Black Daffodil (Trevor Joseph Detective series) Read Free Page A

know how to party, or do we know how to party?’ Alec Hodges, Damian’s fourth flatmate, danced on to the balcony and threw his arms around Damian’s neck.
    ‘Damian certainly does,’ Jake steadied Alec when Damian pushed him away.
    ‘And I’m enjoying it, boy.’ Alec’s eyes rolled alarmingly in their sockets, his entire body was shaking. But not in time to the music that started up again, booming out from the living room.
    ‘What you on?’ Mike eyed Alec warily.
    ‘Specials.’ Alec lifted his finger to his lips. ‘Sssh.’ He collapsed in a fit of giggles. ‘Wanno box?’ He lobbed a punch at Damian that connected with his jaw.
    ‘You stupid bastard!’ Damian raised his fist.
    ‘Wimp!’ Alec threw another punch but Damian got in first. Alec staggered, lost his balance and would have fallen over the balcony rail if Jake hadn’t grabbed him.
    ‘Should have let the stupid bugger go,’ Damian growled.
    ‘You want the coppers to come calling?’ Jake helped himself to a vodka tube.
    ‘I’d tell them to go to buggery. My father owns the locals.’ Damian pushed Kelly at Alec. ‘Here. Expend his energy to some purpose.’
    Alec peered at Kelly through bloodshot eyes before grabbing her skimpy top and yanking it down over her Lycra mini-skirt. ‘Nice boobs.’ He lifted her skirt and exposed her naked buttocks. ‘Nice arse.’ He slapped her hard, raising a welt.
    ‘Give him a good time, Kelly, and I might give you a go myself later.’ Damian helped himself to another tube of vodka.
    Alec closed his hand around the back of Kelly’s neck and squeezed. Kelly winced but didn’t attempt to fight him off. He was a foot taller than her and twice her weight.
    ‘Alec’s out of it. He could hurt her,’ Jake remonstrated.
    ‘Know your trouble,’ Damian pushed his face close to Jake’s. ‘You’re bloody soft. Whores are like dogs. They need to be trained to know their place.’
    ‘I want seconds.’ Jake prised Alec’s arm from Kelly’s neck. To his amazement, she shoved him away and used the lie he’d told Damian earlier. ‘You’ve had your share.’
    ‘It wasn’t enough.’ Jake propped up Alec who was swaying on his feet. Alec fell and Damian kicked him.
    ‘Get the silly bugger to bed, Mike.’ Damian clicked his fingers at Cynara. Still naked and very aware of the effect she was having on the men around her, she sauntered, hand on hip, towards him.
    Damian wrapped his arm around her and turned to Jake. ‘You can have seconds from Kelly, in exchange for that short you’re working on.’
    ‘Half the school has seen me filming it,’ Jake protested. Living expenses were cheap for Damian’s lodgers, but they were expected to supplement their payment in kind. Lloyd wrote Damian’s essays and end-of-term thesis. Alec was his ‘heavy’, chauffeur and gofer.
    He had only gained admittance into Damian’s inner circle after winning a trophy for producing the best animated short in his first term in film school. And, since moving into Damian’s penthouse six months before, he’d put in hours of graphic and modelling studio work that Damian had taken credit for.
    ‘Then you come up with something new. Something as good as ‘Long Shots, Short Breaks’.’
    The fact that Damian remembered the title of Jake’s award-winning animation said it all. Damian wanted a trophy, and he wanted it soon.
    ‘We’ll go through some ideas tomorrow.’ Jake grabbed Kelly’s arm.
    Damian dismissed them with a wave of his hand. ‘Cynara, it’s time you and the girls put on the floor show.’
    Cynara beckoned Mira forward and kissed her full on the lips.
    ‘Atta girl, go for it,’ Mike shouted.
    ‘Why don’t you watch the show?’ Kelly said earnestly to Jake.
    ‘If you’re free, they’ll make you perform.’
    ‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’
    ‘We could both do with some peace and quiet.’ He pulled her into the corridor that led to the bedrooms. Noises echoed towards them, low soft moans