1953 - The Things Men Do (6 page)

"For heaven's sake!" Gloria said crossly, "do you have to show off and spoil my poker? We all know you're the strongest man in the world."

An ugly gleam jumped into Dix's eyes.

"Talk when you're spoken to, smartie pants, or you'll get a slap where it'll do you the most good."

Gloria's face hardened, but she forced a laugh. "What a way to talk! Do you still live in a cave, Eddie?"

He caught her wrist, swung her round and slapped her behind all in one swift movement. The loud whack of his hand made a pistol shot noise. Gloria screamed sharply.

I felt blood rush into my face. My fists closed, and I set myself to throw a punch at him but Joe hastily stepped between us, his back to me, facing Dix.

"Aw, Ed, that's no way to treat a lady," he said mildly, moving to the right as I tried to get around him, blocking me off again.

"Forget it," Dix said, eyeing me over Joe's head. "She's too ready with her smart cracks."

"Oh, shut up, the lot of you!" Gloria exclaimed. "You're nothing better than a heavy-fisted ape, Ed." She rubbed her seat, grimacing. "I bet you've left your fingerprints on me."

"I bet I haven't," Dix said, suddenly grinning. "Let's have a look."

"Really, Ed!" She turned to Louis. "Put a record on, and let's dance."

The tension died down and the others began to dance.

Gloria slipped into my arms and I steered her away from the others.

"Did he hurt you?"

She laughed.

"You mustn't mind Ed. He's a bit free with his hands, but he means nothing by it. You looked as if you were going to start a fight."

I was still pretty steamed up.

"I was going to sock him."

"Don't ever do that Harry. He's much too strong and slick. He's been in the ring with men like Baksi and Mauriello back in the States. Don't ever think you could handle him. Even Joe, who used to be a pro wouldn't fight him."

"All the same, if he hits you again, I'm going to hit him."

She looked up at me, her eyes sparkling.

"I believe you would, Harry, but he didn't mean anything."

We had more drinks, more dancing and still more drinks.

Berry got a little tight. I was getting a little tight myself. I wasn't used to drinking whisky, and every time a record stopped, I found a fresh drink standing on the bar for me; and they were powerful ones.

An argument started up suddenly in a comer between Berry and Madge. She was as tight as he was, but not as tight as he seemed to want her to be.

He was trying to pull her into another room when Gloria saw what was going on.

"Ed! Please go over and break that up. I don't care what he does to her outside my flat, but I'll be damned if he does it in my bedroom!"

Dix grinned lazily.

"So what? Let the man alone."

"If you don't break it up, I'm going to!"

He shrugged and went over to Berry.

"He's just an animal when he gets liquor in him," Gloria said to me, wrinkling her nose.

Dix said something to Berry, who let go of Madge and sat down, scowling. Dix came back to the bar.

"Ed, isn't it time you had a talk with Harry?"

"Okay. Let's go into the other room, Harry."

"Don't lie on my bed, please, like you did last time,"

Gloria said.

"What's a bed for but to lie on?"

He jerked his head at me and I followed him across the room. As I passed Berry he said with a sneering grin, "Are you two girls going to powder your noses?"

Dix turned and reached Berry's side with the swiftness of a streak of lightning. He slapped Berry's face before Berry could get his arm up to protect himself. He hit Berry so hard, Berry fell off the settee on to the floor.

"Ed!" Gloria screamed.

The other girls backed quickly against the wall, out of the way. Louis and Joe stood motionless. Louis looked scared, while Joe grinned, thrusting his hands into his trousers pockets.

Dix stood over Berry who lay on his side looking up at him, one side of his white face a flaming red.

"What did you say, you punk?" Dix asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"I didn't say anything," Berry said, not moving.

"Then don't say anything."

Dix eased his massive shoulders under his full draped coat and toned to me.

"Come on; let's talk."

He went into the other room without looking back. Still startled and a little shaken by the unbelievable speed at which he had moved across the room to hit Berry, I followed him and shut the door.

I found myself in a lavishly furnished bedroom of blue and silver decor. A double bed with a quilted headboard of blue satin stood by one wall. Walnut built-in cupboards covered another wall. There was a huge mirror, lighted by strip lamps that took up most of the third wall, and a dressing-table, covered with bottles of lotions, perfumes and boxes of creams faced the bed.

Dix was wandering around the room, his hands in his pockets.

"Some joint, isn't it? How would you like to sleep in all these frills?"

"I wouldn't, but most girls would."

"Yeah. I guess that's right. Park fanny somewhere. I want to talk to you."

He went over to the bed and stretched out on it. He groped for a cigarette, threw me one and lit up. "Gloria tells me you own a big garage in Eagle Street. Did she tell you I'm looking for a West End Agency?"

"She mentioned it."

"Eagle Street would suit me. Think you could handle it?"

"I don't see why not. What exactly would I have to do?"

"Not much at first. Later, you'd have to keep a stock of all parts my company manufactures, and be damned sure you didn't run out of stock of anything. There are about a hundred and fifteen spare parts to the television set we manufacture, and each part has a code number. The trade will order the part by its number and you'll supply it. That's all there's to it. You get ten per cent of the gross."

"What would that be worth?"

He shrugged.

"Depends, of course. It couldn't be less than fifty quid a week."

I tried not to show surprise, but he was watching me closely, and I knew I had shown him this was much more than I had been hoping for.

"Sounds all right."

He gave me his lazy, insolent grin.

"It is all right. This is going to be a life saver for you if it comes off, isn't it?"

"Well, things are pretty duff at the moment."

"Suppose I come down and look the place over? If it's big enough we might do business. Can't promise anything just yet, but I don't see why we shouldn't work together. Do you?"

I wasn't at all sure about going into partnership with a man of his violence. Within the past half hour I had seen two examples of his temper. I didn't like him. There was something about him that made me distrust him. But I thought of the money he was offering, and that more than outweighed my prejudice against him. With fifty pounds a week coming in steadily, I should be out of the red and into the black.

"I'll look after my end of it if you'll give me the chance."

He gave me a sideways look.

"You'll have to, pally. If you pull your weight, we'll get on. If you don't, you'll get out."

"Fair enough."

"Okay, that's settled then." He rolled off the bed, leaving an impression of his big frame on the pillow and the pale blue eiderdown. "I'll be along some time Monday afternoon to look the joint over. Then well have a final discussion."

"I'll be expecting you."

We went back into the big room again.

Berry, Louis, Madge and Connie were playing cards.

Gloria and Joe were matching coins at the bar. The other two girls weren't in the room.

"Where'er Paula and Betty?" Dix asked, going over to the bar.

"They've gone home," Gloria said.

"That's good. You other guys go home, too. Take your skirts with you. The party's over."

I expected Gloria to protest, but she didn't say anything.

The four at the table put away the cards and got up. The girls went into the bedroom for their coats. Berry and Louis stood a little uncomfortably by the door. Berry's face was beginning to show a bruise where Dix had slapped him.

"See you guys tomorrow," Dix said. "Usual time."

"Okay," Joe said.

I looked at my watch. It was half-past eleven. Ann would be home by now. I hadn't realized how quickly time had gone.

"I must be moving myself."

"Take it easy. Let's get rid of these punks first," Dix said, unwrapping a stick of chewing gum. "Give him a drink, Gloria."

"I won't have another."

"Give the guy a drink!"

While Gloria was fixing a whisky, the girls came out with their coats on. Their leave taking was uneasy, and they seemed glad to be going.

When they had gone, Dix said, "Looks like Harry and me are going to work together, Gloria. If his place is right, we'll fix it on Monday."

Gloria smiled at me, her eyes lighting up.

"I'm glad. It'll be fun for you and Ed to work together. I'll see more of you, too."

"Gloria's nobody's fool," Dix said, apparently in a high good humour. "She's given me some pretty good ideas in the past, and this one may work out right too." He raised his glass.

"Here's hoping, Harry."

I finished my whisky.

"I've got to get off home now," I said, looking at my wrist-watch uneasily.

"What's the hurry?" Dix asked, raising his heavy eyebrows. "Come with us to the Millionaire's Club. We're going to make a night of it."

"No, I'm sorry. Thanks all the same, but I've to get back."

"He has a wife, Ed," Gloria said, smiling. "You wait until you are married. You won't be able to stay out late just when you think you will."

I felt my face turn hot.

"Won't I?" Dix said. "Don't kid yourself. I'll stay out as long as I want to, and if she doesn't like it, you know what she can do."

"You cave men give me a pain."

Dix grinned.

"I gave you a pain just now, and if you don't watch it, I'll give you another."

Gloria backed quickly away, laughing.

"No more of that, please. I'm a mass of bruises as it is.

Well, Harry, if you must go, you must."

"I get up early. I've got to get some sleep tonight."

"Well, so long," Dix said, and gave me a jeering little smile. He pushed out his massive hand. His grip nearly cracked my fingers joints and made me wince. "See you Monday."

"Yes."

"I'll come down with you," Gloria said.

We went down the stairs to the dimly lit hall.

"It's going to be all right, Harry. He's taken a liking to you. I know the signs. He doesn't shake hands with people he doesn't like."

"Thanks to you."

She smiled up at me.

"I've taken a liking to you too, Harry."

We stood looking at each other. There was that thing in her eyes again, and it suddenly set me on fire. She moved forward slightly, and I had her in my arms.

"Better not, Harry," she murmured, but she raised her face, her arms sliding round my neck.

My mouth came down on hers. I felt her lips tighten against mine, then soften and open. We stood in the dim light, straining against each other.

Kissing her was like being caught up in the vortex of a tornado. When she pushed me away, my breath rasped at the back of my throat, my heart was slamming against my side, and there seemed to be an iron band around my chest that was suffocating me.

"Good night, Harry."

She opened the front door. In the light of the moon I saw her breasts were rising and falling rapidly, and her eyes were glittering.

I moved unsteadily through the doorway. I tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come. I was still standing there, trying to control my breathing, looking at her, when she quietly closed the door, shutting me out in the moonlit mews.

chapter five

A
s I walked from Gloria's flat to Charing Cross Station to collect my suitcase, I worked out a plan of campaign.

That good night kiss, plus the whisky, had hopped me up as if I had swallowed a handful of Benzedrine tablets. I was chock full of confidence that I could handle the situation now. I was going to make fifty pounds a week! Ann would have to know about it, of course, but that could be taken care of without hurting her. It was essential she shouldn't be hurt. I couldn't understand why I had been such a damned fool as to have lied to her. In my present mood, it now seemed ridiculous not to have told her I couldn't go to the movies with her because I had an important business date. I had to straighten that out as soon as I got home. It would mean telling her a few more lies, but that couldn't be helped.

Then there was Gloria. I didn't love her, of course, but I was certainly infatuated with her. Men get infatuated with girls, I argued to myself, in spite of being genuinely in love with their wives. It happens every day of the week; it has always happened, and it will always happen. You pass through this life but once, I said to myself, and you would be a mug to miss such an opportunity. Gloria wants you to make love to her.

You want to make love to her. Of course it isn't strictly playing the game with Ann, but men are doing that kind of thing every night, so why shouldn't you? What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve about. So long as Ann doesn't find out, and I'll take damned good care she doesn't find out, where's the harm?

Have an affair with Gloria, I said to myself, and then finish with it. You'll settle down with Ann all the better for getting Gloria out of your system. I didn't kid myself that Gloria was in love with me: nothing like that. Love didn't come into it.

This was a physical storm through which we were both passing. Get it over, and there'd be nothing more to it.

I really believed what I was telling myself. So long as Ann didn't find out, all would be well. Go ahead, I thought, don't take any chances, but don't miss this opportunity.

As I walked down Eagle Street, I felt het up and emotional about Ann. She was a good kid. No one better. I loved her more than anyone else in the world. This thing with Gloria wouldn't make any difference to my feelings towards Ann. I'd get it over and out of my system. The thing to do was to get it over as quickly as I could, and then forget about her. It would be as easy as that.