Allure (Mercenaries Book 1) Read online

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Retro Place

  HOLDING MELISSA’S HAND, BECKIE FOLLOWED Jamse into The Retro Place. Inside, Jamse went directly to the bar, serving as the club’s office. Beckie and Melissa followed, looking at the room in silent incredulity. Hours before opening, the tables were pushed to the wall away from the bar, with chairs upturned atop them. The walls were covered in a dark material—Beckie couldn’t tell if it was paper or fabric—that was torn or falling away in several places. She gave Melissa a quick look and whispered “Do you believe this place?”

  Melissa shook her head.

  From behind the bar, the average height man with thinning hair and disheveled clothes stared at the girls before he noticed Jamse. “Nigel, I assume,” Jamse said.

  “Right. You’re Smythe, I guess.”

  Beckie ignored Nigel’s ogling and Jamse’s introduction to continue her examination.

  Noting her scrutiny, Nigel said: “Right. It looks a bit better at night.”

  Beckie mouthed a silent Oh, not yet understanding that in operation the club had very few lights except those illuminating the dancers. Except for more greedy looks, Nigel paid them no more mind. He and Jamse spent long minutes filling out forms and discussing terms, pay and accompaniment: “No one backstage, old chap.”

  Even with no comparable experience, the room looked hard used to Beckie. The high ceiling was stained with threads of something hanging. The room was deeper than wide, she took a few steps and guessed twenty feet wide and twice that to the stage.

  The stage. The reason they were there flooded back to her. The stage was open, no sign of a curtain. She recognized the design as a small thrust stage—They’ll be able to see me no matter what, she thought. The proscenium was high. There’s the curtain, up there. It drops, I guess. A door in the proscenium wall opened as she watched, and a short youth in patched jeans and tee shirt under a battered leather blazer pushed a mop and bucket into the space.

  Nigel turned as the door closed. “Leave it a bit, luv. I’ll ‘oller when we’re done, right?”

  With a wondering look first at Melissa, then Beckie, the girl turned and went back through the door.

  “Well, let’s see you two, then,” Nigel said with a little leer in his voice.

  “What’ll we do?” Beckie asked. “Like, there’s no music or anything.”

  “You’ll ‘ave music tonight, luv. Right now, all I want you to do is go ‘round the back of the stage, then come out front.” He looked at them and chose Melissa. “First you. You, luv, come out on stage and strip out of the kit like you were dancing, knickers and all. When she’s done, you…” He pointed at Beckie. “You come out and caress ‘er tits, then give ‘er a kiss and start undressing. You…” He looked at Melissa again. “You ‘elp ‘er with the bra and knickers, then kiss ‘er. On the lips.” He looked at them, still standing there. “Well, go on with you!”

  “Why do we have to do all that now?” Melissa asked plaintively.

  “Cause that’s what you’ll do tonight, you never done it before and I want to be sure you’ll do it right,” he said, noticeably short of temper.

  “You may decline,” Jamse said. Beckie, in spite of her trepidation, smiled at his unruffled challenge to this unsavory man. She took the opportunity to grasp Melissa’s hand and squeeze.

  “Right,” the man replied, forcing calm into his voice, “Right enough. You’ll not be any good, you act like you’ve been forced.”

  Yeah, right. That’s a lie. “No.” Beckie gently pushed Melissa ahead of her toward the door. “Just wanted to know why.”

  The door opened on a dark hallway that ran another twenty or thirty feet. Halfway down, a bare bulb hung from the ceiling, dim like all backstage lights should be. The illumination didn’t reach to the four steps up and Melissa tripped. Beckie caught her before she fell.

  “You ok?”

  A quick nod as Melissa rubbed her shin. “Yeah. Watch the step.” Beckie reached up and grabbed her shoulder.

  “It’ll be ok. Just pretend it’s you and me in gym.” Looking at Melissa’s face in the near dark, she saw doubt first, and then acceptance.

  “Yeah.” The sneer gave her feelings away. She turned back to climb the remaining three steps. “Com’on. That guy will be hollering on us pretty soon.”

  Five steps ahead, light spilled from an opening on the left. Further down, a closed door on the right leaked a few rays of sunlight on the dusty floor.

  More strongly than Beckie expected, Melissa grabbed her arm and walked to the opening. Through a screen of beads hanging as a curtain, the bare stage, lit by the house lights, waited. Beckie swept the beads aside as Melissa pushed through into the light.

  The scene went off as Nigel had directed. Beckie was far from aroused and even Melissa’s kisses were merely nervous pecks until Nigel roared up from the bar: “Kiss ‘er, dammit!” forcing a longer, more realistic from Nigel’s point of view, interaction.

  “Okay,” Nigel said as they broke that kiss. “I’ll put ‘em on as long as they’re ‘ere. Like I said, I need at least a week. After that, day by day.” He looked at the girls. “You’ll put a bit more enjoyment into it tonight, right?”

  “Starting tonight,” Jamse confirmed.

  “Right, at ‘alf after nine.” Still looking at the girls, he said, “Just wear that kit tonight,” as they continued to dress.

  They left the club, collecting Mike from the pub where he’d waited.

  “How’d it go? What happened?”

  “As we planned. Rebecca and Melissa did a superb job. Added to that, as you are aware, they are both quite attractive. Nigel would not have sent them away if God Himself had been present.”

  “But it was awful, Mike,” Melissa said. “The things we did.” The others looked at her in alarm. She looked at Beckie, then at Mike. “Do people really like to watch that?” She looked at Beckie again and whispered, “I think I liked kissing you, Beckie.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

  “At the risk of offending the girls, Michael, Nigel will have Rebecca and Melissa perform a pas de deux as lesbian lovers, confined to kisses and caresses.”

  Beckie allowed Mike to take Melissa and her in a loose embrace. While they settled themselves in the car, Jamse continued, “What you feel, Melissa, is normal. It may be hidden by your perceptions of learned taboos about loving a woman, but your body is generally indifferent whether a man or a woman holds your breast, or kisses you with passion. Your mind governs those reactions. The reactions of the taboos may or may not be strong enough to dampen the desire.”

  He paused while negotiating a heavily traveled roundabout. “I had not envisioned that Nigel would use you together and certainly not in that way. Recall the charge I gave you earlier: you need not do this.”

  “And what would happen to Cari?”

  “Your primary concern should be your own well-being and that of your friends. Even if we never recover her, which is unlikely, it would not be worth having either of you feel defiled.”

  “No,” Melissa said. “Just, it feels really funny, like, to feel the same feelings kissing Beckie as when I kiss Mike. Not all, not all,” she added quickly. “I mean…” She stopped and covered her face. “I don’t know what I mean.”

  Guess I shouldn’t have let her come. Oh, well. “I know, Lissa,” was all she could say to her friend.

  “Your feelings are normal,” Jamse repeated. “You are perfectly conventional to feel them, not, as you may fear, perverted or sick because you enjoy the touch of a woman as well as that of a man. Control the feelings, do not allow them to control you. Do not ever regret feeling them, however.” He paused. “Michael, when we arrive at the hotel, I must speak with you further regarding our plans.”

  Beckie wondered briefly about Jamse’s invitation, but Mike just nodded.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mike’s New Experience

  AT THE HOTEL, MIKE HELD both the girls’ hands as they followed Jamse to t
he elevator and through the hallway. At their rooms, Jamse directed the girls to theirs but collared Mike, leading him into his room.

  “Michael, I am not as concerned about Rebecca as I am about Melissa. She fears that she is attracted to Rebecca, that she will not be attracted to you, that you will not be attracted to her. Rebecca is concerned also, but you are not as much an object of those feelings for her, since you are her brother, not a romantic interest.”

  “Yeah,” Mike replied. “But what can I do?”

  “I fear we have only a poor answer to that question. For tonight, I do not want you to be left alone. At loose ends, so to speak.” Mike nodded, though he couldn’t really figure out what the man meant. “You will go with Mr. deVeel to Nigel’s club tonight, unless you choose not to.” He paused again. “It may be very difficult for you… Have you have had any experience of a sexual nature?”

  “Not a lot, I guess. Why?”

  “Viewing a show like Nigel operates, or a sexually-oriented movie, or the like, has more impact on a person who knows firsthand the feelings and reactions being played upon. But it may still be difficult to bear.”

  Mike, not really paying attention, asked, “Mr. Jamse, neither of them look any different. Why’s it make such a difference?”

  “It only makes a difference because it is first a new experience for them both, and second because of the strength of the taboo with which you all have been raised. Consider. How would you feel if you kissed a male your own age, and discovered that the experience was pleasing to you? As it assuredly could be.”

  “I guess I’d be upset. Being gay’s like, really gross.”

  “That’s what Melissa, and Rebecca, too, are faced with. Remember what I said. You kissing a boy with enjoyment, or Rebecca and Melissa kissing, does not make you gay, or them lesbian. In addition, being gay or lesbian is not the terrible thing many of your advisors would have you believe. I have never believed that the predilection is learned, but the decision to accept it is as personal as the one to become intimate heterosexually.”

  “I can see what you’re trying to tell me. I guess I don’t know everything about it, yet.”

  “True.”

  “But it won’t be an act to show Melissa she’s still attractive to me. Or Beckie either, for that matter.” He paused. “As my sister, I mean.”

  “Good. Be circumspect. Be sensitive to their feelings; do not compound them by trying too hard. I would suggest that Melissa and you not separate from Rebecca. They will need to support each other, especially since our plan calls for them to be taken from the club without us. They are both strong women, but they will need each other.”

  “I understand. When do you think they’ll be taken?”

  Jamse phoned the girls, asking them to come to his room.

  “Michael has asked a question the answer to which I think it appropriate that you hear. As I explained, I expect you to be taken from the club by the same people who took Carina. Nigel gaped at you today; it is amazing that he has lived to his age, transparent as he is. He will have advised the buyers; they will be at one or both of your performances tonight. With photographs and descriptions, they will probably make a deal tomorrow. Since we have agreed to be in the club for a week, it will occur within that period. If, as we expect, they work to order, it may be two or three days before they complete the arrangements. They would expect that you will be safe meanwhile.”

  “Wow. Not very long, huh?”

  “Correct.” He gave them a tiny smile. “You must return before your holiday is over, after all. You three should stay together as much as possible. Now, however, get as much rest as you can before dinner. We will eat early, so as to arrive at the club by nine-thirty.”

  While Kevin deVeel joined them for introductions with the coffee at dinner, he stayed only a few minutes. Mike accompanied him as he recovered his car from the doorman.

  DeVeel picked his own way through the narrow streets. Stopped at a light, he said, “Well, Mike, are you ready for tonight? It’s going to be hard, watching a bunch of drunks leer at your girl. And your sister, too.”

  Mike sighed. That’s for sure. “Yeah, I know. But this is their decision; I can’t make it for them. ‘Bout all I can do is help them out any way I can. And give them support when they need it.”

  “That’s a more grown-up attitude than I hear from men three times your age and experience.” DeVeel cruised around a rotary. “But let me know if you’re going to go off the deep end, so I can help out, okay?”

  “What do you mean, ‘off the deep end’?”

  “Anything that’s out of the ordinary inside the club,” he explained. “Running up on the stage with a towel, throwing a bottle at a heckler down in front, throwing a punch at the guy who tries to grab some ass. Get the idea?” Mike nodded. “Okay. You want to try a beer, or stay with Coke?” Mike’s eyes opened wide. Watching, deVeel said, “Never thought about that, huh?”

  “No. I think I’ll have Coke, for tonight, anyway. ‘Specially since I’ve never had much beer.”

  “That’s a good idea. This won’t be the evening to find out how it feels to be drunk and useless.” He contemplated Mike as he continued into Soho. “Best you not say anything while we’re going in. I don’t want to force anyone to notice that you’re probably underage.” He chucked, then said pensively, “Funny how no one minds that the girls on the stage look fourteen or fifteen, but let a seventeen-year old guy try to go through the front door…”

  “Really,” Mike agreed.

  Finding a place large enough to leave the car filled the time that deVeel had allotted. They were left with a walk of only three blocks. The fee had deVeel muttering to himself as well as to Mike about getting someone to pick up the expenses after Cari had been safely recovered.

  They went through the door of the club a few minutes before the girls were to appear. The bouncer looked Mike up and down, but, accepting deVeel’s assurances that he wouldn’t cause any trouble, looked aside as he went through the door. In the vestibule, rock music blared through the curtains hung to protect the unwary from the sights inside the club. A tired brunette in a short, sheer dress sat at a rickety, broken-legged square table, holding a sheaf of blank membership cards and waiting for the twenty pound fee. DeVeel started muttering again, as he dug notes from the depths of his pockets. Mike said nothing, just watched and scrawled a mark where the woman pointed. Slipping the money into a slot in the back wall, she pointed haphazardly toward the curtains.

  “That’s it, then. Go on in.”

  They pushed through the curtain, stumbling almost immediately over a table at the back of the room. On realizing that no one else had noticed them rather than the nude dancer caressing herself in the pool of light on the stage, they straightened the table and deVeel led the way to the bar.

  “I like to stay at the bar,” he said, climbing onto an uncomfortable stool. “Less of a problem with waitresses and hostesses, and easier to get out, should the need arise.” To the barman, “A lager, please, and a Coke. You got any ice?”

  “Right, gov’ner. ‘Ere you are,” the man said, sliding the drinks across the bar.

  “Thanks. Cheers, mate,” deVeel said to Mike as he raised his glass. He slid another twenty pound note over the bar. “Here. Keep the tab open.” He turned back to watch the stage.

  The girl on stage had recovered from her faux excitement and was strutting off, pulling her negligee and boa behind her. At the side arch, she turned and gave the admiring crowd a last energetic bump, showing off with her legs apart. She turned; on cue, the lights went off.

  When the lights came back up, Mike recognized Melissa, standing on the stage, dressed as she had been at dinner. The audience gave her a smattering of applause as she swayed uneasily, rocking back and forth on her feet in the dazzling cold light.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Exotic Dancers

  JAMSE AND THE GIRLS HAD left the restaurant after Mike and deVeel; following Nigel’s instructions, the girls had
not changed.

  Less concerned than deVeel about parking, Jamse left the BMW parked on the sidewalk behind the club. He went around to the front, finding Nigel, who sent him to Nancy, just finishing her stint on stage. She showed him the dressing room that Cari had used, telling him to set Beckie and Melissa up in there. “If,” she said dryly, “they don’t mind sharing a dressing room.”

  Without acknowledging her humor, Jamse returned to the car. He and the girls entered the club through the back door, traversing the corridor to the tiny room Nancy had pointed out.

  “This is your dressing room,” he told them with an all-encompassing wave; it did not need to be very grand. “Carina used this room. She was here just before being kidnapped last week.”

  The girls entered the room tentatively, keeping close together.

  “It’s sure not very big,” Melissa said.

  Ian watched Beckie nod as she turned, looking at the empty clothes rack, the faded mirror on the back of the door, the makeup table, the rough cut planks on the wall, a window high up with a curtain so filthy the pattern was indistinguishable. A glance would show that the curtain had no practical use; the window had more dirt covering it than most of the farmland in the country. “Wow,” she finally breathed.

  A sharp rap on the door brought their heads around as it swung open. The girls gaped at the woman in front of them; she was dressed in a g-string that covered as little as possible. Her breasts were larger than either of them could boast, larger than any they had ever seen. Her nipples had been pierced; the hoops through them had been connected by a fine gold chain that then disappeared into the g-string. Neither could imagine what it would do there. Nancy’s body was svelte; she was in excellent condition and her tan went all over, at least as far as they could see.

  Since neither of the girls had yet recovered her voice, Jamse spoke into the silence.

  “Yes, Nancy. Do you have the information we discussed?”

  “Right enough, I do.” Her accent, not highly pronounced, still ended the girls’ fascination with her body. They both looked up, their eyes drawn to hers. Nancy returned their stares with sarcasm. “Whatcha looking at, then? You must ‘ave seen a girl before, so don’t act like them bastards out front.” She grinned at Jamse as Melissa especially blushed furiously.