by Vince Stark
“What the fuck!” She laughed. “This looks like a royal wedding in ancient Rome or something.”
While Brad was munching on a prawn while scanning for what food he would take next, while Leah finally appeared from the bathroom, smiling at her friend. I assumed Louise would notice Leah wasn’t wearing tights anymore but she didn’t seem to.
It was a challenge to get used to the dynamic with Louise and Brad in the room now. I wanted to be alone with Leah, I wanted to get to know her better. This was strange for me - it was much more common for me to want to leave as quickly as possible after sex, like I had just committed a crime. I wasn’t sure why I wanted her to stick around. Leah was particularly attractive, but I have been with many attractive women before. Maybe it was because I didn’t actually fuck her and left me feeling that was something that still needed to be done.
The blast of the second champagne bottle being opened jolted me.
“Jack!” Brad’s voice brought me back and I realized I must have looked strange daydreaming like I had been.
“It’s been a hell of a night,” I managed to say.
He poured the champagne into four glasses and passed them out. We all raised our glasses. Leah was across from me and we were caught in a stare. We had a secret and both of our mouths curled to trusting smiles.
“To Madeline’s,” Brad said raising his glass higher. I don’t know why, but I hate toasting.
We all touched glasses.
“To Madeline,” we all responded and drank.
My eyes stayed on Leah. She held her smile as she brought the champagne flute to her mouth.
“Nice table,” Louise said, referring to pool table. It was striking with its red surface and fine wood detailing. “Girls against boys?” she suggested with a challenging tone.
Leah laughed in response. “It’s getting late,” she protested.
I didn’t want her to go so I interjected, “One game, then I’ll get a car to take you home.”
My champagne was done, so I opened a beer.
“It’s just as easy to take the night train,” Leah responded.
I had my back to her because I was choosing a pool cue on the rack. “There is nothing easy about the night train in Bonneville, my dear.” I chose a cue and turned around and handed it to her. “In fact I don’t think there is anything worse.”
She smiled and took it, Brad already had the balls racked up.
“It’s all you,” he said to Louise suggesting she break.
Louise was strutting around the table confidently. She looked sexy when she lined up her shot, she snapped her cue with permission and the balls broke apart. I didn’t notice what went in and what didn’t but clearly Louise did because she marched to the side of the table and lined up her next shot.
Leah was looking at me suspiciously as she slowly put blue chalk on the end of her cue.
“So…Jack.” Leah’s green eyes were on her pool cue and chalk as she spoke, “What do you do for a living?” Her eyes gradually met mine. Louise was busy clearing the table.
Not an easy question for me, I scratched my forehead with my cigar hand and said, “I take care of people.”
“Oh,” she said, confused and maybe concerned.
“Fuck!” Louise finally missed her shot. She nearly cleared the entire table.
“Finally,” Brad said, and bent down, cue in hand, and aimed with one eye closed.
Leah seemed to want to push me further for a clear answer but was apprehensive.
“How about yourself?” I asked in response.
“Bookkeeping.” She drank her champagne. “An accounting firm on the eastside.” She looked displeased with this - there was an awkward silence that confused me.
I leaned in and spoke quietly so only she could hear me
“I want to see you again.”
The words fell from my mouth and I was left surprised. It was jarring going from licking her pussy to socializing in a group, but I had adjusted and was enjoying our subtle private exchanges. It was fun that we had a secret that the other two didn’t know. We grazed each other’s skin every chance we had, we had unfinished business her and I. Leah breathed in deep and was about to respond but Louse interrupted
“Leah, finish it off!” Louise shouted. Brad had not been very successful and looked disappointed.
Leah exhaled, smiled, and tilted her head. She looked comfortable in this moment, clearly was enjoying herself. She didn’t respond, she just sauntered over to the table and bent over. I felt that familiar fire in the pit of my stomach as I stared at her ass. My mind drifted, she was the perfect height with her high heels. Just as she was now it would be so perfect slide my cock up her skirt and let it find its way home – after all I knew she was not wearing panties. With a snap she made her shot and that was the game.
It never got to my turn.
“Fucking hell,” Brad said in surprise. He then looked my way. “Much help you were.”
“They didn’t give me a chance!” I laughed and held out my arms innocently.
The girls were laughing and exchanging high fives (that’s another thing I hate, high fives. If a guy says high five and raise his hand it makes me want to punch him in the face. I’ll high five a girl if she puts me in a corner).
I felt myself swaying back and forth. I had several adrenaline highs today and the alcohol was beginning to take hold. What goes up must come down. I promised Leah a car, I knew it was time to arrange this. There was a red phone mounted to the wall so I picked it up. There was no dial tone, just a click then a voice.
“Hi Jack, is everything to your liking?”
“Everything is perfect, I was hoping there is a driver available”
“Ten minutes, front door.” There was another click and a thud and the call ended.
I hung up the phone and joined the others by the table. Louise was pouring shots of something. Clearly it was good timing having the car arranged. I took the offered drink without questioning what it was and shot it back. It tasted like fire and poison, that’s all I could decipher. Louise was pouring another round.
“I got a car, we have to make our way to the main entrance,” I said to Leah loud enough for everyone to hear.
Louise held up her shot, visibly drunk, “To . . .” She was trying to think of what to toast.
I shot the drink back and walked away, scanning the room for my leather jacket and spotted it on the couch where I left it earlier. The three of them were engaged in what seemed like three separate conversations, each of them getting louder to try to be heard. Leah looked at me and we shared a laugh, I opened the door and stood to the side. Brad did something to Louise that caused her to playfully yelp and rush out the door. He followed in pursuit. This left me for a brief moment alone with Leah while the other two were down the hall.
I stood there holding the door open. There were a few questions I had, her last name for one. I didn’t have a chance to speak. She came in close and kissed me, I didn’t lean into her, I just stood there and kissed her back without touching her. She took it into the next gear and kissed me harder, it seemed she was trying to get a reaction from me. I didn’t move, didn’t hold her or make a sound. She pulled back and put her hand on my erection, smiled and walked through the door. I gave the London room one last glance before the heavy door closed.
We could hear the band again, I knew this song and liked it, the familiar tune “Red” grounded me slightly. Down the hall we walked, there was something about knowing the end was near that made me hypersensitive to every move Leah made. We walked close, touching hands, the other two disappeared in the shadows of the hallway. We were walking by a series of doors, each with a names of cities or countries printed on it. I noticed Leah reading them all as we walked by; Chicago, Manhattan, Montreal, Brazil.
Leah stopped me and grabbed a fist full of the front of my shirt stopping me in my tracks, while the other two carried on ahead not noticing us. I put an arm around her and forced her to the wall.
/> “You’re going to come home with me.” I got the words out between kisses. I forced my hard cock into her body to show her how I felt.
We were against the wall next to the only door that didn’t have anything written on it. We were making out like it was high school and I liked it. The intensity leveled out and we kissed slowly and intimately. I pulled back and we breathed in and out with our faces close. I pulled my head back so I could stare at her more clearly.
Her eyes were closed, she seemed that she was mine to do with what I pleased. Next to us the door opened and the sound of the room poured out. The sound of the room made Leah open her eyes, we looked at one another and listened. As the door slowly opened the volume of the chaos inside increased, a painful moan of a women, the murmur of several men that seemed to be scolding her, shouting at her. A man slid out of the door, and we heard the women say yes three times, then a blood curdling scream. We didn’t break eye contact. The door closed and the volume of her scream was cut off at its peak.
The sound of that women was stuck in our ears. Leah looked scared, the chorus of the song was urgent and it made the moment more intense. I didn’t mean to stop next to that door, I didn’t need to expose her to that.
“Come on lets go.” I took her hand a dragged her down the hall.
“What was that?” Leah asked. “That women needs help”
“That women wants to be there, Leah.”
I wanted to explain further but there was nothing I could say. That women’s scream broke the spell and Leah went to another place. It was obvious she wanted to question further but didn’t. She looked confused but she knew I was right; she had an idea of what might have been happening in that room she just needed time to process. We went down the stairs and through the crowd, Brad and Louise were dancing and walking, talking to the people in costumes. Leah was holding me differently, on edge.
It was late enough that for some it was morning. Normally, leaving any kind of club at this time of night you would walk out to a dark empty city street. But it was the weekend, and the street was a circus as it is every weekend in front of Madeline’s. Street performers were still performing, musicians still playing, and people still dancing. At this time of night there’s a madness in the air. Getting a car here is almost impossible but as promised a large black car with tinted windows waited for us. The driver was a friend of mine and we exchanged waves.
The car was only a few feet away but we had to negotiate around a few strange characters to reach it. I opened the door to let Leah in, who was beginning to look tired. This was all becoming a bit much for my dear Leah, all this stimulation and debauchery. She slid into the car and the others followed.
The other two were being playful and that helped smooth out the tone on the back of the car. Leah was opposite me and Brad was beside me. The car very slowly made its way through the crowd. Vagrants clawed the windows and strange women looked at their reflections in the tinted windows.
“Well, my friend that was a fun show, I’m glad you showed up, we should do it more often.” Brad’s voice was slurred.
“Why don’t you?” Louise questioned. “Why don’t you tour anymore?”
I smiled, knowing it was strange to people like Louise that we didn’t tour anymore.
I answered, “We toured plenty in our early twenties, it was fun, but I had that experience and now I want to leave time in my life to have other experiences.” I fussed with a control to open the sunroof as I was speaking. “At this point it’s purely for the joy of it. Just playing Bonneville once in a while and maybe the occasional festival is enough.”
I had success with the sunroof and it slid open, the hot night Bonneville air mixed with the smell of the leather interior.
“So you are all family guys from the suburbs who like to play rock star once in a while?”
Louise played the investigator well and taunted us.
“Not exactly,” I responded
“So what’s the deal then, old rich guys having a laugh?”
Brad perked up. “Old?”
“Not exactly.” I laughed dismissively
Leah chimed in, “OK then, Mr. Willow, when you’re not a weekend rock star, or trying to impress young women with VIP rooms and fancy cars what are you doing?”
I looked at Leah, happy she spoke up because Louise was getting tiresome, but the subject matter just didn’t work for me and I needed it to change.
“Well, I like fixing old bikes.”
“Bicycles?” Louise questioned
“Motorcycles.” My eyes stayed on Leah.
“So you like bikes,” Leah said as if this was uninteresting and out of context.
“Old bikes. I spend a lot of time in my garage listening to the radio, messing around with old rusty bikes.”
“Sometimes he fixes bikes that weren’t broken.” Brad’s speech was getting more slurred.
Leah’s leg and foot rested comfortably against mine. The driver partisan lowered and the driver called out “One five one Burgoyne Rd” and the car came to a stop.
Brad threw open the door a slid out. “Good night ladies” he kissed Louise’s hand in a drunken dance and closed the door. Away we went, the three of us.
Here is a piece of information that may surprise you: I don’t really care for threesomes, I have been involved in my fair share and enjoyed myself but there is something less erotic about it. When it’s just two you feel like you’re involved in a secret and only the two of you are in on it. Three, it’s like you’re at a dinner party and there are manners and etiquette to consider. Besides, I know far too well that fantasies are almost always best left as fantasies. If you absolutely must try something new, if that fantasy keeps making its way to the surface in your mind, well, that is what Madeline is for.
“So what is Madeline’s all about?” Louise questioned as if she was reading my mind.
“What do you mean?” I had an innocent tone.
“I have been there a few times, dressed up and danced around the cage, but that is the first time I have been upstairs. I’ve always wondered what happened upstairs.” Louise held Leah’s hand with both of hers and continued to speak, “All those doors upstairs, what’s going on behind them?”
Leah was staring at me, clearly thinking about that woman’s scream.
“Five seven five Wildwood,” the driver called.
Louise forgot the question and opened the door. “Come on, Leah, you’re staying with me tonight.”
I looked at Leah challenging this suggestion. Reluctantly, she slid across the bench and put a leg out the door.
“The sun will be up soon Jack, it’s been a wild night, I need to sleep,” she admitted.
She was right, I was in a spell, I was obsessing over fucking her and it was hard to let her go but it was time to be a gentlemen. I sat on the edge of the seat and kissed her softly.
“Phone number please,” I requested. I can’t recall the last time I asked that.
Leah was contemplating something, looking down and biting her lip. “There is a farmers market on the east side every Sunday, if you want to see me ask for the cherries.”
My head tilted like a confused puppy, Leah laughed at my bewilderment.
“Good night Jack.” She stood out of the car and the two girls giggled over something I missed.
Louise gave her farewell. “Thanks Jack, that was fun, don’t wait a year before you guys play again.”
I was looking at them from the open window in the car, half hanging out, amused by Louise and lusting after Leah. “Cherries?” I questioned, visibly thinking like it was a riddle that was to be solved.
The girls giggled and walked away.
“Bye Jack,” Louise called back
Leah turned and smiled.
I smiled back and fell into the seat. “Time to go home, George.”
The car pulled away and I drifted, thinking of my cottage. I always think of my little cottage when I am about to fall asleep. I drifted away with a smile.
<
br /> Chapter Five
“The sun is shining and life is good. You are in for a beautiful Saturday Bonneville, enjoy it!”
“What the fuck?”
My eyes opened and I was knocking things over on my bedside table trying to stop the obnoxious DJ’s enthusiastic voice from my clock radio. Bad Company were well into the first verse of “Moving On” before I was able to stop it. I couldn’t remember how I made it here from the car. This was not my favorite part, in fact I hated it, being hung over is something I was usually good at avoiding.
I made my way to the kitchen and poured a glass of water and finished it, then took my time with the second. I was standing there in my boxers and a tee-shirt and contemplated last night’s events, gazing out the window letting it all come back, I could see the skyline of Bonneville in the distance. I was thinking about her, Leah. You know when you’re thinking about someone first thing in the morning that they really got under your skin. I was snapping into it, fatigue was fading but a headache remained. The back of my neck was sore from thrashing around during my performance at the Metropolis.
A knock at the door sounded like a broken snare drum. The aluminum screen door needed to be replaced – this old place had a few fixers that I have been procrastinating taking care of and that door was high on the list.
“Hi Jack, sorry to bother you.”
I opened the door to see Marjorie, my annoying neighbor who I suspected was constantly watching my place and was the overprotective mother of three strange children.
“Hello Marjorie.” I squinted at the sunlight.
“Jack, I just wanted to make sure everything was OK. I saw a black car in your driveway in the middle of the night, and there was some banging around. I am president of the neighborhood watch as you know. Since you are a member I thought I would check in.” She motioned to the neighborhood watch sticker on my shitty aluminum door that she put there.
“Right.” I didn’t want to be dealing with Marjorie at this moment. I suspected she was bored and lonely, so I tried to be nice enough. “Everything is fine here Marjorie, no need to worry.”