Long Drive Home

"Are you serious?" he said, surprised. Eric paused for a moment wondering if she actually believed what she was spewing.

"Are you saying you didn't give up on us when you were sucking his cock? How about when you were screaming his name as he banged you again and again? Tell me how the hell you could even begin to think that wasn't fucking giving up on us!"

All she could do was cry as she crawled through traffic, trying to get to him as quickly as she could. If she could just see him face-to-face then he'd see the remorse she felt, and then there might be some hope.

He continued bitterly. "I finally got the proof my whore of a wife was cheating on me while I was in Afghanistan. Lucky for both of us I guess. I think I might have killed you and that asshole if I'd found out while I was state-side.

After a few seconds, he sighed. "Amanda this will be our last conversation. If we get disconnected or either one of us gets put on hold, then there won't be another one."

"Eric, please," she pleaded. "We can go to counseling. We can get through this baby, we really can."

He continued. "Listen, there are a few things you need to know before you get home. First, I've cleaned out all of our accounts and maxed out all the credit cards. I figure you've screwed me over for the past three years so I'm returning the favor."

He ignored her gasp.

"You can keep the house since I'm sure I can still smell him in our bed. I packed up the things I wanted; it ended up only fitting in a single suitcase, so the rest is yours. You can keep your SUV, though I'm not sure how you'll pay for it since I'd suspect you'll be fired tomorrow.

"I've sent those pictures to all of your co-workers, family, all of our friends and even our church. Plus, I've submitted them and a bunch of video to several porn sites, along with all your information. I'd suspect that you'll be very popular soon."

"Oh Eric, no," Mandy sobbed, "Why? Why wouldn't you wait until we had talked?"

"I did wait, Mandy," he said calmly, "I waited four months after I got back, but you said nothing. And wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't had been caught, isn't that right, baby?"

What could she say? He was right.

"As for your little boy toy," Eric sneered, "I almost paid him a little visit. But after meeting with his wife a few times, I don't think that it will be necessary. That is one vindictive bitch! You might want to give Sean a little heads up. He'd better run.

"Seems his wife's family has some interesting connections with some very shady people. It wouldn't surprise me if little Sean doesn't get through the year without having an 'accident'. She'll probably come after his little sluts, too. Oh wait! That would include you too, wouldn't it?

"Eric, please, give me the chance to make this up to you, please?"

Mandy's cellphone beeped. Looking at it she recognized the number. "Eric? It's Mrs. Johnson from next door calling--"

"I told you, if you disconnect, we're done." His tone was threatening.

Startled, Mandy replied softly, "Ok, ok baby. I was just concerned that maybe something had happened to Randy."

"Randy's fine," Eric's voice softened. "He's with me right now and he's sound asleep."

She sighed in relief and let the call go to her voice mail.

"Speaking of Sean's wife, Victoria," he said calmly, "while you two went out on your little 'business trip' last week--"

He was interrupted by Mandy's cellphone buzzing again. It was another neighbor calling.

"Sweetheart, it's Mrs. Wilcox. Are you sure Randy's ok?"

"Yes, both Randy and I are perfectly alright," Eric said with an eerie tone that made Mandy begin to panic.

He chuckled. "Now, about Victoria Thompson. She's quite something. While you and that asshole were finally acting like you should've been for the past three years, I was spending two days getting to know his wife....intimately."

Mandy gasped as she felt both the anger and hurt from hearing of her husband's betrayal. Her tears began to flow again.

"I'd like to tell you she's a hell of a lot better in bed than you were, but the truth is that she isn't," he stated. "Between her whining and her bitching about everything she wants and where and when to do it, hell that just took the fun out of it. I'm sure Sean would agree. So congratulations Mandy, you've won the 'best fuck by a slut' award."

"Eric, stop it! Please!" Mandy begged. "Please...just...stop." She began sobbing again.

She slammed her small fists against the steering wheel, screaming profanities at the surrounding cars as they crept forward. Slowly she regained her composure as she wiped away the tears of frustration.

"Alright Eric, she sniffled, "you win. You've got your revenge. You've broken me."

She paused, waiting for him to respond, but only heard silence.

"But I still love you, Eric," she said softly. "There's no excuse for what I did, I know that, but all I'm asking is the chance to make it up to you. I'm begging you please...please let me explain myself. There are some medical issues you should know about. If you ever loved me, please meet with me. Please baby?"

"Medical reasons?" he snorted, "Post-partum depression? Clinical depression? Bi-polarism? Hell, try post-traumatic disorder! In the end it doesn't really matter does it, Mandy? You still went and fucked some other guy.

"How did I find out? It really doesn't matter. Once I did, I hired some people to watch you. They did one hell of a job too, they tapped phones, and planted cameras all over our house, even put one in our bedroom."

"Oh Eric," she cried, "Do you really hate me so much that you could do all of this? Isn't there even the tiniest bit of love left?"

"Well, there was," he replied quietly, "before I watched that video of you and him in our bed. Do you remember that time Mandy, the time that Randy walked in on the two of you?"

Mandy gasped. Oh God no! Please not that!

Eric's voice was strained as he fought to control his emotions. "Image how I felt as I sat there and watched as my two year old son called another man 'dada'. Anything I felt for you died right then as I watched you lift our son into bed with the both of you!

"Damn you, bitch!" Eric voice cracked. "I guess I was lucky that I didn't see that until after we had spent time at Fort Bragg. When I saw that I was shattered. I almost lost it over there and that's a place you can't afford to 'lose it'."

Eric looked down at his laptop and saw that Mandy was almost home. A cruel smile distorted his handsome face as he continued in a chilly tone.

"And as far as hurting you? Amanda, I haven't even started yet. I've still got a few--"

He heard Mandy gasp. "Oh...my...God! " she whispered.

"--surprises left," he finished.

Mandy pulled her SUV over to the side of the road and watched in horror as flames engulfed what had once been their home.

"Like I said, Amanda, the house and everything left inside it is yours."

Mandy began to shake, still not believing her eyes.

"Dammit Eric! What did you do?"

"That's a rhetorical question isn't it?" Eric said with a smirk. "I was trained to build things in combat conditions, Mandy. Wouldn't it make sense, I might know a thing or two about destroying those things too?"

"Where's Randy?" she yelled. "Dammit Eric, where the hell is my son?"

"Our son is sitting about three feet from me asleep in his car seat. So tell me," he said tauntingly, "can you read the message I left on our front yard?"

"What?" she stammered, "What message...oh my God..."

Eric chuckled. "I wasn't sure people would be able to read it from ground level. But the news helicopters, they should enjoy the words 'CHEATING SLUT' burned into the front lawn."

"I wouldn't count on a lot of sympathy from the neighbors," he continued, "I had those pictures posted around the neighborhood and paid some teenage boys to distribute extra copies up and down the block."

He stopped for a few seconds and listened to his wife weep.

"Mandy? You might want to consider," Eric said bitterly, "where you're going to sleep tonight and in the near future. I guess you could sleep in your SUV, until they come and repo it. Or maybe--no, I doubt Sean will be able to help you. I'm sure Victoria is flaying him alive by now. I guess that just leaves your parents." He chuckled, "I wonder how your Dad will feel about having two sluts living under his roof?"

"What?" Mandy whimpered through her sobs.

"Damn Mandy, how stupid are you really? You always told me that you thought your dad had cheated on your mother when he was in the navy. Hell, it was your mother who cheated on him!"

"Mom?" she said her voice shaking.

Eric laughed cruelly. "Oh hell yeah! He told me a little about it after I came home from Iraq. Now why do you think he'd do that Mandy? You think maybe he suspected his little baby girl was cheating on her husband just like her momma had done to him?

"But unlike your father," Eric continued, "I can't live with a slut wife the rest of my life. Maybe he stayed for you or maybe he still loved her, I don't know, that's his decision. Mine is to start again and hopefully find a woman that I can spend the rest of my life with. I'm sure I'll find someone who can love me, be faithful and make a good mother to Randy.

"Please, Eric," Mandy sobbed, "I can be that kind of wife, just give me another chance to show you. And I'm already a good mother to Randy. I'm the only mother he needs!"

"I guess that's something the courts will have to decide, isn't it?" he said calmly. "Of course the fact that I've burned down our house and have effectively bankrupted us probably won't go in my favor."

Eric watched as a young man wearing a jersey and ball cap got out of a cab and stood on the curb looking in his general direction. Eric flashed his headlights twice and the kid began walking towards him.

"Alright Mandy," Eric said calmly looking at his watch, "There's a few things you still need to know and there isn't much more time, so listen very carefully.

"First, that your bosses shouldn't get too excited by my threats. However, Victoria is filing a similar lawsuit and will probably win. I think the courts will really like her and all the evidence that I've given her.

As for me," Eric cleared his throat, "well, I don't like my chances in court, so I've accepted a job overseas. I think Randy and I will like it pretty well."

"No!" Mandy screamed into the phone. "You can't take my baby!"

"Actually, bitch, he's my son and I can."

"No Eric, please!" she begged, "He's my son, too!"

"Amanda," he said calmly, "he won't even remember you after a few years. I don't remember my dad. But don't worry, I'll send pictures of him to you at Christmas and we'll even call on Mother's Day and his birthday. Since we won't know where you'll be, we'll just call your parents."

Mandy wept bitterly as she realized the hopelessness of her situation.

Eric sat for a moment, concerned and somewhat disturbed by his own actions. He knew he had no intentions of sending any pictures or calling her ever again. The thought of her waiting desperately for calls that would never come and reliving this revenge for years to come was crueler than he had previously thought himself capable of.

"Goodbye, cunt," he said coldly. "I hope you rot in Hell."

He wiped a tear from his cheek listening to her hysterical screaming, begging for her son as he hung up.

********

"Captain Black?" the kid in the jersey asked standing in front of him.

"Not anymore," Eric smiled weakly, "I'm just Eric Black. Well, at least for a little bit longer."

The young man grinned and handed him the manila envelope that contained account numbers and passwords to the off-shore bank accounts that his funds had been deposited in, minus of course, certain 'fees'.

"Here are the passports, picture ID's and airline tickets for Marcus Grey and his son Michael Grey," the teen said smiling.

Eric smiled a little more and began placing his old ID's and the two SIM cards from the cell phones into a small metal bucket. With a smirk he took a lighter and melted them into a small puddle of blackened plastic. He then took a small hammer and smashed both cell phones and tossed the remains into the bucket. Satisfied with his handiwork, he threw the entire bucket into a dumpster.

"That felt better than I could have ever imagined," Eric grinned as he handed the hammer and lighter to the man. He quickly took out the keys to the car and handed them over to the kid. "Tell Bob and Ron thanks for the rental," he said softly.

"Who?" the young man asked with a huge smile on his face.

"My apologies," Eric chuckled, "I must have been mistaken."

A few minutes later, Eric was checking his bags at an airline. He couldn't help smiling as he thought about what the next few weeks held for him and his son.

His contract didn't begin until next month so they were going to spend a couple weeks on a secluded beach with an attractive lieutenant he had met while in Afghanistan. They'd only been friends when he'd gotten proof that his wife had been cheating, now Eric was eager to see if there was something more there.

"Mr. Grey?" the man behind the check-in counter said politely, "you and your son have a wonderful flight."

Marcus Grey and his son walked down the concourse and began their new lives.