Radclyffe - Turn Back Time

"Look," Pearce said so abruptly Mark jumped, "she's a surgery resident. What more do you need to know? She probably doesn't have time for a social life. Go sniff around one of the nurses."

"Some of us don't have your luck," he said good-naturedly.

"Maybe if you tried not to drool quite so much, you'd get somewhere." Pearce wanted him off the subject of Wynter. She'd seen the attention Wynter got from the male residents when they all hung out together in the surgeons' lounge between cases. If they weren't blatantly staring at her, they were striking up a conversation. Circling her, like a pack of dogs around a new bitch in the park. Feeling her out, trying to get a sense of whether she was interested. Pearce hadn't seen any sign of Wynter returning the interest, but she wasn't entirely certain she would recognize the subtle signs between women and men. It wasn't something she usually paid any attention to. Most of the time the men's attention to Wynter made her so antsy, she had to leave the room. She kept having fantasies of stuffing their heads in the freezer.

"Can I ask you something?" Mark asked.

Pearce regarded him suspiciously. He swayed, even though he had an elbow on the bar, and his gestures were expansive, as if he were an actor on a stage playing to the audience seated in the back row of the balcony. He'd clearly had one too many beers. "Are you driving somewhere tonight?"

"Nah. I'm staying at José's over at Forty-second and Spruce."

Pearce made a mental note to make sure that José, another resident, was actually riding herd on Mark. "Where are your car keys?"

"He took him...them." Mark smiled beneficently and bumped Pearce's shoulder. "How did you know you were...you know."

"You mean, like, gay?" Pearce stared at him in astonishment. All the guys pretty much knew her story, because she was certain it was one of the first things they told the new residents when they started. The fact that the chairman's daughter was a fellow resident and a lesbian was too good a topic of conversation not to share. But it was rare for one of them to really ask her about it, other than the occasional joke or innuendo.

"Yeah. That."

"When did you first start thinking about girls like they were different than boys?"

Mark's brow creased as he considered the question. "I don't know.

When I was six, maybe?"

"Me too."

"No shit." Mark grinned. "Cool."

"Yeah." Pearce didn't see any point in disillusioning him. Instead, when Mark ambled away in search of more loquacious company, she watched the crowd, listening to the sound level increase as the night wore on and the liquor flowed. She was nursing her second beer when Tammy walked in. The small, tight-bodied blond cut a path straight through the crowd toward her.

"Hey there," Tammy said, turning sideways against the bar so her inside thigh slipped behind Pearce's leg.

"You're kind of late getting started, aren't you?" Pearce said, aware of Tammy's crotch pressed against her hip.

"Oh no. I've been partying, but it broke up early. We ran out of coke."

Pearce glanced around quickly, but it was already going on two and everyone was pretty well lubricated. No one was listening to their conversation. "You might not want to advertise that." She took a closer look at Tammy's face and saw the pinpoint pupils and the flush that suffused her neck. "How much have you been doing?"

"Enough to get me really jazzed." Tammy snaked a hand around Pearce's leg and cupped her crotch. She squeezed, her thumb working the lower edge of Pearce's fly over her clit. "I'm so horny."

"Chee-rist," Pearce muttered, slamming her beer down on the bar.

She peeled Tammy's fingers from between her legs and kept a grip on her wrist to prevent another grope. "Who did you come with?"

"Alice. I think. Or maybe she left before we got here. We hit a few other places on the way."

Pearce started off into the crowd, Tammy in tow. "We're getting out of here."

"That's exactly what I was hoping."

"José," Pearce called in passing.

"Yo."

"Watch Perlman."

"Yo, boss."

Pearce flagged a cab and they piled into the backseat. She would have walked had she been alone, but there was no way that Tammy was going to make it on foot. As it was, Pearce had all she could do to keep Tammy's hands out of her pants and her tongue out of her mouth. She kept up a steady defense all the way back to her apartment. She tossed the amused cabbie a ten when he pulled up in front of her apartment.

"Thanks."

She pulled Tammy out of the backseat.

"Good luck," the cabbie called.

Pearce could hear him laughing as she slammed the door. She took Tammy's hand again. "Come on. Let's get inside."

Tammy continued her assault all the way upstairs, and when Pearce finally managed to get her apartment door open, Tammy picked up the pace. The instant Pearce closed the door, she was on her, her hands in Pearce's hair, her teeth on Pearce's neck. She thrust her pelvis between Pearce's legs, grinding into her, her breath rasping. "I'm so hot. Mmm, I'm gonna come so hard for you."

"Tam, let's take this over to the couch," Pearce said, jerking her neck out of range and twisting away. She could feel Tammy's pulse hammering beneath her fingers as she continued to hold her wrist. She was willing to bet her blood pressure was through the roof, and the last thing she wanted was to precipitate a confrontation. What Tammy needed was to settle down, not get more excited. "Come on."

"Oh yeah. Better over there. Come on, baby. Hurry." Tammy rushed to the sofa and, the instant they were seated, threw her leg over Pearce's and half climbed into her lap. "Play with my nipples, baby. I love it when you do that."

"Let's go slow. There's no rush," Pearce said soothingly, easing Tammy down beside her and turning so they faced one another. She kissed her gently. "That's nice. Nice and easy."

"I don't wanna go easy," Tammy protested, her hand on her own breast, tugging feverishly. "I wanna fuck. I wanna fuck so bad."

"In a little while." Pearce had seen Tammy like this before--it was one of the reasons they were no longer going out together. Pearce wasn't into drugs, and although she didn't mind when others indulged in a little recreational use, Tammy had been getting in deeper and deeper, and nothing Pearce said could stop her. She knew what Tammy would do when she was like this. She leaned over and pulled a light cotton blanket from the shelf underneath the coffee table and stood up, handing the blanket to Tammy. "I gotta take a shower, baby. Take your clothes off and cover up. I'll be right back."

"You don't need a shower. You're just fine. You always taste so good." Tammy was frantically peeling down her jeans. "Don't go anywhere."

"Get undressed. I'll be right back." Pearce disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door. Despite the excuse to escape, she really did need a shower to get rid of the scent of the bar and the sweat she'd worked up keeping Tammy at bay. She washed her hair again, thinking that she'd had two women who'd been more than willing to hop into bed in the last month, and this time, she hadn't even been tempted.

Tammy was a skilled lover when she wasn't coked out of her mind, and even high, she'd always managed to satisfy. Tonight, Pearce hadn't felt anything except concern and sadness.

When she judged enough time had gone by, she emerged in the robe she kept behind the bathroom door. Tammy was stretched out on the sofa, her body forming a soft curve under the blanket, her head pillowed on her bent arm. Pearce crossed to her and knelt on the floor by her head.

"You shouldn't have left me, baby," Tammy said drowsily, her expression lax, her eyes dazed. "I couldn't wait for you."

Pearce stroked her hair, having counted on this happening. "You feel a little better?"