February Sucks -- Big Time

The band played a couple of fast songs, and our whole table watched them dance. So did everyone else in the room. Marc was good, far better than I was, and Linda was clearly enjoying herself. Her partner and her dress combined to show her off to perfection.

"Don't they look great together? Come on, Jim, let's join them," Dee invited, clearly trying to distract me.

"Thanks, but no," I said abruptly.

The next song was a slow one. I watched Linda melt into his arms, fitting perfectly as though she belonged there. He was good at that, too. Lots of practice, I'll bet, I thought to myself. Marc whispered something to Linda. She smiled sweetly as she responded. He wasn't doing anything I could legitimately object to. He didn't dance any closer to her than I danced with Dee or Jane -- his hands didn't go anywhere they weren't supposed to.

Another slow song, a ballad this time. I could see the band leader taking his cues by watching my wife and her new partner. Marc smiled as he held her in his arms. He was clearly pleased with whatever was going on. I'd seen enough and was determined to put a stop to it. I rose from my chair, and felt Jane's hand on my arm.

"Wait, Jim. Let her have this. Don't ruin it for her," she said.

I jerked my arm free, and then looked at Linda's face. She clearly wanted to be exactly where she was, and nowhere else. She did not want any interference from me. In fact, I was nowhere in her thoughts, and it was obvious. I slumped back into my chair, broken-hearted. Finally, the song ended. Marc nodded at the band leader, who started a faster song. He and Linda left the dance floor, smiling at each other, but not touching, not even holding hands. Linda gave him a last brilliant smile as she turned toward our table and Marc turned toward his.

The difference between a woman's best smile and her second-best smile isn't much. Unless you know the woman well, you probably wouldn't notice it at all. As Linda neared our table and our eyes met, her best smile faded to her second-best. At that moment, I knew we had a problem.

"I keep telling you that you're the most attractive woman in here," I whispered in her ear as I seated her. I reached for her hand, and held it in both of mine. "Is it time to take the next dance back to our room?"

For just the tiniest moment, I could have sworn Linda was afraid. Her eyes widened and I could feel her hand trembling. She recovered quickly, and looked away from me, across the table.

"I'm sorry, everyone, I just have to go to the restroom right now. Linda, come with me?" Dee asked. Her voice could be heard far beyond our table. I was too preoccupied to wonder why she had to broadcast this to the room at large. Linda looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry, Jim. I can use some freshening up, too," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. She rose and left, without answering my question. Of course, the conversation immediately turned to why no woman who is out with a group can possibly go to the restroom by herself. I had just started to wonder why my friends were working so hard to keep the conversation going on that topic, when Dee came back. She was alone.

"Where's Linda? Is she okay?" I asked, practically shouting.

"Relax, Jim," Dee said, smiling. "Linda is fine, she just has something to do. You don't need to worry about her. She is a grown woman, you know." What was that supposed to mean, I wondered. It's true that I worried about Linda, but she worried about me the same way. I put up with the ribbing for about five minutes, and when Linda still hadn't returned, I'd had enough. I got up and headed for the bar, taking an empty plate with me as an excuse and approached one of the female bartenders.

"Excuse me, but my wife went to the restroom about fifteen minutes ago, and hasn't come out," I said. "She never takes that long. Could you please go, or send someone, to be sure she's all right?"

The bartender gave me a dubious look. The plate in my hand gave me an idea.

"The wings are great, and she likes spicy food, but every now and then she gets a reaction. Really, I just want to know she's all right. Her name is Linda. Here, let me show you a picture of her," I said. I put the plate down and pulled up Linda's picture on my phone. The bartender was beginning to look somewhat sympathetic when there was a voice at my elbow.

"She's all right, you don't need to check on her," Dee said almost apologetically. She turned to the bartender. "Everything's fine. I'll take care of this," she said, placing a five dollar bill on the counter. I wondered why the bartender looked at me with what seemed like sympathy as she pocketed the bill.

"What... why... but she went there with you? because you asked her?" I was completely confused.

"Jim, she's not in the restroom. She has left the club," Dee said. I felt as if I had just been punched in the gut.

"Left? Without me? Why? What's the matter? Why didn't she tell me? Where did she go? Is she all right?" I asked. I still didn't get it.

"Let's go to the end of the bar where there's some privacy," Dee said. I just went where Dee dragged me. It was quieter in the dark corner at the end of the bar. She looked me in the eye.

"Jim, Linda loves you. She loves you and the children more than anything else in the world, and she always will, and you know it. But she is spending tonight with Marc," she said.

I stood there with my mouth open, looking stupid as my whole world ended. Pictures whirled madly through my mind, or what was left of it. Linda at the top of the stairs in her beautiful blue dress. Linda at dinner. Linda at the club. Linda as we fed wings to each other. Linda in Asshole's arms. Asshole fucking Linda. My Linda. The mother of our children. The love of my life. My anger rose.

"So on what was supposed to be our special night, she left me for some asshole jock," I growled as I glared at Dee.

"Jim, she hasn't left you. She'll come home to you tomorrow, and you'll have plenty of other special nights together," she said. What was this woman smoking, I wondered.

"She didn't even have the guts to tell me to my face that she was leaving me. She just slithered out the back door like a snake," I said. "And you helped her."

"Jim, listen to me. She hasn't left you," Dee began.

"Well, if she hasn't left me, then where the hell is she? She sure isn't with me now, is she?" I was getting loud, and didn't care who heard me.

"Please settle down, people are looking at you. Listen, I know this hurts for you, but it's just tonight. Linda knows, we all know, that you're the only man for her and you always will be. You're the good guy," Dee said condescendingly.

"Yeah, and we all know where the good guy finishes, don't we?" I said through clenched teeth.

"Jim, it isn't like that. You're making way too big a deal out of this. It's only tonight, then she'll come back to you tomorrow and everything will be just like it was before," she said. I snorted at her. If she really believed that shit, nothing I could say would make any difference anyway.

"You don't get it. There IS no tomorrow. So tell me, friend, what was your role in all this? You didn't really need to go to the restroom, did you? My wife gave you the signal, right? She told you to stall me and keep me out of the way long enough for her and Asshole to make their getaway?" Dee looked down, embarrassed as she nodded her head.

"Yes, she asked me to do that, because she didn't want you to embarrass yourself by making a scene while Marc was here. She also asked me to make sure you remembered that she loves you, and she will always come home to you," she said.

Yeah, I'd remember exactly how much she loved me tonight, for a long time to come, I thought. I could feel my anger rise and my face turn red.

"More like she didn't want me to embarrass her as she walked away from her husband to spend the night with an asshole jock," I said. "I don't suppose it occurred to you, Friend, to remind her that she had a husband and a marriage, and she might lose them over this?" Dee looked me in the eye.

"No, it didn't," Dee said, "because I know she won't lose you over this. You're too good a man to let that happen. I told her how lucky she is. She's lucky because the man that every woman in the room wanted, wanted her. But she's even luckier that she has a husband who loves her enough to get past his hurt feelings and not make this a bigger deal than it should be. You know she'll be willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make it up to you."

"What if it isn't possible to make it up to me?" I asked. "What if there is no way to make this right?"

"Jim, I know how much you love Linda, and how much she loves you. This doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just one night, a one-time experience, compared to all the years and all the love you two have together. It isn't a big deal, unless you make it one. I know she'll come home to you, and I know eventually, you'll be fine," she said.

Dee spoke gently but confidently. It was all I could do not to grab the stupid woman and shake her until her teeth rattled for spouting such nonsense. She must be living in some sort of alternate universe if that's what she really thought.

"So if Asshole had picked you, as you wanted him to, you'd have done the same thing?" I asked her.

"I would." She flung her answer into my face.

"Does Dave know that?" I asked her.

"No, and he doesn't need to, because I don't think it will ever happen," she said softly.

"Maybe I should tell him," I said.

"Jim, please don't. Don't think that way. I know you're hurting, but that won't help. Please come back to the table. Let us take your mind off it for a while. You haven't danced a single dance with me all night, you know," she said as she smiled.

"I wanted to dance with my wife, but thanks to you and her and Asshole, that's not an option anymore, is it? I also wanted to spend the night alone with her, but that obviously isn't happening either," I said. I turned my back on her and stalked back to our table.

The talk at the table stopped abruptly when I appeared. The averted eyes told the tale. All of our so-called friends now knew that my wife and Asshole were at that very moment making a cuckold of me. I wanted to strangle them. I wanted to tear the place apart. I wanted to find Asshole and kick his nuts into the middle of next week.

"Uh, Jim, are you going to be okay?" Dave asked hesitantly after he seated Dee. I wanted to tell him what Dee had said and ask if he would be okay, but I couldn't force the words out of my mouth. I guess I hadn't gotten over being the good guy yet. Oh yes, I would have to work on that.

"It depends on what you mean by okay," I said. There were a couple of nervous giggles.

"I mean, yeah, that was a shitty thing to do, but you two are going to make it, aren't you? You're not going to divorce Linda over this, are you?" Dave asked.

"I don't see why I shouldn't," I responded coldly. There was a collective gasp around the table.

"Why are you all acting surprised?" I asked. "We all know how we feel about cheating: once and done. We established that a long time ago."

"But Jim, it's Marc LaValliere..." Dee interposed.

"So what? I don't care who's fucking her. If it isn't me, that's that," I said angrily. I looked at Dave. "What would you say if it was Dee who walked out with Asshole to spend the night? Would you be okay with that?" He turned red in the face for a moment, then looked at his wife, who was now busy examining a spot on the floor.

"Jim, what about your kids? We all know how much you love them, and how much they need you. Think of them before you do anything," Jane said. Her kids were about the same age as mine and were best buds.

"You mean, like my wife is thinking about them right now?" I asked.

"Well, that's why you got a sitter, so you wouldn't have to think about your kids," Dee said. I thought she meant it to be funny, but it fell as flat as it deserved to. "Come on, Jim, it's just one night. It's an opportunity she'll never have again. You wouldn't divorce Linda over one night," she added.

"Why the fuck not?" I glared at her. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Jim, try to think of it this way, maybe it will help," Jane said, trying to sound sympathetic. "What if the cover model from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue was here tonight? Say she picked you out of everyone here to dance with, and then she offered to spend the night with you. Can you honestly say you wouldn't be tempted? Can you honestly say you would turn her down?" The pleading look in her warm brown eyes made her look like a winsome puppy dog, and was usually quite effective in getting her what she wanted. But it wasn't going to happen. Not tonight. I stood and looked down at Jane.

"Yes, I might be tempted, but I would turn her down," I said emphatically. "You see, I have a wife, and I don't want to hurt her. At least, that's what I'd have done before tonight."

There was another one of those deafening silences. I looked around the table at each of my former friends, all of whom were siding with my cheating wife. At that moment, I sincerely hoped never to see any of them again. A rather large and muscular bouncer made his way to our table.

"Is there a problem here, folks?" he asked in a deep baritone voice.

"Yeah, there is, a big one," I said. I pulled out a twenty dollar bill and dropped it on the table.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," I said, putting up one hand. He nodded his head as I turned back to the others. "That will pay my tab. You're all covering for the slut I came with. You might as well cover her bill, too." I turned on my heel and stalked out of the club.

My anger cooled somewhat as I walked the block and a half to the hotel. It was replaced by the deepest sadness I had ever known. Linda and I were supposed to be making this walk together, holding hands, chaffing our friends about what they were going to get up to once they got to their rooms, and being chaffed in our turn. She was supposed to be holding my arm the way she used to, pushing her face into my coat sleeve when the conversation got too risqué.

Instead, I was alone. Alone, I rode the elevator, trying not to remember what Linda and I had gotten up to in other hotel elevators. Alone, I entered what was supposed to have been our room. Alone, I faced the wreckage of our special night. Alone, I faced the future, uncertain of what might happen.

I turned on the light, and shut the door behind me. Suddenly, I was weary beyond words. I dropped my winter coat on the floor and slouched toward the bedroom. There was a Godiva chocolate on each pillow. Laid out in the middle of the bed was a bra and panty set that I hadn't seen before. They were dark blue, darker than her dress, edged with black lace.

In my mind's eye, I could see her modeling them, with that combination of love and sensuality in her eyes that was all her own, that had been all mine until tonight. I took the lacy little garments tenderly into my hands, as if holding them might bring her back to me. It didn't work. I wept bitter tears.

My wife, my lover, my best friend, had been taken from me by another man. He had casually, easily, plucked her from right beside me, as if he had every right to do so. He didn't care what she meant to me. All he saw in her was a pretty fuck toy for the night. And she had just let him! I didn't matter enough to her to inspire even the slightest resistance. It was as if she, too, thought he had a right to her, stronger than whatever right I had earned by almost ten years as a faithful, loving husband. Yes, it was supposed to be just one night. And the next morning, I supposed. So what? And what would he, and this night, leave in her heart and mind and senses? What could I ever do that would compare to, let alone compete with, the city's hero, the handsome stud, Marc "The Asshole" LaValliere?

I stopped weeping long enough to wash my face, then gathered our things. I tossed the bra and panty set in the trash can. They meant nothing to me anymore. I went down and checked us out of the hotel. I didn't care how Linda got back. The desk clerk looked confused as I went through the checking-out process.

"Is everything okay with your room, sir?" she asked.

"The room was fine," I said.

"Is there anything we can do for you to make your stay better?" she responded. Yeah, I thought. Make the Asshole disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Turn back the clock and bring my wife back. I simply shook my head.

"No, there really isn't, but thanks for asking anyway," I said quietly. "We just had a sudden change in plans." The clerk looked at me sympathetically, almost as if she could read my thoughts.

"Have a nice evening, sir," she said before I left. Yeah, right. A nice evening. I got in my car, and somehow managed to get home in one piece. I was a bundle of nerves inside as my emotions fought for control. Part of me was angrier than I had ever been in my life. Another part was sad for the loss of my wife and my family.

I walked into the starter home we lived in and noticed how quiet and empty the place seemed. I dropped my luggage in the master bedroom and sat down, trying to make sense of what had happened. I looked at my phone, hoping to see a text message or something from Linda. I hoped she would have come to her senses and changed her mind, but she didn't. I laid back on the bed, still in my clothes and dozed off for a bit.

It was about 2:00 am when my phone's buzzer woke me up. I looked to see I had received some text messages from a number I didn't recognize. Could it be Linda? I pulled the phone from my pocket and what I saw made me snap.

There were a series of pictures and short videos. A very large cock inserted balls-deep inside a vagina I knew quite well, having been married for 10 years to the woman it was attached to. The same large cock pulling out of said vagina, with a glob of white goo dripping out of her center.

A short video showed the same cock pounding Linda, with her easily recognizable moans in the background.

"Isn't this better than spending time with that wimp you were with earlier tonight?" I heard him ask.

"Oh God, yes," Linda answered in response. "Don't stop. Keep fucking me. Cum inside my pussy. Please. Fill me up." For a moment I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but I took a few deep breaths and looked at the rest.

Another photo showed the same large cock buried in Linda's ass. That was something we had never done before and I was shocked she would let him do it. We tried it once, a long time ago, but Linda said my dick was just too big and it hurt too much. So I stopped and never pressed her for it again. But here was Asshole, with a dick much larger than mine buried to the hilt in her ass.

The next photo showed the same cock, covered with semen, deep inside Linda's mouth. A short video showed her open mouth filled with goo. She gargled it for a bit before swallowing the whole load. The next video showed her stroking his cock with her left hand. I could see her rings and my heart fell. He took her hand and squeezed some of his cum onto the rings. She laughed and licked the cum off of the gold rings I had placed on her myself. Then she looked up at him and smiled.

"That's so wicked," she said, laughing. I could hear Asshole laughing in the background. Asshole's face took up the whole screen in the next video. He smiled before he spoke.

"I don't know who you are," he said. "And I really don't care. But I want you to know that of all the wives I've ever fucked, yours is the best. I'll be doing this much more often with her, believe me. Maybe one day, I'll let you watch us. She seems open to the idea. Nothing personal, you know. It's just sex. I'll try not to ruin her too much for you," he added with a sneer.