Chapter 9a : Lobby & Bar

Effie and Coral reached the ground floor. The uniformed lift boy had kept his head respectfully bowed for the entire trip from the 14^th floor resisting the temptation to glance at the expanse of Effie's thigh revealed by the slit in her skirt. He pressed the door open button and held it as they took their time to emerge from the elevator into the hotel's lobby, allowing himself at least the enjoyment of Effie's buttocks moving beneath the green silk of her dress as the two girls walked away from him.

Eyes turned towards them as some of the New Order politicos looked up, wondering who these two new arrivals were.

"I feel like a celebrity," Effie whispered to her friend.

"Maybe, but there's a real one," Coral whispered back nodding towards the hotel's reception desk where a tall, elegant woman, her skin black with the sheen of her sub-Saharan origins, was talking to the receptionist.

"Wow, Cherie Kola!"

The R&B singer, infamous for her raunchy dance numbers and a private life that was colourful even for a celebrity, was obviously anxious not to disappoint any fans that expected her to look the part. A floor length pale tan suede dress clung to her figure, a slit from her ankle to her hip gave a view of the ebony sheen legs that had been shown in all their perfection on her "Dance 'til He Drops" video.

Behind her stood her husband, Paul Patrick, the ex-footballer. He was dressed in an equally elegant grey silk suit, although a neck corset and moulded leather piece that covered the lower half of his face and kept him silent showed that Cherie kept him under close control. Over his trousers he wore a heavy leather chastity belt with an unnecessarily large, brightly chromed, padlock. Effie and Coral had read in one of the celeb magazines only the week before how Cherie was insisting he wear it at all times in public after catching him servicing one of the backing singers in her band. His defence that she had insisted hadn't had any effect in reducing Cherie's fury. Most of the journalists had agreed that he had been lucky to have something to lock up at the end of it.

Beside him stood three others of Cherie's entourage, obviously soccer players too. They were in their usual playing strip of excessively tight shorts in team colours and nothing else apart from their boots. They picked up her cases as she swept away from the reception desk towards the elevator.

Coral and Effie stood star-struck as she strode across the lobby. Their star-struck sensation became even more acute as they realised she was walking towards them. "Hi Girls!" Cherie greeted them with a broad white toothed smile. "I hear you're in the Princess Suite. We're gonna be neighbours tonight, so if you want to join me for a night cap after the show, feel free."

"Well, thank you Ms Kola," Effie looked at Coral who nodded enthusiastically. "We'd love to."

"Great that's fixed – and it's Cherie. I should be back 'bout midnight. We'll split a bottle. Laters, girls!" And with that she swept off.