Chapter 17: Turning Point

MME BERTHA’S SMILE when I returned to the capital was a knowing one, and I was pretty sure if she didn’t have all the details yet she’d soon get a full briefing from Sofía. A very slight stiffness in her walk for a couple of days seemed to be the only lasting physical result of our weekend. If Mme Bertha had any doubts, Sofía’s Cheshire cat grin answered the question her aunt had not asked aloud.

Without saying anything Mme Bertha somehow communicated that she would not interrupt or complain should Sofía and I seek private time. How does one conduct an employee-employer relationship if one is sleeping with the employee? The answer is simple: it can’t be done. I considered firing Sofía with a severance that would see her through the remaining time she was scheduled to help Mme Bertha. She persuaded me that she wouldn’t accept it, that she could keep her personal feelings for me separate from her responsibilities in the household, and that she’d refuse the severance and walk out if I attempted to change her employment.

I wasn’t sure how serious she was but I knew her well enough by now to be worried. I thought I heard a rumble from the gods when I was considering that idea, in fact, and I listened.

“Sofía, does Javier ever visit here?”

She stretched, her smooth brown skin reflecting the late afternoon light as we lay together in my bed.

“Sometimes, why?”

“Don’t you ever miss him?”

Her brows furrowed and I thought I saw a flash of sadness. Then she smiled.

“Yes, I do.” She kissed me. “He likes the village, he says, and I believe him.”

“Don’t you think the gods would be pleased to see the two of you together again?”

“Yes.” She fed me a breast and I happily gave her nipple a suck. “But they are pleased with us as well.”

“Invite him, will you?”

She laughed.

“You want another threesome, right?”

“You vixen. Tell me you don’t.”

At that she stretched against me.

“Michael, you know how much I enjoyed our night together.”

I thought I heard a low chuckle.

“I know.”

“Well, you cannot have any doubts about my feelings for you.”

I shook my head.

“So you are the one I love. Oh, I love Javier, too, but not the same way.”

She paused.

“At least not yet.”

With those words I knew we had these moments, these days now to enjoy each other, but the moments and days were numbered even if the exact number was as yet unknown. After she got her degree she planned to return to the village to practice, I already knew that. I also knew what she didn’t seem to want to admit or perhaps wasn’t ready to acknowledge. It was Javier, not I, who would share her life in the years to come.

“Invite him, Sofía.”

I wasn’t being entirely altruistic here. I kind of wanted to test that part of the relationship with the new knowledge Sofía had given me. I admit, having Javier’s cock in my mouth again was a pleasant thought, too.

“OK.”

Mme Bertha was agreeable, and so Javier came for a weekend. We had our threesome and I heard the gods laugh. I heard the gasps and the murmurs and watched the supple intertwining of their bodies and inhaled the romance of sex and the animal side of it provoked me to repeated performances I didn’t think I was capable of. The gods roared, yes, and once more we exhausted ourselves in our flesh.