Over Coffee

Craig looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, trying to see if he could keep the emotions off his face. It took a minute, but he got to a flat look, and that's what he needed right now. This was going to be hard.

He leaned on the rim of the sink, and stared into the porcelain below his face. He looked at the slight ring of grime around the drain, a film covering the worn chrome. The shine was gone.

Wow, metaphors. He sighed.

He'd been listening, hoping that he'd hear a heavy set of footsteps go down the hallway, followed by the sound of the front door closing. He hadn't. If he spent any more time in the bathroom, he decided it would look like he was hiding. That couldn't be allowed.

Craig pulled himself together, looked in the mirror again, and decided it was close enough to what he needed. Now, the hard part.

Craig opened the door, and with the slight squeak of the top hinge, the muted sound of voices from the bedroom a short distance down the hallway stopped.

He walked through the door, down the hallway, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Loudly. There, he pulled two mugs from the cupboard, a common white for himself, and Roni's favorite earthware. He set the coffee machine working, and got out the hazelnut creamer and milk. It wouldn't be long, one way or another.

He made some other preparations. Just in case. One was a phone call. Then he pre-loaded a document on his tablet in the living room.

He was sitting at the kitchen bar, sipping his coffee, when Roni came through the archway, wearing one of her new shirts, one that showed all her new cleavage. She had on a new pair of blue jeans, the extra-tight ones, that she used to show off her new ass. She was wearing her glasses, which was a rarity these days, as she often used her new contacts. She stood in the archway, looked at Craig, and brushed a lock of her dyed blond hair out of her face and over her ear. Her expression was one of resignation.

Craig gestured to the coffee in her mug, sitting on the other side of the bar from him, indicating he wanted her to sit with him. With a slight shake of her head, her eyes sad, she took the two steps to the bar and sat down.

"Okay..." Roni started with, looking at her mug.

Craig sat quietly. After a few seconds, Roni looked up at him, hoping he'd say something first. Craig just looked at her, as he had been.

"What now?" Roni asked him, straightening herself up in her chair, after realizing she was slumping a little.

"Now?" Craig wondered aloud, his voice calm and even. "Well, I think it's over, don't you?"

Roni closed her eyes slowly, and took a breath.

"I don't want it to be." Roni told her husband.

"Mmm." Craig sounded. "I imagine you don't. But, after today? After all you've done? I'm not even angry anymore Roni. I'm just tired."

She looked down at her mug, over the swells of her recently "touched up" breasts. She reached up with both hands, and wrapped them around the mug, feeling the comforting warmth. Craig had even added her favorite creamer, she saw and smelled.

"This doesn't have to be the end. I guess I've kind of been a bitch..." Roni said.

Craig snorted in agreement.

"... but we can get past this."

Craig just stared at Roni, his fingertips playing across the side of his mug.

"Are you going to stay a bitch?" Craig asked, after a long pause.

Roni wasn't used to being in the disadvantage position with her husband. He'd never talked to her like that. The question sent a minor shock through her.

"That was rhetorical." Craig then said, as Roni was working on an answer. "After that,..." Craig nodded toward their bedroom. "... no. No chance."

Roni sighed, trying to find a way to make Craig understand.

"It doesn't mean anything." Roni tried to justify. "I don't feel anything for him. It was just orgasms."

"I disagree." Craig stated. He was swirling his coffee slightly.

Roni started to reach across the table, to touch her husbands hand as it was around his mug.

"Don't touch me." Craig snarled at her. Roni froze.

"I don't want your perverted and fucked up flesh touching mine ever again." Craig told her, as he managed to get his emotions under control. Mostly.

Roni didn't know how to react to that. She pulled her hand back, and resumed cradling her mug. She was staring back at Craig, pain on her face, not understanding why this man, her highly intelligent, loving, patient husband, who gave her so much... was rejecting her like this. He'd never said anything like this before. She thought he'd liked the changes she'd made.

"I never should have agreed to this..." Craig said, pointedly running his eyes up and down his wife, what he could see above the bartop. "... this is when it all went to shit."

"Hunney, we did it so I'd feel better about myself." Roni reminded him

"Oh, I believe it started that way." Craig had a little anger in his voice, and while his gaze was steady, his tone wasn't. He was having a hard time holding this all together inside. "The lipos, the tucks, the lifts... then that first augmentation, then the dental work... the second "just to make them perky" boobjob... the nose job.. all of it... Yeah, at first it was to make you feel better."

Roni was working on her response, but Craig cut her off.

"After the first boobjob, it was about making yourself as sexy as you could."

Roni stood up so fast, the barstool toppled over. "What's wrong with that?! Huh?! I'd never been sexy!"

Craig started to inhale to say something, but Roni was on a roll. Part of it was guilt, part of it was needing to be on the offensive, part of it was fear.

"I'd always been plain old Veronica!" Roni accused. "Average" Veronica! Nobody looked at me! Nobody noticed me! Oh, yeah, I'm smart, and did well, but nobody wanted me! Nobody desired me! That fucked me up, Craig! So yeah, when I got a chance, I fixed that!"

Craig snorted.

"I'm hot now! Men want me!" Roni jabbed her finger at Craig as he sat there at the kitchen bar, watching her. "I've got big tits! I've got an ass! I've got the hair! My nose is fixed! Nobody is looking past me anymore! You just can't handle it!"

Craig sneered at his wife. Roni didn't care for that.

"Your fragile little ego can't handle that I took my problem in hand, made myself something men want, and you are threatened!" Roni accused, her volume growing. "You can't handle being married to all this!"

Roni ran her hands over the sides of her breasts, down her waist, over her hips, until she couldn't reach any further. Then she lifted her hands and ran them through her long blonde hair, while pushing her chest out and cocking her hip. She'd practiced this motion and pose endlessly.

"You're small, Craig!" Roni spat at her husband as she released her pose. "You can't handle what I am now! You would have wanted to keep me as plain Veronica, living in our tiny house, driving our old cars, just plodding on!"

Roni snarled at her husband, feeling like she was getting control over the situation as she went.

"Well, I got my boobs done, and I didn't get passed on that promotion anymore!" Roni justified. "I got my "love handles" sucked off, and I got the bonus for that account! I got my nose straightened, and I got handed that other account! The sexier I get, the more I get, Craig!"

Roni put her hands on her hips, and glared at her husband. He was staring back, meeting her gaze, not flinching.

"You men are so easy!" Roni taunted. "You think with your dicks! I'm taking advantage of that! See these tits?"

Roni thrust herself forward again.

"These tits, which you used to love, got me that five grand bonus! They're going to get me more, too!"

Roni grabbed a lock of her hair.

"This hair, which used to be brunette?" Roni pointed at the lock with her other hand. "You men respond to blondes! I got this done, and men started watching me out of the corner of their eyes!"

Roni turned and thrust her butt out toward Craig.

"This ass? Men trip, trying to watch me as I pass them by!"

Roni turned back to face her unimpressed husband.

"All this?" Roni gestured to herself. "This got me the regional manager in bed! I'm going to get that next promotion too, Craig!"

"This has all been an investment, you dumbass!" Roni yelled. "An investment in me, in us, in our future! Sure, I'm taking advantage of how stupid men can be, but I got sick of being overlooked, passed over! If you can't handle it, you should go! If you CAN handle it, then fucking deal with it!"

"I should go?" Craig asked, his tone even, normal volume, a slight smile playing across his face.

"If you are so weak that you can't handle this, yes, get the fuck out!" Roni yelled. "When you come back, maybe I'll let you have some again! You'll have to change your attitude though!"

"No." Craig said, lifting his cup and taking a sip.

"No?!" Roni yelled. "NO?!"

"No." Craig affirmed.

Roni stepped to the bar, and leaned across it, trying to seem threatening to her husband.

"Then if you are staying, you better get with the program, you asshole!" She told him.

"I'm not going to put up with this shit! I'm serious Craig, if you can't handle it, get the fuck out!"

"No." Craig said again, his voice even.

"You stupid shit!" Roni spit at him. "This is it! This is how it works! This is what I'm doing!"

"Still no." Craig said, taking another sip.

Roni's eyes were wide, a little froth on the corner of her mouth.

"Fuck your "No." Roni told Craig. "Here's how right I am. I'm going back upstairs, and I'm going to fuck that guy in our bedroom. I'm going to fuck him out of his mind! For that, he's going to promote me again! I'll be making another fifteen grand a year! I'll get more accounts, and more bonuses!"

Craig was shaking his head, looking like he wasn't worried anymore. Truthfully, he wasn't. He'd been crushed at the beginning of the conversation, but now? Now he was set.

"You can't stop me, Craig!" Roni was incensed at his non-verbal denial. "If you want to be with me, you better learn how things are going to work!"

"No, I don't want to be with you anymore, Roni." Craig said, setting his mug down. "Not anymore. It's over."

"I have something to say about that!" Roni spat.

"Not really." Craig said confidently. "Here, let me prove something..."

Craig sat up, drew a breath and suddenly shouted.

"HEY! You in my bedroom! Vice-President guy! You are now trespassing! Get out of my house!"

"No, he's not leaving!" Roni pointed at Craig.

"Sure he is." Craig said, putting his elbows back down on the countertop.

"You stay there, Eriq!" Roni shouted toward the bedroom.

Craig picked his mug back up with both hands.

Roni glared at Craig, not really thinking for a few seconds. Then after a few breaths, she started having thoughts again.

"Craig, this doesn't have to be like this." Roni told her husband angrily. "I know... look, I know I've done the wrong thing by you. I know this hurts you. I wish you hadn't seen this."

Roni made a vague waving gesture toward the bedroom.

"But this is what it takes for me to get ahead. You men respond to sex. You have to know that!"

Craig nodded sideways that he understood, while looking like he couldn't deny that fact.

"I feel good about myself, hunney. I really do! I'm not ignored anymore! If I can make myself feel better, and get ahead, why not?!" Roni posited. "Why shouldn't I do this?!

"Well, because you were my wife." Craig said simply.

"I'm STILL your wife!" Roni threw at him. "I don't feel anything for that guy! He's just a cock that can get me something!"

"No, that's not it. Not completely. This is where I decide to stop being patient with you though." Craig said, sitting back up and starting to gesture as he spoke.

"I understand what you mean about being overlooked. I'm no great shakes. I'd describe myself as "average." Craig ventured. "Sometimes it hurts. I agree with you."

Roni crossed her arms over her chest as she decided to let Craig have his say.

"I paid for that first lipo. I paid for the second. I paid for those boobjobs. I paid for that hairline placement. I paid for that "ass enhancement." I paid for all of this." Craig pointed at Roni's body in an offhanded manner.

"I paid for all that because I loved you, and I believed you." Craig said. "Even when you started to change, after that first boobjob, I didn't say anything, because it was a big adjustment for you. I knew things were changing, and you were getting something you thought you needed."

"But my mistake was just that, being patient with you." Craig looked wistful. "You got ugly, Roni."

Roni snorted in derision.

"First it was those comments where you cut down your sister at Thanksgiving." Craig said. "That was just dismissively mean. She's a lot like you used to be. You didn't have to be like that to her."

"Then when your mom tried to talk to you, you blew her off. Oh, sure, you didn't give your sister any more shit that day, but you also ignored her, and you never apologized."

"That's her issue." Roni stated.

"No, it's a family issue." Craig ventured. "You hurt your sister, you hurt your parents. Then you kept doing shit like that to them. You notice they don't talk to you much anymore? Well, your brother talks to me, he's got a few colorful words to describe you. I stopped defending you a while ago when he used them."

"Pfft." Roni dissed.

"That was about the time you started trying to tease me in bed with your changes." Craig looked thoughtful. "Yeah, it was fun for a while, but then after that, it wasn't teasing anymore, was it?

Craig gave Roni a questioning look.

"After a while, it was you trying to convince me you were somehow superior to me. You got off on that. It took me a little while to see it, but you started to like humiliating me. It was just in the bedroom, but yeah, it was there."

"Well, so?" Roni asked with a sneer.

"Then you started in on your old friends." Craig remembered. "Jules. You were pretty horrible to her. She was your maid-of-honor, remember?"

Roni just shrugged. "Fuck her if she can't see the obvious."

"Well, she saw it." Craig affirmed. "It's why you aren't friends anymore."

Roni closed her eyes, inhaled deeply in frustration, raised her eyebrows once, let them drop, and then waited for Craig to go on.

"You got worse and worse." Craig said. "You got further and further from Veronica, that woman I fell in love with. Yes, she wasn't a model or centerfold, but she was loving, fun, smart, a little endearingly insecure, caring, helpful, an awful cook, an awesome friend, and my best friend."

Roni was looking at Craig with worry on her face.

"You?" Craig gestured at Roni with an open hand. "You're just a mean plastic doll. One I don't like, or will put up with anymore."

"Then you can get the fuck out!" Roni spat, pointing toward the front door.

"No." Craig simply said.

From across the house, came a rapping sound.

"Excuse me." Craig said, standing, and walking out of the room.

"Oh, now what?" Roni asked irritably, rolling her eyes at the sound of the knocking on the door.

The doorbell rang, and Roni heard Craig yell "Coming!"

Roni leaned back, so she could see who was at the door when Craig answered. Upon opening the door, Craig greeted the two uniformed police, one male and one female. "Come in, come in."

Ushering the two wary police inside, who quickly took note of Roni in the kitchen doorway, the female cop asked "Sir?"

"Yeah, thank you for coming." Craig said, while pulling his wallet out of his pocket. He pulled out his drivers license, and then handed it over to the male policeman. "Here's my ID, I'm the sole homeowner. I have a trespasser, upstairs in the bedroom. Also, I think I need help with having this woman escorted off the property." Craig nodded toward Roni.

"CRAIG?!" Roni yelled as she approached.

"Upstairs?" asked the woman officer. "Is he armed? What's going on?"

"CRAIG! Stop it!" Roni yelled. "Officers, this is wrong!"

"Hold on,..." Craig said, stepping around the officers and Roni. He stepped into the room, and picked up his tablet off the coffee table. Clicking it on, he muttered "Hold on... " again as he pulled up a copy of a document. He walked back across the room, and held out the tablet to the male officer.

"What's...?" the officer asked as he started to look at the document. He scanned it, then looked at the drivers license.

Handing the tablet back, the officer said "Okay, you are the owner. What's going on here?"

"Craig?" Roni asked, both angry and a little afraid. She didn't like where this was going. It wasn't in her control.

"I came home to find my wife in bed with her employer, they were doing the nasty." Craig explained. "I've told the guy he's trespassing, but he's still here. I'd like him removed, and I want to press charges."

"Craig!" Roni accused.

The female officer was muttering something about hating domestic calls.

"Officers, I invited the man here." Roni explained, glaring at her husband. "He's not trespassing."

"Um, ma'am, I'm sorry..." the male officer said, trying to keep his eyes off the cleavage Roni presented. "...but if any member of a household claims a non-member is trespassing, by the city's new laws, then that person has to leave. If they don't..." the officer shrugged.

"You informed him he was not welcome here?" the woman officer asked.

"I did." Craig said. "I yelled it up the stairs. I didn't inform him face-to-face, the door was locked last I saw, and I didn't want to risk a confrontation. I have it recorded." Craig tapped his breast pocket, indicating his phone.

"Craig!" Roni hissed.

"Also, I'd like her..." Craig nodded toward Roni. "...escorted from the premises. I don't want her arrested, just gone."

"Has there been any violence?" asked the female officer as the male was saying something into his radio. She was looking at Roni.

"What? No!" Roni said. "I haven't touched him!" Roni indicated Craig.

"I meant has he hit you,..." The woman officer said. "...but I'll take that as nothing has happened."

"Sir, can I ask you to show me the bedroom?" asked the male officer. "My partner will stay here with the woman."

"Certainly." Craig answered, sliding past the two women.

"Ma'am, if you'd stay with me?" asked the woman officer, looking at Roni.

"But,..." Roni said, watching her husband and the officer head up the stairs. "... this is all wrong!"

"I'm sure it seems that way ma'am." replied the officer.

Ten minutes later, the male officer shouted "Coming down," as he and two others started down the stairs.

Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs, Roni's boss was in the lead. He'd gotten on his suit pants, and one button was fastened, but his fly and belt were undone. That was all he had on. His pale chest and unruly hair, coupled with his angry eyes told a story of an unhappy man. He shot Roni a vicious look as he passed her by, heading out the door. The male officer was right behind him, one arm holding a suit coat, shirt, tie, shoes with socks stuffed in them, and his other hand holding the cuffs that were on Roni's bosses' wrists, behind his back.

The male officer gave his partner a look as he passed, and nodded.

"Give me a few for stuff," the woman officer said to her partner.

Craig was standing off to the side, watching.

"Craig, don't do this." Roni asked her husband, realizing what was happening.

"It's done." Craig said, sadly. "I don't feel safe with you here, you're letting strangers in while I'm not around and hiding it from me. You've had a severe change in personality of late. You need to go. Grab some clothes and what you need, we'll work through the lawyers after this."

Craig had said this mostly for the officers benefit, in case he needed a witness in court along with her bodycam. He thought that was very much a possibility.