Telling Lies to Alice Read Online Free Page B

Actually, I got the feeling that they were trying to impress each other as much as me, which was quite weird, and the fact that Lenny was sort of showing me off to Jack—“Isn’t she great?” and all that. It made me feel a bit like I was on parade, or something, but it sort of intrigued me, as well—probably for all the wrong reasons. I’ve always thought Jack was attractive—if I was being completely objective I’d say he was better looking than Lenny, and he’s definitely sexy. . . . They were quite similar, both tall and dark, but Jack had this sort of wolfy look to him, narrow eyes and pointy incisors, and something very physical, a really strong sexual presence. More than Lenny did, I think, but Lenny was the one and that’s all I can say about it . . . I don’t know if that happens to some people more than once in their lives, but that’s the only time it’s happened to me. But: As soon as we’d finished our coffee, Lenny said, “Shall we go back to my flat?” It was obvious that Jack was included in the invitation so I made some excuse about having to get up early. They were pretty fed up but they didn’t press it, and Lenny said he’d drive me home. Jack left before we did. Lenny went with him to get his coat and I saw them standing at the other side of the room. Lenny said something and Jack shrugged his shoulders. Then they both glanced over at me and I had to pretend not to notice. Lenny came back after about five minutes. “Let’s go,” he said abruptly. “I’ve paid the bill.” I thought, ouch!
    He hardly said a word all the way home and I thought, I’ve really blown it this time, now he thinks I’m a spoilsport. I was sure he wouldn’t contact me, but two days later, he rang up—just about the time I was starting to think I’d made a real mistake saying I didn’t want to go back with them. I was so astonished to hear his voice that I couldn’t think of anything to say, but it didn’t matter because he launched straight in with, “Will you come out with me again? Jack won’t be there.”
    I said, “I didn’t know he was going to be there last time.”
    “But you liked him, didn’t you?” I was surprised by how anxious he sounded. “I wanted you to meet him, that was all.” He sounded so hurt that even though half of me was thinking, pull the other one, it’s got bells on, the other half was thinking, did I get the wrong end of the stick? That made me feel a bit embarrassed, because it’s not as if I go about thinking I’m God’s gift to men or something. . . . There was this long pause and I felt like he could hear what I was thinking, so as soon as he mentioned a date I said, yes, fine, whatever you like, just to get him off the phone. Then of course I looked at what I’d scribbled down and realised I’d have to ask if I could swap my shift. It never even occurred to me to ring him back and change it.
    Somebody asked me once, if Lenny hadn’t been so famous, would I have said yes? Which annoyed me, because I didn’t know he was famous, did I, that first time? And I still fancied him like mad. But I suppose that was part of the turn-on, although I don’t think I realised it, back then. There was something about him . . . well, it was power, really, because Lenny and Jack, they did have a lot of power—they were very successful, they earned a lot of money, and people wanted to be around them and do what they said, you know? But I noticed that quite a few times at the club when someone important came in. With those men . . . rich, powerful . . . some of them were nice—good manners—and some of them were pretty vile, really, but they all had one thing in common—they thought they could just have anybody. Whether they were going to charm the girl into bed or just snap their fingers—although of course they weren’t doing any of that in the club because it was very controlled—they behaved like they’d got it all laid out on a plate with an apple in its mouth