Anal

The phone rang and it was him, offering me a session that same afternoon. From his tone, I knew we weren’t going to talk only about massages.

I returned the apartment keys and, without planning it, that week ended with the confession I never thought I’d tell anyone: two men, a friend, and a single night.

From the dance floor we were already sneaking our hands to each other; what we didn’t finish in the car, we continued in my room, unhurried and unclothed.

I told him I’d come in sweaty and needed a shower. He carried me to the sofa and whispered that, with my scent, he liked me even more.

The hum of the air conditioner was the soundtrack to her golden cage. That night, a blown tire left her before three strangers and on the edge of what she had never allowed herself to want.

There were five of us and a town by the sea. What began as a joke over laughter and beer became the weekend that changed everything between us.

We’d had one clear rule for years, but that morning I understood that renewing the contract meant climbing onto the notary’s table in front of everyone.

I thought she was asleep the night I brought those two men home. I was wrong: she saw everything. And weeks later she walked into the bathroom, sat in front of me, and demanded to know it all.

It took me two weeks to admit I wanted it to happen again. And one dawn, instead of running away, I sat on that stair and waited for them.

When I felt his body against my back in the kitchen, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. What I didn’t know was that my husband had planned it all.

When they carried him to bed asleep, I knew that night wouldn’t end like the others. And I regret nothing that happened after.

I opened the door wrapped in a towel, still wet, convinced it was a package. It was him, with flowers in one hand and a smile that promised nothing innocent.

We’d been neighbors for years and barely exchanged a hallway hello. That night, when I put my sweater over her shoulders, I knew we were done pretending.

My sister was abroad and I had to attend in her place. When my nephew demanded his gift in front of his friends, I knew I wouldn’t go home the same.

We went up to hang the laundry under any pretext. Among the water tanks on the rooftop, I discovered she was as impatient as I was to stop pretending.

When the elevator door opened and I saw the apartment door ajar, I knew there would be no rules this time. And part of me had been craving that for days.

I heard him on the phone say, “This old lady is ready.” I should have been offended. Instead, I felt myself get soaked right there against the bar.

I’d sworn her virginity was nonnegotiable. That morning, in the apartment a friend lent me, she showed me just how far she was willing to go.

I had seen him only once and couldn’t forget his body. When I learned he was looking for me too, I waited for my mother to go to work and let him in.

I hid on the locker-room mezzanine with Bruno pressed against my back. Below, my mother and her friend were undressing among the workers, and I couldn’t look away.