"You're all text and no trousers."
She keyed the words deliberately as she did every night when responding to Jack's taunting text messages, daring her to attend one of his infamous 'parties'. Every weeknight, he would send a flurry of late night invitations to her mobile,
"Coming this weekend? It's at a country estate just outside of London".
She knew he didn't really mean it. The parties were genuine enough; his last girlfriend, whom he had met in a bar in Soho, had been all too eager to share her experiences of the middle class orgies. Her clipped South African accent and her full, dark lips revealed the true extent of Jack's sexual indulgences and prowess. As she spoke she seemed to be re enacting sex in the garden, visualizing in her mind's eye Jack and his infamous 10 inch penis violating her. It must be a violation; the pain must have been excruciating. Deanna was a demure, waif-like Negress, stunningly beautiful as would befit any woman on Jack's arm, with flawless chocolate skin. She, on the other hand, was slightly overweight and dowdy in comparison. Hence she knew he was joking about the invitation.
The mobile vibrated once again. She read his reply,
"Pick you up at 7 tomorrow." The old double bluff. She didn't reply but just dropped the phone onto the floor as she turned over and went to sleep.
When the doorbell rang at 7pm that Saturday night, Corinne never even considered that it would be Jack's face she would see staring back at her from the front step.
"You're not ready? I told you 7. Go get a shower and beautify yourself, Cinders, your Prince Charming is here to take you to the ball!"
"You are joking..." she replied still reeling,
"It starts at 8 but I guess there's no harm in being fashionably late. Go! Go on!"
There was no point arguing with Jack. Perhaps he was just taking her along for the ride and she could watch everyone else. The swingers. All having sex with each other like apes, arbitrarily picking someone for a shag, because that's all it was; a shag. And Jack wouldn't be wanting to sleep with her, she'd known him for too long, so she was safe from the monster in his trousers.
By the time they arrived at Cornfield Hall, she was almost relaxed having convinced herself that she would not be an active participant in the night's activities. In fact the more she thought of it, she was quite looking forward to watching other people having sex. Considering it an educational episode seemed to assuage the feelings of depravity and guilt she had experienced as she showered.
"Jack, darling!" came a voice from across the sweeping, gravelled drive. She turned with Jack and from the passenger seat of a rather expensive looking Mercedes emerged a tall, elegant brunette wearing an off the shoulder black dress.