This is an episodic installment in the "Free Love Universe", a collection of short stories about recurring characters which are designed to be read in any order, unless otherwise numbered.
This episode, like all in the "Carnival" series, is best enjoyed in order within that subsequence.
-
DAY 5 - SUNDAY, DAY BEFORE GRAND KADOOMENT
I took a long draw from my tall glass of ice water as a reprieve from the around-the-clock Caribbean heat. An ocean breeze was always blowing but didn't help much but once the sun was locked in its overhead perch, necessitating cold drinks.
"How was your
quiet evening?"
Kevin asked after swallowing a bite of his afternoon sandwich. Kevin and his wife Leigh, a couple from Houston we'd met on this trip, were getting lunch with me while my own girlfriend, Megan, was out shopping.
I smirked and scrunched my face like someone about to get punched.
"Wait,
no..."
Kevin said, sitting down his fork. "What happened? What'd we miss?"
I looked back and forth from Kevin to Leigh, simultaneously humored and remorseful at their pointed looks.
"I'll text Megan right now if you don't answer," Leigh said, picking up her phone threateningly.
The three of us were getting lunch today without Megan because I'd woken up hungover from the night before, yet she still wanted to make it to a Sunday morning market in Bridgetown. She left a few hours ago and then after my stomach and head settled, I'd met Kevin and Leigh for lunch. Kevin and Leigh were both black - well, technically Leigh was half-black, half-Japanese - and outrageously good looking people. Kevin, shorter than his wife by a few inches, stood around 5'7 or 5'8", but looked like an anatomical drawing. And besides his good looks, he was already turning into a heck of a friend; all of which was why I had no misgivings around his ability to pull the woman that had become his wife. Leigh was tall by any standard - probably 5'10" - and had perfect mocha skin, alluring eyes that held your attention like fireworks, and a smile that spread its joy onto any nearby face. Leigh wore her hair in long microbraids that swung down to her waist, which was both beautiful and unfortunate, as, unless tied up, they did a lot to cover her signature twin dragon tattoos that snaked down her back on either side of her spine. Like her husband, Leigh was engaging and friendly and I had complicated feelings about just how much I already craved her company.
"We went to that beach fete, you know," I said, and they nodded.
"Casual
beach fete, if I remember correctly," Kevin intoned.
"It was casual," I assured him. "But we met this guy; Malcolm, was his name. Anyway, he and his wife invited us to their hotel for a bit of a party."
Leigh raised her hands in the air in exasperation. Two nights before had been their anniversary, so naturally, they'd done their own thing while Megan and I explored the island. After learning that they missed an incredible threesome with the bartender from our booze cruise on Thursday, it had been with great trepidation that they stuck to their booked excursions yesterday instead of tagging along with us. Megan and I had nothing crazy planned, so it seemed safe they wouldn't miss another grand adventure.
"And the party..." Kevin prompted.
"... turned out to be an insane, forty person orgy," I said, again grimacing and ready to duck.
"You're actually just trolling," Kevin replied. He shook his head and looked back at his food.
"No babe, I think he's telling the truth," Leigh breathed as she studied my face. "Look at him."
I was still grimacing, which Leigh correctly read as me feeling bad about my answer.
"Obviously I'm joking about being mad - that's amazing,
if it really happened.
But tell us - how did you end up at a forty person orgy on your
quiet night in?"
Kevin asked.
"Like I said, this guy invited us to a party he was throwing at Sandy Lane." Kevin and Leigh rolled their eyes - apparently they were also aware of that hotel's price point. "We showed up and, I shit you not, it's a mixture of normal middle-aged guests and these French models wearing see-through dresses, just walking around drinking champagne and flirting with everyone."
"That is not real life," Leigh said.
"It definitely wasn't!" I agreed. "The guy, Malcolm, said there were only two rules - no pictures, and to do whatever you want because, and they literally kept saying,
this party is not real life."
Kevin stared me straight in the eye and said, half under his breath, "I honestly still can't tell whether you're shitting us or not."
"This does conveniently bypass the
pics or it didn't happen question,"
Leigh said. She was losing conviction in my story.
"It does, but - I didn't make the rules," I said. "So we're in the most expensive unit at Sandy Lane, the Villa, which honestly is a palace inside. And while I'm waiting for the bathroom, the host walks up and hands me a Viagra and says
'Tell your wife she doesn't have to fuck anyone here if she doesn't want to, but oh just so you know, everyone wants to fuck her.'"
"Babe, I'm back to thinking maybe this happened," Leigh said to Kevin while continuing to stare at me.
"I'm totally confused," Kevin responded, studying my every comment.
"So Megan and I talk about it and she says, if everyone is dying to fuck her, she wants to make me the most envied guy at the party by..." I looked around to make sure no servers or other tables were close enough to hear, then finished with, "...
fucking her in the ass."
"So you banged your wife's booty hole while forty people watched... because she asked you to?" Kevin repeated.
I nodded. "Yep, pretty much."
"What else happened? Orgies be havin' dicks and titties out everywhere. Did you fuck any of those French girls?" Leigh asked.
"No, I wasn't too interested in them. Well, I almost ended up fucking three of them anyways, but - it was complicated." I answered truthfully. "This one MILF did hit on me, and I briefly fucked her with her husband, but I wasn't too into that, either."
