Chapter 1

Tessa and I met in a college bookstore and while I can't say that it was love at first sight on her part I did fall for her enough to immediately ask her for a date. The outcome of that date was several more and we progressed to the point of going steady and from there we moved to engaged.

The wedding was planned for six months after graduation, but it never came off. Three months before graduation Tessa broke our engagement, called me a "pig", tossed her engagement ring at me and stormed off. My high crime? I went to a bachelor party for a friend and it turned raunchy. They had arranged for a stripper and after she did her little number she was offered money to give the groom to be a blow job and she did it. In fact, she did it so well that everyone there wanted one too, including me, but I abstained, not because I didn't have the hundred bucks, but because I was staying true to Tessa. Tessa heard about the party, wouldn't believe that I didn't take part, called me a disgusting pig and bailed out on me.

I was broken hearted, but I was young and I got over it although on the day we were supposed to wed I did go into a kind of funk that lasted a day or two. I began dating again, but never found me a girl who excited me enough to make me want a long-term relationship. Most of them seemed to be the female counterpart of me — looking for a good time and some casual sex — not wanting to make anything permanent at that time of their lives.

Life was good. I was getting laid enough to keep me happy, I had a good job, a great apartment and I lived in a part of town that everything I liked or wanted to do was within walking distance. About two years went by and then my life changed again.

I was attending a bachelor party for one of the guys I work with and after two hours of beer drinking and poker playing the door bell rang and when it was opened there stood a female police officer who said the neighbors had called and complained about the noise.

"Just what is going on here anyway?"

"It is just a bachelor party for Brian."

"Who is Brian?"

Brian was pointed out to her and she said, "Did he get a stripper as part of the party?"

"No, we are just drinking beer and playing cards."

"I'm not sure, but I think it is against the law to have a bachelor party without a stripper."

Suddenly music began playing and she moved into the room swaying to the beat. She took off her hat and tossed it to the side and her long dark hair fell to the middle of her back. Her gun belt hit the floor and then the rest of her uniform came off piece by piece until she was down to an almost non-existent bra and a thong.

I guess there was a pre-arranged signal because suddenly two guys grabbed Brian and sat him down on a straight backed chair while the dancer did several slow turns in front of him and shook her tits back and forth in front of his face. She peeled off her bra and tossed it to one of the two guys holding Brian down and he used it to tie Brian's hands behind his back. Then the dancer gave Brain a lap dance that would have made a stone statue cum for an hour.

When the music stopped the dancer disappeared into the bedroom and came out five minutes later in jeans and a sweatshirt. She gathered up her uniform, packed it in a bag and then she joined the guys at the makeshift bar for a drink.

I was standing in a corner watching her and I saw her eyes fly wide-open when they swept the room and she saw me. She left the bar and came over to where I was standing.

"How are you Bobby?"

"Fine Tessa, yourself?"

"Not bad."

"I see you have put your Computer Science degree to good use."

"That's my daytime job Bobby."

"When did you overcome your disgust of stag parties and those who attend them?"

Before she could answer Dave, the guy who had set up the party, came up and asked Tessa if she would take three hundred to haul Brian's ashes and I took he opportunity to slip away. As I was walking away I heard her say, "Sorry, I don't do that sort of thing." Dave then raised the offer to five hundred but I was out of hearing by the time Tessa answered.

I was just stepping into the elevator when Tessa came running out of the apartment and down the hall toward me hollering, "Wait Bobby, please wait."

I pushed the button for the lobby and the door slid shut just as Tessa got there. I heard her fists pound on the door and heard her voice, "Damn it Bobby!" as the car began to move down.

Seeing Tessa had been as much a shock to me as what she was doing when I saw her. The party had been on a Friday night so I had the weekend to recover, but my recovery was short lived. Monday morning when I got to work I found Tessa in the lobby of our building waiting for me. I saw her too late to turn around and leave and both elevators were already going up so my only option was to head for the stairwell and walk up to the seventh floor. I managed to get through the door and up one flight of stairs before I heard Tessa holler up at me:

"You are wasting your time Bobby. I know where you are now so you might as well talk to me because I'm going to be around until you do."

I almost stopped long enough to yell down to her that we had nothing to talk about, but I didn't. I climbed until I got to the third floor and then I moved out into the hall and pushed the button for the elevator. When I got off the elevator on the seventh floor Tessa was standing there waiting for me.

"Why are you running from me Bobby?"

"Because I don't want to see you or talk to you. Now if you will excuse me I need to get to work."

"Well I'm sorry that you don't want to see me or talk to me, but you are going to have to because I'm going to dog your footsteps until you do."

I could see she was determined so I said, "There is a lunchroom across the street. I have lunch there every day from twelve to twelve forty-five" and then I pushed past her and headed for my office.

I spent most of my morning wondering what the hell Tessa wanted with me. It had been almost three years since I last saw her and my last memory from back then was her throwing her engagement ring at my head just before she stomped out the door to my apartment.

I got to the lunchroom at five to twelve and slid into a booth. I looked around and didn't see Tessa anywhere. I had just about decided that my frosty tone when I talked to her had convinced her she would be wasting her time when I saw her come in the door, look around and spot me. She slid in across from me and I sipped my Diet Coke and waited for her to speak. She looked at me for several moments and then said:

"I've missed you Bobby."

"If memory serves me correctly Tessa, that was your choice."

"I know Bobby and it was a bad one. I found out later from some of the other guys who were at that party that you really didn't do anything. I tried to find you, but you had dropped out of sight. You aren't in the phone book, the Alumni Association didn't have anything on you and your parents wouldn't even speak to me. I looked for over a year before I gave up and then I saw you Friday night and after you left I bugged everybody there until they told me where I could find you."

I just sat there and sipped my Coke and looked at her.

"I know I hurt you Bobby and I'm sorry. I hurt myself too. I've never gotten over you Bobby."

"What is it you want Tessa?"

"I want you Bobby. I want you to forgive me and I want you back."

"Maybe you don't Tessa, I'm not the same person I was back then."

"Neither am I Bobby, but maybe the changes in us are for the better. All I know is that I've found you again and I want you back — I want you to take me back."

"I don't know Tessa. I've managed to get over you. Why should I put myself back where you can shaft me again? You didn't trust me once, why should I believe that it won't happen again?"

"Because I know now what being without you is like and I don't want to go through that again. I can't push you into something you don't want Bobby, all I can do is tell you that I'm sorry for what I did to you, that I still love you and that I miss you and I want you back in my life. That's all I can do. The rest is up to you."

She pushed a piece of paper across the table to me. "Those are my phone numbers; home, cell and work. The other place you can reach me is at the Top Hat Club on Eighth and Broadstreet. They won't take phone calls, but I dance there four nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Think about it Bobby and call me, even if it is to say no."

Then she slid out of the booth and walked away.

I did think about it. I thought about it a lot and the end result was that I didn't know what to think. It was almost a surprise to me when I found myself standing on the corner of Eighth and Broadstreet outside the Top Hat Club. The garishly lit sign said:

Topless Dancers

Monday thru Saturday

Noon to 1:30 AM

I paid a ten dollar cover charge to get in and found a seat in a dark corner where I could watch what was going on without being noticed. I gambled on the big tippers sitting close to the stage so that was where the dancers would go to try and make their money on lap dances and they would stay away from where I sat. I watched Tessa dance four sets and do several lap dances and a half hour before closing I got up and left.

On the way home I pondered on the lessons of the evening. I'd watched five dancers do their sets and lap dances, but Tessa was the only one who gave me a hard on while doing it. And Tessa wasn't even the best looking one there. I went back on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and the same happened. The other women would dance and nothing happened, but as soon as Tessa hit the stage I became iron bar hard.

It was Saturday night and I had just watched Tessa give a lap dance before going back stage. I was sitting there with a throbbing hard on when a gorgeous and extremely well built blonde sat down at the table and set a fresh drink down in front of me.

"I don't recall ordering another drink."

"You didn't, but I've learned that if I come bearing gifts it smoothes the way."

"The way needed to be smoothed?"

"You tell me. My name is Marla and I own the place. My bouncer is worried about you so I'm here to decide whether or not his worries are justified."

"I've seen the bouncer. I could hurt him about as bad as a rubber raft could hurt an aircraft carrier."

"That's not the worry sweetie. You fit the classic pattern of a stalker. You have been here four times this week and you pick dark corners to sit in and watch my girls. You don't approach them, try to flag their attention for a lap dance, you just sit, sip your drink and watch. Harry thinks you are stalking one of the girls."

"Actually that's not too far from the truth. I am here because of one in particular, but I'm not stalking."

"Judy or Tessa?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Is it Judy or Tessa?"

"Tessa, but how could you know that?"

"It's simple. You have been here every night but Friday and only Judy and Tessa work those days and have Friday off. What's your interest in Tessa?"