SUMMER SWAP // Chapter 21

It drove him crazy that Cody and Chey were outside together and he had to sit at the table and not show it. Though his appetite was dashed when the two of them walked out together, he poked his fork through the cold scrambled eggs and nibbled at his toast. Scarlet side-eyed him. Lily and Arlo laughed together and made small talk and plans for the day. Sullivan lurked in the kitchen by the island. It was clear that Scarlet and Sullivan overheard them last night—thinking it was Byron and Chey going at it for two hours. He pushed his plate away, then folded his hands together in the attitude of prayer, knees and feet dancing up and down under the table. It took great effort for him not to bustle away from the table, go up to the deck and see what Chey and Cody were up to. His stomach twisted in a tidy knot of fear, angst, and lust. And none of it could show.

He pulled over Arlo and Lily’s plates and stacked them on top of his, but as his butt lifted off the chair to head into the kitchen to get his hands busy doing some chores, Carla scooted over two seats to sit at his side. She shoved the plates away saying, “Hey Lily, can you throw these in the sink. Byron and I will do them in a couple of minutes.”

Arlo said, “Sure thing,” nudging in front of his wife and dutifully taking the dirty plates into the kitchen.

When they were alone, Carla rested her palm on the bare skin of his thigh below the hem of his shorts. It got him jolting. He put his hand down and slid hers off. She squeezed his knee before putting her elbows on the table, linking her fingers together and resting her cheek on her intertwined hands. She smiled at him, and he smiled in return, though much more timidly. She said, “How are you this morning, tiger?”

“Fine,” he said. “How about you?”

“We had a lot of fun last night.”

His eyes flitted to the kitchen, but everyone was out of earshot. He said, “I guess we did.”

“You guess?”

“I had fun,” he said, and smiled sheepishly, playing with his napkin.

Carla said, “How are you and Chey? Everything good?”

He regarded his friends again, goofing around in the kitchen, laughing about something, Arlo putting dishes in the sink. He said, “Chey’s good. We’re both good.”

“Unscathed?”

“I think we’re both happy,” he said.

“Cody had a blast, he says. Cheyenne was a great partner.”

It made him fidget uncomfortably. It wasn’t exactly anger or disgust, it was a weird sexual feeling that he couldn’t get a bead on. What the heck did he like about this? “What did he say?”

Carla said, “Let’s just say Chey knocked his socks off.”

“Or boots,” he mumbled.

“Boots?”

He batted his index fingers together. “You know—knocking boots.”

“Cody told me she can knock.”

“I heard.”

“You two are a couple of undercover pros, is that it? You’ve been keeping your secrets.”

“Well, now they’re out,” he said.

“I’m glad,” Carla said, and poked his wrist bone with a finger. He met her eyes, and she smiled warmly at him. “I’d like to give you another try, mister. Find out what you can really do.”

He smirked, bounced his eyebrows, and looked around the room. This talk was stiffening his member. But he leaned closer to her and said, “I bet Cody’s giving Chey the same sales pitch right now.”

Carla was undeterred. “I think he probably is,” she said.

“So what are Cheyenne and I? Just a couple of field mouse morsels for you two feathered raptors?”

“Ornithological references, Byron? Good, I like smart guys. And I’m a bit of a horny-thologist myself.”

He laughed loud and snorted, then covered his mouth. The kitchen door opened and Cody strode in, paying Carla and him no mind, turning to the kitchen island saying, “Don’t throw out that bacon. Think I’m going to make myself a sandwich.”

Byron said to Carla, “Cody’s got an appetite.”

Carla put her hand on his thigh again, and this time he didn’t push it away. She whispered, “Don’t we all?”

***

For twenty minutes Chey stood alone at the hand-railing, admiring the view, sipping coffee and chewing the inside of her cheek until it hurt. Go again? What more was there to do? Was there something else Cody wanted to try? She palmed her forehead, squeeze the bridge of her nose, then ran nails over her scalp. Shit, just doing it all over again would be kind of fun. What if she wasn’t nervous this time?

They definitely shouldn’t do it. She also had the distinct feeling Byron wouldn’t say no. But did she want Carla to get another shot at her husband? No. That was clearly unfair, though.

Still, the thoughts of those dirty things Cody had done to her last night and how freaking good it felt twisted at her insides, the desire to do it all over again squeezing through her muscles and firing off her synapses, twisting her thoughts to obey their demands.

You already did it. What does it matter if you do it again?

Well, because one time, it was curiosity. Two times, you were officially a swinger.

But was that truly terrible? What made it terrible if Byron and she were willing? The Puritans denigrated Voltaire, claiming he’d engaged in buggery, and when his male friend asked if they should try it again, Voltaire had said if he did it one time, he was a philosopher, if he did it twice, he was a—

A hand on her shoulder made her jump, and she bobbled the empty coffee cup, almost snagging it, but her clumsy left hand batting it away before she hooked a finger through its ring handle. “Shit!” she hissed, leaning over the railing and watching it plunge into the water below.

“You sure are jumpy,” Scarlet said.

“They’re going to take that out of the security deposit. Why did you sneak up on me?”

“I said your name.”

“I didn’t hear you,” she said, touching fingers over her breastbone, feeling the racing gallop of her heartbeat.

“I guess you were lost in thought,” Scarlet said.

There was no amusement or camaraderie in her eyes. It was that same look she’d shown at the breakfast table. A studious sort of bewilderment or disbelief. Maybe even forlorn. “What’s wrong?”

Scarlet leaned on the railing next to her, where Cody had leaned twenty minutes ago. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Chey chewed her cheek again, but had to leave it alone. It was almost raw now. This was going to be the confrontation. She could feel it.

You’ll have to apologize for noisy sex, for keeping Scarlet and Sullivan awake.

Then she’d have to lie to her good old buddy from college.

Without looking at Scarlet, she said, “Sorry Byron and I were noisy.”

Scarlet also didn’t look her way, the two of them staring out at the horizon where lake met big blue sky. She said, “That was just for a little while. Still couldn’t get to sleep, even afterward.”

“Oh?” she said, sensing her worries disappearing in her rearview mirror. There was something else going on. “What’s going on? Something bothering you—you’re okay?”

“I don’t know,” Scarlet said, shaking her head. “I’m like, blown away.”

“Blown away by what?”

Scarlet’s eyes flitted straight up, and she ran the point of her tongue across her upper lip. She said, “So, you guys going skinny-dipping again today?”

“Did that bother you?”

Scarlet shook her head.

“I hope it didn’t bother you.”

Scarlet said, “Did it bother Byron?”

Cheyenne cocked her head and frowned in contemplation. Some honesty here would make a good defense. She said, “Yeah. He was okay. You know he was up here with Carla?”

“Without clothes?”

“That’s what he says. I didn’t see them.”

“So he was with Carla and you were down there with Cody.”

“And Philippe.”

“And Philippe,” Scarlet agreed.

“Do you not want us to do that today? You can say so.”

“I don’t mind. I’m just surprised. That’s all.”

“I was surprised, too. It was weird at first, but then it was no big deal.”

“No big deal,” Scarlet repeated, disbelieving. “I think it was a pretty big deal.”

“A big deal how?” Sully had streaked during Truth or Dare. They’d been encouraged to do a Toilet Tube Test.

“I don’t know. I guess . . . It’s weird. No one asked me to go skinny dipping.”

“You could’ve if you wanted to,” she said earnestly. “It’d be great if you had. Not like I want to see you like that or anything, I just mean—”

“Did Cody ask you to?”

She tried to recall. “Yeah. I guess he was first. Right? You were up here, you saw him and Philippe—”

“Yeah, those guys went first. But did he ask you to?”

“I don’t know. I guess they both did.” This was getting a little squirrelly. “They were having fun. I didn’t want to feel like—”

“An outsider,” Scarlet finished.

“Right. An outsider.”

Scarlet nodded, like something had been confirmed in her mind. “That’s good,” she said.

“So, that’s what was keeping you up?”

“No. I mean yeah. I guess turning it over in my mind was what kept me up. But really, it was what Sullivan told me.”

She chewed at her inner cheek again, then winced and tongued it away. She said, “What did Sullivan tell you?”

“What he saw.”

Chey looked out at the water again, a creepy-crawly feeling of dread working a green and prickly wave across her back and up her neck. “What did he see?”

“When he was out in the bathroom last night.”

“Yeah?” Her stomach turned over.

“He was hiding in the bathroom so he could scare Byron.”

“And?”

“It wasn’t Byron coming out of your room.”

Now Scarlett faced her, but Cheyenne couldn’t look over. Scarlet stared at the side of her face for a long time.

“Chey? You know who was coming out of your room?”

She shook her head no, staring holes into the horizon and chewing her sore cheek.