"WHAT FUCKING TIME IS THE ASSHOLE COMING HERE, YOU FUCKIN SHIT?" She screamed at the top of her lungs, before going totally silent again.
Jim stared at her in shock, slowly, timidly, he replied. "He will be here at five-thirty. He said in a very quiet, almost inaudible voice.
Gail looked down at the floor and started laughing again. Finally, her face turned up towards the clock on the wall. It was twenty after, she found that totally hilarious as well. She laughed right out loud.
Gail's mind had darted through all the options. They had been swapping for about a year now. The munchkin was that one little thing in their lives. Melissa was the thing that got them up in the mornings and made the house payment important enough to pay every single month of the rest of their lives. But this was that other little thing, that grown up slightly naughty secret that disgusted her sometimes, yet made her tingle at other times. That reason for looking forward to Friday some weeks. It was their little secret, and no one else's. In its own way it had brought them closer together.
Gail knew beyond any shadow of doubt that a year ago they had been headed towards that talk with Melissa. That mommy and daddy still love you and mommy and daddy are still mommy and daddy, but they just aren't going to be together so much anymore from now on. And you will still see both of us just not at the same time. Daddy won't go very far away. Her mommy and daddy had given her the little talk when she had been seven. More than anything else in the whole world she wanted Melissa to be in college before mommy and daddy's little talk.
And that's where the damn club had entered there lives. The swapping club and their member ship had undoubtedly added years to their marriage. Now they didn't just always have to look at each other day after day, now there could be just a little something new and exciting, and Melissa didn't have to know, and her parents didn't have to know, and Jim's parents didn't have to know. They had talked about what lengths they would go to in order to make sure Melissa never had to know. Not even when she was old enough to understand, especially when she was old enough to understand.
Gail stood and walked into the bedroom. Jim still stood right outside and watched, still trying to gage her intentions. She reached behind herself and unzipped her skirt. It dropped pointlessly to the floor. She stepped out of it and took a pair of folded jeans from the drawer. Then almost as an after-thought, she dropped her panties, stepped over to the hamper, and dropped them in before pulling the jeans up and on. She glanced down off handedly, zipped, and buttoned. She turned and gazed at her husband.
"I was on my feet nine solid hours today Jim," There was a pleading in her voice; it was as she wanted him to listen and understand and fix it. It was as if she wanted him to fix it even though they both knew there was only one way to fix it, and it was she not he who would be required to do the fixing. "I changed bed pans and I made beds and I fed invalids all day long and this is what I have to come home to."
He stared at her, he didn't respond. Gail knew it was his best move.
Gail had passed the test and gotten her license a year after the munchkin was born; she worked as Licensed Practical Nurse. Jim had his Ph.D in Journalism. He taught at the local Junior college. That's why father and daughter had some days together without mommy. He got government holidays, Gail didn't. Kinder-Care was closed on government holidays. It wouldn't be changing anytime soon. Next year small fry would go to first grade. For the most part public schools got government holidays too. Gail still wouldn't. She gazed up at him. All Jim saw was the cold silent stare, he felt his blood chill in his veins. Gail was actually thinking about opening up and talking to him about all this right now. She decided against it. She would talk after.
She had heard every word in advance when she had heard his first words, "I fucked Sophie today." He had said nothing since. Gail knew she wasn't going to give it up, not and try to stay married to Jim. It had been his idea, and at first, she had thought it the stupidest bullshit she had ever heard. Then she had looked a little closer. The club was only open sixteen hours a week-six pm until two-in-the-morning both Friday night and Saturday nights. Only members could come, and they were actually quite selective. There was even a medical exam. There was never a week when all the members were there at once. Hell, there was never a week when more than about a third of the couples were there on any one night. Jim and Gail managed to make it about once a month. But once a month or once a year, something to look forward to was something to help make the nine hour shifts go by. Besides, it wasn't like they were inactive during the ensuing. There was the internet, a little tantalizing promise that could be partaken of every single evening after work if need be. Many couples met on the internet and only used Friday or Saturday night club, as they called it, to meet face to face. I mean, after all people do lie on the internet. Everybody lies on the internet.
And compliments of the internet, any time they actually went to the club, they always had a date. In a year they had met a lot of people. They did not frequently split. That was the term couples used when they decided to have sex. The standard way was to meet on the weekend night and then if things went really well, the two husbands spent the following weekend day at the other's house, with the other's wife. Jim and Gail always used the Friday night club time to date and then if they hit it off really well they split on Saturday. Lots of their dates were with couples they already knew and knew they wouldn't split with, in other words just for fun. And Friday after Friday Gail had, had a blast. And then of course there was always that mysterious little wonderfully evil nagging hope that this week might be their week.
Her nurse's uniform top lay in the floor now, her ample breasts held up and covered by a simple lacy white bra. Jim watched her. She saw him looking and for the first time in their marriage, Gail resented the fact that he was allowed to see her. Gail thought there were as many different kinds of marriages as there were couples in the world. He had cheated; he had cheated in the way that club people cheat. Now she had to fix it. She knew that when that was done she might just fix him for good. Suddenly she decided to talk some anyway. After all a girl can change her mind can't she? "Five minutes after we sat down," She spat out a curse. "You excused yourself to the fucking bathroom." She swallowed hard gazing up at him. "As soon as you were gone he looked right at me and said, "I am going to fuck you in the ass you gorgeous little whore."
"I'm sorry honey," He tried to start.
"I told you," Gail screeched at him, ignoring his attempt at apology. "I pulled you aside and I told you as soon as I had a chance so you would know these two were a no go."
"Do you want to get in the truck and just leave," He stammerd again stupidly. "I mean it is just sex baby, and it is just one time." Jim stopped as he took in the look in her eyes. She had just dropped a t-shirt over her head. It was blue and short, the hem barely reaching the belt loops on her jeans, just a thin strip of soft white flesh visible when she raised her arms or leaned back.
"Hank doesn't want to fuck me Jim," She started. "Hank Walters wants to rape me, he has since he laid eyes on me." She paused before continuing. "And my fucking ass-hole husband just gave the shit ass permission." She scowled.
Jim just gazed at her. The expression, 'hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn' seemed to fit. Problem was, he couldn't, to save his life, remember where he had heard that. Where did that come from? His mind tried to wander off.
They had only split three times. That first week they had met the most darling European couple. He was Russian, she was Polish. Everybody had like everybody right away. Dankir had the most exquisite deep blue eyes, and the most exquisite deep European accent. She melted beneath his gaze before he had said four words to her. And his wife was a baby doll. She was the kind of person you would just want to share anything in the world with. She had been so happy for Jim the next morning as he left with such an excited gleam in his eyes. Gail hadn't seen her husband so happy in years.
Then, and she had no clue how many trips to the club later it had been, before they met the most heavenly black couple. He was a drop dead gorgeous tall black man and she was light brown woman of Indian ancestry. Juan and Depa. Gail had no clue who she had enjoyed more, Dankir or Juan. The two couples still saw each other occasionally. Rules are rules, no one on ones. The couple does it as a couple or nobody does anything. And my stars the arguments she had heard, to that end. The hushed red faced fights just outside the ladies room, the cursing at the far end of the pool tables, the down right almost knock down drag-outs just outside the front-door. But Gail and Jim had in that sense always been a very good match. Gail supposed it was because they were enough alike to start with. They had always agreed on the other couples, if they were a go or not. That was until her husband went to the park today. Gail considered what Jim was saying; she considered just getting up and leaving. Just let the club go damn it. How long could something that sweet work with an ass like Jim in the middle of it anyway?
And to think she had done the guy such a favor. There had been one other split. The only one they had ever disagreed on really. And to that end it didn't last but a few seconds. She had looked back over at Cheryl, looked down, smiled, and simply gazed up into her husband's face. "Ok," She had said simply enough as she shook her head yes. They were the strangest couple. He was a weepy little red haired pimply man, a financial advisor or some shit, but he had been married to the most beautiful voluptuous tall blonde woman Gail had ever seen. Her husband had begged her, and she had given in quickly. His name had been Clive, and in her own way, she had ended up actually enjoying her time with Clive. And she knew Jim had enjoyed Cheryl. Hell, he hadn't stopped talking about the damn bitch for weeks.
They would all follow the rules; if she let that membership go, the other couples wouldn't meet with them anymore. No new dates and no repeats with Clive and Cheryl, or Juan and Depa, or Dankir, and she could never remember his wife's name. If for no other reason the fear of being caught and asked to leave themselves. The main driver of anything like this was always the thrill of meeting new couples, and every couple in the club knew they needed the club for that. Tens of thousands of clubs in an area like Kansas City from singles to go and have fun and meet new people. They were lucky to have two for couples, and they were both owned by the same organization. If you were kicked out of one you were kicked out of both. You could reapply in three-years. Rumor had it, it would do you no good whatsoever to reapply again like ever, but you could reapply again after three years.
Gail walked back to the couch. She looked up at the clock. It was five-thirty sharp. He was officially late. Jim finally read from her actions that she planned to stay. She planned to keep the rules and keep the membership. He turned and disappeared in the bedroom for an instant. Gail heard something rattling around in there, and suddenly he was walking by. Keys in one hand, wallet in the other, shoes on.
