Lover Revealed

His spine… his lower legs… hands… feet… his skull screamed and his jaw ached. He rolled over… spit out two teeth…

Through the hurricane of the change, Marissa was with him, talking to him. He held on to her voice and the image of her in his head, the only thing steady in his world of suffering.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Way across town, in a very nice, very secluded house, John finished his first beer. And then his second. And his third. He was surprised his stomach could handle them, but they went down smooth and stayed that way.

Blaylock and Qhuinn were on the floor in front of the bed, locked in on a plasma-screen TV playing sKillerz, that kick-ass game that was everywhere. By some freak of nature, John had beaten them both, so they were battling for second place.

As John lounged back on Blaylock's comforter, he tipped the Corona bottle to his mouth, realized it was empty, and looked at the clock. Fritz would be picking him up in about twenty minutes and that might be a problem. He was buzzing. Hard.

It was really nice.

Blaylock laughed and keeled over onto the floor. 'I can't believe you beat me, you bastard.'

Qhuinn picked up his beer and gave Blay a little knock in the leg with the thing. 'Sorry, big guy. But you suck.'

John propped his head up on his hand, relishing the feel of being all pleasantly out of it and mellow. He'd been so pissed off for so long, he hadn't been able to remember what relaxed felt like.

Blay glanced over at him with a grin. 'Of course, strong/silent up there is the real ass-kicker. I hate you, you know that?'

John smiled and flipped the guy off. As the two on the floor laughed, a BlackBerry sounded.

Qhuinn answered it. Did a lot of Uh-huh. Hung up. 'Shit… Lash ain't coming back for a while. Seems like you' — the guy looked at John—'scared the shit out of him.'

'Man, that kid always was an asshole,' Blay said.

'Straight up.'

They were quiet for a while, just listening to Too Short's 'Nasty.' Then Qhuinn got this intense look on his face.

His eyes, one blue, one green, narrowed. 'Yo, Blay… so what was it like?'

Blay's stare shot quickly to the ceiling. 'Losing at sKillerz to you? A real buzz kill, thank you very much.'

'You know that's not what I'm talking about.'

With a curse, Blay reached over to a little refrigerator, took out another beer, and cracked it open. The guy had had seven and seemed sober as ever. Of course, he'd also eaten four McDonald's Big Macs, two things of large fries, a chocolate milk shake, and two cherry pies. Plus a bag of Ruffles.

'Blay? Come on… what happened?'

Blaylock took a slug from the bottle and swallowed hard. 'Nothing.'

'Fuck. You.'

'Okay, fine.' Blay took another draw. 'I… ah, I wanted to die, okay. Was convinced I would. Then I… you know…' He cleared his throat. 'I… ah, took her vein. And it got worse after that. A helluva lot worse.'

'Whose vein was it?'

'Jasim's.'

'Whoa. She's hot.'

'Whatever.' Blay leaned to the side, grabbed a sweatshirt, and pulled it over his hips. Like he had something worth covering up there.

Qhuinn tracked the movement. So did John.

'Did you have her, Blay?'

'No! Believe me, when the transition hits, sex is not on your mind.'

'But I've heard afterward—'

'No, I did not do it with her.'

'Okay, that's cool.' But clearly Qhuinn thought his buddy was nuts. 'So what about the change? What did it feel like?'

'I… I broke apart and came back together.' Blay drank deeply. 'That's it.'

Qhuinn flexed his little hands, then curled them into fists. 'Do you feel different?'

'Yeah.'

'How?'

'Christ, Qhuinn—'

'What do you have to hide? We're all going to go through it. I mean… shit, John, you've got to want to know, right?'

John looked at Blay and nodded, hoping like hell the two would keep talking.

In the quiet that followed, Blaylock stretched out his legs. Through the new blue jeans he had on, his heavy thigh muscles bunched and relaxed.

'So what do you feel like now?' Qhuinn prompted.

'Myself. Only… I don't know, so much stronger.'

'Niiiiiice.' Qhuinn laughed. 'I can't wait.'

Blaylock's eyes shifted over. 'It's not something to look forward to. Trust me.'

Qhuinn shook his head. 'You are so wrong about that.' There was a pause. 'Do you get hard a lot now?'

Blay turned the color of a barn. 'What?'

'Come on, you had to know that one was coming. So do you?' Silence stretched out. 'Hello? Blay? Answer the question. Do you?'

Blay rubbed his face. 'Um… yeah.'

'Often?'

'Yeah.'

'You work it, right? I mean… you must. So what's that like?'

'Are you out of your fucking mind? I'm not—'

'Just tell us once. We won't ask you again. Swear. Right, John?'

John nodded slowly, aware he was holding his breath. He'd had dreams, erotic dreams, but that wasn't the same as it actually happening. Or getting to hear about it firsthand.

Unfortunately, Blaylock seemed to have clammed up.

'Christ, Blay… what's it like? Please. All my life I've been waiting for what you have. I can't ask anyone else… I mean, like I'm going to my father with this shit? Just spit it out. What does it feel like to come?'

Blay picked at the label on his beer. 'Powerful. That's what it's like. It's just this… powerful rush that builds up and then… you explode and drift.'

Qhuinn's eyes closed. 'Man, I want that. I want to be male.'

God, that was exactly what John hungered for.

Blay chugged his Corona, then wiped his mouth. 'Of course, now… now I want to do it with someone.'

Qhuinn cracked one of his half smiles. 'What about Jasim?'

'Nah. Not my type. And we're done with this. Conversation's over.'

John glanced at the clock, then shuffled to the edge of the bed. With a quick scribble, he wrote on his pad and flashed it. Blay and Qhuinn both nodded.

'Good deal,' Blay said.

'You up for hanging tomorrow night?' Qhuinn asked. John nodded and stood up—only to stumble and have to