The Girls Club Read online

  “My coffee machines gone on the fritz, is it ok if I use this one?”

  Her eyes were wide and eager, Karen worried for the 37th time about the shape of things to come. She too had a tattoo and that meant only one thing.

  Gotta check the standings.

  “Yeah, help yourself”

  She leaned forward and took the pot.

  “How’s your first official day going?”

  Small talk. Patented and delivered on spec.

  “Good. Just doing some tidying up. Very dusty at that desk” Why don’t you ask her why it looks like no one has been sat there for months?

  “Well, you look like the type of person who’s rough and ready for anything, you’ll soon have it how you like I’m sure.” A shark. That’s what she was reminded of.

  “What’s she doing?” Minnie and Rochelle were peeping round the wall from the canteen into the area that Karen now inhabited. They’d seen Care come this way and thought perhaps they’d make sure she wasn’t up to mischief. That’d be just like her to spoil the whole thing for everyone else.

  “She’s just talking, smiling like a fucking vampire. Bloodless bitch”

  “Have you done your report yet?”

  “Sure did. Sign, sealed, delivered. She’s a shoe in. Nice too”

  “Yes!”

  Karen heard something and looked round. She could see a shadow on the floor at the corner of the wall and knew they were being observed.

  “Well. You’re going to have to get used to that too I’m afraid.”

  Click, click, click the sound of stilettos creeping away.

  “Its ok, I guess its nice for people to be interested”

  “Oh they are dear. They are.” She sipped her coffee and her smile grew to insane proportions.

  And then she left.

  It had been a massively exhausting 24 hours. To go from a small British town to LA, and an office full of love hungry lesbians might have sent others home packing.

  But Karen had invested something last night.

  And she was going to stay the course.

  Chapter 3

  The rest of the day had passed quietly for Karen. It was the rest of the office that bubbled with news of the Brit and her first night with one of their own.

  Minnie submitted her report to Sarah Steiger. As the highest in the Chain at Tarkingtons it was then down to her to formally approve or disapprove her entrance to the Chain.

  “Well?” she asked Minnie as she put the folder on her desk.

  “It was good.” Minnie smiled.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I bet she gets top ten, if you let her in”

  Sarah rocked back in her chair and put her feet up on her huge desk.

  “Ok then”

  Minnie set off to leave.

  “Ah-hem”

  “Oh sorry” she came back and kissed Sarah, in her daydreams of last night she had forgotten her manners for a minute.

  Sarah loved her girls. If Minnie was love struck it meant that it had been worth all the time and expense looking for this new girl. This Brit.

  “I wonder…” she opened the buff coloured folder and read through the documents there.

  Had Karen seen the sheer amount of information there she might have asked just what the hell Sarah thought she was doing, some of the things in there were very private indeed. Sarah justified it to herself by remembering what would happen if the bubble burst on this little op. The Chain and everything in it. The people whose lives would be under the microscope. The bodies that would be unearthed.

  She hoped Karen would do well. She personally couldn’t wait for her crack at the Brit, it was nice to have loving friends but things had gotten so samey lately. She would own her, turn her into a loyal dog. There had been something on Karen’s face, it was, well, brutal. The worst of it was she didn’t think Karen knew when she had that look, unfettered animalism and a touch of the sociopath. Would make for an interesting bed fellow that’s for sure.

  She approved the submission of Karen into the Chain.

  On her PC she wrote an email to Karen, simple and to the point but that’s the way she’d always been.

  Dear esteemed new colleague,

  Might I take this moment to congratulate you on passing the initiation stage of your entrance to our ‘happy little family’

  I have been advised that your intentions are true.

  I’m sure you know where to find the details on your PC.

  Remember this:

  ‘Love your friends’

  But honour our silence.

  Good luck Karen.

  S

  She opened the Chain standings file, entered her password and placed Karen on the bottom with Minnie. Looks like Skylar had thrown her hat back in the ring according to this, she did recall hearing tell of Skylar and Minnie becoming a more steadfast couple. Greedy Minnie. Stupid Skylar. Sarah shook her head. Sometimes an odd mis-match cropped up as was the case with Skylar and Minnie, Minnie was a bed hopper, always had been. Skylar wanted to settle down. She was probably getting back on the Chain to rankle Minnie.

  Silly, silly. But as long as they kept it away from her and did their work it made no difference. As long as things progressed. As long as things flowed naturally.

  She packed up and went home. She had a meeting with the number 33 on the Chain again and damn it if she wasn’t one fine looking lady. Then she’d maybe get some work done. A fine filly often cleared her mind.

  She buzzed her intercom, “Karen, I’m off now, any calls from Caplins I’ll take, but anything else and I’m in a meeting and can’t be reached”

  “Very good Miss Steiger” came the tinny response.

  She put her wool over coat on and remembered she’d taken her shoes off. Grimacing she slipped them back on, high heeled uncomfortable bastards they were. Still. Home and a hot woman. To hell with the rest for today. She picked up the Caplin file, it was their biggest account of late, they made paint by trade. They were being sued for damages totalling over ten million dollars. It seemed some of their paints had had a very high lead content. They knew they were going to end up having to pay out. There had been some instances of poisoning and one possible death. It was going to be her job to make sure Caplin had a company left to run when all this was over. And she’d do it too. Because she was a good lawyer. And a ruthless bitch.

  On her way down the corridor she thought about what they were going to have to eat tonight, her date Kelsey Carmicheal had a seafood allergy if she remembered rightly. She had been with her before and it seemed the right time to re-visit the experience. The days of being mid-thirties were well behind Sarah now and it was nice to have the choice of who to see. Knowing that you weren’t yet hung out to dry.

  And there she was. Her curious new prize, under her desk.

  “Good night Karen” she called lightly.

  Bang!

  “Ow, er, Night Miss Steiger” she pulled her head up to watch her go, using her left hand to rub the back of her noggin where she’d just belted it a good one. Sarah smiled, way cute, she’d thought.

  Fuckin’ cables!, Karen had been thinking when she’d heard her name called.

  She waited till Sarah was out of ear shot then uttered “Mother fucker”, her head felt like someone had walloped it with a hammer. It was her. The bloody woman she had been obsessing over all day long. Her PC had pinged her to tell her she had mail, she’d read the note. She understood what this was all leading too. She also wondered what Sarah was doing tonight on the strength of it. Getting the cart before the horse.

  By the ‘Chain Standings’ latest information she knew she better get ready to eat shit and die, the receptionist, Carolyn, her of the vulpine smile, was next. This was a little interlude she wasn’t going to enjoy very much.

  You thought that about Minnie till she got her hand down your pants.

  True. Very true.

  Maybe beer would help it along. How did it get arranged? Did she just saunter ove
r and say, ‘Hi there, I’m number such and such, you wanna get together and hump?’

  Crass. Not her style. Although judging by the receptionists leering today she might not have to be the one to go over and make the arrangements. She’d just about eat Karen raw by all accounts.

  It was almost five. Time to pack up for the day.

  “Hey Brit girl” She shuddered, “It’s only me” she turned to see Rochelle.

  “Had a mail from Miss Steiger?”

  “Yeah”

  Rochelle sat on her desk.

  “And what did it say?” she sung the question.

  “I’m in”

  Rochelle leapt off the table and began making two footed hops whilst clapping. Vaguely feeling nauseous she tried to focus her mind on the very important fact that everyone had to start from the bottom.

  A means to an ends. This is the most excitement some of these gals have had in years. Believe it or not you have landed on your feet here.

  She straightened her face out. Being mean always went hand in glove with being tired for her.

  “It’s been a mad few days”

  Rochelle took her arm and linked it through hers.

  “I know, I know. Come on. I’ll drop you home. Get some shut eye babe. I bet Minnie was a real pain in the ass.”

  Love your friends.

  “She was nice yeah. It was all very new but she made it easy.”

  Rochelle smiled approvingly. That’s exactly the right way to behave. Pillow talk is one thing but talking out of school is another.

  “Come on Brit girl”

  There was a glimmer of hope that ‘Carolyn the amazingly vulpine receptionist’ was gone, until she all but fell over herself to get back to her desk from around the corner where she must have been hiding.

  “Sign out girls” her smile was getting wider and wider.

  Don’t let this woman stop you now. You’ve done the hard part by taking the first step.

  Karen slapped her best and brightest smile on, “See you in the morning”

  Carolyn responded in kind, her ruby red lips parting to show the most awesomely white and perfect teeth Karen personally had ever seen. They seemed wrong somehow.

  “You bet!”

  And they were in the lift then, the doors were sliding closed and Carolyn’s face hovered for a moment even after the doors had shut, the whiteness of her teeth producing an after image.

  “Its like taking bad medicine sometimes”

  Karen just smiled.

  Rochelle carried on. “You can’t like everyone on the Chain as much as you maybe try to. Its hard. People are different creatures at times. Just do your best” That was an amazing insight offered by the office lackey, a profound Buddha all of a sudden.

  Karen thought she understood the scenario a little now. There could be two reasons for staying at the bottom of the Chain. Firstly you could be crappy in bed. Secondly you could chose to stay there and progress no further because everyone had to start from the bottom. Say you got to 52 and everyone fucked up or dropped out around 70. Its lonely at the top. No more guarantees of regular sex. You could chose people to come over from the Chain sure, but you weren’t guaranteed of any sort of quality at all if you went fishing below your calibre.

  “I need to do some studying. I need to know a good place to get text books for idiots about laws and stuff.”

  “Sure. I’ll take you shopping at the weekend and show you around. Do you know what you need yet?”

  “No, do they do a ‘Law for dummies’ book”

  Rochelle shook her head.

  The elevator binged and they stepped out. Rochelle almost asked her to have a drink with her but she figured Karen might need an early night. She remembered her first weeks at Tarkingtons, what a roller coaster ride that was! Never knowing from one day to the next where to stand or shoulder the load. Never knowing when the only thing you’ll want is to go to bed, to sleep.

  “Come on Brit chick. Lets get you home”

  They listened to the radio on the way back to her apartment. It was all feeling a bit out of kilter, she suspected all the newness was going to keep hitting her for a while, being tired also made things seem even more abstract.

  “Night Karen”

  “Night. Thanks for the lift”

  “No problem” she pulled away and out of the window she heard her shout, “Remember! Love your friends!”

  Boy if the day got any weirder she might just be driven to drink.

  A club. An ‘honest to God’ club. How could she not want to embrace it and give it her all? Her formative years were spent as part of a pack. Its safety and warmth very much with her even now. The Chain. On her way up to the apartment she wondered how far she could get.

  She had always been top of her game. Best of the bunch. The one most willing to go that extra mile.

  And what was the harm? Her mind kept returning to this, searching round the corners and sides of it. Looking for the one thing that must be wrong with it. It was all very good. Too good almost.

  Bing!

  She stepped out of the lift onto the landing and went down to her apartment, situated at the snug of the hallway. Using her key, her mind still elsewhere, she remembered she had people to email and letters to write. But she was far too tired.

  Surely the world wouldn’t stop spinning if she didn’t do it today. She had to get her mind round the fact that her next bed fellow was a rather nasal receptionist she hadn’t cared for from first sighting.

  She would ponder a strategy in the shower.

  Butts!

  It was passing strange but she couldn’t recall how many were on the Chain. It had been a high number. But she had distinctly remembered those at the top had been blanked out. Only those at the top would know of each other. And no one had mentioned they suspected who they were or more precisely knew. Maybe they were famous people. But having said that, there was always kiss and tell when big names were involved, so how come the secret had remained secret. How did they sustain it?

  It was a nag. Maybe there was a loyalty here she had never encountered before anywhere else. It did seem doubtful though.

  There was only one way to find out who was at the top.

  That was to get there.

  Chapter 4

  It had been three weeks. So far she had dodged the ‘Carolyn’ bullet with an art and flair worthy of a ‘Matrix’ character. Minnie had asked her to spend the night with her again, Karen had politely declined, she had told her that she wanted to keep her mind free to progress. Minnie looked wounded by this, but there was no mistaking the smile on Skylar’s face later that day. Karen was pleased. Minnie had someone who loved her, even if the silly bag couldn’t see it. Skylar was pleasant enough. She remained in the Chain though. Karen guessed maybe she wanted to see for herself what all the fuss was about.

  Guess she’d get her wish if things followed their natural progression.

  It had been a fun job to learn. She had gained an unhealthy fear of the roads though. It wasn’t so bad when Rochelle was taking her across town, she had no compunction at all about stepping in front of traffic.

  Back at her little cubicle she was integrating nicely. Couple of pictures of mum and dad were on her desk. Her mouse mat of Sonic the Hedgehog had pride of place and her tub of playdoh was often ‘woman handled’ by people stopping by her desk to chat.

  Which they did, with their sporadic interest into the life and love of the Brit girl. It was nice. Everything was very open. No one hiding any dark secrets, the occasion instance of ‘occupied back room’. She heard tell from Rochelle that it was taken for granted that if you were overcome and a crime of passion had to be committed then the back filing office could be used for just such a purpose. As long as you were on a scheduled break that was. When it came to keeping morale high, you just couldn’t ask for more from your boss. A tryst in between fragrant files was something she hoped one day to explore. But first there was the issue of the receptionist with the glowing t
eeth.

  “Just think of it like going to the dentist. A prick, pull and a cry. Then you can get on with the next girl”

  Rochelle, dearest gopher, was a fountain of knowledge on the matter and Karen used the resource often. Even at her moderate status within the office she had risen to dizzy heights on the Chain at one point. You could go down the Chain as well as up she had found out. When people were added, if they surpassed you, down you went.

  Amidst the piles of paper she was wading through her mind was running along its own tracks. Filing wasn’t brain surgery and she always saved it for the end of the day when she wasn’t at her sharpest. It was pleasant enough.

  Around the corner from her cubicle she heard a commotion. Something going on in the canteen area.

  Huh?

  Never had she heard a voice raised in anger since getting here but there was no mistaking the raw passion she was hearing now. Someone sounded very angry. She went round to see what was going on, no need to sneak, open as everything was.

  Skylar was stood with Rochelle, a few other women were present. Rochelle had a split lip and what looked like a bruise rising on her left cheek. Karen felt absurdly offended by this, “What the bloody hell happened?” Skylar was opening a first aid kit.

  “Go get me some cold water in a dish please” Sky put the kit down and went round the corner into the canteen. Karen looked over at a small timid looking girl whose face was all eyes, “Get her a coffee, put plenty of sugar in it, cheers” she asked another gawper.

  And just like that she was in charge of the situation.

  “What happened? Looks like you pissed someone off” she took the dish of cold water from Sky and dumped some cotton wool from the first aid kit into it. Rochelle was ashen, on the verge of tears. The quiet watcher came back with the coffee and put it in front of Rochelle. “Thanks, ok guys, give her some room” Sky shooed them away.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” Karen asked Sky, Rochelle had yet to speak, she took a sip from the coffee and grimaced as it stung her swelling lips.

  “It’ll depend on what happened, come on Rosh. What was it?”