The Corporate Summer Party

THE CORPORATE SUMMER PARTY

This short story chronicles the end of the marriage of Lisa and Darren Best.

Lisa was 35, five feet four inches tall, she weighed eight and a half stones (119 lbs), had a good figure, 35-28-36, and was very pretty with brown eyes and dark brown hair with chestnut tones.

Lisa had become used to getting most things she wanted from a young age. She'd always been impressed by good looking, flashy, cocksure men who zoomed their way to the top. Why she ever took up with her eventual husband and married him was a mystery to those who knew her. He was the antithesis of her apparent ideal, but he won her over and won her hand in marriage to everyone's surprise, even his own if the truth be known.

Darren was 37, five feet nine inches tall and weighed twelve and a half stones (175 lbs). He had an athletic build, was generally mild mannered but was no pushover. Darren had grown up in a large, happy but not wealthy family, living in an unfashionable part of town. He'd learned to look out for himself at an early age, and as a teenager had acquired a reputation as a canny street fighter and not to be messed with.

Darren and Lisa had been married for 7 years. No kids yet, which was sometimes an issue between them. Darren wanted to start a family, but Lisa said she wasn't ready. She was well aware of her attractiveness to men and was not above flirting for fun now and then, but Darren never had any reason to think that this was a real problem.

Lisa worked for a large financial services company. She'd joined them five years ago as an administrator and had recently been promoted to section supervisor, working under one of the company's senior managers who had been recruited a few months ago from a rival company. Lisa looked as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but could be spiteful when things didn't go her way.

Darren was a radiographer working in the MRI scanning department of the local hospital. He worked shifts and sometimes worked long hours, but he liked his job and liked to feel that he was giving something to the community. He loved Lisa to bits and had got used to her occasional spats, which were usually over just as quickly as they arose.

During the past couple of months Lisa had been uncharacteristically moody and unresponsive to Darren's concerns about it. Despite everything Darren had done to try to cheer her up he'd only ever been partially successful, before she'd slipped back into a sour mood again after a short while. The only time she'd been chirpy recently was when she'd left the house to go to work.

Four weeks ago, Lisa told Darren that the annual summer party for employees and their partners would be taking place on the coming Saturday night. In the past she'd not really been interested in socialising with her co-workers, and the couple had only ever attended two of the previous parties. In view of this Darren had been a bit surprised to find that Lisa was very keen to go this year, and she'd been busy the last couple of weekends shopping for a new dress and accessories.

Surprised or not, Darren had welcomed the idea of going to the party thinking that a night of socializing and dancing would probably help cheer Lisa up and put a bit of sparkle back into their lives. Since first telling him about the party Lisa had told Darren several times that he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. He wouldn't know any of the other guests so it might be a bit boring for him, she'd said. However, the more she told him that, the more Darren thought it was best if he went along, so he hadn't been dissuaded.

Early on the evening of the party Darren was dressed and ready, but Lisa hadn't yet made an appearance. As soon as Darren had finished dressing Lisa had commandeered the bedroom and the ensuite, she'd then spent a long time getting ready. When she finally made an appearance, she'd taken Darren's breath away.

Her hair and make-up were perfect, and her party dress was sensational. The turquoise blue sheath was the perfect colour for her, and it fitted like a second skin. The low-cut bodice showed plenty of cleavage and she was obviously bra-less, her nipples showing as two small swellings even though not aroused. Her skirt ended about four inches above her knees, and as there was no discernible panty line Darren had reasoned that she must be wearing a thong as underwear. Her shoes were white strappy sandals with 4 inch heels and her only jewellery was a diamond bracelet, worn on her left wrist, and a pair of large diamond stud earrings, neither of which pieces Darren had seen before. She'd looked utterly desirable and a little bit tarty at the same time.

"Wow, you look fantastic," he'd said, "Why don't we ditch the party and go somewhere more intimate, then come home late and horny and make love all night."

When he went to kiss her, she'd pushed him off saying, "Don't be silly, I've gone to a lot of trouble to look like this, I don't want it spoiled and I want to be seen, we're going to the party."

The party was being held in the function room of one of the better hotels in town and when Darren and Lisa arrived most of the other guests were already there. Lisa introduced Darren to one or two of her co-workers and they'd gradually gravitated to the bar area where they'd chatted with a couple of the other guests as they got themselves drinks. Lisa was attracting a lot of attention from the other guests which was just what she'd intended.

The party wasn't to be a terribly formal affair and food was provided by a good buffet. The bar was free and was busy.

They'd been in the party room no more than half an hour when a tall, well-built man, at least six feet tall approached them. He was handsome (if you like arrogant aquiline features).

The man had taken hold of Lisa's hand, lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it. "Hello Lisa," he said, "I was looking for you everywhere, I thought you'd decided not to come after all, and this must be your husband."

"Hello James," Lisa said, smiling broadly. "I wouldn't have missed tonight for the world. Yes, this is Darren, he works at the hospital, something very technical." Turning to Darren she said, "Darren, this is James my manager, we work very closely together."

Turning to Darren, James had offered his hand, but as Darren went to take it, he'd seen a look in James' eye that made him feel that this smooth man was going to try to show him who was boss with a knuckle cracking handshake. What James didn't know was that Darren had a fierce grip of his own when he wanted to use it, and he'd mastered the art of making a solid fist of his own hand that was difficult to crush.

James had gripped Darren's hand, and as expected, he tried to hurt him, to show him who was the master. However, he couldn't crush Darren's rigid fist and then he'd found his own fist being crushed by the smaller man's fierce grasp. He'd tried harder but Darren was more than equal to it and beads of sweat had begun to break out on James' forehead as his hand began to hurt badly.

Darren had relented and let the handshake fall apart. Looking into James' eyes he'd smiled at the bigger man and said, "Yes, it's nice to make your acquaintance, I do like a man with a firm handshake."

Red in the face, and well aware that other party guests had noticed what had happened, James had said, "Yes, well I have to mingle." Then to Lisa he'd said, "I hope to dance with you later."

"Of course," she'd replied, with a sickly smile.

When James had moved away, Lisa had turned on her husband, "Why did you have to do that?" she'd hissed, "Everyone noticed."

"Well, the prick started it," said Darren. "I know the type, he's a bully, and he likes to show everyone what a big man he is. Well, he picked on the wrong victim this time."

"He's my boss and you should have treated him with respect," Lisa said.

"You are joking of course," Darren had replied, "He's a total shit, no one has any respect for people like him, they need to be taken down a peg or two."

"You'd better get me a drink," she'd said, "I wish you hadn't come tonight."

"I bet he thinks the same thing," Darren had replied with a smirk, as he went to get them both drinks.

It took a few minutes to get served at the busy bar and when he'd returned and given Lisa her drink, he'd seen James approaching again.

Ignoring Darren and going straight up to Lisa, James had asked her if she'd like to dance with him.

"Yes, I'd love to," she'd said with a broad smile on her face. Handing her drink back to Darren, she'd told him, "You'd better find us a table." As she let herself be led onto the dance floor.

Darren had quickly grabbed a table where he could watch the dance floor, he didn't trust this arrogant man and he was beginning to realise that he shouldn't trust Lisa either.

James and Lisa had danced four tunes straight through, and his hands had gradually moved all over her back, her hips and backside, pulling her in close to him. Lisa had moved her arms up so her hands were behind James' neck; they were virtually cheek to cheek.

Just as Darren had decided that enough was enough and was about to go onto the dance floor to reclaim his wife, James brought her back. He still had his hand on her backside as he steered her through the other dancers and Darren was certain he was squeezing her arse.

Lisa had joined Darren at the table and grabbed her drink. "I've apologised for your bad manners," she told him, "James said it was okay, as it was often a cover for an inferiority complex."

"I don't want to hear any more about Mr. Superior," Darren said sharply, "Now, I think it's my turn to dance with my wife."

"Oh, not now," Lisa had said with a scowl, "Let me get my breath back first. James is such a physical dancer; he's tired me out for the moment."

Half an hour later she'd condescended to dance two tunes with Darren before insisting that he got her a fresh drink. A few minutes later, returning to the table with the drinks he saw that James had returned, he was standing very close to Lisa and was holding her hand in one of his, while his other hand rested on her rear.

As Darren placed the drinks on their table, he was aware that other couples around them were taking an interest in what was going on.

Turning to James, he said in a loud voice. "Get your grubby hands off my wife, arsehole."

James had glared at him, "Oh, I think she's happy holding my hand," he'd replied.

"If you don't let go of her now, there's going to be trouble." Darren said.

An angry Lisa had turned to him and said, "Darren, I think you should go home you're spoiling the party."

"Yes, you're right," Darren had replied loudly, "Get your coat and we'll go home, this slimeball has spoiled the evening completely."

By then James was seething.

"I'm not coming," Lisa had said, "I'm staying here until the party finishes, then I'm going home with James. I'm going to stay the night with him, and I'll be home sometime tomorrow."

"You what?" a shocked Darren had shouted, "If you think you can come back home after you go off and fuck slimeball here, you're so very wrong. This is the reason you were so keen to come to the party this time, isn't it? You're fucking this piece of shit, and you'd already set this up between you."

By then James was becoming very embarrassed, with several employees around them now openly looking on. Getting between Darren and Lisa and looming over the shorter man he'd hissed, "Keep your fucking mouth shut and leave or I'm going to throw you out."

Glaring at his rival Darren had shouted, "It'll take a real man to throw me out, arsehole. Not some conniving pussy chaser with a superiority complex. It's obvious now that you've been fucking my wife for months, and you're going to pay for it."

Then James had thrust his head forward in an attempt to intimidate the shorter man, whilst hissing at him, "Keep your fucking voice down and get out of here, Lisa is staying with me, you lose."

A very angry Darren had seen an opportunity, it was too good to miss, he drew his head back as if cringing away from James' aggression, then he snapped it forward hard, smashing his forehead into the bridge of the bigger man's nose, hearing the satisfying crack as it broke.

James had staggered back. Blood had started pouring from his shattered nose, soaking into his dress shirt and jacket. As he'd staggered back, he'd moved his feet apart, trying to keep his balance. Darren had seen his second opportunity and kicked the bigger man hard between the legs, making solid contact with the toe of his hard pointed leather shoe.

James had collapsed to the floor, bleeding profusely from the nose and holding his groin. Before he could protect himself, Darren had stepped forward and kicked him in the groin again, even harder than before. James screamed.

"Oh dear, that's gotta hurt," said Darren. Turning to his cheating wife he'd said loudly, so everyone around could hear him, "Enjoy your night of debauchery with lover boy, though I guess you'll be spending it in accident and emergency at the hospital. I very much doubt slimeball will be doing any fucking for a long time."

"When you do come back to what used to be our home be sure to bring a large vehicle with you, then you can collect your clothes and other personal effects from the front lawn, where they'll be waiting for you. You'd better make it early, I think the forecast is for a couple of days of rain." With that he'd turned on his heel and left the room to loud applause from other partygoers who'd seen the whole confrontation. He'd gone home alone.

As upset as he was at losing his once loving wife, Darren knew immediately that there could never be any chance of reconciliation. He would never forgive her infidelity, or her attempt to humiliate him, he now knew why she'd been so moody at home in recent weeks and once a cheat always a cheat, there were no second chances as far as he was concerned.

Back in the real world he'd realised that he was going to be in trouble. No doubt he'd soon be receiving a visit from the local police force after his demolition of slimeball, and he'd could expect to be charged with assault at least. However, he figured that with his previously unblemished character and the extreme provocation he'd received from slimeball and his own wife, he'd most probably get a non-custodial or suspended sentence rather than doing jail time. Either way he just didn't care at the time.

As expected, two police officers came to the house a couple of hours later. Darren was arrested and taken to the police station where he was questioned and charged, before being allowed home after bail was posted by his brother Bill, who'd come on receipt of his telephone call.

Once home again, a very tired Darren had decided to try and get some sleep, surprisingly he dropped off quickly due to his exhausted state.

Lisa arrived home after midday on Sunday. She was angry and upset. She'd gone to the hospital with her lover, where he'd been admitted after examination at Accident and Emergency. He'd been kept in hospital overnight under observation, and now he'd had to have an operation to set his badly broken nose. It was also likely that he'd have to lose one of his testicles, which was badly ruptured where Darren had kicked him.

Lisa had come home by taxi and as she'd let herself into her soon to be ex. home, she was surprised to receive a call on her mobile from James, he was still in hospital and in a good deal of pain.

"Hello darling," she'd answered, "How are you feeling? I'll come to visit you later, I'm so sorry that my idiot husband hurt you, I'll make it up to you I promise."

"Don't come here", James had replied in a strangled voice. "In fact, it's better if you don't come near me anymore, you've caused me enough trouble already and now I think I'm going to lose my job over you as well. I have to see the Managing Director when I get out of hospital and the members of the board have said they want me out because of what happened, and the reason for it. I've no doubt you'll be fired as well and we'll both end up with gross misconduct records. I want nothing more to do with you. You told me you could handle your husband, but you did nothing except make him angry."

"Well fuck you too," Lisa replied angrily, "You should have been able to subdue a much smaller man, but it seems he was the only real man there."

Breaking the phone connection, she'd turned to Darren, "I suppose you're pleased with yourself now." she spat out, "It looks like you've destroyed James' career and cost me my job as well, just because you couldn't accept me having a night of fun." Then, realising she was only making things worse, she'd changed her tone. "Look, I know what we did was wrong, but you could have just stepped back and gone home, then we could have sorted things out today. It was no big deal, it was just a sexual thing, no more than that. It would have fizzled out sooner or later anyway and we could have got on with our lives together the way we always planned. I mean I wasn't in love with James or anything like that."

There was no apology for the fact that she'd been cheating on Darren for months and had obviously intended to continue cuckolding him if he hadn't made a such fuss over James' attention to her.

"Well, aren't you the self-centred bitch," Darren had replied, "I can't believe you really thought I'd let you carry on with another man and knowingly be cuckolded, without doing something about it. You never knew me at all if you didn't realise what my re-action would be. You certainly know now, and you know my feelings about infidelity. We're finished and I want you out of my house now, you can collect what belongings you can carry and make arrangements to collect the rest when you have proper transport."

"There's no need for that," Lisa had whined, "We can get past this and get back to our happy life together."

"No thanks," Darren said, "I don't need a cheating slut for a wife. You know my feelings about marital infidelity, 'one and done' is my motto. How long have you been fucking that arsehole anyway? There's no point in lying about it, I'm sure some of your workmates will be able to tell me, if I ask them."

"It was only a couple of months, just a few times. No big deal", she'd replied.

"Just once would be a big deal," he snarled. "You really are an unrepentant bitch, aren't you? Now get your things and get out. If I never see you again, it'll be too soon."

Lisa hadn't thought that Darren would kick her out. She felt certain that she'd come out of a divorce with more than he would, including the house which was mortgage free and had appreciated considerably in value since they'd lived there. She'd forgotten that the house had been bought with money from a legacy left to Darren by his grandfather.

Lisa had put nothing towards the purchase of the house, and as she hadn't been interested in the legal aspects of it, she'd forgotten that the title had been registered solely in her husband's name. It was 'his' house, not 'theirs'. She was about to find out that all she would get from the divorce were her personnel effects, 50% of the value of their savings which amounted to less than £25k, and some pieces of furniture.

After listening to his wife going on at him for some time, Darren told her he wasn't interested in anything a cheating slut had to say to him. He told her again to pack her bags and get out of his house. "Oh yes," he said, "You noticed I said my house, because that's what it is. It's registered in my name and was bought with my legacy. The house belongs to me not to us, and you're no longer welcome here. You'll receive divorce papers from me as soon as I can talk to a solicitor."

A shaken and tearful Lisa left soon afterwards with two suitcases containing enough of her clothes and effects to be going on with. She was just beginning to realise what she'd so easily thrown away for a bit of strange cock.