They weren't happy. I could tell.

The couple was sitting on beach towels a few feet beyond where the lapping of the waves at the sand turned it a darker hue than where it was dry. One was blonde, the other brunette. The blonde was older, maybe by as few as five years, maybe as many as ten. The brunette was taller by about four inches, but the blonde was stockier, with thicker muscles.

I crossed the line from where the depth of the water changes, where it switches from blue to green. I'd been swimming a long time, and perhaps it was time to come out. This couple definitely needed me, my intervention. Their auras were all wrong. They loved each other but something was going on with them, something that was making them forget how much they loved, how much they cared, how deep the feelings actually ran. The brunette was scowling. They weren't talking, they were merely sitting side by side on their individual blankets on the powdery white sand. Not even looking at each other, not even stealing the occasional sidelong glance.

My feet brushed against the bottom and I smiled. I'd been in the water long enough it seemed to forget how to walk. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. I hoped not, at any rate. My feet sank a fraction of an inch into the sand, and the small waves lifted the weight off of my feet momentarily as each one passed, moving me a little closer to the water's edge.

I kept my eyes on the brunette as more of me emerged from the water. He tried to make it look like he wasn't looking at me. I was getting the sideling glances as his eyes scanned the horizon, but they always came back to me. He seemed afraid to look me in the eyes, for our gazes to lock, but his eyes, I could see them moving, drinking in every inch of my dripping body as it emerged from the green sea. The white sugary sand of the Florida panhandle scrunched under my feet as I walked at last out of the water. I smiled at the brunette. The blonde had laid back, sunglasses on, his eyes unreadable. The brunette was more susceptible to my charms, I decided, sitting down on the sand a few feet from where he sat.

I would wait a few minutes, letting the sun dry my skin, I decided, giving him the opportunity to speak first. Unless I missed my guess, he would.

The sun's rays were warm, and my skin dried quickly in its glare. I sensed him there, wanting to speak, to open a dialogue, but afraid of how the blonde would react.

Fair enough.

I turned my head and looked right into his brown eyes. He looked away quickly, his tanned face coloring slightly, embarrassed at being caught looking. "Hello." I said, rearranging my facial muscles into a smile. It felt awkward. Surely it hadn't been that long since I'd smiled? For a brief moment, I tried to recall the last time I'd smiled.

"Um, hi." He looked back at me. He really had a pretty face, the skin still soft and supple with the last fading glow of youth. Late twenties, I decided. His eyes were beautiful in their brownness, golden flecks lightening them just slightly enough to make them different from the many others with the same eye coloring. His lashes were long, thick, black, curling up and away from the lids. Deep dimples appeared in his cheeks as his red lips spread across his face in a slightly shy smile. Large white straight even teeth appeared over the cleft in his chin. His skin was olive, the kind that tans deeply and easily. Black curly hair framed his face, and below it
a graceful neck reached down into powerful shoulders. There was a patch of curly hair between widely set pectorals, that trailed down over a flat stomach before disappearing into the white lycra of his bikini. "My name's Matt."

I inclined my head down a bit, closing my eyes. "Alexandros." I could sense the blonde's eyes on us behind his sunglasses. There was no expression on his face, but the muscles in his neck tightened.

Matt made a gesture at him. "This is my partner, Chris."

Who feels threatened, I thought. Matt was still smiling at me. "A pleasure, Chris." I said, inclining my head at him. Chris pulled himself up till he was reclining on his elbows. His torso was hairless, thickly muscled.

"Alexander, did you say?" He lifted his sunglasses to look at me in the bright glare. His eyes were gray. He glanced up and down my body.

"Alexandros." I corrected him softly. "Call me Sandy."

"You swim a lot?" His skin gleamed in the sunlight, a mixture of suntan oil and sweat shining in the bright sun.

"Yes."

His eyes flickered down again before meeting mine. "It shows." He got to his feet. His legs were thick with muscle. He wasn't as tall as I originally had thought, maybe five eight or nine. His black bikini had ridden up a bit in the back, revealing pale skin on his round hard ass. "I think I'll go for a swim myself."

Both Matt and I watched him as he walked down to the waterline, then waded out. Once he was in deep enough water, he dove under the surface and started swimming out. I turned back to Matt. "He's quite beautiful." I said.

"Yes." A shadow passed over Matt's face, then lifted as he smiled at me. "So are you."

"Thank you." I replied. "You are, as well. You make quite a striking couple."

Matt looked away from me, up the beach. "Thanks."

"How long have you been together?"

"Three years."

Three years — that could explain some of it, I thought. The bloom is now off the rose. The first year is all giddy with love and sexual exploration of each other. In the second year the passion starts to die, just a little bit. The third year is the tricky one, when eyes start to wander, when the sex becomes a little stale and boring. Little things that used to be dismissed now begin to rankle just a little, simmering beneath the surface. "And it's going well?"

"Well---" Matt made a gesture with his hands. "Things are changing a bit. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing. I mean, I still love him, and I think he still loves me, but things just aren't the way they used to be."

"Ah."

"We met in a bar, of all places." Matt went on. "I was out with some friends, celebrating my birthday. I saw him standing in a corner, by himself. He really took my breath away when I looked at him." He closed his eyes. "He was so gorgeous and sexy-the kind of guy I'd always wanted but could never get."

"Really?"

He looked at me, his eyes sad. "I was different then, Sandy. I didn't work out — I hadn't set foot in a gym since high school. I was pretty overweight, kind of dumpy. One of my friends noticed me staring at him, and he went over to Chris." He laughed. "He told Chris that it was my birthday and he wanted Chris to be my birthday present. Chris went along with it and came over. We started talking, and I went home with him." He sighed. "It was pretty amazing, and then he actually called me and asked me out again. I was crazy about him, and after a few months I moved in with him. He got me to join his gym, and he put me on a program." He gestured to his body. "And this is the result."

"You look great."

"Yeah." He stared out at the water. Chris was a small dot out in the distance. "I look great. So, why doesn't Chris want me anymore?"

There it was, the root of the problem. "He doesn't?"

"No." A tall, lean young man of about twenty with deeply bronzed skin wearing long baggy yellow shorts walked by at the water line. We both watched him for a moment, and then Matt looked back at me. "I mean, when I was fat we had sex all the time. Every day. He couldn't get enough of me — but the better shape I got in, the less sex we had. Now I look better than I ever have, good enough for total strangers to hit on me, and Chris can't be bothered with me, unless we have someone else with us, a three way. And even then, Chris is more into the other guy than he is me." He shrugged. "I mean, he was the one who wanted me to work out. Why would he do that if he liked me better when I was fat?"

"It doesn't make sense to me." I shrugged back at him. "Have you talked to him about it?"

"No."

"Ah."

Matt looked out at the water. "You see, he took the swim so we could talk. When he gets back, the first thing he'll do is ask me what I think, and if I nod, he'll ask you back to our room for a drink. At some point during the walk back, he'll say to you 'I can't wait to watch Matt fuck you.' If you're open to it —" He shrugged again.

"Is that what you want, Matt?"

He smiled then, a big smile that lit up his entire face. "You're pretty hot, Sandy. Yeah, I would really like to fuck you."

"But you'd rather fuck Chris."

The smile faded. "Yeah."

We sat in silence as Chris became bigger and bigger as he swam to shore. He emerged from the sea, salty water streaming off his body. He shook his head, sending water droplets flying in all directions from his hair. He walked towards us. He looked at Matt. "What do you think?"

I saw the pain briefly flash across Matt's face, then he lowered his head and nodded. An odd look went across his face as he turned to me and smiled. "Would you like to come back to our room for a drink?"

I looked him square in those murky gray eyes. "Only if the drink is a preliminary to fucking."

He was startled, but only for a moment, and then he smiled. "Whatever you
want, Sandy."

It took them a few moments to fold their towels, pack up their stuff, and then we were walking across the hot sand. Matt walked faster than Chris and I. Chris reached over and stroked my back. "You really have a great body," he whispered. "I can't wait to see Matt fuck you."

I smiled back at him. "But you'll be joining us, won't you?"

His face lit up with a smile that told me everything I needed to know. It was so clear, so obvious, but of course Matt, wrapped up in his insecurities, couldn't know, couldn't notice, didn't see it. To him, Chris was perfect, the perfect man, the perfect lover, everything he had ever wanted. How could Chris be insecure? Chris draped his arm around my shoulders. I looked deep into his eyes and saw things that had never occurred to Matt. Chris was older. The age difference was even greater than I originally thought. Chris was forty, Matt only twenty seven. He looked at Matt and saw an incredibly beautiful younger man with his whole life in front of him. Matt had been fat and shy when they met.

Chris was expecting Matt to find someone younger and prettier and leave him.

He had no idea how much Matt loved him.

Neither one of them could really see.

Their hotel room was actually a suite on one of the upper floors of their hotel. One wall was all glass and faced the sea. Once we were inside, Matt took a shower to wash the oil and sweat off. Chris poured himself a gin and tonic and me a water. He walked over to the glass and stared out at the sea.

"You think he's going to leave you."

He turned back to me, and I could see the pain in his eyes. He shrugged. "He's young and he's beautiful. I'm getting old. You do the math."

As though forty was the end.

"You think he loves you as little as that?"

The sound of the shower stopped. He smiled at me. "My turn."

Matt came out, wearing a large white towel wrapped around his waist. Chris passed him without a word, without a touch. Matt looked after him, and then at me. He smiled at me and shrugged. He walked over to where I was sitting in a wingback chair and pulled me to my feet. He touched my chest with one hand and his other came around the back, squeezing my ass. His erection loosened the towel and it fell off. His cock was long, hard and thick, springing out from a small patch of trimmed black pubic hair. He slipped a hand into my bikini, fingers exploring the gulley in the center. I reached down and slid it down and off of me. "Wow." He said, looking down momentarily.

"Let's wait for Chris."

He nodded and pulled me over to the bed. We climbed on top of it, side by side, and started kissing. He was a wonderful kisser. Our tongues explored the inside of each other's mouths. I was getting aroused, how could I not? I wanted to feel that big thick cock inside of me. I heard the shower turn off and we kept kissing, softly, gently. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Chris walk back into the room, naked, toweling off his back. He looked at us, his eyes somewhat downcast, and sat down in the wingback chair I had vacated.

I pulled my head away from the kissing and looked at Chris. His eyes were full of pain. I could see it. Is Sandy the one, he was asking himself, the elusive one out there Matt will leave me for?

Such amazing stupidity.

I held out my hand toward him, and beckoned him to join us.

He smiled almost gratefully, and walked over to the bed. He took my hand and climbed up with us, his own cock springing to life. He was almost as big as Matt, but where Matt's had a huge head and stayed thick all the way down, Chris's cock had a small head at the top, growing thicker and longer as it reached back into his magnificent body. His brought his head down to my right nipple and began teasing it with his tongue.

My body immediately responded, a moan escaping my lips and my back arching slightly. When Matt saw what stimulated this response, he lowered his head to my left nipple and began doing the same.

My entire body went rigid, my breath coming in gasps.

I reached down with both hands, taking a thick cock in each hand, and began to massage them, my hands moving up and down.

Moans escaped each of them.

Their mouths then began exploring my body, lips and tongues moving down
and about my torso.

Chris reached into a bag and pulled out a bottle of lube. He squirted some onto his cock, then onto Matt's, then onto mine. I continued rubbing their cocks, only now my hands were more slippery, gliding along the skin, sliding over the heads.

"I want to fuck you." Matt whispered.

I looked up at Chris. Lust blazed in his eyes, and he nodded. I turned myself over onto my stomach, arching my back, lifting my ass up into the air. Matt moved down behind me. Chris opened a condom and handed it to Matt. Chris positioned himself in front of me, my head between his legs. That big tapering cock was right in front of me. He wiped the lube off with a towel. I felt exploratory fingers probing me. I shuddered. I flicked my tongue over the head of Chris' beautiful cock.

I gasped and flinched as Matt moved inside of me.

"Slow down, honey." Chris said. To me, he whispered, "he forgets how big
he is."

I smiled up at him, and then began licking his cock again. Chris moaned, as Matt began to slide gently inside of me. I opened up for him, relaxing the necessary muscles so that he could get there.

He needed to be completely inside of me for this to work.

I moaned as I felt his cock slide all the way in.

But before I could do what I needed to do, he slid back out.

I took Chris into my mouth, swirling my tongue around. I took him down, opening my throat, tilting my head back slightly to open the passage. I reached the root and stayed there, waiting, waiting, waiting…..

Matt slammed into me from behind.

I opened the portal in my mind.

No matter how many times I have done this, I am never prepared for it, and there certainly is no way to prepare them for it.

The purity of their love for each other flowed through my body, Matt's emotion passing through my mouth into Chris' body, Chris' passing through the other side.

All three of our bodies went completely rigid, every muscle tightening up.

"Oh my God." Chris breathed.

My body was trembling as the love passed through, visions of the two of them together, fucking each other, loving each other, flashed through my brain like a kaleidoscope. Their fears, their doubts, their insecurities. I focused on stopping them from passing through. That wasn't the idea. But it was so difficult, the love was so pure, so powerful, so strong. Wave after wave of pleasure was passing through me, pleasure from the big cock in my ass, the big cock in my mouth, but I had to focus, I had to take the bad away from the two of them, I couldn't fail them, I focused and concentrated on grabbing the impure with my mind, I visualized a suitcase, and started shoving those bad emotions into the suitcase, and when there were finally none left, when all that was passing through was purity, I shut the suitcase and closed the portal.

Both Chris and Matt were shuddering.

I pulled my head back from Chris in time, as he released a stream of cum into my face and hair.

Matt's entire body erupted, convulsed, as his orgasm exploded into the condom.

My own pumped out into the sheets.

Matt withdrew from me, and collapsed onto the bed beside me.

I sat up, my chest and stomach covered with my own orgasm.

Chris slid down onto the bed and smiled. "My God."

I stood up. "Mind if I shower?"

They both shook their heads no.

The water was hot as I scrubbed my skin clean, washing cum out of my hair, off my face, off my chest. I dried myself and walked back into the bedroom, picking up my own bikini off the floor, sliding it up my legs, tucking myself back into it.

Matt and Chris were in each other's arms, kissing gently, staring into each other's eyes.

When I reached the door, Chris said, "You don't have to leave."

I turned back to them. "No, I think I do."

"Will we see you again?" Matt asked.

I smiled at them, one dark, one light. So beautiful together. "Perhaps."

I shut the door behind me.

The sand was hot on my feet as I walked back down to the water's edge. My skin was getting dry. I turned and looked back at the hotel, finding their windows. I raised my hand in a salute, although I doubted they were watching. I walked into the water, the warm, welcoming green water of the gulf. When I reached waist level, I started to swim. At the line where the water turns blue, I dived to the bottom. No need for the crowd of sunbathers to see what was going to happen. I thrust through the water, and felt the gills starting to open again on the side of my throat. My legs came together, the skin meeting in the center and starting to knit. I pointed my toes and the fin began to form.

I swam out to sea.

 

©2002 Todd Gregory - Contributor's Bio

'The Sea Where It's Shallow' was anthologized in Friction 7