Joe was a man of simple tastes, when all was said and done. He liked football, beer, and two gorgeous women making out on stage at his club. He found himself cheering and clapping along with the patrons when the headline act swooped in to catch the new girl, and said new girl made it worth Alison and the rest of the crowd's while immediately. A breach of sacred, time-honored Bouncer Protocols, to be sure, but he was only a man.
As the very public embrace intensified, a huge crash brought Joe back to his senses and back into Bouncer Mode. Looking around for the source, expecting to find a couple of frat boys scrapping over imagined stripper affections again, he instead had his professionalism tested when he saw the huge man in black in a heap on the floor with a pulverized chair under him and an overturned table covering him. Joe laughed, in spite of himself, but stifled his mirth when a deep voice proclaimed "Fuck!" as though he was calling out to an unfortunately named deity. A leg half the size of a tree trunk kicked the overturned table back over onto it's legs and Joe froze when the fallen giant's Icy gaze fell on him.
For a long moment, Joe was worried that the man was about to do something rash. Just as he was wondering to himself if the club still had that old cattle prod under the bar, a smile split the other man's face and he extended a huge mitt of a hand towards Joe.
"If you would?" he asked, chuckling now. It sounded like an 18 wheeler on the side of the highway, a deep vibration. Relieved is not a big enough word to describe Joe's reaction to hearing this laugh.
"Yeah, sure." Joe said, chuckling as well. He grabbed the other man's hand and started to pull. As he did so, the sleeve of the bigger man's leather jacket slid back slightly, enough for Joe to see the edges of an odd tattoo. He couldn't put his finger on why, but the thing looked unlike a normal tattoo. As though the lines were etched into his muscle, like a furrow. The low light playing with his eyes? "You all right, pal?" he asked without thinking. This was the man the new girl was looking to find, after all.
"My thanks." the man in black said as he came to his feet. Joe was fairly sure he didn't need his help getting up. The man patted his chest and brushed his hands over his pant legs "No major damage, it seems." Before more could be said, three of the dancers who had been walking around the club swarmed in. They feigned concern for the man who had fallen, and before you knew it, they had maneuvered him over to a large, couch-like booth off in a dark corner of the club, one seated on each leg and another draped over the back of the seat rubbing his huge shoulders.
"Some guys have all the luck it seems." Joe shouted in his direction. The big man grinned crookedly and shrugged his shoulders.
As Joe turned back towards the stage and the rest of the club, Alison grabbed his shirt from out of nowhere and pulled him in close.
"Do you know that guy, Joe?" Alison growled in his ear. Joe had never heard her voice sound so angry, and her face was twisted. She looked like a different person entirely. Taken aback, he hesitated to answer. Alison started slightly, then her hand let go of his shirt. Her eyes closed and she took a long breath and her face softened. When she exhaled, Joe felt as though a warm ocean wave had rolled over him, and his mind went numb. He didn't care, he didn't notice, all he could see-feel-hear-taste-touch in that instant was the gorgeous, mostly nude goddess who's hands had somehow found their way under his shirt on the right and behind his ear on the left. Her eyes opened and met his, their violet hue piercing. Had they always been Violet? Who cares? Joe thought.
Her lips moved, but he didn't comprehend the words for a moment. "Tell me what happened." his mind heard. He was thrilled to oblige. Joe detailed the events that took place and when Alison asked if he was sure that was all, he did his best to reassure her that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Anything to make her happy.
"Thank you, lovely." Alison whispered in his ear, her breath caressing it. "Why don't you go take a little break?"
"Yeah, n-need a minu-te I think." he managed to stammer. Alison winked at him, and her touch left his skin. Suddenly he felt numb. Empty. But he felt sure that a bit of a rest was the best thing for it. As he walked past the mini-party that now surrounded the man in black, he dimly overheard him saying "So, this girl Hilde, the new girl. You girls mind if she joins us?" A chorus of overly cheery voices responded positively. Perhaps they were imagining how much they could make off a guy who had enough to tip four girls at once. The girl who had been giving him a shoulder rub stopped what she was doing and headed in Hilde's direction. As she went, another of the girls, an Asian girl with bleached blonde hair said "She's new, she may not be interested."
The man in black was smirking again. He patted the comparably tiny girl on the butt as his eyes met Alison's across the room. "Oh, she's definitely interested."
Alison's face was a porcelain a mask covering white hot rage.
The man in black laughed along with the girls on his lap. His gaze never left hers, and his eyes never smiled.
