Big Mouth Ch. 02

"I'm sorry," I started to say when we hit her car. "I didn't know."

"How could you? I never told you. I was ashamed to tell anyone Brian had hit me. As far as our lovemaking, I was afraid to bruise your male ego, and look where that got us." Our eyes talked, I wanted more.

"You have time for a cup of coffee?" I didn't want it to end just yet.

"I kind of have plans," she said sheepishly.

"It's okay. I guess I'll see you Thursday, have fun tonight." I said with a stupid smile on my face as my insides turned to jelly.

Have a nice night? Where the fuck did I come up with that line? I didn't want her to go out and have a nice time, I wanted her here with me, but I blew that.

I cursed myself all the way home. That's the problem; we forgot how to talk to one another. We said words and got it right some of the time but not when it really counted. I'll bet you're thinking that Heather showed up at my place later on and we spent the rest of the night in bed. That only happens in romance novels or the movies, this was the real world and we'd made a mess of the last six months. I did text her before I went to sleep telling her that I loved her. I never got a reply; she was probably busy with someone else.

For the first time in ages I went to work full of piss and vinegar. I got more work done Wednesday than I had in weeks. On the way out my boss even mentioned that it was good to see the old Steve back in action. He wasn't back, nor was he was dead anymore.

Wednesday night was my night with Amy and Robert, so I headed for the house right from work. They came running out and jumped into the car talking a mile a minute. I was hoping to see Heather, guess I was still on her shit list.

We had a great night. We went to a laser tag emporium and had a blast. We all lost, but what the hell, we were together. We went to Chili's for dinner; I was tired of pizza. By eight we were pulling onto the driveway. Heather must have seen us and opened the front door as the kids gave me hugs and kisses before running in. She waved once and shut the door. Looks like I was still on the outs—had no to blame but myself.

Heather skipped Thursday's session. When she didn't show I walked out also. Ann and David wanted to discuss last Tuesday's session. Without Heather there was nothing to talk about. Looks like she'd said her piece and we were about done. I wondered who the new man in her life might be.

After our session on Tuesday I was going to open my heart up to Heather and tell her I wanted to try again as a couple, but she probably had something or someone more important on her plate. As I told everyone a week ago, I was done.

Saturday was self-pity night. I got totally fucked up. So much so I missed my Sunday with my kids. I woke up around three in the afternoon and called to say I was sick, assuring them I'd make it up to them on Wednesday.

I never even called to cancel Tuesday's session. Court ordered or not, I wasn't going. She had made her plans and was moving forward, it was high time I got my head out of my ass and started to look ahead to my own future. It was up to me to make myself happy now.

Steve you missed yesterday's session," was the call I received from David at work Wednesday morning. "We waited for you for a while, when you didn't show we started without you."

"You mean Heather graced you with her presence? I'm shocked."

"She said something came up unexpectedly."

"Something or someone?" I wasn't mincing words. "David, I like you and Ann, but it appears Heather has already made up her mind about what she wants and it looks like it doesn't include me. I wish her the best. I have to look out for myself now."

"Steve, theses sessions were court ordered. You could be held in contempt."

"Did you tell Heather that when she missed?" It was quiet on the other end. "I thought not. The woman is always right, gets custody, and the man ends up getting the short end of the stick."

"Steve, after that last session... I thought"

"So did I, but I guess we were the only ones. We had a good run. Now that it's ended I need to move on like Heather has."

I thanked him, he threatened me, I called it a night.

Okay, so I underestimated David's resolve. There was a policeman at my car when I left work at five o'clock.

"Mr. Stephen Moore?" I nodded, yes.

"We have two options as I see it. You can go to your counseling session, or I can take you in to see the judge and you can explain to her why you've decided to go against her directive. And, Mr. Moore, if I were you, I wouldn't recommend option number two." Looks like I didn't have much of a choice. "Can I trust you to go or do I have to follow you there?"

"All right, I'll go, but I want it noted it's under protest." He didn't give a shit.

"So glad you could join us this evening," David said as I walked into the office. Heather and Ann were already there.

"I didn't have much choice, did I?"

"But you did," he wasn't smiling. "Shall we begin?"

"Bullshit is what I heard for the next twenty minutes. Heather wasn't happy I wasn't saying anything. David was telling me I should tell Heather how I really feel about what she'd said a week ago, and Ann must have been taking shorthand she was writing so fast.

"Heather, where did you go after our session last Tuesday night?" I asked out of the blue.

"Just out to dinner."

"Who with?" I asked, looking straight at her.

"Just someone from work." Now she wasn't looking at me.

"Shall we continue the twenty questions or are you going to tell me?"

"All right, it was a guy from work, but it was just a casual date."

"You sleep with him?"

Heather looked at David for help. "Steve, I don't think this line of questioning is getting us anywhere. Why don't we address the matter at hand?"

"Heather, did you sleep with him, yes or no?"

"No, I didn't, but I sure as hell wanted to. I haven't been with anyone is six fucking months and I'm horny as hell. Is that what you wanted to know? How many girls have you been with, Steve? Two, three, twenty?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Heather, none." It was once again getting ugly.

"Like I believe that," was her quick reply.

"You really are a bitch, you know that? And to think I was considering trying again. Well, I hope he at least got lucky Thursday night." I stood up. "Tell your cop friend I'll take my chances with the judge next Tuesday."

Both Ann and David started to say something, but I wasn't listening anymore.

"Fuck them all," I said to myself as I stormed down the hall. I was tired of being angry and being around people who were making me feel that way. I needed a new life.

I got in my car, slammed the door, started it up, put it in gear, and almost ran Heather down, she was standing right in front of it.

"Heather, get out of the damn way," I screamed, inching forward. She wasn't moving.

"For once you're going to listen to me, and then you can go to hell for all I care." I turned off the car.

"Say what you have to say so I can get the hell out of here." I had lost any patience I'd come with tonight.

"The reason I wasn't here last Thursday was because I was telling Adam I couldn't see him any more."

"And why is that? Because you're leaving soon for St. Augustine, or like me, he couldn't do it for you in bed either?"

"I said I didn't sleep with him. I told him I was still in love with my stupid ass idiot of a husband and wanted him back. Dumb reason now that I think about. So now that I've said what I came out here to say, why don't you tear out of here with your dick tucked between your legs because frankly I'm done with it, too."

Have you ever heard of a Mexican standoff? That's exactly what we had at this point. Me in my car, and Heather standing in front of it with her arms folded in front of her.

"Well? You sure had a lot to say ten minutes ago," she spit at me.

"Look, I don't know what you want anymore. You've got your life all planned out and there is no way I'm leaving my job to go with you to run a bed and breakfast. I've worked too hard for this promotion, and I deserve to have at least something go right in my life for a change."

"Steve, I'm not going anywhere. Ann told me what to say to get some type of reaction out of you. You're floundering in a pool of self-pity, and she thought that might at least get you a little charged up. It worked. Can't you see you've still got a wife who loves you, why I'm not sure, and two children who are crushed that you're not with them? I'm not perfect and neither are you, and I've spared your feeling far too long."

"Spared my feelings?" My blood was starting to boil again.

"That's right, spared your feeling so I wouldn't hurt your fragile male ego." Now I was pissed.

"Don't put this shit on me, If you would have fucking said something maybe, just maybe, we could have averted this whole thing."

"All right, I was wrong. It was my fault, are you happy now?" I smiled for the first time in a long time.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" She didn't smile, but I saw the corners of her mouth twitch upwards.

"Asshole, you're far from perfect too."

I knew that—I just wasn't going to admit it—I was on a roll. "Well, you have two choices tonight," she told me. "We can go back upstairs and do some hard talking or you can leave, give the fuck up, and we can end it right here tonight. Your choice." I loved it when she talked dirty, just not when she was angry.

The next month sucked. There were many arguments and resentments brought up by both of us. Frankly, I didn't think we had a chance in hell especially when I told Heather she had to tell all our friends personally I didn't suck in bed.

"They already know, at least the wives do."

"I want you to tell my buddies that I'm not lame in bed and I do it for you." She was balking at that. "Just think of it as a consequence of having opened your mouth at the wrong time." She did it, but wasn't happy about it. It also didn't help matters when the guys gave me high fives saying they knew all along I was a stud.

"Look, I didn't say he was a stud, just that he doesn't suck in bed." Heather said, smiling along with the other wives. She always had to have the last word.

Is our life back to where it was before all this happened? Not a chance. Amy and Robert are overjoyed I'm back living in the house, and we still do a lot of what we did when I wasn't living there, especially laser tag. However, our bedroom activities have changed greatly. If Heather's not in the mood, she tells me right out, and if she wants to try something new she's not bashful about asking for it.

The one thing I did insist on was getting rid of her three friends. I told her if she needed something else, we'd go together to pick it out, and there would be no naming it.

It took me about two weeks, but I finally tracked Brian down. Looking at him it appeared that the six-pack was long gone and his job as a bricklayer was taking its toll on him. The beautiful long hair was replaced with a cropped under baseball cap style, and the two- day-old beard was now probably a month old and kind of patchy looking. He was no longer hot, still big as shit. And I knew, not a chick magnet any more.

He didn't have a clue who I was, and when I took out my phone and took a picture he wasn't too pleased.

"Who the fuck are you and what the hell do you want?" He asked, not wanting to stop what he was doing to chitchat with a stranger.

"Brian, do you remember Heather Clark?" I asked with a smile on my face. "Well, she's my wife and we've got two beautiful children." All right, so I said it a bit sarcastically. "You lost and I won, sucker."

"I lost nothing, Heather was a lousy lay." Now he was smiling. "I had a hundred other girls that were much better, and by the way, did she ever learn how to suck cock? She had to be the worst at it I ever had." He was now laughing looking at all the other guys from the crew who had stopped to listen to our conversation, which pissed me off, and then I did something really stupid.

I guess I went with my heart instead of my head. Brian was still bigger, stronger, and a lot more experienced at what I then did.

I punched him square in the face as hard as I could and in the process I think broke my hand on his forehead, that is before he basically cleaned my clock. I managed to get in a few more punches. It wasn't pretty. If a couple of his buddies hadn't pulled him off me it would have been a hell of a lot worse, something about him killing me and going to jail. I was a fucking mess, his face and hands also looked also like he'd been in a knockdown, drag-out fight.

"Tell that cunt if she ever gets tired of your wimpy ass to give me a call, maybe it's not too late for some intense training," he was again laughing as I dragged my ass back to my car. I was beat up, but I hadn't backed down.

My hand wasn't broken just a little fractured. I had a chipped tooth, one broken rib, cracked two others, and I probably would have two black eyes. At least I'd managed to protect the family jewels.

"You stupid idiot," Heather kept yelling over and over while trying her best to clean me up. My two children looked on in amazement asking what happened to their daddy.

"He could have killed you! What on God's green earth were you thinking, getting into a fight with Brian of all people?"

"No one disrespects, slaps, or hits my wife and gets away with it."

Heather stopped, looked at me, and I saw a tiny smile.

"It was a long time ago."

"But I never knew." She went quite at that point and between us a new bond was formed. I told Robert and Amy to go get ready for bed.

"Well, now that I've got that out of the way, we're definitely going to have to work on your oral skills. You still give a horseshit blow job, and if you expect me to learn what pushes you over the edge, you're going to have to meet me half way."

That was the last time I ever heard the name Brian mentioned. And he was wrong on more than one point. Heather gives a mean blowjob, and I'm peeling her off the ceiling at least ninety-five percent of the time.

All right, no ones perfect!