Forgiveness

"No problem, sweetie. I don't usually swallow any man's cum, but I know how much they like to be sucked dry." The voice was not Ray Ann's!

"Who . . . who are you?"

"Damn, just when I thought I was unforgettable. My name is Evie, you know, like the original temptress of man, Eve."

"Where are we? How did we get here? What did we do?"

"I guess you were that drunk after all. Okay here's the info: Day's Inn. I pretty much drug your drunk ass to the room. We fucked like minks. You owe me $250."

"What? I don't understand."

"I don't care what you understand. Give me the $250 so I can go home. I have to get some sleep before I go back to work."

"You . . . you're a whore?"

"Hell no, I'm from Rent-A-Wife. Our one-night marriage just ended in divorce. Geez, why do I get all the stupid ones. Now hand over the cash, John. No checks or credit card."

"I don't have that much cash."

"I know. I looked in your wallet. You do, however, have an ATM card. We can just go to the nearest ATM and get me my money. You might want to put on some clothes first."

"Look. I don't know what you're trying to do. I've never paid for sex and never will. I'm a happily married man." He winced as he thought about the current state of his marriage.

"You say you're married, and you've never paid for sex? Ha! What do you think marriage is? Nothing but legal prostitution. Look, honey, I don't care about what you've done before or not. If I don't get $250 from you post haste, Tyrell, my pimp will cut your dick off. Your choice: money or become a eunuch."

Joel got dressed and went down to his car. Evie followed behind closely, as closely as someone in five-inch heels could. Joel got in his car and quickly locked his door. He smiled and waved at Evie as he drove off. Evie did not seem upset. She wasn't. She had his driver's license to give to Tyrell's collection agency, Big Albert.

Joel went home and took a pain killer. He thought about calling or visiting Ray Ann, but his mind was still too conflicted to know what to say to her. Although his feelings towards his wife were mixed, his thoughts about Todd were crystal clear: Revenge. Joel emailed his boss to request time off for a family emergency. He was not sure how long it might take. Joel had called Angela and told her to take Ray Ann to her house. He wasn't ready to live in the same house with her yet. Joel had to hang up the phone as Angela started a torrent of invectives, most of which disparaged his manhood and parentage.

As Joel projected the various scenarios involving such things as killing Todd, badly injuring Todd, running away, divorce, a messy trial, psychiatric help for both he and Ray Ann; an idea hit him. He called his lawyer and got a referral to a divorce lawyer who was known for preserving a client's wealth. After a consult with the lawyer, papers were drawn up and held for the time being.

Ray Ann kept a planner that had addresses and phone numbers in the back. There was a section for her co-workers that included the cell phone for each. Todd's number was on the list. The prefix was one usually used by locally by Verizon. Joel called his cousin who worked for Verizon. He asked if she could tell him if someone was a Verizon customer or not. She said she could. Then he asked if she could locate the phone if it was a Verizon phone. His cousin quickly saw where this was going and informed Joel that she was not allowed to do things like that. Joel told her that Todd had raped his wife whom she had met at family gatherings. The cousin started crying. Before long she had confirmed that Todd was a Verizon customer but had just cancelled his old service. Joel was depressed. The cousin went on to say, "How about I connect your phone to his current phone so you can do a location find on him?"

Joel replied, "If you do that, I promise not to get between you and grandma's chocolate pie Thanksgiving."

"Asshole."

"Love you too, Bitch." They both were laughing.

It took about 20 minutes before Joel got a location on Todd's new phone. It was several hours drive away. He went home and got his aluminum softball bat. Before leaving, he had two calls to make. His lawyer was told to send out the papers. Then he called Ray Ann. Angela almost refused to let him talk to her.

"Joel, can I come home now, honey. Please, I need you. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. Please forgive me."

"Ray Ann, you can return to the house, but I might not be there for a while. Maybe longer. Listen, there is something very important I need you to do. You have to promise to do it."

"I'll do anything you ask. What do you want me to do?"

"You will be getting some papers soon." It hurt him to say it. "They're divorce papers."

"No. No. Not divorce! Please, not that."

"Please trust me. These are not regular divorce papers. What you MUST do is sign them quickly and return them to my lawyer as soon as possible."

"No. Please don't ask me to do that. Anything but that."

"You've got to trust me on this. It is the best thing for both of us. You've go to do it if you want anything positive to come of our lives in the future."

"I don't understand."

"You will in time. The important thing is that you trust me and do what I ask."

"All right. I know you love me no matter what happened. I'll sign the papers."

"Ray Ann, don't ever doubt that what I'm doing is based on love."

"You don't know how good that is to hear that. When will I see you again?"

"Soon, but not right away."

"Are you going somewhere?"

"It's best you don't know."

"You're not going to do something stupid are you?"

"I hope not, but that remains to be seen. I've said too much. I have to go." He hung up.

Angela inquired about the call. When Ray Ann related the call, Angela was furious, once again. "Ray Ann, don't you dare sign anything. Here, this is the name and number for a good divorce attorney. Call him as soon as you get the papers. I don't know what kind of crap he's trying to pull, but I'm not going to let my sister get robbed."

About that time, the house phone rang. Ray Ann ran over to it and answered, "Joel? Is that you again?"

A male voice responded. "This is not Joel. I don't know where the fuck Joel is, and I don't give a shit. What I care about is that Joel or somebody better deliver $300 to me by tomorrow."

"What? This is his wife. Who is this and what does he owe you $300 for?"

"I am a matchmaker who finds women for men willing to pay for their company. Joel's bill was $250 but I had to add a late fee. He had sex with my bitch Evie but didn't pay. I got his address from his driver's license and, believe me, he doesn't want me to have Big Albert make a home visit. He can bring the money to the bar where he picked up Evie. Tell him, the more he waits, the more the fee goes up." He hung up.

Angela asked, "Who was that?"

"It was a man who said he was a pimp wanting money from Joel for having sex with one of his women."

"Do you think it was a prank call?"

"I don't think so. It sounded real to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"Give me the damn number for the divorce lawyer."

Joel drove up to the location Todd phone was showing. Joel saw the parking garage sticker on a car that was the same as his wife's. He knew Todd was there. Quickly debating once again what best to do, Joel settled on beating the shit out of him and calling the police who, hopefully, would arrest Todd for rape. He picked up his baseball bat and put it behind his back. He went up and rang the bell.

"Who is it?" a voice from behind the door requested.

"Publisher's Clearing House!" an excited voice responded.

Joel figured he would have to break the door open as no one would be that stupid. Just before Joel kicked in the door, he found out Todd was that stupid and had opened the door.

The baseball bat quickly broke Todd's nose and sent blood all over. Joel came in and started inflicting major punishment on Todd's body. Joel paused. "Todd, if you want to ever fuck another married woman again, you better tell me the truth about what you did to my wife."

With blood in his eyes, Todd didn't recognize Joel and responded in a nasally voice, "Which one was she?"

"Ray Ann, you bastard."

"Oh shit, you're Joel. Okay, Okay, I'll tell you if you stop beating me."

"I'm going to stop beating me WHEN you start talking." He faked a swing of the bat.

"Alright. I fed her drinks. In the last drink, I put some date rape drugs in. Before long, she was all over me. I wasn't sure if it was the drinks, the drugs or if she really wanted me." That last remark earned Todd a broken knee cap. The rest of the story came quickly after.

After Joel was satisfied with Todd's story, he said, "I lied. Batter up!"

Special attention was spent on Todd's genitals. The orderly beating soon became erratic as Todd would cover up one area of his body only to be struck by Joel at an unprotected area. When Todd became unconscious, Joel stopped. Neighbors were peeking in at the mayhem. More than one cell phone was recording. Joel turned towards the voyeurs causing them to flinch in fear. He just simply said, "Call 911. Ask for an ambulance and the police."

One voice said, "Already done."

Joel went further inside and sat in the recliner. He reached over to the already opened beer and took a swig. With a sense of great relief, Joel waited.

Ray Ann had set an appointment with the divorce attorney. Later she began to wonder if she had acted too hastily. "It can always be stopped. If Joel doesn't talk to me, I'll tear up his papers and let mine go through." Angela was congratulating her sister for finally taking control of her life.

"Burn the bastard" became Angela's mantra.

Ray Ann got a call from the police with a significant update. "I have a lot to tell you. First, the DNA was a match with Todd Hargrove. Secondly, before we could issue a warrant, I got a call from the Springfield Police Department. They said they had a mad man who beat up a guy named Todd. The mad man was claiming that Todd was wanted by us. 'We didn't take it seriously until threatened us with the bat. He promised to go quietly if we would just make one phone call. So, I am calling you.' I told him that we were issuing a warrant for Todd for rape, unlawful detention, and administering a rape drug. Third, the mad man the officer mentioned is named Joel. He was arrested for aggravated assault, unlawful detention, and terroristic threatening. Joel will be in the Springfield jail for the time being. Todd will be in the hospital quite a while."

Ray Ann was stunned. Joel had gone after Todd. But did that mean he believed my story about what happened? Surely it did. She made plans with Angela to go visit Joel. Before they left, she was served divorce papers. Angela wanted to throw them away, but Ray Ann prevented her from doing so until she read them. They were not what she expected. She was afraid what they might mean. Angela looked at them and suddenly realized what Joel might be planning. Ray Ann was urged to sign them and send them to Joel's lawyer.

Joel maintained a calm attitude in jail. He still felt good about what he had done. Joel was slightly shocked to find out that he had earned the other prisoners' respect. Todd was still in the hospital, but more than one prisoner had promised Joel they would back a play by Joel to kill Todd when he was sent to jail. Joel thanked them.

Joel passed the time as best he could. He sent a letter to his employer apologizing for leaving without notice. Joel asked that the pay he had coming be sent to Ray Ann. He did not ask for his job back or a good recommendation. Joel had no idea how much time he would be sentenced to. He didn't care.

The letter to Ray Ann was too difficult. He wanted to be sympathetic to her plight, but had trouble not saying 'I told you so' in those or close to those exact words. He had been told about the DNA match and the charges against Todd. Joel laughed when he realized how deep in shit he would have been if the DNA didn't match and Todd had not been charged. His assumption was a hell of an assumption. Too late to worry about that now. Joel never sent a letter to Ray Ann.

The day came when Ray Ann and Angela visited Joel in jail. "Hello, Ray Ann. Hello Bitch from Hell."

Ray Ann spoke, "Joel, please. How are you? I signed the papers. I was afraid you were going to commit suicide. Angela predicted you were going to kill Todd."

"Sorry to disappoint you Angela but killing Todd was a good guess. Couldn't quite bring myself to do it though."

There was a brief pause in the conversation before Joel continued, "Gosh, you look gorgeous, Ray Ann. Have you lost a little weight?"

"Yes, but I'm not here to talk about my weight. What can we do to help you get out of here?"

"A file in a cake might help."

"Damn it, I'm serious. I need you. I want you."

Angela interrupted, "In spite of you being a fucking cheater. Thank goodness the divorce paperwork has started."

"Me? A cheater?"

Finally, Ray Ann explained, "I got a call from a man who claimed you owed him $300 for sex with a whore named Evie. He threatened to come by the house." She waited for Joel to deny the allegation.

"I guess you should pay. I don't know what really happened because I was so drunk. You see, my wife had gone out on the town when I told her not to. And then wound up getting herself raped by the man I warned her was trying to get in her panties. I guess she really wanted to go out and have fun. Anyway, I was out of it, so I don't know what really went on in the motel room. I take part of that back. I know I owe her for a really good blowjob to wake me up."

Angela jumped in while her sister sat frozen by what she had just heard. "You cheating bastard! And after what your wife went through. I hope you rot in jail."

Joel calmly replied. "I know my response to your situation was not supportive enough of you. You already know of my excuse. I did come around to believing you were not completely at fault. You've never lied to me. The only thing I was sure needed to be done was that Todd was due some revenge. Since you were in no shape to exact revenge and the legal process would be too slow, I decided to get revenge for you. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry. Please know that I have made the legal provisions for you to receive all our money we have now and what my boss will send from my job. You need to divorce me and get on with your life. You are still young and very attractive. Another man will be very lucky to become your husband and a father to your children." Joel teared up.

Angela again stuck her nose in. "So, you didn't want to help your wife when she was raped. You cared so much about your wife that you shacked up with a whore. You just wanted to beat up her rapist and make sure she got all the money she would have gotten anyway. You can't fool us. What you did was just for you to ease your conscience. Well, I for one, hope you and your conscience get to spend a lot of time comforting each other in prison."

"Angela, shut up. This whole situation is messed up. Nothing matters now except to get Joel out of jail as soon as possible. Joel, do you have a good attorney?"

"As good as the state can provide."

"A Public Defender? Surely, you're not that stupid." Angela again commented.

"I don't want to waste any more of the money Ray Ann will need to survive without me."

"It's not money that I need to survive. It's you."

"Well, I think I've made a mess of that. It will take a while to for this case to go anywhere. Todd will be in the hospital for a long time." Joel couldn't help but smile. "As long as you get the signed papers to my lawyer soon, the divorce should go through before the trial is over. That's crucial to you getting to keep the money you will need to make it without me."

Ray Ann was not satisfied with the results of the meeting but ignored Angela's rantings about how horrible Joel was. The car drive back was filled with silence.

Later that day, Ray Ann got another call from the pimp. "I hear Joel's in jail. No sympathy from me. You now owe me $350. I'm sending Big Albert around tomorrow. You better have the money. He can do more than $350 damage in no time."

"I'll have the money."

"Cash. No check. No police."

"I understand."

Ray Ann went to the bank to withdraw some cash. In the process of answering how much she wanted, Ray Ann got an idea. She asked for $1000. Later that day, she opened the door to see the largest black man she had ever seen. There was no doubt who it was. "Give me the money and I'm out of here."

"Here's the $350 for . . . "

"It's $400 now."

Ray Ann was not surprised. "$400. Excuse me."

"Nice doing business with you." Albert turned to leave.

"How would you like to do some more business?"

Albert was puzzled. "And what business would that be?"

"I'll give you $500 more if you let me talk to Evie for five minutes."

Albert thought for a second and then said, "Let me call Tyrell." After a short conversation, Albert said, "Show me the money."

Ray Ann held out the $500. Albert went back to his phone.

"You busy, baby?"

"Naw, not much shaking tonight except my booty."

"I got a crazy woman who says she'll give us $500 if she can talk to you for five minutes."

"Okay, what's the catch?"

"I don't know, but I'm handing her my phone and taking the money."

"Evie?"

"Yeah, what's this about?"

"You . . .uh . . . 'serviced' my husband the other night. He was the one who didn't pay."

"Oh yeah. But you just paid, right?"

"Yes. What I wanted to know is what exactly did you and my husband do that night?"

Evie hesitated, "I guess it won't do no harm to tell you. Your husband was getting really drunk. I will occasionally roll drunks when the opportunity presents itself. I was having trouble getting him under control, so I took him to the room at the motel I keep reserved for Johns. We barely made it into the room before he collapsed into the bed. Lucky me, I thought. Anyway, I got his wallet out. $23 fucking dollars and no credit card! Who doesn't have a credit card? He did have a debit/ATM card. I decided to wait until he woke up, convince him we had had sex, and then go to an ATM and get the cash. Meanwhile, I could get some sleep at night for a change. I took off all his clothes to help convince him we had had sex and to prevent him from running out soon after he became awake. The next morning, I was getting antsy waiting for him to wake up. I noticed he was sporting morning wood. Your husband has a nice dick, you know?"

"I know."

"Well, I gave him a blowjob which woke him up. He didn't remember anything before that, so I told him he and I had sex and he owed me money. We were going to the ATM when he booked on me. I was prepared, I had his driver's license. He can have it back for $50, by the way. Well, you know the rest."

"Can you answer one other question? Did you swallow his 'stuff?'"

Evie laughed. "I let him shoot off in my mouth, but I didn't swallow. I do occasionally swallow, but it costs extra. Even though I spit it out, I remember it tasted pretty good, but I guess you know that."

"Actually, I don't. I always thought that was too nasty. Did he really like what you did?"

"Haven't met a man yet that didn't."

The next time Ray Ann came to visit Joel at jail, she told him she knew he didn't really want a divorce but was doing it to make sure she got all the money. She said that they could be remarried as soon as he got out.

Joel's reaction was totally different from their last visit. "Ray Ann, I can't believe you haven't caught on yet. Evie was just the latest of the women I've had sex with. You think I was really that upset that you had sex with Todd? I didn't care because I have been getting some strange myself for years. The fact that he drugged you was what I was angry at. You should have your choice in men you have sex with, but it should be a conscious choice, not a drug-induced choice. I guess I got a little carried away. Well, I'm ready to move on even if you're not. With a divorce, I'll be able to find a new woman to marry after I get out. I'm not sure what type of woman would have me, but I doubt I can find anyone as dumb as you. You need to find a new man. If you wait for me, you'll become an old, worn-out hag like your sister." Joel got up to return to his cell. Ray Ann was left in tears. As soon as Joel got to his cell, his tears came.