A Neighborly Affair 003

"That's a lot to handle in one evening. What do you want to do."

"Again, I don't know. I don't think I have assimilated it all yet."

"If you need to talk, you know where I am."

'Thanks, buddy. I will probably be doing that."

&&&&&

I tried to talk to Rose several times about this bet situation, but she always avoided the conversation. I wasn't sure what was going on. She had arranged with Bob to be at their house the following Friday at 7 pm. She didn't tell me much more than that. The secrecy was what bothered me most of all. When Friday afternoon rolled around, I stayed close to the house and watched Rose while trying to be as nonchalant and non-intrusive as possible.

I guess I wasn't too good at it. At about 4 pm, Rose turned around from the kitchen counter, and I leaned against the island with a soda. She looked at me with a twisted smile.

"You aren't dealing with me paying off this bet very well, are you?"

It caught me by surprise, and I must have stammered a bit as I answered.

"I...ugh... well.... "

"Look. I made a bet. We all did. I lost. You have said yourself that if you want to make the wager, be ready to pay the piper. I took the risk. Now I have to see it through."

I finally got my wits about me and put together a reasonably decent reply.

"But this doesn't just affect you. This bet affects both of us. I love you. I don't want to lose you over some silly-ass football game."

She stepped up to me and looked up into my face.

"You silly ass. I love you, too. There is nothing to this. I'll be home in 24 hours, and nothing will be different."

I was skeptical about that. You don't build an almost 40-year relationship on trust and the idea of fidelity and then one day simply decide that a little casual sex with other people isn't going to have some sort of impact on the whole thing.

Several hours later, I was sitting in the den in the dark, trying to sort through my feelings. She came from downstairs wearing a simple blue dress. It was one of my favorites on her. She looked radiant. Her hair and makeup looked like she was going out for a fine dinner that evening. She even had on her CFM heels. I was betting, without looking, that she was wearing some of that sexy lingerie that had been showing up lately. When she spun slowly, making the skirt flare, I saw the seams on the stockings, and there was no doubt.

"You look gorgeous. Sort of makes me think you are looking forward to this."

"I have to admit it is a bit exciting."

I stood up, went to her, gathered her in my arms, and gave her the best and deepest kiss I could manage. She returned the kiss, molding herself to me. We stood that way for several seconds. Then she pulled back, grabbed her large overcoat, and put it on.

"I have to go. I don't want to be late."

I looked at the clock. It was still 15 minutes to 7. The walk was less than two minutes. It would be the first time Rose was early to an appointment since we married.

&&&&&

I spent the rest of the evening wandering alone in the big house. I ate a few leftovers and then sat down and tried to watch a movie. I put on a John Wayne flick but wasn't interested in it. Hah. Like I didn't know the reason.

At about 10 pm, I went up to the bedroom. I got ready for bed, stood, and looked at the big kingsized mattress. It would be my first time sleeping alone in almost five years. I stood and looked at the bed and couldn't bring myself to try and curl up in it alone. I headed back downstairs and got into my recliner. I flicked on the TV remote until I found some inane detective show. I sat in the TV's glow, not paying attention to the show. My thoughts were somewhere across the cul-de-sac.

I woke up early. The clock said 6:30. I groaned as I pushed the footrest on the recliner down. It's a great chair, but nowhere to spend a whole night when you aren't resting comfortably anyway. I stumbled into the kitchen, started a pot of coffee, and looked around, trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. I decided to find something to focus on other than what was happening at #1 Peyton Place.

I stood around in the kitchen until enough coffee had dripped into the pot to fill a cup and went upstairs. I decided to maintain some sense of normalcy to offset my sense that the world had turned upside down. As the first step, I headed to a shave, shower, and some fresh clothes.

It was almost an hour later before I came down to get another cup of coffee. It was just starting to get light outside. The clock told me it was still an hour before much of anything would be open. I refreshed my coffee and sat down at the island. It was beginning to dawn on me how much Rose was a part of my life. I sighed and looked out the window absently.

I sat and drank the rest of the pot of coffee. My doctor would have given me an ass-chewing for that. At this point, I didn't care. I had a whole day alone to fill and not a single fucking clue as to what I was going to do. I picked up the phone and called Barney.

"Morning."

"I sort of expected a call from you this morning. Just not quite this early. Bad night?"

"Yeah."

"You need to find something to keep your mind off this."

"Like what? I spend most of my days at home with Rose. Now I am at home without Rose."

"Ok. Give me about 30 minutes. It's too early to go to the bar. I have another idea. I'll pick you up."

Thirty minutes later, almost to the second, I heard Barney's pickup in the driveway. It's a big Ford F350 that he uses on his job sites. Barney still works. His growing paving business keeps him busy during the week. I went through the garage, pushed the button to lower the door, and climbed into the truck cab.

"So, what do you have in mind?"

"We are going to a job site. The foreman over there called me yesterday. There is a problem with the engineering, and they are stuck. I want to look at the site without anyone there, especially the engineers. Once those pencil necks get their minds fixed on how something should be, it's almost impossible to talk to them.

We chatted about the project as Barney drove. I was a good hour away, and we stopped to get a breakfast burrito and coffee along the way. We eventually came to a large construction project. It was a new strip mall on the far side of town. He drove around the site to a spot on the rear of the buildings. The hillside cutback to provide a more extensive level spot could have been better.

We got out and looked where the foreman was having trouble. It wasn't hard to spot. The hillside had collapsed onto the paved area behind the buildings. Now, the pavement was in ruins. The water coming down the hillside had washed some of it away, undercutting a large portion, and dirt and mud covered an even larger area.

"This is the third time this has happened since we have been on this job. I have tried to convince the engineer on this project that they need to divert the water coming off this hillside somewhere else, or it will always be a problem."

I looked up at the hillside, bare earth since the last rains. Obviously, the people who did the dirt work didn't reshape the hillside or do anything to stabilize the soil."

"You're right. That whole hillside needs a gentler slope, the topsoil put back on, and then the whole thing reseeded with grass to stabilize it."

"That was my thought. You have a good eye. I'm going to call the investor tomorrow and go directly to him. Maybe he can get the engineer to listen to reason."

We headed back to the truck. As we climbed back on board, I looked at Barney.

"You didn't need my opinion to make that decision. YOu have enough dirt experience to know what the problem is. Why did you want me along?"

He looked at me as he started the truck.

"Let's go find some coffee and a place to talk."

We drank cheap coffee at a truckstop cafe on the interstate twenty minutes later. The waitress was a cute little teenager who kept our mugs full and a smile on our faces with her chatter and effervescent personality. She even got me to smile.

"That's the first time you have smiled all morning."

"Yeah. That little girl makes it hard not to."

"You know, you got a lot to smile about."

"Oh yeah. Tell me about it, would you? I'm having a hard time getting my head around what is so fucking good about this."

Barney took a sip of coffee, flicked a coffee ground off the side of his cup, and then looked at me.

"You got a hell of a wife that loves you. You got a home to be proud of. You got friends that care about you. What more could you ask for?"

"I guess I could ask for my wife not to be at my neighbor's getting fucked."

Barney looked at me, and I saw a flash in his eyes.

"You are sitting here moaning because Rose is having some new experiences. I don't guess fucking my wife while I fucked her in the ass was something you do every day. I remember your wife smiling while watching and encouraging you to do it."

My mouth moved as I tried to formulate a reply. Barney didn't give me a chance.

"Come on, Jack. It's not like you haven't participated in all of this yourself. You have had a hundred chances to back out of this whole situation. You could have put a stop to it yourself. If you had said no at any time, Rose would have quit, which would have been the end. Be honest with yourself. You have enjoyed the titillation and the excitement of it. It only became a problem when it was Rose, and it didn't seem to be a problem for her. It's your attitude that is out of whack here. "

I listened, stirring my coffee slowly. I was looking down into the swirling black liquid and felt like it was a black hole that was about to consume me. Barney tapped on the coffee cup with his spoon, breaking my reverie. I looked up at him.

"You're gonna think yourself into doing something stupid. Don't overthink this. Don't let your emotions get the upper hand. You are a levelheaded guy. More than anything, you need to talk this out with Rose. She has some say in this as well. I suspect that you two haven't discussed this to any reasonable degree. Am I right?"

"Yeah. We just never seem to get around to it."

"That's a lot of the problem. Betty and I had some of these same problems several years ago before we moved here. I was traveling a lot, and she was still working. We didn't seem to have much in common anymore, and I suspected a breakup was in the immediate future. Fortunately, some friends also saw it, and they intervened and got us back on track. Maybe Betty and I can help you and Rose get over this bump in the road."

I looked at him, not entirely convinced. He saw the questions in my face.

"Don't say no. You don't have to say yes yet. Wait until Rose comes home. Come to our house for dinner tonight. That way, you don't have to cook. We will see what we can do."

I finally agreed. We headed back to Barney's truck, and he dropped me off at the house. It was still empty. The pool could use a good cleaning even if it were in the middle of January. I spent the rest of the day puttering around the pool and pool deck. At least it kept my mind occupied and my hands busy.

Later that evening, I heard the back door open. I glanced at the clock. It was 7:15 pm. Rose was back on her usual schedule. I was in the den watching The Quiet Man. I paused the video and stood up to see her. I don't know what I was expecting. She was shrugging off her topcoat and smiled when she saw him.

I looked at her and couldn't see anything that had changed. Her makeup and hair were perfect. There wasn't a wrinkle in the beautiful blue dress. I did notice that she wasn't wearing the seamed stockings. She tossed the coat onto one of the stools in the kitchen and turned to me.

I couldn't help myself. Rose melted into my arms, and I kissed her deeply. She felt so good in my arms that I almost forgot about going to Barney and Betty's for dinner. I told her about the plan, and she looked at me like she wasn't too keen.

"Jack. I am exhausted. Couldn't we just find a little something here and then go to bed?"

"Barney and Betty are expecting us and have been getting ready all afternoon."

"Ok. But I don't want to stay late."

&&&&&

We arrived at Barney and Betty's a little after 7:30. They waited and ushered us directly to the dinner table. Betty began putting food on the table, and Rose went to help. Barney looked at me as we fixed a drink.

"Well. How are you?"

"I still don't know. We haven't had a chance to talk yet. We came straight over here after she got home. She doesn't look like anything has happened. She looked just the same."

Barney shrugged.

"Did you expect anything to be different?"

"I guess I did."

"What did you expect?"

"Ugh... I really... I'm not sure."

"Let me take a guess. You expected Rose to come in looking totally fucked out with her eyes wild and cum running down her legs. You were looking for signs that she had experienced a wild and crazy 24 hours of sex and debauchery."

I was shocked but then realized that he had nailed it."

"I guess so."

He nodded.

"If you look at what you thought when you saw her, it was a little disappointing. You didn't see any major changes. You probably haven't noticed any changes in how she looks at or treats you. Dig deep enough, and I think you are a little disappointed, mainly because you wanted to see some of those things."

I was feeling uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. I don't like being wrong, and I certainly don't like seeing any blame I was trying to lay off coming right back on me. Fortunately, the last food was on the table, and the girls called us to dinner.

Dinner was excellent, and the conversation was ordinary. Barney and I talked some more about the problems with his project. Rose perked up and asked what we had done. We told her about the problem.

"I'm glad you got out and spent some time with Barney. You must do that more often and not sit around the house so much."

After dinner, Barney and I moved to the media room. There was nothing on the TV. We refreshed our drinks and stood talking while Betty and Rose cleared the dishes.

"I talked to Betty. She thinks you two must get this out of the open quickly. Are you comfortable with us initiating this kind of conversation?"

"Go for it."

Betty and Rose came in, and we sat down. Some inane conversation followed, and Betty looked at Rose out of the blue.

"How did the 24 hours with Bob and Carol go?"

Rose's eyes flew open at the question. She stuttered a bit before she managed to answer.

"Ugh.. um... it went ok."

"Well. Tell us more. Give us the details, woman. We want to know everything that happened."

Rose was on the spot. I could see how uncomfortable she suddenly was.

"I...I... maybe this isn't a good time."

"Nonsense. We are all interested. Especially Jack, I'm sure. You aren't trying to hide anything from him, are you."

Rose cut her eyes to me. I did my best not to show trepidation on my face while waiting for her reply.

"Of course not. I would never hide anything from Jack. I just... I wouldn't want to violate Bob and Carol's privacy."

Betty didn't miss a beat with a reply to that.

"So, you are telling me that your relationship with Bob and Carol trumps your marriage with Jack. Doesn't he have a right to know what happened the last 24 hours?"

Rose looked around like a rabbit trying to find a path to run.

"NO! Never. I just... I hadn't thought about all that."

Betty leaned forward and looked at Rose.

"It's time to think about it. Start at the beginning and tell us what happened, how you felt, and what it was like for you."

Rose looked pained. I couldn't understand her reluctance to share with me. Doing it in front of Barney and Betty was a little uncomfortable. She finally took a deep breath and started the narrative.

"I was nervous all day. I didn't know what to expect, and I was pretty sure Jack was unhappy. Still, I made the bet and felt I had to meet the terms. Bob had sent me several texts with instructions, and I tried to meet his requirements as best I could. I knew Jack was upset when I came down to leave."

Betty broke in.

"Jack. Was she right?"

"Absolutely. I was sick and miserable. It only got worse when I figured out Rose was wearing that special lingerie that she had told me she bought for me. Now she was wearing to meet Bob, and I was pretty sure he would get to see it before I had the chance."

Rose now looked a little distressed. Betty looked at her.

'Rose. Are you serious? You bought lingerie and told Jack it was for him, and then you wore it to Bob and Carol's?"

Rose nodded, and I could see that she was nearly crying.

"That's cold, but it's done now. Go on."

"When I got to Bob and Carol's, Bob met me at the door. I went in, and he took my coat. That was the first time I had seen Carol. She was standing in the sitting room to the side of the entryway. She was naked except for a collar around her neck. I was a little surprised."

Barney asked Rose a question.

"Did Bob or Carol, either one, give you any indication before you got to their house what the plan was for the 24 hours?"

"No. nothing."

Barney nodded, and Rose continued.

"Bob then told Carol to take me upstairs and get me ready. I can remember her reply perfectly. She was looking down at the floor the whole time. She answered softly and deferentially with Yes, Sir. She approached me, took my elbow, and led me upstairs."

Rose took a drink from her glass.

"We went upstairs, and Carol began to explain some things. She told me I should remove my dress but leave the lingerie on. I would be collared and leashed. Carol said to me that for the next 24 hours, I was Bob's slave, and he could do anything he wanted with me, and I should not protest or refuse. She didn't come out and say it, but the intimation was that if I did, it would mean punishment.

In a spare bedroom, I took off the dress. That left me in the skimpy shelf bra, the open crotched panties, the garter belt, stockings, and the CFM heels I had chosen. Carol had looked at me. She told me that Bob required all his slaves to shave their pubic hair. I was a little shocked. She offered to help and took me to the bathroom."

Betty broke in again.

" Shelf bra and crotchless panties? I am impressed. Can you tell me why, if you bought this stuff for Jack, you decided to wear it to Bob and Carol's before you wore it for Jack?"

Carol stammered aga in. Her discomfort level was again at a high level.

"Ugh... I... I wanted to impress Bob."

Betty looked at her but didn't make any other comments.

"Go on."

"I was embarrassed. My first thought was I had no idea how to do this. Then I realized Carol meant to do it. She had me lay down on a towel on the floor and slip the panties off. She got the scissors and cut my pubic hair as short as possible. She used a can of shaving cream to lather my entire pubic area and down the inside of my thighs. She used a safety razor and carefully removed the remaining stubble. I must admit it turned out to be a pleasant experience. She knew what she was doing and handled the job lightly. She then used a warm, wet towel to clean all the foam away and held a mirror for me to look. It was the first time I could remember seeing myself without pubic hair.

She told me to put my panties back on. Without my bush, the crotchless panties looked different. They framed my clean-shaven pussy and labia and made it stand out. It made me look more naked, and it was a little shocking.

In the meantime, Carol had found a collar and leash that she put around my neck. After I adjusted my stockings and hooked the garters, we went downstairs.

Bob was waiting in the den at the back of the house. Carol took me down there, and I watched as she knelt on a cushion before him. I decided to do the same. Bob was sitting in an oversized wingback leather chair. He looked at me a long time before he spoke. Bob told me he understood I was unaware of any ex[ectation of me, what I should do, and how I should act. He was patient and almost kind. I was listening and looking at him. He told me I should keep my eyes down. He explained that kneeling like I was should be my usual position unless he directed something different. Then he told me I should sit erect with my shoulders back and spread my knees further apart. I did that and knew that he had an unimpeded view of my now-shaved crotch.