Chapter 81

Kiki Sato woke to the sound of Maria something-or-other being vigorously fucked somewhere nearby. She cracked an eye open to get her bearings. She was lying naked in Nick’s bed and spooned up against the back of Sarah Parrish Masterson-Stone and Nick’s arms were wrapped around the two of them. By process of elimination, the person fucking Maria was almost certainly Sarah’s husband Guy.

“What time is it?” muttered Sarah. When Nick told her, she chuckled. “I guess we’ll get some sleep on the plane.”

And that was the extent of Sarah’s reaction to the sound of her husband pounding into another woman hard enough to make her yip like a small dog. Pressed up against her, Kiki would have felt any tension Sarah was holding in her body, but the beautiful blonde was relaxed as she nestled into Nick’s shoulder and ran her hands up and down his body. When Sarah wriggled out of bed, Nick rolled on his back and threw his arm across his eyes to try to block out the sun and go back to sleep.

Kiki only looked over at Guy and Maria after Sarah had disappeared into the bathroom. The petite Italian woman was nearly invisible from that angle. Guy’s broad back hid everything but the soles of her feet which emerged over his shoulders as he loomed over the leather recliner where she was seated and drove into her. If not for her frequent exclamations of pleasure, it would be easy to miss the fact that Maria was even in the room.

Kiki debated joining them, but the armchair was crowded enough with two people and Kiki, for all of her forwardness, didn’t relish the idea of cramming herself in somewhere she hadn’t been invited. She glanced over at Nick and, while she knew the billionaire would respond enthusiastically to whatever she offered, experience told her he would really rather go back to sleep.

Instead, she followed her initial instinct and, when she heard the shower start, followed Sarah into the bathroom. The young bride gestured an invitation as soon as she saw Kiki and in moments the two were being massaged by powerful streams of hot water that came in from three directions at once. Sarah drew Kiki into a full-body hug and played a bar of soap across her shoulders. “Kiki, I am so glad we got to spend some time together before we went back to Montana.”

Kiki kissed the crook of Sarah’s neck, eliciting a shiver. “It would have been a shame to miss out on the fun.”

Sarah ran the soap down Kiki’s spine. “Any chance you might come with Nick when he flies out in a couple of weeks?”

“I don’t think I’m really the Montana type,” said Kiki automatically.

Sarah cupped Kiki’s ass in one hand. “Isn’t that the whole point of traveling - going places where you’re not like everybody else?”

“Kiki is unique wherever she goes, even when she stays at home.”

Sarah kissed Kiki’s temple. “I don’t doubt it.”

Kiki hadn’t really expected to like Sarah very much. The two of them were just such different people, but all the things where she’d thought they would rub each other the wrong way, they just seemed to delight each other. It would be easy to fall in love with Sarah. But, Kiki had come in here with a question in mind and she had to ask it. She led in with, “You seem really happy.”

Sarah laughed. “I think I might be the happiest girl in the world. I don’t think anybody deserves to be as happy as I am right now.”

Kiki rested her head against Sarah’s clavicle to hide her frown. Talk about people not deserving happiness smacked of religion to her and added to her confusion about the Stones - one that predated meeting Sarah and Guy Masterson-Stone. It had been growing from the night of Nick’s Independence Day party, but it had really crystallized around the hunky cowboy and his ridiculously pretty wife. Based on the first nineteen years of her life, Kiki had thought she had a pretty good idea of how the world worked, particularly when it came to sex. Everything she’d experienced first- or second-hand told her that the only way to really enjoy sex was to never let anyone think they had a right to make decisions on your behalf. People got into relationships because they liked drama more than they liked sex then subsequently got married because they’d stopped enjoying either.

After dabbling with dating as a teenager, Kiki had quickly come to the conclusion that relationships weren’t for her. While her mother was trying to shop her to “legitimate Hollywood,” Kiki had fallen in with classmates and former classmates who worked in porn and porn-adjacent industries. She’d been ambivalent about the possibility of going into the business herself, but liked the matter-of-fact attitude towards one of her favorite activities. In comparison, even the professional models she ended up working with often seemed relatively stodgy and self-sabotaging. Many of the girls had “serious boyfriends” back home, but the ones who remained faithful to those boyfriends were rare.

Kiki had of course heard about swingers and swappers and the polyamorous, but her limited contact with people who described themselves as such suggested they were largely cut from the same drama-seeking cloth as the monogamous, possibly moreso. It wasn’t until she’d started hanging around with members of the Stone family in significant numbers that she saw something genuinely different from what she expected. Even at the beginning, she’d assumed the Stones were just better at hiding their dysfunction.

When Nick and Pilar first hooked up, Kiki had assumed it was the beginning of the end for her in their lives. She’d seen enough free spirits pair off and immediately start to disavow all previous associations and thought she knew Pilar well enough to make assumptions. Subsequent events and a long meandering conversation with Artemis about her history had added to Kiki’s understanding of how many of the Stones operated, but it was really Guy and Sarah who’d caught her attention. Ever since meeting them, Kiki had been watching for some sign that they weren’t as ridiculously happy as they seemed. She’d made a half-hearted attempt to climb into bed with them the night before the Hamilton performance, wanting to see first-hand how they reacted to having a woman between them.

Kiki assumed she missed her chance (if she’d ever had one) and went on with her life. Yesterday, when she’d realized Nick was probably making his way around to asking her to join the three of them, it had taken all of Kiki’s self-restraint not to rush him to the point. If things went horribly wrong, she didn’t want to leave Nick with the impression that it had been her idea.

She’d been so eager, she’d hardly registered Nick’s caveats about Maria. Kiki barely even remembered Maria from Italy and mentally wrote off the talk about catching her spying as Stone family politics. She still didn’t know what to make of the dynamic between Nick and Maria or the way Guy had treated the young Italian woman based on Nick’s example. Even as she’d been carefully watching Sarah for any signs of secret unhappiness, Kiki had been distractingly aroused by the strange combination of merciless manhandling and the two men’s obvious desire to give Maria as much pleasure as they could.

And then at some point, Kiki had stopped watching for anything at all. There had been a moment late at night in which she and Guy and Sarah and Nick had been intertwined, kissing and fucking and stroking each other with such intensity, affection, and focus that the whole world shrank down to that room, that bed, and the four of them. Even Maria dozing on a nearby couch disappeared for a while. Kiki felt like she could have happily lived her whole life inside that moment.

By that point, she already knew that Nick and Pilar had shared a similar night with Guy and Sarah right before they all went to see Hamilton. She couldn’t help wishing that she’d been there instead of only getting to spend one night with Nick and Sarah and Guy before two of them flew back out to the middle of nowhere. Of course, in order to do that, she really should have accepted Nick’s invitation to go to Guy and Sarah’s wedding in the first place.

Kiki didn’t exactly regret turning Nick down at the time. She had a strict “no regrets” policy. Besides, it had been important at the time to establish that she wasn’t Nick’s girlfriend and that he shouldn’t have any expectations. If she hadn’t, they might have a very different relationship now or, more likely, no relationship at all.

Still cuddled up to Sarah, Kiki said, “So, are you trying to find a graceful way to cancel your flight home and delay it for another month or two now that you’ve experienced Kiki?”

Sarah laughed again. “Well, you have certainly not made leaving any easier. I can tell you that.” She kissed Kiki with intent. “It would be a scootch easier if we could make a date for when you came to visit us in our home, though.”

Kiki raised a skeptical eyebrow. “In Montana?”

Sarah nodded. “That is where we’ll be living for the foreseeable future. Guy’s supposed to be learning how to run the resort and I start college next week.”

Kiki playfully scraped her teeth over Sarah’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure what we did last night is illegal in Montana.”

Sarah giggled. “I’m pretty sure what we did last night is illegal everywhere, all things considered. Isn’t the idea that you’re getting away with something you shouldn’t half the fun of sex?”

Kiki shook her head. “I have some issues with those proportions, but I can embrace the sentiment.” Not really changing the subject, she added, “I’m still not sure what we were supposed to be trying to accomplish with Maria, but it felt a bit transgressive.”

Sarah smirked. “Is that a code word for ‘hot?’”

Kiki laughed. “Maybe. It was pretty hot, wasn’t it?”

Sarah hugged her close. “I enjoyed it. I never thought I’d actually get a chance to finger a real live spy.”

From the moment Sarah had gripped Kiki’s ass with one hand, that hand had been inching downward like it was waiting for the right opportunity to do more. Now, it glided down between Kiki’s legs as if to illustrate the wordplay. Kiki sighed and closed her eyes for a few long seconds. She’d slept a little, but she hadn’t really come down from the activities of the previous night and her body was still quick to respond. As she felt the pleasure rise, she said breathily, “I need to ask you something that might sound rude.”

Sarah didn’t answer immediately, focusing instead on teasing pleasure out of Kiki’s sex until she was rewarded with a low moan. Then, she said, “I suppose you’ve earned yourself at least one rude question - maybe two if they’re not terribly rude.”

Kiki nodded and noticed she was clinging to Sarah’s upper arms for balance. With breath at a premium, she asked simply, “Being married, don’t you miss your freedom?”

Sarah took a long time thinking about that question, her fingers teasing Kiki the whole time - long enough for Kiki to start wondering if she’d actually asked the question out loud or just meant to. Finally, she said, “When I was still a teenager in my parents’ house, I used to fantasize about being free to do what I wanted and I was terrified that someone would find a way to ensnare me so that I could never leave Mather Parish. I got out. I moved to Shreveport. I got a job and started taking classes. It was hard, but it was wonderful too because I was free. I could run off to New Orleans or Richmond without telling anybody provided I was back in time for work. I could kiss people I didn’t really know. I certainly wasn’t in a rush to get married.”

Kiki bit down on Sarah’s shoulder hard enough to get a reaction and whispered an apology. Sarah smiled her acceptance and went on. “I like the freedom I have now more.”

It was some time before Kiki could ask a follow-up question. As much fun as Kiki’d had before hooking up with Nick and Pilar, nearly all of her best sexual experiences had come since and last night had been right up near the top. And what the greedy little teenage boy in charge of her libido wanted more than anything was for it to keep going as long as possible. She could imagine lying in bed all day surrounded by those beautiful people and having them cater to her desires while servants brought enough food and drink to keep them from passing out. Lacking that, she would settle for getting finger-banged by a pretty cowgirl in the shower and, when she could focus enough to do so, returning the favor.

Once they were out of the shower and toweling each other off, Kiki said, “So, what do you do now if you want to run off to Richmond for a weekend?”

“It hasn’t really come up yet, but I imagine I would talk to Guy about it and, if he didn’t convince me it was a bad idea, either he’d come with me or we’d pick a date when it made sense.” Sarah shrugged. “Do you know what I was planning to do the day I met Guy?”

Kiki looked back over her shoulder at Sarah. “Find yourself a gorgeous cowboy and marry him?”

Sarah laughed. “Not at all. Actually, I was mad as Hell at my roommate because we’d been planning to go to Greece together on vacation and I’d spent three years saving for the trip, but she got engaged at the last minute and decided to save the money for a wedding dress. Plus, she stuck us with her part of the rent. I called her a stupid little girl who couldn’t wait to be treated like a child again. It wasn’t my proudest moment.”

Kiki had started thinking Sarah might just be too nice for her own good and was a bit relieved to hear she could at least say regrettable things once in a while. “You must have been pretty angry.”

“I was madder than hornets,” agreed Sarah.

“Was she, though?” Kiki prompted.

“Was she ... angry?” Sarah frowned, confused.

Kiki clarified. “No, I mean ... was she looking for someone to treat her like a child? I don’t think I could stand letting someone else tell me where I could or couldn’t go.”

Sarah kissed Kiki’s shoulder. “Well, that’s the thing. I was pretty much letting everybody tell me where I could and couldn’t go. Maribel decided I couldn’t go to Greece because she wanted a pretty dress. My boss decided how far I could travel when she made my work schedule. And living so close to home, my parents still exerted a lot of pressure on all sorts of decisions. I wanted to go to school, but I couldn’t afford the time away from work. I wanted to get a better job, but I lacked the education. I wanted...” She broke off her thought. “Can I ask you something that might be a little rude?”

Kiki looked back at her. “Go ahead.”

Sarah held her fractionally closer. “Well ... I get the sense that you’re kind of legendary around here for your promiscuity. And I just know that, after I got away from home and found a place to live and a job and didn’t have to worry about a roof over my head or food on the table, there was a point where all I wanted to do was make up for all the sex I wasn’t having back in Mather Parish, but it just seemed so dangerous ... not the sex part, but the rest of it. Every man I considered sleeping with either wanted to own me or to mistreat me for not being anybody’s property. It was just glue traps and violence around every corner. Were you ever too scared to just go for it and, if so, how did you get over it?”

Kiki’s initial instinct was to say that Kiki had always refused to be afraid of anything - a statement that was true enough, but not the whole story. She hadn’t always been “Kiki” and what Sarah was asking about reached back to when she’d just been teenager Yuriko Sato. Normally, that time was nobody’s business. But, most people didn’t really want to hear about it either, even when they asked. They wanted to believe that Kiki was eternal. Sarah might well come to find out that people were discomfited by her very normal history as she found her place in Guy’s world of non-monogamy. It seemed only fair that Kiki warn her. She thought back to the days before she’d accepted the mantle of Kiki and said, “Back in high school before I could decide who I really wanted to be, people decided for me that I was a slut. That meant they thought they could treat me like a slut. In hindsight, I suppose I could have worked to repair my reputation, but actually being a slut is a lot more fun than being a penitent. So, I didn’t have much to lose by acting the way everybody expected me to.”

Sarah paused and absorbed what Kiki had said before asking. “But, how did you stay out of trouble?”

Kiki laughed. “I didn’t. I accepted that trouble was my due and learned to navigate around the worst of it.”

“But, what about real trouble ... not like trouble with your folks or teachers, but like...” Sarah struggled to find the words.

Kiki turned in Sarah’s arms to face her. “I’m talking about real trouble. I had a lot of it early on and again right before I decided it was time to leave LA for good. Eventually, I developed my creep radar and, when there was real trouble brewing with a guy I was fucking, I could always find another guy to help me out of it because he wanted to fuck me and hadn’t yet.”

Sarah frowned. “So, why did you leave LA?”

Kiki lowered her head for a moment. “I ended up in a situation with a guy where getting me away from him would have been more trouble than it was worth. He’s got reasons to never come to New York, so this was a logical place to set up shop. Once I got here, I made sure to never let anybody think they owned any part of me. As soon as there was a hint of expectation, whatever we had was over.”

“And that worked for you?”

“Sort of. I don’t always make the best choices when I’m horny ... or drunk ... or drunk and horny ... or on Molly.” Kiki laughed. “I still sometimes get mixed up with guys who don’t take well to being told Kiki is done with them and getting away from them can be complicated. Right about the time I met Nick, I’d decided I needed to take a break from my regular scene and let things cool down. That was why I asked Nick out in the first place.”

“You thought you would cool things down by hooking up with a polyamorous billionaire?” Sarah sounded doubtful.

Kiki laughed. “I didn’t know he was a billionaire when I asked him out and I don’t think he was polyamorous until I broke him a little. I just thought he was some college guy making funny videos.”

The explanation of that lasted long enough for them to finish their shower, towel off, and find themselves lying naked together on a bed of no obvious provenance. Sarah appeared to be in no rush to join the others for breakfast and Kiki didn’t want their interlude to end either. The whole time they spoke, they laid close together, touching and stroking each other in ways not entirely sexual, but far from innocent. Finally, Sarah said, “What are you going to do if Nick wants something from you that you’re not willing to give him?”

Kiki understood that the question wasn’t just about herself, but about Sarah herself. She answered thoughtfully. “I trust Nick to be the rare kind of guy who will take ‘no’ for an answer even when he can force the issue and get away with it. If he’s not...” She shrugged. “If he’s really got us all fooled and it’s all been some long con leading to something bad, I’m pretty sure we’re well and truly fucked. No one can save us and there isn’t really anywhere we can go that he can’t follow.”

“Guy would try,” Sarah said with firm certainty. “One of the reasons I’m head-over-heels in love with my husband is because I believe he will do everything in his power to keep me safe - even if it means reaching for power he doesn’t currently have. I don’t imagine Nick is going to turn evil on us, but if he did, Guy would fight him hard ... even if he knew he was going to lose.”

Kiki didn’t realize she was misting up at that until she heard it in her own voice. “Nick offered to make a movie just so I could be in it.”

Sarah wrinkled her nose. “He did?”

Kiki nodded. “I told him about this guy I left LA to get away from and how he held the possibility of casting me in a movie over my head. Nick’s first reaction was to offer to spend millions of dollars so that no one would have that kind of power over me. He was totally serious and I think he would have gone through with it even if I’d broken things off with him otherwise. I was sick when I met Nick and he insisted on nursing me back to health before we had sex the first time - even after I kind of threw myself at him. The real reason I’d be completely fucked if he ever turned on me is because, at some point, he’s become the guy I trust absolutely to help me get out of any screwed up situation I get myself into.”

Sarah stroked Kiki’s hair. “Would you marry him if he asked you?”

Kiki laughed. “God, no. That would ruin everything.”

Sarah kissed Kiki’s nose. “Even if it was like me and Guy ... or like you and him are now? What if he didn’t want to change anything at all except to have a big party and be able to call you his wife?”

Kiki rubbed her nose and wondered why Sarah’s gesture didn’t annoy her. Finally, she said, “I still think things would change - even if he didn’t want them to, even if I didn’t want them to. People would treat us differently as a married couple. I really like being his demimondaine. It plays to my strengths.”

Sarah stretched out. “I think I would have had to say no if Guy asked me to be his demimondaine. Being his wife plays to my strengths and, when I said yes, I assumed he would be my guide into the world he lived in, but since we’ve been married, I’ve actually driven both of the big choices in that department. I chose to hook up with Diantha and swapping with Nick and Pilar was my idea. I had to talk him into it.”

Kiki was about to ask who Diantha was when Sarah’s stomach rumbled audibly. Sarah blushed. “Maybe we should get some breakfast?”

Kiki sighed and sat up. “Yeah, all right. Are you sure you don’t want to stick around for another week or six? This conversation was getting good.”

Sarah sat up and scooted towards the end of the bed. “Come see us in Montana in a few weeks once we’re settled in?”

Kiki rose and sighed. “I’m not sure I’m going to be invited. I gave Nick a really hard ‘no’ on the subject last time.”

Sarah gave her a look. “I don’t believe for a second that you couldn’t wrangle an invitation by just hinting that you might like to see the place for yourself, but I’m sure I could get the same thing if I just told him I wanted you there.”

Kiki rolled her eyes. “Fine, but if it’s boring, I expect you to keep me amused until we come back.”

“Deal.” Sarah slipped out the door.

They eventually joined Nick, Guy, and Maria at breakfast. By that point, the three of them were mostly done eating and sat drinking coffee and talking. To an uninformed observer, it might be obvious that Maria with her tangled hair and half-lidded eyes had spent the night being fucked by one or both men, but there was no sign of the weird tension that had been present during the actual fucking.

Kiki had never had much of a taste for BDSM. She didn’t enjoy giving or receiving pain and dominant-submissive relationships just seemed like worse versions of monogamy to her. But, she’d seen enough of it from the sidelines to understand that there could be a sharp divide between the way people treated each other during sex and the way they behaved the rest of the time. The way Nick and Maria (and by extension Guy and Maria) acted, it seemed like they were likely to become friends.

Conversation while Kiki and Sarah ate was light, but Sarah still managed to slip in at the first opportunity and ask, “Will you bring Kiki with you when you come to visit us next?”

Nick immediately glanced at Kiki who kept her face carefully neutral, curious as to how he would respond. He said, “Kiki is more than welcome to join us in Montana, but she’s already turned down such an invitation once.”

When Sarah looked at her expectantly, Kiki tilted her head. Not wanting to appear too eager, she said, “Maybe we can negotiate a short trip to Green Mountainside. I’ll let you know, Sarah.”

Nick raised an eyebrow at her and Kiki wasn’t sure if it was because of her change of position on Montana or because she’d mentioned negotiation. As she ate, Kiki scrambled for something she could request in return for taking a trip she’d already decided she wanted to go on.

Too soon, it was time for Sarah and Guy to catch their flight. The leave-taking was surprisingly poignant considering they would all see each other again in a few weeks. For all that Guy and Sarah were eager to get home, they clearly didn’t want to leave.

Still, they did eventually, leaving Kiki alone with Nick in his apartment. Maria had left earlier to set up her new place downstairs. Before Nick could say anything, Kiki asked, “What’s the deal with you and Maria?”

Nick chuckled and pushed his hair back from his forehead. “Was that too weird? You seemed...”

Kiki interrupted him. “No, it was ... maybe it was weird, but it was pretty hot. At first, I thought you must be genuinely angry at her, but if you are, you have a funny way of showing it.”

As they’d walked Sarah and Guy to the door to say their goodbyes, Nick slipped his arm around Kiki’s waist and led her back into the apartment proper. “Would it be okay to say I don’t entirely know what the deal is with me and Maria yet? She seems happy and I’m certainly not unhappy to have her around.”

Kiki looked up at him. “Do you like her personally? You seemed friendly enough at breakfast.”

“I think I do. I definitely did before I found out she was spying on me and I’m not sure I can really blame her for that. Threnody offered her something tempting before she’d even met me and I think she might be a little bit in love with Threnody.”

“So, why are you fucking her?” Kiki asked, genuinely curious.

Nick placed his hands on Kiki’s waist and turned so that they were facing each other. “Because I’ve wanted to fuck her since the first time I met her and I really want to see if I can take her away from Threnody completely.”

Kiki shivered at the odd note in his voice. “Does Maria know that’s what you’re trying to do?”

Nick shrugged. “I told her up front that I knew she was spying and that she was welcome to stay here anyway. I figured that would kill any chance of sex between us, but she didn’t seem to think so. Instead, she told me I should fuck her like I’d caught her spying on me.”

Kiki shook her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but your family is kind of fucked up, Nick.”

“Granted.” Nick gave her a meaningful look. “But, if nothing else, they’ve taught me to be a better negotiator.”

The intensity with which he met Kiki’s eyes made her shiver and glance away from him. She almost lost her nerve for the game in that moment, but she had a feeling Nick was enjoying himself. She looked him in the eyes. “Kiki will come with you to Montana in return for a promise, a demand, and a request. First, promise me we don’t have to go to any weddings. I don’t like them.”

Nick chuckled. “No weddings ever or just no weddings while we’re on this trip to Montana?”

Kiki had meant the latter, but opportunistically said, “How about ever?”

Nick considered that. “The Stones throw some amazing parties for their weddings, but I’ll certainly respect your wishes if you don’t want to go to any of them.”

“Good,” said Kiki.

Nick smirked. “We’re agreed then. I promise not to force you to go to any weddings ever. What’s your demand?”

Kiki gave Nick the best imperious look she could manage with a man a head taller and absurdly wealthier than her. “You will come to Kiki’s apartment tomorrow night at nine and go along with what she has planned for you.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Anything? I do have some limits, Keek.”

Kiki pressed herself closer to him and rested her hands on his hips to parallel the way he was holding her. “Do you trust me to know and respect them?”

“Of course.” Nick nodded immediately, then added, “I’m not sure I know what they are entirely anymore, but I don’t think they’re getting narrower.”

Kiki slid her hands up. “Does that mean you’ll be there?” When Nick nodded, she added, “Then I’ll come to Missouri with you.”

“Montana,” Nick corrected her. “I thought there was a third part of this negotiation.”

“It’s a request - in case I’ve misjudged your limits. You can say no and I’ll still come to Mississippi with you,” said Kiki.

Nick smirked. “I’m tempted to draw this out until you run out of states that start with M.”

“Then I can move on to Mexico, Monterey, Mars...” Kiki returned his smirk. “I’ll get on that plane and you can take me wherever you like. In the meantime...”

“Yes?” Nick looked her up and down.

Kiki finally had to break eye contact. “Would you fuck me like you just caught me spying on you for a little while?”

Nick’s hands left her hips only to settle a moment later in front of her. She’d changed into a pair of jean shorts for breakfast and he gripped the snap at the front of them. “Would you like that?”

“I didn’t think I would, but I think I might with you,” Kiki admitted.

Nick unsnapped her shorts, gripped them in both hands and tugged them off. By accident or by design, he managed to take her thong with them. Kiki gasped as he lifted her by the waist, carried her to a couch, and bent her over the back of it. Before she could comment, he was sliding a finger between her legs. Kiki closed her eyes and felt the pleasure rise.