The Black Room (26 page)

Stephanie moved Jo’s fingers away. ‘Later,’ she promised firmly. ‘Turn over and let me get the rest of this lotion on to you.’

Obligingly, Jo rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. She felt Stephanie shift position. Then her hands were kneading at the sensitive flesh of Jo’s arse. Using her palms as roughly as she dared, Stephanie rubbed the lotion firmly into Jo’s skin. Her splayed fingers pressed hard against the naked flesh, tracing lines and circles that followed the perfect contours of Jo’s body. She rubbed the calamine firmly into the scratched cheeks, only pausing when Jo flinched uncomfortably.

‘Don’t worry,’ Stephanie whispered quietly. ‘I’ll kiss it all better when I’m done.’

Jo felt herself aching with desire. The whole experience was so relaxing she could feel the memory of the black room paling into insignificance.

Stephanie’s fingers stroked tenderly between the cleft of Jo’s buttocks, sending a thrill of excitement through the private investigator’s body. Delving deeper, they touched the bare flesh of her newly shaved pussy.

Jo shivered beneath her.

‘Did they shave you like this?’ Stephanie asked quietly.

Jo nodded into the pillow. She raised her head and turned over. ‘Yes. I know how stupid it looks.’

‘I don’t think it looks stupid.’ There was a smile in her voice as she said, ‘I think it looks good enough to eat.’ Without another word she pressed her mouth against the heat of Jo’s sex. She delivered a series of soft, gentle kisses to the aching lips of Jo’s hole. Her tongue gently teased the lips, cooling them with moisture, before she kissed them dry. Her retroussé nose tickled against the hood of Jo’s clitoris. When she realised she was doing this, Stephanie nuzzled the organ playfully.

Jo gasped for breath, bewildered by the enjoyment she was receiving. Her breath was coming in ragged bursts. She longed to touch Stephanie and please her in return. However, she was too weary to even lift the girl from her body. It was all that she could do to just lie there and endure Stephanie’s kisses.

‘What are these marks on your pussy lips?’ Stephanie asked curiously. ‘Did they use the nettles on you down here?’

Jo shook her head. ‘That’s probably where the electrodes were clamped,’ she explained. It seemed unreal to say something so shocking in such a banal voice.

Stephanie almost shrieked with horror. ‘What the hell were they doing to you?’ she demanded.

Jo grinned. She used every aching muscle in her body and managed to sit up. Draping a weary arm around the girl’s shoulders, Jo smiled into her face. Her affection and admiration were blatantly apparent. ‘I can’t remember what they were doing to me,’ she said. She placed a soft kiss on the corner of Stephanie’s mouth. ‘You were just in the process of making me forget.’

Stephanie returned her smile. ‘I’ll carry on then, shall I?’

Jo lay back down on the bed and allowed her to.

Two hours later, when they finally curled up to sleep together, the black room was just a memory.

*   *   *

‘Come in,’ Vanessa said cheerfully. ‘The pair of you, please, come in.’ She was in the process of closing the Venetian blinds in her office as she spoke.

Jo held the door open and allowed Stephanie to walk ahead. She closed the door behind herself and sat down in front of Vanessa’s desk. ‘You said last night you could help us,’ Jo said. ‘Was that for real, or just more bullshit?’

Vanessa bit her lip, trying to disguise how unhappy she was with Jo’s rudeness. ‘It was for real,’ she said. ‘You should have stayed to hear Nick’s proposition. You might have been interested.’

‘Did it involve Nick castrating himself?’ Jo asked dryly.

Stephanie put a steadying hand on her arm and Jo nodded silent agreement.

They were here on business, she reminded herself. There was no place in the business world for pettiness. She had to rise above her natural instincts.

‘Sally. Ask Russel to come in here will you?’ Vanessa barked into her desktop intercom.

The three women sat together in an uneasy silence.

‘May I ask why you’re holding Nick responsible for all that happened?’ Vanessa asked stiffly.

‘I’m not,’ Jo replied evenly. ‘I hold you partly to blame as well.’ She spoke over Vanessa’s outraged rebuttals and protests, determined to make her point. ‘Nick takes a greater portion of the blame though. He could have told me where Kelly Rogers was and I could have dealt with the case without having my arse nettled and my fanny lips singed by your home-made cattle-prod.’

Stephanie tightened her hand on Jo’s arm.

‘Mr Smith was just looking after our interests at the Pentagon Agency,’ Vanessa said carefully.

‘I hold him partly responsible too,’ Jo said conversationally. ‘And his friend Stacey.’

Vanessa grunted dry laughter. ‘At least Dr McMahon has something to be grateful for,’ she commented.

Jo frowned at Vanessa. She was unhappy that the woman saw fit to find humour in her predicament. She did not bother making the cutting remark that occurred to her because a knock at the office door interrupted them.

‘Come in, Russel,’ Vanessa called sharply.

Jo studied the man who entered the office. He had the look of a well-built office-boy. There was an expression of corruptible innocence etched on his features. Under one arm he carried a large black-bound ledger.

‘Thank you for looking after it,’ Vanessa said, holding her hand out for the book.

Hurriedly, as though he expected to incur her anger if he did not pass it to her immediately, Russel pushed the book into Vanessa’s hands.

She smiled, pleased with the trainee’s behaviour. ‘This is where I keep pictures of all my slaves,’ Vanessa explained. ‘I have a couple of nice photographs of Russel in here. Here,’ she said, pointing to a page where the volume had fallen open.

Jo and Stephanie leant forward to study the instamatic pictures. They exchanged a broad grin and settled back in their chairs.

Stephanie glanced up at Russel and saw that his cheeks were burning a shameful crimson. She also noted that his pants now hung awkwardly because of the huge erection he was sporting. She was closer to him than Jo. Before she realised she was doing it, Stephanie reached her hand out. She stroked the swell of his manhood through the fabric of his pants.

‘I see the camera doesn’t lie,’ she observed. She traced her fingers along the full length of his cock.

Jo watched Stephanie, amazed by her behaviour. She glanced at the trainee’s face and saw he was struggling to contain his joy.

Vanessa grinned. ‘He was trained by the Pentagon Agency,’ she said proudly. ‘I’m thinking of taking this one permanently into my employ but they have plenty like him if you need an amenable body in the office.’

Stephanie continued to stroke her hand up and down Russel’s length. ‘He seems like he could handle most things,’ she agreed.

Jo watched her friend caressing the office-boy’s cock through his pants. It was behaviour she never would have expected from Stephanie. Last night her appetite for sex had seemed insatiable but Jo would still never have expected it. Intrigued, she felt torn, wondering which of the pair to watch.

Stephanie turned to Jo and smiled. ‘Do you know what I want to do?’ she asked eagerly.

‘I can guess,’ Jo replied.

Stephanie stifled a giggle and turned back to Russel. Slowly she unzipped his fly. Her hand disappeared inside his pants, only to come out a moment later holding Russel’s huge length. She stroked the foreskin slowly backward and forward, her light touch stimulating the sensitive flesh of his cock.

‘I don’t think we have time for that,’ Jo reminded her.

Stephanie stared wistfully at the cock in her hand. She glanced at Vanessa. ‘Will you take care of him after we’ve left?’ she asked.

Vanessa smiled. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I’ll take real good care of him.’

Russel beamed fondly at his mistress when she said the words.

Jo noted his expression and smiled to herself sourly. ‘Do you have the items you mentioned last night?’ she asked.

Vanessa nodded. She produced a plain, white envelope from her desk drawer and placed it on her desk. After leafing through the ledger for a moment, she fell on the page she had been looking for. She removed three of the photographs stored there and then stuffed them in the envelope. She sealed it, then passed it to Jo.

‘I don’t need to tell you to use them carefully,’ she said. ‘All of us at the agency are agreed. You have quite a lot about you.’

Jo grunted the complement away. ‘You can get Mr Smith to organise my fan club,’ she said. Wafting the envelope at Vanessa, Jo rose from her chair. Her legs still ached and she held herself stiffly. She was determined not to falter or sway but it was not easy. ‘I’ll return these, if circumstances allow.’ She gestured for Stephanie to join her side. Not wanting to say the words, but feeling obliged to, Jo glanced at the blonde behind the desk. ‘Thank you, Vanessa,’ she said quietly.

‘Nick will be calling in to see you today,’ Vanessa said suddenly.

Jo glared at her coldly.

Vanessa continued. ‘Hear him out, Jo. You might find that his offer could benefit all of us.’

Jo felt Stephanie’s hand on her arm again. The reassuring squeeze was enough to stop her from saying something truly out of place. She nodded and left the room.

*   *   *

‘Get out of my bloody way,’ Mr Rogers bellowed as he burst through the door. His face was a furious shade of purple and he looked as though he was ready to explode.

Obligingly, Stephanie stepped out of his way. She was just returning to the office with the coffees Jo had requested and she had missed the inevitable confrontation.

She turned an expectant frown on Jo.

The investigator was smiling broadly. In each hand she held a tightly packed envelope. She wafted them against her cheeks.

‘How did it go?’ Stephanie asked.

Jo shrugged. ‘We got paid. That’s always a bonus isn’t it?’

‘He didn’t look very happy,’ Stephanie observed.

Jo nodded. ‘It wasn’t really a triumph for customer relations,’ she agreed. ‘The letter from Kelly saying she never wanted to see him again didn’t really satisfy him. If I hadn’t had Vanessa’s photographs he might have refused to settle his account.’ She casually tossed both of the envelopes to Stephanie. ‘If you want, you can bank these two for us.’

Stephanie raised a surprised eyebrow. ‘Bank them?’ she enquired. ‘Don’t you usually like to take envelopes like this to that Italian restaurant down the road?’

Jo’s smile saddened. ‘Perhaps we can do that another time. I need to do a little thinking.’

Stephanie walked over to Jo and kissed her softly on the cheek. She put a comforting arm around Jo’s waist and squeezed her reassuringly. ‘It’s bound to take time to get over it, you know.’

Jo nodded. A week ago she would have volunteered to spend a day in hell in return for Stephanie touching her like this. Now, after spending a day in hell, it seemed more difficult to enjoy the pleasure. She reached out to hold Stephanie in return but the blonde pulled away.

‘Nick’s standing outside,’ Stephanie said quietly.

Jo frowned. ‘That should lower the property value,’ she said dryly.

‘He’s determined to see you.’

‘He’s seen enough of me already,’ Jo said sharply. She noted the unhappy frown that crossed Stephanie’s face and felt a moment’s regret at the sharp retort. ‘OK,’ Jo said, falling heavily into her chair. ‘I’ll see him. When he’s finished, you can take the money to the bank and we’ll do the restaurant tonight.’

She smiled confidently into the blonde’s uncertain face. ‘I’m dealing with it,’ she explained in response to the unasked question she saw there. ‘It wasn’t easy in the black room,’ she said quietly. ‘I discovered things about myself that I’m still uncomfortable with. My self-confidence has been knocked off balance. A couple of days and I’ll be fine. I just need a little time to get things straight in my own mind.’

Stephanie nodded. ‘Are you sure you want me to stay in on this conversation with Nick?’

Jo grinned. ‘I won’t ask you to hold him down whilst I try and kill him, if that’s what you mean,’ she said. She planted a kiss on Stephanie’s mouth. Sitting uncomfortably on the cushioned seat of her chair, she began to toy with her double-headed sovereign.

Stephanie walked over to the door and told Nick he could come in. She walked back to the desk and sat down next to Jo.

Nick stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. ‘Hi, Jo,’ he said quietly.

Jo watched him walk across the room towards her. They had lived together for two years and even after their break-up she had thought she knew him. Now she realised she had never known him. That notion made her unhappy. She tossed the sovereign idly into the air then caught it.

‘Hello, liar,’ she said cheerfully. Stephanie squeezed her arm and Jo smiled at her.

Nick frowned. He sat in the chair facing her. ‘Why am I a liar?’

She shrugged. ‘Just a couple of things. The two years we spent together when you didn’t care to mention your penchant for domination. Your involvement with this Pentagon Agency –’

‘I wasn’t involved with them when we lived together,’ he broke in.

Jo ignored him. ‘That night a week ago when I asked you for help on this case and you fed me all that bull-shit –’

‘I didn’t lie to you,’ he pointed out. ‘I just didn’t tell you about my involvement with them. It’s true, there is a cover-up in the office about the Pentagon Agency. I just didn’t say I was responsible for the cover-up.’

Jo shook her head. ‘I can’t be bothered having an argument about this. OK, you didn’t lie to me. You just didn’t tell me the truth. Make your proposition, Nick, and then fuck off. You’re no longer a priority on my schedule.’

They were bold words and she stared defiantly at him as she said them. She expected Stephanie to squeeze her arm with her now familiar caution. Instead, from the corner of her eye, she saw that the blonde was nodding agreement.

Nick swallowed nervously. His gaze never left Jo’s face. ‘I admit I blew your cover as soon as Stephanie told me what you were doing. I could have organised that a lot better. If I’d given it a bit more thought I could have got to you before Mr Smith and Stacey.’