Close Observation

The Irish Guards were guarding the Tower of London. Marc and Kendall enjoyed themselves there. Kendall had her photo taken next to one of the ravens that was stood on a post. She couldn't believe how big the ravens were. Ron waited outside while Marc and Kendall went through to look at the Crown Jewels. He was amused when some foreign schoolboys tried to wind one of the guardsmen up. The guardsman started pacing up and down in step, clearly becoming frustrated. Eventually he snapped and bellowed at the boys to get away from the chain link fence in front of him. The boys almost seemed to jump out of their skins.

On the tube ride back to Kensington, Marc and Kendall asked Ron about when he was a soldier. He found people always wanted to know how you could stand guard for hours, not moving or doing anything. He told them that you got used to it.

They got off at South Kensington to go to the museums. There were tourists everywhere. It was a long walk through the tunnel from the tube station to the V & A. They were in the V & A for about an hour and a half. It was very busy, and Ron found it hard going being surrounded by so many loud youngsters. Next, they went to the Science museum. Ron enjoyed this one a bit more. There were just as many people. Ron didn't see anyone suspicious, either inside or on the street. They ended up at the Natural History Museum. Ron enjoyed looking at the dinosaur bones.

Marc and Kendall were eating out that night. Ron went back to the hotel with them. They said they were going to sleep for a couple of hours and asked if he would come back at seven to accompany them to the restaurant.

***

They ate at a very expensive restaurant in Mayfair, spitting distance from Green Park tube station. From the outside it looked like an office building, Ron wouldn't have known it was a restaurant. Ron was able to wait at the bar while they ate. He thought Kendall looked ravishing, dressed up to go out. He liked the fact that she was bright and sharp, and in conversation she always gave as good as she got with Marc. When he'd first seen them, he thought maybe Marc had made a few bob and had got himself a trophy wife, but he'd been wrong, and he was glad he had been.

They got back to the hotel just after ten. Marc and Kendall said they'd eaten and drunk too much. They'd been drinking champagne with their meal and were talkative and animated on the tube going back.

***

Ron rang Emma when he got in. He wanted to go and stay with her, but he didn't want to invite himself. She said she'd had a nice time with Le Brodeur. She said Le Brodeur was going to take her away for a weekend soon, but he wouldn't tell her where they were going. She said she'd done a booking that day, a duo with Caroline. She'd enjoyed being with Caroline.

Ron told her about Marc and Kendall. Emma asked him if he wanted to come over and he said that he did. He got there in half an hour. She opened the door and he saw her face. He thought she looked beautiful.

***

Marc and Kendall planned to spend their last day shopping. They went to Harrods, along the Brompton Road and up and down Sloane Street. They didn't buy anything. Kendall said she couldn't see anything she would ever wear. Ron felt like the more time he spent with the pair of them, the more he liked them. They had a late lunch in Mayfair. In the afternoon, they went back to Buckingham Palace and mooched around. Ron was getting fed up of the place. It seemed to take hours for the lights to change at the crossings outside the palace, and there were tourists absolutely everywhere.

When they got back to the Savoy, Marc and Kendall thanked Ron profusely. They said they'd had a great time and planned to come back later in the summer for a longer trip. They asked if he'd be available then and he said he hoped he would be. Marc gave him an envelope with a substantial tip in it. Ron said he was sorry to see their trip come to an end, and he meant it.

***

Vicky had a booking. It was with four young men. They were students from China, living in a flat in Chelsea. Katie had spoken to one of them, a young man called Qiang. Ron drove Vicky to Chelsea. Traffic, and particularly parking, was better than he expected, so they had time to kill. They found the students' building. It was quite an unsightly brown-brick block of flats. Ron was surprised by the architecture. He was used seeing quite uniform white, stucco houses in Kensington and Chelsea, but the streets around where the students lived were a bit of a mishmash. They'd seen a nice-looking pub, spitting distance away, on the corner of a street just off of the King's Road. They went there for a drink before it was time to get to the booking.

It was a hot sunny day and the tables outside the pub were all occupied. Every single man sat outside noticed Vicky, and Ron knew that Vicky was aware of the attention. She looked at the floor as they walked in. They sat inside. The interior of the pub was all oak furniture and tables. It was light and airy inside, it actually felt like a relief from the heat outside. Ron bought a gin and tonic for Vicky and juice for himself.

'Bloody hell, Mr Ron. This is rather a nice pub,' said Vicky.

'I was thinking the same' said Ron.

'We should come back here,' said Vicky.

'We should,' said Ron.

Vicky was wearing a light grey dress. It wasn't cut

too

low in front, but the sheer size of Vicky's breasts couldn't really be hidden. Ron was amused to see men in the pub darting looks at her. He wondered if he'd ever seen her looking more glamorous. She wore black high heels. Ron thought they made Vicky's legs look good.

'You're getting some attention,' said Ron, smiling.

'I know. Do you know what, I guarantee to you, every single bloke perving on me is thinking that they are being

impossibly

subtle and discreet. Men have no idea how bloody obvious they make it. You remember that next time you're looking at someone's boobs in a bar, Mr Ron!' said Vicky.

'I will remember that, I feel like that's a useful piece of information,' said Ron.

'Can I ask a question?' said Vicky.

'What's that?' asked Ron.

'Did Emma do a booking with the barristers, and were you there?' asked Vicky.

'Yup,' said Ron.

'Ok... How did that go?' asked Vicky.

'Fine. No problems. Why?' asked Ron.

'They normally book me, but I had a date with that fucking loser guy that ghosted me, so I had to cancel the last time, and they had Emma instead. Were they pissing on her?' said Vicky.

'Yeah,' said Ron.

'Well now they're asking Katie if I'll do water sports,' said Vicky.

'Ah,' said Ron.

'Look, I know you and Emma have got your thing going on, but stuff like that can be a bit annoying. I've been making nearly eighteen grand a year from those guys; I don't want to lose them to Emma. Now I need to think about whether I'm prepared to let them piss in my mouth to keep hold of them,' said Vicky.

'Eighteen grand?' said Ron. He was shocked. It made sense that there was an element of competition between the girls if money like that was changing hands.

'That's right. Every month or so, I'll go and see them. I love those guys, and I look after them! Now Emma's raised the stakes,' said Vicky.

'What will you do?' asked Ron.

'Me and Caroline have been experimenting. She's been peeing on me in the shower. So far, it's just been on my body, and I can handle that, but letting someone go in my mouth?' said Vicky.

'Wow,' said Ron.

He promised himself he wouldn't complain about having to take tourists shopping again.

***

The students' flat was compact. They were all slimly built, and Ron had the feeling that they were a bit geeky, like kids that would have been picked on in school. Quiang seemed to be the designated spokesman. If his broken English was the best out of them, Ron wondered how bad the others' was. He was short and slim, and he wore glasses. He'd let them in to the flat. The envelope with Vicky's money had been on top of a table in the tiny hallway of the flat. Quiang had given it to Vicky almost as soon as she got in the door; she'd counted the money quickly before giving the envelope to Ron.

The curtains were closed in their living room and it was dark. On one side of the room were four televisions, two large settees were placed in front of them. The students were playing computer games. Ron thought the same game was on each screen and he assumed they were playing each other. The other students had all turned around quizzically when they'd come in, looking over the backs of the settees. Ron had been amused seeing their faces when they looked at Vicky. The room smelled, and Ron wondered how long they'd been in there like that. There were empty pizza boxes and bags of crisps and other food litter scattered around. There was a mattress on the floor behind the settees. They'd put a fitted, burgundy sheet on the mattress. It was pushed into a corner with one end up against a radiator. There was a set of handcuffs attached to the pipe at the right-hand edge of the radiator. They were fluffy handcuffs, like you could buy from a sex shop.

It was hard work sorting out the arrangement with Quiang. Ron and Vicky mostly had to use awkward sign language. They wanted to cuff Vicky to the bed for two hours, and to take it in turns to have a break from playing their game to have sex with her. Vicky said she was alright with it as long as Ron was in the room. Quiang said Ron could sit on one of the settees. They told Quiang that they could penetrate Vicky orally without a condom on, and that they could ejaculate in her mouth, but that if they wanted to penetrate her vaginally or anally, they had to use condoms. Vicky had brought condoms. She emptied them all out of a carrier bag, onto the mattress. Quiang seemed to translate the rules for the others, Ron saw nodding heads.

Ron sat next to one of the students on the settee by the wall farthest from Vicky. He had his book, and he used the torch on his phone to read it. He wondered how well he'd be able to concentrate, with the noise from the game and the students talking to each other.

Vicky took her clothes off. The students watched her. She stripped naked and got on the bed. Quiang put the hand cuffs on her. He was going to go first. Vicky was laying on her back on the bed, but he had her turn over so she was lying on her stomach. Quiang pulled his track suit bottoms down. He put a condom on his erect penis. He positioned himself over Vicky, gently parted her buttocks and penetrated her anally. He laid down on Vicky and began to sodomise her. The other students watched for a short while, before they went back to playing their game.

Quiang sodomised Vicky slowly. It looked like he was going for intimacy, which surprised Ron, as most of the customers seemed to want to go hard and fast at the girls. The side of Quiang's face was against the side of Vicky's. Ron saw that he was kissing the side of her face, and her ear, as they had sex. When he came, he gently climbed off of Vicky. He took the condom off of his penis and went out of the room very briefly.

When he came back, the student right next to Ron put his game on pause and took his turn. He was also very short and thin, and also wore glasses. Ron wondered what would have happened to the boy if he'd gone to Ron's school in Walworth. The boy took his glasses off and put them on top of the radiator. Vicky had turned around to lay on her back. She smiled up at the student, and he nervously smiled back at her. He parted her legs hesitantly, then got down and licked at her vagina. He kept licking her for a minute or so, then he unzipped his trousers and pulled them down, exposing his erect penis. He put on a condom and penetrated Vicky's vagina. She wrapped her legs around him so that her ankles were against his buttocks. They had sex until the student came.

Next up was a slightly taller young man who did not wear glasses. He sucked Vicky's nipples and squeezed her breasts. He took out his penis and masturbated himself. Ron thought he would ejaculate onto Vicky's breasts, but he awkwardly positioned himself so that Vicky could take his penis into her mouth. Vicky fellated him, and he squeezed and fondled her breasts while she did. He came quickly. Ron wasn't surprised that he did. The last of the four sodomised Vicky. He helped her get up onto her haunches and penetrated her anus. He pumped away at Vicky energetically until he came. Ron noticed that when someone was with Vicky, apart from right at the start, the others wouldn't look or watch what was happening. They chatted as they played their computer game.

Ron was reading a new book about the Second World War in the Pacific, but he struggled to concentrate on it. He looked at the nearest screen. The young men seemed to be playing a game where you controlled a person running around with a gun, shooting at other people. The colours were very bright, and Ron had trouble working out what was going on a lot of the time. The sound effects from the game were loud.

Quiang sodomised Vicky again. Ron guessed that the young men had used Viagra. As the booking went on, he thought that the students seemed to change things up, penetrating Vicky in a different orifice every time, except for Quiang, who certainly seemed to prefer her anus. Vicky seemed to swallow a lot of semen.

***

When they came out, Ron asked Vicky if she fancied another drink in that pub and she said she did. Vicky got plenty of attention again when they went in. Ron noticed that the men would look away very quickly if they saw him noticing them.

'How did that one go?' asked Ron, when they'd sat down with their drinks.

'Do you know what, it was fun? When we walked in and I saw that mattress with the handcuffs, alarms were ringing in my brain, it looked like a crime scene... If you hadn't been with me, I would have walked straight out again... but I actually enjoyed it! None of them were that big, so I wasn't sore, and I thought I was really getting them off,' said Vicky.

'I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it,' said Ron.

'I'd work with them again, provided you could be there. They were actually quite sweet,' said Vicky.

'Maybe they'll book you again,' said Ron.

'I hope so. I liked what one of them was doing, you know the one that spoke more English, the one that let us in? Well he was buggering me, but he laid right on top of me and rested his weight on me when he had me, and I really liked it... Next time I work with Layla I'm going to ask her to do that to me,' said Vicky.

'I've seen her do that with Emma, lie on top of her,' said Ron.

'Was that a work thing or out of work?' asked Vicky.

'Work. Stag party in Mayfair. Emma seemed to like it though,' said Ron.

'It's great, you can't really move, so you feel helpless, and you're just getting fucked,' said Vicky.

'How often is it fun, generally? Do you enjoy it a lot or is it work? Is it ever fucking horrible?' asked Ron.

'It's normally great. When it's not great it's usually when you haven't clicked with someone personally,' said Vicky.

'It's not looks?' asked Ron.

'You get used to that stuff. It's like... with them, I can't imagine sleeping with any of them without a financial transaction taking place, and that's no offence to them, Mr Ron, but I liked when the one of them was buggering me, and another one of them was kissing the back of my neck when he was fucking me, and another one was doing this thing with his fingers, stroking the side of my face really gently when I was sucking him off. There's always nice things that they do, or nice things about them, that you can focus on... and if need be you can just shut your eyes and imagine you're with someone you like,' said Vicky.

'This stuff fascinates me,' said Ron.

'I can imagine. What's it like for you, watching?' asked Vicky.

'Depends who it is. If it's you it's like watching really great porn, if it's Marie it's not as much fun,' said Ron.

'I can imagine. Any progress on that front?' asked Vicky.

'No, course not,' said Ron.

'Why course not?' asked Vicky.

'She's with a bloke, and she's madly in love with another bloke, and she's too good for me... Can we talk about something else before I start crying into my drink?' said Ron.

'No Mr Ron, no, we can't. No one's too good for you, no one. And she's not going to be with that guy for very long because he's a twat, he's

the

twat. The doctor she's in love with isn't a bloke, it's a woman, and she's married, to a man, and has a kid. Marie isn't too good for you because no one is, and she's basically single, and the thing with the doctor isn't going to happen, not ever. So, don't you be downhearted, Mr Ron, you hang in there,' said Vicky.

Ron didn't believe he could ever get Marie in one million years, but what Vicky had said had made him feel fantastic.

'That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me,' said Ron.

'It's true, Mr Ron,' said Vicky.

'Why's this guy such a twat, do I need to put him over my knee?' asked Ron.

'Tarquin? If you put him over your knee he would ejaculate, Mr Ron. He's been asking Marie to set up a threesome with you. He met you when he booked them, didn't he? She said no... And he's fucking everything that moves. He was shagging Caroline, because Caroline didn't know she was with Marie. Tarquin doesn't know that Caroline and Marie know each other, because Caroline's obviously keeping it quiet that she's working. Well, Tarquin told Caroline that he was just having some fun with Marie. Caroline said he seemed to find the idea of shagging a hooker for free quite impressive,' said Vicky.

'Did he describe her as a hooker?' asked Ron.

'Indeed he did, Mr Ron,' said Vicky.

'Does Marie know about this stuff?' asked Ron.

'No, and we can hardly tell her, but that won't go on for long now, I'm sure,' said Vicky.

Ron had some stuff to think about, but he put it out of his mind for now. He went back to the bar. He was getting another G & T for Vicky and juice for himself. He liked this pub.

***

They got back to Pimlico. Ron got a goodnight kiss on the cheek from Vicky. They always kissed him goodnight now, Vicky and Annabelle. Sometimes they kissed him when they saw him in the morning, too. He liked being kissed.

He didn't think about Marie until he got into his room, but once he started thinking about her, and about what Vicky had told him, it took him a while to get to sleep.

***

Toby didn't need Ron until the following Monday, so he had three days where he could work for Katie, apart from Friday morning when he had his first appointment with just Marie, on her own, at the mental health team. Katie was happy to hear that he was available. She needed him to work with Caroline all day, because Caroline was still causing a stir. Katie told him that she upped Caroline's price by one hundred pounds an hour, and the bookings were still coming in.

He took Caroline to a flat in Knightsbridge, just around the corner from Harrods. It was in one of the tall, red brick buildings there, which Ron thought were lovely. Caroline had sex with two middle aged men from Bulgaria. They'd booked her before, and she seemed to have a good rapport with them when she and Ron entered. Ron was able to wait in a sitting room where he read his book. Afterwards, Caroline said she liked the men, but that one of them had a large penis which seemed to always have her on the point of gagging when she tried to deep throat him. The men had told her they'd book her again in a few weeks' time. Ron noticed the way one of them looked at Caroline as they left, he thought the man was in love with her.

The next booking was at a flat in Chelsea, close to the bridge. It was in a large council estate, which lifted up four stories around a big quadrant. Ron suspected almost all of the flats had probably been bought up, years ago. He would have been very surprised if there were any social housing tenants left. He had to wait in a poky spare room while Caroline worked with the client. It was another person who'd booked her before, a man from a commuter town in Kent who came into London once or twice a month to get his rocks off. He'd bought Caroline an expensive book about fashion which she really liked. She leafed through the book as he drove her to the next booking, a three-hour job in Ladbroke Grove. This was in another ex-council flat, but whereas the estate in Chelsea had had character, with the London bricks, nice gardens and a particular atmosphere about the place, the building in Ladbroke Grove was a big, brown monstrosity. It looked like it had gone up in the late sixties and Ron could not for the life of him imagine ever being happy, living there.