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    Stories from author K.K.

    DC&H

    By K.K. ©

    I sat up straight in bed and looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was 2:30 AM. The tee shirt I wore to bed was soaking wet, as it always was when I had the dream. I looked over at my wife and she was sound asleep. I was relieved that I hadn't awakened her. This time I must not have been ranting in my sleep.

    I didn't know what triggered the dream but it was always the same. It was a dream clouded version of the memories of an event that took place more than two years ago. In the dream I was sitting at the desk in my study. Sitting on the desk in front of me was a half full bottle of scotch, an empty glass and a 38 revolver. I would pour myself a full glass of the scotch and drink it down in one large gulp. It would always register in my dream that I neither tasted nor felt the effects of the scotch as it went down. I would then pick up the gun and open the cylinder to make sure all six chambers contained a live cartridge.

    Then I would say "It's fucking full, none missing. I want to fucking kill them. I want to kill all three of those fuckers. If I do it I will go to jail. No, I'll fucking kill myself. God damn them..."

    The words were not always the same but the idea was. Thank God the dreams had become much less frequent. At first I had one every week and sometimes twice a week but now it was less than once in two months.

    While I was dreaming it seemed so real, like it was really happening but the reality was that the dream bore very little resemblance to the actual event. There was a bottle of scotch involved but I was on the sofa in the living room. There was no 38 revolver. I don't own a gun. The threats to kill, I don't remember ever making that night. I got drunk, very drunk and fell asleep on the sofa. To make sense out of this I have to go back two years to begin the story.

    As years go 2002 was a bad one. The problems started in January with my wife Kathy and me fighting with the city inspectors over the design of the new home we were planning to build. The inspector had repeatedly rejected our application for a building permit until I finally got an engineer to sign off on our blue prints saying that what we wanted to do was safe and meet all current building codes. Once we finally had the permit the fight began with our contractor to get him to stay on schedule and this lasted until we were able to move into the house in August. In addition to the problems getting our house built, Kathy and I were kept very busy in our chosen careers.

    My name is Fred Alpin and March 6 of 2002 marked the sixth anniversary for Kathy and me. Outside of the problems we were having getting our house built things had been going very well for us. For my part I had been working for Independent Investigations Corporation (IIC) in Indianapolis for eight years. IIC is not a typical private detective agency. We provide investigative services to large insurance companies. Our job was to investigate insurance claims for fraud, retrieve stolen property or in any way possible mitigate our client's losses. For our services we were paid a percentage of the value of items we recovered or what we saved the insurance companies. I am a lead investigator, which allows me to pick the cases I want to work on and assign cases to others. I can tell you from my experience that this business is quite lucrative.

    I was 30 years old and had just started to find some gray hairs in my otherwise thick head of dark brown hair. I have been described as confident. I have heard men described as handsome, sexy, hot, a hunk, or even a wasted suit but me? I'm confident, whatever the hell that means. I am not movie star handsome or freak show ugly. My facial features are pretty average except that my nose is a little crooked, it was broken in an amateur boxing match when I was in college, and I have very dark brown eyes. At six feet two inches tall and 185 pounds, I have a tall athletic body and I always stand erect and my facial expressions seldom give away what I am thinking.

    Kathy was twenty-nine years old and at five feet eight inches she was the sexiest woman I knew. Her dark brown hair with red highlights hung in long curls to her shoulders. Her eyes were blue with tiny specs of green in the irises. At 125 pounds Kathy was slim but very well proportioned. Her breasts where of average size but they were firm and beautifully shaped. Kathy had the legs of a dancer, nicely shaped calves and firm thighs with soft smooth skin. My favorite feature was her buttocks. Kathy had two wonderfully rounded globes that made her look sexy in anything she wore. When she would clench her gluteus muscles I would tell her that her butt was so hard I could drive nails with it.

    Kathy had been the manager of the accounting department at DC&H for two years and had twenty accountants reporting to her. DC&H were specialists in mergers and acquisitions and had been having a good run over the last couple of years, which meant that Kathy had received some nice year end bonuses but early in 2002 there had been some problems at the DC&H offices in Indianapolis.

    In February the manager of the Indianapolis office was fired and was replaced by Greg Bartlett. Greg was about five feet five inches tall, at least twenty pounds over weight and nearly bald. The hair that remained formed a horseshoe around his head. Kathy said that Bartlett was a good manager and I when I met him I found him to be likable.

    At the same time Bartlett came to Indianapolis, DC&H transferred one of their vice presidents to the office. Kathy said that the company decided that it was a good idea to spread their VPs around to different cities so that they could visit customers and help close big deals. The VP's name was Jack Hanson and he had moved to Indianapolis from New York. Hanson was about forty-five years old, six feet tall, with graying hair. He was in good physical condition and obviously worked out regularly.

    When I met him he was friendly but he struck me as someone with a roving eye. I noticed the way he looked at any woman that passed by as though he was considering if he wanted to bed them. He was married but I doubted if that would even slow him down. I had met many men like him before and I didn't like them either. Kathy seemed to think he was great and she said everyone else at DC&H did too. She talked about him all the time, telling me about all the great ideas he had for driving new business, which in the long run would mean more money for her.

    Construction of our new house was on schedule by summer and the turmoil caused by the management changes at DC&H had settled down. According to Kathy business was picking up thanks to Mr. Hanson.

    We moved into our new house just outside of Indianapolis on the second week of August and we loved it The day we moved in I jokingly told Kathy that I wanted to make love to her at least once in every room in the house. Kathy looked around at all of the boxes waiting to be unpacked and then took me by the hand and led me into the kitchen.

    "Let's get the kitchen out of the way right now," Kathy said.

    Kathy pulled her shorts and panties down and turned away from me to lean over the dinette table.

    I had only been joking but the erection I suddenly had was serious. I dropped to my knees behind Kathy and started licking her pussy and then pushing my tongue inside her. As soon as she was wet enough I stood up and guided my cock into her pussy. The fact that I had not been aroused or even thinking about sex until just moments before I penetrated her allowed me to last longer than usual. Kathy had one good orgasm before I climaxed leaving me a bit rubber legged.

    My deflating cock dropped from Kathy's pussy followed by a large glob of semen that fell to the floor. Kathy put her hand between her legs to keep more of my semen from dripping onto the floor and headed off to the bathroom to clean herself up. As she left the room Kathy called back to me, "We'll do the bedroom tonight and the living room tomorrow. Now get back to work."

    We did do the bedroom that night but didn't get to the other rooms. Between our jobs and trying to get our new house settled we didn't have the time or energy to take our sex outside of our bedroom but we did stay in touch, so to speak, in our bedroom. It just seemed that the only time we were able to be together was when we got into bed at night. One night when we were in bed making love I began to discuss starting a family. We had had the discussion before and Kathy had said that she wanted to start in the fall so that we would have a summer baby.

    "I think it's time you get off your birth control pills and we get you pregnant," I said.

    "I think we should wait a little longer," she said. "Jack suggested I should wait till next year. He told me that I am in line for a promotion and it might happen by the end of the year. I want to wait till I get the promotion."

    "Jack?"

    "Yes. Jack Hanson."

    "Since when are you on a first name basis with corporate vice presidents?" I asked.

    "We are pretty informal around the office," she responded.

    "Why would you discuss our plans for starting a family with him?"

    I was a bit irate about her discussing our personal matters with this guy.

    "He asked me if we were planning on having children so I told him we had planned to start this fall. That's when he suggested that I wait till next year."

    I wasn't happy about that but I agreed to wait till January.

    Toward the end of the year Kathy and I were both working long hours and we were not spending enough time together. We tried to make our weekends special and that helped but our work even began to encroach on our weekends.

    DC&H was trying to win a contract for a large merger opportunity and had Kathy's accounting department tied up working that opportunity. As for me, I was running three investigations that I needed to close out before the end of the year.

    On the last weekend in November Kathy and I both managed to be off at the same time and we went out and did our Christmas shopping. At dinner that evening Kathy told me she had some good news.

    "It looks like we will close a deal with National Pharmaceutical to handle their merger with Keystone Pharmaceutical by December 20," she said. "That means I should get my promotion this year."

    "Really? That's terrific. Then we can start working to get you pregnant. Why don't we start tonight?"

    "Can't start tonight, I am still on the pill. Besides, I want to wait a few more months so that I get settled into my new job before taking off for maternity leave," she said, "and don't you dare tell anyone that I told you this. I could get into a lot of trouble if this got out and it would probably kill the deal with National."

    I was disappointed that Kathy wanted to put off starting a family again but I understood her reason.

    "You know I won't tell anyone," I said. "Should I run out Monday and buy stock in National Pharmaceutical?"

    "Hell no," she said. "That's insider trading. If you do that we could all go to jail."

    "I was just joking. I know we can't do anything like that. You can count on my discretion," I said.

    "I know," she said. "I am just nervous about this one. We are so close I don't want anything to go wrong."

    December is the time for company Christmas parties and our companies are no exceptions. IIC's party was on Friday, December 6. The party was pretty tame as these things go. There were forty-three people in attendance counting employees, spouses and significant others. We had drinks and appetizers and then dinner. After dinner there were more drinks, music and dancing.

    I think the main reason our party wasn't all that raucous is that most of the employees of IIC are investigators and as such we spend most of out time in the Field. The employees just don't work all that closely together so we don't know each other all that well. I have one close friend at IIC. His name if Bill Ripley and we have worked together on several cases over the years. As for the rest of the team, I know who they are but I couldn't tell you their spouse's name or how many children they have. We are just not a close knit group, unlike Kathy's crew at DC&H.

    Kathy and I sat with Bill and his wife Susan and had a good time in spite of the low key party going on around us. We partied until midnight and then Kathy and I went home. When we got into the house I led Kathy up to our bedroom. Once there I pulled her to me and kissed her and then while holding each other I began to kiss and nuzzle her neck, which drives her crazy. As I did this I couldn't help inhaling her wonderful scent. I ran my hands down her back to the soft mounds of her ass and squeezed them. I always thought that Kathy's ass was one of her best physical attributes. I often would watch Kathy when she was dressing or undressing or taking a shower just to watch her beautiful ass. I could easily get erect just looking at her naked backside.

    Next I began working the back of Kathy's dress up until it was bunched above the elastic waist of her panties. I slipped my hands inside her panties and started to press my fingers into the valley between her cheeks. Kathy responds to this by clenching her muscles making the globes of her beautiful ass as hard as rock and preventing me from probing any deeper into her crevice.

    "Relax," I said. "You almost broke my fingers with your butt muscles."

    "Serves you right," she said. "You know I am very sensitive there. I am not comfortable being touched there and I automatically tighten up when you try to put your fingers in there."

    That was true. Kathy liked me to squeeze and massage her ass but anytime I had ever tried to slip a finger up between her cheeks she would tighten up so I went back to massaging her ass. Kathy began to respond to the attention I was giving to her bottom by pushing her hips forward pressing herself hard against me. With that encouragement I began to reach under the front of her dress and move my hand up between her legs and toward her pussy but Kathy stopped me.

    "Wait, I want to show you what you are doing to me," she said.

    Standing in front of me Kathy unzipped her dress and let it slide off her shoulders. As the dress slid down her body it revealed the sexy black bra and panty set and the black thigh high stockings I helped Kathy pick out at Victoria's Secret. Kathy let the dress drop to the floor and then she asked me to get on my knees. I looked at her standing there in her sexy underwear and her high heels. I don't think I had ever seen her looking any hotter than she did at that moment. I got down on my knees as she had instructed and Kathy moved closer to me so that her panties were almost pressed against my face.

    "I want to show you just how horny I am right now, she said.

    Kathy pulled the crotch of her panties aside.

    "I want you to put your tongue in my cunt and see how hot and juicy it is right now."

    I had never heard her say 'cunt' before, and the way she said it almost made me cum in my pants. I managed to control myself and do as she asked. Kathy was right. Her pussy was as wet as it had ever been during foreplay. I was about to push my tongue in deeper and savor her juices when she pushed my head away.

    "That's enough for now," she said. "I just wanted to give you an idea of how horny you have made me."

    Kathy asked me to get up and then she helped me get undressed. She had me lie down on the bed and she climbed on after me. Kathy took my swollen cock into her mouth and just about swallowed the whole thing. Kathy is good at oral sex but she usually doesn't initiate it. I usually have to direct her toward my cock then she'll do it but not all of the time.

    Kathy's hot talk and aggressive behavior was more than I could handle. She had me so excited even before she started sucking my cock that it was impossible for me to hold off for very long. I was amazed that I was able to last five minutes before I began to climax. Kathy doesn't usually let me cum in her mouth and when she does she spits it out immediately afterward but this time was different. This time she swallowed my whole load.

    When she had me completely drained Kathy let my cock slip from her mouth then she kissed me. This was the first time I had ever actually tasted semen and while I didn't care for the idea the taste didn't bother me all that much so I passionately returned Kathy's kiss.

    "Do you want to eat my juicy cunt now?" She asked. "You like it when I say cunt don't you. I'll bet that when you suck my cunt your cock will get hard again then you can fuck me and shoot your hot cream inside my cunt. You would like that wouldn't you?"

    "Oh yeah," was all I could manage to say.

    I couldn't believe the way she was talking to me but she was right, I did like it. Kathy lay down with her head on her pillow and I crawled between her legs and began kissing the soft exposed skin above the top of her stockings. I kissed my way up to the exact center between her legs and gave her pussy a little kiss before moving up and burying my nose in her soft dark brown pubic hair.

    I loved Kathy's bush and she knew that I did so she only trimmed it enough so that it didn't stick out the sides of bikini panties. Kathy always washed her pubic hair with shampoo and rinsed it with a conditioner. On nights when she knew we would be having sex she would rub in a tiny drop of her cologne. I loved the combination of these scents with her natural scent. Her scent alone was enough to revive my erection. After a few moments spent enjoying Kathy's heady aroma, I began giving her beautiful juicy pussy a tongue bath. It seemed as though Kathy began an orgasm as soon as my tongue touched her labia and she didn't stop until ten minutes later when my cock was hard enough to penetrate her. I turned around on the bed and got my cock between the hot wet lips of her vagina and pushed myself inside her. Because I had already cum once I was able to last quite a while before I had another climax and in the mean time I was able to penetrate Kathy in many different positions and I think she had an orgasm in each one. I couldn't remember Kathy ever being quite so horny.

    I finally climaxed and rolled off Kathy onto my back and she immediately went to work sucking my cock again. She had never done that before so I was very surprised. I had been sure that I was done for the night but Kathy's mouth was able to bring my worn out member back to life.

    I fully recovered my erection after a few minutes and then we began to make love slowly. As we moved together we began talking about our plans for a family. We were in agreement that we wanted two kids and that they should be two years apart. Kathy said she would get off her birth control pills in February, which hopefully would give us a baby the following November. Kathy said that if she got the promotion she expected a November birth would work for her. I wasn't happy having to wait that long but then I wasn't the one who had to go through the pregnancy.

    It was kind of strange but nice to lay there stroking my stiff member into Kathy while we talked about what we would like to name our baby. I loved Kathy with all my heart, which made that night very special to me.

    That Saturday, things began to change in a disturbing way. I had to go into my office for a half day and when I got home Kathy was sitting in the family room staring out the window. She didn't look at me as I came in and when I spoke to her she jumped as though she hadn't even realized I was there. It was obvious that something was on her mind and it was bothering her a great deal. I wanted to ask her about it but I gave her time and let her decide when she was ready to talk to me.

    I waited until after dinner to press her for an explanation for her depressed mood. Early in our marriage Kathy and I had made a deal. Whoever cooked could go relax after the meal while the other did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. That night Kathy cooked dinner so I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen, I think we both preferred cooking to cleaning, at least I know I did. When I was finished in the kitchen I joined Kathy in the family room. Kathy and I had always been open with each other and communicated well so I waited for her to tell me what was on her mind. When it became apparent to me that she was not going to talk about it I opened the conversation.

    "Kathy, what's going on? It is obvious that something is bothering you," I said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

    Kathy looked at me with sad eyes.

    "There is a problem with the National Pharmaceutical deal," she said. "It turns out that National Pharmaceutical's president, Mr. Benson, is making some unrealistic demands and if we don't give him what he wants it could cost us the deal. If we don't get this contract it will ruin everything."

    "It won't ruin everything. What ever happens we have each other. Don't worry so much. What's the worst that could happen?" I asked.

    "You don't understand," she said. "If this deal falls apart it will be because of me. If that happens I could lose my job."

    "How can it be your fault if the deal falls through?" I asked. "You're not in sales."

    "I can't tell you anything more. I can't talk to anyone outside of DC&H about this. The only thing I can say is that I didn't do anything wrong."

    "I don't understand," I said. "If you did nothing wrong how can it be your fault?"

    "I told you I can't talk about this with you," she said. "I could lose my job for telling you as much as I already have. You'll just have to let me work through this myself."

    I wanted to say more but I could tell by the look on her face that the discussion was over.

    On Sunday I hoped that Kathy would be in a better mood but she seemed to be even more depressed. She wouldn't even look at me and any conversation of more that three or four words was just not going to happen.

    Monday morning I got up early and fixed breakfast but Kathy didn't eat any of hers. She drank her coffee and went to take a shower. I busied myself shoveling the snow that had fallen overnight from the driveway. When I came back into the house Kathy was getting ready to leave for work.

    "It's only 6:30, why are you leaving so early?" I asked.

    " I have to get ready for some important meetings," she said.

    Kathy gave me a brief kiss as she passed me on the way out to the garage.

    Monday morning is trash day in our neighborhood so I had to empty all of the waste baskets and take the trash out to the curb. I brought the waste baskets from the second floor down to the kitchen to empty them into a trash bag. When I dumped the waste basket from our bathroom into the trash bag something fell out and disappeared from sight. I tried to find the object for a couple of minutes and gave up. I took the trash out and put it into our large plastic trash can and then rolled that down to the street.

    When I came back into the house I took another quick look around the kitchen to see if I could find the object that had fallen from the waste basket. I didn't see anything right away so I went off to take my shower and get ready for work.

    Kathy's depression didn't seem to have changed so on Monday evening I tried to broach the subject again.

    "Have things gotten any better at work?" I asked.

    "You know I can't talk to you about this," she said. "I am under a lot of pressure but I will get through it."

    On Wednesday Kathy started to come out of her funk. When I came into the house that evening she greeted me with a kiss and told me she loved me, which she hadn't done since Friday night. I could see that she wasn't completely back to normal. There was no smile but she didn't have that far away look anymore and she didn't seem so preoccupied.

    "Can you talk about what is going on now or is that conversation still off limits to me?" I said.

    "I am not supposed to talk to you about this but it looks like we have found a way to make Mr. Benson happy," she said. "Jack said that it looks like things should turn out all right after all."

    I could hear some relief in her voice, or was it resolve? She didn't smile when she told me this so I knew she was still under a lot of stress but hopefully this would all be over soon. I don't know why but it always bothered me when Kathy called Hanson by his first name. She had told me that it was because things were kept kind of informal around their office but she always referred to Greg Bartlett as Mr. Bartlett and Greg was the office manager and Hanson was a VP. I guess I just didn't understand.

    That night in bed Kathy wanted me to hold her but she didn't want to make love. I was beginning to feel the strain of the problems that Kathy was dealing with.

    I held Kathy until she fell asleep and then I rolled over to my side of the bed and tried to sleep but couldn't. After twenty minutes of tossing around in bed I got up and went down to the kitchen for a drink. I stood at the island counter in our kitchen drinking my water and looking at our mail for the second time that day. When nothing caught my interest I spotted Kathy's briefcase sitting on the chair in front of the counter. I had never invaded Kathy's privacy before but for some reason that night I decided to look inside her briefcase. Kathy hadn't locked the case so I set it on the counter top and opened it. There were a lot of papers inside that didn't hold any answers for me. I took Kathy's day planner out and opened it. I looked through her calendars and notes. On Monday Kathy had two meetings with Mr. Bartlett. The second meeting also included Mr. Hanson. On Tuesday she had another meeting with Hanson and on Wednesday she met with Hanson and Mr. Benson, the president of National Pharmaceutical.

    I was beginning to see why Kathy was feeling a lot of pressure but I didn't understand why she would be meeting with the customer. She was in accounting. She had never been part of a negotiating team on any previous deals. I wondered if this meant that Kathy was going to be moving out of accounting and into sales when she got her promotion.

    Kathy's planner showed a couple more meetings scheduled with Bartlett and another meeting with Hanson on the morning of December 20. Also on the twentieth Kathy had written in '10:00 PM' followed by a question mark. The only thing I found in her planner that was unusual was on her 'Month at a Glance' calendar for December. There were some notations that didn't make sense to me. On December 6 Kathy had written, "Started." Then each day after that was numbered one through fourteen. The number fourteen was on Friday, December 20. That date was circled and underlined. I wondered if that had something to do with the meeting scheduled with Hanson that day or was it because that was the day of DC&H's Christmas party. Maybe it was circled because that was the day they expected to get Mr. Benson to sign the contract. I was still puzzled as to why she had numbered the days from December 6 to December 20 from one to fourteen. I knew I was going to have to think about that one for a while. I put Kathy's day planner back in the briefcase and closed it. When I headed back up to bed the briefcase was back on the chair where I had found it.

    Over the next several days Kathy's mood continued to improve but she remained a little distant around me. In the eight years I had worked as an investigator I had learned a lot about how to get answers to questions without appearing to interrogate the person. By putting together bits and pieces of things I got Kathy to tell me I was able to determine that the twentieth seemed to be the critical date. If Mr. Benson was going to sign a contract with DC&H it would happen that day.

    On Friday, December 13 I had managed to close one to the three cases I was working on and I was close to closing another. That night I stopped after work to have a beer with Bill Ripley, to celebrate closing. We had a couple of beers and talked about the case and then I decided to talk to Bill about what I had found in Kathy's day planner without telling him whose planner it was. I told him it was from a case I was working on and explained about the days that were numbered one through fourteen and that the twentieth was circled and underlined.

    Bill looked and me and said, "Sorry, buddy but I can't help you. It doesn't ring any bells with me. You said the planner belonged to a woman, right?"

    "Yes."

    "Then I suggest you talk to Mary Farrell," Bill said. "You might need a female perspective to crack this one."

    Bill was right. A woman's perspective was probably what I needed. Mary Farrell was one the best investigators at IIC and she was one of only three females in the company. I dropped the subject so that Bill wouldn't begin to think I was obsessed with this case and start wondering why. We had a couple more beers and just talked. In the course of the conversation I told Bill about my dream to someday to start my own investigative agency.

    "If you ever do let me know," Bill said. "I'll come to work for you but you'll have to pay me better than IIC."

    Bill was laughing as he said that.

    "Pay you more! Hell you're already over paid." I said.

    "I am serious," Bill said, "if you ever do decide to go out on your own come talk to me."

    "It will probably never happen," I said, "but if I ever do start my own agency you will be the first person I talk to."

    We chatted for a while longer and then I went home.

    It was another frustrating weekend. Kathy was attentive to me and affectionate but somehow we managed to get through the weekend without having sex. Kathy and I had not made love for more than a week and it was beginning to disturb me. Not just because I had been cut off but also because I didn't understand why.

    Monday morning I told Kathy that I was probably going to have to work late every night to try and wrap up the two cases I was working on.

    "You can't work late Friday," she said. "You have to be home in time to get ready for the party."

    "What time do we have to be there?" I asked.

    "The party starts at eight o'clock. I want to be there no later than 8:30," Kathy replied. "So you need to be home by seven o'clock to get ready."

    "Okay, I'll be home by seven."

    I was frustrated and by midweek I was beginning to get angry with Kathy. I had closed my second case Tuesday and I took Kathy out to dinner to celebrate but afterward she told me she didn't feel well and once again we did not have sex and she put me off again on Wednesday night.

    It took all of my patience to not blow up at her. I knew she was going through a lot at work but there was a limit to how long I was willing to wait. I managed to convince myself that everything would be resolved after Friday. Kathy will know about the National Pharmaceutical deal and she should also know if she was going to get her promotion so I was prepared to be patient, at least until Friday.

    Thursday I had all but closed my last case. I would have one chance at a quick resolution of the case on Friday morning but if that didn't work it would take the rest of the day. The problem was that if I didn't catch a break in the morning it was going to be very difficult to get everything done and be home by seven o'clock like I promised Kathy. That evening at dinner I told Kathy that I was going to have a hard time getting home by seven and she started to get angry.

    "You promised, "she said.

    "I know, "I said, "and I am sorry but I am so close I just have to close this tomorrow."

    I could see her anger building.

    "Kathy, you don't have to wait for me. If I am not here on time, go without me." I said. "I'll get there as soon as I can. I should be able to make it by nine o'clock."

    "I don't want to go without you," she said. "I guess nine o'clock will be all right. It's just that... Well, I just can't be any later than that."

    "I'll do the best I can to get home by 7:30. If I am not here in time I'll meet you at the party."

    Kathy didn't say anymore about it.

    Friday morning I got the break I needed in my case. I had been assigned to recover some stolen jewelry from a home break in. The merchandise was insured for over a million dollars. The perpetrator had contacted the insurance company and offered to sell back the stolen jewelry for $250,000, saving the insurance company $750,000. The insurance company agreed to pay the quarter million dollars and asked IIC to handle the transaction. It had taken me a while to gain the confidence of the perpetrator so that I could set up a meet to make the transfer of the money for the jewels. Once I set up a meeting I was going to have to go to the insurance company's office and get the money for the exchange. The paper work involved to get that much money takes a lot of time.

    Luckily, I had been able to identify the thief and managed to follow him to a coffee shop Friday morning. Then I called his cell phone to arrange to meet him that afternoon to make the exchange. After the call I followed him to an old garage on the west side of town. I watched him from across the street as he went into the garage and opened the trunk of an old car. He didn't take anything out of the car. He just closed the trunk again and left. Before leaving the garage he looked around to see if anyone was watching but he didn't see me.

    As soon as he left I ran across the street to the garage. The door was locked with a small pad lock, which was no match for my tire iron. Within five minutes I had the trunk of the old car opened and found a small canvas bag in the trunk. Inside the bag I found all of the stolen jewelry. I closed up the garage door as I left and taped a note to the broken pad lock which read, "Better luck next time."

    When I got back to my office I contacted the insurance company and told them I had the stolen jewels and arranged for someone to come pick them up. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I had managed to keep a thief from profiting from his crime, I had saved the insurance company a lot of money and I had earned a nice fee for my company. The best part was that the victims got their jewelry back. It was a pretty good day's work I thought.

    As I came out of my office I saw Mary Farrell talking to another investigator. I waited until she finished her conversation and then I walked over to her and invited her to have lunch with me. Mary started at IIC four years earlier and I had known her most of that time. At almost 6 feet tall with short blond hair and piercing green eyes Mary is both attractive and intimidating which is one of the reasons she is so good at her job.

    "Are you buying, Fred?" She asked.

    "I'll pay if you can help me with something I am working on," I said.

    "Okay, you're on."

    Mary and I walked across the street to a little sandwich shop and I bought us a couple of pastrami sandwiches and two sodas to go with them.

    "Must not be that big of a case if this is all you are willing to spend to get information," Mary said as we found a table.

    I always liked Mary's sense of humor.

    As we ate I told her about the notations on Kathy's 'Month at a Glance' calendar without giving away whom I was investigating.

    "I showed this to Bill Ripley and he suggested that because it was a woman's calendar I should ask a woman to explain it." I said. "Does this have any meaning to you?"

    Mary was silent for a long time. She has almost finished her sandwich when she began smile.

    "What are you smiling about?" I asked.

    "The numbers, she said. "It took me a while but I think I know what that's about. You said that on the sixth she wrote 'started,' and that after that the days were numbered from one to fourteen and December twentieth was number fourteen, is that right?"

    "That's right," I said, "and the twentieth was circled and underlined."

    "I believed that she wrote 'started' on the sixth because that was when her last period started and then she counted the fourteen days until the day she would probably be most fertile, which means today is her most fertile day," Mary said. "This woman is tracking her cycle because she is trying to get pregnant. Does that make sense to your case?"

    I was stunned. Not only because Mary figured that out so easily but because it had never occurred to me.

    "I'm not sure but it might make sense in the context of this case," I said. "Thanks for the help."

    "I guess for the little bit of help I gave you a pastrami sandwich was a fair payment after all," Mary said.

    After we finished our lunch Mary and I went back over to the office and I spent the rest of the day catching up on paper work and wondering why Kathy would be tracking her menstrual cycle. I couldn't remember when she had her last period. I never kept track of her cycles. I was always surprised when she would tell me that "The small craft warnings are up," when I tried to initiate sex during her period. Another thing that puzzled me was that Kathy wasn't planning on getting off her birth control pills at least until February so why would she be tracking her cycle. Could she be tracking this for someone else?

    I was starting to get a tight feeling in my gut. I was picking up little bits of information that weren't making sense to me yet but I had a sense that I needed to get some answers soon.

    One thing I have learned from my training and my experience is to be patient and wait till all the facts are in before you jump to any conclusions. If you act too quickly the consequences could be dire. I have always been a patient person so I was able to easily adopt that principle. I think that is probably why I have been so successful in this business. It would be difficult for me but this was definitely a time for patience.

    By five o'clock I had finished up my work and was ready to head home. By the time I got to my car it was already dark and it looked as though it would start to snow at any time. As I drove home through rush hour traffic I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had cleared three big cases off the books, got an answer to one of my questions about Kathy's day planner and I was going to be home in plenty of time to take Kathy to her party, which I hoped would relieve some of her stress.

    I arrived home at about 5:30 PM and parked my car in the driveway. I didn't think it made any sense to put it in the garage if we were going back out again in a little while. I walked down to the street to get the mail and then walked up to the front door. I hadn't looked into the garage so I didn't know if Kathy was home yet or not.

    I stepped up on the front porch and as I was about to unlock the door when I noticed the front hall light was on. I peeked in the small window next to the door to see if Kathy was in sight but she wasn't, at least not immediately. I started to move back to unlock the door when I saw movement at the top of the stairs. Kathy she was coming down the stairs and I was shocked to see that she was completely naked. She was carrying something in her hands but I couldn't see what it was at first. I leaned back from the window a bit because I didn't want Kathy to see a face in the window and have the crap scared out of her. When she reached the bottom step I could see that she was carrying a towel in one hand and a can of shaving cream in the other. That puzzled me. What was she doing with the shaving cream? When she stepped off the bottom step Kathy turned to the right and walked into the living room and stopped next to a wing chair that was just a few feet inside the room.

    Kathy just stood there as if she had forgotten why she went in there in the first place. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She looked so beautiful standing there. Her long dark brown hair hanging in long curls over her shoulders, her strong but slender back tapering to where it joined her heart shaped buttocks and her beautiful legs.

    I could feel myself becoming erect as I stared at my sexy wife. I didn't want to move from that spot but I was afraid that she would turn around and see me peering through the window. I knew that if I tried to open the door with her standing so close by that it would scare the hell out of her. I decided to go back and come in through the garage. At least then she would hear the garage door opening and would know I was home.

    I knew that I should move but I could not resist enjoying the view for two more minutes. In those two minutes my world changed. I watched what was happening and then dashed to my car. I opened the car door and pushed the button for the garage door opener. The door took about fifteen seconds to open and then I pulled the car into the garage. As I walked up the steps to the kitchen door I hit the button to close the garage door and waited for it to close before opening the door into the kitchen. I figured that should have given Kathy enough warning that I was home.

    As I stepped into the kitchen I was sure I heard a door close somewhere else in the house. I walked through the kitchen and into the dinning and then the living room. There was no sign of Kathy.

    "Kathy, I'm home," I yelled as I started up the stairs.

    As I walked into our bedroom I called Kathy again and this time she answered.

    "You're home early. That's great. I'm in the bathroom getting ready. Why don't you use the shower in the guest bathroom?" Kathy said.

    "Why?"

    "I'm busy in here," she said.

    I pretended that I didn't hear that and just walked in on her.

    "What did you say?" I asked.

    Kathy was sitting on the side of the bathtub and when I came in she quickly tried to cover herself but not fast enough.

    "I told you I was busy in here, get out."

    "What are you doing?" I asked.

    Kathy gave me a nervous look and then let her hand drop away exposing what I had already seen. Her pubic hair was covered with shaving cream. She had been just ready to start shaving when I walked into the bathroom.

    "It was supposed to be a surprise," she said.

    "For who?" I asked.

    "For you of course. I wanted to surprise you when we got home from the party tonight," she said.

    "Did I ever tell you I wanted you to shave your pussy?" I asked.

    "No, but I thought that..."

    "I don't ever remember you telling me that you wanted to shave yourself," I said.

    "I know I never mentioned it but..."

    "Where did you ever get the idea that I wanted you to shave it? Most certainly not from me," I said.

    Kathy was struggling to come up with an answer and I was getting more angry by the second.

    "I just thought it would be something different. A lot of girls are doing this now and I thought you might like it," Kathy said.

    "Shouldn't we have discussed this first to at least see how I felt about it?" I asked.

    "Maybe but after all, it's not that big of a deal and it is my body and if I want to shave off my pussy hair that's my decision. If we don't like it, it will grow back."

    She did have a point but I wasn't giving in because there was more going on than what appeared at the surface.

    "Don't shave it now," I said. "We can discuss it later and if it's is that important to you, you can shave it tomorrow."

    The look on Kathy's face was more than just anger, there was also fear. I could understand the anger, that was directed at me, but I couldn't understand the fear.

    "I am ready to do it now so why should I have to wait?" She said.

    "Because your husband is asking you to wait," I said. "I don't like bald pussies. I don't want to feel like I am having sex with a child when we make love. Why is it so important that you have to do it now?"

    "I was all set to do it and I want to do it now. It's my hair and if I want to shave it off I will shave it off," she said.

    "Okay then, go ahead and shave but if you do you will have to go to the party alone." I said and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

    "Why are you being so unfair? It's just something I want to do so why do you have to make a big deal out if it?" Kathy asked.

    "I am making a big deal out of this because I don't think you're telling me the truth about why you want to shave your pussy," I said. "You know I like your hair so I know you weren't thinking of me when you decided to shave yourself. If you can't tell me the truth then I will not discuss this any further. You can leave it alone and we will go to the party or you can shave it and go to the party by yourself. It's your choice."

    Kathy gave me a sullen look. She put the razor down and climbed into the shower. I showered after Kathy and then lounged around in my bathrobe and drank a beer while Kathy was putting on her make up. Kathy didn't speak to me the whole time we were getting ready to go. I knew that she was pissed at me so I didn't try to start any conversations as that would only increase my own anger. I just tried to watch her surreptitiously as she got dressed. I saw her put on black thong panties and a black bra that just barely covered the lower half of her breasts. This ensured two things, first that there would be no panty lines apparent in her dress. Second, her nipples would be very apparent in her dress.

    As angry as Kathy was with me I would have been very surprised if she was dressing that sexy for me, unless it was to make me jealous. I wondered if not me then for whom?

    Next Kathy sat on the edge of the bed and put on a pair of black thigh high stockings. As she was rolling her stockings up her legs I wondered if she was aware that I was watching her. Kathy didn't seem to acknowledge my presence in the bedroom. When she had both stockings pulled up, she got off the bed and walked to her closet. Even with everything that was running through my head I still got an erection as I watched Kathy walking away from me. She disappeared into her closet and came out a minute later with her black cocktail dress already halfway on. She walked into the bathroom as she pulled the dress the rest of the way down. Then she sat in front of the mirror and fixed her hair.

    When Kathy came out of the bathroom and stood in front of me I could feel my anger melting, but I couldn't allow that. I was going to need it to stay strong because I still didn't know what lay ahead of me that night.

    At 7:30 I asked Kathy if she was ready to go.

    "I'm ready," she said.

    "You look really hot," I said. "You are going to melt someone's heart tonight."

    Kathy turned to go out the door and said, "Yours, I hope."

    I wondered if she meant to melt my heart or break it.

    We drove the first fifteen minutes in silence before Kathy finally spoke.

    "I am sorry about the shaving thing," Kathy said. "I just thought it was a good idea at the time and I am so nervous about tonight that I guess I just kind of snapped when you gave me a hard time about it."

    "No problem," I said. "We can discuss that over the weekend but let's just try to have some fun tonight."

    I was trying to lighten the mood a little.

    The party was being catered at the company's offices in a large classroom on the first floor. As soon as Kathy and I walked in and checked our coats Hanson came over and said hello. Then he took Kathy aside for a minute. I thought that I could feel my blood pressure building as I watched them carefully to see if I could pick up on anything they were talking about. Kathy had nodded her head yes a couple of times and then she shook her head no and Hanson seemed to get upset and Kathy got more animated. It looked as though their conversation ended when Hanson started to walk away from Kathy but then spun around and came back but now he was smiling. It looked like he was suggesting something to her and I could tell she wasn't happy about it but she nodded her head yes and then Hanson left.

    When Kathy came back over to me I asked her what he had wanted.

    "The National Pharmaceutical deal is closing tonight. I have to go to a meeting at ten o'clock with Jack and Mr. Bartlett. If the meeting goes well we will get the National contract."

    "So, you'll get your promotion then?"

    "Yes, if everything works out."

    Kathy didn't look as happy as she should if she was getting what she wanted.

    "Then we can start trying to make a baby?" I asked, hoping to get a reaction from her.

    "Yes, we can start our family," she said without emotion.

    I wanted to shake her and say, "What the fuck is going on?"

    I had a problem in that I was already beginning to get an idea of what was going on and it was up to me to figure out what I was going to do about it.

    As we walked into the big room were the party was being held Kathy slipped her arm through mine and leaned close to me. The room was nicely decorated and there were several tables around the outside of the room. There was a band set up at one end of the room with an area for dancing. At the other end of the room they had set up the buffet and next to that an open bar. I scanned the room to see who was there. I don't know many of the DC&H people well but I am good at remembering faces and I had seen most of these people many times over the last six years and I had a pretty good idea of who belonged there and who didn't and it didn't take long to spot him.

    He was standing next to the bar by himself. He was maybe thirty-five years old and about six feet tall. He appeared to be a fit 175 pounds. He was dressed in a dark blue double breasted Armani suit and I guessed that he would be considered a handsome man.

    I pointed to him and asked Kathy, "Who is that guy standing over there by the bar?"

    "I don't know," she replied but I could tell by her body language that she wasn't being truthful.

    "Why don't we go over to the bar and get a drink?" I suggested.

    "There are some of my department members over here that I would like to say hello to. Why don't you get us both a drink and I'll wait for you over here?" she said.

    I made my way over to the bar and order Kathy a glass of red wine and got myself a beer and then turned to the Armani suit.

    " Mr. Benson, how are you tonight?"

    A look of surprise briefly crossed his face.

    "How do you know me?" He asked.

    "It's my job," I said. "I have to take this wine over to Ms. Alpin and then I'd like to come back and talk to you if you don't mind."

    Mr. Benson studied me for a minute. I could tell that I worried him but he didn't seem to be afraid of me. For a moment I thought he might know who I was but I didn't see how he could. It had to be something else about me that was bothering him.

    "Oh, okay. I'll be right here," he said."

    I took Kathy her drink and said I was going to circulate while she talked to her friends.

    "Don't wander off on me," she said. "I need you to stay close to me tonight"

    "I won't be gone long. I don't want to sit here and listen to you talk shop with your friends right now," I said.

    Kathy gave me a sad look as I got up from the table but she let me go. When I was sure that Kathy was no longer paying attention to what I was doing I went back over to Mr. Benson.

    "My name is Fred. I work in security for DC&H," I said. "I just want to make sure there are no problems tonight. I guess Mr. Hanson has a fun evening planned."

    "That's what he tells me," he said. "I am just killing time until the fun begins."

    "I guess for you that begins around ten o'clock," I said.

    "You seem to know everything," Mr. Benson said nervously.

    "Like I said, it's my job to know things. Tonight I am to make sure no one bothers you and that later no one interrupts you if you know what I mean," I said with a wink and a sleazy smile. "I take it you like brunettes?"

    "Love brunettes. Especially with long hair," he said.

    "Like Ms. Alpin you mean?"

    "Exactly," he said and this time he had the sleazy smile.

    I wanted to choke the bastard but I couldn't do that.

    "I'll bet you're like me," I said. "You like them with a lot of hair on their heads but none between their legs, right? I asked as I again winked and smiled.

    "Bald is nice," he said as he laughed.

    I learned what I needed from him so it was time to move away before I shoved my fist down the smug bastards throat.

    "I have to circulate now. Got to make sure that no one is here that ain't supposed to be here. If you have any problems just come find me. I'll be around," I said.

    I was muttering profanities under my breath as I walked away from him.

    When I got back to the other side of the room the band had started to play and a man approach Kathy and asked her to dance. She very nicely but firmly turned him down and then grabbed my arm and dragged me out to the dance floor before I had a chance to sit. As we danced I kept an eye on Mr. Benson to make sure he wasn't watching us. I didn't want him to figure out I was Kathy's husband yet. I was still formulating my plans and didn't want them blown before they were even complete.

    I was still trying to figure the last few pieces of the puzzle I was dealing with and it was already 9:30. My nervous stress was causing my stomach to do flips.

    The song ended and I started to move back toward the table where Kathy had been sitting when the band started playing a slow song. Kathy pulled me back onto the dance floor and was holding me close to her. Kathy always did like to dance close to me but it seemed that this time she was trying get inside me. She was holding me so tightly that it was uncomfortable.

    At one point during the dance I noticed the Benson was looking at me and seemed to be a little uptight. I smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up sign and then tried to ignore him. I wondered if seeing me dancing with Kathy made him suspicious that I wasn't who I had claimed to be but by then I no longer cared.

    When that dance ended we headed back to the table. I was just sitting down when I saw Greg Bartlett approaching us and he was carrying a small package in his hand. He pulled Kathy aside and whispered something to her and handed her the package and then left. Kathy came back over to the table holding the package behind her back and bent down to speak to me.

    "I have to go to the girl's room," she said.

    When I looked up at her I could see something in her eyes that made me feel sick.

    "Don't do it," I said.

    "Don't do what?"

    I grabbed Kathy's arm and held it as I looked into her eyes.

    "You know what I am talking about. You know I am not stupid. I know what's going on here. Stop it now."

    "I don't know what you are talking about," she said. "I just have to go to the girl's room."

    Kathy pulled her arm away from me and I watched her walk away. She didn't look back.

    While she was gone I reviewed what I knew and what I had figured out from the things I had seen. For me the problem started the first time Kathy referred to Mr. Hanson as Jack. That had bothered me but things didn't start to escalate until the sudden onset of Kathy's depression. That's when she told me that the National Pharmaceutical deal was in jeopardy and that if it failed it was going to be her fault even thought she didn't do anything wrong. Then there were all of the meetings with Bartlett and Hanson and a meeting with the customer. Kathy seemed to be tracking her menstrual cycle, or somebody's, and according to her calendar that night was a fertile night. I still couldn't make sense out of that because Kathy was still on the pill.

    Then there was the argument we had about her shaving her pussy. Kathy never told me the truth about why she was going to do that and I never told her what I had seen earlier that evening when I was standing on the porch. That I had watched her through the window while my world crumbled around me. What I saw was Kathy standing in the nude in our living room and I was thinking about how beautiful she was when I saw a hand reach out from the chair she was standing next to and cup the left cheek of Kathy's buttocks. She flinched a little and I could see her gluteus muscles tighten as the man's fingers tried to work their way into her crack. The fingers stopped moving for a moment and Kathy's muscles seemed to relax. Then the fingers delved deeper into her crack and started moving lower going down between her legs.

    I had continued to watch as Kathy turned toward the chair and the man's hand moved around to her front and was running up and down through her pubic hair. Then I found out who the hand belonged to. Jack Hanson leaned out from the chair and kissed Kathy on her stomach. I only heard a little of what was said before I went to the garage and opened the door.

    I didn't want to walk into the house with her standing in the nude in front of another man. I couldn't handle that so by opening the garage door I alerted them that I was home and gave them time to stop what they were doing. As I headed upstairs to confront Kathy I peeked out the front door in time to see Hanson scurrying, like the rat bastard that he is, across the street to his car.

    My guess was that Benson got a look at Kathy and decided he wanted her and made that clear to Hanson. She was the deal breaker. I further guessed that Benson had demanded that she shave her pussy for him. I didn't spend much time trying to figure out why all this was happening I only knew that I had to stop it before it went to far.

    The fact that Bartlett and Hanson were up to their necks in this made it necessary for me to somehow fuck up their plans and try to screw them over in the process.

    The last piece of all this was Kathy's trip to the lady's room. I was sure that the package that Bartlett had handed Kathy contained shaving cream and a razor. Kathy was now in the lady's room shaving her pussy so that she could give Benson the perk he had asked for. Well, fuck her too.

    It was 9:45 and Kathy hadn't returned to the table yet. I was getting tense because I was running out of time. I still had not come up with a clear plan of action so I got up to go find Kathy with the idea that I was going to physically drag her out of the building and take her home and deal with the fallout later. As I started toward the door the band announced that they were taking a break and an idea popped into my head. I looked around quickly and noted that Benson, Bartlett and Hanson were now all standing together by the bar so I had the audience I wanted.

    I walked over to the band as they were putting their instruments down and spoke to the lead singer.

    "Can you leave your mike hot?" I asked. "I want to make a few announcements."

    "Sure, no problem," he replied and handed me his wireless mike. It's already hot, just flip the switch on the side and you will be good to go."

    "Thanks."

    I paced back and forth for a minute trying to think of what I wanted to say and then I took a deep breath and turned the microphone on.

    "Can I have everyone's attention please?" I started.

    I could see many of the guests turning to look in my direction but there was still a lot on noise in the room.

    "Can I have your attention please?" I repeated.

    The noise began to dwindle down to just a few people talking. As I looked around I saw Kathy returning from the lady's room. Then I looked over at the triumvirate of assholes Benson, Bartlett and Hanson. The three of them were looking at me with curious expressions on their faces.

    "Can I get everyone's attention?"

    The room was now quiet. Kathy was standing in the doorway staring at me.

    "Thank you. I just want to take a few minutes to talk to all of you on this special occasion. First, I wanted to say what a great party this is. Let's give a round of applause to the people that put this party on for us."

    Almost everyone started to applaud and Kathy started walking slowly toward me. Her expression was that of fear..

    "I have had a few drinks and I am feeling pretty good right now so I hope the words come out right. The reason I wanted to talk to you was to share some things that are going on with me and my wonderful wife Kathy."

    I gave Kathy a look and smiled at her then I turned to look the three assholes standing at the bar. I couldn't tell what they were thinking but they didn't look happy.

    "First, I want to share some good news with all of you. Kathy and I are going to have a baby."

    Many of the guests began to applaud. Kathy's hands went up to cover her face, which would have looked like mild embarrassment to anyone who didn't know what was really happening. Hanson looked angry, Bartlett confused but I couldn't read Benson.

    "There is more good news too. Kathy told me that she is getting a promotion tonight because of her work on the National Pharmaceutical deal. I understand that Kathy, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Hanson and Mr. Benson are meeting upstairs tonight to sign the contract. Isn't that great?"

    More applause.

    "Oh God, please stop," I heard Kathy say. She had stopped about ten feet from me and slowly sat down on the floor.

    Assholes number one and two were livid, Benson almost looked amused.

    "This evening started off so strangely that I thought I would share it with you. When I got home from work tonight I found my loving wife in the bathroom getting ready to shave and I don't mean her legs or arm pits."

    There was some laughter from the crowd but most people were now sitting in stunned silence.

    "We had a little argument about it. She told me it was supposed to be a surprise for me and I told her not to do it. I won that argument or at least I thought I did. Now I realize that she wasn't shaving for me she was doing it on orders from Jack. Kathy was just in the little girl's room and I believe she shaved herself while she was in there. Now all of you are probably wondering why Jack Hanson would tell Kathy she had to shave her pussy..."

    There was an audible gasp when I said that. Kathy was now lying on the floor crying and most of the guests were staring at me as if they were watching a train wreck. There were only two assholes now. It looked as though Benson had skipped out. Hanson's face was bright red and he was shaking. Bartlett was walking toward me as if he thought he could make me stop.

    "The reason Kathy shaved her pussy is because she was to be a gift to Mr. Benson tonight and Mr. Benson wanted her pussy to be hairless. It seems that your company management thinks it is good business to encourage its employees to have sex with potential customers to win contracts even if it destroys a marriage."

    Now Bartlett was right in front of me and he tried to take the microphone from me. I pulled the mike away from him and turned it off.

    "Listen asshole, you try to grab the mike from me again and I'll drop you like a bag of rocks. Come to think of it I may do that anyway."

    Bartlett backed away from me and looked over at Hanson. While they looked at each other I turned the mike back on.

    "One last thing and this is for Bartlett and Hanson. I will be filing a lawsuit against this company for what you did to my marriage and I am sure I will get a nice settlement. Part of that settlement will be that you two assholes and anyone else involved in the mess will be fired. Good night everybody and enjoy the rest of your party."

    The room was dead silent as I set the mike down and walked over to where Kathy was laying on the floor and I squatted down beside her.

    "Kathy."

    She looked up at me with tears running down her cheeks.

    "Fred. I am so..."

    "Kathy, don't say anything," I interrupted. "Do you think you'll get that promotion now?"

    I stood up and looked around. People were staring at us but when I looked back at them they turned away. I looked down at Kathy one last time and then I left the room.

    I had picked up my coat and was walking across the lobby toward the door when Hanson stepped in front of me.

    "Do you have any idea what you've done?" He asked.

    "Yes," I said. "I fucked you before you and DC&H could finish fucking my wife and I hope I cost you millions. I would hate to think that we all went through this for a few hundred thousand dollars."

    "You're going to pay for this." Hanson said.

    "Actually, I think you will be the one who pays for this," I said. "Along with my law suit I am going to have a discussion with the SEC. I think they might be interested in the way this company has been doing business."

    I turned to leave and Hanson grabbed my arm.

    "Just a minute, I am not through with you yet," he said.

    I brushed his arm away.

    "You touch me again and you won't be walking when you leave here tonight," I said.

    I could hear him muttering profanities behind my back as I left.

    When I got home I went straight to the liquor cabinet and got a bottle of scotch and began to slowly drink myself into oblivion. I believe this was the genesis of my nightmares. I was on my second drink when I spotted something blue sitting in one of the big potted plants on the kitchen floor. I got up to see what it was. It was a blue plastic case and it was pretty well hidden under the foliage of the plant. I knew what it was as soon as I picked it up and when I opened it I confirmed my suspicion. I remembered something dropping out of the bathroom wastebasket Monday morning. I had looked all over the kitchen for it but never thought to look in the flower pot. I went back to the sofa and put the case on the coffee table next to the scotch. I filled my glass and took a big gulp. Then I picked the case up and opened it again. As I stared at it I thought to myself "It's fucking full, none missing."

    I put the case back down and poured another drink. I don't know how long I lasted but I woke up on the sofa in the family room at nine o'clock Saturday morning. The scotch bottle was nearly empty, my head was pounding and my mouth tasted like shit. I stood up and felt dizzy for a minute. My stomach felt like it was in full rebellion against me.

    I started the coffee maker and went off to take a shower. When I went upstairs I noted that there was no sign that Kathy had come home and I really didn't expect that she would, either because she was afraid to face me or because she was pissed that I had fucked everything up at DC&H. I wasn't exactly sure if I cared either way.

    The shower helped. I felt a little better. After two cups of coffee, scrambled eggs and toast I sat down on the sofa in the family room. I sat there trying to think about what my next move should be. It broke my heart to think about how much I had loved Kathy. I wondered how she could have done this to us? I couldn't believe that her ambition was so strong that she would agree to have sex with a customer to win a deal. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was willing to shave her pussy for him too. She was willing to do this because Jack Hanson told her to do it. I doubted that I would ever be able to forgive her for any of this but I knew that I would have to give her a chance to explain herself if she wanted that chance. I just couldn't walk away without at least hearing what she had to say but I would not pursue her to ask for an explanation. I figured that if she didn't feel the need to try and explain her actions to me then I really didn't need to know why. The why would only be important if she wanted a second chance with me.

    I couldn't think of anything to do other than to wait and see if Kathy tried to contact me. I began to wonder where she had spent the night and then I remembered the way she looked when I left the party. I felt a little guilty about leaving her on the floor that way. I realized that I should have brought her home with me. I wasn't real proud of myself but I had been hurt and angry and felt no sympathy for Kathy at the time. The more I thought about that the worse I felt and the more I wondered where she was staying.

    I was still sitting on the sofa at eleven o'clock when the phone rang. I assumed that it was Kathy calling and I debated on whether I should answer. I picked the phone up on the sixth ring.

    "Mr. Alpin?"

    "Yes."

    "This is Special Agent Mark Walker of the FBI," the voice on the phone said. "Is your wife with you?"

    "My wife is not home," I said.

    I wondered why the FBI would want to talk to Kathy.

    "No problem. It's you I want to talk to," agent Walker said.

    "Me?" I asked. "What's this about?"

    "I would rather not discuss this over the phone," he said. "Can you come to my office this afternoon?"

    "I guess so," I said. "Where are you located?"

    Agent Walker gave me directions to his office and I agreed to meet him there at two o'clock that afternoon. After the call I tried to figure out what the FBI would want with me. The best I could figure is that it must have something to do with one of the cases I had worked on recently. If that was the case why couldn't he tell me what he wanted over the phone?

    Over the years I have often had to talk to different law enforcement agencies for cases I was working and it never bothered me but for some reason this invitation to talk to the FBI had me a little worried.

    At 1:00 I dressed in jeans and a sweater and headed into town to meet with Agent Walker.

    I left my car in the parking garage across the street from the high rise office building in downtown Indianapolis, which housed the FBI offices. I took the elevator up to their seventh floor office and gave me name to the receptionist.

    "I am here to see Special Agent Walker," I said.

    "Have a seat and I'll let him know you are here," she replied.

    I only had to wait two minutes before he came into the lobby to get me. Unlike the expensive Armani suit he had been wearing the night before, Special Agent Walker was wearing blue Dockers and a white oxford shirt with no tie.

    "Mr. Alpin, thanks for coming in," he said. "Please follow me."

    I follow him into a conference room and as I sat down Agent Walker offered me a cup of coffee, which I accepted. He poured two cups from the coffee maker on a table in the corner and handed one to me. He took a sip of his coffee and then sat down across the table from me.

    "Should I call you Special Agent Walker or Mr. Benson?" I asked.

    "Why don't you try Mark,' he said, "and may I address you as Fred?"

    "Fred will be fine."

    "I guess you must be pretty confused right now," Mark said.

    "Yes, I am but I think I am starting to get a picture of what's going on," I said. "I take it you were working under cover as Mr. Benson."

    "That's right. I am counting on your discretion to keep anything I tell you here confidential," he said.

    "I think you probably know that I am an investigator myself and understand confidentiality," I said. "I am still not sure if you are friend or foe. I hope you can explain all this to me and how my wife got involved in this mess."

    "I will tell you what I can and will answer any questions as long as they don't jeopardize our investigations."

    "Okay, I'll listen to what you have to say but I have to tell you that I am really pissed that my wife was used the way she was. This mess has probably ended my marriage," I said.

    "Things may not be as bad as you think," Mark said. "Let me just put you in the picture and then you can ask your questions."

    "That's fine with me," I said.

    "Earlier this year the Security and Exchange Commission contacted the FBI," he started. "They had received some disturbing information about the business tactics of DC&H from someone inside the company and asked that we investigate the allegations. After following up on the information given us by the SEC we found enough evidence to justify further investigation. I can't tell you about our investigations other than to say that it was decided to do some undercover work."

    Mark got up and began to pace around the room as he talked.

    "We had found out through our investigation that DC&H had been trying to get National Pharmaceutical interested in a merger. Mr. Benson had spoken with one of our agents and indicated that he was concerned with DC&H's tactics. At that point we found out that no one from DC&H had met Mr. Benson so with his cooperation I took on his identity and began negotiating with DC&H. I was able to convince Mr. Hanson and Mr. Bartlett that I was Mr. Benson and I led them to believe that I was interest in their ideas for a merger and might be willing sign a contract for them to handle the merger. When they began to drool over the millions of dollars they thought they would make off the deal I started acting reluctant. I told them that I wanted to talk to some other firms before I made a decision. The idea was to see what tactics they would use to try and get me to sign a deal with them."

    "So you asked for my wife?" I said.

    "Not exactly. On my first visits to the offices of DC&H I was introduced to your wife as I was escorted to the conference room to meet with Bartlett and Hanson. I told Hanson that I would really like to talk to Mrs. Alpin.

    "His response was 'She is quite attractive, isn't she?' I agreed with him but that wasn't why I had asked to see her."

    "Why did you want to see her?" I asked.

    "I told Hanson that because she was head of the accounting department I wanted to talk to her about the financial condition of the company I was supposedly planning to merge with. The real reason was that your wife was the insider who contacted the SEC with concerns about how DC&H was doing business."

    "So Kathy knew that you were working undercover for the FBI?" I asked.

    "No, she didn't. I couldn't tell her," Mark said. "The information she sent to the SEC indicated that the company's problem involved people higher up in the company than Bartlett and Hanson. She had implicated the company president, and the CEO. I didn't know if I could trust her given that my assignment was investigating Bartlett and Hanson. I couldn't be sure she wouldn't blow my cover to protect them."

    So, Kathy had blown the whistle on the company execs. I didn't know what that meant to me. If she didn't know that Benson was a fake, was she planning to have sex with him at the party? I had questions I wanted to ask Mark but decided to wait till he finished to see if I would get any answers in what he was telling me.

    "As I was saying I had indicated to Hanson that I might back out of the deal so he asked me what it would take to get me to sign with DC&H. I asked him what he had to offer. That's when Hanson said, "I noticed that you thought Kathy Alpin was pretty hot. How would you like to get a piece of that?" I was surprised at that. I expected him to offer me a bribe. I had to see where this would lead so I told him I might be interested in that but I didn't commit. This next part may be difficult for you to hear but it is important to the story."

    "There is nothing you can say that would be any more upsetting than what I have already been through," I said.

    "Okay then. I waited a few days and then met with Hanson again. He asked me if I thought over his offer. I asked him if he meant by his offer that he would arrange it so I could have sex with your wife and he answered in the affirmative. I didn't want to act too anxious so I said that I was definitely interested but still wasn't sure if she would be worth it. Hanson assured me that she would be worth it and then said she has a bald pussy. 'Wouldn't you like to fuck a bald pussy?' he asked me."

    "So you never suggested that you wanted Kathy to shave her pussy?" I asked.

    "No. Since I hadn't planned on having sex with her that thought never entered my mind. I still wasn't even sure how Hanson could promise to deliver on his offer so I asked him how he would get a married woman agree to give herself to me as payment for signing a contract. 'You let me worry about that. If you want her she's yours, bald pussy and all.' was all Hanson said."

    "That son of a bitch," I said. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"

    "He is one sleazy bastard. The more he talked about me having sex with your wife the more excited he seemed to become. I got the feeling that he wanted me to accept his offer for more reasons than to get me to sign the contract. I let him go on for a while and then asked him when he could arrange for me to get together with your wife. He immediately said that we would do it during the company Christmas party on the twentieth."

    "So you were going to go through with it? I said. "You were going to have sex with my wife just to keep your undercover investigation going?"

    "No. I had no intention of having sex with your wife," Mark said. "First of all it would be unethical for me to do that and second, I was almost positive that the room where I was to meet with your wife would have hidden cameras and microphones to record the action. This was to be more than just a sexual favor to get me to sign the contract. It was also designed to give them material that could be used to black mail me."

    "How were you going to get out of it?" I asked.

    "I planned to balk at the last moment and say that the circumstances were not right. Then I was going to say that I would be willing to close the deal but that Mrs. Alpin would have to join me in my hotel room after the party. Then once I had her alone I was going to identify myself and bring her down here to be interrogated. We planned on arresting Bartlett and Hanson today. We thought that by this morning we would have enough evidence to indict them both.

    "Then last night you walked up to me and introduced yourself and said that you were with security. The fact is that I knew who you were and I was afraid that you knew what was going on and were a party to it. I wasn't sure which side of things you were on until you got up and made your speech."

    "Oh shit," I said. "I hope I didn't fuck up your investigation but I couldn't stand by and just let my wife give herself to another man as part of a business deal."

    "I understand," Mark said, "and you didn't really do any damage. You actually saved me from having to deal with the meeting I was supposed to have with them at ten o'clock last night. I was able to leave with my cover intact so that I could talk to Hanson again this morning. He made me a large cash offer to sign today. I told him I would meet him in his office Monday morning and when he hands me the money we will arrest him and shut down the operations of DC&H while we do an in depth investigation of every deal they have been involved with for the last three years."

    "I still don't know where Kathy stands in all this," I said.

    "Your wife was trying to do the right thing by blowing the whistle on the company," he said. "As for her part in the offer made to me I suspect that she was being coerced by Hanson. He may be black mailing her somehow."

    "Was there any mention of your using a condom?" I asked.

    "Yes. Once I agreed to the deal Hanson made it very clear to me that Kathy insisted that I would have to wear a condom. 'We wouldn't want to get the poor girl pregnant now would we?' Hanson said."

    Now I knew I was going to have to find Kathy. I now wanted to hear her side of the story. She was not completely innocent in this mess but there were extenuating circumstances.

    "That is really all I can tell you right now," Mark said. "Do you have any more questions?"

    "Not right now."

    "Good. Again, I have to remind you not to discuss any of this investigation with anyone. I would ask that you not tell your wife anything yet. Wait until when we have Bartlett and Hanson under indictment before you tell her this was all an FBI sting operation. That should only be a couple of days from now. We'll want to talk to her then anyway."

    I agreed to not say anything about the investigation and then Mark told me he would call me and let me know when I could tell Kathy about the FBI sting and then he said that they would probably want to depose me to get my side of the story. We shook hands and I left the building.

    When I got home there was a message from Kathy asking me to call her. I called the number she left and a woman answered the phone. I asked for Kathy.

    "Who should I say is calling?" The voice asked.

    "Tell her it's her husband," I said.

    Kathy's voice sounded nervous when she came on the line.

    "Where have you been?" She asked. "I have been calling all day."

    "Not all day," I said. "I was home until one o'clock this afternoon."

    "Oh. I guess that's about when I started calling you."

    I wasn't going to make this easy for her. She was going to have to show me that she was ready to tell me what was going on. So I remained silent.

    "Fred, can I come home?" She said.

    "This is where you live, isn't it? I said. "You should be here now."

    "I'll be home in an hour."

    "Okay," I said and hung up.

    I look at the clock and it was already five o'clock. I decided to have dinner ready when she got there and then we could talk after dinner. I got the dinner started and then went upstairs to prepare for what I felt was going to be the outcome of our talk. I came back downstairs and picked up the blue case off the coffee table in the family room and put it in my pocket.

    I made spaghetti and meat balls and a salad. Then I opened a bottle of Chianti. Kathy walked in the door at 6:05 and the dinner was ready. When she saw dinner on the table and the open bottle of wine I could see some of the stress leave her face. She could see that things were not going to be as bad as she first thought.

    At first we didn't speak. We went over and sat at the table. I poured the wine and we started eating. After a few minutes of the painful silence I asked Kathy where she spent the night.

    "One of my friends took me home after you left?"

    I couldn't help but get a little dig in.

    "Oh, you didn't stay for the rest of the party," I said.

    "You pretty much ended the party with your speech," she said.

    "I guess I owe some people apologies for that. Not you and certainly not Bartlett or Hanson."

    "I guess you're right. I owe you the apology," she said.

    She was about to say more but I stopped her and said that we would talk after dinner and we both became silent again. There was really nothing else the two of us could find to talk about.

    After dinner Kathy started to put the dishes into the dishwasher but I stopped her.

    "You can clean the kitchen later, we need to talk now," I said.

    We went into the family room and sat facing each other.

    "Do you want to just tell me everything or should I just start asking questions? Either way I expect only the truth," I said.

    "I'll tell you everything," she said. "I am sure you know when it started. It was the day after your Christmas party. Jack called me and told me that this huge deal that they were working on with National Pharmaceutical was in trouble. Jack told me Mr. Benson had told them that he would only sign a contract if I would agree to have sex with him. I couldn't believe that he would ask me to do something like that and I was pissed but he told me that this deal was very important to the company and if I would go along and do as they asked I would be rewarded handsomely. He was talking about a lot of money and a promotion. I didn't want to do it but Jack kept putting pressure on me and telling me that a lot of people were depending on me.

    "I told them I would have to think about it. They had me so confused and stressed over this that I couldn't think straight. When you came home and I looked at you I knew that I could not do that to you. Jack and Mr. Bartlett kept after me all day Monday trying to get me to agree. Mr. Hanson said that if this deal fell through it would be my fault and they would have to let me go. They also said that if I told anyone about what was going on I would get fired. I tried to tell you as much as I could. I knew that if you knew the whole story you would do something crazy and I would lose my job.

    "On Tuesday I told them I would not do it so they told me to think about it again. Then Mr. Hanson told me that the company was missing more than $100,000 and that if there were to be an audit it would look like I had been embezzling money from the company for the last few years. Jack said I would end up going to jail. He told me that if I did what he asked I would get the money he promised and the promotion but if I didn't cooperate there would be an audit and I would be charged with embezzlement.

    "In the end I had to agree to do what he wanted. Jack and Mr. Bartlett talked with me every day to make sure I didn't back out on them. They kept telling me I was doing the right thing and trying to convince me that you would understand if you knew how important this deal was."

    I had listened passively to this point but I was getting angry.

    "You can't believe that I would ever have thought what you were doing was all right," I said. "You should have told me everything. I would have found a way out for you."

    "I know," Kathy said. "Once I decided to go through with it I felt a little better but I felt so guilty about what I was doing to you. You have to understand that I was terrified of going to jail. I had to risk it. On Friday Jack called me into his office and told me that Mr. Benson told him that he wanted me to shave all my pubic hair off. I told him I couldn't do that because you would be angry but he said it would be a deal breaker. If I didn't shave it off Mr. Benson would walk away from the deal. Jack told me to shave it off before the party and not let you see it till later and then I was to tell you it was meant to be a surprise. He said that if you got mad all I had to do is say that I was sorry and that I would let it grow back. The problem was that you came home earlier than expected and caught me getting ready to shave it off."

    "So was I right?" I asked. "Did you shave your pussy in the lady's room at the party?"

    Kathy looked down at her hands.

    "Yes... Mr. Bartlett sent someone to the store to pick up a razor and some shave cream and I went into the lady's room and shaved myself. When I came back to the party I saw you with the microphone trying to get everyone's attention. I was so scared. I had no idea what you were up to and I had no idea if there was anyway I could stop you. I couldn't believe you said that I was pregnant."

    "I didn't say you were pregnant," I said. "I said we were going to have a baby. You weren't pregnant yet but that was our plan wasn't it?"

    "Well yes, but..."

    "But what? Are we or aren't we going to start a family?" I asked.

    "Yes. We are. I will get off my birth control pills tomorrow and then we can start."

    "One more question. Did you tell Benson that he would have to use a condom?"

    "Jack told me he was going to make him use a condom," she said. "I am glad he did because it hadn't occurred to me. I was so stressed by the whole situation that I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, you made your little speech and basically ended my career at DC&H and probably killed the deal with National Pharmaceutical."

    "So, essentially what you are telling me is that Bartlett and Hanson coerced and black mailed you into agreeing to have sex with Benson to close a business deal. They further insisted that you had to fulfill Benson's demand that you shave your pussy but I screwed things up by catching you when you were trying to shave. But even after I told you not to do it, you shaved yourself anyway. In the end, the only reason that you didn't end up fucking Benson is because I fucked everything up with my little speech. Does that about sum it up?"

    "Yes, but I don't blame you for what you did. I understand why you did it," she said.

    "Oh good, then you forgive me for trying to keep my wife from fucking another man," I said sarcastically.

    "That's not what I meant. I know you had every right to react the way you did and I have no right to be upset with you. I am upset with myself. I should have told you everything from the start. Do you think you will ever be able to forgive me?" Kathy asked.

    "That depends," I said. "Is that everything? Have you told me everything I need to know about what has been going on?" I asked.

    "Yes. I have told you everything. I love you and I can't bear to think that I could lose you because of this mess I got myself into," Kathy said.

    "Well, things don't look as bad as they did at first," I said and I watched the smile start to come back into Kathy's face. "I just have a couple of questions I need answered and then we might be able to put this behind us."

    "Okay. What questions?" I could here the joy creeping back into her voice.

    I pulled the blue case out of my pocket and tossed it on the coffee table.

    "I found this in the trash the other day and it's full. You threw away all of your birth control pills last week but you not only didn't tell me about that you tried to make me believe you were still taking them. Just five minutes ago you said you would stop taking them tomorrow. Can you explain that to me?"

    Kathy looked like I had punched her. Her mouth opened a couple of times but no words came out but when she finally spoke I was sure she was lying.

    "You're right, I stopped taking my pills," she said. "I was planning to let you get me pregnant and then surprise you. I know how much you wanted to start a family so I thought it would be nice surprise when I told you about it."

    "That plan would only have worked if you and I had been having sex but the last time we made love was the day before you stopped taking your pills."

    "It's just that I was so upset about what Mr. Bartlett and Jack wanted me to do that I wasn't in the mood to have sex during that time," Kathy replied.

    "Were you aware that last night was the most fertile night of your cycle?" I asked.

    That was another question that stunned her.

    "No. I wasn't aware of that. I had too many other things on my mind to be thinking about that, she claimed.

    "It just strikes me as odd that you were planning on having sex with Benson last night, which happens to be in the middle of your menstrual cycle and it never occurred to you to insist that a condom be used, but it did occur to Jack to require it," I said.

    "What are you trying to say?" She asked. "That I knew I was fertile and was willing to take a chance that I would get pregnant? I would never do that," she said.

    I could tell Kathy was really rattled. I was getting tired of playing with her and decided to end the game.

    "One more question Kathy," I started. "How long have you been fucking that rat bastard Hanson?"

    "What?" Was all she could manage to say.

    "No more lies. I know that you were keeping track of you menstrual cycle and had marked last night on your day planner as the day. I know that Hanson demanded that Benson would have to wear a condom and since I wasn't fucking you the only one left is Hanson. He wanted to get you pregnant didn't he?"

    I looked at Kathy and she started crying and made no attempt to answer me.

    "It was Hanson that wanted your pussy shaved not Benson and you did that for him in spite of me telling you not to do it. That shows me that he has more influence over you than I do. Lest you think I am just making wild guesses about this stuff, last night when I came home from work I came to the front door and looked in. I saw you standing naked in the living room and I saw Hanson playing with your ass and then he kissed your stomach the way a man often kisses the stomach of the women that is carrying his baby or in this case, will be carrying it.

    "Did you think I would be so stupid that you could have his baby and make me think it was mine? Or were you planning to leave me all along? You spent last night with him didn't you?"

    Kathy was weeping loudly as I stood up and left the room.

    When I came back into the kitchen carrying my suitcase Kathy looked up at me. When she saw what I was doing she jumped out of her chair and ran to me.

    "Please don't leave me. I love you. I don't love Jack. I told you he black mailed me. I had no choice but to do what he asked."

    "Why didn't you just continue taking your birth control pills and lie about it to Jack? You certainly didn't have any problems lying to me. I think I would have to believe what you told that rat bastard more than anything you have told me lately," I said. "I forgot to tell you, last night when I was watching you and that asshole I heard you say "I love you," to him. So where does that leave me?"

    "I don't love him. If I am pregnant I will have an abortion. I love you. Please, you have to believe me," she pleaded.

    "No, I don't. As for the baby, don't abort it on my account."

    Kathy collapsed on the floor crying. When I looked back from the garage door she looked the same way she had when I left her at the party the night before. I no longer felt any love for her only disgust. I hated leaving the house we had worked so hard to get built but it held no fond memories for me. Fortunately, we hadn't live there long enough to build those memories.

    EPILOGUE

    It has been more than two years since I walked out on Kathy. When I left her I found a furnished apartment and tried to start my life over. That's when the nightmares started. I was no longer happy with what I was doing so I quit my job and headed to California. Once I found a place to live I started my own insurance investigation company. I gave Bill Ripley a call and asked him if he would like to be my partner and two months later he joined me. When he came out he told me that when Mary Ferrell heard we were starting our own company she asked if we had a job for her.

    Mary moved out here fourteen months ago and we started dating two months later. After three months we moved in together. I was surprised that I fell in love again so quickly. I was not in a hurry to get married again but I like having someone I care about to share my life with.

    I have been able to keep track of my favorite people in Indianapolis through several contacts I still have there including Special Agent Mark Walker. It turned out that Kathy had blown the whistle on the company president and the CEO at Jack Hanson's direction. Hanson had hoped to get them in trouble for the shady deals they had been involved in and so that the board of directors would fire them. Hanson assumed that he would be then become the company president of DC&H.

    Apparently Kathy wasn't lying when she told me she didn't love him. She was playing him because he was in love with her and she knew if he got what he wanted she would get anything she wanted.

    Hanson and his wife didn't have any children, which he blamed on his wife. After I left he tried for more than a month to get Kathy pregnant he wasn't successful with her either. It turned out that he was sterile. His wife found out about his affair with Kathy and divorced him. A month later he was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his actions at DC&H.

    Bartlett also got jail time. He will be spending two years at a minimum security federal prison. Kathy was fired by DC&H and then the company was reorganized and shortly after that it was bought out by a larger consulting firm.

    The last I heard, Kathy was teaching book keeping at a community college just outside of Columbus Ohio.

    I try not to think about Kathy. The wounds are still too fresh for me to think of the good times we had. I don't miss her, which is a good thing. Mary more than fills the hole Kathy left in my life and that is why I married her.

    Now here I sit staring down at her and wondering if I should wake her up. Not to tell her I had the dream again but to tell her I love her. Last night Mary told me that whenever I decide I want a baby all I have to do is ask.

    "But make sure to get your order in early because you have to wait nine months for delivery," Mary added.

    I am thinking of placing my order tomorrow.

    By the way, in case you were wondering about DC&H you were right if you were thinking Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.



    DC&H: Kathy's Fall

    My name is Kathy Alpin and I was twenty-nine years old when my fall began.

    I had felt that 2002 was going to be our year. My Husband Fred and I were having our dream home built and in spite of the problems we were having with the building inspectors I was excited about the prospect of moving into our new house that summer. Fred was handling the frustrating business of dealing with the inspector and our contractor without much help from me. I was preoccupied with events taking place at DC&H where I worked.

    At that time I had been manager of the accounting department at DC&H for two years and had twenty accountants reporting to me. DC&H was coming off two years of record growth in the mergers and acquisitions business, which had provided me with very generous year-end bonuses. The problems arose in January when some severe management problems were uncovered at the DC&H offices in Indianapolis. It was an internal audit run by my department that had uncovered irregularities in the revenue claimed by the sales department. The fourth quarter sales numbers had been overstated in order to justify commission bonuses paid to the sales manager, the office manager and a few others. I wasn't sure if the fact that I led the audit team would help protect me from the coming purge.

    The proverbial crap hit the fan on the third of February. A team from corporate headquarters in New York, consisting of a company vice president, the head of corporate security, and a team of auditors came to our office. I spent the day with the corporate auditors going over the results of my audit and by the end of the day the office manager; the sales manager and two other lower level managers had been escorted from the building by the head of corporate security.

    I felt bad for those that were fired but I was more concerned with what would happen to me. I was told that when I finished meeting with the corporate audit team that I was to meet with the vice president that was leading the team investigating the problems in our office. I was afraid that all of the managers in the office had been tainted by the actions of a few people and I fully expected that my meeting with the VP would be the end of my career at DC&H.

    I finished with the auditors at six o'clock that evening and was then escorted to the conference room where Jack Hanson, Vice President of Corporate Sales, was waiting for me.

    "Please come in Mrs. Alpin," Mr. Hanson said. "Get yourself a cup of coffee or a soda if you like and have a seat. This won't take very long. It's been a long day and I am sure you are anxious to get home."

    Jack Hanson was very distinguished looking forty-six year old man. He was six feel tall, slender and appeared to be in excellent physical condition. His steel gray eyes penetrated me as I sat down across the table from him. I could feel my heart pounding as I waited to hear what he had to say to me.

    "I guess this has been a pretty traumatic experience for you," he said. "To have four people fired and know that it was your audit that was responsible. It should put your mind at ease to know that the corporate auditors were already suspicious of the fourth quarter report. If you hadn't found the problem in your audit they would have. The difference is that if it had been corporate that found it you would have been let go with the others."

    I felt like I should say something but I couldn't think of anything so I kept silent.

    "What I am trying to say is that you are not responsible for what happened. Those men were going to lose their jobs anyway the only thing your audit did was save your job," he said. "By the way, the four that were let go were told that it was corporate accounting that caught them, so you don't have to worry about them being angry with you."

    "Thank you. I was worried about that," I said.

    I was starting to feel a little better. I wasn't going to lose my job and that was a relief but I was still a little uncomfortable sitting alone with Mr. Hanson.

    "Mrs. Alpin, may I call you Kathy?"

    "Yes."

    "Good. Kathy, in preparation for today I spent the last two weeks going over the personnel files of every employee in this office. First, I needed to determine who and how many were involved in the false reporting of the sales figures. Second, I had to make decisions on which employees to keep after the reorganization. I have to say that I was very impressed with your personnel file. You have an excellent work record and an impressive resume. I have to say that I am a bit surprised to find an MBA from the Wharton School at Penn working as a first level accounting manager."

    "When I just finished my degree six years ago, there weren't any good jobs for an MBA in Indianapolis," I said. "I worked for a couple of other companies before I got this job two years ago."

    "Why didn't you go somewhere else? I am sure with a degree from Wharton you could have gotten a lot better job somewhere else," he said.

    "My husband was working for Independent Investigations Corporation (IIC) in Indianapolis before we got married," I said. "He was doing well and didn't want to leave Indianapolis. I thought that I would eventually get a good job here."

    "What is IIC?"

    "IIC provides investigative services to large insurance companies. They investigate insurance claims for fraud, retrieve stolen property and that sort of thing," I said.

    "Interesting. Do you and your husband expect to be staying in this area for a while?" he asked.

    "Yes. We are in the process of building a house and plan to stay in Indianapolis," I said.

    "Good. I plan on moving my office from New York to Indianapolis and I will be looking for people I can count on to help get this office back on track. If you are a member of my team I can promise you will be rewarded for your efforts," he said.

    "Can I ask what kind of rewards you are talking about?"

    "Think high level position in the corporation, big salary, bonuses and stock options," he said. "I think you can begin to get the picture."

    My stomach started to do flips and I could feel my face flush. Was he just teasing me or could that really happen. I decided to believe it could really happen.

    "What do I have to do to become a member of your team?"

    "Nothing right now. First we have to get the office through this transition and then we can focus on other things," he said. "I have to ask you not to tell anyone about this conversation. I wouldn't want anyone else to know what I am telling you. Let me just say that I have big plans for myself in this corporation and this office is going to be a key to my success. If you work with me to help me attain my goals, I will take you up with me."

    We talked a little more about personal stuff. I told him more about Fred and the house we were building but he didn't say much about himself. By the time I left to go home I felt very comfortable with Mr. Hanson.

    I was so excited on the way home I barely remembered the drive. It seemed as though I was just suddenly home. I couldn't wait to get into the house to tell Fred what had happened at work and about the meeting I had with Mr. Hanson.

    When I walked in Fred was in the kitchen preparing dinner, which meant I would have clean up duties afterward but I was so happy that I didn't care.

    "So, how did it go today?" Fred asked.

    "Not too bad," I said.

    I tried not to smile but Fred saw through me.

    "I'd say from the expression on your face that things must have gone pretty well," he said.

    I spent the next ten minutes telling Fred about the firings and my all day meeting with the corporate auditors.

    "After my meeting with the auditors, I had a meeting with Jack Hanson. He was the VP that came in with the auditors to handle the investigation," I said. "I was sure he was going to fire me but instead he told me that he thought I was doing a good job. He told me that if I stay with the company that I could move up pretty quickly."

    I didn't know why but I left out the part about needing to be on Mr. Hanson's team or any of his comments on how high up I could go. I thought at the time it was because Mr. Hanson told me not to tell anyone what he told me but Fred was my husband and I should have told him.

    "That's great, Kathy," Fred said. "I am very proud of you and I always knew that your talent and hard work would get noticed. What do you say we bag this dinner and go out to celebrate?"

    "Celebrate what? That I didn't get fired?" I said.

    "For starters and then we can celebrate that a company VP has recognized your talents and has hinted that you could move up in the company. Mostly I am just proud of you. You did the right thing by reporting what your audit turned up and now you will be rewarded for your work."

    That was my Fred, always supportive. He knew that I needed a lift after the rough few weeks leading up to the meeting with Mr. Hanson and he was using what Mr. Hanson told me about my career as an excuse to go out to dinner to help me unwind from the ordeal I had been through.

    ***** Before I go farther into my story I would like to tell you a little about Fred and the relationship we had.

    Fred was twenty-two when I met him. It was the summer of 1994 and I was in Indianapolis visiting Connie Bradshaw, my college roommate. The second day I was there Connie informed me that she had fixed me up with a date for that night. I was a little upset with her because I don't like blind dates but I figured that since I was only in town for a few days it wouldn't hurt me to go out with this guy. After all, we would be with Connie and her boyfriend.

    Connie told me his name was Fred Alpin. She said he was a friend of her boyfriend's but she didn't know him very well. She said that he worked for some kind of private investigation company. That sounded like it might be BS to me. He's a private detective? Sounds like the guy who tries to pick up girls by saying he's a CIA agent. I decided to hold judgment until after I met him.

    I asked Connie what he looked like.

    "He's over six feet tall, maybe 180 to 190 pounds. He has brown hair. His nose is a little crooked, " Connie said.

    "Is he handsome," I asked, "or does he have a great personality?"

    Connie laughed. "Don't worry, he is not a dog."

    "What would you call him?" I asked.

    "Confident," Connie said.

    "Confident? What do you mean by confident?" I asked.

    "You'll see when you meet him," she said.

    That evening Connie's boyfriend picked us up at Connie's house and when I didn't see anyone else in the car I assumed that I had been stood up. I was pissed.

    "John, Where's Fred?" Connie asked her boyfriend.

    "He's gong to meet us at the restaurant," John said. "He got hung up on a case and said that he had to finish up some paper work and should only be a few minutes late."

    Working on a case?

    "John, is this friend of yours really a private eye?" I asked.

    "Not exactly a private eye. I'll let him explain that when he joins us," he answered.

    Connie, John and I had just ordered drinks when Fred came in. I had forgotten Connie's describing him as being confident. All I knew was that when he introduced himself to me before Connie or John thought to do it I immediately felt a warm connection between us. Later that evening I told Connie that I thought he was a dreamboat.

    Fred sat down next to me and immediately apologized for being late.

    "Great first impression," he said. "Late for our first date."

    I found it interesting that upon first meeting me he referred to this as our 'first date' implying that there would be a second but how could he already know that.

    "I'll accept your apology if you tell me what kind of private detective you are," I said.

    "That's a fair exchange," he said. "Actually we don't call ourselves private detectives. We are referred to as investigators. We contract out to large insurance companies. We investigate insurance claims for fraud, retrieve stolen property or in any way possible mitigate our client's losses. It's not as romantic as private detective work. After all, what could be more romantic than sitting in a tree taking pictures of a man cheating on his wife?"

    After that Fred spent most of the rest of the evening asking me questions. He said he was very impressed when I told him I was in working on my master's degree in business administration at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Fred laughed and said, "I'm not smart enough to be on a date with you."

    "As long as you realize that I'll let you stay," I said.

    "I like you," he said. "Are there any good hotels near the Penn campus I can stay at when I come to visit you?"

    The question surprised me but my answer surprised me even more.

    "There are several hotels in the area. When are you coming to visit?" I asked.

    I had a great time that night and ended up going out with Fred four more times during my one-week visit. I was really falling for him but I decided not to have sex with him no matter how excited he got me. I wasn't sure if I would ever see him again after I returned to school so I didn't want to complicate things by having sex with him. I didn't want to be a one-week romance.

    I got back to my apartment in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon and that evening Fred called to ask if he could come see me the following weekend. I was surprised that he called me so soon and happy to tell him that I would love to see him the following weekend.

    By the middle of the week I had decided I was going to have sex with him that weekend and not worry about it. I was falling in love with this guy and I wanted to make love to him so when he called me Thursday night and asked me where he should stay for the weekend I told him I wanted him to stay with me at my apartment.

    We had a lot of fun that weekend. Fred had never been to Philadelphia before so we did some touristy stuff. We went to Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, visited the Franklin Institute and went to a Phillies game. We also walked along the Schuykill and watched the eight man crews rowing on the river. It was a wonderful weekend but the best thing of all was the first time we made love.

    Fred had arrived Friday evening and we didn't get into a restaurant for dinner until almost 8:30 PM. By then there weren't many diners and we were able to sit and enjoy or meal and each other for almost two hours before we started getting hints that we should leave.

    On the walk back to my apartment I think we both were thinking about what was going to happen when we got there. Fred put his arm around me and I leaned in close to him as we walked. I enjoyed the way his strong body felt against me. With his arm around me I felt safe and very comfortable. Most of all I felt happy.

    When we got back to the apartment I asked Fred to opened a bottle of wine while I put on some music. For the next hour we sat on the sofa, sipped wine and kissed each other. My nipples were hard and my panties wet before Fred ever even touched me below the neck.

    When Fred started to massage my breasts through my top I couldn't sit still. Fred thought I was uncomfortable and wanted him to stop.

    "I am sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked.

    "No. Not at all," I said, "but maybe we should go to bed now."

    I got up and took Fred's hand and led him to my bedroom and there things began to speed up. Fred immediately pulled my top up over my head and removed it. Then he began kissing me as he unhooked my bra and pulled if off me. By then my nipples were so hard they were beginning to hurt. Fred was kissing my neck and gently squeezing my breasts but I couldn't wait any longer so I grabbed his head with both hands and guided his mouth to my right breast and pressed my nipple against his lips. Fred flicked his tongue across my nipple and it felt like electricity shooting through my body.

    Fred was now driving me crazy the way he was sucking on my breasts while at the same time he opened my skirt and pushed it down and let it drop to the floor. Soon Fred had his hand inside my panties and was fingering me to my first orgasm of the night. Then Fred slipped his hand down inside my panties in back and I was enjoying the sensation as his hands massaged my cheeks until he tried to slip a finger between them and touch my rectum.

    It was not that I have any problem with the idea of him touching me there it was just a reflex. I am very sensitive there so as soon as her tried to get his finger between my cheeks my muscles clenched tightly, making it impossible for him to get his finger in there.

    Fred apologized but I told him it was all right.

    "It's a reflex. I am just very sensitive there. I have always been that way. When I was about eight years old I snapped a rectal thermometer when my mother was trying to take my temperature," I said.

    Fred put both hands inside me panties and massage my cheeks as we kissed. He lifted me onto the bed and then began to remove his clothes. I almost laughed when he pulled his jockey shorts down and his erection popped up. I hadn't realized it until that moment that I had never seen a man's cock do that before. I don't mean that I was a virgin because I wasn't but I had only had two lovers before Fred. I had never seen either of my previous lovers getting undressed like that. It was usually done in the dark or while we were on the bed rolling around. I had never sat and watched them undress like I had just watched Fred.

    To see him standing there with this big erection bouncing around in front of him struck me as funny but I knew better than to laugh. I certainly didn't want to give him the impression that I was laughing at him.

    When Fred got on the bed and climbed between my legs and pressed the head of his cock against my opening there was nothing funny about it. The pure sexual joy I felt as his cock spread my labia and moved inside me, opening my sex as he slowly penetrated me was greater than any sexual experience I had ever had. This wasn't about size, shape or sexual talent it was purely a function of how I felt about Fred.

    When he had buried himself all the way inside me and started to pump his shaft in and out all I could do was wrap my arms and legs around him and hang on as I trembled through what felt like one long orgasm.

    When it was over it took me longer to recover from that orgasm than it took him.

    We tried to make love a second time that night but my body was tingling all over from the first time and that made me to ticklish to let him touch me anywhere. Instead, we just held each other until we fell asleep.

    In the morning we had a quickie before breakfast and then went sight seeing.

    After that weekend I think we both knew we were supposed to be together. Fred was spending at least one weekend a month with me and I traveled to Indianapolis whenever I could.

    Fred came to my commencement ceremony and sat with my parents and that night after dinner he asked me to marry him. His proposal was totally unexpected but I was ready with my answer. "Yes." I had known for a few months already what my answer would be if he asked.

    My parents didn't have much money and Fred didn't want to wait a year while we planned a wedding so we decided to get married that summer. We got married on the beach in Florida with just our immediate families and a few close friends in attendance.

    Fred already had a small house in Indianapolis that we lived in right up until our new house was build. Fred continued working for IIC and I began looking for jobs. I had no problem finding jobs but I was over qualified for them. I worked in retail for a year as a management trainee but I really didn't like the work so I took another job as an assistant manager at a small branch of a large chain of banks. This didn't last long because the bank chain was taken over by a larger bank chain and I got laid off. For the next two years I was a substitute teacher for the Indianapolis school district. This kept me reasonably busy but didn't pay well. I did however enjoy teaching.

    Finally I heard about the opening for a manager at DC&H. Luckily I had taken some accounting courses in college. That along with my MBA landed me the job as manager of the accounting department.

    I knew there were better jobs for a Wharton graduate but I was happy being the accounting manager at DC&H as long as I had Fred.

    That's what makes the rest of my story so hard to understand. I don't fully understand it myself. My hope is that by putting this on paper it will help bring some clarity to me. Help me understand what I did to Fred and to myself.

    Things happened quickly after my initial meeting with Jack Hanson. The following Monday the new office manager arrived. His name was Greg Bartlett. Greg was a bald chubby guy about five and a half feet tall. He was friendly but he was all business in his activities around the office. Mr. Bartlett was a good manager and knew how an office like ours was supposed to run and he started instituting changes immediately and the operation of the office seemed to respond to his changes.

    Two weeks after Mr. Bartlett took over as office manager Jack Hanson moved into the former sales manager's office while his permanent office on the floor above our offices was being constructed.

    Mr. Hanson stopped by my desk that day and asked me to come to his office that afternoon at three o'clock to talk over some issues.

    His demeanor when he spoke to me made me comfortable. He was smiling and seemed very relaxed. So, at three o'clock I walked into his office and accepted his invitation to sit down.

    "Your look very nice today Kathy," he said, "and certainly less stressed out than the last time we talked."

    "Thank you. I am feeling better now."

    "I wanted to meet with you to ask if you had thought about our last conversation," he said.

    "About being on your team?" I asked. "I have given it a lot of thought. I would like to think that I could be helpful to you with your plans for this company and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in the kind of career opportunities you alluded to."

    "I am glad to hear it, Kathy. I really want you on my team but I must tell you now that I will demand complete loyalty. I have to know that my team members are going to be in lock-step with me," he said.

    I couldn't read anything from the expression on his face.

    "I have some tasks I will have to ask you to perform in order to get my plans rolling."

    "What kind of tasks?" I asked.

    "It's too early to tell you that yet. Before I can lay my plans out to you I am going to have to be absolutely positive that I can count on you. You are going to have to prove yourself to me first," he said.

    I felt a signal go off in my head. I didn't like the direction the conversation had taken. Prove myself to him? How? What would he expect me to do to prove myself?

    "I am not sure I understand, Mr. Hanson," I said. "How can I prove myself to you? What exactly are you getting at?"

    Mr. Hanson got up from his desk and started to pace around the office. Then he sat in the chair next to me.

    "Kathy, I find you to be a very attractive woman," he said.

    I thought to myself "Oh shit, here it comes."

    "I don't want you to think that I do this sort of thing all the time," he continued. "The fact is I have never done anything like this before. It's just that I need you to prove your absolute loyalty to me and I have this overwhelming desire to have you. I am hoping that I can persuade you to help me satisfy both of my needs," he said.

    "Mr. Hanson, this is very inappropriate," I said. "I am a married woman and besides this qualifies as sexual harassment. I don't want to go there so let's just pretend you never suggested that I should have sex with you."

    "I am sorry, Kathy, but I can't do that," he said. "We are alone in this office so you have no witnesses to what I said anyway. I am not going to force you to do anything but if you want to be a part of my team you now know my terms. Otherwise you can just continue on as the accounting manager here but you can forget about those big opportunities we talked about the other day."

    Part of my brain was screaming at me to just get up and walk out of his office but I didn't.

    "I can't cheat on my husband," I said.

    "Think about this for a moment," he said. "If your husband had been more supportive of your abilities, he would have moved with you to New York or Chicago where you would have had a much better chance of getting a job that you deserved but he made you come to Indianapolis where your opportunities were very limited. In effect, he screwed you out of the career you deserved. Now I am offering you the opportunity to get the career you deserve by screwing me. I think there is justice in that for you."

    I couldn't believe what he was saying to me. He was suggesting that somehow Fred deserved to have me cheat on him and by doing that I could get the career I deserved and that somehow Fred had denied me.

    Part of what he said made sense to me but I still couldn't get past the idea that Mr. Hanson wanted me to have sex with him which would mean I would have to cheat on Fred. I was unable to find words to respond to his proposition.

    "I know this caught you off guard, Kathy, so why don't you think it over for a while and then we can talk about it again next week," he said.

    When I got up to leave his office, Mr. Hanson said, "Kathy, from now on I want you to call me Jack."

    I was in a daze when I left his office that afternoon. I sat at my desk and tried to sort through everything Mr. Hanson had said to me. Had I misinterpreted what he said? Was he really suggesting that I have sex with him? Yes, he was. There was no other way to interpret what he had said.

    I thought about going home and telling Fred about it but decided not to because I knew Fred would want me to report Mr. Hanson for sexual harassment and I really didn't want to go through that mess. It was difficult but I managed to go home that night and act like nothing was wrong. Fred never guessed that I was upset or what I was thinking about.

    For the first couple of days I got angry every time I thought about Mr. Hanson's proposal but as time went on I started to think about what he had said about Fred's not being supportive enough of my career. Part of me knew this was wrong but it was beginning to bother me a little.

    One afternoon I found myself sitting at my desk and thinking about doing what Mr. Hanson wanted. I wasn't visualizing having sex with him, I was just thinking that maybe I could do it. I could make sure Fred would never know and then I could be part of Mr. Hanson's team and great career opportunities would become available to me.

    After that I began to waffle on the idea. I did decide one thing. At my next meeting with Mr. Hanson I was going to take a recorder with me and record our conversation. Whatever I decided to do, I wanted to have something to back me up if I decided to charge him with sexual harassment.

    The following Monday afternoon Mr. Hanson called me and said that he wanted me to have lunch with him the next afternoon. That night I asked Fred if I could borrow one of the mini recorders he had for work. I put it in my purse so I would have it for my lunch appointment on Tuesday.

    Mr. Hanson and I left the office at 11:30 Tuesday morning to go to lunch. We ended up going to a social club he belonged to and had lunch in their dining room. I had turned the recorder on as soon as we left our building but Mr. Hanson didn't say a word about his proposition during the ride to the club or during lunch. After lunch he took me on a little tour of the facility. They had an onsite health club and Mr. Hanson took me inside and then left me while he spoke with a woman working at the counter. A minute later he returned with the woman.

    "Kathy, this is Sarah. She will assist you so just follow her."

    I didn't have any idea what was going on so I just followed Sarah into the women's locker room. She led me to a cabinet and then asked me what size swimsuit I wore. I told her and she pulled a swimsuit out of the cabinet and handed it to me.

    "You can use any of the lockers over there for your clothes," she said. "I'll wait her for you."

    I was very perplexed. I found myself moving without really knowing why. I changed into the swimsuit and walked back over to Sarah. She led me through the back of the locker room into the pool area. As soon as we entered I saw Mr. Hanson getting into the hot tub.

    Sarah handed me a large towel and said, "I'll be back for you in about a half hour."

    I walked over to the hot tub and just looked down at Mr. Hanson.

    "Come on Kathy, get in. I don't bite," he said.

    "I don't understand. What are we doing here?" I asked?

    "I just wanted to talk and what better a place than a hot tub?" he said.

    "Why couldn't we talk in the dining room?" I asked?"

    "Because this is better. You couldn't bring your tape recorder into the hot tub with you."

    I was stunned. How could he know that I had a tape recorder with me?

    "Don't look so surprised. I would have been disappointed if you weren't smart enough to try and tape our conversation," he said. "In the future however, I will not tolerate your trying anything like that."

    I didn't say anything so he continued.

    "I just want to have a little chat and then Sarah will come back and get you. She will take you into the therapy room for a massage. A gift from me to you to help you relax."

    I figured I might as well hear what he had to say so I got into the hot tub and sat down across from him.

    Mr. Hanson looked around to satisfy himself that we were alone and then he started.

    "I am guessing that you have thought about what I said last week," he said.

    "How could I not think about it," I said. "It had me very upset."

    "But you haven't been able to decide against me have you?" he said.

    I hadn't expected that question but he was right.

    "No. I can't say that I have."

    "Good. I am glad to hear it. You can relax now. I am not planning on having sex with you today. It has to be your decision. I will not force you to do anything. I will give you two months to decide. If you decide in my favor, just let me know when you want to consummate our new relationship. If you decide against me, you won't have to tell me. I'll know when the time runs out. Today is March fifth. So that gives you until Tuesday May seventh."

    I was relieved that he gave me two months to decide but how was I going to decide and why was I even considering what he proposed. I guess I knew that it was the idea of being a VP some day and making lots of money. It was greed and ambition that were driving me. It certainly wasn't any desire to have sex with him. I had thought about what it would be like to have sex with him. The idea didn't arouse me in any way but the thought didn't disgust me. I saw it as just something I would have to do to get what I wanted. I knew it was like being a prostitute. I was thinking about fucking for money.

    Mr. Hanson spent the next several minutes going over all of the advantages there would be to being a member of his team. He also brought up his point about how Fred had put me in this position by making me stay in Indianapolis. I didn't like him talking about Fred that way but what he was saying made sense to me.

    A few minutes later Sarah came back to get me and, as I climbed out of the hot tub, Mr. Hanson said, "Remember, just two months.

    "I'll remember, Mr. Hanson."

    "Kathy, I told you to call me Jack."

    For the next hour I received the best body massage I had ever had. I was so relaxed that I was able to think about the decision I had to make without the emotion that I normally felt when I thought about it. I realized that must have been why Mr. Hanson had arranged for me to have a massage in the first place.

    I had never wanted or even thought about having sex with anyone other than Fred since the day I met him but here I was contemplating having sex with Jack Hanson.

    Jack had tantalized me with the possibility of great career success and all I had to do was to be a loyal member of 'his team' as he called it. To prove my loyalty I was going to have to have sex with him. I found Jack's proposition to be abhorrent, so why didn't I dismiss the idea immediately and tell Jack what I thought of him for suggesting it in the first place?

    These where the thoughts spinning around in my head during the massage and when it was over I still hadn't made up my mind but I realized that I was closer to giving in to what Mr. Hanson wanted than I was to rejecting his proposition.

    The next week Mr. Hanson moved up to his new office suite on the floor above our offices so I didn't see him around the office anymore. I tried to put the proposition out of my mind but it kept creeping back into my thinking. One night when Fred was working late I tried to imagine what it would be like to have sex with Jack. I didn't like Jack for putting me in this position but other than that he seemed like a decent enough person. He was more than fifteen years older than me but he wasn't bad looking. He was actually quite distinguished looking.

    What it came down to was this, could I have sex with a man I didn't love, a man I wasn't sexually attracted to in any way? I tried to imagine what he might want me to do in bed. Fred and I had done pretty much everything a couple could do so I really didn't think Jack would be looking for anything I hadn't done before.

    I thought long and hard about it that evening. I considered each sex act he might want me to perform with him and whether or not I would be able to do it. By the time I was done thinking about it that night, I realized that I could perform the sex acts that might be required but I still hadn't made up my mind whether I would accept Jack's proposition. I wished that something would happen to help me make my decision. I got my wish.

    It was on a Wednesday night during the first week of April that Fred came home and told me he had to fly out to Seattle the next day to get a deposition for a case he was working on. He was going to leave Thursday morning and would be back Saturday afternoon.

    When he told me about the trip I was disappointed that he would be away from me for two days but then a thought crept into my head. This might be what I was looking for. An easy opportunity to do what Jack wanted. Fred would be out of town so he would never know what I did.

    Thursday afternoon, with my stomach in a knot, I picked up my phone and called Jack's office. His secretary answered the phone and put me through immediately after I told her who I was.

    When he answered the phone I said, "Hi Jack. It's Kathy.

    "Kathy, good to hear from you."

    "Jack, I am ready. I can meet you tonight where ever you want." I said.

    "How about I take you to dinner after work and then we can go back to my apartment."

    "That will be fine Jack."

    I was sick with guilt the rest of the day. I hadn't done anything yet but I had already told Jack that I would have sex with him. I was sure that anyone else in the office would know what I was planning to do just by looking at me. I wanted to call Jack and tell him I changed my mind but I couldn't. I couldn't because I didn't want to cancel. My feelings about what I was doing were so confused that I couldn't think clearly about anything. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was only going to have sex with Jack because of what he had promised me. I didn't even like him and at the moment I didn't like myself very much either.

    I spent that afternoon convincing myself that what I was doing would be good for both Fred and me. It was just the price I had to pay to get what I wanted.

    That evening Jack and I left the office separately and then met at the restaurant Jack had chosen. I managed to finish two scotches to take the edge off the evening before our dinner arrived. During the meal Jack talked about some of the ideas he had for getting the Indianapolis offices of DC&H some positive recognition by the corporate offices in New York. He said that we needed a big opportunity and we needed to make it happen and he already had the opportunity we needed in his pocket.

    He would not tell me anymore than that. He said that as soon as he was sure that he could trust me he would tell me all of his plans and that I was going to be a big part of them. While I listened to him, I ate my meal and drank half a bottle of Merlot. By the time we left for Jack's apartment, I was feeling no pain.

    Jack offered to drive me but I insisted on talking my own car. I didn't want to end up trapped at his apartment. I wanted to be able to go home afterward. I knew that I should not be driving in the condition I was in but I did it anyway and luckily I made it to Jack's apartment without incident.

    Jack asked me if I would like a drink when we got inside his apartment but I refused it. I was already out of control; I certainly didn't need any more alcohol in my system.

    Jack turned some music on and then took me in his arms and started to dance with me. He pulled me close and I lay my head on his shoulder, not because I was comfortable in his arms but because I was unstable from the alcohol and I needed him to support me so I would not fall on my ass.

    As we were dancing Jack began to kiss my neck and my ears. It wasn't doing anything for me but it didn't bother me either. I knew that very soon he was going to kiss me and I was ready to do what ever was necessary to convince him that I was enjoying myself. When he turned my head and brought his lips to mine I opened my mouth and let him push his tongue inside. The whole thing was kind of surreal. I was dancing, well, really just rocking back and forth in time to the music and making out with an older man that I didn't even like and thinking about my husband and how much I loved him. I knew there was something very wrong about that scene but my alcohol-clouded brain couldn't quite make sense of it.

    I was beginning to feel Jack's cock getting erect as he pressed himself against me. I guess he thought this would excite me but instead it almost made me laugh. How desperate could he be if he gets an erection from dancing? Fred had better self-control than that. If I thought Fred would get hard just from dancing I would never let him dance with another woman. I wondered if Jack was somehow forcing himself to get hard thinking it would impress me. I figured it might be a good idea to play along just in case.

    "Oh my, Jack, what's that I feel?" I said. "I feel something big coming between us."

    "It's big but it won't be coming between us. It will be coming inside you," he said.

    The image of him climaxing hit me. I hadn't thought about that.

    "Jack, I want you to wear a condom."

    Jack pulled back a little and looked into my eyes.

    "I will wear a condom for you this time but there may come a time when I won't."

    This time? Was he planning on doing this more than once? Oh shit, what have I gotten myself into?

    "Jack, you never said anything about me having to do this more than once," I said.

    "Don't get upset about it," he said. "It's only difficult the first time. After a while you will even enjoy it. It won't be that often. Once or twice a month is all I need. I just have to be sure of your continued loyalty."

    I should have known better. How could I have thought that this would only be a one-time affair? Jack was offering me the keys to the kingdom; I should have expected the price to be higher than just one roll in the hay. As upset as I was I didn't back out. I was still sure I could make Jack happy and keep Fred from finding out.

    Jack kissed me again and moved his hand up to my breast and squeezed. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable with his touch but I pushed those feelings back.

    "Does this feel good?" Jack asked.

    "It feels okay but it would feel better if your hand was on my bare flesh," I forced myself to say. "Why don't you remove my blouse?"

    Jack quickly unbuttoned my blouse and pushed it off my shoulders and I let it drop to the floor. Then he removed my bra and placed both of his hands on my naked breasts. I had been dreading the feel of his hands on my breasts but his hands were warm and actually felt nice. He squeezed my breasts and teased my nipples with his fingertips.

    "Do you like them?" I asked.

    "They're beautiful," he said just before sucking my left nipple into his mouth.

    Jack spent about a minute kissing and sucking on my breast and then he guided me over to the sofa. It became apparent that Jack was in no hurry. When I sat down, he went out to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

    I knew that I shouldn't have anymore to drink but then what was I worried about. It wasn't like the wine was going to make me have sex with Jack. That was going to happen anyway, so when he offered me a glass of wine I took it.

    We sat and drank wine and talked. Jack would occasionally kiss me on the mouth or my breasts and then continue our conversation, which was mostly about him.

    Jack told me about his career and about his wife Mary. Mary was still in New York and would move to Indianapolis as soon as their house in New York sold. He said that he was having a house built just east of the city but he planned to keep this apartment even after he and his wife moved into their new house.

    Jack said that he and Mary didn't have any children and that he blamed his wife for that. He said that he always wanted kinds but it was too late now.

    "I could still have kids, that is I can still get a woman pregnant but I am too old to start being a parent now," he said. "Some day I am going to get a woman pregnant just for the pure satisfaction of knowing that I did it. Then I'll let someone else raise the little bastard."

    There was sadness in Jack's voice when he talked about not having children but his comment about getting a woman pregnant and letting someone else raise the child was cold and gave me a chill.

    Jack kissed me a couple of times and then said, "I'll bet you would like to see my cock now, wouldn't you? Why don't you get it out for me and make friends with it."

    Jack smiled at me as I started to open his pants. While I did this, I thought about what I was about to do. I hadn't touched any man's cock other than Fred's since I met him but here I was about to reach into Jack's boxer shorts and pull his cock out. I also knew that I was going to do more than that. When Jack told me to make friends with it, I knew that he was telling me to take his cock into my mouth.

    I was glad that I didn't go into this blindly. As I mentioned earlier, I had thought about all of the things I would probably have to do with Jack and I had prepared myself mentally to handle them. So, once I had Jack's cock in my hand I bent down and took him into my mouth and pretended to myself that I was sucking on Fred's cock. I had prepared myself so well that I was even ready for Jack to climax in my mouth. What I wasn't prepared for was it happening so soon. It actually pleased me that I got him off so quickly.

    It took Jack nearly an hour to recover from his orgasm and to get another erection. During that recovery period Jack played with my breasts and I took his cock back into my mouth a couple of times to encourage him.

    As his cock began to stiffen, Jack pulled me to him and kissed me deeply while he pushed his hand up under my skirt. When Jack's fingers slipped inside my panties and penetrated my pussy it felt better than I expected. It wasn't as nice as when Fred did it to me but it wasn't bad. I could actually feel my juices beginning to flow but I was nowhere near what I would call hot. I was only slightly aroused.

    Jack took my wetness to mean that I was ready so he took me by the hand and led me to his bedroom.

    In the bedroom he striped off my skirt and panties and had me lay on the bed while he finished undressing. Before he got on the bed with me he opened the drawer to the bedside table and pulled out a condom and handed it to me and waited for me to put it on for him. I opened the foil wrapper and removed the condom and then rolled it down over his cock. Once it was in place Jack climbed on the bed and got on top of me and waited for me to guide his latex covered member into my sex.

    Between the lubrication on the condom and my own juices, Jack's cock slid easily into me. Like his fingers did earlier his cock felt good inside me. Not great, but compared to what I worried that it might feel like to have his cock inside me it was pretty good.

    When Jack started to move his hips driving his cock in and out of me I began to enjoy the sensations I was feeling. Jack may have climaxed quickly when I was sucking his cock but it was apparent that he wasn't going to cum quickly during intercourse. While I was enjoying the feel of him inside of me I wasn't getting stimulated enough to have an orgasm. I thought about that for a moment and didn't know if I wanted to have an orgasm or not. Then I started to think about what I was doing. I was having sex with a man that was not my husband. A man that I not only didn't love, I didn't even like him very much. I thought about why I was doing it and how that made me a prostitute and for some unknown reason that excited me.

    As Jack continued to pump his cock into me I began to lift my pelvis up to meet his down strokes. I was trying to bring myself to orgasm and if I didn't manage that I was determined to at least make Jack think that I had.

    Normally I am not very vocal during my orgasm. Fred knows when I am having my orgasm by little noises I make in my throat and with my lips but someone standing outside our room probably would never hear me. In order to convince Jack that I was having an orgasm I became very vocal.

    "Oh God that feels good," I yelled. "I'm coming. Ah…."

    While I made noise I clawed at Jack's back and locked my legs around his buttocks. I wasn't sure how convincing I was but judging from the look on Jack's face I think he believed it.

    That was the first orgasm I had ever faked and I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off. I had never faked an orgasm with Fred. Fred almost always gave me an orgasm but there were just some times when we both knew it just wasn't going to happen. Fred was confident enough in his ability to give me pleasure that it didn't hurt his ego if I didn't have an orgasm once in a while. My previous lovers almost never gave me an orgasm and I never faked for them either. That maybe part of why they didn't stay around for very long.

    When Jack was spent and pulled his cock out of me I did something that surprised him and I even surprised myself. I removed the condom for Jack and tied a knot in it so the contents wouldn't leak out and then I went down on him and cleaned his cock with my mouth. This was something I had often done for Fred after we had sex so it wasn't difficult to do it for Jack but it wasn't something I had planned.

    Afterward, while we were lying on the bed Jack suggested that I spend the night.

    "Kathy, you have had quite a bit to drink tonight. I think it might be a good idea for you to spend the night here," he said.

    "You're probably right," I said and promptly feel asleep.

    When I woke up in the morning, Jack was in the shower so I dressed quickly and then stuck my head into the bathroom.

    "Jack, I am going home to shower and get ready for work," I said.

    "Okay, I'll see you in the office, Kathy."

    As I drove home, I tried to understand how I was feeling. I wondered if my hangover was clouding my thinking. I knew that I should feel guilty but I didn't. I wasn't happy about what I had done but I didn't feel depressed or the need to confess to Fred. I didn't feel any excitement about the affair I had just begun. I guessed that I had accepted that I was going to prostitute myself to get ahead. I wanted what Jack was offering me and was willing to pay the price to get it. I felt that Jack had as much to lose as I did if anyone found out about our affair so I was sure he would be as careful about it as I would.

    When I got home there was a message from Fred on the recorder. He had called at eleven o'clock. He apologized for calling so late and said he would talk to me in the morning. I surprised myself by how calm I was about missing Fred's call. I was sure that he would call me before I left for work so I had to think about how to handle the call. No complicated explanations about why I missed the call. I was asleep. Don't say or do anything out of the ordinary. Don't make too big a deal of telling him how much I missed him because that might make him suspicious.

    I was still going over this in my head when the phone rang. I knew it was Fred so when I answered the phone I said, "Good morning, sweetheart."

    "Good morning Kathy, how's my beautiful wife this morning."

    "I'm fine. Just listened to your phone message from last night. Why'd you call so late?"

    "I forgot about the time difference. Why didn't you answer?" he asked.

    "I was asleep," I said. "I had a busy day and didn't get home till after seven o'clock. I went up to bed at ten and watched television while I waited for your call. By 10:30 I couldn't keep my eyes opened so I turned the television off and went to sleep. I am surprised that I didn't wake up when you called. The telephone was right next to my head."

    "Sorry I didn't call earlier but I didn't get back to my hotel until after eight o'clock."

    "Well, make sure you call by ten o'clock tonight," I said and Fred promised that he would. The rest of the call was just the usual stuff.

    After the call I got into the shower and while the hot water helped clear my head I began to feel guilty. The problem was that I wasn't feeling guilty about having sex with Jack. I was feeling guilty because I found myself enjoying the fact that Fred accepted my excuse for not answering the phone and in the end he apologized to me for calling so late.

    That was the beginning. After that night I got together with Jack at his apartment about every other week. During the day mostly but sometimes, if Fred was out of town, we got together at night.

    In time I began to like Jack and actually began to enjoy my sexual encounters with him. The sex was nice, not great and I never did have an orgasm with Jack but there was something about it that I found exciting. I think it was partly the idea that I was using sex to get something I wanted and it was also partly the excitement of covertly having illicit sex.

    I gave Fred all of my love and when I made love to him I never held anything back but I also gave some of myself to Jack and the fact that I was able to do that without Fred finding out gave me a perverse thrill.

    In the ensuing weeks Jack began to lay out his plan for getting control of the company and what part I would play in his plans.

    He told me that we had to accomplish two things. The first was to make the Indianapolis office look good. Thanks to the efforts of Greg Bartlett the office was already looking better. Mr. Bartlett knew how to cut costs and streamline operations and we were already seeing results from that. The next step was to increase our sales and Jack had got the sales force pumped up and they were winning new accounts and generating more business from our existing accounts. The final step was to find a large opportunity that would get the attention of the board of directors. Jack was already working on that.

    When Jack was still in New York, Mike Rogan, one of his salesmen, came to him with an opportunity he was working on at National Pharmaceutical. Apparently Mike Rogan was a friend of Harold Benson, the CEO of National and Mr. Benson had discussed his desire to grow the size of his company through the acquisition of another company and he had asked Mike to see if the company he was interested in was inclined to make a deal.

    Jack told Mike he would help him with this and then later told Mike that the company that Mr. Benson was interested in would not be a good investment. Shortly after that Jack arranged for Mike Rogan to be offered a two-year assignment at a subsidiary of DC&H in Paris. Mike happily accepted the assignment and two months after he arrived in Paris, DC&H sold the subsidiary leaving Mike Rogan out in the cold.

    Soon after that Jack moved to Indianapolis and then contacted Mr. Benson at National Pharmaceutical. He said that Mike had asked him to assist National in their quest to acquire another pharmaceutical company and thus began the negotiations among National, DC&H and Keystone Pharmaceutical.

    The second thing Jack said that we needed to accomplish was to find a way to get rid of Mr. Ward the current CEO of DC&H and Mr. Salter, the company president. Jack had a plan for this and I was part of that plan. Jack told me that he knew that Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter had been involved in some illegal deals including insider trading. They had used a third party to buy stock in companies that they knew where about to be merged or taken over. This was highly illegal and if the SEC caught wind of it they could go to jail. Jack's plan was simple. He wanted to make sure that the SEC did find out about Mr. Ward's and Mr. Salter's activities.

    Jack told me that I was to be the whistle blower. I was to contact the SEC and leak the information to them that would cause an investigation. I was very uncomfortable with what Jack wanted me to do. My actions might cause these men to be sent to jail and I didn't want that on my conscience. I told Jack how I felt.

    "Kathy," Jack said, "you have to understand that what these men did is illegal and they should not be allowed to get away with it. They have done this sort of thing several times and have become very wealthy because of it. Their activities have ruined many smaller investors."

    I could see the justification for the action but I still didn't feel comfortable being the one to bring them down. That's when Jack appealed to my practical side.

    "When I take over I plan to keep you very close to me. That means that by this time next year you could be a vice president with a six figure salary and very large bonuses,' he said. "So don't go soft on me now. Don't give up the race when the finish line is in sight."

    The next day I called the SEC and spoke to an investigator. I told him I had come across some information about insider trading that involved certain individuals in DC&H and that I didn't know what I should do about it.

    The investigator became very interested and started asking a lot of questions. Jack had given me all of the information he wanted me to leak to the SEC and I let the investigator slowly drag it out of me.

    At the end of the call the investigator told me that they would be in touch with me again soon. Over the next four weeks I spoke with three different investigators several times. I played the role of the concerned employee so well that I began to believe I was really doing this for the good of the company.

    During this time my life with Fred was going good. Fred had no clue that I was involved with Jack sexually or that I was involved in Jack's plans to take over the company

    In August I got a call from John Hargrove, the lead SEC investigator on the DC&H case and he told me that they had indeed found evidence that the charges I had made were true and they were going to continue the investigation, which meant that the FBI might become involved.

    The day I got that news was the day before Fred and I were going to move into our new house. I immediately called Jack's office and told him that I needed to talk to him. He told me to come up in ten minutes.

    When I told Jack about the call from John Hargrove, he said that we needed to celebrate and suggested that we go somewhere for a drink. As we left the building to go to Jack's car, he kept telling me what a great job I had done selling the SEC on the information I was giving them. He told me he was proud of me and by the time we got to the car I was feeling so full of myself that I didn't even notice that Jack was taking me to his apartment rather than a bar to get that celebratory drink. I wasn't happy when I realized what was happening but I knew that I had to accept it so I smiled at Jack and followed him into the apartment.

    Jack got a bottle of Champaign out of his refrigerator and poured us each a glass and then he toasted me.

    "To the future Vice President of DC&H," Jack said and held his glass out to me.

    I could feel my face flush when he said that. We touched our glasses together and then we both took a sip of the Champaign. Jack set his glass down and then took my glass from me and set it down. He stepped close to me and put his arms around me. Jack looked into my eyes for a second and then kissed me. I opened my mouth a little so that he could push his tongue inside. When he pulled me closer to him, I could feel his already erect cock pressing against my thigh.

    I didn't want to have a long drawn out sex session with him so I tried to speed things along. I reached down and began stroking his cock as I increased the passion of my kisses.

    When we broke off the kiss, I whispered into Jack's ear, "I want to feel you inside me now."

    Jack stepped away from me and I pulled my skirt up and lowered my pantyhose and panties below my knees and then I turned my back to Jack. I bent down and leaned over the back of the sofa and looked back over my shoulder at Jack.

    "Come on big boy," I said. "Give me that big cock of yours. I can't wait to feel it inside me."

    I turned away from Jack, dreading what was about to happen. I heard Jack unzip his pants and remove them.

    "Don't forget the condom," I said.

    Jack went to his bedroom to get a condom while I remained in what I hoped was a very erotic pose as I waited for him to return. While Jack was out of the room I wet my fingers with saliva and rubbed it into my vagina. I did this a few times until I was wet enough for Jack to slip his cock into me.

    Jack didn't waste any time. He was putting the condom on as he came back from the bedroom and as soon as he was behind me he pressed his cock against my sex and pushed himself inside me.

    I had to hold onto the back of the sofa to keep from falling over as Jack rapidly pumped himself into me from behind.

    After a few minutes Jack slowed down and then tried to press his finger against my anus. I pulled away and yelled for him to stop that and Jack slapped my ass hard and told me to relax or he would slap my ass again. When he tried to push his finger into my anus again, I jumped and he slapped my ass hard again.

    "Jack, please don't do that. I can't stand to have anyone touch me there."

    "Just relax," he said. "I am going to keep doing this until you let me touch your little hole."

    When I felt his fingers sliding between my cheeks again, I gritted my teeth and tried not to flex my gluteus muscles. I wasn't completely successful but enough so that Jack was able to put his finger against my anus. Jack then began to pick up the speed of his humping and then he pushed his finger inside my anus.

    I didn't like the way his finger felt inside me and I didn't like the fact that he was doing that to me when he knew I didn't want him to but I knew it was something he wanted so I pretended to like it.

    I started to make moaning sounds and faked an orgasm. I guess that was what he wanted to hear and he began to climax.

    Afterwards, as I was pulling up my panties and pantyhose and fixing my clothes Jack talked about what he did to me.

    "You didn't want me to put my finger in your ass but in the end you liked it, didn't you?" he said. "As soon as I did that, you had an orgasm."

    I looked at the floor and pretended to be embarrassed by what he was saying, which was easy for me to do because I was embarrassed but not for the reason he thought.

    "Now that we know you like having you ass played with we will have a lot more fun with it in the future," Jack said.

    I began to wonder how long this would go on. It was starting to dawn on me that Jack might be planning to use me as his sex toy even after he got control of the company. I wondered how stupid I had to be to think this would be a very short-term affair.

    That evening when I got home was the first time I actually had difficulty looking Fred in the eye when he spoke to me. I was having trouble hiding how guilty I felt about my behavior. Luckily, Fred was too busy preparing for our move the next day to notice my odd behavior.

    The following afternoon after the movers had unloaded their truck and we were unpacking boxes I was thinking about what I had done with Jack the day before. I felt guilty about it but the thought of how slutty my behavior had been was also arousing me. To just drop my panties and offer myself to Jack that way was not the way I would ever have pictured myself behaving. I began to think about how nice it would have been if it had been Fred that did it to me.

    I was savoring these thoughts when I heard Fred speak.

    "I want to make love to you at least once in every room of this house," he said.

    His words set me on fire. I looked around at the boxes on the floor and wondered if we really had time for sex and then decided we did. I took Fred by the hand and led him into the kitchen.

    "Let's get the kitchen out of the way right now," I said.

    I pulled my shorts and panties down and turned away from him and leaned over the dinette table. The image of Jack doing me in a similar position the day before made me want Fred to do it that way too.

    Fred dropped to his knees behind me and started licking my pussy and then pushing his tongue inside me. He had me soaking wet in no time at all. Then he stood up and guided his cock inside me. I was surprised at how long Fred lasted. He gave me one terrific orgasm before he finally climaxed. The whole time he was slamming his cock into me I kept hoping that Fred would put his finger in my ass. I couldn't tell him I wanted him to do it. He knew how sensitive I was and I knew he would never touch me there because I had asked him not to.

    When Fred's cock slipped out of me I had to cup my hand between my legs to keep from dripping on the floor as I headed for the bathroom to clean myself up. As I left the kitchen I look back over my shoulder and said, "We'll do the bedroom tonight and the living room tomorrow. Now get back to work."

    It took us a few days to get everything unpacked and get the house settled but once we did I was in love with the house. One night shortly after that after making love, Fred reminded me that I had said that I was thinking that we could start working on making a baby in the fall.

    "I think it's time you get off your birth control pills and we get you pregnant," he said.

    "I think we should wait a little longer," I said. "Jack suggested I should wait till next year. He told me that I am in line for a promotion and it might happen by the end of the year. I want to wait till I get the promotion."

    "Jack?"

    Why did I say that? I knew that Fred didn't like Jack. Fred thought that Jack had a roving eye and he didn't trust him.

    "Yes. Jack Hanson."

    "Since when are you on a first name basis with corporate vice presidents?" Fred asked.

    "We are pretty informal around the office," she responded.

    "Why would you discuss our plans for starting a family with him?"

    "Jack asked me if we were planning on having children so I told him we had planned to start this fall. That's when he suggested that I wait till next year."

    I could see that this upset Fred. I could see that he didn't like the influence Jack had on me so I was relieved when Fred agreed to wait until January.

    For the next few months Fred and I were both very busy with work. We both put in a lot of hours and didn't have nearly as much time together as we would have liked. On the other hand, Jack and I spent a lot of time together. Between August and September Jack and I had seven special meetings, which is what we had begun to call our sexual encounters.

    During these encounters, Jack taught me to use words during sex that I had never said before. He wanted me to talk about my cunt and my asshole and other gutter terms. Jack also managed to get me to relax enough to allow him access to my ass. It became a practice of his to put his finger in my ass when we had sex. It wasn't something I wanted but in time I not only learned to accept it I also learned to enjoy it, especially when he probed my ass with his tongue.

    In the back of my mind I knew that eventually Jack would want to put his cock in my ass and I was not looking forward to that. I was hoping that Fred would do that to me before Jack did.

    Also during this time the merger deal between National Pharmaceutical and Keystone Pharmaceutical began to heat up. Mr. Benson, the CEO of National came to the office to meet with Jack and I ran into them in the hall. Jack introduced me to him. Mr. Benson was about thirty-five years old and six feet tall. He weighted about 175 pounds and he was actually quite good looking. Jack told me later that Mr. Benson was impressed by me and wanted to meet with me. I couldn't imagine what he would want to meet with me about but I made myself available.

    Mr. Benson came to my office later that day and said that as an accountant he wanted to ask my opinion of Keystone Pharmaceutical. I went over the financial numbers we had on Keystone and then Mr. Benson asked me several more questions but a lot of his questions concerned how we did business. I guessed that he just wanted to get a better feel for who we were so he would feel more comfortable working with us.

    Later, I told Jack about my meeting with Mr. Benson and he said, "Mr. Benson wasn't interested in your opinion of Keystone or what you had to say about DC&H. He just wanted to talk to you. Mr. Benson is hot for you. Couldn't you see that?"

    I was embarrassed by what Jack said but I also felt a little boost to my ego.

    One night near the end of November, Fred and I went out to dinner after shopping all day. I knew that Fred was going to start talking about starting our family again. I had told him we could start in January but I was thinking I might want to wait a little longer. I decided to be proactive and take control of the discussion. I told him I had some good news.

    "It looks like we will close a deal with National Pharmaceutical to handle their merger with Keystone Pharmaceutical by December 20," I said. "That means I should get my promotion this year."

    "Really? That's terrific," Fred said. "Then we can start working to get you pregnant. Why don't we start tonight?"

    "Can't start tonight, I am still on the pill," I said. "Besides, I want to wait a few more months so that I get settled into my new job before taking off for maternity leave and don't you dare tell anyone that I told you this. I could get into a lot of trouble if this got out and it would probably kill the deal with National."

    "You know I won't tell anyone," he said. "Should I run out Monday and buy stock in National Pharmaceutical?"

    "Hell, no," I said. "That's insider trading. If you do that, we could all go to jail."

    Fred said he was just joking and that he knew that we couldn't do anything like that.

    On Friday, December 6 we went to the IIC Christmas party. We sat with Bill and Susan Ripley. Bill is Fred's best friend and Susan has become a close friend of mine. It was a small party with dinner and dancing but we had a good time.

    With everything I had had on my mind over the last few months this party was very relaxing for me. But then the drinking and dancing had made me horny and I couldn't wait to get Fred home.

    When we got home we went directly to the bedroom. Fred immediately began to kiss me and nuzzle my neck, which always gets me hot. Fred continued to kiss me as he pulled my dress up in the back until my panties were exposed and then he put his hands inside my panties. Fred started to press his fingers between my cheeks and while I really wanted him to touch me there I could not relax my muscles for him.

    "Relax. You almost broke my fingers with your butt muscles," he said.

    "Serves you right," I said. "You know I am very sensitive there. I am not comfortable being touched there…"

    I was actually mad at myself. How is it I could relax enough to let Jack touch me there but I couldn't do it for Fred?

    Fred moved his hand away from my ass and started to work on my already excited pussy. I was so hot that I wanted to show Fred how turned on I was.

    "Wait, I want to show you what you are doing to me," I said.

    I unzipped my dress and let it fall to the floor. Under my dress I was wearing a sexy black bra and panty set with black thigh high stockings that Fred picked out for me at Victoria's Secret. I told Fred to get on his knees in front of me, which he did.

    I moved closer to him so that my panties were almost touching his face.

    "I want to show you just how horny I am right now, I said.

    Then I pulled the crotch of my panties aside.

    "I want you to put your tongue in my cunt and see how hot and juicy it is right now."

    I wondered how shocked Fred would be by my language. I had never talked dirty to him before. The look on his face told me he liked it. Fred did as I requested and stuck his tongue in my wet pussy and tasted my sexual juices.

    "That's enough for now," I said. "I just wanted to give you an idea of how horny you have made me."

    I helped Fred get undressed and then I had him lie down on the bed. I climbed on after him. I took his swollen cock into my mouth and took him as deep as I could. I knew that Fred was loving this because I don't give him oral sex all the time.

    I managed to make Fred climax in my mouth, which is something I seldom do. I know Fred loves it when I let him cum in my mouth so I like to do it for him only on special occasions. That way the act of taking his load in my mouth is special too.

    When I was done with his cock, I kissed him. I was surprised that he let me after climaxing in my mouth. Fred returned my kiss with passion, which told me he didn't care that he had just cum in my mouth.

    "Do you want to eat my juicy cunt now? You like it when I say cunt don't you. I'll bet that when you suck my cunt your cock will get hard again then you can fuck me and shoot your hot cream inside my cunt. You would like that wouldn't you?" I said. Talking dirty to Fred had a whole different effect on me than when I did it with Jack. With Jack it struck me as kind of funny but with Fred it was really arousing me.

    Fred went down on me and brought me to orgasm very quickly. I lay down with my head on the pillow and Fred got between my legs and began kissing my inner thighs above the tops of my stockings. He kissed his way up to my pussy and then put his face into my pubic hair.

    I know that Fred loved my bush so I only trimmed it enough so that it didn't stick out the sides of bikini panties. Fred spent a few seconds with his face in my bush and then he moved back down to my pussy and pushed his tongue inside me. I soon began to have a very powerful, very long orgasm. After my orgasm I went to work sucking Fred's cock again.

    I wasn't sure if I could get Fred up again but I did and he put his cock inside me and we made love slowly until we both had another orgasm and then we went to sleep.

    That Saturday morning is the day my world started to fall apart. Up until then I thought I had everything under control. That morning Fred went into work and Jack showed up at the house to talk to me.

    "Kathy, we need to talk," is how he started the conversation. "I have two things I need to discuss with you. First, we have a problem with the merger deal. Benson said that he was thinking of bidding out the deal to some other M&A companies. I knew he was bluffing and figured he was holding out for some kind of kickback for himself. When I questioned him to try and find out what I could do to get him to sign with us, he said that he wanted you."

    "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

    "Benson wants to have sex with you. If you fuck him, he will sign the contract. It is as simple as that," Jack said.

    "I can't do that, I am already cheating on my husband with you. I just can't do that to Fred," I said.

    "Kathy, this is the deal we need if we are going to take over this company. We can't lose this contract. You have to do this, there's just no other way," Jack said.

    I thought about it for a minute and realized that I could do it. I mean that if I could have sex with Jack and pretend to enjoy it I could certainly have sex one time with Mr. Benson and make him think I enjoyed that too.

    "Jack, can I have some time to think about this?" I asked. I didn't want to agree too quickly. I didn't want to look like too big of a slut, even to Jack.

    ""Sure. We'll talk on Tuesday but you know that I expect you to agree."

    "I know," I said. "When would this have to take place?"

    "We want to sign the contract on the twentieth. So we thought we could set the whole thing up to take place during our Christmas Party. We have invited Mr. Benson to the party so that way you can take care of him and then we can get the contract signed," Jack said.

    Take care of him? Jack made it sound so cold. Just the way he said it made me feel cheap.

    "What was the other thing you wanted to talk about?" I asked.

    "I know that even though you enjoy our special meetings you would like to be able to stop sneaking around behind Fred's back so I have a proposal for you," Jack said.

    I just looked at him and waited for him to continue.

    "I know that the two of you are planning to start a family soon," Jack said.

    "I told Fred I wanted to wait a few more months."

    "I think you should start sooner," Jack said.

    "What do you mean?" I asked.

    "When will you be fertile again? I mean when in your current or next cycle will you be most fertile?" He asked.

    "I don't know, I would have to figure that out."

    "Well, do that and let me know on Tuesday when me meet," he said.

    "Why?"

    "Because I want the first shot at getting you pregnant," he said.

    "What? I can't do that. Fred would not only leave me he might kill me."

    I couldn't believe that Jack could possibly expect me to let him get me pregnant.

    "Fred would never know. If I got you pregnant that baby would have dark hair and brown eyes. Fred wouldn't see enough resemblance to me to make him suspicious."

    "No. I can't do that. You would expect Fred to raise your child as his own? I can't do that to him," I said.

    "Kathy, this would be the ultimate loyalty test. If you did this for me you wouldn't ever have to prove your loyalty again?"

    "What if I agreed and you didn't get me pregnant, what then?" I asked.

    "You give me an honest shot during the most fertile point in your cycle and I won't ask any more of you. You would no longer have to prove your loyalty to me."

    "I don't know. This is an awful lot to ask. If Fred ever found out my marriage would be over."

    "If Fred found out I've been fucking you for the last seven months, your marriage would be over so what's one more risk?" he asked.

    When Jack left, I had two big problems but the more I thought about it the more I realized that having sex with Mr. Benson was no big deal. I could do that to get what I wanted. The bigger problem was giving Jack what he wanted.

    When Fred came home that afternoon, I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even hear Fred come into the house. When I finally heard his voice, it scared me. For a second I thought that Fred might have read my thoughts and knew what I was thinking about doing.

    I tried to avoid making eye contact with Fred because I was afraid that he would see my guilt. I managed to avoid talking about what was bothering me until after dinner. That's when Fred asked me why I seemed so down.

    "Kathy, what's going on? It is obvious that something is bothering you," he said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

    "There is a problem with the National Pharmaceutical deal," I said. "It turns out that National Pharmaceutical's president, Mr. Benson, is making some unrealistic demands and if we don't give him what he wants it could cost us the deal. If we don't get this contract, it will ruin everything."

    "It won't ruin everything. What ever happens, we have each other. Don't worry so much. What's the worst that could happen?" he asked.

    "You don't understand," I said. "If this deal falls apart, it will be because of me. If that happens, I could lose my job."

    "How can it be your fault if the deal falls through?" I asked. "You're not in sales."

    I realized that I shouldn't have said it would be my fault. I had to think quickly to stop this conversation before I gave too much away.

    "I can't tell you anything more. I can't talk to anyone outside of DC&H about this. The only thing I can say is that I didn't do anything wrong."

    "I don't understand," he said. "If you did nothing wrong, how can it be your fault?"

    "I told you I can't talk about this with you," I said. "I could lose my job for telling you as much as I already have. You'll just have to let me work through this myself."

    I managed to avoid any more discussion of the problem with Fred for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday I made a decision on what I was going to do. I was going to save the deal with National by agreeing to have sex with Benson. Then I decided to gamble on the biggest lie of my life. I threw my birth control pills in the bathroom wastebasket and then marked December six in my month at a glance calendar as the start and then counted fourteen days until December 20 and put a star there and underlined it.

    Monday morning I got up early and left for work at 6:30 AM. Fred asked me why I was leaving so early and I told him that I had to get ready for some important meetings.

    When I got to my office I closed me door and sat at my desk as I thought about what I was going to do. Having made a decision I felt a little better but I was still upset. I didn't accomplish much work on Monday but I went over my plans in my head several times so that I wouldn't make a mistake later on.

    When I got home that evening I could see the concern in Fred's face. I hated what I was doing to him but I couldn't do anything to fix it in the short term.

    "Have things gotten any better at work?" Fred asked.

    "You know I can't talk to you about this," I said. "I am under a lot of pressure but I will get through it."

    On Tuesday I met with Jack and gave him my answers. I told him that I would have sex with Mr. Benson if it would save the contract and then told Jack that I would give him what he asked for.

    "Do you know when you will be most fertile?" He asked.

    "December 20." I said.

    "Wow, December 20. You will be a busy girl that day won't you?"

    "I guess so."

    "Are you sure you will be fertile that day?" He asked.

    I pulled out my month at a glance calendar and showed it to him. I pointed at December 6 and said, "This is when my last period started and my most fertile day would be fourteen days after making it the twentieth."

    Jack thought about it for a while and then said, "I'll have to think about this to decide if it is acceptable. I may want to wait until your next period to begin and calculate your fertile day from then."

    I agreed but I wasn't happy. If he decided to wait it would ruin my whole plan. I stopped taking my pills Sunday and figured I wouldn't be able to conceive for at least another month. I figured that Jack assumed that I was not on the pill because I had always made him wear a condom so he wouldn't know that I would have to wait a month. I also lied about the date my period started. My last period started on November 30. So I would already be past my fertile days. I didn't want to take any chances that Jack would actually get me pregnant.

    My hope was that Fred would get me pregnant in January and I would say that I didn't tell him I was off the pill because I wanted to surprise him. I was afraid if I did tell him I was off the pill he might start telling people and Jack might find out. If I did get pregnant in January, I hoped that I could make Jack think he was the father. I knew it was a stupid plan but I couldn't risk letting Jack get me pregnant.

    I didn't talk much to Fred that evening as I was too nervous about what Jack was going to decide.

    To my great relief Jack agreed to do it on the twentieth. He said, "I think this will work just fine. You and I will get together earlier in the day and then I will just have to make sure that Mr. Benson wears a condom. Certainly don't want to chance him getting your pregnant now do we?"

    When Fred got home that night he noticed I was in a better mood right away.

    "Can you talk about what is going on now or is that conversation still off limits to me?" He asked.

    "I am not supposed to talk to you about this but it looks like we have found a way to make Mr. Benson happy," I said. "Jack said that it looks like things should turn out all right after all."

    While I felt better about things than I had a couple of days earlier I didn't feel comfortable enough to give myself to Fred that night or for the next several nights.

    The following Monday Fred told me that he was going to have to work late every night that week to close out the last two cases he was working on.

    "You can't work late Friday," I said. "You have to be home in time to get ready for the party."

    "What time do we have to be there?" He asked.

    "The party starts at eight o'clock. I want to be there no later than 8:30," I replied. "So you need to be home by seven o'clock to get ready."

    "Okay, I'll be home by seven."

    Thursday evening at dinner Jack told me that he was going to have a hard time getting home by seven.

    "You promised," I said.

    "I know, "he said, "and I am sorry but I am so close I just have to close this tomorrow… Kathy, you don't have to wait for me. If I am not here on time, go without me. I'll get there as soon as I can. I should be able to make it by nine o'clock."

    "I don't want to go without you," I said. "I guess nine o'clock will be all right. It's just that... Well, I just can't be any later than that."

    I suddenly got a cold chill. I don't know why it was suddenly so important but I did not want to go to the party alone. It was funny because I knew everything would be much easier if Fred wasn't there at all but I wanted him with me. I think a part of me hoped that Fred's being there would some how give me the strength to do what I had to do that night. I admit that my thinking was confused. I also knew that if I acted like I didn't want him to come to the party he would get suspicious and the last person I would want to make suspicious was Fred.

    "I'll do the best I can to get home by 7:30. If I am not here in time I'll meet you at the party."

    I was upset but I didn't say anything more.

    Friday morning Jack's secretary called me and told me Jack wanted me to call him at 10:00 AM. I sat at my desk trying to look busy until ten. I worried about what Jack was going to tell me. Had a problem come up? Could I hope that Mr. Benson changed his mind and decided that he would sign the contract and forgo his plan to have sex with me? At ten o'clock I made the call.

    "Good morning Jack, it's me."

    "Good morning Kathy, how are you today?"

    "Nervous," I said.

    "No need for that," Jack said. "You will do just fine. There is one other thing that has just come up."

    Once again I felt a chill. "What's that, Jack."

    "Mr. Benson has made another request," Jack said.

    I was afraid to ask what his demand was so I remained silent.

    "Mr. Benson has requested that you shave off all of your pubic hair before you meet with him tonight," Jack said.

    "I can't do that. How would I explain that to Fred? He would have a fit," I said.

    "Don't tell him till after and just say you did it to surprise him," Jack suggested.

    "I already know that Fred would not like me to shave myself so I know he would be angry if I did it without even discussing it with him," I said.

    "Listen, Kathy, this wasn't really a request, it was a demand. I'm sorry but you will have to shave or he won't sign the contract. Just tell Fred you wanted to try and see if he liked it. If he gets upset, just tell him you will let it grow back. It shouldn't be that big of a deal."

    I was too upset to speak so I just sat and waited to hear what else Jack had to say.

    "What time is Fred supposed to get home from work tonight?" Jack asked.

    "He said he would try to get home by 7:30."

    "Good, then why don't you go home early, maybe around two o'clock, and pamper yourself as you get ready for the party tonight."

    I was a little surprised that Jack hadn't said anything about getting together with me to have sex. He had planned to try and conceive a baby today. I wondered if he had changed his mind. I was not about to bring the subject up myself.

    "That sounds like a good idea," I said. "I will go home at two o'clock and try to relax. Maybe a hot bath will help relieve some of the stress I am feeling."

    "That's a good girl," Jack said in a condescending voice. "I'll check with you later to see how you're doing."

    That was the end of the call. I was feeling a little sick. I hated the idea of shaving myself. It was never anything I wanted to do and I knew that Fred didn't want me to do it but I was going to shave my pussy to make another man happy. At that moment I began to hate myself.

    At noon I went out for lunch and decided not to go back. I drove home slowly while I thought about the lies I was going to have to tell Fred that night. I would tell him that I had to go to a short business meeting with Mr. Bartlett, Jack and Mr. Benson to get the contract signed. Then when we got home I would tell Fred I wasn't feeling well so that I wouldn't have to have sex with him. That way I could put off having to explain my bald pussy to him for another day. Then I would use the idea that Jack had and tell Fred it was a surprise for him and if he didn't like it I would just let it grow back.

    At four o'clock I was laying in the tub trying to relax and not think about what I was going to be doing that evening. The hot water had the desired effect on me and I was almost asleep when I heard the doorbell. I was going to ignore it but who ever was at the door just kept ringing it.

    I grabbed my bathrobe and went downstairs to see who was at the door with the intent of sending them away. When I looked through the window next to the door I saw Jack standing there. I opened the door just a crack so that I could speak to him.

    "Jack, what are you doing here?"

    "Aren't you going to let me in?"

    "I can't let you in, I am not even dressed," I said.

    "Kathy, you were going to have to take your clothes off anyway so that we could have sex so what difference does it make if you are already naked?"

    I wanted to tell him to leave but I couldn't seem to get the words to come out of my mouth.

    "Did you forget that we were going to make a baby today?" Jack asked.

    I felt defeated when he said that. I backed away from the door and let him come in.

    Jack took his coat off and hung it on the newel post at the bottom of the stairs and followed me into the kitchen. I don't know why I went to the kitchen but when we got there I offered Jack a drink.

    "I'll have a beer," he said. "This is a lovely house."

    "Thank you. We love it," I said.

    Jack and I sat at the kitchen table while we drank our beers and talked about the party, our plans for the future of the company and then finally Jack came back to the subject of our special meetings.

    "Since this is to be the last of our special meetings I thought it would be nice to do it in your bedroom," he said.

    I could feel a sudden resentment building inside me. "Listen, Jack, I will not have sex with you in my bedroom. Being unfaithful to Fred is one thing but to cheat on him in our bed is something I will not do."

    Jack just smiled at me. "Okay Kathy. I just thought that your baby should be conceived in your bed even if Fred isn't the father. I guess I got a little carried away."

    I was angry but tried not to show it. I just wanted to get it over with so as soon as we finished our beers I took Jack by the hand and led him to our guest room. I pulled the bedspread and blankets down and then I removed my bathrobe. I stood naked in front of Jack and said, "Are you ready?"

    When I saw that he was already hard, my anger subsided a little. The only thing I had on my mind at that moment was to get him off as quickly as possible so I could close the book on our special meetings for good.

    I helped Jack get his clothes off and then I dropped to my knees and took his cock into my mouth. I knew this would bring him close to his climax so that he wouldn't last long once he pushed his cock inside me.

    "You like sucking my cock, don't you?"

    I didn't want to answer that question so I just mumbled with his cock in my mouth and he thought that I had answered in the affirmative.

    "I'll bet you are going to miss our special meetings. I think you'll come to me later and ask for more."

    I knew I was going to have to respond to that somehow. I had to be careful not to piss him off and at the same time not encourage him to think I would request more meetings.

    "Jack, the sex has been enjoyable but the stress of carrying on an affair is putting too much strain on my marriage. Whether I miss our meetings or not, I will not come asking for more," I said very firmly.

    I took Jack's cock back into my mouth and soon had him close to climaxing. He pulled away from me and told me to get on the bed. Jack quickly got between my legs and licked my pussy for a few minutes, which I have to admit did feel good. I manage to fake a believable orgasm and Jack looked up at me and smiled. He moved up on top of me and kissed me with my juices all over his mouth. Jack continued to kiss me all over my face as he pushed his cock inside me and began to hump himself into me. For a moment I thought about just laying still like a corpse and let him do all the work but I realized doing that would just make it take longer. I began to lift my pelvis to meet his thrusts.

    Jack lasted five minutes before he began to convulse and shoot his load inside me. We lay on the bed for a few minutes afterwards and then I got up and told Jack that I had to change the sheets and remake the bed so he would have to get up and get dressed.

    I didn't even bother to put my bathrobe back on as I hurriedly cleaned up the room and remade the bed. Jack just sat and watched me. Once I was sure that I had left no evidence of our having fucked in the room I told Jack it was time for him to leave.

    We walked into the hall and Jack put his hand on my pubic mound and said, "It's time to shave this."

    "I was going to do that later," I said.

    "Let's do it now. As a matter of fact I would like to do it for you," Jack said. "Why don't you clean yourself up a little and then get a towel, shaving cream and a razor. I'll wait for you downstairs"

    "It's getting late Jack. I think you should leave," I said.

    Jack looked at his watch and said, "It's only twenty five minutes after five. You said Fred isn't due home until 7:30 so we have plenty of time. Now hurry up and meet me down stairs."

    As Jack headed downstairs, I was in a panic. I had hoped that there would be a way of avoiding this. I didn't want to shave my pussy. I didn't want to do that to Fred. It would mean more lies I would have to tell him.

    I went into the bathroom and wiped myself with a wet washcloth and got a clean towel out of the linen closet. Then I grabbed Fred's shaving cream and a new disposable razor. I hadn't cleaned myself that well but I didn't care. I thought about putting my bathrobe back on but decided not to bother. I just wanted to get this over with so that Jack would leave.

    When I started down the stairs I could see Jack sitting in the wing back chair just inside the living room. At the bottom of the stairs I turned to my right and stopped next to the chair Jack was sitting in. I didn't look at him because I was looking at our grandfather clock as it began to chime on the half hour. I guess the clock had made me aware of the time and that made me tense. Just then Jack reached his hand out and put it on the left side of my ass. Jack started to push his fingers into the crack between my cheeks and my butt tightened up.

    "Relax, Kathy. You know you like me to touch your asshole," Jack said.

    I forced myself to relax and Jack pushed his fingers deeper and then followed the slope of my ass down letting his fingers trail over my sensitive hole. Jack continued down until his hand was between my legs and he slipped a finger inside me.

    "You still have a lot of my love juice inside you," Jack said. "You didn't do a very good job of cleaning yourself up. After I shave you, maybe I will clean you with my tongue. I bet you would love that."

    I turned toward Jack and he removed his hand from between my legs and brought it around in front of me and started to play with my pubic hair.

    "This is going to look great when it's bald. I can't wait to see what it feels like to press my lips against your bald pussy," Jack said.

    Jack leaned forward and said, "I feel confident that you now have my baby in there." Then he kissed me on the stomach. "You know I love you, don't you?"

    "I love you too, Jack," I said just so I could get him to move on. I want to get this over with and get Jack out of the house.

    Jack took the towel from me and put it on the coffee table and told me to sit on it. I sat down and Jack started to put shaving cream on my pussy and I heard a noise that sent cold shivers through my body. It was the garage door opener. Fred was home.

    I jumped up and told Jack to leave and I grabbed the towel, shaving cream and razor and ran up stairs. I decide to go ahead and shave myself and try to keep Fred from seeing me before I could at least get my panties on. I had to wipe away more of Jack's semen before I could start shaving

    "Kathy, I'm home," I heard Fred yell as he came up the stairs.

    When I didn't answer him, he called me again.

    "You're home early," I replied. "That's great. I'm in the bathroom getting ready. Why don't you use the shower in the guest bathroom?"

    "Why?"

    "I'm busy in here," I said.

    The bathroom door burst open and Fred was standing there looking at me.

    "What did you say?" He asked.

    I was sitting on the side of the bathtub when he came in and I tried to cover myself. Then I notice the washcloth with Jack's semen on it lying on the tub next to my foot. I prayed that Fred didn't notice it. In my panic I yelled, "I told you I was busy in here, get out."

    "What are you doing?" Fred asked.

    There was nothing I could do. I had been caught. I let my hand drop and exposed my shaving cream covered pubic hair.

    "It was supposed to be a surprise," I said.

    "For who?" Fred asked.

    "For you of course. I wanted to surprise you when we got home from the party tonight," I said.

    "Did I ever tell you I wanted you to shave your pussy?" he asked.

    "No, but I thought that..." Fred didn't let me finish.

    "I don't ever remember you telling me that you wanted to shave yourself," he said.

    "I know I never mentioned it but..."

    "Where did you ever get the idea that I wanted you to shave it? Most certainly not from me," he said.

    I could see that Fred was getting angry and I couldn't think of anything to say to calm him down.

    "I just thought it would be something different. A lot of girls are doing this now and I thought you might like it," I tried.

    "Shouldn't we have discussed this first to at least see how I felt about it?" He asked.

    "Maybe but after all, it's not that big of a deal and it is my body and if I want to shave off my pussy hair that's my decision. If we don't like it, it will grow back."

    Now I was starting to get mad but I didn't know whom I was mad at.

    Fred was silent for a minute and I was beginning to think I had won the argument.

    "Don't shave it now," he said. "We can discuss it later and if it's that important to you, you can shave it tomorrow."

    I blew up. In anger I yell at Fred, "I am ready to do it now so why should I have to wait?"

    "Because your husband is asking you to wait," he said. "I don't like bald pussies. I don't want to feel like I am having sex with a child when we make love. Why is it so important that you have to do it now?"

    "I was all set to do it and I want to do it now. It's my hair and if I want to shave it off, I will shave it off," I said.

    I wonder if I had the right amount of righteous indignation in my voice.

    "Okay then, go ahead and shave but if you do you will have to go to the party alone." he said and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

    "Why are you being so unfair? It's just something I want to do so why do you have to make a big deal out if it?" I yelled.

    "I am making a big deal out of this because I don't think you're telling me the truth about why you want to shave your pussy," he said. "You know I like your hair so I know you weren't thinking of me when you decided to shave yourself. If you can't tell me the truth then I will not discuss this any further. You can leave it alone and we will go to the party or you can shave it and go to the party by yourself. It's your choice."

    Suddenly I began to wonder if Fred knew something. I wondered if I should go ahead and shave myself and go to the party alone and try and make up to him later. If I did that would he give me a chance to make it up to him? What did he know?

    I put the razor down and climbed into the shower. I didn't speak to Fred the rest of the time we were getting ready to go. Fred thought I was mad at him but I wasn't. I was angry with myself for getting into this mess in the first place. Why couldn't I have been satisfied with the life I had before Jack came to town.

    Fred was watching me get dressed. I thought that was a good sign. He always liked watching me get dressed to go out so I felt good that he was watching me. I put on black thong panties and a black bra. I began to wonder why I was dressing so sexy. Was I doing it because Fred was watching or was I doing it so I would look sexy for Mr. Benson? The third possibility was that I wanted to look sexy at the party.

    The more I thought about it the more I realized that I just wanted to get Fred aroused. I wanted him to want me. That would make everything else easier.

    After I put my stockings and dress on I went into the bathroom and did my makeup. When I came back into the bedroom I could tell that Fred liked what he saw even though he was still mad at me.

    As we were getting ready to leave the house Fred said, "You look really hot. You are going to melt someone's heart tonight."

    I said, "Yours, I hope."

    On the way to the party I decided to try and improve things between us.

    "I am sorry about the shaving thing," I said. "I just thought it was a good idea at the time and I am so nervous about tonight that I guess I just kind of snapped when you gave me a hard time about it."

    "No problem," Fred said. "We can discuss that over the weekend but let's just try to have some fun tonight."

    The party was held in a large classroom on the first floor of our office building. Almost as soon as we arrived Jack came over and greeted us and then took me aside.

    "Kathy, is everything all right?"

    "Yes. It was close but Fred didn't know you had been there," I said.

    "So everything is still on for tonight?" He asked.

    "Yes."

    "Did you manage to finish shaving yourself?"

    "No."

    I could tell that Jack wasn't happy when he turned to walk away but then he turned and came back.

    "I am going to send someone out to buy shaving cream and a razor. You can shave in the ladies' room".

    "Is this really necessary? Can't you just tell Mr. Benson I couldn't do it?"

    Jack looked into my eyes and I could see that he was not going to take no for an answer. "I want you to do this for me. Do you understand?"

    I think I suddenly understood. Jack was exercising his control over me. I began to wonder if Mr. Benson had even asked for me to shave.

    "Yes. I do understand." I said.

    Fred asked me what Jack wanted and I said, "The National Pharmaceutical deal is closing tonight. I have to go to a meeting at ten o'clock with Jack and Mr. Bartlett. If the meeting goes well we will get the National contract signed tonight."

    "So, you'll get your promotion then?" There was something strange in the way Fred asked this question. I wasn't sure but it sounded sarcastic.

    "Yes, if everything works out."

    "Then we can start trying to make a baby?" Fred said.

    "Yes, we can start our family," I said just trying to end this conversation.

    I sensed that Fred was suspicious about something but he didn't let on what, if anything her knew. I found myself hoping that he knew what was going on and he was going to put a stop to it. I figured that because he was still with me that in the end he would forgive me and believe me if I told him I was coerced into everything I did.

    I needed Fred to be close to me so I slipped my arm through his and leaned close to him as we walked into the room.

    We had only been in the room for less than a minute when Fred pointed to a guy standing at the bar and asked, "Who's that guy standing over there by the bar?"

    "I don't know," I said but I knew who it was. It was Mr. Benson. I hoped that Fred didn't notice my reaction to his question.

    "Why don't we go over to the bar and get a drink?" Fred suggested.

    I was afraid that if I went over to the bar Mr. Benson would say something that would let Fred know that I had just lied to him so I said, "There are some of my department members over here that I would like to say hello to. Why don't you get us both a drink and I'll wait for you over here?"

    I sat down with my team but watched Fred as he went over to the bar. He ordered drinks and then started talking to Mr. Benson. That worried me. I wondered if Mr. Benson would mention that he knows me and I worried about what they might be talking about.

    Fred brought me my drink and said he was going to circulate. I didn't want him to leave my side but I couldn't stop him because I couldn't explain why I wanted him to stay with me.

    When Fred left the table I was so depressed that I considered just leaving and facing the consequences of all of my actions later but I guess I was just too big of a coward to leave.

    When I looked for Fred I spotted him talking to Mr. Benson again. Now I was getting scared.

    A few minutes later the band began to play and Bert Carpenter asked me to dance. I turned him down and said I was waiting for my husband. A minute later Fred returned to the table and before he could sit I dragged him out to the dance floor.

    The most comfortable I had felt all night was when I was in Fred's arms on the dance floor.

    When that dance ended and we headed back to the table Greg Bartlett came over to me with a small bag in his hand. He pulled me aside and whispered, "I think you know what you are supposed to do with this."

    I felt sick to my stomach as I went back to the table to speak to Fred.

    "I have to go to the girl's room," I said.

    Fred gave me a hard stare and said, "Don't do it."

    "Don't do what?" I said as I tried to guess what he might be thinking.

    He grabbed my arm and held it and looked into my eyes.

    "You know what I am talking about. You know I am not stupid. I know what's going on here. Stop it now."

    I felt my knees begin to shake and I thought I was going to pass out. How could he know? Did he know what I had in the bag? Did he know I was going to the ladies' room to shave my pubic hair on Jack's orders? Until I knew how much Fred knew I had to act as thought I wasn't doing anything wrong and that I had no idea what he was talking about.

    "I don't know what you are talking about," I said. "I just have to go to the girl's room."

    I pulled away from Fred and walked away as the tears began to run down my cheeks.

    I sat in a stall in the ladies' room trying to get my heart to slow down while I wondered how much Fred knew. After all, he is an investigator and he is a very good one. If he caught wind of something that made him suspicious he would have dug around until he found the truth. With that in mind I realized that my marriage was in deep trouble no matter what I decided to do. In the end the only thing I could see to do was to continue with the plan. I would at least have my career to fall back on if I wasn't able to save the marriage.

    I removed my panties and pulled my dress above my hips and spread the shaving cream all over my pussy. I shave it all off. Every hair. When I was done I washed myself off. Put my panties on and fixed my dress. I took a deep breath before I exited the ladies room and then opened the door and headed back to that table to face Fred.

    As I walked back to the party from the ladies room I heard a familiar voice coming from the speaker systems that the band had set up. "Can I have everyone's attention please?"

    As I entered the room I heard the same announcement. "Can I have your attention please?"

    I got to the door and I looked for Fred at the table but he wasn't there. Then I knew whose voice I had heard over the speakers. It took me a moment to see where he was standing holding the microphone.

    "Can I get everyone's attention?" Fred said.

    The room got quiet and I stood, frozen in place and waited to hear what Fred was going to say.

    "Thank you. I just want to take a few minutes to talk to all of you on this special occasion. First, I wanted to say what a great party this is. Let's give a round of applause to the people that put this party on for us."

    The guests started to applaud and I started walking toward Fred.

    "I have had a few drinks and I am feeling pretty good right now so I hope the words come out right. The reason I wanted to talk to you is that I want to share some things that are going on with me and my wonderful wife Kathy."

    Fred looked at me and smiled but his smile wasn't sincere. Then he looked away from me across the room toward Jack, Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Benson. Fred definitely knew something but how much I had no idea. Part of me hoped that he would say something that would bring this whole nightmare to an end and part of me hoped that Fred was just drunk and thought he needed to thank the company for throwing this party. Unfortunately, I knew Fred was not that drunk. He had never been that drunk.

    "First, I want to share some good news with all of you. Kathy and I are going to have a baby," he said.

    Why would he say that? It wasn't true, at least not yet. Did he know about Jack wanting me to have his baby and was he trying to piss Jack off?

    Many of the guests began to applaud and several of my friends were shouting good wishes to me. I put my hands over my face to hide my humiliation.

    "There is more good news too. Kathy told me that she is getting a promotion tonight because of her work on the National Pharmaceutical deal. I understand that Kathy, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Hanson and Mr. Benson are meeting upstairs tonight to sign the contract. Isn't that great?"

    Oh, shit. That did it. That statement might very well cost me my job.

    "Oh God, please stop," I cried. I was now just a short distance from Fred but my legs were too weak to carry me any farther. I sank down to the floor and just lay there.

    "This evening started off so strangely that I thought I would share it with you. When I got home from work tonight I found my loving wife in the bathroom getting ready to shave and I don't mean her legs or arm pits."

    Oh God, he was going to tell everything. I wished that I could disappear.

    "We had a little argument about it. She told me it was supposed to be a surprise for me and I told her not to do it. I won that argument or at least I thought I did. Now I realize that she wasn't shaving for me, she was doing it on orders from Jack. Kathy was just in the little girl's room and I believe she shaved herself while she was in there. Now all of you are probably wondering why Jack Hanson would tell Kathy she had to shave her pussy..." Fred said.

    The room was completely silent now. I could almost hear my heart pounding in my chest.

    "The reason Kathy shaved her pussy is because she was to be a gift to Mr. Benson tonight and Mr. Benson wanted her pussy to be hairless. It seems that your company management thinks it is good business to encourage its employees to have sex with potential customers to win contracts even if it destroys a marriage," Fred said.

    Fred seemed to know more that I thought was possible for him to know about all this.

    Fred went on for another minute but I was no longer listening to him. I had curled myself into a ball on the floor and was trying to see if there was a way to simply melt into the floor and disappear. Suddenly I noticed that the room was silent.

    "Kathy," I heard someone say.

    I looked up at Fred as he bent down to speak to me.

    "Fred. I am so..." I tried to apologize.

    Fred cut me off. "Kathy, don't say anything…' Then he said. "Do you think you'll get that promotion now?"

    I laid my head back down on my arm and cried. I had just lost everything.

    I don't know how long I was on the floor before Carol Studwell came over to see if I was all right. Carol works for me in accounting. I couldn't answer her questions so she helped me to my feet and took me out to get my coat.

    "You can stay at my place until you figure out what you are going to do," Carol said.

    I was in a daze so I just did whatever Carol told me to do. When we got to her apartment Carol poured me a stiff drink and gave me a cold washcloth to wipe my face.

    In the condition I was in I should not have had anything to drink but I drank heavily that night and while I did I told Carol everything. I guess I felt I had to clear my conscience and Carol was the only person that I thought would listen to me. I knew I couldn't tell Fred the whole story even if he would ever speak to me again.

    I was also pretty sure I would not be talking to Jack ever again. Carol made a good audience. She didn't ask a lot of questions and she listened as if every word I said was very important. She also made sure my glass stayed full of scotch.

    I talked, I drank, I got drunk, I passed out and in the morning I was very sick.

    Saturday morning Carol had to go out and run some errands so I stayed in bed and thought about what I was going to say to Fred if he ever gave me the chance to speak to him. I couldn't tell him the truth. That would make me look too bad. I had to find a way to make all of this seem like it was someone else's fault. By the time I got up to take a shower I thought that I had worked the whole story out and I was ready to face Fred if he would let me.

    It was after two o'clock that afternoon before I had gotten up the nerve to call the house. The answering machine picked up on the fifth ring and I left a message for Fred to call me and I gave Carol's phone number. I just hoped that Fred would call.

    Later in the afternoon as Carol and I were talking the phone rang and Carol answered it.

    "Who should I say is calling?" Carol said.

    Carol held out the phone to me and said, "It's Fred."

    "Where have you been?" I asked. "I have been calling all day."

    "Not all day," he said. "I was home until one o'clock this afternoon."

    "Oh. I guess that's about when I started calling you."

    Fred didn't say anything for a while so I said, "Fred, can I come home?"

    "This is where you live, isn't it?" he said. "You should be here now."

    That sounded promising. He wants me to come home. Maybe all wasn't lost.

    "I'll be home in an hour," I said.

    I got to the house a little after six o'clock and Fred had dinner ready. I took this as a very good sign. He had made spaghetti and meatballs and a salad. He had also opened a bottle of Chianti. I felt my spirits lifting as I looked at Fred pouring the wine.

    Fred asked where I stayed overnight.

    "One of my friends took me home after you left?"

    "Oh, you didn't stay for the rest of the party," he said sarcastically.

    "You pretty much ended the party with your speech," I said.

    "I guess I owe some people apologies for that. Not you and certainly not Bartlett or Hanson."

    "I guess you're right. I owe you the apology," I said.

    I was ready to tell my story, the one I invented at Carol's house that morning, but Fred stopped me. He said we would talk about it after dinner.

    After dinner I started to put the dishes into the dishwasher but Fred stopped me.

    "You can clean the kitchen later, we need to talk now," he said.

    We went and sat in the family room.

    "Do you want to just tell me everything or should I just start asking questions? Either way I expect only the truth," he said.

    "I'll tell you everything," I said. "I am sure you know when it started. It was the day after your Christmas party. Jack called me and told me that this huge deal that they were working on with National Pharmaceutical was in trouble. Jack told me Mr. Benson had told them that he would only sign a contract if I would agree to have sex with him. I couldn't believe that he would ask me to do something like that and I was pissed but he told me that this deal was very important to the company and if I would go along and do as they asked I would be rewarded handsomely. He was talking about a lot of money and a promotion. I didn't want to do it but Jack kept putting pressure on me and telling me that a lot of people were depending on me.

    "I told them I would have to think about it. They had me so confused and stressed over this that I couldn't think straight. When you came home and I looked at you I knew that I could not do that to you. Jack and Mr. Bartlett kept after me all day Monday trying to get me to agree. Mr. Hanson said that if this deal fell through it would be my fault and they would have to let me go. They also said that if I told anyone about what was going on I would get fired. I tried to tell you as much as I could. I knew that if you knew the whole story you would do something crazy and I would lose my job.

    "On Tuesday I told them I would not do it so they told me to think about it again. Then Mr. Hanson told me that the company was missing more than $100,000 and that if there were to be an audit it would look like I had been embezzling money from the company for the last few years. Jack said I would end up going to jail. He told me that if I did what he asked I would get the money he promised and the promotion but if I didn't cooperate there would be an audit and I would be charged with embezzlement.

    "In the end I had to agree to do what he wanted. Jack and Mr. Bartlett talked with me every day to make sure I didn't back out on them. They kept telling me I was doing the right thing and tried to convince me that you would understand if you knew how important this deal was."

    "You can't believe that I would ever have thought what you were doing was all right," Fred said. "You should have told me everything. I would have found a way out for you."

    "I know that now. Once I decided to go through with it I felt a little better but I felt so guilty about what I was doing to you. You have to understand that I was terrified of going to jail. I had to risk it. On Friday Jack called me into his office and told me that Mr. Benson told him that he wanted me to shave all my pubic hair off. I told him I couldn't do that because you would be angry but he said it would be a deal breaker. If I didn't shave it off Mr. Benson would walk away from the deal. Jack told me to shave it off before the party and not let you see it till later and then I was to tell you it was meant to be a surprise. He said that if you got mad all I had to do is say that I was sorry and that I would let it grow back. The problem was that you came home earlier than expected and caught me getting ready to shave it off."

    "So was I right?" Fred asked. "Did you shave your pussy in the lady's room at the party?"

    I said, "Yes… Mr. Bartlett sent someone to the store to pick up a razor and some shave cream and I went into the ladies' room and shaved myself. When I came back to the party I saw you with the microphone trying to get everyone's attention. I was so scared. I had no idea what you were up to and I had no idea if there was any way I could stop you. I couldn't believe you said that I was pregnant."

    "I didn't say you were pregnant," he said. "I said we were going to have a baby. You weren't pregnant yet but that was our plan, wasn't it?"

    "Well, yes, but..."

    "But what? Are we or aren't we going to start a family?" he asked.

    "Yes. We are. I will get off my birth control pills tomorrow and then we can start."

    "One more question. Did you tell Benson that he would have to use a condom?"

    "Jack told me he was going to make him use a condom," I said. "I am glad he did because it hadn't occurred to me. I was so stressed by the whole situation that I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, you made your little speech and basically ended my career at DC&H and probably killed the deal with National Pharmaceutical."

    Fred said, "So, essentially what you are telling me is that Bartlett and Hanson coerced and black mailed you into agreeing to have sex with Benson to close a business deal. They further insisted that you had to fulfill Benson's demand that you shave your pussy but I screwed things up by catching you when you were trying to shave. But even after I told you not to do it, you shaved yourself anyway. In the end, the only reason that you didn't end up fucking Benson is because I fucked everything up with my little speech. Does that about sum it up?"

    "Yes, but I don't blame you for what you did. I understand why you did it," I said.

    "Oh, good, then you forgive me for trying to keep my wife from fucking another man," Fred said sarcastically.

    "That's not what I meant. I know you had every right to react the way you did and I have no right to be upset with you. I am upset with myself. I should have told you everything from the start. Do you think you will ever be able to forgive me?" I asked.

    "That depends," Fred said. "Is that everything? Have you told me everything I need to know about what has been going on?"

    "Yes. I have told you everything. I love you and I can't bear to think that I could lose you because of this mess I got myself into," I said.

    "Well, things don't look as bad as they did at first," Fred said. "I just have a couple of questions I need answered and then we might be able to put this behind us."

    "Okay. What questions?" I was beginning to feel hopeful that I might be able to save my marriage and that was all that I cared about at that time. As far as Fred knew I hadn't cheated on him. I was going to, but only under duress. He didn't know about my affair with Jack. Everything was looking up.

    "I found this in the trash the other day and it's full." Fred said and tossed my birth control pills on the coffee table. "You threw away all of your birth control pills last week but you not only didn't tell me about that you tried to make me believe you were still taking them. Just five minutes ago you said you would stop taking them tomorrow. Can you explain that to me?"

    I was stunned, what could I say to get out of this mess?

    "You're right, I stopped taking my pills," I said. "I was planning to let you get me pregnant and then surprise you. I know how much you wanted to start a family so I thought it would be nice surprise when I told you about it."

    "That plan would only have worked if you and I had been having sex but the last time we made love was the day before you stopped taking your pills," he said.

    "It's just that I was so upset about what Mr. Bartlett and Jack wanted me to do that I wasn't in the mood to have sex during that time," I replied.

    "Were you aware that last night was the most fertile night of your cycle?" he asked.

    How did he know about that? It wasn't true, I had only put that on my calendar to fool Jack. There was no way for me to explain this to Fred.

    "No. I wasn't aware of that. I had too many other things on my mind to be thinking about that, I said.

    "It just strikes me as odd that you were planning on having sex with Benson last night, which happens to be in the middle of your menstrual cycle and it never occurred to you to insist that a condom be used, but it did occur to Jack to require it," he said.

    "What are you trying to say?" I asked. "That I knew I was fertile and was willing to take a chance that I would get pregnant? I would never do that."

    "One more question Kathy," Fred said. "How long have you been fucking that rat bastard Hanson?"

    "What?" He knows everything. How could he?

    "No more lies. I know that you were keeping track of you menstrual cycle and had marked last night on your day planner as the day. I know that Hanson demanded that Benson would have to wear a condom and since I wasn't fucking you the only one left is Hanson. He wanted to get you pregnant, didn't he?"

    I started crying and couldn't find any words that would explain my behavior.

    Fred said, "It was Hanson that wanted your pussy shaved, not Benson, and you did that for him in spite of me telling you not to do it. That shows me that he has more influence over you than I do. Lest you think I am just making wild guesses about this stuff, last night when I came home from work I came to the front door and looked in. I saw you standing naked in the living room and I saw Hanson playing with your ass and then he kissed your stomach the way a man often kisses the stomach of the women that is carrying his baby or in this case, will be carrying it.

    "Did you think I would be so stupid that you could have his baby and make me think it was mine? Or were you planning to leave me all along? You spent last night with him didn't you?"

    I couldn't respond to his questions. I couldn't form the words to defend myself. I could have told Fred that I didn't spend the night with Jack but what difference would that make? He saw me naked with Jack in our house.

    Fred left the room for a few minutes and when he came back he was carrying his suitcases. I jumped out of my chair and ran to him.

    "Please don't leave me. I love you. I don't love Jack. I told you he black mailed me. I had no choice but to do what he asked," I pleaded.

    "Why didn't you just continue taking your birth control pills and lie about it to Jack? You certainly didn't have any problems lying to me. I think I would have to believe what you told that rat bastard more than anything you have told me lately," he said. "I forgot to tell you, last night when I was watching you and that asshole I heard you say, "I love you," to him. So where does that leave me?"

    "I don't love him. If I am pregnant I will have an abortion. I love you. Please, you have to believe me," I said.

    I don't know why I said that. I was sure that Jack could not have gotten me pregnant but I was saying anything that popped into my head trying to stop Fred from leaving.

    "No, I don't. As for the baby, don't abort it on my account."

    I collapsed on the floor and remained there for more than an hour. When I finally forced myself to get up I went to bed and slept until ten o'clock Sunday morning.

    I spent a lot of time Sunday crying. Fred was gone and I knew there was nothing I could tell him that would bring him back. The complete truth would make him hate me even more and I knew telling Fred more lies was not the answer either.

    It wasn't until Sunday evening that I began to seriously think about what I was going to do. I had thought about calling in sick Monday to avoid having to face my work associates. I changed my mind. I decide to go in and tell people that Fred and I had fought Friday before the party and that he got drunk and said all those things to hurt me. Then I would talk to Jack and see where I stood with him. My hope was that Jack would find a way to salvage the National deal and that he wouldn't blame me for what happened Friday night. Jack said he loved me so I would have to play on that.

    Monday morning I went into the office determined to act as it nothing was wrong but things were wrong, very wrong. No one would talk to me. Most people would not even look at me and I caught a few people whispering about me behind my back.

    When I got to my office I closed the door and sat at my desk with my head in my hands. Had Fred's scene at the party turned everyone against me? I wondered how I would ever begin to win back the respect of the other employees if they believed what Fred told them in his little speech.

    I waited until ten o'clock that morning before I called Jack's office. His secretary informed me that Jack had gone over to Mr. Benson's hotel for a meeting. This was the first good news I had heard in quite a while. If Jack was meeting with Mr. Benson that meant the deal was still alive. I just hoped that Jack would still take me with him. I would at least have a career. As soon as that thought came to me I was filled with self-loathing. That was the kind of thinking that cost me my marriage. It was at that moment I realized that I had to make some changes in my life but I didn't know what they would be yet.

    At two o'clock that afternoon I got a call from the receptionist in the lobby. She told me that William Jefferson and Veronica Peters from the FBI wanted me to come down and talk to them.

    I didn't like this turn of events. I assumed that they wanted to talk to me about my whistle blowing on the CEO and President of DC&H. All my previous conversations about that had been over the phone and I had Jack available to help me with my answers. Being face to face with the FBI was more than I thought I could handle.

    As I left my office, Mimi Sanders approached me. I was hoping that she would speak to me but afterwards I wished she hadn't.

    "Did you really think you could fuck your way to the top? I guess if you have Mr. Hanson's baby you'll be the next president of the company," Mimi said and walked away.

    I was too stunned to respond to her comment. When I looked around I realized that several people had heard what Mimi said and they were all looking at me like I was road kill.

    I moved quickly to the elevators and pressed the down button several times in hopes that would speed the elevator to the fourth floor. I was desperate to get away from the unfriendly faces that now watched me. When the elevator finally arrived I hid in the corner until the door closed, hoping no one else would get on with me.

    When I got to the lobby the receptionist pointed out the two FBI agents and I went over and introduced myself to them. Both agents stood up. Agent Peters stood in front of me and Agent Jefferson stood behind me. Agent Peters was the first to speak.

    "Mrs. Alpin, we would like you to accompany us to our offices. We have some questions we would like you to answer," she said.

    Now I was scared. "Am I under arrest?" I asked.

    "No," Agent Peters said. "We just need your help to clear up some questions we have."

    "Can you tell me what this is about?" I asked.

    "We would rather wait to discuss this at our offices," Agent Peters said.

    I knew that I had the right to refuse to go with them. After all they said I was not under arrest and they didn't show me any kind of warrant but I somehow knew I really didn't have a choice. I was going to have to go with them.

    Agent Jefferson drove and Agent Peters sat in the back seat with me but there was no conversation. I was in such a panicked state that I was barely conscious of the trip to the FBI offices in downtown Indianapolis. When we got to their building the two agents led me to the elevator and Agent Jefferson pushed the button for the seventh floor. On the ride up I hoped that one of the agents would say something to reassure me that I was not in some kind of trouble but neither of them spoke.

    On the seventh floor I was led to a small windowless room and I was asked to take a seat. Agents Peters and Jefferson left me there alone. I was quickly getting the impression that this was not going to be a friendly interview. I sat alone in the room for ten minutes with my fear building by the second.

    Finally the door opened and Agent Peters came in and with her was Mr. Benson. I was stunned. What the hell was he doing there?

    "Hello, Mrs. Alpin," he said.

    "Hello, Mr. Benson."

    "Actually it's Special Agent Mark Walker," he said.

    My heart began to pound so hard I thought I was going to pass out. "Oh God. What is going on?" I cried.

    "Relax, Mrs. Alpin," he said. "We aren't after you."

    "I don't understand. What is going on?" I asked.

    "Let me explain," Special Agent Walker said. "When you contacted the SEC with concerns about activities involving Mr. Ward, the CEO, and Mr. Salter, the President of DC&H, they got very interested and brought the FBI into the investigation. We quickly learned that the charges you were making against Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter were accurate and we started building a case against them that we could take to the grand jury.

    "During the investigation there was one thing that bothered us. How was it that the manager of the accounting department in Indianapolis could have so much information about the activities of Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter? We checked you out and found that you had never worked in the New York office and had never met either Mr. Ward or Mr. Salter.

    "It was about that time that the real Mr. Benson contacted the Indianapolis FBI office and said that he had some concerns about the way DC&H was conducting business here. That's when we found out that Mr. Hanson had moved down here and that he was running the National Pharmaceutical deal. We knew that he had worked closely with Ward and Salter in New York and our investigation showed us that he was spending a lot of time with you."

    I thought to myself, "Jesus, does everyone know that I was fucking Jack?"

    "When we saw the pattern that was starting to develop we decided to perform a sting operation here. When Mr. Hanson offered you as a gift to secure my signature on the contract I had almost enough evidence on him but then your husband interfered and blew our plans for Friday night. Luckily for us your friend Hanson wouldn't let go of the deal that easily. He called me Saturday and offered me a big kick back if I would still sign the contract. This morning Mr. Hanson came to my hotel room and handed me $100,000.00 and I put him in hand cuffs," Agent Walker said.

    "I had nothing to do with this deal. I didn't know that Jack offered me as a gift to you until after he had already done it. As for my blowing the whistle on Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter, I only did what Jack told me to do. I didn't think I was breaking any laws. I knew that what Jack wanted me to do with you was wrong but he promised that he would take care of me if I did it," I said.

    "How was he going to take care of you?"

    "He promised that when he became the Company President or CEO, which ever he could mange to get, he was going to make me a Vice President and I would get a big bonus," I said.

    "Did you ever consider that he might be lying to you?"

    "No. I never thought he would do that. Are you saying that he was lying?"

    "No. I only wondered if you had ever considered the possibility," he said.

    "Am I in a lot of trouble?" I asked.

    "Well, you may have lost your marriage, you will certainly lose your job, and after Friday nights spectacle you have probably lost the respect of the people you worked with, don't you think that is a lot of trouble?" he asked in return.

    "I mean am I in trouble with the FBI?"

    "No. We have the people we want. We just need you to fill in some of the blanks. I need you to explain how you got involved with Mr. Hanson and tell me everything he wanted you to do for him."

    I spent the next three hours telling Agents Peters and Walker about my sordid relationship with Jack and how he had coached me when I contacted the SEC to blow the whistle on Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter. I told them all about Jack insisting that I would have to have sex with Mr. Benson to save the deal. Thankfully they didn't make me go into detail about Jack making me shave myself or that he wanted me to have his baby. By the time they drove me back to get my car I was exhausted and depressed.

    That night I went home and started to think seriously about what I was going to do.

    Tuesday morning I called the head of personal and resigned from the company. He didn't make any attempt to talk me out of resigning. I guess everyone knew about me.

    The next day I got a lawyer and told him everything that had happened. I knew that Fred would file for divorce and I would need a lawyer for that and I thought I might need a lawyer to handle the fallout from the mess at DC&H. This turned out to be the smartest thing I had done in the last six months.

    Over the next few months my lawyer contacted DC&H's legal department and told them how Jack had used his position to pressure me into having an affair with him and that he used me to do his dirty work, which was all inappropriate behavior for a company VP. He told DC&H that I was going to sue them and they quickly offered to settle. They knew they didn't need any more bad publicity. After legal fees, I ended up with nearly $500,000.

    When the divorce papers came, I instructed my lawyer to include my settlement from DC&H in the community property so that Fred got half of that as well as half of the proceeds from the sale of the house. After the divorce, Fred moved to California to start his own investigative agency.

    I decided that I had to get out of Indianapolis. I had lost most of my friends and one of the few I had left told me that Carol Studwell had told everyone at work what Jack and I had been doing. I couldn't believe she had betrayed my trust like that. Then I remembered how she kept pouring me scotch so that I would keep talking. I guess in a way I deserved it. The other thing my friend told me was more disturbing. She said that there was a rumor around the office that I had stayed with Jack for a month after the party while he tried to get me pregnant. That was a malicious lie. The only time I saw Jack after the Christmas Party was when I testified against him at his trial.

    After that I moved to Columbus Ohio. Connie Bradshaw, my old college roommate, moved there a few years earlier and she told me that the local community college was looking for someone to teach some business courses.

    It has been three years since I moved to Columbus and I am finally starting to feel better about myself. I heard that Fred remarried but I don't know to whom. I hope that he is happy and his new wife isn't as stupid as I was. I recently started dating a very nice man. He is a professor at Ohio State University. I have been working toward my PHD there and he taught one of my classes. We have been dating for about four months and things are going very well. My hope is that when I finish my degree that I will be able to teach business ethics at the university level. I think I have learned enough from my own experience to uniquely qualify me for that subject.

    My goal in writing this story was to simply and honestly tell anyone that was interested what I had done. I have no excuses. You can judge my actions for yourself but please be kind when you think of me. What I did was terrible, what I have suffered for it is worse. I lost my husband, my self-respect, and the respect of my friends, my beautiful house, and my job. Some of you may feel that I deserved even more punishment. Maybe you are right but I am only human. I made a mistake and I have paid for it. Now it is time to forget the past and move on with my life.

    The End.

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Zero Tolerance

    By K.K. ©

    I hadn't been to Jimmer's for more than a month but there I was sitting at the bar at two o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon talking to Jim Lucia, the owner of Jimmer's Bar and Grill. Jimmer's is the bar I had been stopping at after work at least once a week since I had started working at Dyson's Electronics twelve years earlier. During that time Jim and I had become pretty good friends.

    Jim had asked me why I hadn't been in recently and why I was there in the middle of the afternoon when I should be at work. I asked him if he wanted the long version or short one.

    "Start with the long version," Jim said. "If the story gets boring I'll ask you to switch over to the short version."

    "I'll try to keep it from getting too boring," I said. "Of course you know Fred Lydon."

    "Yes. Mr. Wonderful." Jim said. "He still comes in here but not as often as he used to. I think he wore out his welcome with the women that come in here."

    "I guess you can only fish in a small pond for so long before all the fish are gone," I said. "Anyway this story really started when I met Fred. That was in 1992. I had just started working at Dyson's and Fred was my first friend. Fred is the one who started me on the bad habit of coming here almost every night."

    "That wasn't a bad habit," Jim said. "It was a welcome routine to help you unwind after a hard days work."

    I laughed and said, "Well, whatever it is, Fred started it."

    That afternoon I told Jim the story I am about to relate to you.

    It was less than a month after I started at Dyson's and Fred and I were sitting in Jimmer's one evening having a drink. The place was just starting to fill up when two very attractive women came in. They looked to be a few years older than us but that didn't matter to Fred. When he saw the women he looked at me with his smarmy smile.

    "Check that out," he said. "Looks like I am going to get laid tonight."

    I wasn't interested in looking for one-night stands with older women. I just wanted to have a couple of drinks before I went home to my apartment so I just sat and watched as Fred approached the two women and started talking to them and managed to get himself invited to join them.

    Some more Dyson employees arrived and I joined them at a large table. It was about an hour later that I saw Fred leave with one of the women. As they walked by the table I noticed that the woman was wearing a wedding ring.

    Later when I was leaving Jimmer's I saw Fred sitting in the back seat of his car. At first it appeared that he was by himself but when I got closer I could see that the woman that he had picked up in the bar was bent over in the back seat giving Fred a blow-job.

    I had to laugh to myself. That was the first time I had seen Fred in action. I didn't think Fred was really serious when he said he was going to get laid that night but there he was receiving sexual favors from a married woman in the back seat of his car.

    The next evening Fred and I were again sitting in Jimmer's having a beer and I asked him how he knew he would be able to score with the two women from the previous evening.

    "I knew because they were two married women out in a bar without their husbands. I was sure at least one of them would be looking for some action," he said. "That's why I like picking up married women rather than single women."

    "Why?"

    Single women are always looking for Mr. Right and are mostly interested in long term relationships," he said. "They very seldom put out on the first date. When you find a married woman out without her husband she is probably looking for some excitement and it doesn't take very long to find out if they are interested in having a little extramarital fun. In my experience if you get a married woman to leave with you, she wants to have sex."

    That was the day I formed my low opinion of Fred Lydon.

    It was a couple of months later that I met Susan. She worked in the accounting department at Dyson's and I was in sales. Susan was tall and blond with beautiful blue eyes and I was hooked from the moment I met her. We dated several times before we had sex and that came with some serious strings attached.

    It happened one night after I took Susan on a very romantic date. Flowers, dinner, dancing and a moonlight walk. I did the whole bit and then we went back to Susan's apartment.

    We sat down on her sofa and began necking. We were both pretty aroused when Susan stopped me from sliding my hand up under her skirt.

    "You know I like you very much and I am tempted to say I love you but I think it's too soon for that," Susan said. "I know we are both ready for this next step but for me making love to someone requires a commitment. If we are going to go any farther with this relationship I have to know that you will not be dating other woman. I need you to understand that I will have zero tolerance for any infidelity on your part. I will not be unfaithful to you and I expect the same from you. If you ever decide that you need or want another woman just know that it means we are through. I would rather you just break up with me than to find out you had been sneaking around behind my back."

    I was so horny at that moment I would have committed to anything so that I could make love to her but the fact that I was already in love with her made it even easier. I had no problem committing to her that I would always be faithful.

    After I promised, Susan placed my right hand back on her thigh and then put both of her arms around my neck. We began kissing again and I moved my fingers to the inside of her thigh and started sliding my hand up under her skirt. The farther I moved my hand up between her legs the more passionate Susan's kisses became. By the time I pressed my fingers against the warm damp crotch of her panties, Susan was attacking my throat with her tongue.

    When I slipped my fingers inside her panties and brushed them lightly over her vulva, Susan moaned and then she sucked my tongue into her mouth. I began trying to open her shirt with my left hand but I wasn't having much success so I had to give up teasing her hot sex and use both hands to remove Susan's shirt. When I had all of the buttons undone Susan leaned forward so that I could slip her top off her shoulders and remove it completely.

    I planted little kisses all over Susan's neck and slowly worked my way down to the small bit of her breasts that were exposed above her bra. I kissed and licked the soft skin as I pulled the top of her bra down just enough to expose her nipples. When I sucked one of her nipples into my mouth Susan let her head fall back against the back of her sofa. She was breathing hard and making funny little sounds in the back of her throat.

    I continued to suck on her nipples as I reached around her to unhook her bra. I have never been very good at dealing with bras but Susan didn't seem to care. She seemed to be enjoying what I was doing with my mouth and was oblivious to everything else. After a few minutes of fumbling with it I finally got her bra unhooked and remove it. Susan's breasts were beautiful. Their shape was perfect and they stood up proudly. For the next fifteen minutes I made love to Susan's breasts while at the same time I moved my right hand back under her skirt and up into her panties.

    When I touched the soft lips of Susan's sex I found that they were wet and slippery. I ran my fingers all around her excited entrance spreading her sexual lubricant all over my fingers and her pussy.

    I had one of her nipples in my mouth when I finally pushed a finger up inside her and then started teasing her clitoris. As I did this Susan pulled my face up to hers and kissed me passionately and then just hung on to me while I explored the most personal and private part of her body. Susan was breathing hard and began sticking her tongue in my ear and talking to me.

    "Oh, God, that feels good. I want you now. I want to feel you inside me now."

    I pushed Susan down on the sofa and pushed her skirt up around her waist. Then I removed her panties and quickly removed my own pants and shorts.

    When I lay down on top of her and pushed my stiff cock inside her I was amazed at how wonderful it felt to be inside her. I was not inexperienced. I had had a few girl friends over the years but I had never felt that way inside a woman before.

    I had been stroking into Susan for a couple of minutes when it occurred to me that I wasn't wearing a condom.

    "Oh shit, I'm not wearing a condom," I said. "I better stop and put one on."

    "I'm on the pill and I trust that you are safe," she said. "I want to feel it when you come inside me."

    That comment almost put me over the top but I was able to control myself and I kept stroking into her at a nice slow pace bringing her to one long orgasm before I finally climaxed.

    Afterwards as I drove home I felt wonderful. I knew I was in love with her and that we would always be together.

    After that night we had sex almost every time we were together which was very often. There were certain nights during the month when we just talked and watched television. A year and a half later we got married.

    We both had good jobs so we didn't have to struggle like so many couples do when they first get married. We had only been married a year when we were able to buy our house in Charlotte.

    The day we moved into the house we met our neighbors Ed and Linda Monroe. Ed worked for a large bank in Charlotte and Linda was an elementary school teacher. They were about our age and we shared a lot of the same interests so Ed and Linda quickly became our best friends.

    For the next several years of our marriage everything was great. Susan and I were still very much in love and the sex was still hot. We had almost everything we wanted. We had good friends, a nice home, two cars and a boat. Our life consisted of meeting the obligations of our jobs during the week and often stopping at Jimmer's for a drink before going home or out to dinner. On the weekends we spent a lot of time out on the boat with Ed and Linda or visiting at each other's houses for dinner or to play cards.

    It was about three years ago that some things started to happen that were upsetting to me. When we first got married Susan and I made a decision to wait a few years before having children. After seven years of marriage I thought it was about time we started a family but when I asked Susan about it she said she wasn't ready yet. When I tried to discuss it further with Susan she cut me off.

    "I will let you know when I am ready," she said.

    The way she said it let me know that the conversation was over. I was a little upset with her unwillingness to even discuss children but I let it go. Everything else in our relationship seemed to be fine so I wasn't all that concerned. After all it was Susan that would have to go through the pregnancy so I guess it was only fair to wait until she was ready.

    A few weeks later we were at a Dyson company party. I had gone to the men's room and when I returned I found Fred Lydon talking to Susan. Not just talking but standing very close to her and he had his hand on her arm as they talked.

    I got pissed at Fred when I saw that. I knew that I could trust Susan but I didn't like the idea that Fred would hit on my wife. It showed a lack of respect for me.

    By the time I got back across the room to where they were standing Fred had seen me coming and had moved a little farther away from Susan and was no longer touching her. I didn't say anything although I wanted to tell Fred to stay away from my wife but I didn't want to make a scene. After all, nothing had really happened. They were just talking.

    I decided that night when we got home I was going to have a talk with Susan about Fred. I had never told her about Fred or his philosophy on dating married women. I wanted her to know about him, figuring if she knew what he was like she would avoid him. The problem was that I could not think of any way to bring that up in conversation without making it sound like I didn't trust Susan. I didn't know how to start the conversation and I had become sullen and quiet. It didn't take Susan long to notice something was wrong.

    "What's the matter, Mark?" Susan asked. "You haven't said a word since we got home."

    "Something is bothering me but I am afraid that it will come out wrong and I don't want to upset you."

    Susan suddenly looked tense. "What's wrong, Mark?"

    "I guess I'll just say what's on my mind and we can discuss it until I can clear up any misconceptions. It's about Fred Lydon."

    The expression on Susan's face changed. Susan had many facial expressions to express her moods or what she was thinking and I could always tell from her expression if she was happy, sad, nervous, angry, or whatever but every once in a while an expression came over her face that I could not read. That was the expression on her face that night.

    "What about Fred?" Susan asked.

    "I don't know if you know this about him but he has a reputation as a ladies' man."

    Susan laughed. "I know. I've heard all the stories about him at work. The girls at work think he is just a big joke. Fred is a flirt but I don't think anyone takes him seriously, least of all me."

    "Susan. This is not funny to me," I said. "Fred preys on married women."

    "You can't possibly think I have any interest in Fred," Susan said with a tinge of anger in her voice.

    "No. I am not worried about you. I trust you."

    "So what you are saying is that you don't want me to talk to Fred anymore, is that it?" Susan asked.

    "If you wouldn't mind," I said.

    "Well, I would mind. I think he's funny and I enjoy talking to him. There is no way I would ever have sex with him so I don't understand what you are worried about. I don't like it when you act jealous."

    I wasn't happy with her response but I didn't push it any farther. She hadn't done anything wrong and my reaction was probably out of line. I was worried that Susan was really pissed at me but when we went up to bed she kissed me and whispered in my ear.

    "Forget about Fred. You're the man I want inside me."

    It was just two weeks later when Susan and I planned to meet at Jimmer's after work and then go out to dinner. I was a half hour late getting there and when I walked in Fred was sitting with Susan and he had his hand on her shoulder as they talked. I could feel a knot forming in my stomach. I wanted to go over and grab Fred's hand and twist his wrist around behind his back and tell him to stay the hell away from Susan but I couldn't. I knew that if I said or did anything wrong, Susan would be pissed at me and accuse me of being jealous and she would be right.

    It seemed like, after that, any social gathering we attended where Fred was, he would be sniffing around Susan.

    One Saturday evening as Ed Monroe and I were cooking steaks on the grill I told him about Fred hitting on Susan every chance he got.

    "Have you said anything to Susan?" Ed asked.

    "Yes. She accused me of being jealous and told me I had nothing to worry about. I am afraid if I bring it up again it will sound like I am telling her that I don't trust her and that is not the case. I would just like Fred to stay away from her."

    "Then why don't you just tell Fred to stay away?"

    "I thought of that but I am afraid if I did that he would tell her I told him to stay away from her. That would make things even worse."

    "If he was hitting on Linda like that," Ed said, "I would just tell Linda that I don't like him hanging around her like that. I would tell her about his reputation and say that it is not that I don't trust her but other people that know his reputation are going to wonder why she spends so much time talking to him. I know Linda would understand that and would let Fred know in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in him."

    I thought about what Ed said for a minute and could see how that might work. I decided that the next time that Fred hit on Susan I would have that talk with her.

    The following weekend, Susan told me that her car was giving her a lot of trouble and that since it was seven years old she wanted to go shopping for a new car. I started to suggest that we just fix her old car and she gave me a dirty look.

    "Your car is only two years old and I have to drive around in that old piece of junk," she said.

    I knew right away that there was no way I was going to win any arguments about her car so I gave in.

    "What kind of car would you like?" I asked.

    "I want a mini-van."

    "A mini van? Why would you want a mini-van?"

    "I just want something with more room in the back for carrying groceries and stuff," she said.

    "You always make fun of the soccer moms with their mini-vans and now you want one?"

    "One of the girls I work with has one and it is really nice. So I decided I would get one," she said.

    I knew that Susan did deserve a new car and I decided that if she wanted a mini-van that's what we would get. That Saturday we went out and bought a new Honda Odyssey.

    That Monday evening after work I asked Susan what her friends thought of her new car.

    "Everyone loved it. I took the girls out to lunch today and they were all very impressed," she said. "When we got back to the parking lot Mr. Fisher walked over to me and asked if he could take a look inside. He checked it out and said that he really liked it and asked if I would give him a ride in it sometime. Then he said that he wondered if I would loan it to him some weekend so he could use it to go up to his cabin at the lake."

    "No fucking way," I said. "No way we are loaning anyone a brand new van for a weekend," I said almost shouting.

    "What are you getting so upset about? I have no intention of loaning him my van," Susan said.

    I apologized to Susan for snapping at her and told her I was just a little tired, which was partly true but wasn't the reason for my outburst. There was something about Mr. John Fisher, head of human resources at Dyson, that I had never mentioned to Susan. I knew where his so-called cabin at the lake was. It was more like a house. A few years ago some friends of mine from work and I had taken my boat up to the lake to do some fishing and we saw John pull up to his cabin with a beautiful young girl. John is in his mid thirties and this girl looked to be about twenty.

    I pointed them out to my companions and my buddy Shawn said, "That's Jackie Sullivan. She just started working at Dyson a couple of weeks ago. She's one of the secretaries in my department."

    Then Lenny, one of my other buddies said, "She's just one in a long line of beautiful new hires that have seen the ceiling of John's bedroom. He likes to bring new hires out here to indoctrinate them."

    Everyone laughed. I asked if they knew for a fact that he was doing that and Lenny said that he was told by a couple of the women he hired that coming to the cabin was almost a condition of employment. They said they never complained because they wanted the job and John treated them well and only made them come out here one time. The guys made several off color jokes about John Fisher and his cabin. I was the only one not laughing. I was wondering if Susan had made the trip out here to John's cabin when she was hired into Dyson. That possibility was painful to think about even though if it did happen it would have been before I had met her. Just the thought of Susan possibly having slept with that scumbag was making me sick.

    That night when I got home from the fishing trip, while I was cleaning out the boat, I decided not to ever say anything to Susan about John Fisher or the games he was playing with new hires. I was not going to let whatever Susan might have done before we met change the way I felt about her.

    Two months ago Mr. Dyson announced that Clay International Electronics was interested in buying Dyson Electronics. Mr. Dyson said that the deal was dependent on our second quarter results that were due out in one week. Mr. Dyson also said that if Clay International did buy the company we could expect some changes but he didn't think anything would happen immediately.

    As it turned out our second quarter results were exactly what Clay International wanted to see and they planned to move ahead with the purchase of Dyson Electronics. When Mr. Dyson informed us of Clay International's decision he invited all 185 employees of Dyson Electronics to a party at his house to celebrate the sale of his company. Mr. Dyson has a big place out in the country with a large swimming pool, lots of big oak trees and beautiful gardens and he likes to show it off.

    While Mr. Dyson was ready to celebrate the sale of his company, most of his employees were worried about what would happen to their jobs when Clay International took over.

    On Friday, the day before Mr. Dyson's party, I was told that I would have to go to Atlanta Monday for a contract negotiation. It was not unusual for me to be sent out to do contract negotiations but I usually had more advanced notice of an upcoming trip. That evening I was telling Susan about the upcoming trip when she told me that Ed and Linda were going to stop over later for drinks. For Susan and I this visit was a welcome diversion from our worries about what was going to happen after Clay International took over Dyson's. We did talk about the coming take over and our concerns but we also talked about taking the boat out the following weekend and other happier topics.

    We had just opened our third round of beers when Ed told us about a purchase he and Linda had made.

    "Linda and I were up in Concord Thursday evening and we found this great antique roll top desk. The price was right so I just had to buy it," Ed said.

    "He was writing the check before he thought to discuss it with me," Linda said.

    "You said you liked it."

    "I do like it but it is so big where are we going to put it," Linda said.

    "We'll figure that our when we get it home," Ed said.

    "Great plan," Linda said.

    "I have to go pee," I said and got up. "I hope you two are done fighting by the time I get back."

    "You call this fighting? Linda and I don't consider it a fight unless one of us has to go to the hospital," Ed said.

    "And it is usually Ed that ends up in the hospital," Linda said.

    We were all laughing and Ed said, "That's true."

    When I got back from the bathroom they were all silent. I looked at Ed and then at Linda before I sat down.

    "I guess the fight ended in a tie," I said. "No apparent injuries to either party."

    We all laughed and then I turned to Susan.

    "Susan, I almost forgot. I am going to have to go into the office tomorrow to finish some reports that are due next week," I said. "I have to get them done before the party tomorrow."

    "Why do they have to be done tomorrow?" Susan said.

    "Did you forget already? I will be in Atlanta until Wednesday or Thursday next week," I said.

    "Will you be done in time for the party?" Susan said.

    "I don't know. We may have to go late."

    Ed and Linda went home around eleven o'clock and Susan and I headed for bed shortly after they left.

    *****

    Mr. Dyson's party was scheduled to start at three o'clock in the afternoon so Saturday morning I got up early and ate breakfast with Susan. As I was drinking my second cup of coffee Susan said, "Before you go into the office, would you do me a favor?"

    "What do you need?" I asked.

    "Would you remove the seats from the back of my van? I told Ed and Linda they could borrow it to pick up that antique desk they bought."

    I was about to say something but Susan stopped me. "It's my van and if I want to loan it to our friends so they can pick up their new desk I don't need your permission."

    "I never said you did. I was just going to say that I will take the seats out before I leave for the office." That wasn't what I was really going to say but it was the better part of valor.

    I finished my breakfast and then went out to the garage to remove the seats from the two back rows in Susan's van so Ed and Linda would be able to get his antique desk into it. Then I went into the office to finish several sales reports that I wasn't going to have time to do the following week. At one o'clock I was still sitting in my office working on the reports when Susan called and asked me if I was going to be home soon. I looked at the stack of reports I still had in front of me and told her that I had at least another two hours before I would be finished. Then I suggested that she go ahead to the party and I would get there as soon as I could.

    It was four o'clock when I finished the last of the reports and headed to my car for the hour-long drive out to Mr. Dyson's house. I was going to call Susan once I got on the road to let her know when I expected to get to the party but like a fool I had left my cell phone at home that morning. I arrived at the party shortly after five o'clock and I went into the house and looked for Susan. There were several people in the house but Susan wasn't among them.

    I asked a girl I knew from the accounting department if she had seen Susan.

    "I saw her earlier," she said. "She was out in the yard talking to Fred Lydon."

    I immediately felt a knot in my stomach. I was going to have to talk to Susan about Fred again and I wasn't going to wait till we got home. I went out into the back yard and looked around but didn't see Susan anywhere. I asked a couple of people if they had seen Susan and one of them told me that they had seen her but that was more than an hour earlier.

    I was beginning to get upset. I was sure that Susan wasn't doing anything wrong but not being able to find her was worrying me. I walked around asking people if they had seen Susan and most said that they had seen her earlier but hadn't seen her in a while. I walked over to a guy who was standing watching people in the swimming pool and asked him if he knew Susan and he said that he didn't. Then I asked him if he knew Fred Lydon.

    "Yes, I know Fred," he said.

    "Have you seen him?" I asked.

    "I saw him heading to his car about an hour ago."

    I don't know what made me ask. "Was anyone with him?"

    "Yes. He was with a tall very attractive blond," he said. "I think they came together."

    Suddenly I felt myself begin to panic. Had Susan come to the party with Fred? Had she left with him? I just couldn't believe that she would do that. Not Susan. I spun around hoping to see Susan somewhere in the yard but I didn't see her. I hurried back though the house and out to where the cars were parked and looked for Susan's van. It wasn't there.

    I felt all of the energy drain from my body and I felt like I just wanted to go lie down somewhere. I went around to the far side of my car where no one would see me and I slumped to the ground. I put my head between my knees and took deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. There had to be some other explanation for why I could not find Susan. I knew she had come to the party because at least three people had seen her there. I also knew that she had been seen talking to Fred Lydon. I also knew that Fred had been seen leaving the party with a woman that fit Susan's description. These things did not add up to a happy conclusion. Part of my brain was telling me that Susan would not do that to me. She would not cheat on me. The other part of my brain was asking me how I could be so sure that she wouldn't cheat.

    As I tried to think of what to do next the term 'zero tolerance' flashed into my head. I pushed that thought out of my head. It would not come to that. I refused to believe that Susan would do anything that would cause me to leave her.

    I knew that if she did leave the party with someone she would have to come back eventually because she knew that I would be there soon. The only thing I could do was to go back to the party and wait for her.

    To be continued...


    Zero Tolerance Ch. 02

    I walked through the house in a daze and went out into the back yard again. I needed to try and eat something to settle my stomach and get my nerves under control while I waited for Susan to return. I was at the food table trying to decide what foods my stomach could handle when I heard a voice behind me. It took me a minute to realize the voice was directed at me. When I turned around I found Mr. Dyson standing behind me.

    "I see you finally made it, Mark," he said. "Where is that lovely wife of yours? I saw her here earlier."

    "I don't know," I said. "I haven't been able to find her."

    "Did you try calling her? I know she had her cell phone with her."

    "I forgot my phone so I wasn't able to call her."

    Mr. Dyson pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to me and said, "Here, use mine."

    I wondered why I hadn't thought to just ask someone if I could borrow their phone. I punched in Susan's number and waited nervously for it to begin ringing. I wondered where she was and what I would say to her when she answered, if she answered.

    Susan answered on the third ring.

    "Hello?"

    "Susan, where are you?"

    "I am at Dyson's where are you?"

    "I am here in the back yard but I don't see you." I said.

    Then I saw her as she stepped out from behind a large oak tree about a hundred feet away from me.

    You cannot believe the relief I felt when I saw her. I handed Mr. Dyson his phone and headed back to where Susan was waiting. When I got there I found that she had been sitting with two of the girls she works with and their husbands and to my great relief there was no sign of Fred. I couldn't believe that I had completely missed Susan sitting behind the big oak tree with her friends. If I had only had my phone with me I could have saved myself a lot of distress.

    "I didn't see your car out front when I got here," I said.

    "Brenda gave me a ride. She called me to ask when we were coming to the party and I told her that you were working and that I was going to come by myself and that you were going to meet me here. She said that she could give me a ride out here so we wouldn't have to go home in separate cars."

    "That was nice of her," I said. "Now let's get a drink and something to eat."

    I was suddenly feeling much better but Susan seemed a little uneasy. I asked her if she was all right and she said she had a bit of a headache. An hour later Susan seemed to be feeling much better and we had a good time during the rest of the party.

    On the ride home I started thinking about how I had felt when I thought Susan might have gone off with Fred and I felt my stomach start to tighten again. Then I remembered being told that Susan was seen talking to Fred at the party and began to wonder about the blond that was seen leaving the party with Fred.

    Could it have been Susan? Had she gone somewhere with him and returned before I got to the party? I was starting to make myself crazy. How was I going to find out without causing an argument? I had to know.

    I waited until we were home before I carefully broached the subject.

    "Did anything interesting happen at the party before I got there?" I said.

    "No. I just walked around talking to people for a while and then I sat with Carol and Janice and their husbands.

    "I didn't see Fred at the party. Was he there?" I asked.

    "Yes, but he left before you got there. Why are you asking me about him?"

    I was torn. I was angry with myself for even entertaining such suspicions but I was driven to pursue the answers to the questions that had been on my mind every since I had arrived at the party and couldn't find Susan. I had been trying very hard to act like I was only interested in what had gone on at the party but my next statement gave away my real intent.

    "I was just surprised that I didn't find Fred at the party talking to you. That is where I usually find him if I leave you alone for a few minutes."

    As soon as I said it I wanted to bite my tongue. I waited for Susan's angry reaction but it didn't come.

    "I saw him right after I got to the party and we talked for a while."

    There was something about the way she looked at me when she made that last comment that bothered me. It wasn't guilt that I saw. It was more a look of sadness.

    "Really?" I asked.

    Susan's expression quickly changed and she laughed at me and said, "Really. I sense that there is something still bothering you that you are not telling me. You are not still worried that Fred is trying to seduce me are you?"

    There was no anger in her voice as she spoke. It was more like she was laughing at me but then I saw that sadness again. What the hell was that?

    "Mark, why don't you tell me what's really on your mind," she said, "

    "I'd rather not," I said, "I am ashamed of myself for what I thought."

    "Now you have to tell me," Susan said. "I am not letting you get away with a statement like that and not tell me everything."

    "You have to promise not to get mad."

    "I'll wait till I hear what you have to say before I make any promises."

    So I told her the whole story about how I couldn't find her when I arrived at the party and how I was told that she was seen talking with Fred. I told her that someone told me that they saw a tall very attractive blond leave with Fred. I told her about the panic I felt and how sick it made me. Then I waited for the anger but it didn't come. Again, I saw the brief look of sadness but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. I wasn't even sure if I had really seen it.

    "You thought I might have gone off somewhere with Fred?' This Susan said not with anger but with impatience. "I told you before, Fred doesn't mean anything to me. I just get a kick out of the way he is always trying to flirt with me. It hurts me that you actually thought that I might have been with him today. Fred is no threat to you. I can't believe you still don't trust me."

    "You're right. I shouldn't have doubted you," I said.

    "Well, it should make you happy to know that Fred came to the party with a date. She was tall, blond, attractive and married. They only stayed for a short time."

    Susan kissed me and said, "I guess this is partly my fault. I knew you didn't like it when Fred flirted with me and I should have been more sensitive about your feelings. I'll make a deal with you. If you don't act jealous anymore I will stay away from Fred. Okay?"

    I agreed.

    "Why don't we go upstairs," she said, "and you can thank me."

    Thank her? I wasn't sure what she meant by that.

    As I followed Susan up the stairs I couldn't help staring at her wonderful ass in her tight shorts. It was right in front of my face. When we got to the top of the stairs I pulled Susan's shorts and panties down and stuck my tongue between her nicely rounded globes. I took her right there at the top of the stairs and then we went to bed and made love again very slowly.

    Afterward as we lay in each other's arms we began to talk.

    "Don't you think it's time we started a family?" Susan asked.

    "I am ready if you are," I said. "You're the one that has wanted to wait."

    "I know but I am ready now," Susan said. "I stopped taking my birth control pills last week."

    "You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

    "I didn't tell you because I wanted to wait until I was fertile again, like I was tonight," she said. "So it may already be too late for you to change your mind about wanting a baby."

    I kissed Susan and said, "I hope it is too late."

    *****

    Sunday morning I went out to the garage to put the seats back into Susan's van when I noticed that the passenger side had a lot of mud splattered on it. I decided to take the van out to the self-service car wash and clean it up for Susan. She hated to drive the van when it was dirty. I could have washed it at home but I had another reason I wanted to slip out of the house.

    I went into the house and found Susan doing laundry and she looked up at me as I approached.

    "Why don't we ask Ed and Linda to come over for drinks tonight?" Susan said.

    "That's fine with me but remember I have to go to Atlanta in the morning so they can't stay late."

    "I almost forgot about your trip," Susan said. "How long will you be gone?"

    "If everything goes well I'll be home Wednesday night, if not Thursday night," I said. "Why do you ask? Are you planning to take a lover while I'm gone?"

    "Only if I can find one that is better in bed than you." Susan was laughing as she said that.

    As I headed back out of the house I called back to Susan, "I'm going to take the van out to get it washed. I'll be gone a couple of hours."

    "You don't need to do that. I was going to clean it myself later," Susan yelled.

    I pretended not to hear and I left Susan to deal with the dirty underwear and I headed out to run my errand. In addition to washing the truck I wanted to stop by the mall and buy a gift for Susan. The gift was to be part apology for thinking that she might have gone off with Fred and it was part thank you for understanding my feelings about Fred and finally agreeing to avoid him in the future. It was also something I wanted to do for the mother to be even if she wasn't pregnant yet.

    The stop at the mall didn't take very long. I already knew what I wanted to get. It was a pair of diamond earrings that Susan had said she liked. I also stopped by the Hallmark store and bought a card to go with the gift. With my purchases made I left the mall and headed off to the car wash.

    I pulled up in front of the vacuum cleaners and started with the front seat and when that was done I opened the side doors to clean the back. Behind the drivers seat I found a bag from MacDonald's. The bag was lying on its side and there was a wet spot on the floor around it. Apparently Ed and Linda had stopped at MacDonald's when they went to pick up their antique desk. I wished that they hadn't left the bag in the van. When it tipped over the melting ice in their drink cups spilled out and soaked through the bag. I just hoped it didn't leave a stain on the carpet.

    When I picked the bag up the wet paper split open and two drink cups, two Big Mac wrappers, one super sized French fry container with a few fries left in it, two used napkins, four empty ketchup containers and a tissue spilled out onto the floor of the van. I was cursing Ed as I used one of the cups to gather up the trash that had fallen out of the bag. I had everything in the cup except the tissue, which I really didn't want to handle because I figured one of them had blown their nose in it. I carefully picked the tissue up by the corner and I got a real shock when a used condom fell out of the tissue. Luckily, the condom had been tied to keep its contents from leaking out but that didn't make finding it any less disturbing.

    I was a little pissed at Ed and Linda. I didn't really care that they had a quickie with their lunch in the back of the van but they should have had the decency to get rid of the evidence. Susan was almost obsessive when it came to keeping her van clean and I was sure she would have a fit if she knew what Ed and Linda had done in it. I decided to keep the condom and give it back to Ed that night as both a joke and a subtle hint that they should have cleaned up after themselves.

    I used the tissue to carefully picked the condom up and drop it into the empty drink cup and put it under the driver's seat and then I got rid of the rest of the trash. After that I finished cleaning the inside of the truck and then washed it. Later, when I got home I didn't mention my discovery to Susan. No reason she would ever have to know about it.

    At six o'clock that evening I went up to my room to pack for my trip. Once I had my bag packed I wrapped Susan's gift and I was getting ready to sign the card I bought when I heard her coming upstairs. I quickly hid the gift and the card in my bag just before Susan came into the room.

    She had a strange expression on her face when she came into the room but she didn't say anything. She just stood there looking at me as if she expected me to say something.

    "What?"

    "You better get changed. Ed and Linda will be here in about a half hour," she said and then left the room.

    I was sure that something was bothering Susan but I had no idea what it might be. I quickly washed up and changed. I went back downstairs and found Susan fixing some snacks. When I entered the kitchen she looked up at me as though she was again waiting for me to say something.

    "Is something bothering you?" I asked.

    "No. Should there be?"

    "I don't think so but you keep looking at me as if I smelled like dog shit." I said.

    Susan laughed.

    "No, you don't smell like dog poop. I was just wondering if you were going to make love to me tonight. Just in case we didn't make a baby last night."

    "It would be my great pleasure to make love to you tonight," I said.

    Susan seemed to have returned to normal. She was smiling and relaxed as she continued to fix the snacks.

    Ed and Linda arrived a few minutes later and we all went out onto the deck where I had an ice chest full of beer and we sat around and relaxed. There seemed to be two different conversations going on all the time. I would be talking to Ed and Susan to Linda and then it was me talking to Linda and Ed to Susan and only occasionally were all four of us talking about the same thing.

    After finishing two beers I went into the house to use the bathroom. As I stood there relieving myself I decided that saving that used condom was a little sick so instead of returning to the group on the deck I slipped out to the garage to get rid of it. I opened the side door and reached under the driver's seat but the cup wasn't there. I put my head on the floor so I could look under the seat but couldn't find it. I thought that it must have slipped out while I was driving so I searched the whole inside of the van but still could not find the cup.

    I thought back over my actions and tried to remember for sure what I did with that cup. I was absolutely certain that I had put it under the seat. Then it occurred to me that Susan must have been in the van looking for something and found the cup. I hoped that she had tossed it in the trash without looking inside. I opened the trashcan in the garage but neither the cup nor the used condom was in there. That's when it hit me that Susan must have seen the used condom. She knew I took the van to the car wash so there shouldn't have been any trash left in the van. Susan must have wondered why the cup was hidden under the driver's seat with a used condom in it. Then she probably would have wondered why it took me two hours to get the van washed.

    Those odd looks she had been giving me earlier suddenly made sense. Susan must have wondered if the used condom in the van belonged to me. Could she have been thinking that I had been messing around with someone in the back of the van when I was supposed to be at the car wash?

    I should never have brought that used condom home with me. In order to convince her that the condom wasn't mine I would have to tell her it was Ed's and then I would have to explain why I had saved the used condom. What kind of sicko keeps someone else's used condoms?

    My one hope was that Susan didn't look inside the cup but just took it out and threw it in the trashcan outside. I wondered if I should just keep my mouth shut and wait to see if Susan said anything. I knew that wasn't a good idea. If she didn't say anything I wouldn't know what she was thinking and I didn't want to leave town for three or four days if she was thinking that I might have cheated on her. I was going to have to address it with her as soon as Ed and Linda went home.

    When I went back out on the deck Susan gave me another of those looks.

    "Where have you been?" She asked. "We were beginning to think you fell in."

    Somehow I sensed that she knew what I had been doing. She knew that I had gone out to check on the prize I had hidden under the seat. I decided then to hint at what Ed and Linda had done in the van and hope that Susan would catch on.

    I started by asking Ed about their trip to Concord.

    "How was the trip up to Concord yesterday?" I asked.

    "It was fine," Ed said.

    "Did you have any fun on the trip?" I asked.

    "Fun? What kind of fun can you have on a trip to Concord?" Ed responded.

    It seemed to me that Ed was determined not to admit to anything and when I looked at Linda I saw no sign of embarrassment on her part. If I didn't know better I might have thought that they didn't leave that condom in the van.

    It's funny how we move through our lives. We make decisions about where we want to be years from now and then make plans on how we are going to get there. Everything moves slowly and you always think there is plenty of time but them something happens that changes everything in the blink of an eye. That's what happened when I asked my next question.

    "Did you have any trouble getting the desk into the van?"

    "Oh, we didn't use the van. I wasn't sure if the desk would fit in your van so I had my father-in-law drive me up to concord in his pick up truck."

    I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Susan was looking at me. When I looked up she turned away but before she did I saw that she had the same expression on her face as she did when she came into the bedroom as I was hiding her gift.

    I felt sick for rest of the evening. I just wanted Ed and Linda to leave so I could talk to Susan about what I found in the van.

    Ed and Linda finally left around 10:15 PM. Susan started cleaning up the kitchen while I got rid of the empty bottles and took some papers down to the trash can. I looked around quickly to see if Susan could see me and when I was comfortable that she couldn't I made a quick search of the trashcan. There wasn't much in it, just a few food wrappers and a Macdonald's cup. After another look to make sure Susan wasn't looking I reached in the can and pulled out the cup. The condom was not inside. I looked around inside the trashcan but there was no sign of that condom. I wondered what Susan had done with it.

    I went back into the house full of trepidation. As hard as I tried I could come up with no reasonable explanation for finding that condom in Susan's van.

    When I walked into the kitchen Susan gave me that look again. Was it guilt? Was she waiting for me to ask her about the condom so she could start confessing her sins? I knew that I was going to have to pick the time for this conversation. I had to make sure that I was calm enough to handle the answers to my questions. I was still holding out hope that there was an explanation that would not destroy our marriage.

    I decide that I would wait until we got upstairs and then say something like, "Did you throw away the cup I had under the seat in the truck? I found it while I was cleaning out the van. Do you know how it got there?" The question wouldn't be in the form of an accusation. It would give her a chance to answer me calmly. Then it would be up to me to decide if she was telling me the truth or not.

    While Susan was filling the dishwasher I headed upstairs to the bedroom. I was getting nervous when it seemed to be taking Susan longer than it should to finish loading the dishwasher. I listened at the top of the stirs for a few minutes. I could not hear anything for a while and then I heard the squeak of one of our kitchen chairs as Susan got up. I guess she had been sitting there trying to decide how to handle things.

    Finally I heard Susan approaching the stairs so I ducked back into the bedroom and pretended to be finishing my packing when she came into the room. Susan stood at the door looking at me with that strange expression on her face again and then without saying a word she came over and kissed me.

    It was a deep tongue kiss that started the blood flowing into my soon to be erect cock. For the next couple of minutes I kept waiting for Susan to pull away from me and to either confess or wait for me to ask her about the condom.

    After the kiss Susan didn't say anything so I knew it was up to me.

    "Susan, did you throw away the MacDonald's cup that was under the seat in the van?" I asked.

    I felt Susan's body stiffen and she hesitated a minute before she said, "Yes. I was looking for my sunglasses and saw the cup under the seat."

    "Did you happen to see what was inside the cup?" I asked.

    "Yes. I have been wondering how that got there." She answered quickly.

    "I found it yesterday when I was cleaning the interior of the van. It was in a MacDonald's bag along with food wrappers and drink cups. The bag was wet from the melted ice in the cups and when I tried to pick the bag up it broke open. The condom had been wrapped in a tissue. I thought at the time that Ed and Linda must have had a little party on the way to Concord but they didn't use the van yesterday."

    "Why didn't you throw it away?"

    "I don't know," I said. "I was a little pissed when I found it. I was going to say something to Ed about it tonight but decided to just forget about it instead."

    "Good thing you didn't confront him with it. That would have been embarrassing."

    Susan seemed to be relaxed as she started getting undressed. I wondered, if she was innocent, why wasn't she questioning me about the source of that used condom?

    "So Susan, where do you think that condom came from?"

    Susan's face flushed red as she began to speak. "You promise not to get angry?"

    "How can I promise that when I have no idea what you are going to say?" I said as calmly as possible.

    "Yesterday, after Ed and Linda left for Concord with Linda's father John Fisher called and asked me if he could borrow the van for a few hours to run some errands. I said he could. I can't believe he left that mess in the van. I will give him hell for it next time I see him."

    "Jesus, why the hell would you let him borrow the van." I almost yelled.

    "Don't get like that with me. That is my van and if I want to loan it to a friend I will," Susan yelled back at me.

    I didn't like the idea of Susan loaning her van to John Fisher but at least that explained the used condom. Banging one of his new hires in the back of the van was just the kind of stunt he would pull.

    Susan striped off her bra and panties and put a sexy nightgown and then said she was going down to get a glass of water and asked it I wanted anything. I told her to bring me a glass too.

    When she left the room I got her gift and the card out of my bag and started looking around the room for a pen. I couldn't find one and when I heard Susan coming back up the stairs I took the gift and the card into the bathroom and hid them in my drawer.

    I went back into the bedroom as Susan was setting the glasses of water on the bedside table.

    "Do you have a pen up here?" I asked.

    "I think there's one in my handbag. Why."

    "You'll see in a minute," I said as I grabbed her handbag off the floor and headed into the bathroom.

    It always amazed me how much junk Susan had in her handbag. I had to pull a lot of stuff out before I found a pen. I quickly signed the card and began stuffing things back into her bag and wondering why she never throws anything away. It always struck me as being funny that she would be obsessively neat in some areas of her life and a slob in other areas. Her handbag was a perfect example of the latter. During this process of putting things back into her bag I dropped something on the floor. I looked down I saw a five dollar bill and two one dollar bills folded together. When I picked them up I noticed that there was a piece of paper folded up with that money. That was typical of Susan. She would buy something and when she got her change she would just roll the bills together with the receipt and stuff them in her bag.

    "What's going on in there?" Susan shouted from the bedroom. "You've been gone fifteen minutes."

    "I'll be there in a minute," I said.

    I guess it was probably another ten minutes before I went back into the bedroom.

    Susan was lying on the bed when I came into the room and she stood up and moved toward me as I approached the bed. Susan kissed me and said, "Are we going to make a baby tonight?"

    Susan kissed me again and pushed her hand inside my pants and started stroking my semi-erect member. Susan sat down on the edge of the bed and opened my pants and pushed them down and helped me step out of them. She did the same with my underpants and then took my cock into her mouth and was soon bringing me close to a climax. I managed to control myself and pull away from her. I picked Susan up and dropped her on the bed and then I striped off my clothes I joined Susan on the bed and began to explore her body with my hands and tongue.

    I kissed and licked her neck as I watched the goose flesh pop out on her thighs. I opened her nightgown and moved down to take a nipple into my mouth as I slowly inserted a finger into her pussy. I would have thought by the way she came after me that she was already hot and very aroused but I was somewhat surprised to find that she wasn't very wet. I worked my finger deeper into her sex and began to tease her clitoris with my thumb. Soon Susan's love channel began to respond coating my fingers with her natural juices. When Susan began to breathe hard I moved down and began to give her oral pleasure and I enjoyed the taste of her hot sex. I sucked Susan's clitoris between my lips and flicked my tongue across it until she erupted into orgasm.

    After her orgasm I rolled Susan onto her stomach and lifted her hips up so that she was on her knees and then I pushed the stiff blood engorged cock into her from behind and pounded Susan until I felt my climax begin to build. When I knew that I could hold back no longer I pulled out of Susan's dripping pussy and began stroking my cock by hand as I shot my load of hot semen onto her ass.

    When I was sure that my balls were empty I got off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash my cock off. Then I returned to the bedroom and began to get dressed as Susan watched me with a look of disbelief on her face.

    "Why did you do that and why are you getting dressed?" she asked.

    "Why did I do what?"

    "Why did you pull out and cum on my butt? I can't get pregnant if you don't cum inside me," she said.

    I didn't say anything until I slipped my shoes on.

    "I have to go. I am going to stay at one of the hotels out by the airport," I said.

    "What's going on?" Susan asked. "You are beginning to scare me."

    "If I stay here things are likely to get a lot more scary," I said.

    "I don't understand. Tell me what is going on."

    "Okay. You want to know why I pulled out? I pulled out because I don't want to have a baby with you," I said.

    Somehow I managed to enjoy the look of shock on her face.

    For a moment Susan looked like she might start crying. "I don't understand. Why are you acting this way?" she asked.

    "I decided to let your other lover get you pregnant. After I leave you can call him and tell him that he no longer has to use a condom when he fucks you. That should make you both very happy," I said.

    "Mark, what are you talking about?"

    "Susan, it's over. I know that whoever used that condom used it to fuck you."

    The look on Susan's face was one of her unreadable expressions. I couldn't even tell if she cared that she had been found out.

    "Where would you get an idea like that, Mark? How could you think that I would ever cheat on you?" Susan said.

    "If you bothered to clean out your handbag once in a while, you might have gotten away with this," I said and pulled two slips of paper out of my pocket and threw them at her. "Do you know what I was doing all that time I was in the bathroom? When I went out today I bought you those diamond earrings you like so much. I wanted to give them to you tonight to express my love to you. I also bought a card to go with the gift. That's why I needed a pen."

    Susan was totally confused. She still didn't know where I was headed with my ramblings.

    "I found the pen in the bottom of your bag. I also found these two receipts. The first one was issued at 12:30 PM yesterday at MacDonald's. I thought it was quite a coincidence that you bought two Big Macs, one large order of fires and two medium drinks and I found a MacDonald's bag in the back of the van with the remains of that exact meal.

    "Being the trusting husband that I am I searched the rest of your bag looking for anything that would prove me wrong. So what did I find? A receipt from Thompson's Pharmacy dated yesterday afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I saw that you purchased a package of condoms and a tube of vaginal moisturizer. Now why the fuck would you need those items?"

    Susan's eyes were opened wide and her face had gone complete white. When she didn't say anything I bent down and finished tying my shoes. That task completed I straightened up again and I looked over at Susan. She was staring at me seemingly unable to speak.

    "By the way. I will be returning the diamond earrings," I said. "Somehow I don't think you deserve them."

    As I picked up my bag and started out of the room Susan finally found her voice.

    "Please don't go. Let's talk about this."

    I gave her a look like I thought she was crazy. "Talk about what?" I asked. "You fucked someone behind my back and then tried to lie to me when I found the evidence. You cheat on me then tell me you want to have a baby with me. How can you calmly sit there and act like we have anything more to discuss?"

    "You can't go out of town being mad at me. We need to talk about this."

    "What the fuck have you been smoking? You think I am just supposed to forgive you for fucking some guy in the back of your van? What, do you think your still a fucking teenager?"

    "Mark, I know you're upset but let me explain..."

    "There are three things I don't want to hear from you right now," I said. "I don't want to hear you say that you can explain. I don't want to hear you say that you are sorry and I don't want to hear you say that you didn't mean to hurt me."

    I still couldn't read the expression on Susan's face. I thought I saw a tear but she appeared to be so calm that I doubted it. I would have expected her to be crying and begging me for another chance. I was beginning to think that she really didn't care. How could she have been the sexual dynamo she had been the past two nights as she told me how much she loved me and that she wanted to have my baby and then turn around and tear my heart out? Had all that been just an act? Had she just stopped loving me?

    "Mark, please stay and talk to me."

    "The only thing I want to know before I leave is how long have you been cheating on me?" I asked.

    "Yesterday was the first, last and only time but I wasn't really cheating. Not the way you're thinking," she replied.

    I didn't know what the hell she was trying to say and I really didn't care. I looked at Susan to see if I could get any kind of hint as to what was going on inside her head but nothing in her expression gave me any kind of clue. I wasn't sure that it would have made any difference anyway.

    "Good bye, Susan," I said as I headed for the stairs.

    "Why are you leaving?" Susan asked and for the first time I could hear a little panic in her voice.

    "Do you remember the discussion we had before we had sex for the first time? When we swore to each other that we would never be unfaithful."

    "Yes," she said, "Of course I remember that."

    "Well, I guess I believed you meant it, because I did. There were two words you used that night that I have lived with all these years. Do you remember?"

    Susan didn't answer.

    "Zero Tolerance," I said and then I walked down the stairs and out of the house.

    To be continued...


    Zero Tolerance Ch. 03


    I stayed at the Hampton Inn near the airport that night and left for Atlanta in the morning. The four days I spent in Atlanta were very painful for me. I managed to keep myself together during the day while I was working but when I got back to my hotel room at night I was a mess. I couldn't help but think of Susan and all of the wonderful times we had together over the years we had been together. What made her change? Why would she suddenly feel the need to take another lover and of all people, why Fred?

    By the end of the four days I was mentally drained. I returned to Charlotte that Friday morning and went straight to the house. I knew Susan wouldn't be there because I had called the office and checked to make sure she was at work. I spent about two hours packing as many of my clothes as I could and then checked into a cheap motel near the office and began looking for an apartment.

    "Jim, I haven't spoken to Susan since I left the house that night," I said. "It almost kills me when I see her at work. I know I still have feelings for her but I can't get past what she did to me."

    "I wondered what was going on," Jim said. "I have seen Susan come in here several times over the last few weeks. She doesn't stay long. She has a drink and then leaves. I wondered why you weren't with her," Jim said.

    "Susan has been trying to get me to talk to her but I don't return her calls and I avoid going anywhere that I might run into her. That's the reason I haven't been around here lately," I said. "This morning she cornered me in my office and begged me to meet her here this afternoon so we could talk. She said that if I would talk to her today she would not bother me again."

    "Oh, shit man, I am really sorry things have gone so bad for your marriage. I would never have believed that Susan would cheat on you," Jim said.

    "I wouldn't have either."

    Just then Jim looked up over my shoulder. "Here she comes now," Jim said. "Why don't you go take a booth and I'll come over and get your drink orders. That will give you more privacy."

    "Thanks, Jim."

    I got off the bar stool and turned to meet Susan. As she approached me I pointed to a booth and said, "Why don't we sit over there?"

    Susan didn't say anything, she just turned and walked to the booth and sat down. I slid into the booth on the opposite side. Although she was still a beautiful woman, Susan looked sad and tired. I didn't feel any sympathy for her. The pain she had caused me left me unable to feel anything.

    "How are you, Mark?" she asked.

    "How do you think I am? It's only been five weeks since you destroyed my world."

    "I'm sorry," Susan said. "That was a stupid question."

    "You will forgive me if I don't ask how you have been, because I really don't give a shit," I said.

    The expression on Susan's face told me that my last remark hurt her. Good.

    "This is your meeting," I said. "What is it you wanted to say to me?"

    "I know this probably doesn't mean much to you," she said, "and you have made it clear that this is not what you want to hear from me but I have to say this. I am sorry that I hurt you and I am sorry for what I did. It was stupid but I didn't do it for the reasons you think. I want to explain what happened so please just listen to me." First, I want you to know that I never stopped loving you."

    "I think perhaps you did at least for a few hours that Saturday afternoon."

    "No. It wasn't like that. Let me try to explain," she said.

    "I don't think there is any explanation for what you did to me," I said, "at least none that I would ever understand. Are you in love with him?"

    "In love with him? No, of course not. I love you."

    "You see? That's what I will never understand," I said. "If you were in love with me, why would you fuck him? At Mr. Dyson's party you looked me in the eye and lied to me. You said that he came to the party with a date. The truth was that you were his date that afternoon, weren't you? Did you think you could just fuck him and no one would ever find out?"

    "About whom are you talking?" Susan asked.

    "You know very well who I am talking about. Your boyfriend Fred."

    "Fred? It wasn't Fred. I didn't lie about him. It was John Fisher I was with Saturday afternoon," she said.

    I was stunned. I had never considered that it might be John that she was with. "John Fisher? I guess it should have occurred to me that it was John. After all, you did say that John had asked to borrow the van that day. You just failed to mention that he borrowed you as well." I said. "So how long has this affair been going on?"

    "It was just a one time thing, not an affair," she said.

    "When did you decide that it was a one time thing? Was that something that you both agreed upon before you fucked him? Or was it something you decided after I found his cum-filled condom in the back of your van?" I said.

    'Mark, please stop talking to me that way. I am trying to explain this as best I can. Please at least hear me out," Susan said.

    "I am sorry if my earthy description of what you did offends your delicate sensibilities but if you get to explain your actions I should at least get to vent my anger," I said.

    Susan looked down at her hands and was quiet for a moment. I took that opportunity to signal Jim to come over and get our drink orders. Susan ordered her drink without looking at Jim and didn't say another word until he went back to the bar.

    "Mark, I want to try and explain why this happened. It will be difficult and it probably won't make any difference in how you feel about me right now but you have to hear me out," she said. "It is just as important for you to know this as it is for me to tell you."

    Before Susan could say anymore Jim returned with our drinks. Susan waited until Jim left and then cleared her throat.

    "Mark, I know how this is going to sound but it's the truth," Susan said. "What I did with John I did for us. At least that is what I thought I was doing at the time."

    "You did it for us?" I said. I felt my face getting hot along with my temper. "What the fuck does that mean? How does your fucking someone else help us?"

    That was about all I could handle. I started to get out of the booth to leave but Susan grabbed my arm. "Please stay and let me explain."

    I reluctantly sat back down. I decided that no matter how difficult it was for me that I would sit and listen to Susan's explanation without comment. I would wait till she finished before saying anything more. I said, "Okay, go ahead."

    *****

    The following is what Susan told me.

    "Some of what I told you before was true. That morning Ed came over and thanked me for offering to let him use the van but then told me that after looking at it he didn't think they would be able to fit the desk into the van. He said that his father-in-law had a big pickup truck and he was going to help them get the desk.

    "After he left I got a phone call from John Fisher. John said that he had something important he needed to talk to me about and asked me to meet him at the MacDonald's restaurant on South Tryon. I tried to get him to tell me what he wanted but he just kept telling me that it was important to you and me and he didn't want to discuss it over the phone. I certainly wasn't planning to have sex with him. The thought had never crossed my mind.

    "When I got to McDonald's John climbed into the van with me. He asked if I had eaten lunch yet and I told him that I hadn't. He then suggested that I drive around to the drive through window and we could order lunch. After we placed the order John told me that he didn't have any cash with him and asked me to pay for the food. When I looked at him he said that what he was ready to do for us was certainly worth the price of a lunch at McDonald's. So I paid for the meal.

    "We parked in the parking lot and as we ate our food John started telling me why he had asked me to meet him."

    "'Susan, you can't tell anyone about this conversation or what I am about to tell you, do you understand?' John said."

    "'I don't know if I want to hear this if it is that confidential,' I told him."

    "'This is important to you,' he said. 'Last week I met with the head of Human Resources from Clay International. They wanted to talk about the plans they had for the takeover of Dyson.'"

    "I told John that I didn't think he should be sharing any information from that meeting with me."

    "'This is important to you and Mark so just listen,' he said. 'The guy from Clay said that when they take over next month they plan to trim the work force at Dyson by thirty percent. They asked me to make a list by department of the employees that I felt should be kept on board after the take over. I have to tell you I was stunned. I was being asked to play God with people's lives. How do I make decisions about who should stay and who should go. I didn't like it but I knew if I tried to refuse the assignment I would be one of the first to be let go.'"

    "I asked John how many people he had told and he said that I was the only person he had spoken to about this. I asked him why he was telling me."

    "'Susan, I have always liked you and Mark and I want to help you. I don't know what condition your personal finances are in but if you are like most people in your income bracket you are probably only four or five paychecks away from losing your home. I would hate to see that happen to the two of you. I want to put both of your names on my list of people that should be kept on board.'"

    "'I appreciate that, John, but why are you telling me this? It makes me very uncomfortable,' I said."

    "'You need to understand that there are a lot of people in the company that would be desperate to get their names on that list,' he said."

    "When John said that, I started to worry about where this conversation was going. 'What are you trying to say, John?' I asked."

    "'It's just that I am willing to stick my neck out here for you and Mark but I need something from you in return,' John said."

    "'Something in return? Like what?' I asked."

    "'You know, Susan, I have always thought that you are a very attractive woman,' he said."

    "'John, please don't do this,' I said."

    "'Susan, come on. We have a little fun and you and Mark have your jobs protected. Quid pro quo. We could go back to your house and have a quick tumble and it's over. Just a one time thing and Mark will never know what we did. It will be our little secret how you saved your jobs.'"

    "I was feeling sick and angry but I was also worried about losing our jobs. I knew that John was right. If we lost our jobs it would only take us few months to burn through all of our savings. We would lose the cars, the boat and then the house. I didn't know how to handle this. I didn't want us to lose our jobs but I didn't want to have sex with John either."

    "The first idea that popped into my head was to stall for time. Then I might be able to set him up so that we could force him to put our names on the list. 'I need time to think about this,' I said. 'You caught me off guard and I can't make a decision about something like this on such short notice. Let me think about it over the weekend and I call you on Monday and let you know what I decided.'"

    "John smiled at me and I thought for a moment that he would agree to give me time to think it over. 'Susan, I can't give you time to try and find a way to set me up. Right now you and I are the only people who know about this conversation so I can deny any claims you make. My offer is only good for this afternoon. If you want to save your jobs you know what you have to do,' he said."

    "I was in a panic. I didn't know what to do. I know now that if I had time to think about it I would have told John to go to hell but instead I found myself negotiating with him."

    "'What would I have to do?' I asked him."

    "'Have sex with me,' he said."

    "'Where?'"

    "'At your house.' he said."

    "'No. Absolutely not,' I said."

    "'Then we will drive out to my house at the lake,' he suggested."

    "'That's too far. I have to get to Mr. Dyson party in time to meet Mark,' I said."

    "'Okay then, we'll do it right here in the van,' John said."

    "'Right here?'"

    "'No. I know a nice private place not too far from here where we can park and no one will bother us,' he said."

    "'If we are do it I want to keep my clothes on,' I said."

    "'No. I have always wanted to see your sexy body. You have to take your clothes off,' he said."

    "'All right, I'll take my clothes off but there won't be any kissing or oral sex.'"

    "'No kissing? No oral sex? I don't think I can agree to that,' he said."

    "'Then I guess this discussion is over,' I said."

    "'Wait. Okay, no kissing or oral sex but you have to let me suck on your tits,' he said."

    "I hated the thought of him doing that but as long as I didn't have to kiss or suck anything of his I agreed. 'The last thing and this is not negotiable, you must wear a condom,' I said."

    "John smiled at me and said, 'That's fine except I don't happen to have any with me. You will have to go buy some,' he said."

    "'I think you should buy them,' I said."

    ""If I have to use a condom you have to buy it,' he said."

    "The whole conversation was surreal. I had just negotiated terms for having sex with another man and at no time had I thought what I was doing wrong. I mean in terms of our marriage. I wasn't doing this for any kind of a thrill. It was something that I didn't want to do but I felt I had no choice. It didn't seem to me that I was cheating on you because I was trying to protect our jobs. By making him agree that there would be no kissing or oral sex and insisting that he wear a condom I had managed to set things up to be as sanitary and unobtrusive as possible. The big test would be to see if I could go through with it and if he would stick to the agreed upon rules."

    "We left the van at McDonald's and walked over to Thompson's Pharmacy. John went with me to make sure I didn't call anyone. I bought a three pack of condoms because that was the smallest package they came in and then I bought the vaginal moisturizer because I knew that I would have a problem getting enough natural lubrication to keep him from hurting me."

    "We left the drug store and went back to the van and John had me drive out of town about three miles and then turn down a dirt road into a wooded area. When we stopped John and I climbed into the back of the van. 'Go ahead and take your clothes off,' John said. 'I want to watch.'"

    "I hadn't thought of that part. Getting undressed in front of John was humiliating. I removed my shoes and pants and then my top. As I was unhooking my bra I noticed that John had opened his pants and was playing with his dick as he watched me. I was thoroughly disgusted with John and with myself. I put all thoughts out of my mind other than what I needed to do to get through the current situation. I removed my panties and then rolled my pants up and used them as a pillow as I spread myself out on the floor of the van."

    "John just sat watching me as he played with himself. I hated the idea that I was going to have to touch myself in front of him but I had to use the moisturizer before I could let him try to enter me. I put some of the moisturizer on my fingers and started rubbing it on the outside of my pussy and then slipped my fingers inside just long enough to spread the moisturizer where I needed it."

    "When I looked at John again, I could see he was ready. 'Put a condom on and let's do this,' I said."

    "John put his hands on my breasts and said, 'First, I have to taste these nipples.'"

    "He then began sucking on my nipples and squeezing my breasts. I don't know how long this went on because I had closed my eyes and was trying to concentrate on anything except what was happening at that moment. Mark, you'll just have to believe me when I say that I didn't enjoy it one bit. At one point I was afraid that I was going to be sick but I managed to keep myself under control."

    "Finally John put one of the condoms on and climbed between my legs. The lubrication I had used made his entry into me very easy with no pain or discomfort for me. I have to tell you this was the strangest experience I have ever had. The fact that I was not in the least aroused, I was well lubricated from the moisturizer and that John was wearing a condom made it seem as though I wasn't really having sex. I could hear John grunting as he pushed into me and I could feel his weight on my chest but that is about all I felt. I certainly wasn't getting any stimulation from his being inside me."

    "It seemed like a long time before John finally climaxed and rolled off me. When he was done he smiled at me and said, 'Now that wasn't so bad, was it?'"

    "I smiled back at him and said that it was fine but that we would never do it again."

    "'I told you that it would only be once and I am a man of my word,' he said. 'I will put Mark's and your names on the list.'"

    "I turned away from John, as I got dressed, trying to be as modest as I could under the circumstances. As soon as I was dressed I started that van and tried to back out of the spot were we had parked and I slid off the dirt road in some mud and almost got stuck. That's why there was mud all over the side of the van. When we got back to MacDonald's, John got out of the van and I left him there without saying another word to him."

    "When I got home I was in a hurry to get ready for the party and I forgot about the trash in the back of the van and never even thought about the condom. I just kind of assumed that John took it with him. I grabbed the bag from the pharmacy with the other two unused condoms and the moisturizer and brought them into the house."

    "The rest of what I told you was the truth. Brenda called me and asked when I was going to the party and then offered to give me a ride. The rest you know."

    *****

    "Why did you do it? You are smarter than that. You should have told John to go to hell," I said.

    "You're right. I should have but I didn't. I can't explain why I didn't do what I should have done. I guess I was in a panic, worrying about our jobs and I was not thinking straight," she said.

    I just shook my head in disgust. "I have a few questions," I said. "When I confronted you and you knew that you had been caught, you didn't appear to be all that upset. It seemed to me that you didn't even care. How do you explain that?"

    "I had been in a fog ever since the whole thing started, I kept trying to convince myself that what I did was not a bad thing because I did it for us. Sunday, when you said you were going to take the van to the car wash I thought of the possibility that the condom might still be in the van for the first time. I tried to stop you but you left before I could do anything.

    "I was a nervous wreck the whole time you were gone and when it took you two hours I was beginning to panic. When you came home you didn't say anything but I could tell that something was bothering you. I waited until you went upstairs to shower and then I went out to the van. When I found the cup under the seat with the condom in it I nearly fainted. You knew but you didn't say anything. I couldn't understand that. I didn't know what to do. I thought I should leave the cup where I found it but in the end I decided to get rid of the evidence. I flushed the condom down the toilet and took the cup out and put it into the trashcan.

    "I was on pins and needles until Ed and Linda came over. Their visit allowed me to take my mind off of the problem for short periods of time but every time I started to relax I would see you looking at me. I was sure that you knew what I had done and I was a wreck waiting for you to say something to me. I tried as hard as I could not to show any emotion on my face.

    "When Ed and Linda left you still didn't say anything and I was beginning to think that you were just waiting to see if I would confess. By the time you finally asked about the condom I had come up with the story that John had borrowed the van and you seemed to accept that explanation. Then you made love to me and I started to think that everything was going to be okay. For some reason I felt that if you knew what I had done you had already decided to forgive me. When you finally confronted me I had nearly convinced myself that it was no big deal. That once I told you about it you would not only forgive me but you may even tell me I did the right thing.

    "I know that doesn't make any sense but I was pretty messed up while all that was happening. It wasn't until I realized that you were really leaving that I understood how foolish I had been."

    "Why did you wait so long before coming to my office to ask me to meet with you? Was it so you would have time to make up this story?" I asked.

    "What I told you is the truth. I knew there was noting I could do to fix what I had done," she said. "I thought that even if you would talk to me you wouldn't believe anything I said and even if you did believe me I still didn't think you would ever forgive me."

    "So why talk to me at all?"

    "I knew it would only be a matter of time before I would be served divorce papers so I had to take a chance. Not for me but for us. You, me and the baby. I'm pregnant."

    I looked at Susan as if she was crazy. "You're telling me you're pregnant now?" I said.

    "I expected that you wouldn't believe me but it's true. When the baby is born you can request a DNA test and then you'll know that I am telling you the truth," she said.

    "So what now? Am I supposed to get all excited that you're going to have my baby and coming running back to you as if nothing happened?" I asked.

    "No. I don't expect you to do anything. I just wanted you to know everything, especially that you are going to be a father. What you do beyond that is up to you."

    I was angry with her for cheating. Even if she was telling the truth about what happened, which I actually believed she was, I was still angry with her for being so stupid and compromising our marriage the way she did. Was she really pregnant? Why would she lie about that? If the baby were mine I would certainly want to be a part of his or her life. But what do I do about Susan? My emotions were so screwed up at that point I couldn't think straight. When Susan slid out of the booth and started to walk out of Jimmer's I was unable to do anything except watch her leave.

    I spent the next two hours sitting in the booth at Jimmer's trying to digest everything that Susan had told me and trying to understand how I felt about it. Did I believe her? If everything she told me was true what would I do about it. Could I overlook her sexual liaison with John Fisher? Most importantly, how do I handle the news of Susan's pregnancy? Is that enough of a reason to go back to her? All of these questions were spinning around in my head that afternoon.

    The first clear thought that came to me was that I would have to do something about John Fisher. It didn't matter whether I believed everything that Susan told me or not, John Fisher played a part in this and he was not going to get away unscathed. The problem was figuring out what to do about him. My preferred solution would have been to beat the shit out of him but I would probably end up in jail and he wasn't worth it.

    I spent the rest of that afternoon and evening deciding what I would do about Fisher, not because it was the most important thing I had to do but because my feelings about Susan were too confused for me to deal with them at that time. I ran through several scenarios before deciding on a plan of action that I thought would actually work.

    The next morning I went to work and cleared up a few tasks that needed my attention. Then I took a small tape recorder from my desk, put it in my pocket and then I walked down to pay John Fisher a visit. I was aware that anything I recorded without John's permission would be useless in a court of law but that wasn't why I wanted to record our meeting. I could almost see John's body stiffen as I entered his office.

    "Hey, John, You got a minute?" I asked.

    "Yeah, sure. Come on in," he said.

    John was watching me closely, seemingly worried about what I might do.

    "John, I have been hearing a lot of rumors about the take over by Clay. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions about it?" I said.

    John leaned back in his chair and I could see the tension leaving his body. I could tell from his behavior that John figured that I didn't know about his afternoon with Susan. That meant that Susan hadn't told him that I found out. That was a point in Susan's favor.

    "You know, Mark, I can't really say much about this? Nothing is official yet," John said.

    "I heard that there is a list of names of employees that will be kept on after the take over. I was just wondering if you could tell me if my name is on that list,," I said.

    "Mark, I can't confirm or deny the existence of a list and I really can't say anything else on that subject," he said.

    John appeared to be completely relaxed with me. It was time to strike.

    "I just figured that since Susan fucked you to get our names on your list you could at least confirm that you did what you said you were going to do," I said.

    I watched the color drain from John's face and he quickly straightened up in his chair.

    "What are you talking about? Nothing like that ever happened," he said.

    "Are you denying that you had sex with Susan?" I asked.

    "I have nothing more to say to you," he said. "Please leave my office now or I will call security."

    "You won't call security," I said, "because I have proof of what you did and I am sure that once I make it public there will be a lot of female employees of Dyson that will come forward to testify that you made them have sex with you to get a job at Dyson."

    I could now see the fear in John's eyes.

    "What do you want? Your name is on the list already. You don't have to worry about your job," he said. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you have a job with the new company."

    "That's not what I want," I said. "I want you to destroy the list you made and then resign from Dyson effective immediately."

    "You can't make me do that. You don't have any proof that I had sex with Susan in exchange for putting your names on the list. I'll deny that there is any such list and say that Susan made this whole thing up,"

    "That might have worked if I hadn't found out about your liaison with Susan by finding the condom you used. I have it safely wrapped in my freezer at home. There is DNA from both you and Susan on that condom which proves that you had sex with her," I said.

    "All that proves is that two consenting adults willingly had sex together. It'll be my word against Susan's. No one will be able to prove that I promised her anything in exchange for sex."

    "I never really knew how slimy a piece of shit you are," I said. "The problem for you is that it doesn't really matter what went on in the back of Susan's van that afternoon because you had sex with the wife of a fellow employee and if that isn't bad enough, your position as Director of Human Resources puts you into a position of power over Susan. I plan to file a complaint with Mr. Dyson and copy the HR department at Clay International. I will accuse you of destroying my marriage by having an affair with my wife. I will further claim that you used your position with the company to coerce her into having sex with you. I would also expect that the local news media would pick up this story. Mr. Dyson will have no choice but to fire you and the publicity you will receive will ruin any chance you have of getting a job anywhere in the Southeastern United States. I will then file suit against you for alienation of affection."

    "The way I see it the only choice you have is to resign from Dyson today and get out of town."

    "Can you give me a little more time?" Fisher asked. "I need a couple of days to figure out what I am going to do."

    "I'll tell you what," I said. "Since I am a nice guy I will give you some time. The same amount of time you gave Susan to decide if she would have sex with you to protect our jobs."

    "I need more time than that," Fisher said.

    I pulled the little tape recorder out of my pocket and set it on the desk in front of John. "Thanks, John, you just confirmed everything that Susan had told me and now I have it on tape. I'll sit here and answer your phone if it rings while you type your letter of resignation."

    "You are a real bastard," Fisher said.

    "I am when I have to be," I said.

    I sat with John Fisher as he typed up his letter of resignation and I watched him e-mail it to Mr. Dyson and sent a copy to the HR department at Clay international. Five minutes later Mr. Dyson called John's office and I answered the phone. Mr. Dyson asked for an explanation for Fisher's resignation and I told him it was to avoid causing a sexual harassment scandal at Dyson. I didn't need to say more than that. Mr. Dyson sent two people from security to watch Fisher pack his personal belongings and then they escorted him from the building.

    I went back to my office and closed my door. I sat at my desk and tried to decide on my next move until it became clear to me what I had to do.

    *****

    "Hello, Dyson Electronics, Susan Lewis speaking."

    "Mrs. Lewis, how would you like to have dinner with you husband tonight?"

    "Mark, do you mean it?"

    "Yes."

    "I would love to but only if you promise not to ask me any more questions about what I did," Susan said.

    "I don't want to talk about that either. I want to talk about us, our future and our coming child."

    "Does this mean that you still love me?"

    "Absolutely."

    As I put the phone down it occurred to me that I might be wrong. Maybe Susan had lied to me. Maybe there was more to her encounter with John Fisher than she told me. The evidence seemed to point to her telling the truth but anything was possible. I only knew that I loved her too much to not be with her. Only time will tell if I was right.

    The End.

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Mistakes Were Made

    By K.K. ©

    Chapter One

    I have always thought of myself as a fairly intelligent person but events of late have made me question whether my self assessment is correct. I think that as you read my account of these events you may begin to think that my elevator no longer visits the penthouse.

    Let me begin by telling you about my wife and myself. Brenda and I met, shortly after I we got out of college, at a party at a mutual friends house. We started talking and things just kind of clicked. We became friends almost immediately. As we talked we found that we had a lot in common. We like some of the same authors, movies and music and shared similar political views. I saw Brenda several times during the month following the party but never on an actual date. Romance kind of snuck up on us all at once.

    At first I wasn't sure how I felt about Brenda. Even though I could see that Brenda was a beautiful woman, she is five feet five inches tall, 110 pounds, blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes, we hit it off as friends so quickly that I thought of her as a friend not a potential lover. Then one night Brenda invited me to go along with three friends of hers to a local coffee shop to hear a poet that Brenda's friends were excited about. After listening to this guy go on for more than an hour about some guy named Prothro and how he lived at peace with nature and communed with the animals in the forest and the fish in the sea or some such crap, I was nearly bored to tears. I didn't want to say anything because the others all seemed to have enjoyed the poems he recited. You know, I always thought that if a poem made no sense at all, the least it could do is rhyme. This guys poems did neither but Brenda's friend's were going on about how profound the poems were and how they loved the hidden metaphors in his prose. What the hell is a hidden metaphor? Well that was it for me. I didn't want to say anything to burst their intellectual bubble so I said that I had to get home because I had to get up early the next day.

    As I stood to leave Brenda jumped up and said that she also had an early day and asked me if I could give her a ride home. As soon as we got outside Brenda started laughing. I asked her what was so funny and she said, "I just couldn't wait to get you alone so we could discuss those hidden metaphors. I guess if they enjoyed the poetry I shouldn't make fun of them but.... Wasn't that the worst load of crap you have ever sat through?"

    Now we were both laughing and then kissing. I don't really know the exact moment I decided to kiss her but when I did it was as though she was thinking the same thing at the same time. I drove her back to her apartment and walked her to the door and we kissed again. When we broke off the kiss Brenda looked like she didn't know what she wanted to do. I could tell she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask me in or not so I made it easier for her. I said, "I don't know if there is anything I can say or do to make this moment any better than it already is so I think I should go home now." I kissed Brenda again and asked, "Can I call you?" She said that she would be upset if I didn't.

    On the way home I thought about what had happened and was surprised by my behavior. Normally with an opportunity like that my only thought would be how I would get her into bed, but with Brenda the only thing I could think of was how do I make sure I don't screw this up. Somehow I knew that waiting for the right moment would be far better than trying to get Brenda into bed that night.

    As soon as I got home I called her. We ended up talking for nearly two hours. At first we didn't talk about what had happened between us that evening but we couldn't avoid the subject. I told Brenda that I wasn't sure what I was feeling but I knew that something important had happened between us and I wanted to see what it meant. Brenda said that she felt exactly the same way. She also said, "I think we need to move slowly. I'm afraid that if we go to fast we might ruin a good thing."

    I agreed and suggested that we wait at least a month before we try taking our new relationship to bed. Then Brenda said, "What makes you think you'll ever get me into bed?"

    I was stunned by that remark until I realized that she was laughing. I responded with, "I wasn't planning on taking you to bed, I figured it would be the other way around."

    Two weeks later I was at Brenda's apartment for dinner and a movie. She had rented a movie I had never heard of and five minutes after it started I understood why. It was so bad it had to have gone directly to video because no one would ever have gone to a theater to watch this movie. Anyway we started making fun of the characters and the plot and when a love scene came on we imitated what the two actors where doing. I was kissing Brenda the way the guy in the movie was kissing his girl friend when the guy in the movie pushed his hand up under the girls skirt. Brenda wasn't wearing a skirt, she was wearing slacks so I slid my hand up the inside of her thigh. And when I got to the top of her leg I didn't stop. For the first time since I had met Brenda I had my hand pressed against her mound. Of course her pants and panties prevented me from actually making flesh to flesh contact with her pussy. In spite of the layers of cotton I could feel the heat from her love nest and I got an erection that threatened to tear the zipper out of my pants.

    Brenda made no attempt to pull away or to discourage me in any way. Then after a very long and passionate kiss Brenda whispered in my ear, "A month is way to long. I think two weeks is about right."

    Once more Brenda and I agreed.

    I removed my hand from between her legs and began to open her blouse. When I had all of the buttons opened I pulled the tail of her blouse out of her slacks and helped her remove it. With her bra still on I fondled her breasts and lightly bit her nipples through the lacy material. When I could see that her nipples were both hard I pulled the straps of her bra off of her shoulders and pulled the cups of the bra down exposing her lovely breast. I kissed and nibbled on her breasts for several minutes until Brenda was breathing hard. Then Brenda pushed me away. For a second I thought she had changed her mind and wanted me to stop but instead she breathlessly said, "Help my get my pants off."

    I unbuttoned her pants and then pulled the zipper down. Then Brenda lifted herself off the sofa so that I could pull her pants down her legs and off over her feet. I tossed them into a chair. Now Brenda was sitting next to me in just her bra and panties. Her bra was already halfway off so I unsnapped it in the back and removed it completely. As I started kissing Brenda again I pushed my hand inside her panties and began to play my fingers through the soft silky hair on her pubic mound. As my fingers got close to touching the soft lips of her vagina Brenda began to wiggle her hips as she tried to cause contact between my fingers and the fleshy mound that formed her vulva.

    As I moved my fingers farther down I felt her pussy lips separate and I felt the wetness within. As I tentatively slipped one finger inside her aroused pussy Brenda's body stiffened and she cooed, "Yes, touch me there."

    So I touched her there and everywhere else between her legs and as I pushed a second finger inside her, Brenda erupted into orgasm. As her passion peaked Brenda began pulling on my shirt and I had to help her before she popped all of the buttons off. Once she had my shirt off she quickly hand my pants opened and was pulling them off me. After she had me naked, Brenda wrapped her fingers around my cock and stared at it as she stroked it up and down. From the look on her face you would think that she had never scene one before so I made the comment, "You look as though you have never seen a cock before."

    Without looking up Brenda said, "I have never scene one that I wanted this much before." She lifted her head up and kissed me then said, "I have to feel you inside me now." Then she lay down on the sofa. I pulled her panties off and Brenda spread her legs so I could get on the sofa between them. As I lay down on top of Brenda I guided my cock to her moist opening and pushed myself inside. She was tight which made it extremely hard for me to stay in control. It took all of my self control to last just five minutes but I was proud that I was able to give her a second orgasm before I climaxed inside her.

    As we lay in each others arms afterward we both knew we were in love and that it was definitely the real thing.

    After our third sexual encounter I began wondering how much sexual experience did Brenda have before me so, as we lay there in the after glow of our love making I asked Brenda about her previous sexual relationships. I wasn't sure she would be willing to talk about them but I asked anyway. Brenda said, "If you are sure you want to hear about this I will tell you."

    I thought for a moment and wondered if maybe the past was better left alone but in the end I wanted to know so I said that I was sure.

    She said, "Three were just three guys before you. The first was in my freshman year at college. By the time I graduated from high school most of my friends had already lost their virginity. But with my mothers encouragement I had decided to wait until I was older and the right guy came along. Then I discovered that almost all of the girls I was meeting at college had already lost their virginity and I began to wonder what I was waiting for so I decided that I was ready and I began looking for the right guy to be my first.

    I met Tommy in one of my classes. I didn't hid the fact that I might be interested in him but it still took him till almost November before he finally asked me out. By our third date I had decided that I was going to have sex with him. I didn't want to take any chances on getting pregnant so I was going to insist that Tommy wear a condom. So, when he called me to tell me what time he was going to pick me up that night I asked him if he had any condoms. I think I heard him choke. He stuttered a little and said that he would have condoms. Are you sure you want to hear all of this? "

    "Absolutely."

    "Okay then... I was nervous all evening thinking about what I was going to do later but in spite of my own condition, I sensed that Tommy was even more nervous. Anyway, when the moment of truth came I watched in fascination as Tommy tried to put the condom on. He obviously had never used one before and didn't know how to put it on. I was no help as I had never even seen one before. Finally after several attempts to roll the thing on he got it in place just as he climaxed. I didn't know anything about these matters so I was unaware of what had happened until a very embarrassed Tommy tried to explain why he no longer had an erection. Looking at his sad face and listening to him explain his premature ejaculation I couldn't help myself, I started to laugh.

    "He got over his embarrassment about a half hour later and was able to put the second condom on successfully them we did it. It wasn't very exciting but I had accomplished what I had wanted to do. I don't know why but Tommy never called me again and I didn't really care."

    The second guy was Tony. I dated Tony for about two months and we had sex maybe six times. We broke up when I found out he was sneaking out with another girl behind my back. Sex with Tony had never been very good I kept thinking that it was my fault if I didn't enjoy it and I would have to figure out what I was doing wrong. So when I met Jack I was determined that I was going to get better at sex. I learned quickly that it wasn't me after all. I enjoyed sex with Jack right from the very first time. Although our sex was good it was pretty straight forward. It was just foreplay then intercourse. Jack and I broke up just before graduation. The sex just wasn't good enough to outweigh the fact that we really didn't like each other all that much. After Jack there was nobody till I met you. What's your story?"

    I said, "I am no more experienced that you. I have had a few one night stands but I have only had one long term relationship and that was in college. That lasted for nearly two years but she never liked sex so I was lucky if we had sex twice a month. I guess this means that we will have to learn the joys of sex together. So you have never had oral sex? Do you think you would like to try it?"

    We started kissing again. As I worked my way down to her nipples I began thinking about performing oral sex on Brenda and realized that the idea was getting me very excited. I kissed my way down over Brenda's belly and stopped just above her pubic hair. Then I asked Brenda, "Would you like me to kiss your pussy?"

    "I don't now… Maybe… If you want to."

    I planted little kisses in her pubic hair and moved down between her legs. Then I was there. Closer than I had ever been to a vagina. I stared at it for a moment and decided that I liked the way it looked. As I began to make my first tentative licks across her vulva I remembered that I had already climaxed inside her earlier but I was to aroused to stop and I could tell that Brenda didn't want me to stop so I plunged ahead. I pushed my tongue into her pussy and tasted our mixed juices for the first time. I loved eating her and didn't care that I was eating some of my own cum in the process. It amazed me how quickly I was able to bring Brenda to orgasm with my tongue.

    When it was over Brenda said that it felt wonderful and asked if I would like her to do the same for me. I told her that if she was willing to do it I would love it. Brenda slid her head down over my chest and stopped when her face was just inches from my cock. She took my cock in her hand and started turning it this way and that examining it from ever angle then finally she flicked her tongue out and gave the head a quick lick. I guessed that she was sampling the taste to see if she could handle it. She gave my cock a couple more quick licks then she wrapped her lips around the head and slowly took my cock into her mouth. She was able to get about half of it in then she backed off. Soon she was stroking my cock with her month, stopping every now and then to run her tongue up and down my shaft then she would take my cock back into her mouth. When I felt that I was about to cum I warned Brenda and she pulled my cock from her mouth and continued stroking it with her hand until I exploded in orgasm. Brenda seemed fascinated by the sight of my cock jerking and spewing my semen. She continued slowly stroking as my semen ran down over her fingers. When I was done, Brenda went to the bathroom and got a wet towel and cleaned me up. When she had wiped the last of the cum off my balls she kissed me and said, "We're going to have lots of fun aren't we?"

    I had to agree with that.

    We dated for another six months during which time our love continued to grow. Our friendship also grew. When I needed to talk to someone it was Brenda I talked to and Brenda always came to me when she needed to talk about anything. It seemed that in all cases that we would rather be together than with anyone else. Our relationship fell into a comfortable routine consisting of dinner out and or a movie then back to one of our apartments for sex then we would just lay in bed together and talk.

    Other events that happened during this time were that Brenda got a good job with a large company in the banking and finance business in Burbank and I started my own business. More accurately, I bought my own business. Ever since I got out of high school I dreamed of owning my own business. I had some money left to me by my grandfather so I was ready when I found the opportunity. One day as I was on my way to work in Burbank I saw a for sale sign in the window of an equipment rental company. Out of curiosity I stopped and went into the rental store. The store consisted of a counter that was about six feet long and three and a half feet high with a couple of stools in front of it. Behind the counter stood a short bald man. He looked to be about seventy years old. He was on the phone shouting at someone, "No. I told you I ain't got any.... No. I don't know who has any. What do you think? I'm the fuckin Yellow Pages. Look it up yourself... Okay, I'll send the rest of your order over this afternoon." Then without saying good bye he hung up the phone.

    His demeanor changed when he looked at me and asked, "What can I do for you?"

    I said, "This may be a stupid question but..."

    "I hear stupid questions all day so one more ain't gonna kill me. Whata ya need?"

    I said, "I saw your for sale sign and was wondering what business you're in."

    "I'm in the fuckin rental business whaddaya think? Didn't ya see the sign outside?"

    "I mean, what is it you rent?"

    "I rent hardware to the television and movie companies."

    "What kind of hardware?"

    The old guy said, "I rent sound booms, lighting equipment, tables, chairs whatever they need when they're shooting on location."

    "I always thought the studios had all of that stuff."

    "They do, but not enough. Sometimes when they have more than one project going on they need to get extra equipment. Why? You want top buy my company?"

    I said, "I am looking for a business I can buy and run myself. Is this a good business? I mean can I make a living renting equipment to movie studios?"

    "Hell yes. This is a great business if yer willin to work hard. I'm too old to keep up with this any more. I had ta cutback on inventory a few years ago so I could handle the job but now it's time for me to retire. You think you might want ta buy me out?"

    I said, "I don't know if I am ready to make that big of a jump yet. I would need to look at your books and learn something about this business first."

    The old man said, "Tell you what. You come work for me for a couple of months, learn the business and then decide. One thing though. You come to work for me I make you do most of the work. Otherwise what's the point?”

    I could go on a lot longer here but suffice to say I ended up buying the business.

    The night I signed the papers to take over the company I asked Brenda to marry me. The next year was pretty hectic. Between making wedding plans and trying to grow my new business there wasn't time for much of anything else but it was all worth it. Our wedding went off without a hitch and my business was getting better all of the time.

    Over the next few years Brenda and I settled nicely into married life. We had our struggles like all young married couples but because we loved and trusted each other we were able to get through those difficulties.

    After three years my business had gotten to a point where I couldn't seem to make it grow anymore. Then one day when Brenda had stopped by the office to have lunch with me, one of my competitors stopped in. John runs a business that does pretty much the same thing I do so I was surprised to see John in my store. He looked a little upset. I said, "Hi John, what brings you in here?"

    John said, "Gary, I'm in trouble. I contracted to fill an order for WB and I just found out I don't have two telescoping sound booms that I promised them. I forgot that they were out on another contract and wouldn't be back for a couple more weeks. I hate to do this but is there anyway you can help me out?"

    He was right, he was in big trouble. You blow an order with these folks and it'll be a long time before you get another chance to rent anything to them. I was thinking about how to handle this when Brenda said that she needed to discuss something with me. I excused myself and went into the back room with Brenda.

    Brenda asked me what I was going to do. I said I hadn't decided. Then she said, "I think you should help him and don't try to talk advantage of his situation. You may need his help some day."

    She was right o course. I went back out to John and said, "I have two booms I can let you have for this contract."

    John looked surprised. "How much you want for them?"

    I said, "Why don't we just split the rental fee. That will give us both something on the deal."

    I couldn't believe the size of the smile on John's face as we headed back to load the two booms on his truck. When we had theme loaded, John said, "You know you saved my life here?”

    I said, "Someday I could find myself in a similar situation and I would hope I could come to you for assistance."

    After that John often came to me when he needed help filling an order and soon word seemed to get out that if you were in a jam, call Gary. I found myself not only helping competitors fill orders with equipment from my warehouse but when someone needed something I didn't have I had developed a network of contacts I could call on to get what was needed. Within a year it seemed that I had friends at every entertainment equipment supplier and every movie studio in the Los Angeles area. I guess you might say I was a success.

    All that was seven years ago. Now Brenda and I have been married nearly eight years and everything was great until four months ago. The trouble all started one morning shortly after the clock radio came on. Brenda and I were just waking up when Brenda said that she had strange dream. I asked her about it and she said that she had been a bad girl in her dream. That caught my attention. I asked, "What do you mean you were a bad girl? What did you do?"

    Brenda said, "In my dream I was in bed with another man."

    I asked, "Were you having sex with him?"

    "It was just a dream."

    I could see that Brenda didn't want to say that she had sex in her dream so I teased her a little. "How big was his cock?"

    Even through my sleepy eyes I could see Brenda was blushing. She said, "I didn't see him naked I was just... You know with him in bed."

    "Who was he?"

    "It was a guy from work. I don't really know him, he is just someone I see at the office occasionally."

    "What's his name?"

    "Chris Parker."

    "Did you ever have a dream like that before?"

    "No. That's what made it so strange."

    I teased her for a little while longer then I got into the shower. By the time I finished my breakfast I had pushed Brenda's dream out of my mind and replaced it with thoughts about work.

    The subject of Brenda's dream didn't come up again for several days and it wasn't Brenda I was talking to when it came up. I was having lunch with Bill Jackson, a buyer for one of the studios I service. Bill is quite the ladies man. Seems like he is always talking about a new woman in his life. That day at lunch Bill started to tell me about a dream he had. When he finished I told him about Brenda's dream expecting to get a laugh out of it. When I finished the story Bill said, "You better keep an eye on her."

    I asked what he meant and he said, "When I have a dream like that it's because I am sexually attracted to that person. Every time I wake up after a dream like that I can't get the person in the dream out of my mind. I think that is probably true for anyone including your wife."

    I was getting a little angry with Bill. I didn't like him talking about Brenda that way, but I felt a certain truth in what he said. I have had dreams like that and I know when I wake up I can't get the person out of my head for a while. As I mulled this over I was suddenly aware that Bill was still talking. He was saying, "As a matter of fact one time I had sex with the object in one of my dreams the same day. As a matter of fact that was what ended my first marriage. "

    I said, "First marriage? You've been married more than once?"

    "I'm on my third marriage now. But this one is almost over. She thinks I am cheating on her."

    "Are you?"

    "Of course I am, but she doesn't know that for sure."

    As I got up from the table to go back to work Bill said, Remember what I said, she wants him. That's why she dreamed about him. You better keep an eye on her."

    That pissed me off. I said, Brenda's not like that. She would never cheat on me."

    "I hope you're right."

    When I got back to my office I kept thinking about what Bill had said. I couldn't believe that Brenda would be sexually interested in another man. But if she wasn't interested why did she dream about him? Then the answer hit me. The times I had dreams like that I would wake up aroused by the dream but I never pursued any of the girls I dreamed about. Usually once I was fully awake I would forget about dream. I decided that this was the case with Brenda.

    That evening as I was making love to Brenda I had a sudden picture of Brenda with another man. I had just lifted Brenda's nightgown up over her hips and I was kissing the inside of her thighs and was working my way up to her soft, blond fuzz covered vulva. I forced that thought from my head as I ran my tongue up over her vulva and used the tip of my tongue to separate her lips.

    Once I had Brenda near orgasm and well lubricate I move up on top of her and pushed my cock into her hot tunnel. I pulled Brenda toward so that we rolled onto our sides and as I slowly pump my hard member into her I looked into Brenda's face and asked her, "Have you had any more nasty dreams lately?"

    Brenda looked puzzled. "What nasty dreams?"

    "Like the one you had about Chris Parker."

    "What? Are you still thinking about that? I had forgotten all about it. No, I haven't had any more dreams like that. Why do you ask?"

    "Just curious. What dose Chris Parker look like?"

    "Oh I get it. You're jealous. Well you don't have anything to be jealous about. I have no interest in Chris Parker."

    "Well why do you think you dreamed about him?"

    "You know what dreams are like. There are lots of times I see people in a dream and when I wake up I can't figure out why I dreamed about them."

    I said, That's true but most of those dreams aren't sexual dreams."

    Brenda kissed me and said, "You don't have anything to worry about. You know I would never cheat on you. If you really want to know, Chris is in his forties, he's shorter than me, and he weighs about 170 pounds and slightly balding. He is not my type at all."

    I felt much better. Not just because Chris Parker wasn't an Adonis, but because Brenda never had lied to me and if she promised that she would never cheat on my I believed her.

    One other thing struck me about that moment and that was how horny I was. Contemplating the possibility of Brenda being interested in another man did not affect my libido, at least not in a negative way.

    I was able to put the whole thing out on my mind for the next couple of weeks. That's when Brenda got a promotion to a supervisory position. With the promotion Brenda got her own office. Brenda called me from work to tell me the good news and insisted that we go out to dinner to celebrate. She told me to come over to see her new office then we would go out to dinner.

    Although I had been in Brenda's building many times over the last few years I had never been on the fifth floor where her new office was located. When I got off of the elevator I was in the center of a large open area filled cubicles made with modular furniture. The walls of the cubicles were about five feet high so you couldn't see who was in them. The managers and supervisors offices were along the outside walls of the building. Brenda's new office was in the back right hand side of the building next to the corner office. As I walked down a passage way between rows of cubicles one of the name tags caught my eye. I wasn't consciously looking at the name tags but Chris Parker's name just jumped out at me. I backed up and looked in at the man sitting the cubicle. He had his back to me and was on the phone. Although I didn't want him to turn around and see me I couldn't seem to make myself move and before I could recover my composure he put the phone down, stood up and turned to face me. He asked if he could help me.

    I stammered for a second and managed to say, "I just saw the name Chris Parker on the name tag here," while I pointed at the tag next to the opening to the cubicle. "I went to college with a Chris Parker. Your obviously not the Chris Parker I knew, is this your cube."

    "Yea, I'm Chris Parker. There's probably a lot of Chris Parkers' around and I'm the one you don't know." Then he turned and sat back down at his desk.

    I was very disturbed as I walked away for Parker's cubicle. Not only because he was a rude asshole but because he was six feet tall, very athletic looking, had a full head of dark hair and couldn't be much more than 30 years old.

    When I got to Brenda's office I was confused and a little angry. Brenda had lied when she described Parker to me. Now I was going to have to find out why. When I walked into her office I lost most of my angry. Brenda was genuinely happy to see me and I just couldn't stay mad. She was so excited about her promotion and her new office. She said, "Look, come here and look at this." She was pointing at the window behind her desk. Then she opened the blinds revealing a great view of Universal Studios. "What do you think of that?"

    Her excitement was contagious. I told her I thought it was a great view and that I was very proud of her. Then I sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk and she told me about her new duties and how much more she would be making. After twenty minutes of chit chat we left to go to dinner.

    As we started down on the elevator I casually mentioned that I had seen Chris Parker. Brenda caught my meaning immediately and she actually laughed. She said, "I guess he didn't look like I described him did he?"

    "Not exactly."

    "You know why don't you?"

    "I guess so. You thought I would be jealous so you wanted to put my mind at ease."

    "Well, what would you have thought if I described him as he really looks."

    "I guess I see your point." And I did. Brenda's demeanor told me that she had nothing to hide and I should stop worrying about Chris Parker except that I owed it to myself to be rude to him if I ever got the chance. The rest of the evening was very pleasant and we ended the night by making love slowly.

    A few days later I was having a business lunch with Bill Jackson and Andy Capra. You should remember that Bill is the buyer for one of the studios that first told me that I should keep an eye on Brenda. Andy worked for a costuming company. Andy and I were putting together a package deal to rent my sound and lighting equipment and 1000 Civil War uniforms from Andy's wardrobe. After we had completed our business we sat talking over coffee. Out of the blue Bill asked, "What ever happened with your wife and that guy she had the dream about?"

    Before I could respond Andy had jumped into the conversation, "What this about? It sounds juicy."

    I said, "Nothing happened."

    Andy looked disappointed and asked, "What kind of dream?"

    I was going to say it was nothing and leave it at that but Bill quickly told Andy the whole story. Andy seemed to really enjoy listening to the story and when Bill was done Andy turned to me an asked, "And you don't think there is a problem with this man?"

    Andy is 22 years old and could pass for 17. I like Andy as a person and the fact that he is openly gay doesn't bother me. But sometimes he acts more like a gossipy old woman than the young man that he is. I knew that he didn't mean any disrespect for me or Brenda, he just saw this a an interesting story and he wanted to know more. So thinking that none of this was important I told them about how Brenda had described Parker as a short chubby bald man and that I had seen him and he turned out to be a tall handsome man with a full head of hair and an athletic body. Then I told them that Brenda told me why she lied about him.

    When I was done Andy smiled and asked me to introduce him to Parker. I told Andy he was to good for Parker. Then Bill said, "You can't be that foolish. Your wife lies about what this guy looks like and that doesn't bother you? You need to find out what is really going on here?"

    I said, "There's nothing going on. Brenda doesn't know this guy and I am sure if she ever met him she wouldn't like him."

    Bill asked, "How can you know that?"

    I was getting annoyed with Bill again, "I know because I know Brenda."

    As I was staring at Bill I heard Andy say something but wasn't sure what. I turned and asked him what he said.

    Andy said, "I said that you should get your wife and this guy together and watch how the act around each other."

    I said, "There would be nothing to watch because there is nothing to see and even if my wife was interested in this guy, she sure as hell wouldn't do anything with me around."

    "Well, then you shouldn't be around." Bill responded.

    Then Andy said, "Right. You need to get then together somewhere that you can watch them without them knowing."

    I was getting pissed now. "I don't need to spy on my wife because there is nothing to spy on."

    Andy and Bill backed off after that, Bill said, "You know best, it's your marriage." That was the end of the conversation.

    As I drove back to my office I thought about what Bill and Andy had said to me and although I didn't agree with their assessment of the situation I was curious about how Brenda would act if she was in a social situation with Parker and I wasn't there. I didn't know how I could make that happen so I put it out of my mind.

    Actually the opportunity happened without any help from me. About a week after my meeting with Bill and Andy Brenda told me that her company was having a dinner party at the Hilton. The dinner was for employees and spouses or significant others. The dinner was the following Wednesday evening. I didn't think anything about it except that I might get a chance to be rude to Parker. I was looking forward to that. Then Wednesday afternoon I realized that this party gave me an opportunity to observe Brenda and Parker in a social situation without either of them knowing I was watching. So at five o'clock I called Brenda and told her that I had some people coming late to pick up orders and I wouldn't get to the dinner party until eight o'clock. Brenda said, "That's okay. We are supposed to go in for dinner at eight. We'll be socializing and having drinks from 6:30 until eight.

    I got to the hotel around 6:45 and found that the reception before dinner was in one of the hotel meeting rooms so I headed back to the room. I found a place where I peek in a side door to the meeting room and see in without being seen by anyone in the room. It took a few minutes to spot Brenda. She was standing with some of her friends from work. Brenda had a drink in her hand and she was talking and laughing. As I watched her it struck me how beautiful she was and how much I loved her. I continued staring at her for a while then turned my attention to finding Parker. I spotted him on the other side of the room talking to a couple of attractive women. In spite of the fact that I was sure that Brenda wasn't interested in Parker I was relieved to see that they were not talking. As I continued watching him, Parker turned away from the women he was talking to and headed across the room toward Brenda. I felt a sudden knot in my stomach as I followed his progress across the room. He passed no closer that ten feet from Brenda and never looked in her direction and Brenda never stopped the conversation she was having. Parker continued on to the bar, got three drinks and walked back to join the women he had been talking.

    I felt very foolish, especially when there was obviously nothing to see. I gave up my post and walked back around to the main door to the reception and went in and joined Brenda.

    A few nights later I stopped after work to have a beer with Bill and as we were talking Andy came in and sat with us. We were on out third beer when Bill teased me saying, "So I guess everything is good on the home front?"

    I said, "Things are great." Then like and an idiot I told them about spying on Brenda at the party. I somehow thought that when I told them how Brenda never even looked at Parker and it was quite obvious that she had no interest in him that Bill and Andy would realized that Brenda was never going to have anything to do with Parker. Boy was I wrong.

    Bill said, "That doesn't prove anything. It was a company party right? And you wife was with her friends. She couldn't very well flirt with Parker in front of her peers and then innocently sit down to dinner with you. That would cause all kinds of problems for her at work."

    Andy added, "Just think of the gossip that would generate." That thought appealed to Andy.

    Bill said, "The fact that your wife dreamed about this guy doesn't mean that there is anything going between them."

    That was the first positive thing Bill had said and I told him I agreed with him. But them he continued, "The dream just means that she is sexually attracted to him. Because she loves you she would never approach Parker but watch out if he ever starts coming on to her."

    I said, "God dam it! Brenda is not attracted to that asshole and it doesn't matter if he comes on to her or not, she would never have anything to do with him.

    Bill said, "Take it easy Gary, we’re just teasing you. You're probably right. But then again how will you ever know for sure?"

    Andy cleared his throat and said, "Well you know, there is a way he could find out what would happen. I mean find out what would happen if Parker did hit on Brenda."

    By this time we were on our fifth round of drinks and I was just drunk enough to seriously listen to Andy's idea when I should have just gone home. "How would I do that?"

    Andy looked at Bill then back at me as though we were about to get involved in a conspiracy and spoke softly so no one else could hear. "All you have to do is make Parker think that Brenda has the hots for him. Unless he is my type he will go after her."

    "What am I supposed to do, walk up to him and say 'My wife has the hots for you.'?" I responded sarcastically.

    "No. You get someone else to tell him." Andy replied.

    "I am not about to tell someone else to go tell this guy my wife is interested in him sexually. And besides you can't just walk up to the guy out of the blue and tell him that some woman has the hots for him." I couldn't believe I was even having this conversation. I knew I should go home but I was content to be one of the conspirators for a while.

    Suddenly Andy broke into a big smile and said, "I've got it. Gary, you do it. You get to know him then tell him you heard that this lady named Brenda has the hots for him."

    I said, "I can't do that. He would recognize me as Brenda's husband."

    Then Andy laughed and said, "That's just it. He wouldn't recognize you. That is after my friend Stephen gets done with you. Stephen is a makeup artist and when he fixes you up your own mother wouldn't recognize you. That way you could talk to this guy and get his trust and then tell him you heard from someone that Brenda was very interested in him. That way you could monitor his progress as he tries to seduce your wife."

    At that point I said, "You know that just might work. That is if I felt any need to try to get some guy to seduce my wife, which I don't. I'm going home. Luckily the bar we were at was within walking distance of my house because I was in no shape to drive.

    When I got home Brenda took one look at me and said, "I hope you didn't drive home." I told her I didn't, and she said, "Go to bed." Which I did and I quickly fell asleep.

    That night I had crazy dreams. Most I had trouble remembering a couple of hours after I woke up. In one that I did remember, Andy told me that he told Chris Parker that Brenda was in love with him. When I asked him why, he said, "So we can be together. You don't need Brenda. She can't take care of you like I can." Then I remember trying to stop Brenda from seeing Parker but I was too late. I saw her kissing him only in my dream she was kissing Bill, but he was Parker. I woke up around five AM and could not get back to sleep. My stomach burned and my head hurt and I couldn't get Andy's idea of disguising myself and telling Parker that Brenda was attracted to him out of my head. I guessed that it was because I was tired and hung over that the idea appealed to me. Somehow I knew it was a stupid idea but I couldn't get it out of my head.

    I finally did fall asleep again and woke up at eight o'clock. I had to rush to shower and dress and I skipped breakfast to get to work on time. I own the business so it wouldn't be a big deal if I am late for work but I don't want to set that kind of example for my employees. So I got to work at nine o'clock and slipped out at ten to get some breakfast. While I sat by myself eating my country breakfast I thought over the conversations from the night before with Andy and Bill and the dreams I had. Somehow through all of this I arrived at the conclusion that maybe it would be a good idea to see if it could be feasible to give Parker a push in Brenda's direction. After all when she rejected him I would be a winner on more than one level. First, it would show me that Brenda was a true and faithful wife, second, it would be a slap in the face for Parker to be rejected and then I wouldn't have to look for a chance to be rude to him. Third, it would prove to Bill and Andy that I was right about Brenda all along. I knew that whatever I did I didn't want Bill and Andy to know anything about it till it was all over, so I couldn't ask for their help. I really didn't need there help anyway. I had my own connections that I could go to for help with a disguise and I wouldn't have to explain what I needed it for.

    I started planning what I would need to do if I decided to go forward with this scheme. The more I thought about it the more excited I got by the idea of playing a game on everyone. Kind of like playing private detective. So, sitting there with my mouth full of eggs and toast I decided to have give my plan a try..

    The first thing I had to do was find out how I could get close to Chris Parker. I would have to spend some time talking to him to get his confidence before I tried to plant the idea that Brenda liked him in his head. If I couldn't work that part our there was no point in going any farther with the scheme. So starting that night after work I sat in my car across the street from the building that Brenda and Parker worked in. When Parker came out I waited to see what kind of car he drove. When I saw him get into a 1999 Monte Carlo I was ready to follow him except that he turned in the opposite direction I was facing and I couldn't get turned around in time to follow him.

    The next night I was there again, only this time I was ready to follow him in the direction he went the previous night. When I saw Parker get into his car I started my engine and was on his tail as soon as he pulled onto the street. I was getting a charge out of following him. It added a little excitement to my life. I followed Parker for about ten blocks then he pulled into a strip shopping center. I pulled in and parked where I could watch him. He got out of his car and went into a bar call The Rack Room.

    I got out of my car and went over and peeked in the window. I couldn't see much except a couple of pool tables. I opened the door and took a quick look inside. Parker was just sitting down at the bar so I closed the door and went home. I followed Parker almost every night for the next two weeks and he stopped at that same bar almost every night. So now I knew where to find him.

    The next step was to get a good disguise. For that I contacted a guy I knew who worked in the wardrobe and make up department of one of the studios. I had helped him out a couple of times so he owed me a favor. I called he and asked if he could help me with a disguise. Barry never asked me what I wanted it for he just asked if I could stop over around noon and he would see what he could put together for me.

    By the time Barry was done I didn't recognize myself. I had light brown hair instead of my dark brown. He added a little fulness to my face with some fake skin and then added a beard and mustache to hid the fake skin. Then he made me an inch taller with lifts for my shoes. When I looked in the mirror I asked him how he did it and he just said, "Movie magic."

    Then came the hard part. I had to learn to put this stuff on myself. Barry had me go through the process three times and then said I was ready to fool the world. I thanked Barry and headed back to my office. Barry never did ask me why I needed the disguise.

    That evening after work I put on the wig and face hair and the lifts and went to a bar that Bill Jackson usually stopped at after work. When I walked in Bill was standing at the bar talking to an attractive woman. I walked over and stood directly in front to Bill and ordered a beer and as I turned to walk away from the bar I looked directly into Bill's face then I smiled and gave him a nod and walked away. I knew that he had no idea who I was. The next test would be Brenda. If I could fool her I could fool anyone.

    On Saturday morning I told Brenda I had to go to my office to catch up on paper work. I did this because I knew that Brenda would be going grocery shopping later and I wanted to be ready for her. At my office I put on my disguise and drove back home and parked where Brenda wouldn't see me but I would see her when she headed out to the store. Luckily I didn't have to wait long. I gave Brenda a five minute head start then I headed to the Ralph’s where Brenda does the shopping.

    I found Brenda in the produce isle. I walked up in front of her and stopped to look at the fresh vegetables. Brenda had to get around me to get to the items she wanted so she looked directly at me and said, "Excuse me. Can I get by?"

    I move out of the way and waved my hand as if to say “You may pass."

    Brenda said, "Thank you," and went on about her business.

    She didn't recognize me. It was time to start working on Parker.

    MISTAKES WERE MADE By KK Chapter Two

    The following Monday after work I put on the disguise and went to the bar I had followed Parker to on several occasions. He was there when I walked in. He was shooting pool by himself so I got a beer and went over and asked him if he wanted to play. He said, "For a beer?"

    I said, "Sure."

    We played three times I won twice he won once. As we were drinking a beer after the last game I introduced my self as Glen Jackson and he said he was Chris Parker. We talked for a while and I asked him where he worked. When he told me I said, "Some of my girlfriend's friends work there." I left it at that.

    I went to the bar a couple more times that week and played pool with Chris and talked for awhile. On Monday of the following week I started things rolling. Chris and I were playing our second game of pool when I said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Do you know a girl named Brenda Peyton?"

    "She's one of the supervisors at our office. Why?"

    "Is she good looking?"

    "Yeah, I'd say she is quite attractive."

    "Have you ever thought about asking her out?"

    Chris shook his head and said, "No. I don't rally know her I just see her around the office and she's married"

    "So?"

    "Well it's just kind of risky to hit on a superior at you office especially when she is married. It could be a costly mistake. Anyway, why all the questions about Mrs. Peyton?"

    I said, "Well I was out the other night with my girlfriend when we ran into some friends of hers. I didn't know them but two of them work at your office. I asked them if they knew you and they said they knew of you but didn't know you personally. Then one of them said that it was funny that I mentioned you because there had been a discussion about you at work that day. It seems that this Peyton broad told a friend that she thought you were very sexy and she wouldn't mind getting a taste of you."

    "Wow. She really said that?"

    "Well, I can't say for sure, but that's what this girl told us the other night. I don't know why she would make it up. If you want I will ask my girlfriend to try and get some more information from her friends."

    "If you would I’d appreciate it. If she was willing I would jump her in a minute."

    I asked him if he was married and he said, "Not married but I live with my girlfriend. But I sneak out on her occasionally and I certainly would if I got a chance to stick my meat into Brenda Peyton."

    It was getting very difficult for me to act friendly when all I wanted was to knock his teeth out. When we finished shooting pool I said I had to leave then I said, "I will see what my girlfriend Can find out for you."

    After that I thought about dropping the whole thing. The idea of that asshole hitting on my wife mad me a little sick. But then I thought that if he did hit on her and was a little too persistent he might get himself fired which wouldn't bother me in the least. In the end I decided to continue with my plan.

    The next time I saw Chris I told him that my girlfriend had confirmed what her friend told her. That in fact Brenda Peyton had told a friend or friends that she felt a strong sexual attraction for him.

    The funny thing was that Chris said he wanted to act on this but didn't know how. He asked me if he should call Brenda and tell her he heard that she was interested in him and did she want to get together with him.

    I said, "That is a bad idea. If you do that you'll scare her off. You can never tell her you know what she told her friends. What you should do is just start finding reasons to run into her around the office. When you do give her a friendly greeting and then start complementing her on the way she dresses or the way she has her hair. Then after you have established a friendly relationship you can go to her office and tell her you need to talk to her. Then tell her you find her very attractive and you can't get her out of your mind. Then ask her if she would stop after work for a drink some night. Make sure you tell it is just for a drink and nothing more.

    "If she tells you that she is married and that she would never go out with you, just apologize for disturbing her and say that you won't bother her again and then drop the whole thing. But if she is not emphatic in rejecting your invitation you continue your pursuit. If she says she can't do that because she is married you say that you just want to get together for a drink. Then tell her to at least think about it. After that retreat from her office. Give her a few days and start again. Once you get her to agree to go out with you you're almost as good as in bed with her."

    Chris thought for a minute and then said, "I could do that. I like the idea. I'll do it."

    That night when I got home Brenda was in bed asleep. As I watched her sleep it struck me that maybe I had gone to far. I decided then that I wouldn't go back to The Rack Room again. If I stopped encouraging Chris he might just drop the whole thing.

    For the next two weeks I came home after work every night. Every night as I sat and watched television with Brenda I wondered if Chris had tried to talk to her. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to know if he did, but I couldn't exactly ask Brenda about it. Finally I figured the only way I could find out what was happening was to go back to the Rack Room and ask Chris.

    The following night I went back to the Rack Room. When I got there Chris wasn't there and I began to worry that maybe he actually got Brenda to agree to go have a drink with him. Then I thought better of that. Brenda would never go out with him. So I waited. About ten minutes later Chris came in.

    He came over to me and slapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I haven't seen ya in a couple of weeks. Where you been?"

    "Been getting some overtime. What have you been up to?"

    "Remember when we talked about what I should do about that girl at work that has the hots for me?"

    "Yeah, Have you had any luck with that?"

    To my surprise he said, "Actually it's going pretty good. At first she acted like it was out of the question and I must have been crazy to even suggest that we have drinks. But then after I talked to her a few more times I got the feeling that she might change her mind. Then I asked her again today and she said that she would stop for a drink tomorrow night. She said she would stay for only one drink but I am halfway home."

    All I could think was 'Oh God now what do I do?' Well, I didn't do anything. I just sat there and listened as this asshole was telling me what a fine ass my wife has. I wanted to hit him but because I couldn't do that I didn't do anything.

    I didn't sleep well that night. I wondered if Brenda would actually go out for a drink with him and would it lead to anything else. I was sick with worry all the next day. Brenda didn't say anything I couldn’t question her. She never said that she was going to be late or that she had someplace to go after work. If she had I could have asked her where and why and she would have been forced to lie. I know she wouldn't want to lie to me. Brenda hadn't really even spoken to me that morning. I guessed she was mad at me for coming home late and drunk the night before.

    Anyway, she left for work without giving me a clue about that evening. I was tempted to follow her after work but I decided that wouldn't be prudent. If she spotted me there would be a lot of explaining to do. I figured all I had to do was meet Chris the following night at the Rack Room and he would tell all.

    That night Brenda was about an hour later than usual coming home from work. When I asked her why she just said that she had some things she had to do. I sensed that she was a little upset with me. I thought it was probably still about last night.

    The suspense of not knowing what happened drove me crazy until the next night when I caught up with Chris at the Rack Room.

    I asked Chris if he had his drink with Brenda the night before and he said he had but that it didn't go well. He said, "She met me at the bar and as soon as she had her drink she said that she wasn't sure why she agreed to met me for a drink but she was sure that she should not have and that it can't happen again. I tried to get conversation going but she didn't seem in the mood to talk. Finally after she finished her drink she said that she was sorry if she had in some way made me think that we could have a relationship. Then she said that I should not bother her again and she left."

    The disappointed look on his face was making me very happy. I said, "That's a shame," but I was thinking you really didn't think you could score with a classy lady like Brenda did you? Then I said, "So you're going to give up then?"

    Chris said, "I guess I'll have to. Otherwise I could end up being accused of harassment and it could cost me my job."

    "I guess you're right."

    I had a couple more beers with Chris to console him (actually to celebrate his loss). Then I went home with plans to make love to Brenda. When I went into the house and tried to kiss Brenda she pushed me away and said, "You're drunk again. Just go to bed and leave me alone. I wanted to tell Brenda that I wasn't drunk I was just celebrating but I couldn't because she would ask what I was celebrating. So I went to bed.

    During the next week I started putting all of this behind me. It was good to have things settled because I was real busy at work. I had to work late every night that week. It was bothering Brenda that I wasn't home at night and I kept promising I would be home on time the next night but then something would come up and I'd be late again.

    When things settled down again I found that I missed playing pool with Chris. Probably because I could usually manage to get him to buy more of the beer than I did. I decided to stop at the Rack Room for a quick game of pool and see what Chris was up too.

    When I saw Chris I asked how things were at work now that the his advances on Brenda didn't work out. Then Chris said, "You won't believe this but I asked her out again and she went."

    I was stunned. I had no idea she had gone out with him again. I tried not to let on how disturbed I was. "When did this happen?"

    "Last Thursday. We met after work and had a couple of drinks and Brenda said that this can't go any farther than this. She said that we could be friends but nothing more. I didn't say anything so I guess she thought she made her point. Afterward I walked her to her car. She open the car door and turned to say something to me and I just pulled her to me and kissed her."

    I felt like Chris had just kicked me in the stomach.

    "When I broke off the kiss Brenda told me I shouldn't have done that so I kissed her again. She told me to stop that and I said that I wanted her. I said that I needed her then I grabbed her hand and pushed it against the bulge in my pants. Brenda pulled her hand away, but not immediately. I think she liked what she felt there but didn't want to admit it to me our to herself. I don't mean to brag but I am rather well endowed and that usually gets a woman's attention even if size doesn't matter to them they are impressed by it. Then when I kissed her again she responded a little but then pulled away from me and got into her car.

    "I asked her when we could get together again and she said she didn't think that was a good idea. I told her I needed to have her and I thought that she needed me too. I could tell then from the look on her face that she didn't know what to do so I told her to think about it. Then I said think about that hard cock you just felt, think about having that inside you. You know you want it. Just say the word. She closed the car door and started the engine then just before she left she opened the window and said she would think about it."

    I quickly excused myself and went into the men's room and threw up. Then I splashed cold water in my face. When I went back into the bar I told Chris I wasn't feeling good but I would see him the next night. My thinking at the time was that I would show up at the bar the following night as myself and beat the crap out of Chris.

    When I got home from the bar I found Brenda sitting in bed wearing a very sexy negligee. When I saw her I almost blurted out, 'What are you doing? Modeling the outfit you're going to wear when you fuck Chris Parker?' I managed to keep my mouth shut. I didn't speak as I went about getting ready for bed. When I got into bed Brenda moved over and kissed me. When she did I pictured Chris kissing her in the parking lot while he pressed her hand against the bulge in his pants. I was repulsed by the image and by Brenda so I pushed her away and said I wasn't in the mood.

    Brenda didn't say anything but she looked a little hurt. She just got up and changed into her nightgown and got back in bed. We didn't speak again that night. So she was hurt, big deal, I was hurt too. What was she up to? She can't really be thinking of having sex with Chris Parker.

    I rolled over on my side with my back to Brenda and tried to sleep, but the image planted in my head by Chris was too much for me. When I was sure that Brenda had fallen asleep I got up and went and sat in the living room and tried to figure out what I should do, but I couldn't. I ended up falling asleep on the sofa. In the morning Brenda woke me up but never asked me why I slept on the sofa.

    After that I had a difficult time even talking to Brenda. I felt that she had let me down and was getting ready for the major betrayal. It was hard for me to pretend nothing was wrong but I managed. I started coming home after work so I could see what Brenda was up to but she didn't give anything away so eventually I had to go back to the Rack Room.

    I hadn't scene Chris in a week and when I asked him what was going on with his quest to get Brenda into bed, Chris said, "Nothing's happening. I called her but she hasn't returned my call."

    I asked him if he called her at work or at home and he said that he called her at work. He said, "I don't want to call her at home then have her husband answer the phone."

    After that I stopped at the Rack Room every couple of nights to see if Chris had talked to Brenda. The answer was always the same. Brenda wouldn't return his call. I was starting to feel better and I was beginning to think that Brenda must have come to her senses. Then on Monday I stopped in the bar and asked Chris what he was up to and he said, "I just got off the phone with Brenda."

    I said, "You what?"

    He said, "I just got off the phone with Brenda. I called her at home and she said her husband wasn't home so we talked for twenty minutes. I asked her if she was ready to go out with me and she said that she was. Now I don't know where to take her. I can't take her to my place. I was thinking of getting a motel room."

    I couldn't believe what I was hearing. For a moment I thought that Chris must have figured out who I really was and he was just having fun with me, but I knew that wasn't true. Trying to keep up the appearance of being his friend I said, "You don't want to take her to a motel, that's too sleazy. You have to take her someplace nice."

    Chris said, "Well I sure as hell can't afford the Beverly Wilshire. I'd like to take her some place nice but I have no idea where.

    As I pondered the last few drops in my fourth beer a solution came to me. In retrospect I should have been working against Chris instead of helping him but in this case I thought I was helping both of us. I put my hand up in the air to get Chris' attention then I said, 'I think I can help you with a place to take her. I think I can get you access to a very nice place in the hills."

    Chris perked up immediately and asked if I really thought I could get this place and I said, "I'll let you know tomorrow. When would you want it?"

    Chris said, "How about next Wednesday?"

    "I'll see what I can do."

    The nice place in the hills I mentioned to Chris is in the Hollywood Hills. It belongs to the owner of an independent film company. I found out about this place from Roger Martin. Roger works for the guy who owns the house. The owner is currently living in Ireland for tax purposes and only stays in his Hollywood house a few weeks each year or when he is producing a movie in Hollywood. When he is out of the country Roger takes care of the place for him. One day last year Roger had taken my up to see this place. It is a beautiful five bedroom house with a swimming pool. There's also a small guest bungalow attached to the back of the main house. After showing me through the beautifully decorated main house Roger took me into the guest bungalow. The bungalow had a small living room, a large bedroom with a king bed and a large bathroom. There was a large mirror on one wall of the bedroom that give the impression that the bedroom was even larger and the bathroom had a large bath tub, a separate shower stall and along one wall was a counter with sinks at both ends and a large mirror span the whole wall behind the counter.

    After showing me around the bungalow Roger took me back to the main house for a beer. While we were drinking our beers, Roger said that he wanted to tell me a secret about his boss. I told Roger the secret would be safe with me. Then Roger said, "My boss is really a kinky kind of guy."

    I said, "That's the secret, your boss is kinky? More than half the people in Hollywood are kinky."

    "Not just kinky, I mean really kinky. Come here I want to show you something," Roger said as he started leading me through the house. We went into the study and Roger got a key out of the desk. Then we went to a door Roger hadn't opened when he was showing me through the house earlier. He said, "You can never tell anyone what I am about to show you." Then Roger took a key out of his pocket and open the door. We stepped into a long narrow room. At first I couldn't see anything but when Roger turned on the lights I could see that we were in some kind of an edit suit or mini studio. There was video taping equipment and an edit console along the wall opposite the door we had just come in. The long wall behind the video equipment look like it was made of glass. For a moment I wondered if there was a sound stage on the other side of the glass. Roger told me to sit down and look at the glass wall in front of me then he left the room. A couple of minutes later lights appeared on the other side of the glass wall and I found myself looking into the bedroom of the bungalow. Then more lights and I was looking into the bathroom as well. I was astonished.

    When Roger rejoined me he asked what I thought. I told him I was speechless. Then Roger said, 'My boss likes to spy on his house guests. And hew likes to entertain. He even videotapes them having sex. The mirrors in the rooms are two way and the rooms are also wired for sound so he can sit here and watch and listen to everything that goes on in the bungalow." Roger showed me how everything worked. He even pointed out a video monitor that was connected to a camera hidden in the living room. Then he locked up the room and put the key back in the desk drawer.

    As I was leaving Roger said, "If you'd ever like to bring your wife up here for a weekend let me know. If my boss is still in Europe the house is yours."

    I said, "You think I am going to stay in that bungalow now that I have seen the observatory?"

    Roger laughed and said, "You can use the main house. After all the favors you have done for me I would like to do one for you."

    I had always wanted to take Brenda up there for a weekend but never got around to it. But now it seemed the perfect solution for my needs. I would ask Roger for the keys and then tell Chris he could use the bungalow. That way I could see first hand if my wife actually cheated on me.

    The next morning I arranged to get the key from Roger.

    I met Chris at the bar that night and told him about the beautiful bungalow in the hills that I had arranged for him to use. I said, Just let me know when you need it."

    Chris thanked me and said that he would let me know as soon as he could arrange things. A few minutes later Chris said he had to go to the bathroom and disappeared for several minutes. When he came back he said, "It's all set. I'll need the bungalow Wednesday night."

    I said, "What?"

    Chris said, I just called Brenda and set it up for Wednesday night?"

    Even though I had arrange for a place for Chris to take Brenda I never really believed that she would agree to go there with him. And even though I was quite shocked by what Chris had just told me I still believed that Brenda wouldn't actually have sex with him.

    "When can I get the key from you?" The voice seemed to be coming from a great distance but then I realized it was Chris sitting right next to me that asked the question.

    "I'll.... I'll get the... ah... I'll give it to you on Tuesday. Meet me here Tuesday after work." Was I still going through with this? I think I had lost all sense of reality. This man had just made a date with my wife, not to just take her out but to have sex with her, and here I was facilitating the whole thing. I didn't understand what I was doing but somehow it made sense to me.

    When I went home that night I was in a fog. I think I remained in that condition right up till Wednesday.

    Wednesday morning I was sitting at breakfast feeling kind of numb when it occurred to me that unless I took some kind of action in the next few hours my wife was going to have sex with Chris Parker. As I watched Brenda get ready for work I thought about how beautiful she was and how much I wanted all this to go away so that things could be the way the used to be. Brenda hadn't said anything about the evening ahead so I thought I would test the waters. I said, "Why don't we go out for dinner tonight? We haven't eaten out in quite a while."

    Brenda said, "I can't tonight, I have plans."

    I said, "Oh! You have plans? What are you doing tonight?"

    I thought I saw an uncomfortable look on her face as she thought about her answer. "I have something I have to take care of tonight."

    It really hurt to have her lie to me. But it wasn't like she could tell me the true about her plans, so I pressed her on it. "What can you have to do that is more important than us spending time together.?"

    The coldness in her stare seemed to melt for a moment. I think she actually considered canceling her date to have dinner with me but then she said, "I have got to do this tonight."

    When Brenda left for work I was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, wondering to myself, 'What do I do now.' In a few hours my relationship with my wife may be irreparably damaged and I didn't know how to stop it from happening. At the time I believed that it was already too late. If Brenda didn't love me anymore then it didn't matter if she had sex with Chris or not and if she did love me she simply wouldn't have sex with him.

    All day at work I thought about what was going to happen at the bungalow. I knew that I didn't want Brenda to have sex with Chris but if she was going to do this I was going to witness the whole thing and even videotape it in case I needed evidence.

    I left work a little early and went up to the house to get ready for the nights activities. I parked my car in the garage so that Brenda wouldn't see it when she arrived then I went in to the house and straight to the desk where I had seen Roger put the key to the observation room. Once I had the key I went directly to the observation room and set up the video cameras to record the action in the living room, in the bedroom and in the bathroom. I tested the cameras to make sure they were recording properly then I grabbed a beer from the six pack I brought with me and settled in to wait.

    It was shortly after eight o'clock when I heard a key in the lock of the bungalow door. I was amazed at the sensitivity of the microphones in the bungalow. I actually had to turn down the volume because I was afraid that Brenda and Chris might hear something.

    As the front door opened I felt a lump in my throat and my heart was beating hard and fast. I was afraid that I might start hyper ventilating and pass out but I was able to keep my breathing under control. When the door swung open I saw Chris standing there then he stepped aside to let Brenda enter first. Once inside Chris closed and locked the front door. Brenda stood in the middle of the room and looked around without saying say a word. I noticed that Brenda had fixed her hair differently than it was when she left the house in the morning. She was wearing a short black dress that zipped up the back. I admired Brenda's simple beauty as she just stood quietly as Chris found the CD player and put some music on.

    When the music began to play Chris stepped up behind Brenda and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest and began swaying back and forth to the music. They stayed like that for one whole song then Chris turned Brenda around to face him and kissed her. Brenda's response seemed, to me, to be less than enthusiastic. When he kissed her a second time I saw very little change in her demeanor. Chris looked at her and asked if something was wrong and Brenda said, "No. It's just that.... I ... I need to use the bathroom. Excuse me for a minute."

    Chris stepped back and let her go. Brenda headed to the bathroom without saying another word. When she turned on the bathroom lights the sudden burst of light hurt my eyes. Brenda entered the room and closed the door behind her. Then she stood in front of the mirror and leaned on the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. I was directly in front of her on the other side of the mirror. I was so close to her I could almost smell her..

    Brenda continued to look at her reflection for a while then her expression changed, like she had made a decision. She went over to the commode and prepared to relieve herself. When she lifted her dress up I noticed that she was wearing thigh high stockings. She almost never wears them. She says that aren't comfortable. About the only time she wears them is when we go out for a romantic dinner with the intent of going home afterward for a night of love making. In one quick motion Brenda pulled her panties down and sat on the commode. I could hear her stream as it hit the water inside the bowl. When she was done she grabbed a handful of toilet paper and wiped herself. When she got up she didn't pull her panties back up. She kind of shuffled across the room to the linen closet and found a wash cloth. Then, again standing directly in front of me, Brenda wet the wash cloth, then lifted the front of her dress and began washing between her legs. This act completed she pulled her panties up and rinsed out the wash cloth and hung it on the towel rack. The Brenda exited the bathroom turning off the light as she left. When she went back into the living room she look at Chris and said, "Sorry about that."

    Chris said, "That's okay." Then he suggest that she sit next to him on the sofa. As soon as Brenda sat down, Chris had his arm around her and pulled her to him and kissed her. The kissing continued for some time and Chris had begun playing with Brenda's breasts. Chris reached behind Brenda and unzipped her dress and pulled if off her shoulders, then he said, "Why don't you take the dress off and remove you bra so I can see those nice tits of yours." Brenda didn't say a word. She just stood up and let her dress drop to the floor then she stepped out of it. She quickly removed her bra and put both the dress and her bra on one of the other chairs in the room. As Brenda was putting her things on the chair I noticed that Chris had opened his pants and released his cock from his shorts. Chris wasn't fooling when he said he had a good sized cock. It wasn't a monster but certainly bigger then mine and I am slightly bigger than average.

    When Brenda turned toward Chris she saw his exposed cock and just looked at if for a moment. Chris said, "Brenda come here I want you to meet Someone." Brenda sat down next to Chris again. Chris took Brenda's hand and placed it on his cock and said, 'Brenda, I like you to meet 'Mr. Parker'."

    Brenda didn't seem to know how to respond to Chris. But Chris knew what response he wanted and he said, "Mr. Parker would love it if you would give him a kiss to say hello."

    Brenda seemed to be in a trance. She bent down and kissed Chris' cock on the head then she ran her tongue around the head in a circular motion and finally sucked his cock into her mouth. From the expression on Chris's face I could tell he was enjoying the oral attention Brenda was giving his cock. When Brenda let his cock drop from her mouth Chris started to pushed her down on the sofa. When he did this I heard Brenda, in a soft voice say, "Not here, in the bedroom."

    Chris was on his feet in a flash and Brenda followed him into the bedroom. Brenda pulled the bedspread off and folded it and lay it across a chair Before Brenda could turn around Chris picked her up and tossed her on the bed. Brenda was laying on her back with her knees up and Chris climbed up on the bed between her legs. Chris said, "Are you ready for me to pull your panties off and stick my tongue in your hot cunt?" Brenda likes talking dirty when we make love but she didn't respond to Chris the way she usually responds to me when I say something like that to her. When Chris started to pull her panties off Brenda lifted her ass up to make it easier for him, then as he leaned forward she spread her legs wide to give him access to her sweet mound.

    At this point, even though the scene in front of me was very painful to watch, the voyeur in my was very aroused.

    It turned out that Chris was an enthusiastic pussy eater and in spite of Brenda's almost mechanical behavior to this point I could see that Chris's efforts were having an effect on her and soon she was having an orgasm. Normally Brenda is vocal and animated during her orgasm but this time she wasn't. It seemed as if she was trying to minimize the effect of her orgasm. She kind of reminded me of someone trying not to scream during that first long drop on a roller coaster. .

    When Chris lifted his head from my wife's pussy he said, "You have one creamy pussy. When you came I almost drown on all of you tasty cunt juice." Brenda smiled a little but didn't say anything. Then Chris said, "Mr. Parker would like you to suck on him some more. I know you love that big cock of mine. Why don't you put it in your mouth."

    Brenda didn't hesitate. Chris rolled over on his back and Brenda move around and took his cock into her mouth for the second time. The way Brenda was working on his cock it looked as it she was trying to make him cum in her mouth. While Brenda worked on him Chris kept talking to her. "Your mouth feels so good on my cock. You love the big cock don't you? I'll bet it's the biggest cock you have ever had in your mouth right? Well wait till you feel Mr. Parker in your hot little cunt. After you've had my big cock in you, you'll never want your husband's little dick again."

    Chris finally stopped Brenda. He pull his cock out of her mouth and said, "You have to stop now or I will shoot a load of my cum in your face and mouth. I know how much you want to taste my spunk and I would enjoy giving it to you but right now I want to fuck the lovely cunt of yours.

    Chris got on top of Brenda and I watched as he pushed his cock inside her and began pumping his cock into the pussy that I thought would always belong only to me. Chris had pretty good staying power and brought Brenda to her second orgasm of the night. Like the first one Brenda again seemed as if she wasn't letting go and enjoying her orgasm as much as she normally did.

    Chris lasted a few minutes after Brenda's orgasm then he yelled, "Here it comes. Here is you hot load." The he quickened his pace and spewed his seed where only mine should be.

    When he finished ejaculating inside Brenda, Chris rolled off her and they lay quietly for the next fifteen minutes. Brenda was the first to move. She got up and collected her clothes and went into the bathroom. She put her clothes down and stood in front of the mirror like she had before only now she was naked. I was sitting only four feet away from her so I could clearly see her cum mated pubic hair and a drip of semen forming on the lips of her freshly fucked pussy. Brenda stared at herself for a few minutes then she reached for the wash cloth she had used earlier and soaped it up and began washing herself. When she was satisfied that she was clean enough she put her panties on. Before she could put her bra on Chris walked into the bathroom. He said, "Don't get dressed yet I have another load for you." He walked over to her and as he stood in front of Brenda he pushed her down onto her knees and stuck his cock in her face. He said, "Hey, it's your friend Mr. Parker."

    Brenda didn't resist at all she just took his cock into her mouth and started sucking it. It took only a short time for Brenda to get Chris hard again. When he was fully erect he helped Brenda to her feet then he went and sat on the commode and told Brenda to sit on his lap facing him. Brenda asked, "You want to do it here? On the toilet?"

    Chris didn't answer, he just pulled Brenda to him and pulled her panties down. Brenda spread her legs and straddled Chris and lowered herself down on to his cock. From where I was sitting I could see the head of his cock as it slipped between the folds of Brenda's pussy and slowly disappeared inside her. When she had lowered herself all the way down Chris told her to bounce up and down on his cock. Brenda did as he said and Chris started thrusting up as Brenda was coming down increasing the depth of his penetration.

    This time Brenda did not have an orgasm. When Chris started to climax he yelled, "Here I cum again. Take it all." Then he made fewer but more powerful thrusts into Brenda’s pussy. When he was done Chris told Brenda to get up slowly. As she did I watched as Chris's cock slowly slid out of her followed by a large gob of his thick semen. As Brenda moved away from Chris, more of his semen dripped from her onto the floor.

    Brenda moved to the sink and picked up the wash cloth again but didn't use it yet. She turned to Chris and asked, "Could I have some privacy?"

    He quickly excused himself and closed the door on the way out. Then Brenda washed herself again. As I watched her I began to fell a hatred toward Brenda. I started planning for the divorce. I was thinking about what lawyer I would higher and how I might use the video tapes I had against her. I even came up with an idea about how I would wait a few days then say that someone had sent me the tapes in the mail. If she told Chris about it he would think it was Glen Jackson that made the tapes. They would never know it was me. I was full of righteous indignation How dare my wife have sex with another man. That’s slut. I'll show her. I'll make her life miserable.

    Then something strange happened. Brenda having finished washing herself was on the floor wiping up the semen that dripped on the floor and she was sobbing. I suddenly felt bad. I don't know why but I couldn't be as angry with her when she was crying.

    When she had cleaned up the few drips on the floor Brenda put her clothes on. She took one last look at herself in the mirror, took a deep breath and went back into the living room. Chris was fully dressed and sitting on the sofa waiting for her. When Brenda entered the room Chris said, "That was really great. You are really hot in bed. When can we do this again?"

    Brenda said, "Never."

    "What do you mean never? I thought we had a good thing here. Why end it after only one night?"

    "I am sorry if I mislead you but I have no interest in going any farther with this relationship."

    "I thought you were enjoying yourself. Wasn't my big cock a turn on for you?"

    "I'm sorry Chris but you just aren't as good in bed as Gary."

    Chris looked a little shocked. "I thought you liked me."

    Brenda said, “Don't take this wrong Chris, but I am in no way attracted to you.”

    "What? Then what was this all about?"

    "Revenge"

    "Revenge? Against who? Me?"

    Brenda sat in one of the chairs and said, "I guess you deserve an explanation, and I need to talk to some one about this. You're not exactly the person I would have chosen but the man I usually talk to hasn't been available to me for some time."

    Chris asked, "What are you talking about?"

    "I am talking about my marriage. The man I loved and the man who was my best friend in the world. I don't know what happened but a few months ago I started losing Gary. Up until then Gary came home almost every night after work. If he wasn't going to be home he called and told me where he was going and when he was coming home. Then suddenly that all stopped.. He would stay out late several nights in a row with no explanation and he would be drunk when he came home. His behavior became so erratic that I began to suspect that he was having an affair. I wanted to ask him about it but I was afraid of what the answer would be.

    "Then when the situation became almost unbearable you started coming on to me at work. For a while it was more than I could deal with. All I wanted to do was save my marriage and now I had to deal with you too. I needed someone to talk to and you kept appearing so I went out for a drink with you, hoping that maybe I could talk to you about what was going on in my life. It was apparent right away that you didn't want to listen to my problems..

    "Then in a weak moment, needing reassurance that I was desirable, I went out for drinks with you a second time. Again I realized it was a mistake. But then you demonstrated the extent of your desire in the parking lot that night. Then I started thinking that if Gary can have an affair so can I. The next night when Gary came home from work I was ready to make love to him hoping that afterward everything would be all right. But he rejected me that night. He said he wasn't in the mood. Then he went to bed and turned his back on me. I was devastated. I knew then that he had to be cheating on me. So when you called I agreed to come here with you because I wanted to do something to hurt Gary as much as he hurt me."

    Then Chris said, "Well you know what they say, what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

    "But he will know."

    Chris looked nervous, "How will he know."

    "Because I am going home and if he asks me where I've been I am going to tell him that I have been out getting fucked! That's how he'll know."

    Chris said, "You can't tell him that."

    "Why not? I am not afraid of him. I know he would never do me any physical harm. And don't worry I won't tell who I was with."

    Chris looked almost sad for Brenda, "You know if you tell him, it will quite likely end your marriage."

    Brenda said, "I know, but I am afraid it would be over anyway. That's it. I am sorry I used you in this but I think you got what you wanted anyway."

    Chris said, "You're right about that. Sorry things are so messed up for you."

    "Thanks. Will you take me back to my car now?"

    Then they both got up and left.

    The first thing I did after they left was to rewind the tapes for the three cameras and start recording over the tapes. I wanted no record of what had taken place in the bungalow.

    In all my life I had never imagined that I could feel so low. I didn't feel self righteous now. What had I done to Brenda and our happy marriage. This should never have to come to this. How stupid could I be. I took marriage advice from a guy who had three failed marriages which by his own admission were his fault, and from a 22 year old gay man who had never had a real relationship with a man let alone a woman. How could I have thought these two had any advice worth listening to. Then in my over zealousness to find a way to prove that Brenda would never cheat on me I spent so much time facilitating Chris getting together with Brenda that Brenda got the impression that I was cheating on her.

    I sat there watching Brenda having sex and not allowing herself to fully enjoy it because she was only doing it to get revenge on me. And I was angry with her for cheating and it ends up that the whole thing is my fault. My marriage was the one thing I valued most and now it was fucked. I could see no recovery from this.

    I could go home and pretend that I didn't know what Brenda had done and show her that I love her try to get past this mess. But that wouldn't work because Brenda thinks I have been cheating on her and she is going to be waiting for me when I get home. And she is going to tell me that she cheated on me. I can't say, "I know and it's all right."

    I believe I could forgive her for what she did now that I understood why but could she ever forgive me. I couldn’t stand the idea that Brenda thought that I would have cheated on her but the truth is probably worse. I set her up to have sex with another man.

    In the end I knew there was only one thing I could do.

    When I got home that night I rang the door bell and when Brenda answered the door I said, Hi, I'm Glen Jackson and I have to talk to you about your husband. Brenda didn't recognize me even though I wasn't doing a very good job disguising my voice. When I pulled off the hair and beard Brenda looked almost scared. Then I launched into it. I told her everything. Regardless of how things turned out I didn't want Brenda to think that I had stopped loving her or that I had cheated on her. So I told her the truth. I told her everything I had done and why. The only thing I didn't tell her was that I had watched her having sex with Chris Parker, however I told her I knew that she had gone out with him that evening but I didn't ask her what they did.

    When I was done talking Brenda was so angry with me she could hardy speak. In time she was able to say, "I think I would rather you had cheated on me than find out you did something as despicable as what you perpetrated on me. Do you have any idea what you made me do? Just so you know, Chris Parker fucked me tonight."

    Even thought I had been there and already knew what happened, her words cut me like a knife

    Brenda went off again and I just listened as she told me what she thought of me and none of it was good. When she seemed to have no more to say to me I went into the bedroom and packed a few clothes. As I left I told Brenda that I would stay at my store for a few nights and would look for an apartment. I said I would pick up the rest of my stuff as soon as I found a place.

    Just before I walked out the door I said, "I am a stupid stupid man. I am so sorry for all of this and I wish I could fix it all but I can't. No matter what happens I will always love you and if you ever need me for anything I'll be there for you."

    Brenda didn't even watch me leave. As I walked to the door she went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her..

    I wish I could tell you that Brenda came running out of the house as I was backing out of the driveway and asked me not to leave. But she didn't.

    During the next week I looked around for apartments but couldn't find one that I could afford and be able to keep up my share of the house payments. Then I was telling a friend about the difficulty of finding and apartment and he said that he knew someone that was going to Europe for a couple of months and would like to have someone house sit while he was away. A couple of phone calls were made and I had a place to live for two months.

    I hadn't talked to Brenda in a week so I was a little nervous calling her. When she heard my voice she became cold. "What do you want?"

    I said, "I have a place to stay now and I would like to stop by after work to get some of my things."

    "What time will you be stopping by? Because I don't want to be there when you come."

    I told her I understood and said that I would be by around six o'clock.

    Brenda wasn't home when I got there so I went about packing the things I would need for the next couple of months. After that I didn't know what I would do.

    I was finished packing and ready to leave when Brenda came in the house. She said she came home to make sure I didn't take anything that didn't belong to me. I knew she just said that because she was angry. She was quiet for a minute so I decided to get going. As I started to move toward the door Brenda asked where I would be staying, in case she had to get a hold of me in an emergency. I gave her the address and phone number.

    Then as I prepared to leave again Brenda asked, "What you told me was the truth, you really didn't have an affair?"

    "Everything I told you was the truth. I am a stupid fool but I would never have cheated on you."

    Brenda didn't say anymore so I left. As I walked to my car I felt that Brenda had softened a little.

    I called Brenda twice the first week after moving and she acted like she was annoyed that I had called but she didn't hang up on me. The second week I decided not to call. It was just to painful to try and talk to her when she made me feel like I was an unwanted intrusion in her evening. The next week I had to call her about the property taxes for the house. When Brenda answered the phone I said, "It's me."

    Brenda was silent for a moment and then said "Why didn't you call last week?"

    "I didn't think you wanted to talk to me any more."

    Brenda said, "When I don't want to talk to you I will tell you."

    The way she said it was kind of cold but it warmed me. I told her what I needed to talk to her about then just asked how she was doing. We talked for about fifteen minutes. After that I started to call more frequently. Three times a week, then every other day, then every day.

    Then one day I was late getting home from work so I didn't call Brenda at my usual time. I was just getting ready to call her when the phone rang.

    "It's me. Why didn't you call tonight?" Brenda said as soon as I answered the phone.

    I said , "I just got home from work and I was just about to call you."

    Then Brenda said, "Gary, I miss you. You were my best friend and I can't stand not having you around to talk to."

    I said, "I'm around. I call you every night. I told you before that if you need anything I will be there for you. With the way things are between us what else can I do."

    Then abruptly Brenda said, "I can't talk to you right now," and she hung up.

    Five minutes later the phone rang again. It was Brenda and she said, "You said that if I needed anything you would be there for me right?"

    I said, "Yes I said that."

    "Well, then I need you to come over tonight."

    I said that I would be right over and I left immediately. This was a good sign.

    When I got to the house Brenda was sitting watching television in her beat up old bathrobe.

    When I came in the house Brenda offered me a beer then went to the kitchen and brought two beers back. As we drank we talked about things we had been doing lately. Finally I asked Brenda what she had needed to see me about.

    Brenda said, "There is a problem with the bed and I need you to fix it so I can get some sleep."

    I followed her into the bedroom and asked what was wrong with the bed. Brenda said, "The problem with the bed is that you're not in it." As she said this she took off her bathrobe to reveal a black lace teddy and matching panties. She said, "I need my friend and my lover back."

    This was more than I had a right to hope for. I look at Brenda and her eyes started to fill up and I couldn't help myself, I started to cry. Then we were both crying. I kept saying over and over, "Brenda, I'm sorry, I am so sorry." Then Brenda said that she was sorry too. I told her not to be sorry. I said, " This is all my fault. The blame for everything is mine."

    Then Brenda said, "You're right. This is all your fault but I have decided that the pain you caused by what you did isn't as bad as the pain of not having you here with me."

    We rushed into each others arms and kissed. There was so much pent up emotion between us that it exploded in sexual passion. I had Brenda naked, on the bed and had my head between her legs in a flash. As I brought her to orgasm her whole body shook and she called out, "Oh God. Don't stop."

    Later, as I inserted my cock into Brenda's tight dripping pussy I remembered the image of her sitting down on Chris Parker's cock in the bathroom of the bungalow. For a brief moment I wondered if Brenda was thinking about the difference in our sizes right now. Was there a way I could find out?

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Marci

    By K.K. ©


    It was a brisk October evening and it had just started to spit rain as I sat in my car about a half block from my house. I was feeling guilty about spying on her like this but I had to find out if my wife was cheating on me.

    The events leading up to that night started six years earlier when I met Marci at a friends wedding. I was sitting at the same table as Marci at the reception and a mutual friend introduced us. Marci made an immediate impression on me. Marci is five feet ten inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds. At the time she had long dark brown hair that hung in curls around her shoulders. She has large, very expressive brown eyes. Her body was beautifully sculpted with high, firm breasts nicely rounded buttocks and shapely legs. Over all she was a very attractive woman. At the time we did nothing more than exchange hellos. It wasn't until several days later that we spoke again.

    It was the following Wednesday night that I ran into Marci in a local watering hole. She just happened to be walking past me so I said hello. She looked at me for a minute then remembered meeting me at the wedding. She stopped to talk to me and I bought her a drink and the next thing I knew it was closing time and I was giving Marci a ride home.

    I walked her to her door and asked her if she would go out with me that weekend. She said that she would so I kissed her goodnight and went happily on my way home.

    From that point on I spent every moment I could with her. Although we had not had sex yet, Marci said that she wanted to wait till she was married, I knew I was in love with her after just a couple of months. When I told her that I loved her she didn't respond right away and finally said that she liked me very much but wasn't sure if she loved me. For a while after that it seemed that she wanted to stop seeing me. She didn't stop seeing me completely but she told me she would only go out with me once a week.

    That wasn't enough for me. I had to have all or nothing so I started going to the places I knew she would be with her friends and on many of these nights Marci would end up leaving with me, but it also put a strain on the relationship. Marci often got mad at me for following her around.

    Then one night we were going to a party at a friend's house after work. Marci got off before I did and was already at the party when I got there. I don't know what started it but Marci seemed to be ignoring me when I got to the party so still being young and immature I ignored her too. Things just got worse as the party went on and by the time it ended Marci and I weren't speaking and she left with her girlfriends to go to a bar.

    I went to the bar later and found Marci talking to some guy I didn't know. I got extremely jealous and went over and insisted that she come talk to me. I asked her, "Whose the guy your talking to?"

    Marci said, "His name is Stan. I went out with him a couple of times a few years ago."

    "Did he ask you out?"

    Marci said, "Yes, but he's married."

    I said, "What does that mean? That if he wasn't married that you would go out with him?"

    Marci said, "I don't know. Maybe."

    I wasn't sure if Marci said that just to make me jealous or if she really would go out with him. I lost control and called Marci a slut. Then I calmed down and tried to apologize.

    I don't remember how but I managed to get Marci to leave with me that night and I drove her home. When we got to her house, Marci said that she didn't think we should see each other anymore. I was heart broken but I kept my mouth shut.

    After that night I didn't see Marci for two weeks. Then I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to talk to her. At the time Marci worked as a waitress so I went to the restaurant where she worked and when I saw her I asked her if we could go someplace and talk. She said that she was working a split shift that day and would be ready to leave in ten minutes.

    We drove around for a while and then stopped near the bay. We got out and went for a walk. We talked about everything except what had happened the last time we were together. Finally as we sat on a large tree trunk that was lying on the beach I asked Marci if she would go out with me again. Marci said, "You make me feel weird."

    That wasn't the answer I was hoping for. I tried to get her to tell what she meant, but she just kept saying that I just made her feel weird. Then finally as I was dropping her back off at work Marci put her arms around my neck and kissed me and said, "I think I feel weird because I am in love with you." Then she kissed me again and got out of the car and ran into the restaurant.

    After that things got very much better between us even though we still hadn't had sex. Over the next couple of months our passion grew. For some time Marci and I had been doing just about everything except intercourse. Our passions had become a sort of routine. We would go into Marci's bed and start kissing. I would work my way to her breasts, Marci gets really hot when you suck on her breasts, and then I would go down and bring her to orgasm with my mouth and tongue. After that Marci would stroke my cock with her hand until I climaxed. Then one night I just sensed that Marci wanted more so I got on top of her and guided my cock to her pussy. When I stared rubbing the head of my cock against her lips Marci made no move to stop me so I started pushing the head of my cock inside her. I was able to get in just a couple of inches then my cock wouldn't go any farther. As I started to press harder Marci wrapped her arms around me and held me as tight as she could. Then I gave one hard push and slid the rest of the way in.

    I was so excited to finally be inside Marci that I wasn't able to last very long. As I felt my climax approaching I pulled out and shot my load of semen on Marci's pubic hair.

    Marci didn't say a word as I dressed to go home. I was afraid that maybe I had forced her to do this against her will or that I had hurt her more than she let on. As I got ready to leave I sat on the edge of the bed and kissed her and was surprised to get a very passionate kiss back. I said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

    Marci asked, "What Time?" I don't go to work until three. Can you come over before I have to go in?"

    I told Marci I would come over for lunch, and then I went home.

    The next day on the way over to Marci's I was worried about how she was going to react to what had happened the night before. She was no longer a virgin and I wasn't sure if that would upset her or not. When I got to the apartment Marci had lunch ready and we ate and talked about nothing in particular. As soon as we had cleared away the dishes Marci kissed me and asked, "Do you want to do it now?"

    I was a little surprised by the question and responded with, "Do what?"

    Marci kissed me again and said, "You know, what we did last night." Then she took me by the hand and led me into her bedroom. Marci must have been very horny because she couldn't wait to get me inside her. When I entered her she was already well lubricated and we went at it for what seemed like an hour. We had no protection so I had to pull out when I felt my climax starting. Afterward as Marci was playing with my cock she asked me, "Would you like it if I kissed it?"

    I said, "Do you want to?"

    "Yes"

    I said, "Then go ahead. I would love it." Then Marci took my cock into her mouth and in spite of her inexperience she gave me a great blowjob stopping just short of making me cum. Then she jerked me off letting me cum on her breasts.

    After that our relationship only got stronger and we were very active sexually. Marci got on the pill so I no longer had to pull out when I climaxed. We even started talking about the future and the possibility of marriage. Everything was going great until one night I picked Marci up to go out and she was in a bad mood. I tried to find out what was upsetting her but I couldn't. As we were sitting in our favorite watering hole having a drink one of Marci's friends stopped by the table and told us about a party at some guys house. Neither of us knew the host but Marci wanted to go. When we got to the party there were a few people I knew so I chatted with them as Marci went off with one of her friends. Marci came back to where I was about a half hour later and said she wanted to go home.

    When we got back to her apartment Marci told me she wasn't feeling well and she just wanted to go to bed so I dropped her off and left. As I headed for home I thought about Marci's behavior that evening. She had been acting like I had done something wrong but I couldn't imagine what I had done. So I decided to go back to her apartment and make her tell me why she was acting that way. As I pulled up across the street from her apartment I saw Marci getting into a car with another guy. They were headed in the other direction so I couldn't get turned around in time to follow them and I didn't recognize the guy so I couldn't imagine where she would be going.

    It was already late enough that the bars were closed so I had no place I could even begin to look for her. So I went home and spent the night wondering whom Marci was with and what she was doing with him.

    I was hurt and angry so I didn't call Marci for three days. When I finally called her she seemed a little distant and I sensed that she was nervous. She agreed to see me that night.

    When I got to her apartment I had already decided that if she didn't give me satisfactory answers to my questions it was over. I sat down with her at the kitchen table and asked, "What's going on?"

    She said, "What do you mean?"

    I had decided that I wasn't going to make this easier on her by telling her right away that I seen her getting in a car with another guy. "I want to know why you were acting the way you were the other night."

    Marci, "I told you. I wasn't feeling well."

    "You were feeling well enough when your friend told you about that party."

    Marci said, "I thought I might feel better if I was around other people having fun, we weren't having any fun."

    "But we were barely at the party a half hour when you had to go home."

    Marci didn't look at me as she said, "I wasn't feeling any better so I wanted to go home."

    She was lying to me and it was time to play my trump card. I said, "So you were really sick. I though that you were mad at me for some reason and just wanted to get rid of me."

    Marci said, "I wasn't mad at you. I just felt lousy."

    Then I hit her with it. "I guess if you were that sick that guy I saw you getting into the car with must be someone you called to take you to the emergency room."

    Marci looked as though I had punched her in the stomach. She just said, "What are you talking about."

    I told her how I had decided to come back to her apartment to find out what the problem was and I saw her leaving with another guy.

    Marci said, "Oh my God. You saw me?" Then she started to cry.

    I said, "Why are you crying. I am the one who should be crying. I didn't cheat on you, you cheated on me."

    Marci said, "I didn't cheat on you. I didn't do anything."

    "I am supposed to believe that after you lied to me about not feeling well and wanting me to take you home that you snuck out with this other guy and you didn't do anything. The only reason I can think of that you would sneak out with another guy at that hour of the night would be to fuck him. Is that what you did?"

    Marci said, "No. I didn't do anything we just talked."

    I said, "Marci, this episode has killed our relationship. There is no point in lying to me because it won't change the fact that you lied to me and snuck around behind my back."

    "I am not lying."

    "Okay Marci, who was he?"

    "John Martin."

    "Who's he and how do you know him."

    "I used to go out with him."

    I asked, "Why did you go out with him the other night?"

    "I don't know. I hadn't seen him in a long time and he was at that party. I was talking to him and he asked me if I would take a ride with him after the party."

    "But why did you go?"

    "I told you I don't know. I was just feeling kind of strange that night."

    "Where did he take you?"

    "We just drove around for a while and then we sat in the car and talked."

    I said, "In your conversation with him did you mention my name? Did you tell him that you had a boyfriend?" Did you even think of me?

    "No."

    "Is that because I stopped being your boyfriend that night?"

    "No."

    "Do you love him?"

    "No. I love you."

    "Bull shit! Now tell me the truth, did you fuck him? Or did you suck his cock or did he put his finger in your pussy? What did you two do in his car that night."

    Marci started crying again saying, "I swear I didn't do anything except talk to him."

    At that point I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether I believed Marci or not and I didn't know what I was going to do in either case so I just got up and left.

    A couple of days went by then Marci called me and practically begged me to come talk to her. So I went over to her apartment that evening. Marci began by telling me that she was very sorry that she had snuck out with John Martin but quickly added that nothing happened between them. She said that she didn't know why she went out with him that night but knew immediately after she got into his car that she should not have been with him. She said that she knew John wanted to have sex with her but she told him that she couldn't. Then Marci begged me to believe her. She said that nothing like that would ever happen again.

    I had to make a decision based on faith and nothing else. Not religious faith but my faith in Marci.

    Did I believe that she was telling me the truth? I chose to believe her, not because I was sure she was telling the truth but because I wanted the truth to be what she told me.

    It took a while but we were able to put all that behind us. Marci was more loving and gave me no reason to doubt her again. We got married a year and a half after that and for the past three years had what I thought was a very happy marriage.

    Then my world began to collapse around me. I had taken a Monday off and was working in my yard. I went into the garage to get a tool when the phone rang. I picked up the extension in the garage at the same time Marci picked up the phone in out bedroom. Marci said hello before I did so I didn't say anything as I waited to see who the call was for. Then a man's voice said, "Marci, is that you?"

    Marci said, "Yes, who's this?"

    Then the man said, "This is John Martin."

    Marci hesitated a moment then said, "John. How are you?"

    John said, "I'm doing well, how about you?"

    Marci said that she was also doing well. Then there was silence for a few moments. Then John said, "I'm in town on business and I thought that I would give you a call and see if maybe we could get together. Would you be free anytime this week?"

    Marci was quiet for a minute and finally said, "I can't do that, I'm married now."

    "I know you're married but why should that stop us from seeing each other?"

    I wanted to answer his question by saying, "Because I'll break your neck if you come any where near Marci." But instead I listened with my mouth shut.

    John said, "Don't you want to see me?"

    Then Marci stabbed me in the heart by saying, "I would like to see you but I just don't think it would be a good idea."

    Then John floored me with his next statement. "You didn't think it was a good idea the last time we got together, what was that about five years ago, but we had fun that night didn't we? Don't you want to do that again?"

    So Marci did lie to me after all. I could feel the anger building in me. I wanted to scream into the phone but instead I waited to see what Marci would do this time.

    Finally Marci said, "I don't think so John. I can't do that again."

    John said, "Well, okay. Can I call you again later in the week."

    Marci said that he could and John said, "Good. Then you think about it and I'll call you Wednesday and see if you changed your mind." Then he quickly hung up the phone. I waited till Marci put down the phone before I did.

    I sat down on a bench in the garage and tried to decide what to do. Should I just confront Marci about what I had just heard and accuse her of lying to me about her night out with John Martin or accept that she had turned him down this time and let what happened in the past stay buried. But if he called her again on Wednesday would she turn him down again? And how would I know? I can't hide at home on Wednesday and wait to listen in on their call could I?

    I sat for another half hour and thought about what I was going to do. This time Marci wouldn't be able to lie her way out of it if she went out with John. I was going to catch her in the act. I called my office and arranged to have Wednesday off. Then I went in the house and when Marci came down stairs I looked her in the eye and said, "I heard the phone ring earlier, who called?"

    Marci said "Wrong number."

    I decided it was time for me to make a bad joke and said, "Wrong number? Oh yea, that's what I told her to say if a woman answered the phone." I pretended to laugh at my joke while I watched Marci's reaction. She seemed to be very uncomfortable. The next thing I did was to make a big show of calling my office to check my voice mail. As I listened to my messages I said, "Oh shit."

    Then I hung up the phone and immediately made another call, to my own phone, and pretended that I was talking to my boss. "What time do I have to be there?... For how long?.... I guess it'll by all right. Have Sarah make my reservations and I'll pick up my tickets in the morning.... Okay... You're welcome.... Bye." Then I hung up the phone and turn to Marci who was standing near by watching me the whole time I was on the phone.

    Marci asked, "What was that about?"

    I said, "The boss wants me top go to up to Boston for a meeting Wednesday. So I'll have to fly out Wednesday morning and be back Thursday evening."

    It struck me as interesting that Marci, rather than looking like this was a good thing looked very unhappy about my going away. I often had to go away on over night trips and while Marci didn't like it she never looked as upset about it as she did this time but she didn't say a word.

    I have a little garden shed behind my house where I keep my lawn mower and my garden tools. I used a spool of telephone wire I had in the garage and ran a line out to my shed and hid the wire in the shrubs and bushes around the house. Then I took the telephone out of the garage and put it into my shed and turned the ringer down as low as I could and still me able to here it at close range.

    On Wednesday morning I packed my overnight bag and put a couple of sandwiches in a bag with a cold drink. Then I kissed Marci and told her I would see her the next day. I drove the car around the block and parked it then walked back through an empty lot behind our house and slipped into the shed with my sandwiches and a book. The phone I had been using in my garage and had now put into use in the shed was an old office phone and had a line light on it. That is, it had a light that would come on if the phone line was in use. That way I would know if Marci made any calls as well as hearing the ring for in coming calls.

    While I was waiting I removed the mouthpiece from the phone so that it wouldn't pick up any noise from me then I sat back with my book and began to read. In the morning there was one call from the dentist reminding Marci of an upcoming appointment. I ate my sandwich and drank my soda around noon and by one o'clock I had to pee so badly I couldn't stand it. I slipped out of the shed and into the trees behind it to relieve myself. When I came back into the shed the line light on the phone was lit. My heart was pounding when I picked up the phone to hear, "There's no obligation. We'll send this out to you for your 30 day free trial and if you are not satisfied just cancel the account and keep the book as our gift..."

    At this point Marci said, "What part of I am not interested, didn't you understand?" Then she hung up the phone.

    I was beginning to think that John wasn't going to call Marci then I suddenly panicked. What if John had called Marci on Tuesday or maybe she called him Tuesday while I was at work. I calmed myself down. John had told Marci he would call Wednesday and he didn't tell Marci where he was staying so she couldn't have called him. So I waited.

    It was just after two o'clock when I heard the fait ring of the phone. I waited till the line light came on before I picked up so that I would be sure that Marci picked up before me.

    Marci said hello and John said, "Hi, it's me.

    "Hi John."

    "Can we talk now?"

    "Yes, Ben isn't home."

    "Did you think about what I said?"

    "Yes, I thought about it and I still don't think it's a good idea."

    Hearing Marci say that gave me a bit of a lift. Then John said, "I'm not asking if you think it's a good idea, I am asking if you want to get together."

    Marci was silent for a moment then said, "Yes."

    John said, "I'm at the downtown Hilton. Just call me from the lobby when you get here."

    Marci said, "I would rather you come for me."

    "You want me to come to your house. What about your husband?"

    Marci said, "He's out of town tonight," then she gave John directions to our house.

    Now that brings us back to where I started this story. That is, with me sitting in my car a half block from my house waiting for John Martin to show up. My plan was to follow them when they left the house and eventually back to John's hotel I would give them time to get up to John's room then I was going to leave a package at the desk for John Martin then I would call his room and tell John that he has a package at the front desk. The package contained a bunch of promotional materials for local businesses and restaurants with some discount coupons. It is a package we send over to hotels for visitors to our offices.

    I would wait for John to come down to collect the package and then I would ride on the elevator with him back up to his floor and watch what room he goes into. Then I would wait until he and Marci had time to get started then I would knock on the door. When John came to the door I would tell him I had another package for him and I needed him to sign for it. Then when He opened the door I would burst in and catch Marci in whatever compromising situation she was in.

    I was also ready for the possibility that Marci would invite John into our home. In that case I would slip into the garage and up the back stairs to the bonus room above the garage. From there I would have access to the second floor hall. In the hall there is a loft that over looks the living room where I can spy on Marci and John. If they come up stairs I will go back into the bonus room and wait until they go into the bedroom then I can sneak back down the hall. If Marci leaves the door open I can watch them from the hall if not I will listen to them so that I can burst in on them at the right moment.

    It was about 8:30 PM when I saw the car pull into my driveway. The man who got out of the car I had never met but I was sure it was John Martin. I watched him ring the doorbell and when the door opened, throw his arms around my wife and give her a big kiss. Marci quickly pulled him inside the house and closed the door. I knew then that Marci was going to betray me in my own home. I knew this because Marci was not dressed to go out. She was wearing the long nightgown that I had bought her for Christmas the previous year.

    I got out of my car and quietly ran down the street to my house. As I walked up the driveway I looked inside the car John had driven. On the front seat was a brief case. As quietly as I could I opened the car door and looked inside the brief case. Inside I found his address book. Inside the address book were several of John' business cards with what appeared to be his home address on them. Then I found several business cards with the name Janice Martin on them and the same address. His wife? I took one her cards and closed the brief case and the car door.

    Next I went around to the back of the house and crept into the garage and up the stairs to the bonus room. I listened carefully at the hall door before I opened it. Hearing no sounds in the hall I opened the door. The hall lights were off but there was plenty of light coming into the loft area from the living room down stairs. I got on my hands and knees and crept to the railing at the edge of the loft and looked down. John was sitting on the sofa and Marci was just setting a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table. She poured the wine then went around and sat on the sofa and curled her legs underneath herself and faced John. John handed her a glass of the wine and took one for himself and said, "Here's to us and to tonight."

    Marci smiled at him and took a sip of her wine.

    For the next forty-five minutes they sat and talked, drank the wine and listened to the music that Marci had put on the CD player. Then John stood up and walked around the coffee table to where Marci was sitting at the other end of the sofa and asked her to dance. He held out his hand to her and she took it. She slipped her feet out from under her bottom and put then on the floor and stood up. John led her to the middle of the room and put his arms around her and began to sway to the music. Then John tipped his head down and kissed Marci. She didn't resist at all. As they continued kissing John slipped the straps of Marci's nightgown off her shoulders and as he stepped back from her, Marci let the gown fall all the way to the floor. Marci was wearing a white lace bra and panty set and had obviously dressed knowing that John was going to see her in her underwear. John pulled Marci to him and kissed her then I heard him say, "Why don't we go find a bed."

    Marci took John's hand and started leading him toward the stairs as I retreated down the hallway and into the bonus room.

    I waited until I was sure that they were in the bedroom before I came back into the hallway. As I tip toed down the hall I could see that the bedroom door wasn't completely closed. When I looked in through the crack in the door I could see Marci helping John take his shirt off. As she pushed off his shoulders she kissed him on the nipples. John dropped the shirt on the floor and Marci began to open his pants. When his pants were open Marci pushed both his pants and his under shorts down together leaving John nude in front of my wife. Marci looked up into John's face as she took his cock gently into her hand and began to stroke it. Then I heard John say, "Put it in your mouth." Marci slid down John's body and took his cock into her mouth. Then John said, "I keep remembering that night in my car I have been thinking about how great that sweat mouth of yours felt on my cock and I have been dreaming about having you suck my cock again ever since. But this time I am not going to cum in your mouth I am going to cum in that juicy cunt of yours. I'll bet you'd like me to suck on that cunt of yours wouldn't you?"

    Marci mumbled something I couldn't understand and John said, "I want to hear you say it."

    Marci let John's cock slip from her mouth and said, "Yes, I want you to suck on my cunt. I want you to make me cum." Then she went back to sucking on John's cock again.

    From a voyeuristic stand point this was some pretty hot stuff I was watching and I have to admit I had and erection. But the fact that this was my wife, my love, my Marci that was sucking on another man's cock was making me physically sick. I didn't know how long I could keep myself under control. I knew that I could burst into the room anytime now and have all the evidence I needed. There could be no denying anything now. But I wanted maximum effect so I waited.

    John had helped Marci back to her feet and was asking her to sit on the edge of the bed. Then he got on his knees by the bed and slowly removed Marci's panties. When the panties were off John looked up at Marci and asked. "Now what was it you wanted me to do to you down here?"

    Marci said, "I want you to press your mouth against my pussy and shove your tongue inside my cunt and suck the juice from my honey pot"

    I had never heard Marci talk this way before. We talked dirty when we made love but Marci never got that dirty. But I guess it had the effect she wanted because John was now eating her pussy with wild abandon. Marci soon had an orgasm and right afterward John got on the bed with Marci and pushed his cock inside her pussy. As John was pumping my wife's pussy with his cock I pulled out the business card I had in my pocket and punched the telephone number into my cell phone but didn't hit send. Then I waited. It was five more minutes before the right moment came.

    John was beginning to pump harder and faster and then shouted, "I coming."

    At that moment I burst into the bedroom and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Get your cock out of my wife you piece of shit."

    The effect was perfect. They both screamed and John jumped back and his cock came out of Marci's pussy just as it started to ejaculate causing him to spray his seed all over Marci, including two spurts that hit Marci in the face, while they both looked at me in horror. As they watched me to see what I would do I pressed the send button on my phone. When I heard the woman's voice on the other end, I said, "Is this Janice Martin and are you the wife of John Martin?" The look on John's face was priceless.

    "Yes." Who's this?"

    I said, "My name is Ben Rogers and I have the unfortunate duty to tell you I just caught your husband fucking my wife in my own home."

    "Is this some kind of joke? This is not funny."

    I said, "I wish this was just a joke. Would you like to speak to you husband? He's right her on the bed with my wife spurting semen all over the bed spread." Mrs. Martin said no and hung up but I tossed the phone to John anyway.

    John grabbed the phone and said, "Janice!... Janice!" Then he realized that she had already hung up. Then he looked at me and said, "You bastard."

    "You're calling me a bastard? Did you really think that you could just waltz into my house, fuck my wife, ruin my marriage, and then go home to your own happy marriage. I just hope your wife cleans you out in the divorce settlement. Now get your clothes on and get the fuck out of my house."

    As John struggled to get his clothes on while trying to maintain his dignity and stay out of my reach, Marci sat on the bed with the sheet pulled up to cover herself. I almost had to laugh at the two streaks of semen running down her face. She appeared to be in shock. Other than her initial scream when she first saw me in the bedroom she hadn't made a sound.

    When John had his clothes on I followed him down the stairs. I blocked him from the front door and said, "Well, Marci is yours now, what are you going to do with her?"

    John didn't look at me and he didn't answer me. He just stood there until I open the door and let him leave. I watched till John pulled his car out of the driveway and sped around the corner, and then I headed back upstairs to confront Marci.

    She was still sitting on the bed with the sheet pulled up around her neck when I entered the room.

    I gave her a disgusted look and said, "You managed to ruin two marriages tonight, how does that make you feel?"

    Marci dropped her chin down against her chest and as she started to cry she said, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen"

    "Wasn't supposed to happen? What does that mean? You met him at the front door wearing a nightgown for Christ's sake. You knew you were going to fuck him before he got to the house."

    "But you don't understand."

    "What the hell is there to understand? Is there something you can tell me that would make sense of all this? Do you have an explanation that will make me not care that you just fucked that asshole in my bed?"

    Marci made no attempt to answer me, so I continued. "I want you to be honest with me one time. Four and a half years ago you snuck out with that asshole after I brought you home from a party. You swore to me that you didn't do anything with him. Now tell me the truth. What did happen that night?"

    Marci's mouth started moving but no words were coming out. She finally managed to stutter, "I told you nothing happened that night."

    "And we both know that was a lie. Now tell me what happened in dickhead's car that night."

    "Just some kissing and fondling. Nothing more."

    "Then what did John mean when he said 'I keep remembering that night in my car I have been thinking about how great that sweat mouth of yours felt on my cock and I have been dreaming about having you suck my cock again ever since?'"

    "Oh God, you heard that? Then you already know what happened."

    "Do you love him?"

    "No. I love you."

    "That's a little harder to swallow than that load of cum he shot in your mouth, don't you think? You told me the same thing four and a half years ago and I made the mistake of believing you that time. Even though I would have a hard time believing anything you might say right now I would be interested to hear you explain why, if you love me and you don't love him how it happens that you snuck out with him and sucked his cock four and a half years ago and now you brought him into our house, into our bed and fucked him."

    Marci looked at me with tears streaming down her face and said, "I can't explain it. I don't know why I did it."

    "And the way you were talking to him. Telling him you wanted him to suck your cunt. I've never heard you talk that way before."

    Marci put her hands over her face and cried.

    "Then I guess there is nothing more to talk about. The night is still young, so why don't you pack a bag and go join dip shit at his hotel room."

    "You want me to go stay with John?"

    I answered, "Frankly I don't care where you stay tonight, I just want you out of my sight. You make me sick."

    Marci said, "I don't want to be with him. I don't want to leave."

    I said, "You may as well stay in here. I won't be able to sleep in this room again until it has been cleaned and you and this cum stained bedding are gone." Then I left the room and closed the doors behind me and went to spend the night in the guest room.

    The next morning I was dressed and on my way to work before Marci came out of the bedroom. I was confused all day. I didn't know if I wanted to try and save my marriage or not. It's hard to go from loving someone to wanting them out of your life in such a short period of time. If I had known that Marci sucked John Martin's cock that night in his car I might never have married her, but I believed her and loved her, and now I have to decided what to do.

    When I got home from work Marci was sitting in the living room with three suitcases. I wanted to ask her where she was going but I didn't. Marci was the first to speak and all she said was, "Will you help me put these bags in my car?"

    I didn't say a word, I just picked up two of the suitcases and carried them out to the garage and put them in Marci's car. She loaded the third bag in herself. I opened the garage door for her but before she got into the car she came over to me. Standing in front of me she opened her purse and took out an envelope and handed it to me. Then she kissed me on the cheek and got into her car and drove away.

    I went back into the house and got a beer and sat in the living room. After finishing my third beer I opened the envelope that Marci gave me. Inside was a hand written note addressed to me.

    The note said:

    "My Dearest Ben,

    I don't know how to even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what I have done to you. I know you'll have a hard time believing this but I love you. I hope you will believe that I am telling you the truth here because I have nothing to gain by telling any more lies. You are the only man I have ever truly loved which makes it even harder to explain why those things happened with John.

    Other than you John is the only man I have ever had sex with and it was only the two times you already know about.

    That first time happened because I was scared. I loved you but I was afraid that things were moving too fast. My friends told me that they thought you were getting ready to ask me to marry you and I got spooked. I wasn't getting any

    time to think. You were always with me. That night I was mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong it was just that I didn't want to go out with you that night but I knew that if I told you I didn't want to go out that you would want to know why and I couldn't explain it. That upset me more. All that night I just didn't want to be

    with you. That's why I wanted to go to that party. So I could be with other people. Then I ran into John at the party. I hadn't seen him in a few years. I don't know what it was but somehow he made me feel wicked. So when he asked me to go

    for a ride I told him to pick me up after you dropped me off at my apartment.

    When John parked the car and started kissing me I wanted him to stop because I felt guilty about what I was doing. I got mad at you because it was you that made me feel guilty so I decided to punish you by not stopping John. In the end

    I wouldn't let him have intercourse with me, so I brought him off in my mouth so that he would take me home. Afterward I never wanted to see him again.

    I didn't know how I felt about what had happened until you didn't call me for three days. Then I was afraid that I had lost you. When you finally called I thought everything was going to be all right. But then you said that you saw me

    leave my apartment with John so I had to lie to you about what happened to try to save our relationship.

    Then a few days ago John called me out of the blue. I had never expected to hear from him again. I knew that I shouldn't see him and I tried to tell him no, but knowing why he wanted to see me somehow excited me. I had decided that no matter what he said I would not see him but then you told me you were going out of town on business and suddenly I had to see him. I thought that somehow it would be all right for me to have a fling with him and that you would never know about it. I should have known better. The rest you know. I don't know if this helps but I wanted you to know the truth.

    I can't explain the language you heard me using. I guess I just felt dirty cheating on you so I talked like a slut because I felt like one.

    I am going to stay with my sister for a while until I can find a place of my own. When I do I will let you know where I am. I hope that someday you will find t in your heart to forgive me, but I'll understand if you don't.

    I will love you always,

    Marci"

    P.S. Someday I hope you will tell me how you happened to be home last night.

    I read the note two more times then I threw it away. Later that night as I got ready to go to bed I fished the letter out of the trash and put it in my desk drawer.

    Is it over? I don't know.

    I returned to work the next day and acted as if nothing was wrong. I told no one that Marci had left or that there was even a problem. That day I sat in my office with the door closed and tried to understand how any of this could have happened. I knew Marci better than anyone else in my life. She had always been honest to a fault and other than lying to me about the night she sucked that asshole, John Martin's cock in his car there was never any time that I ever suspected that she was lying to me. I am still sure that she lied only the one time. Marci is a kind, caring and generous person. She always had a kind word for anyone who needed one and was ready to help anyone who needed help. As a wife Marci was loving and supportive. She had always been there for me when I needed my spirits lifted or just needed encouragement. She was also my best friend.

    Quite often friends would as me to stop after work for a drink but I seldom did because I would rather go home to Marci and she was always there when I got home. Marci's job was closer to home so she was able to do whatever shopping was needed and be home before me. So you see there was nothing in the last four years that would have prepared me for what I witnessed in my bedroom the night before.

    That day I got nothing done and I slipped out of the office early and went home. I got my bottle of Marker's Mark from the liquor cabinet and sat down with the intention of drinking myself unconscious. As I felt the comfortable warmth of that wonderful Kentucky bourbon spread as I swallowed my first big gulp it occurred to me that I was at a cross road. I could continue on the path I was on, one of anger and self-pity, and probable ruin my health and my career or I could take a different path and deal with things as they come. I finished my drink and put the bottle away.

    For the next two weeks I tried to keep my mind on my work. I was able to do this for maybe two hours at a time but something would always remind me of the pain I was in. For instance, I had been reviewing a customer proposal for a colleague and I wanted to write a note on the proposal for the author. I reached for the pen in my desk set and as I picked it up I remembered that the desk set was a gift from Marci for my last promotion. I sat back and let the memory of that day wash over me. When my boss told me that I was being promoted to senior account analyst and would get my own office I called Marci with the exciting news. She seemed excited too, until I said I wanted to go out and celebrate that night. Then Marci’s tone changed, "We'll see."

    On my way home that evening I was feeling a little deflated by Marci's response. When I walked into the house I was even more disappointed. Marci was in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher and she was wearing an old beat up sweat suit. I asked her, "Aren't we going out to dinner?"

    She said, "Why?"

    "To celebrate my promotion. Did you forget about that already?" I responded with a little anger starting to show.

    She turned to walk toward the refrigerator and said, "Oh, that. I thought we celebrate that at home with..." she opened the refrigerator and pulled out two of the biggest lobsters I have ever seen. "these. Is that okay? Why don't you go sit and I'll fix you a drink, and then I’ll get dinner started? When Marci brought me the drink she handed me a beautifully wrapped gift box. When I opened the box it contained a gold Cross pen and pencil desk set. As I looked at the gift Marci said, "That should look nice on your new desk."

    I said, "Thanks Hon. When I talked to you on the phone I got the impression that you didn't think my promotion was any big deal."

    "Well, as soon as you told me about the promotion I started thinking of how to celebrate. I quickly decide to cook you a nice dinner and get you a nice gift but I wanted it to be a surprise so I acted like I didn't care...." Marci came over to my chair and bent over taking my face in her hands and kissed me on the mouth. "I am so proud of you." Then Marci went back into the kitchen.

    When Marci called me for dinner she told me we were going to eat in the dinning room instead of the kitchen. So I asked her as I look at her old sweat suit, "Aren't you a little underdressed for dinner in the dinning room. Aren't going to get dressed for dinner?"

    Marci said, "No. Actually I was thinking of getting undressed for dinner." Then she removed her sweats. Marci was now standing in front of my wearing just a black bra and panty set with black thigh high stockings. I got an erection almost immediately.

    I reached for her but she backed away and waved her finger at me and said, "No touching me until you eat your dinner."

    After dinner I went over to Marci and stood behind her chair. I leaned over the back of her chair and kissed her on the neck and thanked her for a wonderful meal. Then I cupped her black satin covered breasts in my hands and brought my face close to hers and she turned to face me and we kissed. Then the passion took over. As I stood next to her chair Marci opened my pants and pulled my cock out. I was already erect and Marci commented, "I see Mr. Happy is ready." Then she ran her tongue over the head and slowly took me into her mouth.

    As I sat in my office and remembered this I started to rub my growing erection.

    Marci bobbed her head up and down on my cock for a few minutes then she stopped and asked, "Does this feel good?"

    When I responded in the affirmative Marci said, "Why don't we go up to bed now so we can take care of each other." Then suddenly my beautiful memory was shattered and replaced with the image of Marci on the floor with John Martin's cock in her hand and hearing Marci say, "I want you to suck on my cunt. I want you to make me cum."

    That's the way things went for a while. So many things would remind me of Marci. Something in my office or something I would hear some one say would remind me of her and what ever fond memory it would recall would quickly be replaced by the sights and sounds of the night I watched her acting the willing slut with that creep.

    At the end of that first two weeks my boss called me into his office. I was half expecting him to give me a negative review of my recent work performance but instead he asked me to attend a weeklong seminar in Rolling Meadows, Illinois the following week. I was glad to go. It would get me out of town and maybe give me something other than Marci to think about.

    On Sunday evening I checked into the Marriott Hotel and settled into my room. I spent the evening reading the class agenda and session descriptions then I watched a movie on HBO and went to bed at 10:30 PM. Monday was a good day for me. There were several people in the class that I knew from other classes or business meetings. The seminar was interesting and I was able to concentrated on the presentations and keep my mind from wandering back to Marci. That evening I went out for dinner and drinks with some of my classmates then went back to the hotel to sleep. Tuesday had gone pretty much as Monday had until I got back to the hotel after dinner.

    As I sat at the desk in my room trying to read my e-mail I kept thinking about Marci. "How could she have done this to us?" I had to do something so I decided to call her. I opened my brief case and got my address book to get Marci's sister's phone number. As I set the address book down and picked up the phone to dial a business card fell out of my address book and dropped to the floor. As I picked the card up off the floor I noticed the Schaumburg, Illinois address. I looked at the care then dropped it into my brief case and dialed the phone.

    As I heard the phone ring for the third time I felt butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't sure what I was going to say if she answered the phone. I had almost decided to hang up when I heard her voice, "Hello."

    "Hi. Is this Janice Martin?"

    "Yes, who is this?"

    "This is Ben Rogers." There was silence on the other end of the line. "I am sorry to be calling like this but I was hoping we could talk." Still not a sound on the other end. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the way I dropped that bomb on you. I was just so upset and angry that I never thought about how this would effect you." I listened carefully to try and determine if she was still on the phone. She was, I could hear her unsteady breathing. I continued, "I was hoping that maybe we could meet somewhere and talk about what happened."

    Janice asked, “Are you calling from work?”

    I thought the question strange but answered, “No. I am in Rolling Meadows.”

    This time when I stopped I heard a man's voice in the back ground, "Who's on the phone?"

    Then I heard Janice say, "It's Debra form work. She wants me to have dinner with her tomorrow night."

    Then to me Janice said, "Where did you want to go for dinner?"

    I said, "I am staying at the Marriott." and before I could finish Janice said, That would be fine. I'll meet you there. So tomorrow night, seven o'clock at the Outback."

    I asked, "You'll meet me at the Marriott?"

    "Yes the Outback is fine. I'll see you at seven. Good night."

    After I put the phone down I figured that it must have been John I heard in the background. It angered me that he was still with his wife. I would have hoped that she would have thrown him out. That was something I would have to ask her about the next night.

    Wednesday evening at seven o'clock I was waiting in the lobby of the Marriott watching for Janice Martin. This wasn't an easy task as there were many women walking around the lobby and trying to figure out which one was Janice looked like it was going to be a daunting task. Then I saw her. I knew it had to be her immediately by the way she came into the hotel. I could see that she was nervous and that she was obviously looking for someone. I took a moment to admire her from a distance. She was a very attractive blonde. She was wearing a pair of black slacks that showed of her bottom very nicely and a white blouse with one gold chain around her neck.

    I approached her and said, "Mrs. Martin?"

    "Yes, and you are Ben?"

    I said that I was and offered my hand. She placed her small delicate hand in mine and said, "I am not sure if it would be appropriate to say that I am glad to meet you. So I'll wait till after our meeting to decide if I am glad or not."

    I said, "That's fair. Thank you for coming." I let go of her hand and asked her if the hotel restaurant would be okay for dinner and Janice said that it would be fine. We didn't say anything more until the waitress brought us our drinks. Then I said, "I presumed from what I heard on the phone that you and John are still together."

    Janice looked at her hands that were wrapped around her wine glass and said, "Yes, we are still together and whether we stay together depends on you."

    I asked what she meant and Janice said, "Let me explain this as best I can. That night when you called I was very upset. I didn't want to believe what you told me. After I hung up the phone I realized that I only had the word of some stranger on the phone that John had cheated on me. I should have asked you to let me talk to him but I hung up on you instead. After that I tried to call John at his hotel and got no answer. Of course that didn't prove anything. I had to wait until I could talk to John. I decided to wait till John called me to ask him what was going on but he came home instead. He got home at ten o'clock the next morning and said that he had finished his business early and caught an early flight. I asked him what had gone on the night before and John just stared at me and said that he had no idea what I was talking about. So I told him about your phone call and he denied everything. He said that he'd never heard of you and this must have been some sick person's idea of a joke. I wanted to believe him but it was difficult. Although I have never caught him cheating on my I have suspected that he has had flings on various business trips but I managed to convince myself that unless I had solid evidence that John was cheating I would assume he wasn't. That allowed me to not have to do anything about it.

    "Then a few days ago John and I were at a cocktail party and one of his friends came over to John and said, 'Boy was the boss pissed that you didn't stay in Baltimore till the end of that meeting a couple of weeks ago.' I knew then that John had lied about why he came home early. But I still didn't have enough proof. So here I am, nearly convinced that my husband cheated on me. Now I am counting on you to tell me the truth about what happened."

    At that moment our meals arrived. I waited till the waiter had left and then I told Janice everything from the incident four and a half years ago and then about the phone call I over heard and how I told Marci I would be out of town and then waited in my car until John showed up. And how I snuck into the house and watched the two of them having sex. I even told her how I burst in on them just as John started to climax.

    When I had finished I saw a tear running down Janice's cheek. She wiped it away and said, "I believe you. No one would make up a story like that as a joke. You said it was four and a half years ago when he took Marci for that ride. Well four and a half years ago John and I were engaged. So apparently he was cheating on me even before we got married. I am so sorry this happened to you. If I had been less naive I might have been able to keep all of this from happening."

    I took Janice's hand in mine and said, "This isn't your fault and it isn't mine. John had the option of not cheating on you and Marci had the option of turning John down on both occasions. We didn't do anything wrong."

    Janice looked into my face and when I looked at her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears I wondered how that asshole could have cheated on this lovely woman. Then Janice squeezed my hand and attempted a smile and said, "Shall we go up to your room now? I don't know what good it will do but I would like to get some amount of revenge."

    I called the waiter over and settled the bill and took Janice up to my room.

    In the room Janice came into my arms and said, "I’ll do anything you want but please be gentle.”

    I kissed her on the end of the nose and Janice said, "Correction, you can do anything but that. Don't touch me nose. I don't like that." She wasn't angry but I could tell she meant what she said as she rubbed the back of her hand across her nose.

    I took her face in my hands and brought my lips to hers and let my tongue brush across her lips as we kissed. On the second kiss our tongues met. Having this beautiful woman so close to me had me erect in no time at all and it took all of my self control to continue to move slowly. I wanted to tear her blouse off but I open the buttons slowly as I continued to kiss her. Once I had her blouse off I removed her bra and I cupped her breasts and bent to kiss then. Janice ran her fingers through my hair as I sucked on her nipples. After I spent several minutes loving her breasts, Janice lifted my head and kissed me. Then she began removing my shirt. When she had my shirt off she kissed my nipples and began to open my pants. When she had my pants opened, Janice pulled them down my legs and helped me step out of them. Janice then got on her knees and pulled my jockey shorts off. She took my cock in her hand and pushed it up against my stomach then she leaned in and began to run her tongue over my sack and then sucked as much of it into her mouth as she could. The feeling of having my sack in her warm mouth was wonderful. So good in fact that I was worried that I might lose control and then Janice ran her tongue up the underside of my shaft and when she reached the top she took my engorged member into her mouth and began sliding it in and out of her mouth. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sensations. Janice brought me close to climax then she removed my cock from her mouth and stood up. I kissed her and lead her to the bed where I removed her slacks. I sat her on the edge of the bed and lifted her legs over my shoulders and put my head between her legs. I pulled the gusset of her panties aside and inserted my tongue into Janice's hot honey pot and licked and sucked on her until she had an orgasm.

    After that she said, " I want you inside me. I want you to climax inside me and put your seed as deeply inside me as you can."

    Not wanting to disappoint her I pulled her panties off and got on the bed and moved on top of Janice. I guided my cock to her wet opening and pushed myself inside. When I had my shaft all of the way in, Janice wrapped her arms and legs around me and held me in place. The way she was holding me I could only take short strokes but I was enjoying the feeling anyway. As I started getting close to my orgasm Janice began to move her hips making my strokes longer and harder and then all at once we both climaxed together. When it was over we both collapsed on the bed.

    We held each other for another half hour then Janice said that she had better get going. I watched as she got out of bed and started dressing. She put on her bra and blouse then she picked up her panties and looked at them. Then she threw the panties to me and said, "Here. Take these to remember me by. When I get home I am going to undress in front of John and when he asks me where my panties are I am going to tell him."

    I asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?'

    She said, "Absolutely! I want him to feel a little of what I have felt every time I suspected that he cheated on me. Then I will tell him to leave."

    When she had her pants on and was ready to leave Janice came over to the bed and kissed me. Then she said, "Until a new man comes into my life, if you need me I am here for you. You can come see me or I'll come see you. What ever works out best. Then she kissed me again and left.

    After Janice left I began to feel guilty but I wasn't sure why. Was it because I cheated on Marci? Even thought Marci and I weren't together we were still married. Or was I feeling guilty because I took advantage of Janice. Maybe if I had left her out of this she could have gone on with her life not knowing that her husband was cheating on her. Now that she knew for sure she would have to face up to it and do something about it.

    I made it through the next two days of class and on Friday evening was packing to got home Saturday morning when I decided to call Janice to see how she was doing. I was a little afraid that John would answer the phone but he didn't. Janice answered the phone and I said, "Hi, it's Ben."

    Janice asked if I was all right and I told her that I called to ask her that same question.

    Janice said, "I'm fine. John is gone and I don't feel as bad about that as I thought I would. I actually feel like a weight has been lifted from me."

    "Where did he go?"

    "He said he was going to his friends apartment in Chicago but I found out later that the apartment is actually his. Nights when he said he had to work late he took his girl friends there."

    I asked her how she found that out and Janice said, "One of his old girl friends told me. As soon as she heard that I had asked him to leave she called me and told me about the apartment and told me who some of his other girl friends were."

    All I could manage was, "Wow!" Then I asked, "What happened Wednesday night when you got home?"

    Janice said, "It was really something. When I got home John was in the bedroom watching television. When I came in he asked me how my dinner with Debra was and I said, 'I didn't have dinner with Debra.' As I said that I was taking my blouse off. Then John said ‘I thought you said you were having dinner with Debra. Who did you go to dinner with?’

    “Before I answered I removed my slacks. The look on his face when I saw I wasn't wearing panties was beautiful. He couldn't even speak for a minute then he finally managed to ask me where my panties were. I said, 'I gave them to Ben as a souvenir of or evening together.'

    "John jumped off the bed and asked, 'Ben Who?' and I said, 'Ben who do you think? Ben and I had dinner and talked about you and Marci and then I went up to his room and we had sex. What do you think of that?' I thought he was going to go ballistic. He grabbed me and threw me on the bed and said, ‘You’re lying. Your just making that up do make me jealous.’

    “So I spread my legs and said, ‘See for yourself.’ He looked at me down there and saw that it was obvious that I had had sex. He started shouting and calling me names and I just waited for him to calm down. Then I told him he had no right to call me names after his behavior and that I thought it would be best if he moved out of the house. What surprised me the most is that he didn't say another word. He just packed his bags and left. The next day he sent me an e-mail to tell me where he was staying."

    I said, "Weren't you afraid that he might hurt you?"

    Janice said, "No. I figured if he hit me I would call the police on him and have him arrested."

    "Well, I'm sorry that all this happened."

    "Don’t be. I'm not. I would have thought that I would be devastated if John ever left me but instead I feel free."

    I said, "I have to leave in the morning. I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight. This time for us."

    Janice said, "Sure. Where?"

    "How about the Outback?" I said.

    Janice laughed. It was the first time I had heard her laugh. "The Outback would be fine."

    I asked, "Should I pick you up at home or meet you at the restaurant. Either way I need directions."

    I picked Janice up at her house and we went to dinner. After dinner we went back to her house and we sat and talked about ourselves for an hour or so and then we made love. This time not for revenge but for our mutual enjoyment and nothing more. When I left her house that night I think we both knew that we weren't in love and probably never would be, but we were friends and that was enough for me.

    When I got back home on Saturday I checked the messages on the answering machine and there were several messages from Marci. "Ben I need to talk to you. Please call me,” “Ben, where are you, we need to talk,” etc. Each time she left her sister’s phone number. I erased the messages and fixed myself a drink. As I was drinking and reading the newspaper the phone rang. I almost answered it but then chose to let the answering machine pick up the call. It was Marci again. She said, "Ben I have been calling all week. I left several messages at your office and here. Why aren't you returning my calls? I know you are very angry with me, but please let me talk to you."

    As soon as she hung up I erased the message. I spent the rest of the day taking care the things that had accumulated over the last week. Then I went to bed early. I couldn't sleep. I started thinking about Marci again. I was beginning to understand my problem now. In spite of what she had done to me, part of me still loved her. I would start to think that I should take here back then I would see the image of her in bed with that piece of shit Martin and I would feel sick. I debated with myself all night about whether I should give Marci another chance and whether I could ever forget what she did. In the morning I knew that I was going to have to see Marci and decided what to do based on how I felt afterward.

    Sunday afternoon I called Marci's sister and told her I would be home that evening if Marci wanted to come by and talk to me.

    Marci showed up around seven o'clock. She didn't look well. She looked like she had lost weight and like she hadn't been sleeping well. Somehow that pleased me. I asked her how she was and she said, "Not very well. I miss you. I want things to be the way they were before."

    I said, "Things can be the way the were before just as soon as you can explain to me why I shouldn't care about what you did."

    "I wish I could do that but I can't. I don't know why that happened. I never would have believed that I would do that and I am sure I would never do anything like that again."

    "Even if I wanted to believe that it would it would be difficult. Have you forgotten that you lied about that little blow job you gave shit for brains in his car a few years ago. You swore to me that you did nothing wrong that night. Turns out that was either a lie or you don’t think sucking another guys cock is wrong? "

    "It was wrong, I know. I tried to explained about that in my note."

    "Oh yeah, I remember that, you said that you sucked the asshole's cock so that you wouldn't have to fuck him. That made a hell of a lot more sense than just telling that dip shit you weren't going to have sex with him because you were in love with someone else, or telling the fuck face to take a hike when he asked you to go for a ride with him in the first place.”

    “Why do you have to keep calling John names? This wasn’t his fault it was mine.”

    “Oh right. You want to take all the credit for this? Do you know what kind of person we're talking about here? Do you really know Mr. John Martin? Let me tell you a little about him. That night when you were sucking Mr. Nice Guy’s cock in his car, when he shot his load in your mouth, did he happen to mention that he was engaged at the time?”

    Marci was looking at her hands as I was talking and I could tell that the words I was using were having the desired effect. I could see the shame in her face. But when I said that the asshole was engaged Marci looked up in surprise. “He was engaged?” She looked horrified.

    I said the fact that he was engaged bothers you more than then fact that you swallowed his load and lied to me about the whole thing?”

    “No. I fell terrible about what I did to you, it just that now I find out we were hurting someone else too.”

    “Let me tell you something else about Mr. Wonderful. That night at our house before you told him, and I quote, ‘I want you to suck on my cunt. I want you to make me cum’ did he mention that he cheated on his wife so frequently that he had his own apartment in Chicago so he could fuck any little whore he wanted without his wife finding out. Why would a man intentionally go after another man’s wife? It’s not love. This guy claimed to love his wife and with the number of women he was fucking you couldn’t have meant any more to him than another notch on his belt. But you didn’t see through that. You thought that there was something special between the two of you that was more important than your marriage. And I don’t know if I could ever learn to deal with that.”

    “Why do you have to repeat those awful things I said? I feel bad enough as it is.”

    “No you don’t. Until you feel worse than me you won’t feel bad enough. I say these things because I keep hearing them over and over in my head.”

    Marci asked, “So where do we go from here? Are you going to ask for a divorce? I guess I can’t blame you if you do.”

    I said, “I don’t know yet. Half of my brain is screaming at me to throw you out of the house right now and be done with you forever, but the other half is tell me to go slowly and don’t do anything I’ll regret later. For now I won’t do anything.”

    “Are you saying there might be a chance for us to get back together?”

    “I said I don’t know. I have to think about it some more.”

    “If there’s a chance I will do anything to make it work.”

    I said, “There is something else you should know. I was in Chicago last week and I got together with Janice Martin. We ended up in bed together. I guess you could call it revenge sex. I was with her again Friday night only that time it wasn’t for revenge.”

    I could see that this news made an impact on Marci. She was looking at her hands again but I saw the tears drip from her eyes. Then without looking up, Marci said, “Are you in love with her?’

    I said, “Of course not. It was just sex and it was great.”

    Again without looking up, “I guess I deserved that. I better go now. Please call me and let me know what you’re thinking. Just tell me what you want me to do. What ever you want I’ll do it.” Marci got up and came over and tried to kiss me on the cheek, but I pulled away. Then she turned and left.

    I managed to get through the first part of the next week without thinking about Marci very often. Then on Thursday afternoon as I was returning from lunch I saw a blue 1993 Camaro in the parking lot at work. It was nearly identical to my first car. I had bought it new when I got out of the army in May of 1993. It was two months later that I met Marci. I started remembering the first time we went parking together in that car. It was only our second date. I had parked in a wooded area overlooking the bay and we sat in the car listening to the radio. I put my arm around her and pulled Marci to me and kissed her. As our necking got more passionate I began to massage her breasts through her blouse. This seemed to get Marci really hot but she wouldn’t let me get my hand inside her blouse. We made out for about an hour then I took Marci home. As soon as I got home I had to run into the bathroom and jerk myself off. It wasn’t till about our fifth date that Marci let me get my hand inside her blouse. Her bare breasts felt so good in my hand and I loved the way her nipples felt on my lips as I sucked on them. I wasn’t sure who was enjoying the sensations more, Marci or I. When I sucked on her nipples Marci would throw her head back and pull my face tighter against her chest. Her breathing would get erratic and I thought that she was near orgasm. When I put my hand on her thigh and started to move it up under her skirt, Marci squeezed her legs together and told me to stop. She said she couldn’t do that. She told me then that she didn’t want to have sex until she was married. Marci told me that her older sister had gotten pregnant in high school and she wanted to be sure that she didn’t get pregnant before she got married. I decided to be patient with her because I felt she was worth it. So our sexual activity in the car didn’t progress beyond my sucking on her breasts until after I finally had sex with her in her apartment a few months later.

    As I walked past the Camero in the parking lot remembering those early days in my relationship with Marci and thinking about what we did and didn’t do in my car I suddenly had the vision of her sucking shit for brains’ cock in his car. Had he been sucking on her tits and got her so hot she couldn’t stop him. What had started as an erotic memory ended with me getting angry again.

    I spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to hate Marci. I thought about all of the fun we had had together over the last four years. Thinking back over that period there never was a time that I doubted Marci’s love for me. Which just made what happened even harder to understand. That evening and actually late into the night I went back and forth between what Marci had done to me and the things that Marci had done for me. On a balance sheet the pros would have far outweighed the cons but that is only because the balance sheet doesn’t account for the emotional pain caused by the cons. I was fighting an internal battle over which path I should take. Should I just dump Marci now and forget about all the good times we had together or should I attempt to save our marriage. I wished that there was somebody I could have talked to about all this but I hadn’t told anyone about my marital problems and I wasn’t about to start. By the time I finally got to sleep I had made up my mind which path to take.

    The next day I called Marci at work and asked her to stop by the house that evening. I told her that I would order a pizza and we could talk. Marci was waiting for me on the porch when I got home. We went into the house and I called for a pizza then got a couple of beers from the refrigerator. Marci and I sat down in the living room. I couldn’t stay seated so I got up and started pacing. I looked at Marci and said, “I have made a decision about what I want to do. I want you to listen to what I say before you comment. Okay?” Marci agreed and I started, I have given this a lot of thought. I have thought about all of the best things in or relationship and weighted them against the bad. There was certainly more god than bad by volume but it is easier to forget the good than it is the bad. I know that I am still in love with you even though at this moment part of me hates you. It has all come down to me making a decision. Whether to call us quits and move on or try to save our marriage.”

    I paused here to take a sip from my beer bottle then continued, “It wasn’t easy but I have decided to try and save the marriage.” Marci looked up at me and although she didn’t smile I could see relief in her eyes and I could almost sense happiness in her. “This doesn’t mean that everything will be back to normal in a couple of days. We have a long way to go. I don’t know if this will work because I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive you for what you did, and I certainly will never forget it. So you’ll have to accept the fact that for a while I may throw this up to you and get angry all over again. I have come up with some conditions that you will have to agree to before we go any farther. I want you to move back into the house but not into our bedroom. You can use any of the other bedrooms. You are not to come into my room uninvited. If and when I determine the time is right I will ask you to move into the master bedroom with me”.

    Just about then the pizza arrived. I paid the pizza delivery girl and told Marci that we should eat and I would continue listing my conditions after we ate. I got a couple more beers from the refrigerator and we ate and drank in silence. When we’d had enough to eat I started pacing again.

    “If you come back I will expect you to handle all of the household duties and chores that were your responsibility before. You will not have visitors in the house unless I am home. If some one calls you I want to know who called and what they wanted. When you go out of the house I want to know where you are going, with whom, why, and when you’ll get home. You may as well get used to me watching you very closely. I know this seems like I am taking all of your privacy away but it’s the only way I can do this until I feel that I can trust you again. It should go without saying that you are to have no contact with that fuck head Martin. And if there is any other man out there that could have that kind of effect on you, we may as well just end this thing right now. And as far as when we might become sexually intimate again, I will decide that when I think the time is right. Is all that clear? Do you have any questions?”

    Marci said, No, I don’t have any questions. I think I understand everything.”

    “Do you think you can accept those conditions?”

    Marci looked me directly in the eyes and said, "Yes. I’ll do what ever is necessary to save our marriage.” Then she lowered her eyes and meekly asked, “When can I move back home.”

    I told her she could move back whenever she wanted to. Marci then asked, “If I go pack up my things right now can I come back tonight?”

    I said, “This is your house too, so if you want to come back tonight it’s up to you.”

    Marci stood up and said, “Thank you for giving me another chance. I will do anything I have to do to make this work. I am going to get my things and I should be back in a couple of hours.”

    As soon as Marci left I sat down and though over what I had just done. I felt it was the right thing to do but I still wasn’t comfortable. I wondered if I ever would be.

    So that night Marci move back into the house. She took over the largest of the three remaining bedrooms. Her room faces the front of the house. Her bathroom was across the hall from her room. The master bedroom had its own bathroom so the only time we would be together in the house was when we were down stairs.

    We didn’t talk to each other much in the first few days but I could see that the tired look I had seen on her face the first time we talked was gone. Then on the first Saturday night that she was back Marci had gone to bed early and I went up around eleven o’clock, I had just turned off the lights in my room when I heard Marci’s door opened. I opened my door a crack and peeked out in time to see Marci go into the bathroom. She was wearing just a Tee shirt and panties. I waited by the door until she finished in the bathroom and headed back to her room. Seeing her dressed that way, the way she almost always came to bed with me, I wished that she were getting into bed with me that night. When I got back in bed I couldn’t stop thinking about Marci and that she was just across the hall. All I had to do was ask her to come over and I was sure she would. But then the reason she was in the other room came crashing down on me. It made me angry again. So now I was in bed by myself, angry, and very horny. I don’t know how I arrived at the decision about what I was about to do, I just got out of bed and went over to Marci’s room. I went in and sat on the edge of her bed and whispered, “Marci, are you awake?”

    Marci turned toward me. There is a street light in front of the house and although Marci’s blinds were closed, enough light entered the room that I was able to see her eyes. Marci said, “Yes. I’m awake. The expression on her face seemed to be one of hopeful anticipation. She asked, “What do you want?”

    I said, “I want you to suck my cock?”

    “What?”

    “I said I want you to suck my cock.”

    “You’re serious?”

    “Of course I’m serious. I need you to suck my cock.”

    Marci didn’t say anything nor did she move so I took her hand and placed it on my crotch. After another brief period of frozen silence Marci reached her hand inside my boxer shorts and pulled my semi erect cock out and without a word she move her head into my lap and took my cock into her mouth. As she work on my growing member with her mouth I gave her encouragement. “Take it deep. That’s it, Suck that cock. Don’t make me cum yet. I want to shove this cock in your cunt and fuck your brains out.”

    When me cock was fully erect and getting dangerously close to climaxing I pulled away form Marci causing her mouth to make a popping noise when my cock pulled free of her lips. Next I pulled the blankets off her and lifted her tee shirt up. Then I pusher her legs apart and with my right hand I pulled the crotch of her panties aside then I laid my cock against her pussy and said, “Put my cock into your cunt. Rub it on your pussy lips and help me find that fuck hole of yours.”

    Marci didn’t protest. She reached between us and guided my cock to her opening and pulled me inside. I pumped her hard and fast. I didn’t care if she was enjoying it or not and I didn’t care if it hurt her a little. After all I wasn’t making love to her, I was just fucking her. When I felt that my climax was imminent I pull my cock out of her pussy and quickly move up the bed and pushed my cock against Marci’s lips. She opened her mouth and took me inside. I started pumping my cock into her mouth. About half of my cock was in her mouth when I felt the first spasm. When that first rocket of hot cum hit the back of Marci’s throat it made her choke and she pulled back and my cock fell out of her mouth. I grabbed myself and stroked my cock through my orgasm. My semen had shot all over Marci’s face, in her hair, and on her pillow.

    When my orgasm passed and I wasn’t spewing any more semen, I put my flaccid cock back in my shorts and went back to my room. When I got into bed I laid there and listened as Marci went to the linen closet and got a clean pillow case. Then she went into her bathroom and got in the shower. I fell asleep before she finished her shower.

    The next day Marci didn’t come down stairs until after I went out side to wash my car. While I was washing the car I thought about what I had done to Marci. I felt a little guilty about the way I treated her but I also felt that I had gotten a small amount of revenge by treating her as an object rather than a person. My thoughts for the rest of that day kept going back to my humiliation of Marci. By the time I got to bed that night I had decided to do it to her again. I waited till almost midnight then I removed my shorts and went into her room. This time I didn’t say a word I Just sat on the bed. Marci was asleep so I touched her arm. She jumped a little then sat up and looked at me. I just pointed at my cock. I could tell she didn’t want to do it so I tilted my head as if to say, “Look down there” then when she looked down I pointed to my cock again. Marci resigned herself to what she had to do and she took my cock into her mouth again. As I did the night before I made lewd and dirty comments about what she was doing and what I was going to do to her. This time I made Marci take her panties off and get on her hands and knees so I could enter her from behind. When I had myself near orgasm I again pulled out and walked around the bed and pushed my cock into Marci’s face. She took me in her mouth and brought me to climax and I shot my load all over her face and hair again.

    As I left the room Marci dropped down and lay on her stomach. She didn’t look at me as I walked out of the room. I closed her door behind me and stood listening for a moment. That’s when I felt the first chink in my armor. I heard Marci crying. It wasn’t loud but it was unmistakable. For the first time I felt really bad about what I had done to her the last two nights. I was almost tempted to go back in and hold her and tell her I was sorry, but I didn’t.

    I didn’t see Marci again until the next evening when I got home from work. She was sitting in the kitchen and I could tell immediately that she had been crying. She looked up at me as I walked in and she said, “We need to talk.”

    I said, “Okay,’ and sat down at the table with her.

    Marci said, “I said I would do anything to save this marriage but I don’t think I can handle the way you treated me the last two nights. Maybe I deserved to be treated that way after what I did but I can’t let you continue to treat me like an animal. I want to love you and I want you to love me. What has gone on in this house since I came home has nothing to do with love. It’s anger and revenge on your part and submission on mine. I can’t live like this. I have been willing to abide by all of the conditions you set for me but now I have to set a condition for you. I will not allow you to treat me that way again. If you hate me that much just tell me and I’ll leave.”

    I felt terrible. I was being vengeful and I knew that if I really wanted to try and save our marriage I wouldn’t be able to treat Marci that way. I wanted to apologize but then again I didn’t. Instead I looked at Marci and said, “I accept that condition. It won’t happen again.

    Over the next month Marci and I lived as normally as we could under the circumstances. There were no more late night visits to her bedroom. As a mater of fact there was no sex going on at all.

    For a while I had been listening in on her phone calls and checking up on her any time she left the house other than for work. I finally realized that trying to watch her every move wasn’t going to save our marriage. I was going to have to trust her. Give her back her freedom and then if she betrays me the marriage is over. The way things were I didn’t have a marriage; I just had a woman living in my house. So I stopped asking her about her phone calls and I stopped asking her where she was going every time she left the house and I stopped following her to see where she actually went.

    After that things started getting better around the house. We started to feel more comfortable around each other and we started talking more. The kinds on conversations we use to have before all this trouble. We even discussed what we would like to do on our next vacation. That’s when it hit me that we hadn’t been intimate, romantically intimate since before the trouble. It struck me as odd to be discussing where we would go on vacation together when we didn’t even sleep in the same room. I decided then it was time for me to take the next step. It was on Friday afternoon that I called Marci at work and asked her if she would like to go out to dinner with me that evening. She said that she would love to. I told her to be ready when I got home from work. On the way home from work I picked up a bouquet of flowers.

    When I got home Marci was upstairs so I put the flowers in a vase in the kitchen. I got a beer from the refrigerator and drank it as I waited for Marci. When she came down stairs she looked great. She had obviously spent a lot of time on her hair and make up and she had put on her best spaghetti strap cocktail dress. It was obvious that Marci understood the importance of this evening as much as I did. When she walked into the kitchen she looked pretty pleased with herself. When I told her she looked beautiful, probably the first compliment I had paid her in the last three months, Marci blushed a deep red. Then she saw the flowers. She went on and on about how beautiful the flowers were.

    We had a wonderful evening. We had a delightful dinner followed by dancing then we went for a walk in the park along the bay. When we got home I put a couple of romantic CDs on the player and poured us some wine. We drank the wine then started to dance. As we were dancing I kissed Marci on the forehead. She lifted her head and I kissed her on the nose then on the lips. After a few minutes of very passionate kissing I stepped back from Marci and asked, “Would you care to join me in the bedroom?”

    She asked, “Will I be staying the night?”

    “Yes, and tomorrow night and the next night... I want you to move back into the master bedroom with me if your ready.’

    “I’m ready.”

    Marci held my hand as we went upstairs. In our room I slowly undressed her and planted kisses all over her body. When I looked at her naked on the bed, for the first time since she came back home, I wanted to make love to her. I quickly stripped off my clothes and joined Marci on the bed. I squeezed, kissed and sucked on her breasts and nipples until she was practically begging for more then I kissed my way down over her belly and through her patch of curly dark brown hair. As I moved my head between her legs Marci spread them to give me better access. I ran my tongue over her vulva several times and watched as her petal like lips opened then I ran my tongue between her lips and pushed it inside Marci’s now very juicy pussy. I locked my lips over her pussy and started flicking my tongue back and forth across Marci’s clitoris. Marci was soon in the throws of a major orgasm.

    Marci turned around in bed so that she could get my cock into her mouth. She held my sack in one hand gently tickling my balls as she ran her tongue up and down my rigid shaft occasionally slipping the knob into her mouth. When she had me nearly crazy she took me deep into her mouth and brought me to the brink of orgasm then she stopped. She moved up my body to my ear and whispered, “I want you inside me now.”

    I rolled on top of her and pressed the head of my cock against her slippery opening. My cock slid easily into her and it felt wonderful to be back inside her again. I humped into her for several minutes and was approaching my orgasm when Marci said, “I want you to cum in my mouth.”

    I gave her an inquisitive look and she repeated. “I want you to cum in my mouth.”

    So, I pulled out of Marci’s pussy and rolled onto my back. Marci crawled over me and straddled my head with her knees and put her pussy just inches from my mouth then she lay down on my chest and took my cock into her mouth. As Marci pumped my cock into her mouth I locked my lips onto her pussy and returned the pleasure. Suddenly there was a small flow of juices from Marci’s pussy telling me she was having an orgasm. That was all it took to set me off and I exploded in her mouth. Marci never took her mouth off of my cock will I was ejaculating. She took everything into her mouth. When it was over Marci climbed off me and I could see then that she must have swallowed most of my load but there was a little running down her chin. Marci wiped her chin with the back of her hand and smiled at me.

    I said, “What was that all about?”

    “I wanted to show you that I would gladly do that for you when we are making love. I just didn’t want you to force me to do that against me will.”

    I said, “I am sorry I did that to you. I was just so angry then that I was a little out of control. But I can promise that I will never do that to you again.”

    We fell asleep in each other’s arms.

    That night was the major turning point. Our relationship continued to get stronger as time went.

    Then about three months later as I was having lunch with some business associates I saw John Martin walk out of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Baltimore. I felt the rage building in me. I wanted to go over and confront him but I couldn’t with my work associates watching. So I did nothing. After lunch I began to wonder if he had or would try to contact Marci. So being somewhat resourceful I called the Hyatt and asked if John Martin had checked in yet. The clerk was gone from the phone for a minute and returned and said, “Yes. Mr. Martin checked in at 10:20 this morning.”

    I thanked the clerk and hung up the phone. He had just arrived so he would not have been able to contact Marci yet. Now what should I do? Should I tell Marci I saw him and warn her to say away from him. If I did that it would be saying I am not going to trust that you can make the right decision yourself. But if I do nothing he may contact her and what happens if she goes to see him. That would be the end of the marriage. I thought about what I should do all afternoon and in the end decided to do nothing. If Marci couldn’t stay away from him on her own then our marriage was doomed anyway. I decided to wait and see what happens.

    I didn’t have to wait long. That evening the phone rang and I answered it. A man’s voice on the other end said, “Sorry, I must have called the wrong number.”

    I thought, “That worthless piece of shit is after Marci again.” Right after dinner I told Marci I was going out to work in the garage and she went about cleaning the kitchen. The first thing I did in the garage was to remove the mouthpiece on the phone out there. It was about seven thirty when the phone rang again. I waited till the light went on indicating that Marci had picked up the phone in the house, and then I pick up the phone in the garage. As I picked up the phone my heart was pounding so hard I thought Marci would hear it in the house. When I put the phone to my ear I heard his voice, “Hi Marci how are you?”

    “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize your voice. Who are you?”

    “It’s John Martin.”

    “Why are you calling me? Haven’t you caused me enough trouble already?”

    “Listen. I need to talk to you.”

    “I don’t think we have anything to talk to you about.”

    “What do you mean? I thought we meant something to each other.”

    “You know I have no idea how I ever got mixed up with you but it was the biggest mistake of my life and I am certainly not going to make that mistake again.”

    “Are you saying you don’t want to see me?”

    “That is exactly what I am saying. I want you to stay away from me and never try to contact me again.”

    Then the asshole tried to stir things up. “Did you know that your husband came to Chicago and Had sex with my wife.”

    “Yes I know and it’s very painful for me to think about that and if it you had left me alone in the first place that never would have happened.”

    “You’re blaming all of this on me now?”

    “No. I made a very bad decision but I am not the one who started it. I didn’t call you. I never would have come looking for you.”

    “So your not interested in getting even with Ben and Janice?”

    “Ben was right, you really are an asshole. When I hang up this phone I never want to here from you again. When Ben comes in the house I am gong to tell him that you called so that if you come anywhere near me you will have to deal with him and I think Ben would love to hurt you. Do you understand me?”

    “Yeah I understand. I just thought that...”

    “Well you were wrong. Good bye.” Then Marci hung up the phone.

    I was so proud of the way Marci handle the asshole that I actually had tears in my eyes.

    I waited another forty-five minutes before I went back into the house. Marci came over to me as I entered the living room and kissed me then she took my hand and led me to the sofa. She said, “I have to tell you something but you have to promise not to say anything until I finish. Okay?”

    “Okay.”

    “I just got a phone call from John Martin.”

    I couldn’t believe that she was actually telling. I thought she would just act like nothing happened. I said, “That son of a bitch.”

    Marci put her hand up and said, “You promised. Anyway he tried to get me to meet him. I told him I never wanted to see him again. Then he tried to make me angry by telling me about you and his wife. Bottom line is I told him that he is an asshole and I never want to hear from him again.”

    I said, “I am surprised that you are telling me about this.”

    “I don’t want to have any secrets form you. They can too easily be misinterpreted and cause problems.”

    I kissed Marci and told her I was glad she told me. After that we went up to bed and made love.

    That all happened three years ago. Since then our marriage has been good. Marci has been true to her word. She hasn’t given me a bit of worry since that night I caught her with the shit head. That is not to say things are perfect. I still often think about what happened and without any way of understanding why, it still brings me pain. I’d be lying if I said I had the same level of trust in Marci now that I had before but I am happier with her than I would be without her.

  6. #5
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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    On Being Proactive

    By K.K. ©


    My name is Allen Harris and I am thirty-six years old. For the last ten years I have been working as a network manager for a large insurance company in Cincinnati, Ohio. In order to be successful at my job I have to act proactively and think logically to solve problems and keep our network up. This is extremely important because the company loses thousands of dollars for every minute the network is down. For the most part I have been able to apply the skills I have learned in my job to the rest of my life. I always try to head problems off before they happen and think carefully and rationally before reacting to the problems that I was not able to foresee or prevent. This way of dealing with life has worked well for me up until recently when I was faced with some challenges that tested my ability to think rationally and react logically.

    Although I didn't know it at the time my problems started last June when I took the family to Paducah, Kentucky to attend a wedding. Paducah was my wife Tracy's home town and the bride was Tracy's cousin.

    At the wedding Tracy ran into Jill Tanner, an old friend of hers from high school, and she suggested that we meet her and her husband Frank that evening for a drink. That evening, after the reception Tracy and I left our nine year old son Matthew and our seven year old daughter Lisa with Tracy's parents and we went out to meet Tracy's friends. I had never spent much time in Paducah so Tracy had to give me directions to Brian's Barn where Jill and Frank, were waiting for us.

    Brian's Barn was not only the name of the place but also an apt description. The bar was in a restored barn. When we entered we were in a large room with a circular bar in the middle. There were tables scattered around the outside walls and a dance floor at one end of the bar. Against the wall beyond the dance floor was a band stand but the band was not playing when we entered. Jill and Frank were sitting at a table at the opposite end of the room from the dance floor and Jill waived at us when we came in.


    After the introductions were made we ordered drinks and began chatting. It turned out that Frank also worked with computer networks and we were soon swapping stories of the strange or unusual network problems we have encountered over the years. By the time the band started to play we were so deep into our discussion and sitting so close together to be able to hear each other over the load music that I hadn't noticed that Tracy and Jill had left the table. It wasn't until I realized that my beer was empty and looked up to see if anyone else needed a drink that I noticed the girls were missing.

    "This is a hang out for a lot of the people our age," Frank shouted over the music. Jill and Tracy probably ran into some old friends."

    Frank and I got up and walked over to the bar to get another round of beers and I spotted Tracy talking to a guy on the other side of the bar. He looked to be about my size and probably about the same age. By the expression on their faces I could tell that he and Tracy knew each other. As I picked my fresh beer up off the bar I looked over at Tracy again. I am not normally a jealous person and I have always trusted Tracy. She has never given me any reason to make trust an issue and from what I could see there was nothing about the conversation she was having with her friend that concerned me. Frank and I took our beers back over to the table and resumed our conversation about content delivery over a broad band network, not exactly a subject that Tracy and Jill would have found interesting.

    It was about an hour later that Tracy and Jill returned to the table. I cold tell by the look on Tracy's face that it was time for me to stop talking shop and include them in our conversation. The rest of the evening was very pleasant. I had taken a liking to Frank and Jill and before we left that night we invited them to come visit us in Cincinnati to go to a Reds' baseball game.

    During the ride back to Tracy's parents house I asked her about the guy I had seen her talking to.

    "That was Barry Fox," she said. "He was a friend of mine in high school. I'm sorry I was gone so long but I was having fun talking to friends I haven't seen in several years. We were telling stories about our high school days and they were bringing me up to date on a lot of our other friends."

    "I am glad you had fun. I was so tied up talking to Frank I never even saw you leave the table."

    "Aren't Jill and Frank nice?" Tracy asked.

    "Yes. I really liked them," I said.

    "You know they got married right out of high school. Jill got pregnant just before graduation and they got married that July. Everybody was talking behind their backs saying that they would end up divorced. Nobody thought they would stay together but it's been eighteen years and Jill told me that they're still in love."

    "We've been together for fourteen years," I said. "Do you still love me?"

    "You know I do," Tracy said and then she leaned over and kissed me.

    The next morning after thanking Tracy's parents for putting us up and for baby sitting for us the previous night we made the four hour drive back to Cincinnati.

    Two weeks later on Saturday afternoon I was in my workshop sharpening my lawn mower blade and Tracy had just left to do the grocery shopping when the phone rang. Because of my need to be available in case there is a network problem on the weekend I had a telephone installed in my workshop so that I could be reached when I am working around the house. That is in addition to my pager and my cell phone. As I picked up the phone on the third ring my son Matthew said, "Hello."

    "Hi, who is this?" The caller asked.

    "I'm Matthew."

    "Well hello Matthew, is your mother home?"

    I was about to speak but decided to see how my nine year old would handle the call.

    "No sir," he said. "My mom just went to the store. Can I take a message?"

    I was proud of him. He had handled the call just the way I had taught him.

    "Yes thank you," the caller said. "I am an old friend of your mothers. My name is Barry. Would you please tell her I called?"

    "Yes sir, I'll tell her you called," Matthew said.

    "Tell your mom I'll call her tonight at eight o'clock," the caller said.

    "I will tell her."

    "Thanks Matthew."

    I was surprised by the call. Could this be the Barry that Tracy was talking to in Paducah? Why would he be calling Tracy? I don't know why but these questions made my stomach tighten up a bit. I guessed that I was just going to have to wait until he called back at eight o'clock to see what he wanted. I managed to put the questions out of my head and got back to what I was doing.

    I finished up my outside chores about a half hour later and went in the house to shower. I had finished my shower and when I saw that Tracy wasn't home yet I let my curiosity about Barry Fox get the better of me and I did something I had never before done. I went into Tracy's closet and found the box where she keeps personal things that have special meaning to her. It wasn't my intent to invade her privacy. I only wanted to find her high school yearbook.

    The first time I had ever seen her yearbook was when we first moved in together during graduate school. It was in this same box full of her personal items. She had told me then that the items in the box predated our relationship and were important to her and she would prefer that I didn't look at her stuff but if I insisted she would tell me what was in there. She said that she wasn't trying to keep any secrets from me; it was just that these things were personal and private. I told her that I would not need to see them.

    Examining the contents of the box I found a bundle of letters I had sent Tracy the summer after we met. Our wedding invitation was in there along with every birthday, anniversary, valentine, and mother's day card I had ever given her. By the time I got to the bottom of the box I was feeling pretty good. The only thing in that box that didn't have anything to do with our relationship was Tracy's high school year book.

    That afternoon was the first time in the fourteen years we had been together that I looked inside the box. It was very comforting to see that her year book was the only thing she kept from before we met. I would never expect her to get rid of her yearbook because I still had mine but it was sure nice to see that everything else that predated our life together was gone.

    I opened the book and turned to Tracy's senior picture. At seventeen she was a very pretty girl and in her face I could see the woman I married. I flipped slowly through the pages looking at the notes written by her friends. They were the same kind of notes I would have found in my own year book. "I will always remember the fun we had in Mr. Sayer's class," or "I know we will always be friends." Then I turned the page to find the pictures of students whose last name began with an F and there I found Barry Fox.

    Barry had written a long note next to his picture. Even thought it had been written eighteen years earlier, long before I knew Tracy, his note made me feel uneasy.

    "My Dearest Tracy," the note began, "I can't begin to tell you how much you have meant to me these last six months. I am so in love with you that sometimes I feel like I might explode. Then last week when your parents were out of town you made me feel like a real man for the first time in my life. You are the only thing I think about anymore and I know that I will love you for the rest of my life. I can't wait till summer so that we can be together all of the time."

    The note was signed, "Love always, Barry."

    I didn't have to read the note twice to understand what Barry had said. He and Tracy had made love in her parents' house. I knew Tracy wasn't a virgin when we started dating in college but I had never thought about her previous lover or lovers. Reading Barry's note disturbed me but I knew that it shouldn't and I felt guilty for invading Tracy's privacy and I wished that I had not read Barry's note.

    Just then I heard Tracy's car pulling into the garage so I quickly slipped her yearbook into the bottom of the box and put the box back where I found it. I made sure that I had left no evidence of my envasion of Tracy's privacy and then I went down to the garage to help her with the groceries.

    As we were putting the groceries away Matthew came into the kitchen and I realized that he was going to tell Tracy about the phone call from Barry. I quickly left the room so that I would not be there when Matthew gave Tracy the message from Barry. It was an instantaneous decision. I had originally planned to be there when she got the message so that I could ask her why he would be calling. At the last second I decided that I was just going to wait until after he called her back and then ask her who called and what he wanted.

    Tracy had not done anything sneaky or devious so I had a hard time understanding why I reacted the way I did. I didn't know what I was doing but decided to just let my instincts guide me.

    When I returned to the kitchen Tracy was still putting the groceries away. She had a strange expression on her face when she looked at me.

    "Where did you disappear to so suddenly?" she asked.

    "I had to go to the bathroom."

    "Matthew said that someone named Barry called me and said he would call back at eight o'clock," Tracy said. "Do you know anything about that?"

    "No. When did he call?"

    "Matthew said it was three o'clock."

    "Matthew is getting pretty good at taking messages, isn't he?" I said to cover up my discomfort.

    I wondered if Matthew had told his mother that Barry said he was an old friend of hers or did she think this might be some other person named Barry? I had a hard time believing that she wouldn't know that it was her friend Barry calling. It would be too much of a coincidence for it to be anyone else.

    "What do you think he wants?" I said.

    "Probably just someone collecting for charity or another of those credit card solicitation calls," Tracy said.

    Tracy looked a little uncomfortable when she said this and I was getting tenser by the minute. Tracy was open with me about the phone message but not completely. She didn't bother to acknowledge that it was her friend Barry from Paducah that had called.

    This called for a change of plans for me. Now I wanted to hear this phone call when it took place.

    "You're probably right," I said. "We have been getting a lot of those credit card solicitations lately."

    The rest of the afternoon Tracy was quiet and she looked a little uneasy. At dinner that evening she hardly looked at me and seemed to concentrate all her attention on Matthew and Lisa. I was beginning to feel as though I had done something wrong and Tracy was mad at me but I knew that wasn't the case.

    At 7:30 PM I told Tracy that I had pulled the lawn mower apart and that I was going out to my workshop to put it back together so that I could mow the lawn on Sunday.

    The look on Tracy's face was one of relief. I wasn't going to be in the house when Barry called back at eight o'clock. I guessed that Tracy was relieved that I would be out in the shop when he called, never dreaming that I planned to listen in on the call.

    It was 8:10 when the phone finally rang. I waited till the light on the phone came on indicating that the line was active and then I picked up the phone and hit the mute button at the same time.

    "Hello?"

    "Tracy?"

    "Yes."

    "Hi. It's Barry. How are you?"

    "Hi, Barry. I'm fine. This is a surprise," Tracy said.

    "I hope a pleasant one," Barry said.

    Tracy didn't comment.

    "I just wanted to call and tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you after all these years," Barry said.

    "It was great seeing you, too."

    "When I got home and told Karen that I saw you she was pissed that she missed you. She wanted me to tell you to make sure and call her the next time you're in Paducah."

    "I wish Karen had been there. I would love to have seen her," Tracy said.

    I was beginning to feel better. The call seemed innocent enough.

    "I am glad that Karen wasn't there," Barry said. "I would not have been able to dance with you like that if my wife had been there."

    Dance like what? Alarms started going off in my head.

    "We should not have been dancing like that. My husband was on the other side of the room and could easily have seen us," Tracy said.

    "You didn't seem to mind at the time."

    "I had too much to drink," Tracy said.

    I wondered what the hell they had done on the dance floor. Tracy had never even mentioned that she had been dancing that night.

    After that, the call became just a conversation between friends. I didn't know what to think about what I had heard but decided that whatever happened that night I wouldn't let it become a problem.

    I figured the call was almost over when I was hit with another surprise.

    "Tracy, I have had a change in my sales territory and I will be coming to Cincinnati a few times a year now. I expect to be up there in about three weeks and I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner when I was in town," Barry said.

    Tracy was silent for a moment and then said, "I am not sure that Allen would be comfortable going out to dinner with one of my old boyfriends."

    "One of your old boyfriends? I hope I was more than just one of your old boyfriends," Barry said. "Anyway, I wasn't planning on inviting your husband to go with us."

    "I can't go out to dinner with you," Tracy said.

    "Why not?"

    "Isn't it obvious? We are both married and I don't go out on dates with anyone other than my husband," Tracy said.

    I was glad to hear her say that.

    "It's just dinner between old friends. It's no big deal. When we were talking at the 'Barn' I had the feeling that you wanted more time to talk," Barry said.

    "I did want to find out what happened to a few more of our old friends."

    "Okay then, we'll have dinner and I will get you caught up on what's happening with all of your old friends in Paducah."

    "Just dinner and conversation?" Tracy asked.

    That question made me very uneasy. It sounded like Tracy was actually considering his invitation.

    "Yes. Dinner and conversation... Then we'll see what else happens," Barry said.

    At that point I wanted to scream into the phone but I didn't.

    "I don't think that is a good idea," Tracy said.

    "Listen Tracy, I wouldn't be asking you to meet me if your kiss hadn't told me that you shared my desire."

    "Barry! Don't say that. That was just a kiss of friendship so don't read anything in to it."

    The knots in my stomach were getting tighter. Tracy seemed to be resisting Barry but she wasn't firm enough to convince him, or me for that matter, that she wasn't interested in his invitation.

    "I'll give you time to think about this and I'll call you again when I know exactly when I'll be in Cincinnati," Barry said.

    "No. You can't call me."

    "Why?"

    "Allen will get suspicious of these phone calls and I don't know how I would explain them to him."

    "Well then, what is your number at work?"

    "I can't have you calling me at work either."

    I felt that Tracy was finally shutting Barry down. She was basically telling him not to call her again.

    "Can I send you an e-mail?" Barry asked.

    "Yes. That would be best," Tracy said.

    I listened as she gave him her e-mail address and I felt as though I was going to vomit.

    "Okay then. Look for my e-mail next week. Tracy, you know I still love you."

    "Don't say that, Barry."

    That was the end of the call. I was so upset I had to take a walk around the block to get fresh air into my lungs and clear my head. I started reviewing what I had heard and tried to make sense of it. I had just heard my wife's former lover invite her to have an affair with him. Tracy may want to believe that it was just a dinner invitation but she has to know there was more to it than that. Barry had said that he would be in Cincinnati several times a year indicating, at least to me, that he was contemplating a long term affair with my wife. That meant that if he wasn't successful in getting Tracy into bed on his first visit he would try again on the next.

    I tried to deal with all this information but I was too emotional to come to any conclusions. Every time I started to think about what might happen I got angry. I was starting to talk to myself saying things like, "if she fucks him I'll throw her ass out and I'll beat the fuck out of him." No rational thoughts, only emotion and that was mostly anger.

    By the time I got back home I had calmed myself to the point that I felt I was under control enough to go in the house and face Tracy without blowing up. After all, she still hadn't done anything. I had decided that I would spy on her e-mail and wait to see if any real problem developed. It might just be that once Barry sent her an e-mail that she would have had time to think about what was happening and tell him that she would not see him.

    When I went into the house Tracy looked at me funny for a minute and then asked, "Where were you. I went out to your workshop and you were not there."

    "I was restless and it is a beautiful night so I took a walk around the block."

    "Are you still restless?" Tracy asked.

    "I don't know, why?"

    "Do you want to go around the block again and this time I'll go with you," Tracy said.

    I wasn't sure if I wanted to be in a situation where I would have to talk to Tracy.

    "I don't think we should leave the kids home alone."

    "I guess you're right."

    Without saying another word I walked passed Tracy and into the living room. I sat down and turned on the television and for the next hour and a half I didn't say a word.

    At eleven o'clock I turned the television off and went up to bed. Tracy had been watching television with me and followed me up to bed without speaking. I made a mental note of how we both seemed to be deep in our own thoughts. In our bedroom I stripped and put on a pair of boxer shorts and a tee shirt, which was my preferred bed wear in the summer, and slipped into bed. When Tracy got into bed I rolled onto my side facing away from her.

    I must have stayed like that for fifteen minutes trying to go to sleep but I kept replaying parts of Tracy's conversation with Barry over in my head.

    "I am glad that Karen wasn't there. I wouldn't have been able to dance with you like that if my wife had been there."

    "I will be coming to Cincinnati a few times a year now."

    "I wasn't planning on inviting your husband to go with us."

    When Tracy asked "Just dinner and conversation?"

    Barry said, "Dinner and conversation... Then we'll see what else happens

    "Listen, Tracy, I wouldn't be asking you to meet me if your kiss hadn't told me that you shared my desire."

    All of this was spinning around in my head when I suddenly felt Tracy snuggling up to my back. She reached her hand up and started playing with my hair.

    "Are you awake?" She asked.

    I almost didn't answer. "Yes."

    "Do you know how much I love you?" Tracy asked.

    That question made me so angry that I wanted to say, "As much as you love Barry?" I didn't say that.

    "No. I really don't know, "I said.

    I could tell by the way Tracy's body stiffened that she wasn't expecting that answer.

    "How could you not know?" She asked. "Isn't it obvious to you that I love you more than anything, except maybe Matthew and Lisa?"

    With that opening I almost jumped on her. I wanted to say, "If you love me so much, why did you kiss Barry the other night? If you love me so much, why are you considering having an affair with him when he comes to Cincinnati? " I didn't say anything.

    Tracy was leaning on her elbow looking down at me. She didn't say anything, she just bent down and started kissing my ear. As she nibbled on my ear even my anger couldn't stop me from getting aroused.

    I could feel her hot breath on my neck as she planted little kisses down the side of my face and when she reached my cheek I couldn't help myself. I turned my head and let her kiss me on the mouth.

    I rolled onto my back and Tracy pushed her tongue into my mouth. Then she slid her hand down into my shorts and started stroking my already expanding cock. A part of my brain was screaming at me telling me not to let her seduce me. As much noise as the voice in my head was making it was no match for the power of persuasion that Tracy held in her hand.

    Tracy pulled my cock out of my shorts and then stuck her tongue in my ear.

    "I love you," she said.

    Then she moved down my body and took my engorged shaft into her mouth. This was strange to me. It wasn't as if Tracy never initiated sex, because she often did, and it wasn't that she didn't often give me oral sex, because she did. What made it strange was the feeling I had that Tracy had initiated sex that night because she was feeling guilty about her phone call with Barry.

    After several minutes of oral delight, Tracy pulled my shorts off me and then lifted her night gown and straddled my hips. She reached between her legs and guided my cock into her aroused love tunnel and lowered herself down until my cock was completely inside her. Tracy didn't move for a minute as she just flexed her vaginal muscles, which I always enjoyed. As she finally began to move on top of me Tracy leaned forward until she was lying on my chest and then she began kissing me. Between kisses she kept saying "I love you."

    For the first time in my life, hearing Tracy say that she loved me was making me angry. That night I found that anger and arousal is an interesting combination. I let Tracy take the lead for a while and then I rolled us over so that I was on top and I started pumping into Tracy as hard as I could. Each time I pushed in, Tracy let out a small grunt as though I was knocking the wind out of her but she didn't complain or ask me to stop.

    It surprised me when Tracy had an orgasm because I thought I had been causing her pain not pleasure. So I started pounding into her even harder and Tracy responded by having another orgasm just before I exploded inside her.

    Neither of us said a word when it was done. We both just rolled over and went to sleep.

    The next day at work I cracked Tracy's e-mail password, which wasn't very hard. She used Matthew's initials and Lisa's birth date as her password. It was just the third password I tried. Then I set up MSN instant message on my work computer using Tracy's e-mail address so that I would get a notification any time she received an e-mail. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to look at her e-mail until I was sure that she did not have her e-mail opened. Luckily, Tracy would only have access to her e-mail during the day using her computer at work. She didn't have a computer at home and never used mine. Tracy didn't really like computers that much and mostly only used e-mail to talk to friends around town. Even then she didn't send or receive many notes.

    That first week Tracy received seven e-mail notes and four of them were from Sue Baxter. They used to work together and now they would talk via e-mail. They liked to share recipes, which is what they were doing this week. The other three notes were of no importance either.

    It wasn't till Tuesday of the following week that Tracy received the first note from Barry. It was about two o'clock that afternoon and I was talking to Tracy on the phone about what she wanted me to pick up at the store on my way home. Suddenly I heard a ping and the small box rose up in the lower right hand corner of my screen with the note that said, "You have received mail from Foxman@xxxxx.com." It was difficult to keep the pain I was suddenly feeling in my chest from being reflected in my voice as I continued talking to Tracy.

    I waited until a few minutes after five o'clock and then I called Tracy's office phone to make sure she had already left for the day. As soon as I confirmed that Tracy had gone home I opened her e-mail account and found Barry's note. I had been worried that she might read it then erase it but she didn't.

    "Hi Tracy. I just wanted to let you know that I will be in Cincinnati next Monday. I'll be staying at the downtown Marriott and I would really love to have you come have dinner with me. Love, Barry."

    I had to look in Tracy's 'Sent Mail' folder to find the answer she sent him. Before I could even open that note my heart started pounding in my chest. I was scared of what I was going to find in her note but I had to look.

    "Barry, I would love to see you again but only for dinner. I don't want you to expect more than that. Tracy."

    There was no comfort in that note for me. Although she told him that he should not expect more that just dinner with her she left the possibility of more open when she accepted his invitation. She also didn't tell Barry that there would absolutely be nothing more than dinner, she only told him not to expect anything more than dinner. I am sure Barry saw this note as a positive response as much as I found it to be negative.

    Starting that evening things started go sour between Tracy and me. When I got home I was angry with Tracy but I couldn't tell her why so I tried to pretend that nothing was wrong. For Tracy's part it was obvious that she had something on her mind that she was not about to share with me so we were both very silent.

    That night Tracy tried to initiate sex but I pretended to be asleep and didn't respond to her. The next morning at breakfast Tracy was quiet but I got the feeling that she wanted to say something to me but she didn't. I grabbed my briefcase and headed for the door as soon as I finished eating. Normally I wouldn't be headed to work for another hour but I just wanted to get out of the house that morning. I was surprised that Tracy didn't ask me why I was leaving so early. As I got to the door Tracy started to say, "I love you," but I closed the door behind me before she could say it.

    "I love you," was something that Tracy had said to me as I left for work every morning since we had been married and that morning I just didn't want to hear it.

    That day Tracy didn't call me at work like she did almost every day. That was a sign to me that Tracy wasn't thinking about me the way she used to. By the end of that day I had seen four notes come into Tracy's e-mail, all from Barry.

    I again waited until after five o'clock to check Tracy's e-mail. The first note from Barry simply told Tracy that he had made dinner reservations for 7:30 Tuesday evening and told her he would meet her in the bar at the Marriott at seven o'clock.

    Tracy's reply said that she was not sure if she would be able to make it, which gave me some hope.

    "You have to come" Barry's next note read. "We have to find out if there is any magic between us. If there isn't anything there, at least we will both know. Isn't it better to know than to wonder and perhaps later regret that we never tried to find out? Please come."

    Tracy's reply said, "I will come but you have to understand that this is just for dinner and nothing else. We are both married and we should not be looking for any magic."

    Then Barry responded, "Great. I am really looking forward to seeing you. It will make my having to come to Cincinnati for business so much more worthwhile. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

    Tracy wrote back, "I am looking forward to seeing you too but you have to remember what I said."

    Barry final note read, "Don't worry. I won't put any pressure on you. I would never make you do anything you don't want to do."

    That last note really pissed me off. Barry in essence said that he planned to seduce her but he would not rape her. Not in those words of course but that was the hidden meaning. I doubt that Tracy would get the same meaning out of it.

    I sat at my desk for another hour trying to understand what Tracy was thinking. Was she just bored and wanted some excitement or was she really hung up on this guy. Was she going to have an affair with him? What was I going to do if she did have an affair?

    I started thinking about what I would do if Tracy ended up in bed with this asshole. I had to calm myself down and think what would be the best thing that could happen? That was easy. Tracy would change her mind and tell Barry she would not see him now or ever. The absolute worst case scenario was that Tracy would have an affair with Barry and then tell me she was in love with him and wanted a divorce. I doubted that either of these would happen. What ever happened would be somewhere in the middle.

    I tried to think of how I would handle each of the possibilities: a one time fling, a short affair lasting only a few months, or a long term affair lasting more than a year. I was such an emotional mess that I couldn't come to any rational decision about any of those possibilities.

    On the way home that evening I decided to try being extra loving toward Tracy. Maybe I could guilt her into not meeting Barry at the Marriott on Tuesday.

    When I got home I could hear Tracy in the kitchen fixing dinner. I went to the kitchen with the idea of kissing Tracy and telling her I loved her but when I walked into the kitchen she turned away from me and didn't even acknowledge my presence. I changed my tactic and just said hello to her and walked out of the kitchen as she responded with a weak hello in return.

    At dinner Tracy had very little to say to me and would not look at me when she spoke. She did however talk to and smile at Matthew and Lisa so what ever her problem was it was directed at me.

    Once again that night Tracy tried to initiate sex when we went to bed. She had waited till we were both in bed and the lights were off. I just rolled away from her and said I wasn't feeling well. I was just not in the mood to have sex with her knowing that she had made a date to see Barry.

    Thursday morning as I left the house to go to work Tracy didn't even bother to say that she loved me. A couple of days earlier I hadn't wanted to hear it but now it really hurt to not hear it. That day there were no more notes from Barry. I waited till five o'clock to see if Tracy had sent any to Barry hopefully to cancel their date but she didn't send him any notes either.

    Thursday night was more of the same. Tracy couldn't look at me when she talked to me and again she tried to initiate sex when we got into bed. I refused her again and she wanted to know what was wrong with me. She asked why I didn't want to have sex with her.

    "For more than a week now I have been getting the distinct impression that you don't care for me as much as you used to," I said. "You seldom talk to me and when you do you can't seem to look at me but then as soon as we get in bed you want me to make love to you. Well, I haven't been feeling any love lately so I am not giving any. When you are ready to talk and tell me what is happening between us maybe then we can start having sex again."

    I waited for a response from Tracy but she just rolled away from me and remained silent. I don't think Tracy slept very well that night because I didn't sleep much at all and I could feel how restless she was.

    Friday morning Tracy stepped in front of me as I was heading out the door and she looked me in the eye and said, "I love you."

    I stared into her eyes for a minute.

    "I sure hope you do," I said and then I left.

    I spent the first two hours of Friday morning sitting in my office still trying to decide how I would handle the possible outcomes of Tracy's date with Barry. My stomach was tied up in knots and my head was spinning. I was spending a lot of time thinking about the problem but I wasn't making any progress. I starting thinking about all of the cheating wife stories I had read on the Internet over the years. I remembered one theme that seemed to run through a lot of these stories. The husband would find out that his wife was either cheating or about to cheat on him and he would not do anything, opting instead to wait until he had proof of her infidelity that he could use against her to get revenge.

    I didn't want to think about revenge. I just wanted my marriage back the way it was before Barry Fox entered the picture. Besides how was I going to get proof that Tracy was having sex with him?

    I was kicking this around in my head when I was suddenly pulled out of my mind games by the ringing of my telephone. It was one of my coworkers with a question about a problem he was having with the network. He told me that we were going to have a problem with a segment of the network the following week because our marketing group was going to start running streaming videos across the network. He said that he thought the large volume of traffic would cause that network segment to crash and he wanted to know what he should do if that happened.

    I told him that we needed to be proactive and prevent the problem from happening. I said, "Let's redistribute the traffic on the network so we don't have all of the streaming video on one network segment. That way we'll have enough band width to handle the increased traffic." The answer had been fairly simple and when I put the phone down a plan for handling my personal problem came to me.

    I started looking at my problem from a different perspective Instead of trying to figure out what I would do if and when Tracy had an affair with that piss ant Barry, I started working on how I would keep that from happening.

    My first thought was to have a talk with Barry's wife. I thought I could have her call Tracy and maybe that would make Tracy feel guilty about what she was doing. Another possibility was that I could just tell Karen what her husband was up to and hope that she would be able to put a stop to Barry's plans. Rather than using directory assistance to try and find Karen and Barry's home number I decided to call someone who knew them.

    "Hi, Frank, Allen Harris. How are you?"

    "Hey, Allen, I'm fine. Good to hear from you. What's up?"

    I didn't want to get into the real reason I called right away so I talked about our invitation for Jill and Frank to come see a ball game with us.

    "I was just looking at the sports page in the paper," I said. "I was reading about last night's Reds' game and I thought of you and Jill. I decided to give you a call and see if you were still thinking of coming up some weekend to take in a game."

    "Yes, we would really like that. We probably won't be able to get up there till sometime in August or September."

    "I'll send you the schedule of the home games so that you'll know which weekends the Reds are in town," I said.

    'That's great. Would it be all right if we bring our son? I know he would love to see a game."

    "Of course. The invitation was for the whole family," I said. "While I have you on the phone, could I get you to do me a small favor?"

    "Sure. What do you need?"

    "Do you know Barry and Karen Fox?" I asked.

    "Yea, I know Barry. He works for the same company I do," Frank said.

    "Do you happen to know their phone number? Tracy would like to call Karen. I guess they were pretty good friends in high school and Tracy was disappointed that she didn't get to see her while we were in Paducah," I said.

    "I can get you Barry's phone number but he and Karen got divorced about five years ago. Karen remarried and moved to St. Louis," Frank said.

    "Do you know why they got divorced?" I asked. I'd like to be able to tell Tracy."

    "Barry was messing around. He had two or three girlfriends at a time."

    "How long did it take Karen to find out what he was up to?"

    "It took her about six years. Barry had his girlfriends in other cities. He had a girl in Bowling Green, another in Louisville and one more in Evansville. He would tell Karen he had to go to one of his girlfriends' cities on business and he would stay for a day or two with his girlfriend," Frank said.

    "How did Karen find out?"

    "She ran into his boss one day and found out that his job didn't require any travel."

    "He's not a salesman?" I asked.

    "The only thing Barry Fox sells is bull shit. He works in the warehouse. He is the assistant manager and he puts in a lot of overtime but because he is in management he doesn't get paid for his overtime. The company gives him comp time instead. So if he works over a weekend he can take Monday and Tuesday off and that is when he travels."

    "Did Barry ever remarry?"

    "No, but he still has a few girlfriends scattered within a few hours driving distance of Paducah," Frank said.

    "Tracy will get a kick out of this information," I said.

    Frank and I chatted for a few more minutes and then we ended the call.

    After the call I knew enough about Barry to make Tracy lose interest in him. I spent another hour just thinking about how to present this information to Tracy. I was sure that once Tracy learned the truth about Barry; that he lied about his wife Karen and that he was lying about his business trip to Cincinnati, and when she learned about his other girlfriends, I thought she would lose interest in him very quickly.

    I was all set to go home and drop all this information on Tracy when another thought occurred to me. I was pretty sure this information would be the end of her interest in him. I would have my wife back but not because she chose me over Barry but because she found out Barry was not the person she thought he was. Thinking calmly and rationally I realized that I had to force Tracy to make a choice between our marriage and the Barry she thought she knew, not the philandering asshole he really was. This reasoning may sound foolish but that was what I was thinking at the time.

    When I got home that evening I tried to be friendly and attentive to Tracy, letting her know in subtle ways that I loved her but when we went to bed I rolled onto my side and went to sleep.

    Saturday and Sunday were very difficult for me. While I was trying to act as if nothing was wrong, Tracy still could not look at me when she spoke to me. That hurt me deeply. Could she dislike me so much that she couldn't even look at me?

    Monday was a much better day. It was a very busy day at work, which made the time go by quickly and I was feeling relief from just knowing that I would have some form of resolution by the end of the next day.

    When I got home from work on Monday night, I tried to act happy and I asked Tracy about her day. I also tried to throw her off balance a little.

    "Lately, I feel as though we are drifting apart," I said. "Maybe a little romance is all we need. I was thinking that maybe would could go out for a romantic dinner tomorrow evening and then come home and make love. What do you think?"

    "Tomorrow night is not good for me," she said. "I am going out for dinner and drinks with some of my girlfriends after work tomorrow. Maybe we can go out for dinner later in the week."

    There it was. I was wondering when and how she was going to do it. What a cliché, "Going out with the girls." I suddenly felt like I was a character in a cheating wife story.

    "I think our marriage is more important than going out with your friends, don't you?"

    "Our marriage? Well, of course but we made these plans last week and it would be difficult for everyone to have to change their plans now."

    "Not everyone has to change their plans. Only you need to change your plans," I said.

    "Allen, please, can't we just go to dinner another time?" Tracy pleaded.

    "Well, at least I tried," I said. "I guess if you are going out then I will work late tomorrow to get a few things caught up at the office. Can you get Sarah to come over and baby sit until you get home?"

    "I guess I can call Sarah but I don't know what time I'll get home. We might do something after dinner," she said.

    "What are you going to do after dinner, go out and pick up some men?" I asked sarcastically.

    Tracy turned her back to me and didn't answer. She wasn't taking the bait. She didn't get defensive and she didn't back down. I was beginning to think our marriage was in bigger trouble than I had realized.

    Later that evening we both sat watching television without once speaking to each other. At eleven o'clock Tracy got up to go to bed. When I didn't immediately follow her, she came back into the room.

    "Are you coming up?" She asked.

    "Not yet. I think I'll watch some of Letterman tonight."

    "Can't you come up now? I don't like sleeping without you," she said.

    "You might want to get used to it," I said.

    "What does that mean?"

    "Just that you can't always expect me to be in bed next to you," I said.

    "Why did you say that?" She asked. "I don't understand you. Are you trying to tell me something?"

    "No. Just giving you something to think about. Good night."

    Tracy stood in the doorway for another minute staring at me. She appeared to be upset but she didn't say anything more. Finally she turned and went off to bed.

    When I went to bed about an hour later Tracy was either asleep or doing a pretty good imitation of sleeping.

    I changed for bed and slipped in next to Tracy and tried to get to sleep. I was laying on my side thinking about what might happen the following evening when Tracy stirred. I lay still and started breathing slow and deep so that if Tracy was awake she would think I was asleep.

    "Allen," Tracy whispered and when I didn't respond she said my name again just slightly louder. "Allen."

    I didn't move.

    "I love you," she whispered and then she rolled away from me.

    I wondered what the fuck that was about. She accepted Barry's invitation for "dinner and conversation... Then we'll see what happens." This was a date that could end our marriage and here she is whispering her love for me. I was so pissed at that moment I wanted to shake her and yell, what the fuck are you thinking? Instead, I continued to pretend that I was asleep.

    Tuesday morning I was awake at five so I got up and showered and then went downstairs and made a pot of coffee. I was sitting at the kitchen counter drinking my coffee when I heard Tracy getting into the shower. At that moment I knew that I didn't want to see her that morning so I quickly finished my coffee and left the house. I stopped at a diner for breakfast and then went to work.

    I tried to keep myself busy all day so I wouldn't keep thinking about what I had to do that night. At two o'clock that afternoon Tracy called me. When I heard her voice, I was praying that she called to tell me she changed her mind and decided to go out to dinner with me.

    "Allen, I just wanted to let you know that I got Sarah to baby sit tonight," she said. "I told her that you would probably be the first to get home but I didn't know what time that would be. Sarah said that because it is a school night she would have to be home by ten o'clock. You'll be home by ten, won't you?"

    "Yes, I'll be home before ten and you should be too."

    When Tracy didn't comment on that I said, "I am busy now, I'll see you later," and then I hung up the phone without giving her a chance to say anything more.

    At five o'clock I was starting to clear off my desk when my phone rang. I reached for the phone but didn't pick it up. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone and phone calls at that time of day usually meant problems. The last thing I needed was another problem to deal with. A few minutes later my cell phone began to ring. I didn't even look at my phone as I turned it off. I knew that if I saw who was calling it would be harder to ignore the call.

    I stayed in my office until 5:30 that evening and then walked the four blocks from my office over to the Marriott. I surprised myself with how calm I was as I entered the hotel. As I walked through the lobby I heard someone say, "Allen?"

    I turned to see who had said it and to see if they were talking to me. It took me a moment to realize that the woman standing behind the hotel registration counter was waving at me. Then I recognized the face. As I walked to the counter I couldn't help but smile.

    "Jackie Washington, how are you?" I said as I approached the counter.

    Jackie had been a neighbor of ours when Tracy and I were first married and she was a student at the University of Cincinnati.

    "I am great Allen but it's Jackie Winters now. How are you? I haven't seen you in what, eight years?"

    I smiled and said, "I don't want to think of how long it's been other than to say it has been too long. I had no idea you worked here. I see you are the hotel manager. How long have you been working here?"

    "I've been working in this hotel for two years. I started as a management trainee at the Marriott in Lexington five years ago. I was assistant manager there until they promoted me and moved me up here," Jackie said.

    "I am impressed. You know I only work four blocks from here. Maybe we can have lunch sometime," I suggested.

    "I'd like that but I am not sure my husband would appreciate it."

    "Believe me. I can understand that," I said. "Why don't you give me your home number? I will give you a call and we can all go out to dinner sometime. I would like to meet the man who finally won your heart."

    As soon as I said that I felt a pain in my chest as I wondered if Tracy and I would still be together the next time I talked to Jackie.

    As she wrote her number on a slip of paper and handed it to me Jackie asked, "So how is Tracy?"

    "I think she's fine but that remains to be seen," I said.

    "What's wrong?"

    "We are having a problem that I would rather not talk about it right now. I am here tonight to see if I can fix it."

    "I hope it works out for you?"

    "I know I shouldn't ask you this but could you check something for me?" I asked.

    "What would you like me to check?"

    "Can you check to see if a Barry Fox is registered here?"

    "What are you going to do to Mr. Fox if he is here?" Jackie asked.

    "Nothing, I just need to know if he has checked in yet."

    Jackie pushed a few buttons on her computer and looked up at me.

    "Mr. Fox checked in about an hour ago," she said.

    "Thanks Jackie."

    "I hope someday you will tell me what this was all about."

    "It depends on how things turn out. If things go the way I hope, I will never talk about this to anyone. If things go badly, I may need someone to talk to," I said.

    Someone came over to speak to Jackie so I said that I had to go and that I would call her about getting together for dinner and then I walked off toward the bar. I looked at my watch and it was 5:15 PM. I had an hour and forty-five minutes to kill before Tracy was supposed to meet Barry.

    I explored the bar to find a place where I could watch for Tracy to come in without being noticed. I found what I was looking for on the far side of the bar near a doorway leading to the rest rooms. I could sit at the bar there and watch the rest of the room and if Tracy needed to go to the lady's room I would be able to move around the corner of the bar and stay out of sight until the right moment.

    With that part of my plan decided I took a walk outside of the hotel to kill some more time and to think about what I was going to say to Tracy later. I knew that I would not be able to memorize a speech and a speech probably would not be appropriate. What I was trying to do was make sure I had all the points I wanted to make clear in my mind. That way I could let the conversation flow more naturally and not get myself tongue tied if something unexpected happened.

    By six o'clock I was getting quite nervous and decided I needed a drink to calm my nerves but before I went back into the bar I used my cell phone to call home. Sarah answered the phone on the second ring.

    "Hi Sarah. This is Mr. Harris. I just wanted to check and see if everything was okay."

    "Everything is fine here," she said.

    "Did my wife happen to say when she expected to get home tonight?" I asked.

    "No, but she knows that I have to leave by ten o'clock. She looked great when she left. She was wearing a sexy little dress and her hair was nicely done. I hope I look like her when I get older."

    That was not what I wanted to hear.

    "You will, Sarah. I'll be home by ten."

    So, if Tracy was wearing a sexy little dress, as Sarah had said, I guess she has made up her mind that this date is going to be more than just dinner and conversation."

    At that point I became an emotional mess. I was depressed and angry. My depression made me want to go somewhere and lie down and I almost decided to just go home and go to bed but my anger would not let me do that. I paced around outside the hotel for a while until I got my emotions under control.

    At 6:15 PM I sat down at the bar in the Marriott and ordered a bourbon and water and prepared myself for the wait.

    I was about halfway through my first drink when a man stepped up to the bar next to me and ordered a draft beer. I didn't get a look at him until he picked up the beer and walked slowly around the bar. I watched him as he walked over to a table in a dark corner of the room and then he came back to the bar and had a short discussion with the bartender, which ended with him giving the bartender a ten dollar bill.

    A few minutes after that conversation the bartender went over to the table and put a reserved sign on it. I didn't think much about that at first but as the man walked back around the bar toward me I recognized him. I had only seen him once but I knew it was Barry. So Barry was setting things up for the seduction of my wife.

    What happened next would almost have been comical if I wasn't so upset. Barry came over and sat down next to me and ordered another beer. After he had the first sip of his fresh beer he turned to me.

    "Beautiful day, isn't it?" he asked.

    I wanted to punch him but I didn't. "Yes, it is a beautiful day and it makes me wonder what the hell I am doing in here instead of outside enjoying the day."

    I could not believe it. Barry actually started making small talk with me. We talked about the Reds and their chances of winning a pennant. He told me that being from Paducah, Kentucky he was more of a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so we talked about the Cardinals chances for a while.

    At 6:45 Barry said, "I have to run up to my room and get cleaned up for my date. I have a hot one meeting me here in fifteen minutes. I usually like to let them wait for a few minutes before I arrive, it tends to make them happier to see me when I do show up. Nice talking to you."

    Barry got up and left without ever introducing himself to me.

    At seven o'clock on the dot Tracy walked into the bar. It was bad enough that she showed up at all but then she looked so beautiful. Sarah had been right. Tracy was wearing a short black cocktail dress with black stockings that I suspected were thigh highs rather than pantyhose. The top of the dress showed just enough cleavage to be sexy without being slutty. The small lights in the room seemed to give highlights to her long dark hair and seemed to make her face even prettier than usual. Seeing her dressed like that for another man was extremely painful. I had to take several deep breaths to calm myself down.

    Tracy looked around the room for a couple of minutes and walked to the other side of the bar and spoke to the bartender. I saw him point and Tracy went over to the reserved table and sat down.

    I could tell that Tracy was nervous because over the next five minutes she pulled her compact out of her purse three times to check her face and every time she put it away she looked around the bar as if she was making sure there was no one there that might know her. Every time she looked in my direction I was able duck out of her line of sight.

    It was 7:05 when Barry finally walked into the bar and joined Tracy at the table. Before he sat down, Barry leaned down to kiss Tracy. It looked like he wanted to kiss her on the mouth but she turned her head and he kissed her cheek instead.

    I watched them as they talked and it was obvious that Tracy was still either very nervous or just uncomfortable. She kept fidgeting with her hands. She put them on the table and then under the table and one on top and one under and then she started the cycle all over again. She was still fidgeting when the waitress brought them their drinks. For my part I was getting more nervous by the minute. My stomach was spinning and my palms were sweaty.

    I was trying to decide when I should make my move. I hadn't really made the decision as much as it was made for me. I saw Barry stand up and I thought that they were about to head over to the restaurant so I started to get up thinking that I wanted to get to Tracy before they went into the restaurant but Tracy didn't stand up. Barry left the table walking toward the bar and then came around to my side. I was beginning to wonder if he had recognized me after all or had Tracy spotted me? Was this going to be the confrontation between Barry and me?

    When Barry got around to my side of the bar he looked at me and gave me a friendly nod of his head and headed out the doorway behind me. I turned to see where he was going and saw him go into the men's room.

    I immediately got up and made my way around the bar and headed over to where Tracy was sitting. She was looking at herself in her compact mirror again and didn't see me coming.

    "Hi Tracy."

    Tracy almost jumped out of her seat as she looked up and saw me standing there.

    "What are you doing here?" She asked.

    "I just thought I would stop by and say hello to you and your girlfriends. I just figured that since you considered having dinner and drinks with them more important than going to dinner with me tonight that I wanted to meet these friends of yours," I said.

    Tracy's face had gone completely white. I saw her eyes move toward the bar looking to see if Barry was on his way back from the rest room yet. Tracy was beginning to look quite sick.

    "Why didn't you call...? " Tracy started to say but I cut her off.

    "Call you and tell you I was going to stop by? Why would I have to do that?"

    "Please leave before my friends come," she said. "Your being here is embarrassing me."

    I could hear the panic in her voice as she spoke.

    "What's the hurry? Can't I sit here and have a drink with you?" I asked.

    I could see that she was trying to think of something to say that would make me leave before Barry returned. Suddenly Tracy's eyes widened and I knew that Barry must be on his way back to the table.

    "Hey man, she's with me." Barry's voice came from behind me. "Is he bothering you, Tracy?"

    When I turned to face him he gave me a smile, "Oh, it's you. Sorry but she is already taken. I told you I had a hot date tonight."

    "That you did, Barry."

    "How did you know my name?" He asked.

    "Let me introduce myself," I said. "I am Allen Harris as in the Mr. Harris to her Mrs. Harris."

    Barry stepped back a couple of steps.

    "I am sorry, man. I didn't know," he said.

    "Didn't know what? That she was married or that I was the wimp that was supposed to be at home talking care of our children while you were seducing my wife," I said.

    I looked at Tracy but she looked almost catatonic so I looked back at Barry.

    "Why don't we sit down and have a little conversation," I said in a voice so calm I even surprised myself.

    "Listen, I don't want any trouble. I'll just leave and let you two work this out," he said.

    "Barry, stop worrying so much. There isn't going to be any trouble tonight so just sit down."

    Barry sat down and I grabbed a chair from an adjacent table, pulled it over and sat down.

    Tracy finally tried to speak.

    "Allen, this isn't what you think," she said.

    I held one finger up to my lips to quiet her.

    "Tracy, I don't know what to think this is," I said. "I only know that it is not proper for a married woman to be on a date with a former lover."

    Tracy tried to speak again but I held my finger up again.

    "I know what you want to say, that this was just going to be dinner between two old friends. I just can't accept that explanation. If that were true, I would have been invited to have dinner with the two of you and you would not have lied and told me you were going out with your girlfriends and if this was truly just dinner and conversation, you certainly would not have dressed like this. I have to say that you do look beautiful which is very upsetting for me to think that you would dress this way for another man.

    Barry tried to speak in Tracy's defense. "That is all it was. I was just in town for the night and I didn't want to dine alone. There was nothing else to this," he said.

    I laughed at him. "There is no way you drove all the way from Paducah to Cincinnati and paid two hundred dollars for a hotel room just to have dinner with my wife," I said.

    "I had to be here on business anyway so I gave Tracy a call..."

    "I cut him off before he could finish that lie. "Barry, we both know that isn't true. Assistant warehouse managers don't take business trips now do they?"

    Barry sat back in his seat and didn't reply. Tracy hadn't looked at Barry since he arrived at the table. She was either looking at me or at her hands.

    In a very low and calm voice, I began to say what I had come there to say to Tracy.

    "Tracy, when I first became aware of this date of yours I was sure you would never go through with it. I was sure that you loved me and would never hurt me that way but over the last two weeks I began to doubt your feelings for me. You barely speak to me anymore and when you do you can't seem to look me in the eye. I didn't know if it was because you couldn't stand to look at me anymore or if you were worried that I would know from the look on your face that you no longer care about me."

    Tracy grabbed my arm and started to open her mouth to speak but I stopped her again.

    "Let me finish what I came here to say. What I couldn't understand was how you could all but ignore me during the day but as soon as the lights went out you were ready to make love to me. Then I wondered if you really wanted to make love to me or was I just supposed to provide the physical part of some sexual fantasy you were playing out in your head. Were you thinking of this piss ant?"

    I pointed at Barry when I said that last part. He made an angry face but made no move to get out of his chair. Tracy's eyes had filled with tears but she wasn't crying yet. Her grip on my arm tightened.

    "Please, Allen..." Was all she could manage to say.

    "I guess I was foolish to believe that you would not throw away thirteen years of marriage for a little extramarital sex," I said. "I guess my biggest disappointment was that you didn't even care enough about our children to protect them from the potential consequences of your actions."

    That did it. The dam burst and now Tracy was crying. I was beginning to feel her fingernails digging into my arm. I pulled my arm out of Tracy's grip and stood up.

    "The next move is yours, Tracy. It is 7:30 now and I am going home. I will give you until 8:30 to get home. I think an hour should be long enough for you to say good bye to Barry and get home by 8:30 but it is not enough time for much of anything else. If you are not home by 8:30 I will consider our marriage to be over."

    For a moment I thought about telling Tracy what I had found out about Barry but I knew she was going to have to make her decision based on her feelings for me not on her feelings for Barry after she found out what a shit he was. If in the end she chose him, then she would deserve what she got.

    "I don't want to waste any more of your time," I said, "so I'll get out of here. Maybe I'll see you at home Tracy."

    I turned to leave and along with the hurt and anger I was feeling I felt proud of myself. I didn't attack Barry, I didn't raise my voice and I didn't resort to calling Tracy names. I had said nothing terribly hurtful or that could not be forgiven. I had made my feelings clear and the rest was up to Tracy.

    I had just reached the exit from the bar into the hotel lobby when I heard Tracy yell, "Allen, please don't leave now."

    I didn't stop.

    As I walked back to the garage at my office building to get my car I reviewed everything I had said to Tracy and was satisfied that I had said pretty much everything I had wanted to say. I only wished that I could have done something to Barry to make his life as miserable as he had made mine. I knew that if ever I found the opportunity I would repay him for what he had done. When you mess around with married women, you should be prepared for the consequences of getting caught.

    I drove home slowly with my windows open trying to keep myself calm. I turned on the radio and tried to sing along with the songs to keep from thinking about Tracy and our marriage. I only put the odds of Tracy coming home by eight thirty at fifty-fifty and I thought that might even be too generous.

    I arrived at the house at ten minutes after eight. Sarah was surprised to see me so early but when she saw the expression on my face she didn't bother to ask any questions. I thanked her as I paid her and then she went home.

    I got a beer from the refrigerator and took it into living room and sat down to wait. I turned the television on but the lame comedy shows on at that hour just added to my misery so I turned it off.

    I sat there trying not to think about anything but it didn't work. The closer it got to 8:30 the more agitated I got. The palms of my hands were sweating again and my stomach was rolling but that didn't stop me from drinking a second beer.

    I was staring at the beer bottle I was holding between my knees when I heard the grandfather clock in out dinning room strike on the half hour. I got up slowly and walked to the kitchen and poured out the remaining beer from my bottle into the sink and left the empty bottle on the counter. I walk to the front of the house and looked out the window and saw no sign of Tracy.

    "Shit," I mumbled to myself and then turned off all the lights and headed upstairs. I peeked in on Matthew and Lisa before I went to my room and changed for bed.

    As I climbed into bed I thought about how much different my life was going to be from then on.

    I turned off the light on my bedside table and pretended that I really thought that I was going to be able to sleep. I had only been in bed for five minutes when I heard the front door opening. I looked at the clock even though I already knew what time it was. She was fifteen minutes late. What did that mean? Was that because it was such a hard decision for her to come home instead of staying with him? Was it because she had to convince Barry that she would get together with him another time or was it that she, like me, took her time driving home.

    I debated on whether to go downstairs to talk to her or to stay in bed and pretend to be asleep. It was only 8:45 and I knew she wouldn't believe that I would be in bed this early. I waited a few more minutes and when it was evident that she wasn't coming upstairs anytime soon I got up and went to find her. I had to get some kind of resolution to the situation that night.

    Tracy was in the living room sitting in the dark. I turned on a light as I passed through on my way to the kitchen. I got two beers from the refrigerator and went back to the living room. I handed one of the beers to Tracy. When she looked up at me, her eyes were red and her nose was running.

    I didn't say a word. I just went into the bathroom and got a box of tissues and brought them back and put them on the coffee table in front of Tracy.

    "Thanks," Tracy said in a near whisper.

    "I guess it is your turn to talk and my turn to listen," I said in as non-threatening a way as I could.

    Tracy looked at me with her sad eyes.

    "Allen, I need you to do something for me before I try to explain this all to you," she said.

    "Why should I have to grant you any favors?"

    "It's not a favor," she said. "I just need you to do this so that you will believe what I have to tell you."

    I didn't like the sound of what she had just said.

    "What is it you want me to do?" I asked.

    "I tried to call you in your office at five o'clock today but you didn't answer and when I tried to reach you on your cell phone you didn't answer that either," she said.

    "Are you going to try and say that what happened tonight happened because I didn't answer my phone?" I was incredulous.

    "In a way, yes," she said, "but in order for you to understand that you have to listen to the voice mail I left you when I called at five o'clock. Please go listen to that message and then I will tell you whatever you want to know."

    I looked into Tracy's eyes to get some hint of where this was going. All I could see was that her eyes were pleading with me to do as she asked.

    As I got up to go to the phone I remembered that I had received a call at five o'clock that I didn't answer and shortly after that my cell phone rang but I turned it off without even looking to see who had called. So she was probably telling the truth about the phone calls but how could my not answering her call excuse her from what she was planning to do with Barry.

    I turned to look at Tracy before I left the room. She was staring at her hands and seemed to be oblivious to everything around her. Her legs were spread enough that I could see the tops of her thigh high stockings under her sexy little black dress. There was no way her phone message could explain the way she had dressed for her date with Barry.

    I picked up the kitchen phone and dialed my voice mail and then entered my password. There were three messages for me. Two were work related and came in after Tracy's call, which came in at five o'clock.

    This is the message Tracy left for me. "Allen, I thought you would still be in your office, you said you were going to work late. Call me when you get this message. I will try to get you on your cell phone after I leave this message. I have been thinking a lot about what you have been saying lately and it occurred to me that I have been behaving strangely toward you lately. I didn't realize how foolish I was acting until yesterday when you challenged me about going out with my friends tonight. I thought about what you said and decided that you were right. Our marriage is more important than a night out with my friends. I am sorry that I didn't think of this sooner. I told you that my friends and I had planned this night out last week and I couldn't change it. I decided that maybe you and I could compromise. I was thinking that I could go out for drinks with the girls and then meet you at eight o'clock at Anthony's for dinner. That way we can have our romantic dinner and still get home by ten o'clock for Sarah. Then I can show you how much I love you. I will keep trying to call you but if I don't hear from you before eight o'clock I'll just go home. I am going home now to change into something sexy so that you won't be able to resist me."

    The only two words that came to mind were "holy shit." She dressed like that for me, not him. We still had some issues to deal with here but the bottom line seemed to be that she chose me over Barry on her own. Things were starting to look up.

    I went back into the living room and sat down on the sofa next to Tracy and took her hands into mine and just looked into her eyes.

    "I am so sorry, Allen," she said. "I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to meet Barry for dinner. I knew you would never approve of me seeing him and that should have been enough for me to tell him no. You have to believe me when I tell you I never had any intention of sleeping with him. I thought we would have dinner and talk about old friends and maybe do some dancing and then I was going to come home. I thought I had everything under control. I really hated lying to you and that's why I couldn't seem to look at you when we talked. I was sure you would see right through me."

    "Did you really think that Barry was only interested in talking to you?"

    "No, and that is probably why I wanted to see him. I didn't want to have sex with him but I guess I kind of liked the idea that he wanted me."

    I had several other questions that I wanted to ask Tracy but what I really wanted to do at that moment was make love to her and tell her everything was going to be all right.

    I put my hands on both sides of her face and pulled her to me and kissed her. Tracy responded by opening her mouth and accepting my tongue inside. I stood up and took her by the hand and said, "Let's go to bed and salvage what we can of our romantic evening."

    As I followed Tracy up the stairs I slipped my hand up under her dress and cupped one of her cheeks. This made her jump a little. She tried to swat my hand away as she tried to run up the stairs laughing. I chased her into the bedroom where she turned around and grabbed me and began kissing me all over my face.

    I dropped down on my knees in front of Tracy and slowly pushed the front of her dress up and began kissing the inside of her thighs. I have always loved doing this to her. When I reached the top of her stockings and felt the warm soft flesh of her bare thigh against my cheek I could smell her musky scent. I started moving slower kissing first one thigh and then the other as I moved up toward my ultimate reward. The soft mound at the junction of her legs that held her sexual treasure was my goal but I was in no hurry to get there which was beginning to make Tracy restless. She was beginning to push her hips down trying to cause contact between my face and her hot mound. When I did finally press my mouth against the crotch of her black lace panties, I felt the moist heat on my lips. I reached up and pulled the narrow strip of material aside and began to trace the outline of her nether lips with the tip of my tongue. I began to increase the pressure of my tongue against her slit and Tracy put her hands on my shoulders for support as her pelvis began to move ever so slightly. My tongue began to open the crease in the middle of her vulva causing some of Tracy's sexual juices to coat my tongue, lips and chin.

    I pushed my tongue up inside her and clamped my lips on her clitoris and started driving Tracy toward an orgasm. When it started Tracy had to lean back against the bed while still holding onto my shoulders so that she wouldn't fall down.

    When her orgasm passed, we climbed onto the bed and Tracy started playing with my stiff member. She moved down the bed and took it into her mouth and for the next several minutes she sucked and licked my cock in a slow loving manner. Then she pulled away letting my cock slip from her mouth.

    "Earlier tonight you mentioned my not talking to you but wanting sex when we came to bed. I just want you to know I was not having any fantasies. I was trying to show you that I loved you. I was having a problem being able to look at you when we talked because I was afraid you would see that I was hiding something from you. I just thought that in the dark I could show you how I felt without having to look into your eyes. I just want to make sure that you know that I love you and I was not lying when I said I never intended to have sex with Barry. That was never going to happen," Tracy said.

    Tracy took me back into her mouth and teased the bulbous head of my engorged cock with her tongue and had me on the brink of climaxing at least three times and each time she backed off and let me recover. Next I lay on my back and Tracy stood up on the bed and removed her panties while I watched. Then she stood with one foot on each side of my hips and lifted her dress up to expose the tops of her legs and her hot little pussy. Tracy slowly lowered herself down and used her hand to guide my shaft into her warm wet tunnel. She pumped herself up and down on my cock until she had an orgasm. Then she collapsed onto my chest and lay still for a minute.

    When her breathing returned to normal I rolled us over so that I was on top and began stroking myself into her fast and hard and soon felt my orgasm building. When I felt the first pulse of my ejaculation I could not help but let out a deep groan of pleasure.

    When Tracy had milked the last drop of semen from my limp member, I rolled onto my back and lay quietly next to Tracy.

    After a few minutes Tracy said, "You know what I love?"

    Then she took my hand and pressed it against her pussy and forced two of my fingers inside her cum filled channel. "I love the way my pussy feels after you fill me up with your cum."

    My fingers played in her messy slit and I could hear the squishy noises it was making. That was the first time I had ever done that and I was beginning to enjoy the feel of her post sex pussy. I knew that I was enjoying it because I soon had another erection. Afterward, as we lay in bed snuggling Tracy asked, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

    "No. I think it's better if we just put this behind us," I said.

    A few minutes later I drifted off into the best sleep I had in three weeks.

    In the morning Tracy and I had breakfast together and she stopped me at the door and kissed me.

    "I love you, "She said.

    "I love you too."

    I was feeling good about myself as I backed my car out of the driveway and started off to work but my good mood suddenly began to turn sour and I didn't understand why. Something was eating at me but I wasn't consciously aware of what it was. By the time I got to my office some of the pieces to the puzzle started to fit together and my mood soured even more.

    Tracy had chosen to be with me the night before but in retrospect I still couldn't be sure if it was because she loved me. Had she just realized that I might know what was going on and decided to make arrangements to meet me for dinner at eight o'clock to make me think that she had decided not to have an affair with Barry and then she went to meet Barry to make arrangements to see him on his next visit? I tried to tell myself that wasn't the case but I remembered all of the subtle hints I had been giving Tracy that I knew what was going on. After all, I still didn't know why she agreed to meet him in the first place. Then there were the things he said during their phone conversation about how they danced and about the kiss they shared.

    I was no longer sure that I had saved my marriage. I may have only postponed the end.

    I was sitting at my desk trying to get some work done when the little box popped up in the lower right corner saying that there was a message from Foxman@xxxxx.com. It was 10:30 AM so I waited till after lunch and then I opened Tracy's e-mail. I no longer had the patience to wait till after five o'clock to find out what was in the note and see if Tracy answered him.

    Barry's note read, "T, Sorry about the mess the other night. How did he know you were going to meet me in the hotel bar? Anyway, I will be back in Cincinnati in a month. Can we try and get together then?"

    I had to wait ten minutes before I could bring myself to look at Tracy's send file to see if she responded and if so what she said. When I finally had my heart rate back below 100 I opened Tracy's send file and there was her reply. I hesitated for a moment before I opened it hoping that by waiting just a little longer there might be good news for me in her in her reply to Barry.

    I can't say that my hesitation is what did the trick but the news was good. Tracy's reply read, "Barry, Agreeing to meet you was a big mistake and I don't plan to make that mistake again. I think I was able to save my marriage and I don't want to put it at risk again. Do not try to contact me again. Tracy."

    I closed Tracy's mail and sat back in my chair feeling relief again. The concerns I had earlier in the day were still unanswered but I had told Tracy that I didn't want to talk about it so I decided I would not bring the subject up again. I would just have to live with the fact that I would never have answers to those questions.

    Our life had gotten somewhat back to normal. Tracy was the loving wife that she had always been and out sex life was good too but I was still nagged by doubts caused by the unanswered questions. Several times I came close to bringing up the subject of Barry and why she ever agreed to meet with him in the first place but everything else was going so well that I was afraid I would ruin everything.

    In spite of the fact that I had seen nothing to indicate any kind of a problem in our marriage I continued to check Tracy's e-mail and listen to her phone calls if I didn't know who she was talking to. On a couple of occasions when Tracy had called and said she had to work late I drove by her office to make sure her car was in the parking lot and then later I called her office to make sure she was there.

    By the middle of September I was beginning to realize that I was acting foolishly. I had spent many hours reviewing in my head everything that had happened and one thing had become clear to me. Tracy had never stopped loving me. I still had no idea why she agreed to meet Barry that night but I knew it was time to put that behind us and move on. I decided to stop spying on Tracy and trust her. Having made that decision I felt as though a large weight had been lifted of my chest but that feeling was short lived.

    It started one Saturday afternoon when I came in the house after mowing the lawn and heard Tracy talking on the phone. I didn't hear much but I did hear her say, "He just came in, I have to go," and then she hung up the phone.

    "Who was on the phone?" I asked.

    "My mother."

    "What did she want?"

    "She just wanted to talk," Tracy said.

    There was something in Tracy's voice that told me she wasn't telling the truth but I had no good reason to challenge her.

    On Monday when I checked her e-mail there were no new notes and she had erased all of her old notes. I checked her e-mail several times that week. There was never any new mail. I was beginning to suspect that Tracy must have opened a new e-mail account but I had no way to find that out.

    The following week Tracy started acting the way she did during the period leading up to her date with Barry. She wasn't talking to me very much and when she did she would not look at me. Then at night when we went to bed she wanted to have sex.

    Was she planning to get together with Barry again or could this be a new man? Maybe the excitement she had gotten out of her near affair with Barry had whet her appetite for having an affair and now she had found another man. I was getting that same pain in my stomach and I was losing sleep again.

    The following weekend Jill and Frank and their son Frank junior came up to visit and go to a Reds' game with us. They stayed for the weekend and we had a great time with them and I hoped that it would help things between Tracy and me. That Saturday night we were all sitting in the back yard having a few beers and grilling some steaks. Tracy, Jill and Frank were talking about some of there old friends when Frank brought up the subject of Barry Fox. He asked Tracy if she had ever gotten a hold of Barry's wife Karen. When Tracy said that she hadn't, Frank told her the whole story about how Karen had divorced Barry for having several affairs and about how he had girlfriends in different cities and then he went into detail about how Barry pretended to have to travel on business so he could visit his girlfriends. I couldn't believe it. Frank had enlightened Tracy with the truth about Barry and I had never even mentioned his name.

    I thought that if Tracy had been thinking of getting together with Barry again maybe she would change he mind now that she heard this story about Barry from Frank. Now she had to know what kind of person he really was.

    Tracy's expression didn't change so I couldn't tell how this news affected her. She didn't ask any questions so I had no way to know what she was thinking. Did this upset her or did she not care anymore? Although I didn't know how she felt about the news, I was glad Frank brought it up.

    The situation came to a head in October. My birthday is on October 11, which fell on the second Friday of the month. In years past Tracy would work on me for weeks trying to get hints from me about what I wanted for my birthday. This year she never even asked once. By Thursday Tracy wasn't even speaking to me anymore. It was as though our marriage was already over but someone forgot to tell me.

    Friday morning I got up early and left for work before Tracy got up. I tried to stay busy but I was heart broken. I couldn't understand how things could have been going so well for us and suddenly turn so bad. By eleven o'clock that morning I hadn't accomplished a thing and was thinking of taking the rest of the day off as a sick day.

    I hadn't quite decided whether to go home or not when Jack Farris called me. Jack is my boss. He said that our office in Lexington was having some network problems and he wanted me to drive down there to fix the problem.

    "Can't Tom handle the problem?" I asked.

    Tom Mosley was the network manager in the Lexington office.

    "Tom is on vacation today," Jack said.

    It was an eighty-five mile drive to the Lexington office and I got there around 1:30 PM. When I walked in the door I was told that they had just gotten the network back on line. I was a little pissed that I had driven all the way to Lexington for nothing. Apparently Tom Mosley had called in from home and was able to fix the problem over the phone.

    Brian Cadwell, the office manager, apologized for the inconvenience and then invited me to go across the street to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee before heading back to Cincinnati. I arrived back in my office at 4:15 PM. There were two report requests sitting on my desk with a note from Jack asking me to pull the data for the reports and get them finished before I went home. I was upset that he would stick me with this late on a Friday afternoon after sending me to Lexington. It would take me two hours to pull the necessary data and finish the reports.

    "Screw it," I said to myself. I didn't have anywhere to go anyway and the idea of rushing home to a wife that doesn't even want to talk to me wasn't all that appealing so having something to occupy my time was a bit of a blessing.

    I was about to start working on the reports when I saw the message light on my phone blinking. I dialed into my voice mail and received one message. The message was left for me at 1:30 that afternoon and it was from Tracy.

    "Allen, I am going out with some girls from work tonight. I might be late so don't wait up for me. I asked Sarah to come over until you get home but don't be too late."

    Out with the girls? Who the fuck is she trying to kid?

    Then I thought maybe she wasn't trying to fool me. Maybe she was sending a clear message that she had something going on and didn't care if I knew about it.

    I picked up my phone and called Tracy's office and was told that Tracy had already left for the day. I called home and Sarah answered the phone and said that Tracy had already left there.

    "Did she say where she was going?" I asked.

    "No."

    "How was she dressed?"

    "She was wearing jeans and a sweater," Sarah said.

    That didn't tell me anything.

    I tried Tracy's cell phone but she didn't answer. I left her a message asking her to call me but I didn't have much hope that she would call. I wondered if there was any significance to Tracy doing this to me on my birthday.

    This time I couldn't do anything to stop her. I had no idea where she went and if she wouldn't answer her phone there was nothing else I could do. It struck me that maybe I should not have interfered with Tracy when she had her date with Barry. If I had just let her go then the death of our marriage would already be over and instead of going through this pain again, I would have already started to rebuild my life.

    I tried to put all of that out of my mind and started pulling the data for the reports. At 6:15 I was finishing the second report when my phone rang.

    "Allen?"

    "Yes"

    "It's Jackie Winters."

    "Hi Jackie, what's up?" I asked.

    "Allen, I don't know what is going on and this may not be any of my business but I thought I should try to get a hold of you."

    The tone of Jackie's voice alarmed me.

    "Jackie, what is going on?" I asked.

    "I was getting ready to go home at 5:30 and I was standing in my office when I saw Tracy come into the hotel and check in. Did you know she was getting a room here tonight?" Jackie asked.

    "No, I didn't. Is the room in her name?" I asked.

    "Yes, and she left a note for somebody at the desk."

    "Can you tell me who the note was for and what it said?" I asked.

    "It seems that you are always asking me for information I shouldn't be giving you. Why don't you just come over? We will talk when you get here."

    "Thanks Jackie. I'll be over in a few minutes." I said

    I quickly finished up the second report and put both reports in the internal mail and sent them to Jack. Then I took the ten minute walk to the Marriott. I went to the registration desk and asked for Jackie Winters and she came out of the office about two minutes later. Jackie led me over to a sofa in the lobby and we sat down.

    "I'm sorry that I had to be the one to break this to you," she said. "You have to promise me you won't do anything foolish."

    "I just need to know who she left the note for and then I have to talk to her."

    "The note was addressed to somebody named John, no last name. Inside the envelope was a key card to her room and a note that said I'm in room 706 come on up and let yourself in."

    "John? I have no idea who that might be. Did anyone pick the note up yet?" I asked.

    "No, and no one can," Jackie said. "I have the note in my pocket. I am going to give you the key card for room 706 so that you can go up and talk to Tracy before this John person shows up. I have instructed the desk attendants to call the room if he shows up while you are up talking to Tracy. Now you have to promise not to do anything stupid. Remember I am taking a risk giving you a key to her room and if there is trouble I could lose my job."

    "Jackie, I promise I won't do anything that will get you in trouble. I just need to talk to Tracy and see if I can stop her from doing whatever it is she has planned," I said. "Thanks Jackie, I do appreciate this and I won't forget that you helped me."

    I took the key card from Jackie's hand and headed to elevators. The ride up to the seventh floor was the longest, short or should I say the shortest long elevator ride I had ever been on. Part of me wanted to get to Tracy's room as quickly as possible and get this confrontation over with but the other part of me was dreading this confrontation because I was afraid this meeting was quite possibly going to mean the end of our marriage.

    When I got to the door at 706 I stopped and listened for a minute. I could hear the television but nothing else. I took a deep breath and reached out to put the key card in the reader. My hand was shaking so badly that I had to use both hands to guide the card into the reader.

    The light on the reader turned red and I pulled the card out quickly and rechecked the room number. I was at the correct room then I realized that I had put the key card in the reader upside down. I turned the card around and inserted it again. This time the light was green.

    I pulled the card out and opened the door as quietly as I could and stepped into the room. On the wall to my left just inside the door was a closet with sliding doors made of mirrors. One door was partially opened and I could see a suitcase on the floor inside the closet. Seeing the suitcase gave me a sinking feeling because it told me that Tracy wasn't planning on going home that night. I wondered if she was ever planning to come home again.

    To my right was the bathroom door which was closed. A quick look into the reflection in mirrored doors showed me that no one was in the bedroom. I could hear water running in the bathroom so I knew where Tracy was.

    I let the room door swing closed hoping that Tracy would hear it and she did.

    "Oh good you're here," she called. "I just got out of the shower. There is some beer in the ice bucket on the table. Help yourself and I'll be out in a few minutes."

    My first impulse was to charge into the bathroom and grab Tracy by the throat and ask her why she was doing this to me... To us but I didn't dare allow myself to react with violence. Nothing good could come of that. Besides, I was curious to see how Tracy would be dressed when she came out of the bathroom. Would she be naked or fully dressed? I felt that if she was naked or wearing a sexy negligee when she came out of the bathroom that it probably meant this was not the first time she had been with this John person but if she was fully clothed it may be their first time together.

    I walk into the bedroom and got one of the beers from the ice bucket and sat in a chair next to the table and stared at the television with no comprehension of what I was watching.

    I had finished about half of my beer when I heard the bathroom door open. Tracy stepped out of the bathroom and crossed to the closet without even looking in my direction. She was dressed in only a black bra and matching panties and as she bent over to get something out of her suitcase I was treated to a great view of her beautiful ass. Through the sheer material I could see the smoothly rounded globes separated by the shadowed valley that hid her treasures. Unfortunately, I wasn't really in the mood to fully appreciate the view.

    Tracy was still bent over looking through her suitcase when she began to speak.

    "Our dinner reservation is for 7:30 so we have time to fool around a little if you want." She said.

    I stood up and started walking toward her. I wanted to be close enough to her when she realized that it was me in the room and not her lover that I would be able to see the surprise and then the fear in her eyes. I knew that I wasn't going to hurt her but she wouldn't know that.

    When I was less than four feet away from her I called out, "Tracy."

    Tracy straightened up spun around quickly to face me. As she turned I could see that she had something in her hand but as she turned to face me she hid whatever it was behind her back.

    I took another step forward as I made eye contact with her. I waited for her face to register the fear I knew she must be feeling at that moment but rather than show fear, Tracy smiled at me. I was unprepared for that and was unable to speak while I considered what this might mean. Did Tracy not care that I had caught her. She must have known that I would never hit her and now she was going humiliate me by rubbing my face in the fact that she was waiting for another man in a hotel room. She didn't even seem to be interested in how I found out she was going to be there.

    "Allen."

    I had expected, no, hoped that after a few seconds her initial reaction would change but it didn't, she just continued to smile at me. I couldn't believe how coolly she was handling this situation. She never broke eye contact with me and I could still find no words to press my offensive. I was trying to think of what I could say that would give me the advantage in this confrontation again but before I could come up with anything Tracy surprised me again. She brought her hand out from behind her back and handed me a large blue envelope that had my name printed on it in large letters.

    I stood staring at Tracy in dumb silence unable to utter a word.

    "Happy birthday sweetheart," Tracy said and then she gave me a tender kiss on the lips.

    Suddenly my legs went weak and I had to back pedal to the bed and sit down.

    "What's this?" I finally stammered. "What's going on here?"

    "There are actually two things going on here," Tracy said. "First, was your punishment for spying on me, listening to my phone calls, reading my e-mail and generally not trusting me. Second, and most important is this is your birthday surprise and I'll bet you're really surprised."

    "I don't know what to say... Wait a minute. This is your idea of revenge. I spied on you a little and so you decide to get even by having a fling with some guy named John on my birthday?" I asked.

    "Who's John?" Tracy asked.

    "You left a note for some guy named John at the reception desk with this room number and a key. So don't try to act innocent. Who the hell is John?" I said.

    "I don't know who John is," she said.

    "Are you trying to tell me that you didn't arrange to meet some guy here tonight?" I asked.

    "No, I am not trying to tell you that. You're right. I did arrange to meet a guy here tonight. I arranged to meet the man I love, the most important man in my life," she said.

    "I was beginning to feel dizzy. Had she put something in my beer? I really didn't think she would do anything like that. I knew that the problem was that she had gained the upper hand in this confrontation and I was struggling to get it back with no success.

    "So when is he coming?"

    "He is already here silly."

    "Who is already here?"

    "You are. The man I love, the one who is most important to me is you. Haven't you figured that out yet?" she said.

    The realization of what she was telling me was starting to sink in but I was still confused.

    "Well, then who is John?" I asked again.

    "There is no John. John was just a name that Jackie put on an envelope for me," Tracy said.

    "Jackie was in on this?"

    "I needed someone to get you to come down here without giving away what I was up to," she said. "I didn't know what name Jackie was going to put on the envelope, I left it up to her because the name didn't matter as long as it wasn't Barry. I though about using Barry's name but realized that would have been too cruel and thought that it might make you a little too crazy."

    Now the whole thing was starting to come clear in my head. I had been royally set up.

    "How many other people were involved in this?"

    "Your boss," Tracy started. "I needed him to get you tied up so that you would not get my voice mail message until it was too late for you to do anything about it. Sarah, because I had to explain what she was to tell you if you called or showed up at home. Your parents, because they had to stop by the house to pick the kids up for the weekend. There were a few others that had minor parts like the office manager in Lexington who told you that their network came back up just before you arrived and then got you to stay for a little while before driving back to Cincinnati."

    "You did all this to punish me because I spied on you a little?" I asked. "You drove me crazy for the last three weeks and then tell me it was your birthday gift to me? On top of all that you involved my family and friends in this. My behavior may have been out of line but this was way over the top Tracy. This was just plain cruel."

    "Jackie is the only one who knows the whole story. The others only thought they were helping me surprise you for your birthday. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Originally your birthday and this revenge, if that's what you want to call it, were supposed to be two separate things," she said. "When I realized that you were listening to my telephone conversations and discovered that you had been reading my e-mail, I was hurt and angry that you didn't trust me. Then you started to check up on me at work if I had to put in any overtime. I know that I put the doubts about me in your mind but if you would have just sat down with me and talked about what happened with Barry and why and asked any question that were bothering you right after it happened I could have put your mind at ease. You refused to discuss it and you let those doubts eat at you and cause you to distrust me. So, I started acting like I did before the incident with Barry thinking that as soon as you noticed my behavior you would challenge me about it and we would finally have the conversation we should have had three months ago."

    "I had been planning this weekend by ourselves for your birthday for more than a month," she continued, "but when instead of questioning my suspicious behavior you chose to escalate your spying I escalated my plan to teach you a lesson. I hadn't intended to carry it this far until Jill and Frank came to visit."

    My head was spinning between the relief of finding out that Tracy wasn't going to have an affair and anger over the cruel trick she played on me.

    "What did their visit have to do with this?" I asked.

    "It was obvious that you thought my behavior meant that I was planning to get together with Barry," she said.

    "What made you think that?" I asked.

    "It was obvious that you put Frank up to bringing up that stuff about Barry. You got him to tell that story about Barry's divorce and all his girlfriends. You put Frank up to doing a character assassination on Barry because you were afraid that I was planning to get together with him. Even after I told you that I had never had any intention of having an affair with Barry you still didn't believe me. I could almost have forgiven you for that but when you got Frank involved in our problem and used him to tell those stories about Barry that was just too much. You couldn't trust me enough to know that I wouldn't allow myself to be seduced by Barry so you tried to make him out to be a real scum bag to make sure I would lose interest in him and you used my friends to do it..."

    I put my hand up to stop her. I was now sufficiently prepared to defend myself.

    "Just a damn minute," I said. "First of all, as to whether Barry is a scum bag or not, think about this. What do you call a man who tries to get a married woman to go up to his hotel room with him knowing he might destroy that woman's marriage? I would call him a scum bag, wouldn't you? That makes me wonder what you were thinking. You thought he was married and yet you still agreed to meet him that night."

    I could see Tracy's expression change as she thought about that.

    "Second and more important," I said. "I did not ask Frank to tell you about Barry. Frank does not know anything about what happened that night."

    "Then why did he bring it up?"

    "Back in June when I was trying to find a way to stop you from meeting Barry when he came to town," I said. "I called Frank and asked if he knew Barry's phone number. I told him that you wanted to call his wife Karen because you had missed her when we were in Paducah. I had planned to call Karen and tell her that Barry was trying to get you to meet him in a hotel. I thought that she might be able to put and end to that. That's when Frank told me that Karen had divorced him and why and then he told me about how Barry had girl friends in different cities and how he pretended to be traveling on business so he could go visit these women. Frank only brought that up because I had told him you were interested in getting a hold of Karen."

    Tracy's eyes got bigger.

    "Why didn't you tell me about all this before I met with Barry that night?" She asked.

    "I wanted you to decide what you were going to do based on how you felt about me," I said. "I didn't want to win only because you found out at the last minute that Barry was really just an ass hole."

    Tracy came and sat next to me on the bed and ran her fingers through my hair.

    "Let's do this now," she said. "I know you have some questions that have been bothering you so ask them now."

    "I guess this all goes back to the night Barry called you and I listened in on the call. He made a comment about the way the two of you were dancing as though it had some significance," I said.

    "I guess it had some significance to him," Tracy said. "I was feeling pretty good from the drinks I had and it was fun talking about old times with Barry. Then he asked me to dance and I didn't see any harm in that but when the band played a slow number he pulled me close to him. I didn't think anything of it at first but he put his hand on my ass and I made him move it right away but I didn't push him away from me as we continued the dance."

    "Why didn't you tell him that night on the phone that you didn't like what he had tried while you were dancing?"

    "Because I didn't think it was important so why make him feel bad? I did tell him it was inappropriate and it had only happened because I had been drinking," she said.

    "What about the kiss? He made it sound as if that kiss was rather passionate." I said.

    Suddenly Tracy kissed me on the lips. Just a brief kiss with no tongue.

    "That is the way I kissed him. I told Barry I had to get back to you and I gave him a quick kiss to say good bye. He just tried to make it seem more important than it was hoping to make me believe it too."

    "If you knew that then, you must have realized what he wanted when he asked you to see him when he came to Cincinnati. When you agreed to see him you said it would only be for dinner and conversation and then added that he shouldn't expect anything more. Telling him not to expect anything more is not the same as telling him that there would be nothing more. You left him with the feeling that he still had a chance to get into your pants. Why did you do that?" I asked. "Why did you agree to meet him?"

    "I don't know what made it so important to me. I knew what he wanted and I was flattered that he was interested in me but not enough to have an affair with him. I dated Barry during our senior year of high school and that summer after school ended. Barry was my first and we were sexually intimate during most of that time. The sex was exciting because it was new to me but Barry was selfish and egotistical and by the end of the summer I knew that I didn't love him so I broke up with him. Barry kept saying that I would come back to him and that the break up was only temporary. He told me that I would always want him sexually because he was my first lover and women never forget their first lover.

    "In one of his e-mail notes Barry said that we should see if there was any magic between us. I felt that he had challenged me. He was saying that if we got together I wouldn't be able to resist him. The way he had said we would have dinner and conversation and then see what would happen just made me want to show him that he was wrong about me. I wanted to show him that there was no magic between us. I wanted to show him that I could spend the evening with him and not go to bed with him. I guess I got so hung up with my need to prove him wrong that I forgot about what was most important in my life, you and the children."

    I started to ask another question but Tracy stopped me.

    "It's 7:15 and we have a 7:30 reservation for dinner and you still need to change. We can continue this discussion later."

    "Okay, but what am I supposed to change into?"

    "My loving husband?"

    "I already am that but I didn't bring a change of clothes with me. After all, I didn't know that I was supposed to," I said.

    "I brought clothes for you. They're in the closet. Hurry and get ready."

    I quickly washed up and put on gray dress slacks with my navy blazer. When I came out of the bathroom Tracy was on the phone.

    "Yeah, we're going to dinner now. Thanks so much for your help," she said.

    "Who was that?"

    "I just wanted to call Jackie and tell her that everything worked out okay. It did, didn't it?"

    "I guess so but I still think the trick you played on me was a little too cruel," I said.

    "You may be right and I am sorry. If I had known that you didn't put Frank up to telling those stories about Barry I would have made sure I ended this last week."

    Tracy kissed me and then we headed for the elevators. Tracy talked as we went.

    "I am serious about answering all of your questions about what happened. I just hope that you learned a lesson from this. If you think something is wrong, talk to me about it. You do realize that if you had told me you heard that first phone call that would have been the end of all of this. That is not to say that the whole thing was your fault but for you to have that information and not act on it surprised to me. You are usually very proactive."

    In retrospect I knew she was right about that but...

    "You're right," I said. "I should have acted immediately but the situation was so emotionally charged that I was not thinking straight. The bottom line is that, no matter what your reasons, you should never have agreed to meet him that night."

    When we got off the elevators in the lobby I stopped Tracy and put my hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me.

    "We both fucked this up royally. Let's put it behind us now," I said.

    Tracy didn't say anything, she just took my arm and we started to walk toward the restaurant. Tracy suddenly stopped pulled me in the other direction.

    "We can be a few minutes late for our reservation. There is a something in one the of meeting rooms down the hall that I wanted you to see," she said.

    "What is it?"

    "It's a special sale on golf equipment. I thought that you might find something there that I could give you for your birthday to make up for the lousy trick I pulled on you."

    We walked down the hall to the room Tracy was looking for but the door was closed.

    "Looks like we're too late," I said.

    "I can hear people in there. Try the door," Tracy said.

    The door was not locked and as soon as it opened Tracy pushed me through the door and into the room. I thought she had lost her mind and as I turned to look at her I realized that there were a lot of people in the room. Before it could register on me what was happening I heard a loud chorus of 'Surprise! Happy Birthday!'

    I was stunned. I looked around the room and saw my parents, Tracy's parents, Matthew and Lisa, Jackie and her husband, my boss and several of our friends. When I looked back at Tracy she was smiling brightly. She kissed me and said, "Happy birthday sweetheart."

    I spent the next twenty minutes circulating around the room greeting friends and thanking them for coming and agreeing with them that I was lucky to have a wife like Tracy. When we finally sat down at our table with Matthew and Lisa and our parents, my father held up his wine glass and said, "Happy birthday son," and everyone at the table touched their glasses together, even Matthew and Lisa, and then drank.

    Tracy only took a small sip of wine and then she turned to me and ran her fingers into my hair and leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek just in front of my ear.

    "I hope you know how much I love you," she whispered. "I have another surprise for you. I'm pregnant."

    I turned to look at her beaming face.

    "Really?" I asked.

    Tracy just nodded her head. I took her face in my hands and kissed her hard on the mouth.

    "I take it you are happy then?" she asked.

    "This is a much better present than those golf clubs would have been."

    The End.

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Abby

    By K.K.©

    Charter 1

    It wasn't as if she hadn't warned me. She had told me several times that things needed to change but I just didn't take it seriously. My career was just taking off and I needed to concentrate on keeping up the momentum. I was a young lawyer in a big Chicago law firm and I was well on my way to making Junior Partner. I knew that I had been so focused on my career that I wasn't being fair to Abby but I figured I would make it up to her as soon as I got established, but apparently I should have been more responsive to Abby's needs.

    Abby and I met while we were undergraduates at Northwestern. I had noticed Abby for the first time when we were freshman and immediately had a crush on her. She was tall and slender with long light brown hair with blonde highlights. She had a pretty face, a great smile and beautiful blue eyes. I wanted to talk to her but I was too shy so I never made any attempt to meet her. I just stood there like an idiot as she walked right passed me.

    Anytime I saw her on campus I would feel butterflies in my stomach. I wanted so much to talk to her but I was afraid that if I tried to approach her that she would reject me and I just couldn't bear the thought of that happening. During our junior year it seemed that we were always running into each other at parties or other campus events. Often she would smile and say hello as she passed me, but I was unable to start even a simple conversation with her. I had been obsessed with her for three years and I didn't even know her name.

    One Friday afternoon my roommate Dan asked me if I could do him a favor. He said that he had met a girl the night before and asked her to go out with him Saturday night. She said that she would but only if he found a date for her friend. Dan said he didn't know anything about her friend but he begged me to help him out. I didn't really want to do it because I hated blind dates. I never knew what to say so I either said nothing or I would say something really stupid just trying to make conversation. Dan was persistent and I finally gave in. He handed me a piece of paper with a phone number and the name Abby written on it.

    Dan said, "You have to call her and ask her if she'll go with you."

    That almost broke the deal. I told Dan I didn't want to call her and he asked why. After a lot of conversation I finally said, "What if she says no?"

    Dan laughed at me and said, "If she says no, she says no. What's the big deal? She doesn't know who you are so why would it bother you?" Dan started to laugh again, "Besides, if she needs her friend to fix her up with a date for Saturday night she is probably a dog anyway. In that case she can't afford to say no. Anyway, my date has already talked to her and she agreed to go on this date."

    I said, "Does she know who I am?"

    "She might know who you are, but she doesn't know that you are supposed to be her date yet. I didn't tell Diane I was going fix you up with Abby."

    I said, "All right, I'll do it, but you are going to owe me big time if she does turn out to be a dog."

    Right after I said that it occurred to me that this girl might be thinking the same thing, that her friend was fixing her up with a dog. I went into my room, took a deep breath to calm my nerves and then called Abby.

    I know that you can't tell much from a voice on the phone, but I just knew from Abby's voice that she was no dog. She was friendly and very easy to talk to which was a big relief to me. Abby kept trying to figure out if we had ever met before but couldn't. Then she joked about Dan and Diane. She told me that the only reason that Diane had insisted that Dan get a date for her was that she didn't want to be alone with him on their first date. Diane said that she would feel more comfortable on a double date and since she couldn't expect Abby to dig up a date on short notice she told Dan to find her a date.

    After talking to her on the phone I was a little more comfortable about the whole thing but still not crazy about going on a blind date. I was still afraid that I would make a fool of myself. There was also the possibility that Abby and I would not like each other, which would make for an uncomfortable evening.

    Dan's plan for the evening was to have the girls meet us at a small Italian restaurant named Georgio's for pizza and then go to a movie. Georgio's was near the campus and only two blocks from our apartment so Dan and I got there ten minutes before the girls and sat in a booth near the door.

    I was a nervous wreck as we waited. The palms of my hands were beginning to sweat and I had not idea what I would say when I met Abby. What if she was very ugly, how would I react? What if she was beautiful, would I be able make myself talk to her? The fact that Dan seemed to be extremely calm freaked me out even more.

    I couldn't see the girls as they came in because I was sitting facing away from the door and the high back on the booth made it difficult for me to turn and look over my shoulder. It was like they just suddenly appeared next to the table. I hadn't even looked up yet when Dan started to slide out of the both so I got up too. I got up so quickly that I ended up standing between the girls. The girl standing in front of me was an attractive brunette and before I could think of anything to say to her Dan said, "Diane, this is my friend Mike.

    Diane said, "Hi Mike," and then she sort of pointed over my shoulder and said, "Mike this is Abby."

    I turned around to meet Abby and was shocked to find that she was the beautiful girl I had been obsessing about for the last two and a half years. In my surprise I blurted out, "It's you."

    Abby smiled at me and said, "Well, I guess I do kind of know you after all. I never knew your name but it seems like I see you everywhere I go. It's great to finally meet you."

    I don't know what it was but I instantly felt comfortable with her. The evening turned out a lot different that I had expected. Abby and I just started talking as if we had know each other for years. For Dan and Diane it was their only date. For Abby and me it was just the beginning of a romance that I thought would last forever.

    After the movies that night we had gone dancing and when I walked her to her dorm I asked her for another date and she said yes. When I got home I could still smell Abby's perfume on my hands and my shirt. I was in heaven.

    The next day I called Abby and we talked for more than an hour and made planes to spend a day together in Chicago visiting museums. Abby was wonderful. I enjoyed being with and she seemed to enjoy my company as well. By our fifth date I was sure I was in love with Abby but wasn't sure how she felt about me.

    Dan had gone home for the weekend so I invited Abby over to the apartment for dinner. Abby arrived fifteen minutes early which surprised me a little. I expected that she would be late. She wearing jeans and a sweater and a wonderful smile and she looked beautiful. I made steak, baked potatoes, and a salad, nothing complicated but Abby was very impressed that I could cook at all.

    After dinner we sat on the sofa with a, glass of wine and listened to music. Up until that night Abby and I hadn't done anything more than kiss, so I wasn't sure how far things would go. I was hoping that I would at least be able to touch her breasts. I wasn't very experienced in sexual matters so I wasn't even sure how to proceed.

    I took Abby's wine glass and set it on the table and then I kissed her and continued kissing her for several minutes before I got up enough nerve to put my hand on her sweater just below her left breast. When she didn't object to this move I slowly began to move my hand higher. My cock was already hard and my heart was pounding as my hand reached the bottom curve of her breast. I stopped for a moment to see what Abby would do. Abby just continued kissing me so I moved my hand up to fully cup her breast. I very gradually increased the pressure of my hand against her breast and also started to gently massage it.

    Rather than stopping me, as I was worried she might, Abby responded by increasing the passion of her kisses. With this encouragement I moved my hand down and slipped it under her sweater and up to her breast. As my hand reached her breast I was surprised to find that Abby wasn't wearing a bra. Most guys would have realized that just by the way her breast felt through her sweater but that was the first time I had ever touched woman's breast and I had no idea of what to expect. Feeling her soft warm mound with my fingers almost made me climax in my pants.

    I wasn't sure what to do next but I knew what I wanted to do so I just asked, "Would you mind if I lifted your sweater and kissed your breast?"

    Abby said, "Yes. I mean yes you can. I want you too."

    I lifted her sweater and looked at her beautiful breasts for the first time. They were very firm and just a little bigger than I could hold in my hands. When my lips touched her nipples they stiffened and for the next several minutes I kissed and sucked on them and from the sounds that Abby was making it was apparent that she liked what I was doing.

    At that point I was so hot I had to try and go farther. As I continued to lavish oral attention on her breasts I moved my hand down to Abby's thigh just above her knee and positioned my hand between her legs. Abby was sitting with her legs together so that I was not able to move my hand up between her legs. I was beginning to think that this was Abby's way of keeping me from going any farther when she began to slowly spread her legs apart. I timidly moved my hand up between her legs not really knowing what to expect. When I had my hand pressing against the crotch of her jeans I could feel the heat from her sex. I remembering wondering at the time if the heat emanating from jeans was an indication that she was as sexually excited as me.

    Since Abby hadn't indicated that she wanted me to stop anything I was doing I got bolder. I moved my hand from her crotch and tried to slip it inside her pants, but they were too tight and I couldn't get more than a finger inside the waist band of her jeans. For the next few minutes I fumbled with the button on her jeans and when I finally got it opened I was able to unzip her pants. I was then able to get my hand inside her panties but only far enough to touch her pubic mound and feel her soft curly hair.

    I was beginning to get frustrated. My cock was so hard that it was starting to hurt and my hand was just inches from her pussy, but because of her tight jeans I couldn't reach it and I didn't know how to remedy the situation. I tried to force my hand further down but that didn't work and I ended up pinching Abby, which made her jump.

    Abby pulled away from me and stood up. I was afraid that I had gone too far and Abby was going to go home and I was more afraid that she might not want to see me again, all because I had tried to force my hand inside her pants but to my surprise and utter delight Abby just said, "Why don't we take this into your bedroom."

    I didn't say a word. I couldn't have even if I wanted to. I just took Abby's hand and let her into my room. Once inside the bedroom Abby quickly striped off her sweater and then pushed her jeans down her legs and stepped out of them. Standing there in just her panties, Abby looked like a goddess to me. I stared at her for a moment taking in the full picture of this beautiful woman. . I looked at her luscious breasts with their large nipples still stiff from the attention I had been giving them and then down at her long shapely legs beginning at her ankles and moving up to where the tops of her thighs disappeared into her white panties where her sexual treasure was hidden from my view. I started to reach for her but she stopped me and said, "Why don't you get your clothes off so we can get comfortable."

    I quickly striped to my jockey shorts and then took Abby into my arms and kissed her. I was starting to climb onto the bed when Abby said, "Wait, I want to see it."

    I looked at her and said, "What?"

    She repeated, "I want to see it."

    Then without warning Abby grabbed my jockey shorts and pulled them down.

    There I was, standing in front of Abby, naked, with my stiff cock bouncing around like it had a mind of its own. I was embarrassed until Abby put her arm around my neck and kissed me while she took my cock into her other hand and began to stroke it.

    Abby told me to lie down on the bed then she got on the bed with me and immediately took my cock into her mouth. I had never dreamed of getting a blow job from Abby. Frankly, I assumed that she wasn't the kind of girl that would do that.

    After a couple of minutes of the wonderful sensations that Abby was giving me I had to stop her or I would have climaxed in her mouth. Abby rolled onto her back, lifted her ass off the bed and pushed her panties down. Then she lifted her legs and asked me to take them the rest of the way off.

    As I was removing her panties I couldn't help staring at Abby's pussy. Not just because I thought it was beautiful, but also because I had never seen one (other than in a men's magazine) up close before. Once her panties were off I bent over her to give her a kiss. Abby took my head in her hands and kissed me then she started pushing my head lower. It took me a minute to figure out that she wanted me to kiss her pussy. I had fantasized about doing this to Abby, even before we had ever met, but I never thought I would really get to do it. I had read about cunnilingus but I still wasn't really sure how to do it. All I knew was that if it was what she wanted I was going to try and give her pleasure.

    I put my mouth on her vulva and began licking and sucking on it. As I was doing this I became aware of her scent. I can't describe it other than to say it was both sweet and pungent at the same time. In my mind this was the scent of pure sex.

    I didn't know what I was doing down there but I was enjoying it and I felt that Abby was also enjoying it until she suddenly grabbed my head with both hands and pulled me against her, pressing my mouth tightly against her mound as he lifted her pelvis off the bed. For a moment I thought Abby might break my neck. I wondered if I had touched a raw nerve or maybe I had accidentally bit her. I couldn't ask her until she let go of my head and that wasn't till a few minutes later.

    When she finally relaxed her grip on my head I got up and asked her what happened.

    She looked a little glassy eyed as she said, "You made me climax and it was the best orgasm I ever had."

    I have to admit, at that moment I was pretty proud of myself.

    Abby then pulled me up on top of her and told me that she wanted me inside her. I reached between us and fumbled around with my cock until I found the right hole and pushed myself inside her. Given the fact that I was hornier at that moment than I had ever been in my entire life and that I'd had a constant erection for the last hour and a half, I climax after only a few strokes into Abby's hot pussy.

    I was embarrassed but Abby didn't seem to mind. She held me and we continued kissing until I felt my erection gradually coming back to life. It took me about fifteen minutes for my cock to become fully erect but when I entered Abby I was able to pump her deliciously sloppy pussy for fifteen minutes before I climaxed. During that time Abby had another orgasm.

    Abby spent the night with me and in the morning we made love again before I took her back to her dorm.

    Once I was back in my apartment alone I started to think about everything that had happened. There was nothing about the previous night that I didn't enjoy but in the aftermath I was concerned by how obvious it was that Abby had a lot of sexual experience. I also felt that maybe Abby was a little quick to jump in bed with me. It wasn't as if I had planned to have sex with her that night. I really expected it would take a lot longer before I would go to bed with her.

    I began to dwell on when she lost her virginity, how many boyfriends she had and how many of them had sex with her. I also wonder if she was having sex with other guys while she was dating me. It also began to bother me that she was so ready to have sex with me on just our fifth date. Was she too easy?

    I wondered why I couldn't just be happy that I had sex with her and move on from there. There were so many things about her that I loved but I was having trouble getting passed my concerns about her sexual experience. This ate at me so much that I didn't call her for three days and when I finally called she was really pissed at me.

    When she answered the phone she said, "You finally decided to call me? I thought we had something special going but I guess I was just another lay to you. I guess now you're horny again and you think you can just call me to come over and take care of your needs."

    "I'm sorry, I should have called you"

    Abby said, "I guess this is the blow off call."

    "No. I'm not blowing you off. I really care about you but I don't know how to handle this. Can we meet for a drink and so we can talk?"

    I could tell she was still upset but she yes. I asked her to meet me at Georgio's. We sat in the bar in a high backed booth so we would have some privacy and ordered drinks. As soon as the waiter brought our drinks Abby began talking.

    She said, "I don't understand. I thought you liked me but as soon as you get me in bed I don't hear from you for three days. What am I supposed to think about that?"

    I said, ‘I'm sorry but I got scared."

    "Scared? Scared of what?"

    "Well, you are obviously very sexually experienced and that concerned me."

    Abby said, "What? Where did you get the idea that I was very sexually experienced?"

    I said, "The other night you said that I gave you the best orgasm you ever had. To me that meant you must of had plenty to compare it with."

    She said, "I am not promiscuous. I've had three boyfriends that I care about and I only had with them. I only have sex with someone really care about. I do enjoy sex but only with the person I am in love with and I happen to be in love with you. Anything that I did before we met is in the past and has nothing to do with us now. Can you say the same?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Can you say that you only have sex with someone you care about or do you have sex with anyone who will go to bed with you?"

    I said, "I can honestly say I have never had sex with someone I didn't love. You see, you were my first. My first love and my first sex."

    Abby started to laugh and said, "Are you serious? You were a virgin?"

    I said, "Now you're laughing at me."

    "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the situation. I assumed that you had other girlfriends before we met. I never considered the possibility that you had never had sex before."

    I said, "I think my inexperience is why I am having a problem now. I do care about you and I want to get passed this but I just needed some reassurance"

    Abby said, "Okay, I'll cut you some slack this time. Just remember, if I ever have sex with you again it will be because I love you. Is that clear?"

    I said, "Very clear. Well we ever be having sex again?"

    "I told you I loved you didn't I?"

    While she never said that she wouldn't talk about this again, that was the message I got. So I decided I wouldn't bring it up again. After all, it all happened before I met her. Abby was with me now.

    I wish I could say that I was able to just put those thoughts out of my head but I wasn't. I managed to keep them to myself but it was difficult. Any time I saw Abby talking to a guy she knew before we met I would wonder if he was one of Abby's old lovers. It was like being afraid of ghosts.

    In time I began to realize I had nothing to fear from Abby's past. She was mine and she never gave me any reason to doubt her.




    Abby Ch. 02

    Abby and I got married as soon as I finished law school. I already had a job lined up with a large law firm and Abby was working as a computer technology consultant to school districts around Chicago. Soon after we married we bought a duplex in the suburbs. We planned to live in one side of the house and rent out the other to help with the mortgage payments. Then when we were ready to buy a nicer house we could either sell the duplex or rent out both sides.

    For the next two years our life was great. We both worked hard to establish our careers but we always had time for each other. No matter how busy we were we made sure that we took the time to talk. One of our favorite times together was Sunday mornings. On those mornings we would walk to the local Starbucks and get two coffees and four blueberry scones. We would take the coffee and scones home and enjoy them as we read the Sunday paper and talked. The first time we did that Abby looked over at me just after I had finished my first scone and asked me if I loved her.

    I said, "If I say yes can I have another scone?"

    Every Sunday after that Abby would ask me if I loved her and I would give that same response.

    In addition to enjoying each other's company we also made love at least three times a week usually more often.

    I guess things began to change the day one of the senior partners asked me to have lunch with him. During lunch he told me that they (all 9 of the senior partners) were impressed with my work. He said that if I kept up the good work I could expect to make Junior Partner in about two years, which was about two years faster than usual.

    That night when I got home and told Abby about it she was happy for me and told me she was very proud of me. I told her that I was going to have to work even harder now to make sure that I didn't disappoint the Senior Partners, and that is exactly what I did.

    I started working late at night and going into the office on weekends. There were a lot of missed dinners and missed social events but Abby was supportive and I kept telling her that as soon as I made junior partner things would be different.

    I was working so hard that until Abby mentioned to me we weren't making love as often as we used to, I wasn't aware of it. I promised her that I would make it up to her. I told her that we would go out to dinner that Friday night and make it a romantic evening and possibly a romantic weekend. On Friday I was given a case to research and quickly became so involved in it that I lost track of the time and I also forgot that I had promised to take Abby out to dinner.

    When I got home at nine o'clock Abby was still dressed for dinner. She was wearing a strapless black cocktail dress with black stockings. I always loved it when she dressed that way. Whenever she wore that dress I knew I would be taking the dress off her later and sampling the treasures hidden beneath it. When I saw what she was wearing I knew I was in trouble.

    I apologized for being late and asked if she still wanted to go out.

    Abby said, "It's too late now. I think I'll just go to bed. Will you be up soon?"

    I said, No, I have a couple of briefs I need to read over."

    It didn't occur to me until later that Abby had given me another chance to make amends. All I had to do was go upstairs and make love to her, but I blew it.

    Unfortunately that was not the last time. Coming home late and forgetting promises became the norm. Abby was patient with me for a long time but occasionally she would let me know that she wasn't happy.

    She'd say, "I don't know how long I can take this. I want my husband back."

    I never knew how to react to this so I would always respond by saying, "Things will get better as soon as I make Junior Partner."

    This went on for more than a year before Abby finally had enough and dropped the bomb on me. I came home from work one night found Abby sitting in the living room and next to her on the floor were two suitcases. I said, "What's this?"

    Abby said, "I am going to my mother's."

    I said, "What's wrong? Is your mother all right?"

    "My mother is fine. It's our marriage that's not all right. I am leaving you."

    I felt as though she hit me with a shovel.

    I said, "Why."

    "You know why. Our marriage has been falling apart for more than a year now and you have done nothing to try and save it."

    "I have been working hard to provide us with a good future. I am just a few months away from being a Junior Partner. After that I can ease up. Everything will be better then.

    "Things will never change. The Junior Partnership is more important to you than I am. You've become a workaholic. Once you make Junior Partner nothing will change. You are obsessed with your job."

    "I can change. Please, at least give me a chance."

    "I've been giving you a chance for the last two years, but you haven't changed. I can't do this anymore." She stood and picked up her bags and headed for the door.

    I said, "What is this really about? Have you found someone else?"

    "There is no one else. Don't try to make me the bad person here."

    I was beginning to lose my temper, which caused me to say the wrong things to her.

    I said, "How can you do this to me? If it gets out at the office that my wife walked out one me it could hurt my career."

    Abby had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry but I have to go."

    I stood there in disbelief as I watched the door close behind her.

    I guess I was in denial for a few days. I kept thinking that this would blow over and Abby would come back but I finally realized that she wasn't coming back. I tried calling her. The first few times Abby wouldn't speak to me. When she finally did, I asked her when she was coming back and she said that she didn't think she would be coming back.

    She said, "I am thinking of asking for a divorce."

    "No. Please don't do that. I can't afford to get involved in a divorce. If word gets out at the office it could ruin everything for me."

    "I wouldn't dream of hurting your precious career. I guess there's no hurry. I am going to look for an apartment. When I find one I'll come get the rest of my things."

    After the call I was miserable. I couldn't stand the idea of not having Abby with me. How could she have left me? She knew that I loved her. I started thinking about her having her own apartment and it worried me. She had been staying with her mother so I was confident that she wasn't seeing anyone else, but if she was living by herself she could start seeing other men and I wouldn't know. I couldn't stand that. Then an idea came to me.

    I called Abby and said, "I have an idea that will help both of us."

    "You can't keep calling me like this."

    I said, "Just listen to me please?"

    "I'm listening."

    I said, "On Saturday our tenants are moving out of the duplex. Why don't you move in? That will give you a good place to live in a safe neighborhood and it will cost you less than an apartment that would be much smaller."

    "I don't know if it would be such a good idea for us to be living that close together."

    "I'll leave you alone. You can come and go as you please and having you next door will make it less likely that anyone at the firm will find out that we're separated."

    "It figures that you thought of this as a way to protect your career, but it does make sense. I would rather live there than in the city. Let me know when the apartment is empty and I'll move my stuff in."

    Two weeks later Abby was living next door to me. She avoided me as much as possible and we only occasionally ran into each other outside. I tried to keep my word and leave her alone but I covertly kept track of her activity.

    For the first couple of months Abby was always home from work by the time I got there and I didn't see any men coming around. Then one night I heard someone ring the doorbell next door. I peeked out the window and saw a guy I didn't recognize standing at the door. In a minute Abby came out of the house and the two of them got into his car and drove off.

    It drove myself crazy for the rest of the evening. I paced around the house and looked out the window every time I heard a car drive by. It was around midnight when they returned and Abby's friend walked her to the door. I watched from watched from my window as Abby unlocked her door. When she had the door opened she turned to the guy and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she went into the house and closed the door.

    I was relieved to see this guy get in his car and drive away. At least she didn't invite him in this time but if she went out with him again what would happen? What did this guy mean to her? Was she falling in love with him? Such were the questions that kept me from sleeping that night.

    It wasn't till the following Saturday night that Abby went out with him again. I waited up till nearly one o'clock in the morning for them to come back. Again, she kissed him goodnight at the door but this time she kissed him on the mouth.

    The next morning I was outside doing some yard work when Abby came out of the house to put her garbage bag in the trash can. We hadn't spoken to each other in more than two weeks so my initial greeting was probably not the best way to start a conversation.

    I said, "So who's the new boyfriend?"

    The look Abby gave me told me that I should have kept my mouth shut.

    "His name is Ben and he is just a friend."

    I should have let it go at that but I couldn't stop myself.

    I said, "Just a friend? So does that mean Ben isn't fucking you yet?"

    Abby looked at me and I could see the anger in her eyes.

    She said, "You bastard. Don't you ever talk to me that way again. I thought you were going to let me move on with my life but if you are going to be this way I guess I'll have to move somewhere else and then I will file for divorce."

    I didn't want her to do either of those things so I said I was sorry and that I would not bother her anymore.

    She just stared at me for a minute and went back into the house.

    That Monday at work I was distracted by my thoughts about Abby. If she continued going out with Ben or with other men and she invited them into her apartment, how would I deal with not knowing what she was doing with them? I couldn't stand the idea of her having sex with someone else but I also couldn't stand the idea not knowing what she was doing with other men. I thought for a moment of suggesting that she move, but I really didn't want her to leave.

    At noon, even though I wasn't hungry, I went down to the building cafeteria for lunch. I got a bowl of soup and was looking for a place to sit down when I spotted Roger Sampson sitting by himself. Roger is a private detective that the law firm has on retainer. He is supposed to be one of the best in the business for getting evidence on cheating spouses in divorce cases. I wasn't sure what I was thinking as I went over and asked Roger if I could sit with him. He said that he would be glad to have company.

    We talked about sports for a while, specifically about the Cubs chances that year, and then I asked him about his work.

    I said, "I've heard that you are pretty successful at getting the goods on cheating spouses."

    He said, "I do okay. Why, you want me to follow someone?"

    "No. I'm just curious about how you do it. Do you just follow someone around until you catch them in the act?"

    "That's part of it but often I have to be more aggressive."

    "What do you mean?"

    "This is just between you and me, right?"

    "Yes. I won't say a word."

    "Well, some times I do some covert stuff, like break into houses or apartments to look for evidence."

    I said, "You break into houses?"

    "Yup, breaking and entering. If the client is willing to pay I'll go into the target's house or apartment and look for evidence."

    "What do you look for?"

    Why are you so interested? You want to go into this business yourself?" He chuckled a little then said, "In this age of science I look for DNA evidence.

    "Really. What do you look for in a cheating spouse case?"

    "I'll check the bed sheets for semen stains, also on the furniture like sofas and chairs. If I find any I try to get a sample to check for DNA. I look through laundry baskets for underwear that might have semen deposits."

    "You look at dirty underwear? That's pretty gross isn't it?"

    "Yes, but it is one of the best sources of DNA evidence, especially in a woman's home. You find semen in a pair of her panties and it doesn't matter if she had sex in her house or somewhere else. That panty stain has the guys DNA mixed with hers. There is no denying that evidence. Remember, most divorce cases are settled in a lawyer's office not in court. So I don't have to testify how I got the evidence. Just telling the guilty party that you have DNA evidence is usually enough. Which is good because in a lot of these cases this evidence would not be admissible in court."

    Roger also told me that he looks for love letters hidden somewhere in the house. He said that if the target has a home computer he likes to try and open the e-mail to see what he can find.

    I said, "Do you try to get photographs of people in the act?"

    "We don't do as much of that as we used to. With all the high tech spy gear available to us we can place tiny cameras in bedrooms, offices or anywhere else we want and capture the action on video."

    "How do you hide a camera in someone's bedroom? I mean, don't you have to run wires to your recording device? How do you hide the cameras and wires?"

    Roger said, "That's the beauty of these new devices. They have transmitters built in and they are so small they are extremely easy to conceal."

    Roger leaned closer to me and lowered his voice, "Listen, I can tell that you have more than a passing interest in this subject. I suspect that you have someone that you would like to keep an eye on but it is not work related. If you're interested I can loan you a could of cameras and a video recorder. It'll be just between us."

    He gave me his office extension and said if I wanted the cameras all I had to do was ask. I told him I appreciated the offer and wanted to tell him he was wrong about my interest but instead I told him I would let him know. He thanked me for listening to him talk about his work. He said that most people in the office avoid him. He said they treat him like a pariah.

    That afternoon as I sat in my office I thought about my conversation with Roger and how I might use some the information he gave me to my advantage. When I left work that night I took several files I was working on with me and told my secretary that I was going to work from home the next day.

    Abby was already in her apartment when I got home and she didn't go out that evening. I spent most of the evening working on the files I had brought home so that I could do what I planned the next day without getting behind in my work.

    In the morning I nervously paced around the house until I saw Abby leave for work. I waited a half hour to make sure she wasn't going to return then I went up to the attic. In our duplex there was a stairway to the attic on my side of the house but the only access to the attic on Abby's side was through a lift out panel in the ceiling of a hall closet which was directly across from Abby's bathroom. I was pretty sure that Abby didn't even know about the access panel in the closet and I had forgotten about it until I talked to Roger and got the idea of looking around in her apartment.

    I crossed over to her side of the house and lifted out the panel and dropped down into her closet. From the closet I went across the hall into the bathroom where I found the laundry bag where she kept her soiled lingerie. Inside was an assortment of bras, pantyhose and panties. There were four panties in the bag, which I spread out on the floor in front of me. Three of them were simple white cotton panties and the fourth was a sexy black panty. I felt like a real sleaze as I picked up the panties one at a time, starting with the white cotton panties and I examined the crotch of each pair to see if there was any evidence of semen stains in them.

    The white panties showed no evidence of semen stains, which is what I expected. I was a little worried about the black panties. They were the panties Abby would have worn on a date, especially is she was expecting to have sex that night, so they would be the ones most likely to have semen stains in them. I took a deep breath then turned the panties inside out and looked at the crotch. There was no evidence of semen. What made this really painful is that I had personally removed that particular pair of panties from Abby on several occasions.

    I put the panties and bras back in the bag and hung the bag where I had found it. Then I went into the bedroom and I pulled down the bedspread and blankets to examine the sheets on Abby's bed. I found nothing on the sheets but with the blankets pulled back I could smell Abby's scent in the bed. Each reminder of her made me more unhappy.

    I carefully fixed the bed so that it looked the way I found it and headed downstairs. Abby had her computer set up on a desk in her living room. I turned it on and opened her e-mail. I started trying different possible passwords but nothing seemed to work. Her maiden name, her birth date, her mother's birth date, her father's birth date, and so on. I was about to give up when I tried my own birth date and her e-mail opened. The fact that she used my birthday for her password made me smile to myself.

    I looked through her notes but there was nothing there that interested me. Now that I knew her password I could check her e-mail from my own computer or even from work. That would save me some time in the future. I shut the computer down and went back up through the attic to my half of the house.

    After that first incursion into Abby's apartment I arranged to work from home as often as I could. I was able to keep up with my workload and was always at the office for meetings and in court when I was supposed to be there so there were no complaints about my working from home. This gave me the opportunity to check Abby's apartment two or three times a week. I even made a rope ladder that I could drop through the access hole to make it easier for me to climb back up into the attic.

    I hoped that I would be able to check her laundry enough that I wouldn't miss any of her panties before they went into the washing machine. I told myself that I didn't want to chance missing something but I think a part of me got a thrill handling her underwear. That worried me but it didn't make me stop. I think I felt that somehow it made me closer to Abby. I know that sounds a little strange but I was obsessed.

    I knew that Abby did her launder on Sundays because I would hear the washing machine and that is when she did the laundry when we were living together. This caused me a problem because it meant that I would not be able to check the panties she wore on Friday or Saturday unless I could somehow sneak into her apartment on the weekend. It was risky going into her apartment on weekends because I couldn't be sure how much time I would have.

    Visits to Abby's side of the house became a routine for me. I felt like a creep as I snooped around her apartment looking for evidence that she had sex with someone but I had to know. I also watched to see if and who she was dating. I saw her go out with Ben two more times and the last time she let him into her apartment when they came back late that night. Somehow I missed him when he left so I don't know how long he stayed with her. The next morning I did my usual check of her apartment and found nothing. I was quite relived. I decided that if I really wanted to know what Abby was doing with Ben in her apartment it was time to borrow those cameras from Roger.

    I contacted Roger the next day and he met me for lunch and afterward took me to his shop where he set me up with everything I needed. Roger never once asked me what I was going to do with the cameras which was a relief to me. That night I went home with two tiny cameras, a video receiver and recorder and a small monitor.

    When Abby left for work the next day I took the equipment into the attic. I set up a folding table and placed the receiver, the recorder and the monitor on the table but I got a telephone call before I could install the cameras and I didn't get another chance to get into Abby's the rest of that week.

    The following Saturday night Abby went out with Ben again and they returned quite late. I saw Abby and Ben go into her house and Ben didn't leave until after three o'clock in the morning. I was mad that I hadn't been able to get the cameras installed because not knowing what Abby and Ben were doing was making me crazy.

    I paced around my house all morning feeling like a caged animal. I needed to know if they did it but I didn't think I would be able to get into Abby's house until Monday. That would probably be to late. By then she would already have done her laundry. I continued in this agitated sate until I heard a car horn in the street.

    It was Ben. He didn't get out of his car, Abby ran out and got in the car and they drove off. I had no idea where they were going or how long they would be gone but I had to get into her apartment. I had to know. I just hoped that I would be able to finish what I had to do and get out before Abby came home.

    Ben's car was barely out of sight when I headed to the attic. I grabbed the two cameras off the table and dropped down into Abby's closet. I went to her bedroom and quickly placed one of the cameras by mounting it in a fake tree she had in the room. I put the second camera down stairs in her living room so that I would catch any action that might take place on the sofa.

    Once I had both cameras in place I went up to Abby's bathroom. I knew I should just go back into the attic and turn on the recorder and wait but I stayed to make my usual checks. I opened her lingerie bag and sitting on top was a pair of black lace panties.

    I hesitated a moment before I pulled them out of the bag. The crotch appeared to be stiff but there was no sign of semen. I suspected that the panties had been wet, as if Abby had been sexually excited and her own juices had leaked into her panties. I wasn't happy about that possibility but at least there wasn't any semen in her panties.

    This gave me only minor relief as I realized that if Abby did have sex with him, she would probably have taken her panties off and left them off, after all she was in her own home. So, not finding any semen stains didn't mean anything.

    I went into the bedroom and pulled back the bedspread and checked her sheets. No evidence of semen there either I was feeling a little better. I felt it unlikely that Abby would have had sex anywhere else in the apartment but I checked for evidence of semen on her sofa and the living room carpet and found none.

    It looked like Abby may not have had sex that night but I decided to take another look around in her bedroom and bathroom. I checked her laundry basket just in case she had changed the sheets but there were no dirty sheets in the laundry.

    I went through her lingerie a second time to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time and as I stood up I felt a sneeze coming on so I grabbed a tissue off the bathroom counter. After I sneezed I dropped the tissue into the waste basket. As I watched the tissue fall from my hand something in the waste basket caught my eye.

    At first glance the basket had appeared to be empty except for a single tissue laying in the bottom. What caught my eye was that it appeared the something was wrapped in the tissue. My curiosity made me check it out. I carefully reached into the basket and picked up the tissue and as I lifted it out of the basket a used condom fell out and landed on the floor. I knew then why I hadn't found any semen stains in the bed or on Abby's panties. I suddenly felt very sick and I had to sit on the floor until the waves of nausea passed.

    I still had the tissue in my hand and was about to pick the condom up when I heard Abby's front door open. I panicked and ran straight to the closet. I thought I would be able to climb back into the attic but I didn't have time as Abby and Ben came straight upstairs. If I had tried to climb into the attic they would have heard me. The only thing I could do was stay were I was until they went back downstairs.

    I could hear the two of them talking in the bedroom and I was sure they could her my heart pounding in my chest. I opened the closet door a crack to see if I could hear what they were talking about. As I listened at the door I became aware of the tissue that was still in my hand. That's when I remembered that the condom was still on the bathroom floor where I had dropped it and I was going to have to go get it.

    I opened the closet door farther and held my breath as I stepped into the hall. The bedroom door was closed so I took a deep breath and held it as I took three quick steps across the hall and into the bathroom. I picked up the condom with the tissue in my hand and tossed it into the waste basket. The two items separated and the condom hit the side of the waste basket stuck to it. I was afraid that Abby might come to the bathroom any second so I just left it the condom stuck to the side of the waste basket and just hopped that when she saw it she would just think her new boyfriend was a slob.

    I was just starting to move back to the closet when I realized that I could no longer hear them talking in the bed room. I thought for a moment that they might have gone back downstairs but then I heard some noises coming from the bedroom but it wasn't voices I heard. I carefully checked the hallway to be sure that the bedroom door was still closed and then as quietly as possible I moved back to the closet.

    I was concerned that at any moment Abby might comer open the closet door and find me so I decided that I would risk climbing back into the attic. I figured that with the bedroom door closed and the closet door closed they probably would not hear me and if they did hear anything I would gone before they thought to look in the closet. I managed to climb the rope ladder and get into the attic without being detected.

    I sat on the floor next to the access panel for a few minutes trying to calm my nerves when I remember the camera. I went over to the table and turned on the receiver recorder and the monitor.

    When a picture appeared on the monitor it showed Abby and Ben sitting on the bed. Ben was kissing Abby while unbuttoning her blouse. Ben slipped his hands inside Abby's blouse and spread it open so that her breasts were exposed. He then bent down and took one of Abby's nipples into his mouth. I felt a combination of anger and self loathing as I watched him alternately suck and kiss Abby's breasts.

    Ben slipped Abby's blouse off her shoulders and Abby let the blouse slip down her arms and then she dropped in on the floor. She laid back on the bed and Ben followed her down still kissing and sucking on her breasts.

    It was obvious that Abby liked what he was doing. She stretched her arms up over her head and held onto the headboard and slowly rolled her head from one side to the other licking her lips as she rocked her head.

    My anger slowly receded and was replaced by hopeless sadness while on the screen I watched Ben slip his hand inside the elastic waste band of Abby's pants. I knew that he was sliding his fingers inside Abby just by watching the expression on her face.

    When Ben pulled Abby's pants off and started kissing his way up the inside of her thigh I had to turn away from the screen. It was becoming to painful to watch. I sat with my back to the monitor and my face in my hands fighting back the impulse to cry.

    I think I must have sat there like that for nearly ten minutes before I turned to look at the screen again. I had turned away before because I couldn't bare the idea of seeing Ben give Abby oral pleasure. What I was seeing now was much worse.

    Both of them were now on the bed naked. Ben was on his back and Abby was above him the 69 position. I could not see Ben's face because his head buried between Abby's legs but that wasn't the worst part. Watching Abby take Ben's cock into her mouth was more than I could take. I didn't want to watch but I couldn't turn away either, I began to weep as I watch them on the screen.

    After several minutes of mutual oral sex Ben rolled out from under Abby and positioned himself behind her. I watched Ben sink his cock into Abby's welcoming pussy and then things became even more upsetting when I saw that Ben wasn't moving, Abby was rocking forward and back causing Ben's cock to slide in and out of Abby's noticeably wet sex hole. Rather than Ben fucking Abby it appeared that Abby was fucking him. At that point I lost control and vomited on myself.

    When the attack of nausea passed I hurried down to my bathroom kicked off my sneakers and got into the shower with my clothes on. When I had managed to get most of the vomit rinsed off my clothes I stripped and just sat in the shower with the water beating down on me and I stayed like that until I ran out of hot water. The cold water drove me out of the shower so I crawled off to my bed where I stayed most of that afternoon.



    Abby Ch. 03

    I guess that's when it finally got through to me, I had lost her and there was nothing I could do about it. I had lost my taste for spying on Abby and decided it was time to start trying to get over her. On Monday morning I waited for Abby to leave for work and I went back into her house for the last time retrieve the cameras. I took the video tape out of the recorder and threw it in the trash and then packed the equipment into my car and that afternoon I returned it to Roger.

    I stopped working at home and I kept myself extremely busy at the office to keep from thinking about the images I had seen of Abby having sex with Ben. I also decided to move, not and easy decision, so that I would not have to deal with the pain of seeing the man who replaced me in Abby's life coming and going from her apartment. I was sure he was going be around a lot more and I just couldn't stand knowing that he was next door fucking my wife. I began looking for an apartment in town closer to my office.

    It took me two weeks to find a good apartment, which was just five blocks from my office. I moved out of the duplex on a Friday while Abby was at work to avoid seeing her. The last thing I did before I left the house was put a 'For Rent' sign in the window.

    The following Monday Abby called me in my office. I was surprised to hear from her as we had not spoken for over a month.

    Abby said, "Hello Mike, how are you."

    I said, "I'm fine Abby, how are you."

    "I'm good."

    There was silence on the phone for several seconds.

    I said, "I know you didn't call just to ask how I was so why did you call?"

    "I saw the 'For Rent' sign in your window and just wondered what was going on."

    I said, "I decided to get an apartment closer to my office. It is much more convenient for me. I am buried with work right now and I like that I don't have to drive more than an hour to get home after working late at the office."

    Abby said, "I though you were doing a lot of your work from home."

    I wondered how Abby would know I had been working at home. I never told her. I wondered what else she knew. Did she know why I was working from home? I hoped not. I never wanted her to know that I had been spying on her. Not just because it would anger her and humiliate me but it also be something she could use against me in divorce proceedings. I hoped that by moving that it didn't matter anymore. If she didn't know I was spying on her before she would never find out now.

    I said, "That wasn't working out for me. I wasn't productive enough. I'm just able to get more done at the office."

    "I guess nothing has changed then."

    I wanted to yell over the phone, "What the fuck do you mean nothing has changed. I'm living alone and another man is fucking my wife. I think that's a pretty fucking big change don't you?" But rather than exacerbate the situation I said, "Was there something else you wanted to ask me?"

    She said, "It's just that it was your idea that we both live in the duplex so I was surprised to see that you had moved out. I was also a little upset that you didn't bother to discuss it with me before you moved."

    I said, "Listen, You chose to move on with your life without me. I just thought it was about time I moved on with mine. I really didn't think I needed to check with you before I moved out. After all you didn't check with me before you moved out."

    "That's not fair. You know why I moved out."

    "Yes I do and that is the part of my life I am putting behind me now."

    "I don't know why I am talking to you at all, I am so angry with you right now. I guess I still.... Well, I just wanted to know why you suddenly moved out."

    "Why are you so mad at me now? And what were you going to say You guess you still... what?"

    Abby said, "I don't think I want to talk about that now. It would only make things worse."

    I said, "Well, thanks for calling.

    Abby said, "When will I see you again?"

    I said, "In a few months, after I make Junior Partner. As soon as I get that out of the way we can proceed with our divorce. I guess the next time I'll see you is when we meet to work out our settlement. That will make you happy won't it."

    Abby said, "I guess it will be good to have that out of the way. I hope your promotion turns out to be worth the cost."

    I said, "So do I... I'm sorry Abby... I..."

    "What are you sorry about?"

    Talking to her was so painful. Part of me was still in love with her but the other part of me could only see her as the Abby I saw in the video sucking on Ben's cock. I didn't think I could ever get that image out of my head.

    I said, "I'm sorry but I have to go now. I am late for a meeting."

    "Okay Mike, I get the message. When did you become such a cold son of a bitch. Is that the lawyer in you or is this just reserved for me? I guess you better run off to your meeting. Good bye Mike."

    "Good bye Abby."

    I could not say why but I was sure that Abby never got yo the real reason for calling me. There was something else on Abby's mind but for some reason she decided not to share it with me. The overall tone of the call was not friendly, but that was partly my fault and may be what changed her mind. I wished I had handled the call better. I wondered what she was she so pissed at me about and was that the real reason for the call? I wondered if I was better off not knowing what was really on Abby's mind.

    For the next two months I kept myself so busy that I hardly noticed the time passing. Then on the first Monday in May my promotion to Junior Partner was announced. It was a big day for me, I was given a substantial raise, my own office with a view of Lake Michigan and I had achieved my first goal and was on my way up. I was looking ahead to the day I would become one of the Senior Partners. All the hard work finally paid off.

    That night I went out to celebrate with several members of the firm. During the party I struck up a conversation with one of our paralegals named Sarah O'Leary. I knew Sarah from the office but I had never really talked to her before. Sarah is an attractive redhead, about five feet six inches tall with green eyes and a friendly smile, which was what I needed that night.

    During our conversation I told Sarah that I had separated form my wife and planned to file for divorce in a couple of months. I didn't give her any details of the separation because it was still to painful for me to talk about. She told me she was divorced and unattached and liked it that way. We talked so long that we didn't noticed that everyone else had already left the party.

    I didn't want Sarah to leave so I said, "I guess it's just you and me now, Would you like to see if we can get a table in the restaurant and have dinner.?"

    Sarah said, "I'd love to."

    We picked up our drinks and went into the dining room. During dinner I started to wonder what it would be like to make love to Sarah. I actually began to wondered about her red hair. I felt a growing erection in my pants as I imagined myself removing Sarah's panties to see if she was a natural redhead.

    I had overcome the shyness of my college years and was now comfortable in most business and social situations but I was still uneasy talking to Sarah. If fact it was Sarah that had approached me earlier in the evening. If she hadn't approached me I would already have been home in my apartment making myself some macaroni and cheese from a box.

    I wanted more that evening than to just having dinner with a beautiful woman. I wanted to make love to Sarah but even though I was extremely aroused by the thought of bedding Sarah, I had no idea how to even begin to try and seduce her. After all, I had never in my life seduced anyone. I was having difficulty making myself do what would be necessary to give me a chance with her. Abby was still the only woman with whom I had ever had sex and it had been several months since I last made love to her.

    I was so nervous that my hands were sweating but I was determined to at least try, so I took a swallow of my scotch for nerve and then said, "Sarah, after dinner would you like to go someplace else with me?"

    She said, "Sure, where do you want to go?"

    I felt my mouth go dry as I said, "How about we go back to my apartment for a drink."

    Sarah smiled at me and said, "I'd love to and I am hoping for more than just a drink."

    After a good meal and a bottle of wine Sarah accompanied me back to my apartment. When we got the apartment I poured us each a glass of wine. Sarah took her glass and sat down on the sofa while I put on some music. On the shelf above my CD player I had set a picture of Abby. I don't know why I still had this picture, it made me sad every time I looked at it. I guess I kept it because it was the only one I had I just could not bring myself to throw it away. Even with the lovely Sarah sitting on my sofa the picture was still able to bring me down. I thought I had come to terms with losing Abby, so why did it still effect me that way.

    I began to wish that I had not brought Sarah home with me because now I wasn't in the mood for sex. I went and sat next to Sarah and while I was searching for the words to explain to her how I was feeling, Sarah kissed me and flicked her tongue across my lips. I felt myself responding to her and when she kissed me again I was ready to go. I kissed her back and she slid down on the sofa with me on top of her and all feelings of sadness were gone.

    I pulled Sarah's top off and soon had her soft breasts in my hands and mouth. As I sucked on her nipples, Sarah made little mewing sounds in her throat. Sarah's breathing became heavier as I continued to tease her hard nipples with my tongue and as I slid my hand up under her skirt Sarah spread her legs farther apart. When my hand reached her crotch I could feel the dampness of her arousal right through her pantyhose. I pressed my hand against the center of her sex and massaged her pussy right through her pantyhose. When I removed my hand Sarah got up off the sofa removed her pantyhose.

    As she was pulling her pantyhose down she said, "If I had known I was coming home with you tonight I would not have worn these. Hell I might not have worn panties either."

    Sarah stepped out of her pantyhose and dropped them on the floor and then she unzipped her skirt and let it drop in a puddle around her feet leaving her in just her sexy red panties. Then she sat back down on the sofa

    After kissing her on the mouth several times and spending some more time loving her breasts I moved down and began to kiss my way up her inner thighs until I reached her panties. I pulled the crotch aside to discover that Sarah was indeed a natural redhead. She had a large triangle of soft fluffy red hair on her pubic mound. I pressed my face into her hair and inhaled her scent and then I ran my tongue over her vulva causing Sarah's hips to move involuntarily.

    As I began to probe Sarah's honey pot with my tongue she took my head in her hands and pulled me tighter against her. When Sarah's orgasm started I was afraid that the people across the street knew about it. Sarah kept yelling "I'm coming, I'm coming," all through her orgasm and the whole time she was humping my mouth and her juices were running down my chin.

    I gave her pussy so much oral attention that my mouth actually got tired so I stood up and removed my clothes and as I came back to the sofa, Sarah took my rock hard member in her hand and pulled it toward her face. I moved in the direction she was pulling, as if I had a choice, and Sarah took me into her mouth. I stood there looking down on her pretty face as she worked my cock in and out of her mouth and I had a flash of the image of Abby sucking on Ben's cock and felt another moment of sadness but then I looked at the downy red hair between Sarah's legs and all I wanted to do was get my cock inside her.

    When Sarah let my throbbing cock slip from her mouth I took her hand led her to my bed. Sarah got on the bed and I climbed on after her and began kissing her as my cock searched for her moist opening. It didn't take long for me to find her warm wet hole and slid my cock deep inside her. We bounced around the bed, slowing and then speeding up, trying to prolong the pleasure as long as we could until I finally exploded inside Sarah, spewing my seed deep inside her.

    Afterward I felt great for about five minutes, and then the sadness start to creep back into my psyche. Rather than let it beat me I just pulled Sarah closer continued to explore her body with my hands and mouth. We made love until we both feel asleep.

    When I woke up the next morning I felt better but wasn't sure where the previous night of sex was leading me. I shook Sarah gently to wake her and told her she could take a shower while I fixed us some breakfast.

    By the time she came out of the shower I had made bacon and scrambled eggs and a pot of coffee.

    Sarah said, "Wow, and he can cook too."

    I laughed and said, "Bacon and eggs isn't exactly cooking."

    Sarah said, "Listen, I had to leave my ex written instructions on how to boil water."

    I said, "It couldn't have been that bad."

    Sarah said, "In the five years we were together he never cooked anything. Except maybe toast and I think he burned that."

    As I handed her a cup of coffee Sarah kissed me and said, "Last night was great."

    I agreed with her and we sat down and ate our breakfast. Immediately after breakfast Sarah took a cab to her apartment to get dressed for work.

    I got to the office at nine o'clock and Sarah was already there. She smiled at me but didn't say anything as I passed. When I walked into my new office my new secretary followed me in and handed me a package.

    She said, "This came for you late yesterday. Also, you have a meeting at ten o'clock with Mr. Madison to discuss the class action suit against Weldon Pharmaceutical.

    I examined the package in my hand. It was gift wrapped and had my name on it but there was no indication where it came from or who sent it. I sat down at my desk and unwrapped it. Inside was a box and a gift card. The card read "Congratulations on making Junior Partner." You gave up a lot for this job I hope it was worth it." The card was unsigned.

    For the tone of the note I guessed that the gift had to have come from Abby. I wondered why she would send me a gift. Was the note truly congratulatory or was it sarcasm? I remembered that she had said something similar on the phone the last time we spoke. It was a riddle I couldn't solve so I put the note aside and turned my attention to the box. The gift turned out to be a very expensive pen and pencil desk sit. The plaque on the base was engraved with Mike Cooper Junior Partner May 7 2001.

    I could think of no reason for Abby to send me a gift but I could think of no one else who would.

    As I sat looking at the desk set I felt sad again and I couldn't shake it. Here I was starting my new job and I couldn't even enjoy the first day and it was Abby's fault. Abby was right though, I had worked very hard for this promotion but I was no longer sure that it was worth the price I paid.

    How the hell did she know about my promotion the same day it happened? I suspected that someone in the office was feeding Abby information about me, but who and why?

    Over the next four months a definite trend had developed. The job was going great. I was being handed a lot of high profile cases that generated a lot of money for the firm and for me. Sarah and I were getting together for dinner and sex two or three times a week and I was becoming more depressed and unhappy everyday. The only time I wasn't depressed was when I at work. The depression wasn't as bad when I was with Sarah but it was still there and when I wasn't with Sarah or working I could not keep visions of Abby out of my head. Sometimes they was happy memories but most of the time I was mentally replaying the tape of Abby having sex with Ben.

    The love I had held for Abby was slowly turning bitter and a part of me was beginning to hate her. I blamed her for my depression.

    In time even my job began to lose it's luster. I was working even harder than I was before the promotion and the cases were piling up on my desk. Most of my cases were big class action suits. I found that not all of these cases had merit but I managed to get sizable settlements for our clients and the firm, which made the Senior Partners very happy and made me a lot of money.

    I began to miss the small cases that really helped people in need but because of my new position I was expected to drive a lot more revenue to justify my higher salary, bigger bonuses, and fancy office.

    On top of everything else I was being haunted by the knowledge that I was going to have to start preparing the divorce papers to end my marriage. Just the thought of it would put me into a deep funk. Frankly it surprised me that Abby hadn't started the process herself. She didn't seem to care that legally we were still married.

    When the depression was at it's worse I actually considered driving my car into the Chicago river and ending it all. But somehow I kept myself going. I knew then that I would have to change my life. I had to stop blaming my depression on Abby and just block her out of my life. I was determined to make myself whole again.



    Abby Ch. 04

    The turnaround for me came when I was handed a multi-million dollar class action suit against Abbott Chemical. The basis of the case is that Abbott Chemical had been dumping toxic chemicals near a low income residential neighborhood and over the years several people in the community had become very ill with cancers and liver problems. The case looked like it would be a slam dunk for us and would put several million dollars into the firms account and about $200,000 in mine. The problem was that when I looked at the scientific evidence it was obvious that Abbott had followed Environmental Protection Agency guidelines in the storage of these toxins and in addition to that there was no evidence of ground water contamination nor any air pollution that would have cause the types of cancers or liver diseases that were being reported.

    Upon further examination I found that a lot of the scientific testimony was from specialists brought in and paid by the law firm. I didn't have proof that any of the specialists had lied but it sure looked that way to me.

    On top of all that, if we won the case it would put Abbott out of business and most of the families that lived in that neighborhood depended on Abbott Chemical for their livelihoods.

    Any settlement agreed to would end up giving the individual plaintiffs in the suit about $2500 each but would leave them without a job and without medical insurance but the law firm would collect millions.

    I found that my ethics would not allow me to be a party to the suit so I went to the head of the firm thinking that if I showed him the scientific evidence he would have our firm withdraw the suit but instead he basically told me to shut up and row.

    I asked him if he could have someone else assigned to the case and he told me that because of my track record on similar cases the senior partners had chosen me for that case and I was to see it through.

    I went back to my office and looked at the case materials again and in the end decided that I just could not in good conscience be a party to that law suit. I knew that to walk away from the case was going to cost me my job and a lot of money but in the end I had to live with myself. I submitted my resignation that afternoon and was out on the street a week later.

    I thought of trying to hook up with another law firm but I knew that if they caught wind that I had walked on a case that big they would never hire me. The only other choice was to open my own office. The interesting thing was that even thought I had given up the job I had worked so hard to get and was out of work, my depression wasn't as bad as it had been before. I felt that I had taken a positive step toward feeling better. Now all I had to do was put Abby completely out of my life.

    If I was going to open my own law office I was going to have to find office space and a new apartment. It took me three weeks but I found an office in Oak Park and was able to get an apartment near by.

    The day I opened the office I was a little scared that I might never get a client but luck was shinning on me that day and within two hours of opening the office a couple came in and said that they were refinancing their house and needed a lawyer to represent them at the mortgage closing. The low mortgage rates had created a boom market for real estate closings and the big law firms couldn't be bothered with these small billing opportunities, which worked out great for me. I took out an add in the real estate section of the paper billing myself as a real estate lawyer and within a month I had enough business that I had to hire two secretaries.

    I thought when I started my own practice that I would miss working for a big law firm but I found that I was actually happier working for myself. Three months after leaving the firm I was still working hard but for fewer hours, I was making less money but was sufficient for my needs and I never had to feel guilty about how I earned it. My practice was growing and the future looked bright.

    I was still seeing Sarah but not as frequently. We enjoyed each others company and the sex we had together but we both knew we were not in love. My depression wasn't nearly as bad as it had been and I had finally been able to shut Abby out of my life. Whenever I thought of her I only remembered the scene of her rocking back and forth with Ben's cock inside her, no more happy memories. It was kind of like negative reinforcement. My only thoughts of Abby were painful so I just stopped thinking of her.

    The week before Christmas Sarah called me and asked me to take her to a party at Judy Simmons' house that Saturday night. Judy was another of the other paralegals at the firm and was a good friend of Sarah's. I wasn't to crazy about the idea of spending time with the lawyers I had worked with but Sarah said that none of the lawyers from the firm had been invited to the party so I agreed to go with her. I figured Sarah just wanted a ride to the party and someone to have sex with after, which was fine with me.

    I knew most of the guests, paralegals and secretaries, and other lower level employees of the firm and they all seemed genuinely happy to see me. Some even told me that they were proud of me for walking away from the firm the way I did. One of the firms secretaries told me that I had been right about the Abbott case. She said that Abbott had to file for bankruptcy and shut down it's plant. They didn't have enough money to pay the full settlement so the plaintiffs got less than $1000 each but the firm still made more than a million dollars.

    Sarah and I were in the kitchen getting a drink when another couple arrived. I didn't recognize the guy and I asked Sarah if he worked at the firm.

    Sarah said, "No. I've never seen him before."

    I didn't bother to ask her if she knew the woman. I just assumed she did. After all she had seen her picture in my apartment enough times.

    I was surprised at how uncomfortable I felt being in the same room with Abby after all this time. I didn't know if I should go over and speak to her or not. She hadn't seen me yet and I wondered if I should just leave before she did. I knew that sooner or later she was going to see me and I certainly could not pretend I didn't notice her. It would be like trying not to notice an elephant in the room. She was there and I was going to have to deal with it.

    I tried to watch her discretely so that she would not know I was watching. The guy with her wasn't Ben which was a little bit of a surprise. I wondered what happened to that relationship. One thing I thought I saw was a sadness in Abby's face. She would smile when someone spoke to her but the smile would immediately disappeared.

    Sarah noticed me watching Abby and said, "Why don't you just go over and say hello?"

    I said, "I can't. At least not yet. I really don't know what to say to her."

    "Something will come to you."

    I watched as the Judy approached Abby and her date. Judy kissed Abby on the cheek and gave her a big hug and then it appeared that Abby introduced her date and Judy shook hands with him.

    I didn't know that Abby knew Judy. That answered some questions for me. It must have been Judy who had given Abby information about me. That revelation was interesting but I didn't grasp the significance of it.

    Judy and Abby talked for a minute and then Judy nodded her head in my direction and I turned my back as soon as I saw Abby starting to turn her head to look. Well, now we both knew the other was at the party. I wished that Judy had told Sarah that Abby was coming. If I had known Abby was going to be there I would have stayed home. I had managed to push Abby out of my thoughts but with her in the same room with me it was impossible not to think about her.

    As my mind spun around trying to decide what to do Sarah reached over and pinched my arm and said, "If you don't go talk to her I will personally drag you over there. The how embarrassed would you be?"

    I said, "Why do you care if I talk to her?"

    "You can't pretend she is not here. Just deal with it and go say hello. If my ex had shown up I would say hello to him. Of course right after saying hello I would kick him in the balls."

    I said, "Remind me to never become an ex of yours."

    I gave in to the inevitable but I made Sarah go with me. As we crossed the room Abby saw us coming and I could see her tense up. I thought to myself, 'Good, she is going to be just as uncomfortable as me.'

    I said, "Hello Abby, how are you?"

    "I am fine Mike, it's good to see you."

    I didn't believe that for a minute.

    "Abby, I'd like you to meet my date, Sarah O'Leary."

    Sarah and Abby shook hands and exchanged pleasantries and then Abby said, "I'd like you to meet my date. This is Karl Henning, Karl, this Mike and I think he is still my husband as I haven't seen any papers that say otherwise. "

    We hadn't been together for more than two minutes and she had to cut me. I shook hands with Carl and before I could say another word Sarah said, "I have to talk to Judy, I'll be back in a few minutes."

    I could have kick her for deserting me that way. I watched Sarah walk away and when I turned back to face Abby I noticed Karl giving me a look as if he was trying to decided if he could kick my ass. I myself doubted it but it made me wonder what kind of things Abby had told him about me.

    I was trying to think of a way to gracefully extract myself from the uncomfortable situation of trying to have a conversation with my wife and her boyfriend. Before I could think of anything Karl found a way to extract himself. He said, "I'm going to the bar to get a drink."

    He didn't even offer to get Abby a drink which struck me as being a bit strange. I wondered if he and Abby were having problems. I hoped that they were.

    When he was gone the only thing I could think to say was, "I never thanked you for the nice desk set you sent me."

    "It's always nice to get a thank you even if it's seven months late."

    This was going well. I was just trying to make conversation and she decided I need a lesson in etiquette. I decided to be the gentleman and let that go.

    Abby said, "I heard you left the firm and opened your own practice."

    "Did Judy tell you that?"

    "Yes."

    I said, "How do you know Judy?"

    "She's my cousin."

    We stood looking at each other for a minute and then I said, "You look very nice tonight."

    "Thank you."

    Suddenly I felt the old feelings stirring so I said, "Well, I think I better go find Sarah."

    I thought for a moment that Abby looked disappointed but she didn't say anything.

    I went looking for Sarah to tell her I was leaving. I just could not bare to be there with Abby and Karl in the same room.

    When I found Sarah I told her I wanted to leave and why and she said, "Karl is not here, he left."

    I said, "They left? How could they have left that quickly, I was just with Abby." I don't know why but I actually felt a little disappointed.

    Sarah said, "No. Only Karl left. Abby is still here."

    "He walked out on her?"

    Sarah raised her shoulders and said, "Well, I guess he did."

    I scanned the room and didn't see Abby and said, "Well, maybe they didn't leave together but they're both gone."

    Sarah look around the room but made no comment.

    I said, "I guess if they are gone, there's no reason I have to leave. Let's get a drink."

    I led Sarah to the kitchen where Judy had the bar set up. Fifteen minutes later Judy came over to me and said, You need to go talk to Abby."

    "Abby left twenty minutes ago." "No she didn't. She's out on the sun porch standing in the cold by herself. You need to talk to her and get her to come back into the house. It is very cold out there."

    I said, "She's probably upset because her boyfriend left her here. How is that my problem?"

    It's your problem because she's your wife."

    "In name only."

    Judy punched me in the arm and said, "Stop being such a hard ass and go talk to her."

    I looked at Sarah and she pointed toward the sun porch and said, "Go."

    Abby was standing with her back to the door when I stepped out onto the porch. She had her arms fold across her chest and it was obvious that she was cold.

    I said, "Abby, why don't you come in the house."

    "Did Judy sent you after me?"

    "I guess she thought I was the man for the job. I tried to tell them that sending me was a bad idea."

    "Well you can go back in and tell them you failed."

    "Abby, it's freezing out here."

    "I just don't want to be around people right now."

    Looking at her standing there like that began to thaw the ice around my heart. I took my jacket off and put it around her shoulders."

    Abby said, "Thanks."

    I said, "It's always nice to get a thank you even if it's seven seconds late."

    Abby turned quickly and I thought she was going to be angry, but she smiled instead.

    Her smile warmed me a little.

    I said, "I am sorry about what happened tonight. I hope you can patch things up with Karl."

    "What? Oh never mind."

    I said, "Something is bothering you, can you tell me what it is?"

    Abby said, "It would take all night."

    "I've got time so start talking."

    "Mike, we really need to talk."

    I said, "Okay let's go inside where is warmer and we can talk."

    "Not here. I don't want to do this in front of all these people."

    "Where then?"

    "I don't care. There has to be somewhere where we can talk privately."

    I said, "Do you want to go somewhere now and some other time."

    "I want to do this now. That's why I came to this party."

    "That's why you came to the party? I don't understand."

    "I'll explain it later."

    I said, "If you want to go talk let's go."

    Abby followed me into the house and we got our coats. I told Sarah what was going and she said that she would get a ride home. While I was explaining things to Sarah, Abby was doing the same with Judy.

    As we walked to my car Abby asked, "Where can we go to talk?"

    I said, "I know just the place."

    As soon as she asked an idea came to me. Judy's house was just a short distance from the Northwestern campus so I headed in that direction. It just struck me that it would be kind of ironic if I took her to the place we first met and were we went the first time we had to talk about the possible end our relationship. I was glad to see that the irony was wasted on Abby.

    When I pulled up in front of Georgio's Abby said, "Ah... Georgio's. I get it."

    We went inside and sat in a corner booth in the bar. We ordered drinks and when the waiter left I said, "This little meeting was your idea so why don't you tell me whatever it is you have to say." Abby shifted herself around in her seat then said, "This isn't going to be easy for either of us. I don't think we need to discuss the reasons I left you in the first place but I need some answers and understanding of what has gone on since then."

    "Okay, You have questions, ask them."

    "All right. Why did you really move out of the house?"

    "I told you why I moved."

    "But it wasn't the truth."

    "It was at least partly true. I moved out to get away from you. I couldn't handle seeing your boyfriend come and go from your house. It was to painful."

    Abby said, "But why was the move so sudden? You were there Friday morning when I left for work and when I got home that night there was a For Rent sign in the window."

    "So I didn't want a big seen. I just wanted to get out. Why does this bother you so much."

    "It's the timing that bothers me. The Sunday before you left I found something in my bathroom that disturbed me a great deal."

    I could feel my face starting to flush.

    I said, "What did you find in your bathroom that disturbed you?"

    "There was a used condom stuck to the inside of my waste basket."

    "And?"

    "I think you put it there."

    I thought, 'Oh shit, here it comes.'

    I said, "Why would you think that. Maybe your boyfriend was just careless when he tossed his used condom in the basket. It certainly wasn't my used condom."

    Abby's eyes narrowed and I could see the anger in her face.

    She said, "I know you did it because I was the one who put that condom in the waste basket in the first place. I carefully wrapped it in a tissue and set it in the bottom of the basket. So I figured you came snooping around my house when I was out and found the condom and threw it against the side of the basket just to be a prick."

    She knew. I was at a loss as to how handle the situation. There was no lie I could use to save myself so I decide to tell as much of the truth as I dared just to be done with it.

    I said, "You're right, I was in your house that day and I found the condom. I was trying to find out if you had been having sex with your boyfriend Ben."

    "How did you do it? How were you able to get into my house? Did you have a key?"

    I said, "No, I didn't have a key and then I told about the access panel in her hall closet and how I used it to get into her house.

    "I was so angry when I found out you had been in my house. There were several times I wanted to come to your house and have it out with you but frankly I was a little scared of you. I thought you were stalking me. If you were willing to sneak into my house what else might you do? In the end I decided to confront you when I got home from work that Friday night but you had already moved out.

    "I have been wondering ever since about the timing of your moving out of the house. I can't believe that just finding a condom in my trash would do it. Their has to be more to this story."

    I said, "I don't think I want to go into this right now."

    "What you mean is that you don't want to tell me. If there was an easy explanation you would already have given it. I already think the worst of you so let's hear the rest of it."

    I thought I could just refuse to say anymore but a part of me wanted to put the whole thing to rest. I knew that Abby's opinion couldn't get a whole lot lower than it already was so I decide to tell her a modified version of the truth. I decided to leave out the part about the cameras and recording equipment.

    I said, "I guess things really can't get much worse. You already figured out the first part. I was in you house that Sunday and I found the condom. I had accidentally dropped it on the floor and was about to pick it up when you came home with your boyfriend. I panicked and hide in the closet. When you and Ben went into your room I quickly picked up the condom and dropped it in the basket. I didn't throw it against the side of the basket on purpose. That was an accident but I didn't have time to fix it.

    "I started to head back to the closet so I could leave when I heard something that stopped me. It was the sounds coming from your room. Your bedroom door was partially open and I was drawn to it. When I looked in I saw the two of you having sex. What I saw disturbed me very much but I could not stop watching.

    "Do you have any idea how traumatic it was for me to see my wife, the woman I still loved, sucking another mans cock? And things just got worse. The memory of you having intercourse with him is burned into my brain. Him behind you on his knees while you rocked forward and back taking his cock deep inside you each time you rocked back."

    At that point I had to stop and take large swallow of my scotch just to be able to go on.

    I said, "I couldn't take anymore, I was feeling ill so I climbed back up into the attic where I vomited all over myself. That is Why I moved. Every time I saw you I saw the image of you rocking back against your lover tacking his cock inside you."

    Abby said, "Is that everything?"

    "Yes, that is everything. I am sorry for spying of you. I was obsessed with knowing if you where having sex with your new boyfriend. I was out of control and I violated your right to privacy not to mention a few laws that I broke. I won't ask you to forgive me because I can't. I know what I did was unforgivable. It all came clear to me that Sunday. That is why I moved."

    Abby's face was turning red as she opened her mouth to speak.

    She said, "My God, how low can you sink. You actually stood outside my bedroom door and spied on me. I don't know what to think now. Are you still Obsessed with me?"

    "No. I can honestly say that I am not. I was in a state of depression for a long time. It was caused by our breakup and the pressure I put on myself at the firm. Quitting my job helped but I can't fully recover until I get you completely out of my heart."

    Abby said, "I don't know what to say to you right now."

    I said, "Well, we are making progress here. You came here very angry with me now you only hate me."

    Abby said, "I don't hate you. I feel sorry for you."

    I said, "Don't feel sorry for me, I am putting my life back together and I am going to be all right."

    When I looked at Abby to see here reaction to what I was saying I noticed that her expression had softened and I could see the girl I had fallen in love with sitting there.

    I said, "What about you? Will you be all right? I mean will you be able to patch things up with Karl?"

    Abby began to laugh and said, "Patch things up with Karl? You still don't get it do you?"

    I said, "What are you laughing at? I thought you and Karl had a misunderstanding and he dumped you at the party. He's you boyfriend isn't he? "

    Abby said, "Karl was more interested in you than he is in me. Karl is gay. Karl was just doing me a favor by driving me to the party. He left to go to another party with his friends."

    Abby got serious again and said, "I only came to the party to talk you. It was not an accident that we were both there. It was arranged that way. Judy set the whole thing up. She's the one that got Sarah to bring you to the party."

    I said, "Seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to tell me what a scum bag you think I am. You could have just sent me a letter."

    "I guess you right."

    Trying to keep the conversation friendly I asked, "If Karl's not you boyfriend then are you still seeing Ben?"

    "No. Actually I broke things off with him right after I found out you had seen the condom in the bathroom. "

    I said, "I don't understand, why would you break up with him because I did something stupid."

    "It was just the timing. Ben didn't mean that much to me so when I found out you had been in my house going through my waste basket I decided I couldn't deal with being angry with you and at the same time being in a relationship I wasn't committed to."

    I said, "Are you seeing anyone now?"

    "No."

    I said, "Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me. Any more transgressions I need to explain to you."

    Abby said, "I need you to understand some things now. When I left you I was hurt and angry that you had let our marriage fall apart but I thought that we would get back together. Then you called me and you made me feel that your job was more important to you than I was.

    "That's why I started going out with Ben. I wanted you to see that I was moving on. Having sex with Ben was a mistake. I didn't do it because I loved him, I did it because I needed to prove to myself that I was over you. I wasn't. As angry as I was when I found out you had been in my house I felt bad that you found out that I had sex with Ben. That is why I broke things off with him. The one important thing that I know you noticed but didn't seem to grasp the meaning of was the condom. I had sex with Ben three times and every time I made him use a condom. You are the only person that has ever been inside me with out a condom."

    I said, "I am not sure what to do with that information now but thank you for telling me. Is there anything else you want to say?"

    "No, but can we just sit and talk to each other for a while like we used to, without the anger?"

    "Sure, I'd like that."

    Abby said, "Judy told me about how you refused to handle the Abbott Chemical law suit and when they wouldn't take you off the case you resigned. Even though I was still mad at you I was very proud of you for standing up for your principles. I know how hard that must have been."

    "Thanks for saying that. Actually it was the best thing I could have done. I am enjoying my private practice more that I ever enjoyed my old job. I guess I'd have to say that the only thing I regret is losing you."

    Abby didn't say anything but I could see her eyes filling with tears. I reached across the table and took Abby's hands in mine and said, "My job is great and things are getting better all the time but there is a big hole in my life. Abby, I miss you."

    Abby tired to smile and said, "I miss you too."

    I said, "So where does that leaves us?"

    'I don't know."

    We ordered another round of drinks and Abby told me what she had been doing over the last several months and we continued chatting through a third round of drinks.

    We left Georgio's around 11:30. We hadn't talk much during the last half hour so we figured it was time to go. When we got to the car I asked Abby if she wanted to go back to the party and she said no. When I asked her where she wanted to go she said that she didn't know. I don't know what made me decide to do it or what I expected to happen but I just head to my apartment. Abby never asked where we were going. On the way I wondered if I was just opening myself up to more pain.

    When we got to the apartment Abby said, Where are we?'

    I said, "My apartment." Abby showed no reaction. I opened the car door for her and she followed me into the apartment. When we got inside I took her coat and hung it up and then asked her if she would like a drink.

    She said, "Maybe a little wine if you have it."

    I went to pour the wine and Abby wandered around the apartment looking things. When she spotted the picture of her that I had on my book shelf she stopped and stared at it. I came up behind her and reached around to hand her the glass of wine.

    She said, "You still have my picture displayed?"

    I said, "I could not bring myself to throw it away so I figured I might as well display it. After all it's the only picture I have."

    Abby didn't move so I move up against her back. I half expect her to pull away but instead she leaned her head back against my shoulder. I had my wine in my right hand so I put my left arm around her waste and held her closer.

    When Abby didn't object to me holding her that way I set my glass on the book shelf and then took her glass and placed it with mine. Then I turned her head toward me and kissed her. It felt great to kiss her again and the fact that she responded to me was even better.

    We kissed several more times then I wrapped both arms around her and began kissing her neck and nibbling on her ears. Abby responded by pressing back against me even more. I moved my hand up to her chest and cupped her breasts. When I did this Abby reach back and put her hands behind my neck.

    With her hands up like that I reach down and started to pull her sweater up. Abby released her hands from my neck and let me life the sweater off. Next I unhooked her bra and removed it and then I put my hands back on her breasts.

    Abby turned her head so we could kiss while I continued to massage her breasts. We stood there like that for nearly ten minutes, kissing and fondling and then I took her by the hand and led her into my bedroom. We stopped next to the bed and kissed and while I kissed her I unzipped her skirt and let it drop to the floor at her feet. Abby was standing there in her thigh high stockings and panties. I picked her up and laid her on the bed and then I slowly removed her panties. I climbed onto the bed between her legs started kissing the inside of her thighs just above the tops of her stockings. I pressed my face in her hair and inhaled. It's funny that even though it had been so long since I had been there I still remembered her scent. When I closed my lips over her vulva Abby made a small sound deep in her throat and spread her legs farther apart.

    I used my tongue to spread open the petals of Abby's pussy and then pushed my tongue inside. Abby responded to this by lifting her pelvis and she let out a soft moan of pleasure. I probed her with my tongue for a few minutes and then concentrated my attention on her clitoris. Abby began an up and down motion with her pelvis and I could taste the change her sexual juices as she began her orgasm.

    As Abby lay on the bed recovering from her orgasm I striped off my clothes and joined her on the bed. As soon as I was on the bed Abby started kissing her way down my body until she got to my cock. She lifted my cock with her hand and give it little kisses all up and down the shaft after which she licked my testicles and sucked them into her mouth one at a time and then she took my cock into her mouth.

    As I lay on the bed enjoying the wonder sensation of having my cock orally pleasured I thought about how differently the night had turned out compared to what I expected. I was expecting to have sex that night but I figured it would be with Sarah. The experience was surreal. It wasn't supposed to be happening. Neither Abby nor I had said anything to each other that would explain how we ended up in bed together.

    I would have thought that there was still to much between us for this to happen but I took a chance and brought her home with me. I was still deep in my thoughts when Abby got on top of me and guided my cock inside her steaming sex charged hole. Once she had me all of the way inside her she laid down on my chest. This was a position we had used many before and we both knew how to move to make if feel good for both of us.

    We stayed in that position until Abby climaxed again and then I roll us over so that I was on top and I quickened my strokes until I climaxed inside Abby.

    When it was over I cuddled up behind Abby and we spooned until she fell asleep. Sleep didn't come to me that easily and I started to replay the evening in my head and it struck me that Abby hadn't said much since we left Georgio's and she didn't say a word while we were making love. I could never remember making love to Abby when she didn't talk to me while we were doing it.

    Her silence was strange. As a mater of fact her behavior from the time we left Georgio's was odd. She never asked me where I was taking her or why. I began to worry about what the sex had been about. Did Abby have some hidden agenda? Was this maybe a farewell fuck or could I hope that maybe it meant something more positive. Maybe it meant we had a chance of getting back together.

    I finally dozed off into a fitful sleep full of bad dreams. Dreams where Abby would laugh at me and tell me having sex with me was a joke and that her real lover was Ben or she would just disappear and I would go looking but never find her.. In my sleep everything that had happened that night became part of my dreams so much so that when I woke up at seven o'clock in the morning and found myself in bed alone I wasn't sure that I didn't dream the whole thing. It took a couple of minutes for my head to clear and realize that it hadn't been a dream, but where was Abby.

    I got out of bed and quickly and looked around the apartment. There was no sign of her. In fact the only evidence that she had been there at all was her scent on the pillow she had slept on. Even the wine glasses had been removed from the shelf by Abby's picture.

    That puzzled me. I didn't remember moving the glasses. I didn't see that glasses in the kitchen either. Abby had washed the glasses and put them away. Why would she wash the glasses? Was she trying to erase and evidence of having been there.

    I went and checked the bathroom and found a wet bath towel and noticed that the shower stall was wet. So she had taken a shower before she left. How had I not heard her?

    I suddenly felt my depression setting in again. Had I lost Abby for a second time. Was this her way of punishing me for spying on her.

    I went into my living room and sat down on the sofa to try and think things through. I decided to call her house to see if she was home and try to get her to explain what was going on. I had just pick the phone and started to dial her number when the front door to my apartment opened and Abby came in with a Starbucks Bag in her hand.

    Abby smiled and said, "Oh good you're awake. I've got two tall coffees and four blueberry scones."

    Abby came into the living room and set the bag down on the table then she kissed me. I tried to pull her to me for a second kiss but she pulled away and said, "No more kisses until you brush your teeth. You have morning breath.

    She went into the kitchen and found plates for the scones and then joined me on the sofa.

    I said, "I woke up and you were gone. I thought you left me again."

    "Sorry, I should have written a note but I didn't expect to be gone very long. I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep so I took a shower and got dressed.

    I said, "Can I ask you a question? Last night when we made love you never said a word. You seemed to enjoy what we were doing but you were very subdued. What was that all about?"

    Abby said, "I had hoped that our talk last night would have been a lot less painful and we would have declared our love for each other and we would end up making love. As it turned out our little talk brought out a lot of pain for both of us. I had a sense at the end that we both still loved each other but neither of us was able to say the words last night. By the time you brought me here I didn't want to talk anymore. I just wanted you to make love to me.

    This morning I wanted to wake you up and tell you that I love you but I was afraid that you might not feel the same way. I decided to forgive you for spying on me and put that behind us because I love you and want to be with you. Do you love me enough and want to be with me enough to put your bad memories behind you?"

    I said, "If I say yes will you give me another scone?

    "Of course."

    "Abby I love you and I want to be with you and I am ready to do whatever it takes to save our marriage."

    Abby through her arms around my neck and began laughing and crying at the same time. After a few minutes she let go of my neck and looked at me and said, "I have missed you more than you can imagine. I just wish we could have gotten to this point with a lot less pain."

    I said, "Well maybe the pain was good for us. Maybe it will make us stronger. Now I am going to take a shower, would you lie to join me?"

    "I'd love to."

    The End

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Judy

    By K.K. ©

    I met Judy while a student at the University of Rochester. Judy was not a student she was a waitress at Angelo's Italian restaurant which was a shot distance from the campus. It was the end of mid term exams and a group of us decided to go to Angelo's to celebrate and it just happened that Judy was our waitress that night. She is tall, brunette and has beautiful dark eyes. I was taken with her beauty the first time I saw her.

    I didn't speak to her that night other than to give her my dinner order. The guys with me were all flirting with her when she came over to our table and then they made jokes about how much they would like to get into her pants when she left. Normally I would have joined right with the others making the jokes but somehow I didn't feel right talking about her that way.

    I guess the other guys just saw her as a lowly waitress, certainly below them on the social ladder. To them her only good qualities was that she had a hot body and looked like she would be fun in bed. I saw something different. I didn't see a lowly waitress. I saw a lovely woman that I wanted to get to know. I would be lying if I said that the thought of having sex with her didn't excite me, but I had dreams of having something more with her than sex.

    After that night I began to stop at Angelo's a few times a week even thought it was a bit expensive for my budget. Sometimes for dinner, sometimes for just a beer and a slice of pizza. Each time I went to Angelo's I managed to engage Judy in conversation. In time I was able to find out that she was single and that she didn't have a steady boyfriend. It took me two months before I was comfortable enough to ask her out on a date. Judy seemed very surprised when I asked but she said yes right away.

    The night we were to go out Judy asked me to pick her up at her parents house and she gave me the directions. I had a little trouble finding the place at first. They lived in a part of the city I had never been in before and I wasn't to comfortable being there at all. Judy's parents lived in a rented house in a run down part of town.

    Judy's fourteen year old brother answered the door when I knocked, or rather he pushed the door opened into my face as he charged out of the house while his mother yelled after him, "You little bastard, you bring that money back her right now."

    When she saw me standing in the door, Judy's mother said, "Oh, you must be here for Jude. Come on in." Then she yelled as loud as she could, "Jude, your boy friend is here."

    I heard Judy answer, "I'll be right down."

    Judy's mother was a short fat woman with tri- color hair and two teeth missing in the front of her mouth. She didn't invite me sit, she just looked me up and down and said, "So, how'd Jude find you?"

    I told her I met her at Angelo's and she didn't ask me any more questions. I looked around the filthy kitchen as I tried to think of something to say to this woman just to make conversation. I was just about to say something about the weather, the only thing that I could think of that would be a safe subject, when the door behind me opened. Before I could turn to see who was coming in I heard a man speak in a very slurred voice, obviously caused by intoxication; "Who the fuck is this?"

    Judy's mother said, "This is Jude's new boy friend."

    I turned to introduce myself to him but he just turned and headed for the refrigerator and got himself a beer and then walked past me and left the kitchen but I got a good look at him as he passed. He was about four inches shorted them me and maybe ten inches wider. He was bald on top of his head with long salt and pepper hair around the side and back of his head that looked as if it hadn't been washed in more than a month. The only thing worse than the way he looked was the way he smelled. He was a thoroughly disgusting individual.

    As he left the room Judy's mother said, "That drunk fuck is Jude's father. Real winner ain't he?"

    For the next five minutes I stood in silence waiting for Judy to come and rescue me. When she finally came downstairs she said, "Sorry I took so long. Glad to see you met the family. I'm ready when ever you are."

    As we left the house no one said anything to us. No, 'have a good time,' or 'it was nice to meet you.' We walked to the car in silence and I wondered if asking Judy to go out with me might have been a big mistake.

    Neither of us spoke for a few minutes and then I tried to make conversation. "I noticed that your mother calls you Jude. Would you rather I call you Jude or Judy?"

    She said, "They call me Jude, I would rather you call me Judy."

    I said, "Okay, Judy it is." I wasn't sure if it was because I hadn't earned the right to call her Jude or if there was another reason, but if that was the way she wanted it I would call her Judy. I was already beginning to dread the evening ahead of me.

    My plan for the evening was to take her to a nice restaurant for dinner and then go to a movie but I was beginning to want to just go for fast food, maybe a couple of drinks in a local bar and then drop her off at home and never see her again. I really couldn't see a future with anyone from that family. In the end I decided to be a gentleman and follow through on my original plans.

    Once we were seated in the restaurant I was having trouble thinking of anything to talk about when Judy broke the silence.

    "I guess it's a good sign that you didn't run screaming from the house when you met my family."

    Still trying to be a gentleman I said, "Why would you say that?"

    "You don't have to pretend that you didn't notice how disgusting they were. I'm just glad that they didn't scare you off."

    I said, "My date was with you, not them."

    "I am glad that you feel that way. I had you pick me up at their house so you would meet them. I wanted you to see where I came from and to meet my parents. I wanted to get through the trauma of meeting my parents now rather than have to deal that later. If you can't deal with them being my parents I would rather find that out right now. I want you to know that I am not like them."

    I was relieved to hear her say that she was not like her parents but saying it doesn't make it so. The fact that she didn't want me to find out what her parents were like later indicated that see saw me as someone she might like to have a longer term relationship with than just one night. I liked that idea.

    I said, "If you feel that way about your parents why don't you move out and get a place of your own?"

    "I did, two years ago when I started working at Angelo's. Angelo helped me find an apartment near the restaurant and since then I go home about once a month just to check on my brother and make sure he is all right. I grew up in that house and now all I want to do is get as far away from it as possible Usually my visits there last less that an hour. My father is never around for very long, he is usually hanging out in his favorite bar, and my mother doesn't seem to care if I visit them or not. The only reason she likes to see me is so she can ask me for money, as if I owe it to her. I hope that meeting my parents will help you understand why I am the way I am.."

    I said, "What way are you?"

    "If you hang around long enough you'll find out."

    I didn't know what to say about her parents. Even though Judy said they were disgusting I couldn't say that to her. I said, "I can see that you are different. I promise I won't judge you based on your parents but are they really that bad? "

    Judy put her hand on mine and said, "I guess it's hard for you to understand, you probably had a normal childhood. You saw the house, I grew up in a dump. We had nothing and my parents made no attempt to do better. I never had anything new. Everything my mother gave me was from a thrift store, a garage sale or hand me downs from other family members. Clothes, toys, everything. The first new things I ever had were things I bought for myself with money I earned. So now when I get something I like I fight to keep it and when I see something I want I do what I have to get it. I don't ever want to settling for the things other people don't want anymore."

    I looked closely at Judy to see if these memories would make her cry but she didn't shed a tear. I guess she was pretty tough.

    Judy said, "Okay, your turn. Tell me about your childhood."

    "Well, you were right, my childhood was pretty normal until my senior year of high school. That year my parents were killed in a car accident."

    "Oh jeeze, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories."

    "It's okay. I've been through the pain and now I am doing the only thing I can to and that is going on with my life. My parents didn't have a lot of money but they left me enough to pay for college, so the rest is up to me."

    After that we didn't talk about our parents anymore. We had a good meal and then she suggested that we rent a movie and go back to her apartment. She said, "I know students can't afford to spend their money on fancy dinners and movies."

    Judy had a beautiful apartment. It was the second floor of an old house that had been converted into two apartments. Everything in the apartment looked new. The furniture, the carpets and the appliances and unlike her parents house, Judy's apartment was very clean. I was feeling better about my decision to follow through on my original plans. Judy was indeed very different from her parents.

    I said, "This is a great apartment, how can you afford this on a waitress' income?"

    "I work hard and Angelo gives me lots of extra work. I live close to the restaurant so he calls me anytime someone calls in sick or if they get unexpectedly busy."

    I said, "Everything here looks so new."

    Judy said, "Everything was new when I moved in two years ago. I just take good care of things to keep them looking that way."

    We watched a movie and then I decided that I should leave. I didn't want to push things too fast. Judy walked me to the door and we kissed several times and I asked her out again and she accepted.

    As I walked down to my car I knew that I was beginning to fall in love with her.

    It was on our third date that I decided to see how far Judy was willing to go. We had gone out for pizza and beer and then back to her apartment. It became obvious to me from the first kiss that night that Judy wanted it as much as me.

    As we sat on her sofa, exploring each other's mouths with our tongues I unbuttoned her blouse and began to massage her breasts. When I opened her bra Judy responded by guiding my mouth to her nipples. Judy had wonderful firm breasts and I loved kissing and sucking on them. What I liked even more was Judy's reaction to the attention I was giving her. As I sucked on her nipples, Judy made little noises of pleasure.

    Judy made the next aggressive move by placing her hand in my crotch and squeezing my cock through my pants. I took this to mean that she wanted my pants opened so I opened them. Judy slid her hand inside my briefs and pulled my cock out and as we kissed she gently stroked my cock with her hand.

    In a voice obviously affected by her sexual arousal, Judy asked me if she could kiss my cock? I certainly couldn't say no to her. Judy lowered her head into my lap and began kissing the head of my cock and eventually took more than half of my cock into her mouth. It wasn't long before I had to fight to keep from climaxing in her mouth. I finally had to tell her to stop and then I asked if I could taste her.

    She said, "No. It's my time of month so I can't let you do that."

    I was disappointed. I was extremely aroused and was looking forward to tasting her pussy. But then Judy surprised me by saying, "That doesn't mean we can't have sex."

    I wanted to and said that I did so Judy took me into the bedroom and said she had to go to the bathroom and would be back in a minute. So I got undressed and waited on her bed. As I waited I wondered what it was going to be like to have sex with Judy during her period. I had never done anything like that before. I wondered if it would feel disgusting or if I enjoyed it would Judy?

    When Judy returned she was wearing only her panties. She got into bed with me and immediately took her panties off. She pulled me on top of her and said, "Put it in me quick."

    I did as she told me and began to give her long slow strokes. When I entered her it felt warm and wet and it was not disgusting. As a matter of fact I found the whole thing very erotic. I felt like this was giving us a special bond. I was also happy to see that Judy was enjoying the sensations of menstrual sex and it wasn't long before she had a rather large orgasm followed shortly by my own climax.

    Afterward we lay holding each other for a while. When my cock was completely flaccid I rolled off Judy and lay on my back next to her. Judy got up and holding one hand between her legs, I guessed to prevent dripping anything on the floor, she scurried into the bathroom.

    While Judy was out of the room I looked at my cock. I could see the evidence of our love making. My cock was coated with a mixture of my semen, Judy's sexual juices and a smear of her blood. The blood bothered me a little. Even though I knew where it came from I still wondered if I might have hurt Judy.

    Judy returned from the bathroom carrying a wash clothe which she used to clean the mess from my cock. As she did this I asked her if she had liked doing it during her period and she said, "Surprisingly yes. I never would have thought that I would allow a man inside me during my period, but I wanted you so much tonight I just didn't care and it felt wonderful. No regrets."

    I told her that I was glad that she enjoyed it and that I had also had a wonderful time.

    We laid in bed and talked for another hour and then I went back to my dorm. As I lay in my bed that night I thought about the sex I had just had with Judy. The sex was terrific, almost to good. I was bothered a little by how aggressive Judy had been. It showed that she was sexually experienced, probably much more than me. I was driving myself crazy thinking about it until I decided that what she did before we met was not important. The only thing that mattered was that she was with me now.

    Although I didn't spend the night with her the first time we had sex, the next time I did and began spending many nights at her apartment. Sex with Judy was always exciting and she was always ready for me.

    Once we started to have sex regularly I began to dislike her working at Angelo's. I often saw male customers flirting with her. She never flirted back or encouraged them but it bothered me.

    I don't know whether it was me feeling like I had to protect her from these men or if I was just being possessive. I also didn't like that Angelo was always calling and asking her if she was available to work because someone didn't show up. I didn't say anything to Judy about it but knew someday I would have to get her out of that job.

    A year and a half later when I graduated I asked Judy to marry me. We had a small wedding and her parents only managed to embarrass us just a little.

    We lived in Judy's apartment for the first several months. I had found a job at an entry level position working for a large company in the Rochester area. I had told Judy that when I got a job I wanted her to quit working at Angelo's. As a matter of fact I didn't want her to work at all. She went along with me saying; "I have been earning my own money since I was sixteen and it hasn't always been easy. I'll be glad to take a break from that."

    Right after Judy quit her job she asked if we could start looking for a nicer apartment. A place we could stay for a couple of years until we could afford to buy a house. I told her we could and we decided that she would look for apartments during the day and if she found any she liked I would go back with her to look at them.

    The search lasted less than two weeks. I got home from work one night to find that Judy had dinner waiting on the table. She said we have to eat quick because we had an appoint to see an apartment. As we ate Judy told me I was going to love this place but that is all she would tell me. When I asked her to describe the apartment she said, "You will just have to wait to see it.

    It turned out that the apartment was a little farther from town that I would have expected and wasn't actually an apartment. It was a small house on the shore of Lake Ontario. The house had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a family room. The place was in excellent condition but the best feature was that the back of the house had large windows that looked out over the lake. Judy was right, I loved it.

    The only problem was the rent. It wasn't as much as I would have expected for a house on the lake but at $850 a month it was more than I had wanted to pay for an apartment.

    John Allen, the owner, lived in the house next door and had left us alone to look around. I could tell by the look on Judy's face that it would be very difficult to tell her we couldn't afford to rent the house. I knew her answer would be that she could get a job to help pay the rent but I didn't want her to work.

    I was still trying to think of a way to let Judy down gently when John Allen came in. John said, "So, have you made a decision?"

    I said, "It's a bit more than I had planned spending in rent. I'm just getting started in my career and can't handle $850 a month."

    John said, "I understand. I have an idea that might help. Would you be willing to sign a two year lease agreeing to pay $800 a month for the first year and $900 a month the second year.

    I had been planning on spending $750 a month so now we were within $50 and I expected that I would get enough of a raise the following year to be able to pay the higher rent in the second year and to get a place this nice with a lake view for less than $1000 a month was a real find, so I said we'll take it."

    John took us next door to his house. He introduced us to his wife Suzy and then while John was telling Suzy that we were going to rent the apartment I was watching them. John was about thirty years old and I guessed that Suzy was about the same although she could pass for twenty five.

    They were fit and seemed to be a loving couple. I decided it would be nice to have them for neighbors.

    We moved in two weeks later. Things were great. My job was going well, Judy and I were very happy together and we loved our new home. John and Suzy were good landlords and good neighbors.

    I liked the life we had. I was the bread winner and Judy managed the finances. I would turn my paychecks over to Judy and she would do the banking and pay the bills. She also took care of the house. When I came home at night the house was always immaculate, dinner was cooking and Judy had a drink ready for me. We would sit and watch the sail boats on the lake as we enjoyed our cocktail and then later in the evening would watch the beautiful sun sets.

    Everything was going fine until that October. It started with the engine in my car freezing up. It cost $1300 to get it fixed and a week later an uninsured driver totaled the car in a supermarket parking lot. I had just charged the repairs to my car on my visa card and a week later turn around and buy another car. Suddenly our monthly budget was shot to hell.

    When the weather started to turn cold and our heating bills shot up it caught us by surprise. I had never consider the cost of heating in our budget. With the heating bill topping $200 and it was only October, we were in trouble.

    One Saturday Suzy asked Judy to go to the mall with her to do some Christmas shopping and as they were leaving John asked me to come over and watch a football game with him.

    John and I had knocked off several beers when for some reason I started telling him about our financial problems. He didn't say anything for a while and then ask, "What are you going to do? Are you going to have Judy get a job?"

    I said, "I really don't want her to work. I like having her at home."

    John said, "Well then what are you going to do?"

    I laughed and said, "I was thinking of asking you to lower our rent for a while."

    John had a very serious look on his face and said, "Oh I can't do that."

    I said, "I know. I was just kidding."

    John was quiet for a minute and then said, "I can't lower the rent but I might be persuaded to give you a way to earn a discount of say $100."

    I said, "Really? What would I have to do?"

    John had a smile on his face as he said, "Actually you wouldn't have to do anything, Judy would."

    I suddenly felt the hair on the back of my neck bristling. I said, "What are you saying?"

    "I think you know what I am saying. If Judy is willing do a little favor for me I will knock 100 bucks off your rent this month."

    I was about ready to jump up and hit him when he said, "Listen, I know this is a hard proposal to listen to but think about it."

    I didn't dare hit him because I was afraid that if I started I would not be able to stop, so I got up and left.

    I stewed over what John had said for the next three hours until Judy came home. She noticed my mood as soon as she walked in the door.

    "What's wrong."

    "Nothing."

    "Don't say nothing. I know when something is bothering and you look particularly agitated tonight. So what's going on?"

    I said, "I think we are going to have to move."

    "Move? Why?"

    "With all the bills we have we just can't afford to live here now."

    Judy's face took on a sad expression.

    "I don't want to move. I love it here. Let me get a job. I can make enough to so that we can stay. Maybe we can ask John to give us a break on the rent until we get caught up a little."

    I guess I couldn't hide my anger when I said, "I already asked him."

    "And he said no? Is that why you are so upset?"

    "No. I am upset by what he suggested."

    I don't know why I said that because it just made Judy want to know what John had suggested. . Judy kept after me until I finally said, "John suggested that we could get $100 off this months rent if you would do him a favor."

    "Do him a favor? Like what?"

    I said, "What do you think?"

    "You're joking. He didn't suggest that."

    I said, "He didn't suggest anything specific and I didn't ask. I got up and left. So you see, we have to move."

    "But we still have a year and a half left on our lease. How do we get out of that?"

    "I don't think there would be a problem. Do you really think John would let me tell Suzy about his proposition?"

    Judy said, "Let's not do anything rash. The two of you were drinking right?"

    "Yes."

    Judy said, "It is not as if John proposition me and I don't want to ruin their marriage over something that John said to you when you were both a little drunk. Don't you think it's possible that he was only kidding?"

    "I don't know. Maybe, but I don't think so. You had to see the look on his face when he made the suggestion. The idea of doing something with you wasn't new to him. The only thing new was saying out loud to me."

    Judy said, "Promise me you won't say anything to him or Suzy at least for a few days. Maybe everything will blow over and we can forget about all this."

    I didn't like it but I promised. Two weeks went by and I didn't see or speak to John or Suzy.

    It was on a Wednesday night near the end of October when I came home from work and found Judy sitting at her desk with the monthly bills spread out in front of her. She wasn't writing the checks or even looking at the bills. She was just staring out the window at the lake. When she heard me come into the room she turned and gave me a half hearted smile.

    I said, "What's wrong?"

    She started to cry and said, "We don't have enough money to cover our bills this month?"

    I didn't challenge her on that point. I knew her book keeping would be correct. If she said we didn't have the money, we didn't have it.

    "How far off are we?"

    "Fifty dollars right now."

    I said, "Can we underpay some of the bills just to get by?"

    "Then it will just be worse next month. What are we going to do?"

    "I don't know."

    Judy came over to me and took my hands in hers and said, "How much John offer to knock off our rent?"

    I said, "You can't be serious."

    Judy said, "We're in trouble now. Even if you would let me get a job now it wouldn't help us this month. I just think we need to keep all of our options opened and I don't see any other solutions, do you?"

    I began to feel very sick. I tried to think of ways to get the money. I said, "Can't we take a cash advance on the credit card?"

    "What good would that do? It would pay this months bills but we would owe more next month Remember our heating bill is already going to be higher next month."

    I said, "What about your parents? Would they help?"

    Judy said, "Absolutely not. They'd be more likely to ask for money than to give me any. Anyway I would much rather have to deal with John then to ask my parents for anything. How much did John offer?"

    I didn't look at Judy as I said, "He offered $100."

    "What do you think he wanted me to do?"

    "I don't know, I guess have sex with him."

    Judy said, "I hate to say this but I think you had better ask him?"

    I said, "I don't think this is a good idea..."

    "Jesus Bill. Can't you see that we don't have a choice. This is the only way we can get through this months bills without adding to our debt."

    I said, "What do you want me to do?"

    "Talk to John. Find out if the offer he made you is still open then find out what I would have to do."

    I said, "I don't think I can do that."

    "You have to. Now just call him or go talk to him. The sooner we get this over with the better."

    Judy let go of my hands and went into the bedroom and closed the door.

    I began pacing around the house trying to swallow the bitter taste in my mouth and prepare myself to make the call to John.

    I went into the kitchen and got out my bottle of Jack Daniel's and knocked down two quick shots, then waited as the warmth spread through my body and then I drank another shot. After the third drink I waited five minutes until I started to feel the effects of the alcohol and then I went to the phone.

    John answered the phone on the second ring. I said, "John, it's Bill. Is the offer you made still good?"

    "You mean the hundred dollars? Yes, the offer still stands."

    "What would Judy have to do?"

    "Is she going to do it?"

    I said, "I don't know. She would have to know what you want first."

    John said, "All I want is a blow job. She sucks me till I cum in her mouth I knock a hundred bucks of this months rent."

    I really resented the way he talked to me but I didn't respond to that. I said, "I'll talk to Judy and let you know. If she agrees, when would you want to do it?"

    "Suzy is going to be out tonight, we could do it tonight."

    "Let me talk to Judy."

    I didn't say bye, I just hung up the phone and poured myself another shot of Jack.

    I sat for another ten minutes before I went to the bedroom to talk to Judy, When I walked into the room Judy immediately asked, "Did you talk to John?"

    I said, "Yes, I just called him."

    "What did he say?"

    "He said the offer still stands."

    "What does he want me to do?"

    I said, "He wants you to give him a blow job. He said you would have to let him cum in your mouth."

    Judy was quiet for a long minute then said, "I suppose it could have been much worse. I guess I can handle that if your with me."

    I said, "With you. You mean with you while you do that? I don't know if I could handle watching you do that with him.."

    "You have to. I can't do this alone. I have to have you there so that I know that I have your support on this otherwise I don't think I could go through with it. Did he say when he wants me to do it?"

    "He said he wants to do it tonight when Suzy is out of the house."

    "Tonight is good. The sooner we get it over with the better. Tell John to come over here when Suzy leaves. Go call him now and then leave me alone until he comes. Just remember you have to stay with me when I do it."

    I left the room and closed the door behind me. I went out to the kitchen and called John and when he answered the phone I just said, "When Suzy goes out come over here."

    John said, "Okay," and hung up the phone.

    About an hour passed before John knocked on the door. I let him in and we walked into the living room. John sat on the sofa and I said I would go get Judy.

    John said, "Before you go I just wanted to say something. I value your friendship and hope that somehow after this is over we will be able to be friends again. I know this is difficult for you but I couldn't help myself. Judy is a beautiful sexy woman and I could not resist taking advantage of this opportunity."

    I just gave him a look that I hoped would that would let him know how much he disgusted me.

    I knocked on the bedroom door and asked Judy if she was ready. Judy came to the door dressed in jeans and a tee shirt. I noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra but I didn't see that it made a difference under the circumstances.

    I followed Judy to the living room and John asked her to sit next to him on the sofa and I sat in a chair facing them. John looked at me and said, "Are you going to stay?"

    I said, "Yes I am. It's the way Judy wants it."

    John turned from me to Judy and said, "This is a little awkward. How do you want to do this?"

    Judy said, "Why don't you just pull your pants down."

    John stood up and unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants and pulled them down. He was now standing in front of Judy in is briefs. There was a large bulge in the front indicating that John not only had an erection, but that he also was well endowed. When he pulled his briefs down his cock stood out straight. He was at least an inch longer then me and bigger around. Not one of those horse cocks you read about in sex stories but it was big.

    Judy sat staring at John's cock and didn't say a word. When John had his pants and briefs all the way off he sat down next to Judy again.

    Nobody spoke. Judy looked over at me and then turned her attention to John's cock. She took his cock into her hand and stroked it a couple of times and then lowered her head into his lap and took the tip of his cock into her mouth.

    At some point I had lost my anger and now was only feeling guilt for letting this happen, and concern for Judy, as she was the one who got the worst of it. I was also beginning to find that the sight of Judy sucking on a cock was erotic. I was getting an erection as I watched her take more and more of John's cock into her mouth. Judy managed to get all but two inches into her mouth and then she began to bob her head up and down causing his cock to slid in and out of her mouth.

    The expression on John's face showed that he was enjoying the sensations that my wife's mouth was giving him. I think he had lost any awareness of my presence in the room as he laid back against the sofa and watched Judy sucking on his cock.

    John was able to hold back for about fifteen minutes before he finally climaxed in Judy's mouth.

    As soon as she had completely drained his load she pulled her mouth from his cock and grabbed a towel she had brought with her and spit all of John's cum into it and wiped her mouth and chin making sure none of John's load was left on her face.

    John got up and began dressing. When he had his pants back on and was zipping them he said, "Thanks Judy, that was wonderful."

    My mind was in kind of a dream state when he said that and I couldn't bring myself to react like I wanted to. I felt like I should have hit him but I didn't.

    As John was walking toward the door to leave he turned and said, "You know, I have a wild sexual appetite. I can think of a lot of ways you can save on your rent during these long cold winter months."

    I couldn't manage to find the words to respond but Judy did. She said, "We'll let you know."

    When the door closed behind John I went and sat next to Judy on the sofa. She asked me to hold her and I did. After a while Judy put her hand in my crotch and said, "You have a hard on? Did you get hard watching me with John?"

    I was caught. I couldn't deny it so I told the truth. I said, "I didn't like the idea of you doing that for John but once you started I have to admit the sight of you with a cock in your mouth got me hot."

    Judy just said, "Really?" and began to rub my cock through my pants. Then she said, "Why don't you take your pants off. You should get at least as good a blow job as John. After all you are my husband."

    I wasn't sure how to take that but I opened my pants and Judy took my cock into her mouth and gave me a fantastic blow job followed by her swallowing my load.

    It wasn't until late that night, when Judy was in a deep sleep and I was still awake that I thought about what John had said as he was leaving. "You know, I have a wild sexual appetite. I can think of a lot of ways you can save on your rent during these long cold winter months."

    I thought the statement to be quite bold and in poor taste but it wasn't what he had said that was keeping me awake. It was Judy's response, "We'll let you know," that was puzzling me. Why had she said that? I decided I would have to ask her about it.

    The next evening after dinner I brought it up. I said, "Last night when John was leaving he suggested that we could get further discounts on our rent and you told him we would let him know. Why did you say that?"

    Judy said, "I didn't want to say anything too negative because I wanted to make sure he gave us the discount he promised, and besides, I think we need to keep our options open in case we have no other choice again sometime."

    I said, "You would really consider doing that again after last night."

    Judy said, "Actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once I made up my mind that I would do it I just concentrated on the fact that you were there with me and I pretended that I was performing for your entertainment. Now I know if I had to do it again I could."

    "What if what he wanted the next time was more than a simple blow job?"

    Judy said, "Well, I guess it would depend on what he wanted. You have to understand that I love living in this house. I don't want to move. Getting and keeping the things I want can motivate me to do things I wouldn't normally do. I would be doing it for both of us. I know you love it here too so if a small sexual favor during these lean times can help us keep this house then got me it's worth it."

    "Do you hear what you are saying? You are willing to prostitute yourself so we can stay in this house?"

    "Compared to my childhood anything I have to do to get and keeps the things I love is easy for me and. I will not give up the things I love."

    Judy had made herself clear on this and I would just have to figure out how to deal with it. Maybe I would have to let her get a job after all.

    We didn't talk about it again until the end of November when we found ourselves short again. This time was different though. When I got home from work that night Judy just calmly said, "We are short on money again. I think you had better call John. Ask him if he can give us two hundred this month."

    Judy was so cool and calm about it that she made it easier for me to accept what had to be done. After dinner that night I called John and said, "What would it take to get two hundred off the rent this month?"

    John was quiet for a moment and then he said, "I would have to fuck her this time. I want her in bed, naked and I want to fuck her."

    I tired to maintain my composure. He was dictating terms to me so I had to find some small victory for myself.

    "You will have to wear a condom."

    He said, "I don't like condoms."

    I said, "That's the deal. If you want to fuck my wife you will have to wear a rubber.'

    He said, "Okay, I'll wear a condom. Can we do it tomorrow night? I'll come over around eight."

    I said, "Tomorrow at eight."

    John said, "Are you going to watch?"

    "If Judy wants me to I will."

    "Okay then, I'll see you both tomorrow night at eight.."

    After I hung up the phone I thought about what I had just done. I negotiated a deal with my landlord that would allow him to fuck my wife. The only thing I could feel good about was that I got him to agree to wear a condom. What had happened to me. How could I allow this to happen? Judy was going to have to fuck John so we could get a break on our rent. What kind of husband arranges for his wife to have sex for money? I wasn't very proud of myself at that moment.

    When I told Judy what John wanted and that it was scheduled for the following evening she only said, "Good. That will get us through this month."

    After that I became very depressed. I wasn't able to eat my dinner that night and I didn't sleep very well. The next morning I swore to myself that this would not happen again. I would find another way to pay the bills but I knew that it was too late to stop the appointment I had set up for that night.

    John was at our door promptly at eight o'clock that evening. Judy had decided she would wait in the bedroom and I was to bring John to her. When we entered the room Judy was sitting on the bed wearing a terry bathrobe.

    John said hello to Judy and she nodded her head at him but did not speak. Then John said, "What should I do?"

    Judy said, "Why don't you get undressed and join me on the bed?"

    Judy opened the robe and let is slip off her shoulders and drop to the floor. She was still wearing a bra and panties. As John removed his shirt and pants Judy watched him. When he was striped down to his briefs, Judy removed her bra and panties. John removed his briefs and joined her on the bed.

    For a minute the two of them just looked at each other. My stomach was churning as I sat in a corner of the room observing them. John moved forward as if to kiss Judy but she turned her head and then she took his cock in her hand and started stroking it. Judy looked over at me like she did the last time and then bent down and took John's cock into her mouth.

    I almost yelled stop. She was supposed to just let him fuck her, why the hell was she sucking his cock? I kept myself under control and made a mental note to ask Judy why she did that later.

    As Judy sucked his cock John moved his hand between Judy's legs and pushed his finger into her pussy. As I became more focused on what they were doing on the bed, the fact that is was my wife John was fingering became almost unimportant to me. My cock was hardening and my heart was pounding.

    The scene didn't change until Judy lifted her head up freeing John's huge erection and said, "Okay, put it in me now."

    There was no more emotion in her voice than if she had been telling John to put a pie in the oven. In a way I felt relieved that she seemed to be so detached from what she was doing, but I also felt a little disappointment that she wasn't enjoying herself.

    John got off the bed and retrieved a condom from his pants pocket. Judy appeared to be surprised that John was going to use a condom. I probably should have told her that I insisted that John wear a condom but I assumed it is what she would have wanted. Judy didn't say anything, she just watched as John rolled the condom over his cock.

    With the condom in place John got back onto the bed and moved himself between Judy's legs. He then took his cock into his hand and guided it to the entrance to Judy's pussy.

    As painful as this was to watch I found myself leaning forward in my chair to get a better look as his cock disappeared into Judy's pussy.

    John began pumping his cock into Judy in long slow strokes gradually increasing the speed and power. Judy put her hands over her head and held onto the headboard and began to lift her hips to accept each of John's powerful thrusts and after a few minutes began to moan out loud which was a sure indication that she was nearing orgasm.

    I found myself getting excited as I watched the expressions on her face each time John penetrated her with the full length of his cock. As I waited for her orgasm to wash over her I could feel the presser in my own pants. I was starting wonder why I was so aroused when Judy yelled out, "I'm coming, Oh God I'm coming."

    Judy wrapped her legs around John and crossed her ankles behind his back in an attempt to pull him deeper into her love channel. At that point I climaxed in my pants.

    As soon as my orgasm ended I became angry with myself. How could I have let myself get sexual gratification from watching my wife getting fucked by another man. I found that I was no longer interested in what was happening on the bed but I forced myself to watch for Judy's sake.

    When Judy's orgasm ended she relax her legs and John continued pounding his cock into her. I couldn't believe that John hadn't climaxed yet. In a short while I noticed that Judy seemed to be heading toward another orgasm and that made my own cock began to get hard again.

    Judy did have a second orgasm, not quite as big as the first one and then John grunted and climaxed. John continued to stroke into Judy but with much less speed and he was taking shorter strokes.

    When it was finally over John pulled out of Judy and then he stood up. John turned to face me and then walked right past me on his way to the bathroom. I think he did this to make sure I saw the full condom hanging from his deflating cock.

    I am not sure why he did that. Was it to rub in the fact that he has just fucked my wife or was it to show me that he had cum in the condom as I had requested.

    Judy didn't move from the bed and when John returned to the room she made no move to cover herself. John dressed and then went over and kissed Judy on the cheek and said, "You were very good." And then he looked at me and said, "Don't get up, I'll show myself to the door."

    When John reached the bedroom door he stopped and without looking at me he said, "Next time, no condoms."

    I don't know why but I said, "Okay."

    Neither Judy nor I moved or made a sound until we heard the front door close as John left the house.

    Judy held her hand out to me and said, "Come here and make love to me."

    I said, "Not now. I have questions I need answered. First, why did you have to suck his cock? That wasn't part of the deal tonight.

    Judy said, "I had to do something to get things started. He wanted to kiss me and I didn't want to kiss him and his cock wasn't nearly hard enough for him to enter met. I figured I had to do something to make him hard and speed things up."

    It's funny but I somehow knew that it would have upset me more to see him kissing her than it did to watch her suck his cock. I can't explain that even now.

    I said, "You had two orgasms didn't you?"

    "Yes. I couldn't help myself. I didn't want to but my body betrayed me."

    "When he finished and went to the bathroom, why didn't you cover yourself up before he came back into the room?"

    Judy look away from me as if she was ashamed and said, "Don't you understand? He owns us now. He got us to let him do these things to me. There was just no point in covering myself. "

    I said, "How can you say he owns us. We can stop this right now."

    "I don't think you really believe that we can stop now. I saw the wet spot in your pants. You got off watching him fuck me. I got off being fucked. And you think we can stop this. You're the one who agreed that the next time he wouldn't use a condom. That didn't sound like you were telling him we would not do this again."

    I put my head in my hands and screamed, "Oh God," because I knew that she might be right."

    Judy said, "Come here."

    I didn't look at her as I moved over to the bed. I removed my pants and sticky briefs and then pulled my shirt off and got into the bed with Judy. The sex we had that night wasn't love, it was just two desperate people seeking gratification, but it felt good anyway.

    Over the next several days I thought about what Judy had said about John owning us. I worried that she might be right while at the same time I kept telling myself that she wasn't. In the end it seemed that she was right.

    John call me that Friday night and said, "I decided to come over and get an installment on next months rent tonight. Like I said last time I won't be using a condom this time."

    I was stunned. What was even more shocking was my response. I said, "What time will you be coming over?"

    John said that he would be over at eight o'clock.

    I should have been upset or angry but I wasn't. I guess the only way I can describe what I was feeling is to say I was resigned to it. When I put down the phone I went and told Judy that John was coming over to collect an advance on the rent. Judy didn't ask what I meant she just asked when he would be over.

    Judy dressed in jeans and a cardigan sweater and then we waited for John in the living room. When he came in he walked directly over to Judy and kissed her on the mouth. Judy seemed to resist his kiss at first but soon she was kissing him back open mouthed.

    John was running his hands all over her body while he continued kissing her on the mouth and neck.

    While this was going on I stood and watched, aware of the growing erection in my pants.

    Judy pulled away from John and then took him by the hand and led him to our bedroom and I followed them.

    Once in the bedroom John sat on the bed and told Judy to get undressed. I took the chair in the corner again and watched as Judy slowly unbuttoned her sweater and removed it. Next she opened her jeans and pushed them down over he hips. I found that watching her take he clothes off for John was strangely erotic. When she was standing in front of him in just her panties John pulled her close and buried his face into the crotch or her panties. When he pulled his head back he turned to me and said, "Don't you just love the smell of her pussy?"

    I know I should have been offended by this but I didn't react. I just watched.

    John pulled Judy's panties down and she stepped out of them and then John pulled her down on the bed and spread her legs with his hands and ducked his head between her thighs and began to lick her pussy. I could tell by Judy's reactions that she was enjoying his oral attention.

    John brought Judy close to release and then stopped his oral activities and stood up and stripped off his clothes. When he was naked he stood next to the bed and said, "I want to feel that wonderful mouth of yours on my cock."

    Judy moved to the edge of the bed and took John's cock into her mouth and began give him what I cold tell was a great blow job. John looked over at me and said, "I just love the way she sucks my cock and I can tell you like watching her do it."

    I knew then that he owned me. The fact that he could make comments like that about my wife and that he had her sucking his cock and I was unable to make myself stop him was all the proof I needed.

    John pushed Judy's head off of his cock and told her to get on her hands and knees.. He said, "You almost made me cum in your mouth but that's not what we want. Bill and I want you to take my load in that hot cunt of yours don't we Bill?"

    I said, "Yes."

    John got on the bed behind Judy and guided his cock to the glistening wet opening of her pussy. Judy was so wet from the oral stimulation John had given her that he was able to slide his cock all the way in one smooth motion. As he push himself insider her Judy let out a moan of pleasure.

    It took John only a few minutes to drive Judy over the edge and into a massive orgasm. I was having difficulty understanding how John could manage to give Judy such big orgasm.

    John continued pounding Judy's pussy right through her orgasm and a few minutes later John looked over at me and said, "Come over here Bill. I am going to shoot my hot load deep inside your wife's cunt and I think you might want to get a closer look."

    It was almost as if I had no will of my own. I got up and moved over to the bed and sat on the bed close to Judy's bottom. From there I could see John's cock sliding in and out of Judy's pussy.

    John quickened his pace and he yelled, "Here it comes. I am filling her cunt now. Oh God that feels good."

    John slowed his pace as his climax finished and then he stopped moving completely and leaned forward on Judy's back. He stayed like that for a few minutes then straightened up and said, "Watch this Bill. I am going to pull out now. Check our her messy cunt."

    John pulled back and his limp cock dropped from Judy's pussy followed by a big glob of his semen. Then another glob appeared at the opening of her pussy and started leaking down her pussy mound and onto her thigh. As I watched this I had to fight to keep from climaxing in my pants. After a minute Judy collapsed on the bed.

    John picked up his clothes and went into the bathroom and I sat in a trance trying to find some explanation to what was happening to us.

    John returned from the bathroom completely dressed and as he was about to leave he said, "I 'll let you know when I 'll be over for another advance on your rent."

    When he was gone I put my hand on Judy's back and began to gently massage her. I asked her if there was anything I could do for her and she said, "Eat me."

    I said, "What? Are you mad at me?"

    "No."

    "Then why did you say, 'eat me.'

    "Because I want you to eat me."

    I said, "But you're are full of John's mess.

    Judy turned her head to look at me and then said, "Listen, so far I am the one who has had to do everything. I've taken a load of John's cum in my mouth and I have had to let him fuck me twice and all you did was watch and cum in your pants. Besides you were the one who agreed to let him fuck me without a condom, so I think the least you can do is clean my pussy with your mouth."

    My mind was working on a way to get out of licking the cum from her pussy when Judy said, "If you love me you'll do this for me."

    I looked down on Judy's nicely rounded buttocks and followed the valley that started at the base of her spine and deepened as it passed between the firm cheeks and opened up at the bottom to expose her cum glazed mound.

    I tried to put John's cum out of my mind as I lowered my head and ran my tongue down the valley and across her pussy. It was difficult for me to reach her pussy with Judy lying flat on her stomach so I pulled up on her hips and Judy got up on her hands and knees again and I lower my mouth to her pussy and sucked her clean. The whole time I was eating her Judy was moaning in pleasure, which gave me the motivation to continue. I had my tongue buried in her pussy when I heard her say, "Fuck me now. Put your cock in my and fuck me."

    I quickly shed my pants and pushed my cock inside her. Judy seemed to begin climaxing as soon as I entered her and I climaxed only a few minutes later. After that we both collapsed on the bed and feel asleep.

    After that night things got worse. John started coming over once a week and one night he even stayed to watch me eat Judy's pussy after he had finished fucking her. I was beyond humiliated.

    I no longer cared what was happening. I had found enough sexual excitement in the things we did to offset the hurt and humiliation it caused me. Judy and I just did whatever John told us to do.

    Things reached bottom one Saturday afternoon when John came over unexpectedly. He said that he needed to talk to us so the three of us sat in the living room and John told us what was on his mind.

    "Suzy knows what has been going on."

    Hearing that gave me a lift that was unexpected. Could this be the end of John's dominance over us? Then I began to worry that John was there to tell us we would have to leave. I didn't mind leaving if it would get us out from under his control but it was something I wasn't prepared to deal with at that moment.

    I said, "How did she find out?"

    "I told her."

    I said, "You what? You told her? Why?

    "Because she wanted to know."

    "When did you tell her?"

    John smiled at me and said, "I have been telling her all along. Suzy likes me to tell her what I did with Judy while we are making love. It gets her really hot."

    I couldn't believe it. They were both sick. My hopes that we were about to get out from under John's control were shattered.

    "So if she has known about this all along why are you here tonight?"

    John said, "Suzy is a woman with her own desires. She feels left out and has indicated a desire to participate in our little games."

    I said, "So I am supposed to fuck Suzy now?" I hoped that my question conveyed the revulsion I felt about the idea of expanding the sexual dominance that John had over us to include me having to service Suzy for their entertainment.

    John said, "No, you won't be fucking my wife. Suzy has no interest in you. She wants to share Judy with me."

    I couldn't respond to that so I look at Judy to see what she was going to say. The expression on her face did not give any indication of what she was thinking. She seemed to be waiting to hear what John was going to say next.

    John said, "Here's the deal. Suzy and I want Judy to come over to our house tonight, around seven o'clock. We'll have a couple of drinks and then I am going to watch Suzy and Judy pleasure each other after that I will be fucking the both of them."

    I said, "And I am supposed to sit and watch all of this and do nothing?"

    "On no. You will not have to watch and do nothing because you are not invited. I would have loved to watch you eat cum from Suzy's pussy but she said she doesn't want you watching when Judy sucks on her pussy."

    I kept waiting for Judy to say something. How could she listen to this and not react. I know I should have told him to get out, that this wasn't going to happen but it seemed fruitless to even try. Unless I knew that Judy was going to support me it would just be a waste of time. I didn't say another word.

    John looked at Judy and then at me and when neither of us said anything he got up to leave.

    "Judy, I'll see you at seven. Bill, don't worry we will take good care of your wife. Suzy and I know how to make her cum. She will definitely enjoy her evening with us. Oh, and don't wait up. Judy will be spending the night in our bed."

    This was the lowest point in my life. In my mind I was picturing myself walking out into the lake and then swimming straight out until I couldn't go any farther and then let the lake take me away.

    I was too depressed to even talk to Judy about John's demands. I just wanted to be by myself so I crawled off to bed.

    I slept for three hours and woke up at 6:30 that evening to the sounds of Judy taking a shower. It took me a minute to realize the significance of what was happening, that Judy was getting ready to spend the night with John and Suzy. For the first time since John had told us his plans for the evening I was feeling more anger than depression. Anger was good. It motivate me to act whereas the depression left me unable to do anything.

    When Judy came into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her I said, "Let's not do this."

    Judy said, "What do you mean?"

    "Just don't go. If John calls or comes over looking for you we will tell him it's over. We will not give in to his demands any longer."

    For a second I saw a flicker of resolve in Judy's eyes, but it passed quickly.

    "We can't fight it. You know he'll get his way. It's best if I just go over and do what they want."

    I said, "How can you do this? He wants you to have sex with Suzy while he watches. Doesn't that upset you?"

    "Why are you doing this to me now. I can't think about what I have to do. I just do it. I am doing this for both of us, so we can stay in this house. Fighting it will just make it worse when I have to give in and do it anyway."

    I said, "Judy, we don't have to do this. Just say no. If they tell us we have to leave we will find another place to live."

    "You promised that we could stay here until we could buy a house."

    "I didn't know that staying here would mean that you would have to be John's sex slave. This place isn't working out and I think we should leave."

    Judy said, "I don't want to leave. I love it hear and besides, John won't let us leave. We still have more than a year left on our lease."

    I knew I was defeated. If John had that much control over Judy there was nothing I could do. My only choices were to leave by myself or stay with Judy and continue dealing with John's control over our lives.

    As I sat on the edge of the bed Judy went to her dresser and got out her sexiest underwear and began to put it on. This was too much for me to bear. I couldn't sit there and watch Judy getting ready to go have sex with John and Suzy. I went out to the kitchen and got out the bottle of Jack Daniel's and a glass. As I poured the first shot I debated whether I should have just a few shots to calm my nerves or if I should finish the bottle and pass out.

    When Judy came out of the bedroom she looked very sexy which made my heart ache all the more.

    Judy put on her coat then she came over and kissed me on the cheek and said, "You have to know that I love you. I am doing this for us."

    I know I should have said something to her but I said nothing as she walked out the door.

    I was on my third shot of Jack when a thought occurred to me. Over the last couple of months we hadn't paid much rent because of the all the advances John had taken in the form of sexual favors. I wondered if the money we had saved from this would allow us to pay the full rent through the rest of the winter until the weather warmed up and our utility bills got small enough to manage.

    I knew that I would be getting a raise in May that would be big enough that we wouldn't have any problems paying the rent in the second year of our lease. I don't know if it was the three shots of Jack or the thought that I might be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but I felt hopeful for the first time in three months.

    I got up and went to Judy's desk in the corner of the living room and did something I hadn't done since we got married. I looked at our check book.

    I went to the last page on the check register and looked at the balance and was disappointed to see that we only had $437 in the account. I was about to throw the checkbook back into the desk drawer when it occurred to me that if we weren't paying the full rent amount and I just got paid two days earlier there should have been more money in the account. So I went back through the register to see what Judy had spent the money on. I took a quick look back over the entries in the register for the last two months and found something very curious. I get paid twice a month. On the dates when Judy would have deposited me paychecks the deposits recorded in the register were only half of what my paycheck would have been. I also noticed that there were no check entries for John Allen. What happened to the other half of my paychecks and where were the rent payments?

    At first this only puzzled me so I looked back through the rest of that check register and then through previous check registers that Judy had filed in the desk. It was the same in every one. Half of my paychecks deposited and no rent checks recorded.

    I was getting confused and angry. What had Judy done with half of the money I had brought home. Then I thought that possibly she had paid the rent in cash and that is why she had held out half of my pay each month. Then I figured if that was the case she should have the receipts for the rent payments filed somewhere in the desk.

    I searched all through the desk but could not find any receipts for rent payments, which was odd because Judy save receipts for just about every purchase or payment she made. In desperation to try and make sense out of all this I pulled the file drawer out of the desk thinking, or hoping, that the rent receipts may have fallen behind the drawer. They weren't there but something else was. I found a bank pass book for a savings account in the name of Judy Barnes. When I saw the book my hands started to shake. I picked the book up but was afraid to open it. Why would Judy have a bank account in her maiden name? My stomach was doing flips and I was afraid that I might vomit. I took the pass book out to the kitchen with me and poured myself another shot of Jack.

    As I stared at the book I wonder if maybe it was just an account she had before we were married but why wouldn't she have told me about it? I ended up downing two shots before I could bring myself to open the book. I opened to the book to the first page of entries and saw a deposit of $15. The deposit had been made six years earlier when Judy was 16 years old. That was when she first started working when she was still living at home. The first two pages of the pass book showed a deposit each week ranging from $15 to $20. There were no withdrawals during this time. These small deposits covered a two year period and then suddenly the weekly deposits jumped to over $200 a week. These started about the time she started working at Angelo's. I was surprised that she could have been making enough to pay rent and still put away that much money every week. There were still no withdrawals.

    The last page and a half of entries started after we got married. There were two deposits each month each one equal to half of my paycheck. These deposits started while we were living in Judy's old apartment and continued up until my most recent paycheck. The ending balance in the account was over $32,000.

    As I stared at that number my head began to spin. How could she have saved that much money?

    This was crazy. Where were the rent payments? I got so dizzy I had to lie down on the floor.

    As I lay there I tried to make sense out of what I had discovered but the conclusions I was coming to were hard to accept. When anger had completely replaced my sense of confusion I decided to act. I grabbed a baseball bat out of my closet and headed over to John's house. I didn't have a plan in mind except that I wanted answers to all of the questions that were spinning in my head.

    When I got to the door at John's house I thought about how to approach the situation. Should I knock on the door and thus alert them that I was coming or should I break a window and unlock the door. The noise would alert them but I could probably be in the house before they could react. I was just about to knock the window pain out when I remembered seeing John take a key out from under the decorative milk can that was sitting on his porch. I looked under the milk can and found the key.

    I quietly unlocked the door and slipped into the house. I closed the door behind me and stood silently for a moment, listening for any movement in the house. The downstairs was dark except for a small light in the kitchen. When I approached the stairs I could see light in the upstairs hallway. As I stood at the bottom of the stairs I could hear music playing. The music wasn't very loud but I hoped it was loud enough to cover up any noise I might make sneaking up the stairs. Luckily I only encountered one creaky step and it didn't trigger any response from the three people upstairs.

    When I got to the top of the stairs I could see source of the light and the music. There was a double door leading into a bedroom at the end of the hall. The doors were not completely closed so I would able to sneak down the hall and peek into the room without being seen by anyone inside the room.

    As I approached the door I still didn't know what I was going to do. I was trying hard to keep my anger under control. It was not my intention to charge into the room swinging the bat and end up killing some one. I had the bat with me so that I would be able to control the situation.

    I stopped just outside the door and took a long deep breath and exhaled slowly. I repeated this a few times trying to get my breathing and heart rate slowed down a little and then I peeked into the room.

    I was shocked by the scene in the room although I shouldn't have been. It was what I should have expected based on what John had said they planned to do. When I looked in John was standing next to the bed stroking his cock while he watched Judy and Suzy on the bed. Judy was on her back and Suzy was on top of her turned in the opposite direction so that Judy's head was between Suzi's thighs and Suzy had her head between Judy's thighs. I was too far away to actually see if Judy was licking Suzi's pussy but I guessed that is what she was doing.

    I was mesmerized by the scene and unable to stop watching them. I watched Judy work on Suzi's pussy for a few minutes and then John got on the bed and pushed his cock into Suzi's pussy and as he pounded his cock into her Judy licked his shaft and balls.

    I watched this for a while and then remembered what I was there for. I decided to watch the action for a little longer and look for just the right moment to make my entrance.

    I didn't have to wait long for that moment. It came when John did. As soon as I was sure that John was climaxing and shooting his load inside Suzy I slipped into the room. John had his back to me and both girls had there heads between the others legs so no one could see me. It was time to announce myself.

    I quickly stuck the baseball bat under John's arm and across he chest and flipped him backwards off the bed. Judy suddenly found herself looking up at me as gobs of John's semen dropped from Suzi's pussy onto face. Then I bend down close to Judy and said, "We have to talk."

    John was trying to recover from the fall and was saying, "What the fuck...?

    I turned to face him and held my arm out pointing the bat at him and said, "You shut the fuck up."

    When I looked back at Judy she was trying to get Suzy off her. Suzy still seemed to not understand what was going on. When Suzy finally go a look at me standing there with the bat in my hand I saw the fear in her face.

    I said, "Okay, let's all go downstairs and have a little chat. John stood up and just looked at me trying to show defiance so I took a step toward him and said, "Don't fuck with me unless you want me to crack your head open." John took a step back and put his hands out in front of him and said, "Okay, whatever you want."

    As Suzy got off the bed she reached for her robe but I stopped her. I said, "You don't need to get dressed. As soon as I get my questions answered I will leave and the three of you can fuck yourselves silly."

    Judy hadn't taken her eyes off me since she first became aware that I was in the room. John's semen was running down her cheek and along the side of her nose. She reached up to wipe her face but I stopped her. I said, "Leave it till we are done talking. It will help me stay focused.

    We all went downstairs, the girls first followed by John and I was right behind John. We all went into the living room and I made the three of them sit together on the sofa and I sat across from them. I sat quietly for a minute while I got everything that I wanted to talk about straight in my head. Then I started.

    "Judy, I have some questions for you and I want straight answers do you understand?

    Judy nodded her head and I continued.

    "Stand up please."

    Judy stood up and put her in front of her crotch in some kind of an attempt to be modest.

    "Judy, I think it is too late to be modest. Everyone here has seen everything you have so just put you hands down."

    She put her hands down and I could see that this made her uncomfortable which I liked. Judy tried to get control of the situation. She said, "What are you doing?. You are ruining everything. John was going to give us this month's rent for free. I was doing this for both of us. Then you come storming in here like a maniac. Are you drunk?"

    I decided to ignore her comments and get to the meat of the mater. I pulled Judy's pass book out of my pocket and threw it to her and said, "Explain this."

    "Where did you get that?"

    "That's not important. How did you manage to save more than $32,000. I know what you were doing. Putting half of each one of my paychecks in your savings account. How were you paying the rent? For that mater how did you pay the rent at your last apartment? You put a lot of money in the bank but there never seemed to be any payments made for rent. How can that be?"

    Judy's eyes filled with tears as she tried to get words to form in her mouth. I started to feel sorry for her but then I looked at the cum drying on her cheek and kept my resolve.

    I said, "I'm waiting." And while I waited I took a quick look at John and Suzy. They were sitting perfectly still and both were watching me.

    Finally Judy started to speak.

    "I tried to warn you about me when we first started dating. I show you what my home life had been like and I told you that when I move out I had decided that I would do what ever it took to get and keep the things I wanted. I thought that you would wonder how I could afford such a nice apartment on a waitresses income, but you never asked. Back then I was prepared to tell you but you either didn't have a clue of just didn't want to know.

    "Well the truth is that when I went to interview for the job at Angelo's he said I didn't have enough experience to work in his restaurant. So I told him I would do anything to get the job so he took me into his office and locked the door. Then he asked me if I was sure I wanted the job that bad so I unbuttoned his pants and pulled his cock out and sucked him off.

    "Angelo gave me the job and when I told him I needed an apartment so I could move away from home he gave me that apartment. Angelo owned that house. He let me stay there rent free and I gave him sexual favors two or three times a week."

    I said, "When we started dating were you still fucking Angelo?"

    "Yes. I didn't know if our relationship would last and I still needed a place to live. But even after I feel in love with you I had to pay my rent somehow."

    I said. "What about after we were married?"

    "I'm sorry. After we married saving money became even more important to me. The problem was that Angelo was upset that I wasn't able to be with him as often and he started to threaten to tell you about us so I threaten to tell his wife. That shut him up but I knew then that we would have to find another place to live."

    I said, "So you managed to find this beautiful house for us to rent. Were you planning right from the start to fuck John for the rent or did that just kind of happen?"

    "You should have know something was wrong when we looked at the house. $850 a month for a nice lake front house. All you had to do is look in the real estate section of the paper and you would have seen that houses on lake front property not nearly as nice were going for $1500 a month or more."

    I said, "Then why was the rent so cheap?"

    "Let me explain."

    "Please do."

    "I wanted to see if we could find a place on the lake so I did a search on the Internet. Most of the search results were regular real estate listing and the properties were to expensive and I was just about to give up when I saw an add that read, 'Looking for a nice home on the lake. We have a beautiful little house available for the right open minded couple.'

    'There was just an e-mail address to send responses. The add interested me because it was on the lake and with no real estate agent involved I figured the rent would be less, so I sent a note to the e-mail address and asked if I could see the place.

    "I got a response the next morning inviting me to come see the house. When I got out here I met John and Suzy. We talked for a while and then I asked if I could see the house. John said I would have to answer some question first. He asked about our ages, where you worked, how long we had been married and how open minded we were about sex.

    "I asked John why he asked about sex and he said that he and Suzy were looking for tenets that might be willing to pay their rent in non traditional ways. Most people might have had to ask John what he meant but I didn't. I just said that we could discuss that more after I had seen the house.

    "Well you know that I loved the house right away. So after I looked the house over I told John that I would be willing to do whatever was necessary to get us into that house but that I didn't think we could count on you to participate.

    "John said that he was willing to work with that if I was willing to make a down payment."

    I said, "Down payment? What was the down payment?"

    "I had to go down on Suzy while John watched and then he fucked me."

    I said, "You started fucking them even before we moved in?"

    "I told you, I wanted that house."

    I said, "So what was all the crap about the rent being $850 a month and then offering to let us have it for $800 the first year and $900 the second year."

    "We had to make the deal sound good with out making you suspicious. Although I though you might be suspicious anyway. The deal was just to good for lake front rentals."

    I said, "Apparently we didn't pay any rent."

    "Well, you didn't."

    I said, "So how often did you have to pay the rent?"

    "The three of us got together about three times a week."

    I said, "There never was a money shortage was there? So what was that all about?"

    Judy looked over her shoulder at John and then turned back to me and said, "That was John's idea. He thought that under the right circumstances he could get you to start participating with us. First he had to find a way for you to accept his fucking me so we used the money shortage for that. John thought he had you. He figured that you would have insisted that you could come over and watch tonight and then he would have ask you later if you wanted to fuck Suzy and if you didn't come over we would do this anyway and then in a few days he would invite you to join us. He thought that if you participated once you would be hooked."

    I said, "That brings us back to the money. You have been taking the money I brought home for us and putting it in your own savings account. But I guess you figure that was your money because you earned it fucking. I believe that makes you a whore. I guess I can't blame John and Suzy for all this. They were upfront about what they wanted. You're the one who accepted there offer and then hatched the plot to manipulate me into accepting your infidelity. By the way, what was your target amount?"

    "My target amount?"

    "Yeah. How much were you planning to stash in your account before you were going to dump me and run off the money?"

    "I was never planning of leaving you."

    I was getting angry again and finding it difficult to control my emotions. "Then what was the purpose of hiding all that money from me?"

    Judy said, "I was saving it so we could but a house when our lease ran out here."

    I had to laugh at that. "When the time came to buy a house how were you going to explain having all that money?"

    "I don't know and that's the truth. I have often though of telling you everything and hoped that somehow you would be able to forgive me, but I never could find the courage to do it. As a mater of fact I wrote a letter to you right after we moved into the house explaining everything including the savings account."

    I said, "Well I guess I never got that letter."

    "I never sent it. I have wanted to several times but I just was to afraid of losing you. I hid the letter under the desk drawer with my pass book. When you said you found the pass book I thought that you must have found the letter too."

    Judy was crying harder and repeatedly said, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

    At that point I was too exhausted by the all the emotional turmoil I'd been through to care to discuss the mater any further.

    I said, "That's all I can take. I am leaving and John, you and Suzy can get back to collecting the rent from Judy. I think you may want to charge her less rent though, because starting tomorrow she will be living alone."

    I turned and left the room. I could still hear Judy crying as I closed the front door behind me.

    When I got back to our house I picked up the bottle of Jack Daniel's and took a drink straight from the bottle. I put the bottle away and then out of curiosity I went and looked for the letter Judy claimed she wrote to confess all to me. I found it on the floor behind the desk.

    The letter covered everything she had told me at John's house but also added some perspective. In it she said that she understood that what she was doing was wrong but that after growing up in a family that never gave her any love or anything else for that mater she knew that she would have to use whatever means she had to get the things she wanted or needed. The problem was that without a good education the only assets she had was the ability to be a good waitress and a body that made men want her.

    She said that she had hoped she would never have to exchange sex for favors again after we got married but her need to live in the lake front house and still be able to save money for a house made her decide to do it. It would just be for the two years we lived there and by the time the lease ended we would have enough saved to buy a house.

    The letter went on to say that I was the only thing she had ever had in her life that she was able to love and that she would always be sorry that she couldn't be the wife I deserved. She also said that she knew I might not believe her but I was the only person she ever had sex with for pleasure. She said that she often had orgasms with others but that was not why she had sex with them.

    There were several places in the letter where she told me how much she loved me and then there was some very personal stuff about her childhood. She also told me how she earned the money that she opened her saving account with when she was sixteen. I won't share that with you. I can only say that it made me cry.

    I was ready to walk out on Judy when I left John's house but her letter touched me in very hard to explain ways. I began to understand why she did the things she did although I wasn't sure I could ever forgive her for what she did to me. Besides, if she love me so much why didn't she chase after me when I walked out of John's house. She chose to stay with John and Suzy.

    I was starting to read the letter a second time when I became aware of someone else in the room with me. When I turned around Judy was standing behind me. I said, "How long have you been standing there?"

    "I saw you pick the letter up off the floor. I didn't dare move because I wanted you to read the letter without knowing I was watching you."

    Judy started crying again. Between whimpers she said, "Bill, is there anything I can do to keep us together. I know I did everything wrong but I thought I was doing it for us. You have to believe that the money was for us. I never ever considered that to be my money. I'll do what ever you want me to do. Please give me a chance to make it up to you.

    Watching her beg me as she was crying was to much for me. I went over to her and put my arms around her and said, "I don't know if you can ever fix things but I hope you can. A few things occur to me as I read your letter and I think they need to be address in order for there to ever be a chance for us to get passed this."

    Judy said, "Just tell me what you want me to do."

    "First, I think you need psychiatric help. You have a lot of issues with your childhood that may have affected your decision making as an adult. The second thing is that you believe you have only two assets. You are a bright and capable person and I think you need to go back to school. And when you finish school you need to get a career. Not just a job. I probably should have let you work before but I don't know whether that would have helped or not."

    Judy held on to me tightly and said, "If that is what you want me to do I will do it."

    I said, "I am making suggestions as to what I think you need to do. You have to do what you want. It won't do either of us any good if you just do things because I tell you to. Doing what people tell you to do is what messed you up in the first place."

    I didn't sleep with Judy that night and the next day we had a long talk. I decided to spend some time away from her so that I would have time to think and get in touch with my feelings. I had my own issues to deal with. I moved out the following day. Leaving Judy at the house was a bit of a test for her. I wondered if she would fall back into the routine of sex for rent as soon as I left but I was happy to hear that Judy moved out of the house a couple of days later.

    Over the last two years Judy has been seeing a psychiatrist once a week and has been taking classes at a community college. She is studying accounting and doing very well. We got back together after a six month separation and are living in and apartment that is well within our means and we are saving to buy a house. The money in Judy's savings account is being used to pay for her psychiatrist and her tuition. We are both fighting to bury the past and I think we are making progress.

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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Riverton

    By K.K. ©

    Prolog

    Detectives Olson and Barron were talking in the hallway. I had just finished telling my story for the second time that night when Detective Barron asked Detective Olson to step out of the room. I could hear them talking in the hallway. It seemed that the hole I had fallen into on Tuesday seemed to just keep getting deeper.

    I had told the detectives the truth, at least everything I told him was factual, it just didn't all happen the way I said it did. What I didn't tell them had happened by accident but I was sure no one would believe me so I left out that part of the story. I just hoped that the two detectives wouldn't make the connection.

    Chapter 1 – Riverton, Missouri

    Riverton, Missouri is situated on the De Moines River, ten miles upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi. The city sits on the southwest side of the river and is protected from the river by a twenty-foot high levy that has saved the city from floods on several occasions. The current population of forty-two thousand is about the same as it has been since the end of World War Two.

    Riverton Plastics was the largest employer in Riverton until 1995 when they were bought out by Detroit based Pace Automotive Plastics (PAP) which is a leading manufacturer of plastic parts for the automotive industry as well as being my employer.

    My name is Tom Blanchard and I was born in Riverton. Except for the four years I attended the University of Missouri to earn a degree in electrical engineering I have spent my whole life here. PAP hired me right after graduation in 1997.

    I had received some better job offers but I wanted to live in Riverton so I accepted a position as an Information Systems Specialists in PAP's IS department. My main job responsibility was to keep the company's computer network up and running.

    My father, an Orthodontist, and my mother, an English teacher at Riverton Central High School, both took early retirement in 2000. They enjoy taking ocean cruises so they moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which allows them to benefit from last minute deals on unsold cabins on cruise ships. Since retiring they have averaged a four or seven day cruise about every three months. The benefit to me was that they sold me their house, the house I grew up in, for a lot less than the market value. Up until that time I had been renting an apartment in town while my brother Jack, who was two years older than me, was working and living in St. Louis. Jack had no interest in the house or living in Riverton so he had no problem with my parents selling me the house.

    Chapter 2 – Holly Albertson

    After returning from college my life in Riverton had become a comfortable routine. I got up at six o'clock every morning and was at work by half past seven. Lunch was in a brown bag and was eaten at noon. At 5:30 PM I was out the door and on my way to dinner. At least three and sometimes four or five times a week, dinner was the special at the Riverside Diner. The diner sat on the levy and had a wonderful view of the Des Moines River and Iowa on the other side. It was my habit to sit in one of the booths along the windows so I could watch the river traffic and the fishermen on the bank of the levy.

    Before I met Holly Albertson I had no serious relationships but usually had a date on Saturday nights. My dates usually consisted of dinner and a movie and sometimes a little horizontal mambo ending with a wet spot in someone's bed.

    In January of 2002, I was promoted to Manager of Information Systems for Pace Automotive Plastics, Riverton Division. It was the Friday following my promotion and I had just returned from a week of meetings at PAP corporate headquarters in Detroit and had gone to the diner to eat before going home. I had just sat down by the windows like I always do when she appeared at my table. I knew all of the waitresses at the Riverside but I hadn't ever seen this one before. She was a tall, about five feet ten inches tall, and her long dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her large hazel eyes were the most attractive feature of her very pretty face.

    While she placed a glass of water on the table I quickly glanced at her nametag.

    "Well, hello Holly. When did you start working here?" I asked.

    Holly pulled back from the table and gave me a worried look.

    "Why?"

    "You are new here aren't you? I just wondered when you started."

    "I started Monday," Holly said, still looking a little wary of me.

    I guessed that being new at the job, Holly was probably still a little nervous and that might account for her reaction to my question. After what seemed to be a long pause, Holly managed to ask me if I was ready to order. I ordered the Friday special, fried catfish, coleslaw, French fries and hushpuppies. I don't think Holly and I exchanged more than two words before I left.

    While I thought that Holly was quite attractive I am not the type of man who thinks that he has to get to know every attractive woman he meets. I had put her out of my mind as soon as I left the diner that evening and when I returned to the diner Saturday evening for dinner I had given no thought as to whether she would be working or not. I took my usual table by the windows and was watching a barge being pushed upriver by a large tug. I was still looking out the window when a glass of water was put down in front of me. I turned to look at my waitress and recognized her immediately.

    "Good evening Holly, nice to see you again. How are you tonight?" I said, in what I thought was a friendly tone.

    Holly looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Are you ready to order?"

    It seemed that for some reason Holly didn't like me. I couldn't figure out why, but I had long ago learned that no matter how hard you try you cannot make everyone like you. So, I just didn't worry about it. I ordered the fried chicken special and didn't bother trying to engage Holly in any further conversation.

    I went back to the diner again Monday evening hoping that Holly would not be there or at least would not be working my section of the diner. I was watching a young man pulling a large channel cat out of the river when she spoke to me. There was an edge to her words that startled me.

    "Why are you following me?" she hissed.

    "Following you?"

    "You show up out of nowhere and then you keep coming back and sitting at my station," she said. "Are you stalking me?"

    I could not believe what I was hearing. "Stalking you? You think I am stalking you just because I sat at your station three times? Don't flatter yourself." I said. Her accusation had pissed me off.

    "You've only been working here a week, I have been coming to this diner three or four times a week for the last four years and I always sit at one of these tables by the windows. If you don't believe me you can ask any of the other waitresses, they all know me." I said. "Here's a news flash for you, I am going to keep coming here and sitting by the windows, so if you don't like waiting on me you can either work a different station or you can quit. So either take my order or send over another waitress."

    Holly seemed to be a little flustered and she made a quick exit. A minute later I saw her talking to Carol and Jean, two of the other waitresses, near the kitchen door. She pointed at me and then it looked like she was just listening to what the other waitresses were telling her.

    Two minutes later she was back at my table with a menu and a glass of water.

    "I am so sorry that I acted that way. I guess I am still a little jumpy. I'm new in town and I don't know anyone here. Carol told me this was like your second home and now I just feel so fool."

    "Apology accepted," I said. "Why don't we just start over? I'm Tom Blanchard and like I said I come in here three or four times a week. Once you get to know me you'll see I am not really a scary person."

    "I'm Holly Albertson," Holly said.

    Holly and I didn't immediately become a couple. I continued going to the dinner three or four times a week and Holly usually waited on me. Over time, as we learned more about each other we became friends. At first Holly wasn't very free with information about herself but I did manage to find out that she had gone to college in New Jersey but she was vague about exactly what school she had gone to or what she had studied. She was raised by her mother, who was killed in a car accident a couple of years earlier. Holly never knew her father.

    We often discussed books and movies. As intelligent as Holly was it kind of bothered me that she was working as a waitress in a diner, but I didn't question her about it.

    It was three months before I finally asked her out. We went out to dinner but not at the Riverside, and then to a movie. After the movie we went out for a drink. It was then that I asked her why she thought I might be stalking her.

    "I lived in New Jersey before I came here," Holly said. "The guy I was living with was abusive and when I tried to break up with him he threatened to kill me. One night, when he was asleep, I packed what I could fit in one suitcase and I left. I stayed in a motel that night and emptied my bank account in the morning. After that I just started driving west. My car broke down when I got to Riverton and while I was waiting to get it repaired I saw a help wanted sign in the window at the diner. I made a quick decision to apply for the job and if I got it I would stay here for a while.

    "When you showed up the following week you seemed to know my name and you asked how long I had been working at the diner, it scared me. I thought that ah... Mike... might have sent someone to find me. Then you were back the next night and again a couple of nights later. It just scared me."

    "I knew your name because you were wearing a name tag," I said.

    "I realized that later."

    "Do you still think Mike, is that his name? ... Do you think he might still be looking for you?"

    "No. Thinking about it now, I don't think he would bother. He was a player so he probably had another girlfriend before I even got to Riverton. Besides, I don't think he would pay anyone to look for me. It's just that when I got here I didn't know anyone and I was scared. I am not scared anymore."

    When I took her home that night she said that she had a great time. I told her that I did too. She kissed me gently on the lips and said good night.

    As she closed her apartment door I could still feel that kiss. I have kissed a lot of girls harder with much more passion than that kiss, but I had never had a kiss that made me want another one as much.

    After our second date we sat in my car in front of Holly's apartment building making out. I opened Holly's blouse and unhooked her bra. I cupped her warm soft breast in my hand and I could feel the pounding of her heart. I caressed her breasts first with my hands and then with my lips, while she kissed my neck and nibbled on my ears. Minutes later she asked me to stop.

    "I am getting so hot that I am afraid that if I don't stop now I won't be able to later," she said. "I really like you but I am not going to have sex with you on our second date."

    I didn't try to force things opting instead to wait until Holly was ready. It was on our fifth date that she decided that she was ready. That night when I brought her home she invited me into her apartment. That was the first time I had been inside. I had come to the door to pick her up and to bring her home on our previous dates but she hadn't invited me to come inside. I didn't miss the significance of her invitation.

    Holly poured us both a glass of wine and then tapped my glass with hers before taking a sip. Holly then put her glass down and smiled at me.

    "What would you like for breakfast in the morning?" she said. "I have bacon and eggs or cereal."

    "Are you sure?" I asked.

    "I'm sure."

    "Bacon and eggs."

    Holly took my hand, led me to her bedroom and began to remove her blouse. While she finished removing her blouse and bra I removed my shoes, socks and then took my shirt and pants off. Then I watched as Holly unzipped her skirt and let it slide down her legs to the floor. Holly stood there in just her panties while I stripped off my under shorts.

    I went to Holly and embraced her. We began kissing, gently at first and then with more passion. Holly wrapped her hand around my already throbbing erection and I slipped my hand inside her panties pressing my finger into the warm damp cleft in her vulva. When my finger entered her already slippery sex I felt her tremble and her body began to sag as though her legs could no longer hold her up. I lifted Holly up, laid her on the bed and removed her panties. Then I retrieved the condom I kept in my wallet and put it on.

    Holly spread her legs for me and I moved between her thighs pressing my rigid cock against the warm soft flesh of her vulva. When the head found the cleft in her mound I slowly entered her. I'm sorry but I have trouble trying to find the right words to describe the feeling of being inside Holly that night. All I can say is that it was wonderful. I could feel the heat of her passion as I penetrated farther and farther into her. I could feel the muscles in Holly's buttocks tighten as she pushed her pelvis up to receive me while at the same time I felt my desire building with each stroke.

    When I was fully inside her I stopped moving and asked if she was all right. She told me she was and that it felt great having me inside her.

    When I began to move again I pulled myself almost all the way out of her then pushed back in. I continued to do this picking up speed as I continued stroking into her. I kissed her on the mouth and neck and then whispered, "Does my cock feel good inside your pussy?"

    "Yes it does. It feels very good,' she said.

    "Tell me how it feels," I said.

    "I love the way you're fucking me with your cock," she said. "You are making my pussy so hot. I think you are going to make cum soon."

    Later, Holly told me that she couldn't believe that she had actually said those things but she liked the way it made her feel when she used those words to describe how she was feeling.

    Soon I felt her begin to orgasm and it was unlike any other woman I had ever been with. Holly kept saying, "Fuck me. Oh yes fuck me hard. I'm having a fucking orgasm. Oh God it's feels good."

    Right after that I started to climax and I had the most intense orgasm I could remember ever having.

    At that moment I didn't think there could be anything better in the world. When it was over we just held each other. There was no more dirty talk, just the afterglow of lovemaking.

    Over breakfast in the morning Holly told me more about her past life. She had a law degree but due to a bad experience, that she wouldn't talk about she no longer wanted to practice law. I suggested that she should look for a job that was more befitting her level of education rather than being a waitress. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with being a waitress, but it is not the right job for someone as highly educated as Holly.

    Holly took my advice and a few weeks later she was able to get the job of assistant to the head librarian at the Riverton Library. The head librarian was in her sixties and was planning to retire in a couple of years so Holly became her heir apparent.

    After dating for about four months I asked Holly to move in with me. She was more than happy to accept and then in May of 2005 Holly became my wife.

    Chapter 3 – Life Goes On

    When we got married Holly and I decided to hold off having children for a few years. Our financial position was sound but we wanted to significantly increase our savings so that Holly would be able to take a few years off to be a stay at home mother. We established a dollar amount for our savings goal and agreed that when we reached that target we would start our family.

    One evening a couple of months later I got a visit from John Dixon. John and I went to high school together and we have remained friends over the years.

    John and I spent a few minutes catching up before he got to the point of his visit.

    "Tom, I have an opportunity I think you might be interested in. It will give you a chance to pick up some extra money, if you are interested," John said.

    "I am not going to sell Amway products for you, John," I said. I was joking. I knew that he would think my Amway reference was amusing. John works for the local telephone company but a couple of years earlier he and I had both been approached by an Amway distributor. Neither of us was interested in his pitch.

    "What do you know about Amway?" he said and then laughed. "Don't worry, it's not. This is something that is right up your alley and it doesn't require you to make any investment. My company has just started offering DSL high speed Internet service to our telephone customers and we are looking for installers.

    "All you would have to do is go to the customer's home and switch them over to the digital signal and install a DSL modem. Then you would configure the modem and install some software on their computer. Finally you would make sure that the customer has a digital filter installed anywhere that they have an analog device connected to their telephone line."

    John explained that because most to the installs would be done at customers homes the majority of these installs would need to be done in the evenings or on Saturdays when their customer's were at home so this wouldn't interfere with my day job.

    Holly and I discussed the offer and decided I should take the job. It was something I could easily do and I could earn a few hundred extra dollars a week until the workload slowed down. So, starting the following week I was out doing DSL installs two or three nights a week and once in a while on a Saturday.

    At first I was concerned that Holly would get tired of being left home alone two or three nights a week but she became a literacy volunteer at the high school on the nights I was out doing DSL installs.

    Chapter 4 – The Good Life

    In the three years since we got married life had been very good. Our marriage was strong. I was crazy about Holly and I don't think I could ever find a more loving wife.

    We had reached our savings goal and had begun talking about when would be the best time to start working on making a baby. We decided to start trying in July hoping that our baby would be born in March or April.

    Last January my brother Jack got the good news that his company was sending him to Paris for a two-year assignment. In preparation for the assignment, Jack sold his 2006 Mustang to me. We moved the rest of his personal belongings consisting of his furniture, motorcycle and riding gear, and the clothes he wasn't taking with him, into a ten by fifteen foot storage locker that he rented in Riverton. Jack gave me the combination to the locker and asked me to keep an eye on his stuff for him.

    I was really happy for Jack. I knew that he was excited about the opportunity to work in Paris. Mostly, though, I was happy that he gave me a great deal on the Mustang.

    Evenings were my favorite time of day. That's when Holly and I sat together relaxing with a drink and talked about our day.

    This past March was a busy month for us. It seemed like I was out doing DSL installs almost every night while Holly was busy with the literacy volunteers and was tasked with doing a complete inventory of the library, books, furniture and fixtures. One Friday evening at the end of one particularly long week when Holly had been working late every night on the inventory and we hadn't had much time together, Holly and I were relaxing with a drink and talking about our week. Holly had just finished telling me about a few things that happened at the library relating to the inventory, and then asked me, "So how was your week?"

    "This was a pretty good week for me," I said and began to laugh. "That is except for three DSL installs that were a little out of the ordinary." All of the DSL installs I did were in customer's homes and I ran into a lot of strange situations during these installs. Holly always enjoyed my stories about the strange things that occasionally happened.

    "Monday night I went over to the old house on the corner of Third and Utica."

    "... that old Victorian?" Holly said.

    "That's the one," I said. "I rang the doorbell and someone called out from the back of the house and told me to come in. When I walked in I noticed newspapers had been laid on the floor leading back to the kitchen. No one came out to greet me so I identified myself and why I was there. Someone in the kitchen called out and told me to come back there. Looking at the newspapers on the floor again I figured that they must have mopped or waxed the floors and didn't want me to walk on them yet so I started across the room stepping only on the newspapers. I was halfway across the room before I realized my mistake. The papers were not laid on the floor for me to walk on but to cover up several accidents my client's three puppies had in the living room."

    "The dogs peed on the floor?"

    "No, little piles of puppy poop."

    "Oh, yuck!"

    "Exactly. It was embarrassing trying to explain to the customer why I walked on the piles of poop. The customer wasn't real happy and needless to say I threw those shoes in the trash when I got home."

    "Did the customer file a complaint?"

    "No. I guess they realized that they were at least partly at fault for not meeting me at the door and telling me not to step on the papers.

    "Anyway, on Wednesday evening I had a call at those new condos on the north side of town near the river. This guy comes to the door is dressed in boxer shorts and a sleeveless undershirt. He was about five foot nothing, fat, bald and was wearing a pair of glasses that looked as though they were made from the bottoms of a couple of Coke bottles. On top of that, he was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the jelly was running down his hand to his wrist and there was a big glob of jelly on his undershirt. He reminded me a little of Danny DiVito and when he spoke he sounded like Truman Capote. I almost burst out laughing."

    "That's quite a picture," Holly said.

    "There was almost no furniture in the place. No kitchen table or chairs and there were only two chairs in the living room. His computer was set up on a card table in one of the bedrooms."

    "Well he was probably just moving in," Holly said.

    "That's what I figured too. Then, when I sat down at his computer to configure the DSL modem there was a gun sitting next to the keyboard."

    "He actually left a gun lying on the table where you had to work?"

    "Yep. I asked him to remove the gun but instead of taking the gun he asked me if I was afraid of guns.

    "I told him I wasn't but I didn't feel comfortable with his gun being right there where I was working. He said it wasn't loaded and then asked me if I even knew what kind of gun it was. It looked like the guns you see on all of the cop shows on television so I said it looked like a nine millimeter. Turned out to be a good guess.

    "He told me to go ahead and check to make sure it wasn't loaded. I had no clue how to do that. So he stood there, still eating his sandwich while he told me how to eject the clip and pull the slide back to make sure the gun was empty. The clip was empty and there wasn't anything in the chamber either. I tried to hand the gun back to him but he said he didn't want to get peanut butter and jelly on it so he asked me to put the clip back in leave it on the table."

    "Did he say why he left his gun on the table?" Holly asked.

    "No. I'm guessing that he bought himself a gun so he could feel like a tough guy,"

    "You would think that he would put the gun away knowing that you were coming to work on his computer," Holly said.

    "You would think. Maybe he left it on the table just to see what I would do.

    Like I said, he was just a strange little guy."

    "What else happened?"

    "Nothing, I got his computer up and running on the Internet and left."

    "I'm not sure I like that story so much. I don't like guns and I don't like the idea of you being alone with a guy like that."

    "He was harmless," I said.

    "Well, I still don't like it. You said you had three stories," Holly said.

    "The last install was on Thursday night. It was at an old farmhouse out on Old Hawley Road. When I pulled into the driveway two huge dogs ran out to the car and stood at my door growling at me. I had to wait in the car until their owner came out of his house and called them off. When I got out of the car the dogs sniffed me and then settled down. By the time I got to the porch both dogs seemed friendly. The problem with that was when I tried to pet one of the dogs the other would growl at me. The owner just laughed and said, 'don't worry about that, they just get a little jealous of each other.'"

    "Were you scared?"

    "A little bit. These dogs were big enough to eat me in about three bites. Anyway, when I walked into the house it was filthy. I could see cat hair all over the furniture and the house reeked of cat urine. The smell was so strong that it was difficult to breath. When I finally got to the computer and started working the guy's two-year old son comes over and stands as close as he can get to me and watches what I am doing. The guy said, 'Baby Tommy wants to watch you,' then he laughed.

    "It might have been funny if the kid wasn't wearing an over loaded diaper. The smell from that diaper was literally making my eyes water and nearly triggered my gag reflex. I just couldn't understand how the father could not know the kid needed a diaper change.

    "I had just finished setting up the home page for the guy when his wife came in. She noticed that the kid needed a diaper change immediately and asked her husband why he hadn't taken care of it and he said, 'Tommy wanted to watch didn't you baby?'

    "As soon as I walked out the door I started sucking in fresh air so fast I almost hyperventilated."

    Holly leaned over and kissed me. "You poor baby," she said. "I do love your stories but it isn't fair that my days are never as interesting or amusing as yours.

    "Amusing? I'll trade dog poop and stinking diapers for your inventory any day."

    Holly kissed me and said, "I'm sorry you had such a tough week, maybe this will make you feel better." Holly then pushed her tongue into my mouth and her hand into my pants. We ate dinner very late that evening.

    That was three months ago. Since then things have settled down. I have been doing fewer DSL installs and having achieved our savings target Holly stopped taking her birth control pills two weeks ago and we started working on making a baby. Everything in my life was great until this past Tuesday.

    Chapter 5 - The Troubles Begin - Tuesday June 10, 2008

    Tuesday morning Holly and I had breakfast together and then as I was headed out the door Holly asked me what time I would be home.

    "I don't have anything scheduled this evening so I should be home by 5:30," I said. "Why?"

    "I was thinking we should have a quick dinner and then get back to work on making a baby."

    "Sounds like a great plan to me," I said.

    "I almost forgot, could you go over to JC Penney's and pick up my catalog order?"

    "What did you order from Penney's?"

    "Something that might come in handy tonight," Holly said.

    "Oh, okay, I'll pick it up during my lunch break."

    "Thanks Sweetie, love you."

    "Love you too. Gotta go."

    At five o'clock I shut down my computer, cleared off my desk and headed home. I was over halfway home when I realized that I had forgotten to pick up Holly's catalog order at Penney's. To go to the Riverton Mall, where the JC Penney store was located I would have to turn around and drive back past my office at PAP so I debated just going home and telling Holly I would pick the order up on Wednesday. I ended up turning around and going back to Penney's because I remembered what Holly had said about her purchase coming in handy that evening. I was thinking lingerie.

    I called Holly from Penney's to tell her I was running late but she didn't answer the phone. I didn't bother to leave a message. When I got home at 6:35, Holly's car was in the garage so I was a little surprised when I walked into the house because it was so quiet. Holly always had music on when she was home alone. Not only was there no music but there was also no answer from Holly when I called out to her. Then I noticed the smell. It was familiar but I couldn't immediately identify it. Then it hit me. It smelled like someone had lit off a firecracker in the house.

    "Holly?"

    No answer.

    "Holly, are you here?"

    Again there was no answer. I was beginning to worry as I walked through the house. The smell got stronger the closer I got to the kitchen. Somehow I knew that whatever waited for me in the kitchen was not good. I dropped my briefcase and the bag from JC Penney's on the sofa and walked to the kitchen door.

    I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest as I drew in a breath and forced myself to go into the kitchen. The sight that awaited me I will never be able to erase from my mind. Holly was lying on the floor in a puddle of her own blood. It appeared that she had fallen as she was trying to go out the back door. She was lying on her left side with her left arm extended through the partially opened door.

    I called her name as I stumbled across the room but Holly did not respond. I pulled her head into my lap and checked her pulse in her neck as I pulled out my cell phone and punched in 911. Her pulse was faint but she was still alive.

    "911 operator, what's your emergency?"

    "I need help. My wife... I think she's been shot."

    "What's your address?"

    I gave the operator my address.

    "Whom am I talking to?"

    "Tom Blanchard. Please hurry, I think she's dying."

    "Help is on the way. Now stay on the phone with me. Tell me what happened."

    "I don't know what happened. I came home from work and found her on the floor. There is blood everywhere."

    "Try to stay calm Mr. Blanchard. Is your wife breathing?"

    "I think so. I can feel a faint pulse. Please hurry."

    "Help should be there in a few minutes. Now, how do you know that your wife was shot?"

    "I don't know... It's just the smell and all this blood."

    "What smell?"

    "It smells like a firecracker went off in the kitchen. What's with all the questions, my wife is dying. She needs help."

    "Stay calm Mr. Blanchard. Help is coming."

    Finally I heard sirens. I gently laid Holly's head down and ran to the door.

    "Mr. Blanchard? Who shot your wife?"

    "What? I don't know. I wasn't here when it happened."

    As the emergency vehicles got closer I ran out to the street to flag them down. I still had my phone with me but I was no longer listening to the 911 operator and her endless questions.

    The first vehicle to arrive was the fire emergency truck followed closely by a police car. The paramedics were still getting their equipment from the emergency response truck when the ambulance arrived.

    The police officer that arrived with the paramedics was the first to reach me.

    "Where is the victim?" he asked as he approached.

    The two paramedics followed as I led the officer into the kitchen. The paramedics immediately went to work on Holly as the police officer began asking me questions.

    "What's your name?"

    "Tom Blanchard."

    "What's the victim's name?"

    "Holly Blanchard."

    "Your wife?"

    "Yes."

    "Can you tell me what happened?"

    "I don't know. I found her like that when I got home."

    "Is that your wife's blood on your hands and clothes?"

    "Yes. I knelt down on the floor with her to check if she had a pulse while I called 911."

    "Did you see anyone leaving the house when you came home?"

    "No."

    "Do you own a gun Mr. Blanchard?"

    "No."

    Just then more police arrived. One man, not wearing a uniform seemed to take charge. He gave orders to the uniformed officers and then approached me.

    "I'm Detective David Olson, are you Mr. Blanchard?"

    "Yes."

    Detective Olson look to be about fifty. He was about five feet six inches tall and probably weighed around 160 pounds. He had silver hair that was quite thin on top.

    "Tell me what happened here."

    "I don't know. I came home and found my wife on the floor." As I turned to point to where I found Holly I saw the paramedics lifting Holly onto a gurney. The tubes from at least three IV bags were already pumping fluid into her body.

    I looked at the pool of blood on the floor where Holly had been laying and I suddenly felt faint. I think I started to go down but Detective Olson grabbed my arm and held me up.

    "Are you all right?"

    "I'm a little light headed. I think I need to sit down."

    Detective Olson followed me into the living room where I sat down on the sofa. It took me only a moment to start to feel stronger. The detective was just about to start asking me more questions when one of the paramedics announced that they were ready to transport Holly to the hospital.

    "Can we do this later? I need to go with my wife."

    "Go ahead. I'll see you at the hospital in a little while."

    Chapter 6 – Waiting

    My memories of the next hour are incomplete. I don't remember climbing into the back of the ambulance but I do remember holding Holly's limp hand as we raced to Riverton Memorial Hospital. Most of what went on in the emergency room is a blur. I do remember a nurse pushing me away from Holly and telling me to go to the waiting room. How appropriate is that name, 'waiting room.' What was I waiting for? Good news or bad news.

    I have no idea how long I sat there before someone came to talk to me. I have no recollection of who he was. I think it must have been one of the doctors that had attended to Holly in the ER.

    "Mr. Blanchard, we have stabilized your wife and she is now on her way to surgery," he said.

    "Is she going to be all right?"

    "I don't know. We don't yet know how serious her injuries are. We'll know more when she comes out of surgery."

    "How long will that be?"

    "Could be an hour or it might take several hours. It all depends on the extent of her internal injuries. I'm sorry I don't have more definitive answers for you."

    I was then told where I should go to wait, another waiting room. On the way I stopped into a bathroom. When I looked at myself in the mirror I became violently ill. I just barely made it to one of the commodes before I began to vomit. When my stomach finally settled down I was able to look in the mirror again. The front of my shirt and pants was covered with blood, as were my hands. As I looked at my bloody reflection I felt another wave of nausea but it quickly passed. I managed to wash all of the blood off my hands but I couldn't do anything about my shirt or my pants.

    I had been sitting in the waiting room for a little over an hour when Detective Olson arrived.

    "Any word?" he asked.

    "She's in surgery. They said it could be a few hours before I hear anything."

    "How are you doing?"

    "I think I am running on adrenalin and caffeine right now."

    "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

    "Does it make any difference if I mind or not?"

    "I know this is difficult for you but we have to do this. I am sorry."

    "Go a head and ask your questions."

    "Do you own a gun?"

    "I already told the cop at the house I don't own a gun."

    "Did that officer test your hands for GSR?"

    "GSR?"

    "Gun shot residue," Detective Olson said. "It's blow back from when you fire a gun."

    "But I didn't fire a gun."

    "We just have to verify that as part of our investigation. So, did the officer test you?"

    "No."

    "Did you wash your hands?"

    I held my hands up so that Detective Olson could see them. "They were covered with blood. I had to wash them."

    "We'll have to get your clothes later. We can test them."

    "Fine."

    Detective Olson continued to ask me question for the next two hours. He seemed to be asking me the same questions over and over only he worded them differently. It was obvious that I was his prime suspect and he was trying to trick me into a confession. This bothered me a great deal but there was nothing I could do about it. I was confident that once they looked at all of the evidence they would know that I didn't try to kill Holly.

    It was 8:45 when the doctor finally came out to talk to me.

    "Mr. Blanchard, I am Dr. Shah."

    I tried to read his face to see if he was going to give me good news or bad news.

    "How's my wife?"

    "We have done everything we can for now," he said. "Your wife had two bullet wounds. One bullet entered from the back on her right side, went through her right lung and exited the intercostals space between ribs four and five. The second bullet entered her right side and struck rib number six. Hitting the rib fragmented the bullet causing a lot of internal damage. We were able to repair most of the damage. Mrs. Blanchard was in shock when she was brought in and slipped into a coma during the surgery. At this time we can't say for certain whether she we recover or not."

    "How long before you know?"

    "Could be a few days or it could drag on for a long time," Dr. Shah said. "We just have to hope for the best."

    "When can I see her?"

    "She'll be brought down from the recovery room to intensive care in a couple of hours. I think it would probably be best if you went home and got some sleep and then come back in the morning. There most likely won't be any significant change in her condition over night."

    I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to leave Holly alone at the hospital but I didn't want to spend the night sitting in the waiting room either.

    I looked at Dr. Shah and said, "If anything changes someone will call me immediately?"

    "Of course."

    Then I looked at Detective Olson. "If you are done questioning me I guess I will go home then."

    "Is there somewhere else you can stay tonight?" Detective Olson asked. "You won't be able to stay at your house, it's a crime scene.

    "I'll get a hotel room then but I need to go home and get some clothes," I said.

    "I'll have an officer take you home and wait while you change. He'll need to bag the clothes you're wearing and bring them into our lab."

    I had a sudden vision of the police lab on the CSI television program and almost laughed when I tried to imagine what kind of lab the Riverton police department would have. The moment passed quickly when the image of Holly lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood flashed into my head. I felt my legs giving out and I had to sit down while Detective Olson called the station to arrange to have an officer drive me home.

    There were still police officers in my house when I got home. I wasn't allowed into the kitchen and I was escorted everywhere else I went in the house. The officer that brought me home waited in the room with me while I got undressed. He then bagged everything I was wearing including shoes, socks and underwear. I wanted to take a shower but I didn't want an audience so I elected to wait till I got to my hotel. The officer then watched me closely as I packed a few clothes into a suitcase and then he drove me to the Motel 8 on Broad Street.

    End Part One



    Riverton Pt. 02

    Chapter 7 – Slim and Porky

    When I woke up Wednesday morning the shock that had kept me in a cloud the day before was gone and reality had set in. I found myself dealing with the real possibility that I could lose Holly. I still couldn't get my head around the idea that someone would want to kill her. Was this a random act or did someone we know do this? It seemed that every few minutes the impact of what happened would hit me and I would start crying. I called work to let them know that I wouldn't be in and then I called the police station. Detective Olson wasn't in yet but I managed to find an officer who could help me. I was told that they had processed my car and I could go home and get it but I wasn't to go inside the house until the forensic people were done with their investigation.

    I took a cab to the house, got my car and drove to the hospital. I was allowed to see Holly for ten minutes every two hours always with a police officer in the room. Holly's face was very pale and swollen. I was told that there had been no change in her condition since I left the hospital the previous evening.

    Several friends from PAP, as well as friends of Holly's from the library and the diner, stopped by the hospital to offer their support. Detective Olson came to the hospital around four o'clock, apparently to see if I wanted to change any of my answers to his questions from Tuesday night. He finally left me alone around seven o'clock.

    At 7:15 I headed over to the Riverside Diner to get something to eat. I could not face eating in the hospital cafeteria for the third time that day. I had just pulled into the parking lot at the diner when my cell phone rang.

    "Mr. Blanchard, it's Detective David Olson."

    "What now?" I asked.

    "I thought you might be interested to know that we believe at we have the gun."

    "The gun that was used to shoot my wife?"

    "Yes."

    "Where did you find it?"

    "It was hidden under a stack of newspapers in your garage."

    "Why would he hide the gun in my garage?"

    "Who is he?"

    "Who is who?"

    "You asked why he would hide the gun in your garage. Who is he?" Detective Olson asked.

    "The guy that shot my wife."

    "Do you know who he is?"

    "No, I don't know who he is."

    "Then how do you know it's he and not a she?"

    "I don't know. I just have a hard time thinking of a woman doing something like that."

    "Well, the gun has been dusted for finger prints and is being test fired to determine if it was the gun used to shoot your wife."

    "Good, let me know what you find out," I said.

    "Actually the reason I called was that I wanted to have you come down to the station."

    "Now? I haven't eaten since noon. I was just going to get some dinner."

    "Where are you now?" Detective Olson asked.

    "I'm in the parking lot at the Riverside Diner."

    "Good. I am close by. I'll join you there in a couple of minutes."

    Detective Olson disconnected before I could say anything else. I slammed the car door and stood leaning against the car and waiting for him.

    I sensed rather than saw that someone was approaching me from behind but before I could turn around something hard was pressed into the side of my head.

    "Don't move or you're dead," said a voice from behind me.

    Was I being robbed, perhaps a car jacking or was I being arrested.

    "Who are you and what do you want?" I said.

    The man behind me gave me a sharp rap in the head with his gun and pushed me up against the side of my car.

    "Shut the fuck up and just do as you're told," he said. "Give me your keys and your cell phone."

    I passed the keys and my phone back over my right shoulder and he snatched them from my hand. I was beginning to panic. I was terrified of what would happen when Detective Olson arrived. Would there be shooting? Would I survive the next few minutes? These were the questions that occupied my thinking and I didn't have to wait long to get the answers.

    When I saw the brown Ford Crown Victoria turning into the parking lot my heart began pounding and my hands began to sweat. I, apparently, wasn't the only person to recognize the brown Ford as a police car.

    Another voice from behind me said, "Shit, it's a cop."

    The man with the gun squatted down next to me pressing the gun into my kidney and said, "Don't fucking move and don't say anything."

    Detective Olson spotted me as soon as he got out of his car and started walking toward me. "You didn't have to wait for me out here," he said.

    The man with the gun moved behind me and stood up using the car and my body to hide himself from Detective Olson. The detective was about fifteen feet away from me when the gunman, slide his gun up my side and then pushed it through my armpit and fired three quick shots. The gun must have had a silencer on it because the thwap, thwap thwap sound I heard was just barely loud enough to hear over the sound of the traffic passing on River Street. All three bullets hit Detective Olson in the chest and he went down onto his back and didn't move after that.

    I was staring at Detective Olson's body lying in the parking lot when the gunman spun me around and pushed me toward the open trunk of a red Toyota Camry. This gave me my first look at my antagonists. The guy who had shot Detective Olson was about five foot five, weighed at least 300 pounds and was bald. The other man was the complete opposite. He was about six foot five and maybe weighed 170 pounds soaking wet. In my mind I immediately began to think of these two as Porky and Slim.

    Slim, who also had a gun, ordered me to climb into the trunk of the Camry while, Porky climbed into my Mustang. As I climbed into the trunk I heard my Mustang fire up and spin the tires leaving the parking lot. Once I was in the trunk, Slim wrapped my wrists and ankles with duct tape and then closed the lid. My fear level had spiked when I saw that I would be sharing the trunk space with a shovel. What possible use could these two men, who had just killed a cop and abducted me, have for a shovel?

    With my hands taped behind my back I could not reach the trunk release nor was there anyway I could use the shovel as a weapon. The best I could do was to try and remain calm so that I would be ready if and when an opportunity to escape presented itself.

    I couldn't see my watch so I could only estimate how long I had been in the trunk when we finally stopped. I guessed that the trip had only taken about fifteen minutes.

    Slim opened the trunk and grabbed me by my shirt collar and tried to pull me out. He quickly realized that I wasn't going to be able to help with my legs tapped together so Slim pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and used it to cut the tape and free my legs.

    I had my left foot on the ground and was lifting my right leg out of the trunk when Porky arrived in my Mustang.

    "Did anyone see us leaving the parking lot?" Porky asked as he got out of the car.

    "Didn't look like it," Slim said.

    Porky came over and grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my face close to his. When he spoke to me his breath smelled so foul it almost made me retch.

    "You know what's really funny asshole?" Porky said. "Everyone's gonna think you shot that cop."

    I heard Slim laugh but I didn't think there was anything funny about it.

    A quick look at my surroundings told me exactly where I was. We were standing in the old Union Pacific rail yard. The main rail line through the yard was still used occasionally but the sidings were no longer used. If I walked about a mile and a half down the main line tracks they would cross over Fifth Street Road and from there the tracks passed within two hundred yards of the back of my house.

    "Okay, let's go," Porky said as he pushed me toward the railroad tracks. I saw Slim grab the shovel out of the trunk of the Camry and then follow us across the tracks.

    Once we crossed over the main line through the yard and three more sets of tracks that had been sidings when the yard was in use, we started walking up Parker's Hill. I don't know where the name came from but I knew this area well.

    I hadn't been on top of Parker's Hill in fifteen years. When I was in high school my friends and I used to camp out on Parker's Hill. There was a clearing on top of the hill where we would build our campfire and lay out our sleeping bags. The spot was ideal because there were no houses around and our campsite could not be seen from the rail yard below. The side of Parker's Hill opposite the rail yard was heavily wooded with the trees growing so close together that it was nearly impossible to find your way through the ten acres of woods unless you could find one of the three paths that had been cut through the woods. Fortunately, I knew where the paths were and where they led.

    As we walked up the hill I studied my abductors looking for potential weaknesses. Porky wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather conditions. He was wearing tight jeans, which did not look good on his egg shaped body. He was also wearing a long sleeve blue oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. The shirt was already sweat stained and Porky didn't look comfortable. Slim on the other hand was wearing knee length lime green Bermuda shorts with a matching Polo shirt. On his feet he was wearing penny loafers and no socks. He was dressed better for the weather but he looked like a giant green Popsicle with his skinny legs sticking out of those ugly lime green shorts. By the time we reached the clearing on top of Parker's Hill, Porky's shirt, as well as the waistband of his jeans, was completely drenched with sweat.

    The clearing had changed some since the last time I had been on Parker's Hill. There were small trees growing where we used to have our campfire but I still recognized the place.

    Porky stood behind me with his gun pointed at my head while Slim walked to the backside of the hill and stopped about fifty feet from the woods started to dig a hole. He worked at this for a few minutes and then stopped.

    "I think our buddy Blanchard can dig his own fucking hole," Slim said.

    "Whatever," Porky mumbled.

    Slim came over and took me by the arm and led me back to where he had been digging. Then he cut the tape off my hands and handed me the shovel. "Start digging asshole."

    I didn't move. My first thought was that I was not going to dig my own grave but after giving it a little more thought and receiving a little encouragement from Slim in the form of a slap to my head with his gun, I changed my mind. It occurred to me that having the shovel in my hand might give me a chance. At least it could be a potential weapon.

    I started to dig while at the same time I watched for my opportunity to get away. As soon as I started digging, Porky tucked his gun into his belt and walked over to a tree and sat down under it. The fat bastard then pulled a candy bar from his shirt pocket and removed the wrapper.

    As long as Porky was sitting on the ground I would only have to deal with Slim but Slim was not cooperating. Every time I tried to get closer, Slim moved staying just far enough away from me that I would not be able to reach him if I tried to swing the shovel at him. My chances of surviving weren't looking good. I knew I was going to have to find a way to deal with Slim before Porky got off his fat ass and I was running out of time.

    In desperation I came up with a plan. My plan was to throw a shovel full of dirt in Slim's face and then charge him, swinging the shovel and screaming. My hope was that I would startle him enough so that I could get to him before he could shoot me. I scooped some dirt and was about to begin my attack when I saw them. It's funny how things work out sometimes. My salvation did not come as a result of my brilliant plan, as well thought out and foolproof as it was but rather from an attack from a tiny third party.

    Slim was standing at the far end of the hole I was digging, watching me. I was sizing up how far I would have to throw the shovel full of dirt when I saw that Slim had placed his right foot on a soft mound of dirt. What I saw and Slim was unaware of was the thousand or so fire ants that were swarming over his shoe and up his bare leg. The amazing thing about fire ants is there ability to coordinate their attack. I knew with certainty that within the next few seconds, Slim was going to be in a lot of pain. I waited.

    "What the Fuck! Oh Jesus Christ," Slim screamed.

    When Slim bent down to try and brush the ants off his leg I lunged toward him and swung the shovel like a baseball bat. I connected with his gun hand, which elicited another scream from Slim as his gun flew at least sixty feet through the air.

    Slim was screaming in pain as I bolted from the hole and ran toward the woods. I looked over my shoulder as I ran to see what Porky was doing. He was trying to stand up and draw his gun at the same time and was having a great deal of difficulty with both endeavors. I had just reached the woods and had slowed down to work my way through the thick growth when I heard the first bullet hit into the branches above my head. The next two shots missed by an even wider margin.

    When I was about twenty feet into the woods I turned to see if they were following me. I could see Porky pacing back and forth along the edge of the woods. He was too fat to squeeze through the thick growth of trees. I could hear him yelling at Slim, telling him to go into the woods after me but Slim was still jumping around and cursing as he tried to get rid of the ants that were still biting his leg.

    With no one pursuing me I was able to carefully work my way through the trees to my goal. It took me ten minutes but I finally found the path I wanted. The path led south, away from Parker's Hill. Apparently the path hadn't been used much recently because it was overgrown with weeds and branches from the surrounding trees. The path wasn't very wide and it had lots of twists and turns through the woods but it allowed me to move quickly away from my abductors. A glance at my watch showed me that it was 8:15. The sun was starting to go down but it was already getting quite dark in the woods. I stopped for a minute and listened for any indication that I was being followed. Except for an occasional bird chirping I didn't hear a sound. I was scared, I hadn't eaten in several hours and I was feeling weak but I had to keep moving. I just wanted to get out of the woods before it got too dark to see where I was going.

    Chapter 8 – The Farm House

    I checked my watch again at 8:30. I had reached the point where the path exited the woods and I decided to wait there until the sun completely disappeared from the sky. It was 9:20 when I finally felt that it was dark enough for me to leave the safety of the woods. From my hiding place I walked another twenty yards down the path until it ended on a dirt farm road that belonged to the old Cheswick Farm. This was not a public road and hadn't been used in years. It was more of a wide dirt path that had been used by tractors and pickup trucks, than a road. I knew that if I followed this path to my left it would eventually cross under the Union Pacific railroad tracks and then end at a gate in the fence that ran along Rayburn Road. Rayburn Road was an unpaved county road. If I followed the farm path to my right it would take me alongside a couple of old pastures and from there it would lead me passed a barn and up to the Cheswick house.

    I turned right and started walking. I remembered that the Cheswick house had been empty for a couple of years with a 'For Sale or Rent' sign in the yard. I was hoping the house was still empty so that I could hide there until morning. In the morning I would walk to a neighbor's house and ask them to call the police for me.

    As I stumbled along the old farm road in the dark, I started to think about what I was going to tell the police. A short fat sweaty guy I call Porky and a tall skinny guy that looked like a green Popsicle and that I call Slim, grabbed me in the Riverside Diner parking lot. Porky shot Detective Olson and made it look like I did it then Slim forced me into the trunk of his car. They took me up Parker's Hill where I was forced to start digging my own grave but then Slim was attacked by thousands of fire ants and I got away. Being that I was the prime suspect in the shootings of my wife and Detective Olson, the police were certain to believe my story. Actually, I wasn't sure that I would believe my story and I knew it was true. I tried to make sense out of what was happening but I couldn't. What possible reason could Porky and Slim have for wanting me dead and did they also shoot Holly?

    I followed the road passed the two empty pastures, the old barn and into the yard behind the Cheswick house. There were no lights visible from the back of the house so I walked around to the front. The front porch light was on but I could see no lights on inside the house. It appeared that someone was living in the house so I had to change my plans. I took a chance and rang the doorbell. I waited but when no one came to the door I walked out to the road.

    I looked up and down County Route Fifteen, which runs in front of the house but saw only darkness. This was all farming country and the houses were quite far apart and I knew that the next closest house was to my left on CR 15. The house was almost a half mile away over a hill. I stood at the end of the driveway looking to my left and I had just about made up my mind that I would walk to the next house and ask them for help when I saw lights from a car coming over the top of the hill. Fearing that the car might be Porky and Slim searching for me I turned and ran to the back of the house and ducked around the corner. I peeked out and looked back toward the road. What I saw almost made my heart come out of my chest. There were two cars, my Mustang and the Camry and both had slowed and were turning into the driveway.

    Could they have seen me? I didn't think so. I moved farther behind the house looking for a hiding place. Except for three steps leading up to the back door and a large propane tank there was nothing else along the back of the house that would provide a hiding place. I ducked behind the propane tank and lay down on the ground and watched the two cars drive past the house and all the way down to the barn. I broke into a cold sweat as I watched Slim get out of the Camry and open the barn doors so that Porky could drive my Mustang inside.

    I was in trouble, again. The stairs going up to the back door were behind me so there was no way I wouldn't be seen when the two of them came up to the house. I tried to move closer to the house while keeping my eyes on Slim. I reached out with my left arm to find the wall of the house and discovered what appeared to be an opening for a cellar window right next to me. I took a quick look to see if the window casement was big enough to hide me but it was only a couple of feet deep and about three feet long. I did noticed, however, that instead of a window the opening was covered by what appeared to be a small door that was hinged at the top so that it would open inward. While Porky and Slim closed the barn doors I pushed against the small door as hard as I could. Luck was on my side as the door was not locked from inside. It shuttered a little and then with a squeak it swung open.

    I could see nothing beyond the open door. I was terrified of what might be waiting for me in the darkness beyond the door but I was even more terrified of what would happen if Porky and Slim were to find me.

    I quickly turned my body so that I could keep my eyes on Porky and Slim while I pushed myself feet first into the darkness. I worked my way backwards through the opening using only my arms as there was nothing but air under my feet. It took me thirty long seconds to push my body through the opening and drop down to the cellar floor.

    I couldn't see anything at first but I could hear the two men approaching the house. From their conversation I knew that they hadn't seen me. I was able to clearly hear what they were saying as they climbed the steps and entered the house through the back door.

    "I am not looking forward to facing Big Tony when he gets here," Porky said. "He's pissed and it's your fault."

    "How's it my fuckin fault?"

    "You're the asshole that let him get away."

    "I couldn't help it. Those fuckin' ants were biting the shit out of me. Look at my fuckin' leg. It's all swollen and it hurts like a mutha-fucka," Slim said. "Then the asshole hit me with the shovel and I think he broke my fuckin' hand. And what the fuck were you doing? Sitting under that fuckin' tree stuffin' your face. You shoulda been watchin' him too."

    I could hear them walking around in the house talking but I couldn't catch every word. What I was able to hear told me that this guy they called Big Tony was coming to the house with three other guys that Porky referred to as Bagger, Meatball and Guy.

    After a few minutes my eyes adjusted to the limited light in the cellar. It was still quite dark but I could see that I was in what appeared to be a small room. Upon closer inspection I could see that it wasn't actually a room because the walls didn't go all the way up to the ceiling. They were only about four feet tall. As I moved along the wall I stepped on something that felt like a rock. I picked it up thinking I might be able to use it for a weapon if I had to. I couldn't see it very well but it looked like a piece of coal. That made sense. The small room I was in must have been the coal bin for the house when it had a coal furnace.

    There were only a few pieces of coal lying around because the owner had converted to a propane gas furnace at some point. The little door I crawled through must have been for the chute when they were getting a load of coal.

    I felt my way along the low wall until I found an opening wide enough for me to step through. Although my eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the limited light in the cellar I could make out a staircase going up to the first floor and at the top of the stairs I could see light coming from under the door.

    I moved to the bottom of the staircase being careful not to bump into anything that would alert the two dim bulbs upstairs to my presences in the cellar. From there I could hear their voices much better although I didn't have a clue what they were talking about.

    I had just about figured out that Porky was telling Slim about some new all you can eat restaurant he had gone to recently when I heard a cell phone ring.

    "It's Pug," Porky said. "Yea, were both here... Okay... See ya in a few..."

    "What's up?" Slim asked.

    "Big Tony and Bagger will be here in a few minutes. Guy and Sammy are hanging out near the cop house. "

    "Why they hanging out there?"

    "In case the big dumb shit tries to turn himself in."

    "They gonna shoot him right there in front of the cop house?" Slim said.

    "How the fuck should I know? Big Tony didn't tell me and I didn't ask."

    "Did you tell Big Tony I broke my hand and I need somethin for my fuckin' leg?" Slim said.

    "Did you hear me tell him that?"

    "No. That's why I asked ya."

    No, I didn't fuckin'tell him. You can tell him yourself when he gets here."

    "Is he still pissed at us?"

    "What do you think?"

    Yea, I guess he is."

    Except for Slim's complaints about his hand and the pain in his leg from the fire ant attack my two friends didn't say much more. I sensed that they were both worried about Big Tony's arrival at the house. I had no idea who this Big Tony was but I almost laughed when I thought about Porky and Slim trying to explain how I got away from them. Maybe Big Tony would shoot them both and get rid of two of my problems.

    Chapter 9 – Big Tony

    It got quiet upstairs, which gave me a little time to think. I was hiding in the basement of the house my would-be assassins were using as a base of operations. I wanted to leave but if I tried to climb back out through the coal chute the two geniuses upstairs might hear me. Besides, it had gotten so dark that I could no longer see my way back to the coal bin or the coal chute door. The smell of mildew in the damp cellar was making it difficult for me to breath. I heard a noise in the corner farthest away from me and decided that it was either a rat or a big mouse. My situation was not very comfortable.

    The only positive was that I might hear something that would explain why these people shot Holly and why they wanted me dead. I moved carefully until I was directly under the landing at the top of the stairs. Once there I sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall and waited with Slim and Porky for the arrival of Big Tony.

    "Car's comin'," I heard Porky announced.

    "Is it Big Tony?"

    "Think so."

    "When he comes in, don't try to blame everything on me."

    "Why the fuck not?"

    "Cause it's not all my fault. If it wasn't for those fuckin ants he never would a got away. And you weren't any help, sittin on your fat ass eatin' a candy bar."

    A few minutes later I heard a door open then a loud voice with a strong east coast accent said, "Hey Bagger, look what we got here. It's Pug and Bean, the moron twins."

    "We ain't twins, Boss," Slim said. "Shit, we don't even look alike."

    From what was being said I guessed that Bean must be what they called Slim and Pug must be Porky.

    "Jesus Christ, I give you two mental defects a simple assignment. Just go to the house, cap the two of them and make it look like a murder suicide. Which one of you wants to tell me how you managed to fuck it up?"

    "It wasn't our fault, Boss," Porky said. "We went to the house at 5:30, just like you told us. The bitch was home alone. She told us that Blanchard was supposed to be home at 5:45 but he still wasn't home at five after six. Then Bean said he thought he heard a car outside and when I turned to look the stupid bitch made a break for the back door. I had no choice but to shoot her before she got out of the house."

    "So why didn't you cap the asshole when he came in the house, like you were supposed to?"

    "The car Bean heard wasn't him and we were afraid that someone might have heard the shots so we split," Slim said.

    Listening to them talk about shooting Holly and their plan to kill me as if they were talking about a blown play in a football game was unnerving. It made the hair on the back of my neck bristle while at the same time I felt a level of anger that I had never had before. For one insane moment I thought about charging upstairs and attacking them. Luckily I got my anger under control before I did something that stupid. After all, the only weapon I had was the piece of coal I still had in my hand.

    "So, what the fuck happened at the diner? All you had to do was put him in the trunk of your car, put a bullet in his head and then bury the body someplace where it wouldn't be found for a long time. Instead of doing that you shot a cop." I think it was Big Tony that was speaking.

    "The cop showed up before we could get Blanchard in the trunk," Porky said. "I shot the cop in a way that would make it look like Blanchard shot him."

    "And you fucked that up too," Big Tony said. "The cop was wearing a vest. You managed to knock him off his feet but you didn't kill him. Luckily for you two bozos the impact knocked him unconscious so the cop does think that Blanchard shot him but if Blanchard ever gets a chance to talk and explain what really happened you two are fucked. I just hope you two understand this, I will personally bury both of you before I let your fuckups bring me down."

    Big Tony was one cold blooded son of a bitch. It was obvious that this guy was some kind of gangster but what I could not understand was what could I have done that would make him want to kill me and why did they have to shoot Holly?

    "So, after you popped the cop why didn't you finish Blanchard right then?"

    "We wanted to get out of there before anyone came out of the diner and saw what was going on," Porky said.

    "Okay, I'll buy that but how did he get away from you? All you had to do was take him out in the country, open the trunk and shoot him in the head and then bury his body. How the fuck did you let him get away?" Big Tony said.

    "We had the perfect place to bury him but it was on top of this big fucking hill. We didn't want to have to carry him so we made him walk up the hill?" Porky said.

    "Okay, okay... So he walked up the hill and then ran away?"

    "No." Porky said. "Bean didn't want to dig the hole so he gave the shovel to Blanchard and told him to dig his own grave."

    "And you thought this was a good idea because no one would ever think of trying to get away if he knew he was digging his own grave? You two fucking idiots take stupid to a whole new level," Big Tony said.

    "It was the ants," Slim said.

    "The aunts? What the fuck are you talking about?" Big Tong shouted.

    "I was watching him and being careful to stay far enough away from him to make sure he couldn't attack me with the shovel when I was attacked by the ants," Slim said.

    "Attacked by the aunts? Who's aunts and how did they get there? Are we going to have to kill his aunts now?" Big Tony shouted.

    "Not his aunts, Boss, red ants. I stepped on a fuckin ant hill and thousands of the little fuckers attacked me. Look at my fuckin leg. It's still hurtin like a motha fucka."

    "He got away because you stepped on and ant hill? " Big Tony said. "What the fuck were you doing while this dip shit was playing with the ants?"

    "Well, I ..."

    "He was sittin under a fuckin tree eatin a candy bar," Slim said.

    "Jesus Christ, between the two of you, you don't have a whole fuckin brain to share."

    "Sorry Boss," Porky said. "We tried to do it right but things just got fucked up."

    Slim said. "If Blanchard tries to turn himself in are you going to have Meatball and Guy pop him right there at the cop house?"

    "Is that what you would do, Bean?" This from a fourth voice I hadn't heard before. This person had a British accent.

    "I don't know Bagger. I just do what you guys tell me to do," Slim said.

    "You do? Doesn't sound that way to me," Bagger said. "When Meatball was down here a few months ago he managed to find a couple of the local constabulary who were quite willing to assist us for a few bob," Bagger said.

    "What did he say?" Slim asked.

    "We have two Riverton cops on the pad," Big Tony explained. "They will let us know if Blanchard tries to turn himself in. They're well paid and will help us make sure that Blanchard doesn't survive long enough to say anything."

    "How we gonna do that?" Slim asked.

    "Blanchard already tried to shoot one cop didn't he?" Big Tony said.

    "No that was me..."

    "But the cops think he did it, right?"

    "Oh, right."

    "The good news is that the police consider Blanchard to be armed and dangerous. If our two boys do their job, Blanchard will be found dead with a gun in his hand before he ever gets to the police station," Big Tony said. "Meatball has a police scanner and will let us know if the cops find Blanchard but I would rather we find him first and bury the asshole like we planned. If they never find him they will believe that he killed his wife and ran off after shooting that detective."

    "But that bitch ain't dead," Slim said.

    "She will be. We got eyes in the hospital too. If she shows signs of coming out of her coma she will be taken care of."

    The realization that Holly wasn't safe in the hospital hit me hard. I had to find a way to protect Holly but how could I? On one side I have the police who think I tried to kill my wife and Detective Olson. They consider me to be armed and dangerous so they will be prepared to shoot me on sight. On the other side I have Big Tony and his friends that by my count totaled six. There were the four that were sitting upstairs and the two watching the police station. On top of that two of Riverton's finest are on Big Tony's payroll and would gladly kill me if they got a chance to.

    "What did you do with the asshole's car?" Big Tony asked?

    "It's in the barn," Porky said.

    "Make sure it stays locked up in the barn for now. We will need to find a way to sneak it out of town. Maybe rent a car hauler from U-Haul and tow it down to St. Louis and leave it on the street with the keys in it," Big Tony said.

    "What do you want us to do now Boss?" Porky asked.

    "Can I go to the firkin hospital? I think I have some broken bones in my hand and my fucking leg feels like it is on fire." Slim said.

    "Pug, you take Bean to that emergency treatment center we saw on the way into town. I don't want you guys anywhere near the hospital. When you are done there I want the two of you to go sit on Blanchard's house."

    "Won't the house be crawling with cops?" Porky said.

    "They should all be gone by now. Just park somewhere near the house and watch just in case Blanchard tries to go back to the house," Big Tony said.

    "Why would he go back to the house?" Slim asked. "Wouldn't the cops be watching the house?"

    "Where else can he go?"

    "How long should we stay there?" Porky asked.

    "Till I call ya and tell ya to leave. Can you handle that?"

    "Yea Boss."

    Bagger and I are going to watch the hospital in case Blanchard tries to sneak in and see his wife. Okay let's move. I don't want that bastard getting away while we're sitting her with our thumbs up our asses."

    I could hear them moving around upstairs and then the light went out and I heard a door open and close and then there was silence.

    Chapter 10 – Diversion

    When I heard the door upstairs close I crept up to the top of the stairs and pressed my ear against the door. Hearing nothing I tried the door and it opened into the kitchen. I quickly searched the house but I couldn't find anything that would help me.

    I left the house through the back door and ran down to the barn hoping to find my car unlocked with the keys inside. No luck there. The car was locked and the keys were gone.

    I sat down on the floor of the barn and reviewed my options. I could still go to a neighbor's house and ask them to call the police for me. I decided against that because I was afraid that the cops that came to get me would be the ones that Big Tony had on his payroll. I couldn't go to my house because Slim and Porky would be waiting for me there. I was tired and hungry and was having trouble thinking straight. I needed food and that would be safe for me. The best thing for me to do would be to get out of town but I had no transportation. Then an idea began to form in my mind. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea but I felt better just having a plan of action. Doing something was much better than doing nothing.

    It was 9:30 PM when I left the barn and turned down the old farm road and headed back the way I had come. I passed the point where I had come out of the woods earlier in the evening and a few hundred yards later passed under the Union Pacific railroad tracks. At the end of the farm road I climbed over the rusty old gate and walked out onto Rayburn Road and turned right.

    A half mile down the road Rayburn intersected Commerce Road and I turned left on Commerce. Commerce Road was home to some local construction companies and trucking companies. Both sides of the road were lined with large garages and warehouses. There were no people around at that time of night but there were security lights and cameras so I had to be careful. Two blocks farther down Commerce Road intersected Industrial Drive and that is where I was headed.

    I approached the intersection carefully, staying in the shadows and listening for cars. There was a large oak tree on the north-west corner and I stood behind it as I looked both ways on Industrial. It was a good thing I looked because as I peeked out from behind the tree I saw a Riverton Police car coming toward me on Industrial Drive. My heart was pounding as I prayed that I hadn't been seen when I peeked out from behind the tree. I pressed my body against the tree and waited, holding my breath, until the police cruiser was completely out of sight. When I felt it was safe to cross Industrial Drive I ran diagonally across the intersection and hid behind a U-Haul truck in the parking lot of Riverton Secure Self Storage.

    From my hiding place I looked for any movement on either Industrial Drive or Commerce Road. Seeing none, I turned my attention to the security gate for the Riverton Secure Self Storage facility only twenty yards away place. I didn't feel that the security camera above the gate would be a problem. Renters are allowed access to their storage units twenty-four hours a day, so as long as I didn't show my face to the camera I wouldn't have any problems going through the gate. I made another check to be sure that the patrol car was not coming back and then I hurried over to the gate and punched in the access code.

    Riverton Secure Self Storage has ten rows of storage units of various sizes. Luckily, my brother's storage unit was in the second row facing away from the road, out of sight of passing cars. I removed the combination lock from Jack's unit and raised the door just enough so that I could slip under it. I closed the door again before flipping the switch for the single sixty watt light bulb that was the only source of light for the twelve by twenty foot unit.

    I worked my way around the stacks of boxes and stored furniture to the back of the dimly lit storage unit. Along the back wall I found Jack's leather sofa which was covered by an old bed sheet. Exhausted from my ordeal, I collapsed onto the sofa and closed my eyes, hoping for a few minutes rest before tackling what I needed to do next. There was no chance of falling asleep as I wondered and worried how this was all going to work out. Was I going to end up dead, buried in a shallow grave on top of Parker's Hill? Who would protect Holly if they killed me? Or, would I somehow manage to save us both? With Big Tony and his goons and the police all looking for me, the odds were not in my favor. Suddenly my body began to shiver and the more I thought about my situation the worse the tremors got. I began to shake so uncontrollably that my joints started to ache. It took me several minutes to get the tremors under control and slow my heart rate down.

    Realizing that if I didn't begin to act soon I might have a complete meltdown, I forced myself to get up off the sofa and begin executing my plan. I opened my brother's wardrobe cabinet and looked through the clothes he left behind and found everything I needed. Jack and I are about the same size so his clothes fit me. I striped off my sweaty clothes and put on clean underwear, a pair of Levi's and a blue tee shirt. I would have liked to take a shower first but that wasn't an option.

    I found one of Jack's backpacks and filled it with another change of clothes. From a small drawer in the wardrobe I retrieved Jack's motorcycle registration, his Missouri driver's license and the keys to the bike and put them in my pocket. Next I put on Jack's riding leathers, boots and helmet and then slipped my arms through the straps on the backpack. Knowing that helmet would hide my face and doubting that anyone would expect me to be riding a motorcycle I felt that I would be safe going back out onto the street. I moved to the front of the storage unit and turned off the light before lifting the door just high enough for me peek out. Seeing no one in the alley outside, I opened the door the rest of the way and rolled Jack's Honda ST 1300 into the alley and then locked up the storage unit. I hadn't used the bike in a several weeks but it started with no hesitation. The fuel tank was nearly empty, so my first stop was at the Exxon station on the corner of Industrial Drive and Iowa Street. I kept my helmet on, paid cash and didn't do anything to draw attention to myself.

    It was time to put the police and Big Tony off my sent. I assumed that at some point the police and through them, Big Tony would try tracking my movements by watching for any activity on my ATM or credit cards. If and when they did, I wanted it to appear that I was headed away from Riverton.

    When I left the Exxon station I went west on Industrial and then took route sixty-one south. I drove about 50 miles to Hannibal, Missouri. In Hannibal I found an ATM and withdrew four hundred dollars from my savings account. Then I went to the Golden Corral Buffet. I parked my bike behind the restaurant where I wouldn't be seen and I took off my leathers and locked them in the saddle bags with my helmet. I didn't want anyone in the restaurant to notice that I had arrived on a motorcycle.

    I paid for my meal with my credit card and after I ate I went across the street to the Econo Lodge Motel and registered under my own name, using my credit card to pay for one night. I went to the room, turned on the television and messed up the bed so it would look like it had been slept in. Then I left the room key on the bed side table, got on my bike and headed back north on Route 61, stopping at the Tic Toc Motel near Taylor, Missouri. There I registered under my brother's name, using Jack's Missouri driver's license for identification and paid cash for the room. Once in my room I laid down on the bed to think about my next move but fell asleep before I could make any plans.

    End Part Two



    Riverton Pt. 03

    Chapter 11- Thursday June 12 11:00 AM

    It was almost eleven o'clock when I woke up the following morning. After a long shower I took the advice of the motel clerk and went back down to route 6 to the Eighteen Wheeler Restaurant to eat. The food was good and there was plenty of it. While I was eating I was able relaxed for the first time since this all started. This gave me the opportunity to clearly consider my options. I could try to turn myself into the police but I didn't know who on the Riverton Police Force I could trust. I thought about possibly turning myself into the Missouri State Police, but if I couldn't get them to believe my story they would just turn me over to the Riverton Police. The main reason for deciding not to go to the police was that I needed to find a way to protect Holly and I couldn't do that if I was dead or in jail.

    I finally concluded that my only hope to clear my name and save Holly was to find a way to connect Big Tony and his gang to Holly's shooting and the attempt on Detective Olson's life. The idea came to me while I was thinking about what I had overheard the previous night at the farmhouse. The solution to my problem was the Sony ICD voice recorder I had purchased for work a few months earlier. If I could have recorded Big Tony and his men talking about what they had done or were planning to do, I would have had all of the proof I needed.

    The recorder was small enough to fit in my pocket and powerful enough that when I set it on my conference room table I could record everything that was said during my staff meetings. It's capability of recording continuously for 280 hours made it ideal for what I was planning. The problem was that the recorder was in my briefcase, which was sitting in my house. Porky and Slim might still be watching the house and there was the possibility that the police might also be watching. My hope was that the police had been alerted to my banking and credit card activity down in Hannibal and would believe that I had left town. That should make them lose interest in my house. I was pretty sure that if the police thought that I had left town Big Tony would find that out from his sources in the police department.

    I hung around Taylor until about three o'clock in the afternoon before starting back toward Riverton. I took my time on the ride and arrived in Riverton shortly after four o'clock. Once I got to town I turned west on Fifth Street Road and drove until I reached the Union Pacific railroad tracks. From there I drove slowly alongside the tracks until I was directly behind my house. I was about to do something that I had done many times when I was in high school. I used to sneak out of the house at night to meet up with my friends and then I would have to sneak back in when I went home. I was always afraid that my father would be waiting for me when I got home but I had never been as scared as I was at that moment. Between the tracks and the house was a large field overgrown with weeds and brush. Just like when I was in high school, I was going to crawl up through the field and sneak into my house. I was pretty sure I could get to the house without being seen but I wasn't sure what I might find waiting for me once I got inside.

    I drove the bike up off the tracks into the field about twenty yards and laid it down. The house was still more than a hundred yards away but I sat down behind a clump of bushes and watched the house. When, after twenty minutes I saw no sign of activity I started moving up through the tall weeds and brush stopping occasionally to look for any sign that I was being watched. At the end of the field, twenty-five yards short of the house, I squatted down behind a large Forsythia bush and thought about my next move. From my hiding place I could see the police tape on the back door that leads into the kitchen. It was just inside that door that Holly had been lying in a pool of her own blood. I wasn't about to cut through the police tape and go in that way and I couldn't risk being seen going around to the front of the house and using the front door. I was left with only one option and that was to enter through the basement.

    Most of the houses in my neighborhood were built in the mid-fifties and were constructed on concrete slabs. My house however, was the only house in the neighborhood with a basement. The man who built the house had an over whelming fear of two things; nuclear war and tornados so he built a basement that was a combination fallout shelter and storm cellar under the house. When my father bought the house he converted the basement into a game room complete with television and a pool table.

    There are only two ways into and out of the basement. There is a door hidden inside the kitchen pantry that opens to a flight of stairs going down to steel door that opens into the basement and then there is an outside entrance on the north side of the house. There is a storm door that you have to lift up to get access to the stairs leading down to the entrance. The basement is completely below ground level and except for the door that covers the stairs to the side entrance, it can't be seen from outside the house.

    After one last look around I ran the last twenty five yards to the house and retrieved the keys to the storm door and the basement door from their hiding place behind the left shutter on the living room window. After removing the padlock I lifted the heavy steel storm door and lowered it again behind me as I descended the stairs. With the storm door closed I was in complete darkness and had to feel my way down the last three steps and over to the basement door. With no light in the cellar way to help me locate the door lock it took me several minutes to insert the key into the lock and open the door.

    Still in complete darkness, I moved slowly into the room until I bumped into the pool table. Visualizing the layout of the room and using the edge of the pool table as a guild I moved around the pool table until I was roughly opposite from where I had started. I moved away from the table, shuffling my feel and using my hands to feel for obstructions until I reached the wall. Moving along the wall to my right, using my hands to guide me I found the light switch. I turned the lights on and then flipped the switch on the intercom.

    With the lights on I was able to relax for a moment. I sat down on the sofa in front of the television and took a few deep breaths. I knew that I was secure in this room. If anyone was upstairs they would not have been able to hear me moving around in the basement but with the intercom turned on I would be able to hear anyone moving around upstairs.

    I spent the next ten minutes sitting quietly and listening for any sounds from the intercom that would indicate that someone was upstairs.

    When I decided that the silence on the main floor of the house was just as deafening as the silence in the basement I headed upstairs. I hesitated in the pantry for a minute before stepping out into the kitchen. There was slight metallic or coppery smell and the pool of Holly's congealed blood on the floor made my stomach turn. I wasn't sure I would be able make it out of the kitchen without vomiting. I turned my head away from the sickening sight and put my hand over my mouth and nose. Then, holding my breath I move quickly to my left and around the corner and out into the living room.

    I wanted to sit and let my stomach settle down for a minute but I forced myself to keep moving. I went to my study, which was in the front of the house just inside the front door. I peeked carefully through the curtains and to my relief I saw no cars within two hundred yards of the house. Turning from the windows I notice that my briefcase wasn't where it should have been. I always put my briefcase on the floor on the right side of my desk when I got home from work but it wasn't there. It felt as if an icy fist was squeezing my spine as panic began to take control of my thinking. Where was my briefcase? Had the police taken it? I tried to think but I couldn't seem to concentrate.

    Finally, sitting at my desk, I took a few deep breaths and managed to calm myself. I reviewed everything that happened on Tuesday from the time I left work until I found Holly on the floor in the kitchen. Then it came to me. I hadn't brought my briefcase into the study. I dropped it and the bag from JC Penney's on the sofa in the living room before I went into the kitchen and found Holly.

    I sprang from the chair and ran to the living room but the briefcase wasn't there. The bag from Penney's was also missing. The panic I was feeling a couple of minutes earlier was back. Now I was sure the police had the briefcase. I started walking around the house with no real objective in mind when I saw it. My briefcase was sitting opened on the dining room table. I was almost afraid to look inside because I wasn't sure if I could handle it if my recorder wasn't in the briefcase. It was.

    Over the next half hour I fixed myself a cheese sandwich and got a bottle of diet Pepsi from the refrigerator. I ate it in my study while watching out the window for police cars or any other cars that didn't belong in the neighborhood. After eating I put a new battery in my recorder and then slipped it into my pocket. I also grabbed a small flashlight from my desk drawer before returning to the basement, leaving the house the way I had entered and locking the doors behind me.

    Chapter 12 - Thursday June 12, 5:30 PM

    I retrieved the bike and rode back along the tracks to Fifth Street Road and then headed toward town. I turned on Industrial Drive and then onto Commerce Road and eventually ended up on Rayburn Road. When I found the fence gate where I had exited the Cheswick property the night before, I stopped and walked the bike through the partially opened gate. I rolled the bike up behind some bushes where it wouldn't be seen from any cars that might come along on Rayburn Road and then I stashed the helmet and riding leathers with the bike and started walking toward the Cheswick house.

    When the house was in sight I could see that there were no cars in the driveway. I moved off the farm road so that the barn was between the house and me. When I got to the barn I peeked in the window and saw that my Mustang was the only car in the barn. I was reasonably certain that no one was in the house but I tied to say out of sight as much as possible as I approached the house. When I got to the back of the house I hide behind the propane tank for a minute while I listened for any sound that would indicate that someone was in the house. Hearing nothing I moved over to the door for the old coal chute and lowered myself into the cellar the way I had the previous night. Again I listened for any sounds in the house but heard only the sound of my own breathing.

    Using the flashlight I was able to find my way out of the coal bin and up the cellar stairs in less than a minute. I paused again at the kitchen door and listened to the empty house. Hearing nothing, I pushed the kitchen door open slowly and peek inside. The room was empty. Well not actually empty. There were no people in the room but the sink was full of dirty dishes and the table was covered with empty beer bottles and full ashtrays. Once inside kitchen I started looking for a good place to hide my recorder. I had to be sure that I wouldn't miss any of their conversations. I found the perfect place above the kitchen window. The window had venetian blinds and curtains. Standing on a chair I was able to place the recorder on top of the venetian blinds and hide it behind the ruffle on the top of the curtains. With the recorder in place and turned on I walked around the room talking and then listened to what I had recorded. It was perfect. The recorder picked up everything. I erased what I had recorded and then set the recorder for voice activation and placed it back on top of the blinds. After checking once more to make sure it couldn't be seen I headed for the back door.

    My plan up to that point was working. My problem was that I didn't know how I was going to be able to retrieve the recorder. I had decided that I would watch the house from behind the barn until Big Tony and his guys showed up at the farm house and then I would have to look for an opportunity to go back into the house to get the recorder. Worst case, I would call Detective Olson and try to convince him over the phone that he should go to the farm house and question Big Tony and his men. I figured I could trust Olson because if he was one of the cops Big Tony was paying something would have been said about it after Porky shot him.

    As weak as my plan was it never had a chance. I was just about to open the back door when a black Lincoln Town Car came down the driveway followed by the red Camry and a white Ford Torus. I ran across the kitchen to the cellar door. I think I actually only touched two steps on my way down the stairs to the cellar. Once again I took my position under the cellar stairs so I could hear what was going on upstairs.

    In the silence before they entered the house I could hear my own heart beating in my chest. Moments later I heard several people coming into the house but no one was talking. It wasn't until after I heard the door close that anyone spoke.

    "So what do we do now Boss?" This was a voice that I hadn't heard the last time I was in the cellar. "The cops don't know where he is, so how we gonna find him?"

    "We sit tight. Maybe those numb nuts cops will find him. Either way that bitch dies tonight. Tomorrow Bean, you and Pug will take Blanchard's car down to St. Louis and dump it somewhere. "

    "How ya gonna do her widout them come lookin for us?" Sounded like Porky.

    "We got a guy, a nurse, on night shift at the hospital. He's gonna pay her a little visit around three o'clock in the morning and give her a shot of insulin. Nobody will notice because she is already in a coma. She'll be dead before morning and it will look like she died from her injuries."

    The feeling of panic was back. Suddenly, my only option was to call Olson before they had a chance to kill Holly but there was no way I could get out of the house during daylight with all of them sitting upstairs. I was going to have to wait until dark before I could do anything. So I just sat and listened, hoping that my recorder was getting everything they said.

    "What if they do one of them autopsy things on her?' I think it was Slim talking. "Won't they find out about the insulin?"

    "Maybe, but we'll be long away from here before that happens," Digger said. Our friend in the hospital is going to drop Blanchard's cell phone under her bed. Make it look like Blanchard paid her a visit. If they discover the insulin in her system the coppers will think Blanchard went to the hospital to finish the job."

    "Oh, right. Good plan." Porky said.

    "I am so glad you approve since it's your fault we're still here. If you and Bean hadn't fucked things up in the first place we would be back home by now," Big Tony said.

    "Bean?"

    "Yeah Boss."

    "I want you to go into town and get some Chinese food," Big Tony said.

    "Can't we have it delivered?"

    "What, are you fuckin brain dead? Nobody knows we're here and I want to keep it that way."

    Once Slim left to get their food the conversation changed to subjects not important to me so I tuned them out while I tried to plan my escape. With the gang chatting away upstairs I felt safe to explore the cellar. Using the flash light I brought from my house I searched to see if there was an easy way to get out. After a quick look around it was obvious that there were only two ways to get out of the cellar. Go upstairs through the kitchen, which would be suicide or climb back out through the coal chute door.

    The coal chute presented its own problems for me. The bottom edge of the chute was a little over two feet above my head, which meant that I couldn't just open the door and crawl out. The chute door opened inward so even if I could pull myself up onto the ledge I wouldn't be able to open the door. I needed to stand on something so that I could reach the chute door.

    I began another search of the cellar. In the far corner on the opposite side of the cellar I found an old wooden crate that looked as though it would suit my purpose. I brought the crate over to the coal bin and set it on the floor below the coal chute. I carefully put one foot on the crate and slowly lifted my weight onto it to make sure it would not break when I attempted to climb out of the cellar. The crate was strong enough to support me and I was able to reach the chute door.

    When I was standing on the crate I noticed another problem. There were two pipes that ran parallel to the coal chute and were hanging from the floor joists about a foot out from the opening. One was a one inch galvanized pipe and the other was a one inch flexible pipe. I figured the galvanized pipe was the water supply and that the flexible pipe was probably a conduit for the electrical wires. The pipes hadn't been in my way the two times I came in through the coal chute but I thought that they might be a problem on my way out. I would have to be careful not to bump or kick the pipes because the noise would probably be heard upstairs.

    I had my escape plan, now all I had to do was wait until dark. It was almost six o'clock so I had about another three and a half hours before it would be dark enough outside for me to attempt my escape.

    Chapter 13 - Thursday June 12, 9:35 PM

    For more than three hours I sat on the cellar floor under the stairs and listened to Big Tony and the other scum bags talk. Bean had returned with the food and I could smell it in the cellar. If my recorder was doing its job I would not only have proof of my innocence but proof of other crimes Big Tony had committed. I heard Digger tell a story of how he and Big Tony shot two guys from another mob gang and dumped their bodies in a swamp a few miles south of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. If I lived long enough to get the recording to the police, Big Tony and his boys would be in a world of shit.

    I spent a good bit of my time in the cellar trying to figure out why these assholes wanted Holly and me dead. I had never heard of Big Tony or any of the others before so what possible reason could they have to kill us? In all of the conversations I overheard, not once did I hear anything that would explain their murderous intentions toward us.

    At 9:35 PM I decided it was time to make my move. I knew it wouldn't be as dark as I would like, but with the lights on in the house it should be dark enough outside that they wouldn't be able to see me running through the back yard. I hoped.

    When I stepped onto the wooden create my heart was pounding so hard I was sure it could be heard by the criminal brain trust sitting in the room above me. I tried to calm my nerves by taking several deep breaths but only succeeded in making myself dizzy and I nearly feel off the crate. When the dizzy spell passed I lifted the chute door with my left hand and held it opened far enough so that I could get my head and shoulders under the door. I had to let the door drop down onto my back so that I could pull myself through the opening. I had managed to pull myself halfway out of the chute when my forward progress was stopped. The chute door had closed down against the back of my legs and the more I tried to move forward the more it cut into my legs. It was like being stuck in a Chinese finger trap. I began to panic when I thought that I heard someone open the back door and an image of Big Tony and the boys standing over me as I lay trapped halfway out of the chute opening flashed through my mind. I held my breath and waited but no one came out of the house.

    It finally came to me that in order to free myself, I needed to move backward a short distance. It turned out that moving back just a few inches was all that was needed to release the pressure on my legs. With the door no longer biting into my legs I slowly rolled over onto my back. From that position I was able to use my left knee to push the door up so it wouldn't trap me again but lying on my back presented a new problem. There was nothing I could grab hold of with my hands to pull myself the rest of the way out of the chute. I remembered the two pipes just inside the chute opening and started searching for them with my right foot. When I found what I believed to be the water pipe I lifted the door with my left knee and then pushed against the pipe as hard as I could with my right leg. As I propelled myself out of the chute opening I felt the pipe break loose. The door had swung closed behind me so I couldn't see what had happened but I could hear a fairly loud hissing noise coming from inside the cellar.

    I assumed that I had cracked a joint in the water pipe and it was spraying water into the cellar but I didn't have time to worry about that. I had to get away from there before someone in the house heard the noise and came to investigate.

    Moving as quietly as I could I ran parallel to the back of the house until I crossed the driveway and then I turned and ran toward the barn. I stayed as low to make it difficult for anyone looking out a window to see me. About halfway to the barn I ducked behind some bushes and looked back toward the house. I sat for a couple of minutes watching the windows and the back door for any signs of activity. Nobody came outside and I didn't see anyone looking out a window. Apparently, they had not heard the noise when the pipe broke or the hissing sound of the water spraying from it.

    I began to move again, slowly, keeping to the shadows and using bushes along the way to provide cover. I made it past the barn and had gone about another two hundred yards when suddenly the whole area was lit up like day light but before any possible meaning for the bright light could register in my brain I was flying through the air. I landed face down in the weeds about twenty-five feet from where I had been and the only thing I could hear was a loud ringing noise in my ears. When I lifted my head I saw flaming objects falling around me but could not fathom what that meant. I rolled over and looked back toward the farm house but it wasn't there. All that was left was part of the foundation. The rest of the house seemed to be falling in burning pieces from the sky.

    I watched in amazement, while my brain tried to make sense out of what had happened. The house was completely gone, the Lincoln Town Car and the Camry were both on fire and the Ford was tipped on its side. Looking at the devastation I just knew that there was no way anyone in that house could have survived an explosion of that magnitude. That's when the revelation came to me. I hadn't broken a water pipe with my foot; I broke a gas line. The hissing sound I heard as I escaped wasn't water spraying out of a broken pipe; it was the sound of propane gas escaping into the cellar. The propane being heavier than air would have pooled in the cellar until something triggered an explosion. All that propane just blew the house right off its foundation.

    When I got to my feet I was dizzy and I felt aches and pains all over my body but I didn't seem to have suffered any serious injuries. My first instinct was to start walking back toward the house but I only moved a few steps before I realized that was the last place I needed to go. If I were caught in the area when the police arrived on the scene they would assume that I had blown the house up on purpose and was responsible for the deaths of everyone inside the house. To make matters worse, the evidence that would prove I didn't shoot Holly or Detective Olson I hoped was captured on my voice recorder had been blown away with Big Tony and his thugs.

    "I'm fucked," I said to myself as I took one more look at the remains of the house and then I started to run and didn't stop until I got to the motorcycle. I put on the leathers, pulled the bike up and rolled it back through the gate out onto Rayburn Road. I drove cautiously back to the Riverton Secure Self Storage facility and let myself into my brother's storage unit. I could hear sirens in the distance as I lowered the door on the unit.

    With the door closed I turned on the light and took off my leathers. I checked myself out in the wardrobe mirror. I was a mess. My face was filthy and I had several small cuts and scrapes on my and back and on the back of my legs and arms. Until then I didn't even realize that I had been hit by debris from the explosion. I was going to have to clean myself up before I did anything else. As much as I hated the idea I had to go back out to buy some supplies.

    I got back on the bike and drove to a convenience store on Dublin Street and bought a twelve pack of bottled water, a roll of paper towels, bandages, peroxide, a topical antibiotic ointment and a bar of soap. When I got back to the storage unit I cleaned myself up as best I could with soap and water and then cleaned my cuts and scrapes with peroxide. None of the cuts were serious and they had already stopped bleeding. I put the antibiotic ointment on all of my injuries and bandaged the worst of the cuts.

    I dressed in a clean pair of Jack's jeans and a long sleeve shirt from his wardrobe and then sat down to plan my next move. I couldn't go to the police station because I didn't know who I could trust. The more I thought about it the more I realized that my only option was to go to Detective Olson and tell him my story and hope that he would believe me.

    Chapter 14 - Thursday June 12, 10:25 PM

    Wearing a ball cap pulled low to hide my face, I walked from the storage facility back to the convenience store on Dublin Street and asked the clerk if I could use his phone book. I looked up the address for David Olson and then used the pay phone outside to call a taxi.

    When the taxi dropped my off in front of Detective Olson's house I could feel the sweat dripping from my arm pits and running down my sides. I was thankful to see that there were lights on in the house as I stepped up onto the front porch. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out before pressing the door bell.

    I was just about to ring the bell a second time when the porch light came on and a few seconds later the door opened. Standing in front of me was an attractive middle aged woman.

    "What do you want?" she asked in a less than friendly manor.

    "I am sorry to bother you at this hour but I need to speak with Detective Olson if he's here."

    "Who should I say is here to see him?"

    "Just tell him I am here to talk to him about the Holly Blanchard case."

    The woman, whom I guessed was Mrs. Olson, closed the door and went back into the house. About a minute later the door opened again and I found myself staring at the barrel of Detective Olson's gun.

    "What the hell are you doing coming to my house?" Olson said.

    "I am here to turn myself in to you but I need to talk to you before you take me to the police station."

    "Why should I listen to anything you have to say?"

    "Because I didn't shoot my wife and I didn't shoot you and you need to know who did."

    Olson pointed with the gun to indicate that I should come into the house. As soon as I stepped through the door he pushed me up against the wall and searched me.

    "What's going on Dave?" It was the woman's voice coming from another room.

    "It's just someone I need to talk to," Olson said. "Why don't you go up to bed? I am going to have to go down to the station after I talk with him. I probably won't be coming to bed tonight."

    Detective Olson led me into his kitchen and told me to sit at the table.

    "So, what is so important that you had to come here instead of going to the station to turn yourself in?"

    I told Detective Olson the story, starting from the time I arrived at the Riverton Diner up until I arrived at his house. Actually, I didn't tell him everything exactly as it happened. My story was totally true and accurate up until I got to what happened on top of Parker's Hill. At that point I began to embellish the story.

    "While Slim was watching me dig my own grave Porky told me that he and Slim were supposed to kill Holly and me and make it look like a murder suicide. He said that didn't work because I didn't come home when I was supposed to. He said that their boss, a guy they called Big Tony, paid off two Riverton police officers to help them make sure I don't live long enough to stand trial for shooting Holly. Then this Big Tony paid a male nurse at the hospital to give Holly an overdose injection of insulin sometime later tonight," I said. "Then, while I was looking for an opportunity to hit Slim with the shovel he stepped on a fire ant hill. When the ants attacked him I was able to knock the gun out of his hand with the shovel and make it into the woods on the backside of the hill.

    "I hid out in the woods until dark and then went to my brother's storage unit at the Riverton Secure Self Storage. I changed clothes there and took my brother's motorcycle and drove down to Hannibal and checked into a motel so I could think about what I should do and get some sleep."

    "I came back to Riverton tonight and hid out in my brother's storage unit until late this evening. Then I called a cab from the convenience store on Dublin Street and came over here."

    I made no mention of having been at the Cheswick Farm. I did not want to be connected with the explosion that destroyed the house and most likely killed everyone inside.

    Detective Olson, for his part, listened intently and took lots of notes. He asked several questions to clarify certain parts of my story but he gave me no indication of whether or not he believed what I was telling him. It was nearly midnight and I thought Detective Olson was through questioning me when he hit me with a question I was not expecting.

    "How do you explain this?' he said. "The gun we found hidden in your garage was the gun used to shoot your wife and the only finger prints on the gun were yours."

    I was stunned. "I don't own a gun and I didn't shoot my wife," I said. "I have no idea where that gun came from and I sure as hell don't know how my fingerprints could have gotten on it."

    Detective Olson didn't comment on my answer he just said that he needed to call his partner.

    "Can your partner be trusted?"I asked.

    "Absolutely," was all he said.

    Detective Olson used his cell phone to make the call.

    "Hi Sarah, sorry to bother you this late but I need to talk to Bob.

    "Have him call me when he gets out of the shower... Thanks Sarah.

    "I had to sit through what seemed like an interminable five minutes of silence before Detective Olson's cell phone rang.

    "Hey Bob. Thanks for returning my call so quickly.

    "I need you to come over to the house.

    "Rather not say right now.

    "Okay thanks, I'll see you in ten minutes."

    After that Detective Olson went out into the hallway and made a second call but I couldn't hear any of that conversation. When Detective Olson returned to the kitchen he said, "I am going to make a pot of coffee. It's going to be a long night."

    I hoped that his not taking me to the police station meant that he was taking my story about the two cops on Big Tony's payroll seriously.

    Chapter 15 - Friday June 13, 12:30 AM

    It was almost 12:30 when there was a knock on the kitchen door. Detective Olson opened the door and admitted a tall thin man, about thirty years old.

    "This is Detective Robert Barron." Detective Olson said. "Bob, this is Tom Blanchard."

    "Coffee, Bob?"

    "Sure," Detective Barron said. "Isn't he the guy that shot you in the parking lot at the diner?"

    "He says no but I want you to hear the story from him."

    Detective Olson looked at me. "Coffee?"

    I nodded my head.

    While he was pouring the coffee, Detective Olson explained to Detective Barron that I came to his house to give myself up because I had reason to believe that two Riverton police officers were being paid to make sure I would not live long enough to go to trial for shooting my wife.

    "Mr. Blanchard I want you to tell Detective Barron your story starting from when you left work on Tuesday up until you arrived at my house tonight."

    "What about Holly?" I said. "Someone needs to protect her tonight."

    "That's been taken care of," Olson said. "Start at the beginning and tell Detective Barron everything."

    "You want me to go all of the way back to when I left work on Tuesday?"

    "Yes. I wasn't initially involved in this case, so I need to be brought up to speed." Detective Barron said. "Be as specific as you can with times and places."

    So, I told my story again starting when I left work and was most of the way home when I remembered that I was supposed to pick up Holly's order at JC Penney's. I told him about what I found when I got home. I described in as much detail as I could, what happened in the parking lot at the Riverton Diner. I was very careful telling him what happened on Parker's Hill so that my story didn't differ from what I had told Detective Olson earlier.

    Detective Barron listened intently to my story, often asking a question to clarify something I said. When I was done, detectives Barron and Olson stepped out into the hallway that led from the kitchen to the front of the house.

    "You're not buying his story are you?" Detective Barron said. "A tall skinny guy called Slim and a short fat guy called Porky working for a guy they called Big Tony, plotted to kill his wife and him? But he has no idea why this Big Tony wants them dead. His story sounds like the plot from a cheap gangster movie from the fifties.

    "The gun that was used to shoot his wife was found in his garage and it had his finger prints on it. On top of that you are an eyewitness in his attempt to shoot you. Let's just book this guy and get some sleep."

    "I know the story is hard to believe but there are some parts of this case that bother me," detective Olson said. "First there is the gun. There was no record that Blanchard had ever owned a gun and the serial number on the one we found had been filed off. I just think that if he planned to kill his wife and he took the trouble to buy a gun on the street that he would have made sure that she was dead before he called 911. I would also think that he would have had a better plan for disposing of the gun than hiding it in his garage."

    "You think the gun was planted?"

    "Maybe."

    "Then how did his finger prints get on the gun?"

    "That I don't know," detective Olson said. "Then there was the bag from JC Penney's."

    "What about it?"

    "We found it on the sofa near the doorway to the kitchen. The bag contained lingerie and a receipt from the catalog department at Penney's. The time stamp on the receipt was Tuesday at 6:01 PM. We contacted the store and they verified that Mr. Blanchard picked up the order and paid with his Master Card. We have a neighbor who claims to have heard what sounded like gun shots at 6:05PM. So the time line doesn't work. He could not have gotten home from the mall in time to shoot his wife at 6:05."

    "What about him shooting you at the diner?"Detective Barron asked.

    "I only really saw the first shot and it looked strange to me. I never saw Blanchard's hand come up over the top of the car. The muzzle flash appeared to come from his arm pit. The impact of the bullets hitting me knocked me off my feet and I hit my head on a curb stone when I fell. I was unconscious until the ambulance came so I didn't see anything else. So the shooting could have happened the way he said it did."

    "So you believe his story?"

    "I think he might be telling the truth."

    "You think the DA will buy it?"

    "Fuck no. That tight ass wants to hang Blanchard. He wants to run for Mayor next year so a quick conviction would help his chances."

    "You think putting a guy away for shooting his wife would help him that much?"

    "No, but nailing a guy who shot a cop would."

    "We are going to have to book him you know?" Detective Barron said.

    I wondered if the two detectives realized that I had heard everything they said or if they even cared. When they came back into the kitchen, Detective Olson said, "Mr. Blanchard, we are going to have to take you downtown."

    On the way out of the house Detective Olson stopped at the hall closet and got a hooded sweatshirt and told me to put it on. When I had the sweatshirt on, Detective Olson handcuffed me and led me out to Detective Barron's car.

    When we got to the station, Detective Olson helped me out of the car and then he pulled the hood on the sweatshirt up to cover my head. It was quiet outside as we walked across the parking lot. It seemed so peaceful after everything I had been through the last two days and what I was about to go through inside the police station.

    "We will be entering through the squad room so, when we get inside, keep your head down. Don't look up, even if you think someone is talking to you do not look up. Got that?" said Detective Olson.

    "Got it,' I responded.

    Going from the dark peaceful parking lot to the bright florescent lighting inside the noisy squad room made my eyes burn and my stomach roll. As Detective Olson led me across the room I heard someone say, "Hey Olson what ya got there, a fairy peeper or a flasher?" This was followed by laughter.

    "Just some punk I caught him selling drugs out by the mall," Detective Olson replied. "I'm taking him upstairs to interrogate him."

    The three of us crossed the squad room and got on an elevator. The elevator doors opened and Detective Olson pushed me ahead of him down a dimly lit hallway and into a dark room. Olson turned on the lights and closed the door behind us. The room was no more than ten feet by ten feet. There was a gray, vinyl top table in the middle of the room with a single chair on one side and two chairs on the opposite side. The floor and the walls of the room were almost the same color gray as the table. On one wall there was what I assumed was a two way mirror. The lone door, also gray, had a small window in it.

    Olson pulled the sweatshirt hood off my head and guided me around to the side of the table with only one chair. He removed the handcuffs and told me to sit down. I sat down facing the two way mirror on the opposite wall. The drabness of the room did nothing to relieve my anxiety.

    "Detective Barron has gone to call the District Attorney. He'll come over and you'll have to tell your story again. He'll decide if he wants to prosecute or if he wants us to investigate the story you've told us. Detective Olson and I sat without speaking for at least ten minutes until there was a soft knock on the door. I looked toward the door but couldn't see anyone through the window.

    "I'll be right back," Olson said and then left me alone in the room.

    I could see Detective Olson and Detective Barron and a third man standing outside the room talking. I wondered if that was the District Attorney. How could he have gotten there so soon?

    End Part Three



    Riverton Pt. 04

    Chapter 16 – Special Agent Kyle Van Horn

    The three men talked for several minutes and then stepped back into the room.

    "Mr. Blanchard this is Special Agent Kyle Van Horn from the FBI. He would like to ask you some questions," Detective Barron said.

    Agent Van Horn shook hands with Detective Olson and then reached over the table and offered me his hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Blanchard. I just wish we were meeting under better circumstances.

    "I am out here from the Philadelphia Field Office trying to track down Anthony Lombardo. Detective Barron told me that you have had some involvement with him, is that correct?"

    "I don't know anyone by that name," I said.

    "Maybe you know him as Big Tony."

    "I know that name. I have never met the bastard but he is responsible for my wife being shot and an attempt being made on my life."

    "So you have never seen Big Tony?" Agent Van Horn said. "How is it that you know his name?"

    "Porky and Slim told me about him," I said.

    "Who are Porky and Slim?" Agent Van Horn asked.

    "They are the two idiots that shot my wife and tried to kill me."

    "Why don't you tell me how it is that these men told you about Big Tony."

    So I repeated my story about what happened on Parker's Hill. When I finished, Agent Van Horn opened his briefcase and pulled a folder from it. Agent Van Horn then removed several photographs from the folder and placed them face up on the table in front of me.

    "Do you recognize any of these people?" Agent Van Horn asked.

    I spotted Porky and Slim almost immediately and pointed them out to Van Horn. "That's the one I call Slim and that one is Porky.

    Van Horn pointed to Slim and said, "This is Mike (Bean) Soriano and this fat guy is Tommy (Pug) Fazio. Do you recognize any of the others?"

    As I studied the pictures I started to say that I had never seen any of the others before but stopped when something caught my eye. I stared at one of the pictures for a minute. It was a fat bald guy. I couldn't think of how I might have known him but there was something familiar about him.

    "This guy," I said pointing to his picture. "I can't remember why I know him but I know him," I said. Looking at the picture I got the impression that the guy was a bit of a slob and then it came to me. "Danny DiVito," I said out loud.

    "Danny DeVito the actor?" Van Horn asked.

    "No. When I met this guy he reminded me a little of Danny DiVito but fatter and obviously a slob," I said.

    "Where did you meet him?"

    "Oh shit, that explains the finger prints on the gun," I said.

    "What are you talking about?" Detective Olson asked.

    "I have a part time job installing high speed internet service for the local phone company. I have to go to people's homes to do the installations. I installed this guy's Internet service."

    "His name is Sammy (Meatball) DeLucia," Van Horn said.

    "He was living in one of those condos on the north side of town near the river," I said. "When I went to his condo he came to the door dressed in boxer shorts and a tee shirt. Only, then he was wearing a pair of glasses with thick lenses. I remember that he was chewing on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the jelly was running down his hand to his wrist and there was a mess of it on his shirt.

    "Anyway, when I sat down to configure his modem he had a gun sitting next to his computer keyboard. I asked him to remove the gun because I didn't feel comfortable with it being right there where I was working. He told me it wasn't loaded and then asked me to go ahead and check to make sure it wasn't loaded. He said that he didn't want to touch the gun with peanut butter and jelly on his hands.

    "I had no clue how to do that. So he stood there and told me how to eject the clip and pull the slide back to make sure the gun was empty. The clip was empty and there wasn't anything in the chamber either. I tried to hand the gun back to him but he asked me to put the clip back in and leave it on the table.

    "I'll bet that was the gun they used to shoot Holly and that is how my finger prints got on the gun."

    Detective Barron asked Van Horn who the other men in the photos were.

    "This one is Anthony Big Tony Lombardo. He's a small time hood with big time aspirations," Van Horn said. . He runs dope, numbers, and illegal gambling in Trenton, New Jersey.

    "We have been trying to pin the killings of two rival gang members last year on him. We found their bodies in a swamp near the Meadowlands Sports complex."

    I almost said, "I heard them talking about that earlier tonight." If I had said it my story would have been blown. I would have to tell them I had been in the basement of the farm house and I didn't dare tell them that.

    "This one is Nigel (Bagger) Needham," Van Horn said. Bagger came over from England to avoid some legal problems he was having there. He has been in the US for about five years and he is Big Tony's number one man.

    "This is Guy Dugan. He is new to the group and so far hasn't earned a nick name."

    "How long have you been after Big Tony and his gang?" Detective Olson asked.

    "Just since those bodies were found last year," Van Horn said. We had an informant tell us that Bagger and Big Tony did the job themselves but we haven't been able to prove it yet."

    "So, why are they here?" Detective Olson asked.

    "Don't know," Van Horn said.

    "I do," I said. "It's like I have been telling you, they came here to kill Holly and me and I would like to know why."

    "How did you know that they were here?" Detective Olson asked.

    "We've been watching them," Van Horn said. "We have their phones tapped and we even have a bug in their little social club in Trenton. This trip was never mentioned in any of the conversations we intercepted. Big Tony did make several references to some party he was planning but no one ever even hinted what that might be or where it might take place. The only lead we had was that Meatball Delucia was out here in Riverton back in March.

    "Then last week, without any hint that they were up to anything the whole gang disappeared. We might never have located them out here except that Bean used his credit card to by food in a local Chinese restaurant. We have been trying to locate them out here but we haven't had any luck finding them yet."

    I almost laughed out loud. I sure as hell didn't have any trouble finding Big Tony and his associates and I could tell Agent Van Horn right where they all were at that moment but I didn't.

    "Did you tell Agent Van Horn that you have two of your officers on Big Tony's payroll?" I said.

    "Van Horn's head snapped around and he looked at Detective Barron. "Is that true?"

    "We don't know for sure. Apparently Pug and Bean told Mr. Blanchard that Big Tony paid off a couple of officers to make sure that Mr. Blanchard never goes to trial for shooting his wife," Detective Barron said.

    "Well that changes things," Van Horn said. Big Tony probably already knows that I'm here. Kind of makes this a wasted trip."

    A part of me was angry that Van Horn didn't seem to care that Big Tony had come to Riverton to kill Holly and me. He was just trying to pin the murder of two other scum bags on Big Tony. The only reason I didn't go ballistic was because I was about 100% sure that Big Tony and his gang were all incinerated in the explosion at the Cheswick Farm.

    Just then Detective Barron's phone rang. The detective answered the phone and listened for a moment and then disconnected.

    "WW is on the way up," Detective Barron said.

    "Who's WW?" Van Horn asked.

    "Walter White, our fearless DA."

    Less than a minute later the DA walked into the room. There were now five people in that small room and it was getting uncomfortably warm in there.

    "Detective Olson, Is this Mr. Blanchard? Why isn't he in lock up?" WW said.

    "Because he didn't shoot his wife and he didn't shoot me," Detective Olson said.

    WW had a sour expression on his face, obviously not happy with what Detective Olson just told him. "So, what the hell is going on here?"

    The next hour was spent with me telling my story again to the DA and then Agent Van Horn explaining who Big Tony was and why the FBI was in Riverton looking for him.

    We had just about finished answering all of the DA's questions when another man stuck his head in the door. I recognized him as Police Chief Harry Dodson.

    "Chief, what are you doing here this time of night?" Detective Barron asked the Chief.

    "I was just about to ask you that. I was called in by the Fire Marshall. There was a huge explosion and fire out on County Route 15."

    "Was that the loud boom I heard a few of hours ago?" Detective Barron asked.

    "Probably. It was the old Cheswick Farm. The Fire Marshall thinks that there must have been a propane leak under the house. Anyway, there is nothing left of the house. The fire department is still looking for victims," Chief Dodson said.

    I let out a small sigh of relief at hearing that the Fire Marshall believed that the explosion was an accident.

    "I thought that house was empty," Detective Olson said.

    "The estate agent handling the house said that she had rented the house for two months beginning four weeks ago. Said a guy named Sam DeLucia signed the lease agreement but she had no idea how many people would be staying there.

    Agent Van Horn suddenly became very animated. "Have they found any bodies?"

    "Who are you?" Chief Dodson asked Van Horn.

    "I am Special Agent Kyle Van Horn of the FBI."

    "And what is your interest in this fire?"

    "I am out here tailing some organized crime members from New Jersey and Sam DeLucia was one of them," Van Horn said.

    "And just what are these New Jersey mobsters doing in Riverton?" the Chief asked.

    "We don't know that yet," Van Horn said.

    "God damn it, isn't anyone listening to me?' I yelled. "They came out here to kill my wife and me."

    "Who are you?" The Chief asked.

    "I am Tom Blanchard."

    "Oh, you're the one that tried to kill your wife and then shot Detective Olson."

    "No, he didn't," Detective Olson said.

    "Then would someone explain to me what Mr. Blanchard, two of my detectives, the DA and an FBI agent are doing here at this time of night?" The Chief asked.

    So, once again I told my story, and then Agent Van Horn told his.

    At that point I was about out of patience. Everyone was asking questions and no one was doing anything. With six people jammed into the small space the room temperature was nearly unbearable.

    "Right now," I said loudly, "I am not very impressed with the gathered law enforcement talent in this room. I have been telling you all night that Big Tony is trying to kill me and my wife. He has paid someone at the hospital to kill Holly tonight and all the lot of you can do is stand around and marvel that none of you can find their own ass using both hands."

    The DA gave me an indignant look and said, "That was uncalled for. We are all doing our best to get to the bottom of this situation."

    "Bullshit, all you are concerned about is how this case will affect you run for mayor next year," I said. "Now is somebody going to tell me what you are doing to protect my wife?"

    The room became very quiet for a moment.

    "I have a guy watching her room," Detective Olson said. "If anyone tries to enter her room he or she will be stopped."

    "Thank you," I said.

    Chapter 17 – Voices From Heaven or Most Likely Hell

    The quiet time ended. The two detectives, the FBI agent, the DA and the Police Chief all started talking, each trying to speak loud enough to be heard over the others. I wanted to scream and run out the door. All I wanted to do was to get out of that room and go to the hospital to be with Holly but I couldn't even get to the door. Then to make matters worse another person entered the room.

    "Oh, here you are Chief. The man looked around the crowed room and then spoke to the Chief. We have identified four bodies so far."

    "Just four?" I almost said it out loud. My heart started pounding as I worried about which two of Big Tony's gang might have survived the blast.

    The Chief then introduced the new member of our crime stoppers convention to Agent Van Horn. "Agent Van Horn, this is David Green, our Fire Marshall.

    "We have searched the area in and around the house or what's left of the house, and have found four bodies. We are still searching the area but it's quite dark out there and it may be morning before we know if there are any other victims. We have tentatively identified the four as: Thomas Fazio, Mike Soriano, Samuel Delucia and George Dugan all from Trenton, New Jersey."

    "Then Big Tony and Bagger are still out there somewhere," Agent Van Horn said.

    "Who are they?" the Fire Marshall said.

    This time I kept my mouth shut and let Agent Van Horn tell his story.

    We may still find them yet," the Fire Marshall said and then continued. "One of my men found this lying in the driveway. I think it must have been inside the house when the explosion occurred."

    I could not believe what I saw. The Fire Marshall handed the Chief my voice recorder. The one I had hidden in the kitchen at the farm house.

    The chief push play and we heard voices and then he hit stop. The Chief studied the unit for a few moments and managed to figure out how to begin play from the beginning of the recording.

    "Let's see what we have here," the Chief said and then pressed play and set the recorder on the table. The playback began with the sound of a door closing. I knew that was me closing the cellar door as I retreated down the stairs to get out of the Kitchen before Big Tony and his goons came into the house. Then the voices that I had become so familiar with filled the small room.

    "So what do we do now Boss? The cops don't know where he is, so how we gonna find him?"

    "We sit tight. Maybe those numb nuts cops will find him. Either way that bitch dies tonight. Tomorrow Bean, you and Pug will take Blanchard's car down to St. Louis and dump it somewhere. "

    "How ya gonna do her in the hospital with all them people around?"

    "We got a guy, a fuckin male nurse, on night shift at the hospital. He's gonna pay her a little visit around three o'clock in the morning and give her a shot of insulin. Nobody will notice because she is already in a coma. She'll be dead before morning and it will look like she died from her injuries."

    "What if they do one of them autopsy things on her? Won't they find out about the insulin?"

    "Maybe, but we'll be long away from here before that happens, "Our friend in the hospital is going to drop Blanchard's cell phone under her bed. Make it look like Blanchard paid her a visit. If they discover the insulin in her system the coppers will think Blanchard went to the hospital to finish the job."

    "Oh, right. Good plan."

    "I am so glad you approve since it's your fault we're still here. If you and Bean hadn't fucked things up in the first place we would be back home by now."

    "Bean?"

    "Yeah Boss."

    "I want you to go into town and get some Chinese food."

    "Can't we have it delivered?"

    "What, are you fuckin brain dead? Nobody knows we're here and I want to keep it that

    way."

    I had heard all of that while I was hiding in the cellar. This is where the conversation changed to other unimportant topics. At that point Van Horn made the observation that all six men were in the house. Then the Chief fast forwarded a little at a time until we heard Bean return with their Chinese take-out.

    We listened to them as they ate and then Bagger told the story of how he and Big Tony had wacked two members of a rival gang.

    "Got the bastard now," Van Horn said.

    After that the conversation turned to other stories about criminal activity. Then we heard Big Tony say, "Bagger, come out front with me so we can talk in private."

    The others continued telling stories until Porky said, "Did you hear that?"

    "Hear what?" sounded like Slim.

    "That noise. Sounds like someone taking a shower."

    "Right, who the fuck do you think is taking a shower?"

    "I don't know, maybe Big Tony."

    "He's with Bagger. What, you think they's in the shower together."

    It seemed like it was quiet for a few minutes and then someone said, "What the fuck is that smell?"

    Then there was a loud noise followed by lots of different sounds that I could not identify. After that there were all kinds of sounds. Sirens, the sounds of large trucks, voices shouting and then silence.

    "Is there any way that anyone in the house could have survived that explosion?" Van Horn asked.

    "No,' said the Fire Marshall. "If, like you said, there were six men in the house, the two that were missing must have gone outside before the explosion. If they were standing in the front yard below the level of the front porch they might have survived. They might also have survived if they had gone back to the barn. The barn was left intact but I don't think they would have been in the barn."

    "Why?" Van Horn asked.

    "There was a car inside the barn," The Fire Marshall said. "If they were in the barn when the house blew up why didn't they take the car to get away?"

    Trying to move things along I asked, "What kind of car was it?"

    "It was a Mustang."

    "Did you happen to see the license number?" I asked.

    "It was a vanity plate. It said TECHSAN."

    "That's my car," I said.

    Nobody seemed to pay any attention to what I had said about the car.

    "I need to get out there?" Agent Van Horn said.

    "I'll go with you to show you the way," DA Walter White said.

    It was obvious that the DA saw an opportunity to make himself look good. In his campaign for mayor he could talk about how he had worked with the FBI to help close a case involving organized crime.

    "You can all follow me," the Fire Marshall said, "I have to go back out there anyway."

    Detective Barron looked at Detective Olson and said, "I think I better go with them so they don't hurt themselves.

    Now I was alone in the room with Detective Olson.

    "So what happens now?" I asked.

    "Well, you are free to go," he said. "I'll let everyone know you are no longer a person of interest in your wife's shooting or in mine."

    "Can you get someone to give me a ride to the hospital? I need to be with my wife."

    "I'll take you there myself," Detective Olson said. "I need to check on security for your wife and see how she is doing."

    Chapter 18 – 3:35 AM Friday June 13

    It was 3:35 in the morning when I arrived at Holly's room.

    On the way out of the Police Station, Detective Olson made a call to the hospital to tell them we were coming over when he got off the phone he was smiling.

    "The hospital security guys caught a male nurse going into your wife's room with a syringe and an ampule of insulin. They are holding him for me."

    "Oh, thank God," I said. "That's a load off my mind."

    When we got to the hospital, I headed up to Holly's room while Detective Olson went down to the hospital security office to take Holly's would be killer into custody.

    When I went into the room I kissed Holly on the cheek. She didn't respond but I noticed that her eyes, while closed, were moving. They were quite active.

    I pulled a chair up next to the bed and had just sat down when someone entered the room behind me. I turned to find a doctor standing in the doorway.

    "Mr. Blanchard?" I am Dr. Ravi Shah. The duty nurse called me and said that you were here."

    "How is she? Any change?"

    "Well Mr. Blanchard, your wife has shown some improvement. She still has not regained consciousness but we have noted some very good signs. If you look at her eyes you will see lots of eye movement. There have also been several instances of her moving her arms and legs. These are indications that she may be coming out of her coma."

    "How soon will she wake up?"

    "I don't know that yet," Dr. Shah said.


    "Are you any relation to the Dr. Shah that operated on my wife Tuesday?"

    "He is my brother."

    I wondered why that mattered to me. I guess I just need to talk to someone that didn't want to either arrest me or kill me.

    "How long will you be staying Mr. Blanchard?"

    "I will be here until someone throws me out."

    "That will not happen Mr. Blanchard but be aware, there will be nurses and doctors coming in to check on Mrs. Blanchard every two hours."

    "Thank you. I will try to stay out of their way."

    Chapter 19 – 4:27 AM Friday June 13

    I slept in the chair by Holly's bed for five minutes a time until nearly 4:30 AM. I had to relieve myself and decided to use the bathroom in Holly's room rather than go down the hall to the public rest room.

    I had just finished and was about to flush the toilet when I heard a voice the made my flesh crawl.

    "Here's your bird." It wasn't the words that affected me as much as it was the speaker's British accent.

    I peeked out the bathroom door but didn't see anyone and I had just about decided that I was just overtired and it was my imagination that I heard Bagger talking. I started to reach out to flush the toilet when I heard the voice again, and this time I knew it wasn't my imagination.

    "Let's do this quickly and be on our way."

    I looked back out the bathroom door again and watched as Bagger and Big Tony approach Holly's bed.

    I quickly looked around the bathroom for a weapon but the only weapon available was a metal bedpan. I picked up the bedpan as quietly as I could and moved to the bathroom door and looked out again.

    The two men were standing next to the bed staring at Holly. I started to open the door, moving slowly so I would not alert them to my presence. Just then Big Tony pulled a gun out of the waist band of his pants and pointed it at Holly's head.

    I froze. "What the hell do I do now?" I thought. There was no way I could get to him before he could shoot Holly.

    I was about to scream as loud as I could to draw Big Tony's attention away from Holly and hopefully get the attention of anyone at the nurse's station.

    It was Bagger that saved me from having to do that. He grabbed Big Tony's arm and said, "You can't use that gun in here. Everyone will hear it. The coppers will be here before we can get out of the building."

    Big Tony just stared at Bagger for a moment and then said, "You're right."

    "Use her fuckin pillow," Bagger suggested.

    As Big Tony pulled the pillow out from under Holly's head I stepped into the room behind Bagger. Holding the bedpan in both hands I swung it as hard as I could into the side of Bagger's head. Bagger fell sideways crashing into the tray table at the end of Holly's bed. Both the table and Bagger ended up on the floor. The tray table crashing to the floor made quite a racket and I hoped that it got the attention of someone at the nurse's station.

    The noise did get Big Tony's attention and when he turned and saw me he dropped the pillow and started to reach for his gun. His hand was on the grip of the gun when I managed to hit him square in the face with the bedpan.

    The impact against Big Tony's head knocked the bedpan from my hands and shot it across the floor and out into the hall. Big Tony was dazed but he was still trying to pull his gun out of his pants. I had no choice but to attack so I grabbed Big Tony's shirt with both hands and pushed him backward against Holly's bed. Once I had him bent over backwards onto the bed I yanked him sideways off the bed, falling to the floor with me coming down on top of him. When we hit the floor there was an explosive noise that left my ears ringing. Big Tony had fired his gun but failed to hit me. I didn't wait to give Big Tony a chance to fire his gun again. I started beating on his head with both of my hands bouncing his head off the floor with each punch. I don't know how many times I had hit him or how long our fight had lasted. All I know is that I didn't stop until two hospital security guards pulled me off him.

    When it was over, Big Tony was alive but just barely. I was surprised at how much blood there was on the floor and could not believe that I had done that much damage to him with just my fists.

    I looked around I saw Bagger laying on the floor with one of the security guards holding him down while talking into his hand held radio.

    Chapter 20 – 6:15 AM Friday June 13

    I had no idea how much time had passed since I had last seen Detective Olson until I looked up at the clock in the police station. It was 6:15 AM. Detective Olson looked exhausted, which made me wonder how bad I looked. I hadn't had any real sleep since Wednesday night and my body was hurting in more places than I believed possible.

    We were sitting in the squad room at Detective Olson's desk when my favorite crime fighters returned to the station. That is the DA, the Chief of Police, FBI Special Agent Van Horn and Detective Barron.

    It was obvious that DA White was upset that he had missed out on the action at the hospital. He wanted to be in on the capture of Big Tony to help further his political career but the story was going to be on the morning news and his name would not be mentioned in connection with the arrest.

    The Chief and Detective Barron didn't seem to care one way or the other. I think they were just happy that Big Tony and Bagger we captured and now they could go home.

    Van Horn, on the other hand, seemed positively ecstatic. I guess he figured that with the evidence on the voice recorder gave him what he needed to put Big Tony away. What he didn't know yet was that Detective Olson planned to make sure that Riverton had first crack at Big Tony for the attempted murder of Holly and the attempts on his life and mine. I didn't think Van Horn would be very happy about that.

    For the next hour I told and retold the story of what happened in Holly's hospital room.

    When they were done with their questions I was told I could have my car back. It turns out that they found my car keys in Pug Fazio's pocket. The car was then brought into the police station and dusted for prints and searched for any other evidence that would help in the case against Anthony Lombardo. When they were done with the car I was given the keys. Then finally sometime around 7:30 that morning, Detective Olson offered to buy me breakfast at the Riverton Dinner.

    Chapter 21 – Holly Awakens

    At 2:35 PM on Friday the twentieth of June, Holly woke up from her coma. The hospital called me at work with the good news and twenty minutes later I was walking into Holly's room.

    I thought for a moment that she looked confused when she saw me, as if she didn't know who I was but then her face lit up with a big smile and she held out her hand to me. After several kisses I got Holly to release my hand long enough for me to pull a chair over next to the bed. Dr. Shah came in shortly after I arrived and told us that everything looked good and he expected Holly to make a full recovery.

    Holly's only remaining problem was that her memories of what happened to her were a bit cloudy and at times it seemed that she didn't understand what she was doing in the hospital. Dr. Shah said that her confusion was a side effect of the medications she had been on and that things should come into focus for her over the next few hours.

    Detective Olson had left word at the hospital that he was to be called if there was any change in Holly's condition and if she might then be able to talk about what happened to her. Detective Olson walked into Holly's room shortly after five o'clock and told us that the FBI asked him to get a statement from Holly. Then Detective Olson pulled out a voice recorder and asked Holly if she felt up to answering some questions.

    "I don't know how much help I can be. My memory of what happened is foggy. It's right there," Holly said. "I can almost see it but it's like trying to stare at something in the dark. You think you can see something but if you look directly at it, it disappears. It's there and then it's gone.

    Detective Olson and I went down to the cafeteria for coffee so that Holly could rest for a while. Holly was awake when we got back to the room shortly after six o'clock. It wasn't until nearly seven o'clock that evening that it happened. Holly was resting with her eyes closed when I noticed a tear start to roll down her face. Then there were more tears followed by sobbing. "Oh God, it's all my fault," Holly wailed. Then she opened her eyes and looked at me. "I nearly got you killed."

    "What are you talking about?"

    "I remember what happened!" Holly said with the tears streaming down her cheeks.

    "Tell us what happened in as much detail as you can remember?" Detective Olson said.

    "It was Tuesday. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work to get some ground beef to make a meatloaf for our dinner. I got home just before five o'clock and was getting ready to start dinner when I heard the door bell.

    "I went to the door I could see two men standing on the porch with their backs to me. When I opened the door and asked if I could help them, one of them put his hand on my chest and pushed me back into the house. I told them to leave but they just laughed at me."

    "Did you know these men?" Detective Olson asked.

    "Yes. I didn't recognize them immediately but when they came into the house I remembered who they were. I hadn't seen them in over six years and I never expected to see them in Riverton."

    "Who were they?"

    "Pug Fazio and Bean Soriano.

    "Pug forced me into the kitchen and told me to sit at the table. Then Bean asked me what time Tom would get home. I told him that Tom usually got home around 5:45.

    "I asked them what they wanted and Pug said they would wait until Tom got home and then tell us what they wanted. Pug sat down at the table across from me and Bean just paced nervously around the kitchen.

    "When Tom hadn't arrived by six o'clock both of them seemed to get more nervous. At first I thought that Pug and Bean were sent to bring me back to Tony but when they said they were going to wait for Tom I knew they were going to kill both of us."

    Holly looked at me with tears running down her cheeks and said, "I couldn't let them kill you because of a mistake I made in my past so when Bean said that he heard a car coming and Pug started to get up to see if it was you I ran to the back door and tried to get out. I hoped that I could warn you or if they shot me you would hear the gun shots and not come inside. That is the last thing I remember."

    "How did you know these two men?" Detective Olson asked Holly.

    "They worked for my former boyfriend."

    "They worked for Mike?" I asked. That surprised me. What did her former boyfriend have to do with Big Tony and his gang?

    "Who's Mike?" Holly said.

    "Mike, your ex-boyfriend, isn't he the guy you were running away from when you came to Riverton," I said.

    "I am so sorry Tom. I lied to you about that. His name wasn't Mike," Holly said.

    I looked at Detective Olson and he just shrugged his shoulders. I turned back to Holly. "Why did you lie to me about his name?"

    "I had just met you and I really didn't want to talk about anything that happened before I left New Jersey," Holly said. "You never asked about it again so I never brought it up. I guess I should have but I never expected him to come looking for me."

    "Didn't expect who to come looking for you?" Detective Olson asked.

    "Tony Lombardo. I was afraid when I first left Trenton that he would come after me. When several months went by and he didn't show up I figured that he wasn't ever going to come after me."

    "Mrs. Blanchard, why don't you tell me about your relationship with Big Tony?" Detective Olson said.

    "You know about Big Tony?" Holly said.

    "Some. Why don't you tell me about him?"

    "I Meet Tony when I was a public defender in Trenton. I was just a year out of law school and trying to get noticed by some of the large law firms and one of the older lawyers in the PD office suggested that I stop for drinks at the Ambassador Hotel bar after work. He said that lawyers from most of the local firms gathered there after work for drinks and to network. He told me it would be a great place for me to meet people that could help my career.

    "I started going to the Ambassador two or three times a week and then one night I noticed this guy standing with Ben Garrison, one of Trenton's most prominent criminal defense lawyers. He was tall with a full head of dark hair and quite handsome and he was staring at me. I assumed that if he was drinking with Ben that he was also lawyer.

    "When I noticed that he kept staring at me even as I moved about the room I decided that I should find out who he was. So, I walked over and introduced myself to him. He told me his name was Anthony Lombardo but he said that I should call him Tony.

    "I asked him what firm her worked for and he laughed. He said that he didn't work for any of the local law firms but several of them worked for him at one time or another."

    "When he told you his name you didn't know who he was a criminal?" Detective Olson said.

    "No. When I asked him what he did for a living he told me that he was just a businessman.

    "I had a drink with Tony that night and then I went home. I ran into him at the Ambassador again a few nights later and he asked me to have dinner with him. He said he had a business proposition he wanted to discuss with me.

    "While we were eating dinner Tony told me that he wanted to hire me as his personal and business attorney. He gave me a brief description of what my duties would be and how much he would pay. His offer was nearly twice what I was making as a public defender and it looked like the perfect opportunity for me to start to make a name for myself.

    "I was young and naïve and Tony seem almost bigger than life to me. I thought he was wonderful and I developed a huge crush on him. Tony started taking me out to dinner a couple of times a week and then one night after dinner Tone simply said 'I want you to come home with me and spend the night.'

    "Tom, I know this is hard for you to listen to but please remember that all this happened a long time before I met you," Holly said.

    "I know. It's okay," I said even though I wasn't sure if it was okay. I would have to hear the rest of the story to decide.

    "After that night I was not only his attorney but I was also Tony's girlfriend. Two months later he had me move into his house and shortly after that it all started to turn sour. That is when I started to realize what Tony really did for a living. Tony would talk about criminal acts he was planning right in front of me. I worried that if Tony got into trouble I might also face charges. I could have been disbarred. I tried to discuss this with Tony and he told me that as his attorney I didn't have anything to worry about. He assumed that anything that I heard him talking about was protected by attorney client privilege but that wasn't completely true.

    "I told Tony that I didn't want to be his lawyer anymore and that was when I saw his nasty side for the first time. He told me that there is only one way I would be able to quit working for him and that I would not like it.

    "I heard the threat in what he said and I felt it in the icy stare he gave me as he said it. He followed his threat with a smile and said, 'You are my attorney and my girlfriend until I say otherwise.'"

    "So what made you decide to run away?" Detective Olson said.

    "One evening I walked into the kitchen and found Tony talking to Nigel Needham."

    "You mean Bagger?" Detective Olson interrupted.

    "How did you know that?"

    "Please continue."

    "Well, Bagger and Tony were talking about a problem they were having with a couple guys and Tony told Bagger to 'We need to make them disappear.' Then Tony looked at me and said, forget you heard that or you will disappear too.

    "That night after Tony went to sleep I packed just what I could carry in one suitcase and I left. I stayed in a cheap motel that night then in the morning I went to the bank and took all of my money out and closed the account. I drove all that day and the next until my check engine light came on. By then I was in Riverton.

    "I thought I might be safe here so I applied for a job at the diner using my middle name Holly instead of first name Jean. I hoped that going by Holly would make it harder for Tony to find me."

    Holly turned to me and said, "I am sorry I lied to you about my past. At the time I didn't know I was going to fall in love with you and that we would get married but I should have told you the truth anyway. Can you ever forgive me?"

    "I already have."

    "But what are we going to do about Tony now? He won't stop until he either kills me or gets himself killed."

    "Big Tony won't be bothering either of you for a long time. He and Bagger are both in custody and will most likely be spending the rest of their lives in prison," Detective Olson said. Then he looked at me and said, "By the way Big Tony is no longer Big Tony."

    "What do you mean?" I said.

    "Remember when his gun discharged when you were fighting with him?"

    "Of course I do," I said. "He shot himself. The bullet went through his left thigh."

    "Yes, but before the bullet went through his thigh it severed his penis. The doctors were only able to save about two inches of it. I heard that his fellow prison hospital inmates are calling him Shorty now," Detective Olson said with a wink and a smile.

    "You fought with Tony?" Holly said.

    "He had to. Big Tony was about to suffocate you with a pillow. Your husband took out both Tony and Bagger with a bedpan."

    "What about the others? Pug and Bean?"

    "The rest of Tony's gang are dead. They were killed when the house they were renting blew up?" Detective Olson said.

    "How did the house blow up?"

    "The Fire Marshall believes it was a propane gas leak," Detective Olson said and then looked at me. "Isn't the Cheswick Farm near the woods you were hiding in when you escaped from Pug and Bean?

    Detective Olson didn't wait for an answer. He turned back to Holly and said, "I'll leave you two alone now. I'll let your husband tell you about his adventures after you were shot. I am glad that you are recovering so well and I hope to meet you again under better circumstances."

    Holly both laughed and cried as I told her my story. When I told her about Porky and Slim and how the fire ants saved me I thought Holly might tear out her stitches she was laughing so hard. Then she started crying.

    "I never want to kill an ant ever again. If it weren't for those fire ants you wouldn't be here with me now. If I had lost you I would not be able to go on. This is all my fault and I hate what you had to go through."

    "The only way this could have been avoided is if I had never met you and I don't even want to think about that," I said. "If it weren't for you I would still be eating most of my meals at the diner." I kissed Holly and then said, "We have the rest of our lives for you to make this up to me. All you have to do now is get well. You do remember that you promised to give me a son don't you?"

    "Or a daughter," Holly said.

    "Or both?"

  12. #9
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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Just Being Neighborly

    By K.K. ©

    Sandy was lying on the bed and I was at the foot of the bed slowly pushing her skirt up her thighs. When I had her sexy black panties exposed I was seeing them for the second time that evening. The first time had been when I opened the car door for her in the restaurant parking lot. As she swung her right leg out of the car I had an unobstructed view of Sandy's beautiful thighs and the black satiny patch of material that hid her pussy from my sight. She had hesitated for a couple of seconds, I'm sure, to give me a good look. The realization that I was going to have sex with Sandy struck me at that moment and from that point on I had an erection.

    When I had her skirt bunched above her waist I began kissing my way up the inside of her legs. As I kissed and licked the inside of her thighs the intoxicating scent of her sex became stronger. The combination of the natural scent of her arousal combined with the scent of the soap or shampoo she had used when she bathed had my head spinning and my cock dripping. When I ran my tongue over the crotch of her panties I knew that the fantasy that had been in my head for the last three months was about to actually take place.

    Before I continue with my narrative, let me tell you about the events that brought me to this, the brink of fantasy becoming reality.

    Three months ago as my wife Jo and I were eating breakfast we noticed a moving van parked on the street behind our house. The house that backed up to our property had been for sale for several months and the sold sign had finally appeared about three weeks ago. Jo and I had been looking forward to having neighbors behind us so we were both excited about the prospect of meeting our new neighbors. We sat all through breakfast and a second cup of coffee staring out the back window hoping to get a look at the new owners. Unfortunately I had to leave for work before they made an appearance.

    When I got home from work that evening I asked Jo if she had seen the new neighbors. She said that she had seen them in the back yard and said that they were a cute couple. Now I have to tell you that Jo's idea of a cute couple is that the two people fit together. If one is fat and the other skinny or one is tall and the other short they wouldn't be a cute couple. To Jo being a cute couple has nothing to do with the physical appearance of either individual but has everything to do with how the two people look together. So Jo's telling me they were a cute couple didn't tell me very much.

    So I had to question Jo to get some detail. What I got was that the man was slightly taller than me, had dark hair and wasn't heavy and that the woman was blonde, about five feet seven inches tall, and wasn't heavy. Not much of a description.

    Jo and I decided that after dinner we would go over and introduce ourselves to the new neighbors. When we knocked on the door a dark haired man opened it immediately. He looked to be about my age, 32, and was about six feet two inches tall and looked like he was in pretty good shape. He smiled at us and said, "Saw you coming up the walk. Hi. My names Mike Bronson."

    I said, "Glad to meet you Mike. I'm Rich Keller and this is my wife Jo. We live in the house right behind you so we're your back yard neighbors. We just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."

    Mike thanked us and invited us in then turned and called over his shoulder, "Sandy, come down here and meet our neighbors."

    When I saw Sandy coming down the stairs I almost swallowed my tongue. She was a knock out. Shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful face. She had large firm breasts, not huge but very nice. She had a slim waist and beautifully rounded buttocks. She was wearing running shorts, which showed off her beautifully shaped legs. I believe that my mouth actually began to water when I saw her.

    She moved gracefully down the stairs and over to where we were standing in the foyer and said hello. Mike did the introductions, which gave me a chance to get my composure back before I spoke again. Luckily for me Jo took over the conversation for us. She said, "We know your busy trying to get your house settled but we just wanted to come over and say hello and let you know that if there is anyway we can help just let us know."

    Sandy and Mike thanked us and we told them we would give them a few days to get settled, then we would have them over for drinks and to meet some of the other neighbors.

    On the way back to our house Jo said, "They seem nice."

    All I could say was "Yea," because I was afraid that if I said more I might start talking about how beautiful I though Sandy was and I didn't want to upset Jo. Just for the record, Jo is an attractive woman too. Jo is slightly taller than Sandy; she has beautiful dark brown hair, which is accentuated by her dark brown eyes. Jo's breasts aren't as big as Sandy's but are firm and high and have beautiful large nipples. Jo is athletic so her body is in great shape.

    Up until I had met Sandy I always thought that I preferred brunettes to blondes but now I wasn't sure. It would be a mistake to say that I was falling in love with Sandy. Jo was the only woman I ever loved and I had never cheated on her. Sandy just excited me sexually. I had sexual fantasies before but none had grabbed hold of me the way Sandy had from the very first moment I saw her.

    During the next week Jo and I talked to Mike and Sandy over the fence in our back yard a few times but we didn't spend any time with them until Sunday. On Sunday we invited Mike and Sandy and a few other neighbors over for a cook out. The gathering started out with all of the women huddled together on the deck and the men standing around the beer cooler talking about sports and telling jokes. Mike turned out to be a likable guy with good social skills and a good sense of humor. I actually felt a little guilty about the lust I felt for his wife.

    Later on in the day as the drinks had loosened everyone up I found myself alone with Sandy. I tried to keep my conversation innocent and was doing a good job of it. But after a while I began to get the impression that Sandy was flirting with me. I didn't notice it at first when she was complementing me on how nice our house looked and how I did such a great job with my landscaping but when she told me I had a nice body and actually said that she though I was very handsome I began to get uncomfortable. I figured she must have had too much to drink so I looked for an opportunity to change the subject or to get away from her before things got out of control. Finally Jo came over and joined us followed by a couple of other women then Mike came over.

    Later, as we were saying our goodnights to our guests I kept hoping that Jo hadn't noticed me talking to Sandy for so long and that she didn't see Sandy flirting with me. When the last of our neighbors had gone home I asked Jo, "What do you think? Will Mike and Sandy fit in here?"

    I held my breath waiting to hear what Jo would say. "Oh yes. Everyone seemed to like them. They'll fit right in."

    That was a relief. No suspicion, no mention of my talking to Sandy. Of course, over the years I have never given Jo any reason to be suspicious. Jo and I made a clear understanding when we got married that we would always be faithful to each other, and that if that became impossible because one of us stopped loving the other we would be honest about it and end the marriage before we sunk to sneaking around on each other. I knew it would make me crazy if Jo ever cheated on me so I knew I couldn't do that to her.

    Over the next two weeks we had only short encounters with Mike and Sandy when we would see them outside working in the yard. It wasn't until the following weekend that I ran into Sandy at the supermarket. After greeting each other Sandy asked, "Have you got time to have a cup of coffee with me? I want to talk to you about something."

    I immediately became uncomfortable but in spite of my better judgment I agreed to have a cup of coffee with her. I though that she might want to talk about the things she said to me at the cook out. I assumed that she was embarrassed by what she had said and wanted to set the record straight. While I didn't want to sit through that I decided to let her have her say and get it out of the way.

    When we were sitting with our coffee in the Starbuck's located in the shopping center we began talking about how she and Mike were progressing with getting settled in their new house and about how nice the neighbors had been to them since they met them at our cook out. Then Sandy said, "Actually the cook out is what I wanted to talk to you about."

    I thought to myself, 'Here it comes.'

    "That day I had a few too many drinks and said some things I shouldn't have said, but I didn't say anything that I didn't mean. I found myself attracted to you from the first moment I met you and I could tell by the way you were looking at me that the attraction was mutual. I could tell by the way you acted that my comments made you uncomfortable and for that I am sorry. I can tell that you and Jo have a good marriage and I would never want to break that up and I love Mike and I don't want to mess up my marriage either. I just think that if we were very careful we could maybe get together and see what happens and Mike and Jo would never know."

    I was dumbfounded. I had to think for a minute before I could even attempt to respond. Finally I said, "You're right. I do feel a strong sexual attraction to you, but I could never do anything about it because I love Jo too much to do that to her. I know how much it would hurt me if she cheated on me so how can I turn around and cheat in her?"

    Sandy said, "I understand how you feel. I am battling the same guilt. I'm just saying that if we were careful Mike and Jo would never find out what we did and we would get over our feelings of guilt. Anyway, think about it. I won't bring this up again. But if you decide that you would like to get together, just let me know."

    I promised to think about it and let her know if I changed my mind. Then we sat quietly as we finished our coffee.

    That night Jo and I had sex. I hadn't been that horny in several months and Jo noticed. She asked, "What's gotten into you? You haven't been this randy in a long time."

    I said, "I don't know, but are you complaining?"

    Jo said "Absolutely not. That was great"

    Later that night I woke up with a painful erection and realized that I had been having a dream about having sex with Sandy. I couldn't get the thought out of my head and I couldn't get the erection to go down so I turned on my side behind Jo and pressed my cock up against her ass. Jo stirred a little and she reached her hand between us and felt my hard cock. I continued to push my cock against Jo as she squeezed it with her hand. As she gradually woke up and realized what was happening she asked "Are you at it again?"

    I asked, "Would you mind?"

    She said, "No I guess not." With that Jo lifted her leg just enough so that I could push my cock inside her still wet pussy. It had been a long time since we had made love twice in the same night. I had forgotten how it felt to slide my cock into her pussy when she was still holding a load of my semen from earlier. The sensation was great and I was able to climax within a few minutes relieving the tension in my cock but replacing it with a feeling of guilt. After all it was my dream about having sex with Sandy that triggered this event.

    The next day I couldn't get Sandy's proposition out of my head nor could I rid myself of my guilt feelings caused by my lust for her. As the days went by my obsession with Sandy remained but my guilt feelings began to disappear. I managed not to do anything about this until a month ago. I thought I had my libido under control until I looked out my bedroom window on a Saturday afternoon and saw Sandy in a skimpy two-piece bathing suit sun bathing on her deck. I looked at her body and knew I had to have her.

    I waited for my erection to go down then I went out into the yard and started working in my garden. When Sandy heard me out there she came over to the fence to say hello. As innocently as I could make it look I walked over to the fence and whispered to Sandy, "Can you meet me at Starbuck's at five o'clock today?"

    That was all I needed to say Sandy turned to walk back to her deck and as she moved away from me I heard her say "See you there."

    At five o'clock I was already sitting at a table at Starbuck's watching Sandy walking across the parking lot toward me. Sandy came in, got a cup of coffee and sat down with me. She asked, "What's up?"

    I said, "I think me. Are you still interested in getting together?"

    Sandy smiled and said, "Yes. I am. When do you think we can do it?"

    "It will have to be sometime when we can both get out of the house without either Mike or Jo getting suspicious. Maybe on a night when they are both busy. You know this may not be that easy to arrange. To find a time when both Mike and Jo will be occupied so that they won't know we are together. This may never happen."

    Sandy said, "It will be difficult but if we are patient the time will come. The last thing we would want to do is rush things and make a mistake."

    We talked about how we would communicate. We ruled out the telephone. Nothing like strange calls to cause suspicion. Then we discussed using e-mail but decided that even thought we could be reasonably safe with e-mail we didn't want any written evidence of what we were up to. We finally decided to just chat at the back yard fence when we were sure no one would hear us.

    So for the last month Sandy and I had several innocent looking chats over the fence in our back yards. It began to seem as though we were doomed. Every time Jo was going to be out for the evening Mike was going to be home and when Mike was out Jo was home. It was looking hopeless. But then last weekend Jo told me her mother called and asked if she could drive up this weekend to have dinner with her mother and her sisters. Jo's mother lives about 100 miles from us so Jo would have to spend the night. Jo told me she was going to drive up Friday morning and would start home Sunday afternoon. This gave me Friday and Saturday to work with. If Sandy could get rid of Mike for a few hours during that time we could finally get together.

    I didn't get a chance to talk to Sandy until Monday evening. When I told her that Jo would be away for the weekend Sandy got visibly excited. She said that she would let me know if she could manage to get away from Mike for a few hours during that time.

    When I got home Thursday evening I saw Sandy out in the yard trying to look like she was busy in her flower garden. I gave Jo a kiss and went up to change my clothes. When I came back downstairs I collected the trash and took it outside to the trashcan. I walked around the yard picking up some papers that had blown into the yard and when I got near the fence Sandy appeared on the other side. Actually she was bent over so I couldn't see her and neither could Jo if she looked out the window. As I bent down to pull weeds near the fence Sandy said, "I have great news. Mike is going away for the weekend. He and a couple of his friends from work are leaving tomorrow after work to go to a cabin in the mountains. They are going fishing in a lake up there. I guess we will be alone tomorrow night. I will call you tomorrow at your office."

    As I was getting a hard on just thinking about what was coming, all I could say in reply was "Great!"

    That brings us up to this morning. As I left for work Jo kissed me good-bye and said that she would be leaving for her mother's house around 10:00 AM. I call home at 9:30 and told Jo I loved her and to have a good trip then I called again at 10:30 and got no answer. So the first obstacle was out of the way.

    At four o'clock this afternoon Sandy called and said that Mike had just called her and said that he was on his way to the mountains. Than Sandy asked, "What do you want to do?"

    I suggested that we go out to dinner and then get a motel room. Sandy said, "Dinner sounds good but I don't want to go to a motel room. Let's just come back to my house. A Motel room is so tawdry, while doing it in my own house is just sinful. I like sinful more than tawdry don't you?"

    The way she said it made it sound good to me. So I agreed that we would go back to her house after dinner. Then Sandy said, "I have a surprise for you for later."

    "A surprise. What kind of surprise?"

    "If I tell you it won't be a surprise, will it?"

    I was curious about this surprise but Sandy would say nothing more about it. So I gave up on trying to find out what she had in mind and told her that I would pick her up for dinner at seven o'clock.

    That brings us back to the beginning of this narrative. To refresh your memory Sandy was lying on the bed and I was on the bed with my head between her beautiful legs at the time running my tongue over her panties and enjoying her scent. As I pulled the crotch of Sandy's panties to the side and looked at her pussy for the first time I just for an instant thought of Jo sitting around the table with her mother and sisters. The small bit of guilt that I felt lasted only a few seconds. Then Sandy came back into focus. That is her pussy came into focus. Sandy had a lovely vulva covered with short very fine hair almost like fuzz. I leaned forward and covered the whole mound with my open mouth and I probed her slit with my tongue. As her lips opened for me I was aware that Sandy was already wet with her own excitement. I ran my tongue up and down her slit then I sucked her clitoris into my mouth and teased it with my tongue until I brought her to orgasm. As she shuddered Sandy pulled my face tight against her and rubbed her pussy against my mouth and tongue.

    When Sandy's orgasm ended she let go of my head. Then I got up and removed my shirt and pants. When I climbed back onto the bed Sandy turned toward me so that she could pull my shorts off. Once she had my shorts down she took my hard cock into her mouth and began to send me to heaven with her lips and tongue. She had me on the brink of climax several times but each time she let me recover. After nearly ten minutes of keeping me near orgasm Sandy stopped and said she wanted me inside her.

    Sandy lay back on the bed and I got on top of her and pushed my cock into her hot wet pussy. I started with long slow strokes and Sandy fell into the rhythm with me. We increased our speed and intensity as we both neared release. When I could hold back no longer I exploded inside Sandy, spewing my hot semen into her. My climatic explosion seemed to trigger Sandy's orgasm and she held on to me tightly as she shuddered through an intense orgasm. When it was over we lay holding onto each other.

    As we lay there I asked Sandy, "So what's this surprise you have for me."

    Sandy said, "Not yet. You haven't earned it yet. You need to get inside me again first."

    With that Sandy moved down and started sucking on my soft cock. She continued sucking my cock and licking my balls until my cock was fully recovered and hard enough to drive nails. When she was satisfied that I was hard enough she had me lay on my back and she straddled my hips and guided my cock to her pussy. As she rubbed the head of my cock across her pussy lips I could see my semen dripping from her pussy, down my cock and into my pubic hair. I found this to be a very erotic sight. I continued watching as my cock disappeared inside Sandy's welcoming pussy.

    Sandy rode me vigorously for a while until she began to tire then she pushed her legs back and laid down flat on top of me. We fell into a rhythm that was comfortable for both of us. As Sandy became more aroused she started kissing my face and putting her tongue in my ear then she asked, "Are you ready for your surprise?"

    I was feeling pretty good by then and the idea that Sandy had something more for me excited me. I said, "I am ready and waiting. What is the surprise?"

    Sandy kissed my ear then she kissed me on the mouth and pushed her tongue inside to play with my tongue. When she broke off the kiss she said, "Remember when I said that Mike was going away for the weekend?"

    I suddenly felt uneasy. "Yes. What about it?"

    "Well, I lied about that. Mike didn't go away."

    Now I was scared. "What do you mean he didn't go away? Where is he? Is he here, in the house?"

    Sandy laughed, "No. He is not in the house. Mike isn't into watching me have sex with other men."

    "Well then, where is he?"

    "Like I said, Mike isn't into watching me have sex with other men. Mike is into having sex with other women. That's what Mike is doing now. He is having sex with another woman."

    "You had me worried. So then, is this, I mean you and me, is this revenge. Are you using me to get even with Mike?"

    Sandy said, "No, not at all. I was telling you the truth when I said I was attracted to you and I wanted to have sex with you."

    "So what? Are you saying that you and Mike have an understanding? You both play around? "

    "Well, yes. But it's more than that. Mike and I help each other."

    I asked, "Help each other how?"

    "Sometimes I help Mike get the woman he's interested in and sometimes he helps me get the man I'm interested in."

    "In this case who helped whom?"

    "This time Mike helped me. I told you I was attracted to you immediately."

    I asked "So how did Mike help. By leaving us alone in the house tonight? Did he do anything else to help?"

    "Giving us time alone in the house is one thing he did but there is more to that then just staying away from the house tonight."

    "What else did he do?"

    "He arranged for you to be able to get out of the house tonight."

    "I said, "What? I got out because Jo went to go visit her mother."

    "Did you talk to Jo's mother?"

    "No, why?"

    "Then how do you know Jo's mother called?"

    "Jo told me?"

    "And you believed her?"

    "Just what are you trying to say?" I asked as my stomach began to do flips.

    "What I am saying is that Mike arranged for Jo to be busy tonight so that you and I could be together."

    I was beginning to get upset, even a little angry. "Where is Mike right now?"

    "Where do you think he is?"

    "How the hell should I know?"

    "Mike is where Jo is."

    That was not what I wanted to hear but was beginning to suspect what Sandy was leading to. I wasn't sure I believed her, or was it that I just didn't want to believe her? "Okay then, where is Jo?"

    "Jo is in your house in your bed having sex with Mike."

    I said, "That can't be. Jo wouldn't do that."

    "Well you said you wouldn't do that, but you did."

    I was desperate now, "I don't believe it."

    Sandy climbed off me and got out of bed and said follow me. I followed Sandy out of the room we had been in, which was the guest bedroom in the front of the house, and into the master bedroom. Sandy closed the doors behind us and led me through the dark room to the windows. Once at the windows Sandy opened the drapes and the blinds. From Sandy's bedroom window we had a view of the back of my house and the windows of my bedroom. It took only a moment to notice that not only were the lights on in my bedroom but the blinds had been raised just enough that I could see the bed. And on the bed I saw my faithful wife Jo, sucking Mike's cock.

    I was stunned to say the least. I didn't know what to do. Should I run over to my house and confront Mike and Jo. But how could I after what Sandy and I had just done. As hard as I tried I could find no way out. I looked and Sandy and said, "My marriage is over. Why did you do this to me?"

    "I told you. I found you attractive. I left the rest up to you. When you said that you wanted to have an affair I told Mike to help me clear the way. It just happened that Mike found Jo to be very attractive so he decided that the best play for him was to seduce her."

    "Why are they in my house. Jo didn't know I wasn't going to be home tonight, or did she?"

    "She didn't know until this afternoon when Mike met her at her motel."

    "Her motel?"

    "Yes. I'm sure they had sex at the motel then went to dinner. At dinner Mike told Jo that you were going to be with me this evening and suggested they go back to your house. Apparently Jo took the news better than you did. I mean look at her work on Mike's cock. She sure doesn't look worried does she? Now you can fuss and fume about Mike and Jo or you can come back to the other room and I'll take care of you the way Jo is taking care of Mike. You should just think of this as a swap of partners for the night. Things will be all right. You two will work things out. Just talk it through. Who knows, you may find that you are both happy that this happened and this may lead to more adventures."

    Sandy turned to leave the room and I looked back toward my house and watched as Jo climbed on top of Mike and guided his cock into her. I don't know what came over me but I went with Sandy back to the other room and made love to her, not once more but twice and slept with her the rest of the night. I decided it was to late to worry about what was going to happen with Jo. I would just have to wait and see how things worked out.

  13. #10
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    Re: Stories from author K.K.

    Who is Raphael Garza?

    By K.K. ©

    FRIDAY MAY 29th

    It was late Friday afternoon after everyone else had gone home except for my boss, Cam Penney, and me, Walt Martin. Cam had asked me to stop by and talk to him before I left for the weekend.

    "Do you have anything pressing going on next week?" Cam asked.

    "No, just finishing up a couple of reports and closing out the Blanchard project," I said. "Why?"

    "I got a call that there is a seat available for the Gladstone Process software training, starting Monday," Cam said. "Would it be a problem for you to fly out to San Jose in time to start class on Monday morning?"

    I had been trying to get into the GP class for six months, and I hadn't been able to get scheduled for a seat in the class until October.

    "Shouldn't be a problem," I said.

    "Good, because I already told him we would take the seat." Cam handed me a printout with information about the class and where I should stay while I was there.

    "You'll have to make your own travel arrangements."

    "I'll do that tonight when I get home," I said. "If the class starts Monday, why are you are just telling me about it now?"

    "Sorry about the short notice. I got the call around three o'clock this afternoon, and this is the first chance I had to talk to you about it."

    "Is Kathy going to be pissed at me for sending you away on such short notice?"

    "No, she'll be okay. She knows I have been waiting to get into this class for quite a while."

    "Tell her I am sorry anyway."

    "I will, and if she gets angry I'll give her your home phone number."

    "That's fine, I can take the heat," Cam said. "Have a good trip, and I'll see you in a week."

    At home, I told my wife, Kathy, about the sudden availability of a seat in the GP class.

    "It's awfully short notice, but it's good that you were able to get into an earlier class," Kathy said. "I'm not crazy about you being away for a week."

    "This won't interfere with any plans you had for next week, will it?" I asked.

    "No. It will be lonely here without you, but I'll survive," Kathy said. "Maybe while you're gone I'll spend a couple of evenings volunteering at the nursing home."

    "Just watch out for Old George. He always thinks you're flirting with him."

    "I am flirting with him, but I never thought you noticed."

    "Don't let his age fool you. He would jump your bones in a heartbeat if you gave him half a chance."

    "A girl can always hope, can't she? Anyway, at ninety-five years old, I don't think Old George would be up to the challenge," Kathy said with a mock look of disappointment on her face.

    I had planned to spend part of Saturday on the Raritan River in my kayak, but had to change my plans because I had too many small jobs to do around the house before I flew off to San Jose on Sunday. I had just finished mowing the lawn and edging along the sidewalk and driveway, and I was putting the edger away in the garage when I heard the phone ring. I stepped into the kitchen just in time to see Kathy pick up the phone, so I went back outside to hose off the lawn mower.

    I was just finishing up when Kathy came outside.

    "Guess who that was?" Kathy said. I just shook my head and looked at her. "It was Marge Robinson."

    "I never would have guessed that," I said. "What did Marge want?"

    "She asked if we could come over to their house Monday evening for a cookout."

    "You're kidding. When did you two become friends again?"

    Marge and Kathy had been friends until six months earlier when Kathy got a promotion to a supervisory position and immediately made some territory changes for the accounts that reported to her. Marge apparently had wanted that promotion. Since then, the two had spoken very little, and Marge had made some nasty comments to coworkers about Kathy.

    "As far as I knew we hadn't, but maybe she is trying to offer and olive branch," Kathy said.

    "Well, I can't go, I'll be in California. Are you going?"

    "I think I will. If Marge wants to bury the hatchet, I am all for that. I know she was upset about not getting the promotion, and I guess taking it out on me was her way of dealing with her disappointment."

    "You're such a soft touch. You just can't stand to see anyone suffering, even if that person is treating you badly," I said. "Well, maybe Marge finally realized that it's not your fault that she didn't get that promotion."

    "Maybe. Are you finished out here?"

    "All done. You got a cold beer for your sweaty husband?"

    "I've got a cold beer and a hot body for my husband, as soon as he gets out of the shower."

    TUESDAY JUNE 2nd, 2:00 PM PACIFIC TIME

    "We have a lot to cover this afternoon, so try to be back from the break in ten minutes," announced John Odem, the Gladstone class manager. I was at the Gladstone Training Center in San Jose, California, for a class on the new business application Boswell Products, my employer, had installed on our computer system earlier that year.

    Monday's session had been boring. We spent most of the morning on introductions, orientation and filling out forms. We didn't get started on the real subject matter until Tuesday morning, but the instructors were good and kept things flowing and interesting.

    As I walked into the student lounge, I thought that it was going to be an interesting week. If only I had known how interesting it would turn out, I would not have been quite so excited about that prospect.

    GTC provided both coffee and WI-FI in the student break area, so when John announced the afternoon coffee break at two o'clock, I, like most of the other students in the class, headed for the break area to log onto my computer to check email.

    When my laptop came up, I logged onto my company email account. There were ten notes in my inbox. Most of the emails were notes to members of my project team, but I was always on the copy list. One note was a request from Cam for some data he needed Wednesday morning. I planned to send Cam what he requested when I got back to my hotel that evening. I then opened my personal email account to see if my wife had sent me a note. The only note in my inbox was from an email ID named WTF, and the subject line read, "What is Your Wife Doing?"

    I didn't recognize the sender's email address, so I assumed that it must be junk mail and was about to delete the note, but something stopped me. I guess my curiosity got the best of me because I opened the note. The body of the note contained two lines. The first line said, "Tune in at 7:00 PM tonight." The second line was a hyperlink to a web page titled 'whatisyouwifedoing.' There was nothing else on the page.

    I think it must have been the fact that my email address was the only one on the note that made me believe that it wasn't spam and kept me from deleting it.

    TUESDAY 6:50 PM PACIFIC TIME

    After class, I went back to my hotel, which was right next door to the GTC. I didn't stop in the bar with the other students staying there because I wanted to go up to my room and call Kathy, and then answer Cam's email before going out to eat.

    I called our home phone, and after five rings our recorder picked up. "You have reached Kathy and Walt Martin, sorry we can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name, number and a short message we'll return your call as soon as possible."

    "Kathy, it's me. Call me when you get home. Love you," I said and closed my phone. I looked at my watch and noted that it was 6:50 PM. That meant that it was 9:50 back home in Princeton, New Jersey. I wondered where Kathy would be at that hour. When I talked to her Monday evening, she told me that she didn't have any plans Tuesday. She called me in the morning before she left for work but she didn't say anything about going out that night. For her to not be home by nearly ten o'clock on a Tuesday night worried me.

    I turned my laptop on, and while it was booting up, I called Kathy's cell phone. Her cell immediately rolled over to voicemail, so I left her another message to call me. It was not like Kathy to not answer her cell phone and for her to not be home at that hour on a work night was unusual.

    Kathy supervises an audit team at Princeton Accounting Associates (PAS). Her team audits banks all over southern New Jersey and parts of eastern Pennsylvania. Most of her accounts were close enough to home that she seldom had to travel overnight for work. I wondered if some problem might have come up at her job that required Kathy to go out of town suddenly, but if that was the case, why didn't she call me or send me an email to let me know?

    When my computer came up, I opened my personal email account hoping to find a note from Kathy, but the only new note in the inbox was another note from WTF. The subject line on this note read, "Do not ignore this note, Mr. Martin."

    I was at the point where I didn't know whether I should be worried or angry that I couldn't get in touch with Kathy, and to top that off I had this strange email. I didn't want to start calling people back home and get them upset, so I decided that I would wait until morning, and if I didn't hear from Kathy by then, I would start making some phone calls.

    I was about to open my Boswell Products email account to answer Cam's question, but I froze when I looked at the subject line of the first junk mail note I hadn't deleted earlier. "What is Your Wife Doing?"

    My stomach suddenly felt like I was sailing in a small boat in rough weather. I opened the note and clicked on the hyperlink. The web page that came up had a video media box and one line of text. The text read, "The show begins at 7:00 PM." In the middle of the video media box was a timer counting down from three minutes seventeen seconds.

    I could feel the tension in my body increase with each second as I watched the time dwindling away on the counter. I didn't know what I expected, but somehow I knew it wouldn't be good. Was it just a coincidence that I didn't know where my wife was the same day I got a note directing me to a website called "What is your wife doing?" I hoped it was a coincidence, but I didn't believe it.

    Two minutes four seconds. Was Kathy in danger? If she was, how could I help her? What could I do? I could call someone but whom? The Police? What could I tell them?

    One minute twenty-two seconds. Was this something that Kathy planned as a surprise for me? Maybe she was going to be on the video telling me how much she loved me.

    Fourteen seconds. "Oh God, I think I am going to be sick."

    TUESDAY 7:00 PM PACIFIC TIME

    The counter flipped over to all zeros and then disappeared. The video screen came alive, but I could not identify what it was that I saw on the screen. It looked as though the camera was moving around and not focusing on anything. I could hear what sounded like people talking, music playing and other background noises but the video picture was jumping around too much for me to see anything clearly.

    It took me about a minute to figure out that I was looking at the inside of a bar. It appeared that the camera was somehow attached or pinned to someone. The reason that the picture was jumping around was that the person wearing the camera was adjusting it. Finally, the camera settled down, and the picture became less jumpy, and I could see people standing around talking and drinking. The interior of the bar in the video was not familiar to me.

    At first, I couldn't tell if the person wearing the camera was a man or a woman, nor could I tell if he or she was sitting or standing. That is until he pointed the camera at his very masculine watch. The time was 12:02.

    "There you are." The man spoke. His accent was Spanish, more likely from Spain than Latin America.

    Just then, Kathy, my wife of twelve years appeared on the screen. She was dressed in a knee-length flower print dress; she looked good, not too sexy but very attractive.

    "What the fuck?" I said out loud, as my stomach was beginning to go into full revolt and my heart was beating so hard it hurt.

    The man took Kathy's right hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it. "I am so glad that you decided to come, Kathy. You have no idea how much this means to me."

    "It was not an easy decision for me, Raphael, but I am here," Kathy said. She smiled, but she appeared to be nervous.

    "Would you like to have a drink at the bar first or would you prefer we go straight into the dining room?"

    "Why don't we go eat?" Kathy said. "I'll have a glass of wine with my lunch.

    For the next hour, I watched Kathy as the two of them talked and ate. As near as I could tell from their conversation, this wasn't their first meeting. They seemed to be friends, but it didn't appear that they had ever been intimate. I could not remember ever hearing Kathy speak of anyone named Raphael, and I certainly didn't know anyone that talked with an accent like his. I could not see his face, so I couldn't be certain that I didn't know him but he apparently knew me. Otherwise, why would he have sent me the link to the website showing this video, and how would he know my email address?

    It didn't appear that Kathy was aware of the video camera that Raphael was wearing, but I couldn't be sure of that. I wondered if she had any idea that I was viewing her secret lunch date over the Internet. If she didn't know, I wondered how she was going to feel about it when she found out.

    The quality of the audio and the video was very good. The picture did jump a little whenever Raphael moved, but the image was sharp. I could clearly see Kathy's face and her changing expressions. In spite of all of the background noise in the restaurant, I could hear most of the conversation between my wife and the asshole with her. I listened carefully to everything that Kathy said to him, but I could not pick up any hint as to why she was with him or where they were. Did she intend to have an affair with him? I couldn't tell, but I was sure that Raphael intended to seduce my wife.

    The more I listened to Raphael, the more I believed that he was a smarmy bastard that was out to cause me pain and destroy my marriage. Whatever his game was, he was very good at it. He knew just the right compliments to pay Kathy. Not too many and never obvious. He managed to make her blush several times. There was no sexual innuendo, nothing to make Kathy uncomfortable and yet I could see that he was getting to her. He asked Kathy a lot question about herself, which she seemed comfortable answering. She talked about her job, what books she was reading, what her favorite movies were, etc. The creep never asked Kathy about me, and she didn't mention me. Whenever Kathy asked him personal questions, he would say something like, "I'd rather not talk about that," and Kathy would say she was sorry, or that she understood and then change the subject.

    During their conversation, the dickhead would drop in little comments designed to make Kathy feel good and to draw her into his web. When they first sat down at their table, he said, "When I saw you walking into the bar my heart felt lighter." Later the slime ball reached across the table, held Kathy's hands and said, "Your eyes... they are so kind; it's what I remembered most about you from our first meeting." Then, when they had finished eating and were just finishing their wine, he said, "You have a glow about you, like an angel. It's as if you were sent to lift me from my despair. No man has had a more beautiful angel."

    I have to admit that he was right about Kathy having a glow about her but my reaction to it was much different than his. It made me want to throw my laptop through the fucking window.

    Kathy never seemed to be able to respond verbally to these compliments. She would just smile, and her cheeks would flush. When he commented about her being "like an angel," Kathy's eyes filled with tears.

    To me, his accent made him sound like a character in a cheap movie. He could have played the part of a smooth-talking gigolo, trying to seduce an old rich widow. I knew that he was a fake. He was just too smooth. Why couldn't Kathy see that, too?

    When they finished the meal and paid the bill, they got up from the table; I didn't know what would happen next. My heart was pounding as I waited, expecting to hear Raphael suggest that they get a room or go to his house or his apartment.

    "Isabel loved museums, I hope you don't mind," he said.

    'That's fine Raphael; I also love museums."

    I thought, "Museums? Were they going to a museum? How should I feel about that?"

    Kathy turned and started to walk away from the table and then the video screen went black. A moment later, the picture was back. This time the video showed the interior of a room. The furniture looked plush, and the artwork on the walls looked expensive. The room seemed to be empty.

    The scene didn't change for a few minutes, and then I heard a door open followed by voices. I heard the tapeworms voice first because he seemed to be doing all of the talking.

    "It was wonderful having you accompany me through the museum. It made the experience so much more enjoyable for me," the maggot said as they came into the room.

    Kathy was the first to appear on the screen. When the fecal eating weasel came into view, he managed to keep his back to the camera.

    "As I told you before, Isabel loved museums. Going to the museum together was something that was very special to us. I think Isabel would have liked you very much."

    Isabel? Who the fuck was Isabel, and how did she figure into Raphael's plot?

    "I think I would have liked her, too," Kathy said.

    "Kathryn, please sit down, and I'll get us a drink. What would you like?"

    "I'd love a glass of red wine if you have it."

    "Oh, yes. I have a very nice Cabernet I think you'll enjoy."

    "That sounds good," Kathy said.

    I wondered if Raphael might try to slip something into Kathy's wine. The idea that he could do that and I wouldn't be able to stop him was making me crazy.

    Raphael crossed the room and walked directly toward the camera. He made no attempt to hide his face. He stopped and looked directly into the camera, and it seemed as though he was looking right at me. Then he smiled, and there was no Spanish accent when he whispered so that Kathy couldn't hear him, "Sorry we were late."

    Raphael looked to be just under six feet tall. He had a thin body with dark hair, dark eyes, and a thick mustache. The smile on his face looked sinister rather than friendly. I had hoped that if I saw him, I would recognize him but after looking closely at his face, I still had no idea who he was. My anger was such that I could feel the heat in my eyes as I stared at the asshole's face on my computer screen.

    The slimy bastard took the two glasses of wine he had just poured and returned to the sofa and sat next to Kathy. He handed a glass to Kathy and then made a toast to her.

    "To my beautiful angel, I only wish we had more time we could spend together."

    Kathy didn't say anything right away. She just sipped her wine and smiled at him.

    After another moment she said, "I am glad that I can spend this time with you, but this is all I can do. I hope you understand."

    "I do understand. I could not dare to ask for more than you have already given or promised to me. I will be forever in your debt," he said.

    The sofa that Kathy and the sewer dweller were sitting on was across the room from the camera location. The video I was watching not only showed the two of them, but it also showed a good portion of the room. I was studying the room trying to find something that would help me figure out where Kathy was, or to help me identify Raphael. I was staring at the screen so intently that my eyes were beginning to burn, but I could find nothing that helped me. Then something happened that made my skin crawl. The camera began a slow zoom in on Kathy. It took about five seconds for Kathy's face to completely fill the screen. Her face was in profile, as she was looking at the creep sitting next to her. The camera then began to pan slowly down over Kathy's chest and down to her legs. The picture on the screen was a close-up of the gap between Kathy's knees. The view was not very revealing. Kathy's knees were too close together to show anything, but I didn't think that looking up her skirt was the purpose of the shot. It was a message, and I got it. The hair on my neck bristled as I realized that Raphael, the sleazy son of a bitch, wasn't working alone. There was at least one other person involved, and that person was working the camera.

    The close up lasted a short time, and then the camera zoomed back out to its original position. It was at that moment I realized that I hadn't heard anything that Kathy or her asshole buddy had said for the last several minutes. Had the sound been turned off or had I been concentrating so intently on the video that I had tuned out the conversation? I didn't know the answer to that question.

    My attention was drawn back to the video again as the bastard moved closer to Kathy and took her hands into his.

    "I am very much looking forward to tomorrow evening," he said, and then pulled Kathy closer and kissed her on the cheek.

    "I hope it helps you get through your grief," Kathy said.

    I felt as though my heart was going to explode when he pulled Kathy close again, this time kissing her on the mouth. It was just one kiss, and it didn't appear that Kathy had kissed him back, but to me, it felt like the end of my marriage.

    My view of the computer screen suddenly clouded as my eyes filled with tears. My emotions were going wild, swinging from extreme anger to sadness and depression. My throat was sore from fighting back the urge to cry. I don't know how long I sat fighting my emotions, but I noticed that it was nearly eight o'clock and I couldn't remember hearing anything that either of them had said since the kiss.

    "I think I should go back to the hotel now," Kathy said as she stood up. "I am still not sure how I feel about all this. It makes me a little uneasy."

    "Please don't feel that way," he said. "Isabel always liked it when I planned a romantic evening for us."

    "It's just that I don't think of this in romantic terms. I just thought I would be there for you tomorrow."

    "I understand. I know you are only doing this to help me get through a bad time, but I would hate to think that you were getting no pleasure from it. Other than the two of us, no one will ever know about it. I would hope that you could relax and enjoy the experience. I think it will be better for both of us if you do.

    "I've never done anything like this before, and I am not feeling comfortable about it, but you are right, I am going to do it so I should try to enjoy the experience."

    "Good," Raphael said. "I'll have my driver take you back to the hotel."

    I cringed as Raphael put his arms around Kathy and hugged her. Just as Raphael released Kathy from the hug, I heard a voice from off camera say, "The car is ready."

    I never saw any indication that the asshole had called for the car but the driver showed up immediately after Kathy had said she wanted to leave. I figured that the driver must be part of whatever scam these people were running.

    Raphael walked Kathy out of the room and off camera.

    The last thing I heard was the scum sucking bastard saying, "Good night, my angel."

    "Good night," Kathy said.

    I heard what sounded like it might have been a kiss and then a door closing.

    Raphael returned to the room and stood in front of the camera and said, "Come back tomorrow evening for part two. Tune in at seven o'clock. I think you will enjoy the show, well at least I will." Then he laughed.

    When the video ended, I slammed the lid down on my laptop in anger. What kind of game did Kathy think she was playing? It was obvious to me that she had no idea what kind of man this Raphael was. I replayed the conversation I had listened to over and over in my head. It was apparent that Kathy had agreed to have a sexual liaison with that phony Spaniard, but based on what I saw and heard I wasn't sure that Kathy had made up her mind yet. I had no doubt what that pile of human excrement, Raphael had on his mind. He was in full seduction mode.

    The part that was the hardest for me to understand was why that asshole had invited me to observe his quest to bed my wife. Was this some sick game to him, or was there something even more sinister happening here?

    I called the house again. No answer. I called Kathy's cell phone again. No answer.

    The next call I made was to US Airways. I was able to book a flight from San Jose to Philadelphia departing at 6:20 in the morning, making one stop in Phoenix and arriving in Philadelphia at 4:51 PM. I arranged for a rental car in Philly to make the hour long drive to Princeton. Next, I called John Odem and left him the following message.

    "John, this is, Walt Martin. I have a family emergency I have to deal with, so I will have to drop out of the class. Hopefully, I will be able to get a seat in another class in the near future. Thanks.

    WEDNESDAY 3:00 AM PACIFIC TIME

    I slept very little and gave up trying at three o'clock. I tried calling Kathy again, but there was still no answer at home or on her cell phone. I waited a half hour and then called her mother. Kathy's mother, Connie, lives in East Brunswick, New Jersey and I knew she would be up at 6:30 in the morning. I didn't want to alarm her, but I had to try to locate Kathy before things got too far out of hand. I asked Connie if she had talked to Kathy on Tuesday, and she told me that she hadn't heard from Kathy since Sunday evening. Kathy hadn't told her of any plans she had for the week.

    "Is something wrong?" she asked me.

    "I don't know," I said. "I wasn't able to get a hold of Kathy yesterday or this morning. I am sure she must be visiting a friend, and I'll hear from her later today."

    "I'm sure you're right," Connie said, but I could hear the concern in her voice.

    I thought about whom else I might call, but it hit me that if Kathy was doing something that she didn't want me to know about she probably didn't tell anyone else about her intentions. She would not have told anyone where she was going or why. My only hope was that she would be at work when I called.

    I packed my things, checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to the San Jose airport. It was 5:15 AM when I got to my gate. Kathy usually got to her office by 8:00 AM so I waited fifteen minutes until 5:30 Pacific, 8:30 Eastern time to call her there. The department secretary answered Kathy's phone. When I asked to speak with Kathy the secretary told me that Kathy was out for the rest of the week. When I identified myself and asked for more information, She told me that Kathy called in Tuesday morning and said that she would be away for the rest of the week. She didn't say why.

    I had talked to Kathy Monday morning, and she never mentioned taking time off from work. Did she already know when she talked to me that she would be spending the day with Raphael, the limp wrested Spaniard, on Tuesday or did those plans come up after we talked?

    The trip home gave me plenty of time to think. I had to push myself past the pain and anger over what Kathy was doing so that I could think clearly. I had two problems I had to solve. First I had to find out what Kathy was doing and why. Was she going to end up in bed with the slick son of a bitch? Had she already had sex with him and if so, how long had this been going on? I remembered Kathy said something in the video about just being there to help the skunk through a bad time. I knew that Kathy was a soft touch, but I had no idea that she was so naive. Apparently, Raphael fed Kathy one hell of a story to suck her into whatever he had planned for her.

    That brought me to my second problem. Why was Raphael after my wife and why did he want me to watch what he was doing with her? I knew that the video I watched Tuesday night was not a live stream because it started at 12:02 PM. The shit bird showed his watch so that I would know that it was 12:02 PM. It was 7:00 PM in San Jose when I watched the video. Was the video recorded earlier Tuesday, or could it have been recorded Monday? It might even have been recorded a week ago or a month ago, although I didn't think that was the case. I believed that the video had been recorded on Tuesday, but I couldn't be certain. I wondered if there would be another video Wednesday night, and if so, would it be a live stream or something recorded earlier? Could it be that whatever I might see that night had already taken place?

    The biggest question in my mind was "Why would Kathy do this to me?" I thought we had a strong marriage. Never in the twelve years of our marriage had I ever doubted that Kathy loved me. There had been no change in Kathy's behavior toward me over the last few weeks that would indicate a problem in our marriage. We made love three times over the weekend before I left for San Jose. There was nothing unusual about that. We often made love multiple times on weekends. None of this was making sense, and it was killing me.

    WEDNESDAY 5:00 PM Eastern Time

    There were two messages on my cell phone when I turned it on after we landed in Philadelphia. I waited until I was on the bus to the rental car lot before I listened to the calls. I was hoping that at least one of them would be from Kathy, but they were both from Cam Penney.

    In the first message, Cam sounded rather upset with me. "Walt, I expected you to send me that data I ask for yesterday. I needed it for a meeting today."

    In the second message, I couldn't tell if he was concerned or just plain angry. "Walt, what the hell is going on? I called John Odem to see if I could get a hold of you but he told me that you dropped out of the class. Call me when you get this message and tell me what you are up to."

    I called Cam from my rental car and told him that I had a personal crisis I had to take care of, and I would need a few days off to handle it. Cam wasn't very happy that I wouldn't tell him anything more than that, but he said he would give me the time I needed.

    Cam ended the call by saying, "If anyone else pulled this shit I would have fired him. Next time you have a problem, call me before you pull a disappearing act, or it will be your last time."

    *****

    WEDNESDAY 6:00 PM EASTERN TIME

    I walked into our house in Princeton at six o'clock that evening and went directly to the kitchen hoping to find that Kathy had left a note. Since I was supposed to be in San Jose all week, I didn't expect there would be one, but I looked anyway. Next, I went into our bedroom, not knowing what I hoped to find. The bed was made, which didn't tell me anything. On top of the bed were two of Kathy's blouses and there was a pair of blue jeans hanging off the end of the bed. Nothing else in the room seemed out of place. I peeked into Kathy's closet and saw that her clothes were still there. The last stop was the bathroom, where I found that most of Kathy's cosmetics were still in her drawer and her prescription meds, including her birth control pills, were still in the medicine cabinet. I opened her birth control pill case and saw that she had taken some of the pills with her when she left. The next pill in the case was for the coming Friday. I guessed that meant she was planning on being home by Friday. Kathy usually takes her birth control pill in the morning, so I guessed that her plan was to come home sometime on Thursday.

    I was full of nervous energy, so I went back into the bedroom and picked Kathy's clothes up off the bed laid them in a chair. When I pick Kathy's jeans up, I found Kathy's cell phone. I wondered if she forgot to take her phone, or if she intentionally left it home so that I could not call her and interrupt her rendezvous with Don Juan the Weasel.

    "If she wanted to fucking talk to me she could have found a phone," I shouted and threw her cell phone across the room. The phone hit Kathy's dresser mirror shattering both the mirror and the phone. I could feel my anger building, and there was nothing I could do about it. Without knowing where she was or how to contact her, I felt stymied. Why was she doing this to me?

    I went into the study and turned on my desktop computer, and while it booted up, I went to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. I ended up staring into the refrigerator for five minutes until I realized that although I hadn't eaten since lunch on Tuesday, I didn't feel like eating.

    It wasn't seven o'clock yet, so when I went back into the study and checked my email. There in my inbox was another note from WTF. I didn't want to read the note, but I knew that I had to.

    "I know you watched last night, Walt. Did you enjoy the show? I hope it wasn't too boring for you. I am sure you'll enjoy tonight's performance even more." The note ended with the link to 'whatisyourwifedoing'.

    When I finished reading the note, I slammed my right fist onto my desk. I didn't feel the pain until I tried to straighten out my fingers. The pain shot up my arm, and I knew that I had broken something in my hand.

    My hand began to swell almost immediately. I knew that I should go to the emergency room and get my hand taken care of, but I was not going anywhere before I watched to see what happened on the website. I had to know how far Kathy would go.

    I went to the kitchen and got a bag of ice and a towel, and then went back to the study. I wrapped my right hand in the towel and covered it with the ice bag. I had to manipulate the mouse with my left hand, which I found to be very awkward, but not impossible. I clicked on the link in the note.

    The site looked the same. However, I got a surprise when I looked at the timer in the media window. It was counting down from three hours and ten minutes. I didn't immediately understand what that meant. Raphael had said that I should tune in at seven o'clock. It took a moment, but then it came to me. Raphael thought I was still on the west coast when he told me to tune in at seven o'clock. I was going to have to wait until ten o'clock eastern time to see what Kathy was going to do.

    I had more than three hours to wait, and the pain in my hand was making my eyes water. I took two Advil and tried to get my mind off the pain by concentrating on my other problems. Would Kathy cheat on me with that phony fuck? I just couldn't understand how she could have gotten herself involved with a parasite like Raphael. Kathy was a loving, generous and outgoing person, always careful not to do or say anything that would hurt someone else. I always felt lucky to have her in my life, but I was beginning to think that I was going to lose her. It made no sense that she would be having an affair with this rectum dweller. She didn't the time. I seldom traveled, and Kathy was always a homebody. She was never interested in going for a night out with the girls. Whenever Kathy went out it was always with me. I was sure that she is happy with me, or at least she seemed to be until I left the house Sunday. What had changed?

    What was the mustachioed tapeworm's game? I could understand why he would want to bed Kathy; after all, she is an attractive woman, but why in the hell did he want me to see what he was doing? The only thing I could think of was that he possibly had a vendetta against me, and this was his way of getting even. I needed to get a picture of this guy. I was expecting that I would see another streaming video, but I had no way to send streaming video to a file or to record it. Just then, an idea came to me. I opened my desk drawer and got my digital video camera. I set the camera in front of my computer screen and set it to record full motion video with sound and then waited while the counter on the screen counted down to the end of my marriage.

    WEDNESDAY 10:00 PM

    When there were just thirty seconds left on the counter, I turned my camera on and pushed the record button. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I watched the counter roll over to all zeros. After a second or two of a black screen, the interior of a hotel room appeared. The picture wasn't what I was expecting (actually I didn't know what I was expecting), so it wasn't until I saw something move that I noticed that Kathy was lying on her back on the bed with her hands folded on her chest. It didn't appear that there was anyone else in the room with her. I could only see the side of her head, so I couldn't tell for sure if she was awake or sleeping.

    The room did not appear to be a standard hotel room. It was a bit upscale from rooms where I had stayed. I examined the video to see if there was anything in the room that would tell me where Kathy was and if what I was watching was a live video stream or something recorded earlier. The perspective of the picture told me that the camera was mounted in the corner of the room up near the ceiling. In addition to a king size bed, the room contained a desk and a dresser with a vanity built into the center. There was also a full-length mirror on the wall next to the dresser, but there was nothing in the room that would help me discover where Kathy was, or how I could get to her.

    Nothing happened for the next few minutes until I heard what sounded like a knock on her door. Kathy sat up and looked toward the sound, but didn't immediately get off the bed. It wasn't until there was a second knock that Kathy got up and started toward the door. The camera position didn't allow me to see down the short hallway that led to the door, but I heard Kathy say, "Who's there?"

    "It's the bellman. I have a package for you."

    I could hear the Kathy opening the door and then, "Who is this from?"

    "I'm sorry, I don't know. It was left at the front desk with instructions to deliver it at six o'clock."

    If the bellman was delivering a package at six o'clock, the video I was watching was already over four hours old.

    I heard Kathy say, "Just a minute."

    Kathy came back into the room carrying a box wrapped in plain brown paper. Kathy dropped the box onto the bed, picked up her purse and went back to the door. The bellman thanked Kathy; I assumed that she must have given him a tip, and then I heard the door close.

    When she came back into the room, Kathy picked up the package and removed the wrapping paper. She opened the box and then threw it onto the bed and jumped back as if whatever was inside the box upset her.

    I didn't know what to make of Kathy's response to the box. She seemed to be frozen in place until the ringing of the phone next to the bed startled her.

    Kathy let the phone ring two more times before she answered.

    "Hello? Okay, I guess... Yes, it just came. You shouldn't have done this. They are very nice. Yes, if you want me to I'll wear them tonight. I'll be in the lobby at 7:30. Okay, I'll see you then."

    I guessed that the polyp from a pig's ass, Raphael, timed his call to catch Kathy just after she received the package. Judging from Kathy's side of the conversation I guessed the package contained something that he wanted her to wear.

    After Kathy had put the phone down, she picked up the box from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. When I heard the shower running, I checked the time saw that it was 10:20 PM. Even thou I knew that what I was watching on the screen had taken place four hours earlier I still sat and waited for Kathy to reappear. I didn't know what else I could do.

    It was more than fifteen minutes before the sound of the shower stopped and a few minutes later, I heard the sound of a hair dryer. It was another ten minutes before Kathy came out of the bathroom. When she did, she was wearing one of those bathrobes that the better hotels provide for their guests. Unfortunately, there was nothing on the front of the robe that would identify the hotel where Kathy was staying.

    Kathy stopped in front of the full-length mirror and looked at her reflection for a moment, and then she slowly slipped the bathrobe off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. At that moment, my blood pressure must have gone up at least twenty points.

    Kathy was wearing a very sexy black bra and matching panties. The bra was sheer and only just barely covered her nipples, leaving the tops of her breasts exposed. The panties were French cut and sheer enough that I could see the shadow of the small triangle of her pubic hair through the thin material. Adding to the overall effect was a pair of black thigh high stockings. The impact of her bra, panties, and stockings was devastating to me. Seeing Kathy's tall, lithe body adorned in such sexy lingerie, sexier that anything I had seen her wear in a long time, made it difficult for me to breathe.

    I watched as Kathy stood in front of the mirror checking her stockings, turning to see them from every angle. Once she had the stockings positioned to her satisfaction, Kathy opened one of the drawers in the dresser and got her makeup case. Then Kathy sat down at the vanity and started putting her makeup on. It was pure torture to watch Kathy sitting there in that sexy underwear while she made herself even more beautiful, when I knew she wasn't doing it for me.

    I had to get up and walk around the room as I tried to calm myself down. I was so angry that I had trouble thinking. Nothing made sense to me. I considered the idea that Kathy might be doing this to me as punishment for some perceived wrong, but I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. I also knew that if we had a problem, Kathy would have talked to me before she would do anything this crazy. Finally, I just gave up. I knew that I was going to have to wait until I could talk to Kathy before I could even begin to understand what was happening.

    When Kathy finished with her makeup, she looked at her reflection for a long time. She must have liked what she saw because she was smiling as she got up and walked to the closet. Kathy took a black spaghetti strap cocktail dress off a hanger and slipped it on over her head. The little black dress looked great on Kathy and knowing what she was wearing under that dress made her look even sexier. The fact that she was dressed that way for another man was killing me.

    For the next few minutes, Kathy paced nervously around the room and then finally seeming to make a decision she picked up the phone and started to make a call. She punched in a few numbers and then stopped. "I can't call him now," she said to herself and then put the phone down.

    I wondered who Kathy had been about to call. Could it have been me? What stopped her? If she had called me, I could have put an end to my nightmare. I checked the time again. It was 11:25 PM. Whatever Kathy was going to do had already happened. It had started three hours and fifty-five minutes earlier when Kathy left her room to meet her sleazy Latin lover in the hotel lobby.

    My hand was throbbing, my stomach was burning, and I felt completely lost as I watched Kathy move down the short hallway that led to the door. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of her door opening and then closing behind her. The video faded to black, and a note appeared on the screen telling me that the show would begin again in fifteen minutes. Then the timer appeared on the screen.

    For the next fifteen minutes, I wondered how my loving wife, the woman I had loved and trusted for the last twelve years, could be doing this to me, to us. Kathy isn't that stupid, at least I never thought she was. She is kind and generous, thoughtful and helpful, not mean-spirited or malicious. She is a little gullible at times because she was too trusting, but Kathy's main weakness had always been her inability to say no to anyone that needed help. I had to believe that somehow, Raphael had played on Kathy's sympathy, but I still couldn't believe that she could be seduced so easily by such an obvious slime ball.

    I did manage to eat a sandwich to settle my stomach down at least a little, but every time I thought about what I might be watching when the video started again, my stomach would begin to roll.

    WEDNESDAY 11:40 PM EASTERN TIME

    At exactly 11:40 the video started again. The scene was the interior of the same room that I had seen on Tuesday night. No one was in the room, but I knew that there soon would be. Studying the room again while waiting for Kathy and the walking dead man to return, I noticed a digital clock on a table next to the sofa that I hadn't seen the previous night. The time on the clock was 11:14 PM. That meant that instead of being four hours old, like the video of Kathy in her hotel room, this new video feed I was watching was only about twenty-five minutes old.

    I had just realized the time difference in the video segments when I heard the sound of a door opening. I felt a lump in my throat; my heart began beating hard and fast, and my hands felt cold and clammy. I was afraid that I might start hyperventilating and pass out, but I managed to force myself to keep my breathing under control. Raphael was holding Kathy's hand as he led here into the room. The asshole stopped in front of the camera and kissed Kathy's hand and then left her standing alone as he moved out of the picture for a minute. I couldn't help but admire Kathy's simple beauty as she just stood quietly and waited for that worm to return.

    Suddenly, music began to play. Raphael stepped up behind Kathy, wrapped his arms around her, pulled her back against his chest and began swaying back and forth to the music. They stayed like that for one whole song then Raphael turned Kathy around to face him and kissed her. Kathy's response seemed to me to be less than enthusiastic. When he kissed her a second time, I saw very little change in her demeanor. Raphael looked at her and asked if something was wrong and Kathy said, "No. It's just that, well, I am still a little uncomfortable."

    Raphael stepped back and looked into Kathy's eyes. "You're not having second thoughts are you?"

    "No. It's just that this will be the first time I have been with another man since I met Walt. I promised to stay with you tonight and I will, but I just need a moment to calm myself.

    Raphael said, "That's okay." He took Kathy's hand and led her over to the sofa. "Why don't we sit for a while?"

    The two of them sat down, Raphael took both of Kathy's hands into his and then kissed each hand. "I am so thankful to you for being here with me tonight. I know this is difficult for you, but you know that you are my salvation. You are so kind and generous; you deserve to be treated special, and that is what I plan to do."

    "Why can't you see what this asshole is doing?" I screamed at my computer screen. I was so angry that I had to get up and walk around the room. Listening to that weasel as he played his game with my wife was making me crazy. If he only knew how badly I wanted to kill him, he would quit his seduction and run away in fear. "I will find you, and you will pay, asshole."

    When I had calmed down enough that I was able to sit down and look at the computer screen again, I saw Raphael put his arm around Kathy's shoulders and pull her close. He gave her a gentle kiss, just barely brushing his lips against hers and said, "You are so beautiful that you make my heavy heart feel lighter."

    The slimy bastard kissed Kathy several more times. At first, it looked as though Kathy was just letting the asshole kiss her but she was soon returning his kisses with passion. The kissing continued for some time, and Raphael had begun massaging Kathy's breasts. Raphael reached behind Kathy, unzipped her dress and slipped the straps off her shoulders.

    "Why don't you take the dress off and let me see how beautiful you look," the shit bag said.

    Kathy didn't say a word as she stood up and let her dress drop to the floor; she picked it up and laid it on the arm of a chair.

    "Stand there and just let me look at you," Raphael said.

    Kathy stood in front of the dip shit and did a slow turn. "What do you think?"

    "You look so wonderfully sexy. The bra and panties you are wearing are exactly like the ones my Isabel used to wear for our special nights. Seeing you in them brings back such wonderful memories," Raphael said.

    While he was talking, I noticed that scum sucking bastard had opened his pants and released his already erect cock from his shorts. When Kathy turned back toward Raphael, she saw his exposed cock and just looked at it for a moment.

    Raphael said, "Kathy, come sit with me."

    Kathy sat down next to Raphael, and he took her hand, placed it on his cock and guided her hand up and down on his shaft. Raphael kissed Kathy, and then whispered something in her ear. I couldn't hear what he said to her, but Kathy looked at him for a moment, and then she bent down and kissed his cock. She ran her tongue around the head in a circular motion before taking his disgusting flesh tube into her mouth. From the expression on the pervert's face, I could tell he was enjoying the oral attention Kathy was giving him. I sat there watching as my wife was giving that worthless bottom feeder a blowjob, and I felt as if my spine was going to snap from the tension that was building in my body.

    It only took Kathy five minutes to make Raphael climax. She took his whole load into her mouth, and then she spit it out into her hand. Raphael handed her a box of tissues from the table next to the sofa, and Kathy used them to clean the mess from her hands.

    "Why don't we retire to the bedroom?" Raphael said as he took Kathy by the hand and helped her off the sofa.

    When they left the room, the screen went black for only a few seconds and then a new picture appeared, this time it showed the interior of a bedroom.

    I sat trying to control my breathing and heart rate. I wondered how much more of this I was going to have to watch. Have to watch? I didn't have to watch any of it, and I didn't want to, but for some reason, I could not turn away.

    The two of them came into the room and stopped next to the bed. Raphael moved behind Kathy and began kissing her neck. Kathy tipped her head to the side to expose her neck to him while he reached around her and cupped her breasts in his hands. The little black bra Kathy was wearing opened in the front. Raphael unsnapped it, and Kathy let it slide off her shoulders and drop to the floor. Then Raphael began to massage the bare flesh of Kathy's breasts with his disgusting hands. If this had been a porn video, this might have been a very erotic scene, but since it was my wife the slimy fucker had his hands on, the scene was making me sick.

    Raphael moved his hands down Kathy's body and hooked his thumbs into the elastic of her panties. As he pulled her panties down, Raphael got down on his knees and began to kiss the exposed flesh of Kathy's bottom. With her panties around her ankles, Kathy leaned forward and supported herself against the bed as Raphael pressed his tongue into the cleft of her ass.

    Once again, I had to get up and walk around the room to calm myself. The pressure in my chest was building to the point that it made me feel like I might explode. I went into the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face and then just stared at myself in the mirror for a minute. "What are you going to do about this?" I said aloud. "I will find him, and I will kill him."

    When I went back into my office and sat down at the computer again, Kathy was on the bed, lying on her back with her knees up and Raphael was climbing up on the bed between her legs. As he leaned forward, Kathy spread her legs wide to give him access to her sweet mound. Raphael turned out to be an enthusiastic pussy eater, and I could see that his efforts were having an effect on Kathy: it wasn't very long before she began to climax. Normally, Kathy is vocal and animated during her orgasm, but this time she wasn't. It seemed as if she was trying to minimize the effect of her orgasm without much success. She reminded me of someone trying not to scream during that first long drop on a roller coaster.

    When Kathy's orgasm passed, Raphael moved on top of Kathy, and I watched as he pushed himself inside her and began pumping his cock into that most special place that I thought would always belong only to me. Raphael had pretty good staying power, and brought Kathy to a second orgasm. Unlike the first one this time Kathy let herself go. I can tell you that watching another man give the woman you love an orgasm is not much fun.

    Raphael lasted a few minutes after Kathy's orgasm then he yelled, "I'm coming, baby."

    He quickened his pace, and I could tell that he was spewing his seed where only mine should be. When Raphael finished ejaculating inside Kathy, he rolled off her and lay by her side. Then, to my horror, the camera zoomed in to show a close-up of Kathy's pussy. I could clearly see her cum matted pubic hair and a drip of semen forming on the lips of her freshly fucked pussy. The camera held the shot for about a minute and then pulled back.

    Raphael put his arm around Kathy, pulled her close and kissed her, and then they both just lay there. I watched for a while, and it appeared that Kathy had fallen asleep. Raphael pulled a blanket up to cover them and turned off the lights. It looked like whatever they planned to do; they had done, and now they were going to sleep. With nothing more happening on the screen I once again became aware of how much my hand hurt. I felt torn. Should I stay and monitor the video feed for anything more or should I go to the emergency room? The pain in my hand made the decision for me. I turned off my camera and went to the hospital.


    Who is Raphael Garza? Pt. 02

    THURSDAY 3:45 AM EASTERN TIME

    After a long and painful wait in the emergency room, the attending physician told me that I had fractured three small bones in my right hand. The doctor said that my hand should heal completely in a few weeks and sent me home with a removable plastic cast and a prescription for Vicodin. When I got home, I took two Vicodin and then checked my computer. The video was still streaming. It was dark in the bedroom, and it appeared that Kathy and the maggot were asleep.

    I sat at the computer and put my head down on the desk thinking I would just rest for a few minutes.

    THURSDAY 7:20 AM EASTERN TIME

    At 7:20 AM, the sound of voices woke me from a restless sleep. I lifted my head and looked at the computer screen to find Raphael sitting up in bed, stroking his semi-erect penis while talking to Kathy. I quickly turned my camera back on the capture whatever might happen.

    "I'd like to make love to you once more before you have to leave," Raphael said.

    Kathy looked at him and smiled. "I really should get going," she said, but she didn't leave. Instead, she reached over and wrapped her hand around Raphael's cock, started stroking it up and down and then she bent down and took that filthy cock into her mouth.

    "Come up here and let me get my cock inside you now," the prick faced fungus said, once Kathy had him fully erect.

    Kathy got up, straddled Raphael's hips and lowered herself onto his shaft. Kathy bounced up and down on the rat bastard's cock until he announced that he was about to cum. When he started to climax, he pulled Kathy down tight against his body and held her there while he emptied his worthless seed into her. When the dip shit finished, Kathy disengaged from him and slowly stood up. I felt sick as I watched Raphael's cock slide out of Kathy followed by a large gob of his thick semen, and as she moved away from the rotten potato with a drippy dick, more of his semen dripped from her onto the bed. At that point, I'd seen as much as I could handle. I closed my computer, turned off my camera, took two more Vicodin and went to bed.

    THURSDAY 2:35 PM EASTERN TIME

    I was only able to sleep for a short time, and by eleven o'clock, I was up, sitting in the living room, with a cup of coffee, planning on how I was going to deal with Kathy if she ever came home. Luckily for me, the Vicodin was not only relieving the pain in my hand, but it was also taking the edge off the mental stress that Kathy's fling with Raphael had caused me, making it easier to think about what I needed to do. I uploaded the video I recorded to my computer and edited out the portions where there was no activity, then I copied the edited video onto a DVD.

    I decided that when I confronted Kathy, I would take my time and drag the truth out of her, hopefully making her suffer a little before I showed her the video. I was pretty sure that she would be devastated when she found out how badly that diseased toad played her.

    It was 2:35 PM when I heard the garage door opening. I had parked the rental car in the street, so Kathy would be coming into the house not knowing that I was there. When I heard the kitchen door opening, I took a deep breath and told myself to remain calm.

    Kathy went straight to the phone to check messages. "Kathy, it's me. Call me when you get home. Love you," the message I had left Tuesday, was the first message to play followed by two more messages from me and then, "Kathy, it's Mom. Where are you? Walt called me this morning looking for you. Is something wrong? Call me."

    I heard Kathy mumble "Oh shit, I should have called."

    I was glad that she at least expressed something that sounded like concern. I was beginning to get excited about the coming confrontation. I wanted to make Kathy as uncomfortable as possible.

    Kathy's next move surprised me a little. Instead of taking her suitcase and heading upstairs, I heard her pick up the telephone and start punching in a number. The sudden ringing of my cell phone startled me. I don't know why I guess I expected that she would call her mother first. I took my phone out of my pocket, but I didn't answer it. I just waited for Kathy to hear my phone ringing.

    Kathy came out of the kitchen into the living room, and when she saw me, she screamed, "Walt. Oh my God, you nearly scared me to death." When I didn't respond, Kathy came farther into the room. "What are you doing home? I thought you wouldn't be home until Saturday."

    "I had to come home early because I had a family emergency," I said.

    "What family emergency?" Kathy asked as she dropped into a chair facing me.

    "It seems that my wife disappeared and no one knew where she was," I said. "Cam was ready to fire me for leaving the class early, so you had better have a good reason for taking off and not telling me where you were going," I said. Now it was time to see if she would start with a big lie or a little one. "So, where were you?"

    "I was in Philadelphia."

    I could see that she was going to make me drag the story out of her. "What were you doing in Philadelphia?"

    "A friend called and asked me to come down for a couple of days."

    "You could have saved me a whole lot of trouble if you had just called and told me what you were up to."

    "I am sorry. I know I should have called you."

    "So why didn't you?"

    "I was going to, but I didn't have my cell phone with me. I must have lost it somewhere."

    "I found your cell phone in the bedroom. By the way, you're going to need a new one," I said. "Where did you stay in Philly?"

    "The Four Seasons."

    "That's a bit expensive isn't it?"

    "Don't worry, you didn't have to pay for it," Kathy snapped.

    "What's with the sudden attitude?"

    "I'm sorry. I guess I am just tired and all these questions are giving me a bit of a headache."

    "What did you do in Philly?"

    "We went to a couple of museums and a play."

    "So you had a good time then?"

    "Yes, I did," Kathy said. "I had no idea that my little trip would get you in trouble at work. Tell Cam I am sorry for causing a problem."

    I guess Kathy thought she had dodged the bullet because I could sense that she was beginning to relax. Then she saw the cast on my hand.

    "What happened to your hand?"

    "I saw something that upset me, so I slammed my hand on my desk and broke a couple of bones," I said.

    What... Why? What did you see?" Kathy stammered.

    "I'll get to that later," I said.

    "Would you mind if we continued this conversation later, I would like to take a shower?" Kathy said.

    I waited until Kathy was standing and getting ready to leave the room and then asked, "So, this friend that invited you to Philly, what was his name?"

    I could see the panic in Kathy's eyes. "What are you trying to say? Are you accusing me of something?"

    I sat for a long time without saying anything and just let the panic take hold. I could see that Kathy's legs seemed to be getting a bit wobbly. Then, in as calm a voice as I could manage I said, "Let's just cut through all of the bull shit. I want to know the name of the man my wife spent two nights with in Philadelphia."

    I could see in her face that Kathy was trying to figure out if there was any way she could get out of confessing the truth. Finally, she sat back down in the chair and looked down at the floor. "His name is Raphael Garza, but this is not what..."

    "Don't you dare try to tell me it's not what I am thinking. I want to know how long this has been going on and I want to know why you decided to throw our marriage away for a piece of shit like Raphael Garza."

    "Don't call him names, he is not a bad person," Kathy said. I could see the tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

    "Are you in love with him? Is that what this is about?"

    "No. Just let me explain."

    "Please do and don't leave anything out."

    "I won't. I met Raphael a couple of months ago."

    "So you have been cheating on me for two months?"

    "No... No... Let me finish. Remember back in April when my mother was in the hospital for her bypass surgery? I spent a lot of time at the hospital that week, and one day I was sitting in the cafeteria having lunch when I noticed that the man at the next table was crying. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that his wife had just died.

    "I felt so bad for him that I moved over to his table and tried to console him, but he was nearly inconsolable. I spend most of that afternoon talking to him. He told me that he and his wife Isabel had been in a bad car accident and she had died from her injuries. He said that he blamed himself for the accident and he wished that he had also died.

    "I got him to stop crying, and we just talked all afternoon. When I left, I gave him one of my business cards and told him he could call me if he needed to talk. I was afraid that he might kill himself if he didn't have anyone to talk to.

    "I didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks, and then I got an email from him. He said that he wanted to thank me for helping him when he was feeling so low. After that, we traded emails about every few days. Over the last month, he started calling me at work. He told me that he was having trouble dealing with the approach of the tenth anniversary of the day he and his wife, Isabel, married.

    "Then Monday night he called me and said that he was thinking of going to join Isabel. He said he just couldn't take it anymore. I did my best to talk him out of doing anything drastic and asked him to call me again in the morning.

    "When he called Tuesday morning he asked me to come to Philadelphia and spend a couple of days with him doing the things that he and his wife used to do."

    "So you just jumped into the car and drove down to Philly to stand in for his dead wife?"

    "Yes. I guess that is what I did."

    "Did that include fucking him?"

    "Why do you have to be so vulgar?"

    "Did you fuck him?"

    "I don't have to sit and let you talk to me that way."

    "I said, did you fuck him?"

    Kathy put her face into her hands and said, "Yes, but I didn't do it for love, and I didn't do it for the sex. I did it because I was afraid of what he might do if I left him alone."

    "You fucked him to keep him from killing himself? Well, kudos to you. You killed our marriage to save his life," I said.

    "No. Please don't say that."

    "So, tell me. What do you really know about this asshole?"

    "Why must you call him names?"

    "Because he is a slimy piece of shit and he fucked my wife, and he destroyed our marriage. Anyway, what do you know about him?"

    "Raphael is a vice president at Four Seasons."

    "Oh, so you spent two nights with him at the Four Seasons. I hope he didn't make you pay for the room."

    "He didn't stay at the hotel with me," Kathy said. "I spent one night at his condo. I am sorry, Walt. I never meant for this to interfere with our marriage. I was just doing what I felt I needed to do under the circumstances. If I hadn't spent the night with him and he had committed suicide, I never would have been able to forgive myself."

    "How are you going to feel about it when I kill him?" I said.

    Kathy screamed and said, "No, please don't do anything stupid. It was just one time, and it will never happen again. Please just let it go. I love you, and I want to stay married to you."

    "Just one time? So what do you tell him next year, when he calls you on the next anniversary? Will you tell him to drop dead?"

    Kathy didn't respond, but I could see that she had never considered that possibility.

    I laughed at her and said, "When you know the truth about that festering scab you'll want to kill him yourself."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    I said, "Watch this," and then I turned on the television and the DVD player and started the video. When Kathy saw herself in the hotel room, she looked at me and said, "What is this? Did you have me followed?"

    "Think about it, Kathy. How could I have gotten a video of you in your hotel room? Just watch the video."

    Kathy watched quietly as the video played. When it got to the part where she was admiring herself in the mirror, I said, "So, if you were only doing this to kept your lover from killing himself, why do you look so pleased with the way you look in the sexy underwear he sent you?"

    Kathy just looked at me with her tear-filled eyes, shook her head and then looked back at the video.

    When the video showed Kathy leaving the room, I pressed pause. "Any comments so far?"

    "How did you get this video?"

    In answer to her question I opened my laptop on and showed her the emails, I had received from Raphael.

    "He sent that to you?" Kathy said. "I don't understand, why would he do that?"

    "You're asking me? He's your lover, why do you think he did it?"

    "Was he trying to break up our marriage?"

    "That would be my guess," I said.

    "Why would he want to do that?"

    "I don't know, but I intend to ask him before I beat him to death," I said.

    "Don't talk that way; you're scaring me."

    "Why don't we watch the rest of the video?"

    "Oh God, there's more?" Kathy said.

    "There's a lot more," I said and then started the video again.

    When the video got to the point where Kathy started sucking Raphael's cock, Kathy said, "Please turn it off. I don't want to see anymore."

    "No. You are going to watch every bit of this video because I had to watch it all last night."

    I let the video run until it showed Kathy going to sleep, and then I paused it again.

    "So, what do you think of your performance?" I said.

    "It was horrible. I am so sorry you had to see that. I had no idea that Raphael was going to do anything like that. I was just trying to help. I can't understand why he would do that to me."

    "He didn't do it to just you; he did it to us."

    "Of course, you're right. I am sorry," Kathy said. "I believed Raphael when he said that he was depressed and was thinking of killing himself. Last night I was just trying to help him."

    "You know, as crazy as all this seems, I believe that what you did last night you did because you thought that you were helping the asshole through a bad time," I said. "But if that's true, how do you explain what happened this morning?"

    I pressed play, and the video started again with the two of them in bed in the morning when Raphael said, "I'd like to make love to you one more before you have to leave."

    When Kathy saw what was happening, she began to cry. "Oh God, I am sorry. I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry... I'm sorry."

    "What makes it even more disturbing is that you fucked him without protection."

    "It never occurred to me that I would need it," Kathy said.

    I didn't say anything more; I just let her cry. After several minutes, Kathy got up, ran upstairs to our bedroom and closed the door. I didn't follow her.

    THURSDAY 5:15 PM EASTERN TIME

    Kathy didn't come back downstairs until 5:15 that afternoon. She had stayed in the bedroom most of the day, but I heard the shower running around five o'clock. When she came into my study, Kathy was wearing jeans and a sweater. I had been sitting at my desk trying to stay busy so I wouldn't keep thinking about Kathy and Raphael.

    "Walt? Can we talk?"

    "What is there to talk about?" I said.

    "What happened to the mirror over my dresser?"

    "The mirror broke at the same time that your cell phone broke," I said.

    "I think I can guess how that happened," Kathy said. "What's going to happen to us now?"

    "There is no more us," I said.

    Kathy was crying again. "Isn't there anything I can do to fix this?"

    "There is nothing to fix. Our marriage is broken, it's over," I said. "For now, the only thing you can do to help me is to tell me how I can find Raphael."

    "Why, what are you going to do?"

    "I don't think you should worry about what happens to your lover after what he did to you."

    "I'm not worried about him; I'm worried about you. I don't want you to get into trouble."

    "What I do is no longer any concern of yours," I said. "Just tell me where I can find him."

    "I can't."

    "Do you mean you can't or you won't?"

    "I can't. I don't know Raphael's phone number, and I don't know where he lives."

    "Bullshit. You were at his house last night."

    "Yes, but I don't know where it was. I was there only two times, and both times, I was in a limo. I didn't pay attention to how I got to the house, so I don't know where it was or how to get there."

    "You said he works for the Four Seasons hotel."

    "He's a vice president, but I don't know if he works at the hotel or if his office is somewhere else," Kathy said. "What do we do now?"

    "I want you to go stay with your mother," I said. "I am going to Philadelphia in the morning to find your lover."

    "What am I going to tell my mother?"

    "That's your problem, but you might want to try telling her the truth."

    FRIDAY 9:00 AM EASTERN TIME

    At nine o'clock Friday morning I was standing at the reception desk of the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia. When the young woman behind the counter approached me, I asked if Mr. Garza was in.

    "Is Mr. Garza a guest of the hotel?" she asked.

    "No. My understanding is that Mr. Garza is an employee of the hotel chain," I said.

    "There is no one at this hotel by that name."

    "Mr. Raphael Garza?" I said.

    "No. I am sorry."

    I realized that Raphael had probably lied about being a VP at Four Seasons, but it was the only lead I had. I had printed out a couple of video captures from the DVD I had made that clearly showed Raphael's face. I showed one of them to the desk clerk and asked if she recognized him. She said she wasn't sure and then she asked the bell captain to step over to the desk.

    The bell captain looked at the picture and said, "That's Frank."

    "Frank? His name is Frank?"

    "Frank Lewis, but his stage name is Franklin Hawthorne."

    "He's an actor?" That made sense. He was acting the whole time he was with Kathy. "Does Frank work here at this hotel?"

    "When he doesn't have an acting gig he works as a bellman if we need extra help at the hotel."

    "Is he here today?"

    "No."

    "Do you know where he lives?" I asked.

    "No, but I couldn't tell you even if I did. It's against policy to give out that kind of information about hotel employees."

    "It's very important that I speak with Mr. Lewis."

    Then the girl behind the counter said, "I thought you were looking for Raphael Garza."

    "Turns out Raphael Garza and Frank Lewis are the same person."

    "If you want to talk to him why don't you just go to the theater tonight and talk to him after the play?" the bell captain said.

    "He's in a play tonight?"

    "Opening night," the bell captain said as he laughed. "They're doing the "Philadelphia Story"."

    The irony was lost on me.

    "And you think I could get in to see him then?" I said.

    "This isn't Broadway. It's the Broad Street Theater. Only seats about 300 people and usually isn't full. No big names in the cast, just a bunch of wannabe actors. You wouldn't have any problem going backstage after the play to talk to him."

    FRIDAY 9:40 PM EASTERN TIME

    There had only been about 150 people in attendance at the small theater, but they all seemed to enjoy the performance. The play was surprisingly well done, and in spite of the fact that I wanted to kill Raphael (or Frank Lewis, or Franklin Hawthorne or whatever name he might want to use) I have to admit he was pretty good in the role of Macaulay Connor.

    As soon as the curtain came down, I headed backstage and found the dressing room that Frank Lewis shared with one of the other cast members. I waited until the other actor picked up his jacket and headed out leaving Frank alone in the dressing room. I removed the plastic cast from my right hand and put it in my pocket before entering the room. I didn't think I would look as intimidating with a cast on my hand.

    Frank was sitting at his dressing table removing makeup when I entered the room. He turned to look at me and said, "Can I help you?"

    "I was impressed by your performance," I said.

    "Thank you, always appreciate positive reviews," he said. "The audience did seem to enjoy the performance."

    "Oh, I am sorry," I said. "I wasn't talking about tonight's performance. I was talking about your last role."

    "You saw me as Biff Loman in "Death of a Salesman" last December?"

    "No. I was talking about your most recent role before tonight," I said, as I closed the door to the dressing room and set the dead bolt lock.

    "Why did you lock the door?" Frank asked, beginning to look uncomfortable.

    "I don't want our conversation to be interrupted," I said. I pulled the chair out from the other dressing table and spun it around backward and sat straddling it, facing Frank. I had seen cops in movies sitting that way when they questioned suspects, and I thought it might make me look more threatening.

    "So, let's talk about your last role."

    "I don't know what you are talking about. My last role before tonight was Biff Loman. Are you sure you don't have me confused with someone else?"

    "No, it was you."

    Frank was beginning to sweat. You must be mistaken because I have no idea what you are talking about."

    "I can't believe that you have forgotten already. For the last two months, you have been giving such a great performance as a Spanish cockroach. In that role, you called yourself Raphael Garza."

    Frank stiffened in his chair. "Who are you and what do you want?" Frank asked.

    "Don't you recognize me?"

    "No."

    "You have never seen me or a photo of me?"

    "No."

    "My name is Walt Martin. I'm Kathy's husband."

    Frank made a small sound like a frightened animal then he said, "I don't know who you are or what you're talking about."

    "Sure you do Frank. How could you forget spending a couple of months seducing my wife? You can't possibly have forgotten about Wednesday night? That was quite a performance."

    "I think you should leave now."

    "I don't think so. I am not leaving until you answer all of my questions," I said. "Whether you walk out of here or they carry you out depends on how cooperative you are."

    "You can't just come in here and threaten me."

    "I can't? Are you sure, because I think I just did? Now, why did you go after my wife?"

    "I have nothing to say to you, and if you don't let me out of here right now, I will call for help."

    "Go ahead and call for help, but if you do, you'll be dead before anyone can get that door opened."

    Determined that he would be the next to speak, I just sat and stared at him. It must have been nearly three minutes before he finally broke down.

    "I was hired to do it," he said.

    "Hired? Someone hired you to seduce my wife?"

    "Yes."

    Why?"

    "I don't know. They never said why they wanted me to do it. I asked, but they said that I didn't need to know that," Frank replied.

    "They? There was more than one person involved? Who are they?"

    "I don't know that either."

    "Bullshit. Someone hires you to seduce a woman, and they don't tell you who they are or why they want you to do it, and you accept the job?"

    "I told them I wasn't interested, but then they offered me five thousand dollars for just trying to seduce her and an additional five thousand if I was successful."

    "Did they pay?"

    "Yes."

    "But you don't know their names?"

    "They never told me their full names. The guy that did most of the talking said his name was Steve and I think I heard him call the other guy Monty. He only said his name once so I can't be sure if I heard him right."

    "What did they look like?"

    "Steve was thin and well dressed. He had dark hair and was about five feet five inches tall. He was a little light in his loafers if you know what I mean. The other guy was bigger, maybe six feet tall and 200 pounds. He was bald on top with light brown hair around the sides of his head."

    The names and descriptions meant nothing to me. "So this Steve guy was in charge?"

    "I don't think so. He did most of the talking, but he kept looking at the other guy as if he wanted to make sure he was saying the right things."

    "How did they contact you?"

    "They contacted me through my agent and made an appointment to come see me. That was about three months ago. They said that they saw me in a play and thought that I would be right for a job they had."

    This whole deal was getting stranger by the minute.

    "It took you two months to seduce my wife, weren't your friends getting impatient with how long it was taking you?" I said.

    "No. That's the way they wanted me to do it."

    "So you scripted this whole seduction scene yourself?"

    "No. When they contacted me, Steve told me how they wanted it done. He said we had two months to set it up, but they wanted the final seduction to happen this week."

    "Why this week?"

    "They didn't say. Steve said the plan was for me to get her into bed this week. He told me not to do anything until they contacted me again. Then, a week later, Steve contacted me. He told me that your wife's mother was in the hospital and that your wife was spending a lot of time there. He told me that I should make contact with her there and play the part of a grief-stricken husband. Steve said that being able to start at the hospital would make my cover story more believable. I did everything exactly the way Steve told me to do. He told me to play the part of a wealthy Spanish businessman who lost his wife in a car accident. He told me when to make contact with your wife and how I was to play it.

    "I did everything I was told to do, and it worked out great," Frank said.

    "I am not sure you and your friends will think it worked out so great when I get done with all of you. Who was working the camera and who drove the limo?"

    "Steve made videos and arranged for the limo and driver."

    "Was Monty there?"

    "No."

    "Did you send me the emails?"

    "Emails? What emails? I don't know anything about any emails."

    "You knew that they emailed the videos of what you were doing, to me."

    "Jesus, they did that? I knew about the cameras, but I didn't know what they were doing with video. I swear I didn't know."

    "Bullshit. You knew all right. That first night, after Kathy left the condo, you came over to the camera and said, 'Come back tomorrow evening for part two. Tune in at seven o'clock. I think you will enjoy the show, well at least I will.' And then you laughed."

    "I said that for Steve's benefit. I thought it was funny, him being gay and all."

    I let that go. "Where's the condo you used last night?"

    "It was in City Center."

    "Whose condo was it?"

    "I don't know. Steve gave me the key and told me where it was."

    "Give me the address."

    I made Frank write the address down for me.

    "Who reserved the hotel room at the Four Seasons for Kathy?"

    "I guess Steve did that. He told me to tell Kathy to go to the Four Seasons, and there would be an envelope waiting for her at the front desk. I don't even know what room she was in."

    "Did they know that you worked at the Four Seasons as a bellman?"

    "I don't think so. I never mentioned it, and they never asked."

    "Bit of a mistake on their part, and yours," I said.

    "Why?"

    "That's how I found you."

    I couldn't think of any more questions for him, so I decided to leave. I hated leaving without at least breaking the slimy bastard's nose, but I wasn't sure how well I would fare in a fight without the use of my right hand. I stood up, and so did Frank.

    "What are you going to do?" Frank asked.

    "I haven't decided what I am going to do to you yet, but I suspect that you will get off easier than the assholes that hired you."

    When he saw that I wasn't going to attack him, Frank became a little bolder. He moved closer to me and said, "Don't think I am afraid of you just because I answered your questions. I told you all that because I feel sorry for you."

    There was a smug smile on Frank's face that lasted about five seconds. That was how long it took me to step toward him with my left foot and then kick him in the crotch with my right foot. Frank dropped to his knees and then rolled onto his side.

    I put my right foot on Frank's neck and pinned his head to the floor and said, "I don't want you telling your friends that we had this conversation. If I find out that you told them, your acting career will come to an abrupt halt. It is very difficult to recite Shakespeare when you don't have a tongue.

    "We'll be seeing each other again," I said, and then I unlocked the door and left.

    FRIDAY 10:45 PM

    When I left the theater, I drove to the address Frank had given me for the Condo. It was a gated community, so I parked on the street and walked back to the security gate. I told the guard that my wife had been at a party in one to the condos Wednesday night and had left a diamond earring there. When I told the guard the address, I could see that he was uncomfortable.

    "Sir, that unit is empty," he said.

    I could see that he was lying, so I did a little acting of my own.

    "I happen to know that that unit was occupied Tuesday and Wednesday night. How much were you paid to let these men use that unit?"

    "I don't have to answer your questions."

    "No, you don't. But when I come back with the police, you will have to answer their questions," I said.

    "Okay. No police. This guy gave me a thousand bucks to let him use the place for two nights."

    "Who gave you the money?"

    "He said his name was Steven."

    "How did they manage to furnish the unit for just two nights?" I said.

    "It's a furnished unit used for guests of the condo owners."

    "You said the guy's name was Steven; can you describe him?"

    "What's this about?"

    "I don't think you really want to know that. It would only make more trouble for you."

    The guard described Steven the same way that Frank had described Steve.

    "If you should hear from Steven again don't tell him that anyone was here asking about that unit."

    "No problem."

    SATURDAY 1:15 AM

    It was after one in the morning when I got back home. Kathy was gone, but she had left me a note on the kitchen table telling me she went to her mother's and asked me to call her. I left the note on the table and went to bed.

    I woke up at ten in the morning to the sound of a ringing phone. Caller ID identified the caller as Kathy's mother, but I suspected it was Kathy.

    "Where were you all day yesterday?"

    "Not that it's any of your business but I was out looking for answers," I said.

    "You didn't do anything stupid did you?"

    "You're asking me if I did something stupid? I don't think you are qualified to judge my actions."

    Kathy was quiet for a moment and then asked, "Did you find Raphael?"

    "Yes, but his name isn't Raphael. His real name is Frank Lewis. He is a part-time bellman at the Four Seasons, and he is an actor at the Broad Street Theater in Philly," I said. "His stage name is Franklin Hawthorne."

    "What did you do to him?"

    "Isn't that sweet, you're worried about the piece of shit that ruined our marriage."

    "I am not worried about him; I am worried about you. I don't want you to get into trouble over this."

    "Perhaps you should have worried about that a couple of days ago before you decided to go to bed with that worthless asshole."

    "I told you why I did it," Kathy said. "I believed him when he told me he was thinking of killing himself."

    "Are you trying to fool me, or yourself?"

    "What do you mean? I am not trying to fool anyone."

    "Given that he was talking about committing suicide you should have contacted the police, or a suicide hotline to get him help, but you decided to have a romantic evening with him instead. You must think you have a magic pussy that can cure depression with one fuck."

    "No... No. It wasn't like that. Maybe I should have called someone else, but things happened so suddenly that I couldn't think of any other way to stop him."

    "You want to know what I think? Probably not but I am going to tell you anyway. I think you chose to have sex with him because it's what you wanted. Having the excuse of trying to save his life gave you the opportunity to have a little affair with a sexy Spaniard without feeling guilty about what you had done. Tell me this, when you walked into the house yesterday before you realized that I was home, did you feel guilty about what you had done?"

    Kathy didn't answer, but I could hear her crying.

    "Kathy, I have to go. I'll call you in a few days."

    SATURDAY AFTERNOON

    I needed to think about what I had learned the previous evening and make decisions about what I was going to do next, but the memory of seeing Kathy with that smarmy fucker would not leave me alone.

    Finally, I gave up, went outside and started mowing the lawn, not easy to do with a broken hand. I managed to keep myself busy outside the rest of the day. At six o'clock, I made myself a sandwich and went into the study. I tried to think through everything that had happened in the last five days. The only conclusion that I reached that night was that I was an emotional mess and in a state of mind that made it almost impossible for me to make any sense out of what few facts I knew. I finally just went to bed hoping I would be able to deal with things better in the morning.

    SUNDAY JUNE 7th

    After eating a small breakfast Sunday morning, I went to the study, determined to come up with a plan of action. I started by making a list of anyone who had any connection to the events of the previous week and what their connection was.

    Kathy was at the top of my list. Regardless of what anyone else had done to instigate the events of the prior week, it was Kathy that had played the main role. In spite of Kathy's actions, I saw no indication that she intentionally set to end our marriage.

    Raphael Garza: the character played by Frank Lewis in this tragic little soap opera. He managed to get Kathy to believe his bullshit story, but it seemed that his only motivation was the $10,000 Steve and Monty paid him for the seduction.

    The Security guard at City Center condos: He took a bribe to allow the plotters to use the guest condo for two nights.

    Cam Penney, my boss: He told me about the open seat in the software class starting on Monday and asked if I could attend after he had already enrolled me in the class. I could think of no reason that Cam would want to break up my marriage.

    John Odem: the class manager that contacted Cam and told him that he had an open seat in the class. I had never met John Odem before the first day of class. He lived on the west coast, so what possible reason would he have for wanting to ruin my life?

    Frank Lewis: the rat bastard, had given me the names Steve and Monty as the individuals that had hired him to seduce Kathy. The security guard at the City Center condos confirmed that this guy Steven or Steve was, if not in charge, at least one of the main conspirators.

    After two hours, that was all I had. I sat staring at the list, but nothing jumped out at me. To me, Monty and Steve had to be the keys to solving this mess. If they were the ones running this operation, they had to have had help. They not only knew that I was going to be out of town for a week they also knew I was going to be in California. The fact that they began the streaming video at 7:00 PM, Pacific time on Tuesday, proved that. Starting the video at the 7:00 PM Pacific Time again on Wednesday, meant that they didn't know that I had flown home that morning. From that, I removed Cam and John Odem from my list. They both knew that I had left California before I even arrive back home.

    I began to wonder if my going to California was part of Steve and Monty's plan. Had they arranged for me to be out of town for the week so that Raphael could seduce Kathy? I was going to have to find out how I got the seat for the software training class but that would have to wait until I got to work Monday morning.


    Who is Raphael Garza? Pt. 03

    I began to wonder if my going to California was part of Steve and Monty's plan. Had they arranged for me to be out of town for the week so that Raphael could seduce Kathy? I was going to have to find out how I got the seat for the software training class, but that would have to wait until I got to work Monday morning.

    MONDAY JUNE 8th

    I got to the office at eight o'clock Monday morning and went straight to Cam's office.

    "Cam, I am sorry for what happened last week. It won't happen again," I said.

    "So, you want to explain what happened?" Cam asked.

    "It's a personal problem between my wife and me."

    "You didn't do something stupid, did you?"

    "No. It wasn't me that caused the problem."

    "Are you saying that Kathy..."

    I stopped Cam before he could finish. "I'm not sure what happened yet, but I intend to find out."

    "You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Cam said.

    "Yes. At least not now, I am not ready to talk to anybody about this."

    "What do you plan to do?"

    "My job."

    "I am glad to hear that, but I meant, what are you going to do about the problem you're having?"

    "I'll take care of it."

    "Well, don't do anything that will get you into trouble."

    "You don't have to worry. I won't cause any problems for you."

    "You know that I will help you in any way I can, so don't be afraid to ask," Cam said.

    "There is one way you can help me. I need to know how I managed to get the seat in the GP class last week. The only thing you told me was that there was a seat available."

    "Why is that important?"

    "I think it could have something to do with my problem at home."

    "You care to elaborate on that?"

    "Not yet," I said. "I need to know who called to tell you that a seat was available. Was it John Odem?"

    "It wasn't Odem. The only time I spoke with him was when I called the class looking for you on Wednesday."

    "Then who called you?"

    Cam seemed to be a bit put out by my attitude, but I was beyond caring about his feelings at that moment. Cam gave me a look that showed his annoyance and then he opened his daily note file on his laptop.

    "Okay, let's have a look. Here it is, Friday, May 29th, at 4:25 PM. The caller's name was Steven Farrell, and he said that he was the training manager for Stinson Enterprises in Santa Clara, California. He said that one of their employees was scheduled for the June first class, but needed to reschedule. He said that they had contacted the Grayson Training Center and got your name from them. He said that if we were willing to swap your October class for the June first class, he would set it up for us. I told him we would take the seat."

    Steve and Steven, two versions of the same name somehow involved in this event. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I thought not.

    "Does that help?" Cam asked.

    "I don't know yet," I said. I thanked Cam, and went to my office.

    I put in a call to the Grayson Training Center and left a message for John Odem asking him to call me. It was three o'clock that afternoon when Odem returned my call.

    "I assume you are calling to see when you can get into another class," John said.

    "That, and I have a couple of questions I would like to ask you."

    "I already rescheduled you for a seat in a class the second week of November, but I expect that we can probably get you into something sooner. We often have someone drop out of the class early, and since you have already completed the first two days of the training, if a seat should open up before the third day, we could get you into that class. That is if you could get out here on short notice."

    "That would be great," I said. "I could probably catch a red-eye and be out there in time for the class on a Wednesday morning."

    "Okay then, I'll call you if we get a dropout. Now, you said you had some questions for me?"

    "Can you tell me how I happened to get a seat in last week's class?"

    "Is that important?"

    "It is to me. Some problems came up while I was in San Jose and I am wondering if my being in that class was just coincidental to my problems, or if my being away from home was part of someone's plan to cause problems for me."

    "What kind of problems are you talking about?" John said.

    "Personal problems, but they didn't just happen. Someone went to a lot of trouble to set me up, and I am just wondering if that included arranging for me to be away from home last week."

    "I hope you don't think that I..."

    "No, I am sure that you didn't have anything to do with this. I just need to know how I ended up getting that seat in last week's class."

    "Let me check my notes."

    For the next few minutes, the phone line was quiet except for the sound of John working his computer keyboard.

    "Three weeks ago I got a call from a Steven Farrell from Stinson Enterprises in Santa Clara. He said that they had a seat in last week's class for David Stinson, but that Mr. Stinson had to reschedule, so they had arranged to switch classes with you."

    "How would they know that I was scheduled for a seat in the October class?"

    "Apparently Mr. Farrell got copies of the June first class roster and made calls until he found someone willing to trade seats with Mr. Stinson. Does that help?"

    "I am not sure if that helps or not. Do you have Mr. Farrell's phone number?"

    John gave me the number for Stinson Enterprises. I thanked him and ended the call. As I punched in the number for Stinson Enterprises, I wondered if I was getting any closer to an answer or if I was just wasting my time.

    "Stinson Enterprises," was the response I got after the second ring.

    "Can I speak with Steven Farrell please?"

    "Steven Farrell? I think you must have the wrong number."

    "You don't have a training manager named Steven Farrell?"

    The man on the phone just laughed.

    "What's funny about that?" I asked.

    "We don't have a training manager."

    "Then who arranges training for your employees?"

    "Well I guess that would be me, but I only have two employees."

    "Who am I speaking with?" I asked.

    "This is David Stinson, President, and CEO of Stinson Enterprises."

    I introduced myself to Mr. Stinson and explained why I was calling and that I was trying to find out how I ended up getting his seat in the G P training class.

    "You don't know? It was a guy from your HR department that called and asked me to swap seats with you. I wasn't going to do it at first, but he offered to pay $5,000 for my seat in the class. Stinson Enterprises is just a start-up company, so I wasn't about to turn down the money."

    "Someone from Boswell Products contacted you?"

    "Yes. I got his name here somewhere... His name is Steven Farley, and he called me about three weeks ago. When I said I would switch with you, he said he would take care of everything."

    "Did you get the $5,000?"

    "Yes. The check came last week."

    "Who did the check come from?"

    "Let me look. I have a copy of the check in my file.

    "You keep copies of checks?"

    "I keep copies of everything. Got it. They paid me with a cashier's check from First Bank of Brodricksburg. Does that help?"

    "Is there any indication of the source of the check other than the name of the bank?"

    "No."

    After I had got off the phone with Mr. Stinson, I called Bill Jefferson, our Human Resources manager and asked him if he had someone working for him named Steven Farley.

    Bill said there was nobody by that name anywhere in Boswell Products.

    I knew then that there had to be a connection between my getting a seat in the GP class and what Kathy had done with the maggot. I had two names, Steve Farley and Steven Farrell; but neither of them appeared to have any connections to Boswell Products, the Grayson Training Center or Stinson Enterprises but the cashier's check from a bank in Brodricksburg, Pennsylvania told me there had to be a connection.

    I knew that I would never get any information out of the bank. They would never tell me who arranged for the cashier's check that was sent to David Stinson, and wouldn't tell me who Steve and Monty were, even if they knew. I thought I was making good progress with my investigation until I talked to Stinson. I considered going to the police, but I doubted that they would do anything. The police would just tell me that this was just a domestic problem between my wife and me. On the drive home from work that night, I felt like I had reached a dead end.

    THURSDAY, JUNE 25th

    It was Thursday evening; two weeks had passed since my conversation with David Stinson, and I had just about given up hope of ever finding out who was behind the destruction of my marriage and why they did it. I wondered if someone was intentionally out to hurt me or was I just an unlucky pawn in some bazaar game being played by unknown players? What I was sure of was that whoever planned Kathy's seduction had arranged for me to be in San Jose that week. To make that happen the planners had to know that I would jump at the chance to swap my seat in the October GP class for the June first class. Cam and a few others at work would have known this, but I could see no reason why anyone in the company would want to destroy my marriage. It had to be someone outside the company. The problem was that the only person I could think of outside of Boswell Products who knew that I wanted that class was Kathy. She knew I had a class scheduled in October and that I hoped for a chance to take it sooner. I had been avoiding talking to Kathy, but I was going to have to call her and ask whom she may have talked to about that class. I also needed to ask Kathy if she knew anyone named Steve or Monty. I made the call.

    "Walt, thank God you called. I have been worried sick about you," Kathy said when she heard my voice.

    "You weren't too worried about me when you were in bed with that phony Spaniard."

    "You have no idea how sorry I am about all of this, but you are not the only victim here. I know I was a fool to fall for his lies. He was only able to seduce me because I really believed that he needed me. Will you ever forgive me?"

    "I don't know. I didn't call to talk about that. I need to ask you some questions."

    "I'll tell you whatever you want to know," Kathy said. "I won't lie to you."

    "Did you tell anyone that I was trying to get an earlier class than the one I was scheduled for in October?"

    "I don't know; I might have mentioned it in conversation with people at work. Why?"

    "Do you know anyone named Steve or Monty?"

    "I have a cousin named Steve."

    "He lives in Chicago doesn't he?"

    "Yes."

    "Have you spoken to him recently?"

    "I haven't talked to him in years."

    "Anyone else named Steve?"

    "I occasionally meet people named Steve, but I don't have any friends or work associates named Steve?"

    "What about Monty?"

    "I don't know anyone named Monty. Who are they?"

    "Just a couple of names I got from your friend Raphael."

    "Are these people responsible for what happened to us?" Kathy said.

    "I think they are, but I don't know for sure. I don't even know if Steve and Monty are their real names. It feels like I have reached a dead end."

    "Are you okay?" Kathy asked.

    "Not yet. I am not sure I will ever be. What happened when you went back to work on Monday?" I said.

    "I didn't go back to work Monday. When I got to my mother's house, I stayed in my bedroom for five days, crying most of the time." Kathy said.

    "Five days? When did you go back to work?"

    "I went back in on Thursday."

    "What did you give as a reason for missing work?"

    "I told them I was sick and I really was sick. For the first time in my career, I missed a bank audit that was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Brodricksburg. Marge Robinson had to cover for me."

    "I don't remember you ever going to Brodricksburg to do an audit," I said. "I guess that shows that you can be replaced."

    "Brodricksburg used to be Marge's territory, but when I made supervisor, I changed our territories around a little. I took Brodricksburg, Allentown, and Bethlehem from Marge and gave her the southern half of Bucks County. Are you saying that I can be replaced?" Kathy asked, her voice becoming tense. "Is that what you are planning to do, replace me in your life?"

    "I don't know what I am saying. I am a little messed up. I think I better say goodnight now."

    "Will you call me again?"

    "Maybe in a few days," I said.

    "I love you," Kathy said. I didn't answer.

    As soon as I put the phone down, I had a nagging feeling I had missed something. I did not know what it was, but I was sure that it must be something important.

    FRIDAY JUNE 26th

    Friday morning I was at my desk reviewing a screen full of work-related e-mails when I had an epiphany. I immediately called Kathy at her office and said, "Last night when we talked did you said that you missed an audit at a bank in Brodricksburg?"

    "Yes. Why?"

    "What was the name of the bank?"

    "First Bank of Brodricksburg. Is that important?"

    "Probably not, I was just curious."

    "Walt, do you think we could get together tomorrow? Maybe have dinner?"

    "What would be the point?"

    "We need to talk about us. What are we going to do about our marriage?"

    "Kathy, I am not ready to talk to you about the problems that you caused in our marriage. I am not sure I ever will be," I said. "I have to get back to work now."

    After the call, I sat pondering how this new information fit into the overall story. The cashier's check that was used to pay David Stinson for switching classes came from the First Bank of Brodricksburg. Kathy was supposed to perform an audit at that bank starting on Monday, but she didn't go to work because she felt sick over everything that had happened the previous week. It occurred to me that the First Bank of Brodricksburg was the nexus that linked everything together.

    I managed to fill out the rest of the day doing my job. At quitting time instead of going home, like everyone else, I closed my office door and did a Google search for the First Bank of Brodricksburg. The first item listed on the search results page was FBB's website. There was a great deal of information on the website, but most of it was of no use to me. I finally found the connection between the bank and the events during the first week of June. It happened when I clicked on a tab labeled 'Bank Officers." On that page, I found two photographs.

    The first photo showed a large man who was bald on top with light brown hair around the sides of his head. The caption under the picture read, 'Bank President Percy Montgomery, known to his friends and customers as Monty.'

    The second photo showed a slim dark haired man. The caption under that picture read, 'Bank Vice-President Stephen Farrell.'

    I sat and stared at my computer screen. Could it be that easy? Were these two people the Monty and Steve that Frank Lewis told me had hired him to seduce Kathy. I began to wonder if the whole fucking play, starring Kathy and Raphael, produced and directed by Monty Montgomery and Steven Farrell and presented for my entertainment, was designed to keep Kathy from auditing FBB. If that was their intent, it had to be the stupidest idea I had ever heard, except that it seemed to have worked.

    I sat for more than an hour staring at the pictures of Monty and Steven. I could taste the bile in my mouth as I contemplated my revenge on them. Three weeks earlier, I had gone looking for Raphael intending to kill him. Finding out that he was hired to seduce Kathy by the two bastards looking back at me from my computer screen is the only reason that I didn't kill Frank Lewis. I had not yet decided if I was done with Mr. Lewis, because I focused the full spectrum of my hatred and anger on Monty and Steven. I wanted them both dead, and I was going to make it happen. My problem was to figure out how to do it without getting caught.

    When I felt my eyes beginning to burn and heard ringing in my ears, I knew it was time to calm myself down and go home. Once there, I fixed myself a double Jack on the rocks, then I sat and listened to a soft rock music channel on the satellite radio. I sat until the house was dark and then went to bed.

    I spent Saturday and Sunday working around the house while devising a plan for dealing with Monty and Steven. Other than wanting both of them dead, I couldn't come up with any workable plan. I needed to gather more information. Where did they live? When would be the best time to catch each of them alone? Would it be best to kill them in their homes or take them some place where I could conceal their bodies? I ended up going to bed with a stress headache.

    MONDAY JUNE 29TH

    I woke up Monday morning with an idea for my next move. I looked for my binoculars but couldn't find them, so I grabbed the next best thing, my video camera. It was a great camera with a powerful zoom lens that would suit my purpose. When I got to work, I told Cam that I had a doctor's appointment and would need the afternoon off. I spent the rest of the morning doing my best to concentrate on my job.

    Shortly after noon, I left the office and headed to Brodricksburg. I crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania at New Hope and turned north on State Route 32. At one o'clock that afternoon, I walked into the First Bank of Brodricksburg. It took only two minutes for me to spot my targets. Monty and Steve were standing near the back of the bank apparently, reviewing some documents on the desk in front of them. Frank Lewis had been right about Stephen Farrell. His movements and gestures had a distinct effeminate quality about them.

    The two of them began to laugh about something, and I thought, "Laugh it up now assholes because you will be dead soon." I didn't have any idea if they would know who I was if they saw me, so I decided not to chance that they would. I left the bank quickly, before the two soon to be ghosts even looked in my direction.

    On the way out, I looked at the bank hours posted on the front door and noted that the bank closed at five o'clock. As I was walking away from the bank, I saw a sign that was advertising the 'Giant Independence Day Celebration at Fort Brodrick on Saturday night. I remembered taking Kathy to see Fourth of July fireworks at Fort Brodrick a few years ago. We sat on the east bank of the Delaware River across from the fort. It was an amazing show. The memory of those happier times with Kathy brought tears to my eyes.

    I spent the next three and a half hours getting the information I would need to finalize my plans. Finding addresses for my prey was easy. They were both listed in the phone book. I drove by Farrell's house first. Ferrell's house was a single family home. As I drove past the house, I noticed an older woman sitting on the porch talking on the phone. I guessed that the woman was Farrell's mother and if I was right, it meant that taking Farrell at home would be a problem. I would have to find some other way to get to him.

    Next, I drove through Monty's neighborhood. Monty's house sat on a wooded lot on the west bank of the Delaware River. The house was a large ranch with a two-car garage on the south end. I drove by the house a second time and noted that the front yard was open and very visible to the neighbor across the street. It looked to me that the best approach to Monty's house would be from the river. I noticed that there was no activity around the house that would indicate whether there were any other family members living in the house with Monty. I would have to be sure about that before I planned to attack Monty in his house.

    I decided that climbing the river bank was the only way I would be able to get to Monty's house without the risk of being seen, so I left Monty's neighborhood I drove south along the river until I found a spot where I could park and walk down to the river's edge. I was about a half mile down river from Monty's house and from where I was standing I could see the river bank behind his house. It was steep but appeared to be climbable. I also noted that the current along that part of the river didn't look too swift, but paddling upriver for a mile would be time-consuming and exhausting.

    I walked north along the riverbank, noting that it wasn't a difficult walk until I got to an area full of large rocks. The rocks wouldn't be difficult to walk over during daylight but would be dangerous to attempt at night. I continued walking until I thought I had reached Monty's house. I climbed the riverbank and found plenty of trees and bushes to provide cover for me. When I got to the top of the riverbank, I was about fifty yards short of the Montgomery residence. I moved north through the trees until I was directly behind the house. The rear garage door was at the left end of the house. There was a small window about thirty feet to the right of the garage door, probably a kitchen window. There was a set of French Doors that opened onto a deck, ten feet further to the right. To the right of the deck was a large picture window with the drapes closed. A smaller picture window with the drapes opened was at the far right end of the house. That appeared to be a bedroom. I noted everything I had seen and then climbed back down the bank to the river's edge in as straight a line as I could. There I found a good place where I could pull my kayak out of the water and hide it behind some bushes. Before I headed back to my car, I piled some rocks on the river's edge so that I would be able to find that spot later.

    After my sightseeing tour of the homes of famous (or should I say infamous) soon to be history Brodricksburg bankers, I returned to the bank and waited in a parking lot a block away from the rear of the bank. Using the zoom feature of my video camera, I was able to watch the rear door to see if either of my targets left the bank. A little after six o'clock, Monty came out the rear door and walked to his car, a silver Mercedes. When he drove out of the parking lot, I followed him all the way to his house.

    Monty's garage door was already opening as he turned into his driveway, so I was able to see inside the garage as I slowly drove past the house. The garage was empty. No other car in the garage could mean that Monty lived alone or it could just mean that his wife wasn't home yet. It would be a lot easier for me if he lived alone. I also saw the back door that led out of the garage to the back yard. That door would be my way in if I approached the house from the river. Once the garage door closed, I started the 45-minute drive home.

    By the time I reached New Hope, I was beginning to feel shaky and was breaking into a cold sweat. I had skipped lunch so I could get to Brodricksburg quickly, and I was feeling the effects of low blood sugar. When I crossed the river into Lambertville, I stopped at a roadside diner to get something to eat.

    I was finishing off a bowl of chicken soup when I spotted a pay phone in the back of the dining room, and an idea came to me. I pulled out the notes I had been writing about my two targets and found Monty's home phone number. I paid my check, went to the phone and called Monty. When he answered the phone, I asked for Mrs. Montgomery.

    "You got the wrong number. There's no Mrs. Montgomery here," Monty said.

    "Is there a Miss Montgomery?"

    "No,"

    "Well then, can I speak to whoever is the woman of the house?"

    "There is no woman of the house; I live alone. Now stop bothering me," Monty said, then hung up the phone.

    I thought, "Lives alone huh? Wow, that was easy."

    I arrived home shortly after eight o'clock, poured three ounces of Jack Daniels over six ice cubes in a cut crystal glass, sat in my lounge chair and thought about my plan to kill Monty. With Farrell living with his mother, I would have to find a way to get to him away from his house. I didn't have a plan for that yet, so I decided that I would wait until after I dealt with Monty to go after Farrell.

    The basics of my plan were that I would break down my twelve-gauge shotgun into two pieces and carry it in a backpack with five shotgun shells. I would load my kayak onto the rooftop rack on my car, drive it over to Brodricksburg and put it in the Delaware down river from Monty's house. I had already found a good place to get down to the river about a half mile from the Asshole's house. From there, I would portage the kayak along the riverbank as far as I could to shorten the distance I would have to paddle upstream. I would wait until it was dark and then paddle upriver until I was just below Percy Montgomery's house. From there I would climb the riverbank to his backyard and hide among the trees while I reassembled and loaded the shotgun. From there, I would break into the garage through the rear door and then into the house where I would dispatch one Percy Montgomery to Hell. As soon as I completed the deed, I would leave the same way I had arrived, out the back and down the riverbank to the kayak. The mile going downstream in the kayak would be easy. If nothing went wrong, I would have the kayak loaded on the car and be miles away before the police even arrived at the crime scene.

    At least, that is the way I hoped it would go. Obviously, this was just the bare bones of the plan there were many more facets that I haven't mentioned. I felt as though I was ready to go and I decided to take Monty out on the coming Saturday, July 4. I hoped that the noise of the fireworks at Fort Brodrick would help cover the sound of the shotgun blasts.

    FRIDAY EVENING JULY 3RD

    Friday after I got home from work, I decided that I should do a dry run through of my plan. I had to make certain that I would be able to paddle upstream in the dark for nearly a half mile and find the pile of stones I left at the place I wanted to land my kayak. I also needed to know how difficult it would be to climb the riverbank and back down in the dark.

    I loaded the kayak on the carrier on my car and strapped it down. I didn't take the shotgun with me, but I did pack a flashlight, a roll of reflective tape, a lock to secure the kayak and a couple of bottles of water into my backpack. I separated my paddle into two parts and put them in the backpack. I left the house at 7:30 and arrived at my spot on the river at 8:25. I parked the car where it would not be visible from the road and after making sure no one was watching me I unloaded the kayak and carried it to the edge of the river then retrieved my backpack from the car.

    I put my backpack on, picked up my 35-pound kayak and started walking along the edge of the river. I guessed that I had walked about 800 yards before it became difficult to carry the kayak over the rocky terrain. I put the kayak down, sat on the ground next to it and checked my watch. It was almost 9:00 and it was nearly dark. I got a bottle of water out of the backpack and sat thinking about everything that had happened since I got that first email from WTF.

    At 9:30, it was dark enough to continue. I took the two pieces of my paddle out of the backpack and screwed them back together. I got the flashlight out and put it in the large pocket of my cargo shorts. I put the kayak in the river and climbed in.

    I stayed close to the riverbank as I paddled upstream. The current wasn't too strong, so I was able to move upriver with ease. In the dark, it was very difficult to see the shoreline, but I didn't use the flashlight because I did not want to draw any attention to what I was doing. I ended up pulling the kayak out of the water three times before I found my pile of rocks.

    I was able to hide the Kayak and the paddle behind some small bushes before I started the climb up the riverbank to Monty's back yard. It took me 15 minutes to climb the bank in the dark. When I got to the top, I was breathing hard and trying not to make any noise that would alert anyone to my presence. I was hiding behind a tree as I looked at the back of the doomed man's house. The only light I could see in the house was a flickering light around the edges of the drapes in the large picture window. I guessed that the fleshy-headed mutant was watching television.

    The climb back down to the river was faster but riskier than the assent. I slipped and nearly fell a couple of times on the way down. Before I put the kayak back into the water, I put a small piece of the reflective tape on the rock at the top of the pile I had made on Monday.

    The trip back down the river was extremely easy. I stopped and pulled the kayak out of the water at the same place I had put it into the water, dragged it up next to a small pine tree and locked it to the tree. I piled a few dead tree branches over the kayak to hide it. I took my backpack and the paddle and walked back to my car. I checked the time when I got into the car. It was 10:45. It took me about two hours to get to the house and back. A half hour of that time I had been sitting waiting for it to get dark. On Saturday night I would wait until it was already dark before starting up the river.

    SATURDAY, JULY 4TH 10:00 AM

    I didn't sleep well Friday night, and I was up early Saturday morning drinking coffee and reviewing my plans for that night. I was surprisingly calm considering I was planning to kill a man later that day. I had already gone up into the attic to get my shotgun. The gun was broken down into two pieces so it would fit in the locked trunk where I kept it. The Remington Semiautomatic had belonged to my grandfather and he gave it to me two years ago when he died. I used to hunt with my grandfather when I was in high school and up until I got out of college, and he let me use his shotgun many times. Kathy didn't like guns, so I had never told her that I had it. I had reassembled the gun and was cleaning it when the phone rang at ten o'clock.

    When I heard Kathy's voice on the phone, I had a feeling like being stabbed in the heart with an icicle.

    "How are you?" she asked.

    "How do you think I am? My life has been turned upside down. Because someone has conspired to destroy our marriage, and for some unknown reason my wife betrays me by fucking some God damn third rate actor, thinking she is saving his life. So, of course, I feel just fucking great."

    "How many times do I have to say I am sorry? I don't know how I was misled so easily into believing the things Raphael told me, how he was able to convince me that the only way I could help him was to have sex with him," Kathy said.

    "First of all his name isn't Raphael, it's Frank, and I think that he seduced you so easily because you wanted an excuse to fuck him."

    In a sad voice, Kathy began speaking. "I have been thinking a lot about that, and as much as I hate to admit it, you might be right. It made me feel good to think that he needed me, and when he told me that he felt the only way he could make it through his anniversary was if I would spend the night with him as a substitute for his dead wife, I never took the time to consider any other solutions for his depression. I couldn't understand why I accepted that as the only way I could help him unless you were right. Some part of me must have wanted to do it.

    "I hope you will be able to forgive me eventually, but I know that will be difficult because I am having a hard time forgiving myself."

    "What did you tell your mother?" I asked.

    "I told her the truth. She is very upset, as you can imagine. You know she thinks very highly of you, so she feels pain for both of us," Kathy said. "Have you found out anything about the people who did this to us?"

    "No. I hit a dead end," I said. I didn't want Kathy to know anything more than she already knew.

    "Is there any chance we can get together and talk face to face?"

    "I am not ready to see you yet. Every time I think about you, in my head I see the video of you in bed with that worthless piece of shit. I need more time."

    "I can understand that. Please call me when you are ready to talk," Kathy said.

    "I will. Take care of yourself, Kathy," I said then put the phone down.

    After Kathy's call, I kept myself busy with normal weekend chores around the house. I did not eat lunch until almost 2:00 that afternoon. By 3:00, I was so restless I couldn't sit still for more than two minutes at a time. To keep myself from going crazy I started getting things ready for my mission of revenge. I broke the shotgun down and put in the backpack along with a box of shells. I pulled three pairs of latex gloves out of the bathroom cabinet, got my old painting overalls and a hunting hat from the garage and stuffed them into the backpack. The last item I put in the pack was a small pry bar, and then I put my backpack in the car.

    Having finished getting my gear ready, I decided to take a shower and then go over to Brodricksburg and hang out at the fort to kill time. I dressed in khaki cargo shorts and a green t-shirt. I wore a pair of lightweight hiking shoes with no socks.

    The trip to Brodricksburg took nearly an hour and a half because of traffic going to the festivities at Fort Brodrick. When I finally got to the fort, there were thousands of people there. Normally I don't like big crowds, but I just wanted to get lost in the throngs of people for a little while.

    By 6:00, my nerves were starting to upset my stomach. The smell of fried sausage, hot dogs, popcorn and body odors along with the smoke from the barbecue pits wasn't helping. I went back to my car and decided to take a drive by Monty's house.

    I was just passing the house when the garage door started to open. I drove another hundred yards down the road and stopped to watch what happened. Monty pulled out of the garage and turned away from me, so I made a quick U-turn and began to follow him. I followed the silver Mercedes through town and over to Farrell's house. Farrell must have been waiting for Monty because as soon as Monty stopped the car, Farrell came out of his house and got in. I continued to follow them as they drove across town to the western outskirts of Brodricksburg where they turned into the entrance of the Brodricksburg Athletics Park. I followed them into the park until they turned right and drove into a parking lot by some tennis courts. I didn't want to chance following them into the parking lot, so I turned left and parked behind a wooded picnic area where they wouldn't be able to see my car.

    I grabbed my video camera as I got out of the car, and then I walked into the wooded area and found a place where I could see the tennis courts and the parking lot without them being able to see me.

    There was no one playing tennis, probably because there were no nets on the tennis courts. The only car in the parking lot was the silver Mercedes, and Monty and Farrell were just sitting in the car. Using the zoom on the video camera, I was able to get a close-up view of the two scum bags. They were just sitting there. They weren't even talking to each other. They had to be waiting for something or someone. Only a couple of minutes went by when I heard a car coming. I turned in the direction of the sound and saw a black Cadillac Escalade pull into the parking lot and pull up next to the Mercedes.

    I thought something interesting might be happening, so I focused the video on the two cars and started recording. Monty and Farrell got out of the car, and three men got out of the Escalade. The five men stood talking for a minute, and then Monty handed one of the men a large envelope. The man opened the envelope, pulled out a sheet of paper and looked at it briefly, then he put the paper back in the envelope, turned and said something to one of the other men. One of the men went to the back of the Escalade, opened the rear hatch and pulled out a large duffle bag, carried it over and set it down behind the Mercedes. Monty opened the trunk, and Farrell lifted the bag into the trunk. The bag must have been heavy because Farrell had to use both hands to lift it. I was waiting for something else to happen, but that was it. I was still trying to make sense of what they were up to when the three men got back into the Escalade and left, followed by Monty and Farrell. At the park exit, the Escalade turned west, away from Brodricksburg, and Monty turned east and headed back toward town. They were gone before I could get back to my car, so I headed back toward town.

    I had driven about a mile when I spotted the silver Mercedes parked in front of a local restaurant. I went into the restaurant to make sure they were there. I saw them sitting at a table as soon as I stepped inside and was watching them when the hostess got my attention.

    "Would you like a table?" she said.

    "No. I will just sit at the bar if that's all right."

    "That's fine," she said.

    I went to the far side of the bar and sat where I could keep an eye on them without being conspicuous. I sat and watched as the focus of my anger and hate ordered dinner with a bottle of wine. 'Their last meal?' I thought.

    I ordered a sandwich to-go, and went back out to my car to wait. I was thinking that I had been following them for a quite a while and I was struck by how unaware they were. Unaware of me behind them and unaware of what I was going to do to them, but I was beginning to worry that if I kept following them, they would eventually spot me. I realized then that I didn't need to follow them; I only needed to know when Monty got home. I decided that instead of waiting for Monty at the restaurant, I would wait for him at his house.



    Who is Raphael Garza? Pt. 04

    SATURDAY JULY 4TH 8:45

    I went to the far side of the bar and sat where I could keep an eye on them without being conspicuous. I sat and watched as the focus of my anger and hate ordered dinner with a bottle of wine. 'Having their last meal.' I thought.

    I ordered a sandwich to-go and went back out to my car to wait. I was thinking that I had been following them for a quite a while and I was struck by how unaware they were. Unaware of me behind them and unaware of what I was going to do to them, but I was beginning to worry that if I kept following them, they would eventually spot me. I realized that I didn't need to follow them; I only needed to know when Monty got home. Instead of waiting for Monty at the restaurant, I decided to wait for him at his house.

    It was 8:45 when I reached the spot along the river where I planned to park my car. I drove in far enough off the road to hide the car from passing motorists. I retrieved my backpack from the car and started walking north along the edge of the river. It had started to get dark, but there was still enough light to make my walk to the spot where I had hidden my kayak easy. I unlocked the kayak, then looked up and down the river for any boat traffic before launching the kayak.

    The trip up river was more difficult than it had been the previous night. The current was a bit stronger, and my backpack weighed more. I was able to find the spot below Monty's house by using my flashlight to illuminate the reflective tape on the pile of rocks I left as a marker. I stashed the kayak behind the bushes and started my climb to the house. I was about halfway up the riverbank when I heard the first loud explosions from the fireworks at Fort Brodrick. I wondered briefly if Monty and Farrell had gone to watch the fireworks display.

    When I got to the top of the riverbank and looked out from my hiding place in the trees in Monty's back yard, I saw light coming from the picture window at the far right end of the house. If Monty was in the bedroom, I wanted to make sure he was alone, so I move along the tree line until I was directly in line with the bedroom window. What I saw through the window was unexpected. Monty was standing naked with an erection, and Farrell was on his knees in from of him. I think you get the picture of what was going on. I tried to block out what I saw them doing and think about how lucky I was that they were both there. It meant I could take care of both of them at the same time.

    I moved back down the bank about twenty feet and dropped my backpack. By keeping my flashlight close to the ground, I was able to assemble the shotgun and load it without any light being visible above the top of the bank. Once the gun was ready, I pulled on the overalls and the hunting hat, then I put on a pair of the latex gloves and put the other two pairs in my pocket in case I ripped the pair I was wearing.

    I grabbed the pry bar from the pack, counted to ten, then climbed back to the top of the bank and ran over to the door at the back of the garage. I shoved the end of the pry bar between the door and the frame next to the doorknob and pushed the bar toward the doorknob. The door swung open with very little resistance. There was so much noise from the fireworks at that point that I doubted the lovers heard the door opening. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Looking back at the door, I saw that the dead bolt was not engaged and that was why the door opened so easily. "Unbelievable, complete idiots," I thought.

    Aside from the silver Mercedes, there was nothing else of interest in the garage. I went over to the door that led into the house and slowly turned the knob. It was not locked. That's when it hit me. There was nothing to stop me from running into the house and killing the two of them. I stood there thinking about what I was about to do and I broke into a cold sweat. My hands started to shake, and my stomach began to roll, I was afraid that I was going to vomit, so I moved around to the far side of the car and sat on the floor while I tried to calm my nerves. I thought of what it would be like to run into the house and shoot them while they were having sex and that didn't help the way I was feeling.

    I sat there for at least ten minutes, thinking about what I was there to do and then I started crying. It was at that point that I knew that even with all of the anger and hate I felt toward them, I couldn't kill them. It just wasn't in me to be a cold-blooded killer. I sat there with tears running down my face and felt shame. Shame that I could not carry through, with my plan for revenge and shame that I even thought about murdering two people. I had to get away from that house and fast, but when I stood up, I fell against the trunk of the car because I was dizzy from hyperventilating and I felt like I was going to pass out.

    While I was trying to get control of my breathing and calm the sudden anxiety I was feeling; I had an Ephiny. I had a vision of Farrell lifting a duffle bag and placing it into the trunk of the Mercedes. 'Could the duffle bag was still in the trunk? Could they be that careless?' were the thoughts that struck me. I had to find out.

    I stood quietly and listened for any sounds from inside the house. The house was quiet, and the only sounds that I could hear were the fireworks at Fort Brodrick. I moved to the driver's door of the Mercedes and opened it. It took just a few seconds to find the trunk release and pop the trunk open. The duffle bag was still in the car. I didn't take the time to examine the bag or to think about what to do; I already made the decision, I was going to take the bag with me. When I lifted the duffle bag from the trunk, I was surprised by its weight. I guessed the weight to be around fifty pounds. Several ideas of what might be in the bag entered my mind, drugs, money, weapons, etc., but at that moment, it didn't matter to me what the bag contained. I did a quick check to make sure I had everything I brought with me, closed the trunk and placed my pry bar on the lid before I picked up the duffle bag, grabbed my shotgun and headed out the back door. I ran across the back yard and started down the riverbank. Twenty feet down the bank, I retrieved my backpack and flashlight. I stopped long enough to break down the shotgun and put it in the backpack. I slipped the backpack over my shoulders and started down the riverbank. The farther I got from the house, the better I felt. I may not have been able to kill those bastards, but I knew that whatever was in the duffle bag was going to cause them a lot of heartaches when they discovered it was gone.

    The trip down the riverbank was difficult wearing the backpack and carrying the heavy duffle bag. About half way down I caught my foot on a tree root, fell on my right side and tumbled about twenty feet down the bank before slamming back first into a tree trunk. The pain made it difficult to breathe for a minute. My lower back hurt but my right shoulder was causing me the worst pain I had ever endured. I sat for a while with my back against the trunk of the tree so I could catch my breath and assess the extent of my injuries. The worst of my injuries was obviously my shoulder. The pain was nearly unbearable, but the bigger problem was that I could not lift my right arm above my head.

    Before I got to my feet, I looked around to make sure I still had my backpack and the duffle bag with me. With a lot of pain and some difficulty, I manage to slowly make it the rest of the way down to the river without incident. When I got back to the kayak, I stripped off the overalls and put them into the backpack along with the flashlight and the gloves I was wearing. A quick check told me that I had everything I brought with me except for the pry bar that I left sitting on the trunk of the Mercedes. It was my way of saying "Fuck You," to my two friends.

    In spite of the pain in my right shoulder, I managed to get the kayak into the water. With my backpack on and the duffle bag between my legs in the kayak, I made the trip back down the river. Paddling the kayak was difficult because of my injured shoulder, but the current was in my favor, and I was able to navigate the kayak back to where I left my car. Loading the kayak onto the roof rack was difficult, but I managed. Once I was in the car and heading home the disappointment I felt for not being able to kill those bastards had dissipated.

    SATURDAY JULY 4th, 11:05 PM

    It was after eleven o'clock when I pulled into my garage. I was tired and in a lot of pain. I planned to leave everything in the car until Sunday morning, but I wanted to know what was in the duffle bag. When I lifted the bag from my car, I noticed the padlock. I put the bag on my workbench and used a bolt cutter to cut the padlock off. For a moment, I just stared at the bag almost afraid of what it might contain. When I finally looked inside the bag, I just started laughing.

    "Those guys are royally fucked," I yelled and started laughing again.

    The duffle bag was full of money. What I could see were bundles of twenty-dollar bills and hundred dollar bills. I didn't see any bills smaller than twenties. There had to be a few hundred thousand dollars in the bag. I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of those two assholes discovering that their bag of money was gone.

    I carried the duffle bag into the house and up to the bedroom. I thought about counting the money, but I was exhausted and decided to sleep instead. I placed the duffle bag on top of Kathy's dresser. In the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, I found the unused Vicodin tablets from the prescription I got when I injured my hand. I took two of the tablets, stripped down to my underwear and climbed into bed.

    It was a fitful night's sleep. My shoulder was throbbing, and I had crazy dreams of threatening naked men with my shotgun or of seeing Kathy kneeling on the floor in front of a naked Monty. There were other short dreams about Monty and Farrell rolling naked on top of a pile of money. In the last dream, I was standing behind Monty's Mercedes with the duffle bag in my hand when I heard Kathy's voice.

    "Where do you think you are going with my money," she said.

    When I looked at her, she was standing with Monty and Farrell, and all three of them were naked. The worst part was that Kathy had the shotgun and she was pointing it at me. I woke myself up screaming, "No!"

    I was soaked with sweat and struggling to move because the bed sheets had tangled around my legs. It took a few moments to realize that I had been dreaming. I lay back down and thought about the dreams I had been having and began to wonder if everything that had happened the previous night had just been a dream. Two things told me it wasn't a dream. The pain in my shoulder was real, and the duffle bag full of money was still sitting on Kathy's dresser.

    When I could not go back to sleep, I got out of bed, carried the duffle bag downstairs to my office and then went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. When the coffee was ready, I poured a cup, went back to my office and started counting the money. The hundred-dollar bills were in bundles of $10,000, and there were 55 bundles. The twenty-dollar bills were in bundles of $2,000, and there were 100 of those for a total of $750,000.

    I sat down at my desk, stared at the money and wondered how those two idiots could be stupid enough to leave that much money in the trunk of the car. They just never conceived of the possibility of anyone breaking into the garage and stealing the money. I couldn't help myself; I began laughing again. Could 750K make up for the trouble those bastards caused me? Probably not, but it was a good start.

    After I ate some breakfast, I started thinking about the money and what the source of it may have been. Saturday night I had murder on my mind, so I hadn't given much thought to the meeting that took place at the tennis courts. Sunday morning, it came to me. Two bankers plotting to keep a specific accountant from performing an audit at their bank are seen exchanging some documents for a duffle bag with $750K in it. Monty and Farrell were involved in money laundering. That is when the full reality of how much trouble I had just caused those two idiots. Whomever that $750K belonged to was not going to be very happy with them.

    I had recorded the exchange I witnessed in the Brodricksburg Athletic Park, and decided to look at the video to see if I could use it to cause Montgomery and Farrell more problems. I plugged my video camera it into the fifty-inch flat screen television in the family room and hit play. It amazed me how much I had not been able to see while looking through the viewfinder Saturday evening. The video, expanded as it was on the television screen, gave a much clearer picture of what happened at the tennis courts. The video started with two cars side by side. I could clearly read the license plate numbers of both vehicles. The video also clearly showed the faces of the three men who got out of the Escalade. All three of them looked Hispanic. I also noticed that at least two of them had guns tucked into the waistbands of their pants. The video lasted less than ten minutes, but it certainly fit my assumption that Monty and Farrell were up to their necks in a money laundering business.

    After watching the complete video twice, I knew what I wanted to do with it. Maybe my revenge wasn't complete after all.

    SUNDAY JULY 5TH 2:30 PM

    That afternoon, I walked into the offices of Boswell Products and went directly to the graphics lab. Nobody else was in the building, which was what I needed. I plugged my video camera into one of the production workstations and uploaded the video from the tennis courts. Next, I put on a pair of latex gloves, went to the supply cabinet and opened a new box of blank DVDs. I took four of the DVDs, recorded four copies of the video and placed the DVDs in a large envelope. Then I deleted the video from the workstation.

    Next, I wrote the following short note:

    "To Whom it may concern;

    On the evening of July 4th of this year, I was bird spotting with my video camera at the Brodricksburg Athletic Park when I notice suspicious activity near the unfinished tennis courts. The enclosed DVD is a video recording of what I observed that evening. What made me suspicious was that I recognized two of the people involved. Percy Montgomery and Stephen Farrell, they are the president and vice-president of First Bank of Brodricksburg. When I saw that the men that got out of the black Cadillac Escalade looked Hispanic, and saw that two of them had guns, I knew that I should notify the authorities. I hope this turns out to be nothing, but I worry that it is something sinister. I am taking steps to remain anonymous because I fear that if I am right about what I saw I could be in danger. I hope this video is helpful."

    When I finished, I put on another pair of latex gloves, opened a fresh package of plain printer paper and loaded a few sheets into the printer. This paper had no company logo and no water marks. I printed four copies of the note and put them in the envelope with the DVDs. Before I removed my gloves, I went back to the supply cabinet and picked up three Federal Express mailing envelopes.

    When I got back home, I spent time on the internet finding addresses for the offices of the FBI and the DEA in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania State Police office in Bucks County. Once again, I put on a pair of latex gloves and used a Sharpie to address one of the Fed Ex envelopes to each of those addresses. Then I put one copy of my note and one of the DVDs in each envelope and sealed them. The fourth copy of the note and the fourth DVD I put in the duffle bag with the money and carried the bag up to the attic where I put it in the chest with my shotgun and locked the chest.

    MONDAY MORNING JULY 6TH

    Monday morning I called Cam and told him I was taking a personal day to clear up some problems at home.

    "Does this have anything to do with the problems between you and Kathy?" Cam said.

    "Yeah, that's part of it."

    "Anything I can do to help?"

    "Thanks, but no. I think I have it under control now," I said. Then we talked about some work issues for a few minutes. As soon as I got off the phone, I got ready for the next step in my revenge plan. Using a latex glove to handle the three Fed Ex packages, I put them into a plastic JC Penney store bag.

    I assumed that once the FBI and the DEA, and maybe even the State Police received my packages, they would be very interested in finding me. The one weak point in my plan was that the authorities would know as soon as they got the packages, when and from where I sent them. All they would need to do is go to that location and review the store's video security footage to see who sent them. That meant that I needed a disguise. I dressed in green cargo pants with a camouflage t-shirt. With that, I wore hiking boots and a large brimmed bush hat. I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that I needed one more item to make the disguise complete, but I would have to pick that up along the way. Finally, I got my camera and left the house. On the way out of town, I stopped at a CVS drug store and bought a high magnification pair of reading glasses with very thick lenses.

    I drove back to Brodricksburg and pulled into a large shopping center where I found the postal store I had looked up on the internet. I parked my car so that my license plates would not be visible from the storefronts. Before I got out of the car, I put on the bush hat on and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. I hung my camera around my neck, picked up the bag with the Fed Ex packages and walked over to the postal store. Before entering the store, I put on the thick glasses.

    When I walked into the store, the guy behind the counter smiled and gave me a friendly greeting.

    "Good morning, sir, how can I help you today?" he said

    I made my voice sound nasal with a bit of a lisp and said, "I just need to send these three Fed Ex packages."

    When I set the packages on the counter, the clerk looked at my hands and asked, "Why are you wearing those gloves?"

    "Got poison ivy on both hands. Got to be careful what I touch," I said.

    The clerk took the three packages, looked at the sender's address and said, "Don Trump, any..."

    Before he could finish his question, I said, "No relation." He didn't recognize that the return address was the address of the First Bank of Brodricksburg.

    When the clerk saw the addresses I was sending the packages to, he looked up at me. Before he could ask any questions, I said, "I was out catching some fine vids of the birds out at the new athletic park when these nasty boys showed up and started shooting off fireworks, scaring the birds away. I caught them on video, and I want the authorities to bring them to justice."

    I could tell the clerk was trying not to laugh at me as he weighed the packages and told me how much I owed him. I paid with cash and left the store. I think I heard the clerk starting to laugh just before the door closed.

    I did what I could. The Fed Ex packages would be delivered to the three police agencies sometime Tuesday morning. All that was left for me to do was wait and see what would happen. Just for the hell of it, I stopped in the FBB on my way out of town. It looked like business as usual, but I did not see my two friends anywhere in the bank. I was smiling as I drove out of Brodricksburg.

    On the drive home, the pain in my shoulder seemed to throb with each beat of my heart. When I got back home, I called my doctor and made an appointment for Tuesday morning to have him look at my injured shoulder.

    Tuesday morning I told the Dr. Murphy that I injured my shoulder while kayaking. After a quick examination, and when I couldn't lift my arm up higher than the level of my shoulder, Dr. Murphy told me that he thought that I had probably torn my rotator cuff and I would need to have an MRI to verify it. He said that he would get the MRI scheduled, and the office would contact me to let me know when.

    Over the next few days, I was able to work with the help of painkillers, but it was difficult. I had the MRI and went to see Dr. Murphy to get the results. The news wasn't good. I had torn a tendon in my shoulder, and it would require surgery to repair the damage. I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon and scheduled the surgery for Friday, July 24th.

    FRIDAY JULY 10TH 3:45 PM

    I had just returned to my office from my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to find my phone ringing. I looked at the caller ID and saw that the call was coming from Kathy's office at Princeton Accounting Associates. I didn't want to talk to her at that moment, but I answered the phone anyway.

    "What do you want Kathy?" I said.

    "Are you still so angry with me that you can't even answer my calls civilly?"

    "Sorry, I am just tired," I said. "What's up?"

    "I don't know what's going on over here."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Four FBI agents came in this afternoon with a search warrant to go through all of our files, then they questioned all of us one at a time," Kathy said.

    I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "What were they asking about?"

    "At first they asked me a bunch of questions about audit schedules then they asked me why I changed some of the territories for my team. It all seemed so mundane until they asked me why I didn't do the audit at First Bank of Brodricksburg," Kathy said.

    "What did you tell them?"

    "I told them I was sick and that Marge Robinson said that she would cover the audit for me. That was all they asked me. Later, they took Marge out of the office in handcuffs."

    That, I had not expected, but it did kind of make sense. I had thought this whole scam had simply been designed to keep Kathy from performing the audit at FBB, but it turns out the end game was to make sure that Marge Robinson did the audit.

    I didn't say anything about what I knew, but I did give Kathy some advice. "If the FBI questions you again you should tell them the real reason you didn't do the audit," I said.

    "I did. I was sick."

    "But you need to tell them why you were sick," I said.

    There was silence on the line for a minute, and then Kathy said, "Oh my God! Is that what this was all about? Someone did this to us so that Marge would do the audit instead of me?"

    "That's what it looks like."

    There was more silence on the line as Kathy thought things over. "I guess now I know why Marge was angry when I changed her territory. If I hadn't made that change, none of this would have happened. I am such a fool. Someone I thought I could trust did this to me. I just hope whatever she did over at FBB lands her in jail for a long time."

    "Just remember that Marge is not the only person involved in this. Your lover boy, for one, and whoever hired him to seduce you, and I bet that's only the tip of the iceberg," I said.

    "What do you think this was all about?" Kathy asked.

    "I don't know, but I would guess that something illegal was going on at the bank," I said.

    "Well duh! I think that is rather obvious," she said.

    I could not help but laugh. "I guess you're right. It is pretty obvious. Listen, as I said earlier, you are going to have to tell the FBI everything. I know it will be embarrassing, but if you hold anything back, they may think you are a part of whatever Marge and her friends were up to."

    "I know," she said. "You know that when I tell the FBI agents the whole story, they will probably want to talk to you too."

    "You don't need to worry about that."

    "I can't help but worry. This is my fault, and I hate that my poor judgment is causing you so much pain."

    "Kathy, I really don't want to talk about this now," I said.

    "When can we talk?"

    "Soon, we will talk soon."

    "I love you."

    "Call me if you hear anything from the FBI," I said.

    "I will."

    "We will talk soon," I said, and set my phone down.

    I felt bad that I couldn't bring myself to tell Kathy that I loved her. I knew that I still did, but my anger would not allow me to tell her.

    The following Monday, Kathy called and told me that Special Agent Kyle Van Horn from the FBI came back and interviewed her again.

    "I told him everything."

    "Did he tell you anything about the FBI's investigation?"

    "No, but he did say that he would be contacting you," Kathy said.

    "I knew that he would. Kathy, I have to go; I'll call you in a few days so we can talk."

    I had been watching the news and checking the papers, but there didn't seem to be any news about FBB. I went on the internet and searched news about FBB. The story I found just said that there was an investigation into some irregularities at the First Bank of Brodricksburg. There was no mention of Monty or Farrell in that story. I wondered if they were trying to save their asses by agreeing to testify against others.

    WEDNESDAY JULY 15TH

    On Wednesday the 15th, Special Agent Van Horn called me and asked if he could come by my office to talk to me. I asked him if we could meet after five o'clock so that the presence of an FBI agent in the building would not disrupt the other employees in the office and start speculation or rumors about what the FBI was doing there. Van Horn agreed.

    At 5:15, our security guard escorted Special Agent Van Horn to my office. After we had introduced ourselves, we sat down and I waited for Van Horn to start.

    "Mr. Martin, I spoke at length with your wife on Monday, and she told me a pretty crazy story," Van Horn said.

    "I can assure you that what she told you is true."

    "Oh, I believe what she told me, but you have to admit it is pretty crazy," he said.

    "So what is it you need from me?"

    "Mrs. Martin told me that you had started your own investigation into this and I would like to hear the story of what happened from your point of view, and you can tell me what you uncovered during your investigation."

    I had to take a moment to think about what I was going to tell him. I knew where to start, but I didn't know where to finish. I planned to tell the truth up to a point, and not go beyond that point. I told the complete story from when Cam told me about the seat that had opened up in the GP class in San Jose, up until the phone conversation I had with David Stinson of Stinson Enterprises. That is where I ended my story. Up to that point, I told the complete truth about everything ,including that I threatened Frank Lewis, and kicked him in the balls.

    "After I spoke with Mr. Stinson I felt that I had hit a wall. I just didn't know where to go from there," I said.

    "So you never figured out who Monty was or who this Farrell or Farley guy was?"

    "Not until Kathy told me what happened with Marge Robinson, and then I heard the names of the bank president and vice president. That's when I put it all together."

    "Well that's all I needed," Van Horn said. "Everything you told me matches what we have already uncovered."

    "Well I have some questions," I said. "What the hell was this all about?"

    "Mrs. Robinson has been very cooperative since her arrest. According to her, Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Farrell were using the bank to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. The problem was that at any point in time, the bank could have a half million dollars or more in cash in the vault that was not accounted for in the bank's books. Mrs. Robinson was being paid to cover up the bank's accounting discrepancies during her audits at the bank. Your wife messed things up when she switched Mrs. Robinson's territory. Mrs. Robinson said that they knew that they could not buy your wife off, so they had to find a way to keep her from doing the audit scheduled in June."

    "What made that bitch Robinson think the plan to seduce my wife had any chance of working? It had to be the stupidest fucking idea they could have come up with," I said.

    It looked like Van Horn was going to laugh, but then realized that I would not have found anything funny about it.

    "Mrs. Robinson said that your wife was a bit gullible and an easy touch when it came to someone in pain. She said she believed the plan had a 50/50 chance of working. You're right, it was a pretty crazy idea, but it did work," Van Horn said.

    "You mean almost worked, don't you? After all, you uncovered what they were doing, right?" I said.

    "Well, actually, their little plan worked perfectly. They managed to cause enough turmoil in your marriage that your wife called in sick and Mrs. Robinson performed the audit at FBB. What tripped them up was a curious bird watcher who happened to get a video of three cartel members transferring a large duffle bag to Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Farrell, and sent the video to the FBI and the DEA."

    I almost laughed at that. I was surprised that Van Horn admitted that the break in the case didn't come from the FBI's tireless pursuit of justice.

    "What was in the duffle bag?" I asked.

    "We assume it was a large sum of money."

    "So now what happens to Montgomery and Farrell?" I asked.

    "When we find them they will be going to jail for a long time."

    "Find them? You haven't arrested them yet?" I said. I figured that the two assholes would have skipped town when they found out their money was gone but I wanted to hear Van Horn's explanation.

    "We assumed that the two of them must have been tipped off that we had found out about their money laundering operation, so they skipped town. We believe that Montgomery and Ferrell may have taken the duffle bag full of the cartel's money with them. If they did, they better hope, we catch them before the cartel finds them."

    "The only thing I care about is what they did to my marriage. You would think that they could come up with a better idea than to count on some two-bit actor being able to seduce my wife. How could they know that I would read their emails and actually go to that website and watch the video? They could not possibly be sure that would work," I said.

    "Normally I would not tell you this, but they did have another plan. Marge Robinson didn't like it, so she talked them into trying the seduction scam. If that didn't work, they would use the other plan as a backup." Van Horn said.

    "What was the other plan?"

    "The guys from the cartel were going to have you killed. Since Mrs. Robinson's plan had you in San Jose, they would kill you out there and make it look like a mugging gone wrong. They figured that if the seduction idea didn't work, they were sure that your death would certainly cause your wife to call off work."

    "They were going to kill me?" I said, as I felt the blood draining from my head.

    "That is what Mrs. Robinson told us."

    It took me a couple of minutes to recover from that bit of news.

    "Well, that is a big fucking irony, isn't it? My wife cheats on me thinking that she is saving the life of the phony Raphael Garza, but by doing that she is unknowingly saving my life. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information? Does Kathy know this?"

    "Yes. I wasn't planning to tell either one of you, but Mrs. Robinson made bail yesterday and went to see your wife. She told your wife the whole story. I guess it was Mrs. Robinson's attempt to explain what she had done and to apologize to your wife. You would have found this out sooner or later anyway, because this information will come out when all this goes to trail," Van Horn said.

    "Well, I have to get back to Philadelphia. I hope you and your wife can work things out," Van Horn said as he stood up, getting ready to leave.

    I stood and shook his hand, trying not to let him see how much pain that move caused me. I didn't want to answer any questions Agent Van Horn might have about my injury. Lying to the FBI is something I wanted to avoid as much as possible. As soon as Van Horn was out of my office, I dropped back into my chair and sat at my desk for another half hour, trying to make sense out of what I learned. For weeks, I had been so angry at Kathy that I didn't even want to look at her. Then I found out that the very reason I was so angry might be the only reason I was still alive. Kathy didn't cheat on our marriage to save me, but by cheating, she did save me.

    I thought about calling Kathy, but I had no idea of what I would say to her. I knew that she was hurting, but so was I. I worried that if I did call she might get the wrong idea, and think that because her actions ended up saving my life, I was ready to forgive her. I had no idea of how I was going to shovel up the massive pile of shit my life had become, and it made my head hurt, so I went home, took two aspirin and went to bed.

    TUESDAY, JULY 21st

    Thinking about the mess my personal life was in was getting me nowhere, so for the next week, I concentrated on work. On Tuesday, everything changed. I came in from work, poured myself a drink and sat down to watch the evening news.

    I turned the TV on just in time to hear the evening news anchor say, "We have a followup to the breaking news concerning the two bodies that were discovered this morning, floating in the Delaware River under the Ben Franklin Bridge. A short time ago Captain Madis of the Philadelphia Police Department, said that the two victims had been identified as Percy Montgomery and Stephen Farrell, both from Brodricksburg. Montgomery and Farrell have been the subjects of a massive manhunt by the FBI since their disappearance on or about Sunday, July 5th. The police said that they would not be releasing any more information about the two dead men at this time."

    I can't say that I was surprised by the news of their deaths. I expected that the cartel would not forgive Monty and Farrell for losing three-quarters of a million dollars of the cartel's money. What did surprise me was my emotional reaction to the news. I felt guilty. It was my actions that had gotten them killed, just as sure as if I had shot them as I had originally planned. I also felt a sense of satisfaction that I had received a measure of justice. I just hoped that the cartel members involved in this plot would meet the same fate as Montgomery and Farrell.

    It occurred to me that I could be a suspect in the deaths of Monty and Farrell. I was sure that Agent Van Horn would think I had motive to go after Monty and Farrell. I worried that the FBI might come to my house with a search warrant and find the money hidden in the attic. I thought about getting the money out of the house, but I didn't have anywhere I could safely hide it. My only hope was that the FBI would assume that it was the cartel that killed those two idiots.

    When it finally sunk in that two men had been killed because of the $750,000 I had stashed in my attic, I realized that I could not keep the money. I would have to find a way to get rid of it. To do that, I would have to wait until I was sure that the FBI had no interest in me. I couldn't spend it even if I wanted to. If I tried to spend a three quarters of million dollars, someone would notice, and I would end up with the FBI or the IRS coming around to ask me how I came into possession of all that money.

    The idea came to me just before I fell asleep. I would give all of the money to charity. I would have to do it anonymously, giving many gifts of $1000 or less to lots of different charities over a long period. I felt good about the idea because it allowed me to take the proceeds of a criminal activity and do something positive with it.

    THURSDAY JULY 23rd

    Thursday, I left work at noon because I had a pre-surgery appointment at the hospital where I was to have my surgery on Friday. When I got home from my appointment, I made myself a cup of coffee. I took the coffee into the living room and sat down to watch television, and without thinking, I picked up the hot coffee with my right hand. When I tried to lift the cup up to my mouth, pain shot through my arm, and I spilled the coffee on my chest. I jumped up and was trying to remove my shirt while shouting several expletives when the front door opened, and Kathy walked in.

    I had my back to the door when she came into the room, and I was looking at her over my left shoulder. I was about to ask her what she was doing there when Kathy yelled, "Oh my God, what did you do to yourself?"

    "I spilled coffee on myself."

    "No, no. Your back. It's all black and blue."

    "Oh, that. I had an accident," I said.

    "Why didn't you call me? I called your office, and the secretary told me you left early because you're having surgery tomorrow, but she couldn't tell me why you needed surgery. "

    "I didn't want to bother you with this."

    "Bother me? I'm still your wife. You should have called me," Kathy said.

    "I guess you're right. I should have called. I'm sorry," I said. "Kathy, why are you here?"

    "You're kidding. You're having surgery tomorrow; where else should I be? You are going to need someone to help you when you come home from the hospital. You may still be mad at me, but you are going to need me, at least until you can take care of yourself."

    The look on Kathy's face made my heart ache. I realized just how much I missed her, but I just wasn't sure if I could ever forgive her. I considered what she said and had to agree that I would need help.

    "You're right, I will need help, and I would appreciate it if you could stay for a couple of weeks."

    Kathy helped my get my shirt off and brought me a towel and a clean shirt. As she helped me get my shirt on, she said, "So, are you going to tell me how you hurt yourself and what surgery you are having tomorrow?"

    I was not about to tell Kathy what happened, but I didn't want to stray too far from the truth.

    "I went kayaking and stopped to take a walk on the river bank. I stumbled over a tree root and fell. When I fell, I tore a tendon in my right shoulder. I can not lift my arm above shoulder level," I said. It was close to the truth. I just didn't mention which river I was kayaking on or why I stopped to take a walk on the riverbank.

    "Does it hurt a lot?"

    "It feels like my arm was pulled from its socket and then filled with broken glass."

    Kathy had tears in her eyes. "What are you doing for the pain?"

    "I still have some Vicodin left from when I broke my hand," I said.

    Kathy fixed dinner and did everything she could to make sure I was comfortable. After dinner, we sat and watched television together.

    "Do you want to talk about it?" Kathy asked.

    "I don't need to, but if you do, go ahead," I said.

    "You know that most of them are dead," Kathy said.

    "Yea, I heard the news about Montgomery and Farrell."

    "Not just them," Kathy said. The FBI caught up with the three Mexican cartel guys trying to cross the border into Mexico near El Passo, Texas. They got into a gun fight, and the three cartel guys were killed."

    "How do you know that? I didn't hear anything about that."

    " That's why I was trying to call you. Agent Van Horn was in the office again this morning, and he told us what happened."

    For some reason, I didn't feel any remorse for the three lives lost in Texas. Knowing that they were the ones who wanted to kill me made it difficult to give a shit about what happened to them.

    "I guess all that is left is Marge Robinson's trial," I said.

    "There isn't going to be a trial. Marge is pleading guilty. She will be sentenced next month," Kathy said.

    "How do you feel about that?"

    "I don't know how I feel about it. Marge ruined my life; I could never forgive her for that. I don't have any sympathy for her, but I don't feel the anger anymore. It's over, and I just want to move on," Kathy said.

    I kept waiting for Kathy to bring up the fact that her seduction by Raphael Garza saved my life, but she never mentioned it. It occurred to me later that Kathy wasn't aware that I knew about the plan to kill me if she didn't fall for the seduction. I guess Kathy decided that I didn't need to know that my life had been in jeopardy, and she wasn't going to try to use that information to her advantage. I should have known that is the way Kathy would have handled it. She would not put unfair pressure on me.

    SEPTEMBER 1st

    When I went in for my shoulder surgery, Kathy was with me, and she was waiting for me when I came out of surgery. She stayed with me for five weeks during my recovery, helping me with my exercises, cooking meals, keeping me company and sleeping in the guest room. When she left to go back to her mother's house on September 1st,, she let me know that if I wanted her back, all I had to do was call her.

    Several times during her stay I thought about what she had done with the phony, Raphael Garza, and it would make me angry all over again. I almost brought the subject up several times, but in the end, decided against it. There wasn't anything new I could say about it. I had vented my feelings in detail to Kathy a few times, and I didn't think there was anything to be gained by attacking her again. I also found it hard to justify berating her for what she did, knowing full well that I might very well be dead if Kathy had not cheated on me.

    I knew Kathy had to be dealing with the same irony. She felt guilty about the damage she did to our marriage, but if she hadn't slept with the weasel, the cartel thugs would have killed me.

    Kathy left only an hour earlier, and I missed her already, and I was going to have to make a decision soon for both our sakes. I knew which way I was leaning, but I needed to give myself a little more time to be sure.

    I just hoped that Kathy had the patience to wait for me to make my decision. Only time will tell.

    The End.

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