Chapter 44: A Well-Rounded Education

Alex

2031

"So, this is your new apartment," Karen remarked when Alex had pushed open the door. "It's small but it's better than what I've got. Nice location, too."

Alex nodded. It was a very much smaller than the house whose mortgage he was continuing to pay that was now in Isobel's exclusive possession and where his daughter was free to scream and bawl all night long with no risk of disturbing him. There might be benefits in living alone, but one most definitely was not the size of accommodation he could afford to buy at such short notice.

"What does your wife think?" asked Karen as she waltzed past Alex to survey the kitchen, bathroom, living room and finally the bedroom of the freshly painted apartment. "She is still your wife, isn't she?"

"We've separated," said Alex. "Not divorced."

"And all because of little old me," said Karen with an irrepressible giggle in her voice as she bent forward to kiss her older lover. "I feel flattered. Really I do."

"But it doesn't change anything for you, does it?" Alex wondered sadly.

"Of course not, silly," said Karen. "You're far too old for me. And besides, I've got other boyfriends. It's one thing to share lovers when you live alone. It's another thing altogether if I were to move in. How would you like it if you found me having sex with someone else when you came home? How would you feel if another man wanted to stay overnight? And I don't think I fancy a ménage a trois either. A threesome now and then is good fun. But every night..."

"I know. I know."

"Still, it's a great little flat you've got, Alex," said Karen with enthusiasm. "So I guess I'll be visiting you now rather than the other way round. I can't imagine you'd appreciate me just turning up at any old time though; just in case you've got another woman sharing your bed."

"There's only you, Karen," said Alex sadly.

"And then there was only one..." said Karen. "You've got greedy, you know. You won't be satisfied with only me coming round a couple of times a week. You'll want someone else. In fact, I insist on it. I don't want to think of you being all alone when I'm having sex with Karl."

"Is Karl your boyfriend?"

"Does it matter, Alex? He's a guy I know. And Pete, Aaron, Ollie, and others. I know a lot of guys. Some are friends. Some are fucks. Some are both. Just don't worry about it and we'll be fine." Karen placed the palm of her hand on Alex's crotch. "You feel fine already. In the bedroom?"

"Yes," said Alex while Karen pushed open the door that was already slightly ajar. Like everything else in the apartment, the bedroom was hurriedly and freshly decorated. The furniture, fittings and all the pictures on the wall were bought as a single item from John Lewis at Brent Cross. It already had the feel of a bachelor pad with yesterday's underwear overflowing the laundry basket and pyjamas strewn over the pillow.

Karen picked up the pyjama trousers and held them between her thumb and forefingers as if they were contaminated. "You're clearly not getting enough sex," she said disdainfully. "Come on, Alex. Take off your clothes. We're not going to fuck with you still wearing those designer jeans. And what's with the fucking tee-shirt. Just what or who is Oasis?"

"It was a popular rock group when I was younger," said Alex.

"Never heard of them," said Karen who disposed of her own clothes with much more alacrity than Alex. She always seemed most comfortable when in the nude. Alex had asked her whether she was a naturist or the child of naturists, but she'd said she couldn't see the point of such nonsense. As far as she was concerned, whether to wear clothes or not wasn't an issue to ever get hung up about.

The two lovers lay on Alex's bed with the duvet pushed onto the floor while, as always, Karen took the sexual lead. Alex's penis was pumped, sucked, chewed and finally pushed deep inside a vagina that swallowed it whole within its warm liquid embrace. Alex had the feeling that he'd finally returned home after several weeks of denial during which he'd moved out of a larger home and hurried into his new apartment. There'd been no one to keep him company at the Holiday Inn where he'd stayed between leaving one home and moving into the next.

"How did your wife find out about me?" asked Karen when, still perspiring, Alex slumped back onto his back. Why did she always ask questions like that when he was least able to formulate a rational reply?

"Isobel hired a private investigator," said Alex. "It was done very professionally. Ultimately paid for, of course, by me."

"Ironic that."

"That's what marriage is all about. Shared bank accounts. What's mine is yours. That sort of stuff."

"You weren't thinking of sharing me with your wife were you, Alex?"

"Sorry?"

"What's mine is yours."

"No, never crossed my mind. Would it have been a good idea?"

"I don't think so. I might like a lot of things, but I'm pretty straight on the whole. And I don't think your wife would have appreciated it."

"She wouldn't have appreciated it at all," Alex echoed remorsefully.

"What did she have to say?"

"She didn't have to say anything. That was handled by the private detective agency. As I said, they were very professional."

"I don't understand."