‘Yeah. So what? Vice caught them on the game and did a deal. Just keep the troops entertained and we’ll look the other way.’

‘You said your mates and their wives.’

‘So? Change of plan. Hey.’ Donny went up close to her and stroked her cheek. Dora flinched. ‘You got to be nice to my mates, Dora. This is a big weekend for me. Don’t show me up.’

The doorbell rang again. ‘Get that, will you?’ Donny shouted through. Then he turned to Dora and gazed intently into her eyes. ‘You’ll be nice, yeah? Because if you’re not, I could get upset. And you wouldn’t want that, would you?’

Nice? thought Dora. She had a pretty good idea of what being nice to his mates meant. There were male voices now in the next room, and Eden Kane was singing ‘Well I Ask You’ on the radiogram. Mandy and Julia were laughing. One of them had a braying laugh, like a donkey.

‘All right,’ she said stiffly.

‘Good girl,’ said Donny, and slapped her on the rump like she was a pet animal or something. She wanted to slap him, right across his ruddy face. But she didn’t dare.

The doorbell rang again, there were more voices. ‘Come on, let’s join the party,’ said Donny, and led the way into the sitting room.

74

Until then, she had thought – stupidly, she saw that now – that he might mellow, might finally let the past drop. Might even forgive her for all that had happened. But after that night, she knew there was no hope left.

She staggered to her feet late in the evening, zipped up her dress and went back out into the living room, barefoot. They’d been plying her with drink all evening, and that was good, she thought, because it numbed her, made it all hazy as a dream, the faces of the men looming over her on the bed, the fumbling at her tits, their heavy breathing, their pushing and shoving into her body, invading her.

He’d never done this before.

Donny was sadistic, but until now he had kept her completely for himself. Yes, she had been stripping down the club, bringing him in some money – but it was strictly hands-off stuff. He enjoyed other men looking at her, she knew that, but that had been as far as it went. Until now. She’d never been on the game. Now, maybe she was. The thought of that filled her with horror.

She went unsteadily over to the drinks table through a haze of cigarette smoke and poured herself a sherry, passing by tiny Julia, who was wearing only her skirt now, the see-through blouse and the red bra discarded. Topless, Julia was on her knees fellating one of Donny’s pals. Donny was across the room, laid back in a chair, watching the proceedings. A man she knew as Mr Barry Leigh was leaning across, talking to Donny, passing him something.

Mandy the redhead was nude and laughing, her cone-shaped breasts bouncing as she led a man by the hand into the bedroom Dora had just vacated. They didn’t bother to shut the door behind them and soon everyone could hear their animal noises. Del Shannon was singing ‘Runaway’, everyone was laughing and talking. Dora wished she could run away, get out from under Donny and his evil tricks.