Losing The Fight

"I can just have a talk with him. Maybe he's married. Maybe he has kids. I just have to see what the situation is before I decide what to do."

"Are you going to discuss it with Pete. He should probably be apprised. Not to say warned."

"Are you going to warn Jerome? No."

"But I don't have to see him. And I will not see him."

Lisa said, "Um hmmm."

"I won't. I love Jerome and the kids."

That was the end of the talk, and I was worried by it, for sure. I vaguely recalled them talking about Dak. I thought things over, and remembered that he was the one who did tantric sex with both of them. That was still in Lisa's and my repertoire. I loved it, but we couldn't do it too much because it was so difficult. I thought it had been two years since we had done that.

I decided to bring up her work with Lisa, to give her a chance to tell me about Dak. But when I came downstairs Sarah was still there. Suddenly, I had a change of heart. I saw no reason to beat around the bush.

They were still on the patio out back. I walked out, sat down, and looked at them.

"Tell me about this Dak."

I got a shocked look from both.

"I heard what you said. It didn't make me feel secure at all. Especially you, Lisa. Sarah seems to have decided to avoid him. But not you."

"I can't avoid him, if I want to keep my job."

"What is the fuss about? Is he some super sex guy?" There was a long pause in which neither of them looked directly at me. I looked at Lisa.

"Look at me, Lisa. Is he some sexual god? How much do I have to worry?"

"He's.....very attractive."

"So am I. Why do I have to worry about this guy? Sarah? Lisa doesn't seem to open about it. I need to know what I'm dealing with here."

Sarah said, "Yes, he's the best I ever had. He taught me that tantric thing. And he taught Lisa too. He's just a sexual phenom. Or he was, fifteen years ago."

I said, "Lisa, is he the best you ever had as well?"

"Yes, just in terms of pure sex. I never loved him like I do you. I never had the kinds of playful, creative sex with him, like with you. But he's big, assertive, and he's so very talented. Or he was. Don't know about now."

"I appreciate your honesty, I guess." I looked down. I stood up and walked into the kitchen. I glanced out the window, and saw them with their heads together. I got a drink and walked back out.

"Lisa, I assume that you were going to tell me that this guy would be your new boss." She was silent. Then, "I hadn't decided."

"I think you had decided. I think you were going to keep me out of the loop, right?"

"I was certainly considering it. I just thought it would cause you anxiety."

"Well, I do have something to worry about, yes?"

"Probably. If he's like he was. If he's not already a family man. If he comes on to me. Maybe I would give in. I hope not. But both Sarah and I would be in danger, if we were to spend a lot of time with him."

Sarah said, "That's very true, Pete. Why I won't even try to see him. If I see him on the street, I'm walking the other way."

"It's that bad? No incidental contact?"

"Yes." Sarah looked down.

"So you believe that if Lisa works with him....for him...she'll end up in his bed?"

"Yes." Sarah looked at Lisa.

"When is he coming?"

Lisa whispered, "Next Monday, a week away."

"I expect daily reports from you. If he turns up early, I want to know. And I'd like to be introduced on the very day he arrives at your work. Not a moment to waste."

"Okay. But Pete," she said, "I won't betray you."

"I'll help you with that, though." I got up and left.

I went into the office and looked up this fellow that had thrown such a wrench into my life. Darrell Alvin King was a vice president of Lisa's corporation. He was pictured in one article about him. He looked big, and handsome. He had a long, dark ponytail, and a rugged face. He was thought to be an up and comer in the business. I wondered why he was coming to the backwater.

Further research revealed that he was regarded in New York as one of the city's most eligible and desirable bachelors. There were more pictures. One had him in a bathing suit. He was cut. It was less than a year old.

Then there was a little blurb in an article. Dak was the east coast MMA amateur champion. I looked that up. I was able to watch some of his bouts from the last year. He was terrific. He wasn't a brawler. Instead, he seemed to pick apart his opponents. He simply hit them so often, and hard, that they couldn't get up. He never seemed to dive onto them, like most fighters. I watched several bouts. I concluded that he was essentially cruel, punishing the other guy like a cat toying with a mouse. I thought that he could easily go pro. I was really worried now.

This guy could fuck up my entire life. Might not take him that long, either.

I thought more about him. I called Charles and Mandy's house. I got Charles (not Charlie). I explained to him that I needed really deep background on this guy. And I explained why, asking him not to tell anyone else, including Mandy, who was Lisa's good friend. He said he'd get right on it. I knew he would do his best, and that his best was pretty good. But I also called an old friend of mine from my neighborhood. Vincent Rizzo was in the business of industrial espionage. He and I had helped each other out of some jams in school. I kept in touch with him over the years.

I told him about my problem, and I asked him to do a real work up on this guy. I told him I had my regular people on it, but that I needed to do whatever I could. He agreed to do a rush job, but a thorough one. I paid him his going rate. The friendship was for the rush service.

Then I went back downstairs. Sarah had gone. The kids were at various friends' houses.

Lisa was in the kitchen, looking pensive.

"Lisa, maybe you should just quit your job. Go back to teaching. You liked that."

"I did. But I like this job as well. I understand your fears, though. I will not betray you, I swear."

"No matter how much you'd like to."

"Don't say that. I was honest."

"I know, and I really appreciate that. But maybe I provoked it somewhat. I'm not at all comfortable with this situation. It's our life. Our family."

"What's the worst? I won't run away with him. He won't replace you."

"He'll fuck you."

"Well, it wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?"

"The end of us."

"You mean that."

"Yes, I do. I'll do what I can to stop it. And you should too, but I'm not hearing you say that you will. Rather the opposite."

"You're going to do a Reagan on me aren't you: trust but verify."

"I never liked that statement. It implies no trust if you have to verify. Makes no sense. In this case I think that you would agree that I'd be a fool to trust you."

"I won't betray you, Pete. I won't betray our family."

"Okay."

We went up to bed. Lisa came in her regular PJ's. I made a move on her anyway. She resisted for a short time, until I started licking her neck. She got into it. She got out of her PJ's. We had a good time. If we hadn't, I'd have been a lot more worried.

The week passed by with no further strain. Lisa was a little pensive. I asked Sarah to lunch on Wednesday. She and I spoke about Dak, and why Lisa was so taken with him. She explained that not only was he great at sex, but that she was only eighteen when she was with him, and he was big and brash, a weakness of hers. He was her perfect storm.

I got the report from Charles, which just had a little more depth than what I had from my own research.

Then I got Vincent's report, orally on the phone. He told me that Dak had been transferred out to our city from New York, and that people at the home office thought it strange. (So did I.) Rumor had it that he had messed up a deal with some Texas people. Another rumor had it that he made the request himself, out of the blue. Vincent thought that the Texas story was wrong. He thought that Dak really wanted to come west, for some reason.

When I got this report, I called Jerome, invited him to lunch Friday. I informed him of the entire situation, including Sarah's part. I let him know that Sarah steadfastly refused to see Dak. But, I also let him know the reason that she was so adamant. Then I explained that it seemed as if Dak had bagged his career path to come to this specific office. That worried both of us. He said he'd keep track of Sarah's texts, or calls. And emails. They had an arrangement where each had access to the other's stuff. I told him that if she got something from Dak, she'd also know that you might see it. That made him think.

The weekend came. I asked Lisa if Dak had made any pre-Monday communications with the office. "No," she said. With her? "No," she said.

Later, I called Jerome. He had found a call from a New York number to Sarah's cell phone. He gave me the number. The call had been answered. It lasted four minutes. He hadn't mentioned it to her yet. I ran the number through a reverse directory. It was King's cell. I let Jerome know. He asked me to speak to Sarah.

I called Sarah, said I'd be outside her house in five. She was waiting.

"What did Dak say when he called?"

She looked pissed. "You had Jerome spy on me."

"Yes. What did he want?"

"He called to tell me that he was moving to town today. He started his new job Monday. Did I want to have lunch tomorrow?"

"And?"

"And I said no. I asked him not to call again. I was married and happy. He said okay."

"Did you ask about Lisa?"

"He said he had called her also. But just to say hello, and assure her that she was safe working with him."

"Did you talk to Lisa about that call?"

"Yes. She described it the same."

"Okay, thanks. Please don't blame Jerome. It's me that you should blame, if anyone."

"Hah! It's both of you. No trust"

"Would you trust Lisa, if you were I?"

"No." She walked off.

I didn't trust her either, especially since she hadn't told me about Dak's call.

Monday morning rolled around. Lisa and I left early for her work. When we arrived, we were walking up toward the entrance door when an Uber pulled up, and out got Dak. The fucker was impressive, in a sharp, muted green suit, lavender tie, brown loafers. And he was very big and imposing.

Lisa said, "There he is."

He turned to look at us. "Lisa, hello." He held out his arms to her. She offered her hand.

"This is my husband, Peter. He decided to come today to meet my new boss."

Dak took her hand. Then he offered me a handshake, which I accepted. There was no macho squeezing.

Dak said, "Happy to meet you. I hope to be seeing a lot of you."

Lisa said "Pete's a lawyer."

"I know, real estate closings. Very profitable."

I thought that he had investigated me as thoroughly as I had him.

He said, "I also hear that you do MMA. Me, too. Maybe we can spar around a little."

"I'm certainly not in your league, Mr. King. Sparring might be dangerous."

"No, I wouldn't hurt you, Peter."

"That's not what I meant, Mr. King."

Lisa, interrupted, "Shouldn't we be going up? Peter wants to come up today."

"He's always welcome." They walked through the door, entered an elevator to the fifth floor. Dak ushered the two of them into the office.

"Have a seat, Peter. I need to see my new digs. Lisa, can you show me where to go?"

Lisa pointed and walked down the hall. Dak stood for a moment. He watched her. He glanced at me. He followed her down the hall. They went into the corner office. Dak closed the door.

I had enough information, now, to understand that, for whatever reason, Dak was here to steal my wife. Maybe also Sarah. Why? No idea. He had many women to choose from in New York. Why didn't make any difference anyway.

I waited for ten minutes. Dak and Lisa finally came out of his new office. She didn't seem flustered. Nor did he. But there was no explanation of the amount of time spent.

I said, "Well, I'll be going now. Lisa, can you walk me down to the car? Nice to meet you, Mr. King."

'You, too, Peter."

When the elevator doors closed, no one else was with us.

"He's here for you, Lisa. Maybe Sarah, too. But definitely you."

"You're paranoid, Pete. He was very nice. He told me that our past would not be brought up at all, and that no one at the office need know about it. I thanked him. That was it."

"It had to be more than that. He closed the door. It took ten minutes. What you described would have taken two. What else?"

"He asked about Sarah. I told him about her family. I also told him that she was very leery of him, and did not want contact. He seemed down about that."

"Lisa, he's here for you. There's no other reason. I'm not sure why now, or even why at all. But I know that's what he wants. You need to quit your job. We don't need the cash."

"I won't. I like the job. You'll see, I won't betray you."

"What does that even mean? You've said that several times, just like that. What do you mean by betrayal?"

"I mean I won't sneak around on you, fuck him behind your back. I won't betray you. Clear?"

"Yes. I think it is clear. You need to quit your job. If not, we may be over."

I turned and walked away. So did she.

The day went slowly by. We did several closings, and were efficient. But my attention was not up to par. Everyone noticed. Charles and Mandy were at the office for a consult on one of the PI cases. I decided to call a team meeting. Diane, Leann and Russ joined Charles and Mandy in the conference room. I briefly explained that Lisa had a new boss, and that she had had an intense relationship with him when she was young. Now, it seemed to me, he came west and gave up his career path to be in the same office as she. I described him. Except for Charles, all of them were skeptical. It didn't make sense to them that Lisa would ever mess over me or her kids for some sex with an old flame. But I assured them that I believed she would do exactly that. They all promised to do some research about the matter in their spare time, and to keep an eye out on Lisa when they could. I thanked them. Really, I just wanted them all to know why I might be distracted for a while.

Lisa came home early. I was already there. It was just 4:30pm. She was surprised to see me, I think.

"Why are you home early, Pete?" Lisa was a little flushed.

"I was distracted at work. You know why. How did your day go. I note that you're also here early. And you seem a bit flushed, like maybe you had something to drink?

"Shit. Maybe I did. I didn't want you to notice and worry. Dak and I decided that we had to discuss the current situation away from the office. We went to Mike's and got a booth. I had some wine. That's all."

"And you were going to hide this from me. Have you betrayed me already?"

"NO! But we did need to talk, and I was nervous as shit around him. So I ordered a wine."

"Did your talk produce any decisions? Like where you were going to go to fuck?"

"Stop it, Pete. We were only gone a little early. We talked over several ideas. Dak is quite concerned that you will insist that I quit the job. That wouldn't look good for him, right off like that. We just tried to think through how to proceed."

"And....?"

"We didn't come to any resolution. Going to give it a day or so."

"I see. I'll slip around and get the kids from AfterSchool." I did that. They were happy to be home early. I played on the floor with the twins. Lisa cooked a quick meal. We all had a good time. Eight pm came and we put the kids to bed. Lisa poured herself some wine, sat in the living room.

"What ideas were you discussing with Dak? About your problem. Did you tell him that you didn't believe that you could resist him, if you two were working together?"

"No. No."

"Then how did you frame your dilemma? I mean, that's the central difficulty, right."

"Okay. I think Dak basically assumed that. And he assumed that you knew that. He pronounced it a conundrum. He said that he wouldn't try me."

"Did he indeed? And did you believe him?"

"No. I.....I told him so. That's where we left it. Actually I was abrupt with him before I left. He just laughed at me when I told him I didn't believe him. And that you wouldn't either. I told him that you understood that he had left New York, and a life, to come here, and that you thought he was just after me. Maybe Sarah."

"Are you going to quit, then? Seems like the only way."

"I'm going to give this a few days, maybe until Friday, and see how things shake out. I hope you don't mind."

"I do mind. By then it could be all over."

"I'll say this again, Pete. I WILL NOT BETRAY YOU!" She got up and ran upstairs.

Things were cold between us that night and the next day. I saw no reason for Lisa to be upset with me. But she was.

She came home from work on Wednesday, excited.

"Dak believes that we should discuss our problem in person, not remotely. He has a company cottage reserved for the weekend. People have been invited. He has invited you and me. We would arrive Thursday evening, leave Sunday evening. I arranged for my folks to get the kids after school Thursday."

"No."

"What do you mean, no? We have to deal with this somehow. This gives us a chance for rational discussion."

"It gives him a chance to fuck you. That's what it's all about."

"Pete, that's not why he asked. We have to do this."

"We don't have to do it. You could just resign. The fact that you won't tells me a lot."

"Peter, you don't even know this man. I do. I can assure you that he wants to smooth the situation over."

"I'll give it some thought." I walked outside to do just that. The kids were being car- pooled today, and would arrive soon.

After considering all the options open to me, I decided that we had to go to the cabin. But I also decided that we wouldn't go until after work on Friday. Three days were far too many for me to take, given what I thought might happen.

We had what must have seemed to the kids as an ordinary evening. Maybe one of the last. Then we sat again, this time at the kitchen table.

"I'm willing to go to this cabin, but not for three days. We can go up Saturday, stay over until Sunday. That should be enough time."

Lisa said, "No, it might not be enough. I don't even know whether Dak will agree."

"Why would he buck that? He wants a private talk. This is his chance."

"Well, we have to go at least on Friday, after work."

"Why?"

"It's just normal politeness."

"I am not feeling like being polite."

"Please, Pete, I'm asking, here."

"Okay. But be aware that we might leave quickly. You know that, right?"

"It's going to be okay, Pete. We'll all have a good time."

"What's that mean. Who's 'we'll all?'"

"You and I, I meant." I noticed that she hadn't used her favorite phrase this day.

I drifted off outside again. I made a list in my head of what I might need at this weekend get together. I shouted inside to Lisa, "Who else will be there?"

"Don't know for sure. People Dak knows."

I consulted with Sarah on Thursday from the office. I asked her what she thought about the cabin weekend. She seemed non-committal, almost disinterested. I was a little put out about it. Later I called Jerome. He had no real advice, except to take care.

The team at work were all against going. But I had decided that. We looked up the cabin. I had the address from Lisa. I made a careful study of what was there, and of the surrounding area. These new satellite images are great.

It looked like the 'cabin' was a very large structure, with an outdoor pool, basketball court, and hiking trails. A lake was close by, and there was a dock. There were several outbuildings, as well. I printed a picture. Several pictures. I put them in my hold-all.

Lisa snuggled up to me when we went to bed. She wanted sex, and I was only too happy to oblige. But I didn't want lovey-dovey sex. I fucked her hard from behind. I reached around and rubbed her clit as I did that. She responded dramatically to the sex. It was really good for me also. Awas drifting off, she whispered that she loved me, and everything would be all right. I didn't doubt the first, but did doubt the second.