Anal

There were six of us at Rosa’s bar. By three in the morning, the same six of us were still at Valeria’s place, but nobody had any clothes on.

It took me two seconds to recognize him on the other side of the bar. He was wearing a tight skirt and fishnets, and letting a stranger touch him.

I’d gone weeks without breathing properly because of work. That night I wanted to celebrate alone. I walked into the first bar I saw and left as someone else.

I had to sleep on the floor of my own room. My sister and her husband were in the bed. We’d been waiting for the moment for months. That night was the moment.

I pressed the buzzer with trembling fingers. I knew that beyond that door awaited someone capable of turning me into what I had always dreamed of being.

I drew back the curtain without making a sound. Sofía was turned away, water running down her shoulders, not knowing what was about to happen to her.

When Rodrigo opened the door for me, I knew there was no turning back. My life was about to change in a way I never imagined.

We made a game under the blanket to see if he could guess what underwear I was wearing. I never imagined that bet would end with him on top of me in the hotel room.

I met Andrés, with that smile that undid me. Sofía wasn’t home. I hadn’t come for her anyway.

She had made the promise weeks earlier, in a moment of weakness she never forgot. Now she was here, and Karim was not going to let her regret it.

I had been in love with Andrés for months when he told me his ex was coming to dinner. I never imagined that night would end with the two of us proclaiming him our king.

When I came back from the kitchen and saw Marco’s hand on Rodrigo’s thigh, I felt a jealousy I couldn’t tell whether I wanted to smother or feed.

I spent forty-seven years being exactly who I was supposed to be. One night, holding my wife’s lingerie in my hands, changed that forever.

I was twenty and had never been with a man. That night, while closing the gym, the only member left walked into the showers at the same time I did.

He sat off to the side, looking at the water with resignation. He was shy, he was a virgin, and he was perfect for what my friend and I had been thinking about all afternoon.

He ran a stone down my back, murmured something I couldn’t understand, and suddenly I wanted only one thing: for that man to take me. I don’t know if it was witchcraft. I know I didn’t resist.

I’d carried that nameless curiosity for years. When Diego appeared in the cove, alone and with time to spare, something changed before the day was over.

I stood in the doorway with my wine in hand and looked at him from far away. He looked up. I smiled. No more words were needed.

When I arrived at his apartment that Saturday afternoon, I had shaved everything and I wasn’t wearing underwear. I knew exactly what I was going for. Or so I thought.

Everyone was sleeping a few feet away when I leaned against the cold patio wall. That night, my brother-in-law would do something to me no man had managed before.