Page 29 of The Drag Race Debutante & the Detectives
“You’re ours, Emily,” Eric said, “and we protect what’s ours.”
“Which is why we’re here early,” Dane chimed in, and gave her a final swat on her aching backside before moving away.
“What do you mean?” she asked, gingerly rubbing her butt.
Eric pressed a firm kiss to her lips then released her, stepped back and offered her his hand. “Come with us and we’ll show you.”
Tentatively, she took his hand and let him lead her over to the skate desk, where three pairs of skates were already lined up. “I don’t understand what’s happening,” she said, but she still took the skates and began putting them on.
“There’s a roller disco here tonight,” Dane said. “We know the owner. He let us in early so we could get in some practice.”
Her lips pressed together and she rolled her eyes. “So I don’t embarrass you when I fall flat on my face, you mean.”
Dane grinned. “I think someone wants another spanking.”
“I do not,” she said, then stood up and tested her balance with the heavy skates on her feet. Then her left foot rolled forward unexpectedly and she fought to stay upright. Her mouth twisted to one side. “I don’t know about this.” Her skating ability was not great.
“Come here, kitten.”
Emily immediately covered her backside with both hands, the speed of her movement almost landing her back on the chair, and shook her head. “I don’t want another spanking,” she whined.
Eric chuckled. “No spanking. I promise. Now, come here.” He stood confidently with his skates on and held out hands out towards her. His movements were so smooth and graceful, and made her feel even more out of place. Even so, she attempted to do as he’d asked, awkwardly half skating, half walking towards him.
“Good girl,” he said, smiling at her without even a hint of derision or disgust, and some small part of the tension she’d been holding on to since they’d removed the blindfold melted away.
“You know, I’m really more of an armchair athlete,” she said, watching her feet, as if that would grant her magical skating powers. “I’m much better at cheering on others.”
But her men disagreed. Taking her hands in theirs, they led her out onto the rink and slowly began circling the concrete structure, holding her upright and stopping her from making a complete fool of herself.
Eric gave her gentle instruction and Dane encouraged her to be bold, and soon she was skating all by herself. Well… almost. The guys were never more than a foot away from her, ready to help her whenever she needed them.
Even in something as simple as this, they protected her.
“How are you two so good at this? I mean, Karen, yeah, I get it. But you two?”
Their sister Karen was a roller derby girl, a member of the B52 Bombshells, and Emily loved going to her bouts and cheering her on from the stands, but she never would have guessed her men were so swift of foot on eight wheels.
“Who do you think taught Kiki?” Dane laughed, and started skating backwards.
“Show off.”
“A lot of our misspent youth was spent right here,” Eric said. “Our mum had buggered off to parts unknown with her not-so-secret lover, and Dad had to work all the time, so we came here.”
“Every weekend, every school holiday,” Dane added.
“Our first jobs were here too, cleaning toilets and sanitising skates.”
Emily smiled at the thought of her men doing anything other than being cops. “That sounds?—”
“Gross?” Dane said. “Because it was.”
“I was going to say awesome, but yeah,”—she screwed up her nose—“I guess cleaning foot funk out of skates would be kinda gross.”
As they continued talking, Emily found her rhythm, learned to relax into the movements, when to push and when to glide, and she began to appreciate the music and took in the full scope of their surroundings.
A large mirror ball hung over the centre of the rink, reflecting the strobe lights and casting rainbows all over the floor and walls, and brightly coloured banners were hung up all over the place, announcing vendors and sponsors for the disco. It was all so bright and fun and silly. A million miles away from the dark and dangerous deeds they would participate in later that night.
Emily was so distracted by her thoughts, she barely noticed Eric and Dane pull her to a stop in the middle of the rink, under the giant mirror ball. But she sure as hell noticed when they both got down on one knee.
