Chapter 7
Ellie watched, heart hammering, as Becca walked back to the booth where Kelly had been studiously doing everything but look their way…
a little thing but Ellie appreciated that she had the sense to give them a few moments of space.
Kelly had composed herself, dress smoothed down, hair pushed back, a slight flush still visible on her cheeks and neck but otherwise poised.
She looked at Becca, then at Ellie, her expression was warm and open but also cautious, a woman trying to read a situation she'd presumably never been in before.
When Becca held out her hand she took it and let herself be led over until her and Becca were stood in front of Ellie.
She couldn’t help but notice that neither woman had let go, their hands still held, and Ellie felt that increasingly familiar jolt of jealousy followed by something far, far hotter.
That’s my wife, followed by, fuck you look good together.
Up close, Kelly was even prettier than she'd seemed from across the room.
Blue eyes, bright and a little wild, a scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks that her deep tan didn't quite hide, and a smile that was wide and genuine yet also more than a little conspiratorial, as if she was perpetually on the verge of telling you something equal parts hilarious and scandalous.
She had the kind of face that made you want to lean in and hear whatever she was about to say, and Ellie felt an immediate, instinctive liking for her that had nothing to do with the sexual charge of the evening and everything to do with the fact that Kelly seemed like genuinely good company.
She could see why Becca had reacted to her the way she had.
"Nice to meet you Ellie," Kelly said, and her voice had a warmth to it that matched the rest of her, a Texan drawl that marked her out as a long term local.
She was grinning, not smiling… actually grinning, a grin you couldn't fake.
"I have to tell you, when Becca explained the situation I nearly fell off my seat. "
"In a good way or a bad way?" Ellie asked.
"In a very good way." Kelly shook her head slightly, still grinning.
"I'm not new to this kind of thing, me and my boyfriend have an arrangement, we play with other people from time to time, but I've never had someone's wife come up and essentially say 'I’m into you, she’s into watching, let's go.
' That's a first. And believe me, I have had some firsts. "
“Shall we get a drink?”
“I’ll get… you two talk,” Becca said, letting go of Kelly’s hand and disappearing before either woman could object.
They stood in silence for a few moments, looking at each other, then Kelly grinned again and Ellie couldn’t help but grin back.
It was so good to hear that Kelly wasn't just willing, she was excited.
More than that, she understood the terrain.
She'd done things not a million miles from this before, she’d know the dynamics, the etiquette, some of the minefields. That changed everything.
"You have a boyfriend?" Ellie asked, not judgmentally, just wanting to understand.
"Colt. And yes, that's his real name." Kelly rolled her eyes affectionately.
"He's back on our place in the hill country this weekend.
He knows I'm out, he knows I might meet someone. We've been doing this for a couple of years, women only if he’s not there. No secrets, no drama. I have to tell him, though. After.”
Ellie nodded, pretending she understood when Kelly had just described the sort of open relationship that was a million miles from her and Becca’s lived experience. “This is our first time doing this,” she admitted.
“Becca told me.” She smiled reassuringly as she said it, and Ellie felt relief wash over her.
They'd stumbled into the best possible version of this scenario: a woman who was attracted to Becca, experienced with non-monogamy, in a relationship where this was apparently explicitly permitted, and who seemed to find the whole thing genuinely thrilling rather than weird.
Becca came back over with three beers and handed them round. Ellie was grateful that they were chilled, it really was warm tucked away in the depths of the bar like this.
"So," Kelly said, leaning forward to make sure she was heard over the music, her blue eyes bright.
"Are you sure about this? Because what just happened in that booth...
" She glanced at Becca and Ellie saw her cheeks flush.
"That was intense. And Ellie, I'm very attracted to your wife. Very. I want to be really clear about what I'm walking into, because I'm the type who goes all in when I go in, and I don’t think y’all are done with me tonight, are you?”
Ellie appreciated the directness. She appreciated that Kelly wasn't being coy or deferential, that she was asking the question that needed to be asked and looking Ellie in the eye while she did it.
"I'm sure," Ellie said. "What I watched just now was..." She paused, searching for the honest answer, the one that was true rather than the one that sounded right. "It was everything I'd imagined and more. I want to see where tonight goes. All three of us. Me watching you two.”
“You don’t want to join in? Because I’m down.”
Ellie saw Becca’s sharp intake of breath, watched her expression tighten as she looked at Ellie.
Ellie just smiled though… she knew that Becca absolutely did not share the same desire to watch her or share her, nor did Ellie have any desire to do anything with anyone who wasn’t Becca.
This was a one way thing and it worked precisely because of that.
“No. I think you’re stunning, but I watch.
That ok?” She saw Becca exhale, a little smile signalling her gratitude.
Kelly looked at her for a beat, then at Becca, then back at Ellie. The grin came back, wider this time. "I get to have your gorgeous wife all to myself? Then I am having the best Saturday night of my entire life right now and I need y'all to know that."
Becca leaned closer. "We were thinking somewhere more private. Our place. But we need to leave separately from our friends, they don't know about any of this." She looked at Ellie. "Can you go and tell them we're heading out? I don't feel well, you’re taking me home, whatever works."
"What about Kelly?"
"Kelly leaves five minutes after us and meets us down the street. There's a taco place on the corner of 6th and Congress, we'll wait for you there?" She looked at Kelly, who nodded.
"That works, I know the place. Give me your number and text me when you're there."
Becca pulled out her phone and they swapped numbers. Ellie watched this small, practical transaction, two women swapping contacts so they could coordinate a hookup, and felt a surreal mix of amusement and arousal at the mundanity of it, the banality of the logistics of desire.
"One thing," Ellie said, and both women looked at her. "Add me to the chat too. In case we text after, all three of us are on the thread. No private messages, no side conversations. Everything in the open."
Kelly looked at Becca, then back at Ellie. "That's fair. Completely."
Becca reached across and squeezed Ellie's hand. "I'll set up the group chat now. Kelly, give us ten minutes and then head out."
Kelly smiled at both of them. "Ten minutes. I'll be there."
***
Ellie went back to find their friends while Becca waited near the entrance.
Hannah, Leah, and Sophie were on the outdoor patio by now, deep in conversation with a group of women they'd met, the night clearly going well for at least one of them based on the body language Leah was directing at a redhead in a denim jacket.
"Hey, we're going to head out," Ellie said, leaning in so Hannah could hear her. "Becca's not feeling great, I think the mezcal caught up with her."
Hannah looked concerned. "She ok?"
"Yeah, just tired and a bit nauseous. Nothing dramatic. You guys stay, have fun."
"Tell her to drink water," Sophie said without looking up from her phone, a very Sophie response to any problem.
Ellie hugged them each and slipped away, finding Becca by the door. They walked out into the night air, cool and clean after the heat of the bar. Ellie took a deep breath and felt her head clear slightly.
They started walking towards the rendezvous without speaking. Ellie could feel Becca’s excitement next to her… not literally, but the energy coming off her was palpable, a mix of excitement, nervousness and residual arousal that Ellie could almost taste in the air between them.
After half a block Becca said, "That went well."
"The part where you came on another woman's fingers in a bar, or the part where I lied to our friends about you being nauseous?"
Becca burst out laughing, the sort of full, unguarded laugh that Ellie loved most, and Ellie started laughing too. For a moment the enormity of what was about to happen receded and they were just a married couple cracking up on a sidewalk on a Saturday night.
"Both," Becca said when she'd caught her breath. "Definitely both."
They reached the taco place on the corner and waited outside, Becca texting the group chat to say they were there. The street was busy enough to give them anonymity but quiet enough that they could talk, and they stood close, holding hands, waiting.
"She's nice," said Ellie.
"She is. She's really nice. And El..." Becca turned to look at her, and her expression was that same complicated mix from the booth, arousal, vulnerability and love all tangled together.
"Looking at you while she was... while that was happening...
that was the most connected I've ever felt to you. That sounds insane but it's true."
"It doesn't sound insane. I felt it too. Where I was standing, I felt it."
Both of their phones buzzed. A message from Kelly on their group chat:
Leaving now. Be there in five. x
They glanced at each other, and Ellie felt her pulse quicken again, the laughter of a minute ago giving way to the reality of what was about to happen.
"Last chance to change your mind," Becca said softly.
Ellie reached up and touched the two necklaces at her throat. She could feel them both, warm from her skin, the twin pendants resting side by side.
"Not a chance," she said. “Same for you?”
“Not a chance.”