Private Pleasures (21 page)

"Heidi will have to wait another month. The young aren't good at waiting. They always want everything now. Tell Heidi that since she's so bored you'll let her in on a little secret, but Jeff can't know. Explain to her that The Channel is a place where all her fantasies can come true. Tell her you know she won't believe you, but to call Suburban Cable and order it when Jeff goes to bed. Warn her, though, that if Jeff is around, it won't work. And then tell her that if she tries it and doesn't like it, you'll work on Rick to agree to sell the house sooner. That's the bait that will hook our little fish."
"Why do you want her to know about The Channel?" Carla asked, curious.
"Because like the rest of us she'll have great sex here, and when she does, do you really believe she'll want to stay with Jeff? Why would she need him then?" Nora answered her best friend.
"You could be right, but what if you aren't?" Carla played devil's advocate.
"Then I lose," Nora said, "but I have to give it my best shot, Carla. I don't want my kids coming home to some dinky one-bedroom apartment, if I can even afford that. I don't want to leave Egret Pointe. It's my home."
"Okay, I'll do it," Carla said. "It just might work. Jeff hasn't looked too good of late. He's a little paunchy, and you know he never was paunchy. And he's got dark circles under his eyes too. You're getting to him, alright. He just won't give in. Yeah, on reflection I think Heidi is the weak link in this situation. It'll be a few days, though. It's just Wednesday night."
"I've waited this long," Nora said. "I can wait a little while longer."

Chapter Nine

"No way!" Heidi Millar said. "Way!" Carla Johnson told her.
They were standing in a corner of the Egret Pointe Wine Shoppe. All around them were wine-racked shelves holding bottles of everything from Long Island, upstate New York, and California vintages to wines from Chile, Australia, and Germany, as well as the finest French Burgundies, Bordeaux, Merlots, and Chardonnays available. There was a popular California table wine known locally as Two-Buck Chuck, and an Opici California Barbarone that retailed for fifteen dollars a gallon jug. There was something for everyone at the Egret Pointe Wine Shoppe.
"It's not possible," the younger woman said. "You must be hallucinating. What the hell do you people smoke out here?" Her blond hair was darker than it had been in June. She obviously wasn't keeping it up for whatever reason.
"Look, I don't pretend to understand it," Carla said low. "All I know is that it works. The Channel offers you whatever fantasy you want. Just think about it, turn on the television, and it's there. You're there. I am not nuts, and this is the best-kept secret among the women here. We can't all be hallucinating, and incidentally I don't smoke anything. Never started."
Heidi's grey eyes were thoughtful, curious. "What's your fantasy?" she murmured.
"I'm Captain Raven, the pirate queen," Carla responded.
Heidi snickered. She couldn't help it. "You're kidding, right?"
Carla smiled a slow, wicked smile. "Darling," she said, "my first mate has a fourteen-inch dick that's two and a half inches in circumference, and hits my G-spot seven times out of ten. No, I'm not kidding."
"Fourteen inches?" Heidi's voice was awed. "You measured?"
"Yep," Carla drawled. "Look, so you're not into pirate fantasies. I've got one friend who does the penthouse, hot lover, and hot masseur thing. She enjoys threesomes. Another who puts herself in the forefront of carving out the nation of Israel. She made her partner a younger version of her husband. She's not a woman who would ever think of another man. One gal I know likes to do other women. She wouldn't do it in her own reality. The Channel lets you be anything you want to be, and do anything you want to do. Don't you have a fantasy you want to live out? You can't be just about marrying Jeff Buckley, honey. There must be something naughty or wonderful that you want to do, and without him. That's the great thing about The Channel, and that's why no men are aware of it. It's all about women and their desires, their needs. Sort of like a grown-up tree house club. And No Boys Allowed. Except the ones we create in our imaginations."
"And you get it by just calling the cable company and asking for it?" Heidi's look was thoughtful.
"Yeah," Carla said. Easy, now. She's hooked. Reel her in slowly.
"Does it show up on the cable bill? Jeff goes over everything," Heidi explained.
"Shows up as a movie," Carla told her.
"You've been pulling my leg, right?" Heidi said suddenly. "I mean you're Nora's best friend, Jeff says. This is a joke, right? Why would you be nice to me?"
"Listen, honey," Carla told the girl, "no one is mad at you. Jeff and Nora haven't had a marriage in years. One day one of them was going to decide it was divorce time. None of us ever really liked Jeff. We put up with him for Nora's sake on the rare occasions he showed up. Yeah, Nora's my best friend. I don't deny it. But even she doesn't hold you responsible for what's happened, although you really should have kept your mouth shut at J. J.'s graduation party, but that's in the past.
"You're stuck out here every weekend until Jeff puts the house on the market. You're bored. Jeff bring his Viagra this time?" she queried, and wisely refrained from grinning when Heidi shook her head in the negative. "So he's probably going to hit the sack early again tonight. And there you are watching
The District
. Rick will be snoozing early too. Men are like bears in winter. They like to hibernate. As for me, I'll be downstairs in my sewing and crafts room in the cellar. Or at least my body will. The body I possess in The Channel will be getting its little self fucked to pieces by that nice fourteen-inch dick that Caleb Snow possesses, and wields so skillfully."
"I still think you're kidding," Heidi said, but she sounded less convinced than she had earlier.
"Look, call the cable company, and ask for The Channel. If I'm joking, they won't know what you're talking about," Carla said. "But if they tell you you've got it from eight p.m. on, then you know I'm not joking."
"It could be something totally different than you say it is. Pets. Or decorating." Heidi shifted her weight nervously.
"And it could be just what I've told you, which it is. If it isn't, and you're unhappy, I'll talk to Rick about letting Jeff put the house on the market sooner. That's fair, isn't it?" Carla gave her companion a little smile.
"I could say I got it and didn't like it, and you'd never know," Heidi replied.
"I don't believe you'd do that," Carla responded. "I think you'd play fair."
Heidi nodded. "Yes, I would. Besides, I really am curious to see if this channel of yours exists."
"What's your fantasy?" Carla probed gently, casually reaching for a bottle of red wine from Long Island.
"I had a boyfriend in college, and we tried erotic-asphyxiation fucking. It was incredible! I've never had an orgasm like that before or after. Jeff isn't into stuff like that," Heidi said. "I love him, but geez, it's tough to get him to be creative in the sack."
The leopard does not change his spots, Carla thought to herself. "So, there's your chance. The Channel."
"Can I get a guy with a fourteen-inch dick too?" Heidi wondered.
"Just think about it, and he'll be there," Carla assured her.
"How do I get from here to there once I get The Channel?" Heidi asked.
"Just touch the screen when you see your fantasy coming up. You'll figure it out, honey. Let me know how you liked it. I gotta go now. Pizza night, and my pie should be waiting at Tony's."
"What goes with Chinese takeout?" Heidi wondered.
"I'd try a domestic Chardonnay or white zinfandel," Carla suggested. "See ya around, honey." And she was quickly gone to pay for her wine and pick up her pizza.
Heidi Millar purchased the Chardonnay. Jeff didn't like pink wine, although she did prefer a zinfandel herself. She picked up the takeout at Wo Fat's and drove back to Ansley Court. Was Carla Johnson kidding her? How was such a thing as this channel possible? Still, would it hurt to try it? If it existed. And if it didn't, who was going to know? She just would say she didn't do it. Fourteen inches of meat, she thought. Jeff had been so preoccupied lately with the divorce, the house, and how the whole thing was appearing to the partners and the clients that he had really neglected her. They used to have sex every night. Now she was lucky if she could get him to get it up twice a week. She needed a good fuck, and she knew damned well she wasn't going to get it from Jeff tonight, or tomorrow night after they had driven back to the city, or any night soon. So why not try The Channel and hope it really did exist? Fourteen inches. Two and a half inches in circumference. A cock like that shoved up her would really feel good right now. She wanted some hot sex. And she wanted it rough. Thinking about her college boyfriend's hands about her neck squeezing, about her coming and coming, almost made Heidi drive off the road.
"Where have you been?" Jeff demanded in surly tones when she got to the house.
"Out picking us up a bottle of wine," she answered, going into the kitchen and setting down the bags. She could smell the Chinese, and her stomach rumbled in anticipation.
"How long does it take to pick out a bottle of wine in this town?" he demanded.
"Hey, the wine shop here is cool. It's got everything. I found that nice Australian white you like," she wheedled him. She held up the bottle as if it were a trophy, and gave him a quick kiss. "Now stop being so grumpy," she told him.
"What's this?" he demanded to know, holding up a narrow box.
Heidi flushed. "It's an e.p.t. test. Relax, I'm not pregnant. I was late, and I got nervous, but I got my period last week. I had it here so I could check this weekend if nothing happened."
"I told you no more kids!" he shouted, and then he slapped her. "Don't I have enough trouble without that? I don't want any more kids."
Stunned, Heidi's hand went to her face. Her eyes filled with tears. "Well, maybe I want a kid. Just one. Your kids hate me, and besides, they're grown."
"No kids," he told her firmly.
"You didn't have to hit me, Jeff," she quavered.
"Baby, I'm sorry." He gave her a quick hug. "It's this damned house! I hate it! I thought having her clothes packed away would do it, but Nora is everywhere in this house. I can't wait to sell the place, and be done with it."
"We don't have to come out here every weekend," Heidi said. "We're missing all the good parties now, you know. And we were invited to the preview of that new show last night. And there are at least two concerts coming up that I wanted to go to, Jeff."
"I can't leave the house alone on a weekend. It's safe during the week, but on the weekends the kids around here run wild," he told her. "There's nothing else for them to do but break into empty houses, drink the liquor, and trash the place. No, until I sell it, we're coming out on the weekends. Now, could we eat? I'm beat, and I want to go to bed. Jesus, that new toothpaste account is giving me fits. The music for the commercial just isn't right yet, and I can't figure it out."
"You will," Heidi soothed him as she filled their plates with the Chinese takeout. Carla Johnson had damned well better not be kidding about this channel thing. Jeff was beginning to look less and less like Prince Charming. Maybe after she'd had a good fuck she'd feel better. After all he was a partner, and he had bought the co-op, even if she was paying the bridge loan herself. She had made him put the co-op in her name. He really did love her. Well, as much as Jeff could love anything, but then, they made a great team. Creatively they were terrific together. And he usually looked good on her arm. Eye candy, she thought, smiling to herself. Until recently. The divorce was really wearing him out.
When they had finished dinner, Heidi put their dishes in the dishwasher, realizing that it was now full after three weekends. Pouring soap into the soap container, she turned it on. She'd unload it next weekend when they ran out of dishes. Housekeeping was not her forte. It never had been. But judging from Nora Buckley's well-kept, well-stocked kitchen, she was a Martha Stewart. I'll bet she cooks well too, Heidi thought. Jeff didn't seem to mind that Heidi didn't cook. She defrosted, and she reheated, and she ordered out, but cook? Who had time?
"Any dessert?" he asked.
"Fortune and almond cookies," Heidi said.
"Give me two almond cookies, and I'll finish the wine," he told her, pouring the remainder of it into his glass. "I'm going to bed. Sorry to leave you alone, baby, but I know you like
The District
." He put an arm about Heidi and gave her a kiss. "Night."
Heidi finished cleaning up, and then she went upstairs to shower. By the time she was in the black silk nightgown that looked as if it had been painted on her, Jeff was already snoring. Picking up the empty wineglass, she returned downstairs. Going into the den, she picked up the handset of the telephone. For a long moment she hesitated, and then she realized she didn't know the cable company's number. Looking around, she found the cable listing and dialed the number. She asked for The Channel, and other than her slight start when the operator called her Mrs. Buckley, it all went smoothly. Channel sixty-nine. Well, that was subtle, wasn't it? It was after eight o'clock. She turned on the television. The screen was dark, and then it lightened to show her a bedroom, dimly lit, with a large round bed in the center of it. Not at all hesitant, Heidi put her hand on the screen, and to both her surprise and delight, she found herself in that bedroom. Upon closer examination she saw the sheets were red satin. There was a mirrored ceiling above the bed. Heidi giggled. She had always imagined a room like this. There was something a little nasty, a little smutty, and very sordid about a room with a king-sized round bed with a mirror above it and red satin sheets.
"Well, about time you showed up, Heidi," a rough male voice said, and he came from the shadows of the room. He was at least six feet six inches tall with broad shoulders and a wide chest. But his waist was narrow, as were his hips. "I'm Brad and I'm fourteen inches of hot meat." Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms. His hand ripped the front of her nightgown down, and he squeezed her breasts. "Nice, baby. Very nice."
"Hey, easy, big boy," Heidi said. "This is real silk not Lycra."
"Come on, baby, you like to be treated rough, and I know it," he replied, pulling her tightly against him. One hand was around her waist. The other was stroking her butt. "I know what you want," he murmured in her ear, "and I can give it to you. You know I can, don't you, Heidi? In a few minutes I'm going to spread your nice white body on those bloodred sheets. You're going to open real wide for me, aren't you, baby?"
Heidi could feel her excitement rising. Her heart was beating faster, and her clit was beginning to tingle just listening to him. She was already wet. "Yes," she whispered in his ear, and her tongue began to lick it.
"And when I get you like that, baby, I'm going to shove myself right up you and let you feel what a real man feels like. Not like that old-enough-to-be-your-daddy lover you've got, but a real man. You need a real man, baby, doncha?" His hand pushed between her legs, and he thrust three fingers into her vagina, moving them back and forth until she was moaning with undisguised lust. He laughed. "Oh, baby, you are hot to trot tonight, aren't you? It's your first visit to The Channel, and we're going to make it a memorable visit, baby." He withdrew his fingers from her cunt, and shoved them into her mouth. "That's the taste of hot pussy," he told her. "Suck 'em clean now."
Heidi sucked the big fingers, almost swooning with her excitement. He was wearing a black thong, and she could see the great big wad his dick made in the silky fabric. His dirty talk was so naughty, and she loved it. She looked up at him, fingers still in her mouth, and then she slowly pulled his fingers out from between her lips and said, "I'm a bad girl, Brad. What do you do to a bad girl? Huh, Brad? Huh?"
A grin lit his face. "Bad girls get spanked, baby." He held up his hand. "They get spanked with this."