The Ties That Bind Ch. 01

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A few weeks after my final confrontation with Shelly, I got a call from Lyle. "David, we have a problem. Can you get over to my office this afternoon?"

I shook my head, what now? I agreed and saw myself entering his office door around 3:30 that afternoon. Lyle was a good guy, kind, patient and understanding. He was well over 60 now, tall and still had his hair, although it was now salt and pepper gray. He rose, shook my hand and motioned me to a seat.

Without any preamble he began. "Dave, Shelly won't agree to a divorce. She says she'll fight it. You led me to believe that this was a mutual agreement." Lyle looked at me with a question in his eyes. I sat there, surprised. That Shelly would not agree to a divorce really stunned me; I had supposed she would be ecstatically happy about that. Why the hell was she fighting it? What was she trying to do? Was this another way of making me miserable? I remembered our last conversation and the hatred in her eyes. That could very well be the reason for her intransigence. She wanted me to agonize over this, she wanted to make the whole process as messy as she could.

"David, please keep a clear head. Don't come to any conclusions at this moment. Millie wants you to come over again tonight for dinner. No, no, I don't want to hear any excuses - you'll be there or you'll hear from Millie," Lyle smiled, talking any sting out of his words.

I was at the Cooper's as promised and we enjoyed a pleasant dinner despite the underlying tension concerning my separation from Shelly. After dinner we gathered in the living room when Millie broke the ice.

"David, I have to tell you that I had invited Shelly to have lunch with me here at the house. She was reluctant, but agreed. David, Shelly is a mess. She finally admitted that she loves you still, but she cannot get over your infidelity; it's tearing her apart."

Goddamnit, there it is again. I fought to control my anger and saw Kyle and Millie gazing at me expectantly. "Millie, I swear to you on everything I hold dear, I have NEVER been unfaithful to Shelly in either thought or deed. I loved that woman with every fibre of my being and even the thought of cheating sickens me. I have to believe that Shelly is mentally ill and this is a manifestation of that illness. I think that she needs help," I snapped.

"David, if Shelly needs help then why are you here? Why are you not at home giving her that help as her loving husband?" Millie asked softly.

I sat there, exasperated. "I've tried. I've tried again and again. I did everything that I could to get her to confide in me, to talk to me rationally. Nothing that I said worked. Millie, you would have been shocked at the hatred in her eyes when she accused me. It scared the hell out of me. I've reached the end of my rope, I really have. I just can't handle it anymore." Kyle saw that I was losing it and interrupted. "Okay, David. Relax now. Let me get you a drink, I think that you could use one."

Millie came to me, leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I'm truly sorry, David. I really didn't mean to upset you so. It's just that I'm so sad to see this happening to such good people."

She stood there, pensive for a moment, and then shook her head. "I just don't understand it. There has to be a reason why Shelly is so certain that you were unfaithful. I just couldn't get her to tell me why."

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Two days later I was sitting at my desk in what was now my home when the phone rang. I absently picked up the receiver and was shocked to hear Shelly. This was the first time she had attempted to contact me.

"Hello, David. This is Shelly. I think that we should talk." This was said in a calm voice, almost devoid of any emotion. It was as if she were talking to a stranger.

I almost slammed the phone down, but restrained myself and answered. "I'm not sure what there is to talk about, Shelly. I have tried talking to you too many times to count. What do you want to talk about?" I tried to match her tone, her detachment.

"Why don't you come for dinner on Friday, David. We can sit down, have a nice meal and then have a rational discussion. I have to tell you, I won't agree to any divorce action until you give me the opportunity to explain myself to you. David, I need you to feel what I'm feeling, I need you to understand what I'm going through."

Damn, her voice was flat, it was almost as if she were reading a script that she had prepared . She was obviously keeping a tight grip on her emotions. My curiosity was piqued. What was going on with her? Is it possible there could be a way out of this nightmare? Is it possible we could get through this? Anyway, I thought it was worth a try.

"No dinner, Shelly, but I'll be there around 8 on Friday. We can sit and perhaps this time you can unburden yourself. That is what I had been trying to get you to do without any success. I hope that Friday will be different," I replied cooly. That concluded what I thought a really strange conversation. I really didn't have much hope for any kind of breakthrough on Friday.

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I had a sudden thought. I could tell that Lyle and Millie, while obviously sympathetic and concerned about my emotional well being, still didn't understand how Shelly had changed, how erratic and unreasonable her behavior had become. They hadn't heard the venom in her voice. I had a strong suspicion that the conversation that Shelly and I were going to have would break down into the same bitter recriminations as the last time we "talked." I figured that this time, my dear friends would hear the "new" Shelly.

I know, it was devious, but I didn't care. I acquired a small ,voice activated tape recorder. I threaded the tiny mike up the sleeve of my jacket and into the lapel. There, I was ready, now the Coopers would hear what Shelly had become.

On Friday evening, I threw on a light weight pair of slacks and a black polo shirt. I draped the jacket with the recorder over my shoulders and headed for my ex-home. I knocked on the door, feeling vaguely sad knocking on the door of what had been my home. After a few seconds Shelly opened the door and motioned me in. She was dressed simply in a skirt and blouse, again with minimal makeup, yet it felt that my heart missed a beat. She was absolutely lovely and I realized how much I loved her and how devastated I was that the marriage I had so truly valued was now gone.

I walked through the dining room and draped my jacket over the back of a chair. I moved to the easy chair, but Shelly blocked my move and indicated that she wanted me to sit in a arm chair at the dining room table. I didn't object, this placed me close to my jacket and the recorder.

"David, thank you for coming. I'm sure that this evening will be very productive. It will give me the chance to show you exactly what I've been feeling, but first, let's have a glass of wine. I've already poured. We can at least act like civilized beings," and she handed me a full goblet of red wine.

I just looked at her. Damn, she was being so cool, so calm, so rational. Was she really going to let me in on what was eating at her? I accepted the wine and took a swallow. She sat katty korner from me and made some small talk (yeah, would you believe?) small talk, about work and some amusing events that occurred over the past couple of weeks. I did very little talking, just sipped at the wine and listened and waited for her to get to the point. I felt funny, a little lightheaded and it was difficult concentrating on what she was telling me. I heard her voice fading and I felt the glass fall from my hand and then heard and felt nothing.

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My head hurt and I had a sour taste in my mouth. I tried to put a hand to my head but found that I couldn't move. With an effort, I opened my eyes and squinted. I looked at the clock on the mantle. Damn, it read 12:10. I remembered talking to Shelly and it was then a little after 8:00. I suddenly was aware that my wrists were tied tightly to the arms of the chair in which I sat, and my ankles were similarly secured. The cords dug into my flesh. My brain function seemed sluggish - what the hell was happening?

I tried to call out, but discovered that my lips were sealed. Some kind of tape covered my mouth. I tried to rock the chair, move it in some way, without success. I was starting to panic, yanking against my bindings, abrading my wrists. Then I saw her as she came into my field of vision. Shelly was dressed in a sheer peignoir, although dressed was not the appropriate description. She was naked under it and the garment did little to hide that fact. My eyes moved from her body to her face. She wore no expression, but her eyes were blazing.

"Now, David." she hissed. " Now, now you will feel what I have been suffering through. Now you will understand how devastating your betrayal is. I am going to commit adultery and you will witness the event. You will experience the pain of seeing your spouse fucking someone other than her husband. You will feel the loss, the destruction of trust, the sorrow that comes with the discovery that your "loved one" is no better than an animal. You cheated and now I will also, not behind your back, but in front of you. You will see and hear how another man enjoys my body. See and hear, David and then maybe, just maybe, you'll understand what I having been feeling."

I tried to scream at her, but could only mumble through the tape. I yanked again at the cords, but to no avail. Shelly smiled at me sadly, patted my head and walked away. I again threw myself against my cords, which dug cruelly into my wrists. I tried to scream at her to stop this insanity, but I was unable to speak and unable to move around much. My eyes then lighted on Shelly's laptop computer, open on the table in front of me. The screen showed the interior of our bedroom and I could see Shelly enter the room and recline on the bed. She smiled in the direction of what I imagined was the camera.

"How's the sound quality, David?" she purred. "It should be fine. Bob and I set this all up so that you wouldn't miss one moment of what is to come." She then opened the garment she was wearing and exposed her breasts. She passed her palms over her nipples. She smiled again and told me how excited she was and how anxious she was to put on a wonderful show for me.

I wasn't capable of coherent thought. It felt as if I was in a nightmare, everything seemed almost surreal. I felt my heart beating in my chest; I knew that my pressure was up. I felt as if my entire world had crashed . I was alone and bereft of all rational thought. My struggles eased and I sat there, trying to comprehend what was happening. I truly believed that I was in shock.

Suddenly my head snapped up. It was if a lightbulb had clicked on in my head. Sonofabitch, she had choreographed this whole scenario. I was living through a nightmare from the erotic story site on the internet. We had laughed about the silly plots and I was now living it. I knew then that Shelly was unbalanced. She was punishing me just like the poor schmucks in those stories. But what she had forgotten was that most of them were innocent of the crime for which they were being punished.

I heard the front door open and then close quickly. I felt someone approach my chair and then felt a hand on my shoulder. As I stretched to see who it was, Bob Fallow came into view. He had a leering grin on his face as he bent close to me. My breathing had become stertorous and he raised his voice a bit so that I would hear him clearly.

His face had contorted into a grimace of hate and malice. "My turn now, Davey," he snarled. " I've put up with you and your holier-than- thou attitude for too many years. I've put up with that bitch of a wife of yours for the same amount of time. She got the job that should have been mine and I've been wiping her ass for too long. Two birds with one stone, Davey," he continued maliciously. "Now I get to fuck her literally. Isn't it sweet, you get to watch. I've spent months slowly convincing her that you were fucking around on her, getting her to this point, and now it's going to pay off big time. The pictures that I showed her finally did the trick. Yeah, I know, they're faked, so what. She believed them. Now you both get fucked,. I'm the one who finally convinced her that you were cheating, but Shelly, baby, came up with you being tied up to watch; now ain't that a blast," and he chuckled evilly.

"Don't even think about revenge, buddy. No one will believe you. I slipped my wife double the amount of the stuff you got and the last she knew is that we were in bed together falling asleep. I've got my alibi and you can't prove shit. Plus, you come after me physically, I'll beat the crap out of you. Just sit and enjoy the show, I sure as hell will." I heard him walk away from me.

"No, No, NO," I screamed, trying to make myself heard. I wriggled and threw myself again and again against the cords binding me. I screamed again and again until I was hoarse. I could feel the cords digging into my wrists and I could also feel blood seeping from the wounds I was creating. Nothing that I could do helped, I was secured too well, I would have to sit and wait. I slumped in the chair, exhausted, in a daze.

I heard voices. My eyes went to the computer screen in front of me. There I saw Shelly in bed, her garment now discarded, reaching for Fallow. He was down to his boxers which he stepped out of and kicked to one side. His cock was erect, pointing at Shelly. He moved to the bed and lay beside her. They both faced the camera and with a grin on his face, he took her hand and placed her fingers around his engorged member. Shelly had her chin on his shoulder and looking directly into the lens of the camera, smiled and slowly stroked him. Her pink tongue slipped between her lips, wetting them.

"See, David. Doesn't Bob have a nice cock. Hmmm, I think that it's quite a bit larger than yours, isn't it?" she asked softly. "Well, I do know that it's thicker, I can feel that, and look how it's leaking. I think that he's really excited, don't you, David? Were your sluts excited when you screwed them, David? Did your cock leak like Bob's?" Her voice had become biting and vindictive.

"I wonder how he tastes, David? Do you mind if I just tasted him a little, honey? After all, I'm sure you tasted some strange pussy, especially when you were away on professional conferences." Her voice was biting and sarcastic. She glared into the camera and moved further down on the bed. I saw her face hover over Fallow's crotch and her tongue flick against the head of his cock. After teasing him a bit, she engulfed his phallus and lowered her head until her nose was buried in his pubic hair.

I couldn't stop myself. The tears came and I sat there and sobbed. I knew that this was something I wouldn't be able to get over, something that would haunt me until the day I died. My marriage was over, my life changed. I vowed not to look at the computer screen again, but I heard them - I heard her comparing Fallow to me and I heard her belittling comments and how much more a man he was and what a wonderful lover he was compared to my feeble efforts. I knew exactly what she was doing. She was mouthing dialogue that was similar to those goddamn internet stories - she was attempting to humiliate and degrade me just as those husbands were degraded.

I heard her squeal when she finally mounted him and buried his prick into her pussy. I heard her tell me how wonderful he felt, so much better then I had ever made her feel. I couldn't help it, I raised my head and saw her riding him. I saw his cock sliding in and out of her pussy. Something on the bed caught my attention. It was a tube of what looked like K-Y Jelly. My eyes strayed back to Shelly. She moved up and down, her movements frenetic, almost manic.

She turned her face to the camera and smiled, but her face was wooden and her eyes seemed blank. "Wow, David. See how I'm being fucked. Did you fuck your whores like this? Did they ride your little weenie? I'm sure that they felt so sorry for you. They should have felt sorry for ME. I was the one that had to make do with your little thing. See, David. Now I have a real man in me. A man with a real cock, not a little spaghetti wand," Shelly then threw her head back and laughed almost hysterically. I couldn't believe that this was the same woman I knew. She had morphed into a total stranger, a stranger that sickened me.

My head dropped to my chest again. Tears still leaked from my eyes and I felt my nose running. I again struggled to free myself with again no success. I was only causing myself harm, the cords digging into my wrists, the blood flowing again. My hands felt as numb as my mind. A roaring filled my head, a self-induced distraction so that I would not have to hear any further conversation from the two screwing in my bed.

I don't know how much time had gone by. I looked up and saw that the clock now read almost 1:30. I was totally exhausted, my breathing labored, my nose clogged by the dried mucus. I heard voices again. I looked at the computer screen and saw Fallow, now dressed, shaking Shelly. She lay there, her face twisted into a paroxysm of....... what? I didn't understand. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Fallow stood there, undecided as what to do. He then turned and left the room. In a few seconds I heard him coming down the stairs and approach. He moved in front of me.

He stood there a moment, looking at me. "Listen, Lannister. I think that there's something wrong with her." He hesitated a moment and then continued. "Look, I'm going to get a knife and cut your left hand free and then I'm splitting. When you get yourself loose, I think you should call someone - a doctor..... or someone Don't try to get me involved in this, Lannister. If you do, I'll destroy her reputation as well as yours. "

His voice was cold , but I could see the fear and uncertainty in his eyes. He turned and went into the kitchen. He returned with a steak knife and cut my left hand free. When the cords came away, blood seeped down my hand. He put the knife on the table in front of me and hurried out the door, not looking back.

It was difficult for me to move. I finally reached out, grabbed the knife and with difficult freed my right hand and then my ankles. I pulled the tape from my mouth quickly, taking some skin with it. I tried to stand, but my legs trembled and I sat again. I finally made it to my feet and unsteadily staggered to the bathroom where I washed my face, hands and wrists and put some salve on the wounds. I wrapped them in gauze bandages and used tape to secure it. I looked in the mirror and almost didn't recognize the face staring back at me. I looked haggard, lines of stress almost distorting my face.

I tried to remember what Fallow said to me - something about Shelly. What was it? Something wrong???? What was he talking about? I limped back into the dining area and again looked at the computer screen. Shelly was now in a fetal position, her body trembling. I gazed at her for long moments, trying to dredge up some kind of emotion. I felt dead inside......no, not dead....... confused, bewildered...... lost. It almost seemed as if I were drifting in a dreamworld. I thought, "I should do something. What should I do?"

I had to sit down. I had to think.

(continued in Ch. 02)