Edmund leans back in the chair holding his phone and recording the two young women on the king-sized bed as they roll around on satin sheets. When they stop moving, their bodies come together like two sides of a zipper; their lips meet for a slow, deep kiss, and he zooms in on their faces. Edmund frowns as his hand feels shaky, so he grabs his left wrist with his right hand to steady the phone while capturing the action.
He met Karina in Marquee after his best friend Jeff’s bachelor party. They got off the subway at 23 Street and Eighth Avenue and drunkenly staggered as they made their way to the club. “How are we getting in?” Edmund asked, knowing the place had a difficult door policy.
“Shh,” Jeff said, putting his index finger to his lips. “Trust me.”
When they came around the corner onto the block and saw a long line of people waiting to get inside, Edmund said, “Come on, let’s go.”
Jeff grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “We got this.”
Edmund followed him down the block as they passed everyone waiting in line, and Jeff took something from his pocket, showed it to the doorman, and they were in, passing the red velvet ropes and walking down the red carpet.
Going in and out of crowded rooms thumping with music, they bought drinks and then a blonde model type grabbed Jeff’s crotch, and he went off with her.
Edmund turned and saw Karina in a short red dress dancing with another girl, her athletic body writhing, and her luscious lips grinning as they grinded their asses against one another to the beat. She felt his presence and looked at him, lifting her index finger and motioning for him to join the party.
As Karina rolls off his wife Zoe’s body, he sees that they are both shimmering with bodily fluids and sweat. Zoe turns to him, her green eyes glowing in the soft light from the lamp on the night table, and she asks, “Ed, did you get all that?”
He holds up the phone and grins. “You betcha.”
Karina falls onto the bed next to Zoe and beckons him as she did in the club by motioning with her index finger. Edmund puts down the phone, stands up, and moves his naked body over to the bed.
Zoe touches him and says, “You did very well.”
He runs his finger along her cheek. “Are you happy, dear?”
“Yes, thank you for bringing her home.”
Edmund falls onto the bed, positioning himself between them and kissing Zoe as he caresses Karina’s breast. He closes his eyes, puts his head back, and remembers the taxi ride home from the club.
“So, you understand there are rules,” Karina said.
“Yeah,” Edmund nodded. “Uh, not really. There are rules?”
Karina looked into her compact mirror and applied lipstick. “Yes, of course, and I wrote the rules.”
“My wife has been wanting this, and it’s her birthday tomorrow.”
Karina snapped the compact shut and leaned back against the leather taxi seat. “Well, do you want to put a big bow on me then?”
“I think your walking through the door will suffice.”
“Okay, but I can jump out of a cake if you like, Eddie.”
“Only my father calls me Eddie,” he said.
“Well, now make that two of us.” They were quiet
for a moment, and then she asked, “Have you done this kind of thing before?”
Edmund turned and looked at the raindrops on the window. “No, this is Zoe’s thing, not mine.”
Karina slid over and put her hand on his inner thigh and bent her face toward his. “There are benefits for you as well.”
He kissed her and felt her tongue like a snake going down his throat, and for the first time since he married Zoe, he wanted another woman. Karina came up for air, touching him and whispering, “Very promising, Eddie.”
When Edmund wakes up next to a sleeping Zoe, Karina is sitting naked on the chair looking at her phone. He digs his elbow into the bed and leans his chin on his hand. “Was it okay?”
Karina looks up from the phone, her lovely face illuminated by its screen in the dark room. “I don’t matter; my goal is to make you both feel good.”
“But you get some pleasure out of it, right?”
Karina raises an eyebrow and smirks. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it.”
“But you like it; I mean it’s good with both of us, right?”
“Boy-girl, girl-girl, girl-boy-girl – it’s all cool,” she says. Karina puts down her phone and stands up, and Edmund appreciates her firm body’s curves.
“Oh, I see,” he says.
Karina looks around the room and then walks to the window. “You are really a straight arrow, aren’t you Eddie?”
He sits up and runs a hand over his face, trying to wipe his sleepiness away. “Yeah, I never did anything like this before.”
“Can you make a girl a drink?”
“You old enough?” Edmund asks as he pulls on his underwear.
“I’m 19, so I’m old enough for sex and drinks,” Karina says as she follows him down the hallway into the great room. He clicks on the lights, and she gushes, “Wow, Eddie, you must have some job or a really wealthy papa.”
Edmund goes behind the bar. “Uh, yes to both.”
Karina walks to the picture windows and runs a finger along the ornate floral-patterned mullion separating them. “Nice view of the city. What’s your papa do?”
Edmund drops ice into two tumblers and asks, “Scotch on the rocks, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Pop has his hand into lots of different pots – electronics, oil, and real estate. He inherited a lot from his father who inherited everything from his father – who was a big Wall Street tycoon of some kind.”
Karina dances over to the bar, pirouetting as she gets closer to it. “The benefits of a classical dance background. My French mommy had me trained in all the finer things.” As he sees Karina’s face for the first time in bright light, he notices a slight hint of east Asian features.
Edmund pours Chivas Regal into each glass and hands one to her. “Sounds like you weren’t hurting for anything either.”
Karina sips the drink. “No, I am well-off and also way-off.”
“Way-off?”
“Yeah, like Broadway; you know, the grid?”
“Uh, okay,” he says.
She jumps up on a bar stool. “How long have you and Cat Lady been married?”
“Why are you calling her that?”
“Those eyes – spooky like a cat.”
Edmund sips his drink. “It will be three years in June.”
“So, she was a June bride, married the rich guy, and yet there’s no happily ever after.”
“No, we…we are happy.”
“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Karina touches his hand. “You were in a club looking for someone tonight, right?”
“Yeah, but not for me. I saw you dancing with that other girl, and it just clicked – you were the one.”
“So, no interest in me for yourself?”
“I thought you said there were rules?”
Karina sips her drink and grins. “Yeah, there are, but you can always break rules too.”
“Look, you are here because I love Zoe,” he says. “I want her to be happy, and for her to be happy she apparently needs this.”
Karina nods. “Typical. I have seen this before.”
“You have been in this situation before?”
She finishes her drink and holds the glass up for a refill. As he pours more Scotch over the ice in her tumbler, Karina says, “Yeah, I like this dynamic very much. Remember the rules I told you about in the taxi?”
“Uh, vaguely,” he says.
“Okay, here we go again. First rule – there are no strings. I am here to please you both but not to love either of you. Rule number two – I don’t play favorites. I’m not going to become your mistress or Zoe’s bestie. Rule three – when I want out, I’m out, and you won’t see me ever again after that. Final rule – until then I sleep exclusively with the two of you and no one else.”
Edmund stares at her for a moment as he processes what she has said. He sips his drink and winks at her. “I can live with that.”
