3 Coins in the Fountain

When I finally let go of her I was dizzy and the front of my pants was a lot tighter than it had been. I looked across the track at my friends. I'd expected to hear Sobie's motto but he was clearly speechless. I walked away in a daze myself.

Everyone seemed to be excited about the race. As I walked under the overhang of the bleachers to get to the seats, I saw the guy who'd offered to help Maria get ready. I nodded at him to be polite.

"Hey...Reid is it? Congratulations Bro," he said. "You got her first!" He held out his hand to me as if I was supposed to high five him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Dude you know about the contest, right?" he said. "Well those sluts haven't exactly made a secret of it. So the guys are having one too.

The first guy to screw all three of those sluts wins. I've already knocked off the other two."

"Maria is nothing like them," I said. "We're friends. She slept in my room last night but nothing happened."

"Judging from that hug and the way she looks at you, that's your fault dude," he said. "So if you're not gonna fuck her, would you do me a solid and get out of the way so I can?"

"Maria isn't that kind of woman," I hissed. "She isn't going to be a notch on your list. It just won't happen."

He started laughing. "She's a woman ... She's got a pussy. She's gonna use it," he laughed. "If I had half of the opportunities that you've had I'd already be done with her ass. So why don't you stop cock blocking for a couple of days and after I get mine, you can have her back?"

"You're actually asking the wrong person," I said. "Maria is free to do whatever she wants with whoever she wants."

"Dude ... She's a chick. She doesn't know what she wants. If she had been in MY room for a night she'd have gotten what she wants whether she wanted it or not. They always pretend they don't want it at first. But once you get them warmed up ... Umph!"

As much as I was trying to stay calm I got pissed. I dropped the helmet I was holding and stepped closer to him.

"So anyway you need to go on and fuck that bitch or move out of the way!" he said.

That was when I grabbed him and slammed him against the side of the building. I cocked my fist back intending to bury it in his face. But suddenly I felt something grabbing my arm.

"He's an idiot, Reid," said Maria. "He's not worth it. If you hit him they'll kick you out. You won't get to race. He has a better chance to screwing one of these cars than he has of doing ANYTHING with me. If you need to beat him; beat him on the track."

I let go of him and he stormed off angrily. I looked at the ground.

"Sorry," I said.

"Shhhhh," she laughed. "I'm glad you took my helmet. I was coming after you to get it back and heard most of that."

I picked up her helmet and gave it to her. She smiled again.

"So Reid, why'd you walk off with my helmet?" she smirked.

I blanked out and shrugged my shoulders. "I think it has something to do with blood flow," she smirked. "I think that hug diverted yours ..."

"Delgado, are you racing?"

We turned and saw Ian glaring at us. She quickly nodded and ran for her car.

It was funny, with half of my friends on the track and the rest sitting with me in the stands, you'd think my loyalties would be divided. It wasn't even close.

"Hey ya wanna put some money on it?" asked Paul.

"On what?" I asked.

"On the race," he said. "I know you want to bet on your Honey to win."

"Maria isn't trying to win," I said. "She's playing it smart. This is a qualifying race. She just wants to be in the top five. She's starting seventh. She has three laps to pass two cars."

He looked at me strangely.

"This isn't really my kind of racing," he said. "But hearing you talk about it like that makes me realize that I have as good a chance as anyone else."

"Exactly!" I said. "And you should be watching these guys because if you make top five you'll be racing them tomorrow."

Maria was good. She was a little sloppy on the curves, but not any worse than the guys. In fact, she was better than some and she had a lead foot.

In the first lap she picked up a position and was sitting sixth. She only needed one more position to accomplish her goal.

What truly amazed me was Luke. He'd started first and was third by the end of the first lap.

He was quick on the straights and pretty good when he turned left. But whenever he had to turn right, he may as well have been driving backwards.

The second lap saw Maria storm her way into fifth place and put distance between herself and sixth place. Luke was holding onto fourth.

The last lap was wild with a lot of places changing hands and a few hearts broken.

Somehow during a flurry of passes in the slalom section of the track Luke dropped to sixth. He came out of the curves like a bullet and beat out the car in fifth by a bumper, no more.

Our friend Hoshi was eighth. And Todd was dead damned last. I found myself running for the track as soon as they finished.

Maria was so happy she was jumping up and down as she got out of her car. She dropped her helmet and leaped into my arms. She finished third, two places better than she needed and even considering the difference in her starting position, she'd improved over her previous year's attempt.

Sarah came over while we were hugging.

"Hi guys!" she said cheerfully. "Maria, are you going to be using the shower in our room?"

"Uh ... Yeah!" laughed Maria. "I'm tired and sweaty and sore all over. I need a nice long shower before I go and watch my second favorite driver qualify."

"Uhm, Reid, is it possible for Maria to use your shower?" asked Sarah. "I wanted to use our room to console one of the guys who didn't do as well as he wanted to. I think Jackie is going to do some consolation work too."

"It's fine with me," I said.

"Do I at least have time to get some clothes before you start giving out your mercy fucks, or whatever you're calling them?" asked Maria angrily.

We went to the hotel and while Maria grabbed her clothes, I made arrangements.

She came back to my room a few moments later, still angry.

"It's bad enough they're doing it at night," she grumbled.

"Hurry up and shower," I said.

"You don't get to rush me," she smirked. "I need time to get pretty for you."

"If it takes you too long, we won't have time for your surprise," I said. "Besides you're already beautiful."

Her entire face lit up. "I have a surprise?" she chirped.

"Call me before you get out of the shower," I said. She went into the shower with her mood restored.

I called down to the front desk and told them to come on up. I had the guys move everything into the room as quietly as possible. Even so we almost didn't have enough time.

"I'm done!" yelled Maria.

"Don't put your clothes on," I said. "Put on the robe hanging on the hook."

"Okay ... I'm robed!" she said. I opened the door and took her hand. I put a sleep mask on her so she couldn't see anything. Then I lead her into the main room.

"Oh my God! What is that smell?" she asked. "No what are those smells?"

I led her over to a table in the center of the room. The table was padded and I helped her to sit and then to lie down on the table on her stomach.

"Open your mouth," I told her. She did. She had absolutely no fear. I fed her a bit of a strawberry that had been dipped in chocolate.

The look on her face was worth it. I gave her a skewer and let her take the mask off. There was an assortment of fruit chunks and a big bowl of melted chocolate.

As she ate I began rubbing an apple scented lotion onto her feet and then began massaging them.

I spent a lot of time on the soles of her feet and her toes then moved up to her ankles and calves.

Maria's legs were extremely smooth and had obviously been recently shaved. As I probed and rubbed her aching muscles she started moaning.

"Oh ... Reid ... that feels sooo ... Gooood!" she gushed.

That was when I heard the gentle knocking on the door.

"It's open," I said.

Sarah and Jackie looked into the room tentatively.

Jackie's jaw hit the floor as she saw us.

"That is not what I thought you guys were doing," she said. There were several different emotions crossing her face.

"We came to apologize," said Sarah. "But it looks like you landed on your feet."

Jackie dipped her finger into the warm chocolate and licked it. She reached for a chunk of pineapple from the bowl of fruit and Maria snatched it back.

"Mine!" she said. "Don't you have some Charity work to do?"

"We're done," said Jackie. "The next race doesn't start for forty minutes. So we have about an hour before we need to console anyone else."

She looked directly at me when she said it.

"Reid, if you weren't going to be in the top five we'd console you too," said Sarah.

"No the fuck you wouldn't!" said Maria in a tone that left no doubt. "And what do you mean by that? It's his first time racing on this track."

"All he has to do is drive," said Jackie. "Ian is starting him first for safety."

"What does that mean?" asked Maria.

"You don't know?" asked Jackie. "Reid broke the track record twice yesterday."

"You did?" asked Maria turning to look at me. As she turned over the robe gaped a bit, giving me a flash of the prettiest vagina I have ever seen.

The sight of her most intimate spot left me speechless.

"Wow, you weren't lying, Maria," said Jackie. "He really doesn't brag about himself."

After Sarah and Jackie left, Maria continued to eat her fruit while I massaged her legs all the way up to her knees.

"Coward," she smirked when I stopped.

"Maybe you've forgotten, your highness, but one of us still has to race," I said.

We got back to the track with ten minutes to spare. Ian was giving out the starting assignments and as Jackie had said, I was starting first.

"I wonder when she has the time to fuck Ian?" asked Maria.

We lined up. Three rows of three cars each with one car by itself in the rear. As soon as the starter waved the flag, ten cars all roared simultaneously.

At the first curve, a very hard ninety degree right hander loomed, I leaned on Ian's tips. I waited until the two cars flanking me had already hit their brakes to apply mine.

Since I was slowing later I shot forward into the lead. I concentrated not on driving fast but on hitting the correct line and when to shift or brake.

I was driving the way I had the day before and everyone in the stands was going crazy.

My lead kept increasing but that wasn't what I was thinking about. I had to drive the slalom section better. There was so much going on there. There were too many back to back opposite direction turns.

The sounds of the engine and the brakes were the things I concentrated on. My second lap was faster than I'd driven the day before. It was another track record.

The weirdest thing happened on my last lap. I looked up and saw a car ahead of me. I thought that somehow I'd lost focus and hadn't noticed when he passed me.

Going into the last curve I used my late braking trick to catch up to him. Like Luke, I gave it all I had and eased past him by a half a car length.

I looked over and waved at the guy to show there were no hard feelings on my part. After all one of us had to win and the other had to be second.

But even as I stopped my car the guy kept going. I laughed. The idiot was doing a victory lap, I thought. I was a bit confused.

Maria came running over to me along with Luke and Hoshi.

When she hugged me, nothing mattered anymore.

"Reid, you know as nice as you are, you're a dick on the track," said Hoshi.

"You're high," I laughed. "That guy in the number four car is a dick. He's taking a victory lap and I swear I passed him. The guy in second doesn't take the lap. And this isn't even the race. This is only qualifying. Now that guy is a dick."

Maria was hugging me and laughing her ass off at the same time.

"Uh Reid, everyone knows you were ahead of him," said Hoshi. "He wasn't in second. He was in last place. You lapped him dude. He was busting his ass to avoid being lapped. Jeezus that's embarrassing. Technically you came in first and tenth. That means he came in eleventh in a ten car race. You could have let him go. Ask him if you're a dick."

"I believe I heard one of my favorite words," interjected Jackie. "Starts with a D, rhymes with sick ..."

"Wrong context, Jackie," said Maria.

"So anyway ..." began Jackie. "We're all going out to the club tonight to celebrate the winners and commiserate with those less fortunate. And we want the two of you to be there.

Wherever you two have been going for the past few nights will still be there. But we've only got two nights left in Italy so we should all get together at least once."

I was about to say no until Maria looked at me and nodded her head.

"I can't guarantee that we'll stay very long, but we'll show up," she said.

And we did. It turned out to be a disaster. We started out the evening in a booth in the back. We were talking the way we always seemed to. We talked about our lives and what we did.

We talked about our likes and dislikes and why Maria was divorced. We were easing our way into MY marital problems when Jackie showed up.

"Maria, Hon, there's only three of us and there are nineteen guys," she said sweetly. "Do you think you could dance with one or two of them and give Sarah and me a break?"

"No!" said Maria. "You and Sarah are supposed to dance with them. It's your job. I share a room with you two because we're the only women, but I don't work for the tour. I'm only here to race."

Jackie was shocked. She stood there for a few moments and then left. But she must've had a bulletproof personality, because she was back a little while later.

"I'm not doing it, Jackie," Maria told her as soon as she got to our table.

"Come on Maria, you'll make Sobie's night," said Jackie. "And he's a nice guy. It's only one dance then I'll leave you alone. And I'll dance with Reid while you do it."

"Oh alright," said Maria. "But we're leaving after this. It's too crowded and too noisy in here anyway."

Jackie took my hand and pulled me out onto the dance floor. At first we were just bouncing in time to the music like everyone around us. Then she pulled me closer to her. As close as her huge jugs would allow.

Before I knew it, she was rubbing them on me and being a gentleman, I tried to back away from her. I guess I thought it was an accident. But her words left no doubt that it was intentional.

"What's wrong Honey? Don't you like titties?" she asked in a breathy voice that I guess was supposed to be sexy.

The problem was that her blatant overtures took away the fun I'd been having for the previous couple of days. The way she acted reminded me that I was married to someone who acted the same way she did.

And I wasn't the only one who noticed it. "We could get out of here and you could give me a massage like you did Maria earlier," she whispered.

"I don't think ..." I began.

"Don't think, baby," she crooned. "Just do what you feel. And I've got a couple of things I'd like you to feel ..."

"I don't think so, Jackie," I said.

"Reid, I don't bite," she said. "We could just ..."

"He said no, Jackie," hissed Maria from behind her. "And I've got a couple of things I want YOU to feel. Like my fist hitting your face and my foot up your fat ass ..."

"Time to go, Maria," I said. "We're racing tomorrow. Remember what you told me earlier. It's not worth it."

"You know she planned that whole thing," said Maria angrily, as I pulled her out of the club.

"Good luck, Luke," I said as I dragged her past a table where my friends were sitting. "See you guys tomorrow."

"She gave me all of that BULLSHIT about dancing with some of the guys just so she could have a chance to rub those big sagging tits all over you," hissed Maria.

"Hey guys," I said to another group sitting at a table.

"And even when you tried to get away from her ..." continued Maria as if we were still talking about it. "Don't you like titties?" She whined in a good approximation of Jackie's voice.

And then her eyes flashed and she turned to go after Jackie again. I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the club. She was so angry she could spit. I was sure that steam would come out of her ears at any moment.

We wandered through the streets in the general direction of the hotel. As we walked my hand slid down her arm until I was holding onto to her hand instead of her arm.

She seemed to relax then.

We ended up sitting on a bench in front of the fountain. We stared at the water for a while and the statues that hid the pipes that sprayed the water skyward.

"Reid, what were you doing that night that I first found you here?" she asked.

"Long story," I said.

"I have both the time and the interest," she smiled snuggling against my arm.

I looked into her eyes and saw that she was serious. So I did it. I opened the floodgates of emotions that I had been holding back or trying to ignore for the previous three days since I'd discovered what Maddie had done.

I told her not only what Maddie had done, but how badly it hurt me. I also told her how I had absolutely no idea what to do about it. I had pretty much made up my mind that when I went back, I would give Maddie five days ... One day for every year that we'd been married, to come clean.

If within the five day period, she told me what she had done and convinced me that our marriage was worth saving, I would try to forgive her. Of course we'd have to push having kids back for a few years to make sure that we were stable...

"Where does having kids enter into the story?" she asked. She looked up at me with those huge innocent brown eyes that I swear I could have fallen into as easily as I could have jumped into the fountain's pool.

"For the past few years, both of our mothers have been putting a lot of pressure on us to give them grandkids," I told her.

The look she gave me then sent shivers down my spine. Her chest was heaving with every breath she took and her legs were rubbing together. She squeezed my hand even tighter then and I heard a rushing sound in my ears.

We were being pulled together like magnets. The attraction was so strong that I felt powerless against it. I started talking to break the spell of the moment.

"So when you came here and found me," I began. "I was ..."

"Suicidal!" she blurted out.

"No drama queen," I laughed. "I had thrown three coins in the fountain. I was wishing that it had all been a dream."

"Why throw money in the water?" she asked curiously.

"I grew up watching old movies from the forties and fifties with my grandmother," I said. "One of my favorites was about people throwing coins into a Roman fountain and making a wish. Supposedly here in Rome magic can happen."

She kicked off her shoes suddenly and lifted one of her long legs over the edge of the fountain's basin-like base.

"What are you doing crazy girl?" I asked grabbing her arm.

"Borrowing some money," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm not gonna actually steal the money," she said. "I'm gonna throw it right back in."

"Maria, look at that water," I said. "It's filthy. People spit in it and do God knows what else. Shit, it might even be all of the nasty bacteria that make the magic happen."

"Do you believe it works?" she asked.

"Yep," I said. "It probably doesn't work the way we expect it too though."

"What do you mean?" she asked holding my hand again.

"I told you that I wished that what had happened with Maddie had all been a dream," I said. "Maybe that was too big a wish. But the fountain gave me something that's actually better," I said.

"It killed her?" she gasped.