Lamia Ch. 05

I should have been furious. Maybe if this had happened a month ago, I would have been. Now? Sure, I was angry, but it was a cold wrath. This was so typical of the woman that Patricia had become. My voice sounded almost clinical when I spoke. "So he wanted to sleep with you. And you didn't tell him 'no'."

"He would have killed my project!" she wailed. "I'm not stupid, Stephen. My work is good, but he never would have gone to bat for me if I had told him I wasn't interested in him sexually. And now he...now he's coming to my apartment, and he's made it clear that he expects me to...to..."

"He wants you to have sex with him," I finished for her.

"If I refuse him now, he can still bury my project. I thought I could just go through with it, just this once, and you'd never know. But I just can't do that to you."

"Oh shit," I whispered, as it came together. The birth control. She had lied to me.

"What was that, Stephen?" Patricia asked.

"Tell me the real reason you went on birth control."

"I..." she sighed, sounding miserable. "I mean, what I told you was true. I think we need to hold off on having kids, but I didn't tell you because--"

"Holy fuck, Trish," I said, "just stop lying." Again, I wasn't angry. Instead I was feeling the cold emptiness of disappointment, at realizing that my wife could plan to do something like that. "You did it so Craig wouldn't get you pregnant."

The line went deadly silent for two beats. "I'm s-sorry, Stephen," she sobbed. "I'll call him right now and tell him he can't come. Maybe I can say I'm sick or--"

The words coming from my mouth felt like someone else was saying them. "Why? The damage is already done. He's ready to fuck you. Why back out now?"

"Stephen?"

"You said it yourself. He never would have given his support for you if you had told him 'no'. You knew what you were getting into. And your career hinges on this, doesn't it?"

There was silence on the other end for several seconds. Her voice was hopeful. "Stephen, are you giving me permission?"

I laughed. "I'm telling you that you've made your bed, and now you should lie in it. Goodbye, Patricia."

I cut the connection and stood, dismissing the code from my view. Christine stood there, watching me with an almost wary expression. "Were you listening to my conversation?" I asked.

She nodded. "Most of it. Your side, anyway. That was Patricia?"

"Yeah. That was her." The emptiness I had felt moments before was sinking into regret. It might have been easier if I didn't still care. Even after she had hurt me so thoughtlessly, I still couldn't quite bring myself to hate her.

"Maybe it's time to stop feeling guilty about the things we do together," she said, getting on her knees in front of me. "Maybe it's time to let go, and just let me please you the way you want me to. Sir."

She was right. Whether Patricia went through with her affair or not, and however I felt about it, what I did with Christine no longer felt like cheating.

I leaned back, inviting her to consummate our newfound freedom. My eyelids began to close in anticipation of the heights of pleasure that her lips and tongue would soon bring. Just as her lips closed around my growing erection, her sapphire eyes watching my face, I caught a glimpse of something in her gaze, a look that was almost predatory in its triumph.

In the next moment, I forgot all about it as sweet pleasure carried all my concerns away.