The Play Ch. 02

In the previous chapter, I explained how a play had led to my wife Jess and I separating. This is the next chapter.

*

My eldest son phoned me and asked what the fuck was going on. All his mates were watching his mother getting screwed on U Tube! I also checked the social networking sites and discovered that someone had put a short video from the final act of our little play out there. It was asking the question 'Well did she or didn't she?' It starred Jessica, Gerry and of course me as the stupid cuckold husband. Thankfully, my back was to the camera, so I was not easy to identify, but anyone who knew the situation would know it was me. I didn't know whether to be angry or not, I really didn't care how embarrassing it was for Jess, that was her problem.

The number of hits already reached 20K and it was proving to be very popular. With nothing else to do, I went for a walk and returned to the web later and checked how her performance was being rated. It must have been a slow day or something as the number of hits went viral and the comments were split. The local bookmakers were taking bets on whether she had fucked him or not. With the background of a local amateur dramatic play and her position as a deputy head teacher, guaranteed a lot of local interest.

Jess was still bombarding me with emails and as my phone was switched off, that was her only means of trying to communicate with me. I bought a pay as you go phone and decided to use that. I knew all the phone numbers of those people I needed to contact and set them a text informing them of how to get in touch. No sooner had I sent that out and it started ringing. Most of them wanted to know if she had actually done it or was I aware of the video flying around the web? Those I deleted without response. I thought, you sure find out very quickly who your friends are when the shit hits the fan. My true friends, I acknowledged their expressions of concern and one in particular from my best friend, Jimmy asked if I wanted some company and offering me a bed for as long as I needed. He obviously knew that I had left her. I told him I was good for the moment, but would be in touch if the need arose.

The next morning I went into work and my work colleagues were either too embarrassed to say anything or smirking as I passed them en-route to see my boss. I didn't need to explain the situation, it was common knowledge and my boss offered me sympathy and also authorised a couple of weeks compassionate leave, without pay. Generous to a fault was my boss. I told him I would take the two weeks as my annual holiday and left. I didn't care if he approved it or not. With my skills I would find another job fairly quickly. As I left the building I was confronted by reporters from the local TV and Radio stations. They were pressing me for an interview about my marriage and I kept to the 'no comment' statement.

Next stop was my lawyer (James Patterson) and I explained the situation. He advised me to talk to Jess and hear what she had to say, but I told him that I was not ready for that yet!

James also said, "You do not know for certain that she had sex with Gerry. You have valid grounds for suspicion, but until you sit down with her and thrash it out, you'll never know for sure! What if she never actually had intercourse with him? How would you react to that?"

He gave me a moment to think on that then said, "You realise that the media has gotten hold of your story now and it will probably get worse before it gets better. In the dog days for news during the Parliamentary Summer recess the media are desperate for a juicy story to boost their circulation and this one is tailor made for them. It has all the right ingredients, sex, a beautiful woman, a cuckold husband and most importantly, nobody confirming or denying what actually happened! They will run with this until something breaks. You want to consider whether you wish to issue a statement not."

I told him that I would not be saying anything to the press, I gave him my new phone number and email address before I left. I also authorised him to proceed with the divorce, if not for adultery, then irreconcilable differences.

With the caravan once more hooked up to my car, I pulled out of the park and went on holiday! I just drove and when I was tired I stopped at the nearest touring caravan site. I kept up with the news via the internet and our story was gradually losing its appeal. I had received several emails from one of the larger tabloid newspapers offering me first of all £5K then £10K if would sell them my story. I refused.

There was an interview with Gerry published by the same paper and I was gratified to read that he had refused to confirm or deny whether he and Jess had sex that night. His only quote about the affair was to say, "A gentleman never discloses any details of an intimate moment."

I thought that was fair enough until it struck me, he had added more combustible material to the fire. After all, there's no such thing as bad publicity in his profession and by keeping quiet about whether or not they screwed, he was keeping his name on the gossip columnists lists.

That interview was on the Thursday of my first week on holiday and I was still no nearer being ready to talk to my wife. At Friday lunchtime I received an a call from James telling me to tune into Channel 2 and watch the programme. Jess was scheduled to appear and talk about 'that play' and the aftermath. The programme was a woman's talk show and I found a corner seat in the site entertainment centre where I could watch the show in anonymity. The show was hosted by Sheena Eaton, a famous or sometime famous celebrity now past her first youth and she went through the usual preamble before finally cutting to the chase and reminded everyone about the background to her first guests leap to fame an subsequent notoriety. The, did she or didn't she question would be answered today by the woman in question and introduced Jess.

She was dressed very conservatively, almost dowdily I thought. Before she even asked the first question, she paused and the video clip taken from the wings was played once more. I cringed at the sight and when it was finished, the camera focussed on Jess. She had tears in her eyes and quickly brushed them away. She looked defiantly at Sheena and waited for the inevitable question.

Sheena was very sympathetic and asked Jess to explain from her point of view what had transpired that evening. Jess related the facts fully and frankly without embellishment. Sheena then asked about the underwear, did they actually remove the underwear they were wearing? Jess confessed they did, but only for the sake of the play and she was at a loss to explain why the prop underwear was missing.

One of the customers at the bar said loudly, "Why are we watching that slut trying to justify her cheating on her husband? She's a cheating whore and she deserves to be castrated!"

I said nothing but continued to watch the TV. Sheena then asked, "Are you denying that intercourse took place on stage that night?"

"Yes!" Jess said empathically. "I did not have sex with Gerry that night or any other for that matter."

Sheena persisted, "Are you telling us then that no contact of a sexual nature took place?"

"No!" Jess replied then continued, "In the context of the Play, there was a lot of sexual contact, touching and kissing and so on. Look, one cannot simulate making love without some contact and the fact that we were both naked meant that such contact was unavoidable, but no actual penetration took place, if that answers your question?"

"Did he bring you to orgasm or were you really faking it?"

Now the questions were starting to get down to the nub of the matter and I watched intently as the camera panned onto my wife's face once more. She looked agitated but, before she could answer, Sheena said, "We are taking a break at this point, we'll be right back in a few moments to hear what Jessica has to say in reply!"

The loudmouth at the bar was spouting off once more and the barman had to tell him to put a sock in it or he was going to throw him out. He looked over at me and I watched the recognition dawn on him. He came over and said, "Shit man, I'm sorry about loudmouth, but he is in the midst of a pretty bad divorce action himself. You've got some hard decisions to make and soon, haven't you?"

I nodded and said, "I guess how she answers the next few questions will determine how I move on from here."

He left me as the show restarted after the commercial break and I watched as how effortlessly Sheena restarted the conversation with Jess and reiterated her question. Jess must have had time to consider her response during the break as she was more composed as she admitted that she had been close to orgasm during the scene, but she added, "I think I may have had some sort of peak towards the end, but even in the heat of action some part of me was aware that my husband was standing there in the wings watching me and that simple fact stymied my selfish desires."

"What about Gerry, did he ejaculate? Or was it just an act as well!" Sheena demanded.

Now that was a good question and one that I wanted the answer to as well.

Jess hung her head down and started to sob a little. Then, as if suddenly she came to a decision and lifted her head up, teary eyed and looking right into the camera said, "Yes. Yes he did."

She paused and still looking directly at the camera, said, "I can see why my husband refuses to believe me and I want to take this opportunity to plead with him to come home and talk with me. He is the love of my life and I wish I had never persuaded him to do that play! I can't deny that I was attracted to Gerry, he is young, fit and very handsome. You tell me what woman wouldn't be tempted especially in a situation like I found myself in, but I want to stop all the speculation regarding this and plead with him to come home. If you're watching this Tom, please don't give up on us without trying to fight for us and our marriage!"

The barman came over and stood beside me and said, "Well did you get your answers?"

When I simply nodded in response, he went on, "I have been married and divorced and can tell you this, if you divorce that woman, it will be the biggest mistake of your life! Do you have any idea just how hard it must have been for her to go on TV and face up to her mistakes? She's fighting for her marriage and in the final analysis she must love you very much to bare her soul in front of millions of people. Sure she made mistakes, but so did you. You know better than I, what opportunities, if any, you had to prevent what happened or nearly happened. She's right in one respect, it's make up your mind time, whether it's fight or flee, but I wouldn't wait too long, she's a fine looking woman and the hounds will be out sniffing around very soon."

His insight matched my own and the next morning I started for home. I dropped the van off at the storage park and drove home not knowing what to expect. I had my phone switched on, but in the twelve hours it took me to drive home, it never once rang. I thought about ringing to let her know that I was on my way home, but was too nervous to try. After her little speech on the TV show I was fairly confident that she wanted to at least try and make our marriage work but to my dismay, when I turned into our street, a strange car was parked on my drive!

The house was in darkness and I didn't recognise the car parked there, so I immediately for some reason I couldn't identify, decided to drive straight on and park round the corner. I walked back and stood under the tree opposite our front door. I waited quite a long time, it was after midnight and the car was still parked in my drive. I decided to move things along and pulled out me mobile and rang my home number. It took a few rings before a rather testy Jess answered, "Yes! This is Jess and if you are a reporter please go away I have said all I'm going to say to the media."

"Hi Jess, you said you wanted me to get in touch, so here I am. When would you like to get together and talk?" I responded.

"Alan! " she practically screamed, so loud that he had to take the phone from his ear before she burst his eardrum!

"Where are you? When can you get back here?" she asked rather anxiously I thought.

"I can be with you in ten minutes and I'm really looking forward to trying to sort out this mess." I replied with more than a little mischief in my voice.

"Ten minutes...?" I could hear the scramble taking place in the background and watched as the bedroom light suddenly illuminated the drive.

"Alan, please, I'm half asleep here and not really in no fit state to talk about us right at this moment. Why don't you park up tonight and come over in the morning and we'll talk then? I'll be more receptive then than I am at the moment. I want the chance to tidy up and put my face on before we meet after this time apart. I want you to see me as if for the first time, so better you come over in the morning." She said pleadingly.

Oh no you don't, you don't get off that easily I thought.

"Jess, I've seen you without makeup before and my memory's still pretty good. I can remember exactly what you looked like the first time we met, so I don't need any reminders. No! I'm nearly home now and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight with the woman I love!"

Changing position, I moved up the drive until I was standing just to the side of the front door just as the hall light came on! Then the front door opened and out stepped a man, still trying to fasten his trousers. Behind him was Jess, dressed in just a robe and clearly naked beneath it!

She was trying to push him out the door and I still couldn't recognise him until he turned and faced the front, then I saw that it was Leo Bertram! Leo, of all people, he was the last one I thought she might hook up with.

He looked up and saw me waiting at the door waiting for him and he had the cheek to grin at me! Instinctively, I hit him as hard as I could with my right hand into his solar plexus and as his head and shoulders came down, I brought my knee up to meet his chin. The crack as his head hit the door frame was loud enough to hear in the next county, or so it sounded to me. Jess let out a scream and jumped at me to ward me off her lover. I simply pushed her to one side and entered my home and went into the lounge and sat down in my favourite chair. I noticed that Jess's clothing was laying scattered over the floor and furniture as I waited for her to return. I could hear her helping him up and whispering for him to get the hell out of Dodge before I reconsidered my actions and decided my retribution had been insufficient. I heard his car start up and reverse off our drive and down the street.

The front door closed quietly and Jess entered the room. Jess had fastened her robe, but her breast swayed unrestricted as she walked towards me. She was composed, a fact that I found surprising, I had expected tears and expressions of regret.

She stood in front of me and said, "Well, now you finally have caught me out. I guess the next move is yours! I will just say this, I still love you and wish to remain your wife. I realise my actions may be unforgivable, Leo has been my lover for some time now. He was just a distraction to bring a little spice into my life. Sex between us over the last few years, well up until we started with this play, has been less than brilliant. The play was a catalyst that reignited our passions. Jealousy seems to get you aroused and our love making since we began, has been marvellous."

Jess hesitated then and so did I. Part of me wanted to explode and call her of all sorts of names, but another part of me had to know the full extent of her betrayal.

"I love you or more accurately now, loved you! I don't know if that's enough anymore. I trusted you and now find that you have had a lover for years! Now I need to understand why? Before that though, I need you to tell me the truth about Gerry!" I demanded.

"OK the truth and nothing but the truth about Gerry and me." She paused to gather her thoughts and started, "but first I need to give you the background and that involves Leo."

Another pause while she looked to me for assent and began, "Leo and I were attracted to one another right from when we first joined the Dramatic Society. Attracted but never did anything about it, I promise you that. You and I were going through a rough patch and you were working all that overtime as well. I felt that was missing out and you were neglecting me when he made his move. I guess I was easy pickings for him. When he made the approach to get more intimate at last summer's barbecue I didn't turn him down. Since then, we have got together about once a month but only when you were out of town. I stopped seeing him when we started rehearsals as he was getting too demanding and wanted to start meeting at least once a week. I told him that was he was getting too serious about what was essentially a friends with benefits liaison "

"What the hell does that mean? Friends with benefits, you need to explain that one to me?" I thundered.

She shrank away from me, so loud and threatening was my demand and said firmly, "I'm sorry my love, but Leo has a bigger cock than you and he knows just how to use it too. You had been neglecting me and I was tempted to try something new, so I did and I found that I enjoyed it! It had to be when you were out of town, because after being with Leo, even you would have spotted the difference I felt so loose and used after a session with him, that there was no way that I could have kept it concealed from you if you had been at home. But as I said, he was becoming too demanding! He wanted me to be his personal slut. He even threatened to tell you all about us, but I thought he was bluffing. Now I wonder if the whole idea behind the play was just a set up to expose me for the slut I am!"

My head was spinning from these revelations, just who the fuck was I talking to? My wife that I loved and trusted implicitly was not this woman! A wife in whom I thought I had the partner for life was sitting there calmly confessing that she had cheated on me without any sign of remorse at all. But her last sentence begged the question, "What do mean just a set up?"

"When I told Leo we were finished and that I didn't wish to continue seeing him. I wanted to try and get us back on track once more and had decided that acting the slut was not going to achieve anything, he was pretty angry. It was only a few days later that he came up with the idea for this play."

Jess must have read the doubt in my eyes and continued quickly before I could interrupt, "Think about it Alan. I tell him it's over and he dreams up a play that puts me in a situation that throws me into another man's arms! He knew that I am susceptible in certain situations and made sure that Gerry got to take more and more liberties with me as the rehearsals progressed. In reality, he set me up to cheat on you and very publicly too!"

"What possible motive would Leo have for pushing you at another man?"

I was very sceptical about her accusation. Surely, a lover rejected would want to try and win her back, not push her into another affair?

"He wants to humiliate you! He's insanely jealous of you. Can't you see, you're everything he's not. Your successful in business and have many friends in high places in town. You also have me! He resents your innate superiority to him and wants to strike back at what he sees as your life of privilege that he cannot ever hope to achieve. By publicly humiliating you and embarrassing me in front of our friends and family, he gets even with us both!"

She never gave me a second to digest that fact before she continued, "Remember that dinner we had some weeks ago? You must remember it, it was the one where Leo, Gerry, Sonja and Jason were all at our house that evening. You went into the kitchen to get another bottle of wine and re-entered the room just as Leo was saying fat, bald and pussy......"