One Plus Two Minus One

Chapter Nine

Beth was taking risks. She had Ethan at her place far more often than was sensible, as if some part of her was tired of lying and wanted to get caught. She felt a kind of desperation to be with Ethan, to touch him. She needed him, and her need seemed to be made stronger by having to keep him away. She took risks, knowing it was only a matter of time until something went wrong, and didn’t actually seem to care.

One day it went wrong. Badly wrong.

Robert cancelled a lunchtime lecture because of a broken projector. Cancelled the lecture, and told his students to go home, he’d put everything on the course website, and he went home too.

Beth only found that out later.

She was lying on her back, on the bed, watching Ethan jerk himself off onto her face. She was laughing, was stroking Ethan’s balls and telling him to come. His cock was shiny and slippery with her and her spit, and she vaguely thought she heard something downstairs, but ignored it because she knew Robert had a class. She was distracted. Ethan was close, and she was close, and they’d just been sixty-nining and she was waiting for Ethan to get himself off so he could go back down and finish her.

Ethan came. Semen landed on her cheek, and went in her mouth, and she stuck her tongue out and caught what she could because she knew Ethan would be looking.

And Robert said, “Beth,” from the doorway.

It was about the worst way to get caught she could think of. There was no way Robert would ever understand.

Ethan said, “Shit,” and panicked, and looked around for something to hide his cock behind, found a pillow in the end, and knelt there holding it in front of himself. Beth knew how he came fairly well, and was almost certain he hadn’t finished, that a couple more spurts would have gone onto the pillow. Unless Robert appearing had put him off enough he’d just stopped.

Beth wanted to laugh. That surprised her. She wasn’t worried and she didn’t get a fright. She wasn’t embarrassed at what she was doing, not really, or violated by being watched. She just thought it was funny. Robert was there, and she’d been caught, and she was naked with Ethan’s spunk all over her face, and she just wanted to laugh.

Robert hadn’t said anything, so Beth sat up. She could taste Ethan. She could smell sex in the room, and feel Ethan’s semen warm on her chin and cheek and lip. She had some in her mouth, and didn’t know if she should swallow, because even here, even naked and caught like this, having someone else see her make a swallowing movement seemed far too personal. In the end she had to, that or choke, so she did, quickly, then just sat there, and Robert still didn’t react. After another minute she leaned over and got a couple of tissues, and wiped her face, then pulled the sheet up over her chest.

She didn’t know what to do next.

Robert was just standing there, like he was too horrified to move.

“Could you give me a sec?” she said to Ethan.

“I’ll go.”

“Don’t go, just wait downstairs.”

He nodded.

Ethan looked around, and seemed to remember his clothes were somewhere downstairs, and kept hold of his pillow while he edged out the room.

Robert almost didn’t move out the doorway. Enough Ethan had to hesitate, and look at him, like he was wondering whether to ask.

“Get the fuck out of the way,” Beth said to Robert, and then Robert stepped aside.

That was when Beth realized Robert was angry. He wasn’t showing it, because he hardly ever did. He was motionless and calm, probably because he didn’t know what else to do. He clearly didn’t know how to deal with this, if he should shout at Beth, or call her a slut, or throw things, or what. So he just stood there.