Kinky Boots(6)

‘Did you fuck her?’ Meinrad asked.

Finn tried to work up the energy to be offended by Meinrad’s bluntness, but he knew better. Meinrad was right to want to know. ‘If I had fucked her then I’d be certain, wouldn’t I? We’d know, wouldn’t we?’

Meinrad’s pale-blue gaze was a study in Teutonic seriousness. ‘You must have done something or you wouldn’t suspect that Eleanor’s with her.’

Meinrad was so damn smug at times, and Finn really didn’t need smug right now. ‘I … we had a good grope.’

‘How much of a grope?’ Meinrad asked. ‘Did she come? Did you come?’

‘Yes, she came, and so did I, all right? And I shouldn’t have. I mean I knew what day it was, but I thought you and Chelsea had Eleanor under control. How was I supposed to know she was out and about?’

Meinrad stopped sipping his coffee and blinked. ‘She wasn’t exactly out and about, mate. Besides, it was you who had the desire to grope a total stranger enough to jizz your jeans. That wasn’t a clue?’

Finn stood and paced, then poured them both another cup of corrosive coffee. ‘I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you that the woman was really hot and that she might actually fancy me?’ He dropped back into the chair slopping coffee, remembering the woman whose glorious dark hair looked like she’d just gotten out of bed after a sexy romp, and wouldn’t he love to be on the receiving end of that romp? Then he added, ‘Honestly, I wanted her from the moment she walked through the door, all barefoot with that pouty-lipped smile I could have eaten off her face.’

Meinrad gave him an unimpressed look. ‘Sometimes it’s best to keep your cock in your pants, Finn. If Eleanor’s with this woman and her pouty lips, then you know the kind of trouble she can cause. The woman could be in real danger.’

‘I know this, Meinrad. Don’t you think I know this?’ The thought had knotted his stomach since the moment the phone rang last night, and she sauntered out the door, disappearing into a birthday party stumbling drunkenly down the street from Juno. By the time he’d managed to push his way into the party, she was nowhere to be found. ‘I’ve been using every means I can think of to find her.’

‘If you haven’t found her by now then it’s already too late.’

‘We don’t know that, do we? It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet.’

Just then Meinrad’s iPhone rang. He answered it with a grunt, then a nod, as though whoever was on the other end should be able to see. ‘Right. Well, that’s a start, isn’t it?’

He hung up and offered Finn what could have been a smile or could just as easily have been a grimace. With Meinrad, it was difficult to tell. ‘Chelsea found out who this Vivie is that your girl was talking about last night. You know, the one who lent her the killer shoes? Seems she was frantically looking for her friend Jill about the same time you were giving her the full frontal rub-up. Some bloke Chelsea knows, a banker she’s fuck buddies with, was apparently doing the nasty with this Vivie in Hoxton Square and, after they’d done the deed, Jill was nowhere to be found. He happened to let it slip.’

Jill. Nice name, Finn thought. But what he felt was a sense of relief. If they had even a little bit of information about Jill, even her first name, if there were ways of finding her, then they could call in the rest of the Sole Alliance. If anybody could find Eleanor, they could. Of course once Eleanor had what she wanted, she wouldn’t be hard to find. He shivered at the thought. He wished desperately he’d been more careful, that he’d just asked the woman out for coffee like a normal bloke would have. But then she did practically attack him, didn’t she? Not that he wasn’t willing. God, he had been willing.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘Call everyone together. Let’s find Jill, and hopefully Eleanor.’ He left Meinrad sitting at the table calling in the members of Sole Alliance. He shoved open the door that separated his flat from Kinky Boots, made his way around the counter and through the racks of shoes and boots to the front of the store. For a second he stood looking out onto Shoreditch High Street. It was already heaving with traffic, but it was still too early for many shoppers to be out and about. With a sigh, he pulled down the steel shutters over the storefront that he’d only opened a few minutes ago. Eleanor always was the queen of poor timing. Missing Saturday market business wasn’t great, but there wasn’t much choice under the circumstances. Jill had to be found for her own protection.





Chapter 3