Chapter 10
Victor
The weekend was something I think we all needed. It was like old times with everyone together. Even Gabbi unraveled her uptightness enough to have some fun. By the end of it, we promised not to wait so long before we got together again.
Emma and Ty invited us for dinner tonight, saying they had a proposition for us. Whatever that means.
“Vic, are you ready?” Gabbi yells from downstairs.
“I’m coming,” I state as I come down the stairs and see her standing by the door.
I almost miss a step looking at her. The yellow dress she’s wearing hugs every curve, showing off her round, delicious breasts and that ass.
God, I miss grabbing those cheeks! The way they bounce when she’s riding me.
Fuck, my dick is stirring from the memory alone.
She turns and glances up at me. For a second, I think I see hunger on her face. Is that heat in her eyes? “We’re going to be late. Why are you just standing there?” And there’s the ice bath.
Ty and Emma give us a warm welcome and walk us to the dining room, where dinner is waiting, the smell of garlic, parmesan, and bread filling the air.
The room is a faded terracotta color with wood floors.
A plastic folding table is set in the middle of the room, accompanied by a couple of metal folding chairs.
Takeout containers cover the table. It looks and smells incredible.
“Oh my god, this looks amazing, Em,” Gabbi states with awe. My mouth is straight up salivating.
“It’s just takeout from that little Italian place downtown,” Emma states as she comes to the table.
Her emerald green maxi dress swishes as she pads barefoot across the wood floor and pours wine into each of our glasses, while we sit down.
When Emma rounds the chair where Ty is sitting, she leans down and runs her free hand up from his jaw, and stops when her fingers are in his hair.
Ty’s hand slides into the slit in Emma’s dress, up her thigh until it disappears under her dress while she bends down further, and their lips meet.
Hands and lips moving slowly, Emma lets out a soft moan, while I’m pretty sure Tyson just growled.
My eyes blink rapidly. This isn’t exactly something I witness regularly, and certainly not from my best friend and his wife.
I look across the table at Gabbi, and her cheeks are flushed. Her breath, shallow. Is she turned on?
Gabbi looks up at me, meeting my eyes, and suddenly the tension in the room is electrified, and I feel like I’m breathing through water.
Gabbi clears her throat, her eyes snapping back to the floor, and the spell is broken. Ty and Emma separate after what feels like an hour, but in reality, it may have been a minute tops. What the fuck was that?
We all sit through dinner talking about everything: work, retirement, having teenagers, and plans for the future. We fall into a sort of old, familiar comfort with each other, though the tension between me and Gabbi remains palpable.
As dinner finishes, Ty suggests that we move to the living room.
Their house is similar to ours, with wood floors throughout, except they have a giant wood-burning fireplace in the corner of the living room.
Some camping chairs sit around a couple of moving boxes for stand-in furniture until the moving truck gets here.
Emma refills everyone’s wine glass, “Sorry about the furniture situation, we should have everything set up by the end of the week,” she explains.
“No worries, Em. We understand.” Emma smiles brightly at my words.
“So,” Gabbi starts, “you all said you have a proposal for us?” Gabbi’s wringing her hands in her lap, her face is a bit pale, and I think I see a light sweat on her hairline. She looks like she might puke.
Emma sits down next to Ty, and they interlock their hands while quickly looking at each other before turning to us. The suspense is fucking killing me.
Ty starts, “Sooo, we know your all’s situation,” I hear Gabbi take a huge breath of air before she takes a few gulps of wine.
“Ems and I think we might be able to help.” Another audible gulp of wine from Gabbi.
“All we ask is that you keep an open mind.” I look back over to her and see her anxiously shifting her eyes back and forth between Ty and Emma.
Her leg, bouncing a mile a minute, shaking the fabric of her dress loose, showing off a bit of her smooth, delicious thighs.
Again, my mouth starts to salivate, only this time it’s not the smells in the room.
Emma notices, “Gabbi? Are you okay?” Gabbi looks like a deer in headlights, eyes wide, but her leg stops.
“Yes,” she squeaks, then clears her throat, “I mean, yes.” She corrects her voice, but not before I let out a small chuckle. Then I get the death glare. “What? Aren’t you worried about what they’re gonna say?” She snaps at me, eyes narrowed.
I shrug my shoulders, “Not really,” she rolls her eyes.
She’s so fucking cute when she does that, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking about a time I would have taken her over my knee for being so sassy.
Man, she used to love that shit. “I trust Ty with our lives, and you know Emma wants us to be happy. No one knows us like they do, G. Let’s just hear them out.
” After a moment of silence, she nods once and takes another gulp of wine.
I nod over to Ty, “Go ahead, brother, what do ya got?”
Emma stands, walks over to Gabbi, and squats down in front of her, gently grabbing her hands.
“Gabbi, Tyson and I would like to teach you and Victor how to love each other again.” Emma stops there for a moment, letting her words sink in.
“We went through something similar when Tyson retired, and though the way we rebuilt our relationship was unconventional, we think something similar could help you all.”
Emma stands slowly and goes back to her place next to Ty, running her hand through his hair.
The move is simple, but I can feel their sexual connection gust across my face like wind.
“How? H.. How would that work? What, what do you mean by unconventional?” Gabbi’s voice sounds heavy, almost sultry, but still nervous. What is going on with her?
Ty responds this time, “When Emma and I were struggling, there was a couple that offered us their help.” Ty pauses and looks up at Emma.
The electricity between them incites goosebumps along my arms. “To make a long story short, we became intimate with this other couple, and they showed us how to get back to each other.”
Gabbi’s eyes almost bug out of her head while I sputter into my cup. Ty clarifies, “That’s not necessarily what we are suggesting with you. There are other techniques.”
Gabbi guzzles the last half of her wine while Ty is explaining.
Well, this is going well. I’m trying to slowly process this information when Gabbi interrupts Ty, “ Wait….will we all, like, be naked? In front of each other? Like, having sex? Together? In one room?” Her nervous chuckle comes through her words, but I’m not sure she meant to let that out.
Emma’s eyes turn soft and understanding, “Possibly. But it’ll only be to your comfort level, Gabbi. It’s truly whatever you and Vic are comfortable with. If you want to do this, we’ll sit down and have a detailed conversation about comfort levels and rules.”
Gabbi sits quietly for a moment and looks down at her hands, intertwined around the empty wine glass.
If she squeezes the glass any harder, it might burst. She slowly looks up at me and meets my eyes, looking like a scared animal forced into a corner.
“I have to go.” It comes out below a whisper.
“I have to go.” Gabbi continues to repeat herself, getting louder and louder each time as she puts her glass down and walks out of the Harris’ house.
We all stand. Ty puts his hand on my shoulder as we walk toward the door.
“Think about it, man. You and Gabbi talk about it this week, and let us know. We want this for you all; we want you to get back to where you all used to be. Don’t forget, I was around in high school when you all first started exploring your relationship. I know the fire you guys once were.
“Someone helped us when we were at our lowest. We just want to be able to do the same thing for you. Just think about it.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Look at her this week. I mean, really look. Talk to her if you can. See if there’s still something there you want to save.”
I hug Emma and grab Ty’s bicep, “Thank you both. This took a lot of guts to offer. I’ll give it thought this week and encourage Gabbi to do the same.”
Walking into the house, I expect to see Gabbi sitting at the Kitchen island, but she’s not there. The lights are off and the house is silent. I walk up the stairs and knock on Gabbi’s bedroom door. After a few seconds, I hear her. She’s crying. “G, can I come in?” No response. “Gabbi?”
After what feels like forever, I hear her voice, it’s so soft, “No. Vic, I just want to go to bed.” She sounds so tired.
I run my hands along the divots in her wooden door, trying to feel her presence through it.
Dropping my forehead to the door, I imagine wrapping my arms around her soft, warm body.
Breathing in her smell of lilies and the ginger essence of her hair.
I hate hearing her cry. I’ve always hated when she cries. “Okay, baby. We can talk tomorrow.”
Baby? Hmm. Not sure where that came from. Maybe Ty’s comment got to me.
Don’t forget, man, I was around in high school when you all first started exploring your relationship. I know the fire you guys once were.
Yeah, we were definitely fire.