by ANDREA SMITH
“Okay hon, you take care. I’ll see you tomorrow night then.”
“Yeah, until then,” I replied, heading out the door.
I didn’t bother with getting a bouncer to walk me out. I left through the back not wanting to face Slate who was probably still sitting with Garnet hoping to score for the night. I was certain he would have no problem. Garnet made no secret she would offer her pussy up on a silver platter for Slate.
I had left the building through the back and was nearly to the corner where the last bus of the night would pick me up when suddenly out of nowhere strong arms grasped me from behind, whirling me around. My heart plummeted to my stomach; I immediately let my instincts kick in and took a defensive stance; one that I had learned in kick boxing.
My eyes fell upon my attacker’s deep blue eyes. It was Slate.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I hissed, my adrenaline pumping, poised to protect myself.
“What the fuck are you doing walking out here by yourself at night? I thought the bouncers saw you out safely after your shift.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about what goes on here, don’t you?” I was lashing out at him; I wasn’t quite sure why.
He cocked an eyebrow at me quizzically. He wasn’t getting that I was out of sorts with him. Neither was I.
“Look,” I said, trying to normalize my tone and body language so as not to appear to really give a damn about this man that for some odd reason intrigued me. “I’m fine. I’m nearly at the corner. The bus will be by shortly; no worries.”
“I’ll wait with you,” he said firmly.
“Why?”
“It’s not safe for a girl to be out by herself this late and in this neighborhood.”
“Yeah, I know; lots of biker riff-raff hanging around lately I’ve noticed.”
He gave me a sardonic look with a slight rolling of the eyes; definitely not a biker reaction.
“So you have something lined up later with Garnet?”
“What’s it to you, babe? Do I sense some jealously going on?”
“Yeah right; that’s close,” I murmured.
“Hubby waiting for you at the crib?”
“Maybe.”
He smirked, shaking his head. “You know if you were my old lady, I wouldn’t let you outta my sight.”
“Why’s that?”
Before he could reply, the bus was slowing down and pulling towards the curb. He moved swiftly, pulling me up against him; his hand roughly tilting my chin upward. His mouth covered mine; his lips taking full possession of mine. I struggled against him momentarily until my mind was fuzzy with desire and I didn’t want to resist.
His tongue traced my lips and then entered my mouth, thoroughly exploring it with a sensual rhythm. I laced my arms around his strong neck momentarily as I heard the hydraulic door to the bus open. He shoved me away gently.
“Go home, Diamond Girl. You don’t belong around here.”
With that, he turned on his heel and headed back to the club. I saw Garnet standing at the door of the entrance. She had been looking for him; that was obvious. I turned and stepped onto the bus with shaky legs. His kiss had left me wanting more; I wasn’t sure why.
CHAPTER 11
I heard from Jack on Friday afternoon as I was lining up my dance costumes for my shift that evening. He wanted to make sure that I was keeping up with bill payments and to let me know he would be coming home for a week on Sunday afternoon. It was a short break in his schedule; then he would be off again until he came home for Christmas.
My parents were expected back before Christmas. I felt guilty for not staying in touch with them; but my mother had always done everything my father had told her to do, and had done it exactly as my father had wanted it done. It bugged me as an adult having seen how that felt. I resented the fact that my mother had never carved an identity out for herself; and she had never instilled that need in me while I was growing up.
Right now I needed to concern myself as to how I was going to get through the week with Jack home and showing up for my shifts. I had totally decided against telling him I had a part-time job period. I would talk to the girls to see if I could get one of the late shift girls to take my shift for three nights next week.
I sat down in Jack’s office at the computer and pulled up the Excel spreadsheet he had created for me that was titled, ‘Samantha’s Financial Records.’ It was kind of an odd file name, but Jack was anal like that. He had shown me how to go into our online banking with the password and pull up our joint account. I saw where a recent electronic deposit had been made for $9213.77. That seemed odd to me.
I clicked on the transaction number to get the detail. It simply said, “Cash” and referenced that it was an ATM deposit. The location was Manassas, Virginia. I decided it was probably one of the sales offices where Jack was conducting training. I wasn’t sure why a cash deposit of that amount had been deposited into our joint account. I made a note to ask him about it when he was home.
I went through the Excel file and selected the payee’s who had a “Due Date for Payment” current or within the next three days and highlighted them. I then submitted payment amounts required on the on-line tool for our account, and posted the confirmation number in the column marked the same.
There, I was finished with that. No reason for Jack to bitch or smack me around, I thought. I powered off the computer and put the files away.
I took extra care with my bath this afternoon as I prepared for work. I shaved and waxed, plucked a couple of errant eyebrow hairs and selected one of the new outfits I had purchased by mail order. I was now on a first name basis with the UPS delivery guy.
Tonight I was going to wear a black lace, layered mini dress; the front was a princess, Lolita-style neckline, it had an open back; a matching, black lace G-string was worn underneath. I was going to wear my black leather, 4-inch spiked heels with ankle ties. My nails were painted a bright red.
I was in need of some male attention tonight. I was in need of Slate’s attention. Ever since ‘the kiss’ it had been difficult to get him out of my mind. I chastised myself for even considering getting involved with someone that reckless, dangerous even; what the hell? I was entitled to some temporary insanity after the lackluster existence I had with Jack over the past eighteen plus years.
Margo noticed the change in my demeanor almost immediately when I got into the chair. Maybe it was the new dance costume; the bright red nails; or maybe, it was when I requested she use longer lashes for tonight and do up my green eyes in smoky dark grey shadows, with black liner and no glitter.
“It looks like someone has plans for tonight,” she remarked, pulling my blond locks up on top of my head into a long ponytail. “Maybe Garnet will have something to say about that.”
I looked at her reflection in the mirror. Our eyes met.
“What is that supposed to mean, Margo?”
“Just seems to me that the both of you may be hot after the same dude, that’s all.”
“And your point is?”
“My point is that I like you, Diamond. I like you way better than Garnet; but you are out of your league if a bitch fight is on the horizon over that biker.”
“What biker?” I asked, innocently.
“Don’t play me,” she said, “Garnet is rough; she’s ruthless and the bottom line is that she has been here longer than you. Janine doesn’t like fighting amongst the girls. If push comes to shove, you’re out honey; and Garnet’s in. Ain’t worth it darlin.”
I gave Margo a prize winning smile.
“You’ve done a beautiful job on me as always, Margo,” I said, pressing $40 into her hand. “Thanks.”
I heard her call after me as I went into the lavatory. “She left here with him last night, Diamond; just thought maybe you should know.”
I was glad the door to the bathroom had shut behind me once her words had sunk in; my legs immediately turned to jelly. I sought refuge in one of the stalls, her words continuing to reverberate in my mind
over and over again.
I felt my stomach knot up with a feeling that was not familiar to me; it was a mixture of anger, jealousy and a little bit of hurt and disappointment thrown in for good measure. I had no reason to feel those things; I had no right to feel those things. Slate was nothing to me. I was nothing to Slate. I needed to stop allowing insane distractions to keep me from dealing with the real issue: my disaster of a marriage; the big lie.
I dabbed at the corner of my eye with a piece of toilet tissue. I refused to let this bit of news cause me to ruin the awesome make-up job that Margo had just completed. I managed to regain my composure and finished up in the bathroom.
My first number out was a request from one of the regulars that came in to the club. His name was Joey and he was a nice enough guy. He had never activated my creep radar; he was a lonely, married guy in his early forties; not too bad on the eyes, either.
The tune he selected was “Feeling Good,” by Michael Buble. It was a slower tune, with an almost ‘striptease’ beat to it; a very bold and sensual arrangement. Once I took the stage I saw Slate sitting with his biker buddies at the next horseshoe stage; this was perfect.
I slowly danced over to Joey, using the music to move my body sensually as I went to the pole in front of him. I did a slow fireman’s spiral around the pole, arching my back so that I could feel the tip of my ponytail hit my scantily clad ass. I did a slow, seductive climb and hitched my leg around the pole, arching my back as I twirled downward in front of him. I left the pole and danced seductively over to the edge of the stage where Joey sat, his eyes glued to my cleavage and crotch, as I rolled my hips provocatively; raising my right leg up parallel with the bar, and allowing myself to spiral slowly around it.
I noticed from beneath my nearly closed lashes that I had Slate’s attention. He had stopped in mid-sentence to gaze over at me. I licked my red lips for Joey, dropping down to kneel in front of him; presenting him with an unobstructed view of my pushed up breasts; I did a side roll, sweeping my outside leg around so that I was now in an outstretched position on the stage, my torso less than a foot away from Joey’s face.
As the song ended, I could feel the heat of Slate’s stare on me. I loved the fact that he was bothered. I could feel his vibes from the next stage over. I smiled at Joey; his eyes had widened in pleasure at my slow, sensual dance for him. He licked his lips, smiling back as I blew him a kiss. I whispered I would meet him at Table Six in the back as I left the stage. I heard some loud applause along with the usual cat whistles as I descended the steps and went behind the curtain.
Pearl was up next.
“Wow,” she said, “You are a hard act to follow tonight, girl. Give the rest of us a break, huh?” She was smiling at me.
“Thanks, Pearl. You’ll do great, as always,” I assured her as the music started and she was announced.
I made my way out the side entrance to the main floor and was immediately greeted by a scowling Slate. My first instinct was to simply walk by and ignore him, but that would only prove to him that I was jealous or trying to make him jealous, which was the truth. I quickly decided another strategy was in order.
“Hi Slate,” I greeted with a smile, “I don’t think Garnet comes on until later.”
“What the fuck did you think you were doing out there?” he hissed, not bothering to hide his anger.
“What I’m paid to do, Slate. What is it to you?”
“Dancing like that is going to give you more than you bargained for around here, Diamond. You need to take it down a notch.”
“Joey seemed to like it,” I replied, starting to walk away. He grabbed my arm, spinning me around.
(Holy shit!)
“This isn’t a game, Diamond. This is for real. You are bringing way too much attention upon yourself. It’s not safe to do that in a place like this.”
“I think I can take care of myself, Slate. But thanks for worrying.” I saw Ethan approaching at the same time Slate did.
“Don’t be stupid, Diamond.”
He walked off and I nodded to Ethan that everything was fine. His touch had electrified me. He had an astounding effect on me. Damn it pissed me off!
I found Joey waiting for me at Table Six with my usual glass of club soda. We chatted for about ten minutes, all the while I was thinking of Slate and what he had said to me. Perhaps this had nothing to do with jealousy; perhaps it was something more ominous than that. Now I was bothered by what almost seemed like a warning.
CHAPTER 12
I was counting my tips from Thursday and tonight; I had brought in a little more than seven hundred dollars. I had dressed in my street clothes and was waiting for Ethan to walk me to the bus stop. Slate had hung around the club for a while.
I noticed he hadn’t acted interested whatsoever when Garnet came in before her late shift. I found that a bit puzzling. Perhaps the sex hadn’t been that good for one of them. He was gone by the time my shift was over.
Ethan came up to where I was standing at the door, shrugging his jacket on.
“Let’s do it,” he said, opening the front door for me as some bikers were on their way in.
“I swear to fuck; I wish Janine would ban all of them from this place. They don’t fucking pay me enough to put up with the shit that always seems to be going down with that bunch. It wasn’t enough they got the former ‘Diamond’ hooked on coke and Oxy.”
“Come on, Ethan; the former Diamond had a choice in that don’t you think?”
He shrugged, pulling a Marlboro from his chest pocket and lighting it. Ethan didn’t mind doing bus stop detail with me because it gave him a smoke break.
“Lilly was young, impressionable; you know?”
“Lilly?”
“Yeah - that was her real first name, Lilly. She’s only twenty-two. It’s pretty fucked up. She got all starry-eyed over Slash; he’s like the local chapter’s ringleader. He’s pushing forty, man.”
“Yeah, that’s way old,” I said with a sigh.
“It is for a twenty-two year old from Sioux City, Iowa. She had ‘daddy’ issues I guess. Her old man threw her out when she turned eighteen. She has brains, you know? She was trying to put herself through community college and working here. Then she gets involved with Slash. He turns her on to coke; she says it helps her stay up for school and then work; just another tragedy waitin’ to happen. She falls one night at work and fucks up her ankle. That’s when ole Slash turned her on to Oxy. There was no turning back after that,” he said, taking a drag off of his cigarette.
I started to ask Ethan which one was Slash when we were interrupted by a male voice behind us.
“Diamond - can I walk you the rest of the way to your stop?”
Ethan and I both turned to see Slate standing behind us. I knew Ethan was ready to spout off; something told me that would not be a good idea.
“Ethan - it’s okay,” I said, touching his arm. “Slate is a friend.”
“Humph,” Ethan replied, not bothering to hide the contempt in his voice. He hesitated, torn between leaving me with a biker that he obviously despised, like all of the rest of them.
“Really; it is fine,” I assured him with a smile.
“If we don’t see you again, Diamond, I’ll let the cops know the name of the scum you called a friend.”
With that he turned and headed back to the club.
I was looking at Slate now; taking in his tall, strong build, the tightness of his jeans, his expertly polished boots; black leather jacket. He had changed his earring; it was now a dangly skull with crossbones. How appropriate.
“Can we talk; maybe get a coffee?” he asked. His hands were hooked in the pocket of his jeans; his weight was shifted to one side and he had a slight slouch going on that I found totally sexy in a ‘James Dean’ sort of way. His eyes were intense.
“This is the last bus --”
“I can take you wherever you need to go, Diamond. I can give you a ride home wherever that is; I can take you to the Park and Ride.�
�
My head immediately snapped up to look into his eyes. He had followed the bus to see where I had gotten off. Why? He saw the alarm in my eyes.
“Relax,” he said, “I admit it; I followed the bus on my bike that night to see where you went. I was worried you were undercover. It was instinctual for someone like me.”
I eyed him warily; how much more did he know?
“I saw you get off the bus at the Park and Ride; I kind of figured it out for myself.”
“Figured what out? Did you follow me?”
“I didn’t have to,” he said with a shrug. “I told you, babe, I’m instinctual.”
I looked up at his gorgeous face.
“Your old man doesn’t know that you dance, right?”
(Oh shit!)
I nodded and remained silent.
“He probably thinks you have another type of job; maybe waitressing at some greasy spoon; or working the bar at some hole in the wall bar near the Park and Ride. I’m betting he doesn’t know the kind of tips you’re pulling in, does he?”
I nodded my head again, confirming that he was on target.
“I’m guessing you are tucking that money away; probably saving up a little nest egg to get away from the violent bastard.”
I didn’t respond as my bus was coming and I moved toward the curb. I didn’t know why he wanted to talk to me or what he really had planned, but it wasn’t worth the risk of being front page news the following day having been found in some ditch with my throat slit.
“Wait,” he said gently, taking my hand. I was forced to look into those smoldering bold eyes. “I really don’t mean you any harm, Diamond; just a cup of coffee and some conversation, please?”
My mind raced as what to do. If he was telling the truth, he hadn’t waited around to see me find my Mercedes and leave the lot. Therefore, he hadn’t followed me home. He didn’t appear to pose an immediate risk; there was a purpose to his wanting to talk to me. I was curious about that. I looked up and nodded at his expectant gaze. He waved the bus on by.
This was it. The choice had been made. I was at Slate’s mercy. I only hoped that my instincts about him posing no danger to me were on target.