Rotten (15 page)

“You and I are sleeping in here; David is going to sleep on the couch.”

He walked past me, plopped himself down on the sofa and kicked his feet up as we made ourselves comfortable. He pulled down his hat over his eyes. I knew he was tired, too. Walking back into the bedroom, I looked at Erin’s face, and her eyes were the size of saucers.

“What the fuck is going on here? Are you banging David Stark? How could you keep that from me?”

“No, no, no, we’re not having sex. We’re friends, that’s all. You can fuck him, really. I can’t promise he will talk to you later, but hey, you won’t be able to walk for a week.”

She sat on the bed and started flipping through her phone before chucking it into her large purse. “Seriously, Toni. David Stark. In his house, in his bed. This is unreal.”

My lips started to turn downward. This was what worried me. Despite his tough guy exterior, this ate at him. He liked sexual advances on his terms. He was very temperamental and moody about it now that he was older. He opened his Facebook page and showed me the multiple requests from girls with large breasts in bikinis with phone numbers. Twitter was the same. He would often leave his phone at the house on purpose, claiming that he could use mine or the club’s. When approached by strangers, it was always hockey this and hockey that. No one ever saw just David.

“Hey, chill out, okay? He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Granted he’s a little obsessed with his cock, but he’s a guy and it’s huge, so I think that’s normal.”

Erin made the sizzling sound of a burn and threw a bra at me. “A little defensive are you? I highly doubt the big, bad David Stark needs you to defend him.”

I recalled the ice rink and shoved down the protective nature trying to seep through again. “You’re right; it’s a reflex. Never went away.”

I walked out and into the bathroom, shutting the door. Splashing cool water onto my face, I gazed at my reflection in the mirror. I no longer recognized who was looking back. The woman in the mirror was not the one I had become, but more like who I was. Despite my age, I still had a youthful appearance. My skin was clear and smooth, lightly tanned with a dusting of freckles rising across the top of my nose. My blond hair was naturally highlighted by the sun and had slightly grown out from missing my scheduled beauty salon appointments. I was changing along with everything around me, whether I liked it or not.

The entire house smelled like barbeque chicken and garlic. I rubbed the corncobs down with butter and freshly crushed black pepper and parmesan cheese before setting them on the grill. The fridge had a near-empty bottle of cranberry juice to go with the lemon vodka he kept in the freezer. The mix tasted entirely too good going down. We had another two hours before we needed to get to the club, and dinner was almost ready.

After setting out the buffet of items on the table, not much was said between the groans of pleasure about how delicious everything was. I had been cooking since I was here, but nothing this elaborate. My mood changed as I acclimated to Erin’s presence. She visibly calmed down around David, and he began to warm up. She broke the ice in her true fashion.

“So you’re the one who popped little Toni’s cherry. Lucky bitch.”

He looked at me affectionately and rubbed my thigh. “That I did – one of the greatest moments in my life.”

Erin looked at me and started laughing loudly. “Ya know, normally that’s the other way around. The girl is all-sentimental about her first time. You would think she wouldn’t shut up about you, especially after you made it big, but I never knew about you two until this past week.”

David’s hand froze on my thigh. He never stopped to think I would never include him in my discussions of the past. As a friend, she loved these new tidbits of personal history and was eating up as much as she could. I was notoriously private about such matters.

He squeezed my hand beneath the tablecloth in comfort, knowing I was growing more upset. Erin didn’t know about the incident; there was never a reason to tell her.

“So I take it she told you about Goliath right?” He turned to me with the most calm expression, knowing I was about to strangle him.

Between bites of roasted potatoes, Erin looked at both of us curiously. “No, she didn’t. But something tells me that since your name is David, and she did tell me you’re obsessed with your cock, that the moniker fits the description.”

David picked up his beer and winked. “You’re a sharp one, doll face. Want to see it?”

My fork dropped along with my mouth.

Please do not bust out your dick during dinner, please do not bust out your dick during dinner. Oh hell, there goes the zipper, I need another fucking drink.

Immediately standing up and opening the fridge to claim the last of the juice, I took a long swig straight from the vodka bottle as David pulled down his pants and introduced Erin to Goliath.

I heard the deep intake of breath and rapid heartbeat from across the room. Erin would be the first to confess she was a size queen. I wouldn’t know anything about that, yet she assured me, size does matter. She cooed as if it was a butterfly, and he proudly displayed it like the Stanley Cup.

“Hey Toni, come here, someone is happy to see you. It’s been a while since you two have talked, he wants to say hi.”

I refused to look at him. I looked everywhere but at him, although curiosity was absolutely killing me. “No thanks, I am good. I will send a postcard or something.”

I am not having conversations about his dick…

Erin started to taunt me. “You have David here, there’s no reason to fear Goliath.”

My hairline trigger fused, and the bottle hit the wall before I realized it left my hands. Both of them knew what position I was in. Although I knew it was all in good fun, I couldn’t stop the rage starting to boil in me. I bolted out of the door and started to run as fast as I could down the dark road. Both of them were running after me, but I refused to stop. The noise between my ears was louder than the shouting coming from behind. I hadn’t run in a few weeks, and my body started to thrive on the endorphins. I knew my muscles were going to be tight, but it was the only thing I could do to calm down. It was better to take it out on gravel than some poor person at the club. Perhaps getting shit-faced was a terrific idea.

After I ran nearly two miles at top speed, David found me while I was catching my breath.

“Honey, I’m sorry, that was a low blow. You know we were just messin’. I’m an asshole – I wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t filter yourself for my sake; this is my issue, not yours. I’m fine, drop it.”

He let out a heavy sigh, yet resisted trying to console me. We walked in silence slowly back to the house and got ready to leave. I hugged a mournful Erin as soon as I hit the door; she had walked into a circus.

“I’m just wound tight, love; I’ll do my best not to ruin your visit.”

It took a bit before the mood elevated, though after sitting down at the club with a full bottle of tequila, it didn’t take too long. I gave myself permission to hug a toilet; sometimes you needed a bender to make you realize you could always feel worse. It was interesting seeing the place from a patron’s point of view; everything looked different. Erin eyed the poles, and I knew what she was thinking and could bet money she would be up on one before the night was over. She was the one who convinced me to try the classes after I told her about growing up in the club, and she encouraged me to keep going despite everything else.

David did not sit with us for very long, leaving us to catch up. We politely declined the company of several burly men, but for the first time in my life, I indulged in my first lap dances. Jodie insisted on setting the bar and gave me the hottest dance I had ever seen a woman do. She smelled like cherries and vanilla and showed me why she ran the hive. I had never wanted to have sex with a woman before, but after that, I began to reconsider my thought process. The other girls came over and gave equally impressive performances to both Erin and myself. Luckily, I still had cash from my night of bartending and tipped the girls generously.

I had spent so much time judging this place, I never once allowed myself to see it in any other way than a “den of sin”. Could I do this myself? No. Was I right to judge others for doing it? No. It was hard for me to swallow that this was acceptable in any way, shape or form. I was either growing corrupt or becoming more aware. I stopped looking at the circumstances and began to see the people, and they were good. I felt my eyes start to tear up. I was fucking drunk and about to get all emotional.
Poor Erin.

“I’m a terrible person. Who am I to tell these women they can’t shake their titties to put food on the table? Yeah, it’s easy to say ‘get a different job’, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Our world’s fucked up. These nice peoples here. I likes them. They have gooood hearts. Jesus loves strippers, too.” My speech was slurring, and my nose was red and damp. Erin just smiled and gave me a hug while I cried into her shirt.

“Yes, I am sure Jesus loves strippers, too.” She giggled at my soapbox rants.

“Don’t be knocking me, hooker, I speaks truth. Jesus would be here telling them that theys are beautiful, and he loves them.”

I reached for another shot of tequila, yet Erin pushed it away. David came over and sat next to me, smiling.

“Oh heyyyyyyy… Does your anaconda want some of this???”

I crawled up into his lap and removed his ball cap, placing it on my head backwards. I couldn’t focus on him, because everything was so blurry.

“You are trashed right now, aren’t you?” David couldn’t hold back the laughter as I swayed side to side slowly.

I shook my head back and forth, then up and down. “Yesshhhh…

Erin leaned in and told David, “You better watch out, she’s talking about strippers and salvation. Next thing you know, she’s going to get a Bible out and start baptizing people at the bar.”

“Fuck you, Erin, you’re just mad because you want David to christen your head with his baby batter.”

They both looked at me in absolute shock, so I stole the opportunity to slug another shot.

“Yeah, I said it. Let me up – there’s an empty pole and a morning full of regret with my name on it.”

David’s hands gripped my thighs to restrain me from moving. He reached one behind my head and pulled me close. I closed my eyes and puckered my lips like a fish, waiting for a kiss. Instead, his mouth came to my ear and spoke just loud enough for me to hear.

“Baby girl, as much as I know you can work that pole, there’s a rough crowd in here tonight. Let the pros take care of them. I don’t want to get in a fight over you tonight, hear me?”

I nodded in agreement and then rested my head on his shoulder. The next thing I knew, I was at his house, laying face down on a cold toilet seat with him behind me, holding my hair as the contents of the evening burned its way back out of my body. I was probably going to get an ulcer after the past twenty-four hours. The only thing I did notice was that I didn’t even think twice about me and Melanie being in the same room together. That thought alone helped me breathe a little better. David patted my head with a chilled washcloth and rubbed my back in soothing circles. Holding the rim by both arms, I fell back into the darkness.