Studio IMP - 11

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The deal is we're working on some serious business. Soooooo.... rough drafts of stories you are used to seeing on a weekly, perhaps fortnight basis are drying up.... just for a bit.... we'll be back soon.. and hopefully we'll use our time off constructively and you'll see some cool stuff on our IMP Product site...

Nikki and Chris xx

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Title -15

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Impossible Girl - 36

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He was as charming as a snake. Possibly more lethal. She sat through it all though, half smile pasted on her face. It wasn’t enough to produce a knock out collection, IGirl had to learn to play their game. Ironic that in a pool of sharks she was the one depicted as the bad sport.

Maurizio was the fashion editor you wanted on your side and right now he was sitting on IGirls left. After hours of preparation she had let the stylist take over and taken her place at the front. Hiding out the back wouldn’t do her any favours at this event.

There had been a stream of copycats on the catwalk this week but IGirl knew she was a step ahead. And Belle was sensational. She rocked the dresses. She injected the jackets. She was Medusa in a mini and a cut away top.

When IGirl took the stage she knew they had nailed it. The sharks had taken the bait. Champagne flowed and cameras snapped and Belle leaned in to whisper in her ear. If IGirl had enough blood in her system to blush she would have. Wine wasn’t the only thing that would intoxicate.

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Five hours later IGirl knew she was very drunk. They were the dolls of the fashion press, Maurizio’s exact words. They were world news in the space of an evening. Mark had stopped reading the reviews about an hour ago. He continued to bring her drinks.

She lay in the oversized spa bath in his suite. Wet Japanese silk clining to her body. Shoulders loosened by the stroke of Belle’s fingers. Belle had disappeared back into the room with Mark. IGirl wondered if they were f*#%ing. She doubted it was the first time.

Should she be here? IGirl was far from a prude. If she had ever been prey to Christian guilt it wasn’t the thing that nagged her now. It was her relationship with Rowan.

Falling in love with him had altered her perspective. Made her life liquid joy. It had given her happiness and clarity she could not have imagined.

Even with things as they were…. their relationship in tatters…. that clarity haunted her. IGirl knew it wasn’t the person that you betrayed it was the purity of love itself. And that love was always with you, even if the person was a thousand miles away.

Bacchian indulgence could pretend Dionysian ecstasy but there was only one true nectar. IGirl and Rowan had sipped it. They’d understood intrinsically that it was a prize to nurture and hold and then he’d lost his grip. Everything had changed with the blood…..There was a fine line between celebrating a gift and betraying it.

To hell with it, IGirl thought. It was gone. What drove her now was not so much a desire for orgasm but a lust for blood. She stood up and looked for a towel. Her head spinning from the wine.

As if on cue her phone buzzed. It was on the basin beside her. She reached over and registered Rowan’s name on the screen. Impeccable timing.

‘Hellllooo,’ IGirl didn’t care that she sounded wasted. She hadn’t expected to hear from him on this trip.

‘What the f*#% are you doing with Belinda?’

‘What’re you…. tlking bout?’

‘Belinda, in the photos. Your f*#%ing star model. What is this? Have you been f*#%ing with me all along? Did you ever f*#%ing care about me?’

IGirl was trying to register what he was saying.

‘What? No.. I mean….’

Click. Mark had taken the phone and was stepping her out of the tub, dripping wet into the bedroom. Belle was naked. There was a growing drop of blood just below her collar bone and everything Rowan had said was starting to make sense. Bitch.

Belle let out a scream as IGirl lunged at the bed and bit into her open thigh.
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Impossible Girl - 35

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IGirl felt it when she walked through the door. A thickening of the air. A presence with more gravity than it’s mass.

She wasn’t exactly beautiful. Cheekbones not quite full enough, lips on the thin side, plus she had the gap. Yesterday’s bad teeth were today’s most prized possession in the industry. Belle had the gap and something else. An attitude that dared you to look behind the mask.

It wasn't comfortable but something definitely got under your skin. Mark was right. She was perfect for the IGirl range.

‘I’ll leave you girls to it.’ The tone of voice was all Mark but walking out on a business introduction wasn’t. Especially when the introduction involved two attractive women and a bar. It had to be a very important meeting for him to leave this.

Belle must have been close to IGirl’s age. A latecomer to modelling. Too old for pubescent sensitivity to the trade. She looked tough enough to fend off a dozen bitchy models, a sleazebag agent and a handful of old pervert photographers without breaking a sweat.

‘What do you think?’

She was direct too.

‘Can you do my look?’

‘Like this?’ Belle’s face was a death mask, so absolutely soulless it made IGirl flinch.

‘Can you walk in a 4 inch heel?’ She recovered herself quickly though there was something about that look that scraped IGirl to the bone.

‘Like a sex on a stick.’ And just like that Belle’s face went from soulless to the fullness of lust.

There wasn’t much left to discuss. Belle was the gift you would choose for yourself. The thing you would max out your credit card for without blinking. She was going to own the catwalk. Together they would blow the stage out from under Japanese Fashion Week. IGirl was already dressing and styling her in her mind.

‘Do you have anything in your room I could try on?’

It was as if Belle had read her mind. Her eyes and a brush of her hand suggested another motive for visiting IGirl’s hotel suite.

It was a tempting offer. IGirl couldn’t help herself. She thought about biting in to Belle’s thigh and her mouth watered and she had to swallow. Visibly.

Belle didn’t miss a trick and the display flushed her lust with confidence.

‘We should try things on each other,’ she said before IGirl had the chance to speak.

Mark must have known the models ‘preference’. Perhaps she was bi and he was planning a party with both of them after the show. It would be just like him. Always trying to find a way back in.

‘I think tomorrow will be soon enough,’ IGirl forced herself to say. It was the sort of weakness that if surrendered to could really f*#$ with your business plan.
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Title -14

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Impossible Girl - 34

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The bath was deep and spacious and filled with suds. She sat submersed, sipping a glass of rich, chocolately red and listening to the soft music filtering from the speakers. Japanese Fleetwood-Mac covers. Tell me Lies. How lush. Her only regret - he wasn’t here.

The decision was made though. Rowan needed his space and so did she. Romantic holidays together might ease their problems but they didn’t make them go away.

It would work itself out… or it wouldn’t. No choice really. They were tied. This ‘thing’ had bound them more tightly than marriage. Perhaps that was the problem.

For now she would work. And working meant meeting Mark and the new model downstairs in an hour. IGirl sighed and reached for her towel.

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Mark was alone when she arrived. Chewing a toothpick, glass empty in front of him. Asshole probably planned it that way. She looked around for a photographer.

‘What, no Papps to photograph our romantic date?’ she said as she sat down.

‘I’d rather have a date with a proctologist. This is a business meeting and you’re late.’

He was peeved. Edgy about something. IGirl doubted it was over the incident in the Hummer. Something else?

‘By nine minutes and it looks like our third party isn’t here yet.’

‘She’ll be here.’

She could keep fighting him but what was the point. Someone had to break the ice.

‘Is something wrong?’

He looked like sh#$. It was seven hours since she had left him in the back of the Limo but from the look of him it could have been seven years. His face was dry and lined, even the skin on his hands was flaky. Mark looked haggard.

‘My afternoon appointment didn’t turn up that’s all. Minor issue I should have resolved in an hour or so.’

‘You look like you need a good sleep.’

‘Am I sensing some concern? The ice maiden cares?’ Even tired Mark was a flirt.

‘It’s listed on my resume under weaknesses.’

‘See, we do have fun together.’

‘Sometimes,’ IGirl conceded.

‘I’m sorry I snapped. Belle will be here soon, then I’ll leave.’

‘Really, you’re not going to stay and have one drink?’

‘There’s something I really need to do.’

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Impossible Girl - 33

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IGirl scanned the line of vehicles outside the airport. Nothing resembling her ride. Just the stretch Hummer with Mark the prat opening the passenger door for her.

She got in and he followed. Taking the seat opposite.

‘What, you’re not my driver?’ IGirl spat between clenched teeth.

‘I could take you for a drive baby.’

He leaned toward her just as the automatic window slid down. Lenses poked their way into the car. The bastard was puckering up to kiss her so she slapped him. The light from the camera flashes intensified.

‘Drive, drive now,’ she yelled at the driver.

This was proving difficult with two cameramen clinging to the door frame. She flicked the button to raise the window and the driver pulled away from the curb.

‘You f#$%ing bastard.’ She wanted to bite him. Rip the conceited grin off his face with her teeth.

He was sitting back. One arm across the back of the seat, his legs stretched and casually open.

‘I was doing you a favour, the publicity will be amazing.’

She lifted her foot and shoved her heel into his groin. The look of pain that shot across his face WAS amazing.

‘What exactly do you want Mark?’ It had been such a promising start to Tokyo. However brief.

‘Unh, I came to offer you something. Something you WILL want. Don’t know if I’m feeling so generous now.’

His phone buzzed and he pulled himself together and answered it. Russian? She didn't know he spoke Russian. IGirl stared out the window as he talked to whoever and central Tokyo emerged before her.

'... Spasiba.'

‘Are you going to tell me what it is that I'll want so much,’ she asked as he hung up. Despite herself she wanted to know what was on offer.

‘Are you going to kiss my cock better?’ His smile still looked a little hurt.

‘Let’s skip the foreplay and get to the point Mark.’

‘An apology at least?’

‘I’m still waiting on a queue of apologies from you.’ She wished it back the minute it was out of her mouth. It made her sound vulnerable, like those memories still mattered.

Mark sucked it up. Better than an apology.

‘There’s a new filly in my stable. You’re going to want to take a look at her.’

He was using this language to goad her. Remind her of the flesh she had been to him. IGirl wished she could push him out of the car.

‘I can choose from the models tomorrow.’

‘I came to offer you an exclusive.’

Mark was an asshole but on the subject of women and image he was a maestro. If this model was as good as he claimed an exclusive was valuable.

‘Is the offer still open?’ IGirl hated negotiating with him. Especially now. But this week was important.

‘Of course. It’s in lieu of my absent apologies.’

‘When can I meet her?’ IGirl chose to ignore his bait.

‘Join us for a drink tonight.’

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