Equalizer

I had to agree with him on that one.

So at the end, Candace, against the advice of her shark, took the deal that William offered. She was allowed to have 2 hours of supervised visitation every other weekend. Yeah, when the tape was played for the Judge in his chambers, he absolutely refused to have her left alone with the children she had threatened to kidnap. Then when Kevin testified on the stand about what he'd witnessed that day, Candace paled and actually started crying. It was the most human thing I'd seen her do since I got drawn into the middle of this shitstorm. She was crying and apologizing to her son, daughter, and even William. I think she finally realized how far out in the ditch she was, as Dr. Phil would say.

She was given $2000 a month for alimony, payable for 3 years, or until she married again, whichever came first. The Judge waived child support, since William was more than capable of providing for his kids.

At the final hearing, Candace even apologized to William for the shit she'd put him through for the past year and a half. I thought poor William was going to die of shock, but he soldiered on and accepted her apology graciously. He was a better man than I would have been in that situation. I would have told her to go fuck herself. No shame. I don't like cheaters. Period. I also don't like it when someone forces someone else to accept an untenable situation. That was what Candace had done. William wasn't physically capable of fighting back against her former lover, so she used that and the threat of taking his kids to get him to kind of go along with the whole fuckin' thing.

Hell, he'd fought back the only way he could at the time. He hired some outside talent - me - to do what he was physically incapable of doing. Now, however, he could defend himself. For a bean counter, he's an evil shot with that Smith & Wesson. Yes, we'd gone to the range together, and he showed me his skills. The man had a tight shot group at 10 meters. Both center mass and head shots. I was impressed.

And so it went, as far as the final Divorce gavel banging William out of his crappy marriage to an insane harpy... Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh. She DID show a little humanity at the end.

William gave me a final check for 50K, plus a case of beer. Did I mention the fact that I like my former boss? He's a good guy. Gordon was still at large, but without his trust fund to draw from, it was just a matter of time before the cops caught up to him.

Then again, this IS the LAPD we're talking about.

Tabby and I were seated with Maggie and Shelly. William and his kids were seated across from us in his living room. William had tried to hire Tabby as his new lawyer, but she said no. She was going to do something else, but Shelly would be a more than adequate substitute.

That took her partners by surprise, not to mention yours truly. I was as shocked as the rest of them.

Tabby leaned over to me after her announcement and whispered in my ear. "We'll talk about it later. I want to discuss it with you before I tell them."

"Tell them what?" I whispered back.

"Later, baby," she replied with a wink. Ok, now I was wondering what it could be.

"Anyway," she continued, looking at our friends, "We need to get going. Deck and I have a lot to talk about."

She was smiling when she said it, but now I was worried. She had turned down a lucrative position as William Turner's general attorney, and wanted to discuss something with me before she told our friends anything about what she had planned.

"We understand, hon," Shelly said and gave us both hugs. "Just let us know what's going on, ok?"

"I will, I promise," Tabby replied, then gave William and Maggie hugs too. When Maggie hugged me, she whispered "If Tabby wasn't my friend, I would try for you in a heartbeat."

"Sorry, I'm in love with your friend, so I'm off limits," I whispered in reply.

"Good to know," she said, then reached down and squeezed my ass.

"Hey, girl! Enough of that. He's mine!" Tabby said with a laugh.

"Just checking the goods," Maggie winked at her friend with a grin.

"Uh huh. Likely story," Tabby said, rolling her eyes. "Ok, we need to go. See you all later."

With that, we left out of there and drove to our place. Yes, I had convinced Tabby to move in with me, as my place was bigger. She insisted on redecorating, of course. Hey, she has good taste, so I couldn't complain. She cleaned up my bachelor pad, and I had to admit that it looked and smelled a lot better when she was done. I got her put on the Lease, and she was paying half the rent now.

"Ok, so what do we need to talk about, sweetheart?" I asked as we drove.

"When we get home, baby. Trust me, it isn't anything bad."

"I trust you, honey. I'm just curious," I smiled. It was true. I trusted her more than anyone else in my life, except for my aunt, uncle, and cousin. We were planning a trip up to Santa Barbara in a few months to visit them, and introduce everyone.

When Aunt Naomi had asked about a girlfriend, I'd admitted that I was seeing someone special, and we were moving in together. She then demanded that I bring her up to meet them, and I had agreed. When I told Tabby about that, she readily agreed, saying she would love to meet my family.

Unfortunately, her case load was pretty heavy, and she couldn't afford to take a week off until a few months later.

When we got inside the apartment and after a long and passionate kiss, I looked her in the eyes. "Ok, spill it. What do you want to talk about, babygirl?"

"A business opportunity," she winked. "What you did for William is something that we could market."

"What do you mean? Being a bodyguard? Been there, done that," I laughed.

"Bodyguards don't do what you did for him. Sure, they protect him, but you taught him how to protect himself and his family. You went above and beyond what most bodyguards would do. What did he keep calling you? His 'equalizer?' I like that, and it sounds like you know what you're doing."

I snorted at that. "If it hadn't taken so long to get a plan together that actually worked, it would have gone a lot smoother in the beginning."

"You couldn't have predicted what Gordon would do, baby. You improvised in every situation, and ended up coming out on top."

"True," I shrugged.

"So what I propose his this: We market you as The Equalizer. Kind of a bodyguard/P.I. with extra services."

"Now that sounds like I'd also be a paid escort," I chuckled.

"Hmm. Ok, then how about a Bodyguard who goes above and beyond?"

"We can work that out later, sweetheart," I chuckled. "I like the general idea, though."

"Good. We can hash out the details after you take me to bed and fuck me senseless," she said in a very sultry voice.

Who the hell was I to argue with that kind of logic? I grinned and took her in my arms, kissing her lovingly. Then I did what she asked me to do.

* * * * *

We awoke the next morning, still wrapped in each other's naked embrace. Her warm skin and soft lips made me hard again for her, and before she knew what was happening, I was between her thighs, eating that sweet pussy of hers as she started to writhe and slowly woke up.

"Mmmmm, that feels good, baby," she moaned sleepily as my tongue delved deep inside her beautiful wet pussy. Her fingers entangled themselves in my hair, holding my head in place as I ate her out like a man possessed.

I had never tasted a pussy as sweet as hers, and I love eating pussy! My tongue circled her aroused clit, before taking it between my lips and sucking gently as my tongue flicked across it.

"Oh God, yes!" she gasped as I slid a finger inside her and started rubbing her g-spot, while my tongue and lips continued worshipping her clit. I licked and sucked her sweet cunt slowly, giving her the slow build up that I knew she craved from the months since we'd fucked and made love the first time.

"G..Gon..Gonna come, baby!" she gasped again as she went rigid, her back arching up off the bed as her hands tightened their grip in my hair.

In response, I sucked harder on her clit, my tongue flicking quickly across her nub in my mouth. She screamed as I tasted the gush of her cum and rode out her hips bucking up off the bed as each wave of her orgasm crashed over her.

"Oh my GODDDD!!" she exclaimed loudly as she came hard. "Sweet Jesus, baby! Every fuckin' time you eat my pussy, you make my come so fuckin' hard!"

"Good. I love making you come hard, sweetheart," I said with a grin as I moved up over her, licking and kissing her smooth flat tummy. My lips and tongue trailed up to her hard nipples atop of firm breasts, and I suckled each one into my mouth as she moaned. I arched my back forward, and the head of my cock slipped between her wet, engorged pussy lips.

"Mmmmm, you sure know how to wake a girl up in the morning, baby," she cooed as I thrust forward slowly into her as her legs went around me. Her ankles locked together behind my ass, pulling me as far into her as I could go.

Her pussy was already extremely tight after her climax, and I had to work my cock into her slowly. She fit me like a glove, and I reveled in her tight wetness. We gazed into each other's eyes as I started moving slowly, making love to this beautiful ebony woman below me.

"I love you, baby," she whispered as I leaned down and kissed her long sensuous neck, my cock buried all the way inside her.

"I love you too, Beautiful," I responded the same way. Her short natural hair left her gorgeous neck exposed for my lips and tongue as her arms wrapped around me, holding me to her as we moved together. The friction between our bodies built slowly, surely, inexorably. Our souls were drawn into each other's gaze as we gave everything we had to the other. Our lovemaking that morning was slow and sensual. And when we finally came together, it was in one long wave with almost no build-up. No shrieks of ecstasy, but rather moans of pleasure came from our mouths as our climaxes broke over us in a gentle wave.

As we came together in mutual ecstasy, I once again marveled at how she loved to feel me coming inside her. I think it felt even better to both of us because of our love for each other. With my ex-wife, she'd been on the pill, so I didn't wear condoms. With the FWBs I'd been involved with, I had used condoms religiously. Even then, I went and got checked out every few months, just to be on the safe side.

But with Tabby, I trusted her more than anyone else I'd been with, including Cindy. She had shown me a clean bill of health after she'd told me about her brush with the clap, and how her ex had given it to her. It was only a precaution for both of us.

The first time Tabby said "I love you" to me was when we'd just finished watching a movie at her place. I responded with "I love you, too" automatically, then realized that I meant every word.

When she wasn't working, and I wasn't guarding William, we spent a lot of time talking about anything and everything. Her views are a bit more liberal than mine, but not to such a degree that we would argue that much.

We had a few debates about politics, and found that we both could understand and respect each other's view. I also found out that she's Catholic, too, even though neither of us practices all that much. We went to Mass together one Sunday a month for Confession and Communion, and that was it.

But this morning, we had other things to discuss besides religion and politics.

"Ok, baby," I said, grinning after we'd finished showering. "What ideas did you have for our new business?"

"Well, for starters, I'd like to hire you for the Firm, and have you available to help clients. Maggie handles Divorces, as you know, so she would definitely need your talents for nasty divorces like the one that just finished between William and Candace. Shelly helps her out, but also works personal injury cases on her own. I'm going to be much more selective about who I take on as clients now, thanks to Gordon. So yes, I think you'll have enough work to keep you busy. You'd get one third of our normal fees as payment. You'd basically be a bodyguard-slash-private investigator. So, what do you think, baby?" she said, making a compelling case. It definitely sounded interesting.

I thought about everything she'd said for a moment. "Well, as long as nobody wants to use me for assassinations or thug work, I don't see any problem with that," I said with a shrug.

"What? You don't like killing people?" she chided with a loving smirk.

"You already know the answer to that, sweetheart," I smirked back. I'd killed before, in the line of duty, but it wasn't my favorite pastime.

"So?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Oh, I was definitely going to take my girlfriend's job offer. "So, I'll do it," I shrugged and smiled.

"Woohoo!" she woohooed with a big grin.

The rest of the morning was spent at her office, where she told Maggie and Shelly about what my job would be with the Firm, and how I would be available for any cases for which they needed me.

Life went on.

* * * * *

Tabby and I grew even closer in the following weeks, if that was possible. William kept in touch, and we sometimes went to his house for dinner.

We found out that Candace had left town, moving in with her sister up in Santa Clarita. The supervised visitation was going well. She would come down every other weekend to try and mend her relationship with her children.

While they were cold to her at first, they eventually realized that she had changed a lot since Kevin's testimony about what he'd witnessed. That had been the wakeup call she'd needed, but it had come too late to save her marriage. While she would always be their mother, there would never be quite the same level of love in their hearts for her as they had once had.

While William was relating the tale, Tabby squeezed my hand tightly, giving me a look that spoke volumes about her own values and how she wouldn't ever do what Candace had done.

While Gordon wasn't mentioned much, we never lost sight of the fact that he was still out there somewhere. He had very limited resources now, but he was still dangerous. I'd learned a lot about him over the months since this whole mess had started. When he wanted to be, he was very charismatic. He could convince a Nun to have sex, is the way that Candace had described him.

Yes, I got a chance to talk with Candace about the whole mess and how it had started. I wanted to know how she had fallen for the asshole, to the point where she was willing to go along with anything he wanted, including making William a knowing but unwilling cuckold.

She said she'd met him at a fund raiser she'd gone to with William, and William confirmed that. Up until then, she had loved and respected William as a man and a husband, but after Gordon started whispering in her ear that her husband didn't deserve her, and that he was more than man enough to take care of her, she had started to waver.

The seduction had been slow and deliberate. It had taken two months for him to wear down her resistance.

It had started innocently enough. It always does, right? She had given him her cell number, to ostensibly coordinate for the next big charity fund raiser. Well, he had started with flirting texts and pics. William had to leave the room at that, as he didn't want to be reminded of the whole mess. Hell, he only stayed civil with her due to the fact that they had two kids together.

Anyway, she related how it had all been just innocent flirting, up to the point where it had stopped being innocent. She admitted that Gordon had become angry after he kissed her for the first time, and she'd pushed him away. She told him it was wrong, that she loved William, and Gordon had glared at her like he was going to hit her.

He had apologized immediately for getting angry, and had smooth talked his way into her forgiving him. But then he touched her again, and she had given in. He was just "so handsome" and "so manly" that she couldn't resist him anymore.

After seeing him almost strike Tabby, I believed he probably would have hit Candace if she hadn't given into him.

After that first time, it snowballed quickly out of control. It was only two weeks after that first time that Gordon wanted her to make William a knowing cuckold. Whether or not he was willing, didn't matter to Gordy boy.

It was a power trip for Gordy, and as it turned out, Candace too. She had discovered a cruel streak in her that she found both disconcerting and liberating at the same time. The only line she wouldn't cross had to deal with her kids. Oh, she was fine with the "using the kids as leverage to keep William from divorcing her" plot, but she steadfastly refused to let Gordon meet the kids and try to subvert them away from William. She was adamant about that, but Gordon had never given up on it.

She said that William was their father, and Gordon wasn't. He also kept pressuring her to Divorce William, and she was starting to lean that way when it all finally blew up in their faces. That was when William hired me, just in case you forgot.

She realized now that she had lost herself in the affair. She also realized that she had lost much more than just herself. She'd lost her husband and children too. William was never going to take her back, no matter what she said or did. The hell she'd put him through for over a year had totally killed what love he'd had for her. Kevin and Tara had lost all respect for their mom, and even though they were being cordial to her again, it was questionable whether or not they would ever fully love and respect her again after what she'd done to their father.

William, for his part, had tried to act immediately after Candace had delivered her original ultimatum. He had consulted with some of the best Divorce lawyers in the state, and had been told the same thing by all of them. "Unless she puts the children in an illegal or blatantly immoral situation and you have rock solid proof of that; or unless she's in prison, she stands a 99% chance of getting full custody in the Divorce."

Thus had begun his mission to find a P.I. that would help him out. For some reason, they had all balked at the illegal means they thought they would have to use. Only one would help, and all he did was gather the evidence of the Adultery itself; video, still picture, and audio proof that Candace and Gordon were having the affair.

When William had shown copies of the pics to Candace, she and Gordon had gone ballistic on him. Candace said that if he sent those to her parents as he had threatened, he would never see his kids again. Gordon had threatened to kill him outright.

So William had felt trapped. He never gave up, though. He even considered hiring more... militant help, but finally discarded that idea. He didn't want to kill anyone, no matter how much Candace and Gordon might have deserved it.

And so it was. When she'd recounted her fall from grace, Candace's tears had been real. She truly regretted her decisions during the whole mess, and was now in counseling. As far as William was concerned, however, he already told me that Hell would have a Hockey team before he took her back.

I had to chuckle at that.

* * * * *

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... Oh wait. This isn't Jaws 2. But something similar ran through my head after the feces hit the rotating oscillator.

Two months after the Divorce was final was when shit happened on a monumental scale.

No, Candace had nothing to do with it. She really was repentant over what she'd done. No, this involved the MIA Asshole, Gordon Smith.

I'd started helping out with cases at the Firm, working for Maggie, mostly. Divorce cases are almost always trench warfare style dirty fighting. Granted, my first case for her was fairly straight forward. Get the proof that a wayward hubby was cheating on his bride. That was easy.