The Wives of Beverly Row 3: Lust Has a New Address (8 page)

“Alright,” Ariel said.

“And you were absolutely right to call me on it. I’d had too much to drink and I was making a fool of myself.”

Ariel nodded. “Well,” she said. “I guess I should say, apology accepted.” She raised her glass to him and they clinked a little toast.

“I’ll leave you to your drink,” Jake said.

Jake beckoned the waiter over to settle his bill but Ariel, for reasons entirely surprising to herself, stopped him. “Don’t leave,” she said. “Join me for a drink.”

She didn’t want to be left there alone. The place was bustling with people and now that Jake was standing next to her she didn’t want him to disappear. He took the seat next to her and ordered another whiskey.

“Marriages can be difficult,” Ariel said to break the silence.

“You’re telling me,” Jake said. “Never in a million years would I have predicted how difficult it could get. Zola and I hardly even speak to each other most of the time.”

“Really?”

“It’s like communication completely breaks down sometimes. And then there’s all this anger I have.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if I should talk about it,” Jake said. “It’s just, let’s say that I have some personal issues I’m trying to resolve.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re Zola’s friend. I shouldn’t say anything. I’ll let her tell you.”

Ariel finished her glass of wine and Jake ordered her another straight away. She sat quietly as it arrived and sipped from it. It really was delicious wine and she was drinking it too quickly. If she kept up like this she’d have to get a cab home. She wasn’t going to let Jake drive her home, that was for sure. She couldn’t let herself get a reputation on the Row.

“Just spill the beans,” she said to Jake. “It’s no big deal. Everyone’s got marital problems. Believe me.
Everyone
. My own ex-husband, a man who made a habit of cheating on me for sixteen years, just called an hour ago to ask me out for a drink.”

“At least he knows what he wants,” Jake said.

“He’s never had a problem with that,” Ariel said. “So come on, what’s your issue? Maybe all you need is a little female advice.”

Jake looked troubled. He looked like he was about to make a confession. “Well,” he said, “I shouldn’t even be saying this, it’s embarrassing to be honest, but Zola slept with a friend of mine.”

Ariel almost choked on her wine. “What?” she said, a little louder than she should have. A few of the other people at the bar turned to look at her. “How do you know that?” Ariel said.

“I know it. His name is Peter. He showed me the video of it.”

“He got video?”

“I guess they recorded themselves.” Jake took out his cellphone and began opening a file.

“Jesus, Jake. I don’t need to see that.” Even still, Ariel watched intently as he opened a small video clip. There was no denying it. It clearly showed Zola sucking off a fairly out of shape guy. Then she got up and mounted his cock by sitting on his lap.

“Holy shit,” Ariel said.

“I know.”

“And I stood up for her,” Ariel said. She felt somehow responsible to Jake. She’d stood up for Zola in front of everyone, and now she was finding out that this was what Zola was up to. “It’s none of my business,” she said.

“I’ll tell you, when the message came in I thought it was a joke. I’ll be the first to admit my marriage isn’t perfect but I never expected this.”

“I never would have believed it either,” Ariel said. “To be blunt, if I’d had to guess who was the cheater in your marriage, I would have guessed it was you.”

Jake shrugged. He looked sympathetic to Ariel. “That’s what people always think. I guess I can come across badly sometimes.”

“I’ll say,” Ariel said, sipping her wine.

“You want another glass?” Jake said.

Ariel looked up at him. She felt so bad for judging him. She’d thought he was the biggest asshole in the world and now she was seeing a whole other side to him.

“Sure,” she said. “What the hell. We only live once.”

XIV

O
VER THE COURSE OF THE
next two hours Ariel lost track of the number of glasses of wine Jake bought her. She felt a bit strange sitting there with him getting progressively drunker. Just a few hours earlier she’d thought Jake was one of the biggest assholes she’d ever met in her life. Now here she was, letting him flirt shamelessly with her. She began to think that maybe she wasn’t quite as good a judge of character as she’d thought. She’d thought Jake was a jerk and it turned out he was actually a pretty nice guy. He had his issues just like everyone else did. And besides, what did Ariel know? She’d just slept with her own ex-husband, a man she knew had cheated on her literally hundreds of times. She’d also taken Zola’s side at the pool party only to learn that Zola was the one having the wild affairs, letting people videotape her while she was fucking her husband’s friends!
That was crazy.

“I can’t believe my ex asked me out tonight,” Ariel said.

“I can,” Jake said. “Look at you!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ariel said.

“I don’t know,” Jake said. “It’s just, let’s just say, when I saw you and your daughter come over to our pool party that day, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“Come on!”

“Really,” he said. “I’m not kidding. I think that’s the whole reason I acted weird that day.”

“You’re so full of it.”

“Really, Ariel. I was like,
damn
! I don’t think I’d ever seen a woman as hot as you in my entire life.”

“Oh God, Gabe. You’re just flirting with me now.”

“I’m not,” he said. He leaned forward and put his hand on her knee. Ariel looked down at his hand. She knew exactly where this was leading. It wasn’t going to go anywhere good. How the hell could she even think about sleeping with her friend’s husband? It was insane. She lived on Beverly Row. She had to maintain good relationships with the other women who lived there. If she slept with Jake, how the hell was she ever going to be able to look Zola in the eye again? She wasn’t the kind of person who could live dishonestly. She wouldn’t be able to do this.

But Jake’s hand moved slowly up from her knee along her thigh. It felt so good to have his big, strong hand on her leg. She felt sexy and desirable. He wanted her. All she had to do was take a glance at his lap to see that his penis was erect inside his slacks. He wanted her so badly that he was coming on to her right here in the bar.

She wondered how he felt, finding out that his wife was cheating on him. She knew how she’d felt the first time she’d realized for certain that Gabe was cheating on her. It had been devastating. She’d have done anything at that moment. There was no way she could have controlled her emotions at that point. That was what Jake was going through right now. He was emotionally devastated. He’d wake up in the morning and begin to put the pieces of his life together, try and figure out how he was going to go on in a marriage that obviously wasn’t what he thought it was. But right now everything was different. He was in free fall and anything was possible.

Ariel looked at him. She didn’t think about what she was doing. She didn’t make a conscious decision about whether or not she was going to sleep with Jake. She didn’t think about how she was going to go on living on the Row with the other wives. All she did was open her legs a little, allowing Jake’s cool, firm hand to slide even farther up the inside of her thigh.

She sighed. Jake noticed. He let his hand slide up under the skirt of her dress. Ariel was surprised at how bold he was. She looked around. The bar was still busy and no one was paying them any attention as far as she could tell. She opened her legs just the tiniest little bit more and looked into Jake’s eyes.

“Go ahead,” she said. “Touch it.”

“Right now?”

“You know you want to,” she said seductively.

Gabe’s hand moved slowly, inching its way up her leg. Ariel closed her eyes and focused on the smooth sensation of his finger tips running over her skin. Eventually he reached the edge of her panty. He looked at her. She looked right back at him. She gave a very small nod.

His fingers went in under the elasticated edge of her panty. Ariel held her breath. A moment later she felt him on the very edge of her pussy. She was so wet and she hoped he didn’t care. He didn’t seem to. His finger kept moving until it actually slid inside the lips of her vagina and went right inside her.

“Oh God,” she whispered.

Jake leaned forward and began kissing her passionately. She wasn’t thinking of anything now. Her body was working on autopilot. She opened her mouth and gladly accepted his tongue. It moved inside her, sliding against her own tongue. Her lips pressed against his. His mouth was surprisingly soft.

This is Zola’s husband
, she thought. The idea of it scared her and thrilled her at the same time. Sleeping with another woman’s husband! It wasn’t anything she’d ever thought she would do. Maybe sleeping with Gabe again had changed her. She’d gone from being the victim, the woman who waited at home while her husband fooled around behind her back, to the aggressor, the woman outside stealing other women’s men.

“Where are you going to take me?” she whispered.

A minute later and they were making their way out of the bar. There was an old hotel on the corner and they stumbled toward it.

“Won’t Zola be wondering where you are?” Ariel said as they walked into the lobby of the hotel.

It was a traditional looking place, a hotel that must have been there for decades.

“I’m the last thing on her mind,” Jake said. “Trust me.”

“She’s going to hate me,” Ariel said.

“She can’t hate you if she never finds out,” he said as they reached the checkin counter.

Jake put the room on his credit card and then pulled Ariel after him into the elevator. They were headed for the third floor. Once they were inside the elevator Ariel had a moment of clarity. She’d had a lot of wine, things had moved very quickly, and without thinking she’d allowed herself to get into this position with the husband of a friend. It was a recipe for disaster and she knew it. She also knew that she’d have to live with the guilt of this night for a very long time.

Should she call it off?

She looked at Gabe. He was leaning against the wall of the elevator looking at her as if he was about to jump her.
Had he really been telling the truth?
He’d showed her the video of Zola with another man but something about it didn’t seem to make sense. She
knew
Zola. At least she thought she did. It didn’t seem like her style. How old was that video? That could have happened years ago. As she looked at Jake leaning against the wall, measuring her up like a piece of dessert he’d just ordered, she suddenly felt like she’d fallen into a terrible trap. He’d
lied
to her. He
was
the cheater. It wasn’t Zola. She knew that. She’d believed what she wanted to believe and now she was about to sleep with her friend’s husband.

She felt that Jake had played her. And she’d fallen for it.

He came over and put his arm around her. She suddenly felt awful. She’d allowed this guy to pick her up at a bar for the simple reason that she was horny and she knew he was willing and able to do the deed.

He reached with his hands down behind her and pulled up her dress, planting his hands on her bare butt cheeks. The elevator dinged and he let go. She pulled down her dress and followed him down the corridor toward their room. She could tell by the way he was walking that he was quite drunk. She was too, but not so much that she didn’t know what she was doing.

Jake opened the door. This was Ariel’s absolute last chance to turn this thing around. She knew she’d regret it if she went through with this. She knew she’d never be able to look Zola in the eye again. She knew she’d feel like a complete and utter slut if she did it.

He took her hand and pulled her into the room.

“Wait,” she said, resisting him.

“What is it?”

“It’s just, Jake, to be honest.”

“Oh no,” he said, reading the look on her face. “You’re having second thoughts. I can tell.”

“Well, the thing is, Zola’s my friend.”

“Yeah, but she’s a total slut. I already showed you what she did.”

“I know,” Ariel said. “But it’s not just that.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just, I don’t want to be the girl who goes around fucking other girl’s husbands.”

“Sure you do,” Jake said.

“I don’t know,” Ariel said. It was true there was a thrill in the idea of it, but the reality was different. It was dirty.

“Okay,” Jake said. “Let me show you something that will really blow your socks off.”

Ariel rolled her eyes. She’d decided that she didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to go through with it. She’d feel too bad in the morning when she had to look at herself in the mirror in the full light of day. Jake pulled up the video file on his phone again and played it from the beginning. He handed it to Ariel this time.

“I’ve already seen this,” Ariel said.

“Just watch it to the end.”

Ariel didn’t know why she was watching the video. It was dirty. It was seedy. It didn’t matter what Zola had done, this was about Ariel and the person she wanted to be. But then something strange happened in the video. Something so unusual and shocking that Ariel almost dropped the phone. As she continued to watch the action, her jaw opened wider and wider.

Zola was in the footage, fucking that guy she’d seen earlier, but then Jake himself entered the scene. And then the two of them were fucking Zola at the same time, and Zola appeared to be enjoying it.

“Jesus,” Ariel said.

“Right?” Jake said.

“I had no idea you guys were into that.”

“Yes we are.”

“But you told me she cheated on you.”

“I just thought that was an easier way to get you to let me in,” Jake said.

“So you admit you’ve been trying to pick me up right from the get go.”

“I just thought that was a better way than telling you that Zola and I have a completely open relationship.”

“So if I ask Zola about this she’ll agree?”

“Yes, of course. But please don’t bring this up with Zola. She really doesn’t want any of our neighbors to know that she’s involved in this sort of thing.”