Role Play Page 6

  “Were all of you on the road together?” I asked, including the women in my question.

  “June and Spike were. We met Lola here.”

  “What kind of shows do you do?”

  “Anything we can,” Martin said. “Party entertainment. Street fairs. Corporate hires. You wouldn’t believe how they want to spice up a party, and we can keep it vanilla and still put on a slamming show.”

  Martin handed me a card that had their website and contact info. It was heavy on the flames, with the word Transcendence blazoned across it.

  After I got the spiel, I went to the other end of the bar. When I caught Sierra’s eye, I raised my drink to her. She looked away, mad.

  What was Sierra’s interest in Martin’s group?

  I waited for Sierra to make a move, but she kept watching from the shadows of the banquets. There wasn’t much to see. Martin worked the crowd, handing cards out to anyone who would take them. A hustler, for sure. Pimping his thing, and shooting for the big brass ring by coming to New York.

  But even when Sierra could have gotten a few words with Martin away from the two girls, she didn’t try. She said hello to him when he greeted the other people at her table, and I could have sworn that Martin didn’t recognize her. Which made it even weirder.

  I nursed a drink until Martin and his crew finally made their noisy departure. Pleasure Salon was winding down and more people were leaving.

  Sierra sat up straight as if ready to follow Martin out. But then she slumped back down.

  I knew I couldn’t walk out that door without trying once more with Sierra. How could any man walk away from a woman like that? Especially after what I had done.

  I kept thinking about her. She haunted my mind, as I remembered little moments, a look or a motion that was seared into my brain. Why did she go to the Chamber? Why was she hiding behind that awful wig?

  I had to find out more.

  And I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  Chapter 5

  Sierra

  I looked up and saw Victor coming towards me. There was an inevitability about his approach that was inescapable, a train wreck that I couldn’t avoid.

  I wished he wasn’t so bronzed and good-looking. It was bad enough he seemed to see right through me, but I could hardly look at him without feeling all sorts of things stir around treacherously inside of me.

  Victor slid into the booth next to me. He didn’t even have the grace to sit on the other side that the couple had just abandoned. I shifted over on the vinyl bench to get further away from him.

  “Can you take off the wig now that they’re gone?” Victor asked first thing.

  I glared at him, angry and frustrated. I had accomplished nothing tonight, except for finding out that Lola was now walking around in her bra and letting her new boyfriend beat her with fire in public.

  Even more surprising, the crowd had loved Lola. Her nasty wisecracks and that twisted scowl she made every time someone tossed her a dollar instead of donating more, only made them laugh. People gave her more because of it!

  All evening I felt panic bubbling up inside of me, like things were slipping out of control. Like Lola was receding into the distance, beyond my reach.

  So I snapped at Victor, “Are you always this much of an asshole?”

  “Apparently with you, I am.” His grin was rueful. “If you still want revenge, I can introduce you to the producers. They’re bound to tell other people what I did, and then they’ll warn all the newbies that they’re taking a risk if they play with me.”

  I couldn’t imagine telling anyone what had happened with Victor. Look at how unsympathetic my own sister was! “I could have told a cop about it, if I wanted to. But I didn’t.”

  “You mean that guy in the car who was waiting for you? He looked like a cop.”

  Shocked, I finally met his gaze. “You followed me!”

  “We had an intense scene, and you were wobbly. I had to be sure you got home okay. But then I saw another guy was already waiting for you.”

  “What’s your problem? You follow me last week and tonight you’ve been watching me like a hawk.”

  “You’re worth watching.”

  His tone was so honestly admiring that I couldn’t be a complete bitch. Besides, the damage was done. He had seen everything tonight.

  “Come on,” Victor urged. “Tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”

  I gave him a sideways look. “Why would you help me?”

  He shrugged. “After what I did, I owe you one.”

  He sat there looking so delicious that my hands twitched, wanting to touch his hair and his chest. It was traitorous, that feeling.

  Sighing, I pulled off the red wig. It itched, and Lola was long gone. With both hands, I pulled out the barrettes that held my hair in place, letting it fall straight down.

  “Much better,” Victor murmured. He handed me a napkin. “Lipstick, too.”

  I bridled. “What makes you think this isn’t my usual shade?”

  “It’s not.”

  He said it with finality, as if he had known me for years. He was right, but that didn’t make me any more eager to do what he said. But the way he was stared made me feel like a clown. I slowly rubbed off the showy red color.

  “Now we’re talking.” Victor looked pleased with himself. “Why are you hiding behind all that stuff?”

  “It’s my sister, Lola. The brown-haired girl.“

  “The one who looks like you! Yes, I didn’t see it before under all those curls.” He was nodding as if everything made more sense now.

  “Something’s going on with her but she won’t talk to me,” I admitted. “She’s got this new boyfriend, Martin, and she’s suddenly started modeling in fetish photos. She broke up with her old boyfriend, Dick, the cop waiting in the car. He’s the one who told me she was at the Chamber. That’s why I went that night. I was trying to find out what she’s up to. I thought Dick could rescue her…”

  For the first time, Victor looked less than self-assured. In fact, he looked a little sick for a moment. “That’s why you were there?”

  I nodded. I could swear he was feeling bad right now. He shifted in his seat, suddenly unable to meet my eyes. “Did you think I was like Monica?” I asked. “That girl I met at the Chamber?”

  “I thought you had some experience, a little at least. You were keeping those guys away with just your vibe, and let me tell you, that’s not the place for newbies to go roaming around alone.”

  I took a deep breath, silently cursing Dick for tossing me in the deep end. “So you don’t go around scaring every woman you flirt with?”

  “No! Not even at the Chamber.”

  “But you couldn’t resist me,” I said, echoing him from earlier.

  “No, I couldn’t. I’m really sorry, I thought you were something else.” He ventured a small smile. “But then again, you were wearing a disguise.”

  I had to admit that was true. “I guess it’s more dangerous than I thought.”

  “It’s actually pretty safe, if you use common sense.”

  He was reminding me of his first warning which I had ignored. Why did he keep trying to get one-up on me? It kept me on edge even while we were talking so friendly-like.

  Victor pulled out a card. “Martin gave me this. It’s got his website on it.”

  He opened it on his iPhone. The website was mostly black with vivid slashes of arching fire, and brightly colored wisps of costumes on nearly naked girls. It was nothing I hadn’t seen on Martin’s profile, but it had a more complete calendar of events where they were performing. Including a park in Brooklyn on Sunday.

  I finally sat back, shaking my head. “Why would they do this kind of show in a park? There will be kids around!”

  “Martin says they do vanilla events, more like a circus freak show, I imagine.”

  I considered it. “Okay, that’s sounds more reasonable. But why did she let him hit her like that? That fire looks dangerous. I can�
�t believe they allow it here.”

  “It’s mostly cement down below.”

  “What about the girls? What if Lola caught on fire?”

  “She had stuff in her hair and on her skin to keep the fire away from her.”

  I looked at him closer. “Really? So it’s just an illusion?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. It can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Like anything else. But from what it looks like, this guy Martin has a lot of documented experience. And that’s good in the scene.”

  “You seem to know a lot about it.”

  “I dabble. I work too much to make it regular thing.”

  “Two Fridays in a row is sort of regular,” I pointed out.

  His expression was more serious. “I came tonight to ask the producers if they knew you. Most people come through here at some point. It’s one of the main gateways to the scene. I wanted to find you to make sure I didn’t hurt you. And I found you.”

  My face flushed. It was intensely flattering. Especially coming from a guy as successful and good-looking as he was. He could have any girl. Literally, any girl. But he came looking for me.

  “Mission accomplished,” I told him. “You actually proved to me how dangerous this is. I don’t get why you do it. I don’t get why Lola lets that guy hit her with those whips. It looks like it hurt.”

  “It also feels good.”

  “Did it feel good when I hit you with the ruler?” I asked.

  “Yes, because I was thinking I would be able to do anything I wanted to you afterwards.”

  And just like that, my heart started beating faster. He was the golden boy when he was smiling, shining like the sun, but I preferred him this way, when he was intent and serious. Like we were sharing a secret together.

  Victor held up his right hand, looking from it to me. “I used this hand on you last week. Just this hand, holding that rope around your wrist.” His fingers flexed.

  My mouth opened, looking at his hand. I wanted to pull away from him. But that would be giving too much away. Then he would know how much he had scared me. I had thought about what happened all week, and now here I was sitting next to him, talking about it like it was a perfectly natural thing. It felt like everything I thought I knew was splitting apart.

  “I made you feel something real intense,” he told me quietly. “Now I could make you feel so good you’d do anything for me. Without touching you sexually, of course. We are in a bar.”

  “Here? You want to touch me here?”

  “You don’t understand why people like kink, or why your sister is doing this. I can show you. And I can make up for the… extreme introduction I gave you last week.”

  I couldn’t believe how tempted I was by him. “Look what happened last time I said yes.”

  “We weren’t on common ground last time. Now I know where you’re coming from. And you can stop me at any time. Just tell me if you don’t like it.”

  “Like a safeword?” I asked, remembering what Lola had told me.

  “Yes.”

  His hand dropped to the bench, straying closer to me. Like he wanted to touch me. He bit his lip as he looked down at my legs.

  “Give me your foot,” he urged.

  “My foot?” I was wearing stiletto pumps.

  “Yes, what harm could that do?”

  We were sitting at right angles so it was easy to lift my foot up. He caught me by the ankle and carefully removed my shoe. I could just see my red-tipped toes peeking from under the table cloth.

  His touch sent a shiver through me, just in the way he held me. So firm and confident, yet careful of me, like his hands were too big for my delicate ankle. The feeling reminded me of last time when he held me. And I knew that if he didn’t want to let me go, I wouldn’t be able to break free.

  I looked around. The place had mostly emptied out from the event, and a new post-happy hour crop of people were arriving. There were people at the nearby banquets and sitting at the bar. It felt safe enough, yet secluded.

  Slowly, taking his time, he began to massage my foot. Pressing in at my heel and stroking up the toes—it felt heavenly! For a girl who worked on her feet all day every day, there could be nothing better.

  He knew what he was doing. What wonders he could accomplish if he had lotion!

  He moved up to include my ankle and I relaxed even more. His touch was so strong and sure, almost to the point of pain. But it’s what I needed. I’d been strung tight as a wire for weeks over Lola.

  Stop thinking about Lola, I ordered myself.

  “Stop thinking,” Victor said quietly.

  Startled, I looked at him. He was making his way up my calf, and was giving my work-hardened muscles a good deep massage.

  “You could tell that just from touching me?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer, so that was reply enough.

  As he kept stroking me, I relaxed back again, focusing on how his hands felt as he mixed the deep massage with delicate stroking, running his fingers up to the inside of my knee.

  He went slowly, and when he got to the hem of my skirt half way up my thigh, I was feeling like I didn’t want to stop him. My entire leg was thrumming along with a few other things. Just from him touching my leg!

  But he showed he could be a gentleman, and he stopped at my skirt.

  Gently, he picked up my hand. He leaned over and raised it to his lips. He didn’t say anything, but he looked at me, and I felt his eyes pierce my heart. Desire and regret were in that look.

  I know exactly how you feel, I wanted to tell him.

  Looking deep into my eyes, he began to stroke my fingers. Gently at first, bringing the blood to the tips, then squeezing harder as he pulled on each one.

  Suddenly, I was flooded with emotion, with tears rising to burn my eyes. Just being touched, so deliberately, with such care, was overwhelming. I rarely felt any touch. I avoided intimacy because I was too busy, and because I had seen Lola get into so much drama with her male protectors over the years. I was more concerned with building walls to protect us, but she was more impulsive. And not very careful. Lola had had two abortions, one when she was sixteen. That wasn’t something I wanted for myself. So I waited for the perfect man to complete my perfect dream of the city.

  But my first boyfriend in New York turned out to be a player that I mistook for a real man. He manipulated me into thinking he really knew me, that he cared about me. But all he wanted was to beat the challenge I gave him, and convince me to go to bed with him. Our whirlwind affair didn’t last two months, before he was on to the next girl.

  It certainly taught me a lesson.

  But this man wasn’t asking for sex. Victor was touching me to make me feel good. And it felt so very, very good!

  I sighed, my eyelids growing heavy. But I never took my eyes off him. It felt like I was in his hands completely again, only this time he was holding me like a baby bird, cupping me in his palms as he took care of me.

  Chapter 6

  Victor

  I wanted to kiss her hand again, and trail my lips all the way up her lovely arm. But I had promised to use only my hands. But how tempting she was! I was leading this dance, but her shining eyes were drawing me in with her, exactly like last time.

  Her skin was so smooth and creamy. And those soft sounds she was making made me want to lose my mind.

  But I couldn’t let go like last time. I couldn’t believe she was letting me touch her after what I had frightened her. After she had seen the darkness in me.

  Yet she was softening under my hands, going limp and languid. Trusting me. I could feel it pouring off her as she gave herself over to me completely.

  My fingers stroked the curve of her shoulder, feeling the perfect arch and the curve at the base of her neck. She tensed again slightly, as I neared her throat, so I began to rub her shoulder, pressing one hand against the front of her should and the other on her shoulder blade until she relaxed in spite of herself.

  I was still touch
ing only her left side—I had a reason for that.

  My fingers lightened, as I made swirls down along the top of her halter, under her arm and then back up again.

  This time I didn’t stop. I trailed my fingertip up her neck, feeling her sudden tremble. I continued up, gently forcing her head back, exposing her throat.

  Her breath caught, and she stiffened, like she was going to protest. But I trailed my finger back down along her halter, and then back up, soothing her once again.

  Then I stroked up with my whole palm, cupping her neck, feeling her fluttering pulse.

  Then up to her face. She let out her breath in a rush, as I ran a finger along her jaw and up to the hollow of her check. I barely brushed her lips, feeling them pucker slightly under my passing fingertip.

  I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I had to finish what I started. I traced the arch of her nose, and up her forehead into her hair. Massaging only one side of her head was impossible, but I concentrated on the left side. Her hair was so long it felt like a silk scarf in my hands, and was so light that it weighed nothing for its length.

  Her eyes were closed as she leaned back against the cushion, making little moans at how good it felt with my fingers rubbing her head.

  Finally, I honed in on her lips again and she stilled. When she opened her eyes, I was leaning so close I could have kissed her. But I held off by sheer will, remembering my promise to let her say no.

  “I’m going to kiss you,” I warned.

  She lifted her face, reaching for me, silently saying yes. Her lips were so hot against mine, so ready and eager. I tried to hold back, to restrain myself, not wanting to scare her again. But I had to devour her lips, pausing to look deeply into her eyes, then kissing her face and lips again.

  My cock was hard as stone, raging to take her. The sane part of my mind knew that wouldn’t happen here. But I would make sure it did happen. Soon.

  Her hands were on my face, as I pulled her against me. I couldn’t stop kissing her! It was like a flash explosion had been set off, and nothing could stop it.

  Until she broke free, pushing both hands against my chest and leaning back to get away from me. “I thought you said you were only going to use your hands.”