Callie, Unwrapped

by Amy Jo Cousins

“Intense,” she said at last. “And that’s putting it mildly. Intense and exhilarating. And the best sex. Ever.”

  “I hear that.”

  Callie hopped up on the padded stool and hooked her feet on the rail, her hands braced on the vinyl piping of the seat’s edge between her spread thighs. She spun the seat a little from left to right and back again. Gabe had powered through four successful shots on the table and was eyeballing the remaining shots, making a strategic plan, she was sure.

  “I just wanted to suck him into my skin. Like osmosis. I hadn’t slept with anyone before Gabe who knew what they were doing, I guess, so sex with him pretty much blew my mind.”

  Kate laughed and laughed like a woman who knew exactly what Callie meant.

  Exactly.

  “You loved him?”

  She hadn’t expected that one. Callie answered without thinking.

  “So much I felt sick with it. Or at least I thought it was love. Now I wonder if making someone else so responsible for your own happiness is anything like love at all.”

  Wow, that was a little personal. She wasn’t really interested in feeling vulnerable in front of Kate. It was strange enough to be the outsider, to be so much older. She didn’t need to feel wounded too.

  “Did he break your heart?”

  No way. Not going there.

  “Did he break yours?” she tossed back, and tilted her head to the side. After all, if she was the outsider, Kate was the one whose man invited another woman into their bed.

  The younger woman shrugged and didn’t seem fazed by the question.

  “I told you, he’s always been straight with me.”

  “Then he hasn’t changed.”

  She meant it. Gabe had never led her on, never promised more than that he would be with her for as long as they both wanted it, which wasn’t saying much in the end, and that he wouldn’t hold her back from going after anything, or anyone, that she wanted. It wasn’t Gabe’s fault that his honesty hadn’t been enough to balance out the stress of knowing he meant more to her than she ever would to him. Just the nature of things. And not enough for her.

  Suddenly, Callie wondered how she would feel tomorrow. She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open, chasing a connection to Callie-of-old, chasing the lure of Gabe’s body, and his mouth and his hands, and curious to see if being with a woman would still feel dangerous and sexy at the same time. It had been so many years since she and Gabe were anything other than casual friends that it hadn’t occurred to her to worry. When she’d left Gabe it was because being less than everything to him had swamped her with misery. She had wanted him to need her and Gabe didn’t do need. Kindness, caring, friendship, fucking you into a melted puddle of orgasmed-out goo, yes. Need, no.

  She knew nothing would be different between them now as far as what he wanted from her. And she’d assumed that since she wasn’t in love with him anymore, she wouldn’t be left feeling non-essential.

  God, she hoped she was right.

  It was true that Gabe hadn’t changed. She hoped to hell that she had.

  Or the aftermath could be brutal.

  “Heads up over there. You’re not going to want to miss this.”

  She came back to the moment with an emotional lurch that nearly pitched her off her bar stool. Standing up seemed like a safer bet, so she did. Gabe stood on the far side of the table, arms spread wide as if he were presenting the scene on the felt like a gift to them both.

  “Well, shoot.” Kate crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at the table.

  Gabe’s fifteen was still on the table, in that awkward spot near the rack sticker where any shot on it risked a scratch on the cue ball in a corner pocket. The yellow one ball sat neatly next to a corner pocket, needing only an easy tap to drop it, and the green six was sitting a few inches outside a side pocket, an only marginally more difficult shot.

  “When the hell did that happen?”

  Gabe strolled around the end of the table, shaking his head and tsk-tsking them.

  “While you two were doing that girl talk thing where the man is totally unnecessary to the conversation, I was kicking both of your very fine asses.”

  “You can shove your compliment, Gabriel. Right up your own very fine ass.” Kate gave him the finger and tossed the last ounce of her beer back before smacking her empty pint glass on the rail. “Is Callie up?”

  “Hell, no.” He was smug. “I just didn’t want you two gossips to miss it when I beat you like red-headed stepchildren.”

  He was turning back to the table when Kate grabbed at his sleeve.

  “Wait.”

  He looked at her, eyebrows up.

  “Let’s make this interesting.” She let go of his arm and took a step back, turning to include both Gabe and Callie in her view. “There’s no guarantee you’re going to win, you know.”

  He scoffed at her. “Please. You’re fucking doomed.”

  “Trust me. You can still screw this up. We each still have one ball left on the table. Every made shot takes someone out of the game. So while we’re all still in it, I think we should have to lay it all on the table.”

  “What do you mean?” Callie was glad Gabe didn’t understand where Kate was going with this either. Lay what on the table?

  Kate’s smile was pure devil.

  “We know what the stakes are.”

  Callie heard her voice again, as if a ghost of Kate stood behind her and spoke in her ear. Winner decides who fucks who first. She concentrated on keeping her breathing smooth and steady.

  “But we don’t really know, do we? Each of our, hmm, imaginations has probably got a pretty good idea of what we’d do with a win.”

  Gabe leaned against the table again and crossed one ankle over the other. “An explicit and very detailed idea, yes.”

  “So we lay it on the table. Who’s gonna fuck who if you win. Deal?”

  So much for the smooth and steady breathing.

  Gabe didn’t even think about it.

  “Deal.”

  “Okay, call it. You first, Gabe.” Kate’s face glowed with anticipation, a flush lighting her up.

  Gabe spoke without hesitation, while Callie’s brain had a minor meltdown. They were in a pool hall, for Christ’s sake. Sure, there were only two other tables in action, and the foursome of college boys looked like they were tucking away their iPhones and finishing the dregs of their beers, on their way out the door. But still. She couldn’t say out loud how she wanted the three of them to get naked together.

  Shit. She could barely think it. Talking about it first?

  Not gonna happen.

  “I want Callie to go down on you while I fuck her from behind.”

  She’d braced herself but the words still knocked her back a step. She saw it immediately, like she was watching porn on the Internet. Gabe behind her, darker hands with his scars and burns from the studio contrasted against the pale, pale skin of her hips and ass that rarely saw the sun, holding her steady as he pushed his cock so slowly in and out of her. She saw herself pushing Kate’s thighs further apart and back with both hands before she licked a teasing line up the crease of her thigh, Kate so pink and wet and open and very, very close.

  Before she could shake her head and break up the visual on that one, the muscles in her stomach tight like she was braced for a punch, Kate spoke.

  “Hmm, funny. I want Callie to go down on you while I fuck her from behind. Great minds.”

  “Callie in the middle. Our favorite new game.”

  Gabe’s voice was wicked.

  “Fuck me from behind?” Maybe her ears were still ringing. But, Kate. “Like, with a strap-on?” She was now officially freaking out a little.

  Kate shrugged. “I haven’t ever, but I’m sure I could figure it out. I was thinking more along the lines of…” She waved the fingers of one hand in the air and grinned at her. Then closed them until all her fingers were tucked against each other in a thick tapered column. “Or if you’d rather.”

/>   “Holy shit.”

  She had to sit down again. Fumbling behind her for the bar stool, she slid her butt onto it and grabbed the sides under her ass in a death grip. She considered putting her head between her knees and trying to breathe deep. Wasn’t that supposed to be a cure for lightheadedness?

  “And what do you want, Callie? If you win?”

  She couldn’t speak, couldn’t even lift her head and sit up straight. Look them in the eyes and tell them what she wanted? Everything, the little voice at the base of her skull whispered and curled its tongue around her. But. But nothing was what she felt she deserved, what she’d gotten for the past decade. What would Gabe think of her if she let her control slip for just one moment and revealed how strongly this supposedly casual sex game was hitting her?

  Where the hell was her perspective?

  “You’re a lucky sonovabitch, dude.”

  All three of them swiveled as a male voice broke in on their conversation, followed by guffaws and the cracking slaps of assholes high-fiving each other.

  Gabe straightened up slowly, one hand casually hanging on the cue close to the tip.

  “What did you say?”

  One of the four kids hung back from the group, his hands shoved deep in his jeans pockets and his gaze focused tightly on his feet. The other three were a jostling, elbowing crowd of testosterone and shit for brains.

  The ringleader leered at Kate and took a step toward her. Gabe’s hand slid down the cue to grip it in the middle.

  “You got two hot chicks begging for it, man. We heard that one.” He pointed at Kate and stared at her tits. “Like I said, you’re one lucky sonuvabitch.”

  “Yeah. You know why that is?”

  More pushing. One of the three boys in front bumped into Kate and the fact that is was obviously unintentional—he jerked away from her like he was pulling his hand off a hot stove—was the only thing that kept Callie from jumping off her stool.

  The tendons in Gabe’s hand on the cue were popping like steel cables beneath the skin. Ah. Gabe was on it, just keeping his anger under wraps. She stood up anyway and jerked her head at Kate, calling her over. The hell if she was gonna sit here and watch their girl get harassed.

  “Probably got a dick like the Hulk. Right, dude?”

  For now.

  “One, I don’t use comic book references when talking about my cock.” He grabbed Kate as she walked by him and whispered in her ear, then pushed her toward Callie. The pool cue hadn’t left his hand yet. “Two, I don’t go up to guys, ignore the women standing right there, and talk shit about them. Learn something, and you just might get laid one day.” He grabbed the chalk and held the pool cue at an angle in front of his chest, facing the boys. He started walking toward them, heading to where the forgotten cue ball waited by the far corner. “Now go away, boys. Grown-ups are playing.”

  The boy hanging in the back muttered something about taking off. The kid in front stood his ground for a moment though. Gabe moved slowly but he didn’t stop. Kate and Callie were standing shoulder to shoulder behind him. She could feel the tension vibrating through Kate’s body.

  The kid broke first, popping one of his buddies in the arm with his fist and dropping back far enough for Gabe, moving slow, to walk past him and stop by the cue ball.

  “You got two, man. I’m just saying, you could spare one.”

  Which was apparently enough talk for Kate.

  “Aw, hell no. I wouldn’t fuck you with his dick.” Kate stomped forward one big step, hands clenched in fists at her sides, her red shirt a flame of defiance. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “And she’s got bigger balls than you. So piss off, junior.”

  For a moment the tension was thick, everyone frozen in place, waiting to see whose will would buckle first and slide under. If no one bent, someone was going to end up broken. That was the thing about guys: backing down was as good as letting the other guy piss on you and screw your girl. She’d learned that one the hard way, waiting tables in a bar after college and assuming like the child she’d still been that if she could just talk to them, she could make everyone see reason.

  She’d watched their bouncer, a not particularly tall black man who’d been an eighth degree black belt in tae kwon do, a man who never lost his cool, finally have to punch a kid in the face who was too drunk to stop fighting, even after being escorted to the corner and released three times. Like these boys, sometimes they just didn’t know when to quit. Guys were dumb as shit sometimes.

  Dumb, but predictable. There were certain things you could almost always count on.

  Callie remembered the first time she’d broken up an incipient bar fight, just out of college, recklessly confident that she could step between two men who loomed over her and vibrated with challenge and testosterone, because she knew they wouldn’t hit a girl.

  She also remembered the first time that theory hadn’t held true and she’d been shoved out of the way by a friend just in time to avoid taking a fist to the cheek.

  She hoped that wasn’t what she was setting herself up for here.

  Almost always wasn’t the same thing as always.

  But sometimes, instead of trying to make a guy back down, you could take the wind out of his sails in an entirely different way.

  She turned her back on the assholes and looked at Kate instead, tucking her chin and beckoning to her with one curved finger, grinning. Confusion battled briefly with fierceness on Kate’s face as she struggled to take in the sudden change in atmosphere.

  Callie licked her lips and ran her eyes up and down Kate’s body, stopping to linger blatantly at her lips. And her tits.

  “C’mere, girl.” She curled her finger again, an invitation. “Let’s see if we can make Gabe scratch on this shot.” Kate took a hesitant step towards her, eyes still locked on the idiots behind Callie. She hadn’t unclenched those fists either. That was okay. Callie could work with pissed off.

  She turned her head and looked at Gabe, who had figured out where she was going with this, if the slow grin on his face was any indication.

  “What do you think? Can you concentrate if we do this?”

  Kate was directly in front of her now, so close she just reached out and cradled Kate’s face in her hands, stroking her thumbs along her wide cheekbones until Kate finally, finally broke from her stare-down with the assholes and looked at Callie. She blinked first and then caught the line Callie was throwing her and got with the program, her eyes dark and hot as her hands slid around Callie’s waist.

  And even though the assholes stared and whispered and in general lived up to their name, kissing Kate still wasn’t for them. When Callie pressed her lips to Kate’s, biting lightly at the full bottom lip just because she could, that was for herself. When she opened Kate’s mouth with her tongue, sliding one hand around the curve of her skull to cradle the back of her head, that was for Kate. And when Callie sucked on Kate’s tongue and pushed Kate’s mouth open further by rubbing on the corners of her jaw with her thumbs, it didn’t invite the assholes in but instead shut them out completely.

  She opened her eyes for a moment and stared at Gabe as she tested the sharp edge of Kate’s teeth with her tongue. Invited him in with her gaze and asked him to watch her as she slid one hand down the column of Kate’s neck, her fingers wrapped around her throat, until she was trailing fingertips in the unbuttoned vee of Kate’s cherry red shirt. She felt Kate’s breath catch in her own mouth.

  Everything around them, all the noises and the low hanging lights over the table and the occasional roar of cheers from the bar up front, everything faded into a haze.

  She braced her thumb against the edge of a tiny button and then pushed it through the buttonhole. Callie knew that if she looked down now she would see the edge of Kate’s bra but she wanted to tease herself for a moment longer. She pushed her fingertips under the placket of Kate’s shirt and let them slide across the hot smooth skin over the bone of Kate’s sternum until she brushed an edge of lace. She scra
ped one nail down along the edge until she hit the lowest part of the vee between Kate’s breasts.

  Callie pulled her head back and looked at Kate. Her mouth was open, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, her eyes dark.

  “Lace, huh?” she asked.

  She heard Gabe’s sharp bark of laughter from across the table.

  “You’re fucking killing me, Callie.”

  She kept her eyes on Kate. “Soft. I like it.”

  Kate’s hands fisted in the back of Callie’s shirt, pulling it tighter across her chest, as she inhaled sharply and shook her head. She lifted her hands to Callie’s shoulders and tugged her close enough to whisper in her ear.

  “Get your hands in my pants if you want to feel soft. You just made me totally wet.”

  Hearing the words, murmured low and husky while a hot, wet tongue flicked the edge of her ear, sent the blood rushing to her face and tightened her nipples like someone licking a trail up her spine. Callie could feel her pussy, swollen and wet and aching now with desire. She wanted to rock against something hard. Kate’s thigh. Gabe’s cock. Anything that would bring her closer to this edge of pain and desire between her legs that was sharp and wanting.

  “Christ.” Gabe wasn’t laughing anymore. The assholes were gone and Callie hadn’t even noticed them leaving. The room was empty except for the three of them and the older couple in the far corner—who were very carefully not looking in their direction.

  Right now she didn’t care if the entire room filled with posturing frat boys or staring suburbanites. She was about three minutes from pushing Kate flat on that table and stripping her naked.

  Kate tucked her face in Callie’s neck and just held on for a second.

  Breaking himself away from watching them, Gabe smacked his cue down on the table’s edge and lined up his shot in an instant. He pulled his rear hand back all the way. And stopped.

  He nailed Callie with a predatory smile.

  “Hey, Callie. You never told us what you’d do if you won.”

  Kate’s breasts were pressed against her own, she was seriously contemplating wiggling her hand down the back of Kate’s pants to see if she could reach the wet heat of her pussy, and she’d just sucked face with the woman in front of a fair number of observers.