Tease (Songs of Submission #2)(18)

“No.” I put my hands on his chest to caress him through his T-shirt. “I think it might make you uncomfortable.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist. “Tell me more about me.”

“You take your sisters out, and you meet your women in private. You said you and your wife, sorry, ex-wife, still hang around the same circles. You don’t want her to see you with an actual woman. And don’t make a crack about your sisters being women.”

He looked up for a second, and I got a full view of the muscles and veins in his neck. I was right, or at least close.

“I can go alone,” he said, looking at me. “I’m a big boy. But I don’t want to. So if you’re going, this non-creative wants to go with you, courtesy be damned.”

The offer was compelling. I hadn’t planned on going because I didn’t want to stand in a corner and watch Kevin work the room. I didn’t want to make small talk with his friends, and I didn’t want to get the death-eye from whatever little hipster groupie was chasing him. Jonathan would be a nice buffer.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll let your handsome ass drag me to a black tie thing at L.A. Mod. But you’ll owe me.”

“What exactly will I owe you?”

“You pick.” I stepped away. The call Gabby and I had to make had started worrying the back of my mind. “Whatever it’s worth to you. If it makes me scream and yell your name, even better.” I kissed him quickly. “I have to go.”

I walked toward the doorway, but I didn’t get past it before I heard him say, “What are you wearing?”

I stopped and turned. “Why?”

“Because you’re a beautiful woman, and what you wear is important.”

“If I’m going to embarrass you, I can just stay home.”

He stepped forward and grabbed me around the waist. “Jessica makes art because she has so much money she’s bored and because she has the sharpest eye I’ve ever known. If she’s going to see me with you, she’s not going to see you wearing Target.”

I looked him in the eyes. “Really, Jonathan? You never seemed like the catty type.”

“I also want to see you in something better. I’m sorry. Come on. Go to Barney’s and talk to Lorraine. She’ll fix you up and bill me.”

“Now I’m the one who’s really uncomfortable.”

“Please? Just go. And if you spend less than three thousand dollars, I’m spanking you and sending you back to Wilshire Boulevard.”

“I’ll come in just under three large then. And not because I have any intention of returning to that side of Wilshire.”

CHAPTER 9

I stood under the shower head with my hands on the wall, letting the water scald my back. My head drooped, and my hair fell in front of me. I couldn’t move without aching, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the insides of my thighs through the steam.

At first I’d thought they were dirty. When I touched them and felt a sharp pain, I knew they weren’t dirty. They were bruised.

I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror. My ass, the area just below it, and between my legs were black and blue. It hurt to move. My pu**y was so sore, it had hurt to clean myself. I heard a soft tap at the door, and Gabby asked, “Mon? Is that you?”

“Yeah. You need to pee?”

“Yeah.” She started to open the door. Gabby and I saw each other naked and stood in the same room to pee all the time, but I couldn’t let her see me that way. I looked as if a shark had tried to bite me in half. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it closed. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine, I just….” I had no excuse. “Give me a minute.”

I wiggled into a tee and jeans I pulled from the hamper, cringing from torn muscle and broken blood vessels. I snapped the door open. Judging from her clean clothes and brushed hair, she’d been up a while.

“Where did you go last night?” she asked.

“I saw Jonathan.” I brushed my wet hair while she peed.

“Oh, really. Well? How was it?”

“He knows how to f**k, that’s for sure.”

“Better than Kevin?”

“It’s the difference between a man and a boy.” I slid my toothbrush out of the cup and got to the point. “I figure we should call WDE at about ten-thirty. Those guys don’t get in until ten, and I want to give him a chance to get his jacket off and bang his secretary, but I want to catch him before he goes into a meeting.”

“I’m nervous. Are you nervous?”

“Yeah. Actually, I am.” I lathered up my toothbrush, and Gabby leaned toward the mirror, picking some nonexistent crud from the corner of her eye. “But you know how it is,” I continued. “You get all nervous for a call, and you make it and they’re not available. Then they call you back when you’re going eighty on the 101.”

“Since when can you go eighty on the 101? Give me a break.” She held up a tube of aloe moisturizer I got from the farmer’s market. “Can I try this?”

“Go ahead,” I said, brushing my teeth. After I spit, I said, “I want to be clear we come as a set. You and me. Okay?”

“Why?” She seemed unfazed by my suggestion.

“Suppose he can’t get a keyboardist for some band, and then you’re off touring, and what am I supposed to do?” I pulled my hair into strands so I could braid it.