A Haven for the Particular

They had to walk off of the main boulevard and slip down a tiny side street illuminated only by the washed light glowing behind them a dim streetlamp ahead. The two dumpsters at the end of that street seemed purposely placed to obscure the ancient brick laid alley that looked to be an original street down here-untouched by the gentrification and glare less than a full block away. Situated where it was, The Club seemed to be in a different section of town. Not many people just happened upon it when looking for something else. This was more of a destination; a haven for the particular.

Colleen Palmer stood under the awning out of the warm drizzle careful not to rub her suede coat against the damp bricks. She held her Club ID in her hand not yet extending it to Mike, the tightly shorn, surprisingly slender security guy sitting at his station in front of the door. Mid-week crowds, even tonight on an Odd Tuesday, weren’t big or frantic enough to warrant standing.

“How many are in the house?”

Mike looked at the scanner. “Twenty six right now….expecting probably forty.”

Colleen absently curled a hank of her limp brown hair between her finger and thumb. Thanks rain, she thought as the waves she had curled in disappeared on the short walk from the car. “That would be four”, she said absently to her friend Kendra, a tall willowy blond wearing jeans and sporting a thick flip of thatch that the rain couldn’t touch. “What do you think?”

Before Kendra could answer, two young girls-looked to be college kids-paused at the door and saw the discreet sign above Mike’s head. “Shit”, said one. “This is Odd Tuesday?”

“Tuesday the Thirteenth-yes Mam…” he said pleasantly enough.

“Come on Mindy”, she pulled at her friend. “We’ll come back tomorrow.” Mindy, glancing back,  reluctantly let herself be pulled away down the alley as her friend’s voice faded, “…last time I was there on a Tuesday I was so nervous all night I just couldn’t enjoy myself…..”

“We’d love to have you girls….” Mike called after them grinning. Then, as he turned his attention back two the women in front of him, Kendra slipped him her card. He ran it through the scanner.

“Still only a one in ten chance….” she said to Colleen.

Mike held her card for a moment…”Unless I run it through again”, he winked. “Up the odds a little.”

“Never mind. I’ll roll with the odds.”

With a little smile Colleen slipped Mike her card. “Only once please.”

He smiled and returned her card and turned his attention to another couple heading toward him as they slipped through the door.

Inside Pat Jensen waited for the bartender to make her way down to him. It would only be a single-trip; he was a regular, she knew what to bring him. Corrine slid him a dirty Martini, enough olive juice to mask the taste of the cheap Vodka he favored.

“Jensen! Don’t usually see you here on a Tuesday, Odd or otherwise….”

“Looking for a place to get in out of the rain…check out this crowd a little. Looks like more boys than usual.”

She looked back over her shoulder as if she hadn’t noticed…”It’s been evening out the last couple…why let the girls have all the fun?”

“I’ll probably be gone by the witching hour…”

“Come on Jensen…Live a little. Maybe we’ll go early, just to keep you in the house.”

“I don’t think so….”

She put her hand over his and froze him with her dancing eyes. “You never know Jensen” she said quietly, sweetly close to his ear, “Me standing behind-maybe close enough so our thighs touch-hand on your back…you bent over-cheek to cheek, as it were…maybe even pull your pants down.” He buzzed at the feel of her breath splashing into his ear and down his neck. She played at licking her lips. “You might turn me, who knows?”

She rubbed his hand softly and flashing a wicked smile, leaned closer and whispered…”Make you hard?”

“Let’s just say I better sit here for a few minutes”, he grinned almost blushing.

She laughed and moved down the bar. Jensen, like most guys in the bar, watched her go fingering the stem of his martini glass. She was a little on slim side for his tastes but the way her butt distressed her distressed jeans…

His eyes cut to the couple who had just walked in. The dark-haired one was familiar; big eyes, ready smile…he thought he had danced with her once. Sturdy girl, he thought…cute enough, but not in the same league as her lanky friend. He caught the blonde’s eye and to cover that he had been staring, tipped his drink to her. She nodded back as they settled at the end of the bar.

Corrine approached them and leaned in to take their drinks. She immediately fell into a conversation with the blonde. “Damn!” he thought. Oh well….His eyes returned to scanning the bar. Corrine slid past him to pick up a bottle she needed to make the girl’s drinks.

“Kendra says you’re buying her and Colleen their drinks.”

“Kendra?” he asked? “The blonde? Absolutely.” Then before she could slip away, “Hey Core, let me ask you….Would my having a dick be an impediment to dating the lovely Kendra?”

“Not necessarily, Jensen.” She answered. “Your being a dick might be…”

Outside Mike heard the quick tattoo of heels on brick and looked up as Kim Chen slipped under his awning. “Hey Mike”, she said. “What you reading?” He had already flipped the book onto its open face and she read the jacket. “Nice! I liked that…”

“That’s what you said. Tough getting started though…”he said taking her card and scanning.

“Hang with it”, she said earnestly. “It’s worth it.”

“You alone tonight?” he asked unnecessarily. Kim’s husband was never here during the week. In fact, he was hardly here ever.

“He’s traveling-think…Houston?” Her jet black hair was in a tight pony tail pulled away from the creamy perfect skin of her face and neck. She was comfortable enough to wear a snug open neck shirt that accented what were perfect but very tiny breasts. A leather coat draped over her shoulders opened to reveal what passed as her uniform, black stretch pants that hugged her thighs and he knew cupped the curves of her perfect bottom as if they were glued on.

Mike tried to stay away from married women. He didn’t trust himself not to fall in love-it happened often-and he feared the complications that could upset his well-ordered life. The only time he and Kim had spent together outside of The Club was when they both happened to be in the same 5K charity trail run. She had smoked him.

She was the only woman he would see tonight that cleaved his desires between wanting to see her bent over on stage and wanting to hug her tightly and protect her. Given that choice though, he wasn’t sure which way she would go. With Kim through the door, Mike stashed the book in his bag. Wouldn’t do to have Tina or John see him reading at his post. They would find something else for him to do. Or worse.

He looked up at the sound of banging and a loud “Whoops!” down by the dumpster knowing that his evening was about to get a little louder. Most Tuesday night regulars slipped by his station with a quick smile or a veiled look-away, not wanting to call too much attention to where they were going. These two always seemed like they were looking for the brass band to announce them.

It could be that they were fifteen or twenty years older than the rest of the house and if they hadn’t seen it all had seen enough to not give a shit. Or were, like tonight, a little lubricated when they got here. Or both.

For these two, Mike stood. “Good evening ladies!” he said with a slight bow.

“Mikey my darling” Bethany greeted him card in hand. “How are you this fine evening?” She was in her forties and wearing jeans which tugged at her in spots. Her straw color hair streaked with gray hung in a tight bob around her expressively round face. She didn’t wear much makeup-a touch of rouge on the cheeks-she had worked for the tiny crinkles that showed around her eyes when she smiled and she wasn’t about to hide them.

“I’m well, thank you” he said with an exaggerated propriety. “You look beautiful, as always, this evening.”

“Keep it coming, honey, keep it coming…”

He took her card and scanned it and reached to hand it back.

“Once more, Mikey…” she nodded with a smile.

Mike scanned again and returned the card cutting his eyes toward Megan. She seemed a little tipsy but, truth be told, she seemed that way sober. Jet black hair piled atop her head with tendrils cascading past her face she was at least Janet’s age but typically acted a generation younger. Her cotton blouse was a loud pattern of cranberry and silver open low enough to reveal just a touch of the deep shadows of her bountiful cleavage accented by a small silver dab on a thin chain. Her corduroys-a perfect fit seven pounds ago-pulled slightly across her middle but he figured that was by design-she knew how well her backside presented in the pants she wore.

“Hi Handsome”, she smiled her perfect smile. Yes, definitely more makeup than Janet but artfully done from the blue eyelids to the dark red outlines on her lush lips. Her eyes positively glowed as she focused a look on him that vaporized the alley and everything around them into a dim wet haze. Mike reached numbly for her card feeling a little quiver in his chest. It wasn’t the first time she had stopped him dead with a look. He had spent a memorable late night recalling her stare and the dark-for the sake of his fantasy that night-motivations behind it. He almost began to feel the memory of that night rising in him.

He scanned the card without pulling his eyes from hers.

“Christ, Megan” Bethany said. “You’re glamouring him…Release him from your power…”

They all laughed and Mike handed the card back and she immediately returned it. He twisted his mouth into a small grin and scanned it again. “Once more….” She said.

He scanned it again. “Somebody’s been naughty tonight”, he said.

“What do you mean, ‘tonight’?” Bethany asked with a laugh, sliding through the door.

Megan patted Mike on the cheek as she passed and followed while he made a conscious decision not to watch her bottom as she walked in. Instead he looked skyward where the clouds were breaking to spill the light of a crescent moon into his alley.

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