‘Intuition.’
‘You’re saying that somewhat sardonically, and yet yes,intuition.’
‘I don’t know whatsardonicallymeans.’
‘It means shut up and listen,’ Ash says, and CJ throws a piece of bread into her mouth and says, ‘Babe. I’m all ears.’
As Ash breaks down the deep sensuality of a Scorpio, let alone a triple Scorpio like CJ, she can feel herself putting on a bit of a show. She couldn’t deny it under a legally binding oath, and yet she still won’t admit it to herself fully: the threesome thing, with Luis? Ash mentioned that on purpose the other day. She’s been thinking about it. A lot. And she’s fairly certain that with a bit of encouragement, CJ will get involved. She mentioned it in passing (‘in passing’) the other day too! Of course, she cannot coerce the woman, cannot tease her into it or cajole her. That wouldn’t be sexy. Sexy is this, now. Talking with her hands and reaching out to CJ’s shoulder andfeeding her off her fork and telling her all about how carnal her birth chart is, how she should embrace her sexuality as much as she does, stay curious, experimental. Open.
Ash likes CJ. She’s fun. Sexy, obviously. And Ash has never before got intimate with a friend – past group sex has been with strangers, end of – and yet, Ash isn’t going to be here for much longer, and Luis is such a terribly good lover, and it can be a fun time, fooling around, it doesn’t have tomean anythingor beserious. At least not to Spring Fling with Life Ash. Sex is great! And in this courtyard, in this outfit, with CJ looking so damned pert in those leather pants, yeah, OK, fine. Ash is hot for her. She is a human woman with blood in her veins and eyes in her head. They should all fuck! She can’t think of a reason why they shouldn’t! Lisbon Ash is hot for it.
‘Here he is!’ CJ says, brightly, her focus shifting to the birthday boy, who is doing an incredible job of schmoozing with every guest in attendance at his celebration.
‘Here I am!’ Luis says, and he is positively glowing with birthday love. He embraces both of them, issues compliments about their attire, and then the girls budge apart so he can slip in between them. He just needs a moment’s reprieve from air-kissing, he says.
‘I was just talking to CJ about all the sensuality in her birth chart,’ Ash says, once again knowingexactlywhat she is doing. ‘The animal within.’
Luis’s eyes flash with familiarity.
‘See,’ Ash says. ‘Luis knows it.’
‘Look,’ CJ says. ‘I’ve never been shy about liking a goodromp in the hay. We don’t need the stars and the sun and the moon to tell us all that.’
Luis looks at Ash, slyly, and then tilts his head to CJ and says in stage whisper, ‘CJ. I think Ash is just trying to flirt with you.’
CJ’s gaze flickers across to her.
‘Caught red-handed,’ Ash laughs, giving Luis a wink.
Luis senses something is happening, and leans back on the bench just enough so that the women can see one another clearly.
‘And you often flirt with your friends, do you?’ CJ asks.
‘Only the very hot ones,’ Ash shoots back, and she actually can’t believe that she’s taking it there, taking the conversation from implicit suggestion to explicit acknowledgement.
‘I like this conversation,’ Luis says. ‘This is the best conversation of the party, if you ask me.’
Ash looks at him, lets her eyelids go heavy. She reaches out to his face and cups his cheek. Then she leans in, kisses him lightly enough to not put people off their food, but close enough to CJ that she couldn’t possibly miss it.
When Ash leans back again, CJ’s face is impassive. Ash can’t tell what she’s thinking. She looks at Ash hard, for what feels like a very long time. Ash swallows, unnerved now that this could blow up in her face. CJ is beautiful. She was wearing red lipstick before, when Ash got here, but it has worn off, leaving her pout stained but not glossy. CJ cocks her eyebrow an almost imperceptible amount, and it makes the space between Ash’s thighs beat. Throb. CJ looks at Ash as she reaches out for Luis’s jaw, and keeps her eyes open as shekisses him, eyes fixed firmly on Ash’s face. Ash lets her mouth fall open, tongue push out over her teeth, and when Luis pulls away he looks between them and says, ‘Yes. Definitely the best conversation at this party.’ But Ash barely hears him. Blood is rushing to her ears. She knows, now, has her confirmation, about how the evening will play out, where it will end up, and all she can think is,I’ll get to kiss CJ.
23
CJ
Luis is staying at the restaurant, which turns out to have a handful of rooms under its proprietorship. It is CJ, in the end, who leans into him and says, more confidently than she feels, on account of being absolutely terrified despite being ninety per cent sure this is what she wants: ‘Can you show us where you’re staying tonight?’
They sneak off, the three of them, around the back of the courtyard and up some old stone steps, only a small lamp back-lighting them so that they fall silent, reverential, even, because to speak might break the moment. In the darkness their resolve doth lie. The door is open, Luis doesn’t need to unlock it, and so he slips inside and lights six tapered candles to reveal a grand four-poster bed strewn with rose petals, a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket on the bedside table. There are three glasses beside it. If CJ has questions about his prior expectations of this happening, plans he’s made for it in advance, she doesn’t ask them. The evidence is clear. CJ knew, herself, that this was always going to unfold, and that is why she shaved her legs and used her baby oil andhas condoms in her bag and changed the subject when her cousins teased her. It’s why she’s been watching porn on her phone before bed, googlinghow to have a threesome MFFand scrolling for hours. She did not admit it to herself, but she knew.
The floor is tiled, and cold. A huge sliding door reveals the street lamps of Bairro Alto, and Ash carefully draws the drapes, shuts them all away from the world, and the lingering noises of the party. Luis hesitates, like he’s not sure how this all works, and so CJ moves to get the champagne, lets the water from the melted ice drip on her thigh as she opens it with a hiss, puts the bottle to her lips and drinks. She hands the bottle to Luis, who does the same, and before he can swallow it down Ash stands in front of him to reach up for a kiss, so the champagne spills out of Luis’s mouth and down her chin. Ash drinks what she can and then Luis uses the flat of his tongue to lick the spillage from Ash’s clavicle to her chin, like a wolf, like a predator, like a man about to have the very best sex of his life. Ash tips her head back, lets him lick her, and CJ stands there and watches her best friend paw at her new friend, a woman who is beautiful and interesting and who, CJ thinks, she would very much like to taste herself.
Sod it. Miguel and Todd were right. She does want to fuck her. She has done for a while. And so, why not? She can’t think of a single reason against it. Not now she’s here.
Ash and Luis kiss, and Ash puts a hand to Luis’s chest so that he moves backwards, falling to sit on the edge of the bed. CJ reaches for the bottle, takes another gulp of the zestybubbles, and watches as Ash undoes the top button to Luis’s shirt, and then another. Ash looks at Luis, her eyes bright and hungry, and Luis lets out a sound, a grunt of happiness, and CJ wonders if this was what it was like between them when they got together, if this is how they always are, always have been. Slow. Purposeful. Teasing.
Ash undoes a third button and then pauses, a lazy smile wreathed across her pretty face. She looks up at CJ and tips her head, motions for the champagne. She watches CJ as she drinks, passes it off to Luis. Nobody has spoken, yet, not since they were downstairs, this is all wordless and suggestive and hot as anything CJ has ever experienced in all her days. Ash pulls down one shoulder of her dress, and then the other. It falls down to her waist to reveal she is not in a bra, and after the suggestion CJ has had of Ash’s breasts, for the first time CJ is actually seeing her, naked. Impeccable. Complete.
CJ doesn’t know the etiquette, but she cannot stop staring at her friend’s generous pink nipples. They’re stood to attention, staring at CJ right back, and Ash is so petite, so slender, almost bird-like in frame, and CJ feels very certainly that when she reaches out to touch her she will be gentle. Oh so very gentle.
