Susie Learns the Hard Way (13 page)

Then he landed one solid jab high up on the bodyguard's face and blood instantly gushed from the corner of an eye. But he didn't falter, merely waiting for Alf to come floating in for the follow-up and smashing that monster right clean through Alf's guard, missing his chin and catching him full in the mouth. Alf staggered and fell to one knee and the crowd began to bay. The trainer dived between them and pushed the bodyguard back, making him circle like an animal waiting for the kill as Alf rose, his lip already thickening.

On his feet, he approached the bodyguard carefully and Susie felt his fear, sensed the danger of his opponent and realised the damage he could do. A mixture of wild excitement and terrible apprehension welled up inside her, and as she cheered for Alf she felt her knickers dampen even more. As the two carried on hitting each other, brutal blows to body and face that made them grunt with effort and pain, Susie cheered, the other fighters cheered, the fight ebbed and flowed across the ring and warm juices flowed into Susie's knickers as she revelled in the animal violence. For a while Alf seemed to be getting the better of it and as his fists danced across the bodyguard's face and body with a series of rapid jabs and hooks. But then he strayed too close, and one of those steam-hammer rights came swinging round and thudded on the point of his chin.

From where Susie stood he seemed to sail backwards in slow motion, hanging in the air before dropping flat on his back with a crash that shook the whole hall into silence.

She knew nothing about boxing, but she knew he wouldn't be getting up again, and she was right. The trainer beckoned, two young lads clambered into the ring, grabbed Alf by his arms and legs and staggered off to the changing rooms with him.

It had gone quiet, and Susie had just about regained control of her breathing when she realised everyone was staring at her. She cast her mind back, but she didn't think she'd said or done anything to warrant such attention. While she thought, two of the young lads were holding the ropes apart and Nobby the trainer was beckoning for her to climb into the ring.

‘What does he want me to... Harry?
Harry?
' She looked all round but Harry was nowhere to be seen; he must have slipped away while she'd been so preoccupied with the fight, and her stomach lurched. Surely he wouldn't have gone off and left her there? But even as the thought occurred to her she heard the answer in the back of her mind – of course he would, that's just what he'd do. Having made certain she didn't have a clue where she was, he would think himself dead clever for leaving her there to find her own way to the hotel that had been booked for her.

Susie considered walking out, and the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. Even if she hadn't a clue where she was, the main road wasn't far and there she could hail a taxi. Even as she told herself she had nothing to be frightened of, she felt herself being pushed gently forward.

‘I... um... what...?' Hands were pressing into her back, urging her on, and faces grinned encouragement. She couldn't think what they wanted, but she couldn't think of a reason not to do as they wanted either. Perhaps it was a presentation of some sort. They certainly couldn't expect her to fight the bloke. Shrugging, she put one leg through the ropes and ducked down below the top one, stepping into the ring. Nobby reached out a helping hand and as she took it another one pressed her bottom, not so much helping her up as feeling her up.

But it was over in a second, and with an angry glance behind her, she was in the ring, the boxers surrounding it once again cheering, though she still didn't know what for.

Still holding her hand, Nobby led her towards the centre of the ring where the bodyguard waited. Still puzzled, she followed unresistingly until she was a foot or so away from the squat, barrel-chested teenager, grinning at her through a well-hammered and bleeding face, puffed up like a blistered melon. Now she was close to him it was hideously clear that he had a serious body odour problem and breath like a camel.

There was a pause, and then the two lads who'd carried Alf away returned from the changing rooms, greeted with much backslapping from the others around the ring. Then they all turned back and looked expectantly through the ropes. Looking at her. Looking her greedily up and down as if she was the next item on a menu.

‘I hope you don't think I'm going to fight anyone,' she said to Nobby, only half joking because of course she knew deep inside they didn't expect her to. But the way they were staring, the same expressions on their faces as they'd worn during the fight, told her they expected something from her.

In a sudden blaze of light it became clear. She
was
on the menu. The fight had been for real, she was the prize, and dog-breath was waiting to claim her!

Seized by panic she again looked wildly round the hall for Harry, but there was definitely no sign of him.

‘Where's Harry?' she demanded, grabbing desperately at Nobby's shirt. ‘Where's Harry? I must speak to Harry. It's urgent!'

‘He's not ‘ere,' said the little man. ‘He ‘ad to slip aht ter see a man abaht a dog.' He winked hugely. ‘Never mind ‘im, let's get on wiv it.' And he nodded meaningfully towards the ugly brute beside Susie.

‘But, I, get on with what? I – I must see Harry. I must. There's been a mistake, a terrible mistake...' Her voice trailed to a gradual halt. Nobby was looking at her, and there was no sympathy in his expression.

‘Look kidder,' he said firmly, ‘Harry fixed all this up. An' ‘e said you'd be all right wiv it. ‘He
said
,' putting special emphasis on the word, ‘you'd be ‘appy for the hopporchunity to use yer special talents.'

Susie went cold all over. Harry had quite deliberately set her up, leaving her alone in a room full of strapping young fighters, miles from anywhere she knew or felt safe. And if that wasn't enough he'd actually told them she would be happy to be given away like a trinket to any Tom, Dick, or pig-ugly whatever-his-name-was. No wonder they'd all been grinning and looking at her like that.

‘The bastard,' she said, eventually.

‘Never mine that,' countered Nobby. ‘This barsted ‘ere ‘as just fought ‘is bollocks off for a prize what ‘e was promised. Do you want to tell ‘im you don't like is looks? Or shall I tell ‘im ‘e can only have ‘is prize if ‘e can catch it?'

Susie looked across at the impassively ugly teenager, and saw no sympathy there either. Then she looked down at the eager young faces staring hungrily up between the ropes. She didn't think they would be too sympathetic either. The only door was at the other end of the hall. Even if she could climb through the ropes, they'd easily catch her before she took a single step. It looked as if there was no escape.

And anyway, wasn't she in a trap of her own making? Hadn't she only that morning and then constantly throughout the day, assured first the editor and then Harry that she could take care of herself? ‘Anywhere Harry can go, I can go,' she'd bragged. ‘You'll be happy to make use of my special talents,' she'd bragged again. All her words, all her reasoned arguments came rushing back at her like a whirlwind of anger – at herself. Harry may have sprung the trap, and may even have walked her up to it, but she'd certainly set the snares herself. She was there because she'd asked – begged – to be there.

Nobby had been watching her carefully, and he saw the change in her face, the set of determination as she raised her chin.

‘All right,' she said quietly, and Nobby's head bobbed gently up and down, like a nodding dog, before he stepped away and dropped down between the ropes.

The bodyguard licked his swollen lips and his eyes crawled over her, just like a hungry man sizing up his dinner and deciding which bit to have first. Finally making up his negligible mind he reached out both enormous hands and pulled her jacket off her shoulders, letting it slip down her arms and fall to the floor.

There were murmurs of approval from around the ring. Susie could feel herself trembling all over, the icy bite of fear zipping and unzipping her spine. Huge fingers scrabbled at the buttons of her blouse, pulling it roughly from the waistband of her skirt, and pushing it back on her shoulders. Murmurs of approval became louder comments of delight as she stood under the bright lights, her breasts swelling firmly inside the black lace of her bra, proudly firm. His fingertips were rough on her skin, like pieces of wood, pulling the shoulder straps down before burying into each cup and squeezing her breasts into view.

The crowd around the ring growled with a single, animal voice. Susie looked down as the big fingers spread out around her breasts, pressing and massaging, and then nipping at the dark nipples, finger and thumb tweaking and pinching. And the growling got louder as the small darts of electricity crackled and flashed from the tip of each nipple to the pit of her stomach, deeper into her groin so she could feel the soft walls contract in tiny spasms that made her gasp; whispered moans slipping out between moist and slightly parted lips.

His hands fell away. As heavy fingers fumbled at her side she felt the waistband of her skirt slacken and the faint tremor as the zip slid down. Then the skirt obeyed the laws of gravity, brushing her legs with a lover's caress as it fell to the wooden boards. The cheer was deafening as the lads took in the sight before them: long shapely legs, shining with a golden skin tone of her stockings, the dark tops circling her slender thighs, the tight pull of the black suspenders and the narrow V of black silky panties, the lace front just see-through enough to show the contrast between her white skin and the darker patch where her soft blonde hair dusted the mound between her thighs.

As he narrowed his gaze to stare at her a cut sprang open, and a fresh dribble of bright red trickled down the side of his face. But he didn't seem to notice. All his attention was on her silky panties as his blunt fingertips brushed against them and felt the heated swamp of desire within. Susie gasped when they ran down over her mound and dipped under her body, sinking into the warm wetness between her legs, squirming around in the welcoming heat of a body that was fully aroused, opening to the slightest touch. Her panties had become a single strip of sodden material and those stubby fingers slipped easily over hot flesh. And as they sought deeper and higher like burrowing moles she felt her feet inch across the wooden floor, as she opened her legs to his touch.

The bodyguard grunted in satisfaction and Susie realised he thought all this was for him, and she wished she could prevent the instincts that made her body respond to the thrills his fingers created as they roughly explored her tender passage.

Then they were gone as the bodyguard fell to his knees. He grabbed her panties and pulled them to her knees with one swift tug. The crowd cheered as they stared in triumph at the soft frizz of short blonde hair between her legs, turning to a smoothly shaved pink that pouted wetly. Dewdrops glistened in the short hair and in the folds of flesh.

Once again Susie felt an overpowering thrill as she realised they were staring at her innermost secret places, seeing her aroused and ready, and that the sight of her like that had aroused them too. She
knew
every one of them had a throbbing stiffness in his shorts or tracksuit and that it was all because of
her
.

The bodyguard pulled her panties down further, forcing her to close her legs, but she raised one high-heeled foot, and then the other, revelling in the wantonness of her actions. He threw her knickers over the ropes and a scuffle of lads surged together, one of them emerging triumphant, waving them like captured regimental colours before burying his face in the black lace and winning roars of approval from his mates.

The bodyguard was still kneeling in front of her, staring between her legs, and she felt the slight flutter of fear again. He reached up and behind her, cupping the cheeks of her bottom, pulling her towards him, settling her mound on his face and slobbering at her with thick lips that sent ripples of pleasure through her. A wide flat tongue parted her juicy lips and delved into her body, making her instinctively grind lower, bending her knees to force him deeper as the voracious mob cheered with delight.

Her hands wrapped around the back of his head and she was grinding herself against him as his tongue slithered and probed and licked. But suddenly it was gone, and he pulled his head away, sliding his hands up until he grasped her around the waist. A downward tug told her what he wanted, and she let him pull her to her knees and then lie her down on her back. With her knees raised and feet apart, she knew the lads around the ring were looking deep inside her now and she felt another sweeping wave of pleasure at the thought, spreading her thighs wider still, wanting them to see everything, wanting them to admire her and desire her.

The bodyguard wriggled his shorts down to his knees, and beneath them was a grubby jockstrap. He shovelled it roughly aside and the erection that had been tangled and trapped by the elastic sprang free, thick and heavy, with a bulbous purple end that shone wetly in the lights.

He fell forward, catching his weight on his hands, and looked down at her face as he wriggled his knees between her thighs. The sticky tip nudged up into the soft hollow where the top of her thighs met the gradual curve as her mound swelled towards her entrance. The crowd yelled and whistled and stamped, and then Susie felt a spreading presence as it pressed against her, pressed deeper and higher, filling her completely until she gasped aloud and the bodyguard looked triumphantly round at his mates, nodding vigorously to make sure they knew he was fully embedded.