Never Trust a Stranger

by Mary Monroe

  I lifted myself higher and gave her an incredulous look. “Now I find that hard to believe. You’re a very passionate woman. Why would you be in a relationship like that?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a long story.”

  “I have long ears.”

  We chuckled at the same time. I was glad she was in a humorous mood. The more I gained her confidence, the easier it would be to lure her to her final destination.

  “My stepmother likes him and he’s convenient. He’s so polite and nerdy it’s funny, but everybody likes him. Whenever I need an escort to a social event, or if I don’t want to go to dinner or a movie on my own, Elbert—that’s his name—is always happy to take me.”

  “Well then. I guess we’re in the same boat. I do see a woman from time to time, but only because she’s convenient. I guess she and your mild-mannered boo are in the same boat.” I laughed. When she didn’t laugh along with me, I stopped. “Why do you care if I’m involved with someone?”

  She shrugged. “I got pretty carried away a few minutes ago, clawing your back like a panther and beating on it like a bongo drummer. I was concerned that you might have to explain the scratches and bruises to someone, when—I mean if you make love again before your back heals.”

  I laughed again. I rarely laughed this much when I was with a woman. “If I do make love to another woman before my back heals, I’ll keep my undershirt on,” I said as I caressed my chin. “Lola, I know I was pretty rough with you and I hope I didn’t scare you.”

  “Scare me? Pffft! That kinky dude with the handcuffs and paddle who I mentioned to you, if some of the things he did didn’t scare me, nothing will. And, if you really want to know, I did some pretty scary things to him with that paddle.”

  “Can I ask you a real personal question?”

  “Yeah.” I detected some reluctance in her tone.

  “Why did you join a sex club?”

  “For the same reason everybody else joins, I guess. I like sex. I used to think about the morality issue, but I don’t anymore. I mean, a woman having sex with strangers left and right sounds so . . . trashy. And I was raised by Christians.”

  “Lola, there is nothing trashy about consenting adults having sex with multiple partners. Look at it this way. Technically, it’s something that millions—maybe even billions—of adults are doing today on some level anyway. Besides, it’s been going on since biblical days.”

  “I know. When I reminded myself of that, I forgot all about the morality thing.” She chuckled.

  “What’s funny?”

  “My daddy was a Christian, and he cheated on my mother on a regular basis. He even moved one of his girlfriends in with us.”

  “Damn! Your mother must have been a very understanding woman to allow that!”

  “She was, I guess. But she was so used to his affairs she didn’t care what he did as long as he took care of us. Why did you ask me why I joined Discreet Encounters?”

  “Well, you seem like the kind of woman who ought to be in a kitchen baking cookies and burping babies.”

  She gently slapped the side of my head and gave me a mock exasperated look. “Calvin, the same women who bake cookies and burp babies still need sex. I saw a movie once about these soccer moms who spent their afternoons working as escorts.”

  “Have you ever worked as an escort?” My chest tightened and I braced myself.

  “Heavens, no! I was reluctant to join Discreet Encounters because, well, at first I thought of it as glorified prostitution.”

  I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Had she told me that she had sold her body the way Glinda had, I probably would have snapped. All hell would have broken loose if I’d found out she was that big of a slut! Both our lives would be over today. She would end up in the morgue, and I would end up in jail. She was disgusting! I had to get rid of this nasty bitch sooner than I planned to! The thought of her roaming the earth another few weeks was more than I could stand. Even though I’d decided to let her live until next month, that expiration date was subject to change. It all depended on my mood, my work schedule, and the cooperation of the beast inside me that continued to control my actions.

  “There is nothing illegal about adults having consensual sex. We all have needs, and I like the idea of making love to beautiful women with no strings attached,” I told her. I couldn’t wait to hear her response.

  “Oh. Was that the only reason you joined Discreet Encounters?”

  I nodded. “I guess so.”

  “Do any of your friends know?”

  I gave her a stony-faced look. “My friends are pretty cool, but they are not as broad-minded as I am.”

  “Almost every club member I’ve been with so far is either married or in a relationship.”

  “Well, like I just told you, I have a lady friend, but she’s somewhat shy in the bedroom. We’ve been together for several years and I’ve never even seen her completely naked. Other than that, I enjoy her company. She’s a career woman, and she is not interested in ever being a mother. I want to be a father someday, so my relationship with her has gone as far as it can go.” I sniffed. “If I wanted to see you again, would it matter if I had a wife?”

  “If it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t bother me.” Lola gave me a pensive look. “I don’t like to talk about myself with too many people, but when I was a teenager, I thought I’d be married and have a couple of kids by the time I was twenty-five. Here I am in my thirties and I’m not even close.”

  “Have you ever been close?”

  “Just once. His name was Maurice Hamilton. He was also a marine, like you. Do you remember what I told you about the commitment I made to my stepmother?”

  I nodded. “You promised her and your daddy on his death bed that you would take care of her for the rest of her life. How could I forget something like that? I’m glad you shared that with me.”

  “She was the reason Maurice and I broke up. She hated him and she made sure he knew it. It got to him eventually and he couldn’t stand the pressure, so he broke up with me. Bertha’s interference turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As it turned out, he was into drugs and beating up on women.” She paused and suddenly looked a little sad. I stroked her face and nodded, and she continued, talking slowly with a mechanical tone. She almost sounded like a robot. “My stepmother is a good person and she means well—and I care about her—but living with her is getting harder and harder for me.”

  “Oh? What do you mean?”

  “In addition to her clinging to me like a vine and controlling my life, her children treat me like a, well, they treat me like an ugly stepsister.”

  I chuckled. “You are a stepsister, but not an ugly one, that’s for sure. Cinderella had the ugly stepsister, two if I remember that fairy tale correctly.” I chuckled again and so did she. It was obvious that she thought I was thoroughly interested in everything she had to say. And my sense of humor was like icing on the cake. I decided to throw in a little compassion. “Thanks for sharing so much with me, Lola. Most of the women I’ve been with were reluctant to be as forthcoming as you about their personal lives. I’m a people person, so I try to have a good interpersonal relationship with everybody I come in contact with.”

  Lola stared blankly for a few seconds. And then she smiled. “Thanks, Calvin. I don’t reveal a lot of my business to most people, but it’s so easy to talk to you. I hope I’m not boring you.”

  “I’m a good listener, and it takes a lot to bore me,” I said firmly. I motioned with my hand for her to continue, even though every word sliding out her mouth was making my ears ring with irritation.

  “Anyway, my stepsister and her family recently moved in with us while their house is being renovated.”

  For the next hour, Lola bombarded me with more details about her home life and how miserable she was because of it. I laughed long and loud when she told me about catching her stepsister with a dude and the clumsy way the stepsister tried to offset her nasty behavior toward her. She also told me a
bout all the lies she told her family about her social activities.

  I listened with interest, and even as disgusting as she was, I admired the way her juicy lips moved each time she spoke.

  Tears pooled in her eyes when she told me she was afraid of the color yellow. She had a spooky premonition that she’d die if she wore something yellow, because her mother had been laid to rest in a yellow dress. Some goofy bitch had told her at the funeral that it looked like she was the one lying in the casket. This piece of information intrigued me. Glinda’s favorite color had been yellow. She’d worn a yellow blouse the day I met her. Right after we got married, she covered almost every window in our house with yellow curtains. And I’d wrapped her body in a yellow blanket the night I killed her. She was still wrapped in that yellow blanket....

  “I even created a fictitious invalid named Liza Mae Ford, who my stepmother thinks I’m with sometimes when I have a nighttime date with a club member.”

  “Where did you tell your family you were going today?”

  “I told them that I was going up to Reno with a girlfriend.”

  “It sounds like you’re very creative.” I laughed. “So no one knows about me?”

  “Just my best friend. I tell her everything because her home life is even more miserable than mine. She’s married, but she’s been in the club longer than me. She’s the one who talked me into joining so I don’t have to worry about her blabbing my business.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Joan.”

  I held up my hand and shook my head. “No, I mean her screen name. I’ve been with a few sisters in the club, and I’m curious to know if she’s one.”

  “Online she calls herself HotChocolate, but you’ve never been with her. She only dates men who live in other states, or other countries. She’s got this notion that if a member lives too close and gets too attached to her, and flips out, she’d have a fatal attraction stalking situation on her hands.” Lola shook her head and rolled her eyes. I held my breath because it looked like she was going to burn my ears with another giggle. Thank God she didn’t.

  “Are you concerned about stalkers?” I asked.

  “Not really. If a person is determined to stalk somebody, they won’t let distance stop them. A couple of months ago, I saw a TV program about the man who was so obsessed with John Lennon, he traveled from Hawaii to New York to kill him. On that same show, they did a segment about an actress who was in the movie Raging Bull with Robert De Niro and later on one of those old TV shows. Theresa something.”

  “Theresa Saldana. I’ve read several articles about that case over the years.”

  “The man who tracked her down and stabbed her came from Scotland. But as far as I’m concerned, the person who lives next door can do as much damage to you as somebody who comes from the other side of the planet. It’s up to us to stay alert.”

  “Running into a psycho was one of my concerns when I joined Discreet Encounters,” I admitted.

  “I hear you. There are a lot of nuts running around these days, Calvin. People are killing people for some of the most ridiculous reasons.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “I read the paper and watch all those crime shows on the Investigation Discovery channel. Most criminals don’t look like Charles Manson. They look like you and me!”

  “They sure do. . . .”

  Chapter 51

  Lola

  I FELT MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE WITH CALVIN THIS TIME. I LIKED everything about him—so far. I felt like I could talk to him about anything. But I had no idea what made me ask the next question. “Do you ever wonder what’s going through a person’s head when they’re killing somebody?”

  Several seconds passed before he responded. “That’s an interesting and morbid question. Why do you ask?”

  “I wonder what a killer is thinking while he or she is stabbing or shooting somebody. At the rate murders are happening in this state alone, how can a person not think about it on a regular basis? About ten years ago, a woman who lived on my block was murdered. She was walking home from work one night and some maniac raped, robbed, and stabbed her to death two blocks from her house. Nobody was arrested for that crime. I wonder if her killer ever feels sorry about what he did, and all the pain he caused that woman’s family and friends.”

  “That is something to think about, I guess.”

  “I know you didn’t have a choice in the war, but I’m sure you didn’t like taking any lives, even if they were the enemy.”

  “I sure didn’t. It was very traumatic.” Calvin paused for a few seconds, and then he began to speak in a very cold and controlled manner. It was as though he was reading cue cards. “Before I got deployed to Afghanistan, I’d never even hurt a fly. Life is too precious.”

  “I feel the same way. I don’t even believe in abortions, the death penalty, or even mercy killings. People are going around shooting innocent people in schools, workplaces, movie theaters, killing family members for insurance money, and cutting up bodies and burying them like it’s going out of style! The only way I’d ever kill or hurt another human being would be if I got caught up in a self-defense situation.”

  “I don’t think a sweet woman like you needs to be concerned about that.” Calvin gave me a thoughtful look. “Maybe we should get off this morbid subject and talk about something more pleasant.”

  “I totally agree with you, and I apologize for bringing it up,” I said quickly.

  “Lola, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t mind having some steak and lobster.”

  “I am hungry now, so I wouldn’t mind having some too.” There was a smile on my face that was so extreme, it made my cheeks ache.

  * * *

  Room service was so busy, it took over an hour for them to deliver our orders. After scarfing down my steak and only part of the lobster, I had three glasses of champagne, which was something I’d rarely done on a date. One glass was usually my limit. When I joined Discreet Encounters, I promised myself that I’d never get drunk and let my guard down when I was with a date. For Calvin, I was willing to make an exception. I was so relaxed and tipsy, I could not keep my eyes open.

  After several minutes had passed, Calvin nudged my shoulder as we lay in bed with CNN broadcasting the usual disturbing news. “Are you okay, Lola?”

  “Huh?” I lifted my head off his chest and sat bolt upright, looking around the room. It took a few seconds for me to realize where I was and who I was with. There was an amused look on Calvin’s face. I silently prayed that I had not done something embarrassing during my brief snooze, like blasting a few farts or drooling on his chest.

  “I know I gave you a hell of a workout, so why don’t you relax for a little while.”

  “Uh, what time is it?” I asked.

  Calvin glanced at his watch. “Five minutes to six. Unfortunately, I have to get going soon.”

  His last sentence really got my attention. I didn’t want him to leave soon, or ever. I loved everything about this man! I was so into him, my mind went haywire. All kinds of thoughts began to swim around in my head. I skipped over his marriage proposal to me, our brief engagement, and the lavish wedding we would have so I could focus on a name for our first child! But I didn’t entertain these outrageous thoughts too long. I was way ahead of myself. My mind shifted back to the present moment and the reality of my situation. With reluctance, I reminded myself that Calvin and I belonged to a sex club and that was all today’s encounter was supposed to be about.

  Or was it?

  The only way for me to find out was to ask him, but I had to have another drink first.

  Chapter 52

  Calvin

  “I HOPE YOU DON’T THINK I’M A LUSH,” LOLA MUMBLED. AND then the greedy bitch poured herself another glass of champagne. “I don’t even like alcohol that much.”

  “I don’t think you’re a lush, and all I care about is you being happy while you’re with me.”

  She took a mighty swallow from her wine
glass before she started asking me more stupid questions. “Have you ever dated the same club member more than once?” she asked shyly, which she was anything but. When it came to sex, Lola was one of the boldest women I’d ever encountered. And one of the loudest. She’d started yip-yipping and gasping almost from the minute I entered her and had kept it up until I’d satisfied her.

  “Not yet,” I admitted. “But I’ve attempted to. There was this super-fine redhead I hooked up with during one of my stopovers near San Diego. I wanted to see her a second time, and hopefully on a regular basis after that. But when I contacted her for an encore, she told me that another club member she’d seen several times had asked her to marry him. She was in her forties and had never been married, so she wasted no time accepting his proposal.”

  “Oh? So there are people in this club who actually marry other members?”

  “It’s quite common. One of the first club women I was with was married to another member. Happily married, I might add. They had an extremely ‘open’ relationship. They had threesomes, foursomes, and straight-up orgies with other Discreet Encounters members, as well as members of other clubs.”

  “Did you have a threesome or something with that woman and her husband?”

  “I was with her only that one time,” I said with a shrug and a frown. “I didn’t really like her that much, and she was a little too wild in bed for me.”

  Lola’s eyes got big. “Really?”

  “She was so off the charts, she scared me. See, she was into biting and other aggressive shit.”

  Lola dropped her head. “Like me?”

  “Puh-leeze!” I laughed, mainly to keep the conversation light. “Those baby taps you laid on my back don’t count.” I rose from the bed and backed all the way to the dresser where I had dropped my clothes, then started getting dressed. “Listen.” I paused. I had to think hard for a few seconds so I could choose the right words. “I am so glad we finally got together, Lola.” I exhaled and gave her one of the most engaging smiles I could manage. “You were everything I hoped you’d be and then some. Especially today.”