The House of Robles

Chapter 20

Blackmailed!

Impatiently, Pablo Robles leaned back against the burgundy upholstery of the bench he'd taken a seat on, crossing his thick arms over his chest. The impatient man stationed himself along the rear wall of the dimly lit strip joint, because such a place was the last kind of venue he wanted to be seen in. This wasn't due to the bass-saturated and too loud music, or because he felt out of place among the rowdy sailors up front. It didn't have anything to do with the leery, obvious perverts in the darker back corners, either. No, the reason that Pablo didn't want to be seen there was because this particular club employed the twenty-one year old phenom known as 'Mercedes.' The popular stripper just happened to be his daughter Melinda.

Pablo had just sat down, and already he felt like abandoning the club. The reason he didn't walk out right away was because Melinda had gone and convinced his wife Lorena to badger and bitch at him the previous evening. Reluctantly, Pablo had agreed to pick up his daughter after work and drive her home.

Melinda's car, he learned, was in the shop again. Oh, Pablo had tried many times to instruct his daughter in the basics of how to keep a car running, such as checking the motor oil and the brake fluid reservoirs. All of that had pretty much gone in one ear and come out the other. About the only thing Melinda could accomplish without a mechanic's help was to pull up next to a gas pump and shove the nozzle into her tank.

The thought of Melinda's car being in the shop drew her father's ire like a tempest. This was the precise reason that his daughter had made up the lie that Pablo was cheating on his wife, because Melinda had been trying to indirectly extort money from him. That cash, he'd recently discovered, was already being mentally set aside as a down payment for whatever new vehicle Melinda was planning on purchasing next. Understandably, Pablo was fuming over this, as his daughter's pathetic scheme had quickly and successfully unraveled well over twenty years of stable marriage.

So caught up was the forty-four year old in his turmoil, that he barely noticed the arrival of a bored and listless waitress at the head of the booth he was sitting in. "What would you like to drink tonight?"

Pablo frowned, as he'd gone through a similar situation earlier with the husky doorman. Apparently, Melinda hadn't thought it reasonable to tell anyone that her father was coming by to pick her up after work, and that he wasn't there to ogle the girls on the stage like everyone else. Before he could commence his explanation all over again, a new voice cut in like a knife.

"Hit the road, bitch. He's with me!"

Both Pablo and the server turned to observe the speaker, but only Pablo's face registered admiration. The waitress rolled her eyes in irritation.

"I said make tracks, bitch!" The woman, a short, petite, and very pretty Asian girl, brushed past the server and came to take a seat directly beside him.

As the waitress trudged off, Pablo more closely scrutinized his new companion. She had long, dark brown hair that swept down to the small of her back. It looked as soft and silky as that of any model he'd seen in hair-care commercials. The woman's face was fairly flat, and her nose small, but the attractiveness of her remaining features smoothed over these minor deficiencies. Her eyes were large and sharp. Right away Pablo began to wonder if the little lady was as cold and calculating as his daughter. The Asian girl's cheeks were broad, her lips full, and her chin tiny. The totality of her beauty did not subscribe to the traditional softer and gentler Western standards. Instead, she looked to be fierce and valiant, the kind of woman who did not mince words, and who would keep a tight leash on any man she was intimate with.

She would be a lot like his wife and daughter, Pablo assumed, as he took in the rest of her. Most of the girl's frame was slender, save for the pronounced curvature of her chest and hips. Her breasts were like ripe little apples. Their contours were clearly visible behind the many folds of her showy, gold-sheen blouse. Her belt was a tiny white strap across her narrow waist. Contrary to the newer look of her blouse, the woman's jeans were extra faded and displayed trendy worn patches. They were tight though, enough to accentuate the swells of her butt and thighs. Golden earrings, a necklace, several bracelets, and long red fingernails made up her shiny accessories.

The young woman appraised Pablo in much the same way he appraised her. She gave the older man a look that was probably meant to intimidate him, but in effect did quite the opposite. Pablo had always been a sucker for strong, independent and sometimes even dangerous women.

"So, you're Melinda's father." She said. "I can see the resemblance."

Coolly, Pablo replied. "Who are you?"

"You can call me by my stage name; Kitty. I don't like telling people my real name."

"Why not?"

"I never liked it."

Pablo studied the alluring little siren for a moment. "I didn't think Melinda had any female friends."

"We're not so much friends as we are associates." Kitty elaborated. "We do porn movies together."

Pablo's face soured. Here he was, thinking that Melinda's stripping was bad enough, and now he was being told that she was into something worse.

"You shouldn't have brought it up, if you didn't want to know the truth." Kitty said, noting the change in his demeanor. "Besides, it's not as bad as it sounds. We only do it with our boyfriends, or with each other."

This last revelation caught Pablo by surprise. Never in a million years had he figured Melinda for being bisexual. She always seemed to be having too much fun needling men and leading them around by their balls. Still, he found it rather distasteful that Melinda was into doing porn of any kind.

"You know what I can do?" Kitty recaptured his attention. "I can make your dick hard just by thinking about it."

"Bullshit."

"I'm thinking about it now."

Not even five seconds had passed, before he felt his cock thickening and stretching out within his pants.

"Okay, so how are you doing that?" He asked, with a disbelieving grin.

"It's easy." Kitty replied. "I think about it, and I tell a guy I'm thinking about it, and it happens. I know all kinds of tricks to get a guy going."

Before Pablo could question the stripper any further, Kitty looked past him. He noticed the sudden grimace on her face, prompting him to turn in the same direction.

A tall, burly bouncer in a tight black shirt sauntered over before their booth. To Pablo, he sneered, "You be sure you keep your hands off the girls."

"Mike, you need to crawl back into your cage." Kitty waved him away. "I'm not even on the clock right now."

"Then you shouldn't be here." The bouncer crossed his large arms. "You should be on your way home."

Kitty snapped back "How about this? I should be doing whatever the fuck I want to, since I'm off the clock. In fact, I think I want to sit on my boyfriend's lap right now." She sidled over until she was sitting on Pablo's thighs, before leaning back against the man's sturdy chest. "I also think I want my boyfriend to feel my tits."

Without further provocation, Kitty clasped both of Pablo's hands. She stuffed them into the sides of her open blouse until each hand rested on one of her loose breasts. To the bouncer's growing contempt, Kitty began rubbing and groping herself with Pablo's big hands.

The bouncer uncrossed his arms and set them to either side of his hips.

"If you don't get the fuck out of my face, I may just decide to suck my boyfriend's dick." Kitty menaced. "And then we'll have a freaky-deaky sideshow goin' on, all thanks to you. Then we can have asshole Bob come out here, and you can explain to him how this all got started. Is that what you want, you nine dollar an hour motherfucker?"

Finally, angrily, the bouncer trudged away.

Kitty withdrew her hands from underneath her blouse. Pablo's fingers were still on her tits, so he made to follow suit.

"I didn't tell you to stop." The Asian vixen stated, as she leaned her head back onto Pablo's shoulder.

Pablo's fingers slipped back over the firm, rounded, and decidedly delicious mounds of flesh. Or maybe they were mostly made of silicone. It didn't make a heck of a lot of difference as long as he had his hands on them.

"So that's an ex-boyfriend of yours?" He asked.

Kitty huffed. "He wishes! Of all the guys that could be stalking me, I had to get an asshole like Mike. And you know what makes things even worse? He's not even after my ass. He's after my cash flow! Mike's been acting like he owns me, ever since he found out how much money I make."

Pablo kept kneading at her succulent peaches.

"Aren't you going to ask me how much money I make?" Kitty asked.

"No."

"Every guy I know is all up in my business about that!"

"If I was you, I'd start looking for new people to hang out with." Pablo advised.

"I make over sixty gees a year." She tested him.

"If you're anything like my daughter, you probably spend twice that much."

Kitty seemed to be pondering this for the next few minutes, before she came back with, "You're not getting anything from me, past what you're doing now. Some guys say that I'm a cock-tease, but I don't open my legs for just anybody."

"I'm happy with what I'm getting now. I had a young woman tell me not too long ago, that I should just go with the flow and let things happen at their own pace. If two people are enjoying what they're doing, then it's all good, right? If they're not enjoying themselves, then they should go in different directions and that's all she wrote."

"Most guys are in a big hurry to get into my pants, even older guys like you."

"Are you enjoying what I'm doing to you?" Pablo asked. "Because I am. I'd be happy to do this all night long and not to get anywhere near your pants. Now, since you don't know me from Adam, and you're letting me feel you up like this and already telling people that I'm your boyfriend, I'm wondering if you're showing off for somebody."

"I'm doing this for the haters." Kitty replied, before she pointed up at the stage. "All the bitches that work here are haters, except for maybe one or two. I want them to see you feel me up, so they can all talk about it and get jealous."

"Why are they haters?"

"Because they don't make as much money as I do. I'm not the prettiest girl here, and neither is Melinda, but we work hard at our shit. We earn every dollar we get. All these other bitches expect these dumb marks to just throw their money at them, but these marks aren't that dumb. They'll pay, but only when there's something worth paying for. You can stop touching my tits now. I'm sure you've done enough for the haters watching us to keep their mouths flapping around for like the next two weeks."

Pablo pulled his hands out of the stripper's blouse. He expected her to slide away from him, but no, she kept her spot on his lap. In the end, he wrapped his arms around Kitty's waist and simply held her. She seemed comfortable with the embrace.

"Any idea where my daughter is?" Pablo asked.

"She's wanting to take a week off, so she's negotiating with some of the other girls over who's going to cover her days. It's not that easy, because like I said, there are a lot of haters here."

"Why does she want a week off?"

"Who knows? She probably wants to go out to Vegas again, and blow a huge wad of money like she did the last time. That's not all of it, though. She hired a dance instructor to choreograph some routines with her. Do you remember that Flashdance movie from back in the eighties? You're old enough to remember that movie, I'm sure. Well, Melinda wants to do that whole dance sequence right here on the stage, with a full striptease as part of the performance. Do you get that? She wants to do the same exact routine, down to the last move, and she wants to make it even better. That's what I mean about going the extra mile. Melinda does it, I do it, and all of these other bitches hate us for it."

Pablo let the words sink into his head. He'd always seen Melinda as a deceiver, a manipulator and a seductress. Even if she was reenacting this whole Flashdance scenario for only monetary gain, she was still doing something artistic and ambitious. This was a side of her that he never thought existed.

A great round of whooping and hollering interrupted his thoughts. Pablo's first instinct was to turn his eyes toward the main stage. All he saw there was a listless blonde delivering a lackluster performance.

Scanning the inside of the club further, he spotted his daughter making her way past the darkened cocktail tables and stools. Admittedly, Melinda looked remarkable in a classy dark blue blouse that was similar to Kitty's, and a crisp pair of tight designer jeans. She also wore her share of gold jewelry. The contrast of the gold against the rich bronze tan of her skin gave the young lady the appearance of a modernized Aztec princess. Her plumage was her hair; it cascaded down the sides of her head and pooled along her shoulders, like a soft waterfall of buoyant black curls.

The club's patrons weren't cheering at the stripper onstage, Pablo realized. They were cheering for Melinda, who was merely walking by on her way out. True to form, his daughter wasn't even acknowledging the attention, but had her head raised up in a slight and haughty way.

"She's a hot bitch, isn't she?" Kitty asked, finally relinquishing her spot on Pablo's lap and dragging the swarthy man up behind her. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Am I giving you a ride home, too?" Pablo wondered.

Kitty gave him a perplexed expression. "Is that why you think you're here?"

This is when Pablo figured out his daughter was up to something. It was just like Melinda to tell different people conflicting stories in order to get what she was after. She'd been doing that same thing for years.

Before Pablo could ask Kitty what was really going on, the Asian bombshell had whisked him past an irate bouncer and a bemused doorman. In short time, they were standing outside the club and away from its dingy atmosphere. The slowly circulating night air was there to coolly greet them. Pablo was mildly surprised when he saw Melinda lighting up a cigarette, as he didn't even know she smoked.

"Where did you park the truck?" Melinda asked her father.

"Way in the back, to make sure nobody puts any new dings on the door."

The biting remark was aimed directly at his daughter, as she'd produced a couple of unexplained dents the last time she'd borrowed it.

"I don't feel like walking all the way across the lot." Melinda replied, her tone and posture exactly the same as her mother's. "We'll wait for you here."

The last time Melinda had tried to get away with something, Pablo recalled, had taken place back at the house. That had been a couple of months ago, when she'd tried to take off in his truck and they'd both ended up in some very compromising positions in the backyard. Melinda hadn't spoken to him ever since then. Just the fact that she'd talked her mother into forcing Pablo to give her a ride home was enough to rouse up his suspicion. Everything since the request was made added more fuel to that fire of uncertainty.

Better to get this ride over with as soon as possible, Pablo decided. He started into the parking lot in a brisk walk, but only a few yards in this evolved into a steady trot. As soon as possible, he emphasized, he had to get this done and get out of Melinda's hair.

A couple of minutes later, Pablo pulled up to the front of the club. Judging from the way the stances of the two women shifted, and from the way their conversation suddenly halted, the wary driver became convinced they were both conspiring against him.

Kitty sat in the middle, Melinda on the passenger side, and immediately the Asian looker started toying with his radio. As the truck rolled out into the street, Kitty settled on a rock station, which Pablo could tolerate much better than hip-hop. The Asian girl set the volume high enough that conversation would have to be extra loud. This kept Pablo from asking any questions. He was positive Kitty had done it deliberately.

About fifteen minutes later, Pablo pulled into the apartment complex in East San Diego. The place was just off El Cajon Boulevard and consisted of a tiny parking lot, and two double-story buildings that faced each other and put together numbered at about twenty apartments. Centered between the buildings was a decent size swimming pool.

As Pablo's truck rolled into the center of the parking area, he merely set the vehicle into park and left it in idle. Get it over with quickly, he thought to himself, watching as Melinda opened her door and exited.

Pablo kept his hands on the steering wheel as he waited for Kitty to slide out. He stared at the dark contours of the other parked vehicles, and the fencing that corralled them in, all illuminated by a weak lamppost set up in a corner of the lot.

Inexplicably, Pablo felt his dick getting hard. He glanced down first into his crotch, as if he was going to ask it what was going on. Second, he looked over to Kitty, who was clearly seen because the interior lights were on, thanks to the door being open.

The Asian beauty gave him a sly grin. "Guess what I'm thinking of?"

"You know, I've got to get up early tomorrow, and I've already stayed out way past my bedtime." Pablo took in a deep breath, and exhaled just as slowly. "I should get going."

"Who's going to play with my tits then?" Kitty asked. "I really liked what you were doing to me back at the club. You said you could do that all night long, didn't you? Well, we're not at the club anymore and I can return the favor here. All night long."

Pablo's grip tightened around the steering wheel. The last thing he wanted to do was to get out of his truck. Beside him, Kitty somehow avoided getting tangled up in all of her jewelry, as she pulled her blouse up and over her head. In a couple of moments, she was sitting next to him topless. Pablo felt his temperature start to rise as he took in her breathtaking upper half. The Asian quietly slid toward the door and made her way out. He watched her go, finding even her bare back sensuous and beautiful.

"Melinda said it's cool if I mess around with you at her place." Kitty said, offhandedly. "And I've never, ever been turned down by a guy, so you don't want to be the first one, do you?"

Kitty sexily sauntered around the truck and toward the apartment's security gate, brazenly showing off her upper body to the entire night. Melinda had already gone through the security door, Pablo noticed. He watched as Kitty unlocked it a second time with her own key and held it open. The stripper turned back to wait for him.

Pablo frowned. He could have had an infatuation with nice girls. Girls who went to churches and libraries, who would greet their husbands with nice smiles and warm hugs whenever they got home from work. But no, he had to have an inclination toward their polar opposites, women with talons who snapped at their men, who were resolute and stubborn and daring. Women who most men would shy away from, because they were like little rattlesnakes moving about. That was his preferred type: women who used every means at their disposal to try and get their way, every single time.

Kitty was a dangerous woman, Pablo knew, just like his wife Lorena and his daughter Melinda. And Pablo, to his growing detriment, was a man who happened to enjoy the company of dangerous women. In what some might call resignation, while others would call it getting horny, Pablo shifted his truck into drive. Because he knew where it was, he pulled into Melinda's empty parking spot. With his mind full of conflict, he locked up and made his way to the gate where Kitty was still waiting.