Who Was That in My Bed? Ch. 03

It was the Thursday after the crazy drunken party at Ben and Sheila's house that Jack realized something was wrong. It had been a lousy party anyway, what with Carl and his damned Everclear.

Jack remembered what Carrie had looked like, though. It was like every time he saw that woman she looked nastier. He looked but knew enough to not even think about trying anything, not after the time Jennifer caught him with that bar maid.

It had taken Jack nearly a month of begging to convince Jen again that he really did love her. He was still making payments on some of the trinkets that he bought for her. He knew damned good and well that if anything ever did happen again he would not only find himself living in a homeless shelter, but he just might find himself with a high pitched voice.

Jennifer had been pissed off about the bar maid incident, that was an understatement. He didn't dare even think of going back to that bar, part of their getting back together had been her insisting on it.

"If I catch you near any of your fucking biker buddies that's it!" She had snarled at him. Jack had nodded meekly and agreed. Jen never really seemed to fit into his club anyway, she only went sometimes because of Jack.

There was no point in mentioning the earlier incident with the very round gal they all called Ralph. She was always perched on the back of the bike of whoever happened to be riding alone and of course Jennifer knew Ralph got passed around.

Of course some rides they all were riding alone, but Ralph was always there.

Jennifer just didn't know about the trip Ralph was perched on the back of Jack's bike and the guys were good about keeping their mouths shut.

Five guys and four women were not exactly the baddest biker gang on the planet, but they had fun on weekends, riding to different clubs in different towns. It was always a kick to watch the locals empty out in short order after they arrived with a roar.

The truth was that they held jobs all week and became bad boys only on the weekends, and the self proclaimed "leader" named Duddly was a stock broker the rest of the time named Tom Harrison.

So Jack had dropped out, even sold his Harley to Duddly who just wrote him a check.

"We will miss you, Jack." Tom told him when Jack had stopped by his office.

"My wife is more important, she just isn't into it." Jack told him.

"Yea, some broads just can't handle the life." Tom grinned, lapsing for a moment into his "Duddly" character.

Jack grinned, glancing at Tom's $500 suit. He shook Tom's hand, stuck the check into his pocket and left.

For about two months after the bar maid incident Jack was being very careful, taking Jennifer dining, dancing and being as attentive as he possibly could. Hell, he even took her to a play which she loved. Jack pretended to love it also, although some heavy set woman up there screaming what was supposed to be music didn't really excite him much.

He did miss his once a week trips to a local massage parlor on his lunch break, though. No point in mentioning that, either. He figured things would cool down and everything would go back to normal.

Then he ran into Ben. He knew him from before, the guy and his wife Sheila lived just down the street. He had noticed Sheila right off, from behind she looked just like his Jennifer.

He and Ben were chatting about his new lawnmower of all things, one thing led to another and Ben asked him over, saying they were going to burn some steaks. When Carl and Carrie showed up, the three couples just blended. For the next several months every weekend was a party somewhere.

Now he realized he had heard not one peep out of either of them for days, and that was not normal at all. Jen never mentioned a word about it, and she had been acting nicer than usual herself. Jack got curious, it was not like Jen to go several days without heading off shopping with Sheila.

"Hear anything from Ben or Sheila?" Jack asked Jennifer.

"No, honey. Maybe she is off on one of her trips?" Jen said, after a moment of hesitation. Then she headed for the kitchen.

Something was up, Jack was sure of that. Jennifer's reaction was not quite right.

He called their house, the phone just rang. That was not too unusual, Sheila was always off somewhere, she had some shitty sales job that meant she was away nearly as much as she was home. So next he called Ben's cell.

Ben picked up instantly, he sounded different but Jack couldn't place that.

Eager, he sounded at first? Then his voice changed like he didn't want to talk. When Jack asked what the plans were for the weekend Ben begged off, saying he wasn't up for anything. Then he hung up before Jack could ask him what the hell was going on.

That evening he mentioned it to Jennifer but she acted like she didn't want to talk about it either?

Jack tried to remember what all had happened. He did remember Carrie, she had on a thin top and a short little pleated skirt, he had noticed that. Carrie was such a tiny little thing and cute, it was tough to not notice her, he had seen her bare bottom and had been trying to see if she wore anything underneath the short skirt.

That damned Everclear! Carrie went down for the count very quickly, then Jack remembered being tired but that was about it except that Ben had mentioned Sheila was due in around Noon the next day and Carl had teased him about not getting laid for nearly a week.

"Maybe I can get Carrie to give you a hand." He had said to Ben with a drunken laugh. They all snickered at that.

"Hell, just tell her you are me, she is so out of it she won't know the difference!" He grinned.

Carl was always making wisecracks like that, nobody took him seriously.

When Jennifer got up and went down the hall to check on Carrie, that was the last thing Jack remembered.

By the weekend, Jack found out from Jennifer that Ben and Sheila had broken up. That floored him, there was just no way. The two of them seemed to be the happiest couple on Earth. Several times he tried to talk to Ben but he just would not discuss anything, and he acted like he didn't want to talk to Jack at all?

+++

"You make more than twice what your husband does, and this is a community property State." The heavy set lawyer told Sheila.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"It means he gets half of everything, and you just might end up paying him." The man said.

"He cheats on me and I have to pay HIM?" She asked, surprised.

"Way it is. At least if he puts up a fight, and he probably will." The man told her flatly.

"Do what you have to do." Sheila said, signing the paperwork.

It was signed, she was divorcing Ben. In the elevator, she had to hold onto the railing to keep herself from falling. Then the tears came.

She wanted desperately for everything to just be what it was like before, but now it couldn't be. Ben had cheated on her, and with her very best friend in the world.

If it had been some slut somewhere, some stranger, maybe she could have dealt with that.

But not with Jennifer, not her! She was her very best friend.

Right at that moment Sheila hated Jennifer.

+++

Back at her office, she had a message to go upstairs. Usually that meant a sales trip, Sheila did not want to go anywhere right at the moment but it was her job. Sighing, she picked up her briefcase and went on up.

"Got a call about the Martin account. They want you to do the demo on the new lines." Her boss Martha said.

"Can't we send staff, it's all easy to handle?" Sheila said.

"They asked for you, there are 30 stores so this is a dandy account. It's in Denver starting Monday, we already arranged the tickets and got you booked through Saturday."

"Saturday? That's a whole week?"

"Yes, they are bringing in their managers from every outlet. Hey, we need you on this one, Sheila." Martha looked at her oddly.

Sheila nodded. The timing could not have been worse. Ben would get the divorce papers, and even though she had refused to talk to him at all for nearly a month, she knew that they would be meeting to talk it all over.

Her heart skipped a beat over the idea of seeing Ben, then she pushed that thought out of her head.

That afternoon she unlocked the door to the house, it was very cold inside. She got that same feeling that something was wrong like she did every day now. Ben used to get home about an hour before she did, he would turn up the heat so it was nice and warm for her when she got there.

Then he met her at the door with a cup of the lemon spice tea she liked. Those were tiny little things he did for her constantly, part of why she loved that man so much.

Sheila went over and turned up the thermostat, standing in front of the main vent until she felt the warm air coming out. Realizing her eyes were damp, she dabbed at them with the back of her hand, then went in to fix something to eat.

She wanted to talk to Ben, hear his voice. She kept reaching for her phone, then putting it down.

+++

"Really?" Carl asked, looking at his wife Carrie. It was only the next Monday afternoon after the party when she told him she had done it, let someone fuck her. She was blunt about it, since by now she knew the way Carl would respond to it.

So she said it just like that.

"I let Ben fuck me at the party, honey." She told him, right out of the clear blue sky. Carl had barely gotten home from work.

He stopped and stared at her.

"Really?" He asked.

She nodded, Carl was suddenly all excited. She grinned at that, knowing what was coming.

"God. You really did it? What was it like, tell me everything!" He reached out and pulled Carrie down into his lap.

Carrie really didn't remember much of any of it, she was in a completely drunken state at the time. She knew in the back of her mind that it wasn't Ben, but she lied anyway.

"He was huge!" She told Carl, nuzzling his neck.

"How big?" Carl asked, his breath quickening.

"It was the biggest one I ever had, and he was very hard, too." Carrie lied. She was sure someone had come into her room, there had been some thrusting but it didn't last long and she had kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut the entire time.

Carl had told her over and over he wanted her to, that he wanted to know what it was like. So when it did start, when she realized that it was not her husband, Carrie had just let it happen.

She just didn't remember much about it, she had gotten nowhere close to any kind of an orgasm but she told him she did to please him.

Carrie began to make up a long story, she described Ben's erection because she had seen his penis that one time at the lake. By then Carl was inside her, panting as he thrust away.

Later she added bits and pieces to the story as they lay there side by side on the bed.

"Next time I want to watch!" Carl panted, his face nuzzling at her breasts.

Carrie had no idea at all how she was going to do that. She wasn't sure that it even was Ben, in fact, by now she was reasonably sure it was Jack.

Finally Carl settled down into soft snores, Carrie lay there staring at the ceiling for a long time. She felt herself being trapped by her own fibs.

+++

Sheila stepped out of the terminal and flagged a taxi. Denver was cold, very cold, she got a cab quickly and was grateful to be inside. The flight had been miserable, a rather heavy set older man sat next to her and insisted on talking the entire trip.

All Sheila wanted to do was get to the hotel and get herself into a hot bath.

Later, she had room service bring up a sandwich and some Cola, then she went to bed. Like so many other hotel rooms, the lights from outside kept the room lit. She tossed and turned, waking up to check the clock, then rolling over and trying to sleep.

The next day at the meeting, she showed the six people how all the different systems worked, by the middle of the afternoon, they all knew it fairly well. She had a computer set up, and one at a time they each went through the setups, and then navigation.

Sheila felt pretty good about it, everyone had shown the basic skills already, this was easy.

The light on the room phone was blinking when she walked in, not really expecting a call she retrieved the message. She recognized James Martin's deep voice instantly.

"Hello, Sheila. If you get a moment free, can you give me a call and let me know how today went? I am in room number 1114."

Sheila felt a little shiver go through her, James was so attractive and had been so nice to her the month before. She had been tickled pink to finally get the account. But she hadn't really thought of him since, with her life now full of sudden problems and hurt.

She picked up the phone and dialed his room, just as it rang it struck her that she was in room number 1120. The man was on the same floor as her, just a half dozen doors down.

"Hi, Sheila." James answered instantly.

"Hello, sir. What can I tell you about today?" She said.

"Please call me James, OK? I just wanted to know how today went, did everyone get it all right?"

"Yes. They all appeared to be know the system, it was fairly easy." It was so easy in fact that Sheila already wondered why James hadn't just put all 30 of his staff in one of the conference rooms, she could have done the whole presentation at once in just one day.

Their conversation was normal, James was polite just like he had been the month before when they had gone out for what she would call a working dinner.

He did ask Sheila if she minded if he sat in on her next presentation, she told him she didn't mind at all. Then later, she took a long hot shower, thinking of Ben. By now he had the papers, so she checked her cell phone to see if he had called.

He hadn't. That was a surprise. Sheila sighed and went to bed.

+++

"I don't know for sure what is up myself. Some kind of shit going on." Jack told Carl and Carrie, reaching for another slice of the pizza the four of them were sharing.

The conversation had been mostly about Ben and Sheila, none of them had seen either one of them for the last few weeks.

"Maybe we do." Carl finally admitted, glancing over at Carrie who flushed slightly.

Jack missed the surprised look on Jennifer's face when Carl told them that Ben had apparently gone into the bedroom with Carrie that night.

"Ben? No way!" Jack said.

"Yea, he did. Carrie and I, we had been talking about...you know...trying new things and we guess Sheila found out."

"New...things?" Jack finally said. It got very quiet after Carl said that, they all had looked at each other in surprise.

"Yea..other people. Sex. It's no big deal, but maybe that was a bad idea?" Carl looked around at the rest of them. Jack appeared interested, Carrie mildly blushed, but Jennifer had a really odd expression on her face. Then the conversation changed to other things, but Carl noticed the Jennifer was very quiet, almost like she was thinking. She kept glancing his way.

"I think they might be up for it, honey." Carl told Carrie that night after they got home.

"What do you mean?" She asked him, already fully aware what he meant.

"You know, swinging? We never have, maybe...?" Carrie was on top of Carl, he was excited, as hard as he ever got.

"So what do you think, should we ask them?" Carl mumbled, just as he let go inside her.

"Sure baby, if that's what you want." She told him, working her hips back and forth trying to please him.

+++

James Martin sat quietly during the 2nd presentation, it went as smoothly as the first one.

"Very good job! I knew you were the right person." He told her after. She was handing out the packets, getting ready to go back to her room.

"Would you like to join me for dinner?" He asked. She was already aware that he was probably going to ask, and she had decided to beg off.

"I..I think I should..." She started to say.

"Well, you do have to eat." He gave her a disarming grin.

"All right. Sure." She answered. He was going to be her biggest account, she didn't want to upset him.

"Great! I will pick you up around seven?"

Sheila nodded.

Dinner was wonderful, the place he took her was very fancy. She was waiting for the conversation to turn more intimate but it didn't. James was just like he had been before, perfectly polite. Mostly he chatted about sales projections, and his plans for marketing the new software lines.

Even later, as they had some wine and danced to a very good little three piece band in the lounge, he still showed no signs of anything more.

Sheila actually was not used to that from men, normally they let her know quickly of their interest. James told her about his son going into the military, about having lost his wife years before. Sheila talked about her work, relating a few humorous incidents she had had happen to her on her trips.

Later, they rode together up the elevator to the 11th floor, and James walked her to her door. It all seemed innocent, just another evening out, mostly business.

"How are things going with your husband? I heard about the seperation." He asked just as they arrived at the 11th floor.

"I..we..We are having some troubles." Sheila answered, surprised that he even knew about it.

"Maybe things will work out." He said.

She didn't answer.

"Thank you for your company." He told her as they got to her door.

"You are welcome, I really enjoyed the evening." She said, turning momentarily towards him.

James leaned forward to kiss her, it really wasn't a surprise. She didn't resist, that was harmless so she just let him. For a moment that is all it was, just a brief kiss, then his arms came around her and she felt herself respond. For several seconds she was lost, then she came to her senses and pulled back. James released her instantly.

"Well. Good night." He turned and walked down the hall towards his own room. Sheila watched him for a moment, then opened the door to her room.

"What in the world was that?" She thought to herself. It hit her that Ben might be upset that she did that, then she remembered that she and Ben were no longer together.

Even thinking that they were apart, it just did not feel right to her. Suddenly she felt terrible, she needed to talk to Ben.

Her cell phone lay on the little desk, she picked it up. There was no call from Ben, right at that moment she wanted there to be one. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the room phone light blinking. She retrieved the message, it was from her boss Martha wanting to know how things were going.

Picking up the cell phone, she punched in Ben's number. She hung up the moment it rang. She sat there for several minutes, then she called again.

"This is Ben, please leave your name and number at the tone." Glancing at the clock, she saw it was 12:30 in the morning. Where in the world was he? Surely not with some woman? There was nothing more she could do, so she went to bed.

+++

"I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you, but you sure as hell need some time off." Ben's boss told him when he walked into the office and gave his notice.

"Family troubles." Ben admitted.

"Yea, well, even if she is having an affair, it ain't the end of the world, you don't have to quit. Why not just take a week or two off, see how things go? I will have a job for you when you are ready."

"Sheila isn't having an affair." Ben told him.

"Oh. Well, crap! You then, huh? Hell, I understand. Sometimes a man needs a little extra just to keep going. But that woman you got, lord!"

Ben didn't answer.

"I mean it, man. Take some time off, come back to work when you are ready. You are my best guy, I would rather do it this way, OK?"

"OK." Ben told him.

"Good lord the problems that a strange piece of ass can cause!" His boss thought, shaking his head after Ben left.

Ben was halfway to the lake when he remembered he had left his cell phone on the bed. He thought of going back to get it, then decided to hell with it. At the lake, he looked out the tiny cabin window at the dock. The little row boat sat there turned upside down. Looking out across the slick water, he could see rings where fish were surfacing for a snack.