When he picked her up off the floor and, in an oddly romantic gesture, laid her down on the bed, Flick was struck by how unusual his tender actions were. Reality struck at the same moment the cuffs were attached to her wrist.
She should have known that Rushe would never let her date another man. Whyte wouldn’t appreciate being stood up, but Rushe was adamant. Something in the possessive nature of Rushe actually flattered her. Fighting with the man who would always remain between her and danger was fruitless.
So she sulked for a while, but Rushe would not let her leave their safe haven to walk into the unknown alone. That was how he put it. But Flick knew his opposition was more about the other man she was going to, and what ideas said man might have in relation to her.
She woke on Thursday to find herself already loose, alone, and with a note from Rushe to say that he’d gone to the gym. Flick doubted the veracity of that, and she promised herself that when Rushe got back she would push to find out everything.
Flick had to wait until nine PM that night for him to return.
‘Where have you been?’ Flick asked, on the pulse of the front door closing behind him, as if she was the typical nagging housewife.
‘Out.’ Flick could only take a deep breath as Rushe manoeuvred his way around her. ‘Why? You horny?’
‘Yes,’ Flick said. ‘Yes, the only reason I could possibly be interested in your whereabouts is if I want to have sex with you.’
Rushe was in the kitchen, at the sink filling a glass with water when Flick rested her hands on the counter between the rooms. ‘Take off your clothes then.’
‘I’m not actually horny,’ she said, knowing very well that Rushe knew it too. ‘We have to talk about the case. I have to be at work in less than an hour.’
‘I know,’ he said, observing her already done hair and make-up.
‘If you saw Lisa on the other shift, then I have to get myself switched to that shift. I can get close to her—‘
‘No,’ Rushe said, chucking the remaining water from his glass down the drain and shoving it aside. ‘She wasn’t working, it was social.’
‘She was out with Joey?’ Rushe nodded. ‘Ok...’ Flick considered this. ‘Then I have to get Whyte to take me to the Lounge on my off-day.’
‘No,’ Rushe said, coming to the opposite side of the kitchen counter and slamming his own hands down. ‘You are not going out with him.’
‘I can’t show up alone,’ Flick said. ‘And if I go with another man it will look like game playing. I have no reason to take a date to that Lounge other than to show up Whyte, or to flaunt my match in front of the other girls.
‘I’m not close enough to any of my colleagues to consider them friends that I might want to visit. Dating Whyte is the only choice. He has to know about Lisa, and he has to know about her relationship with Joey. Whyte must have met Lisa when she worked in the Lounge, for all we know he’s the man. Michael said there was someone else, another man.’
‘How far you gonna go?’ Rushe asked, with an upward bob of his head. ‘First base? Second? Third?’
‘Rushe, I am not going to be intimate with him. You know that. You said it yourself; it’s your cock I love.’ Her attempt to be playful fell on deaf ears.
‘Do you get how easy it would be?’ Rushe asked.
Flick wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he rounded the counter, grabbed her off her feet and threw her body back against the perpendicular wall the counter was attached to.
‘You’ve got a pretty dress on,’ Rushe snarled.
Pushing his weight on his forearm to her chest, he kept her in place. Crouching down, Rushe shoved aside the flared skirt she wore and circumvented her underwear to stick two fingers into her.
‘Rushe,’ she whispered, grabbing the arm he held against her body.
‘Could’ve been my dick, Kitten. You’re nothing. You don’t understand how insignificant you are. Your weight, your build, they’re nothing to a guy who wants to fuck you. If he wants it, he’ll take it.’
Flick knew that Rushe didn’t trust anyone. She’d seen this thunder around him before, but on baring his teeth, his fingers slid out of her, and back in. Then in a moment of movement, he had her face down on the kitchen counter, bent over, his arm now on her shoulder blades, holding her down with equivalent force. Grabbing up her skirt in the other hand, he tossed it up out the way then tore her underwear away from her body.
‘Show me how you’d stop him,’ Rushe rumbled. His feet came to the inside of hers and he shunted them further apart, forcing her legs open.
His chest came down on her back, freeing up his arms, and he rubbed his face in her hair. ‘Rushe,’ Flick said, turning her cheek down against the granite.
His palms slid down the outside of her thighs then around to the inside, proceeding on up his thumbs pushed to her clit, then through her intimately, before advancing on to caress her rear.
‘If I’m not there, I can’t stop it,’ he mumbled into her hair. ‘I won’t have you unsafe. I won’t have it. No one touches you, no one violates you, and it’s my job to keep you safe.’
Flick might have thought him brutish, but he’d made his point and shown her his own vulnerability. Yes, maybe he was jealous, maybe the threat was small, but he had a habit of pushing what he thought best for her onto her. Flick wouldn’t admit it out loud, but most of the time Rushe was right.
‘Not every man is a sexual threat.’
‘Not every man can be trusted,’ Rushe replied.
She tilted her hips, pushing into his stroking hand. ‘I won’t be alone with him,’ Flick said in compromise. ‘He gives us the cover I need, and we have to know what he knows.... I don’t want another man to touch me for as long as I live. No one touches your stuff.’
Rushe growled aloud, and two fingers started to move in her, then three. ‘Kitten,’ he hissed out.
‘Fuck me, Rushe.’
‘No reward for disobeying me.’
‘Please,’ Flick said, trying to wriggle back, but Rushe forced his pelvis to hers. While it locked her in place, it also betrayed his own arousal. Except the teasing mass of him, pressing against her ass, only made her want to wriggle more.
‘Mark me, own me,’ she pleaded.
‘You belong to me.’
‘Yes,’ Flick said. ‘Put your dick in me, please, fuck me hard, teach me a lesson.’
‘You never learn,’ he said. ‘I’ve tried fucking sense into that pretty little head of yours. You’re reckless.’
‘I want you; I want your dick inside me, please.’
‘You begging for it, Kitten? Begging me to fuck you?’
‘Yes, please!’
‘No.’
Just like that, he was gone, his body separated from hers. Flick didn’t understand what had happened; she tried to comprehend it but came up empty. Standing up while overcoming the adrenaline high made her wobble, and when she turned she saw Rushe leaning back against the high scroll back of a dining table chair.
‘Go get your uniform on,’ he said. His cool detachment reminded Flick of how he’d scanned her figure when Lewis had been here.
‘But I—‘
‘Now.’
Flick had to walk out the front door in less than half an hour, and as confused as she was by Rushe’s request, she had no reason not to comply. So Flick went into the bedroom and changed into the get-up required by the Lounge management – thong underwear, suspender belt and all.
The last thing she did was slip her feet into the platform stilettos. Rushe hadn’t come into the bedroom; he hadn’t made a sound. Flick didn’t know if that was a positive sign or not.
Rushe’s reaction to this outfit had been in the forefront of her mind when she’d first put it on. Part of him would have to be turned on to see her trussed up like this. But he was always turned on, around her anyway. Rushe had never required any special packaging. He accepted her body, her mind, her soul, all of her, no bravado or stipulations required.
The c
ircumstance of their meeting was unique, but that was fitting because Rushe wasn’t like other men. In the early days, a portion of her feared him, but she’d done her best to hide it. Then eventually, she had trusted him, and she had fallen in love with him.
Now as she stood here in their bedroom looking at herself in the full-length mirror panel of her closet, Flick found herself fearing Rushe again. Not physically, or sexually, she could never fear him in those ways. Emotionally, Flick knew that Rushe adored her. In his own way, he proved his devotion to her time and again, so the words didn’t matter. But she feared his reaction to this.
If he’d been in the Lounge then he knew how the women dressed, but he’d never seen his woman like this, on show for other men, exposed, vulnerable. If he flew into a jealous rage, the job would be finished, except she couldn’t stay hidden in the bedroom forever.
Fortifying herself, Flick opened the bedroom door and strode out, back into the living room, with confidence. Rushe was where she had left him. Flick paused, and let him scrutinise her. Rushe started at her feet and worked up, then back down. He continued to look at her for at least a minute, but he was so stoic that Flick couldn’t read his mind.
‘What do you think?’ she asked, when she could stand it no more.
‘You look better naked,’ he said, seemingly stuck with his attention on her legs.
‘Do you want me to change?’
Only now, after her joke, did his eyes meet hers, the truth of his agony rippled through them. ‘I had to see you, Flick, I had to see you here, like this... if I had walked into that Lounge and...’
It made sense, and Flick was again amazed at his presence of mind, his forethought. ‘You had to see me like this, alone, so that you don’t overreact in the Lounge.’
‘Overreact?’ he asked, checking her out again. ‘You’re selling sex, you don’t even know it.’
‘I know what this outfit—‘
‘Not the outfit, the Lounge,’ he said. ‘Things are going on there.’
‘Like what?’
‘We don’t have time to talk about it now. You’re gonna see me tonight.’
‘Thanks for the warning,’ she said. ‘Will you be alone?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Is there...?’ Flick didn’t want to ask the question but she had to.
‘What?’
‘Another woman?’ she asked.
‘I’m not gonna bring a date to your doorstep if I can help it, Kitten.’
Flick noted that he hadn’t actually answered the question. ‘So Whyte will be there? If you’re working for him—‘
‘I don’t work for Whyte.’
‘But I thought... he said security and—‘
‘You see me standing quietly in the corner?’ Rushe asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Jumping in to save a dick like Whyte?’
‘No,’ Flick said. ‘You don’t jump into action.’
Rushe worked calmly and efficiently. Also, Whyte had touched her, only on the arm as far as Rushe knew, but that was sufficient to provoke him. Flick would never let her lover know that Whyte had kissed her hand, because that knowledge would be liable to induce homicide.
‘I’m working with Galante.’
‘Senior?’ she asked, and on her journey toward him Flick noted his fixation on her legs.
‘Yeah,’ he murmured, as she tucked her hand into his jeans pocket. ‘Look at you away up here.’ He touched the top of her head and in spite of the towering shoes, he could still tuck her under his chin. ‘Those shoes make your tits pop. How do they do that?’
High heels hadn’t been prominent on the agenda since Flick had been with Rushe, because even her highest ones didn’t make a dent in the height differential so they seemed pointless. That and she spent a lot of time indoors... and without clothes.
Rushe crouched further into his position propped on the table. His arm circled her and with full entitlement, his large hand went under the scrap of lace to cup her butt cheek. Flick’s smile curled with the signal that their disagreement, and the tension, was forgotten.
At the unexpected action of him scooping her up, Flick whooped. Directing her legs to straddle his lap, Rushe slid back into a seated position on the table. Resting her weight on one arm, he tipped her back and dragged his teeth down the swell of her breast to take a bite of her, though not with enough pressure to mark her.
‘What are you doing with Galante?’ Flick said, resting her elbows on Rushe’s shoulders.
‘Thinking about investing,’ Rushe said. ‘Right now he’s trying to impress me.’
‘What happened on Monday? What was the issue?’
‘Don’t have time to talk about it.’
‘You always say that,’ Flick said.
‘You have to get to work,’ he said, and giving her ass another squeeze he stood up, sending her back to her feet.
Flick kept her body on his; she didn’t move away. ‘I will see you tonight?’
‘I’ll fuck you to sleep, Kitten—‘
‘I’ll see you at the Lounge?’
‘Yeah.’
Flick nodded. ‘We will be stronger together, I will be an asset to you, I will.’
Getting to work on time, Flick was so preoccupied with thoughts of her lover that she almost forgot the mission. But after serving her first tray to a leery group in the corner she was back on track.
Rosa returned to the bar at the same time as Flick, so she took the chance.
‘Nancy has a night off?’ Flick asked of her co-worker, who hadn’t arrived for work.
‘She wasn’t working out... she got a better job at the Rich Room, I think.’
One of Richard Davis’ nightclubs, Flick noted, wondering if the connection was coincidental. With small talk now over, Flick got to the point. ‘Who can I talk to about a shift change?’ she asked.
Rosa put her tray next to the others and began to wipe them all down. ‘You want to change your hours? Lounge is open ten PM to six AM. What shift were you thinking?’
‘The hours are fine; it’s the days I wanted to change.’
Rosa left her job of cleaning the trays to look at Flick. ‘Get the best tips on the weekend, it’s busier, more customers. You were looking to cut down?’
‘I was thinking about the start of the week, Monday, maybe.’
Rosa shook her head. ‘Don’t need anyone Monday.’
‘Do you make the schedule? Maybe I could ask one of those girls to switch?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Rosa said, returning to her task of cleaning the trays, except this time she worked faster and had more of a scrubbing motion.
‘Why not? I don’t think—‘
‘You’ve been here a week, Flick,’ Rosa snapped. ‘The job doesn’t suit you, don’t let the door hit you...’
The hostess spread a welcoming smile and opened her arms to join a group emerging from the casino entrance.
Rosa had always been happy and easy going, but the woman Flick had just spoken to was neither of those things. Something smelled off.
All night Flick awaited Rushe’s arrival. At one AM the hotel entrance opened, and she held her breath to see who would enter – it was Whyte. This encounter wasn’t one Flick anticipated with any joy. But it was necessary. Sure enough, the mogul came straight to her.
‘Sit with me.’
The statement came in time with Whyte taking her arm and leading her to the darkest corner of the Lounge to seat her on a couch. It apparently didn’t matter that Flick was waiting for Marv to fill an order. No doubt one of the other girls would deliver it.
‘I’m sorry about last night,’ Flick said on sitting down. Whyte landed next to her, so they were thigh to thigh.
‘I am presuming you have an excellent explanation.’
Standing men up on dates was becoming a bit of a habit for Flick actually, not that it was ever her fault.
‘I had no way to get in touch with you, and—‘
‘You could have phoned
the hotel,’ Whyte said. ‘Whatever the problem—‘
‘Like I said, I don’t have a phone.’
‘Tell me what happened.’
Flick had been thinking about this for most of the night. She needed a good excuse and one he couldn’t argue with.
‘I can’t,’ Flick said, fiddling with the lace on her dress.
‘Why not? You stood me up, that should warrant some explanation. I am entitled to—‘
‘You scared me.’
That shut him up. ‘What?’
‘I’ve never been out with a man so...’ Playing coy and innocent had captured his interest in the first place, so she planned to capitalise on that. ‘You’re so successful and sophisticated, you’re just... I enjoyed our date so much, but I couldn’t... in front of those other men in your bar... I couldn’t tell you how overwhelmed and intimidated I was by the power that you have.’
If she said something like that to Rushe, his eyebrow would slope and he’d un-intimidate her by eating her pussy or encouraging her to be on top.
Whyte took a breath and settled back against the couch. ‘I scared you, of course, I’m sorry.’ Typical that he would accept that so easily. ‘I should have realised. I was concerned that you were perturbed about how our evening ended. I should have known that you would not be so... high maintenance.’ Whyte took her hand. ‘We can go upstairs now, finish the evening properly.’
‘I’m working.’
‘Don’t worry about that. Rosa and the others can handle the Lounge.’
‘Is this about sex?’ Flick asked, when Whyte tried to stand and take her with him. Her words made him pause.
‘You believe my proposition was to take you upstairs and have sex with you?’
‘Was it?’
‘You’re a very attractive woman, Flick, but I’m sure you know that,’ he said. ‘However, my interest in you is not purely physical.’
‘You believe we could have a relationship?’
‘Yes,’ he said, and took something from his pocket to give her; it was a cell phone. ‘So we can stay in touch.’
‘This is a grand gesture, and after only one date...’
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