Lying Eyes

"Sorry, I already ate," I said. "I went over to the café. Your friend Jo Anne is no longer working there."

"You drove all of that way to check up on her for me?" she smiled.

"Actually, I was just hungry," I said.

"So, would you like me to go to your meeting with you? I could just sit there and look pretty for you until you got done and then maybe we could spend some time together," she said.

I'd been in business for long enough to know when someone is trying to get something from me, or disguise their agenda. I decided to punt.

"I tried to spend some time with you on Friday," I said. Her eyes got as big as saucers. "Yep, I came by the daycare center and looked for you all over the place but you weren't there. I was sure that you'd gone to work. You told me all about it at dinner."

You could almost hear the intake of air coming from her. Of course I was bluffing. But I knew from talking to the PI's that she hadn't been to work on Friday, so she wouldn't know whether I'd been there or not.

"Did you talk to anyone there?" she asked. It wasn't the time to push this yet. I had to wait for her to take the money or leave, so I backed down. If I confronted her now, all I'd get is a normal divorce and the joy of watching half of everything I'd busted my ass working for sashay out of my life. So I gave her an opening she could use.

"No, I didn't talk to anyone," I said. "I was so disappointed at not seeing you that I just left. Usually, if I look through all of the rooms, I find you. My favorite thing, is seeing you sitting on that mat with all of the kids gathered around you, while you read to them. I always imagine that someday we'll have kids and you'll read to them the same way. You'd be the most beautiful, most special mother in the world. Our kids would have your beauty and my drive and they'd love you almost as much as I do.

She was taken aback. She didn't know what to say. She just stared at me and I think I saw a tear starting to form in the corner of her eye. I kept my expression neutral. It was really hard fighting the temptation to do a fist pump. I was really proud of myself, because obviously I could spread the bullshit as thickly as she could.

"I love you too, Danford," she said quietly. "Next time you come to the center looking for me, just ask one of e the ladies where I am. Friday, I had to do a supply run. We needed diapers and formula for the babies. Believe it or not I'm one of the few women there who has a dependable car. So I get to go on the supply runs a lot. Danny maybe when you're finished putting this deal together we should take some time off. Maybe we could just go on a long vacation somewhere."

"It sounds like a plan," I said. "I know I've been abnormally busy lately, so taking some time off would be good. But, what will you do about your job, Constance? You don't have very much vacation time left and I thought you were saving it for another excursion with the girls."

"Honey, maybe it's time for me to stop taking care of other people's kids and start making our own," she said.

"Deal," I replied. The funny thing about it is that she got to me when she said that. I'd been waiting to hear her say it for so long that it got to me.

"What about a cruise?" she suggested. Maybe I was pissed because she'd gotten to me, but I almost gave it away. My acting skills were simply not up to the challenge, because I almost blew it.

"That would be great," I said. "I'll book a ticket tomorrow."

She looked at me for a second and then asked, "Won't we both need tickets, Honey?"

"You know what I mean," I said. "On a cruise there are no tickets you book a cabin and just let them know how many people will be there."

She nodded her head and went back inside the house. I finished washing and waxing my car and drove off to go and meet with the PI. We had an interesting conversation. I was amazed at the wealth of information they'd collected. The PI, whose name was Abner Yokam, suggested that we share some of the information we'd gotten, with some friends of his. He swore to me that I'd be very happy with the results. He told me that I needed to be very sure of what I wanted because once they got started there'd be no turning back. His friends turned out to be DEA agents.

Some of the things he said made me wonder whether or not he'd been where I was. In fact, by the end of our conversation, I was sure he was reliving his own situation. He'd gradually shifted away from using terms like "terminate the situation with your wife." By the end of our talk he was saying, "fry that bitch good," and referring to a "scorched earth," policy for her and everyone who sided with her.

Since I had only a vague idea of how to handle things, I was glad to have his help. But I was hoping for his sake that he'd get some kind of counseling when this was over. Revenge hadn't really been on my plate, all I really wanted was to walk away from her and shield most of my assets.

But as I drove home I couldn't help but smile a little bit at the thought of giving a bit of pain back to the people who'd hurt me. I guess I really had nothing against Todd. Shit, Constance is a beautiful woman. If I was in his shoes I'd probably go after her myself. In fact I did. Todd had actually known Constance long before I did. But when I met her she'd told me that she wasn't with anyone. I guess theirs was an on and off relationship and when we met it had been off.

Perhaps the real reason that I wasn't as angry as I could have been, was that she had never brought the bastard to my house. That would have been insulting. In fact, if she'd simply come to me and said, "Dan, I've discovered that I still have feelings for my long time boyfriend Todd." I'd have wished them well. We could have parted as friends and I'd have let her keep all of the clothes and jewelry that she'd accrued during our marriage and maybe even a token amount of cash.

But her decision to be dishonest and play games with my feelings, hurt me. Her further decision to sneak around with him and steal my money to give to him, crossed the line. It would take me a while to get over her. Maybe I'd never love anyone the way I loved her again during my lifetime, but I'd also never be that naive again either. In fact, I wasn't really sure I'd ever want another person in my life after her.

Monday morning I followed my usual pattern. I got out of bed and took a shower. I woke Constance so she could start her day too. She came in and kissed me after she dressed. I sat in the kitchen eating a light breakfast of fruit and a cup of coffee. She sat down across from me and smiled.

"Have good day Constance," I said.

"I'm not leaving yet," she smiled. "I thought I'd have breakfast with you instead of going to the café.

"Great thought," I said. "Bad timing though. I'm leaving in just a few minutes. I have to pick out my new assistant."

"You have lots of secretaries in your steno pool," she smiled. "Make sure you pick one who's old and ugly. It would be good if she's fat too." She leaned over and kissed me again then she headed out the door.

My day at work was exciting. I had several deals in process and just the day to day running of my various businesses and concerns was taxing. There were always decisions to be made and meetings to schedule. The most exciting part was seeing Jo Anne walk into the office holding onto her daughter's hand. Samantha is a real charmer. She walked up to me and stuck out her four year old hand and thanked me for making her mommy happy again. For most of the day all I remembered were those puffy little cheeks and that tiny hand. Jo Anne cleaned up well and looked like a combination of classy business woman and girl next door all rolled into one.

By the mid-point of the day she was scheduling my meetings like she'd been doing it all of her life. She tried to talk to me several times to express how grateful she was for the job and I just nodded my head and told her she was already doing a great job.

When it was time to go home, I wasn't ready to. I knew the script for the next few hours and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

* * * * * *

Constance.

When Dan got home, I'd already changed into some jeans and a shirt that showed off my boobs. I decided that instead of having our cook make us dinner, we should just go out in the back and grill something, just the two of us. Then I could convince him to take me to bed. It had been days since we'd made love. I needed to get us back on track, business deal or not. Ashley was going to call me later. Her call would be my excuse for leaving. Maybe I wanted to have sex with Dan before I went to Todd because I was feeling guilty. Maybe I wanted to compare them, to see which one of them I enjoyed the most.

They both had their attributes and their weaknesses. Todd had the Stamina of youth but he had all of the finesse of a freight train. He was also a very selfish lover. He loved to do sixty eights. That's where I suck him off and he owes me one. Once he got on top of me he usually huffed and puffed until he got off though; whether I did or not. The way he slammed me was great, but sometimes it felt demeaning. But for some reason I just couldn't get enough of him. I knew that he was bad for me, but I just couldn't control it.

Danford, on the other hand, loves me. There are no two ways about it. He always makes sure that I cum, no matter what it takes. He actually likes giving me oral. His pace is slower, but he makes it feel so good. Instead of slamming me he caresses each and every part of my body until I cry out with passion. There have been a couple of times when if I wasn't on the pill, I'd be sure Danford would have knocked me up.

So I wanted Danford to go first because he was my husband for now. And maybe if I screwed him all he wanted, I wouldn't feel so guilty about giving Todd some pussy too. It would be as if Danford was letting someone else play with his toys when he was done with them.

Well, that was the plan, but it didn't go the way I wanted it to. Dan came in and went right into his study. He opened up his briefcase and sat down in front of the computer in his home office.

He pulled out several sheaves of papers and started going over them immediately.

I walked in and reminded him of our rule about no working at home. He reluctantly looked away from the screen. He went out with me and lit the grill, then sat there while turning the steaks. I was really sure that something was off. My woman's intuition was screaming. I felt like that barrel shaped robot from "Lost in Space" was trapped in my head screaming, "Danger Will Robinson!"

I'd gotten used to being stared at by men for most of my life. I got nervous when they didn't stare at me. Danford stared at me all the time too. Usually his eyes stroked me and he smiled while he looked at me. It was as if he was looking at something he loved and wanted to appreciate. It was the way a famous art critic looks at a painting. Perhaps he's seen it a thousand times, but he loves looking at it and he sees different nuances every time he looks at it. No, it's more like the way Danford looks at that car of his.

Anyway tonight he was staring at me like I was a bug that was slowly crawling across the floor in front of him. As soon as I got within range of his foot, he was going to squish me.

And there were other things that didn't add up. I could buy Danford being preoccupied or maybe physically tired out from working on the new deal, so we hadn't had sex, but he hadn't even kissed me in days. He'd allowed me to kiss him, but he hadn't kissed me in a long time.

Anyway my plan for guilt sex wasn't even necessary. After dinner we sat there staring at each other. I grabbed his hands in mine to warm them up. Danford suffered some nerve damage when he was hurt during the war. Everything on his body worked well. But there were some issues with blood flow to his upper extremities. As a result Danford's hands were nowhere near ninety eight point six degrees.

One of the signal's I used to let Danford know that I wanted him, was to take his hands in mine and by doing so warm then up. Next I'd warm them up even further by putting them between my legs. Usually, by that time, we were off to the races. But this time it was awkward. It was like both of us were waiting for Ashley to call me. When the phone rang we both jumped. I answered it.

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that," I said. "Are you okay?" I looked at Danford and shrugged my shoulders. I held up one finger to let him know that I'd only be a minute.

"Take your time," he said walking back into the house and out of sight. I'd hoped that he'd stay there and listen to my conversation but that part of the plan fell through too. I pretended to talk for a while and then went to find him in the house.

I found him in the office looking over his papers again. "Dan, I have to go out for the evening," I said. "To comfort an old friend who's feeling down."

"Alrighty then," he said cheerfully. I didn't realize it then, but what he said and the expression on his face just didn't match up. His voice and his words were cheerful almost to the point of sarcasm. But the expression on his face was sad. It was as if he really didn't want me to go."

"It's only one evening, Honey," I said. "And we'll have plenty of them. We have the rest of our lives to be together. Besides you need to get this deal done so we can go on our cruise."

He nodded his head and looked away from me as I stood over him. I might be wrong but, I swear I saw a tear forming in the corner of his eye.

I changed and headed out to my car. After driving off of our property, I stopped and got out of the car. I checked the trunk of my car and the briefcase that contained the money was still there. I opened it and looked at it. When I was growing up thirty thousand dollars seemed like a lot of money. The idea of it is actually bigger than it looks. It didn't come close to filling up the briefcase. There were three hundred, crisp new one hundred dollar bills. It was a pittance to Danford, who was worth almost a billion dollars. But to Todd, it was enough money to secure his or perhaps our future.

As I looked at the money, I realized that I was at a crossroads. When I was with Danford, I was sure that I loved him. I was even more assured that he loved me. But, when I was away from Dan, my life seemed unfulfilled and boring. Todd was exciting and uncontrolled. Being around him made me feel young again. I guess lately I'd been wondering why I was even involved with Todd since the sex wasn't really great. Now I had my answer. Sure I'm not an old woman yet by any stroke of the imagination, but being with Todd makes me feel the way I used to feel.

Danford once told me that in business sometimes you had to take a risk to get what you wanted. Todd wasn't really a risk for my marriage. I realized that there was no way I'd ever leave Danford for Todd. That was the part that Ashley was wrong about. I think Ashley really believed that I'd just run out on Danford for Todd. Maybe the things I'd said made her feel that way.

What I had with Danford was a forever kind of thing. Eventually, I'd settle down and we'd have kids and all of those other things that people do. Danford would be a great father. Todd would probably be the worst, most selfish father ever. But for now this was all in fun and maybe I wasn't in love with Todd, but I was addicted to the way he made me feel.

I got back into my car and headed for Todd's apartment.

* * * * * *

Investigator's notes

Late at night, a big old house gets lonely. I guess every point of refuge as its price.

And it breaks her heart to think her love is only, given to a man with hands as cold as ice.

So she tells him she must go out for the evening. To comfort an old friend who's feeling down.

But he knows where she's going as she's leaving. She's headed for the cheating side of town.

* * * * * *

Danford Richards

I watched as my wife's car's tail lights disappeared in the darkness. I pulled out my phone and punched in a number. "Yeah, she's on her way," I said. I turned the phone off and got out of the chair I'd been sitting in. I wiped the last tear I hoped that I'd ever cry over Constance and headed towards my garage. This wasn't a night for being seen or making a lot of noise so I decided to drive my Volt. I'd picked the car up purely for the novelty of having a mostly electric car. And until Ford made one, or I could get a Tesla, this one would have to do.

Even though I'd left a few moments after Constance did, I knew I'd get to the location before she did. She was terrible with directions and she also drives like an old lady. For Constance to be as young as she is, she has a lot of the traits of older women. Her slow driving is only one of them. Her forgetfulness is legendary. I often had to take her things that she'd forgotten on her way to work.

As I pulled up and went into the rear of the building, the agents inside the apartment down the hall from Todd waved me in.

"Hey, you're just in time, listen to this," said one.

"God damn it Todd, I knew you just wanted to fuck that bitch," said a woman. "That's what this whole thing is about isn't it? You must really think I'm stupid."

"Baby, I don't even like fucking her," whined Todd. "I'm doing it for you. Her pussy isn't nice and tight like yours."

"That's because her husband probably has a bigger dick than you do," screamed the woman.

"I'm only doing this for the money," said Todd. "I was tired of that bitch from the first time she cheated on me when we were in college. I got into a fight with some gorilla because he was going around telling everybody on campus that he'd been the first guy to fuck her. She'd told me that I was her first. We both got suspended for fighting and it turned out that neither one of us got her cherry. The only thing special about her is those tits, and they're starting to sag."

"So why did you invite her over here?" said the woman.

"Because baby, I need that money," said Todd. "We need it. I'm tired of being small time and us barely scrapping by. I stole and saved up everything I could so I could buy twenty K worth of product from Marinelli. I finally got a hold of him a few days ago and he told me that the minimum buy in he would take is fifty grand. That gave me two or three days to come up with more than double what I had."

"The only person I know who could just give me thirty grand in a couple of days is Constance. Her husband probably blows more than that on lunches, so he wouldn't even notice it. In order to make our lives better, I have to make this deal. And since I've ordered the product from Marinelli, if I don't come through with the cash, I'm a dead man. He is not the kind of man you fuck around with. Sometimes, if you cross him, your family pays the price. In other cases, he just smears you all over the streets as an example to others that he is not someone you want to fuck with."

"So why can't you just borrow the money from her as a loan?" asked Eliza.

"Baby, I can't help it if the bitch is fascinated with me," said Todd. "I'm actually hoping that she doesn't want to have sex. But if she does, I'll just have to do it for you and for us. It's not like I'm going to enjoy it."

All of the investigators were laughing. "Can you believe this guy?" one of the DEA guys asked. "His line of bullshit is longer than the street he lives on."

"Yeah and his girlfriend must be one of the stupidest women, I've ever met," said another.

"Hey Dan, apparently your old lady is too stretched out for poor old Todd. What were you doing to her?" he asked. "Whoa, sorry man. I keep forgetting that this is your first time. I've been divorced three times. After a while you just don't care anymore. At least you get to have a little bit of payback."