All sense of reason was gone. He was with Claudia and he had to have her. It didn’t matter that they were in a public place. That his wife was somewhere around. That anybody could appear.
It was dark. He pushed her down onto the cold concrete ground and lifted her skirt. She wore no panties, and she was giggling.
He took her quickly. It was all over in a minute.
‘Christ!’ he muttered. ‘Christ!’
She lay there still giggling, her dress bunched around her waist. He pulled her up and looked around, relieved to see that no one had come out. She was unconcerned.
‘We’ve got to go back inside separately,’ he said.
‘Screw you!’ she replied.
‘You just did.’ He straightened his tie and wiped a handkerchief around his face to remove all traces of lipstick. ‘I’ll phone you tomorrow. I’ll get away early from the office and come over. I’ve got a surprise for you.’
‘You’ve always got a surprise for me. You’re the man with the permanent hard-on!’ She laughed. ‘What a title for a television series – I can see it now – The Man with the Permanent Hard-on – starring Dick Hampton!’
He kissed her. ‘You go in first – go straight to the ladies’ room, you look a mess.’
‘Thank you, kind sir. Are you sure you’re finished with me?’
‘Go on, be a good girl. I’ll try to phone you later.’
She stuck out her tongue at him – waggling it obscenely – and then sauntered off through the French windows completely at ease.
He took a deep breath – what a girl. After a safe five minutes he followed her in. The party was still in full swing. He grabbed a drink from a passing waiter and started to look for Linda. This was becoming a dangerous habit, bumping into Claudia at parties.
He observed Lori dancing with a seedy actor. She was moving her hips in steady bumps and grinds, and smiled coolly at him. She certainly knew how to move.
He edged closer. ‘Seen Linda?’ he asked.
She looked deadpan. ‘Last I saw of her she was heading toward the terrace looking for you.’
‘The terrace?’ he said, stunned.
‘The terrace, honey.’ She swayed away from him.
He started to look for Linda seriously. He ploughed his way across the room, through groups of people laughing and chatting. A girl grabbed his arm. She was thin and pretty, and he remembered her as a friend of Claudia’s from the restaurant.
‘Hello, ducky,’ she cooed. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’
‘Hello.’ He looked around for her chinless boyfriend.
‘Oh, Jeremy’s gone to fetch me another drink.’ She didn’t leave go of his arm. ‘Super party – but I didn’t expect you to be here.’
‘Why not?’ he said patiently. She was far too thin for him to find attractive.
‘I know we’re all very modern and everything, but you struck me as the jealous type.’
‘What are you talking about?’ He shook his arm free.
‘After all – this party is being given by Conrad Lee for Claudia, and I shouldn’t have thought you would come. I mean, one shouldn’t mix business with pleasure, should one? And you’re obviously pleasure, and he’s obviously business.’ She smiled blandly. ‘Here comes Jeremy with my drink. See you again,’ and she walked off.
He stood there, furious.
Claudia hadn’t mentioned Conrad Lee or the fact that the party was for her. Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!
The quest for Linda was forgotten, and a new one for Claudia began. He wanted to get a few facts straight.
* * *
Jay arrived back at the party. He was thoughtful. It was a tricky situation telling another man he couldn’t go home to his own wife. It could easily end in a punch on the nose. He saw David across the room talking to a girl. David Cooper. An attractive man, big and dark, and the ladies all fell for him. Lori had said she thought he was probably fantastic in bed, but from talking to Linda it didn’t sound that way. Lori had a habit of thinking most men were fantastic in bed, her way of letting him know that she didn’t think he was.
He approached David quickly – best to get it over with fast – and told him the situation.
David was suitably flattened. He tried to deny it, but when Jay told him word for word what Linda had said, he was forced to admit it.
‘You’re an idiot,’ Jay said. ‘You’ve got a great wife. If you want to fuck around, why do it under her nose?’
‘What is she going to do?’
‘She mentioned divorce.’
‘That’s ridiculous. She’s got no proof. So I kissed a girl at a party – what does that prove? I’m going home. I’m not going to be shut out of my own house.’
Jay shrugged. ‘I can’t stop you, I can only offer advice. She’s in a state of shock. Going home tonight will only make things worse. If you wait until morning I’m sure you’ll both see things a lot clearer.’
‘I know Linda. She’s upset, but I can explain things to her.’
Jay glared at him. ‘I promised her you’d stay away tonight.’
David glared back. ‘Tough, my friend, because I’m going home now.’
They held the glare a few moments and then Jay said, ‘Good night, schmuck. Don’t forget to say good night to your girlfriend. You’ll probably find her kissing Conrad’s ass.’
Chapter Twelve
When David arrived at his house and put the key in the front door, it wouldn’t open. He lit a match to make sure he was using the right key, but although it turned smoothly, the door remained tightly shut. Realization dawned. Linda had bolted it from the inside.
He went around to the back door, but that was also tightly barred. A strong, choked anger rose in him. He returned to the front and pressed his finger firmly down on the bell push. The jangly sound of the buzzer was loud and insistent. There was no response. He tried it again, this time leaving his finger there for several minutes. A light went on in the upstairs window. It was the maid’s room. He waited impatiently for her to come down and let him in, but nothing happened, and after a while her light went out again.
He was furious – Linda was obviously up and had told Ana to ignore the bell. He kicked savagely at the door but only succeeded in hurting his foot.
This is incredible, he thought. Who the fuck does she think the bloody house belongs to?
‘Listen, Linda,’ he shouted. ‘Don’t do this to me – open the door or I’m going for the police.’
The house loomed still and dark before him. He banged on the door with his fists – nothing. He leaned on the bell push again – nothing. Then, faintly, from upstairs there floated down the sound of a child crying. He stood there, undecided about what to do. He felt guilty about waking the children, but after all, it was Linda’s fault for not letting him in. He pushed the bell firmly and insistently for one final time, and to his surprise the bolts were pushed back and the door opened a few inches. He went to push it farther open but it clanged to a shuddering stop – held by the safety chain.
Linda peered out at him, white-faced and angry. ‘Go away. You make me sick.’ Her voice sounded flat and tired.
‘Come on, let me in. We’ll talk about it. It was nothing – I was drunk.’
‘I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you. Go back to your little tramp and leave me alone.’
She slammed the door in his face.
He swore, hammered on the door, and shouted, ‘You’ll be sorry, Linda. I’ll bloody go away and I won’t come back!’
She didn’t return. Furious, he strode back to his car, got in, and started it viciously.
* * *
When David left the party, Jay phoned Linda and warned her. He then got hold of Lori who was dancing closely with a swarthy-faced ambassador, and sat her down in a corner.
‘You saw David take that broad out onto the terrace. What’s with you, big mouth? Why did you tell Linda?’
She looked uninterested. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking abo
ut, honey,’ she drawled. ‘Is something going on?’
‘Yeah, something’s going on.’ He shrugged disgustedly. ‘Are you really as dumb as you pretend to be?’
She looked sulky. ‘You’re so nasty to me, Jay. I don’t know why I married you.’
‘Would two mink coats, a sable, a mansion and several cars jog your memory?’
She stood up, smoothing her hands down her body, ironing imaginary wrinkles from her dress. ‘I’m going to dance again. You interrupted me before – that was a very sweet, important guy I was dancing with.’ She walked off, beautiful, cool.
Jay shook his head in despair. She was an idiot or a bitch or a clever combination of both.
The noise at the table where Conrad and his group were sitting was becoming progressively louder. Shrieks of drunken laughter, spilt drinks. Claudia climbing on the table and dancing, with the men all peering up her skirt, becoming aware of the fact that she had no panties on. Egged on with screams of drunken encouragement, she started to peel her dress off.
Jay viewed the scene. He was horribly sober. They all seemed to be behaving like a bunch of wild monkeys. He felt disgusted.
A large crowd was gathering around the table, goggle-eyed at Claudia’s free show. The foreign ambassador rushed over with Lori. It was a fast striptease as Claudia only had her dress to take off. She kicked it from the table, and then proceeded to dance to the music. Bumping, grinding. Her body glistened proudly, and the men in the crowd pressed closer and closer while the women, suddenly jealous at such perfection, started to try and move them away.
A very harassed-looking man in pinstripe trousers and black jacket pushed his way toward the table. He represented the management. Shocked and horrified, he approached Conrad who waved him drunkenly away. ‘We shall have to call the police unless this – this – woman gets dressed at once.’
Claudia stuck her tongue out at him, the only part of her that hadn’t been exposed to public view.
Eventually, of course, the police arrived. They wrapped Claudia in a blanket, hauled her off to the police station, and booked her for indecent exposure.
The next morning it was headlines. Claudia was a star – for the day, that is. She was photographed and quoted while Conrad immediately cashed in on her wave of publicity by announcing that she would be appearing in his new film. He contacted her agent and signed her for two days’ work.
She was delighted. She returned from the police station at lunch time, triumphant. She gave a press reception, posed for countless more pictures, and then was taken off to the studio in a chauffeured car for makeup and hair tests. She didn’t see Conrad; efficient professionals took over. She was pleased – he had served his immediate purpose.
When she returned from the studio in the evening, David was propped outside her front door.
Sober and giddy with her sudden success, he didn’t look so good to her. ‘What do you want?’ she said coldly, and then added with a burst of enthusiasm, ‘Hey – did you see me in the papers today?’
He trailed her into the apartment and immediately fixed a drink.
She flitted around talking excitedly, forgetting her coldness of a moment before. After all, David did belong to someone else, and it was she he was coming to.
‘I’m going to take you out to dinner tonight. Where do you want to go?’ he asked.
She laughed. ‘Oh. I see. All of a sudden I’m a star, and you want to be seen with me. What about wifey tonight? Aren’t you frightened one of her spies will see us?’
‘You don’t have to worry about Linda. I’ve left her.’
Silence hung heavy in the room until slowly Claudia walked over and kissed him hard. ‘You’ve left her for me?’
‘For you.’ He ran his hands down her back, enclosing them around her buttocks. ‘When I saw you in the paper this morning and read what happened, I knew we couldn’t go on any longer unless it was together. So I told Linda. I said I want a divorce, and here I am.’
She shook her head in disbelief. ‘You really left her for me. Isn’t that wild!’
‘I’m going to divorce her and marry you,’ he said firmly.
She wandered around the room. ‘I don’t want to get married, but thanks for the thought anyway. Hey, baby, we can do what we want, go where we want. It’s too much!’
He followed her around the room. ‘Don’t you understand? I said I’d marry you.’
She laughed. ‘But I don’t want you to.’
‘But I want to.’ He grabbed hold of her. She was wearing a clingy orange sweater, matching slacks, and shiny white boots.
She slipped away from him. ‘Listen, baby – let’s get clear on the subject. I don’t – do not have, I repeat, any desire to make the wedding-bells scene – so don’t keep on making the offer like it’s such a damn big deal. I don’t want to marry you.’ She was almost shouting, and sensing her mood, he dropped the subject.
‘Where shall we go?’ he said. ‘We can go anywhere you like.’
She stretched, catlike in her orange outfit. ‘I’m tired. I don’t feel like getting dressed and going out.’
He looked surprised. ‘You’re always complaining we never go anywhere – and now that we can go wherever you like – you don’t want to go.’
She flopped in a chair, her legs thrown casually over the side. ‘Ever heard the story of the kid that wanted some candy – moaned and cried and carried on till eventually it got candy – then ate so much it was sick?’ She giggled. ‘Get the message?’
‘What the hell’s the matter with you? Don’t you understand what I’ve done for you today?’
She shrugged. ‘For me? I should have thought it would have been for yourself. Where are you going to live?’
‘I’m taking an apartment. I thought in the meantime I’d stay here with you, then we can move into the new place together.’
She studied her fingernails, admiring the pearly glow. ‘Is it a penthouse?’
‘Is what a penthouse?’
‘The apartment you’re taking.’ There was a pause. ‘Well, is it?’
‘I don’t know. What the hell does it matter? We’ll find a penthouse if that’s what you want.’
She smiled at last, pleased and purry. ‘Yes, that’s what I want. Can I start looking tomorrow? It’s going to be too crowded for the two of us here.’ She held out her arms to him. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been bitchy but it’s been a busy day.’
He fell into her arms and kissed her, feeling the familiar immediate desire rise in him. She kissed him hard, running her tongue across his teeth and scratching the back of his neck with sharp nails. He started to reach for her body, but she pushed him away and leaped up. ‘Not now, baby. Let’s go to dinner, and then – think of it – we can come back home together. It will be a whole different scene.’
She switched on the stereo, and the sound of the Stones filled the room. She danced around, throwing off her sweater and wriggling out of her slacks in time to the music. She wore a brief white bra and the shiny white boots.
He watched her, mesmerized. ‘Don’t you ever wear panties?’
‘Why spoil the line?’ She laughed. ‘Does it bother you? I’ve never had any complaints before!’
She vanished into the bathroom, and he heard the sound of a bath running. He followed her in. She was bending over the bath, filling it with bubbles. She had discarded the bra, but the boots remained.
He grabbed her from behind. She struggled weakly, half laughing. He tried to hold onto her and get out of his clothes at the same time, but she slipped and fell into the bath. By this time she was helpless with laughter, very wet, and covered in bubbles. She stuck her legs over the side of the bath with her boots still on.
He undressed hurriedly and followed her into the bath. The water cascaded over the side.
‘I think I’m going to like living here,’ he said.
Chapter Thirteen
The sun was streaming into the bedroom and David couldn’t sleep any longer. Claudia lay spraw
led beside him, taking up more than her share of the bed. She claimed she couldn’t sleep with the curtains closed, which accounted for the fact that every morning the light woke him too early. He glanced at his watch. It was only half-past six, and they hadn’t got to bed until four. He felt tired and dreadful and hung over. It was no use getting up and pulling the curtains now, as he couldn’t go back to sleep once he was awake.
The spacious bedroom was a mess. Claudia had a habit of stepping out of her clothes all over the place and just leaving them. One had to pick one’s way through the debris in the mornings.
It’s amazing, he thought, how my life has changed in six short months.
The new dress he had bought her lay in a crumpled ball at the bottom of the bed. It was red pleated chiffon. She had seen it in a window in Bond Street, and he had surprised her with it the next day. The surprise had cost him a bomb.
He picked it up. She had spilled a glass of wine on it, and there was a crumpled stain.
In the green-marble bathroom leading off the bedroom, the mess continued. She had not emptied the bath, and it was filled with cold, dirty water. Bottles of makeup and hairbrushes and perfumes were scattered everywhere. The sink was clogged with soap and hair left to congeal beneath a dripping gold tap.
Beneath the mess it was a beautiful apartment. A penthouse, as she had wanted, in a new apartment building in Kensington. It cost far too much money a week. A fortune, in fact. But Claudia loved it and did not care to move.
He emptied the old water and picked up the bath towels. He really wished she would learn to be tidy, but it seemed impossible for her. With Linda, there had never been a thing out of place.
He went through a mirrored hallway to the kitchen. Here there were stale cups of half-drunk coffee, dirty dishes piled high, full ashtrays creating a bad odour.
Fortunately it was Friday, which meant that they had a new cleaning woman starting. The last one had left in disgust when she found out they weren’t married, leaving a cryptic note saying, ‘I’m not used to such filth.’ At first he had thought she was referring to the state Claudia left things in, but the porter had told him what she really meant.
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