Bailey: Independence #1 (14 page)

“Ow, ow, ow!” Bailey reached up, trying to hold her hair in her head as she was pulled along. “Let go, you crazy New Yorker!”

“All those strong, able males in the place and they call me to find out what the heck is wrong with you this week?” Patsy dragged her to the door and out into the main collection of cubicles. “She’s at lunch, guys, you can relax now. Chickens…all of you.”

“Let go, damn it!” Bailey laughed and had both hands up trying to peel the long nailed fingers from her hair. “Okay, I get it! I get it!”

“Lunch. You haven’t had food with me all week. Not since the melt down on Monday. And now I get hints from friends that you’ve gone all psycho on us,” Patsy released her hair but gave her a little push down the corridor.

“Why do I always have to be Miss Sunshine?” She grumbled, taking the tray from Patsy before it was used to damage her.

“Because it’s you.
THIS.
..is not you,” Patsy put a plate of pasta and a salad on her tray. “And you’re buying me lunch while I sort this out.”

“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” Bailey mumbled, taking one of the veggie sandwiches and a large soda. She swiped her badge for hers and Patsy’s meal, grabbed up a napkin and headed to an almost empty corner. She didn’t recognize any of the three girls at the next table with the paper spread before them so she figured it was a safe place to sit.

“This is about that guy, isn’t it?” Patsy shook her head as she sat down.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Bailey stiffened up, her shoulders back and sandwich in her hands. She tore into it with a glare at her friend.

“I knew it,” Patsy shook her head. “It never works getting involved with the higher ups. They always think they’re better than us workers, girlfriend.”

Bailey listened to the softened sympathy and hated the tears that formed. “I thought he was different,” she answered softly. One shoulder rose and fell. “Maybe he’s just really busy.”

“Oh, honey…you seriously need to come out and party tonight. Some beers and karaoke and flirting. You’ll be good as new.”

Bailey pushed a long sigh free. “I guess I have been a bit surly.”

“A bit? Girlfriend, you have those males cowering in their cubicles, hoping when you storm around that you’re not coming for them,” she laughed gaily, her head shaking. “Maybe this guy was good in that you learned you could be assertive and stop making excuses for the goof-offs you work with. You always cover for them.”

“Patsy, I’ve loved you since we were kids but I really don’t want a lecture,” she whispered, ripping another bite of her sandwich off and chewing. “I already feel stupid enough without your help.”

“I’m sorry. But you need to eat,” Patsy pushed the cup of soda toward her. “And as your lifelong friend, it’s my job to be honest with you.”

Bailey laughed and swiped at the tear that had eased free.

“That is very true. We made that pact when we were ten,” she recalled with a grin, dragging in a deep breath and looking at the giggling girls beside them. One of them caught her eyes.

“Just checking out the boss,” the slender girl with dark hair handed the society page over as the others cleaned up their table. “Keep it. We’re done.”

“Oh, Bee…” Patsy reached for the page but stopped at the look on her friend’s face. “No, honey, you don’t want to…”

Center page was a color photo of Gabriel Garrett and a tall, willowy woman in scarlet at the High Top Restaurant in Seattle. He was leaned back in a cushioned chair, suit coat open and one hand in the pocket of his slacks. The other held a glass of something amber colored, light sparkling off the ice. It was obviously a candid phone shot and not all that clear. But clear enough for the blaring headlines.

“Game entrepreneur seen out on the town with international model, Stephanie Blake.”

“She’s beautiful,” Bailey whispered. “This was last night. I guess that’s why he didn’t call. He’s been busy,” she closed the page and shoved her plate back. She drained the soda and collected her tray. “Oh, well…he never promised anything but a fun diversion.”

“Bee…come out with us tonight. You need some brain draining fun,” Patsy hurried after her with her food.

“No. But I’ll give you a call. Maybe tomorrow,” she hugged her friend and went off down the corridor with a backward flip of her hand in farewell. “Have fun.”

Bailey wasn’t really sure how she made it through the rest of the day and was glad when it ended. Her shoulders hit the door of her apartment the instant she closed it, her knees quaking and her bottom hitting the floor seconds later.

She honestly believed she was too old to be so stupid.
You went into a sex club, dummy!
What did you expect? A proposal? A boyfriend? Companionship? Stupid, she grumbled.

The picture of the woman in scarlet was burned into her brain. So many images inside her head that she wished she could find the delete button for.

Bailey knew she couldn’t compete with women like that. Her breasts were too small and her waist too narrow for the swell of her behind. Her arms and legs too long and her hair too red. She sighed and felt her stomach grumble. Only the thought of eating made her head ache.

Darkness of November settled around her even if the clock did only say it was five-thirty when her phone sounded. It was the standard tone so she was surprised at the text that appeared.

Surprise and a lot of other emotions crashed around her as she read it.

Twice.

“A car will pick you up outside at six-thirty. Wear a simple black dress. The sexiest one you have. Leave your cell phone at home. The car will take you to Bound and Tied in Seattle. I’ll meet you there. I’m sorry I couldn’t get with you sooner. GG.”

Bailey pushed herself off the floor, pulled her jacket off and threw it on the sofa. Then she paced. It was obvious they weren’t exclusive to one another. Okay, she might have thought differently, but that was because she believed differently.

So now she was angry. And she wanted to tell him so. But not over the phone.

Definitely to his face. He couldn’t fire her. He had no work grounds for it.

Black dress, huh? Bailey went and stood in front of her closet, fingers pushing hangers along the bar until they settled on the one she wanted. Definitely not into following orders tonight.

She found the foundation she wanted in the back of a drawer and managed to lace herself into it. She set out the heels and let the blood red dress fall over her head and shoulders. The bodice fit snugly and scooped low; the sleeves clung to her arms and ended just where her wrists were. The skirt skimmed along her body and stopped inches past her behind.

She lifted the spray bottle of glitter and put a light coating over her legs and chest. A quick fluff of her curls and she swept a shawl from the bottom drawer of her bureau. Keys, money and ID fit the little purse with a gold chain strap she dropped over her head and let rest on her hip.

Now she would tell him just where to go and how to get there.

Bailey left the apartment, locked up and ran carefully down the stairs to the waiting white town car. She was grateful this driver didn’t feel like talking. He just asked her name and opened the door for her.

Chapter Fourteen

Mah Chow tipped her dark head to the side and watched the tall, handsome man enter her shop on Friday evening. Alone. She waited until he approached her. He did not have the look of a man abandoned and she frowned. That meant her little red was going to be in trouble. If not already.

“You wish dinner?”

“Please. What we had the other night to take with me.”

“She is not home,” the Vietnamese woman said simply, instantly aware of the look in his eyes. A burning mixture of anger and concern. Interesting, she mused. “I watch apartment from here. She went out to white car again. Like last week. Only tonight, dress is red and not enough of it.” She scolded like only a mother could.

“Another white car?” Gabriel had his phone out and tapped the number he’d programed there that morning. “Thank you. I’ll have to take a rain check on the food. I’m afraid I have to track down Bailey.”

“Take care of little red,” she told him, nodding and watching him move briskly from the restaurant and break into a run across the street to the apartments.

Gabriel pounded on the door after taking the stairs two at a time. When there wasn’t an answer, but her phone still registered as there, he opened his wallet and pulled a few slim pieces of metal from inside. The lock popped and the door slid wide a minute later.

He stood staring down at the phone vibrating on the table. The rectangle slid open when he lifted it and he thumbed through the menu, found the last text and read it quickly. He made certain the door locked behind him as he walked to the elevator, his own phone out and a call placed to Lieutenant Templeton.

****

Bailey stepped from the white town car and strolled toward the garishly lit large building. This was very, very different than the club that belonged to Gabriel. The atmosphere was almost electric and pulsing with energy, alcohol and probably drugs, she guessed. She definitely did not like the way she was being watched. It made her feel twitchy and uncomfortable.

She tried to make it seem casual but her stomach was doing somersaults. Some people milled around outside, their clothing easily identifying them as part of the culture swarming around the building. It amazed her how some chose for leather from head to toe while others looked like they were wrapped in leather strings that barely covered all the sexy bits. She let the shawl drift down her arms, tightened her back and held her head up as she crossed the sidewalk and went through the open doors.

She paid the entrance fee and wandered through the swinging doors that made her think she was stepping into an old west saloon. But on the other side of the doors was as far from that as could be imagined. Bailey knew she was staring and had to seriously work to keep the gasps inside her.

This was very different from Gabriel’s club. It felt louder. The music wasn’t blaringly loud, but a different, more now sound. The people weren’t the least bit inhibited or restrictive in how they stared at you, boldly taking in anything that caught their attention with suggestive eye movement that included mouthing suggestions.

Including the arrival of new meat.

“I think you’d better take this one,” the receptionist had pressed a small button on the blue tooth she had attached to her ear. “Redhead in red dress. She said she’s here to meet someone. I asked who and all she said was Gabriel.”

“Garrett?” Surprise etched itself on the single word. “He hasn’t been here in years.”

“And I think she’s attracting attention. If she is waiting for him…”

“I’ll be right down,” Heather Malcolm ended the call and went to the door of the office she had on the second floor. Gabriel Garrett was her silent partner and she liked it that way. Black heels clicked smartly over the tiles as she made her way to the railing above the main room. Definitely new meat and decidedly prey for half the room at the moment.

Bailey almost jumped out of the clinging red dress when the riding crop tapped on her shoulder. She’d tried staying to the edge. Tried keeping the wall at her back because people kept coming up behind her and touching or whispering lewd suggestions in her ear. Her heart hadn’t stopped hammering since she came through the doors.

“Oh, no, thank you,” came the rushed out words and a nervous little laugh as she spun and faced a woman with a black cap atop some blonde curls. Bailey felt the whimper deep in her throat, her eyes quickly sweeping down the taut leather bustier and short skirt. In heels, the woman was easily six foot tall and drop dead gorgeous. Bailey’s head went back but she wasn’t able to back away as the woman had crowded close to her.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. My name is Heather.”

“Bailey,” she answered quickly, dark lashes wide as she continued watching the entrance.

“My receptionist told me you were here to meet someone and she was concerned,” she met the instantly appreciative glance. “How about a drink? Gabriel’s a friend of mine and Micky will send him to the bar when he shows up.”

“You’re a friend of his?” Bailey asked, a bit of quiet dismay in her voice.

“Not that kind of friend, pet. Business partner, if you will. He helped me start the club a few years ago. Let’s go over here. It’s a little quieter,” she gently put her hand on Bailey’s waist and led her across the floor, the look on her face daring anyone to touch the redhead.

Bailey closed her eyes for a minute and walked. Not that she was used to a woman putting her hand on her waist, but adjusting was her middle name lately. Kind of like adjusting to being called ‘pet’. She was convinced it was the clubs version of ‘hun’ if you lived in the south.

“You’re beautiful. And the club is…I’m still getting used to it, I think,” she said when they were at the far end of the bar, a young waiter immediately arriving to serve them. “Water, please.”

“It makes you nervous,” she guessed leaning against the bar stool, long legs stretched out in front of her. “And thank you for the compliment. You’re quite lovely, as well. It’s too bad I’m guessing you only like males if you’re with Gabriel.”

“He’s most definitely very male,” Bailey agreed with a nervous laugh. “He’s going to be very angry with me.”