by Thomas Henry
I nodded, waiting to see if I could trust myself to speak. I gave Marilyn a gentle kiss on the lips. “I’d like that, too. But is Dean going to be okay with you seeing me?”
“He knows I’m seeing men for Sally. I think that’s all he really needs to know. Whether I’m having sex with some other guy for money, or with you for…whatever we want to call it…it should be pretty much the same to him...just business.”
“So is that what you’re proposing? A business relationship?”
Marilyn pressed her body against mine. “Never. Between us, it’s always personal.”
My impulse was to unzip Marilyn’s dress and let nature take its course. But I hesitated. My heart was heavy over Karen. I wondered what she was doing right then…or what was being done to her. Even though I understood the reason, I resented the fact that she had chosen to stand me up. Would I be committing an equal offense by taking Marilyn to bed? Maybe…but Karen had only herself to blame. Or so I rationalized.
“So how would you feel about starting tonight?” I asked.
“Well…I think my husband might get suspicious if I don’t come home smelling like sex.”
“We can’t have that.” I found her zipper and let nature take its course.
Marilyn hadn’t come prepared to stay the night, and she needed to go home at an hour that would seem reasonable to her husband. I didn’t want to stay out in Halawa by myself, so I decided to go home, too.
When I got back to my house, it was about two. Ted and Crystal were gone. The lights were off and the place was locked up tight.
I took a quick shower and crawled into bed. But I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about Karen and imagining all the things that might have happened at the stag party...things that might still be happening.
My phone rang a little after three. Caller ID said it was Karen.
“Hello?”
I heard nothing for a few seconds, and then Karen softly said, “Can you come to the Oasis?”
“Right now?”
“Please.”
My stomach knotted. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay. But I need you. Please come.”
Sally’s security guy saw my speeding headlights and opened the garage door. As she always did, Sally greeted me. “Hi Lover-Boy!”
“Hi. Um…Karen called.”
Sally nodded. “She’s in her room.” She gave me a quick kiss. “You know where it is. Go on up.”
I yanked off my boots and hurried up the stairs. I was reaching for Karen’s doorknob when the door opened and she leapt into my arms. She pressed her face against my chest and hugged me.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I am now. I just need you to hold me.” She looked up and kissed me. “Come in. Let’s snuggle and get some sleep.”
I had a million questions, but now was not the time. Right now, the only answer I needed was the warm, naked woman I held in my arms. I drifted into a peaceful sleep.
* * * *
When I awoke, it was nearly noon. Karen was sitting at a little table over by the window, wrapped in a towel, putting on her makeup. I was surprised to see her pick up a contact lens case. I had never known her to wear contact lenses. I watched quietly as she tentatively put in one lens and then the other.
“When did you start wearing contact lenses?” I asked.
She jumped. “Oh, you startled me! I didn’t know you were awake.”
She turned her head and looked directly at me. Her beautiful dark brown eyes were now green.
“You like?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. But I love your brown eyes. Why the green contacts?”
She blinked and adjusted one of the lenses with her fingertip. “I…uh…have a client who prefers his haole girls to have light-colored eyes.”
My stomach knotted. “I see. And you’re seeing him today?”
Karen nodded. “In about 15 minutes.” She looked at me again. “It’s in-call, so I’ll be done in about an hour. Wait for me? Maybe we could go to lunch?”
My stomach twisted itself again. “Sure. Why not?” I didn’t relish waiting around while Karen had sex with another man, but if I took her to lunch, I’d at least get a chance to ask her about the stag party.
Karen finished with her makeup and unwound her towel. I guess I expected he to put on some sexy underwear, but she just selected a stretchy little dress and wriggled herself into it. Of course. Why bother with underwear if you’re just going to take some guy into a bedroom and let him fuck you?
Once she had gotten her dress all adjusted to fit her curves properly, Karen stepped into a pair of high heels. For a moment, I wondered why she didn’t take some kind of purse, but then I realized there was no point.
She gave me a brief kiss. “Be back soon.” She took another look at herself in the floor-length mirror and opened the door. She turned and looked back at me and mouthed the words, love you.
I wanted to stop her. I wanted to ask her not to go. But Sally had given me virtually unlimited access to the Oasis because of Karen. If I tried to interfere, Sally might ban me, and then I might really be cut off from Karen much of the time.
I was curious to see Karen’s client. I figured no one other than possibly Sally would be upstairs, so I just pulled on my boxer-briefs and went out to look down at the courtyard through one of the hallway windows.
After a few minutes, Sally came into the courtyard from the kitchen with a 50-ish mixed-race local man. He had a streak of white in what otherwise was a head of black hair. I assumed that he had parked in the garage, since Sally was bringing him in through the kitchen. It was a good thing she had a four-car garage and only one car of her own.
Sally walked the man over to one of the bedrooms. She disappeared inside with him. At first, I wondered if he had come to see her. But a very short time later, Sally reemerged and pulled the door shut.
She walked halfway across the courtyard toward the living room and gestured. A moment later, Karen appeared from below me. She and Sally had a cursory exchange of words as Karen sauntered over to the room where the man was waiting.
Karen took hold of the doorknob and put her head near the door as she knocked. Then she twisted the knob and disappeared inside the room. The all-too-familiar knot was back in my stomach.
An hour is a long time to just sit and wait, so I decided to take a nice, long shower. By the time I had finished and dressed more than half an hour had passed. I had nothing better to do, so I went back out into the hallway to watch the courtyard.
I kept checking the time on my phone. After an eternity, the hour was up. But it was another agonizingly slow fifteen minutes before the bedroom door opened. The man came out and turned. I could see Karen in the doorway, wrapped in a towel, with her hair tousled. She gave him a hug and a quick kiss and sent him on his way.
He headed to the kitchen on his own. Karen disappeared back into the room for a moment and then reappeared with her dress and shoes dangling from one hand. She hurried across the courtyard toward the living room. I slipped back into her room and sat on the edge of the bed to wait.
I heard the bathroom door thump shut. I assumed Karen was taking another shower. A few minutes later, she came into the bedroom naked, carrying her dress and shoes. I could see the dress had a big wet spot. Karen draped it over the back of her makeup chair.
“He pulled a Clinton on me,” she said. “Needed to take a minute to wash it out.”
“Hmmm,” I said. “I’m surprised you two were in there that long if he came on you while you were still dressed.”
“M-S-O-G,” Karen said. “Sally’s policy. Second time took longer.”
I wondered if I should pretend that I didn’t know what MSOG meant.
Karen donned a bra and panties. I recognized them as ones I had bought her. She must have brought some of her things from home. She covered up with shorts and a t-shirt.
“Where to?” I asked.
“Oh,
let’s just do something simple. Maybe Panda Express? We could pick up a couple of plates and eat in your car.”
“Okay.” I normally didn’t let people eat in my cars, but I was willing to make an exception in this case. Karen and I would have the privacy we needed to talk.
We cruised over to Kahala Mall and got our food. When we got back into the car, I left the windows up and started the engine for the air conditioning.
We ate in silence for a couple of minutes. “I’m really sorry about last night,” Karen said.
“What happened?”
“Didn’t Marilyn tell you?”
“Well, she said you were putting on a live sex show with Body for some stag party.” I waited for Karen to say something, but she didn’t. So I continued, “But I don’t know how that went or what you did after that.”
“Does it really matter?”
It did. But I didn’t know how to explain why. I wasn’t sure I even knew. I didn’t say anything.
Karen leaned over and kissed my cheek. “After the show with Body, I just went back to the Oasis and tried to sleep. But I couldn’t. I had been looking forward to my date with you, and felt disappointed and guilty that I had stood you up. So then I called you.” She kissed me again. “And then I had a wonderful sleep in your arms.”
Despite my emotions, I understood why Karen had done the show with Body. But something else was troubling me. “Tell me about today,” I said. “Why did you do him?”
“Same as Body.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t see that. In a twisted sort of way, I see your attraction to Body, but I can’t believe you were attracted to that guy today.”
“No, you’re right…I wasn’t.”
“So why did you do it?”
Karen shrugged. “The money.”
“I thought the money wasn’t important to you. I thought you were doing this for the…um…sport of it.”
“That’s true…but things have changed a little, so I made a deal with Sally. I asked her to make a couple of the sorority girls available to Ted. Of course, he couldn’t pay her for them because I don’t want him to know they work for her. So, I told her I would make it up to her by taking whatever jobs she wanted me to take.”
“So does this mean you’ll be staying with Sally all the time?”
“Oh, no. But I’ll sort of be on call, you know. I mean, it’s not like she allows walk-ins. Her clients are required to make appointments. So she’ll let me know when she needs me.”
“I see. So…I guess you’ve figured out some discreet way to hook Ted up with the sorority girls.”
“More or less.” She patted my thigh. “I’m hoping you’ll do it. You know, make up some story about how you know them or found them or something, and then invite him up to your house like you did with Crystal.”
“I see. And why should I do this?”
Karen gave me a lingering kiss on the lips and then whispered in my ear, “Because I’ll be eternally grateful.” She palmed my crotch. “And if I have anything to say about it, so will you.”
* * * *
I had hoped Karen would come home with me after lunch, but she had some obligation with Sally in the evening. So, I had driven Karen back to the Oasis, and now I was at my house, wondering how I could spend my evening without being obsessed about what Karen was doing with someone else. I considered distracting myself with another woman as I often did. But my options were limited.
Mai was gone, of course. Normally, Crystal would have been my go-to alternative. But my sugar baby had called me and told me that Bill wanted her to move in with him. I knew she had been wanting to move out of her mother’s house, so I understood why she might decide to stay with Bill for a while. I had no place I wanted to keep her, and truth be told, I had grown a bit bored with her. We really didn’t have much in common beyond the physical act.
I was pretty sure Crystal had checked with me before moving in with Bill because she was concerned about my willingness to continue to fund her education. I had told her to move in with Bill if that is what she wanted to do. So far as I was concerned, it made no difference in our arrangement. She had assured me she would continue to see me discreetly if I wanted.
I didn’t foreclose the option, but I thought those days likely were over. Sex with Crystal was great at first, but sex without a connection gets stale…and then it’s time for a new partner.
I considered giving Thuy a call, but ruled her out for pretty much the same reason. We had no real connection, and I’d been with her enough times that the novelty had worn off.
There was Marilyn, of course, but since I associated her with Karen, I wasn’t sure she would be a good distraction. And in any event, I had no idea of how I would go about trying to make some last-minute arrangement with her. Unless she was doing something for Sally, she probably was home with her husband.
I got out my bottle of Woodford Reserve and found a playlist on my Napster app. I thought maybe I’d just drink and listen to Waylon and Willie and Hank Jr. until I had a tear in my beer. I was pouring the first shot when Sally called.
“Hi Lover-Boy! Busy?”
I get annoyed when people ask me if I’m busy or what I’m doing. I just want them to cut to the chase and ask me what they really want to know.
“Oh, you know…one-legged man,” I said.
“What?”
“I’m busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.”
“Oh…”
I wasn’t sure Sally got it. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Well…your girls are working for me tonight, and I thought you might like to come watch.”
“My girls?”
“Yeah…Karen and Marilyn.”
I was struck by the fact that she had called her “Marilyn” instead of “Julia.” Sally obviously had learned that I knew Marilyn by her real name.
“How did you find out I knew Marilyn?” I asked.
“Oh, she told me…eventually.”
“Eventually?”
“After her first date with one of my real clients.”
“I trust it worked out ok.”
“Yes. He was the same one who took Karen up to Waialae Iki that night you followed them. He had wanted to see Rachel again, but she already had a commitment, so I suggested Julia instead.”
Sally’s use of the name “Rachel” for Karen stabbed me in the heart. “What did he think of…um…Julia?”
“Oh, he was quite pleased. She did great.”
“So we’re forgiven for not telling you that we already knew each other?”
“I’ll think of some way for you to make it up to me.”
“I’ll bet you will. So what were you saying about tonight?”
Sally explained that she had a couple of guys coming to the Oasis tonight for a “two for two” special. The two men would share Karen and Marilyn. Twice the fun for the price of one. Since no other clients would be at the Oasis at the same time, the two couples would be free to frolic under the stars in the courtyard. Sally said she would sneak me into the house, and we could watch from her master bedroom window upstairs.
It wasn’t difficult to divine Sally’s motivation for inviting me. She would get me all sexed up watching Karen and Marilyn…and probably a little drunk…and then she’d try to have her way with me. But exactly what way that would be, I wasn’t sure. Notwithstanding my misgivings about Sally’s motives, I knew there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to watch Karen and Marilyn in action together.
I finished my conversation with Sally and picked up my drink. I was going to be driving, but I figured one wouldn’t hurt.
When I pulled into Sally’s garage, her Cadillac was absent. I wondered if she had gone out. As I got out of my car, one of her security guys greeted me and asked me to follow him. He led me through the kitchen and into the dining room. “Please wait here until Sally comes for you,” he said.
I assumed that Karen and Marilyn were upstairs getting ready for t
heir “double date.” Sally must have wanted to keep me hidden in the dining room until they had come down and gone into the courtyard. Then I guessed she would sneak me upstairs, where we could watch the action through one of her bedroom windows.
I waited for about ten minutes before Sally rushed in and gave me her usual hug-kiss-and-fondle greeting. “Wait just a minute more.” She peered around the door jamb into the living room. I heard the rumble of the sliding door to the courtyard. Sally looked at me and beckoned. “Come…quickly!”
As we sneaked across the living room to the stairway, I glanced out into the courtyard. Karen and Marilyn were strolling toward the kitchen. I guessed their clients were about to come in from the garage. Maybe that was why the Cadillac had been absent. Maybe it had gone to pick them up.
When we got to the top of the stairs, Sally turned off the hallway lights. The windows overlooking the courtyard provided faint illumination because the courtyard itself was lighted by only a few tiki torches and the swimming pool’s underwater lamp.
I pulled off my boots, and Sally and I made our way down the hall to her dark bedroom. Once again, she had planned ahead. The mattress had been removed from her king-size bed and placed on the floor next to the ceiling-to-floor windows that overlooked the courtyard. I was reminded of how we had watched Karen though the cabin window on Sally’s boat.
I looked back down in the courtyard. Karen and Marilyn were waiting just outside the kitchen. I was surprised at their attire. I had assumed they’d be wearing something skin-tight and revealing. But they both were dressed rather conservatively. Karen was wearing one of the dresses she had worn when she had gone out with the gay Middle-Eastern man. Marilyn was wearing a “little black dress.” They both were wearing bras and stockings. Karen had her dark hair up the way she had worn it the time the four of us went to La Mer. Marilyn had her copper hair in her customary French Twist.
“Are they going out?” I asked Sally.
“What? Oh, the dresses! No, no, they’re just dressed for the roles they’re playing.”
I imagined that Sally’s clients must be older gentlemen who preferred an air of gentility for their assignations. Maybe they were going to role-play the seduction of some respectable younger women. Maybe Karen and Marilyn were supposed to be subordinates’ wives or something like that.