Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend

by S. N. Garza

  “Holy. Moly. This bathroom is freaking huge.” I set her down and held onto her hips. I leaned in, nuzzling my nose into her beautiful mass of dark blonde hair.

  “Yeah, I suppose so.” I caressed a line down her hips to her thighs before letting go and getting the water ready. I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and set it on the toilet.

  “Anything you need should all be in there. Sorry it’s all masculine scented.”

  “I like it.” She blushed once again. “I mean, I like the way you smell. Your cologne or soap you use. I’m sure it’ll be great.”

  “Stay right here.” I walked out and went to my dresser. I knew anything I had would be a tent on her short stature, and I grabbed a dark green shirt, (which would match her eyes) and a pair of briefs. I’m sure she wouldn’t want to be naked underneath the shirt. I walked back into the bathroom and she was checking the temperature of the water.

  “Warm enough?”

  “It’s perfect.” Her voice was soft and sexy, just like when she sang. I loved her voice. I nodded, set down the clothes and told her I would be showering in the guest bath and if she needed anything to feel free and use whatever she wanted.

  I put her clothes in the wash and I left her to go take my own shower. Can’t believe I busted a load in my fucking jeans. Now that was embarrassing. Not that Scarlet cared or knew how embarrassing that could be for a guy. I hurried through my shower, then wrapped a towel around myself. I had switched out the clothes and put them in the dryer before heading to my room for my own clothes. The shower was still on and I grabbed to change into a pair of boxer briefs. I was debating on whether or not to wear lounge pants when I heard cursing.

  I walked up to the door and knocked. “Scarlet, everything okay in there?”

  “Yeah!” her voice was raspy, and I heard a whispered ‘fuck my life’ when she said, “I’m fine, thanks. Could you bring me my bag?”

  I went to grab her bag from the living room and came back in record time. I knocked and she shoved her hand through a crack in the door, yanking the bag inside before slamming it back shut with a muttered thank you.

  Then all I heard was, “Shit. Fucking hell. This can’t be happening. Shit. Shit.”

  “Alright. What’s going on? You don’t sound okay! I’m coming in, so your sweet ass better be covered if you don’t want me seeing you naked.”

  I proceeded to turn the knob and open the door a smidge when she slammed her body into it, trying to shut it. Luckily, I was strong enough not to have budged when she continued trying to shut the door.

  “No! You can’t come in here!”

  “What’s wrong then?”

  Her head popped in view, tears clouding her eyes and her face bright red.

  “I should get home. I need to get home.”

  “Move out of the way. Now, Scarlet. What did I tell you? I will not judge you or laugh at you. That was my word of honor. Let me help you.”

  “You can’t help me, Dax! That’s the problem! I need to get home!”

  “You’re really pushing my limits. What’s so fucking wrong that you have to go home?”

  “AGH! I have my fucking period, alright? I didn’t think and I don’t have any...female products with me.”

  Okay…did not see that coming. She was actually embarrassed by this? What was up with women being embarrassed with their bodies? I just don’t get it sometimes.

  “Fine. What kind do you need?”

  O_O

  Yup…I asked it. That facial expression was her response. Her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.

  Well, I didn’t want her to leave. I had no problem getting her what she needed. I think.

  “Well?”

  “You’re really telling me you’re going to go out and buy me-

  “Yes. If it’ll help you stay.”

  Then I smiled. Some say my smile was irresistible. I was seriously testing that shit out right now.

  “Dax.”

  “Yes, Pixie?”

  “That smile is seriously stalkerish.”

  That flattened out my smile. “No, it’s not. It’s my smolder.”

  “Your smolder? Ugh. Fine. I need Always Overnight pads. Thin. I’ll go home tomorrow for tampons.”

  “Why don’t you wear tampons to bed?”

  God, Almighty. Did I just ask that? I’m a sick dude.

  “I could, but I’d have to wake up in a few hours. I could wear it up to eight but the risks for Toxic Shock Syndrome increase.”

  “Whoa-whoa. Don’t need to know anything else right now. And I definitely want you to sleep as much as you want. So just sit tight…soak in the tub, whatever. I’ll be back.”

  “I need my panties.”

  “Right.”

  Was this what guys did in a relationship? I had only a few male friends, if I could call them friends. I didn’t really hang out with anyone. Sometimes Dorian everyone once in a while, but not much. Maybe this was a normal friend thing. I didn’t want to be her gal pal, but dammit. She needed me and I wasn’t going to let her down.

  I went to the dryer and snatched her underwear out. Dry enough. I hurried back up and gave them to her before leaving to go to the nearest CVS store.

  Fuck. Where the hell did I need to go? I started walking down the center aisle when a late night clerk popped out of nowhere, asking, “Hi welcome, can I help you find anything?”

  I didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary. “Yes, I need Always Overnight Pads. Thin. Uh. Anything else that might help her…maybe she’s…got period symptoms?”

  “You mean like cramping medicine?”

  “Yeah. That shit.”

  The clerk was an older woman and she chuckled. Not in the mood for shits and giggles.

  “Grab a basket and follow me, honey.”

  She took me down the feminine product aisle. Holy shit. Right then, I felt seriously sorry for women everywhere and respected them a hell of a lot more. Who knew what to pick and how to pick them out? And women went through that shit once a month? Maybe I just got lucky to have women never be on their fucking period.

  The CVS clerk, Joyce was her name, put a purple package in the basket, and she asked, “Is she having terrible cramps? If she is a heating pad might prove to help calm them.”

  “I don’t have that.”

  She walked me up another aisle and picked one out before putting that also in the basket. Then she walked up a medicine aisle. There were many brands of PMS medicine.

  “She has her period. It’s not pre-menstrual.”

  She picked up a box, showed it to me, ‘Midol Complete’. I nodded. Then she showed me a ‘Midol PM’. “I’ll take that, too.”

  She rang me up and I got out of there.

  I hurried home, and jogged up the stairs and opened the door to my bedroom.

  Holy. Fuck. The sight before me was one I’m pretty damn sure I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

  Scarlet, kneeling down, body over my opened trunk full of sexual toys and in her hands were a pair of nipple clamps and a crop. Her face when she noticed me…priceless.

  12

  Scarlet

  Oh. My. God. Why does this crap keep happening to me? I was tired of waiting for him to come back. And for God’s sake I was only spotting, so I wrapped a towel around my body and ventured into his bedroom. His very big bedroom. His bed was made of a pretty wood, with a large canopy overhead. He said the trunk in his room held his…sex toys and I was curious. Well, curiosity certainly killed this kitty because he came back just as I was holding a horse crop and little metal clothes pins made to be nipple clamps.

  His reaction…laughter.

  “I thought you weren’t going to laugh at me.”

  “Oh, Pixie. I’m not laughing at you. This is highly entertaining to me. Here.” He walked over to me and handed me a bag full of stuff.

  “What did you get me? The whole store?”

  “I got what you need for your period. The woman at the store said you’ll
need it if you have any symptoms and I wasn’t leaving there and coming back here and have you uncomfortable or in pain because I didn’t have what you needed.”

  Whoa. That was, so sweet of him to think about all that.

  “It’s not a live or die situation. I’m just spotting.”

  “Well, I got whatever you needed.”

  His eyes bore into mine with intensity. I really liked how caring he was acting.

  “This is a strange friendship, isn’t it, Dax?”

  “So…neither one of us knows what the hell to do in a normal one anyway. I want you as more than a friend anyhow. I meant what I said. I won’t push you or pressure you. I can handle the wait. It’s not a problem when what I want is greater than any imaginary blue balls I might retain. So just day to day? Okay?”

  I could live with that.

  “So about this double life?”

  “I don’t live a double life, Scarlet. I am who I am. 24-7. This house is the house I plan on living my life in. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. This is my home. My sanctuary. No one gets in here unless I allow it. Only a handful of people know I live here. Except for my neighbors.”

  “Do you even mow your own lawn?”

  “Hell yes I do. Why pay for someone to do what I can do for free? I like the workout, too.”

  “Yeah, I bet your female neighbors enjoy it immensely.” I snickered and Dax just chuckled.

  “I don’t notice them. I mow, I trim and I go about my day. It’s the order of things.”

  I nodded and got up. I handed him the sex toys awkwardly and hurried to the bathroom.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Take your time.”

  I was in and out of the bathroom in less than ten minutes. I used his toothbrush and I walked out with his hair brush in my hand.

  “So about those toys…”

  “Scarlet, babe. It’s late. Let me just tell you, when I use them on you, you will love every second of it.”

  The fact he said when and not if as if I would go through with his plan. Hell, I was going to go along with it. Even after he let that woman suck on him like a lollypop. I was going to give him a chance. I sat at the edge of the bed, brushing out the tangles when he came up beside me and took the brush out of my hands.

  He was such a hard-ass, and as I stewed over what he was saying, he grabbed the hair tie out of my hand, swiftly braided my hair and tied it up.

  “You are strange and FYI, not anytime soon.”

  “Scarlet.”

  “Yes?”

  “Get in the bed.”

  “I thought I was going to sleep in the guest bedroom?”

  “Since you just agreed to be my girlfriend, we can share a bed. I won’t do anything you won’t like. And I really don’t have a bed in the guest bedroom. You would’ve just slept here and me downstairs on the couch. Please?”

  “You didn’t ask me to be your girlfriend!”

  “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  He said it so dead panned as if he was asking a pebble to get out of his shoe.

  “No.”

  “Why the hell not? You just said-

  “You didn’t ask me right!”

  He stilled, breathed in deep, and then scraped a hand down his face. His face was calm, and he asked nicely, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “NO! How the fuck do you want me to ask you?”

  “HEY! RULE NUMBER TWO BUDDY!”

  “You’re my girlfriend. I’m your boyfriend. End of.”

  “Declan.”

  “Nope. The only time you get to call me Declan is when you come for me.”

  I gasped. He did not!

  “Yeah, that’s right, Scarlet. You only say my first name when you come apart for me. Just like earlier. And if you’re in an emergency. Saying my first name will make me come to you instantly. That I swear. No one gets to hurt you.”

  Gah. I felt flabbergasted. He was just taking over. So I told him that. “Dax, you’re trying to control me.”

  “No, I am not. I told you. I’m not going to treat you like you’re a submissive because let’s face it. You’ll never be submissive and I kinda like you challenging me. I said, we’ll take this slow. Day by day. You will learn to trust me.”

  “Let’s just go to bed.”

  I strode over to his bed and flipped the comforter and sheets down. I shoved myself onto the left side of the bed and yanked the covers back up.

  He walked over to me, took the comforter, and threw it back. He picked me up and climbed on the bed, depositing me on the right side.

  “My side is the left. Always by the door. Don’t go to sleep angry, Scarlet.”

  “I’m not angry, Dax. I just don’t know how to be a girlfriend. Especially to a bossy man like you.”

  “I’m not-

  “Yes, Dax, you are.”

  “Okay, yes I am. But I will never push you so hard that you can’t handle it. Just relax.”

  I nodded and in a weak moment, I whispered, “Please don’t hurt me.”

  He had spooned in behind me, one arm cradled over my head resting on the pillow and the other he had wrapped around my waist. He pulled me into his taut body. I felt him nuzzling my neck, just before he kissed it softly.

  He whispered back, “Never in a million years.”

  That’s how I fell asleep…tucked into Dax’s strong, warm and tight embrace.

  ⟡

  That’s how it was for the next few weeks. Christmas was fast approaching, and whenever I wasn’t working I was spending it with Dax. He took me to the movies, we went out to dinner a few times and then we just hung out at his house. After that first time, he was nothing but a total gentleman. Didn’t really kiss me, just a few sweet kisses on my temple, or held my hand. Especially after that first week and having my period. Ugh. That was embarrassing, but he treated it as if it was an everyday thing. All those PMS goodies he got for me came in handy, too. When I went over to his house, he massaged my feet, my legs and rubbed my back. Anything to get the tension out.

  He came into Chili’s on the Friday nights I worked. I told him about school. I was done with end of semester exams and would be graduating next year after my work study.

  It was a Thursday afternoon and I had just gotten off work when an unknown caller called me. It was a 713 area code, so it was local.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, this is Sebastian at Saint’s and Sinners Lounge, may I speak with Scarlet please?”

  “Speaking.”

  My heart started racing. I was not expecting them to call me. Since I wasn’t their type of dancer. But! Never look at a gift horse in the mouth if their offering.

  “The girl we hired didn’t work out and you’re the only one with the skill-set to dance the routine. Could you get here as soon as possible and we’ll get you set up?”

  “YES! I mean…yes. I’ll be there as soon as I get home and shower.”

  “You can shower up here. There isn’t anyone up here until three-thirty. We’ll have everything you need when you get here. Just get here if you want the job.”

  “On my way!”

  Yes. I couldn’t believe this! When I say I loved dancing, I really loved dancing. I tossed my phone in my purse, and made my way to Downtown Houston.

  Saints and Sinners Lounge during the day looked so lifeless with no neon lights and so few cars in the parking lot. I had told Dax I was going to spend the evening with Nana. I didn’t know if I should call him and let him know. Nah. I could just tell him later.

  I called Nana and told her the people from the audition called back and she told me to have fun.

  “Baby-girl, rock it!” Then she had a coughing fit.

  “Nana? You okay? I can come home, that place isn’t all that important.”

  “Oh, no child. I’m alright. You go have fun tonight. Don’t you worry about your ol’ Nana.”

  “If you’re sure?”

  “Yes, baby-girl.”

  “A
lright. I love you, Nana.”

  “Love you more.”

  Hmmm…me and Nana were going to have a talk about these coughing fits she’s been having as of late. She’s been growing paler and thinner. I tried getting her to go to the doctor, but she just simply said, ‘It’ll pass’.

  That wasn’t going to fly with me for very much longer. I was getting worried that she was keeping something from me, but she was adamant it was just a cold.

  I made it to Saints right at three and Sebastian was there waiting for me.

  “What size are you?”

  “Eight.”

  “Hmmm…well for tonight you’re going to have to squeeze into a size six. We have corsets to help with that. Danny and I will fix your sizes later. Go take a shower and dress in these clothes.”

  He handed me super short spandex shorts, hopefully they covered my ass, and a sports bra that looked as if it wouldn’t hold everything I had. I looked over the clothes and then back up to Sebastian.

  “They are new. Don’t worry, but we don’t have any in your size so just deal with it. Go shower and get ready for dance routine rehearsal.”

  He took me back behind a set of swinging doors and showed me around as he led me to a large room with about fifteen vanities and mirrors with light bulbs surrounding each one.

  “Showers through there, be back on stage in fifteen minutes, please.”

  “What about shoes?”

  “You’ll practice in the shoes we give you.”

  With that, he left in a flourish. Gee. Thanks for nothing.

  “Hurry up!”

  I hurried to take a shower and put on the skin tight clothing. Luckily I didn’t have a cupcake-top. The shorts were entirely too short, but I guess if I’m going to be wearing clothes like this, I better get used to it. I braided my hair down my back and made my way downstairs and towards the stage where fourteen girls, fourteen beautiful girls were on stage chatting and gossiping.

  “Oh…look. The new girl. How did they find you? Definitely not the type that works here. You’re so…short.”

  I wasn’t that short. I hated when skinny bitches were mean. The other girls didn’t say anything. Just snickered and basically ignored me. I got it. New girl on the block. Gotta earn my stripes.