The Slave World (8)

(8): Carousel

“I’m impressed, Adam. You have a seriously lovely apartment.” I had known Adam for several years now but this was the very first time I had been to his apartment close to the Thames. The view was amazing through the patio windows and the décor was like something out of a GQ magazine spread. All the furnishings were ultra modern and looked expensive. In fact the place looked like a showroom with little sign that anyone actually lived in it except for some food in the kitchen, a wine rack and a couple of magazines on the bespoke coffee table in the living room. I gazed at the door leading to the bedroom. It was ajar just enough that I saw an open walk in wardrobe that contained dark suits and a variety of expensive shirts. Strange, as Adam always dressed so causal whenever I met him.

“It impresses women when I bring them back here.”

“It’s gorgeous, and that view!” I stood by the sliding full length windows and turned the handle to step out onto the veranda. “My God, I’d kill for a place like this. I can’t ever show you my flat now, I’d be too embarrassed.” I sat down on one of the stylish loungers set out under a sun shade. The veranda was an l-shape and continued round the corner where presumably his bedroom faced. It was ten in the morning and already feeling hot outside, but this high up there was a cooling breeze that wafted over London’s skyline.

“Coffee on the veranda?” suggested Adam.

“Absolutely. How can you afford to rent this place?”

“I don’t. I own it.” He disappeared to switch on an expensive chrome espresso machine from Italy.

“You are fucking kidding me. You own it?”

“Well, there's a mortgage involved, but yeah,” came his distant voice.

“How the hell…”

“I have some business arrangements that keep me pretty solvent,” he said as the machine gurgled, slurped and hissed. “I don’t just do cash in hand work for Ambrose Investigations. Truth is, I don’t really need your cases, but I like working with you, Cat.”

Adam is fucking rich, I thought to myself. I never knew.

“Should have taken me up on that marriage proposal at Blanchette,” said Adam with a cheeky grin as he emerged holding a tray with two steaming espressos in small china cups along with a selection of croissants on a folded napkin cloth in a wicker basket.

“You do remember me saying yes, don’t you?” I said with a laugh. “But seriously, you earn this much?”

“Well, here and there “ He seemed guarded on the subject. “I’m on retainer at the moment. They’re generous.”

“I’m in the wrong line of work,” I said as I lay on the extremely chic sun lounger and took the espresso coffee in hand.

As I sipped my coffee and broke off the corner of one of the buttery croissants it occurred to me that I could do a damn sight worse than Adam. He was good looking, we got on well, he liked me, and now I found out he had money. Not that the last bit mattered a great deal. I wasn’t the sort of girl who’d give herself to a man just because he was loaded, but it didn’t hurt that a man had money to spend. I could be quite happy in this apartment, well away from the council shit hole I had in the tower block with its condensation problems in winter. Yeah, looking at Adam now I realised I had maybe not really been looking at him in the past the way I should have. Nine months ago there had been the break up with Daryl and that had left me a little bitter I guess. Daryl had hardly been faithful and Mimi had warned me of that, but I’d chosen to ignore the obvious signs until it became too hard to avoid.

“You’re looking at me funny,” said Adam as he sat down on the other lounger.

“Am I?” I smiled and sipped the bitter espresso again. It was better than the Costa espresso in King's Cross. “Funny how?”

“Just… different. It’s good to see you, Cat. It’s fun to have breakfast with you.”

“Yeah, it is,” I said with a soft smile. “We should do it more often.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid. All the time Adam had been on my radar and I’d never thought what should have been obvious. Perhaps I was a little too hooked up on ticking off a set of impossible qualities in a man? Maybe Adam ticked off enough of them.

“So… this house?” said Adam.

“This house,” I said as I curled my feet up under me. “It'’s a big house. Four storeys and impressive security. Probably owned by the Russian mafia. They buy a lot of properties in London.”

“Are you sure you should be sticking your nose into the affairs of people like that?”

“Not sure at all. The plan is to simply put together enough evidence to hand over to the police. They don’t seem to be taking Rebecca seriously while she can’t give them anything more than her wild stories. They think she’s paranoid.”

“So what do you want me to do, Cat?”

“Phone this number.” I handed him a piece of paper. “It belongs to a Master Andromedus. You’re interested in Gor and I’m your kajira.” I remembered the term from Captive of Gor. “We live together in an on/off BDSM relationship with Gorean trappings and you want to take it further. I guess they want to check you out to ensure you’re genuine and not some time waster. Do you remember enough from the books to sound plausible?”

“Probably. I’ll skim read one to refresh my memory. I guess I’m not supposed to be an expert or anything?”

“No, just very interested to learn more. I’m hoping we’ll get an invite like Kajira Kandi did. I just want to find out a bit about these guys and what they do.”

“Tread carefully, Cat. They obviously have money so that means they’re not likely to be nice people.”

“Hey, I’ve got you watching my back.”

“That you have,” said Adam. “Look, I’m going to take a shower. Relax for a while and then we can talk through the plan in detail and work out a comprehensive back story. You’re okay out here, my little kajira?”

“More than okay, oh sexy master. Hey, Adam,” I called out to him as he was about to step back into the apartment.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. Really. Thank you. I should say that more often than I do.”

“Yeah, you should.” He blew me a kiss and headed to the bathroom.

Okay, so I’m nosey and frankly if you leave a nosey woman alone in your home you shouldn’t be surprised if she starts looking around, especially if it's as lovely as this one. I wandered back into the apartment and explored the rooms, running my fingers over some tasteful abstract sculptures and admired the enormous modern art paintings hanging on the walls. I wandered into Adam’s bedroom and peered at the large double bed with the rich Egyptian cotton sheets and plump pillows. I tried to imagine what it might be like to roll around in that bed with him and wake up in the morning to steaming hot coffee and a tender weekend fuck. I stepped into the walk in closet and ran my hands over expensive dark suits that I’d never seen him wear. The shirts were all bespoke and tailored and I wondered what part of his life accommodated them. Beneath the suits there was a medium size safe secured to the wall.

Adjoining the bedroom was a second room that Adam used as an office. A modern iMAc sat at a desk with a view over the river. Like the rest of the apartment the office was minimalist and tidy, though he had a few reference books arranged on a shelf and a wine rack in the corner. On the desk I saw an open notebook. Written on the page was a single word underlined: ‘carousel’ and a string of numbers that could mean anything and probably did. I had no idea what it meant. The iMAc was on but screen locked. As I moved the mouse the screen saver gave way to the locked wallpaper and I realised with shock that it was a picture of me!

“Oh, Adam…” I thought with a smile as I gazed at one of the photos he had taken of me in Blanchette that night when I wore the long feminine dress. I was smiling, looking amused and relaxed as I stood there with one hand on my hip about to laugh. It was a good photo, but I guess I hadn’t been supposed to see it was now his wallpaper.

Adam obviously liked me more than he let on.

Hmm, the possibilities. It felt good to know he was into me as much as this. I knew his secret now.

Yeah, maybe, maybe I should pursue this. Maybe it was time.

The shower was still running so I wandered back into his bedroom and lay down on the bed. Now that I thought about it, Adam never really talked about girlfriends. I wracked my brain to think of anyone he may have mentioned in the past. His romantic interludes had always been vaguely described. Occasionally there might have been a first name – a Lucy, or a Susan or a Helen – but more often than not just a reference to having had a good night. I had never got the impression that he stayed with women very long. On an impulse I slid open the drawer on his antique bedside stand and found it mostly empty. No condoms in sight. No toys, or lube or anything that suggested an active sex life. I slid the drawer shut again. But what had I expected to find? Well, some condoms at least. Even I carried a packet in my handbag just in case. I sat up on the bed as I heard the shower stop and the door to the bathroom eventually open. Adam walked into his bedroom with a white towel about his hips and another towel around his shoulders. He had that beefcake look of ripped abs and strong muscular shoulders that lifted him up a few more notches in my estimation. As he saw me there sitting cross legged on his bed he stopped in his stride and smiled.

“Testing the bed out for firmness?” he said with a wry smile. “You need two bodies simultaneously to really test the strength of the springs...”

I grinned. “Does it see much use?”

“It has its moments,” said Adam as he threw the shoulder towel onto the bed beside me. “Are you expecting me to undress completely in front of you?”

“Sorry, I’ll be in the living room.” I got up to go but his hand stopped me as I reached the door.

“Cat… are you okay? You’re acting a bit skittish this morning?”

“I’m fine. I’ll see you when you're dressed.”

Ten minutes later Adam appeared in his usual jeans, casual top and good quality cologne. “More coffee?” he suggested as he saw me on the sofa looking at my phone screen.

“Please.” I nodded. I wanted to ask him what Carousel was, but felt it wasn’t any of my business. I had been prying and that was bad form in a guest. I wanted to make a comment about the wallpaper picture of me on this iMac screen, but again I couldn’t.

I wanted to tell Adam that I liked him, but I couldn’t.

I sighed as he produced a fresh cup of espresso.

“So, let’s run through everything in fine detail before I make my first call to these people later on today. We don't want to make any mistakes when we meet them.”