The Finest Line (19 page)

Mark nodded, “Maybe not the
right but certainly the means to get what I paid for.”

“What means?”

“I loved your video, but I have
your debut performance and I bet that would be just as popular.”
His grin broadened as Mairead reacted. “You should have told me
what a little starlet you are Mairead. I would have paid twice the
price.”

It occurred to Mairead that
three o’clock could only be minutes away.

“I don’t want to talk here.”
Mairead got up and looked down the street, dying a little when she
saw the black hair of James above the crowd in the distance.
“There’s a bar down the end of the street. Could we please just go
there and say whatever you have to fucking say.”

Mark smiled and nodded. “Lead
on.”

Mairead hurried away from James
with Mark clutching her arm. She wanted to pull away from him but
knew it would draw too much attention. They had nearly reached the
bar when he suddenly steered her off into a narrow alley.

As she resisted, he clutched her
arm cruelly and put his hand to the back of her neck, propelling
her down the shadowed thoroughfare to an area at the back of the
bar. It was deserted except for bottles, boxes and waste bins.

He slammed her forward into a
bin and pushed his weight against her to hold her in place. He
leant his face against her head, his breath hot against her
ear.

“Who would have known that the
little party slut was so very famous? Mairead Kavanagh, daughter of
New Zealand’s Minister of Development, bronze medallist for
gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games and star of one of the most
watched videos on You Tube.”

Mairead was trembling and crying
as he turned her to face him. “Let me go or I will fucking scream
this place down.”

The blow to her throat was fast
and powerful, crippling her instantly and cutting off her air as
she fell to her knees, not even able to draw a single breath for
several seconds.

Lewis showed no emotion as he
crouched down next to her and waited for her to recover. “I’ll
choose the time and place for you to scream. As for what I have to
say, I’m afraid there is not enough time. I have a meeting in half
hour with my father.”

Mairead was gasping on her knees
as Lewis watched smiling. “Even in pain you are incredibly
beautiful.” His eyes searched her face and body. “I’m beginning to
think that destiny has brought us together and that could be
dangerous for me considering what happened to your little boyfriend
Joshua.”

Hearing his name, Mairead
managed to look into Lewis’ face. She tried to speak but it took
away her breath.

“Don’t try to talk,” Lewis
showed some concern. “Breathe through your nose and keep your head
up. I’ll do the talking.”

He took a pen out from an inner
pocket of his jacket and searched his trouser pockets to pull out a
business card, which he wrote upon.

“This is where I’m staying. Two
days from now, you will come there at noon so if you have plans to
leave Wellington, change them.” He took her bag and deposited the
card. “It’s in your interest to be there Mairead and without a
police escort.”

Her first words since the attack
were able to be spoken. “Why should I?”

Lewis seemed very amused as he
spoke his next words very slowly, “Because a young man is dead
because of you.” He was more delighted when he received a terrified
gaze from her. “You should be more responsible Mairead. Unlike you,
not everyone can walk a thin line of balcony hundreds of feet in
the air without falling... but he certainly tried.”

The realisation of what Lewis
was implying struck Mairead harder than the assault. Even with the
pain in her neck, she shook her head vigorously.

He continued, savouring every
word. “You impressed the world Mairead with your dance of death to
save a little dog. Would they still love you if that same dance
caused a man to die? Think about it and I’ll see you noon,
Thursday.”

He kissed the top of her head,
got up and walked away leaving Mairead contemplating the apocalypse
of her world. When she vomited the pain in her neck was horrendous
but not nearly the agony she wished upon herself. Her tears were
intermittent rivulets running down her face.

It just didn’t seem possible.
Surely it was something she would remember but why should she?
Walking on heights had long been a habit. Had Josh returned to find
her up on the railing and wanted to impress her? It was too awful
to contemplate. Mairead cried bitterly. Josh was dead because of
her.

She had to get back to James. He
would help her. Somehow he would make it all go away so that they
could just go on being happy together. Yet the more she tried to
convince herself the clearer the situation became.

James was good and moral. He had
been awed by her gift of virginity for him, the very gift she had
put up for auction. He had comforted her when she had grieved for
Josh, the wonderful young man whose life she had destroyed.
Everything she had done was tainted. There wasn’t an ounce of
decency in her.

How long before she would drag
James down with her? She had no doubt that he would support her but
how would he ever be able to respect her? One look at her selling
herself on video would make everything they shared seem like a
lie.

It was incredibly sad to think
that he was only metres away, waiting for her, probably getting
annoyed that she was late, beautiful sweet James that had given her
so much happiness in so very little time.

She couldn’t go back and face
him. To lose any of the love he had for her would be far too
painful. James deserved better.

He would be terribly anxious
about her when she didn’t return. She would eventually have to get
word to him that she was okay.

Her mission now was to collect
her remaining belongings from Kylie’s place and get into some hotel
where she would stay until Thursday. After that her future was
indefinite and bleak.

Getting up from the ground,
Mairead brushed herself off and put her cap and sunglasses in
place. She walked slowly along the alley until she reached the
street. In the distance she could see the buckets. She turned and
walked the other way until she found a taxi stand.

The driver was patient as he
weaved in and out of the streets of Aro Valley. Kylie lived there
somewhere but Mairead had no idea of the address. Eventually she
spied some familiar landmarks and then the timber framed building
of three flats, two dividing the bottom level and Kylies’ above
them, a long stairway leading to it.

The door was locked and Kylie
was still at work. After trying a couple of windows, Mairead sank
down onto the front doorstep and waited. For the first time in an
hour she allowed herself to cry again. Clutching her knees, she
buried her face into her arms so that she was unaware when Miranda
came up the stairs.

“Oh my god, Mairead,” the shrill
voice got her attention and Mairead tried desperately to wipe at
her tears, but when the girl’s arms embraced her she dissolved once
again. Miranda held her tightly until she could speak again.

“You mustn’t tell them,” Mairead
pleaded.

“Tell them what?” Miranda looked
terrified. “My god, Mairead what’s happened?”

“It’s nothing really, but you
have to promise me that you won’t tell Kylie how upset I was.”

“Oh my god, it’s that bastard,
he’s hurt you, hasn’t he?”

Mairead shook her head clearly.
“No, he hasn’t. It’s nothing to do with him. James has been
incredible and wonderful, it’s just that...” The lie had to be set
in motion. “I just realised that I didn’t really love him and I’m
sad because I don’t want to hurt him.”

Miranda nodded with
understanding. “Oh Mairead, you poor thing; nothing worse than
having to tell a guy it’s over. The guys take it so much worse than
we do.”

“I just want to go home.”
Mairead accepted some tissues from Miranda and wiped at her face.
“I don’t want to burden Kylie anymore either. She’s done enough for
me. I don’t suppose you can recommend a good cheap hotel for a
couple of days till I can change my flights?”

“Hotel nothing,” Miranda told
her firmly. “You come and stay with me. I’m right in the city in a
really nice place with two really cool people. Heaps of room and we
sleep right into the afternoon and work all night so you’ll have
plenty of privacy.”

The idea sold itself to Mairead
on many levels. It would mean that she wouldn’t have to face
anyone, not even Kylie who would see through her lies in seconds.
She would be close to the hotel where Mark was staying and
somewhere close to escape to if things got out of hand. She could
be alone where she might be able to make a plan to salvage
something of her life.

The only problem was Miranda.
Mairead grasped her hand. “Could we go there now so I don’t have to
see Kylie and Miranda you wouldn’t be able to tell her, not until
I’m gone.”

Miranda looked thoughtful. “I’m
supposed to be having coffee with her. She’s going to be home soon
and...”

“I’ll leave a note.” Mairead
searched through her bag and found a pen and scrap of paper. “I’ll
let her know that I am fine and have just gone home.”

“I suppose I can text her and
tell her something come up but we’d better do it like right
now.”

Mairead quickly wrote on the
paper: ‘Kylie, it didn’t work out with James. I’m going home. I
will ring you in a few days. I love you and I’m so sorry,
Mairead.’

She used her hair band to tie
the note to the door handle and followed Miranda downstairs to her
car, trying to assure herself that this was the best course of
action.

Only when she was sitting in
Miranda’s old Volkswagen did she begin to see the flaws. She had no
luggage and would have to buy underwear at least. Although she
liked Miranda dearly, could she trust her and her flatmates to keep
away from the media?

“Who do you live with
Miranda?”

Miranda beamed, “Amiri and
Diana, two of the coolest people on the planet. Diana can be a bit
of a bitch but you’ll fall in love with Amiri. He is so beautiful.
He has these fucking gorgeous dreads, body of a slut and more camp
than a row of tents.”

“Will they mind me coming to
stay?”

Miranda laughed, “Are you
kidding, Mairead Kavanagh, staying under our roof? When I told them
about what you did the other night they were completely blown away,
especially Amiri.”

That was not what Mairead wanted
to hear but she let Miranda continue.

“Amiri does pole dancing
competition stuff. You should have seen him.” Miranda employed her
interpretation of a stereotype gay voice. “Can you imagine... me
and Mairead on a pole together in perfect synchronization? We would
blow the bitches out the water.”

It was a welcomed distraction.
“He does competition? I didn’t know pole dancing was so
involved.”

Miranda groaned. “Just don’t get
him started. He’ll be showing you all his videos and he’ll be
dragging you down to the car park all day and you won’t get a
minute’s peace.”

Mairead frowned. “What’s in the
car park?”

“It’s the one under our
building. Part of it has been fenced off to be used as storage.
Amiri suffers a little from agoraphobia and doesn’t like to go to a
gym so he flirted with the manager and she let him put up four
dancing poles there and that’s where he spends most of his time,
when he’s not working or sleeping.”

Every cloud had a silver lining
and in the storm that raged within her, Mairead managed to find
hers. Until the gods found a way to destroy her body along with her
heart, she still would be able to dance.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mairead was thinking that
Miranda’s description of Amiri had not done him justice when she
entered the apartment. He was lovely in both physicality and
personality. Wearing only cargo pants which hung low on his hips,
Amiri jumped up from a lounge chair when they entered.

“No fucking way!” He stood
frozen in a stance with his feet apart as if to offer a view of his
lean and muscled coffee coloured body. The only hair visible was
the long dreads that hung about a very handsome face. Everything
else was just smooth and contoured.

Miranda was giggling and looking
very proud. “Guess who’s coming to stay with us for a couple of
nights.”

“Who’s fucking coming to stay?”
The voice belonged to a short, heavily tattooed and pierced girl
who came marching out of a bedroom. Like Amiri, she froze when she
saw Mairead.

Miranda was relishing the impact
on her flatmates. She took Mairead’s hand and drew her into the
lounge. “Mairead Kavanagh, I’d like to introduce you to my
dumbstruck flatmates Amiri Tairi and Diana Holden.”

Mairead smiled and held out her
hand. Diana took it tentatively and continued to hold it while she
stared. Amiri smacked her arm away so that he could have his
turn.

“My life is now fulfilled. I’ve
met the Goddess and I can die a happy man.” He too held onto her
hand.

Mairead blushed. “I’m so pleased
to meet you both and hope it might be alright if I could stay two
nights.”

Amiri freed her hand and danced
about. “You can stay forever. I’m stripping the bed, cleaning my
room and doing whatever I can to make you a suitable temple.”

Diana groaned. “Stop being a
fucktard Amiri.” She looked at Mairead who was grinning. “What the
big douche bag is trying to say is that we’re happy for you to stay
as long as you want.”

The more sober welcome touched
Mairead deeply and tears cascaded from her eyes as she suddenly
felt very vulnerable and tired. Immediately she was embraced from
all directions and led to the couch where she struggled to get her
crying under control.

“Fucking man trouble,” Miranda
explained to the others as she embraced Mairead. Her flatmates
sighed and nodded in perfect understanding.