Ruby's Fantasy (10 page)

Jake waited until the bouncer checked the IDs of the young women for their age before admitting them entrance. ‘There was trouble last night. Guy with a spider tattoo on his face smashed in the window of the shop next door to me. See anything?'

The bouncer frowned. ‘What time?'

‘Eleven pm.'

‘That's when I take my break. Ask the other bouncer, John. Big Maori guy. You can't miss him. He's working on the second floor tonight. Abe has put extra security on the dance floor. We had problems last night. Too many kids graduating high school, getting smashed and picking fights.'

‘And this is where they come to let off steam.' Jake entered the club, headed straight to the stairway that led to the second floor scanning the writhing couples on the dance floor looking for the bouncer. Bad stuff happened to naive females in The Cross. At least Ruby was safely tucked up inside her apartment, hopefully getting some rest because at the moment she was like an elastic band pulled tight. In the field he'd seen hardened men snap and putting them back together proved impossible. That was something he wasn't going to let happen to the woman he'd fallen for.

Ruby slapped the wax stick onto her bathroom cabinet and switched off her wax pot wishing she'd thought to book an appointment with a beautician beforehand. Looking down, she was reminded that she was going to the Pink Pussy Club next door. How very aptly named that was. Ouch! It wasn't easy doing a Brazilian on oneself, but when she thought about the teeny, weeny g-strings Emerald had designed, she'd kept waxing until she was completely bare.

If she had to demonstrate to strippers she needed to know exactly what they went through. ‘The things I do for you, Emerald.' Something had to come out of this demonstration tonight because after this, she was at a dead loss on how to find out where her twin had gone. She returned to her bedroom and picked up another of Emerald's products, a box containing two heart-shaped, red nipple covers with long tassels hanging off them. She peeled off the adhesive covering tape and stuck a heart on each nipple.

She swept her blonde hair off her face and tied it into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, then covered her hair with a black, bobbed wig. Leaning forward she applied Kohl to her eyes and followed it up with lashings of mascara and red, glossy lipstick on her lips.

Ruby pulled on several g-strings designed to fit over each other and finished the whole effect off with a black, leather cop biker jacket that form fitted over her torso along with a micro mini and shiny knee-high boots. Fitting the cap onto her head she strutted before the mirror. She barely recognised herself. This was not conservative Ruby, the accountant from Blackheath, or the sexy Dominant or even the vivacious virgin. This was a serious metamorphosis. A ferocious looking vixen stood in front of the mirror. A tough cop determined on getting answers any way she could. What would Jake think of this outfit? She was twitchy from needing him and not being able to stay the night. Pity she wouldn't get to arrest him tonight.

Carrying her bag of products, she sauntered down her stairs and out of her shop to the Pink Pussy Club next door. The street was packed with tourists, trendy teens and American sailors. People spilled out of the clubs and bars checking out the street girls who stood in the doorways, calling, “wanna girl?” Several police walking in pairs strolled up the street keeping an eye on the exchange between the drunk young men and the bouncers. It wouldn't be the first time a bouncer sent a sassy-mouthed male with a broken nose to St Vincent's hospital down the road. Punch first, ask questions later was The Cross' code of conduct. A wolf whistle sounded close and she turned just as a hand stroked her thigh.

Ruby karate chopped the arm of the man who tried to feel her up. ‘Back off,' she snarled and he did.

That was one move she'd learnt from her teen years that had stayed with her. Although she despised them, she was used to defending herself from drunks with wandering hands. The more violent stuff like the man with the spider tattoo carrying a knife had terrified her but there was enough of a police presence on the street tonight for her not to worry. The Cross had a certain vibrancy and she was getting used to its rhythm.

‘Arrest me, honey.' A man leered at her cupping the front of his jeans. He stood no more than five foot five.

‘Why bother? Weenies are disappointing.'

She suppressed a grin realising this outfit had unleashed her inner bitch. When she sauntered to the head of the long queue of the Pink Pussy Club, she signalled the bouncer.

‘I have an appointment with Abe.'

His gaze flicked over her appreciatively. ‘Come with me.' The first floor of the club held a circular bar with ten poles attached to the counter around the bar. Strippers used the poles to dance and entice men to shove money down their g-strings. On the side of the bar was a large gold cage suspended from the roof by a chain where a woman danced wearing nothing but a teeny, weeny g-string and gold nipple tassels. The mostly male patrons sucked on their beers enjoying the flesh smorgasbord. Jake's warning that Abe viewed women as “meat” came to mind. Ruby mentally steeled herself for her second encounter with the club owner.

The bouncer led her up some stairs past another floor containing a bar and a large dance floor. Music throbbed from the speakers and the air was heavy with perfume, perspiration and arousal. The floor was packed with writhing couples, many of the women wearing the Sydney summer club uniform of tight tops, short skirts and extreme heels. On the side of the dance floor several large Maori security men loomed a head higher than the crowd keeping watch in the background. The thriving tangle of scantily-clad bodies simulated mating on the dance floor. Jake was right about The Cross. It lived and breathed its own licentious agenda.

She followed the bouncer up another set of stairs and he came to a stop in front of a large, iron door. The bouncer pressed a button and spoke into the intercom. The door clicked open.

‘You can go. I'll take it from here,' Abe said to the bouncer. The man nodded and left, leaving her alone with the club owner. Abe stalked across the room, reached out, gripped her arm and pulled her inside.

Heart in her mouth, Ruby wrenched her arm from his grip.

Abe's gaze moved slowly over her. Dressed in black from head to foot, he looked her up and down as if pricing a piece of flesh. ‘I told you to wear the Dom outfit, Emerald.'

‘I don't work for you. I wear what I want.' She tilted her chin and stared at him.
Never show fear to a predator.

He walked around her, a bull of a man, his body brushing hers. ‘I like this one, too.'

Creep.
Jake was right about this man. When was Jake ever wrong? ‘I'm not here to turn you on. Show me where the strippers get changed and I'll demonstrate the products I have with me.' Although she wanted to get out of his office fast, her gaze was drawn to several screens that lined one of the office walls.

She moved closer to them, a sick feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. She could see the bar downstairs and the strippers swirling around the poles. Another screen showed the crowd on the dance floor underneath them. A tight sensation caught Ruby by the throat. Several screens revealed semi-naked lap dancers writhing over clients in cubicles. She wasn't quite sure where these rooms were. One of the screens held nothing but static.

‘Do your workers know you watch them?' she asked.

Abe moved silently across the carpet and stood close. Too close. ‘My club. My rules.'

‘Pervert.'

He appeared amused at her comment. ‘This is a strip club, my chicky.' He slid his hands around her waist.

‘I'm not your chicky.' She gripped his hands and yanked them off her. While she wanted to shove him away from her, she kept her cool. A roar of anger, a swift kick and jab with a fist had worked on the drunks when she'd been younger. A good set of running legs helped too. She doubted any of these strategies would work here in this tight, airless office with its door that clicked closed and didn't seem to have a handle.
Keep your cool, Ruby.
‘Show me where the girls get changed so I can kit them in something worth “perving” at.'

A smirk crossed his lips. ‘I've been looking forward to this.'

‘Now why doesn't that surprise me?'

Abe laughed. ‘I like you. You're a smartarse.' He turned, walked across the room, pressed a code into the keypad by the wall and his office door clicked open.

Ruby sucked in a deep breath of relief. It hit her that her teen years had made her strong. Intimidating her was a tough gig. There was no way she'd let any man take advantage of her. She was barely dealing with letting Jake emotionally close and he was an honest man determined on breaking down her defences.

Abe opened a door opposite his office. Inside she saw glimpses of nakedness, flashes of silver costumes and heard the high-pitched chatter of women. Abe strutted inside like a bantam in a barnyard. ‘Girls. Pay attention. This is Emerald from the shop next door. She has thirty minutes to show you her wares.'

Ruby walked into the change room. Ten women in various states of undress sat doing their make-up in front of dressing tables with Hollywood lights. One thing they all had in common was tanned, toned bodies and long legs. ‘Thanks, Abe. I'll be fine to take it from here.'

His gaze flicked over her but he left and Ruby heaved a sigh of relief. She put her bag on an unoccupied dressing table. ‘My name is Emerald. I design costumes for my fancy dress range, which I sell out of
Fantasy
, the shop next door. There's also a
See me Sexy
range, which will suit your line of work. For the following week, I'll be taking ten percent off if you visit the shop to purchase anything.'

‘I thought you were a blonde,' said one of the girls with long, blonde hair similar to her own.

Ruby smiled. ‘Have you been in my shop?'

‘I know who you are. Haven't been here long and you've already got a reputation.'

‘For doing what?' Ruby asked, alarmed.

‘For playing where you shouldn't.' The girl's tone was tinged with hostility. She had piercing, green eyes, which she used to narrow and glare at Ruby for effect.

Aware of the electric energy in the room, Ruby realised she needed to change tack even though she wanted to tease out what the girl was telling her. ‘Can we talk after this demonstration?' Finally, she was getting somewhere.

The stripper shrugged and her gaze slid away from Ruby's as if she were uncomfortable.

Ruby returned to selling her wares. ‘My business is to change you into who you want to be.'

‘I don't want to be anyone else but I'd like to have D cups like Nessa here,' a stripper said, pointing at the stripper with the long, blonde hair.

‘Cost ten thousand for those,' a redhead with a beehive hairdo and a silver spangled outfit quipped.

‘You're just jealous because you can't afford it,' Nessa snapped.

‘You earned those on your back,' the redhead snapped back.

‘I'm not a fool. I never went that far and you know it.'

Ruby stepped between then and handed out vouchers to the girls aware of the rising tension in the room. ‘My bras have built in padding. They can make a C cup into a D and they retail for forty-five dollars. The important thing is to see how the layers go on and off so I want to use the short time I have to demonstrate what I'm wearing.' She handed a voucher to Nessa who snatched it from her hand.

Ruby moved into the centre of the room so all the women could see her. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noticed the security camera mounted on the wall above the door and, thinking of Abe, turned her back to it. ‘I'm not a stripper but I do know some of your routines because I've danced most of my life.' She hunched her shoulders and brought them back with a snap. The cop jacket snapped open revealing the bright, sequined bra she'd fitted over the nipple covers.

‘Nice move,' the stripper with the red beehive said.

‘You need garments that open or peel off easily for your act, eye catching clothes that tease a man,' Ruby said, whipping her micro mini off with one hand.

‘You're the expert,' the stripper called Nessa said.

Ruby stopped and stared Nessa down. ‘Do you have a problem with me?'

Nessa raised her eyebrows. ‘You're taking a deadly risk coming here. You should get out. You stepped over the line. Get out of The Cross before you get hurt.'

Jake scanned the dance floor of the Pink Pussy nightclub, his gaze moving around the crowd, their bodies hot and twisting to the throbbing music. On locating the Maori bouncer dressed all in black, who stood a head taller than everyone else, he moved in. He recognised him immediately as one of the regular employees of Abe. After introducing himself, he asked about the man with the spider tattoo.

John, the bouncer, leant in. ‘Bad news that guy. A freak. Had on a hoodie and dark clothes but I recognised him because of the markings.' He touched his face. ‘I saw the window go, man. Good you dealt with it fast.'

‘Not fast enough. Got a description?' Jake moved in close to hear him over the beat of the music.

‘Medium height. Shaved head. Webbed tattoo on his face. When I'm working the door I make it clear he doesn't come in unless he's unarmed.'

‘What's his deal?'

John frowned and shook his head. ‘He's not from around here. I know the pimps, the junkies and the lowlifes in The Cross. I've worked the club door for five years. This guy's weird but I don't get what his gig is.'

‘Meaning?'

‘One of the girls, a pretty blonde dancer quit her job last year. I saw the tattooed guy talking to her earlier on in the club.'

‘He touch her?'

‘No. She just left. Wouldn't say why, but I remembered it because she looked scared.'