Tod got up, taking his gun with him, patted his leg to call Chowleena and said to me, “Got a fund raiser tomorrow night, you on Drag Duty?”
Tod and the rest of the drag community of Denver often did fund raisers where they lip-synched their hearts out and gave their tips to charity. Stevie and I were Tod’s alter-ego, Burgundy Rose’s official drag hags. It was the only true workout I got, lugging around Burgundy’s sequined dresses. They weighed a ton. As Tod said, “They don’t call it drag for nothing, girlie.”
I nodded to him. “If I’m alive, wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
Tod’s eyes moved to Lee. “It’s a drag show for charity. You bringing Indy?”
Lee stood and since Tod was no longer wearing his high heels, he went from looking down on Lee to looking up. Tod’s gaze didn’t waver.
“If I’m not workin’, I’ll be there.”
Tod looked again to me. “Swear to God, you fuck this up, I’m calling the white jackets.”
Then he and Chowleena left.
“You find Rosie?” I asked Lee, coming out of the lounge.
“No.”
“The diamonds?”
“No.”
“Is Duke back?”
“Yes.”
“Is he safe?”
“Yes.”
“No diamonds?”
“They’re gone.”
“Fuck!” I stomped my foot. “Who has them?”
“That’s a good question.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I snapped again. “Did you talk to Terry Wilcox?”
“Yes.”
“How’d that go?”
I had lifted my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun so I could look at him. During my questioning, Lee was looking beyond me to the alley and into the backyards of my neighbors. When he answered, his eyes shifted to me.
“I gave him your excuses for missing dinner on Wednesday.”
“What were those?”
“You’d be with me and I’d be fucking your brains out.”
My vagina went into spasm and my knees went week.
“How’d he take that?” I asked, trying to pretend I wasn’t about to collapse.
“He wasn’t pleased.”
“Erm, can you explain what you meant earlier by ‘declaration of war’?”
“Only if we do it inside, we’re exposed up here.”
I grabbed the phone, the timer and my sarong and walked into the bedroom. I threw everything on the bed and tied the sarong around my hips. Lee closed the door behind him and pulled off his shades.
He walked up to me, tossed his sunglasses on the bed and untied the sarong from around my hips.
“I just tied that,” I told him, grabbing for it.
He ignored me and threw it on the bed, out of my reach and put his hands on my hips, drawing me to him.
“I thought you were gonna tell me about this war thing,” I reminded him.
“Simple. He wants something. That something belongs to me. He begins his campaign to get what he wants and I begin mine to keep it.”
I was trying not to be pissed off but it was hard.
“I don’t belong to you.”
“I know that and you know that but men like Coxy don’t know that. He acquires things, even humans, especially women. His men don’t work for him because they respect and trust him, they do it because he pays them a lot.”
Okay, that made sense.
My hips were against his hips and his hands were going up my back, pulling the rest of my body into contact with his.
I ignored it.
“Have you dissuaded him from this war?”
“Not likely.”
“What happens now?”
“I deal with it. You hear from him, see him, you tell me.”
I could do that, that sounded easy.
Lee’s hands made it to my shoulders and my entire torso was pressed against his.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Lee’s head came down and his lips were on my neck.
“Quarter to two,” he said against my skin.
“Ohmigod!” I shouted and tried to pull away but Lee’s arms tightened and brought me back. “I have to take a shower, we have to get to Dad’s. I’m supposed to be making the hamburger patties.”
“Your father can make the hamburgers. We’re gonna be late.”
I stared at him in horror. “Late? We can’t be late! Dad loves you, Lee, but he’s not exactly jumping for joy that we’re together. We can’t be late the first time we go home for a barbeque!”
Lee’s face changed and his eyes became warm.
“Are we together?”
Oh crap.
I started thinking fast.
“We’re not, not together.”
“I’m not entirely certain what to do with that.”
I explained, “We’re not exactly together and were not, not together. We’re in together-limbo. We’re test-driving together to see if we want to buy it.”
“We go to your Dad’s late, I could convince you to buy it.”
I was pretty certain he was right so, in self-defense, I put my hands against his chest and pushed.
He didn’t budge.
I changed tactics.
“How are you so sure you want to buy it?”
“I’m sure.”
“How are you sure?”
“Trust me, I’m sure.”
“How?”
“I have an idea, why don’t we shower together?” he suggested.
“That isn’t telling me how.”
“No, but it would be showing you.”
“So ‘how’ is a showing thing, not a telling thing?”
“’How’ is show and tell, I just feel in the mood to show.”