Chapter Twenty One

Queen Bee was running late for work, but truth be told she was always running late. Even though she’d only been doing backup for other drag queens with their own shows, she had gained quite a following so her boss usually turned a blind eye to her tardiness.

“You’re late, girl. Again.”

“Fuck you, Goldie,” Queen Bee laughed as she opened her cosmetics case and got to work touching up her makeup for her upcoming shift.

“Never gonna happen, Queenie. You’re not my type.”

“Does the boss man know I’m late?” Queen Bee swiped some lip gloss across her lips, pressed her lips together, then puckered up and blew herself a kiss as she regarded her reflection.

“Of course he does and he’ll ignore it like he always does because you bring in so much money. Where’s that knight in shining armor of yours tonight?”

“Isn’t it so romantic that he rescued me the way he did?” Queen Bee swooned as she perfected her Cleopatra eyeliner effect. “Like something out of a book, baby. You know, he even got my shoes back for me.”

“I wish something like that would happen to me,” Goldie said wistfully as she dusted a glittery highlighter along her cheekbones and cleavage.

“Oh, sweetie, your day’s coming. It’s scary, though; those guys were going to beat the shit out of me. If Terry hadn’t been there, they might have killed me.”

“Well, thank God he was.” Goldie bit her lip and braced to bring up a potentially unpleasant topic. “So, um, I guess he must be okay with who you are? He knows…?”

Queen Bee smiled like a cat recalling a particularly yummy bowl of cream. “Oh, honey, I made sure he’s okay with it. He’s more than okay with it… That man’s delicious.”

“Get to work, ladies.” They both looked up to see their boss standing in the doorway. “I know you were late again, Queenie.”

She pouted prettily at his reflection as she stood and reached for her opera gloves. “Sorry.”

He shot her a baleful glare, although she knew him well enough to recognize the twinkle in his eyes. “It’s a good thing you have such a following. I swear, someday I’m gonna fire your ass.”

“Oh, really? This ass?” Queen Bee smacked her own ass and playfully gave him a little twerking action, which she usually reserved for her stage act…although she had given Terry a private demonstration before she left for work. “Is this the ass you’re talking about?”

“Yeah. That’s the one and someday I’m gonna fire it,” Ross deadpanned.

“Hmmph,” she sniffed coyly. “Well, someday I’m gonna quit, so there.” Then she smacked the ass in question one more time and winced wickedly as she shot Goldie a grin. “Huh. I kinda liked that. Who knew?” Then she said to Ross’ retreating back, “Shady Ladies wouldn’t be the same without the Queen and you know it.”

Ross looked over his shoulder at her affectionately. “I do, baby. Just get your ass out there and do what you do best…”

The women grinned at each other and high-fived as they finished the sentence together, “…make money.”

~~~

From the shadows of a corner table, he watched the dressing room door as the two women came out. He’d had an eye on the tall blonde the other night when she was harassed in the alley. If it hadn’t been for that Good Samaritan, he would have had her that night.

He liked the idea of killing this drag queen because she was so popular. It would be like free advertising when they found her body had been ravaged and wrapped by the Mummy Man. Word traveled the streets like wildfire when it came to gossip. He would have coverage by the media and grassroots advertising by word of mouth if he was able to catch this one. He had never killed a drag queen before. He was surprised to find that the thought of toying with her dead body had his dick rising to attention.

She was gorgeous. No wonder the man who had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere to rescue her the previous night had taken such an interest in her. People were already chanting her name as what had quickly become her signature song blared over the speakers. He stared as she strutted onto the stage and began sinuously dancing and lip syncing to lyrics about barometers rising and how the street was the place to go. Everything was done perfectly, as if she were really singing and not just lip syncing. She was perfect for what he had in mind.

“Hey, baby, you want some company?”

Brian looked up to see the woman with glittering gold hair who appeared to be Queen Bee’s best friend. He didn’t respond right away but took his time looking her over. This might work toward his benefit. “Sure. Sit down and I’ll buy you a drink.”

Goldie couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe Queen Bee was right. Maybe tonight was her night to find her own Prince Charming. She considered the man sitting next to her. Dark brown hair. Clean-shaven face. Hazel brown eyes. On a scale of one to ten, he was a decent seven. Yeah, she could work with that.

The waitress approached their table. He gave her his order without taking his eyes off his guest. “Bring us a bottle of champagne. I’ve got a lot to talk to this beautiful lady about and I don’t want her being in a hurry.” The waitress smiled and hurried off to get the champagne.

Goldie batted her false eyelashes at him as she sat down next to him. Resting her chin in her hand, she leaned forward and gazed at him as she crossed her legs. Yeah, she could definitely work with this. Maybe her luck was finally changing.