The Pleasure Room (5 page)

“Oooooh, so mysterious,” she teased.

“It's all about confidentiality. Please remember that. No one else should be involved in your story except the mayor. Don't even put the name of the club in there. Promise me that.”

“I promise. I'm not trying to bust the club up. I don't want to ruin peoples lives, just the mayor's chance at re-election. So trust me when I say no one else's name will be in my story, and certainly not yours,” Felicity assured.

“That's good enough for me. All right, I have to go.”

“Will I see you at the club tonight.”

Gregory laughed. “I think not. I may well in fact avoid the club on the nights I know you're going to be there. So give me a heads up, will you?”

“Hey! I wasn't that bad last night.”

“If you say so. Have a good day, Ms.
Davenport
and an even better night.”

“You too, Gregory,” was the best response she could give the ever flirtatious gent.

Her morning commute was the usual fare and riding the elevator up to her cubical was uneventful... well if you didn't count the mysterious gas-passer. Once the doors opened, Felicity was more than happy to take in a breath of fresh air.

“Ugh, that has to be one of the worst elevator rides I've had this week... this month,” Felicity said once she was at her desk, removing her coat.

“Wha haffen'd?” Allison asked, her words muffled by the garlic and cream cheese bagel she was eating.

Felicity turned to her and chuckled. “You know you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full.”

Allison flashed her the middle finger, then gestured for her to spill the beans.

“Nothing big, just someone let it loose on the elevator and it was one of those silent and deadly ones. I could have done without smelling
that
this morning,” Felicity said as she settled in at her desk.

“Oh, that's all.” Allison had swallowed her bite and was going for another.

“Yeah... so about the equipment. Do you have it with you?”

“No Harriet... or is it Veronica?”

Felicity frown, confused. “What? Who?”

Allison sighed. “
Harriet the Spy
...
Veronica Mars
...any of that connecting?”

“I've never watched those shows.”

“Lame,” Allison remarked.

“Nerd,” Felicity countered.

“Anyway, he's going to bring it by my place tonight, which ugh, I don't want to be bothered with,” Allison said with a frown.

“I know. I got that much from your hateful text message.”

“Yeah, and I meant every word,” Allison joked.

“Sure you did. All right then, I'll just come to your place later before I hit the club.”

“You're really going through with this? How do you know he'll even be there or you'll ever see him?”

“I think I'm going to have to immerse myself in the scene. You know, go often enough, maybe he'll see me and take interest.”

“Ooooh, ain't you vain. Thinking this man is just going to see your vanilla ass standing looking goofy and lost and think 'that's the one for me'.”

“Bitch, shut up.”

“Oh, look at you. You sound so cute when you try to be tough. Now, don't you get testy cause I made fun of your crazy-ass plan,” Allison said, complete with hand motions and jingling bracelets.

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

“Drop it and find another story to tell to get you to the top. One that doesn't involve all this shit.”

“No can do. I'm already committed. I've got to see this through... at least until I know I'm barking up the wrong tree.”

Allison huffed. “You know I have your back. I'm just worried for you.”

“I know. I'll be fine. So, tonight?”

“Yeah, if he brings the stuff, it's tonight.”

“Cool.” Felicity turned around and got started on her work for the day. Not that it wasn't going to be difficult. Her mind kept going back to the club as if she'd left a piece of herself in that place. Just what was it about 'A Porterhouse Elm” that captivated her so? She shook her head and continued typing up her human interest story. She was going to have to call the school for more details about their new lunch program before she could complete it. She had to admit to herself, one of the reasons she was so gun-ho for this story was because it wasn't boring.

~*~

Felicity dashed out of the shower, running into her bedroom and snatched up her cell from the bed, answering it.

“Hello?” she asked, slightly breathlessly.

“The jerk brought the shit, so come and get it,” Allison said.

“And a good evening to you, too, Allison,” Felicity shot back.

“Spare me, I just got into a big ass argument with this asshole over some boots, girl. Some old, raggedy-ass, crusty-ass boots that he claimed he left over here. He was all like; 'they're my lucky pair'.”

“So what happened to them?” Felicity asked with a chuckle.

“Girl, I threw them boots away. Fuck him!”

Felicity's little chuckle grew into full blow wailing laughter. “Allie, you're a hot mess.”

“This man works my
nerves,
you don't understand
. Just anything his feeble mind can think of to ruffle my feathers.”

“And you always let him. He's always known how to push your buttons. I told you, you have to take control. Don't let him, or any man for that matter have that kind of power over you. But listen, I'm on my way, thank you so much for your sacrifice,” Felicity said.

“Yeah, yeah... see you in a bit.”

Felicity ended the call with a shake of her head. It never ceased to amaze her just how much Allison let her ex boyfriend get under her skin. She'd never let any man have that much power over her.  She dressed quickly and checked herself out in the mirror. Leather skirt, knee boots and a red silk blouse. Conservative enough to say: “I'm just here to watch”, but maybe provocative enough to say: “But I'll joining in if I'm interested.” She tried to take Gregory's advice to heart and not look like a “sheep amongst a pack of wolves”.

She let her long, brunette hair cascade down her shoulders and back, the tight curls from that morning, now hanging loosely. She applied just a touch of blush to her creamy cheeks to add just a hint of rouge. Hopefully, it would mask the real thing if she happened to get overwhelmed again. She stepped back, one last time.

“Okay, you're good to go.” Leaving her apartment, she drove straight to Allison's.

“Oooh, look at you,” Allison said after opening the front door and seeing her friend's getup.

“I'm just trying to look the part.”

“I think you're enjoying this too much.”

“Hardly. Okay, so, where is it?”

“Calm down, geez! Come inside first... unless you're in a hurry to get to the kinkfest.”

“I just don't want to miss any opportunity to catch him.”

“I'm not going to even go there anymore.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“It's nothing. You're so certain he even goes to this club, you're not going to give up. So, let's just get you that equipment,” Allison said, walking towards the box her ex left.

“I'm just following a lead. It's a tiny one, but it's all I have,” Felicity said in her defense.

“I know, that's what you said.”

“You say that like you don't believe me.”

“I do. I just don't want you to be wasting your time looking for a needle that's no where near that haystack. But hell, I could be wrong and your source could be right. So let's just do this.”

“Yeah,” Felicity said, willing to drop the conversation before it turned into an argument. She didn't like her friend thinking she was being foolish. Mainly because if she allowed herself to entertain the thought, then she'd be force to agree. She wasn't willing to do that just yet. Not feeling the way she did.  She felt like she was actually on to something, but just needed the cold, hard proof.

Together, they looked inside the box and Allison pointed out some things she had been playing around with.

“I think this would be best for you to use. It's an ink pen camera. You can place it right next to you if you want and the images it records gets saved on an internal hard drive. It has about an hour's worth of space on it. So use it when you need it.” Allison handed her a black ink pen with a silver cap. She looked it over, marveling at the simplicity of the design considering it was a video camera.

“There are other things too, like this lipstick camcorder. You may want to use this one as well.” Allison gave her the device that actually doubled as real lipstick.

“Oooh, this one is really cool and my color,” Felicity beamed as she applied a layer.

“Don't do that!” Allison belted.

Felicity jumped and screamed. “Why?”

“It's acid!” Allison warned.

“Oh my God!” Felicity squealed as she ran to the kitchen to wash the lipstick from her lips. She was bent over the sink splashing and rubbing furiously when she finally heard the uncontrollable laughter coming from the living room. “You bitch!” she yelled from the kitchen.

“Oh... the look... on your face,” Allison said between gasps.

Felicity walked back into the living room, face dripping wet, makeup gone. “You're an evil, evil woman,” she said, giving her friend a mean glare that was failing under the hilarious circumstances. Unable to keep up the farce, she joined Allison in a fit of laughter, doubling over.

“I know I'm going to pay for that one day, but right now, it was worth it.”

“I'll get you when you least expect it, too.” Felicity pointed at her. “Now I have to re-apply my makeup.”

“You'll be all right. I just wish I had been recording that shit when it happened. Now it'll just have to be a fond memory.” Allison pouted.

“That just means when I get you back, it'll be on YouTube,” Felicity threatened with a wicked glare.

“Oh, now that's just uncalled for.”

“'Paybacks a bitch' and 'revenge is a dish best served cold'.”

“Oh, so you have slogans, do you? How about 'two wrongs don't make a right' and 'let bygones be bygones'?” Allison retorted.

“Nope, 'an eye for an eye' is what's going to happen. Just deal with it.” Felicity gave her a raspberry, tongue splattering a bit of saliva.

“You're too old for that shit,” Allison remarked.

 “So? It felt right.” She walked away to reapply her makeup in the bathroom mirror. Several minutes later, she went back into the living room, standing still with hands on her hips. “How do I look now?”

“Like a painted-up hussy.”

“Excellent.”

She put the two cameras inside her purse.

“You be careful, okay,” Allison said, giving her a big hug.

“I will. See you tomorrow.” Felicity kissed her cheek and left.

She drove to the club and parked on the street. This time, with a bit of cut-throat tactics, she was able to U-turn and steal a spot from a couple who'd been waiting for the light to change, but arrived too late. Getting out, she adjusted her clothes, ignored the evil glares from the couple inside the car and made her way to the club. Hey, it wasn't her fault they didn't get the spot.
It's first come, first serve on the streets
. Not,
oh, you had intentions on this spot? I'll inconvenience myself to hold it for you.

The bouncer gave her a once over then asked for her club membership.

“Um, I was here last night with a friend of mine. He said I should pick up my temporary membership from the host,” Felicity informed.

“Your name?” The bouncer was no-nonsense and she could respect that.

“F. D.,” Felicity said, remembering the protocol Gregory told her.

“You can go inside and talk to Rob,” the bouncer said, stepping aside.

Felicity did as she was told, walking past him and straight towards the host.

“Hello, how are you this evening. Will I be seating one or will there be a party?” the male host asked.

“Um, are you Rob?” Felicity asked.

He nodded. “Yes, how may I help you?”

“My name is F.D., I was told to pick up my membership from you,” Felicity said, feeling very cloak and dagger at the moment.

“Ah, yes. Here you go.” He reached under his podium, producing a manilla medium size envelope. He handed it to her. “I suggest you take a few minutes to read all of the rules before you go up there,” he said.  

“Thank you,” Felicity said.

“You can take some time reading it over at the bar if you like. No wait, there.”

“Even better. Thanks.” Felicity made her way toward the polished wood, fully stocked bar with the handsome bar tender behind it.

“May I have a Mojito, please,” Felicity said.

The bar tender nodded and began to make her drink with a flourish of tricky movements that were a spectacle in and of themselves. He handed the drink to her when he was done, took the tip she offered him and then walked down the bar to take one of the patron's order.