Sliding (The Stone Series)

by Kitty Berry

  “That was your memory on your bed, now for your memory on your dresser” Tate snickers as he lifts me up and sits me on my dresser thrusting his fingers inside of me. “Cream” begins, Tate is standing between my legs and I am barely sitting on the edge of my new dresser. The dresser that just hours ago my mother was helping me fill with my clothes from home. He moves his fingers while never breaking from our kiss. I gasp into his mouth and he knows I am close to the edge once more. He skillfully causes my free fall over the edge. He places me on the floor, takes me by the hand and leads me to my closet. I can barely make it my body is so shaky.

  “Open the closet door” he nods toward the door. I open the door as he has asked and wait for his next request, willing to grant him anything, anything at all.

  “Now hold onto the clothes bar, tightly and don’t let go. Promise me you won’t let go.”

  I promise him, I would promise him anything at this very moment. I take hold of the clothes bar at the same time he nudges me from behind. My head falls back on his shoulder and I feel him gently push inside me. I have to smile when “Rico Suave” starts to play. I look over my shoulder at Tate, “Cute, very cute” I admit. And he gives my ass a smack before he backs up, pulling me on top of him on the floor. “Now for the floor so you’ll think of me every time you walk on it.”

  Tate is on my floor with a look of utter determination. I can tell he is holding back his own pleasure to make sure that I experience mine over and over again all over this room. This night is about me and making an imprint on my mind to last me until I can see him again. When I straddle him and he finds his way back into my body he lets out a sound that’s part human, part animal. I love when I make him aroused this way. It makes me feel like I have some amazing power over him like only my touch can do this to him. I start to circle my hips and he immediately grabs them trying to still me. I know that means he’s about to finish and doesn’t want to, I can feel him getting hotter, harder and thicker. He pulls out of me suddenly moves out from under me, picks me up and places me on my bed.

  “I’m one hundred percent in love with you, Brook Adams. No distance, no amount of time is ever going to change that. Now I am going to make love to you so you’ll never forget me.”

  “The First Time” is playing in the background as Tate slowly enters me again. Our eyes are locked on each other’s as he slowly pumps into me while singing along with the words quietly in my ear. Just as the song is ending we find our release together. Tate kisses me and pulls my exhausted body into his arms where I fall asleep happy and content.

  ************

  I am now seven centimeters along and I know this is going to be the hardest part of my labor. I feel so much better when I am able to close my eyes and let go, feel the music wash over me and remember the past. Tate has been up for hours and he’s looking like he might collapse so I send him off to get himself a cup of coffee. He promises to be back within minutes. As he closes the door I hear “When I Look Into Your Eyes” and I’m nineteen years old again.

  ***********

  My attempts to break up with Tate before we leave for school luckily don’t work; instead we both promise the other that we will remain faithful and see if our relationship can work long distance. I know I remained faithful and I don’t have any reason not to believe Tate that he did as well.

  During our freshman year we write letters and speak on the phone almost every night. Tate comes to see me once a month until basketball season then I only get to see him on TV while he’s playing. I record every game so I can see him whenever I want. Tate and I spend the summer between our freshman and sophomore years at my apartment in Kentucky.

  Our sophomore year flies by just as fast as our first year. Tate is happy with UNC and loves his classes. He is doing better than ever in school and on the court. He attributes this to being away from home, away from his dad and all the pressure he’s always placed on him. I am also happy at school and love being a cheerleader but I miss New York City and my dance workshops. I wish I could do some dancing while I’m here.

  Our junior year brings some drama. Tate’s Nana passes away in October so we head home for the services. Tate was always very close with her and he’s taking her death hard. Tate and his father have a huge falling out when they learn that his very wealthy Nana has left Tate everything. He doesn’t yet understand all the details but he thinks he’s pretty rich. He says he wants to use the money to open his own music agency with Bobby and me.

  We each need to catch up on our missed school work when we get back to school after the funeral so our nightly phone conversations are short. I am missing dancing more and more every day and when a friend of mine tells me about this dance place she works at needing a choreographer I go with her to check it out. It turns out to be this place called, Pussy Cats and it’s almost a strip club. It’s almost because the dancers don’t take off all their clothes. They even have a male stripper night every Tuesday for the girls to come and enjoy. The owner is looking for someone to choreograph for the male dancers but also for the female dancers who dance in cages every night that the club acts as just an ordinary dance club. The girls in the cages all dress like cats and dance half naked behind bars in these round cages placed all around the bar and dance floor areas. It’s not a strip club but it sure is close.

  The owner is a young attractive guy, probably around thirty who owns bars like this one all over the country. He says he’ll need to see me dance before he can offer me the job and I will have to be discreet about working there considering that I am only nineteen, I will be paid in cash.

  I climb on the stage area where the male dancers perform on Tuesday nights and where people can just dance the rest of the week. I pop my tape in the sound system. I’m glad I thought ahead and came prepared; I brought “I Have Nothing”. I know it’s not really the most appropriate for this environment but I am hardly going to get on this stage and take off my clothes.

  Eddie, the owner stops me a few seconds in and asks, “Honey, you can dance that was obvious in two seconds but can you dance like I need the dancers here to dance?”

  He takes my tape out and puts on some of the club’s music, “Daisy Dudes” for starters. I figure “screw it” and I bump and grind, shake my ass and wiggle my hips. I’m a professionally trained dancer and if this is the style for his job then so be it. The job is mine within five seconds, not bad for only seven seconds of dancing! Now how the hell am I going to tell Tate or my parents about this? Maybe I’ll just keep this as my little secret.

  I start working as the choreographer at Pussy Cats but after a few weeks Eddie asks if I’d be one of the cats in the cages on Friday and Saturday nights when the biggest spenders come in. The girls are allowed to take tips, there is no touching allowed but people can pay for a certain girl to come into a cage at their table in the back room. Eddie says he’ll keep me stationed in the back room where it’s more private. I have no idea what I’m thinking but I agree. There is no way I can tell my parents or Tate about this now. It’s feeling more and more like a strip club gig.

  I get over the dirty feeling I was having right after I make two hundred dollars my first night. It’s not so bad, with all the cat makeup on no one would know it was me and I kind of feel like I’m Bombalurina in the musical Cats, Tate always said I’d be a Cat. Oh, God if he only knew.

  It’s a Friday night at the end of our junior year and I am working at Pussy Cats. Eddie tells me that a group of young college guys are at a table and they are requesting me, Bambi. I thought that was close to Bombalurina and no one in this place will know or care who Bombalurina is anyway. I rise from the floor in the cage at their table with my back to them. “Freak Me” is my song of choice. I am wearing my pink cat ears and tail and I’m in full makeup. I have on a pink sort of push up bra top and pick short shorts that are silky, my stomach is exposed and my hair is in pigtails. I am holding onto the bars and swinging my head around. I lift my leg and place it on the pole in the middle of the
cage and swing around it. I get a quick glance at the guys and I think I kind of recognize one as a football player from campus. I don’t really know him so I’m not that worried at first. I continue to dance and the guys throw money into the cage. I bend over with my cat tail up in the air and my legs straight against the pole. I get a glance at one of the other guys and I recognize him. He is the quarterback and in one of my classes but he’ll never recognize me like this. Then just as I am about to turn around I hear that guy say, “Hey dude maybe you should put some money in those tight little shorts of hers. You’re a visitor to the area, maybe she’ll show you a good time. Hey, baby my boy here came a long way to surprise his girlfriend and he couldn’t find her. Come over here and make him feel better.”

  They all start laughing and just as I am about to turn around I hear a very familiar voice say, “Yeah baby turn this way, come here” and when I do I am looking Tate right in the eyes. It takes him less than two seconds to realize that he is looking at me. All hell breaks loose!

  Tate came to my apartment to surprise me with news about his Nana’s estate and when he didn’t find me or my roommates there he let himself in with his key that he’s had for years then he went for a run around campus. While he was out for a run he bumped into Ben. Apparently Ben, the quarterback at University of Kentucky is Tate’s old buddy from summer football camps. I guess they used to room together every year but then lost touch. Tate invited Ben back to my apartment to meet me and when I still wasn’t there Ben asked Tate to go out for a drink with him. Tate has had a fake ID since freshman year. Out of all the bars and clubs in the area they would have to come to Pussy Cats.

  When Tate realizes it’s me in that cage he whips his shirt off and shoves it through the bars loudly telling me, “Cover up now” to the rest of the table’s disappointment.

  “What the fuck dude?” asks Ben and Tate responds by sarcastically introducing us, “Ben this is my girlfriend Brook who I told you all about at camp every year. You know the one from the pictures I had next to my bed? Brooklynn this is Ben, we played football together, and he’s the quarterback for your team.”

  I signal to the security to come over and unlock my cage and I take Tate, Ben and the two other guys into the back room.

  “Wow, dude maybe she’s going to give us a lap dance or even a blow job” one of the idiots says clearly not following what had just gone on. Thankfully Ben puts himself in between him and Tate before Tate punched the guy.

  “Okay…listen up and don’t say a word any of you.” I look at Tate, “You, sit down right there” I point to the sofa.

  Tate sits and says, “This better be fucking good because just so you know I am about to go fucking nuts on you and we both know what that entails.”

  I tell Ben and the other guys that they can never tell anyone they saw me dancing or that they know who I am. I know Ben is going to figure out I’m a cheerleader in five seconds and I can’t risk him telling anyone about this. Ben ushers the other two out with promises of keeping his mouth shut and tells Tate he’ll come by in the morning. Tate and Ben shake hands and I hear Ben say, “She smoking hot dude. I’ll see you around ten; we’ll go for a run. We obviously have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Tate and I are alone and I don’t know where to begin but I don’t have to because Tate lets loose on me. “It is seriously too dangerous for you to be near me right now. I honestly think I am going to strangle you. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that you hid this from me? Wait, how fucking long have you been hiding this from me?”

  When I don’t answer he yells, “How fucking long Brooklynn?” and I tell him pretty much the whole school year. He continues, “I don’t know what’s worse the fact that you hid this from me for the whole school year or the fact that other men are looking at you how many nights a week?”

  I tell him just two and not when I’m cheering so really it hasn’t been that many times but he doesn’t seem to care because he goes on without even listening to me.

  “Or maybe it’s the way you just spoke to me in front of Ben and those guys, what the fuck has gotten into you? “You sit down right there? Fuck you!”

  “Okay, I didn’t mean to get all in your face, I know this was a huge shock but I can’t have Ben and those guys saying anything to anyone, I can’t let my coaches find out. I just missed New York and my workshops and I wanted to dance so this girl I know told me about this job choreographing at this dance club. I came in and got the job and then they asked me to dance and I thought what the hell. Tate I make close to a thousand dollars a weekend.”

  Tate stands up and comes over to me but he is clearly afraid of what he’ll do if he touches me because he’s keeping his distance when he asks, “Is that what this is fucking about? Money? Brook, I came here to surprise you…I can’t talk to you about this now but money is not an issue so you are done here, right now. Do you understand? Go find whoever is in charge and tell them you are done. I mean it and if I see the motherfucker I’m going to rip his heart out with my bare hands before I tell him I’m calling the police about the underage girls he has working for him.”

  I agree to leave with Tate and quit tomorrow because I don’t want him to see me talking to Eddie. I am praying that Eddie won’t notice that I’m gone until it’s too late. We walk out the back door to find Ben waiting for us. I have given Tate is shirt back, removed my makeup and put on my regular clothes. Tate is still refusing to touch me and he’s already warned me that this is not over.

  Tate invites Ben back to my apartment but then makes us all uncomfortable with his comments. “So you can get to know my girlfriend, oh wait, that’s right you’ve seen almost as much of her as I have so I guess you kind of already know her pretty well.”

  Ben knows Tate well enough apparently and he tries to distract him with an offer of hitting another club. “Sounds great, maybe my mom will be there giving guys head as they walk in the fucking door. Let’s go” Tate says sarcastically.

  We go to another club, one where the bouncers are football players and Ben is able to get me in without a second glance. Ben goes to the bar to get us all a drink and Tate and I are left alone and he won’t look at me.

  “Tate, look at me. Please. I hate when you’re mad at me. Please, I’m sorry.”

  Tate sighs, “Shut up, Brooklynn, seriously shut your fucking mouth right now. I don’t want to listen to this shit. I need to get drunk and we’ll talk about this when we get home or tomorrow. Right now just leave me the fuck alone, okay? Go find some of your friends and dance or hang out, do what you do when I’m not here. Oh wait, that would be taking off your clothes for other men. You know what? Have at it. I don’t give a flying fuck right now. I’ll find you when we want to go home.” And he walks away from me just as some of the cheerleaders spot me and come running over.

  I don’t know what to do but I do know it’s best to leave Tate alone when he’s like this and let him cool off so I go with the girls and get a drink then we hit the dance floor. I keep looking for Tate but I don’t know where he is, he could be gone for all I know. I’m about to go and look for him figuring enough time has gone by for him to have calmed down and gotten wasted when “Hip Hop Hooray” comes on and the girls insist I dance with them for this one last song. We are all dancing with our arms up in the air and when I feel a guy grinding up behind me with one arm around my waist and the other in the air near my hair. I assume its Tate and keep dancing until Tate suddenly comes into my vision. He’s walking towards me with Ben and a few other guys and I can’t tell by the look on his face how this is going to go. I stop dancing and try to tell the guy to get away from me but now Tate is standing right next to me. The girls are of no help, they are all in awe of Tate as usual.

  Tate smirks at me and slurs, “By all means continue, I did tell you to do what you do when I’m not here, right? Is this what you do?”

  The guy starts to say something to Tate but Ben just looks at him and says, “Don’t man, trust me just walk away” and
the kid thankfully listens. I tell Tate that I don’t even go to clubs when he’s not here and if I did I wouldn’t dance with some random guy I didn’t know. I explain that I thought it was him.

  Tate sighs, “Yeah I know I saw the whole thing. I was watching you all night. It’s funny you have no clue how hot you are. You should see all these guys looking at you and only that one loser had the balls to even try to dance with you.”

  “Weak” comes on and Tate finally touches me and pulls me into his arms. We dance as the song plays.

  I wish I had been with Brook in college; they were four hard years for us apart from each other but we survived. Brook had tried her best to break up with me before we left for school but I wouldn’t allow it; instead we both promised the other that we would remain faithful and see if our relationship could work long distance.