Summer Swap 4.11

Carla went into their suite first, Cody holding the door for everyone, Carla gesturing for them all to take a seat wherever they could. Sully went with Scarlet to where they’d sat when they watched Cody have sex with Cheyenne. Before they’d got up and joined in with Cody, pleasuring Chey, Sully even putting his cock into Chey’s mouth. Cheyenne sat on the edge of the bed and Byron turned back from where he was headed: the chair where he’d sat and watched another man fuck his wife—just the way his wife had wanted him to. He sat at Chey’s side, hips and thighs touching, and Chey took his hand, her eyes on the masters of the ceremony: Cody and Carla.

As Cody closed the door and came to stand next to his wife, who leaned on the low table between the two archways that led to their master suite, Byron said, “What is this about? It sounds serious.”

Philippe dragged out the chair Byron had sat on and the other matching one, and brought them near the foot of the bed for him and Paloma to sit on, now all of them facing each other in an irregular circle about a dozen feet across.

Carla said, “I bet there’s been a lot of chatter today about Paloma showing up.”

Byron said, “I’m glad she’s here. I’m happy she came to spend time with us. Is there something I’m missing?” Chey squeezed his hand.

Carla said, “I didn’t think it was you doing the talking, my friend.”

Byron looked to Chey, then past her to Scarlet sitting next to Sully—also holding hands. Scarlet flashed a quick smile, peeking at Chey, one leg crossed over the other, the foot bouncing.

With the room quiet and no one joining in on the conversation, Byron cleared his throat and said, “I guess you guys are getting back together?”

Philippe and Paloma looked at each other, smiling, eyes dreamy. He took her hand. “We are.”

Carla said, “And that’s why she’s here.”

“Right for them to come back together. Like a brand new start. No?”

Chey said, “No,” and Carla looked at Chey, smirking.

“They aren’t apart.”

Paloma said, “No, we were apart. Taking time, as you say.”

“I don’t say that,” Chey said. “This whole thing is some kind of scheme.”

Byron said, “What whole thing?”

Scarlet said, “The trip, the yacht, the—”

“Swinging,” Chey finished.

Cody said, “Now what makes you say that?”

“It’s quiet, it’s intimate, it’s private. You brought us all here for one thing.”

Carla said, “Hey, next time, Chey, we can book a hotel and you can lay by the pool with kids running around and yelling, and a bunch of middle-aged dudes watching you sunbathe. . . . Who doesn’t want privacy?”

“It’s more than that,” Chey said.

Carla chuckled, bowing her head in submission, then sitting back again, flipping her wavy hair back from her face. “You’re not wrong.”

Chey snapped her fingers, then looked over at Scarlet, who nodded.

Byron said to her, “Is this what you were trying to tell me?”

Chey brought his hand into her lap and lay her other hand over it now, too. “All right,” she said to Carla. “Let’s hear it.”

Carla gestured with one hand to Paloma and Philippe, tilting her head.

Philippe took a breath, then looked past Chey to Scarlet and Sully. “Paloma and I are on a break. We broke up, yes, but maybe not in the traditional way. Not in the way you’d expect.”

“Polycule,” Chey said, nodding to herself.

“Yes, you’re not wrong. Paloma and I are on a break because we separated a relationship. We’re not traditional. Don’t think of it as two couples coming together. We were a group of people who were all together. Not a collection of couples, you understand? And when we lose one, we lose the whole union.”

Paloma said, “Like a ship broken on the rocks, the cargo spread out at sea. When the daylight comes, we must find one another again.”

“So, wait,” Byron said, squinting, wondering if this was really what Chey had been about to explain to him. He pointed to Paloma and Philippe, saying, “You two aren’t a couple. You’re in a group. A poly whatever. And when someone leaves the group, the poly thingy, the whole shebang goes off kilter, and then you guys act like you’re not a couple anymore.”

“Because we’re not a couple.”

Byron rubbed his forehead.

Paloma said, “We don’t see ourselves as two. We saw ourselves as more than that.”

“But four minus two, or however many you lost from the poly thing—”

“Polycule,” Chey said.

“Polycule. Four minus two can’t be two? Someone leaves and the rest have to re-evaluate the whole relationship?”

Philippe nodded. “That’s it exactly.”

“But then... But there’s no hardship between you and Paloma, so why can’t you just be two?”

“Maybe we can. But we’ve never been only two. Our relationship with each other works only in frame with others.”

Sully said, “So what happened to ‘the others?’”

Paloma and Philippe exchanged looks, like it was maybe something they wouldn’t want to talk about it. “They separated,” Philippe said.

Byron said, “Were they a couple? Were they okay as two?”

“At first,” Paloma said.

Byron sighed, rubbed his thigh with the hand Chey didn’t hold trapped. “Okay, great, but what does that have to do with us?”

Chey, with firm pronunciation, said aloud, “This is an audition.”

Carla smiled at Chey, like she appreciated Chey’s savvy, then looked up at Cody. She imitated Chey’s tone and syncopation: “This is an... opportunity.”

Byron looked at Chey’s profile, over to Carla staring at Chey. “How?”

“We’re building,” Philippe said. “We’re building a life, we’re building a farm, we’re building a future.”

Carla said, “They’re building an opportunity.”

Sully said, “What kind of opportunity?”

Cheyenne said, “They want us.”

Carla shook her head. “It’s not nefarious, Chey. I really do see it as an opportunity.”

Byron said, “We’re building our own house, Chey and I. They’re working on it now.”

Cody shook his head. “Don’t worry about that.”

Byron sighed and shook his head like he was disappointed. “I thought we were just having fun. I didn’t know this was something more than that.”

“It’s not,” Philippe said and Byron looked over. “It’s not—not for you at least. Nothing more than fun.”

“What do you mean not for me?” He suffered this jealous stab, like Philippe insinuated they only wanted Cheyenne.

Paloma said, “I’m here because I was told there may be a possibility...”

Byron scowled, still stinging at the suggestion they would take his wife but not him, but now his eyes followed Paloma’s gaze across the circle of friends to Sully and Scarlet. Sully’s eyes went wide.

Sully sat straighter. “What do you mean? Why are you looking at me?”

Paloma smiled and leaned her head on Philippe’s muscular shoulder. “He told me.”

Scarlet said, “Told you what?”

“It’s okay,” Paloma urged, smiling warm and wide. “He told me everything. I wanted it to happen for him, and he told me it was good.”

Byron said, “You jumped on a plane because these three...”

“You must have been hanging out at the airport with your bags packed,” Cheyenne said.

“I was ready, yes,” Paloma admitted.

“Waiting,” Cheyenne said, “to find out which one of us took the bait.”

Paloma frowned. “How you mean?”

“The audition,” Chey said.

Paloma looked to Philippe and asked him something in Portuguese. Philippe moved his mouth around, trying to explain it. “Audition, like for a part in a movie. She thinks this was a chance to see who would be good in bed.”

“Hey, whoa, no, not like that,” Chey said. “Not who was good in bed, but like, who was a... I don’t know... you know, a player.”

Paloma asked Philippe again for clarification, and Philippe said, “Who was, uh... cool.”

“Oh, yes, okay, I see,” Paloma said. “No, no, you are all cool.”

“No, like cool,” Chey said, “as in who was down for kinky stuff.”

“It’s not just kinky, Cheyenne,” Paloma said. “It’s how we live. It’s how we love.”

Byron looked to Chey and was surprised to see her flummoxed for once.

Philippe said, “And it’s not an open audition, Cheyenne, no offense. We’re here, or I’m here, was here, for them.” He nudged his chin across the circle, and Byron looked at Sully and Scarlet again. Their eyes had grown wider.

Scarlet said, “Us?”

Paloma slinked against Philippe’s arm, holding his hand still. “You had fun last night, yes? I heard many things you do. I heard you get along so well. Philippe, he say such good things.”

Cheyenne chuckled in disbelief, her light body shaking against Byron’s side.

Scarlet said, “Did he really?” She smirked, but her brows were lowered in disbelief, one hand blocking her mouth like she was shy.

Philippe said, “I came to the yacht thinking of you.”

“Of me?”

“Yes,” Paloma said. “He told me. He told me before he come.”

Byron looked to Sully and Scarlet, both of them staring in blank shock. Then they looked at each other, saying nothing, then back to the group.

Scarlet said, “I don’t know what the fuck’s happening here.”

“Nothing, nothing,” Paloma sang in a smooth, placating tone. “Nothing happen.”

Sully said, “I... Okay... And why did you come?”

Paloma inclined her head like it should be obvious—and her amused expression, the angle of her long neck... Byron got it before she said it.

“Me, Mr. Sully? Me, I am here for you.”

Sully stared for the longest moment with no reaction, then his shoulders bounced up and down and he laughed in a loud, get-out-of-here sound that got Byron laughing, too. Chey elbowed him.

“Come on,” Sully said. “What?”

Scarlet scowled.

Paloma said, “My man,” patting Philippe’s shoulder, “my good, good man, my lover of lovers, he tell me to come. Come and see. Now I am here.”

Scarlet said, “Here for what? Sleeping with my husband?”

Paloma said, “Sleeping with you, Scarlet.”

Sully’s smile faded.

Paloma said, “And you, too, Mr. Sully, who I always think was so funny.”

Scarlet said, “Us?”

Paloma stood, her yellow skirt flashing around her tanned thighs, holding out her hand. “I am more straightforward, maybe than American. But I come this way for you. I come this way, I nap all afternoon, and now I am ready. Ready for you.”

Sully stood and Scarlet pulled him back down by the back of his shirt. They looked at each other, both of them troubled, tongue-tied, not knowing what to say, their mouths attempting to make sounds but just making the odd vowel shape with no sound emitting. Then Scarlet stood, and for a second Byron was sure she was going to stomp out of the room, but instead she shook her head, eyes narrowed to slits, blinking and blinking as she tried to make sense of the whole thing. Sully popped up to stand with her.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Paloma said, excited, encouraging, crossing the circle and taking Scarlet’s hand. “We have so much fun,” she said, crinkling her nose, “so much fun. I like you very much.”

Sully said, “Uh, wait, like... what? Here in the room. In front of everybody?”

Paloma chuckled and ran a finger down Sully’s chest. “You are the one who is kinky. Now I get it. So kinky.”

Philippe rose and walked past Byron and Chey to stand behind Paloma, resting his hands on her bronzed shoulders. “Not here, buddy. Our suite, your suite. Now, later. Never even, if that’s what you say.”

Paloma made a sound of extreme disappointment. “Oh, no, no, they no say no.” Now she took up Scarlet’s hand and Sully’s hand and led them to the door, Scarlet resistant yet stumbling along, anyway. Cody went ahead and held the door for them to leave.

Then it was the four of them, silent, the room quiet. Carla loved it, smiling so wide her eyes went to slits. Even Cody said nothing, crossing his arms and laughing to himself.

Cheyenne looked to Byron, her eyebrows never higher. She said, “Well, holy shit.”