The Winners Circle by Christopher Klim Read Free Book Online Page A

me.”
    He balked at that. This was a woman who wanted no one’s eyes on her. “I have no friends.”
    “ You know what I mean.”
    “ No, I don’t.”
    “ Don’t be so resistant to change, Jerry. You’re becoming a bore.”
    He took her comment deep. He remembered a guy on the assembly line who chose new breasts for his wife over a pneumatic pump for his garage. He’d bragged to the others that she’d screwed him on the workbench after the operation. The guys laughed. Jerry played along, but he wondered why he didn’t want what the others wanted. He believed that if you forced a situation, you ended up with something that you never imagined.
    The new grandfather clock chimed the hour. Jerry stared at his wife, flipping through the catalog of breasts again. She was forcing the boundaries of a good thing. It was that damned money. And of course, he’d bought the lottery ticket.
    He sat beside her. “I want Cogdon out of our lives.”
    She looked at him. Her blue eyes swam in the intense halogen light. “I thought we were discussing my breasts.”
    “ I’m done with that.”
    “ This is about the land in Princeton.”
    “ That’s another thing. We’re not moving. There’s no need.”
    “ We can’t get rid of Haskell. He’s the only man who knows what to do with our money.”
    Jerry knew she was wrong, but he lacked the vocabulary to defend his point. It wasn’t so much his words. He understood the big words. It was the way Haskell presented them. This was another stinging blow to Jerry’s ego, and he fell back against the couch. He was aced out of his best role by his own wealth. The skills that had served him well for years were obsolete. Winning the lottery was like being laid-off, except the severance check arrived with a lot more zeros attached.
    Chelsea leaned her slender frame upon him. Her forearms propped against his chest. She started with a coy downward gaze, a look that usually melted him to the cushions.
    “ I know what you need,” she said.
    He wanted her close. They hadn’t made love much. With her not working and an abundance of free time, they were somehow busier. It used to be the one thing they did for free, as often as they liked. He wrapped his arms around her waist. If he held her tonight, everything might be alright.
    She started kissing him, unbuttoning his shirt. From the start, they’d anointed her as the aggressor—the one who set the pace. There was nothing better than watching Chelsea strip. He was king of the world.
    Her sweater and bra hit the floor. She straddled his legs, undoing his belt.
    He examined her chest. The nipples were tight and excited. The size was just right for her proportions. He cupped them in his hands. “You see there’s nothing wrong with these.”
    “ You’ve just gotten use to them.”
    She reached down to make him erect. She liked to bring him along fast, and then stretch the act out for a long time. He had no other experience with women but heard that they preferred a great deal of stroking and foreplay. Not Chelsea, she wanted him inside her right away, top or bottom, and then she made him work for as long as he hung in there. She wanted him to sweat.
    “ I like you as you are,” he said.
    “ Things will get better.”
    “ I don’t need better.”
    “ You’ll see.” She dropped between his legs to force the issue. She was ready. He smelled her.
    He felt her mouth bring him in, yet his thoughts drifted between her and the touch of her extraordinary lips. He worried about the changes: different mouth, bigger breasts, and God knows what else.
    “ Jerry?” She looked up from his thighs. She was kneeling on the floor between the coffee table and couch.
    “ Keep going, honey.”
    Chelsea went to work again, but the more she tried, the softer he became. “Are you tired?”
    “ No, no.”
    “ Okay then.”
    He fought to remain cool, but inside, his thoughts ran wild. His head resembled a lottery machine. Each numbered ball was