Page 11 of Whirlwind

Dawes, the cute biker bouncer from the local MC, the One-Eyed Jacks who owned the nightclub flirted with me, gesturing me right on in. At the bar, I’d gotten hit on twice, but I’d struck them both down. Homegrown, good ole boys were most definitely not my flavor of the day. Not tonight.

Not ever again.

My eyes landed on the two other One-Eyed Jack bikers doing security duty by the entrance.A Jack? Well, hello, maybe.

The bartender brought me a fresh drink, and I sipped the sharp cocktail as the driving dance music heaved through the dark space and had my body moving with it. The incessant, frenetic laser lights worked overtime to make us feel we were anywhere but plain ol’ Meager, South Dakota.Hoo-flipping-ray.

My gaze went to my cell phone on the bar top. No word from Wes, and I’d gotten here thirty-three minutes ago.

Wes’s late father had been the president of the One-Eyed Jacks. My father not only hated the club’s presence in our town, but he hated that the club owned such a “sleazy” moneymaking establishment in our town. I think what he really hated was the fact that the Tingle was such a successful moneymaking machine that he and his company didn’t own, but “a bunch of white trash fringe criminals,” as he often remarked, did. I took a long swallow of my martini, a finger swiping at the edge of my lip. Great cocktails.Good job, Jacks.

I ran my hands through my hair, and the guy sitting next to me shot me a grin. Here, I was the woman out on her own in a manlandscape scoring lots of appreciative looks.

Sipping on my drink, the buzz of the alcohol swirling in my brain, warming my chest, loosening my limbs, I checked out the crowd. I was in a hot air balloon, thick purple waves of majesty rippling before me, the infinite rich blue sky above, puffs of clouds moving along with me. Crisp, cool fresh air filled my lungs as I took in this magnificence. Would I recognize a teacher from high school? A neighbor’s husband?Fun.

Up on the stage, three dancers twirled, twisted, enticed on their poles, their lithe movements riveting. That’s how they all had those amazing abs and legs. Huh.I should take pole dance classes—oooh, then I could get a job here, which would be the ultimate crazy time. Wouldn’t Dad like that?

Dollar bills flew in the air over a dancer from a guy standing at the edge of the stage. The girl got on her hands and knees—that was what he secretly wanted, judging by the laugh that erupted from him, eyes positively gleaming.Yeah, pat on the back for you, way to go.She winked at him with her huge false eyelashes and gave him a view of her goods as she swept the bills up one by one. I guess that was part of the show, the experience. No, I didn’t want to get on my hands and knees and swat at cash. I drew the line there. Anyhow, cash wasn’t what I needed.

A fervent anticipation buzzed in the thick air along with the thumping music. Several provocatively dressed dancers mingled with the audience, signaling waitresses, others doing lap dances. One girl led a man upstairs, and the glazed look on her face told me it was just another day at the office for her. Her client, on the other hand, was beside himself as he darted up the stairs behind her, following her into a private VIP room.

My fingers slid up and down the stem of my glass. VIP, huh? Men thought they were the ones in control in here—didn’t they always?—but they were wrong. When it came to their dicks, men were suckers plain and simple.Wasn’t this entire strip club business built on that principle?

My screen flashed. A text. Wes.

“Almost there. Waiting outside?”

“At the bar - on drink 2”

“Of course you are!”

I laughed to myself as I swallowed what was left of my drink and returned my attention to the goings on. I spotted Sissy lingering at a table, flirting, laughing.

My back straightened as I took her in from afar. I’d never seen her in so much makeup or out of her casual daily clothes. Here, she was dazzling in a glittery bikini-like outfit on equally glittery super high heels along with long and tousled hair extensions—a seductive disco lioness on the prowl.

She began to dance for the table of men in business suits, her swaying hips riveting them all to her lower body. She undulated and twerked to the driving beat as she focused her attention on one of the men, the others gawking, licking their lips, entranced. I was entranced. What a performer. She got close to the lucky man and flung her hair on his chest, her head rocking back, titties shaking. The man leaned forward and grinned over his dancing girl.

My fingers clamped around my glass, my throat burning. The blood drained from my face, down my neck, my middle, through my legs, spilling onto the floor.

I didn’t take my eyes off the man she danced for. Hell, Icouldn’ttake my eyes off him. Greedy lust, hard expectation, along with a twist of that sharp arrogance seethed from that familiar face, now an unfamiliar mask of cold, hard metal.

He expertly tucked bills between Sissy’s boobs, in a garter against her thigh, more against her hip. No awkwardness there. He knew how to tuck those bills in. I couldn’t breathe. It was an ugly thing, what rose inside me, sending prickles over my skin, a cold hand fisting in my gut and yanking my entrails up my chest.

Sissy smiled as he said something to her, was it something lewd and nasty? She laughed and everyone at the table sat on the edge of their seats. Sissy leaned in closer and shimmied her chest, her hips, her pelvis churning over him. Nausea churned in my stomach.

He shot her that hard smile of his. The one that said,We’re done now, I have better things to do. Be it at the office, at home, or at a strip joint, Marshall Hildebrand was the master ensconced on his throne, dominion over all.

He tucked more cash between her tits, deeply tucking in one smooth move getting his feel in, as his comrades hooted and whistled. Oh, he’d surely done this before.

This, here, now, was not something a daughter should ever witness, was it?

6

Violet

The floor tiltedunder my feet.

The throb of the music, the pulsating lights, the heavy scent in the air swerved around me, knotted inside me. Hoots and applause rose up in the distance.

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