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Cold Page 9


  "Do you believe in dreams?" asked Rocky, her head now leaning heavily against the solid body beside her.

  "I do now. Now I've met you, held you, I know I need to be with you."

  Rocky stopped suddenly, and Jo turned to face her again. "Is something wrong?" asked Jo.

  "There's something I need to do too," said Rocky. She reached up and grabbed the small collar of Jo's jacket, pulling the taller woman down. As Jo's lips approached hers she stopped pulling, giving the dark woman every opportunity to pull out if she wished.

  But Jo had no intention of pulling back. She was drawn to the full lips that beckoned her and nothing was going to stop her forward momentum. She closed her eyes as their lips met, bringing her hands up to cup cold cheeks, feeling small hands leave her collar and rest on her hips.

  The kiss was brief, but none the less monumental. Jo pulled back and looked down into glassy green eyes.

  "Thank you," Rocky whispered. "But I need to ask you something, Jo."

  "What?" Jo's breath warmed Rocky's chin as she leaned in and kissed chilled lips again.

  "I really need a loo."

  Jo laughed and pulled the small blonde into an affectionate embrace. "Let's go find one then, and hope we don't freeze to the seat."

  The two women made their way along the woodland path once more, the taller one inordinately pleased when the smaller reached out a small hand and curled it around her own.

  They followed the green signs, and before long found a small building which housed a cafe, behind which were the toilets.

  "I need..." Rocky pulled her hand from her tall companion's and pointed towards the new-looking building.

  Jo stuffed her hands in her pockets. It had been so peaceful, walking in a comfortable silence with the small blonde. Now she felt the drop in temperature even more as the warm hand left hers.

  She gestured towards the cafe with a nod of her head. "I'll go and order some hot drinks."

  Rocky looked hesitant for a moment, shuffling from foot to foot. The she took a couple of steps back towards Jo, stood on tip toes and gave her a peck on the cheek.

  "Thanks," she whispered, and was gone.

  Jo watched her go, delighting in the smile Rocky bestowed on her as she glanced back at her. The grin was still firmly on her face as she entered the empty cafe.

  Behind the counter an elderly woman looked up from wiping down the counter top.

  "Hello, dear." She wiped her hands on some paper towels, which she threw away, and made her way to the end of the counter where Jo was perusing the cakes.

  "It's a cold day to be out and about," the woman said. "Are you having a hot drink?"

  "Yes, thank you. Tea for two, I think."

  "I'll make you a nice big pot, dear." She shuffled off, collecting the things she needed.

  "And a selection of cakes, please."

  "Go and sit down, dear. I'll bring them to your table."

  There were only three tables in the cafe. There were more outside on the small deck, but in the present weather the chairs were stacked in a corner, and the tables unused.

  Jo looked outside, and saw Rocky. The girl had walked back around the front, she was holding her hat in her hands and staring into the cafe.

  Jo beckoned her in, but she stood hesitantly on the wooden deck.

  The waitress placed a tray with a pot of tea, milk, and sugar on the table. "Is your friend coming in?" she asked, following Jo's gaze.

  "I'll get her." Jo stood and pushed through the cafe door, the cold stinging her face as she left the warmth of the room.

  "Come on, I have tea and cakes." She glanced back inside to see the cakes delivered to her table.

  "Is it alright?" Rocky asked.

  "Is what alright?"

  "I... I'm not sure. I'm not..." She looked down at her clothing and then at the cafe.

  Jo took her hands, and pulled her in through the doorway. "I've got you tea and cakes."

  The waitress looked up to see the oddly matched couple entering the cafe. If she thought anything of the smaller woman's appearance she didn't mention it, nor did it show on her face. "If you want anything, just shout," she said, and moved back behind the counter.

  Jo pulled out a chair for Rocky, who slipped out of her jacket. "You should take your jacket off," she told Jo. "You won't feel the benefit of it when we go back out otherwise."

  Jo did as she was told and draped her jacket across the back of her chair. "Shall I pour?" asked Jo, turning the cups the right way up before stirring the tea in the pot to make sure it was strong enough.

  Rocky watched Jo as she poured the tea, wondering briefly what this beautiful, obviously desirable woman was doing on a cold winter's day, pouring tea in a deserted cafe in the middle of a deserted wood for a vagrant.

  She chuckled to herself, shaking her head lightly.

  "What?" asked Jo, her smiling face showing her enjoyment at once again seeing her friend smile.

  "Nothing," said Rocky, taking the offered cup, and adding milk and sugar to it. "Tell me about your childhood."

  And Jo did. Telling her about her early years, the boarding school. The scandals at University before she eventually gave up on it. How she lived off her parents, and how she found a picture in a gallery which completely turned her life around.

  They were there a couple of hours. For a while the elderly waitress joined them, delighting them with her tales of strange customers and her work in the canteen of one of the police stations in the city. Never once did she make any comment about Rocky's appearance, and she laughed with the pair of them, occasionally reaching across to squeeze Rocky's hand.

  Jo left a large tip for the woman when they eventually made their way back out into the cold of the afternoon. They took a leisurely walk back to the car, and it was growing dark as they reached it once again,

  As Jo fastened her seat belt she saw a flake of snow hit the windscreen, then another.

  "It's snowing," she said to Rocky as the blonde buckled herself in.

  Rocky said nothing, and settled back in the seat. She watched the snow fall through the glow from one of the streetlights that ringed the small car park.

  "Rocky..." Jo began.

  "I know what you're going to say, Jo. Please don't."

  "I'm scared for you." Jo's eyes were closed, her head hung low, her hands gripped the steering wheel.

  "Don't be," Rocky whispered. "I'll be fine."

  "Look, just tonight. I have a spare room."

  "No. I'm sorry." She reached across, laying a gentle hand on Jo's forearm, rock hard as she grasped the steering wheel. "I've had a wonderful day with you, Jo. I don't want to fight with you now."

  Jo shook her head, drawing in an unsteady breath. Wordlessly she reached down and started the engine. She took one more look at the blonde beside her, trying valiantly to mirror the smile she was receiving, then drove out of the car park and headed back to London.

  The snow was falling heavily when she reached Whitechapel some three-and-a-half hours later. She had taken the long route back and deliberately got stuck in heavy traffic.

  She parked the car, but left the engine running.

  Rocky had once again fallen asleep, and Jo placed a hand on her shoulder, gently nudging her awake.

  "Wow, must be the heater. I'm not used to it," said Rocky as she looked around, working out that she was back in Whitechapel.

  She reached across and took Jo's left hand in her own. "I've had a great time today."

  Jo looked down at their linked hands. "I really hate this." She looked up into green eyes barely visible in the street light filtering through the windscreen, which was rapidly being covered in snow.

  Rocky leaned across and kissed the dark woman lightly on the lips and then pulled back. She turned to open the car door and found herself pulled back and turned again. Jo's arms were almost crushing in their need to gather the small blonde up, and hold her tightly.

  She didn't resist the embrace, rather she sank into it, al
lowing herself the luxury of letting go, if only briefly. She laid her head on the tall woman's breast, hearing the rapidly beating heart and knowing that she caused the thundering that she heard there.

  Putting a hand on Jo's chest, she pushed back. Sitting up again, she looked into the distraught face of her new friend. "I'll see you tomorrow."

  Jo opened her mouth to speak, an objection obviously about to be voiced. Rocky raised her hand. "We both need time to come to terms with this."

  "I don't." Jo knew she was pleading.

  "I do. I have a lot of things to think about." She patted Jo's hand, and opened the car door. Snow blew in and she quickly reached into the back seat and pulled out her jacket. She put it on as she ran around the front of the car to Jo's side. "No, don't get out," she said as she saw Jo opening her door.

  Jo shut the door and pushed the button to lower the window. She waited while Rocky retrieved her bags from the boot and then returned, bending at the waist to speak to the sitting woman.

  "Tomorrow then?" said Rocky, having to raise her voice over the sound of the wind and the traffic.

  Jo nodded, not trusting her voice.

  Rocky gave her a smile, and leaned in, giving her another peck on the cheek.

  And then she was gone. Disappearing into what was rapidly turning into a blizzard with frightening ease.

  Jo leaned her head back against the headrest. "Heaven help me," she said to herself.

  Rocky slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way into the factory which had been something like a home to her for the past year or so. Her little lean-to was still there, but she'd need something extra tonight because of the severe weather. She put her bags down beneath the panelling and went in search of something to give her some extra protection against the high winds.

  As she picked her way across the debris strewn floor, she thought back to her day with Jo. A smile found its way to her face, and she chuckled to herself, remembering one particularly funny story Jo had told. She was glad that the elderly waitress had left them at that point, not knowing what she would have thought about twelve naked young women in a boarding school swimming pool at midnight. Jo's excuse that they were practising synchronised swimming routines fell on deaf ears, and Jo was off to her fourth school in as many years.

  The fact that Rocky had survived the past five or so years on the streets bore testament to her vigilance when it came to her own safety. So maybe it was the fact that she'd just spent a day unlike any other since she'd arrived in London that caused her alertness to slip.

  She was almost upon the five men before she heard their lowered voices. Their two cars were parked at the rear of the derelict building, the boot of one raised. Five faces turned to regard her as she turned the corner, and in the headlights of the two cars she saw their faces turn towards her.

  In the hands of one of the men was a large package, and Rocky's eyes flitted to it before returning to his face.

  She realised immediately that she had stumbled on some sort of drug deal, and spun quickly, darting back into the shell of the decimated building.

  She heard the men behind her, their angry shouts loud in the empty building, and flew across the debris, her lightness making easy work of the obstacles in her way. She was further into the body of the factory than she'd ever been, and in parts the floor groaned beneath her feet. She flattened herself against a wall, and listened.

  She smiled as she heard their howls of outrage as they stumbled on the remains of the factory floor, and listened to their mumbles of: "It's just some tramp, probably too drunk to know what was going on." They breathed heavily in the cold air, the snow drifting through what was left of the roof onto their heads.

  She heard the men stand for a while, listening for any movement. Then they shuffled out of the building.

  Rocky waited until she heard the car doors slam and the cars drive away. Waiting a few moments more, she made her way cautiously out of her hiding place.

  She'd taken only a few steps when she felt the floor beneath her feet shift, and then she was twisting in thin air and bracing herself for the impact as the floor gave way.

  In another part of the factory two old men heard a cry, and then silence. They returned to searching for wood for their fire.

  Jo went back into the bathroom, testing the water that was pouring into the tub. She'd had the ridiculously huge tub put in last year, even having to have the floor reinforced to accommodate it. She'd added her aromatherapy oils to the water, and had poured herself a large drink.

  She threw her clothes onto the floor of the bathroom and eased her long frame into the water.

  Relaxing back against the tub she reached out and grasped her glass, almost dropping it into the bath.

  "Oh, bliss," she hissed, and, with a smile on her face, thought back to the wonderful day she'd just spent. Only one thing spoilt the day, of course. The small blonde of her musings wasn't sharing the experience with her now.

  "Soon," she said to herself. "Very soon."

  Part 11

  Jo lay in the bath, the water covering her to the tip of her chin. She reached out with her toe and turned the tap, letting some more hot water into the bath.

  She'd been luxuriating for just over an hour. The cold had got to her, and she was glad of the warmth and comfort that seeped into her bones from the water's heat.

  But the thought of Rocky out in the cold night was never far away. Taking another sip of her drink, she decided that tomorrow she'd insist upon the girl coming back with her. She'd make up the spare room - not that she really wanted her in there, and would insist that Rocky at least came to look at it.

  "No," she said to herself. "I want you with me."

  She drained the glass and decided that she should really be getting out. Her skin was pruning, and she was feeling lethargic.

  She stepped out of the bath, and put on a robe that was hanging on the back of the door. Putting the shiver she felt across the back of her neck down to the cooler air hitting her body as she exited the steamy bathroom, she made her way down the stairs to the lounge.

  It was almost 8pm, and she picked up the remote and switched on the TV.

  She wanted to go to bed. Like a child on Christmas Eve, she wanted tomorrow to come, and quickly. But she knew if she did, she'd lie awake thinking about a small blonde who had felt so right, so naturally right, in her arms.

  She smiled at the thought, and curled her body up on the sofa, laying her head on the arm and hugging a cushion close.

  So Rocky felt it too. She smiled at the thought. She said she wants me. She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. The television flickered in the corner, unwatched. Jo closed her eyes and saw in her mind's eye the face of the woman she'd been seeking all her life but had only just come to realise the fact.

  She'd never before had any compulsion to take one of her relationships with the many women she'd met any further than sexual gratification. She bedded them, and as soon as they started talking about commitment, she called it off.

  One of the people who understood that and used it to her advantage was Trixi. Trixi knew that she could use Jo, and knew damn well that Jo used her.

  However, Trixi was finding Jo's recent reluctance to partake of her particular pleasures somewhat hard to accept. Jo knew that. And the thought that she could use Rocky the way she'd used Trixi, the way she'd used many women, sickened her. Suddenly her life, her existence sickened her. And what would Rocky think when she found out? Could she keep her past a secret? Did she want to? At what point did it no longer become fun? She'd enjoyed the hunt, the seduction, the conquest. Now her main ambition in life was to get one small woman out of the cold and into her life.

  She wanted to get up and go out. Now. She wanted to go and find Rocky, throw her into her car and bring her home.

  But she wouldn't. Rocky wouldn't respect her if she imposed her will on the blonde. The decision had to be Rocky's, and she would abide by that decision, however hard it was to take.
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  She surrounded herself in the warmth that thoughts of Rocky inspired. Drifting off in the comfort of her home, she dreamt of sea-green eyes and the promise of soft skin under her hands. She dreamt of full lips caressing her own, and of small hands exploring her body. She dreamt of burying her face in silken hair, drawing in the scent of the blonde as she traced a delicate ear with her tongue.

  Oh yes, she would love this woman, and she would be anything and everything the blonde wanted.

  Some two hours later, Jo awoke with a start. She looked at the clock, and found it to be just after 10pm. She didn't know what had woken her, and stared uncomprehendingly at the TV. A particularly violent film was showing - men hanging bloodied and battered from a ceiling.

  Only half awake, she switched off the TV and made her shuffling way up to bed. She chuckled to herself as she snuggled down into the comfort of her thick quilt. Suddenly realising that, only a week ago, at this time of night, she would just be entering into another night's hunting. Like some sort of predator, she would be stalking her usual hunting grounds, looking for prey.

  What a difference a weekend makes.

  She was having a beautiful dream. In it she was with Rocky; what she was doing to Rocky was interesting, but the annoying sound she could hear just wouldn't go away.

  She slapped her hand at the alarm, before she remembered she never set the radio-alarm that sat on the bedside cabinet. Her sleep-fogged brain tried to comprehend what the noise was. Then she realised - it was the phone. She reached over and picked up the handset, listening to the babbling she heard as soon as she lifted the handset.

  "... not working, never did like using these newfangled things."

  "Hello?" said Jo. Whoever was on the other end obviously wasn't paying attention. She looked at the glowing numbers on the radio-alarm. 02.26. "Hello!" she shouted.

  "Hello, hello," the voice repeated.

  "Who is this?"

  "Jo?"

  "Yes. Edna?" A knot of fear twisted in Jo's chest. "Edna, is Rocky alright?"