by K T Morrison
“I know,” he said, taking her in. She’d blowdried her beautiful blonde hair out, and it bounced on her shoulders. He said, “You look beautiful, Carly.”
“Thank you.”
“What did you want?”
“Do you think he’ll like me?”
“He already likes you, Carly. We met him and he agreed to this night.”
“I know, but… I mean will he really like me?”
“Of course he will…”
Carly fidgeted, rolled her eyes. “Sean… will he… like my body?”
“Oh, Carly, come on, honey. Of course he will. You’re so beautiful…”
Her brows furrowed with worry and she said, “I know. I know, but he’s…”
“I know,” Sean interrupted. “I know he’s an A. You’re an A, Carly, you are…”
She undid the belt on her robe and his eyes glued to the movements of her hand. When the ends dangled she slowly parted the terry cloth and he saw her completely bare. She was naked under her robe. Between her legs the scratch of muff had been shaved clear. She said, “Did I do too much?”
“Wow,” he said, not sure how to react. “You took it all off.”
“Oh no, Sean, is it funny? Is it weird?”
“No, probably. It’s nice,” he said, wondering why on earth his wife would have done that.
She said, “When I was at the salon I had them groom me… You know, down here,” she said, swinging her hips a little. “They waxed just along the edges. And I… I don’t know, I just felt funny about it. Then I was in the bath just now, and I wanted to tidy it… And I don’t know what I did.”
“You just did that now—you shaved it all off?”
“Sean, I’m so embarrassed.”
“No, don’t be Carly.”
Her face grew more troubled. “And my body, Sean…” She let the robe drift down her shoulders then fall to the floor. “Will he like this,” she said, averting her eyes from his, casting them toward the bathtub, afraid of what he would say.
“Carly, what does it matter? He’s already seen you. He knows what you look like…”
“Not naked, Sean,” she said firmly.
“No, not naked, Carly. But… You’re going to be under the sheets. He’s not going to see you…”
“He will, he’ll look.”
“It’s not about that, Carly. He’s here for one reason.”
“Sean,” she said, her lips turning to a trembling bow as she fought back tears. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“What what is like?”
“You don’t know what it’s like for me…”
“What do you mean I don’t know what it’s like—what is what like?”
“This is so stressful, Sean… there’s so much I…”
“You’re not changing your mind, are you?”
“No,” she said, eyes going wide now. “You just don’t understand…”
“No, I don’t. He’s coming to donate his genetic material. You’re acting like—”
“Acting like what, Sean?” Her soft expression tightened. “Acting nervous? Acting crazy? Sean, the man has to be aroused for this to work. I have to make him … produce his genetic material …”
“Oh,” he grunted. He came to her now, wanting to put an end to this madness. He stepped so his feet were on either side of hers, held her elbows and she lay her body against him. He said, “It’s your hormones. I know. I mean... I don’t know. I can’t even understand. Whatever you want to do Carly is fine with me. Whatever you want to do I’m right here for you. I’m going to be here every step of the way.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry, Sean, for being such a basket case.”
“That’s okay, baby. You’re my basket case. I like what you’ve done down there. Hollis will too.”
“Will he?” she said softly against his chest, sniffing afterward. She brushed tears from her cheek.
“He’s going to go out of his mind. Not that that’s what I want…”
“No, me too. That’s not what I mean, either…”
“I get it,” he said. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’m not just saying that because you’re my wife. I mean it. When I saw you at that mixer my heart was beating out of my chest.”
“You’re so good to me, Sean. I’m so glad I married you,” she said running her hands over his shirt.
“We can get through this. I know how weird it is. You’re the one that wanted it this way and I respect your choice. This is the way it’s going to be, and I’m right here with you from beginning to end. And there’s no way you won’t provoke… his seed.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Then, from the front hallway, they heard the chime sound, a hailing from the front lobby. Hector, the concierge, on the speaker system, his soothing voice saying, “A visitor for you, Mrs. York. Mr. Beaumont has arrived.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered briskly. “Oh my God, Sean. He’s here…”
They met Hollis at the door of their apartment hand-in-hand as a couple; receiving him as they would receive a dinner guest. Together saying, “So great to see you, please, come on in,” they gestured inward to their abode while stepping back to give him room. Hollis said his introductions, stepping through, one hand trundling a wheeled suitcase behind him.
They ushered Hollis into the apartment and Sean took care of his suitcase, wheeling it to the side. Carly took his coat and hung it up in the closet.
Sean said, “Please, come on and sit in the living room.”
“Thank you,” he said, his deep voice sounding so huge in their familiar little apartment. He was big and impressive, wearing a black suit and a black dress shirt. He walked across the marble, his expensive size-fourteen dress shoes clopping on the marble.
Carly whispered to Sean: “Do we offer him a drink?”
“Of course we offer him a drink,” he whispered back.
“No, should we offer him wine? Does he drink?”
“Shoot, I don’t know. Should we? He didn’t have alcohol at the Chinese restaurant.”
“He might look down on that.”
“We don’t even drink …”
“I know, but we have wine in the apartment,” she said, her voice getting hoarse now from sustained effort keeping herself quiet while panic rose inside her.
“Mr. Beaumont,” Sean said sharply. Carly buttoned her lip.
Hollis turned and said, “Just Hollis, Sean.”
Sean said, “Hollis, can I offer you a sparkling water?”
“Sure,” he said absently, “that would be nice,” and made his way to the center of the family room, the twinkling lights of the city spread out before him past the glazed windows. He stood with his hands on his hips taking in their apartment.
“I like your place,” he said.
“Go, go to him,” Sean whispered to Carly as he headed into the kitchen.
“Yes, okay, okay, hold on,” Carly said. Sean saw his wife’s cheeks stained red.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered hoarsely before disappearing into the kitchen.
From their fridge, he took three bottles of sparkling water from France, put them on a tray and brought them out to the family room. Hollis sat on the loveseat, Carly had nervously perched herself on the arm of the big leather chair next to it. She had her hands together on her thighs and knees pressed together, her toes pointed in open-toed mules.
Sean put the bottles on the steel coffee table. As he turned to retrieve their crystal glasses from the ebony sideboard, Carly said, “Hollis was just saying that he lives in the Old Ward. You always said you’d like to live there.”
Sean brought three glasses to the table and set them down, saying, “I would. Before I was at college, I always dreamed one day that I’d live in that neighborhood. It’s so…”
Hollis said, “Historical.”
“It is, that’s right. There’s a certain authenticity to it. I know it’s been modernized, but at its
core it just seems so much like the way things used to be.”
Hollis said, “That’s exactly why I’m there.”
Carly chuckled softly, said, “And you can afford it, working for the administration.”
Sean winced, worried how that would be received. But Hollis laughed, leaning forward to take his water. “It’s worth every penny,” he said. “It’s nice to belong to a neighborhood.”
“It is nice to have a sense of belonging,” Carly said.
Hollis agreed. “To belonging,” he offered, and raised his crystal glass, and Carly darted forward to grab hers so she could toast.
“To belonging,” Carly said, and she raised her glass high. Sean took his as well and then the three of them clinked their glasses together. They drank. Sean watched his wife eye their donor nervously over the rim of her glass…
6
After the small talk waned, the room grew quiet. Carly brushed something imaginary off her skirt and cleared her throat. Hollis shifted in the leather love-seat.
They’d talked now for almost twenty minutes. Where did you grow up? Oh, that’s interesting. Have you ever been to Ibiza? No? You should really go sometime. Experiences in college, family life… but now the conversation had run its course.
It was Sean’s turn to clear his throat, then he said, “How do we… start this?”
Hollis leaned back in the love-seat and raised his eyebrows, gaze lowered to the empty glasses on the table. He said, “Well, I suppose we should just start how these things start. Sean, the clinic told me the husbands will sometimes want to be there. And you indicated on the paperwork that was what you wanted as well…”
“Yes, I want that. Carly wants it, too,” Sean said, turning to his wife who nodded in agreement. “I want to be there every step of the way. Carly wants me there,” he looked toward Hollis now, adding, “I definitely want to be part of the conception.”
“That’s good,” Hollis said. He adjusted his pants a little, tugging them at the knees, sitting up straighter. He clasped his huge hands together and his eyes leveled on Carly. They stared at each other for a long moment, Carly growing uncomfortable and absently scratching at her collar. Hollis said, “Carly. Would you like to come and sit with me?”
That rosy flush returned to Carly’s face, and she blinked wetly a few times before turning to Sean. They said nothing, their eyes passing over one another, then Carly rose from the chair where she sat, crossed to sit next to Hollis. She looked so very small next to him. Sean sat on the couch, the coffee table with the water and empty glasses between them. Hollis sat with his arm on the love seat, and now Carly sat next to him. There was a foot of space between their hips. Hollis held out a hand, palm up. Carly looked at it, her face getting redder. Slowly she extended a hand and Hollis took it in his grip. He ran his thumb over her knuckles. He said, “You have beautiful hands.”
She nodded, returning the compliment. “You have beautiful hands, too,” she said. “They’re very big.”
“You like them?”
“Yes.” She made an odd grumble in her throat, then said, “I do. I like your hands a lot.”
Hollis said, “Would it be all right if I kissed you?”
Carly’s gaze traveled away from Hollis. Now her eyebrows raised and her eyes went wide, staring at nothing on the floor. She slowly looked to Sean. This was not something they had discussed. He didn’t imagine that they would be sitting side-by-side on the love seat like this. He didn’t know what he pictured, truthfully he had pushed most of the details out of his mind—either in an effort to not confront them, or in an effort not to be prepared to protest them. Ultimately, he thought that he just wanted things to progress whichever way Carly wanted. He wanted to see what his wife desired.
He shrugged. And Carly’s eyebrows raised.
She mouthed What?
He mouthed Okay.
She turned now to look up to Hollis and said, “Yes. Okay.”
“Good,” he said. “I want that.”
“Yes,” she said. “I want this to be natural.”
Their faces came together and Carly’s eyes slowly closed. Hollis rested his massive hand in the space between her neck and her shoulder. Their mouths came together, Carly’s plump pouting lips pressing flat against Hollis’s. They made a soft smacking sound, Carly made a delicate grunt in her throat.
They came apart but stayed close. “Was that nice?” Hollis asked, his voice a low grumble.
“Yes,” she said weakly, her hand coming up to push her hair back behind an ear. “Yes, that was nice.”
“Good,” he said and kissed her again.
Her head tilted to accept it, and her mouth opened. The smacking sounds returned, more earnest now. Carly’s lips parted and her tongue presented itself to Hollis. His tongue danced across hers and Sean reeled. This was so wrong. It hurt his heart. So wrong yet somehow so right. So bureaucratically and genetically approved. He hated it. He loved it. He wanted to stand up and call it off. He wanted to send Hollis home. He wanted to bend her over the arm of that couch and deliver his G-class seed inside her.
Everything was upside down. The room spun.
He wouldn’t do any of those things. He would watch. He would get a grip on this jealousy and he would watch his wife receive the seed that would become their baby.
He grew uncomfortable, resting his back into the seat, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt and twisting his neck around. He dug his fingertips like claws into his thighs. Carly continued to kiss this man. The two of them making out like they were dating now, man and receptive woman, mouths locked.
His wife grew aroused. Sean grew aroused. Profoundly excited, his penis lengthening and hardening inside his suit pants. Hollis’s must be doing the same…
It would be happening soon. Whatever this big man sported between his legs would be shown to his wife. She would see what made a man a Citizen A. She probably had always wondered.
Hollis’s hand traveled, running down her arm, resting at her waist, big enough to take up most of her side. His thumb rested underneath her bosom. Carly’s hand moved, going up the arm that held her waist, traveling to his shoulder. Her hands dented the fabric of his suit jacket. She moved to his neck, her pale hand stark against the dark tendons of his muscular bull neck.
Sean watched her hand drift downward, slipping under the suit jacket. She was feeling him through his shirt. Sean grew more uncomfortable. She eased his suit jacket back.
Their kiss broke and Hollis removed it for her, his big hands parting lapels, his chest spreading beyond it as he pulled it down his shoulders. Carly’s eyes were glued to his body.
Her hand returned, spreading five fingers wide across his massive chest, smoothing it, feeling it. Hollis was muscular, and it was evident even through his clothing. Her free hand went to her waist, touched the back of Hollis’s hand, gripping it lightly and urging it higher. Now he was cupping her breasts. His big hand mashing the cashmere fabric of her sweater. Their kissing resumed too. Sean had to stand up to adjust his pants.
He felt woozy, sweaty. He sat back down and tugged some room for his arousal.
While Hollis kissed her and felt her breast, Carly’s hand rested in the middle of Hollis’s thigh…
The smacking of their moist lips filled the room and Carly’s hand began to travel higher, working its way to Hollis’s hip. Their breaths came quicker, whisking through their noses while their mouths worked on one another. Then Carly gripped Hollis between his legs.
Sean was astounded at what it did to him. A spike of arousal from his perineum up to the top of his brain. A bolt of hot excitement shot through him. Tinged with bitter jealousy and angst, he fought the urge to end their union right here and right now. His mouth fell open as Carly gently kneaded what was behind the fabric. It filled her hand and he could see that it was huge and soft and pliable in her grip.
They parted, Carly pulling back to look in Hollis’s eyes. While her hand still worked, fondling his manhood, she breathed soft
ly, “Oh, wow, wow…”
Now Hollis took the hem of her sweater and lifted it over her head, pulling it right up and tossing it behind her. Carly’s hand immediately returned between his legs. The kissing resumed, Hollis beginning to unbutton her blouse.
When he had it open, he pushed it over her shoulders and she let him, sitting there now in a silky black bra that Sean had never seen before. A special purchase she must have arranged sometime during the week in preparation for this evening.
While she sat still in her bra, Hollis leaned back into the corner of the loveseat, unbuttoning his own shirt but his eyes watched Carly. She watched her own hand on the man’s bulge.
Hollis sitting back like this now opened his hips up. Sean could see it—see what Hollis had between his legs behind the fabric. Massive, a long and thick shaft pressed the fabric out, causing a shine along its highest ridge. Carly’s hand gripped and squeezed it, worked up and down from between his legs along its length to where it ended at his hip. It was enormous. Carly was mesmerized.
Hollis had his shirt open now and was pulling it off. He was in incredible shape. Thick, muscular chest and arms, and a tight midsection that rippled in segments.
“Oh wow,” Carly said again, her hand moving from his erection to touch his body. “You’re so muscular,” she whispered, “I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful too,” he said, looking her over, sitting there in her skirt and bra, her beautiful light blonde hair tumbling down one shoulder.
She put both hands on his chest, smoothing over his muscles, ridges and shelves; down his tight midsection, heading between his legs. She lay two hands over the shape of his cock, feeling what was under the material. It had grown even harder, its thickness pressing tight against the fabric, the thick rib that would run the underside pressing out now too. Carly traced its shape with her fingertips.
Hollis liked the feel of her hands on him. He watched her, chin tucked to his chest, eyes half-lidded. When she put her fingertips around the tip he groaned and his head leaned back into the cushions. He sat up then, quickly, drawing his knees up. He held both her wrists in one hand, stopping her.