Chapter 5

I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and eggs as Poppy carried a tray of breakfast into the room. I sat up as she placed the tray across my knees before she sat primly on a chair by the window.

I enjoyed the scrambled eggs, they were cooked perfectly, as I sipped my coffee Poppy spoke nervously.

“I just want to apologise for last night.”

“What for sweetie?”

“I treated you very roughly, and I hurt your shoulders.”

“I’m not hurt,” I answered.

“Mmm, the blood on the bedding says otherwise I’m afraid. I got really carried away, looking at you all tied up like that I realised I had the chance to dominate a man for once, and I took advantage, and I am so, so sorry.”

I put the tray on the floor and motioned for Poppy to join me on the bed.

“I had a lot of fun last night, it was a totally new experience, and one we can do again.”

“Really,” Poppy said, her eyes bright with the tears she’d shed over the shame she felt for hurting me, “I thought you’d hate me this morning.”

“I could never hate you Poppy,” I said as I reached across and pulled her into a hug.

Later, as we held each other I asked, “why don’t we try to track down Jeremy today?”

“Oh yes, I’d like that. I was going to dye my hair this morning, then we can go see him this afternoon.”

“Do you know where to find him?”

“I have his mobile number, hang on a sec while I get it.”

Poppy opened her dresser drawer and pulled out the purse she’d had in her pocket when I found her, from the purse she withdrew the matchbook.

“This is Jeremy’s number, I have it for emergencies, that’s why I had to keep it, just in case you weren’t as nice as you seemed and I got into a mess again. I can throw it away now.”

“No, don’t throw it away, keep it, because you’ll always feel better if you have that way out. You also have your own phone now, so you can program that number in as your emergency contact.”

“Thank you Alex, I’m 100% sure I’m safe now, but just in case.”

Poppy found her phone and dialed the number, putting it on speaker.

“Hello.”

“Hey Jeremy, it’s Poppy.”

“Oh Poppy, I’ve been so worried, I heard you’d been kidnapped again, are you ok, tell me where you are I’ll come and get you.”

“I’m so sorry I haven’t called you sooner, but it’s been a busy few days, most important is I’m ok Jeremy, I managed to escape after a couple of days and the absolute sweetest man saved me.”

“Are you sure you can trust him?”

“Oh yes, I was cautious at first, but he really is wonderful, you can speak to him if you like.”

“Hi Jeremy, I’m Alex, we’d like to come and see you today, I’m interested in talking to you about your work.”

“Can I have your full name Alex?”

“Of course, it’s Alexander David Harrison, and if you have a bookstore nearby you can find me in the Young Adult section as David Harris, or in the adult thriller section as Harrison Davis.”

“Ok, you understand I have to be cautious, as some of the people I work with are less than trustworthy.”

“I understand, Poppy is happy and well cared for here, I have a large house and she’s free to come and go as she chooses.”

“Can I have a private word with Poppy please?”

“Of course,” I answered as I knocked the phone off speaker and passed it back to Poppy, she listened for a moment then took the phone into the bathroom.

Whilst she was in the bathroom I got out of bed and looked at the blooded bedding, not as bad as she made out, but I did feel an ache in my shoulders, so I looked in the mirror and saw a few claw marks. I shrugged and thought about the horrible bruises on Poppy’s back, and the bruising to her vagina and anus. I could take a bit of damage if it meant she felt she was gaining some control of her life.

“He’ll meet us in Trafalgar Square at 2, he’s got a meeting in St Martin-in-the-Fields, he’ll meet us afterwards in the Pret for coffee.”

“That gives us plenty of time to get your hair done.”

“Yes, but first I’m going to put some savlon on your back, then we’ll change the bedding and put this nasty stuff in the wash.”

After Poppy carefully washed my back in the shower she put some antiseptic cream on the cuts and covered a couple of the deeper ones with plasters.

“Can I just repeat how sorry I am about last night, these really do look nasty.”

“And can I repeat it’s fine, really, compared to what you went through, these are nothing, and they don’t really hurt.”

“But you’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I pay you back by wounding you, it’s not right.”

I put my finger to her lips, “shush, I’m 100% fine with what we did last night, I don’t want you to spend any more time worrying about me.”

“Ok, thank you Alex, for everything.”

“Do you need my help with your hair?”

“Not really, but I want you to help anyway, I like it when you run your fingers through my hair.”

Poppy had decided against pink and chose a colour called Spiced Cider, which we were told is brown, but looks red in some lights, and once we’d finished, and I’d cleaned the bath, which looked like a crime scene, it did indeed look amazing.

Poppy didn’t want to wear anything too obviously expensive, so she wore a simple black t-shirt under one of my flannel shirts, jeans and her new Dr Marten shoes.

We arrived in Trafalgar Square around 1:45, Poppy was so sure Jeremy wouldn’t recognise her she insisted we wait outside to catch him as he arrived. She was right, he must have walked right past us, as Poppy had to run after him.

“Hey, Jeremy, it’s me, Poppy.”

He stopped and looked her up and down for almost a minute before his face broke into a smile and he hugged her tightly, “oh my Poppy, it is so good to see you looking so well.”

I’m not sure what I expected, all I knew about Jeremy was he worked for the Salvation army. What I definitely didn’t expect was a tall guy, well over 6 feet, broad shouldered, thick, muscled arms, bald head and tattoos all over his hands and face, but there he was.

“This is Alex, he saved my life, just like you have a couple of times, hopefully this is the last time it’ll need saving.”

Two o’clock on Saturday afternoon was not the ideal time to try to get anything to eat in Central London, so Jeremy decided we may as well go back to St Martin-in-the-Fields, there were sandwiches and doughnuts left from his meeting, so the three of us convened in a very comfortable sitting room behind the church.

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard you call my name, I had no idea who you were, you look so different.”

“What gave me away?”

“Your eyes, and from the few times I saw it before, your smile.”

“I’ve been smiling a lot these last few days.”

“So, can you tell me what happened after you went missing last Friday?”

“Not all of it, I went to the market to buy you a present for being so kind, and I was looking at a second hand record stall, I know you like Led Zeppelin so I wanted to buy you a record when this hand grabbed me and steered me away, then I saw Kenzie and I tried to run, but the guy who had me was too strong, they threw me into a van and drove off.”

“Did you recognise anyone else?”

“Shit Jeremy, there were too many, and they were so rough, you should have seen my back, Alex’s sister’s girlfriend gave us these magic potions and they’re really helping, and down below, you know, I was wrecked. The only people I recognised were Kenzie, that guy Robbo hangs with, Xander is it?” Jeremy nodded and wrote it down, “and Danny Fisher, he was there, wait a sec, he arrived with Benny and Kurt, but there were others.”

“Do you know where they took you?”

“I’m sorry, Alex asked me, I was in the back of a van, and we moved around, they took me to different houses, we must have ended up in Wimbledon, because I escaped on Wednesday morning, it was Wednesday, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, I found you Wednesday afternoon.”

“I was so scared, I ran for a little while, and then I just sat in this bus shelter waiting for a bus that would never come. I was so cold and wet, and I hurt all over. I think I told Belle that Alex was my knight in shining Burberry.”

Jeremy pulled out his phone, “ok,” he started as the call was answered, “take these names down, they’re all involved in Poppy’s kidnap and rape. Kenzie, Robbo, he’s the guy with the swastika tattoo on his neck, yeah, that one, his mate Xander, Danny Fisher, I don’t know him,” he listened for a moment, “Poppy, this Danny guy, is he the redhead with the funny ears ... she says yes, apparently Danny arrived with Benny and Kurt, are they the ones from Chalk Farm, Tottenham Hotspur tattoos on their knuckles Poppy? yeah, those guys, ok have you got all that ... no, she won’t go to court, she’s been through enough, just do what you can to get these bastards off the streets.”

Jeremy put his phone down and turned to me, “I’ve been asking around, nobody knows you Alex, and in my world that is a good thing. You’ve probably guessed that Poppy here is precious to me, so I’d appreciate it if you keep her safe.”

“I will sir, because she’s precious to me too. We’ve had an intense couple of days, and we have a plan for the future.”

“I start school on Monday, I’ve not been to school for over three years according to the lady we met, but she’s happy to take me, and if I do ok in my GCSEs I can start their Sixth Form in September.”

“We’re going to start a small charity aren’t we.” I prompted her.

“Oh yes, and that’s why Alex wanted to see you. So, you know how us girls have to shoplift tampons and stuff, and how the girls like me who work the streets also have to shoplift condoms?” Jeremy nodded, “so I was thinking I could set up a small charity to acquire and distribute these products free of charge to the girls, and I’d like you to help, if you can, because I know how busy you are.”

“That’s a very good idea Poppy, and I’ll be happy to help where I can.”

“Amazing, Alex’s publisher has a charity division, so they may be able to give me some help as well.”

We talked some more about her idea, and Jeremy made a couple more phone calls to get the word out to a few people who knew people who could provide places to store stuff and get it out onto the streets.

I was very impressed how quickly things got done on the streets.

As Jeremy made another pot of coffee Poppy asked him if he’d seen Flower and Belle.

“Yeah, I saw them yesterday, Belle said someone had given her some money and could I pass some of it onto Max.”

“That was me, Alex gave me some money and I gave it all to them.”

“They didn’t mention you, I guess you asked them not to.”

“I’m so pleased they kept their word, but I didn’t mean to keep it a secret from you, you’re not people, you’re our friend.”

“They gave me £300, is that right?”

“Shit, they gave a third of the money to Max, oh man, I love those girls. Do you know where they’re living now? They said they’d got a place in the tunnels, but they didn’t tell me where.”

“They’re living in an old maintenance office in Kings Cross underground, it’s not easy to find, which means they’re safe there. It also means it’s a very bad idea to try to find them, because if security spot people snooping around, it can only lead to trouble for everyone.”

“Ahh, I understand. I need to speak to them though, because those girls are part of my plan,” Poppy said.

“If I send you a mobile phone, could you pass it on to them, then they can contact Poppy and arrange to meet?” I asked him.

“Yes, I can do that. It may be a few days until I see either of them, but sure, here’s my card, send the phone and anything else you want to give them to my office, I won’t open the package, same if you want to pass anything on to Max, although she has no power where she is right now, so there’s no point giving her a phone, but I could pass on letters. If you’d like to give me an address I can send letters back if you like.”

Poppy looked at me, “do you want to give your address?”

“Fine by me,” I wrote Poppy’s full name and my address on the back of one of my business cards, along with mine and Poppy’s mobile numbers.

“You’ve changed your name I see.”

“Not legally yet, I can’t until I’m 18. Hey, do you have any idea where my mum is?”

“No, but I can ask around, why do you want to know?”

“I’m just curious if she’s still alive, I don’t want to meet her or anything. I’ve been asked to write a book about my experiences, and if she’s dead it’ll make it a bit easier for me to write about some of the shit that went down at home.”

“Fair enough, when I first found you I did a bit of digging around, at the time she was in a squat over in Newham, based on what I heard she was in a pretty bad way, Matt had her on crystal meth.”

“Oh man, that stuff’s the worst. Don’t go out of your way or anything, but if you hear about her one way or another, get in touch.”

Jeremy’s phone rang, he picked it up and excused himself as he answered, “yeah, ok dude I’ll let her know. Another name for the list, this is on the QT, no contact, just let me know the status and location, Nichola Roberts, uses the name Nikki professionally, that’s with double K I. Thanks man, I owe you one.”

He put the phone down and took a deep breath, “right, there’s news on Xander already, he turned up dead this morning in a skip behind Barking tube station, looks like he upset someone, he was a bit of a mess.”

“Mmm, can I ask you a question Jeremy?”

“Of course you can, ask me anything.”

“The man you gave the names to, what’s he going to do?”

“He’s going to spread those names around and ensure the right people find out about them.”

“And...”

“And they’ll ensure the right people do the right thing.”

“Ok, I guess you need to be careful about what you say, nothing happens to my mum though.”

“Correct, that’s just a location check.”

Poppy hugged Jeremy as we left, “thank you Jeremy, look out for my friends please, I love them all so much.”

“Of course, anything for you Poppy, you know that.”

“Well, Jeremy was not what I expected,” I said as we walked back to Embankment station.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when you said he worked for the Salvation Army, and with a name like Jeremy, I was expecting an older gentleman.”

“Hahaha, I guess, but honestly, apart from you, he’s the only man I trust. Do you know something, when I was at my lowest, when he picked me up and literally carried me all the way back to the hostel, that night I tried to blow him, and he wouldn’t let me, and a few times since then, when I offered, he refused. He’s not gay, he’s got a girlfriend, and I was kind of hurt at the time, but one of the ladies who works at the hostel, she told me he’s never taken favours off the girls he rescues, he’s just a very good man, and for that I have nothing but love and respect for him.”

We walked on in silence for a little while, then she turned to me and kissed me, “and the same for you Alex, at every step you’ve made sure I’m happy with what I’m doing, and for that you have my utmost respect, and I will love you forever.”

I called Helen to let her know when we’d be home, “I want to cook them a meal, to thank them both for being so nice.” Poppy said as I cut the call.

“They’re coming round about 7:30, so you’ll have a few hours to sort something before they arrive. Nita’s a vegan though, so you need to factor that in.”

“Oh cool, you said she’s Sri Lankan didn’t you?”

“Yup, her dad is, her mum’s English I think.”

“One night we had this great meal in a squat. The guy who ran the squat, called himself Dhanesh, followed this really extreme religion called Jainism. He was so strict about veganism and not harming animals that all he would eat is fruits, nuts, grains and seeds, he didn’t even eat vegetables, because he said there’s insects in the vegetables that he’d kill if he ate them.”

“Ok, that sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, but one of his concubines, oh yeah, he had about 20 wives, not legal wives obviously, but they all slept with him in a rota. He was after adding Belle to his little harem, that’s why we were invited, but she refused, and I’m really glad he wasn’t interested in me, because that was some freaky setup. Anyway, one of his wives, I forget her name, but she was so pretty, no boobs though, which is a shame, I like boobs, Crystal, that was her name, she made this amazing biryani with wild rice, mixed nuts and raisins, with a lovely spicy tomato sauce made with almond milk and flaked almonds. I’d like to make that, but we’d need some fairly fancy ingredients that we won’t find in the supermarket.”

“No problem, we can pop down to Borough Market first, there’ll be somewhere there we can get the stuff you need.”

“Amazing, this is so exciting, I love cooking for you.”

When we got to Borough Market Poppy ran around the various food stalls selecting the ingredients she needed, I had the basic spices, but she also needed star anise, saffron, flaked almonds, raisins, dried peel, cashew nuts, walnuts, basmati rice and rose water. For the sauce she needed almond milk. From an Indian bread stall she bought some naan breads that could be reheated in the oven, apologising to me that she didn’t have time to make them as well as the biryani.

Back home I made coffee as Poppy laid out her ingredients along the worktop. The first job was to soak the rice in water and warm a little of the almond milk with a few strands of saffron.

I drank coffee as I watched her assemble the meal. She was totally engrossed in the task, occasionally drinking a little of the spare almond milk.

She slowly cooked the rice in a little water and a splash of rose water, added half the flaked almonds, crushed walnuts, star anise, raisins and dried peel, gradually adding the saffron milk.

Meanwhile she mixed more almond milk, tomato purée, a blend of spices and the rest of the flaked almonds in a saucepan.

The smell was amazing.

Once the food was cooked she dashed upstairs to change into a dress she’d had her eye on, it was very low cut and backless, meaning no underwear she told me with a cheeky smile.

Helen and Nita arrived a little after 7:30, Nita’s face cracked into a broad smile as the aroma of the food reached her nostrils.

“It’s completely vegan, I hope you like it,” Poppy said, bouncing with excitement at the thought of serving her own cooking to my sister and her girlfriend.

“Shall we look to see how your bruises are getting on,” Nita said, steering Poppy towards the stairs.

Helen followed me to the kitchen, I poured her a glass of her wine, “there’s not many bottles left,” she joked.

“Ahh, Poppy also likes this wine, so we may have had a couple of bottles.”

“She’s clearly a girl of very refined tastes, how’s she doing?”

I spoke about how well she got on with Lois yesterday, then about meeting Jeremy today.

“How’s she coping with the enforced celibacy? Is she still desperate to feel you inside her?”

“Oh man, she’s doing very well without actual intercourse, she did stuff last night that’ll make your toes curl.”

“Really? She’s so talented.”

“Unbelievable, and wild,” I said as I showed her my shoulder and the faint marks on my wrists from the soft ropes, “she edged me for an hour, then brought me off at the stroke of midnight.”

“I know she’ll have had a lot of sex on the streets, but I don’t imagine most of it was in any way exciting or enjoyable, so where did she learn this stuff?”

“Claims she learnt it from a book one of her friends stole. She said something interesting afterwards. She said she hurt me more than intended, and she got off because she was in control of a man for once.”

“Ha ahh, I wondered about that when you mentioned the ropes, she’s been dominated and brutalised so much, that once she has a man of her own, and you submitted to her will, she had control, and she took advantage, she will have meant to cause you a bit of pain, because she needed to get some feedback from you. Last night was almost certainly therapy, she’ll want to do it again I bet, and if you can stand a bit of light wounding, it’ll do her a power of good.”

“I’m happy to bleed a bit if it helps her come to terms with her past.”

“Good man. She loves you so much Alex, I bet she was mortified to see what she’d done.”

“She was.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.”

We heard footsteps so Helen poured a couple more glasses.

Nita had a plastic bag in her hands, “can I pop this in the fridge Alex?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Nita’s running some blood tests, and a couple of swabs,” Poppy said as she followed Nita into the kitchen.

“Helen said it would be wise to check for STIs,” Nita added, “Poppy was happy to comply.”

“Like I said, I don’t want to repay your kindness with a dose of gonorrhoea or chlamydia.”

“So, the good news is she’s doing really well, but the bad news is she’s not yet well enough for intercourse, and even though she was careful, the butt plug she used on herself has set her back a bit, so any bum fun will have to wait at least another week.”

“I can live with that, but will we be able to do other stuff soon, please, I really need to have sex with Alex.”

“I’ll come back Monday after you’ve finished school, I’ll have another look then. I should have your test results as well.”

“Yayyy! Now how about you all go and sit in the dining room while I warm the naan breads.”

The food tasted even better than it smelt, the rice was tender with a delicate rose and saffron flavour, the fruit and nuts were tasty and the sauce, amazing, not too spicy, but it was so creamy it was impossible to tell this whole dish was vegan.

“I’ve never had anything quite like this before,” Nita said, “where did you get the recipe?”

“I kind of made it up based on watching someone cook it in a squat, I just looked at the stuff she had on the worktop and ran from there.”

“And it’s vegan?”

“More than that, the guy who ran the squat was Jainian...”

“Ahh, so no veg either, just nuts and berries.”

“Yeah, he invited us over to poach one of our girls to add to his harem, she was having none of it, and that’s good, because Belle is even younger than me, I bet she was only 13 at the time.”

“Jainians are a little extreme, but they seem to be healthy, so that diet must be good for you if you can manage it properly.”

After we’d finished off all the food Poppy cleared the table and we took a bottle of whisky into the lounge, I put some music on the speakers and Poppy told us stories of the streets. The freedom that life offers has its price and perils, but not being tied down by possessions does sound liberating.

Poppy moved over to sit by Helen, “can I ask you a really big favour please?”

“Of course, ask me anything,” Helen answered, because she’s a very kind person at heart, and would never refuse a request for help.

“Well, you see, when we were in Max’s squat, and after we’d been swimming in the reservoir late at night, so we were nice and clean, we’d do things, you know, to each other, Belle and Flower, and Evie and Max, and me, and I really enjoyed it, before Alex it was the only time I came, when Belle or Flower went down on me...”

“Ok...” Helen said.

“ ... but we never kissed, because that would be too gay or something, and I really want to kiss a girl, so if it’s ok, could you kiss me please?”

“Ok, not the question I was expecting,” Helen answered before she looked at Nita who just nodded.

“Please...” Poppy pleaded.

Nita moved next to me on the other couch, Poppy took this as the answer she wanted and jumped in next to Helen, who reached her arm around Poppy and pulled her close enough so their lips touched.

The first kiss was delicate, tentative, Poppy pulled away and licked her lips, “mmm, that was nice.”

Helen pulled her back and they kissed more passionately, Helen moving her hands, one on Poppy’s head, the other roaming up and down her mostly bare back, finally sliding into the dress and gripping her bare cheek.

After a few minutes they came up for air, “wow,” Helen panted, “I guess you enjoyed that.”

“I did, it was amazing.” Poppy replied as she stepped away from the sofa.

“I can’t stop now,” Helen said, “I need to explore you properly.”

Poppy looked at me, “errr, what do I do?”

“I guess you need to ask Nita that...”

“I’m ok with you exploring more, I was kind of enjoying the view.”

“So was I,” I added.

Poppy looked back to Helen, suddenly nervous, “we only played at being gay, I’m not sure I’d know what to do, you’re like, a proper woman, we were just girls fooling about.”

“You were doing just fine then,” Helen said as she stood up to undress, now I was kind of hoping they’d disappear by this point, but clearly Helen had no qualms about undressing in front of me.

First Helen shrugged out of her dress, so she stood before us all in just a black lace bra and panties, then she unclipped her bra and I got my first sight of my sister’s breasts in person, large, firm and high on her chest, they were simply magnificent, I think they were larger than I’d seen them in magazines, maybe she’d had implants. I’d leave that for Poppy to ask.

“Should you even be looking at your sister,” Nita whispered.

“It’s not like I have a choice, she undressed in my lounge.”

“Good point, she’s fucking sexy isn’t she.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Poppy gives her a run for her money though, and I think Helen likes her.”

“You may be right.”

Poppy started to remove her dress, “leave it on for a minute,” Helen said quietly, “I like that dress, and it looks better on you than me.”

“I hoped you’d like it, I couldn’t wear undies with it on, and it makes me feel so sexy.”

“Sit down honey,” Helen said, “and you can see if I’m as good as Flower and Belle.”

Poppy once again looked at us, still not sure she was allowed to do this.

“It’s OK Poppy, you can do this,” I said.

She sat down on the leather sofa and hitched her dress up, revealing her pussy to the room.

Helen knelt before Poppy, she looked at her pussy for the longest time, taking in every detail.

“I’ve never had a girl so young,” she said, “even when I was your age, I only went with older girls. I feel very special being able to do this Poppy.”

Helen leaned in close and took a deep breath, inhaling Poppy’s scent, she touched the tender areas with the tip of her fingers.

“Why? How could anyone treat someone, especially a vulnerable young girl so badly? Did this happen to Flower or Belle?”

“No,” Poppy gasped as Helen slid a finger inside, “they didn’t get caught up in the drugs and shit I got caught up in, Max found them early and took them in, they didn’t work the streets like I did either. Belle, she’s too pretty, she’d be ruined in days if she went on the streets. We all protected her like she was our baby sister ... ohhh that’s nice ... Flower, she turned tricks sometimes if there was a client we trusted not to treat her rough, I guess because I’d been battered so much early on I didn’t care so much, and to be fair, most of the guys just wanted to get off as quickly as possible and get back to the pub, or their wife, or back to work, we were slightly more pleasant than a wank, that’s all really.”

“Oh my god, Poppy, a woman’s body should not be treated so shoddily. You are a temple to Aphrodite, you should be worshipped, not abused. It’s ok to sell your body, but you never undersell it, you charge as much as you think you deserve and not a penny less, if a man doesn’t complain you’re charging too much, you’re not charging enough. You are in charge, you are providing a vital service, and that service should not come cheap.”

“But nobody had the kind of money to pay much, and we were filthy, you should have seen me before Alex let me use his bath.”

“That was then honey, the past, from now on the only person who gets it free is the person you love the most, and then only if he, or she, treats you right. This place here,” she slid of fingers carefully in and out of Poppy’s pussy eliciting more low moans of pleasure, “and here,” she very delicately pressed a finger against Poppy’s tender bum, “these are your tunnels of love, and there’s no free admission to this pleasure park, you hear?”

“Yes, oh yes, I hear, can you fuck me now, please.”

“My pleasure...”

As Helen gave Poppy glorious head I got hotter and hotter, and so did Nita, and this was even more awkward than watching my naked sister fucking my girlfriend.

That is until Nita put her hand on my lap, “I’m not allergic to men, why should they have all the fun?”

“Nita’s blowing Alex,” Poppy panted between orgasms.

“Good for her, she likes a good dick every now and then, if you’ve no objection I may swap places with her in a bit.”

“He’s your brother!”

“Yeah, but who’s to know.”

“Let me know what he feels like inside.”