Chapter 535: Invited
"How. Just how?" Amira asked as the bright lights of the club started spinning around them. People walked past dressed in all manner of skimpy clothing, some buff guys wearing nothing more than a speedo while some girls had their breasts hanging out with little stickers covering their nipples. As for the stages spread out around the outside of the dance floor with poles, they we now occupied by dancing patrons as it looked like strippers were given a night off. For Amira who came from a conservative family, this place was like another world to her.
But that wasn’t what she was asking about.
"How did I get an invitation when Deanna and Rick told me they couldn’t get me one in time?" Laz asked with a grin, walking with Amira up to the bar. Amazingly for Amira, the crowd around Laz seemed to part as soon as he came close, almost like they were intentionally opening a way for him.
"Yeah...."
"Want a drink?" Laz asked, coming to the glass and steel structure that covered the entire wall, staffed by almost two dozen bar tenders.
"Uh..." Amira said, hesitant. Despite her age and having been in America since she was a young child, her family had never really adapted to it and as such, she had never had an alcoholic drink before in her life.
"Something light then? Laz said, turning to the tender who walked up to serve them.
"Something fruity and tasty for the lady and let’s see.... How about a Reaper for myself?" Laz said, giving the man a smile. The young man in a suit, apparently the official outfit of the serving staff in this club, looked at Laz with a slight hesitation.
"Sir... The Reaper is a house special, something that the owner has personally concocted herself. It is quite strong... If the good sir isn’t good with his drinks... well... people have been known to have crawled out of here after only the one drink," the man said, being as straightforward as he could be. He could see that Laz was being accompanied by a beautiful woman and thought he was just showing off. In the interest of not having to deal with the fall out again, the bartenders were all warned to make sure the customer knew what they getting themselves into when they ordered such a drink.
"It will be fine. I promise. And here, thanks for the heads up. Keep the change," Laz said, setting two one hundred dollar bills on the counter. While this might have seemed like a lot, Amira’s drink was already going to cost forty dollars while Laz’s was a hundred by itself. When that was considered, it was just a twenty five percent tip.
"You just spent more for two drinks than my family did on groceries last week," Amira said, her face a shade of white that should have been impossible considering her skin color.
"Yeah. I kind of have more money than I know what to do with and since you are technically my date, I might as well go all out," Laz said with a laugh.
"Who the hell agreed to be your date?" Amira replied, also laughing. After the experience in the Hearn office, being mocked outside the club and having an extreme make over done in half an hour with just a few words from Laz at the shop and then on top of all that getting in to the club under the stunned expression from the rich asshole outside, Amira’s brain had short circuited enough to shut off, allowing her to stop thinking and just enjoy the night. She knew nothing about Laz since she had only met him less than half a day ago, but she felt that he held no negative intent towards her.
’And besides, considering how much money he seems to have along with the connections he’s shown so far, what scheme would he possibly have against me? Hell, I’ve the one who has been clinging on to him ever since I met him and while he’s been rude, he hasn’t turned me away.’
Amira took a look at the somewhat large glass that was sitting in front of her. The liquid inside was a neon pink that glowed in the lighting of the bar with a frosted white, mineral like substance that covered the top. Above it was several types of berry like fruit that seemed to have been sprinkled in golden flakes.
Looking at it, Amira was slightly confused until the bartender passed over a hard plastic straw that he had just unsealed from it’s sealed wrapper.
Amira held the straw in one hand and the drink in another as Laz was handed a black and gold cup, one that looked like it was a chalice from some sort of fantasy series. Laz then turned to see Amira wondering just how she was going to get the straw through the crystal like substance on top of the drink.
"Just stab it in the middle and hold on tight," Laz said with a laugh. While he had tended bar at the club in Texas, he had seen a lot of things.
"Hold on tight?" Amira said before stabbing the straw in the center. Doing so caused the crystal like substance to collapse from the middle and sink into the drink, causing popping sounds and small sparks of light to shoot out from the drink.
"Eeepppp."
’Despite being warned, Amira made a cute sound and almost dropped the drink, but was saved since Laz had put his hand out on the bottom of the glass ahead of time.
"Go ahead, try it," Laz encouraged her and Amira took a sip.
It was like an explosion in her mouth. She couldn’t help but take a second, then a third and then a forth sip.
"Ok, ok. Stop. It’s good but it’s also still acholic... so take it easy and enjoy it," Laz said with a laugh.
Amira’s slightly red face nodded at his advice and she took a slow sip next, enjoying the flavor as much as possible.
"Fucking trash," Chaz said, watching things play out down the bar as he was getting a drink for himself and Brittany who was standing right by him. Ever since they watched Laz and Amira walked in, Chaz had been obsessing over them constantly and even followed them to the bar. For her part, Brittany didn’t say anything, but took several glances at Laz when Chaz wasn’t looking. There was a light in her eyes that was hard to place and it was impossible to know what she was thinking.
There was another set of eyes watching Laz and Amira from behind the stage that was still dark and silent, waiting for it’s chance to come to life soon.
"He’s fucking here?" Leo said, as he peered through the curtain.
"It seems that way, young master," Max said, taking another sip from his cup, the amber liquid disappearing into his mouth.
"Have I ever mentioned that since we came on to this gig, you’ve gotten more and more lazy old man?" Leo asked, looking at his old attendant with an amused smile.
"Well young master, since you decided to give up on the family and forge your own path, my work detail has gone way down. Now there is nothing to keep this old man happy except for a few sips of some cough syrup to help me settle down for the night," Maz said with a smile.
"That’s your forth one, isn’t it?"
"Just a few sips though," Maz refuted, slamming another glass in almost one shot.
"Whatever. How did you know it was him? Considering how much he’s changed over the years," Leo asked the old man.
"He has changed, but ever since he came in contact with you, I’ve made sure to follow up on every piece of information that comes out about him. A good portion of it is false, but finding a few true stories here and there isn’t an issue."
"Oh? So how did you know he came here?" Leo said, sitting down in a chair and allowing his makeup artist to go to work.
"Security told me about a certain someone at the door and then explained the whole encounter. I must say, it seems like he is really in deep with the Hearn Group still considering he was able to order around one of their high end shops at a moments notice. Anyway, once I saw the picture, I put two and two together," Max replied, tilting the bottle to refill his empty cup before stopping before the liquid came out. He then set down the bottle and grabbed one of the cold bottles of water sitting in ice next to Leo.
"So who is the woman?" Leo then asked, watching the process take place in the mirror before him.
"No clue. A local was all we were able to gather in the ten minutes since they walked in the door."
"Ha. Well he never had any trouble with women in the past and I guess that still hasn’t changed," Leo said, laughing a bit as the woman doing his foundation backed up so as to not smear the makeup.
"Perhaps. But then again, having too many of them is a problem as well."
"Don’t go there..."
"Of course young master."
"Alright. Well since I know you won’t let me go out there and say hi and won’t let him come back here before the show..."
"You need to focus."
"Right. Why don’t you give him my VVIP pass and have him wait in my personal booth for the evening so that we can chat after the show is over."
"Are you sure young master? There are quite a few people waiting to talk to you as well tonight, one’s who have been scheduled well before tonight," Max said, reminding the young man.
"It’s fine. There is a ton of room after all, much better than my old nightclub..." Leo said with a bit of regret.
"I’m sure we can rebuild it in the future if you wish, young master."
"It won’t be the same. That’s why I decided to leave in the first place. One day I will settle down again... but not anytime soon," Leo replied with a smile.
"As you wish, young master," Max said before calling over one of the armed detail and giving him a few instructions.
...
"Looks like the show doesn’t start for a while," Amira said, looking around while slowly enjoying her drink. They were sitting at a high table, watching those dancing on the floor in front of them.
"Why does it seem more like they are fucking than dancing?" Amira asked as she looked on.
Laz followed her gaze and noticed who she was talking about before taking a sip. The liquid burned going down, something he had not expected. This drink was many times stronger than anything that could be legal.
’So good.’
"That’s because they are fucking," Laz calmly replied before turning his attention away from the scene.
"SERIOUSLY?" Amira asked, wondering if Laz was joking.
"If by you mean is his penis insider her ass?.. then yes. Although if you only consider vaginal penetration as actual fucking... then I guess not, no."
"That’s... so fucking gross," Amira said, taking another drink. Laz looked at her as she tried to force her eyes to evade the scene, but the blush on her cheeks told Laz she wasn’t trying too hard to do so.
It was clear to Laz this wasn’t a world she was used to.
Two armed men came up to Laz and stood there while he took another sip of his drink. They didn’t speak and he didn’t say anything at first, but seeing as how they weren’t going away, he finally set his drink down. This action also caught Amira’s attention and she seemed a bit startled when she noticed.
This also caught the attention of Chaz who had been watching the whole time. He noticed the guards walk up to Laz and felt like there would finally be a good show to watch. So he dragged Brittany with him to sit down next to them at an empty table.
"Can I help you?" Laz asked, not bothering to turn towards the suited men.
"Mister Leo has invited you to watch the show from his private box upstairs. If you would like to accept, he would be happy to take care of your bill for the rest of the evening. He also hopes to be able to chat with you once the show is over," the tall and burly man said, his voice somehow loud enough to be overheard even with the loud music, but at the same time didn’t sound like a scream either.
"Oh? Must be the old man saw me come in. Seems he’s still as prudent as ever, huh? Well, can I invite her as well?" Laz then asked, pointing to Amira.
"Of course. Any lady you wish to bring is welcomed. Mister Leo would be more than happy to take care of their tab and meet them after the show."
"Sounds good. Is Lessa here as well? Laz asked, thinking about Leo’s ’sister’ he had met back in the day.
The guards exchanged a look at one another before returning to Laz’s question.
"Which Lessa are you referring to sir?" The first guard asked.
"Leo’s sister of course," Laz said, wondering what was with the change in the man’s tone.
"Ah. Of course. Yes. Mistress Lessa is also in attendance tonight, however she is quite busy."
"Of course she is. I wonder what money making scheme she is up to this time?" Laz said, remembering the drag show that had happened the last time she had been around.
"Uh... Well sir. Since you seem to be acquainted with both Leo and Mistress Lessa, but don’t seem to be aware of it.. This club actually belongs to Mistress Lessa," the guard said in a soft voice.
"EH? Really? Well what the fuck do you know... Good for her," Laz said, standing up to follow the guards to the upstairs area, his reservations having vanished. Amira quickly followed behind, still sipping her neon pink drink.
Just as the door to the glass elevator opened, a slightly out of breath woman in a way too short black dress came up behind them but was quickly stopped by the guards following Laz’s group.
"Sorry Miss. General access isn’t allowed," one guard said, blocking her way.
"Please? I just... I really want to meet Mr. Leo...." She said, trying to get Laz’s attention.
It was Brittany who had come running after hearing everything that had gone down since Chaz had made them get closer when he thought Laz and Amira were going to get thrown out.
He was still sitting in the seat frozen, never having thought things would go down the way they had. In fact, he didn’t even notice when his date had decided to abandon him and run after Laz’s group.
Laz looked at the girl for a moment while she looked back. When he was about to wave her off, he saw something in her eyes that gave him pause.
Amira, oblivious to this, sipped her drink some more, the flush on her cheeks even stronger.
"Come then," Laz said, waving her into the group. The guards didn’t bother to speak and proceeded with the task, taking the group up to the third floor private room.
