Lara
Fuck! I was running late, and the damn traffic lights just didn’t want to turn green.
I tapped the steering wheel impatiently, willing the lights to change. I was a few minutes away, but I should have been at the club ten minutes ago. My heart sank. If I weren’t desperate, I would have turned around and gone home already, but that wasn’t an option for me. I’d barely had the rent last week, and there was no way I was asking my parents for money again. I had borrowed enough from them over the last few months, and they were disappointed in me already. I didn’t want to make it any worse.
The lights finally turned, and I hit the accelerator. Three minutes later, I pulled up outside the club and yanked up the handbrake. I was squint, and my back tyres touched the double yellow lines, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. I grabbed my bag, slammed the door, and raced up the steps at the front of the building.
After taking the lift to the seventh floor, I stopped at the entrance. I took a deep breath and straightened my shirt. The logo on the front door was a black silhouette in the shape of a lion’s head, with a decorative number 7 over it. I could hear the music pounding on the other side of the heavy door, and I checked my watch. Quarter past eight.
Inside, it was a completely different world from the fading autumn sun outside. Dim lights illuminated a long black marble bar top. The back bar was all glass, with silver fittings, and shelves upon shelves of spirits rising to the arched stone ceiling.
Three people, two men and a woman, were serving behind the bar, dressed in matching violet chequered shirts and black jeans. The club was empty for a Saturday night, but exceptionally busy for a regular Tuesday evening. I caught the lyrics of the current song as I made my way towards the bar, slipping between the throngs of people.
There were cosy booths around the edges of the room and a dance floor in the middle, surrounded by high tables and tall bar stools. Couples and groups of friends sat dotted around, raising drinks and laughing. There was a pool table in the corner, with two men discussing a potential shot. I was so distracted by their game, I walked head first into two women kissing.
Stuttering an apology, I hurried away with my eyes wide. It wasn’t something I was against, but it wasn’t something I could agree with, either. My parents had instilled that mindset in me for as long as I could remember; it was just the way I was raised.
Reaching the bar, I noticed all the bartenders were occupied, so I swivelled around to face the room.
One woman caught my eye, sitting in a grand chair in the far corner, her black army-style boots propped up on the table. She smoked a cigarette, a bottle of beer in her hand, chewing the inside of her cheek and listening to the man next to her. She wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of torn blue jeans. A leather belt encircled her waist. Her long, dark hair was pulled back along one side with a few braids, and I only realised I was staring when my attention was interrupted.
“Can I help you?”
I turned, clearing my throat. A young man stood before me with a broad smile on his face, his eyebrows raised. He was handsome, with light hazel eyes and a mop of blond hair. His badge told me his name was Cody.
“Yes, sorry. I’m here to see Harry?” I said. Come on, Lara, get a grip!
He bowed his head in a polite nod. “I’ll see if Harry’s available; I’ll be right back.”
I mumbled my thanks. I hoped Harry was a patient man who could forgive my lateness. If not, I’d handled a few strong-willed men before, and I was ready. I smoothed out my shirt again, pulling the bottom edge down and fiddling with my collar. I glanced up to scan the room as I waited.
I was shocked to catch the woman from before staring right at me, and a lump caught in my throat. She had different-coloured eyes, one a deep brown and the other a bright blue. Her lips parted, the corners pulling up in a teasing grin, and I inexplicably felt vulnerable. The feeling was overwhelming, and I forced myself to look away.
My heart hammered behind my ribs, and I let out a slow breath, trying to stop the colour draining from my face. I anxiously wondered whether she would approach me, and I turned around, praying Cody would return soon.
It was several minutes later before he finally returned. “Harry will see you now.”
He motioned for me to follow him, and he soon stopped outside a grey door with OFFICE embossed on a small silver plaque. I nodded gratefully, knocked on the door, entered the room, and froze.
The woman from the club stood behind the desk, with her hands in her pockets and a wicked glint in her eye. “All right, pet?” She grinned, gesturing for me to sit.
My mind went blank. I remained motionless, but my heart was pounding. She raised an eyebrow, and I urged myself to put one foot in front of the other.
She rifled through a few papers, pulled out the one she had been searching for, sank back into her chair, put her boots up on the desk, and crossed her ankles. I recognised the paper as my application. This is Harry?
“The one and only,” she answered. “My full name is Harriet.”
I swallowed hard. Had I said that out loud?
I sat down, clasping my hands between my knees. Looking around, I tried to slow the rising anxiety in my chest. The high ceiling and stone walls matched the club outside. Seven symbols framed on the back wall were illuminated in a vertical line, which I noted as a bit of a strange arrangement. To my right, a large window overlooked the city of Edinburgh, and to my left, there was a large collection of photographs. A few were quite risqué images of nude female bodies: nothing pornographic, but the context was easy to guess. Others were more modest, showing rainbow flags blowing in the wind or the front cover of a magazine. I spotted one, showing a famous female model with her arm around another brunette’s shoulders. I recognised the black marble bar in the picture as the one I’d just walked past, and my stomach knotted.
This is a gay club.
Harry was observing me closely. The light reflected in her dark brown eye, causing a luscious golden halo around her pupil, and her blue eye was a deep ultramarine. It was unnerving, but I found I couldn’t look away.
“How old are you?” she asked, bringing my attention back.
I hesitated, my mouth dry. “Twenty-five.”
“Do you want some water?” Her voice was deeper and huskier that I’d first heard.
“Please.” This is a disaster.
Harry stood up. She was at least six feet tall, and a tattooed sleeve encased her left arm. She grabbed a bottle of water from a minifridge and handed it over before resuming her seat. The water was ice cold and slid down my throat as I gulped a few large mouthfuls.
I swallowed, and in a potential moment of madness, I sided with the devil. I needed a job, and this was one of the few places hiring. The annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival had ended a week ago, and the other bars and restaurants I’d tried were overrun with extra staff they no longer required. I didn’t have an alternative. I could do it for a couple of months to pay the rent, while looking for somewhere else.
“I’ve worked in nightclubs since I was eighteen,” I began. “I have a wide range of skills that make me a perfect candidate to join your team. I have over four years’ supervisory experience, and I’ve got my own personal licence.” Harry nodded, so I continued, finding my confidence and sitting up straighter. “I’m trained in conflict, restraint, and first aid, so I’m comfortable dealing with escalating situations. I’m flexible regarding shift patterns, and I’m able to start at your convenience.” I had spoken far too quickly but at least I’d managed to get the words out at all. My stomach was doing somersaults.
“How’s your time management?” she asked. An awkwardly long silence followed before she looked up. Her blue eye caught me by surprise again.
“Yes,” I said, my voice cracking. “I mean, yes, my time management is good. The traffic lights, on the other hand—” I shrugged and then stopped myself, looking to make a light-hearted joke but unsure how it would be received. I blushed, dropping my gaze.
Eventually, I glanced back up, and her eyes met mine.
My body began tingling exploringly; there was no other way to describe it. It started underneath my ribs and reached upward towards my heart, my pulse quickening. I stretched as the tingling made its way up my neck, and I started getting lightheaded before it spread back down my torso, creating a tension in my abdomen and a tightness in my thighs.
I looked away, shaking my head, and the feeling vanished. I exhaled carefully, drinking the rest of my water in a large gulp.
Harry’s fingertip stroked her bottom lip while she considered me. She was silent for a few moments before she responded. “Come in for 8 a.m. tomorrow; Cody will show you around.”
A huge smile spread on my cheeks. “Thank you,” I said breathlessly, wavering as I stood up. I hadn’t noticed how much my legs were shaking.
I felt her intense gaze on my back as I left.
* * *
I lay wide awake at 3 a.m., hot and flustered and unable to sleep. I couldn’t get Harry out of my head. My mind was full of different images of her, from the smooth tanned skin on her forearms to the fleeting exposure of her collarbone underneath her shirt.
I wasn’t gay; I knew I wasn’t. But she was mysterious, and I was curious.
More images played themselves on a loop in my head. The brief glimpse of the strength in her biceps through her sleeves. The deep blue in her eye contrasted by the delicious dark brown in the other. The unmistakable glint of lust in both as I looked down on her face between my thighs, watching her tongue playing with my clit—
I bolted upright and flushed a maroon red, even though there was no one around to witness my thoughts. I shuddered, the cool breeze from the window raising goosebumps on my skin but failing to dampen the fire that was now raging, deep inside me. I was already wet.
I lay back down, determined to sleep. I needed to get up in four hours for my first shift at the Cardinal, and I refused to be late again. Kicking the duvet from my legs, I settled on my stomach. My shorts were tight against my groin, creating a tension that didn’t help.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep, but as if by magic, more and more images surfaced that humiliated me and, regretfully, aroused me even more. My back against a wall, with my legs wrapped around her waist. Her breasts against mine through a thin T-shirt as she kissed me, my hands pinned above my head. Her teeth grazing the sensitive skin on my throat, nipping and kissing the sting away. I let out a low moan. There was nothing else for it.
I slipped my hand underneath the waistband of my shorts and found the folds of my pussy were slick and soaking, coating my fingers. I smiled in the dark as my thumb found my clit, rubbing in small circles, my insides aching and my nipples throbbing hard against the sheets. I sighed, relishing each new image as it appeared.
Faster and faster, each image came and went, and came again as my climax was building inside me. My nipple now between her teeth. Her lips on my ribs as she leisurely kissed her way down my torso. Her hands on the back of my knees as she spread me wider, pushing them towards my chest. That was enough.
I screamed as I came, burying my head into a pillow to muffle the noise, gasping for breath. I rode out each wave of pleasure that washed over me; finally spent, I lay still, my body heavy.
Nicely done, pet, Harry’s deep voice murmured in the back of my mind, but I was already asleep.
