Chapter 8

I left the coffee shop and walked down the road to the wine merchants, where I ordered a case of Helen’s Pinot Grigio, a case of mixed reds and a fresh bottle of Dalmore’s 12 year old Scotch; they’d deliver them in a couple of hours.

Next I did the Waitrose shop, and picked up a couple of nice steaks from the butcher on the high street. The wine merchant’s driver would collect my shopping and bring it round with my wine. I do like the service you get when you spend a few hundred pounds on a couple of cases of wine.

Helen phoned as I was walking home, so I took a detour to the cafe in the park. Helen said she’d join me in a few minutes, so I ordered a couple of coffees and a couple of cheese and ham toasties.

Helen pounced on the toastie the minute she sat down, “oh man, that’s good. I love Nita with all my heart, but she won’t let me eat meat, so the only chance I get is our little park rendezvous.”

As she finished her toastie and dabbed her lips with her napkin she said, “I was just reading a copy of yesterday’s Metro Nita left in the kitchen, and saw the name Kenzie Westly, is that the same Kenzie that...”

“Yes,” I quickly looked around before continuing, there was nobody in earshot, “remember Poppy mentioned Jeremy?”

“The Salvation Army chap who saved her life?”

“Yes, well he’s not just Salvation Army, he’s some kind of Batman character looking after the street girls, and he’s set his hounds on the guys who raped Poppy.”

“He’s killing them?” Helen said, her hand to her mouth in horror.

“Not himself, but he’s arranged it.”

I went over what we’d learnt the last few days, firstly Xander’s death, not connected to Jeremy in any way, then Jeremy’s people killing Kenzie in the same way, and now Parker. Then our chat with the police last night.

“How’s Poppy taking this news?”

“Initially not well, last night she was hysterical, but I think that was more to do with remembering some of the evil shit Kenzie did...”

“Like what?”

“You really don’t want to know.”

“That bad...”

“Worse, he really was evil and the world is better off without him. Even so, it’s an uncomfortable feeling knowing the name of the person who ordered the killing.”

“So, what have you been doing today?”

“Today I helped the police with their enquiries, well specifically I helped PC Jenny Wilde with her search for the girl Poppy mentioned, as there’s never been a crime reported this is not official, we hope to be able to find the girl’s family, but then someone will have to tell them their missing daughter is now dead, is that better or worse than not knowing if they’re alive or dead?”

“Shit Alex, I don’t know, I don’t envy whoever has to break that news.”

“And on the subject of people who may be alive or dead, one of Jeremy’s guys found Poppy’s mum.”

“What the fuck, we’ve been sitting here 20 minutes and you’re only just telling me? Where is she?”

So I updated Helen on the last few days, and brought up our conversation about our parents, and Poppy’s interest in Helen’s career, and the photos of mum.

“Oh really, it’s been a long time since I looked at mum’s photos.”

“I’ve always found it awkward looking at yours and mum’s work, Poppy was fascinated though, she is really taken with you, and she was very interested in comparing your photos to mum’s. I’d not realised that even the most explicit of mum’s photos were more tame than some of your photos.”

“Oh yeah, I’m kind of glad I’m not in that game anymore. The men’s magazines all want open leg shots now, even a little discrete fingering, and I want nothing to do with any of that shit. My pussy and butt are for friends and family only. Even so, I’m kind of interested in taking a look at mum’s old photos, if you don’t think that’s too weird.”

“Not at all,” I checked my watch, “my wine and food delivery is due in half an hour, then you can have a drink of wine while you look at the photos. Afterwards you can give me a hand with some DIY.”

“What are you building?”

“I’m making Poppy a walk-in wardrobe and dressing room, I’ve cleared out the little box room next to our bedroom, now I just need to put up some rails, curtains and a big mirror.”

With Helen’s help I got the rails and curtains mounted in no time, now I know how much room is left, I can get a big mirror and some lights ordered.

Afterwards we sat in the kitchen and shared a bottle of wine.

“So brother, how’s life with the teenager now you can have sex?”

“You wouldn’t believe it, she’s so good, and so tough. I know Nita told us to leave the anal until weekend, but Poppy was desperate. How she walked after the pounding she demanded I have no idea, but she lapped it up and asked for more.”

“On man, I am so jealous, she’s just perfect isn’t she. So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Ahh, so remember last Friday she tied me up?”

“Oh yes, and you enjoyed it even though she did you some damage...”

“Yeah, so I think this is going to be a regular Friday passtime for a while, and this week she’s bringing toys to the party, she wants to use a dildo on me.”

“And you’ve said yes I hope.”

“I’ve not said no...”

“What did we say about this being therapy?”

“Have you ever done it?”

“What, fucked a man with a strap-on?”

“That, and being fucked in the ass yourself? Poppy loves it, but I wondered if everyone does.”

“It’s not for everyone, Nita isn’t a fan, she lets me with a small strap-on, but I think it’s just to please me, I don’t think she enjoys it. Me though, I love it. As for have I used a strap-on on a man, yes I have, and they generally had the time of their life. This one guy, he was naturally submissive ... and I need something stronger before I tell you any more, because this is something I’ve never told anyone, ever, so please, don’t tell Nita.”

I cracked open the fresh bottle of Dalmore and poured Helen a stiff measure, she tasted it and sighed.

“Oh, this is nice, what is it?” I showed her the bottle, “I must get some on the way home.”

She had another sip before continuing.

“So, what I tell you can be passed on to one person, and one person only, Poppy has a right to know this, but definitely don’t tell Nita.”

“Fair enough,” I said, pouring myself a splash of the Dalmore.

“Ok, so, back in the day, when I was in the men’s mags, I did a bit of escort work, it was expected, almost part of the deal with the publisher. The girls would escort the management and maybe some of the high paying advertisers, we’d go to clubs and restaurants with them, that part was included in the fee we got for the photoshoot, anything else was on top, but it was also kind of expected, if we didn’t offer additional overnight services we wouldn’t get another job with that magazine, or any others in that group. And as there were only two main publishers for all the UK top shelf titles, well, we were fucked if we didn’t fuck the guys.”

“Shit Helen, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it didn’t actually bother me, these were high class clients, and I was paid about ten grand for a night of lacklusture sex, I’ve had worse gigs. I guess I’d have felt differently if I was doing regular street walker sex work, but this was fun at best and boring at worst, it was never dangerous work. At least that was my experience.”

“So why don’t you want Nita to know?”

“Mostly because I’m also a little embarrassed about it, she knows about the glamour work, and the TV work, and the less glamorous top shelf work, but I don’t really want her to know I was basically a prostitute for old men.”

“Maybe don’t tell Poppy that, she has a very high opinion of you, and if you say bad things about sex work she’ll be disappointed in you, because she knows that sex work is real work, and people should be proud to speak up for it, and I happen to think she’s right.”

Helen thought for a minute as I gave her another measure of Scotch.

“So, you think I should tell Nita?”

“I’d say yes, but it’s your relationship.”

“Ok, I guess you’re right, maybe I’ll tell them both tomorrow? We still on for tomorrow, for our little orgy?”

“Poppy has talked about little else all week, she has plans...”

“I like the idea of Poppy’s plans, so, back to the man with the micropenis...”

“Micropenis?”

“Oh yes, the marketing director of one of the biggest smut pedlers in the country had a penis smaller than my clit, and the only way for him to get an erection and ejaculate was to be vigorously fucked up the ass, he wasn’t fussy about who did it, and would often use some of the biggest guys in porn, and some of those guys pack cocks that would hurt most girls, so I have no idea how he fit them up his ass, he must have used industrial engine lubricant.”

She took another sip of the whisky, smiled as it warmed her all the way down to her stomach, then carried on, “so, back to me, I was being paid £10k, but only if I got him to cum, I’d been told he needed anal, so I packed the biggest dildo I had and a suitable harness, and a tub of boy butter. We had some very nice champagne and went to bed. This dildo was about 12” long and 8” around, it was a beast and definitely not built for comfort, and I pounded away at him for over an hour and his tiny cock didn’t even stir, I was at a loss, and I really wanted that ten grand, so in the end I took off the harness and fist fucked him, I was almost up to my elbow, but I got that bastard to cum, and boy, did he cum. I have no idea where all that spunk came from, it was like a fucking fountain, he was covered.

“He passed out the moment he came, so I left him there, had a very long shower, I scrubbed my arm until it was raw, then I took the ten grand off the bedside table and found his safe, I helped myself to half the contents, including a very nice necklace, then I scarpered.

“That was the night I decided I didn’t want to work in that industry any more.”

“Fuck, Helen, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, so was my boyfriend, because that’s also the day I swore off men. I’ve slept with the odd guy since then, but I’ve been mostly gay for the last 8 years. I went a bit wild round the lesbian clubs for a while, got my face on a few of the scandal pages in the papers, but eventually I found Nita, and we settled down. I know I get annoyed with her at times, but I do love Nita. Not as much as you and Poppy love each other, but you’re just the perfect couple joined by forces we can’t understand. I’m happy with my life though, Nita keeps me on the straight and narrow.”

“So, assuming I don’t want Poppy’s arm up my arse, will I be ok with anal?”

“Shit, yes, I didn’t tell you that story to put you off. I did a few guys up the ass in my wild years, and they all loved it, I guess you have to be open to it, or you won’t get the benefit, and if Poppy knows what she’s doing, and I suspect she does, then you will have a great time, I promise. Make sure she uses plenty of lube.”

“Ok, so I guess we’ll be doing that tonight, and based on last week, I can expect a bit of pain along the way, I can deal with that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it will hurt at first, but once you get used to it, then you’re in for a treat, boys really should learn that anal is perfect for you, because that’s where the base of your penis is found, and that pleasure spot is very sensitive. Anyway, I must dash, it’s Nita’s early finish, and she’s got us tickets for Wicked.”

At the door Helen hugged and kissed me, a proper lingering kiss.

“You know when I said I was jealous of you because Poppy is so pretty, well I’m jealous of Poppy too, no idea why it’s taken me so long to realise just how sexy you are Alex. Anyway, gotta go.”

As I opened the door for her we heard the gate open as Poppy arrived home from school with Katie in tow.

“Hey Helen,” Poppy said brightly, “what are you doing here?”

“I’ve just been helping pops here with some DIY, now I’m off to see Wicked. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Katie, my best friend at school. She’s been so kind to me this week, I’ve brought her to meet dad, for some weird reason she likes his books.”

“Nice to meet you Katie, thanks for looking after Poppy, she’s pretty special.”

“She’s so lovely, how could I not help her. Excuse me, are you Helen Taylor?”

“I am,” Helen laughed, she absolutely loved being recognised.

“You’re so gorgeous, even nicer in real life, I can’t believe I’ve met you.”

“Do you want a selfie honey?.”

Helen posed with Katie, and just as Katie took the photo Helen kissed her on the cheek.

“See you tomorrow Poppy,” Helen said cheerily as she left.

“What DIY have you been doing,” Poppy asked as I closed the door.

“I’ve turned the box room next to my room into a dressing room for you.”

“Really, that’s amazing, I’ll have a look later. Anyway, I’ve brought Katie so we can have a proper chat.”

“Great,” I answered, “are you staying for dinner?”

“I’d love to, but mum is picking me up at 5:30, she’s taking us to meet her sponsor in the Ivy, mum’s a concert pianist and she has a sponsor who funds her recordings, I think they’re having an affair, I’m sure dad knows, but without that money we’d be in trouble, so we keep quiet about it,” Katie said, she looked ashamed.

Poppy hugged her friend as we walked into the kitchen, “shall we have coffee and ice cream?” she asked brightly to lift the mood.

“Oh yes please, what have you got?”

“Ahh, it’s lucky I’ve been shopping then isn’t it,” I said, “as we had none this morning.”

They settled on sharing a tub of cookie dough ice cream whilst I made coffee.

“Poppy said you’ve just finished a new book,” Katie said as her phone pinged, “haha, that’s Ashley, my brother, he’s furious Helen Taylor kissed me. Shit, yeah, Helen Taylor actually kissed me, it’s going to take a while to come to terms with that. If I had a dream woman it would be somewhere between Helen and you Poppy, but if I come to think of it, apart from the hair, and she’s a little taller, you look a lot alike.”

“Come with me Katie, let me show you something...”

I could hear as Poppy showed Katie all of Helen’s clothes, I heard Poppy telling her that they all fit her perfectly, except for the bras, which are too big at the moment, but she lived in hope that she’d grow a couple of cup sizes some day.

Back downstairs Katie was shaking her head, “so she’s given you all those clothes? That Armani dress with the bustier and pearls, it’s worth about £5k, and she just gave it to you?”

“Yes, she gave me everything, she says I can keep them, I can sell them, whatever, she’s got loads more at home. I’m dying to wear that Donna Karan, but I need to sort out some suitable underwear so I don’t get arrested.”

“I wish I had your figure Poppy so I could wear some of it.”

“You’re my height, and you’ve got a decent bum, you’re just missing big tits, I bet if we got you a nice padded bra you could wear some of those clothes.”

“Do you think?”

“Oh yeah, dad, can I go shopping with Katie tomorrow?”

“Of course, you’ve got that money in your account, if you spend it all then you’ve got nothing for the rest of the month, so be careful.”

“Amazing,” Katie said, “I can imagine shopping with you will be so much fun.”

Once they’d stopped talking about shopping Katie continued her original question about my books, “so yeah, Poppy says you’ve just finished another Danny Strong book.”

“Nope, this is in my adult series, it’s centered around Cassandra Peters...”

“Are there any sexy parts?” Poppy asked.

“Yes, and it’s all-girl sex, you know the password for my computer, go help yourself.”

“Mmm, I know the password, but I don’t really know how to use a computer,” Poppy answered sadly.

“Really, I wondered why you never get your laptop out of your bag.”

“I can turn it on, and I know how the keys work and stuff, but I’m embarrassed about not knowing what to do.”

“So you really were on the streets,” Katie said, real tenderness in her voice, “some of the girls said you were just trying to get attention, but I look at you and you’re so inside yourself in class, attention seems to be the last thing you want.”

Poppy looked at me then back at Katie, “it’s true,” she said, almost too quiet to hear, “I ran away from home three years ago after my mum’s boyfriend raped me, she just sat there, stoned off her tits laughing at me.”

“Oh god, that’s awful.”

“Yeah, that about covers it, you so don’t need to hear everything, but I ended up being gang raped for a few days a couple of weeks ago, I ran away and Alex found me and here I am.”

“Gang raped, like two or three guys?”

“More like 10 I think, and the real kicker is that one of the guys turns out to be my mum’s pimp and another one was her drug dealer. Huge coincidence, I hope.”

“You said was her dealer, is your mum dead.”

“Not quite, but he is, it seems someone is going round killing gang members and he was one of them. Mum’s in a hospice, she was beaten and stabbed by the same people, I’ve no idea if everything is linked, and I don’t want to know.”

“Oh my god Poppy, how are you even coping right now?”

“With Alex’s help, and Helen’s, and her girlfriend Nita, and a nice police lady called Jenny, and Jeremy, a man who saved my life more than once. And you Katie, because just coming up to me and being nice on Monday made my first day back at school special. I didn’t know what being safe felt like, even before I ran away I was never truly safe, living in the squat was like a family, but we only had the illusion of safety, because our front door didn’t lock. Gangs stayed away out of respect for our squat mother Max, but new gangs to the area could easily have got in and taken us all, but we didn’t think about that. Here though, I’m properly safe, and because of that I’ve started to relax, to think about my past, come to terms with some of the things I did, and the things I witnessed, and I’m ok with it, I survived, I hurt nobody, yeah I did some bad stuff that I’d rather not do again, like shoplifting, that was bad, but it was necessary, and I, and please don’t be angry when I say this, I’d hate for you to be angry with me Katie, but I slept with people for money, and I’m not even ashamed of it, because I got money to feed my friends.”

Katie rushed round the table to Poppy’s side and hugged her, “oh fuck Poppy, you don’t have to keep secrets from me, let them all out, you’ll feel so much better. Your secrets are completely safe with me, I won’t tell anyone, not even Misty, she’s nice but I wouldn’t trust her with secrets.”

As Poppy cried on Katie’s shoulder I grabbed a towel from the utility room and gave it to Katie, “do you want to know my secret Poppy, then we’ve got shared secrets and neither of us can tell anyone anything...”

Poppy looked up and smiled, “what’s your secret?”

“During the summer holidays I gave Ashley, my brother, a blow job.”

“What?” Poppy laughed as she cried, delighted by this scandalous news.

“Yes, we’d been drinking wine and we played truth or dare, and he dared me to give him a blow job, so I did, and I enjoyed it less than he did.”

“Amazing, last week I gave Helen head,” Poppy said in reply.

“Really! Did you enjoy it?”

“It was fantastic, and she went down on me, and we kissed afterwards, and it was amazing.”

“I was hoping you were gay, I saw your badge, but some people have them just to show comradeship.”

“I’m not fully gay,” Poppy said, cautiously, “Helen’s getting me a Bi-Pride badge, because I still like boys.”

“I’m not sure what I am,” Katie said, “I’m only really attracted to girls, though I’ve got to say I enjoyed blowing Ashley, although I’d have enjoyed it more if it was cleaner and bigger. Ashley is gay, he’s not out, he’s scared about how his friends will react. I think he had me blow him to see what it’s like to be with a girl. For me though, I look around and there’s no boys who I’d want to sleep with to see if I like boys properly, and I’m not going to sleep with Ashley, the blow job was freaky enough.”

Poppy looked at me again, and I knew right then what she was going to say, “I’m sleeping with Alex...”

She blurted it out so quickly it took Katie a moment or two to process what she’d just heard, “I knew it!” she cried, “you showed me all those clothes in that bedroom but there was no evidence you slept in that bed.”

“You’re not angry?”

“Why should I be, Alex is sexy, and it’s clear you both care for each other so very much, and you just said you were into boys as well as girls.”

“What time is your mum coming for you?”

“5:30, why?”

Poppy checked her watch, it looked good on her wrist, I’m glad she was wearing it, “that gives us just over 45 minutes, how would you like to see what it’s like when a girl blows you properly.”

Katie simply nodded and followed Poppy upstairs, I messaged Helen, “Poppy’s just gone to bed with Katie...”

She replied immediately with the heart eyes emoji.

I started to prepare dinner while the girls were busy, pouring a little red wine into a dish and adding the thick cut sirloin steaks to marinade at room temperature for an hour or so, then I cut some potatoes into chunky chips, leaving them in water for a while.

I’d bought a block of beef dripping to deep fry the chips, I left a little bit to add to the frying pan, the rest I put into a deep chip pan.

I peeled a big onion and chopped half of it into big rings, the other half I wrapped in cling film then foil, and popped it back in the fridge.

Next I mixed some flour, egg and iced water to make up a fine tempura batter for the onion rings.

I heard footsteps on the stairs, the fat was fully melted so I turned off the heat.

Katie’s hair was wet, they’d had a shower afterwards, she looked a little dazed, but very happy.

“Was that fun?” I asked.

“It was, very much so. Wasn’t it weird being down here whilst we were upstairs making out?”

“A little, but I’ve already told Poppy she’s fine to bring friends home. It probably would have been weirder if she brought a boy home, but I don’t think she will.”

“What are you making for dinner?” Katie asked as Poppy joined her, wrapping her arm around Katie’s waist.

“Steak and chips,” I answered, “with mushrooms and onion rings.”

“Oh man, that sounds fantastic, I’m annoyed I can’t stop now.”

“You’re welcome any time,” I said, “It may be crowded tomorrow as we’ve got Helen and her girlfriend Nita round, Nita has been caring for Poppy’s lady parts. And Sunday we have the police round to talk about something Poppy is helping them with.”

“That’s PC Jenny, she’s so pretty, I’m going to see if I can fix her up with Alex.”

“So if you want to come round any other time you’re most welcome, and you can sleep over and be really close to the school.” I added.

“I’ll speak to mum, in the meantime, shall we meet at the underground tomorrow morning to go shopping?”

“Yes please, is 11 OK, I’d like a little lie in, then I have to do these exercises and Alex has to give me a massage for my back.”

“11 is fine, I can have a good lie in myself. After we’ve been shopping I can show you how to use your Macbook.”

“That would be amazing, thank you. I’m getting to grips with my phone, but the computer is too complicated.”

“They’re simple once you get to learn, I promise.”

The gate buzzer sounded.

“Arghh, that’ll be mum, see you tomorrow.”

Poppy hugged and kissed Katie, I didn’t use the phone to open the gate, instead I walked up to it and tapped in the code to give them a few more moments.