A Lesson Learned

This is a true story about real people and events. I know some of the people involved in this story and got the inside scoop from them. The names and places have been changed to protect the guilty as well as the innocent.

There is no sex in this story, suggest you read someone else's work for that. As always constructive criticisms and comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks for reading my work and I hope you enjoy the story.

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Sometimes in life you learn or are taught a lesson and because you weren't paying attention you have to be taught that same lesson again. Hopefully you will learn by the second time. That's what happened to me. Let me explain.

I had just turned 25 as these events took place. At that time I was a personal transportation consultant; that's what my business cards read. Truthfully, I was a car salesman. I only tell you this because it helps explain my mind set at that point in my life.

My name is Jake Steadman and I was a very good salesman, especially if the client was female. At the risk of being immodest I will say that my rugged good looks, my 6foot 1 frame, and athletic body helped in my dealings with my female clients. I was a man's man to borrow a phrase. So I had success selling to men too, but my track record with female clients was something like 75 per cent. My achievements included a better than 50 per cent success rate in selling the ladies on some romantic extracurricular activities. I was very good at getting them into bed, either at home or a motel or even in the back seat of the car I just sold them.

I was outgoing, cocky, and a little brash and felt that my lifestyle of making money, partying, and getting as many women in bed as I could was the only way to fly. One evening before going out to prowl and cruise for young lovelies, two of my friends and I discovered a restaurant called Smugglers Inn. It was sort of a high dollar Red Lobster, specializing in steaks and seafood. The food was better than average but the real draw was the bar/lounge.

The lounge had a great DJ, some discreet booths in the back and bartenders with a heavy hand when pouring my Jack Daniels. We came back at least once a week just for the lounge; it was a target rich environment for young ladies. The third or fourth time I was there, I met Beverly.

Beverly Vitali was a waitress that sometimes worked in the lounge if the dinner trade was slow or if the lounge was very busy. She was a classic Italian beauty with long jet black hair and a body made for driving men crazy. I know I wanted her the first time I met her.

Beverly brought the drinks to the table for my friends and me. She smiled as I tipped her for the service and I took her left hand to look at. "What?" Beverly said with a smile.

"I wanted to see if you were married, I don't like breaking other men's hearts when I take their woman," I responded with a smile of my own.

The smile left her face, she pulled her hand away from me, and went back to the bar with anger in every step. My friends laughed at the apparent rejection by Beverly.

"Looks like you struck out hot shot," Bill taunted me.

"You pissed her off so bad, you'll never get close to her now," offered Tom.

"Oh, ye of little faith," I proclaimed. "Give me two or three weeks and I'll have that young lady at my apartment for a weekend. One month tops," I boasted.

Neither of my friends believed me and started to rag on me. A small wager was made and I put my plan into action. If I won the bet not only would I collect $200 but I would have Beverly as a playmate for awhile. Time for recon, I needed information about Beverly. The next night I waited until my favorite bartender, Sam, took a smoke break and followed him outside.

"Sam, how're doing buddy?" He acknowledged my greeting, we talk a little and I asked, "What's the story on Beverly?"

"Yeah, I saw her stomp away from your table last night. What did you say to her, Jake?"

I described the incident at the table and Sam just shook his head. "You really stepped in it with that line."

Sam gave me the information about Beverly. She was married but separated from her husband Jerry, although not legally and was trying to get a divorce. Jerry had been verbally abusive for over a year and even hit her a couple of times. That's when she left him, took back her maiden name, and moved back in with her parents.

Apparently Jerry was fighting the divorce tooth and nail and doing everything he could to postpone it. Beverly's father and two brothers beat the hell out of Jerry the second time he showed up at the family home. He was smart enough to stay away from there after that.

During that year that Jerry was abusing her, Beverly had meet Joe, an assistant bar manager at the restaurant. He heard Beverly talking about the problems she and her husband were having and hatched a plan to become the man in Beverly's life. Joe began to sympathize with her about her problems and gave her verbal support. He was able to make her believe that he was concerned about her and really cared about her. Beverly was in a vulnerable state and believed his line of bullshit.

According to Sam, the sympathy and support voiced by Joe went a long way with Beverly after the way Jerry had been treating her. She fell for Joe and two months after the separation from her husband, Beverly moved in with Joe. Jerry, her husband, went totally ballistic when he heard about Beverly and Joe and she had to get a restraining order to keep him away from her. He got the point the second time she had him arrested.

As Sam finished his story I said, "No wonder she reacted so badly to what I said. A touchy subject for her, huh? Well I'll just have to smooth that over and see what I can do to make her feel better." I was nothing if not confident; I was also more than a little self-centered. Not once did it cross my mind that maybe Beverly didn't need any more stress in her life. At that point in my life not many other people mattered, whatever I wanted was what was important.

Sam had one more piece of info for me. "Everything isn't all sweetness and light between Beverly and Joe right now. They have been bickering at each other at work. It seems that Joe is spending all of his check and most of Beverly's too. He likes to go out with friends and play the high roller. It must seem like déjà vu all over again; that was part of her problem with Jerry. They had a bit of a blow out last night and Beverly is not a happy camper."

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Normally I didn't date married women. I had an experience that sort of soured me on that idea. About three months before Beverly I met Jackie at a bar and we hit it off. The next night was Saturday and I took her to dinner and dancing afterwards. Later that night we were in her bedroom resting after a romantic interlude (we had just screwed each other's brains out) and there was a knock on her front door. Knock hell, it sounded like someone was trying to beat the door in.

Jackie looked out the window and with a great deal of fear in her voice, "It's my husband and his brother. Oh my god, if he finds you here it will get very ugly."

She had told me that they were legally separated, divorce papers had been filed, and the divorce would be final in another 30 days. That didn't help me now. I slipped on my pants and shoes and told her to let him in but stall for about a minute.

"He won't find me here because I will be gone when you let him in. I'll go out the back and around the side of the house to the front. When you let him in and close the door I'll get to my car and bogie out of here."

When I got to the front of the house I heard Jackie ask him what he wanted. Her husband said he wanted to talk to her and brought his brother to keep things from getting out of hand. Then he asked her to please talk to him in a much softer voice. Jackie opened the door wide and let both men in. As the door closed, I ran to my car and got the hell away from there.

I know, what a coward. Maybe so, but I wouldn't have stood a chance in a fight with her husband and his brother. Plus I had just met Jackie; I mean we weren't in love or anything. Nothing good could have come from me facing her very large, very angry husband.

Two weeks later I saw Jackie sitting at the bar as I came into the tavern. She was sitting next to a guy that had his back to me. As I started toward her, I saw her eyes get really big and she shook her head no. I walked past them and sat at a table. When I ordered a drink I glance at Jackie and the guy she was with; it was her husband.

Jackie made it a point to meet me in the hallway leading to the restrooms. She told me that they were back together, going to counseling and trying to work things out. I wished her good luck and to call me if it didn't work out. Like I would ever put myself in that position again. But then again, sometimes the little head does the thinking and your good intentions get pushed aside.

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Back to my quest to capture Beverly. The next night after talking to Sam, I made it a point to hang around the bar. I was hoping to catch Beverly as she put in drink orders from the dining room. Finally after about an hour she came to the service end of the bar to get an order. She saw me sitting at the bar and made it a point to ignore me. I walked over to her and dropped a twenty on her tray. Beverly looked at the money and up at me with a question in her eyes.

"That's the tip you should have gotten last night if I hadn't been such an ass. I apologize for my behavior. Please forgive me." I finished and walked back to the other end of the bar and ordered another drink from Sam.

Beverly didn't quite know what to make of me and kept looking back over her shoulder as she took her order back to the dining room. Every time she came to put in an order at the bar she would look down the bar at me. Each time she looked at me I would smile and raise my glass in a salute to her. Finally after three or four times, she gave me a little smile in return.

Success I thought. Now she's forgiven me and I can move on. I left shortly after she smiled at me but watched hidden from her view in the entry way. When Beverly came back to the bar, she looked around the lounge for me. I had planted a seed; now to see if I could make the seed grow.

I went back to the lounge every night after that. By the second week of the operation, I had Beverly talking and laughing with me. I didn't pressure her but let my interest in her be known. At the end of that week I asked her out.

"I can't Jake, I'm living with someone," she responded to my invitation.

"Maybe so, but I hear things aren't all that good right now. Let me show you how a lady should be treated."

Beverly smiled and touched my hand but shook her head no. Okay, I thought; I lost that skirmish but the war isn't over yet. I continued to laugh and joke with her for another four days and then fate or gremlins or the devil stepped in.

Joe and Beverly had a big fight at work on Tuesday evening. I heard about it from Sam and made sure to be extra charming whenever I saw her that evening. On Wednesday evening, I asked her out again.

"Hey Bev, I have tickets for the George Thorogood concert on Friday night. Come with me and let me show you a good time." I knew that she had kicked Joe out of their apartment Tuesday evening.

"Maybe that's just what I need right now, a good time. Yeah, I'll go with you Jake. Thanks." She looked happy to have the chance to go let off some steam. "I work a short shift on Friday and get off at six. I'll bring a change of clothes to work. Can you pick me up here at 6:30?'

Not only would I get to be with a beautiful young lady tomorrow night, my date would be paid for by my two buddies. Serves them right for betting against me. The next evening I brought a dozen roses with me for Beverly. I didn't know it when I started to Smuggler's but my great plan was about to go up in flames.

I got to Smuggler's at 5:45 thinking I would have a drink and talk to Sam while I waited for Beverly. As I drove into the parking lot in front of the restaurant I saw a ambulance with the word "Coroner" on the side. There were also at least eight police cars parked in front of the building. Something big was going on, but I had no idea what. Entering the building by a side door I went into the lounge.

Sam was behind the bar talking to a man in a suit, obviously a police detective. I sat at the other end of the bar and Sam brought my usual drink to me.

"What's going on out front Sam? It looks like every cop in the area is out there." Bartenders always know what's going on.

Sam began to babble and tell me why the cops were out front. Joe didn't have a car since Beverly threw him out and his dad drove him to work at 5:00. The car pulled up in front of the employee's entrance and Joe was sitting talking to his father for a few minutes when Jerry walked up to the passenger window.

Apparently Jerry thought that if Joe wasn't around maybe Beverly would come back to him. Or maybe he just wanted revenge on Joe for living with Beverly. Or maybe he was tired of hurting over Beverly and decided that if he couldn't have her neither could Joe. Whatever his reasoning, Jerry walked over to the car, stuck a double barreled 12 gauge shotgun in the window and fired both barrels. He then sat down on the ground next to the car to wait for the police.

Joe was almost cut in half by the shotgun blast and died instantly. His father caught several pellets in his left side but other than being in shock wasn't seriously hurt. He was the one that called the police. The police arrived, arrested Jerry and took Joe's father to the hospital.

Sam told me that after a short investigation they took Beverly down to the police station. She wasn't in trouble, the police just wanted to get the whole story leading up to the homicide. The detective walked over to me, introduced himself and asked me if I knew Jerry or Joe or Beverly. I admitted to knowing Beverly but only because she sometimes waited on me when I came into the lounge. The detective seemed satisfied and went back out to the crime scene.

I left the lounge and started home. On the way I got to thinking that I could have been in Joe's place. If he had gotten to work earlier or stayed home or something, Jerry would have caught me with Beverly. I wasn't Joe but I probably would have been a good substitute in Jerry's mind. I never went back to Smuggler's; it had lost its appeal for me. I never saw Beverly again.

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All of this happened almost 40 years ago. I never dated or chased after a married woman again. Thank God, I began to grow up a little after that near death experience because I was a real bastard at the time. The only married woman I lust after now is my wife. We met and married about 3 years after the events at Smuggler's. Our kids just gave us an island cruise for our 35 wedding anniversary.

I've had to dust off a few over amorous men during the years; my wife was and still is a very good looking woman. The men I discouraged got off easier than the ones my wife handled. She can be a real spitfire when she is angry.

When fate or karma or whatever tries to teach you a lesson take heed the first time. Because if a second time is needed it could bite you in the ass.

It took twice to teach me not to mess around with married women and it could have been deadly for me.

Finally,

A Lesson Learned.

Quote: Life goes on