Chapter 56

“Am I a genius or what?” Liz asked as we cuddled up together on the cool sheets in the hotel room.

“I was worried that it would be a disaster,” I admitted.

“You have to admit that you’re happy to know that Skye has a tattoo,” Liz giggled.

Indeed, Skye Bennett had an image of Smurfette (her childhood nickname) tattooed just beside her pubic hair.

“And you got to flash your boobies to the world again,” I said.

“It’s Dom and Brian,” Liz said. “I knew you wouldn’t be mad. I could have shown them my coochie and you’d be OK with it. It’s ... it’s nice to have a set of friends like this. Ryan and Stephanie are different. We couldn’t do this with them. I figure that until we’re ... you know, married ... it’s OK to do this kind of stuff.”

“As long as this is as far as things go, I don’t see what marriage has to do with it,” I said. “It was harmless. I mean, sure, I know Jill and Skye want to do me now but that was bound to happen.”

“I can’t believe you guys got the ‘P’ and the ‘K’ and kept them until the end!” Liz said, ignoring me. “We got butt and balls. We couldn’t do cock or dick or penis. You got ‘gash’ and ‘slit’ and ‘boobs.’ It was totally unfair.”

“Hey, we used the ‘P’ and the ‘K’ for ‘pork, ‘“ I said. “No one seemed to mind when we picked all three of you for that word.”

“No,” Liz admitted as she kissed me again. “It was the perfect word to end the game.”

“It worked out,” I said. “The ‘P’ came up in the last draw. We were close to going over one round earlier. We were lacking the ‘F’ for ‘butt fuck’ and we were going to pick Jill.”

“That would have been funny,” Liz told me. “She’s pretty competitive.”

“We passed on adding ‘gang’ to ‘bang’,” I noted.

“Oh Jesus,” she said with a laugh.

“Some of those words,” I said, shaking my head. “‘Feltch?’ Really?”

“I know,” Liz said. “I was pretty proud of that one. The next game is going to be just you and me. I’m going to order a book of sexual positions and we’re going to work our way through.”

“Are we going to post that to InstaGram, too?” I asked.

“We’d break the Internet, Babe,” Liz said, winking at me. “We probably should get up and get moving. The others will think we’re fucking or something.”

“Porking,” I corrected. Still, we got up and got showered (again). We were still the first ones out but it seems the rest were just waiting to hear our door open and close. They arrived only a few minutes later.

“Butt fuck!” Jill said as soon as she saw me.

“Hey, 50 points is 50 points,” I said with a wink.

I had worried that there might be some awkwardness but there wasn’t. The women had shown us almost everything they owned. The guys had gotten off light. I had shown my butt; Dom had to pull his legs up until his ball sac was visible; Brian had to flash the head of his dick.

But no one seemed the least bit uncomfortable.

“Out for dinner?” Liz asked.

Jill walked to the balcony and pulled the curtains open. We had closed them while we played, worried that a photographer on a boat in the marina might be able to see in.

“Nope,” Jill said. “It’s still pissing the rain down out there.”

“Let’s go down to the restaurant and then have a few drinks,” I proposed. “It’ll give you three a reason to get dressed up. We’ll eat and have a couple of drinks. Then we’ll dance and enjoy ourselves.”

“Really?” Skye asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I had a chance to think about the other night. I could have had fun if I’d have let myself. I enjoy hanging out with you guys ... particularly when Jill has things hanging out.”

“Jerk,” Jill said, laughing at me.

“I think it would be fine,” Dom said. “We won’t really be out in public so Brian and I can have a couple of beers.”

“I am not getting loaded tonight,” Liz declared. “Well, not on alcohol. I might convince my guy to load me with something else later.”

“God, you are such a slut!” Jill said. “I’m so proud of you! You might work your way up to my league soon.”

“I tried so hard to find a word that would answer a question that has plagued me since I met you,” I said.

“Uh-oh,” Dom said.

“It’s not bad,” I said. “At least I don’t think so. Uh, Texas has a really good gymnastics program. I ... dated ... one of the gymnasts.”

“No, I cannot lick my own pussy,” Jill said.

My eyes widened at the concept.

“You’d never leave the house,” Skye said.

“True!” Jill said. “That’s how you know I’m telling the truth.”

“It wasn’t that,” I said. “But I’d pay money to watch if you figured out how to do it.”

“I’d pay money if you could show me how,” Liz said, winking at me.

“What’s your question?” Jill asked.

“Uh, the girl I knew, she was small,” I said. “She was like ... second alternate on the national team. Anyway...”

“Who was she?” Jill asked. “We’re the same age and I competed with a lot of them.”

“Mandy McLaren,” I said.

“No way!” Jill said. “I know her. You bagged her? I was sure she was straight-up lesbo!”

“She’s not,” I said. “I mean, she might swing both ways but I didn’t see it.”

“Damn, I’m going to have to check your fucking C.V. to see if there is anyone else I know,” Jill said.

“Anyway, Mandy could ... put her ankles behind her head,” I said.

“When I was 19 I could,” Jill said with a nod. “Now I’d pull so many muscles that I’d be in traction forever. When I was in college I was really flexible. I was a floor-exercise specialist. I did a lot of tumbling and I could stand on one foot and lift the other over my head.”

I pictured it in my head and had to look away.

“I bet you just loved shaking your butt for the crowds,” Skye chimed in.

“The only time you got a crowd was at the championships,” Jill said, shaking her head. “We were pretty good but the first big crowd we got was during the conference meet.”

“Where did you go to school?” Dom asked.

Jill just shook her head.

“She’s afraid Travis will never talk to her again,” Liz said.

“A&M?” Dom asked, referring to Texas A&M.

“Michigan,” Liz replied. “That’s why I treat her like shit all the time.”

“It’s still nice that you took pity on the poor, inbred creatures to the north,” I said. “It certainly explains a lot about her, though. You can take the girl out of the trailer park but you can’t take the trailer park out of the girl!”

“I didn’t live in a trailer park,” Jill said.

I laughed. I knew that gymnasts were almost entirely from wealthy families. It was sort of like high school hockey in Ohio – only the wealthy could afford the cost of having their children play the sport. I also knew a lot more about Jill Clay – and Dom Salducci and Brian Evans – than I let on.

“Could have fooled me,” Skye said.

“Ha-ha,” Jill said.

“You know how sad Michigan is?” I asked. I didn’t wait for an answer but just provided my own. “Toledo is like the shittiest place in Ohio – thanks to its proximity to Michigan. Well, they actually wanted to start a war to annex it into them, they were so desperate for culture.”

Jill gave me the finger. I could tell that I was pissing her off so, despite my better judgment, I stopped.

“How did you wind up working for Liz?” I asked.

“I needed a job,” Jill said. “I got a degree in business administration. Then...”

She shook her head bitterly.

“I was married,” she said angrily.

“Oh, hey,” I said. “I was just making conversation. You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine,” Jill lied. “My husband was a total asshole. Everybody knew it but me. I didn’t find out until we’d moved a thousand miles south to Nashville. He wanted to be a drummer but he sucked. Then he started to...”

She shook her head again.

“He hit her,” Liz said. “We were looking for studio musicians. We had an open call and he showed up with Jill. He wasn’t good. They got into an argument in the parking lot and he hit her. I ... I was outside smoking a cigarette. I stopped that now but it’s only been in the last year or so. Back then, I’d sneak a smoke when I got angry.”

“Ryan was out with her and saw it,” Jill said. “He ... he got me pretty good. Well, Ryan got him better. He ... he just bitch slapped him. I mean, he held his arm and just slapped him around. Then he ... he stepped on his hand and broke it. The cops chalked it up as ‘defense of another.’ Ryan insisted he only stepped on Vic’s hand because Vic kept trying to reach for his boot. Ryan said he wasn’t sure if there was a knife or gun there so he still felt that we were in danger. But, well, he did it so Vic would never be a drummer again. I filed for divorce and Vic left town.”

“Ryan ran him out of town,” Dom clarified. “I was there when we paid him a visit.”

“Really?” Jill asked.

“I sent them after he tried to contact you,” Liz said. “I’m sorry I didn’t discuss it with you but...”

“No, it’s cool,” Jill said. “Thanks. I had been working odd jobs just to keep us afloat but I wanted something better. Liz offered me a job doing whatever I could do. I had been working as a receptionist so that’s what she had me doing. I would come out to her house and answer her email and stuff. I ... I lived with her for a little while when things were still tense. She’s...”

She put her hand across Liz’s.

“She’s my best friend,” Jill finished. “She saved me. Vic had been drinking a lot. He’d slapped me once or twice when he got turned down for jobs. This time he punched me in the mouth ... and told me he was going to kill me. He would have.”

“Motherfucker,” Brian muttered.

“Are you safe now?” Skye asked.

“Yeah,” Jill said, letting out a long breath. “He got a DUI and tried to run over a cop. He was already on probation from the domestic assault in Tennessee. The cops fucked him up and the judge gave him five years in prison. He’s not eligible for parole until next year ... and then Tennessee wants him for a probation violation. They’re going to make him do two-to-four more when Michigan lets him go.”

“I’ll pay that son of a bitch a visit on the day he’s released,” Brian said.

“He’ll never be back,” Dom said with assurance. “If he shows his face, do your thing.”

“I’m not scared of him anymore,” Jill said. “I had to testify at his sentencing. They do a victim’s impact statement in Tennessee and that let me confront him in a controlled environment. He no longer had any power over me. Seeing him sitting there in a yellow jumpsuit with his hands shackled to the table ... I saw him for what he is. He’s a shallow man that only can bully me if I let him. I saw a shrink for awhile and that helped me. But she was a lot like him in a way. She wanted to control me, too. I’m ... I’m a pretty happy person.

“I’m normally in a good mood ... sometimes too good, I guess. The shrink wanted me to hate men and to deny my ... sexuality. I left her and found someone new. I go every now and then but it’s not every week. He’s gone and he’s completely forgotten.”

I saw everybody around the table nod ... but I suspected that Ryan or Dom or Brian would find the guy and have a nice long chat with him when he hit his parole date. Liz would see to that (or I would just go myself).

The ladies decided that shorts and tank tops would be the uniform du jour so the guys were off the hook. We donned shorts and T-shirts for our trip down the elevator.

The restaurant was quiet. The hotel catered to the wealthy and the restaurant was no different. I finally understood what Jill had told me about famous people and their insecurities. A few recognizable faces looked in our direction but did not initiate a conversation with a wave or even a nod. If Liz offered a smile, they were gracious but everybody thought they were too important to deign to speak to someone down the pecking order of fame.

Still, the pecking order – at least according to the hotel – was pretty clear (and Liz Larimer was at the top).

Our table was situated well away from anyone else. No one walking into the restaurant would walk past us and try to stop and talk. No fans were going to see us and veer over for an autograph. I would have considered it a coincidence if the manager hadn’t met us out front and asked us to wait while his staff prepared.

As it was we were stationed in a private spot where we could talk without being overheard. It was heartening to see that Liz appeared slightly embarrassed (despite the fact that I was certain this happened almost everywhere Liz appeared).