Chapter 6: Bang Bang

It's been a few weeks and I'm starting to feel settled at the club. Even though Taylor's becoming a bit of an issue for me. It's getting more difficult by the day to reject his advances, but then he goes and makes it easier to say no when I see him disappear with a random woman each night. But, no matter who he leaves with or when he leaves, he's always back by closing. Every since that we kissed on my doorstep he has followed me home in his van, but I still refuse to get in that thing. I'd never admit it to him, but it makes me feel safe knowing he's out there waiting for me.

After another busy night I was once again left alone tallying tonight's take in. I sat there at the bar with my calculator and cranberry juice listening to the radio. It was a good night; we hosted a bachelorette party and a twenty first-birthday party; needless to say there was a lot of alcohol being served. I continued counting perking up when I heard an old favorite of mine coming through the speakers. Running behind the bar, the turned the volume up on the radio and started singing along.

"You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on

I just need your body baby, from til dawn

You don't need experience, to turn me out

You just leave it all up to me, I'm gonna show you what it's all about."

I enlisted the help of the broom as my makeshift microphone shimmying and shaking my hips while singing into the stick. We all do it I know I'm not the only one.

"You don't have to be rich to be my girl

You don't have to be cool to rule my world

Aint no particular time I'm more compatible with

I just want your extra time and your 'Here comes the smooching sounds.'… kiss."

My hair constantly whipped in my face, I must have shook my bun loose because I don't remember letting my hair down. I continued dancing around without a care in the world and it felt good.

"You got to not talk dirty baby, if you wanna impress me

You can't be to flirty mama, I know how to undress me, yeah

I want to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine

You just leave it all up to me, we could have a good time"

The moment had caught me. Standing on a chair I belted my favorite part of the song to my invisible audience swaying my hips from side to side with my hands in the air.

"You don't have to be rich to be my girl

You don't have to be cool to rule my world

Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with

I just want your extra time and your 'More smooching sounds.'… kiss"

There was a faint sound cutting through the music. I turned around to see Taylor standing there clapping with a huge grin on his face. "So… is this what you do every night?"

A surprised gasp escaped me. I almost fell of the chair at the sight of him. Quickly I regained my composure and stepped off the chair as he approached me. This was beyond embarrassing and of all people to catch me it had to be him. "How much did you see?"

"Oh I saw just about everything and I wouldn't mind an encore." He grinned raising his eyebrows suggestively.

I folded my arms across my chest hoping he can't tell how embarrassed I am. "Well I hope you took a picture because you won't be seeing that again."

"As a matter of fact I did." He held up his phone containing the snap shots of my private show.

I reached for the phone, but he held up it in the air out of my reach. Times like this I wish I was tall. "Taylor this isn't funny. Delete those pictures now!"

"I don't know Gia. If I delete them what are you gonna do for me?" He tucked the phone in the pocket of his leather jacket and leaned against the wall steady watching me.

'Fine, two can play that game.' Slowly I walked over to him with my come hither eyes and pressed my body as close to him as I could get it. His smile faded and a look of confusion replaced it. I could hear his heart beat quicken. My hands roamed down his chest stopping at his belt buckle. Looking up at him I could see that he was stuck, my actions thrown him for a loop. "You know Taylor…I don't have to be a mind reader to know what it is you want." My finger traced circles around his naval. "The question is… do you know what I want?"

Taylor was starting to loosen up. His fingers laced in my hair as he leaned down speaking softly in my ear. "Can't say I do. Why don't you tell me?"

My hand slipped into his pocket grabbing his phone before he even knew what happened. "I want your phone." His head sprang up and he patted his jacket looking for it. I held it up to his face showing him it was no longer in his pockets.

His finger wagged from side to side. "It's not nice to tease."

"It's not nice to take pictures of someone without their permission." I flipped through the photo's deleting them one by one. When I was finished I passed it back to him. "Here. You should really put a lock on your phone; anyone could go through it if you ever lose it."

"Thanks I'll think about that." He said sarcastically while securing the device back in his pocket. "Are you ready to go yet?"

"Almost, after I lock up the safe I have to throw the trash out." I made my way back over to the bar to finish what I had started.

"You do that, I'll throw this out." He picked up the trash and headed for the back door.

By the time he stepped outside I had the money in the bank bag and locked away safely. I went over to grab my jacket and pocketbook, and then turned off the radio.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of what had to be gunshots rang in the air. My first instincts told me to duck down, so I did just that hiding behind the bar. A couple of seconds went by and I didn't hear anything. Then Taylor popped into my head. I rushed to the back alley not even thinking of what dangers could still be out there. I looked around and didn't see anyone. Stepping further into the alley I could hear someone groan in pain. Looking pass the dumpster I saw Taylor on the ground holding his shoulder. Seeing him hurt like this pulled at my heartstrings.

I rushed over kneeling down next to him. "Oh my god Taylor! What the hell happened?"

"What does it look like? I got shot." He shifted his weight straightening his back against the brick wall.

"Who would want to shoot you?"

He tilted his head looking at me as if I had grown two heads. "Can we save this conversation for a time when I'm not bleeding like a fuckin pig?"

"I'm sorry, I'll call an ambulance now." Since my cell was still inside I grabbed his to dial 911 but his held onto my wrist stopping me. For a man who's just been shot he still has a strong grip.

Taylor shook his head still holding on to me. "Don't! It'll only make things worse."

"Well what do you want me to do Taylor? I can't just let you bleed to death."

"Call Matty and tell him what happened."

'Tell him what happened? I don't even know what happened!' "Okay, but we have to get you inside before anyone sees you." I did my best to support his weight as he leaned on me.

It wasn't until he stood up that I noticed the gun in his hand. Together we limped back into the club and I carefully sat him down in the nearest chair. I eased his jacket off and called Matty like he asked. Matty was startled to hear my voice on the other end of Taylor's phone. After I told him what happened he told me to stay put and wait for him to get here.

I pressed a towel up against he wound to slow the bleeding but that wasn't working. Time was wasting away. I couldn't just do nothing sitting there waiting for Matty. I grabbed the fully stocked first aid kit I brought a week ago and took it over to him. "I need to get your shirt off." I demanded

Taylor cracked a weak smile. "I knew you could wait to get me naked."

"How can you flirt with me at a time like this? I need to close this wound now." I threw my hands in the air. Here I am panicked and worried and he's making passes at me.

His eyes followed me as I nervously moved about the room. "Calm down Gia, this isn't that bad."

"I take it you've been shot before." It was more of a statement than a question. He was just way too relaxed, like this was an everyday thing for him.

"You'd be surprised."

I had to cut his shirt off because it was too much trouble to try and pull it over his head. I dropped the bloody shirt on floor and riffled through the kit. I pulled out the alcohol, gauze pads, roller bandage and tweezers. "Okay Taylor I'm-" I turned around to have my eyes finally settle on his rippled bare chest. The man has muscle on top of muscle. Often I've thought about what he would look like shirtless, but no fantasy could compete with the real thing right in front of me.

"Gia. Gia!" Taylor waved his hand in front of me trying to get my attention.

"Huh?" Judging by the smirk on his face, he has an idea of where my mind just zoned out to.

"Something wrong?" He asked but knowing full well what it was.

"Uh no. Everything's fine, or as fine as they can be." I regained my composure putting my gloves on. "I gonna check your wound."

"Do you know what you're doing? You're not a doctor." Taylor's eyebrow rose giving me a weary look.

"And neither are you so hold still." I examined the hole and found the matching one the back of his shoulder. "No worries, the bullet went in and out. I'm gonna clean you up."

I poured the alcohol on his shoulder. He hissed in pain. "Damn that burns!"

"Don't be such a baby, you didn't make this much noise when you were shot." After I cleaned him I placed a gauze pad over the wound to temporarily stop the bleeding. Then I mummified his whole shoulder with ace bandage to secure everything tightly. "There, all done."

Taylor examined my handy work. "Nice job."

"That should hold you until Matty get here with the doctor to stitch up." I packed up the kit and walked it back over to the bar.

"Thanks. You didn't have to do this." I said as I sat down next to him.

"Yes I did. If you weren't waiting for me you wouldn't have been shot."

"Don't go getting all soft on me. This wasn't your fault. If he didn't catch me here, he probably would have caught me somewhere else." Taylor went for his pack of cigarettes with his good arm, but I snatch them away.

"Wait a minute, are you saying that bullet was meant for you?" I held the smokes out of his reach waiting for an answer.

He ran his hand across his scalp letting out a breath. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing."

"Don't worry about it! Someone tries to kill you and you tell me not to worry!"

Taylor leaned in closer to me letting his eyes roam. "You know I'm starting to get the impression that you actually like me."

That scrutinizing gaze of his made me think about things that I shouldn't be at a time like this. After shifting a couple inches away from him I found my voice again. "Well don't and don't change the subject. Who's trying to kill you?"

The playfully expression was gone from his face and replaced with a more serious one. "You're a smart girl Gia, if you're as smart as I think you are you'll stop asking questions you already know the answer to." With that being said, I knew it was the end of that conversation.