‘Niamh,’ I say holding up a hand. ‘You’ve been dominating me since I met you. You’re a real bossy cow and—’
Whoa.
Cue the screech of needled steel over vinyl. ‘Hang on, what did you just say?’
As the colour quite literally drains from her face, my own eyes grow wider than dinner plates.
‘You’re... You mean, you’re...’
‘I’m a dominant, Kate.’
‘Like a dom?’ Should that have an “e”? ‘A domme?’ I repeat. ‘A dominatrix?’ My gaze flicks over her robe expecting a flash of latex, leather, or boots, then shoots to the door again, not quite sure what to expect. ‘Have you got a bloke—a client in there?’
‘What? Would ya’ ever fuck off. Just ’cos I like my men submissive, doesn’t mean I fleece them!’
‘So who—that’s... that’s Rob, in there?’
‘You thought I had some random tied to my bed?’ With each word spoken, her tone rises in sharp increments.
‘I don’t know,’ I screech in return. ‘You might’ve given me some warning!’
‘Warn—How? D’you think they doHallmarkcards, or something?Congratulations on getting a new subby. Don’t worry, I’m just a bit inclined like your new hubby?’ Her ditty hangs in the air between us like an expletive—rude and echoing—my absolute shock giving her the opportunity to fold her arms across her chest. ‘Not nice, is it? Being outed.’
My mouth works without sound.Inclined like Kai?She couldn’t know, could she? ‘Is there a secret handshake or something?’ I blurt, my brain lagging behind my mouth.Business as usual then.
‘Call it an educated guess.’ Folding her arms, she shrugs.
‘No way. I-I don’t believe it.’
She looks at me as though considering something, then shrugs. ‘He turned up on my doorstep and I invited him in. In between slugging my best whiskey and twisting his hands in his hair, he said something. Mumbled it more like. Something about pushing you too hard, and let’s just say it struck a chord. ‘So,’ she adds in a superior tone. ‘Now that we’ve established Idon’thumiliate men for money, Rob and I would like you to agree to something.’
‘We? You and...’ I nod towards the door, unable now to even say his name.Please don’t let her want a joint outing to one of those funny clubs.‘No. You haven’t told him, have you? About me and Kai?’
‘He’d like us all to promise,’ she says, without replying, ‘to never refer to this afternoon again. And, he says he’ll shout us our next night out, buying us copious amounts ofBelvedereas brain bleach.’
‘Deal,’ I reply immediately, holding a hand to my face. ‘Why couldn’t he have just kept quiet?’ Ignorance does seem like bliss at the minute.
Sliding her hand under her thigh, Niamh dangles something from her index finger, something that appears to be a bright red, sparkly G-string.
‘This. The string of my thong slid down the back of his throat. Poor bastard was choking.’
