Violet raises a brow. “I can’t wait to see your mom in action. She makes mine look like a dream.”
“I think your mom is interesting,” Sunny offers.
“Will they have these at the sex show?” Lily wiggles her spider finger in the air.
“Probably, but you can have that one if you want it.”
“Really?” Her eyes light up. I know Lily and Randy get it on, like, every five minutes or whatever, but I didn’t realize they were into the freak-a-leak business. Or it’s possible Lily is just now discovering her inner freak. It’d be nice to have a friend who’s freakier than me. Violet believes Vagazzling makes her adventurous.
“Sure.” I gulp my wine. “But I should warn you, it’s probably been used.”
Lily’s elation deflates like a balloon. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, like once or something? Especially if it’s a prototype,” I explain.
“Prototype?”
“Yeah. Sometimes my mom tests out products before they hit the market.”
“So your mom might’ve used this?” Lily peels it off her finger and drops it on the coffee table.
“Uh, it’s possible? I mean, it could’ve come out of the package, but I have no way of knowing, unless you want me to ask her.”
“That’s okay. If they have them at the sex show, I’ll buy one there.”
“I don’t think Miller would like that very much,” Sunny says, thoughtfully. “He’s not a fan of spiders.”
“Understandable, really.” Violet smiles behind her glass.
“Ever since he had his scrotum drained after that spider bite, he makes me get rid of all the eight-legged creatures. I don’t kill them, though. I always take them outside when he’s not looking.”
“Whoa, Miller had his—“ Poppy motions to her groin area. “—drained?”
“Oh my God! I forgot that was pre-Poppy days! So when Miller and I were still trying to figure things out, he went up to a Canadian hockey camp with Randy and they volunteered to train with the kids. It’s so sweet, and special, really. But Miller was bitten by a spider, and he had an allergic reaction.”
“His balls were the size of my boobs.” Violet motions to her girls.
“Well, not quite that big, but there’s a picture somewhere out there. They were very swollen. So he had to have them drained,” Sunny explains.
“That’s just . . . awful.”
“It was. Poor baby. Anyway. His balls are fine now, obviously.” Sunny pats her belly.
We half pay attention to the game while the girls exchange stories about the beginnings of their relationships. Which are a lot different than the way Darren and I started.
Chicago wins the first game. We all pick up our phones and send congratulatory messages that won’t be seen for a while yet. Half an hour later, phones chime around us with replies. Sunny excuses herself to take a call from Miller. Lily gets a message from Randy asking if she’s alone. Violet and Poppy both field short calls, and I sit with my phone in my hand, waiting for something, anything.
Eventually I get a message. It’s simple. Short. A thank you. I remind myself that Darren doesn’t engage in extensive texting, and any response is a good one. Most of the time it’s enough, but in this moment it makes me feel a little too different, like I don’t quite fit and maybe never will. I used to be fine with that. Tonight it makes my heart ache.
CHARLENE
The following afternoon, Lily picks me and Violet up at my place since she stayed the night.
I follow Violet outside and hit the lock button on the door—Darren didn’t feel my previous lock set was sufficient, so he had a keypad installed with a code and an alarm system. It’s another way I know he cares and wants to keep me safe. Although my neighborhood is pretty quiet. It’s mostly older couples and a few young families.
I start down the front walk and scream at the sight of a mini Winnebago—the kind one pulls behind a car—parked in my driveway. “Holy fuck!” I rush back to the door and punch the keypad, but I’m too frantic to get it right, so it squawks at me in protest.
“Oh shit—” Violet mutters. “I should’ve warned you, but I figured you already knew it was here.
I shield my eyes. “Where did that come from? Why is it here? Who’s in it?”
“I think it’s your mom’s?”
I stop freaking out. “What?”
“It was here when I came over yesterday, and the SUV it was hooked up to is gone, so it’s just a guess. But I’m thinking it’s a pretty solid one. Are you going to be okay?”
“What?” It feels a lot like I can’t breathe properly. “Oh. Oh yeah. I’m fine.”
“Should we go?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Sure.” I’ve taken two shuffly, unsteady steps down the walkway when the alarm goes off in the house. “Shit. Hold on.”
By the time I get the door unlocked, the alarm company is calling. I explain that I accidently hit the wrong code, give them all the personal details they require to ensure someone hasn’t broken into my house and taken me hostage, and lock up a second time.
I keep my eyes averted as I speed walk to Lily’s truck—well, technically it’s Randy’s truck, but she always drives it when he’s out of town—and throw myself into the backseat.
“I didn’t know you were a camper,” Sunny says from the front seat.
“I actually hate camping.”
“What’s with the camping trailer, then?” Lily asks.
“It’s her mom’s,” Violet supplies when all I do is sit there, dry mouthed and anxious.
“Oh, did you have a bad experience? When Lily and I went tree planting, it was awful.” Even Sunny’s frown is cute.
“I think it might’ve been the people we went with,” Lily replies. “But it can be fun. If you’re with the right people.”
I don’t say anything, because my experience with RVing is probably not like most people’s.
Less than two minutes after getting into the truck, my phone rings. I’m surprised to see it’s Darren. We don’t have a lot of phone conversations when he’s away. I bring the phone to my ear.
“Charlene? Is everything okay? Are you all right?”
His concern is even more surprising than the out-of-the-blue phone call. “I’m fine. Why?”
“Oh. Okay.” He exhales a long breath. “Okay. That’s good. I received a message from the alarm company that was . . . concerning. I wanted to make sure nothing happened and you were safe.”
I hadn’t realized Darren would be contacted if my house alarm went off.
“I’m fine. I put in the wrong code one too many times, and it went off. Sorry if I worried you.”
“As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters. It sounds like you’re in a car. Are you driving?”
“I’m with the girls, and I’m not driving.”
“Ah. That’s good. Okay. Well, I won’t keep you, then. Maybe, uh, we could talk later? Or I’ll text if that isn’t convenient for you.”
My stomach flips. Darren doesn’t usually suggest phone calls unless we’re making a plan to see each other and texting will take too long. “I’d love to talk. I can message when I’m home and see if you’re around?”
“That would be perfect. Have a fun day with your friends.”
I finger my pearls, smiling at how formal and awkward he can be when he’s unsure how to approach a subject. It’s endearing. “Okay. I will.”
“But not as much fun as you’d have with me.”
I laugh. “Of course not.”
I end the call with a smile.
“Everything okay?” Violet asks.
“Oh yeah. Darren got the message from the alarm company and wanted to make sure I’m okay.”
“He gets alerts when your house alarm goes off?” Lily asks.
“He’s the one who had it installed, so yeah. I guess he wanted to make sure I’m safe.”
“That’s sweet, isn’t it?” Sunny smiles. “That he wants to make sure you’re taken ca
re of when he can’t be with you.”
“Yeah.” I roll the pearls over my lips. “It is.”
It takes half an hour to get to the convention center, and another twenty minutes to find parking. Violet is absolutely shocked when Lily manages to back into a spot without hitting anything. Most of the time when we go out as a group we don’t allow Violet to drive because she’s so bad at it. She can manage to drive in a straight line, but parking, backing out, and turning all seem to be a challenge for her.
We hand our tickets over and head inside. I’ve been to plenty of sex shops to buy lingerie, and sometimes toys and fun stuff. But in the past I’ve tried to avoid these kinds of sex conventions because of my mom’s job, so it’s new, even for me.
Lily meanders from display to display, checking everything out. Poppy’s face is an interesting shade of perma-red, and Sunny, well, I think this whole experience is going to scar my poor friend for life. At least I tried to shield her from it, which is more than I can say for the rest of them.
Violet is . . . Violet. She stops at a table with strap-ons and picks one up. “Can I test this out?” she asks the guy manning the booth. He looks like he probably watches a lot of internet porn and doesn’t often see the light of day.
“Uh, test it out how?” he asks.
“Like, can I try it on? See if it fits?”
“Oh, yeah. For sure.” He nods at her boobs. Although to be fair, she is wearing a v-neck Chicago shirt with the logo stretched across her chest. On the back is Alex’s last name and jersey number. She has a lot of Alex-inspired gear.
She tosses one at me. “You should try this on, too.”
I snort and roll my eyes. “I’m good.”
“Oh come on! Aren’t we in your favorite playground right now? Have a little fun!”
Before I can protest, Lily grabs it from me.
I think the guy manning the booth is going to have a coronary watching the two of them fasten each other with strap-ons. In fact, pretty much every guy in the general vicinity has stopped what they’re doing to watch.
“You really can’t take Violet anywhere, can you?” Poppy asks with a smile on her still-red face.
“Not really, but she’s definitely entertaining.”
As soon as Violet has Lily’s strap-on in place, they have a dick sword fight, which draws more attention—the kind where people take pictures on the sly that are for sure going to end up on social media.
I drag Vi behind a display of dildos suctioned to the wall, and Poppy does the same with Lily.
“People are taking pictures,” I scold. “Take off your dongs and act normal for once.”
Violet’s face is red from laughing and exertion. “But I like my dong.”
“Pictures are probably going to be posted all over the place, and you’re wearing an Alex shirt. He’s going to get tagged, and then he’s going to see you and Lily having a strap-on sword fight.”
Her smile drops and she cringes, the red spots on her chest grow progressively blotchier. “Shitballs.” She tries to unharness herself, but she’s too frantic to manage it. “I can’t get my dong off!”
“Here, let me help.” I free her quickly while Lily unbuckles her own.
“You’re awfully good with the buckles and stuff,” Vi observes.
“Don’t even go there,” I tell her. “If it wasn’t for you and the rest of the girls, I wouldn’t be here.”
“It’s fun though, and it demystifies a lot of the stuff we read about in BDSM, right? Besides, this one is loving all the porny stuff.” She thumbs over her shoulder at Lily, who shrugs and grins.
We come back out from behind the wall of dildos, thank the guy who’s probably going to be blue balling it for the rest of the day, and go in search of Sunny. Which is when we run into Skye, Violet’s mom, and Daisy, who is Alex and Sunny’s mother.
“Shit!” Violet tries to pull me behind a display of latex-body-suit-wearing mannequins.
“Vi! Charlene! Girls!” Skye shouts.
Violet cringes and drops her head in defeat. “Hey, Mom. Daisy, what are you doing here?” She peeks inside the stroller Daisy’s pushing. “With Logan?”
Skye wraps her arm around Violet’s shoulder and gives her a big hug. “Sunny mentioned you were going to this ’palooza thing today, so Daisy and I looked it up and thought it would be fun if we came, too!”
“With a baby?” Violet asks.
“Logan is too little to remember any of it, so it’s fine. Isn’t that right, my favorite little chubbie-wubbie?” Daisy gets all up in little Logan’s face and tickles his feet. He giggles and swipes at her swinging hair.
“You should’ve told us about this! We could’ve made it a whole mother-daughter bonding experience!” Skye flails around excitedly.
“Yeah, ’cause shopping for sex toys with my mom is exactly what I want to do on a Saturday afternoon.”
“Oh, come on, Vi! We had so much fun when we went in Vegas, didn’t we?”
“I think they have a maternity sex section,” Daisy tells Sunny, who’s finally wandered over. She looks a little disturbed to find her mother here. At least hers is just shopping and not part of the event.
This day keeps getting better and better. Especially when we finally stumble upon my mom, performing a Dominatrix demonstration. There’s a different masked, assless chaps guy following her around on all fours wearing a leash. I know it’s a different guy because this one has a massive back tattoo, and the guy from yesterday did not.
Thankfully, we arrive at the tail end of the demonstration.
Skye does her dejected-four-year-old flaily thing. “Too bad we missed that. It looked like fun. I wonder if Sidney would like those kinds of pants.” She turns to Daisy. “I bet we’d look hot in that leather business. That woman looks to be about our age.” She gestures to my mom.
It’s then that my mother notices me and starts waving. She struts—she’s actually incredibly adept at the whole strut deal—over to us. “Char-char! Are you and the girls having fun?”
I slip my hand into my pocket, feeling around for my candies. I’m a little worried about introducing Skye to my mom. Individually they’re embarrassing enough, but together, the humiliation could be epic.
“Oh my God!” Skye shrieks like a teeny bopper at a boy band concert. “You two know each other?” Skye’s hand shoots out, and my mom takes it. “I’m Skye, Violet’s mother.”
“I’m Whensday, Charlene’s mother!” my mom replies with exactly the same level of enthusiasm. “But my stage name is Climaxica.”
Maybe I can sneak away while this happens. My mom threads her arm through mine and hugs me to her, killing that idea.
“I was mentioning to Daisy how amazing you look in this ensemble!” Skye motions beside her. Daisy’s still in charge of the stroller.
My mom runs her hands over her leather corset. “I have half an hour between performances. I’d be happy to show you around and take you to a few of the BDSM-wear booths.”
Daisy pats her hair. It used to be more helmet-like, but since Violet’s wedding, it’s moved into the twenty-first century. Her clothes are a slower transition out of the eighties, but at least she’s not wearing shoulder pads anymore. “I’m not sure leather would work with my complexion.”
“Are you kidding me? Blond hair and black leather are a lethal combination.” My mom threads her arm through Skye’s as well, and the girls follow her as she woman-swaggers through the crowd, waving hello to the other vendors and performers. She air kisses about twenty people and stops at one booth to paddle some random guy’s ass.
As I observe my mother in her element, I recognize how she and I are very much polar opposites. Where she’s spent the years since leaving The Ranch flitting from town to town, putting men in their place, I’ve put down roots, found stability, and tried to build a somewhat normal relationship. I’m not so sure I’m ever destined to be successful at the last part, but I’m certainly trying. I created a non-traditional family of my own so
I wouldn’t have to be alone.
We stop at a boutique called Leather & Laces and browse for a while. Lily takes an armful of outfits and disappears into a changing room. They have all sorts of sexy leather corsets and fun stuff. Darren prefers pretty and lacy. It’s not that he doesn’t like the leather, he clearly does—the peen doesn’t lie—but his eyes light up in a different way when I’m in lace or satin. I always end up the recipient of an insane number of orgasms on those occasions.
The curtain beside us sweeps open a bit, and Lily’s head pops out. “I need an opinion.”
“What’s going on in there?” I try to peek around her, but she’s holding it like she’s in The Shining, wearing the same creepy smile.
“You have to come in.”
We’ve all been in various stages of nakedness on multiple occasions with each other, so it’s not a big deal. I slip through the curtain, and Violet follows. The changing room is cramped with three bodies.
Vi’s eyes go wide. “Holy shit.”
“Is that good holy shit or a bad holy shit?” Lily tugs at the collar around her neck. “Is this overkill?”
I actually have almost the exact same corset ensemble. I’ve worn it a couple of times for Darren. I’m a big fan of the collar with the metal ring at the throat. There’s something empowering about letting someone you care about deeply take control of your body and cater to your needs. And this outfit screams submission and trust.
“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” I cock a brow.
“Uhh . . .” Lily glances from me to Violet and back again.
“Send a picture to Balls and see what he has to say?” Violet asks.
Lily chews on her lip and then hands me her phone. “Okay.”
She strikes sexy poses while I snap a bunch of pictures. We scroll through them and comment on how it makes her cleavage look great before she picks one to send to Randy.
It takes all of thirty seconds before he responds.
Lily grins as she types her reply, and Violet and I leave her to change back into normal clothes. Skye is already at the register with her own purchase.
“I gotta say, I’m super glad I don’t live in my parents’ pool house anymore,” Violet says.
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