PUNKS Ch. 30: Dirty Little Secrets

"Ahem." Someone cleared her throat behind Joe. He turned. Annie was dealing Joe one of the glares she was famous for, or infamous if you're on the other end of it. This was the annoyance glare, level four of ten, not a problem for Joe.

"Sorry, Annie." Joe smiled. "My usual. I don't even know why you wait for me to order."

Annie looked past Joe, "What would you like, Cheri? I just put you in front of this bum because you have a job to go to."

Cheri smiled at Joe and stepped up to the counter. "I'll have a mocha fudge caramel frappacino with whipped cream."

Joe looked at Annie. "What's this, Starbucks?" He looked at Cheri. "What the fuck did you just order?"

"My coffee."

"That's not coffee," Joe made a Beetlejuice face "It's a coffee-flavored foo-foo morning milkshake. Do you drink that shit every day?"

"Every workday."

"How do you stay in such great shape drinking that sugar bomb five days a week?"

Annie slid Joe's coffee on the counter. "Are you dining with us today?" Her glare had not changed.

"Yes," Joe turned to her. "I'll do the cinnamon roll today."

Cheri laughed, "Do you eat here often? How do you stay fit eating that sugar bomb every day?"

Joe smirked, appreciating her repartee. "I just ran two miles and walked back, five days a week, and I have a bike."

Joe looked Cheri up and down again. She wore a white blouse with a sparkly gold design, tight jeans, and high heels. She was modest with makeup. Cheri was dressed like a grown woman.

"I don't even know who you are," he said, looking her in the eyes. "Look at you."

Cheri blushed and then smiled. She liked that kind of attention from Joe.

Annie put Joe's cinnamon bun on the counter. "Let me guess. Put it on your tab?"

"I don't know why you ask that question every day," he said, not looking at Annie, smiling at Cheri. "when it's the same answer every day."

"Just getting it on the public record." She reached under the counter for her leather book of accounts. Cheri's coffee-flavored milkshake arrived.

"I'm all grown up, Joe. You just didn't notice." Cheri smiled and walked out with her drink. "Thanks, Annie."

Joe watched her ass in those tight jeans. Cheri turned back at the door, catching him looking. Joe turned and picked up his cinnamon bun and redeye.

Annie's glare persisted. "She's too young for you, Joe. Don't even think about it."

"Who's thinking? I'm not thinking."

Every man in the coffee shop watched that ass walk out, then turned back to Joe. He was going to have a seat, but those men staring were about to talk shit about Cheri. That made him decide to take his coffee and pastry someplace else. As he stepped out to Abbot Kinney, a red 1980s Mazda was at the stop sign. The window rolled down.

"You still owe me a skate." Cheri smiled and drove off.

Joe stood there with his breakfast thinking... Cheri owns a car? Hmmm.

-- Getting What She Needs --

Tina called earlier than her usual hour catching Joe off guard. He had to excuse himself for a moment to turn off his stove. When he got back, he poked at T.

"So, how many prescription sleeping pills did you slip your husband to get this early call in?"

"Just his double dose. He went to bed early too, which works nicely for me. What are you cooking at this hour?"

"I'm making green chili pork. Danny is coming over for dinner tomorrow with his new girl. This dish is best after it chills overnight. So I'm cooking tonight."

"You really have adopted Mexican cuisine since moving west."

"You have no idea. It's comfort food for me, even simple rice and frijoles."

"What are frijoles?"

"Refried beans. They have the texture of mashed potatoes. I like mixing my rice and beans. So what's up with you?"

Tina sighed, "I'm going stir-crazy."

"About what?"

"I know you're sick of hearing it. I miss you."

"You do get a bit whiny at times."

"I miss you. Joe. I've been so horny. We hadn't had fun for a while. I want that openness, to be able to talk about anything with you."

Joe was in a vulnerable state. He was also horny, wanting to hook up, but was thwarted by his own rules. Tina offered him a safe release, to feel something intimate. He gave her permission by simply not resisting.

"I was thinking about you today, how much your fat cock fills me. Do you think of me, Joe? Are there times when you're thinking of me when you masturbate?"

"Yes, of course, I do." ... as well as Mila and a skater chick, he thought.

"Tell me about that. What do you think of when you fantasize?"

"I've told you before. I miss your blow jobs. You know that's my favorite, and I miss sucking your pussy. Oral, that's what I think about most. I imagine my cock in your mouth."

Tina breathed out. "I think about that all the time, baby. I want you so bad. I love how your big cock pushes me to the very edge. My mouth is stretched around your thickness and you push deep into my throat."

"You're diving right in the deep end, aren't you?"

"Just play along. I want you deep in my throat."

Joe decided to play. "That's what amazes me, T. How much you can take and how you love it. That desire is fucking hot."

"I'll take everything you give me. I can't possibly get more cock inside me, but I know you have more, and I want that last inch. It's just so difficult to take your head deeper into my throat when you're so hard."

"I miss that. T. There is nothing better than you sucking my cock. Your mouth feels like home to me. I'm so comfortable with you and there's no inhibition with us. I like telling you how incredible you are."

"Oh, you know I love that. Your words make me feel special and I like knowing how you feel when I'm blowing you. It's sexy having a lover who appreciates what I do and expresses it the way you do. I want you to feel like my mouth is home. You've said that before, and I love it."

"Maybe you need to be with a lover who gives you these things you need."

"Maybe I need you to come for a visit to redeem your T rewards. I have this idea for the next time you come out."

"What's your idea?" Joe already knew what it was. Jenna had told him.

"If you can give me a couple of weeks' notice, I'm going to tell Troy I'm going to a seminar so I can spend some nights with you. Wouldn't it be fun to have a few days together with no worries, just us, sleeping together, waking in the same bed, doing whatever we want?"

"That does sound like a good time."

"You would have to scrap the platonic rulebook and your rule about not fucking a married woman. Could you do that for me?"

"I would certainly be open to discussing it."

"That's progress. I'd love the opportunity to sit with you and talk about us. I'm sure we could come to some agreement that allows us what we both want. We could get a nice hotel suite and take a vacation together."

"It doesn't have to be New York. If you're putting on a charade for hubby, you could fly anywhere to meet me. We could take an actual secret vacation together."

"Oh, my God. That's a fantastic idea. Where could we go?"

"Anywhere you want. I think you coming here would be the best plan, but I'd meet you on neutral turf if that's better for you."

Tina exhaled. "Oh man, I'm getting excited thinking about it. It would be wonderful to escape with you. When can we do this? It could be anytime we want, right?"

"I suppose."

"We need to work on it. This is exciting. It will be days of non-stop debauchery. I will suck your cock until you push me off. I want to let loose and be your little whore, do everything with you. I'll give you my ass. Anything you want." Tina paused for a moment. "Oh, my God. I'm wet, Joe. Just thinking about having days with you, fucking and sucking and laying together made me wet. This vacation is exactly what I need."

"I guess we'll have to think of a destination."

"Where do you want to go?"

"I've been everywhere, T. You can choose."

"What city is good for debauchery?"

"New Orleans would work."

"Of course, and they have good food."

"If all we're gonna do is fuck and suck, does it matter where we go? It could be Toledo, as long we have a nice hotel."

"That's true, but I want to go somewhere fun. New Orleans sounds good. I cannot wait to have you inside me, Joe... home, where you belong."

--- It Wrote Itself --

In the middle of a beautiful sunny day.

"Hello, Joe. It's Mila. How are you?"

"I'm good, and happy to hear your voice. Are you out of literary quarantine?"

Mila giggled, "Yes, I am, and the piece will be in the June edition, next week. I didn't think we'd get it in. It looked like July, but I pushed to get it done. I had to finish this assignment, Joe. It was so emotional for me. I'm having a difficult time."

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I am fine. Really, I am, but when I sat down to write this piece I had an emotional journey reliving all these little moments with you and your people, so many laughs and tender moments. It was a wonderful experience."

"So, what's the difficult part?"

"Well, there is this other side I cannot share. It is impossible to tell the full story of my time with you without giving up the secret that I stayed in Venice. I realized on my flight home that I had to write this like a short story of our time together, not an interview, and this would expose us."

"So, you did that?"

"Yes, but never by stating it, not even innuendo. It's a deeply personal piece that will reveal itself in the telling. I hope you are okay that people might know."

"My people already know. You were here for days."

"I mean the rest of the world."

"I don't care about them. I will proudly wear that badge of honor."

"Thank you, Joe. I hope you like my story as much as I enjoyed your story."

"What do you mean by my story?"

"Your life."

"Oh. I see."

There was a quiet moment on the line. Joe wanted to say ten things to her but no words came out. Mila was having similar thoughts.

"How are you Joe, really? Are you well?"

"I could be better. It's been a rough month since you went home. I'm hanging in there."

"Are you bartending?"

"Yes, those cranky old bastards are getting on my nerves. They won't stop talking about the girls. It's the same script every day.

Mila laughed, "They love you."

"That love I don't need. Hey, remember we talked about me coming to see your life? Did you mean that?"

"Yes, I did. I would love to have you but you already know New York City."

"Yes, but not your New York City."

"Let's have this June publication come and go, then we can talk about that. Okay?"

"I'll take that deal."

"Before I go, Joe, I wanted to say this story... it was like it wrote itself. The words came so easily for me, as did my feelings. I wrote an eighteen thousand-word first draft that was very good but far too wordy. The reduction and rewriting were a nightmare. Oh my God. My thoughts on the page were a tangle of moments and people and emotions. I had to unravel them to find the story. I hope you like it."

Joe sighed, "I'm sure you're writing will move me, Mila. It always does."

"Please let me know."

"I will."

-- Glory Hole --

"Last week you asked me to tell you something about me that might shock you."

"Yes, and you confessed to drugging your husband."

"And you overstate it. I give one pill more than he's taking on his own. There was another thing I thought of first, but I held back."

"Hmmm. It's worse than slipping your husband a Mickey?"

"I'm not sure I want to tell you because you could judge me."

"I don't judge you for your infidelity, T. I think you're safe unless you murdered someone."

"No." Tina exhaled. "I like to tease and say I'm a slut and I love cock, but I'm just joking. To me, the word slut means a woman who fucks any willing dude, and maybe she has no idea how many men she's fucked. I'm not that."

"I hate that word."

"Me too."

"Slut, whore, and groupie are three labels for women that make me cringe," Joe said. "They get thrown around too much with no regard to nuance. One man's whore is another man's dream girl."

"What's that saying, a man wants to marry a woman who's a lady in the living room and a whore in the bedroom?... or something like that."

"Your magic number would have to be in the hundreds of men for me to even consider you might be a slut."

Tina laughed. "I guess that makes you a slut, Joe."

"I don't fuck men."

"Are you saying men can't be sluts?"

"No, but you realize that word is..."

"For women only?" Tina said kinda loud. "That's the man talking. Look, women do slutty things. My girlfriends have some crazy fucking stories, but they're not whores."

"Do you have any friends you consider a slut?"

"I know women I think are slutty, Stephanie is one of them. She's fucked dozens of men and Steph doesn't care who knows."

"I think that's how the label sticks," Joe said. "Not caring if everyone knows your business is how word spreads and you end up with the scarlett S."

"I agree. A lack of discretion is a factor when a girl is called a slut."

"I love that you're slutty, T... and you have discretion."

"I worship cock, but I'm not even close to the sluttiest woman I know, but I've done slutty things."

"I'm guessing this thing you're holding back is one of them."

Tina went quiet. Joe waited for her response. As seconds passed, he began to suspect she had something very slutty in her past and was pondering whether she should tell Joe.

"Let me tell you about the sluttiest woman I know."

"Alright!" Joe said happily. "Let's hear it. Do I know her?

"No, you don't. Before I dated Troy, I met this woman at a party at a mutual friend's house. She walked up, introduced herself, and said my hair was fabulous."

"It is fabulous, T. What color was it back then?"

"It was pale blue. Kim and I hit it off. We talked all night because the party was kinda lame, a bunch of brokers and lawyers talking about investments and stocks. Money men are so fucking boring and I..."

"You married one. Why did you marry a boring money man?"

"Shut up, Joe. Do you want my story or not?"

"Your story? I thought this was about a friend."

"Yes, but I'm telling it. Kim and I got together for drinks a few times after that shitty party. We became pretty good friends. We talked about everything. Kim is an over-sharer. She told me stuff I didn't need to hear. Things like being abused as a kid and some really fucked up relationships she'd been in. It was a lot to hear."

"Was she a fucked in the head because of all that?"

"Not at all. She worked for a Broadway production company. Kim had a good job, a nice car and a very cool loft apartment in Tribeca. Her shit was totally together."

"That's good. A lot of abuse victims don't turn out so well."

"She was fine except for the fact she was attracted to men who continued that abuse. Kim loves bad boys. We talked about sex but it was just girls talking, nothing too shocking. Then one night she confesses that she's a total whore... her words. Kim loves sucking cock more than anything and she..."

"You have that in common," Joe interrupted.

"Yes, we definitely do. Anyway, after she confessed I opened up. We talked a lot more about sex and got into details and our dirty little secrets. You are the star of most of my stories because you have a nice dick and we did fun things together, sexually. I talked about other men I'd been with, including Leonard and his giant cock, but I only had so much to tell. Kim had an endless supply of stories. I thought she might be a bullshitter."

"Were they outrageous, unbelievable tales?"

"No, not really, but every time we got together she'd tell me about the cocks she sucked that week, and it wasn't just one guy. So I didn't know if she was for real or making shit up. Kim is very smart, funny, and she can tell a tale. I really liked hanging out with her but I was questioning the veracity of her sex stories."

"But you didn't want to call her out."

"Correct. One night I asked if the guy she was blowing was cute, or something like that. Kim said she never saw his face. When she realized I was confused, Kim swore me to secrecy. Then she told me about a bar she goes to that has a glory hole."

"Are you serious? Was she serious?"

"She was."

"Was it a sex club?"

"No. There's a place in the West Village, a regular bar you'd never suspect. Kim claimed most people who drink there had no clue there was a glory hole on the premises."

"Okay. That's a bit far-fetched. You're losing me here. How do you hide a glory hole in a public bar?"

"I hear ya, Joe. I had the same reaction. How the hell do you hide a train of guys getting their cocks sucked? No one notices?"

"Did you call her out?"

"Not harshly. I rolled my eyes, maybe. My reaction was enough that she sensed I was not buying it."

"What did she say?"

"If you stop interrupting me," Tina said, exasperated. "I'll tell ya."

"Sorry."

"She said it's a normal neighborhood bar, no food, just booze. In the back of the bar, there's a long dimly lit hallway that leads to a rear entrance. There's a porch out back for smokers. A billiards room, the bathrooms, and an office were off that hallway. Kim said the passageway was key to keeping it hidden. Patrons were in and out of that hall all night for legit reasons."

"I see. The heavy traffic disguised the illicit activity."

"Yes. In the ladies' room, there's a storage closet filled with boxes of paper towels and ..."

"That's a convenient thing to have at your glory hole."

"And the adjacent men's room also has a closet. That's how it works. Those closets lock from the inside and the only thing separating them is a plywood wall with a glory hole."

"Wow. It's so fucking simple."

"I know! As Kim explained it, I had the same thought. It sounded so damn easy. Then she told me tales of sucking random cocks in that closet."

"I'm pretty sure that makes your friend Kim a slut, even as I hate that word."

"I kind of agree. Sucking a cock through a glory hole is risky, especially in the eighties in the West Village."

"But this was men and women, right?"

"It was still the village, Joe. My thought wasn't so much STDs. I was thinking you might get some big, fat, stinky old man with bad hygiene."

"That's how glory holes work. You're rolling the dice on a mystery cock."

"Kim thought she sucked a couple of questionable dicks, but she said it was super hot sucking a strange cock not knowing who it was. Her words were something like, 'I chug down that load of cum and get the fuck out of there. I didn't want to see the man attached to that dick."

"Yeah. I can imagine your escape has to be part of the glory hole plan."

"Absolutely. Kim swallowed and ran out the door. She did say she was concerned about whose dick she might be sucking, but she's a whore, so she did it anyway."

"I'm sorry for interrupting, T, but what was the clientele at this place? That's a big factor."

"That's a good question I'm about to answer. Kim would go there to have a drink on different days at varying hours to get a sense of who hangs there at what times. She found the best hours when it was a younger crowd and professionals."

"After work," Joe deduced. "Happy hour and evenings."

"Exactly. After a few nights at this place, she realized she could sit at the bar and see who went into the men's room. If a cute guy went in she'd wait. Some guys were just using the men's room, in and out quickly. If she noticed a doable dude was gone for a while she'd go to the closet, and knock on the wall."

"Is that how they did it?"

"Just knock on the plywood," Tina laughed. "It's almost comical."

"Again, it's so damn simple. How many times did she do this?"

"I asked and she couldn't say for sure, dozens of cocks is what she confessed to. So, If I have a friend who's a slut, it would be Kim."