Natural Endurance

Windows clearing, Megan's lipstick smudged. My come still wet on her inner thigh where anyone could see it if they looked properly, but Lily's just scrolling through videos on her phone like we didn't have a threesome in a campus car park ten minutes ago.

"We should go," Lily says. Not looking up. "Before campus security does a round."

Megan straightens her dress in the rear-view mirror. Checks her makeup. That post-sex flush still visible on her neck. "Let's go home. He's in Raleigh until tomorrow afternoon."

"Er, your bed," Lily says. Looking at her now. "Seems right."

Something passes between them. Years of family dinners and pretending everything's fine and both of them knowing exactly what he's become.

The drive back is quiet, Megan driving with one hand while the other rests on Lily's thigh. I'm in the back watching North Carolina slide past and trying to work out what I've just agreed to. My cock's still sensitive and I can smell sex in the car, the three of us marinading in what we've done.

Megan's hand finds Lily's properly, fingers interweaving on the gearstick. Squeezes. Lily squeezes back, not sexual but something else. Permission maybe, or acknowledgement that they're actually doing this.

We pull into the drive and everything looks normal - sprinkler going on the front lawn, curtains I've looked at from inside a hundred times but never from their bedroom. Normal Saturday afternoon except for what we're about to do.

Inside Megan goes straight to the wine, hands trembling slightly as she pours three glasses. Red, the expensive stuff from the back of the pantry.

"To bad decisions," Lily says. Raises her glass.

We drink and it's good wine, wasted on me really but I'm not complaining.

Lily walks through the house touching things - trophy cabinet, framed certificates. Stops at the wedding photo on the mantelpiece, young Megan in white looking at the camera like she's not entirely sure what she's signed up for.

"You looked terrified."

"I was twenty-three. Didn't know any better."

"He was what, thirty-one?"

"Thirty-two."

"Wanted someone young enough to be grateful."

Megan's leaning against the kitchen counter. Same counter where I've had her twice before. "Lily, don't."

"What? It's true. You know it's true."

The wine tastes like dark fruit and oak. Nothing like the shite we buy at Tesco.

"Shower," Megan says. Voice firmer now. "I need to wash the car park off me."

Lily looks at me. Something in her eyes. "All of us."

So we're heading upstairs and I've been up these stairs dozens of times over six weeks but always to my room or the bathroom. Never to their bedroom. Door at the end of the hall I've walked past pretending not to think about what's behind it.

Megan opens it.

The bed's massive. King size. His side of the wardrobe hanging open showing perfectly organised shirts arranged by colour. Hers crammed full, dresses and tops fighting for space. Photos on the walls. Them on holiday. Them at some function. Him receiving an award. Pattern emerging there.

Bathroom's through a door on the left. Walk-in shower, two sinks with their separate bottles and potions, his and hers bathrobes hanging on hooks. His looks barely used. Hers worn soft.

Megan turns on the shower. Starts undressing without ceremony. Not performing. Just tired movements. Dress over her head. Bra unclipped. The dried come from earlier still visible on her inner thigh, flaking white against tanned skin.

Lily's already naked by the time I look. Smaller tits than Megan, trimmed not shaved. That silly bird tattoo on her shoulder - everyone with tattoos thinks they're being mysterious and original when actually if you really want to stand out, don't get one. Gets in first, turns her face up to the spray.

I follow and the water's hot. Steam filling the glass enclosure. Three of us squeezed in together.

Lily picks up soap and starts washing Megan's back, slow circles across her shoulders and down her spine. She leans forward against the tiles letting it happen. The two of them have this ease, years of knowing each other showing in how comfortable they are with proximity.

"Doesn't touch you anymore does he."

Not a question.

"No."

"How long?"

"Months. Maybe longer. I stopped counting."

Lily's hands move lower. Soaping the small of Megan's back, the curve of her arse. Then between her legs. Washing away my come from earlier. She gasps. Spreads her stance slightly.

"Dan. Come here."

I move closer. Water cascading over all of us. Lily guides my hand to replace hers. Megan's already slick under my fingers. Different from earlier. Slower heat building.

"Touch her properly," Lily says against my ear. "Not rushed. Not like in the car."

So I'm touching her, finding her clit and that rhythm I've learned over six weeks. Her breathing changes, gets deeper.

Lily's pressed against my back now, hand reaching round to find my cock which is definitely interested again despite having come twice already today. Both of them working me - her hand and Megan's heat and the water - and I'm going to finish embarrassingly fast if this continues.

Megan turns round. Water streaming down her face. Kisses me. Tastes like wine and something darker underneath. Her hand joins Lily's on my cock and both of them stroking me together and this is too much, too good.

"Bed," she says against my mouth. "Before my legs give out."

We dry off. Lily grabs one of the robes from the hook. Puts it on. Too big on her. Sleeves past her hands.

"Always wanted to try this on."

Megan's already heading to the bedroom. Doesn't bother with a towel. Just walks through naked, water still beading on her skin. Climbs onto the bed. Lies down on his side. Deliberate.

Lily drops the robe. Follows her onto the bed.

"Well?" Looking at me. "You just going to stand there?"

The bed's ridiculous - too many pillows, sheets that probably cost more than my flight. Smells like expensive laundry detergent and something else, his aftershave maybe.

I climb on. Megan pulls me down immediately. Kisses me while Lily watches. Then she's shifting position, kissing down Megan's body. Taking her time. Mouth on her neck. Her collarbone. Between her breasts. Down her stomach.

She's making these sounds. Small gasps. Different from the car park. Less desperate. More letting herself feel it.

Lily spreads her legs. Settles between them. Looks up at me over her body.

"Show me how you do this. When you've got time."

So I'm joining her. Positioning myself next to Lily between Megan's thighs. Not rushing. Using my tongue properly. That spot just to the left of her clit that makes her hips lift. The pressure and rhythm I've learned she needs.

Her hand finds my hair. Grips. Other hand reaching down for Lily.

"Come here. Need you up here."

Lily crawls up the bed. She pulls her into a kiss and I can hear them above me. Wet sounds of tongues. Small gasps. Then Lily's shifting, straddling her face. Megan's tongue working while she's got her head thrown back.

I push two fingers inside and she's soaking, grips me immediately. I curl them up, find that spot, and her thighs start trembling. Keep licking while working my fingers and I can feel her getting close by how she's tightening, how her hips are moving.

"Don't stop," Lily says from above. Voice strained. "Don't either of you stop."

Megan comes first. Whole body going rigid. Thighs clamping my head so hard I can barely breathe but I keep going until she's pushing me away, too sensitive. Lily follows maybe thirty seconds later. Quieter but harder.

They collapse sideways onto the bed. I'm kneeling there with my cock aching, face covered in Megan's wetness.

Lily recovers first. Sits up. Looks at my cock then at Megan.

"Your turn to watch."

She's still catching her breath. "Give me... give me a minute."

"Not for that. For this."

Lily lies back. Spreads her legs. Looking at me with this expression. Half challenge, half want.

"Fuck me. Want Megan to see what you do."

I position myself between her thighs. Megan's right there beside us, propped on her elbow. Hand already moving to Lily's breast. Thumb on her nipple.

Push inside and she's tight. Tighter than Megan. Different grip. Her hands go to my arse immediately. Nails digging in.

"Harder than that."

So I fuck her harder. The bed starts creaking. Headboard hitting the wall with each thrust. Lily underneath me. Megan watching everything.

She's kissing her now. Hand sliding down between Lily's legs. Rubbing her clit while I'm inside her. The three of us connected and it's intense and weird and fucking perfect.

"Gonna come," Lily gasps against her mouth. "Keep going keep going--"

She does. Grabs Megan hard. These sounds into her mouth while her body goes tight around me.

I pull out. Can't risk it. Not inside Lily without asking.

"What're you doing?" Her eyes opening.

"Didn't ask if I could--"

"Pill. Get back here."

Megan actually laughs. "Always so polite. Even now."

I push back inside. Fuck her properly now. Until I'm right there on the edge.

"Meg," Lily says. Voice rough. "Want you under me."

She understands immediately. Slides underneath. On her back. Lily lowers herself onto her face. I'm behind her now. Inside her from behind while she grinds against Megan's mouth.

This is mental. Properly mental. But she's moving, pushing back against each thrust, and I can hear Megan underneath making muffled sounds and see her hand between her own legs.

"Come inside her," Megan says. Voice thick. "Want to taste it after."

That does it. Three thrusts and I'm coming. Deep inside Lily. Can't stop. Don't want to.

Lily moves immediately after. Shifts forward. Straddles Megan's face properly now. Her tongue inside her. Licking. Tasting me. Lily's making these sounds. Megan's hands gripping her hips, holding her there.

I'm watching. Cock softening. Brain completely empty except for what I'm seeing. These two women. Megan eating her sister-in-law. My come dripping into her mouth.

After we just lie there tangled across the bed, window open letting in summer air. Someone's mowing their lawn three doors down, normal Saturday sounds.

"What time's he back?" I manage.

"Tomorrow afternoon." Her voice is rough. "We've got all night."

Lily reaches for her phone from the bedside table and starts scrolling through the videos from earlier - me and Megan in the car, different angles, her face visible in most of them.

"Should delete these," Megan says. Not much conviction in it though.

"Should we?"

Silence. Just breathing and the distant lawn mower.

Lily shows us one. Me behind Megan. Her face clear. Saying his name.

"He's had this coming for years."

Megan takes the phone. Watches herself being fucked in a car park. Something in her face changes. Not shame. Something else. Recognition maybe.

"Not yet," she says. Hands the phone back. "But maybe. Eventually."

Looks at me. "You hungry? I could make pasta."

Just like that we're talking about food. Like we didn't just do what we did.

We eat pasta in the kitchen wearing hardly anything - Lily in the robe again, Megan in one of my t-shirts that comes down to mid-thigh, me in boxers. Drinking more of the good wine, talking about track season and Lily's pottery and the book Megan's teaching in summer school. Normal conversation.

But underneath there's this current - that we're going back upstairs, that we've got hours yet, that this isn't over.

After, Lily corners me by the sink while Megan's loading the dishwasher.

"You know this is properly fucked."

"Yeah."

"But you're not stopping."

"Are you?"

She smiles. "Not a chance."

Megan's already upstairs when we get there. Shower running again. Lily strips off the robe. Walks into the bathroom. I follow.

Through the glass I can see them. Hands on each other. Bodies moving together under the spray. She sees me watching. Beckons.

Round two starts in the shower and continues in the bed, slower this time, less desperate. Learning what makes each of them gasp, what makes them grab, where to touch.

At some point I'm on my back with Megan riding me, taking her time, rolling her hips. Lily sitting on my face and I'm drowning in her, tongue working while she grinds down. They're kissing above me and I can hear them, feel her tightening around my cock.

This moment. This bed. These women. Going to remember this when I'm fifty.

We finish tangled together. Sweating. Properly used up.

Megan gets up and opens the window wider, stands there naked looking out at the street. Her back to us, light from outside silhouetting her.

"I'm leaving him."

Lily sits up. "Meg--"

"Not for Dan. Not for anyone." She turns round. "I'm forty-one. I've got maybe twenty good years left if I'm lucky. I'm not spending them being invisible."

Silence. Just the sounds from outside. A car passing. Dog barking.

"About fucking time," Lily says quietly.

She climbs back into bed. Between us.

"Tomorrow though. Tonight's just this."

We sleep eventually, Lily curled round her and Megan's hand finding mine. The sheets expensive and soft, window open with summer air moving through.

I wake once in the night with my mouth dry, both of them asleep. Her breathing steady, Lily's arm across her.

Downstairs I drink water straight from the tap and look at the photos covering the fridge - him at conferences, him with his team, him receiving some coaching award. Championship medals and newspaper clippings.

Not one photo of Megan.

Twenty years. Not one.

Back upstairs they've shifted. Wrapped around each other now. No space for me in the middle. I slide in on the edge anyway. Her hand finds mine without waking. Squeezes once.

Morning comes too soon with pale light through the curtains. Lily's already awake, lying there watching us.

"What time is it?" Megan asks. Voice rough with sleep.

"Seven."

"We've got hours yet."

But the spell's breaking. You can feel it. Reality creeping in around the edges.

Lily gets up. Starts getting dressed. Finds her clothes from yesterday. "Should go. Before the neighbours start their curtain-twitching routine."

Megan doesn't argue. We both know she's right.

At the front door Lily kisses her. Properly. Long enough to mean something. Then turns to me.

"Take care of her today."

"I'm not--"

"I know. Just. Today. While she cleans up."

She leaves. Door closing quietly behind her.

We stand in the hallway, her in my t-shirt still and me in yesterday's shorts. Light coming through the windows showing dust in the air.

"Shower?" she says.

We shower together, washing each other properly this time. Careful and gentle, not sexual, just cleaning up the evidence.

After we lie on the sofa with her head on my chest, some film on TV neither of us watch.

"You meant it?" I ask. "About leaving?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"I don't know. After summer maybe. Need to work out the logistics." She looks up at me. "This isn't about you though. You know that right?"

"I know."

"I care about you. A lot. But this is about me. About not wasting any more time waiting for someone to see me."

We lie there until nearly noon, then she makes me go. He's back at three and she needs time to strip the bed, wash the sheets, put everything back the way it was.

I head to my room. Down the hall from theirs. Lie on my bed. Stare at the ceiling.

Phone vibrates. Lily.

**Deleted the videos. Felt right.**

Then:

**She's actually going to do it you know. Leave him.**

I don't reply. Don't know what to say.

Another message:

**Thanks. For not being him.**

Lie there listening to her moving around below. Washing machine starting. Vacuum cleaner. Erasing the evidence.

Six weeks in America.

Everything's changed.

Everything.