‘Look at yourocking to Dexy’s Midnight Runners! Come on, let’s have adance.’
She grabbedMark and pushed him onto the small dance space – floor would beputting it too grandly. By the time that had merged into ‘The LionSings Tonight’ by the oddly named Tight Fit, they had been joinedby a good few of the other guests.
Gemma needed to makesure his guard was completely down.
‘This isgreat Mark, I’m getting quite out of it. I think we might have agood time in the cabin later. Let’s have another drink beforehand,though.’
She could see Markthought he was the one seducing her, silly sod. It amused her thatas he got more drunk Mark’s eye contact lowered to an almostpermanent fixation on to her cleavage – glancing down herself itwasn’t difficult to imagine what it was that men found soenticing.
‘Here, yousit down, I like going to the bar.’
Gemma got himanother double and another plain coke for her. As she wended herway back to their table she could see Mark was looking a bit theworse for wear. She didn’t want him to completely pass out straightaway, that was for sure. Of course she could try to locate themoney he must have hidden somewhere but that might prove a littledifficult in the cramped space of their cabin. The best bet wouldbe to wait for him to check his things. Mark was pretty tidy bynature and certainly liked to keep a close eye on his money; if shedidn’t make it obvious she reckoned he’d be bound to give somethingaway.
She brought the drinksover and gave him a quick hug.
‘Let’s take them upon to the deck, get some fresh air and have a cig.’
The night air was coolrather than cold and the lights of Dubrovnik sparkled across thebay, contrasting with the dark outline of the island of Lokrum fromthe other side of the ship, she could never remember which was portand which starboard.
Gemma put her armthrough Mark’s. Lighting a cigarette, she heard Boy George’sdistinctive voice begin the lyrics of ‘Do You Really Want to HurtMe?’ How appropriate, and that bastard really had, or certainly hadintended to. She’d make sure it was the other way around beforethey left tomorrow.
‘Come on Mark, let’sgo back to the cabin.’
This wasproving easier than she’d imagined, although the whole thing wasalso tainted with an unmistakeable air of depression. It shouldnever have come to this. Mark really looked and sounded quiteridiculous when drunk; what had she seen in him and how had shemanaged to waste the last two years? Actually that was ratherunfair, the sad thing was that there had been some good times andMark wasn’t such a bad guy to have met, but it was never going tobe forever for her. In any case that was a little beside the point:this all needed to be sorted out, now wasn’t the time for anydetailed self-analysis or recrimination. While hardly seeingherself as fatalistic, Gemma liked to believe that things happenedfor a reason. She didn’t regret it all, but he was the one whomessed everything up; they could have just moved on without anyhassle if he hadn’t been such a thieving bastard.
Gemma pushed Mark ontohis bed, there wasn’t much room to go anywhere else anyway.Although still limited for space, at least Mark had managed to bookone of the bigger cabins with twin beds. There was just about roomfor a chair and two built-in cupboards, which was a good deal morethan some of the other cabins she’d glanced into.
‘Ok Mark let’s havesome fun on our last night aboard.’
She took offhis tie and undid his shirt. Normally that would have been thesignal for him to try and take control but he looked pretty wreckedthis time. Maybe she wouldn’t even have to grin and bear it. Sheunzipped his trousers and pulled them down over his legs andankles. She realised that the way Mark was it should be easy enoughto check out his luggage without waiting for him to give thingsaway. Pulling his socks off she moved her hand up his legs and intohis somewhat passé Y-fronts. It was fairly obvious he wouldn’t beup to anything for the time being at least. Gemma kissed him on thelips, pulled the blanket over his virtually inert frame andwhispered that she would put his clothes in his case ready fortomorrow.
There was no response.Gemma hadn’t really taken a lot of notice of the large suitcaseMark had brought with him. Only now did it strike her as excessivefor the limited clothing he seemed to have with him. She gave himanother kiss to check and, somewhat unnecessarily given his state,whispered for him to lie back and wait for her. Her mind was clearand it felt good to be back in control. She wasn’t happy that she’dlet Mark get as far as he had, and as close as he had to rippingher off; she’d taken her eye off things. Even though he was wellaway she had to make sure that when Mark did come round he assumedthey’d just crashed out together. She needed to be quick and thenget back into his bed and drape herself around him.
Fifty-plusgrand would amount to a fairly decent sized package and he’d havehad to take some care getting it out of the country, although to befair it was rare to get much attention from HM Customs whenleaving, and probably especially when on a cruise ship. It must bein the suitcase lining somewhere, the classic hiding place. She’dhave to get to it and fill any space left with something – maybe acouple of her magazines would do. Gemma had noticed there was anempty cabin just down their corridor, it had been used by anelderly couple who’d left
