“Possibly.” I smile back, not letting this tough, confident guy knock me off my game. If I need to become a member to get a view of the kinky sex that Micah enjoys, then that’s what I’m going to do.
Eyes on me, the bouncer taps a button on his earbud then says, “Code 120.”
I assume Code 120 is short form for single girl who shouldn’t be here.
We begin having a staring contest as the seconds draw on, and I’m feeling the rising heat in my face, because this guy knows, and I know, I’m in way over my head here, but then I notice something odd. The camera lens over the guy’s shoulder is zooming in on me.
“Copy,” the bouncer says, snapping my focus to his scruffy face. He steps back, folding his arms, being quite the commanding presence. “Wait right here a moment.”
“Okay.” I force myself not to gulp.
Awkward seconds tick by, while I refuse to lose the staring contest. Then the main door swings open, and I cannot stop the widening of my eyes as Juliet comes rushing out, the door slamming shut behind her. “You should not be here.” She grasps my arm, yanking me away from main entrance.
Once we’re past the corner, she swings around to face me and her glare is as fierce as her voice is firm. “What were you thinking? What if you were photographed?” She’s glancing around, looking for flashes of lights, I assume, before her glare returns to me. “You must leave. Now.”
“I wasn’t followed. Believe me, I checked.” I cross my arms, forcing my mind quiet and standing strong. “And well, you shouldn’t have told me what you did the other night, so we both don’t seem to listen to Micah very well, do we?”
She’s studying me hard before she slowly begins to smile. “Micah was right. I do like you.” The tightness leaves the corners of her eyes with her long exhale, and she places one hand on her tiny waist. “Fine. What do you want? And be quick about it.”
The streetlight is giving her skin a warm glow, and I guess I’m a little surprised to see her dressed in a modest cherry-red blouse and black A-line skirt, considering the place she came out of. “I want a tour of the club.”
“Why?”
I stay quiet while a couple passes us on the street and enters the club before shrugging at her. “Because I have a thousand things running through my mind about what all this is”—I wave at the club—“all about. I, for one, want to sleep tonight, and until I know that Micah doesn’t want to jab me with some cattle prod, that will never happen.”
Her mouth twitches. “A cattle prod?”
“It does fall under the kinky sex umbrella.”
“It does,” she agrees, “but that’s not Micah’s particular brand of kink.”
I give a firm nod. “Which is exactly why I’m here.”
She pauses, watching me closely again. “You want to understand him?”
“I do.”
She visibly exhales, lowering her hand from her hip. “I cannot let you go inside the club. Micah would never forgive me.”
I sigh in frustration, but can’t fault her. In fact, I kinda like her showing loyalty to Micah. It makes me like her, regardless that I know she’s slept with him. “Okay, then you can do one better. Tell me what you do for him.”
Her brows shoot up. “You want to hear about my experiences of having sex with Micah?”
“Not in detail, of course,” I correct her, nearly gagging on her pretty shoes. Micah’s not the only one who can be a top-notch professional. Tonight I have on my get-the-job-done hat. “But I want to understand the man he’s been with you.” I don’t even know why, not truly. I only know I need these answers.
A long second of silence passes before she addresses me again. “We’re not doing this standing on the street.” She spins on her heels, heading in the opposite direction. “Come on, let’s grab a coffee.”
I blink in surprise that she’s actually going to talk to me, and follow her as she moves toward the Starbucks down the street. But as we get closer to the coffee shop, I realize, thinking all this over now, that Juliet’s another person in the short list of people who love Micah and want him to be happy. It’s funny in a way that everyone is doing all they can to keep me in Micah’s life, but he’s pushing me away. I’m not even pretending to understand the why’s of Micah’s mind. Right now I’m trying to figure out what I don’t know first.
Baby steps, I remind myself as we enter the small Starbucks, a handful of people sitting at the tables.
Within only a few short minutes, Juliet has a cappuccino and I have a strawberry smoothie, and we’re sitting at the corner table by the big window, away from listening ears. The folk song playing through the speakers above us reminds me of the one that band was playing at O’Keefe’s that night.
While I stir the straw in my drink, Juliet takes a sip of her coffee. “All right,” she finally says, wiping the foam off her top lip. “What do you want to know?”
A thousand questions rush through my mind. I stick to the most important. The ones I need to know, letting go of the questions that don’t really matter in the long run. “Does Micah go to his club?” Because if he’d been sleeping with other women while with me, then that’s a done deal. I’d leave this seat right now and never look back.
“No,” she replies, softly, and I sigh in relief as she lowers the mug to the saucer. “He never has, and that’s not who he is.”