Pole Dance (40 page)

"But, Jake, I--"

"Not up for discussion, Cait."

"What about--"

"Not gonna say it again, Darlin'." Jake said as he stopped the chair in front of the elevator doors. I glanced up at the orderly who was looking everywhere and anywhere except at us.

"He's a bit of a control freak," I finally said on a stage-whisper pointing to Jake over my shoulder with my thumb.

"I kind of noticed, " the orderly whispered back, chancing a glance at the tall man behind the chair standing with his feet firmly planted and arms crossed and staring up at the elevator indicator.

*.*.*.*.*

It took longer than Jake expected to get what Caitlin needed to stay at his house for the next few days. The thing that took the most time was making the list of what she wanted from her apartment since Jake absolutely refused to allow her to take part in the packing. And the written list was necessary because Jake knew he'd never remember fuckin' anything she said after the fourth fuckin' item.

"Darlin', no reason you need three pairs of boots…"

"Are you
trying
to piss me off, Jake.
Are you
?" He heard her snap from the back seat. "I want what I want and if you won't let me go in and actually
get
what I want, then you'll just have to get
what I tell you to
, okay?"

'Guess the pain pills were wearing off,
'
Jake thought, but wisely did not say out loud.

"My bad," Jake said trying to hang on to his patience but it was wearing thin after all the drama of the last couple of days. He worked as quickly as he could, moving through the small space her apartment, packing the stuff from the list into her overnight case, the big tote but having to use the plastic grocery bags for the rest when he couldn't find her luggage. He had finished loading it all in the trunk of the Kia when it occurred to him they never talked about the cat.

Jake opened the door by her feet and leaned in. Her complexion seemed a bit gray and she was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Yep, his girl was in pain. "Just one more thing, pretty girl, yeah?"

Caitlin used his rolling hand motion to get him to keep on speaking. Jake had to turn his head to hide the smile when he recognized she was making his gesture. "What about Fred?"

"Fred who?" Caitlin said her brows coming together as she tilted her head.

"You know. The cat." Was she in so much pain she couldn't follow a conversation?

"You mean,
Floyd
?"

"Babe. Fred, Floyd. Either way, don't give a fuck. The question is, what are we gonna do with him?"

"You're right." He heard her mumble but she didn't seem to have any ideas, or at least, none that she was willing to talk about.

"Think he'll be okay with Mustard?" he offered just wanting to get the damn show on the road and get her settled into bed as soon as fuckin' possible.

"Who?"

Jake found his back teeth tightly clenched as he again dug deep for another dose of patience. "My dog, Darlin'."

"Oh. I don't know." she said with a sigh. Jake waited to see if she had anything further to add. "You named your dog after a condiment?"

"That fuckin' does it," Jake mumbled at long last and forced himself to close the car door softly, instead of slamming it hard and repeatedly like he wanted to do, before heading back up into the building. He knocked on Marianne's door and asked her if she could take care of the cat for a few days and she said she'd be glad to, before asking him to let Caitlin know that she'd call her tomorrow.

He was back in the car and they had only gone a few blocks before Caitlin spoke up. "What's happening with my cat?"

"Marianne's gonna take care of him," he replied glancing up at the rear view mirror and catching her eyes. "Says she'll call you tomorrow."

"Good," Caitlin sighed.

Jake agreed.

Jake got Caitlin settled and situated in his big bed and made her pop another couple of pain pills before leaving her on her own to make a quick run to the club. He made sure the laptop and the remote to the TV were within easy reach and even brought her a couple of bottles of water that he sat on the nightstand.

"Can I call you Nurse Betty?" she asked on smiling yawn.

"Not if you want me to answer. Now, you set?" Jake snagged a quick kiss after seeing her nod. "See you in a few, Darlin'."

"See ya, baby," he watched as she snuggled lower in the covers and reached for the remote.

Jake knew he needed to sleep but he wanted to get this out in the open as soon as possible. He had been thinking about this for a long time, but having Caitlin in his life had seemed to bring more pressure to get it done and get it done soon.

He pulled into his reserved space and stepped around to the front entrance to avoid having to walk through the club to get to the stairs that led to the office. He traded high five's with Tony who had pulled door duty for the evening.

Jake almost ran down the stairs to the office, hoping that Dale would be there instead of wandering the floor upstairs. He was. Jake threw himself into one of the chairs in front of the desk and waited for Dale to complete his call before he spoke.

"Want out of the club, Dale," he said simply.

"Hello to you, too. I'm fine, thanks for asking." Dale said with only a tiny bit of sarcasm.

Jake didn't respond but just looked at his friend of so many years, the brother of his heart.

"So, you want out, huh?" Dale said on a resigned sigh.

Jake nodded.

"You want me to buy you out completely or do you just want to just be a silent partner?"

"Completely."

Jake watched Dale settle his elbows on the desktop before reaching for his pad of paper and the pen. They both watched Dale write out a long row of loops before Dale spoke again.

"Can I ask why?"

"Lots of reasons." Jake paused. "Or no reason, if you prefer."

"In other words, you're not going to tell me."

Jake rested his interlocked fingers on his head as he slid further down in the chair. Dale's head was still lowered, watching the damn loops flow from the pen.

"My life is changin', Dale. Fuego's doesn't fit anymore."

"Because of Caitlin?"

"Part of it, yeah."

"How much a part of it? A little bit, a medium bit or the whole fucking enchilada?" Dale's voice rose both in volume and tone.

Jake kept quiet, watching as little spots of temper begin to bloom high up on Dale's cheeks. Jake knew what that coloring meant, knew it in fourth grade when Andy Lewis had made fun of Jake's second-hand backpack. That was the first time Jake remembered seeing the spots of color and it was the first time he saw Dale ever take a swing at another person.

Jake slowly moved his hands from his head and sat up a bit straighter in the chair before answering.

"Doesn't matter, Dale."

"Sure it does. I mean didn't we make a promise that pussy would never come between us when we first started out? And wasn't it you that insisted we always make the decisions together saying two heads were better than one? Right, Jake? Isn't that what you said? So now, you're breaking the rules,
your
fucking rules, Jake, for a bit of snatch?"

'Holy fuck, here we go
,
' Jake thought.

"All right, you want to get into this, let's do it," Jake growled, his eyes boring into Dale's.

Dale stared right back.

"You and I make a great team most of the time. We make a shit-load of money in a number of different ways, including this club. Never saw myself as a strip club owner, did you?"

Dale shook his head and Jake felt the tension ease a bit.

"Remember when we bought the place? How we got such a deal from Bruno 'cause he needed it to pay his legal fees? So we got the club on the cheap, yeah?"

"Yeah, I remember, Jake. We couldn't figure out who on the staff had been involved with Bruno's drug trafficking and prostitution that we had to fire everyone."

"Christ! And we made 'em apply for their jobs and take drug tests. You'd think we were asking them to give us a kidney or somethin'," Jake shook his head at the memory.

"How often did you get your tires slashed, Jake? I think mine were done five times."

"Had you beat by one, six total." They were both quiet as they remembered those early days.

"So even though we've made a lot of cake with this, it takes up a lot my time and finds me rubbing elbows with people I really don't wanna know. After six years, Dale, I'm tired. I'm tired of havin' to stay on top of all the fuckin' laws and shit. But, bottom line? I want to settle down. I want a family, I want to make my--"

Jake didn't get a chance to finish the thought as Dale stood abruptly, knocking the heavy desk chair backwards as he began to throw everything on the desk, one at a time, at the farthest wall, his pitches timed to emphasize his words as he yelled them. "Well…Fuck…You…Jake! With no more objects to throw Dale stood still, his chest heaving, his hands clenched into fists.

Jake was watchfully quiet, keeping his eyes on Dale.

"And, FUCK HER!" At Dale's final shout, Jake shot up from his chair. He hoisted himself up and over the desk to get in Dale's face, his hand at Dale's neck.

"Know me, Dale. Know how I think, how I work, what's important to me, yeah?"

When Jake didn't get a response from him, not even so much as a nod, he pushed Dale back up against the wall before pinning him against it.

"Yeah? Answer, Dale."

Dale gave Jake a slight nod, a mere chin lift.

"So why the fuck shouldn't I beat the holy crap outta you for talkin' shit about her?"

Dale was arching his back, trying to twist his body away from Jake and his hold.

"Been thinkin' on this a long time, longer than I've been with Cait. Not because of her. But because now is a really good fuckin' time for me to get outta this shit."

Jake slowly began to let go of Dale's before he again pushed his partner against the wall. "Better not
ever
hear you callin' my Cait 'a bit of snatch' or I'll fuckin' rip your head off! Got it?"

Dale eased himself away from the wall as Jake moved quickly towards the door, careful not to give Dale his back.

"Call you later and see if we can set up an appointment with Sam," his voice still angry tight.

*.*.*.*.*

"Baby?"

"Hmm?"

"You asleep?"