#TripleX (28 page)

“Eeee, yeah.” He slid Scott’s card through the register and had me sign. “Well, welcome to New Mexico, then.”

“New fucking Mexico?” Angelisa shrieked from behind me.

“I am getting so wasted tonight. So wasted!” Ang was still yelling at me three hours later. “New Mexico.
New Mexico
. You drove four hundred miles
out
of the way. Who does that?”

“It’s not out of the way. It’s just still very east of where we’re supposed to be,” I laughed. I leaned into the mirror (a clean one) and dabbed on some lip-gloss. “You helped me plug in the name and address into the GPS, so this is just as much my fault as it is yours,” I stated.

“No chance!” she screamed. “Did you not notice signs on the drive that said, ‘such-and-such miles to New fucking Mexico?’ And you say I’m a bad driver!”

“First of all, you are a terrible driver. The worst in history maybe,” I clarified. “And who cares? Neither of us has ever been here anyway—wrong turns are what adventures are made of. Who knows? Maybe the address on the flyer we got for Tantalizing Tongues Lounge had a typo on it—so sue me.”

“New fucking Mexico,” she grumbled as she jammed her makeup supplies into her little carry case and yanked out a brush.

“And, you
always
say you’re going to get wasted, and then you sip at your drink all damn night. Let’s just go and have fun and perform some wordy erotic stories.”

“Oh, I’m getting drunker than a house full of frat boys. Anesthetized. Assed up. Bazookaed out of my damn mind. Bent. Fubar’d. Glazed over like a three-dollar whore. Liquor lubed. What the fucked up. I’m talking totally tanked—turnt even,” she snapped, raking the brush violently through her already brushed hair.

“Well aren’t you the Synonym Skank? Is there an award for that somewhere in the Indie world?” I joked, trying to make her life.

“Screw you!”

Okay
.

“Are you going to tell me what happened? Or are you just going to be bitchy and make yourself go bald by brushing your hair five hundred times with a force nobody should ever use on her hair?” I asked picking up my clutch and giving myself a quick once over in the mirror.

“Nothing happened. Nothing. I’m done—just done,” she sputtered, slamming down her brush. “Let’s go and tell erotic stories. Ones that will make a husband ashamed to have you as a wife.”

“Wait… what?” I asked, following her out of our small motel room.

“Nothing,” she huffed walking down the hallway. “Ironically, the Xanax just put me in a bad mood. Ignore me.”

She stormed out of the building and down the scorching sidewalk on a mission.
Holy hell, how in the world was I going to get her to talk to me about what was going on? I wasn’t an idiot. Obviously, she and Matt had some sort of a fight.
I jogged to keep up with her.

Tantalizing Tongues Lounge wasn’t a large place, yet it was very crowded, packed full of people sitting around, drinking and talking in quiet whispers. Ang and I sat beside the deep cherry wood bar that ran along the entire room in one loop of a circle. Stationed in the middle of the room was a wide stage that held a long wooden bench covered in a silky, plush cloth.

Wow
.

Ang ordered us two drinks while I tilted my head behind the strangely dressed bartender to a sign that hung directly over the lights that gleamed down on the various bottles of liquids.

House Rules
:

1. Personal hygiene is of the utmost importance.

2. No always means no.

3. Leave your inhibitions at the door.

4. No cameras or camera phones.

5. What happens in the lounge stays in the lounge.

Ummm. What the… what?

I smacked at Ang with the back of my hand, but she was already asking the bartender, who was dressed from head to toe in leather and chains, when the fun began. The man bowed his head bashfully at us and remained silent as he made our drinks.

Holy submissive crap
.

“Ang!” I hissed, pinching her outer thigh.

“OUCH! What the Hell?” she screamed.

“This isn’t an open mic club. Look around. Look up at the house rules,” I said pointing and giggling.

Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

The bartender/slave slid two enormous neon colored drinks across the bar toward us. I instantly sipped at the crazy straw that jutted out of the top of the fruity, icy concoction. My throat was parched, and the sweetness ached at the back of my teeth.

“What should we do?” she asked me, sipping at her own crazy straw.

“We should stay,” I said, wincing at the head-splitting brain freeze I was suddenly enduring. She nodded her head and blankly stared at the guy who sidled up to the bar, dressed strangely like Thor. I kid you not; he was even holding the hammer.

“We should,” she said, gawking at the man’s muscles.

“Yes. For, you know, research purposes,” I said.

“Yes. Let’s do some… research,” she said, poking her index finger into the man’s bicep.

“You know,” Thor said, bending down. “When it’s my turn to poke, it won’t be so soft.”

“Holy fuck,” I breathed.

Thor looked up from staring down into Angelisa’s cleavage, “I prefer Master. But Holy Fuck has a nice ring to it.”

I’ll just keep my mouth shut now
.

Angelisa giggled nervously and wiggled around on her seat. Without words, Thor (like Hell I’d call somebody Master) grabbed onto Ang’s hand and walked her to a dark corner of the bar, sat her down, and hovered over her like some predatory beast.

Well then.

Above the crowd, the lights flickered and dimmed. The whispered voices grew silent, and a strange hum of electricity seemed to float through the room. From behind the bar, a man and woman entered the stage area and positioned themselves on the sleek material that covered the low piece of furniture in the middle of the room.

Please let them start reciting poetry.

Please let them start reciting poetry
.

Nope. Not even close.

They kissed hungrily for a bit, and the dude yanked the woman by the red collar she wore and pushed her down to her knees.

There was a sucking of the penis then.

I continued to sip at my drink.

The Master receiving the blowjob closed his eyes and leaned back onto his elbows and smiled. People stepped toward them, holding their drinks, forming a circle around the performers. Glassy-eyed middle-aged men were gawking. I had to be honest; it wasn’t very sexy—at all. It felt staged. Perfunctory. The Master wasn’t even fully aroused, and the woman was just so indifferent toward his little flaccid friend. I kind of felt bad for it.

“Do you like what you see?” a deep voice asked next to me. I glanced at Ang to see if she was still safe; then shifted my gaze to the new voice.

Oh my God.

The man needed to be photographed and smacked on the cover of a book. He was gorgeous. Dressed from head to steel-toe in a soft worn leather and some sort of hard plastic armor, his face a field of angles and shadows with honey-colored eyes, he looked like… holy crap… he was dressed like
Batman
.

He even wore the cape and utility belt.

I couldn’t help myself and ended up laughing at him, committing social suicide for the night.

The man smiled a brilliant white-tooth smile that lit up his entire face. “That’s not the answer I was looking for,” he smirked.

“Sorry. I’m just…”

“Overwhelmed?” he interrupted. “Excited?” he said tilting his head closer.

“More like let down,” I explained, peeking a quick look at Ang, who was still safely talking to Thor.

Batman’s eyebrows furrowed, causing a deep dimpled crease above his nose. “What did you expect?”

I barked out a loud laugh. “Honestly, my friend and I thought this was an open mic bar for erotic stories. This,” I waved to the man on stage who was now spanking the shit out of the woman as she cried for more, “isn’t what I would have thought a sex club was.”

“So tell me, sexy, what were you expecting? Tell me exactly what you had in mind,” he stated, leaning in closer, whispering in my ear. He swung the bat cape behind him.

Not wanting to feel threatened or uncomfortable, I lowered my voice to a throaty whisper and said, “I always imagined a sex club to be some free-for-all, with everyone touching and hot and sweaty. A place where just the sounds alone could make me wet. The panting and heavy breathing, the anticipation of strangers touching you. Licking you. Biting you. Words and whispers… not some half-assed performance that I could do better. That dude isn’t even fully hard.” I knew I was turning him on, and it cracked me up. Hell, even I could be a sexy little tease in my forties.

“But I am,” he said, shifting even closer to me. “Can I buy you another,” he lifted his chin to my empty glass.
Damn, where’d all that liquid go?
“What were you drinking?”

“I think it was called a Sea Breeze,” I said, as he motioned the bartender to make me another one and immediately, my glass was refilled. “Ummm… thanks.”

The man gave me an arrogant smirk, “You know,” he said as I sipped at the drink. “That drink comes with a side order of my big, thick, hard cock.”

I choked on my drink.

Yep. Speechless. Me.
Batman was trying to pick me up
.

With his right hand, the man pulled out a long black thing from the inside of his boot. Oh boy. Apparently, I went too far in my little tease. Leave it to me to be too wordy.

He slid the end of the stick under my chin and down the front of my open-necked shirt. “If you tickle me, I will not be held responsible for any of your injuries,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Mmm,” he hummed into my ear. “Fiesty. I think you’ve been naughty.”

“What the hell? Are you Santa Claus now?”

“Come play with Master in one of the back rooms,” he said.

I darted my eyes in Ang’s direction. She seemed good. Still on her second drink, like me. Just talking, shooting the breeze with the God of Thunder.

“I want to fuck you in your sweet, tight ass,” he growled.

“Oh sure. You got an extra strap’on back there? Because whatever you do to me, I’ll be doing right back to you.”

He smiled. Ewww. He would not be deterred. You had to respect his tenacity.

My jokes weren’t going anywhere—except right to his pants.

“First I’m going to wrap you in saran wrap and—”

“This is nothing like it is in books,” I grumbled, shaking my head.

“Does my little slave like to read?”

My eyebrows flew up to the top of my forehead, and I bit back a retort and folded my arms across my chest.

“Have you read
Fifty Shades of
—?”

“Stop,” I held my hand up over his face. “Don’t. If you keep talking and tell me you want to show me the red room of pain, my inner goddess will bite your riding crop right off. Just no. No. No. No. This isn’t sexy at all. Seriously. I keep looking at you and wondering how many times your mommy spanked you or if you’re trying to get a job for a movie or… something. And really, the back room? I’d probably have to run that place over with a UV light before I put my fully-clothed ass anywhere in there.”

My phone vibrated in my back pocket, and I whipped it out and held a finger over the
crotch philanthropist’s
lips. I swiped my phone on, typed in my passcode, and immediately swallowed back vomit.

It was a text.

Angelisa: I left with my new friend. Don’t wait up.

“Oh my God. I’m going to kill her,” I growled, jumping off the stool and whirling around searching the dark empty corner Angelisa was supposed to be still safely sitting in. Her second drink was still full. She couldn’t have been drunk. But what if she was drugged? I pressed her contact number on my cell and stormed out of the front of the club.

She was giggling when she answered. “Hello?”

“Are you okay?” I snapped.

“Ahhh. Yeah. What’s wrong?”

“You’re leaving with a guy? Where are you going? What’re you doing? Ang, let me come and get you,” I offered frantically.

“Chris, I’m fine.”
She’s fine
.

She was fine?
But I’m not fine. I’m not fine with this
. “Did you forget about your husband?”

“Don’t try to ruin this for me. I’m a grown woman, and I know what I’m doing.”

And then she hung up on me.

Oh my God.
She was going to cheat on Matt
.

She was going to do what Scott did to me. I didn’t know what to do.

I thundered through the exit, Batman calling out from behind me. Ignoring his Bat cries, I ran back to the motel, hoping that she’d be there, but the room was empty.

Empty and cold.

This was all my fault. I made her go on this stupid trip. I made her do all these stupid juvenile things and now… now… she was somewhere being unfaithful to a husband that was really a great husband
.

Sobbing, I called the only person I could think of.

Jake.