“There’s no way he wouldn’t enjoy that little show, Firecracker Gem. What’s the deal? Are you really into him? You looked really into him.”
The stomach stew churned again. “It’s complicated...”
“And you don’t want to talk about it, I get it...” She laughed gently. “Sorry, my girlfriend calls me Little Miss Pry-a-lot. I shouldn’t be so nosy.”
Girlfriend. I wondered what kind of exotic specimen would snare a creature like Cara.
I practiced another fireman while her big brown eyes checked me out.
“This guy, he’s just a bit of fun, you know?”
“Nothing wrong with that,” she said. “Often leads to a whole lot more, though, don’t you find?”
“I haven’t even met him yet. We’re just talking.”
“Online dating?”
“Um, kind of.” I knew I should bite my tongue, crank up the music and get on with my session, but Cara had too bright a smile, and I was seriously lacking a confidant. I stopped spinning and went in for the primer. “You’ll think I’m totally weird...”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said with a glint in her eye. Once again her tone set me tingling.
I shrugged, resigned to the big reveal. “I work chatline.”
If I expected any kind of reaction it didn’t arrive. “And he’s what? Your boss or a caller?”
“Caller. Every night for weeks.”
“You must have him hooked, those calls sure aren’t cheap.”
“Yeah, well, he’s got me pretty hooked, too.” A smile crept up on me unbidden. “He’s different... hot... fun... my kind of weird... You think I’m a freak now?”
“Let’s see... does he want to slice your head off with a guillotine or smother you with his ass crack until you’re dead?”
“No. I’m not really into that,” I laughed.
“Does he want you to do animals, children or dead people?”
“No.”
“Fuck members of your immediate family or rub his dick against your pet chinchilla?”
“No.”
“Then you’re officially not a freak,” she said. “And even if snuff play was your bag, I’m pretty sure you’d have more sense than to meet up with a guy who admits to homicidal tendencies on the telephone.”
“I’m not sure how much sense I do have... but more than that, yeah,” I smiled. “I don’t think he’s a maniac, just a filthy guy with an obscenely huge credit limit on his phone.”
She joined me at my pole, and shifted the angle of my elbow. “Does he know who you are in real life?”
“Not yet.”
“Yet. Sounds like you’ve made up your mind already.”
“That really does make me a weirdo, wanting to meet some random from chatline, doesn’t it?”
Her face showed no hint of surprise. “We’re all a little weird when it comes to it, unless you like your ice cream vanilla with a side of vanilla and sprinkled with vanilla.”
“Never had much of a taste for vanilla,” I admitted. “I think I was born weird; at least I get to make money out of it.”
Her grin of camaraderie reached all the way to her eyes. “I just knew it!”
“Knew what?”
“You’re one of us! Us on the fringe... the creatives... the naughty, zany, left-of-the-track kinda people! You have dirty eyes, you know that? I told my girlfriend about you, said you were our kind of girl.”
Cara’s gushing took me aback. “You did?”
“You’re a hot, feisty woman in command of her own sensuality, you couldn’t hide it if you tried.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I was sure about Cara. Maybe I was their kind of girl. I’d always been a happy fit with most other pieces in the jigsaw box, but never a perfect fit. I’d never found my kind of person, not in Hatfield and not so far in London, either. The thought felt good.
The pretty creature in front of me grabbed my shoulder, as though she’d received some kind of divine inspiration. “Say, Firecracker Gemma, you said you wanted to make friends, right? It’s burlesque night tomorrow, down at Club Explicit in Soho! You should come!”
“Burlesque night? With showgirls and fire dancers and all that kind of thing?”
“Something like that,” she said. “My girlfriend hosts. Tomorrow night we’ve got Lilly Diva with her fire fans, and this fabulous guy, Mystix, on a bed of nails – naked on a bed of nails, that is... and Princess Tallulah is dancing... you’ll love it!”
“Sounds pretty wow.”
“Bring a friend if you like...” she said. My expression must have spoken volumes. “Or don’t. We’re a friendly bunch, I promise.”
My mind flicked through my shift pattern, I was technically working, but Sheena would cover me. “Soho, you said?”