Two for Kate (3 page)

Seven

Fighting with David was one thing but cheating on him was
another. Kate spent the next half hour or so driving around her
neighborhood, trying to come up with an excuse as to why she should just head
back home. But when she replayed the conversation over in her head, remembering
the disapproving look on David's face and the way he barely even took notice of
her body in the skin-tight dress, it was enough to steer her to Adir's place on
the other side of town.

The party was in full swing by the time she parked the car and
headed up the walk to the front door. Her hand wavered as she reached up to
ring the doorbell. She could hear the music from the street and almost turned
on her heel before anyone could answer but just as she did, the door swung
open, revealing Adir's broad smile.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," he said, winking and
offering his hand to Kate before she could turn and retreat. “Love the dress,”
he growled into her ear as he pulled her close and kissed her on the
cheek. He pressed his growing erection into her thigh so that she could feel
his desire.  She hesitated, but only briefly, and when she put her hand in his,
Kate couldn't ignore the electric pulse that seemed to pass between them. Adir
spun her around and whistled, making her giggle.  She couldn't help but
enjoy the feeling as he slowly gazed down her body, lingering on her curvy hips
before looking back up again. If only David had reacted that same way, she
would be at home with him right now.

"You look positively delicious, Kitty-Kat."

He always did know exactly what to say and when to say it
, she thought to herself, not sure whether that was a good thing
or not. Her guard was somewhat lowered as he escorted her inside and closed the
door behind her.

"Looks
like you haven't forgotten how to throw a party," Kate said nervously.

"...And you obviously haven't forgotten about my favorite
dress. I'm just surprised you kept it all this time.”

He almost purred the words. He was so transparent, and when Kate
felt his hand slip behind her and rest on her lower back, her thighs throbbed
in response.

"So, who are all these people?" she said, bolting
forward and trying to subdue her feelings.

"Oh, you know…just some people I know.”

She looked around the room, and while everyone was still dressed
and it seemed to be a normal party, Kate knew better. All the people at his
house were most likely swingers that he’d met at Crave, a sex club on the
outskirts of town. Kate made a silent vow to herself that maybe she’d make out
or even have sex with Adir, but that was it. She wasn’t going to put on a whole
show or have sex with anyone else. She needed some sort of line in the sand.

Eight

"So, what does it take to get a drink around here,
anyway?" Kate said, trying to put some distance between her and Adir.

But even as he went around the bar and mixed a drink for her, Kate
wasn't sure this was such a good idea. She watched as he mixed her a drink -
vodka and cranberry with a twist of orange liqueur – and when she took it from
him, she told herself it was just to calm her nerves. She wasn't going to use
this as an excuse to lower her inhibitions. A well-timed compliment, a flash of
his smile and a casual hand on her back already did that, and when Adir winked
at her, she knew he was going to use that to his advantage.

For the next hour or so, she and Adir engaged in small talk with
his buddies. Even though they played at being platonic, as the night wore on,
their glances lingered longer, their touches became more flirtatious, and as
the drinks continued to flow, Kate found herself instigating the flirtation
instead of the other way around. 

She was the one who moved closer to him when they sat next to one
another, and when she reached across the table to get her drink, she lingered
long enough to give him a full view of her ass. 

Kate figured she was doing a pretty good job of it because
eventually, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Here. Come on." 

Kate feigned reluctance, but the flirtation wasn't enough anymore.
She wanted more too, and she didn't care what that said about her.

He ended up leading her downstairs, where the lights were dimmed
and soft music played from behind a closed
door.           

"I told you at the restaurant...the real action happens
behind closed doors." 

For a brief moment, she felt a pang of guilt. Was this the person
she really wanted to be? Wasn’t all this meaningless sex the very reason she'd
dumped Adir in the first place? She pulled her hand away from him, stopping
short of following him all the way into the room. "Wait, Adir, I...I don't
know about this."

He turned to look at her, dropping his voice to a sensual growl.
"You never used to be so shy, Kitty-Kat. Well...maybe at first, but once
you loosened up..." 

He opened the door, and for a moment, Kate had the urge to barrel
back upstairs, but when she heard laughter coming from inside, she frowned,
peering around him.

Inside, a large table had been set up to one side of the room.
Four or five other men sat at the table, cigar smoke wafting up to form a thick
haze in the dim light, bouts of celebratory laughter interrupting the plinking
of poker chips as they hit the table.

"Come on," Adir said, holding his hand out to her.
"Let's see if you still have that killer instinct."

Nine

A poker party!
  She snorted at the
realization. Now this, she could handle. Poker had been Adir and Kate’s other
past time and she used to love the game. She hadn’t played in years, and found
herself excited to play tonight. After some quick introductions, Kate settled
into one of the chairs at the table, dejectedly fiddling with her chips while
she waited. Again, she'd misread all of Adir's signals. Apparently all of this had
just been a game to him. He was just acting the way he always had to get a
rise out of her. That was what it was about--he was turned on just by the fact
that he could still get her excited for him.

Kate sighed. The alcohol had given her a headache, and the guilt
she'd been suppressing was coming to the surface. It was bad enough she
was at a party hosted by her ex, but now was she really going to gamble with
money that they couldn’t afford to lose? She could just feel David's hostility
if he ever found out. This right here might be the end of everything between them.

While Adir was occupied with the others, Kate started to get that
panicked feeling. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all. No matter what
troubles she and her husband were having, did she so blatantly want to go
against him or what they had built? Suddenly, she felt like she was cheating on
him even though she hadn't done anything yet other than a little harmless
flirting...in her ex’s favorite dress...in his house...
ugh
, she thought
to herself. 

"Hey, just in time. Our final victim for the night has
arrived and from what I hear, he's got deep pockets!"

As Adir ushered the man into the room, Kate's face burned with a
mixture of shock and guilt, which was mirrored on the face of her husband
staring back at her.

"Everyone, this is David. David, this is everyone.”

The regulars at the table moved over and made room for David at
the table. Adir plunked down a cold Bells Black Note Stout in front of him

What the hell,
Kate thought.
He
must come here often if Adir has his favorite fucking beer in his fridge.

Kate was speechless and from the look on David's face, she could
tell he was just as confused.

Adir slapped him on the back. "Meet my old friend, Kate.
David, Kate, Kate, David,"

David stood up from the table with the excuse that he had to go to
the bathroom, and Kate followed him. They waited until Adir and the others were
out of earshot before he tore into her. "What the hell are you doing
here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing! What, did you follow
me here? You sure as hell didn't care where I was going earlier."

"Of course I didn't! ...How do you even know this guy
anyway?"

"Adir...is Adiraez. Adiraez Stone." 

David narrowed his eyes at her. It took a few moments for the name
to register, but when it did, there was a flash of recognition in his eyes.
"Wait. You mean your ex, Adiraez?"

Kate nodded.

David threw his arms up in the air, circling around her while the
information sunk in. "And what the hell are you doing here at your
ex-boyfriend's house, anyway?"

"What are you doing here? From what he said, it sounds like
you've been keeping your own nasty little secrets too, David." 

"Don't you dare start with me,” David said, giving Kate the icy
look she’d grown all too accustomed to.

"Is that how it's going to be now? Because you've obviously
done a lot worse than not telling me where you're going. Like an idiot, I’m
thinking you really are working late, but obviously you’ve been running off to
some weekly poker game. And after all the grief you've been giving me for the
credit card bills, the mortgage payments...are you kidding me?" 

Kate had to stop herself and take a couple of deep breaths. She
could see some of the others looking at them funny and the last thing she
wanted was for Adir to find out exactly who his good pal David was. That would
be enough embarrassment to last her a lifetime. Here she was, supposedly
happily married yet neither spouse even knew what the other was up to, which
made her marriage look like the total failure that it was turning out to be.
She rolled her eyes at the thought of it.

"Katie..." he said, trying to soften the mood.  But Kate
was sick of it; sick of the way he treated her, like he was superior to her,
like she was some child who needed discipline.

"Don't even bother," she whispered. "Why don't we
just go on pretending we don't know one another, huh? It's been working fine
for us for months, hasn't it? I'd say we're both getting pretty good at it by
now, wouldn't you?"

Before David could respond, Adir came back into the room, handing
each of them a drink, and then put a hand on each of their shoulders.

Ten

"So, are you two ready for a little gambling? Although I
should warn you David, my little Kitty-Kat here may look innocent enough, but
she shows no mercy when it comes to poker. Isn't that right, beautiful?"

Adir hugged Kate against his chest for a moment and when she
looked over at her husband, she had to stifle her vindictive laughter after
seeing the jealousy that flashed behind his eyes. 

Before David could take the seat beside her, Adir slid in between
the two of them, taking a brief moment to pull the chair out for Kate. As she
got settled into her seat, Kate snuck a glance out of the corner of her eye and
saw David's jealousy only continue to grow. He scraped the chair out from under
the table and lowered himself into the seat, never taking his eyes off Kate and
Adir.

The game settled into an easy rhythm, with several hands played
before Kate started to feel even somewhat comfortable. They were playing
Texas Hold’em, a poker game that she had played on a regular basis all
throughout college and had done well enough so that it paid all of her tuition
as well as covered her rent, food and gave her some extra spending
money. She knew she’d been good enough to go pro if she’d wanted to, but
the thought of telling her parents she was dropping out of college to play
professional poker was something she could never bring herself to
do. However, tonight she was off her game. With every bet she placed,
she second-guessed herself, and she knew it was only because David was watching
her like a hawk.

If he wasn't here, you know you would be cleaning up
, she told herself. 
Don't let him stop you from having
fun. He's been doing it for months already. Enough is enough.

When it was time for Kate to make her next bet, she tapped her
cards on the table for a moment, then placed them face down, counted through
her chips, and slid a tall stack to the center of the table. Her bet elicited
whispers around the table with various people chuckling or taking in deep
breaths. She looked up at David, raising one eyebrow but not flinching.

Adir’s eyes grew wide with amusement. "What did I tell
you? The lady's not afraid to take a chance, boys." 

Kate's heart raced as she waited for the final bets to be placed
and then for David to deal the final card. When he turned it over, Kate
held her breath for a moment but when she saw the card, she had to stifle her
grin.

"Woah ho ho!" Adir shouted, leaning back in his
chair.  "Looks like someone's been practicing."

Not even close
. She hadn’t been at a poker
table in at least five years. The truth was that she was playing aggressively
in part because she was so pissed at David. But hey, whatever worked. Kate sat
back and waited for her winnings to come to her. 
Fourteen hundred
dollars...holy shit,
Kate thought to herself as she tried hard to stifle
the grin she knew was spreading across her face. 
That was enough to
cover the mortgage and the last credit card bill.
She forgot how thrilling
it was to play cards like this; the tingling in her scalp as she waited for her
cards to be dealt to her; that feeling of nervousness in the pit of her stomach
as she waited for the others to bet, and the thrill of the final reveal of the
cards. It was almost as intoxicating as sex, and since she hadn't had any of
that lately, this was the next best thing. 

She didn't think it could get much better, until she looked across
the table and met David's gaze. Gone was the anger, the hurt at being kept in
the dark; the guilt that he himself had been found out. She saw something
there; a look she hadn't seen in a long time; a look she had only caught the
faintest glimpse of when he first walked into the room, before he recognized
the hot chick in the black dress as his wife. He looked like he was fighting
the urge to smile and the way his eyes were twinkling when he looked at her…if
she didn’t know better, she’d think that he was impressed and possibly even
attracted to her.  

She reached for her drink and took a quick sip to cool herself
down. Unable to break his gaze, Kate held it, drinking in the smoldering look
of desire in the way his chest rose and fell in a labored rhythm. The way
his eyes were closed ever so slightly like no one else was in the room and he
was focusing solely on her. The way he subtly licked his lips, making them
look even more plump and full. He hadn't looked at her in that way for
weeks...months...and it was exactly what she needed.