Chapter 20: Jake stays the night
The taste of Sven’s cum lingered in the back of Derek’s throat all the way home, a phantom bitterness he couldn’t swallow away. He had scrubbed his face raw in the office restroom, but the sting of the cheap industrial soap couldn’t erase the memory of Kathy’s mocking salute, the flash of cameras, the damp, ruining stain on his tie that he’d balled up and shoved into the bottom of a public trash can. He drove on autopilot, the streetlights bleeding into streaks of orange against the deepening twilight, his mind a hollow, echoing chamber where the words little dick cock sucker played on a continuous, shaming loop.
He pulled into the driveway of their suburban colonial, its clean lines and manicured hedges a stark, mocking contrast to the filth caked on his soul.A unfamiliar car—a black Tesla Model S—was parked on the curb. His stomach dropped.He didn’t recognize it.The front door was unlocked. The foyer was warm, lit by the soft glow of the living room lamps. The air smelled of garlic, red wine, and a faint, unfamiliar cologne—something woodsy and expensive, with a hint of spice. Laughter floated from the kitchen, a rich, baritone sound intertwined with Margot’s lighter, melodic chuckle.
Derek stood frozen in the entryway, his briefcase hanging limp from his hand.“Derek?Is that you?” Margot called, her voice bright. She appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on a linen towel.She looked radiant. She wore a simple emerald green silk camisole and black leggings that hugged the curves she honed in yoga class.Her auburn hair was down, cascading over her shoulders. There was a flush to her cheeks, a sparkle in her green eyes he hadn’t seen in months. Possibly years.“Yeah,” he managed, his voice gravelly.“Good. We’re just finishing up.Come say hello.” She turned and disappeared back into the kitchen.We.
Derek followed the sound of voices, his dress shoes sinking noiselessly into the plush carpet. He stopped at the threshold.
Jake Lawrence stood at their granite island, leaning casually against the counter with a glass of red wine in his hand. He was even taller than Derek remembered from the company holiday party, broad-shouldered in a fitted navy henley that stretched over a clearly athletic chest. His dark hair was expertly tousled, his jaw clean-shaven and strong. He exuded a relaxed, proprietary confidence that made Derek feel like a ghost in his own home.“Hey, Derek. Margot was just telling me about your fascinating work in IT infrastructure,” Jake said, his smile easy, his gaze direct and assessing.He didn’t offer a hand.
“Jake.” Derek nodded, the name sticking in his throat.He looked at Margot. “I didn’t know we were having company.”
“It was a last-minute thing,” Margot said, sipping her wine. “Jake had some brilliant concepts for the Henderson rebrand, and we got talking. One thing led to another, and I invited him over to continue the conversation. I figured you wouldn’t mind. You’re always so supportive of my work.” Her tone was light, but her eyes held a challenge.“Of course,” Derek mumbled.Supportive.The word tasted like ash.
“Jake’s going to stay the night,” Margot continued, as if announcing they’d ordered a new sofa. “It’s a long drive back to the city, and we’re not done brainstorming.” She reached out and placed a hand on Jake’s forearm, a casual, intimate touch that sent a bolt of pure, primal jealousy through Derek’s gut. He saw Jake’s eyes flicker to Margot’s face, a slow, knowing smile playing on his lips.
“If it’s not an inconvenience,” Jake said, though his tone made it clear he knew it wasn’t.“No,” Derek heard himself say. “No inconvenience.”
The evening passed in a surreal haze. Derek picked at the coq au vin Margot had prepared, listening to them talk about design trends, client management, shared colleagues. Their conversation was a locked door, and Derek didn’t have the key. He cleared the plates, washed the dishes, the mundane domesticity a bizarre counterpoint to the tension thrumming in the room.Jake’s laugh was too loud. Margot’s attention was a laser beam focused solely on him.Derek was furniture.
When Margot finally stood and stretched, the silk of her camisole riding up to reveal a sliver of toned stomach, Derek felt a jolt of something like hope.Maybe this was it. Maybe she’d send Jake home now.Maybe this had just been a professional meeting gone long.
“Well, I’m exhausted,” Margot said, but her eyes were bright, energetic. “Derek, honey, why don’t you go get ready for bed? Jake, you can use the guest bath down the hall. I’ll get you some towels.”
Derek obeyed, a dull ache settling in his chest. He brushed his teeth, changed into his pajama bottoms and a faded t-shirt, and slid under the cool duvet on his side of the California king. He lay there in the dark, listening to the muffled sounds of water running, low voices laughing in the hall. The guest room was down the hall.Jake would be down the hall.
The bedroom door opened, spilling light from the hallway. Margot entered, silhouetted. Then another, taller silhouette followed her. Jake. Margot clicked on her bedside lamp, its soft light illuminating the room. Jake was shirtless, wearing only a pair of grey sweatpants that hung low on his hips. His torso was a landscape of defined muscle, a light dusting of dark hair across his chest tapering down his stomach. Derek stared, unable to look away.
“Scoot over, sweetie,” Margot said to Derek, patting his hip through the duvet.
Derek, confused, shifted toward the center of the bed.Margot pulled back the covers on her side and climbed in. Then, to Derek’s frozen horror, Jake walked around the foot of the bed and climbed in on the other side, on Derek’s side, sliding into the space Derek had just vacated. The mattress dipped profoundly under his weight. Derek could feel the heat radiating from Jake’s body, smell his cologne mixed with the clean scent of Margot’s soap. He was trapped between his wife and this other man, in his own bed.
“Margot,” Derek whispered, a desperate, strangled sound.
“Shhh,” she said, rolling onto her side to face Jake, her back to Derek.“Just relax. It’s fine.”
Jake propped himself up on one elbow, looking past Derek at Margot. “He’s jumpy.”
“He just needs to get used to new situations,” Margot murmured. Then she reached across Derek, her hand landing on Jake’s bare chest. Derek flinched as her arm brushed over him, as if he were merely an obstacle.
Jake captured her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed her knuckles, his eyes locked on hers. Then, in a movement of casual, devastating power, he leaned over Derek and kissed Margot deeply. Derek saw the muscles in Jake’s back work, heard the soft, wet sound of their mouths meeting. He lay rigid, staring at the ceiling, a trapped animal.When Jake pulled back, Margot’s breath was already coming faster. “Derek,” she said, her voice low and thick.“Look at me.”
He turned his head. She was looking at him, her green eyes dark, dilated.“Take off your shirt,” she commanded.
His hands trembled as he pulled the worn cotton over his head.The cool air hit his skin. He felt soft, pale, and paunchy next to Jake’s sculpted form.
“Good,” Margot said. Then she kissed Jake again, more urgently this time, her hands tangling in his hair.Their movements grew less restrained.The duvet was pushed down. Derek watched, a silent witness, as Jake’s hands slid over Margot’s camisole, as he hooked his fingers in the straps and pulled them down. He heard Margot’s sharp intake of breath as Jake took her nipple into his mouth, right there, inches from Derek’s face.
The sounds were unbearable. The wet, sucking sounds, Margot’s low moans, the rustle of fabric.Jake’s sweatpants were pushed down. Derek saw the heavy, thick length of his erection spring free, and a choked sound escaped his lips. It was everything he wasn’t.“Touch him, Derek,” Margot gasped, her head thrown back.“Touch Jake. Show him you’re okay with this.”
Derek’s mind screamed. His body moved on its own, a marionette guided by shame and a terrible, yawning need to please her. His hand, shaking violently, reached out and brushed against Jake’s hip. The skin was hot, smooth over hard muscle.
Jake paused, lifting his head from Margot’s breast to look at Derek.His expression was one of cool, detached curiosity. “That’s it,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Get used to it.”
Then Jake moved over Margot, positioning himself between her legs. He didn’t fumble. There was no awkward searching. He guided himself into her with a single, smooth, powerful thrust that made Margot cry out, a sound of pure, unadulterated pleasure that Derek had never, ever evoked from her.
The bed began to rock. The headboard gave a soft, rhythmic tap against the wall. Derek lay on his back, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, staring at the faint pattern of the ceiling fan. Each sound was a nail in his coffin. Each of Margot’s cries was a verdict. He was listening to his own replacement. It didn’t last long the first time. Jake was fierce, intense, building to a climax with a series of deep, grunting thrusts that shook the entire bed. Margot climaxed with him, her body arching, her fingers digging into Jake’s back. The sound she made was raw, guttural, real. They collapsed together, a tangled, sweaty heap of limbs. Jake rolled off her but stayed close, his arm draped possessively over her stomach. The room was filled with the sound of their ragged breathing, the salty, musky scent of sex. A long, terrible silence stretched out. Derek dared to hope it was over. Then Margot stirred. “Derek,” she said, her voice languid, satisfied. “Lick us clean, baby.”
He didn’t understand. “What?”
She turned her head on the pillow, looking at him. Her face was flushed, beautiful, utterly calm. “Lick us clean. Both of us. My pussy is dripping with his cum. His cock is a mess. Clean it.”
A cold, numbing shock washed through him. He looked at Jake.Jake was watching him, a faint, arrogant smile on his lips. He made no move to get up, to take care of himself.He just waited.Derek’s mind shattered. Every boundary, every last shred of dignity, was gone, blown away by the casual cruelty of the command.The humiliation in the alley had been public, violent. This was intimate, domestic, and infinitely worse.He moved slowly, like a man underwater. He pushed himself up, kneeling on the mattress between them. He looked down at Margot’s body, glistening in the lamplight.He lowered his head.The taste was complex, bitter, profoundly alien. He closed his eyes and did as he was told, his tongue moving mechanically, lapping up the evidence of Jake’s potency from his wife’s body. Margot sighed, a sound of deep contentment, and placed a hand on the back of his head, not guiding him, just owning him.
When he was done there, she nudged him toward Jake.“Now him.”
Derek turned. Jake had propped himself up, watching with undisguised amusement. Derek leaned forward, his eyes squeezed shut. The taste was more direct, salty and acrid. Jake let out a soft chuckle that vibrated through his body and into Derek’s mouth. “Good boy,” Jake muttered, echoing Kayla’s words from another world. When Derek pulled away, retching slightly, Jake simply lay back down. Margot curled into Jake’s side. “We’re going to sleep for a bit,” she announced. “You should too. We’ll need you again later.”
The lamp went out.
Derek lay back down on his edge of the bed, the taste of them coating his tongue, seeping into his very soul. The darkness was absolute, but he could feel their combined heat, hear their synchronized breathing as they fell asleep together. He was the outsider. The servant. The cleanup crew. He didn’t sleep. He stared into the blackness, his mind a blank, aching void. It happened twice more in the night.
The first time, he was jerked from a feverish doze by movement. Jake was already hard again, kissing Margot awake. This time was slower, more sensual. Jake took his time, worshiping her body with his mouth while Derek watched, his own pathetic excitement a traitorous, shameful pulse between his legs. When Jake finally entered her, it was with a slow, deep control that drew whimpers from Margot that sounded like prayers.
Jake fucked her sideways from behind. Margot faced Derek, watching his face as Jake slid in and out of her, palming her breasts as they coupled. Derek looked in Margot's eyes as she climaxed, then watched her tits bounce as Jake finished inside of her. Afterwards, Margot rolled over and kissed Jake, presenting her cum dripping pussy for Derek.
Derek crawled down in the covers until his face was even with her ass. He could hear the wet sounds of their kissing and whispers as he pulled apart her ass cheeks and looked at the cum drizzling out of her well fucked pussy down across her lower thighs. Margot and Jake continued to make out as he licked up the cum, completely ignoring him like he was a tool.
The second time, just before dawn, Margot initiated it. She climbed over Jake, straddling him, riding him with a slow, sinuous rhythm while she looked directly at Derek. Her eyes were glazed with pleasure, but completely aware. She was showing him. Teaching him. After she came, collapsing onto Jake’s chest, she pointed a lazy finger at Derek, and he went to work once more, his jaw aching, his spirit broken.
When he finished that final, degrading act, the sky outside the window was shifting from black to deep indigo.Birds began their first, tentative songs.
Jake fell asleep almost instantly, a deep, untroubled sleep. Margot nestled against him, a small, satisfied smile on her lips.
Derek lay on his back, dry-eyed now, the taste of their union a permanent stain in his mouth.He listened to the birds. He listened to the faint snore from Jake. He felt the vast, empty space between his body and Margot’s.
He was still lying there, rigid and awake, when the first real rays of sun pierced the blinds, illuminating the dust motes dancing over the bed where his marriage had just ended, and something else had begun in its place.
The light grew stronger, etching the lines of Jake’s shoulders and the curve of Margot’s spine under the sheet into sharp relief. Derek didn’t move. He tracked a single dust mote as it floated, dizzy and insignificant, across the sunbeam until it vanished into shadow. His body was a lead weight. His mouth still held the phantom aftertaste of salt and betrayal.
Margot stirred first. She stretched, a long, cat-like motion that made the sheet slip down to her waist. She blinked sleepily at the window, then turned her head. Her eyes found Derek’s, awake and watching. She didn’t startle. A slow, languid smile spread across her face, the smile of someone who had slept deeply and well.
“Morning,” she murmured, her voice husky with sleep. She nudged Jake with her elbow. “Jake. Sun’s up.”
Jake groaned, a low, comfortable sound, and pulled her closer, nuzzling into her hair. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.
“No,” Margot said, but she was still smiling. She ran a hand through his dark hair. “I’m starving. And I want breakfast.” She looked back at Derek. “Sweetie, be a doll and make us breakfast? The full works. Bacon, eggs, toast, coffee. The good orange juice, not the concentrate.”
Derek stared at her. The ordinariness of the request was a dissonant slap. “Okay,” he whispered, the word scraping out of his raw throat.
“Bring it up here,” she added, snuggling back into Jake. “We’ll eat in bed.”
Derek pushed back the duvet and stood. The floor was cold under his feet. He gathered his discarded t-shirt from the floor and pulled it on, the fabric feeling alien against his skin. He didn’t look at the bed again as he walked out, closing the door softly behind him. The silence of the house was absolute. He moved through the kitchen on autopilot, a ghost performing a familiar ritual. The sizzle of bacon in the pan, the crack of eggs, the gurgle of the coffee maker—all of it sounded strangely distant, like sounds from a television in another room. He arranged everything on a large wooden tray: two plates, two sets of cutlery, two glasses of juice. He poured coffee into two mugs. He stood for a moment, staring at the tray. Then, with a dull finality, he added a third, empty mug for himself.
Carrying it up the stairs felt like climbing a mountain. He balanced the tray against his hip and turned the knob with his free hand.
They were propped up against the headboard, the sheet pooled around their waists. Jake had his arm around Margot’s shoulders. She was tracing idle circles on his chest with a fingernail. They stopped talking when he entered. The room still smelled of them, of sex and sleep.
“Perfect timing,” Margot said brightly. “Just put it right here.” She patted the duvet between them.
Derek set the heavy tray down. The coffee sloshed slightly in the mugs. He stood back, hands hanging uselessly at his sides.
“Sit,” Margot instructed, nodding to the ottoman at the foot of the bed. “You can have some coffee. Tell us about your day yesterday.”
Derek retrieved his empty mug from the tray and sat on the low ottoman. He was below them, looking up. He poured coffee, his hands steady now, a strange numbness having settled in. Jake picked up a strip of bacon and bit into it with a crunch. Margot speared a piece of scrambled egg.
“So,” she prompted, chewing. “How was work? You had that feedback thing with Kayla, right?”
The name hung in the air, a poisonous thing. Derek’s eyes flicked to Jake, who was watching him with open curiosity, his breakfast forgotten for a moment.
“It was… fine,” Derek managed.
“Derek,” Margot sighed, setting her fork down with a soft clink. “We’re all friends here. Jake knows all about your… proclivities. Don’t be shy. Tell us what happened. Did you have your coffee meeting?”
Derek took a gulping swallow of hot coffee. It burned. “We met. For coffee.”
“And?” Margot’s gaze was sharp, insistent. “What did she say? Did she give you the feedback?”
He could feel the alley pavement grinding into his knees. He could see Kathy’s phone flashing. “She… she gave me feedback.”
Jake chuckled, a low, knowing sound. “Feedback. That’s one word for it.”
“Tell us, Derek,” Margot pressed, her voice sweet but unwavering. “Use your words. What did Kayla do?”
The pressure built behind his eyes. The numbness began to crack. “She… she wasn’t alone,” he said, the words forced out. “Sven was there. And the other interns. Kathy and Janice.”
Margot’s eyebrows raised in feigned surprise. “The whole gang! How fun. Go on.”
“They… Kayla had me meet them out back. By the dumpsters.” He heard his own voice, flat and dead, narrating his ruin. “She told me to get on my knees.”
A soft, approving sound came from Margot. Jake’s expression was one of fascinated disgust.
“And you did,” Margot stated.
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
Derek’s throat closed. He looked into his black coffee. “Sven… he made me….” He couldn’t say it.
“He made you suck his cock,” Jake finished for him, his tone conversational. “Right there in the alley.”
Derek flinched. He gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
“Did you swallow?” Margot asked, picking up her toast. She took a delicate bite.
He shook his head. “I… couldn’t. It was on my face. In my hair.”
“Messy,” Jake commented, taking a sip of juice.
“They took pictures,” Derek whispered, the horror of that detail breaking through. “Lots of pictures. Kayla said… she said she’d send them to you.”
“Oh, she did,” Margot said cheerfully. “Last night, while you were in the shower. We all looked at them. They’re very graphic. You look quite the dedicated employee.” She reached over to the nightstand, picked up her phone, and tapped the screen. She turned it toward him. It was a high-resolution photo of his own face, streaked with tears and cum, his lips stretched obscenely. “Janice has a real eye for composition.”
Derek’s stomach lurched. He looked away.
“Then what happened?” Margot persisted, putting the phone down. “After the pictures.”
“Kayla said… she said next time, she’d give the girls pegging lessons.” The term felt crude and sharp in the sunlit bedroom. “Kathy said she couldn’t wait to make me her bitch.”
Silence followed, broken only by the sound of Jake chewing. Margot looked at Jake, then back at Derek. Her green eyes were alight with something that wasn’t quite cruelty, but something colder: clinical interest.
“Well,” she said finally, dabbing her lips with a napkin. “It sounds like you had a very productive day. Building relationships. Learning new skills.” She smiled at him, a warm, wifely smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “I’m proud of you.”
Jake finished his last bite of egg and pushed his plate away. He leaned back, lacing his hands behind his head, his biceps flexing. “So you’re the office cocksucker now,” he said, not as a question, but as a finalized verdict. “And tonight, you’re the house cocksucker. You’re a versatile guy, Derek.”
Margot laughed, a light, tinkling sound. She swung her legs out of bed, the sheet falling away completely. She didn’t reach for a robe. “I’m going to shower. Jake, darling, you can join me if you like. The water pressure is excellent.” She walked, naked and unconcerned, toward the bathroom.
Jake watched her go, then his gaze slid back to Derek, still hunched on the ottoman. He stood up, tall and dominant in the space. He walked over and placed his empty plate and mug on the tray. He paused, looking down at Derek.
“You did good with breakfast,” he said quietly. Then he leaned down, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur Derek felt in his bones. “But just so you know, I’m staying the week. Margot’s already cleared my schedule.” He straightened up, a faint, merciless smile on his face. “Better rest up, LDCS. You’ve got a busy week ahead.”
He followed Margot into the bathroom. A moment later, Derek heard the shower turn on, and the sound of their laughter mixing with the spray. He sat alone, staring at the wreckage of the breakfast tray, the cold congealing grease on the plates, the empty mug that was his. The sunlight felt like an interrogation lamp.