Chapter 7

Monday, their bags repacked, they stood outside the garage block, Jerry was debating whether to lend Steve the Aston Martin Rapide.

“Look, it’s a big car, and that V12 kicks like a mule if provoked. It’s 550 horsepower and 460 pounds of torque, it can do 200mph if you push it.”

“I know all that.”

“And it’s a very different car to the Mini you learnt to drive in.”

“Yeah, but, you need the Audi for all your music gear, mum needs the Volvo for the shopping, that leaves the Land Rover, mum’s red Mini and this. I’m not driving the Land Rover 200 miles on the motorway, and I’m certainly not driving the Mini, how can you make anyone sit in that back seat for 3 hours, so that just leaves the Aston.”

“You give a very good argument, but I’m still not letting you drive the Aston. I’ll phone Hertz and hire you any car you want.”

“Daaaddd,” Lucy cried, stretching the word like a child asking for an expensive present, “but we want the Aston Martin,” twisting her dad round her little finger.

“Good god, you still know how to get what you want don’t you. Ok, but if you break it you bought it, right, and it’ll take a lot longer to pay this off than it will to pay for the suits.”

Jerry took Steve into the garage and showed him how everything worked, “now this is very important, do not press the sport button, especially before you’ve got used to the power. It tightens up the throttle response, stiffens the suspension and speeds up the steering. You’ll find yourself doing silly speeds very quickly and whoever’s in the back seat will not have a good time at all.”

Outside the car Jerry pointed at the wheels, “I’ve had the brakes updated this year, those are carbon ceramics, not the best pedal feel, but they stop you like you’ve dropped an anchor, and these are pretty fresh tyres, so lots of grip. All this means you can stop very quickly, the guy behind you though, he might not be able to, so check the road carefully before mashing your foot on the brake pedal.”

“Dad, have I ever shown you I can’t be trusted.”

“If we ignore your trip to London, no you’ve always been a good lad. Here’s the keys, there’s a fuel card in the sun visor along with the AA and insurance details. This thing drinks fuel especially if you floor it, try not to run low on the motorway, the service stations will rob you blind.”

Jerry loaded the bags in the boot and Steve cautiously backed the car out of the garage.

The back of the car was a surprisingly tight fit considering the size of the vehicle, but Gabbie was petite and fit the leather bucket seats just fine.

“Oh this is amazing, my dad just has a Land Rover and mum has a Fiat Panda. Hey, I’ve got a TV back here, I think I could happily live in this car.”

Jerry leaned into the passenger window, “behave yourself kids, because I’m not bailing you out if you get arrested, ok.”

“Yes dad,” they all said.

Diane came out to see them off as Steve turned the car and slowly drove down the drive and out onto the road.

“You let them have the Aston?”

“Well, Lucy gave me the puppy dog eyes.”

“Do you have any idea how many books I’d have to sell to buy you a new one?”

“Well, he might not crash it.”

They laughed and hugged.

“You know, even if she isn’t ours, I love that girl to bits.”

“I know Jerry, she’s got all of Judy’s best qualities, and so far she’s not showing any of her bad ones. She’s still ours, she always was and she always will be.”

“Don’t tell her I said this, but Lucy is so much more beautiful than Judy ever was.”

“She really is, and Judy was a stunner by any measure.”

“I always thought you fancied Judy more than you fancied me.” Jerry laughed.

“I won’t deny I thought Judy was beautiful, and even if I was tempted, she was too wild for me.”

“What do you think of Gabbie?” Jerry asked.

“She’s pretty, and very polite. Not the brightest button but she’s got a lot of personality. I’m surprised Steve asked her out, I wouldn’t have thought he’d be forward enough to approach someone so pretty.”

“He didn’t ask her out.”

“She asked him out, that’s very progressive.”

“Not that either, she’s Lucy’s girlfriend.”

“What?”

“Lucy is sleeping with them both, and Steve’s sleeping with them both, the very definition of ‘it’s complicated’”

“Oh my, I hope they know what they’re doing.”

“If anyone knows exactly what they’re doing, it’s Lucy.” Jerry said, “she’s the most level-headed, clearest thinking person I’ve ever known.”

“That’s true,” Diane replied, “but Steve, he’s not like that.”

“No, but Lucy is thinking for all three of them, and I’m more than comfortable with that.”

“Jerry, that picture of Judy, are you still uncomfortable looking at it?”

“Well, no, not as much as I was, it’s not an erotic pose, more the sort of thing you used to see in Playboy, or on Page 3 in the tabloids.”

“Then let me show you something that will make your eyes pop, our boy is one heck of an artist, and Lucy is so much better looking that Judy, she has a much more impressive figure.”

Steve reached the M6 without incident, and the car’s effortless power saw them cruise the 150 miles to the Scottish border in well under two hours, and that included a stop for coffee at Tebay services, and a 50mph stretch around Junction 37.

They hit the outskirts of Glasgow a little after 3pm, Steve asked Lucy to tap the hotel postcode into the sat nav as they cruised up the A74.

Steve was now comfortable with the big Aston, and he was fine weaving the car around the busy streets to their hotel. Lucy spotted the hotel car park entrance ahead, Steve turned onto the ramp down to the underground car park, there were a few empty spaces, he reversed into one near the lifts, the reversing camera with HD display on the dashboard helped him place the car dead centre of the space and 9 inches from the wall, just enough room for him to squeeze in and open the boot.

Steve grabbed the bags and they took the lift up to the reception, where they got a nice surprise.

Lucy walked up to the desk, the receptionist was tapping away at his computer keyboard, ‘what are they typing when no-one’s about?’ Lucy wondered, ‘maybe he’s writing a novel?’

Eventually he looked up and acknowledged Lucy’s existence, “Good afternoon Miss, how can I help?”

“Hi, we have two rooms booked in the name of Lucy Temple.”

“Ahh yes, we’ve received instructions to upgrade you to the Ambassador’s suite. I hope this is alright Miss.”

“Err, yes, why the upgrade, my card is only authorised for a certain amount, I don’t think we can afford a more expensive room.”

“The suite is fully paid for, and all incidentals up to limits detailed on your invoice.”

“Oh, right. Can I see the invoice please.”

“It’s just printing now Miss.”

Lucy took it and turned to Steve, “Jerry told me to book this place and said his special rate was £100 per room per night, this suite is £800 a night, and he’s already paid for it, and we’ve got £100 a day for incidentals, plus meals are authorised from the fixed price menu.”

“Well, I’m guessing Gabbie made a good impression.”

“When was this upgrade requested?” Lucy asked the receptionist.

“The records show Mr Temple telephoned just after noon, 12:05 to be precise. His instructions said if you arrived after 3pm with the car in one piece I was to upgrade you to the best available suite. You arrived at 3:30 and the CCTV shows the car is still perfectly OK.”

“Why after 3pm?” Lucy asked.

“Well, the comment on our system says, and I’m quoting here ‘If they arrive after 3pm they’re unlikely to have ragged the arse off the Aston’ I assume that means something to you.”

“Yes,” Steve laughed, “yes it does.”

“Very good, now Mr Temple did ask for the best suite, but the best suite is not available today. I’m afraid the Presidential Suite is booked until Wednesday, if you like we can move you across then.”

“No, no, that won’t be necessary, I’m sure the Ambassador Suite will be perfect,” Lucy answered.

And it was, the 10th floor had three suites, the Presidential took up about half the floor, and the Ambassador and Commander suites shared the remaining floor space. Their suite had a large central sitting room with a mini-bar, two sofas, dining area, massive TV and both a PS4 and Xbox. Next door was a huge bathroom with a central free-standing bathtub, shower and twin washbasins. The taps were all gold, the floor and wash basins were marble. The supplied toiletries smelt amazing.

Steve had expected two bedrooms, but there was just one with two very large beds. He was thinking the beds looked very comfortable when Gabbie stripped off and started using one as a trampoline.

“Oh wow, these are amazing beds,” she called out as she jumped between them like she was in a playground.

Steve was glad this room had a very high ceiling, in a Premier Inn she’d have smashed into the ceiling jumping between the beds, but then again, she probably wouldn’t be jumping around like this on a Premier Inn bed, which were super comfy, but not quite as bouncy as this one.

As Lucy came into the room and joined Gabbie on the bed they soon decided to use the beds in the proper manner, Steve will forever remember the sight of a naked Lucy using the bed as a trampoline with Gabbie, if only he had a slow motion camera to catch it, the flow of her breasts was a work of art worthy of the Turner Prize.

Afterwards they made use of the bathroom, Lucy and Gabbie in the big bath, Steve watching them from the shower, trying not to get another painful erection as his girls played in the bath, a quick jet of cold water as he rinsed the shower cubicle fixed it.

Later they sat in the lounge, Steve playing Call of Duty on the Xbox, Gabbie and Lucy were cuddling on the sofa.

“What should we do for food?” Lucy asked.

“Don’t mind,” Steve said.

“Can we have room service?” Gabbie asked. “I’ve always thought it sounded fun, having your food brought to the room on a trolley with those big silver boobs on the plates.”

“Hahaha, silver boobs, I could wear them as a bra. Yeah let’s get room service. A romantic meal for three, with candles and soft music. I’d like that.”

Gabbie slid off the sofa and grabbed the menu from the dining table, she read it through with Lucy and they picked their food.

“What do you fancy Steve?” Gabbie asked.

Steve was too engrossed in his game to look at the menu, “I really don’t mind, Lucy can choose for me.”

“Do they have Pot Noodle on the menu?” Lucy asked Gabbie.

“I don’t think so, maybe they can grab one from Tesco while they cook our food.”

“Whatever...” Steve said as he got back to hunting down insurgents in his game.

“So, what are you having?” Lucy asked Gabbie.

“Oh, I don’t know what to choose, I’d love to try lobster, but it’s so expensive.”

“Have whatever you like Gabbie,” Lucy insisted, “it’s our treat.”

“This is so strange, we always pick the cheapest food on the menu.”

“Gabbie, forgive me, but I’m so confused. You’re at a school that costs £35k a year before any extras like trips, books and stuff, your brother is at an even more expensive school, but your parents seem like such skinflints. If they don’t like spending money, why are you at our school?”

“If you want the truth Lucy, I think my parents just don’t want us around, we get in the way. Dad went to Fettes, so that’s where he sent Jordan, he wanted me to go there as well, but mum wanted me closer to home, so he sent me to his sister’s school, an all girl’s school, I hated it and ended up having to leave, so I needed a new school, and as Mum went to our school, or rather what’s now our Prep School when it was the Girls’ School, she persuaded him to enrol me here. I guess after spending so much on schooling there’s not a whole lot left to spend on luxuries like heating and food.”

“oh, right...” is all Lucy could think to say.

So, Gabbie ordered Lobster Thermidor, which the menu said was best paired with champagne. Gabbie was going to order something cheaper like cava, but Lucy insisted she order the champagne.

Lucy ordered a fillet steak, cooked rare and served with thick cut chips, this would be accompanied by a full-bodied Bordeaux, which she’d share with Steve, who was getting a beef wellington, but he didn’t know that because he’d still not looked at the menu.