The Space Between Us (19 page)

Charlie, shirt off and belt unbuckled, had his cock in his hand as he watched. Meredith pulled another chair from the dining room and set it up next to his. She’d stripped down to her bra and panties and sat in the chair to watch me.

So I danced for both of them.

It was a little silly. I did the cabbage patch and the running man and the lawn mower. Charlie laughed, but his stroking hand didn’t slow, and Meredith’s eyes gleamed as her tongue swept across her mouth.

I took off my bra and thumbed my nipples while they watched. I licked my fingertips and stroked them down my belly, under my skirt, inside my panties. Dancing, I moved forward and put one foot up on the edge of Charlie’s chair so he could run his free hand up the inside of my thigh, but when his fingertips skimmed the lacy edge of my panties, I danced away again.

“No touching,” I told him with a shake of my finger, then did the same to Meredith.

She didn’t try to touch me, but she arched her back a little when I put my foot on her chair. She slipped her fingers into the front of her panties the way I did. Rubbing, rubbing.

I turned back to Charlie, leaning in close to kiss him. I put my hand over his, fingers curling around his dick. I took over the stroking while he shifted to push his pants down his hips. I looked down between us, then at Meredith. She put one hand on Charlie’s thigh, her other still busy on her pussy.

We didn’t really have to shout out directions; I moved and Charlie moved with me down to the floor. I pushed him gently onto his back and stroked his cock a few more times before bending to add a long, slow lick to his balls.

I loved the way it made him groan, but there were three of us here. I held out my hand to Meredith, who linked her fingers through mine and got on her knees beside him. She kissed his mouth. I kissed his cock.

Sex can be great even without a lot of gymnastics. I moved naturally between Charlie’s legs while Meredith straddled his face. He got the best of everything, a hot mouth and hands on his dick and a face full of pussy. And the sounds she made as he worked her closer and closer to coming were so hot I had no trouble getting close myself.

Just as I’d lost myself in the dancing, now I lost myself in the pleasure from my hand rubbing my clit and the thickness of Charlie’s delicious cock. Actually, I wanted to ride it, but since I didn’t feel like leaving off what I was doing to hunt up a condom, I satisfied myself with slipping my fingers deep into my pussy. Not a substitute for Charlie’s cock, not completely, but it was good enough to make me come.

Climax spiraled through me, making me shudder. I took Charlie’s cock deep into my mouth. It jerked on my tongue. He was getting close, too. When Meredith cried out, a wordless groan of pure pleasure, Charlie came.

Minutes later the three of us were on their living room carpet. I heard the soft mutter of Charlie’s snores, and giggled, though my own eyes were closed and I’d stifled a yawn or two. Meredith sighed.

I opened my eyes and rolled on my side to look at her. “Hey.”

She passed a hand over my hair. “Hey.”

“We should wake him up.”

She smiled. “We could just let him sleep down here all night.”

“You wouldn’t. That would be so mean.” I curled my legs a little, pushing against her touch, lazy like a cat. “Though this carpet is as nice as some beds I’ve slept in.”

“What was it like, really? The Compound? I picture it like summer camp, with bunks.”

“Yeah. It was like that. There were dorm-style buildings for the teenagers. Little cabins for the adults. Everything was kind of old and run-down. Shabby, I guess you could say. Furnished with castoffs people brought from home to donate.” I yawned again and captured her stroking hand to pillow it beneath my cheek. Her palm was warm.

“Was it great?”

I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, but I managed so I could look up at her. “Was what great?”

“Living there. Just…the freedom of it. Every time you talked about it, it sounded great. Was it like a real hippie commune?”

“When I was a kid, I thought it was great. Sure. There was a lot of freedom, yeah. We sort of ran wild all summer. It made it hard to adjust to the rest of the year. And…” I yawned again. “Honestly, Meredith, the people there were crooks. I mean, they cheated on their taxes and grew drugs for profit. They let their kids run rampant all summer so they could fuck around on their spouses. One summer my brother had to shave his head because he couldn’t get rid of the lice.”

“It still sounds like a great experience.”

“It wasn’t all bad, no.”

I snuggled against her hand. Charlie’s thigh was warm against my knees. I could fall asleep right there, except I knew eventually we’d get cold, and at the very least, I needed to get up and pee.

“You work early tomorrow?” Meredith asked.

“Hmm? Yeah. I should get going.”

She shifted nearer to me so that when I opened my eyes we were so close I could see the white flecks surrounding her irises. “You know, if you stayed here you wouldn’t have to leave.”

I smiled. “Whoa. That’s so deep. Is that like ‘wherever you go, there you are’?”

Charlie hadn’t moved, though his snores had gotten a little louder. I ran my hand lightly up his thigh, over his hip. I touched his belly and he wiggled a little but didn’t wake.

“Charlie has to get up early in the morning, too. And I didn’t bring anything with me to stay over.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, then got up. “Fine. I get it.”

I stood up, too, looking for my clothes, and shot her a grin as I scooped up my panties. “I’ll plan better for next time, okay?”

Her gaze slipped over me, not missing an inch. “Next time. Mmm.”

At the front door, I leaned to kiss her goodbye and caught the corner of her mouth. Meredith hugged me close, her bare breasts pressing sweetly against the front of my blouse. She squeezed my butt, but it was a friendly sort of pinch, not terribly lecherous.

“Drive safe,” she said, and shut the door behind me.

Chapter 24

“Y
ou sit.” I pointed a warning finger at Elaine, who’d been struggling to move from stove to fridge and back again without tripping over Max and Simone. I pointed at them, too. “You two. Out!”

“We’re h-u-u-ungry,” Simone whined, turning on the pout that would usually have won her what she wanted—from her mama or daddy, at least.

I wasn’t so easily won. “Out. You just had yogurt twenty minutes ago and neither of you finished it. Go play in the rec room, and stay out of my room.”

Max shuffled in his footie pajamas toward the doorway. “Tum on, Simone, we tan pway twucks.”

His sister let out a long-suffering sigh and gave me another practiced look. “Can we have some cheese crackers?”

I had to bite back a laugh at her efforts, but passed that one on to their mother, who was also trying not to giggle. Plastic cups of crackers in their hands, the kids went downstairs. I turned to Elaine.

“Okay. Dinner. Spaghetti?”

“Sure,” she said wearily. “Everyone will eat that without argument. We can slice up that Italian bread you brought home, and make garlic bread.”

I dug in the bread drawer and pulled out the loaf, handed it to her with a knife and cutting board. Then the butter and crushed garlic in the jar from the fridge. “Here, you handle that. I’ll make the sauce.”

Growing up, all I’d ever eaten was premade pasta sauce from a jar or can, but Elaine had taught me how to make “fresh” sauce using crushed tomatoes, olive oil and spices. I took the ingredients from the pantry and set to sautéing some onions and garlic, opening jars and digging up the oregano and basil from the spice cupboard. It could simmer on a low heat until Vic got home or we gave up on him and ate without waiting.

“Thanks, Tesla.” Elaine spread butter on the small slices of bread and ladled minced garlic on top. “Can you hand me the—”

I was already passing her the flat cooking stone we used for everything from pizza to cookies. And garlic bread, too. I laughed at her expression. “What?”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.

This set me back a step, though I tried not to show it. Elaine was naturally affectionate and always had been to both me and Cap. For some reason, though, her statement hit me harder than it should have. I busied myself with stirring the oil, garlic and onions.

“I am,” she said quietly. “You’re so great with the kids, I don’t know what I’d do without the extra set of hands. You’ve spoiled me.”

“I love your kids.” I added some spices to the pot and stirred that, too, so I didn’t have to look right at her. “And if you or Vic need help, I’m happy to give it.”

Elaine snorted a small, unamused laugh. “Oh. Vic. Does he ever need help?”

I closed my eyes for a second, not wanting to have this conversation and not seeing any way to get around it. I switched the burner to low and covered the pot, then turned to the counter to open the cans of crushed tomatoes. “Of course he does.”

“He won’t ask for it.” Elaine put the butter knife on the table with a sharp rap of the metal blade on the wood. “He won’t accept it. I know something’s going on with him, Tesla. He leaves early, he comes home late. He’s on that stupid laptop all the time when he is home, and he won’t tell me what he’s doing.”

The can opener was old, the cans a little dented around the rim. I struggled to twist the handle that turned the gears that cut the metal, then, sighing, took a break for a minute to look at her. “He’s an asshole sometimes. I mean, you knew that.”

Other women might have taken offense to someone calling their husband an asshole, but Elaine only laughed. “He’s opinionated. And overprotective.”

“That, too.” I finally forced both cans open and dumped the contents in the pot, where everything sizzled briefly and sent up a cloud of steam. “Mmm, smells good.”

“I just want to know what he thinks he’s protecting me from. That’s all.”

I didn’t want to look at her, afraid she’d see in my eyes that I knew exactly what Vic was hiding from her. I kept my focus on the stove, stirring the sauce that didn’t need any more attention. I heard her sigh.

“Tesla. Please. I know you know something.”

I sighed, too, and turned to pull down the big pot from the rack. I filled it with water as I answered. “He’s been acting strange lately. That’s for sure.”

“But why? I thought everything was going great with the shop. We’re not behind on any bills or anything. We even have some money set aside so he can take time off after the baby comes. I’ve tried to think of all the things that could be bothering him and I just can’t.” She sighed again. “Does he talk to you?”

For the first time ever, in all the years I’d known her, I heard the edge of jealousy in her voice. In that moment, I hated Vic for putting me in this place between them. I didn’t want to know things about him that his wife did not. I didn’t want to be the one he confided in, not even if it was because he trusted me or because he loved her more.

“Vic and I don’t always see eye to eye on stuff. You know that.” I glanced toward the pantry, but it wasn’t time to put the pasta in the water yet. I had to face her instead. So I put on my big-girl panties and did. She looked sad, and it broke my heart. I hated him a little harder.

“But does he talk to you? Has he been talking to you? I feel like…” She lifted her hands and dropped them helplessly against the mound of her belly. “He’s always been closemouthed about stuff. But lately he’s not just taciturn, he’s secretive.”

I pulled out the chair opposite her and sat to help with the garlic bread. I thought of a thousand different ways to tell her he was considering going back to his old job, but since apparently she didn’t even know he’d had an old job, I was stuck. She’d always known where Vic had met me and Cap. We spoke only rarely about The Compound, but we did talk about it. I’d never realized we never said what Vic had really been doing there. I didn’t want to be the one revealing to her that he’d been lying by omission for the entirety of their marriage.

“Have you asked him?” I stacked some buttery, garlicky slices on the stone. “Flat-out asked?”

“I’ve asked him if something was wrong. He says no.” She frowned. “I don’t believe him.”

“Stress at work?” I offered. “Dennis has been out a lot, and working with Cap has to be a challenge.”

That earned a laugh, thank God. “Your brother is the sweetest guy alive.”

“He’s the dumbest smart guy alive, you mean. I know he drives Vic crazy sometimes. And with the baby coming and stuff, I’m sure Vic just wants to work as much as possible so, like you said, when the baby comes he can take time off.”

I felt like shit even though what I’d said was no more a lie than Vic saying nothing was “wrong.” Elaine lifted her hair off her neck and twisted it, securing it with a ponytail holder she pulled from her wrist. She briefly touched the spot between her eyes as if it pained her. When she looked across the table at me, I hated seeing the sheen of tears in her eyes.

“If something was wrong and you knew about it, Tesla. You’d tell me. Right?”

“Of course. Of course I would.” It tasted like a lie, though I meant it to be the truth.

The back door opened and caught us looking guilty, like we were the ones keeping secrets. Vic came in, stamping off the slush from his boots, and paused in the doorway. He looked first to his wife, who got a faint smile from him, then to me.

I got a frown.

“What’s up?” he asked.

Elaine heaved her bulk from the chair and went to give him a kiss. “How was work?”

“Fine. Closed early, had no appointments and Cap was on about something having to do with what it would take to launch an iPhone into space or something like that.”

I laughed, and Vic shot me another frown. “Did he have diagrams?” I asked.

“Yes.” Vic rolled his eyes and looked over Elaine’s shoulder to the stove. “Spaghetti?”

“Yes. It’ll be a few minutes.” She hugged him close.

I looked away from their intimacy, not because it embarrassed me, but because I didn’t want to see Vic’s face when he hugged the woman he was lying to. The pounding of feet up the stairs alerted the three of us to the kids before they hurtled through the door to attack their dad, and I took the opportunity to finish the bread, then start the spaghetti. Vic played daddy for a few minutes, then went to take a shower before dinner.