Part 506

Climbing into the waiting car, Kevin asked, "Where to now, ‘D’?"

Howie pulled out the list. "’Alley Cat’."

Once the address had been given, the group settled in to talk about Sarah’s set at the Pub.

"Baby, you were awesome tonight. The song you ended with, that was perfect."

"Thanks, Kevin." Sarah lay her head on Howie’s shoulder as she said, "I had good inspiration."

Howie gave her a kiss as Kevin said, "We can add it to your set with ‘Underneath Your Clothes’."

"Nope."

"Why the hell not?" asked Kevin. "It was amazing and you wrote it."

"’Angel’, what’s up?" asked Howie softly.

They were all curious as to why Sarah wouldn’t want to do it again.

"Tonight was the first and last time I’ll be doing it. I told Nick he could have it."

"But you wrote it for Howie," protested Kevin.

"I know and so does Howie and Howie knows that it came from my heart. That’s all that matters."

Howie gave her another kiss and said, "It was beautiful, ‘Angel’. Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

"What about me? Don’t I have any say in this?" asked AJ.

"Well, yeah, you do since you wrote the music for it but…" Sarah stopped seeing AJ was playing with her. Swatting him playfully, she said, "You’re so full of yourself!"

"What is Nick gonna do with the song?" asked Brian curiously.

"Becca’s birthday gift. He’s gonna sing it to her."

The car came to a stop and security opened the door. The men got out first and Howie reached in to take Sarah’s hand to help her out.

Looking around, Sarah spotted the sign for a club but it wasn’t the one they were looking for. Reading it out loud, "Diamond Cabaret Club," her eyes fell to the signs under it and said, "Howie, that’s a strip club. I thought we were looking for ‘Alley Cat’?"

Howie laughed and pointed to another sign. "It’s down the alley…thus the name ‘Alley Cat’."

"Cool. I was beginning to wonder if you four clowns were gonna take a VERY pregnant lady to a strip club."

"Oh, come on, baby," teased Kevin. "You know you’d enjoy it."

"What? I’d enjoy watching women who are thin and sexy stripping for you four while I, who by the way am VERY fat, sit watching my husband getting turned on and knowing what it’s doing to you too. I don’t THINK so, Kevin Scott."

"But think of the benefits YOU will get when those very sexy women get Howie all hot and bothered," shot Kevin, his voice deep with sexuality as he breathed it in her ear.

"I don’t need sexy THIN women stripping for Howie reminding him of what he temporarily doesn’t have, thank you very much. Besides, Brian isn’t gonna go in there if I’m with you."

"Says who?" asked Brian.

As they walked down the ally to the club they were looking for, Howie whispered, "He’s had JUST enough to loosen him up."

"Damn!" cursed AJ.

"What’s wrong, ‘Bone’?" asked Kevin.

"It’s closed. What now?"

Howie whispered to Sarah. "Kevin’s gonna want to go back to the strip club."

Sarah nodded her head and squeezed his hand as Kevin said, "Let’s go back to the Diamond Cabaret Club."

AJ spoke up, "Kevin, Sarah’s with us."

"So? Why should she be embarrassed by a woman stripping?"

"That’s NOT the point, Kevin. A strip joint is for men. She’s gonna be the only woman…no, the only LADY in there and she’s pregnant too. It’s just not right."

"Since when do YOU care about what the ‘right’ thing to do? Besides, Howie doesn’t seem to have a problem with her going or otherwise, he’d speak up and tell her to go back to the hotel."

"You know Howie doesn’t control her telling her what to do and what not to do."

Brian, Howie, and Sarah stood watching the two argue the point of Sarah going to a strip club. They were all equally amused by the fact that AJ was defending Sarah’s honor.

Sarah nudged Brian and whispered, "Are you gonna be okay if I go?"

Brian whispered back, "Yeah, are you gonna go?"

Sarah looked at Howie, "Are you okay with me going?"

"Sure, but I’m not sure the rest of the place is gonna be comfortable with you being there."

The two arguing turned to Sarah and Kevin asked, "Well, what’s it gonna be, Sarah? Are you going with us or not?"

"Before I give my answer, I have one question to ask."

"What?"

"Does Lynne know about your obsession with strip clubs?" asked Sarah as they reached the club.

Kevin faced her and said defensively, "It’s NOT an obsession and no, she doesn’t."

"Do you plan to tell her?"

"Some how, I expect if I DON’T you will."

"No, I’d never do that to you, Kevin, but you HAVE to tell her. You know how the press loves to print stuff like this. Somehow, they’ll get hold of it, print it, and then what happens if Lynne sees it before you tell her?"

"Okay, I’ll tell her when I call her tomorrow. Does this mean you’re going?"

"Do you REALLY think I’m gonna let you clowns go without me? Someone has to keep you out of trouble and some bimbo is NOT gonna be doing lap dances for MY husband. The last one who did was lucky I didn’t punch her lights out."

Kevin grinned scrunching his nose knowing what it did to Sarah. "Then let’s go, baby."

"You three go on in and get a table…and NOT in the center of all the action," said Howie. "We’ll be there in a minute."

Sarah looked at him curiously but didn’t question. Instead, she waited patiently as the others headed inside.

Turning to Sarah when they were gone, Howie said, "’Angel’, you don’t have to go in there if you don’t want to. I can go in there and tell them we’re going somewhere else."

"No, I’m okay, ‘D’, really. It’ll be fun to watch you three having sexy, THIN women trying to seduce you by taking off their clothes and the rewards I’ll get when I get home with you."

Brushing her hair back, "Have I told you how amazing you are?"

Sarah put her hand on his and pretended to think. "Hmmm, let me think…nope, not since my nap."

Cradling her face in his hands, Howie kissed her forehead. "You my beautiful sexy, PREGNANT and NOT FAT wife," he kissed the tip of her nose, "are absolutely amazing" …. He kissed her lips, "and I love you beyond belief."

Sighing dreamily, Sarah said, "And I love you, Howard Dwaine Dorough. Let’s go make sure those three don’t get into any trouble. I’d LOVE to be a fly on the wall when Kevin tells Lynne THIS one."

Howie laughed. "You are so bad sometimes. Let’s go," he said taking her hand and opening the door with the other.

To say that the men in the club were stunned that Sarah was there was an understatement and she got a kick out of watching them all shift uncomfortably as she followed Howie through the crowd to where the others were waiting for them. She noticed some married men trying to hide their wedding bands and others simply trying to hide completely in the darkness. She just laughed and held on tighter to Howie’s hand until they reached their table. AJ and Howie had her sit between them in the back, out of the way so that she didn’t have to watch the show if she didn’t want to.

Part 507        Index