An Exaltation of Larks

by Suanne Laqueur

  Holy shit, he’s really doing this.

  Jav’s heart screamed like a boy at his first heavy metal concert, right before Alex slid his hand between their mouths.

  “You chickenshit,” Jav said.

  “What do you want for sixty bucks?”

  They played it up big for the crowd—Jav dropping the sign and flailing his arms around as Alex twisted him roughly down to the ground. Alex backed away, making a telephone gesture at his ear and mouthing, “Call me.”

  Jav, sprawled on his back, lifted a single finger into the air. “Coffee…”

  They grilled steaks at Tulip Street that night. Then Deane and Stella headed to a party and Ari went home to work on his portfolio. His art teacher had recommended him for a summer program in animation design at the Vancouver Film School and Ari had a fire in his belly about it.

  Roger had a different fire in his belly.

  “Too many hot dogs,” Trelawney said, rubbing her brother’s swollen gut. “And jet lag. Bad combination.”

  “I’m getting old,” Rog said. He reached in his pocket and flipped a dime bag to Alex. “Here. Hydroponic Yukon Gold. Don’t say I never gave you anything.”

  Trelawney took him home. Alex, Val and Jav got high and lounged around the living room, eating popcorn. Alex lay on the couch, his feet in Val’s lap. Jav was sunk into the easy chair, Esmeralda curled up on his stomach.

  “What’s the weirdest thing a client ever made you do?” Alex asked.

  “They don’t make me do anything,” Jav said.

  “You’re going to argue semantics?”

  Jav laced his hands behind his head. “Client privilege.”

  “Oh, now you’re arguing legalities.”

  Jav glanced at Val. Her head was turned in his direction but she wasn’t meeting his eyes. He felt a wicked compulsion to test both their poker faces.

  “All right,” he said. “I had this one client…”

  Now Val was looking at him.

  “Let’s call her Mary,” Jav said. He held Val’s gaze for a count of five, then winked. “Mary hired me to spank her.”

  “Shut up,” Alex said. “For real?”

  “For real.”

  “Like over your knee?” Val said.

  Jav nodded. “Skirt up, panties down. Whale on her ass until she said she was sorry. She was a stubborn shit, too.”

  “Talk slower,” Alex said, sitting up on his elbow.

  “Did I mention the school girl outfit and the ponytails?”

  “And she paid you to do this.”

  “Quite well,” Jav said. “It pretty much covered my rent.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Val said, then pointed a finger at Alex. “Don’t get any ideas.”

  “C’mon, I’ll pay you.”

  “What, out of our joint account? How do I profit from this?”

  “Oh my God, I’m wasted.” Alex fell back in the cushions. Something in his flopped position, one knee pointing to the ceiling, the other toward the room, was wanton. He looked loose, Jav thought, yet he looked tight. He wasn’t sure what he meant but his expanded mind nodded agreement.

  Yeah, man. Tight.

  “Quid pro quo,” Jav said. “What’s the weirdest thing you two have done?”

  Alex picked up his head and exchanged a glance with Val.

  “Or individually,” Jav said.

  Val looked at him, her eyes narrowed and a corner of her mouth slightly lifted.

  You are a naughty thing, her expression said.

  He flicked his eyebrows as he took a pull of his beer. I know. I need to be spanked.

  “I don’t know, honey,” Alex said, running a hand through his hair. “The first time you got your finger on my prostate was kind of weird.”

  Val buried her head on the arm of the sofa, while Jav sucked beer down the wrong pipe and coughed it up laughing.

  Alex was laughing too, deep from his chest and belly. “But I came for like a minute and a half so I got past it.”

  They laughed so hard Esmeralda ran away and the dogs came in to investigate. The high got higher, erasing filters and inhibitions. Val got them more beers, then sat on the floor, her back against the couch. Alex’s hand caressed her and Jav’s eyes followed its path.

  I’m so fucked, he thought, stoned and horny. A feast in his lap and no knife and fork. You couldn’t pay him to leave now.

  Now that’s an interesting idea.

  Alex started telling the story of the first time Val went down on him. “In the back room of the dress shop.”

  “During business hours?” Jav asked.

  “No, no,” Val said. “I’m not that crazy.”

  “I’m telling you, it’s one of the top five moments of my life,” Alex said.

  “Why’s that?” Val said. “It couldn’t have been your first blow job.”

  “No, but it was the first one I didn’t have to ask for.”

  Jav laughed and Val turned a little pink, biting a corner of her bottom lip. “I did offer.”

  “If you call slamming me up against the door and dropping to your knees offering,” Alex said. He looked over at Jav. “Dude, my head nearly exploded.”

  “So to speak.”

  “It was the first time a girl let me come in her m—”

  “All right,” Val said, punching Alex’s shoulder. “He doesn’t need the details.”

  “Oh but I do,” Jav said, crossing his ankles. He was getting an erection.

  “Greatest moment of my life,” Alex said. “To date. Well, no, wait, not to date. I mean I’ve had moments since but that moment…”

  “We get it, dear,” Val said, patting him. “Val gives good head.”

  Erection attained. Val did, indeed, give spectacular head. And she’d once paid to slam Jav up against the door and drop to her knees so he could come in her mouth.

  He blinked, scattering the memory. Alex was propped up on an elbow, gathering up Val’s hair and pulling her head back on the cushions. The column of her throat white and soft. The tendons flexing as Alex kissed her.

  High and existential, Jav watched the slow, exploring dance of mouths. The meet and part of lips. The flicker of tongue. He put himself first in Alex’s body, took a look around Val’s kiss as if he was visiting his old high school.

  Then he put himself in Val’s body.

  And stayed there.

  Now it was his head tipped back for Alex’s kiss. Alex’s hand running along his throat. Alex’s thumb on his chin, holding his mouth open.

  Val’s mouth taking turns in their laps.

  Holy motherfucking Christ, I want this.

  He could barely look at them.

  He couldn’t bear not looking at them.

  I want you so bad.

  Which you did he mean?

  Alex and Val broke out of the embrace and looked at him.

  A long, triangular staring moment.

  This is it, Jav thought.

  He didn’t do couples but if it meant he could stay, he’d do them.

  Go. Hold their eyes, crawl over there and do it. Tell him to keep kissing her and then unbutton her shirt. Kiss her breasts while he’s got her mouth. Slide a hand up the leg of her shorts. She’s not wearing underwear. She never did. Kneel across her legs, pin her up against the couch and take a turn kissing her. Run a hand up Alex’s thigh. See what he does. Let him lead. Do it.

  Take it. Take both of them. You’ll never have another chance.

  Do it before they get on the plane.

  “God, I’m wasted,” Alex said, falling back on the cushions.

  “Mm,” Val said, her eyes closed. Her nipples pressed against her shirt.

  Jav swallowed. “I better see myself out,” he said, getting up. “Before we get into trouble.”

  Was he imagining it or did the air taste disappointed?

  “’Night, man,” Alex said.

  “Safe home,” Val said.

  Yeah, he was imagining it.

  He went home. Ari was passed out on
the couch, his artwork carefully spread out to dry on the counters and dining room table. He’d opened all the windows to clear the paint fumes and the apartment was chilly. Jav turned off the TV and threw a blanket over his nephew. Then he went into the shower and jerked off with a petulant vengeance. Alternating between making his hand into Val’s mouth, then Alex’s mouth.

  Alternating between wishing they’d just hire him already, and feeling if they did, it would break his heart.

  As soon as the front door closed behind Jav, Alex pulled his shirt over his head.

  “Get over here,” he said, tackling Val to the floor. His knees hemmed in her writhing body and his hands pinned hers to the rug.

  “We better go upstairs,” she said around his kiss. “The spawn will be back soon.”

  “God, I can’t wait until she goes to college.”

  “Right?”

  They stampeded up the stairs, shut and locked the bedroom door. It rattled as Alex pushed Val up against it, kissing hard, sucking and biting while his hands yanked off her shirt and unclipped her bra. “This isn’t going to be romantic,” he said.

  “Romantic’s overrated.” She ran her hands along his body and her tongue along his neck. Greedy, hungry strokes, wanting to stuff his skin down her throat and feast. She was so high, turned on and tuned in. Blind with need and swollen with impatience as Alex stripped her shorts off and pushed her toward the bed.

  “Bend over for me,” he said, his voice husked out.

  She settled her weight on her elbows, back arched up. Presenting. The hottest stance known to womankind. Behind her, she could hear Alex’s clothes hitting the rug. “Come on,” she said. “I’ve seen you get naked faster than that.”

  “Quiet, you.” His wet fingers glided along her but she didn’t need the help. He pushed in, hard and huge, up into her stomach, up her spine, making a groan tumble out of her mouth.

  He laughed softly at the nape of her neck, collecting her hair in one hand. “So wet,” he said. “Who got you all worked up like that?”

  “You.”

  “Good.” His big, strong hands slid down her back. “Now hold still.”

  He took her by the hip bones and then it was every man for himself. Self-preservation screwing. No points for style or stamina. Whoever came first won.

  Val’s hands clenched around the sheets. Head lolling, eyes rolling, her gaze wobbled on the armchair in their bay window. She licked her lips, smiling at an invisible presence sitting there.

  You like that, Jav? she thought. You like watching? I saw you downstairs. You were thinking about it.

  She imagined him unbuttoning his pants, taking himself in hand. Beautiful and arrogant, stroking off and never losing her eyes. Arousal gripped her tight, wrung her out.

  “So hot,” Alex whispered, an edge in his voice and a hitch in his breathing telling Val he was close.

  From the armchair, Jav’s expression turned pleading. Supplicant. He was asking her permission to watch this. To want this. He wanted to come, too.

  Yes, she thought. You may come. Come with us. Come for us.

  It was on her then, quick and fast. She pushed up on her hands, pushed back on Alex and let it come crashing down on her.

  “I win,” she cried out, while Alex finished a close second.

  “I lose,” he said, collapsed on her back, arms tight around her waist. “And win.”

  They ripped open the covers and crawled toward the pillows, gasping and reaching for water bottles.

  “That was great,” Alex said.

  “That was sloppy,” she said, drawing the word into three syllables. She flopped on her stomach, a leg over his, arm across his chest and head on his shoulder.

  “Sloppy’s underrated,” he said, running his wet mouth over her forehead. “But give me a few minutes and I’ll fuck you neatly.”

  “What, a twofer?”

  “I’m not done with you.”

  “We haven’t done it twice in a night in ages. Must’ve been all that strange chemistry going on.”

  “Yeah, it was getting weird down there.” He rolled on his side and kissed her. “Jav all jealous of my hot wife.”

  “Think he’s jealous of you,” she said, her lip caught gently in his teeth. “Or me?”

  His laugh curled at her neck, low and sexy. He moved his thumb into the hollow of her throat and out again.

  “Would you ever share me with anyone?” she asked. She could because he was high and freshly laid. Sex made him secure. Pot made him expansive.

  “No,” he said around one of her nipples. “I’m too greedy.”

  She held his head. “No threesome fantasies? Ever?”

  “Sure,” he said. “But usually it’s another woman in the scenario.”

  “Like who?”

  “Your sister.”

  She laughed. “I’d swat you except it’s too impressive a feat. I can’t even wrap my mind around Trelawney in the sack.”

  “I can’t either. It’s a pathetic fantasy.” He slid his hand around her shoulder and gently rolled her to lay on her stomach again. His mouth moved in long strokes up and down her back. Her toes curled. She loved having her back kissed.

  “So who do you have in bed with us?” he asked.

  “I may have invited Jav once or twice.”

  “And what’s he doing?”

  “Oh… Stuff.”

  He moved the hair off the back of her neck and touched his tongue to her nape. “Like what?”

  It was one thing to fantasize, another to tease. But the actual out loud reveal was like getting naked when you were already nude. Peeling your skin off and showing your bones. She didn’t quite trust this invitation. “Um…”

  His voice was low and husky down her spine. “You fuck both of us? One after the other? Or both of us at the same time?”

  “In my head, I’ve done it all.”

  His mouth traveled across the back of one knee. “Tell me.”

  “I love it in my head,” she said, picking words one at a time. “Nothing’s awkward, nothing’s clumsy. The lighting is perfect, everyone says exactly the right thing at the right time. Nobody’s afraid or weirded out. It’s like world peace. And no morning after.”

  “Spread your legs for me,” he whispered. “Keep talking.”

  She closed her eyes and opened for him. “I only like you inside me,” she said. “While Jav does some other stuff.”

  “Mm.”

  “Or takes over if you get tired.”

  His laughter tickled. His hair was soft on her skin, followed by the rough scratch of his cheek. His tongue laid warm trails on the insides of her thighs and his breath cooled them off. His hand caressed circles on her ass.

  “I’ll never get tired of making love with you,” he said. “It’s literally my favorite thing to do.”

  “It’s what you do best.”

  “Sometimes I think…”

  She looked back over her shoulder. “What?”

  Lying between her calves, he was gorgeous. His palms spread wide around her legs, thumbs moving back and forth. “It would be a turn-on to have someone watch what I do best.”

  “Any someone?”

  He smiled. “I may have invited Jav once or twice.”

  “Just to watch?”

  “Most of the time.”

  “What about the rest of the time?”

  Alex drew a deep, measured breath. Loosening his skin, getting ready to show some bones. “Well. Sometimes, I—”

  Downstairs, Roman and Sheba barked, followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing. Footsteps like a wagon train up the treads, dog tags jingling down the hall. Alex rolled away and Val sat up on an elbow.

  “The fruit of thy womb hath returned,” Alex muttered, crawling toward his pillow.

  “Wearing her weighted shoes, I see.”

  The doorknob gave a rattle, followed by a rap of knuckles. “I’m home.”

  “We’re fucking, dear,” Val said. Alex clapped a hand over
her mouth and called, “We’re going to sleep, babe. Goodnight.”

  “‘Night.”

  Alex took his hand away and kissed Val. “I can’t take you anywhere,” he whispered. And kissed her again.

  “I love you tonight,” she said.

  His hand slid between her legs, fingers slipping inside. “You love me always.”

  “But especially tonight.” She closed him up in her fist. Usually the round two erection wasn’t as enthusiastic as its predecessor, but Alex was sporting the wood of a sixteen-year-old.

  “What should we do with this?” she asked.

  “Come here.”

  He took her over to the chair in the window. He sat and she crawled in his lap, guided him inside. Her thighs enclosed him like a second pair of armrests.

  “God, I love you,” he said. His hands moved in slow circles around her breasts, down her sides, caressing the planes of her legs.

  “You’re so good,” she said. Her fingertips slid over his skin. She traced the lines of his face, touched his tattoos and his scars.

  “So what would he be doing now?” he whispered.

  She closed her eyes and turned her head up to the side, looking into the past. Remembering. “He’s kissing me.”

  “What else?”

  “All four of your hands. Both mouths on me at the same time.”

  “That would feel good?”

  “Mm-hm. While you do what you do best.”

  She opened her eyes. His arm muscles flexed and squeezed as his hands raised and lowered her along the length of him. Her mouth played with the memory of Jav’s kiss a bit. Then imagined him walking around to the back of the wing chair. His eyes asked permission.

  Can I? Please?

  Val nodded the slightest bit. Jav leaned over the back of the chair, took a gentle but firm grip on the hair at the back of Alex’s head and tilted it up. Alex’s throat and jaw rippled as he was kissed. His mouth opened. His tongue reached. His hand went up and around the back of Jav’s neck, pulling the kiss in closer.

  Val’s insides contracted down hard at the visual.