Free The Wives of Beverly Row 4: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks Page B

on.
    “We’re in this together,” she said. “We both want it.”
    “That’s what I thought,” Jake said. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “So, next time you see Ariel, I want you to ask her to come over. I want her to know that this is something we both want. I want her to believe it,” he said.
    Zola was nodding. She was agreeing with him. She could hardly believe that she was willing to play along with this but it was just so difficult to stand up to Jake, and so, so easy to go along with what he wanted.
    “Okay, honey,” she said, her voice sounding quiet and distant. It was strange. It didn’t sound like it was her own voice. She felt like she was dissociating from herself, becoming two different people. On the one hand, she was becoming the submissive, willing partner that Jake was forcing her to become, and on the other she was the ever quieter, ever more distant, real Zola. The girl who was being forgotten and brushed aside in the pursuit of Jake’s ever more demanding fantasies.
    “I’ll talk to her tomorrow, okay?” she said, as compliant as a child. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

XII
    Z OLA SAT AT THE KITCHEN table, her morning coffee steaming in front of her. She poured a little milk into the mug and stirred it. The phone was on the table next to the coffee cup and she stared at it like it was a snake that might pounce on her at any moment.
    This was it. This was the last step in her complete submission to Jake. Allowing his weird fetish to move from the internet to her real life was the final stage in allowing him to completely dominate every aspect of her life. She had a feeling that from here on in, no matter how things went with Ariel, the women on Beverly Row, and in time everyone Zola ever met, would see her as her husband’s sex slave instead of the woman she’d been trying to be.
    She supposed that was part of the deal. That was part of the agreement she’d struck with Jake when she’d become his wife. He was rich, he had everything money could buy, and she would become his property too.
    She picked up the phone and dialed Ariel’s number.
    “Ariel?”
    “Zola? Is that you?”
    “Listen,” Zola said. She knew that Ariel would be on the defensive. She’d just had sex with Jake after all. “We want you to come over.”
    Ariel burst out with a flurry of words. Zola was almost relieved to hear the nerves in her voice. It meant her own wouldn’t be so obvious.
    “Zola, how can I say this? I’m so sorry about what happened. I have no excuse.”
    “Don’t even worry about it,” Zola said. She refused to let her voice crack. She was stronger than this. She was stronger than Jake and Ariel and whatever these rich, spoiled people did. She was stronger than all of them. If they were into this messed up, sordid lifestyle, that was their problem, not hers. She was doing whatever she had to do to survive. One day, she promised herself, she would be strong enough to leave all of this behind, but for now this was what life had dealt her. She had to make the most of it. She had to survive.
    “Zola. I am worried about it. I slept with your husband. I know you won’t believe me but I’m truly sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    “Ariel,” Zola said, her voice rising a little higher than she meant it to. “Jake and I have a completely open relationship. We both sleep with whoever we want. We do it all the time.”
    “Really?” Ariel said.
    “Really.”
    “That’s what Jake told me,” Ariel said. “I mean, I sort of believed him at the time. But now that you’re on the phone with me, I just feel so bad, Zola. Please believe me. I never meant to hurt you. I just let the moment take over.”
    “He showed you the video, right?” Zola said.
    “The one of you with that man?”
    “Yes. Peter. He showed you, right?”
    “He did.”
    “So then you know. That’s what we do. That’s what Jake and I have always done. It’s what we both want.”
    “Are you