Keeping Faith (6 page)

"Mmm."

"They gave him a needle, knocked him out. He has medicine."

Faith glanced up for a second and blew Reece a kiss.

Reece's eyes narrowed.
And so it begins.
She squatted down by the coffee table and cleared her throat.

Faith looked up and realized what she was doing. Closing the script, she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry baby, I was just excited." She leaned over and kissed her wife softly. "What happened today, tell me all about it."

Confused to find herself actually pouting, Reece stood up and turned away from Faith, eventually disappearing as she spoke. "He needs medicine in his ear twice a day, and I have to clean it out every three days. The needle was big, really big." she said with little emotion.

Faith felt bad, the last thing she wanted to do was ignore Reece. She got up and followed the sound of her voice into the kitchen.

"Anyway, I'll take care of him, I know you're going to be busy with the script and all..." The club owner hesitated when she felt Faith's hands slide around her waist.

"I'm sorry." Faith kissed the middle of her lover's back, then lay her cheek on it. "Mmm, baby. Forgive me?"

Reece pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, of course I do. I'm being an asshole. I know how much this means to you."

Faith slipped around to the front of her woman and kissed Smudge, then Reece's tattooed arm. "Don't be ridiculous. I ignored you, that's just wrong. I have plenty of time to read that. Tell me about the needle."

Reece cocked her head and smiled. "It wasn't really that big, but compared to him," she bent down and put the small dog on the floor, "it was javelin. And don't listen to anything Cori says about it, my knee cramped."

Faith looked quizzically up at her wife. "Your knee cramped? At the Vet?"

Reece made a pained expression. "Yeah, just like that, it hurt me and I had to hold onto the table for a second. But it went right away."

Faith looked from the dog, to Reece, to Reece's knee. She grinned knowingly. "Well, it looks like he survived the needle, and it looks like you survived your knee." Faith hugged Reece tighter, knowing inside there was no knee cramps, just a really soft spot for Smudge. "Does it hurt now? Do you want me to rub it?"

Reece cleared her throat, already uncomfortable about fibbing to Faith. "Uh, it's fine now, but you can rub anything, anytime." The club owner reached down and squeezed Faith's butt.

Faith smiled deviously. "How about, we go upstairs... and..." she wiggled her eyebrows, then nodded her head towards the pink bag she brought home from shopping. "A little fashion show maybe?"

Reece grinned and chuckled. "How many outfits you got in that bag?"

"Three."

Reece picked Faith up, hoisting her over her shoulder. "I say you don't make it to two."

Faith giggled and smacked Reece on the ass. "Oh, but the second one requires you to use teeth..."

Reece took off running.

D
RESSED IN HER signature tuxedo, Reece sat on her usual barstool lost in thought. The music pounded in the background, the patrons vied for a spot at the bar around her and the bartender was doing fancy bottle tricks for tips. Reece wasn't interested. With visions of Faith twirling around in her shiny, new, purple garters swimming in her head, the club owner sat motionless, a sexy grin on her face.

"You like?" The actress purred, running her hands up the front of her silk covered body.

Reece lounged on the big bed, eyes riveted on her sexy wife. "Bring that over here and I'll show you how much."

Faith crawled onto the bed between Reece's open legs, head thrown back, eyes closed, swaying to a beat only she could hear.

Reece growled and reached out for the seductress. Faith backed away. "Uh, uh... your teeth, remember?"

Reece got up on all fours and approached her teasing lover. "Ah, but you didn't say where I could use my teeth did you."

"Hey boss lady, what's hangin'?"

Reece's head snapped up and she growled again, but this time it meant an entirely different thing.

Cori snickered. "Oooo, bust a good thought bubble did I?"

The club owner rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be dancing naked somewhere?"

The dancer stretched her arms out and posed. "Just finished. Note the fine sheen of sweat on my glistening body."

"Lovely." Reece averted her eyes to the television over the bar, suddenly straightening up with great interest.

Cori followed her friend's line of vision and her eyes went wide. They both watched, totally rapt, as Shakira writhed around half-naked, gyrating and humping.

Reece, suddenly feeling shocked, was the first to blink. "For shit sakes! She's inhuman!"

Cori turned her back to the bar. "If the thought police were here, they'd wash my brain out with Ajax." She began laughing at Reece's expression. "It's alright Reece, it's supposed to make you hot."

The club owner nodded enthusiastically in agreement and sighed, signaling the bartender for a drink.

Cori pointed at the stage, "Hey! The new girl is gonna dance in a minute! Wanna throw ice at her with me?"

Reece snickered. "Be nice Cori, you were new once too."

"Yeah, and they put the ice in my bra and tipped me with Monopoly money." The dancer said with narrowed eyes. "Come to think of it, you were the only one who tipped me with a real 5."

Reece ducked her head to the side and shrugged. "You were new."

Cori smiled and suddenly hugged the tall woman. "Awww, you knew they would treat me bad. My hero."

"Cut it out!" Reece shook the dancer loose and stood up. "I need to go to my office." She snatched her drink and walked away.

Cori smiled long after she left. Reece never could accept that kind of attention, but Cori knew she deserved it. Funny thing was, Reece didn't think so.

In the semi-silence of her office, the club owner sat back in her desk chair and put her feet on the desk. She twirled the straw in her drink absently as she thought about the near future with Faith. There was nobody more proud of, or happier for Faith right now. However, Reece knew these next long months were going to be hell to endure. Not one for constant attention, and certainly not needy, Reece was endlessly puzzled by her behavior when it came to Faith. She was intelligent, and knew Faith, justifiably, will be totally buried in this movie, but when she thought about being home all those days without her wife, she felt jealous. The tall woman blew out a frustrated breath and swigged her drink.
Why should I feel like that? Faith loves me, she isn't jealous of my job and shit, she has so many more reasons to be jealous of mine than I do of hers.

Reece sat motionless for a while, trying to make sense of her unusual emotional insecurities. This kind of stuff was new to her, and she didn't really like how it made her feel.

I am not needy, I can do just fine when Faith is at work. What do I expect? She can't sit around the house every fucking day without going crazy. Although, that doesn't sound half-bad. No big parties, no photographers chasing us everywhere we go. What the hell am I saying? Shut up. Just shut up. This is Faith's dream and I have no right to feel this way. She never says a word about my line of work, and she could have plenty to say. I'd blow a vein if she was around even one naked woman. She's an actress, I love her and I will deal with it.

Having made a final decision, the club owner stuck out her chin in defiance of the jealousy. She marched right out into the club and decided there was nothing wrong with watching Cori throw ice at the new girl as long as she pretended not to see it.

Faith sat back in the couch and blinked rapidly in disbelief. Her heart was racing and her mouth was dry at what she had just read. She threw the script angrily onto the coffee table and held her head in her hands. "How the hell am I going to do this?" She stood and began pacing, her nerves frazzled, her head swimming. "What am I going to do? How do I tell Reece?" Holding her hand to her forehead, she stopped pacing and stared at the script. "I mean, I guess I knew it would happen... it is a lesbian movie but.... " Her hand traveled slowly down over her face until it covered her mouth. Wide eyed she flopped back down on the couch. "Oh my god... this is bad."

Cori closed her locker and started to leave when she noticed several messages on her cell phone, all from Faith. She immediately called back, knowing exactly what it was about.

"Cor?"

Faith sounded very tense with just one word. "Scene 93, huh?"

Faith blew out a loud breath. "Oh shit Cori! What am I going to do?"

"Well, according to the script, a whole lotta lovin'."

"Gee, thanks friend." The actress rolled her eyes. "How much of it did you read?"

"Honestly, I just skimmed it really, but I saw enough to know you'll be knockin' boots."

"God! Cori! You should see what I have to do! First of all, I'm topless... second of all, they want all sorts of artsy camera angles and weird shots of me having an orgasm! CORI! That's like 5 takes of me faking an orgasm topless! Can you believe the direction actually says "perky nipples?" That means there will be ice involved. I've heard the stories... FUCK!"

Cori winced with every word. "Oh honey..." She really didn't know what to say, this was an independent lesbian film. There was bound to be action in it. "Do you know who plays the other chick?"

"CORI!"

"Sorry, just thought I'd lighten the mood."

Faith was panicked. "What am I going to tell Reece?"

"What can you tell her? Tell her exactly what she needs to know."

"Needs to know? Damn! She's not going to like this one bit. She's gonna freak!"

"Maybe, but she'll have to come to her senses. It's just acting." Cori didn't even believe the crap she was saying. Who was she kidding? Reece will have a fit to end all fits, probably destroy everything in sight, have a stroke, then kill everything with tits on the movie set.

"Cori, this is Reece we're talking about, not Ghandi. She will not be sensible and peaceful. She's gonna lose it and you know it."

"Faith, look..."

"No, you look! I'm scared!"

Cori's eyes widened. "Of Reece? Faith, she'd never hurt you."

"No, not that... I don't think I can do this."

"It's just acting, Faith. You're not actually having sex with the woman, and besides, I'm sure you can talk to the director about the content."

"Yeah, I suppose I can."

"Sure," Cori continued, "they wrote the part for you, you have to have some say."

"But Cor, what if they won't change it? Maybe I should just forget it. Maybe I should just forget acting altogether. Reece is going to have a major coronary. It may not be worth it."

"Faith Ashford! You did not give up the life of fucking Riley to live in a rat infested, piss smelling tenement to follow a dream, only to throw it away because you think Reece will be unreasonable! Now you stop that shit and stop it now!"

Reece popped her head into the dressing room. "Freak, I'm locking up, light a fire under it will ya?"