An hour and three double Scotches later I found myself at the bar in Nick's club. While the world still seemed somewhat behind in catching up with reality, it was starting to shift into a frame I recognised more. The bitter fire of the drink lighting its way through my dark thoughts like some fucking comet, the bass of the track blasting through the speakers, hammering the rhythm in my chest, the crowd swaying along under the storm of flashing disco lights. I turned to watch them.
The place was full of gangsters. At least half of them I recognised as colleagues working for the same organisation, the other half could have been anyone as long as at least someone knew who the fuck they were. It was Rob and Jack's job at the door to know who that someone was and how to take care of him if there was any trouble.
And of course there were the ladies. Prostitutes, most of them, but I wasn't picky when it came to staring at half-naked girls on the dancefloor, showing the world how they would shag the brains out of you given half the chance. It didn't take long before one of them decided to have a sniff at me.
'Can I get you anything?' I offered with a smile.
'A G and T, thanks!' She grinned back, lips cherry-red, eyes full of promise. 'It's Ella!' she added after a second thought.
'Eddie' I informed her with a nod.
I turned back to signal Sam, the barkeep. By the time I got the drinks a minute later however my new girlfriend already had another bloke entertaining her. I raised an eyebrow as I made myself known to him. He had the grace to look terrified for a second as he spit the beer out.
'Eddie,' he shouted through the noise, desperately trying to reorganise his face into something more confident, failing by a mile. 'Fucking hell, I didn't know you were here! You hardly show yourself around these parts anymore!'
'Well, I'm here now,' I demonstrated the expression he was after, 'so, if you could excuse us...'
'Heh, of course, of course!' He gestured wildly with his free hand as if it had suddenly caught fire. 'And you know what? She's on me tonight!' The little shit pointed at the hooker a few times and repeated 'On me tonight!' over-articulating every word in case anyone had the slightest doubt what he was on about. I gave him a brief nod and walked the girl upstairs toward the offices, if for nothing else, just to get rid of him. And in any case who knew, maybe this was exactly what I needed.
The door hardly closed behind me when her body slammed against mine and she started passionately kissing me on the mouth. In my surprise I kissed back. This was very unusual behaviour from a hooker. Either she was really into me or on something very special. If it was the former, I didn't care. If it was the latter, I wanted some too.
Her lips played with mine in ways that would raise the dead, fingers expertly unbuttoning both of our shirts simultaneously, not a moment wasted. I let a sigh carry my worries away as her hot breath moved down my neck and chest, those cherry-red lips diligently massaging fire into every little part of me. Lust drew my hands like magnets toward her full breasts, fingers questing for nipples under the black lace push up bra, my gaze shifting along her delicate lines, drinking in every defiant curve, every mischievous hollow. As I was standing there, watching her closing on the lower part of my body, half-dressed and greedy, she looked sexy as hell and God knows, I was ready for the ride.
I moved a hand up to stroke her fine hair, blond like summer sun on a spotless blue sky, blond like they had it in those magazines single men like to keep at home close by, blond like that queenly, stunning mane Aleanna wore on that pretty head of hers. I smiled at the thought of her. A slow, longing smile, every piece of me suddenly wishing that it was her there with me. I looked down again, which was a mistake. No one ever looked more off-putting in my life than the poor girl kneeling in front of me right at that moment. My body echoed my disappointment, but she showed no sign of surprise or hesitation, so I closed my eyes and tried to sneak back to the woman I was secretly craving for.
