Chapter 5: An oasis in a Desert

Blake

As I ran back to the car I adjusted my collar and put on a smile hoping it was going to cover up the make-up of slaps that Mrs. Baker had just applied on my face. The butler was leaning on the car scrolling on his phone like a teenager. He raised his gaze when he saw me coming.

"That was fast" He said going round the car to the driver's side.

"You blared the horn I had to cut short the entire apology"

"That was me checking on you but anyway we need to get going, we have one final stop to make before we go to the agrovet"

"Okay" I mumbled strapping in my seatbelt.

The entire drive to the local shopping center was silent. The butler was busy on road overtaking and clicking his tongue whenever a random driver made a silly mistake. He would also use his hand to direct traffic. The fresh air brushing past my face and that overwhelming feeling of a heavy Burden on my heart being lifted, the country music from the car all of it were making it fun. At heart I was happy. The promise I made to Anita coupled up with butlers story of the untouchables made me think deep about Changing my situation. Although I had hit rock bottom but I was there for the better part of my life, nothing was going to stop me from getting back to the pinnacle of success for the second time.

"Are you okay there?" The butler asked as we drove to the CBD of the small town.

"Am fine, unless I look otherwise"

"It's just that you've been too quiet"

"Am good" I said with finality.

The place was lively and operational, people were buying and selling, cars were parked my the streets and “Now open” argon and neon signs flashing everywhere, restaurants, workshops and the streets were full of people walking in different directions. I think it was full of life probably because it was far from the city where buildings were deserted and razed down, broken windows and police patrolling the streets with their M16's once in a while engaging into combat with mafia and street gangs. This one was like paradise to former City dwellers like me, an oasis in the middle of the desert. He stopped in front of one of the numerous night clubs.

"This is our stop?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, come on let's find the wet sponge Wallace am sure he is here somewhere"

"Gabriel?"

"Is there another?" the butler asked rhetorically getting out the car.

After taking one long nostalgic look around before I followed him inside the night club. At the entrance, the smell of alcohol hit my nose, loud music was booming from giant speakers erected at the corners, the disco lights were making the club look like a galaxy rotating above the ceiling. Right above us the DJ was playing lively tunes and worshipping him were drunkard’s swaying to the beat and the influence of alcohol. The butler squeezed himself through the crowd, I was keen not to lose him. We got to the stairs where he spoke to one of the bouncers and we were allowed to go upstairs.

Now upstairs was fun, this was an oasis. I could feel my cock fill with blood. My cotton boxers were in trouble as he was bulging. The upstairs was full of stripper poles in the middle of the room where the sexy, thick ladies were doing their magic up and down with outmost dexterity and athleticism.

Their upper extremities were not covered, all you could see were juicy erected bobbies swinging up and down and their lower bodies were covered with some sort of a patch above their coochies the back was open for viewing.

Surrounding them were the effluent, throwing hundred dollar bills on their tattered asses as they bounced on the rhythm of the upbeat secular music. My body was following the butler who seemed not to be distracted by what I was seeing, but my eyes were locked on one of the strippers. Light skinned, dark hair, medium size and height, exactly the way I liked my women physically.

She was cat walking towards me, her nipples leading the way. There was no guarantee I was going to control my lust. It had been three months since I got laid and what got me going on lonely cold nights were a few nudes of Tessa that she send me while we were dating. But they were not as satisfying as the real thing besides it was hard to erect on a nude picture of your wife who was treating you like trash. She was nothing more than a symbol of my pain and suffering,.

"Hello pappy are you lost?" she asked massaging me.

The Spanish accent was evident in every word she said.

Before I knew it her tongue was on my neck. It had a ring on it. Trust me I wanted to tell her to stop but I couldn't. It felt so good when she pushed me back to one of the leather seats and sat on me her ass grinding on my erect cock.

"Hey can we..."

She pursed my lips using her index finger. I wanted to tell her I had no money and my boss was going to get angry.

"Relax pappy, let me serve you" she said going on her knees.

Let’s assume financially there was no room for fun, morally, it was wrong and we had to stop there unless of course my body and soul was ready for another thorough Wallace beating and reprimand from the butler. He had shown his friendly side that was really possible to be manipulated if I wanted to help Anita and what I was doing was threatening to blow that trust. Well, I thought so until the butler showed up and caught me red handed.

"My man" he said wearing a smile.

The stripper was still on her knees when I quickly got up.

"Am..."

"Sorry? Don't be. I need you to stay here, this is going to take long" he went to his wallet and got out some money, "Make him scream his brains out" he said handing the cash over to the stripper.

"With pleasure" she said taking the money.

Until then I had no idea that the patch like thing that was covering her coochie was also a microfinance bank. That aside, I still couldn't believe that the butler paid her to make me scream with pleasure.

"Sit pappy" she said in a sexy tone.

It was not my first time in a strip club. I had grown up in the streets, I got introduced to that kind of life at a very young age. But that was the first time I was stepping into one since I got married to Tessa. Speaking of her, I wasn't thinking of her as stripper did her thing with the lap dance and massaging my bulging cock inside them shorts. In fact my eyes were closed, my arms were spread on the couch as she ground herself on me, her arms around my neck, She undid the buttons of my shirt I could feel her nipples on my chest, all I could do was moan softly with pleasure as she kissed my neck, my cheeks and playing with my beard. I was moments away from asking how much the sex was going to cost when the butler came back.

"Time to go Blake, you're married you can't get more than this" he teased smiling down on me.

"Thank you" I said to the stripper kissing her hand, “that was mind blowing”

She smiled broadly and walked away, my eyes were following her thick ass as she walked on her heels. Damn. She was thicker than cold peanut butter.

"Feeling relaxed?" The butler asked leading the way downstairs.

"More than relaxed, if it were morally acceptable I should be getting that once a week"

"Your wife neglected you, there is nothing bad with that" he said as we went past the guards at the staircase.

"Please, she doesn't have to find out about this"

The butler went quiet as we squeezed through the crowd. The music was so loud that I wouldn't have heard him talk.

"Am a man not a snitch, your secrets are safe with me" he said when we got outside to the parking lot, "And you're welcome" he added getting inside the car.

"And Gabriel, you found him?"

"Yeah I just wanted to see if he is okay and Also remind him that he has a family he should visit and call sometimes, it was nothing much"

"He really hates them does he?"

"You have no idea" the butler said speeding off on the busy road.

Tessa

My mind was still coming to terms with the fact that Blake thought he could just defend Anita and I would reconsider getting her hired. My father firing Anita was a symbol of loyalty to me, he cherished her, among the few employees he treated as family. Her father worked for us and he was a good man but that did not mean she had to forget her place.

"Has any of you seen Blake" I asked the grounds men and guards.

"He left with the butler some two hours ago"

"Two hours?" I asked surprised and drawing my phone.

The butler was among my least favorite people in the compound. He was always barking orders and most of the time forgot his place too. Sometimes he even overturned the decisions made by the likes of me and sadly, dad trusted him.

"Where are you?" I asked angrily when he picked up.

"On our way back" he said.

"You have five minutes to get here if not don't come back"

"With all due respect mum..."

The butler

"Five minutes!" She screamed through the loudspeaker and hang up.

Blake looked at me surprised. He thought he was the only one on the receiving end of the Wallace's disrespectful behavior. The girl screaming at me was my daughter's age and I had seen her grow from a newborn to an adult, drove her to school every morning and picked her up every evening. She was a rich spoilt brat. My free advice to Blake if he ever needed it was get a wife, a real wife. A welcoming woman, the rich were only good for each other.

"She speaks to you like that?" He asked.

"The only person she doesn't order around is her own family, the rest of us are equal in her eyes" I said smiling.

Before she hung up I wanted to tell her there was no chance in hell we were going to make it within five minutes. It was already an hour past seven, there were speed limits and traffic police everywhere, a few minutes to the eight sharp curfew also came with a rush hour that needed driving with a lot of care. In twenty minutes we were going to be home, I wanted to ask for those fifteen minutes.

"Am sorry on her behalf"

"Don't be, how did you manage to survive living under the same roof with her anyway, you must be one hell of a patient man"

"Love my friend" he said shaking his head.

A thin line between love and madness they say. I considered Blake madly in love to ignore the hell she was able to raise when she chose to unless she was a completely different person in marriage.

"It's blind or what?"

He had a weak smile on his face.

"When you love someone you overlook a few things, there is no perfect out here trust me"

"I know it's just that Tessa comes with a few qualities that are quiet hard to overlook, your current condition for instance, when you got married she promised the in richness and poverty shenanigans didn't she!"

He laughed lightly.

"Yeah till death do us part" he said amid laughter, "am I dead?"

"Looks to me like it, you're not so together. But seriously what are your plans with her?"

"Can't think of anything at the moment, not when am still a live-in son-in-law earning a meager salary from milking cows and being a punching bag"

"That's my point, am sure Wallace can boost you to get back on your feet, your wife can get anything from her father including any amount of money to start you off somewhere else no necessarily in the city all she needs to do is ask"

All of a sudden Blake seemed so uncomfortable and lost in thought. Perhaps he had not thought of asking for help from his in-laws. They were capable tough or no tough times, Gerald Wallace slept and woke up rich 365 days a year.

"Allow yourself to ask for help when you need it"

"Okay I will try"

I was hoping he did. It was getting unbearable to see a man so humble and welcoming suffer like a pauper.