42. Chapter 42
Nicole stared hard and long at the drink in her hand, thinking whether or not it would be a wise choice to drink it, until Wynonna interrupted her thoughts, “Nicole, if we are going to pull this off, it has to look as though we are here for fun and not business.” Wynonna knocked back the shot of Whiskey and then took a sip from her beer. Nicole knew that Wynonna was right and followed suit by downing the Whiskey in her hand.
“I’ll get the next round and plant the first listening device under the bar. Wynonna do you want the same to drink? Why am I asking.” Nicole shook her head as she ventured off towards the bar. While she was waiting for their drinks, Nicole looked around to make sure no one was watching before pulled out of her pocket the first listening device and secured it under the bar. Wynonna greeted Nicole with a grin as the red head returned to the table with a shot of Whiskey and two beers. “One of us has to stay a bit sober.” Nicole replied as she placed the shot in front of Wynonna.
Nicole pulled out her phone and synced up the listening device, with the app that Jeremy had created for this operation. This way when Dolls and Jeremy listened in, making it that much easier to track the location of each device in Pussy Willows. The plan for this operation was for Wynonna and Nicole to plant over 10 listening devices in different sections of Pussy Willows, included the change rooms of the strippers and the private rooms for lap dances.
“Wynonna how do you plan to get into the change rooms and the private rooms?” Nicole asks as the announcer comes over the loudspeaker, “Give it up for your favourite Destiny”. Nicole turns around and notices the stripper has red hair and wearing what looked like a bright pink business suit top, with a matching mini skirt. “Haught, stay focused on the job at hand.” Wynonna says as she kicks Nicole in the ankle.
“Ouch, I just was looking to see if there were any empty spaces around the stage, we need to plant on the side of the stage, that’s all. I promise.” Nicole says as she flings her hands in the arm, as a sign of surrendering.
Wynonna headed back to the bar to collect them some more drinks. Nicole looked at her watch and noticed that it was quite late and with how she left things with Waverly, Nicole knew that she was going to be spending the next couple of nights on the couch.
Just then Nicole’s phone lit up and she saw that the caller id said ‘Waverly.’ Nicole picked up her phone and said, “It’s…it’s Waverly. Oh, boy.” She hit the answer button, “Hey, Cutie!”
Waverly on the other end of the phone is pacing up and down in the living room and she has her arms crossed, as she says, “Don’t ‘cutie’ me. Hi, sweetie pie. Where are you?”
Nicole runs her hand through her hair, she knows that if she answers ‘Pussy Willows’, she is going to have a raging Waverly on the other end of the phone. “We’re at Shorty’s.”
“I hear music.” Waverly says. Nicole answers, “No.” Waverly then says, “Trashy. Pumping. (Waverly gasps) You’re still at Pussy Willows. Nicole Earp-Haught ...” Just then Wynonna grabs Nicole’s phone and drops it into Nicole’s beer. Nicole looked down at her phone, “You know that I can’t lie to Waverly, guess that I deserved that. Let’s get these last devices placed and then head on home.
Meanwhile, Waverly on the other end of the phone, only hears a beeping sound. She hangs up and tries ringing Nicole again as she says, “Oh, you did not just hang up on me.” Waverly finds that Nicole’s phone is no longer answering, so she storms off into her bedroom while phoning Doc.
Doc greeted Waverly on the front porch of the homestead and helped her in bringing all her pups and placed them into the makeshift bed, he had made up, once he got off the phone with Waverly. Waverly then headed off towards Pussy Willows to not only collect Nicole and Wynonna, but to make sure that she could give Nicole a piece of her mind.
Back at Pussy Willows, “Wynonna, what kind of a girl ends up working in a place like this?” Nicole asks as she looks around the rest of the club.
“Maybe one with no family, or they are running away from their past.” Wynonna says as she rests her elbows on the table. An older grey beared biker walks up to Wynonna and places his silver ringed covered hand on her left shoulder, “Where you been, Aphrodite?”
“Oh, hey, what’s up, TJ?” Wynonna replied as TJ walked away and over to his friends at the bar.
Nicole looks surprised at the interaction between Wynonna and TJ, “Who’s Aphro ….Oh.” Nicole grabs her beer and downs it before grabbing Wynonna’s untouched beer and takes a sip. “Pace yourself, there’s so much more to judge.” Wynonna says to Nicole.
“Before I left Purgatory, I needed money to get the next bus out of here. So, when I heard that you could make quick money by stripping, I auditioned and then worked here for a couple of months, before I left. I know where the change rooms are, so I’ll plant the devices in there. The private room is over there, next to the left side of the stage. You can plant a couple of devices in the room and by the stage. Meet me back here in 10 minutes.” Wynonna stood up and headed off towards the right side of the club, past the bar and towards the toilets.
Nicole braced herself as she stood, feeling slightly drunk, she walked over to a vacant seat by the stage, where Destiny stood and lowered herself to show off her exposed breasts to Nicole. Destiny then stripped off her underpants, to reveal her red hair covered sex, which Nicole found herself struggling to turn her head away from. Nicole knew in her heart that she loves Waverly and that she was the love of her life, but she had to act as if she was there for fun. After Destiny had finished her performance, Nicole reached under the edge of the stage and place the device, which she synced to the app.
It didn’t take Nicole long to plant the devices in the private room, which were vacant at the time, which she was happy about. Before she could leave the room, Destiny walked into the room and said, “I knew you were interested, if you sit down, I’ll give you a lap dance that you will not forget.”
Nicole noticed that all there was in the room was only a lounge and speakers, which pumped out music for the stripper to dance to. Destiny walked over towards Nicole and placed her hands on the red heads shoulders, she gently pushed Nicole back towards the lounge causing her to sit. At that minute the door to the room opened and there stood an angry Waverly holding a pistol, “You had better step away from my wife, you skank, and crawl away preferably into a coma.” Waverly fired a shot just above Destiny’s head.
“I think it might be best that I leave you two to talk.” Destiny says as she scampers around collecting her clothes before heading out the employee door. Nicole closes her eyes and prepares herself for Waverly’s wrath.
“Nicole Earp-Haught, you are in so much trouble. Get yourself out of here and into my jeep. We’re going to talk about this at home.” Waverly stood with one of her hands on her hip, while the other still was gripping her pistol.
“Waverly, I can explain.” Nicole said as she sulked out of the room and out the front door to Waverly’s vehicle. As she stood next to the passenger door, Nicole asked, “Where are the kids?”
“I left them with Doc, now get in before I change my mind and leave you here.” Waverly said in an aggressive tone.
“You aren’t going to leave without me, are you.” Wynonna calls out across the parking lot. Waverly glares at her sister, before the older Earp opened the back door and climbed in.
The journey back to the homestead for Nicole, felt like having a band aid ripped off. It was torture, because when she tried to talk with Waverly, her wife just ignored her, making Nicole feel that much worse. Wynonna didn’t make things any easier as she chose to share the details of the evening with Waverly. “Baby girl, how far did Destiny get with your, Haught pants before, you rudely interrupted them?”
To which Waverly turned around and sucked in her bottom lip, as she restrained herself from letting loose at Nicole. Waverly had become so angry, that she sped the rest of the way back to the homestead. Once she had dropped off Wynonna, Waverly took off so fast that she left a cloud of dust behind them. Waverly slammed the door behind her and headed back inside the house, leaving the front door open, for Nicole to follow her.
Nicole stepped up the stairs with a heavy heart and dreaded what was to come next, Waverly yelling at her and being made to sleep on the couch. Nicole had only just stepped into the living room, when she was slapped across the face by Waverly. Nicole reached up and placed her hand over the stinging part of her face, while looking at Waverly with tears in her eyes.
“Nicole, how could you? I trusted you to not make a fool of me and tonight, I find you in the arms of another woman.” Waverly stands screaming at Nicole.
“Waverly, please nothing happened.” Nicole says.
“Only because I stopped it. What would have happened if I hadn’t come in?” Waverly screams while tears roll down her cheeks.
“Waverly, I was only in there to plant the listening devices. If you had not come in, I would have told her that I was not interested. I love you Waverly and only you.” Nicole pleads as she tries to reach out to hold Waverly, who pushes her away and starts hitting her in the chest.
“Nicole, I’m not a child. (Sobs) Ever since you started on this case. (Sobs) You’ve only let me help with researching. (Sobs) I could have helped you, but you’ve kept this … (Waverly breaks down and cries uncontrollably). Nicole stands with tears in her eyes, as she fully begins to understand the extent of Waverly’s anguish.
After a short span of silence between the pair, Nicole says with a tearful voice, “Waverly, I’ve only wanted to keep you safe. (Sobs) Ever since you met me, you almost got attacked by Champ. (Sobs) Then Willa almost got you killed, and you spent months in a coma. (Sobs) Then you were kidnapped and held captive for months, all because of me. (Sobs) All I have ever wanted has been to keep you and our children safe. I’ve failed you and I am sorry. Please forgive me.” Nicole says with her hands stretched out reaching to wipe the tears from Waverly’s face, but Waverly swats away her hand.
“Nicole, I can’t even look at you.” Waverly says through her sobs and storms off into their bedroom, closing the door behind her. Leaving Nicole to stand in the middle of the living room while she cried into her hands. Nicole tried to fall asleep on the couch but found her mind replaying the look of hurt and betrayal on Waverly’s face. Nicole heads into the laundry and collects a couple of her uniforms and a change of clothing, which she stuffs into a bag before heading out to her truck and drives off towards the station.
For the next five days, Nicole lives and tries to sleep in her office, spending her days working on Sheriff matters, while during her nights, Nicole would go over the intel from the listening devices in Pussy Willows. Throughout the days, Waverly would come into the station and head straight into the Black Badge office, with her and Nicole’s pups in tow. Nicolas and Alberto could not understand as to why, when they came into the station, that their Ma, wouldn’t allow them to visit Nicole. Waverly had sent Nicole a text indicating that Nicole was to stay away from the pups. Nicole’s heart broke when she would hear Nicolas and Alberto crying and saying, “We want to see Mummy.” This only makes Nicole more determined to throw herself into this case and find this Alpha and have them locked away for good.
Amongst the different recordings, Nicole listened to an interaction between Destiny and another stripper, “Do you think that there’s going to be anymore fresh meat arriving anytime soon?”
“I’m not sure, if Bobo is able to arrange any transporting of ‘fresh meat’ from jail. All the girls that have been delivered had been arranged before he went inside.” Destiny says when a male voice joins in on the conversation. “Destiny, can you go and visit Bobo. I need you to give him a message.”