Part 26 - Goldi: All That Glitters

I heard her sobs before I laid eyes on her and whatever words I had caught in my throat when we rounded the corner into a grand salon.

The glamor of the Gallery was forgotten as if it never existed. A dream perhaps, left behind from the few moments after we passed through his great iron doors, as if I was passing through into a castle of some great king? Back there, all splendor and pomp, a menagerie of grandeur meant to impress. But was it just a lie, a sleight of hand meant to fill a girl’s empty heart? What man or woman didn’t come through that door and feel a stir, a glimmer, a kindling of fire deep down inside as his riches flowed unbidden down from the ceiling in grand chandeliers and priceless works of art to rich carpets underfoot?

Only just now I’d danced for him on stage, the entire opera house emptied out, just my own voice ringing out over the balconies, the single stage light following me as closely as his watchful eye. I’d seen him there, a little man in a big suit, his eyes peeping out from under his wide-brimmed hat, skeletal fingers resting on brittle legs. Shower me with gold, darling. I want to bathe in it.

Somewhere far away, I could see Smiley pacing in his office, his cat-like eyes roving from the phone on his desk to the busted door adorned with his name, wondering when I was going to step through and bring his mob of miserable trolls to spill open their wallets and rain money down on a stage sticky with spit and sweat and lust. Fuck him, I thought, as I looked up at the lux layout, as I imagined the champagne flowing after each performance at the Grand Gallery on 125th Street, as I pictured my name on the marquee in gleaming, glaring letters.

Goldi: A Performance for the Ages

Let that fat fuck take a long walk off a short pier into the East River. He would never see me again. All I would see is each of my dreams coming true.

But all I saw now was despair. I froze, stock still, my eyes riveted on what was there. A gilded cage from a bygone era sat in the middle of the floor, a hulking giant standing by. It was like something out of a classic film, its dimensions fit for a menagerie — large enough for a flock of canaries, a great peacock, even a large hound, the kind of trophies a rich and ruthless mook in the city would flaunt for friends at parties. Only this trophy was no creature, no animal. At least not yet.

I shuddered when his hand rested on my shoulder, cool fingers on my burning skin like an uninvited frost. I’d almost forgotten he was there, lurking just out of my sight, his raggedy breath in my ear, words creeping out from between his thin lips. No longer sweet, but dripping venom.

“Let me show you, my child.” His was a raspy, deep growl, his voice as coarse as the secrets buried in the darkest corners of the city. “Let me show you what happens to those who double-cross me.”

The shadow moved past me, blocking out the vision for a moment, and all I could feel was the sudden urge to run, to fly away back through the door and disappear out into the night. Anywhere but here, I thought, but as he neared the cage, I couldn’t help but follow, my eyes fixed on the creature within. She moaned, a warbling wail muffled by the gag filling her mouth. Naked from head to toe, her pale flesh pressed against golden bars that barely contained her slender body. He circled like a predator, she the prey. Hunted, captured, and caged like an animal. Another trophy for a man who collected trophies.

Only this one was something more.

“She came to me some time ago,” he said, circling, and I watched her eyes flit back and forth, trying to keep him in sight as he walked around, fingers trailing over the cage but never touching her. “Eager, young, a deep, dark heart beating in her chest. A woman after my own, willing to bend to the situation, break the rules. A woman with an ethic I share. A woman who understood that here and now is all that matters. Here and now is all there is in life. No past. No future.” He stopped behind her and turned towards me, watching me as his fingers slid through the bars and pushed between her legs.

His words were slow and rounded, filling the room and drawing me in. “Only here and now. If you can accept that there is no future, you will go far. If you dwell on your future, my child, you will fall to fear. ” He smiled then, that crooked smile I’d seen in the car, in the theater, the smile that sent a thrill through me somehow because it reeked of shadow and bone.

The cage vibrated as he pushed deeper, her body responding, her eyes finding me, searching, begging. Was this what she wanted? Was this what she needed? What she deserved?

“A partnership she proposed, and I agreed. I agreed because she had something I needed. A path inside. A window. A view of the weapons arrayed against me. But she was weak.”

Another moan, but this one was different. It was a sound I knew, a sound that drew me to the gorgeous brunette. I drank in this stranger’s body, felt a sudden heat in the room. Her eyes closed, soft gasps leaking out from the gag as his fingers pushed deeper. And for a moment, just in that instant, I wondered what I felt like to be her. Would he put me in a cage like this? Would he keep me as his pet?

I’d fantasized about this with Red. Her lips brushed mine, and I would squirm underneath her. A tongue slipping across my nipple, her fingers grazing my clit, leaving me aching, moaning, begging for more. How many times had she lashed my wrists to the metal headboard, leaving me defenseless in more ways than one? Her eyes holding me transfixed, her voice rendering me helpless, like a doll under her touch, a marionette with each string at my wrists and ankles leading back to her.

He fucked her, and I wanted it to be me. Damn Smileys. Damn that bastard Wolfe and his perfect cock, the bruises that marked my skin where he touched me. I stood there in my golden dress, my toes peeking out from golden heels, and all I could think of was how much I wanted to be in this golden cage and never let out.

His voice was icy, as cruel as his smile, but that did nothing to sway me. Not a hint of malice in his eyes would send me flying from the room now. I shifted, my cunt slippery with excitement, thoughts racing through my head. Send her away. Cast her off. She was in my place. That cage was mine.

“She knows what is coming. See how she begs with her body now?”

How could I not see it? I’d seen the girls dance at Smiley’s, but Red had been the only true sexual being on stage. Standing there, mesmerized by her slow, easy sway, how she drew all the mooks in with her smoldering looks, how she’d glanced at me the first time I saw her, how she’d run her fingers over her clit right then and there. The way her expression changed, the flush that washed over her alabaster skin, the way her nipples hardened. I’d licked my lips instinctively. I’d wanted a taste, and she knew it.

“This is not the woman I met. The woman I knew is gone.”

The woman I knew was gone, too. I killed her.

“She disappeared the day she offered me her cunt.”

Maybe the happiest day of my life, the day she pulled me backstage behind the curtains and pressed her ruby-red lips against mine. The day what defenses I had against the world melted away. Her tongue pushed against my lips, and they parted, giving way. I let her take my mouth that night. I let her take the rest of me that weekend.

“It was the day she showed me her fear, the day she showed me her doubt, and this doubt has grown day by day. This fear building, until she decided to steal. A way out? There is no way out.”

I blinked, eyes open, the vision of my love fading as I watched the shriveled old perv pull his hand away, heard the caged animal wailing into the gag again. Let her go. Fuck her. She’s weak. He said it himself. Nothing to offer but her body. Nothing to give. Just taking. Just taking all the time, just like Red took, just like she took and took and took until there was nothing left for me to give. And then…

“Take from me, and I take from you. And this one took. She took and took, and now she thinks I will forgive if she simply gives me her body, if she offers her cunt.” He turned, his eyes boring into mine. “No more.”

He stepped forward, but my eyes were back on her. He took my hand and waited, standing beside me, letting me watch as the animal realized that her time was up, shaking the cage, her moans of pleasure turning into shrieks of protest. “What now?” I could barely hear my own voice over the caged thing.

“Now we leave them to it, my darling. But first, Agent Charles, is it?”

I turned, shocked by the arrival of a dark-haired man in a suit, the giant looming behind him. Who was he? He didn’t seem to be part of this outfit. He was too normal, too clean cut, too day-trader-jock-Wall Street douchebag. His black shock of hair seemed too perfect, his suit too shiny. The kind of man who thought every stripper was his personal property, if he flashed enough cash. He was a messenger or an all too eager partner who would end up regretting everything.

Like the thing in the cage.

“Charming will do. I see you and Gretel are getting along just fine.” He looked past the old man and nodded. “Yes, just right, I think.” His eyes smiled, then shifted back to me, and I could feel the wandering heat of his gaze. “Already moved on, I see.”

“Yes, Agent Charming. Thank you for stopping by.”

The floor vibrated when the giant stepped up. He stopped, looming over the newcomer’s shoulder, and held out a small paper bag. Charlie took it and shoved it under his arm without so much as opening the bag.

“Just as we agreed. Our liability will cease to be a problem tomorrow, and then, I think we can find more lucrative ventures. For both our sakes.”

Charming nodded, licked his lip nervously, his eyes leaping past us to gaze on the woman in the cage again. For a moment, I sensed a wave of regret, his eyes softening, and then he shifted, tightening his grip on the bag. “For both our sakes,” he said, but it felt forced.

“I have…business here tonight. I’m sure you can show yourself out.”

“I — yes. Of course. Of course. I — I’ll contact you.”

“In time,” said my benefactor, and the other man turned and walked away, the giant following.

“A drink, my dear? To new ventures?”

I nodded, feeling the mood in the room shift when he walked away, my vision expanding, the rest of the room coming into view, as if suddenly the world had blinked back into existence.

Where a moment ago, there was nothing but my benefactor — was that what he was? — and the girl in the cage, but now, there was so much more. A grand salon that would have swallowed my apartment ten times over. Tapestries and art and a great mural of swirling blues and icy grays adorning the walls. Couches and divans and a long obsidian dining table with more chairs than I could count. A raging fireplace in the far corner, and there, in the shadows, two young naked women, their hair white like winter’s snow, stoked the flames with long black rods.

They looked at one another, then pulled their pokers from the fire, each tip adorned with a sinister glow. They crossed the room side-by-side, two perfect young bodies with flowing alabaster hair, like angels of death, gliding towards the cage.

My breath caught in my throat when I realized what was about to happen, but I couldn’t look away. I winced the first time she screamed. I licked my lips and saw her. I saw the knife in my hand, saw the light go out of her eyes. You betrayed us. You betrayed me, Red, and now you have to pay.