The Birthday Present

by Lizzy Grey

  He laughed. “That’s true. Give me half an hour.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And do consider getting back to me. I’m always on the lookout for new girls. Especially classy girls like you.”

  She watched him walk towards the entrance, taking a smartphone from a pocket. Yuck. What a scumbag.

  She nursed the orange juice as the nightclub filled up. Half an hour came and went and she was about to leave when someone slid onto the barstool beside hers.

  “You were looking for Sam?”

  She turned and her mouth went dry. It wasn’t the right ‘Sam’. “Oh. Er. Yes.”

  “You don’t sound too sure?”

  “You aren’t the right ‘Sam’.”

  He pulled a disappointed expression. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Do you know another ‘Sam’? I’ll be blunt, he’s got a big cock.”

  “I’ve got a big cock, too, you know?”

  Not as big as Jamie’s, I’ll bet, she thought. “I’m sure you do. Can I ask you something?”

  “Fire away.”

  “What’s it like working for him?” She jerked a thumb towards the door.

  “Not too bad. He’s more of a facilitator than anything else. He tells me who, where, and for how long. Why do you ask?”

  “He asked me to work for him.”

  “Are you considering it?” He smiled.

  “No.”

  He nodded. “To be honest, I’m glad. He’s much better at dealing with male escorts. He’s fucked all his girls, so he’d want to fuck you, as well.”

  “Is that usual?”

  “No, of course not. I find it pretty gross, to be honest.”

  “Then, come and work for me.”

  “You? Are you just here to poach his escorts?”

  “No, I’m here on a reconnaissance mission,” she admitted. “I’m a bit new to all this.”

  “So, what can you offer me?”

  “A boss who isn’t a scumbag. A boss who won’t fuck you first. Think about it.” Pulling a pen out of her handbag, she reached for a beer mat and wrote her smartphone number and new email address on it. “Here,” she passed it to him. “It’s very early days yet, but I am going to do this properly.”

  “So, what’s your name?”

  “‘S’. Yours?”

  “Sam Cooper. Pleased to meet you… ‘S’.”

  “And you. If you know of anyone else..?” She trailed off.

  “I might do. Look, I have that other Sam’s number if you want it?”

  “That would be great.” Taking her smartphone out of her handbag, she entered the number as he recited it to her. “Thank you.”

  “Would you like me to walk you out of here?”

  “Oh, well, if you wouldn’t mind? Thanks.”

  They slid off their stools and they left the nightclub. On their way to the lift, he suddenly grabbed her hand.

  “My boss. Quick – in here.” He opened a door to a storeroom and pulled her inside. It was tiny and she could feel him pressing himself against her.

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Don’t you like it?” He pushed her face against the wall and, reaching around her, fumbled with the button of her trousers.

  “Don’t.” She began to struggle but he clapped a hand over her mouth as he undid the button, lowered the zip, and pushed a hand down into her panties. The bastard was going to rape her if she didn’t get out of there, so she began to struggle with all her might and heard him laugh.

  “Good. Keep struggling. I love a wriggler.”

  She bit his hand, pushing herself away from the wall to give herself enough space to raise her boot and stamp down hard on his foot with the heel. If only it had been a stiletto heel but, even so, he howled with pain and loosened his grip on her and she made a break for the door. Her hand was almost on the doorknob when he kicked the door closed and pulled her back into the darkness of the storeroom. She heard the sound of material ripping and air on her chest as he tore open her jacket and blouse.

  “You bastard,” she hissed, kicking viciously at his shins with the pointed toes of her boots and his grip lessened again. This was her chance. She had to get out of the storeroom this time. She yanked the door open and staggered out into the dimly lit passageway. He followed her but the lift doors opened and a young couple stepped out. The man’s eyebrows shot up and she glanced down at herself. Her jacket and blouse were both hanging open, the buttons gone. Her breasts were visible through her white lace bra and, oh, shit, they were staring with horrified fascination at her scar. “Help me,” she begged. “He tried to rape me in there.” She pointed then looked back but ‘Sam’ was gone. “Fuck.”

  “Let me call the police,” the man offered, while the woman gently closed over the blouse and jacket.

  She shook her head, raising a hand to her face. It was wet. She hadn’t known she was crying. “No. My handbag is still in there…” She wiped her hand on her trousers then did them up as the man went into the storeroom and came out a couple of moments later with it. “Thank you,” she whispered, taking the bag from him. She had to get out of there. She had to get home. Ignoring the close confines of the lift, she ran up the stairs and out onto the pavement.

  Holding her blouse and jacket closed, she got into a cab and gave the driver the mews address. She managed to get into the house without being seen and went straight upstairs to her bedroom. Pulling her clothes off, she went straight into the shower and scrubbed her body until the skin was red raw.

  She was getting into bed when her iPhone rang. It was Jamie and, for a moment she considered letting it go to voicemail, but the urge to hear his voice was stronger.

  “Jamie.”

  “How’s Scotland?” he asked.

  “Chilly.” She forced her voice to be steady. “How are you?”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “You don’t sound it.”

  “Well, this is the third night with no clients whatsoever. If it happens again tomorrow, I’m going to have to go back to being an escort myself until all this blows over.”

  This, after telling her he could never be an escort again. “I’m sorry.”

  “It won’t be forever.”

  “No. I love you.”

  “I love you, and I miss you.”

  Getting out of bed, she retrieved ‘Jamie’ from the wardrobe. “Are you feeling horny?” she asked, suddenly desperately wanting him to make her come and banish the sexual assault to the very back of her mind. “Please make me come?”

  “Is ‘Jamie’ there with you?”

  “Yes. I try and use my fingers, too, but I’m not very good.”

  “Okay, lie on the bed, and pull at your nipples. Pull at them and imagine it’s my lips. How does that feel?”

  “Good,” she murmured, pulling and pinching them and watching them harden.

  “Only good? Open your legs and imagine my head between your thighs. Are you doing that?”

  She lay down and closed her eyes. “Yes.”

  “Good. Now turn ‘Jamie’ on,” he continued and she heard the exertion in his voice. She smiled. He was wanking. “And touch your clit with him, like I told you before. Remember?”

  “Yes.” She turned Jamie on and touched her clit. Shit that felt good. She encircled her clit and then put ‘Jamie’ directly onto her clit. She gasped and jerked.

  “That sounded good. Now, gently insert ‘Jamie’ into your pussy.”

  She inserted ‘Jamie’ but it wasn’t at all gentle. She thrust the vibrator in and out, grunting in frustration. “Make me come,” she wailed.

  “Freya, leave ‘Jamie’ in your pussy and use your thumb. Rub your clit with your thumb and imagine it’s mine.”

  Turning ‘Jamie’ onto the highest setting, she shoved him in, then lay back rubbing her clit hard. Oh, yes, that felt fantastic.

  “Keep rubbing that clit, Freya,” he told her. “I love your clit. I love rubbing your clit.” All she could do was moan and he laughed
softly. “Keep rubbing, Freya. I’m wanking and watching you come. Rub that clit.”

  She rubbed and rubbed, feeling herself coming. Thank God, Jamie and ‘Jamie’ were making her come. “Oh, God.” She came, her body spasming and jerking hard, savouring the exquisiteness of ‘Jamie’ inside her and ‘his thumb’ working her clit.

  She lay spread-eagled on the bed, ‘Jamie’ still vibrating inside her pussy and she began to cry.

  “Freya? Freya, are you okay?”

  She pulled ‘Jamie’ from her pussy and licked and kissed it. “Yes, I’m okay. Thank you.”

  “You sounded like you needed that.”

  “I did. I miss you, Jamie.”

  “And I miss you. You made me come all over the sofa again.”

  She laughed through her tears. “When you need to come again, you ring me. Promise, Jamie?”

  “I promise. How does your pussy feel?” he asked.

  “Wonderfully tingly. How about your cock?”

  “Still twitching in my hand.”

  “Good. Thank you.”

  “Thank you, Freya. Thanks for taking my mind off a pretty shitty night.”

  “’Night, Jamie.” She ended the call, adding a silent, ‘You too.’

  At eleven in the morning, she rang ‘Sam’, hoping the bastard ‘Sam’ hadn’t just given her the number of a sex chat line.

  “Is that Sam?”

  “It is.”

  She rolled her eyes with relief. “I was given your number and I was hoping that I could speak to you in private.”

  “Private?”

  “It’s about Jamie Watson and his agency and the state it’s in.”

  “Oh.” He exhaled an embarrassed laugh. “Oh, right.”

  “So, can we meet somewhere private?”

  “Who are you?”

  “Freya Wakefield.”

  “Freya… bloody hell… okay. Um, well, it’ll have to be my apartment.”

  He gave her the address and they arranged to meet that afternoon.

  She collected the business cards on the way and he buzzed her into his apartment.

  “Thank you for this.”

  “I take it Jamie doesn’t know you’re here?” he asked and brought her into a small living room.

  “No. Look, I don’t know whether he’s told you, but my parents want to ruin him.”

  “Well, yes, he did mention something and then the police…” He motioned for her to sit down and she sat down in one of two black leather armchairs while he sat on the matching sofa.

  “I hate going behind his back but my parents won’t stop until they have ruined his agency and seen that he’s ruined. He’s told me that there hasn’t been any clients for days so I presume you and the other escorts are looking for work elsewhere?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I hate having to do it, Jamie’s been a good mate to me for years, but we haven’t any choice.”

  “I know. Look, I have a proposition for you all. That when you do leave Jamie’s agency, you all come and work for me.”

  “You?”

  She opened her handbag and passed him a business card. “The S&S Agency. It will be London Introductions in all but name. But I can’t do it without you.”

  “What name are you using as a contact?”

  “Just ‘S’,” she told him. “But the name I used to order the business cards was Samantha Harrison, and I’m using my living room as an office at the moment, but I’ll have a laptop, printer and landline tomorrow. I just need escorts for the website and then to publicise it.”

  “How many business cards have you got?”

  “Five hundred.”

  “Give me half of them and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thank you.” She took them out and put them on the coffee table. “Oh, another thing. Jamie thinks I’m in Scotland with my husband, so please don’t tell him we’ve met.”

  “I won’t say a word but let me try and get this straight. Your parents are targeting Jamie because you and your husband are getting a divorce?”

  “Yes. They don’t approve of Jamie.”

  “You don’t say,” he muttered wryly.

  “I do love him,” she told him defensively.

  “I know. You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t. He loves you, Freya. I’ve never seen him fall so hard for someone.”

  “I hope he won’t hate me for doing this behind his back, but being cruel to be kind seems to be the only way.”

  “He won’t.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “Jamie trusted you with me when I was drinking and fucking around, so that’s why I’m trusting you now.”

  “You can trust me,” he assured her. “He says you’ve stopped both.”

  “Yes, I have. It was tough, but Jamie’s my only craving now.”

  “Good.” He picked up a business card and glanced at it. “I’ll do some emailing and ringing around and I’ll get back to you.”

  “Thanks, Sam.”

  “It’s Colin, actually.”

  Idiot. She flushed. “Sorry, Colin.”

  The laptop and printer were delivered the next morning and the separate landline installed. She eagerly accessed the internet and her new s&s email account. There were six emails, including one from Colin.

  Freya, I’ve contacted all the escorts who work for Jamie’s agency and I hope they will contact you. Jamie rang me this morning. He’s pretty low, wishes he hadn’t told you to go to Scotland and is going back to being an escort himself. I’ll look up some other contacts, tell them about s&s, and start distributing the business cards.

  The five other emails were from escorts via Colin and by the end of the day, she’d heard from a further ten. Connecting the printer to the laptop, she printed out all their details, then rang Colin and asked if they could all meet up in his apartment to discuss escort in calls, out calls, and fees.

  By four o’clock the following afternoon, she was grinning at Colin. They had twenty escorts and the promise of more. Gathering their details together, she went to the website designers before they closed for the day. That done, she decided to treat herself to a meal. What did she fancy? Italian? Yes, she hadn’t had a good pasta in months. She went back to the website designers who recommended The Pasta Palace only two streets away.

  She went in and chose a table facing the street and, ignoring the pasta with a vodka sauce, ordered farfalle pasta with a creamy wild mushroom sauce and an orange juice. Waiting for the meal to arrive, she gazed out of the window, then smiled and thanked the waiter as her drink arrived. She sipped the orange juice then turned her attention back to the street. It had started to rain and the street soon became a blur so she concentrated on her meal when it came and then took a cab home.

  The telephone was ringing as she opened the door to her sitting room and she ran to answer it. The caller was her first client, who had picked up a business card in Perfect Strangers, and she was too delighted to be embarrassed as she dealt with his request. When she ended the call and put the handset down, her hands were shaking a little, but she grinned to herself – The S&S Agency was in business.

  The website designers rang her first thing in the morning. They were putting the finishing touches to the website and it would be live by noon. She rang Colin immediately to tell him.

  “That’s great. Look, Freya, you can’t run a business like this from your living room. Jamie rang me last night, he’s vacating the offices he used for London Introductions. They’re in a good location and the rent is reasonable. I’d take them if I were you. I’ll email you the details and if you want to go ahead, give me a call and we’ll go to the letting agency.”

  “Okay, thanks, Colin. How would you like to be the first on the call handler team? Some clients might prefer to speak to a man.”

  He laughed. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  The offices adjoining each other looked ideal so she rang Colin and after she opened a business bank account, they met at the letting agency. She viewed the offices and paid
for a six-month lease. She then put the telephone line into the agency name and arranged for the new telephone number to be transferred. That afternoon, Colin came to the townhouse, parked at the mews, and they put the laptop, printer, and telephone on the back seat of his car and brought them to the offices.

  “What did Jamie do with all his office equipment?” she asked as she connected the printer to the laptop.

  “It was rented, so it all went back to the rental company.”

  “Can you go and rent it all again?”

  He nodded. “First thing in the morning. While the telephone number is being transferred, I’ll get calls diverted to my phone. And talking of calls, Jamie’s pretty low. He mentioned that he hadn’t heard from you…”

  “I’ll call him. Thanks, Colin. See you tomorrow.”

  An hour later, she settled on the sofa in her sitting room and rang Jamie.

  “Freya.” He sounded exhausted and relieved to hear from her.

  “How are you?”

  “Not good,” he admitted. “London Introductions is finished.”

  “I’m so sorry, Jamie.”

  “And I miss you like hell.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. “I miss you, too.”

  “So I’m back working as an escort but it’s work and it’s an income, so I shouldn’t really complain. How are you?”

  “Lonely. Wishing you are with me. Wishing you are inside me.”

  “Use ‘Jamie’ and your fingers again.”

  ‘Jamie’ was upstairs and she was too tired. “I can’t tonight. My mother-in-law is asleep in the bedroom next to mine.”

  “Does she not sleep like the dead, too?” he asked.

  “If only. She uses the bathroom every hour and manages to tread on all the loose floorboards on her way to and from. I’ll just have to imagine your cock in my pussy and your lips sucking my clit.”

  “I love licking and sucking your clit and you thrusting into my face and my hands running up your thighs to the tops of your stockings.”

  “And me pulling your hair.” He laughed for the first time and she smiled. “I’m sorry for not ringing you more often. Maybe it would be easier for you to ring me when you’re free?”

  “It could be late.”

  “I’ll put my phone on vibrate for you.”