Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (3 page)

It wasn’t so much that the dress was extremely skimpy
,
but I couldn’t remember ever showing so much of my legs in my life.  The top hung from one shoulder by way of a rhinestone bejeweled
strap
.  It draped down loosely to a snug fitting miniskirt
which made me wonder how I would sit in it without
flashing everyone who might be watching
.  I
made a mental note to k
eep my legs crossed
whenever I
had to
s
i
t down
.  

When I stepped out of the bathroom, the girls seemed extremely please
d
with themselves.

“Now put these on,”
Tara
said, handing me a pair of rhinestone T-strap stilettos.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I whined.

Tara
just waved her hand at me.  “
Stop complaining and j
ust put them on.  If wors
e
comes to worst
,
you can
always
phase yourself some
where
safe.”

I knew in that moment I loved
Tarajinka Shovanda Jenkins
very much.  Only for her would I risk my life in a pair of heels so high.

“
Are you girls ready?”

I looked up to the doorway of Abby’s room and saw Malcolm leaning against it casually watching me.
  He was dressed in a very well tailored black double breasted suit
with his hair pulled back into a ponytail
and
wear
ing
a
fedora.
  I had never seen him with so many clothes on before.  He usually wore only pants and button down shirts opened to the waist to show off his well defined chest.

“Ready for what?” I asked.
  “And why are you dressed like Fred Astaire?”

“I’m escorting you to your first location,” he told me, a lopsided grin on his face.

“We’re ready,”
Tara
said
, grabbing her purse
which lay beside me on the bed
.

Malcolm strolled into the room and offered me his hand to help me stand.  I instantly felt myself start to topple.  A pair of strong arms caught me
.  Malcolm held me
close to him
until I
regained
my balance
.

“Be careful, dearest,” Malcolm murmured. 

When I met his eyes, I
could see the mask Malcolm usually hid behind falter
for a second
showing me his true concern and love for me. 

“Thanks,” I said.  “Stupid high heels.”

“They may be hard to walk in but they do wonderful things for your legs,” he told me, instantly bringing up the roguish personality I
w
as
more
used to dealing with.

“Shall we go?” He said
holding out his arm for me
to t
ake
.

When Malcolm phased us, I felt the heat of the place instantly.  A crowd of people walked by us like we had been there all along, never consciously realizing we had material
ized
out of thin
air
.

When I looked up and down the street, I instantly knew where we were.

“
Las Vegas
?” I turned to
Tara
.

“Yep, thought you needed a little sin city before
you
swore off all other men
forever
.”

Malcolm
patted my hand still lying on his
arm.  “Come, dearest.  I’ve arranged a special show just for you.”

I won’t lie.  Walking into the Rio Hotel and Casino on Malcolm’s arm made me feel like I owned the joint.  Partly because that’s just how Malcolm seemed to think about everything.  He was the most confident and self-assured person I knew.  Not to say Brand didn’t brim with a self-confidence of his own, but Malcolm never tried to temper his with the same humbleness Brand did. 
Malcolm
knew he was the most looked at and sought after man in a
ny room he entered
and didn’t try to shy away from it.  In fact,
h
e reveled in it.

We were escorted by one of the
casino
guards to the nightclub on the top floor. 

“Are we seeing a show?” I asked, noticing billboards which had been covered up with black
velvet
material.

“Yeah,”
Tara
said.  “We asked them to
hide
everything so it wouldn’t give it away
before you saw it
.  I need to see your eyes pop out of your skull for myself.”

“I must leave you ladies here at the door,” Malcolm said.  “Only women are allowed
beyond this point
.”

“Thanks, Malcolm.  I owe you one
.
”
Tara
grabbed
my arm and practically dr
a
g
ged
me into the dark room beyond.

I could hear the whisper
s
and giggles of women in the room and could
faintly
see them seated
in
a
line of chairs
in front of a stage.  A lady with a flashlight escorted us to a
group of seats
front and center of the stage.  They were the best seats in the house for whatever we were there to see.

“How come Malcolm had to arrange a special showing?” I asked, as what remained of the lights in the room
was
extinguished and music with a
rhythmic thump started to play.

“Just watch,”
Tara
said.  “Watch the stage Lilly Rayne Nightengale
cause you’ve never seen anything like this before
.”

Five spot lights flashed on the stage illuminating male figures in long black trench coats.  At first the sight alarmed me, reminding me of the cloaked figures of the vampiric
W
atchers.  When they began to dance in unison to the beats of the music, my hand involuntarily flew to my mouth and I indeed felt my eyes begin to bulge out of my skull.  I heard
Tara
cackle
with
glee beside me.

Abby leaned in towards me and had to yell in my ear to be heard over the music.

“Welcome to the Las Vegas Chippendale show!”

I sat at a loss for words, but I think I was the only one.  The array of women
in the room
soon got up out of their seats to cheer and/or leer at the dancers performing
i
n
front of us
.  As the men began to tease the crowd by revealing one muscular shoulder after another, you would have thought the women around me had never seen the skin of a man before.  The men suddenly turned around all at once to face us and let the trench coats
dramatically
fall to the floor in unison.

Malcolm was the only man I’d ever seen
with
such large, well toned muscles.  But
the five
standing in front of me
proved that humans could indeed have similar physiques
.
  I felt flush all of a sudden. 
Tara
soon stood up, joining the raucous crowd around us yelling to the men to take more of their clothes off.  I seriously thought about hiding underneath
my chair
until the show was over, but the girls wouldn’t let me. 
Tara
and Abby soon pulled me up to stand with them as they began to dance to the music.

I’m not sure how many dance routines followed but by the middle of the show I’d joined in on the frivolity of it all and found myself enjoying the role reversal.  Usually people associate strip tease shows as being m
e
n watching wom
e
n.  I found it interesting wom
e
n could turn such an event into a party without even having to see the men strip down past their underwear. 
The men came out dressed in a myriad of costumes for each routine.  Once they were dressed as firefighters, once as bikers, once as clones of Tom Cruise from the underwear dancing scene in
Risky Business
and once as hip hop dancers. 
Near the end
,
the boys were dressed up as cowboys and seemed to know exactly where I was
in the crowd like they had been tipped off it was my bachelorette party
.  Before I knew it they had me up on stage
wrapping
a
white
rope around me like they were lassoing me
for safe keeping
.
  As the song ended
,
they
took the rope off me
and asked
that I
sit in a chair directly in the middle of the stage.  I didn’t have much choice.  It was either sit or stumble my way off stage in the dark.
  An act I felt sure would lead to my untimely demise at the hands of my own clumsiness.

A song I recognized began to play and a single spot light illuminated the
solitary
male figure on the stage.  I felt more than heard my sharp intake of air. 

Baby take off your coat

Real slow
…

Baby take off your shoes…

As the woman’s husky voice
continued to
sing the tune, the familiar
muscle bound
figure in front of me began taking off the suggested clothing. 

It was then I realized I should have known something was
suspicious
when Malcolm showed up with so many clothes on
to bring us to
Las Vegas
.

As he performed his strip tease in front of his enamored female
audience
, he
would
turn to face me
as if making sure
I was
watching
every undulation of his body
.  Malcolm
’s strip tease
was in a
completely
different
league
from
that of
the Chipp
endale dancers.  He moved
each of his muscles
with confidence
, knowing without a shadow of a doubt every woman in the room desire
d
him.
 
His fluid movements left no doubt about his prowess in the bedroom yet somehow he maintained his dignity even
when
he
stood in only a pair of
black
nylon
underwear
gyrat
ed
his hips in
front of me in
a completely sexual way.

Like every other female in the room, I couldn’t take my eyes off of
Malcolm
.  But unlike every other female in the room, I knew the reason wasn’t because of the overpowering pheromone all Watchers produced to attract the females of the human species.
  O
f anyone in the room, I knew the real Malcolm best, and I knew exactly what he was trying to do: seduce me.

I felt my body begin to
quiver
slightly of its own accord.  Breathing became harder a
s Malcolm continued to stare into my eyes
as if daring me to look away from him.

By the end of the song, as the woman
crooned
her
last
‘
baby leave your hat on
’
, Malcolm straddled my thighs and placed his fedora on my head.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “
I haven’t forgotten. 
You still owe me a day alone with you.”

The lights went out
plunging us in
to
complete darkness,
and I felt him place a gentle
,
wet
kiss on
the side of
my neck.

Then he was gone.

When the lights came back on in the room, the girls came up on stage to help me
down
.

“I can’t believe that big lug did that,”
Tara
said shaking her head.  “I swear to God, Lilly Rayne, I didn’t know he
was
plann
ing
to do that
to you
.
  You know if I had I wouldn’t have let him.
”