The Cheating Zone 14: Warning Signs

The Cheating Zone 14: Warning Signs

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All episodes of "The Cheating Zone" can be read as separate stories.

For the nit-pickers who want to say this or that would never happen, remember, this is the Cheating Zone, a place outside the normal space-time continuum where literally anything is possible... Please remember, this is a work of fiction, meaning that it is not real in any way, shape, matter or form.

...

Your eyes flit from left to right as you drive down the tree-lined country road, looking for any signs of danger. You look ahead as the headlights pierce the inky blackness of night. There's a signpost up ahead. You've just entered... The Cheating Zone.

(Cue dramatic music.)

...

Jennifer Greene hummed to herself as she prepared to leave for work that Monday morning. She took one last look in the mirror to make sure everything was just right. Her long blonde hair was just as it should be, and her makeup was just the way she liked it. Her dress fell just above the knee and highlighted her curves just right.

She looked at the picture of her and Miles, her husband of six years, on her nightstand and blew it a kiss, imagining that he could feel it even though he was on a job site four hours south of home. He was a project manager for a major construction job that would last about seven months.

He had already been on site for the last three months, driving home every Friday to spend the weekend with her before heading back down on Sunday. This was the biggest job he had ever worked and he wanted to get it right. She was so proud of him but she missed being with him during the week, even though they would spend as much as two hours either on the phone or on Skype every night.

Some of those calls got pretty steamy, and she would often find herself naked under the covers with her vibrator -- Little Miles, she called it. More than once, they ended up either having phone sex or teasing each other into a mutual masturbation session on Skype.

Convinced that everything was as it should be, she headed to the kitchen, where she poured herself a cup of coffee, using one of those paper travel cups. She grabbed her purse, making sure she had her phone, and headed out to the bus stop just outside the complex where they lived.

She could have driven her own car, but the truth was she really enjoyed this time of the day. She would get to the bus stop about a half hour before the bus arrived and pull out her phone so she could start to catch up on her reading. Once on the bus, she would spend that half hour reading her daily stories.

Jennifer loved to read, but not just any old stories would do. She enjoyed reading erotic stories online and spent much of her free time reading the offerings on a couple of websites. It was her one naughty indulgence, and one that Miles didn't mind as it seemed to get her motor running when they got together.

One site she thoroughly enjoyed had been around for over twenty years and had thousands of stories in all kinds of genres, mostly written by amateurs. Most of the time, she stuck to romance stories, but had also spent a lot of time in a section the site dedicated to what it called "Loving Wives."

Sadly, there were quite a few wives in that section who were, frankly, anything but "loving." She remembered sharing one of the stories with Miles, a story about a wife who had a long-term affair with a man and even gave birth to the man's child, passing it off as her husband's. Miles simply shook his head and muttered something about it all being a bunch of bullshit.

"No self-respecting man would put up with that level of disrespect and betrayal," he told her at the time.

"You don't think he should've forgiven his wife and tried to move forward, for the sake of the child?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Nope," he said. "I could see maybe if it was just a one-time drunken indiscretion or something like that. But I can't see how he could get past years of betrayal. And passing her bastard child off as his? No way. You're not thinking of doing something like that, are you?"

"Oh God, no, Miles," she exclaimed. "I love you too much to do anything like that."

"I hope so," he said. "And I would never do anything to hurt you, either."

"I know you wouldn't," she said. That was over four years ago and the subject never came up again. And she meant what she said. She would never do anything to deliberately hurt her husband, and she never had any intention of cheating on him.

But sadly, she missed him in her bed at night. Even though he came home over the weekend, and even with their marathon calls and Skype sessions, she needed him next to her in bed. Until a month or so ago, she never once thought about having sex with another man. Then her company brought Jake Williams in from their New York office.

Jake seemed to be everything a girl could want. He was handsome, bright, witty, muscular and exhibited a boyish charm and a quick smile. He also sported a rather significant package below the belt, something all the girls in the office commented on.

She often had to remind herself that she was a happily married woman when she was around him. So far, he had made no overt sexual moves toward her, but he had taken her to lunch a few times.

Surely there was no harm in that, was there? It's not like he had offered to take her to a motel, and all they ever did was talk shop. Well, except for those few times she lamented that her husband was out of town on a long-term project.

"He's crazy for leaving a beautiful woman like you by herself," Jake would say.

"We talk every night, and he does come home for the weekends," she responded.

"Still, that's no way to live," Jake said. "Listen, if you ever want to get out of the house for dinner or something, let me know."

"Thank you, Jake, that's so kind of you to offer," she said. She never took him up on his offer, and she never mentioned it to Miles. But now, she was beginning to think, "what could it hurt?" After all, it was just dinner. It's not like she was going to sleep with him.

She finally got to the covered bus stop and pulled out her phone. Logging into the site, she saw there were several new stories for her to read. One, however, jumped out at her. It was called, "A Warning To Jennifer, Pt. 01," and it was written by someone using the handle, "TCZ_Zrglbork." She had never seen that writer's name before, and she felt strangely compelled to open the story, so she did.

She was shocked as she found that one of the main characters in the story was a woman named Jennifer Greene. That's my name, she thought as she read. Worse yet, the woman's husband was named Miles, just like her husband.

Many of these stories start with a bit of biographical information, and this story was no different in that regard. The Jennifer and Miles in this story led the exact same life that she and her husband led, and even met in college the same way they did. The more she read, the more concerned she became.

The characters in this story led the EXACT same lives she and Miles led. They even had the same jobs, lived in a condo just like theirs and even had the same likes and dislikes. It was almost as if someone had written a biography of them -- without even talking to them first.

When the bus pulled up to the stop, she put her phone away and climbed on board. After taking her seat, she got her phone and continued reading. The similarities between the two main characters in this story and them was too uncanny to be a coincidence.

There was another character that appeared about halfway into the story -- Jake Williams. The story went on to described her lunches with Jake. Even the words spoken between them were the same.

"My God," she thought to herself. "Someone must be watching me. Is it Miles? Is he having me tailed? Did he write this? Is he really 'TCZ_Zrglbork?' How can I explain this to him?"

She continued reading the story, which even discussed the emotions her husband felt -- how much he loved her, and how bad he felt about working so far away from his bride. It even talked about how much he missed holding her at night and making love to her.

He had to be the one who wrote this, she thought. No one else could recall this much detail about their lives together. Maybe this is his way of sending a message to me, letting me know how much he really loves and adores me, she said to herself. But how could he possibly know about Jake and what was said between us over lunch?

The story continued with Jake pursing Jennifer. The Jennifer in the story started falling for his advances. While she hadn't slept with him yet, she was beginning to think that maybe just once wouldn't hurt, as long as Miles never found out about it. All the usual cliches and excuses were mentioned -- it was only sex, her husband was never home, yada, yada, yada.

The story ended with her getting on the bus that Monday morning. She knew there would have to be another part to this, so she added it to her favorites and promised to follow it through to the end. She considered mentioning this to Miles when they talked tonight. She simply had to know the truth. By then, the bus had reached her destination, so she got off and made her way to her office.

Jake saw her and couldn't help but notice the expression on her face. He stepped into her office before saying anything.

"Are you okay this morning, Jennifer?" he asked. She looked at him before nodding her head.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said.

"Are you sure? You don't look too well. Is there something I can do?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she said.

"Your husband head south yesterday?" he asked.

"Yeah, he made it down there and called last night."

"We on for lunch?"

"I guess so," she said.

"Okay, see you about 11:30?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. After he left, she wondered if she should confront him about the story. After running it over in her mind, she made her decision.

...

"That's one helluva story, Jennifer," Jake said as he took a bite of his salad.

"Did you write that?" Jennifer asked. He shook his head.

"No, I didn't," he said. "I've never even heard of that website. It sounds to me like maybe your husband is trying to scare you or something. Have you ever given him any reason to doubt you or not trust you?"

"No, and I would never do anything to hurt him," she said.

"Listen, why don't we discuss this a bit further, maybe over dinner tonight?" he asked. She thought for a moment before answering.

"I... I don't think that would be appropriate," she said.

"What? Because you're married and I'm not? It's just dinner between two work colleagues. And I am concerned about you," he said.

"I appreciate that," she said. "But people might get the wrong impression. I really should talk with my husband first."

"Of course," he said. "I understand." They finished lunch and went back to work. That night, she talked about it with Miles when he called.

"That's quite a story, Jen," he said when she told him about it. "I'm sure it's all just a coincidence, though."

"Tell me the truth, Miles. Did you write that?" she asked. He laughed at that.

"What, me? Write a story like that? Hell, babe, you know I can't even string two sentences together without my assistant rewriting them. Besides, I don't have the time to write a story. Why don't you send me a link to the story and I'll take a look at it," he said.

"Okay, I'll do that," she told him. "Um, Jake wanted to take me to dinner to discuss this. I told him I would talk with you about it first. What do you think?"

"I appreciate you running it by me first, Jen," he said. "You know I trust you, it's just, well, I don't trust him."

"You think he'd make a play for me?"

"I'm pretty certain he's trying to," Miles said. "From what you've told me, he sounds like a regular pussy hound. How long have the two of you been taking lunch together?"

"A while now," she said.

"And now he wants to up the ante," he told her. "Look, Jen, you know I trust you. You know this guy better than I do, but I'd bet you a month's wages he's trying to work you into his bed."

"So, you don't think I should take him up on his offer of dinner?"

"Personally, I'd rather you had nothing to do with him outside of work. But that's just me. It's your decision. Just be careful."

"You know I would never do anything to hurt you, sweetie," she told him.

"I know," he said. "But guys like him..."

"I get you," she said, cutting him off. "But I need to find out if he's behind this. How about if I have dinner with him right after work? No place fancy. I'll tell him I have to get home by 7:30 at the latest so we can talk."

"Alright, Jen. If you think that will work, I'll go along with it. Just do me a favor and be very careful. Text me as soon as you're home."

"I will, sweetheart," she said. They talked for another hour, ending the call with the usual loving endearments. She felt better about things when she slid under the covers. She held Miles' pillow as she often did when he was gone and took in his scent. After a while, she fell asleep with a slight smile on her face.

That night, she had a dream. Nothing unusual about that in itself. But this dream was quite erotic. She felt herself being penetrated by a very large cock, sending ripples of pleasure throughout her body. She rose her hips to meet the invader and soon found herself bucking like a wild woman, wrapping her legs around the man above her.

"Oh God, Miles, keep fucking me," she moaned. "That feels so good." She opened her eyes expecting to see her husband, but the man above her had no facial features whatsoever -- no eyes, nose or mouth -- nothing! Not even facial hair. It was as if she was being screwed by a shadow.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Suddenly, the man was gone. She looked around and saw someone sitting in a chair by the wall, writing something on a pad of paper. She looked harder, trying to figure out who this person was.

"Who... What are you doing here?" she croaked. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the being seemed to be a short, bald, red-skinned troll-like man whose wide smile showed off a set of pointed teeth. She recoiled in her bed as the figure stood up.

"My name is Zrglbork," he said. "What do you think of my story so far?"

"You? You wrote that story?"

"Of course, missy," he said. "But it is your fantasy, after all. Are you enjoying it?"

"Not really," she said.

"Hmmm," the little troll said. "Guess I'd better up the ante then."

"Who was that man in my bed?" she asked.

"Your fantasy lover, of course," Zrglbork said. "I wanted to see you in action, up close and personal, and that was the best way for me to do that." He looked at his arm as though consulting a watch. "Well, I'd better get this off so it'll post tomorrow. Sleep tight."

Just like "that," the creature was gone. Shaken, Jennifer laid back down in her bed. What's going on, she asked herself. The next thing she knew, she was sitting up in her bed, having just woke up. Was it all really a dream? Or a nightmare?

She looked and the chair where the little troll had sat was in its rightful place on the other side of the room. She went into the bathroom to check herself out. She saw no traces of semen, but her lower lips were a bit red and puffy and she could still feel herself tingling the same way she did after sex with Miles.

She did her business, then cleaned up afterward as she always did. Then she checked the security alarm on the front door and saw it was still active and hadn't been tripped. She thought about calling her husband but changed her mind when she looked at the time. There was no way she was going to wake Miles up at 3:00 am to tell him she had a nightmare. After drinking a cup of chamomile tea to relax herself, she went back to bed and finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Jennifer opened her phone and saw that part two of the story had been posted. She began reading and was shocked when she saw it contained her conversations with both Jake and Miles. How was this even possible, she asked herself.

But the surprises didn't end there. The story included Jake's feelings toward her, which she found interesting. According to the story, Jake had been attracted to her from the time he first met her, and he had been planning ways to seduce her.

The Jake in the story knew she was madly in love with her husband, and wasn't like the other married women he had seduced in the past. Before, he had always found ways to drive a wedge between his target and her husband, but this time, he was more than a little frustrated that his usual means of seduction didn't seem to have an impact on her.

As Jennifer read, she became angry. She looked up to Jake, thought of him as something of a mentor. If this was to be believed, he was nothing more than a low-life creep trying to destroy a good marriage just for a notch on his bedpost. She began to realize that perhaps Miles may have been right about him all along.

Fortunately, this part of the story didn't include her dream tryst with the strange shadow-man. Perhaps that would be next, she thought to herself.

But, she thought, this was JUST a story -- wasn't it? It wasn't supposed to be real. It was just fiction. She got to her office and poured herself a cup of coffee. Just then, Jake stopped by and tapped on her door.

"Good morning, Jennifer," he said with a smile.

"Morning," she said in a neutral tone of voice.

"Are you alright this morning?" he asked. "You seem a bit out of sorts."

"I'm okay, thanks for asking."

"We on for lunch today?"

"I don't think so, Jake," she said. "I have to get this report on the Smith account finished for the top floor today and I have a lot to do on it yet. I'll probably just grab something from the cafeteria and eat it here."

"Oh, okay. What about dinner after work?" he asked.

"I guess so," she said, causing him to smile.

"Good. Where would you like to go?"

"Denny's. The one over on Third and Main, if that's alright. I have to be home by 7:30 so I don't miss Miles' call," she said. The smile on his face faded.

"Denny's?" he asked. "Are you sure? Wouldn't you prefer something a bit more..."

"Cozy and romantic?" she asked, finishing his statement.

"Well, I was going to say, upscale," he said. "Why Denny's if you don't mind my asking?"

"I happen to like Denny's. I especially like their country-fried steak."

"Country-fried steak," Jake said with a hint of condescension. "I guess to each their own."

"We'll go Dutch, if you don't mind," she said. "And we can talk about this story."

"Sure, that sounds good," he told her with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Great," she said with a smile. "I'll meet you there right after work then."

"After work. I'll be there," he told her before leaving. Damn, he thought on his way back to his office. He had hoped she would've been open to something that included drinking and dancing, but apparently that was out of the question. He had even got hold of some Ecstasy for their "date," just in case, but it looked like that was out of the question as well.

Jennifer got to the restaurant shortly before Jake did, so she got a corner booth and waited for him. He showed up a few minutes later and came to the booth, where he took a seat. This wasn't quite what he had in mind when he suggested taking her to dinner, but he decided to go with the flow, at least for now.

When the waitress came over, Jennifer ordered her country-fried steak and Jake ordered a T-bone. He figured if he was going to eat here, he would eat well. After the waitress left, Jake turned to Jennifer.