Undercover: The Adventures of a Real Life Gigolo. Luke Bradbury

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ me the simplest part of this job? But it didn’t seem right.

      ‘I’d just like to see you for half an hour, before I go to work?’

      ‘Look, Jenny, I can’t have you pay for just that.’

      ‘But you’re not going to meet me for nothing, are you?’

      She had a point. I was running a business, wasn’t I?

      ‘Well, no… But even so.’

      Jenny took my wrist in her hand, and spoke without looking in my eyes.

      ‘I won’t hear another word, Luke. I’ll give you fifty pounds. How’s that?’

      And then I got the message. She needed to pay something. She might have been hard-up but she had no need of my pity.

      ‘It’s a deal.’ And just like that I had my first repeat customer.

      ‘So, she was a right little goer, was she?’ leered Mark when I met him later in the local. He had just returned from the bar with our two pints. He set mine down in front of me and grabbed a chair, and I looked down into the mouth of the glass and the deep liquid. I lifted the beer to my lips and took a gulp. I didn’t know what to say. Because Jenny was outside what either of us had imagined, that was for sure.

      ‘Well?’

      Mark wasn’t going to let up. He was facing me across the table, and this felt like an interview.

      I set down my glass and flashed a ‘don’t go there’ glare.

      ‘Oh, come on, Luke. We’re in this together, aren’t we? You can tell me.’

      I cradled my jaw in one hand, the other wrapped around my pint.

      ‘Look, the thing is, you weren’t there with me in the room, were you?’

      ‘Oh, if that was what she wanted, she only had to ask!’ he grinned, before knocking back more of his beer.

      I shook my head at him and chuckled. For a second.

      ‘God, Mark. Be serious. It wasn’t like that. She wasn’t like that, y’know.’

      There was a glint of anger in his eye.

      ‘What, suddenly you’re Mr Professional Escort all of a sudden? After one paid lay. Don’t make me laugh.’

      ‘No, listen. I didn’t mean that,’ I pleaded. ‘It was just… Jenny, she…’

      ‘Jenny,’ he sneered.

      I ignored him. ‘Jenny is just someone who needed a bit of TLC.’

      I spoke into my glass and heard my own voice grow quieter. I looked up at Mark and I could see he was listening.

      ‘And don’t we all,’ I sighed.

      Jenny was hovering outside the Starbucks in Piccadilly. She hadn’t yet seen me approach. Her feet were turned slightly inward, and she was focused on the paving stones in front of them. One hand gripped the other against her thigh.

      ‘Jenny, it’s lovely to see you.’ I touched her shoulder and she turned towards me, a huge smile lighting up her face. I hugged her and felt her body relax against mine.

      I ushered her into the café and went and ordered coffees for the two of us. She said nothing as I placed them on the table in front of us and sat myself down, but there was an expectant warmth across her face.

      ‘So, I didn’t put you off ever seeing me again, then?’ I smiled.

      ‘Oh, no, Luke.’

      A tinge of pale pink washed across her face.

      I flicked a look around the coffee shop and to the milling crowds in the street outside. We couldn’t have been more anonymous. I might even be mistaken for Jenny’s son.

      ‘So, do you have family in London?’ I asked.

      She fiddled with the handle of her cup, and shook her head.

      ‘I’ve got a sister but I’ve lost touch with her. I’ve been trying to track her down.’

      She changed the subject. ‘And you? That’s not an English accent.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Well, it’s not as if you’ll ever be alone in the Big City. There are plenty of Australians here.’

      ‘Yeah,’ I grinned back.

      God, had I found that out. When I was out with Mark and our mates it was sometimes hard to remember that we were anywhere else but back home.

      I switched the focus back to her. I was on her time after all.

      ‘You said when we last met that you’d be off to work after this.’

      She nodded. ‘Yes, just round the corner. I’m a cleaner at a number of the clubs round here,’ she explained. ‘I spruce them up before they open, and afterwards when everyone’s left.’

       Grim, tough work.

      ‘You see a different side of the city, then.’

      She cocked her head at me. The words hung in the air. She didn’t want to talk about work. This was her break.

      ‘Tell me about yourself, Jenny. Have you always lived in London?’

      That was the cue for her life story. It poured out. How she’d never been quite good enough. The rest of her family were teachers but she’d gone into the clubbing scene. And how when that’d fizzled out she’d ended up cleaning other people’s clubs. She just wanted to talk. Just needed someone to listen.

      Jenny’s time was up. But it was she who made the move to go. She was the one who was racing against the clock. I, on the other hand, had plenty of time to kill until my evening shift at the pub.

      She gripped the table as if ready to stand up. And then slipped back down in her chair like she had just thought of something.

      ‘Luke, I’ve got to go to work. And we haven’t had much time together.’

      ‘It’s flown by, hasn’t it?’

      She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a small roll of notes and gathered them in her hand and scrunched them into my own in the hope that no one would see. I pushed my clenched fist and its contents into the back pocket of my jeans.

      ‘I’d like to see you again, Luke.’

      ‘Would you like me to come to your flat again?’ I fished.

      She looked at me and pursed her lips. ‘When I said I wanted to meet you for tea, I didn’t mean it to be a one-off. I’d like to see you again. To talk, I mean.’

      ‘You СКАЧАТЬ