Escalating

"Hello."

"Let me talk to Adele," said a gruff male voice.

It crossed Jim's mind that this was a strange call, but he replied, "She's sleeping. Tell me who's calling, and I'll give her your message in the morning."

"This is your replacement calling," answered the gruff voice.

"What's 'Your Replacement?' asked Jim. I don't recall returning any merchandise. I don't think Adele's expecting a replacement for anything. Isn't it a little late to be making a business call?"

"Listen to me, Loser, I am your replacement. She picked me tonight to replace you. When she saw my big cock, and felt it inside her pussy, you became irrelevant. When my fertile cum sprayed into her cervix, I planted her next child in that beautiful garden of hers. Your little 'pencil prick' won't satisfy her anymore. She won't even be able to feel you inside her, you dwarf. Now, put her on. I'm coming to get her right now. I need to tell her the plan."

"Look, Lothario, all I know for sure is that she came home drunk tonight. If what you're telling me is true, then at best, you took advantage of a very drunk woman. Worst case, you raped her. But probably, you're just a liar. How did you meet Adele? You must be a real pussy if they invited you to their 'girls only' party."

"I performed at their party, Loser. In fact, I was your wife's favorite performer. Adele has seen my complete performance. Yes, I do mean complete, in every sense of the word. I'm a superstar to her. If you don't believe it, just ask her. What's with this Lothario shit? That's not my name. Where did you get that?"

"Nicholas Rowe. And by the way, my name is Jim."

"Wrong again, I'm not Nicholas Rowe either. How stupid are you, Loser? Are you just going to keep guessing my name? You're not even close."

"Well, Lothario, Adele could have told you all about those names. I just wonder what she sees in a Philistine like you. She lives and breathes the arts. Can she even carry on a conversation with you?"

"First of all, you're wrong again. I'm not from Philadelphia. In fact, I've never even been there. And for your information, we didn't do much talking. We were way more into fucking than talking. Get used to it, Loser. Don't forget, I'm your replacement."

Jim was getting angry. "So, you're going to replace me? Do you think taking advantage of a drunk woman entitles you to replace her husband? Did she happen to tell you about Linda and Mindy?"

"I met several of her friends at the party, but I don't remember their names. What's that got to do with anything anyway?"

"Well, Linda is her 5-year-old daughter and Mindy is her 3-year-old. Are you prepared to deal with that? Do you have a job other than a bar-room dancer, male stripper or whatever kind of 'performer' you are? Do you have hospitalization that covers pediatric care? Are you ready for a pre-made family? How much love did you muster up in a few hours' time tonight? There's way more to it than sex, Lothario. I don't think you've considered all the implications of replacing me."

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm not only a spectacular performer, I'm going to be a mechanic. I already started my mechanic duties tonight. I took my oily dipstick and rammed it into all three of your wife's intake ports.

"Can't answer your question about insurance, but tell you what, Loser, I think I'll let you continue doing all of those family things that you mentioned. I'll just take over her sex life. Have you heard of domination? I'm the master, she's the slave and you're an observer. From now on, that's how it's going to be. If you doubt it, just ask her. She became my slave tonight and she knows it. You might get a mercy fuck now and then. If you're really nice to me and don't try to interfere, I might be persuaded to allow that. You'll have to learn to live with leftovers and sloppy seconds."

"I don't think so, Lothario. I'm in the driver's seat. Adele loves me. She knows that I'm a good provider. She knows I'm a good father. Unlike you, I don't screw other women for a living. She's way smarter than you think. You caught her in a drunken state. She's not the same woman when she's sober. I think you're in for a big surprise, Lothario."

"You're the one that will get the surprise, Loser. She'll tell you that she wants to get her sex from me. If you don't agree to that, she'll get a divorce. That means she'll clean you out. If you know anything about the law, you know that the wife always comes out a winner in a divorce. You know how you'll come out? You'll come out a loser, Loser."

Now Jim was really mad. "You listen to me. You're not talking to her tonight or ever again. If you come near this house, you'll be greeted by a German Shepherd attack dog and me holding a 45 magnum. It's your call, Barbarian."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with 'performing' at a bar. Adele didn't seem to mind. Listen, Loser, I see you're going to be difficult. Have you noticed her neck? Have you looked at her tits? Have you smelled her panties? Have you examined her pussy?"

"No, I haven't, and I don't intend to. I don't intend to waste any more time with you either. Come on over anytime you have a suicidal wish. You won't get past my security system, my dog or me. It'll be the last thing you do in this life."

Jim calmed down a little, then continued in a lowered but intense voice. "Listen, Lothario, I don't know what kind of game you're playing. It's highly unusual for a person that's bent on taking another man's wife to call the husband and brag about it. In poker, that's equivalent to showing your hand. I'm wondering why you would ever make a call like this. What do you possibly have to gain by telling me that my wife has cheated on me with you? I'm puzzled.

"I'll admit that something happened to my wife tonight. I know that she's very inebriated. That makes me wonder if she was a willing participant. If so, then I need to hear her story. I need to know why. Forgive me if I choose to put more credence in what she has to say than in your unlikely story. If she confirms what you've said, you can be sure that I won't put up with willful infidelity. I will, however, treat her fairly and protect our children from the ensuing fallout. That's what a husband and father does.

"If, however, I determine that you took her against her will or when she wasn't able to make a rational decision, then I'll be dealing with you. Believe me, you won't like the way I deal."

He hung up. He looked at Adele. She seemed oblivious to the call and everything else. She seemed way more out-of-it than she'd been when she first got home.

As he started once again to cover her up, he noticed a few things. Her neck was covered with bite marks. Her tits were sporting hickeys and bruises. Between her legs was a sticky, white pool of cum that was leaking from her pussy. A pussy which, by the way, was redder than a beet. It looked overused. Hell, it looked damaged. It was a gaping hole. You could lose a golf ball in that hole. She'd been stretched out, that's for sure. No doubt about it, she was fucked. Maybe in more ways than one. It looked like some of that cum was leaking from her anus. Maybe it was just running down there from her vagina. Then he noticed that her little hole was now a big gaping hole too. This was getting worse by the minute.

That's enough of that, he thought. "I'm getting to the bottom of this right now." He took a look at the kid's bedroom to make sure they were sleeping and shut the door. He closed the door as he reentered the master bedroom.

Then he raised his voice and let Adele have it. "A sort-of Tupperware party, right? Tupperware party my ass. Where were you and what the hell did you do?

"Maybe that phone call I just took is on the level. Is he your boyfriend? What have you done, Adele? How long have you been doing it?

"We built this marriage and this family for fifteen fucking years and you've destroyed it in about five hours. Answer me Adele. You'd better start talking to me, you slut."

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She wasn't responsive. She was breathing and she had a pulse, but she was unresponsive. He was unable to wake her. He quickly went from very angry to officially worried.

He grabbed his phone and dialed 911. After that, he called his mom. She agreed to come over and stay with Linda and Mindy. She has a key, so there's no need for him to wait.

In a few minutes, he found himself sitting next to Adele in an ambulance as they sped towards the ER. He was holding her hand and wondering if she would survive. If she did, would their marriage?

At the hospital:

Soon, she was in the ER. He told them that she'd come home from a party in a questionable condition. Her condition had worsened as time passed.

They didn't question him about the circumstances. That would come later. The doctor examined her and started an IV. They were also giving her oxygen, perhaps medicated with something.

The ER nurse asked Jim if he and his wife had made love after the party. He assured her that they hadn't.

"You do realize that she engaged in sexual activity tonight, don't you sir?"

"I surmised as much," he answered.

"We found no signs of resistance on her part. There was no skin under her fingernails or any indications of violence. There are some bruises, but they're of a different nature. Do I need to describe what I mean?"

"Of course not, nurse, I understand."

"Even so, sir, the doctor feels that it must be reported as a possible rape due to the mental condition of your wife. She may not have been able to consent to whatever happened to her.

"Unfortunately, that means that law enforcement will be involved. They will be talking to you at some point. Also, we must do some additional testing to satisfy the legal requirements in cases like this. Please bear with us."

Adele soon became somewhat responsive. They did the rape-kit thing. The whole nine yards. They tested for STDs, for drugs, for bodily injuries, for vaginal and anal damage, for pregnancy and some more things. They even gathered sperm for DNA purposes.

As she became more responsive, she began to ask what had happened. At that point, they gave her the morning-after pill.

She could remember being at the party with the girls, but she didn't remember how she ended up in this condition. She didn't remember the sexual activity.

Her memory was blank for the time period between when she was leaving the table to go a private room until she woke up in the ER.

They decided to keep her overnight for observation. She had some vaginal swelling and some anal bleeding. She was still pretty well out-of-it. They wanted to keep her until they had some test results and could better assess her condition. Also, they wanted to get her sobered up enough to find out what had happened.

Once she was in her room, Jim grabbed her phone and looked at her contacts. He found Shirley Abbot. That name rang a bell. He remembered meeting her at company shindigs and knew she was one of Adele's best friends, so he called her number.

When she answered, she seemed pretty spaced-out. She said they'd been at the Downtown Bar. She didn't know what had happened to Adele. She suggested that he call Jenny Burnett. She's the one that invited them to the party.

He remembered seeing that name in the contacts, so he gave her a call. He told her where they were and what was going on. "Which hospital and what room number?" she asked. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Adele continued to drift in and out of sleep. He just sat there numbly and held her hand.

When Jenny arrived, Adele seemed to perk up. "Jenny, why'd you team me up with Rocky? He took me to another room. That's the last thing I remember. What happened to me? Jenny, what the hell did Rocky do to me? I think you're responsible for me being in this place."

"Adele, you chose to go with Rocky. You'd been eyeing him all night. You've always had the hots for him. You wanted to be with him, Adele. I'm sorry that it went bad.

I teamed you up with him because I knew you fantasized about him. You'd only had a couple of drinks. I assumed that you knew what you were doing."

"I can't remember it, Jenny, but the signs I can see and feel in my body are not good. I wish I hadn't left with him. I remember walking down the hall towards that room. I don't remember anything that happened in the room. Everything is blank until I woke up in the ER. It was all your idea, Jenny.

"What I remember most, Jenny, is you handing me a new drink every time my glass got close to empty."

"Oh, Adele, the drinks were free and you liked them. You didn't have all that many. Maybe we can get Rocky to come and visit you. Maybe that'll help you remember everything."

At that point, Jim broke in, "Jenny, I spoke to that bastard on the phone. He called me bragging. Can you believe that? If he comes near my wife, I'll kill him. I'm as serious as a heart attack. I'd better never see him anywhere near her."

Jenny said, "I understand that you're both upset. I don't know what happened either, but let's hope it passes and everything gets back to normal. I think you need to rest, Adele. I just wanted to check on you. Let me know if I can do anything to help."

With that, Jenny patted Adele on the arm and departed.

About fifteen minutes after Jenny left, there were two more visitors. Mike Sinclair and Vivian Jeffries from the Special Victims Unit (SVU) of the local police department arrived. The possible rape had been reported by the ER supervisor and the detectives wanted to talk about it.

Adele couldn't help much. She could remember the party, up until she was heading for the private room, but she didn't recall anything that happened there.

Jim told them about his phone call from Rocky. They took the names, phone numbers and addresses of all the girls that were at the party. They said they'd be back as soon as the medical reports were available.

Jim stayed that night with Adele. By morning, she was pretty well back to normal. She began apologizing to him repeatedly. He asked her, "How can you apologize for something you can't remember? Why do you think that you need to apologize?"

"Honey, I can feel the hurting 'down there' and I can see the marks on my body. I can't imagine how betrayed you must feel. I don't remember it, but that doesn't mean that nothing happened. Something did. Something bad. I know that, and it breaks my heart. I shouldn't have gone to that party. I should've stayed home with my family."

Just after lunch, the on-duty doctor came in. He told them that Adele would be released later in the afternoon. The results of the tests were in. He said the SVU detectives would be in soon and they would have the test results.

The SVU detectives came in and really sent their world spinning. First, they said that Adele tested positive for Ecstasy, Rohypnol and GHB. "In addition, your blood showed well above the legal limit of alcohol. You were given a dangerous combination of bad stuff. That combination caused you to become very sexually aroused, shed your inhibitions and remember nothing that happened."

The detectives had been busy. They had obtained video from various security cameras at the Downtown Bar. Two arrests had been made and the "private rooms" at the bar had been closed down. The case was now in the hands of the DA.

"Two people were arrested?" asked Adele. "Who were they? How did those drugs end up in my system? Who would want to drug me? How did I not notice them doing it? I thought those drinks were having quite an effect on me, but then I've never had that many in a row either. You're saying it was drugs? Why drug me?"

"That's what we need to find out," answered Vivian. "I suspect that Rocky administered them when you were in that room with him. He's the only one with something to gain. He wanted to do more than dance, so the first order of business was to get rid of your inhibitions.

"Hopefully, the videos will reveal the truth. They're being analyzed by our media experts even as we speak. We'll be talking to them when we get back to the station.

"You'll have to talk to the DA about the arrests. The criminal case belongs to her and she'll disseminate any and all information about who has been arrested and who'll be charged," said detective Jeffries. "They'll want to talk to your attorney. I'd strongly advise you to hire one as soon as possible.

"A good attorney will get the answers to your questions and make sure that everything possible is being done to find out exactly what happened to you and why.

"While the DA will handle the criminal prosecution," she continued, "you'll need an attorney to handle the civil case, should you choose to pursue one. Your lawyer will help you decide about doing that. Your lawyer will need this case number," she said as she wrote it down.

Back home:

When they got home that afternoon, Jim retained the services of an attorney. She'd been highly recommended by Rodger, a lawyer at work. In fact, Jim dropped Rodger's name, and that got them an appointment in short order. The secretary asked for the case number assigned by the DA so they could do some preliminary processing.

When they walked into her office, Mrs. Sanders suggested that everyone proceed on a first name basis. After the usual pleasantries, she asked them how much they'd been told about their case. They told her that they had heard drugs were involved and that two people had been arrested. That was about it.

"Well, sit down and fasten your seatbelts, folks. This will be quite a ride," said Betty.

"First, Adele, at least one of the girls you partied with at the bar isn't your friend. The video evidence shows that your so-called friend, Jenny, spiked three of your six drinks. You got a real potent cocktail, no pun intended.

"Jenny was arrested, as was Rocky Bailey. When we talked to Shirley, she said that you and Jenny were competing for a promotion at work. Shirley speculated that Jenny was afraid that her recent divorce tipped the scales in your favor, since the boss is a deacon in his church and borders on religious fanaticism.

"Shirley believes that Jenny thought she could at least even the score by showing that you were not the goody-two-shoes that you appeared to be. She had it all planned out. She would make sure that your misbehavior would come to the attention of the boss.

"We have a good case against Jenny, since we have her on video very obviously spiking your drinks at the table. The DA isn't only after her for giving you those drugs, but is also interested in finding out how she came into possession of them. Jenny's in big trouble.

"I'm not sure if the DA will charge Rocky with rape, but at the very least it's drug-assisted-assault. The Downtown Bar can be charged as an accessory.

"I think that getting a monetary judgement against those folks is a slam-dunk. As for actually getting some money in the pocket, forget it with Rocky. He may be a snake, but he hasn't got a pit to hiss in.

"Jenny, on the other hand, has a settlement from her divorce that we can dent significantly. The Downtown Bar will settle to prevent getting bad publicity. There could be some nice cash there too.

"In all probability, Jenny will retain an attorney. When we show the video evidence of her spiking the drinks, we hope they will choose to settle on the spot.

"We need to avoid showing the video taken in the private room, if possible. If we don't choose to use it, we don't need to reveal its existence to the defense.

"If we must use the video, or if its existence becomes known, they will probably argue that it proves you knew what you were getting into. We must be prepared to go there if need be.