Butter Wouldn't Melt by Penny Birch Read Free Book Online Page A

behind glass fronts, carefully arranged according to brand. I told myself it was just another bar, but it was hard not to be impressed, especially by the prices chalked up on a board. Even a bottle of the house champagne cost nearly half what Montague, Montague, Todmorden and Montague were paying me for a week’s work. As Mark had predicted, it was still quite empty, but that didn’t stop him making a show of clicking his fingers for the waiter.
    â€˜Good morning, Mariusz. A bottle of
La
Belle
Époque
, well chilled.’
    The champagne he’d chosen cost some frightening amount, no doubt in an attempt to make me feel obliged to comply when he tried to get sex, but I wasn’t going to be so easily led. He took me to a table by the window, looking out across the little square behind our building. Fancy as it was, Champagne Charlie’s was built under the same railway that ran past Montague, Montague, Todmorden and Montague, so that everything shook a little every time a train passed overhead.
    â€˜The important thing with champagne,’ Mark was saying as Mariusz eased the cork free, ‘is always to buy a vintage. Otherwise you’ll find it’s too young and sharp.’
    There was a faint pop as the cork came free, allowing a creamy white froth of bubbles to escapethe bottle neck and trickle down the sides. Mark winked and grinned, only for his expression to suddenly turn sour. He was facing the window and I turned to look. Andy, Den and Steve were coming towards us.
    â€˜Here are the boys,’ Mark said with a strained attempt at jollity.
    He poured the champagne before they arrived. I took a sip as they clustered around our table, Andy speaking first.
    â€˜What a surprise to find you here, Mark. Hi, Pippa, has this old goat been trying to get you in the sack then?’
    â€˜I thought . . .,’ I began, immediately confused, but Mark stepped in.
    â€˜Ignore him, Pippa. You’re with me, so you’re fine.’
    Andy gave a cynical chuckle. I took another sip of champagne, now confident that I was completely safe. Obviously they were going to try to seduce me, but altogether, in a wine bar, they could only hope to get so far. Steve went to the bar to get another bottle and the others sat down, Mark moving quickly to my side so that I had no choice but to sit with his leg pressed to mine or fall off the seat.
    They began to drink, laughing and joking among themselves and with me, also trying to flirt. It would have been easy just to relax into it, as none of them were being pushy or particularly obnoxious, but I kept remembering the bet and what they’d said about me, and what they’d like to do to me. Steve in particular was being charming and friendly, enough to bring back my confusion over my sexuality, only this was the man who’d said he would like to make me suck his cock after it had been up my bottom.
    I kept that firmly in mind as we finished the first two bottles of champagne and Den Coles orderedanother pair. They were trying ever harder to capture my attention, and I knew I was getting drunk, making me worry not so much about what might happen at the wine bar, but afterwards. Den in particular was an unprincipled bastard, and Andy wasn’t much better. Maybe they were bad enough to come up to my room in the afternoon and try to make me toss them off, suck them, hold me down over the desk and stuff their erections rudely up me from behind . . .
    The thought came with a little erotic shiver, and I pushed it down immediately, cursing myself for my own susceptibility. I do like men, sort of, sometimes, at least to watch, but it’s not at all like the way I feel for girls, more a grotesque fascination. Grotesque maybe, but it’s a fascination that makes pussy wet, and she was, fuelling my embarrassment as the four of them vied to get me out of my knickers.
    I very nearly sent a text to AJ to beg for rescue. She would come, I