Close Observation Ch. 11

Ron took Fudaki, Rumiko and Ishi to Heathrow the next morning. At departures, Rumiko held Ishi's hand out and helped her wave goodbye to Ron. Ron waved back. Fudaki shook his hand warmly as they went into the terminal. Ron had liked Fudaki. He hadn't connected much to Rumiko because of the language barrier, but he thought the world of Ishi. He was sorry to see them go, even if the shopping had been an ordeal.

Toby needed him to mind three Russian gentlemen who were coming over in a few days. He'd described them as 'rogues.' They would be staying in Belgravia. Toby said that instead of protecting the Russians, Ron's job would more likely be to protect the population of London from them. Toby said he knew someone who would rent Ron's flat if he did decide to sublet it. It was someone who Toby had been at school with.

Ron spoke to Vicky on the phone. He asked if he could move some stuff in and she said he could. He went back to his flat and changed. He started filling holdalls with clothes. He took some books and a lamp from his bedroom. He had a photo of his sister, her husband and his niece, and one of him with his platoon at the Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. He packed the photos carefully. The room at Vicky's just had a bed in it. He carried the oak cabinet from his bedroom down the stairs. It was awkward to carry it by himself. He was able to lean the back seats of his car forward and he put the cabinet in the boot resting on them. Toby rang him just as he got in the car. He'd spoken to his friend and he wanted to know how soon Ron's flat would be available. Ron said he needed a couple to days.

Vicky gave him a big hug. She seemed genuinely pleased that he was moving in. He told her he would bring more stuff over the next couple of days, then would move in properly. Ron got the cabinet and the holdalls in and started arranging things. He thought he could make the room cosy. Vicky was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a baggy t-shirt but Ron still thought she looked sensational. Every time he saw her it seemed like her breasts had grown.

***

Ron took Marie to a hotel in Earls Court in the evening. The hotel was nothing special. He went in first and sat in the hotel bar. She walked in a couple of minutes afterwards, walked past the lobby and got in a lift. The customer was in a room on the fourth floor. He'd asked for Marie to wear lingerie and a dress. There was a football match on the television in the bar. It was another European game. Ron drank orange juice and watched it. He'd brought a book but watched the football instead of reading it. Marie texted him to say that she was in with the customer, she had the money and there were no problems.

The time seemed to go quite quickly. Marie texted him that she was finished. He drank the juice in his glass and walked out. He was parked around the corner, so he waited on the corner. Marie came out, saw him and walked over. She'd taken her stockings off at some point. They walked to his car and got in.

'All good?' asked Ron.

'All good,' said Marie.

'What was he like?' asked Ron.

'He was German. He couldn't speak much English. He was nice enough though, a bit old,' said Marie.

They drove in silence. The traffic was light until they got towards Westminster Bridge. Big Ben was covered in scaffolding. There seemed to be a lot of people on the streets around the exits from the tube station. It took a while to get over the bridge. They were soon driving through Lambeth, towards the Imperial War museum. Ron had to stop quickly when he realised traffic lights in front would go red before he got to them. He apologised to Marie. He suddenly realised he didn't feel right.

He felt himself shaking. As the light went amber and he pulled away, he felt like his body was sinking, like his centre of gravity was sinking down to the bottom of the car. He pressed too heavily on the pedal and the car revved loudly. He felt himself urinate. It felt warm against the inside of his legs as it came out. He pulled over to the side of the road without indicating. The driver of the car behind beeped his horn loudly. That car also pulled over, perhaps thirty yards ahead. The driver got out. It was a young man. He walked aggressively towards Ron's car. Ron got out and walked towards him. The young man saw Ron. He saw how big Ron was and saw the look on Ron's face. Ron saw him look downwards. Ron looked down at his body and realised that his trousers were stained darkly by his urine. The young man looked wide-eyed at him. He held his palms out, arms extended in front of him. He started to back away. After a few paces of walking backwards he turned and ran to his car. He got in his car, indicated, and drove off quickly when there was a gap in the traffic.

Ron thought about walking home, leaving Marie in his car rather than go back and have to face her, then he felt her hands on his arm and on his back. He hadn't heard her get out. She gently tugged at him, pulling him back towards the car. She'd turned his hazard lights on. He was parked at an odd angle; the rear of his car jutted outwards and cars were having to steer slightly to their right to go around. Marie asked him if he wanted her to drive them and he said no.

They got back in the car. Ron sat in the driver's seat. He stared straight forward. He wasn't going to look at her. She put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed his shoulder softly and it felt absolutely, utterly wonderful to him but he shifted his weight away from her and brushed her hand away. They sat in silence for a few seconds, until Marie started to say something. She started to say his name, and he put his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and felt his hands and fingers around his face and around his eyes like a shield, like armour.

He heard her moving. He didn't look. He felt her. She was contorting herself in the confines of the front of the car. She sat on his lap, across his lap. He was conscious that his lap was wet. Her back was to the driver's side window. She put her arms around his neck. With one hand she caressed the back of his head, then she gently touched the backs of his fingers with hers. She kissed the backs of his fingers very softly and started to pull his fingers away from his face. He let her take his hands away. He kept his eyes closed. She held the far side of his face in the palm of her right hand, and she kissed the side of his face nearest to her. It was a soft, lingering kiss. She kept kissing him like that. They stayed there exactly like that, Marie sat on his lap and kissing his cheek.

***

When they got to Marie's building. He walked her up to her flat. He knew his trousers were visibly stained, but he was going to walk her to her door. They didn't say anything to each other. She put the key in her lock and as the door opened, she turned to say something, she started to say his name again and reached out to touch him. He turned and walked away from her. He heard her door close.

When he got back to his flat, he put his trousers and underwear in the bin in his kitchen. He took a shower, then got the plastic washing up basin from his kitchen sink, filled it with soapy water and went down and scrubbed at the driver's seat and at the floor of his car. He kept going for a long time. After that he went inside, brushed his teeth then lay awake in bed for hours.

***

Ron eventually got to sleep. He got up late. He went for a run and pushed himself hard. He knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on reading, so he went out. He got the tube to the west end. He thought he'd do some clothes shopping. Thoughts about the night before kept coming into his head and he pushed them away, out of his consciousness. In Afghanistan, they'd found out that an officer in the Parachute Regiment, who Ron knew very well, had been hit when a British Apache helicopter gunship had made a mistake and fired at friendly positions. The officer lost his right arm and his left leg, but initially it had been touch and go whether he would survive. Ron had done the same thing then; he'd occupied himself and pushed the thoughts away.

He needed new trousers after he'd ruined the pair from the previous night. It occurred to him that money was building up in his bank account. He had his army pension and now the income from two jobs, one of which was cash in hand. He was about to get the money from sub-letting his flat. Ron lived a spartan existence. His biggest extravagances were his season ticket at the football and the odd bottle of whiskey. He genuinely didn't know what he was going to do with the money he was going to have coming in.

Ron decided that rather than just buy new trousers, he'd get himself a whole new suit. He took the Bakerloo line planning to get off at Piccadilly and walk to Oxford Street. Sat on the tube train, his brain kept trying to go back to the night before, when he'd pissed his trousers in front of a beautiful woman that he was in love with.

It had last happened a few months ago. He was sat waiting for a train at Euston station. He was going to watch Millwall play against a northern club. The doors on a train on a nearby platform had surprised him, they'd been banging very loudly, and it had obviously touched something off. He'd gone home. He'd felt sorry for anyone who unwittingly sat in the seat, and for the staff member who would have to clean it. He hadn't felt good on his way back to Elephant and he hadn't gone outside for a few days afterwards.

When he'd started seeing Marie and Dr Smith-Crowden he'd thought, right, I'm getting some help now, it probably won't happen again. Then it happened. It was the fourth time. It was always very bad, but to do it in front of Marie was the worst-case scenario. He loved her; he knew he did. If any individual he had served with in the army ever knew that he felt like this about a woman, he expected that they would piss themselves laughing until they died of dehydration, but it was the simple truth. He loved Marie with everything he had, and he'd wet himself in front of her. He didn't think she'd ever be able to respect him, and he didn't think she could see him as a man.

He couldn't stop working for Katie because someone might try and hurt Marie and he needed to be there.

He stopped himself thinking from about it. He took his book out. He knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the text but there were pages of photos in the middle of the book and he looked at them. The book was about a battle between Russian and German troops in the second world war. There were photos of the battlefield and of people involved.

Ron came out of Piccadilly underground station on the North side and swore. He had to wait for the lights to cross two streets, which took so long that he was tempted to go home, get his pistol (that he wasn't supposed to still have) and go out and start shooting random people. His phone went off. A text message said that he had an answerphone message. He'd had no signal in the underground. He dialled the number and listened as he walked along Regent Street.

It was Katie. It was their Friday meet-up that afternoon. She said she'd need him there as she would have to go to the bank afterwards. Marie would be there. He didn't want to see her. The way she'd climbed on to his lap when she knew it was wet, and the way she'd embraced him and kissed him like that, was probably the kindest, most beautiful thing anyone had ever done for him. Despite that, he didn't want to be anywhere near her, didn't want to see her or have to look at her. He texted Katie that he would meet them just after four. That way he would miss most of it but be around to go with Katie to the bank while she was holding the money. He wasn't sure how he was going to handle seeing Marie.

Ron bought a charcoal suit with pinstripes. He'd seen Toby wearing one when he was going to his club and had thought it looked good. Conscious of the fact that he was quite wealthy at that moment, he went to the section of the shop where you could have your suit tailor made.

***

They were in a bar that Ron would not otherwise have entered if he'd lived for one million years. Everybody looked young and chic. The ladies were around a big table in a corner. Ron noticed that Caroline was with them. She had that dyed, cherry red hair, which he thought looked lovely.

Marie was at one end. She was next to Annabelle and was talking to her. Vicky noticed him first and said hello Mr Ron. They all greeted him warmly. He didn't look at Marie, he'd decided he wasn't going to look at her or speak to her. He went to the other end of the table, towards Katie. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and squeezed in next to her. Layla was on his other side. Ron wasn't driving; Katie had told him he wouldn't need his car. He asked if anyone wanted a drink, but they all had one. He went to the bar.

The bar was busy despite how early it was. He saw Emma come up behind him. She put her hand softly on his arm.

'How's it going?' asked Ron.

'Not too bad. I've been told I've got to be on my best behaviour,' said Emma.

'Yeah, I was thinking, you don't normally come to these, do you?' said Ron. She wasn't normally invited. He remembered the way she'd used to speak to him, and how she would ask him to look after her money envelopes at the flat. She'd always told him she knew how much was in them and it had offended him.

'No. I think Katie's softened towards me a bit after that guy tried to kill me,' said Emma.

'That makes sense. Drink?' asked Ron.

'Cranberry juice please. I'm not supposed to have alcohol,' said Emma. Ron smiled.

'Cranberry juice it is. How are you feeling about the Layla thing now? And how are you getting on with Annabelle?' asked Ron.

'I'm staying away from Annabelle, and she's staying away from me,' said Emma. There were a couple of young men in suits at the bar and Ron saw them looking at Emma. He thought she looked good. She wore a little black dress. She was bare legged. She had her hair tied back, which wasn't how she usually wore her hair. Ron thought she looked beautiful, and incredibly alluring. He'd noticed that all the women looked great. It occurred to him that there was probably an element of competition when they got together.

'And what about Layla?' asked Ron.

'Well, that's hurting me Ron. We had a conversation on the phone. I'd been expecting it. She didn't feel the same, she said she was sorry if I'd got the wrong idea. Today she is going to go with Katie and Caroline, the girl from the other night, back to Katie's house,' said Emma.

Ron turned and looked back at the table. Katie, Layla and Caroline were all sat together at the end of the table. He remembered Katie had told him she planned to get Caroline and Layla together; she presumably felt like joining in. He thought Caroline looked really young.

'How do you feel about that?' asked Ron.

'I feel very bad,' said Emma. He looked at her. He believed her.

The people in front of him had their drinks and threaded their way past. Ron went up to the bar and asked for a black label with ice and a cranberry juice. He thought the barman looked like a smug twat.

'I'm sorry you feel bad,' said Ron.

'Thank you. So there's a table of women over there who don't think very much of me, and they know that Layla is going to go off with Caroline and Katie, and I dare say they're happy about the fact that I'm embarrassed and feeling rubbish,' said Emma.

'I like you; I think you're alright,' said Ron.

'Thank you. I think you're alright too,' said Emma.

Ron took his drink and gave Emma hers. He paid with his card.

'You could stay at mine, tonight. Only if you wanted to,' said Emma.

'I'd love to. I've got to go with Katie to the bank but after that I can meet you back here?' said Ron.

'That would be lovely,' said Emma.

Back at the table, Ron chatted with Katie and Layla for a bit. Caroline seemed nervous. She didn't say much. Ron thought she was lovely and couldn't help wondering what customers would think when she opened the door for them. She was so young, and she was really pretty. She had a great figure, she was relatively short, but she looked slim, and very fit. Ron thought there was a ripeness about her body. Whatever she was like on the inside, on the outside he thought she was irresistibly attractive. She was sat next to Katie, and Ron could see that Katie had moved her right leg so that hers and Caroline's thighs were pressed together. A couple of times he saw Katie stroke Caroline's thigh.

Ron could see Marie in his peripheral vision. She was at the opposite end talking to Vicky and Annabelle. Emma was next to Caroline, but as Caroline was focused towards Katie, himself and Layla, and because Vicky, on Emma's other side, was facing towards Marie, Emma was basically sat on her own. She was looking at her phone. Ron didn't want her to be sat on her own. He excused himself from Katie, Layla and Caroline. He took his chair round and sat between Vicky and Emma. Emma moved her chair out slightly to give him room. Vicky turned to look at him. She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. Ron thought Vicky looked gorgeous.

'You've come and sat with me because you felt sorry for me,' said Emma, quietly.

'I just wanted to come and have a chat. I was in the way over there,' said Ron, gesturing towards Katie.

'I bet,' said Emma.

'I meant to ask about Le Brodeur. How did that go?'

'Anthony? It was lovely. I really like him. He's booked me again for another overnight. I think I'm getting a bit of a crush on him,' asked Emma.

'Really. I didn't think that happened,' said Ron.

'Getting crushes on clients? It certainly does. Someone I know is in Dubai now, engaged to someone she met doing this,' said Emma.

'Really? I'm surprised,' said Ron.

'You'd be surprised how many times I get booked with people that I'd sleep with for free. Like Anthony, I think he's very attractive. If I met him in real life, I'd be actively trying to get him into bed, but now I'm getting paid to shag him,' said Emma.

'It's win-win,' said Ron.

'It certainly is,' said Emma.

He noticed that Katie was trying to get his attention.

'Ron, we're going to go, can you come with us to the bank?' she asked him.

'Certainly,' said Ron. He drained his glass. He didn't normally drink black label unless he was out, because it seemed expensive in the shops. It was certainly going down very nicely now though. He wondered if Emma would be up for a session when he came back.

'I'll be back soon,' he said quietly to Emma.

'Ok,' she replied, without looking at him.

There was a taxi waiting for them. The ladies piled into the back and Ron sat next to the driver. The driver looked to be from Somalia.

The traffic was bumper to bumper. Ron noticed that it seemed quiet in the back. He looked in the driver's mirror. Caroline was sat on Layla's lap, in the corner. Layla was holding her breasts from behind. She'd moved Caroline's cherry red hair to the side. Katie was sat sideways on the seat, facing them. He turned and looked around. Her hand was between Caroline's legs, she was reaching forward and holding Caroline's crotch through her black jeans.

Katie shifted herself across the back seat, leaned towards Caroline and kissed her. They tilted their heads and kissed deeply. When they finished kissing, Katie smiled at Caroline. Ron saw the look in Caroline's eyes. He thought she was very aroused. Katie kissed Layla. Ron noticed that Layla was gently stroking Caroline's breasts. Ron turned back towards the front. He wasn't sure how near the bank was. He hoped he would have time for his erection to subside before he had to get out.

Ron looked at the driver. The driver was looking in his mirror. He was aware of what was going on.