paragon of womanliness, Vanessa.

I sank into a bored, jealous,
sullen silence and spent my time staring out the window, trying to
ignore the continuous flow of his attractively accented voice. He
didn’t even notice, but kept up the stream of marvelled comment on
every aspect of their relationship, his discourse interspersed with
phone calls from the perfect bitch herself. And while I’m sure I
should be flattered that he felt close enough to me to share such
intimate details, I didn’t want to be his confidante and I sure as
hell didn’t want to hear about their sexual feats together. But I
couldn’t block my ears while he lauded how much he liked the way
she kept her incredibly wild and inventive sexual side just for him
while presenting that coolly elegant face to the world.

I felt miserably simplistic by
comparison. I didn’t have any alluring secret sides – what you saw
with me was what you got. Tilly Chalmers, an open book.

Although I was dreading it,
Friday couldn’t roll around quickly enough for me.
Anything
had to be better than the torment of hearing about Vanessa every
day. I was at breaking point, on the brink of screaming at him to
just shut the hell up, when he drove us back to the Warehouse at
lunchtime on Friday after our last visit. I hurried away from him,
ran up the stairs to my flat and closed the door, leaning against
it and breathing a sigh of relief. There was a soft knock on the
door straight away and I groaned and briefly thought of hiding
under my bed to get away from him.

I opened the door with a bit of
attitude, but it wasn’t Heller standing there, only Niq. I was so
thankful that I pulled him inside and shut the door quickly before
Heller came along. There was room under my bed for both Niq and me
if necessary. In his normal fourteen-year-old manner, Niq didn’t
even blink once at my strange behaviour, just accepting it in his
stride. And I suppose that when you’re a kid, a lot of what adults
do can seem inexplicable.

I made him lunch and we chatted
for a while before I shooed him away. I wanted to have a catnap
before Farrell picked me up because I’d probably be awake all
night. I drew down my blind, jumped into bed, slipped on my eyemask
and fell asleep for a couple of hours. I loved having an afternoon
nap. There was little in life that was more indulgent, because it
meant that you had no pressing responsibilities, no work to do,
with sufficient leisure time to waste daylight hours asleep.

When I woke up it was three
o’clock. Enough time to have a shower and make myself a substantial
snack, knowing I wouldn’t get any dinner that night. While I pulled
on a fresh
Heller’s
polo shirt, my phone rang. It was
Farrell letting me know that he was on his way and sure enough ten
minutes later there was his familiar knock on my door. Normally it
created a horrible feeling of dread and impending doom inside me
when I heard it, but this time I knew I wasn’t going to be
frogmarched down to the gym to be tortured, so I opened the door to
him without hesitation.

He was early. He looked around
curiously, but made no comment on my living quarters. I offered him
a sandwich and a diet soft drink and to my surprise he accepted,
admitting that he’d forgotten to grab anything to eat. I made him a
quick lunch that he wolfed down. Watching how quickly the sandwich
was disappearing, I made him another one and he ate that
appreciatively as well, neatly washing up his plate and glass
afterwards.

“Thank you, Chalmers,” he
said.

“Tilly,” I insisted impatiently
again.

He acted as if he hadn’t heard
me. “Ready to go?”

“Sure.”

We clattered down to the
basement and checked out one of the fleet vehicles, a black Nissan
4WD. I breathed a sigh of relief that I’d managed to escape without
seeing Heller again. I’d had enough of him for one day. But as we
drove off, my phone rang.

“What do you want, Heller?”

“You left without saying goodbye
to me.”

“Sorry. We were running late,” I
lied. “We only had time to gobble some food before we had to
leave.”

“Put Farrell on.”

I handed the phone to Farrell.
His conversation with Heller was brief, his contribution confined
to “Yes,” “Yes,” “No,” and “Okay.” He handed the phone back to
me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I
said.

“I hope you won’t find tonight
too awful, my sweet. Try not to mind so much and remember that it’s
only sex.”

“It
is
going to be awful.
And it’s
not
just sex – there will be people having sex
right in front of us! It’s going to be revolting.”

“Matilda, a lot of my men would
have loved to be assigned to this job. That’s why I picked Farrell
to go with you. He’s not somebody who’s going to get a cheap thrill
out of it. And he’ll take whatever happens in his stride and not
become distracted by the action from always considering your
safety. I thought about it carefully before I made my decision on
which man to send along with you. I want you to know that, my
sweet. I don’t do things lightly when you’re involved. I even
thought of doing this job myself.”