“Not interested in bunny action tonight?” I ask.
“Action, yes; talking, no. If they’re still here later, I’ll get them to put their mouths to better use,” Lance says.
He’s not joking either. Some of the stories I’ve heard—both first and second-hand—about Lance’s antics with the bunnies make my sex life seem weak. And it isn’t.
By the time the first period is over, I’m resigned to the fact that it’ll be a while before I can see Lily. This gives me more time to plan my attack when we get back to Waters’ place. I know the layout of the bedroom we’ll be staying in, since it’s the one where we first had sex months ago, back in September. We have to make out in the bathroom at the very least, just for nostalgia.
I give up on staying sober and order a second pint, then a third. Near the end of the third period, Alex gets a call from Violet. It’s not a regular call, though. Instead she FaceTimes him. She’s clearly drunk, as I can hear her from the other end of the table. Her question filters down to me. Jesus. Is she asking about blow jobs? I hear a mention of lollipopping, and then Alex passes the phone to Miller with a shrug.
The game goes to commercial break, so I can hear better when Violet asks Miller if he likes blow jobs. Wow. Talk about open. I would never ask my sister that, mostly because I’d then want to murder the guy she was dating. It’s probably a good thing she’s halfway around the world and I can’t police her boyfriends.
Miller’s response is just as much an overshare, which Waters doesn’t like. There’s some wrestling over the phone and some reassurance from Violet that since Alex just admitted to liking blow jobs, it’s hypocritical for him to be mad at Miller for saying the same thing. Miller’s probably had a hell of a lot more women on their knees than Waters’ has, but no one needs to point that out. Miller’s caught enough flak over his not-so-pristine past with the bunnies; he doesn’t need more.
Eventually the phone is handed to Lance and then to Westinghouse, who seems to have some fucked-up shit going on in the bedroom based on the content of his conversation. I try not to take the phone when he hands it to me, but I’m not left with much of a choice.
Violet’s face comes into view. I’m mostly looking up her nose. She’s sitting on the living room couch. I can hear the other girls in the background, but I can’t see them. She takes a slurpy sip of her drink. “Balls.” A hip thrust follows, and she sloshes wine over the rim of her glass. “Do you like blow jobs?”
I can’t answer this question straightforwardly or honestly—not without sharing a lot more information than I’d like to. I run a hand through my hair and try not to think about my last blow job, which was an insanely long time ago. “They’re all right, I guess.”
Violet slow-blinks several times. “They’re all right? All right? Are you telling me that having a woman’s lips wrapped around your cock while you fuck her mouth doesn’t do it for you?”
I have a sudden, vivid image of Lily on her knees with those incredibly luscious lips wrapped around my cock—me holding her hair, guiding that sweet, perfect mouth. It’s quickly shattered when Waters dive bombs over Miller, nearly knocking over tables in his haste to get the phone out of my hand.
There’s chastising from Waters and some laughter from Miller, but neither drowns out Lance’s snarky comment: “Is this about your Frankenweiner, Ballistic?”
“Shut the fuck up, man!” This time it’s my turn to launch myself at someone. And Lance is my target, even if he is at least twenty pounds heavier than I am. I knock over his pint, spilling beer on the table. His chair hits the ground with a loud bang as he jumps up to avoid the spill, and Westinghouse, who’s sitting beside him, pushes back with a screech.
I take Lance in a headlock. “That’s under the damn cone!”
“Get the fuck off me, asshole!” Lance punches me in the kidney.
I drop him, and he stumbles into another chair, knocking it over, too.
He charges me, face red, eyes wild—the way they get when someone rams into him on the ice. He slams his shoulder into my chest. He’s like a damn bull. It’s a good thing there’s no one at the table beside us, because it almost goes over.
Miller grabs Lance by the back of the shirt and pulls him off me. “Calm the fuck down, you two. You’re gonna get us thrown out.”
“Stop touching me!” Lance shoves Miller’s hand off and paces around in a circle, his head down as he breathes hard, rolling his shoulders.
Our waitress comes by to check on us and find out what all the commotion was about. Lance adjusts his shirt while Waters assures the waitress we’re just playing around. Lance mutters an apology, and so do I.
When all the chairs are righted and we’re sitting around the table again, Lance’s brow furrows. He’s still red-faced and agitated.
And I’m still pissed at him. “Thanks a lot, man. Lily didn’t know about my fucked-up junk until now.”
“Aren’t you screwing her?”
Waters makes a sound from the other end of the table, like he disapproves of the terminology.
“Yeah.”
“So she’s gotta know about the accident then, aye?” Lance seems confused.
“I haven’t told her about that.” This is hella uncomfortable.
“What accident?” Westinghouse asks.
“Balls took a skate to the groin when he was a kid.”
Both Waters and Westinghouse frown like they’re trying to figure out what the big deal is.
“I wasn’t wearing a cup,” I supply to help them along.
Westinghouse’s eyes widen. “Holy fuck.”
“So, like—” Waters making a chopping motion.
“Yeah. Pretty much. But it’s all still there, and it all still works. There’s just a lot of scars.”
There’s some uncomfortable shifting as they put it all together.
“I still don’t get it. So you do what? Make Lily blow you in the dark?” Lance asks.
Leave it to him to ask the questions I don’t want to answer. Him and Violet. “She hasn’t done that.” I take a huge gulp of my beer.
There’s silence around the table. I can feel their eyes on me.
“She doesn’t like to suck cock?”
“She’s offered. It’s not really my thing.” I’ve just told them far too much.
That gets me more strange looks, so I excuse myself to the bathroom so I can stop having this embarrassing and shitty conversation. I have some hang-ups about blow jobs, and I think my reasons are completely valid.
No one pushes me to talk more about it when I come back to the table, which is good. Lance has disappeared to the other side of the bar where those girls came from. He chats them up for a bit and gives us a wave when he’s on the way out the door with both of them. Once the game is over, we settle the tab and head for the SUV.
Waters falls into step beside me. “You gonna crash at my place?”
“You cool with that?” If he’s not, I’m calling a cab and taking Lily home with me.
“You’re always welcome.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Just be real careful with Lily. She hasn’t had the easiest life, and she’s a little…sheltered. I don’t want to see her get hurt.”