What My Father-in-Law Proposed Changed Everything Between Us

Damián put his things away in the locker and headed straight for the machines. He got on the stationary bike and started pedaling at a slow cadence, warming up his muscles unhurriedly. A good while later he was pedaling flat out, wiping the sweat off with the small towel and drinking in short sips to replenish his fluids.

He looked at the clock and decided he’d had enough. He got off, ready to take a shower and do a few laps in the pool. On his way to the locker rooms he crossed paths with a mature woman in a swimsuit heading for the sauna. He watched her like an owl watching its prey.

That woman’s curves stood out beneath the wet garment that barely covered the interesting parts. With every step, her hips moved with firm, trembling flesh. The soaking swimsuit clung to her skin, still damp from the spray along the wall beside it. He was surprised by how much she resembled Marisol.

What would she look like in that swimsuit? Or better yet, without it.

He watched her disappear behind the sauna door and stood rooted in the middle of the corridor, his gaze fixed. He clicked his tongue and, after a few seconds of hesitation, headed toward the showers and stepped under the cold water. He couldn’t stop looking toward the sauna.

The wooden door opened again and he slipped inside, tall and well built. The woman, already beginning to sweat from the suffocating heat, gave him barely a glance.

—Can I? —he asked, as if he needed permission.

Really, he was only looking for an excuse to make contact. She, thrown by such an obvious question, shrugged and pointed with her eyes to the empty bench. Damián nodded, as if he had been waiting for that approval, and sat on the same step as her, but at the opposite end.

They both looked silently through the huge front pane that gave onto the pool and the jacuzzis. Since it was tinted glass, they could see the people using the facilities without being seen themselves. A spectacular blonde with enormous breasts crossed from one side to the other in a tiny bikini that fit her like a glove.

Everyone at the gym called her “the foreigner.” Damián had never spoken to her, but that didn’t make him want any less than the others to run his tongue over that body.

When the blonde moved out of his line of sight, the woman turned her face slightly toward him, studying him from the corner of her eye. Damián had already anticipated that gesture, so what she found was the boy’s impassive face, looking with calculated interest toward where the other woman had disappeared.

And then it happened, the thing he had watched so many times and needed to check again: the real reason he had gone in there after that mature woman.

With discreet movements, the woman rearranged her breasts inside the swimsuit, lifting them a little. Then, subtly, she took the elastic out of her hair and smoothed her mane.

Damián, smiling inwardly, pretended not to notice.

You’re dying for people to see you beautiful and desirable, no matter how married you are. Even if it’s only because of the envy you feel for one another.

The woman cast one last checking glance. He kept his expression in place and, without saying anything else, left the sauna on his way to the locker rooms. Less than half an hour later he was leaving the gym in the direction of Lucía’s house, showered, relaxed, and with a clear mission in his head.

***

After climbing the five floors, he knocked on the door with some nervousness. Lucía wouldn’t be back for another hour, so he had plenty of time to clear certain things up with her mother.

—Damián! —Marisol said, startled. —Lucía isn’t here. Had you arranged to meet?

But he hadn’t come to explain himself.

—Why did you tell Gerardo? About our conversation.

The woman, not expecting that opening, was thrown for a moment. Then she crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the frame.

—It’s what good people do with their partners —she shot back—. It’s called loyalty and trust.

—Bullshit. You did it to fuck me over.

—I did it because it was the right thing to do. I’m your girlfriend’s mother —she reminded him.

—And I’m your daughter’s boyfriend.

—Someone you don’t deserve —she hissed. —I thought you were a good boy. Proper, studious, even a little shy. —She looked him straight in the eye—. But I was wrong. You’re just another one of those who sees a piece of meat in a woman. An instrument for your selfish pleasure.

—You’re wrong, Marisol. I swear I love Lucía —he said, raising his eyebrows.

—In your own way, yes. Twisted and selfish. I don’t doubt you’d be capable of great things to avoid losing her, to avoid being left without your trophy. But deep down... what you carry inside... —she paused, looking for the exact words— there’s something dark there. A poison that makes you dangerous.

—And you? —he attacked—. You were damn well there watching.

—I wasn’t...

—Yes, you were —he cut in. —I was acting like a pig with your daughter and, all the while, what did you do? You could have given me hell, you could have walked away. Instead you stayed there spying. Enjoying the show.

—I wasn’t spying on you —she replied, restraining herself from rolling her eyes. —And you’re getting cheeky again.

Her volume stayed low, in keeping with the calm she didn’t want to lose.

—And you’re a hypocrite. You tell him about me but keep quiet about what you did.

—I told you I didn’t... —She pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose, trying to hold on. She took two deep breaths before attacking again. —I froze when I saw you. You were saying horrible things that kept me from reacting.

—Oh, come on. It was the usual bullshit people blurt out without a filter at the height of an orgasm. Don’t tell me you’ve never talked like that when Gerardo and you are doing your thing.

—Not that kind of thing —she cut him off, now in a whisper, careful that none of the neighbors heard them. —You sounded like a depraved man.

—Because I was out of my mind. I already told you that.

—You weren’t that afternoon when we talked, and you repeated the same thing. —Her voice hardened—. You told me it was me you wanted.

—I confessed it to you! —he shot back in the same restrained tone. —You begged me for honesty, remember? And that’s what I did: I was honest with you, I told you the truth just as you asked me to. In confidence.

Marisol fell silent. She hadn’t expected that. Damián’s angry expression shifted into one of pity.

—I love Lucía and I want to be with her —he protested—. What I told you were the same fantasies anybody has. I laid myself bare and repeated them, I exposed myself to you, revealing something you would never have known otherwise. It was a fantasy, fuck, that’s all. And I told you in confidence.

She was still hesitating. Barely able to hold his gaze. Maybe she had gone too far in judging her son-in-law.

—Come on, Marisol, we all carry junk in our heads we wouldn’t tell even when we’re drunk. Shameful fantasies that we don’t want anyone to know. I confessed mine to you, but you know I’d never do anything to hurt you, and less so Lucía.

He took a step closer and lowered his voice even more.

—Do you know how it makes me feel, now that Gerardo thinks I’m a degenerate?

Marisol closed her eyes, distressed. By then she no longer knew how to feel.

—You’ve made my life harder —he complained. —And you’re going to make it harder with Lucía.

She opened her mouth to answer when, suddenly, a hand appeared over the edge of the door and it began to open. The figure behind it slowly came into view.

—Damián —Gerardo said in his booming voice once the door was fully open.

The boy froze, mouth half open, looking back and forth between one and the other, wondering what the husband was doing there.

He was home? Fuck.

—Gerardo, darling —Marisol greeted him nervously. —The boy came to look for Lucía. I was telling him she isn’t here. He was just leaving.

The man didn’t take his eyes off the boy, as if weighing something up. Damián wondered how much of the conversation he had heard, if he had heard anything at all.

—He can wait for her inside. I don’t think she’ll be long —Gerardo said, stepping aside to make room for him to pass.

—No, I was already leaving —he managed to say.

But the other man didn’t react. He kept the door open, arm outstretched, not withdrawing the invitation. Marisol, eyes lowered, retreated into the living room to escape the scene, and Damián ended up following her so as not to seem rude.

He took an armchair next to the sofa where she had sat down. Gerardo, following behind him, settled beside his wife.

The first thing that became obvious was how uncomfortable the silence was. After that came the not knowing what to say. He had never wanted a cup of tea so badly; at least then he could occupy himself stirring the spoon.

—So... —Gerardo spoke at last—. What were you talking about? You’d been at the door quite a while.

Damián’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t dare answer. He let Marisol take the initiative.

—He was apologizing for the other day’s conversation —she said.

The young man’s jaw nearly dropped. What the hell is wrong with this woman? His mother-in-law had the unhealthy habit of speaking without a filter with her husband.

—Ah, that. —Gerardo scratched his chin. —About how you wanted her for yourself. My wife.

Marisol put a hand on his forearm, nervous. Damián’s heart nearly stopped.

—I... it was a joke. I already told him I wasn’t serious.

Gerardo frowned.

—But you said you liked her. You confessed it to me the day we talked in the kitchen.

—No, look, what I said... what I meant... —He had aged several years all at once. The man, broad and deep-voiced, was looking at him with eyes that seemed to want to bore through his flesh. He tried to swallow and couldn’t.

—Honey... —Marisol began. Her husband ignored her.

—You said it, didn’t you? That you liked her. That Marisol is an attractive woman.

Damián’s lip trembled. Gerardo must have heard everything behind the door and wasn’t going to let some punk intimidate his wife.

—Gerardo. —This time Marisol’s call was a warning. She had put a hand on his knee.

He covered that hand with his own to calm her.

—It’s all right, don’t worry. —He looked at the young man again, urging him to answer.

Damián looked back and forth between the two of them, not knowing what the correct answer was. If that big brute lost his temper, he’d leave him with both eyebrows in the same place.

—Well... yes, of course I said it, but... I meant she still has a lot of her beauty... for her age. —He swallowed. —Right?

—And that’s why you want to sleep with her. Because, at her age, you think she’s a woman you could make enjoy herself like no one else.

—What? Me? Did I say that?

Damián looked at Marisol questioningly, but she had lowered her gaze to the floor. How much has he gone and let slip?

—Is it true or not? —the husband insisted.

—Gerardo, look, I already explained to you that none of that was what I really thought. That at that moment...

—At that moment you weren’t in control of yourself —he cut in—, true. But later, in day-to-day life, you have fantasies about her, don’t you?

—Huh? I... well...

—Gerardo, darling... —his wife intervened again, trying to stop that embarrassing conversation. He silenced her with an exasperated look.

—Let him explain himself. I only want to know if it’s true.

He turned to Damián and fixed his eyes on him.

—Tell me, do you desire her? Would you make her enjoy herself until she lost her mind?

—I... I don’t...

—Enough! —Marisol shouted—. That’s enough. Leave it. I’ve told you a thousand times I don’t want this. I don’t need this. And less with him.

—Why not? —her husband said, hurt—. He’s young and you think he’s handsome. —He narrowed his eyes—. And he’s not going to say anything.

—Because no! —she screamed—. Because he’s a kid, because it’s wrong, and because he’s my daughter’s boyfriend. —She sobbed—. Don’t you understand? We’re in this together, the two of us. For better and for worse.

Damián opened his mouth wide. What the hell are they talking about?

Gerardo rested his forehead against hers and stroked her face with extreme tenderness.

—Please —he insisted, in a tone almost like a plea.

—My love —Marisol sniffled through tears—, you know I love you madly, with all my heart.

—And that’s why you’re fading a little more every day. Do you know how much it hurts me to see you like this? How much I suffer seeing you suffer?

—Don’t say that. You have me. You know I love you above everything else.

—And I love you. But I can’t stop blaming myself for not being able to give you what you deserve.

—Shut up, you fool —she said through tears—. You give me everything.

—Not everything, Marisol.

He turned back to Damián.

—Answer me, could you do it?

She took his face and turned it back toward her.

—Gerardo, please. I’ve already made a decision.

—I just want to see you smile one more time. Even if it isn’t with me.

She put her hand over his mouth to stop him going on and, right after that, she kissed him.

By then Damián didn’t say a damn thing. Motionless, as if that might make him invisible. This was bizarre. Gerardo consenting? Maybe he had some problem that prevented him from satisfying his wife. That’s why that vinegar face and why her sadness. He watched them hold each other through tears, his included. That man, nearly two meters tall with shoulders like a wardrobe, no longer looked like a bull about to charge him.

Marisol wiped her tears and turned to him.

—Go —she said. —Go now.

Without thinking twice, he walked to the entrance. She called him before he crossed the threshold.

—And not a word of this to Lucía. Do you hear me?

Her tone was icy and sharp. Damián knew for certain that he had to obey more fervently than if Gerardo himself had ordered him to. He nodded and disappeared down the stairs, not without casting one last look over his shoulder.

What a strange bunch of people. Would he really have let me sleep with his wife just to see her smile?

He bit his lower lip, imagining the sleepless nights that now awaited him. He’d no longer be able to stop thinking about that moment every time they crossed paths in that house. And all behind Lucía’s back.

The husband’s secret: he only wanted to see his wife happy.