Those who knew them, in the city's artistic circles and society, never doubted that Vince and Serena Halligan remained deeply in love with each other.
If they were to grow old, they would do that dressed in style and do that together, looking like a mirror image of the other in their choice of outrageously stylish and colourful clothes that often jarred but set them apart. They would also wear jewellery, such as necklaces and baubled chains, leather wrist cuffs and gemstone rings, along with thin gold or silver bands on their fingers and thumbs.
Vince had grown his greying hair outrageously long, its whiteness matching his bushy beard; Serena also had long and silken greying hair, the longest strands invariably woven into a thin braid from one temple to the other and knotted at her forehead. Through this, she would often push a jewelled pin or a feather. Like Vince, she was deeply tanned. Unlike Vince, she had a feather tattooed on the inside of her left forearm.
'The ageing wild ones', some called them, not to criticise but in admiration for living life to the full.
As much as they loved to entertain and to be entertained and to live life as a pair of true party animals, they also cherished their home life and quieter moments of pleasure, either spent in each other's company or with a like-minded couple, their best friends, Derek and Hattie Simpson.
♥
Serena studied her friend, the dusky lilac of Hattie's scoop-necked blouse, the buttons opened at her cleavage, flattering her figure. It went so well with the tumble of her riotous greying hair and wistful smile.
Their friendship had become an ever-closer bond and went back many years. It had seen their friendship blossom, even though they did not live so close to each other that either of them could call in, unannounced. Instead, they would arrange for a 'themed' weekend' or day together, often just the two of them.
"Come over and we'll make a boozy time of it!" Serena had enthused a few days or two ago. "I've got in some sampler bottles of various flavours of gin. We can chat and sample them all. If necessary you can stay the night!"
"I'd like that. I'm on my own now."
"Not quite, Hattie. You've still got the two of us, Vince and me, and I'm sure he won't complain if you stay with us."
Hattie had been heard to laugh on hearing that. Her friend had not kept it a secret, the bond that she had formed with Vince, and he with her.
And now here they were, together and sipping on their drinks. The first ones were always the hardest, especially when neither of them had eaten very much and the booze could so easily, and quickly, go to their heads.
"Is everything getting settled between you two, with Derek, I mean?" Serena called out from the kitchen as she mixed their third sampler glasses.
"Yes, as best as I can expect." Hattie stood in the doorway and watched her friend at work, saw her deftly break up the tray of ice cubes and put a block in each glass. She tilted her head before turning to look back and into the hallway."I hear a key in the front door. Shall I go and open it?"
"No, Vince knows that I asked you over."
"And he's okay with that, again?"
"What do you think?" Serena replied and grinned at her. "He wasn't the last time you were with us, was he? I got to feeling a little jealous of you two behaving as you did."
Hattie came and stood by her side, putting an arm around Serenea's waist. "I know the rules, despite everything that's been happening."
They both turn to see him talking animatedly into his iPhone as he stands in the echoing hallway. "It's not a problem, just get better and we'll go out on the Harleys some other time. I'll take Serena out on it instead! Just get better, pal!"
Nonchalantly, he drops his iPhone on the hall table and meets their gazes upon him. "You're into the gins, are you?"
"Yes, why?"
Hatie speaks as she takes in the man's appearance. She finds him so rakishly handsome, the shock of his long black hair with its streaks of grey that are like veins in marble, matched by the richness of his moustache. All of that is in contrast to his shaggy beard. The man's tall and carries no surplus weight on his strong frame, his clothes fit him so well and his long fingers are perfect for the rings he is often seen to wear and seems to never take off.
"I was going to make Margaritas for us. I'm no fan of gin, whatever you mix with it." He gazes at each of them in turn. "I could go and mix a cocktail for all of us?"
"In a moment, darling. We mustn't overdo it," Harriet says with a wondering smile. "We're ahead of you, so there's some catching up to do."
Both women loved to be seen wearing their favourite boho jewellery, the riot of colours of bracelets and leather wristbands with beaded strands woven into them. All of that was to be seen, along with swaying earrings and a variety of necklaces draped from their slender necks. He loved the Bohemian look of both women, companions in the fun they pursued with him and, in Serena's case, with others. He continued to be possessed by an unquenchable lust for Hattie whom he now gazed at, the dusky lilac of her scoop-necked blouse, the buttons opened at her cleavage, going so well with the tumble of her riotous greying hair and wistful smile.
"I'm not taking you both to bed when I'm drunk or when I'm out of my mind," he said, gazing at each in turn. "I want to know and feel what I'm doing."
"And who with," Hattie finished for him and on giving Vince a lustful look that Sertena knew only too well. It was deployed on her too, whenever they chose to meet and their men weren't about. Then, Serena would deploy a range of toys that she kept stored in an old and brightly painted steamer trunk, underneath the tray that fitted over the storage space. In the tray she put her collection of day-to-day jewellery; her 'adornments' as she called them. But underneath it was kept the sex toys she deployed on Vince when the mood took them, or he on her. "You want to feel every moment."
She sat facing him, her swirly skirt drawn above her knees and her legs parted. She wasn't wearing any panties and her shaven sex was open to his gaze. There was an unmistakable exchange of hungering looks between them, and Serena knew that Vince would need no coaxing for them all to play. But whom would he have first?
