CHAPTER 6

Alex

Lily was good to have around the apartment, and not just for the sex, though there was plenty of that.Jake and I were all over her.We couldn't get enough of her and she couldn't get enough of us.That surprised us both a bit.We frankly never went for curvy girls before we met her.Our usual female was human and lean — not a stick figure, but more of a model type.Lily wasn't fat, but there was just more to her than the women we were used to taking to bed.And we were also surprised at how being with Lily in Jake's uncle's place was starting to seem like a life.

Neither of us had really figured out what we wanted to do.We were both out of college; it had taken me longer to finish because of the stint in jail.But here we were, two guys done with school and not sure of what was coming next.Jake's Uncle Robert was basically paying us to take care of his apartment while he was away, which made a nice set-up but couldn't go on forever.We were staying there until we came to some decisions, but somehow the decisions didn't seem to be coming.Jake had majored in Communications and I started out Undeclared and settled on Liberal Arts, which could have meant almost anything.Neither of us really knew what direction we'd go.We both just wanted to find something we could enjoy.

Right now, what my buddy and I frankly enjoyed doing most was Lily.And we did her a lot.

Still, outside of that, Lily was a help to us.She pitched in with the household chores, and with her around it was that much easier for us to keep the apartment spotless for Uncle Robert.Jake didn't tell his uncle she was staying with us, though Robert was once a young Drake himself and knew what young Drake guys were like.He must have assumed we had girls over, even if he didn't know we had one living in.But with Lily staying with us, our life seemed like it was taking on a shape that we liked, even if we didn't know exactly what the hell we were going to do with it.

Late one morning after sex in bed and the shower, when we finished breakfast and cleaned up from it, we all went out to the terrace just to sun ourselves.Lily put on a one-piece bathing suit that looked as sexy as a bikini on her.Jake and I hadn't worn much more than thongs since we started having fun with her, and after helping her put on her sunscreen — which got us both really tempted — we both went dragon.The three of us just lay there and basked, Lily watching the sunlight play on our dragon skin and smiling and curling her toes at us, and we had the best time, not even touching her but thinking about what we'd end up doing with her after a while.

It was close to noon when Lily said, "You know what, guys?There's something I'd like to do for you."

Jake and I both raised our dragon heads with interest at that.We blinked at each other and looked curiously at Lily."What can you do for us that you haven't already done?" I said with a flick of my dragon tongue.

"I need to practice," she said."I haven't been practicing because we've been into…other things…and I've been wanting to play, and there's that gorgeous piano just sitting in there.How would you guys like it if I gave you a little mini-concert?"

Trading another look with Jake, I said, "Well, sure.I haven't even heard you play yet, but Jake says you're really good."

"She's really good," Jake said.

"Of course I've never been into jazz that much," I mentioned.

Jake gave me a little swat with his tail."You'll learn," he said."A little music appreciation won't hurt."

Considering how much we both appreciated Lily's other talents, Jake was right, I decided.I got up and morphed back to human, and Jake did likewise."Fine, then," I said."Cool.Play for us.Whatever you like.You've got yourself an audience."

So, back inside the three of us went.Jake and I, still in nothing but thongs, settled down on the living room couch.Lily went and put on a silk robe, which somehow was as sexy on her as the swimsuit, and a pair of slippers, and sat down at the piano.

Jake was right.She was good — good like a professional.And even though I'd never paid attention to jazz, Lily was so good that I soaked up every note she brought out of Uncle Robert's piano.Jake was no more of an expert about jazz than I was, but he recognized Dave Brubeck and Chick Corea, and coming from Lily they both sounded fantastic.We loved the way she made the notes chase each other, moving up and down the keyboard.We knew we were listening to not just a player, but an artist.

I was never into music without anyone singing — some people would say that I didn't have any culture because of that — but Lily's playing knocked me out.It wasn't just because it was her; she killed on that piano.One number was something I recognized from old Charlie Brown cartoons.When she was done, Jake and I stood up and clapped and cheered like we were the audience in a club or a concert hall.Lily wore the biggest smile I'd ever seen on a woman and stood up from the bench and bowed like she was on a stage — which, frankly, was where she belonged.

Lily had done the right thing, getting herself away from Mark.No woman should ever have to live the way she did with him.No woman should have to go through any of that — but especially someone like her.She was too good for that.And after she asked if it was okay with us if she went and took a nap — by herself — and we told her she'd more than earned it, she gave both of us a kiss of thanks.Then she went alone into the bedroom where the three of us spent so much time doing everything but sleep, giving Jake and me a chance to have ourselves a little talk.That was when I brought up what was now on my mind.

We sat back down on the couch and I repeated aloud what I'd been thinking."She's way too good for a scumbag like Mark Reinhardt."

"Oh, hell, man," said Jake, nodding in agreement, "she's absolutely too good for him."

"And you know something else?" I said, rubbing my chin, pondering seriously."She's too good to be here with us."

Jake sounded more confident about this thing we were having than I did."Lily is happy with us," he said."We make her happy.She makes us happy.And not just, you know…"

"Yeah, I know, not just in bed," I agreed."She makes us happy in every way.But you know I'm right.A woman like her is too good to be hiding out in somebody's apartment from some guy who treated her like a damn pi?ata, with two guys who don't even know what the hell they're gonna do with their own lives.Lily should be in theatres, playing out in all the most famous places, being a star.Instead, she's here, scared to go outside, playing her music for two Drakes who are screwing her brains out.The only reason she's with us is because she had to get away from Mark.He caught her at a bad time in her life and took advantage of it, used it to own her.Lily ought to be ‘owning' an audience in one of those places your Uncle Robert goes in New York…"

"Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall…," he remembered the names.

I said, "Yeah, places like that.She ought to be touring England, Europe, all over.Instead she's holed up with us."

"Well, look," said Jake, "we're going to get her out of the house, right?We're taking her to the Drake Festival, where she can be with people outside, have some fun.And we're not taking our eyes off her the whole time.She can start taking her life back, a little at a time.And maybe we can even help her set herself up someplace."

"It's gonna have to be far away from Mark," I said."Damn that bastard anyway; she shouldn't have to plan her life around him."

"I know," said Jake."Look, whatever she wants to do, whatever she decides she needs, we'll be there for her.We'll help her with anything, right?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding with a determined look."We will."

I went silent then.I just stared out into space, not saying anything else.Jake could always sense when something more was on my mind.

"What?" Jake asked.

Looking over at him, I said, "What, ‘what'?"

"You don't go into ‘deep thought' that often.Tell me what else."

"You know what else.Tell me you're not thinking the same thing I am."

Jake glanced in the direction of the bedroom."She's not just some girl we picked up in the park."

With a tsk, I said, "She's not even like the kind of girls we pick up at the Drake Festival.Listen to how we're talking about her.When was the last time we talked like this about a woman?"

Meaningfully, Jake replied, "When did we ever talk this way about any woman?I mean, ever?"

"There.That's what I'm saying.What if we got Lily out of town, out on the road where she ought to be, away from Mark?What if she somehow got herself into the kind of life she ought to have?Jake, what kind of place would we have in her life then?And where would that leave us?"

Jake wore a dreaming kind of look."Wondering about her.Wondering how she was doing."More seriously, he said, "Wondering if Mark was somewhere out there, circling around her, following her, waiting to make some move on her."

The idea of it made me frown.The scales started to break out on my shoulders, arms, and back, and my horns started to bud."If that son of a bitch ever came after Lily and we weren't there for her…man, I couldn't live with that.I could not live with that.It'd kill me, Jake.Just kill me."

"And me," said Jake, with a frown to match mine.

I took a calming breath and melted my scales and horns back into my human skin."This is something we've never done, Jake.Banging women — we've done plenty of that.But thinking about the future with one…"

"That's new for us," Jake agreed."It's a first.We've never had something like this.The way we've been with women…"

"Fuck ‘em and enjoy it, and don't look back.That's all we've ever done."

"Not with Lily."

"No, not with Lily," I agreed."She's not a woman you ‘don't look back' from.She's a woman you want to look ahead with."

"But ‘look ahead' to what?" Jake wondered.

"I don't know, man," I said with a shrug."It's just…I don't know what my own life is gonna be.But I can't see not having Lily in it.In bed and otherwise."As seriously as Jake, I wondered, "What do you think she'd think about that?"

"She likes us," Jake said, as confidently as before."Lily really cares about us, I can tell.She's grateful — and it's more than just being grateful.I think Lily has feelings for us, like we're starting to have for her.What kind of life do you think that would be for the three of us?"

I started to see a picture in my head and it made me chuckle."Maybe we'd be part of her…what's that word for the people who follow movie stars and TV stars and rock stars around?"

Jake cracked a little laugh and said, "Her ‘entourage'."

Slapping Jake's shoulder, recognizing the word, I said, "There you go.We'd be her entourage.Wherever she went, we'd be there, between her and the public, like her buffer."

The smartest friend I ever had was now wearing the stupidest grin.Jake said, "Her ‘handlers'.That's what they're also called.The star is always followed around by their ‘handlers'."

That made me laugh out loud, and I caught myself so as not to wake Lily up from her nap.More quietly, I leaned slightly over to Jake and said, "Well, we'd sure as hell be ‘handling' her, all right.When she wasn't playing or practicing we'd be ‘handling' her boobs, ‘handling' her ass, ‘handling' her…"

He laughed again, and caught himself like I did, and gave another look towards the bedroom.Slapping me hard on the shoulder, Jake said in a hush, "Shut up!She's right in there!Do you want her to hear?"

"Tell me we wouldn't be," I said in a hush of my own.

"All right, yes, we'd be her ‘handlers' in more ways than one."

I said, "And she'd know we would be too.She's been handling us and we've been handling her since the morning after we brought her home.Think of the three of us checking into some hotel in New York, like the Plaza or something.We'd have to get a suite with a bed big enough for three.And think what'd be going on in there."

"True," said Jake, nodding and looking off in a way that told me he had the same image."The three of us would be ‘performing,' all right."

"Hell yeah, we would."

We had a long beat of silence then.Now we both looked off in the direction of the bedroom.I imagined her lying there without us.I pictured her taking off her swimsuit and stretching out naked on the bed we'd left unmade from the morning, waiting for us.Jake looked over at me and saw the growing bulge in my thong to match his own.He took me by the arm, cautioning.

"We promised we'd let her get some rest," Jake said.

"I know, but it's hard, man."I quickly caught the double meaning in my words and corrected, "Tough.I mean it's tough, right?Knowing she's just lying in there while we're out here…"

"Later," said Jake, raising a finger at me.

"Yeah.Later," I said, shrugging."There's actually gonna be a ‘later' with Lily.And a tomorrow.And on and on until…what?We've never thought that far ahead before with a woman, and now we're actually thinking about tomorrow, and the future."

"A future we want with just one woman in bed," Jake said.

"One woman who's too good for us," I reminded him.

"And wants us anyway," Jeff reminded me.

"Like we want her."I paused, then asked thoughtfully, "What's the future, Jake?What's it really gonna be?"

"We'll know when we get there," said my friend, confident as ever.

I could only nod at that.Jake was right.The future, I thought, would show us what it would be.