Addicted

We collapsed in the sheets, sweaty and exhausted.

And yet...

My arm draped over her, I already ached to go again. Yes, ached. It sounds stupid: I was a personal trainer and physical therapist; I could tell you medical specifics of what "ache" means. But I had a girlfriend back in college who used to inhale romance novels. "Ached" meant something different for her. I never really got it.

Until now.

In the moment. Then... wow! Okay, I get it now.

Just looking at Lizzy, I wanted more. This wasn't just being "ready to go" again; I wanted to watch her, I wanted to hear her confessions, to reclaim her over and over like she so desperately craved.

My voyeur drive was growing, but it was still far behind her exhibitionism. It was dangerous on every level, but the risk was part of it. Physical. Mental. Emotional. Social...

I moved my arm, letting my head settle into the pillow. She pushed her back tight against me, making me her blanket. I liked it: it was warm and fuzzy and loving. And sure enough, the friction turned my brain from spooning to forking.

I glanced toward my dick. For God's sake, just shut the fuck up a minute.

Not sure when I drifted off...

#

Lizzy's phone was chiming.

My eyes popped open. It was still dark.

Her hand reached out, groping around the nightstand to find her phone. I sorta knew the ringtone, it was one of her besties: either Chloe or Claire.

Lizzy's voice was gravelly. "Yeah, hey... everything okay?"

Two female voices squealed: "GIRLS' NIGHT!"

"Huh? It's..." Lizzy blinked and squinted at her phone. "9:44? Weird, it feels so much later."

Still in unison: "COME JOIN US!"

"I'm, uh, kinda occupied right now."

"Can't be that occupied!" one of them shouted over the background band. "You answered the phone!"

Loud enough she couldn't keep the phone next to her ear anymore, she put it on speaker and set in on the sheets.

"'Occupied'," the other giggled.

Lizzy's eyes slid shut again, but there was a smile on her face. "Sounds like you two are having a good time."

"COME ON!" from both of them.

Lizzy glanced at her robe, glanced at me, and shook her head. "Thanks for the thought, but I'm not sure I can walk right now."

There were squeals on the other end. "Sex? Drunk? Drunk sex?"

"I'm with James, you dorks..." Lizzy clarified.

"Oh, all three!" one of them shouted.

Lizzy turned her head and whispered to me: "Yes, I talk about you a lot."

From the phone, somebody was breathing heavy into the mic. "Are you at his place right now?"

I reached between her legs and ran my fingers over her clit. She slid up a leg, opening access, and I started circling.

Her eyes squeezed, her breathing already getting quicker.

"He's in NoHo, right?" One of them asked.

"Yeah..." Lizzy breathed.

"Ooh, that's close!" The other filled in.

"Oh, yeah..." Lizzy repeated slowly.

My finger danced right over the tip as I whispered in her ear: "Go on... You should join them."

Trance broken, she waved me off, then mouthed a great big "Nooo..."

"We want you here!" the girls shouted over the phone: "We want you with us!"

"That's-"

"James!" one of them shouted. "She hasn't been on a Girls' Night for, like, three months! Let our girl out for once!"

Not sure if they could hear me rolling my eyes. She sees these girls a dozen times a week. If it's not lunch coffee, it was after-work gym hits. But none of that was "Girls' Night."

I traded a look with Lizzy. "Has it been three months?"

She nodded. "Almost, I think...? Last time I was on a Girls' Night, I met you."

An instant later, Lizzy's eyes went wide. That would be the night she cheated on some other guy... with me.

Apparently, the phone picked us up: the girls were suddenly silent. Yeah: likely the same thoughts, though the sounds of the bar still blasted through.

I slid that finger down her wet folds and slipped into a very wet pussy.

Her thumb was already hovering over the "END" button. "I'm sorry guys, I'm in for tonight..."

A beat later, one of them declared: "FINE! Make it a date night! Bring him with!"

#

They asked us to meet them at one of the larger bars on the Universal CityWalk. It was all neon and pop culture references, with expensive parking and mediocre well drinks.

I looked through my closet, heading for a hippie shirt and range shorts but Lizzy had different ideas, sticking me in slacks and a tight button-down.

"Muscles," was her only word.

Now, I had talked to the girls over the phone, even seen them at a distance that fateful first night, but I'd never met them face-to-face. I know they'd seen me on Facebook and Instagram, if only by the pics Lizzy takes.

Half an hour after we hung up, we strolled into that big, bright bar on the CityWalk. I felt like a diamond accessory on Lizzy's arm. From across the room, the girls saw us -- and stopped to stare. It was actually pretty funny.

Lizzy did a Vanna White with me as a four-letter word. "Ladies, this is James... I think you might've seen him..."

Only now did it occur to me that I didn't know which was which. While plenty of my friends "friended" Lizzy, I'd never bothered to "friend" those two. Nor had they bothered to friend me. I'm guessing they expected I'd shortly be her next ex.

The blonde was slack-jawed, the redhead nodded. "...He's real."

I chuckled as I held out my hand. "A pleasure to put faces to the voices."

Blonde shouldered redhead out of the way to shake my hand. "I'm so sorry! I was starting to think she just Photoshopped you into the pictures. You're... actually... like, real!"

Lizzy shook her head, her face buried in her palm.

"I wish I was. We just met; she hired me for the night."

"He's really expensive," Lizzy explained, dragging me to the bar.

They flanked us, giggling like a pair of school girls. Over the band, we re-oriented as faces started to stick to names. Chloe was the blonde, Claire was the redhead. The cheekbones were pretty, but objectively, I was now biased toward Lizzy's luscious lips.

Over the band, I picked up that Claire was a hair stylist and Chloe was a makeup artist who usually had a regular gig doing the talent on a soap opera. It made sense: girls with that kind of "pretty" seemed to gravitate toward beauty jobs themselves.

Claire sipped her Mai Tai, very nearly draining it in one extended draw. She smiled as the alcohol burned its way down. "So, this is kind of a reversal!"

"Oh, true!" Chloe pointed.

Lizzy got it and turned to me: "Every few weeks or so, one or the other--"

"Or both!" Claire interrupted.

"...would have a date night with their husband," Lizzy resumed. "And they'd drag me out along with them. I'd be a third -- or a fifth -- wheel. I think this is the first time I've been out with a Significant Guy, and either of these two was the odd girl out."

Both girls reached out to Lizzy at the same time. "We miss you on date nights, too!"

Over the next drink, I learned that Chloe was married to Chuck (Charles, a Client Relations Manager), Claire was married to Kit (Christopher, an Account Supervisor). Holy shit, suburbanites right outta Central Casting.

The girls weren't twins, but they had a tendency to finish each other's sentences or say the same things, at the same times. "TRIPLE DATE!"

The thought freaked me out a little. "Sure, I'm in."

"WOOHOO!" from all three of them

I held up my empty glass. "Be right back..."

#

No line for the men's room, so I was in and out in two seconds. It took me longer to wash my hands than it did to actually pee -- I just needed to catch a little air after the estrogen hit flammable levels.

I saw them across the room, huddled at the bar, and I wondered what the hell I'd gotten myself into. Oh, yeah, three-ish months ago, I headed their direction because I was going charm both married women right into bed.

Sporty-girl wingman blind-sided me and the rest was history.

I started back their direction, but with the band finishing its set, the crowd was making a break for the john. I wasn't going to swim against the current, so I took the long way around.

As I thought about it, doing the girls was still a possibility. Maybe even as a pair. Just not a smart possibility.

The thought, though, was enough to spark a little movement.

No.

What if Lizzy suggested it? Maybe. I don't know. Fuck it. I wasn't going to look for the kink, I'd let the kink come to me. Seemed to be doing that a lot, lately.

#

Coming back the long way around, they had no idea I was behind them.

Chloe scanned the crowd, toward the bathrooms "How long has it been?"

"Almost three months?" Lizzy recited.

"That's usually--"

"I already cheated on him."

"You didn't tell us!"

"Holy Shit!" Claire clarified. "When? When did you do it? With who? We've had coffee and you didn't say anything?!"

"Was it just this afternoon or something? Is that why you wanted to stay home?!" Chloe asked.

Lizzy shook her head, looking toward the bathrooms right along with them. "No. It's... complicated."

"Shit. I like this one!"

"Me too," Lizzy admit.

"Damn," Claire huffed.

Chloe was face-scanning everybody in the wrong direction. "Are you going to tell him?"

"He knows."

The girls looked at each other. "HE KNOWS?"

Claire took it a step further: "He stayed after you strayed?"

"I love him. I'm a stupid cheater, but he knows I love him," Lizzy nodded. "And for some weirdo reason, he still loves me."

"That's..."

"AMAZING!" Claire filled in.

I leaned in behind them. "What's amazing?"

Three girls literally screamed in the middle of the club. All three were same shade of crimson as they stuttered apologies for the glasses they'd knocked over.

"Did I catch ya at a bad time?"

#

It was just awkward enough that the four of us decided on a graceful exit.

The night was still warm. CityWalk had neon glamour and Friday night crowds. We strolled with Lizzy and me in the middle, Chloe and Claire flanking on the outside.

We waded through crowds, the four of us arm-in-arm.

By now, they were several drinks in and conversationally, everything was on the table. Claire quizzed me: "Have you ever done a client?"

"No," I answered. Did they seriously ask me that? "That happens a lot more in porn than real life..."

Especially when there's a professional license at stake, I finished (at least in my head).

Lizzy was unfazed.

Chloe: "Another trainer?"

"Once, like, a year ago. She's a pro competitor on the Iron Man circuit."

That actually got a head-shake out of my girlfriend. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Because you know me."

Chloe: "Okay, before Liz, what kind of girls did you date?"

"What 'kind' of girls? Umm... I guess I leaned toward athletes of one sort or another. A lot of dancers."

"Exotic?"

"Strippers?!" Claire piled on.

"Ballet."

Lizzy looked up at me. "How am I suppose to compete with that?"

I glanced back at her ass. "You do a damn fine job, Adventure Girl."

Lizzy looked away, sheepish. "Yeah, I might be too adventurous."

"No such," I dismissed.

Claire was biting her tongue, and it looked like Chloe picked up on whatever she was thinking. I'm guessing that led to the next question from the blonde: "Okay, so did you date much before our girl here?"

"No, not really. I didn't really date much when I was in, then when I was out, everything revolved around school, training, logging therapy hours, yadda yadda... A few exceptions, but mostly it was just kinda, uh... hook-ups. They notice me, I notice them..."

'Hook-ups? Yeah, that seems..." Chloe got sudden inspiration: "When you were 'in'? Ooh, do you have any prison tattoos?"

"Prison? Army. I was in the army."

"Any Army tattoos?"

"Thought about something subtle, maybe the 'Airborne' tab on my shoulder, but no..."

All three of them just stared at me a moment. It was hard not to laugh.

With a break in the interrogation, I put the ball back in their court. "Okay, I've heard about dragging Lizzy out on your married date-nights, but what do you two actually do on Girls' Night?"

"Flirt," Claire confessed.

"Usually nothing," Chloe added. "We tease a lot. We've fooled around a little, but we don't really cheat."

"Shut. Up. Chloe." Claire lovingly instructed.

"We're married!" Chloe clarified.

"Right, of course," I agreed. "What does 'fooling around' really mean?"

Lizzy held up a hand and started counting off her fingers. "Okay, they've kissed."

"Each other?"

Claire hit me, which Chloe didn't see as she confessed: "Yeah..."

Claire hit her, too.

Lizzy giggled: "I would've covered for you guys and said 'no' but if you want him to have that picture... okay! Anyway, these two make out with random guys and maybe heavy petting once or twice."

"A month," Chloe added.

Claire tried to kick Chloe behind the two of us. "Would... you... shut up?"

Chipmunk cheeks glanced between her friends. "The married girls want to know they've still got it."

"Ladies, you're wonderful. You don't have anything to worry about."

Claire smiled and hung her head. "Chloe's from Portland, I'm from Seattle, and we're sisters from another mister. We both married high school sweethearts, right out of high school, and we both left our home cities because we wanted to be someplace with palm trees and parties."

I nodded. "You picked the right city. Go on..."

"Chloe and I met at the gym, like, four years ago. Lizzy started working out there two years ago and she became the single girl of our group. She did what we couldn't..."

"One night stands?" I asked.

Lizzy shot them a look, but it was now open-season on the brunette.

"Yeah!"

I had to ask: "What's the kinkiest thing you've seen Lizzy do?"

"Leave with two ex-boyfriends at the same time," Claire giggled.

Lizzy shot a scowl at her friend. "Thaaaaanks, guys."

"Nice..." I turned to Lizzy. "Did you at least have fun?"

"Yeah!" She went from elated to mortified in a heartbeat. "I mean... it's like... You know... Shit. Don't mind me, I'm just gonna keep digging myself deeper over here."

Chloe and Claire held their breath.

I kissed Lizzy on the top of the head. "I'm not one to judge..."

Lizzy sighed, shaking her head. "I'm such a slut."

"Yeah, you are!" Claire agreed.

Time seemed to stand still for just a moment.

That phrase had been uttered by them a hundred times over speakerphone, when I was invited to eavesdrop, but this was the first time in person... IN FRONT OF the boyfriend. There was something special about that moment. The word just hung there like a blinking neon sign.

Suddenly, the reassurance kiss wasn't enough: Lizzy needed a shot on the lips. She pulled me down for a deep lip-lock and I wasn't going to argue.

I whispered in her ear. "Two guys at once, huh?"

"A few times," she whispered back. "Tell you all about it if you want."

"Oh, I definitely want."

Hard to describe exactly what just happened. It felt like some sort of breakthrough.

Chloe asked me point blank: "What would you do if we bumped into an old boyfriend of hers?"

Lizzy looked up, interested in my answer.

"I dunno. Why?" I looked around. "Did we pass one?"

Chloe shook her head. "I only ask because we've set her up on dates a few times--"

"A 'few' times..." Claire chuckled.

"With some of our friends," Chloe tersely completed. "So, like, if one of us has a house party, it can be a little awkward if somebody gets jealous."

"Dates, huh?" I turned to Lizzy. "Any of them turn into boyfriends or... things stay more 'casual'?"

"Both," she blushed.

There was technical language hiding in there. Lizzy had only slept with boyfriends, but 'casuals' had a good chance of getting head. I wasn't one to dwell on 'body counts,' but she was literally "The Nympho Accountant®." Yes, I knew her numbers. Yes, they were high in comparison to some, but, no... I was not one to judge.

"Did Chuck and Kit get in on the fun?"

"No, those are our husbands!" Chloe exclaimed.

"I meant as matchmaker, but now that you mention it..."

Claire and Lizzy both looked up, into the night sky, in a mad effort to look at anything but each other. Flag that.

Chloe, the blonde, took a breath and reached out to my arm in casual reassurance. Instead, she wound up groping my bicep. She bit her lip, still squeezing my arm. "Okay, before I blab any more, we need a margarita."

#

It was all nervous small-talk again as we found the sit-down cantina and requested a quiet booth in the corner. We waited at the bar, where the margaritas were so-so and the salsa was weak. The conversation was mostly about them: what shows the hair stylist and the makeup artist had recently worked.

When we finally got our table, I sat next to my brunette cute monster, while sitting across from the blonde/redhead duo. Swear they looked like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy undercover, infiltrating CityWalk.

By the time we got our second round of margaritas, Lizzy was pressed against me, caressing my thigh just under the table.

Claire noted it and grinned. "You two need to get a room."

Chloe smiled at the two of us. "I've seen her hot and bothered, but it's rare that I see her lovey-dovey."

"Hot and bothered, huh?" I squeezed Lizzy's knee.

Lizzy nuzzled my shoulder. "Guilty."

Chloe's eyes went wide. "I am talking waaay too much. You are her boyfriend and I just need to shut right up!"

"Nah," I shook my head. "Can't scare me off that easy."

Claire bit her lip. "So... uh, yeah. She told us that, uh, well... that was the part you walked in on!"

Lizzy raised her hand apologetically. "Slut."

"So, there's that," Chloe nodded.

"I'm shocked," I chuckled.

"Okay," Lizzy sighed. "Would it help if we just cleared the air? If we all just said it out loud in front James? I am head-over-heels, madly in love with this man..." -she patted my shoulder- "...But I am a slut. Claire...? Say it!"

Claire nodded. "You are a slut."

"Chloe?"

Chloe nodded to her, then looked at me. "Your girlfriend is a slut."

Not sure why hearing that, from them, turned me on so much.

Lizzy's thigh-stroking had shifted straight to my lap. She looked up at me as she gave my shaft a straight-up squeeze. "Your turn."

"My turn?" It was still sinking in that my GF's BFFs just admitted she was a slut, and I was about to tell them: "Yeah, Lizzy is a slut... and I'm not gonna lie: it turns me on."

Could feel my heart beating in my chest. This was way more intense than I thought it would be.

All three girls giggled, the awkward ice shattered, the relief obvious.

Chloe exhaled: "Oh, thank God!"

"RIGHT?" Claire reached across the table for Lizzy. "Me, too!"

"I know!" Lizzy reached back to them, and the trio of girls held hands a moment. "I've found somebody who... Who understands me."

"Yeah, so... setting up date nights, though, with your friends..." Not sure why, but I channeled good Patrick Warburton bass-tones for this bit. "We're gonna have to review that practice moving forward..."

Both of them -- actually, all three of them -- broke into more giggles.

"So, I guess I kinda see us as 'accidental swingers'. That's kinda why I asked about her and Chuck and Kit."

Chloe and Claire glanced at each other, gauging what to spill.

I took the initiative back. "Have those two arranged dates for Lizzy?"

"Well, yeah..." Claire trailed off.

Held out my hands, prompting for more.

"Yes, both Kit and Chuck have set her up with their friends." Chloe was matter-of-fact about it. "Their work friends, usually."

I nodded to the duo. "So, bragging rights for the hookup, probably in return for sharing stories... maybe pictures."

"Yeah..." Even in the dark, it was easy to see Lizzy blush. "There have been pictures."

Claire looked genuinely shocked. "Chuck and Kit don't-"