The Temptress (42 page)

‘Shit, Lulu, what the hell?’ came a furious
voice. I looked up, stunned to see Trey Douglas, my go to male escort, for the
cases where I’d needed evidence against cheating wives. He was panting hard and
had his fists bunched up at his sides. He quickly crouched beside me and ran
his hand gently over my hair. ‘Are you ok?’

‘Trey, what are you …’ I shook my head as I
took some deep breaths, trying to calm down. I was safe now, Trey was here, I
was no longer in danger. I needed to compose myself. I quickly looked around to
hear groaning from the floor at the bottom of the bed where that vile piece of work
was curled up, wheezing and gasping. Seconds later I felt Trey’s arms gently
lifting me up.

‘No,’ I moaned, tensing up at him touching me.

‘It’s ok, it’s just me, I won’t let him near
you again. Deep breaths, you’re safe now. Trust me,’ he said softly, as he
looked down into my scared eyes. I swallowed and nodded. Trey would protect me.
He walked me to the bed and carefully lay me down. ‘Stay there, don’t move, I
mean it Lu,’ he warned, before turning to face Mr. De Vere, crumpled on the
floor. ‘Right you piece of shit. Think you’re tough hitting a woman? Why don’t
you stand up and have a go at me?’

‘Water,’ he croaked in response.

‘I’m giving you nothing, you can choke to death
for all I care. You’re bloody lucky I don’t get a few punches of my own in.
Hotel security are on their way to deal with you.’

‘I need the bathroom,’ I whispered as Trey
looked over at me. I was still reeling from the last few minutes, but I didn’t
have time to wallow. I had to think fast, this was going to become a police
matter. Trey nodded, bent down and picked up Mr. De Vere’s tie from the floor,
quickly securing his hands behind his back. He dragged him over to the
sideboard and lifted the corner, making sure the leg slid down between Mr. De
Vere’s knotted hands and the small of his back, securing him and making sure he
couldn’t escape. Not that he was in a fit state, he was still finding it hard
to breathe, especially as his swollen nose continued to ooze blood. He looked a
mess. I probably did, but lying down for a minute had helped. Trey came and
helped me up, putting his arm around me as he led me to the bathroom. As soon
as we were inside I shut and locked the door. ‘I need to phone the office now,
I’m recording this, Henry needs to doctor the sound recording and put it on my
phone, as if I pressed record while I was scared for my life. This shit needs
locking up.’

‘While
you
were scared for your life? Jesus,
I was scared for it too. Fuck, Lulu. Look at your face. What were you thinking,
coming up to a room with no backup?’

‘Please don’t start, trust me, I’m still
shaking, I feel stupid enough as it is. Not that I’m not grateful for the save,
but why are you here?’ I asked as I dialled Henry’s number.

‘You think Violet was going to stand by while
you went off on this crazy appointment by yourself. She rang me and asked me to
come and keep an eye on you. I followed you out of the bar and took the stairs.
Violet had told me what room he was booked into, so I watched you enter and was
waiting outside. She said if you weren’t out in five minutes I was to get you
out, but I heard you scream first.’

‘Give me one second, go nowhere,’ I ordered,
holding up a finger to silence him. As Henry answered adrenaline kicked in, I
switched from victim to efficient business mode and quickly gave Henry an
update, telling him that speed was of the essence. I hung up and turned to face
Trey, who was pacing back and forth. ‘Ok for this to work, you were the guy I
met on the internet and agreed to hook up with. You got a flat tyre that’s why
you’re late, you saw me being shepherded upstairs by him and followed me out of
concern, before knocking the door down when you heard me scream. Got it?’

‘Got it,’ he nodded. ‘Fake names?’

‘No, they’ll call the police, if we want this
to stick we need to be us. I used Isabelle Granger when I spoke to him, but I
can say I used a fake name and profession, as I was embarrassed picking up a
guy in a bar. The important thing is he’s charged with attempted rape. I told
him I’d been drinking, but I’ve only had one. Is there any way you can get me
some miniatures? I need to knock them back before I get tested, having been
slightly drunk will help with “the defenceless victim who tried to change her
mind” story and there were people in the lift with us that may well have seen I
was uncomfortable with him touching me.’

‘Sure, what’s your poison?’

‘Vodka,’ I replied.

‘Stay locked in here. Play it that you’re feeling
scared and vulnerable. When I return we can handle the fall out,’ he nodded.

‘Thank you,’ I whispered, convinced the scared
and vulnerable wouldn’t be hard to pretend. I’d never had a case go south as
fast as that had.

‘I’m just glad Violet called me,’ he sighed,
kissing the top of my head and disappearing. I quickly locked myself in and
went to stand by the sink, looking at myself in the mirror. I winced, my cheek
was really swollen and starting to bruise already, my face and white blouse
were covered in his blood and my stomach really hurt from where he’d punched me.
I suddenly felt overwhelmed and tears started to pour down my face as I
realised how lucky I’d just been. All of a sudden I wanted Luc, I wanted his
strong arms around me, but I couldn’t call him, he’d be furious with me. I’d
said I wasn’t putting myself at risk anymore and I’d gone out and done just
that. What had I been thinking? I had Tristan, I couldn’t afford to be reckless
like this. I gently lowered myself onto the toilet as I started to sob, vaguely
aware of voices outside. I pulled myself together and wiped my eyes.

‘Lulu, it’s Violet, please open the door for
me.’

‘Violet?’ I whispered in surprise. I reached
over to unlock it, groaning at the pain in my stomach as I moved. She slipped
in and closed it, leaning back on it as she looked down at me and gasped in
horror.

‘O my
God
, Trey said you looked awful,
but … what were you thinking?’ she uttered.

‘I wasn’t. Please don’t get mad at me, I feel
stupid enough as it is.’

‘He rang me straight away and slipped me this.
Here, get some of this down you,’ she advised, as she handed me a half-sized
bottle of vodka.

‘What’s happening out there?’ I asked, as I
glugged some back.

‘The paramedics are checking him out. Apparently
he has sore testicles, a broken nose and bruised windpipe, you got him good.
They’re saying they’ll take him to hospital with a police escort. Once you give
your statement, he’ll probably be charged with attempted rape and GBH. How are
we going to spin this?’

‘Cover’s already in place, he had no idea he
was being investigated and it needs to stay that way. I need you to ring Mrs.
De Vere, explain what happened and ask her if questioned that no mention of our
services comes up. She gets what she wants, a divorce with evidence of
attempted adultery and worse, I can’t see her risking that by admitting this
was all a setup, except for the part where he got nasty with me. I’m just Lulu
McQueen, lonely woman in need of a bit of a thrill who booked Trey via a hook
up site.’

‘Shit, you’d better think of a way to spin this
for Luc. He’s not going to be happy.’

‘Tell me about it,’ I groaned. ‘Good job Hilda
has special foundation to cover up bruises like this.’

‘Ok, one last swig of vodka, then we’d better
go and face them. I rang Dom to tell him what happened and that I didn’t know
what time you’d be home.’

‘Shit, how mad was he?’

‘I won’t repeat the words, but I told him not
to tell your parents and that you were safe with Trey.’

‘Thank you,’ I sighed.

It was nearly four a.m. by the time Trey
dropped me home, helping me to the front door. I’d given statements, been
checked and cleaned up by the paramedics, who were concerned that I refused to
go to hospital. I just wanted to get home to Tristan. I still had this blood
soaked shirt on me and while they’d wiped it all off my face and chest, I felt
dirty. I wanted a shower.

‘Trey I’m so grateful, I’ll get Sandra to sort
out a full booking payment for you.’

‘Count this as a freebie, Lulu, just promise me
you won’t do anything like this again.’

‘I promise, we’ve dropped these types of cases,
this was the last anyway, ironic huh?!’ I kissed his cheek and he kissed my
forehead, waiting until I’d opened the door and stepped in before he strode back
to his Audi TT. I waved goodbye and locked myself in, sighing as I headed through
to the lounge. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart in my mouth, to see not
just Dom sitting up waiting for me, but a furious looking Luc. He rose off the
sofa immediately, his face quickly changing to one of concern as his eyes took
in my face, blood splattered shirt and skinned knees. I could feel my heart
about to break my ribs it was beating so fast with nerves. ‘What are you doing
here? You can’t be here, what if Tristan wakes up,’ I uttered as he strode
purposefully towards me.

‘Do
not
make me any more furious than I
already am at your …
imbecilic
actions,’ he snapped, his tumultuous
feelings written all over his face. ‘If he wakes I will hide, but if you think
I am leaving your side, you underestimate the depth of my feelings for you.’ He
gently pulled me to him, laying my good cheek against his firm chest as he
stroked my hair. ‘I could have lost you,’ he whispered, his voice shaking with
emotion. ‘What were you thinking? You promised me this was over, that you did
not do these bookings anymore.’

‘I’m sorry, it was the last one we’d taken on,
there was no one else to fill in,’ I mumbled, feeling tears welling up in my
eyes again. I closed them quickly, luxuriating in the feel of his body
reassuringly pressed against mine. I suddenly felt safe again, like no one
could ever hurt me.

‘If you weren’t injured I’d be hauling you over
my knee right now,’ came Dom’s voice. ‘I still might.’

‘That makes two of us,’ Luc stated firmly. ‘I
warned you there would be consequences if you did something like this, I am a
man who likes to keep his word, but not when you are scared, shaking and
tearful. Come, I am taking you to bed. You will have to guide me,’ he advised,
as he gently lifted me up into his arms. He stopped in front of Dom, who leaned
in and kissed my forehead.

‘Seriously, sis,’ he sighed. ‘We’ve been
worried sick.’

‘Is Tristan ok?’ I asked.

‘Fast asleep in bed, totally oblivious to
everything, where you need to be. You don’t want him seeing you looking like
this. Go on up, I’ll organise a cold pack, hot water bottle and a hot chocolate
with some brandy in. I’ll give you some time to get cleaned up and changed
first.’

‘Thank you, you’re the best,’ I reached out and
squeezed his arm.

‘I am, I could have rung Coco and you’d really
have been in the shit,’ he advised, his eyebrows raised to make his point.

‘O God, please tell me you didn’t?’ I groaned.
She’d go mental with me.

‘I think you should be more worried about me,’
came Luc’s stern voice, as I wiped my eyes.

‘You haven’t met Coco,’ Dom and I said at the
same time, making me laugh and clutch my sore stomach at the same time.

‘I’ll ring her when she finishes work tomorrow,
so she doesn’t fret all day, but you know she’ll be straight over. Go on, get
her to bed, Luc. I’ll be up in a while.’

‘Thanks, Dom.’ I looked up at Luc as he carried
me to the stairs, wondering if he was holding back, one look at his tense jaw
told me that he was. I had a feeling I might live to regret tonight all over
again. ‘Turn right,’ I whispered, at the top of the stairs, as I guided him
across the large landing and into my master suite. He gently set me down and
headed to the door, hesitating for a moment as he stared over at Tristan’s room,
then sighed and shut us in.

‘Let’s get you undressed, I want to check what
damage has been done before we get you cleaned up.’

‘I’m fine, honestly,’ I protested, as he
slipped off my jacket.

‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ he snapped. I bit
my lip to stop myself from crying at his tone. His fingers moved to carefully
undo the buttons on my shirt. He shrugged it off my shoulders, his fingers
skimmed down my arms making me shiver. I heard him hiss through his teeth and
raised my eyes to see a look of pain on his face as he studied my bruised
stomach. ‘He’d better be locked up or I’ll kill the bastard.’

‘He is,’ I replied quietly, watching him sink
to his knees as he reached around and unzipped my skirt and gently tugged it,
until it slithered down my legs and pooled on the floor. He lay gentle kisses
from one hip to another, along the edge of my knickers, carefully releasing my suspenders
and rolling my stockings down.

‘How are you even here?’ I asked, as I ran my
fingers through his hair, while he lifted each of my feet off the floor to
remove my shoes and stockings.

‘I’d been calling your phone, trying to speak
to you as arranged and I got worried when you didn’t reply. I called your
landline, your brother answered and filled me in on what had happened. I
arranged to return immediately.’ He rose up and ran his hands through his hair
as he let out a deep sigh of frustration.

‘They have flights at that time in the
morning?’

‘Oui, but I have my own plane, I can have it
fuelled up and ready on short notice for emergencies. You being attacked
classes as an emergency. Right, shower. What do you wear to bed?’

‘Nothing,’ I replied. He had a plane? There was
so much about him I still didn’t know.

‘Do not make this any harder for me. I am in a
house where my son, who I cannot see or touch, lies not twenty feet away. The
woman I love is hurt and covered in bruises and yet she tempts me, as she
always tempts me. I’m angry with you and I want to punish you. I’m hurting for
you and I want to take care of you. I’m so in love with you that I too am in
pain to see you like this. My emotions are in turmoil. I do not like it. You
will
wear clothes as I am not leaving your side, I will be sleeping here
tonight. Where is your bathroom?’ he asked sharply.