The Bet (10 Dates)

"Ethan...!" she whispered, overcome with emotion.

She remembered the moment well. Their little group had gone on a hike. There was a high point in the trail adjoining a vast, sloping meadow ablaze with colourful flowers. Joshua, Mathew and Jacob had been ragging on each other the whole trip. Mathew jumped on Jacob's back, and then Joshua tackled the two of them. She, Steve, Ethan and Michael had watched laughing as the three rolled down the incline, crushing flowers while they mock fought. It amazed her that no one had gotten stung by the horde of very pissed off bees they'd interrupted buzzing angrily over the playful combatants.

It had been a wonderful day, her part in those hilarious moments now immortalized on canvas.

She hadn't known Ethan had taken a picture. He'd caught her at a three quarter face angle, laughing joyously at the rambunctious trio and their silly antics. The day was sunny with a gentle breeze tugging little tendrils of her hair away from her face. Shortly after that moment, they'd spotted a sow crossing the bottom of the meadow, her two cubs gambolling amongst the flowers, pausing here and there to snap at the angry bees. Not wanting a confrontation, they quietly bailed, backtracking and taking another route to avoid the bear.

It was a stunning painting. More importantly to her, the artist's utter love for his muse shone through with every stroke of his brush.

Understanding dawned on her. Ethan loved her, and those feelings blazed out of his masterpiece. His name whispered out of her lips again while tears ran down her cheeks.

She heard the rustle of footsteps and looked over her shoulder. Ethan and his dad were standing in the doorway. Ethan's uncertain eyes were huge, realizing his secret feelings for her been revealed with no idea of how she felt.

Mallory had no memory of standing or of crossing the distance between them.

She only knew he was cradling her in his loving arms. Her lips sought his, and the outside world ceased to exist.

They came back down to earth, eyes flickering back and forth, staring intensely into each other's eyes, searching for the other's truth. The entwined beating of their hearts said it all. With a moan, she buried her face into the cleft of his throat and lovingly nuzzled him under his chin.

It took her a few seconds before she realized tears were streaming down his cheeks. Using a finger, she wiped them away and kissed him gently.

"Ethan," she sighed. How could she have overlooked her real feelings for him for so long? He loved her. Kissing up the line of his jaw to his ears, she shared her heart with him. "I love you too!"

With a gasp of delight, his arms pulled her tighter.

Mallory became aware of murmuring voices. His parents! Embarrassed, she turned to apologize.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to his parents, pretending to be busy discussing the painting of her.

Barbara turned and smiled at her. "Don't be sorry, Mallory. That's one of the most genuine moments I've ever seen in my life. I think I speak for both of us that we're happy our boy was part of it."

His dad nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we go for some lunch," Barbara offered.

Over lunch, Mallory explained how the dating situation had come to pass, especially how Steve had just thrown her away. Wanting Ethan to know the truth, she said Steve had suddenly abandoned all the decisions they had discussed when they first dated and got married. That he wanted out. To be free to party, drink, be messy and play video games without his 'mom' hovering over him. She was still feeling insulted over the use of that term. His immature attitude made her determined not to stay married to him if children and buying a house weren't in the future. Based on his refusal to show up to discuss things, she suspected divorce was the only solution now.

She also explained her dawning realization of the fact that she and Ethan had gradually been getting closer to each other for the last couple of years. She just hadn't realized it.

Afterward, she thought the lunch went well. Ethan's parents seemed supportive after she explained how their son's dating a married woman had evolved. Barbara even expressed the hope that things worked out between her and Ethan. She'd been invited to come back with Ethan anytime she liked.

They held hands all the way back. Steve's car was in the parking lot when he dropped her off.

"Would you like me to come up?"

"No, it's best that he and I settle this."

"Alright, pick you up at seven?"

"I'll be ready."

Upstairs she poured herself a glass of wine and went and sat in the living room. Steve was there sitting with a beer.

"I see you finally came home," she threw out.

"Sorry about that. That was bad behaviour on my part. I shouldn't have done it."

"After your little lecture the other day, I don't see much left between us. The things you said are non-starters in any marriage of mine, and frankly, had you expressed those thoughts back in the beginning, we'd have never made it to the altar Steve."

"I know, Mallory. I started having these thoughts a couple of years ago when I finally noticed how much you and Ethan were into each other. At first, I was jealous, but you seemed oblivious to what was going on. For sure, you weren't cheating with him. I didn't even see any signs of you being unhappy. That made me stop and think about it from another angle. Was I happy? Were we in tune with our desires in life? My answer came back no. But I realized that would be a big yes for you and Ethan. If you ever let yourself be with him. I haven't missed how he looks at you, and I know he's nuts about you. I knew you'd never be happy if I expressed my new feelings, so when he came to me with his dating dilemma, I deliberately pushed him at you."

"You were jealous? Why didn't you say something, Steve? I never set out to make you jealous."

"I know. That disappeared when I realized you weren't even conscious of how you two ended up together all the time. Do you know you touch each other like lovers without even being aware of it?"

"WHAT?" How could she have missed something so personal?

"Yep, little touches on the arm, the back, legs when you're sitting together. At times you two are utterly oblivious to the rest of us. Once, you put your hand in the back pocket of his shorts and pulled him closer while you two were looking at something. Another time you ran your fingers through his hair on the back of his head."

"WHAT? ME?" She was astounded. She had no memories of doing that!

"Yes. Everyone else noticed. That's why putting you and Ethan together was a smart move, Mallory. You would have never accepted my changes, and I have to admit I don't want to stay like it is. It's just not me! We need to move on."

Wow! So much more than she expected. The part about Ethan shocked her. She'd come to the realization that they were circling each other, but obviously, it went a lot further than she thought. The implications of their body language in unknowingly touching each other said a lot.

"I'm shocked, Steve. I never set out to do anything at all with Ethan. And especially not to demean you or minimize you. I had no idea I was doing things like that."

"Look, the guys are all excited about Wednesday night. I want to keep everything quiet until after. Let them have their fun, and maybe they'll walk out of it with a new relationship. Can we do that?"

"Of course, I want the same thing for them. And your little office sweetie?"

He looked embarrassed. "I really kind of like her."

"And the future?"

"She's perfect for me, considering where my mind is right now. The future? Who knows. Please be nice to her."

Mallory had to get away before the tears came. No matter what the future brought, she did love Steve. Maybe just not as much as she originally thought.

"Okay, Steve. How about we talk about this after Wednesday and work out a separation. I have to go get ready for Ethan now. We're going out."

"Me too. Hey, we're only one date behind you. Better get going!"

"I've lost my enthusiasm for the bet. The guys can split it. I don't care about it anymore."

Despite having to treat her tear reddened eyes again, she was radiantly happy that evening at dinner with Ethan. They spent the night dancing and having fun. For the first time, she realized that as crazy as it all seemed, she was right where she belonged in Ethan's arms. When the evening ended, there was clapping from the audience. She and Ethan looked around and realized the music had ended, leaving them standing in the middle of the empty dance floor thoroughly lost in a smoking hot kiss. At first, Mallory thought they were clapping for the band, then realized everyone was watching them and clapping. A few wolf whistles followed!

Now THAT was a little embarrassing!

They went back to Ethan's for a nightcap. Once in the door, Mallory took Ethan by the hand and walked him down to the bedroom he'd refused to show her before. The one with the outside glass extension. She had a good idea of what she'd find.

"Open it!" she demanded.

Sure enough, what she found inside was exactly what she expected. Ethan had built himself a studio adding the glass extension to improve the lighting. Several portraits of her were present from various activities they'd both been involved in. Most telling was his love of her shone through in all those paintings. He was a talented painter, just like his mom and inspired by his secret love.

Mallory wanted nothing more than to drag him off to bed and spend the night, but she and Steve had an agreement. There would be nothing until they separated, and one of them moved out.

They cuddled on the couch and had a light make-out session before they decided it was getting too hot and heavy. They needed to quit while they could.

**********

Wednesday night hadn't been well thought out. Adding the extra girls exceeded the seating they had. Fortunately, nobody seemed to object to sitting on their partner's lap. Mallory sat on Ethan's lap while Steve had his little trollop Ashley on his knee. As much as Mallory was prepared to be pissed off at her, she found herself liking his date. Steve had warned her that his co-worker wasn't very bright. That was obvious when Mallory got the opportunity to talk to her in the kitchen. Yet, she was cheerful and so happy to be meeting them all. But watching her face when she burrowed her way into Steve's arms, there was no doubt she was besotted with him, and he had nothing but adoring eyes for her.

Despite the sadness of ending their marriage, she couldn't help admitting everything was working out well for everyone.

The evening went well and ended with Friday dates for all the guys. Things were looking up! Their behaviour was definitely improved with the women around them.

Steve left to take Ashley home, and Mallory kissed Ethan goodbye at the door. She got ready for bed, surprised that Steve hadn't made it back yet. When she got up at three-thirty to go to the bathroom, he still hadn't returned. Mallory woke up at seven finding Steve there, sprawled out on his side completely pissed, a cloud of alcohol vapour hanging over his head. His shirt was off, and his pants pulled down as far as his knees before he passed out. She shook her head, then took the time to remove his shoes and the rest of his clothing, including his boxers.

Shocked, she stared at his groin. His pubes were matted and swirled with sexual fluids, little dots of dried sperm decorating the curly hairs. The bastard! He had fucked Ashley! After swearing he wouldn't be doing anything while they were still working a separation out.

She was pissed. Pushing and shoving she moved Steve's passed-out carcass into the centre of the bed, then sat down and gave it some thought.

***********

Looking at the first mummy she'd ever created, she wondered if she'd overdone it?

It started out duct-taping a few hairy parts of his body to the bed. As her anger grew, so did the amount of tape until Steve was an almost featureless lump under a wrapping of grey. She'd run the tape all the way down to the wooden mattress sideboards; no way was he getting out without help and a lot of hair-pulling painful cutting. His head was taped to his pillow. When his eyes opened, the angle directed his view down to where she had taped his balls to his cock and then wrapped multiple layers around his staff until it stood erect and still.

She could only hope that the tape around his balls wasn't too tight; she'd been jerking the duct-tape rather viciously at that point.

Her crowning achievement was her wedding ring taped to the top of his cock, the single solitaire diamond standing above all else, gleaming in the light. She'd also taped his pee hole closed. His bladder was going to suffer greatly when he woke up after all the beer he'd obviously consumed last night. She hoped it would be really, really painful.

Finished, she grabbed his phone and took a video of her revenge handiwork. Pulling all his contacts into one text, she texted the video out to everyone he knew with the heading, 'He Cheated!'

Ethan called her a few minutes later. He was picking her up and taking her home, she needed to pack a suitcase.

She decided she'd wait a few hours and then text Ashley the location of a key to the apartment. She could come and rescue her lover.

*************************

Epilogue

The moon was a bright orb in the sky, moonlight beaming through the bedroom window when Ethan screamed and launched himself out of bed, bare feet hitting the floor with a loud thud.

"Jesus Christ, did you stick those feet in the freezer before coming to bed?"

A snickering Mallory rolled over and snuggled her rapidly swelling belly down in the warm blankets. No way would her new husband ever diss her beloved little rabbit ear slippers again.

Now he just needed to be coached to do those fantastic foot massages every night without being asked.

She sighed. It took so much work to train a husband. Still, a warm, happy, well-massaged foot meant a happy woman, and a happy woman was a happy wife.

He'd learn.

The End:

©2020 Gordo12

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