Top Student: Come Again, Book 3.5

Dedication

For you, my reader—just for fun. Thank you so much for visiting the world of Come Again!

Chapter One

Kat felt like she’d just been punched in the stomach. “What do you mean she’s on vacation?”

“The usual meaning of the term—not working. Have you tried her house?”

The woman behind the counter at Come Again gave her a smile that seemed to say
I know who you are, and I don’t give a fuck
. In this context, Kat would have preferred
I know who you are, and I’ll give you anything you want
. She took a deep breath before she answered, hoping it would keep her from swearing. “Just came from there. Not home…for the last five hours.”

“Stalk much?” Judging from the dreadlocks, leather and kiss-my-ass attitude, this must be Destiny, the employee Bonita described as “hell on wheels with a heart of gold”. Obviously, Kat wasn’t appealing to her gold heart.

A snarl of fury and frustration twisted her gut. It was time to end this ridiculous standoff between them. Bonita knew goddamn well Kat was coming into town, and three fucking years was long enough to wait. “Did she tell you where she was going?”

Destiny raised one eyebrow. “She doesn’t report to me. Have you tried her cell?”

“Of course I’ve tried her cell.” Kat took another deep breath. It didn’t help. “And I’ve knocked on her door. This is my last resort, and I’m not leaving until you tell me where to find her. I’ll camp out on the couch in the book section and stay for the week, if necessary. Are you going to make me beg?”

“I’d enjoy that. Are you offering?”

Kat was taller by at least six inches, and they were separated by the counter, but the way Destiny asked the question made her feel threatened, and the hair stood straight up on the back of her neck. The other woman laughed softly and walked around the counter. The jingle of her motorcycle boots and the supple slide of her leather pants were loud in the quiet store. “I’ll tell you what—we’ll put that question on hold until later. Let’s go have a drink, and if you can give me a good enough reason for why you need to find Bonita, I’ll help you.”

Kat watched her lock up and flip the sign on the front door to
Closed
. “Why do we have to have a drink first?”

“Because my boyfriend is expecting me in his bar in fifteen minutes.”

That was fifteen minutes later than Kat wanted answers. “So tell him you’ll be late.”

“I can’t be late.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated. Did you park on the street?”

Kat nodded.

“I suppose you’re driving something flashy you can’t leave unattended.”

Her disapproving snort made Kat glad a Honda was all they’d had at the airport. “Nope, I’m flying under the radar. Look, Ma, no bodyguards.” She widened her eyes and glanced left and right. Her security team was pissed about that fact, but she’d put her foot down. She was an actor, after all. If she couldn’t play the role of an average, unremarkable, thirty-year-old woman, then she didn’t deserve her job.

“Good—we’re going out the back.” Destiny paused to grab two motorcycle helmets from the office and led her down the back hallway. They exited into the parking lot, still bright with summer sun even though it was after five. Destiny thrust one of the helmets at her. “Safety first. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?”

Kat nodded.

“Of course you have.” Her mockery made Kat bristle, and if she’d had another lead on Bonita’s whereabouts, she would have flipped Destiny the bird and headed for her rental. Instead, she put on the helmet.
You need her. Suck it up. Once you know where Bonita is, you can leave this little bitch in the dust.

Destiny settled her helmet over her head and threw a leg over the Harley Cruiser, knocking the kickstand up with her heel. “Climb on.”

The ride was short, only about ten minutes, and Destiny parked on the sidewalk right next to the building. Above the bar door, a sign read “Johnny’s Downtown”. Destiny removed her helmet and slid off the bike. She had the kickstand set and was heading for the door by the time Kat dismounted.

“Hey.” Kat flipped up her visor and grabbed Destiny’s arm. “Am I going to get mobbed in there? I don’t mind signing a few autographs, but I don’t want a scene.”

Destiny rolled her eyes. “Nobody’s going to give a shit who you are in here. Keep your helmet on, if you’re worried.”

“That’s not going to look odd?”

“Nothing looks odd in Downtown. Just follow my lead.” Apparently, she meant that literally. Kat barely had time to flip her visor back down before Destiny dragged her through the front door, past a huge guy sitting at a desk with a laptop, and through another door into the dark bar.

Destiny rushed toward the bar as Kat glanced around the room, noting most people were wearing leather that revealed as much as it concealed. Metal gleamed from piercings and jewelry. Several people were sitting on the floor, although there were seats available, and some of them had thick leather collars around their necks with leashes attached. She focused on one couple long enough to see the man reach down and stroke his companion’s hair then urge her to crawl under the table.

Kat felt interested gazes flicker over her, but no one approached, and she sensed it was because of the
do not disturb
vibe Destiny was throwing off. Around them, the room sizzled with sexy tension, and she jerked her hand out of Destiny’s strong grip. She knew enough about kink to realize how it must look to anyone watching them. If she was going to enter this dynamic, it wasn’t going to be as a submissive.

Destiny didn’t halt her rapid progress toward the bar, and Kat followed more slowly, catching sight of who was waiting for them. Tattoos covered his well-muscled arms and shoulders in a cape of color. His shaved head, crossed arms and pierced eyebrow gave him a tough look, but as she caught up with Destiny, she could see his dark eyes gleamed with humor and affection. She stopped beside Destiny, and his gaze shifted to her.

Destiny flipped up Kat’s visor with an abrupt snap. “Johnny, meet Kat. Try not to come in your leather pants. They’re a bitch to clean.” A delighted grin transformed her normally haughty expression, and she giggled.

Johnny’s eyes widened only slightly as he did the coolest double-take Kat had ever seen, making her chuckle, too.

“I’ve been looking forward to putting that look on his face.” Destiny held up her fist for a bump. Bemused, Kat raised her own, lightly bumping knuckles with her.

“She’s looking for Bonita.” Destiny’s tone seemed to convey information that Kat couldn’t interpret, but Johnny seemed to understand. His gaze turned speculative.

“Upstairs?” he asked.

“I think so,” Destiny replied. “Then she can take the helmet off, at least.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Drink?”

“Yes.” Kat interrupted their shorthand conversation. A shot of tequila might help melt the ball of ice that had formed in her chest the second she’d learned Bonita was on vacation. Alcohol didn’t freeze, right? “Patrón, please.”

“My kind of girl.” Destiny’s approval made Kat feel a few degrees warmer.

Johnny spoke briefly with one of the other bartenders. Then he grabbed a bottle, dropped a handful of lemon wedges into a cup and snagged three shot glasses. He ducked out from behind the bar. Destiny led the way toward a short hallway and used a key attached to a chain at Johnny’s waist to unlock a door near the back. Kat followed them up a steep staircase.

She could both hear and feel music pounding through the walls. When she reached the top of the stairs, she flipped her visor down, sensing a crowd on the other side of the door.

“It’s usually Master-and-slave night on Fridays, but one of the regulars wanted to have a disco,” Destiny shouted over her shoulder as she opened the door. “Prepare for body glitter.”

Glitter was all that covered many of the bodies in the large room. Satin and sequins were also present but not in the expected places. Disco kink? Kat didn’t even know that was a thing, but she was grateful for the silver disco ball and flashing strobe lights that allowed her to see well enough to navigate a path through the gyrating bodies. Johnny paused to speak to a red-headed John Travolta lookalike, dressed in a full-on Tony-Manero-in-
Saturday-Night-Fever
white suit. He was one of the only fully dressed people in the room. Bouncer?

Kat looked around with increasing interest, noting a small kitchen off to the side and a lot of oddly-shaped furniture shoved against the walls. Kinky bar downstairs, naked disco upstairs…what on earth was waiting at their destination?

Johnny clapped the guy on the shoulder, and they continued down the hall.

She glanced into the rooms they passed, glad no one could see her startled expression. She’d worked in a strip club when she’d arrived in Los Angeles a dozen years ago, but dancing in the buff was tame compared to what was going on here. A nude woman hung from the ceiling in the first room, swinging in a beautiful web of rope while a man fucked her from behind. In the next room, a woman wearing the highest platform stilettos she had ever seen stepped onto the back of a man lying on the floor and kept walking. In the third room, a man sat in a chair, calling out soft commands to three naked men writhing on a bed.

The other two doors were closed.

They reached the end of the hall, and Johnny unlocked one door, reached inside and flipped a switch. Heart pounding, she edged into the room behind Destiny, surprised to discover a simple bedroom dominated by an ordinary-looking king-sized bed. She looked around the room. Bed, couch, chair, coffee table. Comic book art on the walls. A stack of mail on a small table. Through a half-open door, she saw a bathtub and a towel hanging to dry. This wasn’t part of the club. Someone lived here. Johnny?

Kat pulled the helmet off her head and set it on a chair near the door. She ran her fingers through her hair. “Whew—after the show going on out there, I was expecting to find a more extreme setup in here.”

Johnny’s sly wink made her pulse jolt. “Sorry to disappoint you. I can have some equipment brought in, if you like. What’s your pleasure?”

“You’re holding it.” She pointed at the bottle under his arm.

“Coming right up.” He set the tequila, lemons and shot glasses on the coffee table and sat on the leather couch. Destiny sat next to him as he poured their shots, and Kat dropped into the club chair on the other side of the low table. “Why did you bring me here?”

Destiny took a glass. “Other than to give my boyfriend a hard-on? Because you were asking about Bonita, and I’ve never heard her talk about you. It’s interesting she left town the day before you showed up.”

Kat flinched.
Out of town.
Disappointment made her stomach sour. Bonita could be anywhere. Actually, it didn’t matter where she was. Location was unimportant compared to the simple fact she had deliberately chosen to be where Kat was not, severing any chance of them spending time together. Pain sliced her in places only Bonita could reach as the second blow registered—Bonita had never mentioned Kat to one of her closest friends. Kat knew all about Bonita’s life—or at least she had until three years ago. She’d heard so many stories about Bonita’s friends, she felt as if she knew them.
But I don’t exist in Bonita’s world.

Johnny handed her a shot. She stared at it for a long second, not sure her stomach would accept it, but when the other two tipped their glasses, she tossed it back. Heat trickled down her chest, but the ice stayed intact.

She held out her glass. “Again.”

Johnny obliged, and she swallowed that, too. Then she sat back in the chair and took off her shoes, tucking her feet beneath her. “Destiny, right?”

The other woman laughed and nodded. “Destiny Blake, at your service…if you can convince me you deserve my help.”

Kat ignored the challenge for now. “You’ve known Bonita a long time?”

“Ten years, give or take.”

Kat wanted to trust them, but what if they betrayed her confidence? If it got out that Kat St. James, the Come-Hither Queen of the Silver Screen, liked girls, her career would be over. Everything she had worked for would be gone in the time it took for one sound bite to go viral. She didn’t have to do this…but if she didn’t, she’d be camping out in Bonita’s driveway for a week before heading back to Los Angeles disappointed. She knew how highly Bonita thought of Destiny, and Johnny was clearly her better half.