How Coronavirus Changed My Marriage

This is a contribution to the Survivor Revival Challenge, organized by Tara Cox. My first eleven stories were called My Junior Year Abroad. Next up was the little story, "Why I love Wives." Following that, we had five chapters of My First Time. This is my eighteenth story in the Survivor Revival Challenge. I hope you like it. Personally, I'm wasting away in Paris, where shelter in place is unfortunately called "confinement," and I'm beginning to go bonkers!

I'm also beginning to burn out. A story a day is a difficult pace to keep up! I'll take a break after this story.

**

Susan learns disturbing things about her marriage. She copes.

**

Mark and I live in a tiny apartment in Manhattan. Sheltering in Place, or Confinement, or Isolation, or whatever you want to call it, was getting to us. We were fighting all the time. Okay, some of the fights were my fault, but while we loved each other, and the sex was good, we were just getting too much of each other!

Maybe if we had enjoyed a second bedroom, to use as a study, or if one or both of us could go to work, or if we could just be away from each other for a half a day or more, things would have been fine. As it was, however, things were not fine, and we began having big, major, fights over things that in normal times we never would have even fought over.

During one of the increasingly rare moments of calm, we discussed things, and we decided it was time for me to visit my sister. Well, to be fair, I decided it was time for such a visit. Mark said nothing. But you know the old saying, right? He who is silent, gives consent.

My sister lived on the Upper West Side, and we lived on the Upper East Side, so all I had to do was to walk across Central Park. It was a beautiful Spring day, so I packed a few essentials, and made my way over to Louisa's place. I had called her, and she told me to come right over. She never much liked my husband Mark, anyway. He had done something to her, which she would never talk about, around the time we married. All I ever knew was that it upset her; a lot.

It would be nice to be with Louisa. We got on well, and she would give me sympathy, something I felt that I needed, just then. I got there and inquired about her husband Jim. It turned out he was sheltering in place in Chicago, with one of his girlfriends. Louisa explained he had lovers in Chicago, Atlanta, and San Diego.

"You're okay with that?" I said, maybe revealing, a bit too much, my incredulity at Luisa's blasé acceptance of her husband Jim's philandering.

"Yeah. He's a sex fiend, and that way it's not all up to me to keep him happy. He got stranded in Chicago during this Coronavirus horror, so I'm on my own here," Luisa said.

"No offense, Luisa, but I always thought you were the sex fiend in the relationship?" I offered.

"I'm oversexed, I admit it, but to be honest, Susan, Jim has me beat," she said.

"Why don't you divorce the cheating bastard?" I offered.

"I love him," Luisa said. "Look, it's weird I know, but it works for us. Anyway, while he's away I have our neighbor Bill. You'll meet him, he's coming over for dinner. He's bringing the branzino, and lemons, and some cooked rice. I'm roasting the asparagus. He knows there's an extra, namely you, I told him already," Louisa said.

"Well then, it's nice you have friends right here in the building," I said. "I look forward to meeting him."

"Oh, Bill is more than a friend. He's a good friend," Luisa said.

When Luisa and I were growing up, once we became sexually active, to let the other one know we were being intimate with a boyfriend, but to definitely not let our mother know, we also called him a "good friend." The word "good" became our special word. A lot of giggling was involved over our good friends, back then. So, I knew Luisa was telling me, in our coded way, that she was occasionally sleeping with her neighbor Bill.

My sister had one hell of a marriage! I was in a bit of shock. I knew my husband Mark and Luisa didn't get along, so I wasn't going to add fuel to the fire by sharing this bit of scandalous news, but I called him to say I felt better now, and that we should make up. In return he yelled at me through the phone, saying truly awful things, and since he was screaming, I held the phone away from my head.

It was awful. No husband, even in extreme duress, should ever say such loathsome things to the woman he loves. And this is after I had called to apologize, too. The deadliest thing he said was that he didn't want me to come home.

Luisa and Bill overheard my husband Mark's disgusting screams, accusations, and curses, leaving me humbled, and embarrassed. I put on a brave face, decided to wait until later to cry, and soldiered on through dinner, making small talk with both my sister Luisa, and her neighbor Bill.

Bill is a good-looking man, and he's the elegant type, never using a monosyllabic word when a polysyllabic word will do. He keeps a short beard, and has glasses around the same color as the brown of his hair and beard. He has an aquiline nose, and a typical hunky body type. I liked the way he looked, and by the end of the evening I knew that I liked him, too.

Bill looked at me with sympathy in his eyes, but there was something else to his look. His gaze a bit too often drifted to my boobs. I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and once there I looked at my chest in the bathroom mirror. Yep, there they were. Even a casual observer would know that my boobs had two nipples.

I mean, it's not unusual for a woman's boob to have a nipple. No surprise there. It's just that usually, I don't wear a bra. I'm only twenty-four, you see, and my B cup boobs don't really need one, at least not yet. Give me a couple of kids and ten more years of age, and I'll need a bra for sure. Right now, however, I'm braless and fancy-free. My nipples had just decided to poke at my blouse to say hello to Bill. They did so rather convincingly.

It was clear, at least to me, that Bill was interested. Of course, I was married, but it did me good, to know that at least to some man, somewhere, and a good looking one to boot, and a nice one to boot, to boot; I was desirable. I flushed the toilet, washed my hands, and returned to the table with a smile on my face, despite how viciously nasty my husband Mark had been, both when I decided to leave the apartment to clear the air, and then later on the phone.

My sister Luisa, bless her soul, offered to let me spend the night. I had thought it would come to that, which was why I had bought a tiny bag of essential supplies, which included my birth control pills and a five-year supply of Xanax. Luisa had a spare bedroom, which Jim used as a study (when he was home). They had a day bed in the study, basically a twin bed, and Luisa made it up for me. My older sister is a doll.

We drank until late and talked and talked. It felt so good to be talking to others who weren't judging me, or looking to jump in to start a fight with me. At one point I excused myself to change for bed. Luisa had given me one of Jim's T shirts to sleep in. I had forgotten what a big man Jim is; the T shirt was huge, and I have narrow shoulders. The first time I tried it on it fell down off both of my shoulders, and only my boobs kept it from falling to the floor. I found a binder clip in Jim's study and pinched the back together with the clip so that it would stay on me, and finally decently dressed, I went to join the others.

Luisa and - to my surprise - Bill, too, had also changed for bed. Luisa had put on what had to be her sexiest nightgown. I could see her nipples and areolas right through the thin, white cotton of the nightgown. Looking lower, I could also see her bush. I remembered she had said that Bill was a 'good friend.' He surely must have been, for Luisa to wear a nightgown like that one!

"Shall we kiss goodnight?" Luisa asked. Luisa came to me and gave me one of her lovely kisses, right on my lips. We had always kissed that way; it was family tradition. Bill came over to me next and he surprised me. He too kissed me on the lips, and it was much more than a neighborly kiss! It was the sexiest kiss I'd had in a long time! Oh yeah; he was interested in me, all right.

Bill's interest in me made things awkward on so many levels. First of all, I may be fighting with Mark, but I'm married to the man. Second, Bill is currently sleeping with my sister, who, by the way, is also married! Well, I figured, Luisa is more than enough for any man to handle, and this is not my problem. I smiled at them both, noticed the rather spectacular tent in Bill's pajamas, and bid them both sweet dreams.

Twenty minutes later I heard moaning. I left my room and went to the main room and stood near the door to Luisa's bedroom. They were definitely fucking. I head the slapping sounds of flesh on flesh, and the erotic moans of my sister, and an occasional grunt from Bill. I had never listened to my sister have sex before, and I knew I was being a creep, but I couldn't tear myself away. After Luisa had screamed out her climax, I poured myself a glass of port, and sat in the armchair with her recent copy of The Economist and settled in.

Shortly thereafter the two lovers emerged from their den of iniquity, and they joined me. Bill looked embarrassed, but Luisa seemed fine.

"Was I too noisy, Susan? My apologies," Luisa said.

"No, it's fine," I lied. "I'm just upset about Mark, is all."

"If I may make a suggestion, Susan?" Bill asked.

"No, you may not," Luisa said, before I could even reply.

"He has a cure for everything, and it's always the same," Luisa explained.

"So, what's the cure?" I asked.

"Don't ask," Luisa said.

"It's okay, Luisa," Bill said, managing to get a word in. "You need sex."

"You're kidding," I said. "I'm much too angry with Mark to have sex with him."

"He doesn't mean with Mark," Luisa said.

"Oh. Well, do you have some toys I could borrow?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, I'll get them. But that's also not what Bill meant," Luisa said, and went to her room to get her toys.

"I meant you need to get laid by someone other than this jerk Mark," Bill said.

"Mark is my husband and I love him. He's not a jerk," I said. "That's a rather big dildo, Luisa," I added, as she returned with a dildo and a vibrator.

"Yes, it's bigger than Jim is, of course, but smaller than some others I know," Luisa replied, tilting her head towards Bill. I raised a single eyebrow. Bill seemed obvious to our sisterly exchange.

"Really? I guess Mark is comparable," I lied.

"No, he's not," Luisa said, and her hand shot up to her mouth, as my own mouth fell open.

"Well, this is an interesting development," Bill said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Is your knowledge of the size of my husband's thing related to the reason you've never liked him much?" I asked.

"The short answer is yes, but let's discuss it in the morning. Here, let me get you a refill for your port," she said, leaving me reeling, and my mind getting tied up in knots, not to mention my stomach.

"Don't look at me!" Bill said, as I stared at him. He did look big, okay huge, earlier when I saw the tent in his pants.

"Well, my toys and I are going to bed. Goodnight, all," I said.

"It might help a little, but you need sex with a real man, not a collection of toys. And the man should not be Mark," Bill said.

"That's adultery, is what you're suggesting," I said.

"Adultery is something your sister Luisa is superb at," Bill said. "I wonder if you're as talented as she is?"

"Goodnight Bill," I said, rather definitively, and I closed my door. I heard the two of them shuffling around and whispering for a while, and then they finally went to bed, although not to sleep, because once again Luisa's moans filled the apartment. Thank goodness she had lent me her dildo, whom I decided to name Dan, and Dan the Dildo royally fucked me in synchrony to my sister's moans of pleasure.

Breakfast was nice the next morning. We're Jewish, and it was the Jewish holiday of Passover, when Jews eat matzo instead of leavened bread. A traditional breakfast dish is Matzo Brei, which is matzo fried with eggs. Our family tradition is to sprinkle powdered sugar on it, and Luisa did that. Bill stayed for breakfast, and then he left to 'go to work.' He was working from home, using Zoom, specially encrypted email, Dropbox, and texting. He was all set up at his home, so naturally enough he went home, which was next door.

Luisa and I relaxed and talked. She was nervous I would judge her for having an affair right under my nose like that, but I was just glad that even though all that was going on, she still let me stay there, nevertheless. We discussed if it was wise to have an affair with an immediate neighbor, in the same building, and we both agreed it was most definitely not wise.

"It's too late now for wisdom, though," Luisa said.

"Well, he is a hunk. And he does seem to please you sexually, unless you were acting, "I said.

"I wasn't acting. Did you try out that huge dildo last night?" Luisa asked.

"Yes, it was a lifesaver. Thanks so much!" I replied.

"So, you got it to fit?"

I blushed. "Yes, I did."

"Bill's cock is around the size of the dildo," Luisa said.

"No man has a cock the size of that dildo!" I replied.

"Well, Bill does. Trust me on this," she said.

"Any chance I can see it, sometime?" I asked. I mean, size isn't everything, but not being everything, it can still be something, right?

"I'll invite Bill back tonight. We can play some games, or have show and tell, if you like. If he shows, you'll have to show too, you know. It's only fair," Luisa said.

"I feel like I'm back in high school," I said.

"Yes, but we weren't fucking in high school," Luisa said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Luisa asked.

"I had a couple of good friends in high school, you know?" I said.

"Okay! I'm impressed. My sister; who'da thought?" she said.

Luisa and I went for a walk in Central Park. After around ten or fifteen minutes, I asked her what happened with her and Mark that caused her to know the size of Mark's cock. I had been wondering, shall we say.

Luisa hemmed and hawed. She did not want to say. I pushed and pushed.

"Look, Susan. I don't want to tell you this. Don't force me," she said.

There are times one should listen to one's sister. This was one of those times. I didn't listen. I essentially forced her to tell me. It wasn't pretty.

"I did something once. It was wrong, and I could have gone to prison. I can't now, because of the statute of limitations. Anyway, Mark found out, and he had the goods on me. He could prove I had done it," Luisa said, and then we walked by some people and she shut up.

Once we were again isolated, she continued. "Mark blackmailed me," Luisa said.

I was shocked! "How much money did you have to pay him? I'll make sure you get it all back. This is horrible, horrible!" I exclaimed.

"He didn't want money," Luisa said.

"What? But he was blackmailing you, you said. Luisa, this is not making sense!" I said.

"He wanted something other than money," Luisa said.

"I don't understand," I said.

"Susan, he wanted sex. He wanted to fuck me, and he did. Multiple times. Blowjobs, too. He wanted a blowjob before every fuck. He said he wanted $10,000 worth of fucks, and then he'd stop. Before you ask, he valued my fucks from $100 to $500 depending on how good they were. I had to fuck him twenty-eight times before we were done. This includes the night before your wedding, and ten fucks even after the two of you were married. I'm so sorry!" Luisa said, and she cried.

I sat down. I think I was in shock. I could no longer think, or even move.

When I recovered to some extent, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me? How could you let your own sister marry such a monster?"

"I should have told you, I suppose. I was scared, I guess. Mark would have had an explosion and turned me in if I had told you. Also, you may have forgotten, but the two of you were totally smitten with each other," she said.

"Yeah, I guess we were," I confessed.

"I did the best I could, given the circumstances. I told you I didn't like Mark, that he was no good, and I strongly advised you not to marry him, if you remember?" Luisa said.

"Yeah, I remember. I was pretty pissed at you for trying to rain on my parade. I figured you were jealous," I said.

"Well, now you know. I'm so sorry, Susan," she said.

Later, back in her apartment, Luisa asked me a serious question: "Have you ever cheated on Mark?"

"No, never," I said.

"Honest?"

"Yes," I said.

"Okay," Luisa said, and her eyes sparkled. She had mischief on her mind, but exactly what it was, I had no idea. "By the way, do you still like rack of lamb?"

"Of course, I do. You know that's one of my favorites," I said.

"Good. I'm roasting one for you and Bill tonight. Do you want to call Mark? See if he's calmed down? If you can, forget about what I told you in the park, okay? In any event, never tell Mark. It's our little secret," Luisa said.

"You mean it's our big secret. Our huge, gigantic secret," I said. "I'll never forget what you told me," I said. "Tell me, Luisa, was it hard for you?"

"Well, Mark is good in bed, as you of course would know. So that part was nice. But I didn't want to have sex with him, and I was forced to do it, and that's never pleasant. Listen, remember what we agreed in the park: You can never tell Mark that you know. He'll know I told you. And you can never, ever, ever, ever tell my Jim, okay? He'd kill Mark."

"That's right, you were married to Jim when Mark was extorting sex, weren't you?" I said.

"Yes, and that kind of ruined our marriage. Jim never knew, he never even suspected, but I felt so guilty, that I turned a blind eye to all of his infidelities," Luisa said. "Now you know why I hate Mark. I try not to hate him, because he's married to you and you love him, but in the final analysis, in my opinion, sweet sister of mine, your husband is pond scum."

I called Mark. I couldn't help myself; I felt cold and distant and must have sounded that way. I was defeated, in a way, and couldn't even get angry at Mark when he baited me. My failure to rise to the occasion and fight with him over the phone enraged him all the more, and we ended up hanging up in worse shape than we began. I was a mess of emotions. He once again told me we were finished, and not to come home. I knew it was hyperbole, spoken in frustration and anger, but it hurt, nevertheless. It really hurt.

Dinner was lovely. Bill brought his older brother Byron along for dinner. Byron is even better looking than Bill, and quite a bit older than Bill. Bill is around 50 years of age, but Byron, I learned, was a healthy 62. Now we were two couples, and that wasn't lost on me. The way both men looked at me made it clear that their intentions weren't appropriate for dinner with two married women.

Luisa had become quite a good cook. Bill was as handsome and as debonair as ever. Byron was taciturn: He's the strong, silent type. Byron is a widower, having lost his wife to breast cancer a long time ago. After dinner we were all three reasonably drunk. Bill had some excellent pot, and we all got stoned, as well.

It was time for Luisa's party games. We played Cards Against Humanity., with penalty cards. Luisa had made up the penalty cards, with pink ones for the girls, and blue ones for the boys. Luisa had spent an hour making them all up.

It was kind of like truth or dare. You had to answer the question on a penalty card, or else remove a piece of clothing. I, of course, got the first penalty card. The question was:

Have you ever had a threesome?