TWENTY FIVE & SIX
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“ Sounds good to me, but I can’ t go looking like this,” Kim said.“ I have a place close by where you can change and wash off the make-up.”“ Great!” she said, climbing behind the wheel of her car.“ Follow me,” Eddie said. They drove through the darkening forest along the winding road. The headlights of Kim’ s car were barely visible as she hugged his bumper. Pulling into the apartment complex Eddie thought, for a moment, this was a bad idea until he convinced himself he could control the situation. He was just being nice to a girl who worked for George. Not a problem. The apartment door swung open and Kim stepped into the bachelor pad. On the way toward the bathroom Kim asked where Eddie planned to get food. He detoured into the kitchen.“ The freezer,” he said, and opened the well stocked refrigerator.“ Oh, okay,” she said, peering at all the choices offered.“ Four cheese is fine with me and a wine cooler please.”“ Door on the right is the ladies room. I’ ll get dinner started,” he said, pointing at the hallway. Setting the coffee table with plates, silverware and drinks, Eddie sipped his beer and waited for Kim. She joined him on the big sofa. Kim broke the silence.“ If this makes you uncomfortable I can leave,” she said.“ It just feels a little strange sitting with a young lady I have seen almost completely naked,” Eddie confessed.“ Do you want to see me completely naked?” she teased. The timer dinged announcing the pizza was done and Eddie thought,“ Saved by the bell,” as he headed for the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later, served the food and decided to change the subject.“ Do you like working at the club?” He asked.“ I started because I needed the money for school. The girl that taught me the ropes was beautiful. Angela got stupid and had sex with a guy who was HIV positive. Within a year she wasn’ t beautiful anymore. I went to see her all the time. I was at the hospital when she was hooked to all those monitors. I watched the line go flat. I thought she was dozing off, like she did all the time. The nurses came in and unplugged everything. They didn’ t say a word until they covered her with the sheet.“ We have to take her now,” was all they said and wheeled her out. Eddie, I still hear the sound that went from the steady beep, beep, beep, to one solid note. I dance because of the beat. It lets me know I’ m alive,” Kim stated.
Eddie effectively chilled the evening.“ Why do you want to work for me?” he asked.“ George has a simple set of rules and one of them is the girls are not allowed to be mean to the customers. He says he pays Bruno good money to handle guys who misbehave. I wondered what it would be like to be a little catty. I heard George and Frank talking. I wanted the part,” she said.“ Why did you come back here with me?”“ I liked dancing for you. I thought you were a nice guy,” she said.“ I’ m not. I want to be but that’ s not who I am. You caught me at a time when I am trying to be a good guy. You need to learn what Angela did not. I was a real bad guy when it wasn’ t a deadly game. The rules changed about the time I got married. Find yourself a guy that will worship the ground you walk upon. He is out there.”“ You had sex with a lot of women?”“ More than I can remember. It was a score card of epic proportion. I said and did anything to coax them into my bed. The word“ No” sounded more like“ Sure. Why not?”
The look in his eyes told her he was speaking the truth and suddenly she was in fear. Fear different from a creepy haunted house. There was an evil presence