Chapter 9

I got into work incredibly early the following day. I grabbed a cup of coffee and blueberry muffin from a nearby coffee shop, then I took the lift to my floor and closed my office door behind me. I had quite a few holiday days left in the bank and had decided to book a couple of weeks away before starting my next project. I figured it would do me good to get away and recharge the old batteries. I did a few emails and then browsed a few holiday websites.

I could not decide it a city break, or a boozy beach holiday would be better for me.

A knock on the office door broke my concentration; it was Jayne one of the companies HR team, I switched my screen from web browser to email as she sat down. There were a few forms to fill in and sign off before I left the business on Friday. She stopped for a chat after the official work had been done and we flirted a little, but I made a rule never to go too far with HR as you never know when they are flirting for real or just testing you.

I had an old school mate that had made that mistake and had lost his job after a very frisky encounter at a company Christmas party.

I did not eat at lunchtime; I just took a stroll around the local park. The sun was out for a change and it was nice to fill my lungs with a bit of fresh air. My head was still shredded with what had happened between me, Stacey, and Sarah.

It was a mess, and it was a mess I had allowed to happen. By the time I had walked back to the office, I had decided that meeting up with Linda would also be a mistake. She was Sarah’s sister and Stacey’s aunt after all, what good could come of it?

As I took the lift to my floor my mobile phone chirruped and it was a text from Linda, it gave the name of a hotel, a very upmarket hotel to be honest and said she would see me in the hotel’s lounge at seven-thirty that evening.

I replied saying that there was no need to pay back the money, to be fair it had not been a huge amount of money and I got paid well for the job I did, so my bank balance was healthy.

I got a coffee from the machine and then I sat down at my desk, as my screen flicked into life my mobile rang. It was Linda, I let it ring a few times before answering it, I was hoping she might ring off.

“Hey Zak, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes, I am fine Linda thanks and you?” I replied.

“Yes, apart from having to eat alone tonight as I have been stood up,” she said with a hint of mock sadness in her voice.

“Who stood you up,” I asked before I realised, she meant me

“So, are you going to let a lady eat alone?” she said a giggle in her voice, it was the giggle and her voice that made me change my mind. I thought about it for a few seconds and decided a nice meal out might be just the thing I needed. And so, what if she was Sarah’s sister and Stacey’s aunt, I was only going for a meal!

“Are you still there Zak” she enquired. I guess I had been thinking for far too long.

“Yes ... yes sorry, “I said perhaps a bit too eagerly, “I will see you in the lounge at seven-thirty?”

“Good, I am looking forward to it,” she said and then she hung up.

I spent the afternoon tidying up more work-based loose ends, before heading home dead on the dot of five o’clock. I had a shave and a long shower; I had googled the hotel and it was very upmarket so my jeans and t-shirt would not do. I buffed up my dress shoes before donning my best work suit and a freshly pressed shirt. I pondered for a few minutes about wearing a tie, but hey it was dinner, not an interview after all.

The drive back into town did not take as long as I thought it would and I pulled into the hotel’s car park just before seven o’clock. I parked up and headed into the lounge, it was not the sort of place you ordered a pint of lager, so I ordered a gin and tonic with ice and slice. I sat at the bar and text Linda to let her know I was there.

Ten minutes later she texts to say she would be straight down, I replied telling her I was the guy in the blue suit at the bar. Luckily for me, most of the people in the bar were in groups and I was the only guy at the bar. There were two girls at the far end but they both looked out of place, too tarty and they were both having a look around trying to make eye contact with people.it took me a few minutes to realise that they were working girls.

One tried to catch my eye, so I turned to face the bar and helped myself from the fresh bowl of peanuts the barman had just placed before me I could see the doors of the lounge in the mirrors behind the optics. I saw a lady walk in; she was middle-aged and as skinny as a matchstick. She headed for the bar, she did not approach me, and she ordered a drink and headed off to join a group at a table in the corner.

A full ten minutes passed before anyone else entered the bar and as soon as I saw her, I could tell she was Sarah’s sister, she was a little older than Sarah, but she had the same face, the same eyes, and the same killer body. She was also dressed in a blue business suit but with a white blouse and she had on high heels. She was carrying a handbag that I knew would have cost as much as I earned a week, I turned to her and waved, and she gave me a huge smile and waved back before weaving between the tables to meet me.

I slipped from the barstool as she approached. As she moved toward me quite a few heads turned to watch her and she was well worth watching, she had the sexiest walk I have ever seen, even the hookers checked her out. The big boob gene had not skipped her that was for sure, she had the same big assets her sister and niece had.

I held out my hand, but she slipped past that and kissed me on the cheek, the smell of her obviously awfully expensive perfume filled my nostrils.

“It’s nice to meet you at last,” she said as she sat down on a barstool, “and thank you for helping out the girls”

“It was nothing “I started to say

“Don’t be so modest Zak” she interrupted, and then looking at my empty glass she asked, “So what are you drinking?”

“Another Gin and tonic would be nice please” I replied and sat down admiring her confident demeanour, oh and her big tits.

She ordered two large G&Ts and then turned to face me. She slipped an envelope out of her handbag and passed it to me.

“How about we get the cash part of the evening out of the way, “she said with a smile and wink.

“You don’t need to...” I tried to say.

“Hey, I do so please just take it and then we can get stop worrying about it” she interrupted I slid the envelope into my jackets inside pocket just as the barman put our drinks down. We clinked our glasses, and both took long gulps of our drinks.

“That’s why I was a little late; I had to go to the cash machine, “she said, her eyes looking at me over the rim of her glass. There was a brief hiatus as I sipped my drink and she looked around the lounge.

Then she interrupted the silence...

“So, you’re not a local,” she asked, and I told her about the company I worked for and how they had sent me out of secondment, she asked about my work, what I did and who I worked for.

Then I asked about her work and she told me she worked in London but worked in a local branch office once a month, she worked in journalism and the magazine she worked for had offices all over the UK.

We had been talking for about half an hour when a guy in a black suit came over and interrupted us.

“Hello there, please excuse me, “he said, he was big and mean-looking, “can you both accompany me please”

“Why?” I asked, and he gave me a really dirty look, “please sir, don’t make a fuss, it will be easier for us all if you just accompany me”

“Look what’s this all about?” Linda asked and got the same hard man stare,’ I guess he must have perfected it for hours in front of the bathroom mirror.

“Please just come to my office and I will explain” he growled; he was not a man to the argued with that was for sure.

We gave each other a look of bewilderment and then just followed him, leaving our drinks on the bar. We followed him out of the lounge and through a door marked private, and then turned it a door marked security.

There was a desk with chairs on both sides; along one wall was a bank of CCTV screens with controls and recording equipment and along with the other, there was a bank of filing cabinets.

“Please take a seat,” the guy said, “my name is Tucker, and I am head of security for the hotel”

We both sat down, Linda was the first to speak

“So, Mr Tucker would you care to explain what this is all about, “she said her voice was level and full of confidence. Where I was shitting myself, she did not seem the least bit worried by the whole scenario. She oozed confidence that was for sure.

“Yes Mrs...” she started

“Mrs Bellingham” she interrupted, “and this is my friend, Zak”

“Well Mrs Bellingham at this hotel we take a dim view on this sort of activity, “Tucker said, “and we are stamping down on it”

“Okay that’s great but what sort of activity?” Linda asked she sounded as confused as I felt.

“The hotel has recently been plagued by hookers, escorts and whatever the male term is, “Tucker said and cast me a look of complete disgust. The looked he gave me made me feel dirty.

“They hang around the lounges trying to pick up customers. “he continued I bulb lit up in my head, the girls at the end of the bar...

“Excuse me?” Linda said her voice now a little higher, “but this is absolutely preposterous”

“You were seen passing this man an envelope full of cash” spat tucker, “the barman said he heard you say let’s get the let’s get the cash part of the evening out of the way and he saw you pass this man an envelope”