Pole Dance

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  "Oh, Daddy…" she breathed her eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I've been such a naughty little girl."

  Hank was already flipping the thin pages trying to find the perfect words of the Lord to start her punishment this time.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Jake saw the police cars lining the street outside the club from two blocks away.

  "What'd you think it is, Jake?" Caitlin asked.

  "Dunno, Darlin'. But, I bet we'll find out."

  Dale's call from earlier this morning was to ask if Jake could open at the club this morning since the police wanted to question him down at the station. Jake saw him now, leaning back against the passenger door of his Corvette with his eyes closed.

  "Stay here, Caitlin, yeah?" Jake asked his eyes still on his partner as he climbed out of the Kia. He crossed the gravelly black-top his eyes sweeping over the crime scene tape and the milling crowd of lookey-loos pressing themselves against it. He made his way over to Dale's car and leaned against the car next to him, crossing his ankles in a deceptively relaxed pose.

  "What's goin' on, Dale?"

  Dale opened his eyes and straightened, relief evident at seeing him. "Jake! Thank God, you're here. They found another body. Behind the dumpster." Dale swallowed and looked at his feet. "They made me identify her before they took her body away. I thought her name was Carla--you know, that new girl we hired a couple months back?"

  Jake had been listening to Dale as he spoke, hearing the stuff that wasn't being said but that lingered behind his words. When Dale stopped, Jake made his hand circle to indicate Dale needed to keep talking.

  "Her name wasn't Carla, Jake." Dale dragged his hand across his mouth. "It was Renee. Renee Jamison."

  Jake felt his body stiffen. Okay, this was bad. This was very bad. "Ram here?" he asked on a quiet voice.

  "He was. Don't know if he's still here. What're we gonna do, Jake?"

  Jake straighten and crossed his arms as he thought. "Nothing," he finally rumbled firmly.

  "Nothing?"

  "Nothing we can do, Dale. Why don't we leave the club closed for today and let the police get on with it."

  "What about the staff, Jake? Losing a full day's pay for some of them is gonna be a real hit."

  "You talkin' 'bout the kitchen staff?" Jake saw Dale's nod from the corner of his eye. "Okay, how 'bout we let them have the day off with pay. That sound okay to you?"

  "Sure, Jake. Good idea. I'll go in the front and get them to close everything up before I leave."

  "Be sure to put a sign on the door, yeah?"

  "Yeah, Jake."

  "You gonna be okay? You don't look so good."

  "Embarrassed myself in front of the cops earlier. Until this shit came down I didn't know I had such a weak stomach," he offered with a small smile.

  "Call me if you need me." Jake grabbed Dale's shoulder and gave it a shake. "Play nice, big guy."

  "See ya, Jake."

  *.*.*.*.*

  I watched Jake as he came back to the car. I loved watching him move, his walk almost a cat-like prowl making other men's gait look ungainly and heavy. When I finally dragged my eyes to his face, though, I could see a deep scowl.

  "What happened, baby?" I asked when he was back in his seat and firing up the car.

  "Change in plans, Darlin'," He rumbled as he steered the car out of the parking lot and back on the road. "Instead of using the computer at the club, we're going to my house so you can put the rental up using the laptop or the other computer upstairs."

  "Oh, okay." I thought about this for a minute before asking, "Did you find out what was going on at the club?"

  He glanced at me across the console before flicking his eyes back forward. I waited for him to answer, which was a long time coming.

  "Found another body," he finally said. I waited and as the silence dragged on I recognized that Jake wasn't just trying to soften the blow of bad news; he was trying to find a way not to say it at all. So I steeled myself before asking, "Who was it?"

  "Renee Jamison," he finally admitted on a sigh. My body locked, eyes still trained on Jake's profile as I processed. Eventually, I turned my head to the window as my eyes filled up with tears. Jake must have caught my movement, my emotion 'cause I felt his hand lift my hair before sliding underneath to capture my neck.

  While we weren't best friends or anything, Renee and I had hung out together a few times, enough times to move from classmates to lab partners to the occasional drinking buddy.

  "I never saw her to ask her, like you wanted me to," I murmured, face still turned away from him watching the cars and buildings going by, their shapes distorted, blurring as my tears ran. "Her poor parents," I said amazed how I could feel sorry for Mr. Jamison at the loss of his daughter when just a few minutes before I would've scrunched my nose, making an 'Ewww' face if his name had been mentioned.

  "We should probably send flowers or a card or something," I murmured, wiping the wet trails on my face, still trying to take it all in.

  "Babe. You can if you want. Don't think her folks would want to be hearing from the owner of the club where she danced half-naked for money."

  "Hadn't thought of that, " I replied softly, thinking it must be hard to be someone hated because they own a certain type of business.

  Jake slid his hand down and captured my hand, dragging it over the console to hold it against his thigh. I turned my head to watch our fingers as they entwined and pressed against the heavy denim covering his hard thigh. "You okay, Darlin'?" he asked shooting me a quick glance.

  I squeezed his hand and leaned over to press a soft kiss on the shoulder of his jacket. "I will be."

  A couple of hours later, Jake was using the spatula to break up the clumps of hamburger meat as one of the first steps in what he called his "World Famous Bolognese" which would be regular spaghetti with meat sauce to anyone else. Caitlin sat at the breakfast bar composing the ad for the rental of Pam's apartment. She planned on placing the ad on their local town's website as well as the one for the University's student union.

  "Should I use the word 'charming' or does that imply that its really small for a one bedroom?"

  "Been thinkin' on this, pretty girl…" Caitlin watched as Jake turned the flame down on the stove and stepped closer to her end of the long bar. "How much you planning on renting this for?"

  "$300.00 the same as what Pam was paying, why?"

  Jake held me captive in his eyes, something moving behind the gold that I couldn't quite read.

  "You know what the other apartments in your area are going for? Especially with the security of an outside door and laundry room on site?"

  She shook her head slowly.

  "Why don't you go online and see if you can get a comparison?" Jake moved behind her and placed his hands on either side of the computer effectively surrounding her from behind. Caitlin's head swam from his nearness and she had to lock herself down to concentrate on his words.

  "Dale and I own the apartment building south from the Trailer Park, yeah? Babe, we charge $300.00 for just one of the studio apartments and, to tell the truth, that place is just a flop house. Think you can get a lot more than you're asking for a place in your area and for one as good as in your building."

  "You think so?"

  "Darlin', charge enough, maybe you wouldn't have to work so many jobs." Jake kissed the top of her head hoping he had given her the necessary push to begin stepping things up on her finances. He turned the burners back up and went back to making his masterpiece. He could feel Caitlin's eyes on his back as she thought through what he said but soon could hear the clicking of the laptop's keys as she began her investigation. It wasn't long, in fact the water for the spaghetti noodles hadn't even come to a boil, when he heard it.

  "Oh. My. God."

  Jake turned to look at her over his shoulder. Her eyes were big and round and her hands were covering her mouth. She moved her gaze from the computer screen to his.

  "Oh. My. God." Jake raised his eyebrows a
nd bit the inside of his cheek to prevent the laughter that was bubbling up.

  "Jake?"

  "Right here, pretty girl."

  "Holy shit," she whispered, her eyes going unfocused and he could almost see the wheels and gears spinning in her head.

  He watched as she cautiously moved off the barstool and as soon as she was on her own two feet, her hands reached for the ceiling, making 'metal horns' as she yelled, "Score!" and began dancing around, stopping only now and again to wiggle her hot, sweet ass. The laughter couldn't be contained this time and he roared, hearing her own bubbles of laughter blending with his.

  "You gonna tell me or not?" he asked as he turned back to his masterpiece.

  "There's another house, not two freaking streets over that were converted into one-bedroom apartments, too. Jake, there's pictures and everything! And the rent is $1,000.00 a month and they don't even have a laundry room on site." Caitlin's voice was shaky as she tried to explain. But, he had gotten it. His girl was discovering a whole new side of herself.

  "Which website you looking at?"

  "Let's Rent," Caitlin replied distractedly.

  "Need to capture the extras that their apartments have versus what your building has to offer. Based on that, the square footage, parking and what not, you'll have an idea on what to charge--either lower or higher than what they have listed. Got it?"

  "Got it!"

  "The other thing to keep in mind, Darlin', is how much your mortgage is, at least until we follow Sam's instructions and get a claim filed."

  "It's $1,100.00 per month. The rents on Two, Three and Four are $300.00 and I pay $200.00 per month." she whispered almost knowing what Jake was going to say before he even opened his mouth. She reluctantly dragged her eyes to his, bracing for his explosion.

  "Christ, Cait! You're paying for your fuckin' apartment, too? How'd that fuckin' happen?"

  He held up a hand to stop her before she could even begin to speak. "No. On second thought, don't tell me. Don't wanna know." Jake turned back to the stove mumbling into the sauce that was just on the verge of boiling, much like his temper. He tried to keep his feelings to himself by only occasionally muttering, 'Fuck' when he thought about his girl gettin' cheated out of so much, but it took him a long time to calm down.

  The dishwasher was humming before they cuddled on the couch in the Jake's bedroom, his laptop balanced on Caitlin's lap, both their feet pointed towards the fire that provided just enough light and warmth on the cold night.

  "What'd you decide, Darlin'?"

  "Yep, that was some world renown spaghetti. Honest to God, a vision. A masterpiece." Caitlin kissed her fingers and glanced at Jake who watching her with a small grin. Her giggle disrupted her words as she tried to choke out, "None better."

  "Cute," he rumbled as he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Meant about the listing, silly girl."

  He watched her face in the firelight, the way it caught the waves of her dark hair, the way it was reflected in her blue-green eyes. He felt her legs move to drape over his as her stocking feet wiggled against his bare toes, the warmth of her body snuggled close to his side and thought he had never had it better. This slip of a girl, this beautiful woman, had captured his attention since the beginning but had managed to work her way deep down, all the way into his heart, his soul. He couldn't imagine, even after only spending a little more than a week together, not having her in his life.

  "I did what you said and did the comparison. My place has the advantages of a secured building and the laundry room at the top of the stairs, but we don't have on-site parking, Wi-Fi or cable TV. I'm thinking about calling the cable company tomorrow to see what it might cost to have it installed." She tapped her chin in thought before she continued. "I'd have to check the applications to be sure but I don't think any of the apartments have had an increase since the tenants have moved in. So, I'm thinking that I'll list Three for $950.00 and ask for first, last and a security deposit of $500.00. Then I'll increase Two and Four's rent to $500.00 each which I think is fair seeing how both Marianne and Layne have lived there so long without the rent changing, with another bump next year. So, what'd you think?"

  Jake had sat quiet through Caitlin's recitation, his eyes moving from the fire to her face to the laptop and back again. He didn't interrupt or give any signal that he agreed with what she was saying or not. She waited for him to speak only snagging a sip from the water bottle they had brought up with them in the quiet.

  "Great plan, Darlin'. Gives you a cash flow of $850 each month not including the added bonus of not having to pay rent on your place. How much are the property taxes per year?" He glanced down at her seeing her frown into the fireplace.

  "You know, the tax bill that comes every quarter, how much is it?"

  "I've never paid one of those, Jake," she admittedly softly, her eyes drifting to his, her brows knitted as she worried. "Should I have? They won't be able to take my house away, will they? I mean you hear all the time about people losing their houses due to tax liens and stuff…"

  "Whoa, Darlin', slow down," Jake growled with a squeeze. "I'll give Sam a call tomorrow and find out who's been paying the taxes or not paying as the case may be. If there's problem, we'll take care of it. With the cable, find out how much it is and I'll pay it to get you started 'cause I think you can probably charge more if you have it, yeah?"

  Caitlin raised her eyes to his, her face scrunched up and plainly worried about having her house taken away.

  "And here I was thinkin' to give Mahmood the middle finger when I told him I quit," she admitted leaning harder against him, thumping her socked toes against his bare feet. He snagged the water bottle while thinkin' she'd never get fuckin' close enough to Mahmood to give him the finger.

  Jake watched her work it through on her own and was glad she wasn't throwing another hissy fit, yelling how she could make it on her own. He smiled to himself thinking how far they'd come in such a little time if she was willing to accept both his advice and his financial help. "Ready for bed, pretty girl?"

  Caitlin closed the laptop with a nod and moved it off her lap.

  She was just making her way to his bed, after doing her nightly routine of make-up removal, teeth and slipping into one of his t-shirts, when he asked, "How'd you learn to dance and strip like you did?"

  Caitlin stopped dead in her tracks, leg up on the mattress a vision, him lounging on his side, elbow cocked, his head on his hand, chest and belly exposed. They'd alluded to, but never talked about it, that time in his office. She finished getting into bed and faced him, copying his pose.

  "Dunno. Spent some time on You Tube. You know how scared I was, right?"

  "Yeah, Darlin', could see how scared you were," Jake admitted with a sexy smile. "Could also see how turned on you were, getting naked for me."

  "You saw that, did you?" she whispered with a wry grin.

  "Could smell how turned on you were, too," he confessed his smile going just a bit wicked at the memory.

  "Ewww, that's gross!" Caitlin giggled, grabbing one of the pillows and throwing it his way. Jake easily deflected the feathered projectile with a chuckle but used it as an excuse to push her onto her back and to cover her body with his.

  "Not gross, pretty girl, not by a long shot." He leaned down to capture her lips. "Love the way you smell, Cait. Love having my mouth on you, burying my fingers or cock in you. Your cream drives me insane. Babe. Seriously. There've been plenty of times, just about asleep and catch just the smell of you on my lips or fingers. No foolin', Darlin', my dick's ready go another round."

  Caitlin eyes held his for a few seconds, softening, as she tried to put her feelings aside and convert 'Jake-speak' into something she could understand, could wrap her head around.

  "I think I get what you're saying, baby, but it still sounds disgusting," she murmured against his lips.

  "Let's see if I can make you smell good for me, yeah?" Jake whispered as his hands moved beneath the t-shirt she h
ad on and started to work their magic against Caitlin's bare skin.

  Chapter Fifteen

  "What've you got for me, boys?" Ram entered the bullpen at the station the next morning refreshed after the few hours of sleep he'd managed. Funny how some shut eye, good food and a shower can revive a man. Especially if the man had dreams of creamy flesh captured in light blue lace with promises of keeping his secrets whispered in his ear.

  "Got a fingerprint off one of the pages we'd found in Pam's throat. Sent it off and think we got a hit." Tim mumbled around the huge bite of doughnut he was trying to chew. He reached for his coffee to help move it along.

  "You're shittin' me," Ram said coming to a full stop. Were they finally getting a break in this? He wandered over to Tim's desk to see what was on his computer monitor.