Everything to Nothing
Page 10
While Sally was waiting she paced up and down in front of the coffee shop trying to control her fury. After what seemed like an eternity she saw the Rolls making its stately progress towards her. While Alfred was still bringing the car to a stop Sally flung open one of the rear doors, threw her shopping onto the rear seat and then flung herself into the car. ‘Home Alfred.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
He knew that when his mistress was in this kind of mood it was better to resume all formalities or he could be in for a huge tongue lashing from her, and possibly an audience with Mr. Gallagher himself if Sally thought he had been particularly rude.
‘Phone ahead Alfred, have them saddle Storm.’
‘Certainly ma’am.’
Alfred pressed a few buttons which switched on the car’s inbuilt phone, and when the call was answered at the mansion he told them to do as Sally asked.
As the journey progressed Sally just stared out of the window and occasionally Alfred glanced at her in the rear view mirror. He noticed the frown line and also the slight pout to her lips. He had come to recognize all the signs in all his years as the family’s butler as to when Sally was upset. Her haughty attitude, the pout and the clenching of her jaw was a sure sign that if Storm did not make her feel better, Alfred’s working life was going to being misery for the next few days.
As they approached the gates of the estate Sally stated, ‘I’ll go straight to the stables thank you Alfred.’
‘Yes, ma’am. However, the road down there is very boggy due to the rain last night, and you know how your father refuses to have it surfaced. Therefore the Land Rover should be waiting to drive you down there if that is okay?’
‘Yes, it’s fine. Make sure my bags are taken up to my room by somebody. You personally take my hand bag though. Don’t let anyone else touch it. I will take my phone should anyone need me.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Alfred pressed a button on a remote control which made the gates swing open and the car advanced onto the estate. After about half a mile along the road there was a fork. The fork led through a coppice of trees and was nothing more than a dirt track. At the start of this track was a brand new Land Rover Discovery.
The Rolls-Royce came to a halt and as Sally exited the car, without saying anything to Alfred, she saw the driver lean into the cab of the Discovery and use the radio. She presumed that he would be radioing ahead to inform the stable hands of her impending arrival. Stepping up into the rear of the car she again did not say anything to the driver, she just stared out of the window and watched the land roll by as they made their way a mile down the track to the stables complex.
The complex could easily hold ten horses. The stables were organized in a horse shoe around a central paddock that had a small equestrian course within it. Behind the stables, out of view as the Land Rover advanced into the complex, was a full circular track about two miles long. This track was split into two, one side was flat, the other had jumps included along its length. Usually, once or twice a week, Sally would take her beloved Storm around both courses, the flat and the jump, and sometimes around the equestrian course.
A large, powerful mare standing at sixteen hands, Storm was not at home on the tight and little equestrian course. Her reason to be as far as Sally was concerned was to sprint the flat course and jump the bigger fences. Today though she did not think that either of the courses would be enough.
As the Land Rover pulled to a stop, Sally exited the car and walked over to the side of Storm where she stood ready for Sally to ride her. The stable hands went about their work not taking any notice of Sally; they had been forewarned about the mood she was in.
As Sally approached, Storm looked up and let out a little whinny as she saw Sally. She rested her cheek against the side of the horse’s head and stroked and muttered some loving words to her. After remaining like this for a few moments she then made her away along the side of the horse checking the saddle and all the equipment was satisfactorily fastened, in place and looked safe. After this check, Sally put one foot in the left stirrup and swung herself quickly and adeptly onto the saddle.
Not concerned that she was wearing nearly a thousand pounds worth of designer clothes and no safety helmet, Sally dug her heels into the side of Storm. Instantly the horse sprang into a trot and Sally guided the horse across the cobbled yard to the open gate that led out onto the circular track.
As the surface changed from the hard cobbles to the soft grass of the course, she dug her heels in hard into the flank of Storm and the horse surged underneath her. Quickly it accelerated past canter and into a full gallop. Sally’s hair flowed out behind her as the wind whistled past and wind-tears appeared at the corner of her eyes.
She did not slacken the pace of the horse though. She did two full circuits of the course, the first along the flat, the second over the jumps which Storm leapt over with ease. Only after two circuits did she ease off the speed and allowed them both to catch their breath. Storm walked along the course for a mile until they reached the top end of the circuit. Here Sally leapt off and walked over to the white fence and lifted up a panel so they now had access to the area outside the course. She mounted Storm again and they went through the gap in the fence. On the other side of the fence, through a wooded area, was a narrow path.
Storm instantly headed to this path, not needing any coaxing from Sally. Slowly she walked the horse along the path and therefore the tears building up in her eyes this time were not wind-tears. Thoughts were raging through her mind, most of them focusing upon the sights that greeted her while she was having a relaxing coffee. As they advanced along the path Sally tried to bring her thoughts together and come up with some kind of plan.
She knew she would forgive Michelle eventually, she had to. They had been through so much together and Michelle had always been by her side through Sally’s darkest days, through her mother’s darkest days of illness. However, she could still not believe that her best friend would spend a night with the man she was meant to meet for a date that same night. But she knew she would forgive her, eventually.
Simon though was a different story. It had always been an ideology of Sally’s never to date someone who had been with one of her friends. Though Michelle said she had not slept with Simon, she could not believe Michelle right now. Even if she did eventually believe her there would always be that question mark hovering over Simon’s head. It was something that Sally knew she could not cope with thinking about every time she looked at him. That, therefore, put him off limits, which kind of totally messed up Sally’s intended love life.
But then an image entered her mind, an image that had been out of her thoughts until that moment, the image of her modern knight in wet T-shirt and soggy jeans. This put a smile back on her face and her body experienced a rush of blood as she thought about him.
Suddenly, out loud she shouted, ‘Don’t be so silly young lady! You don’t even know him! You shouldn’t be having thoughts like that! Come on then my angel, my darling Storm. Let’s get rid of our demons and fly with the wind!’
Twice digging her heels into Storm’s flank the horse accelerated quickly and burst out of the wood at a full gallop. Sally loved the exhilaration, the feel of the beast in between her legs as Storm thundered along the path. Suddenly in front of them a waist high fence of barbed wire appeared but the horse and Sally did not miss a step. Without decreasing speed they leapt over the fence and for a moment they were flying with the wind. Sally let out a wild cry as they landed and Storm maintained her pace as they exploded out of the landing. They maintained their speed across a field along another path. In the distance was the furthest corner of the estate and the large outer wall wound its way to the corner of the field they bounded across. Built into the wall was a gate and as they approached Sally pulled back lightly on the reins. Storm responded with a reduced speed and they trotted and then walked the last few yards to the gate.
Sally jumped off the horse’s back and stepped over to
the gate. Attached to the wall was a small metal box containing a small numeric keypad. She tapped in the code, always an easy number to remember: her mother’s date of birth. Knowing that as the gate unlocked a light would have gone off in the security centre housed in a room in the mansion, so she paused for a few moments and looked up at the camera that was on the wall next to the gate. Sally gave a little wave as she saw the light on the camera flash three times as the guards acknowledged it was her by flashing the light. They then saw her disappear from view for a moment, and then reappear leading the horse. They then saw her push the gate open and then they disappeared from view as they stepped through the gateway.
Pushing the gate closed behind her, she listened as the electric locks slid back securing the estate once again. There was no way to open the gate from the outside, no numeric keypad, however Sally knew that if she phoned up the security centre later and gave the appropriate password they would unlock the gate for her. She never saw the guard again who had refused her entry into the estate because she forgot the new password. She presumed that he was given his papers after she had spoken to her father about him.
Remounting Storm they proceeded at a more sedate pace along the path that continued on this side of the gate. Sally was not really thinking of anything as they walked. She was trying to remove the image and thoughts of David out of her mind but she was failing, miserably. She knew that he had touched her with his immense good looks, his willingness to help her even though the situation she was putting him into was potentially a dangerous one. As she remembered all that happened last night a sensible voice piped up in her head and it was telling her that she should have informed her father.
She was under strict instructions, and had been from a young age, to report all incidents of this nature to her father just in case the incident was not going to be a one off and in fact the attacker was following her. However, as Sally thought about this, she just knew that her father would insist that she would have to have a bodyguard, or possibly guards, and be escorted everywhere by him, or possibly them. Hate was probably too mild a word to use when she thought of the times that she had to have a personal bodyguard. Her father had frequently stated to her that a girl, now a woman, in her position was a major kidnapping target.
Sometimes, usually two or three times a year, her father would annoy the wrong person and then he would receive death threats or Sally would receive kidnap threats. It was then that she was followed everywhere by a huge lumbering oaf of a man, or possibly men, usually ex-military with all the personality of a damp rag. Her privacy was invaded, everything was invaded. He would stand outside her room as she got changed, he would jog behind her when she ran, he would stand by the side of the pool when she swam, he would watch with eagle eyes if she shopped for lingerie, everything was invaded. Even after all this, if she thought for one moment that last night was anything more than a one off and not just an unhappy coincidence she would tell her father. It was just not worth taking the risk of upsetting him. If he lost her on top of his wife, Sally knew it would finish him off.
As Sally thought, she did not seem to realize that she was leading Storm to the top of a hill that looked down onto a certain road that went past a certain garage. They reached the brow of the hill and Sally was surprised when she looked down the hill and there, at the bottom, was the garage where David worked. She looked down onto it and through the fading light she noticed a figure appear out of one the garages and wander over to one of the vans on the yard. This figure hopped onto the rear of the van and for a moment it looked like he was staring at something in one of his hands that was held out in front of him. Then the hand moved to the side of his head and after a few moments she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket followed by the ring tone ringing. Storm shifted under her as the noise startled her a little but she quickly settled. Sally looked at the screen of the phone after she had removed it from her pocket and was surprised to see that it was an unknown number that was calling her. Her thumb automatically went to the red button to reject the call, but then something unknown, a feeling inside her, made her accept the call. She lifted the handset to her ear and simply said, ‘Hello.’
‘Hi. Is that Sally?’
‘It is. Who is this?’
‘Erm, hi, it is David. I guess you remember me but I guess you get lots of guys calling you?’ David gave a nervous little laugh as he thought his attempted joke crashed and burned. What he did not see was Sally’s face visibly brighten, flush and then smile.
‘That’s a bit silly isn’t it David? Of course I remember you. How could I forget you?’
‘Erm, good. Erm, how are you anyway?’
‘I am okay. Didn’t sleep very well.’
‘That isn’t surprising. Neither did I.’
‘Well it wasn’t a very nice night for either of us.’
‘Erm, no, I suppose it wasn’t. Erm, good news about your car, it has been fixed.’
‘Oh! Wow! Did you do it?’
‘Yeah, with a little help.’
‘David you shouldn’t have. I would have paid to get it done. You didn’t have to spend your day off working on my car!’
‘It’s okay. I was working anyway. It didn’t take long.’
‘Well, anyway, I’m touched. I will make sure I pay you for it.’
‘I must warn you that it is not like it was, I mean, everything is fixed, but the amount of damage… It was impossible to get it like it was.’
‘I didn’t even expect you to attempt to fix it and I certainly would not expect you to get it as it was so whatever you have done will be fine. How much do I owe you?’
‘Well, erm, I don’t want money and I would never take money from you anyway.’
‘No, I insist. How much?’
‘No, like I said, no money. You can pay me in another way…’
Sally put on a sultry tone and said, ‘Why David, I have only just met you!’
They both laughed at Sally’s joke and David went on to say, ‘Erm, I didn’t, erm, exactly mean that. You can pay me, by, well, erm, going out with me sometime, I mean, well, you wouldn’t have to pay even then, I mean, erm, the payment would be going out for a date with me.’ David was shocked as the words came out of his mouth. He had an idea that he was going to ask her out but not like this and he then thought that she was going to put the phone down on him. However, her answer surprised him to the point of jaw-dropping.
‘I would absolutely love to so long as I you let me pay for everything. That is my only term and is, quite frankly, un-negotiable.’
Sally had been watching the figure on the back of the van as they talked. Not long after the conversation had started she had seen the figure hop back down off the van and start pacing up and down the yard. After she had given her reply she saw the figure leap in the air and start punching the air.
For a few moments there was silence as David tried to regroup his thoughts and finish his celebration manoeuvres. Quickly he thought about what she said and he concluded to just accept even if she wanted to pay for everything. ‘Okay then, if you insist. When would be a good time for you?’
‘Anytime. I am free all nights this week.’
‘Okay. How about Wednesday?’
‘Perfect.’
‘What would you like to do?’ asked David.
‘Surprise me.’
‘What time would you like me to pick you up?’
‘Well if my car is okay I will drive and pick you up.’
‘Are you sure that is okay? I don’t mind driving.’
Sally thought that she did not mind driving but she did mind him seeing her house and realising how wealthy she was. ‘No honestly, it is okay for me. Let me know your postcode and house number and I will find directions to your house.’
David gave her these details which Sally easily remembered and then he said, ‘When would you like to pick the car up?’
Sally noticed that he had returned to his seat on the back of the van and she was so tempted to i
nform him that she could come for it right now but she managed to bite her tongue. Instead she did say, ‘How about tomorrow? Not too early though! Need my beauty sleep if I have a date on Wednesday!’
‘I don’t think you do. How about eleven tomorrow?’
‘Perfect again. Eleven it is then. Give me a call if anything changes.’
‘Will do. See you Sally.’
‘See you tomorrow.’
Sally pressed the red button on her phone and looked down and saw David jump off the back of the van and do another dance of joy. She felt awful spying on him like this but she was also very impressed about how much a simple date with her obviously meant to him. She looked down at her phone and entered the menu Received Calls and there was David’s number. She created a new addition in her phone book and then quietly said to Storm, ‘A new addition to my life angel, one that I am immensely looking forward to developing.’
With those words she turned Storm around and made her way through the dusky evening back to the estate.
Chapter 15
Her Saturday went from bad to worse. After leaving his house, she walked home and everything seemed perfect. She felt great and almost skipped her way home. Arriving home she lied easily to her mum about where she had spent the night then went straight upstairs and showered. While she was in the shower the cocaine was still affecting her so she toyed and played with herself, also using the shower head in an imaginative way until she brought herself to orgasm. Thankfully over the noise of the shower her mum could not hear the loud moans and groans as the immense feelings ripped through her daughter’s body.
Sarah knew though that even if her mum could hear her she would not be concerned or even notice the ecstasy her daughter was experiencing. Sarah also knew that by this time on a Saturday her mum would have had at least a bottle of vodka and some wine to top it off. As the day carried on she would continue to top this off with probably gin or whiskey depending on what mood she was in. The only way nowadays that Sarah had to judge her mum’s mood was by what drink she was consuming at that given moment; gin if she was feeling particularly down, whiskey meant she was hovering around joyous, vodka was the middle of the road drink.