“What’s so funny? I look good,” Joey exclaimed defensively.
“Joey, man, you’re lucky you haven’t knocked anyone out yet,” Michael snickered.
Tony was in the next slide with Elise, each of them smiling adoringly at each other.
“Is that gonna be your wedding picture,” Alex teased Tony.
“Hey, at least I’m not with King Kong or Titties Galore. Elise is beautiful.”
He was right.
“She’s got your balls clamped so tight, you’re practically a fucking eunuch,” Michael joked.
“You’re just jealous,” Tony laughed.
And Michael had a nagging suspicion there might be some truth to that statement. Something made him want to cringe when he’d seen himself in that photo with some girl, a nameless lay that meant nothing to him. It had never bothered him before, the more chicks a guy screwed, the better. But he felt dirty when he saw it now, as a flood of no-name women he’d stuck his dick in ran through his mind. For some reason, he felt guilty as an image of Natalie stabbed at his conscience.
“Hello gentlemen,” came a deep voice from behind them.
The men turned towards the voice. An older man was standing behind them with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was wearing a suit and a lot of gaudy gold jewelry.
“I hope you don’t mind the photos. You guys have made quite a name for yourself already. I thought it would be good to give you credit. We all did here at Joe’s,” he continued.
“Not at all, as long as it’s nothing stupid,” Michael said, smiling at him.
“Then don’t get caught doing anything stupid. That has always worked best for me,” a glint shimmered in the man’s eye. “I’m Steve. I’m the owner,” he introduced himself and extended his hand to shake Michael’s.
Michael took it and they shared a firm shake.
“I’m Michael, and this is Vinnie, Joey, Johnny, Alex, and Tony.”
“It’s nice to meet you. Let me buy you a drink.” Steve turned and moved towards the bar.
The guys looked at each other wide-eyed. Joey opened his mouth to say something but Vinnie elbowed him in the ribs before he could let the stupid come out.
“Gentlemen, this is Gail. If you need anything at all…,” Steve looked intently at Michael, “just let her know.” The unspoken meaning of his words was crystal clear.
“Thank you very much, Steve, we appreciate it,” Michael thanked him. But an instinctual red flag went up. No one gives you anything unless they want something in return. Michael was certain they’d find out what Steve wanted soon enough.
Michael was polished. He had to be, he’d grown up fast. It wasn’t so long ago he was the eight year old kid on the street who charmed all the business men that came to him regularly to get their shoes shined. Then later, earned the trust of the business owners when he stuffed more mailboxes with flyers than any of the other kids in the neighborhood. He was a street guy, he was smart, but he had class, and lots of sex appeal.
“Hello guys, what can I get for you tonight?” she purred as she leaned over the bar giving all of them a view of her deep cleavage.
“Remember, anything at all. Enjoy your evening,” Steve said once more before walking away.
“I’ll take whatever you’re giving, Gail.” Joey was almost slobbering over the female that was more woman than he could ever handle.
“Don’t mind him, he’s not house trained yet, Gail,” Vinnie said from his friends side. “I’ll take a Drambuie on the rocks.”
The crew had just been named the unofficial celebrities of the club. The first red carpet had been rolled out for them. It was now up to them to see where it would lead.
3 CHAPTER THREE
Michael trudged up the icy steps to his current home at the St. Francis House in Brooklyn, NY, pulling his thin leather jacket tightly around him. He’d just finished a very long and grueling day at work. But it was the best day he’d had there yet. His spirits were soaring and he was feeling pretty damn good about himself. He didn’t think about how lucky he’d been in his hard life so far, or how people seemed to gravitate towards him and naturally want to help him. Maybe it was because he was a survivor, or he was a natural charmer, or maybe it was he was just a good guy. Maybe it was all of these, but time and time again he seemed to step into a situation where he was given an opportunity to get a break and make something good out of something bad. The guy had luck and he always seemed to find a field of flowers in a pile of shit.
He’d gone from shining shoes at the shipyards at eight years old to bring in money for his fatherless family of eight kids with a mother who liked to drink, to working in a restaurant, and as of today, being promoted. The owner was sick and couldn’t come in, so Michael was called in to save the business, and he kicked its ass.
When Michael had moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, alone at fifteen years old, he was renting a furnished room with a friend of his. When things had gotten to a point where he could make some very bad decisions, he moved out and found a place with Father Benedict at this home, a safe haven for young men looking for a fresh start. He had his own room, it was small but cozy, and it was home. He felt safe and no one judged him there. He had his friends and life was good.
Finally.
Johnny, who was also from the neighborhood, had started college at SUNY, the State University at New Paltz, and this introduced Michael, and all the other guys in the crew, to a new way of life. And Michael liked it. A lot. The countryside upstate was beautiful and spacious, and when he was there, the baggage he’d carried around with him all his life no longer existed. He was just a man, no history, no streets, no past. He wasn’t the things that had happened to him, nothing else existed, and none of it mattered. All those years of hunger, sadness, freezing to death sitting out there shining shoes and stuffing flyers in mailboxes disappeared. In Brooklyn, all of them were just some guys from the neighborhood, like everybody else. Something happened in New Paltz. They were wanted, appreciated, and it almost seemed as if they were sought after. The women practically threw themselves at all of them. They all felt special. And Michael felt free, limitless, strong, and confident. He felt like a man.
And he couldn’t wait to get back there.
All week he couldn’t get Natalie out of his head. Everything about her, her innocence, her purity, her smile, the way she smelled, the feel of her skin, and the taste of her lips, kept creeping back, filling his thoughts with her. It made him smile. Just thinking about her made him feel a happiness he hadn’t known before. He had a son here from a girl he’d gotten pregnant when they were teenagers and practically virgins. His life in Brooklyn now seemed separate from the one he felt he had upstate. He was feeling torn between the two people he was becoming: the one in the past, and the one in the present.
The guys were leaving for New Paltz in a few hours, and Michael had a lot to do before they left. There was work to be done around the home, he wanted to go see his son, and he wanted to hear Natalie’s voice and tell her he was going to be there tonight.
He ran up the stairs to his room and got out of his work clothes before he called.
“Hello?” Vinnie’s voice filled the line.
‘Shit,’ Michael thought.
“Hey man, how are you?” Michael asked, trying to sound happy to hear him.
“Good, you guys coming up tonight?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. Are you coming out?” Michael answered, acting enthusiastic.
“Yeah, I’ll be there around 11:00. Joey’s coming too.”
Michael laughed. “Does that guy really dance like that or is he fooling around? He looks like a chicken, it’s hysterical.”
Vinnie laughed with him, envisioning his best friend hopping around the crowded dancefloor, flailing his arms, and jutting his head in and out.
“Yes, he really dances like that, and he thinks he looks good doing it,” he said, laughing louder.
Michael felt good as the now familiar carefree feeling beg
an to take over him whenever he was upstate. It was like a drug and he wanted more of it.
“There’s a dance contest tonight that Johnny entered at a club in Albany. We’re bringing a new guy, someone you haven’t met yet, Paul. Bring your other sister if she’d like to meet him,” Michael told him quickly.
“Ok,” Vinnie replied.
“You’re bringing Natalie, aren’t you?” Michael asked almost tentatively.
Natalie was listening on the other line and was overwhelmed at Michael’s question. Ever since Michael left on Sunday, she hadn’t been able to think about anything else but him. The memory of the feel of his hands on her and his lips stroking her while they danced sent a warm shiver through her.
‘He does like me,’ her mind exclaimed as she almost let out a squeal of delight.
“Naw, man, don’t you go out with my sister, she’s young,” Vinnie laughed.
Natalie wanted to strangle Vinnie with the coiled phone line until his eyeballs popped out of his head.
“Not to me she’s not. Let me talk to her,” Michael laughed.
“No, man,” Vinnie teased him.
Natalie almost gave away her secret listening place, wanting to shout, ‘I’m here Vinnie, go away!’
“Come on, bro, let me talk to her,” Michael jokingly insisted.
Vinnie let out a soft sigh, “Alright, just a second…,” and moved the phone from his mouth as he yelled, “Natalie, phone!”
She took a deep breath to calm her excited nerves. She’d almost said something, and probably would have, if Vinnie hadn’t stopped being an asshole.
“Hello?” Natalie said softly, trying to hide the tremor she knew could be heard in her voice.
“Hi,” Michael said as the grin split his face at the sound of her voice. It was a warm ray of sunshine on a dark dismal day.
“Hi, how are you?” she asked shyly.
“Good now that I heard your voice. I’m coming up tonight. Come out, don’t let your brother make you stay home,” Michael said.
He couldn’t wait to see her, the memory of her big green eyes and the way she looked at him with them was enough to make him want to run all the way up there.
“Ok, I will,” was all she could manage. He wanted to see her, and she was beyond ecstatic.
“There’s a dance contest we’re all going to that Johnny’s in up in Albany,” he told her.
“Oh really? I can’t wait to see it.”
“I can’t wait to see you. See you later then,” Michael said.
Her heart beat harder with happiness at his words.
“Me too, bye,” she replied almost breathlessly.
“Bye,” Michael said with a smile. Then the line went dead.
Little did Natalie know that this would be the beginning of the end, before it even really started.
***
The trip to Albany took almost an hour from Natalie’s house. They took two cars, she was with her sister Sylvia, and Vinnie had Joey in his car. Natalie’d never been to this club before, her nerves were a mess and her mind was racing with all the things that could go wrong, especially being stuck in a place she didn’t know surrounded by strangers. Joe’s Bar was a lot of things, but at least she was comfortable there.
They walked in, Vinnie and Joey had already arrived. She spotted them across the huge room with Michael, Johnny, a woman Natalie didn’t recognize talking with Johnny, and a few other women speaking to Michael, Vinnie and Joey, and this really tall, good-looking guy. Natalie thought he must be the new guy.
Natalie’s spine stiffened and panic flooded her as she watched the women with them, their body language screamed ‘I want you.’ She didn’t have to know what they were saying.
‘What am I walking into?’ her mind raced.
Michael’s gaze shifted and he saw Natalie and Sylvia walking towards them. His smile widened and Natalie relaxed a little as she thought, ‘At least he seems happy to see me.’
People have different ways of carrying themselves. There’s assured and confident, relaxed and easy-going, and then there’s the way Natalie’s sister walked when she was out. And Natalie hated it. For some reason, she always ended up behind Sylvia as she swayed her ass, (right now she was skinny and it was little), and she did this flip thing with her long black hair that, if Natalie wasn’t careful, would slap her in the face. Every. Time.
Sylvia was on and everyone was going to know it. She swaggered her little ass across the room and made her 5’ 2” frame seem larger than life. Sylvia was beautiful, in a quiet way, like Elizabeth Taylor, with fine features, long black hair, and a sultry and sensuous presence. Natalie had decided long ago Sylvia’s primary objective, even though she might not have realized it, was to make every other woman feel non-existent. Even her sister. Natalie didn’t think she tried to make her feel like that. It was just Sylvia’s way, and she’d been doing it so long, she was a master at it, it couldn’t be helped. There was only one man who hadn’t fallen victim to her, one man she had wanted badly, and Sylvia never forgot it.
Natalie could tell Sylvia liked what she saw, whatever or whomever she was looking at at the moment, by the way her body shifted. Sylvia was preparing for the attack. It was now game on, and she never played fair.
Sylvia sauntered, and Natalie walked, up to Michael and Vinnie, along with the rest of the group. Michael moved to meet Natalie and placed a kiss on her cheek.
“This is my sister, Sylvia,” Vinnie introduced everyone to her.
“Hi,” she purred.
Cat Woman has arrived and her claws have been sharpened, so beware.
“Nice to see you again, Sylvia,” Michael greeted her, never leaving the close proximity of Natalie’s side.
She adored him for that.
“This,” Michael continued with a smug smile on his face, “is my friend Paul.”
“Hi beautiful, where have you been all my life?” Paul said, smiling broadly at Sylvia.
Sylvia moved a step closer to Paul, closing the space between them.
Vinnie and Joey excused themselves to make their rounds of the club.
It was a good guess that Vinnie didn’t want to be witness to the spectacle that was about to begin. Sylvia was not afraid to use her sexuality to take over a situation, and she was very sexual.
Paul snaked an arm around Sylvia’s thin waist, removing what little distance remained between them. He saw approval of him in everything about her; the way she stood, the curve of her lips, and in her eyes. He was going to run with it.
Shit was about to get real.
“Let me buy you a drink, beautiful,” Paul said to Sylvia.
“I’ll take everything you’ve got,” Sylvia said, giving him her best sex-kitten smile.
Natalie had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as they left for the bar.
Michael turned to the dark-haired Latin woman who was standing with them. She was wearing a tight white T-shirt, and gold spandex pants that hugged her curvy, short frame.
“This is Maria. She’s Johnny’s partner in the dance contest. She came up from Brooklyn just for the event tonight,” Michael said, introducing the dark haired beauty.
Natalie was a little intimidated by her. Her eyes looked over Natalie and Sylvia with street savvy and a confidence that made her feel a little insecure.
“Hi Maria, It’s nice to meet you,” Natalie forced out with a friendly smile.
“Thanks,” Maria said, then turned to Johnny. “Let’s practice.”
Johnny took her hand, “Ok. See you guys later,” he replied as he glanced over his shoulder at them. He led Maria to the other side of the crowded dance floor and found a place, then took her in his arms and they started to dance.
The other girls that had been there had already left when Natalie and Sylvia approached. Michael and Natalie were left standing alone.
“I’m glad everyone’s gone,” Michael said, pulling her tightly against him.
“Me too.” Natalie’s smile was huge as she relaxe
d into him.
“Come on.”
Michael led her to a private corner of the club. The strobe light flashed all around them, matching the beating of Natalie’s heart. His mouth caught hers. It was a deep kiss, hungry and possessive, one that had been waiting a week and a 120 miles. Her arms slid around his neck and into his soft hair. The fever of the kiss spiked as he moaned into her mouth, his silky tongue stroking hers. He ground his body into hers, pressing his erection against her.
Michael’s body surged with longing, full of a need to possess and claim. An emptiness he didn’t know he had was suddenly filled and it almost overwhelmed him.
Natalie was naïve but she wanted him. She wanted him to take her and make her his.
His mouth moved heatedly across her face to her ear, his firm body enveloping her, as he whispered, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” she held him tighter, her nails digging into his back.
She didn’t want to let him go, she didn’t want him to let her go. The force of what was between them was intense, fierce, and demanding.
“Champagne for everyone,” came Paul’s voice, intruding on their intimate moment.
Michael and Natalie both turned and saw Sylvia and Paul approaching, followed by a waitress carrying a tray with an ice bucket and four glasses. Natalie glanced at Michael’s face and saw a flash of confusion before it was gone, replaced by his usual controlled expression that he always wore.
Michael thought, ‘Where the hell is this guy getting money for champagne?’ knowing that Paul was a working stiff like the rest of them.
They all sat down at a table as the waitress set the bucket with the champagne along with the four glasses in front of them. She opened the bottle and it bubbled over, like everyone’s spirits were doing.
“We have to toast, Mike,” Paul said dramatically.
He picked up the bottle and filled everyone’s glass, then raised his, waiting for everyone to follow.
“To the two most beautiful women here tonight. And to Johnny, who’s going to show them how it’s done.”
The Rooster Club Page 5
