Jack of Diamonds, Redux

Chapter 8 with edits...

And these are the changes I made. What about you? And wouldn’t you know it, one of the 3 paid subscribers is here tonight, so I’ll probably have to read this out loud to her in the morning. (There was a moderate amount of wine consumed.)

CHAPTER 8

She heard the bedroom door opening and held her breath, trying to steady her breathing; it wasn’t difficult for her to anticipate his needs. He wasn’t trying to be quiet about it. He’d never be a good thief, she told herself, not after having met Artie. Still, she could sense Rodger standing at the foot of the bed, staring down at her, and for a moment she wondered what Artie thought, watching her with the man she suspected was being unfaithful to her…Artie, the living fantasy of their rôle-playing games.

She peeked through half-closed eyelids, barely able to discern her husband’s figure standing in the soft light of the moon spilling through the French doors. She couldn’t see his face, not even the small, clipped moustache he’d had since the Great War, just the gleam of his scalp under the receding hairline. She watched as he slowly removed his jacket and tie.

“Are you awake, Darling? You’d better be,” he added, the threat in his voice almost comical under the circumstances. “Because I’ve come to have my wicked ways with you.”

“You’re drunk,” she said, pulling herself up onto one elbow, looking at him. A whimsical smile crossed her face, as she thought about Artie staring down at her only moments before, him wrapping his arms around her head and pumping himself into her—that moment forgotten in the mounting excitement of what was about to happen.

She could see Roger’s eyes dancing in the moonlight, his face gleaming with a sheen of sweat. And behind him, she could see Artie’s silhouette standing on the balcony, now standing closer to the open doors, listening, his shadow a smear on the lace curtains blowing in the breeze.

“I’d given up expecting you tonight,” she said absently. “I thought for certain that you’d be staying in London, with her,” she added. “Where’s Simco?”

“I gave him the night off,” Roger said with a grin. “I don’t need his help to undress. I’ve been doing it on my own long before he came along. And as for this her you keep talking about, I told you, there is no her. She’s simply someone you’ve made up in your over-active imagination.”

“A gentleman always has a mistress,” she said softly.

“I’m sure he does, but I’m not much of a gentleman, am I?”

He was starting to raise his voice, and she let herself sink into the pillows waiting for what was coming.

What game are we playing tonight?

“Maybe you’re not, but I never said you weren’t, you did,” she replied.

“What? That I’m not a gentleman? Please. You don’t have to patronize me. Your whole family feels that way about me, and you know it. Your father’s the one who insisted I have Simco in the first place. Interviewed him himself, he did. If I’d've wanted a valet, you’d think I’d be the one doing the interviewing, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m certain that was not his intent,” she replied, pulling the blankets up to her chin and working her hand inside her negligee, seeking out the moist cleft between her thighs.