Randy's Unexpected Revenge

"I'm sorry if I've hurt you, Randy," She said softly with tenderness in her voice. "I didn't intend for that to happen. I just fell so in love with Kirk, and he's in love with me. I have to be with him."

My hands twitched with an unbelievable urge to break her neck at that moment. But I knew I had to hold it together. It took all of my powers of self-control to do it, but I finally did. Somewhere deep in the logical part of my brain, I knew there was nothing to be gained by physical violence. I didn't want her to know how deeply she had hurt me. And there was no way that I was going to beg her to stay. I think that is, probably, the worst thing that any cheated-on husband can do. It is just a sign of total weakness.

"Okay," I said simply, "if you want a divorce, you've got it."

A look of confusion filled her eyes, and maybe I imagined it, but also a little hurt. Perhaps, she thought I was going to fight to keep her. But I knew in my heart that if she had made up her mind to leave me, there was nothing I could do or say to stop her.

Cindy was utterly taken aback by my behavior but got up and began packing up her stuff. The next day, I went to the bank and our financial advisor. I explained what was happening and withdrew half of the funds in each account. I then opened separate accounts with my name only. I canceled all our credit cards and applied for new ones in my name only. I stopped by a realtor friend of mine and listed our house for sale. Finally, I visited a divorce lawyer.

With a lot of hatred in my heart, I made sure that Cindy was served at work. I also listed adultery as the cause. The divorce, itself was relatively straightforward. Since we'd only been married about four years and had no kids, there was nothing to argue over. We split everything fifty-fifty and went our separate ways.

Kirk's divorce was a lot messier. He had a kid less than a year old, and Suzie had never worked. He had to pay child support and alimony. One thing about Kirk's divorce that I will admit gave me some pleasure. He decided to go cheap on his lawyer. Instead of the spousal maintenance being limited to a year or two, it was set at fifteen years. Kirk wasn't happy, but he signed the papers. Two months after the divorces were final, Kirk and Cindy got married. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

I spent the first week after the breakup, I was totally lost. I'm not much of a drinker, so that didn't appeal to me. I was consumed for several weeks with trying to come up with some plan to get revenge on both Kirk and Cindy. I'm pretty sure every guy who has ever been cheated on does the same thing. I even started searching on the internet for information about how ex-husbands got revenge on their former wives and lovers.

I was in a really dark place. I even bought a gun. Then I began reading story after story about guys who had gotten revenge. At first, my only thoughts of revenge involved violence. Then I started planning to destroy their property, but I quickly realized that both of those ideas would just blowback on me. They were stupid ideas like flattening all their tires, putting sugar in their gas tanks, flooding their new house, and a bunch of other silly ideas. The more stories I read about revenge, the more I realized how ridiculous most of them were. I found no way to gain the revenge I wanted.

Finally, I sought counseling at my church. The Pastor talked to me for almost two hours. He explained to me that the hurt from my wife's betrayal wouldn't go away with any kind of revenge. No matter how much I hurt my former wife or her new husband, the pain would still be there. The Pastor's advice was really pretty simple for a person with my kind of pain. He told me that only time and distance would heal my heart.

Even though I wasn't sure I believed him, I realized that being near Cindy and not being able to be with her would tear open the wound every time I saw her. I also realized that the Pastor was right about one thing, revenge wouldn't stop the hurt, so I took his advice. That meant I had to put distance between Cindy and me.

My opportunity came when I heard rumors that the company was in trouble. Apparently, the firm had entered into a contract with the Defense Department. The deal promised big profits, but there was a downside. Our firm was charged with developing an entirely new software and electronics package for the Air Force's fighters and bombers. It's totally classified, so I can't even begin to tell you about it. Suffice to say that it was going to put the United States head and shoulders above the Russians and the Chinese. That is, of course, if my company could deliver.

The rumor going around was that the project was seriously behind and over budget. Usually, no one worried too much about government contracts. But this one was different. Indeed, there were huge profits to be made. However, there was great risk for the company. Unlike other government projects, during this one, no progress payments would be made while this software and the accompanying electronic components were being developed. The company would also have to pay tremendous penalties if they didn't deliver on time. In fact, if the company didn't successfully finish the project as per the contract, there was a strong possibility that it would go under.

As one of the senior software designers in the company, I was called in to consult on the pending disaster. All the other designers didn't want to touch this project with a ten-foot pole. In fact, most of them were updating their resumes and looking to jump ship. If you took it on and failed, not only would you be fired, but the company would probably tank. The stigma of that failure would stay with you for a long, long time. But, at that point in my life, I figured what the hell. I didn't have much to lose. Now that I was divorced, I had very modest needs. If I lost my job, so what. I'd get by. Plus, I had just learned that Cindy was now pregnant. That was like a dagger to my heart. I had always believed that Cindy and I would, one day, have a family of our own.

I looked at all the data that they had provided me on this Air Force project. It was clear to me that the direction they had taken would never work. I agreed to take on the assignment and headed for California. I was going to put about three thousand miles between my ex-wife and me.

As I had done my first year in college, I immersed myself in work. My days were long, sometimes twenty hours at a stretch, which didn't give much time to think about Cindy. I fired three-quarters of the programmers and all of the engineers working on the electronic components. I brought in new people. I literally scrapped everything they had done to date, even though our deadline was only eleven months away.

I didn't know anything about engineering, but I had brought some of the most creative engineers in the company to work with me. I even poached some really excellent engineers from rival companies. When I explained what I wanted them to build, they were skeptical. But when I told them why I wanted the electronic components built that way, they were stunned. They suddenly realized how simple my idea was. However, I then had to make the software work.

Slowly, but surely, we put together a program that I felt good about. But it wasn't until three weeks before we had to deliver our product to the military that I knew we had done it. Our first test combining the software and the electronic components showed a ninety-six percent success rate. And as I scanned the four percent that hadn't worked, I knew that they were easy fixes.

Once it was revealed that our program worked, the company stock shot up over three hundred points in a couple of months. Then the Defense Department announced that they were expanding our contract to include the Navy, Army, and Marines. We were talking about billions of dollars in profits. But it didn't stop there. I realized that we could tweak the program downward, and it would have multiple commercial applications as well. Basically, we stripped all of the classified information out, and it proved to be an excellent platform for all sorts of practical applications. The list of things we could adapt to this program seemed endless.

After that success, I was promoted to a Senior Vice President and put in charge of developing those commercial applications. Over the years that followed, I frequently had to return to the Virginia home office. I didn't run into either Kirk or Cindy during these visits. Even though I didn't think it would affect me at all, I didn't want to be bothered. I had nothing to say to either of them after all this time. The Pastor, who had given me the advice about putting time and distance between a heartbreak had been one hundred percent right. I had moved on.

During one of my visits, I ran into Kelly Bailey. She had been a cheerleader back at Caverton High. She and Suzie had been best friends. I knew that she had married Jason Bailey and had had a son. Before I found Cindy, I had always had a crush on Kelly. She was the prettiest cheerleader, but Kelly had such a warm way about her that it was impossible not to like her. In high school, she had been voted "Most Popular." Kelly had aged some but was still quite attractive. Physically, she was the polar opposite of Cindy. While Cindy had short blond hair and was overly well endowed, Kelly was petite with long black hair. She stood barely five feet three inches tall, and her breasts, while proportional, were considerably smaller than Cindy's. One thing they had in common was a smile that radiated warmth.

I was stunned that she recognized me. I was in a grocery store getting a few things because I was supposed to make a presentation to the Board of Directors. Formal updates with the Board always meant I'd be in town for a week. The company had several apartments for executives that came from out of the area. They were furnished, but there was never any food in them.

"Randy, is that you?" Kelly called to me as I was trying to decide which frozen dinners to buy.

I immediately recognized her and blushed slightly when she called my name again. I guess I still had a little crush on her, even though she had a few gray hairs and a few small wrinkles.

"Kelly," I smiled as she stopped her basket next to mine. "I'm flattered that you recognized me."

"I wouldn't have," she admitted, "except that Suzie pointed you out when she came to have lunch with me at TriOrbit."

"You work at TriOrbit?" I was truly stunned.

She smiled and nodded. "I've been there for about six years. I work in marketing."

I was surprised to discover that Kelly worked at the same company as me. I felt a little guilty that I didn't know that. However, I had almost nothing to do with marketing, so I shouldn't have felt bad. Still, I felt as though I should have known.

"How are you doing?" I finally asked to cover my discomfort.

"I'm doing as well as can be expected," she said with a sadness in her voice. "I'm divorced now. Jason has turned out to be a real turd. Not only was he cheating with his secretary but also a half dozen other women. He even got one of them pregnant. I divorced him, of course. He got off pretty light, considering what he was doing. There was no alimony because our salaries are about the same. We didn't have a house and had very little savings. All he was ordered to do was pay child support. Still, I have to hound him for it each month. I don't mind bugging him to get the money, but he totally ignores our son, Scott. I get furious when I think about it."

"I'm really sorry, Kelly," I apologized. "I always knew Jason was a bit of a wild man, but I thought he would settle down once he got married." I paused for a moment and looked into Kelly's beautiful, emerald green eyes. I didn't really know what to say next, so I decided to just commiserate with her. "I guess you know that my wife and I are divorced. Cindy decided to chase after Todd."

"No, Randy," Kelly shook her head, "it was Kirk who pursued Cindy. Suzie told me all about it."

"I guess I can't argue with that," I admitted, "but it takes two to tango."

"You're not seriously thinking about eating any of these frozen dinners, are you?" she asked as she surveyed my cart.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," I nodded. "I'm a terrible cook, and this is about all I can handle."

"Look, if you'd like a home-cooked meal, why don't you come over to my house. It won't be fancy, but I guarantee it will be good."

I almost turned her down, but the thought of a home-cooked meal was something I couldn't pass up. "If it's not an inconvenience, I wouldn't mind having a real meal. I can't remember the last time I had one."

That evening was delightful. Kelly made meatloaf with mashed potatoes, string beans, and sherbet for dessert. It was fun having someone to talk to. Scottie, as his mother called him, was a very outgoing and friendly kid. I discovered that he was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan like I was. We had fun talking about the team and their prospects for the coming season. I was a real fan and also a season ticket holder. In fact, I had four season tickets on the fifty-yard line. The company paid for them because I would take prospective customers to the games. When I didn't have any customers, I'd invite my buddies. And if I couldn't find anyone at all to go with me, I'd go by myself. I'd give the other three tickets away, usually to people who were trying to buy from a scalper.

"I wish I could go to a game someday," Scottie said wistfully.

"I can make that happen," I said impulsively. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized that I had overstepped my bounds and quickly tried to fix it. "That is, of course, if your mother will approve of it."

Scottie looked over at his mother with imploring eyes. All she said is, "we'll discuss it."

At the end of the evening, I apologized. "I'm sorry about the offer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. But just so you know, I have four season tickets to all the Bucs home games and a ton of frequent flyer miles. If you wouldn't mind him going to a game with me, I'd be thrilled to take him."

She stood there, looking at me with piercing eyes. It was then that it hit me that I'd made another faux pas. I immediately tried to correct that one, only to create yet another. "The invitation applies to you also." After a moment's pause, I stuttered, "I, I, I'd get separate rooms for us. You and Scottie would be in one, and I'd be in the other."

I could feel my face burning at my stupidity. But all that Kelly did was smile.

"You are the sweetest man," she said with a chuckle. "Your expression is priceless."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to offend Kelly. I truly enjoyed her company and was hoping that we could get together from time to time.

I decided to plunge ahead. "Would you mind if I asked you out when I come to town? If you're with someone, I'll understand. I just really enjoyed having someone to talk to."

Kelly studied me for a long moment, then she smiled. "Randy, I've known you since high school. I always thought you were cute, and one of the nicest guys but never considered dating you because I had Jason. Now that I've gotten to know you a little, yes, I'd be pleased if you called me. And I'd love to go see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with you and Scottie."

Over the following year, I would call Kelly every time I returned to Virginia, and we would get together. Several times, I booked trips back east when I really didn't have to be there. It wasn't a love affair at first. We were just good friends who enjoyed spending time together. I took Kelly and Scottie to the final game of the season that year. The Bucs needed to win to make it into the playoffs, and they did. Scottie was beside himself with joy over the win. That night, after Scottie went to bed, Kelly came over to my room, and we became more than just good friends.

When Kelly knocked on my door, I was watching a local sports station as they did an in-depth analysis of the Bucs' game. She was the last person I expected to come knocking on my door at that time of night.

"Is something wrong?" I asked with real concern. "Is Scottie all right?"

"No, nothing's wrong," she replied with a smile, "and Scottie is sleeping soundly, happy that his Bucs are going to the playoffs. I just was hoping that we could have a drink and talk."

I looked down at my boxer shorts and my t-shirt.

"Let me put some pants on," I said as I left the door to find my trousers. I thought I had tossed them on the chair in the corner. They weren't there.

"No need," Kelly said as she pushed the door open and entered.

Frantically, I looked for my pants, which weren't on the chair, and I couldn't find them on the floor either. I began scanning around the room, which brought a giggle from Kelly. Now my face was fire engine red.

"If you feel uncomfortable, I can put us on an even playing field," Kelly smiled as she undid her skirt and let it fall to the floor. "Now we're both in our underwear. Mix me a drink and come sit down."

I went to the mini-bar and pulled out two small bottles of rum and two cans of coke. As I said, I'm not much of a drinker, but I do like rum and coke occasionally. As I mixed the drinks, Kelly climbed up on my bed and sat cross-legged. It was hard not to stare because I could clearly see the mound of hair through her white laced panties.

After handing Kelly her drink, I looked around, trying to find a place to sit. Kelly saw my head darting around and knew what I was struggling with. She patted the bed beside her. "Come on, sit here. I don't bite."

Still bright red, I nodded and sat down next to her. I quickly took a big swallow of my drink. I could feel the rum course through my body, and I relaxed a bit. We talked for a while, and when we finished our drinks, I took her cup and asked her if she wanted another. She shook her head, and I waited for her to get up. I figured she'd head back to her son. I was totally wrong about that.

Not sure what to do, I put the cups in the wastebasket and sat down again. When I did, Kelly kissed me on the lips. It was quick and soft, sending an electrical charge through my body. She saw my surprise and smiled, "I've been waiting for months for you to kiss me. I figured that you still thought of me as that high school cheerleader who was unattainable. Let me assure you that I am not that person anymore."

Kelly had read me like a book. There had been so many times that I wanted to kiss her but was afraid. I didn't want to take a chance of losing her as a friend. I leaned forward and kissed her. We kissed a long time with our tongues, exploring every part of each other's mouth. She tasted so sweet.

When we broke apart, I said, "you are a beautiful and amazing woman."

Kelly then laid her head on my chest and began to rub my crotch. My penis was now standing at full attention. Still, I was insecure because Jason, like Kirk, had been hung like racehorses. I was afraid that Kelly would find me inadequate.

"I'm not as big as Jason," I started to apologize, but she put her hand over my mouth and stopped me from saying more.

"Yes, Jason had a huge cock," Kelly said, "but having sex with him was more often painful than anything else. It's a total myth that a bigger penis means more pleasure for a woman. Oh, some women with big vaginas might prefer a larger penis. But most women, like me, don't. On average, a penis between five and eight inches will satisfy most women. Jason's eleven-inches really hurt at times. I'm just not built to take that much. Also, Jason was a terrible lover. It was all about him. He rarely, if ever, tried to please me. He'd pump until he came, roll-off, and go to sleep. If I complained that it hurt, he got mad."