All in the Family (13 page)

When he was sure that his swollenness had subsided enough, he exited the bathroom. Without a word to Bobby who patiently waited by the door, he opened the door and stepped out into the night. Bobby followed quietly behind him.

As the sound of the engine subsided, Loretta walked click-click down the hall and through dining room into the kitchen where the white, cordless phone hung on the wall. She dialed the number.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end asked.

“Yes, Barbra?” Loretta asked.

“Loretta? Hi, are you almost ready?”

“I’m ready and waiting.” Loretta replied.

“Great! Let me get my garter belt fixed, and I’ll be on my way.”

“Garter belt? I thought this was the second time you and Ronnie had seen each other,” Loretta sounded puzzled. She raised an eyebrow, but Barbra was not there to see it.

“I’m just following in your footsteps,” Barbra said with a snorting giggle.

“You slut,” Loretta said, coyly.

“Takes one to know one,” Barbra replied. They both laughed. “Be there in ten.”

Loretta hung up the phone and traipsed through the house, more impatience than anything leading her footsteps.

In the den, Roy sat on the couch; the big screen television across the room was black. He held a book open in one hand and a beer bottle in the other.

“Did you ask Herman before you took a beer?” Loretta asked as she walked up behind him.

“I didn’t think he would mind,” Roy said, not taking his eyes off the book. He took a long swig of the beer and then turned his attention back to the book.

“He’s pretty protective of his beer. Next time make sure you ask.”

“Right on, Sis,” Roy said, without skipping a beat. He put the beer down long enough to turn the page, and then the bottle returned to his hand.

“Make sure that you don’t lock the door. Jessica doesn’t have a key to get back inside.”

Roy grunted, which was supposed to mean, “Okay”. That was how he had always been, never one for wasted conversation.

Before she could say anything else, she heard a car horn blow outside, and she knew Barbra would be outside waiting impatiently. She had only recently begun having an affair on her husband, but now that the door had been opened, it seemed nearly impossible to shut. Nymphomaniac was barely a word to describe it. There had been times in the past month where she had caught her with the mail man and a delivery boy who had been simply delivering bottled water to a neighbor; luckily she had caught her before two Mormon boys had a chance to come in to talk with her about religion. Those boys would never have stood a chance.

Loretta climbed into the car. The nipping outside air mixing with the warmth of the heater blowing softly from the upper and lower vents gave her tingles. Barbra wore an overcoat; she had left it tied as she drove. Loretta never bothered to cover up; Herman never said anything to her about it, so she assumed he didn’t care. Barbra’s husband on the other hand would have thrown a fit if he saw her leave home in some of the outfits she had traipsed around town in. Being middle aged women, Loretta argued in her mind that they had to dress this way if they expected any attention from any man in this day and time.

“What’s under the coat?” Loretta asked with a smile.

“The same old shit, I haven’t been out to get anything new in forever. You know how Will is though; if he saw this, he would have a conniption. Hell, I have to keep it hidden inside the house. Oh, there is a new addition to this one with the black leather skirt,” Barbra paused, “no panties.” She returned the smile, only hers stretched nearly from ear to ear. Barbra was a reasonably attractive woman even when she was not out on the hunt. She had blonde hair, and all the men loved that. She took care of her skin and nails. No fake nails or overabundance of makeup. Her smile did need some work. She was unable to produce a seductive smile on demand. They always turned out awkward and semi-girlish. Despite her smile, her eyes were set properly, and her nose was cute and small. She even had a small mole near her mouth. It made most men reminiscent of a certain runway model, only with blonde hair.

“Where are we heading this time?” Barbra asked. She was always more the follower than the leader, even if she was the one driving.

“I figured we could hit a couple of the places that we usually hit. I’m expecting someone at the first place though, so if we separate, I’ll call your cell after we’re done. I don’t want to walk home in the cold.” Loretta turned to her to let her know she was serious.

Barbra laughed a little. “You know you wouldn’t have to walk home if you would wait on me to get finished. Not all of us have our own personal knight in shining badge to give us what we need. I do have to look around a bit.”

“Well when you find him, don’t let him talk you into going back to his place. Bring him to the shop and get a video room and do it there. You don’t have to have a bed every time. You don’t have to get drunk either. I’ve been meaning to talk with you about that,” Loretta said with authority. She always felt like the mother, raising her own little whore, and she had to teach her the tricks of the trade.

“It happened twice, don’t go all bitch on me. Besides, that’s how you met that hunk-o-cop that you fuck around with now. I mean jeez give me a break.” Barbra eyeballed the red light ahead. As soon as it turned green, she gunned the car. They shot forward and the tires barked as they broke traction. That was Barbra, make her angry, and you were in for it.

“Slow down, there will still be dick when we get there,” Loretta said with a laugh. Barbra slowed down, brining the car back within the speed limit. “Just don’t leave me again, okay?”

Barbra glanced at her, a scowl first and then her lips turned up at each end. Here it goes again, that big goofy grin. She smiled from ear to ear. Loretta choked back a laugh and turned her head, watching the street pass by outside. The shops downtown were closed or near closing, most of them dark. She saw the decorative trees, planted by the city, now without leaves and looking rather bare. Her mind wandered. She would be bare soon, in a loving embrace with Glenn, her lover, her friend. She called him to set up the date earlier in the week, and she anticipated the ecstasy to come.

At an intersection, Loretta noticed several women hanging around the bench seat. They were dressed much alike; Loretta even noted that one wore a skirt very similar to one she owned. She watched as one of the ladies walked over to a parked car that had just pulled up the curb. She leaned in and after a moment, opened the door and got in. They were whores, hookers. Doing much the same thing that the two friends were about to do; only they were getting paid for it.

Loretta had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach, and then she saw why. As they sat waiting on the light, one of the women came over to her car and pecked on the window, her long red nails glittering in the lamp light. She cracked the window slightly.

“Either of you girls looking for some fun tonight?” the woman asked. Loretta assumed woman, but the closer she got, the more childish she looked. She wasn’t very tall and she was a natural dirty blonde with what appeared to be natural highlights. Her face was made up, but even behind all the makeup, she didn’t appear to be older than Jessica. The girl smiled and then popped a bubble as she awaited the reply.

“No, I think we’re good for tonight, but thank you though,” Barbra answered quickly.

The next moment, Loretta found herself caught in the girl’s gaze. They locked eyes. There was just something alluring about the young lady. That moment was up before it really started. Barbra stepped on the gas and eased away as the girl stepped back, their gaze’s still locked for a second afterward.

“What the hell was that all about?” Barbra asked. “You got a thing for women now?”

Loretta shook her head, still staring out the window. “No, it’s just she struck me as in need. There was just something about her.”

“Whatever.”

They pulled into the parking lot of the club. What a dump. The place had been through three fires, and every time they rebuilt it, it got uglier. There was no denying it anymore, this place was a mess. The siding on the building was three different colors. The lights outside blinked and flickered, several didn’t work any longer. There were groups of people standing around in the cold night air. These were the lowlifes who couldn’t afford to get into the club, but they knew it was the local hang out, and so they stood around the outside hoping some fool would buy their way in or take them home with them. They were mostly men, but there were a few nasty looking women who stood around there as well. They were the last resort women. If a man was desperate and didn’t want to pay the hookers, he would come down here and buy the girl a meal and take her home for some no-
holes
-barred action. He could enjoy himself and then take her wherever she wanted to go. That was how it worked, and it worked well like that.

They weren’t interested in that. They wanted a man and for that same reason, but they didn’t want to play games, they were married women. They needed to get home to their families when it was all over. They needed it, they craved it, and they couldn’t get it anywhere else.

The doorman stopped them in the foyer and directed them to the counter to the right. The doorman was a large built man, more a bouncer than a doorman, but they knew him, and he greeted them with a smile as he motioned toward the counter. He was a man of few words, but they had seen him scream before. On more than one occasion, he yelled at drunken patrons, jerking them around like rag-dolls and dragging them out the door.

The man behind the counter was the same frumpy, short man who always took their money. Some said he was the owner, but no one knew for sure. Loretta had once considered him a dwarf, but didn’t want to offend him, so she now she called him a little person when she spoke of him.

He looked up from behind the desk where he counted a fistful of cash. The gold ring on his finger glinted in the light. He stuffed the cash into his pocket.

“Why, my ladies!” He always acted so surprised to see them. His voice was gravely as he had to speak loudly due to the excess of music and noise coming from the back.

“Hello, Willis,” Loretta spoke first. She looked at him, examining him. He was the pinnacle of
trapped in the eighties
. His polyester button down shirt lay open at the top, three buttons down, a chance for his matte chest hair to breathe. He stroked his stubble of chin hair as he looked them up and down. A mole on his cheek had grown a group of long black hairs, and they jutted out, dancing in the air near his fingers.

“Don’t you ladies just look scrumptious tonight?” asked Willis, but it was more a rhetorical question. “When are you going to give old Willis a chance at that? I can hold my own. I may be short ladies, but they don’t call me Kickstand for nothing.” He smiled brazenly.

Loretta smiled, the thought tickling her inside. “Maybe next time, Willis,” she said.

They paid and walked down the hall and into the club, knowing that Willis had gotten off his stool and come to the office door to watch them walk away. Loretta could always feel him undressing her with his eyes, not that it was a bad feeling. She could feel a lot of men undressing her with their eyes, and she liked it. It was this feeling of being sexy, of being a real woman that made her appreciate her body and made her realize that she was wanted. She knew this feeling well; she knew that a lot of female porn stars wanted to feel this way. That was why they fucked for a living. They took their clothes off for strange men to get that feeling. She had it all, and it was all real, her lips, her tits, and her ass. Everything about her was real, and not a lot of those women could say that.

Inside the club, the music blared. Several dozen people were out on the dance floor, and several dozen more were scattered here and there, some at tables, some at the bar. Immediately, the two caught the gaze of several men standing near the doorway. They were the same guys who were always standing there. They thought the best way to find a woman was to catch them as soon as they walked in, keep them from getting too far inside and out of the reach of the other men. It never worked. They were always just standing around, making the women feel uncomfortable from the moment they walked in.

One of the guys whistled as they walked past.

“Hey baby, how ‘bout giving me some of that?” It was the blonde with the glasses; very brash for a geek.

Barbra flipped them the bird, and they all laughed amongst themselves. Barbra had dated one of the guys from that group for a short while; dated, fucked, either way they had hooked up. She had gotten jealous, and that was pretty much the end. She had come into the club one evening, expecting to see him, expecting him to take her back to his place and have his way, but when she arrived, she saw him leaving the parking lot in the arms of another woman. Not quite the picture of perfection, she being married herself, but it still enraged her. She had run over, as he was getting in the car, and slapped him, yelled at him and nearly got taken away in handcuffs if it hadn’t been for Loretta. That was the night she met Glenn Riverstone. He had been the officer on duty who came to the man’s rescue. Loretta did her smooth talk and kept the man from pressing charges and kept Glenn from taking Barbra to jail. After that, Loretta and Glenn had several other meetings, the others not by chance.

Glenn was supposed to meet her here tonight. If he wasn’t already here, she would have to wait it out. Swat the flies that pester and wait it out. She more despised shooing away the other potentials than the waiting, because Glenn had something that she wanted, something that she needed. The others would always be here, always be waiting.