Billie and The Gym Guys

Harry would file a civil suit against Kate and Jeff, demanding a full repayment, plus fees. BBC would be served, to notify them that Kate's share of the business was involved in litigation.

The lawsuits were filed the next day and Kate and the Gym were served then as well. Kate was at her parents' house. Jeff was served at my mom's house. That brought a call from her.

"Billie, I cannot believe you sued your own brother."

"Why not? I had him arrested, didn't I? He fucked my wife. If I had my way, he die."

"You don't mean that, Billie. He's kin."

"You know what, mom? Kin don't do what he did. Or what you did, keeping quiet. So...as of right now, neither one of you is kin to me. Fuck off."

I hung up. Well, it was a cell phone. I disconnected.

The next day I had to go pick up the girls at sailing camp. They were all I had left. I pulled into the place at lunch time. They were all packed, ready to go. There was a catered lunch there. For what we paid, it should have included Champagne. The girls wondered where their mom was. I put them off with a bland excuse.

When we were on the road, I had to let them know the score. They were fraternal twins, Jessica and Isabell. At seventeen, they were attractive and lively. Jess was athletic, and played basketball and softball. Bella was studious, very serious. Both were slim, with my brown hair and eyes.

I said, "Ladies, I have some news."

Bella said, "About Mom, I bet."

I looked at her. She was in the front with me. "What do you know?"

Jess said, "We....thought Mom was too....too into the gym thing. And to Jeff, maybe."

"But why not say something, then?"

"We weren't sure. And you were in trial. A big one. No distractions." This was Bella.

"Well, your mom and I will be divorced. I'm sorry to have to do it. She was having sex with Jeff. And she stole money from me to buy into the gym. She's been arrested. Jeff, too."

Jess said, "Jesus, Dad. That's.....why did she do it?"

"I can't say for sure. She was screwing Jeff so she could get him to pose as me at the bank where she stole."

There were some tears on the drive, and some later at dinner. Jess seemed lost, and wandered around the house for some time. I felt very bad for them. I decided to try to ease them over this.

I said, "Girls, your Mom fucked up bad. But...something happened to her, I don't know what. She's your mother, and whatever she did, she will always love you. She may need your support."

Bella said, "Do we have to visit her in jail?"

Jess chimed in, "Will she go to prison?'

"I don't know, ladies. All that is TBA."

Their senior year in high school was to begin in two weeks. They needed to be prepared. Jess had a chance at a part ride for athletics, and Bella had a shot at some money for her academics. In fact, she might be able to be valedictorian. I really didn't want this to screw up their year. They had both applied to the State University and one other, more expensive school. I was doing okay with money, but I still hoped for some help with the expenses. Especially since Cait would not be contributing.

When I thought about it, it was another reason to assume part ownership at the gym - for the monthly income.

The next day, I got them breakfast, and we went off shopping for supplies, and some school clothes. That took the morning, and they brightened up some because of the new acquisitions. They went to a friend's house for the afternoon, and I called the bank about the loan. I set up a meeting to see how to deal with it. They had stopped charging interest, but it was still a big lump sum.

I sat down and tried to figure the finances of gym ownership. I called Rob and asked him to send over the financials. I told him I was going to try to come to some resolution.

I ordered pizza for dinner, and we had banana bread and ice cream for dessert. (I know, I know, no green leafy stuff. But the pizza had onion.)

The next day I went to see Rob at the gym, right at the 6:00 am opening. Q wasn't there. Rob and I sat in the office.

I said, "Can you afford to go halves to buy out Q?"

"No. Well, not without some help. But Q probably won't sell."

"He'd sell if it was the only way to save his investment, right?"

"Sure. But how can that....?"

"I can force a judgement against Cait's share. I don't have to take a share of the gym. I could insist on cash. No cash, the place gets liquidated, or sold, and I get paid."

"And Q and I get the dregs."

"Well, maybe you could find a buyer."

"Alternatives?"

"You and I buy out Q. I don't mind lending you some of the money. I can't have Q around."

"You know, Q's a big attraction around here. Cait, too. Both of them bring in members."

"We can deal with that. In the end, though, it's them or me. And I have the hammer at this point."

"Okay. I can get half. We have to sit down with Q."

"Wait for a while. I need to get the legal stuff rolling."

I waited for the reply to the divorce and the civil suit. They came at once, three weeks later. Both Cait and Jeff were represented by the lawyer who also had them on the criminal charges. I believed that they were very foolish to do that.

I had arranged with the bank to redo the loan, assuming that the lawsuits went okay.

One thing I also did was to have Buddy keep tags on Cait. In my mind, Cait was not the person I married, and was capable of anything. It turned out that this was a real good move.

About a week before we were going to meet to try to settle the divorce and civil case, I got a call from the prosecutor, asking me to meet the next day. I had anticipated this call. Ordinarily, when a defendant wants a plea bargain, the prosecutor will ask the wronged party how they feel about a proposed deal. I fully expected to have such a meeting.

I also expected to dislike the proposed deal quite a bit.

The prosecutor handing the case was Betty Runson. She was a very experienced woman, and had been assigned the case, I assume, because of the parties involved.

We met in her office. She seemed uncomfortable as we shook hands.

"Billie, I'm sorry to meet you like this."

"Not as much as I am. What's up?"

"We've been in plea negotiations and wanted to get your input."

"You have a slam dunk case. I want felony convictions and a sentence consonant with the guidelines. To me that seems to be 40-82 months, given the amount involved. There is absolutely nothing that takes the case out of the guidelines. No mitigation."

"I...well...Billie, maybe you have a bias in this case."

"You mean like every other victim. I do have that bias. And more. But....the rules are what they are, right."

"We're offering misdemeanors. Three years probation." She seemed really uncomfortable now.

"No way, Betty."

"It isn't your decision."

"It wasn't yours either, was it?"

She looked away. I got out a small notepad and scribbled something on a piece of paper. I folded it and handed it to her.

I said, "Don't open that, Betty. Take it directly to Frank."

Frank was the D.A. The head guy. The words I put on the paper were: "Sleepy Hollow Motel, Room 114."

Betty knew something was up. She knew it when she got the order from her boss to settle for misdemeanors and no time. She got up and left her office.

Twenty minutes later Frank Driscoll came in. Betty wasn't there. He closed the door.

He said, "This....I....maybe I got played."

"No maybes. Well, maybe you just took what you wanted, and it would cost nothing. She's a very beautiful woman."

"I know. I really screwed up. You had someone watching her."

"Yep. Pictures of both of you, in and out of the room. Two different nights. Gives a new meaning to plea bargaining."

"How can this be fixed, Billie?"

"I only want a felony conviction, and a guideline sentence. Also, maybe you should have someone check on Judge Perry. Maybe he's next."

"I.....don't see how I can do it. I mean, she could blow up my life."

Frank was a personable guy, but not a good lawyer.

"Frank, what happened is obstruction of justice - a thirty year beef. Maybe it's more than that for her and you. You tell her the deal's off, and let the case go. She won't say shit. It's only more time for her. A lot more time."

He hemmed and hawed around. But he knew that if he balked, I could go to the feds. I told him what I wanted.

He said, "Okay." He opened the door and called Betty in.

He said, "Betty, the two of them get a plea to one felony, fraud. One hundred thousand loss, guideline sentence."

Betty smiled at us. "Done, boss." Frank left. She looked at me, raised her eyebrows.

I said, "You don't want to know. Take my word."

She gave me a little hug and a kiss on the cheek. She said, "I hope all of this works out for you, Billie."

I met with Cait and Jeff and their lawyers about the divorce. Apparently, they had not heard from Betty about the plea offer. All of them looked smug.

I said, "Where are we here? I would like to settle this quickly."

John Dawson, their lawyer, said, "We want counselling. If it fails, we want half. Cait would like you to loan her the 100k, so she can keep her part of the gym."

Sheila said, "Dream on. Both of your clients are going to jail."

Harry added, "And we have a slam dunk case for the money. We want her share of the gym. If not, we'll go for the entire amount. In fact, we can have the bank sue you. And we also sue you, to get further damages."

All the while my people were talking, the other side was smiling.

John said, "My clients are not going to jail. They will have convictions."

I smiled. I tossed a small envelope over directly to Cait. In it were photos of her trysts with the D.A.

I said, "Cait, you should look at those. Just you, for now."

She opened it, looked and put her head onto the table. She was silently sobbing.

Jeff and the lawyer looked very, very uncomfortable.

I gave her some time to cope. Then I said, "My victim/witness conference with the D.A.'s office went very well. Your plea offer will be to a felony, guideline time."

Jeff looked wildly at Cait.

She looked at him. She said, "John, call the prosecutor and see."

We excused ourselves, Harry, Sheila and me. We waited outside for fifteen minutes. Then the meeting resumed.

Cait looked at me, "Billie, please don't do this to us. I'm begging."

"It's done. You just keep screwing around and screwing up. You take me for a fool. I'm not. You are."

Jeff said, "You're my brother."

"I was. Then you fucked my wife. Now we're enemies. A very bad move on your part, making an enemy of me."

Cait got up and said, "Come on Jeff. We can let the lawyers do this. We don't need to stay. John, let us know what we can expect."

Then they walked out. I didn't feel bad. Nor did I feel exhilaration. She had been my wife, and a good one, for many years. At least I thought so. My brother had always been a problem, but I had some feeling for him before this. Now he was basically dead to me. Too weak to trust with any positive feelings. Then there was my mom. I couldn't get around the fact that she could have warned me. But I wasn't sure when she knew what was going on. If she knew from jump, then I was finished with her. If it was later, I'd listen to her.

The divorce deal was set, waiting the result of the sentencing. Cait and Jeff had accepted the deal. They had little choice. The divorce deal was that Cait got noting from me until she got out of jail. Then, she had some maintenance for two years. Custody to me. When she got out, that would be revisited.

That deal was very favorable to me. That's because I agreed to write the judge asking him to go below the guidelines - to 24 months for Jeff and 30 for Cait.

I probably would have done something like that anyway. The girls asked me to give some thought to leniency.

The sentencing went exactly that way. The twins attended, and spoke. I spoke. Cait apologized to all of us. Jeff didn't.

My mom spoke for Jeff. She said that he was a naïve young man, who was taken advantage of by Cait. It didn't do any good.

RB and Q and I met about the gym. Once I had my judgement against Cait, I forced Q out. He really, really didn't like it. But he had no choice. I lent RB 50k, with decent terms for payback. I liked him and his family, and it was a pleasure to work with him on the business. Attendance fell off a bit after Cait and Q were gone, but then picked back up. I began going every day to work out. I wasn't ugly and women knew I was available. I also comped a few of RB's buddies from the NFL. That helped. All in all we were doing very well.

While Cait was locked up, I met a woman. Wendy Turner was a new prosecutor in town. She was thirty-six and not beautiful. But sexy. We became a solid couple. And she moved in with me. No marriage - yet. I was not in any mood to trust a woman that far. Marital PTSD.

By the time Cait got out - 26 months later, because of good time, the twins were at college. All three of us greeted her as she got off the bus. We took her out to dinner. I had arranged a small apartment for her, furnished.

I dropped her off. And.....I really didn't want to see her after that. I made that clear to her after the dinner. We had dropped off the twins. They were on summer break, and lived with me.

As we drove away from the house, Cait asked, "Any chance I could move back in?"

"None. Someone has that position now. And anyway, I'd never take you back."

"Billie, I do apologize. Not just for the judge. I was a selfish bitch. Felt neglected. I wanted to start something for me."

"And you liked the idea of Q."

"True. But I never fucked him, Billie."

"Just Jeff."

"Yeah."

I dropped her off. No hug or kiss.

And Mom? I sent her cards on holidays. Phoned then as well. She had Jeff living with her. Her favorite. Not mine.

Really, this was a tragedy that I'm still dealing with in many ways. The girls as well. I take solace in the fact that Cait and Jeff had it worse.

The end.