My Wife's Brother

"Yeah, well, I told her that, but she said it would and that Travis would help by getting you real drunk this afternoon. Well, I didn't fuck Travis last night because of how she described him -- at least that wasn't the only reason. When he came into my room and started kissing me, Wally, I hoped that if I gave him the fucking of his life, he'd forget about Nat and just be with me. That's why I didn't object when he insisted in going to his room right beside yours so you both would hear. That way, you guy's marriage wouldn't be at risk. If the van was the only time, even if you found out about it, I'm sure that you could've forgiven her. In the morning, Nat yelled at me that I ruined everything and that you wouldn't want me after hearing Travis fuck me all night. I told her, good, that I wanted him and not you anyway. But, he ran off to her and I didn't tell you why he shouldn't."

"Why are you telling me this?" I felt a little bad she told Nat she wanted Travis not me, but it barely upset me -- compared to the other lies told on the trip. "Look, a guy a like Travis goes for quantity not quality. Even if there were another two women there, he'd try to fuck them all and still go after Nat. He wanted what was mine- and in his mind that included you; guys like that only feel good about themselves when they do shit like that."

"I'm telling you that I lied, I do like you. Especially after getting to know you a little more. Really, the only reason I fucked Travis so you two could hear was that I didn't want you and Nat to end, but after she did that she doesn't deserve a second chance. But you do." Rochelle said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if both of you were available, I'd have picked you over Travis without question. Now that you are going to be available, I want to go back to your house. I want to have sex with you, if you're interested."

My eyes got big. I turned and she kissed me hard on the lips, and the van swerved a bit. I think I had the biggest smile that I had for days when she went back to her seat and then pulled her panties off from under her sundress and plopped them on my lap.

I picked them up and smiled. "Yes, I am interested."

*

Two days later, I was sitting in the kitchen having coffee and reading a fishing magazine when there was a hard rapid knock on the door. I opened it and Natalie angrily stormed in wearing really ugly purple sweats and a tacky tourist shirt from the lake.

"Where's my phone, Walter?" she said angrily. I pointed to the living room, where all her things were packed and waiting for her.

I could see nasty red welts from wasp bites all over her arms and a few on her face and neck. There were also fresh hickeys on her neck.

"You had to pull that fucking stunt, not wait to find out my side of things?" Natalie hissed, "Instead you post that fucking video with a baseless accusation that probably got me fired. Travis nearly lost a testicle. And you strand us with no fucking clothes, phone or money. We had to wear sheets and walk a couple miles to get to a phone. My mom is completely pissed off at me, so a friend of Travis had to wire us money so we could get a ride back to town."

"Baseless?" I said coldly and then played the video of them fucking loudly so she could hear her words.

Her face changed and I saw guilt, but no tears. "Wally, you don't understand. It was just going to be this one time. Rochelle was supposed to fuck you and everything would be even."

"How could you be that stupid? I told you I wouldn't do it," said a female voice from the other room.

Natalie looked in shock as Rochelle walked into the living room wearing one of Natalie's robes, and obviously nothing else.

"What's she doing here?" Natalie said coldly.

"None of your fucking business," I yelled, "You lied and you cheated. Showed me absolutely no respect as your husband, so we're through. You signed the pre-nup, so for adultery you get nothing -- though I will let you keep that van. After what you did in it, I never want to see it again."

"Please, Wally. I made a mistake, but I love you. It was just once, it will never happen again. Besides, you fucked her too, right?" Natalie started to cry. "I love you, not him, please."

"On the record," Rochelle said with her hands on her hips, "I just stayed to console a friend who's dealing with a cheating slut wife. Good luck proving anything more than that. Off the record, you claimed Travis was this fuck god and that's why you just needed one more weekend with him? Well, I had both within twenty-four hours. Maybe if you would've done the same you'd had seen that Wally is twice the lover and quite capable of giving a good hard fuck if you tell him that's what you want."

"You bitch I'll..." Natalie stopped mid sentence as her eyes got wide.

I noticed Rochelle do the same as her mouth opened to say something. Before her yell came out, the wind was knocked right out of me as I was tackled roughly from behind, crashing onto the floor with a big thud.

"Travis don't hurt him!" Natalie yelled over Rochelle's scream as my back was struck multiple times with punches.

"I'm going to kill you? Don't you fucking know who I am?" snarled Travis as he flipped me on my back.

I managed to bring my knee up hard to his groin, which cased him to gasp in pain. I pushed him over, enough to start and get to my feet. I looked and Rochelle was on her phone, probably calling 911, and Natalie was gone.

As Travis approached me again, I tried to punch him in the face, but he moved so it landed on his shoulder. I tried again, but he deflected it and then struck me hard in the gut, doubling me over. Besides being stronger, Travis obviously had some fighting training.

"You're dead, asshole," Travis grunted as he shoved me on my back and barred an arm across my throat, causing it burn as he pressed down with all his strength. I was suffocating and didn't have the strength to push him off. I started to see spots before my eyes, as I started to lose consciousness. Right before I passed out, I remember hearing a loud crack, like gunfire and noticing the smell of blood and shit.

*

What happened over the next two months were like a surreal blur. I regained consciousness in an ambulance taking me to the hospital with Rochelle holding my hand. Natalie had grabbed the handgun from our gun safe and shot Travis before he could choke me to death. She hit him right in the head, so he died instantly. When I was questioned at the hospital, I was asked if Natalie might have been aiming for me instead and told them that I didn't know. The details of the affair along with video of them fucking and my revenge was handed over as evidence. The police took her away for questioning, and eventually she was charged with attempted murder and manslaughter. There was enough evidence and motive that Natalie and Travis came to the house and kill me, and she killed him by accident.

I was released from the hospital right away, but not before some news media came and questioned me. I gave a lot of no comments, but was surprised to find out that my wife's 'brother,' wasn't doing relief work or anything in Africa as Nat always claimed. He was a lifelong criminal that fled the country and worked in Africa as a mercenary. He was wanted for several murder charges in the States, and returned using a fake passport. When they went to the hospital for treatment of the bee stings, Nat accidently used Travis's real name and he was red-flagged. FBI was already looking for him when he broke into the back of my house to kill me.

Natalie was held in custody, since no one would give her money for bail. However, at her hearing, the prosecutor was convinced that she was shooting her lover to try and save me and charges were dropped. Upon her release, a clerk from my attorney's office served her with divorce papers as she left the facility. She didn't contest the pre-nup, which stated in the case of infidelity, Nat was only entitled to any money and assets that she brought into the marriage. She moved back in with her parents, where all her things had already been taken -- along with any pictures of us including our wedding photos. I didn't want them anymore.

As soon as the divorce was final, Rochelle moved in with me. I made it clear that while I wanted an exclusive relationship, I didn't know how I felt about being married again. Rochelle said it was just legal mumble-jumble and living with me was all she needed.

After no contact from Natalie since from the confrontation, three weeks after our divorce was final, her father called me and said that Natalie wanted to talk in person. She picked my cabin as the location, on a Saturday since the school year was now back in session -- at least for me as no school districts would touch Natalie now. I agreed, though Rochelle was quite worried that it was a ploy to get her claws in me -- or have me killed. I told Rochelle there was no way I'd betray her, and Natalie could've killed me easily if she wanted to already. I knew there's no way Natalie would have shot Travis if she didn't intend to kill him; she was a fantastic marksmen.

In the end, Rochelle compromised and I dropped her off at the diner an hour or so from the cabin. When the talk was over, I would come pick her up and we'd leave together.

When I pulled up, Natalie was sitting on the front step, wearing old ripped jeans and a loose blue blouse, which looked two sizes too big. I couldn't help but notice she was driving an older hatchback car, not the van. She'd gained a bit of weight in her face and her hair was now cut really short -- almost a buzz cut. Still, I thought she was beautiful.

"A little out of the way to do this, don't you think?" I said.

"I wanted to make sure it was a place that was far enough that we'd both want to finish the talk." Natalie said.

I pointed towards her head. "I like the new do. Quite different than you used to wear."

"Actually it was a necessity. Let's just say there was an incident while I was incarcerated waiting for my hearing," Natalie said flatly.

I think I had a tinge of guilt whether that would've happened, if I would've told the police that I was positive she shot Travis to save my life when they initially questioned me.

"Look, having a lot of time to think on things, I don't blame you for how you reacted -- even the wasps." Natalie had a forced smile. "I know now that I hurt you way more than you hurt me. That's part of why it was so important to have this talk."

I turned and looked at her car. "That's also new."

"Yeah, well I had to get rid of it for the same reason you didn't want it. Too many memories." Natalie stood up and shrugged with a nervous smile. "Shall we do this somewhere a little more comfortable?"

Instead of going in, we sat at the table on the deck. Natalie kept looking down at her hands. I saw she still had her wedding ring on. I took mine off the day she killed Travis and our marriage.

"Wally, I can't say enough how sorry I am. Nothing was supposed to go how it did."

"How was it supposed to go?" I said coldly, "Oh right, that asshole has his way with you and your friend seduces me so I'm okay with it. No wait, you fuck him behind my back, and then your friend seduces me. You then make me feel like it's my fault and then fuck him in front of me to punish me."

"If I had my way, you'd never had found out about it," Natalie said softly, "But, Travis said that way would be better. After thinking about it, I know he didn't care about my marriage, he just wanted to humiliate you and made sure I kept my promise. He just wanted Rochelle there as another play thing to use against you."

I crossed my arms and snorted. "What promise? One last roll in the hay?"

Natalie started to cry. "My mom and dad aren't my biological parents. I was adopted when I was fourteen. My mom gave me up when I was a baby and I spent most of my life going from foster home to foster home."

I was shocked. Natalie and her mom looked so much alike, it was hard to believe they weren't mother and daughter. "Why I am finding this out now?"

"Because, it opened up a huge hornet nest of things I couldn't talk about even to you," Natalie said as tears ran down her cheek, "No one knows what I'm about to tell you. Only Travis and the therapist I started seeing when I was fifteen."

"Okay I'm listening," I said which came out colder than I intended. I thought my anger was gone about what happened, but apparently not. Especially at the very place I saw her cheating on me.

"Let me explain, and I'll tell you when I'm done. Then, I'll answer any questions you have, but please let me finish first. As I said, this is quite hard and I might have to take breaks to compose myself. Okay?"

I nodded.

Natalie took a deep breath and began, "I first met Travis when we went to this one woman's house along with another older girl, Angel, as foster kids. She was around forty, over-weight and really strict. I'd never been with any foster family for more than a year and nobody wanted to adopt a kid half-black with a junkie mother. Travis wasn't adopted yet because, well, Travis was Travis. Anyway, I didn't like Travis much at first. I mean, I was this shy quiet thing, and frankly an ugly duckling when I was a kid. At first, the situation was just like any other foster home I'd been too. After a month that really changed."

Natalie started really crying and it took a few minutes before she continued. "She started molesting me almost every night. I hated it, but I was so ashamed and scared that she'd throw me out into the streets like she threatened. It went on for months and months and I never told anyone -- not even the childcare worker who would check in on us.

"One day, Travis approached me alone and said, 'I know what she does to you.' I denied everything, but then he said, 'She does it to me too, and Angel.' How alone and ashamed I was feeling, I can't tell you how much it meant to me to have someone to confide in who was going through the same thing. Shortly after that, Angel left so it was just Travis and me. He was the only person in my entire life at that time that I figured gave a shit about me. He was the only family I knew."

Natalie took another pause, and seemed to be trying to read my face. Truth, I was shocked and felt horrible for what she went through. However, I still didn't see it justifying what happened during summer break.

"It was just enduring and surviving for close to six months, but then...then..." Natalie began bawling again, "She brought this guy home and wanted to watch him with me. He had me naked, and I've never been more scared in my life, and I screamed and screamed knowing it would do no good. But, Travis got hold of a frying pan and hit the man, and then he hit the woman. I grabbed some clothes and we ran away. While struggling with the man, he left hand marks on me. We went to the police, and when an officer saw the marks on me, they called child services and investigated. They found child porn in her house, and we never had to go back. They found us another foster home right away, and we insisted that we remain together. I started calling him my brother.

"You see, how much I owed him for what he did? I thanked him and thanked him, and told him I'd do anything to repay him. That's when I first made the promise." Natalie wiped her eye and took a breath, "I promised Travis that he'd be the father of my first child."

My eyes got wide, and I opened my mouth to say something. I remember what I promised about letting her finish and just kept quiet.

Natalie laughed coldly. "I know, seems like a stupid promise made by a child. We both already hit puberty and I definitely had a crush on him. In our next home, with an elderly couple, we started experimenting romantically. Travis also started hanging with worse crowds in and out of school. He was smoking and drinking already. I didn't care, he was the only one in my life that meant anything to me. After a year, probably because they couldn't handle Travis, we were moved to a middle-age childless couple -- mom and dad.

"They were the first foster parents that I ever felt truly cared for me. I had no clue what it was like to be loved by a parent, so when they told me I was going to be adopted I didn't know what to think. I mean, I was two years from being out on my own, why would they? I mean, being a mixed race couple, no one would question I wasn't their biological daughter. And you didn't question that Travis wasn't my real brother. Speaking of, I think they were planning to adopt Travis as well, but he never warmed up to them. By then we were having sex, though I made him use condoms because I wasn't ready to get pregnant. Travis liked doing things in public, and after a while, I found I also got a thrill doing things were we could get caught: in the school washroom, a friend's car, or in the park in night. However, Travis would want to do things in places where I knew we would be caught. He'd get mad when I said no, but always forgave me.

"That was until one night. He snuck out and was drinking. When he came back home, he went into my room and told me it was time to fulfill my promise and have his baby. I refused, and my protests were loud enough that dad came in and caught him pants down trying to pull down my panties. They just kicked him out, like that. Told child services, but he was seventeen. Two weeks later, he was waiting outside our house when I returned from school. He asked me why I lied and wouldn't keep my promise. I told him I couldn't, and then he slit his wrists right in front of me.

"It was so awful. Mom was home and managed to stop the bleeding, but he kept saying I lied. I told him that I didn't. I would keep my promise, but not until I was ready to have children. I was so shaken up, I was in therapy until I graduated and moved out to go to college. All through it, Travis contacted me at least once a month. Each time he always would double-check that I was keeping my promise.

"I'd have dates, but no really long term boyfriends because he was always around and I knew he was hanging with an even worse crowd. I told him I still wasn't ready to be a mom, but we would still have sex together -- even when I was with another guy.

"A few months before we met, Travis showed up at my dorm really upset. He started by reminding me of my promise, then confessing that he was always in trouble, but he had the opportunity to turn his life around He said he was going to do this relief work in Africa and didn't know how long until he was going to be back. We had sex that night with the full intent of getting me pregnant. Before he left, I asked him when he was coming back to help raise our baby. He smiled and said he wasn't good enough to be a father and knew I would find someone to help care for our baby. When he contact me about a month later, actually the same week you first tried to pick me up, I had to tell him that I didn't get pregnant that night. He made me promise again, and to wait until he came back. I promised him I would."

I wanted to ask her why it was so important she had his kid if he had no intention of raising it, but made a mental note to ask her when she was done.

"And there you were. I fell completely head over heels for you. Things were like walking in a cloud, as I knew you were who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The best friend and lover I wanted to grow old with. When you proposed, I couldn't say yes fast enough. I told Travis thinking he would be happy for me to be so much in love. It sounded like he was, but then he said that it was good I found someone to raise our baby. I begged him to let me out of my promise, but he reminded me what happened last time. I was in absolute tears begging on the phone, but then I finally agreed.

"The initial plan was he'd come back for our wedding. My fertile time should've been right before, so I'd time going off the pill and spend the night before our wedding with him. On our wedding night, it would seem like we conceived. Honestly, I hoped it would be yours, but Travis wouldn't know that. I figured you two look similar enough with same eyes and chin. However, his plans to come back fell through, so he begged me to wait. I was so looking forward to starting a family with you, that I was disappointed.