Different Circles

“I wouldn’t have said it otherwise,” he said. “She’s getting it on with my lesbian copilot. They’ve been rubbing their clams together for the past month or so now.”

“Really?” she said, obviously intrigued by this revelation. “Have you actually seen them doing it?”

“Well ... no,” he said. “It’s not like they invite me to their room to watch them, you know.” Although he would jump at the opportunity if they did. Bitch or not, Valdez was smoking hot, and Suzie wasn’t all that bad either, just a little masculine looking because of her haircut.

“Then how do you know they’re getting it on?” she enquired.

“It’s common knowledge among those of us on the tour,” he said. “They spend every night together in Celia’s hotel room. They used to just meet up there a couple times a week to smoke cigars and bullshit, but for the past month or so, Suzie stays every night with her, all night long. She hasn’t slept in her own room once.”

“That is rather suggestive,” Jessica had to agree. “Do they talk about their relationship?”

“They don’t,” he said. “I think maybe they’re under the impression that nobody knows they’re doing it. But we’re a small group of people who travel together and stay in the same hotels day after day. You can’t hide shit like that under those circumstances. And even if we didn’t know about the hotel rooms, you can tell just by watching them when they’re together. They share their flirty little looks with each other, they make allusions that they think are sly. Coop—he’s the drummer for the band and about the only one who isn’t a stuck-up asshole—told me that everyone is talking about it when they’re not around and everyone knows they’re doing the nasty with each other.”

“Very interesting,” Jessica said. “I never would have taken Celia Valdez for a lesbian.”

“Coop says she’s not a full-on lesbo,” Njord said. “He thinks she’s just trying the other team for a while since she got fucked so bad by Greg Oldfellow. Suzie, on the other hand, is a hard-core lesbo. She is probably in love with Celia, probably thinks she’s found Ms. Right.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I’m thinking that dyke bitch has got a whole lot of disappointment coming her way when Valdez decides to go back to the other side of the plate to bat.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she said, nodding a little.

“And do you know who else likes to munch muff in that band?” he asked her, getting into the pleasure of spreading gossip. He knew he was not supposed to be talking about his high-revenue passengers like this, but he couldn’t stand any of them except for Coop and it was pleasurable to spread their dirty laundry about. Besides, this traveling slut he had just boned (she had told him she worked for an insurance company in Hartford and often came to Boston on business) would not be able to spread his tales very far. His gossip was unverifiable, and it was very unlikely that anyone she told would even believe her.

“Who?” Jessica asked.

“Jake Kingsley’s wife,” he said slyly.

“Laura Kingsley?” she said, very surprised.

“That’s right,” Njord said. “She’s the sax player. It seems as if she likes to munch clam better than she likes blowing the horn though.”

“How do you know this?” she asked.

“The same way I know about Celia,” he said. “It’s a small group and everyone knows everyone else’s business. Laura—they call her Teach for some reason—brings female groupies back to the hotel with her on a regular basis. They stay for a few hours and then the limo takes them back to the arena with the other groupies that Coop and Charlie always have.”

“Female groupies, huh?” she said, quite intrigued by this piece of gossip. “And she does this openly? Right in front of the other band members?”

“Yep,” Njord confirmed. “I’ve actually seen her with a few of them myself—not in the bedroom, mind you, but in the hotel, heading up to her room. She likes the younger chicks, in their twenties, the sluttier the better.”

“Wow,” she whispered. “Does Jake Kingsley know about this?”

Njord shrugged. “I don’t know for sure,” he said, “but I think there’s a good chance he does. Coop told me that Kingsley and Valdez are pretty tight with each other; and that Laura and Celia are pretty close too. They have a saying that what happens on the road stays on the road, but that doesn’t generally apply to people who hang out together and do business together. I wouldn’t think, anyway.”

“What about Laura Kingsley and Celia?” she asked. “Or Laura and Suzie? Are they getting it on?”

“Not that I’ve heard,” Njord said. “Laura and Suzie do have this flirtatious relationship with each other, but it doesn’t seem ... you know ... real. She used to join Valdez and Suzie up in their room when they were smoking cigars up there—on the nights she didn’t have a lesbian groupie eating her out anyway—but I don’t think she’s been up there even once since the two of them started sleeping together every night.”

“Is she feeling a little left out, I wonder?”