Memoirs of a Swinger Ep. 27

We also found a tobacconist selling decent cigars and Daniel and I treated ourselves to a corona each, then we went back to the café to smoke them while the girls did a bit more shopping. When they came back Lesley was carrying a couple of newspapers for Peters and Cathy which she wanted to drop off on the way back to the hotel. As it was midday, the shops were shutting, and we decided to eat lunch at the café. Daniel and I had a beer but the girls stayed on the soft drinks.

"We've bought each of you a present," Kate said to Daniel and me.

Kate produced two small boxes, studied them for a moment then handed one to Lesley who presented it to Daniel while she presented hers to me. I knew it was the Damascus knife the moment I saw the box.

"A biker should have a knife, right?" Kate said to me.

"You saw me looking at it."

"I did and I thought, 'he'll never buy that for himself'. So I bought it for you."

"We got you one too," said Lesley to Daniel. "It's not the same as Steven's. That would be weird."

I opened the box and took the knife out. It locked open with a reassuring click and I admired the patterns in the Damascus steel.

"It's stunning, thank you."

I folded the knife back, admired the handle then went to put it back in its box. You can only spend so long admiring a knife in public before people start watching you.

"No, don't put it back," Kate said. "It's a knife, it's meant to be used. Keep it in your bike jacket. Then you'll have it with you when you need it."

"I will."

Daniel's knife was similar but his had a bone handle. We both put our knives in the pockets of our bike jackets. I put my hand on Kate's leg and she reached down and put her hand on mine.

After lunch we rode back to the hotel, stopping on the way to deliver the newspapers to Peters and Cathy. There was no sign of Heike and Markus at the hotel and so I decided to go for a run as I hadn't really done much exercise since coming to Annecy. Lesley said she'd like to come too so the two of us put our gear on and went out. It was hot but after a couple of weeks in Provence we were becoming accustomed to the heat.

"Are you having a good time?" I asked Lesley as we ran.

"I'm having the best time."

"I don't think I need to ask if Daniel's treating you well."

Lesley laughed, "You know he is and I think the phrase you're looking for is 'spoiling me'."

"I guess."

"And I don't need to ask if you and Kate are getting on well. I haven't heard the two of you bickering once."

"It's true," I said. "I hadn't thought about it."

Lesley slowed down then stopped under the shade of a tree.

"If I'm honest," she said. "I'm a bit jealous of you and Kate."

"What do you mean?"

"You had an adventure with her and I wish you'd had it with me. I know that's really selfish of me but I can't help it."

I put my arms round Lesley and we hugged.

"Don't be jealous," I told her. "To be honest she and Daniel can do far more for Poppy than we could have. So perhaps it was fate."

"I just feel really selfish, Steven. I manipulated things last night so that you that fucked me, not her. I just needed to know that you were mine. I'm such a bitch. I mean, I've been flaunting Daniel's affection for me in front of Kate for the past year and then when the two of you get a real connection I get jealous."

"It's ok to feel a little bit jealous. It shows you care."

"Do you get jealous of Daniel and me?"

"Well. When I could see that you knew about Daniel's plans for me at Durolitum before I did, I couldn't help picturing the two of you in bed discussing it. And yes, I felt jealous."

"Now I feel even worse. Why didn't you say something?"

"Because I knew you loved me."

Lesley looked chastened.

"I'm so sorry, Steven. It won't happen again."

"Is there anything you want me to do differently with Kate?"

"Don't make her so happy," she laughed.

"You mean like you do with Daniel?"

"I'm such a bitch aren't I?" she laughed again. Then said with anguish in her voice, "Ohhhhh what should I do, Steven?"

"Have a great week with Daniel. Do whatever you want. Enjoy yourself. We're on holiday after all. Then next week, come back to me and we'll spend time together."

Lesley thought for a moment.

"I will be the best wife ever next week. I promise."

"You already are," I told her. "But you need to be Kate's best friend too, just like she's been yours. Poppy is a big deal for her and she's going to need your help. Not just this week but for a good few years to come I suspect."

"I will, I promise."

When we got back there was still no sign Markus and Heike and it was almost five in the afternoon. We showered then joined Daniel and Kate on the balcony.

"Claude has got Poppy an appointment with a surgeon on Thursday," Kate said excitedly.

"That's great news," I told her and Lesley agreed.

"The only problem is it's in Geneva."

Geneva wasn't too far away. Less than an hour by car.

"Would you like me to come with you?" Lesley asked.

"Would you mind?"

"Of course not, Sis'. The boys can go out on their bikes and if we can persuade Heike then we can make it into a girls' trip."

"Thank you Sis'."

Markus and Heike arrived at six. Markus was on a motorbike, a brand new BMW K100, while Heike was acting as support vehicle. She was driving the car that Lesley had driven back from Titisee when we'd rescued Heike and Aldo from being drugged and almost raped.

"I'm sorry we are late," said Markus. "In Germany they joke that BMW means 'Bring Mich Werkstatt' which, translated, basically means 'take me to the garage'."

"And guess where we've been?" Heike said laughing.

Heike made a beeline for me and hugged me for so long that Markus had greeted and hugged everyone else by the time she let go. When she finally did, she hugged Lesley for almost as long before greeting Kate and Daniel.

"I didn't know you rode a bike," I said to Markus when we shook hands.

"I did when I was younger, then I gave it up."

"Markus has been riding this bike to work every day for the last month to get some practise in," Heike said proudly.

"Have you been on the back of a bike before?" I asked her.

"Not yet, but I plan to this week. I've got all the gear with me."

Markus and Heike checked-in at the hotel reception then we all had a beer on the terrace. There was a lot to bring them up to speed on. Kate told them about Poppy first, then about the photo shoot in the morning. Only Daniel, Kate, Lesley and I were committed to taking part but when Heike heard which magazine it was for she begged Markus to let her be in it too.

As we finished our beer the topic of conversation turned to where we were going to eat that evening.

"We thought we'd go to a place that does great barbecue food," Daniel explained. "If you like we can ride there or just go by car."

"Can we go by bike?" Heike asked her husband.

"Of course," he replied. "Let's go and squeeze you into your leathers."

When we regrouped in the hotel lobby it looked like the magazine shoot had come early. All three girls were in their leather jackets and trousers and they looked fantastic. I particularly liked to see Lesley in hers. Her red hair offset the black leathers perfectly. We got the bikes ready and as the girls were about to get on Kate explained about our swapping partners to Heike before climbing onto the back of my bike. Markus quickly instructed his wife on the basics of what to do and what not to do as a pillion and then we were off.

I have never tasted a burger as good as the one I had that night. It was out of this world and a sentiment echoed by Markus who also had one. The girls all had chicken and Daniel had a steak. The conversation flowed easily and by the end of the meal everybody was feeling both relaxed and full. Remembering Daniel's words about making sure that Markus and Heike shouldn't pay for anything I quietly settled the bill when nobody was looking. It felt good to be picking up the tab, even if it wasn't really with my money. When Markus realised what had happened he made the point of saying that tomorrow night's dinner would be on them. Daniel wouldn't hear of it however, telling them that they were investors in Durolitum and that we would be taking care of everything this week.

"Does that mean I can ask for anything I want?" Heike said mischievously.

"Err... Within reason," Daniel replied cautiously.

"I'd like to borrow Steven for the night then," Heike responded boldly. "And Kate, as I've stolen your man, I'd like you to look after Markus for me."

"It will be a pleasure," Kate said smiling at Markus.

"In that case, we'll see you in the morning," Heike confirmed.

Heike got up from the table and led me away. When we got to the bike, I asked her where she wanted to go and she told me that she just wanted to go to a bar where nobody knew who we were. So we put our helmets on and headed for Annecy.

By chance we passed a bar with a lot of motorbikes outside and Heike dug me in the ribs indicating that she wanted to stop there. We parked up with the rest of the bikes, and left our helmets on the bike like everyone else had. You couldn't do that in the UK for fear of not having a helmet at the end of the evening.

The moment we were off the bike Heike wanted to kiss and I was very happy to oblige. We got a beer but there were no seats available so we stood at the bar and drank them. Heike draped herself over me, not caring who was watching. We'd obviously stumbled on the place to drink if you were a biker but I couldn't help notice how much more stylish the French bikers were, compared to their English counterparts.

"You're a natural pillion," I told her.

"I'll let you into a secret," she said. "When I was younger I had a boyfriend who was a bike nut. He didn't have a car so we used to go everywhere on it."

"So why did you say you've not been on the back of a bike before?"

"Because I want Markus to think I'm a virgin. I want him to think he's my first?" she laughed. "You won't say anything, will you?"

"Of course not."

Heike kissed me some more, but while we were kissing she jumped like she'd been electrocuted.

"That guy just felt my backside," she said pointing to a guy who'd walked past us. He had a denim waistcoat over his bike jacket and looked like he belonged to a club.

"Do you want me to say something?"

"No. I guess that's the French for you."

"I'm not sure they're all a nation of bottom feelers," I said and she giggled.

We got back to our canoodling but the next thing I knew was when Heike broke free from me. The same guy was now standing next to her and feeling her arse in front of his mates. Heike turned round and proceeded to slap the guy around the face.

"Fuck off you bastard," she screamed at him.

The guy leered at Heike then slapped her, not too hard, but hard enough to shock her. The he turned to me, pushed his finger into my chest and said something to me in French. I'm pretty sure it was a warning to keep her under control but I guess it was possible he was admiring my jacket. Either way, the first right hander almost certainly broke his nose. I followed it up with a left hook that slapped him hard in the ear and then a right upper cut.

The whole thing took two, maybe three, seconds and his friends were slow to react as he slumped backwards into a table full of drinkers. I pulled the Damascus knife from my pocket and it opened with a reassuring click. Then I heard a bottle smash as Heike broke the one she'd been drinking out of. She knelt down by the now semi-conscious guy and held the jagged edge of the bottle to his neck.

"You fucking bastard," Heike screamed into his face. "Nobody fucking does to that to me."

From a nearby table a guy in his early twenties, who looked like a young Elvis, got up.

"Whoa, whoa, stop!" he said holding up his hands as if surrendering. "Everybody calm down. You speak English right?"

"Heike," I said gently. "Take the bottle away from the guy's neck. You don't want to kill him by accident."

Heike got up and stood next to me and young Elvis held open his jacket to reveal a bowie knife in a sheath which he removed and handed to Heike.

"You can put the bottle down now," he said. "I don't want you to catch yourself on the glass," he said trying to make a joke.

It was a cool thing to do and Heike, pumped up on adrenalin, laughed nervously at his joke.

"Take him outside," young Elvis said to the group who were now surrounding us. "Get his cut and make sure he knows he's not welcome here anymore."

A group of four guys picked up the biker and took him out of the bar.

"I'm Eddy, the president of the Diablos. We're the local club around here," he said. "The guy who was bothering you was prospecting for us. We expect our prospects to treat women properly. We also expect them to be able to fight. It looks like he failed on both counts."

"I'm Steven and this is Heike."

"I'm pleased to meet you. Can I buy you both a drink?"

"Sure."

Eddy led us back to the table he was sitting at and ushered away his compatriots. We all sat down and Heike placed the sheathed knife on the table.

"I've never actually seen anyone smash a bottle like that before," he said, "except in the movies."

"Bottles are really hard to break," said Heike. "You only get one chance so the trick is to hit them very hard against metal or stone. Never against wood. The bottles in the movies are fake."

"You sound like you've been practising."

"I have. I was assaulted last year."

"I'm sorry."

"For the first couple of months afterwards I was afraid to leave the house by myself but then I decided I didn't want to be a victim. And so I started learning self-defence."

"I didn't know that," I said.

"Each week Klaus spends an afternoon with me. We do everything, guns, knives, hand to hand."

I remembered Klaus from Titisee. He was ex German Police Special Forces. You didn't mess with Klaus.

A waitress brought over some beers and Eddy put his hand gently on her waist as she put them down. She didn't seem upset by this at all, quite the opposite in fact. She touched his shoulder fondly and smiled at him, she can only have been eighteen or nineteen.

"Your girlfriend?" Heike asked.

"I wish," Eddy said wistfully.

"She looks keen on you. What's her name?" Heike observed,

"Stephanie," Eddy told her. Then changing the subject he said "Look I'm sorry about our prospect, some people try to join clubs for the wrong reasons. We're not thugs or criminals. We just like partying and riding bikes really."

"Well, you're in a great part of the world for that."

"We are. Where do you live?"

"I'm in London and Heike's in Munich," I told him.

"So you're not a couple?"

Heike looked at me.

"No, we're not a couple," she said, then leant over and kissed me on the cheek, "but we are very good friends."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, you make a great team."

"Thank you Eddy. You seem like a decent guy too and you look just like Elvis Presley when he was younger."

"Thank you, Heike," Eddy replied, pleased at the compliment.

"We should be going," Heike said to me.

"Ok,"

Heike looked down at the table.

"How much for the knife?" she asked.

"Keep it," he said. "It's yours."

Heike reached into her pocket and peeled off a five hundred franc note from a small clip of notes then put it on the table then picked up the knife.

"It was nice meeting you," she said then we walked away.

As we walked out Heike made a point of searching out the waitress.

"Stephanie?" she asked when she found her. "Do you speak English?"

The girl replied in French in an apologetic tone.

Heike looked over to where Eddy was sitting and he looked back at us. She motioned for him to come over and Eddy got up and walked over, slightly embarrassed.

"Eddy. I need you to translate for me please," she asked. "Can you ask Stephanie if she'd like to go out with you."

Eddy did as he was told and the response seemed positive.

"She said yes," Eddy relayed back to Heike, smiling.

"So when are you going on your date?" Heike asked.

Eddy and the girl spoke in French again.

"Friday," he confirmed.

Heike pulled out her money clip and pressed four five hundred franc notes into Stephanie's hand.

"Please can you tell Stephanie to use this money to buy a proper leather jacket. Tell her that she needs to wear it when she's on your bike. She's far too pretty to damage herself falling off."

Eddy translated again and the girl thanked Heike effusively.

"Now ask her for a kiss."

Eddy hesitated for a moment then said something a little bit longer than a simple request for a kiss. Whatever he said it met with a positive response. In fact Stephanie wasn't shy about kissing Eddy at all. A few whoops and wolf whistles came from Eddy's club mates as the kiss continued and when they finished there were smiles all round. Heike hugged the two of them and I shook Eddy's hand and then we left.

I'd like to tell you that Eddy and Stephanie lived happily ever after. In truth I can't even tell you if they went out on their date, but I'd like to think that they did.

On the way back to the hotel we rode along the lake shore. When the urbanisation ended Heike jabbed me in the ribs and indicated that she wanted me to pull over. When we stopped she almost pulled me off the bike and dragged me to the lake shore. She pushed me down onto the grass pulled down my jeans then remove her trousers and climbed on top of me. Then, basically, she fucked me until we both came. I was a willing participant but in all honesty Heike was so high on the evening's events that anyone with an erection would have probably sufficed.

When we got back to the hotel we went to her suite I poured us both a scotch. We took it to bed where Heike wanted more sex. Again she pushed me onto the bed then climbed on top of me but I tussled with her and rolled her over so that I ended up on top. I pinned her arms down and she pretended to struggle for a while then she relaxed and we began to kiss as I fucked her slowly.

"Thank you for tonight," she whispered.

"Shut up and let me fuck you," I told her.

******************

The photo shoot was arranged for eleven o'clock on Wednesday morning and so we all met at nine for breakfast. Heike was still on a high from the night before and she regaled everyone with the tale of what had happened, including telling them how she'd smashed a bottle and held its jagged edge to a man's throat. When she produced Eddy's Bowie knife and removed it from the sheath for all to see, the waiter, who was serving coffee at the time, spilt some on the table-cloth.

After breakfast the girls retired in an excited gaggle to get ready, leaving Markus, Daniel and I at the breakfast table.

"I'm sorry, Markus," I told him. "I had no idea that was going to happen last night."

"When you visited us in January, you and Heike had sex in a nightclub toilet, didn't you?" he asked. "Then you had to bribe the hotel doorman to get her into your room because he thought she was a prostitute?"

Daniel's face went ashen.

"It's true," I admitted. "Although in my defence, I needed to go to the toilet and Heike was scared of being left alone."

Markus laughed. "And did all that really happen last night? Even the bottle to the throat?"

"It was pretty much as Heike described," I conceded.

"No wonder she looks forward to seeing you."

"You're not angry?"

"Of course not."

"That's a relief," I told him.

"Heike's always been feisty," he said. "That's one of the things I love about her. After she was assaulted the sparkle went out of her eyes for a while. It's good to see it back. It's as simple as that."

"The lessons with Klaus have given her a lot more confidence." I told him. "She was impressive in the bar."