Justine

There was another worry, too. Nikky was on the pill and I'd been used to that, and in the heat of the moment I'd assumed that Justine was too - but was she? With her boyfriend away and no obvious lovers why would she need a contraceptive? I remembered with mounting dread the number of times I had cum into her wriggling body. Was the seed I had sprayed so carelessly taking root right now, and what were the consequences of that?

And then there was Nikky, the mother of the warm wriggling child in my arms. The woman I'd promised to love, honour and obey. The one lying in a hospital bed, blissfully ignorant of my night of fornication; the one who had committed her own adultery for reasons I did not yet understand. Could our marriage survive what we each had done? At the very least we owed each other an honest discussion, and the sooner the better.

The questions bounced around in my mind like a pinball in a contest and there were no answers to any of them, so I dressed and fed Emma and got myself ready to visit the hospital with a lead weight where my belly should have been. By the time I left Justine was still asleep, and it was probably for the better.

*

'Hello my darling! Wow, look at you!' Nikky crooned. I'd just put Emma in her arms and her face was radiant with happiness.

'She slept right through the night again.'

Nikky nodded, smiling into our daughter's face. If nothing else she was a good Mum and had clearly missed Emma.

'So how are you?'

'Good, all things being considered.' She regarded her daughter's face critically. 'Her eyes look a bit red again. Did you use the drops?'

'Yep, and I've brought them for the day carers to use, too.'

'And her skin cream?'

'Yep. And spare nappies, Sorbelene, two dummies and a picture of you. Relax - its under control.'

'Right - sorry. It's just that -'

'I know. It must be difficult, Nik. Any idea when you'll be coming home?'

'Today, as far as I know. The specialist was in earlier and said the x-rays look good. He says it was a clean break with no complications, whatever that means. Sometimes these people speak in Martian, I'm sure.'

'And your concussion?'

'Pffft!' Nikky made a small gesture of dismissal. 'It wasn't concussion! I banged my head on the side window when that idiot drove into me.'

'Can you tell me what happened?'

'A half-wit drove into the side of my car.'

'Yes, but where?'

'In Westbury.'

'Westbury? Whatever were you doing there?'

Nikky glanced at me quickly before turning her attention back to Emma. 'I was on my way home from work but gave one of the office girls a lift,' she said casually. 'She lives in Duke Street, just down from where that dolt hit me.'

'Right.' It was clear she was lying, but I didn't want a fight with Emma there. 'Well, I'd better drop Em off at daycare. I was planning to go into the office afterwards but I can take you home whenever you're ready to go.'

'Did you come to the hospital last night?'

'Of course I did. As soon as I heard what had happened. You were in surgery when I arrived so they kept me in the waiting room and then here, but you were zonked out from the anesthetic.'

'I imagine it was quite late when you got home, then?'

'About eleven, I suppose. Justine was looking after Emma.'

'Did she stay over?' Nikky's eyes were on my face and I could see the unasked question in them: Did you fuck her?

'It was a bit late to send her home and I couldn't leave Em by herself.'

'So she stayed over.' A statement rather than a question.

'She did. In the spare room, in case you were wondering.'

'Right.' The tone of her voice was exactly as mine had been - dripping with disbelief. 'Did she say anything about me?'

'Only to ask how you were. She was very concerned, if you want to know.'

'Right.'

'I don't know why you don't like her, Nikky. She's been a godsend - in fact I don't know what I would have done without her last night.' A sudden image of Justine kneeling on the sofa popped into my mind, her breasts swinging as I sawed into her from the back. It was true - I couldn't have done that without her.

'You worry too much,' Nikky said. 'I've warmed to her a bit. In fact I'm looking forward to having a good long talk to her when I get home. Now - you'd better get on. I'll give you a call when I know what time I'm being discharged.'

I kissed her on the cheek and picked up our daughter and I walked to the door before turning to give her a wave farewell. She was observing me with a wooden expression on her face but I could see as clear as day that she knew what I'd done to Justine. And the funny thing was, she didn't seem upset or angry.

But there was a twinge of some emotion in those big blue eyes, and at the time I couldn't pick it. Later on I was to wonder why I hadn't.

***

I picked Nikky up just after twelve. She was on crutches and I helped her into the car and did up her seat belt before driving off. I'd been thinking all morning about what to say to her, how to avoid a fight. In my mind it was too late for recriminations: what we'd both done had happened and it was time to move on, in whatever direction that might be. But I just wanted to hear from her own mouth what she'd been up to and why. I wanted honesty, I suppose, because only that would give us any basis to move forward.

But Nikky beat me to it.

'How many times did you fuck her, Paul?' she asked.

'What?'

'It's a simple question. How many times did you fuck Justine Mayfield last night?'

Words of denial formed on my lips, but I'd expected honesty and I owed the same to her. 'Three.'

She blinked a few times, almost as if I'd slapped her. 'Christ! It's been a long time since you fucked me three times in one night. So what's she got that I haven't?'

'Nothing physical. I guess it's because she was new...because she wanted it.'

'And you didn't feel guilty, shagging the babysitter in our house while your wife was in hospital?'

'About as much guilt as you did cheating on me with Steve Rawlings.'

She stared at me. 'What?'

'It's a simple question. How many times have you fucked Steve Rawlings over the past month?'

Nikky threw back her head and laughed. 'Steve Rawlings! Is that what you think? Jesus! If you think I'd give myself to that egotistical little twat you've got another think coming. He thinks he's God's gift to women, that's for sure, but not this one.' She chuckled again. 'So what the hell made you think I'd been ploughing that paddock?'

'I got to wondering what you were doing driving in Westbury yesterday. It's miles out of your way, so I asked the police for the accident report. It seems you were turning out of the Duke Motel into the main street there. So what was my wife doing in a motel on a Tuesday afternoon?' I paused and regarded her. 'Do you want me to go on?'

'Please do.'

'I called the motel owner this morning, a lady - and I use the word lightly - called Cindy was on duty yesterday and remembered the accident very well. She also remembered you, and for a hundred bucks she checked the motel register for the last few weeks. It seems you were there on four different occasions and you didn't even use a different name.'

'And where does Sleazy Steve fit into this brilliant piece of detective work?'

'Susan, your secretary, mentioned that you and he are close buddies. Close buddies and assignations to a motel once a week generally lead to only one conclusion.'

'Well, well, you have been a busy boy Paul!' She shot me a hard look. 'But you're wrong - I wouldn't touch Steve Rawlings with a fifty-foot pole. And thanks for the tip off about Susan. I've not been happy with her performance but disloyalty is something else again.'

'What makes her think you're close buddies with Steve?'

Nikky shrugged. 'You figure it out, Sherlock. He's the production manager and I'm the marketing manager. Unfortunately we need to talk. A lot.' She laughed softly. 'And for the record, he did try it on once but I told him I'd burn off his dick with battery acid if I ever had the misfortune to see it. After that we understood each other perfectly.'

'Well if it wasn't him, who the hell have you been letting into your pants?'

For the first time Nikky looked uncomfortable. 'It's true,' she said at last, 'there was someone and I'll tell you who. But first explain to me why the hell you thought you'd got the right to roger Justine.'

It was a good question, and the more I'd thought about it the less I could think of a good explanation.

'Well?' Nikky said.

'Because I knew you were having it off with someone, and because she's as hot as hell and I've lusted after her from the first minute she walked into our house. Haven't you ever met someone like that?'

'Yeah, but that didn't give me permission to fuck them senseless.'

'Then you wouldn't understand. Look - you're right. It doesn't stand up to any sort of logic, and sitting here with you I wish to hell I'd never done it - but I can't say I'll feel the same if she waved her little tush in my face again tonight. And that's the honest truth.' Nikky was staring impassively though the windscreen and I felt a flash of anger that she should be lecturing me on being faithful. 'Besides, who the hell are you to lecture me on morals? Who did you shag in that motel room every Wednesday, and what gave you the right?'

'I'll tell you when we get home.'

'No. Tell me now. Justine may still be at home and I don't want to embarrass her with our domestic squabbles.'

Nikky laughed. 'Wow! You still don't get it, do you? You couldn't embarrass Justine Mayfield if you made her walk down Elizabeth Street naked.'

'How can you say that? She's just a kid. She has no -'

'Because she's the person I was meeting at the motel, Paul.'

Her words were like a bombshell. I remember opening and closing my mouth a few times, my eyes on her face, but no words came out. If she'd told me she was becoming a Nun I'd have believed her before that, but the expression on her face told me that it was true. I pulled up to the side of the road and stared at her.

'You and Justine?'

'Yes.'

'Christ! What the hell were you taking her to a motel for?'

'To do what people do in motels in the afternoon.'

'But...but you're not -'

'A lesbian?' Nikky laughed. 'There's a lot about me you don't know, Paul. Things I did before we met. One day I might tell you about them.'

'But you don't like her.'

'On the contrary - I like her a lot. What was it you said about lusting after Justine from the first moment she walked into our house? Well I was the same, although I did manage to keep my mouth from falling open every time I looked at her - unlike you.'

'Fuck!'

'Well, yes, amongst other things.' Nikky laughed again, and I could see she was enjoying herself. 'Little Miss Lickalot did a lot of things, Paul.'

I guess I was in shock. I thought I knew my wife pretty well, but here she was sitting beside me as cool as a cucumber telling me she didn't mind women and had had a lesbian affair with the girl I'd spent half the night inside. So what did that make her? And what did it make Justine?

'I've been taken for a fool,' I said.

'I don't see why. You had a great night shagging the second hottest chick in the world, and from what she told me you both enjoyed it.'

'Christ! You spoke to Justine?' I was drowning here.

'Sure. After you'd been to the hospital this morning I gave her a ring to see how it had gone. She was impressed by you, Paul.'

'So you knew we were going to do it?'

'Justine said she fancied you so we came to a little agreement,' she glanced at my face, reading the confusion and shock. 'Do you want me to tell you about it?'

'That would be nice, because right now I'm feeling like a bull whose been put out to stud.'

Nikky ignored the remark. ' Do you remember when I took her home a few weeks ago?' She watched me nod. 'Well, up to then you'd always driven and I'd stayed at home thinking about her. Before long I'd have my fingers in my pants, imagining she was there with me and we were getting into it; and I'd wait for you to come back and wonder if you'd had your fingers in hers. I was so fucking jealous! Pathetic, isn't it?' She laughed softly. 'I'd never felt that way before and I didn't like it, so one day I figured I should do something about it.'

I sat listening to her voice, trying to work out the dates. Nikky had only taken her back home once and not long after she was racking up the motel bills, so she must have worked quickly.

'The fact was I didn't know how it was going to turn out,' she continued, 'for all I knew she could have freaked out on me.'

'Why don't you tell me exactly what happened?' I suggested.

So she did.

***

Justine in the passenger seat, watching the rivulets of rain on the windscreen shining in the street lamps. She hasn't said a word since they set off, but Nikky doesn't mind. It gives her time to think.

She steals glances at the girl's legs, set slightly apart because the seat is too far forward and her knees are pressed against the glove box. As each street lamp passes she glimpses her pale satin thighs, and she imagines what is at their juncture and how it will taste if she ever gets that far. She thinks of the pale body lying on a bed with those long legs wide open, and the girl's juices coating her lips and tongue like a delicious liqueur as she crouches between them.

She can feel her own pussy dribbling into her pants like a leaky tap and she imagines she can smell it: the cloying odour of sexual arousal, thick and rich in her nostrils. She fancies the aroma has filled the car and she wonders if the girl will notice it too.

'Pull up here,' Justine says. She indicates the place with a slim hand, and gathers her belongings ready to get out.

'It's raining. Let me drop you off at your door.'

A shake of the head, her hair swaying like black satin over the slim column of her neck. 'I'm right, thanks.'

'Justine, wait. I want to talk to you.'

She sees the girl turn toward her, her eyes dark pools in the yellow light and her hand still on the door handle.

'Paul says you think I don't like you.' She watches the girl shrug slightly, her face impassive, and she hurries to say more. 'I mean, well - I wouldn't want you to think that. It's not true at all...in fact I'm very fond of you. I'd like to help you, if I can.'

The girl nods. 'Thank you Mrs. Andrews. I'm all right though, I don't need -'

'I'd like you to call me Nikky.' She chooses her words carefully. 'I left home when I was fifteen, Justine. My mother had long gone and my Dad tried his best but he just couldn't cope. He drank a lot and things were turning ugly, so I took off.' She glances at the girl's face to see if she is listening. 'I'm not suggesting your situation is the same - but I know what it is like to be alone and frightened when you are young. I know how difficult it is to try and start again when you have no one and nothing. It doesn't have to be like that, you know. I can help you.'

Justine stares at her. She's admired this woman since she first saw her. She is sleek and glossy and her life is one of comfortable order. She thinks her own life is like surf on an broken reef, and she knows it must change soon - but she is frightened. Nikky's words strike home: she understands; she has been there too, and she has survived. The hidden dam of her misery is suddenly full and she cannot contain it, and her eyes fill with tears.

Nikky sees the façade of bravery collapse and she is filled with compassion. She unclips her seat belt and turns, reaches out and embraces the girl. She feels the tears like hot lava though her blouse and smells the warm puppy scent of her hair, and she strokes it gently.

'I'm here, Justine, I'm here for you. I'll take care of you, don't cry.'

The girl's ear is near her mouth and she kisses it gently, her lips moving to the soft skin of her cheek. She can taste the salt of her tears and she holds the girl's face in her hands and kisses them away: soft butterfly kisses as light as an evening shadow. Her lips touch the girl's eyes and nose, moving over her skin until they reach her mouth and they press against her there: once, twice, each successive kiss lingering a fraction longer. Through the tips of her fingers she feels Justine's heart beating, hears the bloom of passion in the catch of her breath. Beneath her lips the girl's mouth opens and she kisses back, her body arching in glorious supplication.

They cling to each other in the dappled yellow light, oblivious to the drumming of the rain on the roof, their passion spiraling. Their kisses are harder, tongues touching, breath panting. Nikky's pulse is hammering a tattoo in her breast and beneath her fingers she can feel Justine's heart too, tripping in synchronicity with her own.

'I love you, Justine,' she whispers. 'I've loved you from the moment I first saw you.'

And with a tremulous heart she hears the girl's response.

*

'So what happened then?' I asked. The imagery of what Nikky had described was crisp in my mind, although I was still reeling from the revelations of the past few minutes.

'We clung together in that car for the best part of an hour,' she said. 'But we really couldn't do much except kiss and have a bit of a fondle. I've have stayed there all night, but eventually we agreed to meet the next day. I chose the Duke Motel because it was close to where she lives.'

'And you told her you loved her? That's a bit heavy for the first five minutes, wasn't it?'

Nikky sighed. 'At that moment I did love her. I still do, but in a different sort of way...you know, like in a protective way.'

I understood perfectly, as it matched the way I'd felt this morning when I rose from our bed and watched Justine sleeping, her face as innocent as a cherub's. I remembered my own words to her: I love you too. She had that effect on you. She came across as an innocent kid, but it seemed she was not.

'And all the time I thought Justine was a pure little teenager,' I said. 'She told me she'd never been eaten out, but I figure you would have done a lot of that.'

Nikky nodded in agreement. 'I wasn't sure how she would take to the idea of a motel, so the next day I took her to a coffee shop around the corner. It gave her the option to bail if she was not up to it, but from the first minute she made it clear she was keen to go the whole way. She was all over me like a rash - goodness knows what the other customers thought.' She laughed softly. 'It turned out to be the quickest cup of coffee on record, and we just about scorched a trail to the motel afterwards. She was naked ten seconds after getting to the room, and holding me by the ears in another ten.'

I imagined the scene: Justine on her back with her face screwed up in pleasure as my wife knelt between her thighs, eating that delicious little snatch. I'd seen for myself how wet it got: Nikky's face would have been bathed in it, her lips and tongue and teeth smeared with the girl's juices. Did Justine return the favour? I would have thought so - Nikky's body was almost as good as hers and she didn't look much older. I felt my cock give a lurch at the image of the two women lapping at one another: the dark haired girl and her blonde teacher - two of the hottest women I knew. This was the stuff of porno movies.

'So how did I fit into the conversation?' I asked casually. 'You said you'd made an agreement with her.'

'It was the last time we were together,' Nikky explained, 'she'd lost all her shyness by then and we talked just about anything. I asked her who the guy was in the café and she said it was her father. Apparently he still pays the rent and likes to see her from time to time, so I got that one wrong. It got us talking about guys, though, and she told me how hot you were and how she'd like to meet someone like you. I asked what she'd do to him and she described it in pretty graphic terms.' Nikky smiled. 'It got us both horny again so we had another go at each other. It was lovely. And after we'd finished I told her how you felt, and suggested she give you go.'