Press your luck 9

Naomi smiled and hugged Lucy by placing one arm around the scantily clad girl's waist. "It's good to see you again, Lucy. It has been too long." She and Harlow laughed for a moment.

"You look…amazing." He smiled. Naomi wore an off the shoulder white ruffle peplum top and simple jeans with a wide black belt. The necklace of gold stars she wore around her neck trailed to her chest. Harlow imagined, with what little he knew about infants, that she must not have gotten to wear it in years and was taking the opportunity now.

"You don't look half bad yourself, girly." She smiled. A moment later Naomi walked away to the kitchen and began running down the details of the evening and what was expected out of both the kids and Lucy. Harlow shook his head and followed, taking note of the bottles of breast milk. “Did Danny give you Ray’s or my number?”

“Uh…” Harlow took Danny’s phone from the small clutch purse he carried and quickly typed in the pass number to unlock his phone. ‘Can’t believe he still uses the same code.’ Harlow smirked. “Yeah,I, like, have Col-uh Ray’s number."

“Excellent. Now, we shouldn’t be too late tonight but this one,”-she gently raised the shy rugrat that sat on Naomi’s hip-“she should be down for the count in the next hour. We left you some money for some food for you and Henry. But, no dairy for Henry. He’s lactose intolerant.” Harlow nodded, “He usually goes to bed at 8:30 but since it’s the weekend he can go to bed at 9:30.”

“Naomi.” Collins called as he walked out wearing a dark red long sleeve shirt and simple jeans, but what caught Harlow’s eye was the leather jacket he placed on. It looked similar to the one he had back home, his real home with all the male clothes he left behind. He wished he could at least bring that back to Danny’s house.

“Lucy?” Naomi waved her hand in front of Harlow’s face, snapping him out of the leather clad day dream.

“Huh?”

“I know my man is a hunk but come on, girly.”

“Wha-no. I mean”-he giggled nervously-“I was…it’s a good looking jacket. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh.” Naomi smirked.

Harlow felt his entire body blush, they thought he was checking out Ray?! And the little smirk on his face made Harlow feel uneasy, did Harry tell him what happened between them? He wouldn’t expect similar treatment would he?! “Where’s Henry?” Harlow cleared his throat.

“Where is Henry?” Naomi asked.

“He was right behind me…there he is.” He pointed. Henry hid behind the couch, peaking over the top, watching Lucy. He tried to say something but suddenly felt like the atomic skull was squeezing his throat shut. “Henry, quit goofing around and come say goodbye to your mom.” Henry reluctantly followed his father’s request and hurried to embrace his mother’s waist. “Bye. Love you.” He said quickly and ran back to his room.

“He’s a little shy around new people.” She informed Lucy, unprompted, “His old babysitter, Mrs.Pascal was his sitter for the longest time but her son talked her into retiring somewhere in Florida with him after her hip gave out last year.”

“That’s a shame.” Harlow frowned. ‘If the old bat had toughed it out I wouldn’t have to deal with this.’

“Hey, baby. We’ve got to go if we’re going to keep our reservations.”

Naomi shook her head and hugged Vanessa to her, “Mommy loves you, sweetie.” Vanessa chewed on her lip and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I know, baby. I’ll miss you too. Mommy will be home soon before you know it.” She slowly transferred the toddler into Harlow’s arms. ‘Oh god!’ his mind screamed, ‘She wants me to hold this thing?’ Immediately terrifying scenarios flashed through Harlow’s mind. She felt so fragile in his arms, what if he dropped her? ‘She’d just shatter like a faberge egg!’

Little Vanessa was fine as she watched her mother leave, Harlow did his best not to show fear and just kept the practiced smile on his face as he stared at the little girl. Still standing in the middle of the living room as they heard the car driving away Vanessa turned to Lucy for comfort but the tiny human couldn’t hold its big emotions for more than a second before she started wailing. “Oh, hey kid. Don’t do that!” Harlow begged. “Come on, I’m not happy about this either but I’m not crying!” He begged the small child in his arms. ‘Shoulda just took my chances with Marcus.’ His mind yelled over the screaming infant and searched for something to calm her down.

While Harlow frantically dealt with the first child ever left in his charge, Danny went home and changed into his “work clothes” for the evening. He wore the standard black jeans, black shirt and black blazer that every bouncer seemed to wear. He met Harry in the parking lot of Queenie’s night club. Queenie, from what Lucy had told him, was one of Jefferson’s many mistresses. He had built the club for her six years ago, which seemed to Danny as a bit obvious and possibly Mrs.Jefferson as Queenie stopped coming to the club built and named for her two years ago. There were multiple stories according to Lucy; one story said she went to hollywood to try and make it as an actress and being the caring man Jefferson was he encouraged her, another story was she was buried somewhere out in death valley along with a possible baby after she threatened to tell his wife if he did not step up and divorce her.

Danny played it cool for Lucy, according to his father that’s just what men were supposed to do, but he wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of setting foot in the lion’s den or disgusted that he was working for him.

“Hey, Danny. Ready to make this green?”

“No one says that, Potter.” Danny spat Harry’s hated nickname. The closest resemblance between the two was their shared first name and for a time he wore glasses until he discovered contacts.

“Whatever, you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Hey, real quick. Did you lose your phone?”

“No? I gave it to Lucy.”

“Oh, okay. That explains why you’re texting me ‘The baby won’t stop yelling at me!!!’.” He showed Danny the multitude of texts from Lucy.

Danny smirked, he knew he shouldn’t laugh at his girlfriend, but Harlow had always teased him about wanting kids. Going so far as to say he’d rather die first. “Well, she’s not dead yet.” he chuckled. “Just tell her to check if she’s hungry.”

“Okay.” He sent off the text quickly, “I’m not gonna be your voicemail all night am I?”

Danny shrugged, “Maybe, she doesn’t have her phone anymore.”

“What happened to it?”

“Uh…she lost it a few weeks ago and we haven’t been able to afford a replacement.” He knew Harlow’s phone was in a pawn shop somewhere but Lucy wasn’t the type to gamble, according to Valerie, and playing up the airheaded nature she presented seemed the best option.

Marcus greeted them at the back entrance of the club, “You fellas made it, great.” He smiled, “We’ve got you two headsets inside. Bossman wanted me to give these to you,” he handed a slip of paper to each man, “These will get you a free drink when your breakes come up.”

“Sweet.” Harry smiled, snatching his voucher quickly.

“Thank you.” Danny said solemnly as he took his and stuffed it in his pocket.

“Welp, with all of that out of the way, let’s get you two on the door before the mob shows up.”

At the Collins’ home, Harlow desperately tried to feed a full Vanessa. “Come on, kid. Cut me some slack here, I’m new to this.” Harlow stood Vanessa on the table and sniffed again, “...you don’t stink so you don’t need a change. You can’t be tired, right?” he asked the sobbing toddler for advice, “Yes? If you’re tired, go to bed.” she continued to cry until Harlow picked him up again. Nervously he bounced one foot as he wracked his brain for a solution. The sobbing slowed as Vanessa leaned against Harlow’s fake chest with a frown. “Yeah, sorry kid no milk’s gonna come out of those.” When he stopped bouncing her face scrunched up once again like she was about to start all over again. “Hey, no, no. Shh!” he pleaded as he bounced more. The scrunched face slowly faded, “Hey! You like that?” He continued bouncing as he walked around the house carrying the baby.

After a few minutes of walking Vanessa fell asleep in his arms. “Cool!” he gasped quietly. Seeing Henry peeking out of his room Harlow stopped, “Look,” he whispered, “she’s asleep.”

“She does that a lot.” He said nervously. Harlow giggled, looking back towards the sleeping infant.

“That’s so cool.” he smiled.

“I’m hungry.” Henry said suddenly.

“Okay, let’s get some food.”

Several minutes later, Harlow had tucked the sleeping girl into bed and ordered from one of his favorite sub shops. “Well, it shouldn’t be but twenty minutes.”

“That’s forever!” Henry groaned, dropping his head on the kitchen table mournfully.

Harlow thought for a moment, “You, like, ever play cards?”

“Tons!” He sat up excitedly.

Harlow smiled genuinely, it had been too long since he got to play any kind of game, “Why don’t we play while we wait?”

“Heck yeah!” Henry shouted, running off to his room quickly.

When Henry returned Harlow was disappointed to see, not a deck of cards he could play poker or blackjack with but something strange and colorful with pictures of tiny monsters and demons. “What the he-ck is this…stuff?” he grimaced as he read the writing on one monster. It looked incredibly stupid.

“What?” Henry frowned, “You said you wanted to play a card game. I have more…if you want.”

“Uh…” Harlow looked up at Henry, and saw the frown on his face, ‘oh great, he’s not gonna cry now is he?’ “This is fine…I just don’t know how to play.”

“I can teach you!” he said excitedly.

“Great.” he forced a smile back on his face. There were similar playing card games like this when he was growing up, but even then they held no interest for him and now he was being forced to listen to the rules so he wouldn’t have to deal with a crying ten year old on top of the other crying baby he would no doubt wake up.

When the food finally came Harlow was extremely grateful, as it meant he was no longer held hostage by a prepubescent who he was sure was cheating at this game somehow. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.” Harlow smiled at the driver.

The teenage boy smiled at the sexiest woman he’d ever met in real life. He’d seen porn, he knew exactly what to do in this situation, “How glad?” He smirked and gave a wink.

Harlow’s jaw tensed as he leaned into the teenager and whispered, “Glad enough that I won’t kick your frank and beans in for being a little horndog.” Harlow snatched the bags out of the boy’s hands and immediately slammed the door in his face. ‘I know I’m hot but, damn guys. Show some restraint!’ he shook his head and sat the bags on the table next to the cards.

“What’s that?”

“Subs from Gemini’s. Best in the city.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Cool, it’ll be a new experience for you then.”

“What if it’s gross?”

“It’s not. It’s, like, the best in the world.”

“Nuh-uh, best in the world is at Pop’s.”

“Please, Gemini puts Pop’s to shame. They don’t even count as a sub shop.”

“They make subs though!”

“And deep fried everything. You’re not enjoying the sub, you’re enjoying the cooked grease so it’s not really the same.”

“They serve subs though.”

“Just because they have subs doesn’t mean they’re a sub shop. You can get a sub pretty much anywhere if you know how to order.”

“What about Po boys?”

“All they do is slather bar-b-que sauce between two slices of bread.”

“That’s a sub though!”

“No it’s no-” Harlow stopped, “I’m arguing with a ten year old.”

“Ten and a half!”

Harlow wanted to argue further but just shook his head, “Eat your dinner. You’ll thank me later.”

“Can I have this too?” He held up a small bag containing the complimentary cookie they gave every takeout order.

“Sure, knock yourself out.”

The night wore on and was relatively dull for Harry and Danny. For the most part their job was simply to check IDs and turn away people. Danny had been given a short list of people who could essentially cut the line and get in without being checked out. Mostly celebrities, some locals, others from Hollywood and beyond. Harry was excited with every local singer or dancer that rudely passed by them, while Danny was simply bored. They were people, no different than him. After some model had smiled politely at Harry he was excitedly annoying Danny, “Dude, do you think I have a shot?”

“She barely looked at you.”

“She doesn’t have to look at me.” He laughed as he waved a couple inside, “If you know what I mean.”

“The fire hydrants know what you mean.”

“Danny,” Marcus’ voice called over the radio, “we have a situation in the VIP section we need your help with ASAP.”

“On my way.”

“Want me to come along?”

“Nah, probably some rich kid getting too handsy with one of the models.”

“...like I said, maybe I should come.”

"Just man the door.” Danny shook his head and walked into the club.

On the bottom floor of the club was the dance floor, the lights above moved in time to the beat of the latest in EDM, the east wall held a long bar with three bartenders manning the crowd gathered around them, the west wall held the DJ at his table, Danny gave him a quick nod as he walked up the stairs beside the booth that almost blended into the wall in the dark. Upstairs, above the dancing lights and thrumming music was the VIP floor that overhung half of the dance floor allowing VIPs to look down on the regular people on the dance floor.

Immediately Danny saw the problem and sprung into action. A brown haired man about 5’1 swung a broken bottle at people as he laughed moronically. He was one of the rich boys that got an automatic pass into clubs like this, Rook something. Normally Danny would just try to talk the man down from his stupidity but when he saw one of the girls nursing a cut on her arm he rushed forward and without a word kicked the drunk man’s leg out from under him while pushing his head back. The man dropped immediately to the floor, the bottle rolling out of his hand. “Are you okay?” He asked the woman with a bloody towel wrapped around her arm.

“No! The asshole cut me!” She yelled over the music.

As Danny turned to look back at Rook, he had stood up and tried to tackle Danny. “Really, dude?” Danny shook his head and threw the man into the table behind him.

Immediately Rook staggered back to his feet. “Do you know who my father is?”

“Why? Your momma didn’t tell you?”

He picked up a chair and threw it at Danny as hard as he could, Danny swatted it away with his right hand, careful not to send it to the dance floor below but the empty booth upstairs. Rushing in at his size it was easy for Danny to get an arm around the drunkard’s neck. What was difficult for him was keeping the tension out of his arm so he wouldn’t accidentally choke the fool out or worse.

About this time two more men dressed similarly to Danny ran up the stairs. “Check on her,” he ordered one of the men, “Clear a path,” Was all he said to the other as he dragged the attacker down the stairs. He would probably get in trouble for not taking him through some secret staircase but assholes like Rook deserved the exposure for the whiny brats they are. The other security was able to clear enough of a path that no one could stop the giant but allowed the club goers a great view for their camera phones. Tomorrow the kid would be on the front page of at least half a dozen gossip magazines. Jefferson would ban him from any and every club he owned, and more would follow suit.

Harry smiled at the pretty blonde who had offered to show him a good time if he let her inside the club when the door violently swung open and a body was hurled onto the sidewalk. “What the fuck?!”

Danny stepped in front of the door, acting as the brick wall he normally resembled, “Are you shitting me?! You don’t know how much you just fucked up!”

“I’m not the one in the gutter, kid.” He glared, despite the increasing pain in his wrist.

“You piece of shit,”-He stood and stormed towards Danny-“I’ll sue you for every-”, immediately Harry’s fist made contact with the man’s jaw and he dropped into unconsciousness at Danny’s feet just as a police car arrived.

“Fuck.” Harry whispered, “I shouldn’t’ve done that.”

Danny smiled at his friend, the other bouncer simply laughed, “If you didn’t I would’ve.” He said.

One cop whistled as he walked up, “What happened here?”

“He had a bit too much to drink, slipped and fell on the curb.”

“Is this true?” He looked to the giant, and the crowd of people with their phones out all screaming their confirmations.

“Yes sir,” Danny nodded, slowly dropping his arms.

The cop shrugged, “Good enough for me. Help me get him in the car.” As they stood him up, Danny noticed for the first time the man had lipstick and eyeliner on his face. If it wasn’t for his voice and short hair he would have assumed he was a tomboy, not a man.

“Come on, let’s get you a drink.” The other man said more so as a pretense to check on the large bruise that he had noticed now that they were outside.

“Sure.” For a moment Danny thought about Lucy and if he should tell her what happened. ‘She has enough to worry about.’ He thought as he followed the man into the kitchen.

Lucy, or Harlow, did have his hands full at the moment. If Harry hadn’t been so distracted he would’ve seen the panicked messages and calls he had been receiving. Harlow finally gave up and called Valerie, as much as he hated asking her for help it was an emergency. “Hey, Lucy. How’s sitting going?” In the background she could hear little Vanessa crying loudly.

“Terrible! Henry keeps throwing up!”

Valerie’s smile vanished as she stood, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, we were playing his little card game and he just started spewing like a fountain.”

“Did he get into something he shouldn’t have?”

“No, he’s been with me or in his room the whole time.”

“What’d he have for dinner?”

“A meatball sub with no cheese.”

“No cheese, was there any dairy?”

“No, he had fruit punch.”

“Okay…” she thought frantically, she wanted to torture Harlow, not Henry. She ran through the possibilities through her mind determining most and least likely scenarios and solutions. “Okay, get him water and crackers.”

“Okay!” Harlow rushed into the kitchen, Vanessa still wailing as her brother lurched loudly in the bathroom. “I don’t understand what happened, he was fine!” Harlow frantically collected a glass for water and a package of crackers.

“Are you sure the meat was okay?”

“Yes! I had the same thing.”

“I want my mommy!” Henry cried as Harlow entered the bathroom.

“I know, I know, buddy. She’ll be home soon, drink this for me okay?” Henry pushed the glass away. “He doesn’t want it, what do I do?”

“He needs to drink it or he’ll get worse.”

Harlow frowned, “Hey, Henry, come on. Look it’s…it’s magic water okay?”

“Magic?”

“Yeah, like in your card game. Drink it and it’ll help you feel better but you gotta keep drinking it…and eat these too, okay?” Henry looked at the glass of water, it looked like normal water…but maybe magic looked normal? That’s why no one notices it when it happens?

“Okay.” he groaned as he took the glass and drank it down.

“Good.” Valerie said, it wouldn’t be an immediate fix but the last thing he needed was to dehydrate. “Now, is he hot?”

“He’s ten.”

“Warm you airhead.”

“Oh.” Harlow touched the back of his hand to Henry’s forehead, “A little.”

“Of course, get a wrag, wet it with cold water, then ring it out and place it on his forehead so he’ll cool down.” A second later she heard the sink running briefly. “Okay, he should be fine now. Now check on the baby. She may just be upset.”

“She was sleeping and now she’s crying.” He complained as the crying got louder as he entered Vanessa’s room. “Hey, hey, little girl. It’s okay. Aunty Vanessa and Lucy are here.” he said trying to sooth the crying toddler as he picked her up and bounced her on his hip. “She’s still crying.” he whined.

“Okay, check if she needs a change otherwise she might be hungry.”

Grimacing Harlow raised her up once again and sniffed, praying she didn’t need a change. “She smells fine.”

“Okay, feed her.”

“Right.” Harlow hurried into the kitchen carrying Vanessa. Grabbing a bottle he offered it to her, expecting her to take hold of it herself. “Oh, uh,” he pressed the nipple to her lips. After a few seconds she fell silent as she drank her mother’s breast milk. “She’s drinking.” Harlow gasped.

“Good, make sure she drinks it all and keep an eye on Henry.”

“Okay. Thank you.” he smiled as the call ended. “Did your brother wake you up? Huh?” He cooed as he carried the child to the couch.

Twenty minutes later Naomi walked into her home, a wide smile on her face. Lucy had fallen asleep on the couch holding Vanessa. And Henry had slept with his head in her lap. Gently Naomi slipped her hands under her sleeping daughter and lifted her up. Lucy stirred, suddenly opening her eyes. “Shh,” Naomi whispered as she carried her daughter into her room.

Ray walked up to Lucy, a smirk on his face that made her feel uncomfortable. “I think he likes you.” He said quietly as he picked up his son.

“He’s a cool kid.” She whispered.

“He is,I think we’ll keep him for a while.” he chuckled as he carried the sleeping boy off into his room.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes Harlow checked his phone for any responses from Danny. The only text was that he would be later than he thought and Harlow would need to get a ride from Collins. ‘Ugh no.’ He thought as he envisioned that creepy smile standing over him.

“Hey, girly.” Naomi said softly as she walked back into the room, “So how were they?”

“Uh, they were great. I had to feed Vanessa, I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s fine. It’s why I keep the milk in bottles. Plus, these are nice.” She squeezed her own large chest with a cocky smirk.

“Yeah.” Harlow giggled nervously, was he supposed to say they were great tits? Should he just let it go? He imagined Naomi’s breasts bouncing up and down on his cock. “Uh…D-danny’s gonna be later than, like, he thought. Do you think I could get a ride?”

“Sure, I’ll get Ray.”

“I was hoping you could take me.”

“I’d love to,” she smiled warmly.

As Naomi drove Harlow home she chatted about what fun she and Collins had had and how Lucy and Danny should join them on a double date one day. “Yeah…that sounds like…fun.” he lied. It was bad enough he had to act like he was interested in Danny in front of his friends, but doing it in front of a walking MILF like Naomi was worse somehow.

“You know you remind me a lot of a girlfriend I had in high school.”

“Valerie?”

“Nah. We were never like that.” Naomi pulled into the driveway, ‘What?’ “She was on the squad though, she was a bit of a ditz, but she was tons of fun. And such a beautiful girl.

“Uh…that doesn’t sound like me.” Harlow frowned, he wasn’t a ditz, he was playing one to keep his legs! Surely people could tell the difference, right?

Naomi took Harlow’s hand in hers, “Hey, you shouldn’t talk about yourself like that. You are very fun and beautiful.” Harlow frowned, he wasn’t beautiful…he was a man damn it. He tried to look away, hoping to hide his girlified face, but Naomi pulled his face back to hers. “It doesn’t matter that you were born a boy, you’re still a beautiful woman.”

“You can tell?!” Harlow gasped. If she could tell, could other people?

“No, you pass very well.” She said in an attempt to sooth the frantic woman in front of her, “I didn’t know until yesterday in the pool. Your, uh, tuck came undone and…I guess you and Danny wanted some alone time. Even after getting some in the locker room.”

“I didn’t-”

“Hey, I get it. I have days like that too. Some days with Ray I just wanna just pin him down and go for a ride.” She giggled. Harlow giggled along with her. Naomi smiled, glad Lucy understood, “It was a lot easier before kids though. Especially with my girlfriend.”

“...when you say girlfriend-” Again Naomi cut off Harlow but this time she pressed her lips to his. Her soft pillowy lips were a godsend after kissing Danny, especially when he hadn’t shaved. ‘Ugh stop thinking about that!’ he screamed in his mind. He finally got to make out with a cheerleader, now was not the time to think of the football player. Naomi gasped as she felt Lucy’s hand touching her breast. “I thought we-I mean…not that I-we could go-”

“Shh.” Naomi kissed Harlow again. “Not yet. Ray has a birthday coming up.”

“Okay?”

“Talk to Danny about it, if he’s okay with it we’d love you to join us for the…after party.”

Harlow smiled broadly, “Absolutely!”