Just as we discussed, I arrived at Sylvia and Larry's shop at 4. Even though I'd been in before, I don't think I'd ever be fully comfortable going into a sex store. I could help but shake the feeling that the employees would judge me.
Though Sylvia was the one at the front of the store today. Right when I walked in, Sylvia came from behind the counter and gave me a hug. As expected, she wore jeans which appeared painted on and a tank top which barely contained her massive breasts. She wasn't quite as dolled up as normal, but still wore a decent amount of makeup. Sylvia was one of those sorts of women who could look good without trying.
She moved in for a kiss, holding it for a while, then parting with a grin on her face.
"How are you doing, Monsieur Martin?" She gestured for me to follow her further into the store.
"I'm fine. I'm curious about the surprise you said you had for me, though."
"Ah, you're cutting right to the chase. Don't worry, you'll know in due time."
The door to the back room opened, Larry emerging from it. He came over to where we stood and shook my hand, letting me know how good it was to see. I was calmer around him now, but there was no denying that being around him after sleeping with his wife wasn't a little awkward. Even though he was perfectly fine with and enjoyed seeing his wife with other men, it still wasn't exactly the most regular occurrence.
Noticing me looking at him and his wife, he smiled. "Martin, you don't need to feel nervous, you know. Like I told you the other day, I talk with most of the men my wife is with. Most of them are my own friends."
Sylvia giggled. "The younger ones are always like this, aren't they, dear?"
"They are. I wonder why that is."
"It could be because they're not used to people like us, people who are comfortable in their sexuality."
Larry expounded on her thought after some contemplation of his own. "That's probably it. That, and some of them are still young enough to worry about what other people think about him. Whether it's people at their jobs, family, or friends and classmates, a lot of young people make decisions with them in mind."
Pausing for a moment, Larry turned to me. "But Martin, you're different. You work mostly as a writer, right? And you're out of school, right? So you don't have many of those things to worry about. That, and something tells me you're more confident than most men your age."
Sylvia put a hand on my shoulder and said that she agreed. On some level, they were right; I usually went after what I wanted. I still felt nervous about things, but I never let my anxiety delay or stop me from getting something I wanted.
That, and the fact that I willingly placed myself in situations like this had to count for something.
"By the way, Sylvia said she had a surprise for me," I said to Larry, who immediately nodded. "I'm guessing you know what it is."
He nodded, then turned to his wife. "You must really like him."
"Something tells me he's never had one before. And almost every man wants to have one; from what I hear, it's on their bucket lists. It was on yours, remember?"
"I remember. We were around his age when we first did it."
The other day, I wasn't too sure of what Sylvia's surprise would be, but now, I think I had an idea of what she was going to help me experience. It wasn't good to jump to conclusions, so I didn't say anything.
"And we've had many more since then."
"You're going to want to come with us tonight," Larry said, changing the subject. "Saturday night one of the best nights to head to gentlemen's clubs. Friday and Saturday nights are when all the sexiest women are there. Of course, Sylvia's the sexiest of them all."
She kissed him on the cheek and playfully told him to stop. He assured her that she was the best.
"Trust me, those young girls are fun, but they've got nothing on you. You wouldn't consistently be the top earner in that club, or in any club for that matter, if you weren't. There aren't too many women who can go out of state and make the money that you do."
I'd heard that some dancers traveled to clubs in other states to dance and should have expected that Sylvia did the same. She and Larry didn't have any children, so it wasn't a problem for them to leave the store in the care of someone else, then go travel and make money.
It was easy to see why their bond was so strong. Between running a business together, him supporting her while she dances, and both of them allowing the other to have partners outside of marriage, I figured they would stay together forever.
I thought I could learn a lot from the two of them on how to remain married. It was clear the two of them never let the "honeymoon phase" end. Theirs was one of the strongest marriages I'd ever seen.
Allowing my wife to be with other men wasn't something I was too keen on, but it might be good to see what other advice about marriage they could give me.
For the next few hours, I conversed with them, learning more about them, how and where they met, married life, and just general conversation. They didn't have too many customers during the day, which neither of them seemed to mind. They mentioned that a significant portion of their sales were online anyway; lots of people didn't have the courage to come into a sex shop.
As night fell, Larry and Sylvia locked up the store, then told me they'd take me to Sylvia's club. After Sylvia packed up her outfit and dancing shoes, I got in their car after them, and Larry drove for about a half hour before reaching it.
Saying that Saturday night was one of the best nights to go to the club wasn't kidding; there were a number of cars in the lot. Thankfully, there was a spot reserved for Larry and Sylvia, so he found one close to the club, then got out and helped his wife out of the car. I followed close behind.
The three of us went into the club. The bouncer and coat check girl welcomed Sylvia, and she gave her husband a kiss on the cheek and said she'd see him later. To my surprise (and the club staff members' as well) she gave me a kiss on the cheek as well. Larry paid both of our cover charge, though the woman told him he didn't have to pay since he was the owner's friend, but he insisted.
After peering inside and seeing how crowded it was, Larry asked for a table on one of the upper floors, which the bouncer had no problem giving him. He brought us upstairs to a table which overlooked the main stage but stood next to another miniature platform. Larry told me that on busy nights like tonight, the dancers would rotate between the main stage, that one, and a third stage.
The bouncer asked Larry if he could borrow me for a moment. The large man was quick to add that I wasn't in trouble. Larry told him he could.
I followed the man a few steps away.
"Hey man, how do you know his Sylvia?"
Unsure if Larry would be all right with me telling other people about the nature of my relationship, I said that I was a friend of theirs. He didn't seem to buy it.
"Hey, I saw her give you a kiss earlier. And not just one of her polite kisses, either. That was like one of the ones she gives Larry. You fucked her?"
I didn't answer the question, but my silence confirmed what he thought. The bouncer smiled.
"Nice. I heard they had an open marriage, but I wasn't sure. Man, I've been dying to get with her. You think she'd go for it?"
I told him to ask her. He agreed, musing aloud that being direct would be the best way, but he was nervous. He said he'd work up the courage to talk to her eventually, though he should run it by Larry too, he said. I shrugged, I didn't know the rules on open marriages or how they made decisions about what partners either of them chose to entertain.
I went back to the table. Larry looked in the bouncer's direction.
"What did he want?"
"Nothing, really." Larry already sensed I wasn't being truthful.
"I'm sure he was asking you about Sylvia, wasn't he? I can tell he likes her. I'm not surprised, she's easily the hottest dancer here. Even with all these young girls here who are around his age, he's looking at my wife, who's in her mid-forties."
Larry laughed. "Maybe I'll talk to Sylvia about him. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. If nothing else, being with her might give him some confidence."
One of the club's waitresses came by and asked Larry if he wanted the usual. He said that would be good, and the same for me. I asked him what the usual was, and he told me it was chicken wings, truffle fries, and a beer. I said that would be fine but replace the beer with water. Larry told me to live a little, but when I insisted, he said it was fine.
One of the dancers, a tall, curvaceous brunette with a large amount of tattoos, walked by and greeted Larry, then sat on his lap and asked how he was doing. She also waved to me and gave me a quick smile.
"Doing great. This is my friend, Martin."
"Hi, Martin. I'm Bella."
"Nice to meet you." She mostly made small talk with Larry. I guessed she was one of his "friends" as well. Though they mostly talked about Sylvia and she asked if there were any new things in the shop. Apparently, a few of the dancers went there.
She asked if Larry wanted a dance, then said maybe later. The woman frowned, then looked at me. I wasn't sure how to answer, but before I could say anything, Larry told her to come back later since we had food on the way. She got up and went back downstairs.
"I've never really been into girls with tattoos," Larry said as she walked away. "I mean, that girl's got a perfect body, but she ruined it with all that ink. There's a saying I heard once: you don't put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari. A lot of these young girls have them now, and they're just ugly, in my opinion.
"The reason my wife makes all the money is because she doesn't have all those trashy tattoos. So many of the girls at the clubs she's danced at are jealous of her, but if they weren't ruining their bodies, they'd make just as much money as her."
Larry asked me what I thought about tattoos. I agreed with him somewhat; I didn't care for them and preferred to date women without ink as well, but I don't think I shared his vehement hatred of body art. I wouldn't refer to a woman getting tattoos as "ruining her body" as he had.
He went on to say that the girl has been trying to take Sylvia's spot as the top earner for a while but couldn't quite do it. Larry's wife and the girl were friends, but he knew that Bella merely wanted to figure out his wife's secret.
Our food arrived a little bit after that. Larry asked if he could get a cigar to go with it, then offered me one. Again, I refused. I didn't even like the smoky air of the club, so actually taking that in directly was out of the question.
