The Contract Ch. 03

I looked over at Tonya, who spun her head back to face the football field. She glanced back, and saw that I was staring at her, and then she tried to look back at the field as if nothing had happened.

I thought I was ready for this, but I was not. I hugged the envelope and started to cry, but only for a moment. I started to get mad, really mad. Why here? I was here to support her, and she picked a football stadium with a thousand people around me to have me served? How could she? Damn it! I was planning to exit gracefully, and quietly, but no! Tonya wanted the entire school to know that she had served me! Oh my god, she had served me right in front of her lover! They were laughing at me!

"Fuck!" A few people gasped around me at what I had blurted out.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I didn't care who heard me. I got up and went down the steps, grabbed my camera and marched out of the stadium. Tonya followed me, along with Mary.

I started to walk towards my car.

Tonya ran after me, "Paul, calm down, we need to talk!"

I continue to stride quickly towards my car. "Fuck You, Tanya!"

She ran in front of me and stood in front of my car. "And keep a civil tongue, will you, this is a public place."

I turned and started walking toward the high school. I knew of a very soundproofed band hall that I could vent at her in private. "Get away from me, Tonya!" I also saw that Mary was watching both of us from a distance.

"Paul, we need to talk!"

"No, Tonya, you want to order me around, and tell me what you want me to do. There is no "we" in this conversation, just you talking and me listening."

"Paul, don't you see. I have been suffering through this decision quite a bit, and I have shed many tears before coming up with this. This is the best for both of us! Paul, you do know that I am doing this for both of us?"

I got to the band hall, and opened the door. I held the door open for Tonya and then went in. I followed her in, and then lashed out at her. "And I suppose you were crying all these tears while you were fucking Ben Everson?"

Tonya gasped, "Oh my God! You knew?"

"Yes, I knew. So let me see if I have this right. I come and support my wife and her drill team every fucking week, but when I go to a company banquet, my wife can't bother to come and support me, because she's too busy being screwed by the band director!"

Tonya started to sob. I looked over at the door because I didn't hear it close. Mary was peeking in, and enjoying the showdown.

"And to top it off, you decide to humiliate me in public by serving me at the football game! Whose idea was that? Was it your lover's idea? Did you have me served at the football game so that he could watch it? Did Ben enjoy it? Well, Did he?"

I was losing it, and I knew it. I ran into Tonya's office, put the camera and the folder down of her desk, and closed the door. I pounded my fist into the cinder block wall and I screamed at the top of my lungs. "FUCK!"

Tonya watched through the plate glass window as I did it again. "FUCK!"

The airtight door could not keep her from hearing me. "YOU CHEATING BITCH!"

She froze in horror as I bloodied my fists by pounding them into the wall. I continued to curse at her as bits of paint started to flake off the blocks. My hands started to feel like lead, and I stopped and just shouted at the wall. After a minute, I was shouted out. I leaned against the desk and sucked air in and out. After a minute, I finally got control of my breathing. I grabbed the folder with the divorce decree and left Tonya's office. I shook the folder in Tonya's face.

"I'm not signing anything until my lawyer reads through it. I'll move out, so that you can continue to fuck Ben in our marital bed. I'll be in touch. I need to get my shit out of the house that you desecrated."

I walked to the door. Mary held it open for me.

Tonya stood there watching me leave, "Paul?"

"Tonya, I'm too mad to talk to you. Just go back to the game, your girls need you."

I walked to my car, drove away from the school, and parked to check out my hands. I pulled my first aid kit out from under the seat and cleaned up my hands as best as I could. I didn't break any bones and I skinned up my knuckles pretty badly, but I would live. I had a chuck of paint on one of my knuckles and picked it up to look at it. It was soft and squeezable. The practice room had been painted with foaming paint that was about a third of an inch thick. It was probably there to absorb noise, but it had saved my hands! The thought that my wife worked in a rubber room felt so appropriate right now. The bitch was crazy!

I called Carol Bernstein.

"Hello?"

"Carol, she served me! The bitch served me at the football game right in front of half the school, including her lover!"

"You're kidding? That's cold!"

"You bet it is, Damn it! I was going to leave the marriage quietly, but to hell with that! I want her to pay! I want her to give ME alimony!"

"OK Paul, I get it. Please do me a favor, and don't do anything stupid. Where can I meet with you?"

"I'm going home right now. I want to empty everything of mine out of the house."

"Good! I'll meet you there." As soon as I hung up, the cell phone started ringing, and I turned it off.

I drove the rest of the way home, and started to clean up my hands. Carol rang the doorbell, and I let her in.

She looked at my hands. "I told you not to do anything stupid!"

"Sorry, I kinda lost it."

"KINDA! I'd say you did! Did you hurt anyone?

"No. I just used a wall as a punching bag."

You didn't do this at the stadium, did you? How many witnesses are there?"

"Only Tonya and Mary Brooks saw it, it was in her drill team office at the school."

"Mary Brooks? The one who referred me to you? The one who gave us that video disk of Tonya and Ben's doing it in Orlando?"

"Yes. That Mary."

Carol breathed a sigh of relief, "That's not as bad as I had imagined. She might even act as a witness that you DIDN'T hurt anyone. Let's fix your hands up, and then, I will read while you pack. Put three changes of clothes in a suitcase."

Carol cleaned my knuckles up, and then we got down to business. Carol started to read the divorce decree as I went into the master bedroom and emptied every item of clothing that I owned and put them into more trash bags, and loaded up the car again. I then went through the house and grabbed anything I thought should be mine and put it into the car, too. When there was no more room, I started putting things into the detached garage. While I was clearing the bedroom, Carol asked me if I would mind if she called a friend over. I gave her the OK, She went out to her car and pulled out her laptop and a printer and went to work. While I was putting things into the garage, her friend showed up.

"Paul this is Sergeant Perez, he will be serving your wife. Do you want it to be done here, or at the school?"

"What would you recommend?"

"I'm not into public displays. I think you should take the high road. I would do it here."

"Carol, I trust you."

"Paul, I want you to give me your phone, and use this disposable phone. I want Tonya to go through me. You can give the number to Mary Brooks, but not to Tonya. I want to text you when Sergeant Perez has served Tonya. We will stay here while you take thing to that storage unit."

I then finished putting things into the garage. I did this quickly, and probably didn't get everything I wanted, but I didn't want to be here when Tonya got here. I found the video camera box, and realized that I had left it inside Tonya's office in the band hall. I told Carol about it, and told her that we had a spare key to the High School. Carol told me to get the key, take the clothes out to the storage unit, but keep the suitcase. I was then to wait for her text message, and then meet her at the high school.

I got into the car and drove to the Poker Place. I dumped my clothes off in the shipping container. I ended up driving to a Starbucks near the school and hanging out. I sent a text message to Carol, "At Starbucks on Maple". I also called Mary, "If you need to talk to me, I am at this number. But don't give Tonya this number".

I sipped some coffee, and ate a piece of crumb cake. The game must have ended, because the traffic got heavier, and the shop started getting crowded. I kept to myself. Mary sent me a message, "Tonya going home". Twenty minutes later Carol sent me a message, "Tonya served".

Carol showed up and we chatted for a while. My phone continued to buzz. Carol just smiled each time, "I'm going to let her stew for a while". She wanted Tonya to have to go through her, to get to me.

We went to the Band Hall, and found Ben there alone. When Ben saw me, he turned white as a sheet. Carol made me stay outside the band hall. Carol went in and within five minutes returned with the camera. We left the school.

I followed Carol to a hotel. She rented a room until Monday, and told me to use it. She told me that she was going to come by in the morning. I went to the room and I tried to sleep, but I didn't sleep well. What a mess!

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This is the end of part three. Thank You, for reading. This is turning into a five to seven part series. I hope to the next installment out to you real soon.