Lexington Black (17 page)

They all snickered but Rob could not summons
more than a weak grin.

'That's a comfort I guess.' The last word was
said on a yelp as Ruby tickled the tender area between balls and
hole.

'Ooh, so sensitive,' she purred. 'Lucky
boy.'

'You get used to it,' Caressa said blithely.
'Lex likes his men clean-shaven, collar and cuffs.'

'Did he put you all up to this?'

'Oh no, he likes you as you are. That's how
we know it's love, don't we, girls?'

There was a collective "mmm hmm."

'And you know this, how?' Rob tried to look
at Caressa but was pushed firmly back on the couch.

'Lex and I are old friends. He knows I like
hairy bears, which is the only reason I've been allowed to take you
out tonight. He knows I won't have any designs on your handsome
body.'

'Relax, sweetheart. We all like guys a lot
bigger than we are. You're in safe hands.' Ruby patted his thigh.
'Time to turn over. This is the important bit.'

'Uh, why?' Rob hazarded a look over his
shoulder and was turned firmly to the front again.

'Aw, bless. He has such a lot to learn,' Suki
purred, stroking Rob's bottom. 'Just see us as your handmaidens,
honey. Preparing you for your handsome prince.'

At that moment, Ruby's PA came rushing in,
carrying several expensive shopping bags. Everyone pounced on them
like greedy children at Christmas.

'Great job, honey,' Caressa said approvingly
as Rob buried his face in the couch so they couldn't see his
grimace of embarrassment. Ruby spread his butt cheeks and began to
shave his crack.

'I'd recommend waxing,' she said, 'Come in
next week and I'll sort you out. This is just a temporary measure.
Shaving is such a bore if you have to do it yourself.' She massaged
soothing cream on his tender places. 'There you go, smooth as a
baby.'

By this time, Caressa had opened a bottle of
champagne and they were all having a party round him. Someone had
brought in chips and dip, olives and breadsticks. Rob draped over
the couch, butt naked, being fed cashew nuts. It was the strangest
evening he had experienced, probably ever.

'Do you fancy a piercing? I do everywhere
apart from cock and labia,' Ruby said brightly.

Rob looked at her. 'No,' he said firmly.

'Pity. Diamond studs in your ears would look
fantastic with your dark hair. Which brings me to ...' he glanced
slyly towards the door.

'Hair is a must, and eyebrows,' Caressa said.
'That's practically a monobrow you're cultivating there.'

'A monobrow? Seriously?' Rob looked in the
mirror and conceded she might have a point. 'You're enjoying this,
aren't you?' He accused her.

'Totally.' Caressa simpered. 'Besides, if you
want to be seen with us, honey, you need to know how to look
decent, and that goes for tomorrow as well.'

Coming from someone with lip-liner three
shades darker than her lipstick, a skin-tight red velour dress and
porno Perspex shoes, that was a bit rich.

'Ooh, where are you two off to?'

'Coney Island, girls. We're hitting the
rollercoasters.'

'Scary.' Collective shudders around the
room.

'I went to Six Flags once and damned near
peed my pants,' Ruby said.

'And that was on the spinning teacups,' Suki
snickered.

Ruby handed Rob a long white robe and told
him to put it on. 'Be a good boy and do as Mommy says, and you can
have your presents.'

'What presents?' He glanced at the bags the
PA had brought in earlier. Surely they hadn't bought him clothes as
well?

Caressa ogled him as he stood up. In fact,
they all did. Under their appreciative gaze, his cock stirred.
Face it, you're loving this
, he thought to himself. In the
mirror, he saw what Ruby had done. With the hair gone, it looked
pretty damned sexy. He hadn't realised his balls were that
well-defined. Or his cock was that big. Fuck, if he looked any
more, he would give himself a hard-on.

'It looks great,' he said honestly, slipping
the robe on. The queens high-fived each other, arguably having even
more fun than he was.

An hour later, they arrived by cab at a diner
frequented by fire fighters. They were obviously regulars, by the
friendly cat-calls and obscene banter from the fire crews already
chowing down on t-bone steaks. It seemed that it was only Rob,
watching four men dressed in drag, wolfing down huge slabs of beef,
who found it disconcerting. Even more so when afterwards they
checked in make-up mirrors to see if their lipstick was still
intact.

He caught his own reflection in the mirror
behind the bar, and for the fourth time, he did a double-take. Not
that anything outrageous had been done to him. His hair had been
styled for the first time in years, short at the side and back and
tousled at the top. The monobrow had been banished and the diamond
ear studs sparkled under the lights. The Motorhead tee-shirt had
been consigned to history and instead he wore an aubergine silk
shirt with white bone buttons, unfastened to the middle of his
chest, and slim-fitting black jeans. Even his shoes had been
changed and once he wore them in, they would be a perfect fit.
Black leather with exaggerated pointed toes, and to top it all off,
a dark grey Armani jacket, just like the ones gangsters wore in the
movies. He could imagine the reaction when he arrived at the church
for Sara's wedding. It was never his intention to upstage a bride
on her wedding day but his transformation was in serious danger of
doing just that. He looked and felt a million dollars, and he had
no way of adequately thanking Caressa for her kindness.

'Like it?' Caressa asked next to him.

'I don't know how to thank you.'

'By letting us do this to you, you already
have. Don't think any more about it. Now let's go dancing. The
Peach Pit next,' she declared, looking out the window.

By then it was raining hard. The heat of the
day had set off violent thunderstorms, and one was directly
overhead. This was where Rob could prove his worth. He called Ty,
praying he was still on call, and he was. Fifteen minutes later, he
turned up in the long black Lincoln.

'After you, ladies,' he said smugly.

Screams. 'Oh, is this for us? You
sweetheart!' They tottered off into the wet night, blowing kisses
and farewells to the fire fighters, and gaggled around the doors of
the limo. Ty's impassive face said he had seen it all before.

On the way, Caressa called Lex, who was still
at the hospital with his father. The old man was happy, having been
introduced to his attractive new nurse, and Lex was travelling back
the following morning.

'Darling, we're calling from your car,'
Caressa said mischievously. 'We're looking after Rob, aren't we,
girls.'

A chorus of yeses. 'No, I won't let him do
anything you wouldn't do.'

The other girls trilled at him and sent love
and good wishes to his father. Rob didn't get to speak to him. The
phone cut out and was tucked firmly into Caressa's bra again.

'He sends you his love,' she said,
smiling.

He could not work out what her relationship
with Lex was. It did not seem to be a sexual one, although they
were very affectionate towards each other. They were more like
brother and sister, in a way that reminded him of his closeness
with Geri.

His phone chirped. He looked at it and smiled
at the message.

Are you really ok?

He replied,
I'm fine. You?

Can't wait to take you to bed. Don't kiss any
strange men

Rob smiled.
Too late I already
have

WTF???!?!?!!!??

Rob sensed that Lex was jealous. He loved
feeling so desirable. His heart raced at the infinite
possibilities.

ROB? PLEASE ANSWER ME. I'M GOING FUCKING
CRAZY DOWN HERE

I meant you, idiot XXXXXX

PS Can't wait to get reamed:O

As he sent the message, he was grinning like
an idiot again. What was happening to him? When had he changed so
irrevocably? His heart felt strangely light, as if he had found the
place within himself that he had always been searching for.

'Excuse me,' Caressa said loudly, snatching
his phone away. 'There's nothing more tedious than watching other
people sexting. This is not coming out again this evening.'

'I want a picture of us all first,' Rob
protested.

They all piled onto the same side and did
selfies in various poses, giggling wildly. Rob sent his to Geri,
knowing it would be the first thing she saw when she woke up.

Caressa snatched the phone from him again and
wagged her finger admonishingly.

'That's enough. Let's go dancing.'

For the next few hours, Rob drank, danced and
sweated in the heaving club. Caressa looked on approvingly as he
was pulled onto the dance floor by a young man with glossy black
skin. His body was superbly toned under a sleeveless mesh
tee-shirt.

The music was way too loud for pleasantries.
Instead, they danced and Rob was shocked when the guy moved in for
a kiss. He moved away before it could happen, suddenly
uncomfortable. He didn't belong in such a sensual environment, with
strangers, dancing, smiling, kissing in the dark and spinning away.
Sometimes they stayed together, eventually moving into the darkest
corners for more intimate contact, but Rob was not interested in
any of them. It seemed that randomly snogging other guys wasn't a
big deal for a lot of gay men but it was for him. It highlighted
how different his formerly straight world had been, where a ten
second snog was tantamount to unfaithfulness. He could see Caressa
being mauled by a tall man dressed in black leather. He wondered if
he should rescue her when his buttocks were grabbed by someone
else. They would be black and blue by the time the night was over.
He felt over-stimulated, his cock rigid in his pants and his
nerve-endings sizzling with sensory overload.

After dancing until he was ready to drop,
avoiding the constant attention from other men wanting to snatch a
few minutes' gratification, watching his companions hook-up,
disappear then reappear in an ever-more disheveled state, Caressa
dragged him out of the fray and out onto the rainy street. The
others had gone for the evening. Caressa could have joined them but
she was looking out for Rob, not wanting to leave him to the
mercies of the hungry mob in the club.

For a while they walked, grateful for the
rain after the sweaty innards of the club. Caressa was barefoot,
swinging her shoes as they strolled down the street, hand in hand.
She was quiet, melancholy surrounded her like an invisible
cloak.

'How do you know Lex?' Rob asked, trying to
lighten her mood.

Caressa breathed in deeply, almost as if
bracing herself for a hard knock. 'My partner and I had moved over
here to set up a gallery, but he died before it could get off the
ground. Lex invested heavily because he liked my work.'

It wasn't quite what he had in mind, to make
Caressa's mood worse. He squeezed her hand. 'How long had you been
together?'

'Nearly all my life. I don't think I'll ever
really stop missing him.'

'How did he die? If you don't mind me
asking.'

'Pancreatic cancer. Two weeks from diagnosis
to death. One day he just wasn't there anymore.'

'That's hard for you. My mother never got
over losing my father. He left her with five children to bring up.
He committed suicide when I was fifteen.'

'Why would he do such a terrible thing?'

'He was gay and in his position, that wasn't
acceptable. We weren't enough, I guess.'

'That's so sad. To live a lie your whole
life. He was a very brave man.'

'How so? I always thought he was a
coward.'

'Because he tried to make a life. He loved
his children, you say, and he was married for how long?'

'Twenty-five years.'

'So he tried all that time and finally, he
was exhausted with it. I know that feeling. I've seen people go
through it time and again.'

They passed a group of well-dressed youths.
Instinctively, Caressa moved closer to Rob, almost as if needing
his protection.

'Fucking faggots,' one of the boys muttered
as they passed. There was laughter and Caressa's pace quickened.
She glanced fearfully behind them.

'Is that limo of yours nearby?'

Rob called Ty, who appeared within a minute.
He had been following them at a discreet distance. Only when they
were inside the confines of the car and moving down the street, did
Caressa relax again.

'Does that happen a lot?'

'Yeah. More than you think. At least they
didn't have baseball bats or knives.'

'Would they have come back?'

'I don't know. You get groups of kids like
that, boozed-up. Sometimes they think it's sport to cut up a gay
boy. You know how it is.'

'Actually, I don't.'

'Then get used to it, Rob. From now on,
you'll always be looking over your shoulder.'

Rob stared out of the window. 'I used to be
like that,' he said quietly. 'Taking the piss. Not meaning anything
violent but it was just ... funny, you know? Mincing about, doing
the hand gestures, throwing that insult around. "You're so gay, you
know that?" It's just ... something to say.' He shifted
uncomfortably in his seat. 'I work in a garage and they always do
it. Every time someone comes in with a new hair cut, a tight pair
of jeans. Wolf whistles, saying "all the gay boys will love you
now." That kind of thing. Now I'm the one they all laugh about. I
mean, it's okay but they're just not as comfortable with me
now.'

'Yet you're still the same person. You just
like dick instead of chick. Who knew? Look, you'll lose friends and
gain new ones. It's inevitable, but it isn't all bad.'