A five dollar cab ride puts you out front of the club. The last rays of the setting sun turn the marquee to liquid gold.
A cool breeze off the harbor lifts your hair. You hear a buoy clanging and the soft rumble of a trawler returning from a long day shrimping. A horn echoes across the cove. The marquee reads; See the Taboo Crew live! Every Friday and Saturday night.
You push through the double doors into a small lobby, suffused with red light and occupied by a large surly-looking bouncer. He's got a bald head and shoulders in two different time zones.
"Five dollars," he informs you in a low voice that perfectly matches his appearance.
Sissy forgot to mention the cover charge. You need to get inside if you want to check out the customers.
You fork over five bucks. He gives you a ticket and steps aside. You push through another door into a wall of smoke and sound.
A lot of guys and even a few dolls populate the tables. Most of the lighting is centered on the stage.
Small candles on each table illuminate the expectant smiles on the faces of the guests. The bar man is busy but you manage to get his attention.
“What you'll have?"
You fork over a dollar on a beer and then go back to scanning the crowd for anyone that looks out of place.
You don't have long to wait before a lanky man in a powder blue tux struts on stage, a microphone in hand. He's got receding hair and beady eyes set too close to his nose.
"Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to the show!"
The crowd shows their enthusiasm.
"Are you ready to be captivated?"
More cheers. "Mesmerized?"
This gets a louder cheer. "Titillated?"
Loudest applause yet.
"Ladies and Gentlemen,’ The announcer says. "Please put your hands together for the lovely, the sensual, the sexy, Lora Lust!"
The velvet curtain draws apart and a single spot light illuminates a tall blonde with her back to the audience. She's in a backless black cocktail dress. A dark and dreary jazz tune starts up.
She exposes one long white leg through a slit in her dress and looks over her shoulder at the crowd. She belts out a better than average version of My Man Ain't No Good. She's got a husky voice, like smoke and silk, that does things to your imagination.
It takes years of hard drinking to get a voice like that. Miss Lust knows how to work the crowd. She comes off stage, threading her way through the tables, while she sings.
That backless dress with the slits up either side shows just enough leg to make the men shift in their seats. Her eyes do the rest. She's not young, like Sissy Tease. Must be in her late thirties, but she sure can turn on the charm.
The song ends. The spot light winks out and the curtain falls closed. The audience does their part with claps and whistles. The announcer comes back out, encourages another round of applause for Miss Lora Lust and then introduces the next act.
"Let's hear it for our very own Russian trapeze girl, lvana Vivacious!"
When the curtain opens again, a wisp of a girl in stockings and garters is swinging back and forth on a trapeze. Lora was seductive, even classy. lvana’s act is pure lust.
She twists and contorts on her trapeze as first one stocking and then the other peels off. Her sequined bra follows. By the time the curtain comes down, Ivana is wearing panties and pasties. The crowd is eating it up.
YOU ARE READING
Jack Jericho: Volume 1
Mystery / Thriller|| Completed || ✔️ Your name is Jack Jericho. You're a detective. But you don't investigate cheating wives or crooked business partners. You investigate things that go bump in the night. Paranormal beings that roam the streets at night.
