She hands me a napkin. “How so?”
I wipe my mouth and take a drink before answering. I need to collect my thoughts so I can fully explain to Miss Diana how amazing Cherry is and the shitty circumstances of her life. “She’s eighteen, right? But she’s been taking care of herself since she was at least twelve, if not earlier. Her parents are deadbeats. They don’t have much money, but that’s not anything out of the ordinary. No one in Shindale has money. The thing is that as soon as they get a dime, they are spending it on vacations and other worthless crap. They forget to pay the bills so sometimes Cherry has to come to my house to shower because her hot water has been turned off or she has to do her homework at the library because the electricity is gone. Sometimes her parents remember her and give her a paycheck that she carefully budgets to get her through until the next time her worthless ‘rents come to their senses.”
“That’s abuse,” Miss Diana exclaims as she fills my glass to the rim.
“I know.” I down half the drink. It’s some hard liquor mix with some sweetness. I never drink. Miss D calls it a Cherry Bomb because the sweetness doesn’t hit you until the end. I wanted to text Cherry and tell her that I found the perfect drink named after her, but my phone’s dead.
I’ll have to get Miss D to tell me how to make it, although maybe Cherry wouldn’t mind coming here. It is a strip club, but it’s a nice one. I was surprised. It doesn’t have that seedy quality that you see in movies. Instead, it was like a library with low lights and little stages and private rooms. Nick and Benjy are in some booth being entertained by a woman and by that I mean if she’s shy of thirty, I’ll be shocked. Miss Diana found me sitting on the floor near the bathroom, staring at my phone.
I might’ve had tears in my eyes. I don’t know. But she felt sorry for me and brought me into this private room to feed me snacks and booze. With my tongue loosened by several Cherry Bombs, my sorry story tumbled out—about how Cherry and I are high school sweethearts, how my band got discovered by Treats, how we moved out here to LA about two months ago and I’ve only been able to see Cherry once, how I think she’s cheating on me but I don’t care because I deserve it.
“So I thought, I’ll work hard and get this album done and then Cherry can come out here, but it’s dumb to think I can save her. She’s the smart one. I’m only”—I hold up my hands—“good with the guitar. Half of me,” I confess, “wants to fly back, kidnap Cherry, and bring her back to LA, but I think I need more money for that plan.”
Miss D’s eyebrows go up, but she says nothing, only refills my drink.
“I’m just saying that Cherry deserves a good prison. A really luxe one. Treats put us up in this massive suite on the top floor of a hotel down on Rodeo Drive. That’s the type of prison I’m going to make for Cherry.” I hold a finger up to my lips. “Don’t tell anyone.”
Miss D zips a finger across her lips. I hiccup and drain the glass. “She deserves the best.”
“You’ll give it to her.”
“Yeah, I will.” My eyelids are feeling heavy. “I think I’m going to pass out, Miss D.”
“Go ahead. I’ll call Treats and let him know you’re going to sleep here.”
“You know Treats?”
The stripper smiles. “How do you think you ended up here? Treats thought you needed to unwind, although I don’t think he had this in mind when he called.”
She gets to her feet, not tottering even once on heels that are higher than my amp. I let my eyelids fall shut and let myself be transported into dreamland.
Cherry’s waiting for me with a bright smile across her face. She runs toward me. I pick her up and swing her around because even though it’s cheesy and cliché, it’s still fun as fuck. She throws her head back and laughs. The sound of her happiness makes my dick swell. Oh, who am I kidding, just hearing her name makes me hard. “Cherry, baby, I missed you.” She slides down until her sex comes in contact with my hard-on. It’s my dream so no one’s around and suddenly our clothes are gone. I lay her down on the soft grass and take one ripe tit into my mouth. Her nipple hardens on my tongue. I reach between her legs and slide my fingers into her ripe, juicy pussy. “Wet for me, are you?” I mouth around her breast.