The Tied Man (24 page)

I shook the hand of the man who had terrorised me when I rode out with Finn.  ‘We’ve met.’ 

Alasdair turned to
Blaine
.  ‘I’m afraid the entrancing Miss Bresson and I got off to a rather unfortunate start.  I think her ride was a little too challenging.  Not entirely her fault, mind you – you really must get your animals used to traffic,
Blaine
.’

‘Ah,’
Blaine
smiled.  ‘Finn mentioned she’d taken a tumble.  So, that was you?’  She glanced over her shoulder.  ‘Finn, darling, you didn’t tell me Alasdair was involved.’

I hadn’t realised Finn was in the room.  He sat by the fire, hidden by the high back of a green leather armchair.  ‘Didn’t think it was important.'

‘Evening, Finn,’ I acknowledged, and he turned to raise an empty brandy glass to me, his smile already a little lop-sided.  He too wore a dinner jacket, although his bow tie remained unfastened and draped around his neck.

‘I thought perhaps you might partner me for dinner tonight,’ Alasdair suggested, although his self-satisfied expression said that, in his mind, there was no ‘might’ about it.  He ran his hand over thick, red hair that had been gelled into submission.  ‘You have no idea how hard it is to be sad and single in the company of such a perfect couple.’  Behind him, Finn caught my eye and gave a barely perceptible shake of his head.  I hoped I understood. 

‘I’m sorry,
Blaine
,’ I announced.  ‘Thank you for the introduction, but I really don’t feel that Mr Dalziell and I have anything in common.’

Alasdair gave an indulgent chuckle.  ‘Lili – may I call you that? – I can only apologise for our unfortunate first meeting.  May I suggest that you consider choosing an easier ride?’

‘No.’  I narrowed my eyes.  ‘No, you may not suggest that, and you may not call me that, since you ask.  May
I
suggest that if you want a fuck out of this evening, you start being nice to your right hand?’ 

Finn gave a soft, choked laugh that he tried to disguise behind a cough, and Alasdair’s smile hardened.  ‘I can’t say I’m not disappointed.  Lady Albermarle assured me that her houseguest would be only too delighted to offer me her companionship.’  He glanced at
Blaine
with ill-disguised ire.  ‘I’m only sorry I don’t meet with your approval.’

The woman who prided herself on providing for her guests’ every desire struggled to recover her composure.  ‘Alasdair, what can I say?  I’ve clearly made a terrible error of judgement.  However I’m sure there are ways we can compensate you for a wasted journey.’  She placed long fingers on his hand and lifted it to her lips, placing a delicate kiss on the back of his wrist.

‘Never let it be said that I’m an unreasonable man.’ Alasdair  returned the kiss.

‘If that’ll be all?’ I asked, already edging towards the door.  ‘I’m planning a prompt start tomorrow – I could do with the early night.’

‘Of course,’
Blaine
said.  ‘I’m sorry for disturbing your rest.  Perhaps you’d like to take a brandy as a nightcap?’

‘That would be... nice, thank you,’ I faltered, relieved at getting away quite so easily.

I turned to
Blaine
.  ‘I’ll leave you to it, with your permission?  I’m really not that hungry.’  I knew that if I made it to the door, everything would be fine: if she was intent on screwing another man, I was usually guaranteed a quiet night, and Alasdair’s obvious desire promised to satisfy her needs.   I reached the door handle and thanked God.

‘Wait a moment,’ Alasdair demanded. 

Yet again, God was playing the cunt. ‘Yeah?’

‘I don’t think I like your attitude.’  Alasdair turned to Blaine, who was still pouring Lilith’s brandy.  She gave a nod of approval for whatever was about to come.

‘I meant no offence.’  I kept my voice steady.  Resigned.

‘I think you did. And believe me, I’m offended.  Paddy.’ The last word spat at me.

‘Oh Finn, will you never learn?’
Blaine
moved to Alasdair’s side and beginning to caress the small of his back.

‘D’you know what we’d do to the boys at my school who didn’t know their place?’ my latest tormentor continued.

Whatever I said now wasn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. ‘No,’ came my disinterested reply.

‘Well, you’re about to find out.’  Alasdair put one elegantly clad arm around
Blaine
’s shoulder.  ‘You say he’ll do anything?’ He kissed her forehead.

‘Absolutely,’ she said.  ‘Lilith, I’d like you to stay a moment longer, please.’

From the corner of my eye, I could see Lilith clutch her glass to her chest with both hands, and I desperately wished that I could magic her from the room so that she would be spared whatever sport was coming.

‘Excellent.  On your
knees
, boy,’ Alasdair commanded.  I obeyed without question;  I pretty much knew the script from here.

With his right hand, Alasdair undid his fly.  His left hand held my jaw in a firm grip.  ‘Open wide,’ he ordered, bringing out his broad, already-engorged cock and cradling it with pride.  He shoved it into my mouth with a force that made me gag, and gave a small
ah
of pleasure.  ‘That’s it.  Take it like a good little paddy bastard.’

Perhaps at first Alasdair had intended this to be an amusing preamble to screwing
Blaine
senseless, but that brutal, primeval drive that such men possessed took over and he grabbed my hair with a harsh grunt, using both hands to pull my head further into his rank groin.  ‘Sorry,’ he gasped to
Blaine
between thrusts.  ‘Might have to wait a while for the next performance.’

‘Please carry on.’ 
Blaine
gracefully perched on the arm of a chair to better observe the show.  ‘We have all night.’

Close-trimmed nails raked my scalp and forced me ever closer, and all I could do was acquiesce as if held at gunpoint.

Finally, he reached a vicious climax.  ‘Swallow, you little bastard.  Take it all or I’ll fucking strangle you.’  With a muffled, inarticulate roar he came, and ejaculated so hard into my mouth that I choked and retched.

‘
God
... That takes me back.’ Alasdair gave a depraved giggle and shoved me away from him.  He grinned at Lilith. ‘One whore shuts and another one opens, eh?’

I sat back on my heels and wiped my sleeve across my face as Lilith silently left the room.
*****
I knelt over the toilet bowl and forced my fingers down my throat until bitter vomit rose in my mouth and  I threw up in violent spasms, feeling relief and disgust in fairly equal measure.  In a life filled with crap nights, this was a real beauty.  Worse had happened – and no doubt continue to happen – but tonight, Lilith had been there and seen me for who I really was.  I remembered the look of horror on her face and threw up again.

‘Hey there.’

I spun round, clutching a towel to my mouth.  ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I thought you might want some mouthwash.’ Lilith gave a grim smile, and threw me her bottle of bourbon.

I turned the bottle in my hands, wanting to tell her to fuck off and leave me alone.  Shame hardened my voice.  ‘What the hell do you want me to say?’

‘Well, if you start with ‘Thanks for the drink,’ I’ll start with ‘Sorry I got you fucked in the mouth by an inadequate bastard’.’  Lilith took the bottle from me, uncorked it and handed it back. 

I took a long drink, swilling the whiskey around my mouth to wash away the traces of vomit and semen.  Finally I swallowed, welcoming the burn of hard liquor as it hit the back of my throat.  ‘Thanks.’

‘Right, this is what I’m going to do now.’ Lilith took the bottle from me and tipping a healthy shot or three down her own throat.  ‘On the basis that I can’t even begin to unravel the shit I’ve just witnessed, I’m entering an official period of denial.  I’m going to get Henry to run me over to that delightful pub in the village so I can get pissed on overpriced vodka and listen to crap on the jukebox.  If you want to join me, I’ll be there until your curfew.’  Without waiting for a reply, she set off back down the corridor.  ‘And I’m buying,’ she called as she retreated.

I stared unblinking at my seventh double vodka and tonic.  Such was my demeanour that no-one approached me, and even the lecherous landlord of the Fox and Grapes kept a disrespectful distance.

Henry had been surprised at the late request for transport to shore, but one look at my face had him putting down his copy of GQ and fetching his coat.  Now I cursed myself for presuming that Finn might want to join me.  I took a mouthful that drained the glass and walked over to the jukebox, staring at tracks that hadn’t been changed since before the millennium and not caring what I chose as long as the noise blocked out the sound of Alasdair Dalziell’s obscene cry of pleasure that refused to leave my skull.

‘Mine’s a pint.’

Finn stood behind me, dark-ringed, bloodshot eyes still not quite meeting mine.  ‘So.  D’you reckon we can get pissed in an hour and a half?’

‘I don’t know.  You’ve got some serious catching up to do.’

‘Bring it on. In fact, you don’t fancy making that two pints and a chaser, do you?  Double, if you’re feeling flash.  I think I puked up most of
Blaine
’s brandy.’
*****
Finn sat down to join me at a sticky, wobbling table in the furthest corner of the bar and pulled the frayed cuffs of his grey hooded top over knuckles that were raw from being forced down his throat.  He took up his first drink without meeting my eye, and was halfway down the glass before he finally spoke.  ‘Back there. I didn’t want... that.  Him.’

‘I know,’ I said from under the table as I jammed a folded beer mat under one of its wooden legs.

He gave a hard laugh of disdain.  ‘Yeah, right.  It’d be me giving him a blowjob that convinced you, huh?’

I re-emerged. ‘Oh come on, Finn.  What I saw back there had fuck all to do with desire, and everything to do with that twat stating his dominance.  I’m surprised he didn’t just dispense with the formalities and pin you down by the neck before mounting you.’

He risked a dark smile.  ‘He’s probably saving that one for next time.’ 

‘It’s not even that it didn’t matter to him what your feelings were about the matter, is it? The very fact that you
don’t
‘want it’ is the unique selling point.’

The first pint disappeared before he spoke again.  ‘Is there nothing you miss?’ 

The double whiskey vanished next. 

‘No.’ I shrugged.  ‘Not really.’

‘You’re also kinda hard to shock.’

‘It might happen one day,’ I assured him.  ‘Look, if you’re in the mood, feel free to talk.  I warn you now I truly am the world’s worst shrink  – I find my opinion keeps getting in the way, but at least I’m pissed so I won’t remember in the morning.’

‘I dunno.  The few times I’ve opened my mouth in the past I’ve sounded like one of those books – y’know,
‘How Shite Was My Childhood – A True Story by yet another Irish White-Trash Bastard’
.’

‘Ooh, we could have a Crap Parent competition,’ I suggested.  ‘I could enter my father in the ‘Lying, Spineless Twat’ category and I reckon my mother’d be a dead cert for the ‘Schizophrenic Anorexic Prostitute’ class.’

‘At least your mother had the sense to get paid for it.  All mine ever got was half a ton of gold-plated jewellery and recurrent herpes.  Mind you, give the woman her due: she did provide me with a fine succession of uncles.’  He raised his glass to ghosts.

I was watching him drink the entire second pint in one go when I realised. ‘That’s where it began.  It was one of them,’ I stated, and Finn fumbled and dropped the lighter that he had been turning in his fingers.  ‘Oops.  Sorry.  That was a bit of full-on.’

‘S’all right.  I’m getting used to you.’  He recovered the Zippo from the carpet and lit his next smoke.  ‘And anyway, you’re right.  Just what every twelve-year old wants from his favourite uncle for Christmas – a good buggerin’ across his ma’s bed, while she sleeps off a turkey microwave-meal and a gallon of Special Brew.’  He downed his whiskey chaser and slammed the glass down.  ‘Ah, fuck it, I’m not wasting tonight on this shit.  D’you play pool?’

I shook my head.  ‘Never tried it.’

‘You don’t know what you’re missing.  Right, come on.  I’ll teach you.  But I’m warning you, I take no prisoners.’

‘We need another drink first,’ I declared.

‘Good idea.  Go and get ‘em in then, woman.  Same again, if I’m playing catch-up.’

‘I need crisps. To soak up the alcohol.’  I stopped mid-journey and frowned. ‘You want some?’

‘Sounds good.’

‘What d’you want?’

Finn suddenly gave me an glorious drunken smile.  ‘Any.  Long as they’re not spunk flavour.’

My last mouthful of vodka erupted from my nose and I had to grab the nearest table as the landlord glared at my laughter.  I stuck out my tongue in suitably mature response.