Kami’s eyes are glued to the newly empty barstool, her mind reeling with the possibility. “I can’t do that,” she mumbles, “Can I?” She looks down at the card in her hand, the name Envy emblazoned on the front in bold blue letters. Flipping it over, she spots the address and Trish’s name written on the back.
“Oh honey, you certainly can,” Penny assures her. “I’ll even go there with you. We can go a couple times so that you get the feel of it before making a decision. You know I’ll support you whatever you decide.”
“I know I was wild in my youth, but never anything close to this.”
“Um, I seem to remember you getting not only suspended, but also kicked off the squad for flashing the school mascot and the entire football team when we were at cheer practice.”
Kami laughs at the memory, “And who was it that dared me to do that?”
Penny bats her eyes innocently, “It must have been my evil twin.” The two women fall into a fit of giggles as they talk about what led to the embarrassing dare, “It was well deserved after you dared me to put laxatives in the science teacher’s coffee. I felt horrible that he shit his pants at school. Who knew that a triple dose would work that fast?”
“Penelope Sharpe, you did not feel horrible. You got all the students to call him Mr. Shitsgerald for the rest of the year,” Kami lightly admonishes her friend.
Penny shrugs, “Fitzgerald, Shitsgerald. You have to admit it was fitting. He was such an asshole.”
“Yeah, he did kind of deserve it after not letting you use the bathroom to change your tampon. You would think a science teacher would have a little more understanding of the human body.”
“Right!” Penny agrees, “Because of him, I had a damn blood stain on my ass, and it ruined my favorite pair of jeans! I was so lucky that you always had those hoodies and let me wrap one around my waist. I would have died of embarrassment if you hadn’t been there to help me out.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Kami raises her glass and they clink them together, “To best bitches forever, through thick and thin.”
Chapter Two
Kami sat at her desk, trying not to yell at yet another annoying customer. “No ma’am, turning it on and off for the third time will not work. You need to follow my instructions.” She rolls her eyes and suppresses a groan at the response from the customer. “Ma’am, you will have to call back when you get back home. I understand that your salon appointment can’t be missed, but I do need you in front of the computer to fix the issue.”
Finally getting off the phone with the customer, she logs out of the system for her break and heads to the breakroom. The sight of a man bent over, looking through the lower cabinets, his tight butt on full display, stops Kami in her tracks. She doesn’t realize that her eyes are glued to it until he straightens out and she sighs at the loss of the nice view.
The butt turns around and she’s met with an eyeful of his package, but quickly looks up when he says, “Good morning Kameron. Have you seen the backup can of creamer? It doesn’t seem to be in its usual place.”
“Creamer?” she blushes as she tries to get ahold of herself. “Yeah, um, Louise went through a phase of rearranging things again last week. This time she’s doing it alphabetically, insistent that some T.V. host claimed it would bring chakras or something to the office,” she giggles nervously.
His wide smile causes his beautiful grey eyes to crinkle in the corner, “You would think that management would do something about that woman changing up the supplies every time she gets a whim.”
“Mr. Preston, I think that would be your area of responsibility,” Kami teases. “The creamer is in the lower cabinet on the opposite side now, in what Louise now calls the ABC cabinet.”
He winks at her, “Ah, but what fun would this office be if I got rid of the one person who keeps us all on our toes.” He struts over to the right cabinet and bends over, again giving Kami quite the eyeful. “Ah, yes here it is right next to the… Teabags?”
He stands up with the creamer in his hands. A piece of his slicked back hair has fallen in his face. Kami feels the desire to run her fingers through it and push it back into place. He isn’t normally the type she goes for, blond hair that has a bit of red tint to it, but not quite enough to make him a strawberry blond. She normally prefers dark and broody men, which has not done her any favors in the past. “Yes, I believe her thinking was beverages, Mr. Preston,” Kami responds, shrugging her shoulders.
“Evan,” he says.
“Huh?” Kami’s brain tries to catch up with the conversation, but her vagina seems to be doing the thinking for her at the moment.
“Mr. Preston is my father. Please, call me Evan.” He smiles at her as he leans against the counter, his crossed arms showing off the muscles that his dress shirt can’t hide, with a smirk on his face. “How is it in The Pits?”
The Pits is the nickname for the tech department’s customer service area. Aptly named for the calls from hell they receive. “I didn’t know the bigwigs knew the nickname. You surprise me Mr. Preston. I mean Evan.”
His voice lowers, “I make it my business to know everything about the department I run.”
The voice does something to her, and she internally admonishes herself for the thoughts that run through her head of the man that she has no business thinking about in that way. Especially not when she is supposed to be mending her broken heart. She tries to gather her wits, “The Pit is fun as usual.”
“Hmm, that sounds like a very employee to boss thing to say,” Evan chuckles as he gets his coffee, “Tell me about your last call.”
She tells him about the woman who left for the salon and yelled at her for not being able to fix it when the customer wasn’t near the computer. He laughs and rolls his eyes, “It really makes you question the future of humanity.”
She nods her head vigorously, “Yes, definitely. I wonder several times a day how these people manage to put their pants on in the morning.”
During their conversation, he’s moved closer to her, close enough that she can smell his woodsy aftershave. “Well, Kameron, I’m sure we both need to get back to the grind. I hope your day gets better. My door is always open if there is anything you need,” a slight undertone to his voice makes her wonder if he means something else. But she brushes it off as Evan just trying to be the friendly new boss.
“Oh, I think he has a thing for you,” Penny nods her head dramatically. “Tell me again what he said.”
Kami groans, “It was nothing. I should know better than to tell you these things. He just said his door was open if I needed anything. He’s my new boss! Of course, he wants to promote his open-door policy. Evan would have said the same thing to Gilbert.”
Penny roars in laughter, “So it’s Evan now, not Mr. Preston. I highly doubt that pimply creepster would be told the same thing as a hot dark-haired thang like you.”
“Ugh, you are the worst. I don’t even know why we are friends,” Kami sighs. “I’m supposed to be grieving over the loss of my fiancé and my life security, not drooling over the hot boss. Who is off limits, by the way.”
Penny riffles through her purse and pulls out some cash, handing it to the driver, “Scott is not worth your grief. You know the best way to get over a man is to get under a new one.”
Kami slaps her forehead, “I can’t even with you.”
“Aww, you know you love me,” she puts her arm around Kami and gives her a side hug before they exit the cab.
“I don’t know why, but I do,” Kami laughs. “But seriously Pen, I cannot sleep with my boss. Just regular employee relationships are banned at the company. I can’t even imagine the uproar sleeping with the boss would cause. I’d be fired for sure.”
“Well, considering he’s the boss, he can make the rules.”
“No, just no,” Kami shakes her head and pulls her friend along, “Let’s get this whole club visit over so I can say no and go back to your house to drown in the bottle of wine I picked up t
oday.”
“Kameron Kirk,” Penny admonishes, “You will keep an open mind. Wipe away that self-pity and be the adventurous woman I know you are. The one who left everything she knew and loved behind to answer the call of the city.”
“You know how much I hate my full name. I really should have had that changed.” Kami’s mother had been obsessed with a tv star from her childhood, so when she married a man with the surname Kirk, she could not be convinced otherwise with the first name Kameron. She had at least been nice enough to change it to a K to a bit more feminine.
“Ah, but you are so wild and free that you never will. Embrace it sister.”
Kami straightens her shoulders. She knows Penny is right. That’s the thing she loves about her best friend the most, she will always tell the truth no matter how much Kami doesn’t want to hear it. “Alright. Let’s do this!” she says with a fist pump.
They walk up to the bouncer who is standing under the neon sign that says Envy in the same bold blue that was on the business card. His face like stone, he looks the two of them over, “We don’t allow women unaccompanied in this establishment.”
“What?” Kami’s voice raises and she steps back like she’s been hit. “What kind of bullshit policy is that?”
The bouncer looks bored, as if he’s heard this many times before, “Ma’am it is policy. We have had incidences of jealous women coming in to find their men and causing scenes. It’s better for everyone to not allow women in without their partners.”
Penny hangs her hand around Kami’s shoulder and kisses her on the cheek, “This is my partner.”
“Male partner,” the bouncer says sternly.
“I was told by Trish that I should stop by and check this place out. To see if I was interested in working here. She gave me a card,” Kami goes in a different direction, knowing this guy would not budge on anything else. She pulls out the card from her purse and hands it to the bouncer.
He flips it over and see’s Trish’s signature on the back and then scans Kami up and down. He seems to be satisfied with what he sees because he moves to the side, “Welcome aboard. I hope you understand that the safety of the girls is my highest priority.”
“I do appreciate that,” Kami replies, “Even if I don’t agree with the partner policy.”
The bouncer, who introduced himself as Max, waves them through and refuses to take the entry fee, citing policy on prospective employees.
When Kami opens the door, she’s taken aback by the heavy sound of bass thumping and has a hard time adjusting her eyes to the darkness within. Penny pushes her out of the way and leads them to a table in the back, where they won’t get much attention.
Since the music is so loud, the women aren’t able to talk much. Kami takes in the club, much different from what she had pictured. The blue lights with varied sizes of glass panels hang down from the ceiling in the center of the room creating a large chandelier and providing a soft spotlight for the stage where a dancer is currently swaying her hips. Soft and comfortable looking lounge chairs and sofas are grouped around glass tables. Behind the sofas are long tables holding dimly lit lamps and votives with candles, not something one would expect in any club, let alone one of this nature.
The patrons are scattered throughout, lounging in their seats while sipping on drinks and watching the show. Others are livelier, having discussions with their tablemates, but still not causing a ruckus. Surrounding the stage is a countertop, but Kami can’t make out the color. Chairs are lined up around it, filled with men in suits. Kami watches as the dancer saunters over to one of the men holding what she guesses is money in his hand, and sways seductively for him. Once he hands the beautiful woman a bill, she leans down and kisses his cheek in a friendly manner. She repeats this for each man, though doing different routines for man, everything else seems automatic for her.
The music changes and the dancer seductively removes her top, the men leaning in closer as she slides it down. They still are perfect gentlemen, none of the hooting and hollering like Kami had expected. This time as the dancer starts her rounds, she crooks her finger and beckons the first man closer. When he leans closer, she presses her breasts around his face and rubs them up and down slowly. The man picks up more money and hands it to her.
Kami was starting to think she could become and exotic dancer. But putting her breasts on strangers? That seemed a little too far out of her comfort zone. Still, she tries to keep an open mind, especially when the next dancer enters the stage, her red hair familiar. Kami is entranced as she watches Trish dance her way around the stage. She finds herself wanting to be up there, feeling the music move her body like she did throughout her childhood. Trish makes it look easy and enjoyable, owning her sexuality and seducing even Kami with her movements.
Kami taps Penny on the shoulder and motions for them to go up to the stage. Wide-eyed, Penny nods and follows her friend. They spot two open seats and take them, the music not as loud in this area. Kami looks at the men down the counter from her and sees that they are giving the dancers tens and twenties, not the dollar bills that she had expected. She follows their lead and places a ten-dollar bill in front of her, close to the stage. Trish saunters over, her eyes lighting up when she recognizes the two women. She leans in and whisper yells in Kami’s ear that they can talk after her set. Kami nods her head in agreement and stays to watch the rest of the show, this time watching what the men surrounding the stage are doing.
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