‘Well, yes, it’s how I got in contact with the three of you,’ said Jasper, ‘but Sarah’s never been. It’s a BDSM club, love, in east London, top secret, very exclusive clientele. Best parties ever.’
‘I work in the building across the street,’ she continued. ‘I thought it was just some old warehouse or something, but I noticed people coming and going a lot, and some of them were very interestingly dressed. So I got a bit obsessed with watching it and trying to guess what went on in there. No chance of finding out, though, because there were door staff and all the windows were completely blacked out. Until one night …’
‘Ooh.’ I couldn’t help myself. I twirled my fork in the lamb’s lettuce without any making it as far as my mouth.
‘I could see a bit of light in one of the windows and obviously I was drawn to it. I went to take a peek and I couldn’t believe what I saw!’
‘You saw me,’ said Trix laconically.
‘Yes, I saw you, dolled up in a St Trinian’s uniform, getting a caning from
some guy in a mortarboard.’
‘And that’s something you don’t see every day,’ said Jasper smiling. ‘And Dimitri was the guy in the mortarboard?’
‘No,’ said Dimitri. ‘It was total coincidence. My first night in London and I was looking for a bar. I walked down the street and saw Rosie and I was with her when she was seeing this thing. I thought, ‘Hello, London, I have found my home now.’ He laughed and drained another glass of red wine.
‘I can’t believe Mal and O were so careless as to leave a blind up,’ remarked Jasper. ‘Very unlike them. They’re terribly careful as a rule.’
‘I don’t know what happened that night,’ said Trix. ‘But I do know that we saw them looking at us, and they saw us looking, and off they skedaddled.’
‘I thought … it was crazy, looking back … but I thought we might be in danger,’ said Rosie. ‘I had no idea what sort of people would be into that kind of thing, but they could have been gangsters for all I knew.’
Trix took up the story. ‘They happened to run to the little pub we like to go to for a post-session drink. I saw them there, got chatting to Dimitri and offered to get him in.’
‘Oh, Trix,’ said Jasper, sucking in a breath. ‘That was a bit indiscreet.’
‘I know,’ she said, shamefaced, ‘but Dimitri … I could see straightaway that he would be an asset to the club.’
I watched Rosie’s face here, and was inclined to think what she obviously did: Trix could see straightaway that Dimitri was very attractive and eminently shaggable. Hmm.
‘So, the short story is, we were curious,’ said Dimitri. ‘And we decide to go for it. Rosie is not so sure, but I persuade her.’
‘You were together by then?’ I said, but Rosie shook her head.
‘No, I was just … well … I was sort of drawn along in Dimitri’s current. It’s easily done. And I was cool with it, completely, until we actually got in and the owners wanted to test us, to make sure we were genuinely into the scene.’
‘Uh oh,’ I said, fascinated. ‘So you’re in a BDSM club with a virtual stranger and you have to pretend you’re both experienced?’
Rosie laughed shrilly. ‘I know! God! It’s like a dream, when I think of it now, but somehow we did it. We got through.’
‘What did you have to do?’ asked Jasper, with that slightly cruel glint in his eye he sometimes got. He knew the question would be uncomfortable for Rosie to answer, and that was why he was asking.
‘Well … I’m sure you can imagine …’ she said.
Dimitri came to her rescue.
‘I had to spank her,’ he said. ‘Over my knee. Rosie was fantastic, amazing. She was so brave. Of course, I find out later that she likes it.’
Jasper laughed and looked into the neck of the empty red wine bottle.
‘Good God, is this gone already? I’ll get another.’
When he returned, Rosie resumed the story.
‘So, we were in,’ she said. ‘And that meant we had to get the dynamic right before we were rumbled. So Dimitri and I used to meet once a week for … well …’
‘Good times,’ he said with a sly and devastatingly sexy grin. ‘And to me, it looks like we are lovers, OK? I kind of get that idea. It is happening. But Rosie is a little bit insecure and she starts to think I am more interested in Trix.’