I'm back. Thank you all for reading and special thanks to those who reviewed. Glad you're still interested in this story, although the updates don't come as quickly as you're used to. But I'm rather busy these days…
Well, here we go!
Under cover(s) – 21
"So…." Gloria grinned at Booth. "Next time we'll get to see a bit more…. Of each other?" The suggestive tone didn't leave a place for doubts. Gloria wanted Tony, though she wasn't as obvious as Vivian. Tony inhaled slowly and nodded. "I guess so…well, it depends, right, darling? We agreed that we both need to be in the right mood and want this…."
Andrew nodded. "The first time can be odd. After years of sleeping with only one woman, you kind of get…. A narrowed view on things…. You become a creature of habit, so to say."
Gloria gave him a pointed look. "Thanks. You just said I bore you." Her tone was only half-teasing.
"No…" He shook his head. "I didn't say that at all. I enjoy having sex with my wife very much. But this arrangement certainly adds some spice. You can not deny, we learned new things here, right?" He winked at his wife.
"That's true." Gloria nodded. "Everybody has it's own style… you let yourself get influenced by the people you sleep with. It's fascinating, when you think about it… Before we joined the Sinners, I always thought I knew what I preferred and what he likes….. but you discover new things. Things you never thought to try out together, because… you know we were still kind of shy regarding new things, despite being together for six years. He would have never thought to suggest having anal sex, for instance." She laughed, completely at ease with the topic. "That's over now, though. We've been members here for more than a year and let me tell you… we've broadened our horizon."
Andrew reached over to squeeze his wife's hand. "Definitely." His grin was broad as well.
Roxy and Tony smiled politely and Roxy said. "I understand that it might be easier to try out a new technique with someone you don't know so well. You don't need to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of your partner."
She saw Tony clench his jaw a little. "You couldn't embarrass yourself with me." He said and his voice was all Booth. She shot him a surprised look, not quite sure what to make of his words. He looked back at her, their gazes connecting and for an instant they forgot that they were playing roles. Forgot about onlookers, about their surroundings and most certainly forgot to mask their longing for each other.
"That's sweet." Gloria giggled. "The way you look at each other sometimes, one could think you were newlyweds."
Roxy cleared her throat, but Tony only grinned. "Sometimes I forget how long we've been together." He winked at Roxy, but it was so very much a Booth-thing to do, Brennan knew it was addressed to her. "Sometimes it seems to me it only just happened."
"That's either something sweet you're trying to say or your memory isn't at it's best anymore." Roxy remarked and had Andrew and Gloria laughing. "You sure are a funny pair. And you have that…. thing going." Gloria commented.
"Thing?" Roxy asked interested.
"That chemistry, you know? The spark." Gloria explained. "I could see it yesterday, but today… it seems to be even more." She frowned a little. "Funny, huh?"
Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance. Thinking of what had transpired between Brennan and Booth before in her apartment, it didn't really surprise them or strike them as funny that the bond between them seemed even more evident and obvious.
"His mother called." Roxy blurted out. Tony arched an eyebrow at her, a subtle question. Brennan decided to go with a variation of the story she'd told Mrs. O'Reilly before…. To ensure Booth would hear it too and know what lies she'd told….. there was always the risk he would be talking to the owners and contradict her story.
"As I told Matilda already, she's very religious and doesn't much care for our way of living…." Roxy shrugged. "Or for me. Her calls usually let us remember what we have in each other."
Brennan swallowed. She hoped her lies weren't too obvious. She'd just shamelessly exploited the "Mother and daughter in law hate each other"-cliché, without even having a notion of how a mother in law COULD be. Hell, Temperance Brennan didn't even know much about having a mother anymore…. Seeing as hers had vanished when she'd been fifteen years old.
She put on her 'Roxy-smile' and turned her gaze at her 'husband'. Tony smiled back, but she could see Booth's appreciation shine in the brown depths of his eyes. So, her story wasn't too clichéd, she guessed. And after all, most clichés DID have a grain of truth in them, right?
"Oh… in laws, in laws." Gloria muttered. "Andy's dad threw a temper tantrum when his beeeeeloved son disgraced himself by proposing to a mechanic."
"Now come on, love…. You gotta admit, he adores you know." Andrew gently threw in.
Gloria nodded. "Sure. After I fixed his car." She gave Brennan a conspiratorial glance. "You know how they always say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" Roxy nodded, though Brennan was not sure what Gloria was talking about. But admitting her ignorance would maybe look suspicious. Gloria continued. "I can't cook for shit. But I can fix cars. And that, Roxy, is working like magic. Maybe even better than cooking."
Brennan processed the words, concluded what Gloria had meant and was about to answer, when Tony cut in. "She doesn't need to start repairing cars. She makes the best Mac and Cheese, don't you?"
"If you say so." She smiled politely.
"Sure. She puts in some secret ingredients. Makes a big thing of it, too." Tony grinned, referring to the one time Brennan had actually cooked for Booth.
"God, would you stop?" Stephen, one of the sinners they had only briefly talked to, interrupted them impatiently. "Getting to know each other before fucking is one thing, if you need it, but talking about cooking and recipes? Major mood killer, really. Who gives a shit about secret ingredients, huh? Before you know it you'll be talking sewing and crocheting." His sudden outburst rendered everyone speechless for a moment. They had hardly paid any attention to their surroundings and were surprised to see, that only Matilda, Stephen and the four of them were still seated at the table.
"Steve, really!" Gloria was the first to say something. "You're such a jerk sometimes." Her tone was teasing.
"Gee, thanks, Miss Dirty Hands, you sure are the charmer here." Steve growled and Gloria gasped in surprise. Where her words had been teasing before, Steve's insult seemed to be heartfelt, shamelessly zoning in on one of her sore spots. The fact that a mechanic could scrub her hands for hours and still find black grease under a fingernail.
Andrew glared at the other man. "You'd better apologise real soon, Steve."
"Or what?" Stephen asked suspiciously.
"Or Terry will make sure Ben's dragging your sorry ass out here. I don't know what's wrong with you today, but this isn't funny." Andrew said. As if on cue, Terry appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, as if he had heard the commotion.
"Who's Ben?" Roxy asked, curiously.
"One of the security men." Terry answered smoothly, while Gloria explained. "The bouncer."
Tony grinned. "Two names, one pit bull." He gave Stephen a pitiful look. "Doubt you'll stand a chance."
"Where is your wife, Stephen?" Terry asked calmly.
Suddenly Steve's face turned an angry red. "I don't know. I guess fucking somebody. That's what were here for, isn't it? Not talking recipes, for God's sake." He glared at Gloria, Andrew, Roxy and Tony.
"They want to get to know each other before getting intimate." Matilda said softly. "If that's what they need, they'll get it, Steve. You know that." She sighed. "Are you angry that Cynthia is getting what she wants and you're stuck here? Because we can remedy that…. if you apologise."
Booth had to keep himself from showing how much this disgusted him. Steve had lost his temper, because his wife was busily going at it somewhere and he was not. He was not jealous of the man she did it with, he was jealous of the fact that she got laid and he didn't. And Matilda simply offered her 'assistance' in that matter as if it was the most natural thing to do. God, this place was disgusting him more and more. He shot a quick glance at Terry, but the owner's face didn't show any emotion, safe maybe a little annoyance.
No surprise, Booth thought. He supposed that Terry had gotten rid of every trace of jealousy long ago, or he and his wife wouldn't have been able to run this 'bar' for years.
Stephen seemed to calm down instantly and a sly smile covered his face, his gaze roaming Matilda's feminine figure. "An excellent idea."
Mrs. O'Reilly gave him a long look and he seemed to understand that she was waiting for him to apology. He visibly fought, but got out the words. "I'm sorry for my outburst." He didn't look at them, though.
"There you go. Was that really so hard?" Matilda inquired softly, then she rose and walked over towards him and they left the hall together.
"I wonder where Cyn is?" Gloria whispered. Her husband shrugged. "Maybe Rick's doing a threesome." He commented
"Tina wouldn't share." Gloria countered and her husband nodded thoughtfully. "Ethan?" He guessed again, but they exchanged one look and shook their heads. "Nah, no benefit for Vivian."
Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance, while the other couple was still speculating. Somehow neither of them felt comfortable with the conversation.
"Marc!" Gloria said. "Vivian's doing threesome's too." Andrew nodded, but frowned a little. "But does Cyn?" Gloria shrugged. "There's always a first time."- "Yeah, but with Vivian?"
Booth struggled to keep his cool and composed façade as Tony, though the ease with which Gloria and Andrew discussed the possible pairings made him want to throw up. And Seeley Booth never threw up….working homicides ensured your stomach got used to almost anything. But not this, he thought, never this.
Terry sighed at Gloria and Andrew's speculations. "Would you stop, please? You know very well that we do NOT intrude on what the others WANT to keep private."
Gloria grinned. "Terry…. YOU know very well, that there isn't something as PRIVACY here. Where not here for privacy, we're here for the opposite."
The owner acknowledged her words with a nod. "Still… maybe Roxy and Tony don't care about that much information…. Yet." The inquiring gaze he turned was bordering on being suspicious. Maybe their hesitance had not only gotten Matilda's attention, Brennan thought.
"Oh, I'm very interested in hearing more about everyone." Roxy was quick to interject. "It's all still new for us and we need to get to know the group better. Right, sweetheart?"
"Yeah." Tony said, his voice a little hoarse and he cleared his throat audibly. "I'm curious, too." The lie almost burned his tongue.
"I'll be back." Terry informed them and vanished again, leaving the two couples.
Gloria and Andrew exchanged a glance, then smiled knowingly. "You're curious, yeah?"
Roxy nodded and Tony mirrored her gesture.
"Tit for tat." Gloria's eyes glittered with mischief. "We tell you something about who likes whom, who likes what….. you tell us what YOU like."
"Eh…" Tony hesitated. He knew what he WANTED to do with Bones.
But he was not comfortable with sharing this with ANYbody, most of all not with the two people whot – he was sure of that now – were the group's babblers par excellence.
"We already told you a lot…." Gloria continued. "So we'll need to hear something from you first." She grinned.
Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance. Brennan saw the worry and discomfort in Booth's eyes, but she gave him a reassuring smile and said, her eyes still fixed on his face. "Things we like to do to each other or things we would like other people to do to us?" Booth's eyes widened slightly upon hearing her words.
"Hmmmm. Good question." Gloria mumbled and whispered to her husband. Roxy leant forward to whisper something into Tony's ear too. "Play along or they'll get suspicious. It's just … hypothetic. Not real."
"Okay…." Andrew grinned and Roxy leant back to look at him. "We agreed on something. You take turns and we tell you what it has to be about. Roxy, you start with …..something you want a man doing to you."
Roxy batted her eyelashes at Andrew and a sly grin covered her face. "Does it have to be a man?"
Booth nearly groaned out load. This evening was going to be torture. PURE TORTURE in capital letters.
OOOOOkay, what do you think? How did you like this chapter so far. I know, I know… no real new things on the case, huh? You'll see soon enough!
Reviews would be AWESOME!