Hollywood Bridge

We both shivered as we trudged to his car.
Jake opened the trunk and grabbed a smallish black bag.
"You're lucky I keep a small bag of clothes just in case I end up stranded somewhere!" he pulled out a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, a dark t-shirt and a belt. "You're a little skinnier than me. These may be a little big on you despite how they're a little tight on me so take the belt too." the belt he handed me was bright red and studded. NOT what I usually wore. I thought longingly of my closet full of baggie hoodies and denim jeans for a moment before I realized how ungrateful I was being.
Jake threw me some underwear too and i wandered to the trees to change out of sight on the road.
Jake followed too and we faced away from one another in the clearing as we changed. I resisted the desire to glimpse over my shoulder until after I had wriggled into my borrowed clothes.
The first thing I saw were the tattoos, beautiful swirling designs of ink that rippled as his muscles moved. It was completely captivating.
"Ready?" he asked. "Huh, that doesn't look so bad on you!"
"Umm yeah. You think so!?"
"Totally! You could easily pass as a member of my band!"
"You're in a band?" i asked, knowing this guy probably didn't make my kind of music.
"Yeah, I'm lead guitarist. We're actually going to pick up my bassist, Ashley. We're called Black Veil Brides."
"Oh, so are you like a mostly girl band or something?" I asked genuinely curious.
Jake laughed like he was used to it. "No, we are actually an all-male rock band."
I was speechless. "I'm sorry! It's just with a name like Black Veil Brides and with a bassist called Ashley I just thought-"
"We get it a lot, it's fine!"

I continued apologizing as we moved for the car, until Jake got mad and told me to shut it or walk. He said it nicely though.
Sat in the car, I settled down and took to observing Jake whilst we made small talk. He asked about my music taste and was appalled when I said I didn't really listen to much music, and when I did- it was always indie or folk. He proceed to play some of his band's songs (he usually referred to them as BVB for short) and I admitted that they weren't terrible. He looked equally grief stricken when I said I liked math (yeah, I'm a nerd!).

He called Ashley as we pulled up to 'Lacy's Diamonds Gentleman's Club' but got no answer.
He sighed. "If my fiance hears about me being here and kills me, I am so going to haunt Ash!"
I tried to laugh and hide my disappointment at the mention of a fiance. It was just a stupid little crush! I'd only known him for an hour, and for a quarter of that I'd hated him entirely, so why did I feel like he'd ripped out my heart?
We climbed out of the car and Jake paid for both our entrance to the club.

The pinkish indoor lights were set low as slow, sexy music filled the room and a tall slim girl with masses of blond waves danced seductively. She dipped down slowly and grabbed a twenty dollar bill from a dark haired man.
"Seraphine, working hard I see." It was clear Jake had been here several times.
"Always." she said with a flirty wink "Ash is down stairs."
"Thanks." he handed her a five dollar bill. "She's seriously short for cash right now." he muttered in response to my curious glance.
There were girls everywhere but none of them really caught my eye, although Jake looked like he'd seen a ghost when he passed a waitress with a name tag saying 'Bex'. He shook it off easily and greeted her like normal.
"I've only ever seen Bex here and yet whenever I see her, I have this odd sense of dejavu. Heledd - the other waitress- says Bex feels it too. I try to be polite but she gives me the freaks." he explained.
We stepped in through the door of the down stairs lounge, there were less poles for girls to dance on here and the lights were redder.
There were plush sofas where men sat and the dancers flirted with them.
One guy handed a girl a wad of cash. She flicked through it and smiled.
"For that, darling, you can get a private dance." she said in a sickly sweet voice as she led him to a small corridor lined with rooms. I didn't want to know what was happening behind those doors.
As a guy who always considered himself as a feminist, this place made me uncomfortable. Jake sensed it.
"You can go back and wait by my car if you like?" he offered. I shook my head.

An incredibly tall girl sat on a sofa, talking to a patron.
"Nerissa!" he called to her then whispered to me "She's the co-owner with Lacy."
Nerissa turned to us with a smile. She was TALL!
"Jake!" she cuddled him tightly, then moved to me.
"This is Ryan." He said when Nerissa allowed him to breathe again.
"Hi, Ryan. Ash has been pursuing Cathy since Amy left."
"Second room on the left?" he asked like it was routine.
"Yep." she turned away and yelled to a bar girl, "ELLE! A Smirnoff WooWoo for table eight!"
Looked like i was going to have to find out about what was behind those doors.

Jake knocked the door and a drawling voice responded "Come in!"
"Here we go again." Jake muttered "ASH! Dude, pay up and come on out, we're going to get pizza!"
Ashley swore in response. I already disliked him.
He stumbled out, clearly drunk but the most stunning girl trailed behind him.
She had long blondish brown waves and an angular face, big and trusting hazel eyes with lightly tanned skin and dark makeup.
Ashley drunkenly handed her a large amount of cash and despite his obvious (at the time) misogyny, she attempted to refuse. "You've already paid me Ashley." she muttered.
"Take half then. As a tipp or something." he tripped slightly and both she and Jake grabbed him.
"Thanks Ash." she responded when he was upright. Ashley stumbled to the lounge area and began talking with Nerissa about some girl called Amy. Elle, the bar girl chimed in too.

Once Ash was out of earshot, Jake turned gently on the girl.
"Cathy, right? Look, it's your first week and everything, I'm sorry if Ash was an ass.He is a really decent guy though." Jake's loyalty astounded me. He was so defensive of his friend.
"He's fine! He's actually far nicer than the other guys I get here." she murmured shyly.
Jake snapped into action "None of them have hurt you though!?"
"No!" she said quickly "No! Nerissa is a good boss, she makes sure the guys don't get too rowdy."
"Good." he said relieved.

Ashley had been difficult to get up the steps, and I wasn't much help, being so skinny and all.
We threw him on the back seat and Jake rolled the window down in case he threw up - and he did, before the car had even started.
Ash spent most of his time giggling about something whilst Jake looked at him in concern.
It wasn't until we pulled up outside the pizza parlor that Ashley even noticed me.
"Who's the newbie?" he hiccuped between slurred words.
Jake sighed "Ashley Purdy, Ryan Smith."
"HAI!" Ash said loudly.
"Hey." i murmered, but my mind was on Cathy.

Notes

A longer chapter this time. Nerissa is for seagull_frenzy. :) how does it feel to be our boss and yell at us? :D