‘Yes,’ she says.
‘Oh, honey,’ says Sara. ‘They don’t want us for our brains. They’ve got all the PhDs in the world back at their mansions.’ She rattles her gold bracelets. ‘They want us because we suck their cocks,’ she says. ‘Get used to it.’
She realises that she is trembling. ‘I get it,’ she says. ‘I do. But … ’
‘Oh, look,’ says Sara, ‘how many boys’ cocks have you been on for free? And talk me through the respect you got for that?’
Gemma thinks about Nathan. The boys before Nathan. All soaked in the shit they watch on the internet and convinced that that’s what girls are up for. For free. And not so reliable with the hygiene, either. She gives Sara a cynical laugh. Wonders if the note of despair in it is as obvious to Sara as it is to her.
‘Ha – yah,’ she says.
Sara fiddles with her diamond earrings.
‘I know it takes a bit,’ she says. ‘But once you’re done, you’re done. God, men. It’s so easy to have power over them.’
‘Power?’
‘Oh, just look at them,’ she says. ‘There’s literally nothing else they think about. It’s pathetic.’
She opens her clutch and brings out a tiny enamel box the size of her thumbnail. ‘How about a nice little pill to put you in the mood?’
‘Oooh!’ says Gemma. She never has the coin for Es. Then she laughs out loud.
‘What?’
‘Last E I had,’ she says, ‘I gave the guy a blowjob in exchange.’
‘Right?’ says Sara, and grins. She pops the lid on the tiny box and taps out a couple of tiny pills.
‘Thanks,’ says Gemma.
‘Tell you what. I’m gonna do one too. Keep you company.’
She winks.
They go back out together and wait for the pills to kick in.
‘God, it’s such a laugh, is this fucking place,’ says Sara. ‘I thought I’d seen some shit, but … ’
They’re standing in front of a giant brown bear. A real one. Taxidermied onto his hind legs, mouth open in a snarl, his three-inch claws sharpened and gilded, a pair of pirate earrings dangling from his ears. He stands at the foot of the staircase and greets guests as they come in through the double doors from the courtyard.
‘Who is this guy, anyway?’
‘Fuck knows,’ says Sara. ‘Russian, innit.’
‘What’s it about London?’ she asks. ‘I mean, don’t they have mansions in Moscow?’
‘Ah, sure they do. And Chernobyl and Putin. Now, there’s a guy who can bear a grudge.’
‘Well, I suppose you’d be pissed off if someone’d nicked all your country’s natural resources,’ says Melanie, coming up behind them. ‘Oooh, wow, Sara! Are you two on something?’
‘Shhh!’ Sara presses a finger to her lips. Gemma bursts out laughing, she looks so absurd.
‘I fucking love you,’ she says.
‘That’s the spirit!’ says Sara. ‘Now, go do your thang.’
He’s powerful. He’s really powerful. Just remember that. There are women with Oscars because of him, and so what if he’s sixty if he’s a day and can’t get out of a chair without farting?