Close Observation Ch. 18

Hi all. Thanks for sticking with me thus far. We're coming towards the end; this might even be the penultimate chapter. Many thanks to the people who have given feedback, you have no idea how valuable it is to hear what people think of your work. Hope you enjoy.

*

Ron was sorry to see Ted and Elaine go. At the airport when he dropped them off, Elaine gave him a present. They told him he was welcome to come out and visit them in Brooklyn and said they would probably visit London again and would try to have him assigned as their minder. Ron unwrapped his present when he got back in the car. He knew it was a book; it was a collection of Jeeves and Worcester stories, by P G Wodehouse. Ron had never read any, he could remember Elaine telling him that he had to.

Ron got back early enough to grab an hour's sleep before he had to go out again. He took Caroline to two bookings, one in a flat in Earls Court, the other at a hotel on Cromwell Road in Kensington. The hotel seemed nice. Caroline told him she was doing bookings every day, she said she was really making money.

In the afternoon, Ron took Vicky to a client's flat in Chelsea. Ron thought the houses on the street where the client lived were beautiful. The clients were three Spanish men. Katie always said that if there were more than two clients, someone needed to accompany the lady, so they had agreed for Ron to go in. Vicky had seen one of the men before. She said that there was something about his penis, and that when they'd had anal sex, there was something about the angle and the way his penis curved that really worked for her. She was excited about seeing him again.

Ron was in another room during the booking. He thought he could tell when that particular man was sodomising Vicky by the sounds she would start making. She told him afterwards that she'd had a great time. She said that being "buggered" by the guy she'd seen before had been fantastic, and that one of the other clients had been young and very attractive.

***

In the evening it was Caroline yet again, with Layla, in the obs flat in Victoria. They got to the flat early and waited for Layla, who was coming from Chelsea. Ron thought that, from the three bookings that day, Caroline would probably make more than two thousand pounds, and this was just an average day for her.

As he looked at Caroline now, he could understand the demand. He could easily understand it. She was so pretty that suddenly seeing her face would regularly stop him in his tracks. He'd got used to seeing her without make-up, and he thought she was naturally beautiful. At a booking, when she put makeup on, her features looked so incredible to him that Ron almost felt intimidated.

Her body wasn't any less alluring. She was a couple of inches shorter than Vicky but otherwise their bodies were similar, except that her large breasts were natural, unlike Vicky's. Caroline had light skin, which was darkened by a spray tan. Her hair was long and died cherry red, like Katie's. All these things made Caroline fantastic looking, but there was something else, something Ron found hard to define. There seemed to be a ripeness about Caroline's body. Ron would find that when he saw her, he felt an almost irresistible urge to physically touch her, and to put his arms round her and draw her towards him.

Layla turned up with five minutes to spare. Ron went into the obs room. Layla was already made up and dressed. Both of them wore lingerie, stockings and suspenders. Ron saw the way Layla and Caroline looked at each other. Caroline took a strand of her hair in her fingers and twiddled it as if she was going to make a plat, as she faced Layla. Layla smiled mischievously, then reached out and fondled Caroline's left breast. She slid her hand down to Caroline's waist, then tugged Caroline towards her. They kissed.

Ron liked Layla, he thought she was great, he couldn't think of anything negative to say about her, but he kept finding himself feeling jealous of her. The girls would look at her as if they were in awe. He wanted them to look at him like that. He wanted Marie to look at him like that. He could imagine Emma comparing what Layla did to her in bed with what he did in bed. He thought he was probably second best.

Layla had both her hands on Caroline's behind. Their kissing seemed to move up a notch in intensity, like a car shifting up a gear. Not for the first time with bookings with Layla, Ron felt he was looking at two people who badly wanted each other. Caroline had arched her body so that her groin was pressed against Layla. They kissed passionately and deeply, to the point where they seemed to be struggling to get air into their bodies. The heat seemed to be going up, as if the temperature was actually changing around them.

They had to let go of each other when the buzzer went. Layla went to get the door. The client came in. Ron thought the man looked like he would not be able to have sex with a woman without paying for it. His name was Fran. Layla suggested that they get the boring stuff out of the way before they had some fun. He gave envelopes to Caroline and Layla. He seemed especially impressed with Caroline. Fran was happy to take a shower. While he was in the bathroom, Layla grabbed hold of Caroline again and they kissed just as intensely as they had before. Soon they were basically dry humping, stood up against each other.

Fran came out of the bathroom. Most clients would come out of the bathroom with a towel around their waist, but Fran had not felt the need for that. He was naked. His small penis was already becoming erect. Ron found himself feeling sorry for the guy; he didn't seem to have much going for him. Fran saw Caroline and Layla together as he came out. Ron could imagine the impression it might have made, seeing them like that.

They went to him. Layla kissed him, then Caroline kissed him, then the three of them seemed to all be tongue kissing each other at the same time. Layla had Fran's penis in her hand; she was masturbating him.

'Shall I get on my knees?' she asked.

'Yes please,' said Fran.

Layla began to fellate him. Ron had seen her do this countless times, and it always struck him how tightly she seemed to close her mouth around a client's penis. She started to move her head in and out, moving her mouth up and down on it. Caroline kissed Fran, but she was having to lean awkwardly over Layla from the side to do so. She went behind Fran and pressed her body against him. She pressed her groin against him and ground her breasts against his back. She reached around and caressed his chest and stomach. Fran ejaculated in Layla's mouth; she swallowed his semen.

'How was that?' she asked.

'Lovely,' said Fran, sheepishly.

Caroline got a wet wipe. She wiped his penis clean as some last drops of semen came out.

'Would it be ok if we had a play?' asked Layla, gesturing towards Caroline.

'Certainly,' said Fran.

'Would you like to see me do her with a strap-on?' asked Layla. Fran grinned. 'Yeah,' he said.

'I will be right back,' said Layla. She went out of the room. Caroline gave Fran a nice hug and kissed him very briefly. She reached around him and squeezed his buttocks. He kissed the side of her face and then kissed her on the mouth.

Layla came back in wearing the strap-on. Fran laughed; he was surprised at the size of it.

'Fucking hell,' he said.

'Fucking hell indeed,' said Caroline.

'Get on that bed, you,' said Layla to Caroline.

Caroline lay on her back on the bed. She opened her legs. Layla got on the bed on top of her. She mounted Caroline with two sharp movements: quickly positioning the dildo, then thrusting it into Caroline's vagina. Caroline gave a short, loud sigh as it went in, her eyes widening.

Layla and Caroline had sex. Layla went at her hard. At the start, Caroline's legs were open and she had the flats of her feet on the bed, but as they found their rhythm, and as she seemed to get more and more into things, she wrapped her legs around Layla, and dug her heels into Layla's rear. She moaned as Layla took her, breathing heavily, then her moans rose in pitch until she was omitting short, sharp, rhythmic cries. Layla changed her position. In an instant, she put her hands on Caroline's shoulders. She was gripping Layla's shoulders. She'd raised her torso up so that she was in a press up position with her arms extended, and she kept thrusting, kept going at Caroline. Ron could see that Caroline was looking up at Layla's eyes, but that Layla was looking away, down at the duvet to the left of Caroline's face. She looked like she was concentrating.

Layla just kept going and going. Caroline continued to emit the cries, but sometimes they would be breathless as she worked hard to buck her pelvis up against Layla's thrusts, sounding like a Morse code of dots and dashes. Caroline told Layla that she was going to come, she told Layla not to stop, to keep going just like she was. The noises that Caroline made rose even higher in pitch as she climaxed.

***

Fran sodomised Caroline. He held her breasts from behind as he did. He came quickly. Layla had Caroline with the strap-on again, in doggystyle. Layla seemed to take her even more violently than before. She brought Caroline to another screaming climax, and while they had sex, Caroline had the same look on her face as he'd seen on Marie's, on Vicky's and on Emma's, when Layla had taken them with the dildo. Her eyes seemed to show a combination of shock, massive enjoyment, and a little fear.

Fran struggled to become erect afterwards. He asked if he could watch Layla and Caroline kiss; they enthusiastically assented. Ron thought it looked good when they kissed; he thought it looked incredible. He worried about Vicky and he hoped he wasn't seeing Layla get into Caroline's head the way she seemed to have done with Emma and Marie. Fran got another erection. Ron wasn't surprised that he did. Caroline brought him off with her mouth.

***

After the client had gone, Caroline said she wouldn't need a lift home; she said she was meeting someone in Kensington. Ron took Layla back to her hotel in Chelsea.

'I'm glad I had a chance to have a chat with you, lovely,' said Layla.

'Really, why's that?' said Ron. He thought he knew.

'I've had Marie crying on my shoulder for three days,' said Layla.

'I'm sorry to hear that,' said Ron.

'She's in bits Ron, honestly, she feels terrible. She hasn't been to work or anything,' said Layla.

'Tell her not to worry,' said Ron.

'She wrote you a note, did you get it?' asked Layla.

'I did, yeah. Tell her to forget about it, it wasn't a big deal. Tell her I read her letter and we're all ok,' said Ron.

'Are you really ok? She said she was worried about you,' said Layla.

'I'm fine. I've had worse verbal than that,' said Ron.

He couldn't recall any specific occasions when he'd had worse verbal than that.

'Can you work with her again? ...she told me some of the stuff she said to you,' said Layla.

'Yeah, it's no problem,' said Ron. He didn't want to talk about this stuff anymore.

'She didn't mean any of it, you know. She told me she didn't,' said Layla.

Marie had written the same thing a few times in her letter. Ron hadn't believed it.

'That's good to hear. Is there anything else we can talk about?' asked Ron.

'Ok my love,' said Layla.

They drove in silence until they got to the hotel where Layla lived. Ron was always impressed with the sheer size of the place. It was supposed to have three hundred rooms.

'Layla?' said Ron.

'Yes, my lovely?' said Layla.

'You know when you suck people off?' asked Ron.

'Yes?' said Layla. She was smiling at him.

'It seems like you close your lips really tightly round their cocks,' said Ron.

'Yes. You've been watching closely, Mr Ron!' said Layla.

'I have... I always notice that...' said Ron.

'Have you been wondering what it felt like?' asked Layla. She feigned shock at his interest.

Ron thought for a second, before he answered. He looked at her eyes.

'Yeah,' he said.

'Would you like to come up for a minute?' asked Layla, gesturing up at the hotel. She was smiling at him, she was amused.

'Is Marie up there?' asked Ron.

'No,' said Layla.

'Alright then,' said Ron.

***

Katie still didn't trust herself to meet up with the others in a place where there would be alcohol and possibly cocaine. They hadn't all met up on Friday because she didn't want to go, and Ron had been with Ted and Elaine. They were going to meet up today, on Sunday. Ron would collect the money. He didn't want to go because he thought Marie might be there, and even if she wasn't, they'd all know what Marie had said to him. He thought they'd all start looking at him like Marie looked at him.

Emma wouldn't be there; she was in the country with Le Brodeur. She was making even more this weekend because he was having friends to his country house and she was going to be the entertainment. She'd told him what Le Brodeur was going to pay her.

Ron got stuck into his dumbbells in the morning then went running. He pushed himself on the run. He found that the more he had on his mind, the more he enjoyed running, however much it hurt physically.

Caroline had gone to meet Vicky after the booking the day before. She hadn't wanted to say that in front of Layla; her relationship with Vicky was supposed to be on the downlow. That amused Ron, because the girls knew every single thing about each other. There weren't any secrets, and if you thought you were hiding anything from any of them, you were a mug. That was something Ron had learnt. He'd heard Vicky and Caroline come in in the night. From the sounds coming out of Vicky's room, they'd really gone for each other in bed.

***

They were meeting in the pub that Vicky and Ron had found, just off the Kings Road. Ron walked there from Sloane Square tube station. He realised he was a bit late, so he quickened his pace. It amused him seeing the cars parked outside buildings in Chelsea; there were lots of Maseratis and Range Rovers.

He hoped Marie wasn't going to be there. He expected she wouldn't be. He realised he was nervous. He didn't like the feeling. Ron zig-zagged his way along back streets until he got to the King's Road, then walked along it, dodging a succession of attractive (almost certainly foreign) women, walking their (always) very small dogs. He went down the wrong back street and realised it was a dead end and had to double back. It was yet another really hot day. He was starting to sweat and hoped he wouldn't have body odour.

He got into the pub and saw them; they were at a big table in a corner. It was busy in there. Marie was sat at one end of the table. She was looking at her phone; she didn't seem to be involved in the conversation.

***

It was uncomfortable. Marie never made eye contact with him. She looked nervous. Vicky, Caroline and Annabelle made a fuss of Ron, more so than usual, like they wanted to be seen to take a side. Ron didn't know how he felt. He thought Marie's letter had been a nice gesture, but what she'd said to him couldn't be unsaid. Marie and Layla left quite soon. Layla was the only one who said a word to Marie.

***

'How's Ron?' asked Katie. Ron had gone straight to her place in the East End from the meet-up, he didn't like the idea of having a load of someone else's money on him for days on end.

'Ron's fine. Ron's more worried about how Katie is,' said Ron.

'I'm starting to feel a bit brighter. Still no Charlie, and hardly any booze. This is starting to feel workable,' said Katie.

Ron thought she looked better. Her complexion and her eyes seemed brighter and less flat than they had done. She looked happier. Ron always found Katie attractive, but there was a freshness to her appearance now. He thought that, even by her standards, she was starting to look beautiful.

Ron gave her the envelopes of money.

'Half of the total is going to come from Caroline,' said Katie.

'Probably,' said Ron.

'I thought about putting her rates up but I'm not going to. People know they're getting a bargain, and they're telling their friends, and word is getting out,' said Katie.

'She's certainly busy,' said Ron.

'She is indeed. When Emma's envelope comes in, it's going to be just as much though,' said Katie.

'I know. She mentioned that she had a few bob coming from this weekend,' said Ron.

'She's got a lot coming to her. It's three toffs basically paying for the weekend with her,' said Katie.

'How much money do these people have?' asked Ron.

'God knows. Did I tell you, Ron, the Arabs are coming back?' said Katie.

'Great, when?' asked Ron.

'A week on Tuesday,' said Katie.

'Are you working that?' asked Ron. He'd realised a while ago that he wanted her to. He'd always found Katie attractive; he wanted to see her having sex.

'They want me to, and the money keeps going up, but I don't need to. Between Caroline and the rest of the girls, and not doing charlie, I've literally got more coming in than I know what to do with. Laundering it's starting to become a fucking hassle, if I'm honest,' said Katie.

'That stuff's none of my business,' said Ron.

'No... Ron, there were a couple of things I wanted to discuss with you,' said Katie.

'Really? What?' said Ron.

'Can you work with Marie? And, can you do a booking this evening that might be tricky,' said Katie.

'I can work with Marie, no problem. What's the booking?' asked Ron.

***

Vickie was at the obs flat when he got there.

'Hello you,' said Vicky.

'Alright Vick?' said Ron.

'Did Katie tell you about this?' asked Vicky.

'She did. The safe word will be secondus, ok?' said Ron.

'Secondus. Why?' asked Vicky.

'Never mind why,' said Ron.

'I did Latin at school, bloody hated it,' said Vicky.

'Didn't fucking do it at my school. Listen, anything dodgy happens and I'll be in, ok? He's obviously going to know I'm here, so if you say the word I'll be in and I'll start bouncing him off the walls,' said Ron.

'Ok. Sounds like a plan. I honestly don't think you'll need to do anything. I've seen him a few times. I wouldn't have agreed to it otherwise,' said Vicky.

'No, I'm not worried or anything, I just want you to know that there's a plan in place,' said Ron.

'Brilliant... Marie was quiet today,' said Vicky.

'Yeah. Awkward situation,' said Ron.

'I suppose so... I heard mention of a letter,' said Vicky. Ron smiled. Nothing was secret, ever.

'She left a note for me the other night, yeah,' said Ron.

'What did she say, did she apologise?' asked Vicky.

'She did. It's all forgotten about,' said Ron.

'Uh-uh, not happening, Mr Ron. I'm not forgetting about it. What she said to you was fucking vicious. If I was you, I wouldn't work with her, and if some nutter goes for her, let her deal with it on her own,' said Vicky.

'No, really. Far as I'm concerned, it's sorted, it's done with,' said Ron.

'Do you still love her?' asked Vicky.

Ron had to think about that one.

'I don't know,' he said. He did know.

'Well it doesn't seem to be mutual Ron, I'm sorry to say,' said Vicky. She touched his arm gently.

'No, probably not,' said Ron.

Vicky kissed him. She kissed the left side of his face, close to his mouth.

'Well I love you. We all do. And if you knew what it felt like, the difference, between doing a booking when you're there and doing one when you're not... Don't you listen to her, Ron, really,' said Vicky.

'No, she said that in the letter. She said she didn't want me to stop working with her,' said Ron.

'That's because it's fucking scary. By the time Katie can send someone, or even know you're in trouble, you could be in little pieces in a fucking bin bag. And this is why we want you with us, and we don't want you to stop working with us, because I remember what it was like before you came into it,' said Vicky.