Give & Take Among Friends Ch. 05

"You were great," I replied truthfully. "It was never better with Rachel, not even when we did it doggie style."

She looked puzzled. "You two did it doggie also? I thought you just lay there while she rode you."

"Oh, well, yes. I was..." Deep breath. "I was thinking about another time."

Her look changed from puzzlement to astonishment. She hopped off me in a sudden motion, my still-firm dick whipping side to side.

"You fucked her other times too? You son of a... When? Where? How many times?"

Those concealing bushes below the balcony in my dream of the other night had been completely defoliated. Full confession time.

"We spent a night together while you were in California. Eli was away and... It's kind of convoluted. Eli asked me to stop and... take care of her needs."

"He asked you to fuck her?"

"Yeah," I said meekly. "He had to be away for a week and was afraid she was going to hook up with someone he didn't like. Do you remember Mike? Anyway, he asked me to... fill in, keep her satisfied until he got back."

She was off my dick but still straddling my legs, and I could feel my warm come dripping onto them from her vagina. She was just staring, wide-eyed.

"You were away, and I was horny," I added, in a whining tone that even I despised.

She smiled humorlessly, incredulous. She was clenching and releasing her fingers. I had a vision of her trying to scratch my eyes out, or worse, trying to pull my dick off. I moved one hand down to cover my deflating tube.

"How many other times have you 'filled in' for Eli? God, no wonder Rachel acts so familiar around you, brushing up against you all the time, running her hands over you, smiling and winking."

I didn't know Lila had noticed all that. She continued, "I thought it was just Rachel's way. I didn't know you two were fuck buddies. How long has this been going on?" she demanded. "How many times have you 'filled' her?"

"Just last Saturday and that one other time when you were away, I swear." I raised myself to a sitting position, and put one hand in the air as if taking an oath, immediately feeling even more ridiculous. I tried to reach out and touch her, but my back started hurting because she was still straddling my legs.

"And I was so proud of myself for resisting Alfonso in California, even though he turned me on and my instincts were telling me I should expand my horizons. What a disgusting, timid little mouse I was -- protecting my 'honor' and 'being true' to my 'faithful' love."

She sprung from the bed and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind. I laid back, stunned, and trying to think how to recoup from this setback. The only positive aspect to it was that at least now all the facts were out, and there could be no more shocks for her.

She did not come out of the bathroom for quite a while. I thought I could hear her crying silently. Damn, this was really bad. I found my clothes, got dressed and knocked at the door, receiving no response besides a shouted command to "Go away." I went downstairs to the dark sun room. Two beers and a lot of worried thoughts later, she appeared at the door in her robe.

"I have some questions for you," she said in an authoritarian manner. "Number one, I want to know how badly I've been manipulated. Did you and Eli agree on a swinger swap, probably with Rachel's eager cooperation?"

"No, Lila, at least it didn't start out like that," I said, adding, "Although, I've been sitting here thinking and am starting to wonder whether we've both been set up."

"Explain that," she demanded, arms crossed.

"Eli asked me to... satisfy Rachel. He said she was going to screw Mike or someone else if I didn't. Frankly, I thought it was a weird request, but he is my good friend, and..." I paused, losing my train of thought. "Alright, I admit it, I am sexually attracted to Rachel, so with you being inaccessible and me horny as hell it wasn't exactly a hardship request." I waved my hand in the air. "I'm guilty of that. I went over to their house mid-week. She and I went skinny dipping in the river and wound up doing it. I stayed the night. And then we did it again last Saturday while you were fucking Eli. That's the entire extent of my sexual relationship with her."

"We can go into that later," she said. "What did you mean we're both being set up?"

"Eli started suggesting he should 'return the favor,' but I thought he was half-joking and didn't think he had a chance anyway since you had always limited yourself to me, and I seemed to satisfy you. That was my second mistake. It soon became apparent he was serious, and also that you were open to expansion." I paused. "I can't help wondering if Eli didn't set me up with Rachel to undermine any high ground I had for resisting his play for you." Another pause. "Or maybe Eli and Rachel hatched this thing together to get us involved in the 'swinger swap,' as you put it. On the other hand, maybe I'm just being extra cynical, and it simply evolved out of a surplus of love and lust all around. I honestly don't know."

She was quiet for a while, seemingly lost in thought. She looked beautiful standing there in her robe, which did not hide her curves.

"Okay," she said at last. "That's another thing to follow up on later. Meanwhile, question number two, I want to know how many other women you've fucked since we've been together."

"Only Kim, the one who you temporarily broke up with me over," I replied. "It's not that I'm oblivious to attractive women, but in the last four years I haven't made a serious effort to score with any that crossed my radar, with the recent exception of Rachel. We almost got into it one time last year -- the vibes were there -- but I walked away. That's the truth." I patted the empty seat cushion beside me. "Please sit down."

She continued standing a moment, then complied, without enthusiasm. I was afraid to touch her.

"That answer pretty much exhausts the major questions I had for you," she said, looking me straight in the eye. "But if you've lied about that, now is the time to say so. If I find out anything later, it will mean I can no longer trust you. And if I can't trust you, it will screw our relationship. The sex I can overlook. Deception is something else again."

That caused a chill to run down my spine. "I swear, there is nothing else, no one else. And if I had known how this was going to go down, I would have told Eli to find another proxy to take care of his wife. I fucked up. I'm sorry."

"Another thing," she said, still looking intently at me. "If you ever even think about getting it on with anyone else, I want to know. I want no surprises after the fact."

I thought briefly about mentioning Amber, the good looking 18-year-old at the dairy bar. After tennis with Eli last week, I had doffed my sweaty shirt and was bare-chested, in tight shorts, when I stopped to order a hot fudge sundae at the take-out window. She looked me over from head to foot, not hiding that she liked what she saw and would not mind seeing more. Handing me the sundae with a sexy smile, she brushed her fingers against mine and in a good movie siren imitation said, "I have to apologize. I'm out of cherries for this, but is there anything else you'd like, maybe later?" There was a little firming in my crotch, but I simply replied I'd have to think about that. Eating the sundae in the car, I noticed Amber had autographed my napkin with her name and phone number.

I decided I was in the clear, and that was not the type of transgression to warrant a confession under Lila's new ground rules.

"Agreed," I said. "But it goes two ways, you know. If you ever have second thoughts about going exploring with Alfonso or any of his cousins, I should be entitled to a heads up."

She did not smile, but the intense look softened a little.

"Finally," she said, "and this is another two-way street, if either of us starts to fall out of love, that has to be revealed to the other person right away so there are no surprises later!"

I felt both relief at her implication that we were still "in love," and a renewed chill. "I take that as evidence our relationship may be strained but is still alive, if not in robust health. That's the good news. But I also feel a stab in my gut because a few days ago we were saying we couldn't imagine living without each other and now you're raising the possibility it could end."

I felt myself blinking hard, a tear running down my cheek anyway. What a tough guy I was -- going from cavalier to wuss in a broken heart beat.

What was left of that intense look melted from her face. She brushed a lock of hair on my forehead, and leaned closer, saying, "Oh, you shit." We kissed, long and deep. When we broke, she said, "It's past our bedtime. Let's lay down and cuddle ourselves to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow."

* * *

The next two nights, there were more details to discuss, and also more positions Lila wished to emulate. Her bitterness at my errors and omissions had seemed to give way to insecurity once more. "I want our sex life to be as good as it can be," she said. "I want you to be truthful about how I can improve in bed."

Sixty-nining and doggie-style fucking, which had been part of my repertoire with Rachel, were nothing new for Lila and I, but I had to describe any nuances -- subtle changes in positioning, different degrees of vaginal squeeze, and so on. I made the mistake of telling how Rachel cupped her hand to catch my semen dripping from her, then licking it all up. Lila looked a little grossed at that, but sure enough, she did the same, complete to opening her mouth and saying how good it tasted. But she quickly made a face, and we both laughed.

Much as I enjoyed any excuse for fucking Lila, I was again wishing she would ease up on the Rachel script. "I've never had any complaints about the way you do things," I told her, as we lay side by side in bed. "You don't have to be a carbon copy of Rachel."

"She must be providing you something that I haven't," she replied. "If I was so great, then you wouldn't have been so eager to fuck her."

I told her that reminded me of the misgivings I had about my own sexual proficiency, seeing her enjoy Eli screwing her.

"Your sexual style is as proficient as Rachel's," I told her. "There may be subtle differences due to personality and taste, but they're unimportant. You're still my major love, as well as my favorite piece of ass. I'm attracted to Rachel largely because she's new and different, the same way you are to Eli. It's exciting fucking other people once in a while." I thought a moment, then added, "Although excitement fades to insecurity and ulcers when your significant other does the same. Novelty is a rush, but has a price. Anyway, when it comes to a satisfying long-term relationship, you fulfill every dream I ever had."

She threw her arms around me and we kissed. For a moment, I thought she was going to mount me again, and I doubted I could handle another go-around without a longer break.

Instead, her eyes fell upon the view of the parlor couch, through the vent. She traced some pattern on my chest with a forefinger and in a playful voice remarked that while she and Eli were "involved," she thought she heard something a couple of times -- muffled voices and a pounding sound. She had concluded it was outside the house in the distance, "not perverted voyeurs taking in a peep show."

"Probably what you heard was Rachel pounding the floor. She got really turned on."

"Or was it you pounding Rachel," she countered, smiling.

"I didn't really do the pounding. I was so emotionally drained by what was going on in the parlor I had little initiative. I just lay on my back and let her do the work."

"Poor man -- I am so bad -- first I get him excited by making it with someone virtually in front of him, but that also gets him so sad that he can't enjoy fucking someone else." She laughed. Her sarcasm was not bitter this time, for which I was grateful.

"Did Rachel teach you that toe massage you did on me during our makeup sex?" she asked.

"No, that was original -- a sudden inspiration. Did you like it?"

She nodded.

"You know," I said, "this is another thing that works both ways. If I disappoint you or there's something you'd like that I'm not doing, I want to know how I can improve. What did you like better about the way Eli did you?"

She feigned a serious, contemplative look. "Eli who?" she asked.

We both laughed and I kissed her.