Pink Dragonfly

As Van began to type his reply, he was thwarted with a barrage of more texts about role playing ideas.

"She could be a sexy nurse and you the surgeon."

"She's a barrel racer and you're the rodeo clown."

"She's a sexy alien and is there to probe you."

"Okay!" he texted in an attempt to stop her flow, "I get it."

"And if she doesn't want that," Tara continued, "try suggesting a threesome."

"Just what every healthy marriage needs," Van replied, "a third person."

"I'm serious. It's worth a shot. Maybe it will snap her back into reality if nothing else."

Van thought about it for a bit.

"Maybe...thanks for the advice, Tara."

"You're welcome!"

Van returned back to his stupor that he was in before the text exchange with Tara, in the back of his mind playing out scenarios and outcomes from the possibility of him suggesting another woman joins them in the bedroom.

"At least it would make the divorce happen sooner," he said out loud.

He jumped slightly as his phone buzzed again with another incoming message from Tara. He picked up his phone to look at the message, and his heart skipped a beat when he noticed that it was another picture. The message at the bottom said "a little porch material for you", so he had a good idea of what to expect in the picture. He hit the download button, and when the picture came into view, his jaw dropped about the same amount that his cock shot in the air.

Tara was once again standing in front of her bathroom sink. She held the phone a good distance in front of her face, enough so that Van could see most of her body. Her pink hair was done up so that a loose bun sat on top of her head. She stared straight at the camera, her lips pursed as if she were blowing a kiss. She wore a tight white t-shirt...and nothing else. With her free hand she held onto the bottom of her shirt, which a fist full of material bunched up right in front of her vagina. The shirt was stretched tight across her chest, and it was clear that she was not wearing a bra. Her nipples protruded sharply through the white shirt, and he Van looked close enough he thought he could see a very faint outline of her areolae. Her bare legs were pushed tightly together and she bent slightly at the knee. In the mirror behind her, Van could just barely make out a portion of her naked butt that was up higher than the rim of the sink vanity.

His eyes darted from her face to her tits, back to her face, down to her legs, back to her face, and over to her ass, repeating this pattern over and over. Van massaged his dick over the material of his shorts, taking his eyes off the picture just long enough to make sure no one was around in the neighborhood. Within seconds he was already cumming to Tara, making yet another mess in his shorts.

He sat back in his swing and mopped his brow with the back of his hand, slightly out of breath. Not long after, his phone buzzed again.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need some kind of validation here, Van," the message said. "Kinda just put myself out there in a big way...least you could do is tell me what you think."

Van looked down at his crotch. His dick was still visibly hard even though he just came, and there was a very noticeable wet spot that had saturated the thin material of his shorts.

He pointed his phone down at his groin and took a picture, making sure that the camera captured both the wet spot and his erection. Then he sent the picture to Tara, not feeling the need to say anything about it.

Moments later his phone buzzed again. It was Tara, of course.

"Fuuuuck...I guess that pretty much tells me everything I wanted to know."

"Gotta go clean up my mess now," Van replied. "Talk to you later...and thank you."

With that, Van stood up went inside to rinse himself off.

*

Later that evening, Van and Mack sat at their kitchen table enjoying a dinner of raw vegetables with a side of leaves and water. Van had just taken a large bite of dry spinach and was trying to choke it down with some water, but was having a tough time. He looked up at Mack who was clearly indifferent about the flavor, or lack thereof in their meal. She nibbled on a piece of raw asparagus as she stared out into space, mind on who knows what.

Van decided that he wanted something else to eat, and he was tired of feeling bad about that because of Mack. He got up and went to the cabinet, fishing around the back where he had hidden a sleeve of Ritz crackers. Then he went to the fridge and got a beer. When he returned to his seat, Mack was watching him closely. He smiled at her, opened his beer, and took a large gulp of it. Then he grabbed three crackers in between his fingers and shoved them all in his mouth at once, losing himself in the light, simple, buttery airiness of the snack.

"So...you're going to eat that then," Mack said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," Van replied as he washed down the dry crackers with more beer.

"That's a lot of carbs to have so late in the evening."

Van just shrugged.

"Felt like I needed a little more substance."

"I could have cut you up an avocado or something."

"You still can. That sounds good, actually. Might spread some on my crackers."

"Never mind," Mack said returning to her meal.

Van finished his beer and about half the pack of crackers before he got up and started cleaning. Mack remained sitting at the table, lost in the screen of her phone.

"Hey Mack?" Van said after he finished cleaning, having a seat across from her again.

"Hmm?" she asked softly, not taking her eyes off her phone.

"Can we talk for a second?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

Van took a deep breath before continuing.

"I think we need counseling."

Mack immediately looked up from her phone, a clear look of confusion on her face.

"Marriage counseling," Van specified.

"Uh-huh," she said simply.

"I miss you, Mack. I know we live together and that seems crazy, but things are so different between us lately. We hardly talk, we never touch. I had to practically beg you for some intimacy on my birthday, and even that felt awkward. I just think there are some things going on between us that we may not even be aware of, and maybe a counselor can help us get back on track."

Mack thought deeply about what he was saying, thinking for a long time before she responded.

"We are in a bit of a lull, aren't we?" she said.

"Uh...ya' think?"

"But I don't know why we need outside help. Why can't we just talk about it now? Here. Just the two of us."

"You wanna try that now?"

"Sure, beats having to sit down with some stranger who doesn't even know us."

"Okay, well...let's talk."

"Okay, I'll start," Mack said. "I feel like I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but...I'm really disappointed in your efforts to get yourself in shape. I'm working my ass off two times a day, sticking to this extreme strict diet, and you're over there eating Ritz crackers. It's just frustrating to see my efforts not being matched."

Van nodded.

"Right, and I understand your stance with that," he replied. "First off, I want to say how proud I am of you for working so hard, I can tell it means a lot to you. And by the way, you look phenomenal. But...I feel like I'm in pretty decent shape. Maybe I've got my flabby spots here and there, but I'm decently toned, I think. I don't want to 'work my ass off', as you put it. I like how I look, and I want you to like how I look too."

"Van, I do like how you look. Really, I do. But, I don't know, I'm not saying I want you to look like a body builder or anything, but do you think maybe you could try a little harder to tone up just a little? For me?"

Van sighed. He felt very unheard by her, like she was completely disregarding everything he had just said. But he also knew that if he was going to save their marriage, he was going to have to make sacrifices.

"I can do that, Mack. I will try harder. Will you try harder to make some time for us though? You know...in the bedroom specifically?"

Mack smiled.

"Of course I will," she replied not so convincingly.

Mack contentedly returned her attention to her phone.

"But how do we do that?" Van asked, grabbing Mack's attention away from the phone again.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"How do we make the transition from...whatever we have going on now, to getting back to, well, touching and stuff."

"Umm, I don't know...we just try harder."

"Hmm, okay."

Van was just about ready to leave it at that, but then he decided to just man up and keep talking about his feelings.

"That seems pretty vague to me, Mack. Kinda seems like a cop out, to be honest."

Mack put her phone back down on the table, slightly irritable.

"Okay, so do you have any suggestions, Van?"

"Role-playing."

"Role-playing?"

"Yeah. I dunno...you could be a sexy nurse, or a school girl, and I could be a doctor or a pharmacist or something."

"A pharmacist?"

"Okay, maybe not a pharmacist, but...I don't know, something you find sexy?"

Mack thought it over for a bit.

"Not really into costumes, sweetie. Sorry."

"Okay," Van continued, not giving up. "I have another idea."

"What's that?"

"This one is a little out there. Just know that when I say it, I'm doing it from a place of love and try to save our marriage. Have you ever thought about...a threesome?"

Mack's eyes opened up almost to the size of trashcan lids.

"Are you serious right now?" she asked.

"I don't know, Mack, I'm just trying to find something, some way for us to-"

"I might be open to a threesome," she interrupted.

"Oh! Well...that was unexpected!"

They both sat there in silence for a while, neither knowing how to progress from there.

"So any ideas on where we even begin to find this mysterious third person?" Van asked.

"Hmm," Mack replied. "Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, not even close to that really, but there is a small chance that maybe...Ashley, my trainer, might be interested."

"Really? How do you even know to think of her in the first place?"

Mack started to reply, but stopped abruptly. She looked up at Van, at first with a look of confusion, followed by a slight look of pity.

"Van, Ashley is...not a 'her'. Ashley is a guy."

Van's heart may have stopped beating for just a split second.

"A guy?"

"Yeah...you didn't know that?"

"Nope."

"Oh."

"What made you think of him, Mack?"

Mack shrugged.

"I don't know, you said threesome and he's the first person I thought of. Just because when he's training me in the rec center, a couple of his buddies are usually around too training other people, and I hear the conversations they have. Ashley gets around, from what I have overheard."

"Oh," Van replied, not sure where to go from there.

"Look, it was just one idea. We can forget it if it's too weird."

"No. I want to try this. You seem interested and willing, and I need to meet you halfway. I guess that when I said 'threesome', I automatically assumed it would be another girl."

"We can do that too, you know," Mack said. "I mean, if we try it with Ashley first and it's hot or whatever, then I'm totally open to finding a girl somewhere to do this with."

Van sat back, completely dumbfounded.

"So what's the next step, then?" Van asked aloud.

"I'll talk to Ashley tomorrow afternoon when I see him for my training session."

"God, that'll be an awkward conversation."

"Probably not. I'm telling you, that dude gets around."

"Jeez. Are we gonna be safe from, you know, venereal diseases and shit?"

"Oh yeah, totally. He always wears a condom. You know, from what I hear."

"Right. Okay then, let's have a threesome."

"Yay!" Mack said, getting up and heading back to their bedroom.

"Hey Mack?" Van called out before she got too far out of sight.

"Yes?"

"You want me to rub your back tonight or anything? It doesn't have to go anywhere. It'd just be nice to try and be close to you."

"Sure," she replied. "A back massage sounds nice. But then I'll probably go straight to sleep. I have to be at work early tomorrow."

"Of course. And hey, I'm really happy that we made some progress towards normalcy tonight."

"I'm not sure how 'normal' threesomes are, but it is exciting though."

With that, Mack turned and headed back to their bedroom.

Later that evening, Mack lay on her stomach on their bed while Van sat beside her, lightly rubbing her muscles.

"Mmm, this is nice," she moaned.

"You know, this is something I can do for you more often. Or maybe, you know, we can do for each other."

"Sounds wonderful."

About twenty minutes into the massage, Van noticed a distinct change in Mack's breathing. She had fallen fast asleep at some point during the massage. He got up and started to maneuver the blanket on top of her. Just before he finished, he stopped short. He caught a glimpse of her panty-clad ass peaking out just under her night shirt. He checked one more time to see that she was indeed asleep, then reached his hand across her, carefully pulled up her shirt, and exposed her butt completely.

He started to touch himself while he looked at her. He even got bold enough to reach down and lightly grab a small handful of one of her butt cheeks.

"Hey Van?" Mack suddenly said, her voice slightly muffled from laying face down.

"Oh...thought you were asleep," he said sheepishly.

"I think I'm gonna roll over and go to bed now. The massage felt great, thank you."

"You're welcome. I love you."

"Love you too."

Van contemplated getting his phone and pulling up the pictures that Tara had sent him again, but he decided instead just to go to sleep. He felt good about the progress that they had made that night. He knew there would be so much awkwardness if they in fact went through with the threesome, but at least it felt like a step in the right direction.

*

Van was in an excellent mood the next day. He felt reinvigorated in his relationship with Mack. He had a healthy breakfast of an apple and oatmeal with bananas and honey. All day at work everything just seemed to run extra smoothly: he was able to help several customers, or "members" as they were called at Sam's Club, find great deals on the exact items they were looking for; he received a very positive evaluation from his boss that led to a small pay raise; and, he even found time to crank out a hundred and twenty push-ups before his work day was done. He couldn't wait to share that last one with Mack.

It wasn't a particularly busy day at work, so Van decided to ask another manager to cover his section of the store for the last hour of his shift so he could leave early. He wanted to surprise Mack at work and take her out for a nice, early dinner.

When he got to the library on campus, he suddenly realized that he had never been to Mack's work before, and frankly he had no idea where to begin to look for her inside the huge library. All he could think to do was go to the front desk and just start asking around for her.

"Hi, how can I help you sir?" the young college girl asked sweetly.

"Hello, I'm looking for Mack McCracken. Any idea where I might find her?

"Miss McCracken just left for the day, actually."

"Miss McCracken?" Van said out loud. It sounded really odd to Van to hear his wife referred to as a 'Miss". He wondered if she liked it, and if she did, would she like it if he called her that in the bedroom?

"Would you like to leave a message for her?" the girl asked. "She won't see it until tomorrow, though."

"No that's okay, I'm her husband. I was just trying to surprise her."

"Husband?" the girl asked. "I had no idea she was married."

"Yeah," Van replied, "she just doesn't like to wear her ring often, she finds it uncomfortable."

"Hey Tonya," the girl called out to another girl sitting behind the desk. "Did you know Miss McCracken is married?"

"What?" Tonya replied. "I've never heard her mention a husband. I've never noticed any pictures of a husband in her office. You sure she's married?"

"Yeah, her husband is standing right here!"

Van looked at Tonya and waved awkwardly.

"So she just left, you say?" Van asked the girl.

"Yeah, I saw her leave like fifteen minutes ago."

Van checked his watch. She should have still been at work. He figured she must have gotten off early, just like he did, and already left for the gym. Van had been hoping to catch her before her workout, but that was okay. He figured this way he'd get a chance to check out this Ashley guy.

Van started walking towards the recreation center. On the way, as luck would have it, there just happened to be a college student selling flowers for $10 a bundle. Van stopped and got one for Mack, figuring it was kismet that he was standing right on the way from the library to the rec center.

"This is a great idea for a Friday afternoon job," Van said to the guy as he made his purchase. "With all the guys on campus who have dates tonight, you should make a bundle."

"Oh I do," the guy replied, "every Friday night."

"Brilliant," Van said. "Well, don't let me get in your way, I've got a date with my wife."

Van continued his happy stroll, taking in the sights of all the college kids around him. College, just like any point in life one could argue, is definitely one of those times where you really just have to look back at it when it's over to truly and fully appreciate, Van thought. Of course, he didn't know first hand, but he'd seen it portrayed in movies and stuff.

When he finally got to the rec center, he once again had to ask the front desk for help. They let him enter, even though he wasn't a student, when he explained that he just wanted to get a message to his wife.

He made his way across an empty basketball court and down a few steps to a lowered room that was the gym. There were lots of people using machines and weights, and Van was having a difficult time locating Mack in the crowd.

He saw someone that appeared as if he worked there, someone who was standing beside a girl as she used a weight machine, seemingly giving her tips. He figured this guy would at least know Ashley and could possibly help him find them.

"Excuse me," Van said as he approached the guy.

"What's up?" the guy replied.

"I'm looking for a girl named Mack. I think she usually works out with a guy named Ashley. Do you have any idea where they would be right now?"

The guy gave a weird smirk and pointed upstairs.

"Yeah...they're probably busy in a private workout room upstairs," he said in an odd manner.

"Private workout room?"

"Heh...yep."

And then he knew.

Van slowly walked towards a set of stairs and began to climb them, completely in a daze. When he got to the top, he went ahead and laid the flowers down on an empty table that sat outside of a little smoothie station. He figured that maybe someone would be lucky enough to find them and put them to good use that night.

It really wasn't just since last night that he knew that this might be the reality. If he was honest with himself, he had known that this could be the case for months now. He just never let himself think about it too hard, because frankly, the idea of it just hurt too bad.

Still, as sure as he was, he needed to see it. It's like seeing the dead body of a loved one. You already know they're gone, but your brain will let you process it better if you just see them.

Van needed to see his dead marriage for the sake of hopefully one day finding closure.

There was hardly anyone at all upstairs. Van made his way down a corridor that had a sign with an arrow that said "Private Workout Areas". Van glanced down the hall. He could easily see that all of the doors to the private rooms were wide open...except the very last one.

He walked up to the door. There were no windows on it or anything, just a solid wooden door. He thought he could hear distinct, albeit muffled, sounds coming from within the room, but he still needed to be sure. With a surprisingly steady hand he quietly turned the door handle and opened it up.