All Things Pretty
only makes me feel a little better, though. I still
don’t know what he’s putting her through up there. I just know that
I feel like she needs me, like she needs saving. And not just
tonight. Every night.
    Four shots later, nothing seems to be able
to take the edge off. I have to know what’s going on up
there.
    I tell Barber I’m going to the bathroom.
After seeing several people going in one direction, I finally saw
the muted male and female symbols above a short hallway right
beside the stairs that lead up to the balcony. The stairs I need to
sneak onto. I head that way, squelching the voice in the back of my
mind that warns me that this is a bad idea. Yes, I’m supposed to
get close to her, but it probably shouldn’t be eating me up like
this because I can’t. The rational side of me says that I’m
dangerously close to mixing business with pleasure. Every other
side of me tells that side to go to hell.
    I glance behind me to see if Barber’s
watching. He’s not. He and the other two are eyeing a waitress that
has stopped to talk to them. She’s all but sitting in Barber’s lap,
which he doesn’t seem to be minding much. I turn back toward my
objective.
    After another quick glance behind me, rather
than continuing on to the bathrooms, I open the door that leads
upstairs and then jerk it shut behind me. In the darkness of the
stairwell, as I look up to whatever might be waiting for me at the
top, I realize I’m almost to the point of no return. I also realize
that I don’t care. If I get caught, I’ll think of something, some
excuse. I’m quick on my feet. You have to be to go under. I was
born with the skill to do this and I’m not afraid to use it.
    I still hear the music from the club; it’s
just a little more muted. But now, I also hear laughing and
moaning. It’s coming from upstairs. And it sets my teeth on
edge.
    I mount the steps, pausing at the top to
look left and right. The stairs don’t dump directly into the
balcony. There’s a small anteroom before it, and I can see another
open doorway. It leads into a private bathroom. I can see the
vanity mirror and sink.
    The next song that comes on is sexy as hell, Don’t Tell ‘Em . Under different circumstances, I’d love to
have this playing when I’m with Tommi. But not tonight. Not like
this.
    I ease around the rail that tops the steps
and press against the wall to get a sidelong glance into the
balcony room. My jaw drops open and hangs there, stunned wide.
    There’s a stage up here as well. A smaller
version of the one downstairs. And Tommi is on it. Her ass is
pressed to the pole, back arched, eyes closed. Her fingers are
threaded into the hair of a brunette. Looks like she’s licking one
of Tommi’s nipples. Tonin is on a couch to the left of the stage,
watching the show as the blonde who I must’ve seen from downstairs
sucks his cock. His palm is on the back of her head, pumping it up
and down, as he eyes Tommi and the other girl on the stage.
    So this is what he likes. This is what he
has her do for him. While I hate the thought of him seeing her, of
him possibly making her do stuff like this against her will, I
almost hope this is what gets him off, that he never lays a hand on
her otherwise. Just watches other women do it. Maybe this is what
she does to get what she needs from him, whatever that is. Because
I know there’s something. Right now, Tonin is saving her
from…something. But who’s going to save her from him? Or from
herself?
    I can’t stop my eyes from drifting back to
the stage. The brunette is making her way down Tommi’s stomach, her
hands plastered to the round ass that I so often admire. Tommi’s
eyes are still closed, her body swaying slightly to the sensual
tune, but not necessarily like she’s enjoying what’s happening. She
looks to me like she’s checked out, like she’s somewhere else.
Thinking of something else. I wonder again if this is what Tonin makes her do. Maybe it’s what she has to do to

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