"Oh I so need a drink," complained Sam as she rode alongside Louise.
It had been a long day and they were all looking forward to seeing the ferry terminal again. Unfortunately, it had remained curiously elusive so far despite several signs indicating it was close.
"Surely we must be near now," Gillian said crossly.
"I dunno," Sam replied with a shrug, "that last sign said six kilometres to Euro Port and yet there's still no sight of it."
Louise couldn't be bothered to contribute to the conversation. Her head was somewhere else and had been all day. As the miles rolled by effortlessly, she had been mulling over all the events of the last three days, trying to make sense of them. In the process she had resolutely stayed away from Rick.
He had smiled at her when they stopped for a late lunch, but she had pretended not to notice. It seemed easier that way. They had agreed to talk about things tonight, so it was best to let it lie in the meantime. Besides, she still had no idea what she wanted.
On the face of it, a short term fling was possible β after all they both knew there was an undeniable attraction. But, did she really want something so shallow? Plus, did she want to be just another notch on his belt? No, she didn't. She was tired of all that crap. Kevin had messed her about and she had no desire to be another man's fuck-toy again.
If she wanted casual sex, she knew damn well Paolo was more than willing. He had pressed his cell phone number into her hand the last time she'd visited the gym and he had made it quite clear that he was available for
anything
she felt she needed. She would have been tempted to take him up on that offer had she not overheard a conversation between two girls in the changing rooms.
"He's a great fuck," the blonde had said to her friend with the unfeasibly large tits as they changed into their designer-labelled exercise clothes.
"Who is?" Miss Big Tits said curiously.
"You know - the masseuse guy," said Blondie. "My hubby paid for a course of treatments for me as a birthday present," she snorted with amusement. "He has no idea what 'extras' Paolo offers!"
"No!" the friend said in disbelief. "You're joking..."
"I'm not joking, Lesley, trust me, the guy is a total stud!" She fanned herself dramatically and Louise felt her stomach clench. She wondered just how many women Paolo serviced in the course of his day, although, she had to admit he had been good at his job. The massage had been great even without the extras.
It was very disappointing. The thought of seeing Paolo again had been rather attractive up until that moment. Oh well, she could always go back when things got really desperate.
But casual fun was not her thing. It never had been β no-strings sex just didn't do it for her. The encounter with Rick outside the club only happened because he caught her off guard at a vulnerable moment. If she had been sober, it never would have happened at all.
"What's up with you?" Gillian's voice broke through her chain of thought and Louise looked at her blankly.
"Huh?"
"You!" she said exasperatedly. "You've been on another planet all day. Are you still feeling poorly after last night?" She began to look concerned.
"I'm fine," Louise said, forcing herself to look cheerful.
Gillian frowned suspiciously. She didn't look too convinced, but evidently decided not to pursue it any further. "Hey, did I tell you the gossip?" she said suddenly.
"No?" Louise's curiosity was aroused despite her own problems.
Gillian pulled alongside while Sam moved ahead to chat with Brigitte and Sonya. "Well," she said confidentially, "a little bird told me that Rebecca and Lucy had quite a night with Bob! Apparently Bob had a video camera and he took some interesting film footage. We may get to see this later!" She grinned at the thought.
"Did the girls know about the film?" asked Louise dubiously.
"Yeah!" Gillian rolled her eyes. "Course they did, you idiot! It seems those two aren't quite as innocent as they look."
Louise thought back to the car park when she'd overheard Rebecca with Lance Clarke.
No
, she decided,
Rebecca was clearly not as naΓ―ve as she'd originally believed. The trollop!
Their conversation was cut short when someone near the front of the ride began to cheer loudly. "We're here!"
"Thank fuck for that β I need a drink and some food," Sam said loudly.
The sight of the ferry terminal was a welcome one to everybody. It had been a long day after an equally long night for many people. Clearly some folk had had even less sleep than her, thought Louise. She just wondered how long it would take Bob to cash in on his 'film'.
* * *
On this occasion the cabin key actually opened the door. Louise entered the cramped space again and wondered who she was sharing it with this time. She had hoped Gillian would be her companion, but Gillian had drawn Sam, Natasha and the lovely Alicia in the cabin lottery. Louise was at least spared
that
particular horror.
"Hello!" said a familiar voice when the door swung open just as Louise was pulling her wash bag out.
She spun round in surprise to see Gary leering at her from the entrance to the cabin. "Are you in here, too?" she asked in stunned disbelief. Surely he hadn't been allocated a cabin with her!
"I think this may be our lucky night!" he grinned. "Fancy a threesome?" he continued as Rick appeared behind with his bag in hand.
Oh fucking marvellous
, thought Louise in total desperation. This was not how she'd planned her evening. If it all went tits up with Rick, she was now doomed to spend a hideous night in close proximity with him, unable to escape.