New Years, New Tears, New Start

Bobby had begun rolling his car around the table. He rolled the car over Ted's fingers and Ted tried to jump to his feet. He screamed out in pain as soon as one foot hit the floor.

"Bobby, Honey, stay on this side of the table," said Bonnie.

"No!" said Alex sharply. "He can play wherever he wants to." Ted grumbled and moved his hand from where it was.

Alex put his hands over Bobby's ears so the boy couldn't hear for a second. "Put your fucking hands back on the table," he said to Ted.

The door opened and a disheveled looking little man stepped into the room. He carried a sheaf of loose papers and his glasses were about to fall off of his nose.

Francine got up and shook his hand. The man looked over at Alex and Bonnie.

"You just got out of law school, didn't you?" asked Alex laughing.

The man nodded.

"Don't worry," said Alex in a friendly voice. "You can tear up all of those papers or save them for your records. You'll be back in your office in about a half hour sending your bill to these two."

"Well," said the lawyer. "I don't know. This case may go for a long time. You two have a lot of charges and evidence against my clients. But we have something we can use against you too. The two of you obviously care about each other. Who knows how long that's been going on? And I'm sure that you'd probably like to live together or get married? The only way for that to happen is if my client divorces her. And what about his visitation rights?"

"Well, I tried to be nice," said Alex. The door opened and a well dressed man walked in. He was followed by a well dressed woman, and then two more well dressed men and another woman. Finally three older men came in and another woman who carried a briefcase and began setting up recording equipment.

"Who are all of these people? asked Francine.

"My legal team," said Alex.

"You've got nine lawyers?" asked Francine. Ted just sat at the table with his mouth open. One of the men waved at Ted's lawyer.

"This isn't the whole team," said Alex. "But since this is only a preliminary meeting..."

"Do you know that guy?" Francine asked her lawyer, who gulped and nodded his head.

"Uhm, he was one of my professors at law school," said the young lawyer.

"Before we get started, why don't all of the lawyers step outside and get a coffee," said Alex. "This is going to be a long, hot meeting. Perhaps the four of us can work something out, to make things easier? Ms. Stevens, could you take Bobby with you? Some of the things we say might not be for his ears."

Both Francine and Ted nodded their heads quickly.

When all of the lawyers were gone Alex looked at Francine and Ted. "I'm going to offer you a one-time deal that will keep you both out of jail, but only if you're totally honest with me. If you lie, we bring the lawyers back and we go to court. I'll also use every dollar I make for the rest of my life to make your lives miserable."

Francine and Ted nodded.

"Why did you cook up this ridiculous scheme in the first place? I'm not going to ask you what you did. I don't want you to say anything that will incriminate you; I just want to know why you tried this. What did you stand to gain?"

"I wanted to get out of my marriage," said Ted. "I don't hate Bonnie, but I just don't love her. Our lives together are terrible and I feel trapped. I don't want to be a father. She's always whining about everything I do. She's not adventurous when it comes to sex. And she's just not any fun. All I wanted out of this was a divorce. I wanted her to be put in a position where I wouldn't have to pay child support or alimony. I was going to let her have the house because I was going to move in with Francine. We've been fucking each other for a while and I just thought things would be better with her until I found out what a whore she is." Ted looked angrily at Francine.

"I wanted revenge," said Francine. "I'm tired of being the other woman and the other girl. For as long as I've known Bonnie, no one ever noticed me. I was always Bonnie's friend. Guys tried to meet me so I'd introduce them to Bonnie. Every time I'm compared to her I lose. It doesn't make any sense. My tits are bigger than hers. My ass is rounder than hers. I'm far better in bed, ask Ted. But all I ever hear is Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie. I'm fucking sick of it."

"I thought that if I took Ted away from her and caused everyone to think that she was just a big slut, I'd have my revenge against her. But it backfired and now I'm in a lot of trouble. And even in this, we can tell how this is going to go. After all of my planning and scheming, she still wins. I'm so nervous about losing my money and having to go to jail that my hair is falling out. Everyone in town thinks I'm a whore. They even posted cell phone videos of me all over the internet. And to make it even worse, Bonnie ends up with a guy who's a thousand times better than the one she had. I can't win. All I want is to have this whole thing over and try to get my life back on even ground. Fuck Ted, you can have him, even though from looking at you two, you don't want him anymore."

"Okay," said Alex. "That was honest. We can all win here. There's no need for us to drag this through court. Ted, Bonnie will agree to give you the divorce you want. No alimony, no child support, we've already drawn up the papers. All you have to do is sign them and in sixty days you'll be free of her. You even get to keep the house you're living in."

Ted's mouth dropped open.

"Ted, if you agree to sign away your parental rights to Bobby, we'll also drop the domestic abuse and assault charges. You can walk...I mean roll, out of here a free man."

"Gimme them papers," said Ted. He scratched his name on several papers and sat back in his chair smiling.

"What..what about me?" asked Bonnie.

"Live long and prosper," smirked Alex. "Except for screwing a married man and organizing a gangbang for yourself, you didn't actually do anything except lie and be sneaky to your best friend. I think in a few years you'll realize that you threw away a really good friend and all for nothing."

Bonnie stood up. "I do have something for you," she said, walking over to Francine who was smiling and happy at the news that she wasn't going to jail. Her whole life was back on track. If she'd gone to jail, she'd have stopped receiving alimony payments from her ex.

She turned to look at Bonnie. Bonnie just smiled and punched her in the mouth. "Bitch," she said rubbing her hand.

The only sound in the room was Ted laughing. "She got you good," he laughed. Francine got up and walked towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" screamed Ted.

"I'm going home to put some ice on my lip," said Francine. "She got me good, remember?"

"What about me?" asked Ted.

"You can roll your drunken, crippled ass home by yourself. We're done," smirked Francine. "We're not going to jail, so I don't need you. See ya." Then she left the office. Ted started screaming for her to come back.

Bonnie took Alex's hand and they walked out of the office smiling. It was a new year and a new start for both of them. Bonnie had someone who would love her the way she deserved and Alex had two people to share his life with. They picked Bobby up on their way out.

"Bobby we're leaving now," smiled Bonnie. "We're going out to the car."

"Muttang," said Bobby.

The End.