“This is exciting,” I said, leaning forward in my seat. “I plan to add new instructors and more classes as I grow the business. This is pretty amazing.”
“I think you’re pretty amazing for having the guts to do this on your own.” His high appraisal made me beam like a child receiving a parent’s praise.
“Or foolish.”
“The only foolish thing would be if you didn’t try and then were left with regrets.” He faced the screen again. “I have all the basic studio info in here and created an admin account for you. First I’m going to show you how to add clients to the system and then I’ll hand over the laptop so you can do it.”
Mike glanced at my hands, which I’d been wringing. “I’m nervous,” I explained.
“Don’t be. The best way to learn how to use this system and make it work for you is to play around with it. It’s easy to create dummy entries and then delete them. If you ever make a mistake, you can click Undo.”
I took a sip of coffee. “I’m caffeinated and ready.”
“That’s my girl.” He patted my thigh, an innocent gesture but one that pulsed intense need through me. Then he demonstrated how to create new client accounts and I did one on my own.
“You used my name,” he said.
“You’re next to me,” I explained, feeling foolish. “I’ll delete it.”
“No, don’t. Who knows, maybe I’ll find the courage to try yoga again, after the humiliation fades.”
I grinned, picturing the thought. “Okay.”
“Now I’m going to show you how to create classes and how to add clients to them. Then I’ll show you how to make sales in the system. How you can view your sales reports. And so on. I’ve connected your credit card processing system and your bank account so you can view it all here.”
“Holy crap.” I leaned in with excitement. “You mean I don’t have to log in to my bank accounts and credit card accounts and enter all that data into spreadsheets?”
“Nope, you can export data into Excel or QuickBooks or whatever format your accountant wants. You can see your financial status at any time by clicking on this tab.” He clicked a tab that read Reports, which showed a number of financial options.
“This is unbelievably awesome. You rock!” I threw my arms around him to hug him.
He laughed, a sound that melted me, leaving me as warm as the richest chocolate fondue.
“I haven’t even shown you how we can add it to your website yet. Or access it on your iPhone.”
My eyes widened with admiration. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me. You really are a genius.”
“No, just a software engineer. I create programs like this to make people’s lives easier.” He squinted. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re even hotter now than when you’re in tight leather pants on stage. I never thought smart could be so sexy.” The sound of the front door opening distracted me from the desire that had begun to well up. “That must be Lily. She’s coming to take pictures for the website.”
“Good,” Mike said. “I can give her the code to embed the program into the website. Once you figure out your schedule, people can buy and book classes online.”
I clasped my hands together and kissed him on the cheek. “I am so lucky to have you both.”
Mike
After we left Allana’s studio, she took me to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I could barely get through the meal without touching her in some way. Her hand, her arm, her leg. Being around her stirred an unfamiliar longing to get closer to her. She was beautiful, her blonde hair soft as silk and eyes that could unglue me with their intense blues. But something else drew me to her besides the overwhelming sexual attraction. I liked her.
Over dinner she mentioned an animal shelter she often went to in Gloucester and her eyes lit up.
“What do you do there?”
She shrugged. “I have a shift once a week volunteering. Help with feedings or clean the cages or just play with the animals. They need some attention.” Her eyes dropped to the salt and pepper shakers. “It’s usually four hours, but with all that I have going on, I can only do two right now.”
My heart panged, seeing this soft side of her. Not only did she care about people wanting them to improve their lives, but animals too. How did this smoking hot woman have such a caring heart?
“That’s more than most people do.”
Her gaze drifted up past me. “I wish I could take some of them home. But with my landlord’s rules…”
“What would you bring home first?” I asked.
“I love all kinds of animals,” she said. “But I’d love to bring home a little puppy.”
I pictured her smile as she played with one. Not only did my heart surge, my cock stiffened as well. How the hell did this woman get to me so? Spending time with her was more than just trying to get into a woman’s pants. I liked hanging out with her. Listening to music at my house, having a conversation over a meal, even helping her with the studio. It didn’t seem like work, but pleasure. Doing something I was good at to help a friend.
We parted ways after dinner but she promised to hold up her end of the bargain and come to Vamps tonight to watch us play.
*
The moment I spotted her from the stage while we played Vampire Bromance, I couldn’t tear my eyes off her. Watching her sway her hips in a black minidress with a sexy zipper that went the entire length of the front of the dress gave me a semi-erection on stage. The sleeveless dress showed off her pin-up style floral tattoos on her toned arms.
Several guys noticed how hot she was. When they checked her out, a dagger of possessiveness struck me. If they touched her…
Is this what Nico went through when Lily came to our shows? I glanced over at him, but between the lights and my position, I couldn’t gauge what he was looking at.
We played through several of our popular songs, including Never Trust a Woman with an Asp and Annabel Lee, the song Nico had written after meeting Lily.
A guy came up behind Allana, his hands in front of him. My red signals went up and I focused on him. We’d played this song A Discourse in Scarlet, a modern day banter between Sherlock Holmes and Watson, hundreds of times so I could do so on autopilot.
He was too close and it bothered me. Although I couldn’t see what was going on with the crowd in the way, I saw her raise his hands and drop them. Had he touched her inappropriately? She turned back and appeared to say something to him. Then she moved a couple of feet away from him to her right.
The tension building up inside me eased with the distance between them, but when he followed in her direction, I was wound as tight as my guitar strings. I didn’t like this. He moved in behind her, moving his body behind her as she danced. He must have made another move, touched her again, because she pivoted and raised a finger to his face, giving him a piece of her mind.
She peered up at me and our eyes locked until the glare from the stage lights broke it. When my eyes adjusted, she’d disappeared. I scanned the crowd, searching for her. Panic rose as I searched the dark recesses of the club.
She was so petite she was difficult to locate. But her blonde hair stood out against the black-clad dancers so that’s what I scanned for. My heart pounded, wondering where she had gone. And where was that dickhead?
I spotted him first. He was tall and gangly, sporting a stupid goatee. As I watched the direction he moved in, I located her. She was moving closer to the stage. Closer to me. It was easy for her to squeeze through the bodies with her tiny figure. She planted herself amid a group of people dancing.
Her distance didn’t dissuade him. He pushed his way closer her, moving around the figures that separated them. Although he was bigger and slower than her, he didn’t let the mass of figures disrupt his pursuit. All my senses flared to their highest alert.
Calm down. Maybe he’ll change his mind. Or she’ll brush him off enough this time he gets the picture and gives up.
The glint in his eye distu
rbed me, I’d seen it one too many times when people passed a certain point during a night of drinking. When they’d become immune to reason as they embarked on a drunken quest, usually followed with repeated poor decisions.
Allana scanned to her left where they had just stood and seeing he was gone, visibly relaxed. She began to dance again.
He dodged the last few people and reached her again. This time they were close enough I could see more of what unfolded. He reached around her and grabbed her hip and bent low to whisper something into her ear. His hand slid up, covering her breast. Maybe he kissed her neck. She spun around and slapped him. He grabbed her wrist and kissed her. She struggled, her free hand pounding his chest and tried to pull away. Even worse, he lifted her skirt and I saw his hand disappear underneath.
Rage spread through my body, but when his hand disappeared up her dress, a fury like I’d never experienced bled into every nerve. I dropped my guitar and flew at him, everything clouded with red. Except him. My vision focused on him with deadly accuracy. Prying his hands from her, I threw him into the crowd.
“Get away!” I told her.
“Oh my God, Mike!” A part of me realized how clearly I could hear her. The guys had stopped playing.
I searched through the club to see where the guy had landed and saw him near the fringes of the crowd. Lunging through the people, I pulled my fist back and punched him in the jaw. As he recoiled, blood spurted from his nose. I jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. I punched him over and over, his blood covering my knuckles. He raised his hands to deflect the blows and punch back. If he made contact, the pain didn’t register with all the adrenaline hurdling through my veins.
Arms grabbed me from behind and I fought to escape the hold.
“Stop fighting!” Nico said in his slight English accent. “It’s the bouncers.”
The guy struggled to his feet, dazed. “What the fuck, asshole?”
“Don’t ever go near her again.”
“The blonde?” He shrugged. “Who cares about some little whore?”
I maneuvered out of the hands grabbing me and slammed my fist into this guy’s gut. He hunched over and moaned.
“Cut the shit, Mike!” John, our drummer, said.
Arms bound my arms and led me out of the crowd.
“Where is she?” I searched for Allana, struggling out of their grasp to find her.
“Calm the fuck down, dude. Let’s get backstage,” Nico said.
When I spotted Allana away from the crowd, her eyes were wide blue circles of surprise. I mouthed “Come” and nodded backstage.
The two enormous bouncers hurled me backstage. One was Byron, the muscular black bouncer from that night I’d found Allana backstage. The other was the tall blond Viking guy, and he was giving me a really weird look.
“What the fuck just happened out there?” Byron asked.
“That guy forced himself on my girl.” Hearing myself say that sounded right, even if it wasn’t true. “He grabbed her tits. Kissed her against her will. She tried to fight him off, but he got even worse. Sticking his hand up her skirt.”
“So you flew off the stage to beat the crap out of him?” Byron asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Someone had to.” My anger refocused on them. “Where the fuck were you guys when that was going down?”
The blond guy watched me, taking the whole thing in.
The door opened and Allana appeared. “Hold on,” I told them. I wiped blood off my hands onto my shirt.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She blinked rapidly. “What the hell just happened?”
“I saw him forcing himself on you. So I jumped in.”
“Are you insane? You leapt from the stage—where you’re supposed to be performing—because some guy touched me?”
“I saw the whole thing, Allana. He was stalking you through the club. And when he grabbed you, I— I— Uh—”
“Lost your damn mind?”
“Lost control,” I clarified in my defense.
She looked past me. “Here come Nico and John. I’ll go find Lily.”
She headed to the door, but stopped and took two steps back to me. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek and said, “Thank you, Mike, you crazy, protective freak. I know you meant well.”
My eyes followed her as she walked to the door with a light step, her blonde hair swaying down her back. Her tiny waist tapered out to a perfect ass.
Byron stopped her. “Miss, can you tell to us what happened?”
“What the fuck was that, dude?” John asked.
The drilling kept coming.
“Some dick forced himself on Allana. She pushed him off, but then he got more aggressive.”
“So you flew over the crowd like some superhero and threw him before giving him a beat down?” Nico asked.
Reason began to return. What the hell just happened? I was not a violent guy and I didn’t start fights. We’d gotten into a few scuffles in clubs, but nothing like what I had just experienced. I was a lover, not a fighter. A geek, not a bully. Seeing Allana in trouble woke a beast I didn’t even know was inside me.
“What would you do if someone sexually assaulted Lily in front of you?” I asked Nico.
He tilted his head. “Okay, I get it.” His features tightened. “But the way you moved.” He shook his head as if not sure how to explain. “How far you threw him.”
“You leapt over and into the crowd,” John added. “Like you were on a suspension line or something.”
My laugh came out with a nervous pitch. “What are you guys talking about?”
“It didn’t seem possible,” Nico added. “The distance, the movement. It was more like an animal than a human. And when did you get to be so strong to be able to pick up a man and hurl him across a club?”
I didn’t know how to answer or explain. “Probably an adrenaline rush.” I shrugged. “You know how that gives people extraordinary strength.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Nico squinted his eyes at me, unconvinced. “You sure you weren’t strung up by suspensions?”
I shook my head.
“Pretty sick,” John added.
“If anyone asks, we’ll tell them you were rigged up to one. I don’t know how the hell else to explain it.” Nico gazed off and then peered at me. “What do we tell the crowd? Show’s over, everyone. Thanks for coming out. Time to go home.”
I glanced at my hand, bloodied and bruised. “No, I can play.”
Nico stared at them. “Your mitts look like bloody ground meat.”
“They’ll hurt worse tomorrow. And be swollen too,” I replied. “Might as well get what I can out of them tonight.”
“Let’s get out there quick and finish the set before someone decides to call the cops on you.”
We returned to the stage and Nico addressed the crowd. “Sorry about the break. We had a bit of the problem with some dickhead in the crowd. But we’re back.”
People cheered. A few shouted, “What happened?”
Nico glanced at me and I nodded. “Some guy decided to creep up on one of our friends and most loyal fans. She was just trying to have a good time at the show, dancing, minding her own business. But no, this tosser wouldn’t leave her alone. He moved in on her, not taking her No for an answer.”
The crowd booed. Some shouted, “What an asshole!”
Nico continued, “When this wanker grabbed her inappropriately and forced his tongue into her mouth, my boy Chee over here did the right thing and jumped in.”
The crowd cheered for me. I had to give it to Nico, he was the quintessential front man. He spun this situation around to make me look like the good guy, which I wasn’t even sure I was in this situation. Not only that, he had the entire crowd supporting me. If the bouncers or anyone decided to call the cops on me, I now had the majority of the crowd on my side.
“Guys, if a woman does not want to be with you, back the fuck off. No means motherfucking no!”
The crowd cheered. I decided to take it from there with the opening riffs to our crowd pleaser Let’s Fuck All over Paris. Nico sang the lyrics:
No money, no hope
But in Paris, I cope
Sad ghosts fill the air,
Joy and despair
I made it through the show without getting pulled off the stage and arrested like Jim Morrison during a show with The Doors in New Haven. After we finished playing, we probably had one of the loudest and longest applause we’ve ever had. When I brought my equipment backstage, the tall blond bouncer approached me.
“Can we talk?”
Oh fuck. Here we go. It wasn’t over yet. Pretty soon, I’d be in the back of a cop car going down to the station.
“Sure, man. What’s up?”
“Alone,” he added. He led me down the hall away from others. “I saw what happened.”
“Yeah.”
“And how you leaped.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So?” What did this guy want? Was he trying to blackmail me so he wouldn’t talk or what?
“It confirms what I suspected the last time I saw you here.”
Allana
I found Lily standing near the bar.
“What’s going on? You look shaken.”
“I’m okay,” I said, although my hands still trembled.
“Oh my God, are you the woman Nico mentioned?”
“Yeah. Some guy had too much to drink. I could taste the whiskey when he forced his tongue down my throat.”
“That’s horrible, Ally!” She touched my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. People keep asking me that. Do I look like shit or something?”
“I have never seen you look like shit.” She smoothed down my hair. “Just a few strands.” After she scrutinized her work to make sure I appeared presentable, she asked, “What happened?”
“This guy kept creeping up behind me. I thought he was just trying to dance and brushed him off and moved away. Only he didn’t give up, each time he grew more aggressive. He didn’t just try to dance, he grabbed my hips and pressed himself against me. And he was horny. Unfortunately, I could feel his erection pressed up against my ass.”
“Ugh. Gross. Like you wanted him to dry hump you in a club.”
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