Just Past Two (Comes in Threes)

by Elia Winters

  Before he could finish his message another of hers typed up on the screen. I’m not mad. I think it’s hot.

  Sam stared down at the screen again. He looked around the empty room; Abby was at the pottery studio tonight, but her presence lingered all around him, like she was watching the screen along with him. This sick sense of guilt and confusion welled up inside him. He deleted what he’d written so far. What do you mean? I was typing up a huge apology.

  LOL, she replied, with another smiley face. What the fuck?

  Stephan and I have an open relationship. We each can sleep with whomever we want as long as we communicate about it. I have a girlfriend, and he’s gone on some dates with other women as well.

  Sam tossed the phone onto the couch. Was everyone in this whole town living a double life that no one could see? What was it with small New England towns? First Mitchell dropped that bomb on him that he was in a whatever-it-was-called relationship with two other people at the same time, and now his coworker and friend, the guy he’d been work buddies with for over a year, turns out to be in an open relationship. Everybody in this whole fucking town must be punking him.

  I’m not sure what to say, he typed, picking up the phone again, because he might as well be honest. I’m starting to think everybody in this town is into kinky sex things and I’m just figuring it out now.

  LOL. Jo’s text came back right away. It’s a liberal college town. I’m a sex educator. You’d be surprised how many people have secret lives.

  He hadn’t considered that. This part of the state, liberal and open-minded, was bound to be more open-minded in everything. I’m still really embarrassed that you overheard us. It was inappropriate.

  Yeah, but inappropriate is kind of my thing. Wink face emoji.

  He didn’t want to give her the wrong impression, though. We’re not in an open relationship, he typed, and then hit send and quickly sent a follow-up message. Not really, not like that. Not like you and Stephan are.

  More typing on her part. You seemed to be pretty into the idea of it. I want to know what you’re interested in.

  He let his hands drop and stared at the television, some show about gold mining on in the background just for noise. What was he into? He’d been trying so many things lately, so many different experiments. He hadn’t wanted Abby to feel bored by him. He hadn’t wanted her to think she’d made a mistake settling for him. Now that they’d moved beyond that, though, and were actually expanding their whole sexual repertoire, he had to face this question. What, really, was he into?

  I like to be dominant sometimes. We played a little with power exchange. He sent that message, stared at it on the screen, then added another one. I like watching Abby enjoy herself, with me or with somebody else. He sent that message and then elaborated. I got to watch her with another guy recently and it was incredible. That was an understatement, but it was enough to get started.

  So is it about watching for you? She asked.

  Was it? He certainly loved watching her, but there was another part to it, another deeper element of the fantasy that he hadn’t brought up to the surface yet. Jo was just a person on the other end of the chat, and he could confess this in writing. I like thinking about it, too. I like imagining someone else taking her the way I do.

  Was he oversharing? Jo was asking these questions, but he was just answering them without thinking too much about it. Maybe he should rationalize some of this away. I don’t know, he added.

  It sounds like you do know. And it sounds hot as hell. She sent a smiley face.

  What about you? She should share, too. Her situation was different than his. Why do you share Stephan?

  She typed for a long while, long enough that Sam got up to get a beer out of the fridge while watching the screen. Finally, a block of text came up all at once.

  We have an open relationship because we don’t feel we can meet all of each other’s needs and shouldn’t have to. I do sex education workshops and learned about polyamory, and it made sense to me. I talked it over with Stephan. He had some reservations at first about being with anyone else, but we worked through it. Our relationship has been open for five years now. I think it’s made our partnership better.

  Mitchell seemed to indicate the same thing when Sam talked to him. Maybe there was something to this idea of not limiting a relationship to two people. If he and Abby both wanted to have her sleep with someone else, shouldn’t that be okay? Maybe it was more normal than he’d thought.

  Is it hot for you? He typed. When he’s with other people?

  Not really, LOL, she responded. But I don’t mind one way or the other.

  What was in this for her, then, bringing this up in the first place? But then she typed again.

  But I’m like you. I like to watch. If it’s happening with me there, I really, really enjoy it.

  Sam’s dick twitched, beginning to harden. What if they were both watching? He and Jo, watching Stephan and Abby together? The stuff of fantasies, right there. He couldn’t get too far ahead of himself, though. They hadn’t actually broached the specifics. Jo seemed near it, talking around it, like she was going to offer this as a possibility.

  Another idea occurred to him, though, suddenly and all at once. Did you tell Stephan? If she had, if she’d brought this up with him, how would Sam ever face the guy again?

  No. I wanted to talk to you first. Find out if this was a fantasy or something more. She then added, So which is it?

  He could play this off as a fantasy and end this conversation now. From the way his heart was racing, that was probably the smartest idea. But instead, he was already typing. It’s not just a fantasy.

  She responded fast. Good. I think we should set them up to be alone together.

  Well, that was…immediate. While he paused, she kept typing, the fragments coming one at a time but immediate.

  If she really wants to be with Stephan

  and you like the idea

  and Stephan likes the idea

  Then she should go through with it.

  It read like a poem on the page.

  I don’t know if she’d go along with it, he typed. And you don’t even know if Stephan is interested.

  LOL, Jo replied. I know Stephan. He would be interested.

  Was this all too fast? Sam wanted this for Abby, and he wanted this for himself. He wanted her to get everything she wanted, and he loved the thought of somebody else discovering how amazing she was. She was incredible in bed. Having her go out and sleep with someone else was a whole different level from what they’d done.

  Abby was hot as hell, and knowing she was off sleeping with another guy was even hotter. Not just sleeping with another guy, but doing it because he told her it was all right, because he was getting off on the idea of her pleasured by someone else. Yeah, that was pretty damn sexy.

  Okay, he typed. So what do we need to do?

  …

  Jo and Stephan were all smiles as they greeted Abby and Sam in the entrance of the Redfish Grill. “I’m so glad you could make it,” Jo said, hugging each of them in turn. Sam had been pretty mum about the whole purpose for their going out to dinner, saying it was just to make some more couples friends together, and any of Abby’s suspicions were immediately offset by guilt about those suspicions. They had very few “couples” friends. Sam really liked Stephan, and Jo always seemed nice on the few occasions Abby had to spend any time with her. Going out to dinner was a nice way to get to know people.

  Of course, Abby also liked Stephan, and in a different way than Sam. The reminders of that fact rushed back into her body as he leaned in to hug her, holding her close against him for a moment. Sure, that was a normal greeting for friends, but damn, her whole body lit up like a Christmas tree from the inside.

  “Thanks. It’s nice to get together,” she said into his chest. She could manage to be articulate today, even wrapped in his arms. With no alcohol in her system and time since last weekend to compose herself, she wasn’t a horny wreck. Stephan
was gorgeous, sure, but her lusts needed to be contained to unmarried, available people. Even if this one felt firm and warm against her, and smelled amazing.

  Sam’s body pressed against her as they slid into a booth. Stephan sat across from her, and Jo across from Sam. As they decided on food and drinks, conversation stayed light, mostly discussing the weather and what was happening at work for each of them. Eventually, though, after they’d ordered and passed through the less meaningful topics, Stephan rested his chin on one hand and looked across the table at Abby.

  “So, Abby.” Stephan fixed her with those dark eyes. “What do you do besides work? What are your passions?”

  This was a normal way to ask people about what they were into, albeit with some provocative language, so she shouldn’t read anything into it. “Pottery,” she said, playing with the napkin on her lap. “It’s my main art outlet now. I do mugs, plates, vases, that sort of thing.”

  “Do you sell them?”

  “No. I thought about making it a business, but then it wouldn’t be an escape. It would just be more work.” She shrugged.

  “Abby started college as an art major, actually,” Sam chimed in.

  “It’s such a hard industry, these days.” Jo nodded sympathetically. “Jobs are hard to come by.”

  “Actually, it wasn’t the job. I had an internship that offered me full-time work after graduation, but it was sucking the joy out of art for me.” She brushed her hair behind her ear. “I switched to something technical. For me, I wanted art to stay a hobby.”

  “Sometimes you have to divide it up like that.” Stephan stroked his chin. “Your job, your passion, they don’t have to be the same thing. One career doesn’t have to be everything to you.”

  “Like people,” Jo added. “It’s why Stephan and I have an open marriage.”

  Abby fumbled her water glass, ice clinking against the sides as liquid spilled out over her fingers. “What?”

  “An open marriage.” Jo looked to Stephan, then across the table at Abby and Sam, her expression calm and pleasant as if she’d just told them the weather. “One person not having to be all things to all people.”

  “I…don’t know why you just told us that.” Abby tried to laugh, but it sounded strangled.

  “Well, we’re getting to know one another. That seems like something you’re going to figure out sooner or later.” Jo looked over at Stephan. “Right?”

  Stephan was laughing as well, but his sounded genuine. “You really put it right out there, Jo.”

  “Subtlety is usually a waste of time, in my opinion.” Jo sipped her water. “What about you, Sam?”

  “What?” His eyes widened, and he glanced between Abby and Jo. “What about me, what?”

  “What are your passions?” Jo smiled cheekily. “I’m not asking if you have an open marriage.”

  “We don’t,” Abby said quickly, too quickly, her words hard on the heels of Jo’s. The attention shifted to her, and her face burned with a sudden blush. “We…are just with each other.”

  Sam’s gaze bore into the side of her face, and she finally looked over at him. He was staring at her with his eyebrows raised. He was waiting for her to correct herself, or give more info. She looked down at the plain tablecloth. Couldn’t the food show up and save her from this?

  “Well, we’re only with each other romantically,” she added. “The rest is probably not the stuff for just getting to know each other.” She laughed again. She had to stop doing that; it sounded terrible.

  “I like a lot of things,” Sam said, answering the question that had actually been asked. “I’m really into CrossFit. I play video games. I dabble in the guitar, but I’m not really good at it.”

  “You’re good at it.” Abby hated when he was down on himself. “Better than me, anyway. But I guess that’s not saying much. Music is not my thing. I’m a visual arts kinda girl. What about you, Jo?”

  “Climbing,” Jo said.

  Sam furrowed his brow. “Stairs?”

  “Rocks, probably,” Abby laughed. “Right?”

  “Yeah. There’s a rock gym here in town I go to this time of year, and when the weather’s nicer, I climb outside. It’s how I met my girlfriend, actually.” She beamed.

  Jo had a girlfriend. Stephan didn’t even seem bothered by this. Abby was having trouble wrapping her mind around it.

  “I’ve never tried that. Climbing, I mean.” Abby could kind of picture herself giving it a go, though. “It seems kind of cool. I used to climb trees when I was younger. And smaller.”

  “I could take you some time. I’m always looking for new people to climb with.”

  “Sure, maybe.”

  Next to her, Sam shook his head. “And you still won’t come to CrossFit with me.”

  “Do not start with me.” She looked sideways at her husband, giving him her best stink eye.

  He laughed, reaching an arm around to squeeze her against him. “Nah. I’m teasing. If you want to climb the walls, you go for it.”

  “You could come with us, you know.” Jo winked at him across the table. “The more, the merrier.”

  Sam glanced at Stephan, who held up both hands in front of him in a defensive gesture. “Fuck no, don’t look at me. Jo stopped asking me years ago. I’m terrified of heights.”

  “He is. You know, we went to the Grand Canyon last year, and he wouldn’t go anywhere near the edge.” Jo’s smile teased affectionately, and she gave him a little shove with her elbow.

  Stephan shook his head emphatically. “You’re damn right I wouldn’t go near the edge. That canyon is old as hell, and I want to live to be just as old. I was perfectly happy to see it from a few yards away. Still just as impressive.”

  “If you say so.” Jo smiled with her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth. “One of my dreams is to go climbing out west. I keep telling Stephan he can come with me.”

  “I could go west. I’ll look at rocks. But I will keep my feet firmly on the ground.” Stephan lifted his chin toward Abby. “Take Abby. Drag her up a cliff. Sam and I can go do something else.”

  “I’ve never been out west.” Sam looked over at the two of them, his eyebrows drawing together as he frowned thoughtfully.

  “My family’s originally from New Mexico. We’re Southern Paiute. Stephan and I go back and visit them every so often.” Jo looked past Abby’s shoulder. “Finally. Food’s here.”

  In the first few minutes of quiet after the food arrived, when they were all starting to eat, Abby mulled back over what Jo had said. What would it be like to go on vacation with another couple? They always went places alone, just the two of them, but people traveled with friends all the time for fun. It wouldn’t be weird or even have to be sexual.

  Even if she couldn’t help having some new dirty thoughts when she looked across the table at Stephan. Sam had to know what she was thinking, but he didn’t say anything.

  “So what about you, Stephan?” Abby was careful to sound nonchalant. “What are you into?”

  He grinned, and it was a naughty grin. The grin enough was enough to send heat into her face, but she wouldn’t let herself look away. There was no reason to look away. Finally his expression softened into something less overtly flirtatious, and what the hell had that been about?

  “I’m an artist, too. Like you. I blow glass.”

  “That’s amazing.” Her nervousness fell away. “I’ve always wanted to see somebody do that.”

  “You should go see his studio sometime.” Jo took a bite of her chicken, gesturing in midair with her fork again as she chewed and then swallowed. “It’s really cool. He could show you some things.”

  “Oh. Yeah, maybe.” The thought of being alone with Stephan at his studio sent all sorts of feelings running through Abby’s body, settling in her stomach. That wasn’t what all of this was about. This was about Sam as much as her. Going to Stephan’s studio, alone, that was probably innocent, and she was being a pervert thinking it was anything else. The fluttery feeling was repl
aced by guilt.

  “You should.” Sam looked over at her, his expression serious, and she felt even guiltier. “You’d love that. Glassblowing is amazing. Go, let Stephan show you a few things.”

  “I don’t think we need another expensive hobby.” She tucked her hair behind her ear again, a nervous habit Sam could probably see right through. “But I’d love to see it sometime, sure.”

  “How about later this week?” Jo looked over at Stephan again. “Don’t you have the studio to yourself on Thursday?”

  “Yeah. Thursdays are good. Abby, you could come over this Thursday if you wanted.”

  “Oh. Thanks. Yeah, maybe.” This felt…weird. Sam was acting totally normal, but didn’t he realize he was offering to send her alone to a studio with a guy she found hot? What the hell was he playing at? “Anyway. Have you guys watched any good shows lately?” Her voice sounded higher than normal in her ears.

  “Abby, are you all right?” Jo paused in cutting her meal.

  “Just warm all of a sudden.” Abby fanned herself.

  “It is warm in here.” Sam reached over and set his hand on her leg. His touch started gentle and reassuring, and then he moved his hand to her inner thigh, and upward, sliding up beneath her skirt and lingering perilously close to her pussy. She smothered a gasp by pressing her lips together. Nobody else seemed to notice.

  She was so focused on Sam’s hand on her thigh that she hadn’t even realized the conversation had changed.

  “Can I ask you a few things about your open relationship?” Sam asked. “Since you brought it up, I mean.”

  “Sure.” Stephan carefully sliced through his steak. “We’re an open book. Or Jo is, anyway.”

  “Abby and I have been trying a few things and figuring out what interests us. Is there anything that surprised you about opening up like that? Anything you weren’t expecting?” He finally moved his hand back to his own lap, leaving her to catch her breath and try to eat something.

  “Probably the guilt.” Stephan ate a bite of steak before continuing. “I thought I’d be jealous, but I was less jealous than I thought. Instead, I was worried Jo would be jealous, and feeling guilty.”