A Strange Arrangement Ch. 10

"Yeah, but I'll keep suggesting theories until I can tell you're lying when you say 'no' to one of them." I opened my mouth to call him a name, but he went on. "I'll throw in a back rub to help you fall asleep."

"Temmmmptinnnng."

"And if you don't agree to stay, I'm not going to cum until the sun is out. I'm going to keep making...keep having sex with you, just to keep you here."

"I actually almost believe you. But you had me at 'back rub.'"

"Good, because I am so ready to cum inside you." With that, he picked up speed and intensity. Both of his hands gripped my shoulders so that my body didn't move up with his thrusts. Instead, I was pushed tight down against his cock. His whole body started moving along mine, all his weight put into his thrusts. When he came, he squeezed me so hard with his arms that I worried about cracking a rib. His voice sounded almost like he was sobbing as he pushed in. He pulled partway back so that just his head was inside me, and I felt him pulse a few times like that. Then he pushed all the way in again and kept releasing inside me.

For some reason, I just wanted to kiss him. Pressing my lips against his and gently touching my tongue to his mouth, I held his head in my hands and kissed. And kissed and kissed and kissed. We kissed until he softened and slipped out of me. And then I held him on top of me and rubbed his back. After a few minutes, he asked, "Are you ready for your back rub?" and rolled off of me.

"Yeah, just let me go clean up first."

After a minute in the bathroom, I trotted back to bed and lay face down, arms crossed under my pillow. I closed my eyes and smiled. As Andrew's rough hands started rubbing up and down my back, I sighed and thought, This. Definitely this. It wasn't long before I was deep in a contented sleep.

*******

Sometime during the night, I felt Andrew shift in bed next to me. I rolled over and felt for him- he was on his side with his back to me. I scooted closer, pressing my breasts against his smooth back and appreciating the warmth of his body. I curled my legs up into the backs of his and slipped my arm under his much bigger arm and around to his chest. I drifted off again.

*******

By mid-morning, we were both starting to stir. It was Saturday, which for me meant something new- a weekend off. My new job had regular hours, Monday through Friday. I don't know if I had ever had regular weekends off since starting to work my freshman year of college.

My every instinct was to stay in bed until my bladder or my stomach forced me out. A slightly more responsible tendency pulled the covers down a bit to start the process of getting up. But Andrew moved next to me and pulled the heavy comforter up over both of our heads. "Not yet," he groaned sleepily. He lay on his side next to me and put an arm around me. I rolled over so that I could feel him against my back while I held onto his arm. Staying in bed a little longer was fine with me.

I don't think either of us drifted off to sleep, but neither did we really wake up for a while. We rubbed our bodies against each other, more for warmth than for anything sexual.

Eventually, my stomach won out, and I pulled Andrew's arm off me. "Noooo," he croaked, his voice hoarse in the morning.

"Sorry, buddy, but I'm hungry."

"What if I give you another back rub?"

"Not unless it's accompanied by breakfast in bed."

I went back to my room for some clothes, then made my way to the kitchen. I was in the mood for a big breakfast, so I pulled out the bacon and started mixing pancakes. Once they were finished, I set two places and walked to the stairs. I shouted up to Andrew, "Breakfast is ready- bacon and pancakes!"

A muffled shout replied, "I thought you said something about breakfast in bed."

"Move it or lose it, smart ass!"

Seeing no reason to wait, I dug in. Andrew came down not long after and joined me. True to his word, he never again mentioned that night.

*******

And so we went for another week. Our sexual activity leveled off at at around four times a week, two of which were usually on weekends, when we were both home during the day. It was a...comfortable arrangement. We began joking together and watching more movies together (oh, that couch!). We never went out together- that would have been too much- but everything else was easy to rationalize in my head.

Work kept us both busy. When Thanksgiving came that Thursday, neither of us was planning to go to be with family (and neither of us talked about why). I spent that day working at the shelter with Dottie, and Andrew volunteered there, serving mashed potatoes to homeless families for 4 hours. He smiled the whole time. The kids loved hearing the funny things he called the mashed potatoes. Would you like more troll brains? Have you had enough whale blubber? Don't forget to put gravy on your alien snot!

Dottie knew he had come with me, and she caught me alone at one point to talk. "Where'd you find this one, Gina? If it wasn't for the ring, I'd say he's a keeper!"

"Yeah, but there is a ring," I said wistfully.

Seeing my faraway look, Dottie got serious and warned, "Don't let your mind go down that path, dearie. You're a sharp girl. There's nothing there but trouble."

I smiled understandingly. "I know, Dottie. I know all too well." I thought back to Gareth, the young, married professor I had been involved with my junior year. I remembered thinking how special a bond we had, how uniquely we understood each other. I remembered believing his lies about the state and future of his marriage. I remembered the passionate afternoons in hotels and on blankets at the lake. And I remembered the long, silent drive together after our slip-up. We had to go to a different city to find an abortion clinic where no one might recognize us. Yes, I knew all too well that there was trouble down that road.

I resolved to dig a little deeper into the shoe boxes and see what I could learn about Penny. Surely there was something. A forwarding address? Was that where so much of his money went?

When I got home that evening, I went straight to the office, only to find it locked. I didn't know when that had happened, but my guess was that Andrew had locked it up after I had suggested he let me organize it. He must have realized how vulnerable it was. The lock made me all the more determined to get in there.

*******

On the second Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was sitting on the couch with my legs spread, my robe splayed out on either side of me. Andrew was pumping for all he was worth, making up for four days of bad timing and crazy schedules. His hands were on the back of the couch, and the only contact our bodies had at that moment was my thighs clenching his hips and his cock filling my pussy.

We were midway through a Bond film when one of the sex scenes got Andrew ready to go. He'd seen the movie before, so he left it playing while he got me ready and mounted me. I wasn't planning on getting off this morning, and since I hadn't seen this film before, I angled our bodies so that I could still watch. Andrew laughed but didn't mind. I did need to turn the volume up a little, though.

After 4 or 5 scenes had passed in that position, Andrew, sweaty and breathless, looked down at me and said, "This is fun, but I don't think I can cum like this. It's too uncomfortable."

I paused the movie and slid onto my back, still holding the remote. Andrew followed me down and renewed his thrusting. His hand was on my breast, with the other one holding my hip. He must have been very close before we shifted, because it only took another 30 seconds for him to find release. I let him finish his grunting and gasping and pulsing inside me before I resumed the movie.

Andrew let out a breathy laugh and said, "I hope that wasn't too inconvenient for you."

"Meh. Sometimes you get, sometimes you give. That's how it works."

Still inside me, still caressing my breast, he thought about that, then said, "Sounds like some good relationship advice."

The movie was close to ending, so Andrew pulled a blanket over us and stayed inside me for the final 10 minutes. I started to complain about how the fabric felt on my butt, which was not getting any help from the robe bunched up under my back. So as the credits started to roll, Andrew sat up and pulled me onto his lap. Keeping the blanket around us, he just held me there, watching names roll up the screen.

"You should consider getting a newer couch, maybe a leather one. With two full-time jobs, I can't imagine that you don't have the money for it."

"This couch is special."

"Anything can be 'special.' That doesn't mean you have to make it the centerpiece of your downstairs area."

He didn't directly respond, but instead told me, "Penny and I lost our virginity together on this couch." I knew better than to say anything. He went on. "We were less than a month away from getting married when we found this place. With both of us working, we were able to make the down payment and get approved for the loan. We started moving furniture in the hour after we signed the papers and got the keys. We bought a bed and...a few other things. We found a number of things at yard sales. A coworker of Penny's was trying to sell this couch, but when she heard we were looking for furniture, she gave it to us for free."

I put my hand on his chest and leaned my head against him.

"We were still living separately, and the wedding was three weeks away. Penny's parents had never approved of our marriage. They said they did, but their attitudes and actions showed their true colors. Three weeks out, they called to say they wouldn't be coming and showing public support for such a foolish mistake. My parents had just moved overseas and had recently told us they weren't sure if they could make it to the wedding, either."

I tried to recall images from their wedding album. They seemed genuinely happy. There had been plenty of happy people there...

"Once we got that news, Penny was devastated. Going through with a big ceremony seemed pointless. It worked out in the end- my parents came, as did most of Penny's family, who had to fly in from the other coast. Her uncle gave her away, and her sister was a bridesmaid...though she hasn't come back since...But at the time, we thought we were about to call the whole thing off. We had just moved the couch in here when her parents called us with their decision and a few other hurtful words. We sat on the couch and cried for a while."

I wondered if he had held her on his lap, like this.

"It was important to Penny that we wait until we were married before making love. I loved her deeply, and it was tough to wait, but I never regretted it. We dated all through college, and I was a virgin. So our wedding night was going to be the big moment. But without a wedding, the wedding night didn't seem to matter as much."

He paused for a moment, staring straight ahead.

"We cried for a while, then started kissing. Then the floodgates broke loose, and without even talking about it, we took off our clothes in front of each other for the first time. I was...stunned. Amazed. Speechless. That a girl like her would...that I could...

"Anyway, we made love for the first time on this couch. It was...suitably awkward and brief. But it wasn't the last time on the couch, either. The whole "Saturday morning movie" tradition is as old as this house, and half the time we ended up doing what you and I do. And I can't swear to it, but I've a strong suspicion that Noel was conceived on this couch- during a phase when we used condoms. We didn't feel like stopping to get one, and, well...with a little bit of laziness, we created a life."

I held still, hoping he would tell me more.

"So no, I'm not replacing this couch any time soon. It's special. And I'd wager you'd say the same about your precious recliner, though probably for a different reason."

Aaaaand, I was done. Getting off his lap and wrapping my robe around me, I tried to think of something either witty or snide to say. I failed at either and only succeeded with petty, saying, "Well aren't you just Mr. Know-It-All!"

As he reached to the floor to retrieve his clothes, he asked, "Plans for the day?"

Now that I worked all week, household chores piled up a bit more, so I answered, "The usual- laundry, clean bathrooms, cook a meal. You?"

Standing up, clothed except for a shirt, he said, "I was thinking I might start organizing the papers in my office. A lot of that can be tossed or shredded, and the important stuff needs to be easier to find."

Seeing an opportunity, I said, "I can help with that, if you like. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing."

"That's alright. I'll be OK, thanks."

For some strange reason, I had to make a lot of trips upstairs that morning. I kept passing by, hoping for a moment when Andrew wasn't in the office. Close to noon, I had my chance. He was taking a bathroom break and the office door was open. I stepped inside, grabbed two shoe boxes I hadn't looked through yet, and set them in my closet.

That accomplished, I put together some sandwiches for lunch, took one up to my room and handed Andrew a plate in the office. He thanked me as I went into my room and shut the door.

*******

Both shoe boxes were a bust. One was tax statements from the first year after their marriage, including all receipts, even for a cup of coffee. Who is that meticulous? The second box was credit card and bank statements for that same period. It was only after digging through them that I rnoticed the year was clearly written on the side of the box. I put everything back and peeked out the door. Andrew was just stepping out. Seeing me, he said, "I'm going to get a drink. Do you want me to bring you one?"

"Yeah, that'd be great- thanks." Perfect.

As he skipped down the steps, I put the boxes back and looked for another few. Passing by all the ones with dates from before Noel died, I realized that no boxes were labeled for after that time. So I grabbed two unlabeled boxes from one side of the pile and took them over to my room. Andrew came bounding up the steps and handed me a glass of iced tea. I thanked him and went back to my room.

Closing the door, I started sorting through a mess of things. My guess at this point was that Penny was the organized one, perhaps obsessively so, and that after she...was out of the picture, Andrew didn't keep up her system. I saw a lot of junk mail, owner's manuals, postcards- just a hodge-podge of stuff.

The second box had some consistency. It was his pay stubs from his night job at the Institute and bank statements from a different account than his main one. I quickly ascertained that the bank account received his paychecks from the Institute and apparently nothing else that I could find. But for every deposit, there was a corresponding withdrawal, an automatic payment. And that was the only activity on that account.

Where was that money going? The destination of the payments was a jumble of letters and numbers that didn't make sense at first. But looking at it for a few minutes, I started putting pieces together. Oh God! Oh God...I knew how to find Penny.

With trembling hands, I jotted down some information. I put everything back in the boxes and shoved them into my closet. Then I opened my computer to do some research. With a little luck, I could go see Penny the next day.

*****

Author's note: I know, I know, cliff-hangers are cruel. But the last two chapters are done, and I'll stick with my habit of posting a chapter a day. So...you will get Penny's story tomorrow...and the aftermath of what Gina learns. And the day after that we see how it all ends.