The Skin Show (18 page)

“That’s
about right, yeah.”

“I’m
not usually such an inconsiderate bitch.”

Andy
cringed hearing her say that. “Don’t think like that. You’re being very
considerate.”

“
Too
considerate?”

“Maybe,
for now.”

Andy
was starting to sweat. He hated it when the attention was turned to him,
especially the compassionate kind. He never knew how to react, or the correct
words to say to make the sympathizer understand he was okay. This also made him
a terrible comforter, which was why he avoided it as much as possible.

Alexia
came back with their fresh drinks, setting them down. She smiled, nodded, then
left. No sneaky hands, no tricks, and no show. Andy wondered if it was tough
for her to restrain herself from putting on some kind of beguiling act.

Andy
noted the smirk showing on Karen’s face. “What?”

She
shrugged. “She behaved this time, didn’t she?”

“Guess
she was afraid not to.” 

Making
her voice sound Cuban, Karen said, “Don’t touch ze’ merchandise.” 

Laughing,
he let go of Karen’s hand so he could have both hands to support the giant beer
mug. The glass felt cold and powdery as his fingers curled around the handgrip.
Sipping the beer, it once again tasted good. Delicious.

His
love for the beer petered away when a grooving song, heavy with wah-pedal, came
over the speakers. Porno music. It had the panging drum beat and smooth-flowing
bass the older ones he used to watch as a kid on satellite TV, with his cousin
David, when spending the night at his aunt’s house. 

The
heart-shaped bed grew a tad brighter from a single light mounted on a rafter in
the ceiling. With the extra light, Andy noticed there were two matching
pillows, the same black cherry color as the bed. 

“Looks
like it’s Showtime,” said Karen.

Andy
felt a mild nip in his testicles. He looked around the room. The crowd had
stopped what they were doing to watch the stage. There was still no sign of
Danny or Rosco among them. With no other choice, he faced the front and sighed. 

Here
we go.

A
minute later, the biker sauntered onto the stage. His tread was heavy, stilted
steps that vibrated the stage. He moved stiffly, like an android, or a puppet
on strings. Gone were the leather and jeans. Now he was dressed in a white silk
robe that made it easy to affirm he was naked underneath.

When
he arrived at the bed, he dropped the robe. A beef log of a penis sagged from
under his abdomen. Its head was the size of a baby’s fist. His body was
muscular and tight, unnaturally pale and tan-less. Crawling on top of the bed,
he arranged the black heart pillows at an angle. Then he leaned back against
them, propping his shoulders and head up on their padding.

Not
acknowledging anyone in the audience, he took his penis in his hand and began
stroking. He was doing it as casually as one might flip channels with a
remote.  The fat tube in his hand started to expand, growing unbelievably
larger. 

Andy
wanted to turn away. He couldn’t. His eyes remained glued on the ogre penis
that seemed as if it would never stop rising. No one made any sounds. Other
than the generic accompanying music track, the room was silent.

“Oh
my,” said Karen from beside him. By her tone, Andy guessed she was as appalled
by the giant size of his growing erection as Andy.

Andy
said, “Is he just going to keep doing…?”

Karen
shrugged. 

After
a full minute of tugging had passed, a woman joined him from the back.  She had
no robe on. Her naked body looked coated in melted butter under the dim pink
lights. She too was hairless but, instead of a tonsured dome, she had short
hair with long bangs that came down to a tip at her nose. Her breasts were
small but perfectly shaped with tiny dots for nipples that seemed to match the
color of her skin. Angel wings had been tattooed in the space between her navel
and groin. Little gems festooned the design, glinting in flashy winks. 

She
also ignored the spectators as she mounted the bed. On her knees, she leaned
over, and putting a hand on each of his knees, dropped her head down.

The
head of the penis went for her opened mouth.

“Holy
shit,” whispered Andy.

Karen
looked at him, her eyes shocked and wide. “I didn’t think they could…
do
the actual act…”

In
unison, their heads slowly faced forward. 

The
girl’s head violently bopped up and down, gross slurping sounds carrying over
the intoxicating music. Suddenly her head shot back, lips smacking as they tore
away from the slobbery tower of the man’s penis. Andy noticed the large hand
clutching the top of her head. The girl winced from the violent tugging of her
hair, smiled, and groaned a sharp cry as her head was slammed back down. 

“Oh…man…”
Though his voice sounded upset, he didn’t stop watching.

When
the lady had been in control, she’d only taken half of the man in her mouth.
But now it had disappeared entirely as the girl’s mouth was stretched endlessly
wide. She made gagged quacking sounds as the penis strangulated her.

“She’s
just letting him…do that…?” said Karen.

“Sugar
said
anything
.” Andy replied.

“God…”

The
man jerked her head up so she could suck in quick gasps of air. Thick snakes of
phlegm trailed from the corners of her mouth and connected to the tip of his
cock. 

Then
he yanked her back down.

Andy
and Karen looked at each other while the sounds of the girl being sexually
humiliated came from the stage.  

The
girl moaned even though she couldn’t be gaining any kind of satisfaction from
what the guy was now doing to her. On her back, she held her breasts tightly
together, and with the guy straddling her belly, he was thrusting his penis
into the valley between them. Her head was propped up on the pillows, her mouth
open to catch the prodding head between her lips.

The
bald biker had finished a while ago as well as the subsequent three other
volunteers who’d followed. When the last one had finished his anal attack, the
girl called for another man. A lanky guy with stringy red hair made it to the
stage first, so she chose him to join her.

And
now he was humping her breasts…and like the others, wasn’t wearing any kind of
protection. Not that, Andy thought, he needed to for what he was doing. 

How
could she enjoy this kind of punishment? While people watched, nonetheless.

I’m
watching, he reminded himself. 

And
so is Karen. 

He
looked at Karen. Her eyes had not shrunken, appearing even wider than before.
Her mouth hung open, a slight twitching in the corner as if it threatened to
smile. 

The
girl cooed, then giggled from the stage. Andy turned back to watch. He wondered
what she did when she wasn’t here. How much time—and drugs—did it take to work
up the courage to perform?

Maybe
she just liked it.

The
guy began to groan. It started off faint but descanted to a growl. He made
awful grunting sounds as he released a spattering glop of semen across the
girl’s neck and face. Her tongue lashed at the thick white splashes. 

When
he was finally spent of all his seed, he sat back on his knees, panting. 

Applause
filled the room, a few whistles. 

He
climbed off the girl, standing still and motionless while she got to her feet.
Standing, she took a proud bow, smiling as she bent over.  

Karen
nudged Andy with her elbow, and began to politely clap like a parent would at a
talent show.  She nodded to suggest that Andy do the same. So, he joined her
applause. 

The
woman bowed a moment longer, then retreated to their left, leading the skinny
guy away by his hand. 

Afterwards,
a short swarthy man, chubby and balding, with thick black glasses on, approached
the bed from backstage. For a moment, Andy feared he was going to put on a show
next, but his worry dissipated when he noticed the squirt bottle and rags he
was carrying.

The
clean-up crew, he realized, and breathed a sigh of relief. 

Sugar
ran up on the stage in a single long-legged step. She spun around, putting her
mouth back to the chrome face of the microphone stand. “Wow, wasn’t that
great?”

Applause.

“Let’s
hear it one more time for Ginger!” She started another round of appreciation.
When she stopped clapping, the rest slowly petered out. “Our next show will
commence in ten minutes. One of our favorites, my boss and yours, Victoria,
will be out soon to entertain you like no one else can. Now keep in mind she
only chooses a special mate each month to lay with, so if you are the one she
chooses, consider it a great honor.” She glanced down to Andy.  “You won’t want
to miss it.”

Andy
shivered.

Sugar
smiled out to the audience, then quickly ducked away. As the custodian continued
to scrub the sex sap off the mattress, a swinging song came over the
speakers.   

“Sounded
like a threat,” said Karen, amused.

“You
think so?” He looked at her, his head turning much quicker than he would have
liked. 

Karen
laughed. “I’m
joking
.”

“Ah.”
 

“What
do you think so far?” asked Karen.

“It’s
um…
something
…for sure.”

Karen
laughed. “It is that.” She shook her head.

“I
wasn’t expecting that kind of…”  He shrugged.  “…show, that’s for sure. I
didn’t think it was ever going to end.”

“Me
neither. As graphic and distasteful as it was, there was still something so
erotic
about it.”

He
thought back to the girl making those sounds that Andy figured someone might
make if they had a cucumber lodged in their throat. Erotic? He wasn’t so sure. 
You didn’t enjoy it. Not really.

That
was a lie. 

And
yet, the more he considered it all, the more he began to agree with Karen.   

“I
guess so,” he eventually said.

“Are
you sure?”

“Well…yeah. 
I mean…”

What
did
he mean?

“I
know what you’re trying to say.”

“Please
tell me what it is.”

“You
liked what you saw, and you’re trying to tell yourself you didn’t.”

He
nodded.

She
elaborated. “It’s like we both know we should not have found any kind of
enjoyment watching that, but we did, and we’re trying to make sense of it.”

“We
shouldn’t have even
watched
it.”

Karen
nodded. “True. If we can look at it like watching a dirty movie or something, we
should be all right.”

“Yeah.
But, you’re right. I guess I
might
have liked what I saw…”

“Maybe
we’re just both really horny.”

They
both laughed.

Andy
reached under the table and touched himself. He felt something akin to solid
steel behind the zipper of his pants. Now that he had acknowledged it, he felt
the throbbing deep in his testicles.

“Does
seem like the kind of place Danny and Rosco would be desperate to find,” she
said.

“But,
where are they now?”

“I
don’t know. Remember, they’re only open on the weekends…”

“But
that doesn’t explain where they’ve been all week.”

“I
know it doesn’t. We’re getting there, okay. We just have to blend in for now,
until we can start asking questions. Maybe if I let Alexia rub me some more, we
can interrogate her.”

Andy
groaned. “Maybe. I’m just getting really annoyed. It’s just like Danny to piss
me off, even now. It’s almost like he knows I’m looking for him, so he’s doing
all he can to stall me finding him. I know that’s not true, but sometimes I
wonder if Danny has this sixth sense to know when people are counting on him so
he can let them down. I mean, his wife is…dead…for christsake, and he needs to
know.”

Karen
smiled, not humorously but understandingly. “I smell cigarette smoke, don’t
you?”

Confused,
he looked at her through squinted eyes. “Yeah, I guess…why?”

“That
means we can smoke in here.” She started looking around.

Andy
hoped so, because he desperately needed a cigarette.

“I
see an extra ash tray on that table over there.” She stood up, went to the
table where the couple Alexia had permitted to feel her up sat, and started
talking to them. The woman nodded, then Karen grabbed one of the ash trays. She
returned to her chair, placing the ash tray between them on the table.

 Before
she’d even crossed her legs again, Andy was digging around the inside of his
pocket for his pack of cigarettes. Accidentally brushing his stiff member with the
side of his hand, he trembled from the minor friction. He felt as if he might
pop like a bicycle tire with too much air.

The
snaps of their lighters striking flame cut through the hushed babble around
them. No one seemed to notice.

Andy
dragged heavily from his cigarette. The smoke swirled into his lungs, tingling
all the way through. He felt a little better, not quite as antsy and nervous.

The
custodian, finished with his duties, returned to the back. He kept the bottle
clutched close in one hand, and the other down by his side with the rag
dangling from his fingers.

Karen
checked the time on her phone. “Five more minutes until Victoria performs.
Apparently
you
don’t want to miss it.”

Andy
felt a chill run up his spine to the back of his skull. “Oh yeah?”

“What
do you think she’s going to do?”

“Honestly,
I have no idea. Sugar said she’s the boss, so I imagine it’s going to be good.”

“What
makes you so sure?”

“Doesn’t
the headliner have to steal the show from the opening act?”

Karen
smiled. “I certainly hope so.”

Andy
liked how she’d looked just then, like she was up to no good. He leaned closer
to her. “Me too.”

He
turned away from Karen. Neither of them spoke. He took frequent drags off the
cigarette, sipped restlessly from his beer. As he contemplated things, he began
to realize he didn’t know much about Karen. Sure, she’d shared some personal
stories with him, but he had no idea the kind of person she really was. She’d
seemed so timid when Alexia had been toying with her, and now she acted as if
she was having a good time with everything.

Probably
one of those things where she’s being someone she’s not while far away from
home. But once we’re out of here, she’ll be the old Karen again.

Andy
didn’t actually know who the
old
Karen was. But, she intrigued him, made
him want to learn all there was to know about her. Hopefully that would get to
happen.

Alexia
came and gave them fresh drinks, but didn’t hang around to chat. Other nude
servants provided fresh refills for their customers as well, but there were no
displays of perverted affection from any of them this time. The entire room
seemed to be heavy with anticipation. 

He
glanced down at his cigarette and saw there wasn’t much left above the filter. 
He puffed a delicate drag, and felt heat on his lips. This one was done. He
stamped it out in the ash tray.

Strings
of an acoustic guitar plucked a melodic progression. An electric guitar began
to solo on top of the acoustic riff. Andy knew and loved this song.

Metallica’s
Fade to Black
.

It
had been his anthem when Nicole dumped him. And, he hated to admit even to
himself, the song had saved his life more than once on those pathetic nights
before he’d quit drinking, and in a drunken haze had contemplated suicide. 

Fog
began to roll across the stage, spiraling and swimming across the wooden floor.
It slithered up the sides of the bed, as if trying to pull it down through the
floor with ghostly fingers. Andy could taste its dry, powdery flavor. It coated
his tongue in magnesia-like film. He drank some beer hoping to get rid of the
taste. It didn’t help. 

It
took no time for the stage to become engulfed in a peasouper cloud. The
overhead light slowly faded on, a bright orb of pink behind the fog. A dark blob
of a shape appeared behind the feverish swirls. A figure began to materialize:
tapered shoulders, curvy hips, streaked black under the light.   

Victoria.

His
stomach felt like it was being rung like wet laundry. 

The
fog drifted through the room, clearing the stage just enough that he could see
her. She was already on the bed, balanced on her knees with her legs folded
under her.  Her bare breasts hung high on her chest, springy and large, the
nipples tiny dark pins.   She had a wink of a navel on a paper flat belly.
There was no hair on her groin, just a smooth patch of flesh between her
thighs. Her dark skin seemed to glow against the black-as-night color of her
hair.

No…even
the night isn’t that dark.

Andy
had never seen such black hair. Coal would look pale in comparison. As dark as
it was, it was still a sleek and glossy mane in the rose-tinted luster around
her. 

Victoria’s
eyes were narrow, hooked at the tips like askew tear drops. They flicked in
Andy’s direction, their stare floating through the haze and immediately finding
his. He knew she was staring at him, and he didn’t dare look away.  He couldn’t
even if he tried. She had him locked in place.

Like
walking up on a coiled rattlesnake alone in the woods. 

A
corner of her mouth arched. 

Watch
me,
her eyes said clearly in his mind. The voice was a multi-toned whisper
deep in his brain. 

“Think
that’s her?”

Andy
heard Karen’s question but he was afraid to answer. He didn’t want to miss any
of what Victoria wanted to show him. Even nodding a response seemed too great
of a risk.  

See
my hand?
That same whispery voice reverberated through his head. It sent a
chill down his spine that was quickly replaced with the swift arising of his
need.

The
hand in question slid up a thigh, kneading across her belly. It continued to
travel higher, steering over the slope of a breast. Found a nipple, twisted. 

Andy
felt the stinging pinch deep inside of him as if it had been
his
nipple
that she was messing with.

Like?

He
nodded.

“Andy…?”
He heard Karen say. Her voice was thick and shaky.

Victoria
twisted even more. The skin wound around the coin of her nipple. If she kept
going it might tear right off. Her neck tensed up, her breathing intensified,
but she didn’t break the stare. Her facial expression never faltered.

She
took the other hand and did the same to the other nipple. Now she began
twisting and turning in contrasting directions, tuning them like dials on a
radio. She quivered a long sigh. 

Andy
moaned at the back of his throat. 

Victoria
gave them one more turn. Her mouth twitched, bottom lip trembled. Her eyes were
squinted into a pout as if she might start crying. 

Want
me?

He
strained not to answer. 

Do
you?

“Are
you all right?” he heard Karen ask.

“Yes,”
he whispered, answering them both.

A
wicked grin parted Victoria’s lips. She slid her feet out from under her, then
scooted back on her rump. Raising her legs up, she slowly spread them, keeping
them stilted as they lowered to the mattress. Then, bending at the knees, she
propped her feet on the edge of the mattress. Spreading herself wide. For him.