Ruined - Cheaters Ruin Everything

Alexander McMillen (Alex) was so damn happy. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called home to tell his wife that his two day meeting in San Francisco was cancelled and he wouldn't be making his 5:30 pm flight after all. He was on his way back to the office to drop off some paperwork and he would be home in about three hours.

In reality the two day meeting was actually a job interview. He had gotten wind of an opening for divisional president for a national company that had moved one of its divisions into the Chicago area. Everything he knew about Chapelle Electronics indicated that it would be a fantastic company to work for and the division headquarters was located nearby so the commute wouldn't be any longer than he had now. Chapelle is a manufacturer of electronic devices including surveillance equipment as well as other common electronic products. The position matched his credentials perfectly and he had been highly recommended to the company by his own boss and friend, Michael Kraft. Michael had close friendships with several high ranking people at Chapelle and helped hook them up.

Though Michael hated to see Alex leave he realized that he couldn't hold him back and gave him the sparkling recommendation. He was held in such high regard actually that the only reason the interview was scheduled was to follow necessary protocol at Chapelle. The trip had been cancelled because they were going to meet with him in Chicago at the division headquarters instead of at corporate headquarters in San Francisco. The intel from Michael said they were going to offer him the position outright. It came as somewhat of a surprise to Alex, but the company had been tracking him themselves for a few years and out of respect for his boss had not made him an outright offer. They hadn't offered him anything yet but that would be handled when he met with them the next day. Chapelle had given him a range of salaries and benefits that had his head swimming. No matter where it ended up inside of that range he knew it would improve their standard of living dramatically.

If everything went as planned Alex would be starting on the first of the month, three weeks away. When he arrived at the office Michael was waiting for him and congratulated him. There was a huge smile on his face and he told Alex, "If anyone deserves this it's you, congratulations ." Apparently Michael's friends had called him to inform him that the job was Alex's.

Alex said, "Aw come on Michael, they haven't even offered it to me officially yet. Your congratulations will have to wait, but thank you anyway."

Alex was truly moved by the support he had gotten from Michael and told him that Chapelle Electronics had informed him that whoever got the position would need to start on the first of the month. Alex told Michael that if offered he would be taking the spot. Michael said, "I knew this was going to happen so truthfully I have your replacement all picked out already. It is Ann Colton and she is totally qualified to take over for you tomorrow as you well know since you taught her everything she knows."

Alex smiled. Ann had come to work for him two years ago and as Michael had stated she was already totally capable of taking over for him. She had handled the position on a couple of different occasions when he had taken lengthy vacations. He was overjoyed at Michael's choice and very happy for Ann. She deserved the promotion and would do well.

"Take this week to bring Ann up to speed on all of your open projects then take the remaining two weeks to relax. You will be a very busy man once you get over to Chapelle. You are going to wish you had your cushy job here back in short order. Also make sure the benefits package is huge Alex. They know what they are getting in you and they will be willing to pay a lot to have you. Make it everything you could hope for because they will pay it."

When he arrived at his home he noticed his wife's car was not in the garage. He remembered that she was probably still at work and would be home soon. When he walked into the kitchen he dropped his bag on the floor and went to the refrigerator to get a beer.

He glanced into the dining room and saw that his wife had two place settings of their best china and crystal set on the table along with candles, cloth napkins in holders and other romantic decorations. He smiled to himself thinking she was going to have a special dinner for him when he came home from his interviews. He was headed toward their bedroom when he noticed the blinking light on their answering machine; they had two messages.

The first message was the one he had left. The second message set him back on his heels when he heard it. "Hey babe, it is me Larry. I just wanted to tell you that I plan on arriving as scheduled around 6:30 p.m. I can't wait to get my hands on that hot body of yours. Every time I think about the last time we got together I can't get those beautiful tits and hot little pussy of yours out of my head. I am going to fuck you until you beg for mercy and then I am going to fuck you some more. I will see you later baby, get yourself all warmed up for me."

Alex couldn't believe what he had heard. He recognized the voice. The Larry in the message was Larry Evandale one of his wife Jodi's old boyfriends. Larry had dated Jodi in high school but Alex had won her over and married her. He was some big shot lawyer in Texas now and as far as Alex knew he wasn't married. He never had any reason to doubt Jodi's love or fidelity until now. He said under his breath, "That cheating bitch. How can she do this to me?"

Then Alex remembered the dining room table all set up for a romantic dinner and the anger he felt morphed into pure rage. When Jodi's mother had passed away each of her four daughters took two place settings of china, crystal, silverware and napkins with fancy silver napkin holders as a remembrance of her. Jodi cherished those pieces and only used them for very special occasions. He thought, "Well we will see about how special this is from now on."

He walked out into his workshop and picked up a ball peen hammer. Back in the dining room he proceeded to smash all of the china and crystal. He also took the hammer to the silverware and napkin holders, bending and damaging them to the point they probably couldn't be repaired. He tore the napkins in two and laid them on the shattered glassware. Then he took off his wedding ring and flattened it with the hammer and laid it on one of the torn napkins.

Alex took out his cell phone and called his home number. "Jodi it is Alex. Based upon the message I just heard a couple of minutes ago I guess you had a very special dinner planned for tonight with Larry but as you will notice I kind of ruined it for you. But what is that compared to how you have ruined our marriage. I will see you around sometime. Goodbye."

With that done Alex picked up his bag from the kitchen floor and walked out to his car. He drove straight to the O'Hare airport and called to check for inbound flights from DFW in Texas. There were only a couple of flights (United flt 5412 and Delta flt 1253) that would get Larry in town at the times needed to arrive at his home at 6:30 p.m.

Alex called the United Airline and asked to speak with a customer service representative. He said, "Is there a Larry Evandale on United flight number 5412 inbound from DFW?"

No matter how the customer service rep answered Alex figured he would know which flight Larry was on. If she said "No sir, there is no Larry Evandale on that flight" he would know Larry was on Delta flight number 1253. If she said, "Sir, I cannot disclose that information to you" he would know Larry was on the United flight.

As it turned out it was the Delta flight and Alex was waiting near the gate when Larry walked off the plane. He walked up behind Larry and spoke quickly with a venomous voice, "Larry, don't even think of going to my house tonight. If you do, I will track you down and kill you. Your smartest move would be to just get right back on a plane to Texas. Yep, that would be your absolute smartest move."

When Alex had approached him Larry was shocked speechless. He couldn't imagine how Alex would know he was arriving at this time and he couldn't think of a thing to say. But, as Alex walked away he finally came to his senses and called out, "But Alex, it isn't what you think."

It was too late though because Alex had disappeared into the crowd and never heard a word he had spoken. Larry knew Alex from high school and college too and knew he was a major hard ass when he wanted to be. "Fuck it," Larry said, "If I stick around here I could end up getting shot. That pussy isn't worth it." He made his decision very quickly and took out his cell phone and called to cancel the business meeting he had scheduled for the next day then walked up to the nearest service desk and booked the next flight back to Dallas. It was leaving two hours later so Larry walked to a lounge and bought a much needed drink, three or four in fact. By the time he boarded his flight back to Dallas he was pretty well loaded but happy to be alive. He would find some other less risky pussy back in Dallas.

Around 5:30 p.m. Patricia Hunt Davenport (Trish) unlocked the door and walked into the house and into the kitchen. She saw the blinking light on the answering machine and fully expecting a message from Larry she pushed the play button. Instead of a message from Larry it was the message that Alex had left on the machine just before he left. "Jodi it is Alex. Based upon the message I just heard a couple of minutes ago I guess you had a very special dinner planned for tonight with Larry but as you will notice I kind of ruined it for you. But what is that compared to how you have ruined our marriage. I will see you around sometime. Goodbye."

Trish was in shock. How had Alex gotten the message from Larry? He was supposed to be on a plane to San Francisco. She thought, "Oh my god, Alex thinks that Jodi is the one meeting Larry. Oh my gosh. This is awful."

She then noticed the destruction in the dining room and her panic grew. Trish called her own house and Jodi Hunt McMillen, her sister, came on the line. "Oh god Jodi, we have a horrible problem. Alex came home and got the message from Larry. He smashed the china and crystal and destroyed the whole dining room you had set up for me. Put the kids in the car and get on over here. Oh god Jodi, I am so sorry this happened."

As it turns out Trish Davenport is a married woman looking to experience a little romance and extra marital sex with Larry Evandale. Her husband Carl Davenport was out of town on business and Jodi was going to watch over her two children while Trish had her little party with Larry. Trish knew that Carl worked long hours when he was out of town and probably wouldn't call her until 10:00 p.m. or later so she was going to have quite a few hours to be with Larry. Now with Alex aware of what was going on the whole plan was shot to hell.

Jodi arrived with the six month old twins in their car seats about ten minutes after she hung up the phone. They only lived a few blocks apart so all she had to do was pack the kids up and come over.

As soon as Jodi walked in the door Trish noticed the panic in her face. Jodi rushed up to her and said, "Oh god Trish, what am I going to do? How did this happen? Now Alex thinks I am having the affair!"

"This is all my fault Jodi," Trish said, "I have been so depressed since the twins were born and I just wanted to feel alive and sexy again. When Carl told me he had to go out of town I guess something just snapped and I lost touch with reality. I called to see if Larry could come up, oh god, well you know the rest. Oh god Jodi, I can't believe this is happening."

The two young women listened to all three of the phone messages, the first one from Alex, the one from Larry which left no doubt what his intentions were and the final one from Alex. When they listened to the one from Larry they totally understood why Alex had destroyed everything and left the message he did. No names were mentioned and he certainly left no doubt that he intended to have sex with the person he was calling.

The first thing they needed to do though was get to Alex and convince him that it wasn't Jodi having the affair. The two were certain that they could fix this with Alex and beg him to give Trish a chance to repair the damage she had done to her own marriage.

Alex had checked into the Hyatt in Oak Brook. He needed time to think this through and knew he couldn't go back home. There was a nice restaurant and lounge at the Hyatt so even though he wasn't hungry he ate a light dinner and went to the lounge for a drink. After the second drink he knew it would be prudent to take it to his own room. He asked the bartender if he could have a bottle of scotch delivered to his room and was assured that it could be done.

Alex got settled into his room and sat on the sofa with a scotch in hand. He knew that he had let several incoming calls go to his voice mail so he pulled out his cell phone and saw he had three messages. The first was from Trish his sister in law and Jodi's sister.

"Alex, I just got to your house and saw the mess in the dining room and listened to the messages on your answering machine. Oh my god Alex, you have made a mistake and I just don't know what to do. It was me meeting Larry at your house, not Jodi. She was at my house taking care of the twins. Oh god Alex, oh god.

"Alex, call me or call Jodi and we will explain everything to you. Jodi did not cheat on you, it was me. Please call Alex."

The second call was from Jodi and said about the same thing. "Alex honey, there has been a terrible misunderstanding baby. I am so sorry you thought I was cheating on you, it had to be devastating to you, but baby it was set up at our house and Trish was going to meet Larry there while I babysat the twins. Please call me or come home so we can talk. You will see how much I love you and how awful I feel that you were hurt this way."

The third was also from Jodi and she said, "Alex McMillen, this was a horrible mistake and misunderstanding. Come home so we can correct this before you do anything foolish. You know I love you."

Alex pulled his wife's cell phone up from his contacts and sent her a text message. I GOT YOUR MESSAGES AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. I AM STILL GOING TO TAKE A COUPLE OF DAYS TO THINK THIS THROUGH. I WILL CALL YOU TOMORROW NIGHT.

He was still upset but did in fact feel better about the situation. What he didn't understand was why they would set this up at his house. The twins were only six months old and Trish could have had her affair at her own house and no one would have been the wiser.

Even though he understood what they had said in the messages, he was going to do some checking on his own.

A few seconds latter his cell phone beeped letting him know he had a text message. It was from Jodi. ALEX I WANT YOU TO COME HOME. PLEASE DON'T STAY AWAY FROM ME BABY, I NEED YOU HERE, PLEASE!

Alex immediately sent her a return text. NO JODI, I NEED TO SORT THIS ALL OUT. I WILL CALL YOU TOMORROW NIGHT.

He turned off his cell phone and slammed down a couple of more drinks before he finally flopped down on his bed and went to sleep. The next thing he knew the light was streaming in through his windows right into his face. Reluctantly he got up and pulled the drapes to block out the light. It was killing him and he hurt enough already.

Alex looked at the clock on the night stand and saw that it was 8:30 am. He wasn't really in a very good mood but did have to chuckle when he thought how bad it would have been if he had his interview in the morning instead of at 2:00 pm. He knew he was still on a tight schedule so he called home to see if Jodi had left for work or not. She didn't answer the phone so he was sure she had gone to work.

Alex walked out of the hotel room and headed down the elevator to the parking garage. He got into his car and drove to an electronics store where he purchased a few items then drove home. He was thinking as he drove, "Well I will put a few of Chapelle's products to the test here." When he arrived at his house he was relieved that no one was there so he went about gathering some clothes and personal items for the next couple of days and put them in his car.

He took the time to install bugs in the kitchen and bedroom phones and a camera in each of those rooms too. He placed the receiver/recorder/transmitter unit in the basement workshop. Jodi would never notice it there and he would be able to access any data from his laptop or cell phone.

After everything was in place and he was confident it would all work perfectly he showered and got dressed for his interview. He managed to arrive at Chapelle about ten minutes early and waited for his interview.

As he had expected the interview went very well and he was offered the position. The salary and benefit package they presented was unbelievable. They had pretty much given him the right to name his own salary. Who does that? Alex figured they really did want him that badly.

He said, "I accept the position contingent upon a final benefits package agreement between us. The benefits are great and I see no need to alter that at all but the salary needs adjustment."

Joe Sandford, his new boss, looked startled and said, "Alex, the salary we are offering is almost double what you are making now. What more could you possibly need at this time?"

Alex laughed a little and Joe's face started to get a bit red as his anger rose. Alex calmed him by saying, "Joe, I will take less. Give me a $50,000 raise over my previous salary and let's hammer out an incentive program based on the performance of the division that will give me the opportunity to make even more than your offer if I get the job done. In addition to the incentive program I would like a defined bonus if 'all goals' are met. How does that work for you?"

Joe smiled and said, "Michael was right, you are absolutely who we need in this position. You have a deal Alex. Together we will evaluate where we are now and where we would like to be and I am sure the incentives and bonus programs will be approved by the board. We will finalize numbers later if that is okay with you."

With the interview and subsequent meetings out of the way Alex and Joe went out to dinner at Morton's Steak House after which Alex went back to his hotel to think further about his home situation. He was pretty tired so he decided to wait until morning to monitor the surveillance he had put into place before his interview.

When the sun hit his face in the morning Alex got up and got himself ready for the day. He ordered some breakfast to be delivered to his room and set about reviewing the surveillance that had accumulated over the last 24 hours. He listened to a couple of telephone calls that had nothing to do with the situation and then there was a call from Jodi to Larry Evendale.

"Larry, I know that everything got messed up and I am sorry about that. Alex was supposed to be on a flight to San Francisco and unfortunately that trip got cancelled."

Larry said, "But the only flight he was on was in my face when I got off my plane."

"I know that Alex got in your face but what would you have expected him to do anyway?"

"Well babe no piece of ass is worth me getting killed over but I really was looking forward to fucking both of you."

"Larry, we are going to have to forget about the whole thing for now. I know that after Trish went home you and I were going to spend the night together but I have to convince Alex that you were only meeting Trish and not me too."

"Okay, but I will call you the next time I plan on coming to Chicago and see if we can hook up then. Just be careful that Alex McClueless doesn't find out next time."