Payment in Kind

Chapter Four:

The Happy Couple

We had arranged to meet in a quiet coffee shop just outside of downtown Beaumont. It was more than an hour and a half drive, but well worth it. The place was old school, more diner than coffee shop, but adapted to meet the demands of the time and a favorite of the local college set. I was there early, nervous as a cat. Dell walked in fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to start. Anxious. And beautiful. Every eye turned her way. She wore a yellow and green sleeveless paisley summer dress. It was light and gauzy, and while the skirt fell modestly to just above her ankles, the top addled my mind, and, if my observations were correct, the mind of every other male in the little shop. It was a halter top tied on the back of the neck with an open back. She was wearing no bra and the triangles covering her breasts did a poor job of it, or good job of it, depending on one's perspective. They showed a personally unbearable amount of cleavage and her nipples, hardened by the cold air, poked at the soft cloth.

"You need to dress down next time," I blurted as she sat down at our table, coffee and roll in hand.

"This is down," she said defensively. This was not going well. I had to earn her confidence, not piss down her leg. The odds that someone would know her here were very slim anyway, so where was my anger coming from? I realized, to my chagrin, that I was jealous. The nearly syncopated way that every man in the shop had immediately focused on her pissed me off.

"Let me be explicit then," I said, unable to back down. "You need to wear something that makes you look unrecognizable and totally unremarkable. Since you walked in, the two linemen on the left who are waiting for their call out from Beaumont Power & Light zeroed in on you and started comparing notes about you, the two churchy-women in the booth right behind us hate you without the need for any further explanation, and the boy scout's dad three tables to our left is discretely stealing glances at your side boobs just to confirm that they are as big as he thinks they are."

Dell glanced around nervously, looking first at the line workers then at the boy scout's dad--which were the only views she could muster of the parties discussed. Each of the men looked away sheepishly as her eyes fell on them, revealing their inner thoughts completely.

"Ok, you've made your point," Dell said petulantly. "I'll wear a sack next time. Can we get underway?"

"It's not just for them," I heard myself saying "I need to be able to concentrate."

"And...you...are having difficulty concentrating Mr. Betts?" Dell asked with the hint of a smile.

"I'm human and I'm a man. I'll do my job, and I'll do it well. But you could help," I replied.

"I need you to give me a detailed history of your relationship with Marsh. From the beginning right up to now, and don't spare me anything, his good, his bad, your good, your bad, because in a divorce this big, it is all likely to come out."

Dell blanched at that request and became visibly anxious, her hands moving back and forth between her skirt and the table without reason. There were things buried here that would take some digging, but she needed to understand that the Dediers would use any device, force open any crevice in her personality or past that spoke of weakness.

"Let's start from the beginning," I said, "that should be easier."

Dell nodded and began. "I never knew Marsh before I was a sophomore. They started the big high school before I was a freshman, so I never went to school with him before that. He went to West, and I went to East for elementary and Junior High.

He let everybody know he was a big deal right away. He hung with the 'in' crowd, he was always done up nice, always the latest car, always had people around him. I could feel him looking at me just as soon as I got there. You can tell about a guy. But he was fishy about it. He didn't come right up to me and say hello, he just stood off and looked at me when we'd walk by. I could tell he'd say nasty stuff to his buddies because as soon as we walked by, they'd all laugh."

I liked hearing Dell spilling out even these largely irrelevant details. She had to get comfortable with me and make full spill if we were going to do any good.

"So, how did you get together?" I asked.

"We didn't," Dell said taking a bite of her scone " not at first anyway. I heard through a couple of junior girls that he was sweet on me, but I...didn't like him at first. I liked Sammy Held. Sammy was at least a good friend, Marsh twarnt nuthin'." I smiled at the colloquialism and urged her to continue.

"Anyways, Marsh was always around. He'd never just talk to me like a man, he'd just sit and look at me across the cafeteria. When spring came around, he manned up and asked me to the prom, but I lied and told him I already had a date. I didn't, but he gave me the creeps. I made Hooch Fowler act like we had a date, then act like he got sick the night of the prom and that we couldn't go. I didn't want to make an enemy out of Marsh or his family, but I didn't want to go with him neither. I couldn't afford a damned prom dress anyway. Ridiculous," she concluded looking away.

"Okay, that's how you didn't get together, now tell me how you did," I reiterated.

"Marsh went off to school and I didn't see hide nor hair of him for a couple of years. Right after my senior year daddy sent me around town to apply for a job." I remembered Dell's graduation, vaguely. Our eldest son Luke had graduated with her. It stunned most of the crowd that Dell walked across the stage bearing the banner of the National Honor Society and won top honors for highest 4-year grade in social studies. Hiram III had so little sense, Jackie was the only possible explanation for Dell's smarts.

"Daddy was gonna make damn sure I was earning my keep since I was an adult and all" Dell continued. "When I went into the True Value to apply for a clerk job, they had I ran into Marsh. He looked...different...somehow ...changed. Anyways, he walked right up to me and said hello. I was a little on the surprised side, so I said hi back, and we got to talking, and that's when he spilled the beans."

"Spilled the beans?" I asked.

"Yeah, he admitted he had had a thing for me for years, that he'd always wanted to ask me out, to be something to me, but that he'd never had the nerve to say anything. Course, I was surprised, and flattered" she concluded. "He was a good-looking guy and it seemed like he'd grown up some."

"Still is a looker," I said.

"No," Dell said quickly, "not once you know him. Not now."

"Anyways, one thing led to another" she continued. "He was straight with me from then on, or so I thought. I was the most important person in the world to him. He listened to me, thought about me, thought about everything I said, and when we started datin', he never asked for a thing, not even a kiss. That right there is what threw me. Every girl in school knew he was a horn dog. He wanted in your pants, and that's all he wanted. I knew a bunch of girls who screwed him, all hopin' they'd be the one to win the lotto. But he wasn't like that at all with me. We went on five dates before he even nerved up to kiss me on the cheek. I had to tell him it was ok for him to kiss me on the lips, that I didn't bite. He knew I hadn't been with anyone before him, but he said he wanted to wait, said he wanted it to be special, to be for marriage. Blew me away. Marriage. Holy cow! I musta put off some kind of vibe to that because he got really quiet and said stuff like 'we don't have to talk about that now' and so on until I told him 'I'd think about it.'"

"Well, anyways, it happened. Bang, boom, I was engaged before I knew what hit me. Big monster of a ring. Daddy cleaned up and quit running the still for a while. Had most the junk hauled off. Mowed the yard, went to church. I knew what was goin' on, twarnt nothin' I could do about it.

Anyways, Marsh and I still didn't do it, didn't do a whole lot of anything hot and heavy really, until the wedding night. When I look back on it, it was all a big sales job."

"What was your relationship like with his folks?" I asked.

"Ha!" Dell said laughing. "Lenora hated me, and old Max wanted to fuck me. That was my "relationship" with 'em. You can always tell about a guy, and the acorn didn't fall far from that tree with that old bird. They hated the idea that their little boy would marry the County's poor white trash, a silly little girl who wasn't even going to college, a clerk in the hardware store. Max all but told me he'd pushed Marsh just to go down to a whorehouse in New Orleans and get his rocks off if he couldn't hold it. I guess it was his way of saying that's all I would ever be to him, a good lay. He was a pig-no surprise Marsh is a pig.

But...I guess...Marsh just kept on and wore 'em down because at the end August we got married out on their place. Big deal. Flowers, bridesmaids, the whole thing."

At that Dell burst into tears, sobbing so loudly that both Boy Scout's dad and the Truckers took notice and looked like they might intervene. I raised my hand in an "I got this" gesture and offered Dell my handkerchief. It seemed to placate them.

"That afternoon, 'cept for Allie bein' born, that was the last day of my life I was happy," Dell said.

"What was it like after you got married?" I asked, hoping to refocus her discussion.

"Shit. Pure shit" Dell said and looked out the windows wistfully. "We moved up to Dallas so he could go back to school. I didn't fit there. They all had money, they'd all gone to St. Marks or Hockaday or some other bullshit private school. They didn't have a lick of sense, none of 'em, but you sure couldn't tell it by listenin' to 'em. They just knew they had the world by the tail.

Anyways, Marsh was rough in bed with me from our very first night. I gave it off to the fact that he'd been waiting for it for months, that he'd had a lot to drink, and it was all just pent-up juice, but the spanking and shit never went away. Didn't take long until I was yesterday's news with him. He'd spend most of his time at the fraternity house, come home drunk at midnight and expect me to get up and fix him something, or he wouldn't show up at all. I got a job, but he wouldn't see it, made me quit---screamed at me that he didn't marry a fucking clerk. So, I sat there in the apartment, watching Oprah and Springer, and wishing I had something to do. I ended up sewing for a few folks in the Apartments just to have a little something."

"You said he was rough from the beginning. How? Did he hurt you?" I asked.

Dell looked up and all around the table before beginning. "He made me do...things to him" Dell blurted.

"Do things?" I asked.

"Sex...thangs" Dell twanged.

"Okay, I don't expect this to be easy to talk about, but it can make a big difference. If he forced you to do things against your will, it makes a huge difference" I said.

"Oh really?" Dell said derisively "Since when has a rich man forcing a poor girl to do what he wanted her to do ever gotten him in trouble? Can you name me one case Harper?"

"Several, actually" I responded.

"Okay, let's see what you can handle then. He made me take his dick in my mouth in the kitchen bathroom right after the wedding. Ran me into one of the downstairs bathrooms, pushed me down on my knees and made me pull it out and suck it before I was out of my wedding dress. He made me suck it until he shot his wad into my mouth and laughed when it gagged me. He made me swallow it. All the first afternoon. He fucked me regular and from behind, like a dog. After just a little while he talked ugly to me while he was doin' it, bitch this, cunt that, whore, slut, you name it.

He fucked me in the ass. He did it dry because he liked the way it made me whimper. He spanked me until my tits and butt turned beet red. He fucked me late nights in front of the big picture window in our apartment so people could see us as they walked by. And people did walk by, and look in, and laugh, and I had to stand right next to some of 'em the next day as though nothing had happened. He'd shoot his load on my face, -aim it so it would shoot up my nose or in my eyes on purpose then just laugh about it. He'd fuck me upside down, pounding my head. I was lucky to get a pillow under me.

And it none of it didn't do an ounce of good. I was stupid and in love. I thought that if I just gave him that next thing he wanted, it would be enough, that suddenly he'd treat me like he did the summer before we got married. I was an idiot. He thought more about his damned little Beamer than he did me.

"I'm sorry," I interrupted.

"Why?" Dell asked. "You didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry it happened to you" I responded. "Did you ever think about leaving?"

"Not until he started bringing his boys by" Dell responded.

"His boys?" I asked.

"Yeah, his frat boy buddies" Dell answered, "same kind of sucker-fish that lined up with him in high school. At first, he set up proper dates, sorta. We'd meet another couple and go out to dinner or to a bar and go dancing. We'd even switch off and I'd dance with the other fella, and he'd dance with that guys' date. Good fun, I thought, 'til we got home the first time," Dell said, her sentence grinding to a halt.

"What happened then?" I asked.

Dell looked down at her hands and paused. The place had cleared out and we were nearly alone. This seemed to give her the strength to go on.

"You sure you need all this?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," I responded.

"He'd start making out with me on our couch and the other couple would be sitting right there near us in the big love seat. We'd have a movie on, at first, they were just normal movies, later he put pornos on. Anyway, he wanted to make out right in front of the other couple, but I wouldn't have any of it and I butted out, ran to the bedroom. Marsh didn't much like that. Once they left, he beat the shit out of me for it until I swore I wouldn't ever bug out again. Didn't take more than a couple of trips to Parkland for me to come around.

The next time we had a couple come over, we got to kissin' and everything and he waited until everybody got hot and got going, then he made me go down on him in front of them. One of his friends told me later that he and his buds had a game. They wanted to see who could get their date to do out it in the wide open first. The other couple just stared at me while I did it. It was the most humiliating thing I'd ever done in my life."

"Were you ever able to shut it down?" I asked.

"Naw. You want to hear this?" Dell asked, making it clear that my prompts were no longer needed, and my interruptions weren't either.

"I do," I answered.

"Okay, take your notes then" Dell said with true hostility.

"Dell, I'm going to remind you, because you seem to have forgotten, that it was you who asked for my help. I'm not asking you this because I want a ticket on the sidelines of your sex life. What you told me so far gives me the lead on three or four good witnesses if I can turn them, and it lets me know that I need consent form so that Penny can get all the medical records on you from Parkland Hospital during the first two years of the marriage. There really is a purpose in all this," I responded.

"Okay. I get it" she said somewhat more neutrally.

"He won, I guess, because we did it in front of another couple first. I didn't know what to do but grin and bear it. There he was pounding away on me and the other two just stopped making out and stared at us as he did me. I felt so embarrassed, but it's what he wanted, and I was still stupid enough to be feeding it to him. Then that was the way it always was. Sometimes we'd just do it in front of the other couple. Sometimes, they got into it right alongside us. After a while I didn't mind it so much. I knew I looked a ton better than anyone who'd be coming around. I liked the way the boys looked at me. I liked the way it pissed off their dates that their boyfriend wanted me more than them.

Then one night one of the girls came onto me while Marsh and I were doing it. Shit I didn't know what to do. I'd never done more than hold hands with girlfriends in school, then there she was with her mouth on my pussy while Marsh fucked away. That sent Marsh into orbit. Then her boyfriend put his dick right there at my mouth. I just went with it, I guess. Only thing was, I knew those bastards were all talkin' about me, that was the only thing that pissed me off."

"Anyways, after a while the girls quit showing up, but the guys didn't. I guess word got out what was going on and it made it hard for them to get dates when the end of the night was a group thang. So that's when the guys started comin' over from the frat with Marsh on their own. Same thing. We'd go out to eat, sometimes a bar. I'd dance with Marsh, then dance with the other guys. Then we'd go back to our apartment and do it. At first it was just one guy, then it was two, then three or four" she concluded.

"Four?" I asked incredulously, jealousy firing up again, "Did you ever tell him no?" Ever think of moving out?" I asked.

"All the time. But where would I go? I didn't have two nickels to rub together. Come back home to the trailer and do tricks for pop? No, I wasn't goin' to do that. At some point, I got smart and decided to make it work for me instead of against me. Marsh didn't give a shit about me as it was, so I decided to make him give a shit about me all over again. I had picked up 15-20 pounds easy in the first few months after we were married because I was miserable and had nothin' to do but eat. I made him let me get a job at one of the local gyms. At first, I just sat the desk, but I'd take an hour or two a day and started working that weight off. I even picked up a few people to train after a while. Talk started. Some folks came by and dropped off cards. One wanted me to model for "D" Magazine, one for some little fitness pub, one for Penthouse. I showed 'em to Marsh, just to let him know what he had. He wasn't interested in me modeling, even the legit stuff."

"Penthouse?" I said, unsurprised and surprised at the same time.

"Yeah, Penthouse" Dell responded, lifting a little smile to let me know, I know what you're thinking.

"Anyways, I hit the stores and started buying expensive trampy outfits and bikini's you wouldn't dare wear anywhere. I decided I'd be the hottest little tramp in the fucking city, and he'd damn well know it. When the boys came over, I was ready. I was going to be the best lay they'd ever had. What was funny about it was that I could make 'em jump and dance without them ever knowing I was doin' it. I'd give this one an extra smile, or moan really loud for one of 'em while being quiet with the rest and pretty soon them ole boys were jealous as shit. They all wanted to be the special one, ever last one of 'em.

I decided I'd make them want me for the rest of their days and make Marsh as jealous as hell for having brought them to me. Still stupid. I thought it would get better I hoped he'd get tired of it and quit bringing 'em, but he never did. He'd just sit there and watch me, whether it was one guy, or two or four, he'd just sit back and strum that little pecker of his and watch them treat me like a whore, go down on me, do me, sometimes three at the same time, and all the while he'd just sit there until he was ready to come over and shoot it into my face."

I prided myself on my ability to do a good client interview, and to pick up every detail that could possibly be helpful to the client. But listening to Dell's yarn had ended my objectivity long before, as well as my neutrality. I hated Marsh Dedier. To my shame, Dell's graphically detailed stories of her and Marsh's sexual Klatch made my cock grow rock hard. I paused briefly to understand why. It wasn't because I was hearing about sex. Hell, divorce attorneys ought to have minor designations as sex counselors anyway. I'd heard it all, at least I thought I had. I was turned on because despite the early humiliation involved in her sexuality, it was clear from the enthusiasm of her description that Dell enjoyed, no...that was far too mild a word..., loved her sessions with other men. She liked being the center of attention, she liked being the object of lust, and she reveled in her remembrance of the sensations these young men had given her with their mouths, their hands and their cocks. The revenge it evoked on Marsh at the same time was just a heavy bonus for Dell.