Evil Red by Nikki Jefford Page B

her with tongue.
    “Hey, babe. Where to?” he asked when he pulled
back.
    Valerie fluffed her hair back. “Club Hell.”
     
    CUT TO:
    EXT. DOWNTOWN L.A. CLUB—NIGHT
     
    Club Hell was an under twenty-one club in downtown
L.A. where Valerie met up with Babette, her BFF, on weekends. It’s
where Val had all her dates take her.
    After fussing at the valet about being careful with
his car, Todd followed Valerie into Club Hell.
    The music pounded against the walls with fist-like
force. Todd stopped to watch three heavy-set bouncers break up a
fight between two white guys.
    Valerie looked over her shoulder. “Todd!”
    “Just a minute.”
    If he wanted to stand around gawking then he could
come find her when he was through. Valerie passed the booths, which
were all taken, and headed to the bar. All of the bartenders at
Club Hell were dressed like devils with little red horned
headbands. The waitresses wore sequined headbands and were dressed
as sexy She Devils. The club was wicked cool and had a killer
DJ.
    Valerie moved in on a tall round table with stools as
the occupants gathered their purses to leave. With a quick push,
Valerie hoisted herself onto one of the stools. She dug out her
compact mirror and checked her makeup. The club didn’t have the
best lighting, but enough to see her mascara hadn’ t smudged.
    Valerie snapped the mirror shut after she heard a
familiar voice say, “there’s my girl.”
    She grinned and turned on the stool, air kissing
Babette on the cheeks.
    “ Hey,
chick. ”
    “Yo, baby blue,” Babette answered, using her pet name
for Valerie. Babette once dated an Australian who told her they
liked to nickname their things using opposites. For example, he’d
called his little red truck “ Big Blue. ”
    Babette loved the concept and had dubbed Val “baby
blue” ever since.
    Valerie didn’t have an internationally inspired
nickname for her friend. She was “Babs” and always would be.
    Babs was slightly overweight, but that didn’t stop
her from wearing tight dresses with plunging necklines. She had
crazy brown curls and wore flashy jewelry—the bigger the better.
Tonight, it was a braided three-tone metal necklace, chunky hooped
earrings, and a cuff bracelet as wide as a manacle.
    “ You look
bitching, ” Valerie
said.
    Babette tossed her curls around. “ Thanks. ”
    Todd strode over and placed a hand on Valerie’s
leg.
    “Oh man, you should have seen that,” he said. “One of
the guys wouldn’t let up so the bouncer wrestled him to the
ground—had him pinned to the floor.”
    Who said Valerie didn’t know how to show a guy a good
time? She wasn’t the kind of girl who walked around the mall
holding hands with her date, sharing fries in the food court. Life
was meant to be lived on the wild side.
    “Who’s this?” Babette asked, ogling Todd.
    “Babette, Todd. Todd, Babette.”
    “Hey,” Todd said, lifting his chin.
    “Hey, yourself,” Babette said in a flirtatious
voice.
    “I’ll get us some drinks,” Todd said.
    “I want a Red Bull,” Valerie said, twisting her hair in her finger. “Babs
likes piñ a coladas. ”
    First Todd had to push his way through the dance
space between the tables and bar.
    “Hurry back,” Babette called after him, giving his
butt a lingering look.
    “Careful, Babs,” Valerie said, though she couldn’t
care less how long her friend stared at her date’s ass. Tonight,
that ass belonged to her. Let the other girls admire it so long as
they kept their hands off.
    “He’s hot.”
    “He’s okay for now.”
    “Uh-oh, trouble in paradise?” Babette lifted her
perfectly plucked brows up and down.
    “More like all bod, no brains.”
    “Just the way you like them.”
    Valerie and Babette burst out laughing. No argument
there.
    Babs smacked Valerie a second later. “Some guy’s
checking you out at nine o’clock.”
    “Who?”
    “Man in the blue bandana.”
    Valerie took the straightforward approach and stared
directly at Mr. Nine