The Space Between Us (18 page)

“The bar. Let’s get a seat at the bar.” Meredith sounded a little impatient. “And order some food.”

“Sounds good to me.” Charlie shot me a grin and linked my other arm with his. “What does Tesla want?”

“Tesla wants a burger,” I told him. “And a beer, I guess.”

Meredith snagged us three seats along the bar. “And to see some naked titties.”

“Well, who doesn’t want to see that?” Charlie said.

The waitress who slid a set of coasters in front of us was young, pretty, a little chubbier than I’d have expected, but with enormous breasts surging out of the corset she wore tight enough to give her an hourglass shape. She also wore cute boy-cut shorts and fishnet stockings and a pair of those curve-bottomed sneakers. Not at all like I expected. She gave me a wink as she handed the three of us menus.

“Mixed drinks are on special for the next twenty minutes,” she offered. “Food’s listed there on the menu, along with our cigar list and beers on tap.”

“Hey, burgers,” Charlie said, and waved the menu toward Meredith.

My stomach rumbled a little. “She said they were good.”

Charlie looked across me to his wife. “Are they?”

Her attention was focused on the stage, where a woman had just arrived. Meredith barely looked at her husband. “Huh? How would I know?”

“You said—” I began, and stopped when she shot me a look.

“I heard they were good. That’s all.” Meredith turned back to the stage, where the woman had shimmied out of her long mesh dress and begun a spinning routine on the pole. “Impressive. Look at that.”

There was no mistaking her envious tone, and I had to admit I felt a little the same. In the dim light it was still easy to see the stripper had a few wrinkles, a little bit of cellulite, but she was amazing on that pole. She’d climbed halfway up to the thirty-foot ceiling, then hung there just using her thighs. Her hair fanned out as she spun.

“The pole’s spinning, not the girl,” Charlie commented. Then, quieter, “I hope she doesn’t fall.”

Meredith snorted soft laughter. “Leave it to Charlie to worry about safety. Focus on her boobies, honey. That’s what you’re paying to see. Speaking of, give me that stack of dollars. I’ve been collecting them for weeks,” she told me, and handed me a few from the stack Charlie passed her. “Here. Crumple them up and toss ’em.”

That seemed sort of rude, but it was what everyone else who wasn’t sitting within G-string tucking distance was doing. Crumpled dollars and wolf whistles filled the air as the dancer loosened her grip on the pole and slid down, stopping just as the tips of her long blond hair brushed the floor. Then she arched her back and flipped herself over to land on her five-inch platform shoes.

“God,” Meredith muttered. “Would you just fucking look at that.”

I was happy to look. I didn’t have to be a connoisseur of strippers to appreciate her talents. When she turned to send a smile our way, I was happy to toss her a crumpled dollar bill. It bounced off her bare breasts, and she caught it neatly in one hand, then dropped me a wink and bent to pick up her mesh dress before sashaying off the stage.

“I wish I could do that,” Meredith said.

“Pole dance?” Charlie peered around me to look at her. “I bet you could. We could set one up in the living room.”

I knew he was joking, but Meredith rolled her eyes. “That would go great with our decor, right?”

More and more girls started coming out. Two got up on the stage to do pole work, while the woman who’d already danced started mingling with the customers. Some other dancers came out, too, more than one of them wearing fancy gowns I’d have expected to see at a cocktail party, not a strip club.

“Hey, I’m Donna. How you all doing tonight?” The woman who’d been dancing a few minutes before had changed from the mesh dress into a tiny plaid skirt with a buttoned-up shirt left half open, the hem tied over her tan belly. Her breasts spilled out, helped along by a really great push-up bra I envied. Her gaze slid over me and Charlie, snagged for a moment on Meredith, then moved back to me. “Hey, darlin’. Cute top.”

“I was just thinking the same about yours. And the skirt, too.” I didn’t really love it, but there’s never any point in being mean. She worked hard for the money.

“This old thing?” She winked again and leaned casually against the bar next to Charlie. “So, is this your first time here?”

“Yes,” Charlie said.

Her gaze went to him, her smile a little broader. “Well, handsome, just so you know in case they didn’t tell you, private dances are twenty a song, and I’ll do a special for couples. Two for one.”

She looked at me, I guess because I was sitting next to him. “Whattaya say, honey? Want to treat your husband to something special?”

“He’s my husband,” Meredith said, though not with malice. I think she liked surprising people. “And does your special go for triples?”

You’d think strippers would be hard to surprise, but the woman’s eyebrows lifted before she looked again at me. “Can’t say I’ve ever done three at a time before, but…sure. Why not? Tell you what, you pay for three songs, and I’ll do the three of you. How’s that?”

Charlie hadn’t said much this entire time, though he didn’t seem to mind the dancer’s arm brushing his or the way her hip nudged him when she shifted. “What a bargain.”

She glanced at him. “What can I say? I like a challenge.”

Meredith hopped off the bar stool and stood, her eyes gleaming in that way I’d come to know so well. “Good. Let’s go.”

Charlie and I exchanged looks. I was up for it, and I couldn’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t be. Yet he hung back with more hesitation than simple politeness. His hand went to the small of my back as we followed Meredith and the dancer through the crowd, which had doubled since we came in. Our seats at the bar were quickly taken.

“You sure about this?” he murmured in my ear as we moved toward the back of the bar, down a short hallway past the restrooms and into a smaller room with a bouncer at the door.

I paused to face Charlie, though Meredith had already followed the dancer into the room. “Sure. Why…aren’t you?”

“I’ve never had a lap dance before.” He looked adorable almost all the time, but just then I wanted to eat him up.

Meredith stuck her head out from the doorway. “What are you doing? C’mon.”

Charlie’s fingers tightened in mine. “Better not keep her waiting.”

“No. She doesn’t like that.” I tugged him. “C’mon, Charlie. Let’s pop your lap dance cherry.”

“Have you had one?” he asked as we went past the bouncer and the cashier just inside the doorway, where Charlie pulled out his credit card for her to swipe.

I shook my head, looking over the room, which featured about ten of the same booths that were out in the main area, except these had even higher backs and sides to provide for total privacy from the ones next to it. “Nope.”

“So we’re both popping our cherries tonight.” Charlie signed the slip and tucked his card and the receipt in his wallet, then put it in his pocket. He leaned to brush his lips against my temple, then tugged my hand. “C’mon.”

“Tesla, you sit between us.” Meredith wriggled on the velvet seat and patted it. “Charlie, you sit there.”

She was orchestrating us, as usual. We sat as Donna watched us, looking amused. She toyed with the crisscross-tied hem of her shirt. When we were settled, she unbuttoned it swiftly and shrugged out of the bra, leaving herself in the tiny skirt.

“I can take this off or leave it on,” she offered, turning to show us how the skirt flipped up to show off her ass in a lacy thong. She looked at us over her shoulder and wiggled her hips from side to side. “Your choice.”

“Off.” Meredith clapped her hands and bounced on the seat, shaking me against Charlie.

I had to laugh at her. “I dunno, I sort of like it on.”

“Charlie,” Meredith said. “Tiebreaker.”

I thought he’d choose what she wanted, so it surprised me when he said, “On. I like it. It’s sexy.”

Meredith looked surprised, too, and not that happy, but she shrugged. “On, then.”

Donna glanced toward the cashier and held up three fingers, getting a nod back that probably signified Charlie had indeed paid for three dances. The music started a few seconds later. She’d danced to something fast earlier, but now a slow and sexy song filtered through the speakers. “No Ordinary Love” by Sade.

“One of my favorites,” Charlie murmured, before he had a faceful of giant breasts and a lapful of stripper.

It can’t have been easy, dancing for three, but God bless her, Donna did her best. She moved back and forth, sitting on each of our laps and rubbing her ass along us, then turning to press our faces into her ample boobs. She smelled good. Her skin was soft. I liked the weight of her on my lap, and I liked when she sat on Charlie’s lap next to me and arched her back so that her face was pressed alongside his and her tits pushed up to the ceiling. She ground against us, one at a time, then added in the stroke of a hand or a flirty look to make sure that even as she pressed against one of us, another still got some attention.

I gave myself up to the pleasure of being seduced by a pretty woman who knew how to give us our money’s worth. I liked the way she made eye contact, letting it linger, and I liked how she made Charlie blush a little when she rubbed her ass on his crotch.

When the third song ended, Meredith stood before Donna even had time to back up a few steps. “Thanks. Great job.”

Donna smiled as she slipped her arms through her bra straps and hooked it in the front. “Thanks. Glad you had a good time.”

Meredith didn’t look at her twice, though she gave both me and Charlie a narrow-eyed look. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

She left us there without a second glance.

Donna appeared concerned. “Is she okay?”

“I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll check on her.” I stood on tiptoe to whisper in Charlie’s ear, “You should give Donna a nice tip.”

I patted him on the ass and headed for the bathroom, where I found Meredith just coming out of the stall. She washed her hands, then patted wet fingertips at the back of her neck and on her throat. She looked at me in the mirror.

“Let’s go home,” she said.

I shrugged. I hadn’t been the one to suggest we come here, and though I was having a good time, I wasn’t married to the idea that we stay. “Sure. You okay?”

“I just don’t see the point in tossing money away to pay for what we can do at home for free.” Meredith faced me, her fingers skimming up my arms. “And better.”

I laughed. “You want to give Charlie a lap dance at home? Okay, I’m down with that.”

“Not just Charlie. You, too.” She pulled me a little closer, nuzzled briefly at my throat, then my cheek. Not quite a kiss, but the promise of one. She pulled away just enough to look me in the eyes. “I’m horny as fuck, aren’t you?”

I hadn’t been before, but now I was. Her touch. That look. The quick rise and fall of her shoulders as she breathed and the rapid throb of her pulse at the base of her throat. These were things that turned me on.

I wanted to be the reason why all that happened to her.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go to your place.”

* * *

“Sit there, baby. Let us take care of you.” Meredith pulled a chair from the dining room table, through the arch into the living room, and turned it around with a twist of her wrist. “Let us show you what we’ve got, Charlie.”

He sat willingly enough, already tugging at his tie to loosen it, then the button at his throat. “Ladies, I’m all yours.”

“And you don’t even need any dollar bills,” I told him from the corner as I scrolled through the playlists on Meredith’s iPod to find something suitable. I plugged it into the speaker dock and pushed the Play button.

Charlie laughed. “Awesome.”

Meredith spun in a circle, then stopped, pointing the toes of one foot against the thick carpet. Her hips swayed. She threw me a glance over her shoulder. “C’mon, Tesla. Let me see you rock Charlie’s world.”

I was already dancing, bouncing on the balls of my feet, but I went obediently enough. I added a bump-n-grind, a pelvic thrust. I ran my hands up my body to cup my breasts. It was a joke, really, but my nipples got hard anyway.

Charlie let his legs sprawl out as he leaned against the back of the chair. He pulled a little harder on his tie and I captured the end of it. Pulled until it came free in my fingers and slipped through his collar. I hung it around my own neck, over my blouse.

Behind him, Meredith’s hands slipped over Charlie’s shoulders. Her fingers worked at his shirt buttons, slipping inside to stroke his skin and tweak his nipples. I straddled him, bumping our crotches together, but slid off his lap before he could anchor me against him with his hands on my hips.

“No touching,” Meredith breathed into his ear.

The music swelled around us as we took turns wiggling and writhing around Charlie. He made the perfect audience, because while he’d seemed to have a good time at the strip club, here he was having an even better time.

His cock thickened in his pants as I mimicked one of Donna’s moves, sitting on Charlie’s lap and rocking my hips back and forth as I arched my back to press my cheek close to his. And though we’d told him no touching, I took his hand and slid it up beneath my skirt to stroke me through my panties before I pushed away, laughing, to give Meredith a turn on his lap.

“I thought you were the ones supposed to be stripping,” Charlie complained good-naturedly as Meredith worked open the rest of his buttons and took his shirt off.

She tossed it to the side and looked at me. “Good idea.”

We’d all been drinking, though I didn’t feel drunk on anything but passion as I unbuttoned my blouse and took it off, twirling it around my head and letting it fly onto the couch. I wasn’t wearing a push-up bra and my boobs weren’t as big as Donna’s, but I was wearing a cute little skirt. I spun in a circle so it flew out around my hips, flashing my panties at them both.

“Look at her,” Meredith said. “Look at our pretty, pretty Tesla.”

I gave up to the music, letting it fill me, no longer mimicking the stripper’s moves but making up my own. Dancing, just dancing, letting the beat make my heart pound and my feet move. I shook what my mama gave me like a tambourine and gave myself a whistle.