The Bracelet

by Fredrica Alleyn

  ‘To be honest,’ said Laurence, ‘Jackie’s never even met Tarquin. I only said that to ease your conscience.’

  ‘But you told me earlier that you never lied!’ cried Kristina.

  He nodded. ‘That’s right, I did. That was a lie as well!’

  ‘Jackie said you always broke the rules,’ exclaimed Kristina. ‘Why on earth did I believe you?’

  ‘Because you wanted to, Kristina. You were frantic to try me out, and as long as I could ease your conscience a little that was fine by you. I said what you needed to hear because I wanted you. Don’t blame me for your desires.’

  ‘But there’s no need to tell Jackie.’

  ‘No,’ he agreed. ‘There isn’t any need, although it might be fun. However, I don’t think I will tell her.’

  Kristina sat down abruptly as relief flooded through her. ‘Good!’

  ‘I shall just play her this,’ he added, and he took his iPod out of his pocket. ‘I kept it recording until we’d finished. The sounds should make everything clear, don’t you agree?’

  ‘You bastard!’ shouted Kristina, quite forgetting the girls in the other room. ‘This was all a set-up job wasn’t it? You wanted something new to use to torment Jackie with.’

  ‘No, I can torment Jackie in plenty of ways without screwing you on your office desk. It was you I wanted, and you I got. But in the end,’ he added softly, ‘I intend to have you when you’re wearing the bracelet. That will be an entirely different experience for both of us.’

  ‘It won’t happen,’ she said shortly. ‘I wouldn’t trust myself to you.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ he said tightly. ‘You certainly sounded as though you enjoyed this little episode. I hope no one outside heard anything; you were far more vocal than I expected. Tarquin must have helped you shed some of your inhibitions!’

  ‘Please go now, Laurence,’ said Kristina. ‘And I’ve changed my mind about the book. I think you should try another agent. I make it a policy never to get sexually involved with my clients.’

  ‘Where’s your business head gone? There could be money in this book.’

  ‘Then I’ll be the loser, but that’s my decision. Goodbye, Laurence.’

  He leant across her desk. ‘It isn’t goodbye, Kristina. We both know that. Let’s just say until the next time.’ Then he traced the outline of her lips with his finger and walked out of the room.

  Kristina sat in her chair and wished with all her heart that she didn’t have to see Jackie the following evening, because she was certain that by then Laurence would have used his recording. The trouble was, he’d given her an explosive climax. Their bodies had been completely in tune, and no matter what she said to Jackie that was a truth it would be impossible to deny.

  ‘What’s happening to me?’ she said out loud, but there was no one to give her an answer.

  As soon as Kristina walked into the restaurant the following evening and saw the expression on her friend’s face she knew that it was just as she’d feared; Laurence had told Jackie all about them. Bracing herself for a difficult couple of hours she joined her at their table. ‘Nice outfit,’ she commented.

  Jackie, who did indeed look stunning in a white silk blouse, black velvet waistcoat, black mini-skirt and thigh-high velvet boots, didn’t bother to acknowledge the compliment, she just picked up her glass and drained the contents before calling the waiter over. ‘Another dry martini and something for my friend.’

  The waiter glanced at Kristina, who felt rather conventionally dressed in a simple short-sleeved russet dress with a scoop neckline, the fabric covered in tiny gold sequins. She smiled at him. ‘I’ll have the same,’ she said lightly, hoping to improve the atmosphere. ‘I’m not late, am I?’ she asked Jacqueline.

  ‘No, I’m early. I got my article finished and came straight here. You should get the paper on Monday, I think you’ll find the article interesting.’

  ‘What’s it about then?’

  ‘How women betray their best friends far more often than men betray theirs.’

  Kristina decided not to comment, and picked up the menu. ‘I’ll have the salmon. I love fish, but I never cook it myself because the smell gets everywhere.’

  ‘Rather like you,’ said Jacqueline.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ asked Kristina.

  ‘That you seem to get everywhere. I’ll have the lamb. You can order when he brings our drinks back. And get some wine too.’

  ‘So, how’s your week been?’ asked Kristina bravely, deciding that the sooner it was all out in the open the better.

  ‘Not particularly brilliant, certainly not as good as yours sounded when Laurence played me the recording of the pair of you.’

  ‘When did he do that?’ asked Kristina.

  ‘Last night, very late last night by which time he’d already reduced me to a screaming, pleading mass of frustration. Your little recording was the icing on the cake for him. And do you know what?’ she added furiously. ‘When I heard it, I came! I hated myself for that, but I couldn’t help it; I was so near and then listening to you, the noises you were making and the things you said to him, it was too much. I came and Laurence stood there and laughed at me. I’ve never been so humiliated.’

  ‘Your drinks,’ murmured the young waiter, who’d been hovering at Kristina’s shoulder waiting for a pause so that he could put the glasses down.

  Kristina quickly gave their order and sent him off again. She thought that he’d probably heard some of what Jackie had said, but right at this moment that didn’t seem to matter. What mattered was her friend’s pain.

  ‘Jackie, I know you’re hurt but you have to believe that I’d never have done it if I hadn’t thought …’

  ‘That you’d get away with it?’ asked Jackie. ‘That Laurence would keep it secret? Well, you certainly don’t know him very well. Tarquin may be an honourable man for all I know, but Laurence is not. What’s the matter with you, isn’t one incredible lover enough?’

  Kristina shifted awkwardly on her chair. ‘He came to me with an idea for a book, Jackie.’

  ‘I bet he did! What was it? Sixty-Nine Positions on a Desktop?’

  ‘It was about diamonds, and he really had thought it through well. The trouble was that he started talking about the things that I’d done with Tarquin, and I was annoyed that you’d told him when you’d promised me that you wouldn’t.’

  ‘I didn’t have any choice!’ wailed Jacqueline, her voice rising so high that nearby diners turned to stare at them.

  ‘Sshh! I know that now, but I didn’t at first, and even after Laurence explained I thought that you could have taken off the bracelet and refused to answer.’

  ‘Oh did you? Well, as it happens I was right on the brink of my first orgasm for two hours and taking the bracelet off was the last thing on my mind,’ said Jackie, remembering to lower her voice.

  ‘Yes, he told me that later.’

  ‘But you still wanted to screw him in your office, to compare him with Tarquin, was that it?’

  ‘No, of course not. The trouble was, he lied to me. He said that you and Tarquin had been lovers ages ago but you decided he wasn’t right for you. That made me think that I was just evening the score if you like, especially as you’d never told me about it.’

  ‘But I’ve never met Tarquin!’ protested Jackie.

  ‘I know that now, but at the time I believed him.’

  ‘Even if I had,’ Jackie pointed out, ‘it would have been through the society, when I was wearing the bracelet. You didn’t bother with that did you? You went and had sex with him and told him how you wanted it. “Faster, do it faster”,’ she mimicked, and Kristina’s hands felt damp with perspiration.

  ‘Jackie, people are listening to us. For heaven’s sake lower your voice.’

  ‘You’re my best friend. I told you how much Laurence meant to me and at the first opportunity you went and had it away with him. How do you think that makes me feel? I’m so obsessed with him that I can hardly eat
or sleep. I spend all my days waiting for the summons, and then when it comes I wonder what kind of a session it’s going to be. Sometimes it’s bliss, and sometimes it’s more like hell, but hell with the greatest reward imaginable at the end of it. He’s taken over my entire life, and you just lie back on your desk and try him out without sparing a thought for me. I’ll say one thing, though; it helped me write a brilliant article for the first time in weeks.’

  ‘He wasn’t meant to tell you,’ protested Kristina. ‘I felt utterly ashamed afterwards, and begged him to keep quiet about it, but then he showed me he’d recorded us and I knew he wouldn’t. He’s really not a very nice person, Jackie.’

  Her friend stared at her in astonishment, scarcely noticing as their food was placed in front of them. ‘Not a very nice person? You’ve got a nerve! Are you trying to get me to drop him and leave the way clear for you? I suppose you want to visit both Laurence and Tarquin now. Perhaps I should move in with Ben so that you can have enough space to yourself?’

  ‘I wouldn’t put on the bracelet for Laurence if you paid me a million pounds,’ said Kristina levelly. ‘Yes, he’s sexually attractive. Yes, he made love in a very exciting way and I enjoyed it. But no, I do not wish to put myself at his mercy. He’s a liar, probably some kind of a sadist and in my opinion dangerous.’

  ‘Then stay away from him,’ shouted Jackie.

  Kristina glanced around the restaurant. ‘If you don’t keep your voice down, I’m going,’ she said sharply. ‘How much have you had to drink tonight?’

  ‘That’s my business. Kristina, do I have your word that you’ll never have sex with him again?’

  Kristina hesitated. If she gave her word then that would be it. She couldn’t let Jackie down twice, but for some reason she found it impossible to say the words Jacqueline wanted to hear. She had the strange feeling that she and Laurence were destined to make love again. She had no idea where, or why, but she knew it could happen and if she was utterly truthful with herself she wouldn’t mind, as long as she wasn’t wearing the bracelet.

  ‘No, I can’t say that,’ she muttered.

  ‘Why not? You’ve just told me what a dreadful man he is, and suggested that he’s bad for me, so how come you won’t agree never to have sex with him again?’

  ‘Because now that I belong to the society I don’t know what’s going to happen. Suppose Tarquin and I met up with you and Laurence when we were both wearing the bracelets? What could I do if Tarquin told me to let Laurence make love to me? I’d have to obey, because I don’t want to lose Tarquin any more than you want to lose Laurence.’

  ‘It doesn’t sound very likely,’ said Jackie doubtfully.

  Kristina knew that, but at least it was an explanation that her friend could understand. ‘No, and I don’t suppose it will ever happen but in case it does I can’t give you the promise you want.’

  ‘And that’s the only reason?’ demanded Jackie.

  Kristina nodded. ‘Of course it is. Laurence isn’t my client any more. I’ve told him to find another agent.’

  ‘Have you? He didn’t mention that.’

  ‘No,’ said Kristina drily. ‘I don’t suppose he did!’

  Jackie suddenly slumped back in her chair. ‘Kristina, don’t ever put me through another twenty-four hours like that again. I’ve suffered such jealousy I didn’t know how to cope.’

  ‘I can only repeat that I’m really and truly sorry,’ said Kristina, reaching for her friend’s hand. ‘I think the entire episode was a put-up job, dreamed up by Laurence as a new and refined way of both torturing and stimulating you, and from what you say it worked.’

  Jackie nodded. ‘Yes, it worked. I came and came, and then he entered me and that set me off again, but once I got home all I could hear was you crying out with excitement, and it drove me out of my mind.’

  ‘Tarquin made me listen to a recording of myself,’ confessed Kristina. ‘I found that a terrific turn-on. Jackie, do you ever think that perhaps we shouldn’t have started this? That it’s changing us?’

  Jacqueline shook her head. ‘My only regret is that I didn’t find out about the society earlier. As far as I’m concerned it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.’

  ‘I thought I’d work better because of it,’ explained Kristina. ‘It isn’t working like that though; I’m finding it difficult to concentrate. I can’t afford to let things slide; I’m only as good as my last big deal. Suppose Laurence’s book gets published and becomes a bestseller? I’ll have turned him down as a client because of the society!’

  ‘But for the society I doubt if you’d ever have heard from Laurence,’ said Jackie matter-of-factly. ‘If you’re right and he only used the book as an excuse then without the society there wouldn’t have been a book. You see how easy it is to get things the wrong way round. In this case the society might have been an advantage to you, if you hadn’t got carried away by lust and ruined the entire deal.’

  ‘Okay, I’m in the wrong. How many times do I have to apologise?’

  ‘Hundreds!’ For the first time that evening Jackie laughed. ‘It’s all right, I don’t mean it. We’ll forget it now. As for your work, the self-discipline side is up to you. I’m sure Tarquin doesn’t waste his time at work thinking about you.’

  ‘No,’ admitted Kristina, ruefully. ‘I don’t suppose he does. As you say, it’s up to me to manage my life better. At least I now know what I don’t want, and that’s someone like Ben in my life.’

  ‘There you are then. You look better too, far less tense and exhausted. Think of your visits to Tarquin as a kind of sexual aromatherapy, very good for the entire system!’

  ‘And free!’ added Kristina, and they both burst out laughing. Later though, Kristina thought to herself that it wasn’t truly free; there was a price for everything, and her price was the sensation that her life was beginning to run out of control.

  The following Tuesday she still hadn’t had another call from Tarquin, and her nerves were stretched to breaking point. She knew that he might have had to go abroad to give a talk, or could even be ill, but she worried constantly that it was her suggestion that they go out together while she wore the bracelet that had put him off.

  Finally deciding that she must make the best of it and use the time to get on with some work she arranged for a new author, Peter Guard, to come round to her house early on the Tuesday evening for a bite to eat and a chat. He was writing a psychological thriller and they both wanted it to be sold to the States as well, which meant adding more characters than he’d originally allowed for. He was in his late twenties, a freelance artist and part-time photographer as well as an aspiring writer, so she felt that the evening should be interesting and helpful for her as well as for him.

  He arrived at five-thirty and they had a couple of drinks as they went over his original synopsis. ‘There isn’t enough love interest,’ Kristina pointed out. ‘I know your hero has a girlfriend, but it’s all a bit unreal. There’s no depth to their emotions. I think if there were it would make her death at the end far more effective. What do you think?’

  Peter shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m not into heavy commitment myself and that’s just the way it came out. I might find it difficult writing about anything more intense.’

  ‘Well, I can probably help a bit, but if you’re really not comfortable with it then we’ll leave it alone. There’s no point in writing about things that aren’t real to you, because if you do that your readers certainly won’t believe a word of it.’

  ‘Perhaps you’d better teach me how to get involved with a woman?’ he teased.

  ‘That would be delightful, but I never mix business with pleasure!’ She laughed. ‘Why not think about it a bit more and then we’ll eat. I’ve got a lasagne in the oven. Is that all right?’

  ‘Sure, I eat anything.’

  She was passing the phone when it rang, and picked it up on the second ring. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Kristina?’ asked Tarquin’s soft, precise v
oice.

  Her heart hammered against her ribs. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I have tickets for the opera tonight. Meet me in the Crush Bar at Covent Garden at seven-fifteen and wear a long dress. We’re sharing a box with Estelle and one of her friends. I’ll bring the bracelet with me.’

  ‘Tonight?’

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry it’s such short notice but a friend passed the tickets on to me late this afternoon. Is there a problem?’

  She thought of Peter Guard sitting in her living room. ‘I’m afraid there is,’ she admitted.

  ‘Please, don’t apologise. I quite understand. Perhaps some other time then. Enjoy your evening,’ he said smoothly.

  ‘No! Wait!’ exclaimed Kristina, her mind racing feverishly. ‘It’s only work, I’m sure my client will understand. I’ll be there, don’t worry.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, yes absolutely sure.’

  ‘Good,’ he said and she could hear the pleasure in his voice. ‘It’s Tosca. I thought you’d enjoy that. You’re the kind of woman who probably finds herself drawn to Scarpia!’ He laughed, more to himself than to her, and then hung up, leaving Kristina standing with the telephone in her hand wondering what on earth she’d done.

  Slowly she put the phone back on the wall and walked into the living room. ‘Peter, I’m terribly sorry but something’s come up that means I have to go out,’ she said awkwardly.

  His face grew concerned. ‘No one’s ill I hope?’

  ‘No, not exactly, but it is a bit of a crisis. I feel terrible about this but I really don’t have any choice.’

  He smiled reassuringly at her. ‘Please, don’t apologise. I hope you can sort things out. Perhaps you could ring me at home and we’ll arrange another meeting. Things were just getting interesting. What you said made a lot of sense.’

  He was being so polite about it all that Kristina felt even worse. She could hardly believe that she was driving a client away like this, but the prospect of a night at the opera wearing the bracelet of bondage was just too arousing to pass up, and she couldn’t wait for Peter to be gone. ‘Of course I’ll ring,’ she promised. ‘And thanks for being so understanding.’