Grey

“What the hell are we doing here Scott? I could be at home with Kaika all over me right now. This is not going to be any better.”

I looked up at the hot woman on the stage and then back at my old friend. I hadn’t seen him since college and a chance meet turned into a night of drinking and now women were on the menu to finish off. It was just like old times, though this time we both had more money to rain on them.

“Nothing is better than that ass Grey. I don’t care what you have waiting at home for you. This chick could bounce a quarter off of her ass. That is talent that you aren’t going to find in common folks, no matter how wild that chick of yours is.”

I chuckled at his comment and I would be the first to say that his assessment of the firm ass in front of us was just as nice as he made it out to be. It didn’t change the facts though. The fact of the matter was that I should be at home with my girl, not out partying with him. We were already on the rocks and pissing her off wasn’t the way to go. Kaika was talented and I had kept her around longer than most. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to walk away from her skills. That was something that was hard to find.

“Maybe so, but Kaika has other talents that are even better than bouncing money off her ass. She has a tongue that feels about a foot long when she uses it right.”

The man chuckled and slapped the one in front of him. The girl glared back at him. We weren’t supposed to touch the dancers. That was rule number one, but sometimes it was hard to stop oneself from doing it and there is always ways to smooth it over.

Scott handed her a hundred dollar bill and she wasn’t as pissed off as she was before. “There is more of that if you want to take a trip to the VIP lounge with me and my friend here.”

The dark-haired dancer smiled at me and I smiled back out of instinct. Right or wrong, I was hard as a rock and my body was ready to do all kinds of naughty things to the stripper. It was all I could think about at the moment, though I knew there was much that I could do. If this woman decided to take the offer, I was going to be balls deep in her very soon. Nothing else would matter and the woman waiting for me at home wouldn’t matter either.

There was no reason or need for me to encourage Scott. He didn’t need it and once Rose decided to take a break from the bar, I knew that I was sealing my own fate. Sad thing was I didn’t care.

***

“Where the hell have you been Grey? I have been up all night waiting for you to get home.”

“You should have gone to sleep. I told you that I was going out.”

“You smell like booze.”

I wasn’t going to argue with her. Kaika was the type of woman that wasn’t to be messed with. She had a temper that was almost as scary as mine. It was part of the reason I liked her. She wasn’t so vulnerable that I was afraid I would break her when I took her properly. No, Kaika was tough and that meant that there was a battle ahead of me if I didn’t cut her off at the pass.

“I just went out. We had a few drinks, caught up and talked about old times. I haven’t seen him in ten years.”

With other women I wouldn’t even go this far to explain myself, but the girl had a way of swallowing me whole. I had never seen or felt it before and I doubted that I was going to find someone as talented as she is. It was worth taking a little bit of her grief if I had to.

“Really? That is all you did? You weren’t at the strip club on 3rd avenue, right?”

I was and that told me that she was asking the question that she already knew the answer to. Did she know what I had done there? It was a good indication that she did and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it. I could just come clean, but that had never been my style. I could try and convince her that she was crazy, but Kaika wasn’t going to go for that. I was stuck and my silence seemed to mean to her the same as an omission.

“What do you want me to say? I just went out, that’s it. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You are the one making it that way.”

“Because I want to know what the hell you could spend five hundred dollars on at a strip club.”

I wasn’t sure how she was getting her information, but I had to admit that she knew what was going on. I don’t think that I was going to be able to talk her out of it and the fact that I had just slept with a stripper wasn’t helping my cause. I actually felt a little guilty and I think she could smell it on me.

“Look Kaika, you are making a big deal out of this. It is really not that dramatic. It just happened, I swear it to you.”

“What just happened?”

“The club and all of that." They got a hold of my credit card, so there is no telling what all got charged on it. I will check it in the morning. Right now I am tired and I want to go take a shower.”

“You aren’t going in there until we are finished. I need the truth Grey.”

This was going nowhere fast and it made me nervous when she said something about the truth. She didn’t want this truth and if she got it, I was sure that I wasn’t going to see her again. I knew where this was headed and I didn’t want it to go there, even though I really didn’t have a choice.

“I was out Kaika and now I am home. That is the truth.”

I moved to kiss her and she could smell perfume on me... Then she saw lipstick on my collar and that was all that she needed to see and smell. It wasn’t long before she was storming out of my apartment and I knew that I wouldn’t see her again. It was good while it lasted, but the quiet was even better than her presence.

The sad thing was, as talented as Kaika was; she wasn’t enough for me to say no to a beautiful woman. That was most likely why I was bound to be single forever. Not that it bothered me, but it was clear that at this rate, I was going to be pushing forty before long and I would then be a constant bachelor. Right now I was still eligible according to the Morning Post. That was all going to change in a couple of years. I would be the man that no woman could pin down.

I cracked open a beer and looked around the apartment, really seeing it now that Kaika was gone. She had only lived here a couple of months and parts of her were everywhere. I got up and started putting all of her things in a box. I would give it to the doorman and he would be able to handle it. She would come back when she cooled off and when she realized that I was done with her, she would want to come up and get it all. It was a ploy to get back around me and I wasn’t going to fall for it. It was always better to think ahead as far as I was concerned.

Taking the elevator, a few minutes later, the door opened with a ding. “Hey Tony, can you give these to Kaika when she comes back for them?”

“Another one bites the dust?” The older doorman looked bemused. This wasn’t the first time that this very thing had happened. I had a bit of a reputation and he was right to think that I was done.

“Yeah.”

“What did you do this time?”

I shrugged my shoulders and didn’t really answer for a minute. “You know the usual. See you later Tony. I am going to go out for a bit. Finally got some freedom and quiet back.”

“What I wouldn’t give…that woman was beautiful.”

“They all are in their own way.”

I walked towards the front entrance and pulled the jacket closer around me. It was unseasonably cold or I wasn’t used to it yet. I almost went back into the building, but I needed some fresh air to clear my mind. I wasn’t going to miss Kaika and that made me question it all a little more. I should feel sadness, something, right?

New York City was bustling all around me. The lights were on because it was so late, but this was the city that never slept. I don’t either, so it was like I was meant to be here. Many nights I found comfort in that, but now I was getting a little claustrophobic. How was I supposed to clear my head when everything was blaring on around me? I needed some quiet and I wasn’t going to get it here. Things that usually comforted me were now not so helpful. For once, I felt like I had to get away for a while and I moved on that feeling, walking back towards the parking garage to get my vehicle out. I needed a country road and a drive to set me back right again.