Page 398 of Rock Me All Night
Tom points me to a brown haired man in a leather jacket. "What about him?"
"He's fine."
"Fine? He's better than fine. He's got a lip ring."
"And?"
"Try it. You'll like it." Tom nudges me towards the man.
"I don't think so."
He shakes his head. "Okay. We'll do this together."
Tom takes my hand and leads me to Mr. Lip Ring and his friend Polo Shirt.
"Hey." Tom presents me. "Have you met my friend, Willow?"
Mr. Lip Ring and Polo Shirt look at me for a hot second. But I'm not what interests them. Tom is. They stare at him with disbelief.
"Holy shit, Tom Steele. You're a legend." Mr. Lip Ring grabs his cell phone and throws his arm around Tom. "You mind?"
Tom catches himself in an eye-roll. "Yeah. Sure." Despite the irritation in his voice, he entertains their picture fest for a solid sixty seconds. He turns back to me. "Willow, here. She's looking for a good time. Either of you want to take her home?"
Subtlety is not one of Tom's strengths. My cheeks are burning. I step backwards.
"You sound like a fucking pimp," I mutter.
"Too much?" He looks at the guys. "What do you guys think? Too much?"
They laugh nervously, utterly star struck.
"Not at all," one says.
"You're amazing." The other turns red.
At least he's as embarrassed as I am. I back away slowly and turn my attention to the stage. Much to my chagrin, there's a roadie breaking down the instruments. No sign another band is set to perform.
Tom takes my hand. "Let's go backstage."
The nervous guys offer a dozen different goodbyes.
"I think they would have preferred to take you home," I say.
"Can you blame them?"
Not in the least.
* * *
The backstage areais the size of a walk in closet. There's a couch on one wall, a table of booze on the other. A dozen people mill around, including the purple-haired Matthew. He waves Tom over to the couch.
"Where the fuck have you been the last few years?" Matthew asks.
"World domination." Tom leans over and whispers something.
I make eye contact with Matthew. "Please tell me he's not trying to sell you on fucking me."
He laughs. "Tom, I'm gay."
