Skin Deep (9 page)

Allie wasted no time in downing her drink,
and then started trying to push Brandon out of the booth.

I looked at Luke and opened my mouth to ask
him to excuse us so we could go, not in a million years imagining
that he would want to go with us but he cut me off.

“Where you going?” he asked.

“We’re going down to Shimbots on Broad to
watch the drag show. Why? Wanna come?” I asked.

Luke looked over at Brandon who just shrugged
before he answered, “Sure. We’ll go.”

Allie and I looked at each other, not needing
to say a word because we both knew what the other was thinking. Oh
boy.

After having a minor squabble over who was
paying the bill (Allie and I lost), we all headed out and walked
the two blocks to Shimbots. The show was set to start at ten, but I
knew that it wouldn’t. Queens always run late. I knew this with
certainty because I, at one time, spent most of my nights hanging
out at Shimbots with my best boy friend, Jace, who, I swear, was
the straightest gay man you’d ever meet in your life. He had a
penchant for drag queens, so I became a ‘fag hag’ and ended up as
an assistant to Needa Mann. I spent my evenings soothing tempers,
dressing, pinning, poking, fluffing, and generally running around
like a crazy person, but it was fun. Seriously, though? You hafta
give them Queens props, cause those gowns they prance around in?
They weigh a ton!

We walked in the door at ten after ten and
before we could even pull out our wallets to pay the cover, I heard
the unmistakable voice of Needa.

“Aiiyeeeee! Emma, you sweet ass little thing,
get in here! Girl, you know you don’t have to pay no cover charge!
Just grab your groupies and come sit at my table. Okay, sugar bear?
Kiss kiss!”

I nodded my head at her, grinned, and waved
at the boy manning the ticket counter as I passed, looking over my
shoulder to make sure that my little group was following. We walked
into the main room, which was a huge open space, dotted liberally
with tables and chairs and interspersed with sitting areas
consisting of sleek, modern leather couches, love seats, and end
tables. There was a black lacquered dance floor that actually rose
up to become the stage, and a large horseshoe shaped bar smack dab
in the middle.

I grabbed a table close to where the stage
comes up, the one that Needa always had reserved for her guests and
me and Jace. I hadn’t seen Jace in about a year. He hooked up with
a little hottie and moved to Wyoming. Not sure why they went there,
but it had something to do with cowboys and hunting. Strange, I
know.

I pulled out a chair and sat, noting that
Allie sat across from me, Luke beside me, and Brandon beside him,
sitting closer to Allie, though. As soon as we got settled, a
waiter came and took our drink order, and the lights dimmed,
getting ready for the show to start.

In the darkness, I felt a hand skim down my
arm before coming to rest high on my thigh, making me gasp when it
squeezed gently. I didn’t move, and neither did Luke’s hand, even
when the lights came up. The stage had been raised and in the
center stood the Queen Emcee, Showmia Buffet, stuffed into an
outfit done up like the Chiquita Banana girl with fake fruit on her
head and more glued strategically to other interesting places.
Showmia Buffet (Glenn when not in drag) is middle aged, paunchy,
and prone to channeling Weird Al Yankovic. Tonight proved no
different.

The speakers started blaring Weird Al’s
Michael Jackson parody, Eat It, and Showmia began prancing around ,
lip syncing the lyrics and ripping fruit off her clothes while
gyrating her hips and circling the stage so she could collect the
tips being offered by audience members standing at the edge.

I looked over to Luke and he met my eyes,
smiling at me. I saw Brandon grinning and shaking his head, and
Allie was hooting and hollering and dancing in her seat. I dropped
my hand from the top of the table down over Luke’s, and entwined
our fingers. He gave me an even warmer look that made my cheeks
flush before we both turned back to watch the end of Showmia’s
performance. And boy, was it a doozy!

Just before the last ‘Just Eat It’, Showmia
reached down and ripped off the last piece of fruit left on the
outfit, which incidentally turned out to be a real banana glued
precisely onto the skirt where Glenn’s own banana would be located,
peeled it, and took a big bite just as the final lyrics rang
out.

The crowd went wild, clapping and cheering,
and I jumped up to join in. After Showmia, there were two more
performances, and even though they were good, they didn’t have
quite the stage presence as Showmia Buffet. Needa had come by the
table a couple times to chat briefly, not staying long before
flitting off in a whirl of teased hair and Obsession perfume. After
the third performer took her bow, Allie asked if I was ready to go.
Luke caught my eye and nodded yes. Yup. I was ready.

The four of us walked back towards Griff’s
where Allie and I had left our cars. I stood beside my little bug,
waiting to say goodbye to Allie and Brandon. I wasn’t going to say
goodbye to Luke; from the expression on his face, I was about to
say hello to him…a lot of him. Allie gave me a hug and told me that
she and Brandon decided to go have another drink at Griff’s. I told
her to have fun, which made her cross her eyes at me and stick out
her tongue. She’s so mature.

As they walked away, I turned to Luke and
asked brazenly, “So is the night over or are you following me
home?”

“I have to stop by the shop real quick, make
sure everything got locked up right, then I’ll be there.” He leaned
in and brushed his lips against my ear, making me shiver as he
said, “Be naked. And wet.”

Pshaw. Like I have a choice? The naked part,
yeah, I could choose to obey. The wet part? Let’s just say my
cha-chi and I need to have a talk.

An hour and a half passed and I found myself
sitting on my couch, wrapped in my bathrobe, flipping through the
channels on the tv. And if you’ve ever tried to watch tv late on a
Saturday night, then you know there’s nothing on but infomercials
and skin flicks. Where the fuck was Luke?

I finally gave up at about three-thirty and
shut off the tv. I got up to lock the door and as I approached it,
I heard a soft knock. I peeked out the peephole and saw Luke
standing on my porch, looking exhausted. Wrapping my robe tight
around me, I opened the door, standing aside for him to enter.

He brushed by me, leaning in to kiss my lips
softly as he did.

“Hey,” he murmured.

“Hey, back. You okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just tired. Look, I’m sorry,
Emma. I probably shouldn’t have even stopped by so late, but I
didn’t want you to think I’d ditched you or something.”

“It’s okay, Luke. But what happened? I
thought you were coming right behind me?”

He ran his hands roughly over his face before
answering. “Yeah, babe, I was. But I got to the shop and one of my
part timers was still there. I keep the hours of the shop pretty
flexible and we stay pretty busy. It was successful when Lenny had
it, and has only gotten busier since, and because of that, I don’t
have to stay open late and cater to the drunk asses who come in to
get ink that they regret twelve hours later after waking up hung
over in a puddle of their own puke. The latest I ever keep it open
is ten, and that’s usually to accommodate someone
specifically.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose between his
thumb and forefinger. “We left the show after midnight. I walked
into my shop and that little fuckerass dumbshit had six people
sittin’ in the lobby, smoking a fucking joint, of all things, while
he had some whore in Brandon’s room. She was sittin’ on his lap
with his dick in her while he was shooting a fuckin’ tattoo on her
tit! Christ!” He was shouting by this point, and I didn’t blame
him.

I walked over to him and slid my arms around
his waist, laying my head against his chest. After a beat, his arms
came up and wrapped around me and I felt his lips touch my hair.
Pulling back from his arms, I led him to the couch and sat beside
him, tucking my feet up underneath me and leaning into his
warmth.

“What happened when you walked in?” I
asked.

“I stood in the door for a second, not
believing my eyes. She’d sit still on his dick until he’d go to
re-ink, and then she’d bounce on him a couple times until he
brought the needle back.”

“Interesting,” I said. Wait… Ack! “It sounds
different…I mean, awkward!” Shut up, Emma!

Luke gazed at me, his eyes heating a bit as
he gave me a calculating look. Yikes!

He continued after a minute. “Fucking idiot
didn’t even realize it was me standing there. He didn’t even look
up, just told me if I was watching, that’s cool, but if I wanted a
tat, I’d have to wait out front with the others.”

“Wow. What a moron.” I shook my head, floored
by what he was telling me.

“Yeah. Dipshit. I finally cleared my throat
and it would have been pretty damn comical except for the fact that
Brandon’s favorite liner machine, his three hundred dollar
Workhorse Carnivore, went flying when Tom jumped up, and broke when
it smashed into the floor. I finally got him to shut up and stop
apologizing long enough to fire him, told him that he owed Brandon
for the liner, and kicked him and his drunken whore out into the
street, along with all his buddies in the lobby. Spent the rest of
the time sterilizing and closing shit up.”

“So, wait. Some little slut is walking around
town with a half finished tattoo on her titty?” I asked,
laughing.

“Yep. And it isn’t getting finished, either.
At least not in my shop.” Luke grinned. “Wouldn’t that be something
to hear? Her telling someone why it isn’t finished?”

I nodded, grinning back. We stood there
grinning like loons at each other for a minute before Luke’s smile
started to slip, and his eyes darkened. Ooh. My cha-chi woke up
like a bear from hibernation, screaming, ‘Feed me!’ Well, you know
what I mean.

Luke started toward me, and instead of
backing away, I met him head on, wrapping my arms around him and
meeting his lips with mine, opening immediately as his tongue
sought entrance. We kissed wildly, fumbling with each others
clothes as we bumped our way down the hall toward my bedroom. We
got about halfway there before I said fuck it and slid to the
floor, Luke sliding over and in me in a heartbeat.

I gasped and moaned softly as his thickness
pushed into me as deep as he could before rearing back and
thrusting back in, pounding into me over and over. I felt myself
fall headlong into bliss almost immediately, and with every thrust
of Luke’s hips against me, I felt the waves cresting again. I held
back, not wanting to let go without Luke this time.

Luke pressed himself against me tightly,
burying his face in my neck, sliding his hands under my back to
curl around the top of my shoulders, his hands gripping tightly. He
shortened his strokes a bit, then began pulling out almost
completely before sliding back in, stroking over my clit with every
thrust. I began moaning, curling my legs around his thighs, my
fingers digging into his back, even as I fought to hold back.

“Emma, sugar, let go,” Luke whispered in my
ear, making me shiver even as the pleasure swelled, taking me
under. “That’s it baby,” Luke groaned against my neck before
slamming deep and I felt him shudder as he followed.

We laid there panting in the dark hallway for
a minute, Luke still inside me, trying to catch our breath, then
Luke slid out, getting to his feet and leaning down to take my hand
and pull me up. I leaned against him, lifting my head for his kiss.
I felt his hand come up and cup my cheek, his thumb stroking gently
over my bottom lip, and I felt myself falling.

I jerked myself out of Luke’s arms, stunned
by the emotions swirling inside me. I realized that Luke was
standing in front of me, arms still outstretched toward me from
where I had pulled away so abruptly. As I watched, his arms slowly
dropped to his sides and, embarrassed, I turned, grabbing my robe
from the floor and fleeing to my room.

Great, just great Emma. Now he’s gonna think
you’re Looney Tunes! I chastised myself as I thrust my arms into
the sleeves of my robe, pulling it around me tightly as I sat on
the edge of my bed. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees
and dropping my head into my hands. Two sock-clad feet came into
view, standing in front of me. I felt Luke’s hand lift my chin and
looked up into his eyes.

His gorgeous eyes. So intense in that
gorgeous face of his, with his sexy lips, extra sexy with that
silver hoop through his bottom lip, lips that were…smirking at me?
What the hell? Luke stood there watching me with a knowing smile,
the corner of his mouth curved up in a secret smile/smirk that
worried me as much as it turned me on.

“Sugar, you can run…” Luke drawled, letting
his words trail off, the implied meaning screaming into the
silence.

I jerked my chin out of his grasp, narrowing
my eyes at him before gritting out through clenched teeth, “What
kind of game are you playing here, Luke? I mean, what are we doing?
We don’t even know each other and you say things like I’m just , I
don’t know, yours or something. Like you can just snap your fingers
or command me and I’ll obey, just like that.” I snapped my fingers
into the air, emphasizing my words.

“You are.” Luke didn’t say anything after
that, just smiled again. Then he turned on his heel, walking out of
the room.

I followed him, intent on making him explain
just what the hell he meant by that cryptic statement, watching as
he stopped to pull on his clothes that were strewn through the hall
before he continued walking away from me.

“Luke!” I shouted at his retreating back. “I
am what? What the fuck! Don’t you walk away from me…”