A Birthday Surprise Ch. 01

"Excuse me. Where do you think I spent the last 15 minutes bitch," I said to myself. It took all of my efforts not to yell, and I probably should have, now that I think about it, but I didn't. I got up, went to the bathroom, washed my face, and went back to bed.

I didn't sleep all night. "If she didn't wear any of those outfits tonight, what was she saving them for?" I asked myself. "Could she be cheating on me? No way that, Irene would ever do that to me, but what about the lingerie?"

Sunday sucked. I no longer was in that jovial mood any longer, and everyone sensed it from the moment that I came downstairs. I drank my coffee in silence, and turned down any request for breakfast. Irene reminded me that she was leaving at 1:00 and should be back by 4:00. I mumbled something and just kept reading the Sunday paper.

When she left, I grabbed the kids and said, "let's get the heck out of here and go to the mall." That brightened up their spirits, as there was no reason to take it out on them. We were just getting ready to leave, when I went into Irene's closet to check on my "supposed" birthday gifts. Damn. Two of them were gone. The purple and black ones were missing. "Maybe, she returned them," I thought to myself. "But, why not all three?"

Irene was already home cooking supper when we got back after 5:00. The kids told her about going to the movies at the mall and how I had bought them each a new outfit, and they showed her the bags before they ran upstairs. Dinner was quiet and the evening was even worse. I avoided Irene, because I probably would have yelled, "What the hell is going on?" and I wasn't ready for what I might hear. So we just went to bed.

I was up and gone before anyone came downstairs on Monday morning. I don't even remember the drive to work, or most of the morning. I returned everyone's greetings with a weak smile as I stayed in my office. By 10:00, I'd put out two fires when one of my vendors called to say he was going to be three days late on his delivery. I proceeded to chew him up and spit him out, and with my door wide open, everyone heard. By 2:00, I'd gotten into it, with two more vendors, on deliveries and pricing, when Carol stepped into my office.

"What the hell is wrong with you Jim? If you don't stop, we will have no vendors left, and you and I will be out of jobs. I can't afford to be unemployed. Can you?" she asked me. "Hell. I thought you'd be on cloud nine after the weekend you probably had," she snickered.

"Let's just drop it. Ok?" I replied.

"Looks like the weekend wasn't as great as someone thought it was going to be," Carol said with a concerned look on her face. "And with the way you've been acting all day, I can probably assume it sucked."

I thought for a moment, and then said, "what the hell. I never saw one of those outfits all weekend," "And all I got was a quickie Saturday night. To top it all off, Irene took off on Sunday for a bunch of hours and took along two of the three outfits. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was having an affair."

Carol just stood there with her mouth open. "Jim. Think about it. Irene would never cheat on you. She loves you."

"That's what I thought too, until these last few months, and now, I'm not so sure. She's got time for everyone else, but me, and I'm sick of it. I'm going to watch her like a hawk and get to the bottom of it starting this week," I told Carol.

"Well, just don't do anything stupid; without any facts. All right?" she asked me. "Have you thought of talking to her about it? Maybe there is a logical explanation," she stated.

"Yeah right, Carol. I can just see me saying, "Irene, are you having an affair or screwing someone else?" That would go over real well. Even if she was having one, she deny it anyway," I told Carol. "I'll just watch her and if I catch her, I'll put her to the curb. Life is too short to go on the way we've been living these past last six months. And I'll watch my temper from now on; I need this job as much as you do. So let's get back to work."

For once I was glad to be at work, because my home life was tense. We were back to walking on eggshells around each other and the kids noticed the change.

"What's wrong with dad?" they asked their mother on Thursday night. "He stopped making breakfast and isn't even here when we get up anymore. I liked having breakfast as a family in the morning," Terri told her.

Irene had also noticed the change; from the jovial Jim to 'Attila the Hun,' but wasn't sure why. She was just getting used to the "new" Jim, when he vanished over the weekend. Maybe, if she'd been a little nicer to him, maybe they would reconnect again. Lately she'd been getting her sexual releases elsewhere, and had been neglecting Jim too much. After Sunday, she'd make it a point to take matters in hand, and put things back to the way they were or should be.

Saturday night Irene reminded me that she was helping Lisa for a couple of hours again, on Sunday, and that wouldn't it be fun to Bar-BQ steaks when she got back. I mumbled something about picking up steaks and that I would have everything done by the time she got back. "By the way, what are you helping Lisa with anyway?" I asked.

"Just some stuff with her new business that's all," she explained. "She just started it, and I wanted to give her a hand, until she got established," Irene told me.

I nodded in agreement, and said that I was going upstairs to change. When I passed by Irene's closet, I decided to look in. "What the hell?" There were now, two new outfits, besides the red one in the bag. I wanted to grab the bag and throw it on the kitchen table and ask what was going on, but I had another plan. Calling my mom, I asked if she could watch the kids for a few hours. In that way, I could see for myself what was going on, if anything.

Saturday night, I wanted to shake Irene and ask her if she had any idea what she was doing. I wanted to tell her that if she was messing around, our marriage was over. You know how, when you get so pissed that you just want to scream? Well, that's how I felt all the time. But instead of screaming, I started drinking. Three beers at dinner, and a few more after, and by the time I hit the bedroom, I was in no condition to do anything.

Irene smiled at me, and asked if I wanted to fool around. I just looked at her, and told her I didn't need her pity sex, and went to sleep.

I woke up twice, and thought for a moment that I heard her sobbing, but I just went back to sleep. Breakfast was tense, and after the kids were finished and outside, Irene spoke up.

"Jim I know we haven't been that close lately, but your comment last night was uncalled for," she began. "I never give you pity sex. I always enjoy sex with you," she told me.

Not wanting to get into it at that moment, I told her that I was taking the kids over to visit their grandparents and that later tonight I would talk to her about it. I kissed her on the cheek, and said that I would see her when she got back. Then I went out to get the kids.

After dropping off the kids, I waited in my car unseen for Lisa and Irene well hidden down the block. When they passed my car, I pulled in right behind them, about five car lengths behind. I felt like some type of bastard in tailing my own wife, but I needed to find out what the hell was going on.

The two of them drove out of town and pulled into a Best Western just off the turnpike. I watched them get out of their car, check in, and then go into rooms 108 and 109. Soon afterwards, a car with two other women came, and also went into room 109. Maybe Irene was telling the truth. Maybe she and the others were just helping Lisa with her books and such.

I was just about to leave, when two cars full of men pulled up. About six guys knocked on 108 and Lisa let them in. "What the hell kind of business was Lisa running anyway?" I said to myself as I slowly walked up to the room.

I could hear music playing, as another car pulled up. Three guys got out and walked up to the door and knocked. A guy opened the door and yelled out to hurry up, as the show was about to begin. I walked into the room with them and stood behind one of the guys. All of the furniture was pushed to one side of the room as Lisa emerged from the adjoining room.

"Remember guys. Cash only, and no credit cards," Lisa explained. "You are bidding on the outfit and not the girl, that is unless the two of you work something else out," she said with a laugh. "Each girl has two outfits, so if you're outbid on the first, you'll have a second chance. With that, let's get this show on the road," she said as a tall blonde came out with the sheerest piece of lingerie I'd ever seen. It left nothing to the imagination, and she had one of the best bodies I had ever seen.

The bidding started at $25 and soon got up to $200, and finally topped $300. The lucky bidder and the model went to the other room and about 5 minutes later he came back with a big smile on his face. I asked the guy next to me, "what happens in the other room?"

"Whatever the girl will let happen," he told me. "I've heard stories of blow-jobs and fucking orgies after all the bidding is done, but this is my first time here so I can't be certain. However, I brought lots of money with me," he said while showing me his wad of cash.

The second girl, a short brunette, with small tits, came out with a floor-length see-through robe. "Hey guys," she started. "Wouldn't you like to see your woman in something like this?" she asked as she opened it to expose her great body, "or out of it?" she said with a smile while twisting her nipples and rubbing her pussy.

The crowd went wild, as the bidding went over $350 and topped out at $375. The guy next to me had the winning bid and rushed over to the girl. She led him into the next room and he came back about ten minutes later. As he sat next to me, I asked him what he got. "For an extra $75.00, I got to feel her up and she gave me a blow job. If I would have had an extra $50.00, I could have fucked her. Oh well. Maybe next time."

Lisa came in from the other room again. "All right guys. The next model needs no introduction, so lets put your hands together for Carry." The crowd erupted and everyone stood up. I couldn't see, but heard a lot of hooting and whistling. Standing up I saw what the commotion was about.

There stood Irene, in the red outfit, I had found in the closet last week. With her nipples sticking out, everything was there for the world to see. Then it caught my eye. Her pussy was bare. She'd shaved. She was now walking around, twisting her nipples, and asking the guys how they'd like to see their girl in an outfit like this. With my cell phone, I took two pictures and a 10 second movie of what was going on. I hadn't seen Irene look that hot for me in years. She tossed her shoulder length, brown, hair from side to side, as she teased the men while caressing her body as they cheered.

I wiped a small tear from my eye, as I watched the bids go from $100 to $250 and then to $400. When the bidding looked like it was over, I spoke up.

"Two cents," I yelled over the crowd.

"Hey buddy," someone spoke up. "The bid is $400. What's this crap about two cents?" he asked.

I stepped forward and Irene saw me. "That's all my marriage is worth right now," I said and walked out.

There was a lot of commotion, as Irene tried to get to me, but the guy who had bid $400 grabbed her arm. "Come on babes, I have an outfit to take off of you," he told her.

From what I heard later, I was in my car, and long gone before it all settled down. My cell phone never stopped ringing, so I just turned it off. When I pulled up to my parent's house, my mom came out with a concerned look on her face.

"Irene's trying to get a hold of you, and she sounds really upset. Do you know what's going on, son?"

I told her that we were having problems and asked her to watch the kids until Irene got home. "Where are you going Jim?" she asked.

"Just away for a bit to think," I told her and went home, or what used to be my home. I packed a suitcase and headed out. Where I was going, I wasn't sure sure. At least now I knew why she hadn't been in the mood lately. She was getting all she could handle on Sunday afternoons. How could I have been so stupid?

About an hour out of town I found a small motel and checked in. I went down to the corner store and picked up two six packs and settled in for a long night of drinking. I knew it was going to take at least eight brews to put me under, so I could sleep tonight. Even still, I woke up in a cold sweat three times.

Monday came way too damn early. I turned on my cell and had twenty-two messages from Irene and my parents, I deleted them all. I called Carol at work.

"All right. What the hell did you do yesterday, anyway?" she began. "Irene's been here crying non-stop, while saying that you left her. What gives, boss?" she asked

"Carol, first things first. I'm taking vacation days for today and tomorrow to get a few things straight. Reschedule my meetings until Wednesday, and make sure to call me if anything goes sour. You can reach me on my cell phone," I told her. "Irene and I are done. I caught her cheating on me yesterday, and like I said, I won't put up with it."

"Sorry boss. I guess she was stupider than I thought." Can I do anything for you?"

"Not right now. I need to find a new place to live and a good attorney. Besides that, I'm not really sure at the moment," I told her. I talked to personnel and took Irene's name off my 401K and life insurance policy. I then went to the bank and took 50% of our savings and opened up a new account in my name only. I made sure that she had enough money in the checking account to cover expenses; I still had two kids to worry about. Finally cancelled all our credit cards.

On Tuesday, I met with our corporate lawyer and got two recommendations for attorneys that could handle my divorce, for a reasonable price. I talked to both of them in the afternoon and settled with one, who I arranged to meet on Thursday afternoon. Everything was coming together except my marriage that was now in the trash.