Betrayal (5 page)

11

Saturday was a blur of activity for Kali. The kids had soccer and then dance for her daughter and karate for her son. Then she had a neighborhood fundraiser that she promised five pies to. But time had run short so instead of baking them she ran to a cupcake café—only in Malibu would they have one, she thought—and bought five apple pies.

The fundraiser was for a young girl that had leukemia. She lived in Santa Barbara, but Cindy, who headed the fundraiser, picked a charity, person, or family to benefit once a year. The entire neighborhood would get together and have an auction. Kali secretly guessed that Cindy just did it for the attention. But regardless of the motive, it was a good cause and Kali had participated every time since moving out here.

The fundraiser was packed with families and couples and held right in the street. Officers from the
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office had closed off each end of the street and people were allowed to roam freely. Several booths were set up, mostly local stores advertising to the neighborhood, but there were a few charities, too. And several artists and jewelry makers and painters.

Kali strolled along with Elaina. The kids were off with their friends in the bouncy-house that had been rented for the event. Adam was with a few of his buddies near the barbeque tent, sipping beers and chatting about Lord knows what.

“You didn’t!” Elaina said.

“I did.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. We were just in the moment. Like there was no one else anywhere in the world. And it just happened.”

“Have you told Adam?”

“Of course not.”

“You have to tell him, Kali.”

“No way. It was just a kiss. That’s all.”

“If it was just a kiss you wouldn’t have told me about it. I saw the way you two were looking at each other.” She stopped and took Kali’s arm. “You have to stop seeing him, Kali. For your kids, for Adam… and for you.”

“I won’t see him again. I’m not going back there.”

“Good.”

They began walking again. A carnival-like game was set up where people threw balls at bowling pins stacked atop each other. Elaina paid the handsome young worker and flirted more than threw. Kali stood back and watched. As Elaina threw the third ball and the worker gave her several more free ones, she felt a hand on her shoulder and it sent a shock up her back. She spun, and caught the eye
s that had haunted her sleep last night.

“What’re you doing here?” she said.

Sebastian grinned. “Adam texted me. He told me about this fundraiser and said he could get me a booth on short notice. I’m over there,” he said, pointing with his chin. “I’ve already sold a few pieces. This is a buying crowd.”

“You need to stay away from me.”

He stepped close to her. So close, their lips were almost touching. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“You have to. I’m married.”

“Is that a problem?”

The bluntness of it, the openness… shocked her. She didn’t know what to say.

Elaina came over and took her arm. “We need to be leaving, excuse us.”

As they walked off, Sebastian watched them. Kali could feel his eyes on her. She looked back once before he turned and went to his booth.

“Kali, look at me… you will destroy everything. Your entire life. Don’t do it.”

Kali hesitated, and then nodded.

The fundraiser went well into the evening. Blue and orange and red lanterns came out and lighted the streets. Alcohol was also served and soon they would announce how much had been raised for the girl Cindy had chosen.

Kali wandered by herself. Elaina had found herself a fireman, a friend of Adam’s
, and was busy at a table sipping wine out of plastic cups and trying her hardest to seem interesting. Adam had been called into the clinic and the kids were with Tami and her children. As often happened, Kali was alone again.

She strolled among the booths and then watched a man trying to win a doll at a game where you had to throw darts at balloons.
It was nearly seven o’clock and she decided she’d have a hot bath, maybe watch some television or read a novel, while she waited for Tami to drop the kids off. The fundraiser wrapped up at nine and then the residents typically stayed an hour and helped clean up, though Cindy, every year, would make a magnanimous gesture of hiring a clean-up crew.

As she headed toward her house two blocks away, Sebastian appeared in front of her. He grinned and in the darkness, with the street lamps and the moon lighting everything in a pale glow, he appeared almost otherworldly.

“You didn’t see my booth,” he said. “I painted something just for you.”

“I
’m going home,” she said.

He stepped close to her, his arm
s wrapping around her, pressing her breasts into him. He gazed down, their eyes locked, and instinctively, her arms went around him.

Sebastian pulled her away, and she followed.
A willing slave. She went with him around a corner and to his booth. He rolled down a flap once they were inside and they were engulfed in darkness. The only illumination were streams of moonlight that came through the cracks. Outside, they could hear everyone walking around, drunk; hear the squeals and the laughter.

He lifted her up
and sat her on a table. She wrapped her legs around him, his mouth to hers. He lifted her skirt and his hand caressed between her legs. She was so wet, she could feel it dripping down her thighs.

Pulling the
skirt up and her shirt off, his mouth covered her breast, his tongue curled around her nipple. He bit it softly, sending a jolt of electricity through her. His tongue ran up her chest as moist kisses came up her neck and to her mouth again.

The belt buckle clinked and she heard his zipper before he entered her. She groaned, the passion escaping her lips. She wanted to be quiet, to be subtle, but
she wasn’t prepared for him. His cock filled her tight pussy and she squeezed her legs around his waist and bit his neck, clawing at his back. He pulled her by her hair so he could stare into her eyes as he thrust deep inside her, again and again and again.

The rhythm was building, slow at first and then fast. She felt herself dripping wet, her panties lost somewhere in the dark.
He was groaning with each thrust, his breathing heavy. She felt herself coming and screeched.

In one final push, he thrust so deep inside her she screamed. Her legs, coiled around him like a
snake, pressed so hard she was scared she would hurt him. And everything she had, all the stress, all the nagging thoughts, all the insecurities and worry, flowed out of her like a river. And there was nothing left but a calm elation.

He rested his face in the crook of h
er neck, giving her soft, gentle kisses. She pushed him away and got on her hands and knees, searching for her panties as he pulled up his jeans. When she’d found them, she came up, thinking he had gotten what he wanted and would be leaving, but instead he grabbed her and pressed his mouth to hers.

“When can I see you again?” he whispered.

She was dizzy and words wouldn’t come as quickly as she would have liked. She took a step away from him. She couldn’t touch him and speak at the same time. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

Kali turned and ran out of the booth. Behind her, Sebastian said, “Kali, don’t.”

She ran out and looked around. It felt like everybody knew. As if they could smell sex on her. She first started to run home, then thought how odd that looked and stopped. At a quick walk, she got home and headed straight to the shower.

Despite the embarrassment and paranoia, she had a smile on her lips. And somehow, she just knew that that would not be the last time she saw Sebastian Laurent.

12

Adam came home late, probably around midnight. Kali pretended she was asleep and didn’t move. He changed and lay in bed next to her. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and she didn’t stir. She tried to sleep, but the sex kept ru
nning through her mind. Like it was on automatic repeat. As soon as she got done imagining it from start to finish, it would begin playing again.

In the morning, Adam woke her with a kiss.

“How was the rest of the fundraiser?” he asked.

“You know, boring.”

“Did Elaina shack up with that fireman she was hitting on?”

“I don
’t know. I didn’t see her later, so she might’ve.”

He got out of bed and headed to the shower. Sundays were always days spent with the family. Since her family was in Arizona, they would go to Adam’s parent’s house.

The day came and went and Kali could hardly remember what had happened when it was over. She remembered bits and pieces. Breakfast, going out to play on the beach and in the ocean. Driving to her in-laws, having dinner, drinks on their patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Adam’s father was a surgeon as well, though he focused on trauma rather than plastic surgery, or as he called it, “porn star medicine.” He thought he was being funny when he said it but Kali could always see a slight cringe come from Adam.

Kali was only
faintly aware that they had left his parent’s house and were driving back on the Pacific Coast Highway. Her entire world, it seemed, had been boiled down to one moment. One moment in the dark with a man she hardly knew. And that was all she could think about.

She lay in bed that night staring at the ceiling. Her thoughts would drift to him and the passion they had had in their lovemaking.
An intensity she hadn’t felt since her early twenties. And then she would glance to Adam and a heavy guilt would weigh in her stomach. It was difficult to lay in their bed. To not tell him. But the excitement was there, too.

In the morning, she saw everyone off and took breakfast to her neighbor. Then, she drove to Santa Monica.

When she walked into Sebastian’s studio, she heard the shower running in the back. The bathroom door was shut but not locked. She opened it and saw him behind the frosted glass. Instantly, she stripped down and entered the shower.

They didn’t say anything as she slowly drifted to her knees and took him into her mouth.
She felt him getting hard against her tongue and it excited her.

Hardly a sound escaped them as she came back up, her mouth to his, and he pressed her against the wall and penetrated her with a force that made her squeal. The shower was hot and the steam fogged up the glass. The water hit her body
, but she couldn’t feel it. She could feel nothing but him inside of her. His hands groping her breasts, moving down her back to her ass, clawing at it like an animal.

They came together, both of them groaning, their eyes closed, their arms
and legs tangled together.

When they were done, she silently left the shower and toweled off. She got dressed and strolled around his studio.

A shelf against the wall was taken up with Buddhist art and sculptures. A bust that looked several centuries old sat on the top shelf and she ran her fingers over it. The material it was made of was grainy, like sandpaper. Several more tiny sculptures were there and she had to touch every one. As if claiming this place as her own. Marking her territory.

When Sebastian came out, he wore only jeans.
His torso still slick with water. He grabbed a T-shirt that was crumpled on the couch and slid it over his body. Then he sat down in a recliner facing her, but didn’t speak. Not until she was done walking around and touching everything he owned.

“You didn’t touch that piece there.”

“Which one?” she asked.

“The one hanging on the wall.”

She turned to it. It was of an aboriginal boy and girl hugging. A sculpture of brown clay with white paint in a highly decorative pattern. Placing her fingertips to it, she felt how soft it was. Softer than almost anything she could remember touching. She was scared she might ruin it, but Sebastian didn’t say anything. He watched as her fingertips ran over the boy’s chest and down his legs, and then up the girl’s arms and to her head.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

“Have it.”

“I couldn’t.”

“It’s mine to give, and I want you to have it.”

Slowly, she removed
lifted it. “Where did you get it?”

“I made it. I was in Australia once, in the Outback, and I guess I was inspired. Take it.”

She walked to him and placed the piece down on the table. Then, without thinking, she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed, and she caught the fragrance of soap and cologne.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said.

“Yes you do.”

“It’s wrong.”

“I don’t know about right and wrong. I just know what I feel. Maybe there isn’t anything else?”

She kissed him again, licking the tip of his tongue with hers, before she rose. “I have to go.”

“Come back tonight.”

“I can’t.”

“When then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just come by
when I feel like it.”

She walked away, holding his gaze, before she turned and headed out of the building.