“Understood. When you’re ready.”
I turned to leave but stopped when she called my name.
“Would you mind if I got in the pool?”
“No,” I said curtly, then walked away, not wanting to dwell on the idea of Laikyn changing into her swimsuit.
I went to the highboy in the dining room, retrieved a highball glass, and added two ice cubes. I opened a can of Sprite. I filled the glass halfway, then took it outside. The drink wouldn’t dull my senses or make me forget about the woman who was now the center of my universe, but it was the best I could do. I didn’t drink, and I didn’t do drugs, both conscientious choices. Sex with nameless, faceless strangers was the only vice I served these days.
As I stepped outside, my phone chimed. I knew who it was, so I pulled it out to look at the screen.
— Where’s Laikyn?
“Putting on her swimsuit,” I told Jinx, glancing to where he sat on the outdoor sofa.
His left eyebrow arched.
“Yeah,” I said. “Hell on earth, my friend.”
He smiled.
And though I didn’t succumb to things that clouded my senses, apparently, I was a glutton for punishment because while I didn’t want to think about Laikyn changing, I damn sure didn’t want to miss the opportunity of seeing her in her swimsuit. I fell into one of the chairs at the side of the pool and stared up at the hill behind the house, wondering whether she wore a one-piece or a bikini.
Bikini, I learned a few minutes later when she came out, carrying a towel and a glass of wine. Jinx was the source of the wine. This afternoon, he’d ordered groceries, informing me that my new wife deserved to have things she liked on hand. Evidently, she liked wine. I wondered whether he knew that as fact or he merely guessed. Then I wondered why the fuck I even cared.
I pretended to be interested in the water, but my gaze was firmly on her, skimming all the smooth, curvy lines of her body as she took the steps down one at a time. I’d never seen a more perfect woman before. Or maybe I had, but none of them compared to Laikyn. There was something about her that called to something deep inside me. She woke whatever it was and brought light to a very dark place.
It was premature and juvenile, this lust I’d formed for her, but it was there all the same. I refused to give it freedom, though, keeping it caged where it belonged. As much as I wanted to fuck this woman, it wouldn’t benefit either of us. Certainly not her because this would all come crashing down when she learned the truth, and while I had her best interest in mind, I doubted she would believe it.
“So how does this marriage work?” she asked, her sultry tone carrying across the water as she dipped her shoulders under.
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Well … I guess … will you and I be fucking?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by her candor, but I was. Most women prettied up the terms, choosing to refer to it as sleeping together or some such idiocy. Not Laikyn.
“No.”
“That’s really too bad,” she said with a sigh. “I’m still trying to figure out what the benefit of this arrangement is. Sex qualifies as a benefit, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” I muttered, then took a drink, wishing for the first time it was vodka, not Sprite.
“Then will you be fucking other women?”
“No,” I said quickly. Too quickly.
“Really?”
My phone chimed. Another text from Jinx.
—Will you be fucking me?
I didn’t answer either of them.
“Am I permitted to fuck other men?”
I swallowed thenothat lingered on the tip of my tongue. “If that’s what you need.”
