Chapter 10

It was a fact that Emily had become an absolutely vital part of my life. We worked together. Most nights we slept together, except for those times when we did not. Then it was most likely one or more of the Bower sisters gracing my Alaskan king bed and Emily might be spending her time elsewhere. Or not, on occasion. When she did spend her time elsewhere I was, I thought at the time, unusually nonjudgmental and not particularly jealous. Sometimes she would tell me about her liaisons and other times she would be tight lipped about them.

At any rate it was becoming evident to me that I was falling in love with her. How she felt about me was still unclear to me, until...

I do not usually have particularly erotic dreams, so it was a surprise when I found myself surrounded by beautiful women. There were dozens of them. Some I knew and others were strangers. They were all engaged in sexual activities. We seemed to be in a room whose floor was a single padded mat. Gauzy curtains hung from the ceiling, not opaque, but transparent making every coupling visible.

I looked at one pair. What I saw was Connie Hurley fucking my partner Jennifer Lou with an impossibly big strap-on. Jenn was howling and shaking, obviously in the continuous throngs of orgasm. In another direction was Darla, her body being worshiped by two unknown women who were bathing her entire body with their tongues. Cynthia Smith was in a vigorous sixty-nine with Dr. Maggie Floss. Dozens of other couplings were occurring. The sisters of the Quad were strung out in a daisy chain, the circle of four moaning into each other as writhed in incestuous pleasured.

I was hard as steel, and though when I looked down at my engorged manhood I could see no one I felt the wet warm sensation of a knowing mouth and the caresses of a talented tongue trying to coax a load of cum from me.

I moaned as I began to cum and woke to see the short haired head of my Manic Pixie Dream Girl between my legs, her mouth drinking the spurts of my intense orgasm. I dumped shot after shot into her warm mouth. I shot so much a small amount escaped, dripping down to her chin.

She climbed up me and as she attempted to settle down in my arms I cupped her head and pulled her in for as kiss, ignoring the white spluge that was still dripping from the corner of her mouth. I tasted myself on her and I felt her shiver.

“God you are so sexy,” She said. “I fucking love you so much.” The she looked shocked at her revelation.

I squeezed her tight.

“I love you too, pixie girl,” I said without reservations.

I felt her whole body go slack as she relaxed into me.

What exactly Darla was doing was still unclear to me. She had been in town for almost a month. I knew that I would have to speak to her eventually. She had made no attempt to contact me directly, which I interpreted as an attempt on her part to induce me to make contact with her.

In a town like Lesserton, as Carly Bower had explained to me, peoples relationships were generally well known, if not actually gossiped about. Darla was obviously back to her old tricks. While some few polycules practiced poly fidelity, the balance of them permitted some level of dating, while a few engaged in full scale swapping.

Evidence of regular liaisons between Darla and some of the citizens of whom I had knowledge was coming to my attention. I began to wonder if the same level of evidence had existed about Darla’s activities for the whole of my marriage and that I had just been ignoring it. If that was the case was I actually complicit in her behavior?

I asked Dr. Floss about that.

“What do you think Danny?” I hated when she would not answer questions.

“That’s its probable that I intentionally ignored evidence of Darla’s behavior because I wanted to believe that she was faithful to me.”

“Why do you think you did that?”

“Because I was not prepared to lose Darla until her actions were rubbed in my face. I subconsciously tolerated her behavior, suppressing conscious realization of contravening evidence because of my emotional feelings for her.”

“Okay. So have those feelings changed now? Have they gone away?”

I thought about how I felt. I was in an actual love affair with Emily. I had never been one to have sex with someone with whom I felt no emotional attraction, despite my initial tryst with Carly on the roof. Certainly I had been and was emotionally attracted to Cynthia, despite the fact that she was married, after a fashion, to two other men. My feelings for the members of the Quad were complex to say the least, but in no sense could I deny that I had feelings for each of them.

But what were my present feelings for Darla? Certainly anger and betrayal were still there, though both had cooled in the last months. If I dug deeper I was somewhat surprised to find that there still seemed to be a repository of affection. Seven years is a long time to love someone. Could I still say that I loved her? Perhaps. Was I in love with her? That was a much harder question.

Maggie waited patiently while I worked it out.

Finally I said, “I think some of them are still there.”

“Okay. Does that mean that you are ready to talk to her about them yet?”

“Is that what you think I should do?” I asked.

“Danny...”

“Yeah I know. You’re not here to tell me what to do. If I talk to Darla about my feelings that probably means I’ll have to talk to her about what happens to us, if anything.”

“You could not believe that this ... pause ... in your relationship with Darla could go on indefinitely.”

“No,” I sighed. “It must either end or go forward.” I suddenly had a thought. “Could you talk to her?’

“If she was willing. But the circumstances would have to be carefully considered. I could speak with her for her own sake, as relates to you, or even as a couple, but I can’t do all three.”

“Because the goals would conflict?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Floss thinks that I should talk to Darla.”

“Did she tell you that?” Emily asked.

“She never tells me anything. She asks me questions until I come to the conclusion she wants me to come to.”

“What if you come to the wrong conclusion?”

“I have no idea. What if there isn’t a wrong conclusion?”

Emily scrunched her nose. “I hate mind games.”

“So how would you feel about me talking to Darla?”

“Me? Why would I care?”

“You said you loved me.”

“I do. But that doesn’t really effect whether or not you love Darla or not. It’s not like love is exclusive. I don’t stop loving ice cream just because I love steak. I’ll still be your Manic Pixie Dream Girl whether Darla’s in the picture or not.”

I thought about that. Was it true that Emily was so sure of my love for her that Darla did not threaten her at all? Or maybe it was not about being sure? I figure I was missing something, just as I had been missing something about my relationship with Darla for all those years.

“I’ll see if I can get in touch with her tomorrow.”

I started by unblocking Darla’s number. She had tried to call me once from another phone, but had not repeated that attempted, so I figured it was a good bet that she still had the same number.

Then I called her. I expected the call to go to voicemail when there was no pickup after the first four rings, but then she answered.

“Danny?”

“Yes. I was thinking we need to talk.”

“Wonderful. Should we meet someplace?”

“How would you feel about visiting us in the loft?”

“Us?”

“Emily lives here too. I can ask her to give us some space.”

“O-kay.”

Even before Darla wrung the doorbell I was wondering if this was a mistake.

Emily had gotten up that morning and proceeded to spend the next hour doing something I was unprepared to see her do. She spent the time showering and primping, almost as if she was going out for a date.

When we first arrived in Lesserton all of Emily’s possessions fit in a tiny purse-backpack. In the first several weeks of our cohabitation, between us we had bought a complete wardrobe of outfits for the pixie girl. Some were outrageous, like her trainman pinstriped work cloths, sassy Wild Weasel monokinis and harlequin pattern chinos. Others were sexy clubbing wear, not that Lesserton had any clubs, but we had been to several parties where the tiny dresses and chic combination tops and mini-shorts were appropriate. Of course we also bought more sensible clothing for day to day wear, almost all of it sexy and cute on the teen.

This morning those cute sensible clothes were left in the closet so that the teen could present herself in a pair of crotch hugging short shorts and a top so tight it appeared to be sprayed on her. There might have been some club in LA or New York where such an outfit was appropriate, after dark and among adult only company, but in any other county in rural Virginia such an outfit would have raised eyebrows and perhaps even led to legal action.

Emily it a cigarette and arced her eyebrows at me when I gaped at her.

“What?”

I was spared having to answer by the doorbell. The video showed Darla and I unlocked the door and said through the device, “Come on up.”

I knew I was in trouble as soon as Darla’s head rose out of the stairwell. This was my first time seeing my wife since I had thrown her out of my loft several months before. At that time, as it had been for the last several years her black hair was clipped short, not as short as Emily’s but not quite shoulder length. In the intervening time she had allowed it to grow and it now hung below her shoulders. It was lustrous and moved freely as she swung her head around to survey the loft as she ascended the stairs.

Her lips were bright red, which I could see matched her perfect nails, though I suspected they were fake. The color set off very well the translucent red top that barely hid the red bra cupping her breast. The blouse hung over the loose black skirt that barely came to her knees. Three inch CFM pumps made her almost my height.

I saw her features frown as she saw Emily standing at the kitchen island smoking, but she held her tongue and turned to look at me.

“Good morning Danny,” she said her tongue quickly licking her lips. Nervous or trying to play enticing? I wasn’t sure. “I walked over. Don’t suppose I could bother you for a drink?”

Emily rolled her eyes but turned around to open one of the refrigerated coolers.

“Strawberry flavored water alright?” she asked.

“Sure.” She looked at me.

“Come take a seat,” I said gesturing to one of the conversation areas.

I let her sit and took a chair across the coffee table from her. Emily brought her drink and then retreated to a couch in another sitting area. She sat across it her legs pulled up on the furniture.

Darla looked over at Emily.

“I’ll ask for some privacy when I’m convinced you have something to say that’s private,” I said.

“You said we needed to talk. What do you want to talk about?”

“Why are you in town?”

“I followed my husband here.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m still in love with him and I think we can work things out.”

I was getting a little put off by her tactic of speaking about me as if I was someone else. Darla was a master negotiator. She was experienced at negotiating prices both higher for the seller and lower for the buyer. She wasn’t speaking about me in the third person by accident.

“I’m not sure why you would think that Darla. What reason would your husband have for putting up with your years of deception?” I threw the third person exposition right back at her.

I could see the wheels going behind her pretty face.

“Sex,” she said finally.
“Sex?” I repeated doubtfully, though I admit I was somewhat intrigued.

“Danny you have always been a wonderful lover. You’ve probably rang that teen Lolita’s bell so hard she’d crawl through glass to have you do her again. It’s probably done wonders for your ego to have her panting over you.”

“You’re not going to endear yourself to me by maligning Emily.”

She looked closely at Emily as if for the first time.

“No insult intended. You’re very lovely Emily. I’m sure you’re use to males hovering around you like flies on honey.”

“Thanks, I think,” Emily said, not willing to get into a row with my wife.

“But as good as you are Danny, you have to know I’ve been holding back.”

“You have? I might not remember all that well, I guess. I mean I thought that I was ringing your bell too.”

“Oh you were baby,” she said. “Best sex ever. I on the other hand couldn’t really go all out. I mean how could I have explained tricks and skills that I picked up as a result of playing with others? So I always held back. It was really killing me at the end. I so wanted to just let my inner slut out, but I was afraid to.”

“So you’re saying you were giving others your best, and holding back when it came to your husband?”

She shook her head. “No. That makes it sound like I was depriving you of something. I was protecting you.”

“Why would you think I needed protecting? If you wanted to have an open marriage why didn’t you come talk to me?”

“But I did.”

“What!?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember? Back when we were in school. I tried to get you to do a three way with Cindy Khresti.”

“Cindy Khresti was a bitch. I had no interest in sticking my dick anywhere near Cindy Khresti.”

“Yes you were quite adamant about it, as I recall.”

“So, because I turned down a skank, you decided that you couldn’t even broach the subject? So what makes you think now is any different?”

“Well for one thing you’re living in Lesserton.”

“So?” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “Danny. People around here are discrete when they need to be. Elsie Monroe wouldn’t give me the time of day until she found out I was your wife. Even then I had to convince her I wanted to get back together with you. Once she was sure that I was being honest about things she couldn’t open her legs fast enough for me. That was like having the golden ticket, as far as finding out what you were up to.”