Wild Licks by Cecilia Tan Read Free Book Online

top of his forearm on the armrest, then put his other hand on top of mine. I felt a little thrill run through me. He certainly didn’t seem to mind touching me. “If she asks, tell her they took thousands of photos of us. Which they did. I just don’t like to reward assholes for assholish behavior.”
    “I can certainly agree with that.” I was starting to like this righteous gentleman. So different from the raunchy sex god of last night, and yet so controlled. So firm. I wanted to hear those gentle yet unyielding commands again. Knowing it was the same man only made the thought even more appealing.
    I reminded myself he had no idea it was me. And this was not the place to be bringing up such subjects anyway. “There are too many boors and trolls out there.”
    “Manners have their place,” he said.
    “They certainly do.” I found myself blushing, though, as a little voice asked me, Where were your manners when you practically tore your stockings to show him your “cockhole” last night? “Speaking of which, here come Ricki and Axel.”
    Mal stood, and they took the seats directly in front of ours.
    “So what is this film about?” Ricki asked. “From the posters it’s hard to tell.”
    “It’s a modern fantasy, I think?” Axel said. “The film is titled Midnight , but the actual book was called something else.”
    “I’ve read it,” Mal said. “ On a Midnight Far , by Ariadne Wood.”
    I felt my blush deepen as surprise hit. Ariadne Wood was the author of Pain of the Sword . I managed to sound pretty cool about it, I thought: “I read a lot of her books as a teenager but I don’t remember that one. Is it new?”
    “It’s one of her vampire books,” Mal said, looking up at the frescoed ceiling of the restored theater. “The other one was The Need .”
    “Aren’t vampires kind of done now?” Ricki asked.
    “I believe you Americans have been saying that vampires are ‘done’ since before we were born,” Mal said. “Which is why On a Midnight Far was never published in the States. Ariadne Wood was my favorite author when I was growing up.”
    “Well, I bet they published a movie tie-in edition of the book now,” Ricki said. “Don’t tell me about it. I want to watch the movie without spoilers.”
    “She wrote all kinds of fantasy.” Mal stopped looking at the ceiling and examined his hands instead. “Some medieval orientalist mélange, some Arthurian, some modern.”
    “One of our early bands was named for a character of hers,” Axel said. “When we were, what, eleven, twelve years old?”
    “Indeed. Starting a long series of failed band names.” Mal did not smile, but something about the way he looked at Axel made me think he was amused.
    “Really? Like what?” I asked more to keep myself in the conversation than because I wanted to know.
    Mal began to name them. “Jackhammer, Twister, Cuffboys…”
    “That one only lasted about a week,” Axel said.
    “…Florentine, The Highwaymen, Flashbang, Trembler…”
    “Some of which were already used by other bands,” Axel added.
    “I can’t even remember all the ones we tried and abandoned.” Mal shrugged. “Trying to capture the right spirit in a name was difficult.”
    “You’re the one who insisted it have a sexual innuendo in it,” Axel said.
    “All the best band names do,” Mal said sagely.
    “You mean like the Sex Pistols?” Ricki asked.
    Mal made a dismissive noise. “Far too obvious. I’m referring to bands such as Cream or Pearl Jam.”
    “Oh my God, I never realized those were references to—” I put my hand over my mouth as I laughed.
    Axel grinned. “There are even more that are, er, anatomical. Nine Inch Nails, anyone? Tool? Whitesnake? Third Eye Blind?”
    “Third Eye Blind is about the…?” Ricki stage-whispered and looked around at the seats filling up all around us. No one seemed to be eavesdropping, thankfully. “I never would have thought of that.”
    “Ideally it shouldn’t be too