Dare (The Dare Trilogy) (24 page)

Once she was ready, she closed the hotel door behind her and went down the corridor to the room where Janey was staying with her boys. There was no answer when she knocked on the door, which made her frown slightly. Surely Janey wouldn’t have left already. She knocked again, more loudly this time.

“Go away!” she recognised the voice and grinned.

“Get up you lazy slag!” she shouted through the door. “The day’ll be gone you get to see it, you fat bitch.”

She heard shuffling sounds from the other side and then the door opened a crack. She glimpsed red, bleary eyes and a mad tangle of blonde hair. “Who you calling fat?” Janey grumbled.

Dianne laughed and pushed gently on the door as Janey stood aside and let her enter. “Come on,” Dianne complained gently. “I want to have a look around Prague.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Janey had a sheet pulled around her. “Grab a drink and I’ll have a shower.” She walked to the bathroom, letting the sheet drop to the floor as she grabbed some clothes so that Dianne caught sight of her hips and buttocks, fuller than Dianne’s, her body slightly stockier.

The bed was a mess. While Janey had pulled the sheet from it, the duvet and pillows looked as though they had been witness to a battle. On the table lay an assortment of bottles, most of them empty or half-empty, and the surface was scattered with traces of white powder. Janey appeared to be throwing herself into the rock and roll lifestyle with an abandon that made Dianne look like a prude.

Making herself a coffee, she sat down on the sofa in the room. Feeling something wet on her buttocks, she quickly stood up: she didn’t want to think too much about what she’d sat in, and instead chose a chair on the other side of the room, gingerly sipping her coffee while she waited for Janey to finish.

When Janey emerged from the bathroom, all evidence of the bleary-eyed woman had gone, replaced by a fully made-up amazon dressed in a sheer, almost transparent blouse that showed her plump breasts, hoiked up in a bra, with a tight black skirt, slit to the thigh, her feet clad in patent black leather pumps.

“You look like you’re on the pull,” Dianne observed.

“I’d never betray my boys,” Janey remarked with a smile. “I just want to drive men wild. They can all look but they can’t touch.” She frowned at this. “Mind you, you look as though you’re doing a promotion for Oxfam. Is that the best you can do, Dianne?”

“Oh, piss off,” Dianne replied good naturedly. Yet it suddenly occurred to her that Janey had hit the mark: when they were both back in London, the pair of them had dressed to the nines, wearing outrageous costumes precisely to gain attention from everyone. Yet since she had been on tour Dianne had been dressing much more casually, as though to hide from the eyes of the world. She realised that there was only one person now she wanted to look at her that way.

As they waited for a cab, Janey lit up a cigarette, her natural ebullience returning as all the exhaustion of the previous night disappeared.

Although Janey wished to spend most of her time shopping, Jane insisted that they see the Castle which had first presented itself to them when they entered the city, savouring the experience of walking among the homely, antiquated houses of Golden Lane with their tiled roofs and heavily-beamed walls. Inside the castle itself they had a view across the entire city, which seemed to dazzle even Jane with its beauty so that she could not help but share Dianne’s enthusiasm.

It was late in the afternoon by this point, and both women were hungry. “That’s enough being a tourist,” Janey said. She gave her friend a sly smile: “I haven’t had you to myself since I joined you. I love my boys, but it’s time for us to have a proper girly chat. Come on, let’s get lunch and swap war stories.”

Shaking her head, Dianne submitted not unwillingly to the suggestion and they found a restaurant that served Italian food, though Janey’s choice of venue seemed to be determined more by the quality of the waiters than what they would eat.

“Doesn’t he look absolutely dishy,” Janey growled, pulling her sunglasses down her nose and gazing lasciviously at a tall, dark haired man who was taking orders from a nearby table. “I mean, that arse
—wouldn’t you love to sink your teeth into it?”

Dianne laughed and shook her head. “You are impossible!” she said in mock horror.

Janey shrugged. “Are you telling me you really wouldn’t fancy biting a pair of taut buttocks like that? What’s happened to you, Dianne?”

With a sigh, Dianne looked across once more at the waiter who was bending slightly as he placed cutlery on the table. He did have a very nice backside, she had to admit, but it wasn’t the backside she wanted. Without warning a vision of Cam, naked and walking to the bathroom, his muscular buttocks clenching and unclenching as he moved each leg, sprang into her mind. She began to ache again.

“You don’t want him, do you?”

“What?” Dianne was confused, lifting her head and shaking it free form the fantasy she had begun to indulge.

“You don’t want that guy over there. You don’t have the slightest interest in him.”

Dianne looked at the waiter again who was smiling suavely as he talked to a couple of middle-aged women, applying his charm professionally.

“Well, he’s very nice...” she began to say.

“But you don’t want him. You haven’t the slightest desire to get fucked by him.”

“Janey!” Dianne was suddenly exasperated, her face flushed—but she didn’t know why she was blushing.

“I was watching you.” Janey lit up a cigarette and leaned forward conspiratorially. “You were looking in the direction of that guy, but your eyes weren’t focussed. You were having plenty of filthy fantasies, I guess, but not one of them involved him.”

Dianne lowered her eyes, uncertain what to say: her cheeks were blushing more furiously now, and at last the pressure broke. She laughed and raised her eyes once more to face Janey. “I guess not,” she said. Janey was smiling.

“You look great, you know. Sorry for that remark earlier, about you looking like an Oxfam fashion victim. You look really good. Beautiful.”

“That’s okay.” Dianne shrugged. “Thanks.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look like this. You’re glowing.” A strange expression appeared on Janey’s face and for a moment she was silent. Then, as though catching herself, she shook her head and reached out to place a hand on Dianne’s after wafting smoke out of the way. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“For what?” Dianne was confused.

“I was... I guess I was a bit jealous for a second there
—which is a pretty shitty thing to feel.”

Dianne was astonished but quickly recovered herself. “You don’t have to be
—jealous I mean. You’ve got your boys, after all.”

Janey sighed at this and turned her eyes away, idly watching the waiter as he moved between tables. “And that, after all, is what they are. Boys. Oh, they’re great!” she quickly added, returning her gaze to Dianne again. “I mean, we’re having a lot of fun. But you know what, part of me would love to go over to that waiter, turn him around, thrown him onto a table and climb aboard for the fucking of his life.” She began to toy with some of the food that had been brought to them. “It’s fun, but part of me is looking for the next hit, the next big game.” She looked up once more at Dianne, staring at her carefully. “It’s not like that with you and Cam, is it. It’s plain to anyone that he’s a man
—a
real
man—and that you’re in love with him.”

Dianne sat in silence, stunned. It was true of course, it was all true, but there was still part of her mind that was trying to deny this
—part of her soul that was afraid she would wake up and find it had all been a dream. Janey’s face was completely serious now.

“Yeah,” Dianne admitted at last, trying to keep her voice casual. “I suppose I am.”

Janey’s smile was warm but also triumphant, demonstrating her pleasure that she was still able to read her friend. “Well, you’re a lucky bitch.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“So,” now Janey extinguished her cigarette and reached across with both hands. “Tell me all the details—all of them. The gorier the better.”

“Christ, Janey! What do you think we get up to? I think you’re mistaking my sex life for yours.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll happily tell you every last intimate, gynaecological detail, don’t you worry—but if I’m honest, I don’t think you’re as interested in what I get up to as I am in you.” Janey sniggered at this. “The boys are a bit jealous, you know.”

“Jealous?” Dianne was genuinely horrified for a moment.

Janey nodded. “Don’t worry. It’s not a bad thing. It’s like the jealousy I feel towards you: I’m really glad that you’ve found something special, and I guess I’d like a piece of it too. The boys are the same.”

“What, they’re jealous of me?”

“No! Jesus, Dianne! Sometimes you’re a bit thick, you know. They’re jealous of Cam, but in a good way: they can see he’s got something special and they’d like a bit of it too.”

“But they’ve got you,” Dianne protested. “I can see that they love you to bits.”

“They fuck me to bits is what they do. Look, we’re having a lot of fun, but all three of us know that we don’t have anything like what you and Cam have got. There’s a reason why most people end up in couples, you know, and it’s not about sex—though I must be honest a regular ménage a trois is turning out pretty damn hot.” Janey’s eyes glazed over for a second, then they were filled with a wicked glint and her smile turned sly. “We often wonder what it’s like for you, being fucked by a guy hung like a horse.”

This made Dianne blush and burst out laughing. “Well,” Janey continued. “Go on, what’s it like? Don’t be shy with me.”

For a few moments Dianne couldn’t speak. “It’s bloody fantastic,” she admitted at last. “Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“And that piercing of his must be pretty spectacular. I wouldn’t mind trying it myself. Don’t look at me like that, Dianne! I’m just being honest. I mean, it doesn’t have to be Cam
—though come to think of it, I don’t know too many well-hung studs with a pierced cock. Ow!”

She had yelped as Dianne hit her arm and the two women burst into laughter, attracting the attention of other diners in the restaurant.

“So,” Janey continued after a while, lowering her voice and dipping her head closer to Dianne’s, “have you, you know...?”

“No. What?”

“Tried any backdoor action with him?”

The question threw Dianne who spluttered in embarrassment for a few moments, causing Janey to lean back and howl with laughter.

“Bloody hell, Di! He is a lucky guy! I thought you didn’t like anal.”

“Janey! Keep your voice down!” Dianne hissed in shock, but unable to completely suppress a laugh at her friend’s infectious pleasure. “I don’t. I mean, I didn’t.”

Janey could not stop sniggering. “Who’d have thought it? I bet he has no bloody idea of just how special he is. Oh my God, I’d so love to see that.”

“You’re not the only one,” Dianne said ruefully. Janey frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I guess. Bloody Darius. He’s dropped enough hints that he’d like Cam and I to ‘perform’ for him. He’d like to join in, but the more I see of him the more he makes my skin crawl.”

Janey nodded her head slowly. “Yeah, I know what you mean. That first night, in London... I mean, I’m up for pretty much anything if the mood’s right. Let’s face it, I’m a bit of a slut and...” She shrugged. “Well, I won’t make any apologies for that. But I don’t know. There’s something about Darius Optimus that doesn’t quite feel right.”

“I just spend most of my time avoiding him now,” Dianne confessed.

Janey was silent for a moment. “I suppose that’s best,” she said at last. Smiling, she patted Dianne’s hand. “It’s an unconventional romance, I guess. Beautiful woman lets hot, handsome stud fuck her in the ass and falls in love.”

“Oh, Janey! You make it sound so sleazy!”

Janey laughed again but her face became more serious. “Sorry about that. I guess I
am
a little bit jealous.” Her eyes looked a little sad as she spoke, but she squeezed Dianne’s hand with genuine warmth as she forced herself to smile. “But I
am
happy for you—really I am. I just hope that Cam knows how lucky he is, and what a find he has in you.” 

Cam’s brow was glistening with sweat, and Dianne could see that his shirt was almost drenched as he joined her in the crowd. The way that his eyes shone with triumph, however, as well as his huge grin, told her everything she needed to know about how the set had gone for Black Ark that night.

And the truth was that they had rocked. Berlin had been no isolated incident: Black Ark was, at last, coming into its own. Much more of this and Dianne was pretty sure that the audiences visiting their future venues would be coming along as much to listen to the support act as Optima. Their act in the Prague club,
Bohemia
, where they were scheduled to play two nights altogether, marked the beginning of something big, she was certain of it.

“You were brilliant!” she shouted, lifting herself up onto her toes and planting a fat kiss on Cam’s cheek. Laughing, he swept her up into his arms and returned her kiss with added interest.