Close Observation Ch. 17

'Thank you, Annie,' said Ron. She gave him a lovely smile and kissed his cheek.

Marie came back with drinks for herself and Annabelle. She didn't down her vodka, but it didn't last long.

'I believe someone mentioned a gloryhole room!' she shouted to Annabelle, over the music. 'Can someone please take me to it?'

***

When they got into the room, Annabelle got down to business straight away, as soon as she saw a man's penis come through a hole, over on the left side. There'd seemed to be much more people in the club tonight than there had been when Ron had brought Annabelle previously. Ron counted eight women already in the room, at work at the holes. Ron saw Annabelle's head start to bob up and down.

Marie watched for a short while. She stood next to Ron. She had an odd expression on her face. There weren't many unoccupied holes. Ron remembered how comical it had seemed to him last time, as every now and again a penis would suddenly emerge through a gloryhole and, after a short while, the guy would realise there was no one on the other side and would withdraw himself.

Marie suddenly went to an unoccupied hole, a couple across from where Annabelle was. She touched the penis that had come through with her hand, she'd had to dart her hand out quickly to touch it before the man withdrew. She took the man's penis into her mouth. Ron knew how much Marie loved giving men head. He saw it now, the way she closed her eyes and started to suck sensually, moving her mouth up and down slowly on it. He saw her reach her hand up instinctively, he assumed to cup the man's testicles like she would normally do, but only his penis had fit through the hole and she put her hand back down. She worked rhythmically. To Ron she looked blissfully happy.

No one came into grope women at the holes, but a man came in and masturbated as he watched proceedings. He took his penis out and started tugging away. There was a red-haired lady at one of the holes a few feet in front of the man. Ron decided that if any of the man's semen went on the lady, he would bounce the man's skull off of the wall a few times, then see how it panned out from there. It seemed to take the man a while to come. No semen went on the lady, but he left some on the floor before he casually zipped his trousers and walked back out.

They were in there a while. Annabelle needed a break eventually. Ron had worried that she would step on the semen on the floor, and that it would end up trodden into the carpet at the flat, but she didn't. She stood by Ron and rubbed the back of her neck. She leaned her body against Ron and rested her head on his shoulder. Marie kept going for a while longer. She seemed to fellate the men very slowly and sensually, at least compared to the other women. She always kept her eyes closed. Different women had come and gone whilst they'd been in there.

***

Back in the main room, Ron went to the bar again. It was even busier. He realised it would take a while to get served. He looked around to check on Annabelle and Marie. Annabelle was talking animatedly to a woman who Ron thought looked quite masculine. Marie was stood beside them as they shouted into each other's ears.

***

When he got out of the scrum around the bar, Marie was stood by herself.

'Annie's pulled!' she shouted into Ron's ear. She rolled her eyes. She took her vodka, and happily accepted Annabelle's drink as well. She started drinking the vodka; she drank fast.

Ron wasn't sure what to say to her. He looked around the club. It was packed. Things were happening. There were tables with chairs around them on the outside of the room. He could see the doorways into the glory hole rooms; men were going in and coming out. There were booths with plush looking armchairs down one wall. Ron could see some stuff going on. There were some couples who were all over each other, and he could see a man and a woman having sex over towards the corner. The woman was sat on the man's lap, straddling him, moving herself up and down rhythmically, violently almost. Of the people around them, Ron saw that some were watching, whilst others just ignored them and carried on drinking and talking.

He saw Annabelle. She was with the woman she'd been talking to before. She had her back against a pillar. The woman had hold of her, she had one hand between Annabelle's legs from behind and her other hand in front, against Annabelle's vagina. She knotted her fingers together and held Annabelle like that. They were talking, then they kissed, then they went back to talking again. Even from where he was, Ron could tell that Annabelle was aroused.

'Can we go back round?' asked Marie, shouting into his ear.

'Ok,' said Ron. She'd got both drinks down. He looked at her face. When she'd got drunk at the pub in Pimlico, he'd noticed how the alcohol had seemed to make her slightly aggressive and impatient. He thought he could see that coming now. Normally Marie was so sweet and caring, but now her eyes looked different, there was a hardness to them. He knew she'd been under some stress in work, and that the thing with the doctor had been getting to her.

***

They went back to the gloryhole room and Marie fellated some more men. After a short while, she told Ron she needed more vodka.

***

Marie went to the bar. Ron had another look around the club. He saw Annabelle again. She was still leaning against the pillar, and the woman was still holding her by her vagina like before, but Ron had seen Annabelle at work enough to know that she'd very recently had an orgasm; he could see it on her face. Annabelle's friend saw someone she knew walking past them; she called out and the woman stopped. Ron thought this one looked pretty masculine as well. The woman was black. Ron thought she was good-looking; he could imagine women being attracted to her. Annabelle's friend introduced Annabelle to the black woman. The black woman kissed Annabelle's cheek, made eye contact with Annabelle for a second, then kissed her on the mouth. Ron saw the black woman gently put her fingers inside Annabelle's top, to feel her nipples.

Marie came out of the crowd. She had someone with her. It was a man. Ron thought he looked to be late fifties or early sixties. He had grey hair; Ron thought he needed a haircut. He wore circular, dark tinted glasses. Ron thought he looked like someone who thought they were still in the nineteen-nineties. Marie handed Ron his drink without looking at him, then walked off with Nineties Guy. Ron looked at Marie's body as she walked away from him.

They went to a booth set against a wall; it was only twenty feet or so away. Nineties Guy was with a group of friends, all male. They looked to be of similar age to him. Ron saw him introduce Marie to his friends and she waved greetings to them. They seemed pleased to see her; Ron wasn't surprised that they were. Some of the men moved along the seat of the booth, making room for Marie and Nineties Guy to sit down.

Ron looked back to see Annabelle, but she'd gone.

Nineties Guy was talking into Marie's ear. She suddenly got up; she sat across his lap. She had an odd expression on her face. She wasn't making eye contact with this man whose lap she was sat on. Ron didn't think she looked happy or sad, he thought she looked neutral. He thought she was consciously trying to appear controlled and poised. She kissed Nineties Guy on the mouth, very briefly. Then she got off of his lap. She got herself down on the floor. She unzipped his trousers. Soon her head was bobbing up and down over his lap as she fellated him.

Nineties Guy came in Marie's mouth. Ron saw his face as he came. Marie swallowed his semen and got up off of her knees. She sat across the man's lap again, but she faced the other way this time, towards his friends. Ron could see him introduce Marie to the man sitting next to him. They shook hands. Nineties Guy spoke into Marie's ear again. She got down onto her knees in front of the next man. She unzipped his trousers and fellated him. He came quickly.

That was how it went. There were seven of them round the booth. Marie went around all of them, bringing them off with her mouth. It took her a while. Ron finished his drink but kept watching. Only the last man broke the pattern. As Marie was fellating him, Ron saw him pull his wallet out of his trouser pocket. He had a condom in there. He got out of Marie's mouth. He pulled her up by her shoulders, turned her round and pulled her dress up. She wasn't wearing underwear. He bent Marie over and penetrated her. They had sex doggystyle. The man took Marie violently; she bucked back against him hard. People were watching. Ron saw Marie's face as she had sex with the man. She still had that expression, she looked poised; there was no emotion in her expression or in her eyes. The man was overweight; he had a big paunch. He had long hair tied in a ponytail. He came very quickly. When this last one had finished with her, Ron saw Marie go back to Nineties Guy. She got her phone out and so did he. They were exchanging details. Ron went back to get served at the bar. He pushed his way into the crowd, he didn't want Marie to know he'd been watching.

When he did get to the bar he asked for a double. It was American Bourbon and he didn't like the taste, but he thought he'd have a bit of a drink now. He got a double vodka for Marie, he thought that at the very least she could wash her mouth out with it.

***

When he'd been served and gone back to look for Marie, he couldn't find her. She hadn't gone back to the men at the booth. He looked around the club. He couldn't see her. He could see Annabelle. She was still with the same two women, one black, one white. They were sat at a table in the middle of the room. Annabelle was sat on the black woman's lap. The white one was sat next to them. She was leaning over; she'd pulled the top of Annabelle's dress down and was sucking one of her breasts. Annabelle chatted to the black woman. She didn't notice Ron.

Marie was in the gloryhole room. They'd agreed that she wouldn't go in there alone. She wasn't at a hole, she was stood back, just in front of the doorway, watching. Ron gently touched her arm and she turned. He'd brought her drink. She took it from him.

'Thanks,' she said, without making eye contact with him. There was something in her tone of voice when she said it, like she was trying to be disrespectful, trying to wind him up. He guessed that she was trying to provoke him so she could take her grief out on him. He could remember how she'd shouted at him in the pub last time. She gulped her vodka down. Ron didn't say anything or try to stop her. She saw a man's penis come through a vacant hole and she went over, got down and took it into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she fellated it, slowly.

***

Annabelle came to them. Ron felt a hand on his arm and it was her. Ron thought she looked tired. She kissed Ron's face. It was a long kiss. She hugged Ron and held him tight. She rested her head on his shoulder. Ron liked the feel of her body against his. He rubbed her side as they held each other. He thought she might fall asleep on him standing up. He wondered what the two women had done to her.

***

Ron sat in the front on the way back, next to the taxi driver. Marie and Annabelle kissed in the back. They both looked tired. Ron thought Annabelle was quite drunk. He thought Marie was very drunk.

It didn't take too long to get back. Ron paid the driver and Annabelle gave him her share. Ron wasn't sure if Marie was too drunk to give him any money or whether she was trying to wind him up.

In the flat, Annabelle and Marie kissed again. Annabelle's hands were on Marie's rear, squeezing it. Their tongues were down each other's throats and they both had their eyes closed. Ron went to the bathroom; he was going to use the toilet then go to bed.

When he came out, Marie and Annabelle were both outside, in the hallway.

'I need a wee,' said Annabelle. She went around Ron, into the toilet. She touched his chest with her hand as she went past, and she smiled at him.

When Annabelle had closed the door, Marie said, 'come in with us.'

'Probably not the best idea,' said Ron. He saw the look in her eye still. He'd seen people get mean and nasty with drink before.

'You said you loved me... And you kissed me like that,' said Marie.

'I do love you,' said Ron.

'Well I'm telling you I love you too. So, come and sleep with us tonight, or I'll come in with you, Annie'll understand, she knows,' said Marie.

'I don't think it's a good idea,' said Ron. He turned to walk to his bedroom.

'Alright, fuck off then,' said Marie.

She hadn't shouted it; the words came out in a calm, even, almost disinterested tone.

'Goodnight Marie,' said Ron. He started to walk away from her.

'You're telling people you've got all these feelings for me... You fucking love watching me getting fucked. You're telling me you want to protect me; you want to keep me safe, but you come because you fucking love it!' Marie was trying to be quiet, so she hissed the words at him, which seemed to make what she said even more vicious. 'Then you can go and feel sorry for yourself, you can add more to your fucking sob story. Does Emma have to listen to your fucking sob stories? Oh boo-hoo, I was in Afghanistan... Boo hoo, I've got to watch Marie getting fucked. You'd rather feel sorry for yourself than actually fucking do something... Big, brave Ron. Are you worried you'll piss the bed? Have you pissed Emma's bed?'

She was saying more as Ron went into his room, but he didn't hear it. He heard the door when Annabelle came out of the toilet. He thought he heard Vicky's door open as well; he hoped they hadn't woken her and Caroline up.

He realised his ears were ringing from the music in the club. It had been loud in there.

***

Ted and Elaine had got over their jetlag. They were in good spirits and raring to go out to see more sights. It was a wonderful day; Elaine commented that they couldn't have picked better weather for their trip. Ron was tired. It had genuinely felt like he'd got to sleep about thirty seconds before his alarm went off.

Their first stop was Mayfair. Ted and Elaine were fans of the Jeeves and Wooster books. Ron hadn't read any of them, but he could remember adaptations being on television when he was a kid, on Sunday nights. Ted and Elaine wanted to go to a particular street in Mayfair where Bertie Wooster had lived. They got there and saw the building. Elaine said something about London and Ron realised he felt exactly the same way. She said she would look up, and she would see these wonderful, beautiful buildings, and she would be awe struck. She'd wonder about the history of the building and about the history of London. Then she'd look down, and at the bottom would be an ugly steak house, or a sandwich place, and it would seem such a shame.

In the afternoon, they went to the Imperial War Museum, in Lambeth. Ted and Elaine had quite a lot of Jewish friends in New York City, and the museum had been recommended to her because it had a holocaust exhibit. They spent a couple of hours there. Ron enjoyed the museum. He took photos of Ted and Elaine in front of the planes and tanks. Ron thought the holocaust exhibition was incredible. There were stacks of shoes and combs and personal effects which had been taken off of Jewish people as they got to the camps, mounted in glass cases.

In the afternoon they went to St James' park. Ted liked to read books about espionage, and there was a large building near St James' Park tube station where MI6 had been based during the second world war. They found the building; Ron thought it looked massive and imposing. They walked through Queen Anne's Gate and into the park. They bought ice creams and sat on a bench eating them, watching children playing with the squirrels.

Ted and Elaine wanted to go back to their place to freshen up before they went out for dinner. They wanted to have curry again. Ron found another Indian restaurant not too far away, on Kensington High Street. He managed to dissuade Ted from trying Chicken Madras, he suggested that it might be a step too far in terms of heat. They enjoyed their meal. Ron thought Ted and Elaine were becoming obsessed with Naan bread.

After the meal, Ted said he wanted to go to a typical English pub. Ron took them to St James'. He knew there were pubs around Sotheby's. They went in one called the Red Lion. Elaine drank spritzers, but Ted wanted to try English beer. Ron had seen tourists do this before, they would come to Britain at the hottest time of the year and would want to try stouts and bitters, which were the last thing you needed in really hot weather. Ron thought Ted would have been better off drinking ice cold lager, but he started working his way through the bitters. He seemed to quite like them.

Ron took them back to Knightsbridge just after ten. They said they'd had a great day. It made him feel good that they'd enjoyed themselves so much. He'd had a good day himself, despite how tired he was, and despite being really badly hurt. When he got home, no one was in.

***

On Thursday morning, Ron had planned to ring the Mental Health Team to tell them that he could not attend his appointment with Marie. Instead, one of the administrators from the team rang him. The lady said that Marie wasn't well and would not be in work that day.

Ted and Elaine wanted to go shopping, or rather Elaine wanted to go shopping and Ted was happy to go along with things because she was the "bawwwrse." They went to Covent Garden in the morning. There were masses of tourists, and it was yet another very hot day. Covent Garden seemed to have a lot of small shops, rather than department stores like you had in Knightsbridge and on Oxford Street.

Oxford Street was the next stop. They didn't spend long there, because it was even busier than Covent Garden and because Elaine didn't seem to see any shops she wanted to go in. They went back to Knightsbridge. The thought of going to Harrods nearly made Ron physically ill, but he bit the bullet. Ted and Elaine enjoyed going to the food hall. They bought a lot of what Ron thought were obscenely expensive delicacies. They had lunch in Harrods, sat at stalls in a little delicatessen in the corner of the hall. They were sat around the deli with the other customers, so you couldn't really have a conversation without the people next to you on either side hearing. After that it was up and down the Brompton Road, ducking into the odd Boutique. Elaine said she thought that a lot of the shops were just selling "young people's clothes."

Ron took them to Sloane Street, and he was impressed when Elaine immediately turned her nose up at the high-end boutiques with security guards at the doors. They walked down Sloane Street to Sloane square, then onto the Kings Road. Ted and Elaine said they liked Chelsea, they went in and out of shops on the Kings Road then went into the Saatchi gallery. Ron thought that the modern art was ridiculous, but Elaine seemed to like it. Ted pretended to be enthusiastic, but every now and then he would share a look with Ron, and they would smile in bemusement. One of the exhibits was a vast collection of identical blue plastic carrier bags filled with air and arranged in a rectangle. Ron admitted to Elaine that modern art wasn't really his thing. He said he preferred the National Gallery. Elaine had never heard of it and agreed they should go there the next day.

Dinner was curry again, in a restaurant they found in Chelsea. Elaine stuck with Chicken Tikka, but Ted insisted on ordering Madras. He said he was used to Mexican food in the states. He said to Ron, "no guts, no glory." When it came, Ted obviously found it hot, but he got through it, and claimed to enjoy it. Neither Ted nor Elaine seemed to be able to believe how good naan bread tasted. They looked at it and held it in their hands like it was a supernatural, magical material. Elaine asked Ron if you could buy it in stores. Ron told them that you could, but that it was never anything like it was in a restaurant. They walked home from Chelsea as it was such a nice evening. They had coffee when they got back. Elaine was saying that that was the thing she missed most, being in "England." She said she couldn't understand how "English" people put up with drinking instant coffee. They chatted about New York. Ron said he'd never been, and Elaine said that he must come over. Ron really liked the pair of them; he was sorry they'd be leaving on Saturday. When he'd been in the forces, when he'd encountered Americans it had been military guys, and he'd found that they could be annoying. Doing this, he'd met Marc and Kendall and now Ted and Elaine, and he'd really liked all of them.