by Lee Martin
The Lady-Killer was thinking twice about what to do next. Who the fuck was this woman, and what had gone wrong with the day?
Almost as an afterthought Niki chopped him beneath his nose, and his two front teeth, of which he was inordinately proud, were forced down his throat. When the second chop hit his Adam’s apple, they were projected out of his mouth in a gout of blood.
The third strike was at his right knee, and as he lost all feeling in his leg, he too hit the deck.
‘Don’t ever touch me again,’ said Niki, to their prone bodies. ‘And don’t come back.’
With that, and under the gaze of half a dozen people in the park she set off for home, knowing that she’d have to find somewhere else to exercise from then on.
10
Sadie kept on with her life as usual. But she knew something was badly wrong. Eddie had become more and more withdrawn as the days went by, as it got closer to his court appearance. Even the forty grand seemed to have evaporated away. But when Sadie tried to talk to him he just ignored her, or left the room, put a DVD into his home cinema set-up and closed the door on her. Or on even more occasions lately, he left the house, drove away, and didn’t return for hours.
She was more worried than she’d admit. He’d been up in front of a jury before and always had a good result. Not guilty. But this time seemed different and she didn’t like it. Also, she had noticed there were a lot of lengthy phone calls being conducted in hushed tones. When she asked about them, he just told her, ‘Don’t worry babe.’ But the more she heard the words, the more she did.
But as her home life seemed to be falling apart, her sex life was on a roll. She had recently met a wild young man in a wine bar in Ilford. He was tall and handsome, about twenty-five, single, and up for it. Just the way Sadie liked her boys. He ran a stall in the market selling DVDs, and as she was sitting, sipping on a glass of Pinot Grigio, he slumped down in the chair opposite and said, ‘This seat taken?’
‘Looks like it is now.’
‘Not if you’ve got a geezer at the bar.’
‘You know damn well I haven’t. You’ve been screwing me for the last ten minutes.’
‘Only in my head.’
‘And that’s where it’ll stay.’
‘Spoilsport.’
Sadie smiled at that. She liked a bit of verbal fencing before she got down to business with a new man.
The man took the smile as a green light, and went on. ‘So what’s your name then, love?’
‘None of your business.’
‘Don’t be like that. It’s a beautiful day, and you’re beautiful too.’
‘How often do you spin that line?’
‘No, I mean it. My name’s Spencer by the way. My friends call me Spence.’
‘Hello Spencer.’
‘I can tell you’re a harsh woman, but I like that.’
‘Would you like my drink in your face?’
He laughed. ‘I don’t think so. I just had this jacket cleaned. Well, if I’ve offended you I’m sorry. Just passing the time of day. I’ll be off. Half the day gone and not a penny earned. Sure I can’t top you up before I go?’
She pretended to weigh up the question. ‘Go on then,’ she said. ‘Pinot Grigio.’
‘A fine choice.’
He went to the bar and returned with wine for her and a bottle of Becks for himself. ‘So what is your name?’ he asked.
‘Sadie,’ she relented.
‘See how easy that was.’
‘Don’t get any ideas.’
‘Ideas?’ he said, grinning suggestively.
‘About me being easy.’
‘Fair enough. So Sadie, what do you do, apart from sitting around in bars in the morning, drinking wine?’
‘I’ve got a private income.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah. My husband’s.’
‘I noticed the ring.’ It wasn’t difficult, as the diamond in her engagement ring rivalled the rock of Gibraltar. ‘He must be making a few bob.’
Thinking of the upcoming court date, Sadie wasn’t so sure. ‘He does all right,’ she replied.
‘What business is he in?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘Just making conversation.’
‘Sure. Sorry. Let’s not talk about him.’
‘Fine by me. Let’s talk about you then.’
‘Not much to say really,’ Sadie answered, icily.
Spencer, not picking up on Sadie’s reluctance to talk about herself, pressed on. ‘I don’t believe that for a minute.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’
‘I mean it.’
‘Sure you do.’
‘Honest.’
That was the last thing Sadie wanted-honesty. All she wanted and needed was a good fuck and a lot of lies. She was used to that. At least, the lies part. ‘Do you do this a lot?’ she asked.
‘What?’
‘Chat up married women.’
‘Yeah, I’m an expert.’
‘I can believe that.’
They both smiled at that, and Sadie knew she’d made a new conquest. In fact she’d known that since he’d come in. The question remained, what to do with him.
11
‘You got a place?’ asked Sadie.
Spence looked surprised. He hadn’t expected things to go this fast when he’d spotted this tasty, older woman sitting in the wine bar.
‘Yes. But it’s not much.’
‘I didn’t expect much. Not from the state of you,’ said Sadie.
‘Charming.’ He was wearing a suede jacket and jeans, with Timberland boots, a Hawaiian shirt, with a silk scarf knotted loosely round his neck. He thought he looked the business.
‘Pikey chic,’ said Sadie. ‘All you need is a pair of Elvis sunglasses, and you’d be perfect for karaoke.’
‘I can see I’m going to have trouble with you.’
‘Not if you behave yourself.’
Spencer felt a trifle intimidated. He was used to being the one in control with the birds he met on his stall in the market, or in the clubs and pubs he frequented, but he’d never met anyone like Sadie before.
Not many men had.
She finished her drink before he’d finished his, collected her things and stood up. ‘Come on then,’ she said. ‘Get a move on. I haven’t got all day.’
He gulped some more beer, then left the bottle on the table and followed her to the door, where she stood until he realised what she wanted, and opened it for her. She smiled an acknowledgement and went outside.
‘Where’s your car?’ she said. ‘I assume you do have a car.’
‘Van. For stock, you know?’
‘Barrow-boy. What do you sell?’
‘DVDs.’
‘Pirates, I suppose?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Where’s the stall?’
‘In the square. I haven’t set up yet. Fancied a livener. Best business’s lunch time, and evenings.’
‘Looks like it’s your day off then. Where’s it parked?’
‘On a meter round the corner.’ He pointed, and she set off before he could say another word. He followed like an obedient puppy. Just the way Sadie liked things. ‘Where’s your motor?’ he asked as they went.
‘I came by cab. Can’t be bothered looking for parking round here,’ she said.
The van was a battered white Transit sitting low on its springs at the back. Sadie waited whilst Spence opened the passenger door and she wrinkled her nose at the interior of the cab, it being full of McDonald’s boxes and cans and sandwich wrappers. ‘Sorry,’ said Spence. ‘I wasn’t expecting giving anyone a ride.’
‘I thought that was my job?’ said Sadie raising an eyebrow.
Spence pulled rubbish out of the passenger side and dumped it at the kerb, Sadie got in, and he went and opened the driver’s door and nervously got behind the wheel. The old vehicle wheezed into life and he drove away. Their destination was a short run to a dilapidated council block. Sadie shook
her head in disbelief. ‘What?’ said Spence.
‘Nothing. I hope it’s better inside.’
It was, but not much. The flat was on the top floor, one bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. The furniture was minimal. Most of the living room was taken up by a plasma screen TV with all the trimmings including surround sound, DVD recorder and Sky-Plus box, a sagging sofa, and a rubbish strewn coffee table. ‘For work,’ explained Spence, pointing at the TV. ‘I have to watch the stuff.’
‘Bet you love watching porn on that big TV,’ said Sadie. ‘Got anything to drink?’
Sadie was drinking more and more these days. And the reason she came by cab was to avoid being nicked. It was expensive, but what the hell?
‘Beer, scotch, vodka.’
‘Vodka ice,’ she said.
‘The fridge is busted.’
‘Jesus, Spence, you sure know how to treat a girl.’
A lot of Spence’s cockiness had been knocked out of him by then. Once again, just as Sadie wanted it. She was always the boss in these assignations. She started them, and when she was bored, she finished them. But she didn’t want to totally kill his confidence. She wanted a man, not a mouse. So she smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it. Warm vodka will do fine.’
He went out to the kitchen and she heard water running and he returned with a bottle of Stoli and two clean glasses. Whilst he was gone she’d shifted papers and clothes off the sofa and sat down. He put the bottle and glasses on the coffee table in front of the TV and emptied an ashtray into an already full waste bin. ‘Sorry about this.’ he said. ‘I wasn’t expecting visitors here either.’
‘No problem,’ replied Sadie. ‘I don’t see the hand of a woman here.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘No girlfriend at the moment. Just, you know, the occasional…’
‘One-night stand,’ Sadie finished for him. ‘Or one-day stand.’
He smiled. ‘Something like that.’
He poured two drinks and she sipped at the oily tasting liquid, feeling it burn the back of her throat. ‘Right Spence,’ she said. ‘Where’s the bedroom?’
12
The bedroom wasn’t much better. It contained just a mattress on a box spring, with a duvet tossed untidily on it, and a chair covered in clothes. ‘Not the Ritz is it?’ said Sadie.
‘I usually don’t ask people back,’ said Spence.
‘I’m not surprised. But it’ll do, I suppose.’ She walked over to the window and looked down at the scruffy grass in front of the flats, and the old bangers abandoned at the side of the road. This could’ve been me, she thought. And worse, it still could be if Eddie goes down. This was not a good thought, so she dismissed it as she pulled the ill-fitting curtains together and turned round in the dim light that remained. ‘So what’s it to be Spence?’ she asked. ‘How do you like it?’
Spence liked it rough, which was fine by Sadie. He also had a good stock of ribbed Durex, which also fitted her bill.
But first she undressed slowly, taking her time, and enjoying the effect she was having on him. Her blouse came off to expose the La Perla lacy black bra beneath, then her pencil skirt dropped to the floor exposing the matching panties. She could see Spence appreciated the show as his cock grew large in his trousers. ‘Like what you see?’ she asked.
He nodded, the breath catching in his throat.
She went towards him and reached for his crotch. ‘I thought you might be worth knowing,’ she said, feeling the hardness beneath her fingers.
She pushed his jacket off his shoulders, undid the scarf and tossed it aside, and began to unbutton his shirt to expose his hard chest and six-pack. ‘Work out, do you?’ she asked.
‘When I can.’
‘Work out on me then,’ she whispered as she kissed him on the mouth, her tongue forcing his lips open.
He picked her up easily and put her onto the bed as they carried on kissing and he pushed her bra up around her neck to expose her creamy breasts.
‘Oh, yes,’ he breathed.
‘You like?’
‘I love.’
‘There’s a good boy.’
As he kissed and sucked her nipples, Sadie unbuttoned his flies and tugged his jeans and pants down allowing his cock to spring up, long and hard.
Sadie ran her mouth down his chest and belly and took his prick in her mouth. ‘God,’ he said.
She cupped his balls as he took off her panties too, and he put his fingers into her cleft which was already hot and wet.
‘Yes, oh yes, Spence,’ she breathed. ‘That’s so good.’
‘Let me in you,’ he said, and she pushed her knickers off, rolled onto her back and opened her legs wide.
He wrestled off his boots, tore open a condom packet with his teeth and rolled it on, then quickly mounted her, his trousers around his ankles. It was awkward, but Sadie didn’t care as the long length of him pushed deep inside her.
‘Oh fuck,’ she shouted as her long nails cut into his back. ‘Oh fuck, you dirty fucker.’
He covered her mouth with his as he pumped her hard, and she could already feel her orgasm building.
‘Harder, you bastard, harder,’ she ordered, but his tongue was halfway down her throat, and he probably didn’t hear, or care, but harder he went until she pulled her head back and screamed, and he shot his load into the rubber.
They lay together for a few minutes, both breathing hard, before Spence withdrew, removed the condom and dropped it on the floor.
‘Well, that’s the best thing I’ve ever got from Ilford market,’ said Sadie, breathlessly.
13
Which just left Poppy. The anger at Joseph’s betrayal cut her deeper with every day. She paced the floor of their flat uninterested in the luxury in which she lived, knowing that he was spending more and more time with his baby mother and the child. She felt that she had nowhere to turn. Her mother was a lost cause who just sat indoors all day drinking sweet wine, smoking the cheapest tipped king size cigarettes she could find, reading the Daily Mirror and watching The Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV. So once more she turned to Sadie. Poppy would ring her and talk for hours. Sadie actually welcomed the calls, as they took her mind off her own problems. She was still seeing Spence, but was becoming bored with his squalid lifestyle, and knew it wouldn’t be long before she dumped him.
‘Let’s meet up Poppy darlin’,’ she said one bright morning a week before Eddie’s court day. ‘Let’s just you and me have lunch, maybe do a bit of shopping.’
‘Where?’ asked Poppy.
‘West End,’ said Sadie. ‘Let’s push the boat out. I’ll come in on the train, cab it from Liverpool Street. It’s been ages since I’ve done that. We’ll get a bit pissed and spend some of those sods ill-gottens.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Poppy. ‘Serves the bastards right.’
They arranged to meet in Selfridges in the wine bar next to the food hall the next day at eleven. Poppy was early and mooched around the lingerie department, bitterly remembering when Joseph was interested in her underwear.
Sadie arrived fifteen minutes late as Poppy was sitting at the bar staring into a glass of bottled water. ‘Sorry love,’ she said, giving the younger woman a big hug. ‘Traffic’s murder, and I swear my cabbie didn’t know his arse from his elbow.’
Despite herself, Poppy had to smile. Sadie’s bitching never failed to cheer her up.
‘What’s that you’re drinking?’ asked Sadie.
‘Water.’
‘Do leave off. You know what fishes do in it?’
‘This is supposed to come from the mountains of Mourne or somewhere,’ said Poppy, peering at the bottle.
‘Bollocks. Water’s water. Come on love, we ain’t here for a wake, though you look like you might be,’ and she called for a bottle of Pinot Blanc and two glasses.
They moved to a table, and despite one or two glances Sadie fired up a Silk Cut. ‘Fuck ‘em,’ she said looking round. ‘The bloody prices they charge I’m allowed a fag.’
Popp
y shook her head. She could tell it was going to be one of those days, and she felt that she deserved one too.
When the wine was poured and the cigarettes were on the go, Sadie said. ‘So what’s he done now? You look like you’ve lost a fiver and found a tanner.’
‘Just the same,’ said Poppy. ‘He’s never home. Always round that bird’s flat playing mummies and daddies.’
‘It’s the way of the world darlin’,’ said Sadie. ‘Whatever they can’t have they want. Lucky Eddie don’t have a fatherly bone in his body. ‘Cos I sure never wanted a bunch of screaming kids hanging around me.’
‘Never?’
‘Never my love. Think of my figure. ‘Cos if I don’t no one else ever will.’
‘You still seeing that bloke?’ asked Poppy.
‘Shh honey,’ said Sadie. ‘Walls have ears.’ Then she laughed. ‘Him and a few others.’
‘God, if Eddie ever…’
‘He’s only interested in his case,’ said Sadie. ‘It could be three in the bed, and he’d never notice.’
Poppy laughed. ‘So what’s happening with that? Joe never talks to me any more.’
‘You think I know? Eddie never talks to me either.’
‘Let’s drink to the fuckers then,’ said Poppy. ‘May they rot in hell.’
They raised their glasses and bashed them together. ‘Fuck ‘em,’ said Sadie.
After the bottle was finished they left the store and went looking for food. ‘What do you fancy?’ asked Poppy. ‘The Ivy?’
‘That’s like a greasy spoon with celebs,’ said Sadie. ‘Fuck it, let’s go Chinese.’
They went to their favourite restaurant, The Princess Garden. The waiting staff were all young, beautiful women wearing traditional outfits but with the skirts split up almost to their knickers. All the better to charm the businessmen who used the place at lunch. Sadie marched in like she owned the place and demanded a table although they hadn’t booked. And she got one.
