“If you go topless on the parade route or show off your breasts, the guys will give you beads, like at Mardi Gras.”
Jayne giggled. “Oh, Seth told me once the sun went down that a few of the women might go topless. But I didn’t think they really…”
Lucy replied, “A lot of them will go topless—or more—especially on the parade route.”
Jayne got big eyes as she looked at Lucy. “You mean naked? Oh boy. Are you going topless, Lucy?”
Lucy wished Jayne hadn’t asked the question quite so loudly because now she was getting lots of curious male looks, including from Ransome and Val.
Lucy shook her head. “Probably not, Jayne. I’ve no desire to show off ‘the girls’ but I kind of admire the women with the guts to do it.” What would it be like to have the kind of confidence she’d need to walk out topless at this gathering?
Some of those women would even pole dance if they got the chance. The thought made Lucy smile, the only women she’d seen pole-dancing the year before had been mostly too drunk to accomplish much more than shaking their asses.
Ransome and Val both opened their mouths at the same time and Ransome spoke first. “Okay, Lucy, listen to me, honey. You said ‘probably not.’ If you change your mind about taking your top off, will you please make sure that you’re not alone at any time, even if it’s just to go to one of the port-a-potties? Promise us? You’re comfortable at this gathering because you know we’re watching out for you but do not tempt fate. Okay? Please?”
He sounded so serious and Lucy nodded her understanding. “I promise. But you don’t have to worry about that, guys. I doubt either Patrick or Beck would like it very much if I did that.”
Val chuckled and shook his head. “No, I don’t think they would. But if you go for it and want me to give you a ride around the loop, you just let me know.”
Lucy laughed. “You’re full of it. I thought you had a woman in your sights.”
“I do. But I’m still a guy with needs.”
“You’re full of shit is what you are,” she said with a laugh before she sipped from her beer.
Ransome nodded solemnly and gestured at Val, sitting next to him, with his thumb. “Horndog. Watch out, Lucy.”
“Whatever,” Lucy said with a smile as Val winked at her, letting her know he was full of bull. He and Ransome were her friends. She knew that much. Very tall, very sexy friends. But just friends.
Her core tightened with anticipation to see Patrick and Beck. If she was lucky, maybe they’d already arrived at the table in the Expo Center.
The blazing hot sun had finally set and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. The day had been a hot one just as predicted. It seemed that the number of people at the gathering also swelled as the sun went down.
They walked back from the concession stand area, near the parade route, and through the maze of tents set up selling all sorts of items the bikers might be interested in.
There were booths that stocked leathers that could be custom sewn for bike seats and accessories, leathers for wearing, and there was even a man set up to do custom paint jobs on bikes. His unique hook was that his paints were purported to have authentic pirate’s blood mixed into them. Lucy wasn’t sure how he could prove it but thought it was a rather ingenious selling point nonetheless.
She and Jayne paused in their walk to look into a booth that was crowded with people.
“What’s happening in there?”
“Body painting,” Ransome said in his raspy voice as he pointed to the banner hanging from the tent. “She and her partner are well known. Lee sells sex toys and her partner does the body painting.”
“Sex toys?” Jayne asked. “Body painting?”
Lucy chuckled and said, “Come on, Jayne. Let’s get you and your virgin eyes back to the exhibition hall.”
“Hey, I do not have virgin eyes,” she said with a giggle. “I’m as big a pervert as any of you.”
All four of them laughed at her insistent statement. They stopped at another booth that displayed body jewelry.
She asked the guy behind the table how to apply them and he told her having someone suck her nipples to peak them first would get the best application. Lucy fought laughter when he eagerly offered to show Jayne how the temporary stick-on nipple jewelry worked. Jayne gasped and held her hands over her breasts but wound up buying two sets, without the demonstration. She was beet red by the time they walked away with her purchase but she laughed and looked very lighthearted for the rest of the walk back to the Expo Center.
Jayne gasped moments later as an all-terrain vehicle rolled past them with people standing, holding on to the frame in back.