“You better believe it. When they said that was a go, I was like hallelujah. Even though it did mean losing the fireplace.” Victor stretched, rolled his neck, winced. “I need to get another massage.”
“I think you need to start having someone come here twice a week, till we get done with this routine. You’re doing great with those heels, but it puts different stresses on you.”
Victor knew it was true. He’d tweaked his back a little the other day, and even though he hadn’t mentioned it he knew Andy could tell. “Maybe you could set me up with that heating pad tonight.”
“I can and I will.” Andy leaned across the gap between the chairs. Victor met him halfway for a kiss. “There you go, wincing again. All my fault.”
“No it isn’t. And even if it were, I wouldn’t care. I love you.”
“I love you too. Go get washed up. I’ll take Molly out, and then I’ll give you some therapy.”
Chapter 15
November 2019
The first night of ‘Spy Games’ went off without a hitch. Andy and Victor were more than a minute into their performance before the audience clicked to who they were. They stayed in the green room for the remainder of the first act, watching the other dancers on the monitor, chatting quietly with those who remained in (or returned to) the green room. They didn’t join the rest of the performers for the first-act curtain call. Instead, they listened to the reports from those people as they returned to change, and decided to hide out for the rest of the show. “Tomorrow night may be a little bit insane,” Andy said after a few minutes, when they were alone. Victor snorted. “We may need to get here at, like, six o’clock. And fuck me, I’m hungry.”
Rory heard that as she came in. “We’re stretching intermission because everybody but everybody is Tweeting and Instagramming and Facebooking you fuckers. If you step out the stage door, you’re going to be mobbed.
Terry’s sending a server back with some food for you, and some drinks. Text your team and let them know you’re still in one piece. They’re probably seeing people go out for a smoke and catching some of the chatter.”
“Thanks Rory.” Victor was damned glad they had the security detail with their car tonight. “We can’t actually text anybody because our phones are in the office with all our other shit. Could someone bring all that in here too?”
“Oh, you’re ready to get out of those shoes? You both look phenomenal, by the way,” she said. “I only didn’t say so at dress rehearsal because I was trying to un-swallow my tongue.” Both men laughed. “I mean, don’t get me started on the costume, but this Inigo Montoya thing you’re rocking, Victor, holy hell.” Victor was cracking up. His hair hadn’t been cut since they left the ‘Countdown 3’ set, and his mustache was a month old. “Yes, I’ll take care of it. Tomás and Sam are watching the stage door, nobody’ll get back here to mess with you.” She went back out.
Victor decided to go ahead and take the shoes off. Andy was already out of his. Now he unsnapped the bottom of his dress, sighed with relief, and peeled off the fishnets. “Ow, holy shit,” he said. “I think those things are permanently imprinted on my butt. You want to check for me?” The dance belt came off next. He scratched vigorously while Victor laughed. “How’s your back, catnip.”
“It’s fine. All that therapy really set me up.” He tugged his shirt out of his pants, unbuttoned it, wriggled around a little. “You went easy on me this week.”
“Didn’t want to break you. I can break you Tuesday.”
“It’s a date.” The door opened again; it was the manager himself, with their gear, and followed by a pair of servers with food and beverages. “God, Terry, you’re a lifesaver. Thanks so much. It’s going to be nuts here tomorrow.”
“Truer words. I already called some people for extra security. Y’all got some, right?”
“Yeah, we added an escort to our driver situation. Do you think we should get here early? We were thinking maybe so.”
“Don’t know if that would actually help. We’ll make sure you get in and out safe.” He gave them half a smile, his gold tooth flashing in his dark face, and went back out. The servers finished setting up their dinner, and followed him. Andy and Victor both got out of costume in the next two minutes, and into more comfortable clothes. They hung Andy’s dress and cloak next to Victor’s dance suit on the wardrobe rack, stashed their shoes and the gloves on the shelf above, and double-checked that a fresh shirt (for Victor) and fresh fishnets and dance belt (for Andy) were in their garment bag waiting for tomorrow. Then Andy slung his makeup case up on the shelf and they sat down to eat.
A few minutes later the P.A. clicked on, and they heard Rory’s voice.
“Good evening everyone. Thanks for joining us here at Chrome for the Underground Cabaret Dance Theater, presenting Mating Dance: Spy Games.
Listen up. If you think you saw Victor Garcia and Andy Martin performing the Assassins’ Tango in Act I, you were correct. If you are excited about it, so are we. Be advised that you will get tossed out of here a lot earlier than they will, so please don’t hang around trying to see them. Now settle down and get ready to enjoy Act II, with more great dancing from the Underground Cabaret. Five minutes to Act II. Thank you.” The P.A. clicked off. The Act II performers started coming into the green room. There was a frenzy of costume and last-minute makeup. Andy and Victor tried to make themselves small. Nobody acted like they were in the way.
Then it was on with the show. They watched the performances again on the monitor, glad to be comfortable and fed
