The Club

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘A little?’ Austin gasped. ‘Wow, Mr D, you’re a bigger man than me. Tell you what, you should come out with me some time, only I could use someone fearless like you to put that useless ex of mine back in line.’

  ‘I really don’t think I’d be much use to you,’ Leonard chuckled.

  ‘Worth a try.’ Austin said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. ‘But, seriously, if you ever fancy coming down to one of my clubs, give me a shout, ’cos I reckon you’d get a kick out of it.’

  ‘I don’t really think I’d fit in,’ Leonard said, folding his arms as his heart picked up speed.

  ‘Rubbish,’ Austin scoffed. ‘Everyone’s welcome down there. Gay, straight, bi. Curious.’ Smiling when Leonard dropped his gaze, he said, ‘No pressure, but I reckon we’d have a laugh.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you,’ Leonard said. ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’

  ‘You do that,’ Austin said, adding in a whisper, ‘only do us a favour, and don’t tell anyone, ’cos I don’t want them lot out there gossiping. They’re too thick to understand that gays and straights can actually be friends. And while we’re on the subject of keeping things quiet,’ he said then, ‘any chance of me getting a sneaky peek at this new club of yours?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Leonard murmured. ‘Tony – Mr Allen – well, he kind of wants to keep it exclusive.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ Austin said, obviously disappointed. ‘Never mind.’

  ‘I would if I could,’ Leonard assured him, feeling guilty now because Austin had been kind enough to offer to take him out – as a friend. ‘Maybe . . .’ Hesitating, he shrugged. ‘Well, maybe one day, when no one’s around.’

  ‘For real?’ Austin grinned. ‘Cool!’

  ‘But you won’t tell anybody I said that?’

  ‘God, no!’ Austin promised. ‘Right, well, give me a shout when you’re ready – for my club, or yours. See you later, Mr D.’

  ‘Yes, bye.’

  Waving as Austin danced out, letting a loud blast of Kanye West in before the door swung shut behind him, Leonard put the paracetamol bottle back in the cabinet and went to get the bag of ice that he’d come for. Alone now, paranoia reared its mocking head, and he wondered if Austin’s invitation had been innocent or if he were playing some sort of game. But surely not, because he’d never been anything but polite, so why would he suddenly turn on Leonard now? And Austin had asked Leonard to keep it quiet, so it was unlikely that he would run around starting sordid rumours. But you never could tell, so maybe it was best not to think about it for the time being. Not until he was sure that there was no ulterior motive behind it, because the last thing he needed was for anybody to get the wrong idea.

  ‘What on earth have you been doing?’ Maurice demanded when Austin got back behind the bar. ‘And what on earth do you think you look like?’ he said then, looking him up and down with a sneer of disgust. ‘This is my bar, not some sleazy little dive running a wet T-shirt competition!’

  ‘Keep your hair on,’ Austin snapped back. ‘I was talking to Mr Drake, if you don’t mind. And as for this –’ he plucked at the T-shirt. ‘Some dickhead spilled red wine all over me, so what did you want me to do? Carry on serving in it?’

  ‘Don’t swear,’ Maurice hissed, stomping away. ‘You sound and look like a little guttersnipe!’

  ‘Let’s not mince our words, eh, Maurice?’ Austin called after him, grinning knowingly.

  Turning on his heel, Maurice marched back to him and thrust his face into his, spitting, ‘Fuck off! I don’t want you on my bar.’

  ‘Tough tits!’ Austin spat back. ‘Jenna told me to come down, because you’re not capable of running the bar without JoJo, and I’m the next best thing – so there!’

  ‘If you do not get out from behind my bar right this instant, I will not be held responsible for my actions,’ Maurice warned, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

  ‘Oh?’ Austin folded his arms, his head wobbling like a Jerry Springer Show guest. ‘And since when was it your bar? Did you pay for it? No, I didn’t think so. It’s Jenna’s bar, and she sent me down.’ Holding his hand up palm out when Maurice opened his mouth to reply, he said, ‘Say it, don’t spray it. And, anyway, I’m not interested. I didn’t want to work on this poxy bar to start with, so I’m going back to my bar, and you can explain to Jenna why your lousy bar fell apart without me!’

  Flouncing out from behind the bar then, Austin walked away with his head held high until he was sure that Maurice could no longer see him. Then, giggling, he ran the rest of the way up the stairs.

  Frowning when Austin came bounding over to the bar, Kalli swiped her hair back from her face with the back of her hand. ‘I hope you haven’t come to bother me. You might not be busy downstairs, but I’m run off my feet up here.’

  ‘Well, Cinders, you’re in luck, ’cos Buttons is home from the ball,’ Austin said, leaping over the bar.

  ‘Pack that in,’ Kalli scolded, glancing around in case anyone had seen.

  ‘Oh, don’t you start,’ Austin moaned. ‘I had enough of that off Maurice. I was made up when he kicked me off his bar, but I might as well go back if you’re just gonna be miserable.’

  Tutting, Kalli pushed him out of the way so she could get at the spirit bottles behind him. ‘What happened?’

  ‘I got red wine knocked all over me,’ Austin explained indignantly. ‘So I had to go and rinse it out, yeah? Anyway, the minute I get back, the ugly cunt starts having a go at me, saying it’s not a sleazy club doing wet T-shirt competitions, and calling me a guttersnipe – whatever the fuck one of them is. And then he tells me to fuck off out of his bar, or he won’t be responsible for his actions. So, I said, “Oh, right, so it’s your bar now, is it? I don’t think so, matey!”’

  ‘Great,’ Kalli murmured, rolling her eyes. ‘Just what Jenna needs right now. She sent you down there because she knew they’d struggle, so who’ll suffer if it gets out of hand now?’

  ‘Maurice,’ Austin declared self-righteously.

  ‘No, Jenna,’ Kalli corrected him. ‘Her bar, her club, her profits dropping because her staff are unreliable. And if her profits drop, so will your wages. Remember how bad it was getting before she took Mr Allen on as a partner?’

  ‘Oh, per-lease!’ Austin groaned. ‘Let’s not exaggerate, or anything.’

  ‘Are you going back down?’ Kalli asked, pushing him aside again.

  ‘No, I am not,’ Austin stated adamantly. ‘Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t, ’cos Maurice is out for my blood now – the big fat poof!’

  ‘Right, fine,’ Kalli said. ‘I’ll send Diane down. But if you’re staying, you’d better make yourself useful, and no messing about.’

  ‘Moi?’ Austin gasped. ‘You know you wouldn’t have me any other way.’

  ‘I know I’ll be glad when you grow up,’ she retorted softly. ‘And when you start taking some responsibility,’ she added, giving him a pointed look. ‘That electric bill hasn’t gone away just because you turned it upside down and shoved it under the bread bin, you know.’

  ‘Nag, nag, nag,’ Austin droned, covering a mock-yawn with his hand. ‘Bor-ing!’

  ‘Oi!’ Kalli slapped him hard on his bare arm. ‘I’m serious.’

  ‘You always are these days,’ Austin moaned sulkily. ‘Where’s my fun little gal pal gone?’

  ‘She’ll be in the flaming bin with all our stuff if you don’t get your act together and start paying your share of the bills,’ Kalli snapped. ‘The landlord came round when you were chasing Xavier around the other day. He said—’

  ‘Yes, I know what he said,’ Austin cut in. ‘You have told me a million times already.’

  ‘So, what are you going to do about it?’

  ‘Fucking hell, man! I might as well be straight, putting up with shit from me bird, the way you go on!’Austin grumbled. ‘But if you’d quit nagging for long enough, I was about to tell you to stop worrying, ’cos I’m going to sort it all out.’

  ‘How?’
/>   ‘Never you mind.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Kalli demanded, peering at him. ‘You’d best not be planning to do anything stupid, because you know they’ve been checking the till rolls every night since Mr Allen came in. If there’s a discrepancy, he’ll be all over it till he finds out who did it.’

  ‘When you’ve quite finished, you suspicious little bitch,’ Austin said, giving her a mock-offended look. ‘I have not had my fingers in the till, and if you ever accuse me of it again I’ll slap you so hard your eyes will be round in the morning!’

  ‘All right, if it’s not that, what is it?’

  ‘Nothing yet,’ Austin gave her a mysterious smile. ‘But watch this space, ’cos I’m looking to get me a sugar daddy.’

  ‘Oh, Austin.’

  ‘Never mind Oh, Austin. I deserve someone nice after that little prick messed me about. I’m sick of always giving, giving, giving.’

  ‘Stop being such a drama queen,’ Kalli scolded. ‘And don’t you dare go after a rich man from this club, or Mr Allen will skin you alive.’

  ‘Who mentioned this club?’ Austin said, his face a picture of wounded innocence. ‘If you must know, I’m going out after work. And when I find someone, I’m gonna rub him right in Xavier’s ugly little mush. You can stand here worrying about bills and landlords if you want, but I’ve had it with struggling. It’s time someone took care of me for a change.’

  Shaking her head when he flounced away, Kalli sighed. She hoped he was only sounding off after being dumped by Xavier. But if he wasn’t, she had a feeling that he would end up with a whole heap of trouble on his hands. Because Austin never did anything by halves; he always had to take everything to the extreme.

  ‘Showtime!’Grinning, Tony popped his head back into the dressing room. ‘Are we ready?’

  ‘I am,’ JoJo said, jerking her head in Vanessa’s direction. ‘Don’t know about her, though. She’s well sick.’

  ‘Nerves?’ Tony asked, his grin slipping.

  ‘Probably,’ Vanessa muttered, clutching her stomach. ‘I’ve never done anything like this before.’

  ‘Aw, you’ll fly through it,’ Tony assured her, coming in and clapping a reassuring hand down on her shoulder. ‘Would I have picked you if I didn’t think you could do it?’

  ‘No, but—’

  ‘But nothing,’ Tony said firmly. ‘You’re the girls I wanted, because you’re the best. Now get yourself up and give yourself a good jiggle about, ’cos I’ve got twenty-five horny old men waiting to be shown the time of their lives. So get out there, and blow the false teeth right out of their heads!’

  ‘If they give us money, can we keep it?’ JoJo asked, giving him a flash of tit when she put her hand into her costume to adjust herself.

  ‘You earn it, you keep it,’ Tony told her, thinking that he might just give this one a bit of what she was looking for one of these days. She had something about her. Kind of reminded him of Melody before she turned all Hollywood on him. And her breasts were decent enough. Bit of surgery, they’d be spectacular.

  ‘Hear that?’JoJo gave Vanessa a nudge. ‘We earn it, we keep it. And there’s some serious money out there, Van. How hard is it gonna be to get them to get their wallets out? They’ll probably have a heart attack with a flash of boob, never mind the rest. It’ll be a doddle.’

  ‘Attagirl.’ Tony gave her an approving wink. ‘Leave you to sort her out, shall I?’

  ‘No, I’m all right now,’ Vanessa said, taking a deep breath and standing up. ‘I’m nervous, but I’m always the same when I get on stage. I’ll be fine when I get started.’

  ‘What’s that about stage?’ Tony asked, only half listening as he cracked the door to look out at the ‘crowd’.

  ‘She’s a singer,’ JoJo told him. ‘Lovely voice. Does all that Motown, and old soul stuff.’

  ‘Really?’ Tony turned back. ‘That’s interesting. I reckon we could do something with that. Get you a little rig-up; give the old guys a bit of a cabaret. What do you think?’

  ‘What, instead of the other stuff?’Vanessa asked.

  ‘Maybe.’ Tony shrugged.

  ‘Hey, that’s not fair,’ JoJo complained. ‘I’m not doing it by myself.’

  ‘You’ll do whatever I tell you to,’ Tony told her sharply. ‘But we’ll stick to the plan for tonight. Talk about the singing tomorrow. And you,’ he said directly to JoJo now. ‘Come see me later, ’cos we got some things to sort out.’

  ‘I didn’t mean anything,’ JoJo said quickly, scared by the intensity in his dark eyes. ‘I was only sounding off.’

  ‘Yeah, well, we’ll talk later,’ he said. ‘For now, you can get your asses out there and give your audience something to dream about.’

  After closing, Austin told Kalli that he was going on to a club and would be home in a few hours. Waving her off in her cab, he waited until she was out of sight and then nipped around to the yard. Standing in the dark alley outside the gate, he hopped from foot to foot, waiting for Leonard to come out and get into his Jag, which was still parked up.

  Cursing when somebody walked out of the back door into the path of the security lights, flooding the yard and alley with brightness, he pressed himself back against the wall and waited to see who it was. Luckily, it was Leonard.

  Unlocking the gate, Leonard pulled it open and went to his car. Switching his headlights on, he reversed out into the alley and got out again to close the gate. Jumping when Austin stepped out of the shadows, he cried, ‘Oh, my good Lord! What on earth are you doing there? I thought I was being attacked.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Austin said, his fearful eyes swivelling every which way. ‘I was being chased, so I ran down here to hide, but the gate was locked so I couldn’t get into the yard. I’ve just been hiding in the shadows.’

  ‘Are you all right?’ Leonard asked, full of concern. ‘Who was chasing you?’

  ‘Some men,’ Austin told him, shivering visibly. ‘But don’t worry about it. You get yourself off home to Mrs D. I’ll just stay here until I know they’ve gone.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you in this state,’ Leonard said, nervous himself now. ‘Get into the car. I’ll take you home.’

  Folding his arms now, Austin shook his head. ‘No, I couldn’t ask you to do that. I’ll be fine.’

  ‘I insist,’ Leonard said, getting back into the car and pushing the passenger door open.

  Taking a last look around, Austin got in, saying, ‘I’m really sorry about this, Mr D. I wasn’t expecting you to do anything.’

  ‘It’s not a problem,’ Leonard assured him, activating the central locking and easing out of the alleyway onto the road. ‘Where to?’

  ‘You can drop me on Kingsway, at the roundabout at the Levenshulme end – if you don’t mind?’ Austin said, settling back into the leather seat and gazing around. ‘Wow, nice car. Is that a DVD player?’

  ‘Yes, but I’ve never actually used it.’

  ‘How about the CD player? You must have CDs.’

  ‘Probably nothing to your taste,’ Leonard said, overly conscious of his size in the confined space. ‘I tend to listen to boring old stuff when I’m in the car, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Oh, you won’t have heard of any of them.’

  ‘Try me.’

  Shrugging, Leonard said, ‘Etta James. Ray Charles. Barbra Streisand.’

  ‘You’re kidding me,’ Austin yelped delightedly. ‘Streisand’s an absolute diva; gays love her. And didn’t you see that film called Ray with Jamie Foxx? The man was the bomb!’

  ‘You really like it?’ Leonard asked, his eyebrows raising with surprise. ‘I was sure I was the last person alive who appreciated good music. Avril detests it, says it’s too old-fashioned. And people at the club seem to prefer much more modern stuff.’

  ‘Yeah, well, course,’ Austin said, opening the glove compartment in search of CDs. ‘They go there to dance, don’t they? But you’d be surprised what they listen to when they go
home. Loads of my friends like trance and techno when they’re out zinging off their boxes, but they shove Will Young and Kylie on when they get in and want to come down.’

  ‘I see,’ Leonard murmured, not understanding a word of it.

  ‘Oh, wow,’ Austin yelped, finding a Streisand CD and reading down the titles. ‘God, I love this album. Can you put it on?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Leonard said, taking the CD and slotting it into the machine.

  ‘Man, listen to that,’ Austin groaned, leaning his head back as the first haunting strains of ‘The Way We Were’ seeped in through the speakers like liquid gold. ‘That’s some expensive system you’ve got there.’

  ‘Bang and Olufsen,’ Leonard told him proudly. ‘I had it fitted when I bought the car. No point settling for inferior quality on those long journeys.’

  ‘You must have some dosh,’ Austin said, quickly adding, ‘Not that I’m being nosy, or anything. But, well, you can tell you’re minted. You’ve only got to look at your clothes; and you’ve got a dead posh voice, too. I bet you went to university, and everything, didn’t you?’

  ‘Well, yes, I did my time,’ Leonard admitted modestly. ‘Three years at Oxford.’

  ‘Check the brainbox,’ Austin said, laughing softly. ‘So, what did you do before you came to Zenith?’

  ‘I was a politician,’ Leonard told him, resting his arm on the door now and driving one-handed as he reached into his pocket for his cigarettes. ‘I used to be on TV quite a lot.’

  ‘So you’re famous?’

  ‘Moderately so.’ Leonard smiled. ‘Before your time, though.’

  ‘See, that’s what I mean about you,’ Austin said, gazing at him admiringly. ‘If you look at you, you’re just any old posh man – well, not old, but you know what I mean. Then you get talking to you, and find out all this stuff you’re into, and it’s like, wow! I mean, I’d never have guessed you had such cool taste in music. I’d have expected you to be into really boring old white-man stuff.’

  Leonard was flushed with pleasure. Nobody had ever described him as cool before, and he would never have expected it from a trendy young boy like Austin. Opening the cigarette packet, he offered one to him.