by Vandemonium1
All sex in this story is between consenting adults. So is the violence believe it or not.
Before you send in comments about how far-fetched it is, I know. I wrote the fucking thing after all.
This story will not appeal to the extreme BTBs or RAACs. I suggest they don’t read it.
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I checked out my husband sitting next to me on the couch, glad that our conversation of last night seemed to have done no lasting damage. That didn’t surprise me in the least. He was a man’s man and one of the strongest male characteristics I admire is their ability to say their piece then forget it. Topic over. Job done. I’d known this when I broached the subject last night.
“Dave, are you having an affair with Karen?”
I’d been fairly sure he was. In the previous two or so months he’d changed subtly but significantly. Where I used to be able to set my watch by when he came home. Now he was late at least once a week. Where I knew just where he was 24 hours per day, now there were unknown, blank patches.
Then there was his new acquaintance with Karen, the widow across the street. Once, I’d gone out on Saturday and had come back to find him mowing her lawn. When I’d quizzed him about it later, Dave said he noticed she had twisted her ankle so when he saw her return home with a load of shopping, he’d offered to help unload it. While doing that, he’d noticed that her lawn needed mowing, so he’d done that for her. From then on I’d come home several times to find him across the road. Once he’d come back with his shirt buttoned up wrong. When I asked him about that, he told me that he had been fixing her blocked sink and had removed his shirt for flexibility.
Unable to believe this man I firmly believed was totally incapable of guile was cheating on me, I stepped up my observations. As a test I also started subtly withholding sex from him. Knowing him as I did I knew that if he could go for a week or two without making love to me, he must be getting it elsewhere. He lasted three weeks without even mentioning it.
Yesterday he’d gone to work on a Saturday, very unusual for him. Half an hour later I saw Karen leaving, dressed very nicely. Bingo.
I knew with Dave I didn’t have to set up any fancy surveillance or hire a PI. I just had to ask him. So, once I’d worked up the courage, I did. He just turned and looked directly at me and said, “No.”
That was it. Almost.
“Are you having an affair with anyone?”
Again a simple, “No.”
I knew then with 100% certainty. My husband wasn’t having an affair. He went back to watching the television. I didn’t proposition him that night. Partly so I could concentrate on pondering why I’d suspected him in the first place. That proved fruitless. Secondly, I didn’t want to make it blatant that I’d seriously suspected him by withholding favours for longer than I ever had before. Tonight was a different story though. Tonight I would repair any damage I’d done.
Surreptitiously I continued to check him out.
If forced to reduce Dave to one word, I would tell you that Dave was a simple man. If given the luxury of using more words, I would say quiet, guileless, undemonstrative, unambitious, a black and white thinker, unobservant, loyal, direct and very, very honest. Some people interpreted some, or a combination of these, as him being dumb. I knew that wasn’t the case. All the above were the product of his difficult childhood. Harder to explain was the fact that there wasn’t an ounce of malice in him. (I apologise to my fellow metric lovers. It just doesn’t sound the same saying, he didn’t have 32.2 grams of malice in him).
Me. Well I was just about the polar opposite. So why had we married four years ago? Simple. Opposites attract. I’d had relationships with men alike to me and they didn’t work. Then my mother had told me about her secret for a successful marriage. Marry someone totally different and manage the difference. Use each other strengths and cover their weaknesses with your own strengths. Dave and I had discussed this many times in our long courtship. He knew his shortcomings and wanted me to be completely happy with them before we committed. In the end, I had to propose to him. In short, he was my life partner and I loved him dearly.
I deliberately stopped looking at him through the eyes of a sophisticated 21st century, professional woman and turned my other sight on. The one used since Uggette had first set eyes on Ugg. Towering over me at 6’ 1”, his muscled frame, earned by his physical job, made me look like a waif. In the local vernacular, he was built like a brick shithouse. But gentle with it. The perfect combination of well-endowed and considerate lover, topped off the package.
I realised my panties were dripping in anticipation of my apology to come. I knew I had to act fast when Dave yawned and announced bedtime. I followed and went into the bathroom to clean up a bit. When I got out, Dave was almost asleep.
Crawling into bed naked, I wrapped myself around my hulking husband. Who again yawned.
“Can we not do this now please?”
“Why not honey? Did I upset you last night?”
Dave yawned again.
“No, it’s because you had an unprotected fuck with your boss last Monday. My friend said that if I made love to you, I could catch a disease. Goodnight.”
He then rolled onto his side with his back to me.
I uncurled myself from him in shock. He knew. How did he know? How long had he known? What the hell was I going to say? I was so sure this day would never come that I hadn’t thought of any, well, excuses.
I knew the justification that I had used at the start. There was a promotion coming up at work and I wasn’t totally confident that it was in the bag. Deep down I knew that Dave wouldn’t amount to much and that was fine with me. I loved him just the way he was. If we wanted to have a substantial nest egg when we decided to have children, I knew it was up to me. The promotion would be a big step towards that goal. So I’d started responding to my office managers rather blatant flirting. He couldn’t believe it. Within two weeks we had gone from flirting to an all evening romp in a motel. I was quite proud of the elaborate plan I’d devised to get us both a pass for the night.
I knew that I couldn’t use that excuse to Dave though. In hindsight it might seem a little mercenary. In some lights, even slutty.
After the first time, things had spiraled out of control a little. Believing that Carl and the promotion were in the bag, I’d thought our rendezvous had been a onetime thing.
Two things had made a lie of this.
Firstly, having bedded me, Carl had openly started flirting with Pamela, my main rival for the promotion. If Pamela decided to use her natural assets as well, then I was honest enough with myself to realise there would be no guaranteed winner.
The second was the thrill of the experience. Not the sex. That was just an act that even I had to admit wasn’t nearly as satisfying as my love life with Dave. Hell Dave had the home team advantage. Seven years of learning, by trial and error, exactly what I liked. Besides, very few men are as gifted as Dave in my experience. No, I realised, it was a different kind of thrill. The excitement of thinking of an excuse to be somewhere else, with someone else when I would normally be home with my husband. Thinking of all the possible scenarios to explain where I was if he became suspicious of any one aspect of my story. The meticulous clean-up before I dared come home. The elevated pulse of deciding on a hiding place for my new lingerie, bought to overcome my natural disadvantages compared to Pamela and to enhance the experience for Carl. Christ, even the mild guilt I felt before and afterwards did more to enhance the experience than detract from it. Then there was the thrill of the tiny but ever present chance of Dave discovering my activities. All stimulating mental fun.
All of a sudden, my own question from last night answered itself. The suspicion of Dave was prompted by my own activities. Obvious now in hindsight. Whenever you point your finger at someone in accusation, look down at your hand. Three fingers are pointing back at yourself.
Those understandings, in the here and now explained everything. How many of them could I tell Dave? The answer was a stark, ‘None’.
That is why, in the here and now, I lied through my teeth. Facing Dave’s back I adlibbed. I knew I had to make it vague. He knew about last Monday but what about the five Mondays and a couple of Saturdays before that? The process wasn’t helped by the fact that I was terrified. Controlling that terror alone took the best part of three minutes.
“Carl came on to me when I was feeling particularly low. He took me out to lunch and I, well I had about three glasses of wine while he told me how attractive I was. I’m sorry darling, I fell for all his shit and we ended up in a room. Oh Dave, it was awful. I felt terrible afterwards. When it was over I felt horrible and told him it could never happen again and he said that was fine. It was so hard not telling you that I’d fallen and been unfaithful but I wanted to protect you from the hurt, really. Then the next week he came up to me and just announced that we were going to do it again that night. I said no but he threatened to tell you and get me fired. Oh Dave, what could I do? I knew if I made a complaint and it came down to his word against mine I would probably lose. I hate to say it Dave, but recently I stopped telling him to go away when he flirted with me. I always had before. That must have encouraged him. Enough people in the office probably saw us flirting and would back up his side of the story.”
I paused to see how Dave was taking all this. Give him an opportunity to respond. This was really hard work. In the darkness Dave rolled onto his back but didn’t say anything.
“Can you forgive me for one lapse of judgement, please honey? With your backing I will have the courage to stand up to him and say no. I should have done that from the start. If he tries to hold me back at work or get me fired I can threaten to tell the company what he did. I’m sure he will leave me alone. Oh darling, please forgive me and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I will never flirt with another man again as long as I live. I know it can be fun, but I now know it can be very dangerous. Please.”
I’d heard that a good interrogation technique was for the questioner to just remain silent and wait for the suspect to fill the silence with ill thought out rubbish and condemn themselves. I couldn’t believe my darling Dave was smart enough to do that though. I shut up anyway. To be honest, I’d run out of things to say. I waited for my fate to be announced from the silence of the other side of the bed.
There was absolutely nothing. He must be really thinking deeply which was a positive wasn’t it? No knee jerk reaction from him. The only sound was the pounding of my heart in my ears. Until I heard a soft snore beside me. The bastard was asleep! Had he heard nothing? That was kind of good, it gave me time to think of more convincing excuses. But it also gave me another problem. Not only did I now not know exactly what he knew about me and Carl but I didn’t know how much of my explanation he had heard. At what point could my recent excuses stop and new ones start. I spent most of the rest of the night scheming, only falling to sleep exhausted after 4AM.
I staggered awake the next morning feeling great as you can imagine. Dave always left for work before me and got home earlier. I debated letting him leave without speaking but let fear drive me downstairs. He was just finishing his breakfast. Unusually there was nothing set aside for me. I sat down opposite him at the kitchen table.
“Good morning Sue.”
That was it. No kiss, no darling, no loving smile.
“Um, sweetie, what did you think of what I said last night.”
“Sorry Sue. I told you I was really tired”.
Thank god for that. It gave me a clean slate. An opportunity to ditch what I’d said, which even to me in the clear light of day, sounded pathetic.
“Well darling……..”
“I’m sorry Sue, I have to get to work. Don’t want to be late.”
He got up, grabbed his bag and left, leaving me with absolutely no idea where I stood.
I somehow managed to stagger through my morning routine and get to work only slightly late. I was so tired. At the first opportunity I went to Carl’s office to give him the good news. To say he took it badly would be an understatement. Selfish bastard that he was, he could only seem to focus on what it meant for his own marriage. I knew his wife had been away for about two weeks with their kids, visiting her mother. He seemed to settle down when I told him that Dave didn’t have a malicious bone in his body and would never tell her. Perhaps too well. Within a minute he had asked me when we could get together again. His flagrant disregard for my marriage was sickening. I told him it wasn’t going to happen in the foreseeable future. Instinctively I stopped short of saying, ‘Never again’. I was finally back to my normal habit of thinking two or three steps ahead. I really wish I’d done that six weeks ago. Then maybe I wouldn’t have been in this fucking spot in the first place.
I somehow made it through the rest of the day. I parked around the corner from our house and rehearsed my speech. I’d decided to gently probe to make sure Dave hadn’t heard anything last night. Then, once that was confirmed, launch into my new defence. I also anticipated his two or three possible responses and decided how to modify the plan once I saw which he was going to use. Satisfied, I drove the rest of the way and confidently strode into the house.
Dave was sitting at the table, finishing his dinner. I stopped in bemusement, then continued on and kissed him on the cheek. I knew he had to be confused and would appreciate as much familiar routine stuff as possible.
“Hi honey. Why are you eating so early? Did you make some for me?”
“Well, it’s Monday. You normally fuck your boss Monday and don’t have dinner here.”
Fourteen words to screw all my carefully laid plans. I was right back to adlib territory again.
“Bu…but sweetie, now you know, I won’t be sleeping with him ever again.” Was all I could think to croak.
“Why not?”
“Because I love you.”
The expression on Dave’s face I can only describe as blankly quizzical. He was silent for a moment then shook his head.
“Then why did you fuck your boss?”
For a simple man, he had zeroed in on the one question I had no answer for. Well, not one I could share anyway. God knows I’d tried hard enough to think of one. As I stood there stunned, the introduction to the TV news started. Dave cleared his plates then went and sat in his favourite chair. I was grateful for the chance to think, so I let him go and made myself some dinner. Distracted by my planning, that task took almost an hour. I joined him in the lounge about five minutes before his favourite show finished. I sat at his feet and put my head on his knees but facing away from him. I was not at all sure I could look him in the eye and lie.
I was just getting into my stride with my new rationalisations when his show finished and he abruptly stood up.
“Where are you going to Dave?”
“I’m going to the toilet, then I’m going over to Karen’s. She has some rats in the ceiling and I said I’d put some traps down. Then I’m going to do some other jobs she needs doing.”
He walked towards the toilet.
“But Dave, have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”
“No Sue, you know I like that show.”
I waited while he used the toilet and came out.
“When are we going to talk about this Darling? When are you going to let me explain? If I can’t explain, then how are we going to get past this? How are you going to be able to forgive me and let us move on together?”
This brought him to a standstill. He stopped on his way towards his workshop and turned around, shaking his head like he was trying to clear it.
“Move on together. I’m a bit confused Sue. Aren’t you going to be with him now? I presumed you loved him more than me and would want to be with him rather than me.”
“But I don’t love him honey. He meant nothing to me. Nothing at all. I love you Dave. I always have and I always will.”
Dave looked at my pleading face and shook his head again. Like I was putting my words in a format that couldn’t get in his head and he was trying to readjust his brain.
“Then why did you fuck him?”
I suddenly realised that there may never be an answer to that question. I stood and watched him as he gathered up some tools and walked out.
An hour later a snippet from his words of the previous night slipped into my mind. He’d said, ‘My friend said that if I made love to you, I could catch a disease.’ Obviously that friend had to be Karen. I knew of no other potential friends. Dave either worked of hung around with me. That last fact twinged my conscience greatly. I was his only friend and I’d knifed him in the back. I buried that deep, then resolved that the fight back would start now.
I stormed out the door and across to the husband stealing bitch’s house and pounded on her door knocker. She greeted me like a long lost friend, immediately thanking me for lending her my husband. Taking me in to where Dave was re-grouting around her bath before offering me a cup of coffee. She then bombarded me with chatter. Within minutes I realised that she could have absolutely no knowledge of our marital problems. I took the first opportunity to run away back to my house.
I made the mistake of trying to stay awake till Dave got home, in bed. The next thing I knew my alarm was going off and Dave was gone. Time for decisive action and a technique that never failed. I knew Dave was definitely an ‘actions speak louder than words’ kind of guy. I rang work and took the day off, cleaned the house, then went shopping. The four course meal I had in mind were all Dave’s favourites. With an hour to spare I showered, picked out my sexiest dress and put on the perfume that Dave always commented on.
I planned that night’s conversation. Every time I did this I realised it was getting harder. I didn’t know what, if any of our two previous conversations, well my monologues, Dave had heard. That was constraining what I could now say.
Dave came home at his normal time and seemed to appreciate my efforts. I kept the conversation neutral, dreading anything that might trigger that unanswerable question. We had some remarkably normal conversations. I decided to let him move us forwards. He’d had all day to process my words from last night. He could have no doubt that I loved him. After I’d cleared everything away I felt comfortable enough to snuggle up to him on the couch. Well, tried to anyway. He shuffled away.
“I told you Sue, my friend said I shouldn’t make love to you.”
Fuck, this guy had a way of scuttling all my plans.
“Who is this friend honey?”
“I’m sorry, she said not to tell you.”
I was shocked. My husband appeared to be under the control of another woman. That was my job. I could think of nothing to say so we just watched TV until bed time.
The next day Carl called me into his office. He once again asked me when we could get together next. More to wipe the smug fucking grin off his face than anything else, I told him about Dave’s new, unknown friend. The one advising him and possibly the one who had alerted him to our affair in the first place. It was obvious Carl wasn’t interested so I maliciously said that it could be his wife. That pulled him up short. Even as I said it, the ‘rightness’ of it struck me. Could it really be his wife? It would make sense? It’s probably what Carl and I would both do. Tell the other partners spouse while quietly making arrangements to withdraw from the marriage in good order.
We spent the next hour discussing whether it was in his wife’s nature to act like we would. Yes it was. Then we talked about how she could have found out. My planning had been very careful so I couldn’t see how. We parted. Carl resolving to sound his wife out. There was no more talk of motel trysts.
Dave was a little late that night and didn’t get there till after my mother. Mum came round every Wednesday for dinner and a chat. Dinner went comfortably as normal with Dave seeming like his old self. I could rely on Dave’s discretion I knew. Or maybe not. After dinner, mum started on one of her pet nags.
“When are you two going to give me some grandkids?”
I was just about to launch into one of my standard responses, when,
“Sorry ma, not going to happen now, you see I caught Sue screwing her boss.”
My jaw hit the table just in ahead of mum’s. Just when I thought I knew my husband, he reveals hidden depths. Luckily I recovered first.
‘Dave! How could you tease my mother like that? You didn’t catch me doing anything like that. Go away until you are ready to act like a civilised human being.”
Dave went upstairs.
“Mum, sorry about that. I don’t know what came over him. I assure you he didn’t catch me doing anything. All these years and suddenly he discovers a sense of humour.”
Mum looked at me with a strange expression. She knew Dave. She knew how open and honest he was. I tried to quickly change the topic of conversation while trying not to make it obvious I was doing it. I can’t remember where I got to but Dave suddenly re-entered the room holding several pieces of paper which he showed to mum.
“I did ma. See, he even put his thing in her bottom.”
What the fuck. Photographs! I broke. I also knew I went cherry red.
“Get out of here you bastard!”
I collapsed sobbing on the table. I can’t remember what mum said, but it was delivered at some volume. I think I picked up the words slut, lying, disappointed, make it up to Dave. Honestly, I think my inner self just blotted out this attack. It knew, with everything else going on, I just couldn’t handle it. Finally mum calmed down and just stared at me until she had my attention back.
“Why? Look around you Sue. You have a nice job, a nice car, a nice house and until now a husband that doted on you. Why did you throw him away like that?”
“I didn’t throw him away mum. We’re just having a tiff that’s all. He knows he will never get anyone like me ever again. He wouldn’t dare leave me over this.”
“If you say so Sue. But I know men and I know your Dave. I tell you girl, he’s gone. So answer the bloody question. Why?”
I just couldn’t accept her theory that I no longer had control over my married destiny. She had to be wrong. But I had to suppress that right now. I had a decision to make. Did I tell my own mother further lies or did I test drive the truth on her. My self-confidence had been so shattered in the last three days that I opted for the truth.
“Well mum, I originally slept with my boss six weeks ago to snaffle a promotion. I know Dave will never amount to much so I knew it was up to me. Yes we have a nice house and stuff but we only have about $50,000 in the bank. Children cost money. After I started I kind of got hooked on it. That reminds me, the promotion is supposed to be announced this week. When I get it, it will be worth an extra $40,000 a year.”
Even I realised how shallow the truth sounded, so I stopped at this point.
“What do you mean Dave won’t amount to much. He got that promotion to Foreman, what, four or five weeks ago. He took me out to celebrate. That was when you were called back to work one night…”
The look of incredulity on my face must have got through to her.
“You didn’t know did you?”
All I could do was shake my head.
“Well, if you were wondering how long Dave has known about your cheating, I would say at least four to five weeks. Wouldn’t you.”
I sat there stunned as my mother got up and left. There was no sign of Dave so I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.
I was a wreck the next day. I got two phone calls from my sisters who in one way or another told me what they thought of me. I went home to an empty house. When Dave hadn’t appeared by dinner time I rang his cell but got no answer. I knew Carl’s wife was due back that day so I had a real bad feeling. I rang Carl and asked him how his wife was. He told me that she was overdue. He’d expected her by dinner but she wasn’t there yet and wasn’t answering her cell either. Oh shit. Dave crawled into bed at about midnight. I asked him where he’d been and he said he’d been out trying to make some new friends. Even in my self-absorption, my heart went out to him. I should have been all the friend he needed. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I still had no idea what to say.
The next day, at work, I got a call from one of our mutual friends, Julie. She wanted to know if the rumours she’d heard were true. I pretended to not know what she was talking about. She didn’t push it. This got me wondering about the vulnerability of my friendships. All my acquaintances were also Dave’s. I knew he enjoyed a special status with them. While he was never the life and soul of the party of course, he was popular. Our friendship group rallied around and almost protected him, sensing his deep vulnerability. Sure, if they needed a kidney, they wouldn’t ask Dave. But then they wouldn’t have to would they? If they needed a kidney, then Dave would be lining up outside the clinic doors before they even opened. Now I thought about it, if push came to shove, I had no idea whose side most of our friends would take. I took the rare step of ringing Dave at work.
“Dave, have you told any of our friends about me?”
“I might have Sue.”
“How could you do that to me Dave? I’m your wife.”
“Why shouldn’t I have Sue?”
“Well if you go around saying I slept around on you, our friends may think I’m an adulterous slut.”
“Didn’t you want them to think you’re one of those adulteree slut things?”
“No of course I fucking didn’t.”
“Then why did you fuck your boss?”
FUCK! Could things get any worse? My mother and sisters weren’t taking my calls, I was in danger of losing all my friends and my husband was behaving like an absolute dick. I still couldn’t believe that mum was right and my marriage was over. Things weren’t that desperate yet. I was musing all this when the receptionist came around announcing that there was a senior staff meeting in 10 minutes.
Yes, you guessed it. It was to announce the promotion of Pamela. I waited for all the ruckus to die down then with steam coming out of my ears went to Carl’s office and closed the door.
“What the fuck Carl? That promotion was mine, I earned it.”
Carl squirmed in his seat.
“Sue, you were the front runner for the last three months. But when they pressed me this morning, I, er, I had to say Pamela. I’m very sorry Sue.”
“Why did you have to give that bitch the job?”
“Well, my wife got back last night and she was almost normal. Except she kept looking at me kinda funny. If I had to guess I’d say she’s heard whispers but doesn’t have enough to confront me. I thought if I promoted you it may sort of confirm those rumours. The best way of throwing her off the scent was to give the job to Pamela. Don’t worry Sue. There’ll be another vacancy within two years.”
Fighting the urge to jump the desk and throttle the smug prick, I just said through gritted teeth, “In two years’ time I will be off having babies.” Then I walked out. No one commented on me leaving early. Misinterpreting it as being devastated about being passed over.
At home there was a message from Dave to say he wouldn’t be home till late. That was a relief. I desperately needed some time to think. I got a corkscrew and opened a bottle of thinking aid. Then I tried to arrange my problems in order of magnitude. The conclusion was simple. Fix my marriage and regain friends and family. If Dave forgave me, then my friends and family would also. I hope.
I was fortunate in that I didn’t think Dave has listened to any of my excuses to date. But I still had no idea what he actually knew. But now I had a source to help me with that. If I could find where he had those photos, there might be a PI report or something. Now, he’d come down the stairs with those photos. All there was up there was our bedroom, walk-in robe and bathroom. I headed up the stairs happy that I had a plan. I started on Dave’s side of the closet. Nothing. Nothing under the bed or in his bedside cabinet. Surely he wasn’t cheeky enough to hide them on my side of the closet. But he was. In fact, the folder of photos was inside a small suitcase, inside a bigger one. Right under my stash of secret lingerie. Very cute Dave. No, not Dave. That was impossible. Outrage struck me. ‘She’ had been in MY house. But who was ‘she’? Dave was home about an hour before me usually. Is that when they talked? The only woman who had been here when I got home was my sister about two weeks ago…..
It was very uncomfortable looking at the photos. A full color reminder and rubbing in of my disloyalty. All the photos were from one session, but which one. All motel rooms look the same. I tried to get a clue from the depicted action. All the things they showed Carl doing to me and me to him, we’d been doing since the third Monday meeting. So that narrowed it down to the last three Mondays and one Saturday. My money was on the last meeting though. What had triggered Dave revealing he knew my secret? My proposing sex. All of a sudden, my three week abstinence came back to bite me. Why not? Everything else had. Funny, there was no PI report or any other clue how I’d been discovered.
The action of putting the photos back in the envelope then taking them down to the fireplace to burn them triggered a thought. Something about her choice of hiding spot tugged at my perception. Why was it so significant? It hit me half way down the stairs hard enough that I stopped. It was a deliberate, calculated act. A declaration of war.
Within the minutes it took to burn the photos I returned to thinking who could have tipped Dave off and caused him to hire a PI. Or was it someone else who had hired a PI and given him copies of the photos. That could only mean Carl’s wife. That spurred another idea. If Dave had hired a PI then there had to be a money trail. I hit the filing cabinet but the latest statement was two months old. There was a week old credit card bill though. No big items on that. I logged onto our bank’s website and downloaded a current statement. I started looking about six weeks ago. The statement just showed daily spending and our salaries going in with the balance steadily increasing. I did notice that as of four weeks ago Dave’s pay jumped over $1,000 a fortnight. Wow, that was quite a promotion. Yet he had chosen not to celebrate it with me.
Through my tears I kept looking for any unusual withdrawals. Nothing. Until the last page when the balance dropped from $58,000 to $5,000 last Saturday, with the simple words, ‘Transferred to XXXX’. What the fuck?
In an absolute daze I logged off and sat at the kitchen table. There was no question in my mind why Dave had cleaned out our account. The big question was, what was I going to do about it? I never went back a step further and asked myself, ‘Do I want to do something about it’. There was never a question in my mind that I wanted to win Dave back. I loved him. He was my life partner. He was going to be the father of my children and the grandfather of my grandchildren. He was the rock I’d anchored my life to.
I spent the rest of the time till Dave came home polishing my story. It was good. Flexible enough that it could adapt to how little or how much he knew. It had its roots in the, ‘I was seduced by a master at a vulnerable time’, story but had evolved impressively since then. The plan was, explain away my behaviour then hit him with a full court press of attractive womanhood. Make him realise what he would be missing out on. In short, seduce him back. I got stuck on one point. He was obviously being influenced by, ‘His friend’. Who was she? How good was she? What were her motivations? Maybe I needed a PI. These musings were interrupted by Dave coming home. I got up and gave him a huge hug which he half-heartedly returned.
“Congratulations on your promotion darling. I forgive you for not telling me. I can see how my behaviour turned you against me.”
“Thank you Sue. How did you go with yours? I know you……..worked very hard for it?”
This guy just had a way of scuttling my plans, and with such naïve effort. How did he know about the promotion?
“Oh, I missed out. They gave it to Pamela.”
“Was she fucking the boss as well?”
With a mighty effort I ignored his veiled insult.
“Just sit down while I make you a cup of coffee. Tell me how your night was while I do it.”
“Julie rang me and asked me out. I went out with her, Stan, Jenny and Mick. It was good.”
“Did you talk about me?”
“Yes, they wanted to know all about it, so I told them. I didn’t really want to, but they insisted. They are our friends after all.”
“Where did those photos come from darling?”
“Ah, my friend gave them to me.”
“Is this a new friend sweetie?”
“Yes.”
“Is she a friend from work?”
“No.”
“Well, just so you know, I found them tonight and burnt them.”
“Dave’s eyebrows lifted.”
“I burnt them so they won’t get in the way of you forgiving me Dave.”
“I guess the place you found them means you also were planning to go out tonight?”
Fighting the urge to shout, with every fibre of my being, I formulated my answer. He’d just presented me with an opportunity to do a little probing.
“No, I told you. That will never happen again. To be truthful, I don’t know why I went back for a second time. He’s small and frankly not that good with it. Not like my big hunk.”
I reached over and stroked Dave’s leg.
“Then why…..”
“I know, I know, why did I fuck him? I’ll tell you later lover. But first I have some more questions. Dave, where’s the money? I went and checked out our account. There’s over $50,000 missing.”
“Yes I know. I put it in another account.”
“But why Dave. What are you going to do?”
“I’ve already done it. My friend said that when we get divorced, even though you cheated, you get half the money. That just doesn’t seem to be right. She suggested I put the money somewhere safe for when I leave. I went to see a lawyer and he said it was illegal but if I went overseas for seven years there was nothing you could do about it. Something about a statchoot of limitations or something. I’ve got a job in Vietnam. I leave on the 31st.”
Normally I would have found his mispronunciation of ‘statute’ kind of cute. Not today.
“Bu…but that’s only five days from now. If you go, and take all the money, I’ll have nothing.”
“You’ll still have your boss.”
“BUT I DON’T WANT MY BOSS!”
“Then what did you fuck him for then?”
God! This was like arguing with a very persistent, single minded child.
As rattled as I was, I knew I had to think quickly. Five days, including the weekend. That would be enough time, just, to get a court injunction to at least save the money. But did I want to devote all my time and energy doing that when I just wanted my husband back. No I didn’t. If I spend the energy keeping him away from his advisor, this ‘friend’ of his, then I’m sure I can bring him back into line.
“Dave, you keep asking why I, er, had sex with my boss, Carl, and I feel I owe you an explanation. You see, about seven weeks ago I was feeling low and Carl was always trying……”
I’m sorry Sue. I’m really tired. Can we do this some other time?”
“When Dave? This is really important. If I don’t tell you why it happened, then you can’t forgive me. If you don’t forgive me then we won’t have a future. If we don’t have a future, then I won’t get to have your babies.”
I hadn’t planned on using my ace right now. I’d intended to use it when things got really desperate. Too late now though. It was out.
“You want to have my babies?”
“Yes darling. I love you, all of you and no one but you. I want to grow old with you, nurse you when you’re sick. Stand next to you, holding your hand, when our children are baptised. Sit in the church with you when they get married. Get buried next to you. Yes David, I want to have your babies.”
Finally I could see that I’d got through to him. The emotions flickered across his eyes. I stifled a smile of triumph and waited for him to respond. A tingle went through my groin in anticipation of the make-up sex to come.
“Then why did you fuck your boss?”
AAAARRRRGGGHH! This broken fucking record was getting fucking, unbelievably frustrating. By the time I’d got my blood pressure under control, Dave was in bed. Not making the same mistake as last time, I very quickly brushed my teeth and joined him.
“When will you listen to me Dave, tomorrow?”
“No, not tomorrow. We have that market you wanted to go to tomorrow morning. The party at Julie and Stan’s place tomorrow night, then church on Sunday morning. How about Sunday afternoon? I really would like to know why Sue.”
Was it possible to get more confused? He had just described the weekend of a married couple. Not one of someone about to terminally abandon his spouse. That could only mean, YES. I’d got through to him with my words before. He’d just needed time to process them and had asked me his dumb, standard question out of reflex. We were on the road to recovery. I had the best night’s sleep I’d got all week.
The next day, I got up early and made him a lovely breakfast. He didn’t turn away when I kissed him after delivering it to him. He held my hand as we walked through the market. I knew he hated these things.
At the outdoor party on Saturday night, I’d swear nobody knew we were even struggling. I kept my arms round him most of the evening. I did notice groups of whispering ‘friends’ trying to cut him out and get him alone but I wasn’t letting go. There were a few new girls there that I didn’t recognise. I watched how he interacted with them to see if there were any clues that one of them was his new friend. Nothing.
We were both extremely mellow when we got home. Dave even had the taxi stop at a corner shop on the way home and went in and bought some things. What they were came as the biggest, most pleasant surprise later on. I was feeling so good that in bed later I reached over and grabbed his cock. To my absolute surprise, he didn’t reject me. Taking full advantage of this development I spoiled him rotten. I gave him a long, sensuous blowjob that had him squirming and groaning. Finally I let him discharge in my mouth but kept right on going until he was hard again. There was one uncomfortable moment when he reached for the new pack of condoms when I went to mount him, noting with optimism that it was a pack of 12. The rest of the night, until we were both exhausted, I concentrated on his pleasure to the point that I didn’t have a single orgasm. Far from being frustrated, I found it very liberating. So this is how he felt when he made love to me.
We slept late and had to sprint for church. Neither Dave nor I went into the confessional. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight for a second. When he suggested a picnic lunch by the river, I snapped him up on the offer. We chatted about his new job, the state of the world, everything. Except our relationship. He didn’t raise it and neither did I. Why ruin a good thing. Sunday night was a movie as we snuggled on the couch and a re-run of our lovemaking of the previous night.
Monday I decided to get myself tested. It was all going well but every time Dave reached for the rubbers it was like a knife being driven into my ribs. I made the appointment. My intent was to get the results in writing and leave them somewhere Dave would see them.
All that week it was like nothing had ever happened. Dave went to work and came home at the same time he always had. There were no mysterious phone calls or texts. I checked. I was a little tense on Wednesday the 31st, but there was no sign of him packing or making plans to leave. At work, I asked Carl how he was travelling and he said everything was normal at his end.
Things were so good on Friday night that, in bed, I decided to formalise things a bit. We had just finished making love.
“So, you’ve decided to stay I see. What was it changed your mind? The thought of grandchildren or the thought of losing an A grade piece off ass like me?”
“No Sue, there were some visa problems, they’ve promised it for Tuesday next week though.”
“What! But I thought you were going to stay?”
“Why? You never asked me to stay.”
“Bu…bu….but you’ve been acting so normal. We’ve made love every night since last Saturday.”
“Well, as you said yourself Sue, I’d be a fool to turn down an A grade piece of ass like you. I don’t know what the situation is in Vietnam. It may be a while for me.”
I was stumped. I couldn’t have been more shocked if you’d hit me with 100,000 volts. Speechless.
“The extra time will come in handy though. My friend says that I should tell Carl’s wife what you’ve been up to. That makes sense. If the situation were reversed, I would want her to tell me. I’ll go over there tomorrow. Goodnight.”
All my relaxation of the last week was irretrievably blown away. I was back in panic mode again. Incapable of thinking logically. That is perhaps why I said,
“But Dave, if you do that it will destroy his marriage. If his wife finds out he will lose everything. His wife, his kids…..just everything.”
Dave sleepily reached out and turned the bedside light off. Then from the darkness said,
“Then why did he fuck you?”
Seeing my destiny slipping out of my own hands I instinctively reached out for help. I jumped out of bed, went downstairs and rang Carl’s cell. He was mortified of course. He told me to meet him at work and we would decide on a strategy. I went upstairs and got dressed, then left for the 20 minute drive to work. Dave was gently snoring away. Once at work, Carl pumped me for everything he wanted to know about Dave. Morals, values, weak points and physical characteristics. I warned him that in a fair fight, Dave would bury him.
Once he was satisfied, Carl drove us home. We talked some more on the way. Once there, I had to grope for the front door as the sensor light wasn’t working. I went upstairs to rouse a grumpy Dave, while Carl waited in the lounge. When we came down, Carl was obviously as nervous as a butchers thumb and stood well away from the brick shithouse that was my husband. He begged and pleaded with Dave. Using my information about Dave’s soft spots to appeal to his conscience. I think it was the idea of ruining the lives of Carl’s children that finally got through to Dave. That’s when he softened and promised not to tell Carl’s wife. Carl was obviously, joyfully relieved. For the first time he approached Dave to shake on the deal. I felt oddly disappointed.
The handshake went on for far longer than usual. I looked down at the joined hands and saw Carl’s hand was going white. Not as white as his face when I looked at it. Finally he gave out a low whimper which broke the contact. He vigorously rubbed his fist. I told Dave that I would get a lift back to my car and led Carl out the door. Dave walked towards the kitchen but asked me over his shoulder,
“Sue, can I have a word with you alone please?”
“Sure Dave.”
I told Carl to wait for me in the car then returned to the kitchen. Dave was hauling on a rope which led through the open window. About five seconds later there was a slap sound outside then an oath.
“Sounds like Carl has tripped over.”
This bizarre sequence of events triggered about a million questions but Dave got in first.
“Sue, I want you to imagine you are in a bar and a guy comes up to you and offers you $2M to sleep with you. What would you say?”
I knew I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to think logically, so I tried to avoid the question.
“Really Dave, do we have to play games now?”
“Just humour me Sue.”
“Well, for $2M I’d say yes. Think about it Dave. $2M means a flash car, a flasher house, country club membership, status and a family with no money worries.”
“Okay Sue. Thank you for your honesty. Now if the same guy asked you for a blowjob for $20, what would you say?”
“I would tell him to fuck off and ask him if he thought I was a hooker. Look what’s this all about, tell me?”
“Do you know what he would say Sue?”
I sighed. “No, I have no idea Dave.”
“He would say, ‘We both know what you are, now we’re just haggling the price’. Good night again Sue. If you come back, try not to wake me up.”
“I’ll be home in less than an hour Dave. We really need to talk.”
As I walked down the darkened driveway I wondered what that had all meant. It sounded like a complicated way for Dave to call me a hooker. Dave didn’t do complicated. I was surprised to see Carl sitting in the passenger seat of his own car with some tissues pressed against his knuckles. He told me he’d tripped on the path and cut his hand. If I drove, he could staunch the bleeding by the time we got back to work. I got us there and made a point of kissing Carl goodnight.
In the twenty minutes I had to think before getting home I pondered my disappointment that Dave had agreed to keep his mouth shut. I also cursed myself for burning those photographs.
Without them I would have to think of another way of tipping off Carl’s wife. I knew now that my marriage was over. No man calls his wife a prostitute, however subtly, if he intends staying with her. If I could destroy Carl’s marriage then I should be able to guilt him into letting me trade up with him. Sure, he would be poorer after the divorce and wasn’t much of a catch physically but he would still be loaded. There was still a way of snatching something from this whole fiasco and I was going to give it my best shot. That and lawyers on Monday were my only plans. I prayed it wasn’t too late to get an injunction to freeze Dave’s bank accounts.
I saw the flashing lights of a police car well before I reached the house. It was parked in our driveway. Along with another strange car and a van. As I walked towards the door a man in a white boiler suit was walking out with what looked like an axe handle in a clear plastic bag with a label on it. Inside, a uniformed officer asked my name then asked me to sit in the downstairs bedroom until a detective could speak to me.
That was when I saw Karen from across the road speaking to a man in a suit. From the bedroom I could just hear what she was saying to him. She was describing that she’d seen me leaving in my car at about 10PM. Shortly after that, her friend Dave had rung her and told her that he was half expecting some angry visitors. He’d asked her to keep an eye on his house. If the visitors left and he hadn’t rung her within five minutes to call the police. She then gave a good description of Carl’s car, saying she had a good view of it under the streetlight. She then went on to give a description of Carl as the man she had seen walking with me to the house. After about three quarters of an hour, we’d both left. Rather than just ring the police she’d come over and found the door open. Taking the brave step of coming in the house, she’d seen Dave unconscious and bleeding lying next to the bloodied axe handle. Following her first aid training she’d called an ambulance then put Dave in the recovery position and staunched his bleeding until it arrived.
After finishing her statement she expressed an opinion that it was careless of me and whoever the guy was to leave so many clues. The detective said that it was quite common in crimes of passion. Having been released, Karen rushed off to the hospital.
I knew it was my turn next and that it wouldn’t make much difference what I said. Whoever Dave’s new friend was, they were obviously one devious son of a bitch.
I was arrested of course. An hour after I arrived at the station, Carl was put in the holding cell across from me. He was wearing what promised to be an impressive black eye by the morning. He commented, “My wife”, to my unspoken question. Turns out his wife was waiting for him when he got home from my place and laid straight into him. She’d been told weeks ago by Dave what her husband was up to. She had weeks of frustration to vent. He begged her to forgive him and not file for divorce. She’d said she had no intention of divorcing him for about 12 months. She predicted a two to five year abandonment was about to happen.
An hour later a doctor arrived to dress his injured hands. Not until a police evidence photographer had finished though. All of a sudden the memory of Dave hauling on a rope made perfect sense. A rope stretching across a darkened path was sure to trip someone and had a good chance of damaging their hands.
My plan B was irretrievably smashed by the last words I heard Carl speak, almost to himself.
“I lost everything, fucking everything and for what. Some lousy, second rate sex.”
It was three days before I could find someone who would post bail for me. I mean, not even my own mother. When I left, Carl was still there. Seems neither of our spouses were feeling forgiving. When I walked in the door, Dave was there sitting next to a bunch of suitcases. He had a big bandage on one side of his face, the rest of it was black and blue. Ever the gentleman he stood as I went to sit down at the table. He winced a bit like his ribs were hurting.
“I see your visa finally came through.”
“What?”
I looked at the suitcases. He followed my glance.
“Oh those. No they’re yours.”
“Why do I have to leave if you’re going to Vietnam in a few days? Can’t I stay here, I have nowhere to go. I certainly won’t be able to afford anywhere else, my job is toast for sure.”
Dave just looked at me with an expression almost of pity.
“I was never going to Vietnam Sue. That was just to put the pressure on you and back you into a corner.”
While I digested what that meant, Dave was absently rubbing the side of his face.
“Fuck that woman can swing an axe handle.”
“Who, Karen?”
“No, Carl’s wife. She’s only a slip of a thing but boy can she hit. I reckon she used to play baseball.”
“She is your ‘friend’, I presume Dave?”
“No, there was no friend Sue.”
“Then who………..”
A deadly surety hit me and stopped that sentence dead in its tracks.
“I told you right from the start Sue. Growing up a ward of the state taught me to hide my emotions, my feelings and most of all, my intelligence. Kids showing any of those just got eaten. By the time I’d grown up, it was just second nature. Then I found that by appearing dumb, people constantly underestimated me, and it gave me an advantage. I thought you saw through all that though Sue, but I reckon even you got simple and stupid confused. ‘Statchoot of limitations’ indeed.”
I looked up and saw the grin on his face as his words from last week registered on my memory. This was amongst the longest speeches that I’d ever heard come out of his mouth. I recognised the truth in what he was saying. I realised that I’d been totally outclassed by someone who was far from unintelligent.
“No there never was a friend Sue. I knew you were so sure that I was incapable of doing any of this myself that I invented one. Funny, it was imaginary friends that got me through my childhood as well.”
Who was this guy?
“Also for the record dear, there never was a lawyer, smart people don’t use lawyers in divorces. They feed on conflict. The more conflict there is, the fatter they get. So they create conflict. They get fat, everyone else gets fucked.”
He gave me the courtesy of letting me absorb all this. It took a while.
“So who told you I was, er, stepping out?”
“There you go again. No one told me Sue, I worked it out all by myself. I think it is the Chinese that have the proverb, ‘A fool chatters, while a wise man listens’. I just listened and watched Sue. Shit, you were so convinced that I was a clueless fool that you didn’t even hide it that well. Really Sue, going from not working after hours, to working every Monday night for six weeks. Oh and two Saturdays as well. Coming home from ‘work’ freshly showered then not letting me near you. The respect you had for me was awesome wasn’t it? ”
“And the photos?”
“Little old me again I’m afraid. You know, you really should check the curtains are closed when you’re misbehaving in motel rooms.”
I couldn’t help thinking of one of the junior managers at work. He made sure to always spout out the latest management catch phrases. His latest one was, ‘paradigm shift’. I realised that was what I was struggling with now. Getting my brain to go from believing I’d married a slow thinking, non-complex man, completely free of guile to what? Someone who had outmaneuvered me at every turn. That took a while as well.
“But you never gave us a chance Dave. I was
the only one fighting for our marriage. You never even considered forgiving me
did you?”
“Of course not Sue. We discussed it so many times didn’t we? What did you call it? Our one strike and you’re out policy.”
“But you never even gave me a chance to explain. You never listened to one word I said. Just came out with, ‘Then why did you fuck your boss’, till I wanted to strangle you.”
“Yes, I know Sue, infuriating wasn’t it? But it bought me the time I needed to get everything in place and to back you into a mindset of getting Carl here for the showdown. And I did listen to you Sue, every word you said. In bed that first night, in front of the TV. Every word. I kept walking away when I couldn’t stand your lies. They just killed me”
I dropped my eyes in absolute shame at all the memories.
“In all your speeches, the ones you gave me and I’m guessing the ones you rehearsed in your head, there were two things missing Sue. The truth and any sign of remorse.”
Could I feel any lower?
“The only time I think I heard the truth was when I eavesdropped on your conversation with your mother. That was enlightening.”
I couldn’t take any more, I got up and walked towards my suitcases. Dave got up to help me but I told him to rest his ribs.
“You know Dave, you really had me going when you made love to me that whole week. I really thought we were okay.”
“Hey, what can I say, I’m a guy remember? Plus you have to admit, it distracted you from going to the lawyers didn’t it. Just on that point, if you ever feel like a cuddle, you know where I live. If I’m not in a relationship I’m sure we can work something out.”
I picked up my bags and walked outside to my fate. Turning just once to look back at my simple husband.
The end