The Dark Part of Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

a hand over my shoulder. ‘I’m fine.’
    There’s a squeak of sandshoes across the floor.
    ‘You just prefer the men’s?’
    I turn around. He’s tall and broad-shouldered. A shock of sun-bleached hair. He’s wearing faded Levi’s and a plain, red T-shirt. His arms are tanned, hairless and sinewy. He
runs his hands under the water. Somehow, he looks familiar.
    I smile back, just a little, and make my assessment of the men’s loos. ‘We’ve got better lighting and bigger mirrors, and it doesn’t smell so… ’
    ‘Rank?’
    ‘So bad of piss.’
    He shakes his hands dry and wipes them on the front of his jeans. He looks up and flashes me a broad grin. His eyes aren’t blue but violet, the colour of squid ink or orchids, black grapes
in sunlight. More shocking than beautiful. Something twists in me. I’m sure I know him from somewhere but the line is too cheesy to say. I step closer, drawn by his eyes, as if I might pluck
one out to examine it.
    ‘They real?’
    ‘What do you think?’
    ‘Weird.’
    He stares back at me. ‘You here with mates?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Who then?’
    ‘I’m by myself.’
    ‘What? To pull?’
    ‘No. To dance.’
    ‘Nice seedy establishment you’ve chosen.’
    ‘If it’s so seedy what are you doing here?’
    ‘Buck’s night for some guy from uni. I’m supposed to meet them here.’ He checks his watch. ‘The strippers’ll be on soon.’ He winks and heads towards the
door. ‘You coming, dancing girl?’

    We stand at the back of the club. The dancefloor has been transformed into a stage. A girl about my age stands legs apart, completely naked save for a sparkly gold g-string and
a long string of oversized pearls around her neck. Her body is child-thin, her skin milky white. Her breasts are small but pert. Something silver glints from the dark aureole of her right nipple
and again from her belly-button. Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ starts up as the girl bangs her hips from side to side, blue-ish bone rippling under translucent skin. I lean back
against the wall. I can’t help staring. As the lyrics kick in, she takes the pearls from her neck and swings them around and around like a lasso. She doesn’t smile, not once, just pouts
and slides her small pink tongue over her front teeth. Men slouch back at tables and chairs around the stage, drinking beer, swapping sly glances with their mates. I spot the uni wankers crammed
along the stage front, leaning forward like teenage groupies at a rock concert.
    Gavin waves in our direction and Purple-eyes gives him the thumbs up.
    ‘Is he your mate?’
    ‘What, Garvo? Nah, not really. Mate of a mate. He got some chick preggers and he’s been conned into marriage by her oldies. Poor bastard. Nineteen and getting hitched. It’s his
last night of freedom so we’re all out on the slash.’ He pauses, looks at me. ‘What, d’you know him?’
    ‘No.’
    We stand in silence as I’m drawn back to the girl. She is rubbing the pearls, held taut with both hands, back and forth against her golden crotch.
    ‘What do you reckon?’ Purple-eyes nods towards the stage.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Does it turn you on?’
    I shrug, non-committal, but the truth is, she does make me feel a bit sexy.
    ‘Tell you what, watch the rest with me then I’ll drive you home.’
    For all I know he could be a complete psycho-murderer but then he seems harmless enough, like someone’s big brother, and I need a lift home and I’m still sure I know him from
somewhere. Besides, he’s real hot.
    ‘What about your buck’s night?’
    ‘Got a big match tomorrow so I’m off the turps. Garvo’s so maggot he won’t notice.’
    A slow clap starts up, wolf-whistles in-between. I look back to the stage. The girl has ditched her g-string, showing off a hairless pussy. The pearls are gone, too. Sitar music is playing as
she swivels her skinny hips like a belly dancer. She runs her hands over her breasts, then down her body, and sticks her fingers up