Friends Wanting Benefits

by Young, Luke

  Springing into action, she swam to the edge of the hull, poked her head out for a glimpse to locate the group, and then returned to him. There she grabbed hold of the steel bar in order to steady herself. He gazed at her shaking his head again until she reached into his swim trunks with her free hand and took hold of his penis. Coughing in surprise, he nearly spit out his respirator, but soon regained his composure. She pushed his trunks down to his hips and went to work stroking him. He reached down and slipped a hand roughly into her bikini top, pushing it aside and toying with her nipple.

  She closed her eyes and shivered as she pulled on his cock, and in seconds he doubled in size and was well on his way to maximum hardness. She glided down eye level with his erection then took a final breath before pulling the respirator from her mouth and carefully engulfed him between her lips. He gasped, and air bubbles blasted from the sides of his respirator as she moved quickly over his shaft.

  He gazed down at her dizzily as she spent twenty seconds working over him before returning the respirator to her mouth, sucking in a few desperately needed breaths of oxygen then replacing it with what she considered his much more desperately needed flesh.

  Letting go of the bar, she took hold of his shaft and stroked it fast as she wrapped her lips around the tip and sucked him gently. His head rocked from side to side as she kept working over him until she could do it no longer.

  When she returned the respirator to her mouth, he pulled her up to him and took his own respirator out and sucked at her breast. He lasted only a few seconds before apparently swallowing some sea water and rushing back to the oxygen. She giggled and shook her head.

  Pulling the ties off one side of her bikini bottoms, she pushed them down exposing her swollen entrance. He slipped his hand between her legs and a finger inside her. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she was lost in the moment before she remembered that time was of the essence and promptly pulled away from him.

  Spinning around, she took hold of the bar with one hand and motioned with the other for him to move behind her. He followed her unspoken instruction and slipped in behind, taking hold of her hips and guiding his erection between her thighs.

  Air bubbles spilled out of both their mouths as he entered her. Holding the bar with both hands, she bucked her hips up and down as they fucked floating almost weightlessly in the underwater paradise. Their bodies rose up almost horizontal to the floor of the ship. She curled her legs back and placed her heels on his thighs securing their connections as he continued pumping inside her.

  Reaching around her, he placed a finger to her clit and with the other arm cradled her waist as he thrust furiously. Suddenly she felt him throb inside then the gush of his warmth flooding her as he stopped moving while his fingertips dug into her hips.

  They took only another moment panting into their respirators and with their hearts beating out of their chests as they struggled to recover thirty feet underwater. Then she glided away from him and worked to secure her bikini bottoms before adjusting her top while he tucked his package away in his tight trunks.

  Turning to each other, they shared a ‘can-you-believe-what-we-just-did’ look before she motioned with her thumb that they should rejoin the group. Just as the satisfied pair was heading toward the opening in the hull, the guide appeared, flashing them an angry glare and a palm-raised shrug, before motioning hurriedly for them to follow. As he turned and swam away, Victoria and Ethan shared a smile then headed off after him.

  26

  Back on the ship, Jillian returned to her cabin and found it empty. After searching the room for a note from George and finding none, she stripped off her soaked sweat suit and gazed at her sad reflection in the mirror. The bags under her eyes were pronounced and also highlighted most unflatteringly by her smudged makeup. After pulling her hair from the ponytail, she pushed it behind her ears and brushed her teeth.

  She climbed into the shower stall, pulled the curtain and stood with her eyes closed as the hot water cascaded down her body. How did she get here? How was her marriage in this horrible condition? She searched her brain struggling to remember a time that she and George were truly happy. Were there really any good memories? Was there any closeness? Was there mind-blowingly good sex at any point? She shook her head with the realization that there was just enough joy in the marriage to keep them together, but not an ounce more. She was the poster child for not getting pregnant right out of high school. Sighing, she put her hair under the spray of the shower and started to cry.

  She spent the day writing in the cabin and waiting for George to appear. He never did. She figured he was in the casino and she wasn’t about to go tracking him down there. She only left the room for a few minutes, stopping at Victoria’s cabin to see if they wanted to have a late lunch with her in Barbados, but when she knocked, no one answered. At 7:00 p.m. she showered and dressed for dinner. She was starving since she had barely eaten anything that day. It was lobster night and she wasn’t going to miss it, George or no George.

  She dined at her assigned table of eight with George’s chair the lone empty one from the group. While chatting with her companions and enjoying two vodka tonics, she was a bit tipsy before the main course arrived. The lobster was a little tough, but still pretty good— it can’t be easy to serve up one thousand lobsters and all at the same time.

  At just after ten, she returned to the cabin and found it empty still, then headed to the piano bar finding, Victoria and Ethan sitting in what was now becoming their booth. Peter O’Shea was getting warmed up on the piano and he shared a smile with Jillian as she passed.

  Jillian plopped down next to Victoria, frowning. “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  Ethan asked, “Can we get you a drink?”

  “Vodka tonic.”

  He motioned for the waitress and ordered another round for the three of them.

  Jillian said, “I stopped by your cabin today. I knocked but…”

  “We got off the ship,” Victoria replied.

  “Oh, good.” Jillian rolled her eyes. “I thought you guys might have been doing it all day in there.”

  Ethan and Victoria shared a knowing sexy smile and Jillian noticed. “What? What was that?”

  “What was what?” Victoria replied.

  “That look.”

  The pair shared another meaningful glance before shrugging in unison then Victoria said, “There was no look.”

  “Oh, there was a little look.” Jillian grimaced.

  The waitress dropped off their drinks and Jillian took a sip. “So what did you guys do in Barbados?”

  “Um…” Victoria and Ethan both curled their lips.

  “Geez, don’t tell me you guys screwed on the beach or something.”

  “We did not have sex on the beach.” Victoria nodded her head emphatically.

  “That’s right.” Ethan nodded quickly wearing a guilty grin. “We did not.”

  “Wait, what am I missing?”

  “Honey, do you really want us to tell you? You seem to get a little upset when you find out other people are having sex and you’re not.”

  “I do not.” Jillian scowled at her before sipping from her drink.

  “Really? You seem to be on edge.”

  “I am not on edge,” Jillian said in a completely super-I’m-on-edge voice.

  “Okayyyyy.” Victoria made a face.

  “I’m not on edge.” Jillian took a deep breath.

  “Well…” Victoria glanced to Ethan then returned to look at Jillian wide-eyed, “… it looked to me like you wanted to kill that old couple from last night just because she had her hand on his knee.”

  “Yeah, it kinda did,” Ethan agreed.

  “No, I’m fine.” Jillian waved her hand in the air. “So what’d you guys do? You can tell me. I really want to hear.”

  “We went SCUBA diving.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun.” Jillian smiled half-heartedly.

  “Yep, SCUBA diving…” Ethan added before breaking
into a chuckle and covering his mouth with his hand.

  “Geez, would you guys just spit it out.”

  Victoria replied hesitantly, “We sorta did it… underwater.”

  “Underwater?”

  “Yeah. Thirty feet underwater.”

  Jillian gazed at her dumbfounded. “Thirty feet?”

  “And it was fun.”

  “I’ll bet,” the lonely writer replied with the edge returning to her voice. Then she took a big gulp from her drink and shook her head. “Wait, you guys did it wearing masks and a tank and all that?”

  “Yeah, it’s not all that much equipment.” Victoria shrugged. “All the important parts remain…” she turned to Ethan and they shared a smile, “… accessible.”

  “That. They. Do.” He grinned before taking a sip of his drink.

  “How… um… Wait…” Jillian narrowed her eyes.

  “It’s not easy to give a blowjob underwater,” Victoria announced matter-of-factly.

  “What?” Jillian scoffed. “You were wearing a respirator, right?”

  “Yeah, but you just take it out and replace it with…” The sexually adventurous woman nodded toward Ethan’s nether regions.

  “Okay….” Closing her eyes, Jillian raised her hand to stop her. “I get the picture.”

  The three sat in awkward silence for a few moments until finally Jillian sighed. “I think I might regret this, but please tell me more.”

  Victoria smiled. “Well, there are these five sunken ships and we stayed back while the group moved to the next one and we did it.”

  “You were with a group?” Jillian gazed at her like she was out of her mind.

  “A small group.” Victoria held her thumb and forefinger two inches apart.

  “Wait, let me get this straight.” Jillian put her hand to her chin then continued with her voice dripping with mild contempt, “I’m up here with all us normal, average, regular people— here where we have oxygen and basically the whole environment is conducive to actually having sex…” She motioned around the room for emphasis. “I’m here and I can’t get any.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t going to get angry,” Victoria said.

  “No, this isn’t angry,” Jillian replied sternly.

  “Really, because you sound a little angry.”

  “No.” Jillian sighed. She emptied the last of her drink then snapped, “I’m just curious.”

  “If it’s any consolation…” Victoria said, “… I didn’t have an orgasm.”

  “That’s great. Thanks for sharing.” Jillian nodded. “I haven’t had one of those since, oh, I don’t know… Maybe January.”

  “I had one.” Ethan announced.

  Victoria frowned at him.

  “What?” Ethan shrugged with his palms raised. “I did. I thought we were all sharing.”

  Gazing at him with her mouth wide open, Jillian simply shook her head.

  Victoria patted Ethan’s knee and motioned with her head toward the front of the bar. When Ethan glanced up, he held back a laugh and whispered, “Holy shit.”

  “What is it now?” Jillian grumbled.

  Suddenly the oddest couple on the planet stood behind Jillian smiling— it was the same middle-aged woman with the walking stick and her kilt wearing younger travelling companion that Victoria and Ethan had seen before.

  “Miss West?”

  Turning around, Jillian’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she drank in the unusual couple. “Um, yes?”

  “Who’s Miss West?” Ethan asked Victoria.

  “That’s her pen name.”

  “Oh.”

  Looking down, Jillian spotted the couple both wearing Birkenstocks, and focused in on the man’s huge and hairy feet, which sported bright orange toenail polish.

  “My husband and I really love your books,” the woman said with enthusiasm.

  “They really have added to our bedroom experiences, if you know what I mean…” The man gave her a wink.

  “Oh, well, that’s just, um… Great.” Jillian nodded wearing a forced smile.

  “We don’t want to disturb you, but please, please keep writing,” the woman said.

  “I will.”

  After giving Jillian a smile, the unusual couple headed toward the South Sea Lounge behind the bar. Victoria and Ethan turned around and waited until the couple was out of ear shot before busting into a chuckle. Victoria said, “I can’t believe kilt and stick are married. We thought she was his mother.”

  “Who?” Jillian asked.

  Ethan said, “Kilt and stick— that’s what we call them. We’ve been seeing them everywhere— at every port… All over the ship.”

  “That’s the first time I’ve seen them,” Jillian said.

  “No way. We think they’re following us around,” Ethan added.

  “Wow, they don’t seem to go together do they?” Jillian commented.

  “No, they really don’t.” Victoria rolled her eyes.

  “She looks like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings.” Jillian scoffed then furrowed her brow. “And what’s with that kilt?”

  Victoria and Ethan both shrugged and said in unison, “Yeah, they’re kilt and stick.”

  “Please stop calling them that.” Jillian winced.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know…” Jillian said. “Just please stop.” Then after a short pause her expression morphed into one of incredible gloom. “Oh, God… Crap.”

  “What is it?”

  “Even…” Jillian groaned, “… kilt and stick have a better sex life than I do.”

  “Jillian…” frowning, Victoria shook her head, “… everyone has a better sex life than you do.”

  “I know.” Jillian exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. “I know.”

  Victoria forced a perky smile. “But look on the bright side, not everyone can write like you do.”

  “Yeah, great,” the famous author replied sarcastically.

  “You want another drink?” Victoria asked.

  “No.”

  “Maybe you and George will get back on track tonight.” Ethan put on a hopeful expression.

  “Not likely. I can’t even find him. Haven’t seen him all day.”

  “We’re going dancing again later. You want to go?” Victoria asked.

  “No…” Jillian exhaled, “… I think I’m just going to throw myself overboard.”

  Victoria leaned over to Ethan and whispered in his ear. He returned a wide-eyed affirmative nod as Jillian took a sip of her drink.

  “We’ll have sex with you if you want,” Victoria announced casually.

  After choking once, some of Jillian’s drink escaped from her mouth and she wiped it with her napkin. “What?”

  “We’ll, you know…” Victoria motioned with a swirl of her finger to the three of them.

  “What— the three of us?” Jillian scoffed.

  “Why not? I already knocked one thing off my fantasy list today.” Shrugging, Victoria gave her an optimistic look. “I’m up for two.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Ethan took a sip from his drink.

  Jillian studied them carefully, her expression unreadable. “That’s just—”

  “It could be fun,” Victoria added.

  “Oh, I don’t doubt that, but I don’t think I could, um, you know…” Suddenly Jillian grimaced. “Wait a second. This is… oh, I’m so pathetic that, that…This is a pity thing, right?”

  “Noooo.”

  “Yeah it is… Let’s throw the lonely, unhappily married woman a bone.”

  “No, I think you’re hot,” Ethan said.

  Jillian studied both of them for a moment shaking her head before placing her hand on Victoria’s arm. “Look, I’m flattered… I really am, but I think I’m going to have to pass.”

  “You sure?” Victoria asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.”

  “Yeah, somehow I think the world might actually come to an end if we do this. I mean, first you’re…” Jil
lian whispered, “… blowing him underwater and then we’re having some sort of wild group sex thing on the high seas.” She widened her eyes. “The combination of the two might just be a trigger for the apocalypse.”

  Victoria chuckled. “Maybe you’re right.”

  After emptying her glass with one last sip, Jillian placed her glass on the table and rose to her feet. “You guys have fun tonight.”

  “Hang in there Jillian,” Victoria said.

  “I will.” Turning on her heels, she headed out of the bar.

  27

  Jillian returned to her cabin and wasn’t shocked to find George still missing in action. However, the messy state of the room and the discovery of his soaking wet towel on the floor was a clear indication that he was still somewhere onboard, and he had stopped by to shower and change since she’d last been in the room.

  The ship was returning to San Juan the next morning and all passengers were required to place their luggage outside their cabins before midnight. She wasn’t surprised at all that her thoughtless husband had left her to deal with his clothing, toiletries, and all his packing. Grumbling, she laid out something for them both to sleep in that night and a change of clothes for the next day then packed everything else and dragged their suitcases to the hallway.

  After taking a shower, she crawled into bed and tried to watch a movie. Her eyes were heavy, and minutes later she turned off the television and drifted off to sleep alone in the empty room. George finally returned about an hour later, and Jillian woke to the sounds of him fumbling around in the bathroom. She waited, staring up to the ceiling until she heard the loud sucking sound of the toilet then she turned on her side to face the wall.

  She pretended to still be asleep when he climbed into bed next to her. Then letting out a sleepy groan, she turned onto her back. She could feel his eyes on her and heard him take a deep breath. Her hand was at her side, and she felt his fingers brush up against hers. It was electric— his touch, the feel of his fingers on her skin. Tentatively he ran a finger up to her wrist and tingles shot all the way up her arm. She panted and he turned to her, pressing his lips to her mouth.

  “Sorry,” he whispered breathlessly.