Ellie and Harm Ch. 02

Ellie laughed. "But that would be immoral," she said half seriously.

The incongruity of her demeanor and remarks floored me.

I couldn't escape Ellie for the entire week. We had sex on Wednesday and again on Thursday. I felt dirty doing it with her, but I did not want to tip her off or cause her to become suspicious, besides I was horny as hell. I had the feeling that she felt she owed it to me to fuck me since she was going to be doing it with Phillips. The generosity of her soul was just too wonderful to express. Clearly she didn't want me to be totally deprived—betrayed yes—but deprived; perish the thought. Thinking about it, I was getting really pissed.

Friday afternoon, I went home to pick up my already packed stuff and headed out to the marina to meet up with the boys. Ellie was already gone to the clinic, so I didn't have to look at her. I decided to have as much fun as I could. No reason to suffer any more than necessary. Rex was on the job and the house was wired. I felt strange about the whole thing. Here I was into all of this cloak and dagger shit for the sole purpose of screwing over my wife for having screwed me over, and I was about to go fishing; it was a helluva life, I thought. I watched the shore and my marriage recede as we pulled away from the dock.

The trip out was fun, the sea a little choppy, but the forty footer, that belonged to Fallon's dad, a rich contractor in the Valley, was more than adequate to the task. We ate, drank a train load of beer, and I felt better than I had in days.

While I was at sea, I got a call on my cell.

"Yeah...oh Rex...really...okay...do what you can," I said, and hung up.

Annie had been picked up by her friend minutes after I had departed; and no sooner had she gone than Ellie had returned from work—after just two hours on the job—and parked on the street in front of the house.

Rex thought that she must have forgotten something at the house and would go back to work immediately. But, that was not the case. Twenty minutes after she arrived, a Toyota pickup pulled into the driveway. The garage door opened and the pickup pulled inside. It was obvious that the two sinners didn't want the neighbors wondering whose car was sitting in the driveway. The die was cast.

Saturday morning dawned red and blustery. The seas which had been mild chop the day before were now crashing on the bow. We headed back in. None of us had any dreams about riding out any perfect storm. Two days later the news announced that two light fishing craft had gone down over the weekend.

Docking at around 9:00AM, I rang Rex. He was at home.

"Yeah...the storm...it was pretty rough...he was there all night...I think I might sneak on down there...Yes...yes...I will be careful...you...in an hour...okay." I hung up.

The sonovabitch had slept over. I was in a quandary. Should I risk trying to catch them redhanded. Should I wait for Rex to make sure the bugs had done their job? I gnashed my teeth and decided to wait. But, I couldn't just sit. I had to do something.

I rented a car and left mine at the marina. I drove to my street and parked several doors down on the opposite side hoping to get some shots of the asshole if he came out. I'd been there about forty minutes when Rex arrived. He parked behind me, got out, and slid into my car beside me.

"You shouldn't be here, Harm. It's better you let me do the nasties. Husbands always screw things up. It's one reason the women usually walk away with the lion's share in divorce cases. Trust me," he said.

I nodded. "I just want to see his face. I mean I know the guy. But, I want to see the satisfied look on his miserable face."

"He might not..."

A chill ran through me. Turning the corner a red Chevy drove slowly by the house; Annie was in the passenger seat. "Fuck! that's my daughter," I said with a vehemence born of fear. "Rex, catch that kid and steer her away from here. I've got the detail, okay. Tell her what you need to but get her the heck outta here."

"You got it buddy."

Rex jumped in his car and chased the Chevy. I saw the two cars turn the corner, and just as they did I saw a flashing light emanate from Rex's front window. The doggone guy had a police-style flashing blue light. That had to be illegal, but it would get the girls in that car to stop, and that was the goal.

Five minutes later he was back. "I had to tell her you knew. She does too."

"Sweet Geezsus, does that kid miss anything!" I said.

"Not a whole helluva lot," said Rex. "Tell her if she ever needs a job to look me up."

I just stared at him. He wasn't kidding.

******

I was around noon when the two lovebirds decided to come out. They moved quickly, one might have said furtively to her car, which was still parked by the curb, and left. I followed them. Rex went into the house. He had evidence to collect. I was to call him as soon as I knew where the dynamic duo was headed. Ten minutes later they pulled into an IHOP. Evidently Ellie was too worn out to cook him breakfast. I wondered who would be paying.

I had the urge to go inside and join them. It would be more than interesting to hear the bullshit. But, I resisted—barely.

I called Rex. "Yeah at the IHOP on 3rd...you got it all...good...the audio...excellent...can't wait to see the pics."

We talked for a minute more. He said he was using my computer transfer all of the pics and videos as we spoke. He said the quality was excellent and the evidence damning. He was going to send me copies of everything and Adele Carter as well. I was to tip him off when the evil doers were done eating in case he had to get outta there in a hurry.

It was almost an hour later that Ellie and her boyfriend exited the restaurant. They were hand in hand talking and smiling and having a gay old time. I wondered about the condition of the house. I was betting they hadn't had a chance to clean up. I decide to walk in on them. We had it all evidence-wise.

Annie knew everything. The marriage was over. No need to wait. Why let them get it on anymore than they already had.

I called Rex to let him know. I was expecting him to try and call me off, but he didn't. He said he'd wait there inside and hide somehow and be my witness. "But, Harm, do not offer either of them any violence; it'd ruin your case."

"I won't," I said.

I followed my wife and her adulterous asshole boyfriend back to the house. I turned down a couple of different streets to avoid being seen, I knew where they were headed, and gave them enough time to get inside.

On the way, I had an inspiration. I called Rex. "Yeah Rex...call Mrs. Phillips and get her over here...yeah...tell her anything...tell her the truth if you have to."

Fifteen minutes later the lovers parked in front of the house and hurried inside. I knew Rex was in there somewhere; I had visions of him being a voyeur hiding inside of a closet or something. But I wanted to wait for Mrs. Phillips. They lived near the school which was but five minutes away. She pulled up eight minutes later. I intercepted her.

"Did Rex tell you?" I said.

"Yes," she hissed. "He said your whore and my asshole are inside doing the hootchiekoo!"

"Yeah, and this is not the first time. You'll get all of the pics, audio, and videos," I told her. We headed for the house.

"The fuckwad," she muttered. "We have three kids. The fucking cheating asshole..."

Hearing a woman as pretty and as classy as Rachel Phillips talking trash like that shocked me. But, that was fodder for another day. Right now we had to ruin a sexual interlude. I whipped out my cell and set it to take pictures. I wanted to catch the look on their faces when we destroyed their plans.

******

I wanted to avoid the windows as much as possible I wasn't going to go in the front door. We snuck around the back to the basement door and let ourselves in quietly. We could hear voices upstairs, but the words were still indistinguishable.

"Careful of the third step," I admonished her, "it squeaks."

I stepped over it as we climbed the stairs. She was glued to me. As incongruous and untimely as it sounds, her nearness was turning me on. She was a sexy woman. The asshole she was married to sure didn't deserve her.

At the top of the stairs I listened at the door. They were further away, probably in the front room. I slowly opened the door and signaled her to follow.

"You're sure proud of that cock aren't you, big guy?" I heard Ellie say.

"You like it well enough." Laughed Phillips.

We walked in to the living room and stopped just inside the doorway. Phillips was completely naked. Ellie was still dressed except for her blouse which she had apparently just taken off.

"Harm!" Ellie's face was suddenly Confederate gray. The tears literally sprang from her eyes. She had run out of words.

"Hello shitass," said Rachel as she advanced on her frightened and shocked husband. "Do not come home today. I will send a bag of clothes to your mother's tomorrow. The marriage is over. If you don't contest it, and if you stay away from me and the kids until I say you can visit, I will let you keep your car and your personal stuff. Everything else is lost to you. Got it big boy!" She snapped her fingers at him and he quailed.

"Harm..." Ellie said. "I'm sorry. Tell Annie, I'm sorry too."

She picked up her blouse and purse and left.

Her paramour dressed quickly and left too. I heard the garage door opener engage and the roar of his engine and then he was gone.

Rex emerged from the walk in closet in the downstairs guest room. We talked, just the three of us. Rachel was crying her eyes out. Mine were misting over too. It was not a happy occasion.

******

Annie returned about an hour after the confrontation. She immediately assessed the happenings.

"How long have you known, Annie," I said. I was a little miffed at her because she hadn't come to me.

"I didn't know for sure, dad. It was the smell," she said.

"Huh?" I said. Rex was interested too.

"Mr. Phillips wears this really awful cologne. Last week when you were gone I smelled it in the house. I knew it wasn't yours at least I was pretty sure it wasn't. So, I got suspicious and arranged to be at Shelly's. I wanted to see if the asshole showed up when he thought we were gone. He did, and I was hopping mad. I was going to try and call you, but Mr. Coleman intercepted me before I could."

"My offer to you about her still stands," said Rex.

I just shook my head. What a kid.

"Dad, what are you going to do about mom?"

"I'm divorcing her, Annie. I have no choice. I love her; I won't deny it, but she just can't resist the strange..."

"Cock. Yeah, I know dad."

******

The next several days were a nightmare for me. True the pressure was off. My lawyer was licking her chops. Rex was supportive and we'd met a couple of times to drown my sorrows in a tankard of ale, actually several tankards of ale. But I missed my cheatin' heart: Ellie. That I would never see her again was a distinct possibility. After so many years, the psychological investment in our marriage, and our common love for our child: it just wasn't easy to forget it all and start over.

Rachel had become a friend. She had kicked her asshole out, and needed a friendly ear too, I guess. For his part Mr. Phillips had remained scarce since the day of reckoning, but I had a feeling that he'd try to improve his situation as opportunities for him to do so might arise.

He'd quit his job at the school: me being there was more heat than he was willing to endure, at least in the short term, I guess. That his resignation was accepted with little or no demur was telling.

I was sitting in the bar alone talking to Elton. There were few patrons at the moment, and that suited me. I had had too many folks trying to cheer me up since the end had come, too much advice—all well meant—that wouldn't do me any good; I needed to be left alone. Well, apart from my favorite bartender that is.

"Harm, I hear that Phillips guy quit the school. That true," said Elton.

"Yeah, it's true," I said.

"I figured it was. He used to come in all the time. Haven't seen him since you and Ellie..."

I nodded.

Elton meandered up to the other end of the bar as another customer signaled for a fresh yellow-pepsi.

I barely heard him try to get my attention. "Harm."

I looked up at him. I had been more or less meditating on the miserable state of the world until Elton would come on back down to me.

"What?" I said.

He nodded toward the entrance. There as big as life stood the former P.E. department chair of my school.

I spun around on my school and pushed my beer a little farther away from me. I was waiting for the man to see me and leave. He saw me and didn't leave.

"Well, who have we here? Mr. high and mighty, I guess," said Marco.

I didn't respond.

"What's a matter? Cat got your tongue, hot shot." His tone was filled with venom.

"You don't want to push it butthead. I am not in the mood," I said.

"Oh, you're not in the mood. Well, what if I am?" he said.

"That would be another case of bad judgment on your part," I said.

He moved toward me sneering as he came. I got off the stool and stood waiting. He still had a court date with Rachel, and I didn't want to give him any ammunition, but if he took a swing at me all bets were off.

I'd had a couple of beers already, but I was still in control. Marco was at least a hundred pounds heavier than me, but he was arrogant. Confidence born of arrogance was counterfeit, as my old army instructor used to say.

He never broke stride as he unloaded a punch at me as I stood there. I merely side-stepped him and he banged into the bar. He turned and beckoned me with a finger—his middle finger. I said nothing.

Elton was watching the action from behind the bar. He looked amused; I be talking to him about that later on.

Marco was more cautious now. "Oh yeah, he said, "I forgot you were some kind of big shot army man. Let's see how much you remember asshole."

He rushed me. I was hoping for just such an error in judgment. Stepping to the side I flashed a side kick at his knee; the timing was perfect. He hit the ground like a sack of wet cement. The pain had robbed him of his breath.

"Fucking Geezsus!" he cried.

"Hurts like a sonovabitch, huh?" I said.

After a few minutes of swearing and crying, he crawled toward the door and then managed to get himself upright enough to hop and stumble his way out.

I reseated myself at the bar and wondered how in the hell Ellie could ever have decided to trade me in on a shitass like Marco Phillips. The insult was almost worse than the cheating itself—almost.

******

Part three of three coming soon...