Blackout: A Romance Anthology

by Stephanie St. Klaire

  If not, I wouldn’t be crawling into bed for at least another hour.

  I opened the door, stuck the door stop in, and turned on the lights. When I noticed the inventory sheet still hanging on the wall, I muttered, “Mother fucker,” under my breath, then crossed to take it down.

  “Oh, hey, I was just coming to get started.”

  I turned to see Micah standing in the doorway and ignored the quick pulse in my stomach at the sight of him.

  “I was helping Carlos behind the bar, but he said he’d finish up so I could get started on the inventory.”

  I nodded, feeling relieved that I could end my day, and walked toward him.

  Once I was close enough, I held out the clipboard to him and said, “Great, I’m going to go ahead and head out.”

  “Wait,” Micah said, not taking the offered clipboard. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  I groaned and pleaded, “Micah, I’m really tired. Can we not do this now?”

  In response, Micah kicked out his foot and the door slammed shut.

  I stood there for a second, not comprehending what he’d done, then felt a flare of anger.

  “What the hell did you just do?” I asked, slamming the clipboard against his stomach and rushing to the door.

  I placed my hand on the round handle and pushed with all my might, but it didn’t budge.

  “We’re locked in,” I said, beginning to panic. “Why would you do that? You know the thing is busted.”

  “Calm down, Carlos is right inside. I’ll call him … after you give me a chance to explain.”

  I spun on my heel, crossed my arms over my chest, and glared at Micah.

  “You have two minutes, then I want that fucking door open.”

  “Okay,” Micah said, shuffling his feet as if he were nervous. “Simone … I want to apologize for what happened at the Bellagio. Not the weekend, that was the best couple days of my life. But, when you told me how you were feeling, I thought you were fucking with me. I never imagined that you, Sexy as Fuck Simone, who ruled the club and took no shit from anyone, was actually interested in something more than a weekend from me. I was a little scared at the thought, and laughed as more of a reflex than anything. I never meant to hurt you … It’s the last thing I wanted. And, I want you to know, I’ve never felt like that with anyone before. I like you, really like you, and if I haven’t already fucked things up, I’d like another shot.”

  We both stood there in silence, my heart pounding in my chest as his words seemed to reverberate through me.

  There were a million things I wanted to say, but I couldn’t help that one part of me that wondered if he was saying these things to make his life at work easier, not because he really meant them.

  So, instead of baring my heart in return, I said, “Call Carlos and tell him to unlock the door.”

  Micah scowled.

  “Seriously, that’s all you have to say to me right now?”

  “Do it. You promised.”

  He shook his head, but took his phone out of his pocket.

  That’s when the lights went out.

  CHAPTER 6

  Micah

  “What the…”

  It was pitch black, no light coming in from under the door or anything.

  “Micah,” Simone whispered.

  “I’m right here,” I said, reaching my hand out in the direction I was pretty sure she’d been standing.

  I found her fingers and clasped them in my hand.

  I lifted my other hand, which still held my phone, and pressed the button. When the phone illuminated, I breathed a sigh of relief, then pressed Carlos’s number.

  “Fuck,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “Phones are down, too.”

  Simone made a strangled sound. “Here, the flashlight should still work.”

  I turned on the flashlight and looked around the room. “Here,” I said, crossing to get a folding chair out of the corner.

  I set it up next to Simone and kept looking around the storeroom as she sat.

  “What do you think it is? A blackout?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I replied, although I’d never been in a blackout before.

  Suddenly the fact that I’d shut that door and locked us in seemed like a really stupid decision.

  I grabbed another chair and placed it a few feet away from Simone, then grabbed a bottle of vodka off the shelf and sat down.

  “What’d you grab?” Simone asked, her tone a little less panicked.

  I lifted the bottle and shined the light on it.

  “You can’t just take a bottle…”

  Grinning, I put the bottle on the floor, reached in my wallet, and grabbed a couple bills. Shining the light on her, I put the money in her hands and said, “There, all paid for … Now, what do you say we have a drink to pass the time.”

  I thought for a moment she was going to deny me, but she shrugged and said, “Why not?”

  It was awkward to maneuver with the phone in my hand, so I placed it on the floor between us with the light facing up. This gave us enough light to at least see in our immediate area, and freed up my hands to open the bottle.

  “Ladies first,” I said, offering it to her.

  Simone took the vodka, tilted her head back, and drank a healthy swig.

  She handed it back to me and I did the same.

  We sat there awkwardly for a few moments before I decided to use this time wisely.

  “So … can you accept my apology, Simone?” I asked, feeling the vodka warm me as it ran down my throat.

  Her eyes darted to my face and I cursed the dark for not being able to see her expression more fully.

  “Did you mean it?” she asked, and I could hear the vulnerability. It was the same tone she’d used at the Bellagio.

  “Every word,” I promised, leaning in closer and resting my elbows on my knees.

  She took the bottle hanging from my hand and took another gulp.

  “You hurt me,” Simone said finally, and my heart clenched painfully.

  “I know and I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intent,” I assured her. “I was right there with you that weekend. One-hundred percent.”

  After a few moments of silence, I prompted, “Simone?”

  “Oh, sorry, I nodded. I forgot you couldn’t see me very well … Can you try your phone again? See if it works?”

  “Yeah,” I said, reaching for it. “Did you try yours?”

  She sighed loudly.

  “It’s in my purse. In the office.”

  I tried dialing Carlos again, but it still didn’t go through.

  “Nothing,” I told her, checking and seeing that it was at thirty percent. “Are you okay without the light for a while? I don’t want my battery to die before we can get ahold of someone.”

  “I’m okay.”

  I turned off the flashlight and put the phone in my pocket.

  “I want you to know, I’ve thought about that weekend so many times and I wish I could go back and change what went down that last morning. The more time that has gone by, the more I realized how special our time together was, and I’d give anything to be able to share that with you again. Not for a weekend, but for real…”

  “You know, I wanted to forget … so badly. But, I couldn’t. I went to Mexico, hoping to have a vacation fling and fuck you out of my system but, it didn’t work. Then, I came home and got back to work and there you were, a reminder of what I wanted and couldn’t have.”

  “You tried to fuck me out of your system?” I asked, seeing red even though it was pitch black.

  Simone’s light laugh filled the space around us. “Is that all you got out of what I just said?”

  “It’s a pretty riveting statement.”

  “Well, don’t worry, I didn’t sleep with anyone on that trip.”

  “And, other than that trip? Since the Bellagio?” I prodded.

  “Why, Micah … are you jealous at the thought?”

  “Und
oubtedly.”

  I heard the liquid swish in the bottle and knew she was taking another drink, before I felt the cool glass against my leg.

  I took the bottle from her and took a drink as I waited for her response.

  “You know, I thought you and Ginger were together,” she said, rather than answering my question.

  “Me and Ginger?” I asked, surprised. “She’s like a sister to me.”

  “I know, we spoke earlier.”

  “Oh, yeah, Simone … why? Were you jealous?” I asked, turning it back on her.

  “Yes,” she admitted, her tone so soft I had to strain to hear her.

  “Good,” I said cockily, then decided to put it all out there and told her, “And, to answer your unasked question, no, there’s been no one for me since you.”

  Her breath caught and I knew she was shocked.

  Then, finally, she threw me a bone and said, “For me either.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Simone

  I couldn’t believe I admitted that.

  My hands shook with nerves as I let myself be vulnerable with Micah once again.

  I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake.

  “You know, I left home when I was a teenager. Ran away from parents who didn’t care enough about me to even look for me after I left. I did what I had to do to get by and was lucky enough to find Big Mike and have him take pity on me. He let me work under the table until I was legal, then gave me a shot on stage.” I found it was easier to lay it all out in the dark. “My whole life, guys have only been interested in one thing. My face. My body. How I could make them feel in the dark … But, in the bright light of day, they always made me feel expendable. That weekend with you at the Bellagio, that was the stuff dreams were made of. So, maybe I got caught up, expected too much too fast. It was just, everything I’d always hoped for, and I was a little desperate to hold on to it. Then you laughed, and I figured you were just like all the others…”

  “Fuck, Simone, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think of you like that … still don’t. You’re more than physically gorgeous, more than the job you do, or did; you’re special. And I hate I made you question that.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it, I really do. And, I’m sorry I’ve been so hard-headed, it’s just my way. A defense mechanism, I guess.”

  I heard him take another drink, then the bottle was in my hand.

  “When I was younger, I’d vowed not to tie myself to anyone. I didn’t want to have to answer to anyone, or miss out on all the fun I was sure I’d have once I was outta my parents’ house,” he began. I took a sip as I listened, the vodka starting to make my limbs feel loose. “My parents are cool, but real Leave it to Beaver types.”

  I laughed at his reference, which wasn’t one I was even sure most of the girls we worked with would even get. And that just made me feel old.

  “That’s sweet,” I assured him. “And, the total opposite of my parents. They were more Sid and Nancy types.”

  “That sucks,” he murmured.

  “We’re all dealt hands in life, it’s what we do with them that matters. I opted to take new cards and go all in. I’m not mad about the way things have worked out so far, but I’m not going to lie and say I don’t want more.”

  “What more do you want?”

  I shifted in my chair, turning toward his voice.

  “There was this guy I met, Cal, right before I went to Mexico. Ginger asked me to help him out, so I did. It was a crazy night. He was totally fucking wasted, lost, and couldn’t find his friends or his hotel,” I began, chuckling as I remembered that night. “I got him to his room and decided to stay with him, he was that messed up, and I didn’t want him to choke on his own vomit or something. Call it my one good deed for life.”

  Micah laughed.

  “Anyway, he was super sweet, except when he puked all over me … twice. He was in his early twenties, but already married, and had been with his wife, Shelly, since they were sixteen. We were together all night, and due to all the puking, naked most of the time.”

  I paused, remembering that night and what I realized I was missing.

  “He never came on to me. Never looked at me with interest, or ever once faltered in his devotion to his wife. The way his face lit up when he talked about her, the raw love in his voice. It was amazing, and I knew that’s what I wanted. Hell, that’s what I deserve, what everyone deserves … a love like Cal has for his Shelly.”

  “You were naked most of the time?” Micah asked, and I snorted in response.

  Yikes, I never snorted. Maybe I needed to back away from the booze.

  I moved the bottle back in Micah’s direction, stopping when I met something solid. Using my free hand, I found his leg and ran my hand up it until I met the hand he had resting there. I grasped it and put the vodka in it.

  Before I could move my hand away, Micah grasped it and kept it on his leg.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, feeling my pulse throb in the wrist he held.

  “Touching you,” he murmured. “Is that okay?”

  “Mmmm,” I managed.

  Everything suddenly seemed magnified.

  The darkness surrounding us. The fact that the room was beginning to heat with the lack of functioning air-conditioning. And, Micah.

  I could smell him. The faint remnants of the cologne he’d worn to work mixed with whatever product he had in his hair. The feel of his thumb caressing the back of my hand, and the heat of his thigh beneath my palm.

  I leaned over to pick up my forgotten water bottle and realized I’d have to take my hand back in order to open it.

  I found I wasn’t ready to take my hand back, so I put the water back down.

  “So,” he prompted, “you were naked most of the time?”

  Laughter bubbled out of my throat.

  “I think you missed the point of the story.”

  “I remember, vividly, what you look like naked. Forgive me if that memory snagged my attention.”

  Jesus, I could recall what every inch of his body looked like as well, and it was glorious.

  “Is it getting hot in here?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  I was starting to tingle.

  “Yes, it is getting hot,” Micah agreed. “Maybe we should take our clothes off.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Micah

  God, that was fucking cheesy, I thought as Simone’s hand left my leg.

  Of course, now that it was out there, I couldn’t take it back. Still, I used to think I had some semblance of game.

  Guess that was over.

  “The joke’s on you, lover boy, my dress is already halfway off,” Simone said throatily, her words going straight to my cock.

  I fumbled for my phone, turned on the flashlight, then flipped her off in the beam when I saw she was still fully clothed.

  Simone bent over laughing and I couldn’t help but join her.

  “Not nice,” I said, my blood still boiling from the thought of her half-dressed.

  “Wow, you really whipped that flashlight out fast,” she managed between boughts of laughter.

  “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I said wryly. “You would have done the same if our roles were reversed.”

  The lighting was pretty non-existent, even with my phone, but I’d bet money her eyes were heated when she glanced over at me.

  Some sort of purring sound of agreement passed her lips, which only made me harder.

  “What do you say we play a game?” I asked.

  “What sort of game?”

  Simone sounded suspicious, as she should be.

  “Truth or dare?”

  “Not seven minutes in heaven?” she asked with a laugh.

  “Babe, if I’m taking you to heaven we’ll be longer than seven minutes.”

  Simone gave a strangled sound and I chuckled.

  “Truth or dare?” I asked her.

  “Truth.”

  “Chicken.”

  I heard her huff. “Are we playin
g or not?”

  “Fine,” I began, pausing to take a drink. “Would you ever consider leaving the club and working somewhere else?”

  “Like, stripping again, or managing somewhere else?”

  “Managing.”

  “I don’t know. On one hand, I feel like I owe Big Mike, but on the other, I think I’ve probably paid back that debt at least twice over the years. I’m comfortable here. I know everybody, and feel like you guys are my family … It’d be hard to give that up. But, I’m not getting any younger, and I have to admit, I never planned on working here all of my life.”

  Good answer, and pretty much what I’d been hoping for.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Uh-uh,” I tsked. “You didn’t ask if I wanted truth or dare.”

  There was a pause, and I was pretty sure she rolled her eyes, before asking, “Truth or dare.”

  “Dare.”

  “Mmmm … I dare you to … this is hard. We’ve already opened a bottle and done shots. And, there’s not that much to do in a dark storeroom…”

  “Use your imagination,” I suggested, praying to God things were going to turn sexual.

  After a few beats, Simone said, “Touch yourself.”

  Without hesitation, I put the bottle and my phone on the floor and place my hand on my jeans and palmed my semi-hard cock.

  “Any further instructions?” I asked, cursing the dark room.

  I really want to see her clearly.

  Her tone was low … throaty. “Make yourself hard.”

  That wouldn’t take long, I thought as I moved my hand over my dick and strained to see her. I could see the outline of her body, the roundness of her breasts, and the length of her bare legs.

  That, combined with her voice and my quickening hand, was enough to follow through on her request.

  “Okay,” I managed, my voice filled with desire.

  “Now, stop.”

  I let my arm fall to the side and sucked in a deep breath.

  “Truth or dare?” I asked.

  “Dare.”

  Perfect.

  “Take off your dress.”

  I watched her silhouette stand. Her hands went to the hem of her skin-tight dress and her body moved as she slid it up and over her head.