Her mother coughed again. “Please… Alice.” Her voice was broken and low. “Forgive me. I’m so… so sorry.” She sucked at the mask once more, but her cough worsened. “Forgive us all.”
A nurse hurried in, pressed buttons on a machine, then strapped the mask to Alice’s mother’s face. “Your mother can’t talk much anymore. It’s difficult for her. I’ll give her something to help.”
Alice got to her feet while the nurse fiddled with the equipment. She caught her mother’s eyes, and for a moment she thought she saw tears, but it could have been a rheumy effect.
When she glanced back from the door, her mother looked to be sleeping.
49
Cole took a can of lager from his fridge, looked at it, then put it back. Once more, he glanced at the time. He walked into the lounge and counted out £150 in notes for the third time. Then he stuffed the money into the back pocket of his jeans.
He stepped into the bedroom and made sure it looked tidy. The buzzer sounded and he gave a start. The live view from the camera in the hall showed a girl at his door. He flexed his fingers, cleared his throat and opened the door.
She was a dyed blonde, but Cole could live with that. While not the best looking bird in London, given the circumstances, Cole thought she was all right. She’d do. “Uh, hi,” he said. “Come in.”
Cole brought her into the lounge. “I’m Lewis, but people call me Coley.”
“I’m Trixie.”
“Seriously?”
She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. “What do you think, huh?”
“Can I call you Alice?”
“Sure. Whatever.” She stuck out her hand.
Cole took the notes from his pocket and counted the money into her grasping palm.
She opened her bag and shoved the money to the bottom. In doing so, she pulled a can of pepper spray from the depths and waved it at Cole. “No rough stuff. Okay? There’s a minder outside, and if I’m not down in an hour, he comes up. If I come down hurt, he comes up. Any funny shit, he comes up.” She put the mace back into her bag. “You don't want him coming up.”
Cole winced. “What’s funny stuff?”
“What you got in mind?”
He shrugged. “Just, you know…”
“Out with it. I don't bite. That’s extra.”
She didn't smile, and Cole couldn't figure out whether she was taking the piss. “I have this thing, I like to tie a girl up while I’m uh, shagging.”
“No way. I don't know you.”
“Can we pretend?”
“Pretend? With what?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
In the bedroom, Cole pulled four Velcro straps from a drawer. “Tell you what uh, Alice, I’ll only close three. I’ll leave one wrist free.”
“You like your kinky shit, huh?”
Cole grinned. “Yeah. I guess I do. You okay with it then?”
She nodded and began to undress. “Let’s get down to it. Clock’s ticking.”
Ten minutes later, Cole had her tied naked to the four corners of the bed, with the strap on one wrist loop open. He knelt over her and stared at the sight. His cock throbbed within the tight confines of the condom, and he feared he would let himself go too soon. He slid his hands over her body, lay on top and slipped inside her.
“God, Alice. I want you. I want to fuck your brains out.”
“Yes. Fuck me.”
“Call me Coley. And beg me to fuck you. Say I love you Coley. Please fuck me. Please.”
“Whatever. All right. Fuck me, Coley, fuck me. Um, please.”
“Like you mean it. Like you mean it.”
“Give me another twenty.”
“All right. But after.”
She smiled like she meant it and put urgency into her voice. “That’s it. Fuck me, Coley. Please, please fuck me. God yes. You're so good. The best I’ve ever had. You can fuck me forever. Biggest cock I ever had. Oh yes, Coley. Please give me more.”
Cole sucked up the ham porno act as if it was real. “Yes. Yes. I love you Alice. You’re the best Alice.” He put his hands around her throat and thrust his pelvis into her like the piston he thought he was. He squeezed her throat, and she shook her head. “Not too tight Coley.”
He wished her face would turn red, but the thoughts of the minder bounding up the stairs with menace on his mind dissuaded him from further pressure. Instead he kept going. “Alice. Alice. Alice.” Moments later he could no longer contain himself, and he rolled off her.
“Fuck me, Alice. That was amazing. We must do this again.”
50
Alice sat in the hotel bar reading a magazine with a glass of wine. She wanted to be alone and had declined Connie’s dinner invitation with a lie about family commitments. She kept thinking about her mother and the past when it might have been better to forget it. But the memories resonated as strong as ever. During the passing years those memories had festered until she was convinced her mother’s actions were intended to harm. Now she wasn't so sure, and guilt ate at her for not giving her mother the absolution she wished for.
She decided she’d ask Connie’s advice tomorrow. In the meantime, she hoped the appearance of being engrossed in the magazine would act as a subtle warning to any talkative men. She sighed to herself. In her experience, men didn't get subtle warnings. Like the bearded guy at the far end of the bar, the one who had eyed her up several times already.
Alice finished her wine and ordered another. Her thoughts drifted as her anxious mind sought another crisis to revel in, and every now and then she glanced from her magazine to the phone. She resisted the temptation to reactivate her Twitter account, even
