Champagne Kisses (26 page)

I stood just outside the door for a couple of minutes trying to figure out what to do.

I was a single girl who was wearing nothing more than knickers and a coat, and had stale beer breath. Where could I possibly go?

Fuck it, I thought, calling the lift. This was the sexy city of Dublin. The possibilities were endless for a woman like me.

I didn’t need to hang around here like a pathetic groupie. I was just going to step out into the night and see where the streets would take me.

The cute barman handed me a glass of champagne and said, ‘Compliments of the two gentlemen in the corner. They said don’t be lonely.’

I had only made it as far as Rounder’s Bar downstairs in the Hartley. But it was as good a place as any to entertain myself.

As I thanked the barman I stretched on my stool to see where he was pointing, and found two attractive guys raising their glasses to me. Politely I toasted them back with their champagne, which somehow gave them the green light to get up out of their seats and walk towards me.

With no time to think, I could only fix my hair and look approachable.

‘Thank you for my drink,’ I gushed as the duo arrived over.

‘You’re more than welcome,’ said the better-looking of the two, and then introduced himself. ‘I’m Bill, and this is Mark.’

Since they had Dublin accents and didn’t have the appearance of escaped mental patients, I kept smiling. After all, they were the best offer – well, only offer – of company I had had so far.

A couple beside me got up to leave. Bill looked at their vacated seats and asked, ‘Would you mind if we joined you?’ The word ‘Sure’ had barely left my mouth when my new mate Mark came out with a cheesy line that sort of annoyed me.

‘Of course she’d like us to join her. She’s too beautiful to be drinking alone.’

But I realized that I was a bit tetchy from my disappointment with Michael, so I laughed it off and said, ‘Bet you say that to all the girls,’ meaning every word of it.

An hour and two glasses of champagne later Bill and Mark had told me that they were part-time models
and
in the middle of recording an album. Apparently they had spent the afternoon putting down a ‘really funky tune’ in Brian McFadden’s old studio and were certain that it would get picked up soon. ‘But we don’t need that fucker Louis Walsh,’ explained Mark. ‘That asshole doesn’t know what he’s talking about half the time.’

Tiring of their endless wannabe banter I kept checking my phone, but no calls or texts were beeping through. While it had been fantastic to see Michael, even after all this time, I couldn’t get it out of my head the way that scrawny guy had barked at him.

It seemed like a deep lack of respect for the photographer, especially one who had been flown over from New York to do the shoot.

Was Michael really the guy he said he was?

I was quickly dragged back out of my daydream when the two lads started to hum melodies.

I was mortified for them!

Although I wasn’t usually made to feel uncomfortable by people being loud, other drinkers had started to stare, and these guys had really started to make me fidgety. In between their ‘hummmms’ and ‘ah-haaaas’ and their predictions of the death of Westlife, I knew I had to plan an exit.

But it was only when I had stepped up and made the excuse that I needed to use the toilet that the guys showed their true colours.

‘Sorry, before you go,’ Bill giggled, ‘well, we were actually hoping you’d settle a bet for us.’

Somehow I sensed something bad, so I just flattened my fringe on my face and sternly said, ‘Fair enough. What’ya wanna know?’

Instantly the two boys broke into fits of laughter, almost spilling their pints, before Mark piped up, ‘What are you wearing under your coat? Bill reckons you’re on the game, so you’d have nothing on underneath.’

I was speechless.

Did they just call me a prostitute?

As I stood and scowled at them, the two boys high-fived each other, repeatedly telling themselves, ‘You the man’ – ‘No, you the man!’

I walked out of the bar.

There was no point in telling them off. It was standard behaviour for Dublin blokes, but how could they think that it was acceptable?

It was occasions like this that left me totally disillusioned by men.

There just had to be decent men out there waiting to adore or at least be nice to me, didn’t there?

I walked about for twenty minutes to clear my head before finally making for the cobbled streets of Temple Bar where I settled in Tanta Zoe’s for some grub. Having devoured some Cajun chicken popcorn and a bottle of Wolf Blass, I finally got the call I’d been waiting for.

‘How’s my Oirish queen?’ His New York tone made my heart skip a beat.

‘Fairly drunk,’ I replied, slurring.

‘Do I need to send out a search party for you? Or can you get back to the Hartley?’

‘Nope, I’m just five minutes away in a taxi. Are ya ready for me?’

‘I think I’ll need to sink a few beers to prepare myself for the Eva invasion. But get your tasty ass back up here, beautiful. I’ll be waiting. Oh, and I’ve a surprise for you.’

Ah fuck. I was dreading another surprise. Knowing my luck, he’d probably have a spot on his willy too!

‘Eva, you’ve met Lucy, I believe.’

A broad grin spread across his face as he introduced me to his drinking partner.

Although the suite was still stuffed with luggage and equipment, all previous bodies had left. Lucy,
my
Lucy, had replaced the throng. And taken up a place at the bar with Michael.

‘I asked her to join us for a drink. I hope you don’t mind?’

I was choked. Did I mind? I was preparing myself for a big romantic reunion, and all of a sudden I walk in on a cosy drinks party.

I felt such a fool. This was not how I had imagined things working out.

I reached for the appropriate words as we politely kissed each other on both cheeks. ‘Of course. Good to see you. So, eh, how do you two know each other?’

Before Michael had a chance to speak, Lucy piped up, ‘We met last night, actually, at the Haven.’

‘Really?’ Automatically I flipped into jealous girlfriend mode.

Realizing that might get my back up, Michael quickly shoved a beer in my hand and said, ‘I’m sorry, we got in late. I was going to call you, but …’

‘But what?’

‘But nothing. I should have called you straight away. Listen, I’m a bollix. Now let’s just enjoy tonight. Lucy here tells me you’re a very talented dancer.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘And a kisser,’ laughed Lucy as she banged her teeth on her glass of white wine.

‘
Lucy
…’

‘Ah relax, Eva. He knows about us. I know about you two.’

‘And now we all know about each other. Cheers!’ Michael raised his beer and encouraged us to do the same with our drinks.

Feeling too fuzzy to argue with them I pulled up a stool beside Lucy and tried to let the shock of seeing her and my anger over the fact that Michael hadn’t called me the second he had arrived in Dublin Airport float over my head.

So I tried to ‘Chillax’ as Michael suggested and made an effort to enjoy the mutual flirting.

After a time we moved from the bar to the lounge to play CDs – and that’s when Lucy kissed me. Like everything with this pair it came totally out of the
blue
. While Michael was sitting on the floor shifting through discs beside the CD player, Lucy found her moment and planted her lips on mine.

I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, but I didn’t fight it.

And then, like the time before, I enjoyed her touch. So I went for it and kissed her back with months of pent-up emotion inside me. I had almost been living like a saint since the summer, in between looking after Maddie and the freelance work I had picked up with some new contacts.

But while this was what I considered having fun, and I was going with the flow, there was something niggling at the back of my mind …

No amount of free internet porn could equal the pleasure of standing in a penthouse suite, being kissed by a gorgeously hot sassy babe, so I blanked out my worries. Even though I considered myself straight, for a moment I almost forgot Michael was in the room – well, almost! As my ears swelled to the sound of Amy Winehouse’s voice singing ‘Valerie’, my wet tongue played inside Lucy’s mouth while our hands explored the other’s body.

This wasn’t the evening I had planned, but it served Michael right that I could enjoy Lucy’s company more than his.

Of course Lucy was taking no prisoners and started to rub the curve of my waist and work her hands downwards. As I kissed her I just wanted to get even closer to her, so I pawed my way across her face,
touching
her silky hair which smelt so good, and grasped the back of her head to pull her as close as possible.

As I raised my arms in beat with the music I could feel my coat rise up a little.

Lucy already had her hands on my ass by this stage and I could sense her giggle as she tucked them under my hem to touch my peachy bare bum. I felt myself surrender to the naughtiness of the moment … then Michael put his arms around the two of us.

‘Girls, girls,’ he interrupted, ‘let’s not rush things. You gotta let me cut in on some of the play.’

Separating the two of us he put his arms around us and guided us towards the coffee table which had six parallel lines of coke measured up on it. ‘Let’s not lose pace,’ he said as he handed Lucy a rolled up fifty. And then as he pulled me in for a kiss he whispered, ‘I want this to be a long and special night. I can’t have you falling asleep on me.’

So there I stood kissing Michael as I heard Lucy snort up two lines of coke.

As we stopped she handed me the note and walked off towards the balcony doors, adjusting her nose.

Feeling a little pressurized I offered the note to Michael to try and get myself off the hook, but he wouldn’t take it, and insisted I did the coke.

‘I don’t need it,’ I pleaded, but Michael wasn’t taking no for an answer.

‘Don’t let the party down,’ he said, as he kissed my cheek, ‘get them into you and let’s continue the party outside in the Jacuzzi.’

Did he just suggest the Jacuzzi? I had obviously thought about us slipping into the tub and the fun we might have, but that was before I realized Lucy was part of the set-up.

Did he mean the three of us in the Jacuzzi? What was I supposed to do? I’ve never been part of a threesome before. What the fuck is the protocol between two women and one man? Do we all go at it at once or do we take turns? I felt my heart racing and I hadn’t even done any drugs yet.

Noticing my panic, Michael stroked my head and kissed me. ‘It’s OK. Don’t worry, we’ll take things nice and slow,’ he told me.

‘Michael …’

‘Eva, everything’s gonna be fine. Just relax. You’re among friends and I’m gonna look after you. And so is Lucy.’

He pushed the outstretched hand which was holding the note back towards my chest and whispered, ‘Come with me, baby.’

Although there was a part of me that wanted to flee, there was a bigger part of me that wanted to stay and let myself be free. This was far from an everyday occurrence so, reckoning I’d be a long time dead, I gave in to temptation.

Taking a leap of faith I knelt down at the table face to face with the coke. And there was no denying it scared me. So many young people had died in Ireland due to cocaine in the last few years. Was I going to be the next casualty?

Michael knew I wasn’t a willing player so he rubbed my back and kept gently coaxing me, ‘Let’s not waste it, babe.’

Erasing all thoughts from my head, I decided just to go for it. It was now or never. So I tightened the rolled note and bent over my lines. With huge enthusiasm I began to snort the first line, but ran out of steam halfway through it. By now the competitive streak in me came out, so not wanting to be beaten by two seemingly simple lines of coke – Lucy had devoured hers with ease – I gave it another shot and polished off my designated drugs with gusto.

Expecting a massive rush, I was slightly disappointed when it didn’t hit, so I stood up, passed the note to Michael, who practically ripped it out of my hand, and waited for my energy surge.

Initially my nose froze up and started to run, which was not the glamorous side-effect I had wanted. I ran back over to the bar and grabbed a napkin and tried to mop up the dribbles without ruining my make-up. I was swaggering back over to Michael, who had already finished his lines, when my whole body started to feel weird. I suddenly felt more confident and had the urge for conversation, yet my head felt light and my stomach a little sick. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.

I wasn’t sure if I liked it yet, but I was determined not to let it get the better of me.

‘I want to dance!’ I whooped, slapping Michael on the bum.

It was clear he had other ideas.

‘Well, I want you to take that coat off. You’ve been teasing me all night with that thing on.’

Despite snorting a whole lot of confidence, I wasn’t quite up for a striptease for both Michael and Lucy, even if I was very much attracted to both of them. I had to think quick to distract them from his suggestion.

‘Can we order champagne first?’

‘Too late.’

‘What’dya mean? Too late for what?’ I was confused by his answer.

‘I’ve already ordered it, pumpkin. And it’s waiting for us beside the Jacuzzi.’ ‘Oh …’

‘And it’s pink,’ he explained as he spun me around and walked me towards the open balcony door.

We stepped outside into the fresh night – and there was Lucy straight in front of us already in the steaming tub taking full advantage of the hospitality.

‘Come on in,’ she said, topping up her glass with more champagne, ‘the water is fantastic, and as you can see it’s just as bubbly as the Laurent Perrier.’

By now the cocaine was obviously starting to work its magic, as the Jacuzzi with Lucy in it was looking like a plan.

But how would I get in?

Judging by the mound of clothes beside the Jacuzzi Lucy was already in her birthday suit, which put pressure on me to strip down too.

The way I saw it, I had one of two options. Either I could run back inside, strip down to the buff and come back out with a bathrobe wrapped around me. Or I could fling off my coat and jump into the water with all my underwear still on and then remove the offending items from the safety of the Jacuzzi.