‘Not unless you wanted him to.’
‘Right. That’s good.’
Maria reached over and squeezed my hand.
‘You do look pale, dear. Have some more wine, and I’ll tell you a little bit about him. Not that I can tell you much. J is fiercely secretive and he’
ll make you sign a contract promising not to disclose anything that goes on between you.’
‘Really?’
Would such a contract be enforceable? An interesting question for Ed’s legal team on Monday morning.
‘Yes. You see, J has a rather high-powered position and he needs to be able to trust people. I’m sure you understand. He comes to me for his subs, because I know who has loose lips and who doesn’t. I’ll admit, I’m taking a bit of a chance on you. I’ve usually known his girls for upwards of six months. But this yearning of his for an inexperienced partner is new, so I’m playing it rather by ear. I just want you to understand that you’ll have me to answer to, as well as him, if anything untoward should enter the public domain. Is that clear?’
Maria had gone from confiding ‘fun aunt’ to scary Domme in the space of a couple of sentences. I was too intimidated to answer at first.
‘Of course,’ I breathed at last, my face hot from more than the wine.
‘Good.’ She took out a mobile phone.
‘Are you calling him now?’ I asked, a bit rattled at the speed with which all this was happening.
‘Why not? No time like the present. Ah, J. Yes, darling. Listen, I have someone here I’d like you to meet. Yes, she’s marvellously unschooled, just beginning to explore her submissive side. Oh, about twenty-two, twenty-three. Yes, I think you’ll like her. Long dark hair, curves in all the right places. So what if I invite her to our dinner tomorrow? Would that be a good idea? Oh, wonderful. I’ll see you then, darling. Kiss kiss.’
‘He said…?’
‘He’d very much like to meet you,’ said Maria triumphantly. ‘I’ve got a little dinner party planned for tomorrow evening, very select and discreet, just me and one of my longstanding male submissives – and you and J. It was going to be Olivia, but that all happened so quickly. Well, this will be interesting for all of us. You might learn a thing or two as well.’
‘Dinner? Tomorrow?’
‘Yes. You don’t have plans, do you? You’ll have to cancel them.’
Given that my plans were to mope about crying over Tom, that wasn’t too difficult.
‘N-no, I can…I can do that.’
‘Good. That’s settled, then.’
‘Er…what shall I wear?’ My head was spinning. I felt sick. My body was telling me what a bad idea this was, but my heart wouldn’t let me quit. It’s just dinner, I told myself. You can get him alone and ask him about Olivia, and The Academy, and about his powerful position in the council. A few drinks could be all it takes.
‘Something saucy,’ said Maria with a low chuckle. ‘Our J likes to see what’s on offer. He doesn’t care about what’s on the cover of Vogue – just what’s underneath the covers, if you catch my drift. You can go high-class hooker or cheap and slutty – either way will work for him.’
‘I get you,’ I said, working hard to recall if Mia had said anything on her blog about J’s tastes in underwear. She always drew herself in stockings and suspenders, and often corset-type things. A trip to that woman’s naughty knickers shop might be in order, I thought.
‘Tomorrow at seven thirty, then,’ she said. ‘I’ll text you the address.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Looking forward to it.’
Which was a bit like looking forward to my doom. But I had to say something.
I changed my mind approximately six hundred and thirty two times over the course of the rest of the night and the morning after. My finger was poised on my phone, ready to text Maria that ‘something had come up’ so often it was on the verge of contracting a repetitive strain injury.
But on Sunday afternoon, after a lunch I’d merely stared at and then pushed aside, I found myself at the door of Wanton Woman, eyeing the PVC basques and cute heart-shaped paddles in the window, and making furtively sure nobody I knew was in the immediate vicinity.
I could turn away now. I could go back home and make plans with Mehra and Jess.
But Louise had seen me, and she dashed over from the counter to open the door wide, a bell jangling above our head as she beamed at me.