Her Superhero Lover

Chapter 2

Renee took a deep breath and blew it out, emptying her stomach as much as she could. “All right Lin, ratchet it.”

“You sure?” Lin, one of the staff at Bang Bang asked. “You going to be able to do three sets with it cinched like this?”

“I’m sure. Besides, it looks tighter than it is, the fabric’s got some give to it.”

“Okay, if you say so.” The pretty brunette pulled, and the laces on the back of Renee’s corset pulled more. There was a moment when the pressure was almost too much, but Renee held out, knowing that the knot Lin used would slip a bit as she tied it down. When the slip came, and then Lin finished the bow knot, she took a shallow breath, fighting the urge to gulp down air. “Okay, that’s all set.”

The key to breathing in her DJ gear, Renee had learned, was slow, calm breaths. The tight black satin and vinyl bustier and corset over her stomach served two purposes. First, the leatherish dominatrix look played well with her forte, and gave her a unique appearance that blended steampunk with dystopian science fiction well. Secondly, and in her opinion more importantly, she looked great in it, her body having an hourglass look, she rarely had a chance to feel like it had in real life. When the black corset was matched with the blood red tight pants she was wearing tonight, a waist length wide lapeled jacket and her trademark goggles (tonight rocking ruby red lenses to reflect the motif), she felt transformed, from normal everyday Renee Williams into Litezout, her stage name. Feeling her heart slow down from the effort of holding her breath, she turned to Lin, who was shaking her head and grinning. “Thanks Lin. I know you think I’m nuts.”

“Renee, the patrons come in and pay to listen to your mixes and dance their asses off, not to ogle you. You’re behind the table for all except thirty seconds each time. Why the hell do you put yourself through this each time?”

Renee thought about it for a moment, then answered honestly. “Up there Lin, it’s really weird. I’m both the center of attention and totally anonymous. But because of that, I can be that sexy girl that I just don’t feel like when I go down to the beach or out to the mall. I think I told you, the last guy to take me out was to the Del Mar Fair, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I felt like I was going to the fair with a buddy, not a guy who wanted me. We weren’t even on the second ride and I felt like I was in the friend zone.”

“That’s what you get for dating just black guys. I keep telling you, find yourself a good Latino like I got, and they’ll be all over you. They know how to appreciate a woman with some meat on her bones.” The manager called from the back, and Lin turned her head. “Okay, gotta go. Good luck on the set tonight, hope it all goes down well.”

Renee fixed the rest of her outfit, making sure her boots were comfortably tied before heading out to the main floor of Bang Bang’s, which was dominated by the huge disco ball that hung overhead. Going up on the stage, she double checked her equipment, making sure every bit of it was fully connected and ready to go. Tapping away at the keyboard of her old Macbook that powered all of it, she was barely aware when the manager came up to talk to her. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, looking good,” Renee said. “How’s the lighting and everything tonight?”

“Good. Standard controls, you can set it based off your BPM’s if you want. We just got a call, there’s some VIP’s expected tonight. Seems they heard about your act, and wanted to catch what you’ve got. Just wanted to pass that along as a congrats.”

“You get a name?” Renee asked, thinking back to Grady Voelker and his comment three days ago. “Just for curiosity’s sake.”

“None at all. Just that some VIP’s might be by. Don’t even know when they might be coming in, so keep your eyes open. If the door staff can, they’ll send a runner up here with a head’s up.”

“Thanks.”

The manager went off, and Renee did her final checks. The doors opened, and for about the first hour things were relatively quiet. Bang Bang, in addition to being a popular nightclub, also sported some pretty good food, and caught a lot of the late dinner crowd. She relaxed for most of the time, playing some light dance music with no remixing to let those who wanted to groove after visiting the gastro pub work off their oysters on the half shell.

Starting at ten though, the lights dropped, and Litezout took over. The giant disco ball started rotating, and red lasers bounced off the surface, with the club getting more and more packed. Renee launched into her first set, starting off with electronic heavy dance before progressing into heavier bass mixes. If it had been a Friday or if she had been in a club more known for their hip hop, she would have nixed some of her selections, but she was glad to work at Bang Bang. Despite Lin’s comment about only dating black guys, Renee felt like she was anything but the stereotypical “black girl.” Her music tastes ranged from Wu-Tang to Swedish House Mafia, and she even sometimes mixed in stuff from before she was born. She’d had great response a few years back to when she had remixed Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” during the whole “Rick Roll” fad.

It was around ten thirty that she saw Grady Voelker make his way through the crowd, and she stumbled for just a second. Hitting the wrong button, her reverb shot way up for a second before she readjusted. The crowd didn’t seem to mind however, they were pretty hot for a Thursday night. Recovering quickly, she kept on with her set, although she kept one eye on Grady the whole time.

He was easily the most handsome man in the room, and he was dressed perfectly for the scene, not too trendy so as to come off as a party freak, but not so conservatively as to be a stiff poser. Instead, he carried himself with an easy confidence and gait that could have made him look good if he had come in wearing sweat pants and a Chargers t-shirt. It was the personality that carried with it a natural magnetism, and Renee felt more than a little bit of jealousy as every beautiful single woman in the room seemed to make their way over to him. It reminded her of an anecdotal story she had heard from a friend of a friend in the DJ business about Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo had walked into a trendy club in Miami, and less than a half hour later walked out with twenty five girls for a private party. It had caused quite a few laughs over the phone line when she’d first heard the story.