The End of the Affair

A small tear trickled down her cheek but she was smiling. "I thought as much, but I had to ask. One thing, though. Since you seem to have extra horses, can I come up and ride sometimes? I rode on trails where we moved, and it was one of the few times I wasn't thinking about sex."

"Take the white mare. She's well trained and has a good temperament."

I lay in my empty bed that night and thought about it, remembering the wild nights we'd had together. Then I remembered the wild nights she'd undoubtably had with the rest of the group and outsiders.

*****

She surprised me by coming out the next week. I didn't even know she was there until I saw her car by the barn. She rode for about an hour and then left. After a couple weeks if I wasn't busy, I'd saddle up the gray and ride with her.

The gray had been skittish when he first got there. Jeff said his friend hadn't had him long and he had very little training. I read books and watched YouTube tutorials and made him my project. I made mistakes, but learned from them and pretty soon we were pals. He still had a hard time letting anyone else ride him, so most left him alone.

We talked more on those rides than we did the whole time we were married. We would never again be lovers, but we became pretty good friends.

One day she came out with another woman. She was a little older and was stiff around me, but after she watched the interaction between us, she relaxed. Her name was Polly, and a month after we met, she showed up alone.

"I want to talk to you about something. Claire and I have started developing feelings for each other. Do you think it might go anywhere?"

"I think you ask her and not me. I know she really likes you. Do you know her history?"

"Most of it. She says she's changed."

"The question is, do you think she's changed and are you willing to risk it and find out?"

"I think she has, and I'm willing to invest myself enough to find out. Believe it or not, this isn't why I came out. How many empty stalls do you have? Can I rent one? I know we can ride yours and you gave the mare to Claire, but I want one of my own. If you're willing, will you help me find one?"

I thought about it for a minute. My house and property had been part of a huge dairy farm 75 years before, and my barn was enormous. I had a local historian come out once and he told me it was the biggest in the county. An empty stall was not going to be an issue.

"No, but only because I'm not the expert you need. Let me introduce you to my buddy, Jeff."

I called Jeff and explained the situation. He didn't know whether to laugh or flip out. "Let me get this straight. You want me to find your ex-wife's lover a horse she can keep in your barn so they can come up and ride? You're one cool dude, brother. Count me in."

Jeff and Kathy met Polly and they hit it off. Pretty soon they were part of our group, but only in a social sense. Everyone almost always ended up at my house on Saturday mornings to clean stalls and take a quick ride before dispersing to pursue their own plans. Amber and Bob would come out once in a while and the ladies would drool over Belle. I think it triggered their own nesting instincts, because in six months Kathy and Holly were pregnant.

I was seeing a woman I really liked, and she came over when they were there sometimes. We hadn't told her anything about the dynamics of the group but she didn't seem to like anyone, especially Claire and Amber. What made me unsettled is the horses didn't like her, including Molly, and that old girl liked everybody. We lasted about four months before we agreed our life goals weren't the same and went separate ways.

By then, Belle was four and had her own little saddle. I absolutely would not let her mount up unless she wore the helmet I'd gotten her, complete with neck guard. Bob was looking into one of those equestrian air bags, but couldn't find one small enough. We'd let her ride with us if we went slow, one of us always holding a lead-rope in case of emergency. She almost always ended up asleep in front of someone halfway through the ride, usually me. If it wasn't me it was Polly, which surprised her no end. Now, on the nightstand beside their bed, there's a picture of Bell, Claire and Polly, hugged up together in a hammock. The child has enough aunts and uncles to field a team in almost any sport you can name.

*****

Fast forward twelve years. I was sitting in the stands with my wife, watching our child participate in her given equestrian event. In reality, all of them were her favorite events. The only ones I didn't care for were the ones involving jumps, especially in steeplechase. She might be seventeen, but she inherited her mother's slight frame, and the thoughts of tons of horseflesh thundering around her as she took jumps scared the shit out of me.

Her events over, she came into the stands to root for her eleven-year-old sister. She hugged Amber before she jumped into my lap for a big kiss. "I think I did pretty good, Dad."

"I think you did, too, Belle. Let's hope the judges think so."

So then, how did that happen?

About a year after everyone started riding, Amber came to me and said she thought Bob was acting a little funny. Nothing she could put a finger on. I tried to assure her it was nothing, but promised I'd talk to him. She left and I walked down to the barn. I'd gotten into the habit of checking them at night after a stray dog got after them. He met an untimely demise at the muzzle of a twelve gauge, but I still kept an eye out.

You ever feel like you're being watched? The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and my own dog, a Pyrenees I'd gotten to kept an eye on the horses, seemed stiff. I walked back up to the house, got the shotgun, went out the front door and slipped around the side away from the barn. Halfway down the access, road I came upon two cars and recognized them instantly. My blood pressure went through the roof and I decided to just wait by their cars. Thirty minutes later they came down the lane giggling and holding hands.

They shared a big kiss at their vehicles and were about to go their separate ways when I spoke from the darkness. "Bob, Haley, nice night, huh?"

Haley screamed

*****

She was the wife of Lester, the last addition to their group. I thought they were getting a little too unwieldy, but it wasn't my business. Every new addition exponentially increased the chances of them getting exposed. Jeff's wife was a school teacher and Bill's wife was a nurse, and they really couldn't afford to let their private business become public.

Lester was a cop, a shift sergeant with the State Troopers. He was on an upward trajectory and something like this could ruin his career.

Haley started babbling, while Bob remained quiet. I let her ramble a little before stopping her.

"You know you guys are right on the edge of fucking up a lot of lives, right? If this gets out, the whole group will be in danger. Bob, you're an asshole. Amber doesn't deserve this. How could you do it to her?"

"It's her own fault! I've been trying to get her to join the group for almost a year. She'd say she'd been there, done that, and didn't care to repeat it. Even if she didn't want the experience, I did. She's just being selfish."

"You're full of shit, without a doubt. You'd risk your family for this? Believe me, when Amber finds out, she'll dump your ass in a second. You really want that?"

"Maybe we should part company. I'm ready to expand my horizons and if she isn't along for the ride, I'll find someone else."

I hit him. He didn't see it coming in the dark and I nailed him right in the jaw. He dropped like a rock. Haley screamed again.

"You might not want to be so loud. Someone might come along to see what's going on."

There would be nobody, I was at the end of a long drive and didn't have neighbors to speak of, but she didn't know that. It shut her right up.

"Go home, Haley. Go home and think about what you did. It's bad enough in a normal marriage, but in your case, it's much worse. You didn't just betray a husband tonight, you betrayed four. What do you think Lester would do if he finds out? If I so much as suspect you doing this again, I will destroy your world. Understand? This is it. No more. Say it!"

"No more, Jake. I promise."

"Right now, your promises don't hold much weight. One more thing, was this the first time? Don't lie."

She admitted this had been the fifth time, three of them in the barn. Then she threw gravel all over Bob as she left.

As for Bob, I left him lying. Let him spin some tale about how he got hurt to Amber. Maybe she'd see through him. I meant what I'd told her all those years ago. She was the best of us. I was happy to see at least one of us got their happily ever after, and now, it was a lie.

Amber called me the next day with bad news. Bob had been mugged outside the sports bar he'd been at watching the game. He'd been doing that a lot lately, saying he knew how much she hated baseball and he didn't want to inflict it on her. He had a big screen television on his man cave, but Amber let him go, thinking it would be good for him to be out with his friends once in a while.

"How bad did he get hurt? Do the cops have any suspects?"

"He didn't call the cops. They were gone when he came to and he had no idea what they looked like. Something must have spooked them, because they didn't even take his wallet. He's got a bunch of scratches and a swollen jaw. I told him he had to watch the next game at home."

"Sounds like a good plan. Keep an eye on him, just in case. He may be concussed or something."

"I tried to get him to go to the hospital, but you know how stubborn he is."

"I know. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for him."

"What's that mean?"

"It means he needs to align his priorities. What would have happened to you and Belle if he got killed?"

"He's not going to get killed. Besides, we have you. You'll take care of us."

"I would and you know it. Let's don't let that happen. Tell him what I said. He's got a lot to live for."

"Thanks, Jake. Love you."

"Love you too, baby. See you soon."

I brooded about it and everyone noticed. About the only time I had a real smile on my face was if Belle was climbing all over me. Kathy put what everyone was thinking into words. "Jesus, Jake, you act like someone ran over your dog! What's wrong with you? Never mind. You have a date Saturday. She's my cousin and she doesn't know about our lifestyle. She's just moved here and is staying with us until she finds a place. Take her out, wine her, dine her, maybe you'll get lucky. If you take her out, I know we will. Try to get her to stay over."

She grinned. "Don't think of this as a sacrifice. The girl is hot."

I had nothing else to do, so I took her out, and surprisingly, had a good time. She did stay the night and we dated a few more times before we realized the spark just wasn't there. Amber got on my case pretty hard. "Why can't you find a good girl?"

I gave her a kiss. "I have, and she's married to someone else."

She grinned and poked me. "That ship's sailed. You had your shot. It took me a long time to get over you. We'll be looking, won't we Bob?"

He wouldn't look me in the eye when he responded. "You got it babe. The quicker we get him married off the quicker I won't have to worry about you two."

She giggled but if looks could kill she'd have been a widow on the spot.

*****

It was bound to happen. Nature, Karma, stupidity, they all likely played a part. They had slipped back to the barn again because they knew I was on a date, and spent two hours together. They dressed, made themselves as presentable as possible and left. She slipped out first and he waited ten minutes, grinning as he got into the car. He pulled onto the road, idly wondering if he could seduce his secretary. There had been signals, and he was more than happy to receive them. Bob was wondering how hard it would be to talk the secretary into a threesome, and he already knew Haley was down for it.

The police lights went on behind him and like a good citizen he pulled off the road, wondering what made them stop him. Maybe he had a taillight out. He thought it odd he was ordered to put his hands outside of the car but he did. The trooper came up, his flashlight in Bob's face."

"Could you shine that away from my eyes? I can't see."

"Of course, sir." His eyes, still blinded by the flashlight beam, he never saw the stun gun. The voltage hit him hard and he lost control of his bladder. Humiliation was the least of his worries, because he was dragged out of the car and worked over by an asp, a wicked piece of highly flexible metal wrapped in leather. Bob could hear his bones crunch as the man worked it in a professional manner, knowing where to strike to inflict the maximum amount of pain. Finally, he was pulled up by the hair and he nearly passed out from shock, the pain forgotten. Trooper Sergeant Lester put his face down to Bob's and in a very controlled voice told him how bad his choices had been lately. The man laughed as he let go of Bob's head and it bounced off the pavement. Then the asp flashed in his hand, landing squarely on his balls, rupturing one. He immediately went unconscious.

He had no idea how long he laid there. It was a hardly traveled road, especially at night, but finally someone came along. The local sheriff's deputy took one look and called the EMT's.

The ambulance driver was shocked at the sight. He'd been in Afghanistan and had seen firsthand how they interrogated prisoners, so he knew this man had been worked over by a professional. His left hand was broken and his right had two fingers smashed to pulp. His right elbow was smashed, his left leg was broken, as well as his right ankle. Whoever had done this knew how to bring the pain. Oddly enough, whoever did it didn't touch the face with the asp, although one eye was swollen shut, the glove print still on his face.

Hardened as he was, when they saw the blood between his legs and cut his pants off, he almost lost his dinner. This guy wouldn't be getting frisky again for a long, long time, if ever.

They took him to the hospital where he was worked on for three hours. He lost one testicle and a finger, but they managed to patch everything else up. They also found an injury they hadn't noticed in the field because of his hair. Someone had kicked him in the head. Hard. They put him in a coma until the brain swelling went down, not sure if there was any permanent damage.

He was identified from his wallet. Damn, thought the cop as he went through it, looking at the pictures of a pretty young woman and a little girl. He hoped the dude had good insurance.

The police investigated the scene when daybreak came, but there was nothing to see. The only tire tracks on the side of the road belonged to the victim's car. With no evidence the case went cold pretty quickly, and when the man regained consciousness forty days later, he said he remembered nothing. The detective in charge could easily see he was lying, but he refused to change the story. It smelled like something personal to the detective. Maybe he was banging the wrong wife and she had a husband who took it seriously. Maybe he was into things he shouldn't have been doing. Either way, with no testimony from the victim and no physical evidence, it was written up as a random act of violence by a person or persons unknown.

Amber called me in a panic that morning, crying uncontrollably and rambling incoherently. I left work immediately and drove to the hospital. When I saw the shape Bob was in, it made me almost sick to my stomach. As time dragged by it became clear no one had any idea why he'd been assaulted, and when he finally woke up, he said he couldn't remember any of it.

He had good insurance and Amber made sure she paid it every week to keep it active. Her finances were strained to the breaking point, so I moved them out of the apartment they'd been living in and took her and Belle home. I noticed everyone in our social circle except Haley came offering help. I asked Jeff one day where she was, and he looked at me like he was weighing what he wanted to tell me. "They're not here anymore. Lester got a promotion that took them to the other side of the state."

That told me everything I wanted to know.

It took him almost a year to be well enough to work again. When they got back on their feet and found an apartment, Belle didn't want to leave. It took all of us to calm her enough.

I went back to my life, still unattached. The group was subdued for a while but gradually regained their good spirits. I asked Kathy one day if they were auditioning anyone else for the group and she seemed guarded. "We're going to keep the group where it is now. It's safer that way."

The only bright spot in that dismal time was the marriage of Claire and Polly. I walked them down the aisle and wondered if they would make it. I hoped so, they really seemed happy. They had a plan. In three years, they were going to find a child to adopt. They seemed to be really looking forward to it and kept 'borrowing' Belle to practice parenting.

Amber was back with me in three months. It seemed Haley was back in town and the first time she saw Amber she spilled her guts. Amber slapped her hard enough to knock her down and went to confront Bob at work. It turned into a really crappy day pretty fast, because she slammed into his office only to find Bob and his secretary in a compromising position. The secretary was on her knees giving him a blowjob and Amber slapped her on the back of her head so hard she almost bit it off. They were both lying on the floor moaning when she left, leaving the door open. Everyone on the floor heard the yells and screams and a few went to investigate. One of them was the Vice President and Bob's bad day got a lot worse.

Amber grabbed Belle and fled to me. I put them back in their old rooms.

Bob's day got progressively worse. The VP was going to fire both of them until the secretary claimed coercion and sexually predatorial behavior, which pretty much made her bulletproof, so Bob went and she stayed.

He tried to apologize to Amber, but she wasn't in a forgiving frame of mind. He finally snapped and said if she'd just gone back to the way she was during our time together it wouldn't have been a problem. He gave her an ultimatum. Find a group to join or he was leaving her. She laughed so hard she almost cried. "How can you leave me? I've already left you, in the dust, figuratively speaking. Good luck finding someone who'll take you. Most groups have their own underground to communicate things that may be important. By the end of the week there won't be a group in the state that hasn't heard of you. Besides, you usually have to have a partner to join and you don't. I'm filing under irreconcilable differences. Don't be a jerk, sign the papers."

He threatened to make noise, but a quiet word from Jeff, speaking for the group, calmed him. The divorce went through, but it didn't stop him from being an ass. It came to a head when he tried to grab Belle and run. I just happened to find him first.

"Let her go, man. Stick to your visitation. If you run with her it violates the custody order and when they catch you, they'll send you to jail. I still have Sargent Lester's number. I bet if I called him and told him where you'd do time, he could arrange a suitable welcome, and a pleasant stay."

The wind went out of his sails and he just sat and cried as Belle ran into my arms. She had loved him, but the beatdown and the direction his life had taken had changed him, and she could sense it. He left town without a forwarding address. I had investigators find him before the wedding, offering to let him out of child support if he'd surrender parental rights. He tried to hold me up and I grinned. "If you can't catch up your arrears there's a chance you'll spend a little time in jail and the payment will just get higher. I could probably get a Judge to strip your rights if you're sent to jail for any length of time. Take the deal."