Fight from the Inside

Based on the reaction from some about my last story, you won't like that this MC gets violent with his wife's suitor. You're right, I included these scenes to appeal to the certain segment of readers that want the husbands to take revenge on the bad guy. Does that make the MC the bad guy? Maybe. Maybe, it helps the MC reconcile with his beloved too? Maybe, it's just low hanging fruit? Who knows what goes through my mind at times?

*****

I watched her walk into my office and was surprised by the amount of cockiness in her mannerisms. Typically, people walking into my office are more subdued, more nervous. Not Debbie Ashford.

"Hello, Debbie," I said and shook her hand. "I'm Dr. St. John. Please call me Alex."

She nodded and sat in one of the seats in front of my desk.

"So, Debbie, as we discussed on the phone, we will do a solo session with you and your husband separately and then we'll begin joint sessions. Tell me in your words why you're here today."

She sighed dramatically and said, "I'm here because my husband is making me do this or he will leave me. Well, he says he'll leave me, but I don't believe him."

"Then why come?" I asked.

"Because he won't let me back into the house until we've started."

"I see. Where are you living and for how long?"

"I'm staying with my parents. I've been there since Chris kicked me out last month."

She hadn't lost one bit of the attitude. She believed she was right.

"That's a pretty drastic step for a husband to take. What brought it on?"

She rolled her eyes, "I asked for his permission to have sex with one of my co-workers."

"Have you done it?" I asked.

"No. I won't cheat on him. I wanted his permission first, but he lost his mind over it and threw me out of my home."

"Why did you leave instead of talking it out? Did he scream? Did he hit you?"

She laughed, "No, he didn't hit me, nor did he scream. When I told him what I wanted to do, he picked up his cellphone and called my father. He told my dad I was having a psychotic episode and he had to come over right away."

"What happened then?"

"He stopped listening to me. I begged him to call my father back and tell him not to come. I begged him for twenty minutes as he threw my clothes into a suitcase. I tried to stop him, but he gave me a look that scared me. I backed away and continued to plead with him to let me stay."

I nodded. It was another case of a wife wanting something different. I had to force myself to not prejudge her, but it was difficult. Her attitude of self-entitlement was coming through clearly and I couldn't wait to get the husband's side and see what she wasn't telling me.

Not that she wasn't believable or that the husband would be more forthcoming. With those types of cases, in my experience, the offending party tended to soft sell their side.

"Okay. While he was packing did he say anything to you?"

"Just once, he said we were through, and I could...'fuck' anyone I wanted. Sorry, that was his language."

I nodded and wrote that her perception of her husband was that he was unbreakable. She didn't seem to fight hard when he told her to leave and then began packing. That was an interesting dynamic. She had an A-type personality yet seemed to let her husband have his way when he told her to leave. His giving her a look that scared her away was interesting. With no history of violence, why did that scare her?"

"Did you feel like you could have sex with anyone you wanted after you left the home?"

"No! My parents watched me like a hawk. I had no opportunity...um, no, like I said, I wanted his permission. I'm not a cheater."

That was an interesting lie. She didn't catch herself in time. I saw her frown as I wrote that down.

"Okay. Why did you want to have sex with someone that wasn't your husband? Was he not satisfying you when you had intercourse?"

"No, my husband is a terrific lover. He was always attentive to my needs, and I enjoy making love to him."

"How many times a week were you having intercourse in the six months before that night?"

"I'd say three on average."

"How old is your husband?"

"45."

I nodded. "That's a pretty fair number of times for a man his age. What made you start looking elsewhere? If you wanted to have intercourse five times a week, would your husband agree?"

"Oh, yes! I'm the one who decided to limit it. I'm not always in the mood, you know."

"Has your husband ever turned you down? Is he ever not in the mood?"

She shook her head. "No. Not that I can remember."

"Back to the original question then. Why look for someone else?"

"I wasn't looking," she defended rather curtly. "Someone showed some interest in me, and I found him attractive."

"You're a beautiful woman, Debbie," she smiled in agreement, "surely, attractive men have told you that before. Why this particular man?"

She paused and looked out the window. "He's been with one of my friends at work. She told me that he is very good in bed."

"If Chris is already satisfying you, why did you feel like you should have this other man as well?"

"Because I've earned it. I've raised two children who are out on their own now and I've been the good little housewife for over twenty years. I deserve to have a one-time experience that I can remember for the rest of my life."

I wrote that down and she said, "What's so interesting about that?"

I smiled, "Don't mind me. I make a lot of notes. We'll circle back to that comment in a future session."

She frowned, "You disagree? I knew a male counselor would be like that."

"I didn't disagree or agree, Debbie. I'm not judging you one way or the other. I merely wrote what you said so I could remember it later. I'm not a judge and this isn't a trial. Your husband felt your marriage needed help and that's why I'm here. Do you understand?"

"I suppose."

It was a classic reason. Many people felt that way and I wasn't the one to say if they are right or wrong. The problem was more complicated than that. It was when they felt that way and their spouse didn't agree that was the issue that needed to be fixed. She would have to understand the impact her feelings had within the context of her marriage.

"Okay. Tell me about the last few weeks you've been away from home. Have you communicated with your husband?"

"Twice. Once, when he told me that we needed to see a 'marriage shrink' for me to be able to go home, and the second was when I told him about this appointment."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yes. Every day." She gave me a nasty glare.

"The week after you left, how many times did you call him?"

"Every day. I left dozens of messages begging him to talk to me and let me go home."

"Since then?" I asked.

She looked at me oddly, "I haven't called him since the last conversation."

I nodded. She was embarrassed by the answer. I wondered why it was that she stopped trying to talk to him.

"Have you seen this gentleman that you work with outside of the office? Lunches? Dinners? Drinks?"

"No! Not once."

She was overly defensive when she snapped that answer at me. I had a feeling that she lied about it. Perhaps she was meeting the guy for lunch if her parents were watching her that closely. Her parents watching over her like that was curious as well. I felt like there was more to that story.

"Debbie, what do you want to happen at the end of our sessions?"

"I want Chris to see that this has nothing to do with him and me. I want him to agree and be okay with me having sex with someone other than him one time."

I wrote that down and asked, "What if he doesn't agree? Are you prepared to give up the idea or go through with it and risk losing your husband?"

It was the first time she didn't look confident or cocky. She looked afraid.

"I honestly don't know," she said softly.

*****

The next day, Chris Ashford walked into my office. He was a large man, and very tough looking.

"Hi, Chris. Please call me Alex."

He nodded and sat.

"I've already met with Debbie, so how about if you tell me what happened that brought you here today."

"Sure. She wants to cheat on me. I'm not 100% sure it hasn't happened already, but she told me she wants to have sex with another man."

"When she told you that, what went through your mind? What was your first thought?"

"I thought she was crazy. She knew I'd never let that happen. I've told her no every time she's brought it up."

That was interesting. Debbie left that out.

"When was the first time she brought up the idea of having sex with another man?"

"On our tenth anniversary. Our kids were still little, and she was a stay-at-home mom. She said she was bored and needed a little excitement. She thought we should become swingers."

"How did you respond?"

"I told her that there was no way I would ever let another man touch her intimately. I told her that I would never touch another woman. I'm not wired that way."

"Did she drop the idea after that?"

"For a few years. She mentioned it again when she went back to work about six or seven years ago. Then again when the kids left for college. She figured we could swing away once the kids were out of the house."

"How does that make you feel?"

"I don't know. I think with the swinging thing, I wasn't worried about me not doing my job, ya know? This last time, it wasn't about us swinging, it was about her cheating. Hell, if we aren't having sex enough, I'm more than willing to do it more often. She's the one that says no."

"Why do you think it was different this time?"

"Oh, I know why. She's got some slick bastard talkin' her up at work and her slut fried Vanessa is pushing her to take him for a spin."

"Why did you think kicking her out would help the situation?"

"Well, I was pretty pissed off. I hoped she'd get her head screwed on right, being with her parents, but it didn't happen. She spent a week begging me to let her have this fling. I finally told her to give it up and get us into counseling or I was gonna file for divorce. She wanted to come home and I told her not until we started this."

"Do you think she's changed her mind?" I asked.

"Not one bit."

"When all is said and done, do you think you could ever see a way to allow her to have sex with this man and stay married to her?"

"Not a chance, Doc."

I didn't have high hopes for them, but I loved a challenge.

*****

A week later, they were both in front of me in our first joint session. Neither looked happy to be there and there wasn't any open expression of affection between them.

"So," I began, "I've met with both of you, and I have a general idea of what happened and how you both feel about it. Chris, your condition for Debbie returning home was that we started sessions. Have you allowed her to move home?"

"Yeah, she's been home since last week. I'm a man of my word."

He said that and glared at Debbie as if challenging her. She rolled her eyes. Her demeanor was the same as it was at the beginning of our prior session.

"Okay, how have things been? Debbie, how about you start?"

"Okay, I guess. He barely talks to me. I have to ask him direct questions to get a word out of him."

Chris said, "I never said I'd stop being mad at you. I just said you could come home. You might not piss me off every day if you stopped dressing like a whore."

'I don't dress like a whore, damn it!" she shouted.

"Okay, let's dial it down a bit, shall we?" I asked.

"Chris, what do you feel is wrong with the way she dresses?"

"For the last three months, she's been wearing skirts every day. She used to wear pant suits, but now she's wearing short skirts, high heels and thigh-high stockings."

I looked at what she was wearing, and he noticed. "She changed into that pant suit before we came. That's how she used to dress for work."

"Why did you change how you dressed today, Debbie?"

"I wanted to be more comfortable," she answered coolly.

"If pant suits are more comfortable, why did you start wearing skirts and stockings?" I asked.

"Don't forget the hooker heels," Chris interrupted.

I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I wanted to look nice."

Chris rolled his eyes.

"You don't think you look nice as you are?" I asked.

I could see she was trying to think of an answer that would keep her out of trouble. I'd seen it before.

She finally answered, "Not as nice as when I wear a skirt. It's more professional."

"What do you do for a living, Debbie?" I asked.

"She's a bank teller," Chris interjected.

"That's right," she spat. "I face customers every day and need to look my best."

"How long have you been a teller, Debbie?"

"It will be eight years next month."

"To understand, for seven years you weren't dressing nice enough. Did your manager ever mention this?"

"No."

"Then what brought it on? What happened three months ago?" I asked. Chris was getting antsy to answer but was being well-mannered.

"Nothing. Some of the other girls were wearing dresses and I liked the look."

Chris shook his head.

"You disagree, Chris?" I asked.

He said, "That's when Mark Stein started working at the bank."

Her head snapped around so fast, I thought it would spin off.

"Who's Mark Stein?" I asked. Although I had a good idea already.

"That's her boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," she shouted.

I asked, "Is he the one that you want to have a fling with?" I purposely said fling as she told me it was to be a one-time thing.

"Yes."

I nodded and made a note to stall and make her think about her answer to the question she had to know was next.

"Was it Mark for whom you started dressing in skirts?"

She shook her head, "No. Like I said, it was to look nicer for the customers."

"How many customers see you from the waist down," Chris asked.

Her head snapped over again. "It doesn't matter if they see me or not."

"Then why..."

"Chris, let's move on. She's given us her reason," I said.

"She's lying," he countered.

"Fuck you," she spat.

"Debbie, watch your language please. You obviously see how what you said is questionable. There's no reason to be upset when it's questioned."

She was about to argue but changed her mind.

"Debbie, do you ever dress up in sexy clothes for Chris?"

Chris snorted.

"Sometimes," she answered.

"Describe how you dress for him. What would you typically wear?"

She frowned. It was a gotcha question and she knew it.

"I have some sexy lace bras and panties. I have some lacy lingerie."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Stockings and heels."

"The same ones she's been wearing to work," Chris added.

I nodded. "We'll come back to that."

"Debbie, how often do you interact with Mark?"

She adjusted her position and said, "I don't know. A couple times a week."

"Are these work-related interactions, or personal?"

"Work-related."

Chris let out a sigh, "She's lying again."

"Debbie?" I asked.

"How the hell do you know?" she spat at her husband.

He looked at me and smiled. "This is why I sent her to her parents. Her dad's retired and has nothing better to do than sit outside the bank and see who she goes to lunch with."

"Oh! So, you don't trust me and have to have a spy? You're an asshole."

Chris pulled out a piece of paper and started counting.

"She's gone to lunch with him twelve times since I kicked her out. Since she's been back home, she's been out to lunch with him every day."

"That's a lie. It hasn't been that often."

"Would you like me to call your dad and verify his list?" Chris asked a chastened Debbie.

"Okay, that's all our time for today. Chris, you can never rebuild trust by following or having her followed. I'd like to ask you to stop that so we can work on the trust piece. Debbie, I'd ask you to stop having lunch with Mark since there is no business need for it. We can't work through this issue if you're seeing this man in non-working situations."

"I'm not a child. I won't be told with whom I can have lunch."

"Then it's over for us," Chris said sadly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," I said. "Debbie, you don't have the agreement you sought for your fling with that man. Look at it from Chris' point of view. Don't you see how he could feel it's an inappropriate relationship at this point?"

"Fine."

"Thank you. Next session, we'll start with why Debbie feels she needs this."

They left together yet were still apart. A challenge indeed.

It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last that my patient lied to me. It was a clue into her mindset, and along with other verbal or non-verbal cues, it made me come to an initial conclusion that she didn't think she did anything wrong and wasn't planning on backing off her stance.

It was clear that Chris wasn't going to budge, at least not at that early stage. I did not hold much hope for their future together, but I had to figure out a way to show them a way back to each other. Ultimately, if they won't switch their position, they have to want to compromise and meet somewhere near the middle, in order to make it work. Neither seemed to be leaning in that direction and neither seemed to be anywhere close to agreeing with the other.

*****

The following week, they were waiting for me to begin. I took a few moments to observe their interactions with each other and their body language. Debbie was showing as closed off with her arms folded, while Chris leaned back with his leg crossed over and showing as relaxed. It was obvious that they had not resumed the intimacy they had prior to the incident.

"Debbie, let's begin with your feelings and how they relate to wanting to have intercourse with Mark."

"Like I told you in our solo session. I've been a good wife, mother, and anything else my family has needed for two decades. I deserve to have a one-time experience with a man that is interested in me as a sexual being."

Chris was about to erupt, but I held my hand up.

"Debbie, tell me about the first time you told Chris you wanted to have intercourse with other people."

Her head shot over and she glared at her husband who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what to tell you. It seemed like it would be fun for us."

"So, this fling with Mark idea wasn't the first time you felt like you wanted intercourse with other people?"

"Obviously not," she snapped.

I nodded. "Chris, you told me that over the years she's brought up the swinging idea several times, did she ever elaborate on why she wanted to do so?"

"Just that she was bored and wanted excitement."

"Debbie is that an accurate assessment?"

She nodded without making eye contact. I jotted that down and noted she was either embarrassed by me finding out, or that she was lying about the reason.

"Chris, over the last fifteen years, Debbie has suggested swinging three times and now she stopped asking for that but wants to experience another man on her own. How did that make you feel?"

"Like she lost her mind. I said no every time it involved me, how she thought I would agree when it was just her cheating was beyond me."

"Okay, but how did you feel? Think about the feelings you went through not what went through your mind."

He didn't say anything for a few moments while he looked at my bookshelf.

"It made me feel angry. I was angry and hurt that she was willing to throw our marriage away for sex."

"I'm not throwing our marriage away," she cut in.

"Yes, you are. You had to know I'd never agree to it. You have that bitch Vanessa filling your head with bullshit and you believed it. You aren't entitled to this. You aren't deserving of another man between your legs. Your sense of fulfillment should come from me and not some slick dick."

I was about to expand on that statement when Debbie shouted, "Bullshit! You're too selfish or too sensitive to do it together, so I'm taking it into my own hands. I want to experience another man before I'm too old to fucking enjoy it! You could've gotten some too, but no. Your God damned little ego won't let you share. Well too bad! I've decided I'm doing it whether you agree to it or not."