Awakening Veronica (39 page)

Hank put an arm around Grandma Kate’s shoulders and said, “Ma’am, we have you to thank for bringing her here. If you hadn’t done that, we’d still be living only half lives, walking into cold, dark homes every night.”

Kate smiled, her gaze on a distant point. “I do believe these things have a way of working out. Is there anything you wanted to ask me about?”

“As a matter of fact there is, ma’am,” Hank said as he and Travis shared a glance.

Chapter Eighteen

“Okay, I think that should stay on, Travis. Let me put the headband on now,” Veronica said as she tugged on Travis’s wig and nodded. “Team Flashdance is going to be a hit.”

Travis squirmed in his neon pink tights and multicolored leotard, pulling the seam out of his butt crack
again
with a groan. “Nika, how do you ladies put up with these things?” The back of the leotard wasn’t big enough to cover his whole ass and he felt so exposed.

Veronica giggled and moved behind him. “It looks fine. The tights cover you so don’t worry about the leotard. Even though it’s not technically part of the Flashdance costume, the tutu will cover your butt, too. I couldn’t have every woman in Divine ogling your fine physiques. You look fantastic. I’ll probably have to keep beating all your admirers off of you.”

“Does this leotard make my butt look big?” Hank asked with a snicker as he stepped into the bathroom doorway and flexed his biceps while he turned and displayed himself. Travis tossed him his long curly red wig and lisped, “Pink is your color, big boy.”

Veronica snorted as she adjusted the Velcro tape on the pink net tutu around Travis’s waist and said, “You guys are being such good sports with this charity event. I wondered if you’d go through with it.” She tugged Hank’s wig onto his head nice and straight and then slid on the neon pink headband so it sat across his forehead, same as Travis.

As she used a makeup brush to turn their cheeks bright pink, she asked, “Any chance I could get a picture with you in our costumes?”

Travis scoffed. “I suppose. Pretty soon, everyone in Divine is going to see us in drag. Might as well immortalize the moment.”

“It’s for such a good cause, too,” she said as she fixed their lips and then brushed on bright blue eye shadow.

“A boy’s ranch, huh?”

Hank nodded as he tugged down his wig. “Yup. Emma told me they’ll be able to break ground on the boy’s ranch house in the spring, thanks to the good response to this fundraiser. The boys will have a chance to learn life skills, as well as how to ranch, hunt, fish, and how to cook, too. Some of those boys have never had anyone give a damn about whether they learned anything. That ranch is going to have a huge impact on a lot of kids.”

“Sounds like it,” Travis said as he yanked at the tights because they were pulling at the hair on his legs and then put on his sneakers. “They have instructors lined up?”

Hank said, “I don’t know yet. Emma might know, since she’s friends with the organizers. You know…you might enjoy working with them.”

Travis nodded. “I wonder if they take volunteers?”

Veronica fixed her cheeks and lips as she said, “I’m sure they would, Travis. Boy, talk about a way to make a difference in someone’s life.” She smiled at him in the mirror as she applied her blue eye shadow and then backed up so she could see all three of them in the mirror and struck a pose. “We look awesome!”

Hank squirmed comically and tugged on the crotch of the leotard and pushed the tutu down. “We look idiotic. You look awesome. You made us very pretty…and pink. Would it be okay if I went and put my boxers on? I feel like my business is exposed.”

Veronica burst into laughter and said, “No. You look perfect. The print on the leotard completely camouflages your manly bits and the tutu is long enough to cover, too.”

Travis adjusted his leotard again and said, “You know this silky fabric feels kind of nice. I wonder if we can find underwear made out of this stuff.”

Veronica leered and said, “Now I know what to get you for Christmas.”

“Yeah, just make sure they’re black and not neon pink.” Hank growled before kissing her. “Time’s wasting. Let’s go get this over with so I can change back into my uniform for the party downtown.”

She took one last look at the two of them, and Travis could see the emotion in her eyes. “I love you men so much. Let’s do this.”

Travis growled as she bent over and picked up the bag with her change of clothes in it. Her tutu was shorter than theirs and he liked the view of her curvaceous ass. His cock tingled and he glanced at Hank and said, “You know, we’re going to have to rein in the inner horndogs or everyone in Divine is going to have visible proof of how we feel about Nika.”

Hank drew a deep breath and nodded. “That’s no lie.” He popped Nika on her fanny when she waggled it at them.

They found a parking spot a block away from where the race was set to start and Travis thought he and Hank did an admirable job of laughing with everyone else as all the participants began arriving in costume.

Wheelchairs were set up in a row across Main Street. The race route encircling Central Park downtown had been blocked off to through traffic.

Each team was comprised of a female wheelchair passenger, and two runners. The first runner had to circle half the city block Central Park was located on with their passenger, hand her off to the second team member to continue the route around the block, and then haul ass back to their starting spot for the second lap and then go again and hand her off again. The key was getting back to the starting position in time for the second leg of the race so the passenger wasn’t left there waiting.

The runners were strictly prohibited from running across the park to get back to their starting point in time but Travis had it on good authority that they had several cheaters in their midst.

Bastards.

He chuckled as he stretched, watching Quinten Parks and Ben Lawrence walk up with their wife, Camilla, who was pushing a double baby stroller. The babies, James and Joshua, were dressed as tiny Cowardly Lions in little lion warm-up suits, complete with mittens and lion’s mane hoods to complement Team Dorothy. Both men and Camilla were dressed in blue gingham dresses, red sneakers, and braided pigtail wigs. Travis was grateful for the tights, because Ben’s hairy legs encased in white schoolgirl knee socks was just wrong.

Quinten started flexing and prancing around like a boxer when he got a look at Hank and Travis. “Hey, Team Flashdance! You’re going down!” He turned to stretch and flashed his white bloomers at them and yelped when Camilla snuck up behind him and smacked his butt.

Veronica greeted Camilla and made a fuss over the babies while Hank and Travis visited with Ben and Quinten.

Team Edna arrived next, comprised of Duke Rivers, Gage Randall, and Emma Rivers dressed as Edna Mode from
The Incredibles
, in dark, blunt cut wigs, big dark-framed glasses, and black minidresses. Travis wished now that he’d gotten black tights, too. Team Edna was almost too sexy in their garb. Duke fluffed his wig and blew Travis a kiss and lifted his hem to show a little more flank. He nodded and winked. “You want this, I know you do.” The fact that Duke sported a black scruffy beard made it all the funnier.

Hank fist bumped with Travis. “Don’t let him get in your head, Fishcop. We can take them.”

Because Grace’s nausea was still acting up, Grandma Kate was standing in as the wheelchair passenger with Ethan and Adam as part of Team Annie Oakley.

Hank was a little alarmed at this development, but Grandma Kate assured him that she would be secure in the chair and she was absolutely certain that neither Ethan nor Adam would run her into a drainage ditch. He snapped a picture of her with Adam and Ethan in their Annie Oakley costumes, complete with cowgirl hats, skirts, boots, and six-shooters. Ethan and Adam were also sporting the hairy leg, knobby-kneed look and Hank chuckled evilly as he wondered aloud if Adam Kendall was aware of his Grannie’s shenanigans. He texted the picture to Lusty’s sheriff with a brief message.

Hank elbowed Travis. “Wearin’ boots to a relay race. We can take them easy.”

Charity Connors and her husband, Justin showed up, and Travis got worried they had stiff competition until Charity told Veronica that they weren’t participating in the race. They had friends riding into town and there was a special surprise planned for them that she wanted to be available for.

Charity smirked and added, “That, and I knew there was no way I could talk the guys into a miniskirt. I was thinking Team Tina Turner, but no.” Travis and Hank laughed when Justin shook his head in a clear “
Hell, no
.” Travis could respect that. Plus, if they’d found a second runner, they would’ve given Team Flashdance a run for their money.

Cody Welsh and Heath Lindsey arrived with Maizy, proudly representing Team Runaway Bride. Hank and Travis went over to size them up and Cody and Heath flexed their pecs over their décolletage and showed off their biceps.

Hank took a turn around them and asked, “Where’d you find dresses to fit yourselves?”

Cody waved to the gathering crowd as he said, “The Goodwill store. Maizy stapled us into them this morning. “He turned so Travis could see that the backs were wide open, with white material stapled into the edges to hold them in place, because there was no way any of those dresses would’ve fit otherwise.

Heath pouted and said, “I’d have been content running in a long dress but Maizy-girl said we needed to go sexy, so she got after us with the scissors once we were dressed. Can you believe that?” he asked, displaying his legs, bared to the lower thigh and encased in sheer white tights. Maizy greeted him and Hank as she helped them get their billowy white veils on their heads.

Travis glanced at Hank, and Hank gave him a thumbs-up. Those veils might slow them down a little bit if they were lucky. Travis made a mental note to not get behind them in case the veils flew off during the race. Of course, Maizy was a real stunner in her Goodwill store gown, and she’d also gone to town on her hemline as well.

Hank burst into laughter and said, “Maizy, what do you have on your feet?”

Maizy struck a pose in her sky-high white and silver glitter hooker heels and said, “It was half-price day at the Goodwill store! Heath insisted I get them.”

Heath growled and tried to nibble Maizy, and Travis laughed, “Get a room, you two!”

Several more teams arrived and the crowd grew dense around the square as the runners warmed up and postured for the competition and their audience.

As the third in Maizy’s triad, Spencer Ketchum, had dodged the costumed humiliation bullet and would be standing on the sidelines watching over the Cowardly Lions while they napped.

The Drag Race runners and their brave passengers lined up in their wheelchairs and girded their girlie loins for the race to begin. On the first leg of the race, Travis would run forward with Veronica, and Hank would run in the other direction around the block to get to his starting spot at the halfway point.

As he grabbed hold of the wheelchair handles, Travis said, “This is going to be total chaos.”

Veronica snickered, “But it’s for a good cause. We can do it, Team Flashdance!”

Hank patted Veronica’s bewigged head and said, “Nika, you hold on tight, okay?”

“Yes, Hank!”

“
Runners, get ready!”

The blanks fired and the teams were off, amidst wild cheering and hollering from the onlookers and supporters. Travis kept his eyes on the track and watched for the other ladies riding in wheelchairs. He wanted to win but he didn’t want anyone getting hurt. He hauled ass around the turn, in third place behind Ben Lawrence of Team Dorothy and Heath Lindsey of Team Runaway Bride. Maizy kicked up her heels and Heath’s satin dress billowed, creating wind drag, and Travis blasted past him and was right on Ben’s heels as he closed in on the turn where Hank waited, catching his breath and ready to take Veronica on the next leg of the relay.

“You’re doing great, Travis! Push it, baby!” Veronica shouted and he pushed it all right as he handed the wheelchair off to Hank and turned to haul ass back the way he’d come to catch Hank on the flipside.

Oh my God, I need to start jogging again! Haul ass, whiner!

He reached the handoff point in the nick of time and discovered that he and Nika were now in fourth place.
We can’t be having none of that, now!
He put on a burst of speed and smoked Ethan and laughed as pistol-packin’ Grandma Kate took aim with her six-shooter, laughing gaily as a young girl.

He squeezed by Emma and Gage when Gage lost his Edna glasses and tripped on them. Maizy’s veil kept blowing up into Cody’s face and he was looking a little winded as Travis breezed by him. Veronica gave the crowd a parade wave and squealed as Hank arrived in time to make the trade. He turned and laid rubber to make it back to the finish line because they didn’t win if he wasn’t back in his spot as well.

The crowd was roaring with laughter and cheering as the last leg of the race began. Hank and Veronica were neck and neck for first place with Team Lady Gaga, led by Jerry Batson of Batson’s Grocery Store, when Jerry and his wife took the lead. It was close down the straightway until Jerry’s platinum blonde wig suddenly hung a U-turn in the wind, flopped in his eyes and he had to stop to right it and lost second place to Team Runaway Bride.