The Space Between Us Read online

  In weeks past I’d have soothed her, told her I loved what she’d picked. Probably even pulled one out to use right there to prove it. I didn’t have it in me to do that now. “I know you did.”

  That was the worst part. I believed she had thought hard about what I’d like…and been wrong. Not just a little wrong, but fantastically, momentously and egregiously wrong.

  She put the lid on the box. “Well. I guess it’s a good thing I can return everything for credit.”

  The joke fell flat, but at least it was a joke. I leaned to kiss her, catching her cheek. “Don’t do that. They’ll be fun.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. You can exchange the earrings you got me, right? For a different color?”

  Now she was just being a bitch, but that was okay. I could handle that. “Sure. No problem. I can just return them altogether.”

  Her gaze flickered. She didn’t want me to return the earrings; she liked them, I knew. But she shrugged and gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Great. Good.”

  “I have something for you,” Charlie told me, and we both turned to look at him. He held out a small box wrapped in pretty blue-and-silver paper. “Here, honey.”

  The box was the size of my palm, but had the weight of a promise. I curled my fingers over the top. Something inside shifted.

  “Open it,” Charlie said.

  I did. Nestled inside on a bed of white cotton was a bracelet, a simple band of polished silver in a curving shape, like waves. It was beautiful. It was perfect.

  I loved it.

  “Thank you!” I took it from the box and slipped it onto my wrist. The metal warmed to my skin within seconds. It was tight enough that it wouldn’t get in the way at work, and I twisted my arm back and forth, admiring it.

  I shouldn’t have thought twice about kissing Charlie for that present, but I did. Meredith had watched him make me come with his tongue, had seen him fuck me until we both collapsed. But having her watch me kiss him now felt somehow wrong.

  I kissed him, anyway.

  “Jangle Bangles has a matching necklace,” she said, even as the kiss lingered. “I’ll show it to you in the catalog.”

  I sat back. I’d never buy something from Jangle Bangles, and I had no doubt the necklace wouldn’t really match. “Sure. That would be great.”

  She stood, looking down at both of us. “I have something else for the two of you. It’s a surprise.”

  Charlie glanced around at the mess we’d made in the living room, paper and ribbons and bows all over, then up at his wife. “What is it?”

  “It’s not a what, it’s a where.”

  I knew her smile and the gleam in her eyes. I knew the way she slid her tongue across her lips. I could see she was up to something, but I couldn’t begin to imagine what it might be.

  “C’mon. Let’s go.” Meredith held out her hands, one to each of us.

  Charlie and I each took one, and we followed her.

  Chapter 37

  “Where are we going, exactly?” Charlie was driving, but Meredith had plugged an address into the GPS, and the monotone voice kept barking out orders.

  In the light from the dashboard, her eyes gleamed. She twisted to look at me in the backseat. “It’s a club. A special party, for Christmas Eve.”

  “Dancing?” Charlie made a face. “You know I don’t like to dance.”

  “You don’t have to dance. Tesla and I can dance. You can watch.” She snuggled up close to him and ran a finger down the buttons of his shirt, then cast me a flirtatious glance. “Or do other stuff.”

  Charlie laughed. “What other kind of stuff could I do in a club?”

  “At this club I want to go to, just about anything you like.”

  Charlie seemed confused. “Are you talking about something like Spanky’s?”

  It was a strip club, but not a classy one like Samantha’s. Spanky’s had peep-show booths and an adult toy store, along with what I’d heard was a pretty skanky club section in the back with dark and private areas and sticky seats. Bleah.

  Meredith made a face. “Ew. No. This club is private. You need an invitation.”

  Charlie still didn’t get it. “Like a country club?”

  She laughed, low. “Sort of. But not for golf.”

  “What’s it for, then?”

  I knew before she said it. “She means for swingers.”

  “Swingers…” Charlie’s brows rose. “What?”

  “She wants to go to a sex club.” I was talking to him, but looking at her. “Probably at something like a private home, though it’s set up like a club. You need an invitation to get in because technically it’s a private party. Right?”

  “It’ll be fun,” Meredith said. “I promise.”

  * * *

  Even in a swingers’ club, there was no real provision for three. Charlie and Meredith would get in without a problem as a couple, something that would’ve been hard or impossible for him to do as a single guy. And me?

  I was a unicorn.

  Single, bisexual female available to pair with couples. I was what everyone was looking for, but most people couldn’t find. When I told Charlie this in the parking lot, just before we went inside, he laughed in disbelief.

  “It’s true,” Meredith told him. She linked an arm through mine. We’d both changed, dressed to impress, and in my high heels I was finally almost her height. She pressed her chin to my shoulder, holding me close to her side. “Our Tesla’s going to be a very popular girl.”

  “I don’t want her to be popular,” Charlie said. “And are you sure—”

  Meredith kissed him to stop him from speaking. “I know you’re worried, but look at it this way. Nobody’s going to call the school board. Anyone who sees you here would have to explain what they were doing here, too.”

  Charlie wasn’t totally convinced, I could tell, but I knew she was right. “People keep their sex lives private and secret for a reason, Charlie.”

  “C’mon. Don’t be a spoilsport,” Meredith said. “It’ll be fun.”

  “That’s what you said.” Charlie linked an arm through mine on the other side. “But we don’t have to do anything, right? We can just watch.”

  “Nothing you don’t want to,” she promised. “C’mon, I’m freezing my ass off out here.”

  The club was indeed at a private house, a long, low rancher set on a nicely landscaped plot of land surrounded by a fence, and only accessible down a long country road. There was a pool out back, closed for the winter, though three or four hot tubs bubbled and steamed. A couple trailers had also been set up along the open breezeway between the house and what had been a garage, but now looked like a game room. Everything glowed with strings of festive, multicolored lights. A waving Santa and sleigh were on the roof.

  “It’s an entire complex,” Charlie said, as we went up the front steps.

  The man who answered the door wore a pair of jeans with no shirt and didn’t seem bothered by the cold. With nipples pierced, he gave new meaning to the term “muffin top,” and when I caught Charlie’s eye I had to fight back laughter at his expression.

  “Hi. I called earlier and spoke to Len,” Meredith said, as if she did this sort of thing all the time. “Three under the name Smith.”

  “Sure, c’mon in! I’m Harve. Get in out of the cold.” Harve welcomed us into a small living room decorated in early seventies porn chic. Leather couches, tiger-striped carpets, lava lamps. Mud flap silhouettes as art on the wall.

  People in all stages of dress, mostly un, lounged or chatted in small clusters.

  “Living room,” Harve said unnecessarily. “Donation box is right here. Cash only. Suggested donations are listed there on the sign. Kitchen’s through there—we have snacks, drinks, just put the cash in the box. If you want bar food, you can hit the bar downstairs. We have a full game room and dance club set up down there, too. Another game room out past the breezeway. Pool’s shut down, but the hot tubs are open. Bathing suits optional. ’Cuz this is our holiday party,