Don't Give Up on Me

Parking on the street at the house just before nine I got out and walked down beside our garage and entered the backyard as quietly as I could. Unlocking my back door, I entered my home. Hearing music playing, which was not uncommon, my wife often played music when she is home.

Creeping through the kitchen toward the living room, I spotted them almost immediately and stood there in shock. They had their backs to me my wife leaning over the back of the sofa. Her panties at her ankles, bare foot and dress hiked up. My neighbour Ken, standing in his sock feet and shirt, bare ass. Standing legs apart so he could compensate for the high difference, ramming his cock into my wife from behind.

Unbeknownst to them, I came up behind, reaching between his legs. I grabbed him by the testicles squeezing as hard as I could and twisting. He let out a scream, followed by my wife's scream, he fell sideways, cock slipping out of her, as I released my grip. Losing consciousness he hit the floor, I immediately swung my leg back and came full force with my boot kicked him in the face. Hitting him somewhere around the cheekbone, he was lying there on the floor half on the small area rug. I grabbed a hold of it and started dragging his bare ass down the hallway through the kitchen.

Looking at my wife as I went, I had not pay attention to her until this point. Nicole's panties were either off or on, they were not around her ankles any longer. With her dress back down in place she was sitting on the back of the sofa, rocking back and forth. Both of her hands were clasped over her mouth, tears running out of her fear filled eyes.

Opening the back door, I dragged him out and dumped him and the rug into the back yard, went inside and lock the door. My wife, now standing there trembling looking at the floor. I screamed at her, "Get the fuck upstairs and wash up you whore!"

She ran, without looking at me, up the stairs crying, I heard the bathroom door slam shut. I could not believe the rage I was feeling my whole body was just shaking. I have never spoken to Nicole like that in our entire marriage.

I then proceeded to grab Ken's pants, underwear and shoes by the front door. Going out though the front door then locking it. I walked across the lawn to my car. Loading Ken's belongings, I drove down to the end of the street. Parking out front grabbing his things, I went up to Ken's house, knocking on the door. His wife, Louise answered. "Well hello, what a surprise."

I replied, "it's not a good surprise, here is your husband's pants, underwear and shoes. He left them on the floor when he was fucking my wife a minute ago... When he gets home with blood all over his face, don't let him tell you that anyone did it but me and I intend to finish the job if he comes near me or my wife again."

I turned and walked away, as she stood there stunned, staring at me. I got back in my car and returned home and went in through the front door. I could hear the shower running upstairs. I walked into the kitchen shutting off the music, I looked out into my back yard. Ken was no longer there, I guess he is running through backyards bare ass, trying to make his way home. My hands were shaking, making myself a coffee with the Keurig machine, I just sat there at the kitchen table. I heard the shower stop but she never came out of the bathroom.

How did my life come to this? What do I do now? Sitting there in silence for the longest time, then I heard a police siren and knew that they were coming for me. Finishing my coffee, I put the mug in the sink and proceeded for the front door to face my fate. Stepping out into the front yard, I saw the police car parked in front of Ken's house. His wife was screaming and attacking him on the lawn as the police were pulling her off of him. A crowd of neighbours were gathering so I went back inside the house and closed the door. It appears as though Ken might be having as bad a day as I am.

Heading upstairs to my bedroom l laid down on the bed waiting for when my wife would eventually come out of the master suite to face me. I laid there with my eyes closed thinking about how I got to this moment. It all started at the block barbecue the best I can gather. The neighbourhood barbecue was an event that took place once every May long weekend. Our neighbour across the street lived here forever, knew everybody. Had a big house, pool in the backyard and always put on this annual event. I always try to help him out as much as possible either toting beer or helping on the barbecue, while everyone else just likes to indulge, socialize and take advantage as far as I was concerned.

My wife, Nicole, was more of an extrovert, I was a little bit more introverted. So she was always a little bit more social, getting to know and talk with everyone. I do not know why I noticed but I did, our neighbour who had just moved in half a year ago, at the end of the street. His name was Ken, so I am told, always appeared to be within arm's reach of my wife. Every time I looked up to try to find her to see what she was up to or who she was talking to, he was at her side. Doing nothing out of the ordinary, but just in her presence constantly. I would see her laughing and talking with him, you know that look that women get when they seem to be really interested. Body language, head tilted, flicking her hair, laughing, turned towards the person they're speaking with, nonverbal signals. After a while I walked up behind my wife, put my arm around her and asked, "Who's your friend?"

When she introduced me and said, "This is Ken, the new neighbour who lives down at the end of the street."

"Oh pleased to meet you, is your wife here with you?"

He looked nervous then said, "Yes, I mean no, she was here earlier but one of the kids wasn't feeling well, so she left."

"I'm sorry I never got an opportunity to meet her."

Ken smiled then walked away without any further comment. For the first time since we got here Nicole gave me a funny look. I don't know if she was irritated, thought that I was rude to him or maybe she was nervous. Maybe she thought I might have heard something inappropriate between them, but she didn't say anything. After a few hours we had a couple of drinks and ate we decided to head back to the house.

Making sure our daughter Anna, had not destroyed the place. You never know when you have a thirteen year old.

That night as Nicole was getting ready for bed she was putting lotion on. Standing there nude freshly out of the shower, as I was lying on the bed watching her through the bathroom door. I started inquiring, "So what did Ken have to say, you two seem to talk quite a bit?"

She said, "Nothing in particular, he just talked about his wife and kids.... He is on a baseball league team, the captain and they're looking for an extra player. They are one person shy because someone quit. He asked me if I would join the team if that was okay? It starts next week, I would like to join."

"If that's something you really want to do Nicole, but I sort of thought that we would spend our spare time working on that cottage I inherited from Dad. So we'd have a country home near the water. You know it needs some renovations before we can use it this summer and I don't really play ball."

"Gabe, they are only looking for one player and I did play ball in school, you know I enjoyed it. And it would be good exercise for me, come on honey. You don't mind do you?"

How could I begrudge her, I thought at the time. Even though I thought of the cottage as a family thing that we could bond together and work on. So it came about she would spend Saturday playing ball. I would spend that day on the weekend, up at our cottage. It was only a one and a half hour drive if the traffic was good. Seeing as my wife was not coming, my daughter periodically would come up to the cottage with me and give me a hand if needed. But I didn't want to take advantage of that, She is a teenage girl with interests of her own.

The second incident that caught my attention, was three weeks later she was talking on her cell phone in the kitchen and I was outside cutting the grass. I was having a hard time that morning getting our gas lawn mower started. So when I took a break to grab a drink, I decided, not to shut it off. Afraid that it wouldn't start again before I finished cutting the lawn. The back door to the kitchen was locked which was sort of peculiar. I ended up coming in through the front door. I guess she never heard me she was laughing, talking to someone on her cell, when I approached from behind. Standing there for a second just watching her as she had her back to me. She was twirling her hair on her finger again, head tilted sideways her right foot was balanced up against her left knee standing almost like a flamingo. When I heard what I thought I heard!

"Stop it you're being naughty. If your wife heard you talking that way." she laughed. I cleared my throat, she turned around and almost dropped the phone. She juggled the cell phone for a second in her hand and then pushed end call. Looking up at me, a very nervous look on her face saying. "Gabriel I didn't hear you, everything ok?"

"Yeah, Yeah. Everything's fine, just came in for a drink of water. Are you going to hang up the phone? Whoever you're talking to!"

"Oh no, they already hung up on me! It was just one of the girls from the baseball team."

In that moment I had caught my wife in a lie for the first time, I was certain of it. I just smiled got a drink of water and went back. My Spidey-Senses now knew something was up and I was going to keep an eye on this situation.

One thing I started doing was, periodically checking to see where she was when she was not home. When we bought our new identical cell phones, I set up an online tracker to find them in case they went missing or lost. It was not uncommon for Nicole to misplace her phone in the car or house, she was constantly searching for her keys for that matter. I also made it a point from here on in to pay attention when she was logging on to her cell. I had never noticed before but she had a log in pin. It took me about six times to get the numbers that she was punching in, without being obvious. After that I started checking her cell phone messages.

The next situation I remember was when I checked her cell location one time after I had stopped for a cup of coffee on my way back from the cottage. Assuming she'd be at the ballpark, the phone tracker said that she was actually what appeared to be a restaurant bar, a few kilometres away from the park. So, I gave her a call, it went to voicemail. Five minutes later she called me back and said, "Hi, you were trying reach me?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way back from the cottage. just coming into town thought I'd come by the park and see you play."

Once again she paused, the reply sounded nervous. "Oh, well the game is over and I'm at home now."

I said, "Okay I will see you there," and hung up before she could ask any more questions. That was lie number two. I headed towards the bar, when I got there circling the parking lot, her car wasn't there. I checked my phone again and now it registered that she was at home. I went straight there, when I arrived, she was in the shower. Not uncommon after sweating playing ball. When Nicole got out, she was having a hard time keeping eye contact with me. I asked her outright, "So after these games do you ever go out for a drinks with the team?"

She looked at me with stunned silence for a moment, then answered. "Yes, sometimes, actually we did today, but I left after one drink and came right home."

Nicole changed the subject and started asking me about the cottage. Then recommended she should pick up our daughter. I became dismissive and said, "I'm going to take a shower if there's still hot water."

The following weekend, we had a big fight. I asked her to come to the cottage with me this weekend and help out because our daughter shouldn't be the one to have to do all the work. She said that it was an important game, to which I replied, "When did baseball become more important than your family? This cottage is something for us to enjoy and I am never going have it ready. I want this to be to your satisfaction, a place where we can go, make memories as a family.'' She just marched off in a huff.

That evening when she was getting ready for bed, I got an opportunity to check her phone. In the recent past all messages were deleted but, this time there was a message there with Ken's wife's name, Louise. That was strange because I never heard her talk about Louise! I didn't know that they were any more than casual acquaintances such as myself. I read the message, it read.

{Looking forward to seeing you, are we on for this weekend?}

That was very peculiar. I went down to the corner payphone and called the number that was listed under Louise. Ken's voice recording came on {I can't answer the phone right now}..... I hung up immediately, I suspect that was Ken's cell phone and she had put his wife's name in order to throw me off. What did it mean by, looking forward to seeing you and this weekend? Was that regarding the ball game or something else? I would keep closer tabs on this? Coming back into the house she asked me where I was. "Checking the mail at the box I stated."

Getting an opportunity to check her phone again an hour later when she was in the bathroom, the message was gone.

Got my next big break when I was in the backyard the next day, after returning from dropping our daughter at a friend's. I saw her in the kitchen window on her phone texting, I got an idea. There was a metal garbage can sitting outside our house that we used for brush and yard waste. I turned it upside down and I took a hammer from the shed and hit the bottom of the can really hard making a loud crash sound. Then ran around to the front of the house and came in the front door I looked outside, and my wife was looking around the yard trying to figure out where the noise came from, calling my name. I see her cell sitting on the counter and I picked it up just as I suspected. I had disrupted her, and she never had an opportunity to clear the message.

It was Louise again.......TEXT

{Was hoping to come over Saturday say 10:00 am? Go over a few things regarding baseball uniforms, before the game. Maybe get a peek at that sweet ass of yours.}

Her text message back. {That will be fine Gabriel, should be off to the the cottage anyways by then and you keep your eyes off my sweet ass. If Gabe had seen that bruise were you pinched me, there would have been hell to pay. Don't get any idea buster, I told you before. I'm not going to cheat on my husband. Let's say 10:30 if that works for you!}

I quickly set the phone down and went back out the front door. Went around the house and came in the back door. Nicole was standing looking confused in the kitchen with her phone in her hand saying, "What the hell was that noise?"

I said, "I don't know, but it came from the neighbour's house, I heard it too as I arrived!"

So the game was a foot, her interpretation is different than mine. I think she's already crossed the line. I had told her that I was going up to the cottage again on Saturday, but I would be back for our daughter's band recital. Anyways I once again got a dig in about the fact that I had asked for her help, and she had decided to play ball with her friends. I knew she already had plans and this was my opportunity to catch her in whatever was going on. She actually said she was sorry, and would make it up to me. "Maybe after Anna's recital, I could help you pick out some paint colours."

I was shocked, this is the first time that she had shown any interest. That's how it all came about. I never went to the cottage that morning. After dropping our daughter Anna off for practice, I went out for a coffee and periodically checked to see if her cell phone had left the house at about 11:00 am. I came back parked my car at the house next door and came in through the back door....

Snapping back to the here and now, I opened my eyes as I heard the bathroom door click open. Nicole peaked her head out of the door towel wrapped around her body. Tears in her eyes "Gabe!"....

"Not now Nicole... I'm going to assume that the ball game has been cancelled today. I'm going out I'll pick up our daughter later and I will meet you at the recital. Take your own car." I got up off the bed and walked out before she could say another word. Without looking back, I left the house. I looked down the street everything was quiet at Ken's place. The police were gone I guess time will tell how that played out.

Nicole story

Oh my God, what have I done here? Standing, water cascading over me in the shower, running through my thoughts. My husband just caught me with another man. How did it get to this?

I guess it all began sort of at the barbecue, I was talking to our new neighbour's Ken and Louise. I'm not exactly sure where Gabe was at the time, but had they no sooner arrived when Louise had to leave. Ken started chatting me up, He's very charming, good looking man. I would say probably about five years younger than Gabe and myself. He was telling me about how they had just moved to town and were trying to meet new people. Ken had a very outgoing personality and was easy to talk to, said he was a salesman by trade, and it showed. He had only been here a few months and already was a coach of a local baseball team.

That's how the conversation progressed, I used to play baseball back in school. Life was simple in those days without the pressures of work, family life and obligations. He seemed really interested in everything I had to say. Ken asked me where my husband was and why such a good looking woman would be left unattended. I remember laughing and saying, oh I'm certain he is around here somewhere. I commented about how attractive his wife was. When I told him that I used to play he asked me if I would be interested in joining the team. That they were looking for someone. I said, I could not put a lot of time into it. I am manager of a sporting goods store in the mall through the week. Ken stated, "It's just a friendly game, we only play on the Saturdays anyways just for fun."

"That sounded perfect," I told him that I just might do that.

Gabe offered his blessing but appeared to be a little miffed over the fact that I would not be able to help him with the cottage on Saturdays. When we initially talked about renovating the cottage he told me he was only going to do it on Saturdays because Sundays were for family, and he always helped me with the laundry, house cleaning and groceries.

That first ball game I had A-blast, even Gabe was there to cheer me on but afterwards he reminded me that I had promised to help him work on our new cottage. He didn't understand how important this might be to me to have something that I really enjoyed. At the time I remember thinking at least Ken understood.

Gabe never came to another game and I never went to the cottage that was probably my second mistake. I did make a promise to him, and this is something that was important for us to do as a family. It's not like I wasn't looking forward to spending some time out of this city that I had grown sick of and a job that bored me. I don't know what was wrong with me. My teenage daughter just didn't seem to need me any longer. I was now past the 40 threshold and as much as I loved my husband with all my heart, I just felt off. I should have sat down with Gabe and told him how I was feeling inside and kept the dialog open, Gabe always believed in open communication for a good marriage and would always hear me out.

My third mistake was allowing Ken to flirt with me and reciprocating. I was sort of surprised that Ken's wife never came to any of the games. He said that she worked in real estate and a lot of times worked on the weekends doing house showings. He told me, she really showed no interest in sports, Throughout the course of the next six weeks, my daughter helped her dad at the cottage twice. Also came to two of my games with her friends. I was always very careful to keep my distance from Ken when she came by, didn't want any silly misunderstandings getting back to my husband. But I cannot say that I didn't enjoy the flattery Ken offered other times. Things progressed to the point where, Ken smack me on the butt and told me good job one time when I hit a home run. From there touching my bottom became commonplace when the other team members weren't looking. I didn't stop it even though I knew it was wrong. It made me feel... I don't know... I guess desirable.