Starting Over Ch. 03

I posted the first two chapters before the first one was up and I saw the comments about the error in the cast of characters with the widow reference. Thanks for pointing that out. Also, I have to apologize to all the gun enthusiasts out there who pointed out that I didn't do the research on the operation of the Glock. I guess I'll have to fire my editor – oh, wait, that's me! Shit! In any case, thanks to all who have taken the time to comment. We're all busy and I appreciate it.

Main Characters:
LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5'11", 180, 45 years old.
Marie Jackson, John's dead wife, 5'8", 140, 44 years old.
Angelica Jackson, John and Marie's daughter, 5'5", 125, 19 years old.
Mary Bradford, bartender, 5'5", 120, 34 years old.
Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary's sister, 5'6", 115, 36 years old.
Madeleine (Maddie) Bradford, Maggie's daughter, 6 years old..
Juliet Margolin, waitress, 5'4", 145, 24 years old.
Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5'6", 130 pounds, 39 years old.
Joyce Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 120 pounds, 19 years old.
Marion Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 115 pounds, 17 years old.
SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6', 190, 46 years old.
Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5'5", 110, 20 years old.

Previously:

I was in a strip club, working as a private investigator, finding a young woman (real name Jeanne, stripper name Jasmine) whose parents had wanted to make sure she was okay. As I got up to leave, I felt rather than noticed someone quickly come up to me from the right side. I was just able to overhear my name being shouted since the music was pretty loud. Because of those two things I flinched and that's what probably saved me. I felt the blow to the back of my head, but fortunately it was a glancing one. That flinch was purely a reflex action; otherwise I fear what might have happened to my head. I was dazed and I remember looking up and thinking that it was one of the guys from the drug gang, but I was too out of it to do anything about it. And then everything faded to black.

Monday, 1 October 2012, A Gentleman's Club, Seattle, Washington.

When I finally came to, I was lying on a couch in a small office. I could hear the music of the strip club through the door, but it was pretty well muted. I turned and looked to my left and Jeanne/Jasmine was there talking to an older man with a goatee and to George, the large bouncer.

I groaned and sat up, my head was throbbing and it hurt along the right side. They all moved over to the couch. Jasmine went to her knees and held her hand to my head. "How are you feeling?"

"My head feels like somebody stomped on it, other than that, okay."

Jasmine smiled. The older guy stepped forward and put out his hand. "Hi, I'm Marcus Candiotti, the owner and manager here."

I shook his hand. "What happened? I don't remember much after some guy tried to take my head off."

Everybody looked at Marcus. "Yeah, we need to discuss that with you, too. Some guy took a swing at you with a small iron bar that he must have had hidden when he came in. You ducked enough to keep from getting it too bad and then George took the guy down. I didn't know the guy and he only seemed angry with you, so obviously there's some history there. We have him locked in one of the VIP rooms until we can talk about it with you."

"I didn't see the guy, so I have no idea who we are talking about."

Marcus looked up at George. "George, bring him in here." George left.

"I notice that you didn't call the cops."

"We try not to. It just brings us unwanted attention and sometimes it's just a domestic thing. You can tell us if you know the guy and we'll decide what to do. Also, we're not sure if you need medical attention. He didn't break the skin, but you still got knocked out. You can decide if you want to go to the ER or not."

I can imagine that strip clubs try to keep all unwanted attention away from them, law or otherwise.

George then reentered the room with a guy in plastic cuffs. It was Justin, the drug using asshole that had pounded on Sam's door so hard that I had drawn a gun on him.

I stood up. "Hello, Justin." He just stared at me. "Does your employer know you took a run at me? Aren't you still out on bail for the last incident?"

"Fuck you!" He spit it at me.

I turned to Marcus. "Yeah, I know this guy. He is part of a drug operation here in the area. He was messing around in my apartment stairwell, so I asked him to leave nicely, and then not so nicely. He and some buddies came back and broke into my apartment, but I held them back with a gun and now they are under arrest. He's out on bail awaiting trial."

"You fucker. I'll get you, asshole. You can't hide forever." He struggled and wrestled against being held and cuffed, but George made about two of him and just held him in place.

I stared at Justin. "Justin, let me explain something to you. I'm going to call the cops now and you know what? Since you are out on bail for breaking and entering my apartment and communicating a threat against me, I think they'll love to have you back. Your bail will be revoked and you can wait in jail for your trial. Sound like fun?"

"Fuck you!"

"Maybe while you are in there, you can work on your vocabulary."

He started to say more, but George yanked on his arms and he yelled at the sudden pain. George pulled him out of the room.

Marcus looked at me. "I guess there's no way to convince you not to call the cops from my club, is there?"

"No, I really need to get this guy off the streets."

"Okay. Let's take it outside so that they don't have to come in and disturb the customers."

I stood up and wobbled. Jasmine held onto my arm. "You are still wobbly. You shouldn't be driving."

Marcus went to my other side. "I agree. Jasmine, after the cops come out run him home and make sure he's okay. It's pretty slow today, so you can take the rest of the day off." He turned to me. "I'll call the cops while she helps you out to your car."

"Okay." She smiled up at me.

We walked outside and Marcus called the police. A couple of minutes later, two cars pulled up and I explained the situation while George held the still cuffed Justin. After hearing the story one of the officers checked it out and verified the information with a couple of witnesses. They put him in the back of one of the cruisers and asked if I needed anything else. I told them that I was going to head home to rest. One of the cars left with Justin while the second stayed and took some statements. I turned to George and shook his hand. "George, I think I owe you more than a little tip."

He smiled."No problem. Maybe you can help me sometime. Jasmine tells me you're a PI."

"That's correct. I'll owe you one." I reached into my pocket and took out the small notebook I was carrying. I wrote down my contact number and handed it to him. "Here."

He took it and put it in his pocket. "You be careful now. See you later Jasmine."

Jasmine grinned as we got into my car and I handed her the keys. She drove to my apartment, following my instructions, and then helped me inside. She got me some water and some Tylenol and then sat next to me. "This is a nice place."

"Not too bad, eh? Here, let me show you something." I stood and showed her that I had the adjoining apartment as well and gave her a general tour. She liked that.

When we got back to the living room, I sat and pulled out the TV remote. Jasmine remained standing. She pointed to some blood on her blouse and skirt. "I got some blood on me when George beat up that guy, do you mind if I take a shower and wash these in your washer and dryer? I did give up a day's worth of wages for this." She grinned at me.

"No, I don't mind, go ahead."

"I'll be just a couple of minutes, okay?"

"No problem, Jasmine, go ahead."

She turned and went into my master bedroom. I could hear the shower come on. About that time there was a knock at the door. I looked at my watch. It was about 5pm now. I got up and went and answered it and there was Joyce, the 19-year old from next door.

"Hey, Mr. Jackson, how are you doing?"

I reached up and touched my head. "Not well. One of those guys who busted into my apartment last week tried to take my head off."

"Oh, my god!" She reached up and felt the bump on my head. It hurt and I flinched. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." We walked back into the living room and sat down. She had just asked me to tell her about what happened when Jasmine walked in – wearing just a very short towel.

Jasmine stopped short. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know we had company." She had a towel on her head, too, and her clothes in her hand. I also noticed the use of 'we' in that sentence. "I just need to get this in the washing machine." She turned and walked toward where I had a small stackable washer and dryer for the apartment. The towel barely covered her ass.

Joyce stood up. "I'm sorry. I can see I came in the middle of something."

Jasmine answered from where she was loading the washing machine. "I'm just washing my clothes, so don't get any ideas."

Joyce looked at her and then back at me so I quickly explained what happened, hoping she wasn't too shocked by the bit about the strip club. Of course, I left out the table dance and the VIP Room. I just said I went there to make contact.

"Oh, I see." Joyce looked pointedly at Jeanne. "You work at a strip club?"

Jasmine walked toward us, having loaded the washing machine. "Yeah, that's right. Why?"

"Just curious. I've heard a lot about them from a friend of mine, but never seen one. She wants to work at one. She said you can make real good money there."

Jasmine looked her over. "Well, you could make good money there. You have a nice shape and great tits. Men love natural tits."

Joyce blushed. "Thanks. I think I'd better be going, though."

I remembered that she had knocked on my door for something. "What was it you wanted?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that I was going to ask if you had any eggs I could borrow."

"Sure." I walked into the kitchen and retrieved the egg carton. I handed it to her. "Here, take the rest of this carton and you guys can just replace it later."

"Okay, thanks. Well, I'd better be going. We are cooking over there." She turned to Jasmine. "Bye."

"Bye." Jasmine sat on the couch as I closed the door.

"I think I'm going to lie down for a while." I was feeling pretty tired from everything that had been going on. "Make yourself at home." I knew I should have been checked for a concussion before lying down and sleeping, but I didn't think my injury was that bad. They say that self diagnosis is a bad thing, but - well, fuck it. I also thought about leaving Jasmine alone in my apartment. I looked at her and decided that she was trustworthy enough after what had happened today.

"Okay." She picked up the TV remote and I heard it come on. I stripped to my boxers and lay down. I went to sleep immediately.

I woke up about an hour later and heard talking. I slowly sat up. I felt much better. I walked into the living room and was greeted by quite a sight. Jasmine was sitting on the couch, slumped down, wearing one of my t-shirts and her tiny panties and Joyce, pretty little Joyce from next door, was wearing only her bra and panties and dancing between Jasmine's legs. She was giving her a table dance.

"Keep your hips moving." Jasmine was giving instructions, her hands on Joyce's hips. I watched as Joyce did a pretty good job. And Jasmine was right about her tits. They looked scrumptious.

"Uh, excuse me." I finally made my presence known and they both jumped. Joyce looked startled into inaction for a few seconds and then reached for her blouse, covering her tits. Jasmine stood up and came over to me.

"Joyce, don't get dressed. Let's get a man's opinion and you'll learn more about how to dance for a man. You can practice all the moves I was talking about." She took my hand and led me to the couch. "Sit."

Joyce stood there staring at me as I sat. Jeanne moved over in front of me. "Okay, now watch me."

Jasmine waited for the music, which was playing on some radio station, to start a new song. Then she turned and did her patented hip and butt wiggle against my crotch. "You have to make contact with their crotch. Men love that and it will increase the number of dances you get and your tips." She then stood up and pulled off the t-shirt that she was wearing, revealing herself to be wearing only that small g-string. I saw Joyce stare at her nudity in front of me. Jasmine bent over from the waist, wiggling her ass in my face and reached up and stroked her crack from top of her butt to her clit. "Bend over like this and run your hand along your crotch. They will stare at your ass and pussy. That's what they came for and you can tease them like this forever. Remember, that for table dances you take off your top, but not your bottoms." She continued to stay like that for a few seconds. "Now, after you do that, you climb up onto their lap." She crawled up over me, putting her legs on either side of mine and sat on my thighs, facing me. "You can do all sorts of wiggling in this position. Since they can't touch you or anything, you can initiate any contact by pulling their face between your tits. With your tits, guys will be lining up for a face full of those babies." She did it to demonstrate it. I went along only because this was a teaching moment. Yeah, right! "After that, one of the more common lap dance moves is to rise up and pull your legs between his legs. You lean forward against him like this." She leaned forward into me, putting her head in my neck. "You then slide down along his body, making sure you drag yourself over his dick. And believe me; you'll feel it by this point. Make sure you drag your tits over his dick and then when you get to the floor, get on your knees and keep looking up at him as you slowly breathe on or feel his cock through his pants. They love when you stare at them like that." Jasmine did exactly what she said and, as expected, I was hard.

Jasmine suddenly looked up at Joyce. "You want to try now?"

I tried to stay non-committal and not nod like a bobble-head at the suggestion. Joyce looked at her and then at me. "I don't know. I'm not sure I'm ready."

Jasmine stood up. "Well, you'll need to work on your technique to make sure you make some money, but sometimes it's easier in the club because everyone there is doing it and it's darker."

"Yeah, it feels funny since it's my neighbor."

Jasmine started getting dressed at this point. Her clothes were on the table and apparently the laundering was done. Joyce finished dressing, too. Damn, the free show was disappearing.

"Well, I need to go. My roommate and I are going out since we are both off." Jasmine picked up her purse and came over to me. She gave me a quick hug. "Thanks for letting me use your washer and dryer. Let me know what happens with my mother and step-father. If they want to meet, I will probably want you there." She turned to Joyce. "Remember, it's just a human body and we all have them. Don't be shy about showing off that rockin' bod you have."

Joyce smiled and glanced at me. "Okay, thanks. I'll let you know about my friend."

"Okay, got to go. See you two some other time. Bye."

And then she was gone. Joyce made her good-byes and left quickly, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a hard dick. Shit! Now I was horny again!

Friday , 5 October 2012, John's apartment, Seattle, Washington.

I had spent the last few days doing mostly computer research for Craig. He had been getting a lot of business from friends of his brother. There were some who were in the prosecution or defense business as lawyers and would use Craig to do verification and checks on various times, dates, and locations of their clients or the perpetrators. It wasn't exciting, but it kept me busy and that's all I really needed right now. Mary had been on vacation from the bar, so I didn't know what was up with her.

Finally, on Friday, Craig called and told me that Jeanne's/ Jasmine's mother and step-father had received the information and they were not really surprised that she was working in a strip club. He had given them her phone number, but not her address, so they had called her so that they could meet with her. She had tried to talk her mother into coming alone, but she wouldn't do it, so Jasmine had requested that I be there. Craig was also going to be there to make the introductions.

I got ready and dressed fairly nicely. I wore a pair of dress pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a jacket. I left off the tie. We were meeting at a restaurant downtown. Once I was ready, I drove down there and parked nearby. I got to the restaurant about 20 minutes early so I went to the bar. I was just finishing my first beer when Craig and Jasmine came in. They waved and I was pleased at the restraint that Jasmine had shown in her choice of dress. She was wearing nice jeans, nice blouse, and a light jacket. She had done her makeup and hair in a fairly conservative fashion and looked young, gorgeous, and nothing like the stripper I had just met earlier that week.

Jasmine's mother and step-father arrived a few minutes after 8, our reservation time. As soon as they entered, I could see where Jasmine got her beauty from. Her mother was still very pretty. She was an older model of what Jasmine looked like and was dressed nicely as well. Her step-father was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, so he was the most dressed down individual in the group.

Jasmine walked over to her mother and I could see her mother's eyes go wide like she either couldn't believe that the young woman in front of her was Jasmine or she was surprised at how much they looked alike. In either case, her face lit up and I could see the relief in it. They hugged briefly and then the mother said something to Jasmine and she just turned and nodded to her step-father. He stood there a little sheepishly and didn't say anything at the snub.

The dinner went fine and apparently Jasmine's mother, Liz, had had a long discussion with Earl, her husband and Jasmine's step-father, about the situation that had occurred. Earl appeared to be ashamed of this fact and after that the dinner went well. Jasmine and Liz were apparently making up, but Liz did make it known that she was not happy about her vocation. Jasmine explained that the club was very secure, everything was under control, and nothing happened that the girls didn't want to have happen. Liz was a little happier, but not convinced. However, she did say that she would support her daughter in whatever she wanted, so they seemed to part on good terms. Earl was quiet the entire night after the discussion about him being chewed out for trying to get Jasmine to have sex with him.

We departed and Jasmine told her parents that she would give them her address and they had her phone number. She wanted to stay in touch and felt better about the situation with Earl.

When I got home, it was almost midnight and I had just gotten undressed when there was a knock on the door. As I was walking to the door, I smiled, figuring that it was probably Mary. She was the only one who came that late. But when I looked through the peephole, it was Joyce and another young girl.

I opened the door. "Hello, Joyce." I looked at the other young woman and she was built about the same as Joyce, small, but curvy.

"Hi." She was fidgeting. "Can we come in?"

"Oh, sorry. Sure, come on in." She entered and went straight to the couch. She was wearing a jean skirt and light turtleneck. It hugged her delicious figure. Her friend was dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt, also showing delectable curves, especially that ass. Man, I loved yoga pants as outerwear.

She sat on the couch and looked at me. "I've been thinking about what Jasmine said and I think my friend and I are both going to audition at the club. Neither of us has a job right now and we are having trouble finding one. If you have Jasmine's phone number I'd like to call her and talk about it."