Seduce Me

‘Sam Shepherd,’ he introduces. ‘What will they say? Not a toilet bowl in sight.’

I smile despite myself. How Va

‘The last painting is…interesting, isn’t it? Do you think it has some hidden meaning? A social commentary on our dissolute life? Or…’ His eyes suddenly change. They start to undress me. I am frozen by the violence in his eyes. Nobody has ever looked at me like that. ‘Would you like to have your purse full of money and supper with me in Paris?’

Suddenly Va

‘I was just asking Miss…’ He turns to me briefly. ‘Sorry I didn’t quite catch your name, what the meaning of this painting was.’

Va

‘It is exactly what you think it is.’

‘I’d like to buy it.’

‘It’s not for sale.’

‘I am prepared to pay more, far more than the price the others would stop at.’

‘It’s not for sale,’ Va

‘Three hundred thousand.’ His voice is loud. I realize for the first time that he is drunk.

Va

There is a gasp.

Va

Then the air around me moves and Blake is standing next to me. From him come waves of antagonism for the newcomer and a rock-like, unshakable support for Va

‘Monfort,’ Blake says coldly.

Monfort acknowledges the greeting with a slight, silent bow of his head. His mouth curls at the end. And there is something evil about that grotesque curl. I shiver.

‘Congratulations. It is a fine painting Mr…Wolfe. It does us proud.’ The hesitation is deliberate. He knows. He knows that Va

‘Thank you.’

‘You have my offer if you do decide to sell.’

Va

He turns his attention to Blake. ‘Your father would have been pleased with you. Come and see me in the cigar room.’

‘If time permits.’

At that moment I know it is absolutely true what Va

The man called Monfort moves the tip of his mouth into a cruel curl. His dark eyes settle on me. ‘I bid you goodnight, Miss Sugar.’ Then he turns and slips away, a silent, black shadow.

‘Well done, Va

‘Is everything all right?’

Blake catches her by the waist and playfully growls, ‘Of course. Except for the fact that you are not by my side. Where have you been?’

‘I got waylaid by this woman who wanted to talk about CHILD.’

‘The penalty of success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you,’ he replies with a low laugh.

For a moment Lana looks from Blake to Va

‘Fine,’ Lana says with a laugh. ‘Don’t tell me, then.’

Thirty-two

‘Are you cold?’

I shake my head. I am burning up.

He releases my hand. ‘Let me call you a cab.’

‘Take me home with you.’

‘It’s over, Julie.’ His voice is flat, final. He never calls me Julie. I am Sugar to him. But you know me. I don’t give up easy. No one can accuse me of not trying.

‘Can we have sex one last time?’

He starts to shake his head.

‘Then why did you do what you did in there?’

‘Because he would have destroyed you.’

‘What makes you think he wanted me? I am white trash from the council estate.’

‘Snoop Dogg is not black. He’s Snoop Dogg. You are not Julie from the sticks but Eve from the painting.’

It gets suddenly colder. A cold that eats into bone. I hug myself. The sickness of my need for him grows, like moss on my skin. ‘Do we always remain who we are, no matter how much we try to be someone else?’

He looks at me sadly. The realization is swift. He has already walked away from me. But I won’t give up. The gypsy woman said not to. ‘Why is Adam & Eve not for sale?’

‘Because it’s yours,’ he says simply.

‘Don’t you want it?’

‘No. I want no memories of you. You can sell it. Buy a little flat like Billie’s.’

I just about stop myself from wailing. But I don’t want a little flat like Billie’s. I want to live with you in a garret in Paris or wherever. Is this how it ends? The thought is impossible to comprehend. The pain spreads from my chest outwards.

‘You’re leaving. What harm can it do for us to spend one last night together? I came to your exhibition. Don’t you want to see my dance? I practiced hard.’

He says nothing.

I wrestle with the entirely futile desire to reach a hand back into the past and change it. If only I had not been so obstinate. So hateful. ‘Please.’

‘If you keep the story going long enough, it will always end badly for all the characters,’ he says.

I know I am begging, but I don’t care. I touch his arm. ‘It will be my goodbye dance. You can’t deny me that…’

He takes his jacket off and drapes it over my shoulders. ‘All right.’ The jacket is full of the delicious warmth of his body and I snuggle into it. It is another expensive gift from Blake. We don’t speak at all during the walk to the car, in the car and on the way to the front door. He puts the car keys on the table. Smith comes to greet Va

‘Want a drink?’

‘No.’

‘I have green chartreuse.’

My eyes open wide. What? When did he buy that? It can only be a good sign. I let my lips stretch in a smile. I’m in love with a handsome devil. ‘In that case, I’ll have a glass.’

I go and sit on the sofa and watch him pour the drink out for me. His shoulders are tense. Hardly meeting my eyes, he approaches with a glass of something amber and my drink.

‘What are you drinking?’ I have never known him to drink anything but beer.

‘Brandy.’

He sits on the same sofa, but there is at least a foot between us. One lousy foot. I can scale that. I bring the drink to my lips, aware that he is now watching me, and take a small sip. Shit. It tastes like cough medicine. I cradle the glass in the palm of my hand.