Scandalous Desires

Chapter 21

Half-naked women gyrating to the rhythm of deep bass House Music as they swayed against poles on a stage. Men watching them like prey, with greedy smiles and eager hands stuffed with cash to lure the first willing female to their laps. That's what Micah expected to see at Howards that evening.

But instead, the large room was filled with plush red carpet and antique wooden seating. Live piano played classic Jazz, while mostly old men, in business suits, nursed their drinks and talked quietly amongst themselves. Women dressed in tight black outfits with their hair pulled back or up, wearing red lipstick and high heels moved swiftly from table to bar balancing their trays of alcoholic beverages. Micah was among them.

"Micah, your drinks are ready," said the bartender. He smiled at her reassuringly. Could he tell that she was nervous?

It was hard enough to have to balance these drinks while wearing the required high heels. The entire tight black outfit, including miniskirt and sheer chiffon top with heart shaped bustier underneath was uncomfortable; tight and itchy in the wrong places to say the least.

Additionally itchy for her scalp was the black cropped wig that Alex insisted she wear, along with the hazel color contacts and heavily beat face in case Russell recognized her from the press conference. The make up was thick, but appeared light, glossy, and natural. All Micah could think about was taking it all off.

She barely recognized herself when she looked in the full-length mirror in the dressing room for the entertainment at Howards. All Alex could do was whistle at her since part one of her plan, which was to make Micah look like a runway model, was complete. It was an opportunity she knew she'd probably never get again.

Micah also had to try and remember who ordered what. She came up with a silly but helpful system to remember.

As she picked up each drink to put it on the tray she mumbled to herself. Scowl, Tyson, the Squirrel...

The bartender, Rob, looked at her questioningly. "Did you just say squirrel when you picked up the Martini?"

Micah couldn't help but bite her lip to keep from laughing. She nodded.

"I have a system," she said. He looked at her with a crooked grin.

"Ok. Let's hear it."

"Check out table five. The tall, handsome guy who looks like he could be a basketball player. I nicknamed him Tyson Chandler, the former Knicks player. He gets the Manhattan." She pointed to a martini glass that held a red drink inside of it.

"Ok... I get it. New York Knicks... Manhattan."

"Then that guy over there... he's got permanent frown lines. Looks like he sucked a lemon."

"Right, he has, like, a resting b*tch face," said Rob.

"Right. He's nicknamed 'Mr. Scowl' in my head. He gets the Whiskey Sour."

"Uh, huh... I get it." Rob chuckled.

"Dude over there...he's got two big front teeth, and ironically he can't stop nibbling on the complimentary bowl of nuts... now that guy, he's..."

"The squirrel!!!" guessed Rob. They both laughed.

"'Mr. Squirrel' gets the Martini, extra olives - more to nibble on," Micah shrugged, Rob laughed.

"Over there's Sherlock Holmes...." He had a mustach parted down the middle and twisted at the ends. He wore a long tweed peacoat with a matching deerstalker's hat.

"Of course, he ordered the Old School."

"Precisely, my dear, Watson!" Her overdone British accent made Rob laugh.

"The system works. Makes a dull night a bit easier to handle..."

"Indeed," he said. "I've been working here for almost two years now. I know how dull some nights can get, even though it's a men's club."

She grabbed her tray. It was after eleven at night. She'd been working for almost three hours and her feet already hurt. The table reserved for Mr. Russell and friends was still empty. She wondered if she was wasting her time with the plan Alex had laid out. What if they changed their minds and decided not to come? Where even was Alex? Micah hadn't seen her all evening.

As these thoughts ran through her mind she watched as a few of the waitresses passed through a door on the side of the room with some of the patrons. She noticed that some of the men had black cards that they would present to the waitresses. With grins on their faces, the men and waitresses would leave the room together and exit to.... Where? Another room? She was curious. Alex never mentioned anything about this.

After serving the last drink on her tray she went back to the bar where Rob was.

"Hey, Rob," she said, a bit reluctant to show him that she didn't know some details about the job that she probably should have been told, but her investigative journalist mind won out. "I'm seeing patrons with these Black cards... leaving with waitresses. What's up with that?"

"They've been carded," he said simply as he dried a clean glass. Micah looked confused.

"Carded?"

"Patrons who want a bit of "private action" can card those waitresses who are wearing the red or black head bands to go to special rooms to, ya know...." Micah nodded, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "It's all very discrete," he added, "'cause we get the big wigs here and they don't want anybody knowing about their hanky panky sessions. Ya get what I'm saying?"

"Right...'" she said.

"Don't look now but those guys at the table near the piano... family to the president. Those are bodyguards around their table too."

"You recognize all the high ups?"

"Some...."

She couldn't help but wonder if he had ever seen Russell. She quickly pulled out her phone and googled him. "You ever see this guy in here before?" She passed him the phone with pictures of Russell on the screen.

"Hmm... maybe. If he has, he's not frequent," he continued to scroll through the images. "But her right there, we all know her for sure," he clicked on a picture of Russell with his wife and passed the phone back.

"His wife!? How do you know her?"

Rob started to laugh, so hard he had to stop what he was doing, wiping off the bar, to keep himself steady. Micah, still surprised by this news, wondered why her question brought on so much laughter.

"That is not his wife," he said finally.

Not his wife?

"Then… who is she?" Rob gestured for her to give him the phone. He typed a name into the Google search and gave it back.

"Felicia Reynolds aka "Luscious Licia" ….at least she was when I knew her…" Rob stared off into space with a smirk on his face, as if fondly remembering something.

Micah scrolled through the images that populated her screen. It was definitely the bombshell wife - or fake wife, that was posed with Russell in various papers and tabloids. She looked like a well endowed Marilyn Monroe wannabe.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face you had first hand knowledge about how luscious Licia was…" she said with a smirk of her own.

"A little something like that…" he grabbed another wet glass that was washed and started drying it. "She ain't married, that's for sure!"

"But you said we all knew her. Who's the 'we'?"

"She was Howards' most highly requested "waitress" and then about a year ago she quit and established herself as a high end escort, mostly servicing clients from Howards."

"Wow…" an escort? But Why would Russell try and pass off an escort as his wife, especially when his secretary was trying to damage his already questionable character by exposing him for infidelity? It's not adding up….

"How do you know that she's an escort now?" He wiggled his fingers at her gesturing for the phone again.

"'Cause, I follow her on IG…." He passed the phone back. On the screen was a woman who did resemble Felicia, but instead of blond hair it was red, and her name was different.

"Felicia, aka Luscious, aka RedAnnie456?" Micah said.

"She's got Bros in every zip code, and an alias to go with each one. These are high profile people; politicians, CEO's, and whatnot, so they need discretion."

Micah looked through her posted pictures, which were mostly taken in North City. She recognized some of the stores and restaurants. Several images were of her intimately hugged up with another man who wasn't Russell.

"Why even post in the first place? Just keep the involvement private?"

"The paparazzi ain't gonna let it go. Better to present as a fake wife and create the story instead of letting things get discovered and a story gets created by the media and spun out of control."

"Control the narrative, so to speak?"

"Right," he said, as a waitress approached the bar with an order. Rob put up a finger to let her know he'd have to pause the conversation to fill the drinks.

Micah decided to go back to her tables and check in with the customers. Mr. Old School was no longer at his table, and Mr. Scowl was still nursing his drink. Mr. Squirrel had still been nibbling… but left a table full of peels from the nuts all over.

Why couldn't he just order a meal? And why Nuts and olives? Such an odd combo…Was he pregnant?

But, the oddities of her customer was not what she really thought about. Her mind was deep in thought. She didn't know what to make of the information Rob gave her. It only left her with a lot more questions that she'd hopefully get to ask Russell - if he ever did show up.

As she made her way over to Tyson Chandler's doppelganger she looked over at the empty reserved table again, and then she checked the time. Her phone showed that it was almost midnight. She'd been serving tables since 8pm, and she hadn't even seen Alex for most of the night. She started questioning if this was really a workable plan or just a way to lure her into filling a vacant spot to make Alex look good.

Just as the thought crossed her mind she heard a roar of laughter at the entrance. Among the voices was the distinct and unforgettable squeal of her roommate. Glancing in that direction she saw Alex talking with a group of men.

"Will you be needing anything else?" She said as she took the martini glass, emptied of its contents, from the table in front of the tall man. He flashed a smile at her that was swoon worthy, as he nodded his head. But Micah didn't notice. Her eyes were glued to the men at the front, wondering if Russell was among them.

The man said something to her, and Micah knew he asked her something but she didn't hear. "Uh…sure," was her reply. She was almost certain that she saw Russell and was just about ready to rush over to get their plan started. "Just a minute please!" She rushed off to place the glass on the bar so that she could then get to Alex.

"Looks like your guy is here," said Rob, with a nod towards the group.

Micah turned to see Alex approaching the bar with the men. Definitely among them was Mr. Michael Russell. And the devilish look in his eye as he scanned her up and down definitely told her three things; that he definitely did not recognize her from earlier that day, he probably wasn't married like Rob said, and if it were up to him she'd be naked standing at the bar instead of a drink.

Micah wanted to cringe, but she smiled instead. Maybe she could use this to her advantage.

"Gentleman, this is Ursula, your waitress for the evening," said Alex. Micah almost forgot the fake name they made up for her as part of her created persona for the evening. "Ursula, these are the VIP guests I mentioned." Micah nodded and smiled at the four men. "She will show you to your table and take your orders."

"This way gentlemen," said Micah. Alex gave her a wink and a smile, signaling that the plan was underway.