Reckless (5 page)

The next morning at the newspaper office, Kelly dressed in her baby blue summer suit, the demure one she wore when she had meetings with the top brass of the paper. Not that she expected that kind of meeting, but perhaps she needed to remind herself that she wasn't all tits and ass and sultry smiles.

"How'd you do with Gray?" Tad asked, when he arrived.

"We ended it," she said.

"Oops." He looked chagrined.

"No, it should have happened a long time ago. It wasn't anything more than a relationship of convenience. Like two old shoes we'd grown accustomed to each other. I guess I got a little more real with myself, and he didn't handle it very well."

"I'm sorry anyway," Tad added. "Cutting ties is never easy."

"Sounds like you've had experience?" she said.

He was about to answer with something other than a cocky off-the-wall comment, but their exchange was interrupted by Liz, John, and David rushing in for the meeting.

"I'm off tonight," Kelly told Tad when the meeting was over and they were alone in her office.

"You never did tell me what went on last night," he said.

"I'm getting close. The matron of the Blue Lady, Cass, confirmed the prostitution. A guy named Juno seems to have some of the girls on his tether. He was looking to get cozy with me."

"Juno? Huh." He thought a moment. "The name sounds familiar, I'll look into it."

"No one's actually implicated anyone in power, but Cass says the girls are protected from arrest." Kelly paused a moment. "Just not from getting killed," she added.

"You be careful," Tad warned.

"I have a feeling that we're still dealing with minor league players."

"And the ones in power may not show their faces for awhile," he advised her.

"That's what I'm worried about," she said, thinking of the weird dichotomy in her life. A respectable journalist by day, self-proclaimed slut by night.

"We'll get you out of there as quick as we can," Tad said, as if he was reading her mind.

She smiled. "But not yet," she said. There was a twinkle in her pale green eyes. "I haven't been nearly nasty enough."

"Oh, you're thinking about dancing, maybe?" he asked.

"It's crossed my mind, but it'll probably be more useful to the story to remain where I am."

"So practical," he said sighing.

"And smart too."

If she'd found some common ground with Tad Stone, it was right in this place, in the midst of the tawdry investigation. He was the one man she didn't expect to throw cold water on her own desires rising from the ugly slice of life into which she'd walked.

***

After a night off, Kelly had to admit she felt pretty hot walking into the Blue Lady again to show off her tits. A little renewed enthusiasm was likely what attracted the eyes of a gentleman in the corner of the place, one that she'd seen once before, though just briefly. When she served him his drink, he smiled warmly—not something laced with sexual desire, though it was clear he appreciated how she looked. He was the same age as most of the clientele they served. The Blue Lady attracting the forty and over crowd with just a sprinkling of younger men. This man was near fifty, more distinguished than most, wearing a tweed suit. His manner was as polished as Juno’s but a lot more natural.

"Your name?" he asked, when she came back with a second drink.

She almost said, Kelly, but then remembered. "Trish."

"Short for Patricia," he concluded.

"Just Trish," she said.

"I see," he said, understanding that it was not her real name. "You have a little more class than the other girls."

"I do?" she said. That wasn't a good sign. She'd been practicing not looking like a journalist, business woman or anything that would point to her other life. "That's kinda sweet of ya' to say," she said. "I'm earning money to go back to school. This isn't gonna be my whole life."

"That's good," he said with a nod. "So, does it pay well?"

"Better than being a secretary?"

"Really?"

"But, I bet you already know that," she said, enjoying the opportunity to flirt with the charming man.

"Yes, I do," he admitted. "Maybe I can add to your fund," he suggested. He was sincere, and the offer was understood.

"I don't know," she said. "I think I'm okay just like this."

"Well, if you should change your mind."

She nodded. "If I change my mind."

"Who's the guy in the corner," Kelly asked Cass when they were taking a break together.

"Him?" she looked at the distinguished gentleman. "Malcolm Howell."

"He offered me some money."

"I bet he did," Cass said. "He likes it kinky."

"Really?"

"He's harmless, believe me. Not one of Juno's thugs, but he isn't asking for straight sex."

"What does he want?"

"Geri, a gal that worked here a year ago. She's waitressing in a regular restaurant now. She went out with the guy because he offered her a thousand a night and she needed the money. He was into bondage, tying her up and making her a slave. Whips and chains the whole S&M trip. He took her to a sex club on the other side of town, bought her the complete leather outfit, nasty skirt, cutout brassiere, collar, leash, everything."

"Did she know what she was getting into?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah. He's real upfront if you agree to his terms. Geri said she liked it at least for a while. Myself, I think she went off the deep end. She was gone for about a week. Couldn't waitress for another two weeks because of the marks he'd left on her breasts. She actually acted proud of them."

"But she got out of this business."

"I think it was a mind thing. He had this real hold on her. Almost like she was in a trance. She shook it off after a while, but by then she wasn't much good for this life."

"She was marked that much?"

"No, not like that, she was just spent, like she'd seen too much, wasted I guess. Used up. ‘Course sometimes I feel used up working here."

"Sometimes I like feeling used," Kelly remarked.

"Well, it's either getting used, or feeling our power, working here," Cass said. "Always one or the other."

Kelly couldn't think of a better way to explain it. She thought of the night Tad bound her over the bar. It still made her shiver thinking of that moment hardly a week ago. But could she take more of that rough stuff. Not likely. She served the gentleman in the corner another drink but kept the flirting to a minimum. It was kind of humorous thinking of how he was probably imagining her in leather and chains.

Late that night, after most of the dancing was done, just before the Blue Lady closed, Juno walked in. He sat at one of Kelly's tables waiting for her serve to him. When she did, he pulled her gently to his side and ran his finger up her thigh.

"So are you ready to get a little action? I've got two clients already who want you."

She smiled, but pulled back from him just enough to suggest he keep his hands off. "I'm not interested," she told him.

"All the girls here are interested, it's just a matter of getting over that little twinge of fear, crossing the line, so to speak."

Kelly could agree with that.

"It's not what I want," she told him very nicely.

"You're afraid you'll get hurt, I know that. But let me assure you, this is not the "B" movie business here, just straight, clean call-girl action. Good johns, nothing weird, and you won't get hurt."

"That's nice of you to say. But let's just say I'm not ready."

It was his turn to smile. She was leaving the door open and that was all he was looking for.

That night after work, Kelly needed Tad for another strictly physical fuck. With all her dark fantasies engaged the release was necessary. They parked in an alley again, but this time they didn't go into the empty building. It may have been awkward in the car, but it was hot. In the back seat, they had barely enough to maneuver, but it didn't stop them from fucking like minks.

She took his cock in her mouth to start, climbed all over the hard stalk with her tongue and lips, licked his balls and massaged them so he was groaning sweetly. Tearing away her leather jacket, she threw it in the front seat. They exchanged places, with Tad diving in with his cock while she spread her legs wide so he could enter her. Her breasts lay against her body, so he could have a clear view of them in the moonlight all—white and ghostly. Pressing his mouth to one, he left a faint hickey on its surface. After he pounded her for several minutes, she came hard, squeezed tight and listened to the sounds of his voice rising to meet the emptiness of the empty alley and its deserted brick buildings.

"Have you ever done leather and S&M?" she asked him. They were collecting themselves before he took her home, sitting side by side in the front seat.

"Some. Is that what you want?"

"There was a guy at the bar, Cass said did kinky stuff. I guess it pays well."

"Maybe you should quit your day job," Tad suggested.

"I just wonder why it fascinates me. I can't imagine a lot of pain . . ."

"You sure liked getting tied," he reminded her. "I suppose this gives our physical relationship a place to go."

"I don't think so," she said, though she was hardly convinced of that herself. "I'm just curious."

"I'll take you into some leather shops, see what you think," he proposed.

"Humm, I might like that," she said.

He was about to start the car, turning the engine over, he put his arm on the back of seat and looked behind him.

"Wait."

"Wait what? It's late," he said. "And I gotta get home."

"Listen, Tad, she said. "I've got more on my mind that just leather shops. I'm not sure where to go with this stint."

Hearing the serious tone of her voice, he stopped the car. He already knew she was in one of her pensive moods, which he really didn't like to deal with. He liked women that were more upbeat. Maybe it was just the Blue Lady getting her down. But because he'd suggested this investigation in the first place, and because she was really getting somewhere with the story, and because he was getting the action on the side, he'd put up with her moods. Most girls he'd have dropped a long time ago.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"I think I can get quite a story focusing on Juno. But I won't get anything without screwing him."

"I've never asked you to do that, Kelly," Tad said. "If it's a dead-end otherwise, it's time to pull back."

"I don't like dead ends," she said.

"Neither do I, but sometimes you just have to work a different angle."

"Then too, maybe it wouldn't be so bad," she speculated.

"What? Screwing the guy? Is that what you want?"

She shrugged. "He's good looking. Probably has a few decent moves in bed. Why not?"

"Listen, wanting something, liking the idea is one thing, taking your clothes off and accepting cash, that's illegal in this state."

"How many illegal things have you done to get a story?" she returned.

"I never tell," he said. "But you're . . ."

" . . . a woman," she finished. "That's what this is about, isn't it? And you probably think of whores as nothing but sluts."

"Hey listen, I've fucked a ton of whores, and I find them some of the best women I know."

"But not for me?"

"I can't see you doing it, no. Besides, it's fuckin' dangerous."

"I didn't say I was going to do anything. It's just that the desire's there. I mean all the ugliness aside, turning a trick turns me on."

"Sure, and under most circumstances one trick is probably harmless. But you don't know what you're dealing with. No. You're not going to do it." He went from letting her make the decision, to making it for her.

"And if I want to get fucked, just because it's nasty."

"You've got me for that. Good god, what do you want a whole fuckin' football team? No," he shook his head. "It stops today, you're way over your head and it ends now."

"Now wait a minute, Tad Stone. This is not your decision to make, it's mine. Don't you go telling me how to live my life or do my work."

"You're just tired," he said.

"Well isn’t that a patronizing, condescending thing to say."

He looked at her angrily. Restarting the engine of the old Ford, he gunned it, shot out of the alley in reverse, and drove her home. Dropping her at her apartment, he didn't bother to see her to her door. And that was just fine with Kelly.

***

Kelly returned to the Blue Lady for three more nights, thinking that she might get the information she wanted with just a little patience and open ears. She also returned because a piece of her couldn't let go the blatant eroticism. Being naked for men was becoming an addiction, the sensation of it the best aphrodisiac she'd ever had. If she quit, she wondered if her nights with Tad would be the same . . . or if she'd even have them at all.

And yet, after three uneventful evenings in a row, she was about to give it up. At least that was until Juno reappeared, just before the club was about to close for the night.

"Trish," he called to her as she was getting dressed.

"Yeah?"

"Got a little party happening tonight you might enjoy," he said watching as she changed from her shorts to jeans. She shivered nervously.

"I told you I wasn't into it, Juno," she replied.

"Hey, you've got it all wrong. No one's gonna bother you. You'll just pretty up the place."

"Yeah, sure."

Sauntering towards her, he stood close, running his hand through her hair. "What are you, blonde underneath this wig?"

"I don't tell," she replied. "It makes working here more anonymous." She turned away from him to grab her T-shirt.

"And you can keep it that way. You'll go as my date."

"And I'll be obliged to you?" she asked, turning back.

"No. Just see if you like the party. Though I don't think you'll be disappointed."

"And how do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't. But why would I want to piss you off." He looked down at her, his lips so close, she thought he might kiss her. "Don’t tell me you’re not intrigued."

She was, for more reasons than he knew, the thought of work, not sex, coming to mind. Maybe this was the opening she was waiting for.

"I have a friend waiting for me outside," she said.

"Boyfriend?"

"No." Thinking about Tad, she was sure he'd be pissed if she took off with the pimp.

"Tell him I'll bring you home," Juno suggested.

"Humm." She considered. "Maybe I will," she said. Of course the idea intrigued her from a sexual point of view, but it also might be her only chance to dig a little deeper for the story. "I guess you could say, if you see me back here in a couple of minutes, I'm going."

Throwing her purse over her shoulder, Kelly pushed her way out the back door of the bar and walked briskly towards the car at the end of the alley. She bent over the side of the convertible, leaning against the door. "I'm going to a party with Juno. Sounds like the break we need."

"Wait a minute. We already decided you weren't going that route."

"No, that was your decision, not mine. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen." She could tell he was pissed. But she just smiled. "I'll see you in the morning." She backed off so she wasn't close enough for him to grab. By the time he could get out of the car to follow her, she'd returned to the club, with a smile for Juno, and a strange feeling of triumph racing through her. Maybe it was to spite Tad, she thought, but it certainly couldn't hurt their investigation.

Three a.m. in a smoke filled darkened room, Kelly played Trish the new girl on Juno's arm. He'd found a dress for her to wear in the dressing room of the Blue Lady, something some dancer had left. The skin tight number with the cut-outs at the bodice was perfect the way it looked practically fused to her skin. The red dress, her red painted lips and the dark brunette wig made a startling statement. Introducing her around, she made a point to remember names, particularly the men. She assumed that most of the women, like her, weren't using their real ones.

There was plenty of coke, the smell of hash, and girls going into the bedrooms on the arms of men, only to return to the massive living room a half hour later. A quick mental count, Kelly figured there were about fifty people meandering about the mansion. It might well have been a plush place, if she could have only seen it by the light of day. At night, in an atmosphere that was sexual, on the fringe, outside the mainstream, it was hard to think clearly. What was clear was how much she was aroused, those delicious sensations between her thighs and the way she hungered to be screwed. With just a little push she'd be joining the activity. She knew Juno counted on that.

As the minutes ticked by, Kelly struggled to keep her mind clear, so she could overhear conversations, catch names and places and tuck them away into her memory before they were lost. She drank instead of doing drugs deciding that was far safer, but she was already feeling buzzed by the end of the first half hour. It crossed her mind that there'd been something more than liquor in her drink. But what good would it do to worry about that? She simply wouldn't drink anything else offered her. Unfortunately, her inebriation made getting information more difficult, her powers of concentration taxed on what should have been an evening of pleasure.

When Juno left her for awhile, she slipped out of the house to the patio for some fresh air—though it seemed the steamy sensuality just followed her into the night. At pool-side there were several couples in the middle of sexual foreplay. Several women were already naked. Two men seeing her alone, approached her with smiles, and began to dance, pulling her between them. Lewdly locked together at the hips, they moved to the erotic strains of a saxophone and some deep-throated singer coming from inside the house. She swam with the music floating in and out of her ears, forgetting about investigations and stories and Tad Stone and anything else that connected her to the world outside this one.

When a pair of hands came around from behind and cupped her breasts, she hardly noticed. The gentle massage felt too good to end it. When the same pair of hands lifted the straps of the dress from her shoulders to peel it slowly off her skin, she hardly balked. When she was naked, her body seemed to take on more power to provoke. And the dancing didn't stop.

"I told you, you should be a dancer," a soft voice whispered in her ear. It was Juno behind her, Juno's hands fondling her, Juno guiding her sexual heat. The other men disappeared letting him take was what his that night. "You know, Trish, some girls . . . I can see the desire in their eyes. There's a certain way about them, that suggests what they really want. We'll get you over your fear. And that's all it is a little fear." His hand at her pubis, she covered it with her own and pressed it harder against that pulsing place. "We really have a terrific time here. You do what's natural, that's all it requires. And it'll make a lot more sense when you discover that this ass of yours is worth a fortune." One hand was opening her anal cleft, his fingers moving to the center, where she was wet. She turned to him, dancing still, his eyes on her mouth, on the way it parted as she panted from the rising desire. "You could come right here, couldn't you?" he purred in her ear.

"Hummmm," was all she could answer. She was swimming, floating through the air, breathing sex, any kind of sex, any kind of exposure.

The hand at her pussy pushed deeper with several fingers that knew how to hit the hot spots, places where her vagina naturally tighten and she'd spasm against them.

"You're gonna come, baby," Juno whispered, even as the first lush jolts began to shoot. "Yes, yes that's perfect, darling, just perfect." She fell against his invading arm, her body writhing to a music beyond the music, playing to the tune of her climax. Bringing her to that almost painful edge, it spilled over the top.

"Ohhhh, yesssss," she whispered softly as she shivered. Her body jerked against Juno's chest, until she thought she'd simply melt into the man, her body becoming his.

"Yes, baby, that's what you needed. Just a little help from Juno. Now it's time to give a little back."

"Hummmm, yes," she whispered softly, as her hands discovered the erection inside his pants.

Leading her to a bedroom, Juno pushed her down on the bed, and began to remove his clothes. "You were perfect, Trish, just perfect," he said admiring her from above. Screwing her was his reward for letting her come and Kelly didn’t object. She lay on her back in her lovely stupor, thinking that nothing in the world mattered but what her body was feeling, and what it would feel a moment later when Juno entered her, and what it would feel like when another orgasm came and went.

She couldn't complain about his style. Beginning with his lips at her labia, he pulled them in his teeth ever so gently. Doing the same with her clit, she shivered with the tense sensation. His tongue mixing with her juices made more, made her pussy open with the invitation for him to fuck. From her labia, to her belly, to her navel where his tongue made a gentle circle, to her breasts and tender nipples, to her lips above, until he was body to body against her, his erection between her legs finding a home.

"Ahhhh, oh gawd! Ahhhhhhhhhh!" she murmured.

She spasmed when he entered her, and with each sharp thrust, and when he was shooting his cum inside her, and even when he pulled out. Wholly his for just that moment, she couldn't imagine a better place to be than this.

It took almost ten minutes for Kelly to return from that oblivion, where there wasn't a thought in her mind. By then, Juno was already off the bed getting dressed. He was answering a knock at the door when her eyes finally opened. She heard the sound of voices but could hardly compute the words, though the names McMillian and Forest stuck. She'd have to remember why they were important later. Closing the door on the intruder, Juno turned to her. He smiled seeing that she was looking at him.

"See, sweet Trish. See how sweet this life is? You think about it, and see if you really want to turn down my offer. Remember, I'm the only one you fuck for free. Everyone else has to pay." Buttoned, zipped, his tie in a careful knot, he showed no signs of his moment in bed with her. And with one last gracious kiss on the lips, he left her. "I'll have someone take you home when you're ready," he said as he walked out.