“Here you go, lovebirds.” Her eyes popped open as the waitress put their trays on the table. Her mouth watered as the scent of barbequed ribs, slow cooked to perfection, hit her nostrils. “It’s funny, Allie,” said the fortyish woman, frowning down at them. “Here you are, with an engagement ring on your finger, and you’re making goo-goo eyes at Ray, here.”
“Really, Wanda?” Although Allison’s voice was mild, she eyed the woman with scorn. “It’s funny. You’ve got a wedding ring on your finger, but everyone in town knows you’ll put out for anyone who will buy you a case of Natty Light and a joint. Now why don’t you go and mind your own damn business for a change?”
“Kali have mercy,” she breathed as the older woman stomped away in a huff. “What the hell got into you?”
The blond girl took a forkful of brisket, chewing happily. “Damn, this is good. Oh, I don’t know, Ray. I’m just so sick of this town. Everyone always looking at you, waiting for you to make a mistake, to get caught sinning so they can feel superior. Sometimes I just want to get away. And not to Paducah or Poplar Bluff or Jackson. Away. Out of Kentucky. Someplace big. St. Louis. Memphis. Chicago.”
“I can show you the world,” Shanaya sang quietly. “Take you wonder by wonder.”
Allison’s brows pinched. “That’s not how the words go. I know that movie by heart.”
“Yeah.” She took another bite of seared pork, then wiped her mouth. “But I like my version better. And after I get out of school,” she said hesitantly, “I can take my pick of jobs. Less than a year, and I’ll never have to come back to Mayfield if I don’t want to. Louisville isn’t exactly Harvard. Or even Princeton. But the business school is ranked high, and Mom and Dad have a lot of connections. Look how well my sisters have done.”
“You’re so smart.” Allison picked at her food. “I wish I was.” Her lip trembled. “I’ll be stuck here until I die.”
“Not,” she said very carefully, “If you come with me.”
Allie’s eyes blazed as she looked up from her tray. “So I’m supposed to whore myself out to you to get a better life?”
In a prior life, Shanaya would have quailed before that bright blue glare. Now, she returned it calmly. “You know that’s not what I meant.””
Their gazes caught, held. After a long moment, Allison nodded. “I know. I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “Listen. I need to…to think about what you told me. And I can’t do that when you’re giving me those big puppy dog eyes.”
“Like these?” She pulled a woeful face, looking up at her friend form under her lashes.
“Yes,” Allie giggled. “Like those.
“So.” She put her hands down decisively. “All we’ve done since you got back from school is talk about me and my wedding. What about you, Ray? Tell me about life in the big city.”
Give her time, a voice seemed to whisper in the back of her head. She nodded, and began. “Well, let me tell you about this one guy in my finance class…”
*****
When Shanaya arrived home, she felt wrung out, beaten like a rug after the emotional events of the day.
She took a shower, soaping her new, male body thoroughly. Over and over, her hands drifted down to finger the long, spongy thickness of her cock, exploring it curiously. It was incredible how the lightest of touches could make it spring to eager hardness. A hundred sniggering jokes whispered from the dark corners of locker rooms or the back of the school bus suddenly made sense, and she spared a silent apology to all the boys who had tried to hit on her at tailgate parties or late at night when the bars were closing. With this biological urge driving them, she couldn’t blame them for looking for a possible partner, no matter how distasteful she found it at the time.
With an effort, she forced her hand away from her erect penis, turning off the water and steeping out of the shower. All day long she had been on the knife-edge of arousal. Being so close to Allison had been a form of sweet torture. It had only taken a touch of her hand, a look from her mysterious sapphire eyes, a whisper of her scent, and she was at instant, aching hardness. And then she would have to start the entire dreary process of getting her body under control again, lest she betray her desire by sporting an untimely erection.
“You should really do something about that, you know.”
“Fuck!” She spun around, one hand raised in a fist. “For the last fucking time, stop doing that!”
“Oh, relax, Brown Sugar. Your parents are still out.”
“The next time you sneak up behind me like that,” she gritted out, “I’m going to wish that you spend a month in the worst place I can imagine.”
“Where? Iraq? Antarctica? The moons of Uranus?”
“Worse. Utah.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She smiled, baring her teeth. “Try me. Nothing but Mormons and desert and no fun at all.”
“Now you’re playing dirty.” A sudden grin. “Good. You’ll need that when you’re dealing with that pus-head Brad.”
She glanced outside at the late-spring darkness. Nearly ten in western Kentucky, which meant that in Cabo, the nightlife and the parties would just be getting started. A thought struck her. “You know, maybe there’s something you could do to help out with that.”
Gene shook his head. “No, way, boyfriend. I told you the rules. No physical harm. Or mental.”
She folded her arms across her chest, heedless of the way her towel threatened to slip off her waist. “Oh? But what if I asked you to make sure Brad and his buddies were having a really good time? Too good, for instance, to check in with his fiancée, who has been waiting by the phone all evening, hoping he isn’t cheating on her again?”
“Oh.” An evil grin. “I like it.”
“Do I need to wish for it?”
“Nah. This one’s on the house. How did things go with your girl?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you know?”
The djinn shook his head. “This is your game, sweetie. Not mine. I’m not going to interfere.”
She nodded and took a deep breath. “I told her.”
Gene leaned forward. “And?”
She shrugged. “She didn’t run away screaming. She didn’t tell me it couldn’t happen. She didn’t…” her voice caught. “She didn’t laugh.”
“Well, then.” Gene’s voice was oddly sympathetic. “That’s a start.”
“She says she needs time. Argh! And that’s the one thing I don’t have! Brad comes back on Sunday! It’s Wednesday night. I only have four days!”
“Relax, baby.” The genie patted her cheek. “Didn’t Brahma create the world in less time?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I wasn’t there.”
Gene chuckled, then his expression closed as his eyes slid down her body. “You know,” he said, looking at his groin. “You might want to start getting used to that. And what it can do. Or do you intend to go to Allison’s bed a virgin?”
“I’m not a virgin!” she exclaimed hotly.
“Oh?” A sardonic eyebrow rose. “In that body, you are. And wouldn’t it be embarrassing and hard to explain if you had absolutely no idea what to do?”
“I know what to do. Tab A in Slot B. Easy.”
“Then you’re a damn idiot.” Gene folded his arms. “Listen to me, Riyad. The pressure is already building. There are two incompatible realities out there. And sometime pretty damn soon, instead of making sure that a tuna-fish sandwich goes splat on the ground when someone drops it, one of them is going to look at you and wonder why the hell you’re wearing a male skin over your soul.” He poked her in her chest. “So don’t draw its attention.”