Tainted (Oh Captain, My Captain 7)

I double-check myself in the mirror and see the dress stops at the mid thigh. As long as I don’t bend over, I’m sure it’ll be okay. I slip my feet into the black high heels. I’m used to heels and I’ve got pretty good balance.

Let’s hit the town.

“This okay?” I ask them when I walk into the living room and twirl around. It looks like Gus and Valo were playing a video game when I interrupted them.

“Way more than okay. Wow.” Valo puts the controller aside and keeps looking me up and down.

“Are you looking for a new sugar daddy tonight?” Gus wrinkles his nose at me. Since they’ve come home, he’s been more of an ass to me.

“Depends on the offer, Gus,” I sneer at him. “Are we ready to leave?” I look at Valo.

He nods and we all head out to the truck. I try to climb in without showing everything, but at this point, I don’t give a fuck.

Of course, we end up at the biggest, most exclusive club in Liberty. We walk in without as much as a glance to the massively long line. Valo takes my hand and we make our way to the second floor where the VIP rooms are.

When we walk in, there are about fifteen people already here. I know most from the Halloween party. Some are wives and some are girlfriends, and I try my best to remember everyone’s name, but I’m not good at that.

Like last time, I’m Valo’s friend. What’s the point of even caring about a title? I never cared before. Then again, I never had someone like Valo before.

I made my bed and I need to lie in it. If I’m going to be his…whatever the fuck this is, I need to suck it up and shut up or crawl my ass back to Big Mike’s and hit the stage again.

Valo goes to the bar while I talk to a couple of girls. I think of them as tall Barbie and short Barbie. There’s more dyed blonde hair in this room than at Love Spa. However, they seem nice. Well, it’s a fake nice because I know what that looks like, but I go with their game.

After a couple drinks, several of the girls want to go down to the dance floor. It’s packed, but they ask me to go with them and I do. I like to dance. I never cared about taking my clothes off, and I’m not shy about it, but dancing was always what I liked. The girls and I find a spot and I swing my hips to the techno beat and get lost in the lights as I have always done before.

I rotate myself a little bit and I glance up at the VIP lounge and see Valo standing on the balcony looking down at me. He has a smile on his face from watching me.

Maybe a little bit of a show wouldn’t hurt. I turn back ar

ound and pick up the pace a little bit more for him. I keep it going for about three songs and then my feet begin to hurt. A couple of the girls are having the same issue and we head back to the room

Valo is sitting on the couch with a fresh drink for me when I sit down next to him. He puts his arm around me and pulls me close. This is what I like, our closeness. This is how I know he cares for me.

He leans in close to my ear. “That must have been weird for you, huh?”

“Dancing?” I pull back a little, confused at what he means. “No, I like dancing and those girls seem okay. They’re not as fake as the others.”

He chuckles and pulls me close again. “No, I mean dancing without taking your clothes off.”

My heart drops as does my stomach. The jerk. I would expect it from Gus, but not Valo. Rage is building as well as hurt at his words. If we were alone, I would really kick him in the nuts and leave. But this is still his territory and I need to keep cool for a moment or two longer.

“Must have been because no one was waving ones in my face.”

“Hey,” he squeezes my shoulder. “I’m just kidding. You looked,” he pauses for a second and grins, “hot out there.”

I ignore his comment about my dancing because it wasn’t a joke at all. “Sure, I totally thought the joke was hilarious. I think I need to be more drunk to understand it with the accent.” I almost down my whole drink. If I’m going to keep lying, I need to be drunker.

“So you can joke like that, but not me?” His expression is one of confusion and hurt. “Jade, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know, Valo. I know you were joking.” Just keep lying, Jade. That’s the only thing you seem to be good at anymore. “Let’s get something to drink.” I shake my empty glass at him and head over to the bar.

Chapter Twelve

Valo

I’ve never seen someone try so hard to lie about being pissed off and hurt. I shouldn’t have said what I did; I knew it the moment Jade replied. I’m an idiot, I know. I follow Jade to the bar, where she’s downing a shot and waiting for a refill on her other drink. Standing close behind her, I wrap my arms around her waist and lean down to whisper, “I’m sorry, Jade.”

“Okay,” she replies without any emotion.