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It was on Wednesday which he also had off that he decided to go see Gwen and maybe do or say something to clear the air. As a sign of trust to each other that neither would ever cheat they had given each other keys to each other's apartments so he was going to let himself in and wait for her to come instead of calling and summoning her. It would give himself a chance to refamiliarize himself with her personality and remind himself again that she would never cheat on him. Feeling something in the air wasn't good enough to accuse anyone and he knew it. He was just paranoid because they were having sex less frequently as in, practically not at all.

When David unlocked the door to the apartment he instantly knew that he should not be there. His heart sank and his stomach turned sour. In the apartment was the smell of sex and he could hear the sounds of the act coming from deeper within.

"No." he quietly whispered to himself.

A part of him wanted to rush in and catch her but really what good has that ever done? Still his instinct to be sure that it was in fact Gwen who was having sex and not some other random person in her apartment overtook him. He silently approached the bedroom and peeked around the corner just enough to be able to see. There naked on her knees was clearly Gwen and she had her face between another woman's legs. David felt poison ice run through his veins.

There was nothing to do and nothing to say. If that was what Gwen wanted to do then who was he to tell her to not do it. She had money and a future while David was just some guy that she entertained herself with for a time. He didn't have anything to offer her. Silently he left. He went out the apartment the way he had come and locked the door the way it had been. Then he went to the ice cream shop not far from his building because he just had a lack of imagination of what else to do.

Women cheat, he thought to himself. All women cheat. All women lie. All women were like that. All women demanded of the men in their lives ... scratch that, the slaves in their lives; all women demanded of their male slaves that the men not lie and not cheat and have good jobs and be built like a body builder and on top of all of that, do the work around the house so she didn't have to. But in return what did David ever get from the women in his life? Nothing, except lies and cheating. And all women were like that. Every last fucking one of them.

Even though he had the day off he went into the office. It was strange to walk through the office dressed as he was and he got some looks. He went to his desk and thought to himself that if he did get the opportunity to fuck that girl in the other office over there then he had a mind to go ahead and do it. Then again he also had a mind to go up to the roof and jump off.

Just then by the scanner David saw Ken and for some reason Steven came to his mind. Where was Steven?

David got up, grabbed a file folder to make it look like he was actually doing something and started to ask where Steven was. He got directed and found Steven acting as the middle man between someone on the phone and his boss at her desk. David waited for it to run its course and then when Steven was leaving David asked for a word.

"What's up?" Steven asked.

"Amanda's your wife, right?"

Shame crossed Steven's face but he had control of it. "Yeah." he answered.

"Oh, man, I don't know how to tell you this."

"Tell me what?"

"I didn't know."

"You didn't know what?"

"I didn't know she was married and I definitely didn't know she was married to you."

"What the hell are you telling me?"

"I'm sorry, man."

"Amanda?"

"I think so."

"You think? You better know before you come and tell me something like that."

"You're right. It's not think. I know. I didn't say anything until now because I had to be sure."

"When did this happen?"

"A few months ago before I started dating Gwen."

Steven was silent as he absorbed David's lie.

"I have to go." David said to end the silence.

"Yeah. Oh, and hey, no hard feelings. You didn't know, right?"

"No idea."

"Ok. Well, thanks for telling me."

David left the office and then went home. In his house he couldn't relax. He paced back and forth debating whether he should call Gwen or just delete her number.

Number. Dial. Ringing.

"Hello." said his sister's voice.

"Gina. Do you have time to talk?"

"Sorry, now's not a good time. Can I call you back?"

"Uh, sure. It's not a big deal."

She didn't even say bye and she hung up on him.

For most phones once you delete a number you can never get it back. You have to manually add it to contacts again from the beginning. That was for most phones but not David's phone. Then again, even with this phone most people would not know how to recover a deleted phone number but David knew how to do that too. David could delete a number and even if it was years later he could recover it. So then what was the point of deleting anyone? Well, he never wanted to accidentally dial someone he'd deleted but with the system the phone had it was more like hiding the number then fully erasing it.

Phone, number, dial, ringing.

"Hello." came the woman's voice.

"Do you know where I live?" David asked.

"Remind me why I'd care after all this time."

"The offer is only open until 3:59."

"What offer?"

David hung up on her. She tried to call back but he didn't answer. He was making himself busy with other stuff. He also made sure not to look at the clock. He'd said 3:59 so of course she would show up at 4:02 and then want to start a fight about the time. At 4:01 exactly his door bell rang. David wasn't going to argue with her about the time or about anything that had happened in their relationship which had failed purely because of her, because she wasn't good enough for him. He'd called her over for one thing, and one thing only.

When David opened the door Lisa followed the pattern that David already expected from her, which was to barge in past him and start talking.

"This better be like so important because I was like so about to ..."

David didn't call her over for talking. He needed to shut her up. He moved close to her and kissed her. She acted out pretend surprise but then she embraced him. She soon discovered that there was nothing to say and nothing to negotiate in the situation.

He remembered her body and yet somehow she seemed new to him again. She was foul but in that moment he didn't care. She was easy and that was the only qualification she needed.

David picked her up and put her on the bed. Instead of just rushing in he had a mind to do what he'd seen Gwen doing. Something in his mind was saying that by doing it that way he'd be showing her. Take that. He just hoped that Lisa didn't have some other guy's cum down there.

"So like, where is this coming from?" she moaned out in pleasure as David moved her panties to the side and started to lick her. David didn't answer. He continued to lick and then he got the idea to up a finger or two in her the way he'd seen in lesbian porn.

It took a while. It took a good while in fact but David did not let up until he had Lisa squirming all over the bed and eventually hitting her climax from just his tongue. He gave her a moment to rest as he stood over her and looked down at her. She was only half way through the process of getting undressed and David still had all of his clothes on. Well he could fix that. He got his shirt and pants off and he laid in bed next to her with his dick standing erect in the air.

Lisa came to her senses and she turned to him to snuggle. She noticed that he was naked so she got out of the rest of her high dollar outfit. "Only you." she said. "Only you would call me over to eat me out and not ask for anything."

"I'm laying here with you, aren't I?"

"But you're not going to ask me, are you?"

"Why would I need to?"

"Because. I like so loved you and you left me. You just left me and shunned me for no reason and then you follow me here like some stalker. And I'm totally onto you, by the way. I know you're like cheating on me with like two or three women all at the same time. All your talk about people shouldn't cheat and all that is so bullshit. There was like no reason for me to feel guilty."

"Why did you feel guilty?"

"Uh ... Um, you know, because were always talking about don't cheat, don't cheat, don't cheat and clearly you were aiming that at me when I hadn't done anything. Do you know how much you hurt me? Every time a guy would walk past us you would look at me like you were expecting me to run after him and cheat on you when I never did. Like NEVER. You were so oppressive and I just couldn't take your guilt trips anymore. So when you left me without even calling I was so relieved. You made me so happy by just going away."

"How did you find out where I lived?"

"If you were going to be in town I was going to make sure you weren't going to stalk me and murder me."

"Why did you come here?"

"Because you called me. Duh."

"How come you're not with John?"

"He was cute and all but ... Oh shit. I mean, you used to ask me if he was cute and I would tell you of course not. You used to make me wonder if you guys were gay for each other."

"You have nothing to say to me?"

"You called me here. Remember?"

"If you're worried that I'm going to murder you, why would you even answer my call?"

"Because you're David."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, ... uh ... I don't know."

"It means the fact that you don't know or that you don't know what it means."

"It means," she cringed. "I love you."

"You do not love me. I'm not even sure you can love anyone."

"I love you. I'm saying it. I love you. So of course I'll come if you call me."

He wasn't going to argue with her but he did not believe that she loved him at all.

"I called you over here because my girlfriend is cheating on me."

"I am not."

"My CURRENT girlfriend is cheating on me."

"Well, we never broke up so I'm still your current girlfriend and I don't like you accusing me."

"This was a mistake. I shouldn't have called you over."

"Well, I'm here now."

"I have to go."

"Where're we going?"

"I have to go somewhere to be alone."

"Oh, one of those nights. Ok. I'll see you tomorrow." she replied. Then she kissed him on the cheek and started to get dressed. David sat up onto the side of the bed and watched her as she smiled at him. He realized that she was never going to just leave if he didn't at least leave the building with her so he got dressed.

In the elevator on the way down she hugged him.

"I want to say, thank you. Thank you for giving me another chance."

David gave her a half hearted hug back. They parted ways at the front of the building and David shuffled off to be alone. He wondered where he could even go. He settled on a park bench. He wasn't exactly alone as there were some teenagers playing basketball not that far away but they left him alone.

David was sitting there wondering about everything.

He tried to relax. In his more relaxed state he could see his situation more clearly. He'd been feeling red flags because subconsciously there were red flags, and those red flags were there because Gwen was actually cheating on him. Once Gwen had cheated then their relationship was then officially over so what David had done with Lisa wasn't cheating at all because he was free. In case of point, the very fact that David would have any kind of sex with Lisa, instead of being proof that he was just as much a cheater as anyone else, instead was concrete evidence that David was indeed free and not in a relationship and as such could not possibly cheat.

He was totally clear on how he felt and what he needed to do from then on. Now all he needed to do was think over what to do at work the next day.

And then just as he turned his mind to work someone from his worked called him.

"Hello."

"David, what did you tell Steven?" Ken was asking.

"That's private."

"Shits about to go down, man. What happened? I'm not asking privately. The company wants to know."

"Shit. I ..." Dammit, now he had to lie more to keep up the other lie. "I slept with this woman a year ago and I found out that she was Steven's wife."

"Shit! For real?"

"I mean, I'm not stalking her or nothing but a reliable source told me who she really was."

"Dammit, man. I wish you hadn't of said anything."

"Why? What's going on?"

"I had Steven all ready to transfer and escape his approaching doom and now it's all fucked up."

"Why? What happened?"

"Listen, this dude goes and calls his wife to tell her that he knows she cheated but that he forgave her."

"Forgave her!?"

"Yeah. I guess he was thinking that his wife cheating and then him forgiving her was his ticket to saving his marriage. He was all happy and excited about it. He would forgive her and then later when she found out about what he did she would forgive him."

Fuck that was stupid, David thought. "Women don't work that way."

"Yeah, no shit. His wife got all pissed off that he would even accuse her of anything that she called the cops and said he been beating her up like everyday. So now the police are here. They got Steven handcuffed down on One. They talking about taking him to jail."

"Are you asking me to come down there? Do I need to do anything?"

"No man. You stay out of it. I'll run interference so Mrs. Carter don't pin this trouble on you. I was just wondering where the hell Steven had gotten it into his idiot head to go say a damn thing. He was almost out, too."

"I hope he doesn't get arrested."

"I hope it don't come to that."

"Yeah, me too."

"Oh, by the way. Was it good?"

"Was what good?"

"Fucking Steven's wife. Good pussy?"

"I ... I don't remember."

"Yeah, you do. Come on. Tell me. How was she?"

"I've had better, honestly."

"Really. So all this trouble and she ain't even fine. Damn, what a waste."

After the call ended David was kicking himself for lying. He had thought that Steven would then not feel so bad about leaving his innocent wife.

Suddenly out of nowhere the basketball flew over and hit David in the head so fast that he didn't have time to react. The impact left him in a daze for a moment. When his vision cleared he found that the basketball players were all standing in a line confronting him.

"Get you white ass out of here. This our park."

David knew better than to fight with them or bring up the fact that Democrat Jim Crow segregation was bad. They were asking him to leave so to keep the peace he guessed he had to leave and hopefully the basketball would be the only thing thrown at him. It wasn't. As soon as he was by the street they threw an empty beer can at him and laughed.

"Run home now, whitie. Bye, bye."

David wandered the streets until he found himself outside that same old pawn shop with the beaten down trumpet. It had a dent and part of the welding was breaking. David wondered if it would even play. Maybe it wouldn't and that might actually mean it was the best fit for David anyway. He wasn't the best trumpet player in the world or the fastest. When he had tried out for concert band he hadn't made the cut. Of course he wasn't the best trumpet player. He wasn't even average. He was mediocre. Maybe a great trumpet player deserved to have a gold plated, hand crafted, super light weight, amazingly expensive trumpet. David didn't. David was a good fit for the poor little abused trumpet in the window. He'd buy it and then he'd take care of it and if possible he'd get it fixed. He looked at the price. The shop had reduced it a bit but David still couldn't buy it until at least four paychecks in the future. Well, that was a plan.

David started to walk home and he happened to pass that spot where that freak battery car accident had happened. A marker had been put there. David didn't get too close to it. It had someone's picture in there. Someone had died. He hung his head and remembered the burns on his arms. He hadn't been good enough. He hadn't been fast enough.

...

"No." Gwen said. "What if someone sees me?"

"It'll be fine." Carla answered. "David will never know. He has no money so he never leaves his house."

Gwen and Carla were at a dinner party in a nice restaurant. All of Carla's friends who were joining them seemed to be women who were dating women. The contrast with Gwen's own style was clearly apparent and commented on, which made Carla happy. Gwen was quiet as they all ate and talked. She was just trying to enjoy what she could and the food was rather good.

Then the bomb dropped as Carla announced to her lesbian friends that she'd stolen Gwen from one of the subhumans who were part of the patriarchy. The triumph for woman kind was cheered and celebrated and Carla capped it by coaxing Gwen into a tongue on tongue kiss to display to everyone there. Gwen wasn't feeling into it at first but Carla reminded her that David's cock had been in her mouth and the kiss went full throttle. A cheer went up and Gwen longed for David to come and rescue her. She looked out the front doors and wondered if she could call him to come get her.

...

Most people, even the ones who experience it, don't really know what it feels like because it just comes onto them and lingers in the background suppressing every other feeling. A person isn't consciously aware of it until it was too late. David had heard it been called the heaviness once and that was pretty accurate to explain how he was feeling at that moment though of course he didn't actively know that he was now among those suffering.

David's days changed a lot all of the sudden. No more jogs in the early morning and no more visits to the community gym. He sat in his apartment with the only light filling the room being that from the sunlight outside the drapes. He would go to work and do the minimum necessary. He had no joy in his job anymore. He couldn't even say that he was happy to hear that Steven was safe and not in police custody. Steven had made it out of the country and he was back on Ken's plan. In the course of all that happening word was starting to go around that Steven's wife had actually cheated on Steven, and it was a lot of cheating from the stories David heard. That just made David's mood sink more into the black depths. He'd been right about her. He hadn't meant it to be that way but it turned out he'd been right about her.

The feeling was nearly debilitating. He could barely bring himself to even stand up.

All women were like that. Not one of them could be loyal. He took a moment to grasp the reality of what that meant. He already knew his mother cheated on his father but it didn't stop with just her. His sister surely was a cheater as well. His grandmother must have cheated on his grandfather, and on, and on. His boss was a cheater. That girl in the other office was a cheater. They were all cheaters.

He hated this. He hated thinking this way. He didn't want to think bad things about women. Women had enough discrimination to deal with. And for that matter what did he care if other women cheated? They were free to do what they wanted. He only cared that the woman who was with him not be a cheater. And yet here he was again. If all women were cheaters and so long as that is true if David wanted to avoid dating a cheater it meant he had to just not ever date again. He could never be a boyfriend again. He could never get married. He could never have children the correct way in a stable family of two parents. The dream was a lie because all women were like that and he wasn't like that. He was going to be better and he would demand that any woman who wanted to be with him had to be better too.