Consequences Pt. 10

"Okay," I said hesitantly, the familiar knot returning to my gut. It was funny how a sentence or look from her could throw me for a complete loop.

For once she didn't have to travel and we had a great week together. We had dinner together every night. We didn't have sex every night, but we were constantly kissing and hugging and holding hands. She gave me all her attention. I began to think this out-of-town 2 boyfriend thing might work. It was exciting but just the right amount of risk. When she was home she was all mine. I think we were closer than ever.

The next Monday she left for meetings in Atlanta. We agreed to meet that Thursday in South Beach at the Delano.

By Wednesday my team had implemented the SEC's latest software modification requests. I ran some simulations and was troubled by what I saw. I decided not to talk to Eric or any of the other partners. While I saw a pattern in what the government was doing, the evidence was murky at best. They'd just blow me off again. I decided to wait to see if the SEC requested more changes.

I arrived Thursday looking forward to seeing Jen. I hadn't seen her all week and I missed her. I understood she was Jamie's girlfriend this weekend, but I hoped for some alone time with her before things got going.

I called Jen as soon as I arrived. She didn't answer. I called again. No answer. I called a third time. No answer. A few minutes later my phone rang. I saw it was Jen. "Hi honey," I said, "Where are you?"

"I'm with Jamie," she said. She was short of breath and I realized I'd interrupted them. She confirmed it when she said "We're kinda in the middle of something, I'll call you back later." She hung up.

I realized I'd interrupted their sex. I forced myself not to get upset. After all, that was the whole point of her spending time with him. I put on my bathing suit and went down to the pool to relax.

She called back an hour later. "Sorry about that baby," she said apologizing.

"That's okay, I get it," I said with a good natured laugh.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"At the pool just hanging," I said.

"Great!" she said sounding relieved. "You have fun tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."

That surprised me. "Wait," I said. "I'm not going to see you tonight? I haven't seen you all week."

"I'm going out with Jamie and his friends tonight," she said. When I didn't answer she said "Mike you know I'm with Jamie this weekend."

"I know but you said we'd see each other," I said.

"We'll see each other tomorrow, I promise," she said.

"Okay," I finally agreed. I wasn't happy but she was right, she'd warned me.

I hung out by the pool reading the latest John Grisham book on my Kindle until it got dark. I wanted to relax and enjoy myself so I tried not to get upset about Jen and Jamie. As it got dark I went up to my room. I showered and got dressed.

I went searching for a good scotch. I'm a social introvert. I like being around people, but I don't feel the need to interact with them. I know that probably sounds strange, but that's how I am. Anyway, the point is, I like people watching.

I found a place called Aromas right on Collins Avenue. They served high end single malt scotch and perfectly cooked steaks. I was in heaven!

I was lucky to get one of the coveted tables on the sidewalk. At the table I enjoyed my scotch as I watched people walk by. It was a great view too. Pretty young girls showing a lot of really nice long legs. The steak was excellent, a big marbled bone-in rib eye, charred on the outside and medium rare inside. I was alone but still I had a really good evening, sipping really good scotch as I watched a lot of shapely tanned legs walk by. I tried not to think about Jen and how I was missing her.

I walked back to the Delano around midnight. Well, staggered was probably more accurate. I felt half-drunk from the scotch. But I wasn't too bad. Once back I decided to go up to the roof top club.

The roof top at the Delano was THE happening place in South Beach. All the beautiful people were there.

I was hoping to see Jen there. After all, the Delano roof top WAS the place to be, and Jamie worked at the hotel. But they never showed up, at least not while I was there. At 1am I got up to go to my room.

I heard a name call me and I turned. It was Jasmine Kelly!

"Mike is that you?" Jasmine said surprised. "God, how are you?"

Pretty drunk I thought to myself. Of course I didn't say that. Instead I said "I'm good. What brings you here?" I tried not to slur my words.

"I'm doing a story on bullying in sports," she said. "I'm interviewing Coach Philbin on Saturday." She shrugged and grimaced. "I don't like doing sports stories. I'm trying to be a serious reporter. Whenever I do anything close to sports all the bloggers talk about how I should go back to ESPN."

"Bullying in sports is an important story Jasmine," I said. "And with your background in sports you probably can do a better job than anyone else at CNN. Coach Philbin will probably open up to you more than Anderson Cooper."

"You're a nice guy Mike," she said giving me a crooked grin. "Where's your wife? Are you here by yourself?"

"She's here. She's with girlfriends tonight," I lied.

"Okay you're single tonight so you have to have a drink with me," Jasmine said smiling at me.

"I'm kinda already smashed," I said.

"Then one more won't hurt!" she said with a laugh. She hooked her arm in mine. "Come on, one drink."

"Okay," I said with a laugh back. I joked, "Do me a favor though, no more pictures in the paper. That got me in trouble with Jen."

"Sorry about that," she said with another laugh. We walked to the bar. We got drinks and sat on one of the big rectangular cushioned lounge chairs.

I couldn't help noticing how stunningly beautiful she was. Of course I saw her all the time on CNN but she looked even more gorgeous in person. Jen wore her blonde hair long, but Jasmine's blonde hair was even longer. She had her legs crossed sitting on the lounge chair and was showing a lot of firm tanned thigh. My heart beat faster being so close to her. Jen has the best legs in the world, but sitting there at that moment, I think Jasmine's might run a close second.

We talked and laughed about everything and nothing. She was really easy to talk to. I was having a great time being with her.

Always the reporter, Jasmine eventually asked "What's new in your world? How's Sapphire doing?"

My face clouded over at the mention of Sapphire, and Jasmine saw it. She WAS a reporter after all. "What's going on Mike?" she pressed.

I don't know what came over me. Maybe because I was drunk. Maybe because I missed Jen. Maybe because Jasmine was beautiful and I didn't want her to leave. For whatever reason, I started talking.

"We've been working on scaling Sapphire up," I said.

"What's that mean?"

"The original Sapphire is structured for large investors," I explained. "It can handle small investors if they pool together, but the logistics are complicated. We've been working on a new version of Sapphire so any size investor can buy in."

"Okay," Jasmine said uncertainly. "So this is a big thing?"

"Sapphire is all about providing transparency to the market. If you've got transparency, you've got trust, stability, accountability. No more Wall Street scandals that crater the market and hurt the little guy. Everyone makes money, large and small investors. But right now the granularity of Sapphire is too big. What we're doing is scaling Sapphire to refine the granularity to the trade level."

"You mean ... transparency at the trade level?" Jasmine asked, processing what I'd said.

"Yeah," I said. She was getting it.

"Okay, I think I see the advantages," she said. "But transparency at the trade level? That sounds 1984-ish. Big Brother knows everything."

I nodded, impressed. She'd gotten it right away. "Yeah, that's the issue."

I could see the wheels turning in Jasmine's head. She was realizing the implications. The new Sapphire would provide a more stable, lucrative market. But at the expense of privacy.

"Mike, this sounds like a big story," she said her eyes boring holes into me.

I didn't say anything.

"Can I quote you? Will you do an interview?"

"No," I said. "This is all confidential with the SEC. You can't name me as a source."

"How can I follow up on this?" she asked.

"Call Ryan Hatch at the SEC," I suggested. "Tell him you've heard rumors. See what he says."

She nodded. "Mike, this story is huge," she said looking grateful. "Why are you giving me this?"

Because I'm drunk, I thought. Because I miss my wife and I'm lonely. And horny. Because you're gorgeous. Because you have amazing legs and look fucking incredible in those high heels!

"I better get going," I said instead.

She put her hand on my arm, stopping me. I couldn't help noticing how soft and warm her hand felt. "How can I thank you for this?" she said looking into my eyes. Was that an invitation in her eyes? An offer?

I felt my heart quicken. I stood up. "It was good seeing you Jasmine," I said. Then I went down to my room.

Inside my room I was surprised to see it was 4am. I'd spoken to Jasmine for almost 3 hours. Where had the time gone?

I checked my phone. Jen hadn't texted or called. Frustrated, I threw the phone on the bed. I tried not to be hurt, I tried to keep my anger in check. This was how the game worked. She couldn't be in two places. When she was with another guy, she wasn't with me. I signed up for this, I wanted this, and she warned me she was going to be with Jamie this weekend.

But she couldn't send me a fucking text?!!

I was horny. Yes, horny thinking of what Jamie was doing with my wife. I couldn't help it, even despite (or because of) my jealousy and hurt. I took out my cock and jerked off. As I fantasized about Jen with Jamie, images of Jasmine Kelly and her long legs flitted into my fantasies.

I woke up the next morning with a start. Where was I? Oh yeah, the Delano in South Beach. To my surprise, the sun was fully out. I looked at the clock. It was almost noon!

I scrambled for my cell phone. Why hadn't Jen called? Was she okay?

Then I saw my phone was out of power. I forgot to plug it in last night. I plugged it in and the iPhone took forever to charge up enough so I could turn it on. I seriously had a love - hate relationship with Apple!

Once it turned on I saw Jen had called and texted multiple times that morning, the first at 8am and the most recent just a few minutes ago. Damn!

I called her. She immediately answered and said angrily "Pretty freaking childish Mike!"

"Jen I'm sorry I was out late last night and I forgot to plug in my phone," I said.

"Where were you last night?!" she demanded.

Suddenly my anger flared, the loneliness and hurt from last night boiling over. "You'd know if you called me!" I said angrily. "You couldn't text me to let me know how it was going?"

We both were silent. Finally she said in a softer voice, "I'm sorry. It was really busy last night. Jamie dragged me all over the place, he wanted to introduce me to his friends. I seriously never had a free moment to text or call you. I should have though. I'm sorry."

Hearing her apology made me less angry. I was still hurt though, but I tried to push that aside.

"So where were you last night?" she asked again.

"I found a steak place on Collins that had really good scotch," I said. "Then I went upstairs to the Delano roof top."

"Oh I bet that was fun," she said a smile in her voice. She'd love the trendy, high energy roof top club, it was her kind of place.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm surprised you and Jamie didn't go. What room are you in anyway?"

"We're checking in later," Jen said.

"What?" I asked surprised. I frowned into the phone. "You're not here at the Delano?"

Jen heard the ire in my voice. "No Mike," she said cautiously. "We're at Jamie's apartment on campus."

I gawked at the phone. What the fuck? University of Miami was 30 minutes away, longer with traffic. "I thought you're staying here at the Delano!" I said barely able to keep my anger in check. "Why did you tell me to stay here?"

"We ARE staying there baby," she said soothingly. "They're comping Jamie a room this weekend because he's working there after he graduates, but he would've had to pay last night. Remember he's still in college, he doesn't have much money."

"I would have paid!"

"Honey he wouldn't want that, he wants to take care of it," Jen said gently. "You understand how he feels, right? I'm with him this weekend."

Yeah, I got it. Jen was his date. Jamie wouldn't want another guy paying for anything. Especially his date's husband.

"Jen, he understands this is just fun, right?" I said frowning into the phone. "He doesn't think this might be permanent."

"He understands baby," she said reassuringly. "I told him we'd hang out, have fun, but eventually it would end."

"Okay," I said, still frowning but appeased some.

"Mike, it WILL end, but I don't know when," she said. "That's up to me and Jamie, because -."

I cut her off. I said bitterly, "Yeah, I get it Jen, because you decide who and when, I got it!"

We were both silent again. Finally I asked (in a calmer voice) "So I'll see you later right?"

"Definitely," she promised. "I'm going to Jamie's lacrosse game. We'll be over after."

"Jamie's on the lacrosse team?" I asked.

"Um ... yeah."

Just great. How wonderful. Next to football and basketball, Jen's favorite college sport was lacrosse.

After a few moments, Jen hesitantly said, "I need to ask you something. I hate to pile on, but I need to ask you now because they're going to be here soon."

"Who?" I said warily.

"Jamie's parents," Jen said. "This is one of his last home games and they're coming to watch."

"Is Larry going to be there?" Where was she going with this? Was she telling me she wanted another threesome with Jamie and his younger brother?

"No, just his parents," she said.

"Ok, then what?" I asked.

"Jamie wants me to sit with his parents at the game," she said. She stopped there, as if waiting for me to get it. But I didn't get it.

"Mike," she finally said patiently, "I can't wear my wedding rings if I'm going to sit with his parents."

Have you ever been hit by a sledge hammer? Right to the gut? That's how I felt.

I went with my initial reaction. "Do you have to sit with them?" I said.

"Mike, be reasonable," she said gently. "Jamie's mentioned me. I can't not sit with them."

"I thought you were just friends with benefits!" I said. "Now it's like you're his girlfriend!"

"You're the one who calls him my boyfriend!" she said exasperated.

We were both silent, like wild animals licking our wounds.

"Mike, we ARE just friends," she said in a calmer voice. "But what can I do? It's just this afternoon. His parents are going home right after the game. I'll put them back on as soon as they leave. You wouldn't even have known if I hadn't told you. But I don't want to keep any secrets from you."

She was right, I wouldn't have known. It was just a few hours. I felt childish. "Okay, I'm good with it," I said feeling foolish. "Jen, thanks for telling me."

"Of course baby, I'll never keep secrets from you," she said. "I'll call you when the game's over. Will you be okay today?"

I forced myself to get into a good mood. "Yeah, I have more books on my Kindle and the pool's fantastic."

"I'm glad honey," she said. "I'll call you later. Have fun okay? And make sure to charge your phone!" She giggled and then hung up.

I sat for long minutes after hanging up. I felt like I'd just been run over by a train.

I shook my head. We had the strangest conversations. I guess that went with this game we played.

I had a mild hangover from last night. I took 2 Advils and forced myself to drink an entire bottle of water. Then I laid back on the bed. I was so horny. I took out my cock and beat off, thinking of Jen with Jamie.

Gasping after cumming, I wiped my hand on a towel and then put my arm over my head. For the millionth time I wondered why I loved the game so much. Why did I share my young, beautiful wife with other men? She could be here with me right now, her beautiful face and tight sexy body lying next to me. We could make love and then go for a long romantic walk on the beach. Instead she was with a handsome 21 year old college lacrosse star, probably getting her brains fucked out at this very moment. He was enjoying her wonderful body, not me. Why did I do it?

I got up, showered and dressed. I took my Kindle and found a diner a few blocks from the Delano. I ate breakfast by myself, finishing the Grisham novel.

I liked reading e-books but there was nothing like holding a real book in your hand. Having nothing else to do, I took a walk on Collins Avenue looking for a book store. I scored by finding a used book store. I loved the smell of books, especially old books. I enjoyed a good hour browsing, finally settling on a science fiction book and a political thriller. I was in a good mood leaving the store. I thought about my fantasy of retiring and reading books all day in a library. Maybe instead I'd buy a used book store and spend my days there. I'd be able to set my own hours and be home when Jen got off work (I knew she'd never stop working, she wasn't a stay-at-home mom kind of girl).

Thinking of Jen made me think of her and Jamie, and I felt my cock get hard. THIS was why I loved the game so much. Yeah, there was a lot of angst and other dark emotions, but there was so much excitement too.

I forced myself to stay in a good mood. I was at the beach, it was a beautiful sunny day, my hotel was trendy and luxurious. Jen promised I'd see her today, which meant I'd get to see her interact with Jamie. That possibility got me fully hard and I had to adjust my shorts to keep from showing.

I told myself to lighten up. It was Friday. By Monday we'd be home and I'd have Jen all to myself again. Just enjoy it, I told myself.

I put on my bathing suit and relaxed by the pool with my 2 new books. As I read my phone rang. My heart leaped thinking it was Jen, but when I looked I saw it was Tara! God, did she know I was in Miami and want to meet up? That was the last thing I needed.

"Hi Mike, it's Tara, remember me?" she said shyly on the phone. "I'm calling about that job offer? I'd really love to work on Sapphire. Can I send you my resume?" She sounded so excited.

Oh yeah, I'd offered Tara a job. Well, that had been an impulse decision ... Still, I liked the excitement in her voice. Also, I DID need more programmers, and she was CS with a minor in finance. I'd be hiring her sight unseen sorta (since I didn't know much about her other than she looked good in a bikini) but what the hell.

"Sure Tara, email your resume to me," I said. "I'll arrange things, bring you to New York for an interview. I'm pretty sure we'll offer you a job."

"God Mike that's so great!" Tara gushed. "I really do want to work on Sapphire, and I've always dreamed of living in New York City!"

"One thing Tara," I said. I needed to remind her not to mention what happen in Cancun between Jen and Jamie to anyone at work. It was obvious but a warning wouldn't hurt.

She heard the warning in my voice and read my mind. "Don't worry Mike, what happens in Cancun stays in Cancun," she assured me.

I got Tara's email a moment later. I looked at her resume. Actually, it was pretty impressive.

I called our HR manager. "Sally, I just hired a new programmer, her name's Tara and she's about to graduate from Miami," I said. "Contact her and get her processed, okay? She'll start after she graduates."

"You got it Mike," Sally said.

I smiled after hanging up with Sally. It was cool to be a big shot now and then.

I checked ESPN on my iPhone. The Miami lacrosse game started at 2, so it would be over around 4 or so. At 4pm I went back to my room. I showered and dressed. Then I waited for Jen's call.