For Hire: The Intimate Adventures of a Gigolo. Luke Bradbury

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СКАЧАТЬ to meet you too,’ the girls chorused to each other.

      I was amazed how quickly the two parties melded into each other. I could tell it was going to be a good night. As long as Melanie didn’t reveal our secret. That was the one thing that could spoil the whole evening. I pushed it to the back of my mind.

       Cross that bridge when you come to it.

      Watching Melanie and her mates, it struck me that the very fact that these girls were out tonight showed that they were good enough colleagues to enjoy each other’s company on their nights off. That was the trouble with my work. Being a straight male escort made it something of a ‘lone wolf’ profession. And I was especially aware of that since my mates had left for Aus without me.

      Having a close-knit group of friends was certainly something Melanie needed, I knew that. She’d told me she hadn’t been at school since before she’d hired me, which by my calculations meant she’d had months off sick. She’d had depression and it’d taken a while to get back on her feet, but obviously her girlfriends hadn’t forgotten her just because she wasn’t at work either. That said something about both her and them. That they were a nice bunch of people.

      ‘And what do you teach?’ I said to the nearest of Melanie’s companions. It wasn’t something I was particularly interested in knowing, but I knew it’d set the ball rolling. Though, even as I was saying it, I was very aware that it was also a fucking bland and unimaginative question to ask a teacher.

      At least she had the decency to reply. She pointed at each one of her friends in turn, ending with herself. ‘Art, maths, English, English.’ Alison paused: ‘Like you really want to know,’ she joked.

      She had me sussed. I liked that.

      ‘The same way you’re interested in what I do for a living,’ I fired back.

      I noticed Melanie taking a sip of her drink like she was trying to disappear in the glass. It seemed like she was willing me to keep her secret. She hadn’t realized that she had nothing to worry about on that score.

      ‘So, what do you do?’ Alison quizzed, now curious.

      ‘Oh, y’know, this and that.’ I winked. ‘What most Aussies do when they visit Britain, y’know.’

      It was a shame Mark and the others weren’t with me now. They sure would’ve backed me up on that one. I watched Melanie relax, clearly relieved that I hadn’t given any hint of her game.

      I had a split-second realization that if I played my cards right I might have a chance of pulling Alison—but not as a client.

       I could be in here.

      Yet I remained mindful that I had an arrangement with Melanie and I had to be careful not to mix things up. For one thing, it might lose me work. And, frankly, that was the bottom line.

      I had been seeing Melanie on a fortnightly, sometimes even a weekly basis for months now at her place in Hendon, round the corner from the police cadet school. Any early awkwardness on her part had been replaced with bouts of friendly, familiar sex that was fluid and fun. I liked having Melanie as a regular because our sessions were uncomplicated—easy money.

      Trouble was, I couldn’t help now wondering what sex with Alison might be like. Not that I was about to signpost that. I noted she was watching me closely. She took a step away from Melanie and the others to join me. She was on the same wavelength, then.

      ‘Well, who’s for another drink? Would you like to help me carry them, Alison?’ The oldest, most obvious techniques sometimes worked the best.

      I took the orders over the sound of the thumping bass. There was laughter from our group.

      ‘Don’t Aussies tend to hunt in packs?’ asked Alison at my shoulder as we queued at the bar.

      I looked down at her and nodded, smiling. ‘True. I did until recently, you know, but my mates went home again.’

      ‘And left you alone in a nest of English girls, you poor soul!’

      I shrugged playfully. ‘Depends which way you look at it.’

      ‘You’re not missing your mates, then?’

      I had to admit I was. They’d have enjoyed tonight’s spectacle, I just knew. Finding themselves surrounded by a bevy of up-for-it girls.

      ‘Actually, I am,’ I said.

      I thought of all the good times I’d had in London with those guys, practically from the time I’d touched down here. They’d been as good for me as I suspected that Melanie’s friends had for her. A gang to catch up with and go out with.

      ‘That must make a huge difference to you, doesn’t it?’ she sympathized. ‘All on your tod in London.’

      ‘I’m a pretty sociable kinda guy, I can assure you,’ I winked, though I knew there was some truth in what she was saying.

      ‘Oh, I’m sure you are, Luke,’ she agreed, placing the palm of her hand against my chest.

      I flicked a glance back at our friends. Melanie thankfully had her back to us and seemed to be in deep conversation with Jayne, so I reckoned I had until Alison and I returned with the drinks to make any move I was going to make that night.

      I felt the pressure of Alison’s hand and looked directly back at her with a grin across my face. She’d seen me look at Melanie and cocked her head.

      ‘Is there a thing between you and Melanie that I don’t know about?’ she queried, and let go of me.

      ‘What, me and Mel? I don’t think so,’ I lied. ‘And, if there was, we’re each going the wrong way about it, aren’t we?’ I chuckled.

      I looked towards the bar. Our turn was rapidly approaching so I knew I didn’t have long.

      Apart from our greeting, Melanie and I had barely spoken a word to each other. I could see she wasn’t up to giving any hint tonight to her friends that we knew each other too intimately, so she overcompensated for that fear by acting distant, making a point of talking to the girls. But I was suddenly aware too that it wasn’t as if I’d done anything to try to close that forced gap between us. I wondered if it was that reserve between people who were supposed to be friends that Alison had noticed.

      ‘Oh, we’re friends,’—that word again—‘but that’s as far as it goes. Look, she’s got more to say to my flatmates tonight than to me!’ I laughed and nodded my head in their direction.

      Alison pursed her lips. ‘But you and Melanie are good friends. Anyone could see that the way you two said “hello”.’

      I winced inside as I stepped up against the bar and ordered the list of drinks. Alison was getting too close to the mark for comfort.

      ‘Well, y’know, she’s been ill and I’ve made it a bit of my business to try and cheer her up. That’s made us close.’

       Hadn’t it just.

      I placed my СКАЧАТЬ