Chapter 18

I woke up the first time at 3 AM. The girls were sleeping and I woke from a dream that drove sleep from me. In my dream, I had been back in the student union building at my undergrad. I was on the crappy pool tables they had and was desperately trying to sink my combos on the worn-out felt and bouncing off the unresponsive bumpers. There was barely any chalk and the cues were slightly warped. People wandered in and out as I played, and out the window, I saw the landscape shift as the building hurtled along but I ignored it as I focused on each shot as it felt like the table fought against me. For some reason, my life depended on each shot. I don’t think subtlety is a strength of my subconscious.

So, I got up and found myself looking out the window, across the beach and ocean from the tenth floor we were on. I looked back at the bed. Lavi had sprawled herself across Melissa who was on her side facing where I had been. Moonlight came in through the window and it was impossible to not be aroused but I couldn’t bear the idea of waking them. I poured myself a glass of the still open wine and divided my attention between the ocean and the girls until I got sleepy again and crawled into bed where Melissa murmured “come here” and pulled me to her.

I next awoke to sunlight and the best alarm any man can have, the sensation of something warm and friendly on my cock. I started to sit up but then the mouth left and I heard Melissa’s voice firmly say, “Lie down, just enjoy.” Never let it be said I ignore good advice. I closed my eyes again and growled gently in my throat. One of Melissa’s hands moved up my thigh and gently held my balls, massaging them. The other was wrapped around my base. I have had Melissa take her time teasing a gentle build-up from my balls. This was not it. Instead of a light flicking of her tongue around my crown she sucked and stroked me, eager and aggressive.

“That’s it, give me that cum,” she said throatily.

“You’re in a hurry.” I might have panted a few times while trying to say it.

I heard the grin in her voice as she did a bad Chinese accent, “No time for love Mr. Carlo.”

“It’s Saturday and I don’t have my meeting until 2 so there’s plenty of time.”

She jacked me and pushed her throat down slowly suppressing her gag reflex and moved her hand out of the way to deep throat me. Damn, she had been serious when she said she was going to practice. She pulled all the way keeping her eyes on me, said one word, “no” and then went all the way back down again.

“What if I dragged you up here?”

God damn, she pulled up licking me with her tongue all the way up. Then with a very slight smile, she said, “Well, I’d probably spread my legs but later when Lavi gets that strap on you probably won’t get to see her use it on me, which would be a shame, wouldn’t it?” She went back to sucking me and squeezing my balls. In another pause, “Don’t you want to see Lavi’s big tits swinging around while she pounds me? You two could spit roast me and I’ll suck you off while your other wife fills me up.”

That did it, I had been trying to hold back but I think she felt me tighten up and prepare to cum since she held her head back just a bit and angled my cock so it would fly into her mouth and I could see each jet land on her tongue. That didn’t surprise me but the nymph’s next action did. She stood up and was fully dressed in jean shorts and a white t-shirt. She looked so much like she had the first time I met her. But instead of joining me, she tossed me my toiletry kit which had been in my bag and said: “Good boy, wash up.”

I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed my watch. It said 7:30. Something was up. I raised an eyebrow at her. “Where’s Lavi?”

Melissa stood there, clearly making sure I was going to do as instructed. “She’s been doing research.”

“Research?”

“We need to get going, especially if you want breakfast first.”

“What are we doing?”

She told me. I considered arguing. I wanted to argue. Shit, I wanted to pout like the kid whose mom was dragging him to an appointment he didn’t want to go to. But something told me this was not the fight to fight so I trudged into the bathroom and stood in a cold shower. I hate cold showers but apparently a nice beachfront hotel still can’t figure out how to heat water for everyone at once. After becoming presentable I went into the main room and Lavi was also in jean shorts and a t-shirt but hers was sea green. Where Melissa’s was form-fitting but not tight, Lavi’s was easily two sizes too large for her waist but just right for her bust and conveniently tied in front to provide the definition to put her breasts front and center.

I looked up the place on my phone and groused while the girls chatted about what to do while I was in my meeting. I then herded everyone down to the car and we headed to Little Havana. I found a place to park and loaded up the meter with quarters. Within minutes we were at the Versailles breakfast buffet. Two café con leches later with excellent Cuban coffee and I was starting to feel human again. Tostadas with black beans and some plantains were really helping too. The girls had a good appetite too, though the eggs and waffles were more to their liking.

“So, you’ve been here before,” Melissa asked. I must have been starting to look conversational as the last two attempts to talk I’d rebuffed with vague declarations about not being awake enough yet.

“Yeah, it’s been here at least since I was a teenager, and it’d been around a good while even then. By the way, have you heard from Picnic Girl since last night?”

“Picnic girl?” Asked Lavi.

“Yeah, red and white dress; looked like a picnic table cloth.”

Melissa looked at me sternly, “You felt her up last night and can’t remember her name? Just ... Picnic Girl?”

I shrugged. “I’m becoming senile and didn’t sleep well last night. This is your fault for marrying an old man.”

“Satyrs seem to have selective aging,” said Melissa as she cut up honeydew with a butter knife.

I sighed. “What do you want me to call her? The cute brunette with the nice ass?”

Lavi answered, “At least your priorities would be in the right place.” She grinned.

“Her name was Kelly, second year, Georgia, electronic engineering, ring a bell?” Lavi and I nodded solemnly. I’d noticed she had been annoyed like this with Lavi when she hadn’t remembered a few of the rising junior cheerleaders. “Well,” said Melissa, “I snapped her this morning but haven’t heard back. She’s probably busy. Hoping she can come over?”

“Not really,” I said. “I would have been fine with it last night if it just happened but I feel like this really is our honeymoon so I’d prefer just us.”

“Speaking of schedules,” Lavi said, “it’s almost nine.”

I responded, “It’s only a few blocks from this EKP place so we can walk there. I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“You need it,” Lavi said between bites of eggs.

I tried giving her the eye but she was probably right. Even more important, it seemed to matter a lot to them for some reason. And if it was important to them I would accept it, even support it. This was why by 9 AM we were standing in front of EKP Men’s Custom Clothiers as it opened.

An older man removed the security gate and then opened the door, flipping a sign from closed to open. He was maybe in his seventies and inside I saw a younger man closer to my age tidying up at a counter. The older man was thin and caucasian with sparse black hair in an immaculate suit with a long tape measure around his neck. A tie that had concentric black and brown circles matched a circular cap on his head and made it seem appropriate with a three-piece suit. The fellow at the counter had a thick head of brown hair and was heavy set but also had a suit that managed to make him look dapper despite being soft.

“Hello, good morning,” the older shopkeeper said. He was clearly American by his accent but maybe first-generation, I could detect traces of other strong Germanic accents in his voice.

“Kipah?” Lavi asked him.

“Ken,” he replied.

Lavi replied with more sounds that I did not follow in the least. He lit up, however, and he responded with more, to my ears, gibberish. I looked at Melissa. She leaned towards me and whispered, “Lavi was asking about his hat and now they’re talking about why he’s here on a Saturday.”

“You know Hebrew?”

“No, but I know some common words so I got that far. After ‘sabbath’ though they lost me.”

She must have been heard as the gentleman looked embarrassed and said, “Oh, I am so sorry. I am being rude. I always enjoy getting to practice my Hebrew, so this is a pleasant surprise. I am Mr. Eckers.” He pointed to a sign on one wall that said, ‘Clothiers’ and underneath is said Eckers, Katzin, Perez proprietors. “I was explaining to this young lady that the other two tailors are sick and on vacation or I would not be here on the Sabbath. So, a new suit for you, good sir?”

“That’s what I’ve been informed.” I smiled with a bit of a grimace, not so much to complain but to make it clear he might as well just talk to Lavi to save us time.

Lavi added, “He needs it this morning. He flew here for a big meeting but his suit is zevel.” That made Mr. Eckers laugh and Lavi smiled sweetly at me. I made a mental note to look up ‘zevel’ in Hebrew later but I had a guess.

For the next age of the Earth, I was made to stand to attention while I was measured and a series of jackets were brought to me for me to model. I felt very exposed standing in the midst of mirrors so I could see myself from various angles. I had brought the Bee Keeper’s Apprentice hoping to have time to read but it was left on the floor at my foot so far. The jackets were, to me, expensive, probably excellent, and I was utterly at a loss of what I should say or how to respond. They all seemed fine to me and I said so. Apparently I was not trusted to have sound enough judgment in this, which was probably fair.

I think Lavi was getting annoyed. Her and Melissa’s reactions had steadily gone from “no” and “nah” to just irritated throat noises with visible frustration. The fellow from behind the desk, who turned out to be named Byers, was the attendant getting and taking back the jackets. He looked like he was wondering if it would be less work to move the mirror setup to the jackets than bring them all over one at a time.

“What’s wrong?” I finally asked.

“They’re ... just not right,” answered Melissa.

“Yeah, you don’t look comfortable in any of them,” Lavi said. Eckers just dismissed each with a motion for Byers to get a few more for me to try.

“Well ... I’m not. I’m not really a suit kind of person.”

That got the first reaction we had in a while from Mr. Eckhers. “Bah! There is a suit for everyone, we just have to find it.”

The three of them got to talking. So, now undirected by them I decided to pick up the book, removed the Thai delivery receipt bookmark, and started reading. I was almost done but still undecided about the book but I liked the protagonist. The pacing wasn’t as quick as I would like but there are few Holmesian inspired works I enjoy at all so less than perfect but good was still welcome. I had gotten about ten pages when I realized it was really quiet. I looked up to see Mr. Eckhers, Melissa, and Lavi watching me.

“What?” I asked.

“You are relaxed,” said Mr. Eckhers. “Your shoulders are down, slightly slouched, you enjoy reading?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me about the book,” he said.

So, I did. He asked questions. I discussed the structure so far and the challenges in creating a modern addition to the Holmesian body that wasn’t a reinvention or homage.

“Ah, yes, I think I see now,” he said but I didn’t get the sense that he was talking about anything involving the book.

Stepping away Eckhers returned in a moment carrying a dark brown jacket. I put the receipt in the book and handed it to Melissa. I slid the jacket on and looked in the mirror. It was heavier than the others and I liked how it felt. I don’t know how to explain it. To my eye, the differences were minor but created a very different effect.

“You like that one I can tell,” said Mr. Eckers. He was grinning.

“Yeah, it looks like a sports coat I used to have when I worked as a TA in college. I had bought it from a second-hand store and patched it up.”

He laughed, “There are no patches, here. That is Italian wool, very fine and breathes well.”

“It’s not what I think of as a suit jacket.”

He shrugged. “Most people wear similar suits because they are similar people. This is more of a sports jacket like you said, but it is a valid alternative to the current popular style of suits with matching pants, which we have. It has pockets to put a book, glasses if you need them, but it is exquisitely made and with just a little time on my work table it will fit you perfectly.”

I looked over to the girls and they smiled with approval. Another while passed as I tried on a matching pair of pants and several white shirts. Mr. Eckers went to work in a back room while we waited. I read while the girls responded to a flurry of pings on their phones. I found out later Lavi had taken pictures of me being measured and had posted them to Instagram, with no caption which had created a storm of curiosity from her social circle. Apparently her responses that she was in Miami and helping her husband get a suit had created the kind of response she had hoped for.

Melissa rolled her eyes and turned her notifications off and was instead looking at the ties and shoes. After talking to Byers they picked out a set of shoes she felt would go with the suit and had me try them on for size. At no point was I actually consulted if I liked these, but I did. Soon a black dinner jacket, which just looked like a jacket to me, and a pair of black pants were added to the pile. I began to wonder if a little girl playing dress-up with their dolls was just preparation for doing this with the men in their lives.

When Melissa brought up the ties and started holding them up against me Mr. Eckhers was returning. “Hmmm...” he looked at the ties and at me. I did a final fitting and he invited Melissa to hold up the ties against my chest with the suit on. She did.