Breath of Corruption (8 page)

At the same moment that Leo was saying goodnight to his friends in the restaurant, Lucy and Georgia were huddled in the ladies loo at Kabaret’s Prophecy, a fashionable Soho club, debating the finer points of their strategy.

‘So, how drunk are you supposed to be? Like, totally hammered? Or just a bit out of it?’

‘Not completely wasted, obviously.’ Lucy shot a glance at her reflection and pulled the Chloé top a little further off her shoulders. ‘Not vomiting in the gutter kind of thing. But pretty bad. Bad enough to ring someone up. Why not say you think someone might’ve spiked my drink?’

Georgia looked doubtful. ‘Because he might want to call an ambulance. Or the police, or something.’

Lucy considered this. ‘OK – but I’ve got to be more than just a bit tipsy. On the
way
to being wasted, maybe.’

‘I don’t think this is going to work. Isn’t he going to think it totally weird that I’m ringing him, when I don’t even know him?’

‘Trust me – it will work. It’s got to. Anyway, he’s my sister’s boyfriend. He’ll feel he’s got to look after me.’

‘I didn’t know he was your sister’s boyfriend! That’s like – immoral!’

‘Yeah, well …’ Lucy smudged a little more eyeliner on her lower lids. She met Georgia’s gaze in the mirror and grinned. Georgia grinned back.

‘My God, Lucy, you’re so bad!’

‘I can’t help it.’ She took her mobile phone from her bag, scrolled to Leo’s number, and handed it to Georgia. ‘Come on, let’s do it.’

Leo had been on the brink of hailing a cab when his mobile rang. It had just begun to rain. He stepped back onto the pavement as he answered his phone, trying to make sense of the strange young woman at the other end.

‘I’m sorry – do I know you? … Georgia? A friend of Lucy’s? Lucy who? No, I don’t—’ The name registered. ‘Anthea’s sister? Well, I don’t understand – why are you ringing me?’ Leo scanned the street for more taxis as he listened; now that it had started to rain, he’d probably never get one. ‘I see. Look, I don’t want to be unhelpful, but I’m not sure what you expect me to do about it. I suggest you put her in a taxi and take her home … She’s gone where? … When will she be back? I see. Then take her to her sister’s flat. She has a key, as I understand it … What,
all
of them?’ Leo was feeling distinctly exasperated. ‘Look, I really don’t think I can help you. I barely know Lucy, and I’m sure you or some of her other friends are better able to—What? Well, why not?’ Leo listened for another few seconds, then gave a sigh. ‘Where are you? Right. I’ll
come in a taxi. Look after her till I get there.’

Georgia snapped the phone shut and she and Lucy doubled up, giggling.

‘Ohmigod, he’s really coming!’ squeaked Lucy, when she’d got her breath back. ‘Georgie, you were amazing! You sounded so, so worried! It was so convincing! And when you said that stuff about me losing my keys—’

‘I know! I don’t know how he ever believed that!’

‘Cos you’re a brilliant actress. My God, you deserve an Oscar.’

‘He sounded really pissed off, though, Luce. Like he didn’t want to know.’

‘Of course he did. But he’s coming, isn’t he? Just leave the rest to me.’

‘Well, start acting like you’re smashed, because he’ll be here soon. Come on, we’d better go upstairs and do our stuff on the pavement.’

Leo caught a cab and headed towards Soho, tired and extremely irate. He’d had quite a lot to drink at the restaurant, and the last thing he needed, at midnight on a Friday, was to have to rescue Anthea’s drunk,
twenty-something
sister from the gutters of Soho. How had she got hold of his number? Anthea, he presumed. Well, if the girl was capable of instructing this Georgia friend of hers to ring it, then perhaps she wasn’t in too bad a state. He hoped not. But if she was, better that he should bail her out than that the police should pick her up. Anthea wouldn’t like that.

When he got to Dean Street the late-night crowds were filling the streets, most of them drunk and raucous, and the atmosphere lent authenticity to the little vignette which
Georgia and Lucy were putting together on the pavement outside the club. Lucy was leaning against the wall, apparently much the worse for wear, with Georgia steadying her and looking anxious. Leo’s cab drew up on the corner, and Lucy clocked it through half-closed eyes.

‘That’s him,’ she murmured to Georgia, her heart giving a little lurch at the gorgeous sight of him as he got out and told the cabbie to wait.

‘Here he comes,’ whispered Georgia. ‘He looks annoyed.’

Lucy gave a little whimpering groan and slumped back against the wall. Leo, drawing closer, recognised Lucy and stopped. He glanced at Georgia. ‘Hi – I’m Leo.’ He gazed for a few seconds at Lucy. ‘Right – she doesn’t look too good. Isn’t there anyone else with you?’ He put out a hand to steady Lucy as she slid slightly sideways on the wall.

‘No,’ said Georgia. ‘I don’t know what to do with her.’ My God, thought Georgia, he really was old – forty at least. Good-looking, yeah, but totally ancient. She hoped Luce knew what she was doing.

A group of yelling youths swayed past; they leered and whistled at Lucy, who appeared to be almost comatose. This wasn’t a healthy place for a vulnerable young woman late on a Friday night.

‘Well, look – I suggest you take her back to your place,’ said Leo, wondering why this hadn’t occurred to him earlier. ‘Where do you live? You can take my cab, and I’ll find another.’

This was unexpected. Thinking on her feet, Georgia said, ‘I can’t. I really can’t. My mother would absolutely go ballistic if she saw Lucy like this. Lucy’s mum’s a friend of hers. Please – that’s the last thing Lucy needs.’

It seemed a slightly odd thing for a twenty-
something-year
-old to say, but Leo supposed that if you lived with your parents, it was understandable. He even felt a little sorry for Lucy. Evidently her mother wasn’t too concerned what her daughter got up to, since she seemed to be away a good deal. Someone had to look after her, and in the absence of Anthea, Leo supposed it was up to him.

He sighed. ‘All right. She’d better come with me. Her sister will be back tomorrow, in any event.’

‘Oh, thanks,’ said Georgia, the relief in her voice not entirely feigned. She helped Leo to steer a stumbling Lucy to the cab waiting on the corner.

The cabbie looked over his shoulder at Lucy, who lay back against the seat with her eyes shut. ‘I hope she’s not going to start chucking up in the back of my cab.’

‘I doubt it,’ said Leo. ‘Let’s hope not, anyway.’ He turned to Georgia. ‘What about you? I can’t just leave you here.’

‘Um – I can get the bus,’ said Georgia, who had other friends in the club whom she intended to rejoin any minute. ‘Really – don’t worry. I’ll be fine. You look after Lucy. I’m so grateful.’

Georgia stood on the pavement and watched as the cab drove off. My God, you had to admit that Lucy had some nerve, doing what she was doing. Georgia couldn’t wait to hear about it at school on Monday.

As the cab made its way towards Hyde Park, Lucy turned her head a little and glanced surreptitiously at Leo through
half-closed
eyes. He was gazing out at the traffic, his face grim. She gave a moan and a faint cough, and Leo turned to look at her. She opened fluttering eyelids. ‘Lucy? How are you feeling?’

Aware that her recovery mustn’t appear too rapid, Lucy closed her eyes again, then after a few seconds muttered, ‘Not too good.’

‘I’m hardly surprised. How much did you have to drink?’

She put her hand to her head. ‘I don’t know. Not a lot.’ Her eyes still closed, she put out a feeble hand and clutched his arm; it was magical just to be touching him.

‘What’s wrong? Are you going to be sick?’

She shook her head slowly, and decided to relapse into groggy silence for the remainder of the journey, with her hand resting on his sleeve. He didn’t appear to mind.

By the time they reached Chelsea, Lucy reckoned it was OK for her to seem like she was a bit better. When Leo tried
to help her out of the cab she said faintly, ‘It’s fine, I can manage.’ When they got into the house – which Lucy, on a swift appraisal, thought was pretty cool – she decided for dramatic effect to go downhill for a minute or two. She fell into an armchair with a moan and closed her eyes. Leo dropped his jacket on the sofa and looked down at her.

‘I’ll make us both some coffee.’ He felt he could do with some – the birthday celebrations had been extremely good, but those last two brandies might have been a mistake. Then again, he hadn’t anticipated having to rescue Anthea’s ditzy little sister at the end of the evening.

While Leo was busy in the kitchen, Lucy sat up slowly and had a good look round. The room was furnished in expensive good taste, with leather sofas and armchairs dotted around the spotless blonde-wood floor, discreetly placed lighting accentuating carefully positioned pictures and pieces of sculpture. Two uplighters cast an intimate glow around the room. Lucy slipped off her red shoes and raked her fingers through her hair, waiting for Leo to return.

He brought through a tray with a cafetière and two cups, and set it down on a glass-topped table near to Lucy’s chair.

‘Thanks,’ said Lucy weakly, as he handed her a cup. ‘I’m feeling a bit better now.’

Leo regarded her as she sipped her coffee. ‘You seem to have made a rapid recovery,’ he observed. ‘You can’t have been very drunk.’

‘I wasn’t,’ said Lucy. ‘I just began to feel really awful when I was in the club. Sort of faint and dizzy. I can’t think what it was.’ She gave him a doleful little smile. ‘Thank you so much for coming to get me.’

‘That’s all right. How did you manage to lose all your keys?’

‘I don’t know. I’m a bit dopey like that. Always losing things.’ She lay back in the chair. Best not to appear too perky – the mood had to remain low-key. She glanced around slowly. ‘This is a lovely room.’

‘Thank you.’ Leo sipped his coffee. He couldn’t help noticing that the manner in which she lay sprawled in the large armchair was both provocative, but apparently entirely unselfconscious. Her little black satin skirt, which was diminutive enough in the first place, had ridden up, and he could glimpse the tops of her sheer black hold-up stockings, and the flimsy but very pretty top she was wearing had slipped off one creamy shoulder. Her eyes, dark and distant as she glanced around the room, were large and childlike. To ward off the thoughts which had come unbidden to his mind, he rose and said, ‘I’ll go and check the bed’s made up in the spare room.’

‘Please stay and talk for a bit,’ said Lucy, her voice still faint.

Leo hesitated. ‘Did you enjoy the Kandinsky exhibition?’ she asked. She sounded like she wanted to talk to make herself feel better. He could understand that. He sat back down on the sofa.

They talked about the exhibition for ten minutes or so. A short silence fell, at the end of which Leo said, ‘There’s nothing really wrong with you, is there?’

Lucy gazed at him, then slowly shook her head. ‘Not now. Not now I’m here. With you.’ And to his astonishment she came in one gliding movement from her chair to where
he sat, and knelt before him, her hands resting on his thighs. ‘Leo, I just want to be with you.’ Before he could say anything more, she rose up, put an arm around his neck, drew his face towards hers and kissed him. Her kiss was so deliciously tentative that for a few helpless seconds he found himself responding. He fought back the urge to kiss her more deeply and drew away.

‘Did you do this on purpose?’ asked Leo. She nodded, her eyes dark and huge. ‘Jesus Christ,’ he murmured, his voice a mixture of disbelief and regretful desire. He took her arm gently from around his neck. ‘Lucy, I’m seeing your sister. Whatever you came here for is not going to happen.’

‘Oh, yes it is,’ she breathed. ‘I want you so much, Leo. I’ve wanted you for ages. We’re here now, just you and me, so we might as well enjoy it.’ And she tried to press her mouth against his again. Leo grasped her upper arms and pushed her gently away.

‘You set up that entire little charade just for this?’

‘Don’t sound like that. It’ll be worth it, honestly.’

He stared at her curiously and intently for a moment, then said, ‘Lucy – how old are you?’

She gave a small, trembling smile. His touch seemed to have set her whole body on fire. She wanted very badly to kiss him again, to let her body melt into his, and let whatever he wanted to happen, happen. ‘Seventeen,’ she murmured.

‘Seventeen? You’re seventeen and you go around pulling stunts like this deliberately to seduce your sister’s—’ He groped for a word. ‘Men-friends?’

‘Oh, Leo, it’ll be lovely. I want you to teach me – everything.’ Her lips were perilously close to his; her breath
smelt like clover, and her skin beneath his fingers was soft and young. She was every dirty old man’s dream, thought Leo, which made him … But the very next thing she said appalled him. ‘I’ve never made love to anyone before. I want you to be the first. Please.’ She had begun to unfasten the little crystal buttons of her blouse.

Leo let out a short laugh, though he felt like crying. ‘Stop,’ he said; but she didn’t seem to hear him, and tried to kiss him again. ‘Lucy—’ He grasped her shoulders as her flimsy top fell open, and shook her – not hard, but hard enough to make her look at him properly, clearly, like someone waking up. ‘Lucy, I have no intention of doing anything with you, or to you. Do you understand? This is the worst idea you have ever had in your young life, believe me. Leaving aside your age, and what you’ve just told me, it’s not my habit to sleep with the sisters of my girlfriends.’ As he said this, Leo tried to recall whether it was strictly accurate or not. Probably not.

She looked at him in astonishment. ‘Don’t you want me? Why don’t you want me?’ Tears filled her lovely eyes. ‘Leo, I love you so much!’

Firmly but gently, and feeling older than he ever had done, Leo said, ‘No, you don’t, I promise you. This is all a huge, rather silly mistake.’ She gazed at him miserably with damp eyes, her mouth wobbling a bit, tendrils of dark hair around her young face, blouse hanging open to expose small, rosy breasts. She was temptation incarnate, thought Leo. He lifted his hands from her shoulders and began to do up her buttons one by one. Then taking her gently by the hands, he stood up, bringing her to her feet, and said, ‘You’ll have to stay here tonight, because frankly I don’t know what else
to do with you. But I don’t want to hear one more word of this nonsense about me and you. Not a word. Do you understand?’

He meant it, Lucy realised. Oh God, he meant it. She’d thought it was going to be so easy, so perfect. And he sounded just like – just like one of her teachers, the way he was speaking to her. Why did everyone have to treat her like a child? Why didn’t he believe her when she said she loved him? She hated him for not believing her, and for not wanting her. She couldn’t believe he didn’t. She so couldn’t believe it!

Lucy burst into tears. Leo regarded her sadly. Nothing would have given him greater pleasure, truly, than to remove every inadequate piece of clothing from her glorious young body and have her right here on the sofa. But there were limits, even for him. When she had quietened down a bit, he said, ‘Come on. I’ll show you where you can wash your face. Then you need to get to bed. You’re a bit overwrought. You’ll feel better in the morning.’

Sniffling, Lucy picked up her shoes and allowed herself to be escorted upstairs. Leo showed her into a bedroom with a connecting bathroom, said goodnight, and left her alone.

He went downstairs and cleared up the coffee cups, then locked up. He stood for a moment in the middle of the room, where the faintest trace of her teenage perfume still hung in the air. He drew his hands wearily across his face, then switched the lights off and went to bed, locking the door of his room – whether for her protection or his, he wasn’t sure.