A Tangled Web

"Hi Winnie," Margo said as Winnie headed her way. "What a beautiful morning. Bob gave me the cake pan last week. I'd totally forgotten about it. How was your trip?"

"Oh we had such fun!" Winnie said. "You know I've never done much of that kind of thing, but doing something new can be so exciting, can't it."

"Yes, it can," Margo said, glancing across the lawn at Bob.

"I think my brother was up to something though," Winnie said. "I found two of my favorite glasses broken in the garage trash can, and he's strangely silent about it."

"Oh, that's a shame," Margo said, remembering how her legs went spastic during one of her monumental orgasms, knocking over a small patio table. She and Bob laughed hysterically at the wreckage, his big cock picking up speed again turning Margo's laugh into a singing moan.

Bob never joined the conversation, keeping his distance that Sunday morning, talking to an old high school chum of his. Christie and Rob wandered over after Winnie had moved on.

"I love that dress!" Christie said to Margo. "I'm proud of you, showing a little skin at church."

"I'm not sure that's the kind of conversation the Reverend it trying to foster here," Rob said with a chuckle.

"I bought it the other day. Conservatism be damned I say!" Margo said a little to exuberantly. She blushed when a few people looked her way.

Derek and Rob started chatting so Christie pulled Margo aside, walking her casually into the church's flower gardens.

"Seriously, what's up with you, you look different," Christie asked, looking at Margo over the top of her sunglasses.

"Oh. Nothing. What do you mean?" Margo said as a shot of adrenaline hit her.

"I don't know. You look better. You and Derek better?"

"No, it's all the same," Margo said casually.

"Hmm. Okay honey. You can talk to me if you want. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Margo said.

"Why is he single?" Christie said, looking at the backside of Bob at the donut table. "Do you think he's gay?"

"No!" Margo said firmly. "I've got pretty good gaydar, and he doesn't even register. No, he can make a woman happy."

"I wouldn't mind a piece of that, I'll tell ya. Matt's a hot little firecracker, but there's something about him. Damn he wears his clothes good, doesn't he? I better get outta here. You're not supposed to get all hot and bothered at a church social. See ya honey."

Margo stood alone amongst the flowers after Christie walked away, looking at Bob. A piece of that? Is that what she had had? Was it really that crude, that casual? She suddenly felt sick, like her stomach was twisted in knots.

Back at home, as she and Derek changed out of their church clothes, she knew she had to broach the subject, at least approaching it from the edges.

"We haven't had sex in so long, I was just wondering...are we all right?" Margo said.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine, aren't we?" Derek said. "I thought that was sort of over."

"Do you want it to be?" Margo said quietly, trying to control the emotions flooding into her. She was standing in her bra and panties, watching Derek pull on a pair of shorts.

He walked away without answering her. She followed him into the bathroom, not pressing, just continuing the quiet conversation.

"So how do you see it, when a married couple has...different needs?" she asked. "Like in the old movies. It'd always be the man of course. He'd just go get something on the side."

"Well this is the twenty-first century. Women can do what they want now," Derek said. "Look, I've never had a problem with casual affairs, as long as nobody gets embarrassed."

"You've never had a problem with affairs?" Margo asked, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Is there something I should know?"

"No. That's just the point. If something happened, no one was embarrassed, no harm came of it, life moved on as if nothing had happened. This whole 'need to know' thing is what screws everything up."

Margo couldn't believe her ears. Derek had had something, someone, or maybe more than someone, on the side at some point. That had to be what he was saying, in his usual round-about Derek way.

"How did we get on this anyway?" he asked. "Oh, yeah," he said, remembering. "Look, I'm not going to ask you if there's anything I should know, because I don't want to know, all right?" He kissed her on the forehead. "I love you sweetheart, I hope you know that," he said. He walked away, into the living room, and switched on the TV.

Margo was stunned. She sat on the edge of the bed trying to process it all, listening to the sound of the golf tournament Derek was watching on the television. There was a loud THWACK when somebody teed off. Someone in the crowd yelled "Get in the hole!"

———————

The next morning, pulling weeds from the pachysandra in the front garden, a hundred questions rattled around in Margo's head. Did her husband really give her permission to have sex on the side? Did he really have an affair, or was she just misinterpreting what he said? Who would it have been, one of the girls he worked with? Was he still doing it? Maybe that's what he was getting at. Who could it be? Certainly not anyone from the neighborhood! Christie?! Or Joanie?! Lord knows Christie'd probably do it, And Joanie, she'd seemed pretty casual the other day about the subject of affairs. Margo tossed a huge handful of weeds into a wheelbarrow. I really do have to keep after this garden, she thought, as she wiped sweat from her brow.

Margo took a break, sitting in the shade of her magnolia tree, and tried to settle down the rapid fire thoughts. She closed her eyes and practiced her yoga breathing. Usually it cleared her mind, but not that day. A vision of Derek fucking Christie came into focus, like a CinemaScope movie screen in her mind. Whoever was directing the movie had the presence of mind to zoom out, and there, next to them, was Hector fucking Margo like an animal.

Strange, she thought, all these thoughts of Derek having sex, when he doesn't seem interested in it anymore. But maybe that's why. Maybe he's getting his fill on the side. Maybe that's what I should do, Margo thought. Maybe that's what I'm already doing.

Margo didn't know where to turn. Talking to Joan or Christie would have been the usual thing, but all the crazy thoughts, and the unknown about what was going on, made her reluctant. She went inside and turned on her laptop, delving into the mysterious world of swinging and open marriages. What she read fascinated her, even if most of it was different from what Derek was talking about. And then she found it. Don't ask, don't tell. It was a thing. There were other couples that had that kind of a marriage. But not everything she read was good. Some crashed and burned, while others thrived. Sticking to it seemed to be the key — don't snoop into your spouses affairs, and keep your own clean and private.

Margo took a deep breath. She pulled out her yoga mat and turned on her music. The world seemed to have changed, and she needed to lose herself for a while.

———————

Margo made a nice romantic dinner for Derek. Candle light, wine, a pretty dress.

"So, when we talked yesterday, I just want to be clear," she said. "Don't ask, don't tell? Is that...am I coming to the right conclusions? It's all a bit confusing to me."

"Yeah. I mean if you ever have an affair, I sure wouldn't want to know about it."

"If I ever? You don't think I have already?"

"It's not a subject I actively think about. Would you want to know?"

"If I were you, or if I were me?"

"Look Margo, I guess maybe I'm different. Modern maybe, I don't know what you'd call it. Let me put it bluntly — if you'd like to enjoy yourself in certain ways, I don't think it's all that much different from other pursuits. Hobbies, you know? You have hobbies, I have hobbies. At the end of the day we have a nice home together. That's what makes the world go 'round."

"I always knew you were open minded, but wow! It's a good thing I've had a couple glasses of wine!"

"So, do we understand each other?" Derek said, sounding a little to business-like.

"I need to say it out loud, because I'm still not quite believing it all," Margo said. "Sex with other people, as a sort of...hobby."

"I guess 'hobby' sounds a little silly doesn't it. Just keep it to yourself Margo. Please?"

"Yeah," Margo said quietly, not quite believing what just happened.

———————

"Is Matt still entertaining you?" Margo said.

She and Christie were walking briskly in the park, a once-in-a-while thing Christie usually initiated to 'get some exercise'.

"Oh my God!" Christie said. "That boy's somethin' else!"

"So when did you become such a slut anyway?" Margo asked playfully.

"Ha! You didn't know me when I was a teenager. Fuck, I was insane back then. Married men, some of them three times my age, teachers. The grocer for goodness sake! My mother didn't know what to do with me. My father disowned me. Yeah, my slut side runs deep."

"How come I never knew?" Margo asked. "I guess I wasn't paying attention."

There was an awkward silence.

"I don't tell everybody everything. There's been some men I shouldn't have gotten involved with," she said sheepishly.

Margo got an inkling of something she maybe shouldn't know. Did the don't ask, don't tell thing work from all angles she wondered?

"What about Rob? Does he know about any of it?"

"Oh...yeah. I mean we've been thought some rough patches. He doesn't know about Matt or..."

Another awkward pause.

"You got more than him going on?" Margo asked.

"I'm sorry Margo. I can't seem to help it. I'm not proud of it all."

I'm sorry Margo? What did that mean, Margo wondered?

"So what happens with your rough patches? Rob just lets it slide, or what?"

"Yeah, I wish! No, he goes ballistic. But I know he's fucked around too. I mean what guy hasn't? It's such a fuckin' double standard. Pisses me off. I bet there's hardly a guy in Trentburg that hasn't fucked around."

"What about Derek?" Margo asked. "Do you think he's faithful?"

"Derek?" she said, pausing again. "You know, faithful's such a loaded word. He loves you, I know that."

Margo decided to end her questioning. Not prying was important, according to the website she read about the don't ask don't tell thing, and she was smart enough to see why it was important. Like Derek said, would she really want to know about what she was starting to think was happening between Derek and Christie? And if her questioning got more pointed, what if she was wrong?

"So tell me about Matt's cock," Margo said.

"Margo!" Christie said with a big, surprised smile. "All right sister friend! I'll make a slut out of you yet."

———————

"Hi Matt, how's it going?" Margo said.

"Oh hi Mrs...oh, uh...Margo?"

"Yup. No Mrs. I mean it is, I am, but not to you. Just Margo," she said, totally flubbing the smooth flirting she was going for.

"Okay," Matt said with a knowing smile. "So what can I do for ya?"

"Oh, um, gas? Fifty I guess. And...uh, a candy bar," Margo said, sounding like a totally flustered teenager. She should never have pictured his cock when she walked in, at least not the way Christie described it, like a cross between the energizer bunny and Thor's hammer.

"You don't look like you eat many candy bars," Matt said, his bright but mysterious eyes flirting like an eighteen-year-old devil, taking in all of Margo. "Are you into athletics?" he asked.

"I was. Gymnastics in college. Just yoga now. It's good though."

"I love yoga!" Matt said. "Yeah, I knew you had to be into somethin' like that. You're just so..."

"So what? Old?" Margo smirked.

"No!" Matt said emphatically. "Way not old!"

Margo smiled like a schoolgirl with her first crush. Way not old? The nicest three words she'd heard in a long time.

Six hours later, Margo was deep into don't ask, don't tell territory. There she was, in a messy, low-budget apartment, having a threeway with the gas station boy and one of her best friends, a woman who she was pretty sure was having an affair with her husband. What was in the water in Trentburg, LSD?

"Oh God!" she grunted as Matt's long cock slithered in and out of her at an impossibly fast speed. Doggie style with a long lasting lover had quickly become her favorite position, the one most likely to blast her off like a rocketship.

"Did I tell ya?" Christie said as she tried to get her hand on Matt's fast moving balls. "Isn't he incredible?"

Matt smiled at Christie's words, his athletic young body gleaming with sweat as he soldiered on, his pelvis thrusting as if on autopilot, minute after glorious minute.

"Fuuuuuccck!" Margo groaned when the big one finally washed over her. Her voice sounded like it came from the depths of the earth.

Matt's machine like fucking had gone on for a longer time than she could fathom, lifting her to what felt like an alternate reality, a place of pure energy. The boy was astonishing. Were others his age the same? Oh good God, she thought, she might have to find out.

The evening was full of orgasms, although none were shared between Margo and Christie. There was a little touching, but nothing too carnal. Neither one was experienced with such things, and considering the rest of their 'connections', neither one seemed to want to go there. Little matter though; young Matt was lover enough for both of them, with an enormous amount of youthful energy, and a truly amazing perpetually hard cock.

"It goes without saying Derek never hears about this, right?" Margo said when the long, sweaty session was over. The girls were getting dressed and Matt was in the bathroom.

"Yeah," Christie said.

"I mean for real. He doesn't want to know what I do, and I don't want to know what he does."

"You two have an arrangement?" Christie asked, sounding surprised.

"We're trying it out. So far so good. You understand though Christie? I know you talk to him now and then. Don't tell him anything about me. It'll spoil things. For everybody."

Christie could sense that Margo knew about her ongoing affair with Derek. "Yeah, sure," she said softly, with her heart racing. "I won't tell him."

———————

The Plastics company Derek and Hector work for has a big summer picnic every year, at a state park not far from Trentburg. Margo and Derek always go. This year she felt frisky and wore a white cotton vest with nothing on underneath it, and little navy blue linen shorts that hugged her close.

A lovely blue sky day was perfect for the festivities, with dappled sunlight through huge oak trees. The Sangria and draft beer flowed almost as freely as the children's laughter.

"Don't you have a friend you can fix this guy up with," Derek said to Margo when Hector wandered over.

"I don't need any help finding beautiful, sexy women," Hector said. "I've got one right in front of me. How are you Margo?" he said as he gave her a friendly hug.

"I'm good Hector," she said.

"You're so much better than good," he said. "You've got the prettiest wife in the whole company, you know that, right?" he said to Derek.

"That's why I picked her," Derek said.

"You guys still crunching numbers?" one of the administrative assistants said when she walked over.

"Just women's measurements," Hector said with a laugh. "I can say that, right? There's no sexual harassment at picnics, is there?"

"Hector, you can say that to me any time," the young woman said. "Don't you just love his accent? Hi I'm Mandy," she said, extending her hand to Margo.

"Hi Mandy, I'm Margo, Derek's wife."

"Oh," she said, slightly taken a back. "Nice to meet you."

Mandy caught a glimpse of someone approaching and looked nervous about it. It was another one of the accountants she worked with, a young woman named Lisa. Margo had met her at a few of the company's previous parties and events.

"Lisa this is Derek's wife," Mandy said a little to preemptively.

Margo smiled and said hi, but she caught an odd vibe from the meeting. Derek's demeanor changed a bit too, suddenly less relaxed.

"I've met Margo," Lisa said to Mandy. "Are all you folks enjoying the picnic?"

"Yes, it's so much fun to see how people interact, isn't it?" Margo said. "In a big company like this, I always wonder who's sleeping with who."

Lisa and Mandy looked a bit shocked at the comment, but Hector laughed.

"It'd be like a bomb going off if everybody knew," He said.

"Well I know Hector's not sleeping with me," Mandy said, sticking her tongue out playfully at him. "I need more Sangria. Anybody?"

"I could use a beer," Derek said. He and Mandy and Lisa wandered off to the beverage pavilion.

"I was hoping I'd get you alone for a few minutes," Hector said to Margo after the others had left. "Actually, a few hours would be better."

"Name the time and place, I'll be there," Margo said quietly.

"Are you serious? Don't play with me like that."

"Oh, I'm serious," she said. "You're more than a dream now, you're reality. We can make it a somewhat regular thing. No attachment though, just sex. Lots and lots of sex. Just promise me you'll tell no one. This never gets back to Derek."

"Are you kidding? I'd sew up my mouth to be with you just one more time," Hector said.

"God, you are somethin' else," Margo laughed. "Somebody should put you in a movie."

By the end of the day Margo knew Derek had something going with Lisa. It made sense when she thought about it. Lisa was in on a trip to a software seminar Derek had gone to two years ago, and ever since then she wasn't quite as friendly towards Margo. Nice, but different.

So, Lisa and Christie, both playing with her husband, and both for quite some time. The revelation should have been stunning to Margo, but the way it crept up on her, intermingled with her own dalliances, made it all seem more bizarre and otherworldly than stunning. She knew how exciting and soul satisfying her time with Hector, Matt and Bob had been. The same kinds of things were happening to Derek, no doubt. Maybe there was something to this 'open marriage' business after all.

———————

Margo hadn't been involved in a formal yoga class for quite some time. Her skills had advanced through the years to the point where she was comfortable on her own, knowing she was practicing the various positions and skills correctly. So when she started telling Derek she had yoga class, in the evening about once a week, and on days that weren't consistent, he had a pretty good idea what she was up to. He was okay with it, because for years he had a regular 'poker night' that was no such thing.

Margo's first 'yoga class' was at Hector's place. The exercise was way better than she ever got doing yoga. Hector's gentle dominance once again swept her away, and his fat cock put a match to the sweepings and lit them on fire.

"Where did you learn to fuck a girl," Margo asked when they were taking a quiet minute, letting their sweaty bodies cool. "Do they have schools for it in Puerto Rico? Latin Lover school?"

"Ha ha! I wish," Hector laughed. "I would have stayed around for a PhD!"

"But then you wouldn't have become the world's hottest accountant," Margo laughed. "So I should tell you, Derek and I have come to and agreement. An arrangement. A sort of don't ask, don't tell open marriage."

"Margo! So you mean I don't have to be so guilty with him, about being with you?"

"Yup. Don't tell him though. That's important, okay?"

"Of course Margo. Anything you wish."

"He's got his 'poker night', and I've got my yoga class."

"So you know about..."

"Lisa? Yes, but don't let either one of them know. It's better that way. We're trying to make this work. And by the way, I thought we were friends. Why didn't you tell me about Lisa long ago?"

"Margo I..."

"I'm just kidding," Margo said. "I understand. Guy code or some shit right?"