Private Dancer (23 page)

        
The phone rang and she picked it up before she realized she wasn't home. Someone was chuckling at her silence. "Boss?"

        
"Yeah. Bagels?"

        
"Sure," she smiled.

        
"Okay." The woman hung up.

        
Cori laughed at her friend's one-word answers.
She must have filled her weekly word quota last night.
Chuckling, she went to take a shower.

        
*  

        
Reece found Cori sprawled out on her bed playing video games. The tall woman threw the comforter over the smaller woman's head. "Breakfast," she announced with a chuckle.

        
"Damn, woman, you ever change these sheets? This blanket has sex all over it!"

        
"Maybe you shouldn't be in my bed anyway. And I changed them two days ago."

        
Knowing there'd been nobody in the bed but Reece since, the dancer blushed and threw a pillow at her. "Oh. Anyone I know?"

        
"How do you know it wasn't you?" she smirked.

        
"Hardly the fantasy type. I'm highly attainable. " She followed the boss downstairs to the kitchen.

        
"Here, food." Reece waved the bag of fresh hot bagels under Cori's nose.

        
"Mmm. That's heaven."

        
Grateful for the distraction from her sheets, Reece ate quietly, while the dancer watched discreetly. She couldn't imagine this woman being owned. It must have been awful.
What happened to her self-esteem to allow her to be treated like an animal? And how come she didn't maul Frankie for calling her Animal? She never let anyone else go without at least a broken nose.
The more she thought, the more questions arose.

        
"What?" Reece's eyebrows arched.

        
"Huh?"

        
"You're staring at me. Is there something in my nose?"

        
"Oh, no. I was just thinking." Cori looked a her with a question.

        
"No."

        
"No what?"

        
"No, I don't want to know what you're thinking." She got up and refilled her mug.

        
"I was just wondering..."

        
"Fine. Ask me." Reece made a show of throwing herself in the chair and gesturing defeat with her arms.

        
"Please, Reece," Cori sighed. "And you said
I
was dramatic."

        
"You're losing me..." Reece warned, starting to slide down in her chair.

        
"Okay! Well, why were you on the streets in the first place?"

        
Reece rolled her eyes. "I got too old for the nuns to fuss over."

        
"You were orphaned?"

        
"Thrown away with the trash. Some street walker found me in a dumpster, brought me to a church."

        
Cori was shocked at the nonchalance.

        
"So you grew up in a church?" The dancer was amazed.

        
"Well, many churches and many foster homes."

        
"And you wound up on the streets when?"

        
"My last foster father was a whacked out 'Nam Vet, he tortured me with drills before dawn, beat me if I spoke out of line, and pretty much made life a living hell."

        
"No shit! God, Reece, I'm so sorry."

        
"You didn't do it." The woman shrugged with an air of indifference. It had happened…she'd survived.

        
"Yeah, but..."

        
"You wanna hear or not?" Cori nodded her head wildly. "Well, he wound up smacking me around one time too many, and I went postal on his ass. He just laughed like a mad man and hugged me saying, "that's my little soldier." Next thing I knew, I was boxing for profit, wrestling, then things changed and it was soon after when Frankie found me."

        
"Your owner was your father?"

        
"No, I never had a father. He was just that, my owner." Reece was starting to get uncomfortable. She'd told the dancer way too much as it was.

        
"Man, this is deep shit, Reece. You know something?"

        
"Hmm?"

        
"You clean up real good." Cori touched Reece's hand with affection.

        
The tall woman was at a loss. "Thanks?"

        
"One more question...please?"

        
"Oh, now you're pushing it..." The tall woman shrunk under the table again

        
"This is the first winter since I've known you, that you haven't gone off on your bike."

        
"Yeah, so where's the question?"

        
"Where'd ya used to go?"

        
"In September, tons of bikers head towards Sturgis. I usually hooked up with them for a while, and then pulled off wherever I felt like staying."

        
"By yourself?"

        
"Yeah. But sometimes I went with them too."

        
"You miss it?"

        
Reece sighed. "Terribly. It was the one thing I looked forward to all year. Solitude, nothing but you and the wind and the roar of the bike..." She looked disappointed.

        
"Sorry that you can't have your down time. I know it means a lot to you."

        
"Do you?"

        
"Yeah. I can tell. You seemed much more relaxed and peaceful when you came back. I could never do it."

        
"I like being alone. I
really
like it," she added meaningfully.

        
"You want me to leave?" Cori grinned.

        
"Eventually," she smiled.

        
"Thanks, boss." Cori smiled back. She liked Reece's smile.

        
*  

        
Cori was tackled the moment she stepped in the door.

        
"Hey! What the…?

        
"So...?" The blonde lifted her eyebrow.

        
"So what?"

        
"Who was she? Was it at least worth breakfast?"

        
"Stop," Cori chuckled. "It's not like that. I spent the night by Reece."

        
Faith looked at her like she had two heads.

        
"Don't look at me like that! We talked!" she defended herself.

        
"All night?" Faith asked angrily.

        
"Yes! What did you think? She tied me up and had her way with me?" Cori gestured to herself.

        
Faith looked like she swallowed a bug. "Uh, no, but if she wanted to, would you let her?" Those pictures were too fresh in her mind.

        
"Faith! What has gotten into you?" the dancer yelled.

        
"Nothing." The blonde was dangerously close to a sullen pout.

        
Cori stared at her friend.
What is her problem?
"Faith, I swear, I don't want her like that."

        
"You did." The blonde looked at her feet.

        
"Yeah, and I wanted you too."

        
"You did?" Faith looked shocked.

        
"Yeah, but our friendship is so much more important than what we would have had," Cori told her emphatically.

        
"I'm sorry, Cori." she hugged her friend I'm so high strung lately. Maybe I should go for a run."

        
"No way. I'm giving you the world's best massage."

        
"Oh, twist my arm." She giggled in relief.
What has gotten into me? I'm jealous of something that happened before I knew either of them.

        
A while later the blonde was sitting on her bed, images of a naked and sweaty Reece dancing in her head. She was totally lost in her mind or she would have seen Cori standing there with her eyebrow all over the place.

        
"Hon?"
It must be Reece.
She tilted her head in amusement.

        
"Oh! Cori, I'm sorry…distracted again." She turned away to hide the blush.

        
" Uh huh." Cori smirked. "It's Saturday, I don't blame you. Tonight's the big night, huh?"

        
"Yeah, I guess it is." Now the soon-to-be-dancer got nervous.

        
"You want me to be there? I will if you want."

        
"Cori, how are you going to leave the club without her knowing where you're going? It's impossible."

        
"You want me there? I'll do it." She gave her friend a bracing hug.

        
"Why are you being so good to me?" Faith mumbled into her friend's shirt.

        
"Because I care about you. Geez, I never met two such clueless people before..."

        
"Thanks, Cor. I'd like it if you were there."

        
"No problem, sweets."
Oh God, how the hell am I going to do this.

        
"You're the best friend I ever had." The blonde's eyes started to well up with tears. "I am so scared of that place, those people..."

        
"C'mere, massage time, babe. Lay down."

        
Within minutes, Faith was asleep. Cori smiled at her friend. She hated talking her into dancing at this club. She felt she was deceiving her. She knew the trash that worked The Playhouse, but it was the only way to get the two women she cared about most together. She was sure of this.
Reece will not let the woman she loves toss her titties around. Hopefully she'll tell her as much.
Now the only thing she was relying on not to backfire was the tall woman's temper. If Reece makes a scene, she would embarrass Faith. That would be the end of everything. She really prayed that this would work.