Ecstasy by Irvine Welsh Read Free Book Online Page A

Perky found it difficult to take leave of absence to his flat. His mind had become fevered with the prospect of getting Lorraine round there. He
had
to get her round there, he had to make his move.
    One afternoon, Perky decided to take the opportunity. He had heard Lorraine laughing with Rebecca in the study and noted that she was preparing to go. – Ah, Lorraine, where are you headed?
    – Back tae the hospital, eh.
    – Splendid! Perks sang, – I’m off in that direction. I’ll drop you there.
    – That’s simply wonderful, Perky, Rebecca said, – See what a darling he is, Lorraine? What would I do without him? The two women exchanged a knowing smile Perks was oblivious to.
    Lorraine climbed into the passenger seat and Perky drove off. – Listen, Lorraine, I hope you don’t mind, he said, pulling over and turning down a side-street where he brought the car to a halt, – but you and I need to have a talk about Rebecca.
    – Aw aye?
    – Well, you and her are close, so I thought that I should reward you for making such a sterling contribution to her recovery. Perks reached into the glove compartment and handed Lorraine a brown envelope.
    – What’s this?
    – Open it and see!
    Lorraine knew it was money. She saw the large notes and estimated it was about a thousand pounds. – Great, she said, sticking the envelope in her bag, – Nice one.
    The little bitch loves the folding stuff, Perks thought contentedly. He drew closer to her and let his hand fall onto her knee. – There’s a lot more where that came from, I’ll tell you that, my little beauty … Perks gasped.
    – Aw aye, Lorraine smiled. Her hand went to his groin. She opened his flies and put her hand inside. She found his testicles and squeezed. Perky gasped. He was in heaven. She squeezed some more, then some more, and heaven started to become something else. – You ever touch me again and ah’ll brek your fuckin neck, she grinned until his radiant smile vanished and her forehead crashed into his nose at full force.
    Lorraine was gone, leaving Perks holding a bloody handkerchief to his nose with one hand and massaging his crushed testicles with the other. He sat for a while trying to compose himself. – Good God, he moaned, starting up the car and heading for the flat. I like them feisty, but not that damn feisty, he thought balefully, his hands trembling on the wheel.
    A session watching some of the old videos cheered him up. Particularly the one with Candy, his favourite. She would do anything at all for a price, which was exactly how a good whore should be. Too many of them had predictable thresholds, a bloody disgrace to their profession, he mused. No, he’d have to get in touch with Candy again soon.
    When Perky Navarro returned home in higher spirits, he noted with a satisfied glee that Rebecca’s manuscript was expanding. Strangely, Rebecca was contracting. This diet-and-exercise regime they had put her on had worked wonders. Stones had been shed. She dressed differently, and even seemed different in a more fundamental sense. People were commenting. She was now more than two stone lighter than she had been at the time of the stroke. Her face looked back to normal. These changes were interesting to Perks, but the unfamiliarity was slightly unsettling and intimidating. He even found himself aroused by her presence one evening, and suggested that they forego their separate rooms to sleep together for the first time in about three years. – No, darling, I’m far, far too tired, I must finish this book, she told him.
    Never mind that, he thought, the manuscript was coming along nicely. She’d been knocking out the words. This consoled him. She had taken to keeping her study locked, for some strange reason. But that evening when she said she was going out, which she seemed to be doing more and more often, she left the door not just unlocked but wide open. He picked up the document and read.

14 Untitled – Work In Progress
    Page 56
    It had