said Jasmine. ‘At The Gatehouse, mainly. I used to spend hours in my grandfather’s old library, reading everything I could, and there were more than a few naughty books in there my parents didn’t know about. Anyway, it’s my nature to be dirty, and free, but despite your best efforts at despoiling me, I was still going to marry Abel Walsh.’
‘If only I’d known. If you’d come to me I’d have tried to help.’
‘I’m sure you would have, but how? It’s not like we were in touch. Anyway, there was one hell of a row, and I wasn’t even allowed down to Devon again, which I’ll never forgive them for. Then came Paul, the man I was supposed to marry yesterday. I met him on the net, because I’m a little bit less stupid than the Church thinks and I managed to crack their security. He’s a singer … well, he wants to be a singer. At present, he works in his parents’ restaurant. The family is Greek.
‘Anyway, by that time I was desperate, with just a few months to go before I had to marry Abel Walsh, even though I’d managed to delay things for much longer than the Church would normally allow. Paul promised to help and he did. I let myself out one night after I’d finished my chores and met him down the road. And I’ve never been back.’
‘But it didn’t work out?’
‘No. It was great at first. I even liked working in the restaurant. But as time went on, he became more and more controlling – in the end, he was as bad as my parents, maybe worse. I had no friends, only his friends, and he’s so jealous. A few days ago, he and his mother had a little talk with me about how, after our wedding, I was to be a dutiful wife and not talk to other men without his say-so. I already felt like a little plastic trophy, on a string around his neck. Yesterday, I chewed through the string.’
‘And ended up at Secret Sinners?’
‘I was in the car, on the way to the church, and there was this queue of people, all in the most amazing outfits, all laughing and joking and showing off. I asked the driver to stop and here I am.’
‘How did you manage to get in? I mean, you wouldn’t have had any money.’
‘There was this guy in a leather coat, called Mark. I got talking to him and he paid for me.’
‘A guy in a leather coat, called Mark? Tall, long leather coat, looks like he’s stepped out of a war games magazine or something?’
‘That’s sounds like him. He was with two girls. Do you know him?’
‘Yes,’ Adam sighed. ‘He is called Mark, but he generally goes by the name of Steelhand. He’s …’ He broke off, irritated, but not wanting to give his true opinion of Steelhand in case it made him seem petty or vindictive. Then he smiled at the thought of how much worse things might have been. ‘Why didn’t you stick with him?’
‘He seemed to know everybody,’ explained Jasmine, ‘and he started to make introductions, just like I was some new pet he’d bought. Why does everybody want to control me?’
The thought of Steelhand being with Jasmine and perhaps even taking her to bed put a hard knot in Adam’s stomach and a sick feeling in his throat –feelings far stronger than he’d have expected.
‘So I said I needed the ladies’ and didn’t come back to him,’ she went on. ‘After that, I just wanted to lose myself in the crowd – until I saw you.’
Adam gave her a squeeze, glad of her capricious nature. Given the timing of things, Steelhand had evidently expected Jasmine to come to their table when she’d finished in the loos, and had presumably been left waiting. This thought gave Adam an almost savage delight, and he laughed out loud as he imagined Steelhand’s growing impatience while all the while the girl he was waiting for was out in the alley being spanked and fucked.
‘What’s so funny?’ Jasmine asked.
Reluctant to express his thoughts, Adam didn’t reply but relaxed back against the pillows, reflecting on what had happened and on how different the
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