Midnight Squad: The Grim (49 page)

           
When I got in the back, I had to deal with a lot of
jealousy. Apparently these losers just didn’t like getting showed up, but since
my wrist was bigger than most of their legs, it was a safe bet they weren’t
going to do anything. At least not directly, but I kept an eye on my stuff the
rest of the night. That’s probably the only thing that saved me from a crotch
full of Icy-Hot.

           
The second dance was about to start. They brought out a
chair for Big Sally. Then they led up the owner, a ninety-two year old
grandmotherly woman that everyone called Big Sally. I’m not sure why they
called her that. She looked old and frail. The other men went ahead of me
again. Then, while they were dancing, I found out why her name was Big Sally.
Big Sally wasn’t a ninety-two year old grandmother at all. She was a ninety-two
year old grandfather. He...she...it preferred when someone called her Sally.
They called her Big Sally because of the massive erection she…he…it…whatever
Sally was, she had a boner almost as big as mine. I didn’t know whether to be
horrified, or impressed that a person in there nineties could still have an
erection like that. I only hoped I could do that when I’m in my nineties. I
mean get an erection, not the pretend to be a woman thing.

           
A lot of the men chickened out on the second dance. I
think that was the whole purpose of the second part. If everyone backed out,
then the club kept the money…sneaky. When it was my turn, they offered me the
chance to back out, but we need the money, so I begrudgingly agreed to go. The
D.J. screamed, Ladies make some noise for…Joseph and the song is “Ding Ding
Dong” by Günther.

           
I made sure my thong was on secure. This one was leather
and fit much more normally. The music started and I walked out. Sally was
already drooling. I felt a little ill, but I put a huge smile on my face and
danced like a maniac. Then I lost myself in the pulsing beat. My hips swung and
swayed in front of Sally’s face. She…he…it…looked like Christmas came early.
She kept taking liberties and rubbing against my leg. I leaned in and Sally ran
its…
his…her fingers across my chest. Sally screamed,
“You are such a beautiful man. Now shake it for Momma!”

           
I spun around and shook my ass. I was careful not to go
too low. The last thing I wanted was to use Sally’s Wang as a prop for my act.
I’m certainly not ready for that type of pole dancing. Sally slapped me on the
ass a couple times and then grabbed both butt cheeks and gave them a good
old-fashioned Charmin squeeze. I nearly threw up, but somehow I kept my smile
plastered on my face. I kept playing to the crowd. We needed the money. When I
turned back around Big Sally was babbling incoherently, and her…his…its false
teeth were flopping and rattling around in between his…her…its gums.

           
I planted one foot on the armrest and stared out into the
crowd while I pumped my groin against Sally’s forehead. The whole place was
eating it up. They were howling, and screaming. I caught a glimpse of my girls
in the corner, and they were cheering for all they were worth. Except for Alhambra,
she just stared at the rest of my girls as if they were something diseased. She
only changed her expression when she thought I might be watching. Even then,
she just had a look of mild amusement.

           
The song was finishing and I turned around to shake my
butt at Sally one last time. If I were a woman, they’d have said I dropped it
like it’s hot. Big Sally gripped my butt cheeks one last time. Then just as the
song ended she…he…it bit me right on my right ass cheek. I jumped a little and
Sally’s false teeth fell to the floor. I thought I was safe, but then she bit
down on my left ass cheek. Well without teeth, she really just gummed my left
butt cheek. It still pinched really bad, and he…she…it drooled on me while I
was being gummed. I waited until Sally let go, and then walked back offstage as
professionally as was possible. God I need a shower.

 
Two hours later, the girls and
me
were sitting in the office with the manager. Big Sally
left earlier, but not until she grabbed my ass twice, and dry humped me once
more. I had put my clothes on and was sitting across the table while the
manager counted out the money. “Five thousand dollars, minus the signup fee,
the guest fee, the fine for your wardrobe malfunction, and of course the first
timers fee. That leaves you with about two hundred and fifty dollars. Oh, I
almost forgot the use of services charge. Here you go…ninety-two dollars. By
the way, that was amazing dancing you did out there. If you want a permanent
job then I’ll be happy to hire you.”

           
I growled, “Ninety-two dollars…I won five thousand. I’m
leaving with five thousand.”

           
“I’m sorry but, we have costs too.” The manager gave me a
shit-eating grin.

           
“Your boss bit me on the ass.” I hissed. The girls leaned
in as well. They were almost as angry as I was.

           
The manager looked around and then spat, “Listen here, if
you have a problem then get a lawyer. In the meantime, you should be glad I
don’t charge you for the cleaning of Sally’s dentures. Besides, considering how
you are dressed I don’t think you should really be complaining. I mean just
looking at you I can tell you go for that kind of thing. Don’t you Man Candy.”
I had to admit the shirt was gay as a football bat, but I still wasn’t handling
the insults well. I believe I’d met my quota for the day.

           
“I want my five thousand dollars!” I growled.

           
“And I want the redhead here to suck me like I have the
antidote. We can’t always get what we want. Although I might be willing to add
an extra one hundred and fifty in if she drops to her knees and sucks me off.”
He sat there in silence, patiently.

           
“What!” I roared.

 
The manager raised his hand and laughed
hatefully, “Listen, I don’t know which one of you is the pimp, and which one is
the ho
, but I’ll pay good money if Red blows me right
now. I’ll throw in an extra fifty if you all stay around and watch.

 
I grabbed a letter opener off his desk shaped
like a nude woman. I lifted it up high and drove it down hard into the jackass’
hand. It pinned him to the table. Penny covered his mouth in one lightning fast
move so that no one heard him scream. She then hissed, “We’ll be taking our
money. Do you understand?” The little weasel nodded, tears running down his
face. Katy picked up the money and put it in her pocket. I looked over at the
safe, I considered taking all their money, but it seemed like a bad idea. Of
course stabbing the manager with a letter opener isn’t a great idea either. We
needed time to get out. “Penny.”

           
She stared at me patiently. I gestured to the manager and
said, “Lunchtime.” Penny latched on to him and drank him almost completely dry.
Penny only left enough blood that he’d just barely live, but feel like he had
the hangover from hell tomorrow. He was unconscious when I pulled the letter
opener out of his hand. Her venom was healing the wound almost immediately. By
the time he woke up, we’d be long gone, and he might not even have a scar to
show for it. We were on our way out when I walked by the costume rack. I
snatched up a black leather duster, some tear away jeans, and a shirt that said
“Hung like a” and had a picture of a horse on the bottom. I changed into the
new clothes before we were even out the back door. I’d need real clothes soon,
but they beat what I’d been wearing, and that made me happy. Plus I did kind of
like the shirt.

           
We cut across town as quickly as possible. We needed
transportation so grabbed a newspaper, and looked through the classifieds. A
cheap van was for sale. Penny memorized the address, and sprinted over to the
owner’s home. Fifteen hundred dollars later and he was signing over the title.
That left us plenty of cash. She drove it back to us, and we were out of the
town before the bars closed. We still had a long drive ahead of us.

           
 
It was a long
drive before got back into Texas and an even longer drive before we got across
the state and into East Texas. Along the way, we made a stop at a Wal-Mart. I
felt a lot better when we got back on the road and I was wearing some normal
clothes. I still kept the hung like a horse shirt though. It had kind of grown
on me. Everybody had grabbed two changes of clothes. It ate a little of our
budget up, but we had enough that we could use it. We also picked up snacks,
and vitamins with extra iron. Penny said we’d need the iron now that we were
her only ready source of food.

           
The drive wasn’t exactly comfortable. Penny,
Danika
, and Katy were snuggled around me like a pile of
puppies. The van pulled over, and Alhambra turned around. Ok…Grim it’s your
turn. I slid out of the pile of arms and legs and flopped down in the driver
seat. Ally went back and crashed in the corner by herself. I started driving
down the road when Janine appeared beside me. She kept miming that she had
something important, but she wouldn’t say anything. I gestured for her to hop
inside. Suddenly she slipped in and I felt a horrible coldness. “What is it?” I
whispered.

           
Grim…something’s wrong with Alhambra.
She sounded
concerned.

           
“Why? What do you mean?” I was nervous.

           
She’s been handing out parts of this ugly necklace. She keeps
sneaking pieces to people. I’ve gotten all of them so far, but I’m scared.

           
I growled
quietly, “That sneaky bitch.”

           
It’s not just that. I saw her using her magic. Grim,
she’s playing us. What are we going to do?
I felt the knot in my stomach. I’d promised to help her, and this
whole time she was toying with me. It was all an act. I grit my teeth and
whispered, “Don’t do anything. As long as we know she has her powers we have an
advantage. It’s only an advantage because she doesn’t know that we know. In the
meantime, when you can, pass the information on to the others so that we can
have more eyes watching her. I have one more huge favor.”

           
What is it?

           
“Stay with her, and every time she gives a piece away I
want you to take the piece and give it to me. Can you do that?” I was
struggling to keep my temper. The last thing I needed was for her to get
suspicious.

           
I can, but shouldn’t we go our separate ways now? I
mean what happens if she decides to attack?

           
“She’s a
Jinn…she’d stomp our ass! Penny and Danika could put her down eventually, but
who knows how much damage she’d do in the meantime. We need to keep eyes on
her. There has to be a reason for what she’s doing. We need to figure out what
that is, and then we can figure out how to handle it.”

           
Ok, I’ll defer to you. I have to say though. I’m
surprised you didn’t just shoot her when I told you this.

           
“Eisen wants her dead. He wants to make Elizabeth his new
mate. As long as Ally is alive, Eisen can’t create a new mate.
Which means he doesn’t have a Jinn to back him up with magic.
”
I whispered. “Janine?”

           
Yes?

           
“When I told you that you could go, you were so excited.
I thought you’d cross over.”

           
I really considered it.

           
“I love that you’ve stayed with us, but why haven’t you
left?”

           
You’re all like family to me. I want to help keep you
safe. I have all the time in the world to go to heaven. So I want to stay
around and see how this all ends. After that…I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking
about going, but there are just so many things I’ve seen while walking the
earth all these years. Sometimes I try to imagine all the things I’ll see in
the future. So I’m a little curious about watching the world go by. However, I
only just learned that I can get into heaven, and I haven’t had much chance to
let it all sink in. All I can promise is that I’ll stick with you all through
this. After that…we’ll see.

           
“I can accept
that. I’ll miss you if you leave though. You’ve been a really great friend.”

 
Moreover, it looks like Penny won’t mind that
you have a friend with benefits.

           
“Yeah, I’m still not sure what’s going on with that. You
were telling me how jealous she was, and then once we start building a
relationship she starts trying to encourage the whole group thing. I mean
what’s with that?” I whispered.

           
Penny flopped into the passenger seat, “Maybe you should
just ask?” She twisted in the seat to look at me. Janine slipped out of me and
went back to the back of the van.