Incubus Dreams   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

I didn’t manage a smile, but I kept my face pleasant and unreadable. “Yeah, we have enough men.”

“We don’t have women here,” the other dancer said. There was something in his eyes, something about the way he glanced at Owen, as if he didn’t believe us.

“We brought our own,” Nathaniel said, and moved up between Owen and me, so he could drape an arm around us both. He was smiling. His lavender eyes shown with eagerness. It was an Oscar-worthy performance, and the other dancer seemed to buy it.

He did glance back at Micah. “What’s he going to be doing?”

“Watching, silly,” Owen said, and began to guide us around the other man. We threaded our way through the tables, with Micah trailing behind. I swear, I could feel the other dancer’s eyes on us, as if he still didn’t buy it. Or maybe he was jealous, God alone knew, because I didn’t want to. Ronnie was so going to owe me for this one.

A dancer stepped out onto the bar as we passed it. He was so not in shape, not fragile, sort of like a computer geek, or accountant. He had glasses and short hair that didn’t flatter his face. He was ordinary and so didn’t look like anyone that should be stripping. I wondered what he was doing here, like this, then he grabbed a set of bright chrome bars that were suspended above the bar and proceeded to roll his entire body up and through his own arms, proving that he was every bit as double-jointed as Nathaniel. Okay.

The audience screamed behind us, and I couldn’t help it, I glanced in that direction. The dancer was tall, thin, and a brunette and wearing only the white socks. He grabbed the bar in the center of the stage and began to writhe around it. I turned away, fast, and found that the dancer at the bar was nude now, too. I came almost face-to-face with the other reason he was stripping here; he was well-endowed. I nearly tripped us all trying to get some room between us and the bar. Owen laughed, a high girlish laugh, and Nathaniel joined it with a masculine chuckle. Micah followed silent, and I waited to stop blushing. They did total nudity across the river, how could I have forgotten? What I wanted to do was run screaming, but instead I let Owen maneuver us toward the black-draped area across from the bar. Nathaniel was plastered between us, still smiling, still laughing. If Nathaniel could keep playing nice, so could I. I glanced back to check on Micah and saw the dancer at the bar proving that it wasn’t just his shoulders that could bend in amazing ways. A woman was holding up money.