Calendar Girl (9 page)

Finally, Jack pulled back and smiled. ‘OK. I can do it. You’re right. Sorry, sis,’ he said, setting down my now empty rum and coke. He motioned for Bubbles, pointed to the drink and then himself.
Another. On him.

‘It’s OK. You’re OK now.’

‘He’s fine,’ Jeffrey said, stroking my brother’s long silken hair.

I frowned and stared at Jeffrey. ‘You two aren’t–’

‘Don’t even go there,’ Jeffrey said over his shoulder as he herded Jack back stage.

‘What did that mean?’ I asked Eli. ‘Don’t go there yes, or don’t go there no?’

‘I have no idea,’ my date said. ‘I am thoroughly confused.’

‘And did you see that?’

‘Yeah. He’s like the ... queen whisperer.’

I was about to say something but the announcer said, ‘Ladies and ladies and the occasional gentleman, put your hands together for a Flamingo virgin. Our very own cage-collapsing Simka doing
Half Breed
!’

And then Jack was gliding onstage lip-syncing Cher like nobody’s business and I felt a great warm rush of unexpected pride for my brother the drag queen.

Chapter Twelve

I
JUST DIDN’T WANT TO
and Eli didn’t push it. He leaned in on my stoop and kissed me under the dome light like a teenager dropping off his high-school sweetheart. I kissed him back. New, soft, warm lips to kiss. It was both a rush and deep inside a tiny bit sad. One day I’d let myself find a new set of lips that I was sure I could come home and kiss every night. But not now.

He cupped my face in his hands and said, ‘You in there? You seem a bit distracted, Miss Merritt.’

‘I’m in here. Just tired. It’s been a crazy year so far.’ He didn’t know the half of it and I wasn’t about to explain. That was part of this year for me. No excuses, no explanations, no apologies.

I flashed to me caught in some long winding round of pleasure with Rob and Shane and shivered. What would I do with this one? Would he be gentle or boring? Kinky or low-key? Into odd stuff or traditional?

‘You cold?’

‘No. I’m fine.’

He pulled back, smiled, touched my bottom lip with his fingertip. Eli had dark coffee-coloured eyes shot with tiny striations of green. They reminded me of those gorgeous new age stones that appeared solid colours until you held them and they revealed intricate veins of various colours. This colour said calm to me. It stilled me. He was nice.

‘You sure?’

‘I am sure.’ I stifled a yawn. ‘But I am tired and I–’
No excuses, no explanations, no apologies
.

Luckily I didn’t have to. ‘Get to bed then. I’ll call you tomorrow. How about we go someplace fun? Me and you. No drag queens, no stolen drinks, no drama?’

I sighed. ‘Gosh, that sounds like the best plan ever.’

‘Good,’ Eli said and leaned down and kissed my cheek. Very chaste. Which was somehow very sexy. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow.’

I dreamt that I walked in on Jeffrey and Jack. In full drag. Going at it. Cher meets Diana Ross in a sexual cage match. In the dream, I screamed, covered my eyes as if I’d stared directly at the sun.

‘It’s the two men thing,’ Jeffrey said to my brother.

‘What about it?’ Jack asked.

They were still tangled together, stunning black and silver brushing faux suede with beads and fringe. ‘Drake and Ted. Two men triggers that for her. Me and you represent Drake and Ted.’

‘And betrayal,’ Jack said, kissing Jeffrey.

‘Heartbreak.’

‘Loss.’

‘Sadness,’ Jeffrey said.

It sounded like accusations. It sounded like sympathy. It sounded like the truth. And in the dream I said, ‘But I was with two men so you’re wrong.’

‘But you were the cream in the cookie,’ my brother said and batted his false lashes at me.

‘The meat in the sandwich,’ Jeffrey echoed. They were some gay, drag, bizarre version of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Talking in rhymes and tag-teaming me.

‘The soft gooey centre,’ my best friend laughed.

‘But ...’ No buts. They were right. I hadn’t found it upset because I’d been the prize. The person in the middle. The one who had been cherished not cast off.

I woke up, shaking and shivering in the sterile grey light of morning. No sun today. The skies were grey. My mind went to Eli working down on the storefronts in the rain. My mind had also turned to Eli because he was Mr May and I was getting tired of new horizons. But I was determined. Sometimes you needed to fake it until you made it. Right?

Right.

I was in buying paint for the hoarder’s living room when my phone rang. Most likely Dr Calibri calling about the clear out and organisation for his patient. The jobs were never easy, but could end up rewarding if the treatment was successful. For now, the beat up, scarred and stained cream-coloured living room of Dr C’s patient would end up a soothing dried grass colour with egg shell trim. ‘Merritt Evans,’ I said in my best, I-am-a-super-organised-professional voice.

‘Merritt, hi,’ said the rich warm voice. My insides heated up at the sound of this voice in my ear. But the paint machine was loud and jangling and I strained to hear it fully.

‘Eli?’

A long pause and then, ‘No. Penn. Penn Fratila.’

Ahhh. That explained the super horny feeling that had swept over me. His decadent, subtle accent.

‘Penn, hi! I thought you were away.’

‘I am,’ he said.

I stared at the phone but it simply said PRIVATE CALLER. ‘You’re in Transylvania?’ Some heads went up at that and the shop owner, Jodie’s eyes flew wide. I bared my teeth at her like fangs and stifled a grin. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘You can order me one of those big tall organising things that are like the men who work with tools use,’ he said.

I felt a whooshing kind of letdown. He was calling about work. But that was fine! I was on Mr May. I had options. ‘A tool box. Like one of the big ones with tiers and drawers and cabinets?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Like that.’

‘Surely I could find you one specifically for artists. I assume it’s for your supplies.’

‘Yes, and I’m sure you could. But I like those and I’d like to have one or two. Plus they lock and I travel. It would be peace of mind to lock up things I care about when I am gone.’

There was that shimmering excitement again. It coursed through me and I tried to ignore it. ‘Oh. Of course, then. I’ll look into that and have everything set up by September.’

‘September is not as far off as it seems,’ he said. Even long distance it felt like he had his mouth right up to me, speaking into my ear. An entirely erotic, intimate feeling that set me spinning internally.

‘I know. And thank you for ...’ For what? For what? Why had I started that sentence? ‘For your business,’ I finished weakly. Even he could tell I had scrambled because he laughed softly.

‘I mostly called because I wanted to hear your voice,’ Penn said and then hung up.

Bwah! I broke out in goose bumps, my hands shaking, my heart racing. The phone rang again. It startled me so bad I nearly dropped it. ‘Hello?’

‘Merritt? Hey, it’s me. Eli. How does an art show and some wine and a nice walk downtown sound?’

‘Fine. Fine. It sounds great,’ I stammered. Still rattled, still feeling like I’d been electrocuted.

‘You OK?’

‘Yes, just super swamped is all. What time do you want me?’ More stares. I gritted my teeth. ‘What time you want me
to meet you
,’ I clarified.

‘How’s seven. Cheap Reads OK? We can walk from there. Unless you want me to pick you up.’

‘No. Let’s walk, it’s super nice. The weather has turned.’
And then I can go home by myself if I want to.
I liked Eli, but Penn had rattled me like a shoddy fence. Whew. I had to start looking at tool towers for him so I could feel productive. ‘I’ll meet you then. OK?’

‘Sure thing. Oops, gotta go, the wind just blew my ladder over.’ And then he was gone. The second man to hang up on me in the past five minutes.

We walked by the museum after the viewing. A nice collection of Monet has been presented and he was my favourite impressionist by far. Might be clichéd as everyone seemed to like Monet, but there it was. ‘You really had a thing for that bridge picture,’ Eli said, sipping his coffee.

‘I had a boyfriend who gave me a framed print of that when we were dating. I adored it.’

‘Still have it?’ he asked.

‘Nope. He took it back when we split up. Broke the glass, stuck his foot through the print.’ For some reason the memory still rankled.

‘Damn.’

‘Yeah, overkill is saying something.’

He turned to kiss me under one of the bulbous streetlamp globes. His face backlit with stark white and his other side shadowed by the night. He looked like art himself. I let him kiss me. I tasted the chocolately rich coffee on his tongue and the soft warmth of him lulled me so that I stepped in and pressed myself flush to him and kissed him again.

‘Let me take you home. We can put in a movie. Veg out. Relax. You seem off.’

‘How would you know? You just met me.’

‘Intuition? You seem tense. More tense than would be logical for a first date with a guy who is so charming and fun loving that he’s damn near irresistible.’

I snorted. Eli was great. Funny and handsome and sweet. Very calm. I needed calm. In a world full of my mother, Jeffrey, Jack and a houseful of drag queens, a tiny sliver of calm would do me good.

‘You are. You are damn near irresistible.’ But I took a step back.

He motioned toward my move and said, ‘So explain that? Why are you backing away from me?’

I blew out a sigh and then sipped the dregs of my coffee. Pointing to the low concrete ornamental wall I said, ‘Can we sit?’

‘Sure.’

So we sat and I spilled it all. Drake, his affair, Jeffrey’s plan, the last few months of my new year. Surely he would run after hearing about all that. He was Mr May. Wouldn’t he be bothered by January, February, March and April? But he didn’t seem to be.

‘So basically you’re tired.’

I blinked. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but yes, I was tired. ‘I guess that’s pretty accurate. And I don’t know if I’m ready just yet, after my little breakdown with Jeffrey the other day to ...’ Here I faltered, worried that I would sound like a drama queen.

‘To get close physically to someone new?’ He smiled at me in the fairy lights that were strung outside the museum.

‘Pretty much. I mean, I’m not sure I’m ready to let someone into my body yet, if you want the unadulterated truth.’

He nodded, pulled me in a one-armed hug. ‘Come home with me.’

I got a bit angry then. I turned fast and said, ‘Weren’t you listening to m–’

‘No sex, but pleasure. For you. Nothing more. How’s that sound?’

I laughed long and loud, ‘Like a trap.’

‘Come home with me and I’ll show you.’ He pulled me by my bright purple scarf. Pulled me flush to him so that I could feel his heartbeat and the hard ridge of his cock in his jeans.

‘I feel that thing. I don’t believe you about the whole for me, nothing more thing,’ I said, laughing softly.

Eli turned and crossed his heart. ‘Promise.’

‘You have wine?’

‘Nope but I have a liquor store on the corner,’ he said.

‘Let’s go.’

The wine was Australian, red and sweet and Eli was sweet. He turned on an Inspector Clouseau movie when I spotted it and we sat, drinking wine, stockinged feet on the coffee table. Finally, the suspense proved too much for my delicate constitution. ‘OK, explain this to me. You don’t want to ... be with me but–’

Eli held up a hand. ‘I do want to be with you. Just not in you. Because you’re not up for that. But we can still be together, right?’

‘Is this like a mutual masturbation thing? Cause I had a boyfriend once who was into that. But after the first time or so it didn’t do much for me. I watched him, he watched me and everybody came. But ...’

‘Yes and no,’ Eli grinned. ‘What if both ends were me? Me masturbating and me getting you off too? What if it were that way?’

I smiled at him. Such a nice guy it was damn near impossible not to smile at him. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘It gets me off? I like it. I like it more than actual sex if you have to know. Does that make me a freak?’

I stared at him. The lean lines of his face, the peppering of dark stubble starting to show through, the sexy cords of his neck from manual labour. His big hands. He was serious. ‘Um ... no. Right now, I’d say that makes you damn near perfect.’

‘Let me show you what I have for you then,’ he said and took my hand. I followed him into his bedroom, done in chocolate brown and smoky blue it was as calming and serene as Eli himself. He opened a drawer and pointed to a few hot pink boxes.

‘Brand new, bought with you in mind. You look them over and tell me which one you’re interested in.’

I touched each box in turn and bit my lip. I faced Eli, shrugged. ‘Would I be greedy if I said all of them?’

He kissed me. ‘I’d say you’d be damn near perfect.’

Chapter Thirteen

‘Y
OU ARE A DIRTY GIRL
, Merritt,’ he said and I giggled. But there I was sprawled over his lap, awaiting my very first paddling. The imprint on the paddle said DIRTY in hot pink letters and I loved the black leather square that held so much promise. I’d always been curious, now I wanted to know. ‘Say it, Merritt.’

The tiny bit of steel in his voice made my breath sing in my lungs. I felt lightheaded and excited. ‘I’m a dirty girl,’ I whispered; the giggles had officially dried up.

The paddle came down fast and sharp and I yelped. He stroked the leather across the other cheek and I yelped again. Hot stinging fire flooded my bottom, but a lusty rush of fluid flooded my pussy at the same time. Eli gave me three more strokes with the paddle and then started to run his palms across my flesh in soothing circles. ‘Too hard?’ he wanted to know.

‘Don’t stop,’ I said. I swallowed, managed, ‘Please.’

‘Got it. Dirty girl needs more.’ There was a smile in his voice and I felt his cock, hard and ready pressing to my belly. For an instant I reconsidered the whole
not ready
thing. Truth be told, at that moment in time, I wanted to fuck him. But instinct was instinct and mine told me that I needed a respite from the steady parade of men.

‘I wouldn’t fuck you anyway,’ he said softly. In my head already? Was I that easy to read? I started. ‘It was the way you were pressing your belly to my hard-on,’ he said and gave me three strokes for that. ‘That was your tell.’

‘Sorry.’

‘You should be,’ Eli said and gave me ten more, making me count them off until my ass cheeks felt like they were literally burning. Bright merry flames dancing along my skin. They weren’t, though, simply heated and red and tender. When he kissed each one in turn and ran his fingers over my upper thighs and let them dance across my tender clit, I damn near came. Eli brushed his fingers across my soaked pussy and said, ‘I guess you’re ready for the next one.’

‘I am,’ I said, and just those two words sounded like begging to my ears.

He took the butt plug out and I instinctively recoiled. He laughed. ‘You sure about this?’

‘Yeah. I’m curious. Always have been. But I have to admit, I’m a tiny bit ... hesitant.’ I gave a nervous laugh that made me cringe. I sounded like a hyena when I got super nervous.

‘It’s all about arousal. On a scale of one to ten, we need you at an eleven. Where are you?’

‘9.5,’ I blurted. ‘But that’s higher than normal!’

‘I’m flattered,’ Eli said and knelt; he spread my legs wide and looked up at me. ‘May I?’ He nodded at my pussy and I stared at him, dumbfounded. He was asking permission to eat me.

I nodded and just watched as he dipped his head and went to town. His tongue was as gentle, insistent and calming as his personality. He licked and sucked and lavished me with his tongue until I could barely stay still. Then he pushed his fingers into my cunt and when they were soaked with my own juices, he slid one into my ass. There was a tiny pinch and then it was good. It was fine. It was great. He slowly worked a second finger in and pushed into me as he ate me. I came, my whole body seeming to grip up around his fingers, surging up to meet his mouth.

Then a small pinch-pressure and he said, kissing my inner thigh with his wet mouth, ‘OK, see that, it’s in.’

All I could do was exhale. Then his mouth was back on me. His tongue slippery on my clit where I could still feel my pulse from my orgasm. ‘Oh, God, that feels good,’ I babbled.

It was an entirely different sensation. The full feel of the plug in my bottom heightened the sultry swish of his tongue on my pussy. I arched up to meet him but he pushed my thighs flat so the rest of my body had to follow. ‘Behave, Merritt,’ he said. The bed shook for just a moment and I realised he was simply rubbing his cock against the bed for the friction. That insight set me off. A hot rush of excitement coursed through me and I came. I felt my own fluids grace my upper thighs as I came harder than I thought possible right on the heels of another.

‘How about the next toy? Ready for that?’

I was shaking. Shaking like I was terrified, but I wasn’t. I was so over the top turned on I thought I might shake right out of my skin. ‘Yes, but first will you ...’ I bit my tongue, feeling a tiny bit shy about asking.

‘What?’

‘Can I see? Will you show me? Touch it?’ My eyes flew to his zipper and I heard him chuckle.

‘I thought that didn’t do anything for you.’

‘In that instant it didn’t. In this one, gosh ... I really think it would.’ I was suddenly and thoroughly obsessed with seeing him touch his own cock. I wanted it more than the next toy. I wanted him to have some pleasure and I wanted to see it.

‘I can do that,’ he said and put the hot pink vibrator on the bed next to me while he unzipped his pants and pulled his cock through the slit in his boxer briefs. ‘Do you like to see me, Merritt?’

The question was honest and open and funny and dirty as hell and I squirmed under his gaze feeling more naked than naked. ‘I do. I really, really do.’

His cock was long and true. No curve, which was surprising, I thought most men had one. He had the thickness as well as the length that made me lick my lips and reconsider yet, again. He had me here, spread on the bed like some pinned butterfly but he grinned and shook his head. ‘Nope. Not going to happen. Even if you want it.’

The denial was almost as arousing as the sight of him.

He started to stroke his cock. His long strong fingers pulling along the flesh that was probably velvet soft but with a steel underlying it. In my mind, I had my mouth on him, my hands on him and finally, I had him in me. But in reality, I watched.

Eli stopped and picked up the vibrator. I hadn’t realised I’d been almost panting until he touched the tip to my clit and I jumped, sucking in a great breath and then blowing it out. He pushed slowly with the head of the vibe until it was firmly seated in my tender pussy and then he thumbed it a bit higher. The head of the toy brushed and nudged and thumped my g-spot and I shook as another orgasm rushed to me like a wave of emotion mixed with thrill. He brought me to the very edge, so that my body language told him how on the edge I was and then he pinned me with his gaze. ‘Take it. We’ll come together. May I?’ Again the polite nature of asking. He indicated my bare breasts and as taken as I was with him, I readily agreed.

‘Yes, of course. Please, I mean. I like the feel of it.’ It was true. I liked the feel of hot come raining down on my skin but had never admitted it out loud before. Another freeing, brave rush of exhilaration. Who knew non-sex sex could be so empowering and fantastic?

I put my hand on the vibe, working it inside of my wet cunt the same way he had, pushing the same place as the pleasure built and built, layer upon layer of arousal. ‘I’m pretty darn clo–’

‘Right there with you, Merritt,’ Eli said and nodded.

I let it come. That wall of euphoria smacked me broadside and I came with a cry as the deepest orgasm yet seemed to ring me dry. Eli let out a groan and a gasp and the warm torrent of his orgasm hit my skin like the warmest summer rain.

I looked up at him and shook my head. ‘No good?’ he asked.

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Just wow.’ I couldn’t even find the words.

‘So you’re not disappointed?’

‘Fuck, do I look disappointed?’ I laughed and laughed until my shoulders shook.

‘You look ...’ he cocked his head regarding me. ‘Hungry.’

‘Man, you are good! I’m starved.’

‘Chinese?’

‘And he scores again,’ I said while he led me to the shower.

Shrimp Lo Mein and more wine. I kissed him goodnight outside the Chinese restaurant and walked home. It was only a few blocks to my house. Jeffrey was waiting in my living room.

‘How did you get in here, young man?’ I joked.

‘I pulled the key out of the gargoyle’s ass,’ he said.

‘It’s not in his ass, it’s in the dirt under his tail.’

‘Whatever. Whatever.’

‘So what’s with the visit?’ I asked, dropping my bag and heading into my room for pyjama pants and a tee.

‘Moms and Jeffrey are having gay boy smack down 2010 in my living room.’

‘What?’ I froze, pulling my hoodie on over my tee.

‘She came over to talk and he said something or other about going on that gay cruise with me later this year and she flipped like a hot pancake.’

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be torture, getting my mother to adjust. Every time we thought she had, she found a new way to surprise us and show us that she hadn’t. ‘Lord. Do you need to stay here?’

‘I’m sure they’ll be done soon.’

‘What does she think she’s going to do about him going on a gay cruise?’ I sighed long and loud, pouring us both some iced tea.

‘Report him for drug smuggling.’ He took the tea and drank it down in three big gulps. I poured him some more.

‘You are shitting me, right? That was a joke,’

‘No, ma’am. That is what she said. Your mom is a bit off her nut.’

I sighed. I knew it. ‘But doing that to him?’

‘Hey, all parents react differently. My mother asked me what took me so long to come out and I came out when I was 17. Your mom ... well, she’s going to fight it tooth and nail and DEA all the way.’

‘Christ.’ I sipped my tea and smiled. Before I could wipe the smile, he caught me.

‘Give up the details, sister.’ We plopped on the sofa and he flipped through to a rerun of a rerun of a rerun of a sitcom we both loved.

‘Nothing to give. We didn’t sleep together.’ And that was the 100% truth.

‘Nuh-unh. Something happened. You are all glowy and loose.’

‘So?’ I stared straight ahead hoping he would lose interest.

‘So the only thing that does that to my Merritt is multiple orgasms. With a capital Oh-oh-baby. Spill.’

I felt the smug look on my face. Tried to hide it. Failed. ‘He got me off,’ I said softly.

‘How many times?’ Jeffrey leaned in like I was spilling state secrets.

‘Multiple times. More than once. More than necessary but duly appreciated.’

‘Lord, oh, Lord. The girl is loose and lazy with the orgasms.’

I laughed and finished off my tea. ‘Pretty much.’

‘You gonna see him again?’

‘Of course I am. I just don’t know if I’ll ...’ How to put it?

‘Fuck him blue?’

‘Yeah. That.’

‘I think you will. But take your time. You deserve a break today.’

‘At McMerritt’s?’

‘Amen, girl. Amen,’ Jeffrey said and found an old movie starring John Cusack. I curled my head on his taut belly and promptly fell asleep.

Jeffrey woke me at two. ‘Moms called and said I can come home. I’m gonna git.’ He was slowly peeling me off of him and trying not to jar me all at once.

‘Did they get it all worked out?’ I asked, groggy and ready to fall back asleep.

‘She said I could come home
because I have disowned him, Jeffrey. He is no longer my son
, and I quote.’

‘Oh, good,’ I groaned.

‘They’ll get it worked out,’ Jeffrey assured me. ‘Nothing more than growing pains is all.’

‘What are we growing?’ I asked and turned over to snuggle into the cushions, too comfortable and too lazy to get up and go into my room.

‘A drag queen, of course,’ he said and leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. ‘I’m locking the door on the way out,’ he whispered. I waved him goodbye and went back to sleep.

My mother and Simka could wait until morning.