The Community

I looked at Cheryl. She sat with her hands in her lap, looking at me with a worried expression.

"You said there are strict rules, can you explain them," I asked.

Jeremy Smiled.

"Certainly. Firstly everything is done with the full foreknowledge of your partner. Ideally with you both present. So for instance you would come here, or we would come to you and we would play, either all together or perhaps you with Beth while I entertained Cheryl. If there are going to be times when one or other of you is not available and the other wishes to play, that is possible but it must be with the consent of the other, which must be given to all parties involved personally. That is to say that Beth couldn't come to you and say that I had said it was OK for her to play. I would have to speak to you before her coming over and say it was OK and only then would she be free to play without me present."

"There may be times when one or other of you would like to be involved with multiple partners. Again this is not a problem as long as your partner agrees beforehand. Whatever happens the person not involved is never left alone, they will always have someone to play with, to ensure that they do not feel left out and to ensure that they know that they are loved." He continued.

"If you do decide to join us we would ask that you get tested for all STDs and HIV. Until you have a clean bill of health we will always use precautions. We all get tested regularly to be certain, and we all also undertake not to have unprotected sex with anyone outside of the community. This is for our safety. Ideally we would prefer that you do not have any sex outside of the community. I would like to think that between us we can fulfil your needs." He smiled.

"What about children," I asked.

"When you are ready to have children then we will take that into account. Once Cheryl gets pregnant, we can resume our entertainment until she no longer wishes to be involved. Having said that though Sheila became even more demanding almost until she delivered. If for some reason Cheryl were to fall pregnant by one of the other men in the group then you would agree to bring that child up as if it were your own. Any children will have a loving and secure home in the community. As you can see the twins treat us all as if we were extended family and I would hope that any other children brought into the community would be able to do the same" Beth said.

They both looked at us. Do you have any more questions?

"Why the charade," I asked.

"What do you mean" asked Jeremy.

"Come on, I was born at night but it wasn't Last Night. Sheila has been drip-feeding this to Cheryl for weeks now, and tonight was a pure setup. What was the hope that Cheryl would come in and catch me in a compromising position with Beth and so we would join by default? Why all the cloak and dagger, why not just come out and ask up front?" I asked.

Jeremy frowned.

"That is my fault I'm afraid. I have had bad experiences in the past where I have done just what you said and it ended badly, with good people. Friendships have been wrecked. I wouldn't say that Sheila has been Drip feeding Cheryl, but I have to admit that she has been sounding her out to see if you both might be interested. It is a far less threatening approach and could mean that even if we were not able to convince you to join us we could continue as friendly neighbours. We do have to live next door to each other after all. I apologize if you feel that we were underhanded in our approach, but I thought that this was the safest and least threatening way to bring you on board. As to tonight, I have to admit that we got a little carried away. We hadn't intended to approach you for another few weeks, but you seemed to be so comfortable when the girls were getting friendly and so Beth took a chance. Sadly we miscalculated and upset you. I can see how when we all piled in her, you would feel threatened. That is the last thing we wanted. We would never harm you no matter what. We are just really interested in getting you to join us and complete our family"

I stood up and walked over to the side, placing the baseball bat back on the stand there.

"You have given me a lot to think about, and I think that Cheryl and I need to discuss this," I said. I held my hand out to Cheryl and she stood, taking my hand."

"Thank you for the party, and for being so honest with us," I said.

When we walked out of the den the other two couples were sitting outside. They didn't speak, just watched us walk out of the house and down the road back to our home.

Closing and locking the door, I went and locked the yard gate and the other external doors too. I needed to feel secure and right now I didn't.

Cheryl had seated herself in the living room and was sitting staring at her hands.

I wondered how to proceed.

I wanted to know how she felt. Did she want to join this weird cabal, start having sex with Jeremy Dave, and Bob -- hell probably the girls too?

If I asked her outright would she tell me the truth, or would she tell me what she thought I wanted to hear?

If she said she wanted to join -- what then. Would I go along with it? The thought of Cheryl being touched by any other man, made my stomach clench, and the thought of her being touched by Jeremy made my gorge rise. No, as devastating as it would be, if she wanted to join them then it would be divorce. I did not doubt that if I said no that she would go along with it, but I also did not doubt that Sheila with her whispers and drugs would have Cheryl on her back under any of the men in the group eventually no matter what.

So the decision was clear.

I had to get out of this house and this neighbourhood. The question was, would Cheryl be coming with me??

After a long silence, Cheryl looked up at me

"So, Honey," she smiled at me uncertainly, "What do you think?"

There was a loaded question.

"We are at a crossroads in our relationship," I said "And I know which direction I would like for us to go in. But I want to make sure that we both want the same thing. If I were to say I would like to join this arrangement with Jeremy and the rest, then how would I know that your wanting to join is your true wish or just your desire to make me happy? In the same way, if you were to tell me first that you didn't want to play and I agreed, how would you know that my agreement was not purely my wishing to make you happy and not my true feelings?"

She looked at me uncertainly "I don't know" she said.

"We have to agree on one thing," I said "That whatever happens, if we disagree on this, then our marriage is over, and we have to part ways"

"WHAT... NO!!!" she cried out "Why would that be?"

I knelt in front of her and held her hands

"Because if I wanted to do this, and you did not, how long would it be before you started to wonder if I was going behind your back and playing with them anyway. If I ever went over to any of their houses to help out with something, or I was home late would you be wondering if I was with one or more of them? Same the other way around. If you said yes and I said no then how often while I'm at work and you are at home am I going to be wondering what you are getting up to? How often when I come home to find Sheila and the girls in the yard will I wonder if Bob had been her also? We cannot live like that, it would destroy us in the end anyway. So whatever happens if we disagree on this decision our only option is to part ways.

"Can't we just forget about it?" she asked tearfully.

I smiled at her sadly "Pandora's box has been opened. We cannot close it again. We can only move forward and see where the road leads."

She sat and considered that for a few minutes.

"So how can we do this? If I speak first then how will I know your response is genuine and vice versa?" she asked.

I got up and went into the office.

I picked up a pad and two pens. I tore off the top dozen sheets of the pad.

I handed her the top half of the pad and said. "I am going into the kitchen I will write my thoughts on my paper. I would like you to write your thoughts on your paper. Once you are done bring your paper into the kitchen. We can then read what we both think. Please, please write what you feel. Don't write what you think I want. Write down what you would like and let's let our love for each other guide us to the right decision."

I walked into the kitchen. I could hear Cheryl crying softly in the living room and I wanted more than anything to go in and comfort her.

It took me all of 2 seconds to write my answer on my paper, and I folded it carefully and waited.

Almost an hour later Cheryl knocked on the door jamb. "Are you finished?" she asked.

I nodded.

She handed me a folded sheet of paper and I placed it on top of mine.

"Do you want a drink?" I said, more than a little nervous.

I made coffee.

We went back into the living room and sat side by side on the couch. I was holding the folded papers in my hand.

Opening the top one I saw it was Cheryl's answer, and I started to read.

She had written me a letter.

My Darling Alan

I would like to start by thanking you for 5 wonderful years of marriage. If that is to end tonight then I will be devastated because I love you more than I ever thought it was possible and I feel that I am responsible for the situation we are now in.

For all the time we have been together I have been deliriously happy, it was tough, to begin with, while we were building the business but we always had each other and I could always count on you to be there for me no matter what kind of scrapes I got myself in.

When we found this house I couldn't have been happier. We were finally starting to see the rewards for all our, no, all YOUR hard work. I may have been there, but you built your business up to the success it is, and I owe everything I have to your hard work, skills, and to your love.

I started to get scared, when I found out that our lives had become stale, particularly our love life. When Sheila told me that I was heartbroken. You had done so much for me, for us, how could I let this happen? When I thought about what we did in the bedroom I was embarrassed. How could you still love me when I just took what I needed from you and never thought about your needs? I decided then and there that I was going to make it up to you. To make sure that I was giving you everything that YOU needed rather than just selfishly taking what I needed. I found out though that the more we did in the bedroom, the more I enjoyed it. I was still getting far more out of sex than you were. I wondered what more I could do to make it better for you and once again Sheila gave me the idea that I could give you something new, something I had never given up before. I was scared though. I heard that anal sex was painful and dirty but I needed to do something for you, so I would do it. I was told that I could better prepare for it by using some toys to stretch me out back there and so that is what I did. With some guidance (yes Sheila again) I found that I could take bigger and bigger toys in my bum, but even then I found that when I was trying to get ready for you, I was doing it for me. I spent hours masturbating whilst trying to get used to bigger and bigger toys and I guess I lost sight of why I was doing this in the first place. I also started to wonder if even that would be enough. Yes, it would add a bit of variety but that too would soon become just another boring thing to do. When Sheila first mentioned that the other couples in the close were swingers I was shocked. I would never even consider sex outside of our marriage. I could never stand to see you with another woman nor could I stand the touch of another man, but Sheila made me understand that men don't think as women do. To them, sex is just sex. It's a transaction, something that is fun, and very enjoyable, but not love. She made me understand that Love and Sex are separate. Sex with someone you Love is indeed special, but you can have good or even great sex with someone you are not in love with. She told me that this would be a good way for us to keep our marriage strong, and to make sure that it did not stagnate.

I wanted to discuss it with you but when I tried you got upset. Sheila said that the reason for that was that you didn't want to hurt me by acknowledging the fact that you would be happy to have sex with her or Tracy, and that the only way to show you that I understood and that it would be ok for you to have those thoughts would be to put you in the position and then show you that I was happy to see you happy. That I loved you enough to give you that gift and that we could enjoy it together.

Sheila told me that tonight was going to be the night. She told me to get you as horny as I could but not let you cum. We wanted you to be wound up and ready for what would happen later. I knew that your feelings towards me would not let you do anything that you thought would cause me pain, so we arranged for Beth to take you somewhere private so she could give you the release that I had denied you earlier. I thought that with the drinks you had had, and how horny I left you that would be enough to help you to get over your misplaced worries about my feelings.

Sheila told me that Beth had taken you into the Den and was probably going to give you a blow job. She said that the idea then would be that I would come in and join you. Helping to make it a memorable experience for you so you could see that not only was I not hurt by it but I encouraged it. I wanted to give that to you.

Only there was a problem.

You see once I got to the party and things started to happen, I found that I didn't like seeing you being touched by those other women. When Tracey pushed her ass into you and you looked at me, I tried to smile to show you that it was OK, but inside I was tied up in knots. When Beth took you into the Den, and Sheila came over to tell me what was happening I wanted to run in and beg you not to go with her. Once again you looked at me, I don't know what you saw but I was dying. Had Sheila not been holding onto me I would have thrown myself to my knees and screamed for you not to go in there.

I was so relieved when Sheila finally took me into the Den to see that you were standing there, fully clothed, and had not done anything with Beth. I could see you were upset about the way they had gone about things, but after Jeremy and Beth had spoken to us you seemed interested in what they had to say and once again I thought I would have to see you with other women, that I would have to suffer the touch of other men to keep you happy.

I want to say right now that if that is what it would take to keep you happy, I would do it. But you asked me to be honest and tell you what I felt.

What I feel is that I don't want you to have sex with other women, I don't want to have sex with anyone but you. I love you with all my heart and soul, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You tell me often that I am the love of your life, your soulmate, and the future mother of your children and that is exactly what I want to be.

I am sorry if this disappoints you. Especially since I was the one who opened Pandora's box. I wish I had never done so. But that ship has sailed. If this is to be the end of us, I just want you to know that I will always love you, and will always regret that it was my stupidity that ended our wonderful marriage.

Your loving wife, soulmate, and hopefully future mother of your children.

Cheryl

I looked up at her, tears were streaming down my face. I didn't know what to say. How could she have thought that she was letting me down in that way? I silently cursed Sheila and her interference. Poor Cheryl had been living in torment for months thinking that she was failing our marriage, failing me when nothing could have been further from the truth.

Silently I handed her the second piece of paper. My answer to the question.

She held the paper in her hands, scared to open it. Her eyes were on mine trying to get a clue as to what it would say.

Eventually, she tore her gaze away from mine, and after taking a deep breath to steady herself she opened my answer and looked inside.

I had not been quite so loquacious as she. Indeed, I had only written two words.

"FUCK NO!!!!"

With a cry, she threw herself into my arms sobbing.

For some time after that, we just sat holding each other while she cried and I thought about how I was going to handle the next part. I was happy that we had navigated this particular minefield, but there were still mines in the waters ahead. I wasn't sure how she would react when she found out the true story, nor how she would react when she found out I had been spying on her. I felt justified given what had happened, but would she see it that way?

After a while, the sobbing stopped and I thought she might have fallen asleep, but when I looked down at her, she was looking up at me, she had been watching me for some time.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked quietly.

"I was thinking that we still had a lot to talk about. I need to tell you some things, some things that you might not like but you need to hear them anyway."

"Can we talk tomorrow?" she asked, "Right now all I want is to go to bed and fall asleep in your arms. I was so scared." she said in a small voice."

"I know babe!" I said "So was I. I thought I was going to lose you!"

"You are never getting away from me," she said smiling.

Taking my hands she led me to the bedroom and then we both got ready for bed.

We spent the night in each other's arms, just holding onto one another and it felt glorious.

I was woken early the next morning when Cheryl's phone pinged to say she had a text.

Cheryl read the text, then before I could ask, she passed to phone to me.

Unsurprisingly the text was from Sheila.

"Morning Kitten, how are you feeling? Last night didn't go according to plan. How did he take it? Give me a call if you want me to come over and talk to him with you."

"Kitten?" I asked. I had seen Sheila call Cheryl that a few times on the security recordings but Cheryl did not know about those yet.

Cheryl blushed "She started calling me that a few weeks ago. I didn't think about it. I have heard her use it Tracey and even the twins. I just thought it was her way."

"Are you going to reply?" I asked.

"What do you think?" she replied.

I shrugged. "It's up to you. She texted you, not me."

Cheryl bit her lip before tapping on her phone for a short while. She showed me the text before she sent it.

"We are all good here. As you can guess Alan was a little shocked, but we are talking it through. Can we talk tomorrow?"

I handed her phone back and she hit send.

Her phone pinged again, and she once again read the text before showing it to me.

"No problem. Call me if you need, remember we love you."

She turned her phone off and dropped it back onto her side table.

"We do need to talk," I said, and she nodded sadly.

I got up and after a very quick shower got dressed and went into the kitchen to make coffee. While the coffee was brewing, I went into my workshop and grabbed the laptop from there. I put it on the table. I had some confessions of my own to make.

Cheryl came in having had her shower and I handed her a cup of the brew.

Neither of us was hungry so we just sat in silence for a while, sipping our drinks.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"Now," I replied, "We need to sell the house and move away from these bunch of freaks." There was probably a little more heat in my reply than was wise.

"But.." she started.

"Cheryl," I said gently." There are things going on here that you don't know about. Things I discovered over the past few weeks. This is not just some innocent swingers club, this is something akin to a cult, with Jeremy as its leader. Did you know, for instance, that Bob isn't the father of the twins? Jeremy is?"