The Lover's Children novel Chapter 127

HARKNESS

“Regretting you came yourself instead of sending your slut daughter?”

She doesn’t speak, Fumbling, she rips the top and the pack splits open, spilling nuts over the floor. Colouring up, she mutters. “Sorry.”

Opening a second packet, she tips it into another bowl. Popping open the can of tonic on the drainer, she half fills the glass, then goes back to the fridge and pulls out a tray of ice, popping a couple of cubes into the glass. Twisting off the cap of the gin bottle, she pours half the bottle.

The ice rattles in the glass as she glugs down the lot, then pours again. Drinks again. Then gets another bottle, another can, from the fridge.

She pops a nut into her mouth, her movements sluggish. “Weird, isn’t it. With chips and peanuts. One’s never enough.” She scoops up a handful of nuts, downs the lot, washing it down with another drink. “Gin always gives me an appetite. Beer and whiskey too.”

“Yeah, me too. Anything else in there to eat?”

She peers inside the mini-fridge. “No, that’s it.”

“I’m fucking hungry.”

“It’s a mini-bar.” She snorts. “What did you expect? Burgers? Pizza?”

Dutch courage?

Gin making her brave?

“Don’t get smart.” I stroke the kid’s head. “She’s a sweet little thing, isn’t she. Be a shame if anything happened to her.”

Old-Whore blinks rapidly, looking down. Then, looking up again, she fakes a smile, nodding to the fridge. “Would you like anything else?”

“Pour me another beer. Did you say there was whiskey?

“That's right. Want a chaser?”

“Sure. If the idea of all this is to get me drunk, you won't. Not with a couple of beers.”

“I can see that.” She purses her lips a little, as though disappointed. “But that wasn’t my idea at all. I just thought we might make it… pleasanter… for both of us.”

“It's already gonna be pleasant for me. Don't worry, I'll pay you before we're done. That’s what you do with whores, isn’t it? Pay them.”

She nods, popping another can and tipping the contents of a small bottle into another glass. She sets them down on the side table, next to my bag.

The beer’s good. The whiskey too, mellow and warm. A pretty decent brand considering where we are. It feels like weeks since I could relax. It’s been weeks. “So, what was it all about? What you said to the other one?”

She slow blinks. “Sorry? What was what about?” Her pupils are pinning. She’s trying to pretend she’s not scared. She’s putting up a good front too, but not good enough.

My groin tightens.

Knife play first?

Or mouth first?

“Sher-hara-something… What was that about?”

“Scheherazade.” She smiles. Another fake smile, like everything else about her. “You don’t know it? It’s quite a long story in its own right...” She tosses her hair… “I’m not sure you’d be interested, a man like you.”

“No hurry. Try me.”

“Okay...” She glances at the fridge… “Um, do you mind?”

“Go ahead. I’ll have one too.”

She refills both glasses then, “You know the Thousand and One Nights?”

“The what?”

“The stories you probably read as a little boy. Or maybe you saw the movies. Aladdin. Sinbad the Sailor. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves…”

How soundproof is this place?

“Sure I know it. Kid’s stuff. What’ve they got to do with anything?”

Could I get away without taping her mouth?

I bet she’s a real screamer…

She arranges herself on the couch. “If you read the book, Scheherazade was the woman who told the tales.” She tilts her head, flexes herself to curve her waist, presents her tits. “Scheherazade was a concubine to a powerful king. One of many. Her purpose was to entertain her Master.”

If there’s no one next door, it’d be safe enough…

I snort. “Entertain? With kid’s stories? I bet that wasn’t all she did to entertain him.”

“Oh, for sure, no. But the king, Shahryar, he wanted more than just sex…”

She lounges back, displaying herself. “Sex, even the best sex, only lasts so long. Even a virile man… A really virile man… needs more than that. And the stories… Well, they weren’t stories for children as they were originally told. In modern times they’ve been…” She rocks her hand… “…watered down. Scheherazade told him a new story every night, for a thousand and one nights.”

“S’that right?”

“Yes, it is. If you believe the stories anyway.”

My stomach growls. The alcohol’s giving me an appetite. “You sure there’s nothing more to eat in there?”

“I’ll check, but I don’t think so.” She reaches across, rummaging through the fridge. “Nope, that’s the lot.”

“Shame. So, a thousand and one nights? Three years? Why was she telling him these stories for so long?”

“It kept her alive…” She meets my eyes.

“Yeah..?”

My cock’s beginning to squeeze…

Spread her on the bed? Cuff her to the corners?

“… Go on. I’m listening…”

“So…” she says. “What would you like, oh, King?”

Or make her kneel?

Cable-tie her hands behind her…

Then ram the gag in…

“King? Yeah, that’ll do.”

Where to put the kid?