Barrel Of A Gun
Driving was next to impossible. He had never seen water fall from the sky quite the way it was doing so at the moment. It wasn't coming down sheets or even buckets. It was as if the sky and the ocean had traded places. It was as if the world was going to drown.
The road was lonely, looking as though no other car but his had ever trod upon its pavement. He had left the last town nearly two hours before and had not even seen a house since. Not that he could see a house if he tried.
The rain was like ink falling from the night sky.
Finally, he saw a faint, red light off in the distance. He wanted to speed up to reach that beacon of humanity, but he didn't dare risk it on the saturated road. Had he been in his own car, he would have chanced it, but in this rented Chevy there was no way in hell.
It seemed like another hour before Darcy pulled into the flooded gravel lot of the building that promised salvation from the elements. Surprisingly, there were several other cars parked in the lot of the slightly sinister looking structure. The red light that had enticed him could finally be read.
Cun'try Dance. Next to the red neon words was the flashing outline of a woman throwing a nighty to the floor.
He smirked at the crude name of the business.
The rain seemed to let up. He took his chance to bolt from the car to the club. By the time he made it inside, his hair was dripping wet and his clothes were plastered to his body.
“What the hell?” Somebody asked.
Darcy leveled looked up the body of a tall, burly man with no hair on the top of his head and a closely trimmed goatee on his chin. The man was clothed in a tight black vee-necked tee shirt and blue jeans. He was wearing dark sunglasses.
“What the hell are you doing out on a night like this, you fucking perv?”
“Actually, I'm not a fucking perv. I'm a driver who needed to get off the road. And that's no way to speak to a potential customer.”
Surprisingly, the burly man grinned. With a slap on the back, he chuckled. “I like you. No cover for you. Go on over to the bar and Sunny will get you a towel.”
As Darcy made his way over to the bar, he took in the décor. It was like a million other strip joints: a number of stages for the girls to dance on with chairs pulled up close to them. A smattering of tables littered with empty glasses and full ashtrays. A couple of electronic casino games, a long bar, and a DJ booth completed the look.
Two girls were performing on one stage, wearing only g-strings, while about ten men sat before them.
“What can I get for you?” Asked the tall, gorgeous bartender.
“The guy at the door told me to ask you for a towel and I don't think I'd mind a Beam and water.”
Sunny smiled and nodded. She walked around a corner then threw a towel at him. He soaked up as much water as he could while she made his drink.
“What brings you out here on a night like this?”
“I'm heading home from a conference. Hate to fly so I drove. You can see I'm not getting too much further until that rain lets up.”
She smiled and slid the drink across the bar. He took a sip, giving her the wet towel, which landed expertly into a bin.
“I don't suppose this place means the beginning of civilization?” Darcy asked.
“Twenty miles before the next gas station. Forty before the next motel. Couldn't you have taken the interstate?”
“I could've. Just thought this'd be faster.”
She chuckled. “Somebody up there hates you, mister.”
“Hadn't quite thought of it like that, but I suppose you're probably right.”
Darcy cast a glance at the stage where the two girls were feeling each other up. One of the men was waving a twenty-dollar bill frantically.
“Still have customers on a night like this?”
“Mister, we have customers when the snow is four feet deep and still falling. The one with the money is Horny Jeeves. He's here every night and won't leave until after Lee performs.”
The song ended and the girls onstage sauntered to the edge to receive their tips. They walked off hand in hand and one of the men stood. He came to the bar.
“Casey and Mel were hot tonight, Sun!” He exclaimed.
“You don't say,” Sunny muttered dryly.
“Yeah. Give them whatever they want to drink and put it on my tab.” He took the Bud Light that she handed him and returned to his seat.
Sunny looked at Darcy. “I don't have the heart to tell him that the dancers get their drinks for free.”
“Now, gentlemen, get ready for our darling, our sweetheart, the reason they invented Viagra! Miss Ginger Lee!”
The men began to whoop and holler. The lights in the bar dimmed until everything was just a shadow. Suddenly, the hum of a synthesizer swelled into a steady primal beat. It was obviously remixed, but Darcy recognized it as a song he knew.
The lights flared and the center stage shone with the most intoxicating woman he'd ever beheld. He found his feet taking him to an empty chair near the stage as she let her hands travel up the length of her body, which bore a sheer virginal white bra and French cut panties. Her long legs were slightly apart as she stood firmly in a pair of white patent leather platform stilettos.
She could have been a stripper in any joint in the world. She could have been a princess.
The music continued to pulse as she stalked across the stage to Horny Jeeves. He stared up at her with complete adoration and she drew the ribbon that made up the side of her panties down her hip. He pushed a fifty beneath the band. She slid down to her knees and picked up his beer then ran her tongue up the length before crawling back to the center of the stage. She began to mouth the words of the song as her hands kneaded her thighs.
“Do you mean the horny creep
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest and feeling numb”
Darcy was hypnotized by her, watching her mouth work over the words that had never meant what they were suddenly meaning to him. He felt like the only man in the room when she noticed him and was heartbroken when she moved on.
Her foot, in time with the raging music, suddenly kicked away one of the stilettos. The other one was suddenly in his face and with a twist, he followed her cue and removed the other one, guarding it ferociously.
“A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied”
She took a glass pitcher that had been sitting on the side and poured the water over her body, the thin material becoming transparent. Darcy felt his trousers become unbearably tight.
Finally, her steady, steely gaze settled on him as she uttered the last verse.
“Is there something you need from me
Are you having your fun
I never agreed to be
Your holy one”
As the music faded, the lights went dark. When they came back up, the stage was empty and Darcy's wallet was a hundred dollars lighter while his pants remained taut. The group around the stage dispersed and Darcy, embarrassed and suddenly very horny, remained where he was.
Out of nowhere, Sunny appeared next to him. She sat another Beam and water before him, a smirk on her lovely face.
“What?” He growled irritably.
“Lee does that to a lot of men. Don't think you're the first to be trapped here at the stage with a hard on.”
He narrowed his eyes angrily, but she just continued to smirk.
“When you're confident enough to stand up, you've been invited to have a private dance.”
“What?”
“Lee is offering you a private dance, which, by the by, she does very rarely. She makes enough money to not have to do them, so when she does offer, you better take her up on it.”
Sunny sauntered away after she pointed him in the direction of his private dance.
He waited a few moments, then walked as quickly as he could without causing himself too much pain, toward a set of double doors to the right of one of the smaller stages.
The room beyond the doors was dimly lit and had two chairs in it. One was an overstuffed plum-colored arm chair, the other a simple plum upholstered bar stool.
He settled into the armchair, trying to steady his breathing when she materialized from the shadows in the back of the room. Her hair was now down and spilling in great curls to her waist. She was now dressed in nothing but a see-through pink baby-doll nighty.
“You're new,” she purred, helping herself to a spot on his lap.
“I'm passing through,” he managed.
“Oh?” She ran her fingers over his cheek. “Well, then, I'd better dance my little heart out for you.”
His whole body convulsed at her touch and a tiny, wicked smiled played over her full, pink lips.
“That's what I like to see. Willingness to get involved in the art.” His erection poked into her bottom. “I like to feel it too.”
There was no music being piped into the room and no audio equipment anywhere he could see. He had an idea that whatever rhythm that would be set would not be to music.
Her hand had unbuttoned his shirt and was pushing inside.
“Miss Lee,” he whispered. “I can't do this.”
“Call me Elizabeth. And why can't you?”
“I don't know you.”
“But you do,” she whispered, drawing her tongue up the line of his jaw. “You've known me a million years in a million different ways. Can't you feel it?”
“Yes,” he replied helplessly.
“We are at the mercy of the fates, my darling boy. No matter what we do, we will come back to this same place again and again. No matter who we meet, who we love, we will always find each other. Tell me you believe that.”
“I do.”
She straddled him in the large chair, her knees sinking deep into the cushion on either side of him. His shirt was open and she was nibbling at his nipples. He knew the rules, knew that in an establishment like this he wasn't supposed to touch her, but how could he not?
His hands found the firm roundness of her bottom and he squeezed as she sank her teeth into the flesh of his neck. She pulled his body forward and removed the shirt completely, letting her mouth travel over the hardness of his biceps. Her hands found his fly and undid it quickly as his mouth encircled her nipple through the gossamer fabric of the nightgown.
He drew her in, sucking and teasing with his lips and tongue. Her moan of delight forced him to suck harder. He released her to strip away the gauzy barrier between them then took her back into his mouth.
Her head bent to kiss his forehead. He let go of her nipple, grabbing her by a fistful of hair to bring her to his mouth. Capturing her lips, his tongue plowed into her, tasting her to her very core.
“Elizabeth,” he whispered when he pulled back, “I can't wait.”
“Tell me your name.”
“William.”
“Then do what you must, William. You can see I'm not going anywhere.”
She freed him from his trousers, squealing when he grabbed her hips and pulled her down his length, impaling her. Her thighs clinched, holding him tightly inside while she rotated her hips to please him. With a slow, steady movement, Elizabeth traveled up and down on him, taking pleasure from the look in his eyes and the feel of his hardness.
Carefully she gained speed, riding him harder and faster until she felt nothing but him inside her, outside her, all around. The room, nay, the world was made for only them and they were meant to enjoy each other until it all ended.
He detonated like a bomb, filling her until she was certain she would explode. For a moment they froze then she collapsed against him, breathless.
“You're leaving now, aren't you?” He asked.
“You can't expect me to stay,” she whispered, her lips against the hollow of his throat.
“I don't suppose I can.”
“What am I supposed to do
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one”
She repeated the verse from the song once again then stood to leave.
“Goodbye, Elizabeth.”
“Goodbye, William.”
She disappeared into the shadows once again. Darcy sighed.
Elizabeth always found incredible ways to remind him why he couldn't do without her.