When I first wrote "Call Me Bunny" it had a prologue that set the stage fairly clearly. Before publishing, I decided to go with a more blind approach for the reader. To leave them wondering what was happening.
It worked to some degree but some comments I've received make it clear that some of my intent is lost without the introduction.
So, I am making this a second, separate submission of the same story with the prologue.
**
Jared had begged his wife to come. It had very nearly turned into a real fight and they hadn't had many of those. But he absolutely didn't want to go to the damn convention alone.
So finally, she relented. She agreed to go to the state HVAC convention with him. Spending two nights at a casino hotel near the convention center.
He had wanted it to be a fun trip. More importantly, he hadn't wanted to go alone. It was going to be so boring. Two years earlier he'd done it; same convention, same casino and he'd nearly gone mad. He had no interest in gambling and he could reasonably get only so drunk.
When the highlight is the presentation on tonnage calculations and new energy-efficient window coatings, you know you've hit the lowest point of dull.
So, he begged Stacey to come. But she was no more interested in gambling than he and was even less of a drinker. He couldn't sell her on the food at the buffets because he'd complained so much about it the last time.
In the end, he just bitched and moaned continuously for two weeks until she gave in. But she was pissed.
Now it was Saturday night. The convention proper was over and all the manly HVAC dudes were whooping it up at the bars and casinos. The Lancasters had just left the still disappointing buffet and had gotten a couple stools at the bar.
Jared looked at his wife. She was dressed for comfort and modesty because that's the kind of mood she was in. Button shirt over halter and jeans. And undoubtedly one of her damn thick bras she wore to keep her nips from showing. When she wasn't remembering to glare at him, she looked miserable. Jared had really fucked up. She'd been this way since Thursday evening.
Needless to say, there'd been no wild hotel sex. Nothing but cold resentment.
Yeah, he fucked up. But at last Stacy did seem to be getting a little out of people watching at the moment. Jared looked around. And he sat and watched with his wife.
It was... almost sad. Very few of the convention attendees were women but plenty of the other guys had brought wives and girlfriends. You could see them hanging on each other. There was a tension in the casino... so many of these people knew for certain they were about to go up to their respective rooms and have sex. Because it was Saturday and they were at a hotel and that's what you do. You have sex... usually adventurous and loud sex.
Many of these couples would share showers tonight and try new positions and wake up for a rare round two in the middle of the night.
Jared wondered if Stacey would relent tonight. His wife was a little fuck bunny when it suited her... actually, a sexual goddess when the situation was right. Hell they'd been swinging once in a while for two years now. But at the moment, she was pissed off and miserable.
Maybe the energy in the room would get to her.
Of course, not all the conventioneers had brought SOs. There were a lot of healthy single men on the prowl in the casino. For them, the pickings were on the slim side... there were precious few "HVAC babes" and only so many unattached women that had happened to come to the casino on this particular night.
A sudden thought occurred to Jared and he took stock of the women lining the bars and idling in discrete corners. Shit. The place was probably full of hookers.
*****
Stacy watched the farce. Yes, she felt the energy in the air but it wasn't having much effect on her. It all looked a little sad. More power to the couples psyching themselves up for a big night between the sheets, she supposed, but the single men were looking desperate.
Actually, the whole thing reminded her of a certain sales guy from work. One she'd gotten fired after he didn't take a firm 'no' as an answer a couple years earlier. Bruce was an ass that thought he was god's gift to women. In the end, after the drama and after he'd been fired, she confronted him and called him a little boy that couldn't really satisfy a woman. He'd pressed a lot of her buttons and she'd lashed out at the end there.
Now she was watching the same type ping-ponging from woman to woman in the casino looking for a flower to stick their wick in. One dufus in particular had caught her eye.
Well, okay. To be honest, mostly what caught her eyes was his broad shoulders and narrow waste. And he looked to be six-three or four. His dark hair was long enough to be unruly but didn't quite reach his collar. His face wasn't anything special but with a body like that, who cares.
So yes, Stacey was kind of watching the dufus and liked what she saw. But what she heard the time or two his chat-up lines had been within ear shot made ever muscle in her body cringe.
He has actually said to one well put together lady that was probably too old for him "Your luck just changed little honey. I want you to be my jackpot."
He was just like Bruce. So self centered and yet lacking in self awareness. Oh, and drunk.
Suddenly, Stacy wanted to test her theory. She wanted to prove to herself she had been right about Bruce. Men like this were selfish in life and selfish in bed. Men that didn't have what it took to satisfy a woman.
Certainly not a passionate and sometimes very honey woman like Stacy Lancaster.
Men who weren't anything like the loving, passionate and studly (if not exactly model-heartthrob material) man she had married.
Hey, she was mad at him but she still loves him to bits.
"Get me something to drink." she told Jared abruptly.
He blinked. "You want ice tea or something?"
"No. Booze. Something strong. Something that doesn't taste like gasoline please."
Stacy basically didn't drink; didn't like it and didn't know much about it. Jared got the bartender's attention. "Two rum and cokes please." he said. Keep it simple.
"Make it a double." Stacy added. Then, after a pause, "If that's a thing."
They waited for the drinks in silence, Jared trying to watch the crowd. When the drinks came, Stacy sucked at the little swizzle straw while Jared sipped his. She couldn't help making a face at the rum taste but she was down to slurping ice quickly. "Another." she said.
