'Well now,' she breathed, 'I rather enjoyed that, didn't you? After all, it is one of your favourite occupations, isn't it?' Pauline remained still, though Valerie could hear her breath rasping hard around the gag. She coiled up the whip and placed it on the coffee table. 'Right, I'm off to enjoy myself while you consider the error of your ways. I can't really say how long I'll be gone, but don't worry, I'll close the door in case anyone comes in and tries to undo you!'
A stifled groan of anger followed Valerie to the door. She glanced back briefly before closing it. As she turned towards the stairs, two figures approached, their arms linked, their conversation punctuated with laughter.
'Hi again!' Jackie said, grinning.
'Wotcher!' added Rose.
'I hope you t"'o aren't going to make a lot of noise,' said Valerie, pressing an index finger to her mouth.
'What's up?' asked Jackie in a hushed voice.
'Oh, your Auntie Pauline's not feeling too well and mustn't be disturbed.'
'Nothing too serious, is it?' sniggered Rose.
'Only a temporary inconvenience,' answered Valerie, continuing on her way with a smile of satisfaction.
'We'd better try and be quiet then,' giggled Rose as they entered Jackie's room.
'I don't give a sod what she hears,' grinned Jackie as the door closed. 'I've got another little toy. Want to see it?'
'Yeah, all right.'
Jackie crossed the room and pulled open a drawer. Rose followed close behind.
'Ooh-er!' said Rose, wide-eyed, as Jackie held the object out in her hands.
The large, flesh-coloured penis was realistically modelled, as was its lesser companion, protruding out parallel beneath it with unmistakable purpose. From this double implement of lust hung a pink nylon harness which the smiling Jackie tugged with her other hand.
'What d'you reckon?'
'Well,' answered Rose with a mischievous giggle, 'I've never seen one that goes up both ...' She reached out and squeezed the soft head of first the larger and then the smaller organ. 'Yeah, all right then.'
They crossed the bedroom and entered without switching on the light. Jackie placed the dildo on the bed and turned to Rose, taking her hand and kissing her. Rose held her waist and returned her kisses. Each breathed warmly about the ear and neck of the other and both trembled.
Pauline listened intently. Still lying on the carpet, hog-tied in enforced silence and darkness, she twisted her head around, a thin trickle of saliva glistening on the rubber ball. In the distance there were sounds, sounds that would normally have passed unnoticed. But her hearing had become a little more acute and her attention concentrated, despite the still angry burning around her buttocks. She heard the laughter and the long, moaning cries, and she knew where they were coming from.
Through her mind ran the words she could not physically speak.
'Bloody sluts, all of them. I'll sort the lot of them out once I get started. They'll find out what discipline really is!'
Escapade
it seems I should have been paying more attention to what was going on under my own nose.' Karen, avoiding eye contact with Sonia, did not reply. This sort of thing cannot continue, of course. Apart from other considerations, it isn't good for business. I will not have people in conflict here - obviously it has to be ended or kept within strict limits now and for good!'
Karen looked up at Sonia's dark eyes. Her expression was not one of anger, but of determination. Her manner was quite impersonal in a way Karen had not experienced since her early days at the house.
'Sonia, whatever you think of me, there's something I have to ask you.'
'Well?'
it's Valerie. I don't think that ..Karen sighed and looked at the trees, bathed in sunlight outside the office window. 'What I'm trying to say is, I don't think that she should suffer because of me. She's been a good friend all the time I've been here and she would never let you down.' Karen looked at the silver locket lying where she had placed it on the coffee table between them and clenched her fists. 'Look, none of this would have happened if I hadn't gone out that night with Mike! You've had all the juicy details, haven't you? It's my damn fault! I don't suppose I can blame Pauline for being there but she didn't have to do what she did. That's why Val tried to help me.'
'Well,' breathed Sonia, rising up from the green leather chair, 'Valerie is going to Tuscany for a few days. She was due for a break anyway.' Karen rose too and faced her, a feeling of nausea stirring inside. 'As for Pauline,' Sonia continued, 'it's a much more delicate situation than you realise. There are, I'm afraid, obligations on both sides. She is from now on to direct her attentions to those in her sphere of influence rather than to the more, shall we say, self-motivated girls. That, hopefully, will mean no further difficulties. Is there anything else you wish to say?'
Karen stared at her for a time, then, with a quiet 'No', turned and walked towards the door. Since the beginning of this interview with Sonia, she had felt herself moving into bleak and hostile waters. Now, at the end of it, she was cast upon a lifeless, grey shore. She held the door handle and twisted it, feeling physically cold, expecting the door to open into a day of despair as she got her belongings together in readiness for departure.
'Where are you going?' The voice behind her expressed itself in a tone drained of emotion, with almost a lack of interest in the question.
Karen, pulling the door ajar, half turned. 'What?'
'I just wondered, that's all.'
'You know where I'm going.'
Sonia folded her arms across her black leather biker jacket and held Karen's gaze. 'You seem to have forgotten something - or do you no longer consider it important?' Karen continued to regard her with incomprehension. Sonia gestured down at the silver locket. 'This.'
Karen let her hand slip from the door handle and glanced at the object lying abandoned on the coffee table. 'I-I don't understand ... I thought ...'
'What did you think?'
'I assumed that I was no longer required.'
Sonia's dark eyes held her. 'Did I say you were to leave?'
'No ... no, you didn't. But I can't see how -'
'Oh for God's sake, girl,' cut in Sonia, 'come and sit down and I'll get us a drink. You've got a face like a wet Sunday!' Karen closed the door and moved back to the armchair in front of the coffee table. She watched Sonia take two glasses from the cupboard. She did not sit down. 'Do you mind a splash of amontillado?' asked Sonia.
'No, that's fine,' replied Karen weakly.
Sonia returned and placed the two glasses, filled with clear, pale amber, by the locket. They sat once again facing each other. Karen watched and waited for her to speak. A faint smile passed across Sonia's face for the first time that day.
i suppose these little things are sent to try us,' she said, raising her glass.
Karen sighed and picked up her glass. She stared at it for a moment then said, Tm sorry, I just took it for granted you'd want me out. If I'd been in your place I would have been furious.'
i doubt if you would, my dear, not if you know people as I do. Despite being away from here so often, I had a fair idea what was happening, which is why I had no objection to Mike being allowed into some of our little theatricals. He's like most men would be in his situation so I considered it better to let him express his needs on our terms rather than his. As for Pauline, well, she shouldn't have overstepped the mark, but you do have to understand one thing if you don't already -' Sonia drank a little more of the sherry - and that is that her actions are not as unpalatable to some people as they are to others.'
'Yes,' replied Karen, recalling her role acting and intimacies with Sonia. 'I'm perfectly aware of that and we all know what she does to Jackie. But there's a difference between .. . well, never mind. Look, I'll try to forget it for your sake, but I don't think I could speak to her again, ever.'
'I don't think you spoke to each other much anyway,' said Sonia, smiling, 'so I can't see it making any difference.'
Karen herself now smiled for the first time. 'I don't know what I would have done if I'd had to go, I really don't. You're very understanding.'
'But that is what it's all about,' responded Sonia. 'How could I be angry with you for showing a little human weakness when my whole business is built upon it? I am above all a realist, Karen. I do not pretend people are other than what they are. In fact, I depend on recognising it.' 'You had me weighed up,' remarked Karen softly.
Sonia looked at her with concern. 'Please, my dear, you must not think that. It wasn't ... it isn't like that at all, certainly not now. You're being very unfair to me if you think that.'
'No, please,' said Karen, 'it wasn't meant ... Look, I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for -'
'Yes, I know, but I am a little sensitive about our relationship. We must both gain from it. I've always been concerned about that.'
Karen leaned towards her and smiled. 'Sonia, I'm all right about it, I really am.'
Sonia leaned forward and reached out to take her hand. 'Look, I've got a little treat for you if you'd like it.'
Karen looked at her in anticipation. 'Go on,' she said softly.
'How would you like a few days in Paris?'
'That sounds nice.'
it would allow the dust to settle a bit here, and if you don't mind you could take some master tapes and discs to Armand for me. You remember Armand and Josephine? He told me they chatted to you at the party last year.'
Karen recalled her encounter with Armand and Josephine very well indeed. She felt her throat go dry as she answered, 'Oh, er, yes, the publisher, I remember.'
'Well,' continued Sonia, 'I'll have them show you around the city. Josephine can put you up above our shop near the Bastille Opera House. How does that sound?'
it sounds wonderful,' replied Karen, 'especially after all this upset!'
'Well, you can forget about that for a few days and I'll look after things here until you get back. Kim can help me out when necessary.'
Karen placed the empty glass on the table and regarded the silver locket. She reached out towards it, then looked up at Sonia. 'You wanted me to keep this before.'
'I still do, as long as you wish to have it.' Karen picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of her blue skirt. 'How do you feel about a bite to eat?' 'Yes, OK.'
They stood up and moved close to each other. Sonia took Karen's arms and squeezed them gently, before kissing her on the lips. Karen took Sonia, holding her by the waist and pulling her close so that they remained cheek to cheek for a few seconds. Sonia slipped her arms around Karen's shoulders and felt the other's tears, warm upon her own cheeks.
A few minutes later, as they approached the entrance to the bar, two figures emerged and pulled up short before them.
'Oh! Er ... hello!' said Jackie, with a look of surprise.
Rose said nothing, but stood aside and waited.
'What are you looking guilty about?' asked Sonia.
'Nothing,' replied Jackie, 'I just didn't see you. We're off out in a few minutes.'
'Yes,' added Rose, 'we're going for a walk.'
'Does Pauline know you're going out?'
'She's not in,' responded Jackie.
'Ah, no,' said Sonia, 'she's out shopping for the day, isn't she? I forgot about that. Well, make the most of it!' The two girls disappeared up the main stairs in silence. 'I don't know what they're up to,' said Sonia as she and Karen entered the bar, 'but they'll be for it again if they're caught.'
'All part of the game though, isn't it?' breathed Karen.
'But of course it is,' replied Sonia. 'All part of the game.'
'I hope you haven't changed your mind!' said Rose, emerging from the bathroom in a white bathrobe.
'No, I suppose not,' answered Jackie. 'What are you going to wear?'
'Jeans and T-shirt. What about you?'
'Oh, the same. Look, how are you going to do this and how long will it take?'
'Don't you worry, precious,' said Rose, grinning, 'just a little hairpin and five or ten seconds. I'll be done and back in here by the time you're out of the bathroom.'
When Jackie appeared in the small lounge, Rose sat in an armchair reading a magazine. Jackie looked at her. 'Well?'
'Yeah, done,' answered Rose. 'It was dead easy!'
'I hope nobody saw you.'
'Course not,' said Rose, 'I've never done one so quick. Come on!'
The girls walked quickly across the three metres of daylit corridor and slipped into the darkened room. The door closed behind them with a soft, reassuring click. Jackie soon located the light switch and the room flooded with a warm pink glow from the hidden lights above the cornice.
'Rose, this is stupid,' whispered Jackie. 'You'll see all this in a week or two anyway, if you haven't cleared off.'
'Yeah, I know, but it'll be when we're on duty and we won't be able to muck about, will we? Anyway, what makes you think I'm going to clear off?'
'I don't know. There are things you might not like - I mean things they make you wear and do -'
'It doesn't bother you any so why should it bother me?' asked Rose as they trod the luxurious maroon carpet and stopped at the group of chrome and black leather seats arranged about the coffee table in the centre of the room. Rose inhaled the rich aroma of the leather and ran her hand over its cool opulence.
'Blimey, how some people live,' she muttered.
'Sit down Rosie. I'll get something to drink.'
'There's loads of wine,' grinned Rose as she eased herself into the sighing leather.
'Really! How d'you know?'
'I didn't just open the door, love,' said Rose, obviously pleased with herself, leaning back with her hands clasped behind her head. 'I went and took a quick peep around the place too.'
Jackie smiled to herself and carried on to the small kitchen. Rose listened to the chink of glasses and heard the soft pop of the cork. A minute later, Jackie emerged from the small room and joined her.
'It's a dry white. I hope it's OK.'
'Bound to be!' laughed Rose, eyeing the slim green bottle which already glistened with condensation. That Karen,' said Rose, watching Jackie pour the wine, 'and Sonia, what do they do for blokes? Are they a bit, you know?'
'What does it matter?' responded Jackie.
'Well, I suppose it doesn't really. But what we've been doing, it's good fun, a good laugh, right? But we like fellas as well. I've seen the way those two look at each other -'
'Rosie!' cut in Jackie. 'Forget it, please! Everyone's OK here, whatever they do.'
'What, even her over the other side of the corridor?'
Jackie did not answer her but drained her wine glass and rose from the armchair. 'Look, how much did you see in here?'
'Er, well, I popped my head into the kitchen, as you know. I had a quick peep into the shower room and went to take a look through there.'
Rose gestured towards the archway at the far side of the room with the heavy black curtain suspended behind it.
'Oh, you know what's in there?'
'No,' answered Rose, 'I couldn't find the switch so I came back to our room.'
'OK,' continued Jackie, refilling the glasses, 'bring your wine and we'll have a guided tour.'
'Mind if I join you?' asked Annette.
Angela looked up from her book and smiled. 'No, of course I don't.'
'I need to be near the window to watch out for our visitors.'
'What visitors?' asked Angela.
'Oh, they're not the usual sort. These are from a publishers in Berlin - they want to see our set-up and plan the photography for a new magazine Sonia is involved with.'
'Oh, something different or just the usual?'
it's supposed to be different,' replied Annette, glancing through the conservatory window. 'The idea is to publish several collections containing artistic studios of fetish and bondage scenes - no blatant sex.'
'I see - more upmarket. Respectable even.' 'Something like that. She hopes it might even be allowed in th
e UK.'
'God, whatever next?' mused Angela.
'Well, the demand is there all right, mainly because their censorship laws fuel it.'
'Are we all going to be in it?' asked Angela, if so, I'll warn my family back in England!'
'They'll never see it.'
'I wouldn't bet on that, knowing my father!'
Annette looked at her watch. 'I've to phone Pauline as soon as they show up. She's in on it as well.'
is she going to dress up for them? Gestapo perhaps?'
'You're very cynical today, dear. What's up?'
'I suppose I'm bored,' replied Angela. 'Karen and Val are away, Kim's stuck in the beauty parlour, Jackie and her pal have vanished, Mike's doing something with the bloody drains at the back of the house and the rest went off this morning to Carcassonne for a day of culture.'
'Oh, that was the mini bus, was it?'
'Yes. I'd have gone myself but Sonia wanted me to run the bar. You didn't want a drink, did you?'
'Not yet, thanks. But as soon as these four show up we'll all want a bite to eat and a few drinks.'
'Pauline too?' asked Angela, her blue-grey eyes opening wide.
'Yes, I'm afraid so.'
'Damn, we're out of arsenic!'
'Never mind, dear, we both know she's immune don't we? Ah!' They turned their heads towards the window. A blue Mercedes oozed along the driveway towards the house, the sun flaring intermittently from its windows and chrome. 'You'll have something to do now,' laughed Annette, rising from the table.
'How do I look?' asked Rose, twirling herself about before the section of mirrored wall.
'Fantastic!' answered Jackie with a giggle.
Rose regarded her image in its shimmering, skin-tight lurex dress with long sleeves, low scooped neck and short
skirt. Her legs gleamed dully in their sheer, black nylon and she stood with her feet poised in gold vinyl, stiletto heel sandals of impractical height.
'Do wonders for your legs, don't they?' she added.
House of Intrigue Page 19
