The Wager - Part 2

[passionman1]

The Wager - Part -2

The following week flew by and once again she was sitting across from Dana at the coffee shop. They were both tucked away in the far corner by a window looking out over a snow-covered deck. Dana sucked on her latte as Lennie nibbled a bagel. “So, what’s up for the weekend?” Lennie said, dabbing her lips with a napkin.

“Same ole, same ole? Might go to the casino tomorrow. And you?”

“Not much. Laundry and shit. Steven’s putting in a few hours down to the office. Maybe I’ll try and talk him into a movie or something.”

Dana nodded and then her eyes widened. “Hey, why don’t you guys join us at the casino?”

Lennie thought it over. She wasn’t much on gambling, but being out with friends did sound appealing. And God knew Steven would jump at the chance to hang with Bob. “We could. I’ll check with Steve. Maybe we could hit our little tavern down the street afterward.”

Dana smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Are we thinking about Derek?”

Lennie felt her face get warm. “No.“

“Right,” Dana said. “So, how goes the . . . umm . . . pay off on the debt?”

Lennie shrugged sheepishly. “I’m thinking about it.”

Dana raised a brow. “Really? Do tell.”

“You’re worse than my husband.” Lennie said. When Dana leaned forward and shot her a ‘don’t-give-me-that-line-of-BS’ look, she relented. “Okay, okay. I admit I’m intrigued. But I’m not going there.”

“Why?”

“My marriage . . . hello? I love my husband. I don’t want to fuck up twenty years over a fantasy.”
“He gave you permission,” Dana said, sitting back. “What’s to worry about? If he has a problem with it, it’s his own damned fault.”

“So you’re saying it’s all on him?”

“Something like that. “

“And if Bob gave you permission and had an issue with it afterward, you’d just tell him to suck it up and move on? I don’t think so, Dana. You and Bob have been together a long time, and if the shoe was on the other foot and he got upset you’d feel pretty shitty. Admit it,” Lennie said.

Dana wavered. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But damn, we’re talking Derek here.”

Lennie sipped her latte. “Yeah, I know. And that’s the problem. I’m afraid that once I try him, once won’t be enough and then God knows where it would go. I don’t want to lose Steve over this. Besides, who knows whether Derek would even be interested.”

“In you?” Dana snorted. “Please! Have you looked in the mirror lately, love. You are drop dead fucking gorgeous. If I had a set of tits and a pair of legs like yours Bob wouldn’t let me outta bed in a month. Don’t worry, if you turn the charms on Derek’ll come running like a puppy after a bone. By the way, what time is it?”

Lennie looked at her watch. “Going on eleven, why?”

“I told Bob I’d pick his shirts up from the drycleaners, and they close at noon. Anyway, are you fantasizing about it?”

“You mean fucking him? Oh, yeah. I kinda like the idea of having Steve join in, too. What do they call that? Ménage-tois?”

Dana laughed. “Oh, you are so in a cave. The term is MFM.”

“MFM?” Lennie pondered the acronym. “Oh, male, female, male!”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Bingo. You need to do some web-surfing girl.”

“I guess I do,” Lennie said, feeling stupid and out of the game. Suddenly she felt all of her fifty-four years and doubted herself all over again. “But I hate porn, it’s so mechanical. Stick it in and pump and then pull it out and cum. I mean there’s nothing sensual or erotic about it.”

“There are other sites besides those. Look around. I’m on a forum now. ‘Eroticana Isle’. It’s a site just for women to chat about their love lives as well as a place to find suggestions to juice it up.” She wrote the web address down on a napkin and handed it to Lennie. “It’s free to join, and you won’t get spammed. My handle is ‘Danana 1’.” A smile. “Rhymes with banana.”

“Right,” Lennie said.

“Look, I gotta scoot,” Dana said. “Call me.”

“Will do.” As Dana collected her purse and got up, Lennie said, “Oh! Hold on. I almost forgot. Steve gave me a check to give Bob. I guess they’re for tickets he got him for a game.”

“Yeah, they’re going to a Bill’s next Sunday. Hey, we could go shopping,” Dana said with a broad grin.

“Maybe look for something sexy to charm Derek with?”

“You are something else, but yes, we could,” Lennie said.



After Dana left, Lennie called Steve and asked him how he felt about going to the casino. He didn’t disappoint and so they got up early this morning, met Dana and Bob for brunch and headed down the thruway for a day of gaming and shopping. Just now, Lennie was making her way back from the Ladies Room through the noisy, crowded floor to join Dana who was next to the Roulette table.

Dana’s husband, Robert, was doing well by the look of the stack of nickel chips in front of him. He sat back and ran his long fingers through his shoulder length silver-gray hair. Even though he a corporate executive in the modern world, he had never really left the sixties. The good life was a hot tub, refer and ‘The Dead’. Sometimes Lennie and Steven would join him and Dana on the weekends on the back deck in the tub and light up while discussing the musical merits of Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Hendrix, and of course Dylan.

Robert dashed the ashes off his cigar into an ashtray, smiled at Dana and placed his bets on the felt table. He played inside mostly, liking the seven and five straight up and then sprinkling the rest of the required twenty-five-dollar minimum around the table.

“Where’s my husband?” Lennie said.

Dana nodded toward the lounge behind them and pointed to the bar. “Getting a drink.” She craned her head over the glass shield surrounding the roulette wheel and watched the little white ball race around the edge until it fell into the center and bounced around.

“Seven!” the croupier announced, and cleared the losing bets off the table.

Robert balled his fist and shook it in front of him, his wide grin stretching across his smooth tanned face. He put the cigar to his lips as the three stacks of nickel chips were pushed toward him. Dana tapped him on the shoulder. “We’re gonna check out the shops. Mind parting with a few of those?”
He turned an affable smile toward her. Culled a dozen quarters from one of the stacks in front of him and dropped them in her hand. “That enough?”

Dana counted her handful of black and green chips. “Three hundred’ll do fine. Thank you dear.” She gave him a peck on the cheek and nudged Lennie. “Let’s go find your husband.”

“For what?”

“Ummm . . . Money, unless you already hit him up.”

Lennie held up her purse. “All set. But I better let him know we’re off.”

They headed to the lounge, passing row upon row of slot machines that were dinging and singing. When they rounded the last bank of slots, Dana came to a sudden stop and swung a wide-eyed expression back onto Lennie.

“Holy shit!”

“What?” Lennie said coming up beside her. She looked ahead and felt her breath catch. “Oh, my God. What’s he doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Dana said, “but I bet your husband has something to do with it.”

As her heart raced, Lennie watched the man chatting with her husband at the bar. Were they up to something? She didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t put it past Steven. She elbowed Dana and motioned her to follow. When they came up behind the men, Lennie tapped Steven on the shoulder. “Hi Hon.”
He turned around, and so did Derek, who wasted no time in giving them a friendly smile. Steven shot her a sly grin and said, “Look who I ran into.”

Lennie fixed them with a grin. “Derek, what’dya doing here?”

He took a sip of his drink and stepped aside so she could join them at the bar. “Just thought I’d come out and try my luck at the black-jack tables.”

Lennie moved beside him, brushing her arm against Derek’s, cream colored, cashmere sweater. It was soft and warm and it left a tiny shiver running down her arm. Dana was watching her while darting her eyes back and forth between the two men. Both of them were letting their gazes wander, sometimes landing on Dana, but mostly on Lennie. Lennie felt Derek’s gaze drift over her bare shoulders more than once.

Lennie casually positioned herself so that Derek had an ample view of the ‘girls’. “So,” she said at last. “Black jack your game?”

“Kinda. Craps too,” he said.

“You come here often?” Lennie said, well aware of Steven looking on beside her.

Derek downed the rest of his drink and set his glass on the bar. “Sometimes. Depends. Your husband tells me you’re a gambler.”

Dana’s eyes almost popped out of her head and Lennie saw her fighting to keep from bursting out loud with laughter. Fortunately, Derek had his face turned away from her. “Did he?” Lennie said, catching her breath. She knew full well how Steven must’ve meant it. The question was, did he let Derek in on their little secret.

Derek nodded and darted a quick glance at Steven.

“Yeah, I told him you were into high stake games,” Steven said nonchalantly. “Bartender! Another round. Len, Dana you want anything?”

“No thank-you,” Lennie said. You are so dead. Okay, you want to play with fire - let’s play. She turned back to Derek. “I like your sweater. Do you mind if I run my hand over it?”

Derek shrugged, gave Steven a quick glance. “No, go ahead.”

Lennie put her hand on his sleeve and slid her fingers over the fabric. Under its softness was an arm of steel and it drew her fingers up of their own accord over his shoulder and down his chest. “I just love the feel of cashmere. By the way, what is that cologne you’re wearing? It’s wonderful.”

“Givenchy. My brother turned me onto it. You like it?”

“It’s fabulous . . .. Honey,” Lennie said, turning back to Steven who was enjoying the show. “We should get some.”

Steven shrugged. “Okay. So, it looks like you two were heading off somewhere.”

“Yes, shopping,” Lennie said. “By the way, I could use a little more spending money.”

Steven dug into his pockets and pulled out a pair of ‘c’ notes. “That enough?”

“Plenty, Thank-you,” Lennie said, snatching them up. She reached up and kissed his cheek. While she was there, she brought her lips close to his ears. “Since you conveniently arranged for Derek to be here, I’m going to punish you, but I’m not going to tell you when.” She pulled away from him, licked her lips and let her fingers slide down his arm. Afterward, she gave Derek a long look and said, “I just love my husband. He’s such a great guy. I mean . . . he lets me have so much freedom. I don’t think there’s a thing he wouldn’t let me do, if I wanted it bad enough, right Honey?” She said looking back into her husband’s eyes. She knew he was having all he could do to keep his cool, she so she added, “Not a lot of women can put their hands on another man’s chest and rub them around like in front of their hubbies, isn’t that right, Hon?”

“I have complete trust in you my dear,” Steven said.

Derek flashed a mysterious smile and picked up his glass. “Bartender? Another.” To Lennie, he said, “You stopping by ‘The Lounge’ tomorrow? It’s ladies night – two for one.”

“I don’t know. Steve, you up for it?”

He shook his head. “Got a report due. You go though. I’m sure you’ll have fun without me.”

“Well, we better head out and hit the shops. Maybe you’ll see me tomorrow night.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” he said as she stepped up and gave him a soft, friendly embrace. But it more than just an embrace and she was more than sure her husband knew it.