“Don’t you guys have an intern or something to run errands for you guys?”
“We’re not some cocky billionaires. We’re business owners, and sometimes business owners are forgetful.” She shrugs. “You ready? I was thinking we can just go post our asses on a bar stool at Applebee’s?”
“Yep, definitely not cocky billionaires. Let me get my shoes.” I walk around her, into the bedroom and then almost run into her in the doorway.
“This room looks bare. You need to add some personal touches.” She looks around.
“I don’t think I’m a permanent roommate here.”
“You’ve been here long enough. Plus Jacks won’t kick you out. He likes you. You’re family.”
If she only knew.
“I mean, have you seen his ass? That catcher seriously has a nice one,” Becks slurs. She’s had three drinks to my one.
We’re watching the baseball game between San Diego and some team in Colorado.
“How can you even tell? That umpire is always in the way and there’s really no views from the back.”
“You can tell when he’s batting that his ass is nice. Plus, from the side, you can see how rounded the shape is when he’s on his haunches,” Beck says, watching the screen above the bartender’s head. The bartender is eying us as we discuss asses and eat the remaining french fries on my plate. I give him a smile and signal for the check.
“There is some scandal about this guy being used by the chick he’s dating.”
“Well, he is a hot baseball player. I would use him and his baseball bat too,” Beck says, as if that explains everything.
“Seems she’s, like, dating a bunch of guys and using him as her payday. At least according to the tabloids,” I argue.
“I’m pretty sure the media is blowing that out of proportion. That’s what they do. I’m sure she’s a nice girl and he’s just a player.”
“Meh. Whatever. Oh, look at that pitcher. His arms! Are these men made in a lab? Are they real? My God!” Her eyes bulge as they show the player stats on the pitcher next to a full body photo.
The pitcher's hand is gripping a baseball as he flexes then he turns his body into a wind-up for a pitch for his stat card on the screen.
I laugh to myself and reach for the bill that the bartender placed in front of me.
“You got to go to work today, Beck?” I ask her.
“Um.”
“You do, don’t you? You’re drunk! You can’t go to work like this!” I whisper shout at her.
She hiccups. “I’ll be fine by the time we get there. I’ll need you to drive me though. I’m pretty sure I should be sitting in the not driver’s seat.”
“You mean the passenger seat?”
“Yup, that one. Or laying down in the back. Would that be too Driving Miss Daisy for you?”
“Girl, you do you. If that makes you less drunk, then the twenty-minute nap you get from here to the club may be worth it.”
She smiles, her eyes glassy as she stands and wobbles on her feet. My arm reaches out to her and we get out the restaurant and into her car. Once she’s horizontal in the back of her car, I jump into the driver’s seat.
“You know what I think should happen? I think you and Jacks should hook up, do a wedding, make some babies and then give me one. That way we can all be a family.” I angle the mirror down to see her. After her pronouncement, she covers her face and falls asleep before I pull out of the parking lot.
I pull into the club parking lot and note several of the vehicles. I look at Beck and tell her I’ll be right back, even though I know she’s passed out and can’t hear me.
This is the first time I've been in the club during the day. The lights are on, and it looks like any other place. There are several people, fully clothed, practicing a routine together and Jacks is standing in front of them. His arms are crossed and his finger taps his chin as he observes. He claps his hands and yells to take it from the top. He pulls out his phone, presses a button, and the sultry music stops and then starts over again as it fills the space as I approach and tap him on the shoulder.
He turns his head and smiles then turns back to the stage. It takes him a moment to realize it was me tapping him on the shoulder. He turns back to me, his jaw slack with surprise.
“What are you doing here?” he asks quickly.
“Is Mal here?” I ask.
“No, he’s out looking for Beck. What are you doing here?” he asks again.
“Beck is passed out in the back of her car. Why is he out looking for Beck?”
“Why is Beck passed out in the back of her car?”
“Quit returning my questions with questions.”
“Mal and Beck got some bad news today, Beck took off a few hours ago and hasn’t been replying to Mal’s calls or text. Now why is she passed out?”
“We went to lunch and she may have over indulged. I was hoping Mal was here and could take her and then drive me home. She said she had to be at work, and was going to rally, but she is super passed out, dead to the world. I left her in the backseat and opened a window to vent some air in the car, but yeah.”
Jacks shakes his head and tells me to call Mal to ask him to meet us at Jacks’s place as he goes out to the car.
I follow him out after talking to my brother.
“Take her home, put her in your old bed – the spare bedroom. Tell Mal I’ll figure out the new hire stuff and to take the rest of the day off.”
“That’s a long day for you.” He’ll be at the club all day and all night.
“I’ll manage. You may want your brother to explain some of this.” He waves in the direction of Becks. Then he reaches out and runs his hand down my arm before grabbing my hand to pull me into him. His other hand wraps around me and grabs onto my ass as he trails his nose from my ear across my cheek to my lips.
“Jacks. Not here,” I say.
“I’ll kiss you wherever I want and whenever I want,” he mumbles against my lips.
His tongue licks my bottom lip as I open up to him. His tongue and mine meet and the kiss is powerful as well as sweet.
“I won’t see you tonight, but you’ll still wake up to me beside you,” he assures me. With one final kiss, he pats my ass and then retreats back in the building.
I slide into the front seat of Beck’s car and start it. As I’m pulling out of the parking lot, I hear Beck move around a little. She slowly pushes herself up to a sitting position.
“So, I may be drunk but I could have sworn that I just saw you and Jacks make out.”
Chapter Nine
Jacks
When I first arrived at the club, I walked into the office I share with Mal and found him with his head in his hands crying at his desk. He’s not the emotional type and in all the years we’ve known one another, I’d never seen him cry before. Initially, he wouldn’t tell me what was going on, so I gave him some space. For an hour, we sat in the office together in silence before he told me that he and Beck had gone to the doctors and had been told that they wouldn’t be able to conceive. Mal told me that Beck had taken off, saying she needed some alone time to process everything the doctors had told them. She’d given Mal no chance to refute. He had been losing his mind looking for her all day, but neither of us had thought to ask Cam.
When I noticed that Cam didn’t seem to know what was going on with her brother and his wife, I didn’t want to be the person to tell her. Maybe they wouldn’t tell her, maybe they would. But in the end, it certainly wasn’t my news to tell.
After kissing her goodbye, I went back inside the club. I instructed the dancers present on their tasks for the next few hours, then poured myself a drink from the bar and took it to the office. I rummaged around the computer for the new hire paperwork and printed it so I could make sure I had some idea what I was going to do with our new staff member. Then I went downstairs to the personnel office and grabbed the paperwork Beck had prepared in a folder for today. Luckily, Beck planned her tasks out efficiently, so in
her absence, while I wouldn’t be able to fully explain what all the paperwork was, I would at least be able to get the new person to fill it out. Beck could meet with her once she returns to work. I wasn’t excited to give some of my control of the operations to someone else, but I knew I needed some sort of a break. I would still be the night manager and part owner; Mal and I just needed a little help here and there.
The desk phone rings, alerting me that our new staff member had arrived. I straighten my polo shirt and smooth out my jeans, grab the paperwork, and go downstairs to meet with her. I find her at the bar.
“Kendra. Welcome to The Essentials.” I extend my hand.
Kendra is wearing a pencil skirt with a red blouse. The shirt is semi-sheer and her black bra requests my attention. Her chestnut brown hair is up in a sleek bun and her face is caked with makeup. Definitely not my type. I like my women blonde, lithe, and natural. With tan skin, a laugh that you feel and a smile that makes you warm.
Cam. I just described Cam.
“I’m so excited. I promise to do an excellent job and give you guys a break. I know the club’s success is thanks to your hard work, as well as having some of the most sought after performers. I don’t want to let you down,” she says, a smile plastered to her face. I nod.
“Let’s get the paperwork out of the way first. I apologize in advance, Rebeckha is the person who usually takes this part, but she’s not well today.” I motion to a booth and we go over the paperwork surrounded by music and dancers. Kendra did great keeping her attention focused, which helped ease my worry that she might get sidetracked. Most of the paperwork, I realize is self-explanatory and we breeze through it quickly.
I give her a run-down of the facilities, give her an official tour, introduce her to whoever is still around, and then we head upstairs. We sit down at the small table and I pull out our talent book. We go through each dancer’s profile. I give her some specific qualities of each and implore her to observe them and learn who they are as well. She asks a few questions about performances, specific deals, and then we go back downstairs to go over the bar schedule. As I’m finishing up detailing our vendors, Mal walks in looking ten times better than he did previously.
“She’s sleeping it off at your place,” he says, as I look up from the binder. He turns to the new hire. “Hi, Kendra. I’m sorry I am late.” Mal reaches his hand over the bar top and shakes her hand as she smiles.
“I’ve done a lot of the paperwork for her file. Beck will need to look it over when she’s feeling better. We’ve went over in detail the backgrounds and personalities of the staff and we’re just going over some of the bar stuff right now. Janae should be here in about an hour to give Kendra additional details about the bar procedures and such. I was thinking that you would stay home?”
Mal shakes his head. "I'm staying busy."
“Will I need to know how to bartend? I wasn’t aware of that detail,” she asks.
"We have experienced bartenders and a bar manager, but we’d like management to be well-versed in all areas. It’s not likely that you would ever need to step back here and start pouring drinks, but you never know. We want you to be trained in all facets of the business, since, as if we’re not here, you’re the one in charge.”
“The performers?”
“They have light needs from you through the night. On occasion, someone in the audience will get too handsy, but we have security for that. You would follow up with the dancer to check in on them. Our dancers are our family. We look after them and make sure they are feeling safe and happy at all times,” Mal chimes in.
“I don’t need to teach them their routines, do I?”
I laugh lightly and shake my head. “Mal and I switch off on choreography and we also have a principal choreographer that we work with for the females specifically. Practices are held here almost daily and, once a week, we have a large studio space where all the dancers attend to rehearse as one company. You are more than welcome to attend, but it’s not required.”
“What are the nighttime requirements? What exactly would I be doing?” Kendra asks.
“At the close of each night, the manager on duty conducts closing shifts preparations. That individual, whether it is you or me, will ensure that the bar is closed down properly. During the evening, you would be the eye that is watching over the floor from above. Any suspicious activity that is seen from above, make sure security is on it. We promote a drug-free atmosphere, so we don’t want that in our audience.”
“What if the performers are using? Do I report that to you guys?” she asks.
“So far we’ve been lucky. We do have regular drug testing, but if you notice something is off with someone, report it to Beck. She’ll give you the run-down. But we promote a strict no-drug policy for anyone employed here.”
“Are the dancers contractors? I know that other clubs operate that way.”
“No, our staff are fully employed by us. They also do not dance at other clubs, so in a way it’s like they’re contracted but we are an at-will club.” I explain.
“Is there room for this position to be full time?” she asks.
“Time will tell. Mal is here first thing in the morning until usually five when I come in. Your schedule will vary at first and could go full time. But starting out, we’re going to set you up as part time to get a feel for things. There’s a lot that goes into running this place and we want to make sure you’re happy and we’re happy with the fit.”
“Okay. Sorry. I meant to ask all that in the interview process, but it just popped to my head.” She smiles.
We run through more procedures, introduce Kendra to the staff and then the night begins. Mal stays for a little bit to observe and I take a step back to let her get her feet wet.
At closing time, I slowly run through everything as Kendra watches closely. When I get behind the wheel of my car, I let out a deep breath, happy for the evening to be over. Today felt like more work than usual since I had to go slowly through everything I know like second nature and make sure someone else was getting down what I was showing her. I was more than happy to go home.
Kendra seems to catch on quick and I hope she’ll become an asset. We’ll keep her as a swing shift manager to give Mal and me ample time to breathe. I can’t wait until she’s fully trained. Then maybe I can take a few days off and get lost in Cam.
“You came home late last night,” Cam comments, as I drag my feet into the kitchen.
“Training,” I mumble, scratching the back of my neck.
“Go back to bed,” she tells me as I approach her.
“I can’t.” I wrap my arm around her middle, kiss her bare shoulder and reach for a cup in the cabinet to the left of her. She finishes stirring her own coffee and turns to look at me. I remove my arm from her waist and push the buttons for my own cup.
“Why not?”
“I have a meeting with Beck’s graphic designer friend and I should probably be awake for it.”
“Bummer. I was hoping we could spend some time together this afternoon, doing… you know.” Her elbow nudges my side.
“Well, I have a little over an hour to you know.” I say lazily, side-eying her and using her words.
She drops her spoon, grabs my forearm and drags me back into the bedroom eagerly. She pushes me onto the bed but remains standing. She’s not wearing a bra, so her full breasts bounce as she pulls her tank top over her head. Her fingertips toy with the waistband on her boy shorts before she starts to pull them down slowly. I find it agonizing how long she’s taking before I can see her fully bared to me.
Once she pushes her knickers to the floor and stands tall, my cock twitches in my shorts. Her eyes zero in on the movement and her lips curl in satisfaction. She takes the elastic band from around her wrist and uses it to put her hair up in a bun, then moves toward me. She grabs my shorts at my hips and tugs down. My hands grasp her hips as she hovers over me. I capture one of her nipples in my mouth. My teeth nip at the hardened peak, eliciting
a soft moan from her. She tries to move but my hands at her hips stay firm. I release her nipple and look up at her. She watches me, the look in her eyes so full of desire.
“I want you to fuck my face,” I tell her.
“Bloody Fuck,” she breathes.
“Now sit that pretty pussy down on my mouth or I’ll spank you.”
She giggles and moves up my body to align her pussy with my mouth. My arms wrap around her thighs and I pull her down. My tongue reaches out and lightly licks her slit. Her thighs tremble and then relax as I dart my tongue out again into her folds. I tongue her velvety pussy, lapping up her wetness as she thrusts her hips against my face gently. I pull her down so she’s grinding on my mouth and let my tongue work magic on her. I moan my appreciation into her and my hand goes to the globe of her ass. I lightly squeeze it, then move around to between her cheeks, grazing her pucker with my fingertip. My finger circles her back entrance, then I pull it back to her pussy. After I dip into her moisture, my finger goes back to her ass and I use her own lubrication to toy with her a little. My mouth is working her pussy over as she grinds on me. Our eyes meet as I add pressure to her anus with my fingertip and ease up on her pussy.
“Just relax, baby. If you don’t like it, just tell me,” I say, making sure she hears every word.
While gently increasing pressure on her pucker, I alternate licking her slit and inserting my tongue into her pussy. I mix in flicking her clit and light suction with her movements. I can feel her body relaxing into me as my finger breaches her tight ring. She gasps and her gaze heats up. I can tell she doesn’t know what to do with her body, so I guide her. I take turns with my tongue on her pussy and my finger in her ass. She moans loudly as I push and pull with my finger, while my tongue is toying with her clit.
I lift her hips up a little and, rather than using my tongue, I finger fuck her. Pushing and pulling, I alternate my movements as her hips move in time with my rhythm. Her channel begins to pulsate. Her pussy clamps on my fingers making the resistance tougher as she comes. My movement on her backside slows as does her breathing. She throws her head back and a silent scream falls from her open mouth as she comes. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.
The Night Moves Boxset: (Stripped, The Hook-up, The Night Manager) Page 20
