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Authors: Perri Forrest

Rapture (7 page)

BOOK: Rapture
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Once I pulled the door towards me to enter, I waved Gigi off, and she drove from the parking lot. Immediately inside, a tall, blonde-haired, green-eyed guy approached me, with a big smile on his face.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“I’m here to see Rush,” I offered. “I know he’s running a little late.”

“Oh, okay. I’m Bart,” he said, extending his hand to me.

“It’s nice to meet you Bart. I’m Alika. A…uhh…friend of Rush’s.”

“Ohhh, okay,” he expressed, looking me up and down. “Pretty girl,” he smiled.

“Thank you,” I said to him, simultaneously gasping at the sight of everything. Great care had been taken in putting Chaos together. Looking around, I knew immediately that it was a sports bar. But it was more than that. It was a man’s cave of luxury. The place was amazing. I hadn’t even seen anything as plush in Vegas, and Vegas had a lot of luxury to lure in the big spenders. I had just never experienced any of the glitz. I couldn’t afford it for one, and for two, I spent most of my time at The Cosmopolitan working.

“You like?” Bart asked.

I had forgotten that he was even standing there for a minute while I gazed around in amazement. “Psshh!” I exclaimed. “I more than like it. It’s beautiful.”

And it was too. First of all, the ceilings were much higher than they looked from outside, giving it an airy feel. There were bright pendant ceiling lights hanging directly over the u-shaped mahogany bar—for the entire length—which looked to be at least 18’ long, and several feet wide. Lining the bar, all the way down, were red leather, high-backed barstools that stood at least 36” high. The TV for the area was mounted right above the selection of mouth-watering full bar items sitting pretty in a glass shelved cabinet. Along the walls sat booths for dining. Each booth had built-in square-shaped shelves that held different pieces of sports memorabilia: shoes, trophies, plaques, etc. Then my eyes fell upon a sight; a very attractive sight. Right near where I stood in a cabinet filled with glass frames sat at least five framed pictures of none other than Rush…in baseball uniform!
My, oh my. He is fitting that thing
! So, he’s an athlete, I thought to myself. It certainly explains the sports bar. It’s a part of who he is. And the mansion, with the guest houses…! Yeah, I got it in that moment.
Wow.

I finally pulled my eyes away from the glass case and we continued on. As we walked through to an open space, I saw square footage on top of square footage that housed several pool tables, and big screen televisions. Off to the side of the last row of tables was a small room that sat behind tinted glass.

“That’s a small lounge back there,” Bart offered, when he saw my eyes scanning. “It fits eight. Usually a couple or two will go in there to talk and have private time away from all the noise.”

“That was well-thought out,” I complimented. “It’s stunning in here. I’m impressed.”

“I guess I can thank you on Rush’s behalf,” Bart playfully commented.

“I can only imagine what the other side looks like. He’s got a prime piece of commercial real estate here.”

“That’s what I told him when we jumped on the opportunity. It was for sure, a great investment.”

After I finished taking in as much as I could from where I was standing, I hunched my shoulders and put my hands into the back pockets of my jeans, then swayed back and forth on the balls of my feet. “So, you probably don’t know the answer to this, but what am I doing here?”

Suddenly, I heard Rush’s voice behind me. “I can answer that.”

I turned towards him, and although I knew it hadn’t, it felt like my breathing had stopped and was sitting in my chest. It was like I was seeing him for the first time, even though it had only been some hours.
This man is so damn fine
. He was casually dressed in a black tee, jeans, a leather jacket, and was wearing what looked like motorcycle boots. I scanned head to toe, once again taking in all that was him, and secretly enjoying the sight. The dark features got me. Brooding, chiseled, mysterious almost. I hated like hell that somewhere between him seeing me crouched behind his driver’s seat, and right now, I had grown this crush! I wanted to fight the attraction so badly. I wanted to believe that they were only feelings that had formed because he had come to my rescue, but as I looked at him, I knew it was much more than that. He was beautiful—if it’s even PC to call a man that. I mean, on the inside, and especially out, the man was everything. But I had already resolved to try my best to keep my budding feelings in check, because for sure there was a woman of the manor some damn where! Had to be! And even if there weren’t and he was as single as a dollar bill, he probably didn’t take me too seriously at this point. It was highly likely that he already viewed me as a desperado looking for a man; and although I was far from that, anybody on the outside looking in would be well within their rights to latch on to that perception.

“You don’t need to tell the beautiful lady
all
my business, man!” Rush joked, as he flashed a smile in my direction. “You clean up very nicely, Alika,” he complimented…almost like flirting…
almost
.
Or am I just hoping that he is
?

“Thank you, Rush,” I responded bashfully, lowering my eyes away from his.

~
6
~

Rush

 

 

“So!” I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. “Bart’s been giving you the grand tour of the place?”

Alika nodded alongside Bart’s response. “Something like that,” he answered. “You can take over from here; I need to jet for a bit. It was nice meeting you, Alika. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you.”

“It was nice meeting you also, Bart. Thanks for keeping me company,” she responded.

“Alright Bart, I’ll check you later. You coming tonight?” I asked him.

“Of course. It’s Thursday. When have I missed a Thursday?” he laughed, as he exited the front door.

I turned to Alika, and found that she had made her way to one of the booth seats, so I went and slid into the seat across from her.

“I’m sure you wanna know why you’re here, right?”

“Right. That’d be nice,” she replied, exposing both dimples.

“Oh, a little sarcasm, huh?” I teased. “I like that on you. I knew it was in there. I could tell.”

“Really…? And how’s that?”

“I could just tell. Sarcasm isn’t the only thing you’re hiding in there; I can see there’s fire in there too. Let it all hang out,” I told her.

“Ha ha…I’ll do that. Thanks for the permission.

“See! That right there!”


Whaaat
? she expressed, innocently, before starting to chuckle. “Okay, you caught me. I’m a bit of a smart ass. I’ll own it.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I proclaimed, raising my hand for a high-five invitation, which she accepted with one of her own. “So, now that we’ve crossed that road, let me begin by saying that I jumped the gun a bit. The shopping—”

“No!” she exclaimed, reaching her hand across to touch mine. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done/are doing for me, Rush. I really do.”

“So, you didn’t think I was being too presumptuous?”

“Absolutely not,” she replied, pulling her hand back. “I think you were looking out for me, and I can’t even tell you how thankful I am.”

“That’s exactly what I was doing.
Although
, I should’ve asked you if you planned on staying before inviting you down here for what I invited you for.”

She rubbed her hands together atop the table, and then interlocked her fingers. “I can’t lie. I
do
like it here. It’s all weird and I still find myself looking at the irony of it all, but however it came to be, it was meant because I would never have come otherwise. And now that I have, I
do
want to see what it has to offer. But I can’t continue to impose upon you, so—”

“It’s not an imposition. This is the last time I’ll say it, okay? Hopefully, if I tell you that, you’ll remove it from your vocabulary altogether. You’re welcome to stay as long as you need to,” I offered. I could see the look of surprise on her face. Had I gotten a dirty background check on her, the offer wouldn’t have taken place. I would have happily paid for her trip back to wherever. But, since she was open to a new start, I wanted to give that to her.

“Really?” she cried out. She choked up with emotion that I could see she was trying her hardest to contain.

“Really. You’ve been through a lot, and from what you told me, it doesn’t seem like you necessarily need to return to Vegas. Why return to a place that you were ready to leave? You were ready for change. So, if you want this, I’m more than happy to help. We can call it weird, we can call it crazy, but hey, I agree that it was meant. Maybe you had to go through the bullshit to come out better…stronger.”

Her voice was a low whisper when she replied. “I—I…don’t know what to say, Rush. I swear nobody has ever done anything like this for me before. And for you to share your beautiful home with me—a total stranger…wow. I don’t even know how I’ll ever be able to repay you,” she said, looking around. “But I do have experience working in clubs—”

“I know. And
that’s
why you’re here.”

“What do you mean,
you know
?”

I cocked my head to the side slightly, and winked in her direction. “How do you think?”

She shrugged her shoulders slowly, as she tried to find an answer to the question. “I’m…not…sure,” she said, slowly.

“Alika Collins/November 1, 1987/Last known employer: The Cosmopolitan/Last known address—”

“I get it,” she finally spoke up. “You did a background check on me,” she nodded.

“I did. I won’t be the one to lie to you about anything.”

“I understand why you did what you did. But for the record, anything that you wanted to know about me, I would have freely told you. And still will. I mean, I think we kinda share something now. I might not be sitting here feeling as good and as whole as I feel right now, had you not been in the right place at the right time. I
needed
to fall asleep in the back of your car!” she laughed, making light of the situation. “I owe you, Rush, and I plan to honor that. So, I’m sure you have all the information you need, but if there’s anything else…please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Trust me, I will. And you don’t owe me. You owe it to yourself to make the best of the opportunity. I like you, and I think you’re good people.”

“So are you,” she said, smiling, and sitting more erect than before and with way more confidence. It was as though her spirits had lifted. Her true self was emerging since she had entered a safe space where she knew everything would be okay. “And can I just tell you that I am not a stupid girl. I’m not naïve. I’m not gullible. I’m none of those things. I know it seems that way, but I’m not. I made a stupid mistake, but I’m pretty smart. You’ll see.”

“I don’t doubt that, Alika. And I don’t think negatively about you in that situation at all. I mean, I know I had my comments about the whole meeting people on the internet and all that. I stand by that.
But
, I don’t see you as stupid because a stupid person would have stories to tell of how they’d done it before—a few times, yet still hadn’t learned from it. Your situation, based on what you told me, greatly contrasts. You wanted to try something different, and you took a leap of faith that turned sour, but I don’t see you being right back at it again. I just don’t.”

“You got that right!”

I stood up from the booth, and she looked up at me, her eyes smiling. “So, Alika…welcome to California. Welcome to my life. Welcome to my world. You’re part of the family now. Would you like a tour of the rest of what Chaos has to offer?”

“Sure!” she squealed, excitedly.

“Okay. First, let me lock the door since we’ll be roaming and nobody’s up front here.”

 

 

After I locked the door, we took off through the other end of the club, and down the wide hallway, and just past my office. Alika paused in her steps. “What’s this door right here?” she asked, tapping a spot on the door with her fingertips. “I know I’m being nosy, but this place has me intrigued.”

“You’re not being nosy. You can ask me anything you want. And in answer to your question, that’s just a little place that I had built when I first bought the property. The idea was to have a home away from home on the nights I was too tired to go home. We’ll double back. I promise to show you every square inch of the place.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling her beautiful smile at me. The more I looked at her, and the more I got to know her, the more I knew that everything that piece of shit Curtis got handed to him, he deserved.
Everything he got handed to him
. Anybody who would try to diminish the light that Alika had inside of her, or remove the smile that emitted from her eyes, needed to be dealt with—harshly. And that was what he got. He’d brought it all on himself.

A few yards away from the door that Alika had asked about were eight stairs to climb. Immediately up those stairs was a tunnel that led to the side entrance for Temptation, the club that would be opened to the public, in eight days. From inside the tunnel, you could see out, but those on the outside couldn’t see in. I specifically asked for it to be built that way for intrigue, excitement and privacy.

Before heading inside, I asked her: “Are you ready?”

“Am I!” she excitedly responded.

We headed through the double doors, and as always, pride hit me like a bolt of lightning. I turned to look at Alika, and her eyes were already darting from one end of the space to another.

“I knew from outside this would be
huge
, but I had no idea,” she gasped. “What’s upstairs?”

“There’s two sides, hence the curved double staircase. You can enter the DJ’s booth from one side and VIP from the other. I wanted VIP separate from the rest of the club, and thought the upper level could be best used for that.”


Woww
, Rush. This is awesome. I would never in a million years have come up with a layout like this.” She turned to me, and nodded her approval. “You’re a visionary. That’s sex—” she started, before catching herself. “I admire that.”

“You can tell me it’s sexy, Alika. You didn’t have to stop yourself.”

“Umm…” she stumbled. I knew I had embarrassed her by the way she struggled with getting her sentence out, so I threw her a lifeline.

“But thank you for the compliment. I appreciate that. You’re the first to see it, you know? It doesn’t officially open until next weekend.”

“What about Gigi? Bart?”

“Neither of them has seen it yet. And for now, I’m the only one with the key to keep them from sneaking in her when I’m not around.”


Sneaky
,” she commented, smiling.

“I know, right?”

“Well, I’m honored that I’m the first. I won’t say a word about what I’ve seen,” she stated, playfully taking an imaginary zipper across her lips.

“Cool, a confidante. I like that.”

She smiled at me again, and our eyes lingered for a few long seconds before she broke the stare. “I’m sure your crowd won’t be disappointed. I see that red is the overall theme for both clubs. Nice.”

“Yeah,” I stated, impressed with her attention to detail. “Red is a statement color. Says something is hot, spicy, intriguing, all those things.”


Ohhh
,” she mumbled. “
O
…kay,” she sighed. “That, uhhh, makes sense.”

I had to admit I was enjoying playing with her. Her reactions were hilarious. She was holding back, but my guess was that she’d soon come around, even if it was just to let me know that she found me attractive.

“Great catch though on the red, Alika! I threw a lot of silver, black, and midnight blue in over here though.”

“I noticed. Midnight blue is also at the big house,” she acknowledged. “It’s inviting. I love that everything has its own style. The bar, the eating area, the privacy lounge, pretty much everything…” she said, looking around, “…has its own feel. I think that’s awesome. I love that the DJ booth is up so high, and that your VIP section opens up to a balcony.” 

“Yep!” I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. “That’s pretty much it for now. We can head back through the tunnel.”

“Okay. Ready when you are.”

 

When we arrived at the closed door that Alika had inquired about, I could see her looking at me out the corner of my eye, as I inserted a small key. I couldn’t tell if it was concern or anxiety in her eye, but I assured her: “You can trust me.” I stepped inside before her, turned on the light that was just inside the door, and then reached out for her hand. After a brief moment of reluctance, she placed her palm inside mine. “Careful with your steps,” I instructed, as I led her down the stairs.

Once we reached the bottom, Alika slowly withdrew from our grasp. “This was for shock factor, right?” she inquired, not establishing eye contact, but rather focusing on the layout of the place.

I feigned innocence. “Why’d you say that?”

“Stop it!” she admonished. “I mean, look at this place,” she remarked, stepping out ahead of me and further into the room. “You don’t even have to go home if you don’t want to! You’ve got everything you need right here.”

“That was the idea. I work a lot of late nights and sometimes I just wanna crash at the end of it all.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, as she continued on her self-guided tour. “You’ve got your kitchen over there. You’ve got an entire damn living room! I’m guessing through that door over there, is a restroom…?”

“It is,” I confirmed.

“Is this the full length of Chaos?”

“It is.”

She motioned towards an area that was around an elongated divider. “So then there’s more around there…?”

I chuckled at her child-like curiosity. “Go ahead, take a look around. Nothing’s gonna jump out at you. I promise.”

Not unless you want it to
.
I have something that’s damn near dying to jump out at you and have you touch it
.

I observed the soft sway of her hips as she walked around curiously. I loved the curve of her ass, and how the jeans seemed to be clinging to her thighs for dear life. Her waist was small, and her breasts supple. Her figure, as a whole, was amazing. I enjoyed the view as she moved about, but the closer she got to the area on the other side of the wall, my anticipation built. I silently wondered how she would feel when she spotted my California King. I allowed a thin smile to form on my lips, and waited for her response. After she got a glimpse, Alika quickly absconded from the bedroom area.

BOOK: Rapture
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