Over The Top

I am a 75-year-old high school dropout. I have never taken a creative writing class in my life and prior to my first story in March 2019 (which stunk, don't bother reading it) the last story I wrote was in 1962 and was about how I spent my summer vacation and I believe my grade was a D. This is to encourage anyone who thinks they won't like this one not to bother reading it is a long story over 31,000 words. This story is fiction' A hotel like this one probably does not exist. All characters are figments of my imagination. It is far-fetched and unlikely in real life. I self-edited it using Grammarly until it crashed and MS word editor. The story is inspired by Bigguy33's story "We Need to Talk" which is probably far better than my drivel. Thank you Bigguy for the blanket permission. I did try to reach him but received no response. Thanks also to the great Vandemoium1 for the beta read or in is case I guess Alpha read. You will notice a number of similarities to Bigguy33's story mostly in the beginning and ending. I do hope you like it. Again if you do not like BTB don't waste your time on this one.

Over The Top

I was in a great mood driving home to my loving wife Stephanie and our 18-year-old daughter Theresa. My name is Luke Gibson, and we have been married for almost twenty years.

Even at 42, Stephanie was a beautiful woman. We could never go out dancing without a few younger men asking her to dance. It could be annoying at times, but it was also complimentary in its way. Our daughter Theresa recently turned 18 and hung out with her best friend, Carolyn Cree, and her boyfriend, Duncan Dean. I sometimes worried that she and Duncan were getting a little too close for my comfort. My wife told me to chill because she had spoken to Theresa several times and said she was saving herself, at least for the time being. I overheard Carolyn and Theresa talking once and heard her say she was in love with Duncan and was sure he was the one. She also told Carolyn that they had discussed marriage.

After earning my computer sciences degree, I got my first and only job with Sanderson Intelligence Services. We were a software programming company. With all the computer fraud and theft going on, we Increasingly started getting involved in protecting client computers. After a few years, we evolved into a white hat hacking organization. We were so successful that my boss, Otto Sanderson, offered me a 30% discount on a 35% percent partnership in the business. The purchase was instead of the annual bonus but was too good an opportunity to refuse. Eight years later, his health was deteriorating, and his second wife, Helga, insisted he retire so she could take care of him, and they could enjoy whatever time he had left together. So, I bought an additional 35% leaving him as a 30% inactive partner so he would still have his fingers in the pot and receive a steady income throughout his retirement.

A few years before I went to work for Otto, he had gone through a very acrimonious divorce. One of the results of which was that he was forced to sell his business at a huge loss to settle the divorce. A few years later, he started Sanderson Intelligence on a shoestring so small it would only fit a toddler's foot. When he hired me, the payroll was late more than once, but he somehow managed to meet his obligations eventually.

Otto recognized my potential not long after he hired me, and I think, coupled with my loyalty, his desperate need for operating capital, and the fact that, as a partner, I would have to accept the occasional missing paycheck without recourse, he offered me the partnership. The first condition he insisted on was that in the event of a marriage, partners would have to sign ironclad prenuptial agreements that would be updated every two years at the annual partnership meeting. The prenups were traditional except for the infidelity clause. This allowed the cheating spouse to walk away with $1000 for each year of marriage and nothing else. If Steph ever caught me cheating, my entire partnership would revert to Stephanie, and I would leave the marriage with nothing more than $1000 for each year together. In addition to the prenup, he also insisted that everything of value we own be purchased by the partnership. This included our homes, our cars, our cell phones, our jewelry, and even our furniture. This was all explained to our wives, who signed off on it every two years.

My then fiancé Stephanie was very offended by a prenup, but Otto was insistent, and she saw the opportunity the partnership offered and very reluctantly signed. She did not hesitate to tell Otto how she felt about it, though. Otto just smiled and nodded his head while she was signing. Although we held an annual partnership meeting, we only required our wives to attend on alternate years. During the alternate year meetings, we updated all our partnership documents, including the prenups, and buy-sell agreement, life insurance policies for all four of us, key man policies for Otto and me, and all other documents pertinent to the partnership.

Stephanie hated those meetings and was outspoken about her disdain for them. She barely paid any attention to them. Over the past few years, I noticed she spent more time texting her friends or reviewing Facebook than anything else. When it came to signing the documents like the prenup and her life policy, she just signed and initialed wherever the lawyer told her to without reading or paying attention to what the document was. This would prove disastrous for her in our not-distant future.

Now it was ten years since Saul had turned the CEO position over to me and gone into semi-retirement. With all the computer theft through phishing, spoofing and outright hacking our company has grown rapidly. Without sounding too prideful I had developed some strong software to prevent hacking and we had become a leader in the anti-hacking security world. In the process it became necessary for me to become a first-class hacker to stay one step ahead of the crooks.

I just left a meeting with my partner Otto, two of our attorneys, our CPA, and representatives of an investment banking company from New York. They had been in our offices for the past two weeks exploring the potential for a public offering. We were thrilled and shocked to learn our little company was now worth well more than $350 million, maybe as much as $450 mil. They wanted the IPO to be for 75% of the company, with Otto and I keeping 25%. The CPA estimated I would walk away with $200 to $210 million before taxes, and Otto would see 30% of that.

Even better news was that the underwriter would allow us to remove all our private property from the partnership before the IPO. On top of all of that, Otto and I would still retain 25% of the company valued at about $100 million. I would be CEO and the largest shareholder. Otto would remain a semi-retired consultant. Is it any wonder I was ecstatic driving home?

I knew something was wrong the moment I walked into the house. Stephanie was sitting at the dining room table with a glass of wine and a grave face. I walked over to kiss her hello, and she turned her face to me, so I ended up kissing her hair. She said, "Luke, please sit down. We have something serious to discuss." I asked, "would grab me a beer while I take a leak and change, and then we can talk." In our entire marriage, she had never insisted we speak as soon as I walked in the door, not even when she let me know she was pregnant for Theresa. So, I set my cell to record and put it upside down in my shirt pocket so there was little interference to the speaker. I do not know if this was the smartest or the most prescient thing I'd ever done. All I know for sure is I've never regretted it.

I learned a long time ago that when I was in a serious conversation, it was best to record the discussion in case I had a need to review it later. I neglected to tell Steph I was recording, but only because I did not realize how serious a talk we would be having.

Anyway, I returned to the table and sat down with my beer. She was extremely nervous and, after a few minutes, blurted out, "I have been having an affair for the past year." Of course, I was flabbergasted.

After about a three-minute fish impression, I was finally able to ask, "why?"

She responded, "As I approach menopause, my libido is increasing. You are slowing down, and I need more; you just don't satisfy me any longer."

"When we were first married, my libido was about three times stronger than yours, and you are very aware that I would have done it three times a day every day, but I respected your parameters and left you alone, and now this is how you pay me back?"

"That is true, but I don't think that is a fair comparison," she said with a guilty look.

I was thinking, "of course you don't," but didn't say it.

I said, "I assume you are telling me this because you have decided to give him up. We should seek counseling to get past this as amicably as possible."

"Hell no, I am not giving him up. I have not had orgasms as good as he gives me in many years. He is a keeper. He rocks my world like you never could." She had a faraway look in her eyes as she said that.

My joy went to horror as I realized I was looking at the end of my marriage, but I still had to ask, "Why are you telling me this now? If you have been doing this behind my back for a year, why tear my heart out now?" I also said, "Besides, you still get off every time we make love. I think after 20 years, I would know if you were faking. I suppose you two do things you have never done with me. Things you always told me were too nasty for us," I despondently said.

Then she managed to give a sympathetic look as she said, "Oh baby, I do not want to tear your heart out, I love you, and yes, you always get me off. Just not like he does. My friend has offered to take me to Kauai for a week to celebrate our one-year anniversary. You can only go 2 or 3 times a week now. He goes 2 or 3 times a day and believe me I have not nor ever will do anything with him I have not done with you."

"I see," I said "you could not just leave me for a week without a reason, so you decided to come clean. What about our dream of going to Kauai when we retire? Are you sure you are not intentionally trying to rip my heart out because it feels like you are?" Until this discussion, I had planned to surprise her with a trip to Europe for our 20th anniversary in August, followed by a trip to Hawaii at Christmas. Looks like I will be using that money for legal fees now.

She was looking down as she said, "We can still go when you retire."

"The only place you and I will be going to is divorce court if you go on this trip." I replied.

She lost her temper then and nearly shouted, "I am going on this trip, and there will be no divorce. I will only be gone for one week, and then everything will be back to normal. By the time I get back, I fully expect that you will have gotten past your snit and be willing to accept our new situation."

"Does that mean you're going to stop seeing him after that?"

"Of course not, sweetheart. I will still see him as I do now. You just won't know about it, so it will not affect you or our marriage, just like it hasn't for the past year."

I told her, "Even if you change your mind now, we will have to go to intense counseling to get past this. What about Theresa? Does she know you are going?"

"Yes, I told her, and she's very excited for me."

"Wait, until she finds out you're going with another man." Alarm bells should have gone off when she did not respond to that. "When will you be leaving?" I asked.

"Two weeks from today, we have a 10:00 AM flight on Friday the 17th. We will return on the 24th, I believe about 4 PM"

"So, who is it you are going with"? I foolishly asked.

"You don't need to know that. He is twelve years younger than you and can stay hard for hours. He really rocks my world. I can't tell you how many orgasms I have every time we get together," she smilingly let me know.

"I didn't need to know that" I said angrily. I finally lost my temper and decided to remove myself from the conversation. So, I stormed down to my basement man cave and reviewed the situation. I downloaded the recording to my secure laptop and started planning my future. I was pretty sure our marriage was done whether she went or not. However, if she passed on the trip, I was willing to work on it.

I called Otto and apprised him of the situation. Otto was not only my partner. Over the years, we developed a very strong friendship, and he was also my mentor and a father figure. He said, "Luke, we will delay the IPO by six months. Meanwhile, start getting your ducks in a row. Remind her of the prenup but say nothing more to Steph about the business until this is resolved."

I told him I planned to get revenge on the guy and asked him the name of his lawyer for his divorce. "Luke," he said, "you do not want to use that deadbeat. His advice nearly bankrupted me. I will find my wife's attorney. She is a circling shark and will do a far better job than mine ever did. I will find her number and email it to your work address. And Luke, I know it feels like your world is crashing right now, but I promise you it will get better. Just give it time."

I was down there an hour and a half when I heard Theresa come in and thought I would tell her the news of her mom's abandonment and betrayal of our marriage. I was opening the basement door when I heard them talking in the kitchen.

"So, did you tell Dad about your trip to paradise," she asked. "Yes, I told him, and he is in the basement sulking," she said.

"What is his problem?" my daughter demanded. "He can't satisfy you so well anymore, why does he care if you are meeting that need somewhere else? I am so happy I introduced you to Mr. Stinson."

"Me too, sweetheart. If I hadn't told you about my frustration and wished I could find someone to help with my lack of orgasms, I still might be sexually frustrated all the time."

Your father says the marriage is over if I go, but I know he will accept it once he realizes he has no other options. Tim gave me a brochure for the hotel when I saw him today. Look at this, it is a brand-new hotel called Hanalei Shores Beach Resort. The whole place is completely computerized. You can set the water temperature or open the curtains from the bedside panel. We can flush the toilet or order room service from the panel."

I nearly collapsed when I heard that Theresa had introduced her to her lover and was an active participant in my betrayal. She turned eighteen last week, and her mother had promised her a new car as a combined graduation and birthday present. Neither of them knew it, but that car had just left the dealership without them unless, of course, Stephanie bought it with her own money.

I went upstairs, and without saying a word to either of them, I began moving my belongings into the guest bedroom. When she said dinner was ready, I just walked out of the house and went to dinner at a local steakhouse after a stop at Home Depot to buy a new and stronger lock for the guest room door.

While eating my dinner, I put on my earbuds and listened to our taped conversation. I probably should have told her I had taped it, but 'oh well!' Even though Steph was somewhat computer literate, I don't think she ever understood what I did. When we met a year after College, I was studying computer programming, and after I graduated, that is what I was hired for. Despite her intelligence, she was never very interested in the business. White Hat Hackers do not go around bragging about what it is they do, and I doubt she ever took the time to investigate it.

So, I started looking at the information I had. I knew the hotel was called Hanalei Shores Beach Resort, and it was brand new. Her boyfriend's name was Tim Stinson. He was single and knew my daughter before he met Steph. I also knew he was 31 years old and must be wealthy. They were leaving on the 17th at 8 AM and returning on the 24th. I made some notes on my cell phone, finished dinner and headed home.

Even though it was well past ten, I was a little noisy about changing the lock. Okay, I was a lot noisy, and striking out very immaturely in my annoyance. Theresa stuck her head out of her room, looked at me, and said, "Aw, grow up, Dad," and slammed her door shut. I think Steph was tired of arguing and ignored me. Other than asking Steph not to go every single day since she told me, we had very little conversation or interaction. I was also cold to Theresa, and while I think she felt it, we never talked. Mostly, I think because I was so angry with her and wanted to show my hand as little as possible to either of them.

The next day was Saturday. I normally spent Saturdays around the house doing lawn care and whatever honey-do's Steph wanted me to take care of. Not today. I was up and out of the house before either of them woke up.

I went to my office and started researching for my action plan. The first thing I found out was that Tim Stinson was indeed married contrary to what Steph had told me. He lived with his wife Louise and their three children, all under the age of eight, Louise was a trust fund baby with a net worth of around 20 million. Stinson was the principal of my daughter's school. I wondered about the ethics of a high school principal sleeping with the married mother of a student. "We'll soon find out I thought."

also found out that the Hanalei Shores Beach Resort was indeed a brand new and completely computerized network. They also claimed to have the most secure computer system in Hawaii, and they said their programmers claimed it would take two years of 40-hour work weeks for any hacker to crack. As it turns out, the system was well protected, it took me two hours to find a backdoor. I looked the system over closely and quickly discovered that their programmers either lied to them or weren't very good with computer security. I would have free reign in the system whenever I wanted it.

I drove past Stinson's house on my way home and saw him trimming hedges in the front yard while his three kids played, and his wife sat on the porch talking on her cell.

When I got home, I ignored the overly friendly greeting from the bitches went to my room and changed into running clothes. I had admittedly grown a small spare tire around my waist and was 25- or 30-pounds overweight. I had decided the night before to change that, and I would start running today. I doubt I got a half mile before I had to stop. As I was walking home, I stopped at a gym I was passing to get a glass of juice at the snack bar and decided to sign up.

When I finally got home, I was greeted once again effusively by my soon-to-be ex-wife and duplicitous daughter. They both tried to hug me, but I just stood there stiffly.

I asked Steph, "have you changed your mind about the trip?"

She got flustered and just said, "of course not. I'll be going in 13 days, come hell or high water."

"So, you are prepared to accept the consequences then?" I asked.

"What consequences" Steph smirked "Has little Lukey got his knickers in a twist and is going to divorce poor ole me aww, poor Lukey? Well, go right ahead and file I will take you to the cleaners."

I clearly heard Theresa giggle at that remark. I don't think she even saw the filthy look I gave her, but I knew her time was coming too.

Before going upstairs to change, I asked Steph," Have you forgotten about our pre-nuptial agreement?"

"That old thing," she chuckled. "My friend told me It's not worth the paper it's printed on. Most of the conditions in it have expired and the judge will throw any others out."

"Is your boyfriend a lawyer?" I asked.

"No." she responded, "but he is well-educated and did look it over for me. He said he has seen better prenups on used toilet paper."