Hard Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

the same business. Sometimes they’d even worked out of the same flat. Like most of the girls in the know, she too was wondering if she had inadvertently entertained the nutter who had killed their colleague.
    It had suddenly become crystal clear just how dangerous their job actually was. It was a risky occupation and, deep inside, they all knew and accepted that. But, like your house burning down or finding out you had HIV, it was always something that happened to somebody else. None of them really believed they were in danger, after all, they weren’t on the pavement, were they? Because they worked out of nice flats and houses, and because they worked with other like-minded girls, they didn’t see themselves as prostitutes, let alone being in any kind of peril. They earned a good wedge for a start and they didn’t have to procure anyone; they had a good clientele thanks to the advertising. None of them had ever known life any different. They felt the sharpest knife in the drawer, ,9lthe had quite glamorous, that they were a cut above the usual brasses. It was a well-paid job, and it was a secret part of their lives. Danielle’s death was tragic and shocking but, in all honesty, they were more concerned about being exposed as Toms. If their occupations were to become public knowledge, they would be destroyed. Like the men who frequented their establishments, the girls concerned primarily didn’t want to be outed. They had no interest in the men’s private lives, their wives, children or work, and they expected the same respect in return. They were a commodity, nothing more and nothing less. They provided a service, and that service was not something they dwelled on. They wanted them in, and out, with the minimum of aggro.
    Personally, Lucy often felt a spark of sympathy for the men who used her. Most of them were more nervous than her, and she prided herself on being able to suss them out quickly and easily. She had never really had any trouble from them. Only once had she ever had to assert herself with a client, and that was because he had finished before he had even begun, and then had the nerve to expect a second go for free. He had been a short, bald-headed Turkish bloke with bad breath and a very expensive phone. It was strange what you noticed. She had sternly informed him that he had to pay again or she would call her husband. He had swallowed the bluff and left cursing her in his native tongue.
    But, for the most part, the men who frequented her establishment were timid, overawed by her sheer height and statuesque build, and they tended to come back again and again. Recent events had made her realise she had become a bit too complacent and she was determined to make sure that never happened again.
    As Lucy let herself into the flat she heard Janie singing in the kitchen. Taking off her coat, she walked through the hallway calling out, ‘Pour me one and all, will you.’
    Janie was already dressed in her street clothes, she looked like any other young girl now. Bereft of make-up and in baggy jeans and an oversized sweatshirt she was the archetypal young mum. Hair scraped back into a ponytail, and her feet encased in a pair of Nike Airs, she was still pretty enough to get a second glance from most men. She looked a thousand miles away from the girl she became while at work.
    ‘What would you like? There’s white wine or Bacardi Breezers in the fridge. I know you like a few before you start your shift.’
    ‘White wine please. Did you have a nice couple of days off ?’
     
    Janie took a deep draught of her drink then she said quietly, ‘Too right. I heard about Danielle.’
    Lucy nodded. ‘It’s fucking mad, ain’t it? Terri found her, and you know what she’s like. Coked out of her fucking nut by all accounts. She reckons Bates cleared the place of anything that could cause aggravation. Wiped the whole place down because of prints, and poor Danni was lying there the whole time, dead as a doornail. She