Title: Howl if Your Horn is Broken
Author: LLE
Email: saturnchild@hotmail.com
Rating: PG for now
Pairing: None as of yet, but Rachel/Violet when I get there.
Disclaimer: I’m sorry to say that I don’t own any of these ladies. I’m sure I’d have a lot of fun with them. But, like I said, not mine, never were, never will be. No profit made, no copyright infringement intended.
Author’s Notes: Just my take on what would have happened if Jersey had stayed at Coyote Ugly after her breakthrough, and if Rachel didn’t even start working for Lil until months after Jersey did.
”Hey lady, can ya spare a dime?” A rough, uncultured voice called from the ground.
The brunette shifted her gaze, letting it lock on the grimy man lying below some newspapers, seeking what warmth the thin-worn, oversized overcoat he was wearing wouldn’t provide.
“You’re new.” She told him, standing a few feet away and gazing down at him curiously.
“Sure am.” He blinked in slight surprise “Stayed by one of them museums in the Bronx for a while. Figgered I’d slip to these parts for the winter. Bit warmer here and a better chance at money.”
“Figured it all out, huh?” The brunette couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes, Ma’am, I sure did.” The bum grinned, showing a mouth missing a few teeth. “You come here a lot since you know I’m not an old timer?”
“Could be.” The woman reached into the pocket of her leather pants and pulled out a bill, crouching down and handing it over to the man. “Here you go, buddy. Use it to get a good coat, ok?”
The man took the bill gingerly, graying eyebrows rising in surprise as he got a good look at it. “One hundred dollars?”
“Yeah, well.” The young woman shrugged, a slight blush showing on her face and neck. “You need it more than I do, so….”
“I…I…” The bum blinked repeatedly and finally raised his gaze to meet the chocolate brown eyes looking back at him. “Thank you.”
“Just don’t spend it on something stupid, ok?” The brunette stood and resumed her walk.
“Hey, lady.” The man called after her. “Mind telling me your name?”
The woman kept walking, but turned around as she did. “Name’s Rachel.”
“Thank you, Rachel.” The man grinned, stuffing the green bill into the pocket of his worn pants as he contemplated how to use it properly.
****
It didn’t take Rachel long to get to her destination. A New York native, she knew every shortcut, every decent club and every hideout in the city. Finding a club as infamous as the one she was looking for wasn’t hard.
Once she reached the seemingly worn-down building, it only took her a single glance at the door to know that it was locked. The stairwell next to it however, had a slight amount of light coming from it, easily visible in the brightening winter morning.
“Hey,” the woman called out as she ascended the concrete steps. “Anyone here?”
A blonde woman with a no-nonsense attitude showing clearly on her face stepped out from a separate room, gazing at the brunette evenly. “What do you want?”
One dark eyebrow rose. “Unless you’re the owner of this joint, that’s none of your goddamn business.”
“Ah, a native.” The blonde smirked and stepped back into the adjoining room, returning seconds later with a case of beer in her arms, which she placed by another stairwell with practiced ease. “You want the owner? You’re looking at her. Either talk, or get lost.”
“Heard you were a hand or two short around here,” Rachel told the woman, eyeing her. An athletic body, brown eyes that seemed wise in the ways of the world, a tribal tattoo and a sarcastic smirk on a face that looked only slightly older than herself, the brunette felt a little unsure as to whether or not this woman was really the owner, or just some lower step in the hierarchy getting a kick out of annoying people.
“We might be.” The blonde crossed her arms over her chest. “Your name?”
“Rachel.”
“Just Rachel?” The blonde quirked an eyebrow.
“For now, yeah.”
“Okay, ‘Just Rachel’, gimme a hand lugging out the last cases and we’ll talk.”
****
At 9:25 PM that same night, Rachel found herself walking up the same street, only this time she was passing a long line of people rather than an empty sidewalk. ‘Coyote Ugly’, as the club was called, wouldn’t open until 10 PM, but people obviously wanted to make sure they got in. Not that there was any guarantee if the length of the line was anything to go by.
Lil, her new boss, had told the brunette just to give her name to the doorman, and he’d let her in without problems. Rachel did that, and the beefy guy nodded and silently opened the door.
The noise level in the bar was low, though if the rumors around town were true, that would change before long. The only sounds heard were those of bottles and glasses being put in their place, talking and the occasional bark of laughter.
Lil was busily stacking glasses by the bar, and another blonde in a pink tank top was wiping up some water that had been spilled.
“Any word from Jersey yet?” Lil asked the smaller blonde.
“She said she’d be here on time, Lil,” the other woman said, giving her boss a gently berating look. “You know she has man-trouble. Again.”
“Yeah, well.” Lil placed the stack of glasses under the counter and checked the water hose. “Long as she leaves them at home.”
Jersey? Rachel frowned slightly as she walked up to the bar. What kind of name is that?
Hearing footsteps, Lil glanced up. “Hey, ‘Just Rachel’. Nice of you to stop by.” She pressed the trigger on the nozzle and sent a short burst of water into an ice bucket.
Rachel grunted and looked around the bar, turning her head as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and glowering at the petite blonde that had come up to her.
“Hi.” The woman stated in a perky voice, almost craning her neck all the way back to look into Rachel’s eyes. “I’m Cammie, the Russian Tease.”
The brunette gave her a look. “And I’m Rachel, the New York Bitch.”
“Good one,” Lil turned on the jukebox by the wall. “You’re keeping that name for as long as you’re here.”
“Which would be how long, exactly?” The brunette squinted at her new boss.
“Up to you.” Lil shrugged and began double-checking the shelves behind the bar. “Anything from an hour to life. Just follow my rules, and you’ll be fine.”
“Here we go again with the Rules.” Cammie rolled her eyes and tossed the dishrag she’d been using at her boss, who caught it easily.
“I’ve got two rules,” Lil went on, ignoring the shorter blonde. “One, don’t date the customers. Second, never bring your boyfriends into my bar. You abide by those two, and we’ll get along just fine.”
“Fine.” Rachel shrugged; she knew that boyfriends sure weren’t going to be a problem for her. Girlfriends might be a different story, though…
Apparently satisfied with the brunette’s reply, Lil glanced at her watch and sighed. “Cam, go give Jersey a call, wouldya? See if she’s left yet.”
“I’m here, Lil.” A third blonde (Oh Lord, not another one...), who was wearing black jeans and a white top with the words ‘Porn to be Wild’ printed on it, strode quickly across the floor and jumped right into the preparations as if she’d been doing them forever. “Right on time, just like always.”
“You mean ‘in the nick of time’.” Cammie grinned and gave the new arrival a pat on the butt as she walked past her.
“Good to see you, Jersey Girl.” Lil grinned and tossed the young woman a bottle of Bourbon. “Replace that for me.”
“Gotcha.” Jersey caught the bottle easily and quickly switched it with its half-empty twin, which she stored under the counter for future use.
“Hey, new girl.” Lil tossed a clean dish rag at Rachel, who caught it just before it hit her in the face. “Give the tables another once over, make yourself useful.”
Jersey glanced after Lil as she disappeared down the steps, smiling and shaking her head. “Hey,” she said, getting Rachel’s attention. “Bathroom and such is through that door,” she pointed to an open door to the brunette’s left. “Did Lil give you the Rules yet?”
“In her usual ‘don’t screw with me or I’ll sack you’ way.” Cammie giggled and hoisted herself onto the bar. “God love her.”
Jersey laughed and flashed a smile at the brunette. “Don’t worry about Lil; she’s just like the grouchy dwarf in Snowwhite. All grumps and bad attitude until you get to know her, then she’s just a big ol’ softie.”
“Unless you break the Rules,” Cammie sing-songed.
“Right, unless you break the Rules.” Jersey grinned and held her hand out to the brunette. “I’m Violet, the Jersey Nun.”
Rachel blinked at that before grasping the outstretched hand with her own. “Rachel.”
“Girls, you ready?” Lou stuck his head in the door. “Getting a little rowdy out here.”
Lil, having heard the bouncer, came back up from the basement. “All set, Lou. Bring ‘em on.”
“Well, here we go.” Jersey grinned and gave Rachel’s hand an extra squeeze. “Nice meeting you Rachel, just keep your cool and you’ll be fine.”
Hours later, Lil signaled to Jersey to ring the bell that signaled last rounds. Immediately, customers crowded the bar even more than they had earlier, yelling for the attention of the girls. Rachel was getting the hang of things by now, although she still couldn’t match Cammie, Jersey or Lil when it came to adding the numbers in her head quickly. Still, she knew she was doing well; the rest would come along with practice.
Quickly glancing around at her coworkers, Rachel tried to sum them up in her mind.
First there was Lil. She was the boss, and not someone you’d want to tick off. That fact hadn’t taken the brunette long to figure out. During the night, a customer had grabbed Lil’s ass harder than the boss deemed appropriate, and her response had been a shower of ice cubes and freezing water.
Then there was Cammie, small, cute, blond and perky. She seemed nice, though maybe a bit on the bubbly side. Cammie apparently had a boyfriend named Al, whom she continuously broke up and made up with. Usually more than once on the making up part of the story. She seemed to enjoy teasing the hell out of the customers, both male and female, which earned her a good amount of tips.
Finally, there was Jersey. At first, Rachel had been certain that the ‘nun’ part of the girl’s title had been a well thought-out lie, but now she wasn’t so sure anymore. While the blonde certainly had the sexy moves down pat when she and Cammie were doing their thing dancing on the bar, there also seemed to be an aura of innocence surrounding the young woman, something that the male customers most definitely approved of. She also earned her amount of tips, at least a hundred bucks from what Rachel had seen, and she’d been too busy to look most of the night.
“Alright people, closing time.” Lil yelled into the megaphone, eliciting a major ‘boo’ from the crowd. “I know, it sucks, but we’ll still be here tomorrow.”
Jersey and Cammie started grabbing shot glasses as they were emptied, and stacked them on the bar. Rachel followed suit and started collecting the empty beer bottles and chucking them into the garbage.
Soon, Lou had gotten the last stragglers outside and into their cabs, and the room was quiet again. Lil was washing shot glasses by the sink while Rachel dried them, Cammie was grabbing the last bottles off the tables and Jersey followed the blonde, wiping down the surfaces as they were cleared.
“Hey, Lil,” Cammie glanced at her boss as she dropped the last bottles into the bin. “You joining us for breakfast today?”
“No can do, ladies.” Lil replied, never taking her eyes off the glass she was swiftly cleaning. “Gotta do the books; make sure we’re not missing any money.”
“Lil,” Jersey rolled her eyes, throwing her dishrag on the counter, “it happened once, for God’s sake. Would you let go of it?”
“No,” came the calm reply, “might be more next time, so I’d like to stay on my toes.”
“Suit yourself.” Cammie turned to Rachel. “How about you?”
“How about me, what?” Rachel sent the small blonde her trademark glower, feeling a little off kilter in this suddenly very social situation.
“You want to join us for breakfast at Romano’s place?” Cammie smiled, obviously not intimidated in the least by the brunette’s hostile attitude.
“I’ll be a sec,” Jersey jumped up from the bar stool she’d been sitting on, “I need to use the bathroom.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Rachel grumped, reaching for another glass to dry, only to have her wrist grabbed by Lil.
“Just go, Rachel. You did good for a first-timer.” The boss smiled. “Better than Jersey did on her first night, anyway.”
“I heard that!” Jersey yelled from the bathroom.
Cammie snickered.
****
Cammie waved at the balding man behind the counter as the three women stepped into the diner. “Hey, Romano, the usual for Jersey and me.”
“You got it, Cammie.” Romano grinned at the blonde and passed the message on to his staff as Cammie proceeded to their usual table.
“What are you having, Rach?” Jersey asked, turning to look at the brunette and almost taking a step back as she was met with a fierce scowl.
“It’s Rachel.”
“Ok, sure.” The blonde held up her hands and smiled a trifle nervously. “What are you having then, Rachel?”
“Whatever you guys are having.” The brunette scowled deeper and turned her back on the blonde, stalking over to Cammie and sitting down.
“Touchy, touchy...” Jersey muttered to herself and shook her head. “Make that three, would you, Romano?”
****
“So, Mr. Week out of your life yet?” Cammie demanded, taking a bite off of her French fry and grinning at the other blonde.
“Yes, as a matter of fact he is.” Jersey sighed dramatically and tossed her head back, spreading her arms out in would-be despair. “Why is it so hard to find a decent man in New York City?”
“You could always go for Romano,” The petite blonde teased. “He’s a nice guy.”
“Yeah, and he’s also married with four kids, Cam.”
“Well, you never said it had to be a single, decent guy.”
“Oh, shut up.” Jersey scrunched up her nose and tossed a French fry at Cammie, who squealed and laughed.
Rachel shook her head and sighed loudly. Something, she quickly realized, she never should have done, since it brought the smaller blonde’s attention back to her. Not that she didn’t like Cammie, but she had a feeling she was about to be introduced to a lot of questions.
“What about you, Rachel?” The petite woman asked. “You seeing someone special?”
“Nope.” When all else fails, be brief.
“Any potentials?” Cammie went on.
“Nope.”
Cammie and Jersey glanced at each other and shrugged.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” Jersey asked, giving the brunette a look that for some reason made Rachel feel off balance again.
“Nope.”
“Well, Jersey,” Cammie sighed exaggeratedly. “It seems like we have a lost cause on our hands. And I was so hoping for another gossip-hound.”
“Can’t win them all, Cammie.” Jersey smiled and turned back to Rachel. “Anything you’d like to know about us, perhaps?”
Rachel opened her mouth to give another negative, but stopped herself. “Yes, actually.”
“Yes!” Cammie bounced in her seat; either missing or ignoring the look the brunette sent her. “There’s still hope for her.”
“Cammie, calm down before you blow a vessel,” Jersey told the other girl, having sensed that being the center of this sort of attention apparently made Rachel uncomfortable.
“You’re not really a nun, are you?” Rachel asked, blushing as the question made both Jersey and Cammie laugh out loud.
Once she and Cammie had gotten their laughter under control, Jersey placed her hand on the brunette’s arm, only briefly taken aback at how warm the other woman’s skin felt. “I’m sorry we laughed, Rachel. It’s just that everybody asks that question. But for the record, no, I’m not a nun, and no, I never was.”
Rachel stared at the hand resting on her arm, trying vainly to remember when someone had last touched her like that. Not a drunk grabbing her like it had been a few times at the bar that night, and not some macho-asshole looking to fight. Just a friendly touch, nothing more.
“I really am a tease though.” Cammie interjected, semi-thoughtfully.
“Big surprise there.” Jersey grinned.
****
The nights flew by, and Rachel found herself fitting in with the rest of the Coyotes better than ever. She easily made as many tips and Cammie and Jersey, as the customers seemed to like the Dominatrix look her clothing style gave her. Even Lil had complimented her a few times.
So far, she’d learned a number of things about her new job.
One, if someone ordered water, either pure or mixed with something stronger, they were supposed to spray the guy with the water hose.
Two, if you dropped a bottle and smashed it, it came out of your pay, full price, whether the bottle was half-empty or not.
Three, you could do whatever you wanted, as long as you kept the customers happy and didn’t trash the place.
Four, Cammie really and truly was a tease, and a heck of a dancer too. Rachel had gone home more than once with a damp feeling in her crotch because of the petite blonde’s more daring moves.
Five, Jersey was a popular song-writer, and more often than not gave a small performance in the bar, though only singing along to the jukebox.
“What can I get ya, buddy?” Rachel leaned her arms on the counter and look at the man in front of her.
“Nothing, thanks. I’m just waiting for Lil.”
“Well, sonny boy there’s no free parking here. You wanna stay, you gotta drink something.”
The man glanced at her. “Alright, I’ll have a glass of water then.”
Rachel pursed her lips and nodded, turning her back on the man and grabbing the megaphone. “Hey! Do we serve water in this bar?”
The crowd cheered and gave its usual reply. “Hell no, H2O! Hell no, H2O!”
“I can’t hear you!” Rachel yelled.
“HELL NO, H2O! HELL NO, H2O!”
Rachel grinned and reached for the water hose, only to find her hand encased in Jersey’s warm grasp.
The blonde shook her head and handed over a glass of water as she mouthed the words ‘Fire Marshal’.
The brunette’s lips turned into a near-perfect ‘o’, and she gruffly nodded her thanks and handed the glass over to the man.
Jersey grinned and grabbed the hose, sending a spray of water over the wildly cheering crowd and keeping the VIP out of her firing range.
And the sixth thing Rachel had learned during her brief time at the bar was that Jersey was probably about the nicest person she’d ever met.
TBC…
| LLE | Coyote Ugly | Main Index |