Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 10:12:35 +0100
From: Amy Redek <adultreading@gmail.com>
Subject: Dumb Belle. Chapter Two.

   I got up at my usual time and put my dressing gown on and went down to
the gym. I always slept naked and that's how I worked out too. I had a
rowing machine, wall stretchers, some weights and a punch bag. This last
was fixed at both floor and ceiling so that it didn't swing around too
much.

   I always left this till last and would spend at least fifteen minutes
punching away at the hard leather bag, working up a real sweat in the
process. I felt a slight draught as I was hammering away but didn't stop,
guessing it was Belle coming into the gym. She came round into my view as I
kept punching the bag and I saw that she was wearing a dressing gown, her
hands deep in the pockets. Her face looked much better now with her right
eye fully open and the other half way to looking normal. The colour was now
a sickly looking yellow that follows the black/blue of the bruising and her
lips had lost their puffiness. The other noticeable thing was that she had
washed her hair. It no longer was matted but sleek and still wet and
brushed straight back and she stood there looking at me, a small smile on
her lips.

   `I see you've washed your hair,' I said between grunts. `It looks much
better.' She shrugged off the compliment.

   `I was looking for you. I thought you might like me to help with the
breakfast,' she said, her eyes travelling up and down my body. `You got a
good looking body.'

   `Thanks,' I grunted again. `So have you, or what I saw of it.'

   `Do you always do this naked?' she asked.

   `Yes,' I said between blows to the hard leather. `Saves on the laundry.'
I looked up at the wall clock and stopped punching, feeling the sweat run
down my chest. I turned and walked towards the shower cubicle in the
corner.

   `Nice pair of buns too,' I heard her say and I grinned to myself and
quickly turned on the water and stepped under the cold water for I was just
beginning to rise up at her seeing me naked. It had been some months since
I'd last had a woman and she was making my body react to that.

   She stood and watched me as I lathered myself before rinsing the suds
off and then getting out to dry myself. I put my dressing gown on and
walked over to her.

    `I'll show you the kitchen and you can start making the coffee while I
get dressed,' I said, leading the way.

   I left her there in the kitchen and went upstairs and got dressed and
was back down just as the coffee was ready.

   `What would you like for breakfast?' she said as she put the cups down
on the table.

   `Cereals, toast and marmalade.' I said, `oh, and some orange juice
please.' I sat down and watched her find all the things and start to make
the toast.

   She down opposite me having got the same for herself and we ate in
silence. I made the second cup of coffee and sat back down and looked at
her for she was worth looking at in spite of the discolouration around her
eyes.

   `Thank you again for what you did for me,' she said, her voice low and
soft and was rather melodious, much different from the mumblings of before
through swollen lips. `I was wondering if you could do one more favour for
me?'

    `I think so,' I replied, sipping my coffee.

   `Could you go round to my flat and get me some clothes? I can't go out
dressed like this,' she smiled. `Also to let my flat mate know that I'm
alright.'

   `Certainly,' I said. `Give me the address and her name.' This she did
but added that it would have to be after two o'clock for her flat mate
didn't get up till that time. Again I said that this would be alright. I
picked up the daily paper and quickly began to riffle through the pages.

   `There's nothing in there, I've already looked,' she said. She wasn't
that dumb by knowing what I was looking for. `The newspaper would be twice
the size if they printed every accident that happens. Forget about him for
I will be glad to.'

   `Why was he hitting you?' I asked.

   `The usual. I talk too much. He wanted me to go to his place and I told
him where he could go and stick his prick. Then he hit me and again I
didn't shut up, telling him that it was a wonder he could find it himself,
it being that small. I suppose I goaded him too far by telling him I
thought he was a queer as well because he liked boys too. I'm glad you came
along when you did for I don't know how far he would have gone.'

   `How many girls did he have?'

   `Four including me, the others being Vera, who I share the flat with,
Joy and Sheila, they too share a flat. He was small time with only four of
us. He kept saying at how he was going to finish up with a stable of
twenty. He was all mouth, worse than me.'

   I tried to press her into telling me more about herself but she
wouldn't, just saying that the work wasn't strenuous and she could work her
own hours. She had smiled and all that she told me was that she was twenty
two years old and had been doing this for four years.

   `We, the girls that is, have all seen the film "Pretty Woman", you know,
with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. Well, we all hope one day that we'll
find a man like him,' she said as she smiled and I had an idea of why she
said that but didn't let on.

   It was getting on for two o'clock when I set off for her flat which was
the other side of Tottenham Court Road and found that her flat was above a
Laundromat. The front door was by the side and she had given me her door
keys, her place being on the second floor front. It was a dingy place and I
went up and knocked loudly on the door so as not to alarm Vera, the girl
who shared the flat with her. Getting no answer, I found the right key on
the ring and let myself in. There wasn't a hallway for the door opened
directly into the small living room, sparsely furnished with second hand
furniture. The curtains I noted needed washing as did the windows as I
stood there for a moment.

   `What the hell do you want?' came a voice from behind me. Christ, she
moved like a cat for I hadn't heard the bedroom door open that she was now
half sheltering behind. She was quite a pretty girl, red hair tousled from
the bed she had obviously just gotten out of. `If you're from the landlord,
tell him he'll have his money next week.'

   `I beg your pardon,' I said. `No, I'm nothing to do with the
landlord. Belle sent me. Are you Vera?'

   `Belle!' she cried out and now opened the door fully for me to see that
she had some kind of wrap on that looked like it might be some kind of
kimono. `Where is she? Is she alright? I've been worried sick with her not
coming home.' Her eyes were wide with a frightened hunted look, waiting to
be told some bad news.

   `She's okay,' I said. `Two black eyes and a couple of other bruises but
she feeling much better. She's at my place at the moment. Some guy named
Errol was beating her up when I found them.'

   `That bastard! We haven't seen him either,' she spat. `Where is he?'

   `In a mortuary I think. He fell down some stairs and broke his neck,' I
said.

   `Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Good!' she cried, moving out
into the sitting room now. She then looked at me shrewdly, her eyes
narrowing as she spoke. `Did you have anything to do with it?'

   `Well, I, er, kind of helped him down the stairs a little. I then took
Belle to my place. She was in a bit of a mess and her clothes are no longer
fit to wear. That's why I'm here, to get her something to wear.'

   `I'm glad he broke his neck. I've been wishing to do that myself to
him. You sure Belle's alright?'

   `Yes,' I assured her, `she can see out of both eyes now.' Vera gave a
little laugh at that.

   `Sit down and I'll get dressed and get some things together for her.' I
sat down and found that I was facing her bedroom as she went back inside
and didn't even shut the door. I watched as she pulled the wrap off, her
back towards me and she had been naked underneath. She had a fine body seen
from the back, slim with a tight waist and fine looking legs. She quickly
put on some panties and then rummage through a pile of clothes and saw her
find a bra and she was now sideways on to me and I could see two lovely,
small but firm breasts briefly before they we encased in the fabric. She
settled them in before clipping it up at the back, a strange contortion of
the wrists that must take ages to perfect.

   She then disappeared from view and I heard the sound of her brushing her
teeth and obviously washing her face. Back into the bedroom with her hair
brushed but still looking a trifle wild, to continue dressing. She didn't
bother with stockings. She gave me a pretty smile when she came out of her
room and went into the other which was alongside. She came out a few
minutes later with two carrier bags full up.

   `Ready,' she said, slightly lifting the two bags up. `Take me to our
leader.'

   `You don't have to come,' I said. `I can manage two bags okay.'

   `I'm coming. I want to see what that bastard did to her and get it first
hand,' she replied. I shrugged my shoulders and got up and led the way
downstairs, letting her out into the street first while I shut the front
door behind us.

   `Where do you live?' Vera asked me as we walked up the street.

   `Bedford Square,' I replied.

   `Oooh that's nice. Better quality there than here,' she said as she
walked alongside me, taking short steps because of the tightness of her
skirt. I adjusted my pace to slow down for she was almost having to run to
keep up with me.

   `How long have you lived with Belle?' I asked as we got to Tottenham
Court Road.

   `Two years now. I've known her three and she moved in when the other
girl went back up north,' she said as we waited for the lights to change so
that we cross over.

   `How long have you known this Errol?'

   `Three years when he took over the stable from Wayne, another
Jamaican. We thought we would be treated a little better, but we were
wrong.'

   We turned into Bedford Square and I led her to my house and let us both
inside.

   `This is very nice,' she said as we entered the hall. `How many bedrooms
it got?'

   `Eight,' I told her as I led her through to the lounge where we found
Belle curled up of the sofa.

   `Belle!' Vera cried and almost ran across the room.

   `Vera!' Belle squealed and got up and they hugged each other and I saw
Belle grimace at the tightness of the hug.

   `This is the third time your mouth has landed you looking like this,'
Vera cried, looking at the bruises. `That's why she's called dumb Belle,'
she said over her shoulder to me. `She'll never learn when to keep her trap
shut.' She pulled Belle back down onto the sofa. `Now tell me all the gory
details.' I saw Belle glance up at me, a question in the one clear eye and
I gently shook my head. She got the message and related how I saved her but
omitting the fact that it was I who'd broken his neck, just saying that I
frightened him off and he fell down the stairs. Vera looked at me and I saw
the disbelief in her eyes before she turned back to Belle.

   `Oooh, delicious,' Vera said when the story was over. `A knight to the
rescue of the damsel in distress,' and I now got a look of frank appraisal
from Vera. She turned back to whisper to Belle who looked at me and smiled
and shook her head to Vera and said no. I got up to leave the room and I
caught Vera's last words.

   `Well I would. He looks gorgeous,' she said. I didn't hear Belle's reply
but they both began to giggle. I went to the kitchen and made some coffee
for the three of us and took it back to the lounge. Vera took the two
carrier bags off the coffee table for me to put down the tray.

   `I assumed you drank coffee,' I said to Vera, `but I didn't know about
the sugar so help yourself to that.' I saw that Vera, as she drank her
coffee appraising what she could see in the lounge. The furnishings were
good as were the pictures and what odd ornament was scattered about. It was
rather an impersonal room for it didn't hold anything that could be related
to me or my tastes, but it was clean and pleasant and even fit for royalty.

   `Well I've brought some clothes for you,' Vera said as she put her empty
cup back on the tray. `I brought two of everything as I didn't know what
you wanted exactly.' Belle looked at the two bags and then at me. It's
difficult enough to read somebody's eyes, but with only one clear eye,
almost impossible. Was she thinking of that film I thought, then taking a
leaf out of her book, I spoke before my brain was in gear. (No pun
intended.)

   `You can't go out looking like that!' I said. `Why not stay a few more
days until the bruising fades, besides, you can't go to work in that
state.'

   The two girls looked at each other, Vera giving a small shrug of her
shoulders.

   `You could still get someone,' she said.

   `Looking like this? You're joking,' Belle said.

   `We've still to pay the rent and that's overdue. I thought James was
from the landlord when I found him in the sitting room,' Vera said.

   `How much is the rent?' I stupidly asked.

   `Two hundred a week and were two weeks behind now.'

   `For that place?' I asked incredulously.

   `The landlord knows what we do for a living,' Vera replied in a slightly
mocking tone. `He doesn't realise that Errol would take half of what we
earned.' I got up and left them there and went into what I called my
study. I opened the safe and took some money out, counted what I needed and
went back into the lounge.

   `Here,' I said to Vera, `here's a month's rent,' and put the money in
her hand.

   `I can't take this,' she cried. Belle was not so dumb after all for she
kept her mouth shut.

   `Belle will not be fit for work for at least another week, if not
longer. This way, the rent gets paid and I'll have a cook for a week,' I
said and grinned. Belle gave me a secret kind of smile and Vera looked at
Belle and closed her fingers over the money.

   `Well thanks Mr...er, I don't know your last name?'

   `Deauville,' I said. `James Deauville.'

   `Is that French?' Vera asked.

   `Originally yes. I think my ancestors came over with William, but most
of us are British,' I smiled.

   `Well thanks anyway,' she said to me before turning to Belle. `Do you
want to stay and be a cook for the week?'

   Belle nodded. `Yes. It'll be a change.'

   `Can I come visit and see how she's getting on?' Vera asked of me.

   `Anytime,' I replied. With that, Vera said it was time for her to go and
she put the money in her small purse and shook my hand saying her thanks
again and gave Belle a kiss and she was gone. I went back into the lounge
to collect the tray but Belle got to it first.

   `I'll do that,' she said with a smile, `as I'm now the cook and chief
bottle washer.' A frown came over her face. `Shouldn't you be at work or
something? What do you do for a living?'

   `I rescue damsels in distress,' I said as I smiled at her. `Other than
that, nothing.'

   `You must be rich then.'

   `No, I'm not rich. Just comfortable. I have simple tastes and that
doesn't take a lot of money.' We had progressed to the kitchen during this
talking and she now began to wash the cups up.

   `What would you like for dinner?' she asked when she'd finished.

   `Whatever you would like to cook. Tell me what we need for a week and
write out a shopping list for me.'

   `Right,' she said and began to look in cupboards and the freezer to see
what was there, which wasn't very much. I gave her a pad and pencil and she
wrote down what we needed. `It's rather a long list I'm afraid. A mouse
would find it hard to live here with the little you've got.' I laughed and
told her again that I lived rather simple.

   `Okay, I'll get all this,' I said as I went to the kitchen door. `Aren't
you going to get dressed in the things Vera brought round?'

   `I'm not going out so I might as well stay comfortable,' she smiled. I
went off to the study and phoned the local shop that delivered to me and
gave him the list. One hour he said, for it was quite a substantial order
from me for a change. I went back into the kitchen where she was cleaning
the table.

  `I thought you were going shopping?' she asked.

   `I've ordered it. Be an hour,' I said.

   It was close to two hours before four large boxes arrived and I paid the
man and carried the boxes into the kitchen. She was pleased to see so much
food all at once and began to put everything away, keeping out what she
needed to prepare dinner.

    The meal was excellent, better than some I'd had in first class
restaurants. We washed it down with a bottle of chilled wine and
afterwards, I helped her with the washing up.

   `Well it's time for bed. I didn't realise how late it was. The time
flies when you're in good company,' I said when all was done and put
away. I gave her a goodnight kiss on the cheek and gently stroked the
bruise on her face. `You should get to bed too to catch up on your beauty
sleep.' She smiled and gave me a kiss back.

                                                         *

   Through training, I woke up as soon as the door to my bedroom was
opened. Six years had gone into bringing me to this state where I would
find myself in a situation where you must keep still until you could assess
the situation and then act accordingly. It might be a fraction of time or
several seconds, it depended on how your brain interpreted what your eyes
and senses saw and felt to transmit it to action.

   But with my brain functioning properly, the little grey cells as that
Hercule Poirot always relied on came into play to tell me that it wasn't a
threat. In that brief space of the door opening and closing, I'd seen that
that it was the figure of a naked woman and that could only be that of
Belle.

   I feigned sleep as she came across the room and lifted up a corner of
the bed sheets and got into bed beside me. I couldn't help but acknowledge
this intrusion into my domain and I gave a grunt and moved over and made
space for her as she moved in close to me.

   I wouldn't have been a man if my body didn't respond to feel another
body, female at that, for the breasts pressing against my arm told me that
fact as she snuggled up close to me.

  `It's me, Belle,' she whispered into my ear as if it could have been
anyone else. `I hope you don't mind us coming in like this?' As I've said
once already, I didn't quite know what to do with this woman, a first for
me I might add. It had always been me that was the predator and not the
victim but now I was feeling at how it was to be the one that was being
stalked.

   `Thank you for what you've done for Vera and me today,' she said in a
low voice, her mouth close to my ear. `This is the only way I know that I
can show my appreciation.' As she kissed me, her hand took mine and placed
it on her full breast, and when it was there in my hand, I couldn't help
but gently mould it with my fingers, loving the feel of this soft but firm
flesh in my hand. Her hand then moved across my chest and rubbed my nipples
before moving down over my stomach until she found the erection that I now
had.

   `I'm glad that you wanted me to stay,' she said, `for when I saw you in
the gym this morning, I knew that this is what I wanted and it's the only
way I can repay you.' Her hand was now holding me firmly and moving slowly
up and down on my shaft. `I've already guessed that you're not married and
at first I thought you might be gay, but I think differently now. You're a
big man.'

   `I bet you say that to all the men,' I said, enjoying what her hand was
doing.

   `Yes, I do, but this time I really mean it, but this is what I don't do
to them,' she said and her head disappeared under the covers and I felt her
mouth close over first one of my nipples to be nibbled before the second
one. She then carried on down the bed, kissing my stomach until I could
feel her hot breath blowing gently over the head of my cock.

   I gave out a groan as her mouth covered it and she took me inside and
began to suck and tickle it with her tongue. Her hand was moving slowly up
and down, sliding the outer skin on the solid flesh beneath this layer, her
lower teeth raking the sensitive underside of the head. It was the best
blow job I'd ever had and I couldn't help but give another groan at the
pleasure waves that were now flowing down my body as her mouth worked its
magic on my cock.

   She felt that I was about to come by the stiffening of my body and she
held me firm in her mouth as I came, my hips bucking a little as I pumped
out several months worth of sperm into it. Her head kept moving as it
flowed out of me and I was sure she couldn't take it all, but she did,
obviously swallowing it for she never let me go and kept on sucking and
then licking me clean.

  `That was delicious,' she said when she came back up again and laid her
head down next to mine. `You don't have to kiss me now that I've done
that,' she said, but I did. I wanted those soft lips on mine irrespective
of where they had just been and so I kissed her carefully, not wanting to
bruise them as I would really have liked to have done.

   We fell asleep with her in my arms and I'm sure we never moved during
the night for she was still there when I woke up. My inner alarm had told
me it was time to wake and I slowly moved her arm from me as I got out of
bed feeling really alive as if I'd just had one of my bare knuckle fights.

   I put my dressing gown on and went down to the gym and began my daily
work out. I felt that little draught again as I was using the punch bag and
sure enough, she moved round in front of me like she had the day
before. Again, I didn't stop from working hard at slapping that leather bag
with my fists, sweat pouring down my body, until she slipped her gown off
and stood naked before me.

   `I said yesterday that you had a good body. Today it looks magnificent,
shining with sweat like that.' I couldn't stop my body from reacting at
seeing her there like that. The bruising round her eyes were beginning to
fade but it was the heaving breasts that drew my eyes down her body. She
was minus panties now and there was nothing I could do but stand there,
still covered in sweat and feel myself rising up hard.

   She moved towards me with sinuous movement and ran her hand down my wet
chest and took my hand and led me to where a couple of mats were on the
floor and pulled me down as she sank down onto them. I didn't need telling
what to do as she lay back and opened her legs for me to move in between.

   `Oh James,' she sighed as I moved up into her. `When I saw you in here
yesterday, I wanted you then.' This was no time for words as I felt her
squeeze me and I began to move on top of her and had her gasping after a
few minutes. Now I know a lot of women fake their orgasm but not fight as
much as she did there on the mats. Her fingers were digging into my
shoulders as she began to thrust herself upwards to meet me in my fucking
of her. Her breath coming fast and the final muted scream as she came which
triggered me off to come inside her convulsing body, her sweat now mingling
with mine as we twisted and grappled on the mats.

   `God, I needed that,' she panted as we came to a stop, my chest heaving
up against her breasts. `It's been two years since my last one like that
you gorgeous man.' He hands came up and held my face as she kissed me, this
time almost bruising my lips. I was still inside her lovely body as she
kept using her inside muscles to squeeze me as we alternately panted
between kisses. `Don't pull out just yet,' she begged. `Stay there as long
as you can.' So even though I had only just come inside her, I was still
hard for a little while longer and kept moving myself on top of her having
her gurgle with delight. `I haven't had it bare back for years now, it's so
lovely,' she crooned as we continued to move as I kept on fucking her. But
I couldn't sustain the erection now that I had come and so a few minutes
later, I slipped out to her dismay. I don't know whether she faked it or
not but she gave out a cry and quickly turned round and began to suck on my
wilting prick.

   She finally gave up, her wet mouth smiling up at me from between my
legs.

   `That was lovely James, simply lovely,' she said with a smile and I
helped her up from the mats and we went and had a shower together, glad now
that I'd bought the biggest cubicle the shop had.

   She was a little taller than Vera but her body looked even better seen
from the rear I saw as I watched as she crossed the room to pick up her
dressing gown and put it on, giving me another smile as she did so while I
put mine on.

   I didn't go upstairs to dress but stayed as I was and followed her into
the kitchen where she made the coffee and cooked me a breakfast the like I
hadn't eaten for years now. Got to keep your strength up she had said and I
surprised myself by eating it all and enjoying it.

   Needless to say we went to bed again later and I had her once again
before lunch and then again before dinner. We slept in my bed that night
where I had her go down on me again and I later took her doggie
fashion. She was beginning to bewitch me for I only had to see her smile at
me and I would begin to get a hard on.

   It was two days later that Vera came round, late in the afternoon. I
opened the door and she gave me a smirk when she saw I was still only
wearing a dressing gown, and then burst out laughing when she saw that
Belle was still in hers too.

   `I bet that you've not got dressed at all since I saw you the other
day,' and laughed when Belle grinned to show that she was right.

`Well whatever therapy he's giving you seems to be working. The bruises
have almost gone and you are positively blooming.' I heard the whispered
reply.

   `He's fucking gorgeous! I can't keep my hands off him,' which bucked me
up no end and laid a few of my doubts to rest.

   `Well I've got some news for you that's why I'm late,' Vera said. `I've
just come from the inquest on Errol. I heard of it yesterday and I went
along and they've recorded it as an accidental death.' Belle flashed me a
big smile at this as Vera carried on. `He was found at the bottom of these
steps and because he was still wearing his gold rings and two neck chains,
and he still had his wallet, mugging was ruled out. It was this that
convinced the coroner that he must have, for some reason, tried to seek
shelter from the rain, tripped and fell down the steps. A broken arm and
broken neck according to the man who did the autopsy, were consistent with
a fall down such a steep set of steps. But I saw a couple of his cronies
there and I think we're about to get some trouble from them.'

   Vera stayed for a drink and then left but she was right about getting
some trouble for she showed up the next day with a black eye herself.

   I couldn't help but have a feeling of shock when I opened the door to
see her like that.

   `Oh Vera,' I said, almost in tears myself at seeing her face so drawn
and this shiner she was sporting to her left eye. I opened my arms and she
almost fell into them. I got her inside and into the kitchen where Belle
took over and bathed her face with witch hazel to try and calm down the
swelling.

   `It was Russell who hit me. He came to the flat this morning and woke me
up by almost breaking down the door,' she said between sobs. `He said he
was now going to take over Errol's stable and wanted to see a bit more
money coming in for his protecting of us. Who's to protect us from him?'
she cried. I knew what I was going to do even before Belle looked up at me
from her seeing to Vera's face.

   `Do you know this Russell?' I asked of Belle, inwardly seething.

   `Yes,' she said.

   `Do you know where to find him?'

  `Yes.'

   `Then we are going out tonight and you point him out to me,' I
said. `Vera. You say he came to you today? Where, at the flat?'

   `Yes,' she said, her sobbing now had subsided somewhat.

   `That's settled then, you stay here tonight while I go and see this
guy.'

   `Oh James,' she cried and I felt very embarrassed when she picked up my
hand and kissed it.

   Belle showed her to one of my other bedrooms and then she made dinner
for the three of us. Vera didn't really feel like eating but managed to eat
something and said that she would do the washing up as Belle and I, for the
first time for a few days, went and got dressed in going out clothes.

   At least it wasn't raining tonight when we left the house and she
guessed at what might be one of the pubs this man Russell could be
found. It was in the second pub we went into that she whispered into my ear
to point out this man. He was black as was Errol and I guessed he was from
the same country of origin though this made no difference to me. I told her
to move away from me so that she wouldn't be associated with what was going
to happen within the next few minutes.

   The man in question was sitting at a table with two other men and they
looked up idly as I stopped by their table.

   `Is your name Russell?' I said to the man Belle had indicated.

   `Yeah man,' he drawled and then I hit him. I knocked the smug look off
his face and the other two men started up from their chairs their hands
coming up.

  `Stay where you are unless you want to get hurt, he's the one I want.' I
grabbed Russell by the front of his shirt and pulled him up. `Were going
outside for a chat,' I said as I dragged him from his seat and pulled him
on his staggering legs to the door. I wasn't even out of it before I had
one of the other two men on my back. I let Russell drop to the floor and
dived straight at the wall facing us, going into a roll at the last
moment. I had the satisfaction of hearing some bones crack as we collided
with it, his body cushioning mine and he gave out a cry and his hands fell
loose from my body.

   I stayed down as the other man came forward, seeing the glint of a knife
in his hand. I waited till he was close enough before using my legs in a
scissors movement and brought him down onto his front, letting go of the
knife as he used his hands to stop himself from smashing his face onto the
cobbles of the yard.

   I laid him out with a chop to the back of the neck and only then did I
get up and kick the man who'd climbed over my back in the head with the toe
of my shoe. My shoes had cost me two hundred pounds a pair for they were
smart and also had steel toe caps. Unfortunately, I only broke his jaw for
the kick should have killed him.

   I picked up Russell who was only just coming round from that one fist in
his face and slapped him twice about the face.

   `Now listen to me you piece of shit. Just you leave my girls alone.'
Where the words came from I don't know but I was telling him that they were
mine, the last thing I wanted but it must have been something in the back
of the mind that prompted these words. `You touch one of them again and
I'll kill you,' and then I pulled his head up closer to me by his abundant
hair. `Like I saw to Errol,' I whispered in his ear. I then mashed his face
down onto the cobbles and really ground it so that he would be scarred for
life. I cracked his head down on the ground as a last message as I got up
and walked back into the bar and I found that I walked into some of the
customers there clapping at my appearance.

   `You should have told me!' came a familiar voice of that of Jock, my old
soldier mate.  `I was in the pub next door when I heard that you were
here. We could have made a bomb out of this! Three of them at one go you
bastard.'

   `Sorry Jock,' I grinned at my old friend. `This was just a personal
thing.'

   `But three onto one, we could have got good odds on that!' he
exclaimed. `Let me know next time you want to get personal in this way.'

   Let me explain at this point of bringing Jock into this because whenever
I went into my fighting mode, he would be there to set the odds on me
fighting, getting the book and taking the bets. He was my back up if I
needed it, especially when I beat a popular opponent, guarding my back in
these cases. He creamed a bit off the top of the winnings which I didn't
begrudge and was quite often glad to know he was there somewhere behind
me. This had developed while we were in the service where if he got into a
fight, I was there for him and now, back in England, he would look after me
while I was fighting.

   `What was this fight about?' he asked as we went up to the bar.

   `As I said, personal,' and I beckoned over the landlord of the pub and
was grateful that I knew him and he knew me.

   `I don't think we did any damage outside Paul,' I said, `but if there
is, give me the bill next time I'm in.'

   `No problem Jim,' he said.

   `You'd better get an ambulance down here too.'

   `Fuck 'em, no way. They can crawl out or I'll throw them out, I didn't
like them anyway.' He laughed and I could help but laugh with him.

   `James! Are you alright?' cried Belle coming up to my side. `You put the
shits up me when all four of you went out there. What happened?'

   `I just put them straight with regards to you and Vera,' I said. `By the
way, meet an old buddy of mine, Jock. Jock, meet Belle.' They were both
formal as they said hello to each other and shook hands.

   `What's with the bird?' Jock whispered into my ear.

   `Jock. I think I'm about to become a pimp,' and then I laughed.  `I can
now say that Protection Is My Profession.' I think the acronym was lost on
him but it made Belle laugh.

   `Paul!' I called out to the landlord, and when he came up to me I leaned
over and gave him some notes and declared that it was drinks all round and
it was understood by those that knew me, that I hadn't been there at all if
there were any enquiries to the damage done to the incumbents out in the
yard.

   I said goodbye to Jock, promising to meet him in the near future and I
took Belle's arm and left the pub to cheers for the free drink.

   `What happened out there in the yard?' she asked me as we made our way
towards my house.

   `I told them to lay off you, Vera and the other girls, though two of
them won't be speaking for a few weeks yet,' I said with some self
satisfaction having worked off the anger because of what Russell had done
to Vera. We were silent until we got home and there, Belle told Vera at how
I took on three men, Russell included, and beaten the shit out of them. It
wasn't exactly like that but close enough.

   `You're not going back to that flat,' I told Vera. `You can sleep
here. If they know where you live, somebody else will try it on again' She
winced as she tried to widen her eyes.

   `Does that mean you are taking over and will be our pimp?'

   `No!' I said quite forcibly. `I will not be your pimp but I will look
after you,' I said.

   `That's what the pimp does,' she said as she threw her arms around me
and gave me a smacking kiss on my cheeks.

   `That's enough,' I said, disentangling myself from her arms. `Now get to
bed, the pair of you, it's getting rather late.'

   So we all trooped upstairs, me going into my bedroom but I noticed that
both girls went into the one I had given to Belle. A girl conflab I thought
as I took off my clothes and went had a shower before getting into bed.

				     *