A Kept Woman

“Is it true?”

She nodded, ashamed of the girl she’d been, of the woman she’d become. “I auditioned to be a dancer.”

“How? With a fake ID?”

The coffee started to drip and a fresh-perked aroma filled the kitchen. “I had a girlfriend who worked there, and she helped me get an ID and set up the audition. I was only trying to pass myself off as eighteen. Fully nude clubs in California don’t serve alcohol, so they hire younger girls.”

“I’m aware of the strip-club ordinances in your state. I know the difference between topless and nude.”

Natalie shifted her stance. She was practically pinned against the counter, with Zack watching every move she made.

“What happened?” he asked.

“My ID passed, at first anyway.” Images of the past clouded her mind. Images of being alone on a stage, of her heart pounding its way out of her chest. “The club was closed, so all I had to do was audition for the manager. He seemed rushed, like he had a lot going on that day. He’d barely glanced at my phony license.” She paused to take a breath. “In the middle of my act, another man came in. It was David, but I didn’t know he was the owner. He was standing in a dark corner. The only thing I could see was the tip of his cigarette.”

“Did you finish taking off your clothes?”

“Yes.” The coffee was almost ready, but she didn’t reach for a cup. Her hands were clammy, her pulse erratic. “My girlfriend had been coaching me, teaching me what to do. I thought I was prepared.” But she’d been wrong. So very wrong. “I danced to the music and strutted along the tip rail. I even straddled the pole. I was naked, wearing a pair of four-inch heels and praying for it to end.”

He remained where he was, studying her with an intense expression. “Why’d you do it?”

“For the money, for a means to be self-sufficient. My mom was always kicking me out of the house. Half the time I had a place to live and half the time I didn’t. She used to bring home these really trashy guys, street-hustler types, and if they started checking me out, talking about how pretty I was, she’d blame me.”

“So you went to the nearest strip club and applied for a job?”

“What else was I going to do? Turn my mother in to social services? This was Hollywood, Zack. I grew up on the boulevard.”

“Tell me about the rest of the audition. What happened after you put your clothes back on?”

“The manager said I wasn’t ready, but that I could come back and try again. He told me to work on my moves, to loosen up. Then David came out of the shadows.” She could still recall the way he’d carried himself. His strength. His power. “He asked to see my ID, and suddenly I got scared. I wouldn’t show it to him. I grabbed my purse and split.”

Zack turned to pour the coffee. He handed her a cup and took a sip of his. Grateful for the interruption, Natalie doctored hers with milk and sugar.

“When did you see Halloway again?”

“A few days later. I was hanging out in front of a sandwich shop near the Wax Museum, panhandling with some other kids, and this Jaguar pulled up. No one paid much attention. We were used to seeing expensive cars.”

“How convenient for Halloway. Just running into you like that.” Zack’s tone indicated his disgust. “You know damn well he tracked you down. He went looking for you.”

Natalie tasted her coffee. What Zack said was true, but at the time, she hadn’t considered the possibility. She’d chalked up the panhandling encounter to chance. “David gave my friends some money and offered to take me to lunch.”

“Did you know he was a mobster then? Or did you find out later?”

“I knew. My girlfriend already told me that Denny Halloway’s son owned the club. David wasn’t as well-known as his father, but he was earning a reputation.”

“As what? A pervert? You were seventeen, and lover-boy was what? Twenty-seven? Twenty-eight?”

“You’re eleven years older than me,” she pointed out.

He gave her a tight look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Wishing she’d kept her mouth shut, she gulped the hot drink and felt it burn the back of her throat.

He didn’t let it go. “Are you comparing me to him?”

“No.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Bull.”

She tightened her fingers around the cup. “It’s just the age factor.” And his commanding personality, she thought. The way he made her knees weak and her nipples hard. “I wouldn’t compare a deputy marshal to a mobster.”

“I sure as hell hope not.” He trapped her against the counter again, watching her the way a spider watched a fly. “What drew you to him? What was it?”

The same things that drew her to Zack, she thought. The same overpowering ingredients that lured her into his web. “He gave me a place to stay whenever my mother kicked me out.”

“He was just trying to get into your pants. Pulling the friend routine until he earned your trust.”

And what was Zack doing? she wondered. What was the deputy marshal’s agenda? “I thought he loved me.”

“He sure had your number.”

Natalie wasn’t about to disagree. She’d been putty in David’s hands. Or Play-Doh, she supposed, considering how young she’d been. “Love stinks.”

“Amen to that.”

She set her coffee aside, and he drained his cup and put it in the sink. “I guess you’ve been there,” she said.

He shrugged, and she wondered if his heart had turned cold, if he hated the woman he’d married.

He reached into his jacket for a cigarette. After shaking one from the pack, he stuck it in the corner of his mouth. “Can I smoke in here? Or do I have to go outside?”

She almost gave him permission to light up, then thought better of it. David used to smoke in the condo he’d provided for her, but this was different. She had a voice now. She didn’t have to cater to a man’s needs. “Outside.”

“That’s what I figured.” He headed for the French doors that led to the barbecue deck.

Natalie followed, although she wasn’t sure why. Maybe she needed some air. Or maybe she just wanted to question him the way he’d questioned her.

They stood on the redwood planks, the sun at their backs. The lighter Zack had struggled with earlier ignited on the first try, and he lit the cigarette and inhaled.

“What’s your ex-wife’s name?” she asked.

He gave her a pissed-off look and she wondered if smoke was going to come out of his nose.

“Who the hell cares,” he said.