Sherry: A Please Me Novella

by J. J. Marstead

  The men here at the club have two favorites. Jade and me. ‘Raven’ is my stage. They love to watch me sway and shake it. I guess I do something right, considering they always come back. I’m not saying they don’t enjoy watching the others dance, but Jade and I are the main attractions.

  “Give Raven a big round of applause for coming out tonight and giving us all a lovely show like always,” Thomas yells, his voice echoing in the room. The shouts become deafening. I give them all a smile and shake my little behind as I walk off stage. There are no private dances for me tonight. I need to get home and rest up. Tomorrow’s Friday. I’m working at the diner in the morning, but I told Jared that I won’t be at the club because I’m leaving Saturday morning to see my son. Jared said that it was fine. There’s plenty of girls here to take on another dance. I’m sure that Jodie will. She mentioned something about having a little trouble with her brother. He keeps owing people money and of course, like any big sister would, she’s paying off his debts.

  I make it to my little area in back and grab my clothes. I walk to the changing and get dressed. It’s funny. Jade always says her feet hurt after dancing. Mine don’t.

  When I get out of the changing room and head out, Jade’s up on stage and, of course, Jared is in the back of the room watching her, making sure no fucker gets up and tries to touch her. I can see how that’ll go if they do. Jared would tear their head off. He doesn’t like sharing unless it’s with David.

  Jade sees me and winks. I chuckle and shake my head, waving to her and then I’m out the door. The fresh cool air hits me. Another day down.

  I make my way to my car and unlock the door. I get inside and start her up. She doesn’t start the first time and dread fills me. Not now. I turn it over again and she starts, thank God. I pull out of the parking lot and head home to get a good night sleep. I’ve been so drained lately with work and then Mike and now my mother putting her nose in my business and talking to Jeff. It’s all getting to me right now and I just want to go to bed and not think about how my life is going, a cluster fuck of things. The only good thing that has happen so far is that we got the house and now Mason can be with me. I can’t believe it. It’s really going to happen. I can’t wait to tell him this weekend. I hope he’s as happy as I am about it. Fingers crossed on that one. He’s been with my parents since he was two. It’s hard to know what he’ll say.

  I pull up to the apartment and Mike’s car isn’t there. Good. I can’t deal with that right now. The apartment has no lights on. That’s weird. Usually April is up studying and stuff. Maybe she’s not home? She’s never out this late, though. Maybe she’s working on extra credit. I chuckle at my own joke. She’s a goody girl, so I don’t see her doing that. Well, extra credit for sure but not the extra credit you would think. What I’m talking about involves the woman on her knees. A grin spreads across my face. If she is getting some, good for her. She’s twenty-three and still a virgin. It’s hard to believe. She’s gorgeous.

  Once I’m in the apartment, I lightly call out to April, but there’s no answer. I make my way towards her room and knock. Still no answer. I use the bathroom before heading to my room. Just as I’m walking to my room the front door opens and guess who is doing the walk of shame? April. She’s looking around to see if anyone is up. She doesn’t see me in the darkness of the hallway.

  She takes a breath and flips the switch and yells when she sees me standing with a raised brow.

  “Holy shit, you scared me,” she says, holding her chest.

  “You’re getting in late tonight. What have you been up too? I thought for sure you would have been home studying like usual.”

  She looks like a deer in headlights. Her mouth opens and closes a few times. Hell, if she’s having fun and being safe at the same time, go for it. Man, I feel the mom coming out in me. I shake my head, chuckling.

  “Just make sure you’re safe, April.” I turn and walk into my room, closing the door softly. I turn to my dresser to get my nightie out. I get it on, throw back the covers, and hop in.

  God, I love my mattress. It’s so soft. I’m tempted to grab my handy big blue, but I just don’t have the energy. After everything today, I just want to sleep and forget about certain things. Tomorrow, big blue. I promise.

  I’m woken up by laughter. What the hell? I look at the time and I see it’s seven AM, fuck! I jump out of bed, look around my room, and check my phone. Damn it, I forgot to set my alarm last night. Shit!

  I grab some clothes from my dresser, not even caring what the hell I’m grabbing because I’m going to be late for work. Motherfucker! Why in the hell didn’t someone wake me up? I usually have a shower, get something to eat and have a coffee before leaving for work. A shower is out of the question now. Something to eat, something that won’t take time to make. Toast. There’s no way I’ll be able to survive without getting my daily caffeine fix.

  Once I’m dressed I head to the kitchen and I see April, Jade, and Mike chatting away. What the hell? Morning people. Hey, I might get up early for work but I have no choice. Doesn’t mean I have to be a ray of sunshine like these bunch of rainbow unicorn-farters. I chuckle out loud and everyone turns to face me. Shit. I didn’t mean to laugh out loud, but damn, that was funny. Rainbow unicorn-farters.

  I walk over to the coffee pot and grab a cup, pouring the hot, addictive black liquid. I turn to get the milk from the fridge and they are still all staring at me.

  “Why didn’t you wake me? I have to be at work for eight this morning.”

  Jade looks around at anywhere but me and April looks sorry. Mike, well, he looks like he always does. Hot and sexy as fuck. He looks like he just got out of bed with his sex hair. It makes my insides boil. Was he with someone last night? I shake it away. I don’t have a say and I need to remember that.

  “Sorry, I was just about to head to your room. I wasn’t sure if it was eight or nine today you had to work,” April mutters. I don’t know what it is about this girl, but I can’t be mad at her no matter what she does. She wouldn’t do anything purposely to piss me off or anything. She’s a great roommate and friend.

  “It’s fine. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” I see Jade look from Mike to me then back to Mike, smirking. Bitch, she knows why the fuck I’m like this. I still never cornered her about the supper. I’ll have to add that to my to-do list of many other things I need to get around too.

  I grab Jade’s toast off her plate and start eating it. She gives the finger. I chuckle because hell, at this point this is payback. I need to get my ass out the door soon if I don’t want to be late.

  “Well, I’m off to work. Thanks for the toast, Jade.”

  She glares at me and I grin.

  I walk out of the kitchen to the front door and I’m stopped by a hand on my arm. I turn around because I think it’s Jade wanting to drill me about eating her toast, but it’s Mike. He’s standing there with that thousand-watt smile. Fuck, that’s bright.

  “Hey, I’ll walk you to your car. I’m leaving anyways. I’m going apartment hunting.”

  My breath hitches. He did not just say, umm, what? Apartment? No, I couldn’t have heard him right.

  “Did you just say apartment hunting?” I ask, my voice higher than usual.

  He nods his head as I stare at him dumbfounded. “Yeah, I figured seeing as my sister lives here and our parents are gone most of the time enjoying life, I would move closer to my sister.”

  I’m like a fish out of water right now, my mouth opening and closing for a breath. “Wow, you would actually move here for your sister?” I ask.

  He nods his head. Sibling love. I never had that. I’m the only child my parents had.

  I put the key in the car door, unlocking it, and throw my purse inside on the passenger seat. Mike holds the car door open for me and I give him a little smile. He grins.

  I put the key in and turn her over. Nothing. What the effing fuck? No, don’t do this to me right now. I sigh and try again and still the same. Nothing. Not ev
en a sputter or anything from my poor car.

  Mike looks at me and frowns. “You want to pop the hood and I’ll take a quick look?”

  I pop the hood and get out of the car. I see April and Jade come out of the apartment with puzzled looks on their faces.

  “What’s wrong?” April and Jade ask.

  “My car won’t start. Ugh, I’m going to be late for work,” I groan out. What a way to start the morning. Damn it!

  “Well, I’m not a master at mechanics but I would have to say it’s your battery or something like that. You should take the car in to get checked out,” Mike mentions and I groan. What am I going to do? I need my car to get to work and for tomorrow when I go and see Mason. I can’t just drop the visit. We have both been looking forward to seeing each other.

  Jade must sense what I’m thinking because when she opens her mouth I just wanted to choke the life out of her. The glare I gave her just fed her ammo.

  “Well, Mike, you’re leaving to head out. Why don’t you give Sherry a lift to the diner,” she says and I take in a breath. Thank God, I thought she was going to mention something about tomorrow. She grins at me with a twinkle in her eye and my stomach drops. No, she wouldn’t.

  “Oh, and Sherry has somewhere to be tomorrow. Maybe if it’s not too much to ask, you could take her? It’s about four hours away and she can’t get out of it. Her parents really want to see her,” she says. She did, she asked him. Oh, my God, I’m going to kill her. I’m going to murder her in her sleep. I think suffocation from pillow will do nicely. I give her the stink eye and she chuckles under her breath.

  “No, I’m sure Mike has other plans and doesn’t want to be driving me four hours away,” I grit out.

  “I don’t have any plans. I can take you,” he says. Jade smiles.

  “Perfect, it’s all taken care of. Sherry won’t have to call and tell her parents she can’t make it,” she squeals. She actually squeals. Does she think she’s playing matchmaker? I swear to God, when I get back from this trip I’m going to end up going to jail.

  Mike smiles at me and I can’t help the butterflies in my stomach.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want you to drop whatever you had planned to drive me,” I say.

  H waves me off. “Don’t worry, I didn’t have that much planned besides looking for apartments.”

  I nod my head.

  He closes the hood on my car, takes his keys out of his pocket, and looks at me. “You ready to head out? Don’t want you late for work now do we?” He grins and I swear that grin is going to get me in trouble real soon. God, tomorrow I’ll be stuck in the car with him for four hours. Four long ass hours.

  I grab my purse off the seat, lock the car doors, and turn to face him. “I’m ready.”

  Jade waves innocently at me and when Mike’s not looking, I give her the finger. I can see a little grin on April’s face as she tries to stop herself from laughing.

  He opens the car door for me. I get inside and sigh loudly before he gets in. This is going to be a fun trip tomorrow. Maybe I can use Mike tomorrow to make my mother back off. It might work, but I’m not sure if Mike would be up to the task.

  When he pulls up to the diner he turns me. “I’ll be here after your shift to pick you up.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’m sure I can take the bus. You’re already doing so much for me.”

  He grunts and tells me it’s fine. Well, I guess, I’ll be finding out what he thinks about helping tomorrow, playing a part that my body would love him to play. I just need him to make my mother back off me about Jeff.

  “I finish work at two,” I mutter.

  He nods. “I’ll be here.”

  Chapter 4

  Work has been dragging like hell since I got in. Margret giving me a fucking evil glare and shit. What the hell are you? Twelve? You would think I took her favorite toy away from her. Oh well, she can be pissed at me all she wants, but if she tries to fuck things up and tell Jerry bullshit, well, let me tell you, that is where I draw the line. She’ll be sorry. I don’t take kindly to people starting bullshit, especially at work. Like come on, fucking suck it up and shut the fuck up. You must work with these people.

  I look at the clock and its noon. Two hours to go and I’m out of here. When I get home, I need to pack my bag. Oh, holy mother of fuck, where the hell is Mike going to stay when he takes me down to my parents? I know for a fact my mother will make us stay in the same room to prove a point. Shit, shit, shit! I’m screwed. How in the hell am I suppose to share a room with that man and not be tempted to touch him? This weekend is going to be one long ass fucking weekend. How am I going to get through this weekend without slipping and giving in to my desires?

  I am cleaning up some tables when Jerry calls me into the back to his office. What now? I slowly make my way to the back but before I do, I look over at Margret and she’s grinning like a Cheshire cat. Oh boy, she better not of started something she can’t finish. I give her a grin of my own. Her face drops and she goes back to cleaning up her tables. Good. The bitch will know if she fucks with me.

  I knock lightly on the side of the door and Jerry looks up from his desk which is piled with receipts.

  “You wanted to see me?” I ask.

  Jerry nods and sighs. “Yes, it was brought to my attention that you’re flirting with customers,” he says. I open my mouth to say something but he continues. “Now, I know you know that I won’t tolerate that here. It’s simply against the rules.”

  I’m fuming at this point. “Well, Jerry. I’m telling you right now. I have not flirted with any customers. If my boyfriend comes in to see me, I will greet him. I don’t know where you got your info from but I’m sure it has something to do with Margret. By the way your mouth just dropped open, I can see I was right. I haven’t done what I’m being accused of. The only reason why Margret said anything is because she is jealous and thought Mike was single.”

  Jerry fidgets in his chair and clears his throat, “You’re dating said customer?”

  I nod my head.

  He sighs. “Okay. Well, then the accusations are false. I’m sorry, Sherry. I’ll have a talk with Margret.”

  I nod my head.

  “Can you send Margret on back when you leave?” he asks.

  “Sure.” I leave the office and head out to the front. I look around the diner to see where Margret is. She’s on my side of the diner, taking care of my customers. Oh, hell no!

  I march my way over to her and tap her on the shoulder. She turns and her face drops a little but she covers it quickly with a false smile.

  “Yes,” she says.

  “These are my tables, so if you could be so kind and tend to your own that would be great. Oh, and Jerry would like to see you in his office,” I mention with a bright smile, eat that bitch!

  She walks away and I face the customers, “Did she take your order yet?”

  They shake their heads and I finish the job that I was supposed to be doing in the first place.

  My shift is finally over. Margret came out a little while ago and she looks seriously pissed. I can’t help it, I smile wide. She thought she could get me in trouble. Ha! She walks out the front door and gets in her car and peels out of the parking lot. Good riddance.

  I head to the back and grab my things and walk back out. I see Mike waiting at the door. He didn’t have to come in. I see Jerry come out from his office and walk my way. Crap. I don’t even fully think of my actions. My feet make their way over to Mike and I kiss him. Not a little peck on the cheek either. a full out kiss on the lips. He’s taken by surprise and what gets me is that he wraps his arms around my waist and brings me closer to him. I let out a little gasp and his tongue enters my mouth. Whoa. I wasn’t expecting that.

  He breaks the kiss and looks down at me with a heated look. “Wow,” is all he says.

  Wow is right. Stupid, why did I do that?

  He snaps out of his little lust trance and clears his throat, “You ready?”

&
nbsp; I nod my head and we leave the diner. The ride home is awkwardly quiet.

  “So, are you going to tell me why you kissed me back at the diner or are you going to play it off like it was nothing?” he asks.

  “Sorry. My boss asked me to see him in his office. It seems that Margret was pissed off that you were talking to me more than her or something like that and she told him that I’ve been flirting with customers, which isn’t allowed. But I kind of told him you’re my boyfriend,” I shoot out quickly.

  His eyes widen.

  “I know it was wrong of me to tell him that. I just didn’t want to get fired.”

  “Well, I guess it’s okay by the way you greeted me,” he smirks.

  I let out a giggle. “Can I ask you a favor?” My nerves are affecting my voice a little.

  “Sure,” he replies.

  I take a deep breath in and release it. “My mom is trying to get me to talk to my ex. While we’re at my parents could you pretend to maybe, umm, be my boyfriend?” My voice is uneven.

  He’s quiet for a minute or so. “Your ex, he’s trying to work things out with you?”

  I nod my head because I’m sure that’s why he’s agreeing to go to supper tomorrow night.

  “I will be my honor to be your pretend boyfriend,” he says with a grin.

  I take in a deep breath of relief, but that’s not all. I should tell him what my mother will probably end up doing when we get there.

  “Another thing, my mother will probably end up putting us in the same room.”

  His hands tighten on the streeling wheel a little and then he relaxes, “That’s fine, I’ll take the floor.”

  I’m about to tell him ‘don’t be silly’ but we’re at the apartment.