what was going on.
He kissed her neck as he pretended to pound into her.
Gavin was no longer watching. Butch continued to watch but looked annoyed.
“They could at least vary it up a little,” said Butch.
“Maybe they’re not exhibitionists,” said Rick. “They could just be a happy couple making sweet love.”
“Yeah, yeah, kudos to them.”
Ethan licked Jenny’s earlobe.
“Keep doing what you’re doing,” he whispered. Unless there was a webcam mounted right in the pillow, they wouldn’t be able to see his lips move.
Jenny continued to moan.
“It’s a game,” he whispered. “I thought it was over in Vegas but it’s not. They’re forcing me to keep playing. When I get those calls and leave the house, it’s for the next challenge.”
He wished he could see her face, to make sure she wasn’t giving anything away. But if she was faking sexual pleasure, the shock might not be recognizable on her face, if they could even see her face.
She hadn’t stopped moaning. She was still playing along.
He licked her neck then returned to her ear. “I’m not allowed to tell you. We’re not allowed to call the police. If you break the rules, we’re in danger.”
“I can’t believe he’s still going like that,” said Butch. “I think our little player had himself a dose of Viagra.”
“Maybe,” said Rick.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t like that his mouth is right up against her ear.”
“He’s nibbling her earlobe. I do that to Bonnie sometimes if I’m feeling all tender and shit. You think he’s whispering to her?”
“He could be.”
“What do you think? Sweet nothings? Nasty stuff? Or do you think he’s telling her about the game?”
Rick leaned closer to the monitor. “I’m not sure. I don’t like it.”
“Do you want to terminate his game?”
“No. It might be nothing.”
“He might be saying how much he likes to fuck her.”
On the monitor, Ethan kissed Jenny on the mouth.
“We’ll switch to enhanced surveillance on the wife,” said Rick. “Any indication that she knows the deal, and we’ll do a full cleanup.”
“At least they got laid one last time,” said Butch.
Ethan moaned, shuddered, and pretended to have an orgasm, the first time he’d ever had to fake it. Then he and Jenny just held each other.
He assumed she was freaking out on the inside, but as long as she stopped questioning his activities, that was one big step toward escaping from this nightmare.
Hopefully he’d never have to tell her about the dead woman.
Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more dead women.
9
Ethan’s job required a lot of focus and attention to detail, which wasn’t ideal when he’d had less than two hours of sleep the previous night. He tried to compensate for it with a massive amount of caffeine, but so far the cups of coffee weren’t helping much. With everything else that was going on in his life, he couldn’t afford to get written up for falling asleep at his desk, so he fought through it.
He kept waiting for a call from Rick, forcing him to make up some sort of excuse to leave work early, but his phone remained silent.
When he got home after an unproductive day at the office, he napped on his recliner for about half an hour until Jenny got home. She asked him about his day, and told him about hers, and though he could sense the underlying tension, she wasn’t behaving in an manner that would seem suspicious to anybody who might be watching or listening. She was actually a pretty remarkable actor.
He made it through dinner with the family (baked chicken) without falling asleep. He tried to help Tim with his homework but offered no useful assistance, and then fell asleep on the couch as everybody watched television. At ten o’clock, Jenny prodded him to say it was time for bed. He could barely keep awake to get undressed, and was asleep almost immediately after getting under the covers.
He woke up at midnight.
He picked up his phone. No missed calls or texts.
Rick had given him no timeframe for the next round. He’d assumed it would happen pretty quickly, but that wasn’t based on anything Rick had actually said.
Ethan tried to go back to sleep. He couldn’t.
Dammit.
He lay there, waiting for the phone to vibrate and praying that it didn’t.
Get some more sleep. You may need it.
Now he was wide awake.
He just lay there.
After a while, he wanted to give up and get out of bed, but if he woke Jenny up she’d think it was related to the game and she’d worry. If he had to