Chapter 9

Since Christopher had been bounced, there had been three more interviews, and another couple of dozen applicants rejected before then. People had been rude, or had sketchy references, or just given one of us a bad vibe. It turned out that consensus was a very hard thing to reach among six very different people. I was beginning to get frustrated. Did we really have to treat this with the gravitas of a marriage proposal? Couldn’t we just let someone in and figure out if there was any sexual chemistry later?

Because of this, I was not particularly enthused when Julia e-mailed me at work saying that we had a new applicant. I had been hoping to maybe go out for dinner or see a movie when I had got off work the next day, but now I needed to be at the meeting. I skimmed over the documents she had sent me. Well, it was a girl, so that at least meant Josh wouldn’t veto. April Chu. No photos – that was kind of weird. And she listed herself as working at a call centre, which didn’t exactly seem like steady employment. I prepared myself for another non-starter.

My opinion immediately changed at the meeting next day. When April walked into the room, I felt my cock involuntarily twitch. You know how I mentioned liking Asian girls, redheads, and big breasts? April ticked off all the boxes. Fine scarlet hair danced down to her shoulders, and below that two generous breasts peeked out of a low-cut green shirt. Her frame looked unusual for an Asian-Canadian girl, but that just made her all the more alluring.

“So everyone, this is April,” said Dawn. “I knew her from uni, and she’s sick of commuting downtown from Mississauga every day. She rocks!”

“Hi.” She spoke with a deep, velvety voice. It reminded me of a seductress from an old movie.

April sat down in front of us and shyly folded her hands in her lap. We immediately started in with the usual questions, a mixture of getting-to-know-you and practical concerns about living together and paying the rent. April lit up at the mention of communal meals, and mentioned that she was working through an old cookbook and had been looking to try out some of the larger recipes.

And then came the big question.

Julia leaned forward, putting her palms on the tabletop. “In this house we’re very sexually open, and all of us practice polyamory. Now, you don’t have to participate, but—”

“Oh, Dawn told me about it,” April said. The corners of her lips just barely turned up. “And I plan to participate. I’m not very sexually experienced, actually, but if you’ll have me...”

“That won’t be a problem,” said Josh, giving April a super-obvious wink. Dawn chuckled to herself.

Simon jotted down a few notes, and looked up. “I think that’s everything. Could you step outside for a minute?” April picked her purse off the floor and left the room.

Josh pivoted in his chair to stare us down. “So, she’s in, right? Please tell me that she’s in.”

Ellie had put on a pair of glasses, and suddenly was the responsible mom again. “She seems a little flaky to me. Dawn, you said you knew her from university, but there’s no degree listed on this form here.”

“She had to withdraw sophomore year,” Dawn said. “She had ... personal issues.”

“And this call centre job ... is she really going to be reliable for rent?” said Ellie.

“Mike didn’t even have a job when he moved in,” Josh said. “And he’s way more than a little flaky.” I gave Josh a hurt look. “Sorry man, but it’s true.”

Julia shushed the rest of us. “From what Dawn’s told me, April would bring a good balance to the sexual dynamic of the house, and add in a new wrinkle. I think we should bring her on. The money stuff is incidental – what’s important is finding someone we can live with and come to love, and I think April fits the profile.”

“I agree,” said Simon. Josh, Dawn and I nodded in agreement. We all looked to Ellie, as if asking our parents for a new puppy.

She sighed. “Well, the ‘money stuff’ is actually really important if we want to keep this nice house. But I see what you’re saying. She seems like a nice kid.”

I could practically see Ellie’s resolve weakening. “Should we, uh, vote?” I said.

“Any vetoes?” said Simon. The room was quiet for a long minute. “Ellie, if you don’t feel comfortable, that’s fine to—”

“I vote yes,” said Ellie. “You kids have fun.”

Josh practically jumped for joy. Dawn had a big smile across her face too. “I’ll go tell April,” she said. “I promise guys – you will NOT regret this.”

Dawn skipped out of the room. I heard a squeal of delight from the front porch. I wasn’t sure how I felt. I had only been part of this incestuous little family for a few months, but it already felt strange to imagine someone else in it. But I guess all families have to change, or else they die out.

It was at least five degrees hotter inside the house than out. The rooms were packed with young people cradling red plastic cups in their hands. An implacable but constant scent of weed was in the air. Bad music played at a high enough volume to shake the floorboards. Everybody had their clothes on.

This was an old-fashioned house party, far away from my new life. It felt nostalgic, but also sort of terrible. We had been invited by Josh, who knew the guys holding it from his gym. All of the girls had found better things to do, but I wound up shouting over the speakers to Josh and Simon on an autumn Friday night.

“You should meet my friend Todd,” Josh said.

“Rod?” said Simon, cupping a hand around his ear.

“No, Todd!”

“You have a nice bod too,” said Simon.

Josh grunted in frustration and headed off to grab drinks and slap hands with some friends of his. I turned to Simon, not sure of what to say. I had always been awful at things like these. Simon slunk away into the teeming mob.

I picked up a plastic cup, already filled with beer. I didn’t know what type it was, but it tasted cheap and stale. Lips pursed, I looked around, trying not to look too much like a loser.

Standing over by the kitchen table was a group of college-aged friends, laughing and jabbing each other in jest. One of them did not seem to fit in. A pale boy with buzz-cut hair, he reminded me of a freshman-year version of myself. He stood on the outside of the group, nodding and chuckling but not saying anything. And like a younger me, he was nursing a hopeless crush. His eyes were invariably fixed on a lithe blonde with a nose ring.

It’s silly, isn’t it? All of these people wandering around, letting their desires chew holes in their intestines, terrified to let anyone know how deep their feelings ran. They would do elaborate dances around each other, and maybe end up together, maybe not. How much simpler the house was. There, you could slide your hand down someone’s pants and that would be enough.

I wanted to go over to the guy, take him aside, and tell him to ask her out. Tell him that the worst rejection would be better than letting things drift into nothingness. And, if she turned him down, I could give him a blowjob out back to make up for it. Well, maybe not that last bit. I would probably get beat up.

Then again, who was I to judge? I was the loser standing alone in the corner at the party. Take me out of the house, expose me to the open air, and I shriveled back up into the slacker wallflower.

I stood on my tip-toes to try and find Josh and Simon. I didn’t see them, but I did see two more people I recognized. Nina and Jen were making their way into the party. Nina was wearing a red blouse and skirt that looked entirely too nice for this occasion, while Jen had a leather jacket wrapped around her thin body. I headed over towards them before I could think twice. My last couple conversations with Nina had been uncomfortable, but hey, any port in a storm, right?

Jen greeted me with a smile. “Oh hey Mike! Did Josh invite you too?”

I nodded.

“That guy pretends to be so relaxed and above-it-all,” said Nina. “But he likes stirring the shit.”

“Stirring the what?” Jen yelled over the pulsing base.

“Never mind!”

“No, I want to—”

Nina cut away from her girlfriend and headed to the kitchen to get some beer. A sextet of dark-haired freshmen moved in front of me, their hands linked in a human chain as they wooed and hooted.

“This sucks,” I said to Jen, standing by with a bewildered look on her face.

“It does,” said Jen. “You want to see if we can get out to the backyard?”

“That sounds great.”

We made our way through the human press, and I became aware that everyone around me was much drunker and having much more fun than I was. We hadn’t even got there particularly late, but I had forgotten about the routine of pre-drinking that had been so common in my first couple years of university. I had gotten more serious in my junior year, and left the partying to special occasions only. And now, a short few years later, it was completely alien to me.

We found a screen door at the back of the kitchen, and made our way out to a small backyard covered in patches of yellow grass. There were a couple circles of people smoking a different colour of grass, but overall it was much quieter and more peaceful than inside.

Nina and Josh had apparently ran into each other and followed us out, each holding two cups in their hands. “I’m saying, this is City’s year,” Josh said.

“You’re nuts,” said Nina. “They’ve got all the money in the world, I know, but they haven’t got Fergie. It’s going to be another boring United title.”

Since I knew little to nothing about any sort of sport, I took my cup from Josh and let the two of them continue arguing.

“So,” I said to Jen. “How did you meet Nina?”

“I work for her doctor as a receptionist,” said Jen. “I don’t know if she mentioned this to you, but she tore her ACL in high school, and is still dealing with the aftereffects of that.”

“Wow,” I said. “I had no idea.” She certainly hadn’t shown any kind of physical hindrance when we had been together.

“She likes to be the strong, stoic type,” said Jen. “And she can run just fine now. But there’s still a lot of lingering pain. Might be for the rest of her life.”

“Shit.”

Jen glanced over towards her girlfriend, now deep in a conversation about dunderheaded off-season moves by the Maple Leafs. “I’ve seen a lot worse come into the office. Everyone gets those aches and pains eventually. She’s just got a decade or so head start on the rest of us.”

I took a deep sink of the beer – mediocre and warm, but it did the job. “Just the more reason to enjoy our bodies while they last.” Jen looked at me askance, and I realized that my comment could have been taken as a come-on. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just always jump to these broad generalizations. Philosophy degree.”

Jen looked at my panicked, apologetic face and broke out laughing. She had beautiful laughter, like glass chimes in the wind. “Well, that’s one line I haven’t heard before. Anyway, as I was saying, Nina was in for a doctor’s appointment. She looked really bummed out, and she was the only one in the waiting room, so we got to talking. She told me about this terrible boyfriend who had been cheating on her the whole time.”

“That is not how I would characterize the situation,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “The point is, she made a joke about swearing off men for good, I mentioned that I was gay – as a joke, you know – and then pretty soon we weren’t joking any more.”

“So you’re mixing business with pleasure,” I said.

“Or pleasure with pain,” said Jen. She raised an eyebrow suggestively. “But I hear a lot of people are into that these days.”

Josh and Nina headed back towards us, both looking irritated. “All right, you two have to weigh in on something,” said Josh. “Would the Expos have won the World Series in ‘94?”

“What are the Expos?” said Jen. A round of rapidfire chastisement followed.

For the next couple of hours, things seemed normal. We chatted, drank beer, and occasionally went off to talking people before inevitably drifting back to the backyard. I asked Josh whose house it was, feeling that I should at least give them some thanks, but he didn’t even know. It was like hanging out with some perfectly platonic friends, which had become a rare part of my life. I even let myself believe that all the drama between myself and Nina was behind us, and that we could at least be friends.

Night had settled above us, and it was beginning to get chilly. Jen drained the last of her beer. “Is it just me,” she said. “Or does this party kind of suck?”

Josh shrugged. “Something to do on a Friday.”

“We can find better things to do,” said Nina. “Do you guys want to come over to my place? The boys are off on one of their European trips, so we can get as noisy as we want.”

Something about this idea raised a red flag in my head, but I decided to ignore it. We were all friends again, right? Josh and I agreed, and we all walked the few blocks to Nina’s surprisingly close apartment building.

If nothing else, Nina proved to have better taste in beer than the unknown party host. I was halfway through my first can when things started to get weird. Nina and Jen were sitting on a couch across from us, arms intertwined. I had asked about Nina’s health, and she confirmed what Jen had told me and cursed the pain that periodically afflicted her.

“I don’t worry about it too much,” Nina said. “Jen takes good care of me. You want to see what she got me the other day?”

Jen looked concerned. “Honey, I don’t know if—”

“Of course the boys want to see it!” said Nina. She was clearly a little drunk, but there was also a calculated tone to her voice. She got up and walked back to their bedroom with just a bit of a stagger. Jen gave us an apologetic glance, but said nothing.

I expected Nina to come right back, but she was gone for five awkward, conversation-less minutes. When she did return, it was evident what she had been doing. Nina had shed her party clothes and come back wearing, well, not much.

I’m not much of a lingerie expert, so I can’t really do justice to what Nina was wearing. It was a black bra-and-panty ensemble with gothic frills, and just enough transparency to tantalize. Ink-black stockings hugged her legs tightly, hooked to a garter belt snapped around her waist. She looked like a dark angel, alluring and frightening in equal measure.

“What do you think?” Nina said, her voice silky smooth. “Nina got me this for our one-month anniversary. But we’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had a chance to wear it.”

“Nina...” Jen said.

“No, it’s okay,” said my ex-girlfriend. “I want the boys to get a good look at what they’re missing.” She slinked over to the spot right in front of the couch, where Josh and I were sitting. It was the most I had ever seen of her skin, pale and unblemished, and her athletic body. I could see the edges of her pussy lips through her bottom, and her hard nipples through her bra. She stood inches away from me, but I was frozen stiff, in every sense of the word. Beside me, Josh was slack-jawed and evidently just as uncertain and I was.

Nina sat back on the table in front of us, a large and sturdy wooden object. She lay back, pushing her crotch out at us. With a seductive langour, she writhed on the table, rolling and slithering as if it was the piece of furniture that was her object of desire. She stood up on all fours, cleavage framed perfectly by her lingerie. There was an angry, daring glint in her eyes.

“Jen,” Nina purred. “Get your toy. The one we bought from him.”

I looked over to Jen. It was harder to tell with women, but she looked to be in the same state of confused arousal that we were. “Nina, we should—”

“Just do it,” said Nina. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Jen spent much less time in the bedroom. She emerged with the black dildo I had sold Nina a few weeks ago, hooked into a harness. The harness was in turn wrapped around Jen’s waist, where her pants and underwear had just been. I took a moment to appreciate Jen’s shapely legs and hips, and the tuff of pussy hair poking out from the lower strap of the harness. The big pink artificial cock provided a strange complement to her dark skin and very feminine form.

“Here’s what’s going to happen, boys,” said Nina. “You’re going to sit here and watch how my girl fucks me better than either of you ever could. Feel free to jerk off. But don’t touch either of us. This isn’t one of your orgies.”

“Um, okay,” said Josh. I felt a little bad for him, caught in a little psychodrama that was clearly not about him.

Jen didn’t have too much to do with it either, but it looked like she was warming up to the idea. She peeled her shirt off, and tossed her bra to the floor alongside with it. I took a deep breath as her slim and dark breasts came into view, topped with blackberry nipples. Her hair hung down around her shoulders, giving the impression of a particularly vicious shadow. I hadn’t realized until now just how much of a babe Jen was. The strap-on took on an almost threatening weight as it got closer to Nina’s prone form.

With an almost clinical manner Jen paced behind Nina. She reached out to cup her girlfriend’s pussy through the lacy underwear, but then stepped pass her. Nina mewled in disappointment, but remained rooted to the spot. Jen took a second pass, this time slapping Nina on the ass. On the third approach, apparently judging that enough teasing had been done, Jen slid Nina’s panties down her thighs. Her black stockings were still held up by a garter belt, but the scent of her wet and exposed pussy filled the air.

Jen knelt down behind her girlfriend and pressed her lips to Nina’s pussy. At least, I think that’s what was going on. I didn’t have the best view. But Jen’s head was near Nina’s crotch, and my ex certainly seemed to be enjoying it. Nina wrapped her knuckles around the edge of the table and moaned. Her eyes shut, and for a second she seemed to forget her audience. Jen lapped at her cunt in the same way they had probably done countless times in private. But a moment later Nina’s eyes snapped open and settled on me with the same challenging hostility.

“Oh, fuck me, Jen!” she cried out. “Show them how you fuck me!”

Josh whispered in my ear. “She said we could, uh...”

“Go ahead,” I said. Josh unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants unceremoniously around his ankles. I glanced over to see him wrap a fist around his big cock and once again momentarily wished that I could touch it too. It was tough, being around three people having sex that you were forbidden to join in. I had gotten hard in my pants as well, but I didn’t want to take it out. It seemed like that would be conceding defeat.

Jen stood up behind her girlfriend and lined up her pink silicone cock with Nina’s elevated pussy. She gripped Nina’s waist and slowly began to enter her. I couldn’t quite tell how much was inside her, but I knew from Nina’s ragged gasps that she was getting fucked. A cocky grin came over Jen’s face as she began to thrust back and forth.

The slap of hip against ass filled the air. Nina’s moans may have been a bit exaggerated, but the flush of her skin and the hard nipples poking out from beneath her bra showed how much she was really enjoying this. Jen slapped her girlfriend’s ass as she picked up the tempo, and then slid the hand between Nina’s legs, presumably to rub her clit.