The Neighborhood Wife Read online

  "Would I what?" she asked.

  "Would you ever do it with another man?"

  "Jake! No!" she squealed and slapped me on the arm.

  "Even... "

  The silence in the room seemed to get heavier. Was I really going to say this? Just yesterday we couldn't even have sex with the lights on and now we were going to talk about Lorelei getting with another man?

  "Even what?" she whispered.

  That's what pushed me over the edge. There was an insistence in her voice, a hunger it sounded like. A hunger to push this a little further, to see how far we could take it. How far we would dare.

  "Even if I told you it was alright? If I told you I wanted to see it?"

  There was a long pause. The blackout blinds were pulled down so we could sleep in in the morning and I could barely make out her eyes.

  "Why would you say something like that?" she asked, finally. Her voice was barely a whisper.

  "Because I found it hot," I said right away.

  More silence but this time I didn't wonder if we were going to go further. This time I knew she wanted down this rabbit hole. I was going with her all the way.

  "Do you?" she asked.

  "Yes," I replied.

  She took more time to think, turning her head to stare up at the ceiling.

  I started coming up with answers to what I thought was going to be the inevitable next question namely, "why?"

  Why? Why. Who knows why? It's not like I thought about it all the time but I had thought about it, on occasion.

  Sometimes when Lorelei wasn't in the mood or whatever I'd put on some pornography that featured things like that. Big, built black guys having sex with white women. I don't know why? It was just... hot.

  "I couldn't anyways."

  The statement surprised me partly because I'd thought she was going to ask a question instead but partly because it sounded like she was trying to convince herself that she couldn't.

  "Why not?" I ventured, figuring there was nothing to lose now. I knew full well why not. I guess that made it safe, in a way, the fact that Reg was married and there was no chance of anything happening. Made it more of a game and less of a think that would come true in real life.

  "Because he's married. I could never do anything like that to another woman."

  I sighed and rolled over. I guess I was a little disappointed, the same way I had been when Reg had told us about Shanice, his wife.

  I was also kind of relieved. There was nothing to worry about. I would never have to sit at work wondering whether Reg was at our house fucking my wife. I laughed out loud at the thought.

  "What?" Lorelei asked.

  "Oh, nothing. Just... a funny thing I thought of the other day."

  "What is it?"

  "Nothing." I turned to look at her, my cock hard from our conversation. "You want to... " I left the question dangling.

  Lorelei bit her lip. "Sure," she said. "Why not?"

  Hot damn. This was going to be a good week.

  Chapter 4

  We lounged around in bed the next morning until about ten o'clock. Well, Lorelei did. I was having a hard time sleeping in.

  We'd fucked hard again the night before and while I was pretty excited by Lorelei's awakened libido, I was also a tiny bit... disturbed?

  Of course Reg was married and Lorelei would never do anything like that, as she said, still every time I even thought about her contemplating it I would get a powerful rush of jealous adrenaline course through me.

  It kind of felt silly because I'd been the one to bring it up and run out to meet him. I'd been the one who'd made her whisper his name as she came. And yet as hot as I found those things and considering Lorelei getting with Reg, I also knew that was probably best kept inside my head.

  I finally got up, went downstairs and put on some coffee.

  Lorelei got up not too much after but didn't come downstairs for a long time. She took a long shower and then spent an inordinately long amount of time in the bathroom.

  When she finally came downstairs, I realized why.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  "What?" Lorelei replied. She walked across the kitchen, the heels she was wearing clicking across the tile.

  "Why are you all dressed up?"

  Dressed up was an understatement. Lorelei had put on a white sun dress with red polka dots, high red heels and had matched her lipstick to the color of the shoes. She'd also done her hair so that it was in sort of a fashionable bun behind her head.

  "I thought I'd go to the market and get some nice meat for dinner. You want to come?"

  I looked down at myself. Same sweats I'd worn last night. Ratty t-shirt I'd slept in with holes in it. I rubbed a hand across my jaw and realized I had probably two days worth of growth on.

  "Do I have time to clean up?"

  Lorelei glanced at me up and down, then smiled. "You know what? Why don't I just go. I'll be back in a flash. Okay?"

  "Okay," I said. That sounded fine to me. I wasn't really planning on leaving the house that day and if she wanted to do the groceries herself that was great!

  I walked her to the door, kissed her on the cheek, then watched as she walked out towards the car. I swung the door closed but right before it shut I heard Lorelei call out. "Oh hey, Reg! How's the move going?"

  Now grabbing the door to keep it from shutting would have been weird. Bursting out onto the street to see Lorelei talking to Reg would have been weirder still. So, I just bolted over to the bay window and peered out instead.

  Because an unshaven, wild-eyed guy staring out of the window at his wife was totally not weird.

  The first burst of jealous lust that shook through me at seeing Reg greet Lorelei with a kiss on the cheek was more potent than the strongest cup of coffee.

  It wasn't just the way that Reg greeted her, either. It was the way that she'd bounced over to where he was standing. It was the way she smiled at him, the way she seemed to turn on the extra-cheerful Lorelei for Reg.

  I stared out the window watching the two of them talk and share a laugh. Reg was dressed in khaki shorts and a pink golf shirt and looked just as classy as he had the night before.

  A few moments later I watched as Lorelei gave him a little wave of her hand, then spun around and bounced back towards the car. Just as I was about to lean away from the window, I saw her look up.

  Our eyes met and one corner of Lorelei's mouth turned up in what I can only describe as a wicked little smile. Then she popped into the mini, fired the engine up and she was gone.

  It took me a moment to process what exactly had happened and how it must have looked to Lorelei. She had caught me staring out the window as she talked to Reg.

  That smile, that wicked little smile meant one thing. Lorelei knew a little secret about me. She knew it turned me on to see her with Reg.

  This was the part where I started to panic a little. Because of that smile, you see. It wasn't that it didn't turn me on to fantasize about her with him, it did. It was that now that I'd shared it with her it seemed a little less... controlled.

  Before I had it nicely cordoned off inside my own mind. I could pull it out when I wanted to. Now it wasn't just mine. It was Lorelei's too. She could take it out and play with it and do whatever she wanted.

  That just didn't feel as safe anymore. You know?

  I spent the hour and a half that she was gone pacing, sometimes frantically, around the living room trying to figure out how to put the genie back in the bottle.

  When she did get back I was in the same dishevelled state I'd been when she left.

  "Are you going to change today? Or are you going to be looking like that when Reg comes over? I changed the time, by the way. I told him cocktails at five o'clock. So we don't have to jump on dinner right away."

  "Okay," I replied. "Yeah. Sure. No. Of course I'll change. Hey, can I ask you something?"

  Lorelei put the bags on the counter and turned to look at me. She was standing quite tall becaus
e of the heels and her ass made a nice shelf under her sundress.

  My cock throbbed.

  "What is it?" Lorelei asked.

  I let out a nervous giggle and walked over to where she was standing. "So, you know that thing we talked about last night?"

  Lorelei's tight mouth relaxed into a smile. "You mean about Reg?" she said, her voice suddenly sultry and low.

  Wow. She was really enjoying this.

  "Yeah. That."

  "What about it?" she purred, running a finger down the front of my shirt and letting it rest on the elastic waistband of my sweats.

  I looked into her deep, blue eyes. She looked fantastic all dolled up and hot. The reason I'd started the conversation was to tell her that it was just a fantasy, that it wasn't something I really wanted.

  Sure, I'd said the opposite the other day but now in the sober light of day it felt... it felt a little off.

  The image of Lorelei's legs splayed on the bed and the trunk of Reg's thick cock pumping into her dripping cunt flashed in my mind.

  I opened my mouth but no sound came out.

  Lorelei smirked. "What's the matter?" she asked quietly. "Cat got your tongue?"

  Fuck.

  "I'm... I'm gonna go take a shower," I muttered, backing away, unable to tear my eyes away from her stare.

  Then Lorelei smirked again. It wasn't a mean thing, I know saying "smirk" sounds like she was doing it in a mean way. It wasn't that. It was just... it was that same thing as before. A smile that goes "nah-nuh nah-nuh naaah-nuuuh, I know your secret!"

  And... and that was kind of hot.

  I went upstairs to the bathroom, turned the shower on and stroked one out into my underwear before getting in.

  Chapter 5

  Five o'clock felt like a long time rolling around. By the time Reg knocked on the door I'd already done a good deal of fretting, probably for nothing because he was married, and I'd gotten into the drinks a couple of hours earlier.

  "Will you stop that?" Lorelei had asked as she saw me pouring glass after glass of bourbon on the rocks. "You're going to make yourself drunk!"

  "I'm fine," I'd replied until I had made myself drunk. Then I cursed having done it. When I heard the knock at the door I slammed a bunch of glasses of water before going over to open it.

  It was Reg.

  "Jake!" he said, reaching in with his hand and grabbing mine. He gave my hand a few pumps with his big, black paw, then handed me the bottle of wine he'd brought. "I hope you like it. Lori said we were having steak so I brought a Cab Sauv. It's the 2009 Wyatt Cabarnet. California. It's a happy little wine."

  I managed a smile that I hoped didn't look to drunken as I muttered my thanks and asked him inside. I was just scrambling to come up with something to say when Lorelei walked up behind me in the hall.

  "Reg!" she exclaimed, her voice warm and soft. "I told you you didn't have to bring anything," she said, taking the wine from me.

  "Oh, nonsense! I've been brought up too well to show up empty-handed. Besides, it's the least I can do to say thanks for dinner."

  Then, right in front of me, Reg leaned in and kissed Lorelei so close to her mouth that I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.

  And you know what she did? She rolled her eyes. She shook her head and rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "Oh Reg!" she said, then spun around making her dress flare out and marched back into the kitchen.

  Reg shot me a wry smile. "That is a very fine lady you have for a wife there," he said, pointing to where Lorelei had disappeared into the kitchen.

  Of course I was second guessing myself in everything I did because I was so drunk.

  What was his smile supposed to mean? Why had he said that? Was he hitting on her or was it my imagination?

  I brushed the questions aside, smiled back at him, then waved him into the kitchen.

  Lorelei had made potato salad and was moving it into a serving dish when we walked in.

  "Jake, why don't you open that night and fix Reg a cocktail?" she asked.

  So I know that might not seem strange to you but Lori was not a bossy woman. She wasn't a take charge sort of gal who ordered me around. She would normally wait for me to tell her what to do, then follow my lead. Not the other way around.

  Nonetheless, I did what she asked, stealing glances at her as I did to see if everything was okay. She seemed fine so I decided it must have just been my own drunkenness and handed Reg a large glass of red wine.

  "Ah! Thank-you! I think you'll enjoy this very much!" he said.

  I lifted my glass of water and touched it to his wine glass.

  His smile faded. "Oh my. I'm sorry, do you not drink?" he asked.

  Lorelei shot me a sideways glare. "Oh he does. He just had a little too much before you got here," she explained.

  Reg's body shook slightly as that low chuckle rolled out of him. "I see. Well, to a good time!" He lifted his glass and touched mine with it.

  I stole a glance at Lorelei before forcing another weak smile.

  Her expression had changed yet again. The smiled had settled into something more devious. Something slightly more menacing.

  Or maybe it was just me. Maybe I was just drunk.

  Lorelei moved the bowl with the potato salad into the fridge then sauntered over to where Reg was standing. "Should we get some fresh air?" she asked. "It's a nice night."

  "Sure!" Reg said and turned to follow her out the sliding door onto the deck.

  It was a nice night. The hot summer air was heavy with moisture and the potential for another storm. Like you could wring something out of it if you tried hard enough.

  Reg strolled out off the deck and onto the lawn, admired the vegetable garden that Lorelei kept where things were just beginning to sprout. Then he came back, set down his wine glass and reached into his pocket.

  I'll admit I was surprised when he pulled out a thinly rolled joint and a lighter.

  "You folks mind if I indulge a bit?" he asked.

  I looked over at Lorelei. What I expected was not at all what I saw. I expected shock, revulsion maybe. In addition to being kind of prudish, Lorelei lived a very clean life. She rarely took alcohol and never did drugs.

  What I saw was so out of character for her that I had another one of those moments where I questioned whether this was really the woman I'd been married to all these years or if there was something she'd been hiding from me.

  She looked at Reg, smiled, took a swig of her wine and said, "Not at all. Knock yourself out."

  A moment later I heard the flick of a lighter, followed by the soft crackle of herb being lit. Then a haze of sweet-smelling grey smoke wafted towards the house.

  I was starting to sober up a little more than I was comfortable with and I would have killed for a hit off of the joint but I hadn't smoked since college and never around Lorelei.

  "Care to join me?" Reg asked.

  I smiled and lifted a hand to thank him anyway when Lorelei piped up.

  "I've never tried it."

  What?

  My jaw nearly dropped at the notion that she might even be considering having a conversation about this. She was supposed to be outraged!

  At least the Lorelei I knew would have been.

  "You've never tried pot?" Reg asked, smiling at her.

  She stood up, her long, lean legs drawing both our eyes, then walked over to where Reg was puffing on his joint.

  "Lorelei doesn't really do... well, anything," I said, after an awkward guffaw.

  "Anything?" Reg asked.

  "I drink on occasion," Lorelei explained.

  Reg frowned. "Well you should try something new every once in a while. No sense going through life not knowing what it's like to have fun."

  At this point I also would have killed to know what the hell was going on in Lorelei's mind!

  She eyed the joint for a while, then eyed Reg with an almost lusty stare. "You think so, huh?" she asked.

  Well there's no other way to describe what sh
e was doing. The way she was standing, the way she was staring at him, the way she asked the question made it very clear. Lorelei was flirting with Reg.

  "I think there's all sorts of good stuff you should try," Reg said, grinning and passing her the joint.

  My jaw dropped as I watched the tiny white sliver move from his thick, black fingers to her slender white hand. She wasn't really going to... was she?

  Lorelei eyed the joint some more, holding it up in front of her eyes so she could watch the way the smoke curled off the tip. She looked over at me and I must have been quite the sight because she started to laugh. "What?" she asked. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I need to have some fun?"

  Then she pressed the joint to her lips, hollowed her cheeks and sucked in a drag.

  The whole thing culminated in the explosive bout of coughing I'd been expecting so at least there was that. At least my wife wasn't a secret pot-head. She nearly hacked up a lung as she handed the joint back to Reg but it meant she'd got some. That meant she was about to become very stoned.

  I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

  "Jake?" Reg asked, holding out the joint.

  I walked over, took it from him and sucked in a big hit. The smooth, easy buzz settled over me almost instantly. When I looked over at Lorelei again, I could tell by her eyes that she'd slammed into the mellow wall, too.

  "There we go," Reg said. "Much better. Now that's how you chill out. Should we take a seat?"

  The three of us wandered over to the patio table and sat down.

  "Mmm," Reg said, staring up at the first stars that had just appeared in the dusky sky. "I have a good feeling about this place. I think I'm going to like it here."

  We all nodded and let some silence pass. Lorelei looked absolutely blitzed from the pot so I thought I'd strike up a conversation with Reg to pass the time. "So what about Shanice, Reg?" I asked. "What does Mrs. Jackson do?"

  Reg grinned and chuckled. "She’s… you know, I’ll let Mrs. Jackson tell you about her when you meet her. Her background's in dance, believe it or not. Ballet, actually. But she left that when the kids came along and got another job. Just shot up through the ranks. Now that they're gone she's starting a dance-wear business. It's all online. She thinks there's a big hole in the market. We had some capital from selling the house so I said go for it. She's got a designer working on the site right now."