The projection on the back wall has been playing the whole time. You’re seated with a direct view of it, but you haven’t been paying attention. The last song playing comes to an end, a sibilant, distinctive hiss fills the room. It’s the intro to another song; there’s a CGI snake on the wall. A few cheers erupt from the crowd. They like this song.
Throaty moans join the hissing. As you watch, intrigued, the snake on the projection rears back and strikes, breaking in half to form two human silhouettes. A short woman, and a tall man. Their black outlines move towards each other, circling in a clear mating dance.
A thumping bassline joins the weird, erotic sound.
I’m a snake, baby
Snake, baby (yeah)
Short and sweet, nothing fake, baby
Wrap me round your body tight
Steal your breath all through the night
Bite you while you fuck me right
I’m a snake (snake, snake, snake)
The beat drops, and so does your jaw. It’s Gabi in the video, and she’s totally naked. Well, technically, she’s wearing the world’s least-substantial g-string, but she’s covered from her bare feet to her neck in body paint scales. Her blonde hair looks wet, pushed back from her face. Her eyeliner is stark. You almost wouldn’t have recognized her, except for her sweet eyes.
Seeing her is a knife directly through the heart.
“Kai…” you say dumbly.
He’s still chewing the lime wedge when the other silhouette materializes: GoGo. His hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, and he’s wearing leather pants. Like Gabi, he’s barefoot, but he towers over her. He puts his hands on her bare hips and thrusts her ass against himself, no subtlety. Gabi’s lips part in a sinuous smile. She has fangs attached to her canine teeth. You can seeher nipples, diamond-hard under their coat of paint. As she starts the second verse, she rolls her body against GoGo.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” you hear Kai mutter beside you, but you are transfixed.
Two people walk in front of the screen, and Gabi’s near-naked body is projected on them, her face full of sharp teeth and harsh makeup distorted by the shadows they throw. You don’t know whether you want to cover your eyes or run across the room and block the projector yourself.
“Ster…” you hear Kai say. “Ster. Baby. Focus on me.”
Agonizingly, you drag your eyes away from the screen.
“This is bullshit,” he says. He sounds angry. “C’mon. You don’t need to be watching this. Let’s get out of here.”
On your way to the coat-check, you irrationally wish you had brought the bucket with you. You desperately need a hefty dose offuck-itright now.
In the car, you realize that you are shaking, and you can’t stop. It’s all catching up with you. Kai’s injury. Artemis. The rocks through your windows. The hateful words shouted at you from crowds. Gabi, naked and painted like GoGo’s human fuck-doll.
“I’m worried about you,” Kai says. In the striped glare of the passing streetlight, his face is grave.
“I know. I need you to do something for me,” you tell him.
“Anything,” he says.
“I don’t know if you’re going to like it.”
“I will doanything, Ster,” he swears.
“Okay,” you nod. It’s quiet in the car, but there is still too much noise in your head. The thoughts are like bumper cars smashing into one another and ricocheting off the sides of your skull. Your head is almost too heavy to hold up. “Remember that you promised.”
***
Back in your bungalow in the Palisades, you are both undressed down to your underwear. Kai folded his costume neatly, but you left yours where it fell on the floor when you took it off. The plastic handcuffs are kicked in a corner somewhere. Distantly, you wonder if you should have held onto them.
Your bedroom is large, dwarfing the king-sized bed. The room takes up the whole back of the house, the doors to the terrace overlooking the rocky cliffs below. It’s stormy tonight. The rain started when you guys were driving home, and the wind picked up when you said goodnight to your security detail and dismissed them for the night. The dogs are locked up in the other room. There’s only one lamp lit against the encroaching darkness, and the light seems feeble. Thunder crackles in the distance.
