Cryin' in the Rain

"Holy shit," he laughed. "Just like the other one. What was her name? Sarah?"

He kept laughing. "What a softie," he said. "Did you take care of her until after she had my kid, or just until her family found out?" He laughed again.

"What did I have anyway?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said. "She lost the baby early in the pregnancy."

"Oh that's good," he said. "So there's no one coming after me for child support."

"So when was the last time you saw her?" he asked.

"About an hour ago. When I left the house," I said. "I married her." He really started laughing after that. I just stared at him. I suddenly realized that I didn't like Jimmy. Our time apart had changed us. I was an adult suddenly. I had opinions of my own, and I was no longer likely to go along with anything he wanted.

"Why the hell would you tie yourself down to one woman," he laughed. "Especially one woman with no tits."

"So are you ready yet," he asked.

"Ready for what," I asked.

"Our plan," he said. "Remember we were going to have our own business? We were going to modify cars. You were going to handle the engineering part, and I'd handle the business?" He smiled at me.

"Please don't tell me that you got so involved with my sloppy seconds that you didn't get your degree?" he asked.

"Of course, course I got my degree," I said.

"Well did you already start our business," he asked.

"No, Jimmy," I said. "I have a great job with a major automotive manufacturer."

"So in other words you didn't have the balls to go it alone, without me?" he asked. "Please tell me that you at least started saving some money?"

"Well yeah," I said. "But Greta and I..." He held his hand up for me to stop.

"Don't start telling me about what some woman wants," he quipped. "This isn't about pussy. This is about our lives and what we've always wanted."

For the rest of the night, I just listened to him and thought about what a loser he was. At about ten o' clock I just told him that I would pay the check, and then I had to get out of there.

"Well I was hoping to crash at your place," he said. "The place I'm at right now won't be available for much longer."

"Let me run it by Gretchen and see what she says," I told him.

"Why?" he asked. "I can get her to do anything I want. Shit, I had her convinced to do a threesome with the two of us. But you were acting so squirrelly about her at first. I really thought that you hated her. Does she still have all of that fucked up red hair? And those hideous freckles? If you're making decent money, I hope you got her a boob job."

"Gretchen is perfect, just the way she is," I said. "I love her Jimmy. There isn't a prettier woman on the planet." We were starting to get louder, and I was seriously thinking about busting Jimmy in his face, but he calmed down.

"Look dude, you're my brother," he said. "So if you're happy being married to some CHUD, it's fine by me. But don't expect me to want to look at her. And when I start bringing some prime pussy around, you're gonna be sorry. Go home and... Hey when you can't sleep do ya try to count those freckles?"

"I'll give you a call," I said. Knowing that I had no intention of doing so. I left then. What I didn't know at the time was that Jimmy had as usual already made plans. And he knew far more about my life than I had expected.

Another thing that I didn't know was that someone sitting near us had not only heard us but had realized who we were.

I got home to find Gretchen waiting for me. When I told her about Jimmy wanting to crash with us, she looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "Hell no!"

We went to sleep after a particularly intense session of sex. I was sure that Gretchen was trying to make sure that I was on her side and not Jimmy's.

After a few promotions at work, I was making very good money. So good, in fact, that Gretchen had cut back on her hours. She had the next day off and told me that she was going to make all of my favorites for dinner.

"My favorite is what you gave me last night," I said.

"Burgers and fries," she asked.

"No, what you gave me when I came home from the bar," I smirked. "I want that every night."

"Okay," she said. She lifted her night gown and rubbed her own panty covered vagina. "It'll be hot and waiting for you as soon as you hit the door."

Even after being together for five years, I was still crazy about Gretchen. I thought I was the luckiest man on earth. So all day at work, all I could think about was Gretchen on her back, with all of that red hair spread out behind her like an angel's wings and me thrusting into the treasure between her legs. I got home as quickly as my Mustang would carry me. I opened the door to find Gretchen in the kitchen cooking something and Jimmy lying on my sofa watching TV.

"Hey bro," he said when I came in. "Surprise. I told you she would let me stay."

Maybe it was our bond. Maybe it was the fact that Gretchen hadn't said a word and couldn't meet my gaze. Maybe it was the little smirk on Jimmy's face, but I knew that he had fucked her. And from the way he was acting, getting her to break our marriage vows hadn't been much of a challenge.

"Get the fuck out of my house," I said sharply.

"What?" he asked. "She said I could stay."

"Forget it," I said.

I went past him up the stairs. "Dylan... I..." began Gretchen.

My gaze withered her. She stopped talking and realized then now badly I was hurt and how badly she had fucked up. "But he said..." she began again. By that time, I was already at the top of the stairs.

"Give him some time, he'll be fine," said Jimmy.

I packed as many clothes as I could into a couple of suitcases. I grabbed my laptop and my iPad and headed back down the stairs.

"Dill, I need to borrow the car so... Where are you going," he asked.

"Away from the two of you," I said. "Don't call me. I'll have someone call you when I'm ready to pick up more of my things."

"Dude we need to talk. This was just a misunderstanding," he said. "Since when don't we share everything? Remember Sarah?" he said. I dropped my suitcases and turned to him.

"Yeah, I do," I said. I stepped over to him and punched him in the mouth as hard as I could. Then I picked up my suitcases and with Gretchen screaming behind me, I left.

I checked into one of the nicer motels near the airport and the plant, I was working out of. My phone began ringing almost immediately. I didn't answer any calls from Gretchen's cell phone or the house phone.

Just after ten, I was watching TV when my phone rang again. I looked at the screen and answered it.

"What the fuck is going on," screamed Bernie. "I called to find out how badly you kicked that bastard's ass, and he answered the phone at your house. Then I get my daughter, who I trusted to your care crying hysterically because you left over some misunderstanding."

"No Bernie, she's the one who misunderstood things," I said. "She misunderstood that when we got married, she was supposed to stop fucking other guys."

"She didn't," he said.

"After five years of marriage, she still fucked him as soon as she saw him," I said. "Just a few days ago we were talking about giving you guys some grand kids and now I'm trying to find a lawyer."

"You don't need a lawyer to get rid of him," he said. "Just go home, kick his ass, and throw him out."

"I need the lawyer for the divorce," I said. "I loved her from the first time I ever saw her, but I guess she just settled for me when Jimmy..."

"When Jimmy got her pregnant and ran out on her," he spat. "I'm taking the first plane there tomorrow morning." Then he hung up.

The next morning at work, my secretary told me to call Gretchen as soon as I walked into my office. I told her not to take any calls from Gretchen, and if she took them not to tell me about them.

My boss, the director of engineering, had offered me a transfer to Florida recently. I had turned it down, because it was too far away from Michigan, where I grew up and went to school. It was also far away from Chicago and Gretchen's family.

As soon as he came in I asked him if the transfer was still available. He was going to be working in that plant himself and wanted to take some familiar faces with him. He told me that once I signed the papers, I couldn't change my mind. I pulled out a pen and signed them on the spot.

He told me the company would give me a relocation allowance and another sign on bonus. I had to be ready to go in a little over two weeks. I took the rest of the day off to find a lawyer.

As I headed for my car in the parking lot, I noticed both Gretchen and Jimmy standing by it. I got a couple of our security guys to make them leave the lot, so I could get out.

While I was sitting in the lawyer's outer office, waiting for my appointment, Bernie called me. He wanted to meet me, so we could talk. I told him I would call him as soon as I left the lawyer's office.

The appointment took longer than I thought. The lawyer was a woman, and she wanted to know all of the details about the case and our history. She told me that since I had no proof of infidelity other than my feelings, I should just go for a no-fault divorce.

I wouldn't need a reason or any proof. Since we had only been married for a few years, we could split everything down the middle and walk away. I could keep my car and my pension; she could keep hers. I might have to pay her a small amount of support until she could get on her feet again, but maybe not. We would have to sell the house and split whatever we got from our equity in it.

She told me that she'd be ready to have the papers served the following day. I went to the bank and withdrew some cash to tide me over. I also went to HR at work and switched the direct deposit of my next few checks into a new account that I set up.

Getting the cash was important because even though I wasn't going to stop working, all of our accounts were probably about to be frozen. The new account in my name only, wouldn't be frozen with the joint finances.

Later that evening, I met Bernie at the same bar, I'd spoken to Jimmy at, two nights before.

"Dylan, you have to talk to her," he said. "She's distraught."

"Yeah, I'll bet," I said.

"She said it was all a mistake, and that he tricked her," he said.

"How," I asked. "Did he pull a rabbit out of his ass? And it somehow made her fall into bed with him. We were married Bernie. She was the one who made me promise that if it came to it, I would pick her over him."

"Can you just listen to her?" he asked. "She's going to call you at 10. Take the call."

I went back to my motel. At 10 sharp, my phone rang.

"What," I said angrily?

"Dill, when are you coming home," she asked.

"Whenever you aren't there," I said. She started crying.

"It was a mistake," she said.

"No, Gret," I said. "It was balance. I never would have met anyone as special as you without Jimmy. You were his girl from the beginning. We only happened because he left. Now he's back to get you. I'll be out of your hair soon anyway."

"Dylan you don't get any of this," she said. "What do you mean you'll be out of my hair?"

"I've accepted a transfer to a plant in a different state," I said. "As soon as the divorce papers are signed and filed, I'm gone."

I heard the phone clatter to the floor and Gretchen crying in the background. I chose that moment to hang up. The sound of her crying always hurt me.

* * * * * *

Gretchen

"What did he say," asked Jimmy. "Let me guess. He wants to talk, right? I told you he'd come around.

"No," I told him. "He doesn't want to talk, Jimmy." I started crying then. I wondered how I had gotten myself into this mess. From the very first moment, I had seen Jimmy, years ago in college; I had fallen for him. I knew that he was not the kind of person I should be with, but there was just something about him.

I could remember how exciting it was being around him. Just his physical strength alone was enough to make him dangerous. And there was something else about him. He seemed to intimidate people around him, just by his dominant personality. That was exciting too.

But the thing I liked about him the most was something strange. For most of my life, men have always found me pretty. I'd gotten used to guys going gaga over me or doing stupid things to impress me. But Jimmy acted as if I was nothing special.

From the very beginning, it was me jumping through hoops to try to gain HIS favor, not the other way around.

Before I knew what was going on, we were in a relationship. And I liked it. Both Jimmy and his brother Dylan were going into the NFL. They were going to be rich and famous. And I was going along for the ride.

The one fly in the ointment was the fact that Dylan hated me, or so I thought. This was a big problem because almost every word out of Jimmy's mouth was either about football or Dylan. I knew that if Dylan, really didn't like me, I was history.

The funny thing about it was that when I told most of my friends about it, they laughed at me. They told me I had everything backwards. Dylan is a really good guy, they told me. They also hoped that Jimmy would change his spots for me, but he had a history of cheating on every woman he'd been with.

I was sure that I could change him. I was willing to try anything. Jimmy even told me that I might have to do a threesome with him and Dylan. It wasn't something I wanted, but I was willing to do it for him.

It never happened. The strangest thing to me was the fact that soon after Jimmy, and I got together our sex life waned. The first few weeks he wanted me every time we went out, and he got me. But after that it was as if he'd gotten bored with me.

After Jimmy's injury, things got weird. It was as if I was a member of his family. Even Dylan who'd gone to extreme lengths to avoid me came around. I began to realize that my friends were right about Dylan. He was a really nice guy. The problem was that I just wasn't really into nice guys.

Jimmy and I made plans for what we would do after he recovered from his injuries. We figured that he would have to wait a year to go into the NFL. It would take at least that long for his injuries to heal.

Then we found out that Jimmy would never play football again. Everything changed overnight. What amazed me the most was Dylan. Dylan took charge. Where Jimmy had always been the decisive one, Dylan switched roles with him.

In a move that was the greatest act of loyalty, I have ever seen, Dylan announced to their parents that he and Jimmy were going back to their first plan. They were giving up football and in a few years after they graduated, they would open their own business. Dylan simply walked away from football because Jimmy couldn't play anymore. He never looked back.

They figured out that there was no way that Jimmy was going to graduate. While Dylan had been majoring in Engineering, Jimmy had majored in football. He had almost no credits to show for almost four years of college. The plan was that Dylan, and I would help Jimmy with his school work.

It was a good time for Jimmy and me also. Our sex life picked up, and we made all kinds of plans for our life together.

I was so excited when I found out that I was pregnant. I rushed right over to his dorm to tell him. We got into the biggest argument ever. He claimed that the baby wasn't his, and that I had trapped him. He broke up with me and told me to get out of their dorm. He even got angry at Dylan for getting out of bed to drive me back to my dorm.

Dylan kept telling me that Jimmy would calm down and be fine the next day, and I believed him. After that night though I never saw Jimmy again until two days ago when he showed up at our house.

I guess over the years I told myself that I loved Dylan. And in a way I did. Dylan was a wonderful husband, and he loved me so much I could feel his love like little waves of warmth and protectiveness.

However, Jimmy was so exciting. He made me feel like I was on a great adventure. Dylan asked me what I wanted to do, and we did it. Jimmy told me what to do, and I did it. He was the one in control. I think it was comforting. It was almost like being a child again.

And there were other differences between them. Dylan seemed to have everything going for him. He had a job and a career, and he had pretty much mapped out our future. There were no surprises left. With Jimmy, the future was an open book. I had no idea what lay around the next corner, let alone years down the road.

Dylan always seemed to get lost in my eyes. He'd start out trying to tell me something, and I could smile at him, and he would lose his train of thought. I don't think Jimmy could tell you what color my eyes were, but he could talk me into doing anything he wanted.

That was how we got to where we are right now. I had the feeling that I had made a huge mistake, but I was stuck with it. Jimmy, hadn't started out trying to run our marriage. Jimmy hadn't even come back for me. He'd come back for Dylan.

For the last few years, his life had been hell. He had bounced from one woman to the next with almost nothing to call his own. He was completely dependent upon the woman he was living with for everything, and he was ready to build something. The thing he kept remembering more than anything else was their plan to start their own business.

That was something that Jimmy could do. With Dylan's engineering skills and Jimmy's people skills, they would be successful. They could make it work. But more than anything else, Jimmy missed Dylan.

Growing up they shared everything equally. I knew that was true. When I first met them, they were sharing a car and most of the things in their dorm seemed to belong to both of them. They never fought over anything, and I just couldn't understand that. Jimmy explained it to me.

He was flat out frank about it. He had no reason to lie. To the two of them and everyone who knew them, they were brothers. They were as close as any twins could be and closer than most. Growing up nothing came between them. They didn't argue because there was nothing as important to them than each other. Anything that tried to come between them was simply discarded.

Jimmy gave me two examples that hit home with me. The first was football. I knew about that. No one around us had even batted an eyelash about the fact that Dylan had simply walked away from the NFL and all of that money when Jimmy couldn't play anymore.

The second example was even worse. It was Sarah. I had heard Dylan's version of the Sarah story, but Jimmy filled in all of the things that Dylan hadn't shared. He also explained to me why Dylan hadn't told me the truth. The truth would have made Jimmy look bad. And I knew from personal experience that Dylan would never do or say anything that cast a bad light on Jimmy. There was that loyalty again.

Anyway, Dylan and Jimmy, away from home for the first time had settled in and got accustomed to the environment. Dylan had quickly gotten used to his classes and set up a study schedule. Jimmy had started out making friends and meeting people.

By the second week of school, Dylan was going around making sure Jimmy knew where his classes were and making sure he had books, and Jimmy was introducing him to people.

Three months later, Jimmy had met and claimed Sarah and had started having sex with her. He'd kind of used Sarah as a device to practice and develop his sexual skills and had grown bored with her. Sarah taught Jimmy a lot, not about sex, because she, like he had been a virgin when they met. But she taught him what he liked about women and what he didn't like. She taught him that no single woman would ever be enough for Jimmy.

Jimmy preferred slim but curvy women on his arm, but more voluptuous women in his bed. He couldn't be seen with the women he fucked, because image was everything to Jimmy. Jimmy fully believed that fat girls were like MOPEDs, they're a lot of fun to ride, but you wouldn't want your friends to see you on one.