The Black & The White (21 page)

I looked over at Andrew. Open-minded,
I thought. I knew I had to go.

Our group had dwindled down to six
people – Carin, Andrew, Stephen, Anson, his girlfriend Yasmine and
myself.

In the pink limo that Stephen had
ordered at the casino, I noticed how Andrew had been rubbing
Carin’s inner thighs. As we left the limo, I watched as Carin
reached for Andrew’s forearm, and together they made their way to
the barricade of brawny bouncers, who were much heftier and more
intimidating than the bouncers in New York City clubs. Like
ducklings, we trailed Stephen in a singular line.

I walked past the fake-breasted ladies
who had finished their shift and were loitering in front of the
red-roped entrance. The seediness of the establishment piqued my
curiosity. I quickly broke from the crowd and found my way into the
restroom. The entrance immediately wafted of strong perfume. It was
worst inside. I sneezed a few times. Mostly naked women roamed the
room. All were wearing an inordinate amount of makeup. In the
corner, a girl with a blow-dryer and a straightening iron asked,
“What the fuck time is it? Does anyone know?”

“
Bitch, you have like
forty-five minutes,” a black girl, only in sequined panties,
answered.

I wondered if I were in the right
room. I asked the bathroom assistant. She said I was. The ladies
room doubled as the stripper changing room.

Before leaving, I washed my hands
trying to not observe the girls in the mirror that paraded the
toilet with nothing on. They all had trim bodies, which I
attributed as a job requirement.

When I left the ladies room for the
main floor, I recognized some of the strippers.

I scanned the dimly lit room and found
Carin staring at a girl doing a pole dance near the end of the
stage.

“
Check out that body,” she
said as I approached her. “Holy shit! I’m going to have to get me a
pair of those boobs. They’re hot!”

Stephen suddenly appeared out of
nowhere, grabbed my arm from behind, and escorted Carin and me to a
back room. At the door, another beefy bouncer handed me a plastic
bracelet to wear. A diminutive girl dressed as a Playboy bunny
grabbed my hand. She must have seen the uncomfortable look on my
face. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” she said with a warm
smile.

Carin looked at me and winked.
Uncomfortable with the bunny holding my hand, I released her grip
and walked around to Carin.

There were far fewer people in the
back room and a much higher stripper-to-customer ratio. The room
was even darker than the main hall. The music was also different.
Several men sat near the bar, but most were seated in their own
section of couches, with tables, mirrors, and dancers.

“
You look like a deer in the
headlights,” Carin said. “I thought you said you weren’t nervous
anymore.”

“
I’m not,” I said, defending
myself. “Alright, fine. Give me a break. This is my first time,” I
said.

Carin threw her arm around my
shoulders and escorted me behind the waitress.

“
You’re cute, Isabelle. You
need to drink a lot more than you are. We’ll do two shots of vodka
and you’ll be fine.”

The tables were adorned with bottles
of champagne and vodka, along with orange and cranberry juice
mixers. Carin poured vodka into five shot glasses. “Drink these.
Tonight, I want to see the wild Isabelle. Woo-hoo!” Carin yelped as
she handed me two full shot glasses.

We all toasted and drank.

“
To being the cuckold he
will be tonight!” Carin proclaimed in reference to her
boyfriend.

We raised our glasses and downed the
first drink. Fire rushed down my throat. By the time it warmed my
stomach, I became slightly nauseous. I looked over at Stephen. Both
he and Anson looked at me and smiled. I wondered if they were
talking about me.

Carin handed me a third shot glass
full of vodka. “To getting laid tonight!” Carin toasted. We poured
the second shot of vodka down our throats.

“
Yeah, Carin, get her
drunk,” Stephen said. “We’re going to have some fun,
Isabelle.”

Several strippers strutted their way
over to our section of the club, maneuvering their bodies
seductively. I looked over at Carin, but she and Andrew were
engaged in conversation. Stephen patted the bucket chair next to
him. “Here, sit next to me.”

A bleached blonde approached us just
then, but he brushed her off. I looked at him, wondering why he had
done that. He then leaned over and beckoned a thin Thai-looking
girl to come sit next to me.

“
Wait! Stephen! No! Nope! I
don’t want one,” I said adamantly.

He then waved his hand indicating
no.

“
Why not? It’s no big deal.
They’re not allowed to do anything to you apart from sit on you and
stuff.”

I looked at Stephen curiously. He
seemed genuine and protective.

“
I wouldn’t do anything if
it was going to hurt you, Isabelle. It’s Vegas. Try it just
because. It’s really harmless. I promise you. If you don’t like it,
I’ll take you home immediately.”

I looked at him again. His sincerity
convinced to me try a lap dance.

“
You sure?” he
asked.

I nodded, and he beckoned the same
Asian girl to come and entertain me.

She sat on the arm of the chair and
stroked my hair.

“
Is your first time here?”
she asked. Her accent was forcibly British with a Thai undertone. I
nodded, unable to speak.

“
Yeah, don’t worry. I be
nice girl. We just talk. Sometime easier to talk with girl than
guy. They sweeter,” she said in her broken English.

I looked over to my right and saw
Stephen smiling. This wasn’t as bad as I had imagined.

Are you okay? Stephen mouthed. I
nodded yes.

Stephen found my right arm dangling to
the right side of the chair and began to rub it. He then placed my
arm back on the chair.

“
It’s okay. Relax,
Isabelle.”

He’s right, I thought. It’s not a big
deal. It’s just a girl.

I was getting more and more
comfortable talking with her as she rubbed my arms gently up and
down, twirling my hair between her fingers.

“
Don’t worry, we just talk,
okay?”

Talk? I can do that, I
thought.

In the corner of the bar, I could
barely make out the figures of our group. As my eyes adjusted, I
looked over at Carin and watched as a bleached blonde sat on her
lap and began to neck with her. I could hear both laughing and
giggling. Carin’s hand was on the stripper’s nearly bare ass and
the other hand under the girl’s hair.

The Thai girl rubbed my hand and
slowly began tracing the outline of my body with her index finger.
“I am just playing. I will not hurt you. You’re sexy. Suwai in
Thailand. Means pretty. You very pretty.”

The girl slowly began touching my face
with her fingers and then held my face with the palm of her hand.
She then buried her head into the nape of my neck. I felt my heart
beat faster through my shirt. What is going on? I
thought.

I fantasized kissing this girl
momentarily as she had her face buried in my neck, her warm breath
on my ear, the soft, butter-like tips of her fingers touching my
cheek. Then, as she touched me some more, I thought of kissing her
again. I wondered what I would have done if no one was there. I
turned my head to indicate that I was no longer comfortable with
that much intimacy. She seemed to understand and placed her head on
my shoulder and began talking to me again.

I looked in Carin’s direction and saw
her straddling Andrew. I looked away—my boss and my friend seemed
like a disastrous combination. Anyone but my boss, Carin! I wanted
to say.

I had lost respect for Andrew. But I
didn’t feel quite as judgmental toward Carin. Andrew was my boss,
and he was married. Carin was my friend.

Looking around further, I saw Anson
sitting in the far corner of the bar with Yasmine and one of the
strippers. The three of them were French kissing. I watched,
entranced, for a few moments. It was like nothing I had ever
seen.

I began to feel nauseous. I had
suddenly had enough for the evening and wanted to get out of the
club. I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or my
discomfort.

I firmly grabbed Stephen’s arm and
asked him to escort me back to the hotel. “Take me home. I don’t
feel so well and I’m ready to go.”

“
Alright, let’s sneak out of
here. I think everyone is having too much fun. No one is going to
miss us for a while.”

My Thai girl got up and said, “You’re
leaving? Can I give you my email address?”

Stephen looked at me and laughed. “You
come to a strip club and get asked out on dates with girls? That’s
amazing! Can I take one of these girls with us too?” Stephen said
laughing, as he pointed to other girls lingering at the bar,
waiting to be called upon.

“
Keep dreaming, buddy,” I
replied.

“
Was just asking. Can’t hurt
to ask,” he said. “You never know in Vegas.” He winked.

We managed to weave our way through a
troupe of naked bodies perfectly silhouetted in the dimly lit room
and out of the club and into a cab. Stephen placed his arms around
me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. He smelled amazing, like
a sweet, yet masculine, citrus flower. He lifted my face from his
shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

“
You are incredibly sexy,
Isabelle. Wow.”

I wanted to kiss him but
didn’t.

I had nodded off several times during
the ten-minute cab ride back to the hotel. Stephen held me in his
arms the whole way, caressing my hair.

It was three in the morning by the
time we arrived at the hotel. The lobby was still brimming with
hard-core gamblers and women scantily clad, dressed slightly more
than women we left at the strip club.

“
One last hand before bed.
You’re here. You’re lucky. Let me try a hand when no one is there
at the table.”

I easily agreed, too tired to
object.

Stephen’s hand at blackjack led to two
hands, which then led to three. Forty-five minutes later, Stephen
had gambled $4,000 and had won $7,500.

“
You want these chips?
They’re yours, you won them.” He handed me his chips. “Andrew isn’t
paying you enough. You should take them. I have lots of
money.”

I pondered it for a moment. Andrew
wasn’t paying me enough? I guess relative to Andrew or Stephen’s
money, he was right, but it had not occurred to me that I was
underpaid.

“
Plus, he’s stealing from me
anyway.”

“
Stealing from you?” I
asked. “How? Why do you let him?”

“
I have no choice. I need
him for liquidity.”

“
For liquidity?” I asked
hoping for a short explanation.

“
He’s the only guy on the
Street who can move size the way he can and keep people from
wondering what’s going on. There’s value in that. That motherfucker
is good at it too. How do you think he bought that
multimillion-dollar McMansion in Connecticut?”

“
Moving size” was a Wall
Street term to indicate an unusually large trade.

Stephen looked at me. I was nearly
half asleep.

“
Don’t worry about it now,
Isabelle, let’s go upstairs and get you some water and put you to
bed.” I wanted to hear more about the stealing, but I was too drunk
and let myself be led.

In the hotel room, while I packed my
belongings in Andrew’s room, Carin arrived with Andrew, Anson, and
Yasmine. Stephen took my bag and we left, at the encouragement of
both Andrew and Anson. The girls stayed behind.

S
tephen escorted me to the 39th floor of the hotel.

“
I can never figure out
which key goes to which room.” His casino host had allocated
Stephen four rooms.

We went into the room, which was much
larger than Andrew’s.

“
This is the nicest suite
I’ve ever been in!” I exclaimed.

“
They gave it to me. It’s
yours. I’m staying at the Four Seasons,” he laughed. I looked at
him quizzically. “I need to get away from everyone,” he
explained.

The entrance opened to a carpeted
hallway in the suite, which led into a large living room that
overlooked the city. Stephen walked behind me as I went to look out
the window. I tried not to seem overly enthusiastic.

The suite was decorated in a way that
typified Vegas—the flowers and art were fake, much like many of the
breasts I had seen hours earlier. The bar against the wall was well
stocked. The mirror in the back gave the illusion of a larger bar.
Atop the marble countertop was a welcoming basket wrapped in yellow
cellophane. The basket was full of fruits, various nuts,
chocolates, and other candy items.

“
I’ll take this treat,” I
said as I pulled a dark chocolate Godiva bar out of the
basket.