by J. L. McCoy
“I love the way you laugh,” he said before he shut my door and climbed in his. He started the car and put the top up on his BMW.
We drove the ten minutes to my house, holding hands and singing along to The Stooges. It was close to eleven when we pulled into my driveway. Jameson walked around to the trunk and retrieved my messenger bag. He was helping me out of the car when I suddenly remembered.
“Shit, my car,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “How am I going to get back to The Mausoleum tomorrow?”
“I’ll come get you, love, no worries. What time do you have to be there?” he asked, putting his arm around my waist and leading me to my front door.
“Seven o’clock,” I said, taking my bag from him and digging out my keys.
“I’ll be here at 6:30 to pick you up,” he said, smiling reassuringly.
“Thanks so much for everything, Jameson. I don’t know what I would have done without you today.”
“I’m just glad I was there to help you, Skye,” he said, stroking my left cheek with the back of his fingers and gazing into my eyes. “And, I meant what I said earlier. I would like to take you out on a date sometime. I want to see more of you. I’ve kind of wanted to ask you out since the first time I saw you at Dan’s.”
I swallowed my sudden nervousness. “Really?” I asked, looking at my hands. “Was that when I brought you the Car Bomb last week?”
He placed his finger under my chin and gently lifted it to meet my eyes. “No, love,” he said, shaking his head. “The first time I saw you was when we came into Dan’s a month ago to play our first show. You were wearing that purple corset and you had your hair up in a ponytail. I thought you had the most beautiful neck I had ever seen.”
“Wow,” I said, amazed and blushing. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Aye, love,” he smiled. “I remember every time I saw you dancing to our songs and waiting your tables. I wanted to go up to you so many times and introduce myself, but you were always busy when I finished my set. I’m glad we finally got a chance to talk.”
“Me too, Jameson,” I said sincerely. “I’ve kind of had my eye on you as well. I love to hear you sing and when Dan asked me to bring you your drink last week, I almost died. You’re pretty hot, you know that?” I teased, reaching up to twirl a strand of his hair around my index finger.
“Not half as hot as you, love,” he said, pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head. “So what do you say? Can I take you out on a proper date, Miss Morrison?”
“I’d like that, Mr. Doyle,” I said, craning my neck up to give him a quick peck on the lips.
“How about this Saturday?”
“Saturday is perfect.” Styvi Nix must have heard us talking because she started barking up a storm and scratching on the door. “I’ve got to go,” I said reluctantly. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Until then, love,” Jameson said as he gave me a quick kiss goodbye.
I turned and unlocked my door, waving to Jameson as he got into his car. Styvi Nix jumped up and down, excited to see me. I set my bag down on the stairs and hurried over to my hand chair and took a seat, pulling Styvi into my lap.
“How’s my little super star?” I cooed, kissing her face and letting her lick mine. “I really missed you today.” I spent a few more minutes thoroughly loving on her and then walked into the kitchen and gave her a treat.
I fixed myself a Cup-O-Noodles and watched as Styvi Nix happily tossed her tug rope around the living room. I was too sore to play with her outside tonight, so I threw the rope for her a few times around the house. I left her to play downstairs as I slowly walked up to my room. My ankle and knee should have hurt a lot worse than they did, but I figured it was the alcohol I had earlier that was numbing the pain.
I took off my clothes and threw them in my bathroom hamper while I filled my tub up with hot water. I figured a hot bath would be good for my knee. I went to the mirror and looked at my forehead. Ugh! That’s an ugly bruise. The top of my eye socket was pretty swollen and it was a lovely shade of black and blue. I sighed, turned on my bedroom stereo, and mellowed out to some Bob Marley while I soaked.
The hot water was so relaxing and it was making me sleepy. I finally talked myself into quickly shampooing my hair and bathing so I could hit the sack. As I was drying off I heard my cell phone ringing downstairs. I quickly dressed in a baby doll nightie, wrapped my long, wet hair up in a towel, and made my way downstairs to my bag. Hm…3 missed calls. I saw that all three were from Drop Kick Dan’s. I hit redial and went back to my room, calling for Styvi Nix to come to bed.
“Drop Kick Dan’s, what do you want?” a grumpy female voice asked.
“Um…Nikki, is that you?” I asked, unsure.
“Yeah, who’s asking?” she yelled over the music.
“It’s Skye. Man, y’all sound busy. Someone called me from there a few minutes ago. Was it you?” I asked, taking the towel out of my hair and brushing it.
“Nah, Cupcake, wasn’t me. I haven’t even had a break all night. We’re freakin’ swamped. Angel called in sick and we’re working capacity with only five people, counting His Highness himself.”
“Uh-oh. Dan’s not out on the floor helping y’all?” I asked, shocked.
“Hell no! Alcohol Enforcement picked tonight to show up. He’s back in his office dealing with them,” she said, gruffly.
I felt bad that I wasn’t there helping them out tonight, but I didn’t think I’d make it very long if I did try to work.
“It must have been Dan that called. Listen, hon, just tell him I called when you talk to him. I’ll let you get back to the madness,” I said, sympathetically.
“Wait a sec,” she said. “Now that I have you on the phone, how are you doing? I was so worried about you when I saw you fall, but Dan wouldn’t let me come back to the office to talk to you, the asshole.”
“I’m okay. It hurt like hell earlier, but I’m doing a bit better now. Jameson Doyle took me home,” I added with a smile, remembering our steamy moment on the hood of his car.
“Aw, look at you!” she teased and laughed. “That’s that lead singer you like, right? Damn, that guy is hot!”
“Uh-huh! Don’t I know it. Well, text me tomorrow and I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details,” I said, teasing.
“Ooh, get it girl! Alright, I’ll tell Dan when I see him. Take care of yourself and I’ll text you tomorrow,” she said quickly and shouted something out to a waitress.
I shook my head and ended the call. Poor Nikki. It sounded like a wild frat house party up in there. I quickly blow dried my hair and hopped into bed, pulling Styvi Nix up with me. She licked my face and snuggled under the covers.
“Good night, sweet pea,” I said as I reached over and turned off the bedside lamp. I fell asleep thinking about Jameson and his brother, my new boss, Archer. I wondered why they had different last names if they were brothers. I told myself to remember to ask Jameson when I saw him tomorrow.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I awoke to furious dog licks and a ringing cell phone.
“I’m up. I’m up,” I said to Styvi, quickly petting her and then reaching for my phone. “Hello?” I said, trying to sound as awake as possible, and glancing at my alarm clock for the time. 8:45a.m…someone had better be dead. Or at least seriously injured.
“Hey, doll!” Dan said enthusiastically, full of energy. “How’s the leg this morning?”
I sighed and rolled over onto my back. “God,” I groaned. “You’re in way too good of a mood for it being this early in the morning. What, did Lola jump off a cliff last night and give up the ghost?” I asked, too tired to actually get excited at the thought.
“Wow,” Dan said, and laughed. “Who pissed in your prune juice this morning?”
“Bite me, D. It’s too damn early,” I griped. “What’s up? Something serious must be up, for you to be calling me this early. No one calls me this early, especially you.”
He c
huckled. “Can’t a guy check up on his favorite employee?”
I sighed and sat up. “Now I know something is wrong. Fiona is your favorite employee, that brown nosing bitch. You told me so yourself last week,” I tiredly joked.
Dan sounded like he was busting a gut over there. “I just wanted to check up on you, Skye, honest. I just got back from my morning jog and figured you’d be awake since you went home so early last night.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I didn’t go to bed until late,” I said, yawning. “My leg was hurting pretty good last night, but I think I’ll be healed up pretty soon. I called up there and Nikki was out-of-her-mind swamped while you were dealing with the law in the back.”
Dan sighed. “Yeah, man, it was rough last night. Between Angel calling in, you being hurt, and me being tied up, we barely had enough people to cover the floor. I had to pay Nikki time and a half last night, just so she wouldn’t quit. But, don’t spread that around. The other girls will have my balls if they found out.”
I laughed. “Oh, that’s mighty tempting, Dan.”
“So…are you still mad about the whole Lola thing?” he asked, tentatively. That was the first time in four years that I had heard him sound timid towards me.
“Aw, D,” I said gently, feeling bad for yesterday’s behavior. “I’m not mad at you, hon. I was just surprised to see Lola there, that’s all. That girl gets my back up every time I’m around her. I was disappointed, though. You can do SO much better than Lola Finch, D. You’re Filet Mignon and that girl is ground beef.”
“I think that’s the almost-most-sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, doll,” he said happily.
I laughed. “Yeah, well don’t go spreading THAT around. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he chuckled dismissively. “So, go ahead and take tomorrow off, but do you think you could come in on Thursday?” he asked hopefully.
“Yeah, I’ll make it in for my shift. Listen D., I need to talk to you about some stuff. If we aren’t too busy Thursday afternoon, think you could make time for me?” I asked.
“Absolutely, doll. You get some rest and I’ll see you then,” he said, sweetly.
“Thanks, Dan,” I said, feeling a little guilty about my impending one week notice. “You’re an awesome boss, you know that?”
“Of course!” he said happily and hung up the phone.
I lay back down in my bed and snuggled up to Styvi Nix, hoping to drift back off to sleep. Thirty minutes later, I was still wide awake and decided to get up. I crawled out of bed and looked back at Styvi. She half way opened one eye, took a deep breath and went back to sleep. This is so unfair, I thought to myself. Styvi could go back to sleep and I couldn’t.
On my way to the bathroom I noticed that I wasn’t limping anymore. I stopped and looked down at my ankle. It looked completely normal, no swelling or bruising. Huh? I thought, lifting my foot and rotating my ankle. There was no pain whatsoever. Well that’s weird. I looked at my knee and found the same thing. No swelling or bruising. I did a few squats and felt fine so I practiced a few Krav Maga kicks. What the hell is going on? I saw my ankle last night and it was big and bruised. There was no way both my knee and ankle could be healed this quickly.
I raced to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I lifted my hair out of the way and was shocked. My eyebrow was bruised and swollen last night and today it looked like nothing had ever happened. How is that even possible? I sat down on the edge of the tub and thought back for a few moments. No, I had definitely been injured last night. I distinctly remember the pain. I sighed. Maybe bruises went away in nine hours? I shook my head and chuckled. Don’t be an idiot, I thought to myself. I didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed like I had had a miraculous healing. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I silently thanked God and took care of my morning necessities in the bathroom.
I made my way downstairs to put the kettle on, grabbed my book out of my messenger bag, and sat it on the table to read while I drank my tea. I decided to make waffles this morning and got the stuff out to make it. I had hardly eaten anything the day before. I was determined to get my calories in today, lest we have a repeat of yesterday’s fainting spell.
I turned on my IPod and jammed out while I cooked. I cut up some fresh strawberries and a banana and placed them in a small bowl. I poured my cup of steaming water, added an English Breakfast tea bag, and poured a bit of sugar free syrup on my waffle. I put away the music and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. When I finished I did the dishes quickly, poured myself another cup of tea and curled up on the couch to read my book.
Styvi Nix finally trotted down about an hour later. I got up, fed her a treat, and filled up her food and water bowl. She happily thanked me by licking my legs before she ran out through her doggie door to take care of business and chase her butterflies. I couldn’t help but smile. She was the sweetest girl and I was absolutely head-over-heels for her.
I checked the time and looked around the house. It was almost noon and I was bored. How was I supposed to stay here all day? I wasn’t used to having ‘lazy days’. I had planned on being in bed all day, but that was no longer necessary. I remembered the black charge card that Archer gave me last night and bounced up to my room to retrieve it.
I pulled the black skirt that I had on last night out of the clothes hamper and rifled through the back pockets. I found the envelope and felt the outline of the card through it. Sah-weet! I could have some fun out shopping AND take care of my mandatory, Archer-approved errand. Why not? I was joyfully pain free and had an available afternoon.
I went into the bathroom to get ready. After doing my hair, I walked to the closet and chose a pair of baggy, faded boyfriend jeans, a white belt, a vintage ‘Frankie Says Relax’ t-shirt, and paired it with my white Doc’s. I grabbed the black credit card and went downstairs. I kissed Styvi Nix goodbye, grabbed my messenger bag and cell phone, and headed out the front door.
Since I didn’t have my car, I decided to walk the couple of blocks to the city’s light rail line. It was a straight shoot downtown and the train let off at a station a block from The Underground. After a short wait, I boarded the two car train and listened to my IPod for the duration of the ride. Seeing my stop, I hopped out at the downtown depot and made my way over to the store.
I walked in and was met by loud Industrial music and a plethora of vinyl, buckles, corsets and lace. Some of the outfits were beautiful replica Victorian era gothic and Steampunk, but most were skimpy, micro-mini standard club wear. I sighed and picked a place to start tearing through the racks. I loaded up on skirts, corsets, bondage pants, and barely-there tops. After about two hours of searching and four fully loaded trips to the sales girl later, I had almost everything I needed. I picked out tons of tights, in various colors and stages of destruction, arm warmers, and a mixture of chokers. For my final stop, I swung by the shoes and had a field day, selecting numerous boots in different heights, and several pairs of wild platform pumps. I grabbed some intense colored Urban Decay makeup on the way to the register. When I was ready to check out, the sales girl pretty much summed up my whole shopping experience in one word: ‘WHOA.’ Whoa was right. I didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to carry ALL these bags back home on the train.
The sales girl handed me my lengthy receipt and I whipped out my cell phone to call a cab. Three hot minutes later, I was in the cab with my bags resting comfortably in his spacious trunk. I looked at the time and was surprised. It was almost 5 o’clock already! We pulled into my driveway. The cabbie helped me bring my bags inside and I tipped him generously. I ran upstairs to take a quick shower, shave, and redo my hair and makeup with the new products I bought.
After all that was accomplished, I still had twenty minutes to get ready. I thought about the outfit that I wanted to wear and dug through my newly purchased merchandise. I finally found it and quickly shimmied into it, no easy task, let me tell you. I grabbed some boots and slithered into those as well. I opened my cl
oset door and viewed my ensemble in the full length mirror that was mounted to the back of it. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Holy…shit…” I said out loud. I did a full circle in the mirror, put my hands on my hips, smirked, and nodded my head.
I was wearing a black vinyl tank mini-dress that fully laced up on each side of my body. The thick corset string was cherry red, and I tied it into a bow where my dress ended on each side. There were gaps where the string crisscrossed, so a line of skin showed. I had to be selective about what kind of panties I threw on so you couldn’t see them. The dress had a low scoop neckline and I had to wear a low cut demi bra to accommodate it. The boots I chose to wear tonight were absolutely licentious. They were over-the-knee stiletto boots and had an awesome cuffed collar, sexy, slightly slouched detailing, numerous stud/buckle/chain highlights, and a rockin’ five inch heel. To complete the outfit, I threw on a black leather slave collar, and grabbed my cropped, black leather biker jacket.
“You go, girl…” I said amazed at what the dress did for my curves. I wasn’t used to seeing myself in these types of clothes, but seeing it now gave me a little boost to my confidence. I felt pretty darn good.
I looked over at Styvi who was staring at me with her little head cocked to the side. “Well, what do YOU think, Styvi Nix?” She cocked her head to the other side and then sat up on her back legs and begged for a treat.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay…” I chuckled. “Come on, super star. Let’s get you a treat.” She bolted downstairs and I trailed after her. I walked over by her treat jar and removed an all-natural rawhide from a bag in the cabinet. I held up the treat and she immediately sat down in front of me and furiously wagged her tail.