‘Ooh, a top London gallery. Fancy.’ There was a hostile edge to his words, mixed in with the mockery.
‘What’s the matter with that? Why are you so chippy with me?’
‘Forget about my artistic career, Jen. Leave it. Let’s do up the house and then think about what’s next after that.’
‘Well. All right. If that’s what you want. I’m not going to leave it, though, not completely. I want you to get the recognition you deserve.’
‘Yeah, well, as far as some people are concerned that’s a front page spot in the court report.’
‘But—’
‘Shut up.’
The abrupt and commanding tone silenced her. She tried to withdraw her leg but he held it tight.
‘Shut up,’ he said, more gently, ‘and listen to me. We’re strangers, Jen. We met a few days back. Why don’t we get to know each other properly first?’
‘I feel I know you.’
‘Trust me, you don’t. I want to show you exactly what you don’t know.’
There was a look in his eye that convinced Jenna he was talking about sex.
‘I have been married,’ she said with a nervous laugh.
‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘To a man who was more interested in what he put up his nose than what he put up you.’
‘Jason!’
‘It’s true, isn’t it? You told me yourself.’
‘There’s no need to be crude.’
‘Yes there is. I’m crude because I’m real, doll. Nothing tinsel-town about me. I know what you need and I can give it to you, simple as.’
‘You’re an arrogant prick.’
‘And? What’s your point?’
She pretended to kick at him, but he held firm. He knew, damn him, that she wanted him right now, wanted him to pin her down there in the bath and surge into her, joining their respective energies until they were one. But her pride always made her fight it, even when her desire for him poured through her like liquid light.
‘You know, you’ve disappointed me about LA,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I thought it’d all be wild, kinky porno sex out there. Threesomes and orgies and shit. Turns out Bledburn’s got more of that going on.’
‘Has it really?’ She laughed.
‘Oh yes. Really. You’d be shocked, my lady.’
‘I don’t remember anything like that.’
‘Well, you’re a bit older than me. But what do kids do when there’s no work and no nothing in their lives? They shag, that’s what.’
‘That’s what you did.’
‘Of course. I was about the worst, cos I didn’t drink a lot or smoke weed, which were the other popular hobbies round my way. I preferred the other, and so did the girls I knew, mostly.’