The Maestro (17 page)

'Her friend
was called Veronique. She looked like a lot of girls I remember
meeting in Paris. Her hair was darker and clipped shorter, just
below the ear. She was quite petite and dressed more casually than
Avril in a lemon yellow tee-shirt and these black and white stripy
pants. Even though she was the younger one she was much haughtier
than the older girl. She couldn't have been more than twenty-three
but she seemed to know everything about art and culture and
particularly about sex. I mean at least in theory. She'd done some
dissertation on the Marquis de Sade and contemporary art. You could
tell she was much more interested in learning about Delgado than in
drawing or painting. You know that Delgado has this thing about
eroticism and art and she wouldn't stop asking him about it,
wanting to know what his opinion was on this painter and that
painter and how important did he think sex was in the creative
process.'

'I can imagine
Delgado got a bit fed up with that. A good teacher he is, but he
hates theory,' Linda piped in.

'Exactly. But
you know how imposing he can be. I mean, sometimes I think there is
something very base about him, very crude.'

'Delgado would
call it primitive but I know what you mean,' Linda said, thinking
back to the first time she had met him, and how he had imposed
himself into her erotic fantasy.

'I mean, what
I'm trying to say is that I think Veronique, in particular, was
very impressed with him. I think it was her way of flirting.
Delgado is not stupid. He picks up on these things. Like it was
clear that Avril and Veronique had a very strong friendship, but
that even though Avril was the older one, Veronique dominated her.
She'd correct her all the time, criticise her, and at one point she
told her that what she was drawing was silly. After what had
happened to us I had a clear inkling what Delgado was going to do,
or at least how he was going to start.'

'What was the
theme of the week?' Linda asked, curious to know what Delgado had
asked them to do.

'It was
'truth'.'

'I think this
idea of painting themes is nonsense, you know.'

'I agree. I
realise that now.'

'It's just an
excuse for Delgado to get on his hobbyhorse. Anyway, please go on
Rebecca.'

'They sat down
in those chairs, do you remember, and Delgado sat opposite them and
I sat behind. They didn't like me being there without participating
in any of the discussion. Delgado said in this really hard, cold
voice: "This is my studio and in my studio I decide the rules. If
you object so strongly, there is the door." They were speaking in
English. Both the girls spoke little to no Spanish, but their
English was quite passable.

'Well when
Delgado said that it was like a chill entered the room. Both girls
glanced at each other but were shocked into silence. Delgado went
on in that dark, sombre voice of his. "Veronique you talk about sex
a lot, but it's all in your head. I don't think you have any
experience of it all." "I have a husband and a lover," she said
quite imperiously. "Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking, please.
Yes, I know you have a husband and I could have guessed that you
have a lover," Delgado was speaking in this really patronising
voice as if he was talking to a stupid child, "but I know what type
of sex you have." He paused here. Veronique looked as if she was
sulking. "You have," Delgado continued, "sex that can't satisfy
you, sex that leaves you always wanting more. You would like to
explore. I am sure you do with your own hands, but it's not enough
is it. Isn't that why you have been fighting with me all morning?
It's because you want to explore and you are frightened to. And the
only thing that you need to know about sex and art is that if you
are not sexually satisfied you will not create well. There will be
too much repression, too much sadness, too much coldness. And you
know that this is true."'

'Delgado likes
that line about sex and art,' Linda mused.

'Well it
seemed to make her think. You know how hypnotic his voice can be. I
mean there is something very sexy about the way he talks and the
way he seems to know all about what you feel inside. Veronique
tried to resist. She said quite petulantly: "You seem to know a lot
about me." "Are you denying it?" Delgado said provoking her. Her
skin flushed red. She was embarrassed because she knew there was a
lot of truth in what Delgado was saying.

'Her friend
could see how uncomfortable Delgado had made her feel. She tried to
defend her. "I don't know what all these things have to do with our
art." She tried to say it confidently but she had also been
affected by Delgado's dominating personality. "Oh shut up, Avril,
just shut up you stupid, silly rich girl," Delgado barracked her.
Avril blushed too, outraged that she should be talked to like that.
She looked to her friend to support her as she had just done for
her, but Veronique said nothing. Avril sunk back into her chair.
She was so submissive, a fact that Delgado was only too aware of,
and with hindsight probably Veronique. She was so beautiful but it
seemed to me that she had never had the wit or the inclination to
use her good looks to manipulate or to give her strength over
people. "For example, Veronique, take your friend here, Avril. You
know why you stay with her. My god it can't be because you find the
girl stimulating. It's because you like to boss her, to dominate
her and at the centre of this is, you know, your sexual desire for
her. Wouldn't you now for example like to pull up her pretty skirt
and pull down her panties and touch that place that you have only
dreamed of?" Avril looked aghast, but Veronique kept her eyes the
whole time focused on Delgado, a perceptible smile in the corners
of her mouth.'

'And what were
you doing all this time?' Linda asked.

'Oh me? My
heart was racing. I mean it was so exciting knowing what was likely
to happen next, but not knowing exactly, and to watch Delgado with
that big booming voice going through his routine. "And Avril," he
said, "don't look so pathetically shocked. This will be an
education for you."'

'That sounds
familiar,' Linda said smirking.

'Yes it did to
me, but as he said it I thought about what had happened to us in
the room.' Rebecca reached over her hand to Linda, stroked the
palm. 'You know that day really did change my life, opened up so
many possibilities in me that I had never really known
existed.'

'I know,'
Linda said, clasping Linda's hand. 'Tell me what happened
next.'

'Oh yes, well,
Avril looked shocked again. She gave a good impression of being
indignant, until Delgado stood up and towered above her, and
staring down at her, he lifted up her chin and gazed into her eyes.
I don't know whether he has powers of hypnotism and I couldn't see
from where I was sitting, but he said in this really measured
voice, "You Avril, will do exactly what you are told." He let her
head drop and she gazed at the sturdy figure in front of her.

'It all
happened so quickly, Linda, or it seemed to, but when I replay the
scene in my imagination it all seems as if it was in slow motion.
He walked behind her chair. You know he likes to wear those loose
fitting trousers with the bottomless pockets. He reached down
inside them and pulled out a knotted cord, the type you sometimes
find on an old dressing gown. Delgado is just so strong. Avril's
hands had been resting on her hips in a kind of posture of
defiance. He gathered first one wrist and then the other and with
using only one hand he held them together. At first Avril was
really struggling, but with his other hand he bound them together,
looping the cord through the wooden rail at the back of the chair
so that it was impossible for her to move her arms.

'Of course
Avril began to protest, but Delgado stuck his face right in front
of hers and told her quietly to shut up. I've never seen a girl's
face fall quite like it before, as if she suddenly lost all control
of her facial muscles. I mean it just sort of collapsed. She looked
pleadingly at her friend, but Veronique just watched her in stony
silence.'

'I can imagine
what the next line was; he always gives a chance for them to
escape,' Linda said, now wholly engaged in the story.

'You're right,
Linda. He said to her in this really quiet, still voice. "Okay
Avril, your hands are tied behind your back." He was kneeling down
on the dirty floor again and with two other pieces of cord was
tethering the girl's beautiful slim ankles to the legs of the
chair. "If you want I will untie you, but if I untie you, you can
walk straight out of my studio. But that is not all. If I untie
you, you will disappoint your friend and maybe she will be so angry
that she will never speak to you again." There was a despairing
look of love in Avril's face as she gazed at Veronique. "Is it
true?" Avril said in a little whimper of her sexy French voice. "Do
you want me like this?"

'As they were
both speaking in French I couldn't quite understand exactly the
following exchange. They spoke rapidly, but it was clear that
Veronique did want to see her friend like this, as it was true that
Avril loved her very much, although I was not exactly sure in what
way, if you see what I mean.

'Anyway you
know that Delgado is such a polyglot, that he speaks French as
excellently as he speaks English...'

'Yes I know,
but why didn't he speak to them in French then?'

'Why do you
think? It's a power thing isn't it? It puts them at a disadvantage.
He does it with Spanish students as well, and if they speak English
he prefers to choose some other language. Power seems to be
everything for him.'

'But with me
he always speaks in English.'

'But that
Linda, is because I think you are very special to him.'

Linda was
surprised at the change in her companion. She seemed so different
from the girl she had met before, so much more mature and
perceptive. She wondered whether Delgado had had the same effect on
her.

'Anyway, after
fastening both her legs to the chair he stood in front of her. He
had understood everything that they had said. He spoke to her
slowly, almost softly in English: "Avril, I know desire. I know
what you want. Maybe you are a little frightened because nothing
has ever happened to you like this. But Avril, you behave like a
little girl. It is time that you grew up. We are going to make you
grow up. Do you understand?" Avril nodded her head.'

'What was the
other girl, Veronique, doing while he tied her best friend to the
chair?' Linda asked.

'She was just
looking. She was absolutely speechless. I noticed, though, how her
hand had slipped between her legs as if in some subconscious way
she wanted to protect herself. But there was something lusty about
the way she looked at her friend. When Delgado retreated to his
desk to get some tape to make a crude gag, Veronique began stroking
her friend's hair, softly, gently, trying to comfort her. "Don't
worry, mon cherie," she said in a mixture of English and
French.

'Delgado tore
some tape off with his teeth and roughly placed it over the young
French girl's mouth. "Now Veronique, she is all yours to play with.
You know that you want to play with your friend. You know you crave
it, Veronique. Why don't you touch her?" He picked up Veronique's
hand, the one that was on her lap and placed it on the waxy skin of
Avril's leg, just above the knee, so that the tips of her fingers
came into contact with the hem of Avril's dress. "It feels good,
doesn't it," Delgado said, knowing that he was leading Veronique
along a path of temptation that she wouldn't be able to resist.
Avril's legs were slightly splayed by the bonds around her
ankle.

'I mean,
Linda, I was so hot. All I could see was those two rabbit's eyes
either side of that retroussé nose staring down at her friend's
leg, her hands and legs tied. She looked so vulnerable.'

'Mmm,' Linda
concurred, imagining the scene, Rebecca making her horny with her
storytelling.

'Delgado let
go of Veronique's hand and went to pull his chair up on the other
side of Avril. Veronique didn't stop stroking the leg, but she
touched it lightly, tentatively, knowing that she was crossing some
boundary with her friend, with her own erotic life that she had
only ever dreamed about before. We both know what that is like?'
Rebecca looked over at her knew friend remembering all they had
experienced with Delgado that day which now seemed a lifetime
ago.

Linda smiled
complicitly.

'So, Delgado
was sitting on one side of Avril, Veronique on the other. He placed
his own hand on her tawny thigh. "Veronique, don't be so timid.
Look at this beautiful thigh. Watch it turn red." From stroking her
softly he cruelly nipped the young girl's thigh, making her jolt
back in her chair, nipping so hard that her eyes closed over her
pain. He then raised her skirt higher so that I got a glimpse of
the first sight of her of the most delightful cream-coloured
panties. He tugged the dress higher up so that Avril was no longer
able to sit on it and the front rested on her lap. He held it up so
that Veronique could feast her eyes on Avril's lace-covered crotch.
There was a tiny patch of wetness just above the gusset. It
appeared that Delgado had been right about Avril. No matter how
terrified she looked, she had been aroused by Delgado's rough
treatment of her.

'Delgado could
not resist taking a closer look. While Veronique still gently
stroked Avril's thigh, Delgado pulled the gusset of the cream
panties aside and saw how her quim glistened in the sunlight, her
little fringe of pubic hair matching the colour of her hair.
Finding the little coral pink entrance he slipped his finger inside
her and at the same time his mouth alighted on her love spot. He
flicked his tongue over it while he jabbed his finger in her, and
then swivelled it inside, finding so it seemed, her G-spot, or at
least that was what I thought, the way that Avril thrust back her
head.