Chapter 5

Frank’s missing waitress finally showed up around 9:30 that night.

“Jessica, are you okay?” were the first words out of Béla’s mouth. “We were so worried about you!”

Frank noticed Béla was like that. She never accused anyone of neglect or got angry with people for disappointing her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Wilson,” Jessica cried. “I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to come in all evening...”

“My goodness, Jessica, What’s happened?” Béla asked anxiously, taking Jessica in her arms. “Has someone died?”

Jessica shook her head. She looked a mess, her makeup smeared from her crying. Gently, Béla guided the distraught girl back into the Target Room, where they could talk in private. After consoling her for awhile, Béla got Jessica to open up to her.

“I know you said not to accept dates from the customers,” Jessica told her, “but Jake has been coming in for months, and he’s always been a good tipper, and he’s always trying to cheer me up. So I thought I knew him well enough and I said okay, I’d go out on a date with him.

“He was so sweet and gentle and he took me to his place and we made love. It was nice. And this morning I woke up I was s-strapped to the bed and then he, he ... he got all weird on me and told me I needed to be p-p-punished!”

She burst into tears all over again. Béla hugged Jessica and held her in her arms, stroking her hair and radiating peace and calm at her as hard as she could.

“It’s alright. You’re all right.” she crooned, mentally guiding Jessica toward calm and relaxation.

“What did he do that was so bad?” Béla asked quietly when Jessica settled down again.

“He fucked me. With ... with a pistol!” she wailed.

Béla did her best to smother Jessica’s mind with calm, but just saying what he did to her made Jessica truly distraught again. The concept of having that happen was incredibly arousing to Béla, but it had obviously terrified Jessica.

“I was so scared,” Jessica continued. “I thought he was going to kill me! And then he pulled the trigger and the gun jerked and I screamed and screamed! I hate guns!”

Jessica was almost screaming now. Béla was glad the room was soundproof. She took Jessica by the shoulders and shook her gently.

“Now, look,” she said firmly. “What he did was really scary, but he didn’t hurt you! He just scared the hell out of you. Okay? He probably just thought it was a joke. People are really weird sometimes. Okay?”

She hugged Jessica and let her cry on her shoulder, rocking her back and forth. “You don’t have to see him again,” she added. ‘Fuck, I would have enjoyed that!’ Béla thought to herself. ‘How the hell did I miss that pervert?’

She tried to catch all the low-life sickos that came into her club and let them act out their fantasies with her, believing that by doing so, she was protecting some innocent girl, like Jessica, from being hurt or badly frightened. This was, of course, completely aside from the fact that she actively sought – craved, even, the crude and often brutal treatment she received at the hands of these sickos.

She radiated calm into Jessica’s mind and continued to console her. After a few moments, Jessica stopped sobbing. ‘Whew! I really missed this one!’ she berated herself, then turned her thoughts back to her terrified employee. She radiated calm into Jessica’s mind and continued to console her. After a few moments, Jessica stopped sobbing

“I’m really sorry,” Jessica said, her face blotched with tears.

“It’s okay. We’re gonna fix you up, alright?”

Béla stood up and guided Jessica toward the back stairs. Jessica hesitantly followed, partially pulled along by the hand. This room was Béla’s private area – where she held all those mysterious club meetings with roomfuls of horny, half-drunk men. Just being in here where all the weird stuff happens made Jessica nervous. When she noticed they were leaving the Target Room via the rear door, Jessica hurriedly followed Béla up the stairs, glad to leave that strange and surreal soundproofed room behind.

Upon entering the bedroom upstairs, Béla guided Jessica across the room to the side where all the water was installed, along with the half-wall that separated the bath area from the bedroom. Jessica hesitated for a moment, surprised to see that tawny blond performer, Tanya, lying practically naked on Béla’s big bed, reading a magazine.

“Jessica’s had a pretty rough time,” Béla said when Tanya looked up from her magazine. “I’m going to let her get cleaned up a bit, here. Okay?”

Béla guided Jessica to the bathroom area, then came back out, grinning to herself at the lurid images Jessica was imagining about Béla and Tanya. They were very close to the truth – but perhaps a bit tame. Jessica wasn’t that experienced, after all.

“Your heart is getting to be bigger than your bed, Sweetie,” Tanya quipped, as Béla came back across the room.

Béla gave her a friendly grimace, stuck out her tongue and went back downstairs, ignoring the fact that Tanya seemed ever so slightly out of breath, like she’d just run in from the top of the stairs and she was holding the magazine upside down...

A half-hour later, a tall, good-looking cowboy came in. Béla recognized him from the night before, when she had danced for him. She waltzed up and put her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

“You came back,” she cooed happily. “Can I finish that dance for you? It’s still free...”

“Um. No, ma-am, thank you,” he uttered. Then he continued, “Is, uh, Jessica here?”

“Oh,” Béla remarked, stepping back as her friendly demeanor vanished. “You must be Jake.”

“Um. That’s right, ma-am.” He stumbled on, “We had a bit of a disagreement this morning, and, um, I just came in to apologize to her.”

“A disagreement?” Over at the bar, Frank looked up, not used to hearing Béla raise her voice. “A disagreement? You jackass, you scared the hell out of her. What made you think she was into bondage? You really think she wants to see you again?”

“I tol’ you I was sorry,” Jake complained, “I thought she was a Target Girl.”

Béla stopped, her next berating accusation unvoiced as she suddenly realized it was her reputation that had gotten Jessica into this mess.

“If there’s some trouble here, Boss, you need any help?” Frank’s deep voice sounded from behind them.

Jake flinched visibly at the sound and Béla had to work hard to keep from laughing at the nervous, young cowboy. Frank’s overpowering vocal effect on the lad was precisely what he had intended.

“No, There’s no trouble,” Béla informed him, looking directly at Jake. “We have a policy here, you either buy a drink or you leave. The next show starts in a few minutes.”

Jake sat down, helped with a shove from Béla. Frank raised an eyebrow at that. Béla may be upset with the young man, but she didn’t want him to leave. She obviously had plans for him, later.

“What’ll it be?” Frank asked, peering down at the lad.

‘Strange, ‘ Frank thought, ‘he doesn’t look the type she usually cavorts with ... pretty tame if you ask me. But if he’s the one that put that scare into Jessica, Béla’s sure to have some fun with him! God, girl – just don’t kill another one... ‘

“Um, beer’ll be fine, thanks,” Jake mumbled.

Both Frank and Béla turned and walked away. Béla went upstairs and found Jessica brushing her hair. Béla smiled as she caught a stray thought of Jessica very delicately kissing Tanya’s lips. She’d wondered what they’d taste like.

“Jake’s here,” she announced. Jessica whirled around, terrified all over again.