Iago Incarnate

Perception Becomes Reality, Part 27

Me and my girl, we got this relationship
I love her so bad, but she treats me like shit
On lockdown like a penitentiary
She spreads her lovin’ all over

And when she gets home, there’s none left for me

Summertime, and the livin’s easy . . .

Days became weeks, became months, and Syd had managed to ingratiate herself with Bianca and Emelie. They had become something of a trio within their spin class, outwardly supportive and encouraging one another, though also guilty of quite a bit of chatter and some seemingly benign gossip. Bianca would never come to know that her new friend recognized her from a photo in Dr. Cassius’ treatment room, and that was for the best. Sydney meant her no harm, only hopeful to get some insight on how her shrink tended to see things and respond in certain situations. 

“Is it scary?” Syd asked with a slightly playful, but mostly worried expression. “Knowing that you’re only going to have one lover for the rest of your life?!” Before Bianca could answer, Emelie chuckled a bit and Sydney continued. “I have horrible taste in men, I always end up with jerks who cheat, and since I don’t know how to find better guys, I just wanna balance the score. My guy now, he’s great, but he works with this really cute lady and I am positive they’re fucking, so I find a side dick and we can each just do whatever and try to keep the relationship…” The other two ladies did their best to hide the internal shock of what had been explained so matter-of-factly. “Emmy won the lottery, her hubs is pretty hot and apparently takes really good care of her.” Bianca teased, her tone almost envious. 

“It’s just give and take, I take care of Nicky and he takes care of me. When you’re there for each other, nobody has any reason to look elsewhere.” Emelie responded frankly. Bianca kept unusually quiet, having not been intimate with Michael for several weeks now, chalking it up to anxiety or fatigue, but unable to help but feel undesirable. Quite the opportunist, Sydney shifted to her, asking Bianca how things were with her guy, who she made every effort to seem as if she didn’t know. “He’s….” she began with a sigh, looking over to Em as if in need of inspiration for a diplomatic way to explain it. “He is a really nice guy, I love him, a lot. I really do want to spend forever with him, but he’s pretty average, not real hot or outgoing, so he never dated much, and because he doesn’t have a lot of experience, he’s not a great lover.” Emelie reached out for Bianca’s hand as she spoke, squeezing supportively. “I try to be adventurous, or make suggestions, or offer to try new things, and sometimes he will, but not usually. The one time we tried something out of our comfort zones, it just got kinda weird…”

Emelie squeezed her hand again, knowing she meant the incident at the holiday party. Sydney offered a compassionate half smile as Bianca smiled a bit. “But, we’ll figure it out.” Her words came with an air of uncertainty that was balanced with a confident conviction that she was definitely going to try, even if it never amounted to much. As the instructor clapped her traditional “session over” routine, the riders cheered, albeit exhaustedly, and the three ladies in the back got off their bikes and went their separate ways. Bianca and Emelie always parked next to one another and before each could disappear into their cars and off into the city, Bianca moved closer to Emelie, almost trembling her nerves and planted a deep, passionate kiss on her good friend. Before the surprise could give way to words, she was in the car and pulling away. Emelie wasn’t quite sure what to make of it as she sat in her car without starting it. As she pushed the button to start the engine, letting her hair loose and tangling her fingers in it, Emelie felt herself as surprised by her simmering excitement as she was by the kiss itself.

Exercise improves circulation and temporarily increases blood flow to the genitals, as well as an increase in testosterone in both men and women. These conditions all result in the potential for arousal post workout. Nick and Emelie rarely go through dry spells of more than a week, though he has enjoyed her participation in the spin class because it frequently means an energetic session of coitus when she gets home. Ignoring the music playing and thinking solely about Bianca the whole way home, Emelie was almost ready to pounce on Nick as she walked in the door. He was definitely never one to question or abstain, so their session on the floor of the living room left both with some low level rug burns, mildly sore muscles, and tremendous smiles. 

Michael arrived early for work the next morning, which was uncharacteristic for the doctor who was never late, but tended to cut it close more often than not. While the Center remained largely uninhabited, he went right for the break room to get some coffee, sure he would run into Nick. “Spin class is my new favorite thing, man.” he gushed with exuberant enthusiasm. Nick just smirked, figuring they both ended up getting lucky when their ladies got home, imagining Michael exhausted and left in awe after a rather uninspired session of missionary, which only managed to satisfy Bianca because her bar had ended up set quite low. 

Just as Michael had never been aware of the hypocrisy of his distrust while being the only to have done (or thought) anything questionable, Nick had set in motion so many things to keep Emelie and Bianca close as a vehicle for tormenting Dr. Cassius, though he too began to fall victim to the situation he created. He had thought about the ladies’ spin class and felt no conscious threat. Even if the class had been taken over by a handsome instructor (which it had not), the ladies might get worked up but they always came home and remained loyal. Though it wasn’t even that, Nick began to allow a subconscious sense of dread to begin seeping in that was entirely brought about by Emelie’s personality.

She had always been sweet and kind without being naive or a pushover. Nick had always taken great care to pay attention to her wants, needs, interests and desires with the idea that he could assure loyalty based on his wife never feeling as if she was missing or needing anything. Any buffoon could play sugar daddy and buy affection, though Nick was conscious of perceptions and never wanted to allow such a situation to exist as it might invite outside critique or judgement. He wanted to spoil his wife emotionally, intellectually, physically, knowing those were the areas in which so many other men fell short, so rather than face outside criticism he was much more likely to be the subject of envious praise from Emelie’s friends. Though as these months began to unfold while Nick wormed his way deeper into Michael’s life, he began to notice a shift in Emelie. It was hardly seismic, more subtle than wholesale change, though she began to grow more confident, and because of it slightly less clingy. She was still absolutely crazy about her husband, there was never a doubt about that, but to Nick she was more a lover and a tool than a life partner, and the potential for any loss of control began to bother the good doctor.