by Danielle Fox
“Hi, you must be Emily, I’m Natalie.” She introduced herself whilst leaning in to my left side to plant a pecking kiss on my cheek.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you, Natalie.” I accepted her polite kiss and pulled away quickly as I felt my cheeks redden. Did people really greet each other with kisses these days?
“So, what do you think?” She waved her hands around her as she spoke, as if displaying the view for me.
“It’s incredible!” I exclaimed. “I’m actually speechless, which is a first!” That, of course, was a lie as I was often rendered speechless, more through overwhelming shyness than anything else but I hoped by acting confidently I could gain some respect from my fellow colleagues and who knows, maybe even a friend. I had to fight hard against the nerves that were threatening to reveal themselves in my voice.
“I’m the bar supervisor so you’ll be shadowing me tonight and I’ll make sure you’re confident in the running of things here before I let you loose on any punters.” She beamed her brilliant smile at me again. “Follow me and you’ll do just fine.”
I nodded in agreement and turned to thank Ryan before he disappeared back through the door.
Natalie was very welcoming, she spoke politely and explained every action with great detail as to what she was doing and why she was doing it. And, she was absolutely stunning. She had straight, waist length hair that was a brilliant, almost white blonde. She had a pale, flawless complexion and wore plenty of rose pink blusher that exaggerated her prominent, high cheekbones. Her piercing green eyes looked familiar somehow but I couldn’t place her face as being one that I had seen before. These eyes were perfectly made up with shimmering brown and gold shadows and a thick band of black liner. Her lashes were long and full, and perfectly curled. I made a mental note to make more of an effort before my next shift, if there was to be a next.
Much to my surprise, the entire night ran smoothly. Natalie reeled off the contents of each exotic cocktail to me as she served her own punters and I was extremely grateful for her help – after all, she could have just left me to get on with it myself, that would definitely have left me looking stupid, but instead she spent the evening paying an equal amount of attention to my drinks’ orders as she had her own.
There were six female bar staff in total, me included. Each one as equally as beautiful as the next, myself not included. Gemma was bordering on being annoyingly friendly; I had been startled on numerous occasions as she had bounced up behind me and spun me into a friendly squeeze with no prior warning, this being her way of praising me when I had gotten the ingredients of a cocktail correct without any outside help.
As it neared midnight I began to feel the strain on my burning soles. Samantha’s boots had seemed like a good idea at the time but now I was painfully reminded of why I didn’t wear high heels often.
No doubt noticing what must have been a pained expression on my face, Natalie approached me.
“Are you okay, Hun?” She placed a slender hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Is it that obvious?” I winced. “These boots seemed like a good idea at the time.” I smiled shyly, looking down at my feet and wiggling my toes to ease the crushing sensation.
“Take ten minutes, I can cover you here.” As she spoke she grasped both of my shoulders and began turning me in the direction of the door.
“Thanks,” I said, walking less than elegantly as I exited the bar.
I made my way around the edge of the dancing area so as not to attract too much attention to myself as I headed for the bathroom.
I re-tied my hair and stared into the ornate mirror to reapply my rosé-tinted lip gloss. The face staring back at me looked confident and sure. My rounded, marbled blue eyes looked fresh and alive although I felt so drained I was sure they should be showing the signs of fatigue by now. I pouted ridiculously as I studied my appearance in my reflection. I had always done this but had no idea why and it wasn’t something I could control, my lips automatically took on a pouting pose whenever I concentrated on anything whether it was involving a mirror or not. This only exaggerated the flaw in my lips. My top lip was not in proportion with the bottom, it was a fraction larger than the bottom and protruded slightly more but I had never allowed it to bother me much. I simply made the best of what I had and never wished for more.
As I pinched my cheeks slightly to make up for my lack of blusher, I noticed loud snuffling sounds coming from a locked cubicle behind me. I leaned closer and could make out the sounds of a woman’s sobs.
“Hello? Are you okay?” I called out. There was no answer but the sobs grew louder. “My name’s Emily, I work here, is everything alright?” My concern was evident in my voice as I spoke. I had always hated to see anyone crying, it upset me considerably, though I could never understand how even a complete strangers’ tears could affect my emotions the way they did.
“Hello? Please come out, I just want to be sure that you’re okay,” I pleaded.
I heard a sharp click as the door was unlatched and waited eagerly as it opened at a painfully delayed pace.
The woman that emerged from the cubicle was clearly deeply upset. What I’m sure was once perfectly applied mascara was now streaked in thick black lines down her cheeks and tears streamed down continuously. She wiped at her reddened nose with a screwed up tissue and snorted – less than elegantly.
“Are you okay? What’s happened?”
“This bloody place happened and the bastards that occupy it, that’s what!” Her voice shook uncontrollably as her cries rattled through her chest.
“Will you tell me why you’re so upset? I work here so if it’s something that's happened here I might be able to help.”
“Why would you want to help someone like me? I obviously ask for it coming to a place like this, dressed like this!”
My eyes involuntarily moved up and down her slender frame as she waved a shaking hand down the length of her dress. She was dressed quite provocatively – I’m not going to lie – in a tightly stretched, short red dress with a halter neck fastening. I could see in her reflection in the mirror behind her that the dress didn’t have a back to it, leaving her entire back, right down to the top of her buttocks, exposed. It didn’t leave much to the imagination but, all the same, that didn’t mean she was asking for anything, in my opinion.
“What do you mean? What did you ask for?” I was even more eager now to find out why this woman was so distraught. Had somebody hurt her? Had somebody touched her? I winced at the latter thought.
“It’s no big deal, really, I’m fine!” she began. I wasn’t sure who she was trying convince, me or herself. “Just some sleazebag trying it on, that’s all. But, what can I expect, I suppose?” Her chest heaved again as another wave of loud sobs escaped.
“You can expect to be treated with some respect, that’s what!” I was almost shouting at her now; I couldn’t stand the thought of this woman excusing a man from taking advantage of her just because she was wearing a short dress. Although, of course, I had no idea whether that was what had happened, but I was assuming that was the case and it sickened me.
“Treated with respect?” She threw her head back as a dramatically false laugh replaced her tears. “In a place like this?”
“Especially in a place like this! The members here are supposed to be respectable individuals!”
“From that, I can only assume that you’re new here. No one on that list of theirs is respectable. The men come here because it makes them feel important, they’re respected if they’re on such an exclusive guest list, but in reality they’re here to pick up women. Disgusting, shameless women like me who come here dressed like a tart on the prowl for a rich and handsome bachelor, and then dare to cry when they’re treated like a tart!” She was ranting now and becoming visibly more upset.
“You’re not disgusting or shameless because of the clothes you wear!” I interrupted. “That doesn’t give any man the right to treat you wrongly! What the hell happened
?” I was losing my patience now, if someone had touched her – which I was assuming they had – how can she justify that and truly believe that she deserved it? I found the thought repulsive.
“I was talking to a guy at the bar, he brought me a drink and he seemed nice. When I excused myself to come to the bathroom he followed me. He said he’d never, what were his words, ‘fucked a woman in these bathrooms before’. I told him he wasn’t going to tonight either and he slammed me against the wall and put his hand up my skirt. I’m sure you don’t need those details.” She explained calmly as if she were talking about the weather, her voice no longer revealing her distress.
“That’s disgusting!” I hissed. I actually felt physically sick. How dare he? “Come with me,” I said whilst circling her wrist with my fingers. “He’s not going to get away with this.”
“Of course he is, there’s no point in reporting him. Things like this happen all the time in here. I’m not the first and I certainly won’t be the last.”
“You will if I’ve got anything to do with it,” I said through gritted teeth as I pulled her through the door.
I marched straight across the dance floor this time, not bothering to look who was watching. I was not usually quite so forward and demanding but when a woman was touched without her consent I couldn’t sit back and say nothing. I knew too well how that could make a woman feel, worthless and dirty and yet somehow she always blames herself, just like this woman was doing now. Not this time.
I leaned over the bar and waved for Natalie’s attention.
“Hey, I said ten minutes; I thought you had done a runner. What’s going on?” Her eyes wandered cautiously over the face of the woman beside me before she appeared to sigh deeply.
“I need to report an incident involving a couple of your members, who do I speak to?”
“Leave it with me, sweetie, I’ll sort this,” she said, tilting her head to the side in an almost patronising manner. This bothered me.
“I would rather see it through myself if you don’t mind, Natalie, if you could just point me in the right direction.” I held her eye contact with a stern glance – this was new to me too, I often struggled to look people in the eye – but I was determined that he would not get away with this.
“Very well, good luck!” she smiled. “You’ll need to see Ryan in his office; you remember where that is, right?”
“Yes, thanks.” I rounded the bar and headed for the door, still clasping the woman’s wrist, eager not to let her disappear.
As I entered Ryan’s office I released my grip on her, confident that she could no longer escape. Ryan looked up with a surprised but warm expression.
“Hello, Miss Braxton. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Oh it’s no pleasure, trust me.”
Ryan looked around me to where the woman hovered and his expression quickly changed to one of deep concern. I repeated the story to Ryan only to be told he would have no way of knowing who the assaulter was as the woman, Suzie, she finally introduced herself as, didn’t catch his name. I suggested that he go through the entire night’s CCTV footage, find him and print copies of his image so at least if nobody recognised him now we’d be able to keep an eye out for him next time he visited. Again, I surprised myself with my authoritative tone. Ryan agreed and began scanning the footage whilst dismissing us from his office and allowing me to see Suzie safely to a taxi before heading for home myself.
I was to be there at 8 o’clock sharp on Saturday.
I stood admiring Maia as she slept, and felt a surge of overwhelming love and adoration. I adored her with every part of my being. What was that saying? Out of the darkness, there comes a light. And, she was my light, a light so bright in the terrifying pitch black that I knew it could never dull.
I couldn’t resist climbing into bed next to her and nestling my nose into her hair. She smelled divine, as she always did.
“Mummy’s home,” I whispered as I gently kissed her hair.
Chapter Three
I awoke the following morning to little fingers trying to pry my eyelids open. I smiled widely as I blinked rapidly, my eyes trying to adjust to focus on the precious face that was so close to mine.
“Morning, Mummy,” Maia said, in a voice that would rival that of an angel.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I replied as I pulled her into a hug.
“Squeeze,” she giggled whilst squeezing me as hard as her fragile arms would allow.
She absolutely melted my heart. I never thought it was possible to love another being as much as I loved Maia. She was perfect, so beautiful and so kind and warm. She was such a character for a three year old; she never failed to make me laugh. And she enjoyed nothing more than making people laugh. No matter what, I only had to look at her and my smile would instantly appear.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her, digging my fingers gently into her sides. She giggled and thrashed as she attempted to escape my tickles.
“Yes, breakfast, Mummy!” she squealed in response.
As Maia dug her spoon eagerly into her bowl of coco pops, Samantha shuffled sleepily into the kitchen and stood beside me, yawning dramatically.
“Sorry, did we wake you?” I asked her as a slight feeling of guilt began to creep over me.
“No, I was awake anyway. I’ve been waiting for you to surface; I can’t wait to hear about last night. Did you meet anyone of interest? Actors? Footballers?” she mocked as she jabbed a gentle finger into my side.
“No, I’m afraid not. Although, I did nearly get knocked out by my extremely handsome boss!”
“Explain!” she ordered as she filled up the kettle and flicked the switch on.
I explained the story of how I had become acquainted with Mr Scott as Samantha gawped at me, looking somewhat gormless, actually.
“So, how hot is hot?” she asked me, a grin spreading from ear to ear. And, there was the very expression that I had been dreading, the expression that told me that she wanted every detail.
“Oh, he was very hot, extremely so, but he was an arrogant arse quite frankly so let’s not even go there, yeah,” I said, stifling a yawn.
“So, you like him then?”
“No, Samantha. I don’t like him. I said he was hot, that’s all, but I’m not in the habit of trying to catch the attention of my boss. And anyway he was rude and grumpy, and did I say, very arrogant?”
Samantha let the subject drop more easily than I had feared. “So, what are you up to today?” she asked me, lifting her cup of coffee and sipping it loudly.
“I’m dropping Maia at the nursery at nine, then I’m off to college, you?”
It wasn’t a college exactly, but how else did one easily describe the Academy of Dramatic Arts? It was much easier to refer to it as college and besides, Samantha knew what I meant.
“I’m working all day, but I do have a lunch date,” she beamed before flashing me a wink.
“Tell me more!”
I wasn’t surprised by the fact that Samantha had been asked out for lunch by a rather handsome businessman-in-the-making who lived a couple of doors away from us. We both knew him only well enough to say hi as we passed on the street but I had always noted the way he looked at Samantha, it was obvious to me that he was attracted her, and who could blame him? Samantha was gorgeous. She had honey blonde hair that always looked immaculate; I secretly envied her for that as I was absolutely hopeless with my own. I was always grateful when a special occasion came up, she would happily make my hair look incredible, I just wished I knew how she did it! She had sparkling blue eyes that were welcoming and kind. Her full, ruby lips covered a sweet but sexy smile, her teeth a brilliant white and all perfectly in line. Her grandmother from her mother’s side was of Spanish origin and Samantha had luckily inherited her beautiful olive toned skin. She had a permanent healthy glow, the complete opposite of my pale and washed out appearance. And she was beautiful on the inside, no one could argue that. She showed nothing but kindness and generosity. She
really was the best friend that anyone could ever hope for. Of course, she was also my cousin so we had grown up together. My father was the brother of Samantha’s father. They had both teased us as children about how we behaved like an old married couple, we bickered a lot but we always looked after each other and were completely inseparable from a young age. And now we really were like a married couple. We lived together in the house that I inherited when my mother had lost her battle against the cancer that was attacking her left breast when I was just three-years old and she supported me in bringing up my daughter. For that I would be forever in her debt, and gladly so. I owed Samantha a lot more than I could ever give her. She had no skeletons in her closet, no dark haunting past to phase her future. For that I couldn’t envy her. She deserved to be happy.
At 9am I waved goodbye to Maia and made my way to my lecture that was to start at 9.30am prompt. I had a little time to spare so I nipped in and grabbed a latte-to-go from the local coffee shop on my way, hoping that the caffeine would give me the kick I so desperately needed. After getting home shortly before 2am and rising at 7am, I was feeling the strain, to say the least.
The noise of running engines and horns sounding invaded my already pounding head as the rush hour traffic surrounded me. The smell of exhaust fumes polluting the very air I breathed was slightly sickening. Parked outside the entrance of the college was an immaculate black car, a very expensive looking car, in my humble opinion. As I neared, I could make out the Bentley logo on the back of the car boot. I couldn’t resist sneaking a quick glance through the window as I passed, wondering who might be visiting with such a conspicuous car. I wasn’t well informed on cars in general but, even I knew that a Bentley cost a hell of a lot of money. But, of course, I was greeted by solid sheets of tinted glass. Leaving my thoughts behind me, I entered the building, throwing my now empty cup into the bin with a perfectly aimed shot and grinning ridiculously at my success.