I’ll tell you no lies

by Norman Wills

  Lucy enjoyed her time with Stein, she could talk freely, confide in him, and the female side of his persona enjoyed being Lucy’s confidante.

  He doesn’t know everything about you though does he Lucy?

  Some things are best kept secret.

  “Patrick, come and sit between us so we can talk, we’ve got lots to talk about.” Said Lucy, “and I want to introduce you to Jayne properly. By the way John’s been showing us where we might rent a flat, me and Jayne, together.”

  “So the cat’s out of the bag is it?” whispered Stein, Lucy nodded with a big grin on her face, “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am for you both, at last.”

  “Yes, at last, I don’t think I could have managed without our little chats, you’ve been like a surrogate father to me Patrick, thank you, you big old fruit.” Lucy then gave Stein a kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

  “Something I missed?” said John.

  “Not at all, dear boy.” said Stein, “It’s just us three ladies having a girlie moment.”

  Turning to Jayne, Stein ran his professional eyes over her face feeling not the slightest bit tempted to rush because of any embarrassment Jayne might be feeling. “Jayne, my dear, you’re everything I expected and more, you could certainly straighten out a few of my friends in no time. Let me tell you, I’ve been in the company of many beautiful women and your face is up there with the best.”

  When she was able to overcome her initial embarrassment, he was after all far more full-on than anyone she’d ever met before; they got on like a house on fire. Stein’s feminine side always put women at ease in these situations, what a pity for them he’d been gay; when he was younger he must have been every woman’s dream man.

  Just as he was leaving Stein had a thought about accommodation for “his girls.” He’d have to check it out first but he thought it was probably an ideal situation just so long as John agreed, he didn’t want to cut John out of the decision making process on this one. No more secrets, life was too short for secrets and keeping Lucy’s sexual preference from John for the past twelve months had been hard enough, he didn’t want to put himself in a position where he could lose John’s trust. He’d discuss this one with him first, if it was a non-starter Lucy need never know.

  Nineteen

  John turned up at the studio mid-morning on Monday; it had only been five days since Rosie was born but he was loyal to Stein, he owed him that much and more.

  “John, you needn’t have come in today,” said Stein, “there are other people here apart from you and me you know. I thought we’d discussed this already. ”

  “Steph wanted me out of her way to be honest, too much fussing. She says it’s not good for Rosie.” replied John. “To be honest I think she just wants some time alone with her.”

  “Ah well, who can see what’s going on in a woman’s mind? Certainly not I dear boy. But while you’re here I’ve got something to show you,” said Stein. “The thought struck me that I could solve Lucy and Jayne’s flat hunting nightmare before it even begins, come on follow me.”

  John was intrigued, the thought of his little sister in the big bad world had been disturbing him since she’d left with Jayne to go back North the previous evening. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lucy; it was all the low life scumbags that London seemed to attract by the thousands he didn’t trust.

  “Stein studios has been at this address for twenty years now, I don’t own it I lease it, from a friend of mine shall we say.” said Stein, “I’ve just signed the lease for the next ten years, this friend has more money than he could ever spend in ten lifetimes so I get a very favourable rate, always handy to know the right people. Anyway where was I? Oh yes, the studio, I lease it all you see, three floors and a basement of which the studio takes up two floors and two thirds of the basement was darkroom before the digital age and the rest storage as you’re aware. The building is far too big for what I need but I’ve been too lazy to sub-let the top floor. It would need some work doing to it but come and see for yourself, tell me what you think.”

  When Stein unlocked the door to the top floor John could see just how much work would need doing.

  “What exactly was this place before it became Stein studios?” John enquired, able to anticipate Stein’s reply but just wanting it to be confirmed anyway.

  “A club, surely you can see that, a club for the more sensitive members of society, people who liked to be dominated and to whom a little humiliation was an everyday pleasure.” said stein, “In its heyday this was a little goldmine, it ruined some politicians and Judges along the way I can tell you.”

  The cage in the corner of one room, the butcher’s hooks hanging from the ceiling, the two beds with rubber sheets and the fine array of manacles and whips on the wall, all now covered in many layers of dust, they’d been a bit of a giveaway really.

  “So how come you know it was such a goldmine, Stein?” asked John jokingly. “Don’t tell me you owned this place when it was whatever it was back in those days.”

  “It was called ‘the humble pie’ to the club members and I was only part owner, it was more of a business proposition than a personal pleasure, my sexual tastes have never included humiliation. You know where my sexual preferences lay, John. Being caged up, whipped and given the golden shower were never the type of activities that captured my imagination for too long. But like I said, it was a little goldmine, the landlord used to spend more in the club than we gave him every month in rent for the building, so I could have no complaints.”

  John had to laugh to himself; he’d not been expecting that answer, Stein part owner of a domination club. Well it takes all sorts, but it did strike him that shafting another man’s arse had to be a sexually violent act in itself and more than a little humiliating for the person on the receiving end. He’d never tell Stein that though.

  “So what do you think, John? It could be a splendid apartment.”

  John had just had the same thought. It would also mean Lucy could be in close contact with either himself or Stein on a regular basis. The more he thought about it the more he liked it.

  “It’s certainly got a lot of potential, and I like the location.” said John.

  “Good I’ll speak to a friend, get some plans together take it from there,” said Stein, “shall you tell her or can I?”

  “It’s your idea, be my guest. I just want to see how quickly she’ll be back to look at this place and tell you how she wants it, you know what she’s like.”

  “My dear boy, I could kiss you.” replied Stein.

  Only if I’m pissed thought John, he liked Stein, owed him a lot, but he was never going to kiss him. He’d seen how Stein kissed men before and it wasn’t for him, no thanks. Tonsil hockey is a game best played between man and woman; woman to woman was just about acceptable, and he’d have to get used to that now anyway, now that Lucy was picking her partners from the same team sheet.

  Lucy and Jayne were back in London by the following Friday evening. With the end of school year quickly approaching Jayne had applied for three possible teaching vacancies in the area and had interviews lined up on Monday and Tuesday of the following week for all three positions. Like John had said, teachers did complain about having to live in London on the wages, it seemed getting an interview for a teaching position in London was easy, and living in London was going to be easy too according to Stein.

  Stein met them at the studio at ten o’clock on Saturday morning. John had told them that the building had once been a club and that the top floor hadn’t been touched in twenty years. He didn’t tell them what type of club it had been; he wanted to see their faces when they walked into their potential new apartment.

  The look was one of awe and amazement and finally realization.

  Wow, Lucy. Look at this place. We’ll take it as it is; cage, hooks and all.

  Isn’t all this stuff about controlling people, just like when mum died?

  No way, this is nothing like that it’s completely diffe
rent; this is about you. This is about how you should be in control. This is about protecting yourself when shit happens. It’s about you and me, Lucy. People came here because they knew what they wanted, they needed to be controlled. In this life you can be controlled or controller, the choice is yours. I’m only here to help, to guard you and keep you safe.

  “This place is huge,” said Jayne, more to herself than to anybody in particular, a little embarrassed to ask the obvious questions like ‘what the fuck is this place?’ and ‘how much did it cost to be a member?’

  “Yes it is,” said Stein, “the studio has the two floors below which are the same size as this and that’s more than enough space for us. I’d almost forgotten about this floor, it was the place to be if your tastes were a little different than usual shall we say. This floor was what was known as the punishment zone.”

  “You used to come here, Patrick?” asked Lucy not really too surprised having spoken to him about his love life often enough.

  “Not exactly, my dear. It was more of a business venture, a retreat for the better off clientele who found pleasure in humiliation. We had over six hundred members in the club’s heyday. I heard it said once that area for area it was probably one of the highest earning clubs in the city.”

  “I say we keep the cage Jayne, just as a memento of its former glory, what do you say?” said Lucy laughing.

  Good idea, Lucy. Cages can be a giggle, just so long as you’re not the one trapped on the inside. Let’s keep the cage.

  I was only joking; the cage goes, along with the hooks the chains and that red rubber floor.

  Rubber is very easy on the knees you know and red such a lovely colour; and if you fall on your arse in here you bounce right back up again, it’s going to be your loss if it goes.

  Stein was excited by the prospect of making the top floor into an apartment. The cost could actually be relatively small, the building was sound and the main work would be room partitions a bathroom, toilet and kitchen. Stein knew a friend of a friend who could fix the place up at minimal cost and since the buildings lease was already being paid by Stein Studio’s Ltd the cost to ‘his girls’ would be peppercorn. Stein loved Lucy; he wanted to give her something while he was still around to do so.

  By the following Tuesday afternoon Jayne had the choice of two teaching posts and had been told she’d come very close on the third. The trip back to Manchester that evening had been less of a chore than usual as life started to take shape nicely. With only two more weeks to the end of Jayne’s school term Lucy decided to stay in London and become better acquainted with her own future career.

  Visits to the modelling agency to update her portfolio were done, all in the company of Stein, and agreement reached that she would become available from September. Steph had told her how busy she’d probably be when she jumped on the modelling merry-go-round so she wanted to enjoy her freedom while she still could.

  Within one week Stein had people working on the upper floor. He’d been right when he’d said it was handy to know the right people, he’d also known that in a city where money is king it also helped to have the cash to flash. Stein had plenty of cash and a project he wanted finishing, quickly. He’d consulted with Lucy on one or two things but as far as he was concerned John and Steph had Rosie but this was his baby, and he was going to enjoy himself. Lucy could have the keys when it was finished and he hoped she’d enjoy it. If he’d ever had a daughter of his own he would have wanted to do just the same for her. In a way he was compensating for the child his lifestyle had never allowed and the life the wretched tumour he was carrying would prematurely bring to an end very soon.

  By mid-September the money spent on the apartment would have bought Jayne’s parents semi-detached house in Aldershot twice over. Stein could have bought a very nice house anywhere in the country several times over in cash before his bank manager would have even raised an eyebrow. The cash spent on the apartment was a drop in the ocean to Stein and he knew anyway that where he was going to end up there was no need for it.

  A three bedroom, two-bathroom 3000 square foot apartment with an Italian kitchen and bathrooms was not what anyone had expected when Stein had started out on this project, anyone except Stein that is. Stein was not a person to settle for second best, he didn’t think Lucy and Jayne should have to either.

  They finally saw the apartment for the first time after Stein had spent some time fixing everything just how he wanted it, getting all the little details just so. This is something that most women are very good at, but at which they genuinely lag behind when compared to a truly gay man.

  The apartment was stunning and Stein knew it, very modern and he was so pleased with what he’d created he believed he’d missed his real vocation in life. Stein was good, with a truly artistic knack for getting things correct, no question there. Had he, however, been asked to design an apartment for two sixteen stone bricklayers from Bolton he would have always been well wide of the mark, even if he’d been given the rest of eternity to work on it. An apartment for two girls of a certain sexual persuasion, now that was like trying to turn on a light switch in the dead of night, he could do it blindfolded.

  “Wow, Patrick. Look at this place!” said Lucy, “It’s fantastic. How did you do it so quickly?”

  “It’s mostly superficial really, new kitchen, bathrooms, some electrical work and then get the decorators in,” replied Stein waving his hand around as if to dismiss the achievement as anything other than adequate. “I really enjoyed myself picking out the furniture, and the rest, as they say, is history my dear.”

  “Patrick, you must have spent a fortune,” said Jayne, “just on the furniture alone.”

  “A mere trifling amount relative to the joy I’ve had seeing your faces when you walked in. Do you really like it? Stein asked.”

  “I think it’s fantastic,” said Jayne.

  “Make that two, Patrick. We love it.” Lucy jumped in.

  Make that three, Patrick you soppy old tart.

  Stop it, Sally-Anne.

  No I mean it; the place is just like my idea of heaven. Now ask him what he’s done with the cage and all the other fun stuff.

  “Apparently it was the devil’s own job to get the ‘voyeur’s cage’ and the iron bedsteads into the basement, the market for that type of ‘specialist equipment’, shall we call it, is bigger than ever.” said Stein, “I’m sure I’ve got some friends who might like it as a special present, a memento maybe. After all, it was the best stuff money could buy at the time, better than the local police cells for keeping people in their place.”

  “Look at the bed, it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen” said Jayne.

  “I’ve seen bigger, much bigger, but not for a long time” said Stein, “Orgy beds, you can’t get them anywhere these days. Do you like what I’ve done with the lighting above the bed though?”

  The lighting in the main bedroom was a genuine one-off. The finest mood-lighting system on offer in Paris, strung between three gilded butchers hooks. The bedroom lighting wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Tate modern gallery. Stein remembered the price he’d paid to have the hooks installed so many years ago, a small fortune with all the reinforcement needed to the roof beams. He wasn’t just going to rip them out, and the final effect was very pleasing.

  Stein showed them where everything was and some of the vagaries of the kitchen before pulling out a bottle of Bollinger from the fridge.

  “I’ll just have a quick glass of the fizzy to welcome you in then I’ll be on my way, I’m sure you girls will want to ‘christen’ the place by yourselves soon anyway,” said Stein, “and I won’t stay and spoil your fun, maybe a different lifetime and who knows what fun we could have had together?”

  It was true, they were dying to christen the place as Stein had put it, and the bed was easily big enough to lose themselves in, they’d never had the advantage of such a vastly oversized bed before with the finest Egyptian cotton linen, they were itching to give it a try.
But first though they had to try the double size bath. Stein was truly a wonderful man, he’d thought of everything a girl could need. He was like a dad, only better. Maybe he was more of an elderly uncle. But definitely not the type who’d try to walk in on you when you were getting undressed, acting all innocent and apologising at the same time as copping an eye-full. Lucy felt safe in his company; he was truly one of the girls.

  Lucy and Jayne were both busy during what remained of 2008.

  Jayne was finding her feet at her new school and had finally faced up to the fact that her international hockey career was going nowhere. Being on the fringe of the England squad was okay as a temporary state of affairs but she’d been on the fringe for far too long now and had seen other girls leapfrog her from what appeared to be mediocrity straight into a first team place. She’d just enjoy her hockey at club level from now on; one rising celebrity in a relationship was plenty.

  Lucy’s celebrity, however, was definitely on the rise. Judging by the amount of work she was being requested for. Her face and body fitted precisely the image that designers wanted their names to be associated with.

  The lifestyle wasn’t always as glamorous as she’d expected, and some of the cutting remarks doing the circuit didn’t help while she was a newcomer, a novice just starting out. It was pure jealousy that started the rumour that she was Stein’s love child and only days after that the remark that she was ‘Our Child of the Immaculate Conception’ was also doing the rounds, the first child to come into this world who could walk on water, or so it seemed. Steph had been right when she said it was a bitchy world Lucy now lived in. People who thought they knew her thought she must be too busy and maybe too naïve to hit back, but she was enjoying herself too much and she had broad shoulders; shoulders built in Aldershot but toughened in Manchester and reinforced by her fair share of misfortune.