Blame it on a momentary lapse of sanity. She certainly didn't belong in a place like this. Sitting at the bar with both hands wrapped tightly around a long island ice tea that she barely touched, Kayla regretted every stale cigarette smoke choked breath she took. When a sideways glance to her left revealed the disappearance of the friend she never should have let talk her into this she let out a long sigh and accepted the consequences. There was no one to blame but herself. It was just two hours until last call, and then she could go home and forget this night ever happened.
"You look lost."
The heat of breath on her ear and the barely perceptible press of a hand at her lower back sent a jolt through her nearly causing the loss of her drink. Heart racing, Kayla turned to identify the culprit and brush him off as quickly as possible. Blue eyes, like a shadowed sea, stopped her short.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said loudly to compete with the primal bass and electronic notes flooding the air as he took the seat her friend recently vacated.
He was nothing like her preconceived notions. Tall, dark hair, and a mischievous smile with eyes you could get lost in was a stark contrast to the type of person she was certain would populate this setting. If the bar wasn't created to cater to the sexually deviant it might have been the beginning of a night she would never forget. Then again it already was.
"Happens when you're lost." She answered. "Can I get you a drink?"
Kayla might be out of her element but she refused to walk away from any opportunity. It was possible he was in the same predicament she now found herself.
"Sure." He smiled and waved the bartender over.
"Jack, sweetheart, enjoying your night? What can I get you?"
The familiar greeting from their petite blond host, with a chest Kayla was sure to be a man-made marvel, crushed her hopes of another lost soul to keep her company for the remainder of the evening.
"Whatever you have on tap. How's your boyfriend?"
She rolled her eyes beneath smoky lashes.
"I'm far too young to be saddled with his shit." She said with a laugh and turned to Kayla. "Can I get anything else for you, luv? I think that drink might have seen better days."
"No, just his drink." Kayla answered with a half smile.
"Why, Jack, decide to do more than watch tonight and you didn't invite me? I'm hurt." She said with a practiced pout that Jessica Rabbit could not have pulled off any better.
"Man can not live on bread alone, Suzette, but I'm sure you'll find the will to live again." Her companion answered in a melodramatic overture while Kayla began vigorously shaking her head in protest.
"No...I...We..."
"Don't worry, luv." Suzette cut in. "Jack here is the self appointed babysitter for those that get drug here unwittingly." She laughed and headed to her next customer after setting a frosted mug in front of him.
"Glad I'm that obvious." Kayla said with relief more to herself.
"What?" The stranger known as Jack said as he leaned closer.
"I'm glad you noticed I didn't fit in here." She answered loud enough for him to hear.
"So your friend tricked you into coming?"
"No. I don't know what I was thinking." Kayla answered shaking her head. "Consequences of being bored I guess."
"Idle hands are the devil's playground they say. I'm Jack by the way."
"Kayla." She nearly yelled offering her right hand.
He slid his fingers round the tips of hers and lifted her hand to his lips.
"Pleasure to meet you." He said bestowing a brief kiss on the smooth skin.
Kayla blushed.
"No, really, I'm not into any of this stuff." She reiterated as she pulled her hand away.
"Of course. I'm just old fashion." He said with a grin.
"Yeah, that's what you are." Kayla laughed. "I'll probably be sorry I asked but what brings you here?"
"Like, Suzette, said, I like to watch."
"There's porn for that, you know." She cast a sideways glance at him as she sipped from her drink.
"Ah, yes, porn. It's soooo...fake." He commented in a sarcastic tone. "Would you like to move to one of the quieter booths?"
The club was sectioned by a wall. The other side drowned all but the beat of the techno and each booth offered a bit of privacy allowing the club owner to claim plausible deniability over any questionable activities.
"Umm...my friend-" Kayla started.
"Nice friend." Jack interrupted with a frown, "I could just get you a cab, and send you home to try and salvage what little of the night is left."
She had every intention of taking him up on his very generous offer, but there was nothing left to salvage of the night if she left right now.
"Just to talk, right?"
Jack stood, grabbing his drink off the counter, and leaned across her body close enough to whisper in her ear.
"What are you afraid of, Kayla?"
The spice of his scent banished the stale air of the bar. She fought to keep herself from burying her nose in his neck. He was so close that if she turned her head just slightly it would be his lips touching hers. The quickening pace of her heart was not helping either.
"It's just...I don't want you to expect anything from me." She answered holding her breath in a futile attempt to hide the fact that she was nearly panting. The effect he seemed to have on her was staggering.
Jack pulled back but there was little help there. His eyes left her just as defenseless.
"I take it you're used to people expecting things from you."
Kayla nodded, her hands still glued to her drink.
"At least one person in the world does not. I only ask that we move so we don't have to keep yelling. The cab offer still stands, or we can talk about badminton. I have a thing for shuttlecocks."
"Really." Kayla couldn't help but laugh though it did little to dull the nervous anticipation coursing through her muscles as she stood to follow him.
"Well, you may be subjected to my terrible innuendos, but I'm a guy. Comes with the territory." He led her through the maze of people and randomly placed tables to the bar's partition.
Through the door the air was still stale but there were worse possibilities. The ability to hear herself think was a welcome relief as she gazed across four rows of canopies hovering over circular booths. Shear cloth draped from the canopy to the floor of each taking up where the simple wood dividers ended. Kayla made a point not to note anything going on around any of them.
"This is really going to be more comfortable?" she asked nervously.
"Quieter anyway. The beat of the music still masks...anything else." Jack replied as scanned the area.
"Right. So, which one?"
"Here." He led her to an unoccupied corner that seemed to be separated from anyone else by several booths. Kayla did not look hard enough to verify that assumption however.
She took a seat on white pleather that smelled faintly of bleach on one side of the table while he slid in on the opposite side. The partition of the drapes gave them a shadowed view of the wall which appeared to have a mural on it but there was not enough light to pick out any colors beyond dark and light.
"Not a lot of light here." Kayla ventured into the silence.
"Well, not exactly a place where people want any light shed on what they are doing, no?"
"No, guess not. So, badminton?"
"Hmmm...don't play." He shifted to a more comfortable position. "You?"
"It's just about the shuttlecock, huh?" She teased. "What exactly do you watch around here?"
"Ha ha, funny. But, just so we are straight, shuttlecock is the only cock I go for." Jack answered in a mock-sober tone.
Kayla could feel the heat pooling across her cheek bones. This wasn't exactly the way she should be leading this conversation here. Now. Then again how many 'what if's' would she be left with if she stubbornly maintained a straight and narrow course. Maybe, this time, she should just go with it.
"Right, of course. Should I take notes?" She laughed
"You blush easily."
"I know, it's a curse." Kayla couldn't resist the urge to duck her head in her embarrassment.
