by Dani Wyatt
I lick my lips and try to think about dirty laundry or my taxes. Anything to make this easier. My eyes roll back in my head and I have to grab her wrist and move her hand away.
“May, stop.”
“Why? I’m curious. It’s like I’ve never thought about seeing one before. But now there is like this tingly, achy feeling that makes me want to touch it and see it, and definitely have more orgasms with you.” She smiles and I am smitten with the way her thoughts tumble out without any sort of filter.
“Soon, babe. But not now, right now—”
Before I can finish my sentence, a loud screeching fills the office. May yelps and her hands fly to cover her ears. Her eyes pinch shut and I spin around as the lights in my office start flashing on and off.
“Holy fuck. Fire.”
May
“Follow me.” Deck grabs my hand and I try to catch a breath as he pulls me off the desk. His hands are working my boobs back into my bra and dressing me in frantic movements.
“Wait, your gift, aren’t you going to try—” Making that napoleon today made me happy. I read somewhere once that when you go for a job interview, it’s good to set yourself apart. Bring something or say something that makes them remember you. So that’s why I brought the dang present, and now . . .
“May, here.” He reaches down to scoop my coat and purse off the floor.
I can’t believe what just happened, but I’m not sorry either. Somewhere deep down inside I think I always knew that someday I would meet my Prince Charming, and it would all just be perfect right away, but I didn’t expect it to be today. In this club.
Before I know it, we are down the hall and Deck has me outside the back door standing between the club and the parking lot.
“Stay right here, you understand? Just for a minute. Don’t fucking move. I’m going back in to see what’s going on. But you stay right here.” His blue eyes are dilated, and I remember the feel of his thick erection under my hand and it makes my next breath hard to inhale. “And take this.” He reaches into his back pocket and shoves a cell phone and a charger into my hand. “Just hold onto it okay? Charge it later, it’s dead right now.” He opens his mouth. Hesitates. “I give one to all my employees. Just don’t lose it, okay?”
I nod as he disappears back through the metal door, leaving me standing in the back parking lot, stunned and unsure of so many things. The heat and wetness between my legs makes me tingle and I shiver against the cold breeze that caresses the bare skin down there. What he just did to me with his mouth was magical, but now I’m suddenly drowning in doubt.
I can’t be with him.
First of all, I don’t know anything about this man. And second of all, I’m engaged. I have to marry Victor. And what about Leah? I can’t be with Deck. Not right now. Maybe someday, maybe not ever, but certainly not now.
Leah is right. I’m so impulsive and childish. I make stupid, crazy decisions and put myself in situations without thinking.
My heart is beating in my chest so hard I think I might pass out.
What have I done?
If I stay here right now, I’m afraid I will never want to leave. I will lose my sister. And I will never allow that to happen. The thought makes my chest tight and it becomes difficult to breathe. She needs me as much as I need her.
I glance from left to right, trying to get my bearings. I can hear shouting and the scream of the fire alarm. Sirens getting closer.
I’m freezing standing here. A gust of wind comes from nowhere and flips my skirt up, baring my ass where my ripped up panties no longer cover me. I flail around to push it back down. My hair sticks to my face and I wonder for a moment if Deck will ever taste the napoleon I’d made.
“Dang it.” I’m trying hard to make order out of chaos and that is a huge challenge for me on a normal day.
I take off, running between the back of the buildings toward the street where I got off the bus. I turn around the corner from the alley, but I trip and stumble over a crack in the sidewalk. As my leg goes out, one of my shoes flies in an arc, landing in the street, and I barely manage to keep myself upright. Pain shoots up my leg as I stub my toe on the concrete.
I see the tail lights of the bus already sitting at the bus stop two blocks away. I set off at a dead run, no time to retrieve my shoe.
Deck said I was hired, right? So I just need to get back to the original plan. I need this job and my own childish, fairytale needs cannot get in the way.
I’ll come back tomorrow, explain everything to Deck, and tell him I just want the job. Nothing more. I mean, how can two people who just met let things get so out of hand? He probably says those things to every girl he hires, so this is nothing to him. He’s probably one of those man-whores I’d read about. I was just another cog in the wheel.
He seemed so sincere, but what do I know about men? Nothing.
I can be professional. I will show up here tomorrow, keep things strictly business from now on, and try to forget all those feelings I’d had in there.
In that office.
On that desk.
Under his tongue.
Oh my god, what have I done?
I’m out of breath when I reach the bus stop and have to run up and slap my hand on the door of the bus as it begins to pull away.
“Hey! Wait!” The driver looks over, the hydraulic breaks squeal and the doors open with the sound of a steam engine releasing pressure. Another gust breaks free and I struggle to hold my skirt in place, the chill of the air hitting my bare skin again, making me gasp.
“Get in.” The dark-haired man is genial and gives me a little smile. “Kinda late for you to be standing out there.”
“I know. I’m just getting off work.” I gather myself as much as possible and punch up some confidence. “I dance at the Monarch.” I plop down in the front seat, just behind the driver, trying to catch my breath.
“Oh yeah? You’re a dancer are you?” His incredulous question has me letting out a long breath. It feels like I’ve been holding it forever.
“Yup. Just got hired. And I’m going to be the best dancer they’ve ever had. You should come in sometime.”
He lets out a hearty laugh. It’s not at all condescending, and I immediately like him.
“We’ll see.” He starts the bus moving forward. “The Missus might not be so keen on me coming around to see some other women dance. She’s my dancer, my only dancer.”
The way he says it makes me sad. I can already tell he loves her and I wonder truthfully if that will ever be my future. Deck was just a fluke, a momentary lapse. I have to marry Victor, and in the short time we’d just spent together, Deck made me feel something he never will. But, I have to think long term.
That’s what Leah always says to me. She says I don’t think past the end of my nose and for once she’s right. Stick to the plan: work, money, apartment, culinary school then marriage to Victor. Maybe I’m just fooling myself and none of those things will happen, but I do know I’m going to try. I’m going to dance and I’m going to show Simon and Victor that they have to give me some independence.
I mean, why do they keep us so locked up? Are they afraid we will go out and get ourselves pregnant or something?
Who knows.
I settle myself into the seat for the quick ride back to the gates of the estate, the flavor of Deck’s kiss and the taste of my orgasm still on my lips.
Decker
The club is finally back to something resembling order. The staff handled things like the trained professionals I know they are. A small fire in the VIP area could have been a lot worse.
Now, Allister has the four assholes that started the melee trapped in a corner, with three of our hulk bouncers behind him, along with the six male bartenders working tonight.
He’s holding them there while I hit the back door to make sure May is okay. But when I bust out into the back parking lot, my heart sinks. Empty.
“May!” I yell, but there is nothing. Only parked cars, and the
sound of diesel engines from the fire trucks at the front of the building.
My head swivels frantically. I can still taste, still smell her. Above all else I can still feel her inside of me.
“Fuck. Goddamn it!” I spin, slamming my fists into the door, sending jolts of stabbing pain up my arms to my shoulders. I shouldn’t have left her out here. My mind is on a rollercoaster, trying to work out where she could have gone. What if she didn’t leave on her own? What if someone . . . no. I won’t even entertain that thought. “Fuck!”
The parking lot is blocked by the fire trucks. So she didn’t go that way.
My mind spins. Where would she go? Then, I remember, she said she took the bus.
Seconds later, my feet are pounding the pavement in a gallop. The wind cuts the temperature down until the chill burns my face, but I’m not stopping until I get to the bus stop a few blocks down.
The streets are empty. I turn the corner of the building and increase my strides. I’m half way down the first block when a glint of pink shimmer catches my eye in the middle of the street.
My lungs are burning as I spring forward, knowing even before I get there what it is.
A half an hour later I’ve called the number she’d written on the bottom of the Polaroid, but of course it’s a fake.
It’s funny though, she’d put down the number of one of those ambulance chasing attorney’s that splash their mug and phone number on the sides of buses.
Allister taps me on the shoulder.
“What?” I bark.
“Hey, cool it, old man. I can’t keep them here all night. You want to take point? Or you want me to deal with it, or call the cops, or what?” He’s right, I need to deal with business right now. This is going to have to wait. With a heavy heart, I put my phone away.
“Let’s go.” Allister falls in step behind me as I approach the group of over-entitled fucks. Their Armani suits and Gucci shoes make them look real tough.
I step into the VIP space and I’ve got my boys all behind me, backing me up. I can hear Allister cracking his knuckles, while I observe one of these scumbags watching him with concern. Damn right you should be concerned, mother fucker. But I don’t care about the concerned ones; they’ll go home and think about what they’ve done.
Scanning across the four douche bags, my eyes hit on one that comes in a few times a week. He’s got that look in his eye like he thinks he’s fucking Teflon covered, like none of his own shit’s ever going to stick to him.
He’s frequented my clubs for years, off and on. I don’t know his name or who he is, but he’s usually got a harem he brings with him—short skirts and too much make up crawling all over his dick. To me he’s just another regular with too much time and money on his hands.
“I don’t give a shit who you fucks think you are. Or who your families are. Don’t come back here.”
“Oh yeah? You may want to rethink your tone, old man, and call off your dogs. You can’t keep us here . . .” The one I’m eyeing gives it right back to me, but the way I’m glaring at him makes his words fall flat.
The stink of the melted velvet curtains they’d set on fire still hangs in the air. From what Allister said, one of the waitresses gave them some back talk when they’d ordered her onto her knees.
As she should.
They wanted something we don’t serve here, so she’d told them what they could do with their request. Next thing you know, one of the fucks lit the fabric on fire and told her she’d better watch her mouth or no one would have a job here.
Money can’t buy class.
The group looks toward the fucker I’m staring the balls off of, and it’s clear that he’s some sort of boss with the micro-penis brotherhood. He smiles at me, and I can see he’d like to take this up a notch, but I’m not throwing the first punch. No one is worth that. This is just business, and I’m not even all that mad. I just want them to understand they are never allowed back into any of my clubs. “You and your little crew here are out. You understand? Permanently . . .”
One of the others is grinning like this is all some big joke, so I stare him down. “You could have killed someone tonight.”
“That’s not anything new for us, gramps,” he says, thinking he’s funny.
There’s no point trying to reason with these mother fuckers. I turn to Allister, and nod to my crew behind him. “Get them out. And make sure they’re gone, not just out.” I’m pissed, but not about this. There are fucks everywhere and running these clubs you meet plenty of them. Like this guy who’s their leader or whatever, I know him. He’s been a swinging needle dick in my clubs for years. But since we’d moved into his neighborhood, suddenly he thinks he’s king shit around here. But I’ve had enough. Of him, and all the others like him.
Allister grabs my arm before I can walk away.
“Tonya needs a word.”
Tonya was their waitress tonight.
“She heard something. You asked for the girls to report anything else they’d heard, you know, about that other thing.” His voice is low, and he keeps it lower while speaking to me. I try to steady my breath. All I want to do is start scouring the world for May, but I need to handle this shit right now.
“Okay. I’ll find her.”
I’m not four steps away when Tonya comes up from the side.
“I heard more.” Tonya’s about thirty. She’s been part of my clubs for five years or so now, and I trust her as much as I trust anyone. Former prostitute. Now she’s getting her Master’s in elementary education and still keeping five shifts a week here. “That one, you know, his name is Victor.” She tips her head as Allister is busy escorting them to the door. “Him and one of those others . . . I’ve never seen him before . . . they were talking about Victor getting married. Then they stopped when I put their drinks down. But I was behind the curtain and I heard Victor telling him as soon as he gets her knocked up and she’s had a baby, to ‘take care of it.’ He said to make it look like an accident. Said to slam her head on the concrete then throw her into the pool. She’d get trapped in the pool cover and never be able to get out, and no one would question it.” She takes a deep breath and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
“Thanks.” I’m not sure if I’ll take this to the cops or not. Anything I tell them is just hearsay, so there’s no telling if they’ll do anything about it. And then I’ve played my cards. So maybe I’ll just keep it to myself for now.
“Oh and one more thing.” Tonya touches my arm to get my attention, then quickly removes it when I dart my eyes to hers.
Anyone that works here knows not to touch me. It’s just a thing with me. I don’t like to be touched. I let Allister touch me occasionally, I’m used to him. But he’s the only one, everyone else knows my quirk. But Tonya’s excited and I let it go. It’s nothing more than that, not with Tonya.
“Sorry. What else?” I see the last of the group move out the front door with a line of my heavyweights behind them. “They said her name.” Tonya licks her lips and pulls at her hands. “The girl or whoever he’s supposed to marry.”
“Yeah?” I’m distracted, because I need to figure out how to find May.
“They said her name was Maribelle.”
I just lost my mind.
May
Leah was waiting up for me when I climbed back in through the balcony doors.
I gave her a rundown of the evening, leaving out huge chunks of information because I’m pretending some if it didn’t happen.
Now it’s nearly 5 a.m. and sleep will not come. I took a bath, counted sheep, but it’s useless. Laying here in my ivory tower, I’m thinking that maybe my plan is stupid and ridiculous. Maybe I’m stupid and ridiculous. I mean, what does it matter even if I do save enough to get an apartment and go to culinary school?
Either way I’m just going to end up right back here in a few months with Victor. I guess in my little fantasy world, if I got out, maybe they would delay the wedding, give me a year to live on my own. A year to be f
ree and have fun, and not screw up all the weird demands and requirements of my parents’ will.
I loved my dad, and he loved me and Leah. But he had some backward ideas about women, that’s for sure. And in his world I guess he figured he was doing what was best for us.
Get married, make a baby, and then everyone is bound together for life. Safe and sound, all squared away. So when those things fall into place, that’s when my inheritance passes out of Simon’s hands.
But it doesn’t go to me. It goes to my husband, who is supposed to take care of me. If we ever get divorced he doesn’t have any rights to the money though, so when Victor and I do tie the knot, it’s until death us do part for real. Proper old school stuff.
And, I have to produce an heir. I have to be pregnant and married for the terms of the trust to be fulfilled. Otherwise it stays in the conservatorship, which has limited power.
I still shake my head at my dad. He loved us so much but he was so old fashioned. Didn’t realize we may have a different version of our lives in mind.
I shiver under the blankets as the grandfather clock chimes in the downstairs parlor. I count the number of chimes. Six o’clock. I haven’t slept a wink and I don’t see that changing until I fall over, exhausted, tonight.
Tonight.
It dawns on me that Deck hired me and I have a job.
I think of all the reasons it doesn’t matter and I’ve already decided I won’t go back. Leah was right. I need to grow up and stop with my crazy schemes.
Besides, what happened with Deck can never happen again. It felt too good. Too right. And I know if I ever see him again, I will never want to come back here. I’ll never be able to marry Victor, let alone think of him doing the same things that Deck did to me. Just thinking about Victor touching me like that sends a very different kind of shiver through my body.
