"The point of having a honey on the side is they're disposable. They get fat? Ditch 'em and find another. They demand you get a divorce? Ditch 'em and find another. They want a baby, for chrissake? Ditch 'em and find another!"
Dave was slurring, but so was I -- too many drinks after I had dragged him to the bar after work. We never went on Mondays, but it had been a stressful weekend, followed by a workday of one problem after another. I needed to unwind before facing Amy and Kate again.
"Gee, Dave, I just knew you'd understand and totally not be a pig about it. Thanks a lot."
Downing my whiskey, I scanned the vast array of bottles behind the bar and caught my sour expression in the mirror.
"Why am I even telling you this?" I said. "You'll blab it all over town."
Dave signaled for another round. "Look, I dunno how everyone found out about Kate's sex drive -- or lack of it -- but it was
not
me. I may be a dick, but I do
not
blab on my best friend."
I eyeballed him. Yeah, he probably didn't. Dave and I had kept each other's secrets over the years. If nothing else, the dirt I had on him alone would've kept his mouth shut.
"Anyway," said Dave, "Why not just do it? You and Kate were so baby crazy when you first got married. I swear I spent three hours in here listening to you argue with yourself over names. This is a second chance for you."
I threw my hands up. "Am I the only sane person left on this planet? Amy needs to be out there, hanging out with friends, finding a guy of her own. She graduates her program at the college in December. She should concentrate on growing her jewelry business, finding her own path, building a life for herself. Not ruining it by becoming some old fart's concubine."
Dave took a mouthful of beer and swirled it in his cheeks before swallowing.
"So why does she?" he said.
I exhaled. "Oh, she gives all kinds of reasons: she loves kids, doesn't want to wait, it's the perfect time and it'll be easy with Kate and me helping."
"Sounds reasonable."
"The fuck it is! You know how her childhood was. She's insecure. Worried we'll kick her out someday. Kate told her how hard we tried to have kids, so now Amy thinks having one for us will cement things. That, and she'd do anything to make us happy. Anything."
The bartender swapped my empty glass for a full one. I took a long sip of the single malt, reveling in the burn as it went down, hoping it would relieve my turmoil for a short while.
"Amy shouldn't be an unwed mother at twenty," I said. "It's wrong. It's immoral."
Dave let out a wet, beery belch.
"Y'know," he said, "I remember a time when you never did all this tight-assed pearl-clutching. When you lived life and fucked anything that moved. And weren't too careful about protection, either."
"I was an out-of-control, self-centered asshole."
"And now you're an uptight, navel-gazing asshole. Sounds like Amy's got her head on straight. Not everyone with a bad childhood winds up psycho, you know. I mean, look at me."
True enough. Dave's family was a nightmare. Once you got past his gross manners and neanderthal attitude about women, he was a level-headed guy.
He said, "You agonize like this when you're getting groceries, don't you? Pick up a box of cereal then spend twenty minutes scrutinizing the label, figuring out if it's organic, ethically sourced and has the right amount of fiber?"
He mimed running a finger down the side of a cereal box.
"Don't you ever just grab the Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs because that's what you fucking want?"
I snorted. "Your analogies suck, Dave. In college, both of us 'grabbed the Sugar Bombs' all the time. How many women did we hurt? How many times was I nearly kicked out? I'm not going back to that. Besides, Amy isn'ta box of cereal. She's... she's..." My hands flailed as I searched for words grand enough to encompass everything my Amy was.
Dave leaned forward, studying me closely.
"Oh, my god. You're in love with her."
He slumped back in his bar stool and shook his head.
"Fuuuuck," he said. "That's rule number one. Never, ever fall in love with your mistress! How can you not know that? You're gonna get divorced if Kate ever finds out."
I waved a dismissive hand. "She knew way before I did, Dave. And she's okay. She keeps telling me about polyamorous cultures around the world, and how loving Amy doesn't make me love her any less. Kate is..." Again, I couldn't find words to express the magnificence of Kate.
"Well," said Dave. "If that's really the case, get yourself a few more girlfriends. You could have a whole harem to fuck. One for every day of the week."
"Sensitive as always, Dave."
He grinned. "I try. Anyway, get real. How much longer do you think you can last? You're refusing to fuck your mistress until she gets back on birth control. And Kate's cut you off. You're the horniest guy in the history of the universe. Always have been. I mean, one time you tried to fuck a tree."
I shoved him. "I was hammered. And it was a joke. That girl I'd been after for weeks... the one with the really thick hair and massive tits... uh, Carolyn? God, she was something. She teased me all night, then started tonguing some girl and then left with her. She could've just said she wasn't into guys instead of giving me blue balls."
Dave nodded and chuckled, remembering.
"Anyway, Kate has
not
cut me off," I said. "It's just that she doesn't get in the mood anymore without watching me with Amy first. Plus, she says fucking her is a waste -- that Amy should get all my sperm."
Dave shook his head. "Wish I had your problems, man. Look, just admit it -- you're doomed. You've got two women working on you to get Amy pregnant. And I know you: you need sex. Real sex. You'll go nuts without it."
I stuck out my chest and smirked. "Think so? Well, it's been a month so far and I'm doing fine. Just fine. I'll find some way to talk sense into them both. In a year or two, if Amy hasn't left us and still wants a kid, I'll think about it then."
~~~~
Wobbling home, I opened my jacket to the crisp autumn air. It helped focus my mind, and I needed every drop of self-control around Amy. She was persistent, persuasive, and since she'd stopped taking the pill, her already high sex drive had gone off the scale.
Amy had always been eager for sex, but as the days passed, she wore tighter and more revealing clothes, rubbed against me more often, or just gazed at me with longing and hunger. She even moved differently: slinkier, with a sway of her hips that made me want to grab her, kiss her, and fuck her against the wall.
I had to banish her from our bed. A naked, aggressively horny twenty-year-old sleeping beside me each night was too much to resist. Not that banishing her changed much: every night Amy came to our bedroom door, pleading to stay, then returned to her room, heartbroken, each time I refused. Regardless, every morning I woke to find her snuggled beside me, warm and naked, either stroking my cock or nursing on my stiff morning wood.