The Arrangement 1 Page 2

  She pulled up outside the restaurant and a valet took her keys from her. The boy couldn’t have been much older than eighteen and he was beautiful with his suntan and messy blonde hair. Usually April would have gotten a kick out of that, maybe even said something flirty, but tonight she was just too nervous. All it did was remind her of how attractive the waitresses were going to be when she got inside.

  She prayed that she would at least be better looking than some of the partners’ wives. It wasn’t that she was vain or competitive. That wasn’t it at all, and usually she would take pleasure in the beauty of other women she was in the company of. It was just that with all the upheaval of the last few days she was feeling vulnerable and insecure. She couldn’t help it. If there was one fault she had it was her insecurity and she knew it, but it was something she just couldn’t change and so would be struggling with it for the foreseeable future.

  She entered the glitzy restaurant and the maître d’ welcomed her. He nodded knowingly when she told him her name. It was the kind of place where they acquainted themselves with the guest list at the start of each evening. He took her coat from her and then brought her to a round table at the back of the restaurant. She walked past men and women who probably ran the country when they weren’t dining. When she got to the table she was surprised to see that none of the other wives were there. It was just Walter and the three other partners sitting there smoking cigars like it was boy’s night and they were about to have a poker game.

  They were laughing at something that must have been very funny when the maître d’ announced her and pulled out her seat. The four men stopped laughing and rose courteously in their seats while she sat. Then they sat back down.

  —Gentlemen, you know my wife, April. April, this is Herb, Frank and Pete.

  She’d met them all at various functions down through the years of course but Walter hadn’t been a partner then and so she had never really been introduced to any of them on equal terms. She had to admit, sitting here with them all, being given their full attention like this did make her feel a little special.

  She smiled as graciously as she knew how and bowed her head a little. They were all older than Walter, in their fifties, Herb in his sixties, and she knew she could charm the pants off them now that she had them to herself. She was also pleased to see that their waiter was a man. The evening was looking up.

  They ate a delicious meal, accompanied by even more delicious wine, and throughout the evening all four men were exceedingly attentive to her. They ordered for her of course, but she found this to be a pleasure as the waiter brought out plate after plate of the finest and most expensive delicacies on the menu. Then at the end of the meal, while she was sipping coffee and the men were drinking cognac, Herb raised his glass.

  —Well my dear, he said, addressing April, you’ve been an absolute darling.

  The other men, including Walter, all agreed and rose their glasses.

  Herb continued. —We just wanted to take this night to welcome you to the Shepherd & Wedderburn family. And I don’t say that lightly, my dear. To me this firm, these men sitting around the table and their wives, are my family. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

  Herb was a bit flushed from the alcohol he’d been enjoying. April was too, but she gave him the most gracious smile she could and mouthed silently, thank you.

  —I’m honored to be included in the family, she said to the table and she meant it.

  V

  THERE WAS NO WAY ANY of them was fit to drive home that night. Herb had the firm’s car service send two cars to take them home, one for April and Walter, one for the other three who were all going back to The Oaks. They could pick up their own cars from the restaurant’s valet in the morning.

  April felt tipsy as they waited by the bar for the cars to arrive. At one point she noticed that all four men were flirting with her and she liked it. She felt like she was being given a new position of power and belonging in her life, like she really was joining a family. They were all saying how adorable she looked standing there, like a girl waiting to be picked up from school, and she looked at Walter and he looked as if he’d never been happier.

  Their marriage hadn’t always been easy, Walter could be very controlling and jealous, but tonight he was so different. She felt as though he was proud of her and proud to be her husband. Right in front of the other three men she grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him in to her and kissed him.

  Then she felt a hand grab her bum. It felt right, she was kissing Walter after all, but suddenly it dawned on her that it wasn’t Walter’s hand. And what was really surprising was that the hand was beneath the skirt of her dress. Walter was holding her head with both of his hands as he kissed her, and someone else was squeezing her bum. Someone else’s hand was right on the skin of her buttock, and was showing no intention of leaving any time soon. She felt a throb of lust and desire in her thighs and she kissed Walter with renewed passion. She didn’t know whose hand it was holding her bottom but whoever it was, they were being extremely bold. They were still holding her bum and squeezing the cheeks, fondling her bum and pulling at the elastic on her thong.

  And of all the things that could have been going through April’s head at that moment, the thing she was most concerned with was that her bum be pleasant and attractive to whoever was holding it. She was glad now of all the hours she’d spent exercising and toning it in the gym. She was certain it felt firm and pert. She wished briefly that all of the partners would give it a squeeze and see how hard she’d worked on it.

  She imagined being naked in front of all four of them. Her, April Masterson, standing in front of four of the wealthiest and most powerful lawyers in Washington, and doing whatever they wanted. The thought thrilled her and she squirmed with pleasure as the hand slipped a finger inside her underpants.

  It was completely unlike her to be so reckless. She didn’t know what Walter would do if he ever found out she’d let that happen. She was relieved when the hand left her bum. Walter let her go at the same time and she looked at him with an embarrassed smile. He knew nothing of what had been going on under her skirt. She was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

  The night had been fun but she wanted the car to arrive now and take her home. She loved her husband after all, and she would die if anything happened tonight to upset him.

  Luckily the cars arrived within the next minute or two and she was saying goodnight to everyone. They each kissed her on the cheek as she left the restaurant with Walter and for the life of her she couldn’t tell who it had been who’d held her bottom so boldly.

  Walter held the car door open for her and she climbed in. The car service the firm used was one of the best in the city. The cars looked like they carried someone important. The windows were tinted and the interior was of black leather. The drivers wore black uniforms with caps that made them looked faintly militaristic.

  April leaned against the door of the car and closed her eyes. She thought she would sleep till they got home but she should have known better. Walter seemed to be possessed with some new vigor that their marriage had never known. Even on their honeymoon he hadn’t been so frisky. He had never had such a vigorous sexual appetite and April had been fairly content to make love to him once or twice a month in their matrimonial bed. But now his hand was inside her skirt and he was playing with her. She couldn’t believe it. Not only was it so unlike Walter to do something like that, but to do it in a semi-public place, it was unheard of.

  She was sitting directly behind the driver, which she was grateful for because it meant she couldn’t be seen by him, but she still checked to see that he was facing forward and hadn’t noticed what was going on. He was still driving and hadn’t seemed to notice, and she let herself release a faint sigh of pleasure. Walter was actually doing a good job down there. His finger was inside her and he was moving it rhythmically in and out at just the right speed. She looked again to see if the driver had noticed but he hadn
’t. She leaned her head back on the seat and let Walter continue. She could feel herself getting more and more moist by the second.

  She reached over and took Walter by the neck and kissed him. It was possibly the most passionate kiss of their marriage and she drove her tongue into his mouth, something she rarely did. She was leaning on Walter now, on Walter’s side of the seat, and she knew that meant they would be in plain view of the driver. They would be clear as day in his rearview mirror but she didn’t care any more. If Walter was ok with it she was ok with it. She’d never been the prude in the relationship and she wasn’t about to start now.

  She got on Walter’s lap and kissed his neck and he kissed hers. Then he was fumbling with the back of her dress and she realized he was opening the zip. Oh my God, she thought. What had been in that cognac? This was not the Walter she knew at all. She tried to stop him playfully, she imagined that was probably what she was supposed to do in this situation, but he was genuinely persistent.

  —Walter, she said in his ear. What about the driver?

  —He works for the firm.

  —So?

  —So this is our car now. He works for me.

  April didn’t know how to respond. Did becoming partner really make such a difference to a man’s ego? If that was the case she’d give him a reward for finding so much new confidence.

  She let him open her dress. She had her back to the driver anyway, what did she care if he could see her back? Walter pulled down the front of her dress, then he opened the clasp of her bra and pulled that down too, exposing her breasts. He sucked her nipples and kissed her breasts and April let herself enjoy the thrill of it while she looked out past his head at the headlights of the cars behind them. She thought, what a story the driver would have to tell his buddies at the end of his shift.

  —Make me come, Walter said in her ear.

  Oh no! She should have known it would lead to this, they’d come to far now to stop, but how was she going to manage it with the driver right there? She got off Walter’s lap and covered her breasts with her arm. She was behind the driver again and thankfully had a little cover from his sight. They were getting out of town and the road was getting a little darker, which helped. Walter was undoing his trousers and she got down and helped him get his dick out of them. She’d never seen it so big. He looked ready to explode already and she hadn’t even touched him.

  She got up and kneeled on her seat so that she could get her mouth down onto Walter. Her dress was still down around her waist and her bra was on the floor somewhere by Walter’s feet. She tried to hide her face from the driver but there’d be no hiding the back of her blonde head bobbing up and down on Walter’s crotch. She prayed she’d never see this driver again. She felt foolish on the seat, her butt in the air, but she had passed beyond her usual boundaries of modesty and she wondered if there was anything they wouldn’t do.

  She kissed Walter’s tip and let her tongue glide around it in little circular motions. She could almost feel the anticipation in his penis, like it was throbbing with desire and wanting to come all over her face. She played with him, lightly licking and sucking the tip of the penis, trying to get into a position that was comfortable. Walter had pulled back the skirt of her dress now. He pulled it up around her waist so that he could play with her thong—now she really was in full view. The driver would have a perfect view of her little ass, the ass that one of Walter’s partners had been so freely fondling just moments earlier. This was a night she would never forget.

  Suddenly Walter pushed her head down and his cock filled her mouth. She’d never had him so deeply in her mouth in her life. He was acting completely out of character, it was like his promotion had given him a new personality altogether, and she was excited by it. Walter held her head down on the cock and then released so that she could breath and then he pushed her right back down. Her face was right in his pubes and the cock was at the back of her throat. She was surprised to find that she didn’t feel like gagging—not at all. She was giving deep-throat as if she was a complete natural and she was enjoying it. And their driver was watching. Who would have ever foreseen this? Not April, that was for sure.

  Walter pushed her down on the cock ten, twenty, thirty times until it all became too much for him. He let out a groan of pleasure as he filled her throat with semen. She stayed bent over his penis and swallowed everything he gave her. Then she sucked the cock as if she might be able to coax some more out of it.

  Then she got up. Walter was sitting in his seat contentedly, eyes looking straight ahead as if nothing had happened at all. She could tell though that he was completely satisfied. She did up his pants and then sat in her own seat with as much dignity as she could muster. She was a mess. Her lipstick was all over her mouth, her makeup was smudged, her hair was everywhere. She straightened her dress and tried to cover herself with it. Walter didn’t help her. He didn’t even respond when she asked him to pass her the bra that was by his feet on the floor. She had to bend down and reach for it herself. As she came back up she saw Walter wink at the driver whose eye he’d caught in the rearview mirror.

  He was a new man. She couldn’t believe it. It was as if she no longer knew him. That thought frightened her but also excited her, and she had to admit this new man had her attention more than the old Walter ever had.

  VI

  AFTER THE NIGHT AT THE RESTAURANT, and in the back of the car, April couldn’t bring herself to complain to Walter about the firm making so many decisions on their behalf. So what if they were taking the initiative, she thought. Someone had to, and from what she had seen, every decision was being made in her family’s absolute best interests. She had no business whatsoever in questioning them.

  On Saturday morning a black town car pulled up outside the house and she climbed into the back seat with the two girls. Walter had been called in to the office but she really had no need for him. Everything had been taken care of. The house was practically empty. Their beds and a few essentials were still there but the packers had been directed on what to do with those things and they would all be moved to the new house before the end of the day. Their other belongings would be waiting for her to be unpacked. She was glad she’d taken such care with the packing, keeping everything organized and labeled. Unpacking would be a breeze.

  She sat in the back between the two girls and tried to get them excited about the move. It was a pretty easy task. They had seen the photos of the new house and had heard April’s description of their rooms and were already dying to see the place for themselves. They couldn’t believe it when she told them they would have their own swimming pool and hot tub.

  She’d hardly given the driver a second thought but now she looked up and saw him looking directly at her in his rearview mirror. It was the same driver they’d had on Thursday night. She couldn’t believe it. She was mortified. She looked away from him but she felt his eyes on her and knew he was looking at her. He’d seen her ass bobbing in the air like a prostitute just a couple of days ago, of course he would look.

  —Can I help you? she said.

  Immediately, the driver looked away.

  —No, ma’am.

  —Keep your eyes on the road then.

  Where did that come from? It felt good to be so assertive. She’d never been like that before. It seemed both her and Walter were finding new confidence in life. She looked at the driver now. He was older than she was, maybe forty-five, and foreign. She felt powerful. His job depended on her husband. She knew what it was like to worry about her family’s security and she was sure this driver did too.

  —How long have you driven for this company? she said.

  —Ma’am?

  —The car service?

  The driver sighed. He was in trouble now and he knew it.

  —Eight years, ma’am.

  —Eight years. And what’s your name.

  The driver was crestfallen.

  —Akbar, he said. He was really scared now.

  —Well keep your
eyes forward, Akbar, and you won’t have any trouble.

  —Yes, ma’am.

  She looked out the window at the trees passing by. She was pleased with herself. It was the first taste of power she’d had in her life and she liked it. They passed some kids getting on a school bus and she wondered about the school arrangements she’d have to make for the girls now that they were in a new neighborhood. She was certain Walter would want to put them somewhere new. There would be no point driving across town to keep them in the schools they were in. The other partners probably knew of great schools in this area that their own kids had attended. The firm had taken such good care of everything she was certain that schools would be no different. She’d speak about it with the other wives when she got a chance.

  She thought about the other wives and realized she didn’t know them at all, she didn’t even know what they looked like. She’d probably met them at various functions over the years but she’d met so many people at those things she’d never been able to keep track of who was who.

  She looked at Akbar again. He was handsome enough, for his age at least. He looked Mediterranean. It gave her a flush to think of what he’d seen. She wondered if he’d thought of her cute little ass later that night when he got home. She wondered how much cuter her ass was than his wife’s, assuming he had a wife. She didn’t know what it was but during the last few days, ever since the night at the restaurant, she felt incredibly desirable, as if every man that saw her could sense how rich and important she was becoming and wanted nothing more than to get inside her.

  She wondered then if Walter had arranged for Akbar to be the driver to embarrass her. It was too much of a coincidence that he was her driver again, especially so soon after what had happened on the way home from the restaurant. And Walter had been so insistent that she get a car to drive her and the girls to the new house for their grand arrival. He said it was the only way to make an entrance to a place like that. She liked the idea, and in any case no one had picked up her car from the restaurant yet so she had no choice.