[Fiction] A Bundle of Trials

[interesting]

Dwayne and his daughter Wendy brought the six of us back to our place of rest. Kim and Wendy traded in long kisses while we stepped off the boat.

"You around for a while?" Dwayne inquired.
"Tonight and tomorrow, at least," Bonnie answered. "Why are you asking?"
"Just to know..."

It was Kim who answered him.

"Tell you what. If we vote for a repeat, we'll get in touch."
"Sounds good to me. Wendy?"
"Sounds way fun..."

They waved at us, then started taking their boat backs to their own dock. Brian turned to us.

"You're not mad, I hope."
"Not all," Barry said, "it was amazing... and to think you were just across the water... what did you do?"
"Hang on," Kim intervened. "We either say it all or we don't... there's no in-betweens."
"I'd rather not say..." Sarah replied.
"I agree," I said.
"All right, then the stories stay on the boat."

Barry seemed disappointed but he let it go. With our walk and the boat trip, almost all of morning had passed. Kim took Brian's hand and they headed indoors. I took my cue from them and took Sarah away from the deck, towards the woods where we had ventured earlier. She followed silently. We sat on a rock.

"So..." she whispered.
"So... you... did it."
"I thought we weren't talking about it," she told me.

I looked away.

"Yes," she continued. "Dwayne fucked me. And I saw that you did both Wendy and Kim..."
"I did."
"And?"

What was I supposed to say? That I'd had an orgasm. That it had been amazing. It was all true.

"Is this awkward?" I asked.
"Not for me. I was watching you the whole time, hunched over the deck. You never once looked at me.
"I thought... you wanted me to indulge, to be independent."
"I do. I did."
"But you were watching me?"
"While Dwayne was fucking me, yes..."

The scene felt surreal, almost like it was going to turn into a porn movie. In my mind, I was forcing her to suck my cock to atone what she had done. What kind of morality was at play? I was equally at fault, so why did I not feel guilty? Or perhaps I did, and I was projecting away from me towards her.

"I came hard," she added.
"Why are you telling me this? What... does it do to you for me to know this?"
"I don't know... I want to share my feelings."
"Coming hard is not a feeling," I replied, almost angry.

Sarah cast a stern look at me.

"Now, listen up, Jim. You just had amazing sex with two hot girls, and you're complaining still?"

I didn't know what to answer, so I shut up. She continued,

"And I... I just had a dick inside me, and it didn't bother me one bit that it wasn't yours. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Because I didn't love him. I didn't dislike him, or else he would never have touched me, but I don't love him. I don't love Barry. Or Jennifer. I love you. Once and for all, stick it in your stupid head!"

She paused, looking back towards the water.

"Maybe this was a mistake..."
"No. No, Sarah, it wasn't."
"It's not me, it's you?"
"What?"

Sarah seemed sad, and I wondered why. She focused her gaze on me, desperate to draw my attention, so I focused solely on her.

"Whenever you have one of these... moments... I feel like you're going to break up with me."
"Sarah, no... I... I'm so sorry. That's not what..."
"I know, but still... I didn't have this situation with Jennifer. But maybe that was because I didn't care about her the way I care about you."
"Maybe."

I grabbed her hands.

"Listen, Sarah, I want you to be happy. With me... with someone else. I love you."
"And I love you. And maybe you always overthink everything, and that's why it's complicated, but it's so rewarding too. Watching you have sex with other girls... don't ask me why, it turns me on like crazy. Except that, well... I like dicks too. I like pussy, sure, but dicks... hmmm... yours in particular but, sometimes, it's occupied!"

I burst out laughing, the stress coming down. It wasn't our worst fight : it wasn't even a real fight. We'd only had one, and it had been a dozy, a few months back with Jennifer in-between. We couldn't handle her as part of our couple. It was just us... no three-person relationship. But this wasn't a relationship, I told myself. This is sex. Pleasure. Fun. All that jazz. And I felt silly for being such a worry wart.

"We keep having this argument, Sarah... maybe there's a reason."
"The reason is you're still insecure about me... and that makes me insecure about you. We should get married."
"What?"
"Nothing says love like a legally binding contract."

Again, I laughed. That was my quote. I didn't really want to get married, and neither did Sarah.

"Even if we did make a pact, or promise, Sarah, there's no guarantee it would stick."
"True... but it might help you cope with some of the uncertainties, because, Jim, I have to be honest with you. Last night, having Barry fuck me, and then again this morning... wow. I need this. Not always. Rarely even, but sometimes... you just gotta get a big dick in you and let if fuck you until kingdom come! And it can be yours, and I want that... but... if it's another's then, that has to be good too."

I nodded, trying to accept what she was saying.

"You like having sex with other girls. Don't deny it."
"I won't. I'm not. But I don't need it if I have you."
"Same here, except that, we're here, and it's really our own fault for accepting the invitation, right?"
"Right."

She gave me a big hug.

"I promise you this, though... your dick will be the only one in my bed."

I kissed her.

"And your pussy will be the only one I sleep with at night."
"Sounds like a plan..."

Another hug and kiss later, we let go of each other, feeling more at ease.

"So... how was it? Honestly?" she asked.
"It was great... so powerful, empowering... Kim really wanted me. To be fair, I didn't push myself on anyone, and that's what I liked."
"Yeah. You guys like it when we chase you."
"I do. Can't talk for others..."
"And did you use a condom?"
"Well, I started at first, with Wendy, but I left it in her when I switched to Kim."
"Ok, well... Kim should be clean."
"I guess. Should we, I mean... always use condoms?"
"No. Just when it's not with regular partners. See, Dwayne had a condom on the whole time, even during the blowjob."

It didn't feel awkward to talk about the technicalities of sex, only the feelings it brought up.

"We should head back. They'll think we're screwing in the woods or something."

As we got up, I asked her something.

"So... they were father and daugher, right?"
"Yep. I figured the mother's out of the picture, maybe because he swings and she doesn't. As far as he knows, she's emulating his example."
"That's what I gathered. You don't think..."
"Of course not!"

My imagination was always too vivid. I let it go and we returned to the household. Kim had served a bowl of fruit salad, and the four others were already digging in. We joined them on the deck.

"So?" Barry asked.
"So what?"
"What were you talking about?"
"Us," Sarah replied.

They left it at that. Kim smiled at me for a moment, mouthing a silent thanks. I did the same. I looked at Brian.

"So what else have you concocted for us."
"To be honest, not much... at least, not this afternoon. I'm a little sexed out, to be honest."

I saw he was looking at Bonnie. She was almost blushing.

"So I was thinking, we have a quiet afternoon. Take a rowboat across the lake, swim, soak in the sun, you know, nothing fancy. Maybe read a good book."
"Could we go for a walk?" Sarah asked.
"Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Just around the lake again... maybe just the two of us," Sarah added, looking at me.
"Sure."

Barry laughed.

"Sounds like a date. Sure, you do that. Bonnie?"
"Honestly, maybe just get some rest and get some sun... naked of course... you can put suncreen on me..."
"I'm certainly willing."

Plans were made. I saw Kim lean into Sarah, whispering something in her ear. The two giggled, and then returned to their food. I was intrigued, of course, but I let it slide. It may or may not have been about me. It didn't matter.

"I was wondering..." Sarah continued.
"Yes?"
"What about tonight, then?"

Brian laughed.

"You are horny, aren't you."
"A-ha. Guilty. I just like to know when to expect, so I can pace myself."
"Well, it depends. Were you leaving tomorrow or the day after?"

Sarah looked at me. I had planned on leaving tomorrow afternoon, given the course load I had to prepare, but staying one extra day might be feasible.

"It depends... Barry, you have obligations at work?"
"Nope."
"Then we can stay another day, I guess."

Sarah smiled. Brian considered that notion, now that it was established.

"Well, seeing as you all seem quite open now..."
"I am," I said, "if you're referring to my hesitation. I just needed to break the ice."
"We all do," Kim added.
"As I was saying, since we're all good, I could always go about the lake today, see who's in, maybe find out if some of our other friends are about. If you're game, of course."
"The more, the merrier," Sarah said.
"They're not all young and hip, you know," Kim stated. "There's one couple that's in their sixties... not the one we met this morning, another. A few in their fifties. They're all very presentable. It's kind of a... necessity with this lifestyle. Does that bother you?"

The question had never been adopted. The oldest person we'd ever had in our games was Peter, Jennifer's photographer friend, and he was in his early forties. I didn't know if that was a problem. I didn't know if an older woman could arouse me the way a young woman could. And I could tell the question intrigued my friends as well.

"I say, why not?" Bonnie answered for us.
"You certain? For some, it can be a turn off."
"As long as they're presentable, I don't see why not," she added. "Besides, older people have the right to have sex and to swing, and there's no obligation, right?"
"Absolutely. Good."

Kim was satisfied that her concern had been addressed. She gave her blessing for Brian to go inquire.

"So, we'll plan it for tomorrow night. Tonight, we can make it more private."
"Sounds good."
"Wait," Barry said. "How many people are we talking about?"
"Why are you worried about numbers?" Bonnie said. "We've been almost fifteen at one of these and it didn't faze you."
"I'm just curious."

It was obvious Brian couldn't answer without checking first, but he gave us an estimate.

"Maybe... at most... six or seven other couples. Maybe a few alone."
"So that's a potential for fifteen extra people?"
"That's only if everyone is around. I won't know until I check, but I'll give you the number, if you're so concerned."
"Interested, not concerned."
"Okay."

The conversation switched to a different topic, and we finished fruit salad. Once that was done, Sarah grabbed my hand and took me for a walk. To my surprise, she didn't try anything with me. She really wanted to walk around the lake, and nothing more.

"This is a nice place," she said.
"Very quiet. I like."
"Me too."

We stopped at another dock near an empty house. The path that went through the woods connected sites one to another. Sarah sat down on the edge of the deck, her feet dangling over the water. I sat down beside her and she leaned against my shoulder.

"Do you hate it?"
"Hate what?"
"The fact that we don't have money..."

I knew she shared my sentiments, but it eased my mind to hear them voiced.

"Yeah. I mean, I love Barry and Bonnie, and Kim and Brian... I mean, they earned their keep..."
"Except for Barry."
"He works hard for it."
"Yeah, he does... Still..."

I was a T.A. I might eventually make professor if there was ever an opening. She was going to be a kindergarten teacher - at least, that was the plan.

"I'm going to need to find a job."
"Why?"
"My tuition is almost up, and I could get it renewed, but I'll just end up owing more money to the government once I'm done."
"And then you pay it back."
"Yeah, but... I want to work. Somewhere. Part-time."
"Like what?"
"Still thinking..."

I hesitated before speaking again.

"Whatever you decide, Sarah. I love you. I'll support you."
"You already do."

She leaned against me for a while. Eventually, we got up, and walked around the rest of the afternoon. We didn't really meet anyone the way we had gone, and we eventually turned around and headed back, in order to make it back for supper. I remembered Brian's comments, about being all sexed out. I shared it. If sex had presented itself, I would have indulged (being a man) but I didn't need it. I was content to relax in the company of my girlfriend, holding hands, watching nature and dreaming of bigger things.