Infinite Love (16 page)

We’d provided bar staff with a uniform, then sexy but classy bandage dresses for the hostesses and the dancers had an annual allowance for their outfits, which had to be vetted by me first. Class was key.

‘Damn it, I wish you were performing tonight, I haven’t seen you dance in ages,’ he sighed.

‘Hey, I’m a full time Uni student with a demanding job and a sexaholic husband, there are only so many hours in day.’ I tore my eyes away from his naked form and headed out to the kitchen to make a strong coffee. I smiled to myself, I’d already reserved one of the private rooms for a special surprise performance for him tonight. A little thank you gift for my wonderful wedding and honeymoon. I groaned again when he appeared in a black three piece suit, tieless with a dark grey shirt with a white collar and cuffs which he adjusted as he grinned at me. ‘I hate you sometimes,’ I moaned. ‘You tease me, deliberately.’

‘You love me all the time, baby,’ he replied as he bowed his head and kissed my neck tenderly. ‘But I don’t need to tease, you have access to this hot seriously stacked body anytime you want, you only have to say the word.’

‘You’re so full of yourself sometimes,’ I teased as his lips swept across my cheek.

‘I was hoping you’d be full of myself, but you’re playing hard ball with me.’

‘I’d love to play with your balls, Gabe,’ I sighed as he kissed each corner of my mouth and ran his hand up and down my bare back. ‘But we only have once chance to make a good impression on our opening night, and given our families will be there as well, it’s important to me.’

‘You’re important to me,’ he groaned as he gripped my backside and yanked me against him and took my mouth in a hot steamy mouth melding embrace.

‘
Gabe,’
I sighed as I clutch the lapels of his jacket. He was breaking me, I had absolutely no willpower around him and he knew it. I was saved by a loud knock on the door.

‘Fuck,’ he cursed as he straightened up and ran a hand through his hair.

‘Saved by the bell, or in this case, the knock,’ I giggled and quickly went to open it.

‘Holy shit, that dress looks amazing on you,’ gasped Lexi.

‘Thank you and loving our uniform on you, sex without sleaze,’ I nodded as I made her do a spin. She was in some fitted black trousers with a black waistcoat that revealed her mid-riff, no shirt or blouse underneath, and a black tie tucked in. The male bar staff were going to be wearing the same, but with a white shirt and no tie. ‘Very sexy secretary.’

‘Speaking of sexy, hubby’s looking damn fine tonight,’ she nodded with a flick of her head.

‘Yes, he is, and we need to go now before I throw him down and mount him.’

‘God, I can’t wait to do some mounting of my own tonight,’ she sighed.

‘Sam still coming?’

‘He’d better be coming, over and over and
over
.’

‘To the opening, not in your vagina,’ I laughed.

‘Yeah, well he’s due to touch down in a few hours and the whole band’s with him.’

‘Great. Gabe, you good to go?’ I called over my shoulder.

‘Sure.’ He strode over and took my hand as we locked up and headed downstairs. He opened the door for me and I stepped out and was blinded by loads of flashlights going off in my face and a sudden cacophony of noise. I stood startled for a moment then made out my name being yelled in all the commotion, as I realised the pavement was swarming with journalists and even news crews. What the hell was going on? Since we’d been away for the wedding and honeymoon they’d seemed to have gone off chasing me for my story. I slowly looked at them all baffled and tried to hone in on someone to understand what was going on. Gabe stepped out beside me and placed a protective arm around my waist, looking equally confused.

‘Mia, how are you feeling after hearing the news this evening?’

‘Do you have any comments to make?’

‘Are you feeling relieved?’

‘I … I’m sorry, I have no idea what’s going on,’ I exclaimed as I locked eyes with a lady reporter at the front and focussed on her.

‘Adam Dalton took his own life this afternoon. How do you feel?’ she asked and thrust a microphone in my direction. I opened my mouth to speak and everyone went quiet and looked at me expectantly but nothing came out. Adam was
dead?
My mind started racing. What did this mean? Would there still be a trial? How did I feel about this? I felt slightly sick as I stood there in shock and looked up at Gabe who squeezed my waist tightly.

‘I’m sorry but my wife and I were unaware of his death, so you’ve taken us rather by surprise,’ Gabe stated addressing the unnaturally silent observers. ‘Obviously I’m relieved that the person accused of the deaths of all of those girls, and who
was
responsible for the kidnap and attempted rape of my wife and the murder of one of her best friends, can no longer hurt anyone else. Hopefully my wife can start to put this traumatic event behind her, but I’m sure I speak for both of us when I say that our thoughts are with his innocent family. I’m afraid that we have no further comment and would appreciate being left alone from now on. Thank you.’

He looked down at me and raised his eyebrows and I bit my lips and nodded, as a barrage of questions started being fired at me again. I’d just confirmed to him that I was happy with his statement, as happy as I could be. He quickly grasped my hand and pushed his way through the noisy crowd. I felt Lexi muscle in to the other side of me as we made our way to where Riley was already waiting with the back door to the limo open.

‘Quickly Mrs. Austin, in you go,’ he nodded as he shielded my face from another flashbulb. I gave him a quick smile of gratitude and slid all the way up to the top of the car, next to the privacy screen, and covered my face with my hands, which had started to tremble.

‘God Mia, are you ok?’ asked Lexi as she sat next to me.

‘I don’t know. I feel a bit numb at the moment,’ I replied as I heard the door shut and took a deep breath.

‘Hey, it’s good news.’ She tugged my hands away and squeezed them as she looked at me. ‘The bastard deserved to die for what he did and you don’t ever have to worry about him again, it’s over.’

‘I know, but …’ I stopped and exhaled heavily.

‘But what?’

‘I wanted closure Lexi. I wanted him to be tried and held accountable in public for all those girls and for Milo. I wanted him to spend the rest of his life in prison suffering for what he did to them and he’s taken the easy way out. I’m the one left to live with this along with all the families of the people he hurt. We’re stuck with that for life. I wanted to hear why? What made him pick us? Why did he target me? What was his motivation?’ I could hear my voice rising as I felt myself getting wound up. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying and caught Gabe’s eye. He was sitting at the far end of the limo, an elbow on the doorframe, his hand covering his mouth as he looked at me with a pained expression. Lexi grabbed my face and turned me to look at her.

‘Mia, maybe this
is
your closure. Even if he’d gone to trial the why of it may never have come out and you’d have had to go through all the horrendous detail of what he did to each of those girls and Milo, as well as reliving your own painful memories. Memories you were starting to deal with and put behind you. No one can ever be one hundred percent sure of why anyone does anything. He was sick and twisted, simple as, and the world is a better place without him. He’s done you a favour.’

‘But what about the trial? Will it still go ahead?’

‘I’m sure Mr. Austin will be able to talk you through what would happen in a case like this, you can talk to him when we pick them up, and the Police are probably still going to gather evidence to do a full report which may involve you giving more statements, but you can start trying to put this behind you for good now, ok?’

‘Ok,’ I whispered as I wiped my eyes. ‘I just wanted him to pay, Lexi.’

‘I know, we all did, for you, for Milo, for all of them. I think you ought to stay home tonight, it’s too much to expect you to be at the opening. Gabe?’

‘I agree,’ he said quietly. I turned to look at him again.

‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘I don’t want to be alone tonight and both of us can’t be missing from the opening, it’s too important. We’ve put a lot of money and hard work into this business and it has to take priority. I’d rather focus on it, keep myself busy. He’s
not
ruining my life anymore.’

‘You’re a stubborn arsed mare,’ sighed Lexi. ‘Gabe, come and change places, she’s still shaking.’

‘Come on, baby,’ he murmured as he sat next to me and lifted me up into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head down onto his shoulder, kissed my hair then rested his cheek on top of my head. ‘Lexi’s right. This just means it can all be wrapped up and put behind you even sooner. And you’re right, tonight is a big deal for us, you were so looking forward to it. Like you said, don’t let him win again by ruining it for you.’

‘I won’t, I just … it was such a shock. I’ve been all geared up to deal with our launch tonight, then going back to Uni Monday and having to face everyone, then our fertility appointment as soon as my period starts next week, I hadn’t factored in time to deal with Adam and all his shit. It’s just thrown me, that’s all. I’ll be fine, I just need a few minutes to process it, that’s all.’

‘That’s my girl,’ Gabe whispered and tilted my head back to kiss me.

I started to relax as Robert took me around introducing me to some of the members that he’d signed up. We were packed out and everyone was very complimentary about the décor and facilities. Lexi and Doug were working well as a team running the bar staff and hostesses and Cindy and Max and some of the girls were already giving me the thumbs up as they left the semi-private booths with healthy tips in their palms. I’d reserved the best table in front of the stage for Robert, Sofia, Mum and Gerry and Doug’s parents. Gabe and I joined them as the first live act on the main stage was about to start. I’d selected Shey, a leggy blonde with amazing control on the pole to go first.

‘Are you really ok, sweetheart,’ Mum asked as she squeezed my hand.

‘I am, thanks. I was just so shocked, but I’ll sleep better knowing he’s gone, for good.’

‘You were still having nightmares?’ she frowned.

‘No, just finding it hard to go to sleep, or drop off again if I woke up.’

‘What about the sleeping tablets from Dr. Jarvis?’

‘I’ve weaned myself off them, I didn’t want to take them long term.’

‘I know you have Gabe to look after you now and that I don’t live nearby Mia, but you can always ring me, anytime. You know that, don’t do?’

‘Of course I do, Mum. Thanks so much for coming up this weekend, it means a lot that you’re here tonight for the opening, I know you don’t really approve.’

‘Well, I’ve never been to a strip club and I had visions of them being seedy backwater places, what you’ve done here is amazing. I’m really proud of you, you and Gabe.’ She kissed my cheek and I smiled at her and turned to look at Gabe who was leaning back, his arm behind me, resting on the back of the seating as his fingers ran up and down my shoulder. He smiled at me and raised his eyebrows and I smiled back and squeezed his firm thigh to let him know I was doing ok. The chatter suddenly slowed as the music started and Shey strode out and I giggled as I watched Mum’s mouth ajar as Shey worked through her routine. I laughed even more when I saw Gerry whisper something to her and she gasped and thumped him. Everybody roared their approval as Shey finished. ‘Mia, you can do that?’ Mum gasped as she turned to look at me.

‘Yeah,’ I shrugged with a nod. ‘Gabe won’t let me perform in public.’ I didn’t add “anymore” she didn’t need to know that I had done that.

‘Well, I should hope not,’ she uttered, before swapping places with Robert so her and Sofia could talk. I turned and grinned with a grimace at Gabe.

‘You know she’ll bloody kill me if she ever finds out?’ he laughed.

‘She will,’ I nodded. ‘So what did you think of Shey?’

‘Excellent. Attractive, good body, nice moves and not sleazy. Just what you wanted.’

‘Just what we wanted,’ I reminded him.

‘No, I’m looking right at what I want,’ he smiled as he swept my hair over my shoulder and clasped the back of my head as he kissed me.

‘Stop grumbling, Candy comes highly recommended and as owner of the club you need to sample what your customers are paying for,’ I told him as I sat him down in one of the comfortable sofas in a private dance room with bottle of Bollinger Rose in an ice bucket and some canapés. It was already one a.m. and I figured no one would miss us for an hour or so.

‘I don’t want bloody Candy thank you, I have a seriously sexy wife who dances, who also usually has a hot head and jealous disposition. You’re seriously leaving me alone in here for a pole and lap dance with another sexually aggressive woman?’

‘Please, Candy by name Candy by nature, she’s sweet and very tempting. You’d better promise not to lay a hand on her.’

‘Trust me, I won’t be laying my hands on anything. Jesus, Mia.’

‘You need to experience it, Gabe. If someone complains you need to know what sort of routines are being offered so you can speak on the matter confidentially. So wait here and I’ll go and check if she’s ready.’ I flicked the engaged switch by the door, to put on the red light indicator outside to let the hostesses know which rooms were unavailable, and headed into the dancers dressing room.

‘Ready?’ grinned Cindy as she thrust my bag at me.

‘I am. I can’t wait to see his face.’

‘I hope you’ve got good soundproofing in those rooms,’ she smiled as she helped me out of my dress.

‘Luckily we have, for the music. So how’s it going? Better than Peppers?’ I asked as I pulled out the “hoochy” shiny metallic gold spandex boob tube top to go with the matching booty shorts I was already wearing.

‘Are you kidding me?’ she uttered. ‘Jesus, look at our surroundings, this screams luxury and the punters are more refined and way better tippers. The girls are raving about it already. Plus, it helps that one of the bosses can dance as well as the rest of us and knows what she’s talking about.’