Insatiable (Part 4)
Kathryn M. Burke
Tamara came over to Patrick's house several more times for dinner over the next two weeks. Everyone seemed to be getting comfortable with each other, although Laurie occasionally noticed her friend gazing intently at her lover when she thought no one was looking. So the conversation they had at work one day didn't entirely take her by surprise, as she reflected upon it later.
Laurie looked unusually tousled when she dragged herself into work that morning. Tamara looked her up and down and said: "Rough night?"
"You could say that," Laurie said tiredly. She didn't have to add:
That man is wearing me out.
"And this morning too?"
"This morning too. Patrick doesn't seem to realize that there are people who actually have to go to a job in the morning."
"He still goes into your bottom?"
"Of course he does. You know how much he likes it."
"And you like it?"
"Yes. I do now."
There was a long and awkward pause. Then, in a strangely wistful voice, Tamara said, "I wonder if he'd do that to me."
For a while, Laurie only heard the hum of other conversations in various parts of the office. Looking at her friend keenly, she said, "What did you say?"
Tamara's chest rose and fell in agitation; she seemed to be hyperventilating. "I just wonder," she said in a high-pitched voice, "whether he'd try it on me."
"Wait a minute," Laurie said, clutching her head as if trying to grasp the incomprehensible. "I thought you said you hated that procedure."
"Well, how can I know I hate it if I don't try it?"
"I could have sworn you said in no uncertain terms you'd never let a man do that to you."
"Well, the way you describe it, it sounds kind of nice."
"I wouldn't say 'nice' is quite the operative word. Anyway," she went on, glaring at her friend, "I hate to point out the small fact that HE'S MY BOYFRIEND!"
Laurie was shouting by this pointâso much so that several other workers stopped what they were doing to wonder what the hell was going on.
"Oh, Laurie," Tamara pleaded, "I'm not trying to take him away from you! I know he loves you, and you love him. And that's great! I've never seen you happier. It's justâ"
"Have you ever thought of getting your own boyfriend? I'm sure you can find just about any guy on the street willing to poke you in the butt. All you have to do is ask."
"Laurie, please, don't be vulgar. I'm not going to do that."
"You know what I mean. There are plenty of men out there."
"But that's just it!"
"What's it?"
"Don't you see? If I get a real boyfriend of my own, and I have him do that to me, and I really hate it, then my relationship with him will be all spoiled. But with Patrick, it won't matter, because I really don't have a relationship with him."
Once again Laurie grabbed her headâshe almost seemed ready to tear her hair out. The incredible thing was that what Tamara had said made a horrible kind of senseâif she really meant it at face value.
Laurie wasn't stupid: she could tell that, for all her protestations, Tamara really was getting a crush on Patrickâmore than a crush, in fact. In the face of her unbelievable request, Laurie's womanly intuituon suddenly kicked into gear, telling her,
Don't let her do it! All sorts of complications could happen!
But there was another thought that was working its way into her brainâone that she was, as a proud and self-confident woman, extremely reluctant to face.
This man Patrick may be too much for me to handle. Perhaps I need some help.
Tamara mistook the brooding silence that Laurie had fallen into.
"Maybe," she said shyly, "he won't want to do me."
Laurie brayed with derisive laughter. "Are you kidding? He's a man. What man is going to turn down free sex?"
"Laurie, that's not fair! Patrick's not like that. I don't think he is, anyway."
"Okay, okay, sorry. But I'm quite sure he'll be more than happy to oblige."
A kind of glow came over Tamara's face. "So you'll ask him?"
Laurie sighed. "Yes, I'll ask him. I must be some kind of nincompoop, but I'll ask him."
She did so that very evening.
Patrick had worked her over pretty thoroughly, front and back, and she was dazed and exhausted. He didn't seem all that affectedâin fact, he seemed inclined for another round. So, to turn his attention away from that, she cuddled up to him as he lay on his back and said:
"Say, here's something funny. Guess what Tamara wants you to do."
She could feel Patrick stiffen ever so slightly. "And what would that be?" he said warily.
A scary thought shot through her mind.
Omigod, don't tell me you want her too?
She laughed nervously. "She, umâwell, not to put this too indelicately, but she wants you to shove your dick up her ass."
There was a deep and abiding silence. Patrick looked at his sweetheart with an inscrutable expression.
"What is thisâyour idea of a joke?" he said with some asperity.
"I wish it were, but it isn't! I'm telling you, my man, that's exactly what she wants. She spilled the beans about it today."
"Let me be clear about this," he said, sounding like a professor lecturing a dim-witted student. "She wants me to do anal sex on her. So the obvious question is: why?"
"Beats me! She just blurted it out."
"I got the impression"âand he said the next few words with pungent emphasisâ"
from everythiung you've told her about us,
that she didn't care for that. In fact, I distinctly recall you saying that she swore up and down she'd never submit to that practice as long as she lived."
"Well, it appears that she's changed her mind. Women do that, you know," she added sarcastically.
The look that Patrick was giving Laurie was so intense that she had to look away.
"Is this some sort of trap?" he said. "Are you testing my loyalty and faithfulness?"
"No, no! This is all perfectly serious."
"So you're asking me if I want to do this."
"
She's
asking you if you want to do this. I'm only the messenger."
"And if I say yes, you'll immediately conclude that I'm a cheating scumbag and will have nothing further to do with me."