Vice

by Nicole Marsh

  I push the towel down and step right up to Alex, placing my wet body up against his shirt covered front. He freezes, a look on his face like he isn’t sure what to do. He glances to the door, and I stand on my tiptoes, lifting my arms up to wrap around the back of his neck. I pull him down towards me and once he’s bent low enough, I place a soft kiss on his lips. Alex lets out a groan, and takes over the kiss. Ravaging my mouth with his tongue, lips, and teeth. He places his hands underneath my butt and lifts me up. I wind my legs around his waist and start to rub myself against the hardness that’s now pressed into the perfect place.

  Alex deposits me onto the countertop, using his hands to rub my breasts, and tweak my nipples. I moan into his mouth and move my hands to his belt unbuckling it clumsily and trying to undo the button of his pants. Taking a step back, Alex pulls his shirt over his head in one smooth movement. He then stills my hands with his own, stopping my attempts to work free his button. Alex places my hands up further on his body, to run over his pecs and arms, while he takes over the removal of his pants and boxers.

  The sight of Alex fully naked and erect in front of me has my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. Sculptors probably dream of creating and immortalizing a sculpture with a body as perfect as Alex’s. It would be a million dollar piece of art.

  Alex wastes no time, slipping a finger inside me, sliding against my wetness, then pulling it out to replace it with his cock. He thrusts hard and deep and I clench around him. I know I’m in trouble, I’m already getting used to the way he feels inside me, how quickly he is able to work my body up into a frenzy.

  He kisses up my neck, while he thrusts deep and hard. He pounds into me on the counter with my back against the mirror, working me higher with each thrust. Alex angles my butt upwards and pushes my thighs apart further to hit a deeper angle. Leaning down, he bites the lower part of my ear lobe. At the same time as his bite, my body explodes in the most delicious way. Starbursts flash in and out behind my eyelids as Alex continues working my body, prolonging my orgasm and building it back up again.

  Abruptly, Alex pulls out as the last quivers of my orgasm end. He picks me off the counter and places my feet on the ground, bending me over he slides back inside me again. He has both hands on my hips, pulling me back onto his cock further with each thrust. He slips one hand over the front of my body and rubs his fingers against my clit. He’s whispering words of encouragement against me in a sexy low voice, telling me how good I feel, and telling me to come for him again. He continues to thrust into me, hard and deep. I look behind me and catch his gaze focused on the mirror in front of us, watching our bodies tangled together as he fucks me against my sink.

  His words, his cock, and his fingers all combine to send me over the edge. I can feel his cock spurting inside of me as he falls over the cliff with me. After my body comes down, I realize I’m sagging onto the counter, my legs barely able to support me.

  Alex scoops me up and brings me into the bedroom. After gently placing me on the bed, he walks back in to the bathroom. A minute later, he returns with a damp washcloth and gently cleans between my legs.

  I give him a smile and lean up to place a kiss against his mouth. Alex pushes the kiss deeper, sweeping the inside of my mouth with his tongue, and I can feel his semi-erect cock hardening against my thigh. I pull back with a small sigh and watch as Alex puts the washcloth back in the bathroom. He returns, pausing to turn off the light before crawling into bed next to me, wrapping an arm around me and pulling my body tight against his. I feel safe in his arms, like nothing can touch me here.

  I wake up the next morning with a moan escaping my lips, my limbs feel heavy with pleasure. Looking down the bed, I can see Alex’s head buried between my legs. He lavishes my clit, licking and sucking with an occasional nip of his teeth. I don’t know how long he’s been down there, but my body already feels on the cusp of exploding.

  Alex looks up my body, noticing I’m awake, but he continues his ministrations, adding fingers inside me. I reach my own hands up to pull on my nipples. Alex moves to lick away from my clit and I groan in protest.

  After teasing me for a few minutes, he finally runs his tongue up my slit and latches back onto my clit. The movement causes me to come hard on his face, my thighs clenching together, my hips thrusting.

  When Alex pulls his face from between my thighs he smirks up at me, “Good morning,” He says, his voice low and husky.

  “Good morning,” I say back on a moan, as pleasure continues zipping along my veins.

  The next words he utters confirm that my heart is in trouble with this man, “I’ll go make you some coffee.” I beam down at him and watch his sexy, naked ass as he walks out of the bedroom.

  Alex and I spend the rest of the day snuggled together on the couch, watching movies and snacking on popcorn. As a kid, growing up the way that I did, I never believed in fairy tales, but to me, Alex feels like a fairy tale. He’s the perfect partner, he listens, and engages in the things that I’m interested in. He’s passionate and kind, a truly thoughtful person. And he makes me laugh, a lot.

  An hour or so before I need to get ready for work, Alex’s phone buzzes against the table, bursting the bubble of our happy cuddle fest. He excuses himself to walk into the bedroom in the back of my apartment to take the call.

  When he returns, he’s wearing such a serious face, I poke at him to try to lighten him back up. “What was that about, Mr. Grump?”

  He shrugs and responds curtly, “Just some work stuff.”

  Something about his reaction sits oddly with me, the rest of the time we spend on the couch. The feeling still hasn’t left, by the time I wander back into my room to start getting ready for work. I need to head down a bit early again today to finish up the list for Matt that Katia, Alex and I started yesterday.

  I’m putting on my makeup and smiling at myself in the mirror to try to hype myself up for the night. A deep sense of dread sits in my chest and I can’t shake it. I feel like the phone call that Alex took has to do with our case, that he was told something about the girl that was murdered in my Club. This sends me down the rabbit hole of thinking what will happen once the case is over and Alex and I return to our regular lives.

  My feelings do a complete one-eighty from how I was feeling yesterday. I think that living together for the past month has made us grow closer, but once the case is over and Alex moves back into his own apartment, I can’t imagine a relationship between the two of us working out. The last few days have been like newlywed bliss, but once the newness of our relationship wears off, he’s probably going to tire of cooking for me and spending all of his free time in our love nest.

  I can’t imagine him ever wanting to take me to work events and introduce me as his girlfriend, the owner of a Gentlemen’s club. No, this pseudo relationship is doomed to fail, as soon as the case is solved. It’s probably time to have a conversation with Alex about all of this, to agree to put the brakes on this before either of us get hurt.

  A light knock on the bathroom door startles me from my thoughts. When I look up, I see Alex smiling at me with warmth, “Ready to head down?”

  I nod and we walk down to the club together. On the way down the front steps, Alex grabs onto my hand and holds it the rest of the walk, all the way through the club, until we reach my office.

  The chimes sound over the club, signaling the girls at the back door, ready to be let in and prepare for another night at Vice. I’m finally finishing the list of the last few people that have been declined for Membership over the past year and seemed a bit suspicious. I gratefully accept Alex’s offer to answer the door and let the girls in again. He stands up and leans over the desk to kiss my cheek and then gets up from the desk and slips out the door.

  Alex returns a few minutes later and I’m standing in front of the safe, putting files away. He walks across the room and leans in, devouring my mouth, delivering his signature toe curling kisses. Before things get too carried away, I pull my face away and step
back to give us some space for the conversation that I know we need to have. “Alex, what are doing?”

  He smiles at me cheekily and replies, “Making out, maybe later we’ll practice making babies.” He steps forward, trying to close the distance that I put between us, leaning in again to kiss me.

  I take another step back, “I think that we should stop this before either of us get hurt.” Alex stops trying to kiss me and looks me in the eye, with a weird expression that I can’t name on his face as I continue, “We both know that nothing can happen between us long term, if for no other reason than the differences in our professions.”

  A look of hurt flashes quickly across Alex’s face, so quickly I almost miss it. He asks in a sharp tone, “What are you saying?”

  I let out a sigh. I didn’t think he would push back during this conversation, I honestly thought that I would explain my feelings and he would agree. I thought that he would be relieved after how he acted once he answered his phone this afternoon.

  “Right now we’re having fun. It makes sense that we would develop an attraction to each other, we’ve been in super close quarters for the past month. But soon the investigation will wrap up and I don’t think that you’re going to be interested in trying to work around my very limited time to hang out. Especially considering I own a Gentlemen’s club.”

  Alex face, which was already angry, looks furious by the time I’m finished talking. I don’t understand what he’s so angry about, but before he gets a chance to reply, the lights abruptly shut off. We plunge into darkness. In the distance, I can hear the girls shrieking from the dressing room.

  Alex has his phone in his hand, turning on the flashlight within seconds of the lights shutting off. He shines the light near my face to look at me, then sweeps the light around the room until he finds my phone. He picks it up and hands it to me, waiting for me to turn my own flashlight on.

  Alex walks over to the door and tells me, “I’m going to go check on the rest of the girls and make sure to get a few security guards to them if they don’t already have some.” He shines his light near me again, to look at my face and make sure I’m listening, “After I leave, lock the deadbolt. Don’t open the door to the office until you hear my voice on the other side saying, ‘All Clear.’ Leave it closed, even if you hear other noises in the club.” He quietly adds one more sentence, I’m not sure that I’m meant to hear, “I need to know that you’ll be safe.”

  “Lock the door and don’t open it,” I recap to confirm I heard his instructions.

  Alex takes two steps towards me and places a soft kiss on my lips. “We’ll finish this discussion when I get back. It’s not over, we’re not over.” He says, then gently slips out of the room.

  Once Alex is gone, I turn the deadbolt to my office door and use my flashlight to walk to the couch, then I turn it off to save battery for when I need it. I always forget to charge my phone, so it has a perpetually low battery, and the flashlight seems to drain it extra fast. I expect the lights to be on soon, but I don’t want my phone to die, in case I need it in the meantime.

  About ten minutes after Alex left my office, I hear the deadbolt turning in the door, breaking the silence in the room. Only a few people have keys to this room.

  I call out “Alex?” As he’s the logical option to who’s opening the door at this point, but I don’t receive an answer.

  I start fumbling with my phone, trying to get the screen to respond to turn the flashlight back on. After pressing the button for the hundredth time, my phone screen finally lights up and I turn on the flashlight, shining it towards the door. The door is fully open, but no one is near it.

  I stand up to sweep the room with my light, trying to find who opened the door, when something slams against the side of my head and everything goes dark again.

  Chapter 11

  Alex

  I let the Bratva get Jenna.

  They have Jenna.

  I keep replaying these two thoughts over and over in my head.

  I’m driving like I’m trying to win first place in a drag race. Speeding towards the only potential location that we have for the Bratva in Chicago, all while replaying the events of the day in my mind.

  Four hours ago, Jenna and I were arguing in her office at the club. She was trying to tell me the feelings that I’ve been developing for her aren’t real. She was telling me that a relationship between the two of us won’t last, that the feelings I have will all disappear once I’m no longer her security detail. During our argument, the power went out in the club. Immediately after, we both heard the girls shrieking from the dressing room.

  I tell Jenna to stay put in her office, so that I can go check on the rest of the girls in the club and make sure no one is hurt. Standing in the doorway, I order Jenna to lock the door and to only open it if she hears my voice on the other side. After the door closes and I hear the lock click, I rush off to go check on the rest of the girls working in her club.

  When I arrive at the dressing room, the security guards have rounded up the girls into the back part of the room, near the couches. Half-dressed girls are behind the semi-circle of guards, some sitting on the couches, or the floor and some standing near the walls, all looking a bit fearful. The guards are using flashlights and phone lights to scan the room and assess for any incoming threats.

  I exchange a few words with Jackson, one of the guards I’ve started to build a friendship with during my time as security detail for Jenna. He gives me a quick break down of what’s happened so far since the power has gone out.

  The guards separated, with three of the security guards heading downstairs to check on the breaker box, wondering if it was a fuse that blew, causing the power to go out. They figured they could go check it out and make a decision on how to move forward after they fully assess the situation. After the security guards went downstairs, the remaining guards decided it was safer if everyone else stayed in the dressing room to wait.

  Jackson confides in me, speaking in a low voice so that no one overhears him. He says that he’s nervous and wanted everyone to stick together as much as possible. After the events of the last few weeks, he believes it’s possible this power outage isn’t just an issue with the fuse box. Together in the dressing room, the guards are able to watch for approaching threats, rather than try to safely move a large group of half-dressed girls through the building and get them all outside. After giving his brief of the status of the club, Jackson asks me where Jenna is.

  I give him a brief rundown of the events, like he did to me. I glaze over the fight, figuring Jenna doesn’t want everyone to know our business and just tell him Jenna and I were in her office finishing up paperwork when we heard the screams. Before I ran over to the dressing room, I left her locked in her office so that I could come check on everyone else, without having to worry about her safety. I tell Jackson, that he’s doing a good job keeping the girls safe and I’ll go grab Jenna and come back.

  Safety in numbers.

  I jog through the halls until my flashlight reflects off the door handle to the office. My pulse ratchets up a notch, seeing the door is fully open. I pause briefly, then resume walking the path to the office. I creep silently down the hall, holding my hand over my flashlight so that there’s no longer a bright light announcing my presence, just a dim glow. Just enough light for me to be able to see my path to the door clearly. I burst into the office, shining my light around the room.

  No one is in here.

  I’m about to leave to search the rest of the club, but my light catches on Jenna’s shoe. Just one stiletto is sitting on the floor by the edge of the couch, on its side.

  The sight of that one shoe sends my heart racing in panic. Someone took Jenna, I know just from this shoe. My mind is filling with thoughts of what to do next, when suddenly the power clicks back on, flooding the office with light.

  I turn off my flashlight, glancing around to make sure I didn’t miss anything else, then run back down the hall to the dressing room.
My first thought is to see if Jenna decided to follow after me, just in case. I’m telling myself maybe she got scared and she kicked off her shoes to run down the hall. Maybe both shoes were in the office but in my haste I only saw one.

  I’m pretty confident I’m lying to myself at this point, but I’m doing what I can to maintain hope that Jenna is okay.

  I rush back into the dressing room, immediately seeking out Jackson again. I urgently ask him to tell me what happened with the power, what the guards found downstairs. He tells me that the guards found the fuse box open with all of the breakers flipped off. All they had to do was switch them back over, to turn the power back on.

  My small bit of panic is on the cusp of turning into a full blown panic attack. I push those feelings aside, it can’t help Jenna at this point if I panic. I take a deep breath and tell Jackson that Jenna is missing from her office.

  Together we make the decision not to tell the rest of the girls that Jenna is missing. At this point, we want to avoid Club-wide panic. We leave two guards in the dressing room with the girls while they finish getting ready for opening in about an hour, while the rest of us divide up to search for Jenna. With all of the guards and myself, we make quick work scouring the remaining rooms of the Club and meet in the Foyer with disappointing results.

  It’s been almost two hours since the power first shut off and as I suspected, Jenna is nowhere to be found in the Club. I pull Jackson aside again, and ask him to tell Sira that Jenna became very ill and told him that Sira should take over Manager Duties for the night. I’m sure under normal circumstances, Katia would be Jenna’s first choice to run the Club, but she’s been out for a few days. During her absence, Jenna has been tasking Sira with more responsibility, and she seems to be doing well.