Crazy Bitch (Bitches and Queens) (9 page)

“Sam,” Kate hissed with
warning. “It’s
my
wedding dress—not ours. And I told you not to wear
that
dress
if you couldn’t hold your tongue.”

“I’m trying,” he shrugged
defensively. “Oh look, a hula-hoop. What the fuck are we doing here again?”

But it wasn’t just an ordinary hula-hoop;
it was a light-up, glow-in-the-dark hoop, and the way Willow whirled it around
her body was mesmerizing, silencing even her harshest critic. Once she was
finished with her routine, Willow went down in a full curtsy before exiting the
stage.

“Well, I for one thought that
was wonderful,” Kate said.

“It was interesting,” Sam
casually dismissed.

“It was impressive,” Kate
corrected. “What did you think, Hannah?”

Before Hannah could answer,
Willow, who had come up from behind them, said, “She thought it was fabulous,”
and then wrapped her arms around Hannah’s shoulder’s and kissed her cheek. “I’m
so happy you came tonight,” she said ecstatically as she slid her body around
Hannah and then settled in her lap.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, Willow,”
Hannah growled as she scooted her off her lap and into the empty chair beside
her. “Have you been drinking?”

“Only a little,” Willow
answered with a silly smile. “It helps me keep my balance.”

“Is that so?” Hannah
challenged.

“Yes, it is. Go on, and say it,”
Willow teased. “You know you’re dying to tell me how fabulous I was.”

“No, I’m not,” Hannah retorted,
stone-faced.

Willow stared at her lips. She
was certain Hannah was fighting back a smile. “Yes you are,” she said and put
her finger on Hannah’s mouth.

Hannah reached for her hand and
pulled it under the table. “You’re fucking drunk.”

“No, I’m not,” Willow answered.
She really wasn’t drunk, not even buzzed. She was so fantastically happy she
was bubbling over with joy. From the moment she spotted Hannah in the crowd,
she knew everything would be all right. Hannah wouldn’t have come if she was
still furious or if she didn’t care. Willow didn’t know what it meant or even
what tomorrow might be like, but for this night, everything was right in her
world.

“Hello,” Willow said to Kate
and Sam. “You both are so gorgeous. Are you sure you don’t want two wedding
dresses?”

“No,” they said in unison.

“My family is traditional,”
Kate explained.

“Ahh,” Willow murmured in
understanding. “You could always have two weddings.”

“Right now, we’re just focusing
on one,” Sam said drily.

Zachary came out from backstage
and found Willow. He stood beside her and placed his arm around her shoulder.
Willow didn’t look at Hannah as she made the introductions. “Zachary, this is
Kate, Sam, and Hannah. Everyone, this is Zachary.”

“Your fiancé,” Hannah gritted
through her teeth.

“Yes, my fiancé,” Willow said
with a wary smile.

“Nice to meet you, y’all,” Zachary
said, leaning over and whispering something into Willow’s ear.

Willow turned her head towards where
he motioned with his finger. A petite blond woman was waiting in the corner.
When she saw Willow, she smiled and waved.

As quietly as possible, she
whispered, “No, not tonight.”

“Come on, babe. It will be fun,”
he said coaxingly.

“No, but you go ahead,” Willow mouthed,
mortified that he was asking her this in front of Hannah and her friends.

“I don’t want to without you,”
he said.

“It’s fine, really.”

“For fuck’s sake!” Hannah
screamed. “What the fuck do you not understand? She doesn’t want to fuck you
and that skank whore!”

“Hannah,” Willow hissed. “Sorry,
Zachary,” she muttered. “Go on, and I’ll call you later.”

Once he left, Willow turned
back to Kate and Sam and said, “Sorry about that.” She didn’t know who had
embarrassed her more—Zachary for asking if she wanted a threesome in front of
people she didn’t know very well, or Hannah for announcing it to everyone
sitting around them. Looking back at Hannah, she glared, “That really wasn’t
necessary.”

“Yeah,” Hannah scoffed, “neither
is dressing up like some goddamn fairy princess.”

“It’s my birthday, Hannah,”
Willow snapped.

“What?” Hannah blinked in
surprise. “Today is your birthday?”

“Has been all day,” Willow
declared sarcastically. “You might have known that if you had looked at my
resume instead of my tits. And tonight, I want to dance,” she announced. She stood
and then started towards the dance floor.

Kate waited until Hannah left
to follow after her before asking Sam, “What is going on with those two?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like
it.”

Willow was halfway across the
floor when she felt two hands wrap around her waist. “Where are you going,
dancing queen?”

Willow turned around. Hannah
reached for her hand and began pulling her towards an abandoned corner. “What
are you doing?” she only half-heartedly protested.

“I am avoiding giving any of
these losers beer money for the next year. One shot of me dancing with another
woman would sell for at least six figures,” Hannah explained once she had
Willow pinned against the shadows. Leaning close so they stood cheek-to-cheek,
she whispered, “I liked your performance, both of them.”

Willow rested her head against
the wall behind her and her eyes drifted shut. Feeling like a junkie who had
just opened her vein and poured in an intoxicating drug, her soul was writhing
in ecstasy. And Hannah was just that—her drug, her addiction. Ever since that
moment on the subway, she had craved more. Hannah must have felt it too. Her
breathing was just as erratic as it struck against her cheek. Her heart was
pounding so strong, Willow felt its rumble against her chest.

Hannah’s long leg stretched up
and brushed against her crotch. Willow whimpered. Unable to fight the
temptation any longer, or even remember why she had tried, Willow started to
move towards Hannah’s mouth, but she swiftly moved back.

Before Willow could protest,
Hannah put her finger on Willow’s lips. Leaning back down, she rested her
forehead against Willow’s. “Do you really want to go home by yourself on your
birthday?”

“No,” Willow muttered.

“Then come with me,” Hannah
whispered and then stepped back. Standing at arm’s length, Hannah reached for
her hand.

No longer surrounded by Hannah,
Willow suddenly felt very cold and exposed—like being thrust out naked in the
middle of a blizzard. It was so disorienting that she began to shiver.

“But if you do, we will have to
play a game,” Hannah cautioned.

“What sort of game?” Willow
asked warily.

“One that I’m certain you will
enjoy.”

What a fucking day,
Hannah
thought as she drove home. Although it wasn’t ending on a sour note, it
certainly hadn’t been her best beginning. Willow getting engaged had thrown
her. It wasn’t part of the plan. For the life of her, she didn’t know what
either Zachary or Willow were thinking. Obviously, Zachary was feeling
threatened. Maybe he wasn’t as idiotic as he seemed? Of course, his behavior
tonight certainly wasn’t indicative of his I.Q. Seriously, who does that in
front of his fiancée’s employer? Only a fucking moron would. Was he really so
confident with his dime-store ring? Did he really think she would let some
cheap, piece-of-crap, gold ring stand in her way? Fuck him! All he had to give
was shit while she could give Willow her dreams.

And Willow, the poor doll had
been mortified tonight, as she should. No one enjoys having their past sins
rubbed in their faces.

Why had she ever said yes to such
a fool? It had troubled Hannah all day. Everything had been going along so
perfectly and then Willow had to go and ruin it. It was a good thing for her
that Hannah was so forgiving, not to mention adaptable.

Tonight, she hadn’t actually
planned to invite her back to her home, but she felt she needed to show Willow
that she approved of her decision. It was the right decision. Of the two,
Hannah and Zachary, Hannah was obviously the best choice, and finally, for
once, Willow had put Hannah over Zachary. It was about fucking time considering
all that she had done for her, and Hannah was so pleased she gave in to an
impulse of spontaneity.

It wasn’t her only moment of
spontaneity, but Hannah would be more careful in the future to keep a tight lid
on them. She hadn’t planned the subway conversation either. It was more of an
accident than a whim. Regardless, she had been furious when she told her no. By
the time they landed in Texas, her fury had subsided, but Willow needed to
understand how very unpleasant her life would be without Hannah’s affection.
Hannah was almost convinced she had made her point until this morning.

Tonight would more than make up
for this morning’s disappointment. In the morning, they would have a long talk,
and, once and for all, Hannah would convince Willow that Zachary was no longer
needed.

Hannah was wrong. Willow didn’t
like this game—she hated it. She despised being moved and positioned like some
lifeless being and the way Hannah looked at her naked body was so cold and
distant.

At first, the idea of a bath
seemed sexy until she realized that Hannah did not intend to get in the tub
with her. Considering she was very hygienic, Willow had been offended, but when
she started to voice her complaints, Hannah had put her finger over Willow’s
lips to shush her. It became apparent that conversation wasn’t part of the
game, which was a shame because Willow had no idea what was going on inside
Hannah’s mind. She never once explained herself as she bathed her, dried her,
dressed her in pair of pajamas, tucked her in, and then turned down the lights.

It was only after Hannah was
lying beside her, propped up on her elbow, that she spoke. “You may go to sleep
now.”

Grumpily, Willow squeezed her
eyes shut only to open them a few seconds later. “Seriously, Hannah, I can’t
fall asleep with you watching me.”

“Of course you can,” Hannah
said and then reached out to stroke Willow’s face.

Willow recoiled from her touch.
It wasn’t her touch that Willow didn’t like but the way it felt. After having
been pinned against the wall, she had certain expectations for the evening, and
this wasn’t one of them. She wanted Hannah to touch her body just like she
wanted to learn every curve of Hannah’s flesh, but not like this. Hannah’s hand
felt strangely comforting—as if Willow was a small child. It felt very wrong.

“No, I can’t,” Willow gritted
through her teeth as she rolled on her side away from Hannah. After she fluffed
her pillow, she spat, “Your game is weird and creepy. I feel like you’re
waiting for me to fall asleep so you can pull a knife out from under your
pillow and stab me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Willow. I
don’t keep knives in my room,” Hannah murmured. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Willow’s eyes stayed wide open.
She couldn’t have fallen asleep even if she wanted to. In a strange bed with an
even stranger woman, she was miserable, not to mention hot. She never slept in
pajamas. After several minutes, she sat up and kicked away the blankets that
felt as heavy as lead weights. She peeled the pajama top over her head and
tossed it to the floor.

“What are you doing?” Hannah
hissed.

“I’m hot,” Willow shot back and
lay back down.

“Put your shirt back on,”
Hannah demanded.

“No, I can’t sleep with it,”
Willow growled.

Hannah let out an impatient
huff of air and sat up. She was starting to get out of the bed to retrieve the
discarded article of clothing. Once Willow figured out her intentions, she
decided enough was enough.

“This is ridiculous. I’m going
home—where at least I know someone is getting laid on my birthday,” Willow said.
Before she could get of bed, Hannah had her pinned down with her face in the
mattress. “Jesus Christ, Hannah! What are you doing?”

“I’m helping you relax,” Hannah
gritted as her long fingers worked against the muscles of Willow’s lower back.

“It’s not working,” Willow
denied.

“It would if you would stop
being such a goddamn horny slut.”

That pissed Willow off. It was
hardly being a slut when someone else sends out all the signals, lures you in,
and then changes the rules at half time, making it into some sort of preteen
sleepover. Pretending like she was relaxed, Willow waited until Hannah’s
fingers loosened their grip, and when Hannah was least expecting it, she
flipped over onto her back. Willow looked up at Hannah with a cocky smirk.
Let’s
see who the slut is now.

Hannah’s hands jerked away and
hung suspended in the air halfway between them. Willow waited for some kind of
response, but Hannah only returned her stare with a blank fogginess in her
eyes. Then Willow noticed Hannah’s fingers lightly fluttering, and she realized
that Hannah was trembling.