It was with those thoughts in mind that I told Caleb I would be at the bar Friday night, as usual, but I wouldn't be meeting him at his house first to ride together. I wasn't quite sure I was ready to bite my nose off to spite my face, so I told him it was because I needed to work on Saturday and couldn't spend the night. Little steps.
Friday night came quickly, and I chose a different corset for the occasion. I stopped by at Caleb's table first, they were sitting close to the door tonight, but he hadn't arrived yet. I said hi to everyone, and said I'd come back around once he got here. I danced with all the Garys and parked myself at Kate's table. "So..." Kate said.
"Have you noticed no one in here is naked?" I asked her with a grin.
She laughed and asked what I thought of the other bar.
"It was interesting, to say the least."
"I saw your shadow dancing, very nice. You looked great up there."
"Thanks, that was fun. Do you do that?"
"Yeah, sometimes. It is really fun. It makes me feel like a Bond girl."
"That's what I thought too. How funny."
"Would you go back?" She asked. "Now that you know what to expect?"
"Yeah, I would. I don't think I'd want it to be a weekly thing like you do, but I would go back."
"What did Caleb think?"
"He's a man, what do you think he thought?"
She laughed again, "I bet the sex was hot after you left, huh?"
"Oh yeah, and the next day, too. Outside by the lake in this little alcove, but then some guy stopped, backed up, and asked if he could join."
"No way, seriously?"
"Seriously, it was creepy. We couldn't get out of there fast enough."
"Where is Caleb?"
"He's coming, I think. I'm trying to keep a distance. He is fun, but he would be dangerous to fall for."
"Are you in danger of falling?"
"I don't think so. There are plenty of red flags but during the quiet days, just he and I at his house, after breakfast wrapped up on his couch... I have to remind myself he's not good in the long run."
"Well, be careful."
After a minute I said to her, "It really is a little weird to have everyone be fully dressed. It seems like at least one or two of the dancers should at least be topless. Odd how it changes how you see this bar now."
"Yeah, I think that's why we keep going back. It seems like this place is missing something now. Some Friday night skin."
"Hey, weren't they...?"
"Yeah, they were at the other bar. They go a lot."
"Is it weird that I know what she looks like in a nightie?"
"No weirder than knowing she knows how you look in a nightie, too."
"Oh. Yeah. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks so much."
I was dancing with a friend of mine when my stomach did its little roll, and I felt the hair on my neck raise up. 'Caleb is here.' I thought. 'No, that's weird. I can't feel him enter a room.' I looked around though, despite what my brain said, and saw him. He was leaning against the bar, watching me. I caught his eye, and flushed under his stare. He smiled, like he knew the reaction I had to his presence. Damn him.
Halfway through the song I saw someone tap my dancer on his shoulder. "May I cut in?" I heard a deep voice ask politely. "Yeah, umm.... sure," was my dancers reply, and he gave me over to Caleb.
"Who does that? What is this, 1940?" I asked Caleb, as he took me in his arms. I seemed to be asking that question a lot, since Caleb. He laughed his deep chuckle, and asked, "Do you mind?"
"No, but that was a first. I have never had anyone cut in. I'm not sure he knew what to do." I said of the friend who left me with Caleb.
"'Firsts' should really be your middle name." Caleb said. "They happen around you constantly."
"Yeah, like you have room to talk."
"I guess there is just something about us, together, that causes trouble." Caleb said, as he led me into a spin.
"Oh," I heard myself exclaim as Caleb pulled me tight with one arm, slid his knee between mine, and took over, leading in the same sensuous dance style from the night we first kissed. If I could have formed a thought at this point, the dance would have reminded me a bit of watching "Dirty Dancing" when I was younger. Sex and foreplay disguised for public view as dancing. Damn, he gets all demanding and sexy when he isn't getting his way.
"I'm still not going home with you tonight," I said as he brought me back up from a slow, sexy dip on the dance floor. The challenge shone is his eye as he responded with, "We'll see about that."
He moved one arm from his dancing position, and wrapped it around my neck instead. With that arm now supporting my head, and his other still firmly around my waist, Caleb dipped me again, only this time he bent over me, kissing me. I had nothing to hold onto except for Caleb, and I hung on tight. His mouth moved with mine expertly, his kiss making me forget where we were, and that I was supposed to be keeping a distance. I clung to him tighter, no longer for support but in wanting. When he stood us both back up, it took a second to get my bearings. "I like the effect I have on you," Caleb stated smugly.
Caleb led me by the hand to his friend's table. By the time we got there I was recovered enough to be able to join in on the conversation. Caleb bought a round for the table from a passing shot girl, and we toasted to another Friday night. As we visited Maria looked past us and said, "Caleb, isn't that...?"
Caleb looked the direction she indicated and said, "Tina? Yep, that's her all right. Has she seen us?"
"I don't think so."
"Who is Tina?" I asked.
"Tina is..."
Maria jumped in and said, "Tina is someone who likes Caleb. He usually avoids her, but we were at a friend's party once, and she was there, too. She cornered Caleb, came on really strong."
Caleb added, "And I was really drunk. And lonely. And bored."
Maria just nodded.
"That is not a good combination." I said.
"Yeah, and I regretted it immediately. It was just the one night."
Maria interrupted with, "You have been spotted. Incoming."
As a table, we all watched her approach. She came directly at him, like a heat-seeking missile. Fake blond, fake boobs, way too thin, wearing way too little. Well, for this bar. She slid through the crowd like she was greased, her eyes never leaving Caleb's. She didn't even slow down. She practically fell into Caleb, both hands on his cheeks, and planted a big kiss right on his mouth.
She pulled her face away from his, leaving her hands on his cheeks, and looked at him like she was expecting him to say something. He didn't, but I did.
"Well, hello there. And who are you?"
She looked at me, noticing me for the first time. "I'm Tina. Who are you?"
"My girlfriend." Caleb said dryly.
Her eyes got huge, and I watched her notice that Caleb and I were holding hands, and had been since before she got here. I watched her slowly realize what she had done, and that we were standing at a table full of people who had all seen her kiss.
I said, "Nice to meet you, Tina. Now if you don't mind, could you please remove your hands from Caleb's face? Thanks."
"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize." She fumbled, bright red, trying to explain herself. She eventually just gave up, and walked away.
The table, Caleb included, was looking at me in horror. I thought it was outrageously funny. I started laughing, and they collectively let their breath out in relief.
"Did you see her?" I asked everyone. "She was like a football linebacker. Elbows out, mowing over anyone in her way, tables practically flying out of her path. That must have been one hell of a one night stand."
"She did not," Caleb tried to deny it, embarrassed.
Everyone at the table nodded yes as he looked around for support. Robert spoke up, saying, "She was on a mission. Damn, man."
Caleb said, "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. You didn't do anything. She didn't see anyone else in this bar once she saw you
. I'm not sure anything could have stopped her. What in the hell kind of Karma Sutra shit did you pull out on her?" I asked, not done teasing him.
"Nothing, it wasn't even good. I was too drunk."
Maria said, "She's just always had a thing for him."
"Well, she has good taste," I said, putting the whole thing to bed.
We danced some more, and Caleb tried again to apologize in private. I told him it really was fine. It's a bar, shit happens. It's not like you went looking for her. You can't control what people do, just your reaction to them.
The night passed quickly, and was fun, but it seemed like something was missing. I figured it out when they played a great, sexy fast song. "Damn, this bar needs a shadow box."
Caleb laughed and said, "I know where you can find one."
I grinned and wiggled my eyebrows at him. I grabbed a few girls and we danced wildly, with abandon. I had so much fun dancing with them, I actually thought that if we were at the other club right now, I'd be tempted to lose my corset, and dance free and topless. Something about Tina's wild approach changed the evening, it sparked something in me. I wanted to be a little wild, too. Maybe it was a sense of competition? A need to out-do? The fact that they were playing a lot of Ke$ha was not helping. Whatever it was, the need to rip off my top was growing, and I was quite certain that here such a move would get me arrested. But, just a few miles down the street, the move would be welcomed.
Kate's timing was perfect, she danced closer to me as Ke$ha sang "Take It Off," a song that reminded me of That Other Club. She asked, "Wanna take this party down the street?"
"Yeah, I really kind of do."
"Come on, let's grab the guys."
It was that easy. I said to Caleb, "It's midnight. You wanna?"
"Oh, hell yeah."
* * * *
The other bar was already rocking when we got there. It wasn't a theme night, so we walked in as we were. We dropped the guys and Kate's liquor, which they offered to share, at a table and Kate and I joined the throng on the floor. We kept our tops on, but there were a few on the floor who were already missing theirs.
Kate jabbed me with an elbow and pointed to a table. There was a woman in a school-girl outfit on- white shirt, tied under her massive cleavage, short pleated skirt, knee high socks, everything. She was leaning over, talking to a couple on the other side of the table. The reason Kate elbowed wasn't the outfit though, it was because as she talked bent over the table, a man was spanking her. He was standing behind her, and occasionally smacking her ass. She kept talking, and would look back at him every now and then, and wiggle her skirt with a smile. And he would give her a little smack. You could hear it over the music. Smack. Smack.
Between smacks, he would rub, like he was soothing the redness. Rub, smack. She'd bend her knees a bit, and wiggle, straighten her legs, up on tippy-toe, and wiggle some more. When she was finished with her conversation, she stood up, and they went to the dance floor.
"Well, OK then."
"Won't see that down the street," I giggled, and we kept dancing.
We went back to the table for a drink and visited with people at close tables. I turned to Caleb and asked, "Why is it not weird to be having a conversation about the best time to plant tomatoes in a back-yard garden with a topless woman?"
He laughed and shook his head saying, "I don't know. I don't think I could have this same conversation if her husband's pants were off though."
I shook my head no, in agreement.
Later Caleb said, "I want to take you into that back room and fuck you senseless."
"Yeah," I nodded. "I do, too, but I can't. I know these people. Kate is my friend, and some of these others we see at the bar. I've wanted to lose my top and dance as well, but I can't. Not here. Weird huh?"
"We could try another bar. There has got to be more than this one. One farther away. We wouldn't know anyone. Tomorrow night? We can look it up on-line in the morning."
I hadn't thought of that. "Maybe." I said. "We can look, and then decide."
Chapter 22
Another One
'So much for keeping my distance,' I thought, waking up in Caleb's bed again on Saturday morning. After coffee and breakfast Caleb asked if I was still willing to look for a new place to play tonight.
I was, so we looked up swinger's clubs on-line. There were about ten in a 6-hour radius. One was the one we had been to, and there were two more about an hour away. Neither one had a lot of information on their website. I guess that was a good thing. Who wants to see a picture of themselves on a site like that? No, thanks.
We picked the one that was a little closer, and with that decision made, we curled up on the couch to watch movies. Later, we had dinner, and I realized how hard it was to get ready for a club that generally doesn't get started until really late. At least on Friday night we had a warm-up club to go to first. Instead, tonight we had an hour drive, and we weren't exactly sure what to expect.
We found the place after eleven, but the parking lot was almost empty. We told ourselves we were still early, but this way we could check it out. The other club didn't pick up until after midnight either. We walked in, paid the cover charge, and headed to the bar. We learned on-line this club had a full bar, so we didn't have to bring anything with us.
We got our drinks and looked around, trying to look like we did this all the time. This bar was a lot smaller. When you walked inside, once you cleared the little lobby, the bartender was immediately on the left of the door and the restrooms were on the right. They had a raised stage with a stripper pole on it in the very center of the room, and the chairs and tables surrounded the stage. The stage doubled as a tiny dance floor, and a woman was dancing by herself on it. The walls were covered in black fabric. On one side of the bar was a staircase leading upstairs. The stairs had a chain strung across them, and a sign that said employees only. I looked up toward the ceiling and could see a large balcony with a window facing the stage, with what looked to be DJ equipment behind the glass. OK, so upstairs must be the sound and maybe an office.
The other side of the bar had a curtained doorway, so we figured that must be where their 'other room' was. "Let's look," Caleb said, "before it gets busy in here." He pulled the curtain aside, and we could see couches inside. "It's tiny. Talk about your up close and personal."
We went back toward the stage and took our seats. Looking around, the whole place reminded me more of a place where you would come watch an underground cock fight or something creepy like that. Minus the stripper pole, I guess.
There were three other couples in here sitting and drinking. They looked like they were out to a romantic dinner the way they were huddled over their tables. I recognized one of the ladies at a table as the one who had been dancing by herself when we came in.
The music changed, and an eighties hair band started playing loudly from the speakers overhead. Caleb checked, it was after midnight now. "Give it another hour?" Caleb asked. "If it doesn't get better we will head back. Or, we could try the other club?"
"We can't, that one said if you weren't in by 2 a.m. you couldn't come in. You could leave whenever you wanted, but they had a car gate only open until 2. It sounded like an apartment type gate where you could pull up to the gate to leave, but you couldn't get in without a code or something. Plus, it was an hour the other way. We'd never make it by 2."
"I think we picked the wrong club."
"That is putting it mildly," I said, as two women came down the stairs and through the employees-only chain. They were both wearing school-girl outfits, and both headed to the stage and the stripper pole. The problem was they were both about 300 pounds.
We watched in silence for a minute as the DJ put on the stripper's anthem "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and the ladies began to dance. "Oh, my God."
Caleb said, "I will never be able to look at a school-girl outfit the same way again. Ever."
"I think this experiment is over. Shall we go?"
"You can't get m
e out of here fast enough." Was Caleb's response.
Driving away, and laughing, Caleb said, "What in the hell was that?"
I tried to be nice and said, "I am glad they have a place like that, where they feel comfortable, everyone should be able to feel sexy, but I couldn't watch."
I have nothing against large women, not at all, but watching them in tiny outfits trying to dance on a pole was not my idea of sexy. Not that all the women at the other club were skinny models or anything. They were every shape and size, but the few really large ones stayed dressed. It was like being at a water park, some looked better than others out of their everyday clothes, but this just didn't do it for us.
We laughed the whole hour home. The sexy, free, uninhibited night we envisioned last night was not what we got tonight. "Maybe we should stick to enjoying the show at the other club."
By the time we got back to Caleb's it was really late, we climbed into his bed tired, disappointed, and in no mood for sex.
Chapter 23
Pushing Boundaries
Friday night came around again, as it always does. Most of my phone and text conversations with Caleb through the week revolved around That Other Club. I was a little sad the normal club had morphed into a warm-up club. I had always loved my bar, the dancing, the friends, the stress relief that occurred just by walking in the doors. Now it seemed like a place to kill time until we could go to the other one. So much for just one peek behind the curtain, so to speak. That place had almost become addictive.
I found myself sitting at our table, between Caleb and Kate, watching someone dance on the stripper pole. She was quite good. Either she was a stripper, or she had taken those stripper health club classes seriously. I laughed when I noticed the three of us had adopted the same head position while watching her. Anyone watching us instead of the pole dancer would have seen three heads tilted to the left at the same angle. We looked like three dogs in a row, with that confused dog head-tilt they do.
I giggled and told Kate about our experience last week. I said we started with the same quizzical look when the two large school-girls came out to the pole, but it quickly changed from quizzical to what-the-fuck? She looked horrified after we finished our story. She mentioned this bar was also open on Saturday nights, if we wanted to come here. "Why did you drive an hour when this is right here?"
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